Chapter 4: The Hunt and the Reprieve

Summary:

Izuku realizes somebody REALLY want's his quirk

Notes:

(See the end of the chapter for notes.)

Chapter Text

Late Night Musutafu Arcade 7:00 PM

The sky was quickly turning to night as two boys emerged from the local arcade that they liked to play at after working out. More of a tradition than anything else at this point.

"Damn Kacchan how'd you get so good at that fighting game, you literally 0 to deathed me like four times." Izuku whined.

"Practice, lots of fucking practice. I'm still mad you got me once by just button mashing." Bakugo grumbled but noticed the nerd shaking excitedly as he looked at his phone. "What the fuck's got your panties in a bunch?"

"My dad said U.A. agreed! There were some stipulations, like if the research bore fruit they'd get a major discount on buying the gas and rights to use it but they agreed. Apparently the principal of the school wanted to be able to mass produce Midnight's gas for use as a support item!" Deku explained with a fervor.

"Only you could get this excited over chemical formula's and support gear..." Bakugo paused realizing something. "Deku your quirk is literally just fucking infinite support gear, how did I never realize that?"

Izuku shrugged. "I mean it makes sense, I'm more of a really trained soldier that can call whatever he needs to him at any time. I don't have something 'unique' if that makes any sense, I mean I'd basically be quirkless if science hadn't reached a certain point."

"Don't sell your nerd ass short, your my rival, you ain't allowed to be all mopey and shit." Bakugo turned as he saw a vending machine. "Speaking of you hungry? I see those donut things you like so much in there. I'll get em for you."

Izuku looked up as he was kind of hungry. "You don't mind?"

"Nah I got this one, you'll just get me nex-" Bakugo suddenly tensed up, and turned pulling Izuku towards the vending machine. "Deku don't look but there's some fucker in a trench coat staring at us. He pulled out a fucking walkie talkie and spoke into it. On the count of three we're fucking bolting, follow my lead and get a flashbang or two ready."

Izuku noticed the serious expression and called the necessary formulas to the front of his mind (C2H4)n and 2MgO, the trick with these was to get the ratio just right. Izuku wanted a small amount of flash powder to chemically react with the Magnesium. Izuku nodded at the boy while showing the objects in his palms before putting them into his pockets.

"Good, 1, 2, and 3. HELP! WERE BEING CHASED BY A PEDOPHILE, HE SAID HE WANTED TO TOUCH OUR SPECIAL PLACE!" Bakugo screamed as the duo began sprinting down the road.

The man in the trench coat suddenly noticed his targets fleeing before a crowd of people started moving between the boys and himself. They were not only throwing things at him while screaming they were actively inhibiting his chase. Deciding enough was enough he pulled a gun out before firing into the air. "GET OUT OF MY WAY!"

"HE'S GOT A GUN CALL THE HEROES!"

"HOW DID A PEDOPHILE GET A GUN!?"

"RUN TIMMY, I WON'T LET HIM GET YOU!"

The trench coated man started running, he would not fail to catch his target again, the master would not allow it. He was however completely unawares of the secondary pursuit that had just begun.

'Just my luck' the man thought to himself, a pedophile with a gun, today's just the worst, 'can't even enjoy my time off at my favorite cat café.' The man bounded across a rooftop keeping visual contact with his target.

"Deku don't fucking stop! The fucker has a gun, I know a shortcut follow me!" Bakugo roared as they went into an alley. However as the pair made the turn that'd be their ticket to freedom, only despair greeted Bakugo. "OF ALL THE FUCKING TIMES FOR THE CITY TO ACTUALLY FIX A FUCKING BROKEN FENCE! FUCK IT, DEKU STEP BACK I GOT IT!" Bakugo roared before he blasted a hole into the recently repaired fence, 'suck it tax money' Bakugo laughed.

The man in a trench coat managed to round the corner just as the blast went off, fast though they may be, his target was only a child. With his height advantage he caught up quickly. "Don't Move!" The cold voice ordered, the children froze in place. "Good, obedient children won't get shot in some random back alley, both of you hands up and turn slowly." The pair did so begrudgingly. "You with the green hair, step forward if you want your friend to live. And quickly! That little stunt you pulled greatly shortened my time table." The man quickly checked his watch.

Bakugo watched in horror as the very thing they'd just talked about yesterday was coming to pass, they definitely fucking jinxed it or some shit but then bakugo noticed one of the fingers on Deku's hand go down, then a second, Bakugo quickly got the hint and covered his ears and eyes as a blinding light exploded, illuminating the alleyway.

"FUCKING SHIT." The trench coated man blindly fired his revolver a few times before he felt something wrap around his arm pulling it back in towards his body. His ears were ringing and he didn't even hear the figure who'd no doubt wrapped his arm as they approached him from behind. This was followed by the new figure launching a savage kick to the back of his head knocking his hat off, the villain stumbled over trying to hold himself up with his remaining arm. Only for it to be twisted into an incredibly painful position seconds later. "ARGH! FUCK GET OFF OF ME!"

The man fired the remaining bullets in his gun but they just collided harmlessly with the wall thanks to the fact his arm had been tucked into his body. Deku looked on in amazement as the man was swiftly taken care of, he didn't even realize Kacchan was tugging on his arm telling him to run.

"You're under arrest in the name of the Pro Hero: Eraserhead, anything you say can and will be used against you." Aizawa quickly kicked the gun away before cuffing the man, not before 'accidentally' breaking his wrist of course. Pedophiles did not get off easily in the eyes of the pro, though he doubted that to be the case anymore, this felt too targeted, too specific. "You two, are you alright? Also you are aware public quirk usage is illegal right?" He gestured to the used flashbang and recently singed fence.

Izuku's eyes just shown at the man, that was the coolest thing he'd ever seen.

"Deku c'mon he's gonna arrest us or something." Bakugo pleaded pulling on his best friends arm.

"Relax, I'm not going to arrest you." Eraserhead cracked his neck before walking over to the two children. "He didn't do anything to you did he? Are you injured?"

"No we're fine mister, also he wasn't really a pedophile, Kacchan made it up so we could run away." Izuku excitedly explained.

Not the usual response he got but oh well. "That's good then, I need to give this criminal to the police alright? I would prefer not having to do anything to the two of you since it was clearly self defense, so wait out of sight until they arrive, and pick that up." Aizawa gestured to the flashbang canister before pulling out his phone and giving the police his current location. "That being said I'd like to take you both home if that's okay. Speaking of why was he targeting you anyway?"

"Oh um h-" Izuku started to explain.

"Deku, don't." Bakugo silenced the green haired idiot before more people knew the truth.

"Rrrright, because that's a totally normal response, alright consider yourselves under my protection for the time being then, since clearly this wasn't an isolated incident." Eraserhead thought out loud, a short ten minutes later the police arrived, took a statement and then the villain was gone. Leaving the boys with the very hobo-esque pro hero once more. "So I deal a lot with cases like this, that's kind of one of the job descriptors of an underground hero, we stick to the shadow's handle the less than savory cases. Like the one I'm suspecting is happening here. I'm obligated to ask but you're not obligated to answer, at least let me alleviate some of my own fears."

Bakugo tched. "Fine, but we ain't giving you any specifics, we ain't heard of you before so we don't trust you."

"Fair, I wouldn't trust a stranger either, even if they had a pro hero license. First are you two runaways?"

"What? Fuck no, our parent's love us." Bakugo snarked back.

"Yeah Auntie and Uncle Bakugo are the nicest and I love my mom and dad."

The young boy's smile was blinding to the pro hero. "Second, has this happened before?" Eraserhead continued despite the jarring personality difference between the two boys.

"Um yes? I don't wanna talk about why t-though." Izuku weakly responded.

"So it's an ongoing event? How many times?"

"Two, but the less people we tell why, the better, who knows how many fucking people already know. First it was that quack doc, now that fuck in a trench coat." Bakugo grumbled.

"I heard what he said right before you flashbanged him, why do they want you in particular?" Aizawa pointed at the green haired one.

"Deku, don't." Bakugo growled.

"My q-quirk, probably, some scary people found out about my quirk and they started chasing me, me and Mom have had to move a few times already." His voice was hoarse, the adrenaline was wearing off, they had just been almost kidnapped.

"I see, that's all I need to know. I'll escort you both back to your respective homes, I'd offer protection beyond that but I don't have the time or manpower to do so. That being said I may know someone who does if you wish to find that protection, and I'll be honest kid, you probably need it." Aizawa bluntly explained.

"Y-you're not g-gonna a-ask about my quirk?"

"I don't need to know like you said, all that matters is bad people are after you and it's my duty as a hero to keep you safe." Eraserhead dismissed the boy. "So lead on, let's get you two home."

Bakugo looked at the man the back to Deku. "Let's go to my house first, we can't risk this guy being with them and revealing your new house Deku, you and Auntie Inko probably need to move again anyway, if they were this close to your new house. Persistent fuckers." Bakugo growled angrily before stomping off.

"Are you sure Kacchan? I don't want to put your family in danger too..."

"Course I'm fucking sure, like I said we're in this shit together." Bakugo didn't even slow down as they talked.

"Your friend's right, you should probably move as well or get your own protection." Eraserhead added.

"I still don't trust you." Bakugo turned and glared at the man.

"Well aren't you just a ball of sunshine. Don't suppose you'd be willing to tell me your names?" Eraserhead asked.

"Fuc-

"Izuku Midoriya! What kind of quirk do you have? Why haven't I heard of you? How does that tape work?" The boy started rapid firing questions onto the man which startled.

"Deku stop telling him shit!" Bakugo shouted.

"I think we can trust him, underground heroes aren't in it for the money or fame, they just help people. Honestly I'd probably trust one more than somebody like Uwabami to save me." Izuku said her name with a bit of distaste.

"Well as a sign of good faith, my quirk is Erasure. When I look at someone I can turn their quirk off. My capture tape took lots and lots of practice. As for why you haven't heard of me, like I said earlier I'm an underground hero. I deal with things behind the scenes, I try very hard to keep my name out of the spotlight. That being said most pros know me as I'm often called in as support seeing as my quirk is very useful for dealing with villains with annoying quirks." The scarfed man said.

"That's so cool, how does it work on mutants? Can it stop any quirk? What about things created by a quirk do they go away too?"

"Deku stop nerding out for fuck's sake we literally just got shot at, think about the situation were fucking in." Bakugo's pleas were further ignored however.

"It stops mutant limbs from moving but any mutant changes to their body continue to work. Yes I can stop any quirk and no they do not go away after they've already been used. Also he's right, we should focus on keeping you safe for the time being." He gruffed, this kid had so many questions, at least it was helping to pass the time as they walked. "Hey kid, why don't you like Uwabami?"

"Oh uh, it's not like I dislike her or anything, I just don't think she's really a hero. Sure she helped people at first but as soon as she got popular she just used her fame to do commercials and now she's just a celebrity masquerading as a hero. I saw some reports mentioning she doesn't even patrol anymore and I feel like that's kind of being dishonest." Izuku isn't sure how the man would take his view since he was a hero as well.

"I can see that. Some heroes are only in it for the fame after all. How much further by the way?" Aizawa wasn't in any particular rush but he was hoping this wouldn't turn into an all night thing, he wasn't in the mood to pull ANOTHER one. The man just wanted to relax and sleep.

"We're here actually." Bakugo added before stepping up to a homey building and opening it. "Mom! We got a problem!"

Hearing her son refer to her as Mom and not old hag was welcome but jarring, something must've actually happened. "What's wrong Katsuki?" The boys were disheveled with dirt covering their clothes and some strange unkempt man with black hair, a jumpsuit, and a scarf followed them in. "Oh I wasn't aware we were going to be having any guests."

Aizawa gave an affirmative nod. "Sorry but these two were being chased by a kidnapper and I wanted to make sure they got home okay. My names Eraserhead, I'm a pro hero."

Mitsuki's face quickly shifted. "Oh my god! Are you both okay? Did he hurt you?!" The elder Bakugo quickly ran over and started looking them up and down.

"M' fine Mom, the fuckers wanted Deku, turns out that fucker from earlier hasn't given up."

"I'm okay Auntie, I promise!"

"He had a gun and almost kidnapped them, don't let them tell you it was 'fine' because it wasn't." Aizawa cut in.

That made Mitsuki freeze. "Okay everybody come in, I'll make tea and you can explain everything. Clearly we need to have a discussion between everybody, I'll get Inko over here too and see if Masaru can get off of work." Mitsuki quickly started moving about frantically as she started getting everything ready.

Eraserhead took off his shoes and followed the boy's to the couch and sighed, he noticed an All Might poster and sighed, that oaf needed to be more rational in his eyes. "So ready to tell me what's up? Why are you being targeted?"

"Can we wait till my m-mom get's here please?" Izuku begged.

Aizawa huffed but let it go, the other woman returned and Aizawa explained everything while they waited for the boy's mother to return, the tea wasn't bad but he wished it was coffee. The door burst open about ten minutes later and a green haired woman ran in barely remembering to shut the door.

"MY BABIES ARE YOU TWO OKAY?!" Inko quickly ran over and pulled the two into a big hug.

'Oh great she's a crier.' Aizawa thought.

The two boys barely got a muffled 'were fine' out due to the woman's bear like grip. "Inko I know you're worried but please don't crush them." Mitsuki asked.

Inko's tears were already drenching the two children beneath her but she let go. "I'm so glad you're both safe, I wouldn't know what to do if something happened to you two."

"The trench fucker was only after Deku, I would've been fine." He turned to the boy. "I told you Deku, I told you this would fucking happen."

"I never disagreed with you Kacchan." Izuku weakly replied.

A cough brought everyone's attention back to the pro hero in the room. "Now then, from the facts I've gathered. You Izuku Midoriya are in danger because of your quirk, bad people want it. I've destroyed a few quirk trafficking rings so I can tell you, they won't give up easily. Will you tell me what your quirk is?"

Inko paused as she looked at her son deliberating. "You're the man that saved them right?" She quickly grabbed his hand and began shaking it profusely. "Thank you, thank you so much." She started crying again.

"You don't need to thank me M'am, it's part of the job." He saw the boy's scared face and continued. "Listen I want to help, I really do, but I can't if I don't have the full story."

Izuku looked at his Mom for confirmation and she nodded. "O-okay, I can create anything non living material by using body fat. When I discovered my quirk I may have accidentally created a gold block worth roughly 20 million dollars." Izuku very sheepishly added.

Aizawa's eyes widened. "YOU WHAT?!"

Izuku wilted. "I d-didn't know."

"Woah kid, sorry. I was just surprised, I'm not mad." He pinched the bridge of his nose, 'yup this was going to be an all nighter.' "Okay, I can see why you're being targeted, in fact I'm not even surprised. Who knows?"

Inko cut in. "Just the people in this room, my husband and Masaru, who is Mitsuki's husband, and the Doctor and his associates of course. " Inko hissed out, she really wished she never brought her child there.

"Good, we can do damage control then. I have an associate who I don't think would mind helping out here. In fact I think he'd love you." That rat was going to be ecstatic to get this child under his protection, this kid could single handedly fund U.A., and while Aizawa's sure the rat won't use him like that. He will definitely try and get the boy to help out in that direction, Aizawa could use that to guarantee the kids safety. A favor for a favor, the rat loved dealing in those.

"So Mr. Eraserhead, what's going to happen going forward?" Mitsuki asked.

"Well, I don't usually tell people this but I actually work for U.A."

Before he could continue the excitable green haired teen cut him off. "Really?! Me and Kacchan both want to go to U.A!"

Continuing. "Yes. But like I was saying I work for U.A., I'm actually a teacher there. I personally know the principal and he has a lot of sway with the police and the HSPC. I believe we could make an arrangement that will guarantee the safety of your children until they're older. If you accept, I can probably get Nedzu to personally tutor the two of you until your time at U.A. They're living spaces on campus you could use to live with relative freedom until we can catch this quirk trafficking group." Aizawa explained.

"Wait children? You want to guard Katsuki as well?" Mitsuki added.

"Not just the kids, you all as well. You are being targeted by a dangerous group willing to conduct kidnappings in what was essentially almost broad daylight. None of you are safe as things stand. I understand it will be inconvenient, but it's that or your safety. They could very easily kidnap them or his immediate family aka you, just to get the kid."

"Surely they wouldn't go that far just to get lil Izuku?" Mitsuki interjected.

"M'am he created a gold block worth 20 million, I can guarantee you. A LOT of people would kidnap somebodies family for that kind of money." Aizawa countered.

"Two actually." Izuku mumbled.

Eraserhead turned and stared at the boy. "My mistake two blocks of gold worth 20 million dollars. And he did this within the span of?"

"A week." Inko answered defeatedly.

"I think you can see my point." Eraserhead coldly explained.

"I think we got too Mitsuki." Inko turned to her best friend.

"Yeah, yeah we have too. I'll let Masaru know.

"I just want one thing before we agree Mr. Eraserhead. You or U.A. won't force Izuku to make you anything."

"Mam I teach children the skills to survive in a scary world. I would never force anything onto any of them."

"Then you have a deal Eraserhead. I guess I need to start packing, how soon will the move be?" Inko asked.

"The sooner the better but I need to contact Nedzu, while I know he will agree in a heartbeat, I do still need to tell him so excuse me for a second."

"Oh um one thing before you go out?" Izuku asked weakly.

"Yes?"

"Can I get an autograph?" Izuku held up a notebook with a blank page.

Bakugo groaned to his side audibly.

"Kacchan he literally saved my life!" Izuku shouted at his friend.

Aizawa just stared at the two, before sighing again. "Sure kid." Aizawa signed it and walked out of the building, leaving the families to prepare.

He pulled out his phone and hit the contact for his boss.

A cheery squeaky voice came through. "Yes Aizawa?"

"Nedzu I've got a deal for you, I saved some kids today but one of them is being continually targeted by what I believe to be quirk traffickers. How would you like to provide room and board for a kid who can shit blocks of gold worth around 20 million."

There was silence, a long silence, it worried Aizawa. "You're absolutely certain?"

"Yes, while I haven't seen it in person the stories been corroborated by multiple people and you know, the kidnapping that almost happened. The boy's quirk let's him create anything non living material." Aizawa dryly explained.

A long cackle rattled in Aizawa's ears. "MOST EXCELLENT, BRING THE BOY TO ME ERASERHEAD. TELL THEM I ACCEPT THIS DEAL MOST WHOLE HEARTEDLY."

"I haven't even told you about the second family."

"That matters little my dear Aizawa, and let me guess you want me to teach them until they're older? No worries I shall provide both families with a life of luxury and comfort and an education to the kids." Aizawa could hear the eagerness in the rats voice.

You can't force the kid to make anything, that's part of the deal."

"My dear Aizawa, you should know better than anyone I don't force anyone to do anything. I simply move pieces into a position where they will do it willingly. I seem to recall a certain black haired underground hero swearing he'd never become a teacher when I first called him." There was a pause. "Now now, make sure my newest protégé remains unharmed. Tell them the move in is ready for them whenever. Ooh I've got to call Cementoss." The line ended.

Aizawa shuddered, that poor kid. Maybe he should have let the quirk traffickers get him?

Notes:

Seriously, what evil organization wouldn't want creation, literally infinite money and you don't even need to commit a crime, I'm really surprised All For One hasn't gone to steal it in the main series. I'm sure the doctor would've loved to have it for his experiments.