"So… not a single report of 'Vandal' was given last night."
Aizawa kept his head bowed as he kneeled in front of Director Shigaraki, knowing better than to look at the man by now. The last time he has looked at the man directly he had been stripped of his Meta Ability for a week.
That week had been absolutely horrible. He had felt this emptiness, like part of his soul had been ripped from him. Which, he guessed, technically it had. So he kept his gaze to the floor, not wanting to experience that again.
"No, sir. 'Vandal' must have taken the night off. I am unsure why, but my squad is continuing their search for the Outlaw. My top 4 especially seem to have realised what this assignment truly is."
He heard the man hum but heard no movement from him. There was silence after that for a few moments, before Shigaraki spoke again. "Very well. Your squad will continue with this mission. Have Genesis meet me here in 30 minutes, I wish to get a detailed report from her regarding her squadmates searches last night."
Aizawa bristled. "With all due respect, I am able to give you such a report myself, sir."
The silence after that was deafening. "Hmm? But surely you have enough faith in her to give me a proper report? She is the squad leader, after all, this will be her job once she is fully appointed as a Warden."
Aizawa froze for a moment, the urge to argue, to keep Genesis far away from Shigaraki making itself known to him, but he stamped it down. He trusted Genesis. He trusted her not to rat him out. To rat them out.
Nodding, Aizawa turned and stood up, facing away from Director Shigaraki. "Of course sir, she will be ready for you soon. Goodbye, sir."
Aizawa made sure that the shiver that ran down his back whenever he felt the stare of the Director on him only happened once he was out of sight. He ignored the odd look that Joker gave him, shaking his head, frowning as the woman walked into Director Shigaraki's office for her own meeting with the man.
Sighing, he went to go find Genesis. She needed time to prepare her report, of course. But this was the first time that she was going to meet the Director face to face, completely by herself. He needed to help her in making the meeting go smoothly.
Somehow.
Izuku blinked as the light of the sun bombarded his eyes.
Wait… His room didn't have a window so there should be no sunlight! Jolting, he quickly sat up, shaking the sleep out of his system so that he was ready for a fight.
Luckily for him, his brain caught up with his body quickly and noted that he was on the couch in the living room of his apartment. And his mother was at the kitchen bench currently giggling at him.
"Sleep well?"
Izuku just groaned, rolling off of the couch and warping himself so that he was standing next to the bench. To her credit, Inko didn't even flinch at his sudden appearance, so used to it by now. "Izuku, no warping during the day, sweetie, you know the rules."
Izuku nodded, rubbing at his eyes as he walked over to the fridge, getting out the milk and pouring himself a glass. "Yes, I know the rules. Walking just sucks."
Inko just pouted, dragging the milk bottle over to herself with her Meta Ability and pouring some into her coffee. "Yes, well, when the sun is up you have to walk, just like the rest of us. It's not fair but it keeps you safe."
Izuku sighed. "Yea, I know that too. Don't worry, I never warp during the day where people can see me. I won't risk your safety like that."
Inko just smiled at him sadly. "I know that it's hard. But you've almost finished school and once you have you should have fewer ways for the government to watch you! Then we can think about… loosening the rules."
Izuku just nodded, finishing his drink. He knew the drill. Don't use your Meta Ability during the day, don't be stupid obvious with it at night, etc. But seeing as he had been seen by the WRD's warper, he was wondering how long this little deception was going to last.
Inko was about to leave the room when Izuku spoke up. "Hey, mum?"
She turned back to him, looking serious as she heard his tone. This was either an admission of fucking up and getting caught, meaning that they would have to initiate their evacuation plans, or it was something that was just serious, but not life-uprootingly serious.
"What is it, Izuku? What's wrong?"
Izuku huffed, and Inko blinked, both Midoriya's suddenly sitting on the couch. She frowned at his use of his Meta Ability but didn't say anything, for now, not wanting to mess up his train of thought.
"I need to tell you about what I was doing last night. You deserve to know."
Izuku fiddled with his tie as he walked into his school, humming to himself.
Shikuretto High School was absurdly mediocre. Average test scores, the average amount of applicants, average level athletes for their sports teams, etc. Nothing about this school stood out, not even the simple black and red school uniform.
That's why he was going there in the first place.
Other than getting the money the government put towards schools every year, Shikuretto High never got anything worth the government's attention, meaning that it was the perfect place for Izuku to lay low, as there wasn't as much oversight on the students as there was in the more impressive high schools.
He nodded to his homeroom teacher as he entered the classroom, who looked way to bright and cheerful for this early in the morning. Sitting down, he rubbed his eyes and pulled out his book, placing it on the table.
He tried to focus on the class, but his mind was elsewhere. From his first mission, to locking eyes with the WRD's previously unknown warper, to his mum's reaction to finding out what he had done…
He almost winced at the memory of her hour-long, emotionally draining lecture about effectively joining a resistance group against a government that would steal Izuku's meta ability and then kill him in a heartbeat if he got caught.
Apparently giving the counterpoint that he was the 'hardest person in the world to catch' was not a good thing to do when your mother was both emotional and confused.
He had eventually convinced her to let him help them, but the look on her face as she reluctantly gave him permission told him that she wasn't really on board.
He was pulled from his thoughts as someone poked his side, jolting him. He turned and smiled to see one of his favourite classmates, Kashiko Sekigai. She had a small 'chart' open on her palm, and Izku could see his face in the top left corner.
She must have scanned him. "You alright? Your adrenaline levels are fairly high for this time of day. Stressful morning?"
Izuku just nodded, giving her a small smile. "My mother and I had an argument. I should be fine, I just need some time to cool down. I didn't sleep well either so I'll probably take a nap during math."
Kashiko smirked, giving a mock gasp and putting her hand over her mouth. "How scandalous of you, Midoriya! To overtly flaunt such a valuable class!"
Izuku just chuckled. They both knew that both of them could easily win co-leaders of the school if they really wanted to. It was unspoken that Kashiko was at this school for the same reason Izuku was.
Izuku wasn't exactly sure why Kashiko needed to keep a low profile, but he would never ask her outright. He didn't meddle with her business, she didn't meddle with his. It was an odd system but it worked.
"Midoriya! Sekigai! I know you've already practically finished your work for the semester but please be quiet so others can learn!"
Holding up his hand to apologise, Izuku turned back to his desk, tapping away at his laptop, clicking through a department stores catalogue. There was a new top-of-the-line digital spray painter that he had his eyes on.
As he tapped through the painting supplies, he didn't notice the screen on Kashiko's hand as she watched him discreetly, with the words 'Quirk: unknown full-body effect' written on it.
"Ah, you must be Blink!."
Izuku blinked in surprise as he heard the voice beside him as he appeared in the rebel headquarters. He had jumped to the supply room to get working straight away but hadn't expected anyone other than Wither to be there.
He turned and saw a man, probably around his age, leaning up against a wall, holding his hands onto the cables of some batteries. He was dressed similarly to Izuku, sort of an armoured casual look, except for the mask that he was wearing.
Shaped like a wolf, the edges glowed with light, looking like LED's or an equivalent. It made seeing into the eyeholes of the mask near impossible, which Izuku actually found surprisingly clever.
He nodded to them, holding his hand up in greeting. "Hey. You're right, I'm Blink. What should I call you?"
The boy just turned his head back and Izuku saw his hands light up with electricity, watching as it was funnelled down the wires and into the battery, the screen on the wall showing that they had just been powered up almost to full.
The boy then let go of the wires, allowing them to get dragged back into the wall by a winch, and turned back to Izuku, holding out his hand to shake. "You can call me Raijin. I know it's a bit on the nose, but I've yet to meet someone with a better electrical Meta Ability!"
Izuku hummed, shaking Raijin's hand. "I'll say! That must have been what, 4-5 million volts? That's insane output!"
Izuku saw the mask lights increase in brightness a bit, and the boy rubbed the back of his hoodie. "Thanks, man! It took me a long time to get that sort of power out without frying myself. Luckily Nezu was there, ya know? For an AI, he makes an excellent teacher."
[You are very welcome, Raijin.]
Both of the boys would later deny jumping in surprise at that, Izuku warping away for a moment because of it, before suddenly reappearing. Raijin whistled. "Woah! I heard you're Meta Ability was cool, but Wither really didn't do you justice!"
Izuku smirked. "I've been told that it's pretty cool. Feels nice to be able to use it for longer distances than just in between my room and the lounge room, to be honest."
Raijin nodded sagely. "Let me guess, parents hid your true power from the government so you can't use it in everyday life like everyone else?"
Izuku bristled, narrowing his eyes at Raijin. "Yea, that's exactly it. How did you know?"
Raijin just shrugged. "Got the same deal back home. My dad was a Hero over in America and got murdered by some Villain over there, so she didn't want me being a Warden, told the Government that I could only make like, 100-200 volts and left it at that."
Raijin hummed. "It's alright, 100-200 is still enough to tase someone who tries to start shit with me, but it does feel really nice to just let all of that energy flow, you know? Bottling it up makes me feel like I got an itch I can't scratch."
Izuku nodded, smiling. "I know exactly what you mean. I warped to Australia once, just to see if I could, and I swear it felt like a good night's sleep. Short-range jumps just aren't enough to drain all that energy now that I've grown up and gotten some training in."
Raijin clapped Izuku on the shoulder, pulling him in tight for a side hug. "You get it! Man, I can tell that we're gonna be buds already. I'll see you around, right? I gotta go eat lunch with my girl now, but I'll probably be here every now and then."
Izuku smiled, patting Raijin on the back and releasing the boy. "Yea, Nezu assigned me to work with Wither, so I'll most likely be here most of the time unless I'm out and about doing stuff. Have a good lunch!"
Raijin nodded, waving as he exited the door to the supply room. "Will do!"
He swung the door open and Izuku saw a purple-haired girl wearing a dark, punk-like outfit, a pure black face mask covering her mouth and some shades over her eyes. Izuku thought he spotted something metallic hanging from her ears, but it could have just been ear-rings.
"Jesus, what took you so long this time? Having trouble with this menial task you've done many times before?"
Raijin just laughed, turning and waving to Izuku, before wrapping the girl in a hug and dragging her off towards where the common area was, the girl making her disapproval of this known loudly.
Izuku chuckled as he sat down, tapping on his phone as he waited for either Nezu to tell him to do something, or for Wither to get back. He waited for a good 20 minutes before Wither came in, fiddling with her mask, his eyebrow quirking as he saw Slipstream following her in.
"Ah, you are here. Good. Slipstream has a request."
Izuku turned his gaze to Slipstream, the man nodding as Wither spoke. Izuku spoke. "What do you need?"
Slipstream hummed. "Well, it's less of a request and more of an offer. Do you have much fighting experience?"
Izuku shook his head. "I've fought some Outlaws here and there that were harassing people when I went out for my paintings, but I've never had formal training. Kinda hard to fight in public or at a dojo when you're purposefully holding part of your power back."
Slipstream nodded, and Izuku could tell the boy was smiling at him. "Well then! I'm here to offer you some combat training! I'm one of the best fighters we've got in our little resistance, and my own Meta Ability should at least let me relate to yours a little bit."
Slipstream just shrugged. "You don't have to accept, but I'm probably the best teacher you're going to get for actual combat. Nezu might be able to give you some pointers and general training for your Meta Ability, but no-one fights like I do!"
Izuku smiled, nodding to the man. "No, I'd like your help! I've always wanted to get some fight training! And you say that your Meta Ability kinda works like mine? I didn't think warping Meta Abilities were very common?"
Slipstream just chuckled. "It's not exactly warping, but it's similar. Follow me and I'll explain it on the way to the sparring room. Sorry for stealing your helper, Wither."
Wither just hummed. "It's fine. He might need to fight one day. I trust you to teach him well. He has already proven himself useful."
Slipstream waved for Izuku to follow him, walking towards the door. "Alright then! Follow me, newbie!"
"Let's get you into fighting shape!"