Agent Anna Dobinek was rather annoyed after the first interrogation of the prisoner, the girl called Himiko Toga. After repeating that she "knew her rights", demanding her "phone call" and a lawyer, all of which had fell on deaf ears, she had started shouting the lyrics from various songs in Japanese before Anna lost her patience and slammed a fist on the table "Shut the fuck up, prisoner!". At her side, the professional hero White Stripe had a hand on his forehead, clearly exasperated himself. He looked up and said, "Who would you even call, Toga?" Her face had lit up, she had blushed heavily and had said in a sheepish voice "Why my Izu-Izu of course, he is the hero Deku in Japan…I want to hear his voice and then I will tell you stuff!" The prisoner had then smiled, showing her fangs. "We are done for now, we´ll let you be a while" said White Stripe. "And don't start singing, girl, your voice is shit" said Anna as they left the interrogation room. She actually thought she was just average, not actually shit, but a bad cop isn't supposed to compliment singing.
Outside, Texas Red stood behind the one-way mirror window. "I already called the Deku kid, he is sorta my pal All Might´s adopted son. He knew exactly who the girl was, so if we can´t use him on good will, we can blackmail him as an accomplice to a serial killer." Anna was confused "Use a hero? What exactly is the plan, sir?" "It's simple: we end threats to world peace with complete deniability, a high degree of control and, if it goes according to plan, with no collateral damage. The medical tests confirmed most of what her file says, corroborating her Quirk, health condition and, among other things, her age. At 17 years old, she can´t be tried and convicted like an adult yet, that gives us even more leverage. Flight Plan also found her birth certificate and whatever public records were available in Japan´s databases. Everything is fake, except an inscription for a boarding school, which she attended for a year, before running away. Somebody made up the girl´s past, up until five years ago. Even if this had no use, the curiosity is making me rather happy I took the case."
Anna could only nod at all the new information. It might make sense, if she could see the whole picture, but she wasn't particularly keen about it at the moment. She changed the subject "And what about this "Dekoo" person?" "A rising star in Japan, he tracked and stopped All for One after he escaped last year. His team used deadly force, the bastard deserved it. The whole business was kept quiet by the Japanese and Chinese governments, so the kid isn't overwhelmingly famous. He has a growing fanbase, apparently moderated by our young prisoner, and they like his selflessness, humility and courage. This Deku will be a good help."
It was Thursday morning, and All Might had arrived at the Midoriya household early, to help Inko Midoriya prepare breakfast for the three of them. He knocked on the door and was met by a short woman with green hair and a kind smile, that made his heart skip a beat. "Good morning, Toshinori!" "Good morning, Inko!" they greeted each other. Walking to the kitchen Inko told the retired hero about her week so far, how proud she was of her son, how happy she had been lately. At the kitchen, they split into their now almost routine positions; Inko would wash vegetables and Toshinori would chop them, they would add them to the wok on the stove, and they would also include different meats and spices for a stir fry. Inko had told him once that, while katsudon could brighten any day for Izuku, a spicy stir fry could wake him up better than any coffee. Toshinori felt he learned a new thing every time he visited the Midoriyas; Inko was very wise in his eyes, full of interesting ideas. He had learned quite a bit of cooking; beyond a medium rare steak and a few American breakfast styles, Toshinori had pretty much always cooked body-builder food; tasteless chicken breast, smoked vegetables…a good portion of his hero salary on his early days had been spent in restaurants to avoid losing his mind at the bland food! But on the kitchen with Inko, he felt he could give the Chef Hero Lunch Rush a run for his money.
Absorbed by cooking, All Might didn't hear protégé, Izuku, come into the kitchen, until he said in a drowsy voice "Hey mom, hey dad, what are you preparing?" Toshinori and Inko exchanged a glance, smiling happily "Spicy stir fry, my boy! To keep you growing strong and MIGHTY!" he said.
The boy nodded and sleepwalked off to the living room, muttering about some American heroes All Might recognised. Young Midoriya had been doing his homework! But how would they explain to Inko the phone call situation? The retired hero had no idea.
When the meal was ready, they gathered in the small table that was their dining room and enjoyed the spicy dish. Izuku indeed woke up, gulping down glass after glass of water. Inko excused after a while, it seemed someone had moved an appointment at work for earlier in the morning and she had been called to see the client and show them the apartments the real estate agency offered. She gave Izuku a hug and Toshinori a warm smile, and left for the train station.
"Son, we don't know exactly when Texas Red will call, what should we do while we wait?" Izuku had suggested watching a movie Tsuyu had lent him, about some kind of Mexican hero called "Santo". "The description says he´s a wrestler that fights vampires, it sounds pretty interesting!" Watching it with subs, not dubs, the retired hero and the young man watched a very cheesy movie with incredibly dated special effects, laughing hard at things that may not have been meant for comedy, but had been so absurd they had no choice but to laugh. The main hero had in some way reminded Toshinori of Gran Torino, which only made it funnier.
Eventually, the call came. An unknown number, they answered and set up the speaker phone. "Am I speaking with Izuku Midoriya?" said Texas Red´s voice. "Yes, All Might is here too." "Good, you´ll both want to hear this. How you doin´, pal? Y´all living well?" "I am very happy with life, yes, Red. How about you, the kids are alright?" "Teenagers, man. I think you know what I mean. But we can talk more soon, right now, I need y´all to hear the sales pitch I´m about to throw your way." "Alright, sir, we´re listening" said Izuku. The Texan continued "So here´s the deal: your boy´s little girlfriend is wanted for three charges of murder. She also killed twenty criminals, villains and terrorists, and I would give her a medal for that if I could, but I can´t. And given her age, we can´t legally execute her, yet." Izuku´s face turned pale, and his eyes opened in shock. "But she seems agreeable enough if we get her together with you, young Midoriya, so we´ll make a deal; she´ll finish her "list", the two remaining are pieces of shit anyway, and then she´ll work for us. In exchange for her help on a few situations, we might even let her go. So, can I count on you, Deku? Bringing your little girlfriend to the side of good?" "Yes, sir. I want to help!" "We´ll send you some plane tickets, for your mom and All Might too. Your second home has missed you, pal. And before you ask about your graduation, don't worry. We´ll keep Miss Toga safe and comfortable in the meantime."
In her basic prison cell, Himiko Toga had been startled by a voice with a noticeable Texan accent coming from a speaker on the wall had started talking. When she heard what he was saying, she started smiling uncontrollably. My Izu-Izu´s voice. YES. The boy had answered, his voice a bit worried Did his voice become deeper? I like this. Then the Texan had called her Izuku´s "little girlfriend" making her blush so much. And then Izu-Izu had said he would make a deal with the government for her! "YES!" she yelled as she threw around her pillow. She was going to see her Izu-Izu soon! And he wanted to make her be good! He is so perfect!
The call ended, and Toga was too hyped to sit down, go to sleep or do anything like that! She went up to the door and started banging on it, yelling that she wanted to talk. Eventually, one of the guards opened it to tell her they would see her in a while. A bit more settled, Toga sat down on the bed, and started singing one of the "Deku Playlist" songs, the theme from one of All Might´s Sunday morning cartoons. Being used to staying quiet for stealth, singing to her heart´s content made her happy, even if she admitted her voice was no pop star material.
As Toga sang another song with terrible Engrish, the door opened and in came three people; the guard with the British accent that had agreed to her request for a talk; the hero in a black and white costume, the good cop; and the angry commando woman, the bad cop. "Hello, Skunkman, Sergeant Bitchface!" she beamed at the interrogators. Before the male hero could defend his outfit from the comparison, the commando said, "You said you wanted to talk, then talk."
"I want some information in exchange and a couple requests." "Fine" said the Skunkman, and the commando added "But we ask first." Toga nodded "Shoot." "First question. Do you have valuable information on any villains, criminals or other kinds of enemies to society?" "The guy I´m supposed to kill uses his company as an arms dealing and drug smuggling operation, I think he wronged All for One some ten years ago. The other guy, the one in South Africa, is a supposed philanthropist, but his group kidnaps children in villages for experiments. I think one of the Nomus Shigaraki had was made with one of those kids…And I have some smaller fish, if it helps. On my backpack there´s a notebook with locations of drug dealers in New York that peddle Trigger and other nasty stuff. I also have some contacts from some gangsters in Italy, their grandmas made great pasta but weren't too discrete."
"This is good info, Toga. What is your first question?" asked the Skunkman. "I have two but only one counts…The one that counts is; can I get the videos of the UA graduation? And the one that doesn't count is; what do I call you?" "I´m White Stripe, and my fellow interrogator is Holy Diver. We can tell you more when young Midoriya arrives next week." "And if you need those videos, you sick little girl, its fine as long as you keep being cooperative. Second question. Where were you trained? Footage of your fights shows a degree of proficiency above common criminal levels."
"I have no idea, I kinda "remember" the moves when I´m fighting. Maybe I picked it up from Shigaraki´s violent video games, I dunno. So, is there any gossip on my Izu-Izu´s class?" "Not much, though your Deku fan page misses you." "Third question. Do you know of any useful information on the villains Ndege Mweusi or Pestilentia?" "I´m not even gonna try and pronounce the first one´s name, that I know. When I was researching the South African guy, I found that his people took over a large chunk of ground to the south and now his missiles can hit South Africa. I don't know much more, but I don't think he has anything that could end the world just yet. The other guy, Shigaraki talked about him when we busted All for One out, the guy ignored us. I never heard anything from him while I was in Europe, I don't even know if Pestilentia is a "he". But the name sorta seems familiar from somewhere else."
"So, what do you want to ask?" said the commando, Holy Diver. She´s a little less bitchy today, maybe I could cooperate a bit more. "Can you get me a Japanese newspaper too?".
A short while later, Toga was reading the Tokyo Times, soaking in the information. It felt nice to read kanji after more than a year reading Latin and Cyrillic alphabets. Japan seemed rather peaceful, no new threats as big as the League around to cause havoc. On business news, the Singaporean guy´s company was still ridiculously successful. The paper had a socials section a bit too small for her crave, but it was still news; rumours of a wedding between Eraserhead and Ms. Joke, some paparazzi photos of Todoroki and Yaomomo looking, frankly, very sappy together. At least they aren't after my Izu-Izu, good. Another piece of good news; apparently Tokoyami and Tsuyu had confirmed their relationship on social media prior to their prom. Another one less! Sadly, there were no news about the rest, and she only found Mei Hatsume in the business section, on an interview about engineering. Boring stuff, really. Then again, he is coming to see me soon!
Mei Hatsume was bored out of her mind. The ceremony was almost an hour away but her dad, the retired hero Blacksmith, and her mom, the well-known surgeon Motoko Hatsume, had already brought her to UA to wait. That had meant getting up early, not for a project, but to get dressed up! It was ridiculous. With Momo Yaoyorozu´s help she had picked a bright blue Hakama with orange details, which was layered over her newest Babies; a skeletonized, articulated exoskeleton that supported her back, arms and legs while using thruster gloves and boots, which reduced in size to bracelets and shoes on command. The exo had the added benefit of minimizing lower back pain, which had been a constant since puberty. She had made a spinal support for Yaoyorozu as well, as she guessed she might experience similar issues herself.
She spotted a clearly distracted Izuku Midoriya arriving with his friendly rival Katsuki Bakugou and their parents. Bakugou wasn't fond of Mei, for some reason. Then again, quite a few weren't overly fond of her; Iida for that Sports Festival fight, Uraraka for some reason…she had no time to ponder that, her pal Izuku was on a jumping distance with the new rocket boots!
"Hey Mid!" she said as she landed just a bit too close to the green haired hero "You ready? And did you see the new Baby? I broke half my garage with the first flight! The boots and stabilizers combined, and you can fly jet-pack height!" Midoriya was instantly interested, watching as Mei showed off the gauntlets and boots, and how they shrank in size to fit under her dress, and said "Is that the folding metal you told me the other time? And is that exo based on a human spine?" "Yes and yes, my dude!". Soon the technobabble was too much for the nearby Bakugou, who was telling them to fuck off and die. He could be such a sweetheart these days. "Anyway Mei, do you think we could do some improvements to the suit on the weekend? I´m going with All Might to America for a while and I don't know when I will be returning, so it needs to be ready for anything. And there´s no one I trust more with my equipment!" Oh, is that right? More than that Melissa, eh? Oh you know how to treat an engineer, mate! Not that I´m jealous or anything! "Sure thing, pal, see you in the garage?" "Sure. Not to early, because you sleep late, right?" "You got it, Mid". The nickname saved her almost half a second every time she used it, and using time wisely is everything!
The rest of the generation started arriving then, first individually and then by groups, until everyone was there. She was baffled by Tokoyami having completely normal parents, amazed by the invisible Hagakures in fancy clothes, not surprised at all to see the plant-hair girl´s parents being as conservative as her, awed by how elegant some had dressed, students and parents alike. Even Midoriya´s teacher was presentable, his long hair tied neatly behind his head and his stubble shaved. And he looked proud and happy, with Ms. Joke on his arm as he actually laughed for once at her bad jokes and whatever Present Mic had said.
All Might in his now-permanent lanky form approached Midoriya, and as he left, he said with a warm smile "Oh, and I really liked your dress, Mei, it looks great on you!" Mei blushed a bit as he thanked him. She tried to take her mind off of thinking about Izuku as anything other than a friend by joining the rest of their team, the "First Response" team, comprised of Midoriya, Tsuyu, Todoroki, Yaoyorozu, Iida, Uraraka and herself. The team up idea had been Midoriya´s, forming at first a duo with Tsuyu, Emerald Green Rescue. Then the rest of his best friends had joined, so the green theme had to change. Yaoyorozu and Mei had been added after a while, to better improve their equipment. The amount of ideas Mei had in that environment was simply staggering, and it was the best place to start Hatsume Industries for real. The name had been changed to the current after the League of Villains had released All for One from Tartarus, as they had been among the heroes that had been in time to answer the distress call, their base, a garage in one of Yaoyorozu´s family´s warehouses, being just twenty minutes away, if you had a supersonic VTOL jet, which they had just recently made. The other heroes on site had been Endeavor´s team with a helicopter, Eraserhead and Shinsou, who were on patrol nearby, and Bakugou, who had taken his new motorcycle for a spin. Which reminded her she needed to clean the soda stains on the Mei.
The ceremony finally began, with speech after speech. And then it was her turn! Luckily, she had her notes written! She approached the podium and began her short speech "My fellow support students, engineers, we are crafting the future! Let's help these heroes keep our society safe, make this safe society better, and advance science! The world is counting on us, so let's go beyond the expectations! Plus Ultra!"
There were cheers, even from the students who considered her obnoxious. It felt good to have moments of glory like this, oh yes. "And remember, Hatsume Industries has something for every hero!" she cackled maniacally as she powered her jet boots and stabilizers, landing on her seat.
"Anyway, here´s young Shinsou from General Studies!" said All Might, the master of ceremonies for the event.
Izuku, All Might and Inko Midoriya had arrived at the airport with time to spare. Two flights were ahead of them, to Los Angeles and then to Florida, where Texas Red´s Agency would pick them up and get them to their base.
Izuku thought back to the prom party. Uraraka had decided not to ask him to go as her partner, to the surprise of some who didn't know them too well, and had gone with Iida instead, Izuku had ended up asking Mei as his date, but she had given a lot of emphasis to the fact that they would go just as friends. Maybe she was trying to convince herself. It had been quite fun to go to a school dance, without the pressure of it being a "real date", if that had been the case he might have been a lot more nervous. He had been happy to see Uraraka and Iida having fun together, maybe they would never had spent that time alone otherwise.
Mei had left for a while after her exoskeleton Baby had torn an arm in her dress while doing a programmed dance, that had stunned the whole dancefloor. "It seems the dance algorithm needs refinement!" she had said after going for a change of clothes.
But being date-less on the event had made him think of Toga again, and if she could ever go to an event like that. A very bizarre image had shaken the thoughts away, as Mineta had arrived with an actual, living girl as his date; a fangirl it seemed. The girls had then banded together, which had given him time to talk with Shouto Todoroki, about their plans after school. Shouto was planning a long trip with Momo in Europe but after that he wasn't sure. Heroes could get more specialized education after graduation, but it was completely optional, and in some cases was little more than an internship, which they had already had. Izuku explained his visit to America would probably be the same; Texas red could surely give him something for his resume besides everything else.
In the end, Izuku and Mei had ended up having to take care of a very drunk Ojiro and Hagakure, who had drunk a lot of the "punch" Monoma had passed around to liven up the party. The two drunken teens had cried, then told each other how much they loved the other, and then cried again, sad that they would lose contact with friends. Reassuring them, Izuku had patted them on the back, given them a shoulder to cry on, and had leapt aside with Full Cowl when Hagakure had almost puked on him. Eventually, they had walked them home to Hagakure´s house, which was only a train stop away. Izuku had laid them on a couch with bottles of sports drinks for when they woke up, and buckets should they vomit again. Apologizing to the elder Hagakures again, they left. Izuku had offered to walk Mei home, but after a nervous laugh, she had said it was too "date-y" and had rocketed away on her jet boots.
The day after, in the "First Response" garage, he had found some of his teammates quite hungover, victims of Monoma´s punch, and had made them some breakfast. Tokoyami, who had crashed in a couch with Tsuyu, had even bowed and called him "a saviour in my darkest hour of need, an Orpheus retrieving this wretch from the abyss" after the food had made his nausea subside. Arriving late and lethargic, with a robot arm feeding her an energy drink, Mei nodded in his direction. She was not a morning person, and niceties would always depend on the time of day with her. Izuku handed her the briefcase containing his hero costume and let her do a routine checkout on her own time. She would call him for the improvements when needed. So, to pass the time he sparred with Todoroki, exercise would help the son of Endeavor sweat out whatever alcohol remained in his system.
Martial arts without using quirks, they fought for a while, mostly just horsing around and throwing punches and kicks. A few minutes in, Tsuyu and Momo joined. They looked much better after having had breakfast too. The intercom blared with Hatsume´s voice, energetic again "Mid, get in here, its UPGRADE TIME!"
The garage was divided in four parts; the actual garage, housing their VTOL craft, the Mei, a few other vehicle prototypes and an all-terrain pickup truck Tsuyu had acquired second hand, their first car; another had a living area, kitchen and some beds in a male room and a female room; another was a planning and operations room; and the last part was the workshop. Mei had painstakingly reproduced every machine available in UA´s workshop with Momo´s help, and then had researched new tech and added it too. The walls were covered in Hatsume Industries banners and posters, with a few posters featuring other geniuses too. And dominating the entire room, a sign saying, "Accident free workplace for 05 days". They had not used the double digits yet.
Izuku entered the workshop to the familiar scents of oils, lubricants, fire, molten metal, and Hatsume´s perfume. Thankfully, he didn't smell the overpowering sulphur of another explosion; Mei was just doing routine checks, but with her Babies combustion was always a possibility. Mei didn't look up from her work, and just said "The suit´s in perfect condition, what changes should we make?" The suit had changed quite a bit since the design Izuku and his mother had made; the stronger material, the gloves and kneepads, the extensions for Shoot Style, some more strategic armouring Mei had suggested throughout their school years. It was still the same look, though, and still kept his "bunny ears" even if he never wore the hood. Maybe someday he would need it for rain or something.
"I´m seeing All Might´s friend in Florida, maybe we could make the suit more breathable in some areas? And maybe use that tech you used on the jet boots to make the up-armoured plates a bit less cumbersome?" "Good ideas, pal. I also thought about adding a layer of a new weave I made with Yaomomo the other day. Here, feel this." She passed him a length of black cloth. It was flexible but strong and was rather light as well. "Now look at this!" she said, snatching the cloth and stabbing it with one of her cutting tools. The cloth held. "It dampens damage and holds its integrity remarkably well. If we weave this it will make you very, very resistant." "Sounds good. Can I help with anything?" "Just bring me some of that breakfast please, Mid, my stomach will feel weird in a while if all I´ve had is energy drinks." "Sure, one breakfast coming up, master craftswoman!" "You are a lifesaver, mate. Never change!"
Mei had called Momo at noon, and Todoroki had joined Midoriya in bringing the girls their afternoon meal. At 6 P.M., Mei had called him again, the suit was ready. It was light, protective and allowed great freedom of movement.
The plane was ready, and Izuku boarded with his family. His carry-on had his suit, just in case. He put on his headphones, and listened to his playlist, the one he had shared in an interview for a teen magazine. Soon he had fallen asleep and the long flight passed quickly. Landing on L.A., they had some time to stretch their legs and eat before boarding the next flight.