I'M SUPER SORRY. It was supposed to be published yesterday evening but I had a bad day at work and I kind of forgot. Mea culpa. Grab the chapter now :D
(***)
Yamajiji - It's just that my honest opinion about the canon is that it lacks the whole 'Cardboard Prison' issue. The villains are always massively outnumbered and actually suffer casualties (unlike heroes, at least until Sir Nighteye and then the Paranormal Liberation War Arc). The fact that pretty much a handful of people can cause so much devastation despite the number of their enemies just makes the heroes look like a bunch of incompetent clowns. So I had Overhaul, the discount Cardboard Prison dealer, to make sure that the villains - even defeated - aren't out of the picture for most of the story :P
Wittyartificer - Nope!
KiteRider - Congratulations, 1/3 of that is correct. Not saying which one. And congratulations because literally no one in either AO3 or FF figured even a single name out.
SD2901 - Fair.
(***)
Battling the Beast managed to completely exhaust Izuku. The amount of strength he had to put in restraining him was significant, but he could easily hold him for twice or thrice as much. Igniting again to shatter the shield wall and, worst of all, trying to stop Overhaul's goons from pulling Imasuji into a warpgate, in the meantime…
He tried to hold his ground for a bit too long. When he did that, he really overextended himself. He could use his quirk normally for hours (he actually helped himself appear stronger and tax his muscles less by some light telekinesis used almost constantly), but Ignition was… something else.
This really knocked him out. Thankfully, he wasn't alone.
He left the door to his room open. Tsuyu took that as an invitation. Izuku wasn't even aware of how much of the time of his recovery nap he spent embracing Tsuyu. Who fully accepted being his body pillow.
Accepted and enjoyed. Her need for sleep wasn't even nearly similar in scale to his. So occasionally she snuck out of the room to eat or spend time with Ochaco. But most of the time, when she wasn't asleep, she spent in his embrace.
She could see him. Smell him. Hear his steady breath. Feel him next to her. She loved every second of that. When their position allowed it, she played with his hair. Lightly, so as not to wake him up. He deserved to rest. He was so exhausted because he put his back into his quest to save as many people as he could. Just like he saved Tsuyu.
Just like he kept saving Tsuyu.
She didn't have a way with words. She could read others well enough (she spent years observing people in secret, using her camouflage ability to remain undetected, this brought some benefits), but she knew it didn't go the other way.
She hated that fact. She hated not being able to communicate with others as freely as they could do with each other. She did her best, but she was still far away. Thankfully, her friends didn't care about her oddities. They were still her friends, regardless of that.
But Izuku went beyond that. He did not know that Tsuyu kept falling deeper and deeper in love with him each time he guessed what she wanted to say, but wasn't sure how. Merely from hearing her ribbiting or seeing her so expressionless face.
Helping him rest properly was the least she could do to pay him back. Being able to play with his fluffy hair to her heart's content was a bonus.
(***)
Izuku finally woke up (with his mental faculties back to their normal level of operations) almost sixty hours after the battle against the Beast. He could feel Tsuyu right next to him, the warmth unmistakable.
He opened his eyes (thankfully, he ate and drink the last time he woke up, although he barely remembered doing that) to see her big eyes looking at him from up close. With their standard intensity.
Looks like he didn't miss anything important. The building was still standing, to begin with. It was nice knowing that things might work without you around.
"Ribbit." Tsuyu announces. Izuku smiles at her. She's clearly happy, and equal parts lazy and satisfied with her life. He figured her out well enough by now.
"Well, I'm happy for you, Tsu." Izuku replies. The frog girl gives him a slightly odd stare. "But don't you think that it's time to get up?" He most likely has a lot to catch up on. How long did he even sleep?
She is staring at him for several long seconds, the two of them still embracing each other under the quilt. And, naturally, she is naked. Some things never change. Such as his body's natural reaction to that (that he manages to more or less control at this point, at least enough not to embarrass himself).
Then she ribbits. In a way that's somewhat familiar, but… what might it b…
Oh. He remembers when he heard it. That morning when Tsuyu became his girlfriend.
"Well, uhm, if that's what you want…" He says, blushing red. Tsuyu lets out a light ribbit of confirmation. "... then I guess we can stay in bed a bit longer."
(***)
Izuku eventually steps out of his room. Turns out that he slept all the way to the weekend. Mei was at the UA, but after a brief talk with Tsuyu, she left her boyfriend to the frog girl.
Resting, apparently, is important. And she is way too hyperactive to let Izuku sleep properly if she was to sleep next to him. Mei has matured in the ways of normal people enough to realize that. Izuku is slightly proud.
Izuku quickly goes through the summaries of missed events. He missed most of the post-action clean-up. Not to mention whatever passed as debrief among the Musutafu law enforcement.
Hawks was apparently called to explain the 'monumental fuck-up' to Senior Commissioner Koji. So they were going to find out where the SAT was sitting in all of that mess soon enough.
Izuku exchanged all the greetings and other social stuff with his friends (including a lot of mandatory 'how do you feel' - he felt alright, probably thanks to Tsuyu, his main pillar of emotional support). Then he announced an emergency meeting that evening.
They had to talk about something.
(***)
Everyone was there. Even Momo and Tokoyami, who still didn't pick any hero names and were technically not members of the Metahuman Network (in practice, though, it was only a matter of time). The common room in the headquarters was rather crowded.
Izuku really doesn't enjoy talking to a group of people. How did he become a leader is anyone's guess, really. Somehow, people were looking up to him, and he had absolutely no idea how that happened.
"I would like to announce…" Izuku says once the last two stragglers (Hijack and Carmilla, because of course Shinsou is being a problem) arrive. "That we're branching out."
A matter of time. Thus far, they contracted more than expanded (especially with their recruitment of Hosu metahumans and their subsequent evacuation to Takoba). And that wasn't a good thing.
"Assistant Commissioner Mera of Aldera City police department decided that having metahumans in his order of battle is a good idea." Izuku continues. "However, we've located no local meta-ability users for us to recruit. At least thus far. This means that we need someone to move there."
He lets the unspoken implications hang out in the room for a moment. The people in front of him are busy swallowing the news. He lets them do that in peace.
"Whoever moves can still come back through Eclipse's warpgates, right?" Surprisingly enough, Tokoyami speaks. "So it's not a permanent separation?"
"Generally, yes." Izuku replies. "But if we, in the future, develop more regional branches, doing that without overworking Eclipse might be a problem. So the regularity of visits might drop in time. Why do you ask?"
"No reason." Tokoyami dodges the question. Unfortunately, Shadow doesn't let him.
"He doesn't want people to drop out of his DnD campaign!" It yells from underneath Tokoyami's clothes. "He's super serious about finishing it properly!"
"Oh, just shut up already." Tokoyami is clearly exasperated. The people in the room either laugh openly or pretend that they aren't laughing.
Shadow has recently become slightly more reasonable. As in, not bored at all. Tokoyami questioned its choice of entertainment (magical girls anime, really?), but at least it behaved. More or less. Changing its antics into a sort of comic relief, as there no longer was a threat of a bloody murder hanging over it.
"Mad banquet of daaaarkness, Fumi." Shadow retorts. Oh yeah, those words again. Not Fumikage's best idea for a campaign name. Shadow is making fun of it relentlessly. 'Too grim and it's a living shadow speaking'. "Also, can I be called Dark Shadow? It really fits the naming theme."
"No." Fumikage states flatly. He is clearly tired of this. "Also, Midoriya, please continue."
"Yeah, I will." Izuku replies. "We need someone intelligent, hard-working, charismatic and street-wise as a leader of our new branch office. Unfortunately, I had to settle on Hijack."
Another explosion of laughter. Hijack doesn't join it. Then again, he also doesn't feel angry. He probably expected what was coming way ahead of it. The regular needle stabs between the two of them are something rather regular, at least ever since Shinsou kind of got over his acute fear of Midoriya.
"Well, with all due respect, boss…" Shinsou replies. "... fuck you." He actually flips him the bird.
"So you do not wish to be empowered with mostly independent command of all metahumans in a city, while being moved away from my direct oversight?" Izuku asks curiously. Shinsou clearly rethinks his position.
"Alright." Hijack nods. "I'm changing my reply to 'frick you, kindly'. Also, I think that this is a good idea, except… err…" He actually looks worried, while completely ignoring the chuckles his answer provoked. "Do you think that this is a good idea? I mean, considering my past."
"Look…" Izuku replies. "... just don't tell Mera about it. The worst-case scenario, you'll only build the foundation and then get recalled here once we'll have local heroes to work with. You know the procedures, and having an underground hero in charge might help persuade some local small-time villains to convert. After all, if someone like them can get accepted to that point…" He pauses, while giving Shinsou a knowing look.
"That's fair." Hijack replies. "So besides me and Carmilla, who else is going there?" Of course, not sending Carmilla with him simply isn't an option. Not like Izuku planned to do that, either way.
"Well, I thought about Tornado and Amplitude." Todoroki gives him an odd stare. Yoarashi gives him a questioning stare. "The locals already saw you in action. You both have highly versatile quirks that can be helpful in rescue and combat. You are both powerhouses, enough to give Hijack some serious arguments in case of an attack. Todoroki is also the closest thing you have to a friend."
"I disagree." Todoroki says immediately. Shinsou actually looks shocked. But Todoroki, in his clearly emotionless state, doesn't seem to care. "You are clearly more of his friend than me, Midoriya."
Shinsou lets out some choking sounds. Midoriya makes a pantomime of trying not to vomit. The room explodes with laughter. Carmilla appears to find it the most hilarious out of them all.
"Oh god, Todo." Shinsou finally manages to say. Izuku has stopped pretending (it was more of an exaggeration than pretending, seriously, what the hell) "He isn't my friend! What the hell is wrong with you?!"
Todoroki doesn't answer. Instead, he pulls out a sheet of paper from his pocket. Then he spreads it out and shows it to the people in the room.
It's his father's photo.
Shit-eating grin accompanying this stunt is rather spectacular. Who knows how long he was carrying this photo around, waiting for someone to ask him that very question.
The biggest positive side of not having Todoroki around constantly is that he won't make Izuku almost choke to death on air so regularly.
Kirishima laughs as well, despite it slightly aggravating his only barely healed bruises. He also decides to speak.
"What about me and my friend?" He says while raising his hand. Yoarashi looks overjoyed at that assessment. "I mean, separating us is kinda…" Well, mentioning the whole Shinsou-Todoroki friendship was a dangerous move on Izukus' side.
"You can still hang around at school, during joint deployments, and while either of you simply visits each other." Izuku says. "You'll simply be living separately." If anything, so many of them living alongside with their crushes and friends was odd.
This building was supposed to be the headquarters of a superhero team! Instead, it felt like some particularly neat and well-organized anarchist squat. Ugh.
"I WASN'T HERE TO SEE THE NETWORK STARTING." Yoarashi announces. "WHICH IS A SHAME, AS I BELIEVE THE FOUNDING SUCH AN ORGANIZATION IN ORDER TO HELP PEOPLE IS SUPER PASSIONATE AND, TO QUOTE MY FRIEND, EXTREMELY MANLY." Kirishima gives him a thumbs-up gesture. Mina grins. Yoarashi responds with a combination of both reactions before continuing. "GETTING TO HELP IN ORGANIZING A COMPLETELY NEW SUBORGANIZATION IS THE CLOSEST I CAN GET TO PARTAKING IN SUCH A HOT BLOODED FEAT! IT'LL BE MY PLEASURE TO ASSIST HIJACK!"
He looks pumped up. Reactions to this announcement are overwhelmingly positive. Except for Shinsou. Shinsou sighs painfully.
"You included him to torture me mentally, didn't you?" He says to Midoriya.
"No." Midoriya lies in a surprisingly convincing way.
(***)
Hawks phones Aizawa on Monday morning. Using the secure phone, the one provided by the Network. That they had to rely on it to be sure that they aren't being overheard by Overhaul is rather sad.
"Sup there, old man." Aizawa hears from the phone. He is busy trying to manage his police department. It's like herding cats, most of the time, expect there are people out there who want to murder said animals.
Aizawa likes cats. Letting them die is a large nope in his book.
He was in his office, sorting through the paperwork. Contrary to popular opinions, the police were like the army. 99% of the job was boredom and paperwork. Only the remaining 1% was the problem.
Especially nowadays. It was getting close to 3%. And still growing.
"Hawks." Aizawa replies as emotionlessly as possible. "What do you want?"
"Well, I'm calling to inform you that there are nine very competent and jobless former police officers waiting to get hired." Hawks replies. "Here in Musutafu, imagine that. What a coincidence."
Oh, great. Senior Commissioner Koji decided to be an idiot. Then again, he already was an idiot. There was a reason Aizawa and (as of recent) Mera did everything behind his back.
"So our prefectural SAT unit all stood up and left." Aizawa summarizes it. "He must have been shocked."
"Oh, totally." Keigo replies. "Should have seen his face when he realized I wasn't bluffing. He was almost begging me on his knees to stay. He even offered to agree to my demands, but… well."
"You didn't agree to that?" Aizawa was actually surprised by that. It sounded like a perfectly logical move. Most of all, Hawks' team would have kept their equipment. At least the 'official' equipment. Toothpick wasn't part of that.
"Look, I'm sick and tired of working for the man who requires to be fucking blackmailed by his subordinates to do something with a snitch in his bureau." Hawks says. His voice is almost uncharacteristically angry. Then again, said snitch almost got him and his men and women killed. "And his 'something' isn't looking for the source of the leak seriously, but making me excluded from being a potential victim. I have no clue what game is Koji playing, but it's certainly not for the greater good of Musutafu citizens."
"Wait." Aizawa actually develops some sudden suspicions. "You don't think that he…"
"I don't think that Koji is working for Overhaul." Hawks interrupt him. "If he did, we'd all be dead and buried by now. And Overhaul would simply have you booted from the force under some false charges when you started being a problem for him." That makes sense. "But he is… what was the word? Washy?"
"Fishy." Aizawa replies. Hawks was being weird again.
"Yeah, fishy." Keigo says and goes on. "Koji is fishy. I do not know what he is planning, but… I mean let's be real. You are practically doing his job at this point. You and Mera. Koji and Takehiko are more of an obstacle than help."
In all honesty, Aizawa kept forgetting that Takehiko existed. Despite Commissioner Iseri Takehiko being the head of the Prefectural Police Headquarters. Which made him the direct boss of Hawks, and the actual head of the prefectural police force. So, technically, Aizawa and Mera's boss.
That man was practically absent. There was a long-standing joke among the police officers in the prefecture that Iseri Takehiko is a perfectly independent officer who absolutely isn't completely dominated, controlled and micromanaged by Koji - and he proves that fact by choosing the color of his shoelaces every morning without consulting Senior Commissioner Koji.
Aizawa was willing to bet that the joke was incorrect. And Takehiko was actually consulting Oh Koji about that. Hawks actually simply skipped him entirely and went straight to Koji when wanting to issue his ultimatum. The perfect description of the absolute no one that Iseri was.
Takehiko was technically the head of the prefectural police, while Koji was supposed to oversee the police on the regional scale. So not only this prefecture but also the neighboring ones. How he had the time for this while micromanaging Musutafu to the point where everyone was completely ignoring Takehiko was a mystery.
Aizawa would have suspected Takehiko of being the spy out of spite against Koji, but he was too much of a no one to do that. Absolute scaredy cat.
They would not enlighten the Senior Commissioner without knowing what the hell was he doing, really. The last thing they wanted was him demanding 'their' metahumans for himself in order to use them in some weird… something. They did not know what. But Aizawa wasn't taking any chances.
"Well, great." Aizawa sighs. "Naturally, you and your team are hired. I'm probably going to have to beg Sasaki for some money to pay you without having to fire anyone, and I'm not fully sure where to get equipment for you, but I'll figure something out."
He has some ideas. Isn't Hatsume heiress a part of the Network? He's willing to beg her parents for a loan if it brings them all anywhere. Besides, Hawks probably has some small arsenal of illegally owned equipment and weaponry scavenged from who knows where and stored who knows where. Like Toothpick.
Then again, so does Aizawa. According to the latest stocktaking of the police arsenal, half of the guns and ammo available to the Takoba police were previously confiscated from some criminals. They should have been disposed of, but… if he did that, he wouldn't have enough weapons for his men. Instead, he doesn't have enough men for his weapons. It's an improvement. Sort of.
"Sweet." Hawks replies calmly. "There was a time when I thought that working for Mirai Sasaki after graduation would be cool. Then I wanted to become a police officer. Funny how things turned out in the end."
Aizawa doesn't find it funny. Then again, he doesn't find a lot of things funny nowadays. His wife is doing her best to alleviate that, and it sometimes works, but…
"On a sidenote, we've decided to merge our special units." Aizawa continues. "We as in me and Mera. And give them some proper name instead of referring to them as Riot Police Units."
Which was wrong on so many levels. Like, the actual RPU had only one section dedicated to counter-terrorism operations, namely the Anti-Firearms Squad. If you excluded the dedicated counter-NBC terrorism units tasked with dealing with nuclear, biological, and chemical threats. And the bomb disposal squad.
Not to mention the fact that they had both the official and two unofficial Riot Police Units. It made things way too complicated. Mera had a good idea that it's time to change that if they are going to operate against Overhaul together.
"Oh?" Hawks is only briefly surprised by that. "That sounds kinda cool. So, how is your personal death squad going to be called?"
"Refer to it as the death squad again, and I'm going to get angry." Aizawa replies dryly. "Neither of us thinks that creativity is very important right now, so we'll probably settle on a Special Operations Unit. Considering the fact that you are the most qualified person we have, I think I'd like to offer you a seat of its commanding officer. And a promotion to the rank of a superintendent."
Hawks actually wheezes into the phone at that.
"Wow, I didn't see that coming." He admits. "So resigning from the force is ending with me being promoted. What a time to be alive. I'd be both a head of the Special Operations Unit and the Quirk Suppression Squad serving as a part of it, right? Because I assume that we're in too much of a crisis right now to be ready to keep qualified people behind the desks."
"Correct." Aizawa replies. "Find someone to do your paperwork for you if you want to focus on shooting people."
"Contrary to popular opinion, I'm doing my own paperwork." Hawks looks vaguely hurt by the unspoken accusation. "The key is to stand before the mirror in the morning and tell yourself that when you'll do the paperwork, you'll be free to party hard without having to worry about some unfinished business."
"Yeah, sure." Aizawa is unconvinced. "Anything to add?"
"There is going to be more than just the Quirk Suppression Squad, am I right?" Hawks says. "Any special name for the regular grunts dealing with the 'ye olde firearms? And who's the oldest ranked guy from the two merged groups?"
The former question is mostly irrelevant. The latter is actually on-point, since the person in question will probably be Hawks second-in-command. At least of the Hawks-as-SOU leader. Quirk Suppression Squad will operate differently.
"Chief Inspector Iida." Aizawa replies, ignoring the irrelevant parts. "Tensei Iida. Formerly the head of my personal RPU analogue."
"Hey, I know him!" Hawks exclaims. "He is a swell guy. Well, working with him will be a pleasure. What are the numbers we're talking about?"
"If we persuade one or two people to unretire themselves…" Something that might be possible if Sasaki drops some monthly funds from his personal pocket. Temporary investment, no doubt. But it might save lives. And, in the long term, his school and private empire. "... we might get the SOU to thirty members." Which would mean more or less equaling the known number of Chisaki's praetorians.
"Cool." Keigo Takami replies after thinking it over for a few seconds. "Not much for having to deal with the prefecture-sized criminal empire with its own supervillains, but we'll manage. Well, probably. I'll drop by your office to talk about facilities, training and procedures in an hour. Would it kill you to order a bucket of chicken wings from KFC ahead of the meeting? I'm absolutely starving right now. Koji was being an obstructive ass, and we wasted a lot of time on that."
Aizawa sighs and quickly reminds himself that he might not like it, but they need Hawks.
"I'll see what I can do." He says. While adding the 'no promises are made' clause in his mind. "Anything else?
"Nah… oh, wait." Hawks clearly corrects himself. "Is there a chance that I could borrow Gargoyle for a few hours tomorrow or the day after? I need to drop by a friend in Tokyo. And I'd like to both enlighten them a bit about the superheroes biz and find out what exactly they know about it. For reference and so on."
What?
"Who are you talking about, exactly?" Aizawa refuses to go in blind.
"Tsunagu Hakamada." Hawks replies. Aizawa quickly connects the dots. The name isn't very famous, but recognizable enough to a police officer.
"Seriously?" Aizawa asks. "You think that it's a good idea?" He, to put it mildly, isn't convinced.
"Look, I know him for quite a while AND I owe him something." Hawks replies. "I believe that enlightening him about the serious domestic terrorist threat that the meta-abilities are is not only a good way of paying him back, but might also buy us some long-term positive feelings in the capital. And perhaps prolong the existence of the Japanese government by a few months. Maybe even years."
Aizawa thinks it over. He still isn't convinced, but Takami put forward some reasonable arguments.
"I'll contact Sasaki." He eventually says. "And Mera. We'll see what their opinion on it is, then we'll talk." He'll probably consult the rest of the council as well. Just in case.
"Sweet." Hawks replies. "I'll be going then. Don't forget about the chicken wings. Ciao."
(***)
Look, Tsuyu might not be very horny, but 60h of slow-paced foreplay does things even to frogs. Sheesh.
Also, who might Tsunagu Hakamada (aka Best Jeanist) be in this world, I wonder? :P
And also, next chapter includes another move of Overhaul. Honestly, it might just be worse than the Marukane Ward clusterfuck, so look forward to it :V It also includes the debut of two characters that I was asked about several times already. Who might that be, I wonder?