Musutafu City. A bustling urban jungle filled to the brim with powerful quirk-users and interesting individuals. The fact that it's the home of the illustrious U.A. High School means that it's become the working territory of hundreds of talented heroes, and the settling place of hundreds more, nearly-as-talented, failed examinees – turned civilians, or otherwise vigilantes. Because of this populace's overall affiliation with hero-work, most would presume it's the safest city in Japan. However, below its shining and admirable surface, lies a despicable and dangerous criminal shadow.
After the fall of All-Might – an event that the world of heroes is still struggling to recover from – many would-be criminals began appearing from the city's dissatisfied populace, and many more from outside of it. This was the place that the League of Villains claimed their victory against the world's greatest hero, and where thousands of new villains sought to create their own legends. Even after the city's heroes, alongside volunteers from the neighboring cities and some support from the United States, rallied themselves behind my husband's heroic charge against the League and swiftly brought them to justice… this criminal underbelly still survives, and has defiantly thrived.
Heroes could be killed. Even those that were thought to be immortal. That was all the world of villains needed to know. And with that proof, their numbers only increased, and their selfish fanaticism could only heighten from here on.
And with that fact, we heroes, with the help of local and government law enforcement, doubled in our efforts to arrest these criminals and keep safe the populace. Regular civilians began to bulk purchase self-defense items from Support Companies, police forces were quicker to respond to any perceived threats, militarized police became the norm, and it was practically impossible to keep track of the ever-multiplying number of vigilantes. An aggressive anti-villain culture spread throughout this city, and is continuing to pass onto other districts in Japan. One can only quickly adapt to this extreme culture of anti-villainy, or regrettably become a victim to it. You were either with us, or against us.
That was why many of the students of U.A. adjusted their approaches to heroism, with villain-battling as their focus. And that's why thousands of villains banded together in response. A war was occurring in this city. A war where numbers determined the victories of its battles.
In this war, a single hero couldn't defeat two villains, because those numbers always exponentially grew by the battle's end. One became two. Two became four. Four, eight. And it wasn't uncommon to have incidents end with over fifty individuals battling in the streets.

So what chance did three heroes have against seventy villains?
Barely a chance, but barely is all we needed.
We won. After a horrible seven hour battle… we won.

The heroes Deku, Hoplight, and Uravity succeeded in their fight against The Poisoned Mind – a criminal organization that was known for its uncanny ability to pass information between its members in milliseconds. It's more accurate to say that the three of us only succeeded in defeating one villain in this group, as we had discovered that all members of the Poisoned Mind were under a hive-mind-control by a single, omega-grade villain, known as Foursight. Fighting any group or individual in the Poisoned Mind meant that you were facing off against Foursight personally.
It was terrifying, the idea that someone had a Quirk that could steal your body so wholly, at that massive of a scale… And it was even more terrifying seeing all those villains share that man's same, peculiar smile. I wonder if they were still conscious under his mind-control.
I wonder if they were still conscious during that fight. Deku and I knocked out a fair number of them in painful ways – as they wouldn't go down otherwise. Uravity could only incapacitate a few at a time. But all of them fell to the ground at once, as if the strings of a puppet were cut, when we were finally able to single out and defeat their possessor, Foursight.
This had been a near-impossible venture, considering our foe, our numbers, and our time-limit. But it was at least made 'near-impossible', as opposed to being kept 'impossible' – with great thanks to Yaomomo's personal assistant. The seventy-two we faced in The Poisoned Mind's base was originally numbered at one-hundred sixty-eight, but Yaomomo's assistant had created for us an odd device that emitted a nauseating high-pitch sound, which somehow cut through the mental link of over half of the hive-mind. Had Foursight been able to keep his full roster of enslaved villains for that fight, I highly doubt we would have succeeded, let alone gotten out alive.
We really owe Creati for this victory – not that Momo will let her take any credit for it.

The heroine Creati, civilian name Akahoshi Hitomi, is Yaoyorozu Momo's personal assistant, inheritor of her former hero name, and was an underclassman of ours back in U.A. Izuku and I never met her beforehand, nor did we know anything about her until just a few days ago, but apparently Ochaco was quite familiar with her. During our third year, Ochaco volunteered to help mentor the first year students of the Hero Course – a task that traditionally fell on many third years. But our last year had been a hectic time, so very few of us could spare the effort to meet and greet our underclassmen. Uraraka, though, made the effort to mentor them. And it was there that she met Akahoshi.
At that time, Akahoshi was a shy and withdrawn girl that was terrified of her own Quirk's power. With the ability to manifest anything that made logical, physical sense in our reality out of thin air, with just her thoughts – most of her fellow classmates assumed she would have been proud of her Quirk. But there was a drawback to her ability that kept her from using it with confidence: with every imagined item she made physical, she would permanently lose a memory. And with larger, more complicated objects, she would lose several memories at once.
From what she had been told by her parents: in the past, Akahoshi had even reset her mind back to its infant stage, after creating intricate items – twice. She'd lost childhood friends and important experiences because of this drawback. So it was a surprise for those who knew her that, after years of abstaining from her Quirk's use, she had taken U.A.'s entrance exam and entered into its Hero Course.
Izuku had inspired her, apparently. The stunts he pulled back in the Sports Festival and the publicized events afterwards – using his Quirk sparingly, and breaking through its self-harming weaknesses – pushed her to use her Quirk again – to not be chained down by it – to reach for something greater than her fears. And with time and discipline, she succeeded in those goals.
During her first year, she had been trained by Uraraka in how to use her Quirk more efficiently. During her second, after petitioning to be an intern for a small-at-the-time Agency, Yaoyorozu took her in and mentored her personally – teaching her how to counter her Quirk's glaring weaknesses. By her third year, she had mastered the creation ability by minimalizing its negative aftereffects. And by graduation, she was invited into The Hero's Rescue Agency, to work directly under Yaomomo – though she rarely ever gets to see her in-person.
Akahoshi told us this summary of her hero-career when we first met her…
And again, when we asked her to tell us a little more about herself…
And again, while we were sharing stories about ourselves over the com-radio…
And once more, now, while we're limping back to our Agency vehicle.

"Um, Creati, you told us this before. Four times, actually." Uraraka says what Izuku and I have been avoiding to say. We didn't want to discourage Akahoshi, especially since she seemed proud over how much she's improved in her memory reductions. But it needed to be said, I suppose. And it's better that Uraraka is the one to bring it up – since they're more familiar with each other.

"Is that so?" the younger woman says with a blank expression, "I apologize."

…

Silence has taken over the conversation – for the third time today.

Akahoshi is… a very awkward girl. In casual conversation or with honest questions, she keeps responses distant and overly formal. Answers or comments always come in a strange two-sentence format – no more, no less. Humor also seems absolutely foreign to her. And the only things we know about her personality beneath this forced sense of professionalism: is that she's often lost in thought, and that she's only conversational whenever topics about heroes are brought up.
The former may just be her trying to recall lost memories, but the latter may have more to do with the fact that she graduated at the start of the 'Fan Hero' era – a time where a majority of newcomer heroes and heroines based their approach to justice on the legends that came before them, rather than build up a natural sense for it themselves. In other words: she's a fangirl. And most likely, her awkward and professional attitude comes from emulating her favorite heroine and manager, Yaoyorozu.
Yaoyorozu must not talk much with the poor girl. I wonder how they can manage communicating Agency information with each other if they both follow this two-sentence format.

My husband clears his throat to break the lingering silence. "W-Weren't we parked on the other side of the building?"

"Yes." is sentence number-one of two in Akahoshi's response. "But we had it moved to avoid the press." is number-two.

"Oh… Are we not supposed to talk with the press about this mission?"

"The boss says that the public shouldn't think your efforts are made to gain positive media coverage. They should conclude that you're making these efforts out of your own desire to save people."

"I suppose. But, er, I've been wondering about something… Is the Hero's Rescue even authorized to do missions like these? Making direct raids on villain bases, that is. That's more Endeavor Agency's domain, right? I thought Hero's Rescue only works with cases where a hero is in danger, or is put in a dangerous situation."

"Several of the villains working under The Poisoned Mind were originally heroes that went rogue. After what you discovered about Foursight's mind-controlling Quirk, the Hero's Rescue got authorization for the raid."

"But we made that discovery after we started the raid…"

"The public doesn't know that."

"Wait, wait, wait – did we just do something illegal?"

"It would have only been considered illegal if those villains weren't wanted criminals. They were wanted criminals."

"But there's a legal order to this, right? Agency domain regulations. Our Agency can't act on an unrelated, already-claimed domain without contract permissions. If any Agencies staking out that base found out that we raided it without proof of an endangered hero beforehand, they would have full rights to sue us!"

"Your color-coding this week is chartreuse – which has you associated with our Investigation and Vigilante Wings. Any questioning Agencies would have to go through them in order to find any substantial evidence."

"That… That doesn't change the fact that we're doing this out of turn, and behind other heroes' backs."

"No other heroes have succeeded in what you three just accomplished, Mr. Midoriya. I'm sure they would be grateful for your efforts."

"Maybe… But if Yaoyorozu's Agency gets sued because of what we just did, I'd feel terrible."

"Our boss most likely knew about the possible consequences of today's raid. There's no need to worry."

"That would mean she also knows the consequences of the next two raids." I add my own concerns into the conversation, "Since there's little chance that the two largest criminal organizations share the same Quirk-problem as this one did, what would the Hero's Rescue's excuse be to work outside of its jurisdictions for those missions?"

"It wouldn't be outside of our jurisdictions to raid either of those two. One of our operatives might be held captive by one of them."

"Might? As in – you're not even sure if they're the ones responsible for this operative being captured? So we'll be working under sketchy reasons without evidence again."

"Might, as in – we're unsure which of them is holding the operative captive, or if they're even alive. Outside of that, we have substantial evidence that proves these two groups are responsible for the initial disappearance of our operative."

"Then this is an actual rescue mission." Izuku states with a very determined tone. Just a few minutes ago, he had been breathing raggedly and nearly stumbling with every step. But with the mention of a life in grave danger – Izuku quickly shrugs off his coat of mental and physical fatigue. As expected from the number-one hero Deku. It's one of the many things I admire about him.
"How soon can we start?" he asks.

"Next week." I answer myself.

"This person needs our help now, Tsuyu!"

"And we won't be any help with the state we're in. We barely managed to stop a villain group of seventy – and that was with us at our peak. Do you honestly think we can handle either Stain's Justice or NFA while we're injured? Just look at Ochaco!"

"Huh? What did I do?" Ochaco asks, sitting inside the basket of a shopping cart. She had lost all feeling in her limbs hours ago and hadn't been able to walk since. The shopping cart was provided by Creati to help carry her back to the vehicle.

"I can –" Izuku starts.

I won't let him finish that sentence. "No. You can't. You won't. I won't let you, and neither will Ochaco."

"Huh? Do what?" Ochaco rolls her head to look in our direction.

"Izuku wants to go fight a villain group by himself."

"Are you crazy?!"

"Someone's life is in danger!" our husband defends his conviction. "And if I need to, I can ask –"

"You're unable to ask anyone for help in this task." Akahoshi uncharacteristically butts-in, "Doing so will have you expelled from Hero's Rescue."

"We're still under the no-help rule? Even when someone's life is on the line?"

"Our operative's disappearance was most likely influenced by foul play. Another hero, either inside Hero's Rescue or from an outside group we associate with, had leaked false information for the mission we placed them in."

"… Meaning?"

"Meaning our boss doesn't trust anyone with this task, outside of you three. So only you three may take on this mission."

Izuku's furrowed brows relax, as his eyes wander down to his feet. It's an expression he makes whenever he knows he's lost in a discussion, but isn't happy with its conclusion. He normally asks a question afterwards – looking for something to satisfy the end result.
"Why did Yaoyorozu trust us with this mission? We're new recruits." he asks, on cue.

"It's precisely because we're new recruits." I answer for him. "It's because, for two weeks, we were hounded by the press, having our every public interaction recorded and publicized. Which means we have a solid alibi. It would've been impossible for us to be the culprits of the operative's disappearance, since, I assume, they went missing during those two weeks."
I take off my battle helmet and give Akahoshi a questioning glare. "Am I correct in this assumption?"

"Yes." she answers with her first sentence. "It's exactly as you say." and completes it with her second.

"You're so smart, Tsuyu!" Ochaco compliments from her basket – nodding her head in place of applause.

"I'm nowhere near as smart as Yaomomo, it seems." I reply, with a jabbing tone directed at Akahoshi. "She had planned this from the start. We weren't picked off the job-hunting market because she felt like being nice to us – she did it because she needed someone for this impossible mission. And who better for it than the world's strongest hero? And just to make sure we could take on the city's two largest villain organizations by ourselves – she tested us against the third largest first. Am I correct in these assumptions, Creati?"

The young woman's expression hasn't changed from her forced professionalism. If I had been aiming to break her over-neutral attitude, this fact would've been discouraging. But I highly doubt that Yaomomo would've chosen a weak-willed graduate as a personal assistant. Her unflinching reaction is to be expected. No, rather than a change of expression, I'm looking for something more tangible with my questions: an exchange of information.
"Our boss means no ill will by this, Hoplight." she replies, "She only seeks to resolve this matter as soon as possible – without further endangering our operative."

"This operative must mean a lot to the Agency then, if our by-the-rules, cares-for-her-reputation boss is unwilling to go through the proper authorities and procedures to rescue them. Is this 'operative' carrying vital information for the Agency? Or more likely – is this person vital information for the Agency?"

"I'm unsure of what you're insinuating. We can brief you on this mission once you're ready to take it."

"I'm insinuating that you not sharing the operative's name, or giving us this information beforehand, marks this mission as heavily suspicious. If this was a personal rescue mission, Yaoyorozu knows us well enough that all she had to do was give us a name and a location – and we'd be there, regardless if we worked under her or not. Who is this 'operative'? And why wasn't their kidnapping – a working member of one of the largest Agencies there is – mentioned at all by the media?"

For the first time in our conversations with her, Akahoshi Hitomi said nothing in reply.

"Izuku," I say as I turn away from Akahoshi, "I vote that we leave this Agency. There's something very sketchy happening here. I don't want us involved in it."

"Eh?! We're leaving already?!" Ochaco exclaims.

"It's up for vote. So long as Izuku allows it."

Our husband looks at each of us with concern. We've stopped in our tracks, just a few feet away from the Agency vehicle – its doors wide open. The driver inside is curiously waiting for us to enter into its safety.
If we seat ourselves now, then those doors will close and we'll return to our new home – agreeing without words, to the suspicious future the Agency wants for us.
But if we turn around now, then those doors will close themselves from us, permanently – and we'll be vulnerable to whatever uncertain future awaits us without an Agency.
To even allow this discussion is a detrimental decision, because being given the chance to answer will put into question our trust in Yaoyorozu. I've already shown my distrust. If anyone else shows it here, in front of her personal assistant, then it won't matter if we remain or go: Yaoyorozu will most likely remove us from this task, and our relationship with her will fall apart.
I'm willing to face the fallout of this decision, for the sake of my loved ones' safeties.
But is Izuku?

Rather than conferring with either of his wives, Izuku surprisingly turns his attention to the one who removed herself from the conversation. "Akahoshi," he says, "If you tell us the name of the operative, we'll agree to take on the mission."

Creati turns towards Izuku and blinks.

After a long moment of silence, she answers him, "Her name is Hagakure Toru, also known by her hero name 'Invisible Girl'. And as of two weeks ago – she's been marked a 'Villain' by our investigative teams."