Two days after Deku sent the new video to Eraserhead, he got an email from Nezu.
Deku, please be aware, we will be making a move on the Yakuza soon. Eraserhead and I thought it to only be fair to warn you. We cannot give you the date, time, or any details. While we may believe you that there is a child in need, we do not trust that this is not a trap. If you and Ms. Toga do not want to be arrested during this raid, I highly suggest you leave as soon as possible. We only ask that you do not warn the Yakuza. Thank you for your help. If you wish to provide information in the future, do not hesitate to reach out.
Deku jumped up from his computer, catching Toga's attention.
"What? What's wrong?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. Her big yellow eyes flashed in the low light.
"We need to go. Now. The heroes have planned the raid and could be here at any time."
"Should I call Kurogiri?"
"No! No, we can't call him or any of the others. They would all tell Shigaraki that we're leaving the Yakuza and he'd wonder why we left."
Toga was already up and throwing her clothes into her duffle bag. "Dabi wouldn't. He'd help us out."
"Maybe if we had something for him. Dabi never does anything for free."
She didn't have a rebuttal to that. Toga simply zipped her bag shut and ran over to help Deku to pack his computer gear. Just as they we're wrapping up the last cord, there was a loud knock on the door.
The pair froze, staring at each other with a combination of fear and shock. After a beat, Deku grabbed his mask, shoving it on as fast as he could. He flipped his hood up just as Toga opened the door to reveal Chronostasis.
"Overhaul has requested Deku meet him in his lab," the man said, his voice firm.
Toga glared up at him. "Where Deku goes, I go."
Chronostasis tried to stare her down, neither speaking a word. After a good minute or so, he finally sighed and nodded.
"You may come as well. Keep quiet and keep your hands to yourself.
She grinned dangerously, her fangs barred, as Deku came up to her side, bumping his shoulder against hers.
"We don't want to keep the bossman waiting, now do we? Lead the way, Chronostasis."
The walk down to the labs was silent, but that didn't mean that Deku's mind was quiet. His thoughts were racing, mapping out the way through the building while simultaneously trying to figure out why the hell Overhaul wanted to see him. If Overhaul was pissed at him, either for hacking his system or for their conversation in the hall, then Chronostasis wouldn't have let Toga come. It would have been too risky. Sure, the Yakuza easily outnumbered them, but Overhaul couldn't kill both of them and manage to escape Shigaraki's wrath. If it was just one of them, then maybe he'd get away with it, stating that it was a necessary sacrifice, but definitely not both. And Overhaul was smart enough to know that.
When they entered the lab, Deku felt his stomach twist into a knot and every hair on his body stood on end.
In the center of the lab, her wrists strapped to the arms of the chair she sat on, was Eri.
Her eyes were watery as she tracked Overhaul, who was walking around the lab preparing things. For once, he wasn't wearing his coat, but he still wore his bird-like mask and gloves. When he spotted Deku and Toga, he straightened himself to his full height, looking down at them.
"Thank you, Chronostasis, you may leave. Deku, I see you brought Toga with you."
"That's not a problem, is it?"
"No, though I do not see her having anything of value to add to the conversation."
Deku had to catch Toga's wrist to keep her from grabbing the knife at her belt.
"You were interested in my process," Overhaul said, continuing as though nothing had happened. "I thought that perhaps you would like to observe and, at the end, provide any insights that you may have."
As Overhaul turned around to face one of the many lab tables, Deku's eyes flicked to Eri, who was now staring back at him with pleading eyes. He could feel his heart twist in his chest; something bad was going to happen here and there was nothing that he could do.
"What I am hoping that you can help with is mass production. As of right now, I can produce only a few bullets at a time. The source of the drug is limited, afterall."
"You mean the girl, Eri," Deku said, his voice flat and emotionless. He wasn't about to let anything slip to Overhaul.
"Correct. If I take too much from her, she'll die, obviously. And then I would be without my source. And the process for extraction is difficult, more so than it should be."
Overhaul turned to finally face Eri, his cold eyes glaring down on her. She whimpered and ducked her head, trying to shrink further into her seat.
"I'm sorry," she whispered.
"If only you weren't cursed, Eri. You could do so much better if your quirk wasn't the way it is. Where did you think you were going to go, when you tried to run before? I'm the only one who can make sure you can't hurt people. Or were you wanting to kill people? Was that it, Eri? Do you want to kill more people?"
"No! No, I don't! I'll be good, I promise!"
"Tch." Overhaul shook his head. "It's pathetic how weak you are. Unloveable. How could anyone but me want you?"
Eri was sobbing, fat tears rolling down her cheeks. A golden, shimmering glow began to encase her, originating from her horn. Slowly, the horn began to grow, the glowing light increasing with it.
"You killed your father. Completely erased him from existence. Your mother hated you for it, you know. She abandoned you here. She knew we were the only ones who could control your cursed quirk. If you left here, you would only kill more people. You would terrify everyone."
"Please," Eri hiccuped, begging through her tears. "Please don't."
"They'd lock you away. They would chain you up. They would take you apart and they wouldn't put you together again. They'd slaughter you like a little lamb, Eri. If you left here, I would have to come get you. I would have to kill so many people. Is that what you want?"
"No!" she screamed, her voice shrill as the light around her became blinding. Her eyes were wide and panicked as she continued to scream, her nails digging into the arms of the chair. She tried to fight against the restraints again, though if it was because she was scared of Overhaul or because she was scared of herself, Deku wasn't sure.
As fast as lightning, Overhaul ripped a glove off and pressed his bare hand to Eri's arm.
And the girl was gone. A spray of blood, hanging in a thick mist, hovered over the chair. Less than a second later, Eri was back, shaking and sobbing as she curled into a ball in the chair. Her arms were no longer strapped down, though one of her arms was covered in wet, sticky blood. She hugged it close to her chest as she pulled her knees up to shield herself even more. The golden light was gone and her horn was back to being a small nub on her forehead.
In Overhaul's hand was a piece of raw flesh.
"You see, Deku, I have to force her to activate her quirk. Once it is fully activated, I need only take a sample from her." Overhaul turned to the lab table and set the flesh on a small metal tray. It made a wet, slimy noise as it was dropped on the tray. "Unfortunately, she can't control her quirk, so I have to manually deactivate it. Afterwards, I have to process the sample. It takes time, but a sample this size creates one bullet."
"Only one?" Deku asked incredulously.
"It's a long and arduous process. I have a general idea of how to mass produce once I have the sample, but it's a matter of having enough of the sample. That is where you come in."
Toga said nothing as she walked over to another table, scooping up some gauze and medical tape. She settled herself on the floor next to Eri's chair and gently pried the girl's arm away from her chest. Eri whimpered once, though she didn't seem too scared of Toga. Mostly, she just seemed nervous and a little curious about the older girl. Toga quietly dabbed at the open wound, making a conscious effort not to stare at the multitude of scars on Eri's arm.
Deku made a show of thinking, tapping a finger to his chin and humming to himself.
"Remind me how many bullets you have now?"
Overhaul shot him a sharp look. "I didn't tell you how many."
"Oh, well then. How many do you have?"
"Four, for now," Overhaul said, opening a small box that rested on the lab table. Inside were four bright red bullets. Next to them was an empty slot, ready for the next bullet. "It took a number of years to perfect the formula. The quirk-erasing bullets were the first to be completed. These ones are quirk-destroying. They completely eradicate the quirk factor in the target. I can sell these off to the underground, and then sell the antidote to the heroes. We'll be the problem and the solution. We will be the most powerful force in all of Japan."
Deku nodded along with what Overhaul said. "I can do some research. There may be someone with a quirk that can help us with the replication."
"Good. I want your findings as soon as possible." Overhaul stepped away to rinse his hands of the blood and then slipped on fresh gloves. The sweat that had formed on his brow was drying, the danger of the tainted blood now gone. "We have to move the base," he stated, watching Toga work. "One of my sources has said that the police nearest here are acting odd. Excited, almost. Antsy in a way I don't like. I have a new base already set up. It's much more secure and away from the public eye, so we will have plenty of space to work on mass production. I will finish processing this sample tonight and we will leave early in the morning, just before the sun rises. Have your things ready by then."
Out of the corner of his eye, Deku could see that Toga had finished bandaging Eri's arm. She was gathering the bloodied gauze and tossed a handful of it into the trash under Overhaul's vigilante gaze. What Overhaul didn't see was that as she threw away the gauze with one hand, she slipped a few blood-soaked pieces into the pocket of her sweater.
' Good, ' Deku thought. ' She's thinking the same thing I am. '
They had to get Eri out of here. Tonight.
--
Bakugou burst into Sero's room, slamming the door shut behind him with a bang.
Sero, who had been working on some homework, jumped so high out of their seat that they came crashing back down on the floor, spurting curses the whole way.
"I need to vent and you're the only person in this goddamn school I can talk to about this so get off the fucking floor and listen to me," Bakugou demanded, his voice a deep growl.
Carefully, Sero picked themself up off the floor and ran a hand through their hair to smooth it out.
"Hi Bakugou. Yes, I'm fine, thank you for the concern. No, I'm not busy at all."
"Shut up, Soy-sauce face. I have a problem."
Sero cocked their head and gestured for Bakugou to continue as they sat down in their chair again. Sighing, Bakugou dropped to sit down on the edge of Sero's bed.
"So, a while back, this guy that I knew died. Remember that?"
Sero nodded.
"Well, Kirishima decided he was going to keep an eye on me, or whatever. Always following me around, asking about my feelings and shit. He's the only one I really talked to about the guy who died. And at first, it pissed me off. Like, I had to have looked so weak, you know? But he didn't judge me or anything. And then, next thing I know, I don't mind being weak around him. I keep wanting to do dumb shit, like make him breakfast or sit by him for movie night and it doesn't make any fucking sense."
Snorting, Sero shook their head. "You have a crush. It's simple, dude, I don't get why you're freaking out so bad."
"Because Midoriya is dead!" Bakugou shouted, his hands sparking. He took a shaky breath and let his hands drop back to his lap. "The damn nerd is dead and I'm over here, acting all soft over Kirishima. I… I did a lot of bad shit in the past and Kirishima just… didn't care. He told me that he could tell I was working to be better and that he'd help me with it. But I don't deserve that. I don't deserve to be happy when Midoriya is dead."
They sat in silence, the room tense. Bakugou's shoulders rose and fell with each shuddering breath he took. Slowly, Sero stood from their chair and moved to sit beside Bakugou on the bed. Each movement was deliberate and telegraphed, giving Bakugou the chance to move away. When he didn't, Sero put their hand on Bakugou's shoulder.
"Listen, man, I don't know what you did in the past, and I don't know anything about Midoriya, but I'm guessing you knew him pretty well, right?"
Bakugou nodded. "I knew the nerd since we were in diapers. We grew up together. He was always following me around and stuff."
"He liked you, right? He wouldn't want you to sit around making yourself miserable. He'd probably be happy that you're working on yourself. And if Kirishima makes you happy and wants to help you grow as a person, then I bet Midoriya would want you to go for it. Hell, he'd probably think Kirishima was good for you. I know we all think that. So talk to Kirishima and work this out, okay?"
Bakugou sighed. "Maybe you're right. I don't know. It's not like Kirishima likes me like that."
"You don't know until you talk to him."
"Fine. Thanks, I guess. You're not horrible at this kind of stuff."
Sero mockingly gasped, putting on a big show of placing a hand to their chest and swaying as though they were swooning.
"A compliment from Katsuki "King Explosion Murder" Bakugou! I am so honored, my liege! A blessing, truly!"
Snorting, Bakugou shoved Sero away from him and got up.
"Shut up, dumbass. Do your homework."
As Bakugou closed the door behind him, Sero smiled and moved back to their desk. Just as they picked up their pencil, the door burst open again.
"Sero!" Mina shrieked. "Kaminari got his tongue stuck in the electrical socket again and we don't know how to get him out!"
Work was never done for Sero: the resident therapist/parent friend of the Bakusquad.
--
A banging on his door startled Shinsou from a deep sleep: the first he's managed all week.
Groaning, he climbed out of bed and stumbled to the door. When he opened it, he was startled to find both Aizawa and Mic standing there.
The teachers looked disheveled. Mic's hair was down and unstyled, hanging loose around his shoulders. His pajamas, which consisted of a pair of plaid flannel pants and a t-shirt, were rumpled from sleep. Aizawa, who had been the one trying to beat Shinsou's door down with his fist, was in a pair of hot pink sweatpants and a black long sleeve shirt, his hair thrown into a messy bun.
"What's going on?" Shinsou asked, dread creeping into his stomach. "I thought we didn't have to be up until 4:00 to get ready for the raid."
"There's been a break in," Aizawa said, his bloodshot eyes round with worry. "Nezu said we need to get to his office. Now."
Shinsou didn't question it. Sure, it was a little weird that the principal would ask a student to tag along with the teachers to help with the break in, but he figured they needed his quirk for some reason. He quickly grabbed his capture scarf and followed his teachers down the stairs, where they only paused at the front door of the dorms long enough to shove their shoes on, and then they were out into the cold night air.
Within minutes, they were sprinting down the hall to Nezu's office. Aizawa hit the door first, barreling in and activating his quirk, sending his hair floating up into the air. Shinsou grabbed the end of his scarf and prepared to throw it as Mic put his fists up, ready to DJ Punch whoever dared to break onto the campus.
The three froze at the sight before them.
None other than Himiko Toga sat in one of the chairs facing Nezu's desk. Half of her hair was in a bun on the side of her head, while the hair on the other half was hanging loose just past her shoulders. In her lap was the small white haired girl from the footage Deku had sent. The girl had a black hoodie wrapped tightly around her as she looked at the three new people in the room with her big red eyes. Toga glanced up from braiding the girl's hair and flashed them a toothy smile before using her own hair tie to secure the end of the girl's braid.
In the second chair was a boy. He was short, much shorter than Shinsou. His wild, curly green hair was damp with sweat and was sticking to the back of his neck and to his forehead. The boy wore a white t-shirt that Shinsou noticed hung off his thin but toned frame. Across the front of the shirt, in rather cutesy handwriting, was the word "criminal" written in black marker. The boy had turned in his seat to look at them, his green eyes bright. It looked like a smattering of freckles spanned his cheeks, but it was hard to tell since there was blood smeared down the side of his face from a rather nasty looking cut splitting his eyebrow. A piece of navy blue cloth, which looked to have been ripped from Toga's skirt, was tied around the boy's arm. The cloth was covered in fresh blood, leading Shinsou to believe that the boy had been injured there as well.
Nezu sat at his desk quietly sipping at his tea. An odd assortment of weapons and support gear were piled in the middle of the desk. Nezu was looking it all over and glanced up when he heard the door open.
"Ah, glad you all could join us. I would like you all to meet Toga, Eri, and Deku. Once Vlad King and Recovery Girl join us, we can begin our little impromptu meeting."