Chapter 26: Deception

"Good morning class!" Gojo grinned as he greeted his students who looked worse for the wear, "Already tired?" He mocked.

"You try training with Gai sensei and Garp for an hour!" Shisui grumbled.

"If only an hour has you in this state, you have a very long way to go and not a lot of time to accomplish it considering you only have a few months left before being assigned to particular units." Gojo reminded.

There was simply a resounding grumble from the class as a response.

Gojo chuckled, "Since you are so tired, I'll just hold a lecture today."

"Thank God, no more 'special' missions," Shisui grumbled to Izuku who chuckled at the memory of their entire class being forced to catch a stray cat called Tora. Izuku could have sworn that the police had a special cat unit like the K-9. There was no other way to explain the demon cat's abilities.

"It helped, didn't it?" Gojo asked rhetorically, "Anyway, we will have a guest lecturer coming in today. He is a member of SWAT and was even its commander at one point." That caught the attention of the class and made all the students sit up straight, "Unfortunately, I can't tell you his name, but he has a lot of cool masks like me! And here he is!" Gojo dramatically pointed to the door.

The students watched in nervous anticipation as well, clearly waiting for an imposing figure to walk in, but there was nothing. The class turned to look at Gojo. Izuku was pretty sure his eyes were twitching in annoyance but there wasn't really any way to tell.

Gojo walked to the door and opened it, revealing a tall man with spiky silver hair and a face mask, resembling that of a dog. The man was reading a small book without a care in the world.

Gojo poked the man in the chest, "That was the cue for you to come in."

"Oh?" The man asked, not looking up, "I didn't hear it."

"How could you have not heard it?"

"Mah mah, don't be so annoyed. I got lost on the road of life," Kakashi excused himself.

Gojo simply laughed, "No wonder Gai is always complaining about you. Class, this is Inu. For safety reasons, the real identities of SWAT are classified. So, we shall call him by his codename: Inu."

Inu finally put his book away and entered the class. He stood and stared around. Izuku was bubbling with excitement. He had heard a lot of police stories from his dad, but he didn't know much about the SWAT. Their role and purpose were easy to figure out but he wanted to know how they worked so covertly while still eliminating the threat.

Inu finished scanning the room and his gaze landed on Izuku last. "My first impression of you guys is that… you are boring."

Izuku nearly face-faulted while Shisui actually did. Itachi remained monotonous.

"That's it, just boring?" Killua asked.

Inu simply nodded and there was silence as the class twitched, unsure of how to respond. Were they supposed to do something to seem less boring?

"First lesson," Inu said seriously, "Always look underneath the underneath. What did you feel when I called you boring?" Inu looked at Shisui.

"Feel…?" Shisui was confused. He had to think for a moment, "A bit insulted I suppose?"

"Why?"

"I mean, no one likes to be called boring," Shisui replied.

"What about you, what did you feel?" Inu asked Izuku. Though they couldn't see his eyes because of the mask, they somehow knew where Inu was looking, "Um, a bit confused? I didn't really understand what us being boring had to do with anything. In addition, you only had a short look at us before deciding that we're boring, which seems a bit shallow." Izuku replied honestly.

"Hm. Looks like none of you understand why I called you boring. Even after that hint." Inu grumbled, "Let me give you another hint then. What did I feel to give you that comment?"

"That we are boring?" Shisui asked. Inu shook his head, "We're disappointing?" Izuku asked, not being able to grasp the lesson either. Inu shook his head again.

"You're impressed?" Itachi asked. Inu nodded, "But why would I say you are boring?"

Itachi shrugged, "It didn't seem like you had any negative views of us if you actually thought we weren't boring or disappointing, so I thought you had a positive view."

"Good guess." Inu praised much to the class's disbelief, "But the reason why I said you are boring even though you impressed me is this; Being boring is the best thing to be as a police officer, even more so as a covert op or as a spy. If you're boring, you never get a second glance. That makes it easier to slip into a boring routine that never raises any suspicion. It makes it easier to get in, do the job, and get out. As SWAT, people mostly think we get in as quickly as possible and exterminate the threat. But there are more ways of exterminating the threat, than just killing. Thought on a lesser scale, we also infiltrate to get useful information or other important things."

Izuku raised his hand, "But then what do we have spies for?"

"Spies also infiltrate. But they mostly work alone. They must gather information and details or plans. Not everything is in written form. That's where the undercover cops come in. They eavesdrop, prevent drawing too much attention, and gather the needed information," Kakashi explained.

"On the other hand, SWAT infiltration missions are used only when we are certain that there is a physical target. Be that blueprints, technology, or any other needed information. That information comes in many ways, be that from undercover cops or moles." Kakashi differentiated.

"Moles?" A confused Tenten asked.

Inu turned towards Gojo who was making silly faces behind him, "Didn't teach them about moles yet?"

Gojo nodded, "I have a special mission to handle that lesson," he gave a grin that rivaled Gai's. The class shuddered at that. Tora was enough to traumatize them all.

"Besides that, what's with all the stupid faces?" Inu asked.

"Well, they need to keep focus ya know," Gojo excused. Much to no one's surprise (everyone agreed the senseis were weird), Inu gave a curt nod to show his agreement.

"As I was saying," Inu cleared his throat and continued speaking, "SWAT infiltrates to escort the information out, like blueprints or even a captured undercover cop, and to a lesser extent, we exterminate threats, such as in hostage situations."

"Now," Inu suddenly took on a more serious demeanor. Even though his face was hidden, the class knew that the next part of this lecture was going to be very important. Even Gojo stopped making silly faces, "This is something that everyone at the police force will drill into your head, be it me, Garp-san, Gai, or Iruka. Not only in the SWAT, but also overall in the police force, we never EVER work alone. You aren't a pro-hero who wants all the fame and attention to push higher up in the rankings. As a police officer, you work together as often as you can. The police force is large. Even if you have to chase a purse snatcher by yourself, you are only a signal away from reinforcements. The only people allowed to work alone in the police force are undercover cops and their training is far more rigorous than you could ever imagine. By having a team, we ensure no one gets left behind. The lives of the civilians are our top priority, but so are the lives of our comrades. Make sure you remember that and exercise caution on every mission you have to take. There is no such thing as overkill. A simple purse snatcher can turn out to be a powerful villain. And if you chose to pursue without backup, you might as well end up dead."

The class gulped. Inu's words presented them with the harsh reality that lay outside their academy. For both themselves and the pro-heroes.

"It's not that I don't understand, but shouldn't we be alright if we've got a strong quirk since police can use their quirks in emergencies?" Shisui pointed out.

"Even pro heroes rarely fight alone. There are almost always rescue heroes on standby or sidekicks and interns. Not to mention the police officers securing the perimeter. No matter how strong your quirk, a well-placed bullet to the head will kill anyone." Inu explained, "Even so, you should always be overkill. That's the first lesson in SWAT. Even if you know the enemy is unarmed, stick to the shadows and neutralize them from behind. There is no need to stand in front like an idiot where the villain has an open line of sight to attack you. In this day and age, it's hard to say what quirks can do."

"But it's too harsh to kill someone!" Someone shouted.

Gojo shook his head in disappointment, "Neutralizing doesn't just mean killing. It can just be knocking someone out or placing quirk-suppressant handcuffs as quickly as possible. Though there are some sensory quirks that can nullify your attempts, you get the gist?"

The class nodded.

Izuku raised his hand, "If SWAT is always overkill, then why are there so many members rushing in with the heroes on TV? Isn't that kind of stupid?"

Inu chuckled, "Good eye. That's what we call the deception team. They are officers taken from the riot control wing and are given advanced firearms training. So, while the deception team keeps the villains occupied and makes them think we are going for a frontal assault, the real SWAT team infiltrates and carries out their mission. A good SWAT team won't leave any trace of ever existing in the first place."

The class was in awe at that. Just how many missions were SWAT responsible for?

"Even then the idiots don't see," Itachi mumbled.

"Hmm, what was that, Itachi?" Gojo asked.

"I mean, don't the pro heroes ever realize that the police are much stronger and more involved? They never see sensitive information getting lost?" Itachi pointed out.

"Oh, they already know. Well, the undercover heroes do," Inu replied, "But they understand the police's reasoning. Being undercover heroes, they understand the gain in doing what's important without the need for fame or glory and are happy to help. The daylight heroes don't really care since sensitive information can't be shown off to the public to garner glory. So, they just assume the undercover heroes dealt with it. Of course, some heroes put it together. But we just tell them that someone got it in the heat of the battle."

"Isn't that lying?" Izuku asked.

"The police are above pro-heroes and the commission in the chain of command. We don't owe them anything really." Gojo replied.

"Could you tell us more about how SWAT works? How does the team function and infiltrate or scout out the place?" Izuku asked with interest.

"That's classified. To be honest, I probably shouldn't have mentioned half of what I did today. But eh, who cares," Inu nonchalantly said.

The class nearly facepalmed.

"Ah well, ja ne!" Inu said happily and left the class. The bell rang almost immediately after and Gojo dismissed them with a pout as he grumbled about not being able to squeeze in an exercise at the end of class.

"Man, that class was something else, huh?" Shisui asked Izuku who nodded with a grin. He had learned a lot from the class and it was really interesting. The wake-up call wasn't really harsh but Izuku had a better idea of what to expect as a real police officer.

"Something's bugging me though," Izuku said.

"Hm?"

"Inu was telling us to look underneath the underneath. And then there's Robin-sensei who gave us that history lesson about All for One. It just makes me think there's something we're overlooking."

"We could always ask Robin-sensei," Shisui said.

"I feel like she told us everything she knew," Izuku replied.

"Then who else can we ask?"

Izuku thought about that. He had already asked Nedzu, so no more information could be found there. His dad was busy on a mission and he didn't seem to know much either. That only left Aizawa, "I think I have someone who would know." Izuku grinned at Shisui who looked confused.

Itachi looked at Izuku curiously, "And who would that be?"

"Just a homeless-looking coffee addict I know."

Itachi and Shisui shared concerned looks but didn't pursue it further. There was too much craziness in this academy to keep up with.

A/N: And that's the update! Sorry for the long break in between, but I think I'm back for weekly updates now with a rotation of which fanfics get updated. Let me know if you liked it and leave a review.