Thanks for the feedback y'all. Will tone down Izuku's edge going forward. Luckily, that is the arc I'm aiming at for the character anyway! Some people are going to enter his life to disrupt that comfy edginess he's keeping himself in, starting this very chapter in fact.
And I guess you froze,
When the storm blew away her clothes,
And you never got warm again.
…
Izuku decided to deploy a smoke screen in advance of his entering the room again.
Toga had the instincts of a street cat. If it was her, Izuku bet she noticed someone else was here the instant his boot made the slightest creak in the floorboards. She would try to hide in the shadows to get the drop on him.
He had to turn the tables somehow. Give her a taste of her own medicine. If this was a cat-and-mouse game, then he would make whoever was in which role as ambiguous as he could. So in went the smoke, to obscure his own presence.
He then floated up off the floor and hovered down the hallway, doing his best to maintain control. Nana imbued some kind of emotion into the side of his head, something like pride. It was her Quirk that he'd been practicing the most besides Blackwhip, and he definitely wouldn't have been able to do this a month ago.
The smoke billowed up through the room where the Shiketsu woman had been murdered. Izuku figured that once Toga realized she was dealing with someone at least as intelligent as him, she might try to make a run for it. Thereby exposing herself by making for the window, door, or air vent. Though, if she thinks my only Quirk is the smoke…she might try to fight someone like that.
Her most dangerous aspect was her unpredictability. He had to close the gap now.
He floated down the hallway and right up to the doorway. The smoke obscured his vision, too, but he could somewhat sense movements within it as it poured from his body. And right now, he couldn't sense a thing. Shadows leapt out at him: police tape, the couch, abandoned tripods and equipment. Normally the force would have left someone behind to guard this, but they're so stretched thin tonight with trying to maintain their new order over the district…perfect time to return to the crime scene.
Izuku's heart raced something fierce as he fully entered the room, hovering over the floor and rotating in a circle, looking at the billowing smoke all around him, seeing nothing alive, sensing nothing alive. But how could that be? They had to be in here.
All his instincts were screaming at him to move, to take action, but he waited. Even with One for All, he had no durability Quirk against knives. If Toga came at him fast enough from an unexpected direction, he'd bleed out and die like anyone else. He had to be on top of it. So where…? Where…? Spinning around frantically.
His boots touched the floor. The smoke began to dissipate. The room began to clear. His heart was about to leap out of his throat. There was simply no one here. The window was closed, the vent was closed, they couldn't have gone out the door without him noticing, they…
Danger Sense.
It activated half a second before the dark feminine figure materialized next to the wall and swung a high kick toward his face. Izuku blocked it with his forearm, and ducked low, swooshing under the next kick which came almost as quickly after.
"Hyah! Hyah!" The girl spun at him, jabbing him with her dark heeled boots. Izuku weaved sideways and sent out Blackwhip to capture her. No knife.
The girl sank low against the floor under his attack, unfolding into a split with an absurd talent, and suddenly she vanished again, with a hint of strange sparkles being the only indication that she was using a Quirk to cloak herself.
Izuku pounced forward to where she'd disappeared, and suddenly he was leaping into space.
Oh, God! All the past users screamed in panicked unison inside his head as he windmilled his arms, surrounded by a black starry void. The room, with just another slight dashing of sparkles, had transformed around him. He stomped with his feet against what he knew was the floor, and felt it, but there was nothing there beneath him.
A blinding light shined from the left. Izuku lifted his arms up to shield his eyes, and felt a punch hit him from the right. "HYAH!" the girl screamed. Danger Sense was going haywire, confused. All the users were screaming in his ear. Updated intel indicated Toga could use the Quirks of whoever's blood she drank.
Izuku leapt sideways with a low percentage of One for All, accidentally hitting the couch, which was invisible in this space environment. So was the girl. He blindly shot Blackwhip out in front of him and brushed against something. He quickly refocused it, the tendril following where he thought the girl was moving. A banging sound. The space environment shimmered, as if glitching out, and then with another smattering of sparkles…
A new illusion. Izuku was inside some kind of weird fleshy tunnel, pulsating rubbery pink surfaces all around him. It looked like the inside of an intestine. He spun in place, raising his fists up, and then slammed them both down against the ground, sending out ten tendrils of Blackwhip out in all directions, probing for anything. He felt one of them wrap around the wooden leg of the couch, and anchored himself to that, yanking himself backwards through this freaky vessel of an environment.
The girl leapt down on him from above, and this time, Danger Sense prepared him in time. He felt her legs lock around his neck, and moved with her, rolling and letting her carry him round until he used the momentum and greater weight of himself to grab her and pin her against the ground. The illusions vanished with a dazzle; the dark room returned as the girl struggled beneath him, her legs tangling to kick him off as she cried out and spat.
Izuku laid his forearm across her torso and activated One for All lightly. Green lightning zapped through him, and the girl lost her breath, getting the wind knocked out of her from the subtle increase in pressure application. She was in a dark, skintight black suit, with a ski mask over her face. He reached up and swept the mask off…
…And gasped, taking a staggering step back and slackening his grip. In that moment, she kicked herself free almost gracefully, and hopped backward away from him, crouching and staring at him with a mixture of fury and fear. Backing away.
Agh! It's the face from the license exam! I was so caught off guard that I…Izuku stepped forward, looming, making himself look intimidating. "So that's what her Quirk does, huh? Illusions. Clever. You still had a bit of her blood left, Himiko Toga?"
"Huh? Himi…" The girl's brown eyes widened, and she gasped angrily. "I'm not that crazy chick!" she snarled, circling around the chair, staying opposite to him. "You attack me like that again, and I'll show you a nightmare." Those sparkles danced around her full lips.
"Returning to the scene of the crime. I knew that if I waited around I'd catch you." Izuku matched her sideways movements around the central chair, which was now vacated of the body. He would not give her an out to the doorway; she was twitching, clearly ready to spring into an escape. "I'll bring you to justice."
"Justi…you think I did this? Hell to the no! I'm here to figure out the asshole that killed Mikuno-san and give them a taste of their own freakin' medicine-"
"Wait, huh?" Izuku stopped, his mind briefly going blank. Wait. Shiketsu. The license exam. Shiketsu. This is…
"Are you…" He coughed, muttering. For some reason, he thought he could feel Nana smirking at him in the mindscape. "Are you perhaps the real Camie Utsushimi?"
"Huh?" She suddenly stood up straight out of her crouch, relaxing her arms and legs a bit, but her eyes were still searching him, on edge. "I mean, uhh…yeah?"
"Well." Izuku sniffed. He didn't know what to say. "That's…ah. I'm s-sorry for assuming you were…ah! I'm sorry!" He felt himself grow red under the mask. Lovely. After all this, I ran into the most embarrassing person I could possibly run into.
Utsuhimi stepped forward and narrowed her eyes at him. "Why would you assume I was her? They told me she impersonated me at the licensing exam, which I was knocked out during…but you know my name…you can't be a student."
"Ah, well…actually I am. Or, I was, anyway. I'm, ah…Izuku Midoriya." For some reason, his mouth was going dry. In her slightly annoyed curiosity, she had taken several steps toward him. After being scared of me just a second before! Had his demeanor shattered that much from freaking out and apologizing?
"Oh. Huh? You're Bakugo and Todo's friend?" Utsushimi raised an eyebrow. "They told me about you at the remedial classes."
"They did? Ah…oh. Well, that's actually where I heard your name from, too, from th-them…because they mentioned that you were there, I mean, the real you…and Todoroki knew I had run into…well! It doesn't m-matter!" Izuku nearly unleashed his trademark nervous squeak at the end. Oh, Nana was giggling inside his mind now. Shut up, please…he begged her.
Camie made an O face with her lips and tapped her chin. "Did that bitch attack you while wearing my skin or something, dude? You're like, bugging TF out. Is my face traumatizing to you? I can put the mask back on if you want."
"NO! I mean, that's not necessary! Well, if you want to, you can! It's just…" He waved his hands frantically, feeling himself plunge deeper and deeper into an inescapable mess. "Well. Yes. Toga attacked me. While impersonating you. I actually feel the need to apologize." May as well get it out of the way, and as sincerely and as straightforward as possible.
Izuku bowed low. "I technically saw you naked, Utsushimi-san, without your consent. Since she, well, umm…"
Utsushimi whistled. "She tried to seduce ya before killing ya or something, right? Using my body."
"Well, I d-don't know if killing me was her g-goal, exactly…"
"I mean, it makes sense. This body I've got is pretty bangin'."
Izuku looked up from his bow. She had her hands on her hips, and was staring at him as if expecting him to laugh. Under the mask, he was just growing more and more red. Thank God she can't see it.
"Okay, that joke was dumb," Utsushimi muttered. "Sorry 'bout that." She looked over at the empty chair. "I've basically tried to like, get over what happened to me. Get past it with jokes and stuff. And it's been mostly working. But now we're here, and…well." Her face twitched.
"Utsushimi-san…" Izuku took a step closer. "Were you at Shiketsu, when it…?"
"Ah…yeah." She nodded. "That's why I'm after whoever this MF is." She used the abbreviation, actually sounding out the letters themselves. "They killed some of my friends. I wasn't just gonna sit on my ass in the shelter and wait-"
"Utsushimi, did you sneak out? Actually, as a matter of fact, how did you even know that this murder happened? And that the murder and the bombing are connected? And that there was even something here at this random building to find?" Izuku looked down, and saw something dangling from a tight belt at her hip. A device.
Camie bit her lip, at least having the sense to look contrite. "Oh, don't give me that look, masked guy. Midoriya or whoever you are. Yeah, I've been listening in on the police frequencies. Trying to figure out anything. I got lucky I was even in the area to pick up the messages on the scanner, but…I also didn't expect some nutso like you to be here, so…you fight like you're possessed, dude. What the hell is your Quirk?"
"I have more than one," Izuku said plainly. Still weird to just be open about it. "Your illusions aren't half-bad either. But Utsushimi, Todoroki and Kacchan said you passed the remedial tests. What are you doing out here, eavesdropping on police, acting as a vigilante would?"
"Get off your high horse, Midoriya. I have my license on me."
"Then you should be working with the people who…"
"No. Can't trust any of these morons." Camie knelt down and began to inspect some of the evidence bags that had been left behind. "You weren't at the bombing, my guy. Maybe everything's been sunshine and rainbows for you, but things are falling apart here. Can't trust anyone. Gotta act on my own."
"You don't know what things have been like for me at all," Izuku muttered. "Where'd you even learn to eavesdrop on police scanners? They teach you that at Shiketsu, or somewhere else?" He didn't know why, but something about her made him paranoid, even though he knew she was a hero student.
Utsushimi picked up a bag off the floor and swept back upward, stepping forward and getting close to his face, looking up at him with a sneer. "You wanna get into it again, buddy? Don't act like you're cleaner than me. At the very least the second years at Shiketsu had the authority to go out on patrols."
"But you're not on a patrol, you're on a path of revenge-"
"If you're Bakugo and Todo's classmate, then you're a first year. Or you're at the end of your first year, and you're not supposed to be out here, either."
Izuku looked down at her. Even with her teeth bared like that, it was quite dizzying to have a pretty girl in his face.
Camie tilted her head. "What? Nothing to say?"
"You're quite close to me."
Her eye twitched, and she took a step back. Izuku was sure that the dashing of red he saw across her cheeks was just a trick of the low, shifting light in the room.
"I do have permission to be out here, for what it's worth," he said. "I'm the one Shigaraki and All For One are after."
Her eyes widened. "You're…multiple Quirks…you're him. Deku. All Might's successor."
So news of him had even spread to Shiketsu. "That's right. I'm on this case because I have reason to believe the culprit may attack other schools next. Even UA, where there are people I need to keep safe. Anyone who knows who I am could end up as a target for them. So you need to stay away from me, and stay away from this case."
Utsushimi had a sour, dry expression. "Caaaaaaap. The big kahunas aren't gonna come after me just because I had one interaction with your angsty ass. Get a grip. Besides, you can't keep me off this case."
"I could pick you up right now and fly you back to Shiketsu." God, but was that difficult to get out without stuttering, or blushing at the thought of it.
"Come off it, Deku. I don't think you walk what you talk, now that I take a closer look." She narrowed her eyes, as if staring deep into his own. "Besides, right now I have a lead, and you don't."
"A lead?" Izuku took a too-eager step forward.
Oh, Jesus, En groaned inside his head.
Kid, you're an idiot, Banjo echoed.
Camie's lips curled up into a smile. She was way too alluring when she smirked like that, he decided. It was a great effort not to punch himself in the head.
She lifted the plastic bag up tantalizingly. "Targeting other schools, huh? I read the message on this little note that the freak left." Inside was indeed the message that Izuku had found in the air vent earlier. "But…then there's this symbol. This wittle symbol on the bottom here." She poked at the business card-like object taped to the bottom of the paper. On it was the golden symbol with the two concentric circles connected to a triangle. "And you don't know what this means. Do you."
"I…it won't take long to f-find out," Izuku managed. The stutter again, of course.
"Yes, it will." Her smirk deepened. Her eyelids lowered, and he saw how long her lashes were. "Trust me, I know it will. Because I know what this is. They don't let this symbol slip out to just anywhere for anyone. And the fact that our culprit is connected to this lot…" She whistled again. "You're definitely gonna need some help on this case."
"I can get help from elsewhere. Our culprit? Utsushimi-san, I'm out here because I have to keep moving from place to place, since I'm a massive target, but that doesn't apply to other people our age. Including you. You shouldn't be out here."
"I will tell you what this symbol means if you promise to form an alliance with me." Her eyes glimmered victoriously. "And promise that we'll take the next step together. Because trust me. You will need my help. Mine specifically."
"An…alliance? Together?" Izuku's head spun. No, you can't keep up. If you come with me anywhere, if you stay with me for too long, you'll die. I can't. I can't let anyone from Class A die-
She's not from Class A. She's from a different school. Those were the other users.
Izuku shifted uncomfortably. He'd promised himself he would NOT involve any of his classmates in any of this. But…Utsushimi wasn't his classmate.
He looked into her eyes again. Pretty, he mused, swallowing the lump in his throat with more than a little effort. A pretty girl wanted to form an alliance with him. Even after all this, he was incapable of acting like an adult!
Oh, you're so cute, Ninth, Nana teased. Go on, accept. I don't think she's lying. About her knowing what the symbol means or even about it being important to the case. We can see it in her eyes.
He opened his fist and closed it. "Fine," he muttered.
Camie's smirk expanded into a toothy grin. "Sweet. Anyway, this is the symbol of the Hojo crime family. They're a mob outfit based in the Kijimi entertainment district in the northern part of the metropolitan area."
"A mob outfi…" Izuku's jaw dropped. "So…that means…"
"Mmhmm. If they're backing this culprit of ours, it could be trouble." She pursed her lips, and seemed to stare off at nothing for a moment. "Plus, this was left behind on purpose, so if you say, went to Kijimi to have a little talk with the Hojos…you could be walking into a trap." Then, her eyes brightened again. "Which is why you need an illusionist."
…
The crop of homeless and junkies that were hiding in the karaoke bar all heard the voice at the same time.
Stay calm, all of you. We will be there in moments.
Some of them barely reacted. Some of them screeched with terror and cowered in the shadowy corners. Others just looked up and around in confusion.
Then, the doors burst open, and in came Nejire and Tamaki.
"Agh! Wha…?"
"Heroes?"
"Heroes!"
"No, stay away!"
"Are they here to…"
Nejire picked up snippets of conversations, as some of the squatters walked or crawled toward Tamaki and her. Others retreated further into hiding, terrified. There was a lot of incomprehensible babble.
Tamaki tightened his grip on his hood, eyes darting around nervously. "It's like turning over a muddy log in the forest and exposing the bugs to the sun," he muttered. Emaciated, raggedy-looking people swarming everywhere.
"Hello, everyone," Nejire announced, carefully trying to balance her peppy tone with a calming one. "We are here to help. We're going to get you all out of here, mmkay?"
"To prison, most likely!" someone snarled.
Nejire shook her head. "No. To safety."
Mandalay entered behind them. The idea had been to let Nejire and Tamaki go in first, so as to maybe not scare all the junkies so much. It was possible they'd recognize Mandalay from TV, but not so much the teens fresh out of UA.
Indeed, when some of them laid eyes on the auburn-haired woman, they hissed and backed off. "It's her. It's the voice."
"She's been talking at me for weeks."
"She's a pussycat."
Shhh, Mandalay used her Quirk soothingly over the room. Nejire blinked her eyes sleepily, and goosebumps crawled over her body. Next to her, Tamaki shuddered and blushed. She noticed many of the squatters blushing, too.
Mandalay walked toward the center of the room, her brightly colored costume contrasting with the grey of the junkies' rags. We are here to help, she told them. She began leaning down in front of individual people and telepathing to them personally. This was also part of the plan.
Nejire and Tamaki got to work. Start with the easiest ones. "Hello!" Nejire said brightly to a man who was standing near the front. "If you would come with me, please?"
"W-w-w-w-e n-n-need…" Tamaki stammered out to another person nearby.
The man eyed Nejire with some wariness. "No arrest?" he asked carefully.
Nejire shook her head. "I promise!"
"And what's your promise worth?"
"Don't trust them!" a woman hissed. "We should call the Harbor…"
"No. Wait. Wait."
"Pl-please comply," Tamaki finally got out, to the other person.
Mandalay stood up from an emaciated man, and looked down the hallway, away from the somewhat posh bar area and down toward the many private karaoke rooms. "This place might take a while to clear out," she said with a sigh. "Time we don't have. I'm calling in the backup."
"Huh?" Tamaki paled. "No, Mandalay-san, wai-"
Mandalay had already telepathed to the police outside, and when they came bursting in, everything turned to chaos.
The junkies scattered like ants, screaming and shouting. One kicked Mandalay in the shins to scramble away. She cursed and tried to transmit again, Please! We are not here to arrest you! For all the good that it did.
The police began to grab people and drag them or carry them outside. "Wait!" Nejire urged. She turned back to the man she'd been talking to, who was now backing away with a betrayed expression. "Wait, please come with me willingly, I promise that we're…" Dammit!
Tamaki had put his hood over his face and was backing off toward the exit, muttering under his breath.
Then, one of the squatters shouted, "I'm calling them! I'm doing it!" And pressed something on their wrist. A strange alarm sounded, from their wrist.
Nejire gasped. Some kind of alerting Quirk? But…
Mandalay whirled, her cat ears nearly falling off her head. Her narrow eyes bugged out. "Oh, bloody hell," she said.
Men with guns burst into the building from behind, and the brawl began.
…
In the aftermath, Nejire blew feathers out of her hair. "Stupid chicken Quirk," she muttered, as police sirens bathed her face, and people were escorted past on stretchers.
They were not quite back to the shelter, but they were walking that way. Walking. It was nice to walk. They had managed to carve a foothold in Kijimi down three major streets, all the way up to that karaoke bar in question.
Mandalay walked up and stretched her arms behind her back. Nejire thought it looked so very catlike that she was almost motivated to assault the pro heroine with more questions, but managed to hold it back.
"Yeesh," Mandalay commented, relaxing and popping her neck. There was a bit of dried blood running down her leg. "You did well there, Nejire-chan. We got all the civilians out safely largely thanks to you."
"Carrying people with my Quirk is getting easier!" Nejire commented. "Though they're still pretty heavy. It's crazy that you fight with your legs bare like that, sensei. In that shallow skirt."
"Hmm? Ah." Mandalay looked down. "That's not my own blood."
Nejire paled. "Oh." She'd had Mandalay in her mind as something like a lynx or a puma, but perhaps she was more like a tiger. "But do you not get worried about people looking up your skirt at all?"
"Hmm, you mean like those guys in there? I'm capable of handling myself. And beauty and allure has its uses, Nejire-chan. As I'm sure you've discovered. You and I can use it to put people like that at ease. They're more likely to trust us."
"I…see." Mandalay was quite good at ignoring her scars. "So you think ugly people can't be as good at rescuing?"
Mandalay frowned. "I didn't say that, it's just…"
"Oh, I'm just teasing, sensei. I know what you mean. I think." Nejire tapped her chin. "Say, that karaoke bar was pretty neat. I bet it was a cool place to visit in its heyday."
"Not when there's drugs from the Harbor running through it." The Harbor was the other major operation in Kijimi along with the Hojos, which Nejire had recently learned. The two outfits were in contention with each other for control of the territory.
"Hmm. Those guys we captured who gave us the hint. The ones who were harassing Nova-chan. They worked for the Hojos, right?" They'd had to question them instead of Nova herself, since she was refusing to talk until they got to UA. Questioning the twins was surprisingly easy, when you had Gang Orca on your side. He was scary!
"Yep. They probably sent us to a Harbor-controlled area on purpose. They want us and the Harbor to whittle each other's forces down so they can come out on top." Mandalay blew a strand of hair out of her face.
"Oh! I see! That's smart." Nejire looked at another stretcher go past. It had one of the gangsters on it. "Well, we didn't lose any people, did we? Only a couple of officers got injured. And we made like, a dozen arrests! Plus we saved a bunch of people!"
"And did that make it worth it?" Tamaki hissed, from her other side.
Nejire whirled abruptly. She'd forgotten he was there.
Mandalay looked at the pointy-eared young man nervously. "Suneater, if you're going to be a pro, you have to learn to understand situations like tha…"
"We could have handled it," he muttered. "You had no right to bring the police in there. It freaked them out and caused that person to use their Quirk to call for the Harbor guys. Those guys were protecting them. Bringing them food and stuff."
"And we'll do the same, only we'll rehabilitate them as well."
"I don't believe it. I bet some of them will end up in prison anyway." Tamaki was furious; Nejire had never seen him like this.
"Suneater. Sometimes you have to make hard decisions like that when you know that ultimately, the outcome will be…"
"We could have avoided the fight entirely. I don't want to hear it." He stormed off, getting ahead of the two women.
Mandalay looked at Nejire somewhat helplessly. "I'm sorry, sensei. I'll talk to him later," Nejire offered.
"No, that's alright…" Mandalay had a dark look on her face. "He has a point, I suppose. I think I'm just getting old…"
"Huh? No, sensei! You look great!"
The cat heroine chuckled lightly. "Thank you, Nejire. But I just mean…my attitude. That kind of stuff is what we were taught to do when I was your age. Call the police in once you've got the crowd calmed down. It made sense to me at the time. But now…with the state the country's in…I wonder how many villains we were creating by running the show like that." She looked up at the sky. "You kids are gonna have to do something else. And maybe you already understand that. Growing up in times like this. I'm sorry, Nejire."
Nejire's face twitched. Her scars felt itchy. She forced a smile. "Ah, don't worry about it, Mandalay-san. We're gonna get out of this crazy apocalypse thing. One street at a time."
"I hope so, dear." Mandalay's sigh was full of years. "Let's report back to Orca."
…
The sniper was back again.
Izuku sensed the first shot coming and decided to dodge downward, a direction he'd never gone in to avoid the attacks. The bullets were like missiles; sometimes they curved and followed him around corners.
I reckon they curve at the start of their trajectory, too, he thought, ricocheting around the side of a building using Blackwhip and One for All. The bullet struck the building's bricks, ka-pow.
Izuku bounced back and forth off the walls of a narrow alley, staying low and in the shadows. Waiting for the next shot. Maybe I got out of sight. Usually, he had to evade about three or four shots before he was in the clear.
The sniper had come several times since he'd set out from UA. He'd never once seen the actual person, so he suspected they had exact control over the bullet's trajectory. They always came from different directions, and Izuku was always so panicked with trying to dodge them that he had never quite managed to try and triangulate the person's position.
Another one whizzed close. He leapt upward with twenty percent OFA, high above the rooftops, briefly spinning in a circle to see if he could see anything. Too fast. Nope. Nothing. It was all a blur, and the bullet was coming again.
He shot Blackwhip around a telephone pole near the ground and yanked himself toward it at high speed. The third user whispered, not gonna use my Quirk yet?
You said it was only for desperate situations, Izuku thought back. The bullet hit another building, neutralized.
Every time you encounter this person, they learn more about you. But you have learned nothing about them.
Izuku shook his head, muttering as he leapt in a random direction across town. There was not a third bullet. He must have cleared enough distance.
I don't have time to deal with a sniper. If they're so focused on me, then that means they're not attacking others. And it's others I'm worried about, because there are other villains out there who DO intend to hurt them. It's those villains I have to fight right now, to save as many people as I can.
But if a villain is so fixated on you, like this sniper is, then don't you think that means they were sent by All For One?
Izuku swallowed. He flattened his mouth and kept looking forward. Well, I won't possibly find them now, he thought. Already got too far away. But next time. If there was a next time. If the sniper attacked him again…he would actually try to get close to them. Because user three had a point. They might know something about AFO or Shigaraki. And that info was invaluable.
A few minutes later, it began to rain. Izuku ignored it, continuing to patrol as the sky darkened and the precipitation intensified. He rescued twelve more people. He defeated a gang of hooligans and one standalone villain with some kind of velocity Quirk. Making his way through the city. Business as usual. One of the people he rescued gave him their umbrella, which was weird, but he just strapped it to his back and went on.
As he worked, he thought about Camie Utsushimi. As much as he was trying not think about her, she filled his mind. They had planned to do their operation in Kijimi next week. Izuku could get anywhere pretty easily, but he had no idea how she planned to meet him there. I suppose she has her ways.
Why did she know so much about an organized crime outfit? Yakuza by the sound of them, much like Overhaul's crew. And monitoring a police scanner, acting a vigilante? Even her hero costume looked like one a cat burglar might wear. What's her deal?
You're quite intrigued by her, aren't you? Nana teased.
Shut up. Izuku blushed. There was certainly no time to think about stuff like that. Which is why he was so annoyed that every time his mind drifted, he thought of her.
He'd never been very good with girls. In middle school the idea of him even having a chance with one was unthinkable. Maybe things had been slightly different at UA…he had often felt strange about Uraraka, and Tsuyu, and even Jiro had caught his eye a couple of times from just acting as cool as she was. But there was no time for that at UA. And there's no time now!
Besides, no matter how much this girl or that girl from Class A made his heart flutter, the idea of dating them, of growing to care for them too much, and then having them dragged into this conflict…he couldn't bear to think of it. That was part of why he'd made his promise.
But Utsushimi is not from Class A.
Leave it alone.
A few hours after the sniper encounter…
Down below on the street, through the rain, he saw something that caught his eye. It was another little gang of dudes harassing someone. A woman. Izuku encountered many such cases, and usually dealt with them accordingly.
Only this one was different because the woman was a mutant. A massive one at that. She had to be over ten feet tall and maybe as many as fifteen. At a glance, Izuku thought she might be sort of like a fox. But no, that wasn't right. A dolphin?
He descended, and as he did, he picked up the conversation.
"...stay away from us, monster!"
"Agh!" The mutant woman squeaked. "I'm sorry, I was just…I mean no harm!"
"Trying to let our guard down, huh?" One of the men had some kind of projectile Quirk that he was preparing to fire.
Izuku zoomed in.
"Please calm down!" he urged, holding his arms up between the mutant and the three men. He could see now that the men were scared of her. It was not the usual situation. He had to handle it differently.
"It's a rainy night, tensions are high, but this woman is not your enemy!" He told the men. "Please deactivate your Quirks."
Slowly, they did so, backing away. "It's him…" one of them muttered.
"She should stop acting so suspicious, then…"
"Bloody mutant…"
They slinked off into the shadows, disappearing down the street past flickering lamplights. The rain made it hard to see where they went off to.
Izuku sighed. He was conflicted about letting them go. "Did they hurt you, ma'am?" he asked, turning to the mutant woman.
"No…they were just scared like me, I guess…" The woman's voice was weak and shaky. She was wearing a massive backpack, and clothes that seemed rather tight for her, showing a rather…curvy figure.
Izuku coughed, grateful once again for the mask. "Yeah, I'm sorry ma'am. I just…well. Usually when I see a group of guys harassing a girl while on patrol…it's for something else, so…I didn't really react great there. I just thought maintaining peace would be the best option. Maybe I shouldn't have let them go after all." He turned back to look at the place where they'd disappeared.
"N-no, that's okay. I thought you handled it well…" The woman tightened her grip on her backpack, and Izuku noticed she had little fangs that poked out over her lower lip. Or snout. Or something. "Are you…a hero?"
"Yes ma'am. I'm Deku. I don't see many mutants out and about anymore. It's sort of been an ongoing question with our operations, actually. Where they've all gone." He didn't want to mention to this woman that most of the mutants he had seen were acting as muscle for organized crime operations. "I'm sorry, this was actually the first time I've saved someone like you, from a situation like that…I didn't react very well. Again, I'm sorry." He decided to bow. He felt really bad.
The woman sniffled, but she also giggled a little, wiping her snout with a claw-like, furry hand. "It's alright, really. You're quite polite, Mr. Deku. Considering how scary your hero costume is."
"Oh…yeah…" Izuku looked down at himself. His costume was soaked. Well, that would be a problem for later. "What's your name, ma'am?"
"I'm…Kitsune. Iruka Kitsune. And you don't have to call me ma'am. I'm probably younger than you."
"I'm not yet seventeen, ma'am."
"Huh? Oh…well, you'd just be a couple of years behind me in school, then…" Iruka's eyes widened.
"Were you in school? Why didn't you make it to a shelter?"
"Ah…" Iruka seemed to retreat into herself a bit. "I felt safe in this town for a while, so I thought I could just sit it out until everything blew over…but then, the casualties began to get reported, and I…I don't know! I was too scared to move…but I tried to run for the evacuation center, but…now I'm stuck out here…" She fluttered her long eyelashes. She looked so sad with the rain soaking through her clothes. Izuku's heart skipped a beat, and he suddenly remembered the umbrella he had strapped to his back.
Agh. So distracted by her that I'm messing up left and right. Agh. Nana was smirking at him again, he just knew it.
Izuku opened the umbrella and floated up to get eye level with her. He pointedly ignored that he could see her bra through her shirt now. Wonder what size it is? Nana asked.
Get lost! He growled at her, and offered the umbrella to Iruka. "Here. Everyone else is scared, too. You're not alone, Kitsune-san."
She gasped, with slightly stunned eyes as she slowly took the umbrella from him. "Thank…you…" she mumbled. Was that a blush on her cheeks? It was hard to tell with how she looked. Izuku felt himself blushing too. First Utsushimi, now this girl?
He called All Might.
Just a few minutes later, the armored black car drove up, and Toshinori stepped out of it, using his own umbrella.
Izuku looked back at his mentor. "Take Kitsune-san here back to UA. She needs shelter as soon as possible."
All Might gaped at the woman. "Well…yes. I can do that. She might have to crouch a bit, though…my backseat is spacious, but…"
"That's alright," Iruka muttered, bowing. "Thank you for the ride. And…for everything." She looked back at Izuku, half-hopefully. "Are you…are you coming too?"
"No, I've got to keep moving. You'll be safe with All Might."
"Huh?" Iruka nearly jumped into the air with surprise. "All in the who now?" She looked frantically back at Toshinori's thin, gaunt form. He just grinned dryly back at her, and then turned to Izuku.
"I can't get her all the way to UA right now, Midoriya. There's some streets that are dangerous even for my car. I'll take her to a way station."
"A way station?"
"Yes. Some have been set up in a wide radius around the shelters." He turned back to Iruka. "You'll have to wait for an organized convoy to be set up for you and other civilians to actually make it all the way to UA, but the way station is reasonably safe. This particular one is under the charge of Gang Orca."
"Gang Orca? Oh, I like him." Iruka closed her eyes and smiled, pressing her hands together in front of her chest. "Another ocean mutant. That actually makes me feel quite relieved."
"Speaking of dangerous streets," Izuku said to All Might, "I encountered the sniper again."
"Lovely," Toshinori muttered. "Anything new?"
"No. But I think I'm going to try and capture her next time. She only tracks and targets me. It might be that All For One sent her."
"She?" All Might tilted his head. "You think it's a woman? How do you know?"
"I saw her. Once," Izuku lied. He didn't want to say that he'd recovered one of the bullets the time before last, and saw that it was made of hair. And the hair had smelled like women's shampoo. He was sure All Might would take such a thing in stride, but he felt weird bringing it up with Iruka standing there.
You know when your ears heat up and get all red, we can all feel it? Yoichi told him dryly.
Sorry, Izuku thought back.
"Hmm," All Might was musing. "A female sniper. Something about that sounds…I don't know."
Izuku tilted his head. "You have a suspicion."
"A memory is pulling at me. I'll have to look into it. Need to talk to Jeanist and Hawks."
"Well, okay. I'm off, then."
"No, Midoriya, wait! I almost forgot." All Might reached back into his car, and pulled out a covered plastic box. "This is katsudon. When was the last time you ate?"
Izuku blinked. "Uh. Yesterday." His stomach, on cue, growled. Of course. He heard the past users all laughing.
Iruka gasped. "That's not good, Mr. Deku! You need to eat!"
All Might smiled, but there was a slight anxiety to his grin. "So I've been telling him, young lady." He handed the box over.
"Thank you for the food," Izuku said earnestly. He was quite hungry. It was just hard to find the time sometimes.
"Please take care of yourself, Midoriya." Something was glimmering in Toshinori's sunken blue eyes. "I'm serious. I'm very serious."
"I know. I will. I promise." He tucked the box under his arm and prepared to leap off into the night. "You be careful, too. Get her to the place, and ermm…" He turned to Iruka briefly. "It was nice to m-meet you, Kitsune-san. I'll keep working to make your town safe again. And then you can return, and live peacefully."
"Ah…" This time, she was clearly fully blushing, the red reaching the tips of her tall pointy ears. "Thank you…Mr. Deku…it was nice to meet you too…"
And then he was gone, a glowing green streak zooming away in the storm.
"Maybe we'll meet again…" she whispered, watching the green light wink out in the distance.
…
I made up my own name for "Ippan Josei" or Ordinary Girl just because. Something feels weird about just using Ippan Josei since it's not technically her name. Anyway, she'll be a recurring character.
Also, Lady Nagant somewhat enters the scene! I'm having her role and introduction be slightly different from canon. In canon, Hawks warns Izuku of her prior to Izuku striking out on his own, including how her Quirk works…so when Izuku gets shot at, he immediately knows who he's dealing with. I want her to be more like an ongoing villain who constantly harasses Izuku in a cat and mouse game, so let's just say that the increased chaos of Japan falling apart in the fic made Hawks too busy or otherwise to mention her to Izuku before he left.
