It's next time for the next chapter of Project Velocity and it bigger that my usual chapters. This time we get to see how haywire Izuku and Bakugo's mission goes and how they managed to get out of trouble.
As always I do not own MY HERO ACADEMIA or any of their characters.
With that, let's start with a bang.
After stealthily walking up to the door, the boys checked the door, only to find it had been relocked. They would have to find another way in, however, before much searching could be done, Bakugo spotted something of interest. He tapped Izuku's shoulder and pointed through the window slot of the door and up at a skylight, that if they could get up to, they could use.
Stepping away from the door, the boys walked around the warehouse until they came around a corner and found an old and rusty fire escape ladder. After a quick round of rock paper scissors, Izuku got on Bakugo's shoulder and Bakugo lifted Izuku to the raised ladder. After grabbing the bottom rung of the ladder, Izuku shook it a bit. It rattled, but it seemed the screw and nails holding it to the building were still strong.
Knowing he wasn't going to fall, Izuku pulled himself from the bottom rung and quickly climbed the ladder. Taking quiet and small movements so as not to allow the ladder to rattle more than it needed to. Once he was at the top, Izuku pulled himself onto the roof then after applying some force, undid the rusted screw and slowly lowered the ladder to the ground.
Once the ladder was fully extended Bakugo quickly climbed up and they worked their work over to the skylight window. As it was an old warehouse the glass that was in the skylight was broken a long time ago, allowing Izuku and Bakugo to listen to the insides of the warehouse.
Bakugo pulled out his phone and said, "6 o'clock in 3,2,1." Suddenly the loading dock door of the warehouse opened up and three black SUVs drove in. They parked in front of the target and men in black clothes began to get out, "What do you think we're going on?"
"Like you said Mareo is always changing things. We probably have to listen to a conversion and that's how we pass." Izuku said as he looked over the men in black clothes, counting 10 of them.
"How the hell are we supposed to listen to a conversation from all the way up here?" Bakugo asked, but Izuku didn't answer as he began weaving a strand of hair back and forth. After a few seconds, it solidified into a bullet and Izuku showed it to Bakugo, it looked like a normal one of Izuku's bullets. Yet now the butt end of it looked like some kind of speaker, which Izuku pulled off and handed to Bakugo.
Izuku then held the bullet like a dart and flicked it into the warehouse. With his perfect aim, it landed right behind the target's legs, hidden from everyone's view. After a few seconds, the speaker in Bakugo's hand sparked to life with a bit of static.
"This is the third time you've lost my product. And this time the cuffs were able to recover it." A voice came through the speaker in Bakugo's hands.
"Since when could you do this?" Bakugo asked as he held up his hand that the speaker was lying in.
"Figured it out two weeks ago, still working on making it two way." Izuku said.
"That doesn't just put heat on you, but heat on me. Explain to me why you continuously make mistakes that are causing my operation thousands of dollars." A man in an expensive black suit said, as he gracefully slid out of the shotgun of the middle SUV. His greying hair was slicked back and he held a cane in his hand, though it appeared he didn't need one.
"They were waiting for me this time. I barely got away with my life, I didn't have time to dispose of the drugs. Nearly got cuffs slapped on me." The target said.
"You didn't have time. You didn't have time because of your previous mistakes, because you broke the profile. You weren't dressed like a business so why the hell did you think it was okay to carry them in a briefcase, three times no less. That's what got you on the Cuff's radar in the first place, you didn't play the part." The boss said.
"Does this record?" Bakugo said, as a lot was being said and Mareo could question them on any part. They could try to memorize the conversation, but it would be best to have a recording.
"No." Izuku said, as he caught Bakugos drift and pulled out his phone and hit record. He put his phone on the roof and Bakugo put the speaker on the phone.
"My schedule, I didn't have time to switch carriers." The target said.
"Your schedule." The boss said, in disbelief, "You've lost me over a hundred pounds in product, that's nearly 2 million yen, and your excuse is your schedule was off. What could have possibly been so important that your schedule was far."
The target didn't answer, Izuku elbowed Bakugo while pausing the recording, "I don't remember our other missions being like this.
"They're probably just making it more realistic." Bakugo said as he turned the recording back on, signalling the end of the short conversation.
"I can make it back up for you. I'll lay low for a bit, wait for the heat from the cuffs to disappear, then I can move more product and make the money back." The target said.
"Oh you think you can make it up. Pay me back with money that you'll earn selling my product. And all you have to do is wait for the cuffs to forget about you." The boss said as he walked up to the target and put a hand on their shoulder. Suddenly the boss punched the target in the gut, causing them to fall to the ground, "You think you can lose the cuffs that easily, they don't forget. Lose interest, but they'll remember you and if they find you with even more product, then you'll be put away for a long time. Then next they'll be coming after me."
"They won't catch me." The target said as he stayed on the ground.
"They will, and you hope they will. Maybe I've been too lenient with you, Kyosho Hikko, our history has clouded my judgment." The boss said as he cleaned off his shoe.
With that name Izuku and Bakugo looked at each other, "I thought the target's name was Mokuhyō." Izuku whispered.
"A second fake name." Bkaugo suggest, but it didn't sound like he believed his own answer. Their assignment names were always consistent, the target also went by their given fake names. If Mareo was going to introduce a second fake name, he would have informed the two of them.
The boss walked back to his car. "The cuffs will catch you and you'll do what everyone does and rat their boss out." the boss said as he turned back and looked at Hikko.
"Raputa, you know I won't do that." Hikko said.
"You said that, but they'll find your pressure point and use it until you give it to them by name. Then not even prison can protect you as I'll put a bounty on your head that even the guards will be itching to kill you." Raputa said, as he tapped his cane against the floor and then pointed it at Hikko.
"You know I'll never give you up. Like you said, we have history." Hikko said.
"History that tells me that you are a spineless junkie. So maybe I should just save myself the time and headache." Raputa raised his hand and instantly all of his men had their guns out and pointed at Hikko. Hikko raised his arm, "As most likely this ends with you in a grave and my ass on the run from the cuffs."
Izuku turned the recording off and said, "Kacchan I think we might have just stumbled across an actual drug operation." Izuku said.
"You think we're lucky enough to do that?" Bakugo asked. They were training to be heroes but they still had 2 and half years until they were in high school and were able to go to UA.
"I think we're unlucky enough. Look at Raputa, there's no faking that, he's fully ready to have Hikko killed." Izuku said as he looked at Raputa. He had never seen some intent to kill anyone before, even the villains they had seen on TV.
"What are we supposed to do? We've only 13 and don't have any kind of hero license. We're taking our body guards license test in a few months, but even that won't cover something like this." Bakugo said as Hikko took a small step back.
Izuku looked over the entire warehouse, "Hikko is only 50 meters from the back door. You and I can easily run that within 10 seconds, pulling Hikko 20 seconds maximum."
"Wait, you want to rescue the drug peddling junkie?" Bakugo asked, not believing the heroic spirit that was coming from his friend.
"He's burned and right now he's probably wanting to kill Raputa, at least get revenge. We rescue Hikko, and anonymously turn him over to the police with the record. He confesses along with the records, he gets a few years in prison, far away from Raputa while Raputa is put away for life. We save a life and put an end to a drug empire." Izuku said as he looked over the men that had their guns trained on Hikko. They were all pistols and Izuku would easily be able to shoot the guns out of their hands, but that won't be needed.
"Okay, but one big issue. You expect whoever grabs Hikko to be able to run at top speed after falling nearly three stories." Bakugo said.
"You'll be grabbing Hikko, while I provide cover fire." Izuku said.
"You want to use our quirks. If we get caught there goes our perfect record and we'll have no chance of getting into UA." Bakugo said. Izuku could always laugh at how much his friend cared about their perfect record, yet if anyone learned what they did for training for Project Velocity, Juvenile Hall would become their home for a while.
"The law states 'with intent to cause harm'. We aren't looking to cause harm, besides Mareo will pull us out if we get into trouble, he's done it before. While I provide cover fire, you fly down there, create a smoke screen and get Hikko to safety." Izuku said.
"Uh, can't believe you are thinking about doing this," Bakugo said, as Izuku nodded and didn't appear to waver at all. Bakugo sighed, "Fine. Just cover me." Bakugo then dropped down through the skylight. He was immediately noticed but then Izuku transformed his arm and stuck it through the window. He took several shots, each one landing right in front of Raputa and his men.
"Grab Hikko." Raputa ordered, but then Bakugo landed in front of Hikko and created a smoke screen. Izuku watched while under the cover of the smokescreen, Bakugo grabbed Hikko and began pulling him to the back door. Some of Raputa's men charged through the smoke screen and chased after Bakugo, so Izuku placed some bullets right in front of them.
"Sir, we need to get you out of here." Izuku heard a thug say over the speaker, he looked back at Raputa and saw him getting back into a car. Hikko might be able to confess, but that did nothing if the police couldn't catch Raputa. Izuku transformed his arm back and grabbed his phone and speaker and ran across the roof to where Raputa's car could be coming out. He needed to be quick so Raputa couldn't get away.
Izuku bolted across the metal roofing when suddenly a bullet came flying through the roof and passed right in front of Izuku's nose. Izuku stumbled and fell, just as more bullets came whizzing past him. "Crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap, crap." Izuku yelled as he quickly got back to his feet and took off again. As he ran a trail of bullet holes formed in the roof behind him, slowly catching up to him.
Once Izuku reached the edge of the roof, he saw one of the black cars driving out. Without thinking, Izuku jumped down and landed on his butt on the roof. Though he didn't have much time to think, a bullet came flying out between his legs. Izuku rolled backwards as more bullets tried to hit him. He would have rolled off and hit the ground if not for the railing on the top of the car, that he was able to grab a hold of.
However, Izuku's backward and the car's forward momentum threw him off, causing him to swing down and crash into the trunk door of the car. Izuku looked through the window and saw Raputa with his gun out and aimed at Izuku. Izuku quickly moved to the side of the car as Raputa fired several bullets, breaking the back window.
"Seriously, what is with everyone and bullets?" Izuku said as he swung to the back. He saw Raputa reloading his gun, giving Izuku time to switch hands and aim his right arm into the car, "Pull over, or I shoot."
"Ha, you don't have a gun." Raputa said. Izuku smirked and transformed his arm, extending far past the back seats. Fear entered Raputa's eyes as he leaned over and furiously turned the wheel to the left. This caused the car to swerve as it turned onto the main road and nearly caused a crash to occur, worse Izuku was thrown from the back. As Izuku hit the ground, he transformed his arm back to normal and rolled to try and save himself from too much injury, however, he felt his left ankle get twisted while blood flowed over his left eye from a cut on his forehead.
Now slightly pissed, Izuku quickly got onto his knees and held his right arm out in front, transforming it. Without waiting Izuku took two shots, and the bullets went screaming forwards and hit the back tires. With the explosion of the back tires, the car went back over front and flipped onto its roof. As the car skidded to a stop, Izuku transformed his arm back and fully stood up, trying not to put much weight on his right ankle.
He walked over to the car and opened the passenger side door. Raputa was still awake and had cuts all over his body and a broken nose from the airbag. Izuku pulled Raputa from his seat and out onto the street, "Who the hell do you think you are?"
"The one you should have been worried about." Izuku said, letting go of Raputa, and allowing him onto the street. Izuku then turned and saw Bakugo dragging Hikko from behind the warehouse. As he walked over to Bakugo, several police cars arrived and they quickly got out, a few training their guns on Bakugo and Izuku, who casually put their hands up as they knew they weren't in that much trouble
"Idiots, put them down, it's Midoriya and Bakugo. What are you two doing?" An officer said as he got out of his car. All the officers lowered their guns as they recognized Izuku and Bakugo for all the time they were found around the community doing service and for the few times they had been brought into the station for getting into fights. As the officer walked up to Izuku and Bakugo, they recognized him as Officer Niko.
"Hey Officer Niko." Izuku and Bakugo said in unison as all the police officers lowered their guns. Officer Niko walked up to them and looked behind, "I thought you two were going to stay out of trouble after our last run in."
Izuku thought about the last time they had run into Officer Niko. A couple of teenagers had taken to messing with kids at the local park in the evening, something neither Izuku nor Bakugo had taken to kindly too. Though they made sure to go just far enough that the older kids won't think about coming back.
"It's a Saturday. What are you doing all the way down here?" Officer Niko asked as he looked over at Hikko, "What kind of trouble did you get into this time."
Izuku and Bakugo looked at each other, to communicate what kind of lie to tell. They couldn't tell Officer Niko that they would be part of Project Velocity and that they were supposed to be doing a mission that went wrong.
Suddenly Izuku's phone buzzed, "I should probably get that." Officer Niko nodded so Izuku pulled out his phone and saw it was a call from Mareo. Izuku quickly answered it.
"Hey you two, you were supposed to make the bust 20 minutes ago. And Chiko says he can't find you." Mareo said, his voice portraying confusion, as the boys had never failed a mission this hard before.
"About that, we might have run into a lot of trouble. We're on the edge of the warehouse district." Izuku said, as he turned and put his back to Officer Niko.
"Warehouse dis… you're supposed to be in the upper part of town, what are you doing on the opposite side of town." Mareo said.
"We can explain everything after you pick us up at the police station." Izuku said.
"The police station, what trouble did you get into now." Mareo said.
"Please just don't tell our moms." Izuku pleaded. The last thing either of them did was for their mother to find out what happened and ground them for the rest of their lives.
"Fine, the usual." Mareo said, disappointment filling Izuku's ears.
"The usual." Izuku said, then turned the volume down on his phone. He put his phone in his pocket and turned back to Officer Niko. Who sighed and pointed at his car and said, "Explain at the station, however your friends here will be riding separately."
Izuku and Bakugo nodded while Officer Niko waved two other officers over to take Hikko away in cuffs. The two boys followed Officer Niko to his car, where he put them in the back and then went into the front. As he drove away he talked into his radio, "Situation is under control, shoot out that called in was from a drug exchange gone wrong."
"Receive, do we know which drug ring?" A voice came over the radio.
"Raputa, Roiyari Raputa." Officer Niko said, then a bit of silence occurred over the radio, making Izuku and Bakugo struggle not to grin.
"One of his goons. Good that should put a grip on his throat."
"No, Roiyari Raputa. The man himself." Officer Niko said.
"How the hell did that happen?"
"Story's being worked on, got some eye witnesses that should be able to provide some light to the events." Officer Niko said.
"Names." The officer on the other side of the radio asked.
"Midoriya and Bakugo." Officer Niko said, shooting a glare at the boys through the rearview mirror.
"Officer, confirm? You said Midoriy and Bakugo, as in Izuku and Katsuki."
"Don't know what the hell they were doing, but they say they witnessed it." Officer Niko said. Despite the radio not going off again, Izuku and Bakugo could hear the other officer sigh as if they were done with life. And they couldn't blame him, though Izuku and Bakugo tried their best to stay out of trouble but with all they did within the community, they often came across some stuff they couldn't turn their noses from. They usually would leave an anonymous tip for the police, but sometimes they would do things that got them in trouble.
Officer Niko turned off his radio and the rest of the ride was in silence. At the station, Officer Niko pulled his car around the back, then turned it off. Familiar with the routine after the fifth time, Izuku and Bakugo got out of the car and held their hands against their heads. Though Officer Niko didn't cuff them, he said, "Just keep your hands on your head until we're in the room."
Izuku and Bkaugo nodded and followed Officer Niko through the back door. They followed him through the police station, carrying the eyes of many of the other officers that were in the station. Even making conversation with a few, clearly dates to do community service in the future.
Once they arrived at the integration room, Officer Niko threw up the door and pointed. Izuku and Bakugo walked in, sitting down at the table, finally dropping their hands from their heads and laying them flat on the tables. Officer Niko sighed again, "Alright, you should have had enough time to come up with a believable lie, or do you want to tell me the truth this time."
"We've told you the truth every time." Izuku said. Every time was strong words, but in all honesty, they were honest about 90% of the time, only stretching the truth when Project Velocity was involved.
"Uh-huh." Officer Niko said, not buying it. He walked over to the table and sat across the table from the two of them, "You can also relax, you're not under arrest. Besides you two are always unreasonably calm when you are." Officer Niko mumbled the last part under his breath.
"We were sparring all day, when we got bored and decided to go on a bike ride. It's a good cool down for legs and stretching the muscle out. It had been awhile since we had been downtown, so we decided to bike down here. We were heading to get some ice cream when Izuku mentioned hearing a commotion." Bakugo said, perfectly setting up the story.
"It didn't sound too friendly, so we pulled over and stashed our bikes. I was thinking it was some teenagers fighting amongst each other, but then I heard mentions of drugs. Then we spotted the black cars and the man in the expensive suit."
"Hold on, you said you heard the commotion coming from a worn down warehouse, from the streets. How could you possibly have done that?" Officer Niko said, pulling out a notepad.
"It was a loud commotion and I do have pretty good hearing, Kacchan's started to go a little deaf from his quirk." Izuku said.
"Hey." Bakugo said, and slugged Izuku across the arm, "If I was going deaf, it would be from all the yelling the old hag does."
"Boys behave, I still have handcuffs on me. And Bakugo, you do act deaf something and it's not from your mother's yelling, despite all the yelling she does." Officer Niko said, then wrote some stuff down, then continued, "So you heard the commotion, did you approach before or after drugs were mentioned."
"After. Like I said, I thought it was so teenagers fighting among themselves. I approached to see if law enforcement needed to be called to break up the fight, Kacchan following close behind me. As we got close to the door of the warehouse, it was at that point drugs were mentioned and the police getting close. As we were only a few steps away, we looked through the window on the door and saw a man dressed in an expensive suit, with several men dressed in black clothes pointing guns at a man. This man turned out to be called Kyosho Hikko and he was put under arrest by your men."
"Why didn't you leave after drugs were mentioned?" Officer Niko asked after writing a few notes, which he kept hidden from the two of them.
"We want to grow up and become pro heroes, so maybe you can call it wanting to help. We thought if we got a record of the conversation and a few pictures, we could turn them over to the police and maybe that could help them arrest the men." Bakugo said and one of Officer Niko's eyebrows rose at the mention of a recording.
However, he shook his head. "Gun fight broke out, care to explain that."
"We weren't as slightly as we thought. The man in the expensive suit spotted us and had his men try to shoot us. Hikko, the man you arrested, risked his life to keep us safe. We didn't see much of what happened between us dropping to the ground and Hikko breaking through the door and pulling us into the street." Izuku said as he maintained eye contact with Officer Niko.
"I guess that brings up the question of why would a Trigger mule risk his life to save two kids that he's never met before? Two kids that possibly have a record that could put his boss away." Officer Niko said, thinking he had them.
Yet Izuku relaxed his shoulder and leaned back in his chair. "The conversation didn't seem to be in happy tones, that's what had caught my attention in the first place. Remember I thought a fight was going on, so something must have been going on that made Hikko act uncharacteristically of a drug mule."
Officer Niko just shook his head and then said, "So you heard a commotion, and thinking a fight was happening you approached. With the intent that if law enforcement was needed, you would call. However, before you reached the door, you heard the mention of drugs. And instead of immediately calling the police, you thought it would be wise to take a recording and turn it into the police. You were spotted and a gun fight broke out."
"And Hikko saved us." Izuku pointed out again.
"Okay. Then what about the flipped over car, if either of you did that, then that grounds for illegal quirk usage." Officer Niko said. Izuku and Bakugo looked at each knowing what their options were. If they confessed to using their quirk, arrest and juvenile hall, meaning no UA. If they didn't confess and make up a story of Hikko using his quirk to flip the car, that would be an extra added charge to his sentencing.
"Don't know. As Hikko pulled us to the streets, a black SUV came driving out from behind the warehouse. It nearly hit us to the ground, before getting out onto the street. It must have been driving too fast and hit a pothole, flipping the car." Bakugo said.
"The tires exploded." Officer Niko pointed out.
"Tires tend to do that, if they hit a pothole while going too fast." Bakugo pointed out.
Officer Niko shook his head again, then decided to focus on something important, "Recording, you mentioned that you were trying to get a recording of the conversation." He and his men had been going after Raputa and his empire for a while now, yet they had only been able to get Raputa's thugs. Now that Officer Niko had a chance to put Raputa behind bars, he wasn't going to take the chances of bribes and circumstantial evidence ruining everything.
"Yeah, we got the tail end of the conversation before they noticed us. It's on my phone." Izuku said.
Officer Niko nodded, "You boys don't seem to know how to stay out of trouble, but you also seem to have enough luck to always have a way out. I don't know how many I actually believe, but this once I'm putting aside some moral obligation and allowing you to go without any further questions. If you hand over that recording, of which I don't fully understand how you came to possess, but you managed to give the police our first major chance of putting Raputa, a big drug lord behind bars."
Before either of the boys could say anything, Officer Niko stood up and walked over to the door. Izuku and Bakugo stood up and walked to the door and began walking out into the hallway, but Officer Niko stopped them and said, "Midoriya the recording."
"Oh yeah." Izuku said, then began to pull his phone out of his pocket. After some sleight of hand, Izuku opened his phone and moved some stuff around, locking them away, "Alright the recording is accessible and the password is AllMight."
"Nerd." Bakugo said under his breath.
"Thank you. I'll get a copy of the recording and have the phone returned to you as soon as possible. You two have a goodnight now and try to get home without causing more headaches for me and my boys." Officer Niko said, waving the two off.
"Will do." Izuku and Bkaugo said, then began to walk away. However, Izuku stopped and turned back to Officer Niko, "Officer, please go easy on Hikko."
"There's only so much I can turn a blind eye to, kid. Something you make really hard to do." Officer Niko said as he walked in the opposite direction of the boys to make a copy of the record.
Izuku turned and quickly caught up to Bakugo as they walked to the front of the station. Without Officer Niko with them, the police officer at the front desk had to buzz them through, allowing them to walk through the front room. They walked through the front doors and down the front steps of the police station. Bakugo then sat down on the front steps and looked up and down the street. "You know you shouldn't have said that."
"I know, but I feel sorry for Hikko." Izuku said as he sat down.
"You shouldn't, but that's what makes you a good hero, Izuku." Bakugo said. They were both silent for the next few minutes as they waited for Mareo to come to pick them up. When he arrived they could tell he was angry but also glad that they were okay.
The two of them climbed into the car and as Mareo pulled away he asked, "I heard over the phone, but that doesn't explain how all of this happened. Care to explain that."
"We followed the wrong person." Izuku said.
I had a lot of fun writing this chapter. Since this chapter was written after I started writing the Sports Festival, I was able to lay the ground work for many plans I have in the future, so a lot of future plot points will come back to these last two chapter.
Next week: Two year time skip to the winter before the UA Hero entrance exam. We'll get to see how Izuku and Bakugo had grown in the past two years and it's made them better heroes.
Next time: Enter the Belly of the Beast
Review and tell me what you think.