Chapter 7: Minotaur in the Labyrinth
Izuku's mind was as blank as a brand new canvas as he sat in the interrogation room at the HPSC building. The officers had been questioning him for two days now, and yet they would not drop the belief that he was the traitor as much as he denied it. He had stopped saying anything as soon as the first day ended and it came to the point that about halfway through the second day, his brain essentially turned off and tuned everything out.
The only thing he couldn't tune out, however, was the vestiges.
"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Fifth, who Izuku now knew was named Daigoro, cried out. "How long are they going to keep this act going?"
"It seems," First, now known as Yoichi, answered, "that they have deemed Izuku to be their very own fail safe."
"He doesn't deserve this shit," Seventh, or Nana, cut in.
"Thanks, guys," Izuku thought, not daring to say anything out loud and knowing they could hear him anyway. "Yet, there's nothing we can really do in this situation."
"Is there no way to prove to them that you're not the traitor?" Second asked. Second had yet to reveal his name, as well as Third, but they seemed content with being called by their numbers, so Izuku respected that.
"He's been telling them the truth already, even about the notebook they had," Third huffed. "They're all just idiots that are pretending to be on the right side of the law."
"No one should treat a child this way," Sixth, En, said, crossing his arms. "No matter what they believe to be true."
"What happened to 'innocent until proven guilty?'" Nana asked.
"They believe they have proof simply because I have multiple quirks and like taking notes on other's quirks," Izuku responded tiredly. They'd been having a repeat of this conversation since he'd been brought here. The only thing Izuku had truly found out from this experience was that 1) they had his missing notebook somehow and 2) the quirk canceling cuffs did nothing to stop him from using his quirk.
"Incoming," Yoichi warned.
Izuku snapped back into focus to scan his surroundings. There were two officers in the room with him who were discussing methods on getting him to talk and he could vaguely hear footsteps approaching the doorway.
As soon as the door opened, Izuku mentally cursed. Standing there in his quirked glory, was All Might. Izuku really didn't have the energy for this. He doubted that All Might was here to bring him back to school given that he'd essentially stopped talking to him about a week ago. Now that Izuku thought about it, it was around the same time that Izuku's journal had gone missing. Whoever stole it must have brought it to All Might, who in turn brought it to the HPSC.
"Give him a chance," Nana said with a small bit of hope in her voice. "Maybe he's here to help."
"Doubt it," Izuku muttered back, eyes tracking All Might's movements as he walked into the room, the other officers immediately departing.
All Might deflated into his civilian identity, Yagi Toshinori, and Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Hello young Midoriya."
Izuku blinked at him. "Yagi." A light flickered and Izuku's eyes shot to the camera in the corner of the room, watching as it shut down.
"They probably had it turned off so that he can freely talk about One for All," En noted.
"Midoriya," Yagi said, bringing Izuku's attention back to the man in front of him. "You need to confess to being the traitor."
"I can't," Izuku huffed, leaning back in his chair.
"And why not?" Yagi asked, glaring at his student.
"Because I'm not the traitor," Izuku said with a shrug.
"This is absolutely ridiculous!" Yagi shouted, surprising Izuku. "We know you've been gaining quirks from All for One and that you've been trading information about your teachers and your classmates to him as well. Give up the stupid act!"
"You know, he was always naïve, but I never thought he could be so stupid," Third huffed.
"He was always an idiot," Second countered. "Remember that one time in Texas?"
"Oh, yeah. Nevermind, he's always been an idiot," Third amended.
Izuku raised both eyebrows at the man. "Yes, because I've been sneaking into Tartarus late at night when I'm asleep to go get new quirks from the man that wants me dead."
Yagi growled. "This is not like you Midoriya. You were supposed to be a hero. You were supposed to be my successor. I can see now that I made a mistake in choosing you. You need to give me One for All back."
"What the fuck," Daigoro cursed. "Who does he think he is?"
"Don't fret. I chose him as the next successor, Toshinori can't take it back," Yoichi said in an effort to calm down the angered vestiges.
Izuku smiled at the man in front of him as he leaned back forward towards him. "You know, you used to be the star of my life, but you have crushed my dreams twice now. I'm not giving back One for All, and I will not admit to being the traitor, because I'm not."
"You will give back One for All now!" Yagi demanded, slamming his fist down on the table between them. "You have taken this too far!"
Izuku sighed and leaned back. "Fine, take my hair. Eat it. Do whatever the hell you want."
Yagi grinned victoriously as he jumped forward and plucked a hair out of Izuku's head, immediately placing it in his mouth, his grin turning smug.
"Of course, even with my consent, it won't work," Izuku said, watching Yagi's face as he swallowed the hair. "But then again, that won't be apparent for a few hours, yes?" He could hear Yoichi chuckling in the recesses of his mind.
Yagi huffed. "I don't know where this attitude came from, young Midoriya, but it only cements the fact that you're the traitor."
"Yeah, because having an attitude means that you're a villain now," Third huffed.
Izuku shrugged. "Maybe I just decided that I've been stepped on one too many times throughout my life. Things were just turning out right for me. I met my hero. I got a quirk. I had teachers that respected me. I rekindled my friendship with Kacchan and made friends beside him. I got a boyfriend. And now the world has found a way to throw me under the bus once again. My hero is a fake. My friends betrayed me. The HPSC wrongfully arrested me and is unlawfully holding me. Who knows what else they have planned in an attempt to get me to 'confess' as well. Not to mention that my so-called hero is now taking away my quirk. Or, at least attempting to. I believe that with all that is said and done, I'm allowed to have a bit of an attitude adjustment."
"Fuck yeah!" Daigoro cheered.
"Go Nine!" En added, showing uncharacteristic enthusiasm.
Yagi stared at him in shock, mouth floundering as he tried to find a response. Finally, his face hardened and he glared at Izuku. "While I may not have been able to get a confession out of you, I still got the more important item in this interaction. I once again have One for All and that is all that truly matters."
"Over a child's life?" Nana cried.
Yagi stood up to leave and just as he grabbed the door handle, Izuku spoke up once more to his past hero. "Nana Shimura knows all that you've done and said to me, and I cannot fully express the disappointment that she holds for you."
Yagi slowly turned back to face Izuku with a look of shock, but Izuku ignored him and went back to staring at the table in front of him as he listened to vestiges rage at Yagi's actions and words.
"He took the hair! He actually wants the kid to be quirkless again!" Daigoro shouted.
"Did First not say to not fret?" Second huffed.
"No matter how much he wants the quirk back, he won't get it," Third added.
"Not that I truly consented to him having the quirk anyways," Izuku added, absently noting that Yagi was screaming in his face. "I simply consented to him taking and eating my hair under the presumption that he would get the quirk. He doesn't deserve to have this quirk back."
Nana sighed and dropped her head in her hands. "I can't believe he's fallen so far. He used to have such a big heart and be such a sweetheart."
"He fell the day he lost you," First confessed. "He became obsessed with defeating my brother. We saw how bad he'd gotten when he first met Izuku."
Izuku couldn't help the wince at that, showing his reaction physically instead of solely mentally. His eyes shot back into focus as Yagi moved. The hero simply huffed and walked back towards the door, slamming it on his way out. Izuku's eyes were drawn back to the corner of the room as the camera blinked back on. Izuku sighed and sunk back into his unfocused state.
"- not to bring that up!" Nana shouted.
"I'm fine you guys," Izuku placated. "Besides, he's gone. Now all I have to worry about is the HPSC interrogators."
"But, what if they take it too far?" Nana asked softly. "What if they don't just question you and bring in other methods?"
"I grew up quirkless and when I finally did get my quirk, it was constantly breaking all my bones. My hands lock up in the cold from how many times my fingers have been broken. My spine aches from when Yagi threw and pinned me during finals." Izuku shook his head mentally. "I believe that I can withstand whatever it is they throw at me."
"Just because you can doesn't mean that you should have to, kid," Second said sadly.
"Again, there's nothing we can do," Izuku reminded them. "Unless I confess to something I'm not guilty of, they won't give up."
"Then the only thing we can do is hope that your friends and teachers can pull some miracle off," Third huffed. "Until then, don't forget that we're right here with you."
Izuku smiled at the group in front of him even as he registered the door to the interrogation room opening. "I know. And I have faith in those I care about to fight for me. Feels weird, but I trust them."
The group in front of him smiled at him as he tuned back into his surroundings. There were three new people in front of him, dressed differently than the other officers that had come in.
"It has come to our attention that you refuse to answer questions or confess to your crimes," one of the men said. They were all dressed in black stealth suits and Izuku could tell that the HPSC was done waiting.
"I have committed no crimes," Izuku stated, watching as the men spread out around him, but not letting any emotion show on his face.
"Yet, the evidence begs to differ," another man said.
"Your evidence is invalid," Izuku said, barely stopping himself from rolling his eyes. "A notebook of a quirk-obsessed teenager, big whoop."
"And the quirks?" the third man asked.
Izuku scoffed. "As if my quirk is the craziest one out there."
"I would suggest not saying too much," Second offered.
"They'll just start twisting your words," En added.
"While there may be people born with dual quirks like your classmate, Todoroki Shouto, people do not simply start manifesting quirks left and right," the first man stated. "The only logical conclusion is that you have been working with All for One."
"Are you accusing me of breaking into Tartarus?" Izuku asked, tilting his head.
"Kid," Third sighed. "Don't antagonize them."
"Are you admitting to doing so?" the second man asked, coming to stand on Izuku's right.
"How exactly would I break into Tartarus, might I ask?" Izuku questioned back, ignoring the vestiges as they groaned.
"Why don't you tell us how you did it?" the first man asked.
Izuku laughed as he shook his head. "That'd be a little hard given that I didn't do anything of the sort."
"Then how did you get multiple quirks? Your quirk is listed as a simple strength augmentation," the third man asked.
Izuku sighed. "Yeah, we don't know what my full quirk is and haven't gone in to update it due to trying to work it out."
"And who is we?" the first man asked.
"Nedzu knows everything," Izuku shrugged. "He knows about my notebooks and he knows about my quirk. He also knows that I have not escaped the dorms to escape into Tartarus as you ridiculously suspect because he was video feeds on the dorms and all exit points to the school."
The three men smiled as they approached the door to leave. "Seems like the others are just idiots. Looks like we have a rat to interrogate."
They left without another word and Izuku looked up to the camera and smiled. They could question Nedzu all they wanted, they weren't going to get the answers they saught.