Chapter 15: Daedalus' Haven
Pulling up to the Commission headquarters was more daunting than usual. It was rare for Naomasa to go directly against one of their decisions, even if he did sometimes push and pull at the laws they laid out.
"We're about to close, what do you need?" the guard next to the receptionist asked gruffly.
"We're here to see Midoriya," Nedzu stated. "Surely you remember us, Ito?"
"Whatever," Ito said, rolling his eyes. "Follow me. You better make this quick."
"But of course," Nedzu said with a polite grin, climbing up Eraser's body to rest on his shoulder as they all followed Ito through the maze of hallways towards Midoriya's room.
"Five minutes," Ito demanded. "Then you're leaving. I'm not going to work overtime for you lot."
"I'm sure it won't even take that long," Naomasa offered politely as they entered Midoriya's room. Well, it was more like a cell now that he was able to see it.
"Kid?" Eraser asked softly.
Midoriya was a forlorn figure, curled up in the corner and staring into space with his cuffed wrists around his knees. "Er-Aizawa?" The kid asked, looking up as his vision cleared.
"Hey kid," Eraser said, kneeling in front of Midoriya. "I brought Detective Naomasa with me, as well as Hizashi and Nedzu."
Midoriya blinked as he looked around at the group. "I think they drugged me with something to make me more compliant," he whispered.
"True," Naomasa said with a grimace. He turned back towards the door, but it was closed. "What the hell have they been doing to the kid?"
"I think you would call it torture, but they call it asking a few questions," Midoriya offered.
Naomasa cursed as he knelt in front of the boy. "Midoriya, do you remember me?"
"I think we've met too many times now for me to forget you, Detective," Midoriya laughed. "Shut up! I am not loopy!"
Naomasa blinked at Midoriya's change in conversation then looked to the others to see none of them were surprised. Was this what they'd meant by Midoriya being able to talk to the past holders?
"Is there a chance that the vestiges can leave you alone for this conversation, kid?" Eraser asked. "We need to record it and if they have you responding, it could mess with getting you cleared."
"Oh," Midoriya blinked up at them. "Sorry, one second." Midoriya's vision grew hazy again and he went completely silent, almost seeming as if he'd passed out with his eyes open. "Okay, sorry. I might still be a little off, but the vestiges said they'll wait until the recording is over to interject," Midoriya said, vision slowly clearing again.
"Thank you," Eraser offered. "Naomasa, go ahead and start the recording so we can finish this before Ito gets back."
Naomasa nodded and grabbed the recorder from his pocket and set it up before beginning a new recording. "Alright. This is Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi with Pro Heroes Eraserhead, Present Mic, and Nedzu, along with Midoriya Izuku. Midoriya, do you remember the parameters of my quirk?"
"Yes, sir," Midoriya said. "Your quirk is Lie Detector and it allows you to determine whether a statement is the truth or a lie."
"True," Naomasa said, reading his quirk's signals. "Very good, Midoriya. Now, we're here to question you on whether or not the allegations that you are the UA traitor and have been working with All for One are true or not. This is going to be very simple and short, understand?"
"Go ahead," Midoriya said, waving his hand in the air.
Naomasa nodded. "First, are you the UA traitor, Midoriya Izuku?"
"No," Midoriya responded.
"True," Naomasa replied. "Have you ever given away, traded, or sold information on your peers and teachers?"
"The only people I've given information about the discussed group to is the people themselves," Midoriya answered.
"True, can you explain that a bit more?" Naomasa asked.
"I like to analyze quirks. I have just over a dozen notebooks on the topic and will sometimes give my analyses to the people I write them on so that they can improve their quirk use. Sometimes they'll ask me to show my analyses to other people, but they always come with me and it's only at their request." Midoriya explained.
"True. And you've never given or shown these notebooks to anyone besides the people you write them on or who they ask you to?" Naomasa asked.
"Correct," Midoriya replied.
"True. Who have you been asked to show your analyses to?" Naomasa asked.
"Only Hatsume Mei and Eraserhead," Midoriya said, looking at his teacher for a moment.
"True. Have you ever written an analysis for a villain, criminal, or shady figure?" Naomasa asked.
"I've written analyses on villains, but I've never shown any of my analyses to anyone besides UA students," Midoriya explained.
"True," Naomasa said with a nod. "Alright, have you ever worked with or for All for One?"
"No," Midoriya answered.
"True," Naomasa said. "Alright, that is all we need from you, Midoriya. Thank you."
"Of course," Midoriya said with a small smile as Naomasa ended the recording.
"Let me go take this to go process your paperwork and I'll come back when you're able to leave.
Midoriya nodded as Eraser and Mic started talking in low tones with him and Naomasa walked towards the door.
"Naomasa, may I?" Nedzu asked.
Naomasa looked down before nodding and offering a hand for Nedzu to climb up to his shoulder with. Naomasa knocked on the door and Ito opened it with the same gruff expression. "They still have a couple minutes, but can you please lead us to your superiors?"
Ito rolled his eyes. "I'm sure they're packing up to leave, but whatever."
Naomasa nodded in thanks as Ito began leading them even deeper into the building until they came to the President's office. Ito knocked on the door and a voice called from within, so he opened it and gestured them inside.
"Nedzu, Detective Naomasa," Madame President greeted, sitting at her desk. "How may I help you gentlemen tonight?"
"We have proof that Midoriya is not the traitor and would like him released immediately," Naomasa stated, holding up his recorder.
Madame President frowned at them. "Are you 100% certain of this?" She asked. "Are you certain you want this boy back in your school, Nedzu?"
"The child has done nothing but be an exemplary student since the beginning," Nedzu said. "Midoriya never should have been arrested in the first place and we would like him back in our care immediately."
Madame President sighed. "Show me your proof then if you choose to be so stubborn."
Naomasa barely held back from rolling his eyes at the woman as he started the recorder and let it play.
As soon as it finished, Madame President sighed. "Fine, take the damn child," she said, grabbing a form from her desk chair. "Ink these papers and Ito will unlock his cuffs."
"Gladly," Naomasa said, a bit of his anger dripping into his voice as he grabbed the form and pen and quickly filled out the paper.
"Now get out of my building," Madame President said, waving her hand. "Ito!"
Ito opened the door and peeked in. "Yes, Madame President?"
"Go release the boy to these… men," Madame President hissed. "We must restart our investigation."
"No need," Nedzu chirped. "We'll have the traitor in your custody by the week's end."
Madame President rolled her eyes and waved them off again. "Whatever."
Naomasa smirked as Ito grumbled the whole way back to Midoriya's cell. "Your five minutes were up ten minutes ago," he said as they finally approached Midoriya's door.
"Yes, well," Nedzu said, fur bristling, "as soon as you release the boy, we can all go home."
"Whatever," Ito grumbled, unlocking the door. "Midoriya, get over here."
Eraser and Yamada stood with the child and led him over to them. Midoriya was stumbling his entire walk over and Eraser had to steady him by grabbing his arm. Ito grabbed the ring of keys off of his belt and grumpily unlocked Midoriya's cuffs before hooking them and the keys onto his belt.
"Get out of here," Ito said.
"Gladly," Eraser snapped, clearly not having the patience that Nedzu and Naomasa were trying to portray.
"Let's get you home, kiddo," Mic offered kindly.
"Okay," Midoriya whispered. He winced and had to use Aizawa as a crutch as they left the room, which made Naomasa question just what, exactly, they had done to this poor child.
Naomasa sighed as they followed down the hallways they'd originally come through, finally leaving the HPSC headquarters and getting Midoriya free.
Walking into Aizawa and Yamada's dorm felt strange. It was almost like coming home, but not at the same time. Their dorm was different from the student ones, though he wasn't surprised. It was set up like a regular apartment and had three bedrooms as well as a full kitchen and living room.
"We'll set you up in the spare room," Yamada said. "We already brought some of your clothes over earlier today so that you can feel a bit more comfortable. You can shower tomorrow or tonight," he added, ruffling Izuku's hair with a small wince. "I think we may have to cut your hair though."
Izuku nodded. "It'll be too hard to tame anyways. Thank you."
"Before we do anything though," Aizawa cut in, making Izuku nervous. "There's someone that's been bursting at the seams to see you again."
Izuku perked up at that, wondering who it could be.
"Eri!" Yamada sang out. "We have a special visitor!"
"Izuku!" Eri screeched, running out of one of the bedrooms, and sliding on the wood floors in her socks, tumbling into him.
Izuku hid his winces from the bruises on his body as he caught her and they both fell to the floor laughing. He held her close in a tight hug. "Hi, Eri! It's so good to see you again!" He could feel his face light up in a bright smile that he hadn't felt since before the Commission arrested him. "My oh my, have you gotten bigger?" He asked, tickling her sides.
Eri giggled and squirmed out of his lap, trying to get away from his hands which only made Izuku laugh and tickle her more.
"Izu! No!" Eri screeched, giggling.
"Okay, okay," Izuku laughed, finally freeing the young girl. "But, seriously, it seems as if you've grown so much! Are you taller than me now?" He asked, putting his hand up to his chest and mocking offense. He noticed in his peripheral vision that Aizawa and Yamada were quietly sneaking into the kitchen, presumably to come up with dinner.
"I have gotten bigger! Since my last visit to Recovery Girl, I grew 5 whole inches!" Eri cheered.
"Well, up you get!" Izuku said, standing and holding a hand out. "Let's see just how tall you are now."
Eri giggled again as she stood up so that they could compare their heights. She was still shorter than him, but she had indeed grown, so that now she reached up to his chest. He wouldn't be surprised if she came up to his collarbones in the next couple months.
"Well, not quite taller than me yet, but who knows?" Izuku asked, poking her cheek. "My family runs short, so I wouldn't be surprised if you ended up taller than me soon enough."
Eri laughed and poked his stomach and he flinched, not managing to hide it in time. "Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to hurt you Izu!"
"Everything alright in here?" Aizawa asked, quickly walking back over to them.
Izuku waved him off with a hand over his stomach. "I'm fine, Eri just accidentally touched a sore spot." He turned back to Eri who was chewing on her lip nervously. "Don't worry about it, Eri, seriously. I'm totally fine."
"Okay," Eri whispered.
Izuku sighed and reached forward to pull the young girl into another tight hug. "See? I'm fine enough to hug you. And…" he picked up Eri and swung her around so she was upside down and giggling, "I can still pick you up and play!"
"Midoriya, we still haven't checked you for injuries, you shouldn't be straining yourself," Aizawa sighed.
Izuku looked over with a smile. "How many times do I have to express that I'm fine, Aizawa?"
"You admitted that they drugged you, and it's clear that you at least have extensive bruising if a poke from a child as small as Eri aggravated you that much," Aizawa countered. "Recovery Girl is on her way, so why don't you two just watch a movie until she gets here?"
"Oh!" Eri screeched, wiggling again until Izuku set her upright on the floor. "Can we watch the ASHITAKA movie?" She asked, screaming the name Ashitaka just like in the movie.
"Princess Mononoke?" Izuku asked. "Do you guys have it?" He asked Aizawa.
"Of course we have it," Aizawa huffed.
"We have all of Hayao Miyazaki's movies!" Yamada called out from the kitchen.
Izuku laughed. "I guess I shouldn't be surprised."
"I'll set it up," Aizawa offered, moving to do so. "Why don't you go change into some comfortable clothes? We put your stuff in that bedroom," he explained, pointing towards the bedroom that was furthest from the entry door. "Eri, do you want to go grab some blankets?"
"Yeah!" Eri said, running back towards her room.
Izuku sighed as he walked towards his new room and closed the door behind him. There was a pile of folded clothes on the bed that he recognized, so he quickly undressed and changed into sweats and a t-shirt, without bothering to look at his body and trying to not pay attention to how much it hurt to lift his arms. Maybe he shouldn't have picked Eri up. He sighed as he left his new room and headed back out to the living room.
"I got the really soft green blanket you got me, Izu!" Eri called, waving him over. "It's my favorite, but you can use it tonight."
Izuku chuckled as he sat next to the girl. "Thank you Eri, but how about I just use it for the movie so you can still sleep with it?"
"Okay," Eri said, nodding determinedly.
"I put the remote on the side table," Aizawa called, now back in the kitchen.
"Thank you," Izuku called back, reaching over for it, this time hiding the winces from his pain. He pressed play on the movie and Eri cuddled into his side gently as they settled in to watch the movie together.