Chapter 42
Meeting of New Threat
It was a quiet night in the city, but was interrupted as a villain ran through the streets. Both were huge. One was shirtless and was a shark villain. They were fighting in the streets. They had gigantification Quirks and they were fighting in the middle of the street. The shirtless one charged but hit a forcefield. The cops gasp. Freya stood holding up her glowing hands.
"Don't you think of going anywhere. Hado. Now!" Freya called. Hado's energy waves float around her feet and Hado lifted her hands.
"Full charge, output level 30." Hado said. Swirls came out of her hands. "Spiraling surge!" Freya quickly brought down the force field. As the waves hit the villains. "Nejire Wave!" The Villains hit the ground. "Hey now, why are you two fighting? Is it because you have the same Quirk!"
"That's just weird." Freya said.
"Get ready! You're up." Hado called. Tsu was floating on a rock towards the villains with Uraraka. Uraraka touched her hands together.
"Ultimate..." Uraraka said.
"Move... Fafrotskies!" Tsu said, using her tonge to send rocks flying at the villains. The villains were out cold. The Cops came over and Freya stood with Ryuko as Tsu and Uraraka joined them. Ryuko had a huge smile on her face. She wanted to see her work studies at work and she was impressed.
"Wow, you two! Omigosh that was awesome. And Freya you were able to stop them before they destroyed more stuff. You didn't look nervous at all." Hado said as she approached. Uraraka sighed.
"I'm just glad we pulled it off." Uraraka said.
"Eh. It was easy." Freya said.
"Ribbit, ribbit. I was calmer than I thought I'd be." Tsu said.
"Nejire and Freya would never have recommended you if you couldn't get the job done." Ryuko said. She turned to Hado. "And you've been working on your attack timing. It's much better." Hado smiled. Ryuko looked at Freya with a proud smile. "And your forcefield has become stronger last time I trained with you Freya. I'm impressed. You are getting close to passing your mother." Freya smiled. Uraraka and Tsu bowed.
"Thank you so much for agreeing to take us on." Uraraka and Tsu said.
"My pleasure." Ryuko said.
"Heh, good thing. You couldn't work for the same heroes you interned with. Apparently first years can only go to agencies that have good work-study track records." Hado said, looking at Ryuko. "Crazy huh."
"Students or not, you've already proved yourselves to be valuable assets. Freya knew she had a spot with me when it came to her Work Studies because I knew her mother. But she recommended you like Hado. I'm happy I took all three of you. We may even have a role for you in a new case that's come up." Ryuko said.
"Really?" Freya asked.
"What case?" Uraraka asked.
"Ribbit?" Tsu said.
"Nighteye, All Might's former sidekick, has issued a request to team up." Ryuko said.
"Nighteye Agency's where Deku went for his work study." Freya explained.
"Oh, sidebar! Teaming up is when two or more hero agencies work together. Sorry, was that obvious?" Hado said. Freya chuckled.
"What case does he want us to team up on?" Tsu asked. Ryuko lowered her eyes.
"The investigation and takedown of the Yakuza group, Shie Hassaikai. Given the League of Villains possible involvement, it's a big job. We'll be meeting in two days. I will send you all the information. It's time for you to head back to the dorms." Ryuko said.
"Yes, Mam." The girls said.
Back at UA. Freya took a shower and came into her room. She walked up to her desk and opened her laptop.
"I see your back." Freya shut her laptop at the search on the Shie Hassaikai. Ryuko told her and the others not to say much. She turned and saw Bakugo leaning against the door, arms crossed. "How it go?"
"Took down two villains and Ryuko was impressed with the girls..." Freya's eyes widen when she saw Bakugo's face. All bandaged and bruised. Freya was out of her seat and touching his face as he stepped into the room. "What the hell happened to you?"
"Its the class for the Licensing. It's harder then it looks." Bakugo said. He grabbed her hands. "Stop acting like my mother, Brat. Your my girlfriend. I'll be fine." Freya looked up at him. "What were you looking at?"
"Nothing. Was looking up stuff for homework." Freya said. Bakugo had never seen her snap the computer as fast as she did. Usually, she left it open when he came in. "It's nothing important." Bakugo sighed.
"You off tomorrow?" Bakugo said.
"For now. I have a meeting with the girls to go to in a couple days." Freya said. Bakugo nodded. "Want to cuddle?" Bakugo hums in agreement as he pulls her to her bed.
The day of the meeting. Tsu and Uraraka were waiting for Freya as she comes down the stairs with Bakugo. He was walking her to the door. Freya yawned and smiled at the girls.
"We'll see you later tonight, Katsuki." Freya said, kissing his check. Bakugo put his hands in his pockets and walks away. They were all in their school uniforms. Freya opened the door and they stepped outside. Kirishima and Izuku were sitting out talking as they were leaving for their work studies as well.
"Good morning, guys!" Freya said.
"You going in today?" Uraraka asked.
"Yeah." Izuku said, nodding.
"Huh, so are we. That's kinda weird." Tsu said.
"We can all walk together till we got to separate." Freya said. The friends nod. They walked towards the train station. They ran into some heroes heading the same way and they all walk. Freya had one of her earphones in, listening to music as they bought the same tickets to the same place.
'Weird. Must be heading to the same place.' Freya thought.
"Wait, we're going the same way? I thought you were working in Kansai." Izuku said.
"Usually, yeah, but I guess we're meeting someplace different today." Kirishima said.
"What a coincidence. Us, too." Tsu said.
They sat on the train. Freya sat between Kirishima and Uraraka.
"This is kinda weird." Izuku said. Freya couldn't help but nod as they all walk towards the same place. They reached the building to see the Big 3 waiting for them.
"Hey." Hado said. Mirio saluted them. The enter the building to see heroes gathered in the room. Heroes turn. Freya gasped seeing her father among the heroes. Freya realized that there were big pros and minor pros among those in the room. Hado ran over to Ryuko.
"What's going on? Talk to me, Ryuko." Hado said, hugging Ryuko. "I mean, I know you said there's a meeting, but what's it about?"
"Patience, Nejire." Ryuko said.
"You as well, father." Freya asked, coming up to her father with the girls.
"I'm confused. Why are you here?" Tsu asked. Aizawa turned to the girls.
"I was called in last minute for this thing. I think I got a rough idea of what it's about." Aizawa said. He looked at Freya. "I wasn't surprised to hear you guys coming. Ryuko told me you guys would be here." Ryuko came over with Hado.
"These girls are very good. I'm impressed with them." Ryuko said.
"And I know they are in good hands." Aizawa said. Freya smiled. Ryuko was one of her mothers friends Aizawa likes, well except Midnight, but Midnight got on her fathers nerves. Ryuko looked at the girls.
"You girls should know too. Remember what I told you, girls?" Ryuko said.
"I kind of figured." Freya said, while the other two looked at each other, but nodded. Ryuko turned as Nighteye and his Sidekicks enter the room.
"We're all here, Nighteye. Let's get started." Ryuko said.
"Thanks to the information provided by all of you, our investigation has progressed substantially." Nighteye said. He approaches everyone. "We've invited you all here for a joint conference to share the intel we've acquired. Regarding the yakuza group Shie Hassaikai and what we believe they might be planning." Nighteye said.
"Hold on, I feel like I'm missing something really important here. Shie H'what now?" Kirishima said, looking at his mentor Fatgum.
"Some bad guys are planning to do some bad times. And they've called a meeting so we can talk it all out. Trust me. You two are very much involved." Fatgum said as he looked at Amajiki's arm that was bandaged.
They all sat at the huge table. Freya, Uraraka, and Tsu sat with Ryuko and Hado. Aizawa sat across from them. Bubble Girl stepped forward.
"Alright, let's begin at the beginning." Bubble Girl said. She looked at her tablet. "For the past couple of weeks now, those of us at Nighteye Agency have been conducting an investigation into Shie Hassaikai, a small but organized group of criminals."
"What prompted this?" One of the heroes asked.
"An accident involving a gang of thieves called the Reservoir Dogs." Bubble Girl said.
"Yeah, I heard about that." A hero said. Freya listened with interest.
"The police thought the whole thing was an accident, but there were a number of details that didn't add up, so we began tailing them." Bubble Girl said.
"In my capacity as a Nighteye Agency sidekick, I began following leads to see what I could uncover. I found that, in the past year, the members of Shie Hassaikai have had increased contact with those outside of their organization, including other groups whose business dealings are less than reputable. Their aim seemed to be expanding their organization and enriching its coffers. Shortly after our investigation began.." Centipeder started. A picture appeared on the screen and Freya reconized the guy that from the League of Villains. "They made contact with a member of the League of Villains. Jin Bubaigawara, villain name: Twice. They were wary of being tailed, so I was unable to follow them, but with the help of the police... "Another picture was shown of a building destroyed. "I confirmed that an altercation had occurred between the two groups."
"That'd be about when they decided to reach out to Tsukauchi and me." An old man that Freya recognized as Grand Torino said. "Figured we'd be able to assist, given the League's involvement."
"Where is Tsukauchi?" A hero asked.
"Follow-ups with some other eyewitnesses. You know, cop stuff." Grand Torino said. He looked at Izuku. "Sorry, kid." Izuku gasped. "I didn't see something like this coming. I've got a bad feeling that things are about to get ugly."
"I don't care if they do. I wanna help." Izuku said.
"Hold up, you know him?" Mirio asked.
"Oh, Grand Torino? I did my internship with him." Izuku explained. Freya was getting worried about what else information they were going to give them. Nighteye didn't look happy.
"Go on, Bubble Girl." Nighteye said Bubble Girl gasps.
"So, after all that went down, we posted a notice on the HN requesting assistance." Bubble girl said.
"I think we can skip that part." Centipeder said.
"Sorry." Bubble Girl said.
"What's the HN?" Uraraka asked. Freya looked at her friend.
"Stands for Hero Network. It's an online service that can only be accessed by pros." Freya said.
"Doesn't stop you from using my account on HN." Aizawa grumbled making Ryuko chuckle. Freya sent her father a smile.
"You can see what all the heroes in the country are up to, and you can ask for help from people whose Quirks might come in handy." Freya explain.
"Does anyone want to explain to me why a buncha high school kids were invited to this conference?" Freya looked at LockLock. "I don't care if they are from UA. If we have to keep stopping to explain this stuff, we'll never get to the actual plan." Fatgum stood up.
"Don't say that." Fatgum said. He points at Amajiki and Kirishima. "These two have important information to pass along." Amajiki lowered his head in embarrassment.
"Uh, we do?" Kirishima asked.
"I wanna go home." Amajiki whimpered.
"Anyway, I see a lot of new faces, so let me introduce myself. Nice to meetcha. I'm Fatgum. Who wants candy?" Fatgum said, throwing out candy.
"Hassakai's movements are hard to trace, but we suspect one of their main sources of income is illegal drug sales. So I requested help from heroes who have some expertise in that area." Nighteye said.
"Yup, I brought in my fair share of drug dealers back in the day, and at Red Riot's debut fight, he proved he could too." Fatgum said. Kirishima looked like he was going to blush. Freya couldn't be more proud of her friend. "Tamaki was shot and the bullet contained some kinda drug I've never heard of before." Fatgum broke some of the candy he was holding. "One that destroys Quirks." Freya's eyes widen at his words.
'A drug that could destroy Quirks? Was that even possible.' Freya thought.
"Destroys Quirks?" A hero said. Aizawa looked worried.
"Whoa, what? Tamaki, you're okay, right?" Mirio said as he shot to his feet.
"Yeah, the stuff wore off while I slept. Here look." Amajiki said. He held up a cow foot. Hado had explained to everyone once that Amajiki could turn into what he ate. "I've got this cow hoof and everything."
"I'm glad to know the effects aren't permanent at least. So this stuff doesn't zap a Quirk for good." LockLock said.
"No. But Eraser Head has some further insight." Nighteye said.
"It doesn't seem to function exactly like mine and my daughters Erasure does. Since we're not actually attacking the Quirk directly. What we call a Quirk is an extraordinary addition to an ordinary human body. Those additions are collectively referred to as Quirk genes. I can shield those genes and temporarily block their expression, but i don't actually damage them. Freya is the same way." Aizawa said.
"But after Tamaki here was shot, we brought him to the hospital and they found that his Quirk genes had sustained damage. Fortunately, they seem to have healed on their own, and he's back to normal now." Fatgum said. Freya had a feeling that if it might have actually worked, Amajiki would not have his Quirk.
"What do we know about the substance he was shot with?" Nighteye asked.
"Whatever it was didn't harm the rest of his body. Nothing but his Quirk was impaired in any way. The guy who shot him dammed up. He won't say a word. And the round that hit Tamaki was totally spent. However, Kirishima bravely defended Tamaki from a bullet, which then bounced off his own body and should now provide us with a viable sample." Fatgum said.
"Whoa, I did that? Really? That's crazy!" Kirishima said.
"Awesome job, Kiri." Freya said.
"Yeah that's awesome." Uraraka said.
"That's so cool!" Tsu said
"Oh, yeah. His Quirk. It's Hardening right?" Hado asked.
"And when we analyzed the substance from the bullet, we discovered something that made me sick to my stomach. It contained human blood and cells." Fatgum said. Freya felt her blood run cold.
'Human blood?' Freya thought. Uraraka gasped.
"Sounds like something out of a scary movie." Tsu said.
"In other words, that effect came from a person. From someone's power. A Quirk that can destroy Quirks." Ryuko said. A masked hero growled.
"I'm not connecting the dots, here. How is all this related to Hassaikai?" The Masked Hero asked.
"The man who shot Tamaki used an illegal drug to boost his Quirk during his fight with Kirishima. The distribution channels for stuff like that are complex. Although things have shrunk since the old days, drugs still pass through various people and organizations before they finally reach the end user. There's no concrete evidence that Hassaikai handled the drug, but we know for a fact that they interacted with one of the middlemen responsible for moving it." Fatgum explained.
"That's all?" Masked Hero said.
"The other day, Ryuko's team broke up a fight between two villain groups. One of those groups was controlled by the intermediary organization that Fatgum just mentioned." Nighteye said.
"One of the two giants had been given an inferior drug that didn't last long." Ryuko explained.
"There have been a rash of gang related crimes recently, and most could be connected to the Hassaikai if you tried hard enough." A hero said.
"Which is what it seems like you're doing trying to make them guilty." The Masked Hero said.
"Don't you have anything that implicates them more clearly?" Another hero said. A picture comes on screen of a man with a mask that looked like a bird beak or something. Izuku and Mirio gasped.
"Their young head, Chisaki: Quirk, Overhaul. With this power, he can disassemble things and then reassemble them. A Quirk that allows him to completely break down matter. And a bullet that can break down Quirks." Nighteye said. Silence filled the room. "Chisaki has a daughter named Eri." Freya looked up at the mention of kids. "There are no records or details about her birth. But when Mirio and Midoriya encountered her, they noticed there were bandages wrapped around her arms and legs." Freya felt like she was getting lightheaded. She was always good with kids and loved kids. She wanted to help rescue kids and help out when she became a hero. Aizawa saw the color drain from his daughter's face.
"Could he.. Could he really do something so horrific?" Freya asked, looking at Nighteye.
"Unfortunately, yes." A hero said.
"In a world of superhumans, if you can dream it, you can do it." Grand Torino said.
"Hold on, what are they talking about?" Kirishima asked.
"Once again, why do we have children in this meeting?" LockLock asked. He didn't look happy. "I'll say this one time. We're wondering if this Chisaki bastard is turning his daughter's body into bullets and selling them on the Black Market." Freya put her face in her hands.
'That poor kid. She doesn't deserve this.' Freya thought.
"To be clear." Freya looked at Nighteye. "We aren't certain that he's actually selling the bullets. At this point, their efficacy appears to be questionable. It's possible that they're still in the testing phase, and he's giving them out as samples to rally more people to his cause. We have no hard evidence, but we do know he's gathering allies and funds from across the nation. If the completed drug allows him to annihilate someone's Quirk entirely, imagine the devastation he could cause."
'It be a complete nightmare with chaos in the streets. It's not good.' Freya thought. She felt sick to her stomach on this.
"Just talking about it is enough to make my blood boil. Let's go get this monster!" Fatgum said, clutching his fists.
"Tch. Woulda saved us a lot of trouble if these two amateurs had just gotten the girl away from him." LockLock said, glaring at Izuku and Mirio. Both had their heads bowed and gritting their teeth.
"I take full responsibility. The blame should not fall on them. Even without knowing the whole story, they acted to save the child, each in their own way. Midoriya was willing to bear the risk of taking her then, while Mirio chose to wait for another opportunity, when success would be more likely." Nighteye said. Freya saw the hurt on both their faces and Freya felt bad.
'That's why he has been off with training and stuff. I don't know what I would have done in the situation. Probably the same as Deku.' Freya thought.
"I assure you, nobody in this room is more frustrated than they are." Nighteye said. Izuku and Mirio stood up so fast, they knocked their chairs over.
"We'll get Eri away from him next time." Izuku said.
"And we'll protect her!" Mirio and Izuku said together.
"Deku." Freya whispered.
"Indeed. That's precisely what we've come here to discuss.
"Huh. You kids wanna talk big, that's fine. But if what Nighteye is saying is for real, that little girl is at the center of Hassaikai's entire underground drug operation. She may have managed to get away from Overhaul for a few minutes, but she got herself seen by a couple of heroes. You think he's still gonna keep her at home after that? Hell, I know I sure wouldn't. And if we go busting into their headquarters and she's not there, they're gonna know that we're onto them. We gotta be sure of where he's hiding her." LockLock said.
"He has a point." Freya said. Ryuko nodded and looked at Nighteye.
"Do you have a plan for that, Nighteye?" Ryuko asked.
"That's our conundrum. Since we don't currently know how far they've taken their plans, the success of our initial strike is crucial. To that end, we've made a thorough list of groups with connections to Hassaikai, as well as properties owned by the organization. This is our standing point. I would like you all to investigate each coordinate on the map. It is the most logical way to narrow down our targets." Nighteye said, showing the map and all the places were marked on the map.
"So that's why you asked minor heroes like us to join you." One hero said.
"What do you mean?" The masked hero said.
"Go on. Look. The heroes in this room operate in one of those locales. We know the areas better than most." The hero said. Everyone seemed to realize he was right.
"Didn't expect someone who worked with All Might for so long to be such a careful planner." Fatgum said. Freya rubbed her head. "Let's go bring them down! While we're taking our sweet time, that abused girl's out there crying somewhere."
"We can't do this like All Might would. That's why we must be meticulous about our strategies and predictions from the outset. So, we have the highest chance of saving her." Nighteye said.
"He's right. We shouldn't rush. If we show our hand and then don't end up rescuing her, then we'd just be throwing gas on a fire. Like how Stain's capture was a beacon that led criminals to seek out and join the League. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if they handed out Quirk-destroying weapons to those hoodlums in order to increase their recruitment." Grand Torino said.
"You're thinking too dang much. If we keep sitting here yapping about it, we're never gonna get anything done!" Fatgum said. Aizawa raised his hand.
"Excuse me. I've got a question." Aizawa said. Nighteye nodded and Aizawa lowered his hand. "I don't know the specifics of your Quirk, Nighteye. But from what I've heard of it, your Quirk, Foresight allows you to see into the future. So why not use it on us. That's logical, right?"
"I'm sorry. But I cannot." Nighteye said. Aizawa looked at Nighteye in surprise. "My Foresight has some limitations. I need a full 24 hours between activations. That means I get one person, and then I'm spent for the rest of the day. Additionally, the future is played in my mind like a flashback. Think of it like viewing a filmstrip. For one hour, I have the power to watch a person's life as a movie. The issue is everything I see is from a tight perspective on the person in question. This severely limit my capacity to interpret context."
"That should still provide more than enough information to be useful, don't you think? And it doesn't explain why you can't do it." Aizawa said. Nighteye pushes his glasses onto his face.
"What if I saw imminent death in your near future. Worse." Nighteye said. Freya looked at Nighteye wondering what he was meaning. "What if it were a cruel, merciless demise?" Nighteye said, glaring at everyone. Izuku gasped. "My Quirk should be employed only after we've confirmed the highest likelihood of success. Then it can help ensure our victory. It shouldn't be relied on when there are still many uncertainties."
"Whoa, whoa, whoa hold up. Death is still information. If we know what's coming, we can figure out how to survive." LockLock.
"You don't understand. It's possible what I see is unavoidable." Nighteye said.
"Bro, that's the only excuse you have, for real? Oh, hell no, just use it on me now! I'll show you I can beat death." LockLock said. Nighteye was looking at the table.
"I can't." Nighteye said, his voice almost breaking. Everyone looked at him in silence. LockLock's face seemed to soften.
"Yeah, alright." LockLock said. Everyone sat in silence. Ryuko finally sighs, breaking the silence.
"We should get started. There's a child in trouble. That's what's important here." Ryuko said. Nighteye sat up.
"We must confirm the girl's location and take her into our protection as quickly as possible using the most accurate data. I'm counting on your help. All of you." Nighteye said. The heroes all agreed.
Later. Freya sat at a table with the rest of UA students. She sat next to Izuku. He had his head down.
"If only I'd rescued her then, even if I had to use force. At least she'd be safe." Izuku said.
"Aw, man. So that's what happened that day?" Kirishima said. He gritted his teeth. "So frustrating!"
"We know you tried, Deku." Uraraka said.
"She's right." Freya said. LockLock's words ran through Freya's mind.
'The bastard is using Eri to create the bullets to destroy Quirks. It's dispectable.' Freya thought. The elevator beeped and Freya turned to see Aizawa walking towards them. Aizawa looked his students over. He never saw Freya looking so depressed before.
"Is this a funeral or something?" Aizawa asked as he stopped behind Freya.
"Father." Freya said.
"Mr. Aizawa, hello sir." Tsu said.
"Ah. Call me Eraser Head outside of school. Except you, kid. Everyone knows your my daughter." Aizawa said. Freya nodded. "You know, it's just my luck. Before you got involved in this, I was going to recommend that your work studies be suspended." Everyone gasped.
"Are you kidding me?" Freya asked.
"What? Why would you do that?" Kirishima asked.
"You were listening when he said the League of Villains is involved, right? That changes things." Aizawa said. He saw the looks of horror on his students faces. Freya was nearly glaring at him. Aizawa sighed and rubbed his head. "Here's the deal. Midoriya. You still haven't proven I can trust you again." Izuku gasps. "Unfortunately, I'm positive that if I try to stop you now, you'll do something reckless and attempt to take things into your own hands." Aizawa gets down on his knees in front of Izuku. "So, I'll watch you. If you're going to see this through, you gotta do it the right way. Use your head." He reaches out with his fist and punches his chest. "You hear me? Problem child?" Izuku looked like he was going to cry but nodded. Mirio was still looking at the table. Freya smiled at her father. Amajiki looked at Mirio.
"Mirio, please, will you try to smile?" Amajiki asked.
"Hey! Hey! I know what'll help you! Just remember! Regretting something and getting frowny doesn't change things. You know it?" Hado said. Mirio whipped his nose.
"Yeah." Mirio said. Aizawa looked at his students and stood up, putting his hand on Freya's chair.
"I'll only say this once, in case it gives you a little peace of mind. Just because you didn't hold onto her this time, doesn't mean you didn't give Eri hope. So, keep looking forward." Aizawa said.
"Right." Izuku said.
"Mr. Aizawa!" Uraraka cried in delight.
"I said I'm Eraser here." Eraser said. Freya stood up and kissed her father's check.
"You're still going to be Mr. Aizawa to them and my father to me." Freya said. Aizawa chuckled.
"I'm your man for the rest of my life, Eraser!" Kirishima said.
"Ugh, not interested." Aizawa said. Kirishima bowed.
"Sorry!" Kirishima said. Freya and the girls chuckled.
"Hey, Midoriya." Izuku looked at Mirio. "Next time we'll definitely save her."
"Right! No matter what!" Izuku said.
"Just remember. You're not to say anything to anyone. Talk among yourselves but not around others. We're trying to keep it on the low for now." Aizawa said. Freya knew that was going to be hard to keep away from Bakugo. She was happy she had her friends to talk to.
The sun was setting as they walk out. Izuku stopped and looked at the sky. Freya came up to him.
"We'll save her, Deku." Freya said. Izuku nodded.
"Yeah. We will." Izuku said. Freya and Izuku follow the others to head back to school.
AN: New chapter up. Really needed to write this. Till next time.
