Chapter 13: After You've Gone
Downtown Tokyo, Chiyoda Ward
Two Weeks after the Death of All Might
"Even more of them out there today, huh?"
Kendo didn't respond to Uraraka's question with words, just a simple grunt of acknowledgement. The skies were thick with clouds and the air was unseasonably cold for the beginning of April, but the mourners and protestors had still come out en masse to the plaza in front of the National Diet Building, where All Might and Hawks' bodies had been lying in state for the past five days. They had an excellent view of the entire scene from the office building roof they were perched on, and of the clear division between the two crowds of people below. There were somewhere between five to ten thousand in total by Itsuka's rough estimate, and this was one of the slower days that they'd seen in the past week. Their assignment was simple- monitor the situation and be prepared to respond to the first sign of rioting, villain activity, or a violent disturbance of any other kind. Aside from breaking up a few fistfights earlier in the week, they'd mostly just been watching and waiting for hours on end, but that gave Kendo plenty of time to make observations.
The mourners were mostly concentrated on the western end of the square, easily recognizable due to the fact that at least half of them were wearing All Might-brand merchandise and clothing, ranging from shirts and full outfits based on his Silver and Golden Age costumes to hats and headbands in the shape of his trademark spikes of golden hair. Hawks costumes were visible as well, albeit in lesser numbers- his wings were a bit trickier to replicate, though his leather flight jacket had seen a dramatic uptick in sales lately.
Then, there were the protestors. They had the monopoly when it came to numbers- and volume, for that matter. Their distant chants were clearly audible even half a kilometer away, and Kendo could just barely make out some of the slogans on their signs and banners. 'Hawks is a traitor to the nation', the largest one read. 'Protect our students, not yourselves', demanded another. 'We want answers about the economy', a third declared. And then there was Kendo's least favorite, one that had been there nearly every day so far: 'Shut down U.A., school for villains!'
Half of her was of a mind to fly down to the plaza and correct the shouting throng's misconceptions in person, but the more reasonable half knew that she couldn't do that, as much as she wanted to. It had been hard, watching reporters and word of mouth twist and distort the truth over the past two weeks. Once the nation had recovered from its collective shock over the death and despair that had descended so swiftly on the hero community, rumors and false reports began to spread like wildfire, and despite the government's attempts to censor the video from the internet, the Syndicate's livestream had been transcribed into a manuscript that rapidly gained a cult following even larger than Stain's. Most difficult to quell was their allegation and corresponding evidence that Hawks had actively sympathized with the League of Villains, and even attempted to join them.
Tokyo's police commissioner had perished from prolonged exposure to Mustard's gas during the attack, but his acting successor made it clear at multiple press conferences in the following days that Hawks had been acting on direct orders from the government. It didn't exactly help his case, of course, that all of the files related to the operation had been destroyed during the attack. Even the cloud-based digital backups had been erased by a virus, as was the case with over two thirds of the police department's total records- only the timely intervention of Lemillion and the other heroes who responded to the assault on the station had saved the remainder. Public opinion polls conducted a week after the attack found that only 37% of the nation believed the new commissioner regarding Hawks' innocence; 52% considered him guilty, with the remainder undecided. The same polling agency found that 61% of Tokyo residents held the current U.A. administration responsible for the injuries suffered by the school's students over the course of the day, the breach of the security system by La Brava and Toga Himiko, and the subsequent death of faculty member and retired hero Toshinori Yagi. A further 43% of respondents believed that the school was directly at fault for the actions of former students Midoriya Izuku, Monoma Neito, Hatsume Mei, Shinso Hitoshi, Yaoyorozu Momo, and Tokoyami Fumikage, with regard to their defection to villainy.
Principal Nezu stepped down in accordance with the results the same day they were released, and Vlad King had been appointed his acting successor until a formal selection process could be undertaken. Along with those at the National Diet, protests at the gates of the school itself were a near constant now as well, and the application rate for next year's class of incoming freshman had dropped so sharply that teachers were considering only fielding one first year hero class instead of two. The school was also facing a series of pending lawsuits from the Yaoyorozu family, who had already hired three of Japan's most prominent attorneys to prosecute their case. All of their charges involved Momo, of course; they were also actively financing a series of commercials pleading for her to give up and come home, with a massive cash reward offered to anyone with knowledge regarding her current whereabouts. The line had been flooded with false reports, of course, and many of the advertisements had been taken off the air in the past few days, ever since an anonymous package arrived on the doorstep of a major Tokyo news agency, containing extensive evidence cataloguing a relationship between the Yaoyorozu clan and various Yakuza groups, stretching back at least fifty years.
"I think that one's new," Ochako said after a few moments of silence had passed between the two, one finger extended out towards the far end of the plaza. Blinking out of the fog of memories that had enveloped her mind, Itsuka hopped down from the AC unit she'd been perched on and took a few steps across the gravel toward the other intern's position. The banner in question was made of bright red cloth, painted over with white characters. 'They can't save us anymore,' it read. Kendo didn't need to think very hard to understand who 'they' were.
"Huh. Yeah, guess it is."
Out of the corner of her eye, she could Uraraka's lips sink into a pout- she'd been trying out a wide variety of conversation starters all afternoon, but Battle Fist hadn't been particularly receptive to any of them. It was nothing personal, of course; after everything that had happened over the past fourteen days, Itsuka was so exhausted that saving up what little energy she had left to be cheery and upbeat with the inevitable flood of reporters who would corner her when she left was all she could do to stay sane. Come on, Kendo prodded at herself. You can do better than that. She's a classmate and a friend. Don't make excuses.
"It's, uhh…" Itsuka trailed off, trying desperately to think of something relatable or insightful to say. Ochako visibly perked up when she started to speak again, but the pressure only worsened the problem. "…it's a stupid slogan. But… um. Nice penmanship, I guess. They did a good job with the kanji, at least."
Well, shit. That already sounded lame in my head, but it was so much worse out loud.
"I… didn't know you were into calligraphy." Uraraka responded hesitantly; the awkward silence that followed was deafening.
"I'm really not. Always hated it in grade school." Kendo sighed and lowered herself to the ground, sitting down in the gravel with her legs dangling over the roof's edge. Not a moment later, the dull, familiar sting of a persistent headache that had been troubling her lately returned with a sudden vengeance, and one hand shot to her forehead out of reflex, her eyes squeezed shut against the throbbing pain. Double shit. Left my damn painkillers at the office again, didn't I?
"Here. Drink this."
Itsuka's eyes fluttered open again, and suddenly Ochako was pressing a warm thermos into her hands, a sympathetic smile on her face.
"Huh? What is it?"
"Coffee, silly. That looks like a stress headache- my dad gets them all the time, and he always says caffeine helps best. And you're in luck, I always keep a heat press in my kit in case I sprain a muscle or something. Can you tell me where it hurts?"
Before she could say anything in reply, Uraraka was kneeling down beside her and undoing her ponytail, running her fingers along Kendo's scalp and temples beneath her thick red hair, careful to keep her thumbs in the air so she wouldn't activate her quirk. Her touch was gentle and cautious, yet still firm; once she was over the initial shock of the rapid development, Itsuka gestured to the area in question, just above her hairline, and mumbled out a reply.
"Right around there, I guess. You don't need to bother, though, really." She sipped plaintively at the coffee, and a frown crossed her face. "Besides we're supposed to be on duty. We can't afford to get distracted- what if something happens?"
"It would be impossible for you to respond to the best of your abilities in a crisis with a headache like this." Ochako chided. "I'm just getting you back in fighting shape. Besides, you're still keeping an eye on things, right?"
"Of course." Gazing out over the crowds, Kendo winced slightly as Uraraka laid the heat pack across the top of her forehead and pressed it down. "All's still quiet on the protestor front. Well, not exactly quiet, but you know what I mean."
"Yeah," Uravity replied softly, taking a seat beside her. "I do." Another moment of silence, more comfortable than the last, then Ochako spoke up again. "I know you've been going through a lot lately, Itsuka. It can't be easy, working this shift. I'm here if you want to talk about any of it. It doesn't have to be now, but… well, you know where I live."
"You're telling me I've had it rough?" Kendo turned to meet the other girl in the eye, and shook her head fiercely. "Trust me, anything I've had to deal with is a walk in the park compared to what you went through, and don't try to tell me any different. Ochako, you were just cleared for duty again two days ago, and even then, no one's forcing you to be here! You should be spending time with your family or studying for finals, not out on reconnaissance! After everything that happened…"
"After everything that happened, I know more than ever exactly where I need to be." Her voice had grown quiet, but the words carried more weight than before. "I'm only free again because a better hero than I can ever hope to be gave his life to rescue me. You're right, I don't have to be here- Ryukyu offered me as much time off as I wanted to recover, with full stipend. So yeah, I could be studying, or sleeping, or talking things over with my counselor, but I'm here because doing anything other than going straight back to work would feel like an insult to his memory. You understand what I'm saying, don't you?"
Kendo nodded wordlessly, and both their gazes drifted back out over the plaza below, to the tall, ornate white building where her hero was lying at rest alongside Ochako's. Yeah, I get it. I really do.
"I only ever met Hawks once," Uravity continued. "It was about six months ago, at the afterparty for the previous ten hero billboard announcement. I was there to support Ryukyu- she came in eighth, Hawks took second. We were all mingling afterward in this fancy hotel, all the heroes and sidekicks and a handful of us interns who had been lucky enough to be brought along for the ride, and everywhere I looked I was just so star-struck, it was overwhelming. I kept thinking to myself, 'I shouldn't be here, I haven't earned the right to talk to these people like we're equals'. I ended up panicking a little bit, so I ducked out to the balcony for some air. And he was there too, just standing there, looking out over the city." Pausing for a moment, she smiled wistfully, and brushed a stray lock of brown hair out of her eyes.
"He turned around and said hi, and after choking on my tongue for a few seconds, I said hi back. We only talked for about a minute or two before another group came out and pulled him back inside, and I was so horrifically awkward the whole time- I doubt he even remembered me the next day. But there he was, the number two hero, and what surprised me most was how… normal he was. Not stuck-up, or aloof, all high and mighty and distant like a lot of them. Just an earnest, funny guy who, for ninety seconds, was genuinely interested in what a lowly high school intern had to say, in how my classes were going, and how things were with Ryukyu, and what my goals were after graduation. It felt like he cared about who I was and where I was going, and not in that fake, 'pretending to enjoy this conversation until I can escape' sort of way that you always run into at parties. Over the rest of the night, I started to think that maybe this massive, gaping canyon I always thought existed between people like him and people like me wasn't really that wide at all. I think that's what he wanted all of us to realize. And that's why people loved him so much."
Suddenly one of her hands curled into a fist, and her smile set in a hard line on her face.
"It's also why having to watch this bullshit day after day pisses me off so much. I don't understand it, Itsuka. Hawks was a hero, he saved my life, and hundreds- no, thousands of others over the years. He gave everything for the sake of his work. How could they be so quick to turn on him like this? This is exactly what Midoriya and the rest of them wanted when they released that video, to feed us a lie and then watch while a bunch of gullible morons crucify an innocent man. It just makes me so…" Ochako slammed a fist into the gravel, and winced when she withdrew it scraped and bloody. "so goddamn angry. I want to…" She trailed off, and shook her head.
Beside her, Kendo raised an eyebrow- it was the first time she'd heard her mention Midoriya, or any of the Syndicate, for that matter, since she'd been back. The details of what had happened during her captivity were still largely confidential, kept between Uraraka, the police, and her state-provided post-traumatic stress counselor, but Itsuka knew that she'd spoken with Izuku at least once. After a moment's consideration, she decided to probe as gently as possible into the matter, and laid one hand over Uravity's. Maybe it'll be easier for her to talk about it with a friend than with a doctor.
"What do you want to do, Ochako?"
"I want to…" Her voice dropped down to a whisper tinged with shame, and when tears began to well up in her eyes, she quickly wiped them away with one hand. "I want to punch them. Kick them. Teach them a lesson. The people who are lying about him. I know it's not right, I hate myself for even thinking about it, but I've just been so… mad, Itsuka, mad about everything that's been happening. I don't know how to keep it bottled up anymore. When… when I was in that cell, I did my best to stay calm at first, to be optimistic. That's what they teach you, after all- don't panic, keep a level head, never stop looking for a way out. But after a few days went by, I started thinking about my parents, how I was never going to see them again, never going to be able to help them like I wanted. About how they must be feeling, about how they'd keep feeling over the weeks and months and years if I really was gone forever. About all the things I'd never get to do with them now. They were terrifying thoughts, but instead of scaring me, they made me angry. I wanted to lash out at someone, to make the villains hurt like they were hurting me. I picked Midoriya. I used what I knew about his past against him, provoked him, prodded at him over and over." Falling silent for a moment, she drew up her knees and wrapped her arms around them, then dropped her eyes to the ground.
"I think part of me wanted him to kill me. That's why I went so far. Wanted to push him over the edge, so he'd just go ahead and end it, instead of letting me waste away in that cell for god knows how long with nothing but my regrets for company. It was selfish, I know. My counselor told me all of this was nothing to be ashamed of, that these reactions and emotions are normal given my circumstances, but how can I not be ashamed?!" The tears started to flow again, and she made no effort to stop them this time. "How can I not wish that I was still sitting in that cell, that Hawks hadn't tried to rescue me? It should have been me who died, Itsuka, not him. I wasn't worth his life, and I never will be."
Shaking her head in protest, Kendo tried to lean over and embrace the other girl, but Uraraka stood up before she could, grabbed a tissue from one of her pouches, wiped her eyes, and blew her nose.
"I'm sorry. That was unprofessional. I didn't mean to… unload on you like that. Not when you're hurting too. I missed my last counseling session because of work, I just… let's move on."
"It's okay." Itsuka rose back to her feet. "I know what you mean, about getting angry. I've been dealing with the same thing. Tell you what, before we get back to the monitoring, just promise me you'll come by my room sometime soon." She gave Ochako a hint of a smile, and laid a comforting hand on her arm. "I think there's a lot we could talk about, when we have more time."
Before the other intern could reply, though, the door to the stairwell slammed open, and one of Kendo's eyebrows twitched involuntarily as a familiar voice became audible over the sound of distant shouting.
"So I told the little fucker, if you actually have the balls to ask for my help studying for the final after the shit you pulled, then your head is even farther up your ass than I… oh." Bakugo trailed off and stopped in his tracks the moment he caught sight of the two girls, his eyes narrowed and his mouth hanging slightly agape. A moment later, Kaminari ran directly into his back; once Denki had glanced up from his phone and appraised the situation, he stepped out in front of Katsuki and gave them a sheepish grin and wave.
"Hey, guys. Your shift's done, the bosses sent us up to take over."
"Oh yeah, crap." Kendo glanced down at the clock on her phone- they could've left five minutes ago, but she'd been busy listening to Uraraka. "Sorry, lost track of time there."
When she looked back up, Ground Zero had snapped out of whatever fog he'd been in, and was stalking over towards them behind Chargebolt with his gaze fixed on the skyline, deliberately avoiding eye contact with her.
Uravity was the first to gather up her things and start towards the stairs once she'd briefly exchanged greetings with the other two 3-A students- a grunt of acknowledgement was all she got from Bakugo- but Kendo lingered by the roof's edge, and grabbed hold of Katsuki's arm as he passed her.
"You go ahead, Ochako, I need a minute." Once Uraraka had nodded hesitantly and continued down the stairwell, Itsuka turned back to Bakugo, who was still looking directly ahead, his brows furrowed in annoyance.
"Let. Go."
They were practically the first words he'd said to her since the morning they'd both been trying to forget for the past fifteen days, but she only tightened her grip in reply.
"We need to talk."
A fat drop of rain burst atop her silver gauntlet as another few moments of silence passed between them, followed by a second, then a third. By the time Katsuki finally turned around to face her, it was a full shower, and his face was streaked with water.
"Why?"
His expression was still a mask of anger, but the question wasn't delivered with the trademark venom she'd come to expect from him, just exasperation and impatience.
"You know why. A few reasons." She let her eyes drift over to the crowd of mourners, and after a few seconds of glaring wordlessly at the side of her head, he glanced to Kaminari, the spark of bitter contempt returning to his voice.
"You think you can hold down the fort for five minutes without me needing to wipe your ass, Sparky?"
"You got it, chief."
Not a word or a stray glance passed between the two as they walked to the other end of the roof together, with Kendo in the lead and Bakugo trailing behind, his posture a moody slouch and his hands shoved in his pockets. They ended up leaning against the cool cinderblock wall of the stairwell; it had a slight awning which provided a minimal amount of cover against the rain. For what felt like a long while, they simply stood there in mutual silence- neither of them wanted to be the first to speak, and they both knew it. He'd just received this assignment today, apparently; the last time Kendo had seen him before now was six days ago, at All Might's state funeral, the second of two services held for her mentor.
The first had been for Toshinori Yagi, a small, private affair attended by only a dozen of his closest friends and associates. He was memorialized according to Shinto ritual alongside Gran Torino and Tsukauchi on a sunny hillside, next to the graves of Shimura Nana and her family. Even David and Melissa Shield had flown out to attend- it was the first chance she'd had to see them since the I-Island debacle during the summer of her second year. It was also the first and to date the only time that she'd ever witnessed Aizawa and Nighteye crying, though she had tears enough for both of them.
The second funeral was for the Symbol of Peace. It had been a grand ceremony, practically worthy of an emperor, held in the main hall and grounds of the famous Senso-Ji temple; the entire city had thronged the surrounding streets in a mix of All Might regalia and traditional white mourning robes, with thousands more pouring in from the countryside for a chance to say goodbye to the nation's greatest hero. There had been a laundry list of speakers on the day of the main event, ranging from the prime minister to the crown prince to Best Jeanist, Yoroimusha, Nighteye, and even Endeavor. Kendo went last, and she still considered it a minor miracle that she hadn't broken down in tears at any point during her eulogy; she'd gone through a full box of tissues writing it, after all. It was full of platitudes about unity and moving forward and what All Might would have wanted to tell them, along with a handful of anecdotes to break the tension- she'd gotten a few laughs from those, at the very least, before she ended with an emotional plea not to give in to fear and hatred when confronting evil, taken straight from one of his lectures to her.
She still remembered in perfect detail how she'd been mobbed by a swarm of reporters after the main service ended, and ended up ducking down a side hallway to avoid them. How she'd found Bakugo, who'd remained steely-faced throughout the entire affair, sobbing into his shirtsleeve in an empty prayer alcove, his eyes red and puffy and his knuckles white as he gripped at his hair. The look of utter shock and horror on his face when she reached out and tried to comfort him was still burned into her mind, as was the sting of his hand slapping away her own before he stalked off and retreated into the men's restroom.
"So, what do you want?" He finally sneered, glaring over at the side of her head. "You gonna try and fuck me again?"
So we're dealing with this first, then. Lovely.
"No, Bakugo, I'm not. I think we both know that neither of us wants that."
"Then why did it happen?" He snapped, making sure to keep his voice low enough that Kaminari couldn't hear. "Tell me, huh? Why did I have to call my girlfriend and tell her that I cheated on her? Fucking why, man?!"
"I… didn't know you did that." Kendo managed after a moment, one brow raised. "That was… honest of you. You, uh… didn't mention my name, right?"
"…No."
"Thank you. I'm sorry that…" That I put you and Camie in that situation, she almost said, but that made it sound like it was all her fault, which is exactly what she knew Katsuki wanted to hear. "…Look. I think it's pretty obvious that we made a mistake that night. Emotions were running high, a lot of alcohol was involved, and both of us can agree that it's never going to happen again. So why don't just we act like adults and move past it already?"
"What's obvious is that you got me drunk so you could fucking seduce me," he spat, his every syllable dripping with renewed vitriol. "Because just looking down on me wasn't good enough, I guess. Becoming my idol's goddamn successor wasn't good enough either. No, you wanted to fuck up my life so bad that you had get between me and my girlfriend to do it, you fucking…" He trailed off, the first syllable of the next word on the tip of his tongue, and bit down on his bottom lip so hard that he drew blood, his fists trembling at his sides.
"You fucking what? Say it." Kendo crossed her arms and stared him down. "Slut? Is that what you were gonna call me? Certainly can't be bitch, you're not shy about throwing that one around. And here I thought your mom hadn't taught you any manners at all."
Livid couldn't even begin to describe Bakugo's expression; for a moment, it looked like he was going to turn and walk away, but she grabbed hold of the back of his collar before he could, forcing him to halt with half of his body under the awning and half out in the rain. No. You don't get to put this conversation off any longer, you asshole. Neither of us does.
"Look, I know you'd rather bite your own tongue off than admit it, but you know deep down that at the time, what happened was just as much your decision as it was mine. So let's cut to the bottom line, alright? I have never looked down on you or wanted to ruin your life, nor have I had any reason to. You know, it's funny- I actually used to think you were pretty cool back in the day, besides all the yelling and rage. I mean, we've both got CQC quirks, and yours is a lot more versatile than mine, if I'm being honest. After you won at the Sports Festival during first year, I still remember thinking to myself how amazing your technique was, how I needed to ask you to help me train. So tell me, what happened? I mean, I know the answer, but I just want to see if you can say it yourself."
Katsuki's back was half-turned to her, so she could only see one corner of his face when he finally spoke up again, but that was more than enough to tell that the fury had faded from his eyes- his jaw wasn't clenched like he was trying to crack a walnut, and the trembling in his arms and fists had mostly subsided.
"Why did he choose you?" The rage in his voice had been replaced by an emotion Kendo might have mistaken for anguish, if she hadn't been dealing with Bakugo Katsuki. And there it is. Took you long enough. She could see it so clearly now as she watched him struggle to verbalize his feelings- his insecurity, his raging inferiority complex, his resulting obsession with perfection. Itsuka raised one eyebrow and listened silently as he continued to speak.
"You just admitted it. You were weaker than me back then, when he picked you. I know I could still beat you, even now, if I played my cards right. All I've ever wanted is to be just like him, to always win. That's how I learned what makes you worth something in this world." He tilted his head up and stepped out from under the awning- Kendo slackened her grip and let him go. He won't run away, not now. She couldn't tell if the water running down his cheeks was rain or tears as he scared up at the sky, his expression indecipherable.
"So what the hell's up with him losing like that to Deku, huh?" Bakugo leaned back against the wall with one hand and cradled his forehead with the other, his eyes screwed shut as his voice gradually rose in volume. "Why didn't you save him?! I could've saved him! I could've won!"
"Deku?" Kendo narrowed her eyes. "What the hell's a Deku?"
"The asshole who killed All Might, that's who!" Katsuki was shouting at this point, but he didn't seem to care anymore whether or not Denki was listening. "How the hell did the weakest small fry I ever knew beat the person I admire most?! I swear, you and him both, always looking down on me, always acting like you're better, always fucking with my life!" He slammed one gauntleted fist into the cinderblock, activating just enough of his quirk to blow a hole clean through.
And here I thought we were about to make some progress, Kendo mused, scowling.
"Calm. The fuck. Down." Swelling up one of her hands to triple size, Itsuka held it out in front of her in preparation for a swift chop. "You wanna fight? Will that finally satisfy your insane delusions about me? Sure, be my guest- not here, though, and not now. We're at work, in case you forgot. Unless you think this is something worth getting fired over." She took a step closer, keeping her voice perfectly calm. "But Bakugo? If you compare me to Midoriya Izuku one more time, I will not be responsible for what happens next."
"I can't believe I never realized it until now." Ground Zero chuckled as he withdrew his fist from the rubble and shook off the dust, a grin spreading across his face. "Why you piss me off so much… It all makes sense. Sure, you're more social, and more confident, and less whiny. But deep down, you both think you're better than everyone around you, that you're god's fucking gift to the world. Deep down, you're just like him."
They both started moving at the same time. Miniature explosions crackling in his palms, Katsuki raised his arms in an X-shape to block her chop, so he was completely unprepared when she abandoned it midway through, grabbed him by the shoulders, and drove her right knee directly into his groin. A wheezing gasp of pain escaped from his lips, and Bakugo's body fell more or less limp in Kendo's arms as she wrapped her oversized hands around his head and back and dragged him down to the ground along with her, until they were both sitting side-by-side under the awning, her massive fingers drumming along his scalp.
"Looks like I win this round," she sighed in satisfaction, shooting him a wry grin. "I mean, you and I both know I could crush your skull like an egg right now if I wanted, so please, don't try and start any more shit, okay? Not today. Today, I was planning on watching TV and napping after work, and look at what I'm doing instead. If you really want a rematch, we can schedule one for later, after your balls recover."
"Next week," he muttered, his teeth grit and his eyes closed in agony. "After graduation. And you're not allowed to do that again."
"Ah, so that's where Bakugo Katsuki draws the line. Targeting enemies' reproductive organs is off-limits. Interesting, I'll have to write that one down later so I remember."
"Nah, not everyone else's. Just mine." Ground Zero made another wheezing noise that almost sounded like a laugh this time, and Kendo could've sworn that she saw a smirk flit briefly across his face as he draped a hand over his eyes and forehead. "That was dirty. First time someone's ever used that move on me, villains included. You really have been taking after Miruko, huh, Ms. Perfect?"
"I guess you could say, that, Asshole."
"Nah, that's not a good nickname. It has to be unique, otherwise people would be too hard to keep track of. You can take your hand off my fucking head, by the way. I'm not a goddamn dog."
"You've got a talent for coming up with them, I guess." She sighed as she withdrew her arm, wondering whether what she was about ask would make things better or worse. "So… where did Deku's nickname come from?"
He looked over at her with wide eyes, his expression halfway between annoyance and pain. His lips parted, but when a few seconds had passed without any sound leaving them, she spoke up for him.
"You two were close when you were young, weren't you? And you both idolized All Might. Deku…" Writing out the characters mentally, the meaning suddenly struck her- it was just a rearrangement of the name Izuku. "Useless? You named him Useless?"
"He's quirkless." Bakugo mumbled, his gaze dropping back to the ground.
"Yeah, I know that. I talked with Aizawa about him, how he tried to transfer to the hero course with only support items. Being quirkless was a pretty massive insecurity of his back when he was in General Studies, apparently. You had something to do with that, didn't you?"
"I… you don't understand. When we were kids, he… he was always…" His voice on the verge of breaking, Bakugo trailed off again, but Kendo continued to press deeper. She was close to a breakthrough, she could feel it.
"Tell me about him. Tell me how you treated him."
Katsuki cradled his head in his hands, and for a fraction of a second, it looked like he was about to start talking. But then he was pushing himself to his feet and starting back towards Kaminari, rubbing aggressively at his eyes with one hand.
"No. I'm not gonna talk about him. Not today. I'm at work, not at the fucking therapist. So do us both a favor and get the hell out of here already, okay? I've already slacked off enough."
Part of her wanted to grab him again and berate him until he fessed up, but his tone of voice told her that would be futile; he'd made up his mind.
"Alright. But we're not done here. This conversation isn't over. Next week?"
He waved one hand dismissively in her direction and muttered a few choice profanities under his breath, but when it came to Bakugo, that was a resounding yes. Satisfied and exhausted in equal measure, Kendo looked over at the stairs for a few moments, then shuddered at the thought of the reporters below and decided to take off back towards U.A. from the roof instead. In the moment she leapt into the air, surrounded by a concussive cone of wind pressure, Itsuka glanced back just in time to catch a glimpse of Katsuki watching her leave with envious eyes.
By the time she got back to her room, Kendo's limbs felt like they were tied down with leaden weights. Against her better judgement, she'd stayed up until past four last night with Jiro and a group of other 3-B students, studying for finals; the written exams were tomorrow, and the practical ones the day afterward. The graduation ceremony itself was only five days away, and as one of the students selected to address the class, she still had to finish preparing her speech.
"Tough time at work?"
Itsuka perked up as she fumbled for the key to her bedroom, and glanced over at the kitchen table. She hadn't even noticed her roommate, Kodai Yui, when she walked in; the quiet, black-haired girl was calmly sipping from a mug of tea, with a set of calculus textbooks and problem sets splayed out in front of her. As usual, her penmanship was perfect to the point that it more resembled a font than actual handwriting, and the graphs and shapes she'd drawn were so precise that they looked computer-printed.
"Yeah, you could say that. It felt more like a therapy session, though- Uraraka needed to work through some stuff, and guess who else showed up at the end?"
"Hmm." Kodai was a girl of few words and fewer displays of emotion, which is perhaps what Kendo valued most about her after days like this. She took a long sip of tea while she thought about her answer, then finally replied in a neutral tone. "Oh, was it Bakugo?"
"Yup, none other."
To date, Kendo had only told two people about the events that had led to her and Katsuki waking up in the same bed. As it turned out, she didn't even need to worry about whether or not to confess to her roommate: When Itsuka asked as casually as possible whether she'd heard anything strange the night before, Yui told her quite frankly that she'd been at the fridge getting a glass of water when they stumbled through the door with their clothes half torn off. Luckily- or perhaps unluckily- Kendo and Bakugo had been too distracted and inebriated to notice her as they made their way to the former's bedroom. To make matters worse, though, they'd apparently been loud enough to make sleep 'difficult' for Kodai, who ended up having to wear her noise-canceling headphones. That evening, Kendo had gone out and bought a box of pastries from Yui's favorite French bakery to apologize for the experience and buy her silence, although she was quiet enough already that there wasn't too much to worry about on the latter front.
The second person was Miruko, whom Kendo had reluctantly approached for advice about the issue after work a few days ago, reasoning that Usagiyama was much more experienced with this sort of thing than she was. When Itsuka finally told her, her boss had taken around five minutes just to stop laughing, and nearly gave her a heart attack when she pretended to call Best Jeanist to gossip about the affair. In the end, though, Rumi had been relatively helpful, reassuring Kendo that this sort of thing happened between rival heroes all the time, and that it was nothing to get worked up about as long as they communicated about the issue and agreed to move past it like two mature adults. Well, I feel like we're about halfway there after today. Better than nothing. More than once over the past two weeks, she'd tried to muster up the resolve to come clean to Jiro and Tetsutetsu, but every time, she started to worry too much about their reactions to go through with it, and put it off until the next chance. As much as she hated being dishonest, keeping the secret was gradually starting to wear on her, though. After finals. I just need to make it through finals, and then I'll tell them. It wouldn't be right for me to distract them with something so trivial at such an important time.
"So how did it go?"
"Well I ended up kneeing him in the balls, but somehow I feel like we hate each other a little bit less now, weirdly enough. I'll tell you more about it tonight, we still on for a movie once you're done studying?"
"Sure thing, I just need to finish reviewing the unit on related rates and optimization."
"Ugh, gross. I'm gonna go take a quick nap, wake me up if I'm still asleep at seven."
"Will do. Sleep well."
Her bed was messy and unmade, but Kendo wasted no time changing into a t-shirt and sweatpants, and passed out practically the moment she hit it. After a series of increasingly surreal dreams that were quickly forgotten, she woke up sometime later in a sweaty haze, tangled beneath the covers; it was dark outside now, and the air was quiet and still. 7:19 PM, Itsuka read off her phone, staring at the screen with bleary eyes. Huh, weird. Isn't like Yui to forget.
After taking a solid minute or two to convince herself to emerge from beneath her blanket, and another thirty seconds in front of the mirror to make a rough attempt at fixing her horrific bedhead, Kendo slid on a pair of slippers and peeked out into the common room. At the kitchen table, Kodai was fast asleep, using one of her textbooks as a pillow- Itsuka couldn't help but crack a smile at the sight. Damn, I wish I could look half that cute when I'm sleeping.
Before she could go wake her, though, Kendo's stomach growled fiercely, and she realized with a start that it was her turn to cook dinner tonight. Damn, hope we have enough ingredients in the communal kitchen. I'll probably end up making pancakes and omelets again if there isn't any meat in the fridge. Deciding to surprise Yui with the meal once it was finished, Itsuka started towards the door, but just as she was about to turn the handle, a grey envelope on the floor caught her eye, and she stopped in her tracks. It had been slid through the gap under the frame, but at a glance, it didn't seem to one of the club flyers or internship bulletins that U.A. students usually went around the dorms passing out. She crouched down and picked it up, and a quick inspection revealed no return address or identifying information of any kind on the nondescript exterior, besides a single word: 'Kendo'. The envelope weighed more than a usual letter, though, and when she shook it, something rattled around inside.
In retrospect, Itsuka knew that she probably should've called a teacher and reported the package as a potential security hazard and there, but her mind was still half-asleep, so she hardly thought anything of it as she sat down on their couch and tore the envelope open with a yawn. A metal disc slid out and onto the coffee table, and the moment it came to a rest, a light came on in the center, and a holographic image sprung into the air. Suddenly, Kendo was just inches away from All Might's gaunt, smiling face, and any remaining trace of grogginess left her body in an instant.
"Hello, Young Kendo. If you're watching this, then I'm afraid that I'm no longer by your side."
"O-oh." Was all she managed to stammer out in response. Over the past two weeks, she'd come a long way toward making peace with her mentor's death, but now everything was rushing back up to the surface at once.
"However it happened," Toshinori continued, "I'm sure you understand that given my deteriorating condition, I recognized the need to make advance preparations for my death a long time ago. There are things I still need to tell you, about your quirk, about its past, and about All For One. Things that I couldn't before, out of concern for your own safety. I don't know where you're watching this, but make sure you get to somewhere where there aren't any prying eyes or ears before I continue. What I have to say is for you and you alone, from one inheritor of this borrowed power to another."
After a brief glance back to the other side of the room to make sure that Kodai was still asleep, Kendo grabbed the disc and practically sprinted into her room, drawing the door shut behind her and pressing a blinking button on the side of the device once she'd set it down on her desk. It must be about the other successors, she told herself, thinking back to the dream she'd had the night after All Might died, how she'd talked with the wielder of Blackwhip about the new powers she would soon gain. He must have known about the other quirks after all. But then All Might's face vanished, and her blood ran cold in her veins.
"I really had you fooled there- didn't I, Battle Fist?"
Midoriya Izuku gave her a wide smile, and even through the projection, the hollow gleam in his cold green eyes was as clear and vivid as it had been as she watched him cut his own arm off.
"Hopefully I have your undivided attention by now."
"I… no…" Itsuka opened her mouth and tried to speak, but the words wouldn't come. Her heart was pounding in her chest like a drum, louder and louder every second.
"Cat got your tongue?" He chuckled mirthfully. "What a shame. And here I was so looking forward to talking with you again. We never did get a proper chance to introduce ourselves."
"No need," she gritted, struggling to contain the rage that was threatening to boil over inside her, the same wrongful fury that she'd nearly succumbed to when she first activated Blackwhip with the intent of murdering Seraph. "I already know exactly who you are."
"Do you now? That's rather presumptuous of you, don't you think?" The hologram perched one gloved hand on his chin, then glanced down at it and grinned in sudden recollection. "Oh, and I nearly forgot. I also haven't had the chance to thank you for this."
His movements calm and methodical, Midoriya pulled off the glove and rolled up his white sleeve, revealing a gleaming new metal arm and hand to replace the one that he'd cut off to escape her.
"What do you think of the design? It's one of Hatsume's best pieces in terms of pure craftsmanship, as far as I'm concerned. Overhaul offered to replace the limb, but this one is much stronger than flesh and blood, of course, faster and more durable too- part of me is glad you forced my hand like that. But the real reason I chose this option is that it serves as a reminder, Kendo- a reminder of how I almost lost everything to you, and a warning never to be so careless again. I'll wear it proudly for the rest of my life, so from the bottom of my heart, I truly am grateful."
"Oh, it was no problem at all." Itsuka forced herself to remain calm and expressionless, though the task was becoming increasingly difficult. "In fact, if you love it so much, just come by U.A. again and I'll make sure you can get a matching set."
"My my, so fierce, I'm simply terrified. But while we're on the topic of gratitude, why don't you go ahead and congratulate my dear associate on her marvelous performance? I had to find a way to get you to lower your guard- it would've been much more difficult without her help."
Kendo knew what was coming after a lead-in like that, but her stomach still turned when Toga Himiko leaned into the frame, wrapped one arm around Izuku's waist, and waved blithely at the camera.
"Hey cutie, how's it going?! Hope you're enjoying having your blood inside your body, because the next time we meet, I'm gonna make you pay so, so bad for hurting my baby." She delivered the threat in a lilting, giddy voice, but the twisted grin on her face and the demented look in her eyes were enough to send a shiver up Kendo's spine.
Rather than respond any further, Itsuka stood, pulled her phone out of her pocket, and started to dial the first staff member's number she could think of- her thumb was a hair's breadth away from calling Vlad King when Midoriya spoke up again.
"Ah ah ah, no you don't. The moment you try to call for backup, or leave, or trace my signal, this device will self-destruct, and you'll lose any insight or intelligence you might stand to gain from this conversation. So why don't you put that phone away and sit back down, like a good little hero."
It took all the restraint Kendo had left in her not to turn around and smash the disc into a dozen sparking pieces, but as much as she hated to admit it, he was right, and he knew it- she had a responsibility to keep him talking for as long as possible, to learn everything she could. The police hadn't been able to find a single trace of the Syndicate or any of its members since the day of the attacks; this was too good of an opportunity to pass up. I can try and record the audio, at least. But I've only got a few seconds to put the phone down before he starts to get suspicious. Have to be subtle.
Keeping her eyes locked on Midoriya's, she began to slowly set the phone down on the desk, moving her thumb across the screen ever so slightly as she used her peripheral vision and muscle memory to navigate to the camera app.
"Don't even think about trying it." Seraph wagged one mechanical finger in front of his still-smiling face. "You're a persistent one- but then again, that's much more interesting than the alternative. I think we're going to be good friends, you and I, once you start cooperating with me."
Left with no other choice than to concede a momentary defeat, Kendo closed out of the app, laid down the phone, and took a seat in her chair, the mask of tranquility on her face just barely concealing the swirling torrent of emotions hidden just beneath the surface.
"Good," Izuku crooned in a patronizing tone, "that's very good. I knew that you could be obedient if you put your mind to it. Now that both of our cards are on the table, let's have a nice, relaxing chat, Kendo Itsuka. We have a lot to talk about."
Okinawa, Kyushu Region
Yomitan Township, Ten Kilometers outside Kadena US Air Base
One Day Earlier
"I'll take another martini, on the rocks, two olives. Your top-shelf vermouth, if you please. And you, darling?"
"Lemme do a Bloody Mary!" Toga cried excitedly, lifting up her sunglasses as she leaned over and kissed Midoriya playfully on the neck.
"Very good, sir. I'll have those out right away" Nodding politely, the bartender continued on his route along the rows of lounge chairs to where the others were reclining in the warm afternoon sun.
"A margarita over here for the lady, if you'd be so kind, good sir!" Gentle replied when it was his turn to order, gesturing to La Brava, "and another gin and tonic for myself!"
"I'll take a highball. The oldest barrel-aged Suntory whisky you have." Yaoyorozu scarcely even glanced up from the book she was reading as she floated lazily around the pool on a chair-shaped inflatable, though she did lift a foot to push off the side when she nearly drifted into the hot tub section that Monoma and Shinso were seated in.
"Two more vodka sodas over here," Neito called, then turned to Hitoshi with a conspiratorial grin. "Or were we switching to tequila sunrises?"
"No more tequila, not after last night. We'll have…" Synapse started to crane his head around to face the bartender, then gave up halfway through and sank lower into the hot tub. "You know what, just surprise us."
The heavyset, bald-headed man strode back to the bar to begin preparing the group's orders, and Midoriya couldn't help but let out a gentle sigh of ecstasy as he wrapped his artificial hand around Toga's real one and gazed out at the ocean. After the death of All Might and the successful conclusion of all three components of Operation Brennus, things had gone exactly Seraph planned, once he staunched his bleeding wound with Carmilla and Overhaul's help. When they were sure that they hadn't been followed or tracked, the strike teams rendezvoused at a safehouse to debrief and lick their wounds; as soon as everyone was ready to move again, the assembled villain forces split up and went into hiding from the inevitable manhunt for their heads that swiftly followed. For maximum security, they'd traveled in opposite directions, with the goal of getting as far away from each other and from Tokyo as possible: Midoriya's group went south to Okinawa, while Overhaul's went north to Hokkaido.
Thanks to Hatsume's enhancements to Kurogiri's range, though, even the massive distance between the two locations wasn't a true barrier, and they could transfer personnel and supplies between them as needed. They'd tried to use that option as sparingly as possible over the past two weeks, though, out of concern that the heroes might eventually find a way to track Warp Gate based on its unique energy signature if they employed it too liberally. True to his words, though, Midoriya had rewarded his followers and allies with a genuine vacation of sorts after all their hard work- in Okinawa, his group had been lying low at a luxurious beachfront villa inside a walled private resort, while Dabi, Mustard, Dark Shadow, and Overhaul's men were at a large, fully-furnished mountain cabin in the woods outside Sapporo, along with their remaining captive, Todoroki. Shinso had taken the usual steps of brainwashing the owners with Suggestion, of course, but on a less pleasant note, their current status as the most wanted men and women in the country had forced them to take a variety of precautionary measures in the meantime, including a return to disguising the more notable of their appearances.
Since they'd been spotted on multiple occasions in the past, most of the main group had opted for a change from their previous styles: Izuku's hair was dyed black and slicked back behind his ears as Hitoshi's had been before, Mei's pink locks were now a reddish amber color, and Shinso's was dark brown and tied up in a ponytail, when he wasn't lounging in the pool. Monoma had been growing his hair out for a while now, so Midoriya had spared him from the pain of scissors and allowed him to get away with silver-grey dye, while Momo simply returned to her previous lavender color, since she'd never been seen by heroes in her disguise- not by any who were still alive, at least. Toga's growing notoriety was an easy enough problem to solve given her quirk, but Midoriya couldn't help the fact that he preferred her original appearance over any other by far. They'd monitored the private beach enough to be sure that there were no prying eyes aside from their generously-tipped bartender, so for now, a few simple measures were enough to suffice: she'd let her hair down around her shoulders from its usual buns, and false lenses had turned her recognizable golden eyes a deep bluish green.
"Hey baby," The sound of Himiko's whispered voice in his ear woke Izuku from his reverie, and she grinned mischievously as she took a swig of her crimson-colored cocktail. "Wanna go down to the water? Maybe it's warmed up from this morning by now."
"Hmm?" Seraph took a thoughtful sip from his martini and glanced up in the direction she was pointing. Past the pool, the paved stone ground turned to fine white sand, and the ocean was only fifty yards away at most; the air was filled with the soothing sound of softly crashing waves. "And here I thought you hated swimming."
"I do, but I'm sure we could come up with plenty of other fun things to do underwater." She planted a kiss on his lips that he returned eagerly; her tongue tasted like tomatoes and vodka, but Midoriya decided to ignore his hatred of Bloody Maries for today, if only for Toga's sake. But he had to break away soon enough, and stroked her cheek in conciliation.
"Oh, I'm sure we could. But you know just as well as I do that today is a very important day. I have to get back to work before too long."
His response prompted a girlish pout from Carmilla, and for a moment, the sight of her body stretched out along the lounge chair in a bikini was almost enough to make him relent. A soft chuckle cut through the air before he could decide one way or another, though, and Midoriya's eyes flitted over to the bar, where Mr. Compress was leaning against one of the wooden columns at the corners with a warm smile on his lined face. Without his mask, overcoat, and top hat, Atsuhiro was practically unrecognizable; with a faded Hawaiian shirt, khaki shorts, and worn leather sandals, he wouldn't have looked out of place at a luau-themed barbecue attended entirely by married men over forty. Then again, Midoriya could hardly blame him- he was dressed in an almost identical fashion.
"Did you need something, Compress?"
"Oh heavens no, Seraph- far be it from me to interrupt two young lovers. When you have a moment, though, Longshot would like to speak with you over at the villa. Something or other about tailwinds, she's a bit delirious at the moment. Do try and see that she gets some sleep tonight- my attempts to persuade her usually fall flat, but she listens to you."
"Ah, I see. I'd best go and speak to her now, before I risk falling asleep out here." After another, longer sip from his drink, Midoriya started to stand, until Toga's palm pressed him back down into his chair, and her fingers deftly undid the last two buttons on his shirt before sliding beneath it.
"Don't worry, baby, I'll make extra sure that you don't fall asleep. You know how loud I can get."
Wrapping her up in his arms and stroking her newly lengthened hair with his remaining flesh-and-blood hand, Izuku kissed Himiko again, longer and deeper than before, passionately enough that she was practically numb and mute from pleasure by the time he released her half a minute later.
"I'll be back soon, darling. Go and test the water if I take too long."
"Mmm-hmm," she mumbled in response, her entire face the color of her drink.
At that, Seraph rose and started down the neat stone path back to their towering villa, slipping his sandals off at the entrance before entering their code on the keypad, a complex sequence that changed every twelve hours. This location had a good deal less security infrastructure than their strongholds back on Honshu, but La Brava more than compensated for that with the dozens of cameras she'd either set up or hacked into around the premises. The door's lock released with a satisfying click, Izuku was about to open it until he caught a whiff of cigarette smoke over the smell of salt and sand. When he peered around the corner of the house, his suspicion regarding the source was confirmed; Twice was sitting beneath the shade of a palm tree at the edge of the villa's lawn, puffing on a pack of his signature Natural American Spirit. He was staring out at the ocean, and stirred a bit when Midoriya approached, glancing up at him with bleary eyes as if he'd just awoken from a trance.
"What are you doing over here, Twice?"
"Nothing much, boss- something special." Jin grimaced and slapped himself hard across the face when his second voice spoke up, running his hands through his tufted blond hair. "No, no, just stop. Please. I… I'm sorry, boss. I've been trying to see how long I can keep from splitting without wearing the mask. I want… I want to do my best for you. For the mission."
A few of Bubaigawara's words were slightly slurred, and when he shifted his position under the tree slightly, Izuku noticed that he was clutching a near-empty bottle of rum in one hand. Thank god we don't need him until tomorrow, Seraph mused, leaning down and grabbing hold of it. Twice didn't resist or protest when Midoriya pulled the bottle away from him, or when he upended the rest of the contents onto the grass.
"This isn't your best, Twice. We both know that. And I don't think you're going to achieve your best like this. Why don't you go over with the others? There's no reason to be out here by yourself."
"They don't want to be around me." Jin hunched over and retreated further in to himself, rocking back and forth on the ground. "No one does. I'm not good with people. Not when I'm like this. Not without the mask."
"And who told you that, hm?" Midoriya crouched down and watched Bubaigawara until he lifted his head to meet Izuku's eyes, then gave the man a soft, sympathetic smile and laid hand on his shoulder. "It was him, wasn't it? That voice inside your mind?"
"Yes." Twice whimpered, clutching at his temples.
"It tells you how weak you are, doesn't it? How foolish and inferior. How everyone despises you."
"Yes, it does. I can usually keep it contained but…" Jin cradled his forehead in both hands. "But today's been bad. Worse than usual."
"Did you know that I used to have a voice like that too?"
Twice flinched visibly, and his gaze shot back up off the ground.
"W-what?"
"I did. It wasn't as aggressive as yours, but it told me the same things. After I was diagnosed as quirkless, it told me for eleven years how I would never amount to anything in this society. That my dreams were nothing but a fantasy, that I would never know friendship, or recognition, or love, because something was wrong with my DNA. It told me that no matter how much as I tried, I would never be able to prove my worth to the people I cared for and respected, that I was destined to be forgotten. So do you know what I did, Twice?"
Jin watched Izuku with wide, expectant eyes, and Seraph almost shuddered with satisfaction at the sight. Everything he was saying was true, but he still couldn't deny how good it felt to hold someone's emotions in the palm of his hands, to persuade them into laying bare their soul with a just few words of gentle coaxing.
"I proved the voice wrong. I made something of myself. I found comrades, love, a purpose. When those I held most dear in my heart spurned me, I left them behind, and moved on to something new, something better. I forced the world to remember me. I turned everything it had told me on its head, and like that, it held no power over me anymore. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
"Yes," Twice whispered, then slowly rose to his feet; Midoriya did the same. "Yes, I do, boss. I… I think I'm gonna go over to the pool for a while. I'm… sorry." He started off down the path to the pool and bar, and Izuku watched him go with a soft smile on his face.
"Don't be."
Then Seraph opened the door and stepped inside, and the first sight he was treated to was Spinner, passed out and snoring on the couch with the TV remote in one hand and a half-empty beer in the other. For a few seconds, Midoriya considered waking him up, and he'd even leaned down with one hand reaching towards Iguchi's face. But after a moment's contemplation, he grabbed the beer bottle instead, finished it, and continued up the stairs towards Longshot. One intervention is more than enough for today. I suppose I shouldn't exactly have expected complete mental and social stability when I decided to recruit League members.
Two weeks into their stay, Hatsume's room in the villa was one part workshop, one part high-tech office, and entirely a mess. A workbench cluttered with spare parts, clipped strands of wiring, and bullet cartridges occupied one entire wall, and the pile of support gear that she'd either brought with her or manufactured here in Okinawa was actively spilling out of the closet beside it. On top of the bed, the pillow and blanket were scarcely visible beneath an expansive pile of wrinkled clothes, and the nightstand was decorated with dirty dishes and crumpled yen notes. Mei herself was currently seated at the computer station that occupied most of the remainder of the space; she was surrounded by three massive monitors and two auxiliary holographic displays, all of which were displaying various streams of data or live feeds from Aiba's cameras. The desk housing the array of tech was strewn with empty energy drink cans and opened bags of chips and popcorn; the thumping bass of electronic music was faintly audible from beneath her headphones, and her fingers were flying at flying at lightning speed across the various keyboards laid out in front of her as she sipped from the straw of a cocktail that had been made in a hollowed-out pineapple. Midoriya stopped for a moment in the threshold to admire the force of nature that was Hatsume at work, but after a short while she seemed to notice him regardless, and swiveled around in her chair.
"There you are! Took ya long enough, slacker. Look, I could tell you all about it, but long story short, we've got a little bit of a problem." Just as Atsuhiro had warned him, she seemed a bit more strung-out than usual, and her eyes were slightly bloodshot- beneath them, she was starting to develop traces of dark circles to match her boyfriend's. He took a step towards her with a skeptical look on his face, and she wasted no time pulling up a live air traffic control map of the island and surrounding area on one screen, along with a weather map of southern Japan on a second. "So turns out that the targets' flight out of Toyko caught some seriously good tailwinds on the way down here, on top of an early departure. As of right now, it's looking like they're gonna be getting in a full hour early, maybe even more. We're gonna need to adjust the timetable accordingly, or we'll miss the window for scouting out their security detail. You think you can have Aiba and the boys ready to go in ten minutes? I'd rather get there ahead of time than risk running late."
"What a pain. Of course, I'll go and get them right away. But Mei… how much have you been sleeping?"
"Eh, like that matters. Is 'enough' a valid answer?" Hatsume wrapped her arms around the back of her head and stretched, sighing with relief when her neck popped audibly. "Compress told you to ask me that, right? Come on, you know how I operate, Izuku. I'll sleep when we're done with the mission, that's how it always goes."
"The most urgent part of the operation is still over sixteen hours from now." Midoriya crossed his arms and did his best to sound venomous, but that was easier said than done when it was just the two of them, without anyone else watching- the same rang true with Shinso. "Don't make me sedate you again after we get back from reconnaissance, I don't want another incident like Nagano."
"Ah, now you're just nitpicking- those were exceptional circumstances and you know it. We can argue all we want once we're at Kadena. Besides, I've got plenty more of these lovely little babies that Momo whipped up."
Standing from her chair, Longshot reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out one of the boosters that Momo had designed for long night shifts. Little larger than a stamp, the patch was covered on one side with a forest of thin, five-millimeter needles that administered a time release of chemical compounds into the bloodstream, designed to enhance the user's awareness and energy levels for a limited time, as well as sharpen their reaction time. Seraph had found them useful on more than one occasion, as had most members of the team, but Hatsume had taken a particular affinity to them; she sighed in visible relief when she pressed the booster into her forearm, then promptly stepped over toward the bed and began to strip out of her grease-coated work pants and sweat-stained tank top. Far from embarrassed by the sight at this point, Midoriya simply rubbed one temple in exaggeration before slipping back through the door, her voice drifting down the hallway behind him.
"Ten minutes, you hear me? You guys better be on time! We're not gonna miss these fuckers, not after me and Aiba spent ten days tracking their asses!"
"Trust me, Mei- we won't." Izuku paused briefly at the top of the stairs to make sure she heard him. "I'll make sure of it. They're the last trace of him left, aside from her."
As he made his way back to the pool, Seraph pulled out his cell phone and gazed down at the classified flight itinerary that Longshot had sent him earlier- a 12:50 PM flight out of Yokota Air Base in western Tokyo, originally scheduled to arrive at Okinawa's Kadena Air Base at 3:26 PM. The plane in question was United States military, an incredibly difficult and dangerous asset to track, even for technical savants like La Brava and Hatsume. The potential payoff of the operation was well worth the risk as far as Midoriya was concerned though, both practically and personally. The smooth, satisfying sound of metal sliding across metal filled the air as Izuku's artificial hand wrapped slowly into a fist, and he couldn't help but feel a rush of anticipation when he thought about the future. I'm going to enjoy seeing that man writhe and beg at my feet. But one step at a time, as in all things.
"Ah, Midoriya, there you are." Wearing his trademark haughty grin, Monoma was the first to greet him on his return. He was still dripping water from his hair and hastily tied towel, and if the slight sway in Neito's step and flush on his cheeks were any indication, he'd gone through another drink or two since Izuku left. "If you'd be so kind, would you join Gentle as the judge for a footrace along the beach? It's Twice, Pandora, Synapse, and myself- hardly a fair competition, if you ask me. Yaoyorozu has a bit of that dreadful 1-A class arrogance left inside her, I suppose. She still needs to be taught her place from time to time."
"No. No more games, the party's over for now." Seraph said the words loud enough for the whole group to hear, and in an instant everyone had grown silent and attentive, looking up from their various conversations. "The schedule has changed, the reconnaissance team is leaving in five minutes. La Brava, go coordinate with Hatsume on the flight data and the exact coordinates of the lookout point we'll be using. You three, on me."
In the span of a heartbeat, the Syndicate members lounging on the poolside and beachfront snapped straight from leisure back to business, all thoughts of foot races and sunbathing and alcohol forgotten. Gentle, Shinso, and Mr. Compress gathered around Midoriya under the awning of the bar, listening closely as he explained the situation in brief terms.
"Did you gentlemen want to order something else?" The bartender asked confusedly, glancing up at the small gathering from the glass he was cleaning behind the counter.
'No,' Izuku was about to snap, but Synapse spoke up first, and gestured to himself, Gentle, and Seraph.
"The three of us probably need something to sober up, if we're being honest. Doesn't sound like we're gonna have time for lunch like we thought we thought we would."
"If only it was cool enough for a good kettle of tea," Tobita sighed dramatically, shaking his head. He'd shaved his beard and died his silver-white hair and moustache a bright gold as part of their effort to conceal their identities, though persuading him to temporarily abandon his extravagant wardrobe had been quite the task at first. After three days of sweltering in the Okinawa heat in his usual vests and debonair jackets, he'd finally relented and joined the growing majority of Hawaiian shirts, though his by far had the most elegant patterning.
"There's an easy solution to that," Compress replied, then turned to the bartender. "Four iced teas."
"Right away," the man replied, promptly pouring them four tall glasses all set out in a row.
"If we could finish these inside the next ten seconds, that would be ideal," remarked Midoriya, glancing down at his phone- it had only been five minutes, but Hatsume was already blowing up his notifications with texts telling him to hurry up.
Without so much as a moment's hesitation, the four men picked up the glasses in unison and drained them together in one long gulp, their expressions deadly serious. Not a heartbeat after they slammed them back down on the bar, they were striding down the path toward the villa; in the driveway, Mei was already revving up the jeep, one hand on the ignition and the other on the keyboard of a laptop that she had resting on one knee. La Brava was seated in shotgun beside her, in a white summer dress instead of her usual attire, her long red hair down around her waist instead of in the more recognizable pigtails. She had a laptop of her own as well, and pointed frantically at the screen as Midoriya and the others approached, lifting up her red-tinted sunglasses.
"We've only got thirty minutes until their plane lands at this rate, let's go! I can't monitor the base's perimeter cams for blind spots unless I have time to set up first!"
"Shouldn't we change into something more… suitable?" Gentle asked in a pleading tone, lingering on the path as Hitoshi, Izuku, and Compress piled into the back of the jeep. "I bought a new summer outfit just for this mission, much looser fitting and less bulky, with all beige and white and tan notes instead of black and purple. I think it goes excellently with my new hair color, it would only take a minute for me to go grab it…"
"A minute that we don't have," Midoriya replied coldly, staring Tobita down until he caved and jumped in with them, his face crestfallen. Aiba reached over from the front seat and rubbed his shoulder sympathetically as they backed out of the driveway and started off down the private access road; after a moment of drifting back and forth between lanes, Shinso had to reach up and snatch away Hatsume's laptop to get her to use both hands on the wheel.
"C'mon, babe, you know I can multitask!"
"You say that, but somehow it feels a lot less convincing when you have all of our lives in your hands."
In the end it only took fifteen minutes for them to reach the grassy hilltop they'd chosen as a vantage point, and La Brava had plenty of time to ensure that they were well-hidden from any external sensors, on top of the multiple optic camouflage blankets that Mei had already provided. From here they had a panoramic view of the largest American military base in the south Pacific, with dozens of fighter and cargo planes taking off and landing as they watched. From this distance away- around two or three kilometers from the main gates- Hatsume saw everything that was happening inside with perfect clarity, and could practically count the freckles on the pilots' faces from beneath the glass of their cockpits as they took off. Pandora had provided binoculars for the rest of them, but after a few cursory glances, Seraph largely left the observing up to Longshot.
"Anything interesting so far?" Compress asked after a while, shifting slightly in his prone position. He, Gentle, and Shinso were there as backup in case anything went awry- he was prepared to reduce the entire group to marbles in the event that they needed to evade the enemy or make a quick exit.
"Nah, nothing much. But I did just memorize their patrol routes around the base perimeter, so that'll probably help tomorrow. The gates don't look too heavily guarded, but I guarantee you there's a whole squad on standby in the barracks a few yards away. No matter what happens, we can't get caught going in or coming out- we're gonna have to keep this 100% stealth, or we'll have a shitshow on our hands like you guys wouldn't believe."
"Picking a fight with the world's largest military isn't really on my agenda," said Shinso, "so yeah, you've got my support on that front. What's the ETA on our targets?"
"About a minute, if their plane's transponder beacon has anything to say about it," Aiba responded, her gaze still fixed on the screen of her laptop. You guy will know it when you see it, it's a pretty big transport. Two escort fighters."
"No expenses spared, hm?" Midoriya smirked and lifted his binoculars up to the distant white clouds over the ocean. "Of course not. He's a valuable asset for them."
Sure enough, three planes burst through after a few more seconds, descending rapidly towards the base. The faint scream of their engines became gradually more audible as they approached the ground; finally, the two fighters peeled off in opposite directions and looped back out over the water, while the larger grey transport hit the runway with a jolt and slowed steadily to a halt. Izuku could feel his fingers curling around the sleek black metal in excitement as the ramp lowered, and a group of officers from the base stepped forward to greet the new arrivals. First came a contingent of ordinary soldiers, followed by two Air Force colonels, a Navy rear admiral, and a relatively famous Army general, if Midoriya was reading their rank insignias correctly. None of them interested him, though, and for a moment he was gripped by fear that Longshot and La Brava had tracked the wrong plane.
Just when he was about to ask them something to that effect, though, two people who were clearly not military strode down the ramp: The taller of them, a man in his late forties, had short tufted brown hair and a goatee, and was wearing a grey suit jacket over his dark blue button-down. Following close behind him was a young woman just slightly older than the Syndicate founders, with long blonde hair and bright blue eyes beneath her glasses. A wide, twisted grin spread across Seraph's face as he watched them chat with a few of the officers, then start off toward one of the main buildings.
"I've been so looking forward to meeting you, David and Melissa Shield. I think that the three of us are going to be the best of friends."
And here we are with the Arc 2 premiere! I was planning on waiting until midterms were done to work on this chapter, but I just couldn't wait, especially not after I finally saw the movie a few weeks ago- I definitely knew that I had to tie the Shields in somehow. Let me know what you think of their inclusion! I also knew that I had to clear up things with Bakugo and Uraraka, so hopefully you guys have a clearer picture of where they and Kendo are coming from. And I feel like the villains had definitely earned a little R&R time at this point, so it was nice to give them that, albeit briefly. How do you think Midoriya and Kendo's first real conversation is going to go? Next time, a (digital) confrontation between our two main characters, the continuation of the Syndicate's plan regarding the Shields, and possibly the beginning of U.A.'s final exams, if I don't run out of room with the other stuff first.
If you can't tell with that reference toward the end, I've been binging JoJo's in my free time lately when I'm not writing this, after I finally caved to the memes and started it a while back. Also, any other current manga readers hyped about that new group of villains Horikoshi just introduced? They're almost certainly going to show up in this story's future, once we know more about them.