Hero Conference

Estelle stood behind the doors at the police station with strange nervousness. When she had reported to Mr Aizawa, she had no qualms about detailing the incident with Overhaul. What had startled her was the recognition that was on his face. A few days later, he requested that she come to the police station with him.

"We're all here, Nighteye. Let's get started."

"There is one more person that still needs to come."

Estelle heard her cue and walked into the conference room with a proud stride. She had purposefully stayed behind so she didn't have to speak to the other heroes. She had managed to get to know a few of them due to her calls concerning spirit activity. Most of the room gasped at the new appearance. Estelle disregarded them, nodding at her classmates and standing at the side of the room.

"Why is she here? There are no spirits involved."

"I believe my contract states that I have full heroship until the situation is resolved. There was nothing that stated I couldn't act in human circumstances," Estelle counteracted simply, gazing at Rykyo in annoyance.

"You say that like you aren't one", Rock Lock reacted.

"Enough. That will be explained in due time. We've invited you to the conference to share the intel you all have required regarding the Yakuza group Shie Hassiki" Nighteye interrupted.

Estelle listened attentively as the heroes explained the situation. Her brows lifted in surprise when FatGum addressed the room. "The bullet contained some form of drug that I've never heard of before. One that destroys quirks!"

Estelle stood straighter at the revelation. Her mind connected the dots pretty quickly. 'So that's how he was going to do it.'

Estelle smiled internally when Tamaki showed off his horse leg to show that his quirk worked fine. Mr Aizawa was next to explain how his quirk worked and its correlation with the drug. Estelle watched with entertainment when she realised Kirishima had no idea what was happening.

The redhead's face turned startled when it was revealed that he had managed to save a sample from a bullet that had bounced off from his body. Estelle's humour rapidly faded when she realised the contents of the drug.

'Human blood and cells? A quirk? This sounds bonkers.'

"Don't you have anything that implicates them completely? It's like your grasping at straws." Ryuku requested.

FatGum had then explained the connection he had found with the middleman included in distributing the drugs. Estelle glanced towards Mr Aizawa, to which he gave her a nod. Estelle stepped forward after that, seizing everyone's attention.

"I know he is connected to it. I had a run-in with him a few days ago."

The room stilled.

"What happened?" Ryuku questioned.

"Overhaul, who is the leader, had found me one day when I was hunting for spirits. He was looking for me, and he wanted to recruit me to his band of morons."

A few heroes stood up at that; their bodies shifted in readiness for a fight. Estelle scoffed at them in irritation; she felt bothered in some way by their assumptions. "Settle down, idiots. Do you think I would be here if I said yes? Anyway, when I asked him what his goal was. He said he wanted to remove quirks from society - that it was unclean."

Estelle took a step back at that, signalling that she was done talking. Her aggravation stopped her from divulging more than necessary. She didn't stay that way for long as Nighteye explained who Overhaul was. The frozen face of Mirio and Izuku caught her attention, and she eyed them in confusion until Nighteye spoke his following words.

"He has a daughter named Eri who has no details or records under her name."

Estelle froze herself from the revelation. The look of Overhaul's face rose up in her mind. The hidden lust for control was so effortlessly hidden beneath the surface. She could only imagine what his daughter was experiencing, especially if she was his part of his diabolical plan.

Kirishima turned to question the hero next too him in obliviousness.

"I'll only say this once. But we think Overhaul is using his daughter's blood and selling it to the black market," Rock Lock explained further. It was plain as day that he disagreed with the student's presence in the conference room.

Estelle's blood ran cold at the confirmation. Her wrath bubbled under her calm exterior. What was it with basterds using children for their own means? Estelle knew it all too well. She could say with complete confidence that she would kill others for doing it. Estelle knew the pain of being controlled. She knew the fear. The hatred. The soul-crushing hopelessness that came with it.

Estelle would be damned to let any child grow up with it as she did.

The conference continued in the silence within Estelle.

"Do we have a plan for saving her?"

Estelle stepped forward at that, the gears moving in her mind. "You don't have to agree, but I know how to do infiltration. You could let me agree to Overhaul's offer. I could play as a double agent. We would have concrete information on where she is."

Most of those within the room enlarged their eyes from the unexpected offer from Estelle. Others narrowed them instead, distrustful of her goal. Their eyes slipped off of her like a windshield; there were more important things to think about.

"Hm. It could be possible. For now, though, I would like everyone to focus on each of these locations to scout. We'll see if we can find anything first."

"Excuse me, I have a question. Knowing your quirk, why can't you look into ours and see what you can find?" Mr Aizawa queried.

Estelle ignored Nighteye's attempts to avoid using his quirk and stepped forward. She was annoyed she had to keep doing this, but Estelle couldn't sit quietly when a child was stuck under a man's thumb as she had been.

"If death is something you fear for your fellow comrades. Then look at mine. I don't care how I die, no matter how gruesome or unavoidable it is. I have lived long enough. Do it."

Nighteye stared up at the blank girl in shock as those behind her did the same. They shivered under the blatant truth in her words.

"I'm sorry. I can't," Nighteye repeated. Estelle could see the hidden trauma preventing him from doing so. With those eye's reflecting back at her, her fingers fidgetted as she backed away.

Estelle didn't stay for the end of the conference. The gaze of her fellow classmates felt uncanny.

Estelle joined Shoto, Iida and Izuku for lunch begrudgingly since Shoto had made her soba. "We are soba buddies; you can't say no," He had voiced innocently. Estelle just followed behind him with a sigh.

As Estelle ate her food quietly, she could see that Izuku was having a hard time. Hell, he'd been having a hard time ever since he let that little girl go.

'He needs to understand that he can't fix everything with a drop of a hat. Maybe he'll stop trying to be a martyr. That's probably wishful thinking.'

"You're not gonna eat that?" Shoto questioned, forcing Izuku out of his thoughts.

"Uh- Of course I am! Here, see." Izuku responded as he finally took a bite out of his food.

"Are you all right?" Iida probed.

"You've been acting edgy and depressed ever since you started your work-study."

"Oh, have I? Really? " Izuku asked with see-through fake innocence. Estelle deadpanned at the green-haired male. He was never good at lying. Iida put out his hand in front of Izuku with a smile, causing Estelle to tilt her head in curiosity.

"If you ever want to talk, just let me know. We're friends, right? That's what you said to me, remember? Back to when we were heading off to our internships, and I was acting like a fool."

Estelle paused from her food to gaze up at Izuku; she felt a strange feeling in her gut when she heard a noise across the table. Izuku attempted to hold back his tears but ended up failing as droplets trailed down his cheeks. Estelle stared at Iida coldly when he screamed, probably fearing what his words had caused.

"It's okay, it's nothing", Izuku assured as he practically swallowed his whole bowl in one go.

'How efficient.'

"Heroes aren't supposed to cry", Izuku spoke out loud in an attempt to rein back his emotions. Estelle clenched her chopsticks from the words, a tight feeling in her soul.

"I dunno. I figure that heroes cry when they need to, don't they?" Shoto responded, his typical look of purity plastered on his face.

Estelle didn't know how to feel with those words. Growing up, she was always told that any emotion was weak. She hadn't shed a tear in a long time. It was so accepted here, without any judgment; Estelle could only wonder what it would have been like growing up here.

"Estelle, you ok?" Iida asked.

"Huh? oh, yeah, I'm fine. Just got lost in my head for a sec."

"Okay. But just like I said with Midoriya. Talk to us if you want to." Iida repeated as the other males nodded in harmony before offering Izuku their food. Estelle appreciated their easy acceptance and held a small smile as Shoto continued providing food to the pair of them throughout lunch. She chuckled at his attempts to cheer his fellow classmates up.

Estelle slit the throat of a buffo when her earpiece rang. Answering the call, Estelle found herself surprised to hear the sound of Endeavour on the receiver. Giving his location and hanging up, Estelle scowled towards the blunt and uptight male through the device.

When she reached his location. She was pleasantly surprised that there was a true spirit in his vicinity. Rushing forward, Estelle whipped her kunai out to handle the Batsnout. Its enormous wings flew its tiny body through the air in fluctuating movements. Setting out her wings, Estelle followed behind, barricading the creature in her wind sphere.

The spirit screeched as it attempted to break out of her hold. Estelle spared no seconds as she shot a fire bullet directly at the spirit's side. The winged creature that Estelle realised looked like a bald eagle fluttered in pain before disintegrating into the air.

Estelle flew down and landed in front of Endeavour with a job well done. "It's been neutralised. I will take my leave now."

"Wait! I would like to speak with you. Please, let's take a walk."

Gazing at the new number one hero with suspicious eyes, Estelle nodded and followed the bulky male through the trees. Her fingers jerked from the presence like she was ready to strike at any moment. The ghosts of her past were all too evident within the hero. All she wanted to do was get out as quickly as possible. Her scowl only deepened from his words.

"I see now; what you meant when we talked about Shoto."

"Yeah yeah, are we just going to talk about marriage and babies? Because I do have things to do." Estelle growled back, her hand ready to backhand the annoyance away like a fly.

Shaking his head, the hero continued, "That's not it. I have realised the error of my ways. I wanted to thank you, you have helped show me the mistakes I had made."

Estelle paused her motions, turning to face him swiftly with a glare. "Do you really think it's that easy? I have half a mind to dump your body in the forest. Why should I even care?"

"Because I can tell that I affect you in some way; why? I don't know. I realised it during the exams. You knew someone like me, didn't you?"

Estelle tightened her fist from his words. Her throat dried up from the truth he was spitting. 'First time for everything.'

Her silent reply was enough for him, and he resumed. "When I was granted my wish of becoming the number one hero. I felt anything but achievement. It was all for nothing. When I realised this, your words rang out in my head. It was exactly as you had said; my desires are so farfetched that nothing would satisfy me. Well, now I have a different desire. It is to make things right, and I want your support should I ever need it."

Estelle didn't say a word. Staring into the heroes eyes to try to gauge his truthfulness. She was stumped when she could not find a shred of deceit, not as she had seen before. Her heart waged war with her head. Could someone so similar to her guardian actually be able to change? To see the light? Become better? Estelle didn't like unfounded hope; it broke her more than she already was.

Slumping in defeat, Estelle nodded before giving Endeavour a quick scowl. "This doesn't mean I'm at your beck and call. But if you need my help, ill see what I can do. But, if I see one ounce of your prior self come back to the surface - I'm beating your ass to the spirit realm and back. Do you understand?"

"I do."

"Good. It's about time you got your senses back."

"That's why I wanted to speak to you."

"Why else would you patrol the woods? It's my jurisdiction," Estelle retorted as she ignored the subtle stop in the hero's step.

"Ah, you caught that. Well, I wanted to ask, how do I fix things with Shoto?"

"Honestly, I have no clue. Showing remorse would be the first step."

"I have expressed that to him, but he is stubborn."

Estelle still hated the man. The trauma he had brought up to the surface still simmered whenever she was near him. But, she ground her emotions back to view the situation logically. Her feelings were not needed here - she could not lie to herself about what she saw in his eyes. Their history would need to be buried for Endeavor to fix things with Shoto. The student would get something she never had, which was good.

"You need to remember that he grew up with you being an asshole. One conversation isn't going to change that. You have to show it, you have to mean it and right now - your only at the beginning."

"I see. But how do I show that?"

"I'm not sure. Be a good person?"

"Hmm. Sounds difficult."

"Tell me about it."