Chapter 76

.::Wild Cat Chase::.

At long last, after what felt like weeks, the 1-A Vigilantes were back on the streets patrolling. Denki hadn't realized how much relief he'd feel walking around in costume alongside Jirou, searching for muggers and other petty criminals. Though they hadn't been doing it for long, not even a month, these patrols had become a part of their routine in this world.

Even the streets and back alleys felt familiar and welcoming. Whether that was due to their experiences or some subconscious memories from their counterparts, he didn't know. Either way, it felt good to be back.

"So, the Vice Rep got some leads, right?" he asked Jirou as as they walked through one of their usual alleys.

"Yeah. Looked them over this morning. Most of them are located on pretty busy streets that are already patrolled by Pros, so don't think we should go there in costume."

"You said most, not all," Denki pointed out, and could picture her smirking behind the mask.

"Yeah, there's one place that's kinda out of the way. It's in an area that's just a bunch of office buildings so villains don't really target there much. So I'm thinking we do our usual patrol route, but head east since it's that way. We can check out the others later when we're not in costume."

"Sounds like a plan!" Denki agreed, and they fell silent as they emerged onto the street. He'd let Jirou take the lead, since she'd actually checked a map and knew where to go. In retrospect he probably should've asked before they left, when they didn't have to talk all vague like this in case of eavesdroppers. They hadn't even decided on a codename for Yaoyorozu; Denki was just glad she was the full class-rep in this world.

Asking Yaomomo to help predict Gentle Criminal's next target turned out to be an even better idea than they thought. She'd called last night around eight to report a list of potential targets, having apparently spent a good chunk of yesterday on researching it. They'd had high hopes about her helping, but hadn't expected her to get results that fast.

Turns out that a bunch of local business owners had basically banded together because they thought they might be targeted by Gentle Criminal. The Yaoyorozu family didn't seem to be concerned since their businesses headquartered in other cities, but Yaomomo still knew some other rich kids whose families lived in Hosu. Convincing them to share the list hadn't been too hard since she'd previously been interested in heroics.

Honestly, a lot of the explanation went over Denki's head last night. He'd been more focused on how, while he knew two of the companies, the rest were completely new to him. Not because they didn't exist in their world (probably, anyway), but mostly because they weren't household names you'd see on products, but stuff like... parent companies? One Moogle search marathon later, and Denki was left with one conclusion:

All that corporate talk was way too complicated for him.

A sharp cry had him happily shelving the complicated thoughts and focusing on the things he could understand: saving people. He and Jirou both took off running, and soon enough had managed to apprehend a purse snatcher and return the bag to a very thankful woman.

The police were called and then the vigilantes were quickly on their way, rushing to avoid running into the police. So far they'd managed to avoid them for the most part, and also any heroes, and they didn't plan to break that record now. As they darted into the alleys Denki felt a strong sense of pride and satisfaction, his thoughts stuck on that woman's grateful expression as she thanked them.

"You ever think about how even the little stuff like this feels good?" he asked.

"You mean just talking to people after helping take down the smaller crooks?" Jirou replied, and nodded. "Yeah, sometimes. It's kinda cool. You only ever really hear about the big stuff on the news, and even in the internships I just helped with evac stuff. So little things like this... Feels kinda nice."

"Yeah, it kinda does." Denki nodded with a small smile. Stopping purse snatchers and muggers didn't involve a big, glorious battle that actively saved lives, but the little moments afterwards really were some of the best. There really was something awesome about talking to people right after helping out even with small stuff like this. It really put into perspective what it meant to be a hero, this wasn't something you could learn at UA.

Even after they finally got home, he hoped he'd still remember this feeling. If one thing had to come out of this mess, it would be that.

Heavy footsteps and a sound like thunder mixed with whistling cut into their thoughts. They both spun to see something zoom through one of the intersecting side alleys behind them, only to reappear seconds later to reveal a familiar figure in silver armor. Denki startled in wide-eyed recognition, Iida's name caught on his lips. Wasn't he supposed to be in school? Wait, why did he have a costume at all?

Iida turned to face them with a small huff. "Huh, so you're the famous 1-A Vigilantes," he said, and... now Denki was even more confused. Why was his voice different, it sounded a bit deeper—oh. Ohhh...

Right, Iida's brother was still Ingenium here. He forgot about that for a second.

"Fuck," Jirou whispered next to him, and Denki could hear the slight distortion to her voice from the modifier hidden inside the face masks. He swallowed and quickly tapped the side of his face to turn on his own.

"You better not be trying to prep an attack, kid," Ingenium called lightly.

"Nope, not at all—wait, kid?" Denki jolted as the word abruptly registered. "Why would you call me that?"

"My brother said you talked to him without any voice-modifying, and you sounded his age. And also, you may have dropped out of middle school...?" He said the last part questioningly while Denki groaned in dismay. Right, he'd forgotten about that too, or at least the part where he spoke without using the voice modifier. And of course Iida would focus on the bit where he mentioned dropping out.

"We really don't want to fight," Jirou said next to him, which was an understatement.

"Good, neither do I," Ingenium responded. He took a step forward and they reflexively stepped back, making him stop and raise his hands. "Hey, don't run. You won't get very far anyway."

"We're not truants!" Denki hollered impulsively, and that had Ingenium faltering a bit.

"Wait, what?"

"Whatever your brother told you, he's wrong! We're not skipping class or anything!" Technically that counted as a bald-faced lie, but Denki was just spouting whatever came to mind to buy time. He had absolutely no idea what to do. Purse snatchers and muggers were one thing, but a Pro Hero? This was a totally different level from what they usually faced!

"Well, he told me you guys beat that villain last week, and based on the other reports he seemed right about that," Ingenium countered wryly, and Denki paused. Oh right, they also fought an actual villain last week. Still, this was totally different!

"Okay, yeah, that part's true," he admitted. "But everything else was a lie!"

"...Sure." Ingenium sounded more amused than anything, which didn't help Denki's nerves much.

"What do you want with us?" Jirou asked sharply.

"Now we're getting somewhere!" Ingenium exclaimed cheerfully. Denki's brain automatically tried to conjure an image of what his expression looked like, but all he could imagine was Iida's super-serious face. Sure he'd smiled occasionally, but he never sounded so cheerful and carefree like that. How were these two related? "Well, of course, I have a duty to apprehend vigilantes—"

That had Denki snapping back to attention, just in time for Jirou to wind back her arm and throw something pink. Ingenium cut himself off and immediately leaped to the side, narrowly avoiding the projectile as it hit he'd stood and exploded into a mass of sticky pink goo. Denki and Jirou didn't waste the opening, already turning to run.

"Taser, foam!" she barked, and Denki nodded as he quickly pulled a small pellet from his pocket to blindly throw behind them. They didn't dare look back as they took off, only hearing the pop and a shout from Ingenium to confirm the foam expanded. That was no where near enough to believe they were home free so they kept running.

The foam just made it harder to move, it didn't stick to people. They got kind of lucky with Iida. Iida's engines were in his legs, but Ingenium's were in his arms. The foam wouldn't be as effective at slowing him since he could just wave his arms and use the engines to pull himself free of it. Or maybe boost a jump over it? He didn't know, but they couldn't stick around to find out!

They darted through the alleys and then side streets blindly, desperate to escape their pursuer. Their surroundings blurred together as they ran, familiar and strange at the same time. Sure enough Ingenium kept pace, shouting for them to stop but of course they didn't, they weren't stupid! His shouts just made them run even harder.

As they turned into another alley a door opened and a person stepped out holding a trash bag. The vigilante duo had to skid to the side to avoid crashing into them even as the person jumped back, not daring to slow down. "Sorry!" Denki called, not looking back. They'd reached the end of the alley when they heard a loud shout and a crash, and that was enough to make Denki finally risk a glance back.

Ingenium had fallen to the ground, the trash bag's contents strewn all around (and over) him. Standing over him beside Sero, wearing that convenience storm uniform and looking incredibly sheepish. "Dude, I am so sorry!" he apologized to the Pro Hero. As he did he glanced at Denki and Jirou, and gave a subtle little nod and brief smirk. It fueled Denki with a renewed determination, grinning as he and Jirou turned to resume their escape.

The dude just threw a bunch of trash at a Pro Hero to give them a chance to escape. He might not be their Sero, but the guy was still an awesome bro in every universe.

As far as universal constants went, this one rocked.

Hitoshi's day, so far, was weird, which isn't a word he thought could apply to being held prisoner by a bunch of villains. It started on a panicked note when he realized Sushi was missing after breakfast. Then Midoriya showed up to tell him to get ready for tutoring, and explained Sushi was with Eraserhead and had some kind of invisibility Quirk. That had been a shocking revelation, but might explain some stuff...?

Things then got weirder when they went to the tutoring session, because Kurogiri wasn't there to escort them this time. No villains were, actually, which felt downright bizarre. Usually there'd be one or two left skulking in the halls nearby, "just in case" something happened. You know, like Midoriya screaming for help. Or Blasty letting off a bunch of explosions. Or Hitoshi, Blasty and Eraserhead plotting their escape after subduing and pinning Midoriya. It was part of why they hadn't talked to Eraserhead about the escape plan yet, they didn't want to risk being overheard.

This time though? Not a single one. It made him feel almost like they were breaking some unspoken rule, though he didn't dare ask Midoriya if they were. He seemed oddly on edge today. (When asked, he just said, "Seiko." That was all they needed to know.) Hitoshi focused his attention on Sushi instead, wishing he could scold her for sneaking off and worrying him. His phone's bland cadence just didn't really do the trick.

After a while he had to start actually studying though, which was also incredibly weird on its own. Seriously, he didn't even do actual schoolwork after running away! He just went over textbooks now and then, it's not like he actively needed that stuff.

Still, it wasn't hard to get immersed in the work. So he didn't know how long passed until someone banged on the door and it opened, and they turned to see... Mustard, maybe? Hitoshi wasn't sure, he only ever saw the guy in passing.

"Mustard?" Midoriya blurted, and cool, Hitoshi got it right. "What are you doing here?" Probably wasn't here for tutoring, despite looking like he was about their age. Seriously, so unfair.

"Just to double-check, Shigaraki got you a cat, right?" the other boy asked, and he now had Hitoshi's full attention.

"What, did you come here just to pet it?" Bakugou snapped defensively.

"No, I came here because a black cat appeared out of no where in the kitchen while I was making lunch, and knocked a bunch of spices off the counter and ran off," Mustard replied testily. "And the only cat in the base is Midoriya's, so is it yours or not?" That had everyone freezing and looking around the room, seeing no sign of Sushi.

"When was the last time anyone saw her?" Eraserhead questioned briskly, but no one had an answer.

"But wait, we had the door closed this whole time," Midoriya mumbled. "So how...?" Hitoshi paid him no mind, getting up and typing rapidly on his phone.

"Show me where she was." Questions could wait until after they found Sushi. He might get in trouble for wandering around unsupervised, but he didn't care. The idea of leaving Sushi to wander around a place full of villains with unknown intentions and feelings towards cats was an unacceptable risk to him.

Luckily Midoriya and Bakugou seemed to agree, as he could hear them wrapping up things with Eraserhead so they could join in. Hitoshi didn't stick around to pack up his own things, just following Mustard down the hall towards the kitchen.

And thus began a two-hour search of the Alliance's headquarters, going as far as to skip lunch to look. The building's layout seemed to be working against them; the maze-like halls created plenty of intersecting paths, which meant that Sushi could easily go to an area they'd already checked. With Sushi's newfound invisibility and apparent ability to just bypass doors, that meant a lot of doubling back.

Of course, at some point Toga showed up and got involved in the search efforts, which at this point Hitoshi expected. Less expected was Mustard joining in too.

"Some of the guys here are just simple-minded idiots who don't think about anything but fighting," he explained with a huff. "Wouldn't put it past them to hurt a cat just for kicks, which would just piss off Shigaraki when Midoriya gets upset. I don't want to deal with that."

Hitoshi frowned and eyed the other teen thoughtfully. They'd split off from the others, Midoriya and Bakugou taking one area and Toga searching another solo. The logic was that Hitoshi and Bakugou couldn't go anywhere alone, and Bakugou would probably blow up anyone but Midoriya. Hitoshi meanwhile didn't want to go anywhere alone with Toga, which just left Mustard.

He hadn't really looked at Mustard before, just glimpsed him in passing, but walking this close together he could tell they were around the same age. The guy had shaggy light brown hair that looked like it needed a trim, and wore a dark-colored hoodie and jeans. He might even be a little younger, maybe a year or so?

It made him wonder about why Mustard was here. It was obvious he hadn't been forced to be here, and he didn't seem like he'd been forced on the run like Hitoshi and so many others. Something about his attitude made it feel like he'd chosen to come here. Still, despite his curiosity Hitoshi didn't really feel like asking. They'd spent approximately an hour in each other's proximity at this point, no where near enough to ask something that personal.

Instead he pulled out his phone to type a different remark. "You don't seem to like most of the people here." Mustard had spent a good few minutes complaining about some of the grunts here. He seemed to view a majority of them more like nuisances than allies or colleagues.

"I don't," Mustard huffed. "Most of them are idiots who don't think things through, they just dive head-first into fights without even trying to strategize. Shigaraki just uses them as cannon fodder."

"And not you?" Hitoshi asked. Mustard turned a sharp glare his way, and Hitoshi briefly raised his hands in an appeasing motion before quickly typing again. "Just asking. Text to speech doesn't translate tone well. Not trying to be sarcastic."

That seemed to appease Mustard, the other teen huffing as he turned forward. "No, not me. I proved my worth soon after joining." Hitoshi wanted to ask when that was, but that might be a bit too forward. "I might not be the strongest or flashiest person here, but I know how to take advantage of what I have and win. That, and I actually know how to cook."

The dry remark got an amused snort from Hitoshi. From what Midoriya said, the number of people actually allowed to cook seemed surprisingly low. While many of them could cook simple meals to feed themselves, most tended to be a bit too disastrous to cook for others. Like Twice, Slycer and Toga. Especially Twice, Slycer and Toga.

(He also still wondered how Midoriya got banned.)

An electronic chirp interrupted the conversation, and Mustard quickly pulled out his phone to check it. "That's Toga, she's cleared her area for the third time," he said, and scowled as he added, "And Midoriya just said they're having no luck either." Hitoshi frowned, his light mood forgotten as he worried about Sushi.

"Do you think she got out?" he typed. She had managed to get out of Eraserhead's cell, which definitely had a closed door. It seemed like she had more than invisibility going for her, maybe intangibility too or something? Like a ghost?

"I don't know, but I'm getting sick of searching the same places over and over again. There's one place we haven't checked." Mustard turned on his heel to stalk away, Hitoshi following in faint confusion. It took a couple turns to realize where they were going, at which point he came to an abrupt halt. Mustard noticed him stop and turned to look at him impatiently. "What now?"

"Are we going to the bar?" Hitoshi asked, heart pounding.

"Duh. It's the closest place to the kitchen anyway, and that's the last place any of us saw her." He turned to continue stalking away, but stopped again as he noticed Hitoshi still didn't follow. Mustard hung his head with a groan, grumbling under his breath before spinning around with an irritated scowl. "Look, this is your cat. Do you want to find it or not?"

Hitoshi gulped and nodded, forcing his feet to move and follow Mustard despite the rising pit of anxiety in his stomach. He hadn't actually been to the bar since the initial tour, but he could clearly remember the number of villains skulking about. They seemed to congregate there more than other parts of the building (at least, parts he visited), and right now thanks to this damn muzzle he'd be pretty defenseless if any of them recognized him or just wanted to challenge him.

As the door came into sight he had to steady his breathing, fists clenching at his side as he watched Mustard push it open. Screw it, he'd come this far. If he did get beat up, he'd have to trust that Midoriya's influence would get someone to intervene on his behalf. With a sharp breath he stepped through the door, and—

The bar was empty.

After psyching himself up to face a potentially hostile crowd, it almost felt like a letdown to see all the empty chairs. Sure, it was the middle of the day, but it seemed like people would tend to hang out around here anyway. His relief at any absent thugs felt hollow though, because the bar wasn't completely empty. Two figures sat at the counter with mugs of hot chocolate, going by the aroma, and his stomach lurched at the sight of Shigaraki. Seeing Aiko next to him didn't make Hitoshi feel much better either.

While Hitoshi felt understandably unnerved by them, Shigaraki seemed more incredulous as he looked between him and Mustard. "What are you two doing together? You're not part of the same party."

"Their cat ran off," Mustard replied with a huff. "We're trying to find it." The older male scoffed at the remark, derisive red eyes flicking Hitoshi's way and making him still.

"Seriously?" he drawled. "You brats can't even keep track of a kitten?" Despite his anxiety around the villain Hitoshi bristled defensively at the remark, pulling out his phone with a scowl masked by the muzzle.

"She has an invisibility Quirk. Also we think she can go through doors somehow." The phone's electronic voice lacked the sarcastic and snappish edge he would've used, but the monotonous and off-key delivery was good enough to get the mood across. It definitely had Shigaraki sitting up a bit straighter.

"Wait, what?"

"So you didn't know?" Mustard asked, and the villain shook his head with a scowl.

"Of course not. I would've mentioned it if I did."

"So Sushi-chan has a Quirk?" Aiko mused, leaning back on the stool with her arms crossed. "Huh. Wouldn't have guessed that. Wonder if it just came in."

"You met the cat?" Shigaraki muttered as he side-eyed her.

"Yeah, last week," she replied with a smile. "She's cute."

"Then how the hell didn't you know it has a Quirk?" he deadpanned, and Aiko's smile faded with a huff.

"It's not obvious with animals, Tomura." The exchange had Hitoshi confused and wary, because there seemed to be something going on he didn't know, but he also didn't want to ask. Though Aiko hadn't threatened him, he still remembered Midoriya venting about how Eraserhead had seemed so broken after her surprise visit on Sunday. According to him the man still hadn't seemed to fully recover to his original surly disposition, though he seemed to be on track to improving at least.

Between that and the tour of her chemistry lab, Hitoshi felt a healthy sense of caution around her.

Luckily for him, Mustard also seemed to be in the dark, and also lacked his wariness of making Aiko irritated. "What are you guys talking about?" he demanded impatiently.

"Aiko can see Quirks," Shigaraki replied gruffly, and then yelped when she used one hand to shove him off his stool. He tumbled to the ground none to gracefully, Aiko peering down at him with a mildly irritated look.

"Oi, that's not up to you to reveal," she told him flatly, and the villain got up with a grumble while Hitoshi stared in alarm.

"You... see Quirks?" Mustard repeated quizzically, and Aiko huffed as she turned back.

"Not entirely. It's more the factor. Basically when I look at people, I can see a... light, I guess?" She waved a hand vaguely. "That's how I usually describe it, anyway. I can't see any details like what the Quirk does. Mostly I can just tell if it exists, or if it's being actively used."

"Ahh, so that's how you predicted when I would use it back then," Mustard murmured, which got a mildly an alarmed look from Hitoshi, because when and why did that happen?

"Yep, exactly," Aiko replied with a nod. "Like I said, it doesn't give me any details though. It also doesn't work on animals. There's a reason I used to think Nedzu was a magical talking stuffed animal," she added with a wry chuckle.

"Nedzu?" Mustard repeated blankly, unknowingly echoing Hitoshi's confusion, but she just hummed with a small smile.

"It's unimportant, just reminiscing. Point is, I can only see Quirk factors in people, not animals. So, I guess Sushi-chan's my most dangerous enemy now." She chuckled lightly but Hitoshi barely paid attention, one bit of Aiko's description rattling in his brain. His fingers flew to his phone and began typing without thinking.

"What about if someone's Quirkless?" the electronic voice asked.

"Ah, they have it too, technically," she said. "That's kinda how I figured out that I was looking at Quirk factors, actually. I'd never seen two lights that looked like identical before. Everyone basically has the space for a Quirk, but for people who were born without one or had it removed later, it just feels... empty." Her face screwed up in mild frustration at the last word, and she shook her head. "Sorry, don't really have a better way to describe it."

Okay, that had him freaking out for multiple reasons, but one more than the rest. "What do you mean by 'removed later'?" Mustard asked slowly, voicing the very same concern now haunting Hitoshi. Aiko blinked and then smiled, turning away with a shrug as she picked up her mug.

"Don't worry about it, it's irrelevant now," she told them sweetly before taking a sip. That didn't really help at all, but Hitoshi got distracted by a muffled thump from the hallway followed by a loud exclamation.

"DON'T YOU DARE RUN AWAY YOU COWARD!" Hitoshi jumped as he recognized Bakugou's voice, followed by an unhappy yowl that made his heart thunder. He raced to the door and flung it open to reveal Bakugou and Midoriya standing in the hallway, the blond holding a ferociously struggling Sushi. She didn't seem to be in pain, mostly just annoyed at Bakugou's grip which looked firm but only to keep her from escaping.

"I mean it, don't you dare try to escape again after we spent all this time looking for you!" he growled. "Not after all the fucking trouble we went through!" Sushi still didn't seem too happy, mewing with obvious displeasure as she tried to claw at his hands.

Normally, Hitoshi's first instinct would be to focus on the kitten, but right now he found his gaze locked on Midoriya's overly pale expression. One look, and he knew he'd overheard Aiko and remembered the same thing Hitoshi had:

Midoriya Izuku was not Quirkless, and no one in the Alliance was supposed to know that.

Fun fact: Aiko genuinely DID think Nedzu was a magical talking stuffed animal. The name "Mr. Principal" also sounds very toy-ish. So just imagine a literal starry-eyed little girl listening in awe as this stuffed animal talks about the school he runs.

Also, a moment of silence for my Macbook's butterfly keyboard. I haven't been able to use the T key for months (remapped 5 to be T, which was fun since it happened before Ignite hit Chapter 50), and it just recently lost 'i' so I finally sent it in to get the keyboard replaced because you can't just replace single keys on these things. Folks, I heartily recommend AGAINST Macbooks. The fact Apple kept the butterfly design for five years despite NUMEROUS complaints and ACTUAL LAWSUITS should tell you everything you need to know about their attitude towards product quality. They make stuff that's super flimsy, and ALSO design it so that the customers can't fix it themselves.

This is actually the SECOND TIME I've had to replace my Macbook's keyboard (last time was also due to a loose 'T' key), and this is a 2017 model. It almost makes me ashamed to call myself an apple. Once this one reaches the end of its life, I'm not getting another Apple product.

Question for Next Time: Need name suggestions for Sushi the Fifteenth!