The HPSC has an important meeting. Ochako learns that her partner is clingy when tired. Nezu has an important meeting. And Lady Nagant has a new mission.
I have little excuse for how long this took, besides simply having major writers block and no time with new work responsibilities. Still, we're moving forward, and I hope you enjoy!
"Explain this to me," the commanding voice of the President of the HPSC sounded out in the silent meeting room filled with her most trusted associates, a still image of Izuku, Ochako, and Himiko standing together amidst an area of stopped time.
One of the cabinet members cleared his throat. "Honestly, Madam President? We can't figure out how they did it."
She sighed, rubbing her temples. "Nezu won't tell us anything?"
"Nothing more than what's in the report."
She pursed her lips, turning away to look out of the large office window panes, gazing out over the city. "Mera, you met with them. What was your judgement?"
Mera blinked sleepily at being called out, but opened his notebook to the relevant page and began to re-review what he'd written. After a few moments of reading over it, he nodded, looking back up at the President. "Truthfully, they seemed like normal, if nervous, teenagers. They were fairly protective of one another, especially Uraraka, but nothing out of the ordinary, considering the situation. They seemed to expect some backlash for their heroic actions in stopping that building's fall (and the subsequent arrest of the Hero Killer), but otherwise did hear me out. Admittedly they got a little confrontational about the legality of what they did, but by the end, I believe they understood."
The President sighed deeply. "Well, I suppose that's better than nothing."
The room was silent for a moment, before one of the other cabinet members spoke up timidly. "Is it really that bad, what they did?"
"Not bad, no, of course not," the President quickly dismissed. "What we found from Overhaul's research was awful, what he did to that poor girl was atrocious, and the sudden attack of more of those Nomu creatures could have been utterly devastating without them. No, that's not my concern. My concern is how the world is going to react. Which I imagine is Nezu's concern as well."
"You mean you think other countries might try to poach them," a third member pointed out, grimacing as the President nodded grimly.
"That, or some more nefarious types try to kidnap them and try to decipher how they did that. Many Quirks are powerful. None of them come close to this level. Even All Might. He is incredibly strong, but that's it, it's pure strength. It's understandable, if extreme. Overhaul's Quirk was incredibly powerful and terrifying, and yet still it followed some logic. But these three keep gaining new powers, and I have never in my life heard of a Quirk that could effectively stop time…much less do it on a case by case basis."
"Should we make our offer once more?" Mera asked.
The President shook her head no. "No, they are already leery of us, and it wouldn't actually do anything to help with this situation." She sighed, turning around to stare out of the window once more. After a moment of quiet contemplation, she decided to switch gears. "...and what about the message we received? Have we tracked the origin yet?"
"Unfortunately, no. We can't seem to nail down where this 'Doctor' is working from. The teleportation Quirk he has access to makes it nigh impossible," one of the cabinet members said.
"Damn it," the President swore. "Make certain we send the message to Nezu. He'll need to adjust for the warning in it. But have Nagant take it; I want no chances of anyone intercepting the message. Let her deliver the physical copy. In fact…" she hummed to herself for a moment, before quickly scribbling down a message on a page in her notepad. After she finished, she folded it up and passed it down the table. "Have Nagant give that to Nezu as well. He'll understand what it means."
"And the media?"
She drummed her fingers on the table, thinking. "Standard press release. We'll let UA run point on this, just give our generic thanks to the brave students and such. They have licenses now, so we'll slip that into the discussion to be sure we don't get any of those news stories designed to stir up drama about vigilantism. All of the blame gets put at the feet of that Yakuza sect. We keep any discussion about their powers to a minimum. I imagine Nezu already has a plan in place."
The cabinet members nodded, understanding her final words for the dismissal they were. They didn't need to know the full details to do what was asked. She dismissed them all, the various members filing out of the office as she slumped in her chair. "Meowsketeers, huh?" she mused to herself.
Ochako thought the worst was over, once she'd gotten back to the dorms. She thought she was safe. But oh, what a fool she was, how she completely missed the evil lurking in their midst. And she should have seen it coming, seen the disaster that would occur, and yet…no, she'd missed it, and now Himiko and her were paying the ultimate price.
"Are you still doing that weird poetic internal monologue?" Himiko asked, arching an eyebrow at her girlfriend.
Ochako huffed, wanting to cross her arms but finding it difficult. "It's a valid response to what's going on!"
"Eh, I'm sure they'll let us go eventually. Besides, it's comfy here."
Ochako rolled her eyes. "That's not the point! They coulda done it anywhere but the common room! Mina won't stop gigglin'!"
Himiko returned the eye roll, before closing her eyes with a sigh and snuggling closer to Ochako, at least, as much as she could while trapped. Ochako stared up at the ceiling. How did she get into this position? How was she captured and trapped so easily?
Well, unfortunately, it turns out that after a massive fight to free a small abused child from a monster of a villain while also fighting bio-weapons made by a different villain leads to extreme anxiety for her partner Izuku, and they don't sleep for four days straight. When you compound the anxiety with sleeplessness, you get…this.
A very clingy, very sleepy, very muffled Izuku Midoriya. And apparently, a possessive one. The days of sleeplessness led to Izuku practically collapsing onto the common room couch, and some part of their brain decided this was not okay without their girlfriends…and thusly, Blackwhip was unleashed, yanking both of the girls atop of their partner and trapping them in Izuku's grip. Along with a hissed series of muffled declarations about how Himiko and Ochako were 'MINE!', leaving the two of them wrapped up in their partner's arms, stuck on the couch, with the entire class laughing quietly as Izuku napped.
Yes, she was comfortable, she wasn't going to claim she wasn't, but still! It's the principle of the matter! And she couldn't even actually be mad, because all of Izuku's half-asleep feelings were warm and soft and why was her partner so goddamned cute?! Himiko's smugness didn't help either, her catpire girlfriend was too busy enjoying the way she was wrapped up in Izuku's warm arms…well, and hers, she supposed. If she was going to be stuck here, she was going to hug her partners too!
"Comfortable?" Mina asked, a wide grin on her face as she leered over the entangled trio.
Ochako glared up at her with slitted eyes and hissed, refusing to dignify her statement with a response. Mina didn't flinch, giggling as she skipped away, leaving Ochako to her current cuddly fate. Ochako sighed internally, but didn't complain as Himiko buried her face in her neck and nipped, sending shivers down her spine. Izuku's soft breath washing over her cheek, their face slack from sleep, small, rumbling purrs escaping their chest.
Maybe she hadn't expected this, and maybe it was a bit embarrassing to be out on the common room couch all entangled with her loves, but…she couldn't deny the warmth, both physical and emotional, wafting off Izuku and Himiko. Maybe it wasn't so bad to just have a nice, relaxing day once in a while, she mused to herself, as she felt her eyes grow heavy. She let out a yawn, twisting herself slightly so she could better wrap her arms around Himiko's waist and Izuku's neck, letting herself be taken by the siren song of the sandman.
"Lady Nagant, what an unexpected surprise," Nezu said as the door to his office slid open, revealing the woman known as the human sniper rifle. She offered a curt nod, her eyes quickly scanning the room as she stepped into the room, the door sliding shut behind her.
"Nezu," she replied. She crossed the room, setting the small lockbox down on the desk in front of Nezu, taking a step back and continuing her seeking gaze around the office.
Nezu's eyes narrowed at the box. "Hmm. I imagine I am not going to like what this box contains, if Madam President felt she had to send you to personally deliver it."
Tsutsumi shrugged. "I don't know what's in it, but she was pretty insistent I be careful and make sure none but you saw it. Also said I am supposed to do whatever you say once you've seen the contents."
Nezu arched an eyebrow, the expression rather disconcerting on his non-human face. "Hmm. That's interesting. And concerning."
"Should I leave the room?" Tsutsumi offered.
Nezu pondered for a moment, before shaking his head. "No. This likely will impact you, if I have to guess. Let me see what it contains." He slid open the section in the front, revealing the keypad that was beneath the protective cover. Only four people in the entire world knew the code to one of these, so he felt reasonably confident this was a very big deal if the President was using one of these. He quickly tapped in the twenty three digit code, watching as the indicator flashed green and hearing the subtle sound of the latch unlocking.
He lifted the lid, revealing two objects; a single small note, with his name scrawled on it, and a recording device. He stared at the two objects for a moment, before grabbing the note and quickly scanning over it. His eyes went wide at what was written on it, and he gave a startled glance up at Kaina, the hero looking back at him in confusion. After a moment, he shook his head and set the note back down, picking up the recording device. He slapped a button on his desk, both heroes watching as the windows were covered by metallic shutters, the door latching in place, and a subtle hum audible that would scramble any sound escaping the room. Without further delay, he hit play on the recording device.
As the recording clicked off, the room fell silent. Kaina…wasn't sure how to react. She'd seen the news reports, knew of the kids from how much water cooler talk there was at a the HPSC, but this was rather extreme, even considering what they'd done. She shook her head and looked over at Nezu, the chimera sitting with his head in his paws.
"Of course he would do such a thing," Nezu murmured. "Devoted follower of the demon lord, of course, of course. I knew this was a possibility, but I had estimated it at only a likelihood of seven percent. I only have twenty-four contingency plans for this. A pitiful amount."
"Uh…you doing alright there?" Kaina asked, a bit worried about how he was taking this. She'd rarely interacted with him, but from what Madam President had told her, Nezu was almost never caught off guard…then again, she didn't really think twenty-four contingency plans counted as 'caught off guard', but she supposed in his lexicon it was.
He looked up at her and took a deep breath, schooling his expression. "I am merely displeased. This is unfortunate, and if the children learn of this they shall be very upset."
"So…you're not going to tell them?"
"I'm still unsure. There is a reason your employer kept this so secretive, after all. She's clearly leaving the decision in my hands."
Kaina wasn't sure if it was her place to say anything, especially as she didn't know the kids in question, but still… "Well, for what it's worth, I think you should."
Nezu blinked up at her, folding his paws in front of him. "And why do you think so?"
She shrugged. "A number of reasons. One, it's easier to keep someone protected when they know the reason why. Protectees often get antsy if they don't get why. Second, you don't want them to get blindsided if this Doctor manages to get a chance. And third, no way he won't just blurt this out in public if his demands aren't met, so they'd find out anyway, and if you lose their trust it's going to be that much harder." She paused, thinking, before narrowing her eyes at Nezu. "Of course, all this is assuming you don't plan on obeying that madman's demands."
Nezu waved her off dismissively. "Of course not. Even if I set aside the moral or ethical concerns, practically speaking it's an idiotic tactic, he'd simply use that for expansion on his bioweapons. They are troublesome enough as is."
Kaina nodded slowly. "Then you should tell them."
"You…are correct," Nezu sighed.
"Why are you so against it?" Kaina asked, curious.
Nezu gestured vaguely towards the dorms. "Because they just returned from another world-shattering revelation about their abilities while facing off against a monster of a villain to save a small abused child, which even though she hasn't said it, it clearly affected Himiko, and I just want them to not have to deal with this insanity."
Kaina pursed her lips. "You do give a damn about your students, huh?"
"Of course I do. I may not fully understand human morals or feelings, but these are my students. I protect them from what I can. Yes, the Heroics students are going into a dangerous, life-threatening field, but that doesn't mean their entire school experience should be constant fighting and suffering."
Kaina shrugged, not sure she could say anything else. Even with the breakneck pace of her work for the Commission, Nezu wasn't wrong, she did get to take breaks and vacations and such. She made sure to take time for herself. Still, she was too far removed to really have an opinion beyond what she'd expressed.
Nezu sighed once more, shaking his head. "Regardless, we'll need to deal with this. I must plan my next steps…"
"Well, if that's all, then I'll just need whatever your order is and then I'll head back," Kaina remarked.
Nezu blinked, looking up at her. "...she didn't tell you what you were to do?"
"She just told me to do whatever you said next," Kaina shrugged.
"Oh. Well…in that case, I suppose I'll break the news to you. You're All Might's new Teaching Assistant!"
Kaina stared at Nezu, wide-eyed. "...what?!"
The second she was out of Nezu's office, she'd immediately rushed to the most private location she could find, outside the gates of UA and into an alleyway, pulling her phone out and practically cracking the screen from how hard she tapped on it.
"Yes, Nagant?" the voice of the HPSC President sounded in her ear.
"Permissions to speak freely, Ma'am?" Kaina asked, clenching her teeth.
"Permission granted."
"What the fuck!?" came her reply, only finding her anger stoked higher by the muffled chuckle the President gave.
"I suppose Nezu told you of your new assignment, then?"
"Why?!" She seethed. "It makes no sense! I have no idea how to teach!"
"Neither does All Might," the President pointed out.
Kaina rolled her eyes. "That's not the point! He's good with people, and friendly and all that crap. I have to fake most of that! I'm not like my brother!"
"Now now, Hawks has to practice that too, you know that," the president replied. She cleared her throat. "But that's not the point. I trust Nezu to protect UA, and the teachers there are powerful and skilled. But you are still the one best suited to noticing any incursion on campus and being able to deal with it swiftly and secretly. We cannot risk the Doctor getting ahold of the students. And we also cannot risk them running off to deal with him themselves the moment they find out he's trying to blackmail us into giving them up."
"But Nezu has an entire security system and teachers who have bonds with the kids! I know nothing about them! And being frank, ma'am, I doubt I can stop them if they are determined to go."
"We don't need that from you. The reason you are there is to find and kill any Nomu the Doctor sends. We know he'll start sending them out to wreak havoc until he gets the kids. And he knows they attend UA. So Nezu and I both agree he's likely to begin letting them loose in Musutafu. We're already preparing an alert for all heroes in the area, but you can shoot most of them from UA itself. Nezu already agreed to prepare an overwatch tower for you to work from."
Kaina blinked, before shaking her head. "Okay, fine, I get the deployment, but why make me a TA too?!"
The president sighed. "We can't have a panic occur by alerting the civilian population of the possibility. Especially if they find out that the Doctor wants the students. So we need a reason why you're stationed at UA. Besides, you should branch out, get some different life experiences."
"Ma'am-" Kaina began, before being interrupted.
"Tsutsumi," the President replied, her voice oddly soft. "You've been working non-stop for the past several years. You only use your vacation time when we force you to. And there is no one besides you and your brother I would trust with a mission of this import, and he's being assigned to hunt down the Doctor. Just do what you can the best you can, alright?"
Kaina sighed. "...fine. I'll keep an eye on the brats."
"Thank you. And hey, maybe you can teach them something new!"
She snorted. "I doubt it. I'll come by for my bags shortly."
"Excellent. Good luck, Nagant. Stay safe."
"Yes ma'am." Kaina saluted as the line went dead, even knowing the president couldn't see the gesture. She had a new mission and for all her misgivings, she would accomplish it to the best of her ability. Now for the worst part of a mission like this…moving.