Overhaul was not having a great day. Eri had been especially petulant of late, which, under normal circumstances, wouldn't have been a problem that he couldn't solve by merely tearing her apart and putting her back together a few times until she fixed her behavior. However, her escape attempts had become much more frequent, as well. That, in and of itself, was an issue.
Tracking her down and bringing her back wasn't the problem; she was 6. The issue with her ever-increasing bout of rebellion was that she may potentially get it in her head that she was a human being with autonomy and a purpose beyond his own ends. She would begin to hope for a new day.
That was unacceptable. He would be sure to stomp whatever fantasies of hope she was dreaming up in much more brutal fashion than what was typical the next time around so that she'd refrain from stepping out of line in the future. He couldn't have the Yakuza's ticket back to prominence and his key to a cleansed world having any measure of self-actualization; that would completely defeat the purpose.
Beyond that, there was still the issue of the attack on his trigger operations to consider. There wasn't a lot of information left at the scene to go on, which made investigation tedious, but it wasn't as if they were bereft of any leads. They'd sniff the culprits out in time, and when they did, there would be hell to pay for crossing the Shie Hassaikai.
When there was a knock at the door, Overhaul called them inside, and in walked Overhaul's right hand, Hari Kurono, known to all in the family as Chronostasis.
"Overhaul, we got a hit on who attacked our operation," came the ice cold intonation of the man.
Overhaul paused everything he was doing and looked directly at his most trusted subordinate. "And?"
"There's a man who can turn anything he touches to dust, which would match up with the crumbled state of the warehouse that was attacked," he explained. "He does a lot of business with Giran, so we know how to contact him. Another man who wields blue fire not dissimilar to what was found at the scene also operates with him in a group: the League of Villains."
Overhaul's eyes narrowed. "The group that attacked UA. The one that just lost the criminal underworld's boogeyman."
"Precisely," Chronostasis nodded.
"Set up a meeting," Overhaul ordered, not wasting any time. "I want to introduce myself to them by the end of the week."
"As you wish," the man nodded before exiting the office, shutting the door behind him.
A dark chuckle escaped Overhaul's lips under his mask, and he shut his eyes in satisfaction. "The League of Villains, this is too perfect. What better way to fill the newfound power vacuum than by wiping out All For One's legacy in one fell swoop?"
This was going to be a good week.
"You really don't have to feed me, mom," Izuku bemoaned before opening his mouth to accept the rice his mother held up to him anyway.
"Nonsense," she swiftly denied, feeding him another bit of rice with her chopsticks. "How could you possibly feed yourself with your arms in such a state?"
"They're not broken, mom," Izuku responded, accepting yet another clump of rice from his mother. "The burns aren't even that bad anymore."
Inko pointedly ignored him with a warm smile while continuing to feed her son, to which Izuku still didn't raise too much of a fuss over. This kept up as the two entered a comfortable silence, both merely enjoying being in the presence of the other once again. Izuku welcomed any sort of normalcy after his ordeal, and Inko was much the same. Izuku was mid-bite when a knock at the door garnered the mother-son duo's attention. When it opened, a doctor stepped in holding a clipboard with a thick stack of papers attached.
"Ah, Izuku Midoriya, you're awake," he addressed with a smile before looking to Inko. "And Mrs. Midoriya, you're here, too. Excellent."
"You can just call me Inko," she kindly informed, and the doctor nodded. Izuku eyed his mother curiously when she said that, a thought coming to mind that had been floating around for a while, but he put a pin in it for the moment.
"Well, at the rate you're healing, you should be good to go as soon as tomorrow afternoon," the doctor informed them. "That isn't the primary reason I'm here, though. While we were treating you, we encountered some peculiarities in your physiology, so we opted to run some scans and observe you."
"Peculiarities?" Inko warily questioned.
"'Peculiarities' may have too much of a negative connotation," the doctor mused. "How long have you had the slits on your forearms? Neither your medical records nor your quirk records contain anything about them."
"They're a pretty new development," Izuku confirmed. "I believe they're vents to help keep me from overheating as my quirk becomes more powerful. I only noticed them the day before the camp was attacked. How long ago was that?"
"About a week," Inko answered.
The doctor hummed. "Have you noticed any other abnormalities in regards to your quirk and how it affects your body?"
Izuku placed his chin in his hand and thought it over, and in finally doing so, a few things jumped out at him. "Yes, actually. A little while before the training camp, I passed out from overloading my brain when briefly using my white flames, which hasn't happened in years."
Noticing his mother's worried expression in his periphery, he continued. "I thought it was just deterioration from disuse, but I used them again pretty soon afterward, and nothing of the sort happened, almost as if it reset itself."
He paused when the doctor started jotting down everything he was saying until he motioned for Izuku to continue. "Beyond that, I discovered a sort of heightened stage for my quirk. I call it '2nd Gear.' It's essentially all of the individual components of my quirk working in tandem, giving me a significant boost on top of it all."
He noticed he had both the doctor and his mother's rapt attention, so he proceeded with his explanation. "I first tapped into it during the UA Sports Festival, and it tore my body to shreds. Afterward, I only used it a second time against a villain at the training camp, and I was unbelievably sore in the aftermath, but I wasn't in nearly as bad of shape as I figured I would be."
"So, those burns weren't a result of this heightened stage?" the doctor asked for confirmation.
"No, they were from…" he began to answer, but he hesitated in the presence of his mother. He still hadn't told her about his experiences with the black flames.
"…something else entirely," he finished. The concern dressing his mother's expression was like a stab in the heart, but he still wasn't ready to bring it up to her. Thankfully, the doctor didn't push the subject.
"Well, I think we've found an answer to that mystery," the doctor stated matter-of-factly, drawing the mother-son duo's curiosity. "We found several physiological anomalies when examining you that could only partially be explained away by your quirk. For instance, your musculature is substantially more dense than the average person with a strength enhancer quirk, which is already about twice as dense on average. The same applies to your bones, as well. Overall, you're a lot sturdier than you already were, according to your records."
Izuku silently combed through all of the information he was given. It all made sense in regards to his lack of injuries after tapping into 2nd Gear, but it didn't quite connect to why he still felt any amount of strain when using his flames in isolation. Maybe the hypothesis he and Ms. Joke came up with was accurate, in that the flames he could access were somehow imperfect usages of his true quirk, and 2nd Gear was how his quirk was truly intended to be used? Maybe it just took time after initially manifesting to truly develop, and his body needed time, wear, and tear to catch up? There were so many new questions and possibilities to explore given this new information.
Inko, meanwhile, was rather taken aback by the news, not sure how to feel about her son undergoing a pseudo-transformation. "Did you come across anything else?"
The doctor nodded, a bit more excitement bleeding into his demeanor. "We also discovered that alongside your musculoskeletal system, both your heart and brain have undergone some changes, as well."
That snapped Izuku out of his internal mutter-storm completely and earned his undivided attention. "In what regard?"
"They grew," the doctor answered simply, and at the alarmed expressions of the mother and teen, he quickly amended his statement. "Only by a marginal amount in all practicality, but they did also become more dense, as well, comparatively to your muscles and bones. If you say that your quirk overloaded your brain much faster than it ordinarily would that time, then it's very likely that your body was already undergoing the redevelopment process, so it was out of whack, so to speak."
That all but confirmed Izuku's burgeoning suspicions about his quirk and body's rapid development, and he couldn't help the mixture of joy and wonderment that came over him. This was becoming a gold mine for him to analyze and experiment with that he hadn't experienced since his quirk manifested in the first place.
His mother, however; was still much more subdued. Her concerns were not entirely assuaged by the revelations. "What does this mean for Izuku?"
The doctor nodded as if to assure Inko that he understood her concern. "Emitter and transformation quirks do often come with supplementary mutations that make wielding the quirk easier and less dangerous to the user, such as your son's natural resistance to fire in most instances. Mr. Midoriya already had a few mutations of this variety, but they've been supercharged. That doesn't even include the newly appearing mutations on your arms in the form of the vents. Something like this is absolutely unprecedented."
He turned and looked Izuku right in the eye as he spoke his next words. "In plain terms, your body has quite literally evolved to better handle your quirk's upper limits. You are both a medical and scientific anomaly, Izuku Midoriya."
Izuku and Inko were rendered speechless at the revelation. They knew that his quirk was bullshit at the best of times, but this was becoming beyond reason. His body was literally infringing on pre-established scientific principles… then again, quirks in general did that in spades, leading to the birth of quirk science as a wholly separate field of study in the first place. Rules were just different when quirks were involved, and everything they thought they already knew about the world was always being called into question.
The doctor cleared his throat to break the contemplative silence. "If you'd be willing, we'd like to run some tests and a few more scans on your body, as well as check for any further abnormalities in your quirk factor. We're breaching into uncharted territory with this."
Inko wanted to decline there and then, refusing to allow her son to become a test subject for medical experimentation. However, she caught her son's eye, and the look he was giving her gave her pause. His eyes told her that they were largely on the same page, but his boundless curiosity wasn't going to allow him to completely deny the opportunity for scientific advancement. The two engaged in a silent conversation while the doctor patiently waited at his bedside, and when the two seemed to come to a wordless accord, they turned to face him.
"I'd… rather not be turned into a guinea pig, if possible," Izuku dryly spoke, and the doctor nodded with a chuckle. "I'll submit to the tests so long as they're noninvasive and my mother is present."
"The tests shouldn't be invasive beyond obtaining blood and DNA samples for observation," the doctor assured. "We'll maintain strict confidentiality unless you otherwise request, as well, so you don't have to worry about that."
Inko wasn't quite sure if she totally believed that, though that was likely due to her natural paranoia rather than through any fault of the doctor himself. Even still, there were certainly ways to make her son's records disappear if need be; it just took one conversation with Nezu, which was going to happen later that day.
"Alright, we'll go along with this," Inko conceded with a sigh.
"Excellent," the doctor replied with a smile. "We'll have you both sign a few documents, and then we can get started tomorrow morning. It shouldn't last long at all; you'll most likely be good to go before noon."
The two nodded, and once finished with any other tasks, the doctor left the duo to their own devices. Inko sighed once again, and she gave her boy a tired smile before reaching for the bowl of rice to continue feeding him. Izuku grumbled in protest of being fed while putting up no actual fight against the feeding whatsoever. That was, at least, until a mental note he made when the doctor entered came back to him.
"Hey, mom?" Izuku spoke up, gaining his mother's attention. "How come you never changed your name?"
She regarded him curiously before putting the bowl of rice down. "What do you mean?"
"After what happened the day I awakened my quirk…" he trailed off, and his mother quickly put the pieces together. "Why did you keep his name, I mean?"
She gave him a warm smile and softly ran her hand through his hair. "Because it's not just his. It's yours, too."
"You know I'd change it along with you if you ever decided to," Izuku stated, leaning into his mother's ministrations. "It's not like I place a ton of value on it."
"I know," she nodded. "Honestly, it's just simpler. Akatani, Shimura, Midoriya; at the end of the day, everyone from those lines is dead."
She paused, and then her expression momentarily darkened. "Almost everyone."
Izuku's eyes widened at the utterance. Did she know about Tomura Shigaraki? When had she learned? Questions for later.
"Regardless, the one person doing the Midoriya name proud is you, Izuku," she continued, the warmth of her smile returning. "Hisashi doesn't define the Midoriya name. He isn't the be-all and end-all to whatever legacy the name has. That designation belongs squarely to you, so long as you desire it. It's your legacy to establish and yours alone, and I think you've been doing a fantastic job of it already."
Izuku's cheeks reddened, and he unconsciously began to heat up, eliciting a giggle from his mother. He was saved when a second knock at the door came along, and in hurried a familiar head of blonde hair framing round glasses. The blue eyes stationed behind those glasses were swimming in a mixture of relief and concern.
"Melissa?" Izuku questioned with surprise written across his face in permanent marker.
"Izuku, I'm so glad that you're okay!" Melissa exhaled once she finally took the sight of him in. "I was really worried when Uncle Might said you were in trouble. I've never seen him so intense before…"
Izuku swore she had a bit of a faraway look in her eyes for a brief moment before she shook it off and continued fretting. It was then that Izuku noticed her arms were bandaged up all the way to her fingertips in a similar manner to his own.
"Anyway, you're safe now, and that's what matters," she finished before finally noticing the other person in the room.
Inko was making no attempt to hide her smirk, and then she put her hands up in mock surrender. "Oh, no, don't mind me; you two continue."
Izuku cursed not being born with Invisibility as his quirk, as he knew his mother was taking great joy in turning him into a beet. To his horror, however, Melissa was unfazed.
"Oh, don't worry about that; he's not my type," Melissa assured with a smile. "He's a little short."
Izuku squawked in indignation while Inko nearly cackled. "Duly noted."
Melissa and his mother were getting on way too well. He needed to put a stop to it before they ganged up on him and he accidentally set the bed ablaze.
"Putting aside the fact that you're only 3 centimeters taller," Izuku grumbled before turning to his mother, "this is Melissa Shield. We met at the I-Expo. Melissa, this is my mom."
"It's lovely to meet you, Shield," Inko warmly greeted.
"Please, just call me Melissa," she insisted with a smile of her own. "And likewise-"
Whatever she was planning on saying died on her tongue when something finally clicked upon looking at Inko for long enough. "Wait, you're the woman who fought alongside Uncle Might!"
Inko was taken aback by the designation. "Excuse me?"
"Yeah, just about every news channel was broadcasting the whole thing," Melissa excitedly continued, drawing Izuku's interest, as well. "The cameras caught it all. Everyone's talking about you!"
Blankness was all Melissa received in return, and Izuku's interest was piqued. Inko, meanwhile, opened her mouth, but no words came out, and she closed it again. This repeated a few more times before she finally uttered anything.
"…Come again?"
"Here, it'll be easier to just show you," Melissa said before pulling out her phone and surfing the web for some articles to show the dumbstruck woman.
Izuku opted to join her in the search with his own phone, and he was astounded to find that she was telling the truth. Staring him in the face was a picture of his mother looking down at All For One with absolute death in her gaze, the silhouettes of All Might and Gran Torino looming behind her. He had to admit that she looked pretty damn imposing with her hair billowing in the breeze among the desolation of the battlefield. It was a fantastic shot… however the hell they got it.
Izuku looked to his mother, and he couldn't hold back the shocked guffaw that escaped him at the sight he encountered. Inko was staring wide-eyed at a similar picture of herself with the headline, "Behind Every Great Man…" That wasn't the end of it, either. Article upon article was written about the Kamino Incident, many focusing on All Might's triumphant victory, of course, but many others focused on the underground pro that came out of retirement to rescue her son.
In fact, Shoowaysha Publishing's article was literally titled, "Underground Pro Comes Out of Retirement to Rescue Her Son."
For the first time in his life, Izuku had seen his mother at a loss for words. The woman with a tongue as quick as lightning and wit sharp enough to slice through steel was rendered a despondent ghost by sudden fame.
"Guess you're famous, mom," Izuku joked when he regained his wits.
"I'm…" Inko mumbled as she continued to blue-screen.
"Um, is she okay?" Melissa cautiously asked Izuku with a touch of concern in her voice.
Izuku quickly nodded to assure her that everything was fine. "Yeah, she's fine, she's just not used to having a whole lot of attention- annnnd she fainted, okay; well, let's get her up on the bed."
Izuku and Melissa scramble over to the blissfully unconscious woman and hoisted her out of her chair and onto the hospital bed, Izuku not even trying to hide his snickering all the while. There was no way in hell that he was ever going to let her live this down.
Once she was comfortably on the bed, Izuku turned to Melissa. "So, what are you doing all the way in Japan? Not that I'm not happy to see you or anything, it's just that I didn't think you could leave I-Island."
Melissa's face fell, and Izuku knew immediately that he touched a sore subject, likely the sore subject. "You don't have to answer that if you don't-"
"No, no, it's fine," Melissa assured. "It would have to come out eventually. The situation on I-Island is… messy. There was a lot of unpleasant fallout from the incident, and alongside my dad's reputation being irreparably destroyed, a ton of suspicion and general mistrust was cast in all directions. Uncle Might tried his best to shield me from it, but I could tell that everyone in the scientific community was going to be side-eying me for the foreseeable future, at least on the island. It was just better for everyone if I was out of the picture."
A lengthy sigh escaped her lips, and her voice began to tremble. "After Mom died, Papa was all I had. He was everything to me. After all this… after what he did… and that bastard with the red hair…"
She started to choke up, and Izuku immediately moved to help comfort her, but he stopped in his tracks when she put her hand up and took a moment to compose herself. Pushing her thumb and index finger under her glasses to wipe away the tears that escaped her efforts, she took another deep breathe and regained her composure. She looked back at Izuku, and the redness surrounding the blue of her irises made his heart clench.
"So, yeah, I opted to leave, and since I didn't have any classified information to take with me, they allowed it," Melissa continued with a morose blankness. Then, she hesitated, but after a lengthy moment of internal deliberation, she pressed on. "I… I received an offer, and I took it. I'm transferring to UA to finish out my last year."
"…An offer?" Izuku questioned with a furrowed brow.
"One I couldn't refuse," she nodded with a stern expression. "So, I'm here now."
'All Might, you didn't…'
Izuku's darkening thoughts were halted when he was wrapped in a warm embrace by the taller girl.
"Thank you again for being there for me, Izuku," Melissa said, her voice wavering once again.
Izuku was taken off guard for a brief moment, then he returned the hug. "Yeah, of course. I'm sure that Mei will be ecstatic to see you, too."
That brought a smile back to her face. The hug continued until the two heard a groan come from the bed, and the two friends separated in time to see Inko come to.
"You alright, Mom?" Izuku held back his laughter just long enough to ask.
"Oh, Izuku, there you are," Inko managed while sitting up on the bed and gaining her bearings. "I had the strangest dream just now. The news captured the battle with All For One, and I had apparently come out of it with a deeply unsettling level of popularity."
"Right, a dream," Izuku replied amidst escaping snorts, confusing his mother.
Whatever she was going to say was halted when her phone started vibrating, and she checked the caller ID to find that it was Mitsuki calling her, so she answered.
"Mits-"
"INKY, YOU'RE A FUCKING SENSATION!"
Mitsuki was loud enough to be heard by the other two occupants of the room, and, combined with the pale-faced horror dawning on his mother, Izuku completely lost it.
The first thing Mineta felt when he came to the next day was a soreness in his chest, then the blinding light of the fluorescent fixtures overhead bombarded his vision before he could properly readjust. Such were the unfortunate consequences of being almost-comatose, he lamented. When his eyes finally adjusted to the immersion into the real world from perpetual darkness, the first thing he noticed was a yellow sleeping bag nestled in the corner. It was vaguely familiar, but he put it out of his mind and looked to his bedside table and the…
What the hell?
Were those cards?
He gingerly reached over to the table and picked up the closest card he could reach, and upon opening it, he found a picture of Kaminari standing above him with a sharpie and a mischievous grin. Blinking, he looked over at the mirror, and he deadpanned when he saw the dick drawn on his forehead in sharpie. Behind the picture was a message from the sparky blonde wishing him a speedy recovery.
That was weird. The dick was expected, but the fact that someone sent him a "get well" card was beyond odd. Why would someone go to the trouble to do that for him? Putting Kaminari's card down, he reached over to the pile (he was finally taking in just how big the pile was) and picked up a green card with a frog on it; it was clearly from Tsu.
Then there was one from Shoji.
And one from Iida.
And another from Koda.
And one from Uraraka.
What the fuck was going on?
Before he could fall into an existential crisis at the newfound reality of his classmates thinking about him in any capacity that earned well wishes, the door slid open, and four of said classmates entered the room.
"Dude, you're finally awake!" Sato observed with a grin. "We've been waiting on pins and needles all week!"
If Mineta wasn't confused before, Sero's excitement would've sent him into a tailspin. Following Sato into the room was Shoji, Sero, and Tokoyami.
"Glad that you're awake, Mineta," Shoji said, the sincerity in his voice hitting the short boy like a truck.
"What are you guys doing here?" He questioned, managing to silence the maelstrom whirling in his brain for just long enough to get the words out.
"We're here to check up on you, bro," Sero answered with his trademark toothy grin.
"It's good to see you in good health, my friend," Tokoyami remarked with a nod.
"And besides, we could all use the screen time," Sero added.
It took a moment for Tokoyami's final words to register in Mineta's still mildly foggy brain, but when they did, he froze. The words, "my friend," were deafening, and they ricocheted around his mind like a pinball at hypersonic speed. When the implications of the utterance finally set in, it took every ounce of strength in his veins to choke back the tears that were threatening to spill out of him. He couldn't cry in front of the boys. He'd never live it down.
"Anyway, how are you feeling?" Shoji asked before Mineta could question Sero's statement (not like the boy was paying attention).
"Oh, um, I'm alright, I guess," he lamely answered with a scratch to the balls on his head. "My chest is a little sore, and my arm's a bit stiff, but I'm good otherwise."
"That's awesome," Sato grinned with a pound of his fist into his palm. "Shoji told us all about what you did camp. Didn't know you had it in you all this time."
The mention of the forest snapped his brain back to something crucial. "Did we rescue Midoriya?"
"Yeah, he's fine," Shoji assured the boy out of his temporary panic. "He's down the hall. We were headed there next."
"You should've been there, man!" Sero began. "Midoriya's mom took on the League of Villains by herself and was winning before we even stepped in to grab our class rep. It was so awesome!"
"I've been trying to tell Tokoyami that Mr. Aizawa wouldn't stand a chance," Sato spoke up with a laugh, elbowing his raven-headed classmate. None of the teenagers noticed the sleeping bag in the corner twitch.
"We should not underestimate our homeroom teacher," Tokoyami sagely replied. "Although, I will admit, she was rather frightening when weaponizing her maternal fury."
"I wonder if she could punt Mineta as far as Shoji could," Sero joked, causing the others to laugh and a faint blush to develop on Mineta's face at the reminder.
"Oh, he told you guys about that, huh?" Mineta chuckled before he turned to the boy in question. "I knew you were strong, but I hadn't imagined you could kick that hard."
Shoji shrugged. "I was always excluded from playing baseball growing up… or any sport involving arms. They always said I had an unfair advantage, so I took to sports using my legs instead. At that point, if they still had a problem, it was a skill issue."
Another bout of laughter arose before the group fell into comfortable conversation. Mineta couldn't fight the content smile that graced his tired face. This was nice. This was good. This was what he wanted. This was what he always wanted.
This was friendship.
Aizawa, meanwhile, stayed concealed in his sleeping bag, opting not to break up the moment of levity after such a traumatic situation. He could figure out how many of his students he was going to expel for their stunt another time.
That night, Izuku was perusing through the deluge of articles written about both the Kamino Incident (as the media had taken to calling it) and his mother, particularly her part in his rescue and the defeat of a supervillain just as powerful as All Might. He had no idea if the media had more information on the man than they should or if it was just sensationalist speculation that happened to possess a grain of truth. Whatever the case, the fact was that Verdant was now a celebrity.
It was so surreal to imagine. He still hadn't really processed his own level of fame that he had somehow amassed over the months since his tenure at UA began, so being faced with his very private mother experiencing a measure of fame that absolutely trounced his own was both hilarious and frightening. The irony of her spending her career in the underground dodging attention as much as she could wasn't lost on him, and it certainly wasn't lost on his mother, either. Earlier that evening, she texted him to tell him that she was hounded for autographs the minute she left the hospital after the extra tests they ran on him, and it took a swift and surprising intervention from Hawks of all people to create cover for her to slip away.
Izuku supposed that he just happened to be in the area and decided to help out, which was nice of him.
It was honestly surprising that she garnered so much notoriety considering that All Might was also present. Izuku figured that, if anything, All Might would have absorbed most of that attention, which was the case for Gran Torino. He didn't see or hear anyone mention the old man's presence at all, so his mother's newfound celebrity status was rather strange. He'd have to think more on it later, though; even he thought that the idea of his mother's popularity being signal boosted by some other party was just a little too paranoid.
In the meantime, he indulged in reading the general public's thoughts about the situation on social media. It should turn out to be pretty amusing.
Endeavor_is_a_bottom: if this is her post-retirement, im afraid to imagine what she was like in her prime
sp00ky: Is this what having a heroine idol that isn't a sex symbol is like?
5FingerDeathTouch: I mean I guess she's kinda cool or whatever
PurpleInsomniac: Eraserhead could take her.
FutureVision420: Step on-
Actually, maybe it wasn't such a great idea to scour through social media. Not everybody needed a platform.
Just as Izuku quit his scrolling, he received a text, and he smiled when he saw that it from was Vanta. He really enjoyed hearing from her and the others from the VRP.
"Dude, I thought we were friends"
Well, that was strange. He didn't think he did or said anything to upset her recently, but maybe he had?
"?"
"How could you not tell me that your mom was a hot, retired pro? That's like essential information!"
Izuku groaned. This was going to get old very quickly; he could already tell.
"Vanta, I swear to Matatabi"
"Matatabi?"
Oh, right. Only he and a few others knew about the death god inhabiting his quirk.
"Long story. They're a cat deity."
"Wicked. We need more representation out there."
That brought out a snort from the green head. Vanta would probably get along really well with Jiro or Tokage. That thought made him shudder, though. As unlikely as it ever was to happen, he made a mental note to never introduce Vanta to Tokage. His attention was recaptured when she sent a follow up text.
"How was being kidnapped?"
"Honestly? It wasn't so bad. Got to spend time with some long lost family, evolved my quirk, and even made a supervillain rage quit. I could do without the large, older man groping me, though."
"Now if that ain't a mood, idk what is"
"Right?"
A brief moment passed before what she said finally sank in.
"We're gonna have to talk about that at some point, you know."
"You fucking wish lol"
The mood in the Todoroki estate the next morning was awkward, and Shoto couldn't quite figure out why. All their father had said to them before they left was to watch the press conference he was set to do that morning and to not leave the house under any circumstances. Fuyumi, the worrier that she was, questioned him about the peculiar instructions, but he just assured them that he'd answer their questions when he returned home. Shoto could gather that something rather noteworthy was going to happen, but he had no idea what it could possibly have been, and no amount of time consulting his cork board of theories was helping to crack the case.
It was one of the sporadic weekends that Natsuo was home to visit, so that likely contributed to the tension in the house. There was always tension whenever he and their father were in the same room, and being instructed to not leave the house didn't quite sit well with Natsuo, but he nonetheless complied. He wasn't silent about his complaints, though, not that Shoto (or Fuyumi, for that matter) could really blame him.
Not knowing what else to do (and not having anything better to do), the Todoroki family gathered in the living room with snacks as the time for the press conference neared. Without knowing what to expect, the most that was possible was sitting down in front of the TV and observing the spectacle, so that's what Shoto did. With a bowl of cold soba in hand, he plopped down in his seat and waited to find out just what his father deemed so important that they had to watch but not be present for.
When it began, the first thing the three siblings noticed was how packed the press room was, and it wasn't even a small press room to begin with; Shoto recognized it from his week interning with his father at his agency. Reporters from all over the nation were present (Shoto thought that one of them might have had blue skin, but he wasn't really paying attention), and they all focused their attention on the arrival of the No. 2 Hero. He was in full hero regalia, the flames on his stern face burning brightly as he made his way onto the elevated platform and sat at the table to face the press. To his right was Burnin, her usual manic grin nowhere in sight. The solemness dressing her face in its place was unnerving, especially to Fuyumi, who was very accustomed to Burnin's fiery and excitable temperament.
"People of Japan," he began in a subdued baritone that was very much unlike him. "I am the nation's Number 2 Pro Hero, the Flame Hero: Endeavor. You all know that, however, there are things about me that none of you know. For decades, I have not been honest with all of you, the people I have been sworn to protect with my life."
The room was paying him rapt attention, as were his children watching at home. He heaved a heavy sigh, and the flames that dressed his face like a mask and glorious facial hair that had become his trademark slowly petered out. When they were finally gone, all that remained was… an admittedly pathetic mustache. It only completed the morose picture presented to the press and those watching at home. None of them had ever seen the triumphant hero look so defeated, the least of which being his own children.
"My name is Enji Todoroki, and I am an abuser."
The deafening silence within the house that followed his statement was violently interrupted by the clang of Shoto's bowl of soba falling out of his limp grasp.
Overhaul was beginning to think that he spent way too much time at his desk. Granted, a liberal application of his quirk could easily remedy his leg falling asleep, but it was the principle of the matter. Eri wasn't set for any harvesting that day, as he cleared his schedule in preparation for the coming meeting with the League of Villains. As such, he didn't have much to do beyond looking over paperwork and expenses from the Shie Hassaikai's legitimate businesses. Trigger money wasn't going to launder itself.
"Overhaul, sir!" came a shout from the other side of the door accompanied by a frantic knocking. Overhaul wouldn't admit out loud to being grateful for the distraction.
"Come in," he ordered to the nondescript grunt that looked both frazzled and winded. He likely ran across the compound for whatever news he had to share.
"What is it?" Overhaul asked the man with a patient façade, but he wasn't particularly interested in waiting for the man to catch his breath in order to speak.
"You're not gonna fuckin' believe this."
Rei Todoroki was frozen in place in her chair, the whisper of, "Oh my god," that left her lips barely audible over her husband's words. Her mind was in a frenzy, but her body was rooted to her seat in front of the TV in her room that was broadcasting her husband's public exposé of the skeletons in their family's closet. His explanation of their marriage, his ambitions, and the emotional strife their family endured by his hands…
He was admitting to everything.
He was revealing every sordid detail about why he wanted to marry and have children with her in the first place. He explained in no uncertain terms how viciously he pushed his children to surpass All Might and then discarded them when they couldn't. He struggled through how much he tried for that one success and all but destroyed their family when he finally got it. He even opened up about the loss of Toya…
Well, maybe he wasn't revealing everything, as that would include her own failings in the hellish story of the Todoroki family.
She was just barely able to register two sets of hands clasping her own on either side, each pair belonging to her sisters in all but blood. She should've known something was amiss when both Inko and Mitsuki came together to visit her this morning. Getting a visit from one of them wasn't out of the ordinary, but both at once? Still, she was glad that they were all together again for however brief this moment would be. She tried to maintain a brave face and hold onto the numbness she had been feeling for so long, but…
The four arms that wrapped around her when she started shaking were confirmation that she needed them now more than ever.
Tomura's eye twitched in his spot on the couch, or what was left of the couch. The hideout they had commandeered after their escape from Kamino was now in flames, the entire building burning a bright blue and coming down on all sides around them. They had been watching Endeavor's press conference out of morbid curiosity, and boy did they get more than they fucking bargained for. There were quirk marriages, selective breeding, spousal and child abuse, and they could even throw in government corruption to cover it all up on top of that; couldn't have happened to a nicer guy, right?
The shit that came to light straight from the horse's mouth was one thing, but Dabi fucking flipping his shit and literally exploding before storming out of the building was another thing entirely. Compress had to seal Spinner and Magne away just in time to save them from getting roasted by proximity in the chaos, and even he barely dodged the support beam that came crashing down soon after.
Tomura would dust the patchy fuck the next time he saw him. This was a good hideout. Now they needed to find a new spot before the meeting with that shitty Yakuza group Twice was babbling about, and it was all because Dabi decided to throw a goddamn tantrum for who fucking knows why?
Kurogiri appeared beside Tomura's small, unharmed place on the couch. "Shall I find us new accommodations?"
Tomura turned and gave the man a side-eyed glare. "What the hell do you think?"
"Effective immediately, Burnin will step into the position of overseeing the Endeavor Agency. Both the agency and your safety will all be left in her capable hands."
Hawks stared at the screen with his mouth agape, and that wasn't just because he was mid-bite on his raw drumstick. He knew Madame President would have his head if she found out that he was eating raw chicken again, but the cravings were insatiable, and it was his one allotted day off for the next 2 months. He didn't have to go on patrol, he didn't have to knock out some petty criminals, he didn't even have to go out and keep an eye on the Midoriya family (which was a task in and of itself, as Inko Midoriya was paranoia personified). He could just sit back in his living room and relax for the day.
That was the plan, anyway. He did not quite imagine going into it that he would be spending his day off watching Endeavor confess to domestic abuse and homemade eugenics in front of the entire nation. Excuse him if that wasn't on his Pro Heroics Bingo Card… from Endeavor specifically, at least.
If a pro hero (the nation's No. 2 Hero, at that) publicly admitting to scummy behavior behind closed doors while only alluding to actual crimes committed wasn't bad enough, that same pro throwing the entire governing body of the heroics industry under the bus alongside him was a whole other shitstorm entirely: a shitstorm that he would inevitably have to get involved in. He'd more than likely be doing even more morally questionable things that he didn't particularly enjoy doing. If he was being honest, there were a lot of things that he didn't enjoy doing that were for the safety of the public these days.
The vibrations of his phone on his counter were like a death knell in his ears, and one glance at the caller ID told him what he already knew. He heaved a sigh not unlike the one Endeavor released before he began his spiel, and he stood up to get into costume.
It was a nice day off while it lasted.
Endeavor quickly left the press room amid the frenzy of reporters clamoring for answers to their sea of questions, pointedly ignoring them as he exited with Burnin and the rest of his PR team following closely behind him. The group walked in silence down the adjacent hallway until they reached an elevator. Endeavor pressed the button and waited, the silence among the group still carrying on. It remained that way for 10 agonizing seconds until his irritation reached a head.
"You all are free to take the stairs," Endeavor finally spoke up, and the PR team gratefully scattered. Had they left any faster, there would have been a dust cloud in their place.
Burnin, however, did not leave. The door eventually opened, and she boarded alongside him. Neither said a word while the elevator carried them to the top floor where his office sat. Whereas the silence before was merely awkward, the atmosphere in the cramped space was now tense. Soon, the door opened, and the two exited to approach Endeavor's office, both parties' lips still remaining shut until the door to the spacious office closed behind them.
"I meant what I said in there," Endeavor finally spoke up, peering down at his uncharacteristically mute sidekick.
A few more seconds of silence passed before Burnin turned to look up at him with a harsh gaze. "Which part, exactly?"
Endeavor minutely flinched. He supposed he deserved that one, and he technically was no longer her boss, so he couldn't reprimand her for it; not that he would have, anyway.
"The part about leaving the Endeavor Agency to you in my absence," he clarified. "I trust you."
Again, Burnin did not immediately respond. She chewed on her thoughts for a few seconds before speaking. "Ordinarily, glowing praise like that would make me feel all fuzzy inside."
Endeavor sighed. Despite the circumstances, he knew he shouldn't have been surprised to receive snark from Burnin. Perhaps that was a good sign.
"Why did you decide to stay?" he finally asked her. "I wouldn't have begrudged you if you opted to leave the agency."
And many had. Endeavor informed all of his sidekicks about the entire situation the night prior, and he gave them the option to leave the agency if they desired. Of his 33 sidekicks, only 12 remained, and the lion's share of them only did so conditionally.
She turned to face him fully, the glare she was shooting him burning with indignation almost as brightly as her hair. "What does you tarnishing your own legacy have to do with me helping people in need?"
Well, he supposed that was all the answer he needed.
"I made the right choice, then," Endeavor declared with a nod.
Burnin snorted, and she looked away, staring out into the city through the office's absurdly large windows. A sigh escaped her, and she looked back at her former boss. "How long are you gonna be… ya know, stepping away?"
Endeavor silently mulled over the question. In the press conference, he told the public that he would be stepping away from the public eye in order to begin the process of atonement, not only for his family, but for all of the people who placed their trust in him that he failed. "When Japan needs the Flame Hero, I will be there. However, in the meantime, I need to address and make up for the damage I've done and the people I've hurt."
"So, this is less of a retirement and more of a self-imposed exile while your kids kick the shit out of you?" she asked.
"In so many words, yes," Endeavor sighed, too used to Burnin's lack of decorum.
Burnin smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes. "Bitchin'. Maybe by the time you're back, you'll have grown a full mustache."
"I wish you the best of luck, Burnin," Endeavor deadpanned as he walked away from the desk and towards the exit.
"I'll do my best to keep the seat warm," she quipped as he made his way out.
Endeavor stopped in his tracks and looked back at her. "For who? It's your agency, now."
With that, he walked through the open door, closing it behind him and leaving Burnin standing in the center of the large office. Now alone, the woman sighed and finally allowed the weight of the long morning's events to set in.
A sadistic anticipation snaked up Overhaul's spine as he, Mimic, and the remaining Five Bullets approached the meeting place. He had waited patiently (more or less) for this day to come, and now, it was here. He'd get to wipe the League of Villains off the map, and with them, All For One's remaining influence would die with it, affording him no opposition in snatching the throne of the criminal underworld. The Shie Hassaikai would rise once again and lead this diseased world back to purity.
Yes, it was all coming together so beautifully. Chronostasis had already snuck inside beyond those idiots' notice and was in position to strike. The others were behind him and ready to leap in at a moment's notice to lay waste to the putrid troglodytes that dared interfere with the Shie Hassaikai's affairs. All he had to do was walk inside, introduce himself, and then make some examples. The lambs would be sent to slaughter, and he was their shepherd.
He was their God.
In the brief period that Izuku had been home after he was discharged, he had half a mind to test if he could faze into his couch via osmosis. It was preferable to channel surfing through the onslaught of news coverage of the absurd events that had transpired over the course of the week. It was like one thing after another; there was the attack on the training camp, Kamino, his mother becoming an overnight sensation, Endeavor's press conference, and the spat of violent mass murders that sprung up in the aftermath. He suspected that there was an unsavory connection between those last two given what he was able to sniff out in his time as a prisoner, but that was a conversation to have with Shoto at a later date.
"In other news, betting odds have Mirko potentially hopping into the Top 3 for the next Pro Hero Rankings after Endeavor-"
click
"-surprise villain attack in which an eruption of blue flames incinerated a city block. Thus far, 67 people have been confirmed dead in the attack, but that number is likely to increase as the search and rescue efforts continue. Of the 22 that were wounded, 9 are in critical condition. The suspect remains at large-"
click
"-nation is still reeling from Endeavor's shocking press conference and subsequent self-exile from heroics. The Number One Hero himself, All Might, said in a recent statement condemning both Endeavor and the Hero Public Safety Commission that he will be making a public address of his own regarding both Endeavor's press conference and the Kamino Incident. Speaking of Kamino, green wig sales are up by 300%-"
Before he could change the channel, his mother materialized beside him and snatched the remote, changing the channel herself. Izuku swore he heard her grumble "fucking fanatics" under her breath as she did so. She was about to say something else, but she paused, and her eyes lit up with an idea before turning to her son.
"You know what, let's go out to eat," she suggested with a smile. "We'll celebrate you being back home."
Overhaul stormed into the Shie Hassaikai compound in an almost palpable rage. The "meeting" had gone off the rails, but it wasn't in the way that he planned for or expected. When he made his intentions to delete them all from existence clear, a confused man tried to attack him with his magnetism disease; making quick work of him was a simple matter. What wasn't a simple matter, however, was their leader slamming a hand to the ground and rendering the entire building to rubble, as well as anyone in its path. He was able to use Overhaul to negate the decay and rebuild himself before it could spread too far, but everyone he came with wasn't so fortunate.
As a result, he was forced to flee the scene with his life, which brought him to his current state of tearing through the compound like an incensed bull in a china shop. Everyone he came across wisely kept their distance or made themselves scarce entirely. That was, of course, until he made it to his office, and someone was already waiting for him.
"Uh, b-boss?" the skinny man trepidatiously addressed, already knowing in the back of his mind how this interaction would inevitably end. The golden glare he was receiving with more hatred packed into it than he ever thought possible was merely confirmation of his fate being sealed.
"What?" Overhaul growled.
He gulped, preparing to make a break for it the second he finished what he was about to say."Eri escaped again."
He didn't get very far.
Seconds later, Overhaul was storming out of the hallway that had a fresh coat of red paint even more livid than he had already been. The hives he was developing upon being spattered with blood went ignored in his red haze, and he was singleminded in one pursuit:
"Eri, when I find you, I will tear you apart until you're a mindless husk!"
"So, on a scale of 1 to 10, how do you rate their katsudon in comparison to mine?" Inko asked her son from under her blonde wig and hoodie as they walked down the sidewalk towards the parking garage.
Izuku hummed from beneath his own blonde wig and hood, and he placed a hand on his chin. "7 out of 10. It was good, but there's no beating the original."
"Damn straight," his mother said with a victorious smile.
"We should do this more often," Izuku mused. "I wasn't really expecting the disguises to work as well as they did."
"We definitely could, but something ridiculous tends to happen whenever either of us leaves the apartment," Inko joked as the duo strolled past an alleyway-
As if on cue, the two simultaneously stopped on a dime and peered into the darkness of the alley. Within moments, the soft, frantic pitter patter of small footsteps made itself known to the two, and a small girl with long, unkempt mane of white hair bolted toward them from the abyss. The fear bubbling out of her crimson eyes with her tears immediately put both green heads in disguise on edge, and Izuku quickly turned to kneel down to the approaching girl's level. Her eyes widened even further, and she slammed into his arms and held onto him for dear life.
Now that Izuku was able to get a better look at her, an uneasy fusion of concern and anger started to flood his system. Not only was she shivering (out of fear or just being cold, he couldn't really be sure), but she was also wearing nothing but a dingy hospital gown, and her arms and legs were covered in bandages. The way she was latched onto him so tightly painted a potentially horrifying picture about this little girl's circumstances. She couldn't have been older than 5 or 6, and he couldn't help but be reminded of Kota.
Unfortunately, with the thought of Kota came the images forever burned into his brain of Kota's limp body laying lifelessly in his arms. Izuku's breath hitched, and he felt the girl start to shake even more violently in his grasp. Then Izuku spotted a horn on her forehead in his periphery began to emit a faint, yellow glow, and the little girl began to glow in his arms. Instinctively, he went up in an orange glow of his own, and the girl was quickly wrapped in a thin, orange blanket of flame before the unknown effects of the glow could reach him.
No one was more surprised than the girl herself, apparently. She froze and peered down at the strange, orange layer holding her in a warm cocoon, and she absentmindedly snuggled further into it. Her curse also didn't penetrate through the blanket, and that shocked her beyond belief. The only other person who could do something like that was the scary man who made the big, yellow bubbles.
Izuku, meanwhile, observed the range of emotions flickering across her face while she inspected the malleable barrier. He didn't know why, but she seemed both fascinated and fearful of his quirk… or maybe it was something else? Perhaps it had to do with the glow coming from her horn? Whatever the case, for the briefest of moments, he thought back to Kota once more. What happened to him was absolutely not going to happen to this girl. Izuku would die before anything like that ever did.
"There you are, Eri," a menacing growl echoed from the darkness.
Out of the pitch black expanse stalked a man with a dark, olive-green bomber jacket with a thick, purple fur collar. The most striking thing about him, though, was the intricate plague mask he wore over his mouth that was embroidered with gold the same shade as his hate-filled eyes. If Izuku wasn't on guard before, he was ready to move at a moment's notice now. Nothing about this man screamed "upstanding citizen," and if the way the girl started to hyperventilate at the sound of his voice was any indication, he was who she was running from.
"You should've stayed in your fucking room, Eri," he snarled, stalking even closer. "Now, even more innocent people are going to die because of you!"
Without warning, he lunged for Izuku and opened his palm, preparing to turn the unfortunate blonde kid and his mother to paste before collecting Eri. Izuku went up in a yellow blaze and was prepared to dodge the attack, refusing to take any chances with touch-based attacks after dealing with both Tomura and Ochako. Izuku's piercing, green gaze met Overhaul's wild, golden glare as a violent, destructive battle between two titans felt all but inevitable-
In a mere instant, Overhaul disintegrated in the direction slightly adjacent to Izuku and disappeared into the wind.
Izuku's eyes were bulging out of his skull, and his jaw had taken up residence on the concrete. Eri was no better, her own jaw resting beside his own. In unison, the two craned their heads to look at Inko, her arm outstretched with her palm glowing and her own eyes shining a deadly emerald upon the spot where the man had once existed.
When she noticed their gazes, she turned a curious one toward her son. "What?"
Izuku's brain damn near short circuited at the casual inquiry. "Don't 'what?' me! You just atomized a man!"
"He was threatening you," she shrugged.
Izuku legitimately sputtered before regaining himself and finding his words. "Why didn't you do that to the League for kidnapping me?"
"There were witnesses, Izuku," Inko chided as if the answer was obvious. "I couldn't just summarily execute an entire group of villains while the Hero Commission is doing surveillance on us in our home. I don't want to give them even more ammo than they already have."
"…Come again?" Izuku asked in a dark tone, and Inko immediately paled upon realizing her mistake.
"Oh, right, I never actually told you about that," she sheepishly admitted. "I didn't want to worry you during your trip to I-Island, and everything that happened afterward kinda took precedence."
Izuku closed his eyes and took a deep breath at the explanation. Now was not the time; they had other matters to attend to. "We can deal with that later. What do we do about this little girl?"
Eri, having quietly observed the two's discussion, had already made up her mind that she wasn't going to detach herself from the teen anytime soon. The display of his mother literally wiping the man who had been terrorizing her for as long as she could remember out of existence only reinforced her desire to stick around with them. They were safe; safer than anything she had ever experienced since she made her dad disappear.
"The scary bird-man tried to kidnap me from my mommy and big brother," she spoke up, gaining the surprise and confusion of the two.
"Erm, what?" Izuku asked, unsure what she was getting at.
"That's my story, and I'm sticking to it," she declared with a resolute expression.
Her valiant attempt to appear headstrong and determined was one of the most adorable visuals Inko had ever witnessed, and she was immediately sold. She reached into her pocket and pulled out her phone before dialing the one person she could go to that could help them navigate the absurd predicament they found themselves in.
"Nezu, you're still at UA, right?"
Omake: Meta Liberation Army Group Chat
Geten: Endeavor_Press_ 4
Geten: Based?
Skeptic: Geten.
Geten: Okay but hear me out though: based, right?
Trumpet: Geten pls
Curious: …I think it's pretty based.
Skeptic: Do not encourage him!
Geten: See, Curious always gets it
Kusari: I mean, it's not the way I'd personally go about it, but I can't knock selective breeding to create the most powerful meta. Seems pretty based to me.
Re-Destro: I concur. When I was a young lad, my giant, pet cockroach, Hoarfrost, was created in a similar fashion. He was very based, as was the garlic ice cream we often enjoyed together.
Geten: It appears you're outnumbered. Endeavor is based by simple majority
Trumpet: Sometimes, I truly feel like I am the only neurotypical in this organization.