Izuku wasn’t injured, but the hospital kept him for observation anyway.
The bright walls and clinical room put him on edge, reminding him of the last time he’d been in one. At the very least he hadn’t passed out this time.
Iida’s wound wasn’t life threatening and would heal without any complications, the only restraint being a sling and orders to not use it for two weeks. All in all, it could be worse.
Todoroki had a mild case of Quirk overuse but would recover with some rest and a good meal.
Izuku wasn’t sure if he was fortunate or not to share a room with the two. On one hand it made the suffocating walls and smell of bleach more bearable, on the other, both boys hadn’t stopping giving him wary looks since his fight with Stain.
He supposed he deserved it, but having them stare at him with something akin to fear stung just the slightest bit.
A loud knock rang throughout the room just before a large dog headed man stepped into the room followed by Gran Torino, Ingenium, and the detective from U.S.J..
This should be interesting. Izuku mused dryly.
He allows himself to fall into a relaxed position, posture purposefully slouched to make himself look smaller and eyes slightly wide to behove innocence.
It was a façade, but they wouldn’t realize that until too late.
“I’m Hosu’s chief of police, Kuragamae Kenji.” He gestured to the others behind him. “I’m sure you recognize the others.”
Todoroki and Iida likely didn’t know who Gran Torino was, but probably weren’t about to bring that up. Not when all the adults in the room were grimmer than funeral goers.
“First things first, how are you boys doing? I can’t imagine being in another Nomu attack would make you feel particularly safe.” The man sounded sincere, but that meant nothing. Not really.
Iida straightened. “While I admit it was rather unsettling, it brought me much comfort to see an abundance of Heroes on the scene. We…were not so fortunate at the U.S.J..”
Todoroki nodded in agreement. “We didn’t really interact with them. We were told to focus on evacuation of citizens, so they were pretty far away most of the time.”
Everyone’s gaze turned to Izuku and he gave a tired smile. “It wasn’t fun, I’m not going to lie. But we got through it.”
“That’s good.” There was a slight pause as he looked at them in turn. “I’m here to talk to you about what happened with Stain.”
Ahhh, there it is.
The faint wisps of a smile curled onto his lips as he sat forward.
Let the games begin.
…
Naomasa saw the moment Midoriya changed. His body language before had been deliberately non-threatening, projecting an air of victimhood that was only amplified by his freckled skin and large eyes. The kid was small, and he knew how to use that to his advantage. If he hadn’t interviewed him before, he probably would have fallen for it, and that unsettled him more than he’d like.
The moment after the Chief mentioned Stain however, his whole posture shifted. Green eyes sharpening, hands slowly moving in front of him as his legs went under the bed, the balls of his feet lightly touching the ground and in a position to easily help him launch anywhere he chose.
It was smart, yet casual enough to not raise any alarms unless you knew what to look for.
Endeavor’s kid spoke first. “What about it?” his tone was openly wary, heterochronic eyes slightly narrowed as he watched them suspiciously.
Chief sighed. “At the dawn of this extraordinary era, the police moved to maintain status quo, and thus decided not to use Quirks as weapons. As time went on, it became clear that individuals using Quirks would be needed to preserve the peace, and with that need, the profession of Hero was created.” He met each of their gazes. “The idea wasn’t popular at first, but it soon garnered public support, and that was because your predecessors acted morally and complied with the law, woof.” (-)
Midoriya snorted, drawing everyone’s attention once more.
“Do you have something to say?” Chief asked mildly.
A lazy grin spread across thin lips. “No please, keep sanitizing history. That’s always gone well.” Lie.
There was a tense silence.
The younger Iida cleared his throat. “Please forgive our friend. It has been a rough few months and the stress may be catching up to us.” (-)
Naomasa would be inclined to believe that if Midoriya hadn’t smiled like a shark. That had been a deliberate move on his part, one likely made to throw them off balance.
He hated to say that it was probably working.
Chief cleared his throat. “Regardless, you acted without permission and inflicted harm on another individual without instruction from the powers that be or the police. Even against the Hero Killer, that is an enormous breach of law that cannot be ignored.” (-)
Naomasa wasn’t sure what he’d been expecting. Outrage? Fear? Whatever it was, it sure as hell hadn’t been Midoriya beginning to grin like the cat who’d eaten the canary.
“I’m sorry,” he said with a voice so sickly sweet it made Naomasa want to step back. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Lie.
Chief blinked. “Your fight with Stain.” He clarified.
Midoriya tilted his head. “We didn’t fight Stain. As I told Ingenium, we found him in the alley like that.”
Lie.
Naomasa suddenly felt like he knew exactly where this was going.
Chief narrowed his eyes. “Don’t give me lip. This is serious. You three have broken the law and-”
“Prove it.”
The word echoed through the room.
“Excuse me?” The Chief looked like he was reaching the end of his patience.
Midoriya folded his hands together. “I said, prove it. There are no witnesses aside from Stain, and I hardly think that a serial killer’s opinion should be given more weight than three Hero students who all have the same story."
That was…true. But the way it was phrased set every alarm that existed in Naomasa’s head.
The elder Iida looked at the other two boys, both of which glanced away, refusing to meet anyone’s gaze.
Well, that changed things.
“There were scorch marks on the wall, not to mention Speedster’s wound-”
Midoriya interrupted once more. “Fire Quirks are common, and it would be irresponsible for someone who had only just begun using that dangerous of a Quirk to open fire in an alley like that. Todoroki doesn’t seem that irresponsible. As for Iida’s shoulder wound, a stray piece of shrapnel could have easily hit him while he was evacuating people.”
Again, true. But he was avoiding making statement, using words like seem, and could have. His words were like a spider’s web, and Naomasa felt an awful lot like a fly.
Chief’s voice was deceptively even. “Are you telling me that you’re denying having fought the Hero Killer?”
Midoriya’s smile showed all his teeth. “Yup.” He said popping the p. “That’s exactly what I’m saying.”
He felt compelled to step forward. “We have Stain’s swords which will show Iida’s DNA. You can’t deny something like this.”
“Can’t I?” Midoriya leaned back. “And besides, I was under the impression that Stain’s swords had been completely destroyed and wiped clean. At least, that’s what I saw in that alley.”
True.
And they had been. Not a smidgen of grime or dirt on the damn things despite their rusty look and several eyewitness accounts of the blades being filthy. It wasn’t like they could accuse Midoriya of cleaning them though-there hadn’t been any materials in sight.
“So really, you can’t charge us with anything. Well, I suppose you could, but it wouldn’t hold up in court, and considering the Iida family and the Todoroki family are both ridiculously wealthy, they’d have the best lawyers money can buy.” Long eyelashes batted. “Am I wrong?”
And damn if he wasn’t. Every bit of evidence they could use had been cleverly dismantled and revealed as circumstantial. Any decent lawyer would rip their case to shreds.
He couldn’t help himself. “You can’t seriously expect us to believe it wasn’t you who fought Stain.”
Half lidded eyes landed on his, acidic and sharp. “Well, that’s the thing, isn’t it? You don’t have to. You can believe whatever you want, but as long as its not admissible in court, it doesn’t really matter.” Midoriya bit into an apple Naomasa hadn’t realized he was holding. “So, what were you saying?"
…
Tenya could barely stand to look at himself.
He despised lying and regarded it as a moral fallacy that a Hero in training could not fall into, yet he had not only lied to his brother, but he had also lied to the police on an extremely serious matter.
If someone had told him last week that he had done this, he would accuse them of being inebriated. He didn’t-he hadn’t wanted to, but…
“Well, it was nice knowing you guys. I’ll probably be dead by the end of the week.”
Todoroki blinked. “What do you mean?”
Midoriya curled into himself, fingers bunched into the sheets. “You guys realize how many followers Stain has, right? The second it gets out that it was us, they’ll eat us alive. You two have powerful families, so you’ll be pretty protected, but me?” He exhaled shakily. “I’m done for.”
Alarm rose within Tenya. “Surely the police will protect you.”
Midoriya's smile was wan. “Like they protected us at the U.S.J.? Like how we were protected during our internships? The police aren’t all powerful and neither are the Heroes.”
"Maybe…they won’t tell the public?” Tenya suggested weakly. “We technically broke the law, and that would go into public record. They can’t not.” Todoroki explained.
Unease rose within him. He couldn’t stand losing one of his closest friends, not after the close brush with death his brother had had not a week ago.
"Is there anything we can do?”
Acidic green eyes met his. “Now that you mention it…”
He couldn’t let his friend be attacked! It wouldn’t be right. Even if Midoriya was fully capable of defending himself, he was still in training and it wasn’t like he could be vigilant in his sleep. Tenya was trying to be better than he’d been during the entrance exam where he’d been too much of a coward to help others and had only worked within the rules he was given. In this case, following the rules would endanger his friend.
He wouldn’t do it.
…
Nagisa stared at the screen, a mixture of rage and disbelief warring within her.
Part of her wanted to deny what she was seeing, throw the laptop back at Reiko and scream. The other more cynical part wanted to laugh, because of course that little monster had done this. Of course the next place he chose to hide was in a den of Heroes, unaware and ignorant of the spider in their midst. Some would realize, though the number was always low. The kid was a good manipulator, she’d give him that.
The stunt he pulled at the final round was just like him too; a blatant show of disrespect even as he’d blown them all away not two rounds earlier. The move may look flippant and impulsive, but if Nagisa had learned anything amidst the months of hunting that monster down, is that the boy was anything but.
It took a certain type of person to stay hidden for years, a certain type of person to smile innocently while they held a bloody blade behind their back. ‘Midoriya’ or whatever he was going by at the moment, had the cold calculation necessary to remain free despite their best efforts at catching him. He had the brutality and a certain type of calm that made him dangerous.
They had made the mistake of underestimating him before and it had cost them. Oh, how it had cost them.
Nagisa rose, closing the laptop and plucking her sword out of its sheath.
They wouldn’t make that mistake again.
Comments (0)
See all