Chapter 29

Hitoshi, Himiko and Twice were led through the Yakuza base the early morning they arrived by a bald man in a black shirt and sunken eyes who ignored Himiko's attempts at making pleasant talk. Hitoshi assumed that the man was being careful in case Hitoshi tripped him up after Himiko got him into a talking mood. Either that or he wasn't a big talker. He couldn't be sure. They were led into a meeting room. Already waiting was Overhaul, the birdman in the white coat and a third bird masked man in a black cloak and a hat. " Greetings. Shinso. Toga. Bubaigawara. Welcome to the Shie Hassaikai."

" You requested our aid, Overhaul. It would be a problem if we couldn't trust each other, right?" Hitoshi asked. Overhaul didn't respond. " Don't worry. I won't use my quirk on you."

" I'd prefer one of the others talk." Overhaul said. " No offence to you, Shinso, but It's a safety precaution." Hitoshi gave the man a cold glare before nodding at Himiko. This man was going to get it one of these day, Hitoshi swore.

" Tomu said we're joining you, so here we are. We'll obey, so no worries." Himiko said simply. " Even if we don't like you."

" I'm glad." Overhaul nodded. " For now, you'll be our temp squad. You'll handle some odd jobs under the oversight of Nemoto."

" That would be me." The cloaked man, Nemoto, stepped forwards. " Before we begin, a question. Are you under orders to betray the Shie Hassaikai?" Hitoshi felt a strange power fall on him. He remembered what Izuku had told him about the information on Shie Hassaikai he bought from Giran. This was Shin Nemoto's quirk, Confession. Hitoshi thought back on the orders Izuku gave him and, with smirk beneath his own masked, answered truthfully, as the quirk forced him to.

" No." He said.

" Nope." Himiko shook her head.

" Not at all. Of course. " Twice shrugged. Izuku had planned for this ahead of time. So, last night, he gave them their orders. They weren't here to betray Overhaul. After all, you can't betray someone you aren't allied with in the first place. What happened while they infiltrated the Yakuza was up to them. Nemoto hummed. He looked over to Overhaul. Overhaul seemed convinced and nodded.

" Come on. I'll introduce you to the rest of my team. You'll be working alongside them for the foreseeable future." Nemoto opened the door.

" I trust you to do your best for our partnership." Overhaul told the group.

" Of course." Hitoshi stated. " We'll do our job. I promise you that."

" Don't worry about us, birdman. We're good at what we do." Himiko gave the man a wave

" Trust us. We'll get the job done." Twice nodded. As they stepped from the room, Hitoshi would have laughed if he wasn't still on the job. Overhaul was going to learn that they do their jobs well. Hitoshi's only wish is that he was there when he realised what that really meant.

Izuku smiled, leaning back against Kurogiri's bar as Kendo Rappa and Heikiji Tengai entered the room curtesy of Kurogiri's warp gate, the smoke faced bartender appearing back behind his bar. " Greetings you two. It's nice to meet you. My name is Izuku Midoriya, code name Usagi. The League's Second in command and head strategist. Do you fancy a drink?"

" Don't mind if I-"

" No. That's quite alright." Tengai cut Rappa off. The larger man turned his face slightly, gritting his teeth before turning back to face Izuku.

" You can take the masks off. This is just an informal conversation right now, after all. No need for costumes."

" That's alright as well. We'll keep them on." Tengai stepped forwards. " May I sit?"

" You may." Tengai nodded, pulling out a chair and sitting opposite Izuku. He looked around.

" Are you sure it's wise to meet us with just the two of you?"

" I don't want to bother people with a friendly meeting like this. Besides, some of us have our own jobs to do even so early in the morning."

" Is this about how you were able to get such accurate information out of UA?"

" Ah. Curious about that huh? Well, I suppose I can let slip that one. We are friends after all." Izuku smirked. " As I'm sure you know if you watched the broadcast from the Sports Festival, I am, or was I suppose, the UA traitor."

" I saw that." Rappa spoke up. " You're a fierce fighter. I wouldn't mind testing your skills one of these days in the ring."

" Oh? Are you a boxer, Rappa?"

" Former MMA. I used to fight in a place where everything was allowed. No regulation on quirk usage or moves." Rappa laughed. " It was a good rush. I'm sure you'd love it."

" Rappa." Tengai glared over at the man. " Apologies. He runs his mouth like that sometimes."

" No worries. I don't mind." Izuku smiled. " I know the type. Himiko and Mina enjoy a bit of blood as well. Freedom's one of our core values here, so I don't mind them letting loose either." This seemed to catch Rappa's attention but he kept quiet.

" So, what do you want from us?"

" You'll be replacing the cogs your boss is using from our machine. With Himiko and Twice gone, Rappa will be handling any front line combat affairs. I wanted Setsuno to replace Hitoshi but I suppose I'll have you working alongside Hiiro as support and to cover our escape."

" I'd prefer working closely with Rappa. It's what we're used to."

" So I've heard. You two are like a two man army, right? Sword and Shield or whatever. It's impressive but I want to see what you can do individually before trying something I know works."

" The way you speak. What do you have planned?" Izuku shrugged.

" Nothing too major. No worries." He said. " It won't happen til tomorrow anyway, so you have time to meet everyone else." Tengai narrowed his eyes.

" And, if I may, where is Tomura Shigaraki? He is your boss, is he not?"

" He is, but alas, his personality isn't as… business like as me or Overhaul, so he tends to put me in charge of these matters."

" Tomura means well." Kurogiri mused from behind him, placing a glass on the counter. " He simply wishes to make the first steps correctly. He can be a bit rude and callous, so I apologize for him on that front."

" I'm not sure how you do things in the Yakuza, but here we're a lot less rigid. Please. Relax. We have time to discuss business when everyone is gathered. So, I'll ask again. Would you like a drink?" Tengai sighed at Izuku's behaviour before reluctantly nodding. Rappa grinned, taking off his mask and heading for the bar, bumping past Tengai's shoulder as he went.

" So, kid." He asked. " What's with the bandages over your eye? When I saw you on TV, you had 'em both."

" You saw what happened to it on TV."

" Ha. Really? Must've been a hell of a blow."

" It hurt even worse than it looked." Izuku admitted. " Still, I can take a good hit. I wouldn't be in this industry if I couldn't." Rappa laughed heartily.

" Too true." Izuku chuckled. He had a feeling him and Rappa were going to get along well.

While all eyes were on Hitoshi's team, Toru was free to move around the base, paying attention to where all the cameras and security systems were in the building. Toru's Ghost suit, as she had come to calling it, had been upgraded by the person that Giran called Alchemy in recent weeks and she was thankful for it. It was a lot less embarrassing to were now, a bit bulkier and more defensive, while now hiding a number of fancy toys. Remote hacking equipment, devices to hide body heat from sensors, the works. She was thankful Giran was both nice enough to give them a discount and that the funds left behind from Sensei were enough to handle whatever they seemed to need.

She found out after a bit of snooping that the main Shie Hissaikai base had some kind of underground lab built into it, something she found out after she spied some men slippin underground in one of the secret passages built into the base. The entire complex seemed massive and sprawling, far more than the normal complex of buildings above ground would lead people to believe. She found a lot of machines, science labs, testing grounds. Everything someone would need to make their own equipment without having to rely on a broker like Giran and test it without anyone being alerted to it.

She couldn't open doors without being found out but she managed to get into select labs when people left doors open for her, allowing her to see the sorts of things they were trying to find. Most of these things were simple. Weapons. Drugs. Support items. The usual sort of underground equipment that a criminal organisation trying to get a lot of money would be peddling.

Then there was the experimental, quirk erasing bullets. Those were a surprise. She swiped a sample for Izuku and used the camera's in her mask to record her findings. When he tried to attack Overhaul, Shoto mentioned that his quirk wouldn't come out at some point. According to these reports, the bullets she found could temporarily stop a quirk from being used. Reports seemed to be building up to the creation of a bullet that could remove one permanently. The prospect of the Yakuza having the means to both increase the power of their own quirks while simultaneously rendering anyone else quirkless was a worrying concept.

While investigating further, however, she found something that worried her even more. In the deepest part of the facility, past many layers of security was a room. And what she found in that room disgusted her. The deepest room of Yakuza facility housed a small girl with a single horn dressed in a hospital gown and covered in bandages. She thought back to the reports, how the bullets seemed to use level of human DNA, utilising someone's quirk to remove other people. Now she knew who's quirk they were using. Overhaul was using a child as a lab rat.

She knew she shouldn't, but that didn't stop her forcing a loop with the camera feed outside the girls room and stepping inside. There wasn't any cameras or security in the room, so Toru was free to act as she wished now. " Hey." She spoke softly. The little girl jumped, looking around like frightened field mouse. Toru slowly uncloaked, taking off her mask so she didn't startle the girl. " Easy. I'm not going to hurt you."

" W-Who are you?"

" I'm Toru. Toru Hagakure. I'm a friend."

" They all say that. B-But mister Kai's people are n-never friendly."

" I'm not one of Chisaki's men. Trust me. He's a bas… a big jerk."

" How… did you get in here?"

" Ha. I can get anywhere I want." Toru said confidently. She sat down so she was closer to Eri's eye level. "What's your name, by the way?"

"...Eri." She said hesitantly.

" It's cute. I like your horn."

" You shouldn't."

" Why not? My friend has horns." Toru smiled. Maybe Mina wasn't exactly a good example of what this girl should strive to be though.

" Because. It means I'm a bad girl. Just like my quirk. I'm cursed."

" And who told you that?" Eri looked down. " I thought my quirk was a curse once too, you know? There was a time where I couldn't turn my invisibility off."

" Huh?"

" But I met someone. A… dear friend. He taught me that every quirk is a gift. A power you and you alone can control. Sometimes it's a bit broken and sometimes it breaks us. But in the end, it is our power. Sometimes all we need is a helping hand. Someone to help us understand it and how to use it properly."

" I don't think that applies to me."

" It totally does." Toru reassured her. " What's your quirk?"

" I… rewind the state of things." She said nervously.

" That sounds awesome." Toru smiled. She did her best to channel her inner Izuku, wracking her brains for how a rewind quirk could be used. " It sounds like the perfect quirk for… uh… oh, a doctor. You can rewind peoples bodies to a state to where they weren't injured."

" I… don't wat to be a doctor." She said looking down. The panicked look in her eyes said all it needed too. The doctors in Overhaul's employ probably hurt this girl. She wanted to stab them. A disturbance behind the door distracted the two. " O-Oh no. It's him. Y-You can't be here. If he sees you he'll kill you."

" Don't worry about me. He won't find me." Toru smirked before putting her mask back on. " And if anyone asks who you were talking too, call me your imaginary friend." Toru activated her quirk just in time for Overhaul and a few other men to enter the room. Toru took the opportunity to leave. She wanted to save her. She desperately wanted that. But she couldn't do it alone. Izuku needed to know about this first. And then? Maybe she'd get her wish.

Izuku excused himself in the evening to do something he described as a chore. In reality, he considered what he was doing far from that. He sat opposite Toru in a café known for its ties to various villains in the underground, asking the kind looking old lady, a former villain who had terrorised a number of cities known as Maelstrom, for a back room so they wouldn't be interrupted or spied on. Toru looked pissed when Izuku arrived, worrying him. She handed Izuku over a pen drive containing the footage she recorded when she scouting out Overhauls place as well as the samples and paperwork she stole. " Quirk erasing bullets?" Izuku asked.

" Yeah." Toru growled. " The way they get it is fucking sickening too."

" Is this why you're so mad?"

" Obviously." Toru sighed. " Sorry, I don't mean to sound mad at you. It's just… she's a child."

" She?"

" The papers. They get the component to destroy quirks from a person. Well, her quirk. And… she can't be older than six or seven." Izuku was taken aback by this. " She's just stuck in a room in the back of Overhaul's lab. Alone. It's…"

" Barbaric." Izuku's nails dug into his palms. Izuku knew what it was like to suffer as a child. As a quirkless boy bullied and tormented relentlessly for ten long years of his life, he knew suffering. But this girl. He trusted Toru. And if she was telling the truth, which he knew she was… " I'm toppling Overhaul's regime. And, when I do, we're saving her. You and I."

" Really?"

" If Overhaul is experimenting on a little girl, that girl must know suffering. Just like you and I do. I can't abandon someone like that." Izuku said firmly.

" I'm glad."

" Still, we can't just go attack the place haphazardly." Izuku hummed. " I'll go scout the area around Overhaul's base while the others have their hands full with the little test we have for Rappa and Tengai."

" What even is that?" Izuku smirked.

" I hear UA's starting their internships." Izuku said. " I don't want my classmates to just be wandering around dusty streets, now do I. That would be awfully boring, don't you think?" He gave Toru a wink. Toru burst out laughing/

" You are cruel, you know that?"

" Maybe." Izuku shrugged. " But he deserves it."

It had been a while since he'd been on the street but Katsuki was happy to return. He didn't know why, but something about being in the open, making a difference, made him happier than being stuck training. He wasn't back with Best Jeanist like he had been for the initial internships back when Iida had gone and made a scene in Hosu, however he honestly didn't mind. Best Jeanist and him hadn't really gotten a long well. While the man had taught Katsuki some good lesson about being a hero, he was far too straight laced for his liking. Even if he wanted to, he wouldn't have been able to go back anyway since he was still recovering from his fight with All For One. So that's why he was here.

The rank number 8 Pro Hero, Mirko, was notorious for being loud mouthed, brash and fierce in battle. In other words, Katsuki's perfect match. The second he'd arrived for his interview for an internship, Mirko and Katsuki's combined personalities quickly turned the meeting into a snark off which ended in them moving to Mirko's training grounds for a brawl. Though he was handily beaten, Mirko liked his spunk so here he was.

Mirko stretched, holding back a yawn, as they patrolled. " So, you're saying that you wanna be a hero to find a friend?"

" Yep."

" And that friend is Izuku Midoriya, the League's supposed second?"

" Yeah."

" That's crazy." The Rabbit hero laughed.

" Shut up, March Hare!" Katsuki shouted. " He just-"

" He knows exactly what he's doing, you dumbass Pomeranian." Mirko said. " I don't think you just accidentally mastermind the plans behind various attacks on hero society." Katsuki growled. " Still, he is trouble. If you could bring him in easy, it'd help us. If you find him, I'll see what I can do. But right now, let's just help any idiot who crosses our path, yeah?"

" Sounds like a plan, I guess."

" Come in all local heroes." A speaker on Mirko's costume suddenly came to life. " I repeat, are there any nearby heroes?"

" This is Mirko. What's up?"

" Hawks here." A second voice called. " Problem officer?"

" We're under attack by a small group of Villains. Two of them are confirmed members of the League of Villains. I repeat. We are under attack by the League."

" The League?" Mirko's eyes became serious.

" Izuku." Katsuki muttered under his breath.

" What's your location?"

" The Art Museum."

" The one on 5th?" Hawks' voice echoed.

" Yes." Mirko nodded to Katsuki before taking off, the boy hot on her bushy tail.

" Mirko. How far from 'em are you? En route now." Hawks asked

" 7 minutes, depending on foot traffic."

" I'm 12 minutes, adding on time for my new partner to get used to the roof tops. Can you hold 'em off for that long?"

" We have injured, but we should be fine."

" Who are the League members?" Katsuki asked. The line was silent.

" You heard the kid. Who've you got on your ass?"

" Uh, We can see Forge, Crucible and an unknown assailant. However, we've reports of an odd gas nearby that's preventing reinforcements from getting to us."

" That bastard from the Forest." Katsuki growled.

" So there's likely hidden enemies. Great. Just great." A smirk appeared on Mirko's face. " Yo kid. Ready for a challenge?" Bakugo laughed.

" First day on the job and I'm already busting heads. This is gonna be a blast."