Chapter 36
Project Iron Man. The files were currently in the hands of the various tech people, being decrypted and studied, but Izuku had seen enough from his quick flick through the file. Then again, with a name like Iron Man what else could it have been? Either cyborg super-soldiers, or Abraham had stumbled onto time travel and was secretly a massive fan of Black Sabbath.
Somehow, Izuku didn't think it was the second. That was probably for the best, though. He didn't have any actual proof that the various Flashes had messed with the course of history, but he suspected. Given the sheer difference between Jason's world and the world they'd contacted to help stop Superman, something must have been involved. But that was something he couldn't change, not worth worrying over. Izuku had very real concerns to deal with, starting with just who, exactly, had kidnapped Abraham. And why. And whether the MLA had realised he was a plant. And if Shigaraki was going to hunt him down, or reveal his secret identity. And whether he was going to go white with stress before his twentieth birthday.
He was almost starting to miss Gotham. What had happened to the good old days of lone psychos and themed villains? These days it seemed like there was a conspiracy to upset the entire country under every rock. Maybe he should convince Aizawa to let him and Knuckleduster go after Stain, just as a palette cleanser. It wasn't as though taking down Stain wouldn't be a good deed.
"Are you going to eat that, or just stare at it?"
Izuku blinked, snapping out of his thoughts as Mina leaned across the table and waved a hand in front of him. He swatted at it half-heartedly, missing her, and shook his head.
"Just thinking," he said, "You know how it is."
Mina leaned back once he started to eat, smiling.
"Nope," she said happily, "Can't empathise. No thoughts here."
Izuku didn't actually choke on his lunch, but it was pretty close. Mina beamed at his expression before shrugging, hands spread widely to give the motion more impact.
"You've been staring at that for the last five minutes, Midori," she said, "Thinking or not, that's a long time."
Had he? Izuku didn't normally zone out – too paranoid – but a sideways glance at the nearest clock proved Mina right. Maybe it was a good sign, that he trusted them enough to zone out. Maybe it was a sign that he hadn't gotten enough sleep recently. He didn't want to turn into Aizawa.
"Just thinking about everything that's gone on recently," he said, "I saw some people online talking about how Hero Students in our year should be rushed into getting our provisional licences. Guess that making it through the USJ and I-Island haven't helped us out."
"Other than not dying, ribbit. That was a bit of a help."
"That was a bit of a help," Izuku conceded. Not dying was very cool.
"Are they really talking about that, though?" Mina asked, "I mean, it's not like I would say no. Being able to be an actual Hero would be good, I guess? But it feels pretty soon. Are they really that scared of the League of Villains?"
Izuku shrugged.
"For the moment I'm pretty sure it's just a couple of people," he said, "Always the same thing. 'Why haven't the Heroes won already'. 'Why hasn't All Might just beaten them up'. 'Where's Endeavour when you need him'. 'Those Hero kids from UA would probably do better'."
Izuku shrugged.
"Nothing'll come of it, probably."
"You're just paranoid?" Kirishima said, although his grin had a stressed edge that indicated fairly clearly that he remembered how often Izuku's paranoia had been correct. Izuku, personally, thought they probably didn't need to worry. Sending them out now would just give fuel to the fire of child soldier accusations, and the HSPC didn't need any more bad press.
Also, Izuku already had a licence, through the power of nepotism. He had no idea how that would work out, given that the provisional licences were usually granted through an exam. Maybe he'd have to take it anyway? Maybe he should do some research, just for the nostalgia value.
He briefly wondered if it would be harder to find out information on the provisional exam than UA's Entrance Exam. You would think it would be, given that it was more important, but UA did have Nedzu overseeing. Then again, given what Nedzu was like, that might not mean much. Nedzu was definitely the sort of person to decide that anyone attempting a little bit of educational espionage should be given a chance.
Nedzu's sometimes alarming eccentricities aside, it would be somewhat of a risk – Izuku was still mindful of the general shadiness of the HSPC, and didn't especially want to draw attention. But so long as he left their systems alone and just asked questions, it should be fine. He would think about it.
"You think," Kirishima said after a moment, "If we were going to have to do our Provisional Exams. You think Aizawa would be even harder on us in training?"
"How would he be harder on us?" Mina asked, "He could stand on a rooftop and fire a gun at us and it would still be about the same."
Izuku bit his tongue to hide his smile, looking down as Mina and Kirishima argued good-naturedly about the various ways Aizawa could make their lives worse. They'd be alright.
Classes that afternoon didn't include any Hero practice. Izuku wasn't sure if he should be grateful or not – in their homeroom Aizawa had made some fairly menacing comments about stealth training, which promised to be either very funny or very stressful. Or both, even, because while Izuku was pretty good at being sneaky he didn't want to underestimate Aizawa's ability to make people have a bad time. Also, if Izuku was forced to guess, a stealth exercise was probably going to turn into an endless search for either Hagakure or Izuku himself – possibly both. But that was a future Izuku's problem now. With the school day over Izuku found himself lingering at the gates, watching the crowd of students with a suspicious eye.
He probably had nothing to fear. Probably. But Izuku hadn't forgotten the suggestion of a traitor, probably amongst the higher year students if he had to guess, and he hadn't forgotten how someone had followed him a few weeks ago. He was fairly sure that the man had been Humarise, but that still wasn't encouraging.
Sometimes he thought that Brother Eye had been a good idea. Did it violate the privacy of every single person on the planet, all at the same time? Yes, that was the point. Was it perfect for finding someone you wanted? Also, yes. Did it break laws at a heretofore unheard of rate? Very much so.
Yeah, sometimes he thought Brother Eye had been a good idea. And then he came to his senses. Izuku wouldn't even trust himself with that kind of power, never mind anyone else. But that meant he was down to good old fashioned detective work when looking for traitors.
Well, either that or he could let Nedzu and Aizawa do it. Yeah, that was better. Besides, it wasn't as though he had any kind of idea how to identify them: unfortunately, it seemed like All For One wasn't particularly given to distinguishing marks among his henchmen. Not scars, not tattoos, not bandannas, nothing. Honestly, it was very disappointing in a supervillain. Where was his branding? Izuku fought his natural paranoia and walked on, content to listen to his classmates talk. He stuck with them all the way to the entrance and a little further, keeping with them until they split apart to head their separate ways. Tsuyu and Kiri headed off in their own direction, as usual, but today Mina lingered. She usually went the same way – Izuku was pretty used to walking to the train station alone at this point – so he tilted his head questioningly at her.
"What, you don't want company?" Mina asked. Izuku shrugged.
"I don't usually have any. Why, you have somewhere to go?"
"Well," Mina said brightly, "I'm going to a new dance class, not that far away from the train station. So I'll walk with you, since we're going the same way!"
Izuku paused. It wasn't as though Mina going to a completely new place for something was implausible – especially for some kind of dance practice or recital. That said, given her expression under her beaming smile…
"You don't know where you're going, do you?" he asked. Mina continued to smile.
"Nope!" she chirped, "I was going to use the map on my phone, but then I thought – why not get Midori to take me there?"
"So you just wanted to use me as a map?" Izuku said, pretending sorrow, "People these days. No respect."
He started walking anyway, glancing at the address Mina showed him and calculating a path. He didn't know every road and street, not yet, but he knew enough that he was pretty sure he could get there without having to look anything up.
"How come you're going to a new place?" Izuku asked, "Don't you have regular classes somewhere else?"
Mina nodded, skipping slightly to catch up to him completely.
"Really I'm meeting up with some of Shine Dancer's sidekicks," she said, "They're in the city for a little while and wanted to catch up. That's why I'm going somewhere new. Don't give me that look."
"What look?" Izuku asked, genuinely baffled. Mina laughed again, but it was quieter. Softer.
"That 'are you sure it's safe' look. The one that says 'have you checked the location', 'have you checked the people'. The Paranoia Look."
Izuku could hear the capital letters.
"I don't sound like that," he protested mildly, "Do I?"
Did he? Because that sounded like Bruce. Izuku steadfastly ignored the part of him that reminded him that Jason was, in fact, Bruce's son. Mina shrugged.
"I think it's endearing," she told him, patting his shoulder. Somehow, that made it worse.
"Well, since I've got nothing left to be shamed for. Have you checked all of those?"
"Sure have," Mina said brightly, "I mean, I trust them anyway. But I made sure to look the place we're meeting up and everything, and I told my parents where I was going. And now you know, too, so if I get kidnapped you can just. You know. Do your usual thing."
"My usual thing?"
Mina made finger guns at him and Izuku rolled his eyes.
"Just track me down, break in, pew-pew all the bad guys. You know how it is, all pow and wham and bam and stuff."
"I'll have to work on my onomatopoeia, then," Izuku said, dry as dust. It didn't particularly dissuade Mina.
"Hey, that could be your gimmick," she said, "I mean, it's infringing a bit on that guy in 1-B. Uh, Manga?"
"Manga, yeah," Izuku said, knowing who she was talking about. As far as names went it was a bit on the nose, given that his head appeared to be a speech bubble, but it was pretty well suited to his Quirk.
"I don't think it would go with the rest of the costume, though," he said, and Mina frowned at him. Maybe he shouldn't have said that, because he could practically see her brainstorming additions to his costume that would work: in hopes of distracting her, he spoke again.
"Have you done anything more about your costume?"
The look she gave him made it very clear that she knew what he was doing, but she allowed him to change the topic anyway. They were about halfway through a conversation about the merits of combining orange and purple in a costume when the hair on Izuku's neck prickled.
He wasn't sure how he knew, but he was certain that he did: they were being watched. Izuku resisted the urge to look around for anyone who might look suspicious, knowing full well that alerting whoever it was wouldn't end well. Instead he mentally ran through his options.
Try and call them out? There were too many people. He could try and lose them in the crowds, but if whoever it was wanted to attack him then that would put everyone here in danger. He needed to find out who it was, which meant getting away from all these easily breakable civilians. But that would put Mina in danger. There was a chance he was just imagining things, but if he wasn't...
Somehow he couldn't imagine Mina would take kindly to putting civilians in danger just to try and keep her safe.
"Quick question," he murmured to her, "How do you feel about playing bait?"
Mina glanced at him, her smile staying in place but her gaze sharpening. She might not know exactly why he was asking, but she could tell that something was wrong.
"I've done worse things."
"Alright," Izuku said, "See that alleyway up ahead? It's a bit of a shortcut, so let's duck down there and get out of the crowds."
Mina didn't question him, keeping up as they ducked into the alleyway. It was wider and better lit than most Izuku had seen, surprisingly clean and well kept, but it was at least away from the crowds. This would be the test, then, to see if Izuku was just paranoid or really sensing something. And hey, if it turned out he was just losing his mind, it really was still a shortcut.
For a moment, as the two of them went quiet, there was no noise other than their footsteps in the alleyway and Izuku dared to think that he might have been imagining things. And then there was a faint scuff of a shoe sole against concrete, the click of a step just a fraction out of sync, and Izuku let that little hope die. It could be an innocent civilian who was just going the same way they were, but…Izuku would like to say that it could be the case and he would normally chalk it up to paranoia but, as past experiences had proved, he was if anything not paranoid enough.
What an awful thought. He really would be turning into Bruce soon.
"I don't wanna sound paranoid," Mina said, so very quietly, "Because I feel like that would be infringing on your thing, you know. But we're being followed, aren't we?"
Izuku tilted his head to the faint noise of footsteps behind them, mismatched with the sound of traffic and not quite in step, and dipped his chin. From the outside it probably looked like he was huddling into the collar of his coat, to escape the wind. Mina would know it was a nod.
"Great," Mina said, the word coming out as part of a sigh, "Great. So what are we going to do about it?"
Izuku was tempted to tell her that 'we' weren't going to do anything, that he'd lead them away while she escaped. But there was no way she'd accept that. And really, would she be a Hero if she would? No. Which meant they needed to either fight or flee. Izuku just wished he could look behind him, see if they were just thugs or someone else.
"You got a makeup mirror?" he asked, voice barely louder than a breath. Mina didn't nod, but she did pat through her pockets and produce one, tilting it to her face while still walking with a casualness that Izuku honestly envied. Being that smooth was a gift. From the corner of his eye he could see the mirror, the tilt of it just catching the feet of their pursuers. Multiple feet, following them in a line. Alright. That wasn't a coincidence.
"I didn't know you wore much makeup," Izuku said, louder and as casual as possible, feigning obliviousness to their shadows while he looked for a way out. Mina, bless her, caught on almost immediately.
"I don't, really," she said, "Makeup that can last through Hero work costs a fortune, you know. And when I'm doing laps it's bad enough that I'm running, never mind my eyeshadow doing the same. But I like to be fancy sometimes."
"I've never really thought about it," Izuku said, as though he didn't have to carefully select what he needed for undercover work. Well, it wasn't quite the same. And there was a fire escape not far on, high enough that he and Mina would have a hard time reaching it if they were alone. Perfect.
"You see the fire escape?" he whispered to her, stopping himself from pointing. He watched from the corner of his eye as Mina's eyes roved across the alleyway, alighting on the target.
"It's high up."
"I'll give you a boost," he murmured, "Use the wall to jump myself, if you can catch me."
It wasn't exactly his favourite choice, but Mina was strong enough to lift him. At least, she could lift him for a short burst, long enough for the both of them to get onto the fire escape. The only question was how confident she felt.
"On the count of three," he told Mina quietly, "We run and we jump."
Mina tucked her mirror away, swallowing, but she nodded, her jaw set in determination.
"One," Izuku murmured, every muscle tensing and adrenaline starting to pound, "Two. Three!"
They bolted. There was a shout behind them but Izuku ignored it, sprinting ahead of Mina and sliding to a stop under the fire escape, throwing his bag up onto the escape before turning and lacing his fingers together, dropping into a crouch. Mina had dropped back to give him a moment but she didn't stop now, throwing her bag up to join his, running right at him and jumping. He caught her foot in his hands, boosting as hard as he could, and heard the musical jangle of her hitting the fire escape bars.
One, two, three four people running at him, no-one that he recognised but honestly anyone running at him was a pretty good indicator that something was wrong and Izuku ran for the wall and jumped, kicking off to buy himself extra height. Nowhere near the height Mina had managed with his boost, not nearly enough to reach the fire escape, but Mina had twisted around after catching the fire escape, locking her legs and one arm around the bars and holding the other down. Izuku's right hand caught hers, the anchor he needed, just long enough for him to twist in mid-air and fling himself up to latch his left hand onto the top bar and flip himself over onto the fire escape. He ignored the yells of consternation from below as he reached across and helped Mina vault over the bars herself.
"I told you those acrobatics would come in handy!" she said, eyes bright with excitement. Izuku laughed.
"I told you, doing it to mess with the rest of the class was handy enough! Now come on, up onto the roof before they find a way up."
Izuku spared the time to throw a cheeky salute down at their pursuers, just for the hell of it. The shouts that followed them up the stairs were a balm to his soul.
Up the stairs, up the whole way onto the roof, and Izuku pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialled without looking at it. He pressed the speaker button as soon as it connected, scrambling off rusted metal and onto gravelled concrete.
"Principal Nedzu, here!"
"A bunch of guys," Izuku rushed out, "Following us. Don't know if they're after us specifically or just looking for trouble. Chasing me and Mina."
"Oh dear."
Oh dear? Izuku was used to Nedzu being a little understated, but he thought this situation deserved a little more than a god-damn oh dear. Izuku wouldn't even have been that concerned if it was just him, but Mina was here too. She was a skilled student, but she wasn't like Izuku. She wasn't ready, and that smouldering flame of hatred in his heart burned a little brighter at the thought that his friends might be hurt because someone was following him.
"Mr Midoriya, what are you doing now? I'm tracking your signal, but it will take longer than just a moment, the safeties on your phone-"
"Work both ways, I know. On a rooftop. We made it up here before they got to the fire escape – four or five pursuers, don't know how long it'll take them to get up here or what they're doing. Mina! We jump onto the next building, you ready?"
"Ready!" Mina called back, and Izuku took a moment to be profoundly grateful that Mina was so enthusiastic about parkour.
"Sorry, sir, death-defying acrobatics to do!" Izuku called, ending the call and twisting to Mina.
"Mina! One jump, right across to the next building," he shouted, "Just go when you reach the edge!"
They jumped. It wasn't far, the surging adrenaline of the empty air beneath them and the drop to the street below and then Izuku's feet hit the next roof, Mina landing lightly next to him, and they kept running. It would have been nice to keep running and stay on the roofs until they'd completely lost their pursuers, but that wasn't going to happen.
"Midori," Mina shouted, still running, "Not to hurry you or anything, but we're nearly out of roof! I don't think I can jump across an entire street."
Nearly out of roof. Not nearly out of options. Izuku held up his left hand, his bag bouncing awkwardly on his back, and shifted his fingers in the right sequence. The hidden slot popped out, the grapple activating, and Mina made a noise of sheer glee.
"We're going to jump?"
"The building's high enough that we'll hit street level pretty gently, keep running," Izuku said, "Switch sides, now!"
They swapped, the edge of the roof getting closer and closer, and Izuku hastily adjusted his backpack so it was more secure.
"Grab hold once we jump!" Izuku shouted, "And hold on tight!"
Once they made it through this he was going to get Mina her own grapple. Izuku mapped the distance to the next building, the angle he'd need to hit the next alleyway, and reached out.
They jumped.
Izuku wrapped his arm around Mina's waist, her arms closing around his shoulders, and launched the grapple. It hit as it always did, the jerk of the impact ringing through his arm and shoulder and Izuku gritted his teeth as the grapple hit and started to retract, swinging them both through the air.
Mina whooped in his ear like she was on a rollercoaster, and despite himself Izuku felt a grin break across his face. Someone screamed from the crowd below – amateurs. You'd think they'd never seen two schoolchildren recklessly swinging through the air before, they wouldn't have lasted a minute in Gotham. They landed in the alleyway with only a slight stumble, already running again, and they dashed down the alleyway until they reached a cross-section where they could duck off to the side. Izuku pulled Mina along with him, both of them crouching behind a dumpster as feet pounded past. Izuku breathed quietly, trying to guess how many.
"One, two, three," he murmured, doing his best to separate the footsteps into individuals, "Four…more. Definitely more. That's even more than we first saw."
Mina pulled a face. Four on two wasn't terrible odds, depending on how skilled the four and the two were, but Izuku didn't like to make a habit of taking fights like that and he liked it even less if the bad guys had reinforcements.
"Alright, there's at least four of them," Mina said, "Probably more than we can fight. So, what do we do?"
What Izuku would like to do was get a tracker on one of them, follow them home and inflict violence upon them until they told Izuku everything that could be useful and probably a lot of things that weren't. But. To do that, he'd probably have to get into a scuffle with whoever it was, because just turning around and throwing one of the very few trackers he'd carried out of habit would be quite obvious. And getting into a scuffle meant putting Mina in the middle of the fight, and while he was confident she could handle herself he was also fully aware that both of them were in civilian clothes right now, rather than Hero costumes. So yes, Izuku had something he'd like to do. But the sensible thing was something else.
"We should keep going to your dance recital," Izuku said, mind landing on the thought and latching on, "There'll be Heroes there, or Sidekicks at least, so we'll be able to get backup. And that way we'll have an actual location that Nedzu can send help to. You trust these people you're meeting?"
Mina nodded.
"They're good people. Good Heroes."
"Good enough for me, then. Alright. We need to get there, hopefully without running into our followers. They must have been pretty quick, to follow us when we were roof running."
"They've gone past, though, so you think they might have missed us?"
"Hopefully. But they might realise we lost them and double back, and the buildings here are all pretty far apart. I don't want to risk roof-running again."
"That's fair," Mina agreed, "So, we're just going to head through the alleys?"
Izuku didn't know these places perfectly or even that well, but his mental map of where they'd gone was good enough that he knew more or less the way. He nodded.
"We'll go this way," he said, "And if there's a trap, we'll have to just break through and keep running. Whoever's chasing us can't have that many people on tap."
Because, Izuku knew, he would have laid a trap. The moment he realised that whoever he was chasing had either hidden among the alleys or escaped entirely he would have turned back and started searching, if he was alone. If he had backup, he would have called them in and closed off as much of the alleyway as possible before starting to search.
"You should let Principal Nedzu know what we're doing," Mina said as they jogged along. That was a good point, actually, and Izuku fished out his phone again and made another call. Mina leaned in close, so she could hear as well.
"Ah, Mr Midoriya," Nedzu said, still very cheerfully, "You survived your gymnastic session, then?"
"Luckily, sir," Izuku said, quickly filling Nedzu in on the plan. The Principal hummed afterwards and Izuku heard the tap of his claws against his desk.
"Yes, that's good. The outer cameras on UA see quite a long way. I think I see your pursuers – there appears to be at least half a dozen others with him. They're staying far apart, but they have similarities. They put me in mind of some kind of kidnapping group, actually."
A snatch squad? That wasn't good.
It could be worse, to be sure. Instead of a snatch squad who seemed fairly low-key it could be a group of supervillains explicitly assembled to kill him – God knew Bruce and Jason had both experienced that particular displeasure. Izuku hadn't yet, although Red Hood hadn't made that much of a splash yet. It would come with time.
"And, not to worry you, but I've also seen someone else. A man, who appears to be following your followers, who is wearing red shoes. I don't know if he's with them or not, but the coincidence is unpleasant. I'm sure you know what to do now?"
"Don't get caught, sir. Right."
"I would always advise that, Mr Midoriya. I am reaching out to other Heroes and re-routing them to your destination, although…"
"Although, sir?"
"It's nothing, Mr Midoriya. Just a suspicion, but only a suspicion as of yet. Keep moving, I'll track you as best I can."
Izuku hung up again, looking back to Mina.
"Plan hasn't changed, let's keep moving."
Mina nodded sharply, the two of them jogging along.
"Do you get into trouble like this a lot?" she asked, "I mean, I don't expect you to tell me everything. But you seemed to recognise the guy in red shoes that the Principal mentioned. Friend of yours?"
"Seen him before," Izuku said, dropping his voice so anyone following them couldn't hear, "He followed me, but not as Izuku."
"Not as…oh. Oh, that's bad."
"It could be a coincidence."
And Izuku really hoped it was, because if it was he might be outed. And if the MLA was onto him, then he could be in serious danger. Either he cut off his infiltration early, risking missing something if they hadn't worked it out, or he took the risk and possibly got kidnapped again. Sadly he didn't think the MLA would be as obligingly unprepared for him as the Eight Precepts had been.
"Is anything in your life ever a coincidence?"
"Quite a lot, actually. It's just that in hindsight you see all sorts of connections, even if they aren't real. Alright, we turn left here, keep going until we reach a street, turn right down the street and we'll be one left turn away from the right place. Not much further."
"Don't say something like that. I just know we're going to regret it."
"Oh, who's the one tempting fate now?"
Left, down to the street. It was nearly empty – it was a quiet residential street, lined with apartments. There were still people walking down it, yes, but it wasn't nearly as busy as the ones they'd started on. They came out onto the street and started to their right. A couple of people gave them suspicious looks, but Izuku and Mina ignored them.
"I think we might have made it," Izuku said, taunting fate with reckless abandon, "But still. Keep your eyes open."
"Yeah, yeah. This next alleyway, right?"
"Not the next one, the one after that."
Mina hummed in agreement. They were so very close, this more a minor adventure to tell a story about later than an actual danger. Just thinking that Izuku could already tell that something was going to go wrong.
Just a moment later, as they ran past the next alleyway, Izuku's paranoia was proven right yet again.
The ambush came with shocking speed, a woman bursting out and grabbing for Mina. Fingers latched onto her upper arm, Mina yelping at the grasp, and the woman bared her teeth in triumph.
"Got you, you-"
Whatever she was about to say would forever be unknown. Unfortunately for her, Mina wasn't a movie damsel in distress: her response to being grabbed by the arm wasn't to go limp and cry weakly for help, it was to stomp on the woman's foot and flick a fingerful of acid at her face with the other hand. From the resulting shriek the woman found it quite a surprise. Izuku didn't get to see what Mina did next, too busy dealing with the man who'd charged from the alleyway on the other side of the street at him, but he spared a second to be amused that they'd paired up based on gender.
Leather jacket, jeans, scarf pulled up to hide his face. Not professional, but not your average street thug either Izuku thought, quickly taking in his opponent. Duck under the grab at his head, elbow to the diaphragm, grab the shoulder and the arm, apply knee to the same point he'd elbowed, step under the arm, twist and hip throw.
The man hit the wall with a sad sounding thud and Izuku let him collapse, turning back to Mina just in time to see her turn a shoulder throw into a spinning kick that put her opponent out for the count. He would have congratulated her, but the hammer of footsteps told him that it wasn't over yet. Two more people came rushing out of the alleyways and Izuku twisted to the one charging Mina, sliding his bag off his shoulder and throwing it. The man yelped as it hit him in the face, followed by another, significantly higher, yelp as Mina rushed him. The fourth launched himself at Izuku.
Step and twist, tilting his head back to avoid the lunging punch with the man's right. Grab the wrist. Uppercut to the chin with his left arm, short but effective. Kick the knee. Grab the shoulder, twist and turn and slam the man into the wall, head-first.
Embarrassingly easy, really.
The man fighting Mina yelled something incoherent as Mina spun away from him, light on her feet, and blundered towards Izuku. Both hands were outstretched, face twisted in fury, and he hurled himself forwards like a train, fingers seeking to latch and crush. Izuku didn't give him the chance, stepping smoothly past the charge. He wrapped an arm around the man's and latched onto his shoulder, kicking the back of his knee and shoving his face hard down as he spun the man around to face Mina.
"Mina!"
Mina, bless her, realised the opportunity with a single glance and Izuku let the man go a fraction before Mina's spinning kick slammed into his face and knocked him off his feet.
Mina threw out her hand for a high-five. Izuku slapped his palm against hers without a second of hesitation.
"Hell yes!" Mina shouted, "You got nothin' on this dream team!"
The celebration might have been premature, because there were even more footsteps coming towards them, shouts echoing from the alleyways, and Izuku and Mina made eye contact with a rueful understanding as Izuku scooped up his bag again.
"Alright, maybe they do have something on this dream team," Mina admitted, right before the two of them went back-to-back, fists raised. Izuku swept a glance around the street, searching out their opponents, and scooped up his bag again. He might need it.
From the way the extra people who followed the first four stopped Izuku suspected they'd gotten a nasty surprise. But really. Izuku didn't like to boast, but he and Mina were UA students, Hero students from the best damn school in the country – and, moreover, from Class 1-A, whose exploits had to be known by now. Why would anyone think that two moderately capable thugs would be enough?
They wouldn't, of course, which was why another thug was approaching from each alleyway and two more were running from each end of the street. They must have known, somehow, where Izuku and Mina were headed – of course, if they had someone with enhanced senses, it wouldn't have been hard to overhear them. Damn it.
Two and four made six approaching, add the four already down and that made ten. A decent size squad for just Izuku, if you were underestimating him a little. No sign of Mr Red Sneakers, though, which was always a concern. But right now, there were still six thugs up and about, and him without his pistols. They were all wearing leather jackets, too. Personally, Izuku was a little offended. That was his style – although at least they weren't snapping their fingers in unison. He could deal with tough guys. He didn't think he could deal with mod cons, or whatever people in the Sixties had called themselves.
"Forwards, backwards, or one of the alleys?" Mina asked, bouncing slightly on her toes. Izuku couldn't quite tell if it was nerves or excitement that motivated her – probably both, really. He quickly sized up the group and nodded to himself.
"Forwards," he said, "Brings us closer to your friends, and they look shaky."
"You've got a funny definition of shaky," Mina said, but Izuku could hear the grin in her voice. It was a good thing she was almost as much an adrenaline junky as he was.
"Let's see if I'm right," Izuku said, noting that the passers-by had stopped to gawp. Some of them had even gotten their phones out and he felt a rush of pure aggravation. Even by-stander syndrome would have been preferable to whatever the hell was wrong with these people. Still. At least they'd get a show.
"I'll take the two of them, you spread acid behind and to the sides to keep the other four off us," Izuku said, "And then we'll just run."
He started walking forwards, sliding his bag off his shoulder and into his hands, and Mina matched his pace.
"You know, I kinda wish Kiri and Tsu were here," Mina said, "They'll be upset to miss this. Kiri, especially. This is twice he's missed out."
"The next time I'm in mortal peril I'll be sure to invite all of you," Izuku said, "You ready?"
The thugs they were walking towards broke into a run, charging at them, and Izuku moved ahead of Mina with his bag in his hand, held loosely by the straps. He heard Mina laugh behind him.
"Aw, Midori," she said, "I'm always ready."
One of the men in front of them pulled out a knife, flicking the switchblade open with an ease Izuku didn't like. The other snapped open a telescopic baton, and Izuku didn't need to look to know that the rest were doing the same. So much for being underestimated.
It wasn't as though they had a choice, though, so…straight through it was. Izuku was speeding up towards a sprint when there was a shout from behind the two men and a body crashed into them both, knocking them down. Whoever it was, he wore familiar red shoes.
"Run!" he shouted, "Hurry, I'll hold them off!"
Well, never let it be said that Izuku didn't know how to take advantage of a dramatic distraction. Without thinking twice about it he grabbed Mina by the wrist and bolted, pulling her along with him. They tore along the street, ignoring the yells and the crashing behind them, and swerved through the alleyway and into the final street. Nedzu must have made a call, because people in costume were already spilling out of a building and Mina waved, catching their attention as they sprinted. One last short stretch and they were squeezing past people, blocked from the street by bodies, safe. Izuku turned and looked behind them, seeing no pursuers.
There was no sign of the man in red shoes, either.
It was, as it always was, a bit of a mess in the aftermath. Two of the thugs had been picked up, too dazed from fighting to have made their escape with the rest, but they were just members of another minor street gang. They'd been paid by an unknown person to ambush Izuku. No, the girl had just been at the wrong place at the wrong time. No, they didn't know who had paid them or why. They hadn't asked. Izuku, quite used to low level thugs not asking any questions for their own self-preservation, had listened in on the first denials and then left the Heroes to their interrogation. Instead he threaded through the gathering crowd to Mina, who was every bit as cheerful as normal. No lingering shock there.
Not that Izuku was feeling any lingering shock: mostly the only emotion he was feeling was aggravation. It wasn't quite anger, not yet, but he could say that he was a little bit peeved about being chased while in civvies. Not unreasonably, he thought, but he didn't have anyone to take it out on so, like always, he tucked the emotion away. He found Mina easily enough, but perhaps he should have just walked away – going back into the crowd had left him vulnerable.
The emergency services response wasn't quite as large a response as the attack on Tatsuyuki's Agency – it hardly needed to be – but there were still plenty of police and paramedics, and one of the paramedics apparently noticed that Izuku hadn't been checked over despite being one of the victims. Izuku attempted to shake the man off: the worst he'd gotten was a slight stiffness in his shoulder. Despite everything Hatsume had done, swinging both Mina and himself from his arm-grapple wasn't really recommended. It wasn't anything serious, though, and would fade quickly. The paramedic, regrettably intent on doing his duty properly, insisted on inspecting Izuku for injuries anyway.
Mina, massaging bruised knuckles, laughed at his expression before asking him how he'd avoided hurting his hand. Izuku just held up his prosthetic.
"I punch with my left out of costume," he'd said, "Although I don't think I'd recommend this as a way to avoid bruising."
"You Hero students terrify me, you know," the paramedic said, "But it looks like you actually got away with it this time. No injuries, apart from a slight wrenching of your shoulder that should pass quickly, so long as you don't get injured again in the next day or so."
"No promises, but I'll try!" Izuku said happily, earning himself a disgusted look. The paramedic started away from them, off towards his colleagues, and Izuku grinned.
"You did that on purpose," Mina said. Izuku just winked at her, turning away and glancing out the window.
"Busybodies," he said, "You alright?"
"Never better," Mina said brightly, "Kinda unexpected that the red shoes guy jumped in, though. You think he got away?"
"Yeah," Izuku said, "He got away. Saw him, just as the police arrived. He took off right after."
Mina nodded slowly.
"He did help us," she said, her words careful, thoughtful, "But it looked like he was chasing us, too. It would be better if he got caught, right?"
"Yeah," Izuku said, "Well, the police and Heroes are sweeping the area. Let's hope he gets caught."
The man in the red shoes hadn't been caught. Once the police had finished looking and finding nothing Izuku had headed out a short distance, to where he'd seen the man standing in an alleyway. When Izuku had seen him, when he'd been first safe amongst the Heroes, the man in red shoes had met Izuku's eyes and stuck something to the wall before retreating into the shadows. When Izuku looked he found a small plastic bag with a note inside. A carefully folded note, printed to make sure there was no telltale writing quirks, which held a place and a time. Izuku took it to Aizawa, silently mourning the loss of one of the few days when he got to just go home. But some things were important.
The weekend, he decided. Unless Japan was literally on fire he'd make sure to spend the weekend with his Mom. But, right now, he remained professional and hardened his heart. Back in a room with Aizawa and Nedzu, the letter laid out in front of them, Izuku was the first to speak.
"He didn't need to help me," Izuku said, "This is complicated."
Neither Nedzu nor Aizawa said anything, apparently content to watch him work his way through his thoughts.
"But," Izuku continued, "It's suspicious. He turns up and Mina and I immediately get attacked afterwards? And attacked by people just incompetent enough that we could stay safe until he intervened? It makes me think…"
It made him think of Karl, and how a Trigger addict had conveniently blundered into their meeting. Just as they'd been talking about the dangers of Trigger, with the undertone being about the threats to Quirkless people. And this time a man who had already followed Akatani Mikumo, known to be Quirkless, had just happened to show up? Maybe it was convoluted. But Izuku was still suspicious.
"It makes you think it was a set-up, just like your first Humarise meeting was," Aizawa completed, not willing to wait through Izuku's dramatic pause. Izuku shrugged.
"Yes, sir."
"Humarise are quite suspicious to anyone who bothers to look deeply," Nedzu said, "Their leader pays lip service to being a philanthropist, a man of the people, but it doesn't hold up very well. They do provide worthwhile services for a number of people, but…perhaps we're simply paranoid. Then again, just because you're paranoid doesn't mean you're wrong,"
"So, what," Aizawa said, "It's a conspiracy to get Midoriya on-board? He's good, but from public record he hardly seems worth the trouble."
Rude. Accurate, yes, but Izuku thought a shot at his public appearance was a bit rich when coming from someone who never seemed to drink anything that didn't come out of a can. As though hearing his thoughts Aizawa gave him a malevolent look, draining his most recent coffee. Izuku didn't think Aizawa could actually read thoughts – it was probably that he'd glanced at the can when the thought entered his mind – but still. Disconcerting.
"Is it much trouble?" Nedzu asked thoughtfully, "A single gang, of small importance. And the first incident, assuming that the incidents are connected, did more than get Mr Midoriya onboard. It helped stoke fears over Trigger usage and the dangers of Quirks gone out of control."
"That doesn't explain why Mr Red Shoes was following both me and me as Akatani," Izuku said, "It's a bit of a coincidence."
"Maybe not," Aizawa muttered, "You're both known to be Quirkless. You said, a while ago, that when you were younger Humarise got in contact with you, implying that they could 'deal with' any bullies. Right?"
Izuku was fairly sure he'd said that to Mina, not Aizawa, but what was a little invasion of privacy now and then? He just nodded, waiting to see where Aizawa was going with this.
"For them to do that, they must have enforcers," Aizawa said, "Seems to me that if they're invested in someone, having people quietly keep them safe is worth doing. Especially if that someone has enemies."
"Yes," Nedzu said, "It's still suspicious, the meeting could possibly be a trap. But there's only one way to be certain."
Izuku did an awful lot of springing traps, these days. But Mr Red Shoes couldn't be that tough. And even if he was, it wasn't like Izuku couldn't have backup close and ready. In fact, Aizawa would certainly insist on it.
Izuku wasn't going to say that it gave him a warm and fuzzy feeling, because honestly it was just practical to make sure that your agents didn't end up wearing concrete slippers. But it was nice to feel wanted.
"If Midoriya is going to be walking into a trap, do we know anything more about this man?" Aizawa asked. Izuku was fairly sure that he'd only just resisted calling him Mr Red Shoes, he could see it in the curl of Aizawa's lip.
"Not an immense amount," Nedzu confessed, "Whoever he is, wearing red shoes is hardly a unique identifying characteristic. Mr Midoriya himself, after all – but I'm getting off topic. While I was concerned that he followed Mr Midoriya while in the guise of Akatani, I've carried out only the briefest of investigations. His appearance now, suggesting that he really may be a Humarise agent, is more information than I've found so far."
"He's that good at avoiding you?" Aizawa grunted. Nedzu smiled.
"He's that inconsequential," he corrected, "Even I struggle to find someone based on the description of 'a male wearing red shoes'. We do at least have something now."
"It had better be good," Aizawa grumbled. Nedzu shrugged.
"Good? Maybe not. It is however, interesting."
How very alarming. Nevertheless, Izuku waited for Nedzu to continue.
"The cameras in the area are poor quality, but they did manage to catch his arrival," Nedzu said, "He knocked down the two men, stood, and distracted the others with a flashbang. A very unusual flashbang as well, rather more flash than bang. In fact, it's quite similar to…the one in the footage of the Abrahams raid."
Okay.
Okay, that was quite the implication. If you could really call it an implication, because it was more like a direct statement. Mr Red Shoes, potential Humarise agent, used the same type of flashbang as the team who had kidnapped Abrahams. It wasn't exactly a slam-dunk of evidence, it wasn't as though anyone had a monopoly on buying weapons, but it was very suspicious.
"If he's Humarise," Izuku said slowly, "Then Humarise might have been the ones to kidnap Abrahams. Which means…"
"They're up to something," Aizawa said, "Why else would they want his research? If most or even just a lot of Humarise are Quirkless, then?"
"It would even the playing field considerably," Izuku said. He paused, considering the power armour designs that both Mei and Melissa had come up with, and mentally compared it to the average power of Quirks.
"A little bit more than that," he conceded. If Humarise started deploying equipment made from Abraham's designs, assuming they could and had some reason to deploy them, the military might be getting a bit of a work out. Then again, maybe Humarise just wanted to get into arms dealing. Everyone needed a hobby, and that particular hobby was both fulfilling and enriching, so long as you didn't have too many morals.
"If he was involved, then we should take the chance," Izuku said, "Getting information out of him could lead us to Abrahams. If we can find him before whoever kidnapped him gets whatever they want, I'd be happy."
"Better to have it dealt with before any kind of new weaponry hits the streets," Aizawa agreed, "Even if we aren't likely to be on the receiving end. Besides, Midoriya would just meddle anyway."
Very rude, frankly. Very accurate, too.
"We have two options," Nedzu said, "Or, at least, two obvious options. We can try to capture him and bring him in for questioning. Or, perhaps, we can attempt to attach a tracker to him, and follow him back to his compatriots. I do think I prefer that option. And if he realises there's a tracker, well, we haven't lost anything compared to now."
"So long as I can manage it," Izuku said, "The thugs didn't put up much of a fight, but if he picked them he'd know that. And if he's one of the Humarise agents who grabbed Abrahams…those men were professionals. They knew what they were doing."
"Frightened they're better than you, Midoriya?" Aizawa asked, a moment of harshness in an already harsh voice. Izuku refused to rise to the bait.
"There's always someone better, sir. I don't think he is, but it doesn't hurt to be careful."
"But you'll still try, of course?" Nedzu asked. Izuku sighed. Of course he would.
He was a fool like that.
Izuku arrived to the meeting early. It was always a bit of a delicate balancing act, arriving to a meeting early enough to beat the other person without being so early that you ended up relaxing, getting complacent, being the one who might get snuck up on, but Izuku thought he'd managed. He checked around, looking for any sort of listening device or camera, and when he didn't find any he planted a couple of his own before retiring to the thickest shadows he could find. Mr Red Shoes had chosen his meeting place well – a park, taking away or at least reducing Izuku's advantage of the urban jungle – but Izuku knew enough to sink into the darkness offered by a shading tree, well away from the lamps that lit the greenery. The man came alone, about fifteen minutes later, still well before the allotted meeting time.
Izuku, in his heart of hearts, had to approve. Good habit to have. Not helpful for Mr Red Shoes in this case – Izuku really needed to learn his name – but it would help him in the future. Assuming he had a future. He probably did, Izuku wasn't feeling especially angry at the moment and he hadn't seen any sign of anyone hanging around and waiting to stab Mr Red Shoes in pursuit of making some kind of point, but he wasn't exactly infallible. Sometimes bad things just happened.
"I'm going to give him a scare," Izuku said, "See if he spills anything in a panic."
And, more importantly, try and get a tracker onto the man. Izuku wanted to know where he was from, where he was going, and what he was doing there. A single tracker wouldn't do that perfectly, but it would be good enough as a start. And, as a bonus, Izuku would get to test exactly how good Mr Red Shoes was at his job of sneaking around and ambushing people.
"Try not to hurt him too badly," Nedzu said pleasantly, "We still want him to be more or less friendly to you, after all."
Izuku bared his teeth. He might have called it a grin, in another setting.
In either place, he would be lying.
First things first, though: before he tested the man's reflexes, he wanted to get a tracker on him. Maybe more than one. They were tiny things, not any use for anything other than tracking, and Izuku flicked three at the man from his shadowed position. One to his shoes, one to the hem of his coat and one, carefully aimed, to the collar. They all struck, tiny black dots. If he could knock the man down, Izuku thought dryly, even anyone who found them would probably assume them to be clots of dirt.
Worth a try. Izuku slid out of the shadows, stepping carefully to avoid any stray branches, and crept up behind the man. His left hand rested gently on the butt of his pistol, a comfortable paranoia.
"Late night."
Izuku had expected a violent reaction, maybe a jump forwards. A scream. Maybe even an attack, but he hadn't quite expected the man to spin around, a knife falling from his sleeve into his hand and driving towards Izuku's neck. Block, the thud of his vambrace against the jacket the man wore, the scrape of the knife against Izuku's armour, the tip a fraction away from Izuku's neck, and Izuku drew his gun in a single motion, jamming it under the man's chin.
Both of them froze. Izuku watched the man's eyes widen, his helmet enhancing his vision in the poor light – and, not coincidentally, providing Nedzu with a perfect photograph of the man's face. The knife vanished and the man lifted his hands.
"Red Hood," he said, "Sorry. You startled me."
"That was the point," Izuku said, but he stepped back and put his gun away, "Sorry. Didn't realise you'd be so on edge."
He hadn't expected a reaction that quick, either, although it gave extra points to Nedzu's 'Humarise supercommando' theory. Part of Izuku wondered if he should have kept his gun out. If the man decided to attack again, Izuku's draw wouldn't be quick enough. Not at this range. But he was armoured, he could probably still make a fight of it. It had been a while since Izuku had faced someone who could really make him work for it, without having an overpowered Quirk. Who had been last, Swordkil? Admittedly not that long ago, but long enough. Izuku hoped he'd kept his edge – Aizawa, for all his skill, wasn't quite the same as facing someone trying to kill you.
Izuku took the lead in the conversation, hoping to get answers before any fighting started.
"Alright, this'll have to be quick. I'm supposed to be on patrol – I sneaked away from my mentor, but that won't last for long. How did you know that my classmate and I were going to be attacked?" Izuku asked, "And how did you know where we'd be?"
The man shrugged, the motion almost perfectly convincing.
"I just heard about it, you know."
Hmm.
The last person who said to Jason that he'd just "Heard it, you know," had gotten a reply that if he didn't cough up the information the next thing he'd hear would be the heart monitor. Jason had thought it was quite a witty response. Unfortunately for everyone involved, the thug in question had been too stupid to realise Jason had been threatening him. The result had been somewhat like a comedy routine, if comedy routines regularly ended with one participant being beaten into a pulp.
Jason still hadn't gotten his information. Izuku, bearing that in mind, chose not to beat Mr Red Shoes to a pulp. Instead he took a deep breath, hidden by his helmet, and stepped back again.
"Okay," he said, "Let's start easy. What should I call you? Because Mr Red Shoes is a bit of a mouthful."
The man barked a surprised laugh, glancing down at his feet.
"It is, isn't it? They're, well, call them an affectation. My name is Takeru."
Fake name, almost certainly, but at least it was something. Izuku nodded.
"Midoriya. But you already knew that, right?"
"Yes, I-"
"Though I have to ask," Izuku continued, bulldozing over the man, "How do you know that? I mean, my identity isn't that secret. But it's not out in the open. And the last time I spoke to Akatani Mikumo, before he shut me out, he told me he'd been followed by a man in red shoes."
Izuku didn't look meaningfully at Takeru's feet. He didn't have to. The man coughed awkwardly.
"Well, you know," he said, "It's good to have branding. And these are relatively subtle. Really, I would have thought-"
"I don't care," Izuku interrupted, "Why were you following me and Akatani?"
Takeru didn't stutter on his response, but Izuku still thought it was rehearsed. That didn't mean it was a lie, though.
"You're in danger. Both of you."
"Wow, I hadn't guessed," Izuku said, mouth getting away from him for a moment. Takeru didn't laugh: his eyes scanned Izuku's helmet, as though trying to see the truth behind metal and plastic. Izuku didn't move.
"I know it sounds obvious, but it's true. Those gang members were chasing you for a reason, today, and it's because of who you are. You're a Quirkless Hero, that-"
"Yeah, yeah. I've heard it all before. I'm a symbol to Quirkless people everywhere, if I get killed it's bad for PR, whatever. What's the real reason?"
"You've made enemies," Takeru said eventually, after considering his words, "Both of you. Similar enemies. You two are similar people, maybe it's not so surprising."
The glance at Izuku's left arm wasn't subtle. If it wasn't for Nedzu's hissed warning through his comms, he might have attacked. But the understanding of what Takeru meant left a creeping cold in the pit of his stomach, long fingers of iciness curling up through his chest to his heart.
Izuku didn't advertise that Red Hood was missing an arm. Takeru seemed to know anyway, and suspicion curled in Izuku's throat. After Bennet he wasn't taking anything for granted.
"So, what, you're a good Samaritan keeping an eye on us? I don't think so."
"Let's just say that my client is very invested in you staying alive, even if you seem capable enough on your own." Takeru said. He could have been speaking about Humarise. He could have been speaking about the MLA. He could have been speaking about anyone.
"I don't suppose you'll tell me who this client is?"
"I don't suppose I will, no. Look, kid. You think you're invincible. I get it, I've been there. You've been through some stuff and come out alive. It's admirable. But you're drawing attention from powerful people, dangerous people. This is just a warning: be careful, kid."
Mr mysterious, Izuku thought dourly. Not a single name, or even an organisation – Izuku could have gone to see a fortune teller and gotten information as useful.
"You have any names?" he asked, "Being on guard against every possible threat tends to wear someone down. At least a better reason why?"
Takeru looked thoughtful, dark eyes glittering with consideration. Izuku waited.
"Have you ever heard of The Giving Man?" Takeru asked. Izuku slowly shook his head, and Takeru copied the motion.
"It's an underground legend," he said, "About a wise sage who, if you can find him, will give you a Quirk. More than one, if you impress him. Rumour has it that if you've already got a Quirk, he won't give you more than one. But if you're Quirkless – if you're Quirkless, he'll give you all you want. You can be a Hero, Quirkless? If you find The Giving Man, you'd become a legend. That's why all the gangs want rid of you. To stop you, before you become too strong."
The Giving Man. Izuku wondered if All For One had come up with that epithet on his own, or if one of his goons had done it. Nevertheless, he could see how the story might be tempting for a desperate, struggling Quirkless student. Takeru leaned forwards, holding out a hand for a shake. Izuku took it, meeting the man's eyes.
"I've already said too much," Takeru said, "If I learn more, I'll try and warn you. But for now, I have to go."
His free hand briefly gripped Izuku's elbow before shifting slightly awkwardly to his shoulder. His handshake was brisk, firm, and then he turned and vanished into the darkness. Izuku himself turned back out of the park, ducking back into the shadows. He waited until he was at the perimeter before stopping and gently peeling the first tracker from the elbow of his jacket. He studied it, his helmet magnifying the dim light. An interesting piece of tech, he concluded before crushing it. He left the second one, the one Takeru planted in his collar, for the moment. He was sure that Mei would want to look at it – and looking clueless could be useful sometimes.
"Well, that was interesting," Nedzu said, his voice safely contained within Izuku's helmet and away from any listening capabilities the remaining bug might have, "If not particularly useful. But seeing Takeru's face will help with finding him. In fact…"
"You can't have found something that quickly," Aizawa said flatly. Nedzu laughed quietly.
"A little luck and a little skill, that's all it takes. I'm tracking him through city cameras now. He's not very evasive, although that in itself may be a sign that he knows too much. Hood, if you could return to Aizawa. Takeru is heading somewhere, and I'd like to watch a little longer."
Izuku shrugged to himself, picking up his pace. Aizawa wasn't far away, tucked away on a rooftop, and Izuku scaled the building and joined him. Once there he removed his jacket and retrieved the second bug, holding it out. Aizawa squinted at it, taking a small torch from his pocket to get a better look. He glanced up at Izuku and nodded, patting his pocket. Getting the message, Izuku tucked it away for storage. They'd have to be careful until they could find somewhere to put it. At least Nedzu's voice should be secure. They got on with their patrol, carefully avoiding sensitive topics of conversation, and it was about thirty minutes later that Nedzu spoke again.
"Well," Nedzu said, "That's interesting."
Izuku heard Aizawa hiss through his teeth, but didn't say anything. Nedzu was hard to read, especially across comms, but there was something anticipatory in his voice that made them both wait.
"By tracking cameras, I have managed to recreate at least some of the past movements of the mysterious Takeru," Nedzu continued, "One day ago, he met with a number of Heroes. Two, to be precise, both of whom are on my MLA shortlist."
Izuku would have liked to say that his hearing shuddered and went dead at the first word. He would have liked to say that he couldn't understand what Nedzu meant for a moment. But that wasn't the case. He heard all too well, and he heard the next words as well.
"Additionally, the building he is currently approaching appears to be a Humarise safe-house," Nedzu continued, "Karl, Hood's Humarise contact, entered an hour ago, and has not left yet. It would be quite the coincidence, if he isn't playing both sides."
Playing both sides. Well, that was one way to put it. Instigating a gang war, might be more accurate. And he'd met with Izuku, right after a minor gang had tried to kidnap him. And he'd told a story meant to lure Izuku to All for One.
The convenience was stifling.
The implications were suffocating.