"Eraserhead!" Shota is snapped out of his thoughts as he hears his name. Looking over, he sees X-Less running towards him followed by two cops.
"X-Less, what did you find?"
"We encountered the villains fighting down in the emergency shelter, but they managed to get away."
"You let them get away?"
The Laser Hero looks away in shame. "Yes. They got in a lucky hit on me and escaped while I was down."
"Yep, that totally happened," the first cop agrees.
The second cop nods. "And we definitely weren't tricked into looking away."
Shota raises a brow. "…good to know. Well did you at least find anything out."
X-Less looks up at that, looking the Erasure Hero in the eye. "Yes I believe we did. Like reported, the vigilante from the Tatooin attack was there, along with a villain with either a food manipulation Quirk or some kind of intangibility Quirk that let her get away."
Now that was news to Shota. He was aware the vigilante was here, that's the reason he came down in the first place, but to hear of another villain with an intangibility Quirk? What the heck is going on? "Hmm, interesting. Anything else?"
The Laser Hero nods. "Yeah. The villain seems to have some sort of beef-" (one of the cops chuckles) "-with the school. Said she has some sort of plan of attack."
Shota grimaced hearing that. That really wasn't good. "Alright, I'll go ahead and put a notice out for any hero in the area to keep an eye out for either the villain or the vigilante. Maybe we can catch either of them before they try anything. In the meantime go and tell the principal that for now we'll need to shut down the school until we can capture these villains."
X-Less nods before running off, the cops following. Shota watches as they run off before taking out his phone and opening the Hero Netowrk app. All the while his focus slips away from the boy that his gut screamed at him to focus on.
xXDPMHAXx
Izuku screams as the elevator hits the ground, him following a second later. Yeah, he doesn't care if he can fly, he'll never get used to that. Shakily getting to his legs, the greenette walks into the lab and to the guide. There has to be something in it that can help him fight that ghost. He doesn't care that he's already read the book cover to cover twice and can't remember anything in it that's particularly useful; third times the charm!
Sitting at the desk and opening the encyclopedia, Izuku begins his search for something, anything that can be used so he can get that ghost back to the Ghost Zone. Some kind of net or vacuum or hey ghosts are real, what about some kind of magic spell too? Just anything that can get the Lunch Lady away from the school so no one gets hurt. Yet after an hour of looking, Izuku's hopes dwindle from a fire into embers.
The teen flops down onto the table in defeat. This is not good. Izuku knows he needs to figure something out now before the poltergeist attacks again. He barely was able to fight the Lunch Lady before, and that was without giving her time to plan. The greenette doesn't even want to think about what she can accomplish with a little bit of thought and a whole lot of meat.
He groans. This day just couldn't get worse, could it?
A puff of vapor escapes the teen's lips. Well really that one is on him, isn't it?
Sitting up quickly, Izuku looks around the room for the offending ghost only to realize he forgot the check under him. As such, he is unprepared for when the ghost snake comes up, quickly wrapping around the teen and beginning to squeeze tight. Izuku feels his lungs begin to get crushed, but still manages to glare at his attacker. "Come on, you're the last thing I need right now."
Quickly transforming, Izuku manages to use his newfound strength to push apart the snake's body long enough for him to slip past. Dipping in and out the floor, the half-ghost comes face to face with the snake. "Listen, I'm kind of going through something right now. Any chance you can come back tomorrow?" The snake lunges at Izuku, the teen barely dodging the attack. "I'll take that as a no."
Forming his spectral tail, Izuku grabs the snake by the tail and twists, sending it to the floor. This is it. This is what could turn this horrible day around. All he needs to do is get this one ghost back into the portal and he can say he's done something right for once in his useless life.
Izuku ducks down, ready to heave the deceased reptile up and throw it back into the afterlife, when the beast regains its bearings. Right when Izuku lands, it twists itself and lashes its tail back, hitting Izuku and knocking him into the nearby wall. The half-ghost grunts as he collides, the force of the impact causing the air to leave his lungs and for the panel on the wall to open up. Glancing behind him, Izuku sees the dead generator behind him, a small crack in the casing now visible showing the glowing green innards.
Wait, what? Glowing green? Izuku may not be an engineer but he's pretty sure that's not what the inside of a generator should look like.
Before he can inspect the device though, the ghost snake lunges forward, Izuku barely escaping its fangs. Right killer ghost snake first, then strange power source. Floating back up, Izuku watches as the snake hisses at him as it slithers through the air, hoping to eat the half-ghost like a mouse. Not willing to let that happen, the teen waits until the snake jumps forward and catches each jaw in one hand.
The snake panics, trying to get out of the half-ghost's grip, but is unable to. Seeing his chance Izuku slams the snake's mouth closed, causing the fangs in its mouth to shatter from the force. The reptile remains dazed as Izuku spins it around, building up momentum. Then with one final toss, the white-haired teen lets go and sends the snake careening through the lab and into the portal.
Izuku lands, waiting to see if the ghost snake would return, but after a few moments he realizes the fight is over. He's won. A smile nearly splits Izuku's face as the teen stares at the portal. He really did it, didn't he? He got a ghost back into the Ghost Zone. This is awesome! The half-ghost can't even describe what he's feeling, but there was something so, so amazing about realizing that one less person will be attacked tonight by ethereal reptiles. Is this what it felt like to be a Pro?
The smile becomes a frown. No…no Izuku can't think like that. Pros help people, save people every time. Meanwhile all Izuku has done is stop one ghost while freeing who knows how many others and failing to stop one that wants to turn his school into an entrée served with fava beans and a nice chianti. This was just one down, a thousand to go.
The teen sighs as he drops to the floor, planning to get back to work before his self-deprecating thoughts got out of hand. But as he goes to turn, his eye catches the open wall panel. Oh right, he'd better go and deal with that quickly. He goes to close it but stop as he eyes the glowing green crack in it. What the heck even is in there? Izuku bends down to look in only for a spark to escape the device, hitting him straight in the forehead.
"Ow! Oh man, please don't scar. I already have enough problems getting girls to notice me." Nursing the small burn on his skin, Izuku is about the shut the wall panel when the generator begins to spark again. Except this time the sparks continue, green electricity flowing between the Tesla coils and the lights on the device turning on. The generator beeps. "Sufficient ectoplasmic energy collected," a computerized voice said, noticeably sounding female and American. "Batteries replenished. Resuming normal lab functions."
Up above him the lights begin to spark before turning on, once again illuminating the room. Computers and consoles beep as they come to life, and the teen watches as the once dead lab is reactivated.
Izuku is in shock. What the heck just happened? He tried everything to get this place up and running before – batteries, jumper cables, solar panels, wind – but nothing worked. What finally did it?
Wait, it only turned back on after it sparked him. Him in his ghost form. Did…did he power the generator? Is it possible that somehow this whole lab actually runs on ecto-energy? Because of if so that would be incredible! Sure opening a door into another dimension is arguably more impressive, but to think that such a small amount of energy could power something this big! How long will it last? It has to be a while since the lab was powered on when he found it and it had clearly been a while since anyone was there before him. Wait a second, where did they get ecto-energy before this without a portal? Is there another source of –
Another spark jumping at him is enough for Izuku to snap out of his mutter storm. Okay, maybe he should close off the generator before he gets hit again; he's already almost died from electricity once, he does not need to go through that again. Closing the wall panel quickly, the half-ghost can't stop his eye from being drawn back to the portal. If everything is now powered on, then is it possible that…?
Izuku goes over to the portal, or more specifically the panel next to it. Taking a deep breath, the teen presses the largest button and hopes for the best. Izuku jumps as two yellow and black striped doors slam together, separating the portal from the rest of the world. Going towards it, he has to bang on the metal twice to make sure it's real, but after hearing the clang from his knuckles his smile returns full force. The portal is closed, or at least no longer accessible. At least as long as this metal is ghost proof, which he prays to whoever may be listening that it is. He then prays to whoever may not be listening because whoever is listening clearly doesn't have his best interests at heart.
Whatever, the point is that this is a win. That's two in one day, a new record for Izuku! The teen stares at the panel in front of him deep in thought. If this panel controlled stuff in the lab, then what else could it do? Deciding to press his luck a bit, Izuku goes and presses another button at random.
Red lights flash overhead as a siren goes off. "SELF-DESTRUCT SEQUENCE INITIATED! T-MINUS 5 SECONDS. 4." Izuku's heart nearly stops as he frantically presses every button he can to stop the countdown. Its chaos in the lab as random things start happening, weapons coming out of walls and a mini fridge filled with fudge rising from the floor, before the teen is able to press the correct button just before he accidently turns Aktu into the new Grand Canyon.
Izuku lets out a deep breath before getting as far away from the portal as he can. Okay note to self: tape that button off immediately. Taking a step back from the panel else he accidently triggers an explosion that could humble Kacchan, the teen turns his head as something catches his eye. To his right, right where the wall was, is now an open doorway, leading into a pitch-black room.
He hesitates going in, already feeling overwhelmed with everything that has happened in the past few minutes, but his curiosity wins out in the end. Going to the doorway, he instantly finds the light switch on the inside wall and flips it on.
Izuku will still say the most impressive thing he has found down here is the portal, but this is certainly a close second. Weapons of all kinds line the walls, and numerous devices are spread out on various tables. Any free space there may have been is covered up by blueprints, stretching across the steel walls like wallpaper. There are more fudge wrappers on the floor, but also targets and ghost shaped training dummies. This isn't a room; it's an armory.
The half-ghost walks into the armory in awe looking at all the various devices. He sees guns, lasers, staffs, projectiles, anything he could imagine a ghost hunter needing. Going to the wall, he picks up one of the blasters and inspects it, before stopping as he sees a faded green logo on the side. "Fenton?" Is that…was that the name of the person who made all of this?
Putting that on the back-burner until later when he can maybe do some real research around that name, Izuku lines the blaster up towards one of the targets and pulls the trigger. The recoil nearly sends him on his back, but his aim is true as it collides with the target, blowing it up. The teen gulps before setting the blaster back down. Okay, maybe some of this is too dangerous to use, but he's positive a lot of this stuff can help him safely return the ghosts to the Ghost Zone.
He pauses thinking that. Everything he's been searching for to help him put the ghosts back has been right here the entire time. Sure he may not be sure what everything does yet, but he bets everything in here will be useful in his fight against the undead. Maybe, just maybe, he can really do this. For the first time that day, Izuku allows himself to feel a little hope.
Okay, well then first things first. He needs to find something here that can help him fight the Lunch Lady. Looking through the room of things that do things meant to kill people like him, his eyes lock onto a pile of blueprints. Well if answers will be anywhere…
Going over to the pile the half ghost starts to pick through the various blueprints. Ghost Weasel? No. Ghost Gauntlets? Maybe. Anti-Creep Stick? Literally just a bat with the word Fenton on it. There's got to be something here-
Izuku pauses on one of the blueprints before smiling. You know what, maybe this day isn't so bad after all.
xXDPMHAXx
Shota can't stop the yawn that escapes his mouth. What? Don't judge him, he's exhausted. You would be to if you spent the entire night trying to find leads on a new villain in town only to have to come down to a school first thing in the morning to make sure said villain hasn't attacked it yet. Not to mention trying to find a kid vigilante who is somehow connected to said villain, as well as a missing Quirked animal and mysterious villain who has been hiding out for the past month.
Maybe he should have listened to his mom and become a dentist instead. Dentists get to sleep right?
But he isn't a dentist. Instead he's a Pro Hero who needs to make sure the perimeter they set up holds firm. He's not sure when this attack is coming, but until they find this villain they cannot risk anyone going near the school else they get injured or worse.
The man sighs as he continues to check the blockade. This entire endeavor would probably be less strenuous if it weren't for fact the vigilante is involved, which means the green lightning villain is also involved. The same villain that Nezu and Tsukauchi seem to have some kind of secret about, if yesterday was any indication. Shota isn't sure exactly what is going on here, but he has a feeling that the deeper into this he goes the less he is going to like it.
Shota is pulled out of his head by a tingling at his waist. Grabbing his phone the hero immediately answers when he sees who is calling him. "Detective, any word?"
"I think we may have something. My guys have detected a massive spike in electricity down by the school."
Down by the school? What? Eraser looks around, at first not seeing anything until his eyes land on one of the nearby telephone poles. A telephone pole sparking with green electricity.
"Everyone get down!" is all the warning Shota can give before the wind picks up, a small cyclone forming over the school. A woman's laugh is heard, cackling as the officials try to back away from the school. The Erasure Hero looks around, trying to find some kind of sign of the villain but sees nothing. He tries to hear her but only can hear her laughter from all directions. He tries to smell for anything but all he can smell is…meat?
Looking behind him his eyes widen as the street rumbles before a tidal wave of different meat products comes from around the corner, zooming towards the school. It flies over their heads as it splits into three streams that twist around each other like some twisted DNA strand before clumping together. From the clump two arms form, then two legs, before at the top a head takes shape. The meaty head forms a manic grin as it looks at the people below it, the seventy-foot-tall meat golem ready to play with its food. "IT'S LUNCHTIME!"
Eraserhead immediately gets to work, Quirk activating as he stares at the behemoth. He growls as nothing happens; dammit, he must need to see her real body for it to work. Well he's not out of this fight yet. Throwing out his capture weapon, he hooks onto a nearby light pole before swinging himself, using his momentum to get to the roof of the school. Landing in a run, the hero sprints across the structure towards the monster who just notices him. With a smirk the meat golem swipes a hand at the Erasure Hero, but he manages to duck under it just in time, sliding under the appendage before rolling back into a run.
Getting as close as he can get to the golem, he shoots his capture weapon out toward the beast's shoulder, having it wrap around the appendage firmly. With a pull, his capture weapon tightens, cutting clean through the arm and having it fall to the Earth to the villain's surprise. Okay so the monster may be big but it's still just a lot of small pieces of meat, meaning it can be cut down easily. This is good.
The villain growls as she looks at her arm, which floats back up and reattaches to her shoulder as if nothing happened. Okay, that is not good.
The behemoth growls again, lifting both hands in the air before bringing them down over Eraserhead. The hero manages to dodge, but in doing so flies right off the building. Flinging his capture scarf at the last second he hooks a corner, allowing him to swing back to the roof in one fluid motion. He isn't given a second to breathe though as the golem swings its hand down, grabbing onto Eraserhead in its meaty fist.
The hero struggles in the monster's grasp, but is unable to get free as he is brought eye to eye with the golem. The beast smiles down at her prey. "TODAY'S SPECIAL: YOU!" Eraserhead's eyes widen as he is brought to the monster's mouth, about to be eaten.
"Well I can't say this is how I expected to go out," he thinks as he is inches from the maw. He closes his eyes, bracing for impact.
"Hey Lunch Lady!" a voice cries from behind him. Looking back and up, his eyes widen again as he sees the vigilante flying down towards them. "The only thing on today's menu is me kicking your butt!"
Rearing back a punch, the kid lands a hit on the monster's face and to Eraserhead's surprise, it is with enough force to cause the villain to tip backwards. She lets go of the hero, but before he can even think about falling he is caught by the vigilante, who floats them both down onto the roof. They watch as the beast falls backward, falling behind the school into the courtyard with a crash.
The vigilante breathes hard as he looks at their foe, before he realizes he is still holding onto Eraserhead. "Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry! Here, um, l-let me just, uh, put you down."
Setting the Pro onto his feet, the Erasure Hero gives the teen a look. "Thanks," he finally says, which causes the teen to blush heavily.
"Oh that? No, no, I-I'm sure you could have gotten out of there easily. I, uh, just am happy to help." The kid finishes with a sheepish grin, causing Eraserhead to discreetly raise a brow. Is this really the same vigilante they've been searching for? If he hadn't just seen the kid take out that monster with one punch he'd certainly have his suspicions.
Speaking of the monster, the two are brought out of their conversation as they hear a roar. Looking behind them, they see the golem rise back to her feet, and she does not look happy. "I can take care of this," the teen says, his attitude taking a complete 180 as he takes a step towards the villain. "You get to safety okay?"
Before Eraserhead can comment on how their roles will need to be switched ASAP, the teen is off, flying towards the golem to resume the fight. The Erasure Hero just takes a second to sigh before following.
Why does he have a feeling this is going to be exhausting?
xXDPMHAXx
Izuku flies away from Eraserhead as fast as he can, not even taking the time to freak out over the fact he just gave the hero directions on what to do. (Okay well maybe he's freaking out a little, you know, as a treat.) Instead, he focuses on the Lunch Lady's meaty mech, ready to turn the monster into leftovers.
Flying fast, Izuku's spectral tail turns back into legs as the teen goes for a kick, only for his leg to sink into the meat body. Okay, so maybe this would be harder than he thought.
The Lunch Lady looks down at her side where the teen is trapped and raises an arm to swat him away. Its only thanks to his enhanced strength is he able to rip his foot from the meat and back up before being flattened. Not wasting an opportunity, Izuku flies behind the monster and punches the back of her head, leaving a gaping hole in the meat where he hit. The Lunch Lady tries to turn around to land her own hit, but the half ghost is able to dodge again, getting another punch in. Okay, she may be big and strong but she's also slow. He can work with slow.
Izuku begins to pepper the monster with punches, flying around her body and knocking off pieces of meat. The meat does keep rejoining the body, but that takes focus which the teen uses to get bigger hits in. He's doing it. He's really beating a villain right now! But this is just phase one; he still needs to get her out of her meat suit if he wants to get her back to the Ghost Zone.
Throwing another punch at her side, Izuku is about to go around when something unexpected happens. As he is backing up a third meat arm extends from the body, smacking the teen through the air. He rights himself before he can go too far but is unable to stop himself from being caught in the third arm's grip. He can feel the arm begin to morph around him, making a cocoon around his body that he cannot escape. It's just about to surround him entirely when he feels the grip around him relax entirely. The meat falls off of him in clumps as it is disconnected from the body, courtesy of one Eraserhead.
The Lunch Lady growls as she spots the Pro who effortlessly avoids the hand sent his way. Izuku flies down towards him, avoiding his own punch. "What are you doing here?!"
"My job!" Eraserhead yells out. "Now get back, this is no place for a kid!"
"Hey, I'm not a kid! I'm fourteen!" Izuku wants to say more but his eyes widen as another meat fist is formed from the beast's chest. Fortunately, he is able to fly around it in time. "Missed me!" Unfortunately, he is unable to dodge the other arm that swings around and bats him through the sky.
"Kid!" Eraserhead shouts as he sees Izuku fly away, only to barely dodge another swing from the Lunch Lady.
Meanwhile on Flight 403, a man leans over to the flight attendant. "Excuse me, may I get a glass of water?"
"Sure thing, sir," she replies before getting the requested drink.
However, before she can give the drink Izuku flies through the plane intangibly. Outside, the teen manages to right himself before flying back through the plane, grabbing the water while doing so. "Thank you!" Flying as fast as he can back to the fight, Izuku throws the water in his face, cooling him down and getting him ready for round two.
Zooming as fast as he can, the monster isn't prepared as Izuku rears an arm back and slams it into her face. From the impact an explosion occurs that flings the meat across the courtyard. Eraserhead has to tie himself to the roof to keep himself from being flung off of it. A large dust cloud settles in over the area, but it does nothing to hide the large crater now behind the school. A crater that Izuku is crawling out of.
"Kid!" Eraserhead cries before jumping off the roof, his parkour skills saving him from injury. He rushes over to the crater to see Izuku shakily climbing out of the hole, that last attack clearly taking a toll on him. Yet as the Erasure Hero looks him over, he sees that even though he just collided with a giant at Mach One, the teen barely has a scratch on him.
"Just who is this kid?"
Eraserhead puts that thought out of his mind for now, because whoever he is he is still a teenager who clearly needs help. Bending down, he offers his hand to the vigilante. Izuku looks on, clearly shocked by the gesture, before grabbing the hand. "T-thanks."
As Izuku gets to his feet, he does not notice Eraserhead pulling out his handcuffs, ready to slap them on the teen's wrist. The only reason the man is unable to do this is because he becomes distracted by the voice behind him. "Oh dear. What a mess. Are you both okay?"
Turning around, Eraserhead is greeted to the sight of the Lunch Lady, now out of her meat suit. The hero immediately springs into action, Quirk activating as he makes sure Izuku is behind him. "Stand down, ma'am. Come in peacefully and we can talk about possibly reducing your sentence."
Instead of looking frightened, the Lunch Lady simply giggles at the hero. "Oh you seem to be mistaken dearie." Suddenly her attitude shifts, her inner rage making itself known. "BECAUSE THE ONLY THING ABOUT TO GET REDUCED HERE IS YOU!"
With a wave of her hand, the meat nearby begins to shake before springing to life, eight miniature meat golem being created from the wreckage. Eraserhead looks on in shock. "My Quirk didn't work on her either?"
One of the meat golems leaps to attack, but the Erasure Hero is able to wrap his capture scarf around it easily and fling it at one of its allies, destroying them both. Unfortunately, he does not see the third meat golem come from behind him, but a recovered Izuku does, taking it out with a well-timed punch.
The final five meat golems growl as they all leap forward at once. However, Izuku doesn't let them get far as he jumps over Eraserhead and performs a wide kick, cutting through the five monsters all at once. The teen pants as he stands in front of the Erasure Hero, both on high alert on what the Lunch Lady may attempt next.
And their instincts prove to be good as the villain smirks before shooting a hand out. In an instant the eight golems regenerate, and they do not look happy to see their attempted killers to still be standing. They begin to walk towards the heroes, bent on taking them down. "It's no use taking these down when she can just keep remaking them!" Eraserhead says as he stands back-to-back with Izuku. "I need to take her out now!"
"DON'T YOU UNDERSTAND! YOU CAN'T DEFEAT LUNCH!"
"Yeah, maybe not!" Izuku cries. "But you can take it to go!" As he says this he reaches behind him and pulls out…
"Kid, now is not the time for coffee!" Eraserhead yells as he sees what's in Izuku's hands. It's a thermos, made of metal with grey and green details. What the kid is doing with it the Erasure Hero does not know, but he does momentarily question this kid's sanity if he thinks that will save them.
Yet Izuku holds firms, pointing it at the Lunch Lady like a weapon. The ghost growls at what she sees. "NO! SOUP ISN'T ON TODAY'S MENU!"
"I'm changing the menu! Permanently!" With his piece said, Izuku quietly begs for the old device to work as he presses the button. The thermos begins to glow an ethereal blue as the ecto-energy causes it to turn on before a beam shoots out the device, hitting the Lunch Lady dead on. The woman screams as her body is pulled back towards the thermos. She tries to hang on but is unsuccessful as she feels herself lose her grip, shooting towards the capture device in one move. With one final scream she is completely sucked into the thermos, Izuku capping it as he finishes the job. Around the heroes the meat golems pause before falling apart, not being able to function without their master present. The half ghost sighs in relief. "Taste that? Its defeat."
Izuku turns to Eraserhead, hoping maybe to get a high five or a chuckle for his joke, but is only met with a horrified look. The teen raises an eyebrow confused. What happened? Did he do something wrong? All he did was capture the ghost in the Fenton Thermos, isn't that what he is supposed to-
Oh. Ooohhh. Yeah Izuku almost forgot, Eraserhead doesn't know about ghosts. So, he probably just saw this and figures Izuku magically sucked a normal person into a soup container. Yeah that makes sense.
"Uhhh…I swear this isn't as bad as it looks," Izuku tries, but Eraserhead is not here for it as he lashes out with his capture scarf, wrapping around the teen. Thinking quickly the half ghost phases through the weapon before taking off into the air. "I really appreciate your help!"
"Hey!" Eraserhead calls going after him, but all it takes is for Izuku to turn invisible for him to lose the Erasure Hero. After a few minutes he looks behind him to see if he's being followed but seeing no one around he lets out a breath of relief. Looking down at the thermos still in his hands he lets himself truly smile.
He did it. He won.
xXDPMHAXx
Shota doesn't care what anyone else may say, this isn't a win. They failed to capture the villain, they failed to capture the vigilante, and worst of all the vigilante managed to kidnap the villain. No, this isn't a win; it is a disaster.
Sitting in Nezu's office with the principal and Tsukauchi, Shota waited for the two to finish reviewing the file on the attack done by the woman the media are calling the "Lunch Lady." A little on the nose if you asked the Pro but hey, not like he's ever been great with names.
After a few moments, Nezu closes his file with contemplative look on his face. "Hmm, how interesting."
Tsukauchi raises an eyebrow. "Interesting? The kid comes out of nowhere and puts the Lunch Lady into a to-go container, and you call that interesting?"
Nezu smiles at the detective. "Well then what would you call it?"
"Terrifying? Disturbing? Borderline barbaric?" Eraserhead supplies with the barest amount of emotion possible.
"Whatever it is," Tsukauchi interrupts, "It needs to be stopped. People think the heroes took down that villain, but if they knew a vigilante captured her, or worse the way she was captured-"
"No need to express the severity of the matter Detective," Nezu says, his always present smile not dropping in the slightest. "I understand the situation. Which is exactly why I believe we must exercise caution at this time."
Shota scoffs. "You can't be serious."
"Oh but I am. Right now we know almost nothing regarding this young boy, who he is or what he is trying to accomplish. All we do know is that he seems to have multiple powerful Quirks and has a device capable of capturing certain villains."
Tsukauchi's eyes widen. "Multiple Quirks…so you do think-"
"It is much too early to be making any assumptions. All we know is that if the green lightning is any indication, these three individuals are all connected to something we do not yet understand. Which I why I must insist we handle this situation as delicately as possible."
"Any chance you two will fill me in on what you are talking about?" Shota asks, refusing to be kept out of the loop again.
Instead of an answer, Nezu offers Shota a smile. "Unfortunately, Aizawa that is above your pay grade. In fact for the time being I believe it may be best if I were to take you off of this investigation."
"Not a chance," Shota replies, his tone leaving no room for argument.
Nezu's smile stays the same. Shota's frown deepens. "I figured as much. In that case, I believe the best course of action is to stick with the plan: find the vigilante and figure out whatever may be going on. But remember to be careful. This young man has already shown to be quite the powerful adversary and who knows what other secrets he may be hiding." While Shota just nods his head, he can't help the look of seriousness pass over Tsukauchi at those words.
"Meanwhile, I will do some investigating of my own and try to see where this boy and these villains may have come from. In the meantime though, I suggest we keep this investigation between the three of us. We wouldn't want to worry anyone with our suspicions, now would we?"
"Are you sure?" Tsukauchi asks. "What about-?"
"Not until we are sure Detective. For now, we wait." Again, Shota feels like he is missing out on vital information, but he stays quiet knowing he won't be getting an answer.
With that dismissal the two men stand up, giving a quick bow, before leaving the room. As the Erasure Hero turns towards the teacher's lounge, ready to begin his own investigation after grading papers, he can't help but focus on what his gut is saying: the battle may be lost, but the war is just getting started.
xXDPMHAXx
Okay, take a breath. He can do this. Only seven hours to go until the final bell. Just keep his head down and everything will work out.
Sucking in as much oxygen as he can, Izuku grits his teeth and opens the door to Aldera preparing for the worst.
For once he doesn't get it.
Izuku looks around the hallway and sees that none of the students have looked his way. No, instead of focusing on the Quirkless lightning strike victim, they are instead focused on something a bit more recent.
"Oh my god I can't believe that the school was attacked like that."
"Did you hear? The monster was like 100 feet high and made completely of meat!"
"Did you see the crater outside? Its huge!"
"I hear some underground hero took her down. Someone called Elephant Man or something like that."
"It was just made of meat right? I bet I could have taken it on if I had some steak sauce."
"Kake, you got to stop making bets-"
"I'm not the problem here, you are!"
Izuku walks through the hall, partially expecting someone to turn towards him and start picking on him, but as he nears his shoe cubby no one notices him. It's like he is invisible. And after making sure he is not in fact actually invisible, the teen allows himself to smile.
To be honest Izuku couldn't have expected things to turn out this well for him. And that's not just referring to the fact he is a fly on the wall right now but this whole adventure. He was sure that after capturing the Lunch Lady and escaping Eraserhead things would suddenly take a turn for the worse for him cause you know, he's him, but no. The teen was able to release the ghost back into the Ghost Zone, the heroes were able to clear the school for reopening, and all of it happened without anyone figuring out his secret identity or that ghosts are among them. All in all, this was over all a big win for Izuku.
Maybe things are finally turning around for him.
"Oi, Deku!" Or maybe hope is just a lie we tell children to shield them from reality and he is a fool to still believe in it.
Bracing for the pain Izuku turns around to see Katsuki storming towards him. The explosive teen gabs the nerdy boy's uniform, pulling him off his feet and into the neighboring wall. "You've got a lot of nerve showing up here after that shit you pulled yesterday, you know that?!"
"K-Kacchan, I am really so, so sorry about yesterday. I-I wish I could, uh, blame it on a Quirk or-or temporary insanity but, uh, I-I was kind of just having an off day and I hope you can forgive-"
"Shut your damn mouth nerd!" Katsuki interrupts, roaring in the teen's face, neither of the two paying attention to the small crowd beginning to form that want to see Izuku be "taught a lesson."
Katsuki rears back a hand, explosions dancing in the palm as Izuku braces for impact. Except it never comes as Kastuki trembles before dropping the greenette on his butt. Izuku can't help but ignore the pain in his rear as he instead focuses on the confusion in his head.
"I don't know what the fuck is going on with you lately Deku but keep me out of it! You hear me?!" The explosive blond then proceeds to punch a wall, leaving a noticeable dent, before storming off to first period. The crowd groans in disappointment before they all too disperse, going to class. All the while Izuku can only gawk at what must be a miracle.
So lets recap: ghost is captured, heroes are off his trail, secret is safe, and now Kacchan is leaving him alone? Yeah, maybe things are just finally coming up Midoriya.
Smiling, Izuku gets up and goes to leave only to stop as he feels a hand on his shoulder. Looking back, the teen can't help but feel a chill travel up his spine as he sees the menacing smile of the school principal looks down at him. "Midoriya, just the young man I was looking for. I was hoping you could explain to me this rumor that's been going around about a food fight in the school cafeteria."
Ah, there's the cruel reality Izuku is used to.
xXDPMHAXx
All For One has been around for many years, and in that time there are quite a few words people have used to describe him: twisted, insane, a literal cancer taken human form. But if there's a word that he would use to describe himself it would be curious. He was curious to learn more about Quirks, leading him to collecting as many as he could and amassing power. He was curious to see if he could rule the world, leading him to wage a secret war for power for over 200 years that he was so, so close to winning. But most of all, he is curious about today's paper, or more accurately the first page.
"Food Fight for the Ages," the paper calls it. The official story goes that a woman used her food manipulation Quirk to attack a local middle school, only to be stopped by the underground hero Eraserhead without any civilian casualties. A truly remarkable win for the heroes. Also complete bullshit.
Sure that story may be what the public wants to hear, an attack handled swiftly and tied up with a nice big bow, but All For One has been doing this for a long time. And in the time, he's learned three things.
One: The story you are given rarely explains everything; you have to look between the lines if you want to fully understand what is being told.
Two: The heroes will do anything to keep the public from freaking out. And that is especially true when they want exposure of a certain new vigilante from getting out of control.
And three: Always believe in the impossible. Especially in a world when the impossible becomes more real every day. And isn't that what is happening right now? Something many, including himself, thought of as impossible? It's certainly what his new four-legged friend indicates.
All For One can't help the smile that grows on his face as he leans forward, using his Infrared Quirk to watch the cephalopod squirm in its cage. It took a while to find the right mixture of Quirks and technology that could keep the ghost contained, but eventually he was able to figure something out. "To think that I lived long enough to finally see one of them. I'd almost given up hope." The villain turns away from his captive as he instead looks to the other person in the room. "How do things look Doctor?"
Garaki can only reply with laughter as he stares at the creature before him. "Ooo I'll say that you did not do these creatures justice! I mean, these readings are unlike anything I have ever seen before! The fact this is one of many- why the thought of what we can accomplish…" The doctor trails off, plans and ideas racing through his mind. The octopus can't help but grow worried at the face the man makes.
All For One's smile only grows wider, his own plans beginning to form in his head. Yes its true that he has been working on something for quite a while that he is almost ready to initiate but this. This changes everything. "How about I leave you two to get acquainted doctor? I'm sure you already have ideas on how you would like to spend time with our new guest, correct?" The doctor can only squeal like a kid on Christmas as he bows to his boss. The villain just chuckles as he turns his chair away, having it begin to move him out of the room. "Just be careful doctor. We only have the one specimen…for now."
The man doesn't even flinch as the sound of machines turning on shifts into wails reverberating throughout the lab. Instead his puts a hand into his inner pocket and pulls something out, something that makes his wide grin turns from excited to maniacal.
Yes, All For One has been around for a long time, and he's been waiting for this very moment for a long time. The moment when the impossible finds its way to him. The moment his dreams become reality. The moment when he can finally see a ghost face-to-face. And he is not going to waste this moment.
The official story says Eraserhead captured that villain, but he knows better. Because if he had captured her, then that ghost would also be in his possession right this moment. No, someone else got to her first, someone not working with the law, and someone All For One bets has access to the thing he has been searching for the past two centuries. And he bets he knows exactly who that someone is.
The villain chuckles as he puts the object back in his pocket, as a warp gate appears before him right on time. He'll leave the octopus with Garaki for the time being, see what his twisted mind can do to bring out the full potential of the ghost. In the meantime, he knows what he must do. It is time to create a plan of attack, for when that beast is finished it will be time to act. He will watch his target and see what he can find. They may be inexperienced, but All For One knows better than to underestimate an opponent, especially one who can disappear on a whim and phase through his attacks. No he needs to do this perfectly. There is no room for error when he is closer than he has ever been to his prize.
But if he is honest, he's not worried. Compared to his battle for One For All this challenge will be a cake walk. Besides he's waited this long, what's a bit longer, especially with a plan so simple:
Find the vigilante, find the portal.