Chapter Text
“She really is the worst.”
“I know! This one time, I needed her to drive me to my agency because I forgot my hearing aids and by the time we got halfway there we had four police cars following us with the lights on!”
“I swear every time I get out of the car with her that I’m never going to get in again, but somehow she convinces me to let her drive every time.”
“I think it must be part of her quirk to convince people to trust her. Like subconsciously we start to feel sleepy around her so we make bad decisions.”
“Oi!” The soft ping of Danger Sense allowed Izuku to dodge the pen thrown at his head by Midnight, but Present Mic was not quite so lucky, taking a ballpoint right in the forehead. “I’m right here, you know!”
“And thank all things holy that you’re not on the road wrecking more cars, Nem!” Present Mic shot back.
“Excuse you! I’ve only ever wrecked three cars!”
“It was six.”
“Was not!”
“There was that time you wrecked your car during your internship your senior year,” Mic countered, putting a finger down. “Then six months later you rear-ended a cement mixer.” “That accident was the other guy’s fault!” “Then you crashed into a street lamp.” “There was a villain attack on the highway!” “Then you rammed your car into that steel villain who was robbing a store.” “I was helping, you prick!” “And last year you managed to wreck your brand new car before you even got it off the lot!”
“That…” Nemuri deflated, settling back into her chair. “Okay, that one was my bad.”
Aizawa snorted from his place in the corner and Nemuri shot him a venomous glare. Izuku watched on amusedly as the bickering between the old friends continued. It was nice to see his pseudo-big-sister this relaxed. He hadn’t failed to notice the lingering tension she had been carrying for the last week or two but both of them had been so incredibly busy between his work study and the fall out following the disaster with Overhaul that he hadn’t had a chance to really check in with her recently. Seeing her now, sticking her tongue out petulantly at her friends, gave him a welcome sense of relief.
His musings were interrupted by the arrival of All Might, Principal Nezu, and Detective Tsuakuchi. The principal flaunted his usual cheery disposition but both the detective and his mentor looked grim and haggard. A cold feeling of dread settled in Izuku’s stomach. Whatever this meeting was about, he was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like it.
“Thank you for coming,” the detective said as he settled into a chair. “Before we begin, the contents of this meeting are covered by level three secrecy protocols from both the HPSC and the police. Midoriya is being granted special permission from the government to be looped in because of his actions in the Overhaul attack. You’ve impressed a lot of important people, young man.” Izuku gave him a nod of thanks as Toshinori beamed with pride next to him. “Now, to business.”
Metal shades rolled down over the windows, sealing the room off from the outside. Danger Sense pinged lightly as an electrical current ran through the walls, leaving a soft hum just on the periphery of his hearing. A piece of the tabletop recessed into the surrounding wood displaying a control panel that Tsukauchi slotted a flash drive into. A half-spherical projector buried in the ceiling displayed a holographic projection of Tartarus prison. The dread in his stomach only worsened at the sight of the imposing black walls.
“Two days ago there was a break in at Tartarus.” A sharp inhale wracked through the room.
“That… that’s impossible!” Present Mic nearly rattled the walls with his screech. “How could that have happened?!”
“And how could we not have heard of it before now?” Aizawa added. “A prison break of that magnitude should be front page news, let alone the impacts we would have heard in the underground already.”
“That’s the thing.” Tsukauchi said. “It wasn’t exactly a prison break.” Izuku blinked away his surprise.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Someone broke in to Tartarus?” Aizawa asked skeptically. “Why?”
“We would love to know too.” Tsukauchi’s voice dripped with exhaustion. “They managed to infiltrate the highest security detention center of Tartarus and kill every single prisoner in it at the time. Including,” he hit a button on the keyboard and the display showed the scarred smirking face of the Symbol of Evil, “All for One.”
Toshinori gasped and immediately began to choke on blood. Izuku slumped down into his chair staring at the projection in disbelief. All for One was dead? Killed by just some random person? None of this made any sense.
“Who?” All Might managed to ask through his coughs. “Who did this?”
Izuku saw the sympathetic look Tsukauchi shot at him and felt his stomach drop through the floor. No, please not her.
“We caught this on the security cameras.” The projection changed again to a grainy shot of a hallway bathed in flashing red lights. A figure entered the left side of the frame. A man, slender and surprisingly young for a guard in as dangerous a place as Tartarus. The man’s dark eyes darted both ways down the hall before his skin began to bubble and melt. The disguise sloughed off onto the floor in thick clumps, revealing familiar yellow eyes and prominent cheekbones. The rest of the transformation melted off of her, and Izuku got his first look at Himiko Toga in weeks. He ignored the looks from his teachers and leaned forward to get a better view of Himiko’s face.
Through the lingering remains of her transformation, she looked leaner than he remembered. Where once there were soft blush covered cheeks were now sharp angular cheekbones. It was as if someone had taken all the softness in her appearance and stripped it away leaving a streamlined hyper-efficient predator in the place of the girl that had been there before. The light he had seen in her eyes had hardened into an unbreakable resolve. The school girl that he had first seen was gone and now only the killer remained.
Himiko… what happened to you?
“Himiko Toga took the form of a guard and used his credentials to get all the way down to the deepest levels of the prison. We found the guard’s body in his apartment yesterday, he was completely exsanguinated and stuffed in the back of his closet.” Tsukauchi changed the feed to a new angle, now showing an older man with thick gray rhinoceros-like skin, nude, pulling a sack of clothes from a garbage can. “She also somehow managed to get a hold on a sample of blood from the warden and used the chaos to open the cells to one of the minimum security blocks and make her escape.”
“Holy hell.” Nemuri slumped in her seat across from Izuku. “One girl managed to not only break into the highest security prison in Asia, but also killed a dozen prisoners and got out? I don’t know whether to be impressed or horrified.”
“At the time.” The group turned to Nezu who was staring at Tsukauchi in contemplation. “You said she killed all the prisoners in the maximum security ward at the time. Who wasn’t there?” Tsukauchi sighed.
“Ten of the eleven inmates in the high security ward were killed by Toga. All for One, Tomura Shigaraki, Overhaul, Stain, Muscular, Moonfish, Dictator, Kunieda, Leviathan and Toxic Chainsaw were all killed in their cells. There was one, however, who was out of their cell and managed to escape in the same chaos that Toga used.”
The projection changed again to a sewer grate a few miles inland from the site of the prison. The cover over the grate flew off, and from the tunnel a woman climbed out with bright indigo and pink hair ending just past her jawline. Izuku watched in confusion as his teachers blanched at her appearance.
“Lady Nagant took advantage of the opportunity and is currently at large.” Izuku felt his stomach drop through the floor.
“Wait, that’s Lady Nagant?!” Izuku flung his arms in the air. “The Lovely Lady Nagant? The original hero killer? That Lady Nagant?!”
“That’s exactly why the people upstairs want this kept quiet. If the public knew that not only could someone break into Tartarus, but that criminals could escape? There would be widespread panic.”
“Is it wrong that I’m panicking a little?” Present Mic asked. “I mean, the kid here might not remember, but we were just starting at UA when the news about Nagant broke.” Izuku idly noticed Aizawa shifting in his seat but refocused on Present Mic as he continued. “She was locked up for a long time, but she was still one of the most dangerous heroes alive back in the day. I know I won’t be sleeping well knowing she’s out there again.”
“Why is the Commission letting us in on this?” Aizawa cut in. “Shouldn’t they have passed all this on to Hawks? He’s normally the one they would go to for something like this.”
“Hawks is taking point on the investigation into Lady Nagant with support from every hero in the Top 10 and some other intelligence heroes. You all are being informed specifically because of Toga’s involvement.”
“You think she’ll try and make contact with Izuku.” Midnight guessed. “Like she did with Eri at the police station.” Tsukauchi nodded.
“Toga is certainly infatuated with him. Our best guess right now is she has turned to taking down villains in order to try and get his attention. She was involved in a rash of stabbings around the time Stain was active and several of our CI’s reported her being obsessed with him before getting involved with the League. We think she’s transferred her obsession with Stain to Izuku after Kamino and this is her way of trying to reach out.”
“It’s not that.” Izuku thought about the girl he had met in Kamino and compared her to the woman he had seen in the footage at Tartarus. “I think… I think she’s trying to protect me.”
“Where’s this coming from, Izuku?” Nemuri leaned across the table, concern etched across her face. “You haven’t heard from her recently, right?”
“No. It’s just… a feeling, I guess.”
“Regardless, she certainly seems fixated on you.” Tsukauchi broke in. “It’s an unusual situation, but because you have a provisional license the HPSC and the police both agree that you should be involved in the task force for her capture.” He slid a file across the table to Izuku. “That contains everything we’ve been able to find about Toga’s past and potential whereabouts. Now, because Midoriya is still a student we’ll need the cooperation of the UA faculty…”
Izuku tuned out the rest of Tsukauchi’s briefing. A steadily mounting sense of dread overcame him as he stared at the folder in front of him. The image of Himiko at the licensing exam haunted him. The silent tears as she kneeled in front of him begging and pleading for answers. The word she whispered loomed over his shoulder as he flipped over the cover and began to read her tragic history laid out on unfeeling paper and cold black ink.
Monster.
Thud. Thud thud. Thud. Thud thud thud.
Nemuri probably should have guessed he was in the gym.
As soon as the meeting with Tsukauchi had ended, Izuku had taken off like a bat out of hell. She knew Toga was a touchy subject for him and the news that she had gone back to killing was going to hurt. Based on the way the punching bag was already straining under his fists, however, Nemuri figured she had been underestimating just how much of a sore spot she was.
“If you’re going to tell me she’s a villain, don’t bother. I know.” Nemuri leaned against the wall and watched Izuku move through combinations of strikes against the bag. She couldn’t help but be idly impressed at the work Mirko had done with her student. Izuku’s timing was flawless, each strike leading directly into the next, and every single one of them was packed with the absurd power of One for All. Her mentee had certainly been evolving quickly under the Rabbit hero.
“She’s dangerous, Izuku.” His only response was a derisive snort as he kept wailing on the bag. “I’m serious, kid. This girl is trouble.”
“You don’t know the first thing about her.” The chain snapped and the bag flew across the room, sand trailing behind. “Besides, I’ve fought Stain, Muscular, Overhaul, the entire League of Villains. I think I know how to handle myself by now.”
“Against normal villains, yeah. But you’ve got a soft spot for this girl, Izuku. I can tell.” Izuku shook his head and began to set up a new bag. Frustration rose hot and thick in her stomach. “She’s in your head, kid. All those guys you listed were dangerous, sure, but can you really tell me that if Toga comes after you you won’t hesitate to take her down?”
“She won’t come after me.”
“You don’t know that.” Nemuri snapped.
“And you do?” Izuku abandoned the bag to glare at her. “You don’t know anything about her, Nemuri!”
“I know she’s got a body count in the dozens! Look, I know you’re grateful to her for bringing Eri to you but-”
“Eri has nothing to do with this!” A gust of wind swirled around Izuku as his quirk responded to his distress. He took a deep breath in and held it before exhaling, and the pressure in the air eased. “She’s got nothing to do with this,” he repeated, calmer.
“So what is it?” Nemuri practically begged, letting the anger bleed from her voice. “What makes her so special?”
Izuku sighed, shoulders slumping down from where they were tensed near his ears. He walked over to the wall and sagged down against it until he was resting on the floor, knees tucked up under his chin. After a beat of silence Nemuri picked her way over to him and cautiously sat an arm’s length away.
“C’mon, kid. Talk to me. What’s going on?” Izuku crossed his arms over his knees and leaned his chin against them. For a moment he simply stared into the distance. Eventually though, he spoke up in a quietly tortured voice that broke Nemuri’s heart.
“She reminds me of me.”
“What do you mean, Izuku?”
“I think I could’ve ended up like her in another life. Or she could’ve ended up like me.”
“Izuku,” Nemuri scooted a touch closer to rub his back. “There’s a million differences between you and her. I don’t believe for a moment you could have become like her.”
“Couldn’t I have?” He jerked his chin at the folder that rested on the ground by his backpack. “Have you read what’s in there?” She shook her head softly. Izuku took a steadying breath in.
“Her parents made her sleep in a cage.” He whispered. “They thought her quirk was unnatural, that she was a devil who had stolen their real child. The police interviewed her former classmates. Not a single person claimed to be her friend and most of them said that they weren’t surprised she turned out to be a killer because she was always creepy, weird, and obsessive. They would catch her writing in notebooks about her crushes and would destroy them in front of her. In Magne’s interview she told the police that Himiko liked her because she was the first adult she had known that was a ‘freak like me’.”
“Izuku…”
“What if my mom was like hers?” Izuku asked. “What if I never met All Might? Or you? Can you really say I couldn’t have ended up like her? Or worse?” Nemuri slid next to him to crush him against her side in a hug.
“Oh, kiddo…” Izuku’s breath hitched and a few tears landed on her leg.
“I know she’s a villain, Nemuri. I know that. She’s killed so many people. But I can’t stop thinking about that lonely little girl she used to be. I know she’s still in there somewhere. And I can save her.”
“Some people can’t be saved, Izuku.” She ran a hand through his curls. Her heart broke for her student, her little brother in all but blood. “Toga’s been through a lot but that doesn’t give her an excuse to hurt people. Sometimes… sometimes people are too far gone.”
“I know.” Izuku said. “But shouldn’t a hero try to save everyone? Even if it’s the villain from themselves?”
This kid. Nemuri wasn’t sure she’d ever been more proud and more discouraged at the same time. That was the exact brand of idealism that would make Izuku an amazing hero one day. But she was also worried it would get him killed.
“You’ve got an amazing heart, kid.”
“But you disagree.”
“Circumstances might be out of a person’s control, but their choices aren’t. I’ll admit, you and Toga are more similar than I thought, but there’s an enormous difference between you too. You chose to be a hero. She chose to join the League.”
“So I should just give up on her?” Izuku asked. “Treat her like any other criminal?”
“That’s a choice you’re going to have to make on your own, Izuku. Just make sure you can live with the consequences afterwards.” Nemuri stood up, knees creaking badly from sitting on the floor. She walked toward the door, intent on giving Izuku some time to think about things.
“Nemuri.” She stopped and turned to Izuku. All signs of his previous conflict were gone from his face. Determination burned bright and strong in his eyes. “I’m not going to give up on her. I’m going to save Himiko. Even if it’s from herself.”
Nemuri shook her head at him. Stubborn idealistic fools, she thought fondly.
“I hope you know what you’re doing, Izuku.” She turned and walked out the door, heels clacking noisily as she did. “I really do.”
Ochako watched in concern as Izuku slipped into the classroom just after the late bell. Her worry only grew as Aizawa let him go with little more than a nod. Izuku being late was already an anomaly. Walking in with a face void of expression and not a single smile in sight? That may have been the first sign of the apocalypse in Ochako’s book. And given that Aizawa didn’t even comment on his tardiness meant whatever it was that was eating at Izuku was bad enough that the teachers already knew about.
She caught his eye as Iida and Momo made their way to the front of the room. He gave her a soft smile, one that she could easily read as “I’m not okay, but I’m also not ready to talk about it”. She narrowed her eyes at him before turning her attention to their class reps. If Izuku wasn’t ready to talk about what was bothering him there was almost nothing she could do to force him. She would let it go for now, but she made a mental note to let their friends know to keep an eye on him over the next few days. She shook herself from her thoughts as Iida began to make his announcements.
“Thank you for your attention! As you should all be aware, the School Festival is coming up at the end of next week. We need to decide on what our contributions to the event will entail! Per the regulations set forth by the student council, our activity will need to be family friendly and we are not allowed to build or create, and I quote, ‘any sentient life form, artificial intelligence, weapon of mass destruction, or petting zoo’.” Koda visibly slumped in his seat at the last addition. “Does anyone have any ideas for our event?”
“Oh!” Kaminari leapt from his seat. “We should do a maid cafe!”
“We could do a funhouse?” Hagakure suggested.
“Or a disco!”
“What about a bakery?”
“An arm wrestling station!”
“We should host a mad banquet of darkness.” Tokoyami chimed in. Momo dutifully added the suggestions to the board as more and more rolled in. Eventually, the whole chalkboard was covered in her neat, even handwriting. They ranged from Shinsou’s suggestion of a giant napping area to her own of a traditional mochi shop but little of it seemed particularly practical.
“We probably shouldn’t do anything food related,” Momo put forward. “Most of the students here are used to Lunch Rush’s cooking, so we probably wouldn’t stand out quite as much.”
“Plus, this is supposed to be for the enjoyment of the rest of the courses.” Shoto pointed out. “We really should focus on what would give them the best time, no?”
“What have your classes done in the past, Aizawa-sensei?” Tsu asked. “Maybe we could take some inspiration from them.”
“Most years students end up doing some sort of performance based on the talents of the people in the class,” Aizawa answered tiredly. The bell rang to signal the end of homeroom and their teacher groaned. He stood up in his sleeping bag and began to awkwardly shuffle towards the door. “Whatever you end up deciding, let me know by tonight so I can get it approved. If I don’t have it before 10 we’re going with my choice of a public ethics lecture.”
“Uh, isn’t that just a normal class?” Sero asked as the class broke out into chatter. Ochako took advantage of the short break between homeroom and the next class to dodge around the desks of her classmates to get to Izuku. She got to his side and ran a hand over his shoulders. Under his uniform shirt his back was incredibly tense and her concern only grew.
“Hey.” She gave him a soft smile when he looked up. “You doin’ okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“Mm-hmm. You’re a terrible liar, Deku.” He let out a soft huff of a laugh.
“I’d tell you if I could, Ochako. You know that.”
“I know.” She gave him a faux-stern look and pointed a finger into his face. “But don’t think this will get you out of dinner tonight, Mister. You, me, take out from that Italian place, and the director’s cut of Pacific Rim. You better not be late because of training.”
That earned a real laugh out of him. Ochako felt herself smile at the return of Izuku’s joy. He put so much pressure on himself to always be this great and incredible hero that she couldn’t help but revel a little in her ability to take the stress off of him, even for a moment. When she turned to go back to her desk, Izuku caught her hand. She raised an eyebrow at him.
“Thank you. I don’t know what I would do without you, Ocha.” She blushed at the emotion thick in his voice.
“Well with a little luck,” she pressed a kiss to his cheek. “You’ll never have to know.”
“Ugh!” Jiro fake gagged a few rows over. “I think I just developed a fucking cavity from the two of you. Does someone have a spray bottle to stop them from eye-fucking on Midoriya’s desk?”
Ochako flushed scarlet at the laughter that rang out around the room. She felt Izuku stand up beside her and wrap an arm around her waist, which only made her blush harder.
“Don’t be jealous, Jiro. I’m sure if you ask nicely you and Kaminari can borrow the desk for a little while.”
“Oi!” Ochako took advantage of the class-wide chaos that comment caused to lean into Izuku’s embrace and try to force all of her affection for him through her touch. When he was ready, Izuku would confide in her about whatever was going on. Until then, she was going to do whatever it took to support her boyfriend and best friend. Even if it meant just a little bit of public embarrassment to do so.
Nezu watched the broadcast hungrily as it showed replay after replay of Midoriya’s fight with the Shie Hassaikai. Things were progressing better than he ever could have hoped for! Mirko’s chance meeting with Midoriya was proving to be the catalyst for a future far more grand than even Nezu’s designs could have foretold. Between his public display against Overhaul and now the potential for taking down a nationally recognized villain like Toga Himiko, his Symbol was growing faster than even his most optimistic calculations!
A knock at his door startled the chimera. He frowned at it. His security system should have alerted him to anyone on the grounds coming toward his office. How strange. He pressed a button next to his monitor to switch to a feed of the camera outside the door and raised his eyebrow at the person he saw.
“Come in, Midoriya-san.” Nezu called. The mother of his symbol opened the door, a serious expression on her face. Nezu studied her as she entered, hunting for the microexpressions of her body language that would give him a clue as to why she had come. “Please, take a seat. How can I help you today?”
“Experiment G-836.” Nezu’s ears flattened against his head.
“How do you know that?” He hissed.
“Alpha Lambda Echo Theta Psi. Project Ramses. Titan Fall. The Keystone Initiative.”
“Enough!” Nezu felt his tail curl unbidden around his waist. His claws extended in a defensive reaction. His teeth gnashed as a rush of long-suppressed memories rose to the surface. “What do you want?”
“To let you know that I’m serious.” Inko Midoriya said. “If I know all about Department 19, think about all the other secrets I might be privy to.”
Nezu’s heart raced in his chest. No one should have known about those. Everyone even tangentially related to the project was killed! How the hell had some housewife come to know these things?
“What do you want?” He ground out again.
“It’s really rather simple.” Her tone was calm, as if she hadn’t just completely upended Nezu’s entire world. “I want you to leave my son out of whatever schemes you’re concocting.” He blinked.
“You’re joking.”
“I just demonstrated that I was serious.”
“Have you seen your son recently?” He demanded. “He will change the very fate of our world! Just look at what he’s already done! There’s no telling how much good he will do in the future!”
“And he will do it on his own terms.” She said evenly. “Not because of your plans.”
“You ask too much. If you know my past, then you know I cannot allow him to go unchecked.”
“I thought you might say that. That's why I brought this.” Midoriya slid a file across the desk to him. He picked it up gingerly. Flipping to the first page he read for a moment before his expression slackened.
“Is this-”
“It is.”
“And he-”
“Yes.”
“Does the boy-”
“No. Izuku has remained unaware. And he will continue to be unaware so long as I am his mother.”
Nezu slumped into his chair. This… this changed everything. How could he have not known?
“I’m glad we could have this chat, Nezu.” Midoriya stood up, scooping up the file to take with her. “I feel it has been very informative.” She paused at the door. “I don’t believe you’re evil, Nezu. You have done quite a lot of good for this world. I do, however, believe that you don’t give a damn about all the people you need to trample on in order to get to your greater good. I won’t allow my son to become yet another casualty in your crusade.” She opened the door a crack and then paused again. “Oh, I almost forgot. The little girl my son saved on his work study. She’ll be coming to live with me by the end of the week. Good day, Principal.”
With that, Inko Midoriya left the room. Nezu stayed slumped in his chair, watching as his plans crashed around his head.
I… I lost?