Chapter Text
It had been five days.
That’s how long the Commission dragged their feet, making sure the documents ‘went through all the proper channels’ despite the urgency of the situation.
Nedzu was livid and released pages of the Legacy Project online. It wasn’t enough information to tell the whole story but it was enough that a dedicated internet sleuth would be able to put some pieces together. The Commission pushed through the warrant within an hour.
Hitoshi was watching the house from the park across the street. He and Eraserhead had been perched in a tree all night making sure nothing changed before the raid commenced at 8am. Some of Fat Gum’s sidekicks were watching the mansion in case they tried to get away through there.
Hitoshi was more than ready to get the show on the road by the time police cars and SWAT vehicles raced down the street and surrounded the base. Eraserhead looked calm and collected as he slipped out of the hammock he had made with his capture weapon and landed on the ground. Hitoshi tried to copy his dad’s easy confidence but he felt like all his worry and fear was written on his face.
“The police will serve the warrant then we can commence the operation,” Bubble Girl told the heroes-in-training as Hitoshi approached the group. Uraraka and Tsu looked nervous but determined.
“It's crazy how much we don't know kero ,” Tsu said, looking around at the police and heroes, each efficiently doing their part to secure the area.
“UA can't teach you everything,” Mirio acknowledged. “That's what work studies are for.”
Mirio and Nejure were relatively relaxed. Hitoshi wondered how many raids the Big Three had been on to be able to keep their emotions in check. The only outlier was Tamaki. His normal anxious jitters were gone, replaced by the cold, calculating focus of someone that knew failure was not an option. Kiri stood beside him with a similar expression. He clenched and unclenched his hands, creating the kind of sound that precipitated a landslide. They both kept their eyes on Nighteye and the captain that was selected to serve the warrant.
Hitoshi approached them and clapped Kiri on the shoulder.
“We’ll get him back,” he assured his friend.
“I know,” Kiri replied. “I’m just not sure what we’ll find when we do.”
An armored SUV ripped down the gates and a team of police stormed the property.
“This is the Musutafu City Police! We have a warrant! Come out with your hands up!”
No one had expected them to comply so no one was particularly surprised when the door and part of the front wall exploded outward and a group of low level thugs poured into the lawn led by Katsukami, one of the Eight Bullets.
Katsukami roared and charged at the cops, scattering them like bowling pins. Ryukyu was quick to change into her dragon form, a huge white scaled beast, and meet him head on.
“Go!” she yelled, grappling with the massive fighter as the police engaged the foot soldiers. “Ryukyu Agency will handle this!”
Uraraka and Tsu didn't hesitate to follow Nejure into battle.
“Move!” Centipeder yelled. The extraction team hurried across the lawn and into the house. They split up and searched it from top to bottom. The only indication that anyone had been inside were the three guard posts with cards, overflowing ashtrays and trash scattered around. Otherwise it looked completely abandoned.
“It's clear!” one of the cops called.
“Damn it!” Rock Lock swore. “This is why we shouldn’t plan raids on the word of a child! The girl sent us to the wrong place!”
“Mei would never have put Izuku in danger like that!” Kiri snapped. “There has to be something here.”
Hitoshi agreed. Mei was insane but she wasn't stupid or careless. They were missing something.
Tamaki marched toward the hole blasted in the front of the house. His steps were solid and sure and his posture was confident.
“We need one of the thugs in here right fucking now!” he shouted. Fat Gum and Eraserhead looked surprised by his change in attitude but Mirio looked proud. Kiri didn't react in the slightest. He and the older teen had spent a lot of time training together the last couple days.
“Sure thing!” Uraraka replied.
“Heads up! kero ,” Tsu added.
Hitoshi glanced out the parlor window just in time to dive out of the way as the glass shattered. Tsu had kicked a lightened thug into the house. He flew across the room and embedded in the wall. Eraserhead was on him in a heartbeat, pressing his forearm on the man’s throat.
“Where are they keeping the prisoners?” he demanded.
“I don't have to tell you shit!” the thug spat.
Kiri punched the wall beside his head, driving his fist wrist deep in the plaster. The man flinched and his eyes widened as he looked into the redhead’s rage filled eyes.
“You assholes kidnapped my boyfriend. If you don't tell us where you're keeping him I will break every bone in your body,” he threatened.
“You— you can't do that!” the thug stuttered, looking around the room. No one moved to save him. “You’re heroes! You can't hurt me!”
“I'm not a hero yet,” Kiri replied, leaning forward and baring his sharp teeth inches from the man’s face. “Try me.”
Kiri punched him in the gut. It wasn’t even close to his full strength but the man didn’t know that. He gasped and tried to double over but Eraser slammed his head back into the wall.
Nighteye hurried over and reached past Kiri to grab the thug's arm. His yellow eyes turned purple and the iris began to spin like a sped up clock.
“In the entry hall, under the stairs,” he announced, letting go of the man and hurrying away. A police officer took the thug and escorted him outside while the rest of them followed Nighteye. He approached a table with a vase and a mirror hung on the wall. He pressed a particular spot on the frame and the wall swung open.
“How did you do that?” Rock Lock asked. “The thug was arrested. His future couldn’t have shown him opening the wall.”
“At the time I touched him his future included telling us about the secret entrance,” Nighteye replied. “Red Riot was not bluffing when he said he would break all his bones.”
The majority of the team turned to Kiri in horror. He didn’t look the least bit regretful.
“Damn Kiri. Remind me never to get on your bad side,” Hitoshi snarked.
“You have no room to talk,” Nighteye said. “I have some concerns about what Eraserhead has taught you about knives.”
Hitoshi raised an eyebrow but didn’t reply as the team descended the hidden stairs.
At the bottom they found a maze of gray halls. They started running along the widest one, checking rooms as they went. It was mostly empty but a few lower level members still remained and were left behind in suppressing cuffs.
Hitoshi felt hopelessly lost. Everything looked the same and the empty rooms put him on edge. Up ahead they spotted another tunnel offshooting from their own. The police led the charge as they turned the corner and were met with a large room and three people in various masks.
“There are our uninvited guests,” the blonde one wearing a mask with a thin black beak said. The police raised their guns and the man clicked his tongue in annoyance. “Well that's just rude.”
The guns were wrenched from the cop’s hands and zoomed toward the blonde. Three of the weapons fell to the ground but the man raised the fourth and shot. Tamaki manifested a clam shell and shielded the officer that would have taken the bullet.
“Go on ahead,” Tamaki said, growing shell armor over his face and body and brandishing a shield in each hand. “I’ll handle this.”
“Are you sure Tamaki?” Mirio asked. Tamaki turned to look at his boyfriend.
“Go. Save Eri and bring Izuku back.”
“Your crazy kid!” Rock Lock shouted. “You can't take them on your own,”
“I’ll help,” Hitoshi offered, stepping forward. He glanced at his dad who nodded. It instantly boosted Hitoshi's confidence.
“Take this,” Fat Gum said. He put himself between Tamaki and the man Hitoshi now recognized as Setsuno, otherwise known as Larceny. He gave Tamaki two bits of meat. “Extra clam and octopus. Use it well.”
Tamaki swallowed the meat and nodded, accepting a pat on the shoulder from his mentor.
“Kick their asses,” Kiri called as everyone besides Tamaki and Hitoshi fled the room.
“What brave heroes,” Larceny taunted. “You really think you can take us?”
“We’re pretty confident,” Hitsohi replied, careful not to draw any weapons or grab his capture scarf as he studied their opponents.
Besides Larceny, the muscular bald man in the medical mask was Hojo. His crystals would be difficult for Hitoshi to counter without weapons. He hoped Tamaki had a plan. The last man was small and wore a bag with a stitched mouth over his head.
“You’re Tabe Soramitsu, right?” Hitsohi asked. The small man tilted his head. “I heard you can eat anything.”
Tabe’s mouth opened, ripping the stitches and revealing large teeth.
“Bite. Eat. Yum yum yum. Want to ea—”
“Got ya,” Hitsohi said when Tabe went silent and still. “Eat Setsuno.”
Tabe immediately dove at Larceny with his mouth open. Larceny raised the gun but hesitated to shoot and Tabe managed to bite the barrel clean off. Tabe was fast but so was Setsuno. The small cannibal attacked and Larceny dodged. Hitoshi kept a close watch and a tight hold on his puppet but he wasn’t blind to the fight going on across the room.
Tamaki had grabbed Hojo with his tentacles and slammed him into the wall. The bald man grew blue crystals all over his body to lessen the damage. The sharp edges tore the tentacles to shreds.
The two came together in a series of blows. The crystals were sharp but fragile and shattered against Tamaki’s shields even as the shells began to crack. Finally, a particularly strong punch shattered the hero student's defences.
“You’re out of your depth kid,” Hojo said, launching a crystal-covered punch at Tamaki’s face. Tamaki caught it, stopping the powerful blow in its tracks. His hands were clawed but textured like his tentacles and a bracer of clam shell was around his wrist.
“Going to UA, all the friends I made and the work I put in— IT MADE ME STRONG!”
Tamaki manifested a cow leg and kicked Hojo across the room, bits of crystal broke off as he tumbled across the concrete.
“This is for Izuku!” Tamaki shouted. “Vast Hybrid. CHIMERA KRAKEN!”
Each of Tamaki’s arms became four massive tentacles. They were longer and thicker than anything Hitoshi had ever seen and lashed out with insane speed. They crushed Hojo's crystals and flung him against the walls and the ground repeatedly, causing a shower of blue shards. With one last slam against the floor all the crystals shattered and Hojo lay still.
Hitoshi had been so distracted by Tamaki's power up that he didn’t notice Larceny pick up one of the guns. He screamed and clutched his head when Setsuno shot Tabe in the shoulder and slammed the butt of the gun into his temple, knocking him out.
Tamaki’s tentacles reached for Larceny, forcing him to retreat away from the remaining guns, but he still attempted to shoot Hitoshi. Hitoshi dove away and rolled behind Tamaki who had to deactivate Chimera Kraken to manifest two huge clam shells.
Suddenly, both shields disappeared and appeared in Larceny’s hands. Hitoshi grabbed his scarf and knife on instinct but those were snatched too.
“Give up,” Setsuno said, raising the gun again. “Weapons are useless against me and I can steal your manifestations too.”
“You don't think we can take you down with our bare hands?” Hitoshi asked. Setsuno ignored him and addressed Tamaki.
“Your partner is an idiot if he thinks I’m going to talk to him after what he did to Tabe. I have no issue killing kids.”
He cocked the gun and Hitoshi scrambled for a plan.
“Tamaki!” Hitoshi shouted, grabbing a pouch he had velcroed to his belt. “Take this. It will boost your quirk.”
He tossed the bag but, as soon as Tamaki caught it, it zoomed into Larceny's free hand.
“Did you learn nothing?” he mocked. “It's useless to resist.”
“I learned plenty,” Hitoshi replied. “But I promised my boyfriend I would blow something up for him.”
Hitoshi activated the detonator he had hidden in his palm. The bag exploded in a brilliant flash of orange fire. Setsuno was blasted into the wall and fell to the ground, his clothing burned and his flesh blistering from the heat.
The night before Hitoshi and Kiri had managed to get a hold of Katsuki and Shouto. They were beside themselves but admitted they wouldn't be able to make it back in time for the raid. Katsuki had told Hitoshi where to find his cluster bombs and made him promise to make the Shei Hassaikai pay for taking Zuku.
“Let's find Izuku and Eri,” Tamaki said, turning off his quirk.
“There’s a door over there,” Hitoshi pointed out, gesturing to a set of double doors opposite the arch they had entered through.
Tamaki nodded and produced a pair of suppressant cuffs. He secured Tabe and Hojo while Hitoshi used his own cuffs to bind Setsuno. The purplette could have sworn Tamaki slipped something into his pocket before they began the search again.
………..
“Are you sure we should leave them?” Rock Lock asked as they ran down the halls. Eijiro was becoming very annoyed with the hero and his incessant complaining. Underestimating his teammates was not helping.
“I have faith in Suneater,” Fat Gum said. “He has become an impressive hero in the time I’ve been lucky enough to be his mentor.”
“Fine, but what about the kid? He’s only a first year!”
“Psyrin has been training since middle school,” Eraserhead said. “He’s my personal student. Do not judge him based on his age. I have a number of skilled future heroes in my class.”
His eyes flicked to Eijiro causing Rock Lock to study him with a judgmental gaze. He still looked skeptical but kept his mouth shut.
They ran through the empty halls, not coming across anyone along the way. It was becoming concerning how unguarded the hidden compound was.
As they turned a corner the hall started writhing and bucking and the walls shifted to cut them off.
“It’s Mimic!” Nighteye shouted. “Eraser, do you see him?”
“No! He must have taken Trigger. He shouldn’t be able to control something this big.”
Rock Lock touched the wall and made a twisting motion. The area around them froze but the concrete continued to twist behind and ahead of them.
“I can give us a reprieve but it’s not much,” he said.
They were trapped. Eijiro wanted to punch the wall in frustration. This was taking too long. Every minute they didn't find Izuku and Eri was more time for the Shei Hassaikai to move them or dispose of them.
“Rock Lock!” Mirio shouted.
A spear of concrete shot at the hero from down the hall. It stabbed him in the shoulder, throwing him away from the wall. The area began to writhe again, the hall constricted and dividers popped up to seperate the group. A pillar burst from the wall, headed straight for Eraserhead.
“Sensei!” Eijiro yelled, pushing his teacher away just as Fat Gum put himself between Eraserhead and the battering ram. Both Eijirou and Fat Gum were slammed into the wall but rather than being crushed, they were swallowed by the concrete.
Eijirou felt himself falling and hardened his whole body to keep his bones from breaking on impact. He and Fat Gum found themselves in a large dim room. They barely had a moment to breath before a figure charged at them out of the darkness.
Eijiro manged to get his arms up to block the devastatingly strong punch but was thrown backward into the wall. He heard a loud crack and hoped it was the concrete and not his quirk.
Fat Gum roared and punched at the attacker but a golden barrier appeared, preventing him from making contact. The man drew back his fist and the barrier disappeared as he rained blows down upon the hero faster than the eyes could see. Fat Gum slid back, the front of his costume shredded.
“We are the spear and the shield,” a dramatic voice said as a man in a black robe and a mask similar to Overhaul's step up beside the strongman. The dome reappeared centered on him.
Eijiro extracted himself from the wall. He couldn’t feel any damage from the harsh landing but his arms had cracked from the force of the punch.
“You're good at defense,” the first man said to Fat Gum. “I’m starting to have fun. Get rid of this! Don't use it again!”
He knocked his knuckles on the force field, glaring at his partner.
“We’ll win for sure if we work together,” the second man argued.
“I don’t want to win. I want to fight!”
As the men argued, Eijirou studied them. The strongman with the full-faced mask and wild hair had to be Rappa. He was known to be a voracious fighter, challenging anyone and everyone to brawls just to feel the thrill of battle. The other was Tengai. He was less well known but it was rumored no one had ever breached his barrier.
Tengai sighed and shrunk his shield so it only covered him. Rappa surged forward and started wailing on Fat Gum again. The hero took the blows, bracing himself against the overwhelming force.
Eijirou’s mind was racing. Tengai and Rappa had called themselves a shield and spear but Fat Gum and Red Riot were a shield and spear themselves.
Tengai was standing back watching the fight. Both men had disregarded Eijirou, either underestimating the hero student or assuming he was down. The redhead snuck along the edge of the room, getting closer to the shield user while keeping an eye on the fight.
Fat Gum managed to get a punch in but Rappa jumped back.
“Don’t disappoint me, fat guy,” he yelled. “I want a real fight!”
They came at each other again. Fat Gum was attempting to land hits of his own but Rappa’s speed was unmatched.
Eijirou got behind Tengai and charged. He slammed a hardened fist into the shield but it simply rippled and made a sound like a gong.
“It’s useless,” Tengai said, turning to Eijirou. His posture was relaxed. He was completely confident his barrier would hold. “You’re not strong enough to break my shield.”
Eijirou growled. He thought of the day at the cafe when Katsuki and Hitoshi had invited him to train with them. They taught him how powerful he was and how he could be more than he ever thought he would be. Aizawa taught him to be smart, Mic taught him how to be approachable and Fat Gum taught him to always be humble.
Suddenly, Izuku’s face popped into his head. He was everything Eijirou believed a hero to be. He was kind and brave and his strength came from skill and dedication. Being with him, getting to know him and learning about everything he had been through taught Eijirou the most important lesson of all.
Nothing was impossible.
Eijiour pushed his quirk father than he ever had before. Rocky spikes grew all over his body, tearing through his shirt and pants. Every movement was accompanied by the grind of stone against stone. His hands became claws and his teeth felt bigger so he smiled as wide as he could.
“You underestimate what I will do to protect the ones I love,” he said. His voice rasped like gravel and rumbled like an earthquake. “I AM RED RIOT!”
He punched the barrier again and it cracked, glowing fault lines spreading from his fist.
“That's not possible!” Tengai cried. He pressed his fingers to his temples and the shield brightened.
Eijirou hit it again and again, the cracks spreading and the spot under his knuckles growing darker as it buckled under the pressure.
“NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE!” he yelled as he lifted both his fists above his head. He brought them down as hard as he could and the barrier shattered. Tengai gasped in pain, holding his head, but Eijirou didn’t hesitate to run in and slam the man’s face into his knee. His mask crumpled and he collapsed like a cloth doll.
“RED!”
The front of Fat Gum’s costume was all but gone, revealing bruises and abrasions across his stomach and chest. Eijirou ran to his mentor and flung himself between him and Rappa.
Red Riot was a spear, but he was also a shield.
He absorbed Rappa’s blows. A few of the stone spikes on his forearms broke off and he grit his teeth against the pain as the punches worsened the cracks in his skin. Blood began seeping down his arms but he did not yield.
He just had to give Fat Gum time.
His mentor was a shield, but he was also a spear.
“NOW!”
Eijiro ducked and twisted away from the berserker. Rappa stumbled when his punch only hit air and looked around for his target. What he saw was Fat Gum shrunk down to a normal size, all his fat stores absorbed and channeled into his pulsing and glowing fist. He hit Rappa dead center the chest. There was a deafening boom and the building shook as he was blasted across the room and through a concrete wall. The strongman fell to his knees and collapsed forward onto his face with a loud thunk.
The pair were panting for breath, coming down from the adrenaline rush of such a brutal fight. Eventually, Fat Gum laughed and reached over to clap Eijirou on the shoulder. Eijiou laughed too, taking in his mentor’s bruised abs that were usually hidden by his fat stores.
“You have to tell me your workout routine,” Eijirou chuckled. Fat Gum scoffed and pushed him away playfully.
“You don’t need it kid.”
They secured Tengai and used two cuffs on Rappa, including a heavy duty restraint meant for mutation quirks.
They found a door to what looked like a recovery room and took the stairs back to the main compound. The halls were silent as they hurried to find their team but when they passed the cafeteria they heard something scuffle inside.
Eijirou looked at Fat Gum who nodded and gestured for him to take a look. The room appeared empty but there were plenty of places to hide. They crept between the tables, keeping an eye out for movement. At the back of the room Eijirou spotted someone cowering behind a chair.
“Come out!” Eijirou ordered.
A man stood with his hand up, shaking and looking at them with terror in his eyes. He was too old to be a guard or fighter judging by the multitude of wrinkles creasing his face. He wore a black turtleneck sweater with gray slacks and his thin brown hair looked greasy.
“Please, help me,” he begged. “They left my door unlocked but I’m lost.”
“You're a prisoner?” Fat Gum clarified. The man nodded.
“I’ve been here for weeks.”
Something about man had Eijiro on edge. It wasn’t anything he could put his finger on and he appeared genuinely frightened but looking at him made the hair on the back of his neck stand up.
“We’re looking for a couple of others. A little girl and a teenage boy. Do you know where they are?” Fat Gum asked. The man’s eyes widened and he nodded.
“I saw them a few times near the clinic. I can lead you there.”
“I thought you were lost,” Eijirou said.
“I know this area,” the man countered. “I just don't know the way to the surface.”
“If you show us where they are we’ll get you out,” Fat Gum offered.
The man nodded again, lowering his arms and scrambling around the table toward the door. Fat Gum followed but Eijirou spotted something sticking out of the trash can behind where the man had been hiding. Using one of his knives, he pulled it out farther. It was a lab coat.
They followed the man through the halls. Eijirou stayed close to Fat Gum. He wasn’t sure if the hero was getting the same odd feeling from their guide as Eijirou so he kept his guard up.
Eventually they reached a metal door.
“This is it?” Fat Gum asked. The man nodded and allowed the heroes to step past him. Eijirou kept his quirk activated just below the surface. Fat Gum tried the handle and they were surprised to find it unlocked.
It looked like a typical little girl’s room with toys and plushies and pastel colors everywhere but there was no one inside. Eijirou stepped in, looking around for possible hiding places, but whipped around when Fat Gum cried out.
The man had stabbed the powered-down hero in the shoulder and pushed him into the room. Eijirou had half a second to recognize the weapon as a scalpel before the door was swinging closed. He charged and rammed into it. He heard a sickening crunch and the door burst open, flinging the man into the opposite wall. Eijiro was on him in a moment. Blood dripped down his face from a broken nose but he still tried to stab Eijiro. The scalpel broke against his skin.
Eijirou slammed the man’s arm into the wall, breaking it.
“Hello Dr. Nikuya,” Eijirou snarled, hardened hand tightening a round the doctor's throat. The man’s eyes widened in terror. Eijiro relished the sight.
“I’ve been wanting to meet you for a long time. You hurt someone very important to me.”
He stomped on the doctor’s foot. It crunched under his boot and the man shrieked in pain.
“What kind of monster hurts a little boy?”
He punched him in the gut, making him gasp.
“Treats him as less than human?”
He threw him to the ground and stood on his back when he tried to crawl away.
“Overdoses him on drugs?”
The doctor's wrist shattered in Eijirou's clawed hand.
He flipped the doctor over and knelt on his ribs, roughly grasping his chin to make Nikuya look at him.
“No punishment will ever be enough,” Eijirou snarled.
He saw Fat Gum approach out of the corner of his eye. The hero stepped on the doctor’s broken wrist making him gasp in agony.
“This belongs to you,” Fat Gum said before plunging the scalpel he had been stabbed with through the man’s hand. Eijirou grinned as Dr. Nikuya screamed.
Another thing Eijirou had learned was that heroes were protectors. Good ones strived to be pillars of morality and virtue but they were only human.
Eijirou pulled back a hardened fist and punched one of Izuku’s first tormentors in the face.
Sometimes they took justice into their own hands.
…………
Izuku heard a loud boom and the floor shook with the force of a distant blast. Eri looked up from the tea party she was having with a couple of stuffed animals, eyes wide. Izuku hurried to her.
“I need you to be brave,” he said, smoothing back her hair as he reached behind her to rip the tag off her dress. “The heroes are coming but we need to help them help us.”
Izuku pulled the tongue piercing free and reattached it. He wished he had more time to explain everything to Eri but Overhaul would be coming for them soon.
“I’ll protect you. Just say close to me,” he assured her, looking into her eyes and trying to both comfort her and express how serious he was without words. She looked terrified but nodded, choosing to trust him.
“I need to get the bracelet off,” he said. “Don't be frightened.”
Izuku grabbed his thumb and wrenched on it. The joint cracked when it dislocated but he could now slide the quirk suppressor off. He relocated his finger and reached under the table to retrieve the item he had stashed there.
Eri had a music box in the shape of a carousel. Around the outside had been a ring of silvery reflective plastic. It was too shiny and too wide to pass for the suppressant cuff on close inspection but it would have to do.
Eri squeaked and clung to Izuku when they heard the lock click. Izuku picked her up, hiding the fake cuff in the folds of her dress. Chronostasis entered and gestured for them to come.
“We’re leaving. Get a move on,” he ordered. Izuku slipped past him and found Overhaul outside receiving a report from a man that had fully embraced the plague doctor look. He had a full-face mask, a wide brimmed hat and a black cloak.
“Most of the Eight Bullets are engaged,” he said. “Mimic is holding off the bulk of the heroes but Trigger only lasts so long.”
Overhaul’s eyes flicked to Izuku and Eri. Izuku stared back definitely.
“The heroes will not ruin what I have created,” Overhaul vowed. “We must continue the mission.”
He turned on his heel and marched through the halls, away from the clinic. Overhaul and Chronostasis led while the plague doctor guy kept pace with Izuku. Another man brought up the rear. He was shirtless but wore a fur vest over brown pants. His mask was gray and had a smaller beak. He moved with an awkward gait and often seemed about to fall over.
Plague Doctor pushed Izuku into an offshooting tunnel. He stumbled and Eri slipped so he used his free hand to readjust her.
“What happened to your hand?” Plague Doctor asked. Izuku realized he had accidentally bunched up Eri’s skirt and revealed the deep purple bruise spreading across half his hand.
“I dislocated my thumb,” Izuku replied.
He hadn’t meant to say that.
“How did you do that?”
“I did it myself.”
Shut up, shut up, shut up!
“Why did you dislocate your own thumb?”
Izuku realized who he was talking to. Nemoto had the ability to force people to tell the truth. He tried to keep his mouth shut but the words were forcing their way out so he tried to be vague.
“I needed to.”
They had reached a large room with a tall ceiling and Nemoto stopped. Overhaul and Chronostasis noticed they were falling behind and turned back.
“Why are we stopping?” Overhaul demanded.
“I will repeat,” Nemoto hissed dangerously, ignoring his boss. “Why exactly did you need to dislocate your own thumb?”
Izuku tried his best to stay silent. He clenched his jaw and bit his tongue but the truth was like a balloon in his lungs. The pressure built until he couldn’t breath and was forced to speak.
“To take the quirk suppressor off,” he gasped. Nemoto was watching him closely and Izuku saw his eyes flick down to his mouth.
“What’s that in your mouth?”
Izuku gripped Eri tighter and her arms squeezed his neck in return. His eyes darted between the Yakuza members. They were on high alert. Chronostasis’ hair was rising and Overhaul had his gloves off.
“A tracker,” Izuku answered.
He lept just as the floor erupted into spikes. Large gray wings with lime green primaries snapped open and propelled him and Eri into the air. He had done very little practicing with his parrot wings and his back ached as he climbed higher but he ignored it.
The room came to life and he twisted and turned to avoid the pillars of concrete and spikes of stone that attempted to knock him out of the sky. Blue-gray arrows shot at him any time he slowed even a little. He held Eri tightly to his chest and she buried her face in his neck as he looked around for an escape.
He saw the tunnel they had come through between the twisting concrete and made for it. As he dove under another spike he noticed the man in the fur vest. He was crouched on a ledge, giggling like a madman and swaying precariously. When Izuku passed him he suddenly felt dizzy and his wings faltered, sending him and Eri on a collision course with the wall. Izuku tried to use his leg to push off it but his warped vision caused him to misjudge the distance and he felt his knee jar painfully. His thoughts felt sluggish but his brain provided the reason for his sudden disorientation.
He was Sloshed.
He tried to find his rhythm again but couldn’t seem to coordinate his wings so when a massive battering ram came at him from above he couldn’t dodge.
A flash of yellow and red appeared out of nowhere and obliterated the concrete that would have crushed Izuku and Eri. Mirio was wreathed in lightning, his cape billowing behind him as he set his sights on Sakaki.
He came at him like a missile, shattering the ledge Sakaki was standing on. For a man who was permanently drunk he moved well and Mirio was in his range of influence. His punches were sloppy and didn’t land correctly or missed entirely like Mirio was seeing double. He did have the wherewithal to keep Permeation on and the knives Sakaki had produced passed right through him.
As their fight moved farther away Izuku’s mind cleared and he regained control of his body. He easily dodged an arrow aimed at his head and dove through the next wave of spikes.
He was so close now. He just had to drop Eri off and tell her to find the heroes then he could go back for Mirio.
Suddenly the room stopped moving, frozen like the inside of some kind of dull, gray geode. He heard an angry roar and a defending crack as the entire ceiling shattered. Massive chunks of concrete plummeted from above. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
Izuku channeled his quirk. His right hand and forearm swelled into a huge claw. He opened it and raised it above his head before snapping it closed.
A sonic boom rattled the air and shook the building. A concentrated blast of air blew the concrete away, breaking it into smaller chunks that fell harmlessly around them.
Mei was a genius. She didn’t do half measures and had made sure his tracker had multiple uses. Adding pistol shrimp shell had provided him with a last resort weapon as powerful as Kacchan’s explosions.
It was a last resort weapon though and Izuku gasped in pain as his arm fell limply to his side. His bones were broken and his shoulder was definitely dislocated but he pushed through and turned to dive toward their escape.
Something caught his wing mid flap. It froze and Izuku and Eri went spinning toward the ground. Izuku twisted to cushion Eri’s fall as he slammed into the unforgiving concrete. His wings broke on impact and his ribs were at least bruised. His head throbbed.
“Eri,” Overhaul called. Izuku struggled to sit up and pull Eri behind him. “You’ll never escape. Look at your hero. He can’t even move any more.”
Izuku hissed at the man as he appeared from amongst the debris.
“Come back to me and I won't hurt him.”
Eri moved out from behind Izuku but he grabbed her hand with his good arm. Overhaul looked enraged.
“Now!” he screeched, causing Eri to flinch. “This is all your fault! If you don’t come right now I will kill him! I will turn him into a smear on the ground! I will torture him and twist his body into horrific shapes until he begs for death! COME HERE RIGHT NOW!”
Eri started sobbing and tried to pull away but Izuku held firm.
“Eri,” he said gently. Her shining red eyes turned to look at him. “I have been through so much to get here. I endured pain just like you did and I will not hesitate to endure more to keep you safe. Let me save you Eri. You deserve a hero.”
Eri looked down at their clasped hands. She studied the scars along his arm that looked more like hers after five days with the doctor.
She started to glow.
A soft golden light radiated off her and her horn shined brightly. Izuku gazed in awe at the beauty of Rewind.
“I want to be a hero too,” Eri said.
Izuku felt his wings snap open again and the bruising on his arm faded away as his bones and joints returned to their proper place.
“STUPID GIRL!” Overhaul screamed. “Your curse will kill him just like your father! I'm the only one that can stop it!”
Izuku felt a deep pain in his gut as Eri’s quirk started rewinding things that shouldn’t be rewound. The cells that made up every part of him were rapidly reviving and dying and he felt like he was burning from the inside out.
Then it stopped.
The glow disappeared and Izuku gasped out a breath he didn’t know he was holding.
“Izuku!”
Izuku whipped around to see Aizawa standing at the mouth of the tunnel, his red eyes locked on Eri.
“Eraserhead,” Izuku sighed. He tugged on Eri’s hand so she would face him.
“You were so brave, little unicorn. A proper hero,” he praised. “But now I need you to run. See that man over there?” he nodded to Eraserhead and the police and heroes piling in behind him. “That’s my dad. He’ll protect you while I make sure Overhaul can never hurt anyone ever again.”
Eri nodded and ran on her little legs toward safety. Izuku didn’t let go of her hand until he had to.
“You're always making a mess,” Mirio said as he flashed into existence beside Izuku and offered him a hand.
“It wasn’t me this time,” Izuku argued, taking the hand and finding his feet.
“LOOK OUT!” Nighteye screamed and Izuku heard a bang. He wrapped his wings around Mirio without thinking and felt something stick in the skin near the joint.
His wings disappeared instantly.
“Kaijin! Are you alright?” Mirio asked. Izuku could only chirp in response.
Overhaul cackled, the gun still raised.
“Thank you Kaijin,” he said. “Without your filthy quirk we would have never been able to make a permanent version of the drug. How fitting you were the first to be cured. You were there at the beginning and you're here at the end.”
He dropped the gun and pressed his hand to the ground. The debris shifted and the ground rolled, depositing three bodies at his feet. Chronostasis, Nemoto and Sakaki. He touched them and all four began to change, twisting and swelling and merging into a grotesque beast. It was massive, with multiple arms and an exposed spine and ribcage. Its beaked jaw was open revealing Overhaul's head and torso piloting the monstrosity.
“LET'S FINISH THIS!” he roared, sending a wave of spikes toward them.
Mirio, Izuku and Nighteye scattered. Mirio charged in, lightning trailing behind him, and punched the beast in the chest. It stumbled back but its many arms kept it standing as it wailed on Mirio. Nighteye flicked his seals at it’s wrists. The hyper-dense support weapons tore through the sinew and bone but Overhaul healed them instantly. One shot directly at Overhaul but the monster's mouth closed and the seal ricocheted off its bony beak.
Overhaul shrieked in rage and sent another wave of spikes at the foresight hero. Nighteye had nowhere to go. He was hemmed in from all sides and Izuku was too far away to help.
Something swooped overhead. Long red tentacles wrapped around Nighteye and wrenched him away just as he was about to be skewered.
Tamaki banked back toward the tunnel on brown wings and dropped Nighteye amongst the heroes. Izuku could see Hitoshi now, standing beside their dad.
Izuku turned back to the fight. Mirio was on the defensive, not able to stay solid long enough to get in a punch. The moment he tried Overhaul attempted to crush him under multiple fists.
“You can not stop me!” he bellowed. A spike went through Mirio’s chest but he sunk into the ground and popped up on the other side of the room.
Before Overhaul could turn to resume wailing on Mirio Izuku picked up a chunk of concrete and whipped it at the back of his head.
Everything froze.
The beast slowly turned to Izuku and lumbered forward.
“It would be a shame to eliminate one of the pure but you have defied me for the last time,” Overhaul said, raising his fist. “Any last words?”
“Yeah,” Izuku replied. He raised his own fists and manifested pistol shrimp claws on each hand. “FUCK YOU!”
The left claw snapped closed and the right side of the beast's torso was blasted away, blood and chunks of flesh painting the room red.
“Wha—?” Overhaul gasped. “But— but the bullet? I shot you!”
“You failed Chisaki,” Izuku said, snapping the other claw closed and obliterating the left side of his torso. The monster’s body was now only held together by its spine and a bit of remaining muscle and tendons clinging to the last of its ribs.
Both of Izuku arms hung uselessly at his side as Overhaul touched the beast's remaining hands to the ground, intending to use the concrete to reduce Izuku to a paste.
Nothing happened.
Izuku looked over his shoulder and saw Aizawa with his quirk trained on the Yakuza boss.
Overhaul roared and tried to swipe at Izuku but Mirio descended like a bolt from the heavens and stomped him into the ground.
“You’ve done enough. Leave it to us now,” a voice said and Izuku looked up at his cousin. Tamaki popped something into his mouth and blue crystals began forming all over his body like armor, strengthened by clam shells. Each arm became a massive tentacle studded with more sharp crystals. He flicked them like a whip, severing one of the monster’s legs.
Tamaki and Mirio danced around Overhaul in a flurry of lightning and feathers, breaking limbs and tearing off flesh. All Overhaul could do was roar and flail.
Izuku made his way over to the heroes. Eri wiggled out of Hitoshi’s arms and ran to Izuku, hugging him around the knees.
“Hey there Kit,” Izuku said and was rewarded with the biggest, brightest smile he had ever seen.
"You alright Kaijin?” Hitoshi asked, eyeing his bruised arms. Izuku groaned.
“Thos is going to kill me. I promised no more hospital visits.”
Hitoshi just laughed at him. The traitor.
"You gave us quite the scare. How did you know the bullet wouldn't work?" Nighteye asked from where he was checking on Rock Lock. The hero was sitting against the wall, a bandage around his shoulder and blood staining the front of his costume. He looked at Izuku expectantly, also wanting to know the answer.
“I didn't. It was a prototype so it could have failed or maybe I turned off my wings in time,” Izuku shrugged and hissed when it jostled his arms.
Behind him, Overhaul shrieked and Izuku turned in time to see Tamaki wrap a tentacle around his exposed spine and tear it out. The monster’s back half collapsed and lay still while the front half stumbled, attempting to use two of its remaining arms as legs.
“Izu!”
“Ei!” Izuku cried, beaming at his boyfriend as he and a skinny Fat Gum stepped into the room. Ei was carrying something on his shoulder.
“I brought you a present.”
He threw what he was carrying at Izuku’s feet and he realized it was the beaten and bloody body of Dr. Nikuya. Eri hid behind his legs but peeked out curiously.
“Is he dead?” Izuku asked. Ei and Fat Gum just shrugged. Eri got brave and darted out to poke the doctor with her foot. He groaned and she scurried back behind Izuku.
“Guess not,” Ei said disappointedly, frowning at the body.
“Too bad we couldn’t get him to the medic in time,” Hitoshi deadpanned. Eraserhead grunted in agreement, his eyes still trained on the fight.
It was the longest Izuku had ever seen him use his quirk but he didn't have to hold out much longer. Mirio wrenched the monster’s beak apart revealing Overhaul’s body. It was slumped over and his eyes rolled back in his head as his lower body slipped out of the quirked flesh and fell to the ground.
“Quirk suppression. Let’s go!” Nighteye ordered, clapping his hands to get the police moving. They rushed to Overhaul’s body and used Tartarus level restraints to cover both his hands.
Mirio and Tamaki made their way over to them, the blonde with his arm around his boyfriend's shoulders. Eri tugged on Izuku’s pant leg.
“Who are they?” she asked.
“The dark haired one is Tamaki, my cousin. The blonde one is his boyfriend,” he replied.
“And he’s your dad?” Eri questioned, pointing to Eraserhead who blinked at them. Whether it was dry eye or shock, Izuku wasn’t sure. It was probably both.
“Yeah, he is,” Izuku confirmed, grinning at the underground hero.
“Can he be my dad too?”
Izuku laughed.
“We’ll have to ask him but I’m sure he'll be okay with it.”
Izuku heard Aizawa mutter ‘brat’ but he didn’t argue.
“Please, please, please,” Eri begged, turning her adorable face to Aizawa. “I want Izu to be my brother.”
Izuku felt tears brimming in his eyes as his heart swelled. Aizawa knelt down to Eri’s level.
“You’ll have lots of siblings. Hitoshi here is also my son,” he explained, jerking his head to Hitoshi who smiled softly to the little girl.
“What about the red boy?” Eri asked. “I like him. He got the bad man.”
Ei chuckled and also knelt down to talk to Eri.
“I’m Izuku's boyfriend. I love him very much,” Ei said honestly and the little girl beamed at him.
“You're his knight!” she cried happily, like she had just discovered all the secrets of the universe. “You came to rescue him.”
Ei laughed and picked up the little girl, turning to smile at Izuku.
“We’re both knights,” he said. “We came to rescue the princess.”
He tickled Eri and she giggled, the beautiful sound echoed through what remained of the battlefield and Izuku’s tears finally spilled over.
The monsters were gone.
His family was here.
He felt new.
Reborn.