18

Chapter Text

"We'll move at eight when their guard changes. If everything goes to plan, then we'll have the entire facility locked down by eight-thirty. Any questions?" Detective Tsukauchi looked around the room they were using for the briefing and saw no signs of confusion. Which wasn't terribly surprising, as this briefing was the final in a string of them. Heroes and cops stood around the room, each with their own task assigned to them. Some were picking through the photos of suspects and the location. Others still were studying the whiteboard that had a variety of strategies and notes on it. Aside from Rock Lock, who had shoehorned himself into the investigation, Naomasa had absolute confidence that everyone knew what to do.

"Alright, I'll say it one last time, we have an undercover operative mixed in with the cult so be careful. The sergeant will finalize your assignments. Let's get in position." Naomasa stepped away from the table and towards the door to get moving when he was pulled to the side by Nighteye, who had been leading the investigation on the heroes' side. Tall, lean, and muscular, Nighteye was an interesting man. His dark green hair was neatly smoothed to the side, and he wore a grey suit with golden buttons. Ask anyone, and he gave the impression of the average office man. Anyone who underestimated him because of that would be immensely regretful.

"How reliable is this information?" The man was stoic and cold to most people. In fact, if Naomasa hadn't worked with the man before and knew how to read him, he would have assumed Nighteye was accusing his information of being shoddy. However, he did know the man, and he also knew that if he was asking this question, rather than just verifying it himself, then he had something pressing in mind.

"It's reliable and accurate. My source is one of the best at obtaining information I've ever seen. Why?" Both men were frowning, and a pit was growing in his stomach. He was already feeling on edge because of Midoriya's insistence about being careful.

"Because something isn't right. I don't need to use my quirk to know something has or is going to go wrong. When was the last time your officer checked in?"

Naomasa blanched. "He's late and you're not the only one to tell me something's wrong. My source practically drilled it into me before he let me go. Fuck."

…

"Are you sure I don't look strange in this, Izuku?" Midoriya chuckled as he helped Kyoka off of his sleek black bike. She was wearing a crimson formal dress that was tailored perfectly to show off her curves. Although she didn't have the assets that others like Mei had, she was certainly attractive in her own way. Her styled shoulder-length purple hair would usually clash with the deep rose, but in this case, the two colors provided a contrast emphasized by her brash, yet bashful, personality.

"You look amazing, Kyoka, and don't worry. These events are generally a speech followed by a whole bunch of small talk, followed by snacking on whatever canapé they have set out, a bit of dancing and more small talk, and a final speech before everyone heads out." Izuku put out his arm for her as they walked up the path to the veritable mansion they were standing outside of.

Izuku himself wore a simple, black three-piece suit with a matching crimson undershirt and black tie. Though it wasn't printing through the suit jacket, Izuku was carrying his sidearm in a sleek black leather shoulder harness. He didn't expect danger at the gathering they had been invited to, but he was uncomfortable if he didn't have it. It was better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. His hair was pulled back into a tight ponytail, as was usual for him, and he wore thin black gloves on his hands that went well with the rest of the outfit.

As the two walked up onto the steps, they were greeted by a grey-haired man in his own suit, his wife, and a woman their own age. Izuku smiled his best business smile as he shook the man's hand. "It is good to finally be able to attend one of the events you have invited me to, Mr. Yaoyorozu. It's a shame that it's been such a busy year, else I would have accepted your invitation sooner."

The man laughed a hearty, full belly laugh and shook both his head and hand with a vigor belying his age. "That is fine, son. I know how hectic the first year is for a company. I'm just surprised a quirkless has done so well for himself in this day and age. This must be your partner, Hatsume Mei, correct?"

Izuku could feel the annoyance that came from someone pointing out his quirklessness but let it roll over him. He knew how to play the game, and if the media running stories on his quirkless miracle hadn't gotten to him, an aging man's offhand comment wasn't going to make him snap. "No sir, this is a close friend to the two of us, Jiro Kyoka. Mei unfortunately couldn't make it, as she had several matters to attend to." Mei simply had no interest in the politics that came from running a company. Luckily for her, he was fairly well versed in them, and Kyoka had volunteered out of curiosity.

"Well, it's a shame that Ms. Hatsume isn't with us tonight, but it is wonderful to meet you all the same, Ms. Jiro. This is my wife," the man gestured to the lady standing beside him, "and my daughter." The latter of the two waved shyly at them, and Midoriya smiled back at her. "I do believe we have some business to talk about later regarding some raw materials you wish to purchase off of Yaoyorozu Industries, correct?"

Izuku nodded his head but gestured to the people who had shown up after them and were waiting behind on the steps. "Indeed, but I do believe we'll have time for that later, yes? We shouldn't keep the rest of your guests waiting." The older man gave Izuku a sly smile now and gestured them inside. Yes indeed, playing the game was a massive pain in his ass.

…

Shota Aizawa crouched on the rooftop across the road from the old church. The building was aging, and it showed. The belfry had long failed to support the lantern, causing both it and the spire to snap, collapsing down and into one of the corners of the building. The main door had been long since barred shut, but the side door was still operational. At the side door stood one man leaning against the wall with his eyes closed. Either they weren't expecting company, or their guard wasn't very attentive.

"Eraser, have you got eyes on?" His comm crackled to life, and the voice of Naomasa came through into his right ear. Aizawa reached into the scarf around his neck with one hand, pulling his goggles up onto his eyes while the other tapped the communicator in his ear.

"Affirmative, guard just switched and the new one isn't paying attention. Do we move?" It only took a moment before the affirmation came through and all of the teams moved to their assigned locations. As soon as the door guard was within attacking range, Aizawa immediately activated his quirk and threw out the bindings of his scarf to wrap around the man. Naomasa was close behind and was the first to realize something wasn't right with the man.

"Uh. Did you knock him out, Eraser? His head is rolling a bit much for… SHIT EVERYONE GET DOWN." The man began to hiss and expand before, a second later, he exploded in a million directions.

…

"Midoriya, right?" A calm, curious voice came from behind him, and Izuku turned away from the group he and Kyoka were mingling with to find the daughter of their illustrious hosts speaking to him.

The gathering had thus far gone as expected. They had been approached by several businessmen and women in hopes of ingratiating themselves with Moonlit Industries, danced a little, ate a few canapés from the variety of tables, and generally just played politics with the business leaders of Japan. Though Izuku noted that several of the more quirkist leaders wouldn't come within twenty feet of him and maintained their distance on the opposite side of the rather large ballroom.

The room itself Izuku had to admit was nice, if not a bit gaudy for his tastes. While it was true that his mother had never particularly struggled to make ends meet with her job and the money his father had sent home, he still didn't consider them rich growing up. He also didn't see any point in spending money on a giant home, of which you'll never see half of in a week. But, he supposed, to each their own. If the Yaoyorozu family felt the need for a mansion and a house staff, then who was he to tell them otherwise? It just certainly wasn't his cup of tea.

Izuku smiled and reached out to shake the hand of the woman now standing across from him. "Indeed, Miss Yaoyorozu. Midoriya Izuku. How can I help you?"

The woman blushed lightly, shaking his hand. "Just Momo is fine. My last name is a bit of a mouthful. Besides, we're the same age, after all. What got you on Father's radar? It seemed like he knew of you pretty well."

Izuku quirked an eyebrow at her and scratched the back of his neck. "Alright then, Momo. You can just call me Izuku then. Also, don't tell me you live in this house and don't know what my partner and I have done… Wait. That sounds arrogant, and I'm sorry for that. I'm just surprised, is all. My partner and I founded Moonlit Industries around a year ago after we patented and began licensing our fusion reactor designs."

Momo's eyes blew wide and her expression quickly morphed into apologetic shock. "That was you?! I've read all about that, as well as your recent creations! The biogel that is being used in Musutafu General is revolutionary, and hospitals all over Japan are already clamoring to be able to use it. Not to mention the regenerative biosteel that your partner recently put in for the patent for... "

Yaoyorozu quickly snapped her mouth shut when Izuku began to laugh and then flushed when she realized that she had been rambling. "I'm so sorry. I just thought that it must be so nice to already be doing what you want to do at our age and you're both so smart to come up with the things you create and I find your guys' work fascinating and oh god I'm doing it again…" Izuku frantically waved his hands in front of him, trying to get the now scarlet Momo's attention as he caught his breath.

"No no no. It's nothing to be ashamed of. I was just caught off guard. You sure know your stuff about Moonlit Industries. Mei and I only filed the patent for the biosteel last week. We've not even gotten the chance to reveal it yet, since it's mainly a component for a couple of our projects. You are wrong about us doing what we want, though. I'm planning on getting my hero license, and Mei is wanting to focus on support items. We just can't do that without being eighteen due to the laws governing both. No workaround or loophole for those laws, sadly."

Kyoka, who had come up beside Izuku, linked her arm with his again, smiling. "I plan on becoming a hero, and he's been a huge help in training me. I feel a lot more confident that I'll be able to pass whatever test it takes to get in."

Momo practically began vibrating in place when he talked about their plans to get hero licenses and started rambling again about her own plans to do the same. Izuku gestured for them to take a walk so that they could get some fresh air while the three discussed their college plans.

…

Aizawa's ears were ringing and his vision was swimming from his place on his back in the church courtyard. Human goop was still raining down on them, and at that moment, he would have sworn that he would never be able to get the smell of iron off of him. As he pulled himself up to his knees, he could see that the others who had been in the courtyard hadn't fared much better. Several were bleeding from where bone splinters had speared them or a molar had impacted them like a bullet. Vaguely he could hear Tsukauchi calling for everyone's status, and he coughed before raising his hand and yelling out that he was good.

It wasn't seconds before another one of the teams was running into the courtyard and carrying off the wounded. "What the hell happened?" Aizawa recognized the voice as Detective Tamakawa and it wasn't long before Tsukauchi himself was barking orders into his communicator, warning the other teams to be on the watch for suicide bombers.

Aizawa could tell Tsukauchi was seriously pissed because he drew his weapon before signaling the rest of them that weren't wounded to stack up on the door. Once they had, Naomasa kicked in the door and went in with his flashlight in his left hand, bracing his handgun in his right. The main hall of the church was among one of the creepier things that the officers had seen. Human skulls lined the walls and windows, alongside skulls that were most certainly not human and looked like no animal they had ever seen. White cloth floated in each of the pews, as if being worn by invisible people, and the altar was covered in blood.

Left and right they swept and cleared the rooms of the church before breaching the inner sanctum. Tied to a chair in the middle was their undercover officer and, for the briefest of moments, Aizawa was shocked into inaction. The same man that had just exploded all over them outside was standing behind their officer with a blade raised. There was a crack, and a single hole appeared between the man's eyes. The body dropped to the ground before dissolving into a disgusting human meat paste that leaked across the floor. Smoke wisped off the end of Tsukauchi's barrel as he gritted his teeth.

"Oh, Jesus fuck." One of the officers that had followed them into the room immediately turned back around through the door and began to throw up, and it wasn't hard to see why. Their officer had been cut to ribbons. Strips had been sliced away from his body for hours from where he was tied to the chair. The legs, arms, chest, and lower back of the man had all been cut, sliced, and stripped of their skin. His face was barely recognizable from the beating he had received, and his body was covered in sickly bruises that contrasted the red that trickled from all of the incisions. But by far the worst was the officer's upper back. His back had been sliced open and the man had been in the process of breaking his ribs and twisting them up and out of his back, giving them the appearance of wings.

Tsukauchi reached forward, pale, and placed his fingers on the officer's neck. Aizawa watched his eyes go wide in shock as he choked out his words. "He's alive. Oh god, he's alive."

Aizawa stepped forward. If the man was still alive, there was still a chance. "We need to get him to a hospital." Naomasa looked at him now, slowly coming out of his shock and shaking his head vigorously.

"He won't make it that far, and a hospital wouldn't be able to do anything for him." Aizawa was just about to argue that they had to do something when Tsukauchi gestured for him to help. "We need to get him to Midoriya. I know what you're going to say, but do you know anyone else that could possibly pull some kind of bullshit miracle out of a hat? Because that's what he needs."

Aizawa simply stared deep into his horrified eyes for a moment before coming to a grudging agreement. They were on the outskirts of the city, and if anyone was going to be able to practically bring a man back from the brink of death within five miles of them, it was going to be Midoriya.

…

The three teenagers were sitting at a small table in a gazebo. Laughter filled the air as they told funny stories and made jokes about the future. The scent of tea filled the space, as well as the warm cinnamon smell of cookies.

"So what school are you planning on applying for, Momo? If you're wanting to be a hero and all. Oh! And what is your quirk?" Kyoka had no issues making quick friends of the raven-haired girl. Not that Kyoka would admit it, but she certainly wasn't hard on the eyes, either. The dress the woman was wearing flowed around her and incidentally gave a fair view of her breasts. Which, Jiro noted with a bit of envy, could rival Mei's.

Before Momo could answer, Izuku stiffened in his seat. He gave them both a rigid smile and stood, pulling his phone out of his pocket. He excused himself to take an absolutely necessary phone call, but Kyoka knew better. She knew about the communicators he and Mei had implanted just under their ears. She also knew that he wasn't taking a phone call but was responding to whatever was being said over his comms.

Izuku stepped back to the table with a serious expression and placed his phone back into his jacket's inner left pocket. "I'm sorry, Momo, but it looks like we'll have to excuse ourselves. There is an emergency back at the facility that I need to attend to. Please tell your father that I'm sorry for taking off like this, and we'll have to discuss our business another time. Come on, Kyoka."

Izuku's pace started off normal as they made their way back to his bike, but by the time they had gotten there, they were at what was practically a dead sprint, leaving Kyoka very happy that she had worn her flats rather than heels. They both hopped onto his bike as soon as they got to it, and immediately Izuku gunned the throttle, sending them rocketing off towards their location. "What is going on, Izuku? What's the big emergency?"

Kyoka was practically yelling over the wind whipping around Izuku as the bike bolted down roads, and he yelled back when he responded. "The damn raid I helped plan went wrong like I suspected it would. The officer was apparently mangled, and Nao is bringing him to me because he's in such bad condition." She really needed to have Izuku give her one of the communicators. Her hand tingled where the RFID chip sat, and she debated whether she really wanted to get another injection.

"Are you going to do the same thing to him that you had to do to Dabi?" Izuku's already deep frown somehow got deeper, and his eyes went dark.

"Gods, I hope it doesn't come to that. If he's that far gone, it may be kinder to let him die."

…

Tsukauchi's car practically screeched to a stop outside of the loading bays of Moonlit Industries. When he had called ahead, a calm female voice had told him to head around so that they could get their officer upstairs.

As he was stepping out of his vehicle, Izuku was already rushing forward with a stretcher. From the look of him, Naomasa surmised that he had been out when he had called ahead. He was in his business attire and still had his shoulder holster on. The only thing that was missing was the jacket that would have hidden the sidearm, so Izuku must have gotten there just before them.

Izuku took one look at the officer and cursed. Reaching in, he delicately picked him up around his back and placed him on his side on the stretcher. "Kyoka, I need you to take them up to the common area to wait. I need to get to work as quickly as possible."

Nighteye had come along with them when he had found out they were rushing the undercover officer somewhere. He had been very vocal about how it was a waste of time, as the man was already on death's door, if they weren't even going to a hospital. He might as well be a dead man with the distance they were from a hospital. The detective wouldn't accept that and rushed him out here all the same.

It was at this point that Sir Nighteye decided to step forward, getting ready to vocalize his complaints that the man was dead, because Izuku wasn't even a real doctor. He hadn't vocalized even the first five words when he froze. The teenager's gaze caught him. It was as cold as ice and vicious. "If you think this is such a waste of time, then you shouldn't have come. If you open your mouth again or try to stop me in any way, Sasaki Mirai, I will have you escorted from this facility. Now stop wasting my time. I have work to do."

…

It was a grueling two hours before Izuku stepped into the common room of the facility. His sleeves were rolled up and the black and red of his suit had been stained crimson. His hair was coming loose from its ponytail, and he had streaks of blood still staining his face and hair from where he had run his hands across and through. Though it was evident that he had done his best to clean it off, else there would be far more.

Detective Tsukauchi stood immediately when Izuku entered the room, as he had been watching the door. Everyone else followed quickly, waiting for what they dreaded to be a forlorn conclusion. Izuku sighed and rubbed at the dark circles that had formed around his eyes before speaking. "He's stable. It was touch and go for a while, and that isn't to say he's out of the danger zone yet, but for now he's stable. I made a call over to Musutafu General, as they prototype a number of our inventions, and asked them to prepare a space in their ICU. When he makes it through the night, we'll be moving him there."

Izuku took the water bottle that Mei handed him thankfully and took a drink before sitting down stiffly into one of the room's chairs. "What the hell happened, Nao? Even once he heals, he probably won't be coming back to the force. If he does, then he has a will of steel. It isn't just the physical issues, but there are serious psychological effects that come from torture. I can heal his body, but I can't heal his mind."

Naomasa sunk back into his seat in relief, and the tension that was in the air seemed to ebb away into sheer respite now that the danger had passed. "I don't know. Your information was good and thorough the day the members were there. When we went to perform the raid, however, we were confronted with a suicide bomber, a duplicate of the suicide bomber who turned into a meat soup when I shot him, and our undercover operative mangled beyond recognition. I got a report from the heroes still on the scene that they discovered a tunnel that was evidently used to move everyone and everything out before the raid."

Nighteye jerked when Naomasa said your information, and Izuku shook his head. "Nao, this was beyond even my expectations. Abductions and disappearances are one thing. But performing lingchi and turning him into a blood eagle? I'm afraid I was right before. These guys are far more dangerous than we gave them credit for, and this is going to get ugly."

…

It didn't take long before the detective, the heroes, and Kyoka were excusing themselves and Izuku was seeing them out the door. To his surprise, Nighteye stopped to speak with Izuku and bowed to the teenager. "I am sorry for the way I acted. Tensions were high, and I didn't take the time to find out who you were. I didn't realize you were our source, and I most certainly didn't realize you were capable in the medical field."

Izuku sighed and shook his head. "And I'm sorry that I threatened to have you removed. Like you said, tensions were high. Let's just forget it, yeah?" Nighteye left and Izuku leaned back against the front doors and sighed, looking at the clock in the corner of his vision that said eleven twenty-seven.

"Long day, boss?" Izuku looked over to find Dabi leaning against the wall, smoking a cigarette that he'd evidently lit with his quirk if the blue glow was any indication.

Izuku looked from Dabi, down to his blood-stained clothing, back to Dabi, and couldn't do anything but laugh. "Oh yeah. You can say that. You know that isn't a great habit, right?"

Dabi shrugged. "Yeah, it's a habit I picked up to relieve both stress and pain. I've yet to kick it, but I guess it doesn't really matter since I regenerate now." Izuku acknowledged that. Dabi had a point, and it wasn't like he hadn't had squad members in the past with the same mentality.

Izuku. We have another situation. Someone is closing on Kyoka. It looks like they are planning on attacking her.

"Oh, motherfucker." Dabi quirked his eyebrow and pointed to himself while taking a drag on his cigarette, making Izuku snort despite the situation. "No, not you. The day just got longer though. With me, we're going to deal with a problem that just moved from contain to eliminate."

…

Kyoka would be the first to admit that she hadn't expected the night to end as it had. She hadn't cared for the party, but then again, Izuku didn't care much for them, either. He only went because Mei wouldn't, and it was an unfortunate necessity to deal with. Izuku had been hot in that three-piece suit and he had thought that she looked good, too. The idea that he found her attractive made Kyoka feel all tingly inside.

When he had gone from gentle and sly businessman to commanding man in charge barking orders, well, she wasn't going to deny how she became mildly distracted from the way his eyes glowed when he threatened Sir Nighteye, or how much the predator in him turned her on at times.

She was lost in her thoughts as she walked down the sidewalk. A lot had happened that wasn't even Izuku related. She had gotten the number of an heiress, for god's sake. When she had met Izuku for the first time, never in her wildest dreams did she think that she was going to meet so many heroes or people at the top of their fields.

So distracted was she by her thoughts that she never saw the two by four come swinging out of the alleyway ahead of her before she was knocked to the ground, groaning and holding her head.

She tried to crawl away, but her vision was swimming and suddenly there was a weight on top of her. The man was breathing heavily, saying her name over and over again. Kyoka, Kyoka, Kyoka. He didn't stop as he began to try to hike her dress up and tear at her clothing. She realized what was happening then and fought, even if her head was jumbled from the blow.

She kicked, she clawed, she screamed. But the man was so much bigger than her and was already pinning her against the ground with his weight. She was about to scream again when he bashed her head off the ground, and her vision began spinning wildly. She had to get away. She could feel the desperation building, and she couldn't think straight. She didn't want this, she didn't want this. There was a soft click and a growl before suddenly the alleyway was bathed in an ice-cold fury that froze the man to his bones.

The man stumbled back off of her, and she desperately tried to crawl away before she found herself in a warm embrace and a gentle cooing that she recognized as Mei's. She couldn't help it, she was safe. Izuku was there and she was safe. She curled into Mei's shoulder and cried.

"Mei, take Kyoka back to the facility and take care of her. She has a concussion, several lacerations, and her nose is broken. I'll deal with this." Mei nodded and picked Kyoka up in her arms. While it was slightly awkward height wise, as Mei was only an inch taller, she couldn't be more glad than she was at that moment that Izuku had convinced her to do additional weight training along with the combat training. The other reason she wanted out of the alley was that she had never before seen Izuku this utterly pissed. She knew for certain that the man wasn't going to be making it out of that alleyway.

…

The moment Mei had taken Kyoka out of the alley, Izuku stopped trying to restrain his anger. He slammed his dress shoe into the gut of the man, sending him into the brick wall and violently vomiting his last meal mixed with the blood of at least one ruptured organ.

"I warned you. You can target me all you want, Tajima, and I would have no issue with it. But you targeted one of mine. You tried to touch what was mine." Izuku stalked over to the man and slammed his foot down onto the man's hand. The crunch of dozens of little bones echoed through the alley, and the blood-curdling scream that followed could have chilled the spines of the dead. Izuku brought his foot down on the man's elbow next, and then on his shoulder, leaving his arm dangling out of its socket.

Each time the man screamed and whimpered, begging for mercy, begging for his life, and each time he did, Izuku broke a new part of him. Twisted a new part until there was the sickening sound of tearing muscle and shattering bone. Izuku had scared Dabi before, and Dabi knew to have a healthy respect for what his boss could do. But this made everything he had ever seen out of him look like child's play. The horrifying thought occurred to him that he hadn't ever seen Midoriya furious. He had only ever seen him at varying levels of annoyance.

Izuku's eyes glowed a bright viridian, practically illuminating the darkness of the alleyway like demonic pits of greek fire. His incisors had grown in his mouth, and he was making sounds no human should have been capable of making. A peal of barking laughter that was almost ecstatic erupted from him, such that one would expect from an animal caged far too long. When Izuku turned his gaze back to Dabi, he had a psychotic smile that went from ear to ear, despite the man's blood that was now spattered up his body, face, and hands.

When he spoke, it was like nails grating against a chalkboard. A deep sound that resonated in the primal part of the brain, making your instincts scream at you to run as far and as fast as you could. "Hey Dabi, tell me. Is your quirk's name just for show?" Dabi could do nothing but shake his head. He very well could cremate a body. Especially since his flames could now burn brighter, hotter, and without long term repercussion. Izuku smiled happily now, and Dabi decided that was even scarier.

Izuku turned back to the man who had been systematically broken at his joints before having parts of his skin practically flayed off of him by Izuku's bare hands. He managed to gurgle out several words, a choked, pained sound. "You won't get away with this. Someone would have reported the noise. A hero will be coming here right now."

Izuku's smile morphed back into an animalistic one now as he stared down at the man. "Oh no, I've spent months buying up the buildings around our headquarters and filling them with people I can trust. They won't report anything, because they are quite used to the noise of our experiments." Izuku pulled his sidearm once again from where he had holstered it to begin breaking the man. "Smile, you son of a bitch."

There were several quick reports as the sidearm fired a bullet into his head and two into his heart. Izuku turned, then, holstering his sidearm and taking several steps away from the body before closing his eyes. It took several moments of ragged breathing before Izuku opened his eyes, now back to normal, and gave Dabi a pained smile. In a soft voice, practically a whisper compared to before, he said, "I'm sorry that you had to see that, Dabi. I really just can't stand rapists, especially when they touch one of my own. He's all yours now." Dabi decided that the contented smile Izuku wore after he effectively turned a man into human plaster was the scariest yet.

Notes:

Warnings for:

Attempted Rape and Sexual Assault

Excessive or gratuitous violence

Blood/Gore

In other news, we'll be getting to canon territory next chapter! Woop. Only took eighteen chapters.