Chapter Text
Shigaraki was-in a word- unsettling. The moment Kurogiri agreed to hear the rest of their plans, Shigaraki had declared the bar his new base of operations. When Kurogiri tried to argue that his home and business was not going to become the headquarters for a group trying to take down the number one hero the stranger had dissolved a table with a touch of his hand and an eerie smile. It seemed that Kurogiri would have little choice in that decision as well.
Having the villain at his bar would make it more difficult for Kurogiri to get himself out of whatever trouble Shigaraki and his mentor were planning, but the moment the opportunity arose he would take it. Abandoning the bar wasn’t ideal-it was his home after all- but he wasn’t attached enough to it that he wasn’t willing to cut and run if it meant getting away from the craziness he was finding himself dragged into. Kurogiri kept a low profile for a reason. He might have had a history for getting into less that legal situations, but he wasn’t suicidal. Anyone willing to take on All Might had to be either delusional or seriously out of touch with the reality of the situation. Kurogiri wanted no part of it. If he knew without a doubt that he would be able to make it out with no consequences he would have left the moment Shigaraki arrived, but there was only one problem…
Sensei. That was what Shigaraki had called his mysterious mentor.
Calling him sensei implied there was some kind of teaching going on, but after spending a few days in the company of the so-called student Kurogiri still couldn’t be sure if there was any actual learning taking place. Shigaraki himself had said that their goals were different, but Kurogiri couldn’t help but wonder about the person that had sent his unstable student after him.
How could he have even known about Kurogiri to begin with?
Keeping a low profile meant that, however questionable some of the businesses he worked with were, he never acted in a way that would draw attention to himself and his quirk. A quirk as versatile as his would easily be in demand. Having the wrong people know about him would put himself in more danger than he cared to be involved in. As seen by the stranger destroying his bar and demanding his help.
And then there was this Sensei himself. It wasn’t uncommon for villains to choose codenames like the heroes they often went up against, but Kurogiri had never heard of someone going by that call sign before, which meant one of two things. Either he was new enough not to have a reputation yet or he was good enough not to get noticed. Both options were unfortunate for Kurogiri for very different reasons.
Going after a top hero was always a risky business, but if Sensei was new to the scene then it was bound to be disastrous for anyone involved. Considering Kurogiri was unwillingly included in that number he hoped that wasn’t the case. If Sensei has managed to operate without his name getting out though…Kurogiri wasn’t sure if that was better or worse. Someone that smart wouldn’t go after a pro with no plan, but it would make it infinitely more difficult for him to cut ties with the operation. A person like that would have to have an expansive information network to keep their identity from leaking. Kurogiri wouldn’t be able to just skip town if this person had that kind of system at their disposal.
For now he needed information of his own and fast.
“You said your sensei is the one who told you about me?” Kurogiri asked. This was the third visit Shigaraki had made in as many days, although he never did anything other than sit at one of the tables, attention focused on the game in his hand.
Shigaraki hummed. “Sensei thinks you’re the missing piece in his plan.”
Kurogiri did not like the sound of that at all. “And am I ever going to meet this Sensei?”
“Now, now, now,” Shigaraki said, a hand going to scratch at his neck. His eyes didn’t leave the console. “Sensei said you’re what we need, but I’m the one that gets to decide. You don’t get to talk to him until you pass my test.”
“Test?” That sounded even worse. The mist flickered around him.
“We can’t play the game right if we don’t even know what our players are capable of. So a test. A game. Win and you’ll be able to talk to Sensei. Find out what our plan is. Lose? And it’s game over. Sounds fun, doesn’t it?”
“Game over?”
“The game is over when the player loses all of their lives, of course.” Shigaraki finally looked up from his game, glancing at Kurogiri through his hair. His lips cracked around his smile. “How many lives do you have Kurogiri-san?”
Izuku grimaced as they entered the mall. It had been so long since he had been to the mall on the weekend that he had forgotten just how busy the stores could get.
“Aizawa’s paranoia rubbing off on you, Izuku?” Mei asked, slinging an arm over his shoulder. She watched as he fidgeted, leaning into her shoulder to avoid being bumped by the passing crowd.
“It’s not paranoia, it’s caution. Look, Aizawa-sensei has had me analyzing common situations where villains attack as homework for months now, and do you know what a lot of those situations have in common, Mei?”
“Crowds?”
“Crowds,” Izuku repeated, ignoring the sarcastic tone of her voice. “Shoplifters get caught, panic, lose control of their quirk. Too many people packed in one space and arguments turn to fights. People who want to lash out do it in front of a crowd. Places with large groups of people are where the most spontaneous quirk crimes occur.”
Mei started leading Izuku away from the doors, her arm still over his shoulder. “You know you didn’t have to come with me if you didn’t want to, right? I would have understood if you said it bothered you.”
Izuku shook his head. “No, it’s fine. I’m not going to stop going places just because there’s a chance there might be a villain attack. That would be a little counterproductive. It’s just difficult to stop seeing places like Aizawa-sensei though, once he’s pointed out all the potential dangers of a place. Next time we go on one of our field trips, you should come with us. See what I mean.”
“A field trip with Aizawa-san! My mom would be so jealous.” Mei’s arm slid of Izuku’s shoulder as she started pulling him towards the other end of the mall.
“She’s going to give you something to prank him with isn’t she?”
“Oh, definitely.” Mei grinned. “The only question is whether or not Aizawa-san is going to kill her when he finds out.”
Aizawa and Izuku had made several trips to Hatsume Natsumi’s shop over the last year for adjustments and refills of Izuku’s supplies. Hatsume had not let a single trip pass by without trying to mess with the pro hero in some way. Izuku didn’t see the appeal. While pulling one over on Aizawa was most definitely a challenge, the consequences that would inevitably follow wouldn’t be worth the effort.
“Now what did you say we were here for, exactly?” They had turned down a thankfully less crowded portion of the mall. Izuku glanced down the row of shops lining the hallway, looking for anything that would have materials Mei could need for a project.
“I didn’t. Don’t think you can trick me into telling you about this one before it’s ready. We’ll stop there last. I’m sure you don’t want to help me lug all of my stuff around while we look.”
So maybe this wasn’t going to be a quick trip after all.
“How much stuff are you planning on getting?”
“Not too much. Only five bags worth. Probably. Maybe six.”
“You really did bring me here to be a pack mule!” Izuku accused, poking her in the side. Mei dodged out of the way, laughing.
“Which is why I’m about to buy you ice cream!”
"I guess,” Izuku said, thinking about it for a moment. “If it’s for ice cream.”
For the next hour they wandered in and out of stores. It had been so long since Izuku had last gone to the mall with anyone other than his mother- had been so long since he had been to the mall at all- that he had forgotten how fun it could be. Once he had pushed his worries out of his mind.
“See!” Mei said, gesturing to the bags Izuku was holding. “This was a good idea. Crowds aside, look at all the cool stuff you can find when you get out!”
“Don’t say it, Mei. Do not say it.” Izuku kept walking, refusing to look at her.
“Say what, Izuku?” Mei grinned, bouncing in her step to catch up with him. “What would I say in response to being right?”
“Let’s just go get some food, and then we can go get your stuff. Okay?”
“Sure thing, Izuku,” Mei said, tone amused. “Although I did tell you so.”
Izuku groaned.
“You know I had to say it. I had to! That’s the rule.”
“Well, if it the rule, I-” Izuku cut off, turning to look behind them.
“Izuku?”
“Did you hear that?” Izuku asked, taking a slow step back the way they had come.
“Hear what? There’s a lot of people around, Izuku. What did you think you heard?”
Later, Izuku would think about how grateful he was that Mei had taken him seriously. Despite the fact that she had been teasing him about being paranoid on their way to the mall, the moment that he acted as though something was actually wrong she didn’t argue with him. Now though, Izuku felt a chill settle over him. Something…Something was about to go very, very wrong, and Izuku couldn’t quite figure out why.
“Izuku?” Mei asked again, pulled on his arm where he stood frozen. People continued to mill about around them, shooting them sharp looks are they blocked the way, but Mei paid them no attention, eyes focused on her friend. “Izuku, what’s wrong? You’re starting to freak me out.”
“I don’t…I don’t know, Mei. I just thought I heard…” Izuku trailed off because he wasn’t sure exactly what it was that made him think that their nice, relaxing trip to the mall was about to be ruined. He only knew that there was a sinking feeling in his stomach that Aizawa had trained him to tune.
A high-pitched laugh sounded, cutting clear through the hum of voices around them.
Izuku’s heart stuttered to a halt. He reached out blindly, finding Mei’s hand in one of his while tossing his bags to the side with the other.
“What are you doing? Izuku?”
“Supply closet,” he answered shortly, already pulling her through the crowd. “Come on.”
“Izuku, you know I trust you. But what the hell is going on.”
“I’ll explain when we’re clear.” Izuku didn’t turn back to look at her, just kept walking until he found a closet tucked into a corner. They were both inside with the door closed tight before Mei could protest again.
“Again. What is going on, Izuku? What did you hear?”
Izuku took a deep, shaky breath. “I wasn’t sure. I thought I heard…that laugh. It’s-”
Mei shook her head, leaning against the door, but making no attempt to open it. “You aren’t making any sense.”
“There was a case a few years ago. Three siblings who would take over malls, theatres, subway stations- fairly small places that had a lot of people. The media called them the Terror Twins.”
“First off, that’s a dumb name. Didn’t you say there were three of them?”
Izuku raised his hands. “I didn’t come up with the name. Anyway, that’s not important. The siblings made a lot of headlines because even though they’re related, their quirks are all over the place. It’s rare, but it happens. The oldest brother? He goes by Ancile and he’s got some kind of shielding quirk. He throws it up around the building to keep heroes out. Then there are the actual twins- Sans and Kell. Sans can turn anything she touches into an explosive and Kell-he has a kind of teleportation quirk. That’s how they always got away. Ancile makes sure no heroes can get in to stop them, they use Sans quirk to terrorize the people they take hostage, and then Kell makes sure they get out before.”
“But you said this was years ago, right? Shouldn’t they still be in prison?” Mei asked, her expression closed.
“They should be,” Izuku agreed, pulling out his phone. “And there’s no news about a break out but… I recognized that laugh. They must be taking out security now, before they cause a panic.”
“I’m going to need you to run this by me again. You recognized the laugh of a villain that hasn’t been active in years? That’s crazy impressive.” Mei hesitated. “I’m not asking this because I don’t believe you, but are you sure you didn’t hear wrong? I mean it’s been a few minutes. Everything seems fine.”
Izuku shook his head. “I watched the video of their capture at least a thousand times. Serial assaults like this aren’t common, and it was one of All Might’s cases. Kell can only teleport if he’s left something that can act as a beacon at the location he’s trying to get to. The police caught them the last time because they had All Might blow down the shielding once they figured out where their base was. When they tried to teleport back they landed in an ambush. Sans laughed the whole time they were on trial.”
“Then we need to warn them.”
“I’m calling Aizawa-sensei now,” Izuku answered, already dialing.
“I’ll try Mom.”
“All Might was the only one who could break down the shielding last time,” Izuku said as the phone rang. “Who knows where he is right now. And we have no idea where Kell left the beacon or how they got out of prison.”
The ringing cut out suddenly.
“Izuku.” Mei held out her phone, looking up at him, her eyes wide with horror. “I don’t have a signal anymore.”
“Me either.” His grip tightened around his phone. A normal, fun, worry free day at the mall with Mei. That was all he wanted. The universe, it seemed, had other plans. Mei stared at him, waiting for him to tell her what they should do. He was the one who wanted to be a hero. He was the one who had the training. It was up to him to figure out how to get them out of this.
He took another shaking breath as he tried to slow the pounding of his heart.
“Okay. Right. We need a plan. We should be okay in here for now. They aren’t expecting people to know they’re here before they strike. Aizawa will see that I tried to call him. He’ll assume something is wrong when he tries to call me back and can’t get through. For now we need to-”
The sound of an explosion drowned out the rest of his words as the building shook around them. Screams echoed through the open corridors as the shock wore off, fear taking its place.
They were out of time.
The attack on the mall had started.
The smart thing to do-the legal thing to do- would be to stay put until everything was over. Aizawa would get his message and alert the police soon if they hadn’t already. Someone would be sent to help them soon.
Izuku dropped his backpack to the ground, opening it to where he kept his eskrima rods. Ever since the kidnapping he had been almost obsessive about making sure they were with him even if he had never had a reason to use them in public since. They could get in a lot of trouble for getting involved, even if he didn’t have any of his other weapons with him. Aizawa would probably want to kill him once he and Hizashi returned from their conference. Don’t go into situations you aren’t prepared for. That had been Aizawa’s moto since the very beginning. He would want Izuku to stay where he was- out of the danger, out of the action.
But if Izuku did that, what kind of hero would he be? Yes, he was still learning. There was so much more he needed to learn before he would truly be ready to act against villains on his own. Izuku wasn’t Bakugou. He wasn’t egotistical enough to think that he would be any match for the Terror Twins. Especially not if it had taken All Might himself to break through that shield.
Another explosion sounded, smaller than the last one, but no less terrifying to the people trapped throughout the mall. The sound of screams rose again.
If Izuku didn’t do something to help when all of these people were afraid and in danger, how could he claim to want to be a hero?
The villains would have taken out security before setting off the first bomb, but maybe there was an off-duty hero somewhere in the mall. Someone that Izuku with all his hero knowledge would recognize but the villains wouldn’t. And there was something they could do on the inside. The shield might be too difficult for them to get through on their own but unless someone stopped Kell there would be nothing preventing them from teleporting out and doing it all over again. The last time it had taken weeks for the police and heroes together to locate the Twins safe house. How many people would be hurt if they got away again?
“Alright, Mei,” Izuku said, voice steady. “Here’s what we’re going to do.”