Chapter Text
“Thank you, Aoyama.” Tsukauchi shut off his recorder and started putting things away. “You gave us a lot of great information.”
Aoyama sniffed pitifully.
“Am—am I going to be expelled?”
“I don’t see why you would,” Nedzu said soothingly. “You clearly didn’t do any of this because of malicious intent, and you came clean to us. We will arrest the League and make sure they will never bother you again.”
“Nedzu’s right, Aoyama,” he said, gripping his student’s shoulder. “You were forced into this and it’s obvious that you’ve been punishing yourself for it. We’ll work out an appropriate punishment when we get Midoriya back, but you won’t be expelled or pushed out of the course when you didn’t have a choice in the matter.”
“ Merci, professeur. ” Aoyama wiped his eyes and gave him a fragile smile. “I—I am still very sorry for what I’ve done.”
“I know that.” He squeezed Aoyama’s shoulder. “Let’s head back to the dorms, kid. We won’t tell the others quite yet—we can wait until Midoriya gets back for that—but we do need to tell them that a strike force is heading out soon.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Mostly so none of them go vigilante.”
“That would be trés dommage .”
“It would. Shall we go?”
“Go on, Aizawa. Tsukauchi and I will handle the details about Aoyama-kun’s confession while you inform the rest of your students that we have an area to search.”
“Got it.” He stood up and bowed, then led his student back to the dorms.
Poor kid. . .I hope this won’t cause too much tension between him and the other hellspawn.
When they finally reached the dorms, he had to restrain a groan. Shinso was still bound to the chair, but was doing his very best to activate his Quirk with his eyes alone. The only reason the couch wasn’t in flames or frozen solid was because Todoroki didn’t want to kill Koda’s rabbit. Tokoyami was floating up on the ceiling as Dark Shadow kept her grip on Uraraka, and Shoji had been wrapped up in Asui’s tongue.
Whoo boy.
“Hellspawn, what is going on?” he asked dryly. Everyone’s eyes snapped to him and Aoyama, and Ida hurried over.
“Excellent timing, Sensei!” Then Tensei’s brother winced. “Ah—this has been happening on and off for the past couple of hours, we’ll get it back under control soon—”
“We have a search area.”
Everyone froze. Then Todoroki picked up the rabbit, set it on the floor, and got to his feet. As soon as he had some distance from said rabbit, he blitzed over, a look of desperation in his eyes.
“You know where he is?”
“No, I said we have an area to search. We don’t have an exact location yet.”
“Can we help search?”
There it was. He braced himself for the wave of disappointment.
“No.”
Sure enough, there was an immediate chorus of “why?!”s and “please, Sensei~”s, but he shook his head again.
“Nope. All for One is way too dangerous to send kids against. A small team of heroes will try to take him by surprise, snatch Midoriya, and get out.” Then he softened his voice because he got it , he really did. “I know you all want to help him, but this shouldn’t be your fight. Stay here and we’ll get him back before you know it.”
He stared down each member of his Hell Class, only pausing a moment when he met Shinso’s eyes. His personal student had forgone the ‘try-to-use-my-Quirk-without-talking’ approach and switched to ‘look-as-pitiful-as-possible-to-try-and-beg-for-my-freedom’. And it was painfully effective. The boy looked like a sad lost kitten in the rain and it took every ounce of his carefully-honed willpower to look away and not give in to the begging stare.
Where did he learn that?!
I’m going to need some help.
He averted his eyes and pulled out his phone.
(GrumpyCat): nem i need help
(Minx): omw
He put the phone away and walked over to Shinso, untaping his mouth. He fixed his student with a glare that he hoped had the appropriate amount of heat.
“No using your Quirk to get me to let you come along, Gremlin. You don’t even have a Provisional License yet.”
Shinso pouted—and really, somehow it made him look even more pitiful, how the hell did he do that?!—but nodded and tugged his wrists with a hopeful look. He stared suspiciously at Shinso, but finally bent and freed his wrists. The kid probably needed to get circulation back in his hands anyway.
“You called, Aizawa?”
Nemuri was a blessing. He turned to her and gestured for her to follow him out. As they started towards the door, he heard Ashido ask, “Hey, Aoyama, are you okay? Your eyes are red.”
He paused, ready to step in, but Aoyama answered right away, his voice barely trembling.
“I’ll explain later, mademoiselle .”
“Alright, but we’re here for you!”
He sighed in relief and left with Nemuri. As soon as they were far enough that Shoji and Jiro wouldn’t hear them, he stopped.
“When the strike team gets ready to go, knock 1-A out. I know them well enough to know that some of the more reckless ones will try and sneak out to help. Besides, if they sleep the raid away, it’ll stop them from worrying themselves to death.”
“Aww, you do care!” Nemuri cooed. He glared at her and she sobered up. “Sure, I can let off my Quirk, but it might not work great on all of them, so it’ll take a while. Do you want me on the strike team?”
“Yes please.”
She nodded sharply.
“I’ll get started now then; like I said, it’ll take a while to knock them all out. Text me when we’re ready to move out.”
“Of course.”
****
Hitoshi rubbed his sore wrists to get the feeling back and stretched. Being taped to a chair for almost four hours was not fun.
(He understood why, though. It wasn’t like his classmates were wrong in that the moment he had the opportunity, he would try and go rescue Izuku.)
“Did you really have to keep me restrained for four hours?” he muttered anyway. Shoto sighed and patted his shoulder.
“I would have let you out, but Koda used his rabbit against me.”
“Yes, I saw that.” He sighed and flopped onto the couch. “So what do we do while we wait for news?”
Uraraka had a devious glint in her eye that he liked immediately.
“Well—”
“Uraraka, no!” Ida began chopping his arm frantically. “I wish to help Midoriya as much as you do, but we must abide by Aizawa-sensei’s wishes!”
He prepared to use his newest weapon: the kitten eyes. Izuku taught him the technique, and according to him, it was quite effective.
“But Ida—”
Before she could continue, Ojiro suddenly stumbled to the side, eyes drooping.
“Guys, does anyone else feel. . .really tired all of a sudden?” The tailed student staggered to one of the chairs and collapsed into it, eyelids fluttering shut. Within seconds, his breathing had evened out and he was dead asleep.
Huh?
Then he felt it too; a sudden rush of lethargy that made him grip his hair in an attempt to snap him back to alertness. When he peeled his eyelids back open—when had they closed?—a solid half of the class was out cold. The rest were showing signs of sleepiness as well, and it finally clicked.
“Shit, Midnight’s using her Quirk on us!” He fought back a yawn and furiously rubbed his eyes.
C’mon, insomnia, take action!
But apparently Midnight’s Quirk bypassed such petty obstacles as chronic insomnia, and he felt his eyelids droop again. Before he knew it, he’d drifted off into a surprisingly deep sleep.
****
“So, where do we look first?” Kamui Woods asked as they all idled on a rooftop. He huffed quietly into his capture weapon and scanned the street.
“We still don’t have a precise location from the tracking bracelet—the League has some very good signal blockers—but we know that their hideout is somewhere within five blocks from here.”
“And how do we know that?” Kamui asked suspiciously. He shot a glare at the man.
“Don’t worry about it, just know that the source is reliable.”
“Should we systematically search the streets?” Edgeshot asked, gazing down at the street. He nodded, then paused and squinted. Several people-shaped shadows had just slipped out of an alley and were heading down the street. He silently jumped down to get a closer look.
It only took him a moment to recognize them, and he sent his capture scarf out without hesitation.
Midoriya yelped, but then relaxed a moment later. The boy smiled sheepishly from his position in the capture scarf.
“Hi, Aizawa-sensei. . .”
“Midoriya, are you alright?” He pulled his kid student close before letting him out of his capture scarf. Then he took a fighting stance and glared at the startled League members with his Quirk flaring. “Did they hurt you?”
“No, no, they actually helped me escape!”
He blinked twice, his hair falling back to his shoulders.
“I’m sorry, what?”
“Yeah, I—um—accidentally convinced most of the League to go good?” Midoriya said, laughing nervously as he did so. He stared at his student in disbelief, then turned to the League members.
“Is this true?!”
“Yep,” Dabi drawled, sticking his hands in his pockets. “The greenie here is surprisingly persuasive, and he’s terrifyingly smart. I would rather not be in a fight against him; I’m pretty sure he’d win easily.”
“Considering he’s being trained by Nedzu, that’s probably true,” he muttered, privately enjoying the way the League members’ faces went pale. “So are you all renouncing villainy?”
“That’s the current plan, yes,” Compress said calmly. “At least, we’re renouncing the League.”
Well, isn’t that interesting. . .
He stared at them for another few minutes, then nodded and put his eyedrops in.
“Then let’s get you all back to UA—oh, before I forget, where’s your base?”
“It’s a warehouse, two streets over. But don’t be surprised if Potato Head, Crusty, and Kurogiri are already gone. They probably know we escaped by now.”
Great.
“Wonderful,” he huffed. Then he beckoned for the rest of the strike team to join him. “Give us the coordinates and we’ll check it out while you head towards UA. We’ll catch up once we’ve seen the warehouse.”
“Yes, sir.” Compress gestured grandly. “Lead the way, Midoriya-kun.”
He shook his head in disbelief as Midoriya led the ex-League members towards UA like some sort of Pied Piper, then turned to the rest of the strike team, one thought predominantly on his mind.
Thank gods that Midoriya wants to be a hero, not a villain.
****
Sure enough, All for One, Shigaraki, and Kurogiri were already gone by the time they found the correct warehouse. They poked around for a bit, but didn’t find anything aside from some empty syringes and a few glasses.
Damn. . .ah well, at least we got Midoriya and the majority of the League.
So back they went, picking up Midoriya and the ex-League members on the way. Dabi, Toga, Spinner, Twice, Magne, and Mr. Compress went with Kamui and Edgeshot to the police station for interrogation, and Midoriya came with him and Nemuri back to UA.
“Are the others alright?”
He shook his head fondly.
Problem Child. . .
“They’re all fine, although they were ready to take up arms and go on a rampage to find and rescue you,” he said dryly as he navigated traffic. Nemuri chuckled.
“Your teacher had me use my Quirk to knock them out before joining the rest of the team to keep them from sneaking after us.”
Midoriya was silent for a moment, then sighed.
“I. . .can understand the reasoning behind that.”
He snorted despite himself.
“I would think so, considering you’re guilty of the exact same thing.”
Midoriya squawked in offense, and he ignored the boy’s sputtered denials throughout the rest of the drive, hiding his smirk in his capture weapon.
Nedzu was at the gates when they returned, and the mammal visibly sagged in relief when Midoriya hopped out of the car, alive and well.
“Midoriya-kun, I’m glad to see you’re alright. Tsukauchi will take your statement tomorrow, but if you wouldn’t mind a short explanation. . .?”
“Not at all, Sensei.” Midoriya leaned against the gate, his casual posture completely contradicting the words that came out of his mouth. “All for One wanted to recruit me because he knew that All Might tricked me.”
He blinked twice at the bombshell, struggling to find his voice again. However, Nedzu did first.
“What did he offer you?”
“Oh, what you’d expect—the chance to prove my doubters wrong, the chance to get back at All Might, another Quirk—” Midoriya snorted. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t tempted.”
“You managed to turn most of the League, as I recall,” Nemuri sassed, although she’d gone pale at Midoriya’s statement just like the rest of them. Nedzu immediately brightened.
“Oh? How so?”
Midoriya smiled a very familiar sharp smile.
“Well, it wasn’t intentional, but I simply pointed out that they could get what they wanted without following Shigaraki, and it would put them in less danger.”
Nedzu started cackling.
“Ah, I’ve taught you well!”
That’s not terrifying at all.
“If you’re done revelling in your teaching abilities, I think we should get Midoriya back to the dorms. Midnight’s Quirk won’t last much longer, and they will go feral once they’re awake enough to do so.”
“A fair point. Go on, you two. Tsukauchi will be by tomorrow to take Midoriya’s statement and talk over our informant’s. . .situation.”
“Yes, sir.” He bowed and tugged Midoriya towards the dorms. He half expected Midoriya to ask about the informant, but the greenette was surprisingly quiet and seemed to be lost in thought.
Finally, they returned to the dorms, and he cautiously opened the door, bracing himself for an attack from a greatly perturbed student, but there was nothing. When he looked in, he immediately saw the reason: they were all still asleep. Behind him, Midoriya chuckled and moved into the building.
“Would you like some coffee, Aizawa-sensei?”
I will give this child a kitten, I swear.
“Yes I would.”
****
Hitoshi groaned slightly as his eyelids fluttered open, raising a hand to rub his temples. He didn’t often sleep that hard, so it took his brain longer than usual to wake up. He gazed around with bleary eyes, slowly registering that he was on the common room couch, a blanket covering his legs.
Huh. . .?
Then it all came rushing back and he shot straight up, swearing.
How long was I out?!
All around him, his classmates were also returning to the land of the awake, grumbling as they woke up. Finally, Ida got to his feet.
“Well, Midnight-sensei’s Quirk certainly leaves you reeling,” the navy teen said, holding one hand to his head. Then Ida’s eyes darted to the back wall and went wide. “Midoriya!”
It took a moment for this to process, but the second it did, he whipped his head around so fast, he was distantly surprised he hadn’t strained it.
Sure enough, Izuku was just stepping out of the kitchen, holding a tray full of mugs. As soon as their eyes met, Izuku grinned tiredly at him and moved to one of the tables, setting down the tray.
“Hey, guys.”
Within a second, he’d launched himself off the couch and stumbled over to Izuku, tugging him into the tightest hug he was capable of. More bodies joined him in an attempt to hug Izuku. Finally, everyone backed off and he took a step back so he could actually see Izuku’s face.
“How long have you been back?” Shoto asked, visibly emotional for once. Izuku chuckled.
“About an hour. I was wondering when you all would wake up.”
He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the snarls. A weight fell off his shoulders, although a smoldering irritation remained.
“Glad to see you’re safe, Zu.” He hugged his friend again, then turned. “Now, where’s Aizawa-sensei? I’d like to have a word with him.”
“Or we could watch a movie and have hot chocolate?” Izuku gave him a sweet smile and he felt his protest melting. A smirk tugged at his lips despite himself.
“Okay, fine.”
Still switching his coffee for decaf later.
Based on the looks of relief mixed with frustration, he wouldn’t be alone in that prank.