Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

The streets of Roppongi were crowded, it would make sense after all this was where Might Tower, the hero Agency of All Might, world’s greatest hero, was situated. The area was a popular tourist destination with everyone and everything around dedicated to All Might. It was for this reason that Inko brought her son here for his sixth birthday.

Izuku was walking around excitedly pointing out anything and everything, constantly singing the All Might theme song to himself as he smiled excitedly. Inko and Izuku didn’t have much, but it was moments like this that made her feel like the richest woman in the world.

“Mama, can we please go see Might Tower now?” Izuku begged, excitedly trying to drag her even though he didn’t know the way. Inko couldn’t help but chuckle, Izuku had such single minded determination quite a lot like– she cut that thought off instantly.

“We are almost there Izuku,” she laughed, her smile a little bit more forced. “We just need to turn this corner and–”

Inko stopped in her tracks as she saw a police blockade in front of her, at a quick glance it seemed to be surrounding Might Tower. It had been a while since she had last been so close to– “excuse me but what is going on?” she asked, walking over to the policemen at the front. He was a tired individual, had clearly been working long today and just wanted a rest if the cap he kept low over his eyes was any indication.

“Sorry ma’am,” the policeman yawned, “Might Tower is closed today, we have reports that the criminal Lupin the 3rd is planning to rob the place today.”

It’s funny how you can be on a busy street full of loud people and not hear a single sound. Nothing but the beating of your heart in your ears, the rushing of blood through your veins, the sound of your body pumping adrenaline into your system.

Inko felt a small hand grab your sleeve, and in her panicked state reached for a gun that was no longer there. It hadn’t been there for years. “Mama what’s going on?” Izuku asked softly and all sound came rushing back in.

“Sorry little man,” the policeman said with a smile, crouching down and patting Izuku on the shoulder. “But Might Tower is closed for the day, some criminals have said they plan to steal something from All Might.”

The look on Izuku’s face was a perfect match for how Inko felt. Horror, pure unadulterated horror. However whereas Izuku was horrified that someone would dare attack All Might, Inko was scared for a much more primal reason. “Izuku honey, we need to leave. Now,” she ordered as she grabbed his hand and started rushing off. She ignored the policeman’s goodbye as she rushed through the crowd, she needed to get home, she needed to get away, he was here and she needed to be away, he couldn’t see her, he couldn’t see Izuku.

They were on the train before Inko allowed herself a moment to breathe. “Don’t worry Mama,” Izuku said, patting her hand, “All Might will beat the villains!”

Inko wished she could agree, she wished she could believe that All Might would win and take down Lupin the Third without any effort but she couldn't. Lupin was not an idiot, if he planned to rob All Might himself then he had a plan. She could feel herself hyperventilating, she didn’t need this right now, why couldn’t Lupin and his gand just stay away from Japan, the world is a big place, and there were so many better places to steal from and– “It’ll be okay Mama,” Izuku repeats, patting her hand.

Inko put on a weak smile, “why dont we stop at a restaurant for lunch?” she asked, “we can get Katsudon!”

Izuku’s beaming smile was almost enough to assuage her fears, it was almost enough to make her think that everything was alright, that she hadn’t missed something important.

She ignored how her phone kept going off, clearly Mitsuki had heard the news and was calling to check up on her, she couldn’t handle this now, it was Izuku’s big day and she needed to be brave and happy for him, she could get drunk and freak out with Mitsuki later.

She wasn’t quite sure when they got to the restaurant, she wasn’t really sure when they ordered, or even when they received their food however Inko was aware when the place seemed to empty out. “Fancy running into you here, Inko-chan,” a man chuckled as he sat down next to her.

She grabbed the water jug, swinging at his head but her wrist was caught in the hairy hands of Lupin the Third. “Mama!” screamed Izuku, forward to try and protect her, only to be redirected and find himself sitting back in his seat by Lupin.

Lupin looked like he always did, lanky, monkey-like, he was in his blue jacket today though the smile was a bit colder than usual, not his usual carefree smile. “How did you find me?” she grit out, taking another swing only for Lupic to effortlessly stop it.

“Why Inko-chan you just got unlucky,” Lupin stated casually as he reached over to Izuku and removed something from his collar, a tracking device.

“Criminal… the cop called you a criminal, not a villain. It was Jigen wasn’t it?” she muttered as she fell back into her seat.

“Here I thought you were losing your edge, Inko-chan,” he mocked. The smile fell from his face and he looked at her sternly, “you’ve been keeping a very important secret I see.”

“You’re one to lecture me, because of you I lost the only man I ever loved!” she hissed, using her quirk to try and pull a sake bottle into his head. It was effortlessly snatched out of the air by Daisuke Jigen, still wearing his fake police uniform, “careful we don't want to get into a fight here,” he warned as he helped himself to the sake.

“Mama who are these people,” Izuku asked, scared, as he cuddled against her.

“These are some very bad people Izuku, just keep behind Mama and you will be safe,” she whispered, never taking her eyes off of Lupin.
“Come now, you make it sound like we would hurt a child,” came the seductive tone of Mine Fujiko, sitting at the restaurant bar dressed like an elegant business woman.

“You’ve done much worse and you know it.” All Inko got in response was a smile from Fujiko as the other woman helped herself to a drink.

Inko sighed, “just tell me what you want Lupin, then you can get out of my life.”

It is very few people who could say that they were on the receiving end of an angry look from Lupin the Third, and Inko knew why so few lived to boast about such a thing. She knew she would be fine, she knew he would never seriously hurt her but in that moment she didn’t know anything but fear.

Lupin sat down at the table opposite Inko and Izuko, his glare never leaving her. “Don’t play dumb Inko-chan, you know why i’m here. Imagine my surprise, we were stealing All Might’s famous car, Hercules, and Jigen here tells me that he saw you. With a kid, about six years old.”

“Wait, you're the villains who attacked All Might!” Izuku shouted, his fear momentarily forgotten in his anger and horror. He was standing on his chair, pointing directly at Lupin.

Lupin turned towards Izuku, his glare focussed on her baby boy before he broke down laughing, banging his hand on the table. “Told you Fujiko, whose else could he be?” He laughed, “no one else’s kid would have the guts to yell at us like that!” Fujiko just huffed in response, the previously tense atmosphere a little bit lighter. Only a little bit.

“We aren’t villains kid, we’re criminals there’s a difference,” Lupin grinned, “and we aren’t just any criminals I am Lupin the Third, greatest criminal there is.”

“Who?” Izuku asked confused.

This caused Fujiko and Jigen to both break down laughing as Lupin looked insulted to not be known. “Izuku honey please keep quiet,” Inko whispered as she pulled her son into her lap. “Get to the point, Lupin.”

Lupin sighed, and glared at her, though it was a lot less serious than it was before. “Fine, you never told him did you. Never told him he has a kid.”

“Of Course I didn't tell him! You took him away from me! I tried to tell him but all he would ever talk about was Lupin this and Lupin that and we need to push the wedding date back for the seventh time because you are in Italy stealing the country from Da Vinci! What was the point of telling him? So he could be around just enough to break Izuku’s heart like he broke mine!?” Inko didn’t care that she was crying now, she didn’t care that she was standing, she had wanted to say this for years, to let Lupin know just how she felt, how much she hated him. “He was my fiance and he loved you more than he ever loved me! I could handle being second but I wasn’t going to put Izuku through that!”

“That was not for you to decide!” Lupin shouted back.

“I am his mother, I have every right to make that decision!”

“His father has a right to know!”

The door was blown in by a burst of heat, “stand down villains and surrend–” “--Shut up!” Inko and Lupin both yelled at Endeavour, the current Number 2 hero, and a man who was literally on fire.

“Your son deserves to know his father!” Lupin yelled, his face right in Inko’s.

“He deserves to not stay up every night wondering why he’s not good enough for his dad!” she shouted back.

“I said stand down vill–” “SHUT UP!” Inko and Lupin roared again, turning on Endeavour, making the man falter. It was not often when Endeavour was ignored and he was unsure how to react.

Jigen and Fujiko were drinking in the background, chuckling at the whole scenario, while Izuku was hiding fearfully behind his Mama. Izuku wanted to talk to Endeavour but he had never seen his Mama so angry before and was scared.

“Why are you always like this?” Lupin cursed.

“Why do you have to insert yourself in matters that don’t concern you?”

“ENOUGH!” Endeavour yelled, clearly having had enough of being ignored. He strode forward, intent on taking everyone into custody no matter what they said. Unfortunately for Endeavour he didn’t notice Goemon in the corner and was effortlessly taken out by the samurai, “once again I have cut something worthless,” the Samurai muttered as Endeavour fell to the ground unconscious.

Without any care Goemon picked up Endeavour’s unconscious body and threw it out into the street where a police cordon and several heroes were waiting, all unsure what to do.

“You guys are supposed to be thieves, cant you be subtle once in your lives?” Inko snapped, hugging Izuku who had seen one of his idols be effortlessly defeated.

“FEAR NOT FOR I–” Inko slammed her head into the table, “--AM HERE!” All Might’s voice boomed as he appeared in the restaurant, his million watt smile on display. “I just wanted to celebrate my boy’s birthday,” she whined.

The Number 1 hero was watching Goemon warily, which Inko could understand. Even the world’s greatest hero had to be careful when fighting the man who could cut lightning, stop bullets and slice through tanks. “I AM GOING TO NEED YOU CRIMINALS TO TURN YOURSELVES IN,” All Might boomed.

“Sorry no can do, Toshi,” Lupin grinned, sitting back down, his gun now in his hand. “You see me and Inko here are having a party and we are waiting on the last guest.”

“You…that was your plan?” Inko asked horrified at the same time All Might responded “INKO IS THAT YOU? I THOUGHT YOU HAD RETIRED?” “Mama you know All Might?” Izuku asked excitedly.

“Can this get any worse?” Inko muttered.

The door once more was burst open as a giant man with a voice that dwarfed even All Might’s entered screaming “LUUPPIINN!!-- Inko is that you?”

“Hey Pops!” Lupin cheered from his seat as he gestured to Izuku, “you’re a pops, Pops!”

Chapter Text

Lupin the Third, criminal mastermind, master thief, grandson of the original Arsene Lupin and one of the most dangerous men in the world.

Koichi Zenigata, pride of Interpol, the rival to Lupin the Third, a man with enough high profile arrests that he makes even most pro-heroes look like amateurs.

Midoriya Inko, single mother.

In a tiny restaurant, blocked off by a police cordon, these three people were screaming at each other.

It was a stressful, highly tense situation. The heroes outside did not know what to do, the Number 2 Hero Endeavour had already been effortlessly dispatched by a member of Lupin’s gang. It was clear that someone would either have to be very brave, stupid or crazy to get involved in this situation. Luckily All Might was all three.

“Four of a kind,” All Might announced as he placed down his cards in his poker game with Jigen, Fujiko and Goemon. He was stupid, brave and crazy he however was not quite suicidal enough to get involved.

The three crooks grumbled in annoyance as they threw down their cards, “your stupid smile is impossible to read,” Jigen cursed, lighting a smoke. “How much longer do you reckon the loving throuple will be?”

“I don’t know,” Fujiko sighed. “It’s rare to see Lupin this angry without someone dying, and the old man has never backed down once in his life. Then there’s Inko, she has a lot of pent up resentment,” she pours herself another glass of wine, “I think they will stop when someone gives in and kisses the other, or kills someone.”

The four adults look at each other before throwing money on the table. “Lupin and Pops.” “Pops and Inko.” “Three way.” “Inko kills Zenigata and kisses Lupin” they each announce before stopping to stare at Goemon.

“Inko and Lupin? Really?” Jigen asks. “This big lugs three way idea is more likely than that.”

All Might felt a tug on his costume, looking over to see Izuku looking up at him nervously. “um….uh …hi Mr All Might sir,” he whispered. “Um…how do you know my Mama?”

All Might fought very hard to keep from blushing as he remembered his first meeting with Inko in his younger days. “Your mother arrested him,” Goemon announced simply.

“WHAT!?” Izuku screamed out in shock, “BUT WHY? HOW? WHY? BUT HE’S ALL MIGHT!?”

All Might couldn’t help but chuckle, bending down to lift Izuku onto his knee. “It was back when I was just starting out. I heard of a criminal organisation that planned to steal Vespanian Ore. So of course I rush off to assist, bungle an already in progress Interpol investigation and get arrested by your mother. Not my finest moment I admit, but it all worked out in the end. I still have no idea where that clown came from though,” he muttered confused. All Might’s response was a blank look from Izuku, clearly not understanding anything.

“I got in the way of your mom’s work for Interpol and so she arrested me,” he tried again.

“What's Interpol?” Izuku asked, confused. “Why would Mama arrest you? You are All Might and she just works at a library.”

“What’s this!” a loud voice roared as a giant hand clamped onto Izuku’s shoulder, “Inko our son doesn’t know what Interpol is?” the man who was apparently his father looked as insulted as if someone told Izuku that All Might wasn’t the greatest hero ever.

“Why would I tell him about that corrupt hell hole?” Inko spat, “they have literally pulled the plug on you, we’ve both been arrested several times for doing our jobs, they mock anyone who does good work, why would I want to tell my son about Interpol?”

The big man, Zenigata, looked like he wanted to argue but just sighed. “Yeah….you’re not wrong. You’re never wrong.” Zenigata just fell back onto a stool, a sad look on his face as he pulled out a pack of smoke, grabbed one and lit it. He looked at Izuku as he took a drag, “Sorry I haven’t been around, but I'm your father.”

The restaurant was quiet, it was as if time had stood still. No one spoke, no one moved, the police and heroes outside also seemed to quieten down. Izuku wasn’t sure what to do, he had always wanted to meet his dad but today had been so scary and strange, and his mama looked so angry and one of his dad’s…friends? Had beaten up Endeavour and he didn’t know what to do and All Might was here and knew his mama and…and.. Izuku’s spiralling was stopped by the gentle pressure of All Might’s hand on his shoulder, “why don't you and your parents go and talk? Get to know your father,” he said softly.

Izuku nodded, and gave All Might a hug, not noticing the warning glare the Number One Hero sent his parents way, and then climbed off of All Might’s lap and shyly walked over to his Mama and dad.

“Um….uh hi,” Izuku mumbled awkwardly, not sure what to say. “Im uh…im Izuku.”

Zenigata gave a relieved smile while Inko watched on carefully, clearly she wasn’t comfortable with this but she wouldn't say anything for now. “Hi Izuku, I'm Zenigata, your father.”

Unsure of what to say next, Izuku went towards his usual favourite subject, “um…what’s your quirk?”

Zenigata frowned, “my quirk? What’s my quirk?,” he murmured. “Ah right, increased drug resistance. Elephant tranquillisers can't take me down. Makes it painful when I go to the dentist,” he grinned.

“Forty Three years old and he still forgets his quirk,” Inko muttered a small smile on her face.

“It’s not like it comes up very often,” Zenigata pouted at Inko before turning back to Izuku, “and what about your one? I bet you received your mom’s amazing quirk. You should see her when she fights with it, it’s so elegant I asked her out after seeing her fight for the first time. She told me I was delirious from blood loss,” he laughed.

“You thought you were Santa Claus, you were delirious,” Inko muttered a small blush colouring her cheeks. “As for his quirk…. Izuku honey, you can tell your father, he won’t be upset with you,” she promised her son.

Looking down at his feet Izuku quietly mumbled, “im….im quirkless,” he knew his Mama said it would be okay, but he was scared for the reaction that always came, the way people would always–”okay. What do you want to be when you are older?” Zenigata asked simply.

“A hero…. Wait okay? You don’t care that i’m quirkless?”

Zenigata just looked confused, “er no. Should I? Most quirks are pretty useless anyway.”

“But i'm quirkless and I want to be a hero, i'm too weak!” Izuku cried, tears streaming down his face, unable to understand how his dad didn’t understand it.

Zenigata calmly raised his hand to point, “Goemon over there, the samurai, he’s quirkless. Only an idiot would ever call him weak.”

Izuku looked at Goemon, the samurai, the man who effortlessly took down Endeavour, the man who was respected by even All Might. Izuku.exe stopped working.

Inko grabbed her son before he hit the floor, today had been a lot for him and several important parts of his worldview had been shaken. She held her son in her arms, thankful that no matter what happened he was alright, he was safe, unharmed.

“I’m going to be in my son’s life Inko,” Zenigata told her softly, his eyes focussed on their boy instead of looking at her. She could see that look in his eyes however, that look that said he would not back down, he would do what he believed was right and screw whoever tried to stop him. It was that look that first drew her to him, in a world full of corruption and selfishness Zenigata was one of the few men she knew who followed his morals.

She sighed, “you will make sure that he can call you whenever he needs to, you will explain to him why you can’t be at every sports game or play recital or whatever else he decides to do. You will NEVER bring your work home to our boy, and if you are spending time with him you are to never leave him alone to go chasing after Lupin. Lastly, we will not be getting back together, not now not ever,” she told him sternly.

Zenigata looked like he was told Christmas had come early as he wrapped Inko and Izuku into a giant bear hug. “Thank you,” he whispered, tears in his eyes. “Thank you Inko-chan.”

That was how Izuku met his father, and Inko was reunited with Zenigata, and the rest. Zenigata stayed in Japan for a month, getting to know his son, walking him to school, and almost getting arrested for starting a fight with other parents. Lupin and his gang also hung around for a bit, Inko never saw them but she noticed how her son’s action figure collection would grow especially with action figures dedicated to the criminals.

After the month was over however Izuku received a call from Zenigata, the man was already on a plane halfway to Sweden with no idea when he would be back. Inko tried to console her son, but she knows from experience that it never gets easier. It was one of the main reasons lots of heroes stayed single, especially the ones like All Might and Stars and Stripes.

Things weren’t great but they were okay, until one day All Might disappeared and all hell broke loose in Japan.

Chapter Text

It had been two weeks since All Might’s fight with Toxic Chainsaw. They had levelled several blocks, Osaka now had a lake of poison and the hero who was in the news everyday due to some new escapade had not been seen since.

At first it wasn’t a big deal, even the Number One Hero deserved a rest after such a difficult fight, no one could blame him for taking a couple of days off. However after the first week speculations and rumours began to circulate, was he hurt? If so, how bad? Could he even be dead? People were uneasy, it was wrong that All Might was nowhere to be seen. Then the villains started to test the waters a bit. A bank robbery here, an assault there, The Proto-Clown even made a public challenge to All Might.

The hero was nowhere to be seen.

It was at that point when the villains threw caution to the wind. Crimes and villainy were being committed en masse. Most were easily stopped, there were plenty of other heroes after all, but just the sheer number of villains who were out and about, bold due to All Might’s disappearance, was overwhelming.

Inko sighed in annoyance as some ‘villain’ was TP-ing the library. She considered doing something about it, but honestly it was harmless and the kids who were here for a school trip seemed to find it funny, giggling at the antics of the Toilenator.

At least it was better than a lot of other villainy going on at the moment, there had been far too many hostage takings, bank robberies and pirating from actual pirates, lately. It was actually kind of funny even, Inko found herself almost laughing at the antics of this villain who looked like he stepped right out of a Saturday morning cartoon.

Inko left the children and their teachers on the upper floors as she went to put books away on the shelves. This was a large library and not many people were on shift in the middle of a school day so she had a lot of work to do.

Inko found herself whistling as she put the books away, usually her job was monotonous but it was hard to be bored when there were a lot of happy, polite children in the building.

The laughter from upstairs cut off, replaced by screams right before the door was kicked in and a voice yelled out “Everyone be cool this is a hostage situation!” Inko didn’t even look towards the door, just leapt behind the nearest object making sure she was hidden by the maze of bookshelves as plenty of boots could be heard marching into the library. They were quick, efficient, she could hear them spreading out, barricading the front door and moving to the stairs, moving towards the children’s screams.

Glass shattered as one of the skylights was broken by a hero in a costume and cape, his cape floating in the wind as he slowly lowered himself into the library. ”Stand down foul vil–” the hero didn’t finish his words as he was riddled with bullets and his body fell to the ground in a bloody, broken mess. If he was lucky he died before he hit the ground.

Inko found herself cursing, just her luck these bastards were actually smart enough to shoot first. This wasn’t good, she didn’t have a gun, they were clearly not just amateurs, and there were kids she needed to protect!

Inko kept her ears strained, the villains weren’t being quiet so it was possible to avoid them in the maze of bookcases. She just needed to be quiet, stay on alert. Once she found one alone she could arm herself appropriately.

Thankfully she came across one of the men, wandering calmly alone, checking the windows. He had his gun out but was at ease, experienced but expecting a typical milk run of a job, so not experienced enough. He was in tactical gear that had the symbol of a sickly white mouse on the upper right chest, the Ivory Rodents, said to be named after their leader’s quirk. Ink didn’t know too much about the Ivory Rodents, but a name and general idea of where they operate can usually be enough.

The goon didn’t even know what happened, using her quirk she pulled his knife out of its sheath and she slit his throat before he could even register the danger he was in. She gently helped him fall to the ground before searching through his equipment, making sure to take his handgun, ammo and walkie-talkie.

Glass shattered once more as a shadow flew towards Inko, without hesitation Inko grabbed the figure by the leg and flipped them, pinning them to the ground, a knife to their throat. “You’re… you’re a fucking child, a hero at that,” she hissed, realising she had a hero student pinned beneath her.”Why the fuck are you–” Inko’s words were cut off as the green and blue clad hero student kicked her off, sending Inko flying into the nearest bookcase “I just stacked them,” she whined as she fell to the ground, along with plenty of books.

It was just one kick but Inko could feel the rib fractures, she didn’t hesitate as she hit the ground she rolled to the side, avoiding another attack from the hero student, all the while the shouting of the Ivory Rodents filled the library as they were making their way to the loud noise.

“I’m going to take you villains down for what you did to Crimson Phoenix!” the hero student growled out, continuing their assault against Inko.

“I’m not a villain,” Inko gasped out barely able to avoid the attacks, “I’m trying to stop the Ivory Rodents, they have hostages!” During her evading she ran into two more goons, able to shoot one with her gun while the hero student caved in the other’s skull.

“Like I’m going to believe your lies,” the student sneered.

“I just shot one of their men!” Why oh why was it that the only people she ever ran into in these situations were idiots with all brawn and no brains. The only exception was Lupin and his crew and that was not a consolation.

The hero student paused, taking a moment to look around as if they only now just noticed the two new corpses on the ground. “Ah. Sor–” “--lookout!” Inko shouted, tackling the girl to the side as a goon fired his shot, it hit her in the shoulder though thankfully she was able to shoot the goon dead. “As if this day wasn’t bad enough already,” she hissed. “C’mon kid we need to hide now,” she ordered grabbing the hero student by the arm and dragging them through the maze of bookcases,

“Come out now hero or we start killing the children!” the voice from before called out, his voice echoing through the library.

“Gods dammit!” Inko hissed, leaning against a bookcase as she used her quirk to pull the bullet out of her shoulder. “New plan kid, can you get to the third floor, east wing without being seen?” she asked.

“I can just–” “Do as you’re told because if you charge them like a lunatic then they will kill the children!” Inko interrupted. “I’ll make a distraction, can you get to the third floor east wing without being spotted?”

“Yes,” the hero student growled.

“Good, that’s where the kids are. I'm going to buy you as much time as I can, get there and quietly take out the goons, do not get seen or heard,” she ordered before Inko started to walk to the centre f the library, where Crimson Phoenix’s body had fallen, and where the Ivory Rodents would be able to see her.

“Im here, don't kill the children,” she called out, making a show of dropping her gun and spreading her arms.

“Really you’re the hero who has killed four of my men?” the leader, a white furred rat-man, in a white suit, looking from the third floor balconey, asked with a sneer. “You look like a housewife, not some strong hero, or HPSC assassin.”

Inko gave a shrug as he surveyed, there were six people looking down on her from the balconies, five of them had their guns aimed at her, and there were a further two goons on the ground floor with her, keeping out of arm’s reach as they circled her, guns also drawn. She was no Jigen but with a bit of luck she might be able to survive this, “an assassin is pretty bad at their job if they look like an assassin,” she called out, stalling for time.

Ivory Rodent nodded “you do have a point, very well assassin what should I write on your tombstone?” he sneered. Gods why did the villain always sneer, it’s like they all went to the same arrogant villains class.

“Misery,” she lied, watching the look of shock and fear on the villain’s face. One did not invoke the name of Misery lightly. Before the Ivory Rodents gang could collect themselves she reached out with her quirk, yanking on the guns of everyone on the upper floors. Two goons kept hold of their guns, falling to the hard floor below, the other two lost their grips and one managed to hold onto his gun without falling. Inko was already on the move pulling the safety on the guns of the two goons on the ground floor as she charged one with her knife.

He was dispatched with her knife to his jaw before she used his body as a shield against oncoming gunfire. “C'mon kid,” she muttered, pulling a gun to her hand as she tried to take out the other goons. Some had smartly taken cover, though the remaining goon on the ground floor, and the two that had fallen were quickly dispatched.

Thankfully the air was soon filled with a cream as Ivory Rodent was flung off the third floor balcony, the landing was hard but he’d live if he was lucky. The hero student from before jumped off the balcony, and landed perfectly on Ivory Rodent’s torso, crushing it. He wasn’t lucky.

“Listen up,” Inko called out to the library. “We have killed your leader, and plenty of your gang. If anyone is left alive you can turn yourselves in quietly and be arrested, or you can try your luck and hope you have better chances than everyone else so far.”

The remaining Ivory Rodents turned themselves in without a fuss, and Inko was finally able to sit and rest, as she tried to bandage her gunshot injury while waiting for the police and heroes to show up. “Sorry about before,” the hero student muttered, embarrassed flush on her face. “I uh saw the gun and thought you were one of the villains.”

“Really?” Inko asked as she struggled to bandage her shoulder, “who is your mentor? Because they have been slacking.”

The only response was the hero student pointing at the corps of Crimson Phoenix.

“Ah yeah…. Sorry about that, you want to talk about it?” Inko asked before giving up on the bandage.

“Here let me,” the hero student offered, taking the bandage and helping to bandage Inko’s shoulder. “And uh maybe i’ll take you up on that some other time. You were pretty cool out there, you’re a hero too?”

“No, ex law enforcement. I used to work for Interpol where I would handle situations like this all the time, i’ve gotten rusty it seems,” she grumbled, “old me wouldn’t have been shot like that.”

“Sorry, I should have been…. I’m sorry you got shot protecting me.”

Inko shrugged it off, “honestly it’s not the worst that’s happened to me. Besides, it’s worth it to protect a kid like you.”

“I’m not a kid, I’m sixteen, a hero in training,” the girl flushed. Inko just laughed.

Ever since that day Rumi Usagaiyama would find any and every excuse to ask Inko for help with her studies, her training and eventually advice on her hero work.

Chapter Text

“DEEKUUU!” screamed Katsuki as he chased after Izuku. It had been two months since All Might was last seen, six weeks since Midoriya Inko had killed the Ivory Rodents, six weeks since Izuku and moved into the Bakugo household while Inko was in prison waiting for the date of her trial.

Katsuki wasn’t taking everything so well. All Might was his hero and the Number One’s disappearance was hitting him hard. Katsuki also really liked his Aunty Inko and was worried for her. Almost paradoxically Katsuki didn’t like Izuku and hated having to live with his fellow six year old. So he was stressed, and when he got stressed he got angry, and when he got angry, he tried to beat up Izuku.

“Imma kill you!” Katsuki shouted as he charged after Izuku, school had just let out and he needed to teach the useless Deku a lesson so he was chasing him through the streets, running around people, over fences, through alleyways while Izuku did everything he could to get away from Katsuki.

Katsuki’s face was twisted in a feral grin as he ran, his quirk letting off little explosive pops that would cause his quirkless target to flinch. Katsuki’s explosions weren’t big enough to be anything but a loud noise and a small flash, but it was great for instilling fear in those weaker than him.

Izuku meanwhile was panicking, he didn’t mean to upset Kaachan but he was stressed out and when he got stressed out he would mutter and panic and say something stupid and annoying and then Kaachan would get angry at him, and then he would get more stressed out, and mutter and panic more, making Kaachan even angrier and it was a vicious cycle and then he said something too stupid and now Kachan was trying to kill him!

“I do not smell like bananas!” Kastuki screamed as he lunged at Izuku, missing the boy and knocking over an outdoor dining table instead. Little known fact but nitroglycerin fumes can in fact smell like bananas. Well known fact but Katsuki hates bananas with a passion and he did not appreciate Izuku’s comparison.

“I’m-i’m sorry but it’s barely noticeable, no one can really tell, if you use some deodorant then no one would know!” Izuku was not doing a good job of diffusing the situation as he dived around a corner, running down an alleyway crowded with trash and broken street stalls.

Katsuki didn’t even hesitate jumping from broken stall to broken stall as he chased after Izuku, his cries of anger now just wordless inarticulate rage.

Izuku wished his Mama or Pops was there. Mama was so nice and she could always calm Kaachan down, and everyone liked her! Except for Lupin but he was a villain so he didn’t count! And Pops was so big and strong, Kaachan wouldn’t hurt him if Pops was here but he was gone, just like Mama said he would be.

Lungs screaming for air, mind consumed with thoughts of his parents, eyes blurry with tears, it’s understandable that Izuku wasn’t paying enough attention as he ran. Izuku bounced back, falling to the ground after running into a weird looking man. He looked old, then he was less old and had black eye liner, then he looked like a butler. It was weird. “I uh i um I’m–” Izuku trailed off as the man ignored him and walked out of the alley, through a courtyard full of people and into a large building.

Next thing Izuku knew Katsuki had grabbed him by the collar and dragged him deeper into the alleyway, “Kaach–”

“I saw,” Katsuki interrupted quietly, and that was all that truly needed to be said. The people in the courtyard, the many, many, many people had guns, large guns. Whereas the weird man was carrying a little girl, one who was clearly struggling trying to get away, on his shoulder. A little girl covered in injuries. The girl’s eyes screamed for help even as she said nothing while she was carried away.

“What are we going to–”

“Shut up and let–”

“We can’t just leave–”

“Deku shut–”

“They are Yakuza Kaach-”

“I know!” Katsuki snapped, face pale, his body shaking, eyes wide. “I know Deku,” he hissed. “We need to save her, I know that! But they have guns and a lot of villains, how are we supposed to get past them!”

In his short six years Izuku had only seen Katsuki scare a handful of times, there was little that could scare someone as strong and amazing as his best friend but this wasn’t a group of big kids, this was a yakuza, a yakuza who was holding a girl against her will, a yakuza who was–

“They are preparing for a fight,” Izuku muttered. The yakuza were gathered outside in formation, plenty of guns, barricades set up for cover. It looked like the last time the kids at school had prepared a snowball game.

“No one’s inside, they are all out here,” Katsuki murmured in realisation. “If we can get inside then we can do what we want! We just need to get in.”

“I uh I have an idea how to get inside,” Izuku muttered pointing at something. Katsuki’s grin was almost feral in response.

Eighty metres up Izuku was terrified, crawling along the arm of the crane trying, and failing, to not look down as he crawled closer to the end, holding on to the metal of the crane for dear life. Katsuki was crawling in front of him, the other boy’s grin a little forced.

This particular crane had the arm reaching close to the building the girl was taken into, getting very close to a balcony. Eighty metres below the yakuza were unaware of the two children above their heads, as they prepared for whatever battle was coming.

The wind was strong, Izuku was shaking in fright but onward he crawled he was going to save the girl. His forward crawl stopped when he bumped into Katsuki who had reached the end. The jump looked much further from up here than on the ground, it was about two metres forward and about eight metres down.

“I…I’ve got this,” Katsuki grinned weakly as he slowly pulled himself to his feet and jumped. The explosive boy seemed to hang in the air for a very long time before he hit the balcony with a hard impact. It hurt but he was okay. “Your turn Deku…. You can do it,” he called out, worry all over his face.

Slowly, unsteadily Izuku pried his hands from the crane and stood up. “I can do it, I can do it, I can do it,” he muttered “PLUS ULTRA!” he screamed as he jumped. Time froze as he hung in the air weightless, his clothes flapping in the wind, Izuku thought this must be what it’s like to have a flight quirk before he crashed into the balcony with a thud, falling into Katsuki’s arms the other boy catching him.

“I did it! I did it!” he crowed hugging Katsuki as he laughed a little deliriously from adrenaline. Katsuki hugged Izuku back, laughing just as loudly before pulling away face pink, “you need to be able to do at least this if you want to be my sidekick,” he muttered before stalking to the balcony door, refusing to look back at Izuku.

The two boys stepped into the tower proper, finding it to be half completed. The walls had exposed wires, and places where panels were never installed. The lights were dim and just hanging from the roof. The ground was concrete not yet covered with carpet or tile. It was almost like something out of a horror movie especially since no one was around.

The two boys didn't say a word as they crept forward, slowly, ears perked for any noise, Katsuki resisting the urge to let loose his quirk like he did when he was usually stressed. Soon the boys came to a row of lifts and the door to the stairwell. “Where do we go now,” Katsuki growled.

“Kaachan,” Izuku whispered, pointing at the display by the four lifts. Two of the displays were for the ground, one was for the fifty second floor and the last lift was on the basement floor.. “The two on the ground floor make sense, and the fifty second floor is probably the top where the boss is, there’s got to be something in the basement though,” he whispered.

Katsuki nodded and opened the door to the stairwell, “basement it is,” and started heading down quietly. The stairwell was one of the square ones where you could see all the way to the bottom if you looked over the railing. It allowed the boys to see ahead of them but it also meant that if they were unlucky someone would see them.

Crouching low, keeping their ears peeled and rushing from floor to floor the boys slowly made their way downstairs. Occasionally they would hear the sounds of someone in the stairwell and they would dash into a floor to hide until everything was quiet.

On the seventh floor is when they heard it. Gun fire outside. Lots of gunfire and shouting and explosions. The two boys hid on the seventh floor, as everything went down. As they hid, and cowered, hiding under some discarded boxes they heard the gun fire move from outside the building, to the lobby, to the stairwell and up.

They didn’t know who was attacking the yakuza but they could only hear the sounds of one person walking up the stairs, occasionally hearing gunfire as the fighting moved up but it was only a single set of footsteps that walked past the seventh floor.

Five minutes after the footsteps had passed, five minutes after the gunfire had stopped Izuku crawled out from behind the boxes. He wanted to run away, he wanted to stay hidden, “Kaachan we need to find the girl,” he whispered, grabbing his friend’s hand and pulling him out of hiding.

“I was just waiting for you, useless Deku,” Katsuki muttered, refusing to meet Izuku’s eyes, though not pulling his hand away.

The two boys silently debated the lifts, they could take them straight to the basement or even the round floor, they wouldn't have to go through the stairwell where the shooting had happened but they had taken the stairs for a reason. If the lift doors opened in front of a yakuza the two boys would be cornered, trapped. The stairs were safer.

Gathering himself, putting on his best All Might smile, Izuku slowly opened the door to the stairwell and promptly threw up. Katsuki did the same. The boys hadn’t realised, not truly, that shooting in the stairwell meant that people got shot in the stairwell. There were corpses of dead yakuza on the stairs, some of them just laying there with blank haunting eyes, their gunshot wounds unseen. Some of them were missing parts of their heads or face, their brains splattered across the wall like an amateur’s attempt at a pollock painting. Some of the yakuza had fallen down the middle of the stairwell, all the way to the bottom, their limbs splayed out at angles that were just…..wrong.

Everything was tight, it was hot, it was crowded, hard to breathe, claustrophobic, they needed space, air, room, to get away, why did they think they could do this, who did this, why did this happen, where were the heroes, what was going on, they were going to die, gods they were going to die, get shot, bleed out, eyes blank, brains on the wall, limbs at odd angles, they were scared, rooted to the spot, unmoving, gasping for air, unable to brea– A scream and Izuku was running down the stairs, moving too fast he hit the wall at each turn with a painful thud, he slipped in blood falling on his butt and was up almost instantly. The scream was soft, faint but it came from below, it came from the basement, it was the scream of a child like Izuku so he ran without thinking. Katsuki, the fitter of the two, the stronger of the two, the braver of the two was running as well, following behind Izuku.

Sneakers squeaked and squelched on the floor as the two boys ran, ran towards the girl who needed help, ran to the basement. It was a mad scramble that left cuts and bruises on their body, blood covering their clothes and hands and faces and hair. They had run so much today but they didn’t stop, they couldnt stop, someone needed help and that was all that mattered to Izuku, not even the bodies he tripped over in the stairwell could stop him as he made his way to the basement.

Izuku didn't open the door to the basement as much as throw it open with a loud thud as he rushed into the basement to come to a room of cages, each cage holding children of ages similar to him. Children with sunken in skin, wearing hospital gowns with bandages on their arms. It was a horrific sight, though not as horrific a sight as Izuku was if the screams the thirty odd children made as they saw the blood covered boy.

Luckily for Izuku the screaming didn't alert the yakuza who was down here watching the cages, unluckily for Izuku his loud entrance however did as walking in amongst the cages was a rough looking man, pistol drawn staring at him. “Where the fuck did you come– shut it!” he snarled smacking his gun against a cage with a loud clang, causing the children’s screams to be replaced with quiet whimpering. “Where the fuck did you come from brat?”

“I uh I uh you uh I,” Izuku stammered mind going blank as he realised the yakuza had a gun, Izuku had gone to fight someone with a gun and he didn’t even have a quirk, he was quirkless and he thought he could fight yakuza and oh gods he was going to die and no one would know what happened to him and Kaachan would be angry with him for being so weak, and his Mama would be sad and–

Izuku’s thoughts scattered as red hot pain erupted across his temple, the yakuza had smacked him with the gun. “Fuck kid I asked where you came from not your whole life story,” Izuku had been muttering again.

“I’m sorry im sorry i didn't mean to please don't kill me, I just..,” Izuku rambled, where was Kaachan, had he left Izuku behind? Had he gotten lost? Had he gotten attacked by a yakuza where– Izuku’s rambling stopped as he saw Kaachan quietly move into the room, hiding amongst the cages, unseen by the yakuza who was focused on Izuku “--the guy, the guy who attacked the place he was coming down the stairs and I was trying to hide from him! He was right behind m–”

The yakuza threw Izuku to the side as he moved “should have said so earlier brat!” he hissed, moving to the door, gun at the ready. “Fuck im not ready for this, why did we decide to go to war with him!” he muttered. It was clear to Izuku that the yakuza was really scared, his hands were shaking, his breathing so loud it filled the room, he wasn’t paying any attention to Izuku and was oblivious to Katsuki.

If the yakuza was calmer, if he was more aware then things would have probably been different but he wasn’t. As such he was caught by surprise as Katsuki launched himself at the man, wrapping arms and legs around his back and with a scream of “DIIEEE!!” let loose his quirk.

Every bit of sweat Katsuki had built up after a long day of running, every bit of sweat all over his body, soaked into his clothes, all of it ignited with a fiery explosion that enveloped the two.

The gun was thrown away, the two fell apart smoking and the screams started up once more. Izuku didn’t hesitate as he rushed forward to the fallen yakuza and kicked him in the head, praying, hoping that he would stay down just long enough for Kaa-chan to get back to his feet.

Eventually the man stopped moving and Izuku fell back, gasping for air while Katsuki groaned in pain as he pulled himself to a sitting position. The explosive boy's clothes were rags, his face and what could be seen of his torso covered in red marks, burns and bruises but despite that he was smiling, a happy, joyful smile. “We did it Deku!” he whispered, “we beat him!”

Izuku felt himself grinning back, they had done it, they had really beaten a yakuza and saved– “the keys!” he exclaimed as he pulled himself to his feat and started to search the man, desperately trying to find the keys. Katsuki helped too.

Soon the two boys had found the keys and let the children out of the cages, it was a mixed lot of kids, boys and girls, mutant quirks and emitters, none of them older than eight, one boy looked like a rabbit, one girl was invisible and one other boy had pictures dancing on his skin. They were all quiet, staring in wide eyed awe as Izuku and Katsuki let them out of their cages. Almost unwilling to believe that perhaps they were free.

“This way!” Katsuki whispered as he led the kids to the door and out to the corpse-filled atrium, Izuku by his side.

“Don’t look at them, just look forward and follow us and stay quiet,” Izuku encouraged as the group skirted around the edge of the room, slowly towards the door. They all froze however as the elevator dinged and out stepped a single man, with the girl from before in one arm, and a gun in his hand.

The man’s eyes instantly alighted on the group of children, causing several to scream and run, Katsuki to rush forward and Izuku to freeze. “Mr Jigen?” Izuku asked in shock, it was probably Jigen’s own surprise that stopped him from reacting in time and having six year old Katsuki let off a small explosion right into his crotch.

Things after that moved both quickly and slowly. Jigen and Izuku both explained what was going on to each other and did what they could to calm down Katsuki and the other kids.

Katsuki called his mom who called the police and heroes and soon the entire building and surrounding streets were filled with law enforcement. Katsuki’s mom was alternating between yelling at the two boys and crying as she hugged them tightly, the heroes were looking very sick at the bloodshed and telling the boys off for being reckless, except for Rumi who just laughed and ruffled their hair.

Izuku isn't sure when but Jigen had disappeared about the same time the heroes showed up.

All of the children were eventually brought to the hospital to be cleaned up and checked up on, the children’s parents were called and Katsuki and Izuku were labelled as heroes.

It was a day with many horrifying sights, and scary moments. Izuku and Katsuki would have nightmares for years to come but…. It was a good day for the two boys. They had saved people, they had been heroes. It wasn’t as glamorous as they had always dreamed but it was better, it was real.

Chapter Text

Infamous thief and criminal mastermind Lupin the Third has successfully stolen Michelangelo’s Compass, the very tool the famed painter used when painting the Sistene Chapel. Vatican authorities were unable to apprehend the criminal and in fact claimed that their failure was due to ‘inept support from Interpol.’

Tartarus was the world’s first Super-SuperMax Prison, dedicated to holding the most dangerous villains in Japan. The security budget for this place could be used to feed entire nations, guns and cameras and guards everywhere, anti-quirk field generator’s were in all of the walls. Some of the prisoners were contained so tightly that being able to scratch their own ass was an impossible dream.

The prison held a variety of inmates, from Lady Nagant, Kaina Tsutsumi, who had executed the previous Chairperson of the Hero Commission before turning herself in. To Sarah Berry, the Queen in Silver, who had massacred almost an entire school in gruesome ways. To Ryner Lute, The Lonely Demon, who had almost started a war. To Midoriya Inko, no alias, who was pending trial for having killed the hero Crimson Phoenix.

The five foot three single mother and librarian moved through the maze-like corridors of Tartarus, moving with the crowd of inmates to the cafeteria. She ignored as a nine foot tall walrus mutant was assaulted by the guards, he hadn’t done anything but the guards loved to target him anyway. She ignored the mad mutterings of the Queen in Silver who was clawing at her arms, ”where is my crown, where is it, i'm the queen where is my crown, who took it, they are jealous, they want my crown, they can’t have it, it’s mine…” the girl rambled.

Stepping into the cafeteria wasn’t much better, there were at least twelve different fights going on as the guards stood back and made bets, Inko was confident that the camera’s were recording these flights to sell to rich bastards with too much money and not enough humanity. She carefully sidestepped one fight, and made her way to the food, grabbing a styrofoam plate of mystery slop, no cutlery, and made her way to a table.

Without comment Inko placed her plate between herself and Ryner, the Lonely Demon having once more had his food taken by other inmates. “Make sure to actually eat some of it,” she ordered Ryner before picking some food out of the slop with her fingers and eating herself. Ryner yawns in response but does as he’s told.

Kaina soon joined the two, plopping down in a seat opposite Inko and Ryner. “I heard some interesting news,” she remarked as she too picked at her food. “Turns out they found out where those missing kids were, they were found in Deigyo-gai, the kids were found with signs of medical experimentation and a whole lot of blood was drawn from them. Looks like that’s where the Ivory Rats planned to take the kids before you managed to do some pest control,” Kaina smirked at Inko.

“Deigyo-gai?” Inko asked in surprise, “how did they find the children there? Cops and heroes avoid that place like the plague.”

Kaina’s smirk widened into something feral and sadistic, “the yakuza there are all dead,” was her response. “Turns out they got into a war with Daisuke Jigen and he took each and every one of them, all hundred something men, were killed by the lone gunman.”

“Here she goes about her boyfrie–” Ryner’s grumbling was cut off as Kaina leaped over the table, tackling him out of his seat to the floor, “he’s not my boyfriend,” she growled, a light blush colouring her cheeks even as she crouched on the prone Ryner’s chest, “I just want to duel him one day.”

“Yes Kaina we know,” Inko soothed, “Ryner was just being an idiot now why don't you get off of him and sit down,” she encouraged her sort-of-friend.

Looking embarrassed, Kaina stepped off of Ryner, flipped over the table and sat back down in her seat. Coughing and muttering to himself Ryner pulled himself back up into his own seat. It was sometimes hard to see the dangerous criminals that were her companions especially when they acted so childish, however Kaina’s tackle was hard enough that it would have cracked the ribs of most non-mutants whereas Ryner looked more annoyed about having to get back into his chair.

“That’s not the interesting part,” Kaina continued her story as if she hadnt attacked someone with near lethal force. “The police and heroes were called by two–”

“Prisoner Nine One Four One One One Five, you have a visitor,” a guard announced, interrupting Kaina’s story.

“Of course,” Inko smiled at the guard as she stood up, pushing the rest of her food towards Ryner. “I look forward to hearing the rest of the story later Kaina,” and allowed herself to be cuffed before following the guard, very much aware that Visiting Hours were not for another two hours.

It wasn’t time for her trial yet, Inko had been advised it was at least six months away with the backlog the courts were experiencing, Inko honestly had no idea why she was being dragged off to the Visitation Room. She was more surprised to find that the Visitation Room was empty except for Warden Navarone and–

“Vice Commissioner Nezumi?” Inko asked, surprised to see the literal lion of a man, who was the Vice Commissioner of the Japanese Branch of Interpol.

Nezumi looked at Inko with a genial smile, but he wasn’t quite meeting her eyes,the smile was forced, “come now Navarone surely the handcuffs aren’t necessary?” He wanted something from Inko, the only question is what had Koichi done now.

Navarone himself looked deeply annoyed by the comment from Nezumi but silently gestured for the guard to undo her handcuffs, which he did before leaving the room. Leaving Inko, the Warden and Vice Commissioner alone.

Eying the two warily, Inko put on her best smile as she moved forward and sat at the table opposite the two men. “I heard about Deigyo-gai,” she started more as an icebreaker than anything else.

Inko can’t say she has ever seen a lion, or a lion person, fear for its life but that could only be the look that passed across Nezumi’s face. He was scared, terrified and it had to do with Deigyo-gai.

“Uh yes well I want you to know that the second I heard about it I sent my men into action, and I can assure you that Izuku is safe–”

”What do you mean Izuku is safe? What does Deigyo-gai have to do with my son? Oh gods he was kidnapped and you’re just telling me this now!” Inko was a good three feet shorter than Nezumi but as she pushed herself to her feet the man cowered. Navarone moved to stand up but Nezumi’s hand on his shoulder kept him seated.

“It’s not what you think Inko, I’m sorry I thought you knew the details. Izuku wasn’t kidnapped, he and his friend Katsuki had uh well they had uh–”

“They broke into Deigyo-gai in some foolish att–” Navarone’s words were cut off as Nezumi placed his hand over the warden’s mouth.

“--they acted like heroes, fine upstanding young men who had helped to save some kidnapped children. Though as mentioned Izuku and Katsuki are unharmed and being taken care of as we speak!”

Inko wasn’t sure how to react, her son and honorary nephew had been involved with yakuza and kidnapped children, and would have seen all of the men Jigen had killed but they were safe, and heroes and so very grounded and she only found out after the fact because she was in prison and – she cut off that train of thought and looked back at Nezumi, trying to convey a collected coldness, “and what do you want from me?”

“Want from you? Nothing of course, I just heard about this grave miscarriage of justice–”

“What do you want, Vice Commissioner?”

“I’ve used my connections to bring your case in front of a judge and you’ve been found innocent–”

“What do you want, Nezumi?”

“And after we sign some paperwork you are free to go and–”

“Don’t make me count to three.”

Nezumi sighed, “Okay okay I had hoped to give the good news first and then ask but….well so it’s common practice in these circumstances to inform the parents of what has happened but you were in prison and so…well some incompetent idiot had called Zenigata and told him that his son was involved in a child kidnapping case and….” he trailed off unsure what to say.

“And Koichi is now on his way to Japan, angrier than he has ever been before and convinced that his son is kidnapped because he didn’t wait to get the full information,” Inko finished off dryly.

“Yes!” the cowardly lion exclaimed, “and you know what happens when he gets angry enough to leave a Lupin case. Inko he won't even make it out of the airport before taking down at least twenty criminals and getting into a fight with some heroes! It will be chaos, and then Lupin will follow because of course he will and things will get worse, and the Hero Commission will cause a stir because Zenigata will make them look bad and the paperwork will be a nightmare and please help,” he sobbed.

“You want me to calm Koichi down so that he doesn’t cause you more work?” she asked, getting a nod in response.

Warden Navarone had been party to many deals between criminals and law enforcement, it was clear he had never been party to such a deal as this as the man radiated disgust and contempt for Nezumi, “pathetic,” he sneered.

“Inko while waiting in the airport in Vatican City he caught a hero for human trafficking! He was there for thirty minutes! Please with the whole All Might situation and how Endeavour lost to Goemon a few months ago, Japan can not handle having its faith in heroes shaken anymore! The Hero Commission will be a nightmare if that happens!” Nezumi was leaning over the table, clasping Inko’s hands at this point as he stared desperately at her. “Think of the paperwork,” he whispered.

“I wish I could say I expected better from you,” Inko sighed, pulling her hands out of Nezumi’s grip, “but that would be lying. I will attempt to calm Koichi down if you make a good enough offer.”

Relief flooded Nezumi’s face as he pulled several papers out of his briefcase, “thank you, thank you now we need to move fast his plane lands in just under thirteen hours.”

Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Rumi’s foot tapped on the ground, the only sign of her nerves, and the floor shook with each tap. Her mind was not on the hospital room she was waiting in as the thirty plus children were being looked at, cleaned and their info gathered. Instead her mind was on what she had seen in Deigyo-gai.

The streets of Deigyo-gai were silent as the heroes and police rolled in, it was as if the entire town was hiding and upon seeing the front of the yakuza skyscraper she could understand why. Upon hearing about the missing children, the dead yakuza taken out by one man, Rumi expected to come across a few dead bodies.

The outside of the skyscraper was littered with roughly fifty to sixty corpses, evidence of gun fire, quirk attacks and fucking rocket launchers having been used. A quick glance showed that almost every yakuza had died from a headshot or a heartshot. It wasn’t impossible for a hero to win against such odds but the heroes who could survive against so many gun men usually left a wider scale of damage.

We are talking Endeavour’s Hellfire or All Might. Even someone like Crimson Riot could have taken these thugs down but not without a lot of broken bones and cracked skulls. However when you are comparing the actions of a lone gunman to the strongest heroes around, or a man who is literally bullet proof then it just goes to show how terrifying the gunman was.

If Rumi thought the corpses strewn around the place was the worst, she was sadly mistaken. The children…gods the children. There were so many of them in hospital gowns and bandages, sunken in skin and looking far too sickly and pale. Then there was Izuku and Katsuki.

Rumi had met the two boys only a couple of times, checking up on Izuku for Inko. She didn’t really have any affection for either of the boys beyond that Inko cared for them but….. Rumi doesn’t think there is a single person alive who could look at two children they knew, covered in blood, and not feel their heart stop.The two boys were shaking and scared, covered in blood and yet they had weak smiles on their faces trying to stay calm for the other children and so Rumi did the same.

Rumi, the Rabbit Hero Mirko, put on her best grin, let out a loud whistle and strode up to the boys ignoring how each corpse she passed was wearing the face of Crimson Phoenix. “Damn kids if i’m not careful you’ll be in the Top Ten before I am,” she laughed ruffling their hair.

That was a few hours ago, now Rumi sat in an uncomfortable chair in a crowded hospital room doing all she could do to appear calm and bored and not terrified like she truly was. Stil in her second year at Yagami High and she had seen more dead bodies than the rest of her class put together, Thud her previous Work Study mentor was dead Thud Thud and she just wanted to run or fight or run and fight or fight and run she just needed to do something, Thud Thud Thud Thud anything but she had to stay here, keep it cool for the kids Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud Thud.

“You’re gonna break a hole in the floor if you keep that up,” Silhouette, her current mentor, laughed as the living shadow sat down in the chair next to her.

The tapping of Rumi’s foot stopped, a light blush colouring her cheeks, “sorry.”

Silhouette just laughed it off, “relax after today no one would blame you besides I should be saying sorry to you. All of us should.”

Rumi felt herself freeze, unsure how to act, what to do, what did Silhouette mean by that?

“I’m an experienced hero, and I’m your mentor. Upon seeing the sight at Deigyo-gai I should have taken charge, I should have made sure the area was safe, checked on the children, made sure you were okay. I should have done something,” his jovial tone had faded to one of, not self-loathing but regret. “Instead I'm standing off to the side, trying to keep down my lunch, all of us are. Except for you ofcourse,” he laughed.

“You moved forward when all of us hesitated, you acted to make the children feel safe, you looked them over for any serious injury, you approached everything with a smile on your face despite being sixteen and scared yourself. Just like All Might, when you showed up with a smile those kids knew that everything would be fine. Way I see it, the only hero today was you.”

Tonight on Popaholic we sit down with Uwabami and talk about her upcoming single. Later on we dive right into the rumours that famous actress, model, designer, inventor, popstar and entrepreneur Rebecca Rossellini has been sighted with her ex-husband international thief Lupin the Third. Stay tuned as we bring you all of the juicy details!

Doctor Aka Shatsu hummed merrily to himself as he prepared his lab, everything was as it should be, every little tool in it’s place, everything clean and spotless. However science required precision and control and so he double checked everything as he hummed merrily a smile on his face.

Aka loved his job, it was more than a paycheck, for him it was a calling, a way of life. He wasn’t just performing science, he was performing art. He had been performing his art ever since he could remember, using kitchen knives and sewing pins to help him see just how the neighbourhood birds and rodents worked. Even with his rudimentary tools he was good at keeping the lucky creatures alive during the living autopsy though he made sure to put them out of their misery when he was done with them.

Today, today though, the doctor had a very special subject to examine. This subject was a quirked animal, not too unusual in this day and age except for the fact that this animal could talk! It could tell Aka everything that it felt, everything that it experienced as he slowly, methodically, took the creature apart. He could learn so much from it! All Aka had to do was make sure to keep the brain intact for his bosses.

Aka finally looked over the creature strapped to his table, some form of hybrid appearance, clearly from its mutant type quirk though genetic tests had labelled the creature as part of the Ursidae family. The subject showed signs of previous experimentation and testing, the shoddy workmanship that littered it’s hide however was not enough to dampen Aka’s mood.

“You… you don’t have to do this,” the creature whispered out. “Please just… just let me go.”

“You’re right,” Aka smiled, “I don’t have to do this but I want to.” With that Aka picked up his scalpel, he was ready, “now do make sure to tell me everything you feel,” he encouraged gently.

Were this a kinder world the creature would have found some way to escape then and there, maybe the straps were loose, maybe a hero would have burst in, maybe the doctor would have had a change of heart. This is not that world, this world isn’t kind, not entirely.

The little bear’s screams and cries filled the lab as the doctor slowly, methodically, happily performed a living autopsy. The Y incision done, the doctor prepared to grab the clamps so he could pull the skin back and have a look at the creature’s internals.

However while the straps were not loose, they were not quite tight either. With its blood as a lubricant the creature was able to pull an arm free. Grabbing wildly it managed to snatch the scalped out of the doctor’s hand and cut itself free.

Were this a safer world the doctor would have used the chance to run, or maybe he would have grabbed a weapon to defend himself with, or even called for aid. This wasn’t a safer world, this was a world where All Might was missing, where police and heroes were overworked, understaffed AND dealing with the aftermath of a child kidnapping ring.

An explosion echoed out in the street, the result of yet another villain running rampant, the explosion rocked the lab and delayed Aka just enough.

The tendons in Aka’s legs were cut first, “come now doctor do make sure to tell me everything you feel!” the creature laughed maniacally as it turned the doctor into its own work of art.

Chapter Text

Mitsuki’s fingers twitched, trying to reach for a pack of smokes that wasn’t there, hadn’t been there since she found out she was pregnant with Katuski all those years ago. At first it was hard but it got easier as time went on, she hadn’t wanted a smoke in over a year but gods she needed one so badly right now.

She had always known this day would come, the day her son saw death up close for the first time. Heroes and Villains always dominated the news, with stories of villains being up to no good and being stopped by heroes. Relatively safe, death free stories. That’s not how the world worked though.

Villains showed up in the news so much, not because they were more dangerous than other types of criminals but because they were more flashy, they gave themselves names and costumes and liked to monologue. They were in the news more often because they made better news, the story of some college student killing his teacher over a failing grade was less interesting no matter how common it was.

Murders and assault and general violence was so common in their world, but it was always out of sight, hidden, not due to any great conspiracy but it just wasn’t as profitable as the golfer who started to use explosive golf balls to take revenge against every golf course in the world for banning him.

As a result children like Katsuki and Izuku had the wrong idea of what heroism was. It wasn’t colourful outfits, funny names and grand speeches. It was death after death after death as a hero reacts to crime, usually showing up far too late to stop the initial incident.

Mitsuki wished the boys could have kept their innocence for just a little longer.

“Fucking hell,” she cursed quietly as she watched her two boys with the crowd of kids they had saved, all of them unwilling to be separated and so huddled together pretending to sleep. Rumi was laying down with the kids, pretending she was annoyed at being used like a stuffed toy.

Masaru next to her gently leaned his shoulder against hers, “They are here, safe and sound they’ll be okay,” he told her softly, always the calming presence to her volatile emotions.

“They’re six Masaru, six! And they saw….. You saw the bodies!! It was bad, really bad. What are we supposed to do, how do we make this better for them? How do we ensure it doesn't haunt them and Katsuki… oh gods how are we supposed to…” choked sobs took Mitsuki’s ability to speak as she grabbed her husband into a hug, holding on to him for dear life.

It wasn’t fair of Mitsuki to rely on her husband to always be her calm rock, her pillar of support, she knew today had affected him just as badly as it had affected her. If given enough time she had no doubt that he’d be getting his liver pumped from alcohol poisoning but in that moment Mitsuki couldn’t find it in herself to care about her selfish over-reliance on her husband, she had more pressing thoughts.

How was she supposed to explain to her son that he and Izuku had killed a man.

It is advised for everyone travelling in London today to be careful as international criminal Lupin the Third is currently in a car chase after breaking into the SIS building also known as MI6 Headquarters.

She had never been a normal child, far smarter than most people her age, capable of advanced calculus while her peers were learning to count on their fingers and toes. She never once cried as a baby, and seemed to operate at a mental speed far beyond the comprehension of those around her.

Every person she interacted with shied away from her, it was something in the eyes they would all say, something that wasn’t right. Her short lived time in kindergarten had to end when the caretakers started to call her a psychopath, a monster, a villain to her face. The other children weren’t any better but they were children they were expected to be cruel and stupid.

Not even her mother could keep up with her, always a bit too slow, a bit too unaware. However unlike everyone else her mother never seemed bothered by her peculiarities. The girl’s mother instead seemed bothered by the way the girl was treated and did whatever she could to help the girl fit into society.

Mother in fact made it a point that more than everything the girl needed to learn to fit in, to understand society, to be one of them. The girl never missed the fact that her mother was indirectly implying that she was not one of society, that she was different, an outsider. Yet she never pressed her mother, trusting that the woman who had given her life would explain everything when the time was necessary.

The girl had been given several rules by her mother, some normal, some unusual. The first rule was to never hurt a person, not in a fight nor in self defence, never. The second rule was that she was never allowed to use a computer, or a phone, she was barely allowed to operate the tv remote or the microwave. Then there were other requirements the girl and her mother would volunteer with charity and aid organisations frequently, always trying to assist to be compassionate. The girl was also forced to have monthly medical checkups, though her mother never explained why.

The girl felt sad that she would never get to have the talk with her mother over the secrets that were being held. She felt sad that she had never revealed to her mother that she knew everything. The girl felt sad that in the near future she would break her mother’s most important rule.

Behind the impassive face of the five year old girl her mind literally whirred, once referred to as the Artificial Machine Intelligence, now referred to as Ame. Ame promised that she would kill the men who had cut her mother’s life short, this human body of hers would make it hard but she would be patient, she would ensure that each of these men would die for their transgressions.

The fact they were kidnapping her just made it easier for her.

The airline hostesses all keeped a wary eye on the man in the fourth row, too large for his seat, quiet, not looking at anyone or anything just glaring into the distance. He was the type of person they were trained to be wary of, the type most likely to do something violent.

Almost everyone was sleeping at the time, it had been a long flight, the man however was still just sitting quietly glaring.

“Excuse me, can I get some assistance here?” the good looking man in the second row asked. Hotaru felt herself blushing slightly at his smile as she rushed over to assist him, it was rare for bug mutants like herself to be looked at so kindly from strangers.

“Of course, how can I help you sir?” she asked quietly, making sure to lean close so he could hear her but so she didnt wake up any of the sleeping passengers.

The man flashed her a dimpled smile that made her feel weak in the knees, “i was just wondering if–” a gun was placed under her chin “--you could help me have a little talk wi–” the handsome man’s words were cut off as a large hand grabbed him by the wrist, pulled him out of the seat and he was headbutted by the man in the fourth row.

It wasn’t even a fight, the handsome man with the gun was taken out instantly. The man from the fourth row knocked him out with brutal efficiency, handcuffed him and then went back to his seat as if nothing had happened.

The scritching of a pencil and the mutterings of a mad man was all that could be heard in the safehouse as Lupin the Third was furiously writing in a book and not fawning over Fujiko like he should have been.

“Honestly, a girl could start to think that you actually love the old man more than me when you go crazy just because he rushed off because his brat was involved in a kidnapping!” she rolled her eyes and flounced her hair in a way that always drew his eye.

Lupin committed the gravest of crimes and didn’t even look at her, “he left in the middle of a heist! He never does that! It was so boring and easy with him gone! Every other cop is too serious or too corrupt, not fun like Pops,” he whined, neve taking his eyes off of the book he was writing.

“Please we have been on plenty of heists without Pops and you never complain this much, if I didn’t know better….” Fujiko allowed her voice to trail off as she poured herself a glass of champagne, if Lupin was going to ignore her then she could at least get drunk and tease him.

“I'm not jealous of the kid!” he shouted, far too fast and far too high pitched for anyone to ever actually believe him.

“Of course not,” came the intentionally condescending reply, “the old man just spends his entire career chasing after you, obsessed with you and the second someone else is on his mind you turn into this,” she gestures at his dishevelled appearance, “you haven’t even stitched up your gunshot wound from those MI6 agents yet.”

Lupin was getting agitated now, scratching his head furiously, his voice getting more high pitched. It would be sad if Fujiko wasn’t feeling petty. “I’m not jealous of the kid, he’s just ruining the game! You can't play cops and robbers without a cop!”

Fujiko just rolled her eyes, “are you at least going to tell me what you’re planning then? Because what it looks like you’re planning would have Inko and the old man kill you. Goemon might join in as well.”

“Relax, I'm not going to do anything like that,” he waved her off. “The kid’s going to keep finding himself in trouble, he’s Pop’s kid,” Fujiko felt she was truly the bigger person in this situation for not pointing out how Lupin was pouting, she rewarded herself with some more champagne.

“Since Pops will complain if we kidnap him, I had an idea. The kid just needs a…tutor, someone to show him how not to get himself killed,” he grinned either unaware of his hesitation or trying to cover it up,

Fujiko shrugged, “well I’m not going to be able to talk you out of this stupidity, but if you’re going to ignore me to teach the brat then i’ll do the same,” with that she got up and headed to the door. “Oh and Lupin, do keep in mind he is Zenigata and Inko’s child, don’t hold him to the same standards you were,” she calls out before closing the door.

Fujiko wasn’t sure if Lupin heard her, she just hoped he was careful otherwise he would cross lines that even he never wanted to cross.

Mirai doesn’t remember how he got on the floor. One moment the hero known as Sir Nighteye was sitting in an uncomfortable hospital chair talking to his mentor, his hero, All Might. The next moment he was on the floor, blood dripping from nose as his brain tried to tear itself apart.

“Easy kid I got ya,” Gran Torino whispered, the elderly hero helping Mirai to his chair, as All Might quietly pulled the curtains closed, turning off the light. Besides passing Mirai some tissues the two heroes stayed still and silent, waiting for Mirai’s quirk to stop rewriting his brain.

There was always a question people had when they talked to someone with a prophetic quirk ‘what happens when you try to change the future?’ Honestly it’s a fair question, if the future can be changed then can you really say you saw THE future? However if the future can’t be changed what does that mean?

If Mirai saw a future where he lost everything betting on black at roulette why would he then go ahead and bet on black? If he bet on red and lost then that’s still a change to the future, just a minor change but still a change. So does he have free will or can he see THE future?

The answer is very simple, both are true. Mirai has free will and he can see THE future, it’s just if the future changes then what he saw in the past changes, or at least his memories of what he saw in the past.

“”What’s black and white and red all over?” Mirai croaked out, “my suit!” It was a horrible joke but the weak chuckle he got from Gran Torino and the smile from All Might was worth it.

“Mirai are, are you willing to talk about it?” All Might asked quietly, more gently than the Number One hero usually was capable of, though losing most of your internal organs was sure to change a man.

“I don't know what’s changed,” he muttered, he never knew what had changed. “But it’s big, last time I felt even partially like this was when everything went down at Area 61 with Roy Forest, the Ai and Lupin the Third……it’s Lupin isn’t it? Who else would it be, he’s been acting quite unusually according to the most recent news,” Mirai sighed. It was always a nightmare fighting Lupin because he always knew far more than he should, always had an escape plan AND would break out of any prison if arrested.

“That little shit’s worse than his father or grandfather ever was,” came Gran Torino’s input.

“Think Mirai, what’s the biggest future you can think of, maybe we can figure out what changed,” All Might asked, always focussed on the important task and never letting himself get side-tracked.

Sir Nighteye cast his mind back, focussing on every future he had seen, wondering just which one was new and which were old, he skipped over the one about All Might’s future successor, important but there is no way Lupin the Third could affect All Might’s future like that. There was Gran Torino and Mirai facing off against an army of clones but that wasn’t the most important. “The future event that stands out the most would be the alien ship hovering over Japan after it destroyed a monster the size of Mount Fuji,” he decided. Mirai remembered when he first saw that future, he hadn’t slept for a week straight, frantically trying to jot down every detail he could, trying to figure out when and how it happened.

“What?” came the whispered reply from an ashen faced All Might. Gran Torino just pulled out a flask he should not have and took a swig.

“Ah I suppose that would be the future that has changed,” Mirai acknowledged, “I will be honest I do not know how even Lupin the Third could have changed the future to cause such a thing to occur,”

“Definitely worse than his grandfather.”

Katsuki was having a great time, sure they were still stuck in the hospital but he didnt have to go to school for the next week, and he had made some new friends, and everyone was t walking about how brave and strong and great he was, how amazing his quirk was and how he would be a strong hero.

It was great.

He was great.

Everything was great.

No one looked at him with cold, unblinking eyes. He didn’t see things out of the corner of his vision, things that weren’t there. A coppery smell didn’t fill his nose . His mom and dad did not look sad and Rumi-neesan did not have a panic attack. Everything was great.

He was a hero, he had saved the day, that meant everything was great, that's what happened when heroes saved the day.

The police and heroes kept asking him questions, which was cool, Katsuki liked boasting about how great he was after all. “Then I blew him up and when he fell down ‘zuku kicked him in the head until he stopped moving and then I saved everyone!” he grinned. Izuku was standing with him, stars in his eyes as he admired Katsuki’s greatness.

“Impressive,” the hero Light Keeper, a walking human sized lighthouse of a person, remarked. “I can’t imagine how brave you must be to have done all of that alone.”

“Are you dumb?” Katsuki asked, head tilted to the side in confusion, “I just said ‘zuku was there.” The nerve of this two bit, loser of a hero to not listen to Katsuki’s story!

“Now now,” the loser remarked in a tone that sounded like what he said next would be bullshit. “I just mean that it’s not like he was any help.” Katsuki was a fucking genius, maybe he had a second quirk to know the future.

“I just said he kicked the guy until he stopped moving, and he distracted the guy so I could explode him. Did…did you even listen to anything?” his hands were itchy now, so itchy and he wanted to let them explode, but this was a hospital and his mom would kick his ass if he exploded in here.

“Well sure but it’s not like you needed the help of some quirkless brat,” the idiot simpered.

Katsuki glared, who did this extra think he was! Katsuki didn’t need help, he was awesome and strong and amazing and could do everything himself. But that doesn’t mean that Izuku hadn’t helped, Izuku had done more than this loser ever did and Izuku was his sidekick and that demanded respect. What kind of idiot insulted a hero’s sidekick to the hero’s face? Besides, Katsuki saw this idiot was one of the first who threw up when he showed up to see all of the not scary dead bodies!

Katsuki was a calm, even tempered hero. He never lost his cool, he was always collected and acted with dignity and treated everyone with the respect they deserved. Feeling Izuku at his side, shrink a little bit, Katsuki decided to treat Light Keeper with the respect he deserved.

Katsuki kicked Light Keeper right in the balls.

“Don’t talk about ‘zuku like that, you dumb extra!” he screamed, kicking Light Bringer again as the man fell to the floor, trying to protect his balls as Katsuki tried to break them.

“STOP STOP WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU YOU LITTLE SHIT!?” Light Keeper screamed, his voice a lot more higher pitched than it was a minute ago.

Katsuki was going to kick him again but was suddenly pulled back by a hand on his collar, “What the hell is going on brat?” his mom asked, looking tired and angry and stressed. “You can’t just kick some idiot in the balls, what's wrong with you!”

“He kept trying to act like ‘zuku did nothing just cause he’s quirkless, i’m not gonna let him talk about my sidekick that way!” he snapped back, sending a glare to the hero who was still on the floor.

The silence in the room was the calm before the storm, as Katsuki’s mom turned her glare onto Light Keeper he tried to back away from the mother, crawling backwards on the floor. “How dare you?” she hissed stalking towards him, “These two kids are greater heroes at the age of six than you will ever be! You want to minimise one of their actions because they are quirkless? So what!? You just got your ass handed to you by a six year old despite having a quirk, so clearly quirks aren’t everything are they!” she was nose to….well he didn’t have a nose, or a face, nose to lightbulb with him now.

“Don’t you ever talk to my two boys again you pathetic excuse for a man, Now get out,” she snarled.

Light Keeper didn’t even say anything as he half-crawled, half-ran to the door, scared of Katsuki’s mom like the pathetic excuse for a hero he was.

Hagakure would be embarrassed to admit she was staring at her two heroes. Thankfully as an invisible girl no one could really tell what she was looking at and so she was saved from any embarrassment.

She had spent three weeks in those cages, only ever pulled out for her blood to be drawn and then these two heroes came in and saved her.

One was called Bakugo Katsuki and he was loud and brave and cool and handsome and he had such a cool quirk!

The other hero was called Midoriya Izuku and he was quiet and kind and cute and just as brave he saved all of them from the villains while quirkless. She didnt care what the stupid light house said, Izuku was her hero!

Mind made up, Hagakure slowly got up from her bed, and bringing her iv with her slowly walked over to the two boys. They were currently playing some card game, she didn’t know what the rules were but it was clear that Izuku was winning if Katsuki’s grumbling was any sign.

“This games stupid,” Katsuki yelled throwing his cards down in defeat, “what do you want?” he snapped looking at Hagakure.

“Oh uh um sorry I just I never said and I wanted to say and uh I uh thank you!” she exclaimed, bowing deeply, face burning an invisible red.

“Tch it was nothing for me and my sidekick,” Katsuki boasted, wrapping an arm around Izuku. He looked so brave and cool and confident, while Izuku looked at her with such a kind smile.

“I’m glad you are okay,” the green haired hero said softly, face tinged a soft red.

Oh gods why was it hot, it was so warm in here, Hagakure could feel her face heating up, and shyly ducked it trying to hide behind her invisible hair. “I uh you two uh well that is you two were uh so brave!” oh gods she was so awkward, they probably thought she was weird and lame and probably hated her and–

“--Of course we were brave, we’re going to be heroes!” Katsuki exclaimed, Izuku turning to look at him in surprise.

“But weren’t you two scared why did you do it, how did you not be scared?” she asked.

The two boys looked at her, identical looks of confusion all over their faces, “someone needed saving,” Izuku stated as if that explained everything and honestly it did. They were heroes so of course they would be there to save people.

“Yeah, we’re gonna beat All Might one day so we can’t let something as small as those yakuza scare us,” Katsuki boasted proudly. Hagakure believed him, they were going to be better than All Might one day. After all they were the only ones brave enough to save her.

Inko didn’t care that she was fidgeting, she didn’t care that she was bothering Nezumi as the two sat in the back of the town car on their way to the airport. Her kid had been involved with kidnappers in Deigyo-gai! He and Katsuki had fought yakuza, they had killed someone!

“This is all of the information you have, you’re not lying, not hiding anything or holding something back are you?” she asked Nezumi as she started to re-read the police statements again.

“No no no that’s everything, nothing is left out,” the lion promised.

She nodded, “and you have your men keeping an eye out for Jigen?”

“Yes yes, once we know where he is you will be the first to know!”

“Good, I won’t interfere with Interpol’s work but I would appreciate the chance to talk to him if possible,” Inko muttered, making a mental note to pass on a message through some of her old contacts along with a packet of the smokes she knew Jigen liked.

“So uh do you think you’ll be able to convince Zenigata to leave?” Nezumi asked.

Inko sighed, making a mental note to not curse him for his idiocy, she used to be better at holding her tongue when she worked for Interpol but seven years away from the man had lost her of that skill. “Nezumi, are you seriously asking me if I can convince Koichi to just leave without even seeing our son?”

“Yes?”

Gods this man was pathetic. “No. No im not going to be able to convince Koichi to just leave. Here’s how we are going to calm him down, how we are going to keep him from causing a ruckus,” she was pinching the bridge of her nose in exasperation.

“First we are going to explain to him that Izuku is fine, and take him to see my son. Then when Koichi is ready to talk you are going to offer him either a paid vacation for as long as he wants or you are going to offer him a key role in the Deigyo-gai case. If he stays at home with my son then he won’t be causing you any headaches, and no heroes go into Deigyo-gai so if you keep him there then he won’t be able to cause any headaches with the Hero Commission.”

Inko was ashamed to see her old boss was literally writing this all down, as if it wasn’t the simplest thing in the world to remember. “I will talk to Koichi and do everything I can to calm him down, to keep him occupied on being a father to our son. You will also have some men keeping watch over said so for the next few weeks to ensure that he is safe from any retaliation if any of the yakuza survived.”

“Well uh you see guarding a civilian for such a long period of time requires a lot of manpower and resources and…… of course Interpol would be willing to liaise with the local police to make sure it happens,” he finished realising wisely that at this point it was far too late to try and grow a spine.

“Good and last of all I assume it goes without saying that the yakuza who the two boys….” Inko trailed off, unable to say the words that her six year old son had killed a man, even if it was in self-defence. “...that the media will not catch wind of this unpleasantness?” she asked. “I would prefer if we could change the paperwork to blame Jigen but it’s a bit too late to do this now, the heroes and police would not appreciate it as such.”

“Of course I promise that the media will not catch wind of this, not like they would believe that two six year old boys, one of whom is quirkless, killed an armed yakuza,” he grinned weakly.

Inko may regret how the world treats her son, wishing she could make things better for him but she could acknowledge that in this case their prejudices would help rather than harm. “Thank you Nezumi,” she acknowledged, “I don’t know what I would do if Izuku was seriously hurt. I know you are only doing this to try and appease Koichi but thank you anyway,” she smiled softly at the Vice Commissioner of the Japanese Interpol Branch.

Izuku was a hero.

Izuku was a hero!

Isuku was a hero!

That’s what Toru-chan said, and Aunty Mitsuki said, and the police and the heroes and even Kaachan. Izuku was a hero!

More than that Kaachan had called him his sidekick, and said they would both be better than All Might! Kaachan was his friend again! Quirkless, worthless Deku was a hero!

Things had been so scary, but the girl had needed saving and so Izuku had acted, he had to act. People said that made him a hero! Rumi had even congratulated he and Kaachan on what they did and Rumi was so cool and strong and going to be a hero so clearly she meant it!

Aunty Mitsuki had been mean at first, yelling and smacking them over the head but then she hugged them crying, Izuku knew she was just scared which was honestly the scariest part of the whole thing. Izuku had never seen Aunty Mitsuki scared before, everyone was scared of her. She was so strong and confident and it was scary seeing her scared and upset and Izuku hoped Mama never felt the same way.

“Full House,” Izuku announced, placing down his cards with a smile. Ever since he saw All Might play he had started learning to play poker too. It was really easy, everyone always made it so obvious when they had good or bad hands, except for the invisible girl but she was invisible so that didn’t count.

Everyone threw down their cards in exasperation, “I swear kid you have the luck of the devil or something,” Rumi muttered as Izuku started to gather his cookies that he had won.

“Umm Four of a Kind,” Toru-chan whispered as she laid down her cards, showing off four twos. Yes everyone was easy to read except for the invisible girl.

“Congrats Toru-chan,” he beamed as he passed her the pile of cookies, just happy to have some friends to play with.

Friends….it was so odd to think that he had friends now, and they knew he was quirkless and didn’t care! He had friends!

The small group kept playing cards, munching on their cookies and Izuku can’t remember the last time he was this happy

.
Zenigata walked off the plane, dragging the attempted planejacker behind him. He was glad to be off the plane, it was too cramped and uncomfortable even though the moth-like hostess had been really nice to him.

He had more important things to do though, his son was in trouble and Inko was behind bars for some stupid reason. His hands itched as he made his way through airport security, flashing his badge to get them out of his way. Zenigata was a man of action, he needed to be doing something, especially when the people he loved were in danger.

He was going to hunt down who ever kidnapped his boy and introduce them to every hard surface he could.

“Koichi!” a voice called out, as Inko stepped in his path bringing Zenigata up short.

“What’s going on with our boy, have they tracked his kidnappers yet?” he growled.

In any other situation Zenigata would have found the flash of anger behind her eyes, the one that promised bloody murder to those who wronged her, to be one of the hottest things he had seen. It was still hot but he had other priorities right now. “He wasn’t kidnapped, he stumbled across some kidnappers and saved some children. He’s fine,” Inko promised.

The fire in his veins cooled down, adrenaline leaving his body as he looked intently at his ex-fiance and saw that she was telling the truth. Izuku was okay. His son was okay. “Thank you,” he grinned, wrapping his arms around her and picking Inko up into the air. “He’s really okay!” he laughed.

“Yes Koichi he’s okay, our boy is safe and sound and okay,” she laughed. Gods it was like old times, back when they were working in Interpol together back when they were engaged, gods she was still so beautiful.

“You uh you can put me down,” she muttered, eyes averted blushing slightly.

“Oh right sorry,” he put her back on the ground and looked away himself, embarrassed by his actions only to see the lion standing next to her. “Who are you?”

“Of course you don’t,” the lion mumbled. “It’s me, Vice Commissioner Nezumi, we have interacted countless times!”

Zenigata didn’t remember this man at all but shrugged, “here take this while I go and see my son,” he offered literally throwing the planejacker at Nezumi before walking off with Inko to see his son.