Yes! Yes! we got another chapter posted in less than a year! HAHAHA!

...Oh, hey there, everyone, Johnny Spectre here with a new chapter, it would have been posted earlier, but Life is frustrating, and I got roped into two other fanfics I'm posting on AO3 under Chapelseed.

Anyway, enjoy!

Calm.

Silent.

Clean.

Sanitary.

These were the words that flowed through Chisaki's mind as he laid on the couch covered in a sterile plastic sheet. In fact, the entire room of the former Grand Monk's residence was layered out in dust covers and fumigation tarp. The room was vast and open, dimly lit by lanterns and candles surrounding the bound statues in the corners. Effigies of the gods shattered in the past and hastily fixed with poor acknowledgement of their respective forms.

It was… humbling, Chisaki mused. Destroying the facetious past idolatry to ensure the world follows what's necessary.

Now if only that accursed rat didn't take Eri. He needed to use her Quirk to show the world the reality of their incompetence.

A Quirk-free world, without pain, the sickness cleansed.

He almost smiled under his mask. Soon, he'd have everything needed to ensure the rat was clipped out of the picture -

The door slammed open as Chronostasis stumbled into the room, clutching his face as his mask dangled, strangely crushed. Chisaki casually sat up, as Chronostasis stood haggard.

"What happened?" Chisaki asked calmly.

Chronostasis took a moment to format the words, his jaw apparently in pain. "We…we were able to gra-ah!-b the girl. It was easy after the skirmish. The hospital was more focused on the hero that fought one of our clients."

"A necessary distraction."

"Right…" Chronostasis nodded, a slight flinch evident. "We collected her, and we're about to escape when that Midoriya came back. Houjou barricaded the door while I called Kurogiri for the exit. An aide tore the door off, and Midoriya slipped through, but I was able to stop them, but Midoriya was able to break the timing and I lost hold of Eri. He used so-"

Chronostasis was cut off as he felt his lower jaw tear off at Chisaki's touch. He fell to the floor, trying to grasp at the phantom of his mouth, even though he could see it splattered in his peripheral vision. Chisaki still had his arm raised, the fabric of his glove floating daintily, showing the pulsing veins on the back of his hand.

"You mean to tell me…" Chisaki's tone dead even, "you had her in your grasp, the main piece of our operations… and you lost her!?"

Chronostasis was still, a stiff nod his only movement.

Chisaki felt his eyes bulge in fury, his teeth grinding as he restrained himself from acting on raw emotions. He was so close, he almost had her where she belonged, and there was absolutely NOTHING TO SHOW FOR IT!

The dust under the tarps shifted in the dead wind.

"Clean that up."

Chronostasis looked at his boss, but not in fear, and saw him pointing at the spilled blood and marrow.

"Clean. That. Up." Chisaki repeated evenly.

The second-in-command nodded and shuffled over to pick up his pieces, Chisaki moving stiffly to a different room, open to the canyon and the river below. His fingers twitched on his bare hand, his mind wanting to tear everything down and rebuild it as it needs to be:

Calm.

Silent.

Clean.

Sanitary.

The plague of the world will be cleansed. By any means necessary…

Izuku should have been in an armored car en route to Naruhata, accompanied by both All Might and Sir Nighteye. He was restless a moment ago, hands wringing in impatience and fear.

Uraraka was snatched from the hospital, right from under his nose, and if he had been even slower he would have lost Eri along with her.

Things moved fast after that, All Might and him hurried back to the school, dragging a sobbing Eri along with them. The girl was inconsolable, wrecked with guilt that she was the cause that her "Mama" had been taken, and refused to leave Deku's side. Seeing her like that made his heart clench painfully. He was a hero wasn't he? He was supposed to be the reason people stopped crying, the reason people felt safe. And yet all he seemed to be able to do was cause this poor girl more and more grief. But he steeled himself against that doubt, he couldn't afford to waste a single moment, as soon as Chisaki calls when the week ends he needs to be ready for anything. He needed to have all his bases covered, every option he had open to him needed to be taken.

His mother, Uraraka, he was going to get them both back from that monster, no matter what it took.

He had to leave Eri behind at the school, it seemed to be only safe haven in the country at the moment and Izuku was not going to lose another precious person to Chisaki. Eri, of course, refused to part with him. She literally clung to him as he tried to leave, nearly breaking his heart at the face she made as she begged him not to go, begged him to take her with him, anything except not leave her alone again.

He nearly caved when an unexpected aid came in the form of Nemuri Kayama, who sneaked up on Eri and used her quirk to put the girl into a deep, dreamless sleep.

The teacher gathered the girl in her arms, cradling her as gently as she could before she turned to the amazed Deku with a determined gleam in her eyes, "you are much too young to stand and gape while there's work to be done." She waved him off as she turned to walk away with the girl, "you boys be off and do what you need to do to get those ladies back, I'll make sure this one stays calm and asleep until you get back."

Deku stayed where he stood for a while, watching as Midnight walked away with Eri, the girl nuzzling into the small of the heroine's neck. He watched until Nemuri turned a corner and vanished from sight. He clenched his fists and marched to the armored car with renewed purpose. He was going to find Knuckleduster and Stain's stash of weapons, he wasn't coming back empty handed this time.

But, even with all the excitement and adrenaline that coursed through him throughout today, he felt an odd sense of bone deep exhaustion as soon as he put on his seat belt. "Rest Young Midoriya," All Might said as the car started, "we do not know what we will find in Naruhata when we get there, so it is best you save your strength."

Izuku sighed, and let his head lean back to hit the back rest, intending to make the most of the relatively short ride to their destination he closed his eyes… only to open them a moment later, his body engulfed in obsidian flame.

For a short moment, he panicked, thinking some villain ambushed them when he tried to rest, only to realize the flames did not burn, in fact, they felt… cool on his skin, licking at his form from his toes up to half his face to the ears. He then noticed where he was for the first time, not in the car, but floating in some ethereal abyss, suspended in a void that stretched from one horizon to the next. He then noticed he couldn't really move anything save his eyes, and the panic started to seep in again, but before it could sink in fully, he suddenly saw a figure walking towards him from the shadows of the void.

He was tall, and thin. He seemed rather young, white hair falling in front of his eyes as he walked towards the boy. Dressed in a simple shirt and jeans with faded colors. His steps made no sound, and neither did his clothes rustle on his form as he moved. It was like looking at a ghost.

A ghost that was… rather annoyed at Izuku, if what little he could catch of his expression behind the curtain of bangs meant anything. The figure sighed in exasperation, rubbing his forehead before looking back at Deku, "usually," he started, his voice bouncing between Izuku's ears as he spoke, "being ahead of schedule is a good thing."

Izuku would have liked to ask what the man meant, but the flames reaching up to his mouth made that difficult.

"This on the other hand," the man went on with a wry smile on his face, "is the sort of thing that needs to go at it's own pace, but I guess you never really cared for how things should be, right Izuku?"

The boy's eyes widened, this ghost knows his name?

"There's a lot a need to explain to you." The man continued, "a lot you need to know, a lot you need to prepare for…" He stopped for a moment before sighing, "but now is hardly the time, you have too much on your mind for you to understand everything, too much at stake to risk getting it wrong."

Izuku looked harder at the stranger, something about the shape of his nose and the curve of his chin seeming familiar.

"So, for now, I'm just here to make one thing clear." The man sighed again, "remember what you used to pull the girl away from the yakuza at the hospital?"

Tendrils of pure black smoke, surging around his limbs and leaping with direct purpose to rescue Eri, all his thoughts focused on getting her away and safe. In all the confusion he had no time to question it, no time to ponder the implications or stop to think about it.

Hard to forget, to be honest.

"Right, well, to put it simply, don't go counting on it." The ghost explained. "You awakening that power this early was a fluke, a lucky shot born from every inch of your body and spirit screaming out in a united action." The ghost's eyes hardened. "It won't be happening again, at least not for a short while, so whatever plan you have cooking up in that head of yours, don't involve it. Understand?"

Izuku tried nodding, before remembering he couldn't move, so he tried to think and will his answer into the void, he understood perfectly. Any uncertainty would be saved for after his mother and Uraraka were safe and back home.

"Right, now let's get you -"

"HOLD ON A DAMN MINUTE!"

Izuku would have jumped clear out of his skin if he could even budge, the voice booming behind his eyes like a thunder clap, followed closely by another figure appearing from the gloom. He was dressed like a punk biker, leather jacket and goggles atop his bald head and a square, chiseled chin covered in a four-o-clock shadow. His grim face was pulled in wide and toothy grin as he stomped towards the other two, eyes shining in interest.

He looked… funky.

Super Funky.

He went right up to Izuku's face, the grin still stretching his mouth from ear to ear. "You and I ain't gonna meet for a bit kid, but I just needed to come out here and give you some congrats!" His heavy, meaty hand rose and slapped him on the back with all the force of a drunk bull, Deku could feel his teeth shudder from the impact. "You may have pulled that right out of your ass, but I'll be damned if it wasn't one hell of an awesome ass pull!"

"Ahem."

The man stiffened before looking back at the first figure, rubbing the back of his head with a nervous chuckle, "uh, yeah, sorry about that Ichirou, I kinda got carried away."

Ichirou? Why did that name sound so… nostalgic?

"You'll be arriving at Naruhata soon Izuku," Ichiro interrupted Midoriya's thoughts quickly, "so it's time we said farewell for now." The man smiled. "When this has passed, and you rescued your loved ones, I'll tell you everything you need to know, about One For All… and about Rishirou."

Izuku's eyes widened again, but before he could attempt any question, the word swirled and faded around him, spinning in a million colors before his eyes before settling on the form of the interior of the armored car he fell a sleep in, just in time for it to stop at a parking space near a park.

Nighteye unbuckled his seat belt with little ceremony, "we are here."

Izuku quickly moved to unbuckle his own belt, pushing his (dream? vision?) into the back of his head so he could focus.

He had a vigilante to find.

Naruhata was a rather normal district, the low crime rate due to the local vigilantes coined the Hauler, Pop Step, and Knuckleduster, along with an unknown number of people who either redirected the public or tagged along. It wasn't rare for a hero to pass on through, but rarely did they come through with the notoriety of the iconic duo of All Might and his one-and-only sidekick Sir Nighteye.

Were it a normal situation, Izuku would be both elated to be with his heroes, but nervous at being compared to them, but right now, the Ninth Bearer had a mission.

Asking around proved variably fruitless, though a few shadier characters gave him directions while All Might and Nighteye were drawing most of the attention, and a small part of Izuku took some pleasure in seeing the former sidekick act flustered.

His searching brought them to a fairly dilapidated apartment complex, to which they were told that their quarry was on the top floor. The roof was surprisingly well-maintained, with a small shed next to the single room, possibly for the garden or a collapsed obstacle course, Izuku could figure out after his mother, Uraraka, and Eri-chan were safe.

Rapping his knuckles on the door, he could hear movement inside before it opened, showing a burly if lean man with short dark hair, a strong jawbone, and squinted eyes peering down at him, but what really caught his attention was the man's facial scar. A familiar one he remembered seeing on the news…

"Oh my gosh, you're O'Clock! One of the few natural speedsters outside the Ingenium company! Your hyper-reaction Quirk helped save at least threedozenseparatehostagesituations!It'sapleasureandanhonortomeetyo-"

"Hold it right there, kid." The hero growled out, stopping Izuku's ramblings. "How the hell do you know who I am, how did you find me, and who the hell are you?"

"O'Clock? I haven't heard from you in some time," the blond scarecrow said in surprise.

The former speedster blinked and looked at Toshinori and Nighteye. "All Might? What are you doing here? Who's the kid?"

Toshinori sighed. "We might need your help."

Ochako's mouth felt like it was full of cotton. Her mind foggy and everything from the neck down felt like it was crushed under a bus.

In a word; she was pissed.

From what little she could tell from her moment of waking, she was on a thin mattress, a bed perhaps, and her wrists bound in what sounded like handcuffs.

She blinked rapidly, everything around her blurry and spinning. She clenched her hands, finding her wrists indeed bound and her hands… covered? She looked to the side and saw that, indeed, her hands were inside of a sort of leather glove with a string near the bottom, fastened so it could not be easily pulled off.

'Why would they…?' She wondered blearily, 'I can't use my Quirk so why-?'

"Oi, would you look at that!" A gruff voice sounded from her other side, she started to turn to see it only to nearly yelp in surprised pain when fingers clutched the hair at the top of her hair and pulled her to face the owner of the voice (she could barely hear a gasp somewhere to her left but couldn't focus on it), "good morning sleepin' beauty! So glad to have you join us!"

She glared at the man who was pulling her hair, her eyes widening as she recognized him, a swirl of anger filling her gut, "you!" Her voice was hoarse and rough, it nearly made her cringe at how pathetic it made her sound. "You're-! From the hospital!"

"Damn right." The man growled from behind his surgical mask, his eyes shadowed from his large brow and scowl, "and I got a bone to pick with you." He yanked on her hair, Ochako barely biting back another yelp, "that boyfriend of yours has been a goddamned pain in our sides for way too long."

Ochako glared at him, knowing what he was implying but refusing to show any fear, "so, you're the Yakuza, huh?" She chuckled quietly, a thrum of satisfaction going through her when she heard the man grind his teeth, "oh good, I have nothing to worry about then." She gave a toothy grin, an image of Izuku doing the same spurring her on, "all I have to do is wait for Deku to burst in here and kick your butts."

A vain popped in the man's forehead, he raised a hand to strike her, "you bitch!"

"Leave her alone!"

The sudden voice made them both stop and turn to it, Ochako's eyes nearly popped out of her skull at the shock of seeing Midoriya Inko strapped to a bed much like she was, glaring a hole through the yakuza, "what will your boss say when he hears you manhandled a hostage?!"

"He'll commend me for my initiative." The man growled, glaring at the woman, "now shut your hole!" He raised his hand again, clenched in a fist, and crystals started covering his hand, Ochako gritting her teeth for the impact.

Thankfully it never came, two more men rushed from the shadows and managed to restrain the first, pulling him away from her. He turned to one of them, a lanky goon with a long and sharp beak mask, and growled, "let go of me, Setsuno!"

"Not a chance, Hojo!" Setsuno answered, gripping Hojo's right forearm more securely, "the boss is mad enough as it is! You heard what he did to Chrono, right!?" Hojo froze, a grimace twisted his face. "Think how he'll react to you killing a hostage after he just lost Eri again!"

Ochako's eyes widened, a surge of relief mixed with fear going through her. They tried taking Eri back early, but failed. A small smile lit her face as she thought of the only person who could have done such a thing, her heart thrumming happily in her chest.

"Smile all you like, girl." Hissed the third man, head covered by a burlap sack with eye holes. "A week from now it will all end for you." His eyes crawled to stare at Inko, "all of you."

Ochako and Inko both glared at the three, Hojo releasing himself from being grappled and stomping his way out of the room. Setsuno shook his head, "quit it, Tabe, these chicks are abnormal." The man with the mask grumbled something before following Hojo out the door, "he's right though, that kid had one hell of a lucky streak, but the moment he steps foot in this place to save you two," his eyes narrowed into slits, "it ends."

He stuffed his hands into his pockets and stalked out of the room at the heels of his companions, locking the door behind him.

Inko let out a heavy sigh, rubbing her head while looking at Ochako, "Uraraka-chan? Are you alright? That brute didn't rip anything out did he?"

Ochako chuckled easily, the last of her lethargy leaving her as she shook her head, "I'm fine Midoriya-san, I've had worse then some jerk shouting at me." She winced as the hand cuffs chafed and pinched her skin, "…though this still isn't the best time I've had." She looked up at the older woman with an apologetic look, "I'm sorry, I should be helping to get you out of here, but I got myself captured instead…"

"Don't you start." Inko admonished, pointing at the girl intently, "you getting caught off guard is not your fault, hero training or no, so I won't hear a word of it, understand?"

Ochako blinked at her friend's mother, memories of being scolded by her own mother flashing in her mind as she chuckled nervously, "o-okay Midoriya-san, understood." She opened her mouth to say something else when she caught sight of Inko's left arm, and the cast that covered it. "…your arm -"

"Don't apologize for that either." Inko said kindly, a gentle smile on her face, "I'll have to deal with Izuku doing that when he gets here already, so don't add to that alright?" She and Ochako shared a laugh before Inko went on, "and besides, I already had one person apologize for that happening, which was more then enough."

"Huh?" Ochako stopped short, "someone already - who?"

Before she could continue her question, the dark room was filled with the awful sound of loud, wet coughs. Ochako, alarmed at the sudden sound, raised her head as high as her bound position would allow to see past Inko's bed to the source of the sound.

Inko herself whipped around immediately as the sounds started, leaning towards the bed to her other side, "Nishkiyama-san!" She called out, concerned deep in her tone, "please, deep breaths!"

The person in question, this Nishkiyama, slowly began to gain more control over his coughs, until her manages to take long, deep breaths to calm what spasms remained, "I am fine, Midoriya-san." The person, man, rasped from just beyond Ochako's view, "no need to worry."

"You're getting worse." Inko stressed, her hand clenching her thin blanket and bed covers, "if this keeps up you might -"

"No." He said softly, sternly, before Inko could finish, "Chisaki won't let me die, not like this."

"But he put you here!"

Ochako was very confused, seemingly stuck in the middle of whatever this - prisoner? Traitor? Another hostage they didn't know about? - person was talking about with Deku's mom, but she couldn't find a place to insert a question to request them to clarify.

One thing was clear, Nishkiyama was very sick, and somehow Chisaki was responsible. Ochako's lips curled into a snarl at the thought of that man, and the grief he'd been causing Eri, not to mention Deku and his mother.

She was going to find the man, and slam the cuffs on him herself.

"…Am I hearing someone else here? …another hostage, Midoriya-san?"

The old man's answer startled Ochako from her reverie, "y-yes sir!" She called out, on reflex, louder then she intended so she cleared her throat, "My name is Uraraka Ochako, I'm a first year hero student at UA."

"Nishkiyama Ryoutaro." The old man replied in kind, an amused tilt to his rasp, "no need to be overly formal, Uraraka-san, we're all in the same position in this room, aren't we?"

Ochako gaped for a moment before a quick laugh escaped her, leaving her at a loss, "yes, I suppose so." She looked at Inko once more, an uncertain expression on her face, "Uh, Midoriya-san, why is Nishkiyama-san here?"

Inko opened her mouth, before shutting it and thinking longer on her answer, she looked behind her, "Nishkiyama-san?"

A tired hum sounded from the old man, "please, tell her Midoriya-san, I feel a bit… faint."

Inko worried her lower lip for a moment before sighing, "this is Eri-chan's grandfather, Uraraka-chan." Ochako's jaw dropped, but then Inko went on, "he was also the previous boss of the Eight Precepts." Inko's face twisted slightly, "until Chisaki put him here, for trying to stop him from -" Inko visibly swallowed the bile in her throat, "from using Eri like he did."

Ochako's brows raised in surprised, she didn't expect something like this from a yakuza, much less a boss. If Deku was right and Eri's quirk was as powerful as it seemed, a boss could make horrifying use of it, granddaughter or no.

The compassion seemed… odd.

"Not what you expected from a yakuza boss, eh?" Ryotaro said of a sudden, as if he could read Ochako's silence for her reaction, "true, a few decades back, I would have done the same as Chisaki…" He was speaking with less clarity, more like he was talking to himself in a daze rather then explaining himself to the other two, "…but I was a fool then, I did not understand what this life would rip away from me."

Ochako and Inko looked at each other in concern, before silently looking back at the old man, waiting for him to continue.

"Every one I ever loved, family or friend, every dream I ever had that didn't involve money or power… gone, torn from me as the years dragged on." He sounded ready to weep. "My daughter was all I had left…and then she was gone the moment she had the chance…" Something in his voice cracked, "and then… and then she came back, carrying the most beautiful child I had ever seen in her arms."

Ochako could picture it, the shadowed vision of Eri's mother carrying the child, even younger then she was now. It made something in her heart strain to hear it.

"…and she called her a monster." He sounded heartbroken. "It was the last straw, I was the only thing that child had of a family that wanted her, and what kind of life would she lead under the shadow of Yakuza? What nightmares would follow her, terrors of honer and oaths and a thousand things she never asked for."

He stopped for a moment, breathing heavily, Ochako could swear he was holding back his tears ferociously.

He took a breath, "I was ready to walk away." He said, finally, with a sigh, "was willing to let All Might have his victory, to let this whole sordid business die…" He stopped again, his voice turning strained, "but then Chisaki…"

He stopped again, not only because he could bare no more, but because his strength seemed to run out, and he fell back into a deep sleep. Ochako could only hope it was a peaceful one as well.

The young heroine's eyes hardened, clenching her fists as she stared up at the cracked ceiling of the room, "I'll get us out of here." She looked aside to Inko with an encouraging smile, "all three of us."

Inko smiled widely at her, though with some doubt in her eyes, "I'm sure dear… but how?" She lifted her unbroken and bound hand while pointing to Ochako's cuffs, "getting these off won't be easy."

Ochako grinned, she wriggled her fingers, "do you see these gloves?"

Inko blinked, "y-yes?"

"Before I was captured, they somehow made my quirk turn off and refuse to work." Ochako started to explain, her expression turning serious, "my quirk lets my nullify gravity on anything I touched, they figured turning it off would make me easy to take I guess." She breathed through her nose to stop her from thinking on how they were right. "I thought it was forever, that this was it for my dreams of being a hero," she looked at Inko with a grateful smile, "but then Deku-kun pointed something out to me."

Inko's mouth gaped, before a proud gleam came to her eye.

"And what he said, along with these gloves, makes one thing clear." She clenched her fists. "My quirk will come back, I don't know when, but it will, and when it does," she grins powerfully, "I'll show those yakuza they made a big mistake."

She thought back to the sports festival, the various rumors she heard after her loss, and her eyes hardened.

"They thought I was fragile."

Inko laughed with something between panicked hope and relief, "that's good to hear!" She wiped a tear from one eye and smiled at the girl, "right now though, all I'm hoping for is that today doesn't throw anymore unexpected surprises at us."

Almost on cue, the lock to the entrance loudly opened.

Ochako whipped around to look, and the figure that stepped in nearly made her groan in frustration and dread, "you again!?"

"'Chako!" Himiko Toga exclaimed in utter glee, fangs shinning in the cheap florescent lights overhead, red eyes nearly glowing as she approached. "It's so good to see you! How's my bestie doing?"

Back in Naruhata, the small rooftop apartment was still after a rough explanation of what was going on. O'Clock - or as he insisted they call him, Oguro - groaned in frustration as he processed what was said.

"Unbelievable…" he muttered through his hands.

"It's a lot to take in, but -" Toshinori started.

"Not that!" Oguro snapped, slamming his fist on the kotatsu. "These newbie Yakuza shits are always popping up, riding on the coattails of the past without knowing a damn about what they really were! This Quirk-erasing drug popping up is undoubtedly worse than the Trigger fiasco. What I wanna know is how the hell THIS kid -" he jabbed a finger at Izuku, who flinched slightly, "- got within breathing distance of that ol' sonuvabitch AND managed to get decent information without so much as an unnerving threat!"

All eyes were on Izuku now, who was just processing what was said.

Oguro clashed with All for One as O'Clock, and by the way he's acting, had his own Quirk taken. That would explain the lack of public appearances after the broadcast where he got his scar from, and by his admission to decent information, meant that Rishirou was telling the truth about Yabinshi. So now they had the location and opportunity to act, now they just needed the tools.

Suddenly, the front door opened, showing a lanky adult with black hair strolling in. "We're back, tea-aaaaaaahhhhhhhh!" The young man gaped slightly at the collection of people in his home.

"Yo, Koichi." Oguro waved, still glaring at Izuku.

Koichi shivered in surprise and awe at the sight of two legendary Pros in his apartment. He was so shocked he didn't feel the shoes on his back topple him over.

"Fer crying out loud, Haimawari. Take any longer and me and Kazuho are gonna be insulted." A brunette with a ponytail and a medical eyepatch stepped over him, a mousy pinkette following, when they both noticed the company. "Oh, great. What did you do this time, old man?"

"Nothing, Tamao, they came to us." The oldest vigilante stated.

"Oh, really? Was it about the supposed sightings in the area?" Kazuho quipped, lifting up Koichi's head by the jaw with her foot.

"Reluctantly," Nighteye stated, pushing up his glasses to reflect the glinting lights from the streets below, "it's because of Deku's rash impulses that we have to resort to these external measures…"

"What my former sidekick means is that we were told that you may be able to help us with this operation." Toshinori stated, glancing Nighteye's way to see if the jab made contact. "We are aware of your past encounters with Hero-Killer Stain, and he has given Young Midoriya the codes to something that could be helpful."

Koichi scrambled up from his position on the floor, past the cover in the back, and near immediately popped back out in a slightly faded All Might hoodie, face-mask, and protective gear. "Helping those in need, your neighborhood friend, The Crawler, is the guy who does it best!"

Everyone present blinked at the intro. The vigilantes sighed in exasperation, while Toshinori held back a laugh, Nighteye pinched the bridge of his nose, but Izuku had the biggest reaction.

"Is that the Roppongai HeroCon event All Might hoodie from four years ago?!" He nearly squealed as he took in the design. "Despite the minor weathering and sun damage, you can tell the wrist stitching is actually closest to All Might's bracer design from the Golden Age costume. They only made 482 of these!"

"Oh, you know what to look for, eh?" The Crawler chuckled. "The ensemble isn't complete without the cape buckle backpack, though."

"Oh, yes, but that was only available in select stores at Saitama!"

"I know! What's up with that!?"

"Oh great, there's two of them." Kazuho groaned.

Tamao clicked her tongue, and pointed at Toshinori. "It's even worse with the man himself sitting right there."

Kazuho's hair puffed out as she realized she was in All Might's presence.

Nighteye restrained himself from acting on the impulse to reprimand the Crawler for his blatant miscare of a unique All Merch collectible. Yes, he had four back at his office, the backpacks included, but still! He stiffly turned to Oguro, who side-eyed the blond-highlighed greenet.

"Regardless of how and why, Deku was able to make contact with two of the highest profile villains in custody to save a little girl, and right now his family and his friend are in the crossfire. Anything you can do to help would be… appreciated." He felt himself strain at the last word.

Oguro looked at Nighteye, then panned over to his daughter and charge talking animatedly with the former Symbol of Peace and what was apparently his successor. He sighed, recalling Queen Bee and Number 6… "Fine, let's see what we can do."

Koichi, truth be told, didn't really know what to make of this Midoriya kid.

He heard plenty about him to be sure, plenty about the whole current first year at UA. Getting attacked on three separate occasions by villains (one of them in person), one of the students getting kidnapped, the whole mess that was Kamino shortly after.

And now this whole… Yakuza business.

Getting the shortened version from Oguro was enough to make his head spin, even after all he went through himself. Seriously though, this Overhaul guy makes that whole "Villain Factory" business look like a bad case of the flu.

And that "flu" nearly killed Koichi, several times, so that was saying something.

Midoriya looked determined, focused, and considering the stakes that was to be expected. But he sure as hell didn't look confident. Whenever he had a moment alone, even as they were slowly making their way to Sten-Stain's previous hiding place, he worried his lower lip and clenched his fists while he muttered into empty space about plans and contingency plans and contingencies to those contingencies and on and on. Kid was wound tight, ready to spring at the first sign of something going wrong, he was expecting something to go wrong at this point, after everything the past few days have thrown at him, just looking at him made Koichi feel jumpy… well, alright jumpier anyway.

He must have been showing it, because he felt slender fingers gently grasp his wrist, he looked down to see Kazuho standing just close enough to twine her fingers with his and give a quick squeeze, "relax." She mutters, not looking at him while a bright pink colors her cheeks beneath her glasses, "we don't need you freaking out."

Koichi blinked, before smiling softly and squeezing back while whispering, "thanks Kuzo."

The mousy girl quickly snatched her hand back and stuffed it in her jacket pocket, "dork." She muttered, but Koichi could see the pleased tilt of her mouth as she looked away.

Tamao made a gagging sound from somewhere behind him, but he dutifully ignored her and turned to the kid, "Hey Midoriya!" The boy slowed down and looked back as Koichi went to walk beside him, "care to share what's on your mind? You've been saying something under your breath since we left my place"

"Oh!" The kid jumped a bit before rubbing the back of his head, "right, sorry, I was just… stuff for the…" The boy mumbled a bit more before he sighed and let his arm fall as he kept walking, "…never mind, just… it's nothing, nothing important."

"Bottling stuff up won't help ya know." Koichi said easily, Midoriya only bit his lower lip and stared straight ahead as they walked, "you're worried, I get it, but just pushing it away isn't gonna help anyone."

"…I know." The student sighed, slowing down a little, "just… thinking of Uraraka-san, if they hurt her or -" He stopped of a sudden, and shook his head and clicked his tongue, "no, no she's tougher then that… plus Chisaki won't have reason to hurt her where I can't see, he's trying to push me to the limit so he needs as many living hostages as he can manage, and hurting Uraraka-san won't help him with any -"

"Jeez kid!" Oguro shouted from the back of the group, making Midoriya choke on his rant, "you just go off like that all the time, or is it the stress?" He was looking at him with a crocked scowl, "you messed in the head or what?"

His daughter quickly smacked him upside the head, having to jump slightly to reach, "old man, watch your mouth!"

"No, no it's okay!" Midoriya turned around and waved his hands nervously, "he's right I kinda go off the rails when I have too much on my mind." He rubbed his head, "and today has been… a trial."

"Then try and get some of it off your chest." Koichi reasons simply, shrugging his shoulders, "maybe…tells us about this uh…Eri? The girl you rescued, all the news seems to be talking about is the whole kidnapping bi-ow!"

Kazuho smacked him again, "don't you have a damn filter!?"

"She's… scared." Deku said of a sudden, almost to softly to hear, "she likes strawberries and apples. And she… doesn't have anyone to take care of her." He sighed, "she… kinda attached herself to me since I rescued her, she barely trusts anyone else."

Oguro looked at his daughter from the corner of his eye. A pointed, but not unkind, stare made him wisely keep his yap shut.

Midoriya smiled, more genuinely this time, "but she has a big heart, and she's braver and kinder then she thinks, she always puts other people before herself and she's -" He stopped of a sudden, the smile slips. "…she's very tired."

The vigilante group, along with All Might and Nighteye, exchanged worried glances. Even Tamao seemed a bit uncomfortable, which was a surprise for Koichi, who cleared his throat and put a hand on the kid's shoulder in an attempt to comfort him, "hey… at least she has you right? You said she got attached, so it's… better then nothing?"

Kazuho huffed, "smooth one."

Deku seemed encouraged though, "yeah, though I'm beginning to think she might be getting a little too attached…"

"What, she started calling you big bro or something?" Tamao piped up again from the back, twining some hair between her fingers in boredom, "kids do that when they're that young y'know? Everyone who takes care of them is some kinda family, s'natural."

"Yeah, like what you did with your second babysitter." Oguro smiled gruffly down at his daughter, who flushed red and whirled to face him, "called her auntie, right?"

She smacked him again, "that was not an invitation to volunteer information you old coot!"

"Well…" Midoriya rubbed the back of his head, face tinged pink, "sort of… less big bro and more… papa…"

There's a quiet lull after he says… that, and Koichi can only gape. The implications of that are… odd, to say the least. Koichi feels a little cold when he realizes how easily he can imagine the process, Midoriya must have been literally the first person she found she could trust in her entire life, what else would a little girl, alone and scared and confused, call someone like that?

The kid himself looks a bit embarrassed, and who could blame him, but also a fair bit flattered, Koichi could see a pleased tilt to Midoriya's lip as looked away.

Koichi rubbed his chin as he thought of it himself, thought that it must be nice to have someone trust you that much.

"Holy shit." That mutter came from both Kozuho and Tamao, the latter scratching at a spot under her eye-patch.

"Midoriya…" All Might muttered, caught somewhere between awe and disbelief, and Koichi finds himself wondering, not for the first time, about the exact nature of the relationship between the hero and his student.

Nighteye merely huffed out a short breath while adjusting his glasses, keeping quiet.

Master Knuckle, on the other hand… he stared hard at the back of the kid's head, something in his gaze reminding Koichi of the first few weeks after they first met, where he clobbered any so called villain at the slightest suspicion that they might deserve a beating.

Only there was no playful, rueful grin on his features, now his lips were set in a thin and harsh line on his face, his eyes rough stones.

Koichi put himself between his master and Midoriya, almost on instinct, before Oguro could finish taking his first step, "Master…" He stressed quietly, raising his hands palms forward to stop him, "I know that look, whatever you're thinking of doing -"

"Out of the way Koichi." He commanded quietly, his fists clenching at his side, "there's something I gotta knock into that kid's head."

In the beginning, Koichi would have cowered and flinched away from just that, kept quiet and kept his head down without waiting for a better reason other the being scared. But Koichi was not nineteen anymore, and it was going to take a lot more then that to get him to move.

Tamao doesn't look in the least bit surprised, and further doesn't move to help Koichi stop her father, though there's a bit of wariness in her eye.

Kazuho, on the other hand, nearly springs to stand by him, eyes flashing furiously in a way he hadn't seen in a while, he missed it, "no knocking!" She shouted while pointing a furious finger at Oguro, a glare behind her glasses as the three guests to Naruhata, unfamiliar with this unique dynamic, looked on in shock. "Whatever got stuck into your head you crazy old man, I really don't care, you are not just going to-"

"Not gonna hit him." Oguro interrupts, almost tired, before Kazuho could really get going, "kid just needs to hear something from some who actually earned that title."

Koichi's eyes looked behind his master to look at Tamao, waiting for her to say something scathing or sarcastic to undercut her father, but she was quiet, her eye and face relaxed and patient.

He and Kazuho share a look, first with each other and then with Oguro, before quietly shuffling out of his way, the older man nodding his head briefly before he walked to stand before Midoriya.

The height difference was, frankly, ridiculous, the boy's head barely reached the man's chest.

"Papa." Oguro grumbled quietly, looking down at the student with a stony glare, "that's what she started calling you, that right?"

The hero student fumbles with his words for a moment before he nods, "y-yes, yes sir, that's right."

There was a sustained second of silence before the ex-hero spoke again, "sorry if this's too personal, but I like to cut to the chase, you ever know your dad, kid?"

"Dad!" Tamao yelled out, finally speaking up, face flushed with secondhand outrage, "you can't just ask shit like that -"

"No." Was the sudden, firm answer from Midoriya, effectively shutting up everyone around him. Tamao's teeth clacked against each other as she closed her mouth, All Might had an odd, pained look in his eyes of a sudden, while the rest simply watched. "He left to work abroad before I was three, I only ever saw him in photos, he doesn't even call."

That statement was detached, cold, practical, as if he had to answer that question a thousand times before and the reality of it simply turned numb and meaningless to him. Koichi suppressed a shudder.

"Sorry about that." Oguro did not sound even slightly sorry, nor pitying, and went on, "but that means I gotta give you a crash course in what being a dad actually means."

"I know -"

"You think you know." Oguro stopped him with a pointed finger between the eyes. "You think you know, because you have teachers and watched movies and read books, you think you know what it means, but trust me you don't."

The man took a deep breath, while everyone just stared at him.

"It means trying your hardest with even the tiniest things, it means being scared out of you mind when ever you don't have her in your line of sight, it means forcing yourself to trust her before she resents you for treating her like a kid." Tamao bit her lip, but said nothing. "It means planning things years in advance, changing those plans on a second's notice, and, more then anything, it means screwing up."

Midoriya had his fists clenched at his sides, silent.

"It means being told you screwed up, repeatedly, for years, and taking it on the chin because you know you screwed up." Oguro's voice went strangely thick for a moment, Koichi looking away while he took a breath. "And it means picking yourself up after every screw up and vowing to do better, because she deserves better from you."

The kid never once looked away from the former hero, his eyes never leaving the stone gaze of his elder.

"This? This rescue mission?" A mirthless smile stretched his lips. "Putting that yakuza upstart behind bars where he belongs is the easy part, everything after that is what will earn you that papa title." He leaned down, his nose half an inch away from the boy. "Provided, of course, that you deserve it."

Midoriya, seemingly without meaning to, copied the man's smile, his eyes still not leaving his. Koichi was actually a little impressed.

"A hero is one thing, a father is quite another can of worms." He leaned back and crossed his arms, the smile widening to a challenging grin, "you prepared to be both, kid?"

Something lit in the student's eyes, a steely fire that made his spine straighter and his smile brighter, "yes." His voice didn't waver, didn't wobble or crack, it was the resolute answer of a hero.

Koichi would have to remember to ask him for an autograph as soon as he graduates.

"Good." The old man nodded, uncrossed his arms and looked around, seemingly already dropping the subject, "we're close." He muttered, looking at the crumbling buildings around him, "just a few more blocks to that hideout."

He walked past Midoriya, patting him on the shoulder as he went.

Midoriya watched him walk for a few steps, before squaring his shoulders and following suit.

A brief, shocked silence passed through, All Might being the first to break it with a cough, "Oguro has changed quiet a bit since I last saw him." He looked aside at Tamao, who was trying to discreetly wipe her eye, "I suppose you would be to thank for that, young lady."

"I wouldn't know," was the flippant, if slightly chocked, answer before she started following her father's footsteps, "as far as I remember he was always this crazy."

All Might looked at Kazoho, who shrugged, "don't look at me." She muttered quietly, "I never know what's going on inside that guy's head."

"Nothing you need to worry about." Tamao said lightly, bumping her hip with the other girl and putting an arm over her shoulder to get her to come with her, the pink haired girl only lightly protesting.

Koichi only shrugged before turning on his heel to join them, some of the nervousness he had floating away.

Nighteye was utterly silent, only making a sound when he started following All Might as they went on.

After another short and quiet five minute walk, they found it. A large, mostly dilapidated building near a housing project, there were various "scheduled for demolition" signs around the entrance and a surrounding metal chain-link fence, but they looked old and torn.

As far as Koichi could see, no one has been here for years, not even the hero killer himself.

Dust floated up in the air as they climbed up the crumbling stairs, all the adults in the group poised to grab the younger ones and leave in the case this rotting flight collapsed on itself.

Then, finally, they reached a door to a room. The door was covered in various chains and locks, the lot of it covered in rust and dust from misuse. Before he could ask how they were going to open it, Knuckleduster took something metal out of his pocket, slipped it over his fingers, and smashed the door inwards clean off it's hinges.

"Still got it." Oguro muttered with a smirk as they stepped inside, "so, what are we looking for, kid?"

The room was full of cabinets and drawers, some slightly ajar and holding clothes, others musty with the smell of dried up and dusty food rations. It had the look of a bomb shelter that no one got around to finishing.

"A locker with a numeric code lock." Midoriya answered shortly, moving aside various fallen debris as he looked, "I have the code to unlock it from Stain, it should have some equipment that could help us."

Koichi had the sneaking suspicion that what the Hero Killer considered "equipment" most other people, who weren't criminally insane, would consider "murder weapons", but choose not to voice that particular thought, last thing this trip to a crumbling building needs is a jinx.

It took awhile, pieces of the ceiling fell apart around the room years back, and moving them took several people at a time, but at last they found it, hidden away in a corner behind a drawer filled with canned food and further hidden inside a nook in the wall.

Oguro pulled it out with the help of Nighteye, who stared at the locker dubiously, "open it Midoriya," he shot a pointed stare at his intern, "let's see if this trip was worth the time investment."

He nodded, and quickly started inputting the key to open the locker, Koichi looking over his shoulder as he entered the numbers: 050321-

"Wait a minute." He muttered out loud, a dizzying numbness flowing down his fingers, "isn't that-"

"All Might's debut date, yeah." Midoriya sent him a sheepish smile over his shoulder before he went to finish keying the code, as if he could sense and sympathize with Koichi's shock.

"Huh…" The former vigilante mumbled to himself, rubbing the back of his head, "I share a fandom with a serial killer." He scrunched his nose in discomfort at the thought. "Geez…"

"Don't think about it too much," Kazuho assured lightly, mussing the hair at the top of his head while Tamao cackled quietly behind him.

"I know I don't." All Might muttered, smirking when the three young adults stared at him.

"There!" Deku shouted of a sudden, gaining the attention of everyone in the room. The locker opened with an automatic hiss, rusty hinges protesting as the door was peeled aside. And inside the locker were… sharp things.

Very sharp things.

Many very sharp things.

Many very sharp things that seemed, mercifully, unused, or at the very least clean. Koichi swallowed the lump in his throat.

Midoriya picked up the various things in the locker, putting them aside and sorting through them using a method that escaped Koichi, stopping every time he saw something particularly interesting.

For instance, a pair of gloves and greaves that seemed to have some sort of battery attached to them at the base, but didn't react when Midoriya pointed them away and pressed a button on the inside.

He frowned before he put those down, closer to him then the rest, and kept sorting.

Soon he had a whole section of floor beside him covered in various tools and weapons, pulling at his lower lip as he thought over what to do with them.

"There's plenty of them, at the very least." Nighteye allowed, sharp eyes raking over the assortment, "though most of them seem to be in some state of disrepair, or simply broken." He picked up one random weapon, some twisted mid step between a knife and a morning star mace, "those that don't seem utterly unusable, that is."

"Hatsume-san will know what to do with them." Deku said simply, confidently, standing straight and looking at Nighteye and All Might, "we can't afford to leave any of them behind until we know which ones are useful or not."

"She'll have to work fast." Tamao muttered, eyeing the selection with some measure of distaste, "some of these things seem… half-baked."

"She always works fast." The confidence in that answer seemed to even surprise the usually aloof Tamao, who blinked at him. "For now, we need to get these back to UA."

All Might and Nighteye nodded, the latter calling for a van to come help them take all the tools. Koichi tugged at his All Might hoodie, feeling slightly useless now that the professionals had what they needed from them.

"Uh…" He spoke up lamely, "anything else you need from us?"

"No." Was the short, and cutting answer from Nighteye, who didn't even look up as he pocketed his phone, "if we need assistance from you, we know where to find you."

Koichi visibly deflated, Oguro crossed his arms with a scowl and Tamao clicked her tongue at the hero. Kozuho looked ready to give Nighteye a piece of her mind when Deku spoke up again, "actually!" Everyone in the room looked at him again, "I was planning to ask you guys…"

The vigilante group looked at each other before gazing back at the student.

"Would you…" He smiled encouragingly at them, the sight reassuring in a way Koichi found vaguely familiar, "like to join us at UA? Help us more directly with this case!"

Nighteye looked utterly tired, and opened his mouth to cut this at the root, but a nudge from All Might quieted him.

Koichi was at a loss again, though an old, nearly nostalgic feeling of excitement thrummed under his skin at the thought, along side an equally old feeling of dread at the pit of his stomach. He looked aside to ask Kazuho what she thought, only to see her looking expectantly at him for an answer.

Looking to his other side and behind revealed the other two doing much the same.

Koichi slowly dragged his gaze back to Midoriya, a disbelieving grin lighting his face, "geez…" He rubbed the back of his head, "this day just keeps getting crazier…"

"Sorry, kid," Knuckleduster shook his head, speaking for them all, "but if what you were all talking about earlier is true, then we have a lot of crackdowns to do."

The Crawler blinked in thought, a cold shivering up his spine. "These eraser bullets… We have to get rid of them before it gets to someone who can actually make them work as they're meant to."

"Got it in one, Koichi." The Quirkless cleaner nodded, tossing Izuku a Kevlar duffel bag. Izuku blinked before rolling it out and carefully removing the assorted sharp implements near the locker.

"Huh, you actually remembered that?" Pop Step mused.

Koichi felt smug behind his face-mask. "Can't say I'm completely hopeless now, can you?"

Tamao smirked, grabbing a knife to help put it away, a set of flat crystals forming where her nail touched the metal. "Nah, we still will, Bawler."

{Oguro Tamao - Quirk: Bejewel}

{When she touches any solid surface with her fingernail, the contact space forms flat crystals that dissolve after a certain amount of time. The length of time depends on how long contact is. Their durability depends on her own keratin levels. After the incident with the Queen Bee, she's only able to form honeycomb patterns.}

"It's the Crawler! You know thiiiiiiii-" Koichi tried to retort, but stalled as he looked at the bag Izuku had also stopped filling, also in awe.

"Oh now what!?" Kazuho stomped her foot in the air as she floated.

"That bag…" surprisingly, Nighteye responded. "That's a Bronze Age All Might Dura-Duffel… It was discontinued and unscriptedly outlawed almost instantly after someone lost their hand firing a gun inside."

"Huh… I remember that." Toshinori mused, "Marketing wanted to do something like a support item for the public, and armor defense was a thing."

"Thing can tank fire from a wave of old Uzis." Oguro shrugged, "also blocks metal from detection, surprisingly. Didn't know that it was one of yours, All Might. Picked it from a junk heap when I saw the Kevlar."

"Who dares throw away All Merch!?" Izuku, Koichi, and Nighteye roared out indignantly.

The silence following was only pierced by both girls' groans.

By the time Izuku got back to the Heights Alliance dorms, it was already 2 in the morning. He hefted the technically illegal duffel bag (it left a twist in his gut just thinking of any All Merch being illegal) filled with the multiple weapons that while he honestly hoped he wouldn't have to use, he knew could benefit from using them in a righteous way.

He just hoped Iida wouldn't ask where he got them. That was a conversation no one was ready for.

Entering the lounge, he saw a sight which made his heart clench: Eri wrapped up tightly in a sushi roll-like blanket lightly snoring. What surprised him more was seeing Tokoyami of all people sitting on a stool at the counter, slicing some apples while Dark Shadow kept an eye on the child from the back of the couch.

Izuku nearly acted on instinct, dropping the bag startling the bird-headed hero.

"Ah, Midoriya, the midnight oil burn out for you as well?" Fumikage asked, Dark Shadow not moving from his perch.

Realizing with relief his eyes weren't playing tricks on him, Izuku picked up the bag and set it in front of the couch, and then walking over to the kitchen. "Something like that, Tokoyami-kun." he said. "Making a snack for yourself?"

"For your daughter, actually." the jet-black hero-in-training said, not acknowledging the thump from the fridge being opened a little too forcefully.

"H-how did you -"

"Kirishima, who heard it from Ashido after he returned from the hospital, as I heard from him when I returned from Hawks-dono's offered internship."

"We've been doing shifts watching over her for when she wakes up or you got back." Dark Shadow stage-whispered from the couch. "Apparently the little eggy talks in her sleep, apologizing to her Papa about her Mama being taken."

"Dark Shadow!" Fumikage snapped, grabbing his ethereal partner's body and tugging it, causing Dark Shadow to falter it's grip.

"Wh-whoa! Easy Fumi!" the spirit fumbled. "You're gonna wake her up! I'm just saying what happened."

The raw memory still cut deep in Izuku, and now the class knew the situation, and it only got worse. But instead of crumbling, he felt his resolve strengthen.

"Thank you, Tokoyami-kun, Dark Shadow." He grabbed the apple slices from Fumikage. "I'll take it from here."

Fumikage paused, and glancing at Izuku, nodded and fully consumed Dark Shadow. "May the Dawn give you a new hope, Midoriya… all of you."

Izuku watched Fumikage disappear up the stairs before he moved back to the couch and set the plate of apples on the coffee table and then the Eri bundle in his lap, causing it to mumble out. "Papa…"

His heart broke hearing it, but he wrapped his arms around her, and whispered. "Papa's here, Eri-chan, and I promise everything will turn out all right."

"Becuz yure here…" He heard muttered into his shirt.

"Yeah…" Izuku felt his eyes fall heavy as sleep took him as well.

As soon as the sun dawned, Izuku was up, and Eri broke out of her cloth prison to hug him with all the strength she could muster. She tried rambling that it was her fault, but Izuku popped an apple slice in her mouth whenever she tried to belittle herself. Izuku let her finish her breakfast treat as he zoomed to take a quick shower and put on his uniform before setting off to the Support Department.

Izuku felt slightly silly when some of the upperclassmen passed him in the hallway. I mean, having a young child cling to you like a koala on your back, and carrying a strange bag, that would earn some looks. But he ignored the feeling as he trekked the halls.

"Now Eri-chan, I think I should warn you about Hatsume." Izuku said as they made the final turn. "She can be… very bold and straightforward, but she is a good person."

"Okay, Papa." Eri muttered.

Izuku felt the tingling of his spine as she said that. Still not sure about if he deserves to be called that as he came to the steel belted doors and paused before opening it.

'Wait… isn't this exactly how the last time went?' he thought, before he heard the distinct sound of popping.

One for All surging in an instant, he leaped out of the way as the doors began to give and narrowly missed the explosions within.

SHU-BOOOOOOOUM!

The dust cloud covered the hall, and a sound of flesh flattening against solid glass was heard.

"HATSUME! It's not even first period and that's the twelfth time this week!" The screech of Power Loader was like rusty gears through the dust.

"Are you okay, Eri-chan!?" Izuku turned to her, her red irises wide at the movement.

"Yes, Papa, I'm okay." she said, slightly dazed.

"'Papa'?" came an overeager voice. Looking ahead made Izuku jump as the golden crosshairs and rosette dreadlocks consumed his vision. "Did you make a sentient baby outside my influence?"

Before Izuku said anything, Hatsume was already behind him, her goggles on and squeezing Eri here and there.

"Incredibly lifelike. And you can't even see the parts! Though these wrapping will need to go, maybe seeing what makes her tick. Probably didn't have the latex skin, but that's never a surprise, considering the laws on creating robotics, but it's so cute! Power Loader-sensei still won't let me try the exam bots. How did you do it outside of Support? How!?"

"B-because she's a real person!" Izuku shouted out. He turned and backed away, feeling Eri tremble on him.

"Oh." Mei pulled off her goggles, completely nonplussed. "That makes sense, I guess. So what do you need?"

Izuku ignored her for a moment to console Eri. "Shhhhh… it's ok, Eri-chan, I'm here. I'm here."

"Sh-she…" Eri whimpered.

"I know, she didn't understand, but she's very sorry, right?" Izuku turned his eyes to Mei, who shrugged.

"Yeah, sure, I'm sorry. Now whaddya need?"

Izuku sighed, before hefting the bag and walking into the classroom, Mei eagerly following.

"Hm? Oh, Midoriya." Power Loader said as the three came in. "And our newest member of the student body, followed by the madwoman herself." He sighed. "Please don't tell me you chose her to be the girl's mother. I don't know how you found out I can officiate weddings, she is not worth the headaches."

"Wait, you can do that?" Mei asked, barely paying attention.

"He can. He got it in his off-season." Izuku said passively, but still a light blush on his face. "and no. Eri-chan has already chosen her mother." He plopped the bag on Hatsume's worktable, and sitting Eri on a nearby stool. "I'm here because I was hoping Hatsume could work with this for a mission."

"Right." Power Loader muttered, seeing Mei was already digging through the duffel bag. "All Might mentioned it first thing this morning that you'd be down here and what happened last night. So what's the damage, Hatsume?"

"Damage? The only real damage here is the quality of the product!" Mei snipped, holding up the corded mess. "I mean, the handler knew what he was asking for, but the emitters are partly eaten by the battery acid from lack of use! And almost every one of these blades is chipped to hell! I can fix it for you easy, but it's going to be a real good pain in the butt to update the Broker's work."

"The Broker?" Izuku asked.

"A real pain in our line of work." Majima growled. "The go-to for black market deals. If it's out there and someone wants it, or if you need something made off the books, no matter how obscure, he can find it, get it, and have it waiting for you at the start of business hours."

"And he's got cheap taste!" Mei pointed her screwdriver at them, already disassembling the first compartment. "He did a singular overlay on the wiring here. I mean sure, it increases the output, but it drains too much! You'd only get two shots max through maybe a centimeter of material before the battery is dead, and that's only if the target isn't moving! Ugh!"

"But can you fix it?" Eri asked quietly, shimmying uncomfortably when the eyes were on her.

"Fix it? Ha!" Mei laughed. "Auntie Mei is going to make this baby her own and your daddy is going to have the most fun!"

Izuku flushed at someone else calling him Eri's parent, although he could see what looked like a ghost of a smile on her face.

"Oh dear, a Class-A parent? Whatever will happen to them?"

And just like that, the emotion in the room deadened at a familiar snark.

The coiffed blond hair and blue eyes of Monoma Neito stood in the doorway. A suitcase undoubtedly with his costume inside in his hands.

"None of that before school starts, Monoma." Power Loader said.

"Oh, of course not, Nijima-sensei," Neito said coolly. "I was just dropping off my attire for additions when I happened to overhear." He set his case on a nearby table before continuing. "But really, a student parent? And 1-A's most accident-prone madman? I mean, it just shows how pathetic Class A is, compared to B. I honestly feel sorry for the kid."

Izuku felt his fist tighten, he dealt with words against himself easy, but to mock someone he cared about… No, he shouldn't let it get to him. It's just not -

"I mean, having to get stuck with her 1-A father? She must be worthless if her mother or your own couldn't take her."

"…"

Half a dozen black tendrils shot from Izuku's left hand and stretched out three meters at Monoma's head, before forcefully being reeled back in, without anyone moving. He felt his hand's skin go raw, but Izuku ignored it as he charged at Monoma, flipped him around and slammed him so hard into the hallway window it cracked end to end.

"Now I don't care what you say about me or my class, Monoma, those are all just empty words. But don't you EVER call my Daughter worthless." Izuku snarled, shocking even himself. "Her mother is the nicest person you would be damn lucky to have on your side, and my mother tries so hard it hurts! If I even hear in passing that you even thought anything less about any of them… I'll make what All Might did to his nemesis look like a couple of love taps. Got it?"

Neito groaned in resistance, trying to grab at Izuku. "You damned Class-A so-NNNNGH!" Izuku continued putting pressure on his spine.

"Got it?" Izuku growled, his voice getting dangerously low.

"Papa?"

He stopped at the feeling of something hitting his leg. Looking down, he saw Eri gripping him like she had earlier that week when he flipped Kacchan.

Almost immediately, he tossed Monoma down the hall and knelt down to Eri's height.

"I'm sorry you had to see that, Eri-chan, but you're not worthless." He brushed some of her hair behind her ear. "Just like Papa's the Deku that never gives up, you are going to be a person who helps others."

"But I -"

"That was all Overhaul. Not you." Izuku rested his forehead on hers. "We will get Mama back, I promise." He picked her up and walked back the way the came. "Let's go see if Lunch Rush can have breakfast for us."

"Mm" Eri nodded, wondering who this Lunch Rush was.

And now, the wait continues. The climax is building, minions! Get to reviewing!