Shoto quickly decided that worry was not an expression he thought fit Yoarashi's face. He frowned. "What's the matter?"
Yoarashi rubbed the back of his neck. "Uh, he isn't actually going to shoot us right?"
Shoto snorted at that. "Not live rounds no. He might use rubber bullets on us directly but I assume that he is probably only planning to use his explosive tipped rounds against my ice if he has to."
Yoarashi immediately relaxed. "Oh good." His excited smile was back again. "I suppose that they will need all the help they can get if they want to stop our evil scheme." He then threw his head back to give an dramatic "evil" laugh, returning to playing the role he was assigned to play. Plus Ultra and all that.
Shoto snorted again and went back to carefully walling off the bomb behind his ice. "I don't think Villains actually laugh like that in real life."
Yoarashi shrugged and went back to bouncing in place, getting lifted from the floor with his Quirk on each small hop. "I suppose that makes sense. What do you think real Villains act like then?"
Shoto shrugged back before returning to what he had been doing. "Given most of my first hand Villain knowledge comes from the League who aren't really Villains and the show All for One gave a few months back, monologuing seems popular. Would advise against it though in this case unless you want Hitoshi to Hypnotize you."
"But that is no fun! How are they supposed to know we are the bad guys unless we tell them?"
Shoto gestured over to the bomb. "Well there is-" He found himself stopping talking as static washed over him.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Yuga gapped in shock as Shinso safed his gun with a noise of disgust as he pulled down his voice modulator. "Use the tape to finish capturing Shoto. I need to check on Yoarashi. He should not have dropped that easily from one tranq."
Yuga was quick to comply, not going to argue with a free ride to a win. Speaking of, the call that they had won rang out over the comms even before he had finished. That was good because Todoroki was now blinking back to reality. He turned to Shinso. "That was clever. You tricked me."
Shinso waved him off as he flipped the now beginning to snore Yoarashi. "I figured that you would not consider the possibility of tranqs if I made you wear the ear protection and the slight distortion of sound through them would mask any imperfections in the match to his voice." He sat back and scratched his head. "I mean I am not complaining that they work and all but the tranqs are kinda scary fast acting."
Yuga jumped as a strange noise filter through the comms network before a voice he was not expecting spoke up. "It was only so quick to act because of where you hit your target! If you had not hit him directly in the jugular then the drug would not have reached his brain so quickly!"
The other two seemed less surprised by the interjection. Shinso sighed and nodded. "I guess that makes sense. Thanks for answering that question, Nedzu. Uh, do you know how long it will be until he wakes up?"
"Somewhere between one to two hours without the neutralizing drug. Only ten minutes after injection with. If you aren't already carrying some of it, I can have a dose sent down with the stretcher robots to carry him out."
Shinso waved vaguely at the ceiling. "I've got it. The dose for one dart is 2cc's right?"
"Correct."
Shinso pulled out some stuff from one of the compartments on his belt before tossing a small red medical kit to Todoroki. "Shoto, can you clean his arm like if we were drawing blood for me while I measure this out?"
Todoroki was already opening the case to pull out a pack of alcohol wipes. "On it."
Yuga looked back and forth between them. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
"Nah, we're almost done. You can start to head back to the rest of the class. We'll follow you in a second after the robots load him up to take to Recovery Girl's office to sleep it off."
Yuga shook his head. "I would rather wait for you all if it is all the same. Um, why do you know how to draw blood if you don't mind me asking?"
"Izuku's adopted older sister has a blood Quirk. I'm going to guess you missed her joining my table for lunch the past two days."
Yuga blushed. "Ah, yes I chose to eat the past two outside to enjoy the weather with Tokoyami and a couple of others from 1-B."
Todoroki made a noise of understanding at that. "Ah. I had wondered where you two were. You were the only ones from our class outside of Hitoshi and Izuku not eating with the rest of us."
They lapsed into an awkward silence as the bots finally appeared to load up the snoring boy.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
As soon as the last group returned, Midoriya (or, well, he was Loki right now wasn't he?) was leading Denki and Shoji into the testing site, stretching his shoulders out as he walked to get ready. "This is the building if you two want to head in to try and plan. Best of luck because I am not going to pull my punches!"
Denki flashed the boy a nervous thumbs up. "Just promise to try not stab me okay?"
Loki laughed and returned the gesture. "Wasn't planning on it. Recovery Girl would be rather upset with me if I sent her all of you guys full of stab wounds every time we fought. She already had to deal with Himiko's classmate getting stabbed this week so I am going to try and keep the stabbing down until the Sports Festival."
Shoji huffed. "That is probably not that reassuring of a statement when you imply you are going to stab us later."
Loki waved them off. "Probably not me you should be worried about there since I won't be allowed to bring in my knives. My sister's homeroom is Support in our year so she will be in our year's Sports Festival. She will definitely be stabbing some people. You guys should head up. We don't want to keep the rest of the class waiting."
That made Denki jolt. "Oh right! Come on. We have a bomb to hide!"
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Toshinori found himself frowning as he watched young Midoriya on the screen, hairs rising on the back of his neck. It was the raid all over again. Young Midoriya moving through a building as if guided by a set of unseen instructions. Toshinori had seen Mirai do the same thing one too many times for it to not be obvious.
Young Midoriya had to have a Quirk. One like his uncle's for sure.
So why was he hiding it?
Why would All for One hide it?
"Young Loki falls under my protection due to a prior agreement with my own family. I cannot allow him to come to any physical or physiological harm if I am able to act to prevent it."
"Besides, the boy is rather proud of his goal of being the first Quirkless Hero. Who am I to stomp all over his dreams?"
"His Quirk would likely react poorly if I was to collect it right now. Temporal Quirks are finicky things and have a tendency of imploding on me if I hold more than one of them at a time."
Oh.
Shit.
"…any physical or physiological harm…"
All for One was playing along with the lie that that boy was Quirkless because the kid genuinely thought he was and was proud of that fact. All because the League of Villains seemed to be fond of the kid as one of their member's younger brothers.
Toshinori felt slightly sick.
Did Mirai know?
Did the boy's parents?
As he watched the screens, he stopped registering what was on them.
Why bother?
If Young Midoriya had a Quirk of the same variety as Mirai then there was no doubting the outcome.
There was no question that Nedzu knew. Perhaps that is what really caught the Principal's attention about the boy in the first place, not that the boy's intelligence was likely anything to sniff at. No, he would have quickly flagged that the boy was not as Quirkless as he seemed at first glance.
He needed to speak with Nedzu about this. About what it could mean in the long run.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Sorahiko internally winced as he registered Toshi completely checking out. Whatever rabbit hole his mind had wandered down, it was just more proof that Toshi could probably never be a solo teacher. Not if he let himself get this distracted when he should be paying attention to the kids.
Of course, maybe he had noticed the funky behavior of Midoriya and been blinded by whatever red flags there were from it in his mind. Sorahiko had to suppress a snort at that. Regardless, he had not been paying the boy or the Shoji kid too much attention or he could have noticed what the boy was really doing.
Sorahiko's lip reading skills were a little rusty but he was pretty sure what the kid was saying didn't really matter. What mattered was that he never seemed to stop to take a breath as he quickly rattled off words like a waterfall and got the Shoji kid to convince Kaminari to help him move the bomb as he flushed them higher and higher in the building. It was clever. Using the boy's Quirk against him to invoke the behavior in the pair that he wanted.
As he stepped up onto the top floor though, he went dead silent. Holding his breath and stepping lightly on the cement floor. The sudden absence of noise seemed to throw both of the other boys into a panic as it seemed that the boy had just vanished from Shoji's senses. The kid did not even try fighting them but slipped into the room and around them as Kaminari distracted Shoji.
Sorahiko laughed as the boy rested his hand on the bomb.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Nedzu sighed as he set his cup of tea aside. "Oh dear, it seems that it would be best if you head out a little early. By way of a Warp Gate to be safe."
Hisashi looked away from the screen that his youngest's eyes were glued to, excited to see how her family members did in their first proper Heroics lesson. "What's wrong?"
Nedzu waved off any of his friend's concerns. "Oh, nothing to worry about. It is just that Yagi will most likely be coming straight here after the end of the lessons it seems. If we are to keep him from actually putting two and two together about who you are, it would be best for him to not see your face after all. The last thing we want is him overreacting again to your presence."
Hisashi sighed. "Of course. You're right. I'll text Oboro for a lift. Same time on Thursday?"
Nedzu hummed and reached for his tea once more. "For the League's break-in? Perhaps a few minutes earlier? I am sure we will enjoy it more with popcorn. You will not be participating yourself this time I take it?"
Hisashi shook his head. "No. We wouldn't actually want the kids to panic."
Eri finally pulled her eyes from the screen before pointing to the strangely familiar to Hisashi blonde boy on one of the cameras for the observation room that the rest of the class was in. "Is the pretty boy going to be there too? I liked the silly faces and poses he made for the camera to hide Toshi from us with his pretty cape."
Hisashi chuckled as he ruffled his daughter's hair. "Oh? Do you have a crush my little Dragon Princess?"
Eri made a face, much like he had been expecting, knowing that Eri was still rather young for that sort of thing. "No, he just looks very pretty with his pretty armor and cape."
Hisashi laughed again at that. "Ah, so you want him for your hoard instead of as your prince charming. Yes, he does look like he would fit right in with your treasures doesn't he?"
Nedzu gave his own chittery laugh. "I see now why you like to refer to her as your Dragon Princess. You should probably get going though. Gran Torino just dismissed the class so Yagi is now heading this way."
Hisashi sighed and stood up, his daughter twisting in his arms to wrap her own around his neck for balance in what was now a practiced motion with the two of them. "Thank you for letting us sit in and watch."
Nedzu flashed a fanged grin back at them. "But of course! Thank you for the stimulating conversation as always. I look forward to Thursday."
"Thursday." Hisashi stepped through the Warp Gate.
---MiM-MiM-MiM---
Nedzu was already waiting for them apparently as Sorahiko followed Toshinori through the door to the chimera's private office.
Or… perhaps not.
There were used tea cups on his desk that he was in the process of clearing away and one of the chairs across the desk from the chimera had been moved to be better angled to look at what had likely been up until shortly before a turned computer screen. Additionally, there was the chess game on the top of his desk clearly still in progress, though perhaps not for long with how few pieces were left. Sorahiko was not great at chess himself but from how few white pieces (which from how the board was set up were likely Nedzu's), Black was probably winning.
But before Sorahiko could ponder this much longer, Toshinori reminded him of his presence by blurting out something that completely caught Sorahiko off guard. "Young Midoriya has a Quirk and All for One didn't say anything about it because the League are shielding the boy from him."
Nedzu cocked his head slightly, clearly just as puzzled by that wild accusation as Sorahiko. "Can I ask how you might have come to this conclusion?"
Toshinori nodded and fell into the shifted seat, seemingly unconsciously moving it back into its normal position in doing so. "It all clicked watching him during the battle trail. Both today and back during the raid, he moved in a way that I have only ever seen Mirai do before. As if he already had seen how it was all going to play out."
Sorahiko snorted. "Toshinori, if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that what Midoriya was doing today was just flushing his targets to where he wanted them so he could position them best to sneak past them."
Nedzu gave Sorahiko a smile before turning back to Toshinori. "It is as Gran Torino said. As for during the raid, Midoriya was leading you based on previous directions that one of the League had provided. I assure you, the boy's medical records reflect his Quirkless status down to his genetic mapping. Izuku is completely lacking when it comes to carrying a Quirk factor. Unless there is some unknown way for one to use their Quirk without one, Izuku is in fact fully Quirkless."
"But-"
Sorahiko headed his idiot foster son off. "So the kid has the genes for a Quirk but not to turn it on? Would there be any chance that All for One gave the kid a Quirk for a few minutes that could have activated it?"
Nedzu seemed to consider that. "Yes and no. Yes, he does carry the genes related to having a Quirk in the same vein as Sir Nighteye but no that would not be how that worked. He Quirk would only be able to be used so long as he had that other Quirk so no, even if that were true, he is back to being Quirkless now."
"You are assuming he didn't just give the boy another smaller and less noticeable Quirk."
Nedzu shrugged. "Given that Midoriya Izuku has not exhibited any major shift in behavior since we were first introduced, I am inclined to believe his Quirk status has not changed since then, outside of the few minutes he was in possession of Overhaul. I am of course not just speaking about my own observations but those of his family as well."
Toshinori cut in again wearing a clear look of disbelief. "Didn't he become a Vigilante during that time? I would say that is a rather large shift in behavior."
That got him a level look in exchange. "His decision to become Loki was already under his own consideration before his run-in with you and the Slime Villain. Your rejection of the thought that he could be a Hero without a Quirk was merely the spark to drive him to go through with his plan. The delay came in the fact he waited to start as Loki until he had a better idea of who he would be as a Vigilante, name and costume included, as well as charting out his patrol route. Those took a few weeks to sort out from what I understand."
Toshinori gave the chimera a skeptical look. "Whose to say that All for One did not give him a Quirk sooner?"
Sorahiko had to give Toshinori a look of disbelief at that. "Toshi, you can't be serious?"
"One of his brothers is in the League!"
Nedzu shook his head. "I can see I won't be able to convince you. For the record though, I do think it is prudent to know that Midoriya Dabi was only discovered by the family back on Izuku's 15th birthday and confirmation of their status of being related came even later than that. Izuku only met his brother because of his existing acquaintanceship with Shigaraki Tomura of the League when Dabi joined."
It was like a record scratched in Sorahiko's head at the name. "Wait hold up? Shigaraki Tomura? Like Midoriya Tomura?"
Nedzu made an odd face at that. "Yes it is quite the coincidence but given the meaning behind the name, it is not unsurprising. It is quite likely he took the name for much the same reason Midoriya Tomura did, in remembrance of those that he had lost. Midoriya Tomura was no anymore born to his name as Dabi was to his. Midoriya Tomura changed his given name when his custody was transferred to his father Hisashi."
Sorahiko's mouth went dry as he flashed back to what the kid had said. "Shit. Forced Quirk manifestation. Did he-"
Toshinori cut in. "Wait, have you met Midoriya Tomura then?"
Sorahiko nodded. "Yeah, he was here on campus earlier today. He was the one who accidentally let the reporters in apparently." He turned back to Nedzu. "How did his mother die?"
Nedzu sighed. "I would like to have it known that I do not know the full timeline of events of the incident due to not wishing to press him on what was clearly a horrifying incident but do have a good outline of events. Basically, there was an altercation the boy had with his stepfather that resulted in his Quirk manifestation. Since, understandably, the boy had no idea what was happening to himself at the time, he reached out to his other family members for comfort and… well… I assume you can guess what happened next."
Sorahiko felt sick as he nodded. "Shit, that poor kid. How many-"
"Five. Six, if you count his dog. His mother, her parents who lived with them, his half-sister and the stepfather. If it wasn't obvious, there is a good reason why up until fairly recently, he was a shut in. That is not to say he goes out much more, but it is progress."
Before they could lapse into silence for Sorahiko to even process what the poor boy he was hassling earlier had been through, Toshinori reminded them both of his presence. "What is his birth name then?"
"Tenko."
Sorahiko felt himself pause at that. "Is there a reason you are avoiding his old family name?"
Nedzu sighed and nodded. "It is due to the identity of his late stepfather. I would prefer to have his permission to inform you of the man's name rather than give you even more information that you could use to discover his original identity on your own."
As Toshinori grimaced but seemed to reluctantly accept that. Sorahiko, on the other hand, felt his stomach drop.
"It was sort of a big thing back when Father took custody over me after my birth Mom and her husband died."
"He looks like his stepfather too…"
Nedzu seemed to lock up. "How-?"
Sorahiko felt sick but that reaction clinched it. "The man who abused the kid, despite not having any reason to suspect otherwise that Tenko wasn't his, it was Kotaro, wasn't it? That is why you have been dancing around the subject about who the kid is." He licked his lips. "It is because he was the one that killed Nana's family."