31

Izuku quickly said his goodbyes to his classmates before rushing out of the dorm to meet up with Togata. He was anxious and excited for his first day at his new work internship. He wasn't the only one, though. He had heard from Ochako that she and Tsuyu had been asked by Neijire to come with her.

"You ready?" asked Togata as Izuku pulled up next to him, "Got your hero suit with you? A fresh pair of underwear?"

"Yep," nodded Izuku excitedly, "Let's go!"

"That's the spirit!" grinned Togata, "Once we arrive, I'll give you a brief intro to the other heroes that work with Sir! You already saw Bubble Girl, but there's also Centipeder. He's currently on another mission, so you won't be able to see him yet, but he's really nice. Kids get scared of his head, though, which is a shame."

"I look forward to working with them," nodded Izuku eagerly.

Soon, they arrived at the Nighteye agency, where Nighteye was already planning the day out.

"Today is patrol and surveillance," stated Nighteye, "Mirio will be with me on surveillance while Bubble Girl will be with Midoriya on patrol."

Originally, he had planned to have Izuku patrol with Mirio as a way to showcase to Izuku how Mirio was the better choice, but a stern warning from Toshinori and a phone call from Gran Torino made him change his mind.

Nighteye couldn't help push off a shudder from the thought of Gran Torino personally coming over to 'educate'. He had suffered under Gran Torino's 'tutelage and initiation' when he expressed his desire to become All Might's sidekick. So he decided to 'ease' Izuku in via Bubble Girl, whom he knew would be up to the task. Not to mention, this would be a good time to teach Mirio the finer points of surveillance.

Nighteye and Bubble Girl went over the target of interest being Kisaki of the Yakuza, with the man's defining trait being that he wore a plague mask all the time. With the rise of heroes and villains, the once famous Yakuza groups of Japan fell from its glory, now being treated as small-time thugs. Still, the Nighteye agency had discovered the League of Villains and the Yakuza group had made contact with each other. So they were closely monitoring the Yakuza group, though were unable to make any arrests as nothing illegal had been discovered yet.

"Have you done patrols before?" asked Bubble Girl as the two walked on the streets.

"Some. Kamui Woods had me go with him and went over the basics of it," nodded Izuku.

"Good, good, but I'll go over some of the basics again just in case," smiled Bubble Girl, "It doesn't hurt to always get a refresher on the basics, especially since you're a first-year student. I'll also be going over some secret codes that I use to communicate with others sometimes."

Izuku obediently listened, taking some notes at the same time just in case. He had to admit, Bubble Girl's attitude was as per her name, a bubbly woman. Though he did question her choice of uniform, considering her navel up to the underside of her breast were completely bare of any clothes or protection, he chose not to voice that out. Both began to discuss each other's hero names as well as the others and the inspiration behind them.

Just as the two of them passed by an alleyway, Izuku felt someone small run right into his legs. Quickly looking down, he saw a small frail girl with white hair with a horn on the right side of her head.

"Are you alright?" asked Izuku quickly as he knelt down to help her up. He noticed she suddenly flinched when his hand came close to her.

Seeing that, Izuku took note of that before trying to help the girl on her feet, noticing she started to tremble.

"You can't do that now," voiced someone from the alleyway, "You can't go around causing trouble for heroes now."

Soon, Izuku saw none other than the person of interest the Nighteye Agency had been observing, Kai Chisaki of the Shie Hassaikai (Eight Precepts of Death), walking out of the shadows. Izuku's face began to slightly distort at the sight of him before he quickly tried to school them. Bubble Girl's lecture about basic surveillance tips had helped, as they couldn't let him know that they were investigating him.

"I apologize on behalf of my daughter, Eri. She can be a handful sometimes," apologized Chisaki, "Come now Eri, we can't bother the heroes while they're working."

"No, no, we should be the ones apologizing," smiled Bubble Girl as she quickly stepped in front of Izuku, blocking Chisaki's view of him. At the same time, she let out a small bubble that floated towards Izuku before popping, letting out an orange scent as it did so.

Izuku immediately recognized the scent as a warning to leave everything to her and to follow her lead.

"That mask of yours is quite unusual," started Bubble Girl, "Do you have trouble with the city air? I could recommend a better mask filter that doesn't stand out as much. It must be a hassle to turn it on, not to mention the weight."

"No, I'm just a bit sensitive to filth," replied Chisaki with a warm voice, "As much as I appreciate the offer, I'll have to decline. I'm a bit partial to this mask now, since I made it myself. I've long gotten used to the weight as well as turning with it. So there's no point in changing it. It's my first time seeing that young hero with my daughter. Is he a rookie?"

"Yea, he's interning with me. It's a new school program for the Hero Course for teachers to help new hero students to adapt to what's expected to be done," lied Bubble Girl smoothly, intentionally using this to avoid bringing up the agency she worked for, hoping Chisaki would just assume she was a teacher.

"I see," hummed Chisaki, "I haven't heard of a program like that. What school is doing that program, and what agency is enrolled in it?"

"It just started yesterday, but I'm afraid we can't linger. C'mon, we need to keep moving," ordered Bubble Girl, "Need to get the patrol done before noon."

'And also get this information to Nighteye asap,' thought Bubble Girl. They had no idea that Chisaki had a 'daughter'.

Izuku nodded and was about to leave when he felt Eri clutch onto his shirt tightly.

"Please…. don't go," whispered Eri, causing Izuku to realize Eri had been running away from Chisaki.

'What do I do?' thought Izuku. It was against his nature to let this girl go if she was terrified of Chisaki, whom he was sure was responsible for this.

"Your daughter….. doesn't seem to want to let go," said Izuku cautiously, "She seems to be scared."

"Ah, that's probably because I scolded her earlier," sighed Kisaki, "Kids at her age tend to be more rambunctious and disobedient."

Izuku knew that was a lie just based on Eri's shivering and her voice, but as he was about to call him out on it and point to the bandages, an apple scent wafted over him and Eri. While Eri was distracted by the scent, Izuku realized it was from Bubble Girl. The scent was a code to tell him to drop his line of questioning and retreat.

"Let's get this girl back to her father now," said Bubble Girl gently, turning her face towards Izuku, though not letting Chisaki fully out of her sight. She sure as hell didn't trust Chisaki not to do anything if she let him off her sights.

"We'll get her back later," mouthed Bubble Girl, making sure Chisaki couldn't see her mouth, "Right now, it's imperative we leave and get this information back to Nighteye."

Seeing this, Izuku could only hold back, but not before giving Eri some hope. Izuku gently placed his hat onto Eri, causing her to look up at him.

"Don't worry, we'll be back," whispered Izuku, "I promise."

Seeing Izuku's warm smiling face that promised that he would uphold his word, Eri nodded before returning his hat back, and hesitantly trotted back to Chisaki's side.

"Again, apologies for interrupting your patrol, heroes," said Chisaki as he waved goodbye, "Don't let us hold you up. We can see ourselves home."

With that, the two faded into the shadows of the alleyway.

"... Come. We need to report this to Nighteye ASAP," said Bubble Girl, quickly pulling Izuku up, "He'll want to know everything that happened today."

Izuku couldn't help glance at the alleyway one last time. It hurt him to leave Eri like that, but he remembered All Might's words. That he couldn't save everyone.

'But it won't stop me from trying anyways,' thought Izuku as he swore he would come back to save Eri.

Kansai Region, Esusha market

"Man these punks and hoodlums keep getting into so many fights these days! It makes me hungry!" proclaimed a very large and round man wearing a yellow jacket, hero name Fat Gum, as he chowed down on a large plate of takoyaki. Following behind him were Tamaki, Eijiro, and Katsuki.

"Anyways, the hero agencies here have been needing some fighting types, so you two are perfect!" grinned Fat Gum as he gave his two new work-study students a thumbs up.

"I'm looking forward to working with you," grinned Eijiro, slamming his fists together while Katsuki merely scoffed, looking for a fight, "Fourth Kind wasn't taking work-study students, so I'm grateful for taking me up! So is Bakugo!"

Tamaki could only grumble in complaint as Eijiro had cornered him in the dorms, straight up pleading with him to introduce him to his mentor. Katsuki had caught wind of that, and demanded straight up that he be allowed to come too. He had no desire to be left behind in the dust while Izuku was already out on his work-study. It grew when he heard Ochako and Tsuyu had been taken by Neijire.

"Tamaki, you need to do something about that weak mind of yours, otherwise it's a great waste of your talent!" laughed Fat Gum, his words stabbing Tamaki in the heart.

"This is power harassment! He scouted me with the sole purpose of tormenting me! I want to go home!" mumbled Tamaki as he put his hoodie over his face even further.

"Quit your mumbling, you're worse than Deku!" roared Katsuki, causing Tamaki to flinch further, "Goddammit, I didn't think there would be anyone worse than him, even if the old hag managed to get him to reduce it."

"Tamaki, show your pride as the senior, otherwise you really will be trampled by others," laughed Fat Gum.

"It's a fight! Somebody help!"

Fat Gum and the others quickly turned around to see 5 men in suits fleeing from the scene. Fat Gum immediately jumped in their way, using his Quirk to block the men's way while trapping them within his fat.

One of them immediately activated his quirk, thinning himself like Edgeshot, only to be captured by Tamaki via octopus tentacles. The man struggled, only to be knocked unconscious via explosions to the face from Katsuki.

"Damn… I didn't even get to do anything," complained Eijiro while the crowds cheered for the three.

Fat Gum scanned the area, enjoying the fact his sidekicks were being cheered for when he saw the gleam of a gun in the crowd.

"Get down!" shouted Fat Gum as he tried to block the shot, but he reacted too late.

Tamaki was hit in the arm, causing him to wince as Eijiro quickly turned around.

"Aniki, run away!" shouted the shooter as he fired again, only for the bullet to bounce off Eijiro as he hardened his skin.

Seeing this, the shooter began to run away while Eijiro quickly chased after him.

"Red Riot, don't go running into things!" warned Fat Gum, "If you're not careful, it might come back to bite you! Suneater, if you're unhurt, then I'll leave this place to you. Other heroes will soon arrive at this location. Bakugo, assist Suneater."

"I'm not hurt, but my quirk won't activate!" said Suneater, slightly panicking.

While Fat Gum looked back in shock, he didn't notice Katsuki already chasing after Eijiro.

"Stop chasing after me already!" complained the shooter as Eijiro chased after him while lecturing him about abandoning his friends.

Soon, the shooter ended up taking a turn into a dead end, cornering himself. Desperate, the shooter turned around, with blades extending out his arms as he tried to slash Eijiro's throat, only for it to fruitlessly slide off his hardened skin as Eijiro countered with a right hook.

At this point, the shooter began to cry and complain about how unfair and weak his quirk was, and that he should be complimented for having the courage to shoot someone in the first place. Eijiro wasn't exactly sure how to react to this, and so opted to help lift the man up so he could properly take him back to the police.

"If I stick with my brothers, then I'll be granted power," said the shooter as vial suddenly dropped into his hands through his sleeves before injecting it into himself.

The shooter began to scream in agony as Eijiro tried to figure out what was wrong. Suddenly, his instincts blared at him, causing him to quickly harden his skin just in time as blades shot out all over his body, pushing Eijiro back. With a maniacal grin, the shooter looked at Eijiro as he walked forward, his blades carving out chunks of the buildings that had been stabbed

"Got cocky, didn't you brat!?" taunted the shooter, "Acting all self-important at playing justice! My boss already said the age of heroes will crumble, and the age of those like us will rise! I'm feeling pretty good right now, so I think I will save my brothers!"

He suddenly paused when he heard something creaking before deciding to ignore it, firing a few blades at Eijiro at a whim. He was banking on the fact that there were some civilians still in the area that Eijiro would take the hits.

Just before his blades reached Eijiro, Eijiro backhanded the few blades coming for his face while ignoring the ones aimed at his body. To the shooter's shock, the blades completely shattered upon impact. The shooter winced in pain as he felt his blades shatter. It was then that he noticed that Eijiro was looking rather monstrous.

Red Riot Unbreakable

Eijiro had gone under intensive training back at the camp. Not only did he tank Ojiro's hits, but he acted as a punching bag for Itsuku and Izuku using One for All and tanked through all of Togaru's slashes. Compared to them, this shooter's blade quality was just dull and weak.

Eijiro charged towards the shooter, who decided to withdraw all his other blades before focusing them all in one spot, hoping through quantity that he could pierce through Eijiro's defense. However, to his horror, as soon as the blades made impact, he felt himself being pushed back.

Eijiro growled as he pushed forward, making sure all the blades were aimed at him only, and that none of the civilians behind him would be hit. Eijiro then punched the blades, shattering them all, causing the shooter to flinch in enormous pain. Before the shooter could regain his bearings, Eijiro was already in front of him with a clenched fist.

Ultimate Move: Red Riot Turret

Eijiro landed a huge blow to the stomach, causing the shooter to almost puke his guys out as he crumpled to the floor.

As the civilians began to gossip at the guys of Eijiro, Eijiro sighed as he released his unbreakable form. After all that intense training, he was able to hold his new form for a good two minutes. Eijiro began to walk up to the shooter, who began bawling his eyes out once more, begging to be let go. When Eijiro refused while trying to sympathize for the man, the shooter retorted selfishly that he didn't care about Eijiro's story before using his quirk to fire his blades behind his back into the ground. The resulting effort catapulted him past a surprised Eijiro, who quickly broke the supporting blade with an elbow.

"So predictable! I'm saved! I'm escaping, and there's nothing-"

The shooter's rant was interrupted when the gloved hand suddenly grabbed the shooter's face.

'Mommy,' thought the shooter as soon as he saw Katsuki's face, who he could see wasn't as naive as Eijiro and itching for blood. He really wished he could take Eijiro's attempt at arrest now, and wondered if it was too late.

"You wanted to run? Well then, let me help you!" grinned Katsuki as he began to spin, using his explosions to accelerate his spin. The explosions came not only from his free hand, but from his boots as well to accelerate it even further.

After five rotations, the shooter was already beginning to lose consciousness due to the g-force until Katsuki finally fired him directly at Fat Gum, who had just appeared. Fat Gum immediately trapped the man within his fat, though he could tell the shooter had already lost his will to fight.

"Well, I see you two already learned the best way to suppress an enemy!" grinned Fat Gum, "A villain can win through a variety of ways: killing, running away, beating us up so bad that we can't recover, etc! On the other hand, the only way heroes can win is to capture without casualties! The key to fighting the villain is the way you've already done it, suppress the villain until they lose the will to fight. Good job, you two!"

"I didn't do much," muttered Eijiro, feeling slightly ashamed of almost letting the villain escape.

'I still have much to do to catch up to them,' thought Eijiro, thinking about the monster trio of 1-A when he felt Katsuki smack him on the head.

"Idiot, you stopped him from hitting the other civilians, didn't you?" said Katsuki, pointing over to the civilians, who were cheering for Eijiro, "Didn't you swear you'd be someone who never faltered? Then keep going forward. Course you'll never pass me, but better to just pussy out and use a shortcut like that idiot did."

Eijiro couldn't help but smile at Katsuki's 'brand' of kindness mixed with an insult, but he took it anyway.

As the villains were being led away, Fat Gum frowned for a bit. He had long heard of the drug Trigger, a drug used to amplify quirks, but he had never heard of one that erased quirks. He couldn't help but be worried about that when one of the policemen brought over the evidence on the scene. As suspected, the bullet that hit Tamaki wasn't shaped like a regular bullet, but it was already shattered into pieces that it couldn't be easily assembled. However, a second bullet that had bounced off Eijiro was still intact, meaning they could run some sort of analysis on it. What worried Fat Gum more was the sharp needle at the end of the bullet, which looked like it was supposed to inject the contents of the vial into a person.

"Get this to analysis as soon as possible," ordered Fat Gum, "We need to find out what this is."

Several days later

Izuku looked over to his phone to see Nighteye had requested his presence at a location at 10 AM sharp. Quickly organizing his items, Izuku quickly said his goodbyes. He saw Momo already leaving to find Melissa to discuss creating some different compounds, and even some theoretical ones. Itsuka had already left for her work study with an agency she had managed to find.

"Better get going," mumbled Izuku as he finished packing, quickly going down the elevator and out the exit in time to see Eijiro waving goodbye to Mina with Katsuki waiting outside, yelling at him to hurry up.

"Yo, Midoriya!" greeted Eijiro, "Are you going out for your work study today, too? What a coincidence!"

"I got called in," nodded Izuku, "Though they told me I didn't need my costume today."

"You three are also going out?" asked Ochako as she and Tsuyu came out the entrance, "We got called in, too."

"Just hurry up! I've been waiting!" shouted Katsuki, "Let's just get to the station and go wherever we need to go!"

The five left for the station, being escorted by a passing hero. It was at the station they all saw they were taking the same train to the same station. Passing it off as coincidence, they sat in the train in silence, with Katsuki and Eijiro taking one row while Ochako and Tsuyu sat next to Izuku.

However, when they all ended up going in the same direction and taking the same turns, their suspicions grew until they saw the Big Three standing in front of a building, as if waiting for them.

They all entered the building, taking the elevator to the top floor before seeing not only the hero agencies they were working for, but various other heroes from all over Japan, from famous to local minor heroes.

"Gran Torino! And Aizawa-sensei!" exclaimed Izuku in surprise as he saw the two were talking to Bubble Girl.

"Ne, ne, what's all this? What're we going to do?" asked Neijire excitedly as she went to hug her current mentor, the number 9 hero on the Hero Billboard Chart JP, "You said it was a meeting, but what's it about?"

Ryukyu had already grown used to her antics as she gently pushed her down, "You'll find out soon enough. We're going to start soon."

True to her word, Nighteye began the meeting, first thanking everyone for the information they had provided before notifying them what the Shie Hassaikai were planning.

As soon as all of them sat down, Bubble Girl began to start the meeting off about the investigation the Nighteye agency had on the Shie Hassaikai.

While most of the heroes did not mind that children were present, one hero named Rock Lock was annoyed about it, and didn't hesitate to voice it.

Katsuki had been ready to insult the man, only for a quick shin whack from Gran Torino to shut him up for a while. Nonetheless, the agencies each of them worked for were more than ready to defend them.

As the meeting continued, it became clear the meeting took a darker and darker tone when it was revealed the bullet that had bounced off of Eijiro contained human blood and human cells. Then, it came to the point that Chisaki's, aka Overhaul, quirk was revealed to have the power to disassemble and reassemble any target he chose. With that, it was entirely possible that Chisaki was responsible for creating the bullets that destroyed quirks.

Not only that, but with the discovery of a daughter who had bandages wrapped around her limbs, it was very likely that she was disassembled to help create the bullets before being reassembled once again. The thought of that disgruntled and horrified all the heroes present before reinforcing their desire to take down the Shie Hassaikai.

Izuku himself was devastated and disgusted at himself at how he had let a girl go back to that torture with a smile. He swore that he would rescue her as soon as they found her location.

"Tch, wouldn't this have been resolved already if the brat had just taken the child?" scoffed Rock Lock, giving Izuku a look of disdain, "Looks like all that attention has been getting to your is the real world buddy. Getting first place in the U.A. Sports Festival doesn't mean shit here."

"I take full responsibility for that incident!" said Bubble Girl sharply before Nighteye could claim responsibility for Izuku's actions, slamming her hand onto the table, "I was the one who made the decision to fall back. If you want to blame anyone, then blame me, not D. eku. You can bring it up to the board if you want and demand my license to be suspended, but I won't let you drag him in the dirt just for your own ego!"

Rock Lock was about to snap a reply when a hand suddenly landed on his shoulder. Though it didn't make any sort of sound or injury, Rock Lock suddenly felt like he was being pushed down by the presence alone. Slowly looking at the source of the hand, he saw Toshinori had been the one to put his hand on his shoulder. Despite having retired and not in his muscle form, Rock Lock couldn't help but shiver at his presence.

"Looks like you arrived brat," stated Gran Torino with a smirk, having noticed he had come into the room silently with Naomosa moments before Fat Gum had revealed what was in the bullets. He also pleasantly noticed despite his emancipated state, Toshinori was starting to look healthier and less bony, gaining some healthy weight.

'Looks like David Shield's regeneration pod, along with his new girlfriend's cooking and stuff is working,' thought Gran Torino, happy with the fact Toshinori was recovering from that dreadful injury.

"That's enough," stated Toshinori, "With a dangerous quirk like that, Bubble Girl was concerned about the collateral damage. Whether or not it was the right call, it has already happened. We should focus on what we can do right now, and not squabble about the past and nitpicking on actions."

Toshinori was gently patting Rock Lock's shoulder with every few words as if to punctuate his statement, but to Rock Lock, it felt like he was being hammered down into the ground despite the fact Toshinori hadn't put any strength in those patts. Rock Lock could feel whimpers crawling out of his throat, hoping Toshinori didn't change those pats into a smash.

"Not only that, I'm sure young Midoriya is just as frustrated, if not the most frustrated one out of everyone, and is eager to prove himself a man of his words, right?" grinned Toshinori as he gave Izuku a gentle pat.

"Damn right!" shouted Izuku as he stood up, "I made a promise that I'd come back and protect her, and I'll do it!

"And that will be our goal," stated Nighteye.

The discussion went back to focusing on how to track Eri, the possible locations of each property the Shie Hassaikai had, and increasing the chance of accomplishing the goal in one shot without having it blow up in their face. Some heroes were disgruntled at the slow pace Sir Nighteye was going at, but the more calm heroes understood his thought process.

Shota asked for clarification on Nighteye's quirk along with the suggestion that he just look into the future to foresee the outcome, but was quickly rejected by Nighteye himself. Though he could do so, if the future of the said subject was death, it made it difficult for him personally. Because of that, he refused to see the future of his colleagues.

Rock Lock tried to argue that he could avoid it, but Nighteye shook him off.

'After all these years, you still carry that weight,' sighed Toshinori, knowing that fear stemmed from seeing his future.

"There's no choice," sighed Ryukyuu, "We'll go with the plan. There's a girl in trouble that needs to be rescued."

"The mission is to locate and secure the girl into our protection with the most accurate information as soon as possible," concluded Nighteye, "I'm counting on all your help."

Minutes later

Izuku was sitting at a table with the other U.A. students, but his eyes were still haunted by the fact he had left Eri in the hands of Chisaki. Tsuyu and Ochako sat next to him, trying to cheer him up, but to no avail after Izuku told them in greater detail what had happened.

"May I speak to Midoriya alone?" asked Toshinori as he suddenly appeared behind Izuku. Without really waiting, Toshinori gently guided Izuku away from everyone.

"Are you alright?" asked Toshinori, "Do you want to talk about it?"

"I failed you," said Izuku with a low voice, "I let a villain get away. What's worse, is that I let a girl slip through my grip when I had her in my arms. I let her go with him only to be tortured. Even though I promised I'd save her, I should've done so on the spot! Maybe Nighteye was right. Maybe I'm not ready yet, and that Togata-senpai should have One for All. I-"

Whatever Izuku was about to say was interrupted by a head chop from Toshinori followed by a quick hug.

"Mistakes are what lets us grow," whispered Toshinori, "Even I have made many mistakes before, but it is what we can learn from them that lets us grow into better heroes. But you know what I know? That passing One for All to you was never a mistake. I know you won't let that girl suffer the moment we find her location. I know you will rescue her. As for letting her go? You were in a crowded civilian area with no way of knowing what was going on. Your supervisor told you to follow her lead, and you obeyed instead of going half-cocked like a few rookies I know would have done, and probably exacerbated the situation. As for Togata, we may not know what he would've done, even with his experience above yours, but I suspect he would've followed Bubble Girl's lead as well. Now stand up tall and move forward. I'm sure that girl has felt something other than despair when you promised her you'd be back. Now is the time to prepare and prove that you're a man of your words! Is that clear!?"

"Yes sir," nodded Izuku as he wiped his tears off with his hands.

Around the corner stood Nighteye and Gran Torino, leaning against the wall.

"What do you think?" asked Gran Torino, "Think your disciple would've taken the girl right there and then?"

"As much as I want to say yes and that he would be the more suitable inheritor, I know he would've followed Bubble Girl's lead, even if it had just been him and Midoriya," admitted Nighteye, "But that doesn't mean I approve of All Might's choice yet."

As the days passed, Izuku and the others returned back to school, attending their usual classes, but their mind was stuck on the possible upcoming Yakuza raid. Even Katsuki was rather silent, which slightly freaked out Denki and some of the others.

"What's wrong?" asked Melissa as she looked up from Izuku's shoulders. The two of them were currently cuddling for their date night, watching an episode about quirk interaction with technology, but Melissa could see Izuku was far too distracted.

"I'm sorry, it's just something that came up at the agency," apologized Izuku, "It's been on my mind."

"And you can't talk about it, right?" asked Melissa, to which Izuku nodded.

"Figures," snorted Melissa, but she didn't push it. Instead, she turned off the television before swinging her legs over Izuku, straddling over him.

"And now? Are you still distracted?" asked Melissa slyly as she hovered over him, her hair draped down as the ends tickled his face.

"Not as much," admitted Izuku as he gazed into her eyes.

Melissa smirked as she lowered her face down towards Izuku, getting closer and closer to Izuku's lips until Izuku's phone started to vibrate. Izuku's eyes immediately snapped towards it, stretching his hand to the phone before grabbing it. Reeling his arm back, Izuku quickly read through the message before his face turned serious.

"I'm sorry, but we'll have to cut this short," apologized Izuku as he gently pushed Melissa back, "It's from Sir Nighteye. I can't tell you what it says, but it's extremely important."

Melissa could only good-heartedly sigh before quickly leaning in, giving Izuku a chaste kiss to the lips before getting off.

"In that case, I might as well show you what I already made," said Melissa as she waved her hands, creating a hand to appear on her desk. The hand grabbed several objects on the table and tossed them over to Melissa. However, two of said items misfired, causing them to spiral in another direction.

Melissa almost panicked and created some more limbs to catch the objects and have them toss them back to her. However, by focusing on catching and tossing the objects, she didn't have time to react and catch the objects flying at her. Luckily, Izuku was already snatching the objects before they hit Melissa.

"Whoops, I should work on my hand-eye coordination some more as well as my reaction," blushed Melissa as she dismissed the limbs in a flurry of petals.

Izuku looked down at the objects before noticing they were bracelets of varying sizes. He blinked for a good second before remembering one of Melissa's original creations, the Full Gauntlet.

"Did you?" trailed off Izuku, to which Melissa shook her head.

"Almost. The materials I used for the original are limited and complicated, even with Momo's help. However, I managed to create these babies…. Dammit, I'm being influenced by Mei," coughed Melissa, "They're about 70% as strong as the original, but I've been experimenting on some new ideas, but I need some more data if I want to improve upon it. If this works, then I can create something that's more durable than the Full Gauntlets."

With practiced ease, Melissa plucked the bracelets off Izuku hands before one of each clasp over Izuku's wrists. Without even pausing, Melissa dropped the two other bracelets towards the ground, where Melissa had already sprouted hands to catch bracelets before latching them around his ankles.

"They function just like the original," explained Melissa with a nod as she tapped a hidden button on one of the bracelets, causing them to suddenly expand and wrap around Izuku's hand and feet, "This'll give you protection even if you're out of your hero gear, or if your original equipment breaks. You can consider it as a backup, and they're completely waterproof, so you don't have to worry about them getting wet."

Izuku thanked Melissa as she explained in more detail about the bracelets' functions.

'Eri! I'm coming to rescue you!' swore Izuku.

Next morning

The other students noticed something serious was going on when Izuku, Katsuki, Eijiro, Ochako, and Tsuyu were distracted while eating breakfast. So much that more than once, the said students were merely going through the motions of eating only to grab nothing but air.

Just as they were about to set off, though, Mina held Eijiro back for a little.

"What is it? I need to get going soon," asked Eijiro.

"Something big is happening today, isn't it?" asked Mina directly.

Eijiro flinched before replying, "It's classified. I can't tell you until after, otherwise I'll get in a lot of trouble."

Mina pouted, wanting to pry in but understood the consequences, especially with the face Eijiro was making.

"Fine then, but tell me more after, all right?" asked Mina.

"If they let me," nodded Eijiro, "We're going to make sure it's going to be a success!"

"Promise me one thing, alright?" requested Mina as Eijiro nodded in reply, "Don't get hurt too bad, alright? I want you to come back whole. I know I can't ask you to come back unharmed, considering what we're diving into, but I want you to be able to come back here."

'Back to me,' said Mina in her mind, choosing not to voice that last part out.

"Don't worry! I'm Red Riot! I'll beat those villains up without getting injured with my Unbreakable!" grinned Eijiro as he slapped his biceps.

As Eijiro turned to leave, Mina swiftly leaned forward, giving Eijiro a peck to the cheek. However, this peck was dangerously close to the corner of his lips.

As Eijiro stood there stunned at this, Mina pulled back a little before whispering, "Just a preview for you to remember what's waiting back here."

With that, Mina pushed Ejiro forward before heading back to her room, giving a little extra emphasis to her waist as she walked away.

"Oy, shitty hair! Stop daydreaming and let's go!" barked Katsuki, causing Eijiro to quickly snap out of his trance and run back to the group.

"She's still at the stronghold!?" shouted Rocklock after Nighteye revealed that despite discovering Eri's existence, Chisaki had not moved her at all.

While Rocklock began to complain about the uselessness of their investigations, Nighteye quickly corrected him, stating that they only found this new information yesterday before pulling out a girl's toy from under his desk. Though the other heroes were confused about how such a toy could lead to the discovery of Eri's location, Nighteye began to explain the situation. How a member of the Hissaki bought this today with the keywords being he was buying them for a little girl. Nighteye approached the man under the false pretense that he was buying one from himself, and recommended the model he had brought out. Giving the yakuza man a 'friendly' pat to the shoulder, Nighteye activated his Quirk, reading into the future to see the yakuza presenting the toy to Eri.

"We know where they'll be thanks to our stakeouts," declared Centipeder.

"A warrant has already been issued by the police," confirmed Bubble Girl as she gave a little pose, "So all that's left….."

"Is to get in there!" stated Fat Gum, "Then let's go!"

Izuku tightly gripped his fists as his eyes narrowed in determination.

"Let's do our best, Midoriya!" stated Mirio next to him, patting his shoulder. He was just as eager to rescue Eri from Chisaki's hand.

What Izuku didn't know was that Nighteye had presented the situation to Mirio and asked him what he would've done in the situation if he had gone patrolling with him. Mirio's first answer was to say save her, but when Nighteye reminded him that he didn't have all the information at that point in time, Mirio had to admit he would've done the same as Bubble Girl. Meaning he would've left a small girl in Chisaki's hands without knowing what he was doing to her. The thought of that horrified him but only made him more determined to help rescue Eri.

Everyone quickly suited up in their hero costume before heading out,

After a quick meet-up with the police, the raid was set to proceed at 8:30 AM. During that time, both heroes and the police force were double-checking their gear and getting ready for the raid. At that time, Izuku noticed that Gran Torino wasn't here before being informed via a call from All Might that he was currently working on another case with his detective friend, Naomasa, on gathering and possibly capturing a member of the League of Villains.

Soon, they were all at the front of the Yakuza's residence.

"Remember, the moment I finish reading the warrant is the moment everyone charges in. I'm counting on everyone to move swiftly," reminded the police chief as he raised his hand to ring the doorbell.

"Tch, he keeps saying the same thing over and over again. It's like he doesn't trust us," disdained Rock Lock.

"You know that's not what he's trying to project," dismissed Fat Gum.

Rock Lock merely lifted his chin pridefully, "In the first place, these yakuza guys are living secretly in the shadows. If they see all these heroes and police, they might just curl up on themselves."

"They better fucking not!" barked Katsuki.

Just as the police chief had been about to press on the doorbell, the door was flung off its hinges as Rikita Katsukame punched through the door, sending three policemen flying in the air. Izuku immediately stretched his arms to catch two of them while Eraserhead threw his capture cloth to snag the last one from the air.

"What do you want?" demanded Rikita as he slowly turned his head to look at the crowd, "Bringing all these people so early in the morning."

While Rock Lock and a few other heroes were caught by surprise that the Yakuza would so blatantly give off the first strike, one person was already jumping at Rikita.

"Die!" shouted Katsuki, his hands already pointed at Rikita with explosions rippling through.

When Rikita had punched through the door, Katsuki had already seen Izuku and Shota reacting to rescue the flying policeman. Knowing their nature to rescue, Katsuki opted to attack.

Rikita was met with an explosion to the face, sending him stumbling back a few steps.

"Ow, that hurt! But I'm more awake now-"

Slap

Rikita found himself floating in the air for a second, only to be suddenly slammed into the ground by Ryukyuu, who had used her quirk and transformed into a dragon to subdue Rikita.

"Go! The Ryukyuu agency will take care of this one. Everyone else, go forward!" shouted Ryukyuu as she held a firm grip on the villain.

While Katsuki wanted to continue fighting the Rikita, he opted to reluctantly follow orders as everyone else was charging in while the members of the Ryukyuu agency stayed back to help Ryukyuu secure the villain.

As most of the other heroes and policemen charged forward, they were met with much more resistance than they thought they would encounter. All the henchmen charged forward without hesitation, clogging up the rush.

"Just break through!" shouted one of the heroes, "We'll handle this!"

In the end, the Nighteye Agency, Fatgum Agency, Rock Lock, Eraserhead, and the police chief along with a few of the policemen made it through the mass, breaking through the front door. While Fatgum made a quick apology to the general direction of not taking off their shoes, they followed Nighteye's lead. Nighteye himself was replaying the reel he had seen with his quirk inside his mind, following the man's lead until quickly stopping before a wall with a vase. Nighteye removed the vase, placing it on the floor before pressing down a specific pattern on the wood it was on. Seconds later, the wall began to shift to the side, revealing a hidden entrance.

"Bubble Girl," warned Centipeder as he detected three more behind the wall.

The instant three Yakuza members came charging out, Centipeder easily subdued two of them by coiling his extended arms around them while Bubble Girl blinded the man with some foul smelling bubbles that popped onto the man's eyes before subduing him onto the ground.

"Go on! We'll take care of up here," said Bubble Girl, ignoring the man's wailing.

As the group began to descend down the stairs, Izuku heard Bubble Girl call out to him.

" D. eku!" shouted Bubble Girl, causing Izuku to turn his head towards her, "You got it! You'll keep your promise!"

Izuku nodded in return before rushing to catch up with the others.

The group descended down the stairs before quickly making a right just to see a dead end.

"It's a dead end," said the police chief, "Nighteye, are you sure you're not mistaken?"

"Nighteye, what's the meaning of this!?" demanded Rock Lock.

"I'll take a look," suggested Mirio as he took off his helmet, quickly phasing his head through the wall.

"The pathway has been blocked by a wall," said Mirio as he pulled his head back, "But it's very thick."

"Guess stuff like this is possible if Chisaki can disassemble and reassemble at will," scoffed Rock Lock.

"A cheap trick," growled Fat Gum.

"It just means we'd cause him trouble if we went this way," grinned Izuku as he charged up One for All within his body.

"Damn right!" agreed Eijiro as he hardened his fist, "He's thinking too lightly of us if he thinks this can stop us!"

The two of them destroyed the wall easily, creating a hole for the rest of the group to follow through. However, before they could go even further, the whole hallway began to distort, shifting and twisting.

"This isn't Chisaki's doing…. It's warping, so it has to be the general manager of the Shie Hassaki, Joi Irinka!" shouted the police chief, "His quirk, mimic, allows him to go into objects where he can freely control them from within! He must've gone into the concrete that makes up this underground tunnel and turn it into a living maze!"

"But this scale…. Isn't it too big?" asked Rock Lock, "His limit should be about a fridge!"

"If he gets enough boost, it's not impossible is it?" said Fat Gum, hinting the fact that since they supplied the drug Trigger, it would make sense they had some for themselves. Fat Gum quickly turned to Eraserhead, hoping he could erase the quirk, but to no avail. Eraserhead needed to be able to see the user's body in order to turn it off.

Tamaki started to panic, only to be quickly calmed down by Mirio himself.

"No matter how much he warps the passage, as long as I know the right direction, I can get there!" declared Mirio as he charged forward, phasing through the walls Chisaki had put up.

"I'm going after him to bak him up!" shouted Izuku as rushed forward. Despite the wobbly floors, Izuku had no real problems traversing through it. Nor did he have to worry about rolling his ankle due to his rubbery body, and any obstacles that were in the way were dealt with via brute force.

'I can't stop the first one due to his ability to phase, but this….,' sweatdropped Irinka as Izuku bypassed the walls by kicking a hole into them, even if he was making slower progress than Mirio, '... Eh just two of them won't make a difference. Besides, they're kids! The others will be more than enough for them,'

With that, Irinka focused on creating a hole to drop the others and delay them. After that, he focused on the policemen that were still inside the tunnel.

Katsuki growled as he was running with the group. He had wanted to deal with the three 'pawns', but a strict order from both Fat Gum and Eraser head made him follow. The Yakuza chumps up on the ground floor were barely a warm up for him, and he wanted to fight someone stronger.

"Don't worry, Suneater is very strong," stated Fat Gum towards Katsuki and Eijro, "Have confidence in him!"

Katsuki let Eijiro respond as he focused on the pathway, using his head to map out the labyrinth.

They had been running for several minutes and were about to head up some stairs when Irinka suddenly made his move.

A pillar slammed into Eraser Head, intending to separate him from the group as he was deemed the biggest threat.

"Sensei!" shouted Katsuki as he tried to blast the pillar into pieces, only for several more pillars to form and block the blasts.

Just as Eraserhead was about to be thrown into a new hole that had been formed, Fatgum pushed him out of the way, taking the blow before being shoved away from the group.

"Dammit!" cursed Katsuki as the pillars sank back into the wall.

"It's alright, Fat Gum should be able to handle himself," said Eraserhead as he got up before noticing someone else was missing, "Where's Red Riot?"

Katsuki quickly looked next to him to see Eijiro was gone, his mind flashing before realizing that Eijiro had dove in to also save their teacher.

"Most likely with Fat Gum," grunted Katsuki, "He jumped at the same time Fat Gum did, and probably sank into his fat stomach."

"In that case, you're with me," ordered Eraserhead, "You would usually fall under Fat Gum's orders, but since your senior officer is currently separate from you, I'll take over for now. I expect you to obey my orders, is that understood?"

"Yes sensei," grunted Katsuki, disliking the situation but understanding that this wasn't the time to go about alone.

'Shit hair, you better get back!' thought Katsuki, 'You wanted to chase after us, didn't you? Don't fucking fall here!'

Fat Gum tucked himself into a ball as he rolled and rolled through the tunnel before finally coming to a stop on flat ground. He was surprised to see Eijiro had somehow gotten stuck with him, but waved it off as something unavoidable.

Suddenly, the two of them could hear steps rapidly approaching them and quickly turned around to face the source to see a tall man with a black plague mask covering his whole face named Kendo Rappa charging towards them.

Eijiro immediately assumed his unbreakable form as he saw the fist coming towards his face, crossing his arms to block the attack. What he didn't expect was to be sent flying towards the wall, crashing into it and creating a crater.

Fat Gum couldn't react fast enough before being pounded by a barrage of fists from the same man. He quickly took a back step to create some space before glancing over to Eijiro, who was breathing heavily as prominent cracks could be seen on his arms.

"You know what I think?" asked the man as the dust began to settle, "It's boorish to use guns or blades in a fight. Anyone who has those can win. That's not a real fight! It's better to kill each other using the power living inside you. I wonder if you can understand."

Fat Gum replied by throwing a fist with all his formidable weight behind it, only to clash against a barrier that suddenly formed to protect the man.

'What? A barrier? That felt like punching a steel wall,' thought Fat Gum as he was forced back from the impact.

Soon, another man with short spiky blonde hair named Hekiji Tengai stepped out from the shadows, "Fat Gum, and a boy who can harden his body. Hmph, both have Quirks that are good for defense. It's a shame, though, isn't it Rappa?"

Rappa responded by attacking Fat Gum once more with a barrage of punches.

'Shit, these punches…. Even with my fat, the damage still goes through. It's like a high caliber piercing bullet,' thought Fat Gum as he winced in pain.

"Excels in defense eh? He looks like he can barely stand," grunted Rappa, "Well I guess it's good enough that they didn't turn into mincemeat after the first barrage."

'These people's quirk wasn't on the intel. Are they from an outside source? A rush attack of bullets and a barrier…. That'll be problematic to fight,' thought Fat Gum.

"We are a spear and shield while your team only has a shield and shield," stated Tengai calmly as he held his forehead.

"Huh? What, what sort of fight is that?" asked Rappa in confusion before shrugging it off.

"Although I don't know if the boy over there can really be called a shield," concluded Tengai, glancing at Eijiro's cracked arms.

Rappa remained quiet, but something in his mind told him that Tengai was underestimating Eijiro. He could see despite the injury and the shaky legs, something was inside Eijiro's eyes. It wasn't despair or hopelessness, but rather a burning will to fight despite a bruised body.

Fat Gum glanced over and saw those burning eyes too, and decided to focus up front. If Eijiro could get back up, then he'd buy the boy time to stand back up.

"Remember Red Riot! Eliminating the villains is all about making them lose the will to fight as quickly as possible!" shouted Fat Gum, "Let's crush these small fries and get back to everyone!"

"It seems they intend to win against us, Rappa," mocked Tengai.

"What a great guy!" grinned Rappa, happy to have a chance to get a good fight in.