Chapter 32

Izuku sat in Overhaul's meeting room early the next afternoon, sitting across from Overhaul as he placed a shogi board between them, setting up the pieces. " You know how to play right? Shigaraki said you tried teaching him when he was here."

" I'm no expert." Izuku said. " But I can play."

" It's fine. I like the game because of its concept. There are better players than me at it though. I only play casually." Overhaul moved the first piece. " I suppose you know why you're here."

" Is this about yesterday?" Izuku asked, moving his first piece. " Your cousin?"

" Her name is Eri. I've been looking after her while my uncle is away on business. I try to keep her as secret as possible. If my enemies knew I had someone like that I was looking after…" Overhaul made his move. " You understand, yes?"

" She looked pretty beat up." Izuku moved.

" She's clumsy. I wasn't lying about that. I'm still not sure how to deal with children. They're like another sentient life form entirely." Overhaul made his move. " I usually have someone else look after here, but her last carer, Walter, went missing and I've been a little too busy to replace him." Izuku wasn't buying it. He wondered if Overhaul thought he was. Still, he played the fool.

" It's a shame that a hero spotted you." Izuku made his move.

" He spotted you too. What were you doing around here yesterday?" Overhaul took one of Izuku's pieces. " I heard you were doing something over in Shibuya."

" My people were, yes. We used it as a distraction to get into the police network to check what they had on us." Izuku countered, taking one of Overhaul's pieces.

" Using Rappa like that is dangerous. He's hard to control."

" He did well. Though Tengai was apparently a chore to deal with, according to Mustard."

" He's a trained monk. He doesn't take change well. Give him time. He'll get used to it." Overhaul made his move. " But you never answered my question."

" I wasn't looking into you if that's what your asking." Izuku took a piece. " I was investigating one of the hero agencies near you. Rock Lock."

" The idiot has been snooping around my area for a while." Overhaul admitted. " They're probably trying to find some excuse to raid my place."

" They're pests, huh? Always trying to get in the way of men like us, thinking they have all the cards." Izuku shook his head.

" And a dying breed. If you all stick by me, I'll make sure they never bother the League again." Overhaul made a move.

" Oh? And hows that?" Izuku made a move.

" I can't say right now. Not until I know it will work. But when I'm certain, trust me. I'll explain everything."

" Sounds interesting." Izuku nodded as Overhaul made his move.

" And that's Checkmate." Overhaul said. " You play a good game, Midoriya."

" Not as good as yours, I'm afraid." Izuku stretched. " I'll have to practise before we play again. Is Tengai good?"

" Neither he and Rappa are interested in board games, unfortunately." Overhaul stood up. " I trust you to keep what I told you a secret. If news about my cousin got out…"

" No worries, Chisaki. I won't tell anyone." Izuku gave him a friendly smile. It's not that it would be news to anyone in the League anyway. Even it were, it wouldn't matter. She'd be away from him soon enough. That he promised.

Shota hummed in concern as he entered Rock Lock's hero agency. He'd been among the heroes that had been gathered by the recently awakened Sir Nighteye for this top secret meeting. He didn't even know what it was about. All he knew is that he had been asked for. He brought along Hizashi and Emi. When he heard from Bubble Girl, he mentioned he'd be bringing friends, to which she said the more the merrier to.

Since the License Exam a few weeks ago, the three had met up regularly to follow up leads. However, the League was annoyingly illusive. They appeared where ever they wanted to appear, wrecked havoc and left with barely any evidence left in their wake. They also weren't officially allowed access to Nedzu or Tsukauchi's files on the group, so any leads they had, they went from scratch and most of them came from places that weren't entirely reliable or the Underground Network, a place inhabited by Underground heroes like him, yes, but also all other types of people, villains included. But that partnership was still important. That's why Aizawa brought them. He knew, in some way, that this was about the League. After Nighteye's run in with them and their recent attack on police in Tokyo, it made too much sense.

What worried him though was how many people were here. Obviously, Sir Nighteye and Rock Lock were there, along with Mirio Togata and Bubble Girl from Nighteye's agency. Fat Gum was there alongside his interns, Tamaki Amijiki and Eijiro Kirishima. Ryukyu was in the corner talking to Centipeder. Her interns, Neijire Hado and Tsuyu Asui, were around the room talking to their classmates. Most interestingly, Mirko and Hawks were there, alongside Katsuki Bakugo and Fumikage Tokoyami. He supposed that made sense, seeing as they were involved in the League's attack in Shibuya. Other heroes and their sidekicks were present too, like Gran Torino and Mr Brave. It bugged Shota just how many of his kids were there.

" Looks like we've been invited to a party, huh Shota." Emi said with a smile.

" The number 3 and number 8 heroes are both here. This is a serious deal." Hizashi mused.

" Sir?" Shota looked down to see Katsuki and Eirijo walk over to him. " You're here too?" Eijiro asked.

" Hey there, listeners. Enjoying your internships?" Hizashi asked happily.

" Yeah." Eijiro nodded enthusiastically. " It feels super manly to help people for real."

" Don't it just."

" Why are we here, Sir?" Bakugo asked Shota. He hummed.

" I don't know the full details. You'll have to wait and see." Shota answered truthfully. Bakugo didn't seem to like the answer but accepted it nonetheless. After a while, with some late arrivals, the group was led into a meeting room. Nighteye sat at the top of the table. Aizawa noticed minor scarring on his hands and face that disappeared under his clothes. The long, metal cane that leant next to him was also hard to miss. Shota wondered if Nighteye was rushing his recovery for this mission. That his near death experience made him belief that he was being too patient with whatever he had planned.

" Thank you all for coming on such short notice." Nighteye began. " I understand how hard it is for some of us to be here. Especially you Hawks."

" Hey. I was already in the area for another mission. Kyushu has other heroes to look after it." Hawks said, laughing lightly. Nighteye nodded.

" Bubble Girl."

" Right. Let's get started." The girl looked down to a tablet in her hand. Shota had to wonder if she had been given a script with how scatter brained Nighteye's sidekick usually seemed. " Over the last few months, the Nighteye Agency has been doing some investigations into a villain group known as the Shie Hassaikai."

" Shie Hassaikai?" Mirko asked.

" They're a Yakuza group." Nighteye said. Mirko laughed.

" Yakuza? You've been wasting time watching a group of thugs?"

" Over the last couple of months, since leadership changed hands, the Shie Hassaikai has been growing more bold. They've been taking over competition and amassing money and resources for an unknown purpose." Nighteye stated.

" While Sir's been out of action, we at the Rock Lock Agency kept the investigation going," Rock Lock stated. " There are points that bugged me, so I agreed to it."

" There's more to it." Centipeder spoke up. Emi choked slightly on hearing the heroes high pitched voice. Centipeder brought an image up on the back wall. Aizawa grit his teeth. " A week and a half ago, we found this out. The leader of the Shie Hassaikai, Kai Chisaki aka Overhaul, coming in contact with the League of Villains. We could not discern where they were heading however we can confirm some kind of altercation took place between the two groups."

" So that's why you contacted us, yes?" Gran Torino asked. " Because the League is involved?"

" It is." Centipeder nodded. " We would like your aid with the knowledge you have, seeing as you have been looking into them."

" Of course."

" So those bastards have a hand in this as well, do they?" Bakugo growled. " Seems like they have a hand in everything these days. Fucking Deku making my life hell."

" What's a Deku?" Hawks asked, interested.

" He's talking about Midoriya. They have history." Mirko told him.

" Shut up, March Hare."

" You know Izuku? Like, personally?" Mirio asked.

" I used to."

" Can we get back to the point?" Rock Lock said, annoyed. " These kids are gonna drag this out forever."

" Hey! Some of these kids are important to the matter at hand!" Fat Gum shouted. " Just because they're from UA-"

" I wasn't talking about all of 'em. And I wasn't just talking about the kids from UA either." Rock Lock eyed Hawks and Mirko. Mirko raised her middle finger.

" That's enough!" Gran growled. " You are not helping matters here, Takagi."

" Right. Right. Moving on." Rock Lock sighed.

" We suspect that one of the Hassaikai's main income sources comes from the selling of the illegal drug, Trigger. This is why I requested Fat Gum come. I believe he and his interns have history with the drug." Nighteye explained.

" Hey there. I'm Fat Gum, for those of you who don't know." The large hero said. " Thanks for having me, Nighteye." Nighteye nodded. " Two nights ago, me and these two were patrolling and we ran into some thugs. Some of 'em got hopped up on Trigger to fight. Luckily, thanks to Red Riot here, no-one got to hurt." Eijiro looked down embarrassed.

" We ran into some users of Trigger as well." Ryukyu spoke up. " I was surprised. I thought, with the destruction of the Villain Factory, it was supposed to be gone."

" Not gone." Shota spoke up. " It was never going to be that easy. But with Number Six in Tartarus and the Villain Factory disbanded, we were able to stem the flow. But some still exists. And i imagine, assuming they are the dealer we're looking for, that the Shie Hassaikai has the lion's share of it."

" However, there was more." The rooms attention was brought back to Fat Gum. "A second kind of drug. One someone put into a bullet. It was this drug that was shot into Tamaki and it stopped his quirk completely." There was a few gasps at that. Mirio leant forwards.

" Tamaki. Are you alright?"

" Yeah." The nervous boy nodded. " My quirk came back after a few hours. See?" To demonstrate, Tamaki raised his arm, transforming his hand into a cows hoof. Mirio breathed a sigh of relief, sitting back down.

" It's good you can recover and all, but it's still a pretty big deal if someone can just steal a listeners quirk like that." Hizashi pointed out.

" So, it stops quirks itself, huh?" Shota hummed. " That's different from my quirk. I can only prevent a quirk from activating. It sounds like this drug attacks the genes directly."

" That's scary." Emi admitted. " Do we know what it was that was injected into Amijiki?"

" We do." Nighteye confirmed.

" Yeah, thanks to Kirishima." Fat Gum confirmed. " He stopped one of the bullets with his quirk."

" Woah? I did?" Eijiro looked surprised.

" Well done, Kirishima." Tsuyu smiled at him.

" You did good, Shitty Hair." Katsuki admitted. Eijiro gave an aloof smile and a nervous laugh.

" According to medical reports, the bullet only damaged his quirk. Like a forced injection." Fat Gum explained. " But the contents of the bullet. It's sickening."

" Sickening how exactly?" Mirko asked. " This whole concept seems pretty fucked to me. I don't see how it could get any worse."

" Hold that thought, Mirko." Hawks frowned.

" Yeah, it gets a lot worse. Inside the bullets was human DNA. Blood." Everyone in the room froze at that. Shota was shocked by the news. Human DNA?

" Someone is harvesting someone else's quirk to use as a weapon." He said in disbelief.

" Oh my god." Ryukyu exclaimed. Emi held her hands over her mouth. Hizashi looked somewhere between enraged and shocked. " So, it's a quirk that destroys other peoples quirks? How is that possible?"

" Wait a moment. How do we know the Yakuza did all of this? It could have been someone else." Hawks pointed out. " Hell, the League's already known to be doing some creepy shit with those Nomu. This could be then."

" It isn't." Mirio stated firmly. " Because I know exactly who's quirk is being used." The room turned to Mirio. Nighteye nodded for him to continue. " Chisaki has a cousin. He called her Eri. She's a young girl, however when I encountered her, she was covered in bandages and clothed only in a hospital gown."

" We know Chisaki's quirk is called Overhaul. It allows him to break apart and fix anything he touches at will." Nighteye stated. " From Mirio's investigation, he found out that this girl's quirk can rewind any object the user wishes. As such, its extremely likely that Chisaki is using this young girl to make these bullets."

" What?!" Mirko shouted, slamming her hands down on the table. " That fuckers abusing a kid for this shit?!"

" Welcome to the world of quirks." Gran Torino said sadly. " If something can be done, it's probable that someone will try. No matter what they have to do to who. I've seen a lot of messed up things in my long life. However, this is easily in the top five."

" That bastard." Hawks growled. " Why aren't we doing anything then?"

" So, if you ran into this child, why not just take her?" Rock Lock asked. Mirio tensed up, looking down annoyed.

" I...I just..." Shota closed his eyes.

" It was a difficult decision." He said. " You shouldn't blame Togata for it. I'm sure the kids already taking it hard enough as is."

" I will save her!" Mirio announced. " You can count on that. I have already made that promise!"

" Of course." Nighteye nodded. " That is our top priority. Chisaki cannot succeed in manufacturing these bullets, no matter what. We must save this young girl before his plan reaches its completion."

" That's a nice sentiment." Rock Lock admitted. " But the fact Togata ran into her was a freak accident. A flaw in Overhaul's planning. The guy obviously wants this kid hidden and, with a hero spotting her, he'll likely go out of his way to make sure that she doesn't get out again. We don't even know where-"

" A secret lab underneath Chisaki's household." Mirio spoke.

" What?"

" There's an underground complex where Chisaki makes all of this under the Hassaikai's main base. That's where she is."

" And how do you know that?"

" An informant." He said.

" Who?"

" For their own protection, I can't tell you. I'm sorry."

" The hell is that supposed to mean? If Nighteye brought us together, everyone in this room has to be trustworthy. We won't snitch. Why won't you tell us?"

" Sorry, but I can't say."

" But-"

" It doesn't matter." Nighteye spoke up. " We're not going to invade the Yakuza's head base immediately anyway. We need to make sure Chisaki has no where to run should our main assault go wrong. We have one chance to bring their entire operation down." Nighteye brought up a map in the projector screen. " There are eight major Shie Hassaikai facilities nation wide. We're going to take them all down."

" That will take to long." Fat Gum shouted. " We should charge in their and rescue this girl before-"

" We cannot become All Might. We have to be logical about this, take it one piece at a time until our opponent is in Check Mate." Sir Nighteye said sternly.

" He's right, Toyomitsu." Gran Torino spoke up. " If we make too big a deal out of this, Chisaki will take the girl and vanish. We need to be smart about this. We cannot afford another Hosu at this stage."

" If we're swift, he won't have time to run. You're thinking too hard about this." Shota hummed.

" Nighteye. A Question."

" Yes, Eraserhead?"

" How about you just read our futures. We can see any incoming dangers inside the mafia's base. I dunno if it works like that, but it would be better than going into this entire thing blind."

" I can't. I'm sorry. My quirk requires certain time restraints. 1 hour per 1 person each day. It's also seen like a flashback. A film of someone's life from their perspective. What I see is almost certain to happen. If someone were to die, for example…"

" Hmm. I see. I imagine how seeing such a thing could be painful. Still, it could help."

" My apologies Eraser." Nighteye said through gritted teeth

" It's fine." Shoto sighed. " We simply need to remove Chisaki's options, correct?"

" Correct." Nighteye nodded. " We need to make sure the girl is where Mirio's informant says she is, remove Chisaki's pieces one by one and take the girl into our protection. We can't predict how the League will react but we know they are at least involved in this someway. Whether they take advantage of the chaos to try something like they did in Shibuya or they stay out of it, they are not a player we can predict. We must remain vigilant. Both from the Hassaikai's actions and from the League. I'm counting on all of you for your assistance." Nighteye bowed his head. Shoto looked to his friends. They looked back, serious yet determined to help. He nodded to them. What a mess they'd gotten into. But it was mess he'd gladly help get out of. He never did like seeing kids get hurt.

" Hey. Tintin." Mirio looked back.

" Bakugo? What's wrong?" He asked. Bakugo looked serious

" Why did you mention him?"

" Huh?"

" When I mentioned Izuku. You seemed surprised I knew him. Like you knew him." Mirio remained silent. " He was your informant. Wasn't he."

" I can't tell you that." Mirio said.

" Like fuck you can't. He's my oldest friend." Bakugo growled. " I'm bringing him home So if you know something about him, you'll fucking tell me Tintin. Before I beat it out of you." Mirio hummed.

" Your oldest friend, huh?" Mirio laughed lightly. He smiled. Mirio hadn't been sure if Izuku still had people left for him outside the League. He seemed like the type of guy who'd give up because he lost everything. But it seemed he really did have someone left who deeply cared. If only Izuku knew that. Mirio nodded. " You're right."

" I knew it."

" Your friend is interesting. His eyes are so sad." Mirio smiled. " I want to save him."

" Join the back of the fucking cue, Tintin. That's my job. His mother told me to bring him home. So I'm bringing him home. No questions."

" That's admirable." Mirio admits. " However, I promised Izuku I'd save him."

" You did what?" Bakugo cracked up slightly. " Did you say that to his face?"

" I did. He didn't believe me." Bakugo laughed.

" I bet he told you to go shove it. I totally would do the same. Ha ha ha." Bakugo smiled. " You're mad, Tintin."

" I have been told that before." Mirio admitted, chuckling. " However, I'm sincere. When I see someone who needs to be saved, no matter whether they want to be saved themselves or not, I have to do it. Lemillion means that I'm going to save 1 million people. That's my vow. And that's just the beginning. Eri. Izuku. Anyone else. I will save them." Mirio looked down at Bakugo. " So please. Let me help you." Bakugo looked at Mirio in shock. Then he just shook his head.

" I don't get people like you and All Might. I'll never be as selfless as you idiots." He admitted. " But, if you're so adamant on doing it, then I guess I've not right to stop you. If you wanna help, I'll let you. Just don't get inz my way." With that, Bakugo walked to the buildings entrance, meeting up with Kirishima and leaving. Mirio smiled.

" That was that our explody underclassman from 1-A, right Mirio." Tamaki asked as he approached. " What did he want?" Mirio smiled.

" He wants to save someone." He answered simply. " And I'm going to help him do it."