10

Chapter 10: Keeping Everything From Happening at Once

Notes:

I'm not dead. And I'm very sorry.

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

A month passes and Izuku isn't sure what to do with himself. December steadily approaches and he reckons the beach will be completely clean by the time school breaks for winter. The entrance exam will happen in February and the USJ at the end of April. There's still so much time, and yet, not enough.

His mother goes back to work after Izuku proves that he won't be kidnapped if he's on his own for a week. The frequent visits to the hospital have stopped and Izuku is expected to go one more time in a couple of weeks for a final examination. Once that is over, he should be clear to return to school. He's been good about keeping up with his homework, not that he needs it, having learned it all before.

The visits with Heakarā-san continue, but will likely be terminated as well when the hospital gives the all clear. She's a wonderful person and Izuku will miss her, but he doesn't need her like other people do. She says though that if he'd ever like to visit again, or just wants to talk, she'll be all too willing. Her business card is added to the stack he already has all wrapped in a rubber band in his drawer. He'll likely never use them, but he can't bring himself to throw them away.

His progress towards the USJ event slows down as Izuku puts it on hold. He's definitely put a dent in their forces, but it's harder for him to keep a low profile. It seems word has gotten around in the underground, as Izuku has heard when he pokes around in the bars and alleys that he patrols. They call him a vigilante. Izuku is a little upset by the title, all he really wants to do is be a hero, but he reminds himself that it's all necessary. Still, this would've been a hundred percent easier if Izuku could've kept his hero license from the future. At least he can put a stop to his law-breaking when he gets into UA.

But despite the added vigilance of others around his patrols, Izuku stops working the USJ case for a different reason. And that is Eri.

He doesn't want to make her wait. He almost forgot about her as he was so caught up with stopping the League. She doesn't deserve to stay with Overhaul any longer, especially if Izuku knows about her. He's taken enough measures against the League to put a pin in it for now. There's someone right in front of his eyes that needs saving, and Izuku isn't going to wait. He's switching tracks.

So instead of his usual patrol routes around the Kamino area and such, Izuku roams around where he remembers the Eight Precepts of Death being active. He scopes out the building that they raided in the future and rests his hand against the concrete of the roof. Is Eri down there, right now, waiting for a chance to make a break for it? Is she being tortured while he can do nothing but wait and plan? He clenches his fist. Angry tremors rack his whole body.

Soon, he thinks with certainty, whipping a notebook out of his hoodie pocket. Soon.

And then he gets to work.

Over the next few weeks, Izuku plans the preemptive strike. First, with information. Izuku recalls everything he remembers about the Eight Precepts. And, unlike the minor villains of the USJ, that is a lot of information. The blueprints of the facility, the way they operate, the details of their operations, even their connections and some of their experiments they performed to make the drug that erases quirks itself.

He's intimately familiar with the upper echelon in their yakuza as well. He's fought some of them and was briefed on the others by Nighteye extensively. Izuku creates their profiles in his notebooks, adds them to his growing list of villains, and analyzes them. Their quirks, their appearances, how he remembers their personalities were, and their relations with the other members of the Eight Precepts. Strengths. Weaknesses. Everything.

Second, with evidence. On Izuku's nightly routine, he's back to stalking people. He snaps photos of transactions, hacks cameras and emails, taps into phone calls and records them. He digs deeper and deeper until he finds Eri and everything concerning her. He studies her handlers and their rotations. He burns the location of her cell into his brain. Izuku memorizes guard shifts and camera placement so he can get in and get out. He's not ready to face anyone as he is, especially if someone else's safety is on the line. But he'll be damned if he lets that little girl wait another day.

By the time he's done, Izuku has a manilla envelope over an inch thick with everything anyone could possibly want to know about Chisaki Kai and his organization. It's more than incriminating and Izuku just has to make copies and drop them off at the nearest police and hero agencies. Nighteye would get a copy for sure, maybe he could give one to Aizawa-sensei as well? There are moles in the police force, but Izuku ought to pass them the information anyway. Maybe it'll get to the right people if he asks Officer Tanaka or Officer Hikarume.

But, that can wait. Releasing the information will alert the Eight Precepts that Izuku is onto them. They will change up all the information he has painstakingly gathered, including everything on Eri. He can't afford to take that risk before she's safe.

Izuku slips on the black beanie, the hoodie and gloves and worn old shoes. He clips on his All Might mask and takes a deep breath. This isn't like the bar where he can avoid it or put it off, this is his bomb that he has to diffuse. He's going in tonight. He's going to save her.

Of course, Izuku knows how dangerous this is. He sweats profusely under his clothes even in the winter chill because he's so nervous. Izuku has seen firsthand the type of damage Overhaul can do. With his quirk and without. Thanks to him, Mirio lost his quirk and Sir lost his life. Izuku will never forget that.

He's going to be careful. He has no intention of dying or getting caught and leaving his mother wondering where he's gone again. This is just a rescue mission. He won't engage in battle and he'll get out the second he thinks things have gone south. It's the compromise Izuku comes up with when he thinks of his worried mother. He's not too sure he can adhere to it, given what's at stake here. But either way, Izuku is ready to change the future.

Notes: