Hisashi's Revenge

by theAdventurer0815

Summary:

From the dust rose All Might, and he wasn't smiling this time, just gritting his teeth. Never before had Shota seen the Number One look this serious. If he were a villain, he'd fear for his life right now.

“Unhand the boy!” All Might demanded.
---------------------

Or: Izuku and Inko reconnect with the Bakugos at the playground when villains attack. Inko fights, Shota and Toshinori pick up the pursuit, and Izuku meets his big idol.
Rated T for swearing, just to be safe.

Chapter 1: Meeting the Bakugos

“All Might, GO!” Izuku shouted across the playground, pointing dramatically at the neighbourhood kids that had gathered in front of him.

“I AM HERE! Sounding like the Symbol of Peace!”

Not only was Toshi doing his best All Might impression for Izuku, he also tried a few of the Number One's signature poses. He didn't have any muscles to flex, of course, and really didn't look much like All Might in general, except for his height and hair colour maybe, but Izuku was just so happy that Toshi played along, anyway.

Just the other day, Izuku had noticed that Toshinori sounded a lot like All Might sometimes. Near identical, even, especially when he said something in English. He had asked Toshi to say a few catchphrases of his idol for him, which had taken a little more begging and big puppy eyes than usual, but still, he'd done it. And now that it was Izuku's first time at the playground in this unfamiliar neighbourhood, having a personal All Might impersonator was his chance to impress the other kids.

“He really does sound like him,” a kid with leathery wings said, staring up at Toshi.

“That's so cool!” another one with faceted eyes exclaimed.

“Is that his quirk?” a third asked.

The commotion surrounding Izuku and Toshinori slowly drew in the majority of kids from all around the playground.

Izuku jumped up and down in excitement. “Oh! Do the Smash, Toshi!”

His guardian shot him a sideways glance. “But isn't that a bit dangerous?” Toshinori asked in his normal, quieter voice.

“Not if you do it! Come on.” When Toshi didn't relent, Izuku tried begging. “Pretty please?”

In response to Izuku's big eyes, Toshinori gave him a soft smile and sighed quietly. “All right. Here goes nothing,” he said, wound up for a big punch and threw a bony fist at the air. “Oklahoma SMASH!”

He got the voice down perfectly, but … Izuku blinked up at him for a second. He had thought Toshinori knew All Might better than that. “You did it wrong!” Izuku complained. “Oklahoma Smash is the tornado spin!”

Toshi coughed lightly into his fist and sheepishly rubbed his neck. “I'm sorry. I must've mixed them up.”

“That's not like All Might at all.”

The little crowd parted and out walked another boy the age of Izuku, with spiky, light-blonde hair and red eyes. Unlike the rest of the kids, he looked entirely unimpressed by Toshi's All Might impersonation.

Izuku would recognize that face anywhere. “Kacchan!” he exclaimed. With Kacchan around, living in Musutafu was going to be so much more fun! Izuku had already been wondering what kind of brave adventures Kacchan would have that he would miss out on in his absence.

“Deku?” Finally, Kacchan noticed him. “What're you doing here?”

“Do you know that boy?” Toshinori asked Izuku, to which Izuku excitedly nodded and balled his hands into fists.

“Yeah, that's Kacchan! He and I went to kindergarten together. He's really, really cool!”

“Tsk. 'Course I am,” the spiky-haired boy replied. “Not like it's hard to be cooler than you. Your quirk's useless.”

“I-It's not!” Izuku blurted out in defence. “It's because of my quirk that I know how cool yours is!”

As usual, Kacchan remained unfazed. “Whatever, Deku. You'll never be as great as me.”

“That's kind of rude of you, young man,” Toshinori addressed him.

Kacchan glared up at Izuku's guardian with a fierce expression. Neither Toshi's gaunt appearance nor his towering height could keep one small Katsuki Bakugou from stepping up to the adult. “Yeah? What's your deal, bag o' bones?”

Even Toshinori looked a little taken aback by Kacchan's confidence.

 

#-#-#

It was such a lovely and warm day. Too beautiful to spend it inside, especially when Izuku had been itching to run around a little.

Inko was sitting on a bench at the edge of the playground, like a lot of the other parents that were watching their kids play. Up until a few minutes ago, Toshinori had been sitting besides her, but then Izuku had run up to him and asked him do an impression of All Might for his new friends.

Toshinori, being Toshinori, hadn't been able to decline, and consequently, Izuku had dragged him off into the middle of the playground.

It was kind of cute how utterly unable he was to say no to Izuku, and he really was giving it his all just to entertain her boy. Although she couldn't make out any words, laughter and excited chatter drifted back to where Inko was sitting. There were big smiles on the children's faces all around. Toshinori looked happy, too.

Inko felt really lucky that their guardian had turned out to be such a kind-hearted man. Still, she should probably get a word in sometime and say no to Izuku in his stead. As soon as Izuku figured out he only needed to ask Toshinori for permission to get everything he ever wanted, Inko was going to have a hard time getting her son to stick to a few rules.

A boy in a black shirt with light-blonde hair walked up to her son and their guardian, and somehow, she thought that child looked uncannily like the son of the Bakugo's from back home.

“Hey, funny meeting you here!”

Inko turned around to see a tall and slim woman approaching her. Her eyes were the same red and her hair the same light-blonde as her son's, even styled in a similiar fashion.

“Mitsuki?” Inko could hardly believe seeing her neighbour so far away from home. “What're you doing in Musutafu?”

“We only just moved,” Mitsuki explained. “Our Katsuki has such a potential to be a future hero that Masaru and I decided it would be best to send him to U.A.'s elementary course. Set him on the path to greatness and all that, right?” She dropped down on the bench next to Inko and put an elbow up on the backrest, easily occupying half of the available space. “I would've told you all about it, but you were just gone all of a sudden. I didn't know whether I should be worried or angry with you.”

Inko avoided her eyes. It wasn't like her to make the people around her worry. “I'm sorry. We had to relocate very suddenly. Remember when I told you about Hisashi? He kind of forced us to leave the city.”

“Holy shit.” Mitsuki looked at her with a mix of pity and shock. “Sorry, Inko. I didn't know it was this bad.” She composed herself quickly, and her expression changed into one of fierce conviction. “Actually, fuck him! He's a dumbass if he doesn't know how to treat a woman right. He doesn't deserve you, you hear that?” The way Mitsuki stared right into Inko's eyes made her believe that she meant every word she said.

It certainly wasn't how Inko would've phrased it, or even said it, but it was encouraging to hear the words from someone else. Still, it was also a little embarrassing when put so bluntly, and especially, so loudly. “I guess you're right,” Inko replied, smiling to herself as she took a water bottle from her bag.

Mitsuki leaned back on the bench and continued to watch their sons. “I'll gladly slap his stupid face for you if I see him again,” she offered by the way.

“Please don't. I don't want you get into trouble for me.” Her friend didn't even know half the story of Hisashi's criminal background. Dragging her too deep into this could get her and her family seriously hurt, and Inko didn't want her to have to run and hide from a criminal organization like she had.

“Fine, it's your call.” Mitsuki pulled out her phone to check a message, and turned back to Inko. “Hey, let's exchange numbers so you can let me know if you change your mind.”

“Sure.” When Inko had left her old phone behind, she'd also lost a lot of the contacts. Who memorized all those numbers these days, anyway? She handed Mitsuki her phone to copy her new number, and Mitsuki went straight ahead and entered her own number into Inko's list of contacts.

“By the way, have you already made up your mind which elementary school you're gonna send Izuku to?” she asked, finished typing and handed the phone back to Inko.

“No, actually … With everything that's been going on recently, I haven't thought much about it.”

“You know, since you've already moved to Musutafu, why not enroll Izuku at U.A. as well? He and Katsuki could be classmates. They'd probably like to start school with a friend.”

Of course, Inko has heard of U.A. before. Who hasn't, really? The school was renowned all across Japan for its high school hero course and numerous famous alumni. The elementary and middle school courses were actually pretty new and had come into existence only a few years back, but as far as she knew, they were already extremely popular. Inko doubted she could simply enroll Izuku at such a famous school. “Aren't they overrun with applications from all over Japan?” she asked Mitsuki.

“They have a few requirements, but I don't think they're difficult to fulfill. Let me see … What was it again?” Her friend fell quiet for a second. “Right. They're having interviews with both parents of each child before accepting them.”

Inko's heart sunk at that. She shook her head, sighing deeply. “Then I can't enroll Izuku at UA. Any involvement of Hisashi will cast a bad light on both him and me.” Maybe a divorce would make a difference, but he never signed the papers. Probably just to spite her.

“Sorry, I shouldn't have brought it up.” Mitsuki said cautiously. “If they only got to know you and Izuku, they'd see what a sweet boy your son is.” She turned to look back at the children.

Katsuki and Izuku were still talking to Toshinori. Inko unscrewed the top of the bottle and took a gulp of water.

“So, uh … Who's that guy that's playing with Izuku? Isn't he a bit too old to be his replacement father?”

Upon hearing the words “replacement father”, Inko did a proper spit-take. “What!?” A few drops of water ended up in the wrong pipe, making her cough while Mitsuki just looked back at her like the cat that ate the canary. “No! No, it's not like that!” Inko sputtered. “He's just …,” she hesitated a moment, “… a friend.”

He was their guardian, technically, but Inko couldn't tell Mistuki about the police investigation and how their lives were still in danger. Detective Tsukauchi had wanted them to lay low for a reason. It was probably bad enough that Mitsuki knew they were in Musutafu and that she was ready to step into the line of fire if Hisashi showed his face.

“A family friend?” Mitsuki asked. “Izuku seems to like him a lot.”

Inko nodded. “He was kind enough to take us in for the time being, and he and Izuku just happened to get along really well.”

“I see.”

For a little while, they both returned to watching their sons interact with the tall and lanky man. The distance between them was too great to listen in on their conversation, but Izuku was starting to look a little flustered.

Seemingly without prior warning, Katsuki walked up to Toshinori and kicked the adult's shin. With his hands raised, Toshinori bent down as if he was trying to placate the boy while Izuku next to them looked on in mild shock.

“Oi, brat! What did I tell you!?” Mitsuki shouted across the entire playground area. She leaned forward on the bench and raised a fist at her son.

For a moment, Katsuki looked over to her before he turned his eyes away. He said something in return, but it was impossible to make out what.

“I can't hear you!” Mitsuki shouted again.

“Respect your elders!” her son finally shouted back.

With a heavy sigh, Mitsuki dropped back against the backrest. “I swear, parenting is so hard.”

In moments like these, Inko was glad that Izuku happened to be a rather well-behaved boy by nature.

Over at the playground, Toshinori sent off Izuku and Katsuki to play by themselves. Slouching, he walked back to the bench where Inko and Mitsuki were sitting and raised a hand in greeting. “You're a friend of the Midoriyas, I take it?” he addressed the taller woman.

“That's Mitsuki Bakugo. We used to live in the same neighbourhood,” Inko explained. “Mitsuki? This is Toshinori Yagi.”

“Sorry about my kid,” Mitsuki said to him. “He's a real handful sometimes.”

“It's all right. No harm was done.”

Inko noticed a change in Toshinori's mood when he glanced to the side as if to catch something out of the corner of his eye. The only thing of interest in that direction was the bus stop by the side of the road, where several people had gathered. A few of them seemed to be watching the playground as well. Toshinori's expression turned grim and serious.

“Is something the matter?” Inko asked.

A few days ago, Detective Tsukauchi had told them that his team had raided a hideout of the organization Hisashi was working for. The building had been abandoned in a hurry by the time they arrived. Having the police so close on his heels and knowing that they were working off tips she had given them, could force Hisashi to act rashly, Tsukauchi had warned her. If it weren't for Toshinori's continued reassurance that he'd keep them safe, she would be a bundle of nerves right now.

“It's probably nothing,” he replied, but he wasn't even trying to smile this time. “I'll go get Izuku, though.”

“O-Okay.”

When he turned back around, Inko looked over to the bus stop again, trying to figure out just what he had seen that warranted being extra cautious. Out of all the people waiting for the next bus, only two had taken an interest in the children. A slender woman with grey hair cut at chin-length and a middle-aged man whose haircut reminded Inko of a Kappa's head. The man tapped the woman's shoulder as if he was urging her to hurry up with something.

“Do I need to be worried?” Mitsuki asked.

Toshinori had only walked a few steps away when the grey-haired woman suddenly climbed the fence surrounding the playground area and jumped off it. In a split-second, she disappeared and reappeared directly next to Izuku, like space itself had gobbled her up and spat her out again.

Fear pierced Inko's heart like icy needles. She was on her feet in an instant. “Izuku!”

“Shit!” Toshinori burst into a sprint.

Most of the kids on the playground ran away. Izuku just stared at the strange woman, frozen in shock by her sudden and unexpected appearance. He didn't resist when she picked him up. Only then, he started screaming.

“Mom! Help!” Kicking and yelling, Izuku struggled to break free, but his kidnapper simply wrapped both arms around him and pressed him tightly to her chest to restrict his movements.

The sound of firecrackers resounded across the playground when Katsuki jumped at her leg. Small explosions burst from the palms of his hands. “Die!” the six-year-old yelled. “Die, villain!”

He managed to irritate the woman at best. His explosions hardly even burned through the leg of her pants. “Get off of me you stupid brat!” she shouted. “I don't need the bycatch!”

Katsuki tried to wrap himself around her leg, but she kicked him away. His landing looked rough and painful.

“Kacchan!” Izuku cried.

By then, Inko and Mitsuki had started running as well. Toshinori had almost reached the villain.

A mere second or so before he could've intervened, the woman activated her quirk, disappeared, and reappeared just beyond the playground fence on the other side of the area, the one facing away from the bus stop. She pushed through a very perplexed-looking group of people walking by, ran a few steps and activated her quirk again, quickly gaining distance.

Without a moment's hesitation, Toshinori changed directions and ran after her.

“Toshinori!” As if it wasn't bad enough that Inko feared for the life of her son, now she was fearing for their guardian, too. What hope was there for him to catch up to a kidnapper with such a powerful quirk? His physical condition didn't allow him to run a marathon, either.

“Stay there!” he shouted back, already sounding a little out of breath. “I'll cut her off!”

Breathless and in horror, Inko watched him jump over the playground fence and chase after the villain.

In the meantime, Mitsuki had reached her son. Katsuki sat up and looked a little baffled after the kidnapper and Toshinori. Save for a bunch of scratches on the side of his face, he seemed to be unharmed.

“Did I get her?” he asked, but Mitsuki just wrapped him into a hug and kissed his head.

“Don't scare me like that ever again!” she exclaimed while her son twisted in her grip, trying to escape his mom's cuddles of relief.

Notes:

Say what you want about Mitsuki's parenting, but I love how she's the only person who can treat Katsuki just like he treats others and get away with it just because she's his mom. I don't think they're even intending to be mean, it's just the way this family communicates. The attitude's in the genes.

There's now also a 2-page manga showing the opening scene. Check it out on my DA account!

Chapter 2: The Chase

Summary:

Inko goes "Yor" on a villain, and Shota picks up the pursuit of the kidnapper.
(He stumbles upon a secret by accident.)

It took a few seconds for Inko to overcome the moment of shock. Izuku was gone. Toshinori was gone. What was she to do now? Call Detective Tsukauchi? Try to find a local hero that would help them? But by the time help arrived, the kidnapper would be long since out of town, considering the speed with which she had been moving.

All of a sudden, Inko remembered what Toshinori had been looking at just before the kidnapping. The bus stop. The people. The woman with the displacement quirk hadn't been working alone, but with another man. He had given her the signal to jump into the playground.

Inko quickly turned around, scanning the bus stop nearby for the accomplice. Her eyes found the man with the Kappa-like hairstyle just as he was crossing the street and trying to slink away from the scene of the crime.

“Inko?” Mitsuki addressed her, but Inko barely registered her name being said.

“Mitsuki, call the police.”

In a split-second decision, Inko ran after the man. These villains were not getting away with kidnapping her son, not if she could help it. She was going to capture him single-handedly if needed, even if that meant being accused of vigilantism.

“Inko! What're you doing?!”

Mitsuki's call was left unanswered as Inko ran out of the playground and across the street. A car came to a screeching halt next to her, nearly making her trip, but she pushed on. Up ahead, the man had noticed that he was being pursued by one very upset mother and had begun running as well.

Inko was by no means athletic or fast, but neither was the culprit she was chasing. He appeared to be ten to twenty years older than her and heavier, and unless he possessed some extraordinary or powerful quirk it looked like there was a reasonable chance she could deal with him herself.

Behind of Inko, people were shouting for a local hero to pursue the kidnapper. In front of her, the man stopped briefly to reorient himself before he turned into a narrow side alley. Eventually, his steps slowed. His breathing sounded strained. Inko, too, was starting to run out of breath, but it was the man who stopped first. At the end of the alley, he reached an impasse in the form of a wire fence with a locked door.

He turned around to her, face red from exertion and panting.

Inko slowed her steps and stared him down.

“Look, Lady. You're after the wrong guy,” the man said and gasped for air. “I'm just a small fry. Not worth your trouble, trust me.”

“You took my son,” she stated.

“No no, no! That was just what the boss ordered.”

He had to be talking about Hisashi. Inko hadn't been aware that he played any major role in the criminal organization, but the only reason why anyone would kidnap Izuku was to hurt her, and she knew Hisashi was still mad.

“You're going to turn yourself in, and then you'll tell the police all about your boss,” Inko demanded.

Chuckling, the older man shrugged at her. “Or what? Are you gonna hit me with your purse?”

For a moment, she actually considered it. In order to hit him with her bag, she'd need to get much closer, however, and she still didn't know what he was capable of. There was no need to take that risk.

Inko reached out a hand and turned her palm into the direction of the villain. She didn't like using her quirk like this. It didn't feel right. It felt unnatural for her quirk to channel such strength. On the day she had the big fight with Hisashi – the one in which he very nearly hurt Izuku and threatened to burn her and her entire apartment – she had reached for the prototype of a quirk-enhancing drug that had fallen from his briefcase. If she hadn't been so desperate in that moment, the thought would have never crossed her mind, but Hisashi had been taller, stronger and equipped with a much more dangerous quirk than hers.

The drug, however, never made her trip, and it never waned off, either. As far as she knew, it had strengthened her quirk indefinitely. That day, Hisashi had stormed off after she had given him a concussion by pulling his head into a wall. Before he could've come back looking for the precious prototype, Inko had already called the police.

“This is your last chance to surrender,” she announced.

In response, the man smirked at her and reached for something on the inside of his coat.

Almost as if through a time-lapse, Inko recognized the handle of a gun between his fingers. Almost by instinct, she snapped her hand shut, activating her quirk at full force.

The sudden pull tore the villain right off his feet. He came hurtling straight towards her, and Inko stepped aside just in time, so that instead of slamming into her, he slammed into the wall behind her at an angle. Upon impact, the pistol was flung from his hand.

Despite of the blood trickling from a laceration on his head, the man scrambled back to his feet and lunged for his weapon.

Inko pulled the gun into her hand before he could reach it.

In an unexpected twist, the villain turned to throw himself at her.

She dodged in the nick of time and activated her quirk again briefly to send him crashing into the next wall with additional force. He bounced back and landed on his behind, holding his head with both hands.

Shooting him was literally the last thing on Inko's mind. She already felt bad for having to hurt him. With trembling hands, she raised the pistol, hoping to persuade him to give up.

The villain turned around to her, slowly, revealing a terrified look on his face. From his laceration, blood had gathered in his right eye. The last time his head had met the bricks, he had also lost a tooth.

“Over here! I heard something!”

The footsteps of several people resounded through the alley, rapidly growing closer. Inko tensed briefly before she realized that the men turning around the corner wore police uniforms.

“They've taken my son!” she blurted out at them. Her hands trembled even worse, and she could feel herself coming undone in front of all these strangers. Her poor heart couldn' t take all this agitation. The fear for her son, her anger at the villains. Tears welled up in her eyes.

“It's all right, Ma'am,” one of the policemen said and carefully took the gun from her hands. “We'll take it from here.”

Another approached the villain. “You're under arrest for suspected assistance in the kidnapping of a child.”

“Take me!” he cried out in response, casting a horrified look back at Inko. “Lock me away! Just don't let her get near me again!”

A policeman took the villain's arm and bent it behind his back so they could put a pair of handcuffs on him. “Where are they taking the child?” he demanded to know.

 

#-#-#

Shota was on his way to get groceries when a commotion down the street caught his attention.

“Hey, watch where you're going!” someone shouted.
“Stop them!” called another. “They took a child!”

There were too many people around him to get a good look at what was going on, but it certainly didn't sound good. Shota stopped to try and peek ahead when right in front of him, a grey-haired woman rudely pushed through a group of students. His and her eyes met briefly, before Shota noticed the child she kept pressed to her chest.

A green-haired boy, about the age of a preschooler, who looked like he was dizzy to the point of passing out any second.

The boy's obvious distress put Shota on high alert. Most of the time, he let other heroes deal with emergencies while the sun was up. However, when people, and especially children got hurt, he couldn't just stand idly by. Every time, it felt like he was seeing one of his own students in the clutches of a villain. Shota was about to activate his Erasure and stop the woman dead in her tracks when she just popped out of existence.

He turned around, frantically looking for her. For a split-second at best, she reappeared behind him and immediately mingled with the crowd on the sidewalk again. Damn it! The kidnapper had a displacement quirk.

Shota cast his scarf at a street lamp overhead and pulled himself up, out of the group of people. The only way to gain on her was to avoid the crowds. He could see more passers-by stumbling out of the way of someone down the street, but not the kidnapper herself.

He swung from one street lamp to the next and onto the flat roof of a building. Even as he ran along the edge, he kept an eye out for more signs of public commotion. If he were that villain, he'd look for a less popular road. Right now, she was drawing too much attention. With or without Shota on her heels, if she kept going along this street, it was only a matter of time until she ran into a hero that managed to stop her instantly.

As expected, the calls from upset people ceased, indicating that she had changed directions. At a small crossroads, Shota turned to the nearest side street, and finally, he got a good look at the kidnapper.

He jumped off the roof while activating his quirk, and instead of using her spatial displacement, the woman stumbled.

The distance between them was still too great to cast his capture weapon at her, but now that she had to make her escape without her quirk, and was still carrying the boy, Shota was closing in rapidly.

Down the side street, Shota noticed a woman and a man waiting for the kidnapper. The other woman wore a black coat and had long, silver hair that shone like chrome, which could suggest that she possessed a metal-related quirk. Unlike her, the man immediately ran off upon seeing that his accomplice was being pursued by a hero. His appearance was rather unassuming, but Shota didn't have the time to focus on him for long, anyway.

Unfortunately, the kidnapper reached the other woman first and pressed the child into her arms before turning back to face her pursuer. Shota only caught a glimpse of the boy before the accomplice started running, but the boy seemed to have gone completely limp. The repeated spatial displacement had taken its toll on his small body.

Faster! I need to be faster! With burning eyes, Shota jumped at the kidnapper and cast the slings of his scarf far and wide.

She stared at him in fear. Without her displacement quirk, her capture was inevitable, and if her expression was anything to go by, she knew this as well as Shota.

He landed just past in her in the middle of the street and pulled his scarf tight. The tension in the carbon fiber told him he had the villain wrapped up better than a Christmas present, ready to be picked up by the police at their convenience. Being tied to a nearby lamp post should also keep her from activating her displacement again.

In a single, swift motion, Shota pulled the knife from the sheath on his back and cut his scarf to keep on going. He couldn't risk to retrieve it, lest the accomplice got away with the child. Even with a significant piece of his capture weapon missing, he continued the chase.

Shota turned into an alley. The woman in the black coat had gained distance on him, and passed below a corridor that connected the second floor of the two buildings to either side.

A movement in the corner of Shota's eye made him look up.

From the sky, an imposingly large hero jumped down into the alley. The impact of his landing kicked up so much dust that it obscured Shota's view of the accomplice, save for her silhouette.

From the dust rose All Might, and he wasn't smiling this time, just gritting his teeth. Never before had Shota seen the Number One look this serious. If he were a villain, he'd fear for his life right now.

“Unhand the boy!” All Might demanded.

“Crap! Crap crap crap!” The woman seemed to have stopped running. “No one said All Might was gonna be involved in this!”

All Might wound up for a punch, despite of the distance between him and the villain.

The dust was still settling when she activated her quirk. Through the veil of particles, Shota made out the orange glow emitted by the tips of the woman's hair. A quiet rumble shook the buildings around them. Drops of red-hot, liquid metal were drawn out of cracks in the walls and gathering in the alley. Like a thousand needles or bullets, the villain launched the rapidly cooling metal drops towards All Might and Shota.

There was no way to dodge this many of them. Shota braced himself for the impact.

“Detroit SMASH!”

The air pressure of All Might's punch scattered the projectiles and nearly knocked the villain off her feet. The vast majority of metal pieces hit the sides of both buildings. Heroes, villain and hostage remained unharmed.

Conveniently, it also cleared the dust from the alley. Shota was about to erase the woman's quirk, when two things happened simultaneously; All Might prepared to rush at the villain with his arms wide open to capture her, and there were deep cracks forming where the corridor overhead connected to the buildings on either side.

The villain must have drawn too much metal from the construction. Any second now, the corridor was going to come crashing down, and if All Might stopped in front of her, even if only for the briefest of moments, he was going to get crushed by metal and concrete.

Shota had to make a split-second decision. There was no time to shout a warning. His options were to either trust All Might to be faster than the collapsing corridor, or to erase his super-speed to stop him before he reached the villain. Now, Shota was a rational man. Others might say that the Number One wasn't going to get crushed so easily, but Shota would argue that he, too, was human and misjudged a situation sometimes. Besides, Shota had never liked taking chances, and trusting others, especially ones he didn't know very well, meant taking a chance.

In that instant, Shota went for the safer option. Erasure would be active only for a second, and then All Might could continue to pursue the criminal at top speed. Shota switched his gaze from the villain to All Might and erased his quirk.

To his surprise, the mighty hero exploded into a cloud of steam. The sudden lack of momentum sent All Might tumbling to the ground. At about the same time, the corridor collapsed right in front of him. Pieces of rubble crashed down into the street, kicking up dust again and blocking the alley.

Shota deliberately blinked to cancel Erasure immediately. And then he blinked twice more, just to make sure the effect had truly worn off, even though his hair had dropped back onto his shoulders already.

The dust and steam cleared, but the man who picked himself up from the ground no longer fit the description of that mountain of muscle people called All Might. He was skinny as a twig with disheveled hair and clothes suddenly too wide for his frame. His deep and dark eye sockets reminded Shota of the grim reaper rather than the Symbol of Peace. The man stared back at him, and he looked rightfully angry.

“Eraser, what the -!” A sudden gush of blood from his mouth kept him from swearing.

The sight slapped Shota brighter awake than the bitter taste of a triple espresso. Holy mother of gods, I killed All Might.

Usually, he wasn't the kind of person who was easily shocked or surprised. Yet out of all possible scenarios that his mind had played out, this hadn't been among them. At all. All Might's quirk, while not publicly known, should've been something along the lines of super-strength or super-speed. Erasing it shouldn't have turned the world's greatest hero into a dying man with internal bleeding.

Part of Shota's brain skipped ahead to tomorrow's first lesson. He could see himself standing in front of his students, announcing in his usual, tired voice: “I got bad news for you, everyone. I killed your favorite idol on accident.” With that kind of guilt on his mind, he could say good-bye to ever napping again.

The sounds of the villain running away drew him back into the present and Shota shook himself out of his sudden stupor. Looking at it rationally, there was no way his Erasure could kill a person. Only if that person's quirk was keeping them alive, but even that theory seemed far-fetched. Was the man in greater need of help than the kidnapped child? He didn't seem the slightest bit alarmed by the state he was in.

The emaciated-looking man probably read Shota's confusion off his face. “I can explain later,” he said, wiped a trail of blood off his chin and turned towards the rubble blocking the way. As he clenched his fists, muscles bulged under his skin that hadn't existed a second before. In front of Shota, the man changed back into the much healthier looking, buff form people all over the world recognized as Japan's Number One Hero.

“We have to save that boy!” All Might exclaimed and jumped over the rubble.

By using his capture weapon to pull himself up and over, Shota hurried after him. Could he be a very convincing imposter with a transformation quirk? Even if so, he appeared to be both very powerful and concerned for the citizens. Shota had to shelve that thought for later. Right now, that child needed saving. This wasn't the time to question his ally's integrity.

Notes:

Congrats, Shota, you just got nominated for the role of colleague/friend/babysitter.

PS: I don't know if canon stated it somewhere, but at least my headcanon is that Shota's scarf can't "just be cut". It would take a bit of a trick to cut it - for example, only when there's no tension on it or only if it is cut at a very specific angle. It's not something he would do often, but there may be situations where he needs to sacrifice his weapon for extra mobility.

Chapter 3: All Might Saves The Day

Summary:

All Might to the rescue! In more ways than one.
(Watch Toshi manage his double identity, and have a fluffy family reunion.)

Past the collapsed corridor, the alley took a turn and led back out towards a very frequented road and a crosswalk flanked by traffic lights.

As soon as Shota laid eyes on the woman again, he canceled her quirk, but she wasn't paying attention to her pursuers, anyway. Standing by the crosswalk, she gazed down the road. Her face was twisted in disbelief and anger. Judging by the sounds of an engine revving up, cars honking and tires squealing, her male accomplice had chosen to drive off without her.

“Hisashi, you coward!” she shouted down the street. “Get back here!”

The lights of the crosswalk still showed red when she noticed All Might rushing in, but she ran, anyway. By the time she figured she no longer needed to carry all that extra weight, she was already halfway across the street. In the middle of the crosswalk, she dropped the unconscious boy, leaving him to hit his head on the asphalt and be run over by the car that was rushing near. The driver seemed to have already noticed what was happening, the brakes were screeching, but the vehicle wasn't going to stop in time.

Had Shota not sacrificed a part of his capture weapon earlier, he could have pulled the boy to safety and stopped the villain's flight at the same time, but as it were, he would be forced to …

“IZUKU!”

Shouting what was presumably the boy's name, All Might heroically leaped across the street, caught the child in his arms and dodged the approaching car with a forward roll.

Since Shota came in second, he jumped onto and over the car instead, then cast out the rest of his capture weapon. While it wasn't enough to tie up the villain entirely in one go, he managed to wrap a few slings around her head and throat, which got her to stop running just as fast. If she pulled away, she was going to strangle herself. Simple logic. His Erasure also kept her from pulling any tricks on them. This chase was officially over.

While Shota slowly reeled her in so he could tie her hands together, All Might rose from the ground next to him with the five or six-year-old cradled in his arms like he were an even smaller child. The hero's gaze, however, was directed off into the distance and his teeth gritted in frustration. “Hisashi,” he muttered, possibly upset that the man behind the kidnapping had gotten away. Unfortunately, that's how these emergencies went sometimes.

“Try to escape and I'll ask the big guy to knock you out,” Shota informed the woman he'd captured.

She cast an angry look at him. “Fuck my life.”

Shota had enough scarf to spare to wrap a sling over her mouth. “Watch your language around the kid,” he said. Not that he'd give her another chance to complain. Shota turned to All Might and the boy. “How is he?”

“Unharmed at a glance, but still unconscious,” the big hero replied, looking down on the child with concern. He lightly tapped the boy's cheek with two fingers.

“The paramedics should probably check on him.”

Shota took out his phone to call the police and an ambulance to the scene, only to see that someone else had opened a case on the Hero Network already. Presumably, one of the many civilians that had witnessed the kidnapping had contacted the police. According to the information, it seemed they had tracked the kidnapper's steps up to the location of the handover in this short amount of time, which was nothing short of impressive, considering the first kidnapper's displacement quirk.

 

#-#-#

“It's all right. You can wake up now.”

A familiar, quiet voice gently drew Izuku from unconsciousness. Groggily, he opened his eyes. The world was still spinning, and very blurry at first.

“Haha! There you go!”

The loud laughter snapped Izuku awake, and when the big grin of his rescuer came into focus he very nearly passed out again, but from excitement this time. And maybe because he'd forgotten to breathe.

“All Might!” he shouted and drew what felt like the deepest breath of his life. “The real All Might!”

Still a little bit dizzy, Izuku sat up in All Might's arms by holding onto the hero's plain white shirt. He couldn't believe his luck. Meeting his big idol in person! If there was any chance that All Might showed up every time Izuku got kidnapped, he needed to get kidnapped more often. Just, maybe without being jerked around as much. He still felt queasy from that woman's jumping and running and whatever else she'd done.

All Might gave him a big thumbs up. “It's me! In the flesh,” he said. “Let's get you back to your mother. She'll be relieved to see you're awake.”

“You saved me!” Izuku blurted out, before he realized he actually missed out on the whole saving. “What happened? Did you fight the villain?”

“Actually, I didn't have to,” All Might explained and looked over to the other pro hero walking next to him with a tied-up villain in tow. “All thanks to Eraser Head!”

The other man wore a loose fitting black jumpsuit, and a pair of yellow goggles around his neck. His hair was long, black and wavy, and he had that expression that Izuku's mom only wore when she didn't get enough sleep. Upon noticing that Izuku was looking his way, he glanced up. “Hey, kid. You feeling okay?”

Izuku only nodded back at him, thinking “So cool! This is so cool!”. This might just be the best day of his life.

 

#-#-#

By the time they had made it back to the side street where Shota had captured the woman with the displacement quirk, several policemen and a few paramedics had already gathered, as well as the usual number of curious onlookers and wanna-be reporters. It didn't take long for him to spot a stocky woman with dark green hair, who looked very distraught by the overall situation. He'd bet his hero license that she was the kidnapped boy's mother. With her were a tall, blonde woman who seemed to be threatening a police officer and another child of the same age as the boy they had saved. Most of the officers were still busy taking in the villain Shota had captured earlier when he and All Might walked into the street.

Immediately, everyone's eyes were on All Might.

Actually, everyone's but the mother's. Her only concern was the boy sitting in the crook of the hero's arm. “Izuku!”

While Shota split off from his pro hero colleague to hand the last villain over to the police, the mother ran up to All Might. He lowered the child into her arms, so she could embrace him.

Big, bubbly tears of relief streamed down her face. “Oh, Izuku!”

“Mom, did you see? It's All Might!” The boy raised his arms in excitement, and his mother bowed her head to the hero.

"Thank you, thank you so much.”

The people who had gathered all around clapped and cheered.

Shota quickly signed the police papers with his hero name and returned to All Might and the little family. At any other time, he'd taken the chance to quietly make his exit, but All Might, or whoever he really was, had promised him answers earlier, and all the onlookers were already closing in on him, each of them wanting to have their own piece of the world's most popular hero.

“Everything is fine now!” All Might declared to the crowd that was quickly gathering around him, beaming his million-megawatt smile. Some of the people continued to cheer his name, others were trying to snap a picture of the hero and a few were calling for his attention, probably to get a much-sought after autograph. It only went to show that he never stopped being a limelight hero.

In the middle of all this, the mother of the kidnapped boy hesitantly walked up to All Might again. In contrast to the people around her, she didn't look as happy. Something else was occupying her mind, still. “A-actually, All Might … we're still missing someone,” she said. “Have you seen a tall, skinny man with blonde hair? He went after the kidnapper, and I'm worried …”

“Say no more!” All Might chuckled and turned back to the concerned looking mother. “I know exactly who you are talking about. I met him on the way, and he's perfectly fine.” He gave her another thumbs up that seemed to do little to calm her.

Interesting. So that woman knew All Might's other form, but not that they were the one and same person? Another question to add to the growing pile. On a whim, Shota decided to help the Number One out.

“Oh, right. Him,” Shota said, garnering All Might's and the mother's attention. He took a step out of the crowd that had been closing in around him. The people were disregarding him as some local hero who had yet to earn to stand in the spotlight alongside All Might, which was neither unexpected nor undesired. “I still need to talk to him, anyway. Hopefully, he's still where I saw him last.” With a glance over to the Number One, Shota made sure he got the message before turning back to mother and son. “I'll let him know where to find you.”

She sighed quietly. “Thank you. We'll wait here.”

“All Might! A statement please!” “Please, give us an interview!” “Can I have an autograph?”
“Just one question!” “Why the switch to underground hero work?” “Why the appearance today?”
“I wanna see him, too! Hey, get out of the way you extras!” “Katsuki!”

The commotion surrounding the Number One was very quickly starting to feel a little oppressive. Someone bumped into Shota while trying to get closer to All Might. The mother pressed her son to her chest as they were slowly swallowed by the crowd.

“My, you've gotten quite fast to catch up to me! Well done!” All Might laughed loudly at his fans. “Sadly, I don't have time for questions today. But try to catch me next time!”

“Everyone! Get back!” Shota spread out his arms when he saw All Might bend his knees.

Barely a second later, the Number One launched himself into the sky. The air displacement of his sudden movement pulled anyone off their feet who had stood too close to him and got caught unaware. All Might jumped so high that he seemed to disappear in the blinding light of the sun.

Some of the people sighed and groaned at the missed opportunity to get close to their idol while others had to get back to their feet, having missed Shota's warning. Slowly, but surely, the crowd dispersed, leaving only mother and son to wait for the return of the emaciated man Shota had seen earlier. The blonde woman and her boy approached them. Hopefully they'd help to ease the mother's worry.

It was time for Shota to get going as well.

After a minute of walking at best, he had retraced his steps to the alley that was now blocked by the rubble of the collapsed corridor. Shota arrived just in time to see thick billows of steam part and reveal the man he had hoped to meet again. Truly, if Shota hadn't known already that he was All Might, he would've never guessed. There were similarities, sure, but their build was so vastly different that it seemed ridiculous to compare them.

In front of his eyes, All Might suffered a coughing fit that sounded too wet and too harsh for Shota's liking. Propping himself up against the nearest wall, the Number One pulled on the hem of his shirt. “Ah, crap.”

As Shota walked up to him, he spotted drops of blood on All Might's clothes. “That's what you call perfectly fine?”

The other pro finally turned around to him. Despite of his haggard appearance, All Might's blue irises shone with a frightening intensity. “Eraser.”

“Would you mind explaining me all this?” Shota asked. “I'm tempted to question whether you're even the real All Might.”

“I am,” All Might reassured him, looking dead serious. “This is just my civilian form.”

“And the other?”

There was a pause. “You know how the guys by the pool are always posing?”

“You can't flex three hundred pounds of muscle into existence,” Shota stated matter-of-factly. He wasn't up for listening to half-hearted lies. “Try again.”

All Might sighed and a shadow fell over his eyes.

“You have a transformation quirk, is that it?” Shota guessed, trying to ease the conversation.

“No, my quirk is,” All Might seemingly searched for a phrase, “more complicated than that. Up until a few years ago, it didn't change my appearance drastically, but I was badly injured in a fight with a villain, lost a few organs, and this …” He gestured to the drops of blood on his shirt. “… is the result of that.”

“You're dying?” Shota concluded. It was bitter, but it wouldn't come as a surprise at this point.

All Might shook his disheveled mane in disagreement. “No, I'm not dying. My condition is stable. I'm just …”

“Not looking very alive?”

“I suppose that sums it up.”

“That's still not very reassuring for the public.”

Shota was fixated by All Might's intense glare once more. What the man lacked in physical strength in this form, he made up for with the strength of will that shone from his eyes. It was impressive, if not intimidating, in its own right.

“Which is exactly why I need my true form to stay secret,” All Might explained and balled his right hand into a fist. “The Symbol of Peace must stand strong for as long as possible. His mere existence keeps the crime rate low.”

Shota had to reluctantly agree. All Might was a pillar of society. His importance couldn't be understated. Still, it looked to Shota as if that pillar was crumbling faster than anyone could rise to catch the overwhelming amount of responsibility that rested on All Might's shoulders. Since his supposed retirement, crime rates were rising slowly, but steadily, and it would get even worse if he disappeared completely. A lot worse.

“And I nearly exposed that secret to a villain,” Shota said and lowered his chin into the remaining loops of his scarf. His thoughts circled back to the worried expression on the face of the mother, when she had been asking about skinny All Might. She and her son were in on that secret, too. In some way, at least. “That family … Who are you to them?”

“Their guardian. I vowed to keep them from harm, but they only know me as Toshinori Yagi, not as All Might.”

So that was either an alias, or his actual civilian name. Knowing him, Shota would guess the latter. “This means you're stuck watching them 24/7. No wonder I had no more nightly run-ins with All Might.”

“I'm sorry. I can't do patrols and protect the Midoriyas at the same time.”

Strange, how this man before him could be so much like the Symbol of Peace and yet so different. Since he'd first met him on a mission, Shota had come to understand that All Might wasn't “all show” or “all brawn”. He was simply too good a pro to jump into fights thoughtlessly. His statistics proved it as well. Part of what made him the Number One was the incredible amount of people saved or kept safe, and the overall surprisingly little damage to property and environment. Still, Shota had always felt annoyed by his over-the-top positive attitude, and he was already starting to like this more grounded version of him much better.

“What're you apologizing for?” Shota asked bluntly. “Of course you can't be everywhere at the same time.”

All Might's jaw tightened. Wisps of steam rose from his arms when he balled both hands into fists. He was staring at the ground to Shota's feet. “As the Symbol of Peace, I should be able to keep more than one family safe.”

One word hung between them, unspoken: Pathetic. That's what All Might thought of his own performance.

Even before Shota said it, he already knew he was going to regret his offer greatly. Especially considering his non-existent sleep schedule. “You know,” he began, “If you need to be somewhere else, I can take over for you for a couple of hours. Think of it as a sort of compensation for erasing your quirk without permission.”

Immediately, the tension around All Might evaporated and he looked back at Shota, surprised. “You'd do that?”

Shota was inclined to believe he'd accepted to protect the family without thinking about the consequences beforehand. Actually, it would fit his personality. “I work part-time as a teacher at U.A. It'll be like a house visit. Nothing to it.” He glanced over to the collapsed corridor. “And since your involvement came completely out of nowhere for the villains, I guess they won't be making another move soon.”

For the first time since he had started talking to All Might in his civilian form, Shota saw the man smile. A genuine smile of relief. “That'd be a huge help, actually,” All Might admitted.

“Then it's set,” Shota replied, like he didn't have two jobs already. He was so going to regret doing family-sitting on the side.

 

#-#-#

Inko had already told the entire story to the police before All Might had appeared, so, when the commotion died down and the paramedics had finished doing a simple check-up on Izuku, she only needed to give them her okay and they began packing up. Mitsuki and her son had stuck with her through most of this, which was very much appreciated, but there were some thoughts on Inko's mind she couldn't share with them.

No one had wanted to believe the man that Inko had sent him crashing into the alley's walls. She thought she had even heard one of the police officers say that she simply didn't look like the type of woman capable of self-defense and probably just got lucky to pick up the man's gun. Maybe he was right, because in a way, Inko couldn't believe it herself, or rather didn't want to believe it herself. She really didn't want to hurt other people. It was not in her nature. And yet, here she was ... This had been the second time now she'd used the unnatural strength behind her quirk to protect herself and Izuku. The third time even, if you counted the encounter at the toy store where she'd threatened another kid with it because he'd made Izuku cry.

Right now, Izuku was the one least affected by the kidnapping. He was doing great – better than great, actually, since he'd seen All Might in person and was telling Katsuki all about it.

“… and then Eraser Head captured the villain!” Izuku finished, waving his arms around.

“They didn't fight?” Katsuki asked.

“I, uh, don't think so.”

“That's so lame.” Katsuki crossed his arms, but then an overly confident smirk formed on his face. “If I'd been just a little stronger, I would've beaten that villain!”

“Hey, no more villain fighting for you until high school,” Mitsuki reminded him.

Katsuki pouted at that, mumbling “You're not the boss of me.”

“But she's your mom,” Izuku helpfully added, although he looked a little clueless saying it.

“Say, Inko,” Mitsuki turned from watching the kids to her. “Looks like the police's already driven off. Would you like us to stay and wait with you until Toshinori comes back?”

“No, it's okay,” Inko replied. “You probably want to get back home, too.”

Truth be told, Inko was just trying to be polite, but on the inside, she was a nervous wreck held together by the barest of threads. Of course, seeing Izuku fine and happy was a major relief, but knowing Toshinori, she couldn't help but worry that all this exertion had taken a toll on him or worse, that he'd gotten into a scuffle with one of the villains.

“All right.” Her friend gave her a smile. “Hey, Katsuki. Come on, Masaru's waiting for us.” She took her son by the hand and with a little bit of convincing, Katsuki let himself be dragged away.

“Bye, Kacchan!” Izuku called after his friend.

Mitsuki waved to Inko one last time. “Call me when you get home!”

“I will.”

No sooner had the Bakugos disappeared around the corner than Inko was feeling anxious again. Part of her wished Mitsuki were a little better at reading subtext and had just insisted to stay. Inko wasn't sure for how long she could contain that raging storm of emotions inside of her, just to keep Izuku from worrying over nothing.

“Toshi!”

Izuku's call made her turn around to see Toshinori turn into the side street from an alley. With a deep sigh of relief, Inko walked up to him to close the distance. Her son ran ahead to greet their guardian, stopping him dead in his tracks by wrapping his arms around his leg and beaming up at him. “You're back!”

In response, Toshinori ruffled Izuku's hair. “Are you all right, my boy?”

Izuku nodded excitedly. “You'll never guess who saved me!”

As she stepped up them, Inko's eyes fell on the spots of red that stood out starkly on his white shirt. She drew a shaky breath. “Toshinori, you …”

He made a half-hearted effort to rub one of the spots out of the fabric. “Don't worry, it's my blood.”

“That's exactly what makes me worry.” Inko really didn't know how he could say that, sounding like he had no idea that's not how that saying was supposed to go. “The paramedics are still packing up. I can call them over.”

His eyes met hers, and for a moment, he struggled for an explanation. “Ah, thanks, but, you know … It's nothing to worry about. It's just my cough.”

“No wonder. You ran quite the distance.” Inko tried to take a breath and exhale her worry, reminding herself that everything was well, but it didn't help. Her chest only felt tighter.

Toshinori chuckled awkwardly. “I did. I guess I should cut back on the marathons a little.”

Next to him, Izuku jumped up and down in place, tugging on the leg of his pants. “I saw All Might! The real All Might! He saved me!”

“Well, aren't you lucky? I saw him, too, you know.”

“You did? That's so awesome! Kacchan was totally impressed, too!” All of a sudden, the excitement fell from Izuku's face. “Kacchan … I forgot to ask him if he got hurt when that villain kicked him!”

“I'm sure he's fine,” Toshinori tried to calm him. “He seemed like a strong boy.”

“Yea, Kacchan's very strong!”

Inko didn't know what it was in exactly that moment that drove the tears back into her eyes, though her family was famously known for crying a lot – to the point where she'd been asked whether it was her quirk that allowed her to cry a literal river. In a rather futile attempt to calm herself, Inko fanned air into her face with both hands, but she was already gasping. She couldn't hold the tears back.

Toshinori looked at her with worry written all over his features. “Inko?”

“Mom.” Like the good boy that he was, Izuku let go of Toshinori and lightly tugged on the hem of her long-sleeved shirt instead.

“I'm so sorry,” she uttered, though her voice came out broken and the sobs were long since beyond her control. She was making a fool of herself, she knew. As a single mom, she should be stronger than that, but she just couldn't stop coming undone all of a sudden. “I just … It's been too much! I was so afraid … and then I was angry. And worried … and now I'm just so relieved, and it's all …!”

“… fine now.” Through the watery veil of tears, she saw Toshinori's expression soften. He took a step closer and placed a large hand on her shoulder, giving her a small, reassuring squeeze and a gentle smile.

It was a small gesture by all means, but it made her feel grounded, like the weight of his hand anchored her to the present, where everything was all right, and the emergency had passed. Her tears let up a little. Although her lower lip was wobbling, Inko tried her best to smile back him. It wasn't everyday that she got to draw this much emotional strength from someone other than Izuku. “Thank you.”

Her son looked from Toshinori to her and reached out to take her hand. “Are you okay, mom?”

She wiped a stray tear from the corner of Izuku's eye and chuckled lightly. “I am, honey. I am.”

“It's been a stressful day,” Toshinori said. “Come. I'll drive you home.”

#-#-#

Later that day, the sun was setting behind Musutafu's sky scrapers and the last of its rays fell through the windows of Toshinori's apartment. On the TV ran what was now the third news coverage of the kidnapping incident.

“Everything is fine now!” Izuku said the catchphrase along with his big idol on the screen. His eyes were still glittering in awe.  The footage of All Might wasn't the best, since it had been captured with someone's private phone, but the news agencies appeared to have bought every clip that had been taken today.

“Izuku.”

Inko shushed her son quietly and nodded over to their guardian, who had fallen asleep next to them on the couch with his head on the backrest.

Notes:

Funny story; The first time I got into contact with MHA was by watching a few episodes of season 5.1 on TV out of the corner of my eye while doing something else. Toshinori's edgy character design struck me as super fun to draw (which it is btw), but since it's also rather simplified, I figured that he's probably just there for the fun of it and not actually an important character. Boy, was I fooled!
I actually had to look him up on the wikia, and if it hadn't said it right there, you would've had to convince me that he and MHA's prominently featured Number One are one and the same person.

In case you're wondering: the bonus scene with Shota and Inko has been moved into the follow-up story "Operation: One for All" since that one continues right where the bonus scene left off.

Series this work belongs to:

• Part 3 of HERO x FAMILY