Red Ink

Part 31 - Chance Encounter

"It's not much to go on," Todoroki said.

Kirishima sighed and flopped back into his chair at the large conference table. "Yeah, I know. That's why I'm thinkin' we should also try to get a stealth hero to track her on Tuesday– we might be able to figure out where she gets taken to every week. Do you know if Hagakure would want to help?"

Midoriya leaned forward against the table, scarred hands rubbing at his chin in deep thought. "I'm sure she'd want to help, I think the question is if she's busy. I can try and reach out to her if you like."

The corner of Todoroki's mouth turned up in a smile. "That'll work. Nobody says no to the number one."

"That's not true! Plenty of people are busy with their own things," Midoriya protested with a waving hand. "It's not fair of me to assume that everyone would–"

"Trust me, every hero wants to work with you. Your track record is even better than Kat's, and that's saying something." He paused. "Uh, don't tell him I said that."

Midoriya chuckled a bit before his gaze landed on the drawing board once more. He tilted his head at it quizzically and stood up to get a closer look, zoning in on the picture of Red with his hands resting on his hips. "She's got quite the quirk. That's a really smart application of it, too, to use it as tattoo ink. Pretty clever."

"She's brilliant. You should see the way she organizes everything... and she runs the whole parlor by herself."

"Alone?" Todoroki muttered. "All that work, and it's just her?"

"Pretty incredible, right?"

Izuku turned back to face them and crossed his arms, his brow still furrowed in focus. "You said she frequents the Underground, right?"

"Yeah, I think the majority of her clients are from there."

"It's odd that her clientele is so swayed," Todoroki said as he stood to join Midoriya at the drawing board. "Especially given how divided the surface and the Underground have been recently. Hasn't it gotten worse?"

Midoriya nodded gravely. "Much worse. The surface blames the entire Underground for what the Crimson Doves are doing, and the Underground has been forced to fuel their own economy and livelihood as a result."

"What do you mean? Even if some of them aren't with the Doves, isn't the Underground just a hub of criminal activity?"

"Actually, no," Kirishima interjected. "That's just the stereotype. If I were to guess, I'd say that like... 90 percent of people from the Underground are just trying to get by. There's an entire Housing Sector down there full of people who've been rejected by society."

"But... rejected for what?"

"Quirk deformations, mostly," Deku said. His voice was serious– sad, even. "The more time passes, the more complex quirks become genetically. Combinations get more dangerous as generations continue. Remember how Eri started out? She was just a kid who didn't know how to control her power." He looked back at the drawing board, staring at the photo of the Underground Commons. "Eri was lucky. She got the help she needed. Most don't, and when society punishes or ostracizes them, there's only one place to go."

Todoroki's expression fell. "This... this is terrible. Why isn't anything being done about this?"

"Well... I'm trying to get something started," Midoriya offered sheepishly, "but it's a lot of work, trying to get the public to understand. Most people still just picture people of the Underground as criminals or monsters because of their quirks. As of right now, the only thing that the surface respects about the Underground is the boxing tournaments. They think it's the only regulated Sector."