Utopia (Vigilante Deku) || A Bnha AU Story

Part Four: Be Gay do Crime

He mounted the next wall in a similar fashion, taking a moment to regain his energy, before examining the next rooftop. This was slightly lower than this one. This is where it would get easier. The heights were averaged out the rest of the way. He backed up then ran, hopping to the next roof and continuing on. He felt chilled as the night air pressed against his unprotected cheeks. The force of his jumping against his hair kept pushing his hood off of his head. He didn't worry about that now.

It felt like a movie or something.. Not quite real. He almost spaced out thinking about it, but noticed that the next few buildings led up to his final stop. He hopped the next few gaps before skidding to a halt on the roof of the lab. This was it.

He observed the small shed-like entrance a few feet away as he approached it. The door was locked with an old fashioned lock that required a specific key. For a lab that specified in such useful information in a world of superpowered people who could use that for evil, he had expected more. However, in that same world these powers would most likely be able to surpass whatever securities you put in place anyway. That weird portal guy from the league of villains could just portal anyone in there, and who knows how many people have similar powers.

He grabbed the lock and scanned its golden spray painted exterior then charged up his hand and crushed it, leaving the hook that attached it to the door handle hanging there with nothing to hold. He dropped the remains and kicked them aside then pulled out the metal piece, opening up the door. Ahead lay a dark stairway leading down to a room that appeared very scarcely lit.

He put gentle efforts into each step he took down the stairs to make sure he was as quiet as possible. As he reached the bottom, he peered around the wall that opened to the main area to inspect what lay ahead. This space was empty of people and held orderly desks arranged in repetitive patterns. Each held papers, pens and other common office supplies along with personalized items that belonged to the researcher that worked there.

Looking to the source of the light, Deku noticed the figures of people through wall windows and the slightly ajar door of a neighboring room. The lights in there were on and the people inside talked in calm tones to each other as they worked on whatever it was they were doing. He couldn't see the features of the staff from this angle, but it didn't matter. As long as he was quiet and stuck to this room, he shouldn't have a problem.

He crouched and kept his figure low as he headed to inspect the desks. A lot of these desks had similar papers, some with studies and data that hadn't been finished yet. He recognized titles such as 'Emitter Quirks and Causes for their Frequency' and 'At Birth vs Developed Mutant Quirks'. None of them were completed even on the pages they were written on, and none covered what he wanted.

He focused his attention next on a metallic cabinet of sorts pressed against a dark wall. It contained two side-opening doors that would reveal a wide interior on the top half, and pull out drawers on the lower half. Each handle had a place to insert a key below them, however one of the lower drawers showed a dark sliver that revealed it was still unlocked and open. A researcher had probably accessed it recently and not closed it all the way.

He wedged his gloved fingers inside the space and silently attempted to pull the drawer open. Inside, two thin wires ran from end to end on opposite sides, holding up specially shaped files, organized alphabetically by titles. Each file seemed to contain all sorts of papers such as descriptions of the topics, hypotheses and data for experiments and surveys they held. Some had solid conclusion pages.

Deku flipped through the titled files, trying to find one that matched what he was looking for, and stopped at one rather far back and alone with the words 'Medical Quirk Removal; Safe and Possible?'. He skimmed the introduction page as it described the intent of this research; to find ways to remove quirks and to identify when it was and was not possible or safe for the subject. It also put out some concepts on uses for this ability if mastered. The stapled packets of papers in this file felt smaller than those in other ones he had seen. It hadn't been as researched, or perhaps they hadn't gotten far with it. He hoped for neither of these as he snatched it up.