Rejected Stones

Misplaced Trust

Beta'd by kylekatarn77 and Poliamida

54. Misplaced Trust

Just because you're paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't after you.

-Joseph Heller, Catch 22

"He's back! Togata's back!" Hagakure's voice shouted in the hallway, and Izuku bolted upright out of his bed. The police had come by the night before, placing Class 1A under house arrest for the time being. He raced down the stairs along with the rest of his floor, leaving behind his arm in his haste.

He pounded down the stairs to find Togata standing in the living room, Hari's arms wrapped around him as she cried. "We were so worried about you! Are you OK?"

"I"m fine, honest!" Togata laughed, awkwardly patting Hari on the back. "I wasn't ever in any real danger! Everything's perfectly fine!"

Hari took a deep breath and let him go, stepping back and folding her arms over her chest. "Next time, don't go alone!"

"I wasn't alone though!" Togata protested. "I was with Endeavor. And...and I think if any of you had been there, you would have been arrested too."

Shoto hurried up, looking worried. "My father?"

Togata sighed heavily. "I'm sorry. He's still in jail. They let me out when Sir Nighteye came to get me. I'm suspended from hero activity for now, but it will be alright. Endeavor's tough! He won't let them get to him!"

"But, Hanabata admitted he was a part of the MLA!" Hagakure protested. "How can they let him go but lock Endeavor up? He's grumpy and all but he's a real hero!"

"Being a member of the MLA isn't a crime. According to a court ruling that happened mere hours before the mission. A ruling that was kept secret," Shinso said, his voice dull. "They beat us."

"That's bullshit!" Bakugo snarled. "Those people are monsters! We all saw what they did!"

"Yeah, Katskui's right!" Uraraka declared, her hands balled into fists. "How could anyone think anything else?"

"Because the MLA has people in places of power," Shinso said, his tone full of bitterness. "Think about it. Chikazoku? A CEO of a major company. Hanabata? A high placed government official. They had enough pull to get a secret court ruling passed and to have the Number 1 Hero arrested. They set a trap with bait, and we fell for it."

"You think that Chikazawa's laptop was a plant?" Sato asked, looking worried. "Like, they planned for us to find it?"

"No," Shinso said with a sigh. "But they realized that once we had access to that information we'd try to roll up their organization. So Hanabata agreed to the meeting, knowing Endeavor was going to try to arrest him. Then he baited Togata into roughing him up. They played us for fools."

"So we go in and smash them!" Bakugo shouted.

Uraraka put a hand on his shoulder. "We can't, we're only provisionally licensed heroes. If we just burst in and start cracking heads we'll only make things worse. Besides, we don't know if Hanabata is even their leader or if this goes even further."

"Dammit!" Bakugo roared, then he sagged. "But you're right. I feel so weak and useless..."

"It's my fault," Togata said, tears coming into his eyes. "I got so angry when he said Gran Torino died for nothing. And somehow he knew about One For All!"

"That's not the first time you've said that," Izuku said, rubbing his chin. "You mentioned it before."

"What?" Togata gasped, his eyes going wide. "What? I never-"