Okay, so a long while ago I promised somebody that I would do a scene with the bi monthly meeting.... admittedly it was in the comment section and now I can't find out who so there's that. But, the point is that I've done it! ...and now I'm going to quietly hope that it was the right bi monthly meeting. Anyway, happy Monday and enjoy!
-T.A.L.A.
Izuku glanced carefully around the corner- it was a delicate balance that he was being forced to uphold here. He had to be incompetent enough that nobody suspected him of being anything other than another UA student trying to sneak out to meet up with their significant other or non-UA friends. On the other hand though he had to be competent enough that he actually got out of this cage-like school. Nothing got in and nothing got out, and while normally he was a exception to that, he couldn't afford to be Hideki here.
He scowled some more as he leaned against the wall in thought, one of his sensors discreetly picking up the signature of another person approaching him. Toru Hagakure. He ignored her presence, continuing with the delicate balance that he had to maintain; hopefully since she wanted to recruit him and had overheard the call she would offer to help him.
"Hello, Hideki?"
He started just slightly, "Oh, hello Torū."
"I... What are you up to?" He hesitated just a little too long for her books deciding his answer, "You're trying to sneak out, right? I... I won't tell if you are; you know that right?"
He took a moment to decide his choice of action, "I know." And he did. "I'm trying to visit a friend of mine... I guess you did hear me on the phone with them then right?"
He heard her shift uncomfortably, "Yeah... I am sorry about that."
"It's fine." He waved them quickly off barely cutting off the stutter and taking a deep breath, "Is there any chance you'd be able to help? I know a way out as far as security cameras go but I'd get caught by people if I tried taking it myself without a lookout." He knew enough about Toru to know; she may be against heroes, and she might be spying for the League of Villains, but she had no wish to see her peers or average citizens hurt. The path would remain secret, and even then it only worked at certain times.
It was quiet when he entered the room that had once been his office, but now sat empty in the back room of the bar. That in itself was unusual, especially as it seemed he was the last one to make an appearance.
Jin's head lifted up from the computer that he was rapidly typing at as the door swung shut behind the pseudo UA student, a menacing smile forming on his face, "Just in time, Dekiru, Katsuo was about to make an attempt at breaking and entering at UA."
Katsuo sent a sulky look over at the taller one, "I'm not the one with a computer out, it's all a lie Boss, he was about to hack into the security system to see how long until he got here!"
Sare slipped the file that was laid out on the table into her backpack with a sheepish air as Suzie laughed some more into her drink and Cogitatio drew in a deep breath with his best are-you-kidding-me look before theatrically planting his head into his waiting hands with a slight shake to it.
"On second thought, this was all Cogit's plan." Katsuo added in.
"Seconded."
"Yep."
"Fair enough."
Cogitatio gave Katsuo, Sare, Suzie, and Jin his best disbelieving look until Jin started speaking again, "You managed to get away then, we were starting to worry." Jin poured him a glass of some sort of punch and pushed the plate of cookies over with a meaningful look when he took the remaining seat, "Kurogiri isn't able to attend again, apparently things are getting worse over there..."
Jin trailed off again, "He's really starting to get concerned about Shigaraki's mindset, I was actually wondering if you'd mind me looking into the information that the doctor All for One recruited has. I reviewed the information that you sent over for what the police have on the Nomu's and I don't think that whatever made the USJ Nomu was from All for One's quirk alone."
"Sare and I have already volunteered to scout out the hospital that he works out so there would be an 'in' there" Suzie stated.
"And we can plant any chips that he or you might want while we are there too."
Izuku glanced at the three for a moment, pondering for a handful of seconds if they could be convinced to let him deal with it- All for One was no small fry and from the little experience he'd had with the doctor, gaining any information, especially without it being tracked back to them or discovered, would be no small feat. The risks were high, but at the same time they wouldn't betray Kurogiri like that if his suspicions were true. And the Johnson sister duo were both uniquely suited to counter the doctor's technology and techniques.
He sighed, "Alright, but be careful you guys, you can't afford to be caught."
They nodded. There was nothing more to be said on the topic. Silence didn't fall however, as Katsuo grinned recklessly, "Soo, boss, how's UA treating you? Ready to all-hail the hero statues yet?"
Izuku rolled his eyes at the question before his face fell into worry again, "Nezu is insisting that Eri stay in the dorms for the morning classes even if he allows her for the afternoon ones. I'm kind of worried how this will effect her since none of us can even take her to the park or events for social interaction anymore. I had to go through my dorm window so I couldn't even bring her here!"
He sighed forcing the scowl from his face, "Otherwise it's exactly as we suspected. Going to school all day, lots of homework, complete focus on practical quirk use, and an early curfew plus limited- and I believe somewhat monitored- time outside of school grounds."
"Well it is a boarding school now so they do have a responsibility for every moment of their students time, but..." Sare also sighed, "This is definitely less than ideal."
"We could take Eri for your time at UA if needed." Suzie added, "Cogitatio can watch her too."
"Unless she still is insisting she wants to stay with you? It might not be perfect, but after all she's been through Eri needs to have at least a little control of her life. I know she has a few video call lessons some days, if you give me the times for those I'll be sure to call her before or after those everyday. It's not the same, but it's something."
"Thank you." Izuku beamed in relief, pulling his scratch pad and a pen from a pocket and quickly scribbling down a series of times, "Here you are, we're both still getting up at the regular time, and I have to leave to make it to my first class at five minutes before eight."
"Cutting it pretty close there, aiming to be a bad boy with that one minute late tardy?" Suzie snickered in an attempt to lighten the mood again.
"Is that why you were late to the drop off last night?" Jin commented with faked disinterest.
"Tanaka's got you there!" Katsuo snorted.
"Okay, but you would not believe them!" Suzie leaned forward at the reminder, "Jin said to be there at seven thirty because you," she gestured over at Deku, "said they had a habit of turning up early and suspected they would try and cause trouble as they knew it wouldn't be you who showed up. Do you know what time they showed up?" She paused glancing around the table, "Seven! Seven, for a seven forty meeting! There's early, and then there's absurd, right Sare?"
The other nodded briefly, "They notified Jin a half a dozen times too."
"Exactly!" Suzie scoffed, "Who does that? They tried to twist it into getting a discount too, I should have charged them extra for the bill for all the times Jin called asking me what was going on!"
Jin pointed to the phone that sat in the corner and then around at the area in general, "Do you see a clock in here? You can't blame me for believing that something could have happened, they are one of the types who still insists on meeting in the weirdest, hard to get to, abandoned places; of course I was worried about something going wrong."
Katsuo gasped, "You're talking about Eleonora!"
"You know her?"
"She made me climb an honest to god mountain and then break into a high security base for one of our information drops! And do you know why? Because she was filming a piece on the lack on government security and its slow adjustment compared to the rapid ones of quirks! She tried to film me doing it!"
"Is that so?" Jin's voice was dangerous and Deku couldn't help but agree,
Eleonora at first glimpse was energetic, adventurous, and friendly but at second she was unreasonable and posed an actual, serious danger to all of them as she didn't tend to recognize the consequences of any of her actions despite how wild they often grew and became. But her pieces and work helped thousands and that was something he found himself struggling to compromise especially when she was so clumsy about how she went about her plans.
"She wasn't even going to pay extra for it too!" Katsuo pouted, "I mean of course I got rid of all the footage, but still!"
Deku nodded, "It's why we went online only for her and I put all those new precautions in place, which?"
"Ah," Suzie winced, "That's on me, I didn't know when I arranged it..."
Deku, sighed, "It's al-" he was cut off mid word as the alert system he had set up to warn him went off. It seemed like he had to return already, "I got to go..."
"But you just got here! We haven't even played any games yet! Come on, boss."
Izuku hesitated for a moment but he knew he couldn't risk it, "Sorry, I need to get back before they notice I'm missing, I'll call you guys when I get back to my dorms so I have an excuse for being upstairs alone for so long?"
The next minute he was slipping out of the closed bar and rushing to get back in time, the hopelessness of his chances against UA seeking to tighten its grip around him with every other step. He didn't think that Deku could win this round.