A/N Early update this week cz I'll be going to a con tomorrow XD
Izuku tried to keep the energetic sparks to a minimum as he chased his mentor over rooftops in the darkness of the night, coming to a halt not far from the central plaza of the city. Izuku took a breather, taking a sip from the water bottle he brought along, seeing his supervisor do the same, only his canteen was probably filled with coffee instead of water.
"They're never going to let me live this down, I hope you know that," the dark haired man grumbled, pulling down his goggles so they were hanging around his neck, hidden away in the long, thin capture scarf. "They already teased me with having a favorite."
"Am I not your favorite then, Aizawa sensei?" Izuku smiled. "Besides, I'm sure Present Mic and Midnight will get over it. It's no big deal, right?"
"You're my first intern in a long time, Midoriya. Just be glad I'm willing to put up with your vigilante shenanigans. Other pros wouldn't be this lenient about it"
"You mean you don't want others to have to deal with me," Izuku laughed. "And you know what'll happen, sensei. We both do. No one will get hurt, I promise."
Eraserhead simply huffed, putting his goggles back on as they looked over the now quiet Hosu city. Tomorrow this place will turn into chaos, but they'll be ready for it this time. They had to be. His thoughts were interrupted when his phone started buzzing. Aizawa gave him a glare, but sighed, saying they'll take a few minute break since they'd been patrolling for a while now. Izuku silently thanked him before answering the call, happily greeting his boyfriend on the other side.
"Hi Kacchan! How's your internship going?"
"It's fucking amazing, Mirko is the best," Kacchan told him. "Seriously, who the hell let's their first year interns out on the field on the very first day? I love this woman."
"And here I was, thinking you were gay," Izuku sighed, way too over-dramatic. He could basically hear Kacchan roll his eyes.
"You know what I mean, smartass. How's your internship anyway? Want to tell me who you're interning with yet?"
Izuku glanced aside at Eraserhead, who was still crouched down, peering over the rooftop while occasionally sipping from his coffee. The only reason Izuku hadn't told his friends about this arrangement was because it was one of the conditions Aizawa forced on him if he wanted to intern under him. It was bad enough that his colleagues knew about it, he didn't want his students bothering him with it as well, something Izuku could understand.
"Let's just say I'm in capable hands, okay? There's no need to worry," Izuku smiled.
"...Are you in Hosu?" Kacchan asked, clearly worried even though he wouldn't admit it.
"Yes," Izuku sighed. "Things will be fine, Kacchan. You have to trust me."
"Tch, it's not that I don't trust you, it's just... When have things ever gone according to plan, Deku?" Katsuki asked. "Everything is changing, things aren't the same as we remember them. For all I know Stain is going to impale you with one of his katana's and I'm never seeing you alive again."
They had discussed the possibility of death being their way to escape this place before, but no one was willing to take the risk. Because what if they died here and didn't return to the future? What if they were just...dead? No, Izuku didn't want to think about it, he wasn't going to die here.
"I'm not going to die, Kacchan," Izuku sighed. "Please just focus on your own internship, okay? I'll be fine, I promise! I'll call you right after I've dealt with Stain, alright?"
"Alright, but you better not forget to fucking call me," Katsuki hissed. "I swear I'll kill you."
"Love you too," Izuku smiled, seeing Aizawa motion for him to end the call. "I have to go now, talk to you later, bye."
"There's movement," Aizawa stated, pointing down at the alley below. They weren't just mindlessly patrolling Hosu, mind you, they were actually here on a mission. Eraserhead had intercepted some useful intel about Jikan and as if by fate, that had led them to Hosu city. Maybe the universe was finally being kind to Izuku? It would be a nice change of pace, actually. "Be on guard and follow my lead, don't make any rash decisions, understand?"
"Affirmative," Izuku nodded, pulling the hood of his hero costume over his head before following his mentor down the fire escape stairs into the alley. The person they were following pressed a brick into the wall, making a hidden passage appear. The door closed behind them, but Izuku had seen which brick was the activation key. Eraserhead was the first to arrive at the door, both of them looking around for possible witnesses or hidden cameras before risking going inside.
"We don't know what we'll find, so stay close and stay hidden," Eraser commanded. Izuku nodded, following his teacher inside as the door closed behind them. The sterile white halls left little room for camouflage, let alone hiding spaces, but luckily there didn't seem to be that many people present. Jikan wasn't a large organization, not at all, so Izuku hadn't expected the halls to be crowded anyway. The only thing that was really stopping them were the security systems they'd installed.
Unfortunately for Jikan, Eraserhead was an experienced underground hero who knew how to avoid getting spotted and Izuku was well-trained in avoiding detection because of his experience in sneaking out of the dorms when he was still a student. That and sneaking away from bodyguards whenever there was a social gathering the Hero Commission demanded he'd attend, although Kacchan almost always helped him escape those events. The point was that even these state of the art security systems were no match for the two of them and they managed to get into what seemed like a workshop of some kind.
This place was a lot messier than the neat hallways they traversed, blueprints with coffee stains sprawled out across a large desk, mechanical parts littered everywhere and a huge monitor running numbers and calculations too advanced for Izuku's knowledge. Aizawa tossed him a usb stick, wordlessly telling him what to do. Izuku nodded, plugging it into the computer and downloading everything he had access to. Which was a lot, to be honest. For people who secured their building so well, you'd think they'd at least have a password on some of their files but apparently not. They must've thought nobody could bypass their cameras, let alone find their secret hideout.
Eraserhead took pictures of the blueprints and some of the half-built machinery. It would be easier and quicker to just take the prints with them, but then Jikan would know someone broke in. When they gathered all the information they had at their disposal, they started making their way back out. But Izuku was careless, he was spotted by the person who came in before them. The alarm was triggered, the horrible noise blaring through the halls. Izuku quickly grabbed Aizawa sensei, activating his quirk and darting through the halls, making a run for it.
He could see the door opening in front of them, they just had to make it the last few meters! Izuku felt a stab in his leg, though, making him stumble and fall, the green energy that surrounded him dying down as they tumbled over the ground. Izuku groaned, feeling numb, unable to crawl back up again. Eraser reacted first, wrapping his problem student up and binding him to his back with his scarf before escaping to the rooftop through the fire escape stairs. Some Jikan members followed them for a few blocks, but they lost them fairly quickly.
"Are you alright?" Aizawa asked, putting Izuku down on a higher rooftop, one that gave them a broad view of their surroundings and multiple escape routes in case necessary.
"Yeah, I think so," he said, wincing when his mentor pulled the dart out of his leg.
"I'll have the lab analyze this, to make sure it won't cause any permanent harm," Eraser stated, putting the dart in a plastic bag so he could later take it in as evidence. "Let's get back to the agency, I think you've seen enough action for today."
"I think you're right," Izuku chuckled. "Sorry for screwing up the mission, Eraser. I should've been more careful."
"It wasn't your fault, not entirely," Aizawa told him. "It happens to the best of us. Come on, can you stand?"
Izuku smiled and nodded, getting back on his feet, frowning at the small cuts in his hero costume. He thought he told the support department to make it more sturdy this time around? This must be all they were able to do without compromising his flexibility... The fabric his future hero costume was made out of hadn't been invented yet, after all. It was a complex structure of fibers and it was only available on the markets for the past three years. Or well, it will be, since the creators hadn't started researching it yet in this timeline.
"You'll be able to evaluate the damage when we've dropped this information off at the lab," Aizawa told him. "And try to keep up, problem child. The earlier we get there, the earlier I can go to sleep."
The green head got where he was coming from, getting tired as well after scouting the city for most of the night. Besides, tomorrow promised to be a busy day so he better get his rest. But when he wanted to activate his quirk to chase after his teacher, nothing happened. The green lightning-like energy didn't surround his body like it had done before, his body not powering up whatsoever. Izuku blinked, trying again, and again nothing happened.
"A-Aizawa sensei," he called out, slight panic starting to rise within him as he failed to activate his quirk. The dark haired man groaned, pulling down his goggles and turning around with an annoyed look on his face.
"What?"
"I-I can't use my quirk."
//\\
\\//
Shoto started to wonder whether he should've listened to Ochako and just picked another internship. He got fewer requests than the previous time, true, but there were still plenty of admirable agencies that were willing to give him a chance, even if it was only because he was the son of his father. But no, he chose to intern with his father, who'd been screaming at his sidekicks for who knows what for several hours now.
Shoto expected to be taught how to use his fire, even though he already had pretty good control over his left side now that his memories had returned, but nope, nothing. He briefly wondered how his internship went the first time around, but it seemed as though he banned that experience from his memory. All of it except for the Stain incident.
"SHOTO!"
The halfa blinked, looking up at his father with an uninterested stare.
"Pack your bags! We're going to Hosu city!"
About time they left. Shoto was already getting worried his father wouldn't charge in head first this time around. That and he was glad to be away from his father for a moment, which gave him the chance to check his phone. Izuku hadn't sent him any messages regarding their mission yet, so he assumed he'll get the coordinates when the time came.
Ochako had sent some pictures in the group chat, happily showing off the signature she got from Gunhead for Deku's collection. Eijirou had also posted some updates in the chat about him and Tetsutetsu, promising he'll ask Fourth Kind for his autograph at the end of their internship. Even Katsuki, although reluctantly and clearly pressured by the other two, had sent a picture of him and Mirko, telling them his internship was going well.
Shoto was glad his friends were enjoying themselves. Hopefully he'll get something out of this internship too... But then again, he'll get to save one of his friends, so everything would be worth it either way. After putting his phone away again, he packed up his hero costume, a change of clothes and some toiletries. After that he made his way back to his father's office, waiting for the man to be done with whatever he still had to do.
"Ah, Shoto! I thought I might find you here," Burnin grinned as she walked in. "The boss told me to come and get you. You're taking the private jet to Hosu in an hour."
Of course he couldn't come to get him himself, Shoto hadn't expected otherwise.
"Alright, thank you, Burnin," he hummed, taking his things and following her outside.
"No problem little man," she smiled, ruffling his hair. "Don't be too harsh on your old man, alright? He's been really stressed out lately."
Stressed out? Ha, don't make him laugh. Like Endeavor has ever been chill for one moment in his life. Shoto didn't comment on it though, stepping in the car that his father sent for him so he could be brought to the airport. It was only a few minutes away and in an hour he'll be in the air and on his way to Hosu. He briefly wondered how Iida was doing. Whether Manual suspected anything more was going on, whether Iida already had a plan to find Stain, to take him down. He was being a reckless teenager, fueled with thoughts of revenge. It was so unlike Iida that if Shoto hadn't seen it for himself, he'd never believe it had actually happened.
He'll make sure Iida won't get hurt, though, knowing the teen will regret what he was about to do. He trusted Izuku to send him his location when the time was right, so they could save their friend together. Shoto sighed, closing his eyes for a moment. There was no point in worrying about it now. He was sure things would turn out alright. Hopefully Endeavor wouldn't be a giant pain in the ass the whole time he was there. That and he hoped he wouldn't have to stay in the hospital overnight. He'd seen enough white walls to fill a lifetime over the course of his starting hero career. He couldn't imagine how Izuku must feel about that...
"We've arrived," the driver stated, pulling Shoto out of thought.
"Thank you," Shoto answered, taking his things and stepping out of the car, straight into the hangar where Endeavor's private plane was parked. He took one last look at his phone, texting Izuku a quick update.
Shoto🔥❄️: Almost on my way to Hosu, see you soon