Why did you bring me out here?
Did you want my approval? My permission?
*
"Now that we're all here," Midoriya said quietly before he swallowed a heavy lump in his throat. "Todoroki?"
Todoroki's mouth formed a flat line. He glanced between each of them, his eyes resting longest on Bakugo, who returned his worried expression with a half snarl.
"I overheard something at my father's agency today that I don't think I was meant to overhear." He glanced between them again as he wrung his hands together tightly.
"Get on with it." Bakugo snapped.
Todoroki gulped.
"It's Ren. She's in trouble."
"Was that before or after she left us?" Ashido asked sarcastically, folding her pink arms across her chest and puffing her cheeks.
"Mina!" Yaoyorozu flicked her arm, making Ashido drop her crossed arms and scowl at her friend.
"Todoroki," Midoriya sighed. "Start at the beginning."
"I left something at my Father's agency during the week, and I went back today to grab it. When I couldn't find it in my locker, I thought maybe my Father had found it and was going to bring it to me. So, I went to his office. I- I suspect no one knew I was there because the door was open and I could hear their voices inside. My Father and Hawks. Panicked. Argumentative." Todoroki paused, running a hand through his hair as he took a deep breath "Ren's father is dead."
Bakugo's jaw clenched, eyes snapping to the grass just in front of his shoes.
"They tracked him down yesterday and found a second part to Ren's serum. And when they offered it to her in exchange for finding and killing her father, she destroyed it."
"I'm guessing they didn't like that?" Kirishima mumbled and Todoroki shook his head.
"Sounds like her brother bought her some time. At least enough for a message from Hawks' League contact to get to him but-"
Todoroki glanced at Bakugo, who's gaze was still fixed on the ground.
"She's got seven days. They have seven days. Ren and her brother will both be killed if he doesn't reproduce and force her to take the second part of the serum. They want her as their weapon."
"Then Ren didn't betray us." Uraraka chimed in. "If she didn't want to take it, if she didn't want to become their weapon, she must have had some ulterior motive."
Todoroki turned to Uraraka, letting out a deep sigh before he spoke. "Yeah. Maybe."
"You guys said she tried to make a deal for her brother's life that day." Ashido cut in. "Maybe that-" Her pink hand shot to her mouth. "Maybe that's all it was..." She muttered beneath her fingers, tears stinging her eyes.
"So, what's the plan? What are they going to do?" Uraraka asked. "Maybe they're gonna arrest her or something, like she'd get into trouble but they'll save Ren, right?"
Todoroki rubbed his chin before he glanced at Midoriya. His friend recognised the call for help in his eyes immediately, making him gulp uncomfortably.
"That's why you called us out here, huh?" Midoriya shivered. "Endeavour doesn't want to do anything."
"No." Todoroki sighed. "As the number one hero and her former employer, and likely one of the only people who knows, it seems like he has the final say."
"What can we do?" Yaoyorozu asked. "This isn't like the time we saved Bakugo," She gestured to him. "I didn't have time to sneak a tracking device onto Ren. It's been months. She could be anywhere."
"I know." Todoroki nodded. "There's a meeting tomorrow. Like I said the discussion this afternoon was heated. They had to reschedule an official meeting between the agencies to decide what they're going to do. But I know my Father, he won't change his mind."
"Shit." Ashido rubbed her temples. "So...?"
"So, I think if we could get Hagakure into the meeting, maybe she can get something from it. Their plan, their decision, something. If things go the way I think they will," Todoroki sighed again. "Then if we can just get a location-"
"We can get Ren back." Uraraka chimed in.
The group went silent. The early autumn breeze ruffled the trees lightly, forcing a few fallen ones to swirl above the ground and fall softly again. The crickets seemed too nervous to chirp. The huddle on the front lawn took turns eyeing each other, all except Bakugo who hadn't moved his gaze from the grass.
"Why did you bring me out here?" Bakugo croaked, slowly turning his gaze up to meet Todoroki's. "Did you want my approval? My permission?"
Todoroki's brow furrowed.
"B-Bakugo," Ashido began shakily. "Wouldn't you of all people want to get Ren ba-"
"You're all so fucking hypocritical." He snapped. "Haven't you all begged me to move on? Directly or indirectly you've been waiting for me to just get over it."
"Bakugo, that's not-" Yaoyorozu tried to but in.
"You don't think I haven't heard you?" Bakugo cut her off, his voice rising to a level that made the group have to check the dorm for movement. "Just a highschool relationship, they probably would've broken up anyway!" He mocked.
"Bakugo-"
"Looks like he's back to his old self!" His voice cracked as he continued. "Oh, oh, and didn't Iida himself say Ren's made it clear she doesn't care about her friends?!"
Bakugo ran his hands through his hair, roughly gripping at the ends as he ground his teeth harshly.
"It was all so fucking easy for you guys to move on with your lives. To go about your days... Is that why you're so eager to save her? You've forgotten the hurt she caused. Or maybe it never hurt you that much, huh?"
Much to their surprise, he laughed. Chuckling darkly and deeply in the back of his throat.
"It's been hell, these last few months have been fucking hell. You guys don't even know the half of it... So, what? I just gotta act like they never happened?! Like she didn't walk away from me?! Like she didn't walk away from us?! Every time it feels like I'm coming out on the other side of it all, something has to happen to pull me back in! Ren's in trouble?! Guess I just have to forget the last few months ever happened, huh?! I can't- I can't do this! I don't want to hear it! Don't drag me into your pathetic heroism bullsh-"
Bakugo was cut off when a fist collided with the left side of his jaw. He staggered back from the circle, vision spinning as his hand shot to his instantly aching face. Once his eyes could focus he looked up, gaze landing on Kirishima, who was standing in the spot Bakugo had stumbled away from.
His friend's fist was tightly clenched, teeth barred and brows furrowed deeply. Kirishima's unsteady and seething breath caused him to shake as he stared back at Bakugo.
"Eijiro?!" Ashido chimed as she reached for his arm but he'd already lunged for Bakugo again.
Bakugo barely got a stutter out before Kirishima's fist collided with his cheekbone, this time knocking him back to grass. The redhead was on him in a flash, gripping his friend's sweatshirt with one hand and pummelling his face with the other.
"Eijiro, STOP!" Ashido shot forward but Yaoyorozu grabbed her arm to keep her back. Todoroki stepped forward too but Midoriya held an arm out to stop him from advancing.
"HEROISM BULLSHIT?!" Kirishima cried out after landing his last hit. He dropped his bloodied fist onto Bakugo's sweatshirt, ripping his limp body up from the grass so they were level. "You really think we hadn't noticed how much this affected you?!"
Bakugo could barely focus on the screaming face in front of him. Blood seeped into his eyes, his nose beyond aching, cheeks swelling and mouth tasting nothing but metallic blood. He drooped a hand to one of Kirishima's wrists, pathetically trying to pry it off of him so he could push him away.
"You've been insufferable! Fucking insufferable these last few months! And we've all put up with it because we love you dammit! It wasn't easy for us to watch Ren walk away too, ya know?! But we had to be strong for you!
Dammit, Katsuki! I love Ren, too!
I love her like a sister and I fucking miss her! I don't care- WE don't care that she walked away because to us she's family!"
Bakugo's head lulled back and forth until it dropped down, only moving when Kirishima shook him violently with every stressed word. The huddle shifted, edging closer to look behind Kirishima as they tried to get a glimpse of the damage to Bakugo's face.
"Whatever, man! Feel sorry for yourself, hang back. Hell, I don't care if you rat us all out!" Kirishima shook Bakugo violently again, making his head bobble sadly as it hung low. "But don't stand there and act like you couldn't give a shit about Ren! Or was it all for nothing?! This- this shell you've become! You wanna tell me that it's all been for nothing?!"
"A-after all this time, Ei?" Bakugo choked out as the pathetic grip he had on Kirishima's wrist tightened. He lifted his aching head to face his friend, sniffing and wiping his other shaky hand across his bloodied nose. Tears streamed down his battered cheeks and he had to half chew into his bottom lip to keep it from trembling so violently. "It's like you don't know me at all."
Kirishima loosened his grip on Bakugo's sweatshirt.
"S-so you do wanna get Ren back?"
"Of course I wanna get Ren back!" Bakugo barked, shoving Kirishima's hands off of him and collapsing back onto the grass. "More than anything in the world!"
"Then why are you fighting us on this?" Uraraka asked as she crouched down next to Kirishima.
Bakugo propped himself up painfully, groaning as he pressed a hand to his nose.
"I couldn't convince her to stay, and I could barely get a word in to ask her to come back when I saw her. It's- It's my fault."
"Bakugo, it's not," Ashido butted in. "She didn't listen to us either."
"Yeah but she should've listened to me, if I meant to her what she means to me. And I can't- I can't ask you guys to risk it all for Ren because of that." Bakugo glanced between Midoriya, Todoroki and Yaoyorozu. "And you idiots risked everything for me once already." His gaze fell to Kirishima. "You can't do it for Ren."
"Kacchan." Midoriya said with a sigh. The group all turned their attention to him as he stepped over to the bloodied Bakugo, crouching down beside him with a little smirk. "We never needed your approval or your permission. All we needed to know is, for your, is Ren worth it?"
Bakugo swallowed.
There was no doubt.
It was unquestionable.
He nodded.
"Okay," Midoriya squeezed his eyes together as his smirk broadened into a warm smile. "Then let's go get her." He hoped to his feet, turning to Todoroki firmly. "You said we could get Hagakure in, what're you thinking?"
Kirishima climbed to his feet too, offering Bakugo a hand as the others begin charting out plans to sneak their invisible classmate into Endeavour's Agency.
"S-sorry." Kirishima mumbled to Bakugo as he pulled him to his feet. His friend wavered for a moment, gripping onto his shoulder while his spinning vision rotated to normal. "Not used to you being so eager to quit."
"No," Bakugo wiped his nose. "Thanks. I deserved it. Not like it hurt anyway."
Kirishima shoved Bakugo when he flashed him a toothy grin, immediately panicking when the mildly concussed Bakugo almost fell over.
"There's one more thing," Uraraka drew their attention to the group discussion. "Who's going to tell Iida?"
*
"And you're not wearing any perfume?"
"For the last time Todoroki," Hagakure sighed. "Nothing with scent. I showered 8 times after Mina told me the plan. No soap, no lotions, nada."
"I'm just being cautious."
Todoroki and Hagakure stepped into the elevator on the ground floor of Endeavour's Agency. It was mid-morning, the lobby only sporting a few sidekicks and support office staff on their way in or out from missions and work. It wasn't unusual to see him there on what would be a school day but they tried not to draw attention to the set of floating clothing walking next to him.
"And if anyone asks-"
"I'm here for an interview." She sighed again. "I need you to relax. Stealth, I'm good at it. It is quite literally what I'm made for."
"I'm just making sure we cover all bases." Todoroki said as the elevator dinged and the silver doors slid open.
"Just get me in and I'll take care of the rest."
He directed her down the hall to the locker room he normally changed in and stored his things. After giving Hagakure a few minutes of privacy to get changed (into... nothing?), Todoroki stepped back into the room, automatically trying to scan for where she might be.
"FYI, I'm right in front of your locker." Hagakure said. "And I'm facing you so let's maintain this distance."
"I concur, but I need to drop your temperature."
"What? What do you mean?"
"There's someone on my father's team, a sensory quirk user called Climate. She can detect people based on their body temperature. She would have registered and accounted for every body in that room. It's not going to be enough to make you invisible to her. Well, more invisible."
"Nice one."
"Hm." He smirked. "It'll be enough that you can hide behind the heat signatures of the others."
"Okay, now I'm nervous."
"Turn around." Todoroki instructed as he slowly approached his locker.
"I have turned."
Todoroki stretched out right hand, holding his palm up and flat and stepping inching closer until he felt his hand hit her bare back. Hagakure squeaked.
"You'll need to control your breathing and shivering."
"Yeah. I figured." She sighed. "Dude, your hand is freaking cold."
"I've been told. You ready?"
"No... Yes. Just do it."
"Deep breaths." Todoroki instructed as he began to pour cold pressure into Hagakure's invisible body.
"J-j-jeez L-Louise!" She stammered. If she could see her fingers they'd sure as hell be blue right now. "I-i-is this even s-s-safe?"
"I doubt it."
"L-love it."
"Okay, let's head up. I may need to drop you back down once we get up there."
"OMG-G I can't wait-t!"
They left the locker room and headed back to the elevator. The meeting was to be held in one of the many lavish boardrooms with the rest of the floor cleared. Before anyone else arrived, the two of them ducked into one of the empty rooms, Hagakure standing at the window of the door keeping watch while Todoroki remained hidden behind a wall.
"If you feel like you're getting, so cold you lose all feeling or even like you're starting to feel warm and comfortable. Get out of there, I'll heat you back up and we'll call it off."
"Kay."
A few quiet moments passed and Todoroki topped up the cold pressure in Hagakure's body.
"Any movement?" He asked after he'd settled back against the wall.
"Yeah. They just got here and they're going in now."
"Wait for the last one to close the door-"
"And then we move." Hagakure took a deep breath. "They're in."
"Okay, let's go."
Todoroki slid out from his hiding spot and the two of them exited the empty boardroom. They beelined for the door the heroes and sidekicks from both agencies had piled into, pausing when Todoroki had his hand on the doorknob.
"Ready?" He asked Hagakure at a barely audible level.
She nodded.
Then realised that was pointless.
"Yeah." She replied at the same barely audible level.
Todoroki burst through the door, forcing himself to pant as if he'd been running.
"Shoto?!" Endeavour boomed from the side of the table.
The two agencies were split down the middle, Hawks on one side and Endeavour on the other. Each attendant had a neatly stacked file of papers in front of them, a pen to the right and a glass of water.
"Apologies for my tardiness!" Todoroki pushed further into the room, still holding the door ajar behind him. "I wasn't aware there was a meeting."
"A meeting you were not asked to attend." His father's brow knitted. "Who told you that you were required to attend?"
"I was told by..." Todoroki sighed, falling back in the doorway. "Goodness father, there are just so many people in this office... My apologies, I must have been misinformed."
He pulled the door closed, eyeing the room quickly before he disappeared on the other side.
'Nice one, Todoroki!' Hagakure thought to herself as she ducked to the wall behind Hawks' team of people.
"Let's cut to the chase." Endeavour began. "What do we know?"
"Sana Arakawa is dead." Hawks took over. "It appears that the League of Villains wanting their hands on him was multifaceted. One, as revenge for not holding up his side of a deal. Two, to get Ren on their side so that three, when they found the second part to her serum she'd take it and join them like a weapon."
Hawks nodded to the woman who sat across from him at the table, Doctor Yuuko, who'd been in charge of Ren's health before and during her time at Endeavour's agency. She returned the nod and tapped her tablet to life.
"Initially, we were led to believe that the serum Ren's father developed for her was a perfect product. However, since experiencing overexertion of her foreign quirks we believe the serum was unstable and needed a second dose."
Doctor Yuuko flicked her fingers across her tablet and a screen behind the boardroom table came to life with recordings of Ren's lab results.
'Do these people find that readable? Jeez...' Hagakure thought to herself.
"In my time treating Chinami-Ren, she had two distinct episodes of quirk overuse." Two charts popped onto the screen as Yuuko explained. "This was the incident in Okinawa, and this during the Endeavour x Hawks Agency project to retrieve what turned out to be Tobi Arakawa. Some of you may be able to read immediately that there is a severe drop in vitals in between these incidents."
She clicked and the charts swapped out.
"Furthermore, Chinami-Ren's vitals from her most recent blood draw, bare in mind this was a few months ago, compared to her initial tests from the start of the last school year also demonstrate a severe drop. During her time as a hero in training, I advised we target and extract the foreign quirks in her body because my findings lead me to believe this serum was killing her."
'Ren, no...'
"Our theory is that to combine everything into one shot is what caused the previous recipients to die in those awful ways. We believe Arakawa injected the quirks and power into Ren with the intention of letting her heal, letting her body assimilate before the second dose, that would be a stabiliser."
"Is there any way that Chinami-Ren could have known about the second dose?" Endeavour asked.
"I honestly don't think so." Doctor Yuuko said while shaking her head. "She seemed genuinely shocked when I told her about the condition of her health. While she was hesitant to begin the removal of the foreign quirks because of her previous trauma, she wanted her body to survive."
"Are you suggesting we assume Chinami-Ren didn't join them for her personal gain in that aspect?" Endeavour asked.
"I'm sorry, why is this up for discussion?" Hawks raised a hand, his fluffy brows furrowing. "I thought our intention was to discuss how to go about extracting Chinami-Ren."
"Chinami-Ren is currently a wanted criminal." A woman on Endeavour's side spoke up. "Why would this be a discussion in extraction?"
Hawks raised a brow, his mouth dropping open almost in disgust.
"Because she's a kid. A kid who's been through too much to be of sound mind-"
"But sound enough to be a hero?"
"Witnesses; the UA kids, stated that the girl made a deal to save her brother's life. Isn't that enough for us to realise Ren is not there of her own fruition?" Hawks pleaded, ignoring the woman who'd spoken up and only speaking to Endeavour.
"Even if we did see it as enough, we don't have the manpower to launch an attack to save one child. Not when the new location is this densely populated."
'Densely populated... Maybe she's in the city?... That's a start.' Hagakure thought to herself. She scoped out the papers in front of the attendants, trying to pick up on what was written from her position but the font was too small, the characters on the page looking like nothing more than scribbles.
"Be that as it may, we're not in a position to go to war over a criminal-"
"So you'll let her die?!" Hawks was up, his hands slammed on the table and wings propped out behind him like he was prepared to pounce. "She's got six days, six days! And if her brother doesn't reproduce this second dose, which I very much doubt he will, they're both dead. A student who was in your-"
"An insubordinate student!" Endeavour was up too, his hands also slammed on the table. "Who has been nothing but a headache since she joined me. I tried, Hawks, I did. I saved her the first time, I tried to train her, keep her on a tight leash to keep her and others safe and this is what I have to show for it. She walked away. That was her choice."
Hawks shook his head at every argument.
"She was trying to save her brother."
"If that were the case, why didn't she come to us for assistance?" Endeavour leant back from the table. "We can't assume that because she had good intentions, she didn't also have bad intentions."
"Your argument is flawed by its own logic. We then can't assume because she may have had bad intentions that her intentions weren't entirely good."
Endeavour went to counter but Hawks cut him off, slamming a hand on the papers in front of him.
"Look, my contact has given me the location..."
'And that's is...?' Hagakure thought to herself.
"I can't do this on my own, my people don't have the resources but with your assistance we can save her! We can save both of them!"
"You can't do it on your own, and I won't be assisting." Endeavour folded his arms. "No, Hawks."
"Endeavour, please-"
"You're asking me to put my people on the line. To risk their lives to save Ren and her brother. I won't let them take that risk, no."
"That's what we do-"
"Is there something you're not sharing with us, Hawks? You're terribly persistent."
Hawks sucked in his cheeks, his temple throbbing as he stared across the table at Endeavour. He sighed before he turned his gaze to the table.
"No."
"Then we have nothing more to discuss." Endeavour stepped away from the table, glancing to the team on his side as a sign it was time for them to leave.
'That's it?!' Hagakure thought to herself. 'C'mon guys I needed that location!'
Panicking, Hagakure slipped out of the boardroom between two exiting sidekicks. She waited until there were no eyes turned her way before slipping into the fire escape stairwell, travelling down the stairs so fast she almost slipped on multiple occasions.
"Nothing!" Hagakure barked out as the door to the lockers slammed open. Todoroki almost fell off of the bench he'd been waiting, waiting and stressing on. "They said nothing!"
The door of the locker that held her items flew open too and her clothing began to pile out.
"All they did was argue, argue, argue!" She pulled her shirt back on. "Hawks wants to save Ren, to save her brother. And Endeavour won't budge." Her skirt floated up next. "They didn't even lay out any facts!"
"You didn't get... Anything?" Todoroki asked when she paused to catch her breath.
"They said the location is densely populated but that doesn't give us much." The locker door clanked shut and Hagakure dropped her head against the metal. "The serum, Ren's serum that gave her all the quirks, it's killing her." She sighed. "And all they could talk about is if it was her motive."
"K-killing her?"
"But that's not gonna matter if we can't even get to her!" She flopped onto the bench next to Todoroki. "I'm sorry, Todoroki. I couldn't do more. I guess- I could sneak into your father's office and-"
"Hey gang!" A voice made them both jump in their seats. The pair quickly scanned the room, scoping out the corners for where the voice may have come from. "Uh, up here guys!"
Todoroki and Hagakure turned their heads up to the ceiling, Todoroki's cold fingers clasping the bench and letting small icy patches crack into the wood defensively.
"M-Mirio?" Hagakure stammered.
His round face, just poking out of the ceiling, beamed down to them. His head popped further out of the ceiling, and like meat slipping out of a grinder he slid out and plopped to the ground.
"What are you doing here?" Todoroki asked as Mirio hoped to feet, adjusting his cape and wiping some dust from his boot. "H-how much did you hear?"
"Oh, like all of it." Mirio said with a shrug. "But that's why I'm here!" He pointed at Todoroki. "You kids are tryna save Ren, aren't you?!"
Hagakure gulped.
"So am I!" He pointed his thumb back to his chest. "While I was zooming up to the boardroom, I saw you two, well. I saw you." He pointed to Todoroki again before the direction of his finger snapped to Hagakure. "I saw you clothed earlier and assumed you dropped the fit."
"You were in that meeting?" Hagakure asked.
"Not technically, I wasn't exactly invited. I got a pretty good view from the ceiling though. What a show."
"That doesn't help." Hagakure sighed, her sleeves crossing across her chest. "I didn't get anything so neither would you."
"They may not have said where Ren is being held in that meeting but those handy-dandy little meeting agendas they all had in front of 'em had it written nice and crisp and clear in the middle of the page."
"How did you read that?" Hagakure asked. "I tried, the writing was too small so I couldn't quite make it out."
"When you've done as much espionage as I have, you pick up a few cool skills." Mirio folded his arms, beaming at the pair proudly.
Hagakure tapped her foot.
"Okay fine, I wear a zoom contact lens in my left eye. The technicalities don't matter, what matters is that I know where they're keeping her."
"Get to the point then, Mirio." Todoroki pressed impatiently.
"You kids ever heard of Fast Winter Pharmaceuticals?"
"No?"
"That's because it doesn't exist. Though, they do have a warehouse in the medical production district. Seems like a good place to hide a lab, don't you think?"
*