Chapter 14: 14
Aizawa's POV
I got a text saying that they would meet me at the cafe at about 10 pm and I can't help thinking something went wrong. I have been pacing the length of my car since 9. I was not supposed to pick them up at all. They were supposed to just show up at my house. What could have happened? Did they get cornered? Did someone recognize them? How?
When I saw two teenage girls making their way to me, I was so relieved I was ready to cry. They gave me bright smiles and were happily calling out "Uncle Shota!" as if they hadn't seen me in months, not just a few days. I didn't really have room to talk though because when they made to trap me in a hug I was only too happy to keep them there.
"Did something happen? Why were you so late? I've been worried sick!" My words were hushed and I was squeezing them so tight they couldn't help but complain a little bit.
"Nothing bad happened. We just passed out last night and didn't set an alarm. It was stupid and reckless but we didn't think we would sleep for 24 hours!" Two answered her/his red curls swaying in the wind. I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding.
"It's just because you have been working so long and hard, it comes with practice," I let them go and help them into the car and quickly drive home.
"The girls are here!" I called out and Hizashi came out of the kitchen with a wide grin.
"I told you they were fine. Now I hope everyone is ready to eat because when Shota gets nervous the only thing that really calms him down is a lot of good food and rich desserts!" Hizashi beamed clapping his hands like a child or overprotective yet spoiling mother. I rolled my eyes but when we stepped into the kitchen and the smell of oven baked bbq chicken, green bean casserole and mashed potatoes hit my nose, it was not only the 'girls' stomachs that were rumbling.
"You two have been eating while you were gone this time right?" I asked, eyeing them.
"Oh yes, I have been eating very well!" Molly answered, giving the now beat red Brenda a large smile and a wink.
And there goes my appetite. "Food, have you been eating food?" I grumble covering my face in my hands somehow already suspecting the answer was no. "You know what no. Just no, you are both far too young to be doing that anyway! What were you even thinking?"
Brenda looks me dead in the eyes and bluntly states, "We are both 18 and are on a mission that we could easily die from anyday or at any time. Why wouldn't we express how much we love each other?" I stared at him and Hizashi looked back and forth between us until he let out a sigh and started taking off his apron.
"No stop," Molly smiled at him and walked over to the only kitchen window and closed the blinds and curtains. I am an undercover hero and most of my work is at night with the exception of classes so all of my windows are equipped with solid blinds and black out curtains. "Help me close all the windows in the house, even the places you really don't think we would be going. Just in case." Hizashi jumped at her words and together the three of them ran around the house and I sat still in the kitchen, shocked.
They really think they are going to die? Then why do the mission at all? I know that as heroes we are constantly in danger but to do a mission when you believe that you will not make it? Someone else could have done it and they could have stayed safe. The 'girls' went to the bedroom they were in before with the private bathroom and when they came out I was looking at One and Two.
"Uncle Hizashi, you can not say anything at all when you turn around, do you understand?" Two asked using Brenda's voice and I could see my husband vibrating in excitement.
"And as a bonus I only found out last week the same day you saw me with Zumi," I added before he was allowed to turn around.
"Can I look now?" His voice was so quiet briefly I wondered if he was really my husband.
"Yes you can look now," One answered, still using Molly's voice. I watched him stick a clean towel in between his teeth, something he does when he doesn't trust himself to stay quiet, and he turned around. His eyes went so wide I thought they were going to go back into his head.
The towel fell out of his mouth and he gaped at the two boys. Still using the voices of Molly and Brenda they try to calm him down but it doesn't seem to be helping any.
He finally seemed to snap out of it and he slowly walked over to them lightly touching their faces making sure they were actually there and I couldn't stop the tears spilling from my eyes at the scene. I have known for less than a week but seeing my husband react to them, it finally seemed to sink in.
"Midoriya, Bakugo?" His voice was not even audible at this point but we all saw him mouth the words as if the words alone could shatter the man standing in front of them. Either of us really. They nod and each spill a tear before clearing their throats to speak.
"I am known as One," Midoriya introduced himself.
"And I am Two, the League hasn't really picked a code name for us yet they keep changing it," Bakugo smiles looking back and forth between us. "Last week it was the Drug Lovers, the week before the Angry Mutants and about a month before the Homo's. They are not very creative, but I kind of like the Drug Lovers one. They invented a story to go behind the name of us drugging people, their people. They are all afraid of us at the moment."
Hizashi and I just watched him talk, the reality of the situation was finally sinking in. Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugo are alive. Not only are they alive but they have been actively working as fully licensed heroes.
"Who is your commander?" I whisper, finally wondering who would willingly put my students' lives in danger like this.
"I'm sorry the information you are requesting is either unknown or unavailable at this time." The two boys spoke at the same time in a creepy rehearsed kind of way. They have been fully vetted and prepared for this mission. That line is the last thing they train you for just in case things go south. You don't go into the field until after that has been beaten into you. Most of the time literally.
"How long have you been working undercover?" I asked instead, they looked at each other and seemed to agree on an answer before looking back at me.
"Seven years," again their voices spoke in a harmony that made you think only one person was talking but it was actually two.
"How?" I collapsed in a kitchen chair and again they looked at each other and this time it took much longer. They haven't even been in the UA that long. They would have still been... Children. Very young, very fragile children.
"We can tell you but can we eat at the same time?" Two/Bakugo asked motioning towards the food and their stomachs growled again.
I bolted up and brought out some plates piling more food on top of their plates when they stopped. I gave them a look and they smiled content with it. I grumble, "Even on a mission you need to eat properly."
"It's just been so hard, not being able to go to the store or out in public at all really. It was only last week when we gave you the letter that we were allowed out as anything other than One and Two. Being asked to go somewhere that wasn't headquarters or the drop off." Midoriya/One answered for me, I watched him take a slow bite of the still piping hot food. Pure bliss covered both boys' faces as they ate. Very slowly, they were eating as if it was going to be their last meal on earth. That reminds me.
"How and why did you take this mission? How old were you when you started?" The words flowed out almost as if it were air. I don't even think I realised just what I asked.
They ate slowly, a look passing between them as they did and when Midoriya swallowed he looked at me as if he had seen all the horrors that being a Hero could ever throw at you. "You have to understand, we didn't pick this life for ourselves. We didn't lie about a single detail in the video."
Hizashi and I flinched at the mention of the video. We have seen it so many times we could recite it. They stopped eating while they shared another look. Just how much are these boys keeping from us?
"We'll tell you the whole story, but it is level one clearance, you need to be prepared for what you are about to hear." Bakugo whispered sadly.
"Most everything you know about us is a lie. I'll start with my quirk." Midoriya continued and the two boys took a bite of something snapping me back to the realization that they were starving but answering my questions instead.
"Eat first, the details can wait until you have both finished your plates," I distracted them. Startling them from their thoughts. "Lie or not you are my 'girls' and I will always care for you." I smiled at them and they both smiled back bursting into playful giggles as they instead talked about the world while they ate and how hard it is to find such AMAZING BBQ chicken, making Hizashi blush. We were looking at Midoriya and Bakugo but it was Molly and Brenda talking. I guess that's just how they are coping.
Once they finished eating though they sat back happily. "Uncle Hizashi, my quirk is actually not my own." Midoriya continued but still in Molly's voice. They seemed to have some kind of agreement that they would still use the girls' voices even out of makeup.
"My quirk is actually call One-For-All and I inherited it from All Might. His quirk is passed down from one person to the next each trained by the last predecessor or having someone who knew about their quirk do the training for them in the cases of the previous holder dying." My eyes snapped up and met Midoriya's as he said that.
I knew there was something wrong with his quirk, how on day one it seemed like it didn't really belong to him at all. But this? There was more than just All Might? It explains so much of what I didn't understand in the video they left behind. How was Young Midoriya supposed to be the next symbol of peace? All Might has been absolutely mum about the whole ordeal. He has been acting as if he had literally pushed the boys to their doom instead of watching the video like the rest of us had. He blamed himself.
"I'll stop there as far as that goes because well it's not just my secret," he shrugged and we both just nodded, speechless. That by itself is more than enough information to cripple a person. Everyone's hero, hell MY hero was just one of many? The thought was turning around in my head so much that I didn't know which way was up and which way was down.
"But we do both have other quirks. You only knew about my explosions. What you don't know is that nitrogliserin is a powerful drug used for heart disease and pain regulation. I can either force someone to absorb it through the skin which I can do, it is just not automatic. Or as I put it in class once I get in their mouth it is over." Bakugo shrugged. "I'm actually surprised no one tried to point that out to me in the last two years here at UA but not a single person thought of it."
"Now as far as my quirks go, I'm really overpowered but I really can't control them yet. For that matter I don't even know what all quirks I have yet. You see as far as OFA goes each person passed their quirk when they passed on OFA. I am the first to be able to use any of them though." Midoriya added before sighing. "Outside of OFA I have two quirks. My mothers telekinesis and my fathers flame thrower but I can't use them so long as the villain is alive."
"Why?" It's the first question through all of this but I feel like it is the most important one.
"He looked at me unblinkingly and said, "Because I will die. I had a quirk used on me when I was four, right when it first developed. My mom doesn't even know about them. 'She' got to me first." The sheer amount of hate in Midoriya's face and the absolute shame on Bakugo's told me more than I could ever want to know.
Bakugo started talking now, "My quirk also has a limiter, I have the same limiter but only on half of my quirk. I can control water and any water with my DNA in it, I can use as either poison or medicine. I can do most anything with the fluid, like removing impurities from it or making it freeze solid. But instead of dying it would just send a homing signal to 'her'.
"Who is she?" I was seething, to make my students this docile when they obviously wanted to be free. It was a heartbreaking past. I needed revenge.
They looked up and Bakugo told me her name and my whole world crumbled. Just... Just how?
"..." No one could speak after that. Midoriya had laid his head on Bakugo's shoulder and was starting to doze off when Hizashi and I finally snapped out of it. Bakugo was already sound asleep, his head on top of Midoriya's holding the greenette like his life depended on it.
For the first time in my life I wish things could go back to the way they were during their first year of UA, when Midoriya broke his bones trying to fight and Bakugo was raging around like he was homicidal.Then I realised that maybe, just maybe, Midoriya is the one everyone should have been afraid of back then...
Maybe even now...
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone