Bab 42: Target Rich Environment
"Mom, do you want me to pick you up anything while I'm at the mall?"
"No, baby," Inko said nervously, "I'm good. Have fun!"
Izuku smiled at her before closing the door and walking toward the train station. Inko let out a breath of relief. Yes, it had been just over a week since she'd found his notebook, but it had been the hardest week of her life! She just wanted to lock him in his room and keep him safe, but the Detective had said that more people were in danger than just her son, so she had to do the right thing no matter how difficult that was for her.
She peeked out the window and saw Izuku walk around the corner, then hurried to his room. Sure enough, there was a black laptop bag sitting by his desk. She opened it and pulled out the laptop before grabbing her cell phone.
"Detective Tsukauchi? You told me to call you if Izuku ever left his laptop at home..."
As Izuku walked from the train station to the mall, he wished his friends were able to go with him. Wasn't going to the mall something you were supposed to do with your friends? Too bad the league of villains would be attacked on sight, but maybe he could pick them up a few things?
Izuku had just been looking for an excuse to get out of the house, truthfully. Mom had been acting kind of strangely recently, probably because society was changing so much and she always was a worrier, but it made for an awkward atmosphere at home and today was Saturday! So Izuku had figured he'd go to the mall to get his mind off things. He'd heard rumors that villain merch had become more popular recently and he was excited to see how the stores were treating their Hawks collections now. Apparently quite a few stores had stopped selling it, since it was obviously qualified as villain merch now, but those that continued to sell it were apparently doing really well.
Hawks had decided not to change his name or aesthetic when he went villain because he wanted people to remember where he came from. There'd apparently been a mass burning of his merch the day after their attack on the Commission, but Dabi had kind of ruined the spirit of it when he'd shown up to light the pile on fire. Shouto had texted him pictures of it while laughing his ass off.
Izuku felt a tingle on the back of his neck as if someone were watching him and he glanced behind him. Where….? Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Tsukauchi stop to look at a shop window. Had...had Tsukauchi figured him out? He couldn't have, could he?
Izuku kept walking toward the mall and Tsukauchi always kept just a block or two behind him. He took a deep breath. Tsukauchi couldn't touch him even if he'd figured out Mastermind's identity. Not without risking the lives of the country's top heroes. Izuku was still safe, so…there was no reason for him not to have a little fun with the detective.
When he reached the mall, Izuku turned and smiled as he caught Tsukauchi's eye. He saw a look of fear pass over the detective's face as he opened the door. The poor guy was probably terrified because of how many hostages would be available to him once he got inside. Yeah, the mall was a target rich environment, but Izuku wasn't planning on causing any chaos today. That might change, depending on what Tsukauchi did, but for now, Izuku was content to simply tease him.
"What do you mean my son is Mastermind?!" Inko asked shrilly. "You...you just said he'd fallen in the wrong crowd!"
"We are deeply sorry for deceiving you, Mrs. Midoriya." Nedzu said. "But we did not believe you would be able to continue acting naturally around your son if you knew. You must understand how important it was for us to get this right, since Mastermind is not in the business of giving second chances."
"B-but...my baby!" Inko crumpled to the floor and Nedzu motioned for some of the officers to comfort her as he opened the laptop, his paws flying across the keys as he began to hack his way through the password.
Tsukauchi kept his distance from Midoriya as he wandered the mall. He wished he could give the order to evacuate, but they couldn't let Midoriya realize how close they were to catching him. He'd almost had a heart attack when he'd been spotted, but Midoriya seemed to think he was untouchable, which at the moment he was. So Midoriya seemed content to just rub his invulnerability in Tsukauchi's face as he wandered the mall, sometimes standing a little too close to an ignorant salesperson in a clear display that he could kill any of them at any moment and Tsukauchi couldn't do a thing about it.
"Tsukauchi," Nedzu's voice rang over his earpiece, "I managed to find the program, but it might take a while to disable it completely. Do you still have eyes on Mastermind?"
"Yes." Tsukauchi said quietly, pretending to look at some shirts. "He knows I'm here, but has decided I'm not a threat. I'll let you know if that changes, and I've got back-up waiting for my signal... I just can't wait for this to be over."
"I agree." Nedzu said. "Good luck, I'll work as quickly as I can."
"Come on!" Ashido whined. "Stop being so depressed! We're out here as a class to distract ourselves from the world crashing down around our ears!"
"Yeah, well the last time we all went out as a class, we ended up running into a pair of supervillains." Shinso grumbled. "Or did you forget about that disaster?"
"And the time before that was a week before Todoroki got kidnapped." Kaminari added.
"Well, at least Bakugou was able to come with us this time!" Kirishima said cheerfully.
"Only because Aizawa gave up." Tsu pointed out. "You can't keep him cooped up for not having a license if nobody has licenses anymore."
"We still have our licenses." Yaoyorozu said. "Just because the Hero Commission that gave us our licenses isn't around anymore…"
"Let's be honest," Sero said, "right now, we're all vigilantes. And nobody cares that Bakugo has anger management issues because that's pretty standard for illegal heroes. Even after they sort out the licensing thing, we're never gonna be popular anyway."
"The word is eclipsed in darkness." Tokoyami said softly.
"Oh stop it!" Jiro said. "You don't even have that much to be sad about, Tokoyami, you were going to be an underground hero anyway. The rest of us have had to completely re-evaluate what our careers are going to look like. Or did you forget that Mineta and Aoyama dropped out as soon as they realized heroes weren't going to be famous anymore?"
"Please stop arguing!" Iida pleaded. "We are UA students, we should be an example during these dark times!"
"I think that stopped being an option when one of our own turned villain." Shinso said.
"Shut up losers!" Bakugo yelled. "Are we just gonna complain the whole time or are we actually gonna do something?"
"Yeah!" Uraraka looked determined. "This is a mall, afterall!"
Sato shrugged, "I'm kinda hungry, so we could stop by the food court if you guys want?"
"Anybody opposed to that?" Yaoyorozu asked.
Everyone shook their heads.
"Better than sitting here all day." Bakugo grumbled.
"Kacchan?"
They all whipped around to see a green-haired boy around their age staring right at Bakugo.
Izuku had made eye contact with Tsukauchi before deciding to approach 1A. What better way to rub Tsukauchi's own helplessness in his face than to surround himself with heroes? He knew he was probably having too much fun, but he couldn't resist! It was turning out to be a pretty great Saturday.
"What are you doing here, Deku?" Bakugo growled.
Izuku smiled sweetly, "Shopping, Kacchan, same as you."
"Kacchan?" Ashido squealed. "That is so cute!"
"Shut-up Raccoon Eyes!"
"Ah! So Kacchan's given you a nickname too!" Izuku said.
"Oh, is Deku not actually your name?" Uraraka asked.
"No, my name is Izuku Midoriya. Deku's just what Kacchan calls me to make fun of me."
"Hey, at least it's better than soy sauce face." Sero laughed.
"Hey, since you already know Bakugo," Uraraka said, "why don't you join us?"
"That's a wonderful idea!" Yaoyorozu said. "We were just about to get something to eat."
"I wouldn't want to impose…" Izuku said, knowing that would only make them try harder.
"Nonsense!" Iida said. "Any friend of Bakugo is a friend of ours."
"I'm not friends with this loser!" Bakugo exploded, but the class just ignored him.
"Yeah!" Ashido said. "How long have you known Bakugo for? Do you have any juicy stories of him as a kid?"
" Well, um…"
"Don't answer that, Deku!"
"Oooh!" Kaminari grinned. "That's a yes!"
"Come on guys!" Jiro said. "We've got to go get a table before it gets too full."
Tsukauchi watched as Midoirya interacted with 1A, who had no idea how dangerous he was. If Midoriya was trying to torture him, it was working, because it was getting harder and harder not to just arrest him on the spot as he got his food and went to sit with 1A, who had pushed several tables together in the center of the food court.
He leaned against a wall, no longer pretending to shop, just trying to look natural as he waited for the signal.
"Any luck yet?" He whispered.
"Not yet." Nedzu responded. "La Brava really is quite good at what she does, but I'm close."
"Wait, is that Detective Tsukauchi?" He froze and saw Ashido waving at him. "Hey Detective! Come say hi!"
What should he do? On the one hand, getting close to Midoriya before he was cleared to make the arrest was risky, but on the other, it would raise more red-flags for him to ignore the greeting. Midoriya smiled at him and raised an eyebrow in challenge and Tsukauchi walked hesitantly toward the table.
"Ashido, stop bothering the detective!" Iida scolded. "He might be on duty!"
Tsukauchi forced himself to laugh, "It's alright, I'm not busy."
"Well then why don't you sit with us?" Ashido said. "Midoriya, this is Detective Tsukauchi, he's talked to us a few times when we've run into the league, Tsukauchi, this is Izuku Midoirya, one of Bakugo's old friends."
"We've met." Tsukauchi said stiffly.
"Oh yeah." Midoriya smirked. "I'd say the detective knows me pretty well by now, don't you?"
If the others noticed the tension, they must have decided not to mention it. Tsukauchi forced his hand away from his gun as Midoriya enjoyed his obvious discomfort. He took a deep breath and forced himself to relax.
The detective was tense. Which was kinda the point, but...Izuku narrowed his eyes. It almost seemed like the detective was waiting to make his move, but that was too risky. His program...was on his laptop...which was at his house…
Fuck.
Now it was Izuku's turn to act calm. He sent a quick text to Shouto telling him he loved him and instructing him to look in the box under the couch in his apartment, then deleted the text. Izuku put his phone back in his pocket and laughed at the stupid joke Kaminari had just told while eyeing Tsukauchi. Considering how long Tsukauchi had been following him and assuming Nedzu already had his laptop, he'd probably be getting the go-ahead to make the arrest any second now.
His phone started buzzing in his pocket, but he couldn't risk pulling his eyes away from Tsukauchi. Could he even get out of this?
Tsukauchi noticed the shift in Midoriya's behavior and mentally pleaded for Nedzu to speed up. If they didn't make the arrest soon, Midoriya might run. God knows the kid had enough resources and connections to make himself disappear if he wanted to.
"I beat the program!" Nedzu said. "Make the arrest. Now!"
Uraraka didn't know exactly how it happened. One moment they'd been laughing at something Kaminari said, and the next Midoriya was holding a knife to her throat as Tsukauchi pointed a gun at them.
"Whoa!" Kirishima yelled. "What the heck, guys? What's going on?"
Tsukauchi didn't look away from Midoriya, "Drop the knife, Midoriya. We found the program and disabled it. We aren't going to let you get away again, so just give it up."
Izuku tilted his head and shifted the knife so it was pressed even harder against Uraraka's throat, "Are you really willing to let a budding future hero die, just to catch me Tsukauchi? Aren't you supposed to be one the good guys?"
Tsukauchi's face hardened, "I'm afraid you don't quite understand your situation, Midoriya." He shifted his gun minutely so he was aiming at Izuku's head, "I am prepared to take the shot, and these are hero students who all have the necessary first aid training to keep Uraraka alive long enough to get her to a hospital. You are leaving here in handcuffs or a bodybag, but those are your only options, so choose wisely."
Izuku tightened his grip on the knife, but he could tell by the look in Tsukauchi's eyes that he wasn't lying. If he got arrested, there was no question he'd be going to Tartarus, but if he died then...then it was over. No second chances, no saying goodbye, nothing. He couldn't do that to his friends, he couldn't do that to his mom...he couldn't do that to Shouto.
Izuku sighed and dropped the knife, raising his hands above his head. Uraraka ran over to her friends, crying, as Tsukauchi kicked the knife away from him, forced him onto the ground, and wrenched his hands behind his back.
"Izuku Midoriya you are under arrest for being the villain known as Mastermind."
Notes:
Well, the next chapter is the final update for this story which means Mastermind is almost over. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for reading. The amount of love this story has gotten has been overwhelming, considering that it just started as a plot bunny in my brain that I thought maybe two people would think was cool. So thank you all for coming on this journey with me.
I also decided it was probably time to start a discord for all my bnha fics, so you may check that out if you so desire.
Status Power Mingguan
-- Peringkat
Power 
-- Power
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