章 2272: 14
Chapter Text
Izuku awoke to a white tiled ceiling, the steady beat of heart rate monitor blaring into his ears. He shifted slightly, attempting to adjust his position into one that was more comfortable.
That was when he spotted the gray blur at the edge of his vision. Turning his head, Izuku saw that the blur was the retreating back of Cementoss as he was leaving the room. Before he could even think upon the strange occurrence, two police officers strode in.
"Hello, Midoriya," greeted the one in the overcoat. "I hope you're feeling alright?"
"I… well, yeah, I suppose. As much as I can be after being thrown into a wall with the force that rivals All Might, anyways."
The man smiled. "That's good to hear. Anyway, I'm Investigator Naomasa Tsukauchi. The woman next to me is Officer Asano Saya," he gestured to the orange haired woman beside him.
"If you wouldn't mind, she and I would like to ask you a couple questions regarding what occurred this morning at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint."
Izuku nodded, quite curious to what was happening. "Of course. But, uh, can I ask where I am at the moment?"
"Ah, of course. Don't worry. Your in the infirmary at U.A. You're under Recovery Girl's care right now."
"Oh. Thank you."
"No problem. Alright then, let's begin."
The questions began simple, with Izuku recounting the events that had led up to the incident. Izuku then went into detail on his exploits with Tokoyami in the Downpour Zone, as well as his subsequent escape and incapacitation.
One thing Izuku found odd was the eerie silence that surrounded Officer Saya. Despite Tsukauchi's assurance that both were present to ask questions, Saya had been silent so far. However, his thoughts were paid little heed, his questioning by the police continuing on.
"Your quirk… It says here that it's [Bug Control]?" Tsukauchi asked.
"Yeah. Still working on a more permanent name for it, though," Izuku admitted.
Tsukauchi nodded. "How does that work exactly? You relay commands and the bugs just do what their told?"
"Something like that, yeah." Izuku replied.
"Mhm," Tsukauchi hummed, writing down some notes. "What was the last command you gave your bugs, if I may ask?"
Izuku rose an eyebrow in question, but he replied anyhow. "Just, umm… to bite. And sting. You know, whatever my bugs could do to help All Might at that moment. That Nomu guy wasn't something to scoff at."
"You're absolutely right there, if the reports we've been getting are anything to go by. Anyways, another thing - what was the most damage you know of that you caused to any of the villains present?"
Now that's a weird question, Izuku thought.
"Umm, I guess there was this one snake lady in the Downpour Zone? She was coming at me fast, and I think I heard a couple bones breaking when my eskrima sticks hit her. Probably her ribcage, when I think about it. Why? Is she alright?"
"Snake lady?" Tsukauchi took a moment to think. "Hmm… Ah, yes. I believe that I remember one of the villains matching that description. Don't worry, last I heard was that she was in stable condition."
"That's good, I suppose," Izuku muttered.
Both the officers quirked an eyebrow at that, but shook it off. "Alright then!" Taukauchi exclaimed, closing his notebook. "That seems like that's all we needed for today. If we require a follow-up, we'll contact your mother on your home phone."
Tsukauchi turned toward the door, yelling out into the halls. "He's clear!"
With that, the door to the room slammed open with a bang. "About time! You officers are already draining enough of his energy as is! Out, out!"
"Of course, Recovery Girl." Tsukauchi smiled. "I hope you get well soon, Midoriya!" Tsukauchi yelled as the door was slammed in his face.
"Sheesh," Recovery Girl voiced. "Those police officers don't respect the notion of a patient's rest."
"Umm…"
"But seriously, young man. Minor head trauma, a few broken ribs, a large gash on your arm, and a couple or so bruises? You did a nasty amount of damage upon yourself out there. You're lucky that your armor took the brunt of the force. I'm not sure that you'd be conscious otherwise."
"Oh, sorry," Izuku laughed sheepishly. "Oh! My costume! What happened to it?"
"Ah, yes. I had to get a specialist to cut parts of it off, took some time, too. But some of it is salvageable, I suppose. You made it yourself, right?"
"Yeah…"
"Truly admirable work. The quality of a professional's, even. But enough on that. You still need to rest."
"Sorry."
"No need. But I don't recommend you using your quirk at least until tomorrow. Too much stress on your brain is a bad thing. Now, come along," Recovery Girl said, pushing on Izuku's bed. "I need to transfer you to another room, have you join the rest of your classmates. I have another patient to attend to."
As Izuku's bed jostled from its position, it was only then that Izuku noticed the resting form of All Might in the adjacent space. Well, an unpowered All Might, anyhow.
Man, I should really connect to my bugs. I need to keep track of— Izuku shook his head. I should listen to Recovery Girl, she knows what she's talking about. I am kinda tired. Besides, what possible danger could come near the heart of U.A. High?
"But how about—" Izuku stopped himself in reflex. He didn't trust his own voice at the moment, with him about to refer to the skinny man as All Might.
Does Recovery Girl know about— Duh, of course she does. In fact, she's probably All Might's doctor concerning his injury. I shouldn't need to—
"Oh, Toshinori?" Recovery Girl supplied, having noticed where Izuku was looking. "He'll be fine. Just a couple flesh wounds and such. He got them from a bad shuffle with the villains. He was the one in charge of the security systems at U.S.J. That's why he's here. He got beat up over it."
"Oh, alright." A believable cover story, I suppose. Guess that means she doesn't know that I know, though. Oh well, I'll just leave it as be.
"And stop that muttering, boy. You're already using enough energy as is."
"Yes, Recovery Girl."
The gurney was wheeled into an adjacent room, where he noticed another bed with their curtains pulled over, obviously concealing someone.
Wait, other classmates? That would mean—
The curtain opened. "Midoriya! You're alright!" yelled the voice.
"Oh. Hey, Mineta."
"I told you that you weren't required, Asano," Tsukauchi said in a chipper mood.
The two officers were just leaving the Infirmary, making their trek back to their car through the school halls.
"Better safe than sorry," Officer Saya replied curtly. "My flames were a precautionary measure. You know that. Neither you nor your quirk would have been able to fend off a swarm of insects."
"Come on, Asano. Did you see him? That boy wouldn't harm a fly."
Officer Saya gave Tsukauchi a blank stare.
"Eh, you know what I mean," he said, waving her off. "Point is, everything the boy said was one hundred percent true, no lies whatsoever. You know that my quirk doesn't lie to me."
Saya let out a grunt of indignation. "Then how do you explain the mess he left behind at the crime scene?"
Tsukauchi took on a sheepish expression. "Yeah… I'm not entirely sure on that part. Genbu's thinking that the insects clutched onto the boy's last commands before he went unconscious. The biting and stinging stuff do line up pretty well with that, you've got to admit."
"But twenty-one injured villains? And four deceased?" Saya admonished.
"Hey, it's the best theory we have so far. Who knows? Maybe some of the villains might have just been allergic. We won't know until the coroner's finished with them."
"Allergies? Really?" Saya relayed sarcastically.
"What?"
"You and I both know what we saw. Some of their faces were puffed up and swelling. Others had necrosis settling in! In fact, I'm almost certain that muscle failure got some of them."
"But—"
"Heck one of the bodies still had a whole swarm of hornets stinging at it. Japanese. Giant. Hornets. Need I remind you what they look like? What they can do to a person?"
"Look, Saya—"
At that moment, Taukauchi motioned for Saya to stop, raising his hand to listen to his earpiece. His eyes rose in surprise.
"What is it?" Saya questioned, reverting back to a calm demeanor.
"Make that five," Tsukauchi spoke as he lowered his hand. He slowly began walking forward, Saya not far behind.
Saya's grew in pace with Tsukauchi, face scrunched up in confusion. "Five? Five what?" she questioned.
"Five individuals deceased," Tsukauchi said. "You know the one with the exposed brain and the avian features?"
"The one who was completely unresponsive during interrogations?"
"Mhm. Seems that he died in his cell a little over half an hour ago. The medics weren't able to do anything by the time they noticed anything. It didn't help that this 'Nomu' neglected to act against any external stimuli. He was still sitting upright and motionless in his cell, with his beady eyes still open, when they found him dead."
"But doesn't he have a regeneration quirk?"
"He does - well, did. But it looks like his nervous system was already overflowing with venom and neurotoxins. Seems like all those bugs that were surrounding its head weren't just lounging around as we thought," Tsukauchi supplied.
"But all Regeneration quirks on record have been known to normally be able to fend off such a thing…" Saya mused.
"Unless the body was subjected to tranquilizers," Tsukauchi continued, "which would in turn slow down his bodily functions - including his quirk."
"And we pumped him full of tranqs when we arrested him," Saya said in revelation.
"Yup."
"Dang," Asano muttered, her hair flaring a bit with her flames. "We should've been more lax with the precautions we took."
"Hey, it's not our fault. Like you said, better safe than sorry, right?"
"A prisoner still died on our watch. He died a preventable death."
"And that same prisoner went head to head with The Symbol of Peace and escaped virtually unscathed, need I remind you. Besides, if what All Might said was true, he was having trouble fighting this 'Nomu,' even with the majority of the kid's bugs focusing on it, slowing down the villain's reactions. Who knows, All Might might have been in worse condition if the bugs hadn't affected the villain."
"All Might? Being worse for wear?" Saya said jokingly. "You do know who you're talking about, right?"
A slight grimace appeared on Tsukauchi's face, but it quickly disappeared. "Oh, I sure do."
"Hey, Midoriya. You said that you can see and hear through your bugs, right?" came the eager voice of Mineta.
"Yeah…" Izuku replied cautiously.
"Well, have you ever thought of peeking in on— OWW!!! Alright!! Alright, okay!"
Izuku knew he was betraying Recovery Girl's trust in him to not to use his quirk, but still. Mineta's thought processes deserved at least one ant bite. Or two.
"You know, Midoriya, I—"
"If you're going to say something about wanting me to spy on—"
"No! It's nothing like that! I don't wanna get bit again!"
"Good," Iizuku chuckled. "Go on, then."
"I just… I wanna say thanks. You know, for saving my behind back there with the villains. I really thought that we were going to die, you know? But then you and Tokoyami fought off all those villains, and I— I had to do something, yo know? And when I saw that samurai guy with the sword, I just…"
Huh. Izuku never could have imagined Minoru Mineta acting like this. With his perverted ways and his quick-to-breakdown reaction at U.S.J. - even his last place position the quirk assessment - it seemed that Izuku had underestimated him. He ultimately pulled through, though, his quick reactions having saved Izuku despite his quick defeat at the hands of the ram villain.
"It's no problem, Mineta. Just doing the duty as a fellow classmate. I couldn't just leave you to die, right?"
"But still, thanks."
Izuku nodded his head.
"Midoriya, you have some visitors. They've been outside for half an hour and haven't left, so I'm just letting them in," Recovery Girl announced.
Mei, Manga, and Pony made their way to Izuku's bed, faces laced with worry.
"Izuku!!" yelled the eccentric inventor, tackling the laying Izuku with a hug.
"Ah— Mei— hurts…"
Mei jumped off him. "Sorry, Izuku. You okay?"
"Yeah, we heard what happened," said Manga. "That stuff over at U.S.J. sounds pretty scary. Giant tentacle monsters, sharks with laser beams, poison gas, flying golden robots…"
Izuku gave Manga an incredulous look. "What are you talking about?"
"What do you mean?" asked Manga.
"I thought that the attack was just a bunch of minor villains and three main ones?" supplied Pony.
"That's right," Izuku affirmed. "I don't know where you heard about all that other stuff."
"Oh."
(ન_੦)
"But you're alright?" Pony asked. "Recovery Girl wouldn't… um… elaborate is the word, I think."
"Ah, it's not too bad. Recovery Girl said I'd be out by Friday morning."
(´･_･`)
"But it's still Wednesday."
"I know."
"What the heck happened to you!" exclaimed Mei, shaking him. "You can still help with my experiments, right?!"
"Don't worry. It's— it wasn't that bad. I just took a really bad hit from one of the villains. Got knocked out right after."
"What?" Sprung up the voice of Mineta behind his closed curtain. "Tha— OWW!! Alright! Alright!" Mineta quieted himself then, resigning to simply watch the newcomers.
"Who's that?" asked Pony.
"Ah, just a classmate," responded Izuku. "One who doesn't know how to control his mouth."
"Heh," whimpered Mineta.
"Anyway," continued Izuku, "the villain tried to— tried to, uh, well— attack me, I guess. He was beat by All Might in the end, I'm told. So, no worries."
The three friends looked at Izuku with unconvinced faces. But ultimately, they decided to rest their case.
Mei, Manga, and Pony stayed for a while longer, but under Izuku's insistence left after the lunch bell rang.
After they left, Mineta's voice reached Izuku's ears yet again.
"When did you get so lucky?"
Some bugs found their stingers in use yet again.
"So Kaminari just jumped into the water. He didn't wait for the signal or anything, said he had to get into the water for our sakes. He only got around half of them because of that. We had to knock out the others by ourselves. Then Tsu and I had to carry him back to shore," Uraraka shared.
"Indeed," Tsu ribbeted. "If he waited, the boat probably wouldn't have been sunk. Then we wouldn't have had to go to shore where the other villains were. But, I am glad that your bugs were able to stall for All Might's arrival, at least."
"I'm glad too," Izuku said. "When I saw what that guy could do, I knew that he couldn't take a hold of you or you'd be— well…"
"Yeah…" Uraraka trailed off.
"Indeed," Iida interrupted. "Your actions were… They were pretty impressive. I applaud you for your resourcefulness."
"Oh! That's right! exclaimed Izuku. "You three were up and about during the fight All Might had, right? What happened?"
"Oh! Oh! I'd like to know too! exclaimed the eavesdropping Mineta. "How was All Might?"
All three grew silent.
"Guys?"
"Oh come on! Was it something I said?" questioned Mineta.
"Hmm? Oh! No! It's just… Uh, well, uh—" Uraraka sputtered.
All Might beat up that brain guy into submission," Tsu said. "Your bugs really helped in the fight."
"All Might said himself that your bugs helped slow the Nomu's response time down," Iida added.
"Really?! That's a relief. I thought that my bugs would just get in the way or something. I'm glad they were able to help."
"Yeah…"
Tsu, Uraraka, and Iida left not long after. It was after school, after all. Some had parents expecting them, and homework was needed to be done.
"That was kinda weird, don't you think? asked Izuku.
"Kind of," responded Mineta. "Perhaps it was just the fight? We all did just get out of a life or death situation not too long ago. Maybe the reality of the situation is just getting to them?"
Izuku blinked, looking over at the only other person in the room.
"What?" asked Mineta.
"Nothing." Full of surprises.
Eventually night came, the sun's setting declaring the end of class 1-A's hectic day.
As the patients of U.A.'s infirmary got ready for the night, Izuku shifted his position in his bed, preparing for sleep.
"All this fighting…"
Izuku closed his eyes, eventually dozing off into sleep.
"Perhaps there's room for improvement…"
Within the building of the Musutafu branch of the Police Force, Deputy Hachiro and Captain Omori arrived at their Police Chief's office.
"Chief?" asked Hachiro.
"Yes, Deputy?"
"It's about the kid…"
"What about him?"
"Well… What are we going to do with him?"
The chief sat silent for a moment, considering his answer. "Nothing, as far as we are concerned. We got orders from the Commissioner General. He said to let the matter go unless another incident occurs."
"Seriously?" wheezed Captain Omori.
"Mhm. The Commissioner also said to divert the attention away from the deaths. Or, at least, say it was the villains at fault."
"Wha— Why?" asked the captain.
"As far as we're aware, the kid doesn't know anything about this. Tsukauchi's report made sure of that."
"So?"
"So, that means that this kid has had his quirk all his life. There weren't any prior reports of him causing any problems, and not once has the kid had any irking of doing so."
The chief grabbed a folder, handing it to his deputy. "It was an accident, plain and simple. A part of the kid's quirk he wasn't aware of, activated when he was knocked out. Besides," the chief said, turning to the window, "I'd rather not have to fill the kid's head with guilt where it's not needed."
"Are you kidding?!" exclaimed Captain Omori. "How do we know that? How do we know that he didn't know exactly what he was doing, that he specifically ordered those people killed?"
"Omori," warned the chief of police.
"Sorry, chief," apologized the captain, calming his demeanor.
"As I was saying," continued the chief, "Tsukauchi's report made sure that the kid didn't purposely kill those villains. Besides, if there was a homicidal villain out there murdering people with bugs, don't you think that anyone would have heard of it? The last we heard of such a thing was with that whole Queen Bee fiasco."
"Fine. But what's to stop the villains from broadcasting this kid's hand in the death of all those villains?" asked Omori.
"And risk tarnishing their name? I don't believe that a group calling themselves 'The League of Villains' would want to drive away potential recruits," voiced Hachiro. "Besides, we should be glad that the only ones who were harmed were villains," Deputy Hachiro added.
"Yes. As much as it is wrong, you are right, Hachiro," voiced the chief.
"How about the Commission?" asked Captain Omori.
The chief turned back to the two. "The Hero Public Safety Commission has assessed the damage done. There currently aren't any pleas to take the boy into custody".
"That's strange," admitted Deputy Hachiro. "If anything, they should be brewing up a storm trying to get the boy contained."
"Indeed," the Chief said. "It seems as if the Commissioner and the Commission have come to some sort of agreement in keeping the boy out of the loop. It doesn't help that Nezu over at U.A. is trying to keep us out of the boy's life as much as possible. Wants to see to the boy's growth himself, apparently. Promises to do something about it."
"That is, undoubtedly, very unusual," said Hachiro.
"Very. But the point is, these were extenuating circumstances for the boy. Unless something of this caliber happens again, we don't act. Orders are orders, after all. You two are dismissed."
Notes:
And that ends the chapter this time around. A whole view of U.S.J's aftermath via multiple perspectives, laced with inklings of time butterflies. Hope you all like it!
Also, I'm enjoying having this iteration of Izuku use Japanese Giant Hornets. I mean, what kind of person with bug control powers wouldn't use them? Just look at them! *Evil cackles*
Also, remember the poll! Again, the options are:
1.) Hive Mind
2.) Eye of the Swarm
3.) Entomopathy
4.) Bug Manipulation/Control
5.) Entomokinesis
Anyhow, see you all next time in Chapter 15! Ta-ta!
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