Capítulo 1188: 38
"Error," Menu muttered, still partially curled up into the ball Shoko had put her in. The half empty cup of hot chocolate was shaking violently in her hands as the purple haired girl stared at the T.V. Her eyes weren't just glazed over nor filled with the same kind of sleep deprivation that Menu-chan normally boasted about, no, they were something else entirely. Her usually red eyes were black. Completely black. Save for the odd string of characters that would start from the edge of the other and fly across all the way to the other as though those eyes were nothing more than one shared screen made to look like a face.
And from what Shoko knew about Menu being a physical representation of Izuku's quirk, that seemed likely.
Whatever had happened to Menu-chan last night had been bad. Really bad. Far worse than what the others thought. She had wanted to tell them, to let them know that they should wait for Menu-chan to get better before they did anything. But Menu-chan disagreed.
Physically, she was useless, but her mental facilities were still there. And that meant she was still Izuku's quirk, and still functioning as well as could be. So she had sworn Shoko to silence, and now the others were preparing to save some little girl from some gang while she stayed here, watching Menu-chan's body.
Menu moved her hands slowly up to her lips, the cup trembling with every inch before it came to a small calm pause when she took a long slow sip of the hot chocolate. "I can't feel it."
"Hmm?" Shoko asked, leaning in towards the girl with something close to concern. A string of characters that looked like someone just bashed their fingers on a keyboard made of only numbers and symbols.
"Temperature." Menu-chan stared at her eyes flickering for a moment. "I know it's hot. I can tell it's hot. I can tell you how hot it is. But I can't feel it."
"Are you going to be okay?"
Menu went silent and the shaking stopped. "I hope so."
That was the last thing Menu-chan said for a while.
XXXX
The old boss glared at Izuku with the fury of the sea at storm barely concealed behind the man's stoic face. Despite being bed ridden for months if not years, the old man looked to be in fantastic shape. A benefit of Izuku's medicine or a manifestation of the man's quirk. "You're a hero, aren't you?"
"Not yet." Izuku said firmly. "But right now, I'm only after getting Eri out of here." Izuku looked towards the door and swallowed, it was morning now, there should be more people coming in soon. He clutched the clipboard and held onto it tight. Even if the magic item made it so that people thought he belonged there, it didn't let him do something that he shouldn't be doing.
He made that mistake with Eri and it cost him his life.
"Please, do you have any-"
"Kai Chisaki was like a son to me." The Old Boss cut him off with a few short words. "He put me in here with his quirk. A simple touch is all he needs to remake whatever he touches into whatever he wants. And he wants to use Eri's quirk to erase quirks. He asked me to let me use her again and again for his project."
The Old Boss swung his legs over the side of the bed. "Had Eri been anyone else I might have allowed him to do so. But she is my granddaughter. She was cursed with a quirk that took her father away. The man I entrusted my daughter too. It rewound him until he never existed. She is dangerous but she was all the family I had left."
"What did Kai want with her?"
The old man stood, ripping off the medical tubes and cables as he did. "He wants to make a bullet that will remove someone's quirk. Forever. At this point he might have a prototype ready."
The Boss rolled his shoulders and pulled at his Yukata, causing the top to fall to the side revealing a body covered in tattoos. Tigers, sharks, dragons, phoenixes, and a wide range of other creatures seemed so alive that they might very well have leapt out at Izuku. Wait. Those weren't just tattoos. They actually were moving around, the tiger stalked him, the shark swam about and the phoenix gave off light. "Well then Mr. Hero. Can I entrust my granddaughter to you?"
"I'm going to save her."
"Hmph. So be it. You best slink into the shadows if you don't want to get caught up in a mess." With the smack of his chest a white gorilla outlined by blue tribal flames began to leap about the living tapestry on the old man's body swinging on vines that seemed to appear at random. The Gorilla landed with a boom, its massive form dwarfing the room as it pounded its chest, blots of blue ink staining the ground for a moment.
The gorilla let out a roar and beat its chest.
"Kai! You ungrateful little punk! Get up here and explain yourself!" The old man roared as a tiger leapt out of his arms.
That quirk was actually kind of neat. But his quirk was better, and not just because he could summon Itsuka, Momo, Nejire, and Shoko.
With the chaos of the Old Boss coming back, Izuku slunk down into the basements.
XXXX
[Izuku Midoriya: The Old Boss is going on a rampage. The fighting has already started.]
"They've started fighting already." Momo kept her voice down as she walked alongside Itsuka, Mirio, Sir Nighteye, and Bubble girl. Once Izuku had awoken the Old Boss, they started to make their way towards the compound, attempting to act as nothing more than heroes on patrol. Her heart was pounding in her chest as she tried to contain the weird mixture of excitement and concern that was bubbling up inside of her.
Already they knew so much in such a short time, she was still feeling the effects of the Sports Festival yesterday.
It was the quirk erasing drug that she was most worried about. Ever since she had met Izuku and became entwined with his quirk she had gone from using her quirk as a simple tool to something she loved using. The addition of the magic that Izuku's quirk allowed her to infuse into her creations opened up so many possibilities to her. The idea of losing her quirk now frightened her.
And it was the same for everyone.
Though, such a drug would be useful against villains serving a life-long sentence. If only it didn't require harming a little girl to make.
[Izuku Midoriya: Momo, are you ready?]
Momo blinked and looked towards Itsuka who nodded at her, a proud smile on her face as she looked incredibly confident in her hero costume. With a breath she grabbed her mask, bringing it over her face and finding her center. She was probably going to be fighting someone today. Someone that would want to kill her, someone that had killed Izuku once already. As much as she had discovered her love of fighting, she was still nervous about all of this.
Itsuka's hand fell on her bare shoulder before Itsuka pulled her into a tight hug. "You got this. I'll be in there if you need me."
Momo returned the hug. "Thanks. I'll feel better knowing you have my back."
"Nemesis." Sir Nighteye addressed her by her hero name. Hearing him call her that made her cringe ever so slightly. She was starting to wonder if she should have stuck with her original idea of Creati, but she did so much more than just create stuff. Both names weren't good. But maybe she shouldn't have let Menu-chan name her. "The potential of that drug is frightening. Destroy everything you can."
"Right."
[Momo Yaoyorozu: I'm ready.]
She felt a familiar shift as she found herself standing somewhere completely else. The halls were clean, metallic, and depressing. In front of her was a tall blonde haired man with blue eyes.
[Momo Yaoyorozu: I prefer the normal you.
Izuku Midoriya: Thanks. But have you seen Nejire as a redhead?
Momo Yaoyorozu: I know right?
Itsuka Kendo: How come you two never talk about my red hair!?
Shoko Todoroki: What she said.
Nejire Hado: Flirt later!
Nejire Hado: Wow. I can't believe I just thought that.]
Izuku nodded and started to continue down the hallway, leaving Momo before one of several large rooms filled with lab equipment. Her mission was discussed well before the operation began. While Izuku was ideal for infiltration, and Itsuka could take down large threats with greater ease, Momo was amazing at sabotage. It was easy for her to create the exact item she needed to mess something up.
She moved through the room, checking the neatly labeled containers, for what might be inside there. So far she didn't find anything to make narcotics, but a lot of the stuff in here was medical grade, and pretty powerful as well. It wasn't until Momo got to the small fridge did she finally find something interesting. Vials of blood, all dated, and a small black case.
Hadn't there been a small black case like this opened on the countertop?
She opened the box and found several small blue bullets, they were of small caliber, and lacked a ballistic head. Instead, the tip was flat, hiding a small needle within the tip. Had they developed the drug to the point they could weaponize it? That was more than a little concerning.
She turned to look back towards the container on the counter top. Was it empty waiting to be filled, or empty because the bullets had been taken? She stopped when she saw a man wearing white standing in the corner. His hair extended out from beneath his hood, stabbing her in the leg before she could dodge out of the way. And then. Everything seemed to slow.
Not good. She couldn't move. Her breaths were shallow. Even her eyes couldn't budge from where she had been looking moments ago. His quirk? Probably. Did it affect hers? She conjured a small drop of water on her top lip, and felt it fall down easily enough. It felt like her quirk was still functioning at normal time. That was good.
"Oddly convient." The man spoke in a soft voice that betrayed the menacing look of his plague doctor mask. What were the odds that it was an actual gas mask? Low. "The same day that the Old Boss gets miraculously healed and starts causing a commotion, I find a rat rummaging through our research."
He approached her with a knife in his hand. Not a gun? He didn't have the bullets. Maybe.
[Momo Yaoyorozu: I've been caught.
Izuku Midoriya: Do you need to be teleported?
Momo Yaoyorozu: Maybe. But right now I have a plan. I want to see if he'll monologue.
Izuku Midoriya: I'll trust you.]
"I'll just have to use my hour hand on you and then we can take you in for questioning." The white robed man almost seemed glad that this was happening. Did he really not care that their entire base was in chaos? "We'll have a lot of questions for you. Like how you knew about our drug. Was it All for One? The Police? The heroes? You'll have a lot to answer for-"
And she heard enough.
If Momo could have smiled she would have, but instead she just felt proud of herself as her trademark black smoke erupted from her body quickly engulfing the room and causing her ever so slightly magical mask to switch into its thermal view, showing her a clear outline of the man as he stumbled backwards hand pulling at his mask to cover his mouth. So it was just for show.
With her left arm she shot out a long metal pipe that hit the wall and pushed her to the side, barely dodging the man's second attack with his quirk, she caught herself with a second one, and then launched a net at the man from her arm.
After a minute since she was first struck, Momo regained control of her body while the man was knocked out cold from her gas. The Nightmare smoke she had been developing for months had finally been used in real practice. And it was a resounding success.
Working in the darkness Momo set a few incendiary charges inside the lab and pulled the white robed man out of the smoke. He was stirring as though he was having a nightmare, muttering phrases about not hurting him, or to leave him alone.
"It was nice meeting you." She whispered in his ear, her voice muffled through the mask. She let out a cute giggle that made both Ejiro and Tetsutetsu break out in a cold sweat if she ever did it around them. "I hope you have a pleasant dream."
She left a tracker on him just in case.
[Momo Yaoyorozu: Alright, one lab is set, how are you?
Izuku Midoriya: Good, I'm at Eri's now, there might be another lab, it should be on your map.]
Momo nodded to herself and pushed the man into one of the empty rooms before heading out. She hoped Izuku would have less encounters than she did.
XXXX
Izuku looked around nervously as he approached Eri's door once again. The memory of his sudden and abrupt death sent a shiver down his spine. This time that wouldn't happen Overhaul was busy, and he wasn't going to just walk out without checking both directions. If anything he'd be out before Overhaul even knew Eri was gone.
Which would be perfect.
When he opened the door he saw Eri sitting on her bed just like before, but this time there was raw fear spreading across her face. Far more than normal. She let out a meek, almost pitiful scream and tried to scoot away from him.
"Eri?" He asked walking over towards her. "Are you okay? What's-"
"You died." She muttered, her red eyes wide with fear and her entire body is shaking. "I saw him kill you for trying to take me. And then. I woke up. But you. Died. I saw it."
Did the reset not affect her? Was it because of her quirk? Or was it because she was so close? There was no way to know. Nobody else knew he died besides Menu-chan after all. And Overhaul didn't even blink when they passed each other earlier.
"That's right Eri." He kneeled down in front of her. "I did die. But I came back didn't I? And I'll keep coming back until I get you out of here. So. What do you say shall we-"
Eri latched onto him. Tears streamed down her eyes. "Don't die anymore."
[Izuku Midoriya: I have Eri, I'm heading out the back entrance.
Itsuka Kendo: Good. We're almost inside, we should be able to keep them busy.]
Izuku headed down the hall, holding Eri over his shoulder as he did so, but stopped when Eri screamed.
[Itsuka Kendo: Izuku! This is bad! There's so much blood!]
A gunshot echoed through the halls and a piercing pain in his shoulder made him stumble. He turned back and saw Overhaul, blood covering his jacket and a deranged look in his eye as he advanced towards Izuku. "You traitor!"
So much for not being careless.
No extra lives this time.
[Izuku Midoriya: Can you…
The U.I. of his quirk began to crumble before his eyes, falling out of vision and vanishing.
He heard another scream.
This one not from Eri, but from Menu.
He ran, holding Eri tight. This time not heading for the back entrance, but towards the way he came. Towards Momo and Itsuka.
It felt strange. Not seeing the world with those elements. Was that it? Was his quirk gone? No. Not entirely. He still had that clipboard, and his hair was still blonde. Did his carelessness get Menu killed?
Dammit!
Dammit dammit dammit!
AN: I've had the Old Man's Quirk in my back pocket for a long time. Glad I was finally able to use it.
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