Chapter Text
Inside the Mustafu City Police Station, pro-heroes Eraserhead and Present Mic stood worriedly in an observation room. In the next room over, the two heroes watched top detective Tsukauchi Naomasa interrogate the recently captured Vegapunk. “Where are they, Mic?” Aizawa Shouta questioned, glaring at the tall villain on the other side of the window. “Where did that bastard send my students?”
“Shouta…” Yamada Hizashi bit his lip, laying a hand on his best friend’s shoulder. “We’ll find them.”
Aizawa groaned, rubbing his own hand down his face. “We better, Zashi.” Both heroes turned their eyes back to the interrogation happening on the other side of the glass window.
Inside said room, Detective Tsukauchi sat in front of the mad scientist, Vegapunk. “My name is Tsukauchi Naomasa. I am the head detective of MCPD. I’ll be recording our interaction for records sake.” The man motioned to the recording device that was already in action. “Now, I am in charge of this case. Also for records sake, I am obligated to inform you of my quirk. It’s called lie detector, where I have the immediate ability to tell if a person is lying or not. Now, if you’d please state your name and quirk.”
Vegapunk laughed hysterically, tilting back in his chair as he threw his head back. He couldn’t move very far, seeing as how his hands were cuffed to the table. Tsukauchi was not put off by this and instead waited patiently for the escapee to finish. With a sigh, Vegapunk sat properly and leaned forward to the point his chin was centimeters from the table top. He tilted his head, and grinned like a mad man. “Quirks are extraordinary, aren’t they?” He cackled.
“Please cooperate. State your name and quirk.” Tsukauchi repeated, folding his hands across the table and narrowing his dark brown eyes.
“I am Vegapunk and I am essentially...Oh, what’s the term you people use?” The villain paused, before another malicious grin stretched across his face. “Ah, that’s right. Quirkless .”
Tsukauchi grit his teeth. Truth . His quirk registered. The detective said so out loud. “Since you are quirkless, then tell me what happened to the six students that you were reported to be engaged in battle with? Where did you send them? They could not have disappeared into thin air.”
Vegapunk hummed, eyes traveling around the room before they landed on the one-way window. “They helped me perfect my experiment. What wonderful test subjects they were.” The scientist laughed, as if sensing that Aizawa was getting ready to crash through the window.
“DON’T play games.” Tsukauchi snarled, slamming his palms against the table. “What did you do to them? Answer me.”
“As I said, I tested my invention on them. And it worked .” Vegapunk said. He leaned forward in his chair again, inches away from Tsukauchi’s face. “I reckon that they’re stuck on the other side though. Since I’m not there to bring them back.” The villain shrugged and sat back. He crossed his legs and waited for the next question.
“Truth.” Tsukauchi reported for the sake of the recording. “Elaborate on that. What did your invention do exactly? What did you mean when you said that they are stuck on the other side?”
“I am a world renowned scientist that works under that World Government. In exchange all of my experiments and inventions are funded by them.” Vegapunk began, that grin never leaving his face. “I decided to experiment with time . It was wonderful! So many theories, so many possibilities. That’s when I caused a rip in space. A literal portal that opened and led me here! This wonderful, amazing, exotic world!” Vegapunk shot up from his seat, tilting his head back as if he were preaching to the heavens. “People here are either born with powers or manifest that at a certain age. And I was intrigued! CAPTIVATED! I decided to stay here and research why you all have abilities. What caused this era of mass power?!” The man paused and scowled, plopping back down into his metal seat with a thud . “But I was stuck here. I realized I had no way to get back to my world to report my findings. So I had to recreate my invention. I had to test it! And there were just so many people I could choose from on the streets!”
At the same time, Tsukauchi, Aizawa, and Yamada all stared aghast at the man in cuffs. “T-truth…” Tsukauchi stuttered. “You’re saying that...you are not from here?”
“ Precisely! ” Vegapunk sneered. “I am from a place where there are pirates that run amuck. A place where people only get abilities if they eat a disgusting fruit called a Devil Fruit. A place where there is only one government that rules the entire world.”
“Truth.” Tsukauchi said. “Then are you saying that those students that fought you….that you tested your invention that was meant to take you back to your world on them? That those students are
stuck
there?”
“Yes. Though, I can’t tell you if they’re dead or not.” The scientist grinned. “I’m not sure where they were sent. For all I know, those kids fell into the ocean that’s infested with sea kings. Or onto a pirate ship where they were shot and killed on site. Or onto an island called Sabaody where people are captured and turned into slaves for nobles.” With each suggestion, Vegapunk’s grin got wider. He turned his gaze to the window again, where he could hear the vaguest sounds of screaming and objects breaking on the other side. The madman cackled.
Tsukauchi glared at the man with such hatred, that his finger nails cut into his own skin. He reached across the table and picked up the device that was still recording the interrogation. “For now the interrogation will stop here.” After stating his name, date, and time again, Tsukauchi stopped the recording and tucked the device into his jacket pocket. “Sansa.” The cat-like officer slinked into the room, saluting to his commanding officer. “Take him away. I want him back in Tartarus ASAP with optimal security. Any other additional information I need, I will go there to speak with Vegapunk.”
Sansa nodded and saluted again as Tsukauchi excused himself from the room. The detective sighed, having the sudden urge to smoke an entire pack of cigarettes. From the next room over, Aizawa and Yamada stepped out into the hallway and turned toward Tsukauchi. “W-was he really telling the truth?” Yamada questioned grimly.
Tsukauchi fiddled with his lighter. “As far as my quirk was registering? Yes, he was.”
“Fuck.” Aizawa growled. “We have to get him to build another machine. To bring my students back .”
Tsukauchi sighed. “I know, Eraser. But we have to do things properly and follow protocol.”
“What protocol? ” The underground hero snapped. “What protocol possibly covers mad scientist travels across dimensions and gets my students stuck in the other world?! And that assuming he’s not fucking insane!”
“Shouta, calm down.” Yamada bit his lip. “We’re all stressed here. And Tsukauchi is right. We have to follow the proper channels if we want to speed things along. If we just do whatever we think is best, we might just get those kids stuck longer than they need to be.”
Growling under his breath, Aizawa stalked down the hallway. Tsukauchi sighed again, promptly saying ‘fuck it,’ before pulling out a cigarette and lighting it. He took a deep, long breath. “I’ll contact you and Yuuei when I find anything else out. I still have to speak with the heroes that were in charge of Vegapunk’s capture, as well as the ones that the student’s were interning under.”
Yamada nodded his head. “Then, as a representative of Yuuei High School, we give the Musutafu City Police Department our full cooperation.” He bowed his head, which the detective returned. “Please help us find our missing students.”
“You have my word, Mic.” Tsukauchi said, before nodding his head and leaving.
Yamada left as well, planning to return back to Yuuei and give his report to Nedzu.
-----
It’s been a long week. Aizawa sighed tiredly, having spent the last week having conferences with many heroes and the families of the students that went missing. There were a lot of tears and anger and guilt. Aizawa was neither equipped to handle all those emotions nor was he paid enough to. With another long sigh, Aizawa took a long sip of his coffee and sat down at his desk in the teacher’s lounge at Yuuei.
For the last week, classes have been canceled in order to allow the students to grieve the loss of their friends. Aizawa looked over a long list of notes that he had to transfer to his computer and send to Tsukauchi and Nezu. The door to the teacher’s lounge opened, and in stepped a sullen Yagi Toshinori--otherwise known as the retired hero, All Might. “Aizawa-kun.” The blonde hero nodded.
“Yagi.” Aizawa acknowledged, not looking up from his notes.
Yagi sat down at his own desk diagonally across from Aizawa. “Any progress from speaking to the heroes in charge of Vegapunk’s search party?”
Aizawa glanced up at the older hero. “Hardly anything useful.” He grumbled. “Most of it is shit we already knew.”
“That’s unfortunate.” Yagi sulked. “I hope Midoriya-kun and the others are okay.”
Aizawa grunted, continuing to scan over his notes. “I’m sure they’re fine. When teamed up together, Midoriya, Bakugou, and Akashi are damn near unbeatable. Not to mention Sato, Tsuyu, and Mina are with them. It’s a balanced group of kids with overpowered quirks…” The underground pro sighed.
“Right. They’ll be fine..” Yagi responded placatingly. Though the former number one hero and Aizawa weren’t the closest of friends, the younger hero was sure that Yagi could feel how irritated he was. In turn, Aizawa was positive that Yagi was worried about his none-too-obvious favorite student, Midoriya.
The two worked silently at their desks until more Yuuei staff began to walk into the room. The tension in the air was thick, which was understandable, considering classes would start up again today. Aizawa was against it, especially with the cause of said tension being that six of his own students were the ones that were currently missing. And because of confidentiality, only Nedzu, Hizashi, and Aizawa were aware of the full spectrum of the situation--with his students possibly being stuck in another dimension and all.
Aizawa sensed a presence stop beside his desk. “How you holding up, Shouta?” Nemuri asked softly. The male looked up at his co-worker, and other closest friend, besides Hizashi. Aizawa wasn’t sure what kind of face he was making, but the rated R hero must’ve seen something unpleasant because next thing Aizawa knew, he was being hugged tightly by the older woman. “Oh, hun. I’m sure they’re just fine. A tough bunch of kids you have this year, Shou.”
“I know. As long as they’re together, I’m sure they’ll be fine.” Aizawa said back, ignoring the worried glances from the other teachers. “Besides, with my three most problematic kids absent--” because Aizawa refused to outwardly acknowledge that they were missing , “--I might get some semblance of work done.” And why is he like this? All sarcastic remarks instead of healthy grieving? But thankfully no one called him out on his otherwise insulting comment. Aizawa stood up from his desk, once he noticed that the last of his notes had finished saving to his computer. Now all that was left was to send it over to Tsukauchi and Nedzu. “I’ll be leaving now.” He announced, and left before anyone else tried to strike up a conversation with him.
-----
By the time Aizawa stood outside his classroom, he could already hear the nervous chattering inside from the fourteen students that were safe; that were still here, with him.
With another sigh, Aizawa slid open the door and was greeted by wide eyes and silence.
“Before I answer any questions, sit down.” His students scrambled for their seats without another warning. Any other day, and Aizawa would be mildly concerned. He held his hand up to stop the incoming screeching of questions that he could tell his class was preparing for. “I will answer one at a time. However, I will not disclose anything that the police or Nedzu hasn’t signed off on. Just because your classmates are the ones absent, does not mean you are full-fledged heroes and are going to be written in on everything. You are children. I’ll tell you need-to-know, and you will let us teachers and the police find your friends. Am I clear?”
A quick glance around the room was all Aizawa needed to know that no one in the class agreed with him. But dutifully, Iida responded with a robotic ‘yes sensei’ that spurred others into agreement as well.
After roughly thirty seconds of grumbling, Iida was, of course, the first to raise his hand. “Yes, Iida?” Aizawa called on his class president.
“What can you tell us about what happened to Midoriya-kun and the others?” The young Ingenium hero asked. If Aizawa wasn’t already sure that Iida had learned his lesson from the Hosu incident, Aizawa might’ve been scared of his student going out on his own to play detective.
Aizawa thought for a minute, thinking about how to word his response. “As you’ve probably already heard, a villain by the name Vegapunk, escaped from Tartarus a few days ago. And in accordance, there has been a strange spike in missing peoples cases. As it turns out, Vegapunk was behind most of the recent missing persons cases.” He paused to glance around the room again. Each of his kids were sitting on the edge of their seats, waiting for news about their friends. “A week ago, six of you went off campus for internships. Bakugou, Sato, Tsuyu, Akashi, Mina, and Midoriya. Unfortunately, from security cameras, Bakugou came into contact with Vegapunk while on patrol. After being pushed around a bit, he was able to rendezvous with Sato and Akashi. Your three classmates put up a good fight, I’ll give them that.”
The short statement made a few of his students grin with pride. “Of course they did!” Kirishima and Uraraka said.
“Due to a smokescreen, though, and some type of quirk use, Vegapunk managed to..” Aizawa paused, not sure how to explain the next part. He couldn’t just go and say ‘we think he sent your classmates to another dimension,’ especially with Todoroki in the room. The kid had a knack for thinking up wild theories, that somehow started with secret love children earlier in the year.
“To what?” Tokoyami asked, somehow managing to raise an eyebrow that he didn’t have.
Aizawa huffed. He did not get paid enough for this. “To, for lack of better words, send your friends somewhere else. We don’t know where, or how, or even why.” These were all lies. Aizawa knew why, how, and where--though he still wasn’t sure if where was plausible. “But we are doing everything we can to find them.”
Aizawa tried to say the last sentence with as much conviction as he could, because he would not fail his students again.
And if he does, well, screw him for subjecting himself to this utter torture. Because when his students look at him with eyes full of hope and confidence, like he has never failed them before, Aizawa would go through hell and back for these kids.
All that was left was to scrounge up the missing six and Aizawa could get on with their lessons in teaching these kids to be the best god damn heroes the world has ever seen.