Chapter Text
Shouta Aizawa sighed heavily when his phone rang early in the morning, on his way to his classroom. There were two reasons his phone would be ringing this early in the morning. Something happened to one of his problem children and he had to rush to the hospital because they had gotten into something way over their heads. Or it was a mission that the other heroes, or police, wanted his help with. Either way, it meant his day was ruined. Either way, he had to be prepared for something to go wrong. He looks at the number and sure enough, the police. A part of him debated whether or not to answer it since he really didn't want to do anything.
Still, it was Tsukauchi who was calling, a detective in the police force.
"Hello." He answered.
"Good morning, Eraserhead.," Aizawa held the phone to his ear a little tighter. "Are you free this afternoon to discuss an operation with me? We are going to be bringing in a bunch of Pro Heroes to help with this mission."
Aizawa glanced up at the hallway ceiling. "Sure. I'll be there. What time?"
"5pm."
"I'll be there." He hung up and entered his classroom.
His students. All of them were waiting patiently in their seats, with only mild chatter about what they would be doing during this class. He sighed as he made his way to the podium to get the day started and over with. Aizawa put the graded papers he had been holding on the podium to pass out later on in homeroom, but for now he had some housekeeping to do. Mainly, correct some bad behavior that was happening in the dorms. Mainly Mineta's bad behaviors. He was getting tired of that guy's horny behavior when it came to the girls in the class, or at all. Any girl. Even Eri...which he wanted to hit Mineta in the back of the head for when he heard that bit.
Aizawa blinked, "Morning, class. Today..."
~~~~
The Erasure hero's feet dragged him to the police conference room where he was mildly surprised by all the heroes that were already gathered there. Fat Gum, Mount Lady, Gang Orca, Kamui Woods, Rock Lock, Ryukyu, and even Yagi Toshinori was seated at the long conference table. Silently, he took the remaining seat as his own, plopping down and crossing his arms over his chest. There was a moment of calm for everyone here when he sat down. Detective Tsukauchi stood by a projector screen where a bird's eye view of a warehouse on a dock was. He looked grim and more tired than ever before.
"Good. Now that everyone is here. Let's get down to business." Tsukauchi gestured to the board. "This is a shipping yard at the docks. It is speculated that it's a front for illegal quirk smugglers."
Rock Lock scuffed, "Quirk smugglers?"
"Yes. Basically, someone supplies a person with a quirk through a Quirk Breeder and this place ships them out."
Yagi tilts his head. "Who is doing this?"
Tsukauchi turns to the next slide. "They call themselves Karma...there are seven leaders." The slide shows five men and two girls sitting around a table. "They believe that there is nothing wrong with using quirks to the fullest...and whatever happens is for a reason."
"Do we know anything about these people?" Fat Gum asked, stuffing his face with his dinner.
"A little." He zoomed in on the photo to one of the females. "Konomi Tanaka owned a successful clothing store that featured bright and elegant clothing for a steep price. She was a beautiful model and had a huge online following. But don't let that fool you, she is extremely self-centered and had too much...pride. Her quirk made everyone start singing and dancing when she did. Her power only worked on a live concert rather than radio waves."
Gang Orca cross his own arm over his chest. "So a Singing Quirk?"
He nodded, continuing. "Haruki Kobayashi. She was so beautiful, people fell in love with her at first sight. Similar to Midnight, she releases a pheromone through her sweat that makes people fall into a trance and do whatever she asks of them. Most of the time? She just wanted to take them back to Double T Hotel for one of their Honeymoon Suites."
"Okay, so the girls seem easy enough to deal with." Mount Lady looked at the photo with disgust.
"Daki Matsumoto. He was always sleeping. His quirk was even better. The more he sleeps, the better his body is. He can run faster, jump higher, punch harder. Daki wasn't your average guy either. At only age nineteen, he had taken over his father's reign and expanded his company so far. He was into inventing things, too. Used that to help his business along. That's why he was always sleeping. When he wasn't, it was a sight to see." He moved onto the next couple of dudes. "This fat guy is Ren Tanaka. He was different than the rest. Not really evil, but not good either. His quirk allowed him to control his own fat. He can stretch it out, expand it, make it bounce. Unlike the others, he didn't have an empire to control or too many underlings that he commanded. But he was rich. And in need of things to do other than eat away. Tanaka also knew a lot of people, so his main job was networking. "
Kamui Woods leaned back in his chair. "Sounds like you know a lot about them."
"Let me continue." He waited for the quiet again. "Dennoshin Nakamura was a huge, body builder type of man that was hell bent on crushing the police under his thumb. And with his quirk, he could if he wanted to. Dennoshin had the ability to control smoke, and he can usually be found smoke a cigar of sorts. He didn't really care the price of things like the others, but smoking was something he liked." The photo moved to a man with a cigar in his mouth.
"Alright, he might be tough." Mount Lady commented. "We have a plan for him yet?"
"Anyways....Tominaga Takahashi. He had been running a set of hotels that were wealthy, for the wealthy. Double T Hotels were known for their side business of gambling, a thing that had been on the police's radar for literal years. The problem was that every time a session happened, it was never the same hotel twice. Tominaga had his hand in everything money. He was a tall lanky man that was in desperate need of a meal or two. He lived at his own hotel to save him money. Tominaga was just another man that wanted money more than anything else. His quirk was paper manipulation....as far as we know." Tsukauchi points to a skeleton man. "Lasty, is Amane Suzuki."
Everyone waited for him to continue.
Ryukyu took the bait. "And?"
"That's it. We don't know anything about him...or her. They are always covered in a hood." He points to the last person who was wearing a cloak over their head. "We don't even know his quirk. We are lucky just to get this photo...It's the only evidence that these characters even interact with each other."
"What do you mean?" Yagi asked.
"Well, you see, there is no proof these people even work together. No same location. No same business transactions. Nothing, but we speculate that they are together."
Rock Lock rolls his eyes. "Then why are we here?"
Tsukauchi sighed. "We have it under good authority from an undercover agent, that there is a shipment of about ten very dangerous quirk users tomorrow night around midnight."
"Okay, I'm going to ask. Why is he here?" Rock Lock points to in Yagi's direction.
"Each of you have a reason you are here...I believe that you can defeat someone in the Karma Organization. But Toshinori, I think, will be able to help the people locked in those cages. Being a symbol of peace and justice still stands."
Yagi nodded, "I'll try my best to help them."
"And if all else fails, Eraserhead will be able to neutralize their quirks and buy us some time to either win or get out of there." Tsukauchi flipped to the next slide. "This is the plan...Fat Gum, Ryukyu, and Mount Lady will take the front entrance while the rest of you take the back along with Toshinori. The police will be divided between the two places. We'll have a helicopter on standby in the air. Once inside, we will drive them into the middle."
All nodded in agreement.
Tsukauchi ended the explanation. "Any questions?"
One of the sidekicks raised their hands, "Do we happen to know what quirks those being shipped are?"
Now, that, Aizawa perked up at.
"Well, as far as we know, the ten are dangerous if not villainous. They could even be...volatile. It is recommended using extreme cautious when dealing with them.
Finally, Aizawa spoke up. "Then why ask All Might to help out. He can't use his powers anymore."
Tsukauchi sighed, "It's just in case they are just scared individuals. Not everyone there wants to be there, that is for sure."
"Okay." Aizawa nodded. "Got it."
Another sidekick raised their hand for a question. "What's the main goal? The quirk users or the villains?"
Tsukauchi looked around the room. "The main concern is getting the quirks out of commission. If we can obtain any of the villains that would be preferred, but it's not likely. Each of them is considered highly dangerous individuals and we don't know how they can coordinate attacks as a unit. I suggest we stick to making sure the quirks are rescued."
Everyone nodded.
"Good. We'll meet at the destinated zone tomorrow around ten p.m. I'll text everyone the details tomorrow morning when we straighten out the finer details." Tsukauchi ended the meeting. "Thank you for agreeing to work with us."
Aizawa stood up, heading towards the doors before anyone could stop him. His capture weapon oddly light on his shoulders from so long using it. He didn't make it that far from the conference room before Yagi called out to him. The pro hero stopped so the retired one could catch up to him. Yagi looked worried, but when did he not worry, especially since he transferred his powers to Midoriya. Aizawa was not someone who was known to be stupid. He was often short on the upkeeping, but he wasn't dumb.
"Aizawa," Yagi called to him when he caught up. "I was thinking...I got a bad feeling about this operation."
He looked at All Might. "So do I."
All Might sighed, placing a hand over his heart. "Thank goodness. I was worried it was only me."
Aizawa nodded, restarting walking home for some rest...maybe grade a few papers that needed his attention.
"What do you think we should be expecting?"
"I don't know."
All Might coughed up a little blood. "I don't know if this is a good idea. Or if I am the right person for the job."
"Tsukauchi wouldn't ask for your help if you weren't." He noted to his fellow teacher.
"Thanks." Yagi smiled that awkward smile of his at his friend. "Really, Aizawa. Thanks for everything."
"Don't mention it."
Aizawa went on home to finish grading some of his papers and get ready for whatever tomorrow shall bring them. He was worried that this was all barking up the wrong tree. True, they needed to fight against evil such as this more than not, but it also felt like he was diving into the deep end of the pool. Struggling to reach the top, clawing his fingers against the ever-escaping liquid. Aizawa sighed as he settled into the bed. Things were going to change alright.