MosesArk Reborn2000
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Chapter 5: Bonding
🕑 Added 2024-04-29 15:27:01 +0000 UTCYou know, with the 1-year anniversary of me my Patreon account so I wanted to do something exciting for it, that being writing and releasing my very own story. I was and still am going with a comedy/harem deal which will have the smut scenes in it, but while I started writing out the basic plot points that would lead to said smut, I realised that I also had a lot of ideas for jokes and character moments. I’m not angry, quite the opposite as just writing down the ideas seem to be real fun for me and it’s only for one girl so far, I haven’t even touched what would happen with the rest. And while it would be something that’s mainly for my ‘early readers’, that first chapter will be posted both on Ao3.
I'm not going to lie; the last chapter was a bit of a doozy, a real shift in tone, I know, but it will serve a purpose; I didn't create that story of Hinata as a throwaway thing. But it won't be the last sad thing we learn about as the story goes since that last chapter established that most angry quirk spirits, the ones that draw their attention anyway, have a reason to be angry and while some could be seen as minor or even petty, others…not so much.
Also, I have to ask if you, reading this on Fanfiction.net, are having the same issue as me. Again, they're saying there's an error that prevents me from getting my regular notifications, and I'm just too annoyed to do anything. All the 'suggestions' they give are stuff that I've already done and should still be in effect.
“Text” – Normal speech
‘Text’ - Thought
“Text” – Radio/Communication lines
“Text” – None Japanese speech
(text) – Subtext/meaning behind a spoken word
Chapter 5: Bonding
Izuku stood alone in the chamber that had been designed for quirk partnerships. In the years since he first met Faunalution, the space underwent several massive upgrades. One of which turned it from a drab, white space to a much softer, welcoming one as the reinforced concrete walls were hidden by wooden panels; plants were allowed to grow in the space along with a small pond and a large table, which had just the seats opposite one another.
Of course, that didn't mean that security had been neglected, far from it, but that wasn't much of a concern for the 17-year-old high school 3rd year. In fact, he looked calm as he walked around the space, wearing a similar garb to the last time he had been inside this room, as it had become a tradition to only ever enter it while wearing a gown with little else. But as calming as the space was, he wasn’t here for pleasure as he nodded towards a hidden camera.
Already placed on the table, an upgraded quirk containment cube was set up to the previous ones, with most of the locks that kept it shut hidden within the construction. With his nob, the technician in the other room started the countdown. “Specimen K-11 to release in 5…4…3…2…1.” There was a hiss as the airtight triple-sealed lid became undone, and immediately, a blast of frigid air shot out into the place from its contents as the quirk within climbed out.
Unlike when he had fought it before, there was no ice and snow construct; instead, the quirk was content to move about in its proper form, which was a sizeable vulpes-like creature. Its thick, entirely white fur was perfect for keeping warm and blending into the ice storms Izuku knew it could create with little difficulty. While small, at least for a creature the size of a grizzly bear, rounded ears and short muzzle helped it keep track of whatever he couldn't see, but with such piercing blue eyes, he doubted that much escaped its sight.
Letting out a whine as it yawned from waking up, the quirk starched out its body, from the tips of its paws to its long, bushy tail, which went straight. All the fur on its body stood on end before it all relaxed.
“Morning.” Izuku opened up the conversation with a cheerful wave. The quirk stilled for a moment before relaxing when it saw it was him.
“It’s you.” His voice was still as soft as freshly fallen snow and as cold as Arctic ice, but it wasn't unwelcoming. It was merely to the point. Besides, he could tell from how he was relaxed around him that he wasn't seen as hostile.
"I said I'd be back, didn't I?" Izuku smiled, as this wasn't their first meeting since they fought; they had spoken a few times, in fact, in the last two weeks. And with summer break starting just the other day, he'll have more time for it should the need arise.
“You did. Is she dead?” He asked, his tail waving about with a sense of unease.
"That's not what I said we'd do, but," He frowned, as the quirk was hyper-fixated on one form of justice. But he still pulled out a tablet and unlocked it, switching to a pre-downloaded news article and video as this far down, there was no unauthorized cell service.
He placed it down on the table and slid it over for the quirk to see. “Thanks to your clues, we were able to pass it on to a friend in the police, and they found the evidence. She won't be a free woman for a long, long time." The article talked about how a significant player in child trafficking in Japan had recently been identified and arrested and how, with the amount of evidence they have, not only had they been able to rescue over 70 kids being moved through Japan to markets across Asia, but the apparent Japanese ring-leader would be lucky if she only got 25 years in prison.
“But she’s still alive?” The quirk asked, as the article also stated that they hadn't found an estimated 30 kids who, sadly, were suspected to have been shipped a couple days prior. At the same time, they also found the remains of another 8. Izuku, at one point, wished to remove that or get their techs to edit the article to have the good. Still, he didn't want to lie, not about something as necessary to the quirk as the fate of the people who had kidnapped them, sold them and sadly, killed them.
"To face judgement and to give everyone else she hurt their time to call her out and hold her accountable. Remember what I said the other day." That being said, he wasn't afraid to be firm. He had to be in situations like this.
Despite having the face of a fox, the quirk still managed to emote a sense of annoyance and surrender. “Death is the cheap way out.” Hearing him say that made him smile.
“Good, but I hope you can take solace in that. She’ll pay for it-all of it.” He assured her that while they didn't have to pull with cops or prosecutors, at least nothing legal and/or provable, they could use their influence to ensure they threw the book at that woman and all her captured associates.
But with that done, something else needed to be addressed as the quirk looked around the space, not noticing that their presence was lowering the temperature further. “Does that mean I can go now?”
"That's the thing. We can't just let you roam free since you tend to make ice storms." Izuku replied as he thanked the fact his robes were thicker than average, but that only made the issue all the more concerning as many quirks they could just leave be, allow them to exist without hassle till they eventually faded away. Still, they had to take action against those who were dangerous for one reason or another.
“But I’m not mad anymore.” The quirk replied, his head leaning to the side in a fashion that was a little cute if Izuku was honest with himself.
"Not now, but you don't seem to like bad people." He rebutted.
“They need to die.” He sighed as that statement only proved his point. Sure, he wasn't evil, but he had a one-track mind, and that already resulted in causalities, as he explained during the first meeting, as his rampage before he was stopped killed 21 people, including 4 kids, not even 10 yet. That, more than anything else, was what convinced the quirk to talk, as even with its one-track mind, it could understand how his drive resulted in more kids dying.
"They need to be stopped, punished, and, if possible, rehabilitated. After all, some would call you bad because your last rampage hurt a lot of people." Izuku reminded him of that fact, which cowed the quirk as he lowered his head with an ashamed whine.
“But I didn’t mean it.” Izuku suspected that his conversation partner knew how weak and cowardly that response was.
“That doesn’t mean you didn’t do it.” He cut through it. “And be honest, if you saw someone else in need, or a bad person doing wrong, you would act, consequences be damned.” He didn't ask so much, as he stated an objective fact, which the quirk didn't refute.
Izuku hummed at that before taking a breath. "Figures, that's why I wanted to offer you."
“Offer?” The winter quirk asked.
"Yes, I would like you to join me. I want to be a hero who brings smiles, saves lives, and helps everyone. But to do that, I need the strength to take on anything life throws at me, to climb any wall between me and saving people." He stated that he had been doing this for years and had seen and heard things that made him sick to his stomach and, at times, made him want to curl up in his bed; some days, he did just that and missed school.
Like so many kids, he wanted to be heroes and save lives. While everyone had their reasons, he doubted that most understood what that meant as to protect and guide the weak and innocent meant staring into the darkness, witnessing all the evils of man, the cruelty of nature and the ever-present reminder that life, while precious, could be damaged and snuffed out.
But that only made his desire to become a hero all the stronger because he knew that such forces were out there, and with the knowledge that quirks were their own beings and could linger even after the user's death, he wanted to be that person who helped.
“How would that work?” The quirk asked, not against the idea but not on board, merely willing to hear him out.
“My quirk takes you in, and you kinda…well, live in it. And when I need your help, I can call upon your power.” Izuku replied that his quirk was unique, even among quirks created in his mother's lab. Others behaved like their natural counterparts, being just the one thing. Sure, they might have a wide range of abilities, but nothing too crazy. There was also the limit on quirk number as years of testing and experiments had allowed his mother and her team to theorize that quirks fit into what could be called slots in the body and that bodies- both man and animal could only take 1 safely.
To go over that meant that a new quirk had to force its way into but much like one could force a square into the triangle hole, that meant damaging the structure of the body to do it, damage that could result in diminished mental facilities and cellular decay. Tests showed that some had a higher tolerance to this. Still, even those with high tolerance showed signs of rapid cell ageing and death after only a few months, and that was in controlled, heavily monitored environments, which were often the best-case scenario.
But Faunalution seemed to create new slots within herself, removing the burden that would come from having multiple quirks while still giving him full access to their forms. Within his inner world, it was like they merely became residents of the forest and hero shrine he had in there, helping care for both and leaving their marks.
“But you have fire.” The ice quirk noted, confused.
"That's just one quirk that I've taken in, and if you don't accept it, she wanted me to apologize for fighting you. She's not a violent being." Hinata was a sweet angel, the first quirk he ever absorbed into (?); the two became fast friends, and the safe environment and having someone to talk to also helped the quirk accept what had happened to her original holder.
“She?” The quirk before him asked once more.
"She was once the quirk to a human, same as you. Someone that was wronged, and it took far too long for justice to be done, but it was, and we made damn sure of it." Izuku stated with conviction that he refused to allow evil and cruelty to go unpunished and unchallenged.
The quirk was quiet for a minute, mulling it over as he knew he could be…difficult at times and didn't want to hurt people who didn't deserve it again. And this human seemed genuine, even following through with the promise to make that witch of a woman suffer, but something scared it. “Will I still be me?”
Midoriya smiled, reaching for a handover. Despite how cold it was, he placed his hand on the paw of the quirk. “Of course, I wouldn’t offer this if it meant hurting you.” Hinata didn't seem any different than when they met, and her memories of her holder's life didn't seem affected either, as Intelli could confirm.
“And…we’ll fight bad people.” The quirk asked.
"We'll save people. We'll fight so that your story doesn't become common." Midoriya replied, proving that it was the pin that ended it.
“Okay.”
“Thank you.” Izuku got up and bowed. “I promise to be a good partner.”
The quirk giggled at the gesture. “I like you. You’re a good person. How does it work?”
To answer that, Midoriya revealed his belt buckle; removing it, he held it in his free hand, and his other started to get numb from the cold. “Just tap this, say your name and honestly state that ‘I accept’.”
Getting up as well, the quirk walked over the table before reaching its nose to buckle. “I, Hiroyuki, accept.” Its body started to glow before losing its form, becoming something akin to a winter storm, one that was quickly sucked into the buckle.
Line Break
Blinking, Hiroyuki groaned, reaching to rub his eyes but stopping as…no, that wasn't right. Was…was that his hand? Suddenly awake, he got up and looked at himself, seeing his hands, arms, legs, and body. Reaching for his face, he felt it—smooth, chilled skin—that the frost-tipped fur he had gotten used to over the last eight months.
“I’m…I’m me?” For the first time in a long time, his voice was his.
“Not exactly, but close enough!” He jolted at the sound of another, but before he could even react, he was hugged by a delighted person who giggled after catching him.
"Welcome to our lovely little home. I'm Hinata. I hope we can be the best of friends." She stated that the girl's pale blue hair and wide smile somehow brightened the room or, more accurately, a clearing in the middle of a forest.
“Too tight.” He got out as her grip on him only grew stronger and tighter, but he was saved by someone else plucking him. Taking deep breaths, he saw that his rescuer was a taller teen, maybe 19 or 20, with bright blonde hair, deep purple tips, and pitch-black eyes. Also, he wasn't dressed in regular clothes but as if he was right out of those old samurai movies he and his family watched.
"Give the kid space, Hinata. He might not need to breathe, but" The teen spoke, their voice soft and strict as he turned his eye to him and gently put him down. “We all like to do it anyway.”
"But look at him; he's adorable, like a little winter-flavoured fox." The girl, who also appeared to be a teen, if a little younger than than the first one, pouted. Her sky-blue eyes and straight dark orange hair made an odd but pretty combo, and just that alone made him feel safe. Also, she seemed to be dressed in a similar style to the older one.
The older teen sighed, but Hiroyuki didn't detect any real annoyance. It sounded close to what sound his parents would make towards each other. "Sorry about her. She's overly affectionate, but you get used to it." He lifted a hand to him, which made him instinctively flinch, which the older teen caught with a frown, lowering his hand and kneeling to his level instead. “My name is Shigeru. It'll be nice to have another guy around."
“H-Hiroyuki.” He got out, a little embarrassed that he flinched when neither had done anything. If they noticed, they weren't making an issue of it. But he would like them to change the topic. “Where are we?” he asked as he was told he would be absorbed into that…whatever it was, but not much else.
Hinata was about to answer when another beat her to the punch. "Inside my inner world, my domain, and you shall treat me as its queen and undisputed ruler." Perched atop a tree was Faunalution. The girl looked much older than she once did, appearing to be in her late teens. She was dressed like a person of great wealth from the old days, along with numerous trinkets and jewels.
“Ignore her, she tends to try and screw with you when you first arrive.” Shigeru turned to their new occupant and brushed off their eccentric landlady.
Hinata's pout got more profound as she pounced on the larger, older teen, grabbing him in a headlock. “Don’t swear in front of the kid, Shigeru!”
“Pretty sure him learning sweat words is not the worst thing he can pick up from me!” He yelled back, leaving Faunalution to giggle into her sleeve at the show. At the same time, Hiroyuki was thoroughly confused by it all.
"Yeah, they get like that, but it's mainly just play…mainly," Izuku stated, appearing like he had always been there, causing the little 8-year-old to fall back with a surprised yelp. As he rubbed his bottom from the fall, he saw Izuku kneel and offer him a hand. “You have questions?” When he nodded and accepted the hand, Midoriya pulled him up.
“Then I’ll answer them the best I can, but why don’t we take a walk first?” He suggested, turning to leave the other two to argue once again. Hiroyuki turned to watch them but ultimately followed after Midoriya and Faunalution, who jumped down from the tree and landed without a sound, latching onto Midoriya like a girlfriend would her boyfriend.
Midoriya didn't react to this close contact. Instead, he waited for his newest quirk to speak, which didn't take long. "You said I would be taken in and be something like power for you?"
"Yes, and yes, but it's a little more complicated than that. You see, this world both exists and doesn't," Midoriya said, gesturing to the forest, the ground, and the sky above their heads. Of course, such an answer would confuse an adult, and the elementary-aged quirk had even less chance of understanding it.
With his brow creased in confusion, Hiroyuki asked. “How can something be and…not be?”
"Oh, to be or not to be, that is the true question," Faunalution added with a giggle, quoting some age-old playwork the boy had no hope of even knowing; even if he did, he probably wouldn't get the reference.
Still, it would save them time, so she gave him a summary. “Short explanation is that this world acts like the real thing, day and night, weather and temperature are all like it would be if this was the real word, but it’s merely a projection of his subconscious mind empowered by yours truly to take such a complex and large structure.” She took pride in that and made that clear to all that entered. Shame it wasn't something Izuku could just do with others.
"You'll get it the longer you're here. As for the power part, he can't force us to act; rather, he must ask, and we must give. Of course, being here means you've accepted him using your power, but if you ever feel like it, you could cut him off from it." She added when he saw it, he was still confused.
"That's why I'd appreciate it if you could talk to me if you have an issue, as I'd rather not have a repeat of Shigeru.” Midoriya said, the sun's beams breaking through the thick canopy, creating dozens of small streams of light.
Faunalution giggled at that as Midoriya signed into his hand as he stated. “He refused to allow him access to his power for 5 months. Didn’t even come out of his room.” That was a somewhat awkward time for everyone, well, everyone but a certain dog girl.
“Room?” Hiroyuki asked. This place didn't seem to have buildings, never mind the rooms they would stay in. Did they even need them? He certainly didn't need one after his death; he would just find somewhere to rest for a couple of hours and then be back on the hunt without issue.
Faunalution nodded as she saw they weren't far from their destination, as they could break in the tree line. "Oh yes, we all have our own rooms in this place. Our private spaces are where others can't get to them but can still communicate with them. You can style it however you like; there's no limit to it so long as you can envision it." She explained that the trio had broken from the trees and seen the spot where she and Izuku had met years before.
It had undergone some major changes, and now, a large traditional home had been built in the area, one that had everything they'd need.
“What about food?” Hiroyuki asked, staring at the building with a bit of awe. It was bigger than his old house by a wide margin.
To answer his question, Midoriya pointed back into the forest. “The forest has plenty of fruits and vegetables to harvest, and there’s a kitchen to the side with running water because someone thought it was annoying to fetch water from a nearby stream.” He pointedly looked at the quirk that treated him like arm candy.
“We don’t have television here, but I’m not some farm girl.” She replied, ignoring the fact that she didn't even need to act or drink. She didn't even know about those things until Hinata arrived and asked about them. Now, she took every darn chance to feast on whatever she managed to catch. He didn't know where the meat came from, as he had been here plenty of times and had never seen an animal other than fish.
As they debated that, Hiroyuki walked further in. His gaze moved from the house, the rows of statues, their once worn down appearance replaced with some restoration work, with none more so than one that stood at the centre of it all. “Is that…All Might with dog ears?” Hiroyuki asked, as the statue was definitely of All Might…if he were a buff woman with dog features, but that smile and hair were vintage All Might.
"It is. All these statues are heroes but with a little twist." Midoriya responded as Hiroyuki looked towards two of the other fully furnished statues—the first of Midnight and the second of Crust—with features that were further from the pros and more towards the two squabbling people he had just met.
"Isn't that Hinata and that Shigeru?" Midnight's hair wasn't nearly as wild. That expression that his mother usually hated him seeing was closer to the soft kindness of Hinata. At the same time, Crust's ragged face was closer to Shigeru's sharp but younger features. “But those aren’t their bodies.”
Midoriya wasn't absolutely sure about that. “I’m not too sure about it, but the way I see it, we’re our own heroes. So, these statues reflect that. Give it time, and one for you might appear. As for what hero you're placed over, I have no clue." He could speak with a psychologist, but that would require finding one who could be trusted with such information.
“Don’t worry about the choices, he’s a total hero nerd and spends almost as much time studying or sucking his girlfriend’s face as he does researching them.” Faunalution leaned close to the power to state this. However, she didn't bother lowering her voice as Midoriya looked away, his cheeks red at being outed like that while Hiroyuki.
“Ew, why would you do that?” He found the idea disgusting, which just made him feel worse. He didn't even know why he expected anything different from him as a child.
"I know, right? Humans are so weird. In fact, you want to hear about how he lost his V-card?" He turned in horror to his primary quirk.
“V-card?” Before she could elaborate on that point and just give them all more problems for her own amusement, he covered her mouth and dragged her away, kicking and screaming.
Powering through the pain of her biting his fingers with those enlarged canines of hers, he growled back at her. “He does NOT need to hear about that. Darnit, Faunalution, can't you not try to traumatize new people with that? I'm pretty sure that's part of why Shigeru refused to even hear my apology.” He had to learn the hard way that unless he put up a barrier, his quirks could see and hear all that he did, as Faunalution hadn't told him for years, and he only learned this when Hinata nearly saw him and Intelli kiss and understandably, have a panic attack.
That was one of the few times she had been apologetic about something and worked with him to make it up to the girl. But since they had done that, it had become just another item in the bag of stuff she could pull from. But not today. He stared her down before she rolled her eyes and relented. "Oh, fine. You're no fun sometimes." Letting her go, he made a face at the state of his hand, covered with her saliva and bite marks.
Grateful that it wouldn't carry over into the real world, he returned to the matter. “Anyway, do you have any more questions?”
Line Break
“Sir, I got what you asked for.” Burnin didn't bother knocking as she entered her boss's expensive and, frankly, massive office. In her hands were a stake of reports she had managed to dig up from the Hero Public Safety Commission's files and Police reports. The first was easy to get, and she hoped it would be helpful since one of the duties of the HPSC was keeping track of cases and case details that involved heroes, which they did for legal reasons and allowing them and other heroes to review older cases.
Her boss, Endeavour, was also busy reading over reports he had retrieved earlier. “Place them there.” He gestured towards a smaller table, two in fact, where two secretaries were hard at work. A rare sight as they had their own office space and were only placed this close to Endeavour when he was working on something important and needed them close.
She placed the down, but before she left to return to her regular duties, she had a question she needed to answer. “Any luck finding leads to our vigilante?” It had been 2 weeks since the ‘Musutafu Storm' incident. Officially, after local heroes couldn't contain the problem, Endeavour came in. Both rescued the survivors and took down the cause of it, with the authorities publicly sending their condolences to the families of those who were hurt or killed by the villain's reckless rampage.
Unofficially, they got chewed out by the HPSC for the deaths of 8 people, as those were the ones they deemed that could have saved, and that was before they explained that none of the heroes or police present were the ones that defeated or captured the villain. Safe to say, it wasn’t to catch up or reward them when the commission president herself called them in to explain how the number 2 hero, one with more resolves cases than All Might, managed to allow a vigilante to escape with the villain.
Burnin shivered, as for a woman in her early mid-40s who barely looked like she spent more than 2 hours in a gym a week, she could instil a deep fear in you with nothing but those opaque turquoise eyes. Lucky for her, the woman had been willing to listen since, while embarrassing to admit, the fact that Endeavour's flames weren't nearly as effective against the yet-to-be-identified villain was enough for the woman to allow them to look into it.
"With that we have, I'm sure that…Caretaker's involvement is much deeper than we first thought." Endeavour wasn't as annoyed with the idea of this vigilante showing them up as he had been before, but then again, when was he not irritated? Burnin wouldn't know, as in the five years she's worked under him, she hasn't even seen him crack a smile.
“The child trafficking case?” She asked as it had been on the news lately, probably to help people forget the recent tragedy by reminding them that heroes and police could still catch bad actors. It stuck out for the two of them because they recognized the woman being hauled from court to prison as the one their mystery ice villain was trying to kill.
Endeavour didn’t nod, expecting her to keep up as he did with all his sidekicks. "The police only put the clues together because someone was feeding them information. At least 2 classified informants stated that they got the information provided to the police from the same source." He tapped the report in question, and Burnin realized that there was just one person who could get this reaction from her boss.
“Caretaker.” She stated, wide-eyed.
"Whoever they are, they knew more than they were letting on that day. They also seemed to be able to find out a possible reason why our villain was obsessed with that Mizusawa Yasumu. The only issue was that she and her associates weren’t dumb, and from what we uncovered, they had been operating under our noses for the last 3 years.”
Endeavour's rage burned at that, as the vile woman had a base right here in Tokyo, and all of them had missed it. How many times had a pro been out on patrol and no more than 20m away, there were children in need and villains to stomp into the ground? But as angry as he was with the fact it took a vigilante to uncover that, there came the question of how would said vigilante even have known where to send them?
Burnin seems to have that same question. "Wait, but then how would Caretaker know all this? Was it involved? Were he and the ice villain working together to flush her out?" She seemed pretty damn scared when they saved her, which made sense as she claimed her 6 bodyguards were all killed by that villain, a statement they could prove, seeing how all were killed in the same manner involving ice.
"Maybe, but if that's all they wanted, they could have been cleaner about it and snatched her up earlier," Endeavour answered as they traced her whereabouts leading up to the attack. There were plenty of spots where the Caretaker could have snatched her if he had been involved. “No, it makes the most sense that he heard about it from someone else.”
"A pissed-off client, a disgruntled member of Yasumu's people?" Burnin asked, as while criminals didn’t rat each other out to the police all that often, their ‘honour among thieves’ didn’t mean that they wouldn’t talk shit to other criminals.
“All have been accounted for, and not a single one of them claimed that they leaked information. I doubt such pathetic criminals would play a hand in their own downfalls and just accept their punishments in silence.” Endeavour replied that the lowest sentence he heard one could get was still 7 years, mainly because they were relatively low-level in the group.
“One of the missing kids.” Burnin realized.
"My thoughts exactly. They'll know more about this than anyone, have a motive to want to see her dead, and would be willing to approach a vigilante rather than a proper hero." Endeavour theorized.
“Also,” he said, looking out the window at something that wasn't there. " That rampage would line up exactly with what an angry child could do, would do when they lose themselves to their anger." Those eyes, so much like his own, were filled with such anger and desperation. He could never forget them.
Getting back to the topic, his sidekick and secretaries didn't call him out for his little slip. Instead, Burnin focused on the topic at hand. "That would explain why Caretaker grabbed them and left. They had a soft spot for the little brat. But that wouldn't explain how they did that unless you and everyone else on the roof saw it differently from what it was. And it wouldn't explain why his flames were much more effective than yours despite being colder."
“Either way, we’ll be looking into the police reports on the children recovered and those suspected to have been trafficked. If we find the ice user, we’re one step closer to finding them and our vigilante.” Endeavour stated that he had narrowed it down to just 8 names on the list, but getting details on quirks was tricky since the bastards destroyed records of kids they lost or killed, so he was forced to call on the missing person's registry and see if he couldn't put names to faces.
As Burnin turned to leave, one of his secretaries stood up and briskly approached the man's desk, bowing as he gave him a folder. “Sir, we finished compiling the reports.”
Endeavour grunted as he took the folder, the secretary getting back to work as he perused the reports. They were all summaries of much lengthier ones, but that didn't matter as it proved a hunch he had after watching how…routine Caretaker was with his battle. “It seems that our case wasn’t the only one.”
“Sir?” Burnin turned to him.
"The commission wanted me to look into cases like this. Times were strange events where it wasn't heroes that stopped it, nor captured the villains, if there were any." He explained as he closed the folder and set it aside, looking his sidekick dead in the eye.
"In the last six years, there have been over 300 cases," he told her, which caused the woman to freeze in shock.
“Wait, what the hell? How did that many cases happen without anyone noticing a pattern.” Vigilantes were lucky if they could stop a dozen crimes without someone reporting them, and after that, they lasted maybe a year if they were exceptionally skilled, but to have lasted that long and handled that many cases was unheard of.
Endeavour suspected he knew what she was thinking, but he kept it to himself that he suspected the number was a gross undercount since those were reports that professionals and law enforcement knew about. Plenty of crime happened that they didn't find out about until it was too late. A good example would be the child trafficking ring.
"I would say it's because the number of hero-related cases in a month is over sixty thousand in major cities, and they must have blended into the reports. The other would be that all of them lead nowhere as pros and police on the scenes never saw a villain or a vigilante." He stated that many of the reports had been sparse on details because they didn't have any to share.
Strange things would be reported, and by the time law enforcement arrived, the situation was handled, most times with minor property damage or signs of a battle/take-down. They hadn't even got into the reports from smaller towns and rural communities as those areas had much fewer heroes and police, so incidents could happen without them even knowing about it or being chalked up to kids playing.
“So Caretaker’s been one busy bee.” Burnin guessed, but the man shook his head.
"Not just him, all these incidents, across Japan? One person can't do all this. He has help." He suspected, which made Burnin frown.
"A network of vigilantes? When was the last time one of those was a thing?" Those had been a thing of the past. Still, when heroes became regulated professionals, most had fallen apart or were dismantled by heroes. If she recalls her history correctly, the last major one was declared dismantled around 15 years ago. She was sure most of the vigilantes caught were either still on patrol or had been released.
“Once we finalize this, we'll return it to the safety commission. With their approval, he can dig deeper into this as I don't like being in the dark, especially about something like this." Endeavour said as he looked at a blurred image, one of the few they had of Caretaker, taken as he was escaping the scene with a still functional traffic camera.
Well, there you have it. The next chapter, I think, does an excellent job of explaining how Izuku's power works, as it's similar to All for One and One for All but different as when the first forces quirks into itself, and the second can only receive the quirks of the holder, Faunalution takes from both sides as Izuku could just go around taking quirks. However, those quirks need to agree to it and can still refuse him access to their powers once inside. In a way, it's meant to reflect that even the strongest heroes need the support of the people, of the people they're protecting, else…what are they?
We also get more information on the heroes, which must be weird for some of you that it's Endeavour. However, while he's a garbage human being at this point, he's still the hero with the most resolved cases and proves how smart he is during seasons 5 and 6, so having him be the one looking into it felt like it could work. Plus, it will come into greater focus later since he's trying to uncover Izuku and everyone's secrets.
