Archive of Our Own ^beta

Shouta was used to being brought onto random raids at the last minute.

He was involved in a lot of them from the start -- as a prolific underground hero, there wasn't a criminal ring investigation he didn't have his fingers in -- but the raids organized by daylight heroes often sought him out specifically to help out with missions which were far outside his usuall scope.

It was understandable, if slightly irritating; After all, Erasure was a unique quirk with a wide array of uses. And as much sleep as it lost him, Shouta could never say no to helping out.

Especially when children were involved.

And that's precisely how he ended up on the same train as four of his students, about to attend the same raid briefing as they were supposed to, under their internships.

At least Shouta would be able to keep an eye out on them; Especially the Problem Child. Midoriya already proved to be a villain magnet -- apparently, he managed to have a run-in with the leader of Shie Hassaikai the other day, and only Togata's quick thinking avoided a tragedy -- and Shouta was going to rest easier knowing the kid wasn't sent in completely unsupervised.

Honestly, some heroes never learned to look beyond quirks. When he looked at Midoriya, he saw a kid who worked hard to control a neigh-uncontrollable quirk, injuring himself over and over beyond what was reasonable to protect others.

When they looked at Midoriya, all they saw was his All Might-like quirk and nothing beyond that.

Kirishima, Uraraka and Tsui were all far more reasonable, though that wasn't saying much when comparing them to Midoriya.

His students were still on his mind when they entered the conference room in which the briefing was to be held, and Shouta spaced out during the initial small talk.

He tuned back in when Sir Nighteye finally got to the point, flicking on the powerpoint.

Taking a sip of the complimentary water, Shouta glanced at the screen-

And instantly choked, slamming the glass back on the table.

It took him a minute to clear his airway; A minute during which everyone stared at him in bafflement.

"That's Chisaki Kai," he wheezed as soon as he was capable of making a sound again.

"He goes by Overhaul," Sir Nighteye corrected hauntingly. "Which we would have covered in a minute-"

"Seriously?" Shouta snorted. "He goes by his quirk's name? Doesn't matter, he always lacked creativity. You said he kidnapped a girl?"

"Eri," Midoriya supplied, his expression already showing he was 100% determined to get her back by any means necessary. "He's hurting her to make those quirkless bullets- She had bandages all over her arms-"

"Deku!" Sir Nighteye barked. "You're speaking out of turn-"

He was interrupted by the noise of a phone dialing, which Shouta had deliberately put on loudspeaker.

Sir Nighteye seemed to be seconds away from apoplexy as the phone continued to ring.

The call fell through.

"What," Sir Nighteye whispered in the ensuing silence. "Pray tell, are you doing?"

"You'll see," Shouta grunted, immediately re-dialing. The call fell through again, but that wasn't going to stop him. Eventually, the idiot would pick up, and then-

"I don't know how you got this number," the silky voice Shouta hadn't heard in years said, the threat clearly audible in the tone alone. "But you need to stop. Calling. It. Or I'll find you end-"

"Tear me apart molecule by molecule, blah, blah, blah." Shouta interrupted, unimpressed. "Get more creative with your insults, dipshit, you've been using the exact same ones since you were twelve."

The confusion in the conference room was almost thick enough to cut with a knife. Most of the heroes didn't really know what was going on. Sir Nighteye, Togata and Midoriya -- who knew the sound of Kai's voice -- stared at him in horrified shock.

"Sho-chan," Kai said in a perfect monotone. "What do you want?"

"Are you really torturing a-" he muted his call briefly, before turning to Midoriya. "How old do you think Eri is?"

"Uh... Five?" Midoriya guessed.

Shouta suspected this was wrong, but that was his best info, so he unmuted the call. "-A five-years-old girl?"

"She's 6," Kai growled. "And it's none of your goddamn business."

"Hm, maybe not," leaning back in the chair, Shouta inspected his nails. Kai wouldn't be able to see that -- a shame, he always turned the funniest colours when Shouta did that -- but he wanted to make sure he got the tone of his voice just right to convey that he was doing it. "But I'm sure mom would be very interested in hearing about your latest endeavors-"

"Don't you dare."

"I can call her right now," Shouta threatened, gesturing at Midoriya. The gestures were vague at best, but his student was a smart cookie, handing his phone over almost immediately. "I'll call her and tell her what you're up to-"

"Then I'll just tell her about you in return!" Kai hissed. "Don't think I can't find out your dirt in minutes. Kurono-"

"Oh, how rich of you, you're gonna make your boytoy do the research for you?" Shouta sneered. "Joke's on you; I'm a teacher and an accomplished undergrounder, and mom knows all about it. Because, unlike some people, I actually go to see her once in a while."

There was only silence from the other side of the phone. Putting Midoriya's phone right next to his own, Shouta pointedly started putting in their mother's number.

"...What do you want," Kai repeated eventually.

"Ideally? Turn yourself in, so I never have to see your ugly mug again," Shouta said, feeling a vicious kind of satisfaction when the words made several people, including his students, laugh. "But for now, just hand over Eri and we'll be golden."

"You're a dick, you know that?"

"Says the child-torturer."

"It wasn't torture-!" Kai took a deep breath. "It was scientific advancement."

"Sure."

"Whatever," he could picture the exasperated and resigned expression on Kai's face so clearly... Almost as if he had it saved as his home-screen background. "I'll leave her in front of the complex. If you want her safe, you better hurry up."

"Pleasure doing business with you," Shouta smirked, not even caring when Kai cut the call.

He placed the phone back in his pocket, passing the other one back to Midoriya.

"What... What just happened." Rock Lock said, the inflection a bit too flat to be a question.

"That was ensuring a child wouldn't be endangered during the raid," Shouta answered smugly. "Ah, we might want to move up the timeline, also. Kai's going to be too angry to use what little brain cells he still has in that empty skull of his for a little while; Best to make use of it while it lasts."

"And what exactly is your relationship with the main target of this raid?" Sir Nighteye sounded almost constipated.

"Oh, Kai?" Shouta huffed. "He's my idiot baby brother. Punch him in the face for me if you see him first, he deserves it."