Work Text:
As Yu Ijin surveyed the abandoned warehouse, he caught sight of his face in a broken mirror. Frankly, he looked like shit. His eyes were gaunt, accented by dark eyebags and the grime on his face. His hair consisted of dirty and unbrushed strands, all of which was fine with him as long as it didn’t affect his vision.
Ijin hasn’t been this tired since before he came to Korea. He’s been running himself ragged, working with the others to take out most of the mercenary groups and hitmen gathered up nearby. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to rest properly for almost a month now.
He’s been in this mess ever since he took down Mad Dog with the other numbered and rescued his family. Apparently the fucker had an insurance policy to ruin to his life. Someone put out a bounty on Yu Ijin for a shit ton of money. In other words, Ijin’s civilian identity was now exposed and broadcasted to numerous dangerous groups.
Luckily, it didn’t seem like Mad Dog mentioned anything about him being 001, mercenary Jin or even anything about his combat level, so at the very least he shouldn’t have to move countries at the end of this. The downside on the other hand, was that every mercenary and hitman under the sun was trying to take him out and his family was in danger again. He currently had SW, 006, 005, and 032 guarding his sister and his grandfather while he worked with the other numbered to defuse this whole situation.
He didn’t explain the bounty situation to his family, not after all they'd just been through. He just wanted them to get back to their normal lives as soon as possible. As for his absence, he explained to his family that he was going with Major Kang for a little while just to be safe. They didn’t really understand but they let him go, just wanting him to be okay. If everything went well, he would be back in class by the following Monday at the latest.
Anyway, above should be everything of immediate relevance which would now bring him here, gunning down the last identified mercenary group that was stationed in this abandoned warehouse. Honestly, this group seemed particularly pathetic, all their members being quite weak so far. However one should never underestimate the enemy. This group was famous for having a special and dangerous weapon, a gun of some kind, that would always dispose of whoever got shot while showing no visible wounds.
According to rumors, the victim didn’t die immediately and lay in comatose until they do. Nothing was known about the source or make of the weapon, nor what caused the target to go unconscious. From what 032 had gathered, the time each individual spent unconscious before perishing varied for each person.
The one thing all the victims had in common though, was that everybody ever shot by this weapon never woke up.
Of course those were just baseless rumors that they had come across while doing research on the enemy.
But…
If that’s the case, then why did the other numbered find 001 passed out on the floor, lying across from a deceased asilaint with a strange gun still in their hand and pointed directly at Ijin?
Why did he never wake up, even after several hours? More importantly, if he was shot, why wasn’t there a new gunshot wound?
Ijin never made it to school that Monday.
———————
(Text) is pov’s spoken language.
(Text) is English (in this chapter)
(Text) is Japanese (in this chapter) because it’s from the perspective of people who speak Japanese.
———————
Aizawa took in a deep breath, silently regretting all his prior life decision that lead him to this moment.
He was currently sat across from Nedzu, who was steadily typing away at his computer. From the perspective of any normal person Nedzu looked completely unbothered, typing away as if it were just another day. But Aizawa knew better. The subtle flicks of his tail indicated stress, accompanied by a cup of hibiscus tea. A flavor that Aizawa has only ever seen Nedzu drink when he was pissed off.
Alternatively, the position of his ears, the glint in his eyes and even the way he typed indicated amusement and curiosity. So what could Aizawa gather from all this?
First is that he spent way too much time around Nedzu, and that he should be prepared for anything including having his sanity tested.
After a few more long moments of silence, Aizawa sighed and opened his mouth.
“Why did you call me here?”
Nedzu replied without looking up from the computer.
“The HPSC has been acting suspicious lately. From what I’ve been able to find out, they’ve been looking into a series of dubious people appearing out of thin air.”
Aizawa continued to stare impassively, wondering what Nedzu was getting at. Whatever it was, anything involving the HPSC was rarely ever positive.
“After breaking into a couple of their servers, and don’t worry I wasn’t caught, I found out something quite alarming.” As Nedzu continued to speak he appeared to be becoming more agitated.
“Let’s skip the suspense. Why am I here?” Aizawa questioned, keeping both eyes on Nedzu while taking a sip of the tea he provided.
Nedzu’s grin sharpened, causing Aizawa to feel a shiver throughout his whole body.
“The HPSC has come to the conclusion that people appearing are from an alternate dimension. Not only that, but they have been capturing said people and are currently experimenting on them.”
Ah shit. Aizawa inhaled sharply, his disdain for the HPSC leaking through his expression. In that case, it made sense that Aizawa was the teacher Nedzu chose to confide in. After all, besides the rat himself, Aizawa was the staff member who hated the HPSC the most. While most of the UA staff as a whole weren’t a huge fan, and were at least partially aware of the dirty stuff they do, Aizawa was one of the only staff members actively willing to work against them.
Aizawa observed Nedzu take a sip of his tea before continuing to speak.
“The reason I called you here is because I have an idea of where the next person will appear, and I want you to get to them before the HPSC does and bring them here.”
Nedzu handed over a stack of papers filled with information that was frankly, way above his pay grade. He looked over the paperwork with a frown before landing on the page that detailed the location and timing of each appearance, accompanied by certain energy spikes.
Well, it looked like he wouldn’t be getting any sleep tonight.
———————
It turns out Aizawa was incorrect, he did end up getting sleep that night.
Just, not the way he intended.
The underground hero sat perched on a rooftop, occasionally circling the target building in front of him. Nedzu was supposed to alert him when the subject appeared and Aizawa’s job was to get them away in time. Luckily for him, the HPSC seemed to be much more behind tonight so Aizawa shouldn’t be fighting any government agents tonight.
From what Aizawa has learned about the other targets, the person he’s looking for could be of any age, size, and gender. The one thing every single person had in common in the files Nedzu showed him, was that none of them had a quirk and most of them were foreigners. Which, unfortunately, created a bit of a language barrier.
Well, nothing a quirk wouldn’t fix.
“Hey Shouta, how’s it looking up there?”
Aizawa hid a small smile behind his capture weapon at the sound. As soon as Hizashi caught wind of Shouta’s assignment, he instantly volunteered to help. Hopefully whoever they wound up meeting at least spoke one of the four languages his husband knew. If not, Aizawa could just knock them out.
“Not too bad. It’s been all radio silence so far. No variables yet. Anyway-
Shit, I got to go. The target should be inside the warehouse now, keep the car ready.”
Eraserhead climbed down from the rooftop and walked into the building. He did a quick search of the warehouse beforehand, so he mostly knew the layout. After double checking the notification from Nedzu, he started his search of the warehouse.
After searching nearly the entire space Aizawa was beginning to think something was wrong when all of a sudden he felt a presence behind him. Before he was able to turn around properly, the blood flow to his brain was cut off as he was put in a chokehold. Eraserhead planted his feet.
“내가 어디 있지?”
(Where am I?)
Shit. The voice behind him sounded male, rough, and young? Definitely not Japanese. Instead of responding, Aizawa threw his fist backwards, aiming for the target's eyes or nose while he shifted his weight. Aizawa heard a sharp intake of breath behind him and felt his fist connect with flesh before he passed out.
———————
Present Mic was worried. Shouta hadn’t contacted him since he went inside. So either he hadn’t found anything and chose to stay silent or…
Hizashi spoke into his earpiece.
“Eraserhead? Check in.”
…..
“누구세요? 말하다.”
(Who are you? Talk.)
That.. was definitely not Shouta, and definitely not Japanese. Did the target overpowered him? Hizashi didn’t want to think too much about it. He got out of the car and spoke into the receiver, but not before pressing a button on the dashboard.
“Can you understand me?”
…. Radio silence. He switched languages.
“Can you understand me?”
Hizashi continued walking towards the warehouse, making it to the entrance.
“Yes. Tell me where I am.”
Hizashi exhaled. Okay, they spoke English. That’s good, right?
“You are inside an abandoned warehouse in Musutafu, Japan. May I come inside? I want to help.”
Radio silence stretched out for a few treacherous moments before Hizashi received confirmation and stepped inside. He walked throughout most of the warehouse, finding it empty before he stepped into a room and promptly froze in his tracks.
In front of him was a man, crouched with a knife to his Shouta’s neck. His husband, who was currently unconscious. The man, or were they a teenager? Hizashi couldn’t tell, but they looked young. Even in the damp lighting, injuries and grime could be seen all over their frame. They seemed to be wearing combat boots, cargo pants and all black attire with a vest around their torso. They looked to be fully equipped, and skilled too if they managed to get the drop on an underground hero.
“Don’t come closer.”
They commanded, the knife against Shota’s throat held steady. Hizashi gulped, and put both his hands up above his head. He waited for the stranger, the threat, to speak.
“Are there more of you?”
Present Mic paused, wondering what to do. What could he say to defuse this situation? Shouta’s life was on the line. The man noticed his hesitation and dug in the knife until it drew blood. Hizashi spoke up, his words coming out rushed. He wasn’t able to use his quirk because of Shouta being in the crossfire.
Hopefully Nedzu send backup soon, so he just needed to buy some time. That said, there was no telling when the commission might show up.
“It’s just me. We don’t want to hurt you, we just want to help.”
The stranger narrowed their eyes, and released some pressure on the knife. Hizashi continued talking, doing his best to reassure the man that they had nothing to do with him showing up here, and that they just wanted to help. He also answered some of the man’s questions such as,
“Are you a mercenary?”
“No? I'm a hero.”
“Do you know who I am?”
“No, I don’t. We just want to help you anyway we can.”
“Why are you here?”
”We were told that someone might appear around here. We wanted to aid them before another group got to them.”
And so on. Hizashi didn’t mention anything too specific, just in case.
He was beginning to worry when the man showed no signs of being swayed. However, a moment later, the man turned his head and threw the knife he had against Shouta’s throat behind him.
Midnight dodged, and quickly released her quirk. The man began to stand up to fight, only to pass out a second later. Hizashi breathed a sigh of relief, thankful that Nemuri showed up. As Hizashi walked closer to the man, he realized how young he truly was. Probably not even 20 years old. And another thing, there was a fresh gunshot wound on his side.
Nemuri cuffed the teenager, careful not to jostle any injuries, and Hizashi carried Shouta to the car. Hizashi drove back to UA, while Nemuri kept a close eye on the teenager. Hizashi glanced back at his husband. Well, at least he got some sleep tonight.
———————
(Text) is now English because this is Ijin’s POV and that’s what he’s using.
(Text) will be Japanese
———————
Consciousness greeted him in ripples. Despite awakening, Ijin kept his eyes closed and his body movements unchanged. Even the slightest deviation in his breathing could give him away when faced with certain eyes. He could feel metal on his wrists and ankles, clearly restraints.
The air around him felt cold and stale, a basement perhaps? Some kind of enclosed space.
He twitched his fingers and toes, subtly enough to know he could still move without giving himself away, pleased to see he wasn’t rendered completely helpless. He’s been drugged to the point of losing motor control before and wasn’t really looking forward to repeating the experience.
From what he could feel around him, he seemed to be sitting in a (metal?) chair with his arms restrained behind his back, his previous wounds patched up. He couldn’t tell for sure without looking at them but the pain he felt before was gone. Did they give him pain killers, or some other kind of drug? Why? He also felt something similar on his face. They must have bandaged his nose after the black haired man almost broke it.
His mind was still clear, it didn’t feel like he was under the effect of any debilitating drugs. Ijin thought back to the conversation he had with the yellow haired man and how he kept insisting that he only wanted to help, which was strange. Were they not out for his bounty? They didn’t seem like the mercenary type. Unfortunately Ijin wasn’t able to collect a satisfactory amount of information.
This is what he knew right now.
-
The blond haired and black haired man claim to have good intentions. While Yellow Hair did seem genuine, Ijin was skeptical. Also he called themselves heroes? Was he some kind of larper?
-
Ijin was knocked out by some kind of gas from behind him, another enemy to watch out for. He didn’t notice anything amiss, meaning either the gas was deployed from afar or the enemy had great stealth skills. Something to be weary of.
-
Another group was after him and is in competition with Yellow Hair’s group.
-
Based on the unfamiliar accent and choice of language, it’s very likely Ijin is no longer in Korea. The yellow haired man told him he was in Japan.
But him being anywhere but Korea didn’t make any sense. He remembered getting shot but there’s no way he was knocked out long enough for him to be moved across countries. And why did he wake up alone? Although honestly it shouldn’t have knocked him out at all. Something was up with that gun.
So where was he and how did he get here? He had 002 and 004 right behind him.
Did they betray him?
Ijin refused to entertain the thought any longer and went back to pondering the current situation before concluding that there’s no more information he could gain without action. He silently opened his eyes. With a quick survey of the room he confirmed his previous thoughts. Except it wasn’t a basement, but a typical interrogation room complete with what was definitely a double sided mirror. No doubt he was being watched right now.
All of which made it more likely that he was in the hands of some sort of governmental power, rather than ragtag mercenaries. Or at the very least, people with money. Unfortunately that didn’t mean he was any safer than he would have been otherwise.
Ijin spent another minute alone in the room before the door opened. The black haired man he knocked out earlier walked in along with another more put together man and a….?
???
Hmmmm
Was it?
Was it a…?
Huh.
What did Dayun call those things?
Mascots? Furries?
But whatever it was, it looked too realistic to be one of those. (A rodent??)
And more than that…
Whatever it was, it had Ijin on edge. It wasn’t necessarily something he could explain with logic, rather an instinct gained from years on the battlefield and a plethora of near death experiences.
He could take the two men in front of him. Even with almost all of the weapons he had on him removed. (Which reminds him, he’ll need to figure out a way to get more weaponry.) The scruffy looking one would surely be more difficult now that he was on guard, but Ijin could do it.
However, he wasn’t sure he could defeat the creature. Not because it looked super strong or skilled but rather… It’s whole existence seemed dangerous. He couldn’t fathom how the other two men could stand to be right next to it, not even on guard against such a threat.
Ijin watched the three of them, keeping extra attention on the anomaly, as the more put together of the two humans sat down across from him. The other one stood against the door, the creature now on its shoulder.
Hmmm.
Ijin took a moment to study the man sitting across from him, while still keeping an eye on the anomaly of course.
The man stood at a relatively tall height, with a stoic, but kind, looking face. His expression was slightly covered by his tan hat, matching the coat he has over his shoulders. His face looked haggard, like he’s had many sleepless nights. Ijin couldn’t detect any malice within the man’s eyes, only weariness.
“Hello. My name is Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa.”
Ijin kept his face blank, despite being surprised by the words spoken from the detective’s mouth. It was Japanese.
However, Yu Ijin wasn’t fluent in Japanese. He didn’t speak the language and he shouldn’t be able to understand it. Yet somehow he was able to comprehend the words spoken by the man in front of him.
“My name is Kim Hwan.”
He spoke in English, assuming they were more likely to understand the language. Detective Tsukauchi’s eye twitched at his statement, and he tapped his finger on the metal table. The man behind him frowned while the creature remained unreadable.
Interesting.
“Young man, please give us your actual name. We only wish to help you.”
Again with the helpfulness nonsense. Now he was just kind of annoyed honestly.
(Seriously, how many times has he heard the word “help” since he met these people?”)
There were two possibilities here. First, they knew who Ijin was. This didn’t seem very likely based on the way they’ve been treating him so far. There’s also no need to hide this fact from him.
The second possibility was that the man in front of him could somehow tell he lied. Putting aside the absurdity of 001 being seen through, this made the most sense. The man behind the detective didn’t react until he tapped his finger, which must be some kind of signal. Of course there was the possibility that they knew him as mercenary Jin or 001, (he was pretty popular), but there’s no way they would be this nice to him if that was the case.
With the lack of information he had, Ijin wasn’t able to confirm his suspicions without asking straight out. Just to be safe, he decided to assume the man in front of him was able to see through him. That’s dangerous, but could also be quite useful, if true.
These people claimed to be “heroes,” he could work with that.
“Telling people my name could put me in danger.”
A true statement, as he currently had a bounty out on him. The detective's fingers didn’t move, although his brow furrowed. Just to be sure-
“I’m nineteen years old.”
No twitch, although the hobo man looks displeased. How about…
“I have three knives still hidden on me.”
Ijin watched as the finger hit the table and the hobo man behind him narrowed his eyes. That was a lie of course, he only had two left on him. He’ll have to thank 006 (Liam) for equipping so many extra knives on his person.
“That wasn’t funny. We removed all the weapons on your person, which was quite a concerning amount. If you feel like you can’t tell us your name, please at least tell us why.”
———————
(Ijin’s speech will now be underlined, as this is now from Tsukauchi’s perspective)
———————
Tsukauchi Naomasa studied the teenager in front of him, searching for any cracks in his expression. He couldn’t find a single one. The kid’s (was he really a kid?) expression was completely unreadable even for him. Tsukauchi thought he might be pondering for a moment, before he decided to answer.
“There are people after me. Mercenaries. Some asshole promised a lot of money to finish a job he couldn’t.”
Oh.
He wasn’t prepared for that, and he was only left with more questions. He could hear eraserhead grunting behind him, while Nedzu stayed silent.
The conversation went on from there, with the teenager providing little to no information. He eventually gave a name, albeit another fake one but Tsukauchi let it slide for the time being.
(Although the pulse of his quirk was weaker than usual. Maybe some partial truth? Does he go by multiple names?)
He instead went more into the current situation. They eventually confirmed that ‘Jin’ knew nothing about hero society or quirks.
He tried to ask more about Jin’s fighting skills and suspicious weaponry but didn’t get very far. The most he got was that he ‘learned his skills in the neighborhood he grew up in’ which concernedly was not a lie.
Eventually they reached how Jin ended up here. He remained calm, despite learning a government agency was after him, until Nedzu brought up the other people. It was then that the teenager’s mask began to crack as he asked for a list of names.
Tsukauchi was going to give it to him until Nedzu stopped him, demanding more information out of the teenager in return. While he thought they should be gentler, he did agree that they needed more information. The problem was..
Jin narrowed his eyes to glare at them, Nedzu especially before suddenly standing up from the chair with both of his hands infront of him and a knife held held firmly in his grip. The cuffs that held him now hung limply, one around his ankle and the other hanging from his left wrist.
Aizawa reacted immediately, his eyes going red instinctively and his hands flying towards his capture weapon.
Nedzu simply stood there, a smile on his face.
Unfortunately the detective wasn’t fast enough to get away before Jin vaulted over the table and put a knife to his neck.
Pure silence rang out for what felt like hours.
“I thought we got all his weapons.” Aizawa said, and although Tsukauchi couldn’t see him he knew his brows were furrowed.
“Apparently not!” Nedzu chirped, sounding way too happy in this situation when his life was in danger.
Jin put a little more pressure on the knife, just enough to not break the skin. Although for some reason Naomosa had the feeling that if he was facing Nedzu and Aizawa right now blood would be dripping down the knife.
“I want names. Now.”
———————
Out of the corner of his eye, Aizawa saw Nedzu grin. He shivered internally. If it were up to Shouta, he would have just told the kid the names to begin with, especially if it meant preventing a situation like this.
Although now they knew he had at least one more knife on him. (Where was he hiding that?)
He could sense Nedzu cooking up a scheme and while he would usually go along with it, he’s had enough.
He let his hair fall and his eyes resume their natural color before slowly walking towards the side of the table and picking up one of the folders that fell off when Jin jumped over.
It’s now that he could finally see detective Tsukauchi’s face, which only cemented his resolve in getting that knife away from his neck.
“These are the files we have currently. They should have the name and picture of everyone the commission has documented.”
Aizawa held out the folder and watched as Jin slowly removed the knife from Naomosa’s neck before swiftly putting it away back into it’s mysterious hiding place.
He stepped towards Aizawa to take the folder from his hands, immediately putting his back to wall and flipping through the folder, once he got it.
For a few seconds the only sounds heard throughout the room were the flipping of pages and a particular detective's breathing and footsteps as he went to stand next to Nedzu and Aizawa.
It felt like years until Jin finally lowered the folder, his eyes no longer deadly and piercing like they could stab right through you.
….
Surprisingly it wasn’t Nedzu that broke the silence, but Jin.
(It was only surprising because Aizawa knew how much the rat loved to break awkward silences.)
“Quirks. What are they?”
Asked the knife wielding elephant in the room, completely nonchalantly like he didn’t just threaten someone’s life for the second time since they met him.
Please keep in mind it hasn’t even been a day.
God, Aizawa wanted to go to bed.
Both he and the detective stayed silent, leaving Nedzu to answer the question. Honestly, Aizawa wasn’t really paying attention to the explanation. He was more focused on where Jin managed to pull that knife from and how he got out of those cuffs.
The skills he’s displayed so far didn’t make sense for a nineteen year old. Not only that, but his entire behavior thus far was quite little alarming.
Immediately jumping to violence on first contact, the way he hasn’t appeared nervous even once from the moment he woke up, and not to mention how easily he’s threatened multiple lives.
It all painted a picture far too dark for Shouta’s liking.
Before he knew it, Nedzu had called it a night and led the two of them out of the interrogation room.
Tsukauchi closed the door behind him and leaned against it. Nedzu climbed onto Shouta’s shoulder and clapped his paws together with way too much energy for the two tired humans in company.
“Well, that was interesting! What do you two think about our new friend?”
Shouta rubbed at his forehead as he closed his eyes before speaking through his scarf.
“He’s dangerous. We don’t know enough about him and he’s not willing to share. We can’t just let him around civilians until we know his intentions.”
Tsukauchi mostly agreed, it was a fair point. However-
“We can’t just keep him locked in there forever until we figure out what to do with him. It’s inhumane.”
Eraserhead scoffed.
“Obviously. But we still don’t have enough information. That kid is more experienced than your average pro, and extremely skilled with knives and hand to hand. Based off the firearms we found on his person, I’d bet he’s a beast with guns too. Not to mention the fact that someone put a literal bounty on his head because they failed to kill him.
Tsukauchi nodded, a somber look on his face and a hand on his throat.
“What do you suggest we do with him?”
Nedzu grinned.
“That’s exactly what I want to discuss! While usually our best and first course of action is to send him home, I have no idea how to do that yet! Secondly, it’s unsure if sending him back would even be the right thing to do, with all the danger he seemed to be in.”
Aizawa grimaced slightly. His Rat intuition was tingling.
“So! Why don’t we look after him? He can stay with our lovely teacher here during the night and attend classes during the day!”
Shit. He knew it.
“Absolutely not. My class is already shaken enough from the recent villain attack, they’re stressed enough already without adding some warhorse teenager to the mix, a teenager that doesn’t even speak japanese at that!”
Nedzu only continued to smile.
“Hmm but who said this wouldn’t benefit them? You will be supervising, along with the rest of the staff, to make sure nobody gets hurt and we have a translation quirk on standby. Unless.. you have a better plan in mind?”
….
He’s screwed.