MHA: A Cat’s Way

(UA)

The tension in the staff’s meeting room is tense. But what else could it be given everything that’s happened? An unprecedented attack on school grounds, and after they’d implemented the dorm system expressly to safeguard their students! The media is out for blood, and it’s scarcely been three hours since the event.

And that’s without them even being aware of the incidents the students were involved with during the attack, nor what had happened to two students in particular…

Sitting at the head of the table, Nezu clears his throat to ensure that everyone’s attention is on him. Not that it’s needed, given how all the teachers are relying on him to come up with a plan.

“First of all, do we have an accounting of all the villains, and the state they were retrieved in?” A few of the teachers question his choice of words, but at Ectoplasm’s explanation they understand.

“There were approximately one hundred villains scattered across the different zones of the USJ, with another thirty having been gathered in the square where Eraserhead engaged them. Out of the total of one hundred-thirty, sixty-five were captured with minor injuries. Forty had major injuries and required hospitalization.”

Here, he pauses, the other teachers unaware of the situation subconsciously leaning in as they wait to hear of the last twenty-five villains. Only to be shocked at their fate. “The remaining villains were all deceased.”

The silence is deafening as the assembled try to wrap their heads around his words. Unsurprisingly, it’s the loudest of them all that breaks it. No, it’s no surprise, but what is is how quiet his voice is, practically whispering his words.

“A-are you saying that the villains… were killed? How!?”

Well, whispering for him.

Aizawa takes up the explanation, seeing as he was there. With his only serious injury being his partially destroyed arm, he insisted on being present at the meeting. Especially due to how he blames himself for Catia being kidnapped.

“There were ten at the fire zone, where Ashido and Ojiro were sent. Apparently Ashido’s acid was ignited by the flames and exploded, resulting in several casualties. Additionally, after seeing Ojiro rendered unconscious, she lost control of her quirk and excreted acid at her maximum potency. Currently she’s being treated for acid burns after overusing her quirk.”

“That poor girl…” Midnight whispers, imagining how she must be feeling over taking someone’s life. It’s something every hero eventually faces, but to be put into that situation not even a week into her time at UA…

She can only imagine what she’s going through.

`~`

Mina stares up at her hand while laying in bed. It agitates the burns on her arm a bit, but that’s not important right now. The questions the police asked were…hard… to answer. The questions about the burns on the villains were easy, considering that they were all in the Fire Zone. Telling them about what happened to Ojiro was also easy, and they’d be getting his own statement when he wakes up.

No… the hard part was… the dead. Some of the villains, mainly the ones she fought after she’d stopped holding back… didn’t survive. The first was the guy who controlled the fire. She knew he didn’t survive given the hole in his chest, but she’d hoped. The explosion that happened was only on the level of Bakugou’s after all! But…

The second was the guy who covered himself in rocks. Her acid didn’t actually do all that much damage to him, in fact he should have just been incapacitated. There’s just one thing that went wrong.

The fumes.

The inner layer, as well as his skin, were being corroded by her acid. But even if his armor was loose enough to let liquids and gasses escape, it was tight enough that the fumes knocked him unconscious, then killed him.

The rest she couldn’t point to, but she didn’t have to. The police told her.

A melted throat stopped them from breathing.

Acid ate through their eyes and made its way to their brain.

Her acid ignited and blew a hole in them.

Her acid-

Her acid-

Her acid-

Her acid-

Her acid-

Her acid killed people.

She lets her arm fall across her eyes, blocking the building tears from falling. She wishes that she had someone to talk to about this, but who could she go to? She’s a murderer.

“Catia…” She murmurs as a tear squeezes out from under her arm.

`~`

“I’ll make sure to schedule some sessions with her.” Hound Dog assures everyone.

Snipe picks up one of the papers in front of him, quickly finding where the deaths are listed along with who was responsible. He can’t help but exclaim in surprise at what he finds.

“That Hagakure girl killed five people!? And a different way each!?”

Aizawa nods. “Ironically those she killed were villains with enhanced senses capable of locating her. Though there were others who fall into the ‘hospitalized’ group. Apparently she utilized an aspect of her quirk she hadn’t considered before.”

There’s clear notes of pride in his voice, despite the seriousness of the situation, causing a few glares to be sent his way. Especially by Small Might, who believes villains should be apprehended wherever possible. So taking pride in a student killing is more than reprehensible to him.

Ignoring the glares, Aizawa continues. “Apparently, her blood is as invisible as the rest of her-”

“It made it rather difficult to wrap her wounds, let me tell you.” Recovery Girl interrupts.

“When her blood gets on an object, it too will become invisible. Though when it dries it doesn’t take much to make it flake off, which allows the object to become visible once again. Utilizing wounds previously obtained due to a nearby running battle between Bakugou and Kirishima and many other villains, she covered objects in her blood and used them to disable her attackers. This ranges from shards of glass, to rocks, and in one case even a small pipe.”

`~`

“I can fight.” Toru whispers to herself in her room while opening and closing her hand in front of herself, the outline of it clearly shown through the bandages wrapped around it.

“I took down a bunch of villains all by myself. I didn’t even struggle.” She managed to ambush most, if not all, of the villains who could have found her despite her quirk. No, more than an ambush, she-

“I hunted them. They didn’t even have a chance to put up a fight against me.” A sardonic smile stretches across her face at the irony of hunting those who should be her natural enemies. Of turning the predators into prey.

To her, it was like she was a cat and they were mice. “I wonder if Catia would be proud of me? Of managing to turn the tables on the villains with my own skills. I didn’t have to rely on anyone else. I’m strong.”

I hope that she praises me.

`~`

“Another one for me to schedule sessions for.” Hound Dog remarks, causing Midnight to roll her eyes.

“You realize that they weren’t expecting to get attacked by villains at the premier hero school, right? I think it’s safe to say that all of them will require sessions with you.”

Hound Dog huffs at her. “You’re one to talk. I have to set up a class session every year for your homeroom class so they can handle… all of you.”

She just smirks at him, taking it as a compliment to her style.

Seeing them starting to get off track, Nezu brings their focus back with who caused the rest of the casualties. “The remaining ten deaths were caused by… Izuku Midoriya.”

If the previous silence was deafening, the new silence is earth shattering. Eventually though, Small Might finds his voice. “H…how?”

Nezu pulls out a piece of paper from the pile in front of him and slides it down to the center of the table where everyone can see it. A bit unnecessary given everyone has the same copies as he does, but the theatrics are important.

The others see that it’s a photo of the shipwreck zone, where Midoriya and Asui were stranded. “As I’m sure you’re all aware, Young Midoriya is quirkless. As such, he relies heavily on his own inventions.”

Power Loader snaps his fingers. “I know that kid! He was supposed to start classes with the support course tomorrow. I’d taken a look at the designs for his electric gloves, and I have to- oh.”

Seeing realization dawn on his face, Nezu nods. “Indeed. He made some alterations to his remaining electricity generating glove and dropped it into the water. Thankfully he was smart enough to reduce the voltage so that the majority of villains were only stunned. Even still, a few who were particularly susceptible to electricity perished.”

“That would have also electrified the water, though due to the large surface area it covered it was heavily diffused. Enough to keep the villains who didn’t die incapacitated, but stranding the students on the boat.” Power Loader finishes for him.

`~`

Midoriya lays in his bed, staring up at the ceiling with a smile on his face. “Let’s see people say that quirkless means useless now. I took out a horde of villains single-handedly. Without a quirk!”

A thought strikes him and his smile reverses into a frown. “I wonder why I didn’t see Catia with everyone else when the paramedics checked us out. I hope she’s not in the same situation as Ojiro.”

`~`

“And priority number three.” Hound Dog marks down.

“Actually…” Nezu trails off leadingly. “I believe that the only one who is aware that they killed someone is Miss Ashido. Miss Hagakure’s assailants all bled out, likely meaning that she was not there when they expired. As for Young Midoriya's, the bodies would have been indistinguishable from the others.”

“We have to tell them.” Small Might asserts. To become heroes, they must be aware of their actions, is his thought.

“We do not.” Nezu denies immediately. “It would only weigh on their minds and bring them self-doubt in their actions. While they will need to be informed eventually, I believe it should be done when they have more experience and more determination to become heroes. Taking a life is a heavy burden to bear, after all.”

Murmurs of agreement and discontent vie for dominance, but his decision has been made and they will accept it.

“Other than those incidents, the other students are mostly unaffected. The real issues are two that very few others seem to have realized yet.”

Small Might grits his teeth. “The death of Minoru Mineta, and Young Akihiro’s kidnapping.”

“Cat-napping…” Midnight murmurs under her breath, worried about the girl she’s grown close to ever since she first brought her to the dorms.

Going unheard, Nezu nods at Small Might’s statement. “Indeed. While Young Mineta’s death is a tragedy, Akihiro’s abduction is what we are able to address. The living can still be helped, after all.”

“Kaminari said that he’d overloaded himself, but was still able to hear some of what the villains were talking about. Apparently they were separate from the League of Villains and referred to themselves as the Cult of Nya.”

The name has facepalms going throughout the room as a few immediately understand the connection. Continuing, Aizawa clarifies for those who don’t. “It’s likely that their intention from the beginning was to kidnap Catia.”

His use of her first name gets a few raised eyebrows, but they understand that they have more important things to focus on.

“Should you really be acting so familiar with one of your students, Aizawa?”

…Most of them understand.

Sighing, Aizawa just waves off his complaint. “While they haven’t made any large or overt moves, the Cult of Nya does have a presence. Both in the underworld… and as a charity organization.”

“”“...”””

The only one not taken aback by this news is Nezu, and even he was surprised when he first came across the information. He continues while they’re too shocked to interrupt.

“As a charity, they work to help those with heteromorphic-type quirks. Whether it be finding them jobs, ensuring kids and teens abandoned by their families find homes, or even ensuring that they have a place where they don’t have to worry about prejudices about their appearances. They’re well known in certain communities, but fly under the radar normally.”

He pauses to ensure everyone is following so far then continues. “As for the underworld side: they generally operate more as vigilantes than villains. Mostly. They are actually the reason the majority of child trafficking rings have been all but dismantled. One of their core tenets appears to be ‘don’t target children’. It’s become widely known that if anyone in your organization targets a child for any reason, they will come for you. And they will leave a body count.”

“Other than that, the only motives anyone can find for them is that they follow ‘the will of the goddess’. Nobody is aware of who it is, but given the organization’s name their quirk likely revolves around cats.”

“So it’s possible they’re trying to recruit the girl?” Snipe asks.

“Or they aim to eliminate ‘imposters’.” Cementoss pipes in, only to get head shakes in reply.

“Had that been their goal, they wouldn’t have needed to take her. But their motives aside, what’s important right now is finding her.”

“Actually,” Power Loader raises a hand, his brows furrowed as he looks down at a device he’s been clenching in his hand since the meeting started. “One of the tracking devices built into Akihiro’s hero suit just activated. We have a location, and nearby heroes were alerted and should be arriving soon.”