The Tinker

Chapter 20 - The Full Story

All Might had escorted them out of the police building and into a nondescript black van. He was unnaturally quiet, making the rest of them sick with nerves. It was rare to see him this way. The car ride was silent. Y/N's fists were clenched and she stared straight ahead, mind racing with memories.

It had been like this after the incident. She hadn't remembered the car ride until now, but she could picture EMTs trying to gently pull her from her shock. Faint images of looking up at masked doctors flashed through her mind and filled her with a nausea. She wanted to push it down, but it was too suffocating, and she could feel herself drifting away from herself. 

The car stopped and the doors opened for their exit. "What are we doing at Might Tower?" Deku muttered.

Nobody answered his question, but All Might lead them into the building. Everything was becoming a blur, and Y/N didn't remember how, but she was now sitting in a brightly lit room with Bakugou and Deku on either side of her. All Might was across from them at an empty table, but behind him was a bulletin board covered in odd papers. It looked like an old-fashioned detective board.

"What we're going to be discussing is something that requires full discretion. Bakugou, Midoriya, this is of utmost importance. Your lives and positions as heroes are reliant on this. Understood?" All Might said, staring them both down. "Y/N, you've already been given this talk, but because of their exposure tonight they're going to be given the full story as well."

Y/N nodded, not looking up. She was having a hard time paying attention through the pounding in her ears. She fidgeted with her hands in her lap.

"As you both know, Y/N's quirk was stolen from her back in America. Under Hawks' Agency, she was on a mission that far exceeded her rank. It wasn't her fault, and it wasn't her agency's fault either. They didn't know what they had sent her into. It was a tragic accident." All Might looked at Y/N, trying to read her expression, but failing. "All For One had escaped and Y/N had walked right into his headquarters without knowing."

Bakugou's blood ran cold and his eyes widened in shock. He turned to Y/N, who remained expressionless.

"When did he escape? Why didn't you tell me?" Deku demanded. "All Might, I should know these things, why didn't--"

"It wasn't my choice," All Might interrupted. "I wasn't told until Y/N was hospitalized. The prison chosen to hold him didn't tell us when he escaped out of shame and legal liability. They thought they could find and detain him before anything dangerous happened, but clearly, they were wrong," he said, gesturing towards Y/N. "Once Y/N was conscious and able to communicate again, I was informed of the situation. I ordered my people to retrieve Y/N from America and have her brought here so that we could keep an eye on her."

"Who is we?" Bakugou grumbled.

"There is a small group of heroes and law enforcement that know about All For One's escape. This includes Hawks Agency, Might Tower, and the faculty at UA--"

"Hawks knew?" Y/N demanded, her silence finally broken. "Hawks knew, and he fired me?"

"He was ordered to. In order to keep the situation contained we needed you off the streets."

Y/N didn't respond but was clenching her fists and biting her lip. "Why didn't he say that?"

"All For One is looking for you. You weren't ready."

All eyes were on her now, but Y/N was too taken aback by what All Might had said. "He... why?"

"Because you have information on him. Dangerous information. If it gets out, we have a major advantage."

Y/N shook her head adamantly. "I told you, I don't remember a lot of it. After he took my quirk, my memories are fuzzy, I can't..." She trailed off, looking more agitated as the moments passed.

"We weren't going to ask you to do this for a while because we wanted you to fully recover, but... we want to try different forms of therapy to try and jog your memory," All Might said gently. 

"Can I get my quirk back?" Y/N asked softly. "Could we... make him give it back?"

Bakugou's heart hurt hearing Y/N like this. She fucking deserved better than this shitshow. He felt powerless and he hated it.

"Miss Y/N... that isn't something we can guarantee. He isn't a stable individual, and even if he was, forcing someone to use their quirk isn't an easy thing to do."

Y/N's frown deepened. "I'll do it. Whatever you need, I'll do it." All Might gave her a sad smile.

"The man that was apprehended tonight-- he was looking at hospital records to find if Y/N was in recovery here. He was an All For One minion. They don't seem to know that Y/N was already healed by Recovery Girl, which means they don't currently have tabs on her. We're ahead of them right now," All Might said hopefully. "If we can keep this advantage long enough to retrieve Y/N's memories, we can find and apprehend All For One."

"How can we guarantee that our friends won't tell people that Y/N is at UA?" Deku asked.

"We're lucky enough that All For One only knows Y/N's hero name, old quirk, and the appearance of her costume. Because neither have been used at UA, there isn't anything to trace her back. Y/N is seen by anybody as an engineer here to help design gear. So it doesn't matter that Y/N is at UA, because they don't know that Y/N is the hero they're looking for; but it keeps her close, and we can keep an eye on her."

"So what the hell are Deku and I supposed to do now? Just pretend this didn't happen?" Bakugou grunted.

"For now, yes," All Might said. "But if we find more information on him, you'll be informed. The two of you won't be doing patrols anymore. We need you kept under surveillance as well until--"

"That's bullshit. I'll be fine! It's just a shitty patrol--"

"It's not about capability, Bakugou," All Might argued. "It's about safety. You don't want to lose your quirk too."

"How long is this shit going to take?"

"Until All For One is put away."

There was an empty silence for a while as everyone came to terms with what was happening. Things were going to be different for a while.