Quirkless

You're Going to Get Yourself Killed

Director was sitting behind her desk when Q approached, no tablet in hand. She felt the other woman's eyes carefully assessing her as she sat across from the large oak desk. Director clasped her hands together and leaned forward, peering at Q. It felt less like she was being called in for a briefing and more like she was back in the principal's office.

"How are you?" Director asked quietly, still not releasing Q from her gaze.

"I'm...I'm doing okay," she replied, "All things considered, I think I'm doing really well, actually."

"Good. Please sit." The other woman sat back into her chair as Q settled across from her. "I apologize for putting you in that situation - Carter was pulled too soon after his assignment. I shouldn't have allowed him to be in the field without more time to readjust." Her voice was emotionless, but Q saw sincerity in the other woman's eyes.

"We all missed it. He's done longer assignments with less turn around." She swallowed around the lump of guilt in her throat. "With his experience, he should've been able to handle it."

"Sometimes it's the experienced agents that we have to be careful with. Being in the field is not without side effects." Director sighed, toying her ring as she stared off into space. After a moment of silence, she seemed to gather her thoughts and continue. "We've confirmed he wasn't working with Keidoro, though it appears that he was involved in supplying the serum to them."

"So whoever he was working with is manufacturing it," said Q.

"Or at least is close to the ones that are, yes. That's the current theory at least. We've only begun to decrypt the files from his electronics. However, we've also been tracking him retroactively through surveillance since he landed in Japan. Given his foreign appearance, it was easy enough to follow his movements."

Q's eyes narrowed. Carter knew that. Whatever they had discovered, he had wanted them to find. "And you found something?"

"Somewhere." Director pulled out a map, pointing to a red marking on it. "We've had ex-hero Takami do a flyover and it appears to be a warehouse of some sort."

Q leaned over the desk to look closer. "If you wanted an observation op, why did you call in everyone?" she asked.

"I don't." Director's sharp tone made her look up. "This group has been too slippery to risk waiting any significant length of time. You'll be going in tomorrow night."

"Director..." Q chewed her tongue nervously. After the gala, such a short planning time felt even higher risk than usual.

"Q." Her codename rang out like an order. "We can't risk more heroes being attacked. The Commission was one vote away from asking the US to send in an airstrike. I convinced them we could take it down as effectively with less damage and without risking more people becoming aware of the situation."

Q swallowed her concerns. Director was right, as she always was. It was her policy that it was always better to risk an agent in a poorly planned mission than risk civilian lives by waiting for the perfect opportunity.

The other woman continued. "Get a sample of the serum for us to study, and then destroy everything. They," her eyes darted to the door behind which the heroes sat, "need to think the threat is gone."

Q nodded. "That's why you wanted Bakugou."

Director shrugged, turning her attention to the remaining papers on the desk. "He does have one of the highest rates of property damage."

She nodded again, keeping her face flat. "Why bring Midoriya though?"

"Press. Leave him outside for the operation, but he needs to take the bulk of the credit. If the hero that's supposedly powerless takes down a key location of Keidoro, it will be a huge blow to their credibility."