Sunsets

The Third

The crime scene was bustling with energy.

Endeavor was guarding his son's ambulance. He was too bulky to go inside but he watched as they got his son on the cart, and put an oxygen mask on him.

The young Todoroki's breathing was slightly strangled, but not fatally low. It was safe to assume that the slightly shallow breathing was from pain. They closed the doors after giving Endeavor a split-second rundown of what they might have to do to stabilize the boy in case anything unforseen happens as well as named the hospital the boy would be taken to.

Hosu General Hospital.

Endeavor was furious and worried. Furious because his son got hurt. Worried because his son got hurt.

So he talked to the detective, who was dealing with the unconscious, concussed, yet relatively uninjured Stain. The Detective and a few cops were able to situate the vigilante into the back of a cop car.

Handcuffed and belted into the car, Stain was still knocked out cold. Detective Tsukauchi turned to look at the flaming hero.

"What do you need, Endeavor? I thought you were checking on your son?"

Endeavor sighed, running a hand through his hair. "I was...asking about that. He was taken to Hosu's General Hospital...I was wondering if I could clock out and go check on him."

Endeavor wasn't used to having to ask permission to do things. As head of his Agency, he could mostly do whatever he wanted. But he also acknowledged that the Hero Killer was a force to be reckoned with. If needed, Endeavor would stay to make sure the vigilante was kept under control.

Tsukauchi waved off the hero absentmindedly. "Yeah, yeah. We got Stain under control. Go see your son."

Endeavor bowed slightly in thanks and began walking to his car.

The detective then went to the passenger's door and sat inside. "Sorry about that..."

"Name's Ito." The gruff man in the driver's seat replied. He had a decent build with brown hair that was pulled up into a small manbun.

"Ah yes. Sorry about that Ito. I'm usually not in the area, but the Hosu Police Department had called me in as an attempt to make an effort in stopping the Hero Killer. Sadly, I left my car at the station and rode with a different police officer. Shiozaki  seemed to have left though. I apologize for the short notice." Tsukauchi, unused to the area, felt awkward about the short notice ride. He felt like a hitchhiker and it was weird being surrounded by people who weren't from his department.

"It's fine, detective." Ah, Ito must be a man of few words.

The detective nodded before silencing as Ito started the car.

However they both jumped when a frantic knocking sounded. Detective Tsukauchi snapped his head to the window and saw Manual.

Slowly rolling down the window, Tsukauchi was about to ask what was wrong.

They got the hero killer, the kids, and the hero. Something more is needed?

Manual didn't give the detective any time before shoving his phone in the detective's hands. "There was supposed to be three," was the only explanation provided.

"What?" Tsukauchi whispered, looking at the phone in his hands.

"There was a third kid, Midoriya," manual started, butchering the child's name. "He texted me on Iida's phone, saying they were attacked and that Stain was restrained. He said he would greet me at the front of the alleyway. But looking back, he wasn't there. In all the chaos I forgot about him! There was supposed to be three kids!" Manual was breathing hard, clearly freaking out over the lost child.

He knew he was forgetting something, but now that he found out who he was forgetting, he was kicking himself.

How could he be a hero and forget about a child? A child!?

Tsukachi took in the horror-stricken hero before turning his eyes to the phone. Slowly, he analyzed the test messages. Indeed the boy agreed to meet the hero at the alley's mouth. But the kid was absent.

Izuku Midoriya.

"Nothing odd was at the crime scene. No blood drops other than a few near Todoroki, but they were taken in for testing. We can run them in the base and check if they match Midoriya though I doubt they would. Other than that, the text messages, the bandaged injuries, and the capture of Stain show the kid was there. We will find them, I'll call around to his Hero-Study advisor to see if he went to them." Tsukachi was thinking to himself mostly, but Manual bopped his head along to the Detective's logic.

"Ya won't need that. I'm the boy's advisor and I can confidently say the boy 'asn't returned." A short man, seemingly a retired hero, in yellow boots walked up got the side of the cop car. "'Aven't seen the boy anywhere near here either."

The older man pulled a sour face, he was also clearly worried about the missing teen.

"Do you...think he was taken?" Manual asked slowly.

"I dunno, the kid 'as a sense of undying heroism. I don't think he would've been taken down without a fight if he was kidnapped. We would defiantly be able to tell if that was the case." Gran Torino narrated. He had his yellow gloved hand rubbing his chin.

"Crime scene saw no signs of struggle, only ones of fighting. A fourth person did fight Stain, but we can't be sure if it was truly Midoriya. There is no evidence to go by so far. It could've been one of the other vigilantes who have been popping up recently."

True, Manual thought to himself. Only it still doesn't sit right with me.

"But--but what about the scream?" Manual asked slowly. Nothing was adding up.

Tsukauchi furrowed his brows and tried to articulate his words carefully. "I think the only thing we can do right now is send a search party for a twenty-five kilometer radius and then wait for the blood spatter results to come back." Tsukachi said in a somber tone. He didn't like the fact that they lacked enough evidence to know if Midoriya is in trouble.

"Aye, I'll keep an eye out for the kid too in case he goes back to my house." Torino said before walking off.

Manual was handed his phone back before he unglued himself from the cop car's window.

"Screenshot these and send them to me. If we can't find any sign of the kid in a couple hours, I'll officially open the case. He could've just gotten lost trying to find you all--the search party will find him if that's the case."

None of the three adults felt they would see the teen in a couple hours. With everything happening, all of Hosu was uptight and paranoid.

Afterall, those monster things were a sight to behold.