Wisp

Grim

  Mirio had insisted that they celebrate Izuku's victory over his upperclassmen. Izuku had asked if they'd like to come over for dinner. His three friends had readily agreed, while Inko was ecstatic her baby finally had friends over. She didn't even tease him over the fact that one of them was a girl (this time anyway), instead being content to ask about how Izuku was doing in school and embarrassing him in other ways, like getting out the baby album.

  Mirio had joked that his dad would do exactly the same if they were at his apartment. Tamaki had just smiled quietly at the pictures, occasionally speaking up to ask how Izuku had gotten into that predicament, questions that Inko was all too happy to answer.

  Nejire had been by far the worst. She and Inko immediately hit it off and spent most of their time teasing Izuku over his baby pictures or chatting animatedly about how well he was doing in school, which Mirio took great enjoyment out of, the traitor.

  Izuku had never been happier.

_____

  Izuku nodded to Aizawa as he walked over to the bus bay, his suitcase in hand. The summer training camp started today. Well, more accurately, the second years + Izuku's training camp started today. Since Izuku was on his own, there was little point in holding an entire training camp for just him. So that he could have the experience, Izuku was going with the second years, who were quite eager to meet him.

  Aizawa's expression was grim, which set Izuku on edge. Something was very wrong.

  "I didn't tell you before because I didn't want to distract you from your exam preparations, but now I think it's a good time to motivate you." He said.

  His words were light, but his tone and expression remained stone cold.

  "The same purple portal has been appearing with different brain creatures and abducting people. There have been four kidnappings since your work study. One of which was Mr Sakamoto, the man you saved the first time we came across the brain creature and portal combination. I've been able to link several kidnappings in the past to the most recent ones. Bystanders remember seeing a purple mist around the area of the kidnappings. It's consistent enough to link the cases together."

  Izuku frowned.

  "Why kidnap so many people? What do they gain?" He asked.

  "It gets worse." Aizawa reassured. "A blood sample was found at a scene about six months ago now. It didn't match the victim, and the sample was so contaminated it was impossible to find the real culprit."

  "Contaminated how?" Izuku asked.

  "There were DNA samples of three different people, all of which had gone missing 8, 9 and 13 months prior to that incident. They were almost unidentifiable, but it was specifically the quirk factors of those people. Minor Regeneration, Minor Shock Displacement and Reflex. The victim, by the way, had a rather powerful strength enhancer." Aizawa said grimly.

  "The brain creatures. They're tailored to beat the victims. The one attacking Mr Sakamoto had a strong strength enhancer, I'd be willing to bet it came from the kidnapping you just mentioned." Izuku said, his horror mounting.

  "Someone's collecting and exchanging quirks between people like loose change, creating living weapons that can be tailored to an individual you want killed. Or just make a standing army, who's to say?"

  Izuku thought for a moment.

  "What were the quirks of the most recent victims?" He asked.

  "Mr Sakamoto had Shock Absorption. A very powerful one. The next had Super Regeneration, the one after had a rather impressive speed enhancer called Burst. The next was a pain dampener, and the one just before Sakamoto had a pretty similar quirk called Impact Recoil." He listed off angrily.