The Origin of something new (mha ff)

49: Circus Arc

"I have a mission." The class listened attentively. "It's about underworld, espionage and so on. The mission is important, so only people who really have time will please come forward now." Aizawa looked around the rows of seats. "Alright, I will prepare an elaboration." His elaboration was ready sooner than he thought. "Kaede, I chose you because we will probably have to rescue victims too and I don't want to keep you in the loop until later. Midoriya, Yaoyorozu, Mina, Koda and Hagakure. You will understand the division once you know the details. Class is over, the group will remain." "Kaede, your Quirk is so handy with things like this!" She didn't hide her bad mood. "But also, only in cases like this." Izuku glanced at Mina, but before she took a step towards Kaede, Katsuki yelled, "You twerp stole my book!" Kaede smiled as she met his gaze, Mina froze. "I didn't steal it, I borrowed it." "You sneak into my room at night, take a book from my shelf and call that borrowing? Why did you even start the second part'!" "I returned the first one as soon as I finished it and took the second one." "But-" "SIT DOWN!" Aizawa's hair floated and his eyes flashed angrily. When everyone had sat down, he calmed down. "The mission, it's about a circus. A circus that puts people with a special Quirk in cages and makes them perform the tricks. One of the operators has a Quirk that he can use to control other people, we just don't know how exactly it works yet. Our job is to find out. We collect information on the prisoners, the visitors and the operators. Only when we have everything will I decide whether we complete the mission or professionals, do you understand?"

The circumstances in this circus were terrible. The food the prisoners got was not much, just enough to keep them from starving. They lived in cages where you couldn't even stand up, let alone turn around. "That's terrible." "The society of superhumans has always had two sides. We divide ourselves. I'll go with Hagakure, the rest of you in two groups. If anything happens, let me know immediately."

Izuku Mina and Kaede were on their way to the ringmaster's office. "Maybe he lost count." "Maybe he just forgot that he had to subtract Toru from our number." "Well, now we're a group of three." The circus was huge. There were maybe 50 caravans around a huge round tent. The many cages were hidden behind a hedge. "So where do we start?" Kaede looked around. "There are too few guards here for there to be anything special. If you wanted to hide important information, you do that?" Izuku glanced at the hedge. "I wouldn't want the prisoners to be discovered, so top security. I would, if I were the boss, hide the secret information in the middle of the prisoners." "Good, then let's go." The hedge, the fences, the wires and the guards were just enough to keep normal visitors out, but the young hero candidates jumped over the obstacles with ease. Most of the prisoners were asleep, but in the darkness the young heroes felt they were being watched. "What are you doing here?" Startled, the three turned around. Next to the hedge they had just jumped from was a man and a horse. Chains hung around the neck of the human. Thick and heavy chains that were attached to a post. There were also short chains around the horse's hooves to restrict its freedom of movement. "Are you... a centaur?" He pawed his hooves insistently. "What are you doing here?" Izuku was impressed with the Quirk. The centaur had a boyish face with brown eyes and brown hair, his fur was also a beautiful shade of brown. "We are investigating the illegal activities of this circus." "You are children, leave if it is not already too late." "We're here to help-" "You can't help." He continued to shuffle his hooves. Izuku and Mina looked around the alleys while Kaede stepped closer to the centaur. "What is your name?" "They didn't give me a name." "So you've always been here?" "Ever since I can remember." "You know, I've been a prisoner too." Her hand hovered in the air as if waiting for permission to touch him. "But I was rescued. That's why we're here. We're going to investigate and then you'll all be rescued." Her hand was on the fur. Gently she stroked it and drew circles. "You're scared, I can understand that. It can't be easy here." "I'm not afraid because of me. I'm afraid for you." Mina stepped to Kaede's side. "What do you mean?" "Even as you took your first step into the circus yard, your fate was sealed. Do you really think the security system is that bad? They're already watching you. You're not getting out of here. This happens all the time. Heroes are coming. Heroes who think they can save us when they can't even help themselves. Most of them die. Only a few get locked in the cages." "Contact Aizawa!" The centaur eyed her wearily. "Did you say you were doing research? I don't know if you can do anything with this information, but this is part of what I know: the circus is run by an old couple. The husband makes us compliant with his Quirk and the wife, she has a kind of third eye. She sees things. More than normal people. They will get you, in your good nature you have walked to your downfall." "I don't think so." Izuku turned to Kaede. "Aizawa isn't answering, probably jamming our signal. Probably taking us out one by one. It's very likely they already have Momo and Koji. So who next? Aizawa and Toru or the three of us?" "Why don't you sit down and find out?" Izuku gave the centaur a questioning look. "You've been listening, haven't you boy?" Izuku slowly pulled Kaede and Mina behind him. "You're under the influence of his Quirk right now, aren't you?" The centaur screwed up his face. "Right. I'm supposed to be stalling. Because the other two groups have already been neutralised. They're coming. They're coming for you." The centaur stamped his hooves firmly on the ground. "He controls me. Just wait until you see who else." The three were already running, the centaur's sad gaze at their backs.

"He controls the others." Are you sure Izuku?" "No doubt. He will use us against each other. I would have said we'd split up, but if we're attacked by our own people, we'll have to fight our way together." "If we fight Aizawa, we've already lost!" "No Mina, there is still a chance. We don't know exactly how the Quirk works, maybe they can work against it." Izuku was knocked over. "Shit, it's Toru!" "We can't hurt them after all!" Excited, Kaede looked around at Aizawa. "I've always wanted to fight him like this!" The scarf shot towards her feet, but she dodged and grabbed it. She pulled with a jerk, sending Aizawa running towards her. Meanwhile, Izuku and Mina had to take on Momo, Koji and heaps of rats. "The rats target my neck and face, while with Mina they only bite her arms and legs!" "So they want me alive?" Aizawa pulled out a knife. "Yes Mina, you're the only one they want alive." Izuku broke away from the pile of rats and tried to rush to Kaede's aid, but Aizawa erased his Quirk. Kaede heard a hiss in the wind and threw herself at Izuku. "They're shooting at us!" Izuku looked at Mina. "Maybe those shells will activate the man's Quirk." "Then we must not be hit." Kaede tried to use her Quirk against Aizawa, but he erased it. Instead, it became a dirty fight. Aizawa threw Kaede to the ground, but she clenched her thighs around his neck and pulled him down into the dirt with her. He kicked her back, forcing her to release the pressure, but only a second later she was kneeling over him and choking. He kept kicking her back with his knee, but she kept up the pressure and kept her body tense. Just as he had shown her then. Jokingly she said, "You know you would only be the third parent I would kill." In that milisecond, he stopped resisting. The kick stopped, his hands no longer pulled at her and his hair fell. Kaede was so surprised that she did nothing when the resistance resumed. He gave her a fierce head butt. Kaede fell to the side, the world around her a blur. Without really knowing what she was doing, she kicked around. In the process, she hit Aizawa in the temple with her steel bristle. "I hope he's not dead-" Something hit her in the arm. As if in slow motion, she looked at the spot and saw a small syringe hanging there. She immediately pulled it out, but it was probably too late. "Kaede?!" she felt dizzy. "The knife..." She tried to bend down to pull the knife out of her boot, but lost her balance. She looked at the ground. Every dusty bit of dirt and every crumb of earth. It smelled good. The ground was comfortable, so why not rest for a moment? Just very briefly. She would wake up in a moment and help Izuku....