Mastermind: Strategist For Hire

Target Rich Environment

"Mom, do you want me to pick you up anything while I'm at the mall?"

"No, baby," Inko said nervously, "I'm good. Have fun!"

Izuku smiled at her before closing the door and walking toward the train station. Inko let out a breath of relief. Yes, it had been just over a week since she'd found his notebook, but it had been the hardest week of her life! She just wanted to lock him in his room and keep him safe, but the Detective had said that more people were in danger than just her son, so she had to do the right thing no matter how difficult that was for her.

She peeked out the window and saw Izuku walk around the corner, then hurried to his room. Sure enough, there was a black laptop bag sitting by his desk. She opened it and pulled out the laptop before grabbing her cell phone.

"Detective Tsukauchi? You told me to call you if Izuku ever left his laptop at home..."

As Izuku walked from the train station to the mall, he wished his friends were able to go with him. Wasn't going to the mall something you were supposed to do with your friends? Too bad the league of villains would be attacked on sight, but maybe he could pick them up a few things?

Izuku had just been looking for an excuse to get out of the house, truthfully. Mom had been acting kind of strangely recently, probably because society was changing so much and she always was a worrier, but it made for an awkward atmosphere at home and today was Saturday! So Izuku had figured he'd go to the mall to get his mind off things. He'd heard rumors that villain merch had become more popular recently and he was excited to see how the stores were treating their Hawks collections now. Apparently quite a few stores had stopped selling it, since it was obviously qualified as villain merch now, but those that continued to sell it were apparently doing really well.

Hawks had decided not to change his name or aesthetic when he went villain because he wanted people to remember where he came from. There'd apparently been a mass burning of his merch the day after their attack on the Commission, but Dabi had kind of ruined the spirit of it when he'd shown up to light the pile on fire. Shouto had texted him pictures of it while laughing his ass off.

Izuku felt a tingle on the back of his neck as if someone were watching him and he glanced behind him. Where....? Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Tsukauchi stop to look at a shop window. Had...had Tsukauchi figured him out? He couldn't have, could he?

Izuku kept walking toward the mall and Tsukauchi always kept just a block or two behind him. He took a deep breath. Tsukauchi couldn't touch him even if he'd figured out Mastermind's identity. Not without risking the lives of the country's top heroes. Izuku was still safe, so...there was no reason for him not to have a little fun with the detective.

When he reached the mall, Izuku turned and smiled as he caught Tsukauchi's eye. He saw a look of fear pass over the detective's face as he opened the door. The poor guy was probably terrified because of how many hostages would be available to him once he got inside. Yeah, the mall was a target rich environment, but Izuku wasn't planning on causing any chaos today. That might change, depending on what Tsukauchi did, but for now, Izuku was content to simply tease him.

"What do you mean my son is Mastermind?!" Inko asked shrilly. "You...you just said he'd fallen in the wrong crowd!"

"We are deeply sorry for deceiving you, Mrs. Midoriya." Nedzu said. "But we did not believe you would be able to continue acting naturally around your son if you knew. You must understand how important it was for us to get this right, since Mastermind is not in the business of giving second chances."

"B-but...my baby!" Inko crumpled to the floor and Nedzu motioned for some of the officers to comfort her as he opened the laptop, his paws flying across the keys as he began to hack his way through the password.