Dad For One

Episode 12 - Investigations

The doctors found nothing wrong with Midoriya. While not reassuring, he could be discharged from the hospital.

Unfortunately, they couldn't get a quirk doctor appointment at a clinic for a week. And that was an emergency appointment. With the constant decrease in quirkless individuals, it was becoming increasingly difficult to get appointments at quirk clinics. Society was already struggling to cope with the number of quirks (especially out-of-control quirks) the population had, and it was growing exponentially. Even from when Midoriya was a child, the time to get an appointment had increased. Or perhaps his memory had faded since he'd gotten older.

But what mattered was he got to be at school to catch up on learning he missed and to speak to his friends. And the latter he was looking forward to. Like they always say, you don't miss something until it's gone, and Midoriya was unaware of how much he chatted with his friends. Maybe he could finally get a sense of normalcy after the past week of constant crazy events, each following one after the other.

In the meantime, the police and Detective Tsukauchi were investigating Dr Garaki's lab and looking for any leads into where he might have gone. It did seem like Dr Garaki had scrambled the whole thing together. He had no support from anyone else now that AFO and most of the LOV were dead, which almost guaranteed his capture within the next few months. At least, that's what they were hoping for.

There was practically nothing of interest in the lab.

Actually, there wasn't anything there to begin with. The ceiling had already been collapsing in from the Jaku Devastation, which he'd used to hide his makeshift laboratory. And if you were being honest, it had worked.

The building he'd made his workplace was indistinguishable from the others, aside from being slightly more intact than most, but that was not uncommon in this area. In fact, you'd probably overlook it. As you reached the outer edges of the ruins, Shigaraki's disintegration was patchy. But given a few more seconds, this 100 metres of wreckage would also be nothing but dust, much like the rest of the Jaku Devastation area. And most people couldn't deny, it was an impressive feat to destroy such a wide expanse of land. Although... most people would probably deny that, considering the vast number of deaths caused by his disintegration, and the immense destruction he'd inflicted.

But that's beside the point. It was honestly a miracle Hawks had uncovered the place. You could call what happened after a miracle too, but let's be real. Dr Garaki was never going to hold up much of a fight. And even if he tried, he wouldn't have lasted a few seconds.

But Tsukauchi knew never to underestimate these villains. Especially since Dr Garaki had slithered his way into another escape. The detective was heavily disappointed with what had been brought back as evidence from the lab. It was a measly few items compared with how extensive he knew Dr Garaki's resources had once been. He did not doubt that some were still hidden away in another location, and he had hoped this information would have been revealed when the man was previously in his custody. This is why Tsukauchi also refused to accept that this was all that could be found in the lab.


It was just as well that they stuck around. One of the police officers found another room, hidden amongst some of the rubble.

Tsukauchi entered the room. It stunk of blood and chemicals. He instinctively covered his nose and mouth with his sleeve in an attempt to mask the foul odour.

There was little in that room, but it gave them something to work with. They could analyse some of the chemicals and hopefully get some answers. It looked like some vials were missing, but it was difficult to tell as none of the remaining ones were labelled. You'd think he'd have a better organising system. Either way, he'd clearly left in a hurry. But this didn't add up with what the team of heroes had recalled, meaning he'd likely snuck in and come back to collect some of these. Dammit. He had been right under their noses!

There was the source of the particularly pungent smell of blood. There were several smashed vials on the floor. Most were chemicals, but one was blood. The edges of the puddle had slightly dried but it was still wet. And quite a startling red. This was recent. Dr Garaki might still be in the area.

"Dr Garaki may still be nearby," Tsukauchi told the head of the police team investigating.

"Alright, I'll let the station know. They can send more people to fan out, cover more ground," she replied.

She looked down at the pool of blood.

"I'll ask for a forensics team."

She quickly left and Tsukauchi heard distant radio static and voices. It was difficult to make out. Was this room soundproofed? Perhaps the previous owners had made it that way. Helpful for Garaki, but a hindrance to him and the police. It would make sense why they hadn't heard a crash if he had been here recently.

For the first time in the week since Garaki's disappearance, he was hopeful. They were going to catch that son of a gun.