Warmth

Ch.6: Who Is HE?

(A/n: the picture above is how the HQ looks like).
"I will get to finally meet you... Guardian".

~back at the dorms~
It's Sunday afternoon and everyone is sitting in the common area, watching Avengers: Endgame. (I am not sorry if you do not like that movie!). We are getting to the final fight scene when the door opens. Aizawa walks in and pauses the movie. "Awwws" fill the silence and earn a glare from Aizawa.
"Yaoyorozu, Todoroki, Midoriya, Bakugou, Uraraka, Asui and Gensou get packing. A driver is coming to pick you up in an hour," he says and then heads out.
"I cannot believe you guys get to go on the biggest investigation of the decade!" Kirishima shouts while Mina, Kaminari and Sero nod in agreement.
"How long will you guys be gone?" Kyoka asks. I think for a moment of an answer,
"We do not know yet. It is, like Eijiro said, the biggest investigation. The duration of our absence is going to depend on whether or not we catch the criminal in time," i state predicting the next question,
"What do you mean 'in time'?" Ochako asks worriedly.
"I will let you in on the details on our way to HQ. For the moment, we should get packing. Boss hates people who get late," i say and head upstairs to my room. "Oh, and one more thing. Take some snacks with you because you will not have time to have a full meal". I see sweat drops on each students' forehead, even the ones who are not involved in the investigation.
"Just how tough is your boss?" Bakugou asks, hiding his nervousness.
"Get packing!" I order them and go to my room.
"YES MA'AM!" the girls say and salute me.
They truly are something... I roll my eyes at their actions and smile to myself. Luckily, my back is facing them. I get to my room and plop down on my bed. I have nothing to take with me; i just need to change into my costume. I have clothes there in case i want to change... I should take All might's advice and text my parents that i will not be available for Agnes and Meelo's birthday this Wednesday. I sigh and grab my phone. I tap on my mother's contact 'Niana'. Yeah, i have her number saved under her hero name.
~guardian~: Hi mom. I will not be able to celebrate the twins' birthday.
~Niana~: And why is that young lady?
~guardian~: I have work to do.
~Niana~: you always have work. ALWAYS! You have been skipping all our family reunions' for the past 10 months. I have not heard your voice for the past three months. And when the horrible crime took place at the twins' kindergarten, you had your friend call me! (Y/n), you have gone too far. You do not tell your father nor me anything. You are acting as if you are not our child.
~guardian~: well, maybe i am not. That is what you guys told your 'luxurious' friends. Or have you forgotten?
~guardian~: ... my dear mother.
I type the last text message with a mixed feeling of disgust and pain. I shut my phone down, fall to the floor and hug my knees to my chest. I remember the moment when my own parents threw me out the window, which causes tears to fill my eyes. I chase the memory away and think about the upcoming investigation.
Knock knock
I hear feet shuffling behind the door and Todoroki's voice calling out to me.
"Just a second," i get up, wipe my tears and open the door. "Hi," i say trying to smile but fail.
"Sorry for the bother," he says then notices my slightly red eyes and sort of a messy hair, please don't ask, please don't a... "Are you okay?" he steps forward. I stay silent and my eyes dart towards the floor, "(y/n) what is wrong?" he asks and closes the door behind him.
"It is nothing, Todoroki," i take a step backwards for personal space. "Is everyone ready? I bet Joseph is already here," i tell him in order to change the subject.
"Joseph?" he asks slightly confused.
"Yes. He is the driver who is coming to pick us up,"
"Okay... Yes everyone is ready, except Yaoyorozu,"
"I am not surprised," i say and chuckle a bit. "Anyways, is everything okay?" i question his presence. 
"Yes," he answers and chuckle a bit.
"What is so funny?"
"I seem to have forgotten why i came here in the first place,"
"That is not like you," i state. God, i sounded like his mother.
"You are right," he says with a loving voice. Stop thinking so romantically about him you idiot!
I frown but quickly hide it. My phone chimes so i check it. It is Joseph.
~joejoe~: if you kids are ready get your asses out here. I am waiting at the gate.
~guardian~: language Joe.
~joejoe~: i told you not to call me that >_<.
~guardian~: wow you know how to use an emoji
~joejoe~: come down in five or you will be walking to HQ.
~guardian~: okay okay we are coming...
I close my phone and get in my usual stance: i move my legs apart, straighten my back, close my eyes, focus my thoughts and yell (but not too loud) "Transform". A black light surrounds me. When the light fades, i have changed into my costume. I look at Todoroki whose jaw has dropped.
"Get your jaw off the floor and your butt moving," i say to him walking past him.
He follows my order and walks behind. "Why aren't you bringing anything with you?" Todoroki asks me seeing that my hands are empty.
"No valuable reason," i answer him and head to the girls' rooms. "Go get the boys and meet me at the gate".
I do not wait for his reply and make my way to Ururaka's room. I knock on her door, "Ochako we are leaving now... "
"What? But Mr. Aizawa said we..." she opens the door and panics.
"And i am saying that we are leaving now," i tell her and leave her running in her room grabbing her stuff.
"Okay i am ready," she says holding a backpack, i assume, filled with her stuff.
"Is that all you are taking with you?" i ask her and start heading towards Yaoyorozu's room.
"Yeah well we are not the richest people around and try to save money since my parents' business is a bit slow," she says scratching the back of her head.
I knew that her family is facing money problems but never have i imagined that she has little things to nothing... "Well you can always borrow some of my things back at HQ. That is if you want of course," i tell her.
We arrive to Yaoyorozu's room and i hear shuffling noises behind the door.
"She must be still packing," Ochako mumbles.
"Momo get out here we are leaving now," i shout through the door.
Momo opens the door and her eyes widen, "(y/n) your costume is great," she exclaims
"Oh yeah, she is right... you look wonderful," Ochako agrees with Momo.
"Thanks, but i would really appreciate it if we get going now. Joseph, our driver, is waiting for us at the gate," i say already making my way towards Asui's room.
"Heyyyyy. Wait up!" i hear the girls yell.
Tsuyu opens her door and steps out with her suitcase behind and a backpack on her shoulder. "Let's go," she says and joins us.
"How did you know we are leaving now?" Ochako asks her tilting her head.
"You were loud enough for me to hear," Tsuyu says this so bluntly. They fall silent as we walk downstairs.
Once we reach the gate, we meet up with an angry Bakugou, a nervous Midoriya and a neutral Todoroki.
"We hope you did not wait too long for us," Momo says as we reach the boys' location.
Bakugou is about to say something but Todoroki beats him to it, "Don't worry Yaoyorozu". She nods and smiles at him. Ochako is now chatting with Midoriya, while Asui is standing silently besides Yaoyorozu who is calming Bakugou down. And Todoroki is staring at me. I sigh and wave Joseph over. He is driving a black stretch limo. Joseph parks in front of us, gets out, greets us, takes their bags and suitcases and places them in the trunk. He then opens the door like the gentleman he is and gestures for us to get inside.
"I will sit in the front," i tell him and get in the passenger's seat.
Everyone piles up inside the limo followed by Joseph in the driver's seat. "It's a two hours' drive so there are snacks in the cupboards back there," he says and starts the car.
"Someone hand me a chocolate bar," i tell them and extend my hand through the openable glass.
"There you go Gensou," Midoriya hands me a 'Snickers' bar.
"Thank you Deku," i thank him and smile slightly at him. Izuku blushes madly at my act and turns his head away from me. I open the cover and start munching on the chocolate bar. Joseph glances at chuckles, and me whispering, "They surely do make you happy".
I almost choke when he says it, i glare at him and hiss "don't you dare ruin my chocolate time". He shivers at my words and the cold tone i said them.
"Remind me never to get on your angry side," he says smiling to himself. Joseph knows that i get angry over the slightest things.
Boss always wondered why Joseph and i are so close. The memory of the day we met is still fresh in my head. First, i like calling him joejoe or simply Joe, whenever i do that, he either smacks my head or send me one of his famous death glares. Second, the day we met was a dark bad day for me. It was the day i was expelled from school and thrown out of my home for a week. Joejoe found me in a park; i was crying, my clothes soaked from the heavy rain. He took me to HQ and asked me about what happened to me. After i told him, Joe introduced me to Boss who offered me to work with him. I accepted the offer since i have already had my hero license. (Don't make any assumptions of when this happened because the character's past is complicated). The offer is: he employs me as one of his agents for two months; i compete against another 45 agents. What we were supposed to do in order to win the agent title:
1. Solve as many cases as possible
2. Work as an underground hero
3. Work in public while maintaining our secret identities
4. Catch at least 23 lowlife villains and one prime classed villain
5. Enhance our physical ability in order to strengthen our quirk(s)
6. Achieve balance between our work at HQ and academic duties
7. Be always ready for emergency calls (even if it means missing out on your family and friends)
8. Handle the media no matter the situation we are put in
9. Pass every test at HQ.
Of course the tests are like the ones you take at school, written tests, oral and practical... Except that, the practical is slightly different. Whom am i kidding? They are totally different. The first month practical exams were sudden attacks at any time of the day, like a robot or a senior agent would attack us out of nowhere. And the final thing was to defeat Boss.
"(Y/n)..." a voice calls out to me and i feel my body shake, "(Y/N)!!!!!!" i snap out of my trance to find Ochako standing by my side, her hands on my shoulders, i assume she was the one shaking me. "Huh, what is going on?" i ask still unaware of our surroundings.
"We are here," Joseph says from my left side.
"Oh, okay. Thanks Joseph," i thank him and get out of the limo.
I stumble a bit; Ochako is now beside Deku gawking over the immensity of the building. However, Momo notices my struggles and runs towards me helping me. Todoroki sees me, "You should have stayed in bed and rested more," he says.  I glare at him and decide to ignore him so i turn my head towards Momo and thank her smiling. She shakes her head and tells me, "You have no reason to thank me..." she smiles to herself and continues, "That is what friends are for".
Her words shock me and i freeze in my place. Joseph comes up from behind me and nudges me in my arm, "Breathe..." he whispers to me catching my attention. He then addresses everyone telling them that he will escort them to their assigned room. He also tells me to wait for them in the conference room. I do as told and meet up with Boss. We nod in greeting and i take my place at the oval, glass table. Boss looks at me, "To be honest with you Guardian, i was worried you would not come today".
Ah, so he remembers... "I am only here to prevent any kind of danger to harm them," i tell him in a stern tone, "get this through your thick skull," i finish saying it just as the door to the room opens revealing the students wearing their hero costumes. With the expressions on their faces, Midoriya, Todoroki, Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, Asui and Bakugou look like real heroes. Boss notices my expression, raises an eyebrow and holds a look that said 'i-told-you'. I roll my eyes at him as he greets them with their hero names, "Welcome Shoto, Deku, Creati, Uravity, Froppy and Ground Zero. Please have a seat," he gestures towards the table. Each one nods, walks to a random chair and sits down. The door opens again and heroes start to file in, Endeavor, Ryukyu, Bubble Girl and Gran Torino. My jaw drops at the last three people to come in. Elemental and Niana!!!! What the hell are my parents doing here?! And is that All Might with them? I am so dead right now. My parents also stare at me in surprise and i know from their eyes that tons of questions are running through their mind. They look at each other with frowning faces. All Might smiles and walks up to me, "Hello (y/n), how are you feeling? Are you tired? Your eyes do look so," he asks worriedly. I wave my hand at him and tell him to stop worrying and that i am fine. He nods knowing too well not to press any further because he notices my unease. He then walks towards Midoriya who starts to well you know... fan boy over him... I smile when seeing Toshi laugh and i feel myself a bit relaxed. I did call him dad last time. I hope that he did not mind that, well i have to talk to him about it. I sigh and try to focus on the mission at hand. Chatter breaks out in the room. I am the one opening the investigation since i was the one to bring HE's most powerful comrade and his right hand down and to justice. That is, by the way, how i won the title 'Agent 23'. Therefore, i basically know a lot about their operations. I wait few minutes, cough and stand up. The room falls silent and all eyes are now on me. I clear my throat; a picture of a silhouette is projected behind me.
"Hello everyone. I am Guardian. And i will be leading the meeting today. As all of you know, we are here to catch the criminal behind the mysterious scream and bring him to justice," i say earning few nods from across the table. I take a deep breath and start to present everything about the investigation and the criminal.
"The criminal goes by the name HE. His real name is Zaheer Leen. According to official records, Zaheer is 33 years old from Hosu city. His quirk is still unknown. HE has bases all over, not only Japan, but also the world making him the strongest villain after All for one who was defeated by All Might. His main base is in a mountain on an island across Dagoba beach. HE owns the island so leading a direct attack would be trespassing. That is why we will be divided into teams of seven. I will be mentioning them at the end of the meeting. Zaheer's parents are coming tomorrow at noon; we are taking them in for more investigating about their son's quirk and what led him to the road of villainy. Some of you might recognize them as Pema and Mack from the Leen household. For the ones who do not know them, Pema, 53 years old, and Mack, 57 years old, were known as the power duo back in the days. Moreover, they have a none profit organization known by the name 'Quirkless or not, you are valuable'. Zaheer faked his death, twenty years ago which left his parents deep in sorrow and pushed them to fund their organization. HE has the cruelest, most monstrous criminal records in Japan. 3500 lives are on his hands, and adding the results of the mysterious scream, it makes 3800 lives were taken by his action and about 160000 lives are now wavering between life and death. It appears as if he is challenging someone. Being the one to defeat his strongest comrade 'Varin', whom quirk is 'Plague', i got some information out of him. Apparently, HE has been working in the shadows for ten years, selling illegal quirk related drugs, kidnapping people and brainwashing them into joining his side, increasing the number of his followers and his power levels. HE despises the liberation ideology as much as he despises the league of villains' motives. Therefore, it is safe to say he is challenging them. I should probably mention that the league of villains' Tomura Shigaraki is the new head of the Meta Liberation Army, according to Endeavor; Tomura is making a move in about 3 months. Connecting all the dots, Boss and i came to the conclusion that HE's move is a declaration of war, not on the hero society, but on the league of villains. A battle of power between two evil forces. Now onto the teams. Each team will have: one hero (of the remaining ones), three or four sidekicks, two of our agents, one healer.
First team: Endeavor, Burnin, Deku, Ground Zero, Joseph aka Agent D, Sho aka Agent 303 and Recovery Girl.
Second team: Elemental, Sun Eater, Rocky, Marvel, Ren aka Agent 24, Yo aka Agent 304 and Mist.
Third team: Gran Torino, Barrel, Tori, Ray, Theo aka Agent 44, Tera aka Agent B and Med.
Fourth team: Niana, Uravity, Bo, Saha, Ur aka Agent I, Ash aka Agent V and Lit.
Fifth team: Bubble Girl, Froppy, Centipeder, Sirius, Angel aka Agent M, Prax aka Agent 22 and Flor.
Sixth team: All Might, Shoto, Namleh, Nova, Lev aka Agent C, Guardian aka Agent 23 and Mal.
Seventh team: Ryukyu, Creati, Korra, Mog, Fire aka Agent A, Dragul aka Agent B and Luke.
Boss is going to meet up with each team tomorrow and give them their assignments. Thank you all for listening and attending this meeting," i finish and leave the room. I go to the cafeteria and grab a bottle of water. Unknown to me, Shoto follows me and taps on my shoulder, "(Y/n) i did not know you work for Boss," he says. Momo interrupts us and jumps at me hugging me, Ochako and Tsuyu follow her and join the hug, "You did great (y/n)," the first one says.
"Yeah i got chills because you looked so serious in there," the second one exclaims.
"Yes (y/n) you were all hero like back in the meeting room," the third one finishes.
"Girls please get off me before i fry you," i threaten them trying to get some oxygen inside my lungs.
"Sorry," they all say and jump back at the same time.
"Thank you," i say and start heading off to my room.
I arrive at my room and turn my laptop on. I am so thankful for the girls. They came in and interrupted Shoto before he can say anything. I wonder if he remembers me or not... I sigh and put my hair in a messy bun. Before i can sit at the desk, there is a knock at my door. "COME IN," i literally shout from my spot being too lazy to get up and open the door myself.
"Hey baby girl," a sweet voice calls me. It is Toshinori!
"Sssshhh do not say that out loud if you want to keep your tongue. Elemental might hear you," i tell him in a mocking way.
He laughs and coughs up blood. I hand him a tissue and he thanks me. My expression turns from happy to sad. "I cannot believe that you are leaving soon," i mutter to myself and it didn't go unnoticed.
"We talked bout this (y/n)," he says getting serious.
I look at him, tears welling up in my eyes and my heart tightening in my chest, "I won't let this happen. I will find a way to heal you!" i say with determination.

"I will do it because i love you... Dad".