"Arthur, come to the agency right now!"
Early the next morning, Arthur had just woken up in the hotel's presidential suite when he got a call from Nighteye. His tone sounded really anxious.
After putting on his combat suit, he got driven to Nighteye's agency.
"You're here?"
Nighteye, Togata Mirio, and All Might had all arrived.
"You said yesterday that people from the Shie Hassaikai attacked you too, right?"
Nighteye picked up a syringe needle about the size of a pinky fingernail from the desk next to him.
"They didn't use this to shoot you, did they?"
Arthur narrowed his eyes slightly and pulled out an identical needle from his combat suit pocket. "What a coincidence."
"Just as I thought."
Nighteye said in a deep voice, then turned to look at Togata Mirio sitting in the back and explained, "Mirio went after them last night and accidentally got hit by this thing. Mirio, you tell him."
Togata Mirio nodded and explained, "Sorry, I was too careless."
"I used my Quirk, Permeation, to chase the Shie Hassaikai guys, but I didn't expect to get ambushed and hit by this bullet and then... I lost my Quirk."
Hearing that, Arthur's eyes twitched.
Lost his Quirk?
He'd asked the underworld broker Giran about that a long time ago but Giran had said more than once that something like that was impossible.
Togata Mirio continued, "Of course, it wasn't completely erased. After a night, it came back this morning."
With that, Togata Mirio showed his Quirk. The Permeation Quirk that could pass through anything.
"So that means..."
Arthur spoke slowly, but Nighteye cut him off.
"That means the bullets that hit Mirio and tried to ambush you are prototypes. The Shie Hassaikai is very likely working on a finished product that can completely erase a person's Quirk."
All Might frowned deeply. "If something like that really appears, it'll become a terrible thing that affects hero society... No, the whole world."
"So what are you going to do next?"
Arthur asked back.
Quirk erasure? This was getting interesting.
"Unfortunately, after Mirio lost his Quirk, those people disappeared without a trace. Now we can only analyze the components of this special bullet while secretly searching for where they are."
Nighteye said, crossing his arms.
All Might took one of the bullets and said, "Coincidentally, I have a friend in the US who's good at research. I'd like to take this to him for study."
For some reason, a strange light flashed in Nighteye's glasses, and he said in a deep voice, "David Shield?"
All Might was stunned, then nodded blankly. "Uh... yeah, that's right."
"Sir, should Arthur and I keep patrolling and looking for the Shie Hassaikai?"
Togata Mirio asked.
"Yeah, even though I don't think they're still in this city, it's still necessary to keep searching."
Nighteye said, then turned his gaze to Arthur, focusing mainly on Pet Shop on his shoulder. "But just secretly planting tracking bugs. Absolutely don't fight again, neither you nor your pet."
"Heh, whatever you say."
Arthur agreed.
Quirk erasure. He was very interested in that.
"Can't find them. Like the teacher predicted, they're not in this city anymore."
After several days, on this day, night was falling.
Togata Mirio had met back up with Arthur on the street.
A day had passed, and the two hadn't found any trace of the Shie Hassaikai.
Yesterday, Irinaka Joi dared to attack Arthur. It was most likely aimed at the troublesome time-stopping ability of [The World].
Arthur had thought that if he walked around openly again, he'd at least find some sign of them. But he didn't expect that neither he nor even Pet Shop had found any trace of the Shie Hassaikai.
Buzz.
Arthur felt his phone vibrate in his pocket.
Was it Melissa? Arthur instinctively thought.
But when he opened the screen, it wasn't.
The message was sent by Izuku Midoriya in the class group chat. There was no text, just a location pin.
The address was a dark alley in Hosu City.
"What's wrong?"
Togata Mirio asked curiously.
"Nothing."
Arthur put his phone away.
Hosu City was nearly an hour's drive from where he was.
He remembered that around this time, Izuku Midoriya was about to run into the Hero Killer, Stain, right?
But even if he went, it would be too late.
If it were before, Arthur might have wanted to see this Hero Killer. But with something as interesting as Quirk erasure happening, who had time to bother with that?
After returning to Nighteye's agency with Togata Mirio, Nighteye handed something to Arthur without a word.
It was a plane ticket.
"I-Island?"
Seeing the destination on the ticket, Arthur was slightly surprised.
This address and this ticket really gave him a strong sense of déjà vu.
"All Might's assistant from back in the day, David Shield, researches Quirks and hero costumes on that island. He's a world-class Quirk research scientist."
Nighteye explained. "Tonight, you'll take All Might's letter of introduction and that Quirk-erasing bullet to I-Island. Give those two things to him and let him do the research."
Arthur took the ticket and the letter and asked calmly, "Why doesn't he go himself?"
Nighteye pushed up his glasses again. "Seems like there's some issue at U.A."
"Izuku Midoriya?"
Arthur guessed to himself.
After putting away the ticket and letter of introduction, Arthur left the agency and headed to the airport. He would arrive at I-Island early tomorrow morning.
In the car on the way, Arthur took out another letter.
It was given to him by the Number 3 Hero, Hawks, during the U.A. Sports Festival.
It was also a plane ticket to I-Island and a letter of introduction.
But the letter asked him to investigate something on I-Island. Because professional heroes found it inconvenient to act, they asked Arthur to go.
The reward was to erase all of Arthur and Pet Shop's past crimes.
...
Re@d adv@nce ch@pters on p@t
guilt_free_daoist
Jo!n d!sc0rd I!nk in synops!s.
GIVE ME YOU POWER STONES.