Dante shot up awake to the sound of a heart monitor beeping. Pain enveloped his body as he tried to sit up, his whole body was tightly bandaged, his muscles were in agony and he felt extremely drained. He groaned low and that was enough to draw attention.
"Oh! He's awake!" Izuku's voice rang with surprise.
Todoroki, calm as per usual but with visible bruises and bandages on one of his arms, glanced over. "Ah, Dante's awake."
Iida, sitting upright in his own bed with both arms in slings, turned fully toward him. "Are you okay? Apparently you've been here even longer than us…"
Dante's eyes darted around the room in panic. "What… where am I? Where are the villains?"
"We're in a hospital, in Hosu," Izuku said, trying to keep his tone gentle. "After the attack on Hosu. You were found passed out at the epicentre. Apparently It was… pretty intense, they say you were practically skin and bone when they found you."
Memories came flying back. His technique. The villains. The unbearable heat. He sat forward way too quickly and gasped, gripping his ribs as pain flared. "I can't believe I let them escape," he muttered. "Those bastards… they ran away, what if they hurt more people?!"
The other three glanced at eachother.
"You were fighting too?" Todoroki asked. "Weren't you interning with Mirko? I didn't see her there."
Dante exhaled sharply. "Long story. I was doing a patrol with Mirko. We were within 50 miles when the alert came through. I told her I'd go ahead, while flying to the alert zone I spotted the people that attacked the USJ and engaged them in a battle. I severely injured the leader before he escaped…"
He trailed off as the door creaked open.
In stepped four people, Manual, Gran Torino, the Police Chief and Mirko, still in her hero costume, her arms crossed and posture sharp. The moment the air tensed and the other three students straightened, sensing something really serious was about to happen—
Mirko ruined all of it.
She stepped forward, eyes locked on Dante and grinned like a maniac. "Yo, Bun Bun! Your fighting style was amazing! You destroyed that freak! I've seen unique fighting styles but that was something else. You were flying around so fast the news couldn't even identify you before they had to back up from the heat! Great job!"
The mood cracked. The police chief blinked, ears twitching. Gran Torino sighed and looked away. Manual coughed lightly into his hand.
Dante, still trying to process everything, blinked up at her. "You saw that?"
"Damn right I did," she said, slapping his shoulder with way too much strength for a recovering patient. "You were so fast! You need to fight me again, and use that technique! I was just about to arrive on scene before everything ended! That and I definitely remember seeing you break the sound barrier when flying, as expected of my training!"
"Mirko…" Gran Torino interrupted, raising an eyebrow. "Please let us handle the debrief before showering the kid with praise?"
"Pfft. fine. But come on," she said, giving Dante a toothy grin. "That was Pro Hero level work right there. Amazing work, right!"
Dante just sank back into the bed, chest rising and falling.
Then, the Police Chief took a slow breath.
"I don't care about how impressive your little display was," he began, looking at Dante first before sweeping his gaze across Izuku, Iida and Todoroki. "You four are not professional heroes. You are students."
The room fell silent. Even Mirko's smirk faded.
"You used dangerous quirks in public to attack and injure others," he went on, voice rising. "Yes, they were villains. Yes, they were threatening civilians. But we have laws. Regulations. Systems. You don't get to bypass all of that because it was convenient.
He turned toward Gran Torino, Mirko and Manual. "And you… you three and Endeavour allowing this to happen under your watch. Your students, your responsibility. Do you have any idea what kind of precedent this sets if we let them walk free? Vigilantism? Mob justice?"
Dante grit his teeth.
Little Dante looked him dead in the eye. "See? They're all bad. This world would be better without them."
"All four of you will be reprimanded," The chief
Todoroki clenched his fists, standing up slowly from his bed. The shadows under his eyes sharpened as he stepped forward.
"You think this is justice?" He muttered. "We put our lives on the line. We along with the hero Native would've died if we hadn't used our quirks to fight back, why are we going to be punished like we were the problem?"
The Chief's ear twitched. "You're stepping out of line—"
"You damn mutt," Todoroki snapped, stomping forward.
Before he got any closer, Gran Torino stepped between the two, hand raised.
"Stand down, boy," Gran Torino said firmly. "Let him finish."
Todoroki's chest rose and fell, but he didn't move any closer. The room was tense, everyone was watching.
The Chief adjusted his coat slightly and sighed heavily. "Look, what I just told you, that's the official position of the police department. What the law says. What I'm supposed to say." He glanced toward the door, as if to ensure no one else was listening.
"But between us," he continued in a quieter tone, "this doesn't have to go out. We can clean it up, patch the narrative and the public believes what we tell them. If this goes public, it becomes a national story that four students without hero licenses fought in the streets of Hosu… you might be praised by the public, but it won't go unnoticed by the law."
Dante looked up, surprise evident on his face. "So… you're saying we can just bury it?"
The Chief gave a slow nod. "There's a precedent for that. As long as the public buys the story."
"But what about me?" Dante asked quietly, "isn't there a video of me fighting?"
The Chief turned to him, back to his serious tone. "That's the tricky part. There is already footage of your fight circulating, small clips from bystanders, dash cams, surveillance feeds. And even a news helicopter was documenting your fight. But…" he paused, pulling out a tablet and flicking through clips. "…you were moving too fast. Your body wasn't even clearly visible. All we've got is a blur of black, red and gold bouncing around the walls and even off air, no face, no voice."
He tapped one specific video. It showed the final moment, Dante glowing bright, standing still as flames twisted and rippled around him. Then, the video warped, lines bending and static filled the screen.
"The heat you emitted melted half of the camera lenses. The news chopper was forced to turn back. The only consistent footage is of the fire, blurs and the villain standing still as he's hit by a barrage of attacks from all around him. No one can say it was you."
Mirko smirked. "So we're just gonna say it was a vigilante or something!"
The Chief nodded slowly. "That's the story we're going for. A mysterious vigilante with a speed quirk appeared, defeated the villains and vanished. You kids just so happened to be nearby and protected by the Pro Heroes."
He looked across the room again. "But that means keeping your mouths shut. All of you."
Dante stared at the screen on the tablet, watching the warped reflection of flames surrounding himself he didn't know how to feel, he clearly killed both of those Nomu in the clip, why is that going unnoticed?
"Understood," he said quietly.
Todoroki sat back down, jaw still clenched, but he nodded too.
Iida and Izuku exchanged glances before both gave nodded solemnly.
Gran Torino crossed his arms. "Good. Then we put this all behind us, okay?"
Dante couldn't take it, he couldn't shake the feeling that this was all completely wrong, something was missing.
Ten minutes later, the hospital room quieted as the Chief of Police and The Pro's filed out. Manual gave Iida a nod, Gran Torino told Izuku to return as soon as possible and the Chef exited without saying any more. Only Mirko remained, sitting next to Dante's bed, moaning about Dante staying here when they could be sparring.
Dante ignored her and reached for his phone which was resting on the side table and lazily opened it, just intending to check the date and time. Instead, he saw a new email notification.
FROM : U.A.
SUBJECT : Meeting Approval.
Dante blinked, sat up straighter and opened the message. His breath caught. Principal Nezu had actually managed to get Dante a visitation, a meeting with his father. Little to no other details. Just a time and to come to his office.
Mirko noticed the shift in his posture. "What is it?" She asked, her tone casual.
Dante's jaw clenched. He stared at the screen for just a little longer before he turned his phone off. "I have a meeting," he said. "With my dad."
Mirko's brow furrowed. "Why would you have a meeting with your dad?"
Dante sighed, "He's in a high security prison. He's that Sludge Villain that attacked about a year ago."
Her ears twitched, but she didn't ask anything else.
"That means I won't be continuing the internship, sorry…"
Mirko was silent for a moment, then snatched his phone. "I'm putting my line in here."
"W-what?"
"Don't make me repeat myself Bun Bun," she growled. "You're not sticking around for training, so I'm gonna tell you when to come here and spar me."