Life is Simple, Love is Not (Izuku x Miruko)

Chapter 16: Shadows, Killers, and Monsters

Izuku sighed as he straightened his standard black tie while sitting in the driver's seat of his car. He was currently parked in the underground parking garage that connected to his office building and was doing one last check of his appearance to make sure he had properly cleaned up after several days worth of drinking. It had been a rough couple of days, but it finally seemed like everything was going back to normal.

Well, if your definition of normal included working alongside one of the most powerful and popular pro-heroes in the country.

Stepping out of his generic black sedan and double checking that it was locked, Izuku briskly walked over to the bank of elevators and joined the small crowd of people waiting for an empty one to arrive. After a couple of minutes waiting for his turn, Izuku eventually rode a packed elevator up to the floor his office was on. Participating in the usual morning greetings and casual small-talk with passing coworkers, Izuku walked through the maze of hallways until he finally reached his destination.

Opening the door to his office, Izuku stepped inside and immediately sat down at his desk and powered on his computer. Going through the list of unread emails, he opened an email from his supervisor expecting the usual updates and reports. He was pleasantly surprised however, to read that Oscar had been reassigned to a completely different department. A quick but thorough investigation had occurred after Director Fujikawa had received Izuku's report about Oscar's actions at the hero-liaison conference. At the end of the email, a short note had been added by the director praising Izuku for his report of Oscar's actions, stating that the hero-liaison project was too important to be jeopardized by the actions of a single unruly agent.

Well that was a relief.

Finished with the emails, Izuku began to search the web for clues to what was going on behind the scenes at the Ministry of Defense.

Ever since the hero-liaison conference, something had been bugging him like an irritating fly buzzing just out of sight. To the average person the conference might have looked like an amazing exhibition of the latest cutting-edge hero support services, but to Izuku the conference painted a very concerning picture about the true intentions of the Ministry of Defense.

To start, the helicopters that had been on display were very familiar to Izuku. Both of the helicopters were actually based on military designs, just with all the weapons removed and a new coat of paint slapped on top of the armor plating. Having spent time in one of the elite special forces units that secretly operated around the world, Izuku knew that the true purpose of the helicopters was much more sinister in nature.

The small scout helicopter had two distincts modes of operation. The first was as a stealth transport aircraft that could deploy a small squad of soldiers in all but the most hazardous terrain. The second way the scout helicopter was often deployed was as an aggressive anti-personnel hunter. The small wings could mount a wide variety of weaponry, ranging from gatling cannons to heat-seeking missiles. Combined with the fact that it was fast and agile, the small helicopter was frequently used by black-ops and mercenary units around the world. Izuku had flown in the deceptively fragile-looking helicopter in action several times, and the fact that it was being disguised as a rescue vehicle clearly implied that the general public was not supposed to know of its deadly capabilities.

The larger helicopter that was presented as a rescue and transport aircraft was actually a fearsome attack helicopter with all the weapons taken off. Based on a Russian design that favored armor and firepower over speed and maneuverability, the large helicopter was routinely used as a tank-hunter and heavily armed transport vehicle. With thick layers of armor plating and reinforced internal structures, the fearsome aircraft could transport full squads of soldiers directly to areas where the fighting was heaviest. When not being used to transport soldiers, the bulky helicopter was armed with enough heavy weaponry to turn entire towns into nothing but smoldering rubble. Izuku had seen one in action during a joint operation with a Russian Spetsnaz unit, and it had obliterated an entire convoy of armored vehicles in a barrage of high caliber weaponry and fiery munitions.