It was late in the afternoon, the sun had begun to set and the sea below was calm and nearly still. The waves underneath the U.I.U convoy lightly splashed the support beams of the bridge they were driving on.

Inside the car, no one had spoken for hours at that point. Naomasa, who had been exhausted from multiple restless days of working on Izuku's case, even found himself able to doze off, if only to be met with dark and dreadful images in his dreams.

With his head slumped over on his headrest, the detective sported a noticeable grimace. In his mind, the events of Izuku ripping the constable he condemned to death apart piece by piece played out again, again and again.

Naomasa awoke with a startled gasp. Nezu, having heard his travel companion rise from his slumber, turned his head to look at him through the car's rear-view mirror.

"Awake, detective? Good, we're nearly there."

The detective took a moment to catch his breath, his heart was still beating in fear of what his mind had conjured while he slept. Looking out the windshield, Naomasa could see the daunting structure that was the complex of Tartarus.

He had been there on occasion before to interrogate criminals and he had always felt that the enormous prison held a certain imposing aura to it. It felt like you were approaching an immovable object. The dark material it was made of and the nearing of the sunset only helped to increase the prison's intimidating stature.

A faint murmur coming from the outside of the car began to make its way into Naomasa's ear. Looking out of his passenger-side window, he was able to make out a fleet of helicopters starting to come closer to them, eventually joining up with their convoy. The murmur he had heard now was a loud and consistent rumble, he guessed what he was hearing was the helicopters' engines and spinning blades.

"Who are they?" Naomasa said while turning toward his rodent superior.

"They're reinforcements," Nezu said, without turning to face Naomasa. "They are another task force of ours... we are going to need far more than just the staff of Tartarus to properly and safely detain young Midoriya."

Naomasa looked back at the helicopters flying above.

"What makes them so qualified?"

"Well secrecy is one part of it, they are capable of being trusted to not divulge information about this mission of ours. Another part of it is that this task force has access to a vastly higher amount of firepower and has far better overall capability than Eta-10. They're called mobile task force Epsilon-11. Codenamed "Nine-tailed fox".

"...Bit of a fancy name."

Nezu chuckled.

"Yes, I do admit it is. They are an older task force, created long before I became the administrator. While Eta-10 was made specifically to deal with young Midoriya's cognitohazardous effects, Epsilon-11 has been trained to deal with far more than just that. They have been trained to have a general ability to deal with anything that we know about the paranormal and more. So, should anything happen, they will be able to deal with it. That is a guarantee."

Naomasa turned his head back toward Nezu.

"I'm guessing that means that they're not blind like how Eta-10 is?"

"Correct."

"Doesn't that mean a certain amount of risk, sir? If they see his face, they'll..."

Naomasa didn't finish his sentence, Izuku's gory actions coming back to mind.

"Yes, while they aren't as capable of dealing with Young Midoriya as Eta-10 is and would likely die if they were to face him based on what we've seen he can do, they will not be the ones to interact with him. Eta-10 will transport Midoriya and Epsilon-11 along with the guards we have available will be the ones dealing with the prisoners while they are being moved. They will act as extra firepower should they decide to attempt an escape."

"Do they have what it takes? The villains incarcerated in Tartarus are exceedingly dangerous... would they be able to hold them off?"

"...I do not think the task force would come out unharmed, but I believe they'd be able to complete their mission should things go wrong. At the very least, it will allow us time to react and call for heroes."

"Why not just bring heroes along? Why not call All Might?"

"Secrecy, my friend. Trust me, the world will be better off not knowing of us and what we protect them from. Calling heroes would be an absolute last resort. That means no outside help, only our internal operatives."

"Is secrecy worth having something like that boy here without the proper aid we need?"

"Yes... definitively. I don't expect you to understand, but isolating information is better."

"What about hiring heroes? You've clearly been able to facilitate some kind of hiring process from all the people I've seen you say are part of the U.I.U, so why not heroes? Why not hire them and make them swear to secrecy?

"That is a difficult thing to do when heroics is such a public affair, we can't hire them because of how public their information is. Underground heroes such as Shota Aizawa do exist, and we have been able to hire a few of them over the years but none of them have quirks that would give them the amount of firepower we need today. The operatives we have hired are people like agent "forget me not", with quirks that are logistically applicable or useful in some way. Some of them might be nominally useful in an altercation, certainly, but they wouldn't be anywhere near as effective as a properly trained and rigorously prepared combat unit such as Epsilon-11."

Naomasa turned to the window again.

"I can see the sense in that... I guess I just wish there was more we could do. For Midoriya to cause another incident again and in the middle of Tartarus of all places... "catastrophic" wouldn't even begin to properly describe such an event."

"Yes... I share that sentiment, detective. But..."

The car slowed, then stopped. They had arrived at the entrance of Tartarus, the bronze gate.

"This is the best we can do, we must persevere and hope things go well."

Suddenly, with a large "CLUNK", the gate sprung to life and began slowly moving upwards, allowing them to enter. As it did so, it made a loud whirring sound, signifying that the interior electronics were doing their job.

The car proceeded forward, accompanied by the rest of the ground-bound convoy, and then stopped at a designated area, in front of another (far smaller) gate. Looking outside the window, Naomasa could see two guards approaching them.

For them to come near the convoy in the way they were... it seemed unsafe. Nezu must have seen Naomasa's perplexed look because he answered his doubts.

"The prison has already been made aware of our arrival. They just need to check us and our car before we enter. No one else knows of our coming so it wouldn't be feasible to masquerade as us, hence why we are speeding up the usual safety procedures for the sake of getting Midoriya in a safe environment as quickly as possible."

Naomasa turned to Nezu, gave him an understanding nod and then turned back to the approaching guards.

Finally, one guard stopped beside their car, the other going off to check the rest of the ground convoy. The guard approached the driver-side window and knocked on it, prompting the agent seated there to press a button on his door to bring it down. Peering into their car, the guard quickly scanned the interior of it, laying eyes on Nezu, the agent, and Naomasa.

"...Identification?"

At those words, the driver reached into his suit and flashed an identity card. This one looked nearly identical in design to Nezu's, except that the color it was comprised of was entirely different. Naomasa was no artist or expert when it came to color shades so he didn't know exactly what to call the card's color. If he had to describe it, he'd say it was a darker shade of yellow almost nearing orange.

The guard examined the piece of identification, looked back to the agent, and then nodded. After that, he turned to Nezu, who also flashed his ID.

The guard's reaction to Nezu's ID was different to the one he had for the agent's. His eyes seemed to widen for a moment, both in panic and astonishment. The guard made an audible "gulp" before turning back to Nezu and bowing.

"Administrator..." the guard said while facing the ground. "welcome to Tartarus."

"Thank you." Nezu said as the guard straightened himself once again.

Nezu nodded his head toward Naomasa.

"This is detective Tsukauchi Naomasa, you might've met him before. He does not have proper identification because I've just convinced him to join our unit. By my authority as Administrator, he is to be allowed in despite this."

The guard craned his neck to better see the detective, then nodded while turning to face Nezu once again.

"Very well, sir. Understood."

Suddenly, the guard stepped back from the guard and yelled out "CLEAR" before bowing to Nezu again and leaving toward the booth connected to the gate stopping the convoy from advancing. A few seconds later, the other guard started approaching the same booth and yelled out just as the first guard had.

The first guard, who had been waiting near the booth's entrance for his coworker's call, nodded while looking at him and then entered the booth. Shortly after he entered, a loud buzzing sound was heard and the gate stopping them opened.

The car slowly began advancing and then rolled through the compound at a brisk pace until the convoy stopped in front of one of the imposing cell blocks that made up Tartarus' complex.

Nezu took in a large lungful of air and then huffed.

"Alright, we're finally here. Time for our reinforcements to drop in."

Naomasa had a double take... did he say "drop in"?

Before he could voice his question, both the agent and Nezu opened their respective car doors and hopped out. Naomasa, following suit, did the same. The chilly dusk breeze was the first thing that hit him as his foot hit the concrete floor. That and the sound of helicopters coming closer from above.

Looking up with an arm helping him shield his face from the increasing winds coming from the helicopter blades, Naomasa saw ropes being tossed out from the sides of the aircrafts. Then, hanging on to these ropes, the detective saw as a large number of men began swiftly fast-roping down to where they were.

As his head was craned toward the sky, Naomasa felt a tug on his trenchcoat. It was the agent.

"Please, sir, they are going to need space to proceed further. We are gonna have to back up."

Naomasa listened and, along with the agent and Nezu, he backed away from the landing men in heavy combat gear.

Heavy was correct. Naomasa finally got a good look at the reinforcements as some of them touched the ground, if Eta-10 was a swat team then this task force looked ready to go to war.

Their guns were of a higher caliber, their armor looked thicker and better made to take damage, the helmets they were wearing seemed to have night vision goggles attached to them... they looked ready for anything.

Breaking himself out of his admiring of nine-tailed-fox, Naomasa took note of the formation they were taking; they all lined up behind at either side of the truck containing Izuku while pointing their weapons at the cube's entrance. They almost formed a corridor leading to the entrance of the cell block.

"Alright, everyone. Let's not wait any longer. Eta-10, if you would."

At Nezu's words, the blind soldiers of Eta-10 advanced toward the vehicle, the members of nine-tailed-fox moving out of their way so they could access the containment chamber. With them now in position, Nezu pulled out the remote control he had used to open the box before and pressed the only button present on it. With a loud hiss, the door opened, revealing Izuku hunched over in the corner crying to himself.

Naomasa's breathing hitched as his eyes laid upon that monstruous form once again.

One soldier took the first step and hopped into the containment chamber, making sure to check the integrity of the bag covering Izuku's head before bringing him out. He hopped out of the box while holding Izuku by the wrist. Once on the ground, he lightly pulled at him until he hopped off too.

Now with the greenette out, the members of Eta-10 circled him before yelling out "ESCORT READY". Instantly, all of the members of Epsilon-11 began marching rapidly into the cell block while Eta-10 followed closely behind them.

As the task forces entered the cell block, Naomasa and Nezu followed behind. Noticing that the agent that had accompanied them thus far was not walking with them, the detective looked back toward him with an inquisitive look.

"He's not coming?"

"No, we do not need him any further. He will stay back to escort me once I need to leave."

"Right, because you need to go to that meeting you mentioned."

"Yes. I will stay to supervise Midoriya's containment, then I shall take my leave."

Naomasa hummed in acknowledgment. Entering the cell block's lobby section, Naomasa took note that the cameras he'd normally see peering intensely at every arrival seemed to be all inactive. Looking back at Izuku towering over everyone else, he thought that it made sense to do so. The U.I.U was taking every possible precaution, they couldn't risk getting a look at his face even if it was currently covered by a bag.

Many safety protocols that were normally always active seemed to also be inactive, even the metal detectors at the entrance hadn't rung as the task forces crossed it with their heavy weaponry. It must've been to speed things along. Better to have Izuku within a cell as fast as possible.

Along with his rodent friend, Naomasa stepped to the side once they walked further into the lobby. It would take a while before they'd have access to the elevator.

The first ones to go in were Epsilon-11, they'd need to secure the level they were going to send Izuku into before he could safely be transported. In small groups, the task force was procedurally sent down one after the other. All the while, the only sound that could be heard was the buzzing of the lights above their heads and the crying and sniffling coming from Izuku's thin but imposing frame.

Naomasa averted his eyes every time they happened to wander toward Izuku. It felt wrong to even look in the general direction of his face, even if it was covered.

Finally, the elevator dinged and its doors opened up once again, signalling that the last of Epsilon-11 was now at the level they need to be. Naomasa looked away and waited to hear Izuku getting into the elevator and being sent down but instead he heard the coughin of Nezu.

"We are going first, detective. If we are to supervise this herculean transfer of inmates, we need to be in the surveillance room before Midoriya is sent down."

Naomasa almost facepalmed at his absent-mindedness.

"Right, sorry." He said as he begun to follow Nezu who was already halfway to the elevator.

Stepping in after Nezu, Naomasa pushed the button to the top floor on the elevator's console after he asked him to. His stature would not had allowed him to do so on his own. The door closed and he felt the elevator bring them upwards. After only a few moments, the door dinged again and then they arrived. The surveillance room.

As both of them walked in, everybody that was in the room turned to them. It got silent very suddenly. Those who had been talking stopped, those who had been tapping away on keyboards ceased all movements. The drop of a pin could've probably been heard and, as a matter of fact, Naomasa was able to hear one of the security guards take a hesitant gulp. The atmosphere was tense, to say the least.

The man situated at the middle of the large console looking over the cell block stood from his chair and calmly approached the duo. Once a meter away from them, he stopped and bowed in respect toward both of them.

"...Administrator, detective. Welcome."

Rising back up, the man turned to Nezu.

"I am the head security officer of this cell block, sir. I will be the one helping you in supervising transferring of the prisoner."

"Very good. Well, let's get to it. The prisoner should be arriving to level B10 any minute now.

The head security officer seemed to hesitate.

"Yes... but..."

Nezu cocked an eyebrow.

"Hm? What is it?"

The man sighed deeply.

"As head of security, I must voice my complaint, sir. We are not adequately prepared for this transfer. I understand that this is under executive order from the Japanese government, but we simply have not gotten enough time nor enough information to plan or facilitate a completely safe execution of this procedure. Tartarus is inescapable but not solely because of its walls and defenses, safety procedures need to be rigourosly followed for everything to work well. Now with all of our cameras deactivated, an inmate could-"

"That is enough. Any more information than you have already been given is a matter of national secrecy. If I were to divulge any more, it would equate to high treason. I am sorry, officer, but what you have been given is all that you are going to get. Tartarus now knowing of our organization is already a safety risk, we do not need to worsen that. If you trully want to reduce the risk of something going wrong, then we need to hurry things up."

The head security officer grumbled in disappointment.

"Very well, sir."

The man turned around and walked to the console followed by Nezu and Naomasa. There, the man sat down and began typing away. After a few seconds, he finished typing and a camera feed appeared showing a cell wing along with an audio recording of it. In the top right corner, "Level B10" could be seen along with the date and time. At each cell door, at least 4 members of Epsilon-11 could be seen with their weapons drawn at it. With them, were always at least two Tartarus guards.

The camera panned down, showing the top of Izuku's covered head along with the few members of Eta-10 who were escorting him. Panning back up, the camera faced the rest of the wing once again.

The stark difference in composure between the Tartarus guards and the members of Epsilon-11 was quite noticeable. Epsilon-11 was razor-focused at all times, they were solely concerned with their mission and it showed. But the Tartarus guards seemed to all be falling under the odd effect Izuku had upon first encounter with someone.

Most if not all guards were sweating. The camera didn't give a perfect image of them because it wasn't zoomed in, but you could see the light reflecting off of their moist faces and the droplets dripping off of them. A lot of them were unfocused, not looking at the door they were assigned and opting instead to stare at Izuku in shock and horror.

Judging by the sound of his worsening cries, that did not seem to please Izuku.

The head of security began typing again and after a moment, a faint siren could be heard in the distance, signifying the start of the lockdown. Shortly after, a communication line opened on the screen. Looking back at the camera feed, one of the guards that had been staring at Izuku looked to be snapped out of his trance and pressed a button on a device in his right ear. As he did so, his voice could be heard in the surveillance room.

"Hello? Are we ready?"

"Yes... begin transfer."

"Yes, sir."

The guard put his hand back down to his side and nodded at the members of Eta-10.

"Begin transfer!"

Eta-10 began slowly moving forward while dragging Izuku along, who did nothing to resist their pulling on his wrists.

Back in the surveillance room, as they advanced, the head of security opened another window, it displayed the numbers assigned to each cell in the wing Izuku was in. The numbers were all green and were displayed in a large bold font. After a bit more typing, each number switched from their green color to a sharp red, signifying that the cell doors had been opened.

Naomasa gulped.

"Here we go..." he said out loud.

Nezu mentally acknowledged the detective's remark, but did not verbally respond to him.

Deep down below the surface of sea, the first inmates were being brought out of their cells.

Being at such a deep level, all of them were considered exceedingly dangerous individuals but, luckily, this cell block was not the one that contained the worst that Tartarus had to offer. The U.I.U had chosen the cell block wisely, it was a middle ground between the security and the inmates.

Putting Izuku where they kept the most dangerous inmates, even if the security was the tightest there, could go horribly should even a single inmate attempt something. Yet, on the other hand, the security would not be adequate enough in the cell block where they kept the less problematic inmates.

The cell block they had chosen was the equilibrium between the two: tight enough security and inmates who aren't too dangerous. But that did not mean that level B10 of the cell block did not have any inmates who were kept nearly 24/7 in full body restraints. There was quite a few, in fact.

After Epsilon-11 went into the cells to retrieve the prisoners accompanied by the Tartarus guards, a little less than half of the inmates that were brought out were in full body restraints, the rest in normal restraints. Once outside of their cells, they waited while every member of Epsilon-11 stood by with their weapons drawn and pointed directly at their heads. When Izuku passed by the inmates, then the tartarus guards either pushed them along toward the elevator or ordered them to start walking toward it.

Slowly, the cell wing began to be vacated one elevator trip at a time.

While the last group was waiting for the elevator to come back, a full-body restrained inmate couldn't take his eyes off of Izuku. Unlike how the guards were looking at him earlier, however, he seemed to be staring at him with a great deal of interest in his eyes.

"Hm. Who's the new guy?" the inmate said, while resuming to face forward.

The two guards looked at the inmate suspiciously and the members of Epsilon-11 seemed to ready their weapons. Noticing the tense atmosphere, the inmate gave a hearty but sinister chuckle.

"Oh come on. What could I possibly do to any of you in the state I am in? I just want to talk, I don't get as much opportunity to do that in here as I did on the outside."

One guard looked to the other, they shared a weary glance.

"Well... we don't know. People have just been calling him the "Monster of Musutafu"." One said after coughing to clear his throat.

"Ah, a mystery man, then? What's he in for?"

Neither answered, one of the guards breath seemed to hitch at the question. Sensing his clear discomfort, the villain turned his head in his direction, even if it did not make him able to see him.

"That seemed to strike a sensitive spot. I'm guessing whatever he did affected you?"

The guard grimaced, and the inmate grew a smirk.

"No... it's more than that, isn't it? His actions directly affected your life, haven't they? He's... ew... still quite covered in blood, so I'd hazard what he did was quite gruesome. What, did he kill someone close to you? Maim them in some way?" The inmate said in a sickeningly sweet tone.

The guard began to tighten his hands into fists and to grind his teeth in anger. The inmate, hearing no response from the guard, turned his head toward the other.

"So, what did he do anyway?"

The guard looked to the soldiers of Epsilon-11 briefly, they were still pointing their guns at the inmate and did not motion for him to not say anything. The entire ordeal had been stressing him out ever since they received the order from the Japanese government and even now he felt extremely uneasy being in the same room as the monster of Musutafu. It couldn't hurt to have idle chat to take his mind off of things, no?

"...We don't know why but we know that during a hostage situation, he ripped his way out of a police car to attack the villain who had started the whole thing."

"And that warranted him Tartarus? I'd imagine this place had higher standards of villains."

"Well... that wasn't it. During his attack, he got blown up by the villain and then..." the guard shuddered as he remembered hearing the account of witnesses to Izuku's painful transformation. "Turned into that. Apparently, his attack got even more vicious once he turned. So much so that it broke the pavement under him, sending him, the villain and the hostage into the sewers below. No one knows what exactly happened in there but a few minutes later, the ground suddenly began to cave in not too far away from where he had entered the sewers. A few hours later, All Might pulled him out of the sewers at the end of the mile of carnage that had been created, they were unable to find the villain that he had been chasing, only bits of the goo he was made of. Because of him, hundreds were injured and possibly died as a result of the cave-ins and buildings being destroyed. That and, well... 3 rescuers were originally sent into the sewers to survey the area that hadn't been destroyed and save people who might've gotten lost in there or trapped under some possible rubble. One guy was saved, the hostage, when they were first sent in but... they never came out. The police aren't saying anything yet but... it's almost certain he killed them. Not only that but they're keeping quiet about the location of their bodies too, meaning they probably can't find them for some reason."

The guard looked toward Izuku in fear.

"And I don't think I want to know why."

"Heh, I take it back. He does belong here!"

The guard the inmate had originally gotten agitated began to sniffle while holding back tears. This seemed to peak the inmate's curiosity. He opened his mouth to speak again but was interrupted as the elevator dinged again announcing it was ready to take them a floor above. The inmate sighed in what seemed to be mild annoyance as they tilted his chair and began to move, the crying guard taking a moment to wipe his tears and get his emotions back in check before joining the group.

He, along with the other prisoners that were part of the last group going up, began to be slowly guided away to the elevator's doors by the guards while Epsilon-11 stayed in position to prevent any possible escape attempt.

As the inmate was set straight in the elevator facing the cell wing, unbeknownst to anyone else, he shared a knowing glance with another unrestrained inmate who was being brought in directly after him. The man was far larger than the one who was restrained, it seemed almost comical how he was the one not in a full body restraint. He had unkept dirty yellow hair and all throughout his skin could be seen his dark-colored veins almost pulsating while a bright yellow light seemed to crackle rhythmically from within.

The inmate gave a small smile and the unrestrained one smiled back while tilting his head discreetly in acknowledgment.

...

After a few minutes, every prisoner had been safely transported to their respective temporary cells. Luckily, the cell block had a low enough number of inmates that they did not need to move prisoners to another cell block entirely. Some hadn't even needed to be moved, in fact. By all appearances, the transfer had gone smoothly.

As the last cell door was shut, nearly the entire room could be heard letting out a quiet sigh of relief. Even Naomasa was part of the people who had done so. Nezu, on the other hand, only hummed in satisfaction.

"Well done, everyone." Nezu said as he walked up to the head of security. "And thank you for your service. Now, I must go. The cameras are to remain off at all times, you can reactivate all safety measure except that one once i have left. You will be contacted again in a few hours and will do the same as we have just done but in reverse to carry our prisoner out of here and to his final destination, whatever it may be."

Nezu turned around and came closer to Naomasa.

"As for you... agent Naomasa, I am intrusting you with supervision of what happens here until the prisoner is to be transported out."

"...Is that what I'm to be called now?"

"Well between members of the organisation, yes. I think it has a better ring to it than "Detective", no?"

"I'm not quite sure I agree, sir."

"Well, no matter. That is your official designation until you apply for an actual identification."

Nezu began to walk toward the elevator.

"I really must be hurrying now, being late to the meeting might worsen our prisoner's chances of being sent to the correct place. Till next time, Tsukauchi." Nezu said while passing by Naomasa, who was turning to look at him as he went.

Nezu entered the elevator followed by a security guard who had gotten up and headed to the doors to wait for him when the transfer had been completed. Then, after the guard pushed a button, the doors closed and Nezu was gone, leaving Naomasa alone and now the one in charge.

Naomasa turned back toward the rest of the room to be greeted with the guards and the head of security looking at him in anticipation. Naomasa gulped and then stepped forward, his prior experience in leadership back at the police station now taking the helm.

"Continue monitoring the administrator and the prisoners with what you have, once he leaves you can do as he has already said."

Nodding their heads, the guards turned back to their screens to resume their surveillance. Approaching the head of security, Naomasa tapped him on the shoulder.

"I have no idea how any of the stuff in this room works, so I'll be relying on you to explain to me what's going on, alright?"

The head nodded.

"Yes sir."

"G-"

Before the detective-now-agent could speak any further, he was interrupted by the ding of the elevator. Nezu hadn't mentioned anybody else coming along, especially after the transfer of Izuku into his cell had already been completed and the surveillance guards hadn't given him notice of anybody entering the elevator. Who could this be?

Not wanting to take any chances, Naomasa drew his handgun and pointed it at the elevator's doors. The guards, seeing him take action, followed suit, drawing their own armaments.

The door slowly swung open, revealing the newcomer. Or, rather, the newcomers.

A short, plump, lady looking worse for wear with green hair and bandages on her head and a taller doctor-looking person in a lab coat following her from behind trying to convince her to take things slowly.

"Please, miss, you might have a concussion, if we could just-"

"Shut up."

Naomasa recognized her and lowered his gun, gesturing for the others to do the same. The woman approached until she was just in front of him.

With one hand holding an ice pack placed on her head, she looked up to him and stared him down with the fiercest look she could muster.

"...Where. Is. My. Son?"

Inko Midoriya, Izuku's mom.