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Quirkless Existence Chapter 12
🕑 Added 2023-06-21 12:24:59 +0000 UTCSummary: Bakugo and All Might meet with Sir Nighteye, seeing an unexpected face and in doing so, Bakugo learns more of the world
Chapter 12: Too Little, too late.
4 days After his talk with Inko, close to the end of the damn school week, Bakugo finds himself outside some pro's hero agency with All Might in toe. The man was in his buff form despite the fact he was running on fumes but Bakugo was too pissed to care, not after what he learned from Aunt Inko about his activities that fateful day. He had tried to speak with him the following day after they finished their hero class, but like normal, he rushed off. When he tried to find him after school, he was told he had stepped out only to later learn he got involved in some villain fight across town.
He then the man a text, telling him he knew that he met Deku and that they were going to talk about it and he knew that All Might had read it as he actively avoided him the next day throughout school, even ignoring his questions in class which only made his temper rise to the point he nearly exploded if not for All Might seeking him out during Thursday lunch period and convincing him that they’ll talk after they met up with his old side-kick. “Is this the place?” He asked, looking up at the place and noting that it looked…normal, bland even, as even Jeanist’s place had some style to it but whoever designed this place copied every boring office building ever made.
All Might, still bulked up but out of his hero costume, nodded his head, his smile smaller than normal as he had his thoughts about coming here but had resigned himself to seeing it though. “Yes, Nighteye’s agency. It’s grown since I was last here.”
“You mean since you’ve seen it.” Bakugo corrected him, catching how All Might flinched as even without the man telling him about the falling about between the two pros, just about any All Might fan could tell you that he and Nighteye haven’t been seen together in years, the former sidekick even setting up his office outside of Tokyo where All Might had his.
“…Yes.” The symbol of peace sighed as they started to walk over.
“You that scared of him?” Bakugo asked, to which All Might felt the answer was a complicated one but he did his best to answer.
“Not so much of him as what this meeting entails. We didn’t part on the best of terms...” All Might replied.
"What was up with that? All you said was that you two argued." Bakugo asked, as the media had their theories but neither man ever confirmed or denied them, hell, Nighteye avoided the press almost as much as Eraser whenever they were around.
“It’s complic-” Bakugo sped up and stopped All Might, standing in front of him just before they could enter the doors into the agency, his red eyes staring into All Might's blue ones with an intensity he seemed to always have when in training.
“Fuck that, I said you’ll tell me about your meeting with Midoriya, but you didn’t. I want answers, All Might.”
All Might, seeing that he had delayed on this as well, moved to calm the boy as for all his answers, they didn't have the time for such a talk at the moment “And you’ll get them young Bakugo. Just not out here on the street.” Bakugo kept up the glare for a moment before he huffed and turned around, entering the building in the closest thing All Might would get to an agreement from him. The man sighed nevertheless as he entered after him, recalling the salaryman looking pro's ultimatum to him after he nearly died in his battle with All for One, how Nighteye wouldn’t support him any longer if he didn’t let himself rest, retire at his peak and start training up his successor now that, at the time at least, they believed All for One dead and defeated.
Toshinori had refused, unwilling to let villains and unrest become the norm without his presence to keep them in check and keep the hopes of the people alive. They stopped speaking for years, the only break being when he reached out to him through Gran Torino to set up a meeting between him and his protégé, Togata, a meeting he never showed to.
Thinking back on it, he knew that the man wasn't speaking out of malice, but concern for him as he was and still is in rough shape. Toshinori had thought that his presence was necessary, that he still had time to settle things before passing on the torch but he supposed he was lying to himself as much as he was them. Now he regretted that choice as if he hadn't doodled, if he hadn't been so concerned about preserving the present till he breathed his last, maybe he could have prevented this. He would have had years to train a successor, longer than Nana had to train him so he could have stepped back from his role and allowed them to pick up where he left off.
Banishing those thoughts from his mind, they continued onward, waiting for them were two people, pros if he was correct. One was a blue-skinned young lady, a bit on the fidgety side who couldn't look his way for long before she would direct her gaze elsewhere. The second was much more composed, even wearing a butler-like costume with the only unusual thing about him being that he had a centipede-like head. “Besides, we best not keep Nighteye waiting.”
It was the more composed of the two that spoke up, bowing to him as he did so in a fashion that seemed to fit his whole ‘butler’ motif. “Good afternoon, All Might. We’re been expecting you.” All Might nodded his head while Bakugo merely huffed, making the man wonder if the boy sometimes forgets his words as Hound-dog did.
“H-hi! Sir told us you were coming!” All Might couldn't help the smile on his face growing a bit more amused by how flustered the woman was at his presence.
"It's Bubble Girl, right?" She nodded her head so fast that he was amazed that it didn’t fall off, though he stopped wondering why fellow pros seemed to act like civilians when he was involved years ago. Instead, he turned his attention to her colleague. “And Centipeder?”
Centipeder nodded his head as he rose from his bow. “That’s correct. I’ve been with Sir Nighteye’s agency for the last 4 years, Bubble Girl joined up a year after that.” He gestured towards his fellow sidekick who rubbed the back of her head, seemingly not knowing what to say about meeting the man that Sir seemed to look up to and respect so much. With the introductions done, they started to move towards Nighteye’s office.
Walking up the stairs, All Might noticed that it was rather quiet, a far cry from most other agencies. “How have things been around here? I would have thought he would have more sidekicks.”
“Sir runs a tight up, high expectations.” Bubble Girl answered his question, having had the same one when she was hired for the job.
"It doesn't help that we don't focus on the 'flashier' crimes, so a lot of people tend to never call back," Centipeder added, though he sounded annoyed less by the fact that so few called back, and more by the why, a sentiment that All Might agreed with as while he believed that pros should be visible, he had a firm belief that chasing after such moments left too much unchecked, too much never finished.
“It’s a shame, too many pros focus on the cameras rather than the actions.” All Might voiced these feelings to which Bakugo ticked his teeth and looked away.
‘That’s rich coming from you.' Bakugo thought to himself as All Might was never not at a scene of some big fight, or seen doing something crazy. It was part of the reasons villains shat themselves for so long and stayed in the shadows as they never knew where the strongest pro could swoop in and take them down before they could blink. Bubble girl caught his reaction to All Might, but kept her piece as she figured that his presence surely meant that there was more going on. With that said, the party was largely silent as they finished their trip, stopping outside a door which resembled every other bar for the fact there was a name plank outside which read 'Sasaki, Mirai’.
Approaching the door, Centipeder gently knocked. “Sir, he’s here.” There was a response nearly immediately, no doubt thanks to All Might being expected and arriving on time.
“Enter.” Opening the door, the first thing that Bakugo noticed about the office space was that it was clean, orderly and filled with more All Might merch than he had in his entire house. The second was the face of someone he wasn't expecting to see.
"Hey, Mr Gold Medal, long time no see!” Third Year and member of U.A.’s Big Three, Mirio Togata waved towards him with his normal bright smile.
"Tin-tin?! What the fuck are you doing here? And what do you mean a long time? We saw each other like 4 hours ago!" Bakugo pointed at him, demanding answers from the annoying bright spirited boy who had seemed to make it his mission to check up on their class the whole week and now after spending just that week with them, he had everyone in the palm of those scarred hands of his as even Ice bastard seemed to hold a favorable opinion of him.
In response to his outburst, Nighteye merely glared at him but Togata just laughed it off, though if that was because he was used to it from Bakugo or just an incredibly upbeat person was hard to say. “So, we did! But I wasn’t expecting to see you here, and with All Might of all People too!” Togata nearly teleported over them to them and started to shake the man's hand, it is one of the few times he met someone with an even larger one than his own. “It’s an honor to meet you, sir.” All Might laughed as he returned the gesture, having known about the lad before they met up, but never having the chance to properly speak with him and if nothing else, he was certainly a bright young fellow and not in the way he had seen in a concerning amount of other pros, no, young Togata's optimism was genuine and if his efforts to keep the spirits of his underclassmen up were an indication, so too was his desire to help others.
“All Might,” Before things could continue towards a conversation between two blondes, Nighteye spoke up, his gaze had never left Bakugo who for his part met it with his own. “I was under the impression that you taught at U.A., have you and Togata not met since the school year began?”
“Afraid not, old friend. I mainly work with the first years.” All Might replied, though he had known bits and pieces about the 3rdyears, mostly stuff talked about in the teacher’s lounge.
“I see. That doesn’t explain why you brought him for this conversation.” Nighteye stated, no doubt suspicious of Bakugo's presence here but All Might placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him his support.
“He’s a…friend of someone involved with the case, thought he would like to hear what you know.” All Might replied though Bakugo eyed him over that response. Still, it seemed that Nighteye wasn't going to fight him in this as he finally turned his piercing gaze off and turned his attention to his two sidekicks who had been silent since they entered his office.
“Centipeder, Bubble Girl, why don’t you both get back to work.” The two nodded, not asking why and how and merely doing as asked, the door closing with a soft clink behind them as they walked off to continue with what they had been doing before All Might's arrival. Nighteye waited a moment, to ensure they were gone before he nodded towards All Might. “It’s clear.”
In a plume of smoke, All Might released his muscle form, coughing into his handkerchief after the fact from exhaustion of having to hold it for so long, now that his limit was just a mere 2 hours a day, most of which he had used up teaching. “Thanks, I was close to my limit there.” He replied, but Togata jumped away a little, no doubt confused as he looked back and forth between Sir and All Might. He would have assumed that he was an imposter but there was no way Sir would fall for that, or even entertain such a thing when he near worshipped All Might. But then, if this was All Might, why did he just-
“Wait, what’s going on? Why did All Might just pull a deflated jumping castle impression?” He asked the most glaring question in the situation as Bakugo just stepped aside, his lack of reaction confusing the 3rdyear even more but it was enough for Sir to realize that was in the know, though as to how and why was still up in the air and to be honest.
His voice missing its strength and presence, All Mig-Toshinori signed as he sat in an offered chair, taking a breath to try and lessen the exhaustion he felt from holding his muscle form for near his limit. “It’s a long story, young Togata and part of the reason I’m here today.”
Line Break
It took only 15 minutes to explain the situation to Togata and to some extent, Bakugo but it felt like the longest 15 minutes in both their lives. Bakugo had known that All Might was getting on in the years, the man was in his mid-50s for crying out loud but he had no idea that his time limit was due to what should have been a career-ending injury given to him by a man that was the closest thing to the Lord of Evil as humanly possible, and that said Lord of evil was still alive and suspected to being the mastermind behind the League. How his time in the driver’s seat was running about as he went from being able to hold what was once his true form, now his ‘muscle form’ for around 20 hours a day, to just a little over 2, with that limit only decreasing further till the day would come when he’ll be lucky to be able to hold it for a few minutes a day.
Of course, that came second fiddle to the news that All Might’s quirk, the power he used to rise and stay at the top for over 25 years was a one-of-a-kind quirk that was passed down from person to person, growing stronger with each new welder to one day crush its parent quirk and its user, All for One. Togata was even more shell shocked than him, his smile which was near always present as the boy collapsed into a seat, not that Bakugo could blame him, not after what they just asked of him. “And,” The third year started, though his voice was wobbling and confused. “You picked me?”
Toshinori nodded solemnly, understanding the full gravity of this situation as he too had once been in Togata's shoes, back when Nana had first met him and he had proved himself to her. Though he would assume that it was a much lesser shock for young Togata who was born with a quirk, seemingly unwieldy as it was over being born quirkless and yet being offered such an incredible quirk. “Yes, though I’m not going to transfer my power to you just yet. Nighteye has told me nothing but good things, but I would still like to see you perform myself.” And he planned to do the same as Nana, watch him, and make his judgement of his character.
Nighteye stepped in here, softer than he had been when they first entered as he placed a hand on his protégé’s shoulder, a way to show his support of him. “Of course, this all doesn’t matter if you chose not to, Mirio. This is at the end of the day, your choice.” He wouldn’t deny that he had scouted the boy for this exact purpose, but he wouldn’t force him into the role and would stand by him no matter his choice. As with Yagi and Nana before him, Mirio needed to want this.
Seeing this from his normally stiff sensei, and realizing the gravity of the situation just a little, the man-more a boy considering the situation, swallowed the building saliva in his mouth. “Can I like, have a few days to think about it? A guy needs time to process all of that.”
"No shit," Bakugo muttered, his mind running a mile a minute as he tried and largely failed to process all this. Regardless of his confusion, anger and fear over the situation and all it entailed, Toshinori agreed to Togata's request, giving him a supportive, understanding smile that the blonde knew was real, as he was truly the only other person alive that could relate to what he was going through, what kind of choice he had been given to make.
“Of course, when you have your answer. Seek me out anytime during school hours.” The soon-to-be-retired symbol of peace informed him, having already made the arrangements with Nezu to have a flexible schedule and a private room for any talks that they might have.
With the biggest hurdle dealt with, at least for the moment, Nighteye turned their attention to the other reason he invited All Might over. "As for the other reason, I asked you here, it's about this latest drug problem: Trigger."
“Yeah, it’s a problem, it made getting out of the damn USJ a nightmare, nearly killed a couple of my classmates.” Bakugo crossed his arms, thankful for the switch to something he had more of an understanding of, having faced villains juiced up on the stuff personally. It was a change that Togata also appreciated as he filed away their discussion for later, his face growing serious.
“It’s the same on the streets, petty fights are getting no so petty.” The 3rd year added, having seen it more than once while on patrol with Bubble Girl or Nighteye. With his quirk, he rarely needed to worry about getting hit but that didn't mean he had super strength, which made handling villains with boasted strength, stamina and durability hard.
Nighteye nodded in agreement with his protégé, pulling out some folders he had and placing them on the desk, opening the first to a picture of a certain Yakuza boss, though it wasn't the best quality and taken from a distance without the mask-wearing Yakuza's knowledge. “We have been looking into this for the last 4 months, and have our prime suspect for this Venom problem. The Shie Hassaikai .” Seeing the image of the man that had been the prime suspect in their kidnapping/ child abuse case hardened both Bakugo and Toshinori's gaze.
“Them?” Still, Bakugo was surprised as the odds that the bastard they were trying to arrest was also the source of his other issues, part of the reason 3 of his classmates nearly died…part of the reason one did die.
“You know them? They’re a small group and don’t stick out as much as other villain organizations.” Nighteye asked, giving them basic information on them as Toshinori explained their situation.
“We do, or at least we know of them. They kidnapped a middle schooler last year; she was a classmate of young Bakugo.” Nighteye nodded, his gaze displaying how he was trying to fit this new information into what he knew about Kai as Togata frowned.
“That’s terrible, but why haven’t the police or the pros moved in yet?” The 3rd year asked them, surely this would have been enough to warrant a search.
“Because you lack proof, correct?” Nighteye answered the question for them, getting a frustrated sigh and nod from Toshinori as the man leaned back into his chair, his lips a thin line. “Figures, that is part of the reason we haven’t made a single arrest against them of meaning. They’re careful, extremely so in ensuring that there is never a clear connection between them, crimes and the benefits that come from them. Not enough for a judge to grant a warrant anyway.” He had already aided the police in 14 different cases resulting in over 50 arrests, but not one was connected in any tangible way to the Shie Hassaikai. They thought they had something just the other day, but the judge deemed it too weak, which admittedly it was as they were banking on the fact that one of Shie Hassaikai's associates interacted with one of the middlemen that handled the Venom.
“What do you know then?” Bakugo asked, pissed that even from another angle, they didn’t seem to have made much more progress than All Might and the detective.
“That he’s been expanding. The Shie Hassaikai have always been small fish in a big pond, one of those Yakuza groups that resisted change and because of that, found themselves losing territory, numbers and finances.” Togata explained something which was common knowledge Yakuza was an endangered species when it come to criminal groups.
"Mirio's right, that was the case but for around 6 months, we've noticed that this is beginning to change as their scope of influence has increased, same as those that claim to be affiliated with them. Finances also seem to be doing considerably better than they have been in years. One needn't be a detective to figure out how they could do this." He pulled out more files, images of what they knew to be Shie Hassaikai-owned or affiliated businesses and it was clear that in the time between when the first pictures were taken, they had all undergone extensive renovations. One of which, a Yakuza-controlled nightclub was shown to have exploded in recent months, nearly doubling in size and hiring trice the employees, with more bodyguards around the place.
"They made it big with this Venom stuff, and if you're right about how widespread it is, they have an eager and large market," Toshinori stated, having seen first-hand how much drug money can fund criminal enterprise during his time in the States. He had travelled around the South and West coast quite a bit and had seen how the new Cartels had essentially controlled entire cities. It had taken a lot of work to handle it and it was thanks to the efforts of pros like Star and Stripes that those same gangs and others like them never regained such power and influence again.
"Yes, which is something that heroes are having a hard time dealing with. Just yesterday, Endeavour crashed a deal where over 2.5 million yen worth was being sold. One of the villains injected themselves with enough to tear apart the place and even resist his hell flames." Nighteye brought out another report, this one freshly printed which had the details of the entire thing Toshinori looked over, seeing Enji's testimony on how difficult it was to subdue the villain as he refused to stay down, a troubling thing as he had seen the power of Hellflame and the levels of control that the number 2 pro had over them.
“Only good thing that came from that was that the entire supply was destroyed.” All Might read the last parts which talked about how in the fight, the villains had destroyed the warehouse, and by the time the police and pros could dig through the rubble, they found the product destroyed.
"Not necessarily. Indeed, better destroyed than in the hands of any two-but villain seeking for a boast, but it would have been better if we managed to get our hands on some so that the police can analyze it." Nighteye explained to which Toshinori rose an eyebrow.
“We haven’t managed it yet?” Nighteye shook his head, a frown forming on his face as he delivered the bad news.
“No, vials we uncover are always too little or contaminated and considered no good. It would also seem that the Shie Hassaikai have a vested interest in protecting their product as whenever dealers are busted, they make sure to destroy their stash or otherwise get rid of it. We still take them down for drug charges, but with the drugs in question absent, it makes court cases…difficult.” That was another reason they couldn't pin this on them as in drug cases, you needed to prove that the strains were similar enough to have been produced by the same labs or the same person, but with little to work with.
Getting blood work from captured villains before the Venom wore off had been their main source of information, but they could never be too sure how much the drugs had changed after being in the user's body. At present, all they knew was its basics which once more, wasn't enough to warrant anything of value in their case, especially since there are no records of any of the Shie Hassaikai having anyone within their ranks, or affiliated with them that would be capable of producing such a potent drug. He had argued with the judge that it could easily be informal training or someone off the books but he was shot down.
"My friends have also had a few run-ins with the stuff while out in patrols, it's a serious boast, though it doesn't seem to affect quirks," Togata added, having heard stories from Nejire and Tamaki on the issue, which resulted in Tamaki missing more classes than normal which he was always sad about as it meant more time playing catch-up.
“Hold on, if you know that they’re rolling in cash thanks to drugs, why wasn’t that enough to crash in and end their party?” Bakugo asked.
"Because they manage to keep all finances clean, laundering it through legitimate businesses which themselves have no criminal records. Because of that, we can't cease their books to confirm this." Nighteye replied as it was a classic tactic of organized crime to have front businesses and other legal businesses, but it was rare for them to ensure that said business ran such tight ships as even when they sent in undercover cops or looked through their tax filings, they couldn't find a single thing wrong, not a single infraction or error they could use as justification to look any deeper than was legal.
“We need proof to go after them, but to get proof, we need to go after them. It’s a challenge.” Toshinori nodded along, understanding his former sidekick’s frustrations over the issue.
“It is vexing. However, from our profile on Chisaki, he’s mainly in the drug game and rarely kills, at least kills in ways we can confirm. So why did he kidnap this Midoriya girl? Was she related to his business, through a parent perhaps?” Nighteye asked them, to which Bakugo nearly yelled at him for daring to imply that Midoriya would ever get involved with such bastards, only holding his tongue when Toshinori placed a bony hand on his shoulder to calm him down, at least a little.
"No. we already checked her parents' backgrounds and financials. Nothing to link them to criminal activities. More than that, her mother has been devastated ever since the kidnapping, so the notion that she would have placed her daughter in harm’s way.” Toshinori replied, making it clear through his face that he didn't appreciate his friend implying such of the girl when she was a victim of this entire mess.
Not backing down, Nighteye dug his heels in on it. “All Might, you know as well as I do why I ask these things. However, if you already run the checks, we can cross that theory off the board but that still leaves the question.”
"She saw her daughter," Bakugo told him before he relayed what he saw on the note to him.
“Daughter? I didn’t know Chisaki had a daughter.” Nighteye frowned as he looked down at Kai’s file and true to his memory, there was no mention of children, through marriage or adoption.
"He doesn't, not officially at least," Toshinori replied, as Izuku’s note and her mother’s testimony on what her daughter had seen said that Kai called Eri his daughter. Of course, they also knew that it was likely false, a lie to explain why he had a little girl with him.
"De-Izuku left me a note, she explained that she run into this girl when she was out with Auntie. The girl looked spooked and was covered in bandages, Chisaki appeared and forced her to hand her over else he would have killed her. She also said that he took an unwanted amount of interest in her, said 'they'll meet again.'" Bakugo explained to them, having seen how much a wreck she had been that day, recalling how she reacted to his hands, it was as if she was afraid he was Kai which only made him more concerned as if he could distil that much fear from a single interaction, God knows what he’s done in the months he’s had her.
“Strange. Yakuza bosses are known for having families. Why would he wish to cover up the fact he had a little one? Enough to kidnap someone that had seen them?" Togata asked, if this Eri girl was his daughter, there would be no need to hide her. They already knew that the previous boss also had children, but his daughter as far as they could tell, never had ties with the criminal elements of her father’s business, though she had packed up and left Japan about 2 years back so they couldn’t question her on any of this.
"According to the letter she left young Bakugo and the testimony she gave a cop the day of the incident, she suspected that the girl was being abused, which explained the bandages as Chisaki claimed that they came from accidents," Toshinori stated, to which Nighteye nodded.
“Classic cover story…” He muttered under his breath before he spoke up. “It would certainly have been cause for a search warrant, but if she’s not in the system, that will be a challenge. Have you tried to identify the girl?”
“We did, but we came up with nothing. Sadly, Young Midoriya didn’t leave too much of a description we can work with. It doesn’t help that the girl was described as around 5-6.” Toshinori replied as Togata sighed, seeing the issue.
"Why do those her age matter?" Bakugo asked them all.
“Bakugo, you understand that quirks can alter the way people look, correct?” Toshinori asked him, getting a nod from the 1st-year student in return.
“Yes.”
"Well, this makes it a challenge to identify children after their quirk appears. Take your classmate, Tokoyami, I doubt he always looked like that, but if you were to see him at age 3 and then again at age 5, would you have been able to tell they were the same?" He asked the boy, who could only frown and shake his head.
“No.”
"This is why quirk restriction is so strict for children, to allow law enforcement to better identify and track them. This could mean that Eri does exist in the system but under a different name and face." Nighteye finished the explanation as it only searched that much harder as now they'll need to look through every missing person report filed in the last few years for a child, a task made all the harder as they wouldn't know from which age range to start searching, and they'll also have to consider that some parent doesn't report missing children, giving them up or selling them to others.
"Either way, it would explain why he wished to silence this Midoriya girl, as her testimony could have gotten us a way into his operations. However, that also could mean that she's already dead." Nighteye finished as he didn't think that she would still be alive, a point that Bakugo took great issue with as he jumped to his feet.
“No way, he wouldn’t kill her, why would he kidnap her if he wanted her dead?” He demanded, refusing to entertain the idea that she could be dead but the pro didn’t flinch as he responded.
“A body attracts more attention.”
Toshinori once more calmed the boy down, even if he also accepted that after all this time, she might very well be deceased as his time dealing with drug cartels and All for One’s shadow empire had exposed him to a great many ways to dispose of…evidence, as sickening as it was. "He's right, young Bakugo. If Ms. Midoriya had come home to find her daughter's body in their home, they would have no doubt been the first suspects. But with her vanishing…"
“Damn cops assume that she ran off. But that’s a load of shit, they didn’t know her like I did! She didn’t run, even when it would have been smart to, so no way she just up and left it all.” Bakugo yelled back at the man, though none present faulted him for it as this was a distressing subject.
"We aren't disagreeing with you, merely stating the facts and theories as they stand. However, we'll have better chances of cracking this case with some help." Nighteye explained to them.
“What do you mean?” Toshinori asked.
"I'm suggesting that we work together, combining our two investigations into one, once we have more of an idea, we can bring in other pros and tighten the noose around them, before moving in for a quick, single blow to rescue the girls and cease his drug operations," Nighteye explained before they would spend the next hour hashing out details, passing information and making a list of pros they could request help from to boast their efforts.
Line Break
That evening, to be more accurate, in the early hours of the following morning, while most of the country slept, agents of the MLA gathered, with Slidin' Go standing with 2 others on a building overlooking the Shie Hassaikai’s stronghold, grunts standing guard at street level but ignorant to the fact there were 20 other pros present, hidden and waiting on the order to move. On the phone that he held for him and the 2 other pros with him to see was a screen showing both Skeptic and Curious who despite it being 2 am, didn’t look worse for wear.
“Everything’s in place?” Curious asked them, getting a firm nod from the man.
"Yes, mam! All teams are in a position to move." He sparred a glance in the direction of one of those teams, who should have a perfect shot at handling the guards before they could raise the alarm. “We even managed the warrant, though we had to hide how we managed to acquire the evidence.” They could have simply requested a judge sympathetic to their cause sign off on it, but Skeptic had vetoed that, voicing that shouldn't give away too much of their reach as someone was bound to look into that and would find it suspicious that they got such a warrant.
So they simply faked some convincing enough evidence and gave them to a judge that wasn’t a MLA member who then signed off on it.
“Trust me, come morning no one will care how you got it.” Curious smiled, having already prepared the headlines and notes for her news agencies to run with.
“Remember what your mission is. Destroy the quirk research in its entirety, leave nothing behind. The lives of the two girls are also a top priority and I won't accept failure, is that understood?” Skeptic reminded the three, who all shook in fear at the thought of angering their commander, a man that was known to be a perfectionist in all things, or at least someone that would be liable to kill anyone lower than him that tried to tell him otherwise.
“U-understood, sir.” Slidin' Go shook his head as fast as he could as the man backed off as thankfully, Curious took over. Of course, it wasn’t because she wasn’t as dangerous as her fellow commander-she was, but she was more rational and wouldn’t kill them just for irritating her. There was also the fact that none were interesting enough for her to go after them for an interview.
“It shouldn’t be too hard, thanks to Midoriya's intelligence, we know more about them than the cops would, and we managed to isolate the pros and police of the area. We have the element of surprise and intelligence. Don’t waste it.” The second part had been easier than the first, as they knew that Kai had informants in the police, and pros in his pocket but they didn't know who other than Lady Mystery, who they strung along with a wild goose chase on the other side of town.
“We won’t mam, for the liberation." Slidin' Go saluted them, his thumb pressed to his forehead with his pointing finger directed upwards, as if he was making a gun with his hand. It was copied by the other two heroes with him as their commanders did the same before the call ended. Now, it would only be a few more minutes before they moved in.
Comments
Austin McConnell
Good chapter
