-Rain of Sins-
-Dark Revival: Ch 3-
Curious shivered under the white haired man’s gaze, just being in the same room as him felt like a mountain was pushing down on her chest, making it almost impossible to breathe.
“What do you want?” She asked in the most defiant voice she could muster.
“Oh I want many things, things that someone like you could work their whole life and never come close to achieving even one of. But from you? All I want is to help.”
“You appear out of thin air, kill both my guards, say you know I’m a part of the MLA, and you expect me to believe that!?”
“You wouldn’t have listened to me seriously otherwise.” All for One smirked. “You know I’ve always kept an eye on your little group since I found out about it years ago, but recently I’ve found my time freed up, so to speak, and the more I look, the more of your people I find everywhere I look- there’s almost no end to them, It’s fascinating .”
Curious’ eyes narrowed and her hands tightened into fists under her desk, slowly activating her quirk on it. She doubted it would injure him, but exploding her office might let her slip away.
A sudden force gripped her wrists and yanked them away from the underside of her desk.
“None of that.” All for One tisked in amusement. “I’m here to help remember? My interests happen to align with your little group for the moment, and I want something done that you want to do.” He pulled a USB from his suit pocket and placed it on the desk in front of her. “I have a friend in UA who I asked to plug that into a computer as a favor. She resisted at first, but with a little encouragement she obliged.”
“You have someone in the UA servers?” Curious perked up, suddenly fascinated with the chip. “What did you take from them?”
“This, my dear, is everything that mr goodie two shoes Nezu has helped cover up over the years. The rat has quite the incentive to keep the top Heroes who graduate from his school controversy free, after all.”
“...You’re joking.” She said as she hesitantly picked up the drive with a gobsmacked expression. “You have to be joking.”
“If you doubt me, feel free to plug it in and look for yourself.”
“Ha! Not a chance. The only thing this is getting plugged into is a burner computer, without any sort of connection to the internet, and completely unconnected to any files whatsoever.”
All for One’s smirk didn’t budge, but he did shrug slightly. Oh well, not everyone can be completely stupid, but it was worth a shot.
“You run a news company, and are a part of the MLA. If anyone can get all that distributed across the entire nation faster than it can get taken down, and do so without it being traced back to my friend at UA- it would be you.”
“Yeah… Yeah I can do that.” She looked down at the drive hungerly. “There won’t be a place online that doesn’t have this plastered all over it.”
“Good, but I will warn you that you’ll want to act soon. An… acquaintance of mine is in contact with a certain individual, and plans to set him up for an interview with a rather subversive media star. If you want to catch the upcoming wave of hate against the Hero system, you’ll need to work fast.”
-Rain of Sins-
A staticy camera feed flickered to life, revealing a vertical view of a grimy wooden floor. The camera fuzzed for a moment, its internal motors trying to focus while the person holding it jostled about.
The video suddenly jolted, pulling up to show a dingy room of an abandoned building, and a man sitting at a broken desk illuminated only by a single old lamp.
The camera feed shook a bit more before abruptly stilling as the person holding it put it down on a solid surface.
“It’s rolling.” A gruff voice said from behind the camera, muffled slightly.
The figure at the table sighed and leaned forward into the light of the lamp, revealing a grisly sight. A singed jacked, exhausted eyes, heavy bandages, and burnt skin… so much burnt skin.
Flesh, flash boiled from the inside out, a discolored mush of inflamed skin and exposed muscle that split open and oozed pus at any sudden movement. The whole mess, only held together by crude metal staples.
“Hello Japan.” The man said with a tired voice. “Most of you may recognize me as the Villain Dabi- or Cremation, if you encountered me at the start of my career. I’m a mass murderer, a wanted criminal, and was a member of the League of Villain’s Vanguard Action Squad. I’m a pretty bad guy.”
A blue flare sparked to life in his palm, illuminating his face with a sapphire light that easily overpowered the dingy lamp. Dabi stared at the flame, watching as it twisted and turned, the flesh of his palm sizzling underneath it.
“But I’m recording this to let you all in on a little secret… My name isn’t Dabi.” The Villain’s face twisted into a horrifying grin, so wide that the burnt skin on his left cheek split open. “My name is Toya Todoroki, son of Enji Todoroki- or as you know him, the pro Hero Endeavor.”
Toya chucked, a vile, vindictive, hate soaked sound, that was closer to the sound of a poisoned dog gasping in agony, than a human laugh.
“And boy do I have a story to tell you about my old man.”
A second man walked into the camera frame, and took a seat across from Dabi. He had a long sword on his back, a bloody crimson scarf around his neck, and a bandaged wrist at the stump of his missing hand.
“Go on boy.” Stain said with a voice of steel as he leaned forward. “Tell the world how the greatest of our false idols wronged you.”
-Rain of Sins-
“Hello there, and good morning chaps. Welcome back to Breakfast with the BBC, the longest running news network in the world. More news has slipped out of Japan in the last few days, and my what news it has been.
Endeavor, the Hero that the Japs unjustifiably gave All Might’s title of top Hero to, not only was defeated by a Villain within an hour of the ceremony, he has gone missing as well! Take a moment to think about that. They nominated someone not even in the top ten of international Heroes to a ranking above All Might, he immediately got his tush wolloped into next week with a thorough drubbing, and now he’s conveniently disappeared so he doesn’t have to show his face to the cameras.
Bloody. Brilliant.
But if that’s not enough, a video circulating the media has somehow cracked even more cups off the table, to reveal the decision for the tosh it is.
From blackmailing his wife’s family, to quirk marriages, to child abuse, to physical abuse with his quirk, to all the collateral damage he caused as a Hero, and even the time he burt down an apartment building when chasing a Villain.
The Hero Endeavor- and he is Endeavor on this show, because the knob is the last person I’d ever want to be the King- has been implicated in a large list of crimes by his supposedly dead son, Toya Todoroshi- better known as the Villain Dabi.
But dead blokes don’t make very good villains, so either we’re all mass hallucinating, or the overgrown lightbulb has been lying to the government about his family records for over a decade. Surprise: it was the second one, and his wife has been put into protective care and therapy after a second look at her file.
…Yes, well when you’re daft enough to somehow miss your second best Hero running a eugenics program, I'm not surprised they missed that either. For the Queen’s sake, I wouldn’t be surprised if they missed him swapping out his birth certificate! Enji? No, that’s the cool name he wanted everyone to call him as a kid, his real name was probably Tod.
We’ll be back in an hour, after our mandatory tea break with more exceedingly British news.
Up next: should we set aside a portion of government funds to feed a whale enough biscuits that it grows big enough to swallow Ireland once and for all? Local chap at London pub votes yes!”
*CLICK*
“-lmost a decade of cover ups! Tax evasion! Stock market manipulation! Sexual harassment! Some of the nation's best and brightest Heroes have been implicated in a mountain of crimes!
And at the center of it all is Nezu Nezdu, the principal of UA Hero Academy, who allegedly is the mastermind behind these coverups!
But if the government were to actually follow through on what the law demands, they would have to bar DOZENS of the top 100 Heroes from Hero related work until they take a special class to re-earn their license: something that can take up to a year to complete. And even completely strip some of their Hero status all together until charges can be settled in court.
That would be a tough pill to swallow even in normal times, but with All Might injured, Endeavor missing, and villain attack rates through the roof, people are concerned that they may just let them all get away with this!”
*CLICK*
“Look I’m not saying it’s the RIGHT THING, but we should let them off with a slap on the wrist here. Have you forgotten that we’ve just lost Endeavor, and the Sovereign of Sin is running rampant? We can’t afford to just lose a ton of our top Heroes! Who would protect-
*CLICK*
“-don’t fucking give a shit! Those assholes aren’t Heroes, they’re Villains! Just like fucking Endeavor! They broke the laws that they were supposed to be upholding! Fuck them! I want them out of costume, off the streets, and in a courtroom!
The fucking Safety Commision were the ones who took down the Leauge and arrested Shigaraki! Let them take over fighting the bad guys, they might actually get something done.”
*CLICK*
SKHHHHGHHGHSHH
*CLICK*
“The Snake Hero Uwabami has refused to comment on the fraud allegations leveled against her and her fashion company. New evidence suggests that she has been responsible for the collapse of the so called ‘small fashion industry’, and that through things like stock manipulation of shell companies, and illegal monopolistic practices, she has brutally crushed every fashion company smaller than her own.
In total almost 40 businesses have had to close their doors, and hundreds of families have lost their jobs, or even been pushed into poverty. You can see behind me, a crowd has formed around her headquarters, calling for her to speak up.
Police are on the scene but whether they’re here for the Hero or to hold back the crowd remains to be seen. Only time will tell if- wait who… Is that Miruko!?”
“YAMANE YOU SNAKE EYED WHORE! YOU’RE A DISGRACE TO HEROINES! GET THE FUCK OUT HERE OR I’M GONNA BREAK YOUR DOOR DOWN!”
*CLICK*
“You can see below me, from the helicopter, that the outskirts of Tokyo are in ruins! Thankfully the main city is mostly untouched, but this is brutal! Especially over here in the East fringes, where Endeavor’s fight took place. At least the Western edge was abandoned, but over here it almost looks like a bomb went off! And that’s before everything burnt down!
This was a low income, high mutant area, so Tokyo at large is marching on mostly unaffected, but this is tragic. Rescue teams have been working around the clock, and while the body count is lower than initially feared, it still continues to climb higher.”
*CLICK*
“Tomura Shigaraki behind bars! The League of Villains shattered! For all the bad that’s happened, good still prevails. The man responsible for not only going toe to toe with the Vanguard Action Squad, but taking down an A rank warp Villain in combat and capturing Shigaraki, wasn’t even a Hero.
Ex military officer, HPSC Chief of Security William Dixie was personally congratulated by the Prime Minister, and offered a medal for his service by the chief of staff.
Dixie declined, his only comment: that the men who died for their country that day, deserve more medals than there is gold on the Earth.”
*CLICK*
“Gridlock has finally been broken in the Senate!
A coalition of moderates, conservatives, and right wing parties have banded together to consolidate a majority block, finally overcoming the no-vote wall the leftists have had in place for months. This new group's slogan? Enough is enough.
They demand an end to the chaos that has gripped Japan, and vow that they will restore order!
The first things they have done are launch a full investigation into the entire Heroics industry, as well as an investigation to find out where the HPSC got military issued equipment, without the government ever knowing.
A massive increase in police and military funding is expected in the coming days, but the same question is on everyone's minds: just how long can such a varied group keep together without falling apart from conflicting interests.”
*CLICK*
“Stain was right! Destro was right! These people aren’t Heroes! They’re our oppressors!”
*CLICK*
“You know it’s bad his a group of vigilantes are placing in the top twenty most popular Hero groups, despite not even being on the fucking poll! These so-called ‘Gentle Knights’ are highlighting everything wrong with society without even trying!”
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
*CLICK*
“Does NO ONE ELSE think that it’s suspicious how the Prime Minister managed to keep his seat even though his coalition got booted out? I mean, I’ve never even heard of the national emergency law he used to keep his seat! It’s-”
*CLICK*
“A new wave of crime, unlike anything seen since the Quirk Collapse! The LoV is gone, but the Sovereign is still running rampant! This is unacceptable!”
*CLICK*
“Protests have erupted across the nation-”
*CLICK*
“Activists out marching in support of Heroes clash with anti-Hero protesters, leaving 23 wounded-”
*CLICK*
“BREAKING NEWS!
The largest protest in History has shown up to the doors of the senate building to support the new government and urge them to take swift action to bring safety back to the nation- even if it means putting more power in institutions like the HPSC and police. Chants and signs pleading for peace and safety fill the streets, lead by a charismatic firebrand who’s calling for the government to bring all Villains to heel under the law- both the Sovereign, as well as the over 40 Heroes implicated in crimes.
The only other protest this size in recent history is the counter-protest that has turned up to support the Heroes.
Both Heroes and police are on site to keep the peace, but they are drops in an ocean of angry people. Everyone across the nation is watching with bated breaths, hoping that this doesn’t turn violent.”
*CLICK*
“-hat I don’t get is why so many people are suddenly rallying behind the HPSC! Don’t you remember that THEY were also covering up crimes! And now suddenly everyone’s forgotten about that because we’ve all been conditioned to have the attention span of a goldfish!
I’m telling you, this is a conspiracy! Endeavor was in bed with the HPSC, they were using him to control hero society, and now they’ve thrown him away to manipulate everyone into thinking they’re the good guys!”
“Alex…”
“No! I’m right about this, just like I was right about the frogs turning gay, and how I called that the whole story about Nezu being just a normal mutant is a lie! They turned the frogs gay, they created Nezu in a lab with alien technology, and Endeavor was in cahoots with the Deep State!”
“Do you have any evidence for this?”
“I can FEEL it!”
“A gut feeling isn’t evidence… Hold on, who’s-”
“The new world order’s gonna take everything you’ve got! They’re gonna take your children’s SOUL! Are we going to bow down to these people?! Everything they do is POISON! It’s a pack of criminals and everybody knows it!
“A-Alex, people are at the door!”
“WHAT MATTERS IS YOUR FREEDOM, WHAT MATTERS IS YOUR INTEGRITY! WHAT MATTERS IS WHO YOU ARE!”
“Shit! They’re breaking in! Turn off the podcast!”
“I DON’T KNOW HOW THIS IS GONNA END, BUT IF YOU WANT A FIGHT… YOU BETTER BELIEVE YOU’VE GOT ONE! ”
*CLICK*
*CRUNCH*
The video cut off as the phone was knocked to the ground and crushed under the countless marching boots of the largest protests in Japan’s modern history.
The sky was gray, overcast for a cold winter evening. Fog and a light frost clung to the city like a loose glove. Thousands of people marched in support of heroes, just as many marched in opposition, only held apart by a thin line of law enforcement.
“THE HEROES CAUSED THIS!” a man with a long red scarf shouted into a megaphone, stirring up the crowd. “WE BOUGHT THEIR PRODUCTS, THEIR TV SHOWS, THEIR MERCHANDISE! THEIR POSTERS! WE GAVE THEM MORE MONEY FOR DRESSING LIKE SLUTS THAN THEY GOT FOR DOING THEIR JOB! WHAT DID WE EXPECT!?”
Many cheered at his words, others threw rocks at his perch atop an All Might statue.
“IT’S ALL ROTTEN, IT IS! THE WHOLE INDUSTRY HAS TURNED INTO A SWAMP OF MONEY AND GREED! THEY CARE ABOUT THE FAME, NOT ABOUT US! AND WE CAUSED IT! WE NEED DRASTIC MEASURES! WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN! MAKE AN EXAMPLE OUT OF THESE CRIMINALS! LOCK ‘EM BEHIND BARS! TEACH THEM WHAT FOR!”
“Would he just shut up already!” The Hero Captain Clear grit his teeth and strained his quirk, pushing the two crowds further apart with his glass barriers.
“THE HEROES WANT ME TO BE QUIET! BUT I’LL NEVER BE SILENCED!”
“Of course he somehow fucking heard me over everything.” Clear growled in frustration. “That lunatic is going to turn this into a fucking riot! Fred, Wheel, can you two hold this on your own?”
His two friends looked at him with apprehension.
“Oh gosh, I’ll try Liam, but whatever you're doing, you better do it fast!” Fred, a big bear mutant with a top hat and tie, said. “There are too many of ‘em, and too few of us to man the whole line!”
Big Wheel didn’t respond verbally, he never did, instead the numerous metal rings that made up his body spun in a vaguely distressed manner.
“Don’t worry, It’ll only take a moment=”
“WE MUST RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE! AGAINST THE LIARS! WE MUST TAKE BACK OUR COUNTRY!”
“I’m just gonna take this asshole’s megaphone.”
Clear sneered, and split a sheet of glass off one of his barriers, it slid under his feet and slowly lifted him into the air.
“Sir, I'm going to ask you once nicely to get off the statue, and hand over the megaphone.” He spoke loudly and clearly so that the man wouldn’t have a chance to mishear him with all the noise. He made a face as he floated closer, he could smell alcohol on the man's breath even from this distance.
“NEVER! I’LL NEVER GIVE IN! YOU MAY DELETE EVERY STAIN VIDEO ONLINE, BUT I WON’T LET YOU DELETE MY VOICE! THE BLOOD GUARD WILL DEFEND OUR FREEDOMS!”
“Then I’m afraid I’ll have to take you into custody, just until the protest passes.” Clear frowned and a pair of glass handcuffs split off from his platform and floated forward. “Defacing a public statue, inciting violence, you’re a danger to yourself and everyone here.”
But while the Hero was distracted with physically chaining up a man on live TV, he completely missed the rock being thrown. It was aimed at the drunk man atop the statue, but it slammed into the back of the Hero’s head.
His helmet shattered like the glass it was made of, and he plummeted into the mob of people.
The pro-Hero protest roared in fury and rushed forward to save their Hero, easily overpowering the thin barricade, and crashing into their counterpart crowd which screamed in terror.
Then things got violent. Very violent.
And Bakugo could only watch from the sidelines, horrified at the carnage in front of him, and legally restricted from helping.
-Rain of Sins-
As the nation strained itself at its seams above, a terrifying tapestry of science was being slowly woven together below.
Creation.
Destruction.
Energy Creation.
Energy Nullification.
Energy Manipulation.
Izuku watched the tank in front of him that held the quirks that, when combined together, would be capable of unfathomable and overwhelming power.
He had done all he could to make the resulting quirk stable. They weren’t quite fused into an amalgam quirk, but they were all connected, like organs in a body. Not quite individual, not quite one.
But it was a fragile balance- especially since he had added abilities he’d extracted from Kirogiri to the product to push it just that much further. The vessel’s genetic makeup would have to be incredibly stable if it was to hold this without being ripped apart. An animal would not do. A human would not do- even if he removed their original quirk there would still be a stain from it, and that was unacceptable.
Which meant that, sadly, he could not give it to himself without dying an excruciatingly painful death.
From his coat Izuku pulled something that he had been saving for a long time in cold storage. It was a vial of blood. A vial of incredibly rare, completely pure, human blood, that had never been tampered with by a quirk.
A vial of his own blood, taken from before he had even used his serum on himself.
This was the baseline that the entire project rested on. He would create a vessel perfectly suited to hold the quirk, he would forge the most powerful weapon the world had ever seen, and All for One would fall.
He just needed it to work .
“Experiments C3, C5, C6, and C8 all flatlined.” Ujiko said in a monotone, morally detached voice. “C7 was doing better, but the quirk went unstable and exploded. B8 also suffered the same, concluding the last of the B batch.”
“Make the necessary adjustments and start batch D.”
Ujiko turned to the scientists around him. “You heard your boss. Get to it!” He shooed them off and walked over towards his apprentice.
Izuku was hunched over a monitor, gloved hands planted on either side of it, and his eyes glued unblinkingly to the screen as information and reports streamed across the glass. Around him piles of empty coffee cups and caffeine mint cans were scattered all across his desk.
He was sickly pale, sleep deprived, running on fumes, and visibly stressed near a breaking point. But Ujiko didn’t pull him away or demand he get some rest, to do so would have made him a hypocrite of the highest order.
“Each of these things you're making are more resource intensive than several high end nomu combined, and we’re blowing through them faster than a pack of bubblegum. This might be the last batch we can make without cutting corners.”
“...Explain”
“Our funding is drying up across the board, All for One is cutting off the tap, and those Entropy sales of yours were never designed to make money, just to spread the product.” Ujiko shrugged. “My larger labs have ways of keeping themselves afloat, and my personal lab has the hospital revenue, but it’s not enough. This project, as well as most other labs, are going to be dead in the water in a few days.”
…
Izuku didn’t react, he just stared at his screen, unresponsive.
“...It will work. It has to work.” He whispered. “Entropy’s hit a dead end, this is the only chance we have.”
“You’re overreacting, Kid.” Ujiko sighed and stroked his mustache. “Master was displeased when he found out about your attempts to remove quirks, sure, but he let you go with a slap on the wrist, didn’t he? You don’t need a failsafe against him.”
…
Izuku didn’t react, he just stared at his screen.
The doors to Izuku’s office slammed open, revealing Kuin panting for breath.
“The guys over in the East wing just reported in Boss!” She shouted. “They got it working! Project Kronos is totally complete!”
Ujiko gasped, his eyes going wide. “Kid, what the Hell have you been up to down here? That technology was decades away!”
The Sovereign of Sin slowly looked up, deep bags under his eyes from a total lack of sleep.
He smirked.
-Rain of Sins-
Ragnar Úlfr, code name Hound, slammed his glass down on the bar with a sigh. He was a burly man, with a sharp beard, big muscles, a biker jacket, and a metal cuff around his neck. It was a shock collar he willingly wore to keep his partners safe, in case his quirk ever went out of control on a mission.
“I don’t get it.” He growled. “The Heroes fucked everything up. They flubbed the trap we set up, they couldn’t catch the Sovereign, couldn’t even hold Shigaraki off so we could get King onto the train without interruptions. We took down the League, we captured Shigaraki, so why the fuck are we getting hate!”
He slurred and chucked his cup at the TV on the wall, it shattered uselessly against the reinforced glass. No one around him seemed to particularly care- it was a free bar for Safety Commission agents while off the clock, they were all tired and had seen worse.
“Oooh the Heroes let their target get away, but even though the Safety Commission not only planned it all out perfectly so that no civilians got hurt before the Heroes let the Sovereign get away, AND they caught Tomura Shigaraki, THEY need to be investigated for using big weapons.”
He snorted.
“Yeah, because we used guns so we could keep pace with the walking war crimes waiting to happen, we're the bad guys! They got leaked as fucking criminals and people are protesting to let them off free!” Ragnar grumbled and planted his forehead on the bar counter.
“Fucking incompetent dipshits. If it had been the Heroes supporting us instead of the other way around, the trap would have worked and no one would have died! We would have just fucking blown his brains out with a sniper before he could call backup. But noooo , we have to rush in and look cool for the cameras! Fuck! We should just replace the Heroes all together, then the whole Villain problem would disappear overnight!”
Ragnar groaned. “...Friends of mine died because of them.”
The agent next to him glanced around, and when she was sure that no one who wasn’t already in on it was paying too much attention, she scooted her chair over a bit.
“Psst. Hey.”
The gruff man looked up to see a dainty girl peeking down at him, with purple eyes, an almost doll-like face, and twin oversized rat ears that peaked out of her hair, flopping down over her face.
“What do you want, Parlour Maid?”
“We’re off duty, I’ve told you, just call me Rat.” She kicked him, but the grizzly man barely felt it.
“I’ve told you, that just sounds racist.”
“My name is literally Raton, asshat.”
“Yeah, and you also like cheese. Your very existence perpetuates stereotypes that get me in trouble for being around you. Distance is the only solution, but even that gets me canceled for wanting segregation from mutants or some shit.”
“Shut up!” She hissed and kicked him again. “Listen, were you serious?”
“Bout what?”
“About, you know, taking charge and being more proactive, because Heroes are more worried about being flashy and their rankings than being efficient.”
He pushed himself up and looked down at Rat, who fought against her natural instinct to scurry away from the wolfish man.
“And what if I am? Got a problem with that?”
“No! Not at all!” Rate glanced around the bar, double checking before leaning closer. “Find a way to speak with the Chief of Security, it doesn't matter if you get assigned a mission by him, ‘accidentally’ bump into him on off hours, or even just bring him a cup of coffee. Then say this phrase.”
“What is this, a secret society or some shit?”
“Nothing like that, it’s just so that he knows he can count on you to do the right thing if he needs anyone for special missions.” Rat leaned in closer, a wide grin on her face. “Tell him you want to work- For peace in our time. ”
-Rain of Sins-
Bakugo sat alone in his room. The lights were turned off, his blinds were shut, a plate of food sat uneaten on his nightstand, next to a phone with dozens of missed calls from his friends.
Several days had passed since his expulsion, and things had… quieted down.
His parents were worried sick, even his Mom’s fiery shouting when she’d found out what he had done to all those kids in Aldera had died an ugly death when she realized he wasn’t snapping back.
Contrary to what Hound Dog had said, he’d gotten an email from another Hero academy within a few days. Honnōji Academy said they were impressed by his ferocity and talent for fighting, and claimed they didn’t care about his “delinquent record” because they were confident they could stamp it out forcefully if need be.
But he hadn’t responded to them, not even a “thank you” or “give me some time to consider”.
He was… he was done Heroing.
Heroes should be like All Might.
Bakugo wasn’t.
Bakugo was like Endeavor, and the very thought made his stomach roll.
He wasn’t sure what he was going to do, since he wasn’t going to be a Hero anymore, but that could wait. First he had things to set straight.
He’d personally called every phone number in his old yearbook to apologize. Some had accepted, most hung up, and some yelled at him. The ones who he couldn’t get ahold of he had mailed hand written apology notes to.
He had offered every person a chance to meet up and slug him in the face, with their quirk or their fists, to get back at him. Most had declined, but some had taken him up on it.
Bakugo laid back in his bed as he flipped through the news on the TV.
*CLICK*
“These people who support the HPSC, they’re extremists! They attacked a bunch of peaceful protesters! Some of them even had metal bats! We were there to protest for the Heroes, and they attacked us! It was horrible!”
*CLICK*
“Hero drones! That’s the only way I can describe these people, Shelly! Drones! Fanatics! They don’t think for themselves! They’re fanboys so disillusioned and blinded by their idols that they refuse to see reality! They don’t care that these people committed crimes, they don’t care about the law, all they care about is that their precious Hero, who they have every piece of merch of, is unharmed!
The pro-order rally had been planned ahead of time, scheduled with local law enforcement, and legally had the right to use that public area unobstructed, for up to five hours. That was why there were so few police there, because it was planned out and everyone knew it was peaceful!
Then the pro-Hero protesters show up and attack us, not just because most of us approve of the Safety Commission taking the fight to crime, but because we dared to slander their darling Heroes.
These fanatics, they used their quirks in the fighting! People are in the hospital! Some even DIED! Of course some grabbed a fucking pipe to defend themselves with! I would too!”
*CLICK*
Bakugo rubbed his swollen cheek. Gengie Dino, who he had teased for being “tiny gecko Gengie” for all those years, had grown up to be an absolute beast of a mutant who hit like a truck.
…The guy had been a pretty good sport once Bakugo took the punch, all things considered. He helped him up, laughed, and invited him to grab pizza and go bowling with ‘the dudes’ sometime.
But Bakugo was too busy to deal with pizza, bowling, and ‘the dudes’. He was trying to track down the most important person he had to apologize to… Someone who he owed a lot more than a free punch to if he was ever going to make anything up.
Izuku had been employed by some hospital, that was how he’d gotten accepted as a medical helper for the sports festival tournament.
If only he was as smart as Momo, he might actually remember the name, but no matter how hard he tried, he kept coming up blank.
He’d tried wandering through the city, and just visiting every hospital on his map one by one, but all that had done was lead him to the edge of that protest, and the utter shit show that had turned into.
But he would keep looking, he owed it to Izuku.
It didn’t matter how long it took, or where he had to search to get information.
*CLICK*
“-nd now I present to you all my named successor for Jaku General Hospital, who has something very important to share with you all! Izuku Midori-”
*CLICK*
He would even go to those shady info brokers that Aizawa had told them about, if he had to. It didn’t matter.
…
Wait.
*CLICK*
A familiar face with a mop of mossy hair smiled at the screen with deep bags under his eyes, and exhaustion painted into every inch of his face, but despite that his emerald eyes burned with focus.
-Rain of Sins-
“Hello ladies and gentlemen of the world. Most of you are busy with the news, or distracted with life at the moment, but I know you’ll all be rushing to watch a recording of this soon.”
In the back of his mind Izuku knew he was performing in front of millions of people, even if not all at once. He had been shaking in his boots before this, terrified at his old memories of stage fright… But now the thought of it was so pathetic he had to bite back a laugh.
After everything he'd been through, after fighting Heroes, getting blown into pieces, fighting Endeavor, and staring down All for One, this was pathetically not intimidating.
“I’ll cut straight to the point.” He waved a hand to the glass vials on the counter, each with a syringe, and a blue liquid inside. “Have you ever wanted a quirk you weren’t born with? Well, now for a low price, I can give you it! This is a new, non invasive, and quick procedure. All you have to do is pick a quirk we have bottled, get a shot in your arm, take an optional pill to help with the nausea, and bam! You wake up the next day with the power you always wanted.”
There was a beat of silence, as the room processed what he’d said, then it practically exploded. Everyone was on their feet, shouting questions, shaving microphones at him, and desperately trying to get a better look at the vials.
Izuku smiled.
The HPSC had gotten away with calling him the “Sovereign of Sin” for too long, it was time he started giving people a reason to use the name he chose.
Prometheus.
-Chapter End-