-Rain of Sins-
-Dominos and Butterflies: Ch 3-
Aizawa cursed under his breath as he rushed through the UA halls
His interview with the media had gone on for far too long. Honestly he was the last person that should be stalling the media right now, his blunt attitude never went well with the press who just loved backhanded comments, double meanings, and leading questions. But everyone else with experience under the worst the media had to offer (mainly Mic) was still recovering, and so he was the only one left.
You couldn't let them get under your skin, get on your nerves, they were always always always fishing for a reaction or a slip up to pounce on like vultures.
But what had not helped at all, was the fact that the Safety Commision had dropped by unexpectedly just three minutes after he went live with the UA press statement.
But not just "the HSPC", no, that wasn't actually all that rare- they popped by to complain or argue with Nezu every once and awhile.
It was THE HSPC. The top brass. The big wigs. The ones behind Hawks, and likely the same ones behind Nagant all those years ago.
First Nezu caught them snooping around the festival, right before everything went to shit, then they quarantined the entire area, and suddenly their entire top board casually decided to stop by?
Something was up, and he didn't like it.
Aizawa skidded to a stop before the doors to an old meeting room that had been unused for years at this point, and swiftly pushed the door open, sliding inside without a noise.
Inside, the various teachers that were still healthy enough to work, sat on one side of a large dark oak table, with Nezu in the middle.
On the other side of the table were three chairs, with two security guards wearing tinted glasses, standing behind them.
"And that's not all! Two separate Villain break-ins in three months! First at the USJ, and now this! 30 pro heroes dead, ten ambushed with their guards down, before the attack even began! Many more injured or in critical condition! One Hero student crippled, several Gen-ed students dead, more still missing, another in a coma, and millions in collateral damage! It's a fucking miracle by the sheer grace of God that no civilians died! And even then, that's only because All Might was there!"
A man in a freshly ironed suit, and a black cowboy hat ranted, his voice dripping in vitriol as he stormed around the table.
"This goes beyond the realm of 'oversight', this is willing negligence! The courts want every one of you in this room, strung up by your necks and marched to the gallows!"
"We did our Jobs." Midnight snapped back, her head held high, but dark bags for lack of sleep were obvious under her eyes. "What happened was a tragedy that weighs heavily on us all, but we did our jobs and saved as many as we possibly could. The Villains were far too coordinated, far too numerous, and far too well planned. I doubt we could have stopped them completely, even if we had known they were coming ahead of time."
"Did your job? Are you shitting me!?" The man slammed his hands down on the table and snarled at her. "I have two court cases by mourning parents that want y'all's little teacher board here drawn up on charges of assisted manslaughter. If this is doing your job then I'd hate to see what you think would get you fired!"
Midnight clenched her hands underneath the table and glared at him, trying to not show how hurt she was, the man just glared back unflinching.
"That's enough Dixie." An old woman at the opposite end of the table from Nezu spoke up. "Everyone's here now, so we can get to business."
Aizawa confidently strode forward, and took his seat beside Nezu, side eyeing Dixie as he did the same beside his boss. Silently, he assessed the people across the table, and tried to remember everything Nezu had said about them.
Meli Kinoshita. Martin Melian. William Dixie.
The President. The Vice President. The Chief of Security.
The Queen, the Gray Eminence, and the Attack Dog.
Kinoshita was a hawk, plain and simple. She'd picked up where her predecessor left off, and learnt from his mistakes. She had turned the HSPC into Japan's shadow, controlling Hero rankings, licensing, and had a startling amount of control of the media. The HSPC was one of Japan's most powerful government organizations, and no one would even notice, unless you went out of your way to look for it.
Martin was the most dangerous, specifically for the fact that no one ever thought he was. His quirk was "Suggestion", which was a minor psychic Emitter type quirk. Far from being anywhere near strong enough to ever even be compared to a genuine mind control quirk, it slipped under the radar, and even passed the checks that usually stopped people with those quirks from being in politics, but was a polished knife in the hands of a good manipulator. It was just enough to get past a person's initial biases at the start of a conversation, and if you ask a fisherman, the hardest part about catching a record fish wasn't reeling it in, but landing the hook.
Martin had his fingerprint on every major legislation that had passed in the last few decades, in some shape or form. Every major politician always seemed to have brushed shoulders with him at some point, and every successful political party in Japan had his name marked as attending every single big rally and meeting, going as far back as several decades. He didn't have a presence, he didn't command a room when he entered, he was just… there. Always there.
And the most recent addition, the new security chief, William Dixie was brought on to be the battering ram, to Martin's knife. He was a stubborn, annoying mutt, that refused to take no for an answer, even if it meant having to get his hands dirty. The type of person his higher ups pointed in the direction of the problems they didn't want to be tied back to.
Aizawa took a deep breath, glancing at the teachers around him, and then to Nezu- who wore a happy smile and was staring at Kinoshita with beady black eyes. Unblinking.
This was going to be a headache.
Kino stared back at Nezu, her hands on the table, fingers interlocked, her cold steel eyes betraying nothing.
"...Let's keep this brief, Nezu." She said, breaking the quiet. "UA is in hot water. Between the USJ and the Festival, people don't trust you anymore. Investors are drying up, and the amount of lawsuits that are piling up would be more than enough to close your golden gates forever. And that's not to mention the recent talk of criminal charges that's being leveled against you."
Slowly she reached out and took a sip from a glass of water.
"I would hate to deal with the legal can of worms, if human rights can extend to a rat." She swirled the glass in her hand, and glanced at Nezu from the corner of her eye. "It was such a headache the last time, after all."
Nezu said nothing.
"You are in a very tight situation currently, and even with your supposed genius, I fail to see how you could get out of this. Fortunately, the Safety Commision is willing to offer… assistance, government backed assistance, in exchange for concessions to prevent a disaster like this from happening again."
"Generous, so generous." Nezu hummed. "That's awfully generous, might I ask why?"
"Because whether I like it or not, UA is the backbone of Japan's Hero system, and the festival attack is a blip on the radar in comparison to the long term problems that shutting this school down would cause."
"And I assume these concessions you mention, will only be used for the benefit of security for UA?"
Kino glanced at her VP and nodded. At the signal Martin pulled out a folder from his briefcase and passed it across the table.
"There will be no more festivals, no more extracurriculars, and the internships will be heavily restricted." He said in a calm but stern voice. "Studies such as art and mathematics, will be substituted for advanced combat classes, physical training, rescue drilling, and a greater emphasis will be put on learning foreign languages."
"Security will be increased heavily, including surveillance, and security patrols around the grounds. As it has become apparent that students have become targets of interest, dorms will be built on campus for them to stay in. Amenities will be provided, and students will be encouraged to bring whatever they want to make themselves at home, but the buildings will be designed with safety and security in mind before comfort and fashion."
"Dorms?" Snipe grunted as he swiped the folder and flipped through it. "These look more like military barracks than student dorms!"
"Well sorry they ain't made of pink frills and cotton candy, cowboy." Dixie scoffed at the other American at the table. "Not all of us have the budget for 20 foot tall gate of gold- then again, considerin' y'all's security record is about as good as a wick basket, I'd say it might be a good thing."
"Ah don't remember askin' you nuthin', Shrimp." Snipe glared. "If I wanted yer opinion, I'd squeeze yer head- nothing but a lotta shriekin', anyway."
"Woah now buddy, don't write a check you ain't willin to cash. I ain't against takin' this outside." Dixie leaned forward, a scowl tearing his face. "Less yer chicken?"
"Ladies, ladies, you're both pretty." Midnight leaned over in an attempt to diffuse the situation, and coaxed the folder from Snipe. "I for one actually like the idea of dorms at the school."
"Fascinating." Nezu chirped, his gaze never having left Kino. "Please tell me, for I must be coming up short, how does taking control of the class schedules enhance UA's security?"
Midnight paused, her mouth hanging open slightly. That had been a point listed, hadn't it? Why hadn't she…
"Your security has failed these students at every turn, but their own grit has kept them alive. I fail to see why we shouldn't nurture such talent
"So the skills they learned in the various classes that we provided kept them alive, so your response is to take several of them off the roster, and completely reorganize the lesson plans for the rest. Please forgive me, you know my mind just isn't as sharp as yours, how does this tie into increased security for my school?"
"Don't play games, Nezu." The President narrowed her eyes. "I know how you work."
"Misdirection. Mind games. None of that will help you right now. You need our help to keep afloat. The bill that's set to be passed tomorrow will give the Safety Commision the power to do all this and more, by force. And I wasn't lying, we cannot allow UA to go under, so either you can cooperate with us now, and we can work together to get this situation under control. Or. You can resist, you can make my life difficult, and force the HSPC to pull your organization in line string by string, legal document by legal document. Please keep in mind, however, Japan needs UA. UA does not necessarily need you."
Kino tilted her head ever so slightly.
"You've lost all good grace with the public, no one in politics would be willing to so much as shake your hand for fear of losing voters, you have no more investors. I'm offering a way out… If you burn this bridge, there's nothing left to stop you getting torn apart in the courts."
"Don't play games, Kino." The Principle mocked in a smug voice. "I know how you work."
"In a work of quirks that function as perfect lie detectors, and mind readers, working on plausible deniability, half truths, delegation, code words, and never exactly knowing what your other branches are doing, is the only way of running an organization like yours."
"Cut to the point, Nezu."
"According to the report you put out, the League smuggled explosives into the industrial district, and you found over twenty more throughout the festival itself." The mouse hummed in thought. "How odd then, that every single bomb was far away from the standard patrol paths that the festival used every year in the past. But the new ones I made this year after the USJ, my most mathematically optimized patrol routes, routes you didn't know of, overlapped on top of several of those bombs."
Nezu's smile grew ever so slightly sharper.
"Once again, I would like to ask if you'd share photos of these bombs you found."
If Kino took any offense to the very obvious jab she didn't show it, her face never twitched, she gave no tells. "I'm afraid I cannot, for reasons of national security."
"Yes. It would cause quite the uproar, wouldn't it?" Nezu chirped. "If the public were to actually get a look at them."
The two guards behind Kino stood up straighter, as a sudden tension engulfed the room, each side of the table eyeing each other wearily.
President and Principle watching one another, waiting to see what the other's move would be.
…
"I think this is a wonderful opportunity you've provided UA." Nezu said as he laid a fluffy paw on the folder and drew it to him, his eyes glinting in excitement of a challenge. "And I look forward to working very closely with you from now on."
-Rain of Sins-
The metal door slid open and Izuku walked into the room with confident strides, happy to finally be back in his now iconic black lab coat, several of his scientists ducking out of his way as he passed, but gave a strange look at the fact his hair was wet, and to the plate he was carrying.
A plate of chocolate covered strawberries.
The Nomu at the other end of the room immediately took notice, its large black head snapping up, nose flaring as it caught the scent of its favorite treat.
"Hello Jeremy." Izuku couldn't help the smile that cracked across his face as he approached the overgrown puppy. "How're you doing boy?"
Jeremy tilted his head and cooed in response, eyes locked on the plate in Izuku's hands.
"The next time I leave you behind to run tests on you, remind me not to. I could have really used you out there." Izuku chuckled and raised the fruit closer to the beast.
"Mlem."
Jeremy's long reptilian tongue flicked out and snatched one off the plate, like frog would a fly.
"How do you handle having so many quirks, buddy?" Izuku asked as he reached up and scratched behind where the nomu's ear should have been, the creature leaning slightly into the touch. "I got one yesterday, and just gave myself two more an hour ago, it's-" He shivered. "It feels like my bones are itching."
Two new quirks.
First, an intelligence quirk. His mind was his workshop, his weapon, and his literal job, all in one. Now that he had the greenlight from Ujiko, there was no reason not to upgrade it.
Gaining an intelligence quirk was… odd. It wasn't like he suddenly had a fundamental shift in the way he viewed the world, things were just… sleeker, quicker, more efficient. Like realizing your favorite game had actually been rather laggy after upgrading to a better computer and suddenly being able to run it without any frame drop, and little loading time. It also came with photographic memory, which was very useful.
The second was a bit more flavorful, however.
Jeremy cooed again, as he fished another strawberry.
"You just get used to it?" Izuku hummed, his hand tracing back to the thick wires plugged into the back of Jeremy's head. "Yeah, that would make sense."
He raised the plate further, and Jeremy happily scooped the rest of the strawberries down in one mouthful. His tail started wagging, and the screen on the machine he was plugged into flashed as it displayed new data, recording the exact brain signals and muscle coordination that Jeremy used to control his tail.
Izuku put the plate down and placed his hand atop the computer, using his quirk to turn it off, and unplug the wires from Jeremy.
A quirk to interface directly with technology, the same quirk Ujiko had provided to his master many years ago. But while he had needed it because he was blinded, Izuku needed it for a completely different reason.
"I'm not sure if I'll be able to just 'get used to it' buddy." Izuku traced a hand along the back of his neck where it met cold metal instead of warm skin. "I can't even itch something that doesn't feel."
The scientist shivered, and forced his mind to change thoughts, moving over to the machine Jremy had been hooked into. There was something else plugged into it on the other side, a black metal tail, made of countless segments so it could twist and bend like a living one. Almost four feet long, it looked like a scaled down replica of Jeremy's tail, which would make sense considering the computer had been using Jeremy's brain signals for the past several days to effectively make a control scheme for the thing.
The base of the tail, where it was at its largest, was open, its wiring and mechanical insides exposed to the world, as though it was meant to be wired into a mechanical back.
Gently, Izuku picked it up and examined it. His eyes shone with a green light as he interfaced with the software inside it.
"It's ready." He muttered, anxiety obvious in his voice, before turning to one of his scientists. "Let's not delay with this. I have a meeting with Ujiko in a couple hours."
-Rain of Sins-
Izuku stared at his hand, deep in thought.
He wasn't quirkless anymore.
More than that, he had an advanced quirk, something made by splicing together already powerful quirks into something exponentially better. It was something that would allow him to absolutely tower over others if it were to be revealed.
People would look at him, see his quirk, and revere him- just as they did anyone with a strong quirk.
…
He had three quirks.
If he had been born like this, what would his life have been like? Would the bullying be replaced with empty praise? Would his list of zero friends be swapped for an endless swarm of fake ones? Would he get it in his head that he was somehow more, somehow better, than everyone around him?
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
Would he have become like Bakugo?
…
Would his mom still be alive?
His hand clenched tightly into a fist, nails drawing blood with his new strength.
He had dreamed of this his entire life.
Prayed for it.
Begged for it.
Cried, and despaired for it.
Worked behind Ujiko's back for it.
Fought for it.
Slaved for it.
Nearly died for it.
And yet now he stood, his lifelong dream finally in his grasp.
…
He didn't feel any different.
There was no fundamental shift somewhere inside of him.
"Just a tool." Izuku whispered to himself, something he had logically known was true, but finally had the concrete proof in his lap. "Quirks are just tools, they don't fundamentally make you better, or more special than anyone else."
He knew this. So why… Why, when he finally achieved his dream, did it feel so hollow?
Above him, a speaker crackled to life.
"-amn machines, can't they make these with any less buttons?" Ujiko's voice echoed like he was speaking through a tin can. "Hello?" There was several loud thuds, that sounded suspiciously like him smacking the device, before his voice came through clearer. "Is this box of scrap on? Ah it is. Good."
"In order to help put you back together, you have been put through the ABMTP, advanced body modification treatment project, specifically version B75v, high abs been 'perfected' after versions A92 and B10a were used on subjects Six and Nine respectively… their names were actually unconnected, but they both ended in failure- six actually became increasingly mentally unstable and eventually just exploded, but Nine didn't, so I'm like 99% sure we fixed that bug."
"Regardless, your body has been improved in just about every way. Your muscles, your reflexes, even all the way down to your bone density, all changed. The problem, however, is that the treatment has overlapped with your serum in ways we could have never predicted. The results are… uncertain."
Pipes hissed, and machinery clanked as heavy metal gears turned, and pistons whirred into place.
Izuku pushed himself to his feet, as the room around him came to life, a small collection of basic close combat instruction books laid finished on the ground beside him.
"This exercise should, in theory, help you adjust your fine motor skills to your new body- so that you don't sit up way too fast and hit your head with enough force to dent metal, or crush a doorknob when you try to open a door."
Doors hissed, and metal groaned, as walls of the room began to shift. Subconsciously, the black metal tail flicked out behind Izuku, its pointed scraping along the floor, and causing him to wince.
"Also, considering your rapid regeneration means you can't exactly die on accident, I've decided that this will also double as some long overdue combat training- considering you always seem to find yourself neck deep in whatever bullshit is happening on any given day."
One section of the wall folded upwards, revealing several rows of bland looking robots.
One of the metal suits stumbled forward, its eyes flickering to life. It was a cheap and rough recreation of a human, standing on two legs, about five and a half feet tall, with a featureless metal face save for two holes where the eyes would be, that glowed blue. The fact that Ujiko specialized in genetics was very evident in the machine. It had exposed wires and pistons wrapped around a heavy steel skeleton, with a light aluminum shell only covering vital pieces such as the head and chest.
"Let's start off with something easy, shall we? W1 worker droids. I pulled these things out of storage, and am genuinely surprised they still work. I first designed them back in, uh, one moment-" There was the sound of rustling papers. "Really? Jesus, I feel old reading that. Uh, forget I said anything."
The droid ran forward, its metal frame clanking loudly with each step, and swung an overly telegraphed swing at Izuku.
He easily sidestepped the swing, and returned with one of his own. His fist collided with the thing's head with enough force to dent the aluminum in on itself, and send it spiraling to the floor.
Izuku blinked in surprise and stared at his hand. It wasn't like he was holding back, but he hadn't put that much into the punch. And his hand felt fine, like he hadn't just punched solid metal.
His distraction cost him, and he was blindsided when the droid crashed into him, tackling him to the ground. He took a punch to the face, then one to a raised arm, before he managed to get his legs up, feet flat against the droid's chest, and kick it off him.
He jumped to his feet and rushed at the robot before it could get back up, almost tripping over himself as he propelled forward with much more speed than anticipated. He planted a foot on the thing's back, reached under its chest panel, grabbed ahold of something that felt important, and unceremoniously ripped it out.
"Really Doc?" Izuku chuckled as he tossed the scrap metal at the head of the robot, its eyes now dark. "I get this is supposed to be a warmup, but this feels vaguely insulting. I could have beat this thing back in middle school."
"Shut up!" Ujiko's voice came back over the speakers, tinged with embarrassment. "It was a work bot, meant for menial labor, it wasn't designed to fight! Let's see how you deal with the next three planned bits at once."
Simultaneously, every droid activated, rows upon rows of eyes lighting up at once. Rusted joints creaked, as the metal legion shambled out of the opening, slowly becoming more confident in their movements as their systems fully came online.
Izuku took a deep breath and steadied himself, gradually feeling some of his tension dissipate. These things would struggle to carry anything more than a heavy box. He was stronger than them, and way smarter than them. And he was sturdy now, it didn't hurt to punch them like he expected.
He narrowed his eyes, lowered into a sprinter's position, and bolted forward.
Izuku impacted the first droid, shoulder first, like a truck, caving its chest in, and knocking it back into the one behind it. He let his momentum carry him, spinning out of the impact and into a haymaker that knocked the lights out of the next droid in line. (literally)
He hopped back to avoid a punch, but immediately regretted it when he took a metal blow to the back of the head. He pivoted and caught the arm as it swung again, bringing his foot up to keep the droid in place, and then ripped it off with a strong tug. Izuku raised his impromptu club and brought it down on the bot's head, barely biting back a "why're you hitting yourself" remark.
The scientist hissed as he took a blow to the side, his tail flicked up without thinking to block the second swing, before swinging his metal arm at the thing's head with enough force to cause both of the parts to explode into pieces.
Izuku only had time to spare a glance down at his arm, now only half its length, before he had to use it to bat aside a punch, and shoved its sharp end under the chest piece of a W1.
Another droid tried to jump him from behind, but he noticed it from the corner of his eye, and took a moment to mentally control his tail to flick up at it. He had meant to just bat the thing away, but watched in horror and rapt awe as the graphene metal tip skewered its way through the droid's chest and out the top of its head, turning it into a morbid shish kebab.
The droids apparently decided that getting picked off one by one wasn't doing them any good, and half a dozen rushed him all at once. Panicking, he swung his tail out, robot still stuck on it, and kicked the legs out from one droid, causing it to fall over more on accident than intention, dragging its neighbors to the floor with it. But that only took care of a few, and Izuku grunted as one slammed into him, and wrangled him into a chokehold.
Acting more on instinct than thought, Izuku slammed his head back into the chin of the droid, which knocked its head loose, but also stung significantly more than he initially thought it would.
He slipped from its grip, got behind it, grabbed its head by the chin, and yanked the thing off, before rearing back and throwing it at a droid sprinting at him. Which caused it to crumple to the floor from the impact, wires in its neck area sparking.
Izuku backpedaled, taking a moment to get some space between him and his opponents, and surveyed the area. The final stragglers finally addled their way out of the door, their systems obviously decayed worse than the rest, while others slowly pushed themselves back to their feet.
All in all, they were down to half their number, and he wasn't even winded.
Izuku smirked.
This was easier than he thought.
He immediately lost his smirk, as something large slammed into his side with the force of a freight train, carrying him off his feet with a horrible crunch, and launching him across the room.
Izuku screamed in a mixture of surprise and pain as he bounced off the wall, and slammed into the ground.
Crimson lighting sparkling around his ribs as he coughed up blood onto the floor. He grunted as he pushed himself up, wounds already healed. He quickly checked his systems with his quirk, but to his surprise they weren't so much as scratched. Ujiko must have made his spine out of some insanely durable stuff.
But as he got to his feet, he froze in shock when he saw what had hit him.
A single glowing red optic on a serpent-ish head, connected to a heavy metal chassis, with two large arms that had thick metal plates strapped to them to act as makeshift shields. The metal plates were an unpainted gray, rather than the dull green he knew, but he recognized that robot.
It was that fucking robot from the entrance exam!
"Surprise! Here's my late gift for giving me a heart attack back then, when you ran off and tried to join UA. One beefed up Victory class bot, with a side of new bells and whistles, and a medium sized cup of better programming!"
"Seriously?" Izuku brushed himself off, and cracked his neck. "Ujiko, you've fallen to the spot of my second favorite mentor."
"What!?" Ujiko shirked. "Who could possibly be a better teacher than me!?"
"My elementary teacher, Ms Sweet." He grinned. "She used her quirk to make the class candy every Friday."
"You brat! I'm ME! I'll have you know, I can make better candy than some prune-smelling, old fart-"
But Izuku couldn't hear the rest of what Ujiko said over the deafening crash of metal, as he slid under a punch that tore into the floor.
He used his tail to spring himself to his feet and bolted towards the remaining droids, the robot rushing after him, right on his heels. Adrenaline pumped through his veins and his mind spun, as he put together a list of how to put the robot in the ground, jumping over body parts and metal corpses, as the Victory class crushed the M1s in its path and batted the rest away like flies.
He leaned down and snatched the head he'd previously thrown off the floor as he ran by.
Once the UA robot had disposed of the rest of the M1s, doing his work for him, Izuku pivoted on his heel and hurled the head as hard as he possibly could, straining his new strength as far as he could.
The head hit the Victory class's red optic with enough force to explode on impact, and the robot wobbled as its head snapped back from the impact, its optic shattered and flickering.
"Limit its vision."
Izuku ran forward, ducking under a wild swing, and jumped behind its right leg. His tail lifted up, and his eyes lit up green, as the bladed tip started spinning like a drill. He then jammed his tail into the joint, making a mess of the wires and machinery.
"Limit its movement."
Izuku rolled away from a fist, and as the robot tried to chase after him, it stumbled as its leg failed to move properly. It caught itself with both arms, but as it raised its head to lock onto its target, it was already too late.
Izuku leapt out of his sprint and caught himself on the large metal shield on its left arm, using it as a springboard to launch himself onto its back.
He reared his leg back and kicked the back of the head, causing it to crunch and dislodge out of its socket slightly.
"It's simple math."
Izuku said as he shoved his tail into its now open neck, and into its core.
"Systematically destroy your opponent's every ability to fight, and there will be no other possible result but victory."
The tip segment of the tail, which was styled like a sharp spike, split open like a flower into three parts. And then it started spinning again, effectively turning it into an industrial buzzsaw.
The robot shook and shuddered, smoke billowing out of it as its insides were turned to mulch. The head rolled out of its socket, several long wires coming with it, as the main body fell to the ground with a loud crash.
"This is why I hate robots!" Ujiko grumbled over the speakers. "You just reach in, grab some wires, and the whole thing either stops working or catches on fire!"
Izuku laughed as he stepped off the new pile of scrap metal. "I hate to break it to you Ujiko, but in my experience, organic things stop working too, if you start pulling stuff out of them."
"You know what I mean."
"Do I?" Izuku grinned, spinning the wires with the metal head around like a mace. "What I do know is that this hasn't really been much of a warmup. Are you sure you're qualified for teaching? Maybe I should go see if Ms Sweet wants a better paying job."
"SHUT! UP!" Ujiko hissed into the microphone, voice flush with embarrassment. "Engineering isn't my main field of study! And I haven't even touched basic robotics in over forty years!"
Three more panels on the walls slid up, but instead of more metal, nomu of all shapes and sizes began to wander out. Two were hulking figures with four arms and bulging muscles. One was small and nimble, obviously designed for speed, with long claws. And another was willowy, with large wings sprouting from its back.
Izuku gulped and Ujiko chuckled.
"Let's see you snark your way out of this one, kiddo."
-Rain of Sins-
A soft breeze blew through the trees, rustling the leaves and causing several of the small green sails to flutter off in the wind. They fell gently, swaying to and fro, weaving a gentle dance as they descended to the ground.
The grass was soft, wet with morning dew, that caused the blades to gleam in the sun, as the dawn's light hit them.
A humble honey bee buzzed happily, its furry form fat with pollen as it hummed softly on its way back home.
Two songbirds criss-crossed one another as they flew through the air, singing in harmony, their sweet duet of love ringing out clearly in the crisp morning air.
Yoroi Musha took a deep breath and let out a long sigh, as he let the sight of a new day wash over him. In his early years he had taken such things for granted, too busy with his work to slow down, too busy climbing the ladder.
But now he found slowing down to be his favorite pastime. So what if he never got any higher than "top ten"? It wasn't as if he'd magically save more people by having a bigger number.
The media liked to harp on him about being "old fashioned", but honestly he agreed with them. He was, and he enjoyed being so.
He smiled gently as he picked up his worn down watering can and began watering his flowers. It was worn down, and very sloppily painted pink with what had to have been an oversized brush. It was his favorite gift from his granddaughter, and while she got embarrassed every time he brought it up, now that she was an adult, it was obvious it meant the world to her.
Slowly, with his pink watering can in one hand, and his coffee in the other, the number nine Hero in Japan tended to his garden.
A loud chopping noise interrupted his morning routine, startling him as a helicopter flew by angrily overhead, scaring the birds and animals away.
He eyed it cautiously as it flew off in the direction of the UA festival grounds.
Things had been so much more chaotic over the last week. So many were hurt, and now Villain attacks were ramping up- not to mention that more and more people were popping up, wearing red scarves, and spouting whatever nonsense that Stain fellow had been ranting about.
Yoroi sighed once more, but this time it lacked the contentedness it had before.
Heroes had lost sight of their purpose. Modern Heroes were frauds in it only for the money. He'd heard those lines from far too many people he arrested since the attack.
"Traitor!" A young girl shouted at him, her hair was soaked from the rain, and her makeup was running down her face. She couldn't be any older than his grandaughter, and she looked so much like her that it hurt. "Traitor!" She screamed again as she was dragged away by police, her red scarf falling to the soaked concrete. "You're a traitor to everything you stand for!"
Yoroi stared at his garden, a soft frown on his face, his coffee now long since cold.
He was an old man, older than any active hero had the right to be, and he had seen many years in his time.
In the old days things had been simpler. When he graduated alongside the first class of UA, things had been straightforward. Be a Hero to protect your family, your home. Go out and stop the bad guys before they hurt those you loved. And if you were good enough, the government would pay you a bit on the side.
Now things were different. It was branding, and advertisements, and sponsorships, and toys, and merchandise. UA, the humble one story school house with a big empty dirt lot out back for free use of quirks, had turned into something he didn't even recognize under Nezu. With golden gates, a shiny logo, televised broadcasts, and a business course of all things.
His mind drifted to the "new age" Heroes. Uwabami, Mt Lady, when did they turn Heroing into a business rather than a profession?… Actually no, it was before that even, there was Midnight's photoshoots, and Present Mic had a radio company. Wait, when had All Might started his merchandise?
He tried to think of any members of the Old Guard who had ever even accepted doing a commercial, let alone any of what was popular nowadays. He knew he hadn't, Gran Torino had never either, none of his classmates had…
"Traitor!"
Yoroi stroked his beard solemnly.
Maybe… Maybe it was the old man in him speaking, but… Maybe the world needed some old fashioned right now.
The UA internships were coming up in a week, technically the application phase had ended, but he was top ten, they would probably wave him in.
Hmm…
Yoroi nodded to himself as he made up his mind.
He wasn't sure if any of the new whelps would give a washed out coot like him the time of day, but if they would spare the time…
Well, he'd try his best to set them straight to what a Hero should be.
-Rain of Sins-
"This is it!" Ujiko said as he gestured to one of the many metal containers in the refrigerated storage unit under the Jaku lab, giddy after the training session had ended. The room was huge, containing a copy of every quirk Ujiko had ever cataloged, as well as many miscellaneous items. It was also freezing, something that Izuku didn't even seem to notice as he stepped forward without so much as a shiver.
The green haired scientist punched the lab's SAC into the little keypad beside the locker, and the mechanical drawer slid out, white fog billowing out as it opened.
Izuku hummed in fascination as he reached in and gently lifted the large glass container out with a gloved hand.
Inside was a monstrously overgrown bee, its abdomen was so large and bloated, that it looked more akin to a giant maggot than a bee. It was about the size of a cucumber, its normal sized head, wings, and legs, making the rest of its growth look all the more out of place.
"That is the Queen Bee." Ujiko said as Izuku looked it over. "It's a bee that's quirk turns it into a mobile hive, and a human parasite. It burrows into the eye of a human and fuses with their brain. It's fascinating to study. It's not really 'sentient' until it attaches to someone, it melds with the hosts personality and quirk, and enhances their abilities, so it's technically a symbiotic relationship. But also mind control, so ehhh." He shrugged. "Any time the queen dies, which has happened several times, a surviving bee from the hive she made will transform into a new Queen Bee."
"Fascinating."
"So what do you want it for? Gonna cut it up and see how it works? Try to clone it? Maybe make a version that's less creepy?"
"Oh, I definitely plan to take samples alright, but I'm not going to chop it up." Izuku smirked, a cruel mirth in his eyes as the bug began to wake up in its jar. "I'm going to use it on someone."
"Ah…" Ujiko mentally sighed and added 'make sure to do routine eye checks once a week to make sure the labs don't get taken over by brain parasites' to his already over bloated to do list. "Of course you are."
-Rain of Sins-
Several blocks down the road from the site where the Sorts Festival had been held, a portion of an abandoned mall had been taken over by law enforcement and hastily renovated into a temporary losing site, for the several hundred Villains that had been captured in the aftermath of the attack.
The most dangerous ones were exported first, shipped off to actual holding facilities but the sheer mass of bodies meant those filled up fast. So over the last few days, the lowest 'valued' thugs and petty crooks had been kept in the mall, while waiting for the overwhelmed bureaucracy to find a place to shove until the overworked court system could get them a trial.
Needless to say, the highly notorious, highly feared, career path Villain, known as Mustard couldn't help but think they had made some sort of paperwork mistake by the fact he was just now being trucked away.
"Alright ladies, pack it up." The police chief in charge of the area shouted from a balcony overlooking the area. "Move it, we're burning daylight. This place is getting shut down in a few hours."
"I'm going. I'm going." Sulfur huffed as the guard behind him began proding him with a baton, urging him to hurry up in getting in the van.
He couldn't decide if he should be happy or frustrated that there wasn't any advanced security in the van he climbed into. Apparently the fact he knocked himself out with his own quirk meant he wasn't in danger of escaping.
The police had apprehended him, and arrested him on charges of collaborating with the League of Villains, which was impressive because he had never met with anyone from the League, or had any interviews, or even ever joined them to begin with.
But the police were the ones who wrote the official cases, so if they wrote him down as a valued member of the League, then wouldn't that make him a member for all legal purposes?
Could he put this on his Villain Resume? Did Villains have resumes?
He pondered that thought as the police van was filled with four other Villains, but the guards were having something of trouble with the last one
"I'm a member of the Scavs!" The girl shouted, doing the splits to plant her feet on either door, and keep from being shoved in. (Sulfur had to admit it was a good view.) Her twin insect wings buzzing angrily behind her. "One of the most violent gangs in Japan! They'll come for me! And when I get out, I'm killing you all!"
She yelped as a guard used their quirk to zap her, causing her to slip and get shoved into the van, doors slamming shut behind her with the tell tale sound of a lock.
"So…" Sulfur gave her the suavest and smuggest smile he had. "You come here often?"
"I will break your arm."
"So long as you don't break my heart."
She blinked at him, her face morphing into one of genuine disgust and disdain that showed her fangs.
"Was that-" She stuttered. "Was that a fucking Tugg Speedman line?"
"It totally was." He wiggled his eyebrows at her. "Scorcher VI: Global Meltdown. Best action movie released this year."
He cleared his throat, and spoke in a gravely announcer voice.
"Now… The one man who made a difference five times before, is about to make a difference… again."
"Oh my God…" She whispered in horror. "Fucking kill me now."
Sulfur, seeing that this chick was totally into his favorite series' one liners, leaned in closer and whispered:
"Who left the fridge open?"
The girl's hands might have been handcuffed, but she hissed at him, her wings fluttering angrily behind her, and Sulfur discovered that her boots could still break a nose with a good kick.
…
..
.
Sulfur yawned as he slowly came back to consciousness. His head was ringing, why was- oh yeah, he got kicked in the head and knocked out… again. Was this becoming a habit?
He cracked his eyes open, and immediately noticed something off.
He could see the sky.
Where was the van?
Sulfur snapped awake, and winced as all his senses came flooding back to him. Everything hurt, car sirens were going off all around him, he could smell smoke, and his face hurt like hell.
He reached his still handcuffed hands up to his face and- yup! Bloody nose.
He shook his head and got into game mode, he was Mustard, super evil Villain! Heroes feared him! He pushed himself to his feet and gasped as he surveyed the scene.
The van was flipped onto its back, its rear doors had been ripped off from their hinges, and smoke billowed from the front of the car.
A HUGE fuck off Lizard thing stood hunched over the van, the police and Hero escort strewn about all around it. And off to the side was a tall man in a black coat, with a dark mask covering the lower half of his face, and glowing emerald green eyes. Also, he was probably the lizard's brother or something, because he had a giant tail too! Fucking mutant quirks! Why do they get to be all cool?
"A Scav you say?" The man tilted his head, arms in his pockets. "Really?"
"Yeah!" The girl who had knocked him out jumped and punched the air, her wings beating behind her. "My quirk is Insect! I'm a vicious fighter! Absolutely bloodthirsty! Once I killed a guy with nothing but the keys I stole from him! I know, you're like, super bloody since you're the dude behind the festival attack, but I promise I can keep up with you! You gotta give me a chance!"
The man in black stared at her, mind analyzing her argument.
"Yes." He nodded. "I agree. I think that if anyone deserves the spot, it's you." Izuku said, rolling the word in a way that made Mustard's blood go cold.
"SWEET!" The girl jumped. "When do I start?"
"Now."
Izuku's eyes lit up, his phone sending coordinates, and the three were enveloped by a gray foam. Then, they were gone.
Mustard stared at the empty space in front of him, his mind turning over what he'd just seen, eventually he settled on a conclusion.
"I need to get the fuck out of here." He muttered under his breath as he began hobbling down the street. But where to go? The police knew his identity and had probably already cleaned out his apartment.
Hell, he was legally a member of the League of Villains now, why not try them?
They might actually enjoy good action films.
-Chapter End-