If you were to ask a resident of Japan to name some famous large corporations then AlpexZentris Pharmaceuticals would probably not feature on the list. Instead your typical resident of the Land of the Rising Sun might mention half a dozen other companies that were instead, unbeknownst to them, owned by AlpexZentris. The Akamine family had controlled their corporation with an iron fist, keeping it within the family for generations, the only outsiders being low level grunts or managers recruited from one of their branch families. The resulting system led to a melting pot of infighting and family politics the likes of which Izuku had never seen before he poked his nose into it and promptly made a mess of it.
The teenager in question was currently walking up to the head office of AlpexZentris in a well-made three piece suit looking for all the world like your average salaryman if it wasn't for two specific factors; namely his age and the fact that he looked about as comfortable in a suit as a bull in a china shop tea tasting ceremony. Still these kinds of suits were required if you wanted to work in a prestigious corporation, even if your work in question was merely that of an intern.
Izuku swiped his card across the entrance to the building, a relatively innocuous five storey office amongst soaring skyscrapers, and the machine beeped a green welcoming. He stowed his card in his wallet before walking inside giving his standard everyday greeting to the receptionist. He proceeded to his office where he was interning under Dr. Furata, a man that didn't actually work there. Apparently, he worked in a building in Okinawa although Izuku had neither been there or met him. So instead of meeting him Izuku instead walked to the office (coloured in a dark green), put down his briefcase, boiled up a pot of coffee and started looking through the data he received since yesterday.
"Interesting," Izuku mused to himself as he looked at the bounty of Quirk related research that he had been given. In the modern error medicine was often required to be more specialised due to the effect of certain Quirks and pharmaceutical companies that provided medicine that dealt with issues that were linked to rare or unusual genotypes or phenotypes were often well subsidized by the government. Therefore, a huge amount of gene sequences and information was collected by these companies for him to peruse at his leisure.
He briefly looked at an odd genetic sequence before a spark of inspiration hit him and he started comparing it to other ice Quirks that he had seen. He then charted essential differences, started isolating similar gene sequences and tried to simulate it using his Quirk. He was unsuccessful in that attempt, most likely due to a lack of first-person interaction so he simply logged onto the website and started observing the videos of the test that was administered upon plotting the genetic code. Apparently, the Quirk allowed the wielder to secrete some icy sleet over their skin and he immediately inspected the code again, this time discerning a variation of the standard insulation to cold that most icy Quirks have built into them.
Izuku had just taken a sip of his coffee and started to pull out the test data when a beeping sound on the office phone indicated that he had a message. He picked up the phone casually listening into it for about thirty seconds before he downed the piping hot coffee, put down the phone and left the office. A short trip up the stairs later (elevators promote a lack of exercise) and he found himself standing in front of his boss's boss's boss's door. He lifted up his hand to rap on the door.
"Come in," the soft clipped voice of his aforementioned ultra-boss before he had even hit the door and he smiled wryly before stepping into the room. The office was much nicer than his, easily three times the size and decked out in a dark blue and gold trim with soft carpets, wall length windows, a large fish tank, a book shelf that covered a good half of the left wall, and over a dozen screens all over the room. It honestly looked like somewhere a supervillain would stay and Izuku found himself immediately envious.
Sitting in the middle of the room behind a large mahogany desk was a young adult woman with plain short brown hair and eyes that were hidden behind glasses. She was adorned in a suit that overshadowed Izuku's own and there was a strict look on her face as she rested her chin atop her clenched hands.
"Which business are we discussing?" Izuku asked the head of his company politely.
"I believe you should start by telling me in detail how your work was going on the Quirk analysis," she said calmly. "Then maybe we can talk about other topics."
"Okay," Izuku said briefly before running through a brief summation of all the work he had done recently, the implications of the work he had done as well as upcoming work he was doing. While she didn't need to be involved directly Izuku's presence in the company was non-standard to say the least and while his efforts were probably well worth the cost of his salary they did need to be filtered to abide by the general restrictions of the law, namely his age and lack of a university degree. Legally he shouldn't even be allowed to inspect some of the genetic samples, but when did qualifications ever have anything to do with ability.
"And that's basically it," Izuku finished before he smiled. "Shall we move onto the other stuff now, Brain."
"Okay, Boss," his lieutenant said shaking her head with some amusement. "Although you could at least try to pretend to be excited about the medicine we produce."
"It's a fun side job," Izuku said watching as the CEO of his company huffed in annoyance. It had been a slight difference in opinion between the two of them for a long time. Brain had quite correctly informed him that he could easily sell his abilities to the wealthy Quirkless for a sizeable sum of money. In fact, with the right Quirks and good marketing and legal counsel he could probably make a few billion Yen. Izuku of course disagreed vehemently with that. He didn't want to make a few billion Yen; he wanted to be the number one villain with a vast underground empire. Any money that he would make would be made illegally; well partly anyway.
"How are our finances looking," he asked Brain and the woman simply pulled out a piece of paper before handing it to him to peruse. Judging by this report once again Brain had come in top making up almost forty percent of the total revenue of the group. The sheer number of fingers that she had in the pie was staggering, although she tended more towards white collar crime as well as cleaning and investing the dirty cash that they got from other sources. Coming up behind her was Tindalos who almost single-handedly dealt with smuggling side of the business. Sure, he usually had a handler with him but the dog's ability to sneak illicit goods in and out of Japan created huge amounts of risk-free wealth that elevated him to the second spot.
The rest of the list was fairly unimportant with no other single member bringing in more than ten percent of the total revenue. That was fair enough considering that the document was simply boasting on behalf of his friend and right-hand man and Izuku could see her puff up her modest chest in pride at her work. Well she had a right to be proud. Sakura Algernon was the single greatest investment that Izuku ever made and he would have come nowhere as far without her. Despite her disagreement with his villainous dream and her exasperation at his childishness she had still supported him every step of the way and even when he wavered, she had never taken back her support. He owed her more than he could ever repay her and… oh crap he was mumbling again.
Izuku raised his head to see a stoic Brain with only the faintest flush in her cheeks staring at him in a mix of pity and disappointment. She had already mentioned to him how dangerous it was to go blurting out information like that but he had yet to kick the habit. He was about to offer some form of apology when both his and her phones beeped simultaneously. That could only be Living Tree business and it must be urgent if they felt the need to both contact him and Brain. His suspicions were confirmed as he saw four words that caused an icy feeling to rise in his chest.
"Knees has been captured," Brain said looking at her own phone. "That certainly puts a kink in our plans for today."
"How did that happen?" Izuku questioned both himself and the woman opposite him. Knees was one of the stronger members with a Quirk that could put him on the level of many pro heroes. If he had fallen then it would be due to either overwhelming numbers or more powerful and well known members.
"Give me a few moments," Brain said. "I've only just got the information at the same time as you." Izuku nodded, leaning against one of the walls watching his Number Two alternating between phone and laptop tapping keys in an attempt to extract information. "Ryukyu," she said after a moment giving an understanding look.
"The dragon hero," Izuku said. "That will do it. Did he put up a good fight at least?"
"Two minutes," Brain mentioned. "He was completely dominated start to end. He is going to be burning after that."
"I'm almost tempted to say it will be worth it for that alone," Izuku said contemplatively. "That is after we get him back of course."
"That goes without saying," Brain nodded as she spoke. While she could be callous sometimes it was a firm and undisputed rule of Living Tree that no comrade would be left behind.
"Any idea where he is being kept," Izuku said as he walked forward looking over Brain's shoulder at the nascent plans that she had started drafting.
"I know the place and am just compiling a list of all the possible heroes in the area," Brain said bringing up a list that Izuku read through. As they reached the last name both of them paled simultaneously at the obvious problem.
"All Might," Izuku was the first to speak, a frown upon his face. While he had wanted to face the hero someday, that day was not anytime soon. He hadn't fully realised the power of his Quirk or even finished growing yet and he was under no illusions that he could beat All Might as he was now; thankfully beating All Might wasn't the goal here.
"You have a plan boss," Brain said as she continued to look through data. "I can tell you have that smug look on your face."
"That's my normal face," Izuku protested before smiling smugly. "Hey Brain, what are the chances that we could sneak Tindalos in and he could swallow him and teleport out."
"Possible but with a high chance of it going wrong," Brain said calmly. "Apparently Knees put up a good enough fight that they registered him as a C-Rank villain pending B-Rank. The jail that he's in will be locked down until they can cart him off somewhere else."
"A C-rank villain," Izuku muttered to himself before he gave a wicked grin. "Man that's disappointing that he got there before me. Maybe we should go get some matching ranks."
"That basically spells the death of our anonymity," Brain said as she for the first time since the news broke took her eyes off the screen. "Are you sure you want to do that. We have more than enough money from our less spectacular activities. Maybe we can get him out legally or by pulling some strings."
"We knew this was eventually going to have to happen," Izuku said. Brain had always somewhat disagreed with his desire to become the No.1 villain, instead advocating for more subtle means that could always be covered up. "Let's make a splash Sakura."
"Then a new name will be on everybody's lips after today," Sakura said nodding somewhat grudgingly before her look transformed into pure concentration. "And I have just the plan for it."
xxx
"You might as well speak up," the policeman who bore the face of a tabby cat said attempting to loom over him despite being a good few inches shorter than him. "The people you've beat up have claimed that you and others like you have been targeting them for the past few weeks."
"You mean those drug dealers," a young blonde adult with rough features said; looking casual despite the pair or cuffs on his hands and feet. "You're welcome for that by the way. You should have more time in the next few weeks to eat doughnuts and be generally useless," he said trying to lean back only to be confined by some of the chains that bound him to the chair.
"The public takes a harsh stance on vigilantism," the cat-faced man said slamming down his hands on the table.
"For the public to take a stance on anything requires the public to actually have a spine," the man said flicking at one of his green earrings. "And I object to the vigilantism. I wasn't enacting justice; I just wanted to beat up some punks."
"Do you think this is funny," the cat said in something vaguely approaching disbelief. "Just who do you think you are?"
"Do I find this funny," the blonde adult said. "No I do not. I do not find my failures funny. Quite frankly the fact that I got knocked unconscious is really pissing me off." He clenched his fists at that thought, a flash of self-directed rage on his face.
"Alright kid," the cat said once again. "I'm going to ask you one more time. What is your real name?"
"Listen up here you pus…" the man begin and then stopped before a grin overtook his face. "I told you for the last time my name is Knees."
"I've had enough…" the man started before he swayed once, twice and then landed on his knees.
"I do just love the smell of roses," Knees said as he stood up from the chair and the cat-faced man watched in disbelief as he stood up, his muscles straining as the cuffs around his wrists snapped.
"You couldn't wait a few more seconds Knees," a robotic sounding voice started and the sound of clinking metal sounded as the vent burst open and a stream of steel parts fell into the room before recombining into the form of a young petite purple haired girl who gracefully landed on the table separating cop and criminal.
"Sorry Muscles," Knees said looking shamefacedly at the girl that was nearly half his height. "I guess I got a bit over eager. Nose is with you?"
"We've got a few people here," the girl called Muscles said. "Alarms are tripped so security will definitely be on the way. The boss is also collecting something at the same time," she said winking at her comrade.
"Oh shit it's really our debut," Knees said with a wide smile before it faded. "And I had to kick it off in such a shitty way."
"There will be plenty of heroes coming out of the woodwork at the moment," the girl said as she walked up to Knees before swiftly breaking apart the remains of his restraints. "Your debut starts now."
"Then I better make it a good one," Knees said as he walked up past the cat-faced man that still had no control over his limbs and stepped up to the door. Drawing back his fist he swung a punch at the door, a blue burst of energy coalescing into a force field in front of his knuckles the instant before it hit the door causing the minor obstruction to snap in half and send pieces of wood all across the hallway.
"It was unlocked," Muscles said before she shook her head. "It's good to have you back Knees." The two of them walked out of the interrogation room and into the corridor before Muscles led him to the entrance, the smell of roses growing stronger all the time until they stepped into the lobby and saw a scene of bloodless carnage.
"Really letting down the squad Knees," a dandy looking man in bright in colourful clothes and a rainbow mask said as he doffed his top hat at Muscles who giggled. "Honestly I would be embarrassed to call myself one of the stronger members of the gang at this point. Don't you think that if it was Her then the Dragon would have been beaten and we wouldn't have to stage this whole thing."
"I know," Knees said after a moment's silence. While he had briefly felt a burst of rage it had cooled down swiftly. "You don't have to encourage me Nose," he said clenching his fist. "I'll get stronger. I'll be so strong that nobody will dare to take on the Living Tree while I'm around. Now let's get out of here. The smell of justice is making me nauseous."
"Actually the smell of this place is just making me hungry," Muscles said as she opened the door and froze at the crowds who thronged the streets. There were at least a dozen heroes and swarms of policecars that were likely out on the job when they raided the station. "Wow we really kicked the hornets' nest this time," she said closing the door just as the police started to speak. "Any other entrances we can take?"
"No we're going out that entrance," a familiar voice spoke up from behind them and the three of them turned back to see their Boss walking towards them wearing a green trenchcoat with a hood. On his face was a white mask and he wore green gloves that prevented anybody from figuring out his identity. In his left hand he held a bat made out of titanium that was much larger than his usual wooden one.
"Woah Boss, dressed for the occasion," Muscles said looking somewhat impressed.
"I still think you should have chosen a more muted colour Boss," Nose said greeting his immediate superior.
"Boss I'm sorry," Knees said only to be waved down immediately.
"Don't apologize for giving me such a perfect stage to make my debut," Boss said as he walked up to the door and kicked it open causing the door to go flying into the mass of police. It didn't impact as wooden branches grabbed it out of the air and launched it back at the Boss of Living Tree. He didn't even have to move as Knees stepped in front of him and with a single punch obliterated the door.
"Huh, Mt. Lady is here as well," Muscles said. "How the hell did I miss that?"
"It is quite the oversight," the Boss of their group said. "Alright I surrender," he said putting up his hands causing a silence to fall over the group. "Nah I'm joking. Hit 'em Muscles."
At the signal Muscles body broke open revealing rows and rows of guns and other weaponry that discharged at the remainder of the group. Every bullet shot was rubber and every missile shot contained non-lethal gases but none of the police or heroes knew that and Knees could see eyes widen in panic as the police and heroes were peppered with non-lethal but painful attacks instantly mowing down the fodder.
Branches rushed at the mechanical gang member and Knees interposed himself striking down at them with fists, elbows and knees. His force fields may be relatively short ranged but at pure defence they were surpassed by few Quirks. Seeing an opening he ran at Kamui Woods trying to strike get into melee range but to no avail as the hero moved backwards and he had to focus all his energy into just preventing the wooden limbs from wrapping around him. To the side he saw Mt. Lady stumbling as she got a good whiff of Nose's perfume. An unaware person would almost always lose against Nose's Quirk but it was easily countered once the mechanism was discovered and the target was aware. Dimly he took in the sight of the large hero placing her hand over her nose before lunging down trying to catch the villain who calmly evaded her.
He firmly focused on his fight now twisting his hands ninety degrees he started to attempt his new method of attacking, transforming the angle of the force field as it hit to try and employ cutting force. It was a mixed bag as the force field cut partway into the limbs causing them to disgorge sap but the momentary triumph caused him to become distracted and a limb wrapped around his leg. He was flung to the ground hard and he felt the wind knocked out of him before more tree limbs started to wrap around him and he was forced to struggle against the bindings.
The limbs slackened and Knees saw Kamui Woods stumble as he was hit by a rebounded rubber bullet. That rebounded bullet was apparently spotted by Muscles as the demon girl took that opportunity to unload a wave of ammunition to the pro hero who was forced to dive for cover. That's was right, even if he didn't win the fight then the boss was still in the reserves and Muscles could always join in. Maybe not, he contemplated as he saw one of the remaining pro heroes leap towards Muscles and for the girl to break off her barrage against Kamui Woods and draw out a Taser from her body.
Knees stopped looking at this point to refocus on his own fight with the tree hero, briefly appreciating the irony of fighting him first when their gangs name was Living Tree. He took a deep breath before he jumped slightly slamming his feet against force fields that materialised from the ground and propelling himself forward like a rocket. Branches came at him from each direction trying to encircle him but he used the extremities of his body to change course during fight, missing by metres then centimetres as he got closer and closer. Barely a metre from the hero he was forced to cross his arms in defence as he was hit by a branch causing him to stumble backwards before he rammed his feet back against the suddenly appearing force fields and launched himself forward with double the speed. This time the wooden hero was prepared and he retreated backwards as Knees launched himself forwards into melee.
Kamui Woods seemed to not want to be at that range and he retreated backwards throwing branch after branch at the rapidly advancing Knees who was lashing out with every limb to crush the hero, but it was rapidly becoming a battle of stamina when the Boss wanted it to be a show of crushing force. He couldn't keep his focus on the other battles but from what he could see Nose hadn't yet beaten Mt. Lady either. 'I'm sorry boss,' he thought as he strode forward throwing punch after punch but not able to tie down the illusive hero. 'I'm currently failing you.'
"Don't worry Boss I'm here," a loud familiar voice broke Knees train of thought and simultaneously Kamui Woods caught him with a branch that knocked him a dozen metres back. Still it didn't matter so much at the moment considering that the strongest member had now arrived. With her here the Living Tree would definitely get their prized introduction.
Unlike before where he advanced he now backpedalled trying desperately to get away from the collection of heroes and public servants that were opposed by them and he wasn't alone. Nose had turned and fled as soon as he heard the voice, the dandy villain grabbing his hat as he ran full speed and Knees caught the smell of gooseberries and felt his own velocity increase.
The next second police, heroes as well as the cars, roads and nearby buildings were all pelted by hundreds and hundreds of water droplets. Everywhere the water hit crystals of ice sprouted out and in few seconds the entire area was drowned in a layer of ice. Knees tore his eyes away from the frozen form of Kamui Woods to look at the new arrival. Standing on top of the police station was a youthful looking woman who stood over seven feet with white hair and blue eyes. She wore a silver eye mask and a crop top and short pants that exposed tanned abdominal muscles that made him feel rather inferior.
"Don't worry boss," Sudor said as she looked down at the scene of carnage she caused, or up in the case of the frozen Mt. Lady. "The freezing is harmless. The sun will thaw them out in an hour, tired but uninjured."
"That's great Sudor," the Boss said looking almost offended for a moment. "You almost succeeded in stealing my debut, but the key event has not yet started. Tindalos," he said looking at his dog that just appeared from somewhere in the police station. "I want you to take everybody back to the HQ now."
"But…" Sudor replied looking quite irritated that the fun was ending so soon.
"Now Tindalos," the Boss said cutting out any thought of resistance from the rest of the Living Tree. The Shiba Inu disappeared immediately and was instantly replaced by a two metre tall monstrosity that grabbed Muscles in his jaws before leaping into the nearest angled spot and disappearing. Knees took this time to observe the boss and noticed that there was a significant indication of nervousness from his demeanour. Nose was the next to disappear, grimacing before he too was swallowed by the enormous dog and disappeared, leaving only Sudor and the Boss with Knees.
"Boss about the…" he started only to be cut off.
"He's here," the Boss said grimly and in the next second massive four part jaws snapped closed around him, a flash of blue, red and gold was the last thing that he saw before the blackness consumed him.
xxx
Izuku Midoriya was terrified and he displayed that by clutching his bat with force that nearly bent the hard steel weapon. He had derided what he was doing as suicide just a few days ago and his confidence hadn't grown during that time. What he was going to do what thought to be impossible and would drag him to the forefront of public consciousness, a place he was probably not ready for at the moment. Still without pressure it was hard to improve and he still had a heck of a long way to improve.
As the battles between his subordinates and their opponents raged he started to re-examine his power. His Quirk was called Mother Tree of Life although he was thinking of changing the name. It allowed him to gather visual information as well as data, blood samples and genetic codes and construct a mental replica of a Quirk over hours and hours of mentally draining simulations. Only then could he produce a replica of that Quirk gathered from the combined data. This 'tree' of data gave birth to a 'fruit' Quirk that he could pass onto a person in which case it would root itself in their genetics and adapt to their body or he could devour it himself. This procedure would momentarily grant him a quirk for between zero and five minutes depending on factors such as power of Quirk, stability and how much he exerted it.
The process was even more insanely complex than it sounded and he had expended hours and hours of planning and producing Quirks for this one minor confrontation. Brain and Ears had also cooperated in getting the timing right by using a series of muggings and purse snatching to divert the main opponent of this showdown. A beeping from his watch indicated that he had less than a minute and he immediately slammed down his wandering mind-set focusing on the ten quirks in his mind. It was only then that he looked up noticing that the whole street had become a glacier and he looked for Sudor seeing her standing on the police station.
"Don't worry boss," the strongest member of Living Tree said smiling down at him. "The freezing is harmless. The sun will thaw them out in an hour, tired but uninjured."
"That's great Sudor," Izuku said feeling a momentary spike of annoyance that she was overshadowing him on his own debut before he quashed it knowing there was a very good reason he hadn't gone all out yet. "You almost succeeded in stealing my debut, but the key event has not yet started. Tindalos, I want you to take everybody back to the HQ now," he said to his loyal dog. He didn't really want the heroes to know that he had a teleporter on his payroll.
Knees tried to object but Izuku wouldn't allow any of them to stay on the field. If he had his way then he too would be nowhere near this place right now and he found himself visualising his quirks as a method of coping with the stress. The stress faded as Muscles, then Nose disappeared and he was finally starting to get a handle on it when the No.1 hero appeared.
It was almost anticlimactic after all this build up. One moment the streets were empty and covered in ice and the next the Symbol of Peace was standing on a nearby building. There was no smile on his face as he saw the scene of bloodless carnage beneath him instead being replaced by a look of sheer concentration. He was incredibly intimidating as he stared down the remaining pair and Izuku felt his anticipation rise as he pressured the two of them by just standing there.
"They're still alive," Izuku said frankly. Despite his desire to be a leader of the greatest gang he had no desire to be viewed as an indiscriminate murderer. "Get behind me Sudor," he said simultaneously activating the first Quirk he selected. It was called Overclock and belonged to a former Chinese hero before he became unable to use it. His blood was still being studied by Alpex as a result and Izuku had long since synthesized it.
The world slowed down to a crawl just as All Might began to move and Izuku activated the other nine Quirks simultaneously. His right arm bubbled and boiled and flesh moulded into the image of a large green Eastern dragon to bring this whole event full cycle. The dragon's mouth opened up even as All Might leapt from the building to the floor, blisteringly fast even as time slowed down to a crawl. Without this Quirk Izuku would have been unable to react in time to even defend himself. All Might charged forward and Izuku tracked him with the dragon's head even as the inside of the dragon's mouth glowed with a harsh light for a bare instant before a beam of white tore out from its mouth; the product of eight emitter Quirks releasing their output simultaneously.
The world turned white briefly and Izuku felt his mutated arm take the backlash from the explosion, rupturing even as the vitality in the cells was forcefully drawn out and converted into pure energy. His body hardened into a form of armour as the residual backlash from the explosion nearly burnt him to a crisp. He refused to stand there any longer though because he had too much respect for All Might as a hero to believe that such an attack would defeat him. Instead if it weren't for the frozen heroes behind him he would have likely dodged the attack in its entirety.
His prepared Quirks started to crack and break and so instead of pressing his luck further he flung himself backwards simultaneously grabbing Sudor and felt the jaws of his faithful companion close around him. When next he opened his eyes again he was stepping out of the mouth of his companion and into the somewhat crowded HQ.
He stepped out into a circle of relieved looking faces and smiled as he took in his home; once again with all its members. 'Brain, Tindalos, Muscles, Knees, Nose, Ears, Hands, Sudor,' the HQ felt full as the majority of the Living Tree was home for once in a long time. Brain especially looked happy to see him and then her smile faded and the focus of her look changed. Feeling somewhat confused Izuku looked down and he spotted drops of red blood upon the left sleeve of his trench coat.
Knowing that they were not his Izuku raised his arm in triumph, his wrist a symbol containing priceless trophies.