Early into the next day, with the group at the entrance of Shiketsu like glorified hall monitors, Gang Orca glanced to his group. "I received a report from Ketsubutsu last night." he said, catching their attention, three of the four faces quizzical.
"That's where Uraraka and the others went, isn't it?" Midoriya asked, and the Pro nodded. He scratched his skull with a clawed black finger, a habit he'd had for quite some time. "There was an attack by the Villain group called the X-Force."
Their quizzical stares turned into surprised glances, either at him or each other. Even Till seemed a bit surprised by that statement. "Are they all alright?" Midoriya asked, the aquatic Hero nodding.
"The attackers were called 'Rakshasa' and 'Azrael'. We have data on their Quirks and identities thanks to an outside source that helped out during the battle." he explained, and they all seemed to simmer down a little bit.
"All of them suffered some form of minor injuries. Cuts or bruises and the like. The one who calls herself 'Uravity' suffered a broken leg but nothing that can't be healed quickly. The only one who made it to the end of the battle was Shoto Todoroki." he explained, and Midoriya perked up at the name of his friend. "Todoroki managed to stop two Villains?" he asked, sounding incredibly proud and surprised at his friend's abilities.
Orca shook his head. "Not exactly. You see, the official report says that it's only the two foreign guys, but the statement taken from Todoroki says that the Villains 'Twice' and 'Magne' were also there, meaning that it was much more evenly matched in terms of the numbers." he explained, and they seemed interested in what he had to say. Surely even Todoroki couldn't face four different Villains at once?
"The official report says that with the help of Ketsubutsu faculty and students, the villains were subdued, but we all know that's not the case. According to Todoroki, a second pair of guys from the League showed up and took out the X-Force guys."
Midoriya specifically had a hard time believing that. He knew that Villains could be selfish, but selfish enough to kill members of a second group that they were supposed to be working with? Wouldn't that cause friction between the groups and make both of them more susceptible to losses? Why would they do such a thing? "Do we know who any of them are?"
Gang Orca nodded. "Yeah, it seems like the second pair scared off Twice and Magne before dealing with the X-Force guys. Todoroki says that one of the villains was the Patchwork villain from an incident at some summer camp he went to. Do you know who he's talking about?" he asked, and Mirdoriya frowned.
He nodded. He couldn't ever forget those blue eyes, or the blue flames. That eerie smile or patched up skin. But he would never, ever forget the sight of his huge, patched up hand wrapped around Bakugo's throat as they took him away.
"Wait, who was the other guy?" Monoma asked, and Orca glanced to Midoriya, who still seemed upset by the first member of the odd duo. He wasn't aware of what happened, but he knew that he'd have to ask about it. Perhaps Monoma knew, or he could ask Eraserhead later.
"While we're not sure what his actual Villain name is, the other guy was pretty odd. He wore some kind of sleeveless trenchcoat over what Todoroki called a 'cage fighting outfit'. Todoroki couldn't identify what his Quirk was exactly, but he said that he was pretty quick and lit up like a lightbulb. He called himself 'The King of Hearts', Eros Koningsliebe."
Besides Monoma, the statement sent a chill down the spines of the other three students. Eros was publicly interfering? Hunting down members of the X-Force against orders? Why would he do that, and why team up with the patchwork villain? "You're sure it was Eros?" he asked, and Gang Orca nodded. "Is there anything you're willing to tell us about his Quirk? Because every time anyone gets any information about it it's different." he inquired, and Till sighed.
"I don't understand it either. Unlike the rest of us and our Quirks giving us a simple cloak of energy and enhancing our innate abilities, Eros' Quirk has no limitations. The only person who might know the exact details of it would be either Captain Ezekiel or Raphael." he said, and Jiro blinked. "Why Raphael and not you?" she asked, and Till cast his gloomy eyes to her.
"Because Raphael's Quirk is an aspect of Eros', something Eros gave him. 'Seraphim' is just an advanced form of power splitting Eros calls 'Nobody'." he explained, and Orca narrowed his eyes. "You mean that Eros' Quirk is something like All For One? Some kind of power than can give and take away other abilities?" he asked, and Till shook his head.
"Eros' 'Nobody' is no different from a transplant. Eros takes a fraction of his power and plants it in a 'Nobody', a target that doesn't already have a will or power of it's own. This means that Eros can weaponize inanimate objects, small animals and even the Quirkless." he said, a frown across his features.
"So this freak that's walking around as a member of the League can just give people Quirks!? That makes it sound like we're screwed!" Monoma said, sounding incredibly worried by Till's statements. The frowning warrior sighed. "That's not all." he said, and he closed his eyes. He was always the responsible member of the group, the one that ended up dealing with contracts and press and the like whenever Ezekiel was indisposed. He hated it deep down. He just wanted to relax.
"The X-Force are all 'Nobodies'. Every member of the X-Force, bar maybe one or two of them, are made from forcibly extracted chunks of power from Eros." he said, and Gang Orca narrowed his eyes. Eros was some kind of Quirk factory? It was almost identical to All For One, except he could only give people Quirks. "How did they find out about this power?" he asked, and Till glanced to the ground, not happy about having to explain this.
"Raphael was the first 'Nobody', and since the government became aware of that when he went from being registered as a Quirkless civilian to a Quirk baring member of a Hero Agency, they grew suspicious. Eros being imprisoned because of the incident in Toronto only gave them legal access to study and experiment on him." he said, and he heard a gasp or two.
"Experiment? That can't be allowed!?" Midoriya asked, sounding almost afraid. Till nodded, glancing forward and looking towards the sun. "Sadly, in Germany it is. All prisoners are the property of the government, so if their Quirk can be used to aid the innocent, it is used forcibly. There are low level thugs with Quirks made to heal that are strapped down and forcibly extracted of their DNA so that their Quirk can be replicated in a lab and given to the sick or Quirkless." he said.
Gang Orca frowned. He wasn't aware of this. Just what else was the country hiding from the rest of the world? "How does this affect those with Quirks already? Surely they aren't making artificial Chimeras?" he asked, and Till glanced to him with that dead eyed stare. "I wish."
"The people with Quirks given artificial Quirks for medical purposes or the like are then studied themselves, and a few are even experimented on themselves. Look at Rakshasa for example." he said, referring to the beast man who was struck down by Eros. "He was born with a Quirk called 'Beast', which just gave him more animalistic features at base. Nothing different." he said.
"When he signed to the military, he suffered an injury on duty and was implanted with an artificial Quirk from a prisoner called 'Curaga', which healed periodically. Then, when he joined the X-Force, he was given a third Quirk called 'Live For The Kill', which enhanced his offensive abilities when he killed people." he explained, and Gang Orca narrowed his eyes.
"Meaning that 'Primal Fury' is a Chimera Quirk made up of a Quirk that mutates physically, a Quirk that heals and a Quirk that enhances. So he grew stronger, recovered and became more beast like when he killed." he said, and Till nodded. "Azrael was the same. His base Quirk was called 'Angel', but it was enhanced with a Quirk called 'Ironhide' and a projectile based Quirk called 'Can't Stand The Rain', making the Quirk we now know as 'Mekk-Angel'."
Sitting in their temporary lodgings, a spare dorm room, the four students seemed rather somber at the moment. The conversation they had earlier was rather deflating, and with all of the information that Till was able to divulge, the realized exactly what they were up against. Not only was the League of Villains taking action, they were backed by a group of foreign mercenaries scientifically enhanced with multiple Quirks. These German Chimeras were arguably even more of a threat than the League.
"I can't… I can't just sit here and look at you 1-A morons sulk." Monoma said, frowning as he exited the room. He was incredibly bothered by all of this, because he didn't truly view himself as that big of a help. What could he do against people with multiple Quirks blended together seamlessly How would his Quirk even copy something like that? The entire thing or just one of the random aspects that was part of the puzzle? It bothered him.
Till frowned as he rose to his feet, also seeming rather off. He missed his brother in arms, who was like family to him. To hear that he was making such bold moves alone bothered him. He might not seem like it, but Till was actually very caring. He didn't want to take the chance of Eros being killed or captured again before they could at least speak.
But more than that, he wanted to benefit the people around him. He was a man of God, and as a man of God he shouldn't let anyone suffer in silence or alone. He spent his younger days consoling widows and orphaned children at deaths in the family. He hated seeing anyone upset or bothered, which is why his feet carried him out of the room and after Monoma.
Left alone, Jiro and Midoriya glanced to each other sparingly at different intervals, as if silently pleading the other to break the ice, to say something. When the ice was broken, it was by the female student. "Do you think that woman that messed with Kaminari is nearby?" she asked, and he blinked. That was an odd question, but one he could understand.
They were both very frustrated. Both of them had their relationship with Kaminari damaged by this 'Rusalka' woman using her Quirk to brainwash him. To make him violent against Jiro and to make Midoriya strike a friend, something he didn't like doing. He didn't often fight with his friends even partially serious, and he could probably count on one hand the number of times he'd hit anyone, even including Bakugo. That woman needed to pay for what she did.
"Do you think we could beat her?" he asked, and Jiro nodded. She looked to him, the sadness or worry wiped from her face. It was replaced with a stern gaze, a slight frown that showed her determination. "I know I can. She's gonna pay for what she did to our friend." she said, and Midoriya nodded. He didn't like the fact that she played with one of their friends and made him act out like that. He remembered when he stumbled upon the scene.
He almost shuddered remembering the rage that flowed through his body. If he would have been angrier, he was sure he'd have lost control of his Quirk and caused serious, if not permanent damage to Kaminari. When he saw Jiro was hurt he almost lost it. He blinked again.
He looked to Jiro. He really looked at her. Her short hair, the stern face that she had. Even the presence and aura she exuded, the confidence and determination. All of it was very… attractive to him. He was surprised to be thinking like this, but he had to admit that be it the red markings beneath her eyes or the confident grin on her features was something he wanted to keep looking at.
He must have stopped paying attention and did just that, because he soon found her looking at him with a puzzled look. "Do I have something on my face?" she asked, and he blinked. He shook his head, his shaggy hair bouncing as he did so. He waved his hands, feeling his face heat up at he did. "N-no! I was just, uh, just…. thinking! Yeah, t-that's all!" he said, chuckling and laughing awkwardly as she stared at him. She smiled slightly. He was kind of adorable when he was flustered.