Chapter 18: The calm before the storm
To say that things were not going well for the Hero Public Safety Commission was an understatement.
The symbiote had fled and reunited with Ryo, thus giving him the opportunity to escape and hide who knows where.
Now there was not only a bloodthirsty Vigilante on the loose, but one with powers given to him by the symbiote who was of alien origin.
It was already enough that the news of Ryo's escape was causing such a stir... if they had discovered that last detail, of the true origins of his powers, the chaos would have doubled and it would certainly have been comparable to the chaos generated at the dawn of the Quirks .
So yes, all the members of the Commission were under a great deal of stress because of that. It also didn't help that they would have to reveal the true nature of the symbiote to the rest of the Heroes.
At the time, the latters were in the main building of the Commission, the day after Ryo's escape.
The members of the Commission had called them urgently, telling them simply that they 'had to reveal something about the powers of Honda'.
And now they are all there, intrigued to know more about the matter. The most curious were undoubtedly Endeavor, Miruko and Edgeshot as the three of them had gone the day before to Tartarus to watch Ryo only to find themselves with some guards out of action and with Ryo fleeing who knows where.
The various Heroes discussed among themselves, creating the most disparate theories, waiting for the start of the meeting.
The Wing Hero, Hawks, looked around curiously enough. Usually the Commission warned him in advance of the reasons for such a meeting, or even revealed it only to him. He shifted his gaze to his right, where Endeavor sat with folded arms waiting for the meeting to begin like everyone else present.
He had been sent to Tartarus along with other Heroes to observe Ryo Honda… maybe he knew something about it.
He reached out to him and whispered "The Commission sent you, Miruko and Edgeshot to watch Honda... isn't that right?".
The Hero simply nodded.
"And you came a little too late, huh?"
Endeavor seemed to growl in annoyance, but nodded again.
Hawks couldn't help but chuckle.
"And... did they, by chance, tell you why you had to go there and watch over him?".
"They said Honda could try to escape... and that Present Mic and I could prevent him from escaping."
"Oh?".
"Yes. According to the Commission, our Quirks might have been able to weaken him.".
"And do you by any chance know what his powers were?"
"I know as much as you do. The Commission has said nothing about his powers… but apparently we will all know today. ".
Just then the door of the huge meeting room opened, and the Heroes turned their gaze towards it, seeing the President of the Commission enter along with other members, their looks more serious than usual.
Hawks was silent as he watched the President walk towards the head of the huge table where everyone was now sitting, his mind crossed by many thoughts.
"The President has always been an incredibly serious woman… but that look… is different than usual. She looks much more serious, much more… worried. This Ryo Honda's situation… must be much more serious than I originally thought.".
"Thank you all for coming" the President began, once she sat down "I apologize for the sudden call... but I think you know that this meeting is of the utmost importance."
The president looked at all the Heroes in the huge hall, breathing a sigh. "What will be revealed to you today… must remain of the utmost secrecy. Nobody, and I repeat, nobody outside of you Heroes will have to know what is about to be revealed.".
There were murmurs.
"I know, it may seem strange to you all... but the information we have and that we are about to reveal to you... is of the utmost secrecy. If civilians found out about this… chaos would break out.".
"Uh... I'm sorry President..." the Hero Manual began with a confused look "You called us here to reveal something about Ryo Honda's powers... what is so secret to order that it not be revealed to the rest of the population?".
"Yeah," Tiger from the Wild Wild Pussycats interjected. Only he, Pixie Bob and their leader Mandalay were present, while in their fourth member, Ragdoll was in their main base after losing her Quirk to the evil All For One "Is this by chance All For One? Was it that bastard who donated all those powers to Honda? ".
Mandalay noticed how the President and some members of the Commission were looking towards her and her group, with almost worried looks. Why were they looking at them like that?
The President spoke again "No Tiger. It was an initial theory, but it turned out to be… wrong.".
The woman took a remote control that was on the table and with it turned on the huge screen that was behind her, showing through it a photo of the symbiote from when it was still imprisoned in Dr. Hirano's laboratories. Many of those who were present seemed to jump at the photo of the creature, while others raised their eyebrows with curiosity.
"What you see here..." continued the President "is the true source of Honda's powers."
"That stuff there?" Miruko asked, with her voice's tone a mixture between disgust and confusion.
"Exactly. It was initially thought that it was some kind of artificial Quirk created by All For One but… it wasn't that either. Doctor Hideki Hirano took care of the study of this thing and… and managed to find out its true nature.".
The President paused for a second, observing all the Heroes present. All of them had serious and even curious looks, waiting for the President to finally reveal the nature of Honda's powers.
The President heaved a deep sigh.
It was time to reveal the truth.
"This thing ... this creature... is not terrestrial in nature."
She saw many Heroes widen their eyes slightly, as if they were already understanding where she was going.
"This creature... is a symbiote... an alien symbiote."
And from there chaos broke out.
Some Heroes jumped up, raising their voices and wondering if this was a joke or something. You could hardly tell who was saying what.
"WHAT?!" Kamui Woods yelled "Are you saying that Honda... has powers given to him by an alien?!".
"I can't believe it... there must be a mistake!" Ryukyu said.
"There is no error." Said Detective Naomasa's voice. He was in a corner of the huge room, and when he spoke he attracted the attention of everyone in the room "I, along with two students from UA, Izuku Midoriya and Katsuki Bakugou, went to interrogate Honda in Tartarus. I had activated my Quirk the whole time during the interrogation and when he also revealed that the creature that gave him those powers was an alien... well, that along with Dr. Hirano's studies made me realize that what he was saying was true. That's an alien symbiote... and, apparently, there is an entire planet inhabited by those like him somewhere in space.".
The room fell into immense silence, with no one knowing what to say.
"A planet inhabited by a whole species of that thing?" Edgeshot said in the calmest voice he could have, breaking the silence "So you are saying that... there could be an invasion?"
"Let them come!" Miruko snapped "We will show them what happens to bring their muddy asses here on our planet.".
"As worrying as the idea of an invasion may be and we are taking that into consideration" continued Naomasa "At the moment there is no invasion. Honda's symbiote is the only one that arrived here on Earth, apparently because it escaped from it."
Silence fell again in the hall, with no one knowing what to say.
Except Hawks.
"I assume that you want the news to remain secret" said the winged Hero "That it remains only between us Heroes and the Commission, and that no one outside of the two sides gets to know.".
"Precisely" the President nodded "This must remain absolutely secret."
"And what about Midoriya and Bakugou?" Pixie Bob asked "Those two kids went with detective Naomasa to question Honda... and when the latter revealed the true nature of that ... symbiote they were there.".
"Don't worry Pixie Bob" continued Naomasa "They made a promise to keep the secret. And since there is still no news that aliens exist, then I would say they are keeping their promise."
"So when he escaped from Tartarus" Endeavor said, arms crossed and a serious look "is it because he reunited with that alien? Is this how he managed to escape?".
"Exactly," the President replied. "I want you to be on full alert from now on. Honda is now out there somewhere with powers beyond our imagination. You have to look for him, but do it without attracting too much attention. I don't want people to start asking too many questions about why we are paying too much attention to just one Vigilante. Also, I want to tell you that if you find him try to immediately contact Endeavor or Present Mic. The symbiote is weak to flames and very high sound waves. So one of these two elements will also be needed to defeat him, not just strength.".
The President rose from her chair, her gaze serious. "That's all. Thank you for coming. But please, as I said... be on the lookout, look for Honda but don't attract attention. Good luck to all of you.".
The various Heroes replied either with nods of the head or with a resounding 'yes', and began to get up and walk towards the exit of the hall. The same did the three members of the Pussycats. They were about to do the same but were stopped by the voice of the President "Not you three, Pussycat. We have to tell you something.".
The three turned confused, but nodded and approached the President who was waiting for them in silence.
When all the Heroes were out, only the President, the members of the Commission who had accompanied her, Naomasa and the three Pussycats remained.
The tension was so thick it could be cut with a knife, and the Pussycats noticed it immediately when they noticed the President's serious gaze.
"Forgive the insolence, President" Mandalay said. "But it was since the beginning of the reunion that you were looking at us with that look of yours. What exactly do you have to tell us? ".
"Well..." the woman began with a sigh "Let's say that it always has to do with Honda.".
"With Honda?" Pixie Bob asked, confused "So why did you send the other Heroes away?".
"Yeah, if it's about him then why are we the only ones here?".
"Let's say that... it concerns you personally." The President simply said, confusing the three even more.
"You have to know..." said Naomasa alongside the President "That the reason why Honda attacked the UA's dorms two days ago... was to kill Katsuki Bakugou.".
"That kid?" Tiger asked confused "Why did he ever want to try to kill him?".
"Yes… you see…" continued Naomasa "You must know that Honda, without the symbiote, is without Quirk. And eleven years ago Bakugou, who was five years old at the time just like Honda... well... bullied him for it. "
The three Pussycats looked at each other: a student they had trained for a few days... in the past he was a bully.
"The thing was later discovered by Honda's mother who later discovered that it had been going on for a year. Not wanting this to continue, Honda's parents decided to move to Jaku City. ".
"Okay and what does this have to do with us?" Pixie Bob asked.
"Because what happened next... well, it also affects you." answered the President.
"Exactly. On the way to Jaku City Honda and his family found themselves, along with many others, in the midst of a fight between Heroes and a Villain… a Villain named Shocker.".
The three Pussycats immediately widened their eyes.
No…
They certainly weren't talking about...
"They found themselves in the midst of the Shocker incident... the incident in which you, Pussycats, fought against Shocker." ended the President, her eyes completely serious.
The hearts of the three Heroes seemed to stop, memories of eleven years ago returning to the surface.
They remembered that cursed day perfectly.
The day they faced Shocker.
The day he caused a massacre, managing to escape.
The day they failed as Heroes.
"You mean..." Mandalay murmured, loud enough to be heard "That Honda's parents...".
Naomasa nodded "Yes. Honda's parents died in that accident, with Honda being the only survivor. That accident caused a terrible trauma for Honda... who accused Bakugou of being partly responsible for the deaths of his parents. Over the years there were many other events that increased Honda's hatred of Bakugou... reaching the point where, two days ago, he tried to kill him."
"And we fear that now that Honda is on the loose, he won't just try to come for Bakugou... but for you Pussycats too." The President finished.
The three nodded. It didn't take a genius to figure out why they'd made that deduction.
"Do you think Honda... accuses us of the death of his parents too?" Tiger asked.
Nomasa nodded "Exactly. As he accused Bakugou of being partly responsible, he may also partly blame you as you were the Heroes who faced Shocker during the incident. So please be on your guard. As mentioned before, Honda could be anywhere… so you need to keep your eyes peeled.".
"We... we will," Mandalay nodded. "Thanks for letting us know."
"No problem. Now go… and good luck." the President dismissed them.
The three Heroes simply nodded and walked out of the meeting room, their eyes serious and their hearts heavy.
Meanwhile on the road that leads to Musutafu.
Black cars followed by a very large van were on their way to the big city. The passengers of the various vehicles remained silent, none daring to speak, their minds occupied only with their next target.
These men... were the members of the Black Dragon along with the gang's elite team... and with them was their leader, Herman Schultz, the Shocker.
"How much time is still missing, boss?" asked a voice from the headset Schultz was wearing. Everyone present had one so they could communicate with each other. The one who had just spoken came from the big van behind the cars.
"Not much Alexei, my old friend" replied the leader of the Black Dragon "We are almost at our destination."
"Why did we bring some of our men, boss?" The man with semi-shaved hair asked "Are we not enough to get rid of this damned Vigilante once and for all?".
"Sure Gargan, the six of us might be enough, but it never hurts to take some men with us as a precaution." Schultz replied. In fact, with him and his five companions, he had brought some men of the Gang, some of the strongest and highest-ranking henchmen… and who, therefore, knew the secrets of their operations unlike the low-ranking henchmen.
"Boss, we're almost there." Said another voice.
"Perfect Sergei." Schultz replied with a smile, which then turned into a malicious smile "Ryo Honda... get ready, because the time of your end... of your death... is near!".
Oblivious to him and the others, though, one of the thugs driving one of the cars didn't seem excited about ending Ryo's life as his leader, the rest of the elite five and the rest of the thugs.
There was a thoughtful look on his face, his mind crossed by a myriad of thoughts.
"Hey, Konishi. What are you thinking about, man? " Asked a companion at his side.
Konishi shook his head "Who, me? Nothing" he returned to observe the road, seeing the huge city of Musutafu finally reveal itself "Absolutely nothing... ".