Chapter 19: Plotting in the shadows
UA, cafeteria.
There was a lot of rumor among the students in the school canteen.
Everyone talked to each other, discussed the things that had happened to them in the previous days and the facts of the moment.
Basically every student was busy talking to another... but most of them were talking about a single topic: the attack on the dorms by Ryo Honda, the Vigilante known as Venom.
And now with the latter escaping from Tartarus, many wondered if he would try to attack the dorms again, this time also putting the rest of the students in immense danger.
And this thought was not only theirs… but also the thought of subjects of the discussions, the members of 1-A themselves.
They remained in absolute silence to eat, none of them daring to utter a word.
Bakugou sat eating in complete silence, and this had caused a great deal of concern on the part of his companions.
Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari and Mina were sitting next to him, trying to talk to him but the blond hadn't even deigned to answer them. On any other occasion he would have told them to fuck off, or would have told them to shut up… but this wasn't one of those many occasions.
And the whole class knew why.
With Ryo out there somewhere, the danger of him attacking again was there... and it was also very, very high.
Midoriya, sitting at the next table, silently observed the serious and thoughtful expression of his old childhood friend. Uraraka and Iida, who sat next to him, could see his worried expression. They certainly couldn't blame him: an old childhood friend of his had tried to kill Bakugou two nights earlier, and now he was out there somewhere planning his next move.
"Deku..." the brunette girl murmured worriedly.
Midoriya shook his head, moving his gaze towards his friend "Oh, sorry Uraraka. But I…".
"There is no need to justify yourself, Midoriya" Iida interrupted, putting a hand on his shoulder "You and Bakugou... well, you are the ones who are most involved in this story. It is normal for you to be in this state. Nobody will blame you, don't worry. ".
"Iida is right" nodded Uraraka "You'll see .. everything will turn out for the best."
"That's right. The Heroes will be able to find Ryo and stop him from attacking Bakugou again... and, perhaps, find the help he needs. "
"Yes... you are... you are right." Midoriya replied, not entirely convinced.
After all, he and Bakugou were the only students who knew the secret of Ryo's powers.
They were the only ones who knew that those powers had been given to him by an alien symbiote.
And now they had to live with this secret, without having to reveal it to anyone and with Ryo on the loose.
So they were both under a lot of stress.
"It seems that even this time you of the 1-A are causing nothing but trouble." said a voice behind them.
A voice they recognized immediately.
The three, along with the members of Bakugou's table, turned to see the figure of Neito Monoma watching them with his classic arrogant smile, a glint of superiority in his eyes.
"Monoma, this is not the time at all..." Kirishima said with a sigh.
"Oh and why on earth is that?" The blond from 1-B asked sarcastically "You from 1-A don't want to talk about the fact that, strangely, there are always disasters around you?".
"That's enough Monoma! This behavior is inappropriate at a time like this!" Iida said firmly.
"But it's the truth" Monoma shrugged, keeping his arrogant smile. "Whenever some disaster happens, you of 1-A have something to do with it. First the attack by the Villains at the USJ, then three of you who were attacked by Stain the Hero Killer, then the attack by the Villains during the training in the forest where we of 1-B risked being killed and where our dear Bakugou has been kidnapped" the explosive blond turned slightly, pointing at him with a look between annoyed and furious "And now... the much feared Vigilante of Jaku City attacking your dormitory? As I said, it looks like you bring trouble wherever you go.".
"Watch how you talk, you fucking extra..." Bakugou murmured loud enough to be heard.
Kirishima put a hand on his shoulder "Leave him alone Bakugou. It's not worth it.".
"Oh? It's not worth it?" Repeated Monoma arrogantly "You of the 1-A even ignore the truth at this point? That you are just a huge bad luck? Now that the Vigilante is at liberty he could attack again, and we of the 1-B already risked dying during the training in the woods, so who says that soon the whole school will be endangered by... ".
A karate chop to the base of his neck interrupted him and Monoma collapsed in a faint, but he was caught by the crook before he fell.
"I'm so sorry for him" Itsuka Kendo said, her eyes full of shame "I don't know how you can still stand us for how Monoma keeps talking about you."
"Oh, but don't worry" Uraraka said, waving a hand in front of her "You from 1-B, after all, are not that bad. It is only Monoma who is a little… well… ".
"An asshole, yeah" Kendo finished. "But believe it or not, he cares about us of 1-B, and with the story of the Vigilante attacking the dorms he was very worried. Only that he shows it by trying to denigrate you. ".
Sero shrugged "At this point we're used to his insults. There is no need to apologize.".
Kendo nodded and then walked away, dragging the unconscious body of his classmate with her.
Bakugou watched them go, and then returned to his thoughts.
Midoriya looked at him with a worried expression.
He knew what was going through Bakugou's mind.
That speech made by Monoma… that it was their fault… had awakened Bakugou's sense of guilt.
The three members of the Wild, Wild Pussycats returned to their office.
They had many of them scattered around the country, and they had one here in Musutafu too.
"Well? How did the meeting go? " Tomoko Shiretoko, known as Ragdoll, asked. Once she lost her Quirk she had decided to continue her work but from her office, hoping that by doing so she would still be of help for her team and the people in need. Kota Isumi, son of Mandalay's cousin, at that moment in the office with Tomoko and once he saw the three Pussycats returning he approached them along with the green-haired woman.
Tomoko raised an eyebrow to see the expressions of her colleagues "Did... did something happen during the meeting?".
The three did not respond immediately, just looking at each other for a few seconds.
Mandalay moved her gaze to Kota, putting a hand on his hair "Hey, Kota... the things we need to discuss now are quite... delicate... sorry if I ask you but...".
"You want me to stay outside for a while, huh?" interrupted the child.
Mandalay nodded "Yes... I'm really sorry but... it's very important.".
Kota just nodded: if Mandalay said something was important, then she wasn't exaggerating. He headed for the door and went out, leaving the four in absolute silence.
"Sooooo... what have you discovered?" Tomoko asked.
Mandaly sighed. "The Vigilante's name is Venom. Real name, Ryo Honda." She began by heading towards the kitchen followed by the other three.
"I think we all knew this, since they said it on the news." Tomoko answered, irony in her voice.
"His power is... well, to say 'particular' would be an understatement." Pixie Doll continued. With a sigh.
"Particular? Come on, what could this Quirk be? " Tomoko asked curiously.
Tiger scratched his head.
Here came the hard part.
"It's... it's not a Quirk." said the biggest of the bunch.
"Uh?"
"Yes" Mandaly continued "Honda's powers... they don't come from a Quirk... he's Quirkless."
"But... but then those powers… where he has...".
"They were given to him by an alien, Tomoko." Mandalay finished, interrupting the companion.
The latter remained silent, one hand raised and her mouth wide open.
"I-I think I didn't hear correctly...".
"He's an alien, Tomoko," Tiger continued. "An alien symbiote, to be precise. Honda entered into symbiosis with it and received all those powers. ".
Tomoko had to sit on a chair for a second, to avoid collapsing to the ground "You... you're not kidding me, are you?".
"Never been so serious," Pixie Bob continued with her arms crossed "The Commission has revealed this to all the Heroes, giving us maximum alert. Furthermore, the true nature of Honda's powers has been forbidden to be revealed to civilians in order to avoid general panic.".
Tomoko rubbed her head, which was getting a migraine from the news just received "An alien... an alien here on Earth... aliens exist.".
"Yes, we too were a little... shocked" said Mandalay "But that's not the only thing we had to tell you."
"Oh, and what else is there that you need to tell me? I think the news of 'aliens exist' is enough to give me a headache." Tomoko sighed.
"Then we believe that your headache could get worse" the leader of the Pussycats continued seriously. "The Commission wanted to specifically warn us Pussycats. To be careful of Honda. ".
"Huh? And why did they want to warn us above all?" Tomoko asked, confused.
"You see..." Mandaly sighed "Honda attacked the UA dormitories to kill Katsuki Bakugou... because he considers him responsible for the death of his parents."
"And what exactly should that kid have to do with their death?" Tomoko asked. She felt sorry that Honda was practically an orphan, but she wondered why he had accused another kid of it, the same kid they had trained during the training in the woods for more.
"You see… because of Bakugou, Honda and his family were forced to move to Jaku City eleven years ago. Only that during the journey they found themselves in the middle of a fight between Heroes and a Villain, which caused the accident that led to their death.".
"And what does this have to do with us?" Tomoko asked, confused. All these mysteries were confusing her.
Mandalay looked at Pixie Bob and Tiger, their faces crossed with guilt.
Here is the hardest part.
Mandalay sighed "Tomoko... Honda and his family found themselves in the midst of the Shocker incident."
Tomoko missed a heartbeat.
She blinked as she nearly fell off her chair.
"The Shocker incident... y-you mean...".
"Yes... he and his parents found themselves in the middle of the fight between us and Shocker...".
A dead silence fell on the kitchen.
Tomoko was visibly shaking. She too, like her three companions, remembered that day too well.
The day they failed to capture Shocker and a lot of people were killed.
"A-are you saying... that Honda may be angry not only with Bakugou... but also with us?" asked the green-haired woman.
"This is what the Commission theorizes..." Mandalay continued. "For this we will have to be on maximum alert."
The four Pussycats, at the same time, shifted their gaze to the window.
Ryo was out there.
Somewhere.
Maybe planning his next move.
Planning a new way to kill Bakugo.
And maybe... god help them... them too.
"Things are not going very well.".
"You are not wrong, bud." mentally replied Ryo as he walked the streets of Musutafu.
He was now wearing a black jacket with a hood that covered his head and, at times, his face as well.
Not the best of disguises, but it was enough nonetheless.
He had to thank V for making it for him.
The Commission had announced in direct press that he had escaped from Tartarus, and that they would have asked all the Heroes available to hunt him down.
Both Ryo and V knew that from now on they would have to be careful, both in protecting the innocent and in finally killing Bakugou.
They had to be discreet.
"I don't understand why the Heroes are hunting us, Ryo" said V "After all ... it's as if we were giving them a hand in ridding society of crime and villains.".
"Simply, for the Heroes it's not okay to have someone do justice by themselves... and that this someone does justice with, according to them, 'wrong' methods."
A noise in an alley attracted the attention of Ryo, who turned towards it to see what was happening: a woman was being attacked by a criminal with a crest of blond hair.
"Talking about 'doing justice'." Ryo thought.
"Finally some action! I was honestly bored.".
Ryo looked around, to see that there was no one around.
Fortunately for him there was no one.
"Good!" Ryo thought as his body began to be covered by the black mass of V.
"This ain't nothing but chump change, lady!" yelled the criminal taking the woman by her throat and slamming her against the wall, while at the same time throwing the bag on the floor "maybe I'll hafta take my pay some other way!".
"No! Please n…" tried to plead with the woman, but she froze, widening her eyes in terror.
"That scare ya? Good!" The criminal laughed "I always like seein' fear in my victim's eyes!"
He totally ignored, however, that the woman was not looking at him... but behind him.
"What a coincidence..." the criminal turned abruptly, towards the double voice that he had just spoken, and widened his eyes "SO DO WE!".
Venom threw himself at the criminal, grabbing him by the throat and slamming him towards the other wall "You're despicable!" Barked the monstrous Vigilante "You and all your kind! Praying on the defenseless, bringing nothing but misery! Pain! Death! You make us sick!".
Black tendrils began to stretch from Venom's wrist and entered the criminal's nostrils and mouth, preventing him from breathing.
He fidgeted and fidgeted, trying to free himself in vain.
And finally… he stopped.
Died of suffocation.
"It's over!" Venom continued as he threw the corpse to the ground, and the tendrils returned to his wrist "Now you'll do nothing but decay, running in rivulets of rot and corruption! Mingling with the rest of the filth in the sewers of...".
He froze when he remembered the woman, who had been staring at everything with wide eyes.
"Oh. Forgive us. We are being rude. Hi. We are Venom." greeted the Vigilante, smiling and showing his sharp teeth.
He took the bag from the ground and gave it back to the woman "Here. You're safe now. " He put his hand on her head, stroking it. It would have seemed quite hilarious: a 7 feet and 6 inches tall monster who spoke so sweetly to a woman seemed so surreal "No, please, there's no need to thank us. Your joy is reward enough and sends us leaping happily away!" And having said that he jumped away.
The woman was silent for a few seconds to observe where Venom had jumped away… and then ran away with a terrified scream.
"I would have expected that criminal to put up more resistance." said V.
"Me too, to be honest" Venom replied jumping from roof to roof "But in any case, protecting the innocent is still rewarding, no matter what kind of criminal we defend them against."
"You are certainly not very wrong about that. However, I suspect that defending the innocent will not be as easy as it is now since the Heroes will now be on our heels.".
Venom took another leap, leaping towards the ground into another alley, as he returned to normal again as Ryo. "This is true, V. But as long as you and I are united… we won't have much trouble" said the purple-haired boy as he came out of the alley "nor to defend ourselves from the Heroes. Nor to defend the innocent... nor to kill Bakugou.".
Meanwhile, in an apparently abandoned warehouse.
Schultz watched as his men got out of their cars and prepared their machinery and other items that would be used for the upcoming mission.
"So this base will be fine, boss?" said a brown-haired man to his side.
"Yes, Jenkis. No Hero, so far, has ever managed to find our bases. This is one of the most secret in our possession. Here we can easily organize our attack plan.".
"I can't wait" said the bald man "I've been waiting for this moment for a long time."
"Like all of us, Toomes" replied Schultz who then smiled maliciously "Let's go hunting for a Vigilante."
Meanwhile, one of the henchmen who was taking care of getting the various objects down and preparing, stood for a moment in silence staring at his leader and the five seconds in command, with a conflicted expression painted on his face.
"Konishi!" said another henchman "Do you want to give us a hand or just stand there doing nothing?!".
"Ah?! Oh, yes, yes I'll be right away." Konishi replied, immediately getting back to work.