The door opened with a hiss, pneumatic seals depressurizing, steel bars retracting from the wall, and magnetic clamps disengaging. A moment later, light flooded the room from the outside hallway as the door swung slowly open on silent hinges. Several people walked in, but the details were hard to make out due to them being backlit. Then the lights in the room came on and Fenrir hissed as the sudden brightness stung his eyes. He blinked and squinted as his eyes slowly adjusted, but eventually, he was able to identify the people that had come to visit him in his cell.
He recognized them all immediately, they were all famous individuals for one reason or another. He guessed they'd come to interrogate him. The short animal person was of course the U.A. principal and strategic mastermind during the war, Nezu. He recognized the assistant police chief of Mufustafu, Superintendent Naomasa, his quirk had made him a legend among detectives across the world. Then there was Mirko, kitted out in her combat suit and missing most of her left ear. She looked none too pleased at seeing him, likely angry about the ear, and he couldn't blame her. The fourth figure was a woman he didn't recognize, but his animal instincts warned him of her. Whoever she was, she was probably the most dangerous person in the whole room. She wore no combat suit, just a standard blue polo shirt, and tan pants. Slightly unnerved by the woman, he turned his attention to Nezu. The people Nezu had brought along were likely there to ensure he didn't try anything. A useless gesture really, he couldn't do much but glare due to the quirk canceling restraints he was in. He still had his baseline level of enhanced strength, but transforming was denied him, and he had already tested to see if his baseline was strong enough. Unsurprisingly, it was not.
"I was wondering when we'd meet, I imagine you are here to see what I can tell you about Zeus?" Asked Fenrir with a tired huff. The beds in this blasted place were terrible, he'd not gotten any decent sleep since he got here.
"Quite right, you're the first person we've been able to successfully capture. Most of Zeus's followers are zealous in their devotion to him, or in what he represents to them anyway. They fight to the death, or if that fails, they end their own lives to prevent capture. So, you can see why we are so interested in what you might have to say." Said Nezu, his paws clasped together in his lap.
"I knew his people were crazy, but I didn't think they were that crazy." Mused Fenrir.
"Well for starters, let's start with something easy. Your name is Settimio Baresi, and you went by the moniker Fenrir during your time as a part of the underground gladiatorial deathmatches, specifically the circuit in Italy. After it was shut down by authorities, you went into hiding. You were put on the international wanted list, which means we can try you here in Japanese courts by the way. Since your escape from Italy, you've stayed under the radar for several decades until your dramatic return in Mufustafu, under the command of Zeus. Is that correct?" Asked Nezu.
Fenrir went to shrug, realized he couldn't, so just nodded instead. "Yes, that's correct but I'd like to add that I did so against my will. I was perfectly content to live out the rest of my days in anonymity."
"Duly noted, and as we understand it your granddaughter, her husband, and their young son have been taken by Zeus?" asked Nezu, making a note on a PDA he pulled from a pocket.
"That is correct. I expect you heroes will be working at rescuing at them?" He asked, eyeing Nezu with slightly narrowed eyes.
"Naturally, but tracking them down will take time. In the meantime, I've come here to ask you a very specific question." Said Nezu, finally getting around to his reason for meeting Fenrir.
"Do you know where Zeus is based?" He asked.
There was a moment of silence, where Nezu could clearly see the gears in Fenrir's head moving, clearly trying to work out how best to leverage his information in his favor.
"I do... but I won't tell you anything until my family is safe." He said.
He then surprised Nezu with his next words, "And I know where they are being held, so I think a deal is in order." He said, giving an appropriately wolfish grin now.
"I have all the information you could want about Zeus. What I know could let you bring this conflict to a head sooner rather than later. So in exchange for giving you all that information, I have two things that I want." He said.
There was a pause where Nezu made a note on his PDA but didn't say anything. He just watched Fenrir with a neutral expression.
"In exchange for my information, I want my family safe, put under your protection, and myself released back to my retirement home in the country where you can have me under a loose house arrest. I'm not so stupid as to think you'd not try to punish me at all, but I think given my advancing age, I believe an arrangement can be made. I wouldn't try to escape, not like it would do me any good anyway. I'd never be able to hide from you all now that I've been revealed. Besides, I'm likely to have long-term complications from my battle recently, even if the wound has been healed, the trauma inflicted on it isn't going to just disappear. So I'd wager I'm likely to die within the next ten years at best. By contrast, before I was wounded, I was expecting to live to be over a hundred before this mess happened." He said, yawing a little in the middle.
Nezu glanced over to Naomasa, who gave a short nod.
"A generous offer, and one that might be possible. Naturally, I will have to talk to others about any sort of deal we might make with you, but is there anything you could tell us about the recent attack at least?" Asked Nezu.
"Hmmmm... Can't say I was told much, I wasn't exactly a trusted resource. But in the spirit of cooperation, I will say that I overheard a few of Zeus's lieutenants discussing a meeting Zeus planned on having soon with someone from this city. I also know he has been contacting several illegal quirk research organizations overseas. No idea what for, but I imagine you lot might have better ideas than me on the subject." Said Fenrir, trying to remember what details he could remember.
"Interesting, that is indeed somewhat helpful. At the very least it opens a few doors of inquiry. Thank you for your participation, I'll bring your proposal to the correct people and we'll go from there." Said Nezu, making a few final notes on his PDA before hopping out of his seat and heading towards the door.
A few minutes later, they had gone, and the door had resealed itself behind them. The light turned off behind them and the movement restraints holding Fenrir in place disengaged. He got up and started to massage his limbs and joints, they got stiff quite easily at his age. Then he went to sleep on the cot in his room. He still felt a little sore and tired from his battle.
"You think he can be trusted?" Asked the Commissioner General of Japan's National Police Agency.
"He was telling the truth at least, he has the information we want and he doesn't plan on making any trouble should we agree to his terms." Said Naomasa.
"Hmm... Well if you think it's worth it, then I think we can agree to those terms. Naturally, there will be some more negotiating to work out all the smaller details but for now, try and get the location of where his family is being held from him. I'll send someone over to hash out the details with him while you all are working on retrieving them." came the Commissioners voice over the phone.
"Yes sir." Said Naomasa, hanging up before dialing Nezu.
After waiting for a moment, the line connected. "The Commissioner agreed, he'll send someone over to negotiate further but he said we can go ahead and inform Fenrir that we've agreed to his terms."
"Excellent, I'll have someone go immediately. Contact the QSU, and have them send over a representative. I will be calling a briefing shortly to discuss our next course of action as soon as we get the information about his family's whereabouts." Said Nezu, already compiling a message to Hawks.
"Got it." Said Naomasa, hanging up and immediately starting another call. He was going to be busy for a while, so while the call connected he asked a junior officer to get him some coffee. He doubted he'd be getting any sleep anytime soon.
The surviving members of 1A minus Kaminari and Jiro filed into the briefing room, the meeting had been called suddenly and they still didn't know what it was all about. Only that Fenrir had provided them with some information.
As Ochako entered she noted the presence of Gochō Ahmya, the QSU Corporal that had retaken the Police Station during Zeus's raid. She was reading over a document of some kind, so Ochako took her time to look her over properly. She had an eye patch covering her left eye and although difficult to tell, Ochako noticed there was a large amount of make-up that covered the contours of her skull. Her hair was extremely short, and there were strange patterns cut through it. It took Ochako a few moments to realize what she was seeing, but she eventually realized that the patterns were lightning scarring stretching across the entirety of her skull. Hair couldn't grow where the scars were and the make-up must be being used to cover more lightning scars that outlined her skull. Lightning scaring often consisted of fractal patterns across the skin, sometimes following blood vessel outlines. The black outlining of bone across the skin was not only rare but also a sign that the lightning strike had been very large and very powerful, a sign that usually only showed up on dead bodies. The fact that Ahmya was alive might be one of the greatest feats of luck Ochako had ever seen in her life.
With little better to do, Ochako decided to introduce herself. She had the feeling that they would be working together at some point in the future, so now was an excellent time to get the formalities out of the way.
"Your Gochō Ahmya, right?" she said, sitting down next to the woman.
Ahmya looked up, a look of mild surprise on her face. "Yes, and you are?" she said, inclining her head in place of a bow.
"I'm Ochako Uraraka, or Uravity if you know that name. I wanted to introduce myself since it's likely we'll be working together in the future." She said brightly, meeting new people was something she usually enjoyed, and this looked to be no different.
"A pleasure, you're part of the same generation as Katsuki Bakugo correct?" she asked.
"Yes, though I will admit that in comparison to everyone else I never really made a name for myself during the war." She said sheepishly. After all, not many people knew she had been one of the six angels. They had all worn helmets during the war and had been directed to never remove them in the presence of people who did not already know who she already was.
"Not exactly a bad thing, my only claim to fame is being one of the fourteen people that survived the Shelter Massacre. When your claim to fame is being a survivor, it's a lot more trouble than it's worth." She said with a matter-of-fact sigh.
Ochako didn't really know what to say to that, she decided to change topics. "Do you know any more details as to why this meeting was called? I heard it had something to do with Fenrir, but not much else beyond that." Said Ochako, curious.
"Apart from the fact that we might have made some kind of deal with him concerning some information he might have, not much. I expect that this meeting will shed some light on that." She said, frowning slightly.
"You know... I've always been curious, but what's it like being in the QSU?" she asked.
Ahmya leaned back in her seat, crossing her arms in thought. "Maybe it was different for my superiors back when they were in the field. My experience though... it has been brutal. I've lost friends, comrades, family, and even my left eye. I can't go out in public without heavy makeup on either. I thought about leaving once, when I was injured by Zeus I was given the option to leave with benefits. My friend, the other survivor left, but I decided to stay. What about you? What was being a hero like?" Ahmya asked, now curious herself.
"Honestly? Pretty much the same, except I have burn scars running all over my body," she said, not particularly keen on going into details.
It was at that point that Detective Naomasa arrived, which meant everyone was assembled for the meeting. The lights dimmed and the projector flickered to life. Nezu sat at the end of the table, his PDA set up in front of him.
"It looks like everyone is present, so we will begin. First off, we have worked out a deal with Fenrir. In exchange for a lessened sentence, we will provide us with the location of Zeus headquarters, provided we can rescue his family as well." Said Nezu, a small ripple of interest running through the room at the mention of possibly discovering where Zeus was holding up.
"Fenrir's family is being held captive by Zeus, he was coerced into aiding Zeus because of this. He provided us with the likely location where they are being held and we have already dispatched scouts to the location, along with aerial photos. We can confirm that they are being held in a compound in the Tokyo Prefecture and that security is tight. We will likely have very little time with which to move, as we believe it likely Zeus will move them to a new location as soon as he is able. If he suspects that Fenrir may know the location of his base then his only option is to hold onto them as long as possible to guarantee Fenrir's silence. This is assuming that he even knows that Fenrir is alive. We have fed as much information to the media and other groups that he was killed in the fight. However, we have a definite and as of yet, unidentified information leak, so we must assume that Zeus is operating with perfect information." Said Nezu, going through several ariel photos before flipping the next set of photos. This time of the images of the kidnapped individuals.
"These are the images of the-" Nezu cut off, a sudden look of worry coming over his face as he focused on one individual in particular of the assembled crowd.
"Miss Ahmya? Is everything all right?" He asked, concerned.
Ochako looked to her right where Ahmya was now standing, a look of shock and fear visible on her face.
"That's... That's my sister... and her family..." she said quietly, taking a step back, one hand on her chair for support.
Nezu glanced over to Naomasa and gave him a nod. Naomasa got up from his chair, quickly made his way around the table and put an arm around her, and gently guided her out of the room.
There was silence in the room for a few moments until Nezu cleared his throat.
"These are the images of the kidnapped individuals, naturally you are all expected to memorize them. The family consists of one woman, a man, and a child around the age of three. Their safety and retrieval are your utmost priorities. The enemy is secondary, and if it means letting them escape then so be it. We must secure the family and provide protection for them until they can be safely hidden. This is our best chance at discovering the location of Zeus's base and we must secure this information at all costs. There are no more high-ranking members of the League left apart from Zeus, once he is apprehended, it will break what remains of Shigaraki's followers." Said Nezu.
"Detective Naomasa was going to present the next section as he is acting as the liaison for the H.A. and QSU, but given circumstances, I will take his place." Continued Nezu, flicking to another set of images.
"The plan to breach the compound will be done in two parts. Firstly, the QSU will infiltrate the compound and attempt to secure the captives through stealth. If successful, they will radio to the assault force positioned outside and they will then launch an all-out attack on the compound. However, it is highly likely that it will not go so smoothly, of course, instead, the QSU will get as far into the compound as they can, if any one of the infiltration groups believes that they have been compromised then they will radio for the attack to begin. The squads infiltrating have yet to be decided but most will consist of one QSU squad and one hero suited for the task. The assault on the compound itself will be performed by roughly eight different groups positioned at key points around the compound, and two mobile task forces that we can send to any point that may require reinforcement. It is also a possibility that Zeus may warp in forces to help try and secure the captives and then evac them somewhere beyond our reach. That will be the mobile task force's primary purpose, countering any such reinforcements." Said Nezu.
"Each of the following Heroes have been chosen to lead one of these ten task forces. Creati, Icy Hot, Hawks, Ryukyu, Dynamite, Froppy, Mirko, Eraser Head, Best Jeanist, and Ectoplasm. Dynamite and Mirko will be leading one of the two mobile task groups. You are all given leave to build your squads as you see fit, but a list of heroes already pre-selected to join the QSU squads will be sent to each of you." Said Nezu reading off of a list.
After that, the briefing went into more details about the compound, expected resistance, and what tools will be available to the individual squads. Ochako took some notes and when the briefing was over and they all got up to leave.
Bakugo immediately called out, "Round face, you're with me!" and jerked his head at her to follow him.
Ochako just smiled and waved goodbye to the others as she followed Bakugo out of the room.
"Got anyone else in mind?" she immediately asked as she caught up to him.
"You're just the obvious pick, wanted to get you before anyone else," he grunted.
Ochako just gave a slight laugh and shook her head, even now Bakugo had a competitive streak in him.
"For obvious reasons you are being pulled from this mission." Said Sōchō Arinobu.
Ahmya just stood there silently, hands clenched in anger, but she didn't try to dissuade him. The protocols were clear in situations like this, she was emotionally compromised and her judgment impaired due to her close family being held captive.
Sōchō Arinobu raised one eyebrow, "No dissent?" he said, just a bit surprised.
"It wouldn't make a difference, and you'reright. I can't be trusted on this." She bit out.
Sōchō Arinobu nodded approvingly, "Excellent, naturally this means that your squad will be pulled from the mission as well. I recommend you go home, and try to relax. Your family will be rescued, I am assigning the best squads we have available to the op. We will not fail." said Sōchō Arinobu, a steely glint in his eyes.
Ahmya just nodded and went to leave, but stopped at the door.
"Is there something else?" He asked, looking up from his desk.
"Sir, if I had someone else lead my squad, could they still join the op?" she asked, looking back.
Sōchō Arinobu frowned, "It's quite irregular but there are no rules against it, do you have someone in mind?"
"Yes sir, I do, but I don't think it's going to fly," she said with a grimace, well aware of the unreasonableness of her upcoming request.