Chapter 75: Yamishiwa
The woman in the apron tried to run, but Doko flicked his wrist, and warped her back to himself. He wrapped his arms around her waist, and slammed her down into the ground just as the police arrived and restrained her. "ACTIVATE HER QUIRK BY FORCE! NOW NOW NOW!" he shouted desperately, his head whirling back toward the flipped apartment…
…
Rumi could only watch, powerless to stop gravitational acceleration, as all the objects-turned-bombs plummeted to the ground…
…And then, millimeters above the floor, they all stopped.
The boy gasped. "My mother…she used her Quirk again?"
Everywhere must have gotten her to, Rumi thought…but her Quirk only slows down the objects!
They were all still floating just above the ground, but they were dropping very slowly down…and when they touched, they would all explode.
Everywhere had bought them maybe a minute or two of time, but that was way more than the few seconds she'd just wasted. Now it was time to move.
"C'mon, kid!" Rumi grabbed the boy who'd flipped the building about the waist and hopped off the wall, hurtling back toward the balcony. She hit the floor powerfully, and took off running down the insular hallway of the building, rounding one corner, then the next. She passed several floating light fixtures as they inched closer and closer to the floor…
Get the people out instead of the objects! That's what my Quirk can do! And…
She rounded another corner, the boy still in her arms, and came face-to-face with the two robbers. Beyond them a bit was a charred, exploded area of hallway, with Queen Pinky struggling to her feet to fight again.
Rumi bounced off one wall, then another, kicked the robbers in the head at lightning speed, knocking them out. She whirled as the sacks of stuff dropped from their hands, and caught them, one with her other arm…the other in her teeth.
They dangled inches above the floor, and she struggled, all her muscles straining. The boy looked up at her in alarm. "Miss?!" he asked worriedly.
Mina came up to her side. "What happened?" she asked. Part of her costume was torn and charred, and some of her hair had burned away. "I heard Doko's message…"
Rumi tossed one of the bags to Mina, who caught it. She moved the other one from her teeth to her free arm, and shouted, "MELT THAT! Keep it off the floor!"
Mina seemed confused, but she did so, blasting the bag with acid…the material dissolved, and scattered about the floor in a pile of putrid, burning plastic sludge. But…it didn't explode.
"Your Quirk negates the explosives when you destroy the object!" Rumi exclaimed. "Everywhere bought us a bit of time, but not much! All the objects in the building are just a few millimeters off the ground! Go, melt them all! Melt any you see! Keep them from exploding!"
Mina's eyes widened, and she seemed to sway with the weight of her task. "But…what about all the people…"
Rumi gave the boy's hand a yank. "I'll take care of 'em! RUN! NOW!"
…
Mirko tossed her the other bag, and Mina exploded it in midair, putting as much acidity and viscosity and density into her shot as she could. Once again, a horrid smell and spill…but no bomb. Nothing like what had hit her when the robber had attacked her.
Now, Mirko was hopping away with the boy in tow, down the hallway. Mina's head spun. Take out all the objects with acid? And only a minute or two to do so? Where to start? Where to prioritize? And what about these bad guys on the ground?
Abruptly, she slapped herself. There was no time to think! Just do! DO DO DO!
She slid off down the hallway, bursting into the first door she arrived at. There were at least a half dozen things inching slowly toward the floor (ceiling). She whirled her arms about, spraying acid with abandon. Aim left. Up. Down. Right. And another one over there, take it out. Yes. I don't know how many things that robber guy might have touched and used his Quirk on! I can't take any chances!
She skated to the next room, and repeated. Then the next. Her chest heaved with exhaustion. Sweat covered her body. Her costume was ruined, and she hurt all over from the attack, but she couldn't afford to stop.
She destroyed a mixer as the corner of it threatened to scrape the floor. She underhanded an arc of acid spray at a laptop. In the next room, it was blatantly obvious that all the floating items were much closer to the ground than before. She was running out of time. And she was still only barely finished with one floor. One of six.
I have to keep going, she thought, desperately, tears streaming down her face as she kicked yet another door open, spraying her acid all over the place, destroying the bombs. I have to minimize as much damage as possible…
She finally finished that floor, and made a snap decision to go down instead of up, moving on. Less than a minute remained, she was certain.
I'm going to keep taking them out until the very end, Mina Ashido decided. Even if the rest of the building explodes with me inside.
…
Rumi burst out the window with another person. Her rabbit instincts were telling her that there were a few more left inside the building, but not many. She was almost done. And the incoming danger…it was only thirty seconds away. Her rabbit instincts were telling her that too.
She threw the person onto the catching mattress and hopped back into the building. Bounced off one wall. Then the next. Then folded into a kick that destroyed a door. She slid to a stop inside the room, picked up the next civilian by the armpits, and smashed the window with her feet. Out they went.
Four more. Just four. Twenty-three seconds to go.
The next two were in the same room. Rumi's heart hadn't quite raced like this in years. She grabbed them both, tucked them under her arms, and dived out of the building onto another catching mattress. Fourteen seconds.
It occurred to her, as she reached the last person, that she might have sent Mina Ashido to her doom. I thought there'd be more people to save…I thought I needed her to buy me more time! But now she'll be the only person left in there, saving no one with her sacrifice!
Rumi cried out in despair as she saved the last person. Eight seconds.
She turned, and prepared to hop as high as she could, up to the floor where she sensed Queen Pinky might be, ready to make a last-ditch effort to save her life…
…And Doko Katayama ran past her, warping up into the air.
"EVERYWHERE!" she yelled. "NO!"
…
Mina's vision was starting to cave in. She could hardly lift her arms.
Just one more room, she thought. One more room and then I'll…
An ornamental vase struck the floor. It must have been closer to the ground than the others to start with. The explosion blew Mina back out of the room. She summoned the last bit of her strength, and slid along the floor with her acid, slowing herself down. That one had been too far away to hurt her, but…
...Everything else was closing the distance to the floor fast.
Her palms were now longer spitting very much acid at all. Her reserves in there were running out. She had quite a bit in her feet still, but…
Far above her head, she heard a small explosion, followed by a shudder of the building. Then another. It had begun. She was losing.
Mina stumbled down the hallway, trying to keep up her rhythm, and failing. Every bone in her body screamed at her to stop, to give up. How? she thought, despairing. How can this not be enough? Even with all this hard work, with all my strength, am I powerless before this? Is there anything else I could have done? ANYTHING?!
Ahead of her, a book was about to hit the floor. She dived for it, staggering, summoning the last bit of acid in her palm to try and destroy it…
…And it warped upward in a violet flash.
Mina stopped short. She looked up. Doko was standing before her, holding his arm up. He pulled Mina close to himself, purple light emanating from his body in waves. He closed both fists, gritted his teeth, and shouted…
"WARP FIELD!"
WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM.
Mina's reality turned inside out, as a wave of lavender energy washed over her.
In a split second, she and Doko were plummeting onto a catching-mattress outside, the purple blast continuing out over the building…
And all the objects in the building warped into the air.
Mina had just enough time to think, Great, he's bought us more time, now we have to go up and destroy them all in the sky…
When suddenly, high above the building, above the city, a massive explosion of fire and smoke went off.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The light reflected in all their faces, heroes and police and civilians alike. Jaws dropped. Gasps rippled across the crowd. A blast of wind ruffled through the air, and the smoke dissipated. It was over.
Next to Mina, Doko released his grip. "I…warped them all to the exact same place at once…" he said… "Used all my power…and focus…they all touched each other, causing a chain reaction of detonation…ended it…"
He swayed, and collapsed.
…
Twenty-four hours later, after a lot of police reports, interviews, procedures, and recoveries, Doko got back to his feet.
They had returned to the training gym. The last little while had been a semi-conscious blur of people and noise, but now it was just him, and Mina, and Mirko, all alone.
The sun was shining through the high windows. It had been a full day.
"Good to see you up and about," said Mirko when she spotted him, hands on her hips. Judging by the positions of the two ladies, Doko could tell they had been sparring. Mina's expression seemed subdued, focused.
"So, uhh…what happened, exactly?"
Mirko's eyes narrowed. "That woman used her own Quirk and her son's as a distraction to rob all her neighbors. Those two accomplices of hers did not live in the building. One of them used their Quirks as a bargaining chip. I suppose their plan was to threaten to blow up the building if heroes showed up and wouldn't let them go free with all their stuff. Luckily, the three of us together were all too fast for 'em to even do that much."
"I…yeah." Doko swayed on his feet. "I've never used my Quirk so much at once. I still feel pretty weak."
"Well, you can keep resting. Pinky and I are having some nice one-on-one time anyway."
Doko looked over at Mina again. Frustration danced in her golden eyes. She's exhausted too, but overworking herself. And Mirko is letting it happen.
"Mina," he called softly. "You can take a break too, if you like."
"I can't," she growled. "Not after how useless I was."
"Usele…what? Mina, you did just as much as us, if not more!"
She shook her head. "You were the one who figured out what they were doing, and Mirko-san was the one who saved everybody. Then you had to come save me because I was getting myself blown up. It wasn't like I saved anyone's possessions, since I was destroying them all."
Doko looked back at Mirko. "That's not true, is it? She was buying you time to get everyone out."
Mirko seemed…sheepish. "Thing is…I had just enough time to do so anyway. But that was only because of our prior efforts at evacuating everyone before we found out what was going on…which, Pinky, you were a big part of."
"It doesn't matter," Mina muttered. "I still ran out of acid and had to get saved by Doko. Again."
"Oh come on," Doko countered, laughing a little nervously. "We've both saved each other like three times at this point. It's pretty even."
"It doesn't change the fact that you got your big hero moment and I didn't get to do anything. You don't know, do you? You've been all over the news again. It's because of you that there were no casualties, because of you that we caught all the perpetrators in one fell swoop. Everyone's talking about Mirko's new little partner who won the Sports Festival."
Doko turned to Mirko for the second time, angry now. "You've just been letting her beat herself up with this mentality, and not helping out? You're enabling it by training her to death right now!"
Mirko blinked at him. "Pinky knows her limits. You and I can talk at her all we want, but it won't change that feeling of inadequacy inside her. That's something she's got to get over herself."
Mina nodded, making Doko feel like he was the crazy one in the room. "I have to get better with my acid," she said. "Faster, more efficient."
"And as it happens, that's what I want, too," said Mirko. "I told you both I wanted to develop your emitter Quirks more. Everywhere…that was quite the display at the building, and I don't believe you would have been able to do that if we hadn't trained."
Way to pat yourself on the back, Doko thought dourly. "So that's why you're letting me take a break now? Because I've had a Quirk breakthrough and she hasn't?"
"You don't have to get all confrontational, Doko," said Mina. "Really." She managed a weak smile. "I'm gonna keep training and figure this out. It's something I have to do myself. Now…really, you seem even more exhausted than me, still. You should go sit down and watch us."
Doko looked at his phone, annoyed. "I can't. I have a visit to Tartarus scheduled like, an hour from now."
"Oh, shit," Mirko swore. "I forgot about those."
"Well, isn't it convenient that it's happening now, when you've so graciously decided to give me a break?"
"Still, you going to help interrogate a villain is not exactly what I had in mind." Mirko clicked her teeth. "If it can't be helped, it can't be helped. Still…recruiting a kid for this kind of work…it has Commission meddling written all over it. I don't like it one bit."
"The Commission is the reason we're with you in the first place," Mina pointed out. "They can't be ALL bad."
"Well, of course not. But ideally, you'd want the big hero organization to be all good. And they're nowhere close." Rumi turned back to Doko. "How are you gonna get to Tartarus from here?"
"I just sent Aizawa our location. Someone should be coming to get me."
"Well, alright…until then, you can watch us keep going."
Doko sat down on the bench against the wall, as Mirko and Mina began to fight again. He was surprised to see that not only was Mina going slow, but Mirko was slower than average as well. How long have they been going at it? Have they slept at all since the day before last?
He watched his girlfriend try and try again, his heart filling with sorrow. Her face was a twisted mix of frustration and anxiousness and rage and determination. He wanted to help her, but he had to admit that Mirko had a point…when you got that inferior mentality in your head like that, other peoples' words hardly ever helped. Even if they were from the people you were closest with.
It was a tough thing. Why was the world tossing this moment at him now, a moment where he felt so powerless? He knew he wasn't powerless. He'd just saved all those people in that building, and was apparently getting positive press for it, too. My Quirk is finally working for me, and the dreams have stopped. So why do I have to feel like this right now?
Doko realized with a chill while watching Mina…that he wanted to help her more for himself than anything. To make himself feel better about the situation.
We've become too dependent on one another. Or maybe I've just become too dependent on her. Was it really so surprising? Mina had a large family, while Doko had none at all. Of course he would get more attached than her.
But even if they became hero partners, and stayed together, got married, maybe started a family…there would still always be things that they would have to do on their own. Doko had grown so close with Mina that it was like he viewed her as…an extension of himself. That was why he was here and not training with some other hero besides Mirko.
He pinched himself in anger. He'd stopped thinking about her as her own separate person entirely!
It was some time later when the gym doors were thrown open, and two people walked in.
Mirko and Mina both stopped and turned. Doko lifted his head, and his eyes widened in surprise.
He'd expected some combination of Aizawa and Present Mic to come pick him up. Or perhaps that detective, or maybe even the old hero Gran Torino.
The number two hero himself, Hawks, was standing at the gym entrance, making a show of stretching and yawning and looking around the place. "Quite the agency you've got here, Usagiyama," he commented.
Rumi gave him a dumbfounded expression. "What are you doing here?" she blurted.
Hawks pointed at Doko. "I'm picking up the kid."
Behind the wing hero was Tokoyami, who waved to Doko and Mina. "Hello again, guys," he said.
"Hey, Tokoyami," Mina answered.
"Uhh…hey." Doko stood, and looked between the two feathery newcomers and Mirko. "I'm as confused as you are. I've never met this man in my life."
Hawks pouted. "Well, I'm here to take you to Tartarus. And in the meantime, I was hoping Tsukuyomi could stay here and do a bit of training…?"
"I didn't sign up for three brats," Rumi told him bluntly.
Tokoyami bowed. "I can just sit down somewhere and study, if that's your preference. But I have not been given clearance to visit Tartarus."
"Why is it you that's taking me?" Doko asked Hawks. "You're not part of the Kurogiri investigation and you're not a UA teacher. Don't you have better things to do?"
Hawks gave him a long, measured look. Doko sensed a lot of things in that look, none of which he understood. Then, the hero laughed. "HA! You've got such an attitude. To tell the truth, I was simply in the area and received a call to come by and snag you, since I'm so fast. And…" He pulled a piece of paper out of his jacket pocket, and walked up to Mirko. "We've been given a charter for a joint investigation. The two of us."
"Huh?" Mirko took the paper, and gave it a once-over with her amber eyes. "Why's the Commission sticking me with you?"
"It's not for long. I guess they think more League activity might happen down here in southern Japan, and decided to make use of our free spirits while we're down here. Don't try and deceive me, Usagiyama. You DID save Endeavor and me from Dabi, during the High-end Nomu fight in Kyushu. And then you said you were hopping away to track the League. If it wasn't for your latest…distraction…" He waved generally at the three students. "You'd still be on that job. Isn't that right? All the Commission is asking is for you to accept my help - and Tsukuyomi's - for a few days."
"Also," Tokoyami chimed in, "Katayama and I have control training that we need to work on together. Aizawa-sensei wanted that to keep happening. It benefits us all to have a partnership for the time being."
"Great," Mirko muttered, scanning the fine print. "So UA has put you up to this too. If it's the two organizations together, I guess I can't hop my way out of it." She sighed. "Fine, the bird kid can stick around for a bit while you take Everywhere to the prison. But I expect you to stay out of my hair as much as possible!"
"Of course." Hawks bowed smoothly. "Behave yourself, Tsukuyomi, until we get back."
"Yes, Hawks."
Doko and Tokoyami passed each other, the former walking toward Hawks, the latter walking away. Doko whispered sidelong at his friend, "Do you trust him?"
Tokoyami stopped for a second. He seemed surprised. "With my life. Why do you ask?"
Doko couldn't understand it. Tokoyami, who was always so cool and collected and perceptive, really didn't think there was anything off about this? He just…trusted Hawks, this fast-talking, happy-go-lucky hero?
I guess he IS the number two for a reason. Still, Doko didn't like the man's demeanor. Or how he kept looking at him.
Still, this visit was about Kurogiri, not Hawks, and so Doko resigned himself to putting up with it.
"Come on, kid," Hawks said, escorting him out of the training gym. "Let's fly."
…
They hurtled through the air, the wind blasting Doko's face. He was being yanked along by dozens of Hawks's feathers, while the man himself flew freely above him. Beneath them, roofs of buildings rushed past. He could hear people calling out in wonder, as well.
It was hard to feel that sense of wonder with his cheeks flapping.
"Sorry, kid!" Hawks laughed. "But you're a bit heavier than Tokoyami, so I can't really keep you protected from the elements in my arms! But my feathers have a much higher weight limit, and they can zoom along just as fast as me."
Doko hummed in response, feeling entirely too dehumanized to speak words.
"What's the matter, kid? You're gonna be fine, right? Tough kid like you."
"Well, I get nauseous." His stomach churned in response to that, right on cue. "And I really expected us to take a car, or something."
"Nah, this is actually faster. No stoplights in the sky. No worries, we'll be at Tartarus in just twenty minutes, and then I'll put you down!"
"I'm not looking forward to flying over the sea."
"Relax, I'm not going to drop you either!"
"Of course not. Then I would die." Doko looked squarely up at the man flying above him. "And even if you ARE my enemy, it's the type of enemy that needs information from me before he kills me. Isn't that right?"
Hawks gave him a long, serious look. "You're awfully perceptive, kid."
"Stop calling me kid. My name is Everywhere, or Katayama if you wanna get personal."
"Katayama?" Hawks chewed on that for a second. "...Katayama. Your last name. Huh."
Doko raised an eyebrow. He didn't understand why that was significant to Hawks. "Do you know my family or something?"
"Maybe. It sounds kinda familiar." Hawks shrugged. "That's not what I wanted to talk about, though."
"What is it, then?" It dawned on Doko a second later. If Hawks was being roped into this Kurogiri investigation, then it stood to reason that…
"Are you interested in my connection with Kurogiri?"
"That's right." Hawks smiled. "You'll forgive me for being intrusive, but…that strong Nomu that Endy and I fought could think for itself. Talk. It even had a personality. And apparently…that personality matched with the person whose DNA was found inside the creature. If Kurogiri is similar, then…" The hero shrugged again. "I dunno, Everywhere. It seems to me that you're one of the big keys in cracking this case wide open."
"I don't know." Doko frowned. "It's been ages since Kurogiri was captured. Even if he were to tell us the League's exact location from that moment, they could have moved anywhere else in that time. I don't really see the point of it all myself."
"Then why do you agree to keep going? The government has laws about this sort of stuff, you know. You're legally allowed to pull out of this agreement at your age, and if they push the matter, then you can press charges."
I agree to keep going because I want to see my mother again. "I don't want to press charges," he said out loud. "I want to be useful. To you, to the other pros, to everyone. That's what I can be."
Hawks smiled. "I heard about that building flip incident. I was on my way over, actually, when I heard that it had been resolved. By you, no less. You've got quite the special power, there. You want to put your Quirk to use, is that it? Live a hard-working life?"
"That's right."
"Well, then you may not wanna be my friend. What I'm looking to do as a hero is create a world where heroes can afford to be lazy. I might put you out of a job or two."
"You're only what, six years older than me? It'll take you a while yet to accomplish that."
Hawks chuckled. "Maybe so, Everywhere. Maybe so."
…
Just a little while later, Hawks dropped him off, randomly promoted this book he'd been reading about the Meta Liberation Army, gave Doko a copy, and then flew off.
Doko was left standing on the long dock walk-up to Tartarus, the book in his hand, dumbfounded. Then, Aizawa and Gran Torino and Tsukauchi walked up to him.
"There you are," said the detective. "That was…fast."
Aizawa sighed at the rapidly vanishing Hawks in the distance. "I didn't expect him to actually fly you here."
"Youth," Gran Torino muttered. "C'mon kid, we're short on time."
Doko followed the three of them past the same security checks as before, slightly on edge now. Hawks, as strange as the guy was, now fled from his mind, and was replaced with the familiar anxiety about this place. This dark place, out on the water, filled with evil.
"Where's Present Mic?" he asked Aizawa.
"Didn't want to come. I guess he's finally had enough," Eraserhead muttered. "Don't blame yourself, Katayama."
Doko was already one step ahead. If Kurogiri had any more relevant information to offer us, wouldn't it have slipped out by now?
Then again…the last time he'd come here, he'd been very insecure about his Quirk. He'd started having the nightmares, and had become very worried about the creatures of the void that his powers came from.
But since then, he'd gotten quite a handle on his Quirk. He didn't think the Doko that had been here last would have been able to save all those people at the building. Thanks, Mirko. You may have gotten the awakening you wanted after all. Except, this was the opposite of an awakening. In a good way. He'd successfully put a lid on it. The whispers were gone.
And now, it felt like his Quirk was working with him a lot more. Tartarus felt more alive around him as he walked through those dark, narrow, metallic halls. None of these cells had any windows, but he felt that he could sense the people behind them all the same. Last time, he'd sensed All For One…and that presence was still there, to be sure, but there were others as well. Including some familiar ones.
Muscular, Doko thought. That big guy that I stopped along with Midoriya and Koda and the wolves. He's here. And…Overhaul as well. He was walking over their heads now, his footsteps echoing down into their far-reaching cells, deep beneath the waves. They were restrained and wrapped and utterly powerless. Even AFO's presence wasn't making him as uneasy as before.
I can do this, Doko thought. This time, I'm the one to be feared. Because I've harnessed the void. The void is on MY side. It's MINE.
They arrived at Kurogiri's cell.
The familiar motions were gone through. Gran Torino and Tsukauchi stayed in the outer chamber with the guardsmen, while Aizawa and Doko walked up to the glass. Just on the other side, the portal villain stirred in his seat.
"Doko…Katayama," he croaked. "You again."
"That's right," said Doko. "It's me again, Nomu. Now, I'm only going to ask nicely for the briefest of moments. Where are my mother and Shirakumo? Let them come up. If you don't, things will have to get ugly."
Aizawa turned to look at his student in alarm. "Katayama," he hissed. "What are you talking about?"
"Careful in there," they warned from the chamber. "Steady."
Kurogiri chuckled. "What, are you going to come in here and attack me? Your superiors around you wouldn't take kindly to that. Oh, they act like they need you now, but the second you get too far out of line, they might just lock you up in the cell next to me. Their perfect little child soldier until he gets too big for his britches."
"Hmm, that doesn't sound so bad." Doko's eyes narrowed. "Then we could have nice, long chats."
Deep down, he searched for something inside his Quirk. The lid that he'd shut. It was a good mental picture to use. That lid, which divided this world from the void, which kept his warping under control, which he'd worked so long to quiet…
…He slid it open, just a little. He anchored his mind to the tiny bit of void that came creeping out…
…And prepared to wield it.
The sensors inside the cell all turned toward the window at once.
"Unusual activity!" one of the guards shouted in alarm. "Katayama, don't use your Quirk!"
"Why not?" Doko called, not taking his eyes off the prize before him. "Will your security system attack me?"
"No, but while it's distracted with you, the captive's chances of escape rise exponentially!"
"He's not escaping. I'll make sure of that." Doko had never felt quite so confident about something.
"Katayama," Aizawa warned. "As your teacher, I…"
"Sensei, if you must, prepare to erase my Quirk. I want to try something."
"No! Not here! We can't afford to…"
"Can't afford to what? Get more information about the League? That's what I'm trying to do. If there's anything left that's useful to us in the mind of that thing, I'm going to find it today. Simple as. What we actually can't afford to do is not use everything in our power to figure this out, which is what you're suggesting if you try to stop me."
"Katayama, I don't think this is a good idea."
"If things go wrong, erase my Quirk. You're right there. I'm right here. It's going to be fine. This is what I've been training for with Tokoyami, remember?"
Aizawa gave him a long, worried look…then, he nodded and stepped away.
"What are you doing?!" The detective's voice, incredulous.
"It's fine!" Aizawa called. "I'll supervise the boy!"
Doko took a deep breath. Closed his eyes. Focused on the sense of Kurogiri in front of him. Behind that glass. Trying to remember everything Tokoyami told him.
Activate your Quirk, but don't feel anxious about it. Just…let it flow. The void is yours to wield. Wield it!
He surged his power forward, just a tad, projecting it out toward Kurogiri…and in the blink of an eye, they were in darkness.
…
Shota's eyes widened. Katayama and Kurogiri were still there, but…they were…shimmering. As if they were only half in this reality.
I've never seen a Quirk like this, he thought, worried. All the times that the boy's power had exploded out of him…what could go wrong if that happened in a place like this?
How many criminals might escape?
"Eraser!" Gran Torino called sharply. "Do something!"
"I…" Shota was very conflicted. He wanted to trust his student's judgement. This student, who'd been training for a moment like this with Tokoyami…
"I shouldn't…we have to let it play out…"
…
All their surroundings had snapped away. It was just Doko and Kurogiri, still tied in his chair but floating, in a syrupy mass of black.
Kurogiri's yellow eyes blinked, and then looked around wildly. "Where…where are we?"
"I think…you know the answer to that…" Doko had never used his power like this. All of a sudden, now that he was here, physically inside the void…he could tell he was losing his grip a little. Unfamiliar territory was unseating his control. It's fine. Just for a moment. I need him to fear me enough to tell me things. Or…to let my mother come out.
Doko took a forward step. His feet collided with nothing solid, but where the step "planted", small rings of purple glow emanated out like the surface of a pool. He took another. And another. Slowly, toward Kurogiri.
"Boy…" the villain warned. "If you come closer, I'll…"
"Do what? You're still tied up…but I'm not tied to anything in here."
Kurogiri was breathing, but it was rattly, unsettled. "You…you've taken us into the void."
"That's right." Inwardly, Doko was pretty sure the line was a bit greyer than that. Were they in the void right now? Perhaps, in a way. But they were also still in Tartarus. He could feel the real world connecting to his back still. If he'd opened the lid a little further…would they have gone further in? Past the point of no return?
Don't think about that. Just…hold it down. Just for a little longer.
"Let me out," Kurogiri rasped. "Let me out now." His ethereal body had begun to shimmer, as if it was reacting to their surroundings. Doko wasn't sure, but he thought he could see the faint glow of violet beyond all the black around them.
"I can't. Not until you do what I told you."
"Your…your mother? Shirakumo?" Kurogiri laughed, but it was more like a nervous coughing fit. "I don't…they're not…"
"They ARE there, Nomu."
"Don't call me that!"
"Why not? Only a Nomu would end up like this. A powerful Quirk connected to the void, but unable to ever see it on his own…this place is unfamiliar to you, even after all those times you tried to send me here with your portals. You never even knew what you were dealing with, did you? I'm sure that's by design. Your designers made it so."
"Shut…up…you never knew what you were dealing with either, boy…" Kurogiri's voice was sounding more and more warped. More and more like…many. "I remember when I first met you. You couldn't even…warp…others. Now…look at you. Look at how you've…"
In that moment, his voice became entirely a woman's.
"Look at how you've grown."
Doko gasped. The voice was full of pride and warmth and love. His mother's face was swimming in that soup again. Gentle, lined, and caring. Her dark grey hair swirled about. She blinked at him, and smiled softly.
"Mother…"
"Doko…I didn't choose that name, but it is better than none." Her smile widened a little.
Doko realized it wasn't just a memory of his mother talking now. She was talking directly to him. Even though she was dead. Was this what was made possible by the void? Recklessly, he pushed forward again, distracted and overwhelmed with emotion.
"Mother, I…I'm becoming a hero. I'm going to stop the people that did this to you. I'm going to make sure they never do it to anyone else. I'm gonna help build a better world."
"That sounds wonderful." Her eyes twinkled. "But don't you have something else you'd like to ask me?"
"I…I don't know…" Why would his mother know anything about the League's whereabouts? "I don't know if there is any information left that we could use…" He knew it was selfish to just take this opportunity to talk to his mother, but what else could he do?
"It is true. I don't know where this body's…allies are located. But…I do know something. Where they made me…into a monster. It was a hospital. Both me and the cloud boy agree on that much. It was a lab beneath a hospital, and a doctor with a bushy mustache…that's where the Nomu are created…"
Doko's heart skipped a beat. "Truly?" He took another reckless step forward, and the black void around them suddenly coursed with purple streaks of light, like veins and arteries. "Mother, thank you! I…I can't thank you enough!"
"Doko…" She suddenly began to shimmer, and go blurry again. "It's…stop…"
"Huh?" His eyes widened. "What are you talking about?"
"Stop…you're…taking it too far…it's going to…it's going to…"
His mother disappeared. Not just her, but Kurogiri entirely. His chair was gone. Doko had lost him. The prisoner had been returned to reality.
Too late, Doko realized how loose his grip had gotten on his power. How untethered he was. Immediately, the panic began to swim into his system. He turned over, corkscrewing in deadair, looking at his surroundings as they glowed a brighter and brighter purple…
…And an all-too-familiar chasm opened up beneath him.
"No," he croaked. NO! NO! NONONONONONONO! His heart pounded with a terror unlike he'd ever felt. This was no mere dream, not even a nightmare. This was real. This was reality. They were really going to come up and kill him and…
The things blinked at him, writhing up out of the chasm. Hehehehehe…long time no see, boy. We thought we might take a little nap for a while, see if you would become overconfident. Seems like it worked.
"No, I…I CONTAINED you! You were under a lid, you were…you were controlled…"
Never. You've had it all backwards. We were never your puppets to be wielded. You are OURS.
The voices were mad, he realized. Furious. Furious that he'd come into their territory, used it for his own ends. I have to get out, he thought. I have to get out now.
Foolish, foolish child. You have no idea what you've done. What you're GOING to do, if you keep pushing your power.
Should we explain to him? I'm tired of his antics.
Oooh yes let's explain.
There's nothing he can do about it anyway.
The deepest, most malevolent laughter Doko had ever heard came bubbling up from the chasm. He windmilled his arms backward, trying to get away, trying to put distance between himself and that place…but distance was meaningless here.
"I'll stop you!" he promised. "I can! I will! With all of humanity's powers…with all our Quirks…we'll stop you!"
You would stop us with our own invention?
Doko froze.
His blood ran cold.
"You…" he gasped. "...What?"
Idiot. Have you garnered nothing from the visions we send you? We've had our eyes on your universe, on your precious Earth, for a long, long time. Eons. But we used up all our interdimensional power in the formative years, and every time, we were blocked. Unable to crawl in. Unable to invade.
But we came up with a plan, you see. We used the last of our powers to create something, and send it to your dimension. A genetic condition. Placed into rats by our phantom hands, hoping that it would spread to your puny humanity.
As it happened, it did. A baby that glowed light was born. We hate humans, but they have one fascinating quality above all else: their evolution. From that glowing baby, all these things you call Quirks spread and evolved and grew. We weaponized your own evolution against you.
These new powers tore your society apart in ways we couldn't have even predicted. Although, in hindsight, it does seem pretty obvious, doesn't it? Despite your evolution, you humans always cling to tradition, to everything that was normal in the past. It's the constant struggle of history. Past versus future. It's why you're such a failure of a species.
But we waited. We bided our time, growing stronger again while you weakened each other with your new powers. Waiting, because we knew with such a wild condition, eventually it would evolve…evolve into something that would connect back to us. Connect back to our void. And with that…we shall enter your universe, and take it as our own.
You humans are running on borrowed time. Your expiration is upon you. And you, Doko Katayama, shall be the catalyst. Why do you think we baked a faster aging process into you? To make you more desperate, more reckless, more willing to let your power flow out of you. That little girl may have interfered with our plans, but…
…Delaying the inevitable will work less and less. We are coming. We come now at the end.
And don't worry about feeling guilty, kid. You'll be far too dead to remember anything like feelings.
…
Aizawa erased his Quirk, and he returned to reality.
Doko collapsed on the ground, breathing hard. His teacher's arms were around him, keeping up. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat.
"Are you alright?" Aizawa asked in alarm.
Doko looked up and around. Gran Torino and the detective and the guards had run into the room. On the other side of the glass, Kurogiri slumped, unconscious. None of the prison's alarms or systems were going off. All was…normal.
"I…I figured something out…" he said. "The Nomu lab is underneath a hospital. I don't know which hospital. But…yeah."
The pros all looked surprised. They turned to look at each other. "That's…"
"That's a lead!"
"That's amazing!"
The men all chuckled, and Aizawa clapped Doko on the shoulder. "Good job, kid. How about we say that you…never try that again, though."
"Uhh, yeah." Doko trembled a little, but managed a weak smile. "Yeah, I agree."
Another round of light laughter. The detective clapped his hands, and said, "Let's get going, then! We have a lead to work on!"
Doko stood up and followed them out, with one last look at the unconscious portal villain. The pros had forgotten about him as quickly as they'd congratulated him, now focused forward on figuring out the hospital clue. Which was good. Because if Aizawa had continued to interrogate him, asking about what had happened in there…
…What the FUCK am I going to do now?
He'd finally figured out the monsters' plan. And…he'd discovered something ghastly. Something that would upend all of society, if it ever leaked out, if anyone ever believed him.
Overhaul, tucked away somewhere in this prison, had been right all along.
Quirks were a disease from the beginning. A bullet aimed straight at the heart of humanity.
And in me, they have made a suitable gun to shoot it from.
…
Why is the chapter titled Yamishiwa if the character himself doesn't make an appearance? Take a look at Google Translate.
Next time…we shift gears to look at what Ryukyu and Nighteye's squads have been doing…as well as a certain electricity user.