Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia. My Hero Academia is owned by Kōhei Horikoshi and he won't sell the rights to me.
Ingenium looked over the attempted capture site for the League. It was, to put it bluntly, a mess. Groaning Heroes were picking themselves up, while others were helping them.
Enigma's large form was laid out flat and cold, her Mass Expansion Quirk slowly reverting her back down to regular human size.
Ingenium had ultimately decided to stay with his brother and help with the police, since he knew that was a stressful thing to go through. He had been confident that Team Idaten working with the local Heroes would be enough to contain the Villains, ready to cut in if needed.
Nedzu checked the scene with a surprised expression on his face. "Curiouser and curiouser," he commented.
Ingenium stared at the Principal as he spoke. "That's not exactly how I would put it, sir."
Nedzu shrugged. "It's certainly a conundrum, isn't it? They've never demonstrated that level of ability before."
Ingenium didn't respond to that, instead sighing. He turned to Big Shot, who had pushed himself back up. The larger Hero looked his boss in the eye as Ingenium came closer. "Big Shot, what happened out here?"
Big Shot sighed, a grim expression on his face. "Well..."
One Hour Earlier...
The Villains strode out, intent on making one last scene. Inkblot took point, a grin on her face and her mallet in hand. The Heroes came upon them, readying binding moves to try and catch the Villains as quickly as possible.
"I love you guys, so much."
Enigma's hand came down on Inkblot, to pin the strong Villainess before she could cause more damage.
Just as the Heroes were about to make contact, there was a small lightshow.
They had expected Gentle Criminal to light up - it wasn't widely spread, but many Heroes had mentioned him glowing then growing dramatically in strength. La Brava's Quirk was powerful when used with others, which meant that trying to catch her was the best option to stop her empowering Gentle.
They weren't expecting the other Villains to start glowing. The diminutive Villain looked as shocked as they were, before she suddenly fell.
Enigma's hand came down, Inkblot's eyes widening as she blocked the massive palm. She briefly struggled, then she glowed with a yellow light. "What the-" she breathed, before shoving back Enigma with as much force as she could muster. Normally that wouldn't have done much more than briefly delay Enigma from pinning the subject.
Instead, the oversized Heroine was forced backwards a step by that action, managing to catch herself before she landed on any police vehicles. Inkblot checked herself over, her confused expression slowly changing to a grin. Her jacket's sleeves had exploded from how hard she'd pushed, revealing her noodle arms as they seemed to shift between muscular and their normal hose-like state. "I don't know what's happening, but I like it!"
She pulled her mallet out from behind her back, the Heroes holding their ground. Behind her, Gentle Criminal shone with his own pink light, turning back to grab La Brava. "Are you alright, La Brava?"
La Brava managed to push herself up, but seemed to be out of energy. "I-I've never used my Quirk like that before..." she stammered, shock warring with exhaustion.
Gentle Criminal's face turned serious. Quickly, he picked up La Brava, securing her with a cord from his pocket. "Apologies, Heroes. We must leave." He bounced off the tarmac then through the air, rocketing off invisible platforms almost too fast to blink. A Hero that got in his way was met with a cane that smashed him down into another Hero, sending them sprawling.
Mastermind himself was in the front with Inkblot, laughing maniacally. "I guess I didn't need my surprise after all!" He slammed his open palm into the side of a car. With a mighty TOING the vehicle was shot forwards like a cannonball, forcing Kamui Woods to turn his binding manoeuvre into an impromptu net to save some Heroes. Mastermind blocked a Hero's jab and responded with a blow to the solar plexus that caused the Hero to collapse with a hand over his mouth to keep from vomiting.
Golden Grin shone even brighter from the glaring yellow light, actually bracing himself to fire. Big Shot managed to unleash his signature Blast Quirk from his cupped hands, trying to overwhelm the Villains. The shot came out as a massive bright blue beam about two metres wide. Golden Grin opened his mouth, light building up and-
Fired, his beam matching its opponents' size. Golden Grin's eyes were wide behind his mask as he unleashed hell.
The blast of golden light hit Big Shot's own blue beam, the atmosphere between the two crackling with raw power. The lower half of Golden Grin's mask cracked under the sheer strain, the Villain himself only staying in place after having braced himself against a building. Big Shot was sweating himself, the larger Hero trying to overpower the beam as the pair raged against each other. Eventually, the blasts faded, Big Shot falling to one knee to try and recover from the strain of using such an incredibly powerful blast. Golden Grin managed to stagger to his feet, breathing heavily and with one hand clutching his stomach.
Mr. Warp's smoke billowed out and over the Heroes assembled, the Villain seeming to disappear from sight before slamming into a Hero. He landed a series of blows that left four Heroes flat on their backs before they even knew what was happening. The Villain's coat was shredded from the force of the attacks, his cane bent at an odd angle.
Ingenium had been called then and he'd responded. As one of the fastest Heroes nearby they hoped he would be able to catch the Villains. With a quick apology to his brother, he shot into action, speeding down the street using the guidance of Team Idaten. It was still going to take even him a fair bit of time to catch up to where the League of Supervillains was fighting.
Enigma tried to block them in, going to her maximum size, but Inkblot got there first. The Villainess leapt into the air, shoving her formerly gloved hand into her mouth with a canister of ink. With her cheeks puffed, the Villainess' gloved hand expanded in size until it was about as large as she was. Enigma was barely able to get her arms up to block the incredible swing, Inkblot following through the crushing blow to knock the Heroine down to the ground, other Heroes scrambling out of the way.
Enigma tried to push herself up, but another hammer like blow to the face and she was knocked out cold. As her fist shrank back to its regular size, the smile on Inkblot's face was positively feral, only changing when she saw the rest of the League coming closer.
The rest of the League of Supervillains shared a glance, Mastermind especially focusing on Golden Grin and La Brava, then they nodded. With Inkblot and Gentle Criminal leading the main offence, the Heroes were simply unable to regain the upper hand. The League of Supervillains smashed a hole through the barricades, the Mastermobile followed behind them. Mastermind helped haul Golden Grin into the Mastermobile, gesturing to the other Villains to come with him. As the police tried to get back into gear with the Heroes, Mastermind let out one last taunt.
"HEROES! TODAY IS THE DAY YOU WILL ALWAYS REMEMBER AS THE DAY YOU ALMOST CAUGHT... MASTERMIND, AND THE LEAGUE OF SUPERVILLAINS! MWA-HAHAHA! MWA-HAHAHA!" Thunder roared as the Villains shot away, the few Heroes not incapacitated cursing as they tried to track them.
Well, Ingenium and the police tried to catch them but the Villains were ahead of them. Oil slicks, caltrops and smokescreens were all unleashed from the Villain's car, foiling vehicular pursuit. And for as fast as Ingenium could run, eventually the Villains made it into the choked alleyways of Musutafu, and he had to give up the pursuit. He could have gone at his maximum speed, but there were far too many tight corners to take while the Villains knew the territory. They'd lost visual, and there were no trackers on the Mastermobile or any of the Villains.
The Heroes had to give up, setting up cordons to try and intercept them. But the Villains had, once again vanished without trace. They weren't entirely sure how Mr. Warp's ability fully worked. Nedzu's guess based on evidence was that he could warp inanimate objects from as far away as he wanted, but needed longer to try and warp his companions. However it worked, it meant that the League was gone.
Ingenium sighed, looking over the rest of Team Idaten. "Well, if they were easy to catch, they would have been taken out by now."
Nedzu frowned, tapping his chin. "We should be grateful that this is a group that is disinterested in killing. And more than that, they operate in a very different way than most Villains."
Ingenium smiled. "At least this way, we know that they can have a massive boost like that."
Mount Lady sighed, expression bitter. "Well, at least we know that now," she grumbled, glaring at the ground.
Ingenium gave her a thumbs up. "Nothing's ever going to be completely certain. What matters most is that we know now and that they didn't kill anybody."
She chuckled, managing to regain some of her former confidence. "Guess we should be thankful for that."
Nedzu chattered cheerfully. "I'll be going over any footage I can to see if we can anticipate this happening again. But from my instinct for this, I'd say that the Villains weren't sure about this manoeuvre or didn't know it was a possibility."
They'd managed to get back to Gentle Criminal's house, Mastermind and Inkblot staring straight ahead. It took them a bit of time to get out of the vehicle. The golden light had long since faded, but the adrenaline was still pouring through their systems.
With a deep breath, Mastermind turned to the rest of the League as they staggered out of the Mastermobile. "That-that was incredible! I-I never thought - that was so close!"
Inkblot gave Mastermind a bone crushing hug, pressing him into her chest. "Holy shit!"
"I know," Mastermind's voice was muffled, trying to pry himself off of her without being rude about it.
Gentle Criminal gave them a gentle pat on the back. "I understand. First time in Lover Mode for me was something like that."
Golden Grin stared at him. "Wait, is that how you felt doing it all the time? I-I felt like I could do anything!" He staggered out of the car, shadow-boxing.
Gentle Criminal helped La brava out, the shorter woman still slightly drained. His expression turned serious. "La Brava, are you sure you're okay?"
"I'm fine, Gentle!" Her cheeks were a brighter shade of red than they normally were. Then she frowned, tapping her chin. "But I-I don't know how that happened! Love doesn't work like that!"
Golden Grin turned suddenly. "Yeah! Didn't think it worked like that either! Unless..."
The rest of the League stared at La Brava with varying degrees of incredulity.
She gave Golden Grin a flat stare. "You're sixteen years old. No way. That, and I really love Gentle!" She grabbed him by the arm, before releasing it. "So I don't understand how..."
Mastermind managed to pry himself out of Inkblot's grip, staggering slightly as he came over. "Well, these things can happen. Sometimes, your knowledge on what your Quirk can do isn't complete. Sometimes Quirks can evolve based on use, or they have capabilities you just never explored."
La Brava stared at the ground. "I... well, Love is a strong Quirk, and I can't deny that it has grown a bit stronger."
Gentle Criminal nodded. "I have to agree. It feels like Lover Mode is staying active for longer, and it feels like I can accomplish more with it."
She smiled warmly, then frowned. "But this doesn't make sense! I mean - I like you guys, but not romantically or anything! You're my-"
La Brava stopped talking, her eyes wide. Inkblot came closer. "Aiba? Are you-"
"You're my friends," Aiba Manami whispered. Then she grinned. "You're... you're my friends. That's-"
Mastermind tapped his chin, already pulling out a small notebook and pencil as he started to think. "We're your friends? It could be that Love doesn't just refer to romantic or sexual love, it could apply to platonic forms of love as well. Love's power boosting effects increase depending on the danger that the subject of the affection is in, but that was an incredible amount of power, about as much as Gentle must experience. I'd observed that the strength of the feelings involved mattered. Oh, would different kinds of love produce a different colour from Love's power boost? Well, some of those would be hard to-"
Mr. Compress tactfully coughed. "Mastermind? You're, uh, muttering."
Mastermind jumped, nearly dropping his notebook. "Ah, heh. Right. Sorry!"
Manami smiled. "Don't be sorry, Mastermind. We're all friends here."
Golden Grin looked between them. "So, wait. Love applies to friendship?"
"Wouldn't you do anything for your friends or family?"
Golden Grin opened his mouth, then closed it. "Fair point." He pulled off the wrecked lower half of his mask, wincing. "Still, that was one serious power boost! I still feel sick from that laser blast."
Gentle Criminal nodded. "Mastermind had to specifically design my costume so that it wouldn't get destroyed by prolonged usage of Lover Mode." He chuckled. "I remember how frequently I had to replace my costume - I have to have a backup jacket and pants on any Villain activity I had planned for the camera - to make sure that I could keep up the illusion."
Mastermind straightened up. "Now that I know that Love can affect all of us, I think I need to upgrade everybody's gear to handle Lover Mode!"
Inkblot nodded. "Hell yeah. Though, I don't think Lover mode is appropriate. Probably not the right term since we're friends."
Manami nodded. "That's true." She tapped her chin, trying to think about it. "Best Friends Mode?"
Mr. Compress shrugged. "We can always workshop it."
"You sure you don't want to join us?" Death Arms asked. "Seems that pretty much every Hero that deals with Mastermind joins us."
Ingenium shook his head, a warm smile still on his face. "Sorry, Death Arms-san. Team Idaten is already involved with the so-called 'Hero Killer' case."
Death Arms scowled at the mention. Stain was kind of a bogeyman, a figure that had already killed a couple of heroes and crippled others. Knowing that Idaten was on the case was reassuring, at least. "Would have been nice to have you here," he grumbled.
Ingenium gave him a confident smile. "Mastermind is certainly a problem. But you know more about handling him now. Plus, if he's involved and Team Idaten is nearby, then we'll help out. And keep me updated on anything interesting."
Death Arms smiled. Then he saw Kamui Woods and Mount Lady come back in. "How did it go? Are Mastermind and the League considered high grade Villains now?"
Kamui Woods grabbed a cup of coffee. "They're still C-list."
"What?" Ingenium boggled. "They escaped from all of those Heroes, and they're-"
"The goddamn bureaucrats stated that there wasn't enough damage dealt to justify moving them up a rank," Mount Lady sighed, angrily pouring a cup of coffee.
Ingenium couldn't believe his ears. "What about their past damages? The death trap?"
Death Arms stared straight ahead. "Chemical testing for that came through. It's Mountain Dew."
He didn't mention that Nedzu had laughed himself sick when he'd seen the label 'toxic, acidic chemicals,' on the side of the vat after the chemical analysis.
Ingenium stared at the older Hero.
Death Arms sighed. "Since it wasn't actually toxic chemicals, the HPSC decided that only the results mattered. As for their past damages..."
"'The HPSC guidelines do not state that past damages should be added up into current offences,'" Mount Lady sang, slamming back her cup.
Ingenium managed to find his voice after a few seconds. "That's ridiculous."
"Bureaucracy often is!" Nedzu came into the room, a smile on his face.
Ingenium shook his head. "They're really not going to have them declared more dangerous?"
Nedzu climbed up onto a chair, tapping at a laptop. "On paper the League of Supervillains are at most a minor nuisance. Without fatalities-"
"They were threatening to kill my brother, how is that not-"
Nedzu held up a paw. "I understand your feelings on the matter. Unfortunately, the HPSC guidelines for these matters were put into place to prevent opportunistic Heroes from exploiting the system and have not been updated for proper nuance. A similar argument was used for the threatened baking soda volcano to prevent their being justified as more dangerous."
He continued typing as the Heroes stared at him. "Now then, I've gotten into contact with the owner of the warehouse. He says that the buyer was a large fat man who didn't leave a return address. However, he did leave an email."
Ingenium shook his head, still in disbelief over the inanity of the HPSC. "He sold a warehouse to somebody without a return address?"
"It's not exactly illegal. If he was selling explosives I would be worried, but he really only owns a few warehouses and rented this one to somebody who was paying good money. Ah, and here's the address!"
Nedzu tapped further, bringing up the relevant information. The other Heroes looked at the address with slightly blank expressions. Nedzu grinned. "Kubihaka ," Ingenium read.
Kamui Woods scratched his head. "I'm not sure what the name is referencing."
Nedzu grinned. "Oh, it's not something you'd immediately notice. This name is interpreted by kun-yomi. Going to the on-yomi form for these characters, and you get..."
The heroes checked the characters, parsing them through their heads. Ingenium was the first to get it. "Shubou," he sighed.
Mount Lady facepalmed. "Mastermind? Are you kidding?"
Nedzu giggled. "I'm looking for other buildings that have this email associated with them, but I doubt I'll find any."
Death Arms turned to Nedzu, eyebrow raised. "Why? I mean, Mastermind-"
"-Has consistently evaded Heroes and the police for over five months," Nedzu cut him off. He then sighed. "This one seems to have been a deliberate joke. Any other bases may have other, jokey names attached to them, but I highly doubt that anything else on this name will be found."
In the base, things were relatively quiet. Golden Grin had been checked over by Stitch to make sure that his surprisingly powerful blast hadn't caused him any serious harm. With a clean bill of health apart from a reminder to eat a more balanced diet, the League of Supervillains sat around, checking the news while waiting for it all to blow over.
"They won't be able to track the warehouse back to us, right?"
Mastermind nodded, distracted as he sketched future designs. "The first one I purchased with a silly joke name. The other bases used actual, proper aliases."
La Brava sighed. "You really had to use the joke name, didn't you?"
"Only once!" Mastermind pouted. "It's a classic bit!"
Gentle Criminal poured everybody a cup of tea. "Well, here's to our success!"
Everybody accepted a cup, clinking them together before taking a long sip. Once again, plans were made for what to do with the money. Most of the money went to the Villains themselves, but a large portion was used for other purposes.
Gentle Criminal and Mr. Compress had been extremely supportive when he'd outlined his plan after the first job.
"Well, I really admired the Uncanny Thief! In particular, I respected his generosity - giving to the poor when he stole from the rich," Mastermind had explained.
Mr. Compress seemed to look off into the distance. "He certainly did," he stated, before seeming to shake himself back to reality. "So you plan to do the same?"
"Oh, I already did that with my own money," Mastermind idly commented. When the other Villains stared at him, he hastened to explain. "Well, not the stuff I needed to get better materials, and I-I bought myself some nice stuff, but I gave the rest of the money away!"
Gentle Criminal looked at Mastermind with an appreciative eye. "You've been doing this from the start?"
Mastermind nodded, the older Villain sitting back. Inkblot nearly dropped her drink. "Wait, wait. I mean, sure, that's noble and all. But I mean - how much?"
Mastermind rubbed the back of his head. "Well, it wasn't that much really, and I just-" he looked at her expression, decided to hedge. "I think about half?"
The rest of the Villains stared at him as he seemed to wilt. "I-I mean, I didn't need it after I got the materials, and, well, we wouldn't be giving away as much as half - much as I'd like to, we would need more money since you guys might need it as well and-"
Inkblot looked at him with wide eyes. "Half your haul?"
Mastermind nodded slowly. "Yes?"
Inkblot looked stunned. "Jesus, you're way too nice for your own good."
Golden Grin stared at him. "Really? Half your haul?"
"I think I answered that question already-"
Mr. Compress held up a hand. "As he said, he probably wasn't going to be donating those figures if we're all working together. As a crew, we can hit larger targets, and we can make a donation of about a third or a quarter and still have enough money to get by comfortably."
Mastermind nodded. "Oji Harima donated to those who had been affected by corrupt Heroes or businesses. While I don't think Heroes today are as bad as they once were... I still want to help people who needed a hand."
The rest of the Villains gave the matter some thought, a couple of them considering. Mastermind decided to go for the pragmatic option. "Plus, it would give us some much needed good publicity. People might be more sympathetic and less likely to go after us."
That seemed to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
The League decided that a generous donation from the League of Supervillains and Mastermind would circulate to charities that actually helped people out. There were certain causes that grabbed their attention, mostly for how close and personal they were for each of them.
Quirkless help. Heteromorphic support in the more rural areas of Japan. Helping small families.
Nobody asked too many questions about why each member chose a business or charity to donate to.
After their plans and a lovely cup of tea, the League of Supervillains went their seperate ways. Inkblot dragged La Brava off, citing a 'girls' night.' Gentle Criminal stayed at home, Mr. Compress dramatically leaving with a smoke bomb. Stitch headed to the bar in a similar direction as the other supervillains. Golden Grin waved Mastermind goodbye, heading to his train. Mastermind's own departure was quieter, his plain looks attracting no attention.
In his basement lair, Midoriya Izuku cheerfully tinkered away, checking the wiring and circuits on his armour. "Lovers' Mode activating on me using platonic feelings of friendship was interesting," he muttered, idly pulling out his sketchbook and sketching an improved armour design.
Really, he'd been fortunate that he'd made all of those upgrades. Ever since he'd fought Eraserhead in that back alley, he'd been aware of how much he needed to upgrade his armour. At least he hadn't needed to deploy its more impressive features yet. But the possibilities! He would need to seriously overhaul the costumes, and that would take some more serious chemicals and fabrics! Future upgrades to his armour were going to be interesting. He'd need to see if his surprise would work with Friend Mode...
"I wonder if Giran can source some titanium-gold alloy," he mumbled, checking his available fabrics. "And maybe some more of those really high-end fabrics as well, we need more Hero grade material-"
A beeping from the wristband of his armour snapped him out of his thoughts. Checking it, he grinned.
Unusual Energy Signature analysed. Frequency information downloading.
Izuku grinned widely. Now this was going to be interesting.
Author's notes:
Well, here's part 2!
I have to say, I've been building up to that one for quite some time. My main rationale for La Brava never noticing this part of her Quirk is that in canon she didn't exactly have a lot of friends, much less friends she would be willing to die for. The Tartarus Arc will have to wait!
Honestly this bit has a lot of ideas that I wanted to have but didn't feel right to put in. They'll have to wait for a future chapter. Maybe a side story.
Next time... A look at the lives of people NOT on the League of Villains!
Please comment and stay alive and well!
