14/09/2021

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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 03

"The mask was functional, barely," All For One reported to Kyudai.

The Doctor nodded but didn't say anything. There wasn't really anything he could say to it. Mechanics wasn't his specialty, especially biomechanics. But at the moment, he was all All For One had. Bringing in healers to save his life was one thing, but bringing in others right at the moment would not send the right signals. Hisashi would have to make do.

"Did Tartaros' Dogs come back under control?" Garaki asked instead. That was why Hisashi had gone to Kyoto.

All For One chuckled.

Kyudai took that as a good sign.

"Now, Doctor, can I expect any improvement?"

Garaki took several deep breaths as he thought. When All For One used that tone, he knew that the man was serious and expected a serious answer.

"It is unlikely," he began. "Over time, you will adjust and I can moderate the drug dosages, however, your reliance on a respirator is going to be permanent. Without your nose and sinus tissues, the air you breathe has to be filtered, or you will risk complications, with the most obvious being infections of the lungs and respiratory tract.

"With your eyes I can try a transplant and have been preparing to grow the tissues, but before I can go ahead with that, I will need several high intensity scans of your head to determine what parts are there. If the optic nerve is not there, then it will not matter if I implant eyeballs, they will not be functional."

"So, unless I can get access to one of the Commission's better healers, transplants are the best option?" All For One summarised.

"Possibly," Kyudai was compelled to point out, though he longed to ask if the Commissions healers were really that good. He suspected they weren't. And he suspected Sensei knew that. He sighed. "The regeneration quirk has taken your injuries as a template. It's possible if you are healed, that it will simply revert the healing. You may need to give it away before you are healed by one of them."

The way Hisashi shifted his head spoke volumes.

"I cannot say for sure," Garaki admitted.

All For One tapped one finger. "Would any of the techniques used to create the prototypes be of assistance?"

That was a good question. "Potentially but in order to rebuild your tissues, you may need to die," Kyudai said after thinking about it for a few moments. The prototypes started with live specimens, but they usually died at least once along the way. That didn't bother him though he had noticed that the fewer times they died, the more intelligent they were and was working on making those parts of the procedure that were lethal, into non-lethal procedures. The thought of a fully intelligent, yet obedient prototype was thrilling.

Again All For One tapped his finger against the chair arm. Obviously dying was not something he wished to experience. "You can grow skin grafts and other organs for transplant," he said softly, "why not more?"

Garaki looked at him closely. "More?"

"Cloning," the Emperor of the Underworld confirmed.

"I could clone you," Kyudai said blandly. "But the problem is that the clone will not have a functional mind. Cloned animals are babies and they grow up. Your clone-" He paused when Hisashi raised his hand.

"I'm only after the flesh. I could transfer my mind to it."

Garaki jerked back at that suggestion. There were some quirks which did change personalities but they were mostly through the temporary removal of inhibitions. Or maybe a good telepathic quirk could transfer the mind from one body to another but would it stick? It should. It would be the same synapses, the same flesh so rejection shouldn't be a problem. Besides what was being rejected? There were no antibodies. It was a challenging problem. "What mechanism would be utilised for the consciousness transfer?" he asked.

The way Hisashi looked told him that he hadn't worked that part out and so the Doctor took a deep breath. "It's possible," he murmured. "But I would need to research transference, and that would take time away from developing the prototypes," he told All For One. This once, Garaki wasn't sure what the man would want. Usually, anything to do with him, or for his direct benefit would take precedence, but given that there was still a possibility of getting a Commission Healer in, it may only be a matter of time, and All For One was known for his patience.

"You need assistants," Hisashi decided.

That was true but finding assistants was troublesome. He couldn't just grab someone from off the street, no matter how desperately they needed the money. And using a run of the mill thug- The Doctor shuddered at the thought. The less said, the better. Any assistant had to be intelligent, and discrete. Hisashi knew that.

"See if any of the quirkless junior school children are suitable," All For One instructed.

Kyudai gave Hisashi a look. Quirkless junior school kids were potential subjects not workers.

"Come now, Doctor," Hisashi must have picked up enough of the look to interpret it. "We only need to start quirkless for specific outcomes. It's time to look for efficiencies, and we can now incorporate the subject's quirk into the design."

"I'll see if any of them are suitable," Garaki said, knowing that on this, he was not going to be able to change All For One's mind. And it was entirely probable that some of the quirkless teens would jump at the opportunity for employment. With their history, some wouldn't even object to seeing quirked people used in experiments. It would be a matter of finding the right candidates.

"Keep them away from Izuku," All For One instructed.

Garaki nodded.

All For One took a deep breath, timing it with the respirator. "Now, a theoretical question. Izuku absorbs quirks, merging them into his own, yes?"

It was rhetorical but Kyudai nodded again.

"Can he absorb the same quirk twice?" Hisashi asked intently.

That was a very good question. "He can absorb the same type of quirk," the Doctor said aloud as he worked through the problem in his mind, but even as he did that he was drawing a blank on the answer. "But I am not sure if he can absorb the exact same quirk twice." If he could though, the implications were stupendous.

All For One was physically an immensely strong man, even without a quirk. With quirks, he was equal to All Might but he did that by layering different quirks together. A basic strength enhancer, then several reinforcement quirks and a few others to match the Number One Hero. But if Izuku could take in the same strength quirk, multiple times, for the same effect, they would simply multiply on each other and…

The Doctor shivered. The implications… The things Izuku could do! Even if taking in the same quirk had a lesser effect. It all depended on how much reduced the second copy of the quirk was. If the effect was linear, or exponential or… any number of reduction shapes, that would still be useful. He could take in the same quirk until the return wasn't worth it. But then, Izuku could layer a second quirk on top of the first, much like his father did, except the second would be layered over a vastly stronger base.

"Izuku has the three quirks I had you copy. Regeneration, Shock Absorption and a basic strength enhancer. Make another copy of the strength enhancer and we will find out," All For One instructed, already anticipating Kyudai's line of thought.

"It has to be named Singularity," the Doctor blurted.

Izuku's quirk was still not named.

"And here I was thinking that a derivative of All For One would be best," Hisashi said softly. There was a note of amusement in his tone, suggesting that he was playing.

"Such as?" Kyudai asked.

"All For Me," the Emperor of the Underworld suggested with a laugh.

Garaki chuckled at the suggestion. It was accurate.

"Perhaps we should ask Izuku," Hisashi continued.

At that, Kyudai sighed and nodded. "Yes, perhaps we should," he said so that All For One wouldn't have to rely on his sight quirk. "There may come a time when he needs to tell someone its name," he continued. Izuku's quirk was not going to go down on any registry but sometimes, it was necessary for the name to be known.

"I'll discuss it with him," Hisashi assured the Doctor. "In the meantime, start copying the strength quirk with that new procedure, and find yourself some assistants. I think, for the moment, we can guarantee their loyalty without reinforcement."

"I'll check the registries anyway," Garaki indicated, translating his boss's statement. Reinforcement was code for a controlling quirk. Those were rare, but it had been a while since they'd looked for one, and who knows, maybe young Hitoshi could come to visit?

He felt excited. There were so many possibilities in the future.

-ted-

Izuku lay on his back, staring up at the ceiling. What could he invest in? He'd picked out several stocks with his Dad on his Birthday and invested in those. Mostly. He still didn't know exactly how the money had been invested. Dad said he'd take care of those details but that he would show Izuku how to use investment software later.

That was one option. He could invest in other stocks. He just had to send through the instructions and pick out the stock. Or he could do other things.

Dad had explained that the amount of money wasn't enough to invest in property but said that property investment was something they would cover when Izuku was older. So for now he had to think of something.

Dad said it didn't matter if he lost the money as well, so long as he learned but Izuku didn't want that. He wanted to make something. Even if he didn't make as much as the other investment, he wanted to have something to show for himself… so what could he invest in?

So many people relied on quirks to make investments. There were, apparently, those who specialised in being investment brokers, who had quirks to help them but Dad had said that investment brokers had always existed even before quirks.

Izuku frowned as he remembered his history class. People didn't used to have quirks, so they had to rely on machines, and each other. They had to rely on what they could build themselves.

"They didn't rely on quirks," he whispered to the ceiling.

Saying the words aloud was an epiphany.

He'd already been seeing that you couldn't rely on quirks completely, especially ones you didn't know. And he'd seen it in villain and hero fights from people who did know their quirk and what it could do. When they were tired, when something didn't go to plan, things just didn't always work out.

But what if there was something different? What if there was something you could rely on. Pre-quirk humans had that! He had that to some point. People drove in cars and they could rely on them. His dad was relying on a respirator at the moment, but what if there was another device? Doctor Kyudai had made a mask but Izuku knew he wasn't good at mechanical things.

Maybe he could get something better.

Except… Izuku took a couple of deep breaths. He couldn't just go to a company and ask them to make it. That wouldn't work. There'd be too many questions and the only companies which would make something like that were Support Companies. And he couldn't risk that. If someone made the connection-

Izuku forcefully shook his head. He was not going to lead them to his dad! He wouldn't let that happen. He'd… For an instant he thought about what might happen if the Heroes raided here now. He was no longer six. Kurogiri had been teaching him. He'd definitely make them regret it. He wouldn't let them hurt his dad!

Kurogiri would probably tell him he was being overconfident but he'd find a way.

That wasn't what he was meant to be thinking about. He knew what he wanted to invest in but how did he go about it? Did he research companies and do that? Or pick out an established support company?

Except… if he did that, he might make money but he wouldn't get what he wanted. He had to find someone who could build it for him. He needed someone who could build things…

Izuku rolled over, and pulled his phone out from under his pillow. He tapped the screen and opened his contacts. He had met someone who could build things.

Sure, he hadn't been able to use the finder but it didn't rely on a quirk. It wasn't hard to find her contact details on his phone, and this time, he gave the self given title a smile of hope. 'Genius Creator of Invention Babies' was ostentatious but she could definitely create something. He clicked the message function, and then drew a blank. What should he say? Did he explain everything now or- no! For now, he just said hello. He would explain as they went on.

Hello.

He was a bit surprised when the response was immediate. Who's this?

Izuku blinked and then he suddenly remembered why she'd given him her contact details. Your first customer, he replied with more surety than he felt.

He wasn't sure what type of response he was expecting but the one he got was not it.

You bought my Baby Finder!

Did it work well?

Did you find what you want?

Is it still working?

Do you want more Babies?

Each of them came through as their own line, so fast that Izuku knew Mei couldn't have typed it. She had to have some sort of voice control on her phone.

I did buy it, he answered the first question before grimacing at the second. How did he explain that Tomura had dusted the device before he could get to use it? Maybe he'd just skip over that one. I did find what I was looking for, thank you. Another question to skip. Yes, I do want to talk to you about more items. He pressed send.

For a minute there was nothing from her. If Izuku had been in Kyoto, he would have seen what Mei's parents could. Their daughter had been giggling a moment before, now she was just staring at her phone, her eyes wide in shock and completely silent.

Do you mean it? Came the reply eventually to Izuku.

Yes, he typed back simply.

Oh my God! I'll make you the best Babies! Do you want something to put out a fire? Or something to Find hidden items? Or a Baby to do the washing? Take out the garbage? Dust in high corners?

Izuku got the feeling that the questions would have kept coming but something stopped Mei from typing and with the next text from her, he figured it was probably her parents, who were advising her on what to say.

Wait, I should ask you for what you want and wait for a reply! She sent to him and then there was nothing further.

Thank you, Izuku typed for whoever had given her the advice. It was a bit daunting to have to reply to the barrage of questions and suggestions. I don't want anything like that now, though maybe in future, he added. Something that could vacuum up dust better than their current vacuum would be welcomed. Especially if it could get into small cracks and crevices since Tomura had dusted a lot of controllers lately. And dust wasn't good for his Dad's breathing!

My dad got caught in a Hero raid, and has suffered permanent injuries. He's going to be on a respirator with oxygen for the rest of his life but the current ones are too large to carry around. I wanted something smaller and portable, that he could wear, Izuku wrote, not really knowing where the words came from but knowing that's what he wanted.

There was a bit of wait before the next reply.

I don't know how to make something like that. It was only words on a screen but it appeared painful.

Could you learn? Izuku sent back. When he didn't know something, Kurogiri and his Dad encouraged him to learn.

I can! But that would mean I can't make you a Baby immediately.

That's okay, Izuku replied. This was an investment. I can pay you something so that you can experiment, he typed to her.

You mean it, First?

Izuku smiled at the name. I mean it. How about 10,000 yen for now and we can discuss it as we go along?

Where did you g- never mind. You have a deal, First. I'll look into respirators.

Izuku closed his eyes and nodded. He was pretty sure his Dad needed more than a respirator, but that would help. And it was a worthwhile investment. He closed the messaging app, and then flicked back through the transactions on his phone. He didn't make many so it was easy to find the one for Mei. He pulled it up and adjusted the sum, before clicking send.

He wouldn't make money from this investment, but Dad had explained that investments weren't really about making money, they were about getting things you wanted or needed. Dad needed the respirator, and Izuku wanted him to have it. So…

That was a good enough investment for now.

-ted-

Izuku is learning to be a politician when he talks with Mei. Answer the questions you want to answer, and ignore the rest, or answer the question you hoped they would ask! :D So we will see how things go on with the investment and AFO's plans for healing himself.

So, for those who thought that Izuku might invest in a support company! Yep, he has, in a manner. He's investing in a baby start up company but even though he's in training to be AFO's most trusted lieutenant, he's still a nice boy who wants to help people. So in this case, he's going to help out Mei, who will help him out. AFO, if/when he finds out, can get behind that. You are, after all, allowed to help out family and business associates. He's the family, Mei is the business associate so AFO can be assured that Izuku has taken his lessons to heart!

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!