23/11/2021

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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 22

"All right gentlemen, space yourselves out on the markings on the floor," Giran commanded the group of men he'd brought through Kurogiri's warp gate. They followed directions without grumbling but they weren't the most intelligent of men. They'd been chosen because they were willing, and one could say lazy. This was a quick job for some pay and all they had to do was keep their mouths shut.

"Okay, now that you are there, put on your masks," the broker instructed when everyone was in position.

"Seriously, you want us to do that? I thought that was a joke!" One of the men complained.

"Not a joke, a condition of employment," Giran replied flatly. "Put it on, or leave."

All For One wanted people for his son to practice on but the man was also paranoid and wanted to keep Izuku's identity secret. These men, in addition to not being smart, were expendable but that was only a contingency. The plan was for them to come in and out and be none the wiser about what had happened.

They would be paid, but he would be paid more for his services in finding them and in clouding their memories. So, really, it was a great job!

The man grumbled some more but put it on. Giran walked around and made sure no one had cheated.

"All right, remain standing there, and this will be over in about 10 minutes," he said, giving a signal to Gigantomachia.

The huge man had been standing in the shadows and no one had noticed him. The giant nodded, and Giran watched as another warp gate appeared in the centre of the circle the men had formed. Izuku stepped from it and looked around curiously. They'd discussed what he would be doing, so there was no need to tell him anything.

Izuku would first try to take a quirk from one man, then two, then three, and then six, making them all fall unconscious as he did it. After he'd done that, he had to give back the quirks, then Giran would erase their memories.

If all went well today, there'd be further training and further opportunities for these men and others to be Izuku's practice targets.

The first man fell to the ground.

Izuku grinned. The cheeky kid again had grey hair and pink eyes. Giran had a suspicion that Izuku would use that colouring every time he was around.

"Stand still!" Giran snapped. He saw the way a few of the men moved. "And you will all walk away from this. You are here for Dragon's training," he growled.

Izuku's head jerked to the men who had shifted slightly, then he glanced back at Giran.

The broker blew a breath out, watching but the men had steadied. "The floor is padded for this exact reason," he told them. That seemed to do the trick. Giran nodded at Izuku again, checking the time.

Izuku shifted again before he frowned. Two more men fell. A smile flashed across his features. He lifted one hand and flexed his fingers, looking at something Giran couldn't see. But Izuku knew he was on a time limit and quickly turned to look at the next three men.

He frowned again, and the broker got the impression that the boy was finding the task more difficult. Giran wasn't a fool. He knew what Izuku's quirk did. It took quirks from a distance. But it appeared there were various ways for the boy to take a quirk. It appeared he could take it without knocking someone out, and that appeared to be easy for him. Knocking someone out was more difficult.

The three men fell.

"Stand firm!" Giran ordered again. "If Dragon was going to kill you, he wouldn't be paying me!"

Izuku took a deep breath before he shifted to face the last six men. Giran saw the boy swallow before he lowered his head, concentrating. It was actually rather impressive that he didn't use a gesture. The broker wondered if it would be easier or if it was just not necessary.

The fact that Izuku had already taken six quirks was impressive as well. He didn't remember the first time Izuku had tried this with him, because the boy had used his quirk on him! And wasn't that just a wicked thought! Having his own quirk used on him. He didn't remember it but he knew it had happened. He was pretty sure that Izuku had not fared as well then. The boy now had a lot more stamina for this.

How did you practice that? Giran had no idea.

The six men fell and Izuku let out a huge breath. He seemed tired.

Giran checked the time. There was just enough time now to get the quirks back so long as he touched the men now. He moved forward, going back to the circle and moved around to each position, gently tapping the head of each of the men he'd brought here.

Izuku seemed to appreciate the short respite but he knew what had to happen now. The boy moved to the first man, and stood over him for a second before he nodded and moved to the next man. Another moment passed before the child gave another nod and moved again.

Giran watched as Izuku stopped briefly at each of the men. It appeared much easier for him to give back quirks than to take them. When he was done he nodded and moved back to the centre of the circle.

"Okay, we are done," Giran said and that triggered Gigantomachia to send whatever signal he had before again. Kurogiri's warp gate appeared and Izuku disappeared again.

The broker breathed a sigh of relief when it was done before he glanced up at the mezzanine level.

"Your payment has been transferred."

He recognised All For One's voice and he nodded. "It went well," he said casually.

"It did," the Emperor of the Underworld agreed. "There will be further opportunities," he added.

Giran didn't smile but he was pleased to hear that. "How many?"

"Keep it at twelve for the moment," the mysterious man said. "At least until he can take them all at once."

The broker nodded. He could do that.

"Kurogiri will transport you back now."

"Even with them unconscious?"

"Yes."

He knew better than to argue but that was rather inconvenient. Still, he should have expected it. All For One did not want unknowns in his training facility. Giran nodded as the warp gate opened and scoped up the fallen men. He gave a salute as he stepped through.

Thirteen minutes on the job wasn't a bad day's work.

-ted-

Yakunita couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this earlier! It was such an easy idea that it should have been an immediate conclusion! Maybe Daruma had already thought of it and was waiting for him to come up with it, or maybe the man had really left this project in his hands. He didn't know!

The Doctor had told him not to come in during his time off. He knew that but Yakuni just had to share this idea. He had to get Ujiko's opinion on if it would work so he was rushing through the empty tubes towards where he knew the man would be.

He knew he'd made a mistake the instant he emerged from the tubes and saw the Doctor talking with a boy. It was the boy who noticed him first. Black eyes snapped over to him and Yakuni got the impression he was being assessed in the instant the child was looking at him.

Usually he'd have been insulted that he was so quickly dismissed but there was something in the way the child moved that made Yakuni grateful that he was not seen as a threat.

"You shouldn't be here," Daruma said urgently, moving to face him.

"I know, I know but-"

"No, you shouldn't be here," Daruma interrupted. He seemed almost frantic.

"Who is this?" the boy asked curiously.

"No one you need worry about Iz-" the Doctor broke off and gave him a pointed look. It asked without a word as to why he was still here.

Yakuni wondered that as well but there was something holding him rooted to the ground.

"Oh! He's one of your assistants!" The boy said happily. "It's okay Doctor."

The man sighed heavily and from that reaction Yakuni knew this boy was somehow connected to the Doctor's sponsor. The Doctor would have told the child to leave otherwise. Yakuni might only be 17 but he knew how these things worked. He'd seen it all his life. Those with a quirk were more right than him, and in this case, those with money got to do what they wanted.

Yakuni knew he'd messed up but he decided that it would be better covered if he just acted like he should be here. This was his workplace after all so it wasn't that unusual. Somehow, he forced his feet to move as he walked closer. "Hi! I'm Yakunita Tanaihito," he said, holding out one hand to the black haired, black eyed boy.

The boy smiled at him and took his hand. "I'm Iz-"

"Not important!" The Doctor interrupted and Yakuni didn't hear the name. "This is Dragon," he added, introducing the boy with the name he had heard the broker use. It seemed as good as any.

Something clicked in the boy's expression and he nodded, giving Yakuni a friendly grin. "It's good to meet you," the boy said.

"You too," Yakuni managed to say, treating this as if it was a regular thing. It should be a regular thing.

The Doctor sighed, resigned. "You wanted to talk to me, Yakuni?" he asked.

He nodded and his idea came crashing back to him. "I had an idea about how to make copying a quirk quicker," he said, excitedly.

Dragon's eyes widened. It wasn't quite surprise but it wasn't complete understanding. Dragon already knew something about copying quirks.

Again the Doctor sighed. "Yakuni is in charge of a project to copy quirks in a different way," he explained to Dragon.

"That's fantastic! And you have an idea to make it faster?" Dragon turned those deep black eyes back to Yakunia. His expression was open and excited.

"I think I do," Yakuni replied, suddenly unsure.

Ujiko motioned that he should continue.

"You've told me that if we accelerate the growth of the sample, then the quirk won't be copied properly. I think you said it ends up with glitches."

"I did," Daruma agreed.

"What would happen if we just accelerated the early part of growth? Before the sample shows a quirk. We know quirks come in when someone is four, usually, so what would happen if we accelerated the early stages of growth and let the last part, when the quirk is due to come in to happen at a natural speed?" He explained his idea in a hurry.

Yakuni saw Ujiko's eyes narrow behind his goggle like glasses. The teen liked the old man because he at least considered what he had to say. If he didn't think it would work, he would tell him and then explain why, but he wouldn't just dismiss his suggestions. It was… after so many years of simply being dismissed because he was quirkless, it was nice.

"That may work," Daruma admitted.

"Could we try it on one of them?" Yakuni asked. It was going to take them about four and a half years to grow the samples. They'd managed to get the foetal stage down to six months and then were letting the samples grow naturally. They'd been incubating for about a year, so were about six months old. That meant he should be able to accelerate the growth of one by about 3 years safely and still allow natural growth for the time the quirk came in.

"I will see," Ujiko said.

"You can copy quirks faster?" Dragon asked. He sounded amazed.

"Maybe, Dragon. You know I already copy quirks for your Father."

That explained Dragon's presence here and Yakuni looked at the boy again, more carefully this time. He was wearing a t-shirt and tracksuit pants. There was nothing special about them, except they weren't overly worn. The boy was fit, and Yakuni guessed he was probably smart. People with the amount of money his dad obviously had got tutors and other things to make sure they knew what was being studied.

Dragon nodded.

"Yakuni suggested a second way of doing it," Daruma explained. "He's the one who suggested growing them from physical samples."

Black eyes went wide. "That's amazing!" Dragon exclaimed. He gave Yakuni a bright smile. It appeared that the boy was already aware of the basics. "And now you think you can make it faster?" He asked.

"In theory," Yakuni said.

Ujiko nodded. "In theory," he agreed. "Dragon, our work here hasn't been tested, so sometimes things go wrong, or just don't work. Yakuni's theory is sound. There should be no reason it doesn't work but it might not. We will have to try it."

Dragon nodded again at the Doctor's words. "But if it does work, that will mean quicker quirk copying so things can be done faster."

"Yes," Durama agreed. "We might be able to get the time required to copy a quirk down to six months, rather than almost four and a half years."

"Dad will be pleased about that!"

"He will, but let us test it first, Dragon. I don't want to get his hopes up if it fails."

Dragon nodded.

Yakuni looked at the boy again. He was enthusiastic. He wondered if the boy's father, Ujiko's Sponsor, had the same enthusiasm or if he was more pragmatic. Probably pragmatic, Yakuni decided. You didn't get to be as rich as the man had to be on enthusiasm alone. And the man was obviously a realist, one with limited morals. That didn't offend him. It had given him this opportunity. He just hoped he hadn't ruined it by meeting his son.

Not for the first time, Yakuni wondered who the Sponsor was. He'd never looked into it. He didn't need to know but he was curious.

"I will ask," Daruma told Yakuni, flicking his eyes towards the exit.

The teen knew what that meant.

He bowed. He hated bowing. He hated showing deference to anyone but no matter how welcoming Dragon seemed, it wasn't he who'd be making the decision. "I am sorry for interrupting you. I'll see you tomorrow, Doctor," he added.

"It was great to meet you," Dragon said. It even sounded like he meant it.

"You too, Dragon," Yakuni said as he rose. He gave the boy a smile. It was best to leave a good impression. And then he turned away and walked through the tubes again, going back to his quarters.

He shivered when he reached them. He looked to the ceiling. He wasn't religious. No God cared about the quirkless but sometimes he just had to beg something.

"Please don't let me have mucked this up!" He whispered.

He was on a good thing now but he knew he'd broken the rules, and no matter how friendly Dragon was, Yakuni knew he wasn't meant to have met him. But he was loyal and he'd been polite and he had good ideas.

He hoped that was enough.

-ted-

So a bit happened this chapter. With nothing else to do, Izuku is training his quirk and is now working on stamina. He's going well too and eventually... Well imagine a battle field, Dragon versus the heroes. Seems a bit unfair, doesn't it? But I don't know what the heroes can do to make it fairer for them. And Yakuni has now met the Little Dragon and come up with something that might help... But actions have consequences and this meeting will have consequences for him. The Dragon's Daddy is somewhat protective, after all.

My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.

-ted-

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