15/02/2022

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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 47

"Inko?" Setsu said. Her voice was so quiet it almost wasn't audible over the fans that kept the air moving in their little office.

"Yes?" The green haired woman replied at a much louder volume. Not overly loud, just normal talking volume.

Setsu was silent for a few moments. She and Meigo had drawn straws and she had the short one on who had to talk to Inko about Izuku. Though… maybe she was looking at this wrong. Maybe it wasn't something to be trepidatious about. Maybe they should be joyful because it was a solid lead on Inko's son.

"Did the Detective tell you why he was in Tsu that day?" Setsu asked.

She could see that Meigo was listening hard. Ume had figured out that something was up and was listening as well.

"Yes. He was there to get Izuku, but he couldn't," Inko replied immediately, the ever present note of pain in her voice when she spoke about her son was poignant.

"No. Sorry I didn't mean that," Setsu said, shaking her head. "What I mean is how did the Detective know Izuku was in Tsu? How did they know Hisashi was in Tsu? You've told us that the Detective said he was there for Izuku but how?" She needlessly elaborated on the question.

From the way Ume jerked it was obvious she understood the implications.

They all knew the pain of someone missing with no explanation and this… well, this was as close as any of them had gotten to finding out the truth. Inko was lucky that way.

Setsu watched as Inko blinked. Then her eyes closed.

"He never said," she whispered and the other ladies knew Inko had just had the same revelation they had. There had to have been some way the Detective knew Izuku was in Tsu.

"Inko, the Detective also said that Hisashi is a villain right?" Ume said before they could get too tangled in their thoughts.

"He did."

"Then the obvious way the Detective knew Izuku would be in Tsu is that Hisashi was working for Toxic Chainsaw. All Might took out that villain but Tsu isn't All Might's usual patrol so it had to be a planned raid," Ume explained.

Setsu nodded. That made sense. It made a lot of sense. If the heroes were tracking Toxic Chainsaw then they would have tracked down his known associates too. If Hisashi was a known associate then the Police would have known from the Heroes and the Detective could have made the trip down to Tsu to see if Izuku was there.

"Yeah but why didn't he tell her?" Meigo interjected. "And where is Izuku now?"

Ume took a deep breath. "Operational security, perhaps?" she offered the explanation. "As for where Izuku is now…" At that she shook her head. "Hisashi is missing. So there's a few possibilities there. The simplest is that he took the opportunity to do a runner and grabbed Izuku and is somewhere else." She shook her head sadly knowing what Inko would feel at that. "Another option is that his body is one of the unidentified ones that got buried," Ume continued. "But that doesn't explain where Izuku is," she added. "And I don't like that explanation."

"Why?" Meigo asked for Inko.

"Even if Hisashi died, surely Izuku would have gone to the Police, or school or something? I find it hard to believe that Hisashi's associates would have immediately thought to grab Izuku in that event. They'd be too busy fighting it out and a nine year old is not a threat," Ume explained. "If he was older-" Again, she didn't need to finish the sentence.

"What if someone else got to him?" Setsu asked. She didn't want to but they had to look at all options.

"You mean like a child smuggling ring?"

Setsu nodded.

Ume shook her head. "Doesn't make sense. Or rather, they'd have had to be ready to move instantly and that seems unlikely. If Hisashi was working for Toxic Chainsaw, you'd presume he let Izuku go to school, and then come back to some sort of safe house?"

"That seems reasonable," Meigo said.

Inko was just watching them with wide eyes. There were no tears yet but despite the silence, they all knew she was crying inside.

"So Izuku went home that day, and Hisashi is missing. Even with the chaos in the underworld, I find it unlikely that child smugglers would raid a known safe house for the kid of some underling. They're organised but not that organised. That's why I think it more likely that HIsashi took the opportunity to do a runner. Or…" Ume frowned as a new thought came to her. "I suppose that's possible," she murmured.

"What's possible?" Setsu demanded.

Ume looked at Inko. "Did the Detective give any indication as to how senior Hisashi was?" she asked pointedly.

Oh. Setsu understood. If Hisashi wasn't just a regular villain, if he was one of Toxic Chainsaw's direct underlings then he would have his own group to support him. They could have taken Izuku. Except that led back to two possibilities, and neither were good. The first was that Hisashi had taken his followers and his son and done a runner. That was perhaps the best option because it meant Izuku was out there, somewhere. Another was that the faction had taken Izuku and there were again two options with that. Those who supported Hisashi's memory, if the man had died, would therefore support his son, and those who didn't. Those who didn't, or who viewed Izuku as either a weakness or a potential threat could have killed him or sold him to slavers. Either was not a pleasant thing to think about.

"He never said," Inko replied after swallowing hard. Setsu knew Inko wasn't stupid. Now that the possibilities had been raised, she'd no doubt be thinking about the options.

All the options.

"Well, I don't want to suggest things that might not be," Ume said diplomatically. "But I agree, there is something odd with what the Detective told you," she confirmed.

"So you think I should talk to him again?" Inko asked.

All three of them nodded. "Definitely," Meigo answered for them all.

Setsu watched as Inko gathered herself. She wasn't sure how'd she feel if someone had similar information about her brother. Actually, who was she kidding? Her brother would probably have been one of Toxic Chainsaw's plebs if he could have been. Addicted as he had been… he wasn't going to be capable of anything else. It couldn't be easy.

"I will," Inko said softly, nodding her head. "I will," she repeated, more firmly.

Setsu almost felt sorry for the detective.

Almost.

-ted-

Garaki looked over at Izuku. "You wanted to see me?"

"You wanted to see me when the quirk fully absorbed," Izuku countered.

"It has?" Garaki's eyes widened but he smiled at the teen.

Izuku nodded.

"Then let's go and test it," he announced.

Izuku grinned back.

"How are you going with the spatial quirk?" The Doctor asked as they made their way to the training area.

"You mean Pocket?"

"Is that the name that's been settled upon?" he murmured.

Izuku nodded. "Yakuni has called it that," he told the Doctor. "It's going okay. I can fit things into pockets but I can't make my own pockets," he said.

"Can Yakuni?"

"Yes but he can't hold it for long." Izuku told him.

"You'll both get it," Kyudai said. It would be interesting to compare their development with that quirk. For Yakuni, he was adapting from quirklessness to having a quirk for the first time. For Izuku it was just another quirk and so he could be expected to be somewhat functional with it immediately but would he be able to develop the same subtlety of use as Yakuni? He would be interested in comparing their results eventually.

They emerged into the training area. It was like the warehouse he was creating the Nomu in. Mostly featureless except for the essentials. Izuku headed over to the weights as Garaki pulled out his tablet and looked for the previous results.

"Let's get a baseline without quirks," he instructed.

The teen nodded and then picked up several weights. The amount was mildly impressive and Garaki knew that Izuku was stronger than most teens his age. He noted down the amount.

"Now with the first strength quirk."

Kyudai waited as Izuku put some more weights onto the bar and then he picked it up. "Wait," he said before Garaki could note down the amount. "I think I can carry more," he said.

The Doctor nodded, gesturing with his stylus to the spare weights. Izuku loaded more onto the bar and then picked it up. This time Kyudai could see that he was visibly straining but was able to lift it. He knew that it was an impressive amount, even for someone using a quirk. It wasn't up to Sensei's ability or Gigantomachia but it was impressive.

"Very good," he indicated. "Now add the second quirk."

Izuku nodded. And for reference he picked up the weights again. "Oh that was much easier!" he said before he carefully put them down and went to get more weight plates.

"You can make two trips," Kyudai murmured when it looked like Izuku was going to bring back every plate that was there.

He received a sheepish grin and Izuku came back with more weights, then went back for the others. It made sense. If he could pick up and carry those easily then he'd be able to pick up more. The bar was loaded with what was frankly a stupid amount of weight when Izuku seemed satisfied. He tested the weight a bit and then grunted and picked up the bar.

The way his chest heaved and he panted told the Doctor that Izuku was either at or near his limit but the teen continued to hold the weight. He started counting the plates. It was a very impressive amount. Still not up to Sensei or Gigantomachia but Sensei had multiple strength quirks and Gigantomachia was designed to be inhumanly strong. Another quirk or three and Izuku would potentially be in their league.

The Doctor smiled as Izuku put down the weight. Ominously it did not bounce but thudded into the ground. "Well done!" he praised as he counted the plates. Yes, it wouldn't be long before Izuku was in the same League as his father, at least with strength.

Izuku took a few deep breaths. "Well that answers that question," he said with a grin.

"Yes. You can stack different quirks," Kyudai agreed. It was exciting.

"So, how strong am I?" Izuku asked.

Garaki made a few more notes on his tablet. He might have wanted to discuss stacking quirks but that was something he could do on his own. Or at least speculate. If he came up with a good idea, he was sure he could get Izuku to try it. "There's a scale with strength quirks," he told Sensei's son.

Izuku nodded. He was probably aware of that already. Strength quirks were fairly common. As a result there was a comparative scale to rank them based on how effective they were.

"It's usually expressed in man power, that is how many times stronger you are than a normal person but the scale caps out at 10 times and anything after that is considered special. Since your father doesn't bother with weak quirks, you are already in special. But-" Garaki said the word harshly seeing Izuku's eyes light up.

The teen looked at him quizzically.

"You are not very far into the special range," Garaki said.

"What do you mean?"

Kyudai took a deep breath. "If Sensei is level 100, and Gigantomachia is level 90, you are about level 30," he told the teen. That seemed about right. Sensei wouldn't bother with a strength quirk below five on the scale, unless there was something special about it. So Izuku had a level 5 quirk and maybe a level 8. Combined they, even though he was physically strong, would make him, at best, only level 40. There was also a tail effect with stacking strength enhancers. While the first one worked perfectly, the second would not necessarily work as efficiently. So level five, with a level eight quirk and then a level four quirk would not equal 160. It could be as little as 80 but there would be some effect. "Most heroes, even if they don't have strength quirks, class as 1.5, through the physical training they do."

That seemed to get through to the teen but Garaki wasn't sure. Still, he'd done his best. Izuku looked thoughtful. "So what would happen if I use three strength quirks?" He asked.

"You'll be stronger," the Doctor answered immediately. "But how do you feel?"

The teen looked at his hands. "A little tired," he admitted.

"I thought so," the Doctor murmured and wrote down the observation.

The way Izuku quirked his head told him the teen wanted more information.

Garaki smiled at him. "Everyone has the stamina to use one quirk, their quirk," he told the teen. Izuku nodded at that. It made perfect sense. "If you start using two or three quirks together, then you begin to use up your stamina quicker, so you will tire more quickly."

"Oh," Izuku said. It sounded very much like one of Tomura's video games but it did make sense and he was feeling tired. Not exhausted but the temporary tiredness of a job well done.

The way he said it told Kyudai that Sensei's son was already aware of this, at least unconsciously. His words had crystalised Izuku's understanding. "I usually use quirks during the day, so Solar Force can recharge me."

The Doctor nodded. "It's not a bad thing Izuku, but this is one of the reasons you need to remain in shape, so that you can use multiple quirks at once."

At that, Izuku nodded. "Does Dad have any-" he paused, trying to find the right words.

"Energy stockpiles? Energy enhancers?" Kyudai supplied.

Izuku nodded again.

"Some," Garaki admitted. "But I haven't been able to copy them,' he added the information to forestall the question he knew would follow. "Your father acquired them a long time ago and I haven't been able to isolate them." He might be able to isolate them, given he was still trying to get a clean copy of All For One. Sensei would probably appreciate it, but not understand the amount of work it had taken.

"Okay," Izuku said, though Kyudai could tell he was disappointed.

"Maybe you can find one in the registry, and then get Yakuni to collect a sample?" Kyudai offered.

"Maybe," Izuku replied.

"I thought you got along with Mr Yakuni?" Garaki asked. He had expected more enthusiasm.

"I do but-" the teen didn't answer completely.

"Are you worried about managing him?" the Doctor asked. Sensei had given his son his first employee in the form of Yakuni for his birthday. It was a neat way of dealing with the older teen's loyalty but apparently Izuku didn't know what to do about the situation.

Izuku nodded.

Kyudai sighed. Sensei sometimes forgot that his son didn't have a complete understanding of his actions and that explanations were needed. "You don't need to do anything," he assured the teen.

"What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said. You don't need to do anything. I will keep Mr Tanaihito busy. And if you do have something you want, then he can get that for you," he explained. "It won't actually change anything and I suspect your father will have tasks for him as well."

"Oh," Izuku said before he smiled. "Thank you, Doctor."

"You're welcome, Izuku," he replied. "I think you should probably adapt to your current quirks, and build up your stamina some more before you ask your Father about another strength quirk," he added.

Izuku nodded as they made their way back to the warehouse. "I'll have to think about energy strategies as well," he murmured.

"I'm sure you will come up with something," the Doctor confirmed.

Izuku smiled at him by way of parting and left Kyudai looking up at one of the experiment tubes.

This was a very interesting development.

-ted-

So, AFO is now Toxic Chainsaw's underling. Amazing what happens when you give someone not even half the story. Imagine what might happen if Izuku or AFO find out. Especially if AFO finds out he's been designated as an underling.

AFO: Little Dragon?
Izuku: Yes Dad?
AFO: When you get to Toxic Chainsaw, I want to watch.
Izuku: Dad?
AFO: They think I'm his underling!
Izuku: ...
Izuku: Do you want to help?
AFO: That's my boy.

And Izuku is now stacking quirks but at the expense of stamina. He might be a bit stronger than the Doctor indicated. The Doctor does, after all, know how dangerous it would be to give Izuku an exaggerated sense of his own abilities. Far better for him to find out punching some overly powerful hero and wiping them out to make that discovery.

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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