26/02/2022
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The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 50
Sir Nighteye's office was reasonably large. Officially, All Might's office was larger, and in practice it was but the Number One Hero's Office was set up to be mostly ceremonial. Sir Nigtheye's office was where the real decisions were made for the agency.
Mirai sighed as he looked at his desk. It was, as usual, neat and tidy but that hid the truth. He did most of the paperwork for the agency. And the darned stuff always spawned when he wasn't there. This time, while it was not physically present, from the notes on his phone, it looked like it had taken inspiration from rabbits. He had memos from every department. Merchandising, Legal, PR, HR… all of them!
There were some physical papers there. They were stacked neatly. They didn't look like much. That was deceiving. Only papers he had to physically sign were printed but they were all attached to reams of electronic documents.
The last time his desk had been this busy was years back, after the Tsu incident. After All For One. Mirai snorted softly. Then he'd had to do field work as well. He could cope with this. And it wasn't like he couldn't see the most important stuff easily. Paperwork, like his phone inbox, was colour coded.
Things he had to deal with now were red. Then the colours faded back to blue and green for those things that required his attention but not necessarily urgently. It was a good system. It wasn't perfect. No paperwork system was perfect. Not even electronic paperwork was perfect but it worked for the agency and that was the most important point.
There was however, a bright red folder on his desk.
That hadn't been there before. Sir Nighteye moved to his desk to look at the folder. There was a sticky note in the middle of the cover. He recognised the scrawled handwriting before he could read it.
Yagi.
Which made the folder all the more important. There was probably a red email telling him about it.
Mirai focused on the note.
You can deal with this one.
While most people would read that and think nothing, Sir Nighteye knew that the file would be difficult. And the slight emphasis on 'you' meant that it was something they should both be handling but Yagi had decided he needed to deal with.
It could require his skills or it could be… No. It wouldn't have anything to do with All For One. Not after this amount of time. When the HPSC had discovered that All For One's lawyers had a back bone, and that even if Hisashi Riji was declared dead, most of his assets were willed to his son, they had quietly had the boy declared missing as well. They were now counting down the years until they could declare the missing Hisashi Riji dead, and then declare his son dead. At that point they would swoop in on the assets, making sure that his wife got enough to keep her mouth shut, while the bulk went to them. It would take a few more years yet but they were patient. Mirai was willing to bet that they had a reminder built into the system so that they could claim the assets instantly, though he did wonder what they would do with some. JBQC had taken a hit in that fight but was still trading as a very powerful company.
Mirai didn't think it would be that simple. In fact he was sure it wouldn't be that simple.
He opened the file. The front letter told him immediately the file was generated from their legal department.
All Might may be the number one hero still but they still needed to have a legal department. It wasn't discussed much but people did like to sue the higher ranked heroes. Even All Might, though Sir Nigtheye knew their department was a fraction of the size of Endeavors. He sat down and pulled the top paper to him. The legal department would have provided a summary.
His heart sank when he read the subject.
The First's Brother. That was their internal name for All For One. It meant that those in the know could discuss him somewhat openly without others realising. People in their agency, not that there were many, could see the case file name but it wouldn't mean much and if they heard the words, well, they just assumed they were talking about the case.
The HPSC had named the mission something else. Titan Fall he thought, which was both ostentatious and unnecessary.
He looked at the summary the legal department had provided.
There's been a Freedom of Information request regarding The First's Brother. Usually we'd have fulfilled it and filed the documents but both you and All Might have put caveats on this file.
The request has been lodged with the correct paperwork both with this agency and the HPSC and is not requesting anything containing significant secrecy.
Sir Nighteye grimaced. The second paragraph told him a lot. Whoever had lodged the documents had probably used a lawyer to ensure they were true and correct. They also knew that the fight in Mei had not just been a regular Hero versus Villain battle, albeit a bad one but that something else had happened. Whoever had lodged the paperwork may or may not know the truth but they knew enough to phrase their FOI in such a way to make it clear they were not seeking confidential information.
So what were they seeking? And who were they? He read on.
The request has been lodged by Beacon, on behalf of a Mrs Inko Midoriya.
He resisted the urge to groan. That explained why Yagi had dumped this on him. And he knew, just from the name, what the FOI was about.
Against his advice, Tsukauchi had told the woman a bit about the operation. He supposed it was necessary since she had somehow stumbled upon the fact that Hisashi Riji was Hisashi Midoriya and that he was missing. The Detective had been required to tell her something and had, foolishly, told her he had been in Tsu in an attempt to take back her son.
She would be wanting more information.
The request is for information about the operational justifications for some of the associated missions related to Operation Titan Fall.
He didn't need to read anything further and put the summary page back into the top of the file. Mirai reached up and pushed his glasses on more securely.
The agency couldn't deny the FOI, not unless the HPSC did, which meant they had to give some sort of reply. If they didn't, Beacon would no doubt sue. It had happened before. Occasionally someone did sue their agency, but they usually came out of the blue. This time, they could avoid it. An FOI was a quiet thing. No one paid attention to them. Being sued… The media would get involved and suing the Agency of the Number One Hero, would be the story of the year.
They had to deal with this quietly before more people became involved.
He'd have to talk to the Commissioner and hope that Soukan's successor was reasonable. If they didn't want this to get worse, then it required a united response.
Sir Nighteye nodded to himself. Yagi might think he was giving him a headache with this case, but really, it was better that he dealt with it. Toshinori would probably tell the woman the truth and…
No one needed that.
-ted-
"My Little Dragon," All For One greeted his son. "How is school?" He asked as Izuku came to sit beside him. His son no longer sat on the floor and let him feel his hair but instead took one of the other chairs in the room. It was a sign that he was growing up. Hisashi wasn't sure what he thought about that but he knew it was inevitable. Soon, Izuku would be making his own decisions and he would be old enough to be active.
"It's going okay."
"Nothing is wrong?" He pressed. Kurogiri hadn't told him anything was wrong, and he didn't think there was but he had to ask.
"No, nothing is wrong," Izuku replied.
His son was intelligent. Not enough to skip levels but enough to be comfortably at the head of his classes. He worked hard for that, though the main reason All For One kept Izuku in school was not for what he learned in class, it was for what he learned about people.
His friends, Hitoshi and Ochaco were showing him that loyalty did exist but the rest of the world was showing him that loyalty was rare and to be cherished. The other students were showing him that most of society just didn't care about anything that didn't directly impact them yet they were also showing him that when a cause was trendy or considered right, then people would go along with it.
The lessons Izuku was learning about society by watching the interactions of the other students, and having his own, were far more important than mere knowledge.
Izuku sighed and All For One tapped the table in front of him. The sigh told him Izuku had a question but was working his way up to it. "You can ask, my Little Dragon, you know that," he encouraged.
"Do you remember when we set up the investment?" Izuku asked.
"Yes," Hisashi replied somewhat speculatively. Of course he remembered. It was his idea to have the then ten year old Izuku introduced to business. They had discussed investment many times since then, and had made minor changes to the investment they were doing together. Izuku had told him he'd invested in something but had never said what, and he had never actually found it. It was going to be a surprise. Izuku's question however was interesting. Well, he thought it would be when his son got to the actual question.
Izuku was quiet, but All For One could hear the way he was shifting nervously.
"With my one, I need to set up a business," he announced finally.
"And you need some help doing it?"
Through his sight quirk, All For One watched as Izuku nodded. Now that was interesting. That was very interesting. "I can have that set up for you, my Little Dragon," he told his son. "But it will cost."
"I know. I believe I have enough for the set up."
He smiled. "Very good, my Little Dragon!" All For One praised. Izuku had approached this carefully. "I am very much looking forward to our first official review," he said and he realised it was true. He would find out what Izuku's investment was then and… yes, it would be a nice surprise. Even if this new business failed, he was sure Izuku had invested his money in an interesting way.
"So that I don't learn much, is it okay if one of JBQC's employee's contact you about it?"
"That would be great! Thank you, Dad!" Izuku sounded relieved.
His company, JBQC still existed. In the aftermath of his fight with All Might they had been investigated but nothing had been found. JBQC was a legitimate business, with legitimate contracts and staff. Really, the HPSC didn't think much of him if they thought they could find impropriety there. JBQC was a cover, but it was also legitimate. They could not come at his assets that way.
However… A mental note made itself known to him. It had been four years since he had been declared missing, and while that meant he had another three years, before the government could declare him, or rather Hisashi Riji dead in absentia, it did mean that he should contact his lawyers, and visit them in person as well to prove that the Government was wrong and he was not missing.
He had been hoping to do that once he healed but… As he had told Tomura his physical form was as healed as it could be. He should go to see them. Besides, Garaki had told him he'd made some upgrades to his life support helmet, finally incorporating the injectors into the design so that theoretically he should be fully functional while wearing it.
It would need testing. Or… well, there were some alternatives.
"I'm happy to help, my Little Dragon, though are you sure you don't want to give me a hint about your investment?" All For One teased.
"Dad!" Izuku's voice was plaintive.
He laughed. Izuku was still fun to tease and he wondered how long that would remain before his son grew out of it.
Internally All For One sighed. His little boy was growing up.
-ted-
"Hello," Izuku answered his phone. He didn't recognise the number and didn't often get calls. He was sitting in the little office doing his homework before Kurogiri warped him home.
"Good afternoon Sir. My name is Seiri from JBQC. I'm currently filling out the forms to set up an independent business but there are some answers required. I'd very much appreciate it if you had time to discuss it."
For a moment Izuku didn't know what was going on and then he remembered. He'd told Mei that he'd set up the business and then he'd asked his Father for help. Obviously Dad had gone to his business and told someone to do it. He smiled.
"Ah, yes, of course, Seiri," he replied.
"What type of business is this to be?"
"A support company," Izuku said immediately.
"Thank you, Sir. That was a different question," Seiri said with a laugh. "I meant will it belong to a sole trader, or have multiple owners."
"Oh," Izuku blushed, though he had to admit Seiri's laugh had made him feel reassured. "Two owners," he answered.
"Thank you. And the address?"
"Address?"
"Companies must be registered with a business address," came the explanation.
Izuku was happy that there was no hint of annoyance with the explanation except it didn't solve his problem. He didn't know Mei's address! And he knew he wasn't to use his…
"Um, I'm not sure," he had to say.
"Not to worry, Sir, I'll use one of JBQC's office addresses. Not our main office of course, but one of the regional offices."
"Thank you."
"Now, what is the name going to be?"
He'd been dreading this question. He still wasn't sure what they should call the business. And Mei wasn't sure as well. Hatsume Industries was an obvious name but she had said she didn't want to call it that because it didn't acknowledge him. He wasn't sure he wanted to be acknowledged though.
Maybe they should just go for something simple? Companies did change their names so he knew it wasn't impossible to do it.
He sighed. "Call it MIE," he told Seiri. "That's short for Mei & Izuku Enterprises," he added the explanation.
"That's a good name," the man told him. "And…" he drew out the word and Izuku could hear him typing something. "It is available."
He hadn't even realised that the name might not be available, but felt relieved nevertheless.
"The registration should take a few days to go through," Seiri explained. "Once it does, I'll have the appropriate documentation forwarded to you, and you can begin trading."
That was a bit of a scary thought but it was a necessary one. And it would mostly be Mei and she seemed to know what she was doing there, so that was something.
"Thank you," Izuku said. He really meant it, though he decided he wouldn't tell Mei the company was set up until the documentation came through.
"No, Sir. It was my pleasure. I'm sure I can expect to see great things from MIE in the future."
"Hopefully," Izuku replied, though he really wasn't sure what to think that someone already had expectations. It made him sort of nervous but he pushed that aside.
"Please feel free to call me if you have any questions, Sir. I'll be happy to help with them."
"Thank you," Izuku said again. There wasn't any other response he could give.
"Then I wish you a good day," Seiri said.
"You too."
The man hung up and Izuku put his phone down. He took a deep breath and then smiled. Mei had given him the plans the other day and he had passed them on to the Doctor. The man was building the improved design now and hoped to have his dad test it soon, He thought it would be good and hopefully he'd be able to tell Mei about both things at once.
That would be good. It would be progress and…
That felt good.
-ted-
I usually call Freedom of Information requests as Requests for Information so if something says RFI, that's me being bad and not finding all the places to change it back.
This chapter is a bit of a joiner. Obviously things are happening behind the scenes with Inko's paperwork and it's now gotten to Sir Nigtheye. Let the panic begin with how they keep their cover up from someone who does have a legitimate reason for wanting it and even worse... someone who would have a sympathetic story for the media.
And Izuku now gets to fulfil his agreement with Mei... Let MIE reign supreme! And of course it's a dig at All Might. Tsu - where he fought All For One - is in Mie prefecture :D Of course, that could be just me.
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out.
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!