02/04/2022
Thank you to everyone who reviewed! You are the greatest!
From last chapter - name meanings
Hitsuyo - necessary
Hisshi - inevitable
Hitsuzen - inevitably
Yamuwoenai - unavoidable
Fukahi - unavoidable
Fukahi Desuwa - it's inevitable
The Emperor's Dragon
Fledgling 60
"You wanted to tell me something, Doctor?"
The man turned his goggled gaze to him. "I did, Sensei. I believe I have finalised the theory on how to make a fully cognisant Nomu," he said without preamble.
"Very good. What will you need as a base?" As he understood it the base of this Nomu would be the most important.
"I have a couple of candidates," Doctor Garaki indicated.
"Then begin. In addition to their own quirk, give them regeneration, flight, and storage as starting quirks," All For One instructed after a few moments, "but be aware that I may need something shortly."
"Something?" Kyudai questioned.
"Something like Kurogiri," he elaborated. "Functional in society," All For One added before the Doctor could object. If he could have he would have had a second Kurogiri made for the sheer versatility of his quirk however it had proved impossible to copy the man and… as useful as Kurogiri's quirk was, it did make him a grunt and All For One had more important things to do that shuttle his followers around or raise Tomura.
Garaki looked intrigued.
"Physically they must be unaltered, or have only small cosmetic changes that can be easily explained away. Mentally they must be fully independent and functional in society but absolutely loyal. And the transformation process must be quick."
"How fast?" Kyudai asked carefully. He was interested but the Doctor had learned that what he thought was possible sometimes required more time.
Sensei thought about that for a few moments. How fast? "A week," he decided. "Two at the absolute maximum but it must be fully functional and available for release that day."
He heard the Doctor swallow and take a few deep breaths as he considered it. "No physical changes, just mental," he surmised, "which typically takes the longest time. Though if I can work from a blank state with their personality as a template, then I suppose I could-"
"That would be best," Sensei interrupted the Doctor's musing.
"Sir?"
"Using the subject's personality," he confirmed. "I want them as unaltered as possible, so that someone who knew them wouldn't notice the change. Give me a plan and a time estimate in a day. Nothing too detailed. I may not need it," he instructed, though he was leaning towards needing this. "Now on the cognizant Nomu-?"
"Yes, Sir," the Doctor nodded before gathering his thoughts again. "To be absolutely sure of the first one, it is going to take longer than what I hope becomes the normal process," he said.
"How much longer?"
"At least a month," Garaki answered easily. "For the first one I am going to want to check much of my information and the results. Then the process may be streamlined. As I said, the physical changes are usually quite quick but sculpting the mind is slower."
"So a normal Nomu can be produced quickly?" All For One asked.
"If you are willing to give them orders, then very quickly," Kyudai said. "The only hindrance is a lack of quirks."
"Then it is time to mass produce," Sensei instructed.
"Sir?" Garaki sounded uncertain.
"Take over several warehouses, and mass produce quirks and Nomu. Send Mr Tanaihito out to collect random quirks, with a focus on those we know are useful, and make a backlog of quirks."
"Can we do that?"
"Yes," he smiled. He'd told the man a few years back that they couldn't cover the power consumption because his follower wasn't in the right position. She was now. "The anomalies in the power grid can be massaged now," he confirmed. "Though bring in generators."
Kyudai nodded. "I'll spread them out," he said. "And I believe that I can collect several quirks," he continued.
"Very good," All For One said. He didn't really care how it happened, so long as it did. "Before you start on your special Nomu, I will see the candidates," he decided.
He saw the way the Doctor tilted his head, asking for more information.
"To see if we should dismiss them before we even begin," he explained.
"Yes, Sensei," Garaki said but at the same time, All For One knew he didn't truly understand. No matter. He had a little test for the candidates, and if they didn't pass it, then they weren't what he needed. The Doctor would learn about these little things.
In time.
-ted-
Sir Nighteye wasn't expecting a call so the beep from his phone was rather odd. He looked away from the paper he was reading to check the caller id and winced. Commissioner Kouki Sozo.
He sighed under his breath as he reached out to take the call. "Commissioner," Mirai greeted pleasantly. "It's good to hear from you."
"No, it's not," Kouki replied immediately.
The answer, naturally, put him on edge. He knew why the Commissioner was calling. The remediation meeting between Inko and the Commission was today. With Sozo's greeting he had a sinking feeling that told him exactly how that meeting had gone. "What happened?" He inquired.
"Shunin happened!" Sozo almost yelled.
It took him a moment to realise who Shunin was. "No," Sir Nighteye whispered, that sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach turning cold and heavy.
"Yes!" Kouki growled.
"How bad was it?" Mirai demanded. They'd all known Inko was going to bring a representative from Reikokuna to the mediation conference. She'd been obligated to reveal that but Shunin wasn't just one of Reikokuna's lawyers, he was their Principal lawyer. He knew every trick in the book, and some that weren't even in the book and he wasn't afraid to use them. Except Shunin's rates… How much money was All For One willing to put into this?
Sir Nigtheye shook his head at the thought. It was a stupid question. All For One would do whatever it took if he could mire them in a trial that was going to be a public relations nightmare, and he'd consider whatever the cost was cheap. The villain was like that.
Kouki just took a few deep breaths. "It was bad," he announced, sounding tired. "It was very bad," he repeated before sighing. "I sent along one of the Commission's more senior lawyers but-"
He didn't need to finish. Shunin wouldn't even have needed to chew. They might have well sent a graduate, or better yet, no one. The outcome would have been better for them. Not that Shunin would have shown any mercy, but they would have more readily expected that outcome.
"What happens now?" Mirai asked, not needing to hear more. Because he worked for All Might, and because All Might was amongst the most popular heroes of all time, he hadn't had to deal with legal proceedings often. Occasionally they'd had to write a paper, or provide some evidence but nothing more. Which is not to say there weren't legal cases directed against the Agency, just that the Legal Department took care of them. The Department wasn't there just to make sure merchandising contracts were upheld!
"There's one more court mandated mediation required," the Commissioner told him. "If either or both parties think that is going well, they can postpone court in favour of another mediation attempt," he added.
"Then we just keep asking for more mediation," Sir Nighteye concluded. If only one party thought it worthwhile then they'd just have to be that party.
"It's not that easy," Kouki told him.
Of course it wasn't that easy.
"Reikokuna will rightly claim we are trying to stall and then take the case to court."
At which point the word got out and… They'd have to admit that Hisashi Riji was a criminal and that they had delayed getting his kidnapped son because of operational concerns. Which was the truth but Reikokuna's Principal Lawyer Shunin would rip that apart, and the media would pick up on it. It was connected to the All Might Agency so of course it would be reported on. And it was a… It was perfectly reasonable but he knew that the media would not see it that way. The public wouldn't see it that way.
They didn't know what he did. They couldn't be allowed to know what he did.
"This can't go to court, Mirai," Kouki said seriously.
He nodded, even though the Commissioner couldn't see the motion. For a moment, he leaned back, closing his eyes. "I think we are back to our options," he said.
"What do you mean?" Sozo demanded.
Sir Nighteye took several deep breaths, making sure the Commissioner could hear him. "If we told her, we control the fall out."
"You are the one who said we couldn't tell her!" Kouki objected.
"And I still think it's a bad idea, and I still don't want to. But she has backing now and will not be going away, so we must begin to look at the best of the bad options."
"Would All Might offer any statement?" the Commissioner asked.
That was surprisingly astute. Mirai wasn't aware that the Commissioner was aware that Toshinori had left this in his hands, because he considered it his mess.
"If it goes to Court then he may even show up on Inko's side, but if we tell her, then it might be possible to get at least implied support," Mirai decided. He could probably get Yagi to go that far, especially if they made it appear that it was their idea to come clean. The Number One Hero would not be pleased that it had taken so long, and that they had essentially been forced to tell her but … he'd deal with that.
Toshinori would understand that given the circumstances, it was most likely that Reikokuna and Inko were being funded by All For One. Because of that, making the case disappear quickly was of paramount importance. He already knew they wouldn't be able to track the villain through Reikokuna or even Hawein, Mori and Nishimura.
The Commissioner was silent for a few moments. "Why the change of heart?"
For a moment Mirai didn't understand the question, then he frowned at his phone. "Where you not-" he didn't complete the sentence. Even if one thought that, one couldn't ask the Commissioner if he was listening the last time they spoke. "Do you remember the last time we spoke, when I indicated that circumstances had changed?"
"I still have a hard time believing that someone without his head, without his brain, is directing this," Kouki said reasonably.
"Usually, I would agree completely," Sir Nighteye allowed. "But even if you cannot bring yourself to believe it is Hisashi Riji, then believe it is someone from his organisation. After all, he did not get to his position because his followers were fools."
"And you've seen him?"
Mirai sighed. "If it was not him, then it was a very deliberate attempt to look like him." He'd looked at that memory more than once. If it was someone dressed up to look like All For One, then they had done their homework and the effects they used to simulate multiple quirks were second to none. Except… he didn't believe it was that. No one could stand up to All Might with mere effects.
The Commissioner was silent for a few moments, obviously thinking about the implications. Kouki was not a stupid man. He'd never have been made the Commissioner if he was but he also dealt with many other items. He didn't always appreciate that in the fight against villains, All For One took precedence. "All right," he said slowly. "If you are willing, I'll have a confidentiality contract drawn up. One I believe Reikokuna will accept. We'll try another round of mediation, and if we can't convince her, then we'll apply for another round with the promise to tell her. No matter what Reikokuna might want, the court will approve that," Sozo explained before Mirai could object that they only had one further round of mediation.
"I don't like it," he replied.
"Why not?" the Commissioner asked carefully.
His lips stretched into a thin line even though Kouki couldn't see it. "Applying for the second round of mediation just highlights the fact we have something to hide. Reikokuna might be inclined to reject our offer because it will be obvious we are trying to avoid the publicity of court."
"They already know that," Sozo responded. They had made it pretty obvious with their actions.
"Yes, but the second round shows that we are desperate."
"So what do you suggest?"
He didn't like it but the answer was easy. "We go to the next round of remediation with the confidentiality contract, prepared to tell her if she signs it." Mirai pushed up his glasses again as he thought. "Don't get me wrong, Commissioner. I do not want to tell her. There is going to be fall out but as you've said we can control it this way. And going to the next round of mediation prepared to speak takes the edge off how desperate we appear. And given that you've just told me the first meeting was really bad, we need something to dull Shunin's fangs."
"I should be able to get the contract drawn up in time," the Commissioner confirmed.
"Then we will do it that way," Mirai agreed. "I'll talk to Toshinori and see if I can get him to agree to come. That would lend credibility to our case," he said blandly. There was really no good way of saying that.
Kouki sighed. "If you can," he acknowledged. "I'll have the contract sent to you to ensure we haven't missed something," he added before he sighed again. This was more drawn out and Sir Nighteye knew the Commissioner was postponing asking him something with the gesture.
He waited instead of prompting Sozo, though he thought he knew what the question was.
"Why did you delay the Police Operation?" There was an unexpected note of challenge lacing Kouki's voice.
It was the question he had been expecting and he'd had the time to formulate his reasoning and justification. "There were a couple of reasons," Sir Nighteye told the Commissioner, putting his phone down and switching it to speaker. His office was sound proofed for a reason after all.
"The first and most important was that we absolutely could not take the chance of alerting All For One that we had found him. We had no way of knowing if he had a monitor, or someone watching his son. Or even someone in the school. That is the primary reason and the one I intend to tell her."
"And the others?" Kouki didn't even bother discussing the point. They would no doubt circle back to it at a later date, sometime before the next mediation.
"By the time I found him, All For One had sole custody of his son for five years and in that time he would have moulded the boy in his image, or if not in his image, then to be a perfect follower. Make no mistake Commissioner, we were not dealing with a normal nine year old. We were potentially dealing with a nine year old villain. If the child had been a baby when All For One took him, there would have been some chance at rehabilitation but those five years are vital in a child's development.
"The argument will no doubt be that we could have rehabilitated the child in the five years following but I can find experts who will say it's not possible to counter any experts who say it was. They don't know who they are dealing with. It's not a valid argument, though it sounds good to the public.
"The final reason is not something that can be said," Sir Nighteye told the Commissioner.
"The boy is quirkless," Kouki picked up on the implications.
Mirai no longer believed that. He didn't even believe the boy's quirk was Fire Breath or Fire Proofing as was registered. All For One would not take an interest in the boy if it was something so mundane. He might have an interest in a truly quirkless son but then the boy would be an experiment and not sent to school.
The boy had… At the very least the boy had a copy of All For One, and at worst.
Sir Nighteye really didn't want to think about that. Attraction of Small Things mixed with All For One would be very potent in the event a quirk counted as a 'small thing'.
But right at the moment, while Mirai knew the boy was simply a villain in waiting, he wouldn't want the Commission getting ahold of him. There was a good chance they could take the boy out when he started out as a villain and that would be that. If the Commission got him then… No, better that they believe he was quirkless and with his father for some other reason.
"He is indeed," he agreed before sighing. "I will be expecting that contract," Mirai added.
"I'll send it through and have the Commission's Legal Department contact Reikokuna," Sozo said.
"And after that… we can then put this behind us," Sir Nighteye concluded, though he knew it wouldn't be. Not with All For One behind this.
This was just the villain's first move and all they could do was prepare to weather the storm.
-ted-
They are finally beginning to see reality and account for it. Of course, given AFO's new name, he's pretty much inevitable :D And they will have to face off against him, one way or another. For the moment, it's by proxy, but maybe it won't be that way forever. As we can see AFO is progressing his plans and the heroes are beginning to run out of time. So far everything is much like cannon and with the Nomu's obviously AFO has been working towards them for a while.
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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