Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia/Boku No Hero Academia, or any other property in this work that I did not make myself.
Vlad King's Green Bean
Chapter eight: Information not shared
Cathleen Bate did a punch parry with Rappa the moment they got within range of one another. Cathleen, despite her great strength and durability, ended up taking a few punches from Rappa who not only punched with the force of a cannonball but with the speed of a bullet. Cathleen jumped back to get some distance from the hard hitting, fast hitting fighter. "Heh," Cathleen chuckled, "Glad to see you aren't afraid to hit a girl."
"I'll hit anyone who thinks they can fight me!" Rappa declared, "I don't care about gender or ethnicity or orientation or any of that other crap people think would disqualify others! I'm just looking for someone who can give me a thrilling battle!"
As Cathleen kept her eyes on Rappa, she saw out of the corner of her eyes Spinner trying to rush her with a katana drawn and ready to slash at her. Smirking a bit in amusement, Cathleen said, "I can't be harmed by blades." When Spinner did reach her and slashed at her with all of his might that he could muster, the katana blade merely bounced off of Cathleen.
Spinner jumped back, confused. "...She's immune to slashing damage?" Spinner exclaimed.
"...More like she made herself immune to it," Dabi said as he cast blue flames at Cathleen, who had to jump to get out of the way. When she landed and saw more of Dabi's evil fire rush at her, she merely smiled again in amusement.
"I can't be harmed by flames or heat."
The blue fires of Dabo then proceeded to immediately swamp Cathleen, making the villains feel a bit relieved as blue flames were WAY more potent than regular colored flames. Hence why all of them had a look of surprise (and in Spinner's case, some fear was mixed in as well) when Cathleen emerged from the blue flames unharmed, smirking in amusement at the villains. "...Is it me," the All Might wannabe began to say in a tone clearly mocking the villains, "Or has it gotten chilly?"
"And now she's immune to fire?!" Spinner exclaimed, "How in blazes are we supposed to capture her alive, much less beat her?!"
Gesturing towards where Cathleen stood, Dabi shouted at Rappa, "Grapple her from the front now!" To Spinner, Dabi said, "When she's grappled, I want you to rush up behind her to strike!" Turning to Gentle, Dabi asked, "Can you help incapacitate her?"
"Well I can give it the ol' college try," Gentle replied, "But I'll need her grappled first."
At Dabi's cue, everyone there got into position. Acting instantly, Rappa rushed Cathleen and grabbed her around her torso in a bear hug, his arms going around her under her arms. Cathleen scoffed, annoyed that he bear hugged her under her arms rather than over them; she could have thrown him off loads more easily. As she began trying to pry herself out, Cathleen saw Spinner try to rush from behind her again, so she proceeded to make herself immune to blade attacks again.
However, immediately after this, Cathleen felt as if a stretchy, rubbery sheet of plastic wrap was placed over her face, making it tough for her to breath. However, she could still hear, hence why she heard Dabi say, "Good, keep that rubberized air move going." Since Rappa was now hoisting her around in a certain direction, Cathleen was able to see it that Gentle was clearly using some sort of quirk while focusing on her.
Cathleen needed to be able to talk to use her awesome quirk, but the rubberized stretchy air covering her face make talking more or less impossible. That cover on her face, combined with how she was still struggling to try to get out of the bear hug hold Rappa had her in, proceeded to tire the American number one hero out quickly. Eventually, Rappa stopped hoisting Cathleen around, which allowed her to see Dabi standing with Spinner and Gentle.
Throwing his hand down, Dabi shouted, "NOW!"
Suddenly, before she could tell what was going on, Cathleen felt great pain surge all throughout her body as a gun shot hit her in the spine near her waist. Her pained cry was muffled by the stretchy air still covering her face as she tried to make her legs move, but her legs to Cathleen's growing horror weren't listening to her brain. These villains must have a hidden ally nearby who's skilled with guns, probably the mist villain from what Cathleen was able to figure as her mind started going fuzzy due to exhaustion and lack of air.
Dabi quickly ran up to behind Cathleen as Rappa still held her in that bear hug hold and used his blue flames to cauterize the bullet wound to prevent bleed out, making Cathleen scream in pain even harder despite how she was still muffled. Within a few moments after the cauterizing of her bullet wound, Cathleen, due to a mix of pain, exhaustion, and lack of air, ended up passing out, going slack in Rappa's arms.
After the guys had settled down, Nagant came out of hiding and came over to them, her right arm in the process of transforming from a sniper rifle back into an actual arm. She knelt down over where Cathleen laid unconscious on the ground. "...She's still alive," Nagant said after checking for a pulse, "A good thing I aimed to inflict a non fatal shot to cripple her, huh?" Getting up, Nagant asked, "Do we have a way to ensure she stays out of it?"
"I can apply a chloroform dampened cloth over her mouth," Spinner said, "That ought to help keep the All Might wannabe here out like a light until the League's master finishes his business with her."
Dabi looked around, saw the blood on the ground from Cathleen before he cauterized her wound that Nagant inflicted. "I'll burn what shed blood there is on the ground," Dabi said, "Can't have people beginning to suspect what went down here."
"Good idea," Kurogiri said as he conjured a black swirling portal for Rappa and Spinner to carry the unconscious Cathleen through, with Rappa actually carrying her and Spinner keeping a chloroform dampened cloth over her mouth. Meanwhile, Dabi burnt up all the shed blood he saw on the ground before he and Nagant walked through the portal. Kurogiri was the last to go, as he more or less was the portal himself.
The battle in that area of the alleyways in the downtown shopping district was now over, with only a few scorch marks on the ground being the only signs that said fight had occured at all. Not that said scorch marks were going to stick around for very long given the skies above heavily suggested that it's going to be raining soon.
A short while later over at Gran Torino's building, he was having Izuku wait inside after they had finished training for the day. The older pro hero heard the first rumble of thunder, and shortly after that it began to rain. "No way in hell will I send you off in weather like that," Gran Torino said to the green haired boy, "I'll call Toshi, get him to have a ride arranged for you to take you home."
Izuku nodded in thanks for the consideration that Gran Torino was showing him. At this point in his training under Gran Torino, Izuku was now able to use up to six percent of One For All safely via Full Cowling. The green haired boy felt confident that he'll be able to reach the seven percent mark that Kan-sensei challenged him to get to before the time that the internships normally would start. Izuku wondered how Kan-sensei would react upon seeing him exceed his expectations.
Proud, hopefully.
As Izuku waited inside Gran Torino's apartment while the older pro hero called All Might, Izuku's attention was grabbed by the TV when it played a breaking news story. He turned it up to hear the news better. "This just in," the news anchor said, "Reports that persons with quirks fought each other in the alleyways in the downtown shopping district are now coming in."
The news then cut to a field reporter wearing a rain poncho and holding an umbrella as it was now raining heavily. "Surrounding persons claimed they heard the fighting coming from the alleyway entrance behind me, but going inside reveals that there's no one to be seen. Making things worse is how the sudden rain is probably washing away what evidence there was of the fight."
The news then cut back to the studio, where the news anchor said, "We will bring you more on this story as it develops." The news then cut to a weather report on the sudden rain, which Izuku turned away from after lowering the volume.
"What was that news report about?" Gran Torino asked.
"Someone reported a fight involving quirk usage in the alleyways in the downtown shopping district," Izuku explained, "But no parties were found fighting, and the news said that the rain will wash away what evidence there might have been of the fighting taking place at all."
Gran Torino dismissed the report with a wave of his hand. "Bah. Probably just some punks having a brawl. Nothing for the news to get up into a tizzy over."
Izuku looked curious. "Are you sure, Gran Torino? I mean, everyone has been a bit on edge ever since five students in Class 1-A were killed in the villain attack on the USJ."
The older pro hero nodded in understanding to that point. "True, I can't hold it against the people to be on edge. But they're treating EVERY reported instance of illegal quirk usage as a sign of villain activity. Things in Japan aren't that bad, mark my words."
"If you say so," Izuku replied.
"I know so," Gran Torino remarked, "I mean, given the vast number of illegal quirk usage cases going on, what are the odds that the one that was reported on the news just now was related to actual villain activity?"
...
Over at the League of Villains' bar, Dabi, Spinner, Rappa, and Gentle were recuperating from their fight with Cathleen. "You boys had certainly exceeded my expectations here!" the master's voice said from the laptop behind the bar, "To think that not only did America's number one hero come to Japan, but that we were able to capture her alive!"
Spinner had to push against the table of the booth he was sitting in so he could force himself up. "America's number one hero?"
"Indeed," the master's voice confirmed, "And she had even graciously provided the eleventh piece to the twelve piece puzzle that I'm assembling for Dabi. Not, of course, is she aware she provided it as she was unconscious when I collected it from her, heh heh heh..."
Dabi was able to sit himself up without pushing against the table unlike Spinner, although he had to put some effort into it. "...So my puzzle you're assembling for me is only missing one piece now."
"I'm looking forward to seeing what this puzzle is when it's fully assembled," La Brava said from where she was tending to the tired Gentle, while Toga and Nagant sat at the bar.
Humming in amusement, Dabi added, "I'm getting more and more curious as to what this puzzle is going to be."
"All in due time, my dear Dabi," the master's voice replied, "All in due time. But first, you and the other men need to rest. You guys did, after all, just get out of not only fighting Star and Stripe and living to tell the tale, but winning said fight. You're going to need some down time to rest, mark my words."
"Which reminds me," Spinner said, "When we're recruiting for the League of Villains, we ought to keep an eye out for folks with healing quirks. That'll help us bounce back into the game a hell of a lot quicker after tough fights."
"You raise a valid point," the master's voice said from the laptop, "Kurogiri, make a note to ask Giran to keep an eye out for potential new League members that have healing quirks the next time that we're able to employ his services."
Kurogiri nodded once in understanding. "Of course, master."
Toga, with a curious look on her face, spoke up, "Excuse me mister master guy, but after that big buff lady who wanted to be All Might gave you that donation you mentioned, where did she go?"
"To my good friend Dr. Daruma to help him," the master's voice replied, "Same as where the good sir Chisaki went to."
Raising his head up, Rappa asked, "That Kai bastard is helping your doctor friend now? But didn't you say that you killed Kai? Also, how can that buff lady be of help to him since Nagant's shot had paralyzed her from the waist down?"
"There are... multiple ways that they can help the good doctor," the master's voice replied casually, "Even in their respective conditions." The master's voice chuckled a bit. "But we can go over all of that business at a more appropriate time. For now Rappa, you and the other boys are entitled to a well deserved rest."
Weakly raising his right hand to point upwards with his index finger, Spinner said, "I'll take you up on that!" Spinner's arm he had raised then promptly fell back down before Spinner promptly fell asleep. The sound of the lizard person villain's snoring, given the context, managed to elicit a chuckle of mild amusement out of the master. Kurogiri arched a wry eyebrow (or his equivalent as a mist person) when he heard the master chuckle in amusement.
At the end of the day of the first day of the following school week over at UA, Sekijiro was going over a few things with his homeroom. "Alright kids, here's the deal," Sekijiro began, "All of the extra training you've been doing will be put to the test at the end of this school week, in special exercises that will be judged by a number of UA staff members, myself included. Make sure you all strive to give it your all this Saturday, because I won't be showing you any special favor just because you're my students."
A chorus of "Yes, Kan-sensei!" rang out throughout the Class 1-B homeroom.
The Blood hero smirked in amusement, glad to see he's got his students in line. "Excellent. Now, you all are dismissed." The students of 1-B got up and proceeded to file out, although Sekijiro noticed that Izuku looked like he wanted to say something but decided against it. Curious, Sekijiro called out, "Midoriya! A word?"
Izuku looked afraid that he might be in trouble, but he visibly eased up when Sekijiro asked, "I saw that you looked like you wanted to say something. Is there something on your mind?"
"Actually Kan-sensei," Izuku began, "I was going to tell you something, but given what you said about this Saturday, I feel it can wait until then." With a small smile, the green haired boy went on, "I think you'll better understand what I wanted to say if I show rather than tell."
Sekijiro allowed himself a smirk and a chuckle. "Sounds to me like you're finding your footing, Midoriya. But I will wait to see what all you've got to show me." With a casual, good mood air, the Blood Hero shooed his student out of the classroom for the day. Sekijiro was seeing more and more progress when it came to Izuku; he did remember how Izuku was starting off, and could still recall how Izuku was at the entrance exams.
The Izuku of today was a far different beast than any of the Izukus of the past.
Sekijiro was looking forward to seeing how all of his students would show they've improved, but he in particular wanted to see how Izuku fared, mainly so that he could rub Izuku's growth in Aizawa's face. The Blood Hero was a firm believer in the idea that any student who has the drive can be great, even if some need a little more work than others. In fact, seeing students like Midoriya go on to be great is one of the greatest feelings a UA teacher could ever experience.
He knew that he couldn't show bias, but Sekijiro was secretly hoping for Izuku to blow everyone's expectations of him out of the water. He was certain that All Might was of a similar mindset, due to the Symbol of Peace's connection to the green haired boy. Seeing that all of his students were now gone, Sekijiro decided to take a cue from them and get going himself.
The Blood Hero left his classroom, locking the door behind him. However, as he was turning away, Sekijiro stopped when he heard Hizashi's voice call out to him, "Yo, Sekijiro!" Turning around, he saw Hizashi approach him, with Aizawa and Nemuri following along behind. All three of them looked a bit troubled, although Aizawa by far was the best of the three at trying to play it cool.
Sekijiro could tell that something bad was going down if even Aizawa was trying to play it cool. "What's the situation?" Sekijiro asked immediately.
"Nezu wants to hold an emergency staff meeting," Aizawa immediately said, "He just got word that Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Mt. Lady have all woken up."
"And he wants to hold a meeting to discuss this because..." Sekijiro asked, the manner in which he trailed off showing he expected to be filled in.
Nemuri gulped a bit, showing that the news can't be good. "...We'll discuss it when we get to the staff meeting." Slightly more apprehensive than before, Sekijiro decided to go along with the others to the staff meeting, hoping that it wasn't anything bad.
Outside by the front entry gate to UA, Izuku was met up by his main friends in Class 1-B, Yosetsu, Juzo, and Nirengeki. To Izuku's surprise, he also spotted Uraraka and Iida from Class 1-A also there waiting for him. "Were..." Izuku began, "...All of you waiting for me?"
"We just wanted to see how psyched you are for the tests this Saturday," Yosetsu said, "Also your buds here from 1-A wanted to wish you luck as well."
Izuku was surprised by the fact that his friends, from both first year hero course classes, were wanting to wish him well. The green haired boy nodded once, out of acknowledgement as well as appreciation. He had never really felt this way prior to enrolling in UA, but then again prior to UA he's never really had friends ever since he had been given the quirkless diagnosis back when he was a little kid. All Might by passing One For All on to him had done more than simply allow Izuku to chase after his dream of becoming a pro hero.
He was able to have Izuku be allowed to have a life. A real life.
Izuku was about to speak up, but he was cut off when a male voice he didn't recognize spoke up, "Hey Iida, Uraraka, why are you talking to students from a different class?" Everyone looked over and saw Shinso, who Izuku and his 1-B fellows didn't recognize, standing there, a wry look of piqued interest on his face.
"We're simply wishing students who are in the same boat as our class good luck on the special exams this Saturday," Iida replied, "That's not wrong, is it Shinso?"
The now identified (to the 1-B boys) Shinso turned to look at the boys from outside of the 1-A class. "...No it's not, but I'm pretty sure that Aizawa-sensei would suggest that the two of you along with the rest of us in 1-A ought to be more worried about ourselves."
Nirengeki folded his arms over his chest, shot Shinso a look of mild unamusement. "Well geez, it sounds like this Aizawa-sensei guy is a right proper piece of work."
Shinso glared annoyed at Nirengeki. "He's a lot better than you know. At least he knows what he's doing." Shinso then turned around and walked away, adding, "Iida, Uraraka, you two probably ought to get going as well." Shinso then left before anyone could say anything.
Izuku's friends in 1-B all looked annoyed. "Man, what is with that guy's attitude?" Yosetsu said, then added to Iida and Uraraka, "The two of you ought to report him to your homeroom teacher."
"Given that he's got a point on what Aizawa-sensei would say," Uraraka began, "Not to mention that Aizawa-sensei is similarly as standoffish, I doubt any words we say will reach on through."
Izuku was a bit worried about this Aizawa fellow, given he was being described by some of his own students. Sure, he is a pro hero, pretty much every UA staff member is. But Shouta Aizawa hasn't shown the friendly, sociable nature that would be a benefit to many teachers to have. It made the green haired boy all the more happy he was in 1-B under Kan-sensei, a teacher who is willing to be sociable with his students, who is willing to go the distance for them.
With little else keeping them there, Iida and Uraraka left. Shinso's words left a mildly sour tone on the overall mood, forcing Izuku and his 1-B friends to part for home on a less than stellar note. Still, they wouldn't let this drag them down entirely; especially on Saturday, where they planned to give it their all in the special exams to impress pro heroes in the hopes that one of them will want to hire them as interns.
Meanwhile at the staff meeting, Nezu had all of the (primary) members of the UA staff gathered to discuss a serious matter. "Gentlemen, ladies," began the animal principal in a somber tone, "What I am about to discuss is a matter that cannot be allowed to leave this room."
"No need to worry, Nezu," All Might said, "You can count on us."
Nezu inhaled through his nose before exhaling. "...I just got word on the respective conditions of Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Mt. Lady."
Right away, Nemuri became alarmed. "None of them died, did they?"
"They're all still alive, I assure you," Nezu clarified, "But, as it turned out, true details on them have been withheld from reaching the knowledge of others by the Hero Public Safety Commission. The only reason I know is because a close personal friend of mine inside of the HPSC told me, and at great personal risk to himself."
Aizawa scowled in bitter annoyance the moment it was mentioned that the HPSC was involved in how certain information had been withheld. "What are those conniving bastards up to now?"
"Now in their defense, I can see why they would want to withhold such info, given that it has the great potential to send Japan into a tizzy," Nezu said. Inhaling and exhaling again, Nezu said, "I've been informed by my aforementioned friend in the HPSC that Endeavor, Ryukyu, and Mt. Lady have all somehow been rendered quirkless."
Immediately, everyone at the meeting tensed up out of alarm. "...Yes," Nezu went on, "They have all lost their quirks, after being found unconscious. Truly there's a great evil out there who's going after heroes with powerful quirks. They're probably trying to weaken Japan's heroes as a whole in order to carry out some grand scheme."
"Well how can the heroes of Japan defend against this terror if the HPSC doesn't let them know about it?" Hizashi asked, "They're being left as sitting ducks!"
As Aizawa looked around at his fellows at the meeting table, he noticed that All Might was deep in thought. "...You know something, All Might," the underground hero spoke up, "Don't you?"
All eyes turned to look at the Symbol of Peace. All Might let out a troubled sigh. "...I do, yes," All Might began, "This is all eerily similar to an incident that took place a little over half a decade ago. It bears all the hallmarks of a certain villain I had done battle with. Logically, this stuff happening again could only mean that said villain is back. But I'm not sure how, given that I was confident that I had killed that villain when I fought him so long ago..."
A few UA staff members were rattled by the idea of a villain so powerful, All Might decided to just kill said villain. And if what All Might fears is true, said villain survived being killed. "A truly powerful villain, yes," All Might went on, "One whose quirk lets him take, hold on to, and redistribute the quirks of other people."
"What all do you know about this villain?" Sekijiro asked.
"Well first off," All Might began, "I ought to first confirm if we really are dealing with that villain. Second off, I need to inform certain pers-" All Might stopped short, a look of dawning horror on his face. "...Oh God," the Symbol of Peace said, "Cathleen doesn't know! And it's been days since she went off chasing that mist villain!"
Nezu looked confused. "Who's Cathleen?"
The Symbol of Peace let out a sigh. "...Someone that I had called in from out of country to help tie up the sole loose end from the attack on the USJ. If that man truly has come back, and he was able to take Cathleen's quirk, then I'm pretty sure that Japan is doomed." It would seem that things were getting more and more tense for the pro heroes of Japan, even more so if certain fears end up coming to pass.
END, CHAPTER EIGHT
Author's notes;
This chapter sees the LoV score a major surprise victory, although most of what can be fielded will be out for a bit. Izuku's training under Gran Torino continues, and there's a brief interaction between some 1-B and 1-A students before a cut to a staff meeting at UA to discuss some troublesome news that Nezu got via a friend on the inside. Anyway, the next chapter will see Eri pop up again, before the hero course students are able to go on their internships.