"Greetings everyone."
Aizawa looked over the crowd of people, men and women of various ages in suits and ties and skirts, all looking incredibly professional. There were a few here and there that had some sort of mutation, but for the most part, it was a fairly standard crowd.
He ruffled the papers in his hand and put on a fake smile for the crowd. "As I'm sure you are all aware, today we are here to celebrate the activation of a new generation of Wardens."
"We have Recruit squads A through D here with us today to collect their new Warden ranking cards, placing them into the fold as official Wardens of Japan."
The two doors on either side of Aizawa opened up, allowing Recruit Squads A, B, C, and D to enter the room, taking their places on the stage next to Aizawa.
"And now, please welcome the Squad leaders of Squads A and B to address us."
Aizawa then stepped off the podium and stood to the side, his suit feeling too tight on him. He hated this. He hated all this stuffy, fancy bullshit, and he hated that over 200 people had gathered here today to celebrate the results of the WRD's kidnapping and brainwashing.
He watched as Genesis and Simulator, Director Shigaraki's other personal recruit, walked up to the podium, looking confident and, in Simulator's case, incredibly smug.
He tuned out Simulator's speech, expecting it to mainly boil down to 'Squad B is better than Squad A', and instead focused his energy on pretending to enjoy himself. It took a lot of focus to do so.
He thanked whatever cruel lord was above when Genesis finished her speech, which was leagues better than Simulator's, and stepped off the podium. Aizawa quickly but politely finished up his speech and handed out the Warden Licences to each of the recruits.
He then left as soon as he politely could, not wanting anything to do with the party, or the people who participated in it. He walked back to the barracks, noticing that the door had been unlocked already.
He walked in and checked the mess hall, smiling as he saw his 4 proteges sitting together with a pizza in the middle of the table, talking. Leaving them to their meal, he moved to his own dorm room. Pride for his kids bloomed in his chest.
There was no doubt in his mind that those 4 would help change this rotten way of life. That they would help fix Japan. They would be better than everyone else in the WRD.
They were already better people.
The doors to Meeting hall C slid open with a hiss.
Izuku found himself in… a depressingly average meeting room. Honestly, he felt like an accountant could walk in here and feel right at home. Slipstream waved his hands at one of the chairs, and Izuku walked over to it, sitting down.
He paused for a moment as he sat down, half expecting restraints to pop out of them and try and trap him, like some sort of bad sci-fi movie. Nothing like that happened. Instead, all he got was the disappointing creak of a poorly maintained desk chair.
He let himself relax into the chair, huffing as Slipstream gave him an odd look from under his mask. Izuku just waved him off, leaning back in the chair and putting his feet up on the table. "Alright. Tell me what I gotta do."
Slipstream nodded, and the wall came to life behind him, a projector above Izuku's head showing various camera feeds. From what he could tell, it was off the inside of a WRD supply station, if all the incredibly clearly marked boxes were anything to go off.
Slipstream clicked through a few of the feeds before landing on one that seemed to overlook the entire storage room. He then pulled a laser pointer out of his belt and used it to point at a few of the boxes.
"These are what we want you to retrieve for us. At the moment, our food reserves are running too low for us to stay down here for any longer than a few weeks without raids to the surface."
Slipstream hummed. "And while it wouldn't be impossible for a few of us to get back up there and buy some food, to buy enough to be meaningful in the long run? Well, buying that much food could cause unwanted attention to fall on us."
Slipstream sat down. "On top of that, some of our members require more food than others, and some of them have specialised requirements."
Izuku nodded, following along so far. "How will I know which boxes I need to bring back here when I get there? There are a lot of them."
Slipstream perked up, sliding a small metal box across the table. "We had an agent infiltrate the supply station the other day and attach markers to the inside of the boxes we need."
Izuku picked up the device and was greeted by the most stereotypical signal scanner he had ever seen. "I'm guessing this will light up whenever I get near one of the marked boxes?"
Slipstream gave him a double thumbs up. "You betcha, man! Wow, you're quick on the draw aren't you Blink?"
Izuku stood up, Slipstream following him. "So, is there anything you need before you go grab the objectives? Maybe a space cleared out for them?"
Izuku hummed, stroking where his mask covered his chin. "Uh yeah, that'd be good. Maybe just like, a clear, flat area in the storage room? Wither can shrink the boxes down when I send them here."
Slipstream nodded. "Got it! Let's go get you a communicator so Wither can advise you while you're there! She's our resident supply guru so she'll know a good catch if she sees one."
Slipstream pressed a button on the wall and reached into the box that came out of the ground next to the door, where he grabbed one of the earpieces off of the rack and set it up, testing it. "Hello? Wither? Can you hear me?"
There was silence for a moment, before a soft "Yes" came through the earpiece. Nodding to himself, Izuku took another look at the picture on the wall, imprinting the location into his brain.
He turned to Slipstream and gave a two-fingered salute. "I'll be right back then! See ya in a bit."
-voomp-
With a small flash of light, Slipstream was left alone in the room.
As soon as Izuku arrived, his eyes scanned everywhere.
He reached up to his ear and tapped the communicator, the small beep telling him it had been activated. "Wither? You there? I'm in the supply station."
He heard a small grunt from the other side. "Good. The station is currently empty. Please proceed with collection."
Izuku nodded, not realising she couldn't see him right now, pulling out the scanner and turning it on. It started to beep softly, pointing him to his left.
He took soft steps, making sure that his shoes made little to no sound as he moved swiftly across the ground, following the beeps of the scanner. He eventually reached a box that had the scanner letting out a continuous beep.
"Guess this is the one, eh Wither? Stand back from the drop zone for a moment, you've got incoming."
He heard a hum from the other side. "You may proceed."
Placing his hand on the box, Izuku visualised the area that they had set aside for the boxes, and activated his Meta Ability. But instead of jumping into the stream of his power himself, he pushed the box into the breach in space instead, and it vanished from the supply station with a small flash of light.
After a moment, he heard another hum from his earpiece. "I have received the box, and the drop zone is now clear for another delivery. That was quite impressive, Blink."
Izuku smirked, chuckling. "I think that's the most I've heard you talk yet, Wither. Guess If I wanna hear your lovely voice I'm just gonna have to keep being awesome, aren't I?"
He laughed to himself some more as he heard the flustered grunt through the earpiece. After a moment, her voice came over the channel. "Please focus on your objectives."
Izuku nodded, turning the scanner around and moving towards the next box. He stayed quiet, even though his anxiety was telling him to make some sort of joke, quip, anything really.
The silence was oppressive, and the fact that there were no guards anywhere concerned him. Even if it was the middle of the night, these places were usually well-guarded and staffed well.
There should be people here.
He warped another box into the drop zone, getting the acknowledgement of arrival a few seconds later.
What if this was a trap? Get his abilities on camera, then use a Meta Ability to incapacitate him and send him to jail, his Meta Ability ripped from him forever?
He wanted to trust the people of the 'resistance', but until he was sure, he would have to be careful. He worked quickly, adding smaller jumps in this search instead of just walking everywhere.
He was able to get another 3 boxes warped away before he felt it. The air around him was screaming at him.
He'd never felt anything like it before, but he instinctively knew what it meant.
Someone else was creating a breach in space near him.
He instantly warped himself outside the building, looking in through one of the windows. He only had 1 box left anyway, so not getting it wouldn't be too big of a problem.
What was a problem though, was the cloud of purple gas that exploded into existence in the middle of the room, 6 people walking out of the gas and looking around the room.
Izuku realised two things at that moment.
One: The WRD had an unregistered Warden with a warping Meta Ability. From the looks of it, it acted like a gate, allowing the user to connect to points with portals that anyone could go through.
Two: If the resistance was all just an elaborate trap, they wouldn't have needed to make him think that they were on his side. Director Shigaraki could have just been warped into his bedroom and taken his Meta Ability whenever he wanted.
That meant that the resistance was the real deal.
His smile at that realisation was quickly removed when the Warper, a man with purple smoke for his head and hands and a crisp suit over his body, did a small circle, his golden eyes landing on the window.
Izuku's eyes widened as he realised that the man had spotted him when he felt the air around him shift again, purple smoke appearing below him.
Izuku let out a yelp and panicked, activating his ability. There was a quiet-
-Voomp-
-and Izuku was gone.
"Director Shigaraki."
Shigaraki turned as Kurogiri appeared in his room. He had sent Kurogiri to check on an alert in one of their facilities when the silent alarm went off.
Apparently, someone had been able to steal almost 12 crates of concentrated food bars. He was interested in how and why someone was able to do this.
"Ah, Kurogiri. Have a seat. I expect your report to be thorough."
The misty man walked over to one of the chairs in the room and sat down, the molten gold eyes following Shigaraki as he sat down as well.
Kurogiri was silent, waiting for his master to speak first. Shigaraki just stared him down for a minute, before speaking.
"I assume that the fact that you're alone means that the perpetrator was not captured?"
Kurogiri dropped his head. "You are correct, master. I was unable to capture the perpetrator. I believe them to be in possession of a warping Meta Ability, similar to my own."
Kurogiri fell silent again as he stared at Director Shigaraki's eyes. He could see the soft glow as the man's many mental enhancing Meta Abilities sent his brain into overdrive.
"I see. This is quite the problem then. There are no registered warping Quirks in Japan at the moment. And there are none capable of crossing into Japan without causing much more of a fuss than this supposed thief did."
Kurogiri nodded. "I was unable to get a good look at their face, master. I apologise. Their face was hidden behind a mask, with a hood hiding their hair."
Shigaraki nodded, standing up. "I am disappointed that this thievery was able to occur, but do not mistake me, Kurogiri. None of my frustration is towards you."
A sigh of relief left Kurogiri's face mist. Shigaraki continued. "From here on out, capturing this unregistered Warper is your new priority."
He walked to the door and opened it, pausing before he left. "I expect this to happen swiftly, Kurogiri. I am interested in this thief's Meta Ability."
Kurogiri nodded frantically. "Yes master. It will be done."
Shigaraki smiled, a hand running through his curly white hair. "Excellent. Now leave me. I have dinner with Simulator and Atomiser."
Kurogiri opened a rift beneath him, sinking through it back to his station. He knew what that meant. He would not be interrupted for anything during dinner with his chosen students.
He hoped that nothing else important happened that required the Director's attention.
Hope Y'all enjoyed the chapter! If you did, you should check out my profile and read my other fics and One-shots!
Also! I have a twitter now! You can follow it for updates for all of my fics!