Leo 23 - Burnin will be there, just... not in the way you probably expect her to show up. Toga's also already there, as Carmilla the underground hero. The rest of the characters from the list will eventually show up, as either cameos or notable characters. It's just that I'm playing a long game with that fic, so I'm not rushing things like that :P Katsuki, Uraraka and Nedzu issues find their answers during the same story arc after chapter 60-something (although we learn what Bakugou did to Midoriya earlier than that), you can expect a lot of earthquakes :P
Mr. Radio-Face - Hahahaha, yes! :D
Jpx0999 - :P Who knows what the future will bring?
Guest - Aye. I'm making it clear that it's pretty bad in this world, and it'll only get worse from there on.
(***)
"Uhm… Takami-san?" Kirishima decides to finally say it. After all, he has some very serious reasons to do so. The very idea of what they are supposed to do makes him deeply uncomfortable.
"I told you it's Keigo off-work." Hawks replies with a grin. "Just do what I tell you, and don't lose that bucket of chicken wings. That's important."
Kirishima isn't sure what's the worst about the plan. That his face isn't concealed (then again, police and Overhaul already know his face and name, just as they know Mina's). That he is with Hawks in the headquarters of the Tokyo SAT unit. Or maybe the fact that he is supposed to carry a bucket of chicken wings from the nearby KFC, for some odd reason?
Keigo Takami is an oddity among oddities.
"Seriously. Everything will be alright, kid." Keigo gives him a thumbs-up gesture. Then he kicks the door open.
Okay. He does so gently. It's less 'kick door open' and more 'vigorously push them open with your leg'. But his position with a leg still hanging in the air wasn't missed by the people inside.
Kirishima shivers on the inside.
"Sup, Jeanist!" Hawks says loudly. "Am I interrupting something?" Then he puts his leg down and walks in. Kirishima was told to follow him, so he does the same.
There are two people in the room. Both give those 'special forces' vibes that Kirishima got from the members of the Quirk Suppression Squad. They are clearly fit, but there is something in their movements that makes you realize they aren't 'just' fit.
In Kirishima's opinion, the difference between simple 'fit' people and them was the same as the one between gazelles and lions. Both are pretty strong, and furry, and lived in more or less the same places, but that's where the similarities ended.
Kirishima wasn't very good at similes and metaphors. But in his opinion, that one described the situation well.
One was sitting behind the desk. Tall, blonde hair. Well-trimmed hair. Someone was really putting some effort into his own looks. The other one has black hair and a rather intimidating stare. It's like facing Principal Sasaki, at least according to Kirishima.
"Takami." The man behind the desk says, his face making his displeasure clear. "You realize that doorknobs exist for a reason?"
"Sorry, Jeanist!" Hawks replies. His face makes it clear that he isn't actually apologizing. He quickly closes the door behind him. "Excuse me for dropping by unannounced, but I decided to clear the debt and so on. Also, who is your companion, if I may ask?"
"Kugo Sakamata." Tsunagu Hakamada replies. "Head of the Special Security Team." Sakamata appears briefly surprised by being introduced like that. The identities of people like him are mostly concealed from the outsiders. No one wants the criminals to go after their families.
"Oh, the coast guard special forces." Hawks says, before giving the man a thumbs-up. "I'm a big fan."
Kirishima wondered what that man was there. Was the local SAT and SST preparing some joint operation? Well, whatever it was, it didn't concern Musutafu.
"Who is that?" Sakamata asks Jeanist. He is clearly (although emotionally scarcely) confused.
"Keigo Takami." Tsunagu replies. "Head of Musutafu SAT unit. And his companion…" He pauses, looking at Hawks for answers. Kirishima shrinks behind him a bit.
"That's a surprise tool that will help us later." Hawks replies. When given questioning stares, he actually looks exasperated. "What, no one recognizes that meme? This is sad. Well, I wanted to come, drop some hot news, pay you back, perhaps save some lives and shit like that, Jeanist."
"Stop calling me that." Hakamada is clearly done with Hawks. Kirishima isn't surprised. "Is it about your unit's failure to arrest Goto Imasuji?"
"Kind of, yeah." Hawks admits. "But mostly to tell you that I realized your lifelong dream."
"Did you finally decide to leave the SAT, meaning that I no longer have to live in constant fear of having to meet you during joint training?" Hakamada asks dryly. He clearly doesn't believe that this is an option. Kirishima would have laughed at that if he wasn't too busy trying to make himself vanish from the room.
"Actually, yeah?" Takami says, scratching his chin a bit. "I mean, not the reason, but I resigned from service. I'm no longer a part of the SAT."
"What?" Hakamada clearly didn't get the memo about it. That alone was surprising, at least to Kirishima. Shouldn't he get informed? The man is staring at Hawks in shock. Sakamata looks only narrowly less surprised. "Who's in charge of your old unit, then?"
"No one." Hawks replies. "They all resigned. As of a few days ago, the Musutafu SAT no longer exists. Wait, no one told you?" Kirishima's suspicion is confirmed. Takami is actually surprised himself, enough for it to be visible.
"No, no one did." Hakamada replies, drawing every letter. "What the hell happened?" His cool exterior is now clearly compromised by deep surprise. And worry. And some slight anger. Hard to say who was the target.
"Well, someone from the bureau of Senior Commissioner Koji is leaking intel to the criminals." Hawks replies. "I could tolerate that for as long as criminals simply left the scene before our arrival, but I drew the line when my operation to arrest Imasuji was interrupted by twenty special forces operatives working for the local crime boss. Especially as Koji's answer to me pointing out that he has a leak could be summed up to 'oh no, anyways…'." Keigo Takami sighs. "Enough is enough."
"That's… unfortunate." Hakamada says after a few seconds of silence and digesting the news. Sakamata seems to more or less agree with his response. "But understandable. Do you look for a job in the remaining SAT units? I think I could…"
Looks like Hakamada's dislike towards Hawks is personal. Work is something different. And Hakamada respects Takami's skills enough to offer him a job. Not directly under him, but… Well, it's either that or the SAT is really running out of operatives, so Hakamada is grasping at straws here.
"Nah." Takami says, waving his hand. "We already got ourselves a new dig. Some of the local assistant commissioners grew so tired with Koji's constant bullshit that they started cracking down on the local criminals while completely ignoring him. They even organized themselves their own special forces unit, and offered me the position of its commanding officer. I'm now a superintendent working for the Takoba city police department and a head of its Special Operations Unit."
"Oh, well, brilliant." Hakamada sighs. "It's good to know where to find you if we need to deploy anywhere near Musutafu." The fact that he seems to completely disregard the announcement that local police organized themselves their own death squad and is ignoring the established chain of command while doing so says a lot. Less about him and more about the general state of affairs in the country. "Anything else?"
"Actually, yeah." Hawks says, and Kirishima realizes they are about to get to the point. "Look, let me ask you a weird question. Did any of you see something seriously weird recently? Like some criminal that tried to defend against you in some super odd way?"
Hakamada and Sakamata exchange some worried glances before looking back at Hawks.
"Depends on the definition." Hakamada replies. "But I think I know what you refer to. It's extremely rare, but apparently some people have some special powers nowadays. Nothing particularly problematic, really. I assume that you've encountered something similar?"
Sakamata says nothing. But it's clear that he knows about it as well. Oh, well, he knows about as much as Hakamada does. Which, apparently, isn't much.
"Depends." Hawks replies. "What exactly do you know about them?" He is clearly dedicated to finding out how much the metropolitan SAT knows. Getting a talk with the head of the Special Security Team is a bonus.
"Extremely rare." Hakamada replies. "Extremely weak. Not exactly a threat. The guy that made me ask my higher-ups about the subject could make others around him as drunk as he was. A nuisance more than anything. Most of us had much better alcohol tolerance, a perk of being fit."
"Well, your information is completely outdated and false." Hawks says confidently. "Then again, the government apparently knows shit about it, so it's understandable. And this is where I come, on a white horse, here to save y'all and so on."
"Could you please elaborate?" Hakamada sounds like he is having a headache. But one combined with an understanding that if Hawks actually decided to drop, then he probably has something important to say.
He only has to survive until Hawks finally gets there.
"Apparently, for like a few months to a year now, the new powers are no longer weak." Hawks replies. "They are still rare, but once you actually run into a bearer of one, welp. You're dead. We have literal, Marvel or DC style supervillains out there nowadays."
Hakamada knows Hawks enough to only give him a questioning stare. Sakamata, instead, is a bit more vocal.
"Are you drunk?" He asks. Clearly not buying the revelation one bit.
"I'd like to, but no." Hawks replies. "Imasuji got hit by a 20mm round to the head by my sniper, but is still kicking around. Another local supervillain in Musutafu fired a heat death ray that ignited a kilometer of rooftops and then melted two apartment buildings with people inside. I'm both the head of the Special Operations Unit and its Quirk Suppression Squad, established by the local police to apprehend or eliminate supervillains. You should both start adapting as well, or things are going to get nasty." He sighs. "In fact, I'm something like 95% sure that Aichi's SAT had the misfortune of encountering a supervillain."
Not something that Kirishima ever heard about. Was it kept under wraps? Hawks really made it sound like no one returned from whatever event happened. Otherwise, Hakamada would actually know something.
"I assume…" Hakamada says in the resulting silence. "... that you brought a proof for all of that. And it's connected to your companion." Someone finally connected the dots about the surprise tool that will help them later and all that.
"Aye." Hawks says before turning towards Kirishima. "Put the bucket down. Show them your quirk."
"Oh, okay." Kirishima is still a bit intimidated by all the scary (and manly) people in the room, but he obeys.
He is almost used to gasps and shocked stares when he does. He was used as a living proof to the Musutafu SAT too. He has a perfect combination of normally human looks (allowing him to reach the demonstration site without problems), the police knowing who he was already and his quirk being… well, not flashy. But visible.
"What the h…" Sakamata utters, clearly dumbfounded. Hawks smiles widely. He really missed his dream career when he didn't become a performer.
"Let me introduce to you, Gargoyle." Takami says. "One of Musutafu prefecture superheroes. His quirk makes him able to harden his body to the point where it can withstand pretty much everything that isn't a dedicated anti-tank weapon. Helped us during our attempt to stop Imasuji. Although he apparently goes around under the supervillain name of Carnage now."
Overhaul literally sending a letter mentioning that to the local precinct was… well, a way of taunting the police. Assistant commissioner Aizawa was fuming for quite a while. He was probably still fuming right now.
113 new victims, and Overhaul sends them a letter about referring to his new acquisition under his new villain name. Hawks, personally, wasn't sure if he was more amazed by the galls or murderously pissed off at his complete disregard of human lives.
"I'm not sure…" Kirishima speaks, taking advantage of the two police officers (okay, police and coast guard) in front of them being shocked silent. "... if being punched almost through your armored car counts as helping."
"Hey, I would totally be dead if it was me who was punched!" Hawks gives him a thumbs-up and a wry smile. "So for me it's an enthusiastic five star 'would use as ballistic shield again' review, kid."
Kirishima dehardens. Keeping it up for so long is rather tiring. Especially as he went into full-hardening mode. It really makes him look scary, but it was sorta the point of this presentation.
"Oh, looks like that's… a really… uhm… convincing argument." Hakamada seems to have gotten over it already. Mostly. Sakamata mostly as well, just in a less wordy way. "Can I…"
Hawks puts a tablet on his desk. Seriously, how many of them did the Alchemist produce?
"Summary of what we know about the meta-abilities." Hawks says with a bright smile. "List of known powers to make you realize what you might encounter out there. Plus contact details with me, the assistant commissioner Aizawa, inspector Tsukauchi and Defiant, the leader of Musutafu superheroes."
That's a long list of people. Hawks keeps talking though.
"Me, to talk about what I figured out about dealing with supervillains with guns and special forces training." He says. "Aizawa, because he is the head of the Musutafu anti-supervillain operations and should be able to advise you on some general dealing with the problem. Tsukauchi, because he is overseeing the database of identified supervillains country-wide, and we suspect a few in the general area of Tokyo. And Defiant, because he watched a lot of superhero movies and somehow is the closest thing we have to an expert in identifying and dissecting the quirks of villains. Since he correctly analyzed Imasuji's quirk and both its strengths and weaknesses based on a single blurry picture that only he managed to find on the internet, I strongly insist on running whatever odd criminal you're following through him just in case."
Izuku, Kirishima decides, will probably be overjoyed. Together with Mei, Momo and Mieko. They actually loved brainstorming those things and could go on and on about them for literal hours.
"You should also try to enlighten the local police." Hawks continues. "I suspect that you'll find at least a few police officers with friendly local superheroes to help you, but…"
"That really should be the NPAs job." Hakamada wakes up from the shock. "I'm really not sure…"
"Apparently it's mostly gone now." Hawks interrupts him. "A little birdy told me that a supervillain with an invisibility quirk assassinated the Commissioner General several weeks ago, and the entire NPA is collapsing as we speak. While the government is busy hiding his death to avoid panic and further decline of the authority of Japanese law enforcement."
"Are you serious?" Hakamada blinks at him a few times. Then deflates suddenly. "That explains all those gossip and administratorial backlog over my head. Why the hell is no one telling me anything?" He adds, mostly to himself.
"Yeah, and I wouldn't trust anyone from the NPA either." Hawks says. "Haru Toyoda might be the very reason why no one in the government knows a thing about meta-abilities. Why exactly he did that? Nobody knows. Anyway, sorry for not bringing a tablet for you, but I didn't expect you to be here." He says towards Sakamata.
"It's not a problem." He replies. "Hakamada knows how to contact me. Send one to him." Looks like someone in the Coast Guard was going to be knowledgeable about the situation as well. Unexpected development. Not very helpful - Coast Guard wasn't exactly a priority enlightenment target. Then again, guns were guns. The Special Security Team could turn out useful because of that alone.
"Sweet." Hawks smiles at them both. "We'll be going there. Stay safe and use protection, or at least friendly local superheroes as a ballistic shield. Ciao." Kirishima almost snorts at that.
(***)
"That was… incredibly… different." He says to Hawks once they leave the building.
Kirishima reaches a high level of mastery of understatements with that one sentence.
"Well, I personally think that turning the general disbelief in our favor makes sense." Hawks replies. "If the public won't believe us, you can freely enlighten people like Hakamada and Sakamata, without the risk of them going to the press. As the press simply wouldn't believe that someone like me could talk shit of this magnitude. And since neither of them can fire me for said talking shit, what's the worst that could happen?"
Hawks has a point there, Kirishima has to agree.
"And… Jeanist?" Kirishima asks.
"Oh, it's a long and boring story full of explosions, car chases and firefights." Hawks replies with a wry smile. "The point is, it ends with Hakamada almost buried under a truckload of denim pants. He absolutely hates denim ever since."
That sounds not at all boring. But judging from the word boring being used, Hawks doesn't want to say anything more. Probably to preserve Hakamada's good image.
"And... the chicken wings?" Kirishima asks.
"Oh, you're right." Hawks says loudly while facepalming. "Time to eat! I'm always starved after having to deal with people higher in the police hierarchy than I am."
Kirishima isn't sure why he expected anything other than that, really.
(***)
Few relatively calm days later, Izuku is roped into having a talk with the biggest and most horrible villain they know. He would have honestly preferred to avoid it, but the villain in question takes advantage of the lunch break on the UA to approach him.
"So…" Shinsou says. "I have some news. Concerning Aldera."
Izuku was, generally speaking, enjoying a nice and completely normal day at school. That alone said volumes. He never enjoyed going to school. More than that, he hated it, at least ever since the… problems with Bakugou started. And even before that, school was a solid meh in his book.
Who knew that going to a good school, with genuinely friendly teachers and your friends, would be so different?
Then again, it might have also been the fact that being at school meant that everything was going alright. That they weren't out there risking their lives.
Sure, they were still occasionally called in to help. The lack of full-scale hero versus villain brawls didn't mean that the Network was jobless. With both the fire brigade and the police knowing about their existence, going through a full day with no one being called for assistance was rare.
Earworm was getting the most calls. Followed by Singularity (local fire brigade practically couldn't live without her at this point), and then Gargoyle, Hijack and, surprisingly enough, Kappa and Carmilla. Defiant, in comparison, was barely doing anything in the field.
"What happened?" Izuku decided to have that talk quickly and be done with it. "Mera is causing problems or…"
"Nah." Shinsou shakes his head. He has sat on the opposite side of the table as Izuku, forcing Defiant to actually see his face. Judging from the look on his face, the associated feelings were mutual. "He is almost disturbingly helpful. Local hero agency is almost ready, we've also found a nice place for local headquarters. Although I don't think that we can do that without at least Mera and a few local police higher-ups knowing where it is."
Well. It wasn't exactly optimal, but it was understandable. At least considering the fact that the Aldera branch would not have its own warper on standby. This made the total secrecy of your headquarters much harder.
Especially as Amplitude had to walk everywhere on foot. And Tornado couldn't fly himself and other people anywhere in secret. Gusts of winds accompanying his flight were rather noticeable. Unlike Defiant's Force.
Izuku was already considering preparing some secret hideout in case the deal with the police fell through. Some place that the police didn't know about.
"So…" Izuku says.
"... I found some recruits." Shinsou answers the unasked questions. "Three of them, in fact. But I think that this mostly exhausted the potential supply of metahumans in Aldera. Unless we talk about some low-noticeability first generation powers."
Oh. Well, that was surprisingly brilliant. Izuku expected Shinsou to do well in his job, but not to this degree. Three metahumans in what, a week? Incredible. Even if he had help from Assistant Commissioner Mera and Alchemist.
"Not bad." Izuku nods. Scarcely. Shinsou looks vaguely hurt by his lack of enthusiasm. "Recruits for protection program or superheroism?"
"To a degree, both." Shinsou replies. "I explained to them they aren't the only people with powers out there and that eventually the populace will be on the lookout for people like them. And that earning some good graces with the local law enforcement beforehand might be helpful. And that they'll be paid for that, too. No one as brainlessly self-sacrificial as you, but all around decent people."
"Decent people? Damn, you must really stick out." Izuku repays a needle with a needle. Shinsou rolls his eyes. "So, run them through me."
"Alright." Shinsou sighs. "First acquisition is Kinoko Komori. Eighteen years old, likes mushrooms, puns, mushroom puns, singing and dancing." Sounded like someone to infuriate Shinsou with, really. "Her quirk allows her to spread fungal spores from her body and force their accelerated growth."
"That's… well, we had to run into some green thumb quirk, eventually." Izuku admits after a few seconds of deliberation. "Not exactly useful aside from agriculture, I think."
"Wrong." Shinsou relishes in Izuku being wrong about a quirk. "She can grow them remotely in any sufficiently damp space. Just so we're clear, human throats are damp. And so are their lungs."
Izuku actually stares at him, deeply horrified. For something like three seconds.
"Holy shit." He eventually says. "She is practically a scarier Mustard." Shinsou nods.
"As a general rule, yes." He replies. Somehow, he looks more tired than usual. "The range for such precise growth is shit, though. Several meters at best. She can still secretly grow a poisonous mushroom directly in your stomach, with some luck. She can also force their growth on top of your body, making it harder for you to move. And just so we're clear, the 'mushroom in the throat' isn't hypothetical. Some thug had stupid ideas about her body, so she grew a mushroom in his throat and fled while he was fighting for breath. That was weird enough to gain my attention. Finding an oddly successful mushroom farm in the vicinity after that was easy."
"That sounds potentially useful." Izuku admits. "A gas weapon of our own, except not a deadly one, if properly controlled. By the way, did you know about those types of mushrooms that can infect and control your brai…"
"No." Shinsou deadpans. "Just no. She's terrifying enough as is." Izuku sighs loudly. Hitoshi is being a pain in the ass, as always.
"Well, you're no fun." Izuku says. Shinsou looks the very opposite of surprised. "Hero name?"
"Witch." Shinsou replies. Izuku nods. "The second recruit is Juzo Honenuki. Nineteen years old. Looks like he should have eaten more, seriously it's just skin and bones. His family runs a massage parlor, and he is good with that as well. One of the recently enlightened police officers apparently realized that he witnessed him training his meta-ability behind the building while visiting said parlor and contacted Mera."
Positives of spreading the truth among the local police officers, huh.
"His quirk allows him to soften solid objects around him." Shinsou continues. "He can have them maintain their shape or go full liquid. Meaning that he can liquify a building, or jump through a wall at will. Apparently, he can even soften the ground and swim in it like it was normal water."
"The local fire department will love him." Izuku realizes it immediately. "If there is a landslide, he can practically swim through it and pull people out easily. If there is a sufficiently nasty fire and a building is impossible to be saved, he can liquify it in its entirety, making the resulting liquid put out the fire to stop it from spreading. Not to mention being able to pull enemies under the ground to restrain them. And how much of a surprise to some terrorists would be the SOU guys literally walking at them through a wa…"
"Alright, alright." Shinsou sighs. "I got it. Powerful quirk, many usages, I personally think that he is great because he gives killer massages. I slept like a baby after it. He will probably need some equipment, including a breathing mask. Because, you know, being underwater and so on. His hero name is Quicksand, by the way."
"Cool." Izuku nods. Mei will love that. Pinky's hero uniform is ready. Soon enough she'll be done with them all. New fields of work are welcome. "The third recruit?"
"Setsuna Tokage." Shinsou replies. "One of the weirdest goddamn quirks I ever saw. Let me tell you that much." He sighs when he sees Izuku's eyes lighting up at those words. "She can split her body into up to fifty parts, all of which she can control through something akin to telekinesis. And the connection is still there, so she can literally float her eye into a building through a window and scout the insides that way. Freaky."
"Holy shit, that's really weird." Izuku actually realizes that Shinsou wasn't being a drama queen for once. "What if she loses some body parts that way?"
"She can regrow everything, but it's apparently a bitch to do." Shinsou replies. "Time consuming, not painful, though. Though she has a minor problem with her clothes not splitting with her." He sighs painfully, a common thing when he didn't drink coffee for a while. "She can even split her own head into pieces. Can you imagine that?"
Losing part of her brain will probably temporarily lobotomize her. Will she manage to regrow it in that state? Best not to test that.
"Personality?" It's a bit of an important thing to ask about when you want to become a superhero. And honestly, he thinks she has a potential to get there. Not a living artillery battery like Yoarashi or Todoroki, but someone more like Defiant. Dangerous in a duel, but also extremely versatile and hard to kill.
"Intelligent. Like, seriously." Shinsou admits. "Honestly, material for the branch leader if you decide to recall me from Aldera. Although way too confident, chatty, provocative and flirty for my taste."
So, like Mina but without a traumatic backstory, partially merged with Mieko Eto. Izuku isn't sure if they are ready for this.
"I found her on YouTube, actually." Shinsou surprises him. "She enjoyed freaking people out with floating body parts and recording their freak outs on tape. Hard to say if it makes you a good hero material, but she stopped a purse snatcher when she saw him rob someone while she was doing her pranks. She also likes dinosaurs, both boys and girls, and scaring people as already established. Hero name Split."
Looks like the Aldera branch was doing well, Izuku decides.
(***)
Kugo Sakamata and Tsunagu Hakamada are both a surprise tools that will help us later. And very significantly so.