fencer29 - Yeah, he is such an awesome guy that I'm throwing him the bone. People ARE getting his name right this time.
Jpx099 - Not in Tokyo, but yeah.
WellLifeJustAintFair - Yes
(***)
Izuku departed to Tokyo the next day, together with Hijack, Carmilla and Blackwing.
Izuku and Hitoshi had a job to do there. Carmilla was there, because she absolutely refused to stay for so long away from her boyfriend. Fumikage was there because they wanted to give him something to do. And at this point Blackwing was a terror in melee, so if something went awry, he would be rather handy to have.
In Izuku's opinion, Fumikage Tokoyami (once Shadow began to cooperate) could fight Carnage. Of course, it all depended on lighting level. And Dabi was a nightmare for Fumikage to fight, due to his attacks producing light, thus weakening Shadow (even if it was, technically, fireproof).
Mieko Eto was named the temporary leader of the Takoba branch. She was also reminded that the ban on being lewd with Momo Yaoyorozu around was still in effect.
Mei Hatsume's main interest in Takoba was her love interest, that much was certain. There were a handful of people in the Network that she managed to (to a degree) befriend though, mainly Mieko (who had some very good ideas occasionally) and Ochaco with her engineering skills.
Tsuyu too, at least after the relationship development. Being the co-girlfriend of Izuku Midoriya did that. In all honesty, Mei was beginning to realize just how incredibly precious Tsuyu was, especially once she saw her in the onesie. Hey boyfriend had a good taste.
Which was good, as it indicated that Mei Hatsume was a very good girlfriend material. Right?
So, despite Izuku departing to Tokyo, she still decided to come hang out at Takoba headquarters of the Network when the weekend came. It was still surprisingly enjoyable (at least for a girl with exactly zero interest in friendships before Izuku) for her. For as long as you ignored Shino's grumpiness.
She really wasn't happy about Mei being anywhere near Overhaul. Or about herself being anywhere near him.
Mei woke up that night, Tsuyu still soundly asleep right next to her. She was feeling thirsty enough to go downstairs. She forgot to put a glass of water on the nightstand just in case (it was one thing that Izuku always remembered, damn, she misses him sooooo much).
That's when she saw Uraraka in the common room. She was drinking something, while using one of those low-light lights that Mei supplied the Takoba headquarters with. Bright enough to know what you were doing, though not enough to read books at night. Or get noticed by someone outside.
"Ochaco?" Mei asks, not wanting to startle Uraraka by announcing her presence when being too close. Nights… well, nights make them all a bit jumpy. It's about all darkness and silence, probably.
Uraraka's head perks up from over the glass, her eyes focusing on Mei. It takes a few seconds longer than Hatsume expected, really.
"Oh, it's you." Uraraka says. Her voice sounds a bit odd. "Why are you up at this hour?"
Alright, Mei. You're almost sure that something's wrong. You don't know what exactly, since you aren't Izuku (damn she misses him so much), but if you really put your brain into this, you'll certainly figure it out.
"Oh, I just wanted a glass of water, that's all." Mei replies. Naturally, not the tap water. They have a small pile of mineral water bottles stashed here. "And…"
She freezes.
Wait a second.
She saw that in one of the superhero movies she watched with Izu. She knows what this is about. She just… well, her mind refuses to comprehend the implications of this. She really didn't expect Ochaco to be the one to do it.
"Ocha." Mei says. Uraraka looks at her questioningly. "... what's that in your glass?"
"Whiskey." Uraraka confirms her worries with a single word. Said in a rather cheerful tone. "Want shome?" Uh, oh. Slurring. Not good.
"Uhm, thank you." Mei replies. She is a perfectionist when it comes to babymaking. Including that type of babies. She never really drank alcohol (nor smoked a cigarette), but now she reached the point where she was keeping her distance from Hitoshi when he was on his little smoke break. A long distance. Passive smoking and all that. She couldn't risk damaging her bestest baby ever like that, yes? "Are you sure this is, uhm, healthy?"
It certainly wasn't for the baby. And she vaguely remembered from one of the films that drinking strong alcohol alone isn't a sign of anything good.
"Healthy enuff." Uraraka slurs again. How much did she drink exactly? Mei can't see how much liquid is left in the bottle from her current position. "Makes v..voices shtop."
Should Mei be worried? She is something like 99% sure that she should be worried. Damn it. Where are Izuku and Shino when she needs them?! She can't deal with that on her own, she clearly lacks the necessary blueprints and technical knowledge.
"I reaaally think that you had enough of that for tonight, Ocha." Mei decides to intervene. She is a hero, damn it. Support one, but still. "Izuku will be worried about you if he comes back earlier and sees you like this, you know that?"
This time Mei was something like 99% sure that this was underhanded. But hey, underground heroes were a thing, right? Underhanded was clearly okay in certain situations, right?
"Oh." Ocha seems to consider those words for a while. "You're… you're right. I don't wanna… want him to hate me." She says, suddenly looking very crestfallen. "I want him… I want him to… to…"
"... love you?" Mei is almost certain that this is the word her friend was looking for.
"Y…yesh." Ochaco is either suddenly getting more and more drunk through inhalation or her willpower keeping her more or less sober is collapsing in front of Mei. "Not… not like them. You know?"
She has absolutely no idea. But she nods, regardless. Ocha seems reassured about that. Mei's mind in the meantime is busy trying to figure out the best way of getting Ochaco back to her bed.
"Still, you should go to bed. Now." Mei replies. Ochaco is looking at her weirdly. "Before he comes back."
"Oh." She blinks a few times, almost dazed by the idea. "You… you're right. I'm going."
And so she does. Her ear labyrinth seems to have been strengthened by her quirk. She manages to keep walking quite well, giving Mei the time to get a bottle of water and to hide the half-empty bottle of whiskey.
She still needs to help Ochaco with her epic struggle against the stairs.
Mei makes a mental note about mentioning this to Izuku once he gets back. Unfortunately, being herself, she forgets about it in the morning.
"I believe that the time has come." Overhaul announces. He spent the last three days cycling through the gathered data about Shizuoka' underworld and the local police. He had his men infiltrate Shizuoka for weeks now.
Abegawa Tenchu Kai - the local yakuza clan that almost reached the level of prefectural dominance that Chisaki had prior to losing Eri - had its own metahuman unit. And on at least several occasions it clashed with a group of heroes deployed by someone in the local police.
Both Abegawa Tenchu Kai's villains and the Shizuoka Prefecture' Heroes Alliance (yes, he knew the name) had to go. Destroying one would only free the other to remain a pain in Overhaul's ass. Unfortunately for them, neither side were playing in the same league as the Musutafu' police and the Metahuman Network.
Neither in terms of combat strength, nor in terms of information security. They were a bunch of amateurs boxing each other right next to the gym where world-class boxers trained before fighting for the belt.
Overhaul learned enough about their operations to be able to create a plan to end them both in one fell swoop. Probably with the Abegawa Tenchu Kai leadership, and the local Riot Police Unit.
The rest was just issuing the right orders at the right time. And making sure that nobody gets out. If you massacre a group but leave some survivors, the brightest and most cunning of the group will probably be among it. And then, bad things are going to happen to you down the line.
"We're taking over Shizuoka. Tomorrow." He says to the assembly of his praetorians and villains in front of him. Plus, of course, his faithful Kurono. "Now, I'm going to explain the plan."
Takoba police was good at investigative work, all things considered. The only problem with the on-going chaos in the country was that most of the national databases were in shambles. Still, both Glassmaker and Jetstream were locals, allowing them to be quickly identified (Morino Aika and Yukio Miyasaki, respectively).
They were thugs even before turning into villains. Or, to be exact, they were troublesome teenagers (and members of street gangs) that graduated into villains when their meta-abilities manifested. With both of their gangs being subservient to Shie Hasseikai, it probably wasn't hard for the Overhaul to recruit them.
Firestorm, in the meantime, was a mystery. No one heard of her earlier, she refused to tell them her real name, and attempts to compare fingerprints or DNA to whatever databases were available to them countrywide led to nothing.
Aizawa Shouta was desperate enough to actually print out a photo of her and go bother Principal Sasaki. Hoping that the man's legendary memory includes the answer to his question.
What he didn't expect was Mirai Sasaki actually freezing on him when he saw the picture.
"That's Firestorm?" He eventually said, and at this point Aizawa realized that he hit the motherlode. He just needed to realize what it was about.
"In flesh." Aizawa replies. He had the photo of a shaved Firestorm edited by someone at his precinct. Giving her hair back, according to what they saw in the surviving footage from the supermarket and Gargoyle's description of her. "You know her?"
"I believe so." Principal replies. "I need to call one of the Network's members here to confirm it. Give me ten minutes, please."
The hero that arrives in the Principal's office (through Eclipse's warpgate) is one of those that Aizawa had no occasion to work with. He is wearing a hero uniform consisting of a parka with fur-linen hood, designed with a rather odd combo of dark blue and dark red colors.
There is a mask concealing what's underneath the hood. Pitch black, oddly similar to Defiant's own. Naturally, the hood is a helmet pretending to be a hood. Also, it's one of Alchemist's creations. It's probably mostly bulletproof. And most likely has several hidden gimmicks here and there, established to work with the hero's quirk.
"You wanted to see me." The hero asks. His voice doesn't seem to be carrying a lot of emotions.
Aizawa is still sitting in the chair in front of the desk, slightly to the side. Principal instead stands up from his seat on the other side, and approaches the hero.
"Amplitude, I require your confirmation of something." Principal replies. Then he shows the new arrival the picture. "This is Firestorm. Do you recognize her?"
Aizawa can bet his monthly pay that he does. There is a second-long freeze, a clear sign of shock.
"Moe." Amplitude says after three seconds of shocked silence. "Moe Kamiji is a villain?" Somehow, his voice manages to properly display utter shock and disbelief despite remaining mostly monotonous.
"Moe Kamiji?" Aizawa decides to interject. "Who is that?" This sounds like an important thing to know.
"Amplitude, I believe that it might be a good idea to unmask yourself." Principal says. "It's your decision, but explaining this while keeping your identity hidden might be problematic."
"I'll do it." Amplitude replies. He touches some invisible switch and his hoodie splits in half. He then takes it off completely. Underneath it is a rather emotionless-looking young man, half of his hair white, half of it reddish.
"Let me introduce to you…" Principal takes it over. "...Shoto Todoroki. Hero name Amplitude." Their eyes meet. "Yes. From these Todorokis. Enji's youngest son, actually."
What the actual hell? First Hatsume, now Todoroki? What next, Yaoyorozu? Is Principal Sasaki collecting them or…
"I assume…" Aizawa says. "...that Firestorm's identity is somehow connected to the Todorokis?"
"Moe Kamiji was my father's secretary." Shoto replies. "She left. Simply didn't show up at work, and sent her resignation as an email. It was soon after Touya died, and I did hear some servants gossiping that those two had an affair, but…"
He freezes again. This time together with everyone else. Because even Aizawa knows that Enji Todoroki's eldest son died in a mysterious fire. And they never found the body… and everyone assumed that its' because of unexpectedly hot flames near the ignition point.
Some actually suspected spontaneous combustion. Others, self-immolation. Some, a particularly painful assassination. None of them knew about the meta-abilities.
It happened around fifteen months ago. Three months later the Arch-Arsonist of Musutafu started his career. How long would it take him to nurse himself back into relative functionality after his supposed death, with Firestorm's help?
"Please…" Aizawa says, trying not to show just how utterly done he was with this year on his face. "... please tell me that Dabi isn't a runaway son of some of the most powerful people in the country."
The political and economic fallout of this becoming public knowledge… it would be nothing short of disastrous. Not to mention his younger brother recently impaling him (if non-lethally, but mostly because Hawks shot him dead first) on ice spears. That had to make things awkward for Shoto.
"I believe…" Principal Sasaki says. "... that we need to confirm it as soon as possible. Without making him realize that we know, or who Amplitude is."
Judging from the slightly horrified look on Amplitude's face, Shoto Todoroki wholeheartedly agrees with that statement.
"I must say that from what you are saying thus far, Tokyo is almost strangely peaceful." Izuku decides to finally say what he thinks. "At least when we talk about villains. I kind of expected them to swarm the capital."
They are having a nice, private talk at the corner of Koichi Haimawari's favorite curry restaurant. Somewhere in Naruhata Ward in Tokyo. There is Izuku, wearing his Avengers T-shirt, Hijack in a plain hoodie, Koichi in Superman T-shirt (though he goes by Repulse now) and his second-in-command, Longstep. Known as Kazuho Haneyama. She is wearing a seifuku.
Coincidentally, she is Koichi's girlfriend. Sounds a bit nepotistic, but she seems to be doing a reasonable job thus far. So Izuku isn't going to complain.
"I think we owe that to Luna and Stain." Repulse replies. "Two vigilantes, probably metahumans. They killed like twenty different people that Monochrome suspected of being villains. Might have killed more, but we missed it. They weren't exactly announcing that they were responsible."
Monochrome, also known as Ota Kiku, was a member of his troupe. With a very cool perception-altering quirk. She was a former small-time thief with some interesting contacts in the underworld.
Hijack got his first new underground hero, and he wasn't even trying. She was mostly acting as Repulse's intelligence officer, at least for now. She also seemed genuine in her interest in turning the leaf over.
"Are they still active?" Izuku asks. Koichi shrugs.
"Vanished a while ago." He replies. "I heard they tried to take Bea… errr, Carnage. No one saw them ever since, but one of his eyes apparently vanished as well."
He knows that Goto Imasuji is going by Carnage nowadays. They already had the long talks about known villains, their classification and so on behind them. It included some genuine powerpoint presentations. And three more of Repulse's sidekicks (Spike, Flame and Gecko).
They knew about six more metahumans that accepted unofficial protection, but weren't interested in becoming superheroes. At least for now. Which was alright, for as long as they weren't committing crimes.
The first iteration of HeroNET was still being produced. Hatsumes (and Yaoyorozus) were showering the initiative with money, but you simply couldn't rush things too much without risking ten million bugs that would allow Overhaul to march inside and steal all the secrets. So, for now, they had to use stopgap measures.
"Well, if they are still alive, we'll certainly hear about it." Longstep says. "They were… well, pretty noticeable."
"This." Repulse agrees with her. "Honestly, after that villain presentation I came to think that Musutafu drew the shortest straw. Seriously, what the hell? Most of the villains that we even suspect of existing in Tokyo are kinda weak."
Izuku came to a similar belief. There was no guaranteed weakness rule for the area, Repulse had an incredibly strong and versatile power allowing him to create and control 'repulsor fields'. He could slide quickly alongside the ground, fly to a degree, fire them as bullets (which was really painful to get hit), create bulletproof repulsor shields and so on.
In all honesty, he could probably fight on equal grounds against Amplitude and Tornado. Eclipse was harder to tell, as Izuku had no idea if Koichi's repulsor fields would stop her surfaces.
Hell, with sufficient training, he could probably hold ground against Defiant. Most likely not win - Izuku was mobile enough to avoid his repulsor bullets, and that was enough to eventually get close enough for Ignition-powered takedown. But some lucky shot, good tactic and suddenly the outcome wasn't even remotely as certain.
He was also a genuinely good guy, who just wanted to do some good deeds for the community. When he had nothing to do, he went around and cleaned the streets or volunteered at some soup kitchens.
He was tired of the chaos around him, so he decided to do his best to alleviate it. Izuku respected that deeply.
"Overhaul is trying to recruit nasty villains from elsewhere." Izuku replies. "Firestorm, Carnage and Kurogiri aren't locals. Carnage started in Tokyo, Kurogiri almost certainly did so as well. Add the rampage of these vigilantes and…" He pauses for a few seconds. "... Tokyo is rather big. There really should be more S-Ranks around. Even with that in mind."
"You think someone else is recruiting them?" Hijack decided to interject. "Just not using them yet?" He seems worried by the concept. Repulse seems to be of a similar mind.
"Maybe." Izuku isn't sure about it himself. "There is also an option that they avoid the capital, as the police force here is the most operational. And if they suspect the government to be doing 'things' to metahumans, hiding in the countryside makes sense. But that's a rather worrying idea. We should probably expand as quickly as possible, just in case."
"Doing my best." Repulse replies. "Hakamada and his friendly police officers are tracking at least two dozen more potential sightings of metahumans. The further the news spread, the more they find. Metahumans really aren't that well hidden once you actually know what you look for."
"Well, at least now we got some tips." Longstep says. "Seriously, it spares us from a lot of experimenting on our own. Though…" She looks at her boyfriend. It's a meaningful look. He figures out what it means.
"...yeah, we'd really like to have some additional equipment." Repulse says. "You're really beating us in that, and… well, I might repel bullets, but only if I know that they are coming. This kind of…"
"I know, I know." Izuku hurriedly answers. "Alchemist is going to be Musutafu' Network personal engineer, but I know for certain that Hatsume Industries is opening a support item department. Not officially for now, so it'd be more of an under the table deal, and I don't think you'll be getting stuff for free, but…"
"... but if we have results, the local police should manage to scrounge some money." Repulse continues on. "They are already supplying us with stuff, a simple bulletproof vest is good enough for now. Stopgap measures, but…" He shrugs.
Well, the Network is barely starting. In all honesty, Izuku is slightly terrified of how far it went in those… well, didn't he start the whole superhero business like two months ago? Almost three now. Wow, time sure does fly. He started it with only Alchemist, now he had twenty-two superheroes and sidekicks working for him, if you included the Repulse and his crew.
Hijack pulls out a phone. It's vibrating. He quickly excused himself and went to pick it up. Hopefully it's nothing important (then again, Izuku DID forget to take his phone for the meeting so…).
"This way or another, we're going to focus on recruiting and establishing local contacts with the law enforcement and rescue services." Repulse continues. "Tokyo's where the government is, so it gets a lion's share of the funds. Probably why things are still more or less working here. We're going to try to keep it going that way. I assume that you'll want reports?"
The locals of the Naruhata Branch (the only part of the Tokyo Region of the Metahuman Network, at least for now) seemed rather impressed by his dissection of their abilities. Repulse seemed gifted on that field, being a superhero fanboy himself, but apparently not to the same degree.
"Yes." Izuku replies. "Normally I'd let you have a complete free reign and focus on securing Musutafu, but… if things progress nicely, we're going to have more regional sections. There has to be some oversight, lest we risk some sections going bad. And considering the whole Reveal Day coming, we simply cannot risk getting a lot of bad press. Especially with people like Carnage and Overhaul already working on giving us the bad press."
He isn't sure if he properly said what he had in mind. He actually opens his mouth to clarify, but Repulse is faster.
"Yeah, I totally get it. I'm going to keep an eye on whatever branches we open up ourselves for the same reason." He looks a bit ashamed, actually. "And just so we're clear, I really don't care that you are from the province, as for now you have something like twenty times the firepower of Tokyo. And unless a miracle happens, Musutafu's Network is going to remain the best organized and supplied group within the organization in the foreseeable future." He sighs. "Honestly, I'm looking forward to trying to measure up to you. And I think that being able to call someone for help if something really hits the fan is rather reassuring. I've been playing a vigilante for a few weeks, and I know that streets can be unforgiving, especially nowadays."
Looks like Repulse really is a nice guy. Someone who isn't going to try to take over, at least unless Defiant really fucks things up. Like, majorly. That's extremely reassuring, especially with how limited contact was going to be between the two groups.
They both have their own problems to focus on. Tokyo and Musutafu are two completely different fields of operations. And they simply aren't powerful enough to play on the national stage as a joint force. If anything, Izuku is extremely grateful to the Hakamada for actually supporting the idea of Repulse' group and whatever future metahumans decide to help the police in Tokyo being a part of the Network.
Izuku suspects that it's a question of procedures and organization. Metahuman Network has the latter - and some already tested cases of the former. This saves time, and time is one of the many resources that are scarce nowadays.
Tokyo was even inspired by the existence of Tartarus. Tsunagu Hakamada and some local Assistant Commissioner actually got a tour through it (through Eclipse's warpgate - its existence alone screaming METAHUMANS ARE IMPORTANT in capital letters) and Izuku was informed that they began to work on Tokyo's equivalent of it. Together with some basic unofficial social security for the heroes (so some local friendly hospitals and maybe a school or two, or alternatively an e-school of a decent level at least).
"Well then, I'm looking forward to working with you, Repulse!" Izuku says with a bright smile. Repulse and Longstep reply with smiles of their own.
"We have a problem." Hijack appears out of nowhere. It seems that the phone call was over. On his face, urgency.
"What is it?" Izuku can feel his heart skip a beat. No one was attacked, right? Kirishima's attack was bad enough, so…
"Overhaul just conquered Shizuoka." Hijack replies. Izuku can feel himself going slackjawed. "Butchered local heroes and villains alike, massacred half of the Riot Police Unit and killed almost everyone in both the prefectural police headquarters and the governor's office. Prime minister is going to announce a state of emergency in Shizuoka and send in the army within the next few hours." He takes a deep breath. "We're needed back home."
Shit.
(***)
Mystery surrounding Uraraka thickens. Overhaul grows in power. Koichi is being as swell-guy as always. I grow to increasingly dislike the prose used on this fic since I describe too many things without them being spoken and only mentioned in paragraphs and it kinda irritates me. Yeah.