Guest - Yep.
Jpx0999 - This... might be useful, thank you.
The Archivist of Nyx - Absolute Rabbit Overload.
(***)
"So… what about the Abegawa Tenchu Kai guys?" Izuku asks. It's really the high time to deal with that mess.
"Rabbit got them under his quirk." Edge says proudly. Rabbit looks pleased, but also shy about being publicly endorsed like that. "They let him touch them when we teamed-up, for buffs and resistances. Once we all fled, he gave them an Unconscious status condition and we shoved them into the cars."
A bit backstabby, but… they were villains. According to what Principal Sasaki told them, at least two deceased villains of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai were provisionally graded by him (or by Shizuoka' Heroes Alliance) to be A-Ranks. This meant dangerous, uncontainable and with some kills under their belt.
Arresting them in order to avoid them going on a rampage elsewhere was a perfectly logical move on Rabbit's side. Izuku would have done the same.
"We'll throw them into the Tartarus for the time being." Izuku decides. "We'll still need to find out what their quirks are for successful containment, and…" He freezes for a second. "Rabbit, do they need to be close to you for quirk to work?" It sounds logical, his quirk seiriously sounds super op if you think about it closer and…
Rabbit almost shrinks when he hears Izuku mention his name. Someone is in an urgent need for some psychological counseling with Counselor Inui. And probably some anti-anxiety meds.
"Uhm, no." He replies once he gets over it. "They only need to hear my voice when I activate it. The effects last until I over…overwrite it with another status condition or until they get dis…disconnected. So if I connect to more people, since I can only keep five of them c.. , or if I don't t…touch them for twenty-four hours. I c….can go beyond five p…people, but the effects v…vanish quicker."
"So you just need to not touch anyone else but the captives, and visit Tartarus once in twenty four hours to keep them unconscious?" Izuku asks and Rabbit nods. "Is there a way to deactivate a meta-ability with your quirk?"
"Y…Yes!" Rabbit looks reassured by this answer. "I… I need to a…apply the Powerless s…status condition." He is clearly not doing well with repeated questioning, and he starts stuttering more and more.
Izuku is also getting increasingly angry stares from Immortal and Edge. Deadshot is still busy screaming at her mom (while being screamed at in return) in the background, but Izuku is somehow certain that she would give him an angry stare as well.
"Alright, so we're throwing them all to the Tartarus for now." Izuku decides. Of course, he is certain that Hawks will offer him his input on that in a second. "You'll switch them into Powerless status if they aren't currently containable once they are in their cells, and then we'll start thinking about some long-term solutions. Hawks?" It might be a good idea to simply invite the man to say his part.
"Sounds reasonable enough." He replies. "This is a decision that has to be made on the council level, so let's leave it to them." Ironically speaking, he isn't part of it. While Defiant is. Izuku himself finds that odd. "But you should figure out their quirks before sending them. We don't want the scary grandpa to be pissed off at us."
Oh, that's a very fine suggestion. Under the quirk or not, Torino will want to know that before getting them anywhere near Tartarus.
"Alright, let's unload them one by one, and put them on the ground somewhere where the cameras don't see." Izuku decides. "Eclipse, start preparing warpgate to Tartarus once we're halfway there." Mieko nods.
"Aye." Edge announces and opens one of the back doors of her car. Hawks stop grasping his submachine gun for a moment and goes to help her. Somehow she isn't angry about that.
The first captive is a teenager wearing a black business suit. White hair. Absolutely pitch black skin. His attire is partially tattered, making it obvious that he was in the thick of the fighting.
"Shihai Kuroiro." Immortal says, while Hawks and Edge put him on the ground. Straight position, face up, hands by his sides, he looks like a corpse about to be put to rest. "Villain name Vantablack. Head of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai villain unit. Apparently something of an adopted son of the clan head. He was the closest thing that Shizuoka had to an SS-Rank villain."
Looks like Principal Sasaki managed to infect the Shizuoka' Heroes Alliance with some of their terms before its demise. Helpful. Common definitions greatly improve communication.
"He doesn't look particularly scary." Hawks decides to comment. They aren't pulling out the next villain after this one is properly assessed.
"Tell that to Kurogiri." Immortal says. "Vantablack was the one who killed him. And it was crazy brutal."
Judging from the fact that they don't even know how Kurogiri can be hurt, this sounds like an interesting subject to talk about.
"What's his quirk?" Izuku asks. They really need to know that, now for more than one reason.
"He can merge with shadows and other sufficiently dark objects." Immortal replies. She is clearly the narrator in that. She has neither Edge's overt aggressiveness, nor Rabbit's timidness. "To move around within them, pull people inside or remotely control whatever he merged with. Turns out that if you are made from black mist, he can take that over too. He possessed Kurogiri and used his own warpgates to tear him into pieces."
"So he has a physical body?" Izuku asked. That indicates there being something to be torn apart.
"Apparently, yes." Immortal says, while scratching her chin. "It's somewhere within the cloud. Deadshot saw the most of it through her scope, she said that it's pretty much a normal human body. But he seems to be wearing metal armor, and a rather thick one."
"Tartarus will probably have to keep a very well lit cell for Kuroiro." Izuku concludes. The intel on Kurogiri is listed on the back of his mind. "Mei, note that down and send it to Chief Inspector Torino." He adds on the internal network. His girlfriend gives him a brief 'yep yep' in an answer. "Next one."
This time the situation is a bit more… shocking. Hawks actually almost drops the person in question (earning him a few nasty curses from Edge). Because the next captive looks like Kurogiri.
Except, there seem to be breasts under the black business suit. And instead of mist for the head with some lines for eyes, there is a very thick black cloud. With lines for eyes.
"What the…" Hawks speaks Izuku's mind on this.
"Sunako Oboro. Villain name Cloud. Provisionally an S-Rank." Immortal says. "Apparently Kurogiri's relative, though he didn't seem to expect meeting her in that battle. It was shocking enough for him to leap towards her and try to catch her, which is why Kuroiro managed to kill him. She's the Abegawa Tenchu Kai's warp quirk user we've mentioned."
"Looks like we might be on the right trail to figure out Kurogiri's real name." Hawks comments. "If this isn't his daughter, I'm eating my balaclava. Without ketchup to make it taste alright. How do we keep her imprisoned?"
"I have absolutely no idea." Izuku replies while Sunako Oboro is put on the ground right next to Kuroiro. "We'll probably have to keep her under Rabbit's quirk for… honestly, I have no idea. For now, Tartarus. Someone else in that car?" He can't see the backseat from his position.
"Yes, but…" Immortal looks at Edge questioningly. Edge sighs and goes… towards the car's trunk.
"Seriously?" Izuku asks.
"There is a serious reason for that." Immortal replies and Rabbit vigorously nods in the background. "Edge, do you need…"
"I have my fucking gloves on, don't bother." Edge replies, before pulling someone out of the trunk.
Girl. About 18-19 years old. Hair being a mix of turqoise and pink strands. No more black business suits, instead simple pants, and a T-shirt. Some blood smears, the shape of them (if Izuku saw them correctly) suggesting that she was wearing at the very least a combat vest over the T-shirt but it was taken off. Probably to fit her in the trunk.
"Miyuki Tagawa, villain name Toxin. A or B-Rank depending on whether you can build her a specialized cell." Immortal says while Edge is busy pulling her to the place where her two comrades are lying. "Every single part of her body is toxic to humans."
"Oh, I understand the trunk then." Izuku realizes. If they kept on the backseat, she would slowly poison the others. Rabbit could only give her either the Unconscious or Powerless states. "How toxic are we talking about?"
"Skin irritates on contact, saliva causes chemical burns, breath is a sleeping gas, fingernails spread deadly neurotoxin if they pierce your skin, and even her voice makes those who hear her feel like they were drugged." Immortal lists. "Nausea, disorientation, hallucinations and so on. Really nasty in melee, actually killed me during our last bout. She also caved Duststorm's face in with a baseball club."
Izuku was all about saving people. But let's be real. That asshole deserved that. Besides, he was up and running once again.
"Look, I don't want to sound like a perv…" Hawks decided to say. "... but I thought that meta-abilities are more or less optimized for long-term survival. But she sounds like a complex mutant to me." Izuku looks at him questioningly. "And how the hell is she supposed to get laid if she is THIS deadly?"
Izuku sees only two potential answers to that. One, that he is too ashamed of to speak about, is that her genitals are excluded from being poisonous (seriously, scary words). But it's quite stupid, as not being able to touch literally anything else would make everything rather complicated and hard to achieve. Two, is that there is a part of her body that acts as an antidote.
He shares only the second theory with them. They will have Chiyo Shuzenji run some tests on the girl to confirm or rebuke the theory. Preferably before she wakes up. Might be useful if she ever escapes. And if she actually is a complex mutant, she should have her uniqueness actually measurable.
He narrates both options to Hawks. Then things get strange.
"Uhm… chief?" Eclipse says suddenly when they are about to move to the second car. "I can't open a warpgate."
"What?" Izuku asks in surprise. Hawks looks around, as if expecting an attack. "Are you sure?"
"Perfectly sure." Eclipse replies, she is clearly uncomfortable about that. Izuku isn't surprised. "If I really put my back into that I feel like there is something, just SOMETHING there, but I can't make it work.
"An attack?" Hawks asks. "Some sort of warp-quirk interrupting meta-ability?" Naturally, he is worried, Then again, so is everyone in the vicinity. He also has a hand on his communication equipment, ready to announce a combat alert to his squad at a moment's notice.
Suddenly, Izuku has an idea.
"It worked before they arrived, yes?" Izuku asks. Eclipse nods.
"Hey, if you think that any of us…" Edge is, naturally, on edge. Just like all of them. Except, probably more.
"I don't." Izuku actually interrupts her. For some reason, she doesn't leap at him screaming bloody murder. Some reason appears to be in another fit of anxiety. "But this is the first time when we have two warp quirk users right next to each other. They might be canceling each other out, somehow. Did Cloud or Kurogiri use their warps during the battle?"
"You'd have to ask Deadshot about it, she actually saw most of the things happen." Immortal replies. "But I know that Cloud warped Whiteline out after Kuroiro killed Kurogiri. But Kurogiri warped the Shie Hasseikai forces in while Cloud was around."
"Maybe it only suppresses activation of warp quirks, not an arrival somewhere." Izuku says, deeply in thoughts. "Rabbit, if you switch Cloud to Powerless, will she wake up?"
"Uhm, yes?" Rabbit replies. "Should I do it right now?"
"Wait for a second." Izuku turns to Hawks. "Hawks…"
"Wait for a second." He repeats Izuku's words, before speaking through the radio. "Edgeshot, Manual, come over here for a second."
The two QSS officers arrive a minute later. Cloud is properly restrained, and put away from her comrades. She is by Edge's car, in half-sitting position, her back on the car's tire. Just in case she tried something funny, Edgeshot and Manual are standing right next to her.
"Rabbit, switch her." Izuku says. Rabbit nods with the eyes of determination. And perhaps a hint of curiosity.
"Cloud, Powerless!" He says. Cloud immediately jerks awake, her eye-lines reforming themselves.
"What's…" Her voice is oddly similar to Kurogiri's, except slightly girlish. Very slightly. She freezes when she realizes that she is bound, and has two people aiming their guns on her right next to herself.
"So…?" Izuku asks. Clearly towards Eclipse. He decides against mentioning her hero name, just in case. They DO have a villain in front of them. That they aren't yet sure if they can keep imprisoned. The last thing they want is Cloud going after them for revenge.
"It's working now!" Mieko sounds relieved. Izuku, once again, isn't surprised. He would freak out if part of his power suddenly stopped working.
"Who are you?" Cloud asks. Izuku is almost certain that she glanced at Kuroiro and Tagawa. From her position they did look a bit like they were dead. They should have thought about that before waking her up.
"Heroes." Izuku replies. "And police officers. You are being moved into Musutafu' Prefecture temporary detention facility for villains. Could you…" He says towards Hawks, cautious (or panoid) enough once again to not even mention his nickname.
"Put her to sleep." Hawks says. Edgeshot quickly does that. Then she joins the captives lying on the ground. "So, do you think that we can keep her and Kurogiri imprisoned if they get cells right next to each other?"
"I have no idea." Izuku replies. "Kurogiri's warpgates clearly worked to some degree under warp interference, as otherwise Kuroiro wouldn't be able to use them against him. Eclipse also mentioned something about feeling her quirk out there, just not being able to grasp it fully. With enough training or stronger warp quirk, it might be possible."
"They said that Kuroiro tore Kurogiri to pieces." Eclipse speaks suddenly. She is still working on establishing a warpgate to Tartarus in the background. She can multitask enough to speak. "Do you think that it was partially because of that? What if the forced warpgates under warp interference are unstable? If Kuroiro's possession overwrote some defense mechanism of Kurogiri's quirk, it's possible that it was his quirk's malfunction that killed him so thoroughly."
Izuku thinks about it for a while, weighing options. Eventually, he arrives at the conclusion.
"I have no idea." He says. "We're going to make some tests in Tartarus, such as trying to establish the exact range of quirk interference. Let's go inspect the last two villains."
(Hawks says nothing, but follows him. He doesn't say that to Defiant, but he does that on purpose. The kid in front of him has a lot of potential. But also a serious lack of confidence in certain circumstances.
Trying to manage him around would only make him more reliant on others. And Hawks agrees with Mirai Sasaki that Defiant is the closest thing they have to Japan's Number One Hero. He is important. And they need him not as a puppet or a follower - someone like that will never expand an organization throughout the country, and in their opinion Japan needs that to survive.
Hawks will intervene if Defiant does something terminally stupid, but it's unlikely. That kid's smart.)
Next captive looks distinctly Chinese. Black hair worn in a low-braid. Wearing a jacket with a high collar.
"Hiryu Rin." Immortal says. "Provisionally A-Rank. Villain name Scale. Can cover himself in reptilian scales, except they make him mostly bulletproof. Plus launch some of them as projectiles."
That's the problem that they have with imprisoning transformative quirks. They are typically strong (if temporary). And, unlike a lot of emitters, they don't need anything outside of their users' existence to be used. And that hurts.
"Chinese?" Hawks ask.
"Son of defectors." Immortal replies. "Didn't make them well-liked, I think. Abegawa Tenchu Kai' boss took him in afterwards." Humans are sometimes so unreasonable in Izuku's opinion. Ugh. Unfortunately, sometimes it ends up badly for anyone involved.
The last villain has slightly spiky golden hair, and relatively fashionable (or so Izuku thinks) clothes with a lot of lightning-shaped patterns.
"Denki Kaminari." Immortal says. "A-Rank. Villain name Volt. He can generate and discharge electricity."
"How much?" Izuku decides to ask.
"Enough to kill everyone in the vicinity instantly, if he puts his back into it." Immortal replies. "Pain in the ass to deal with. Human taser if he plays it safe. He could probably electrocute a small lake at once if he tried. But has a serious targeting problems, and overusing it shortcircuits his brain and makes him act all stupid for some time."
"He isn't very smart even without that." Edge decides to add. "Fucker tried to hit on you while you were busy trying to beat each other up in combat. Asshat." Immortal seems to agree with Edge on that assessment.
"Well, sounds like a delightful person to have around." Izuku says dryly. "But we already have Eclipse, so it's Tartarus for him."
Mieko chuckles in the background.
(***)
Chief Inspector Torino doesn't look particularly happy about the new assortment of villains that he is supposed to house. Especially as most of them are A-Ranks. They are technically scheduled for Izu Islands exile, but Rabbit's quirk gives them a moment or two to think about their options properly.
Izuku isn't sure if there isn't anything that can make Torino happy. But the news that they might have something of a hint towards potential ways of imprisoning warpers seems to have gotten pretty close to that.
Once that's done, Izuku confirms that a council meeting has been scheduled for the next day and goes back to the Network Headquarters in Takoba. This time the welcoming celebrations are significantly more subdued. Solemn, even.
Way too many people died to be happy about anything. So it's mostly getting introduced to each other. And some almost teary meeting between Poltergeist and her comrades (although Reiko Yanagi was rather subdued about it, she kinda gives Izuku an ice queen vibe - that, or she is shocked by almost dying and losing some of her friends to the villains earlier that day).
Turns out that Hawks was correct. The brief family meeting between Deadshot and Nagant ended on a positive note. Deadshot (who was technically 17 years and nine months old, so not yet an adult) was allowed to be a hero, for as long as she'll prove to her mom that she actually earned her nickname.
Judging from the unexpected surprise she gave to Dabi, Izuku is almost certain that she'll pass the test. And even if she doesn't, the test is about her being cleared by her mother to participate in the combat mission. She is free to hang out with her friends (and surprisingly probable crush) regardless of that.
They also discover the names of the new members. Rabbit is Asa Naoki. Edge is Rini Akaguro. Deadshot is Aki Tsutsumi. And Immortal's Sada Kou. When it comes to naming their quirks, they settle for 'Status Condition', 'Bloodcurdle', 'Rifle' and 'Hyper-Regeneration'. Which sounds fine enough, in Izuku's opinion, as he at least knows how to write them down in his personal database.
Also when someone mentioned the risk of Overhaul going after their family if he found their names, Rini said something akin to 'good fucking luck with that, I'd tell him their home address if they had any and sit next to their house with popcorn to see the fireworks', which was… honestly, Izuku decides that mentioning this to Ryo Inui might be a good idea.
Sounds like some really hairy family situation. Sada Kou was apparently a war orphan, with her only remaining distant relative putting her in that organ farm. Aki Tsutsumi wasn't a problem since Overhaul was already after her mother. Asa Naoki…
Well, it seemed that Overhaul murdering his family was actually actively endorsed. By Rini Akaguro in an aggressive way, Sada Kou in a determined way, and Aka Tsutsumi in an emotionally scarce way. And Asa Naoki himself, in a shy and timid way. Even Reiko Yanagi seemed to be in the 'kill Rabbit's parents' team.
Another thing that had to be mentioned to the appropriate people. And perhaps have a talk with Rabbit about it tomorrow, when his Rabbit Protection Squad/Unofficial and 100% Chaste Battle Harem won't be there to glare at him for that.
Plus, of course, mandatory shock after Izuku was unmasked. Coupled with a mandatory surprise at how fluffy his hair looked. To Izuku's surprise, it was Rabbit who made that comment, only to immediately freak out when he said that.
Rabbit really needs to start visiting a psychiatrist and receiving anti-anxiety meds, in Izuku's opinion. He isn't sure how helpful those will be, but seeing him acting that way is incredibly sad.
No one realizes that Izuku quickly vanishes from the room.
(***)
Izuku returns to his room, closes the door behind him and deflates. Not literally, of course. But it's nice to be able to stop pretending that you aren't mentally and physically exhausted after having an extremely long night.
It's almost morning, really. 3AM. The morning is going to be brutal, although Principal Sasaki was kind enough to already send him a memo that lessons tomorrow are canceled. Precisely because of the whole 'extremely long night' thing. So he can laze around in bed.
He is almost done with changing from his hero uniform to pajamas when he hears a ribbit.
Oh. Tsuyu was there the whole time. Eyeing him from his own bed. He didn't even realize she wasn't downstairs. He assumed that she went to bed earlier, just… not HIS bed. Then again, it was rather obvious. Izuku must be more tired than he thought.
"Uhm, I'm back." He says. "Sorry for waking you up."
"I wasn't sleeping, ribbit." She says. So she was probably waiting for him for several hours. In his bed. Probably because it smelt of him, and this made her feel less lonely. Like he was with her, really.
It would be slightly worrying if Tsuyu wasn't, well, rather worrying in general. Really nasty backstory that made her deserve all the good things that Izuku could offer her. While also explaining why she was sometimes so… off.
Izuku quickly finishes changing and slips into the bed. The positive side of her being there is that it's already rather warm. Especially as she decides (not like it was much of a surprise) to cling to him with all her might.
Izuku likes it when she does that. Very much. He doesn't want to feel lonely. Especially at night. That's when, for some reason, his brain tends to go to a bad place.
"How was it, ribbit?" She asks. Naturally, she isn't letting him sleep without finding the answer to that question. Naturally, Izuku refuses to lie to her. The day he'll consciously pretend that everything is alright - while it isn't - in front of his girlfriend is the day when their relationship will be over. Because Izuku will clearly prove that he doesn't deserve them.
"It was… pretty bad." He replies after a second or two. "Hitoshi was wounded, if not for Setsuna's quick action Eri would die, Tokoyami was narrowly saved from dying to Carnage by Mieko and… I didn't even know. I almost sent them all to their deaths, and…"
"You didn't know." Tsuyu interrupts him. "You couldn't know." If only it was this easy.
"I know." Izuku replies. "It's just… my brain knows, but not my heart. When Eclipse came, looking shaken I feared the worst and…" He takes a deep breath. "It's a lot more responsibility than I expected when I decided to become a superhero. A lot more dangerous supervillains. A lot more civilian casualties. And I…" He takes a deep breath. "I just… I sometimes wish that there would be someone else in my place."
"I'd still follow you." Tsuyu announces confidently. "Because you are you. And so would most of us." It's nice to receive a vote of confidence, even if Tsuyu slightly misinterpreted his words.
"Thank you, Tsu." He brushes her cheek a bit with his fingers. It's dark, but he can still hear the quiet - but happy - ribbit that it elicits. "I just wish I had as much confidence in myself as you have in me."
"Ribbit." She agrees with him. "You are sometimes a dummy."
Ouch. But he probably earned that.
They fall asleep, together, a few minutes later.
(***)
Please tell me that your first thought after 'The first captive is a teenager wearing a black business suit. White hair.' was "OMG ALL FOR ONE". If yes, then my mission of bamboozling y'all was a success.