Dead on Arrival

by Mirrond

The entire cast of MHA has the distinct misfortune of being born way earlier. Just in time to witness the Dawn of Quirks. Izuku Midoriya awakens a powerful telekinetic quirk... and, being the superhero fanboy, he decides to become one. And he won't let his broken body, lack of funds, and the on-going collapse of the country around him stop him from achieving his dream.

52. Chapter 52

Arqade2015 - The biggest will probably be the fact that Aizawa's war against Overhaul can step up a notch.

Fencer29 - For as much as I love All Might as a character, I don't think that someone with this degree of injuries can genuinely hope to deal with the stress that managing a country in a state like that must be causing. One prefecture is clearly bad enough.

Leo 23 - They don't necessarily have to have any connection to each other :P

Jpx0999 - Yagi Toshinori's quirk in DoA is Big Dick Energy :V

The Archivist of Nyx - Yeah, that's a good description of Rini :P

(***)

"You… what?" Torino stares at Aizawa as if he just saw a ghost. Hawks, Tsukauchi and Mera are only narrowly less shocked.

"I was just promoted to the rank of a Commissioner." Aizawa replies, already looking pale as a sheet in the realization of just how many new responsibilities he just received. "I mean, it's not yet official, it will probably take Yagi a week or two to boot Takehiko out of the prefecture. I was also told to ignore every order from Koji that I don't agree with."

"Wow." Tsukauchi decides to speak. "You were a superintendent like… what? Two months ago? That has to be the fastest career I ever heard of." And almost totally illegal. Yagi was using his connection to prime minister Shimura in order to circumnavigate every part of the police regulations that were against this.

"Just in case you were to become the commissioner general in a few more months…" Mera adds. "I'd like to remind you that I'm very good at organizational work and I certainly deserve a comfy seat at the NPA headquarters." He gives Aizawa a thumbs-up gesture together with a wry smile, one clearly betraying his terminal insomnia. Shouta Aizawa deeply relates to the last part of that sentence.

"So, are we merging the Special Operations Unit with the Riot Police Unit or…" Hawks, oddly enough, is the one to ask about something constructive. Clearly a day full of surprises.

"I don't trust anyone at the prefectural headquarters." Aizawa promptly replied. "And I'm against putting all the eggs in one handbasket. From now on, you're the head of the Quirk Suppression Unit. Keep referring to yourself as the Special Operations Unit in front of the uninitiated, though."

Tensei Iida probably didn't like the concept of being (potentially) sent against supervillains. But he was a good police officer. And he realized what sort of mess the prefecture was facing. He would do his best.

"So the Anti-Firearms Squads of the Riot Police Unit against normal threats…" Hawks concludes. "... and the Quirk Suppression Unit against the special threats. Cool. Overhaul will probably shit himself when he finds out about your promotion."

Aizawa hopes that he will shit himself into death by dehydration. Unfortunately, that's unlikely.

(***)

Eventually, after many delays, Aizawa (officially still an Assistant Commissioner) and Defiant show up at the Tartarus prison. Naturally, through Eclipse' warpgate.

Cloud is there, yes, but under Powerless status. All former Abegawa Tenchu Kai villains are under Powerless status. It's a much better (and long-termly healthier) idea than to keep them unconscious.

They already discovered that Powerless only influences Toxin's ability to drug people with her voice. Confirming the theory that she was a double quirk holder. The discovery coincided with her almost successful escape - she managed to incapacitate a warden and take him hostage.

Unfortunately to her, Hijack was present in Tartarus. And he managed to re-arrest her before she managed to get out of the building. Or even realize where exactly it was. She was a crafty one.

Shihai Kuroiro was waiting for them in the interrogation room. Chained to the chair, wearing some vaguely orange jumpsuit that worked as the standard outfit for the Tartarus' prisoners. Which was both comfy and immediately visible.

Izuku expected tattoos, but he saw none. Then again, maybe they were somewhere where it wasn't visible. Or maybe it was hard to tattoo on a pitch-black skin? Or, perhaps, his quirk somehow refused to cooperate with the tattoos?

Kuroiro, frankly speaking, looked pissed off. According to Torino, he looked that way for most of the time.

"I don't care what you're going to do to me." He announces once Aizawa sits on the chair in front of him. Defiant is standing beside him. It might be his idea, but no one's letting him be the one to execute it. "I'm not selling out the Abegawa Tenchu Kai."

"I don't think there is anything left for you to sell, either way." Aizawa replies. "The Shie Hasseikai is slowly absorbing what's left of it. Besides, why would I care about a yakuza clan from outside of Musutafu?"

Aizawa and Izuku were observant enough to notice the brief look of sheer, livid fury when the 'absorbing' part was mentioned.

"So why are you here?" Kuroiro's eyes narrow. "And who the hell is that pipsqueak?" Looks like someone recognized Aizawa, but not Defiant. Good to know.

"Defiant." Aizawa replies. "Head of Musutafu's equivalent of the Heroes Alliance." Is he playing the good cop by admitting that, or is this a form of intimidation? Izuku honestly has no idea.

"Another irritating do-gooder, huh." Kuroiro gives him an inspecting look. "I hope you aren't going to try to give me a teary 'return to the light side' talk, because if so, I'm going to die of laughter."

"Wasn't really my plan." Izuku admits. "Though I sincerely hoped that you got less confident after spending a few days here and realizing that we can keep you and your lackeys imprisoned."

Kuroiro actually laughs at that.

"Oh, please." He adds. "I know Rabbit's quirk. Sooner or later he'll make a mistake. Brush someone accidentally and fail to notice it. And then one of us will make a run for it. Judging from the shouts on the corridor two days ago, Toxin already almost did it. How are you going to stop, say, Cloud from getting out, if Rabbit's grip on her breaks?"

Shihai Kuroiro, Izuku decided, was dangerously smart. Then again, that was quite alright in the current circumstances. Unfortunately for him, they came prepared.

"By executing you all." Aizawa replies. His emotionless face is surprisingly intimidating when words like that are thrown around. Intimidating enough to give Kuroiro a pause.

"What?" The supervillain asks. He is shocked, that much is obvious, though he manages to pretend otherwise surprisingly well.

"You disappeared after the battle." Aizawa replies. "The very existence of this prison is unconstitutional and will probably have me imprisoned once the storm passes. What stops me from having you and the remaining ATK members disposed of? All I have to do is pretend that Overhaul got you."

Silence. Kuroiro can't try to figure out anything from Defiant's face thanks to the helmet, so he focused on Aizawa. Unfortunately for him, Aizawa has a zombie face. Not as emotionless as what Principal Sasaki typically shows, but pretty close.

"I don't think…" Kuroiro says slowly. "... that Itsuka Kendou would have endorsed that idea."

"That's very nice emotional manipulation." Aizawa replies. "And I'm pretty certain that it would work on Defiant. But he's working for me, not the other way around. Also don't you think that you speaking of her is hypocrisy?"

"Contrary to the popular opinion…" Kuroiro shots back, giving him an angry look. "... I respected her. She was honest, diligent, strong and honorable. We never fought to the death. When her sister ended up in hospital, I sent her a message offering to keep myself out of the field so that she could do the same and focus on her family. So yeah, I believe I have the moral fucking right to call you out on this."

"You're still responsible, directly or indirectly, for no less than fifteen deaths." Aizawa replies, without batting an eye. "And I'm not including the deaths of Overhaul' men during the battle. Don't pretend to be an innocent virgin here."

"I'm a member of the yakuza, what the hell did you expect from me?" Kuroiro shots back immediately. "Yeah, I killed people. Yeah, I stole money. Yeah, I helped operate protection rackets. And in case you were curious, Abegawa Tenchu Kai dealt in human trafficking too. Doesn't stop me from having enough basic human decency to respect those who deserve respect. And in case you forgot about it, the ATK did more for disaster relief after the recent earthquake than the Shizuoka' governor."

As far as Izuku's knowledge went, he wasn't exactly wrong about that.

"Apply for a medal of honor from the government for that." Aizawa replies. "See if I care. You and your lackeys are dangerous criminals that cannot be incarcerated in the long term. Do you really expect me to play nicely with you?"

There is a longer period of silence. Kuroiro and Aizawa stare each other down. Finally, the former speaks.

"Alright. Let's say that I believe you that this option is on the table." He tilts his head a bit. "What's the other option? Because you're clearly trying to sell me something, while making this to be the nasty alternative."

The more he gets to actually see him in action, the higher the Izuku's estimates of Kuroiro's intelligence level and the less convinced he is of his own idea. Then again, it still makes perfect sense. It's just that he is almost certain that he'll suffer for it eventually.

"It's simple." Aizawa replies. "Abegawa Tenchu Kai is Shizuoka' problem. Shie Hassaikai is Musutafu's problem. I'm tasked with upholding order within Musutafu. Shizuoka isn't part of my job."

Kuroiro's face lit up.

"You consider letting us go." He said, with an almost… worrying smirk. "To ruin Chisaki's day and make his annexation of Shizuoka harder."

"That option is on the table, yes." Aizawa makes it rather clear that he doesn't like the fact. "Overhaul's ambitions, at this point, probably go way past being a simple criminal syndicate. I don't know if he still wants to become an emperor of Japan or if he has already reached the point of dreaming about being worshiped as a god. This way or another, I want him stopped. More than you."

"You seem to have pushed him enough for him to try to expand outside of your reach." Kuroiro hums. "That sounds like you mean business. I assume that you have some… demands. With mandatory agreement."

"Indeed." Aizawa agrees. "It's not just about us letting you and your lackeys go instead of putting bullets in their heads and being done with it. We expect some exchange of information concerning the Shie Hassaikai afterwards. Perhaps even some occasional cooperation in the field."

"Ambitious." Kuroiro admits. "But I believe I like it. After Manhole's death I have an intense desire to chop Overhaul's limbs off and keep him around like a pet. Even if I'll have to work with the heroes to achieve that."

Graphic. But Izuku, at this point, would have preferred that option to Overhaul being still free to commit atrocities. Should he be afraid of how quickly Chisaki was strangling his innocence away?

"Cute." Aizawa deadpans. "We're willing to share the intel we'll secure about the Shie Hassaikai. In exchange, we expect the same. We also expect…" He raises a finger. It's almost threatening, really. "... to be informed of your every villain recruit before they are deployed in the field. Villain name and rough explanation of their power."

"Forget about it." Kuroiro rolls his eyes. "If you think that I'm going to give you that much of a advantage over me, you're dumb. If you're going to bitchslap me into oblivion right after Overhaul's death, I'd prefer to die right now. I'm no one's tool."

"I think that you fail to realize your position, Vantablack." Aizawa replies. "Metahuman Network of Musutafu is way more successful than the Heroes' Alliance. It has, at this point, more than a hundred members nationwide. With full support of both the Special Assault Teams and Special Security Teams, numerous local police departments and a zaibatsu conglomerate or two. So do you think…" He leans forward. "...that we need that intel to destroy you?"

Silence. Kuroiro is staring at him in silence, clearly trying to figure out if Aizawa was bluffing.

"Very well." He finally says. "But in exchange, you will have no presence in Shizuoka until Overhaul is dead or incarcerated. I will not harass local power holders that will decide to remain neutral. They are free to make themselves into heroes and fight against me, but you'll not support them."

He is probably planning to use the time in question to entrench himself and amass more villains to his cause. Someone's rather ambitious. In Izuku's opinion, Kuroiro felt like Overhaul, just with some faint honour left.

"I refuse." Defiant cuts in. Network is HIS organisation. Not Aizawa's. He has a saying in this. "I will not ignore their existence and willingness to help others, simply because you want it to be so. The only thing that I can promise you is that the Musutafu branch will not operate alongside Shizuoka' branch against you for as long as there is Overhaul that I can use as an explanation not to risk our members elsewhere."

"What about other branches?" Kuroiro asks after staring at him for a few long and slightly awkward seconds.

"They are way less developed than the Musutafu one." Defiant replies. "Less training, less developed quirks, worse equipment. They'll be too busy on their own turf to intervene in Shizuoka. And if I'm proven wrong, they shouldn't be able to offer that much of a problem to you."

Due to that, he is fairly certain that he'll try to discourage not strong enough branches from intervening. Kuroiro is… dangerous. Not to Overhaul's level of danger, but still. The fact that Rabbit managed to outmaneuver him so much was increasingly impressive. Even if Kuroiro was severely distracted by what just happened to his adoptive father.

"Hmm…" Kuroiro seems to be thinking it over. "I probably can't hope for anything more in that field, huh. So I accept. Anything more?"

"No war crimes." Aizawa replies. If he was irritated by Izuku cutting in, he wasn't showing it. "I don't care what you do to active Shie Hassaikai members. If you start kneecapping their children, we're having a war."

"I don't kill children." Kuroiro looks angry at the suggestion.

"Spouses, cousins, uncles and parents then." Aizawa shots back. "For as long as they aren't active members of the Shie Hasseikai." Kuroiro seems to be digesting that for a moment or two.

"Fine." He eventually reaches the conclusion. "I'll assume that you also want us to be… mindful of our surroundings when in combat, huh?"

"I've been informed that you already were mindful of that." Aizawa replies. "Stick to that. Point three…" His eyes narrow. "...neither you, nor your villains, nor any associates of your organization will enter Musutafu or have any local criminals or villains operate there in your stead. Unless we're informed about it beforehand… and we agree to it."

"Alright." Kuroiro agrees to that surprisingly easily. "In exchange, I demand the same. If any Musutafu hero wants to end Shizuoka for any reason whatsoever, like visiting their family or being on a museum trip, I wish to be informed of it as well. And be allowed to refuse them entry."

"Reasonable." Aizawa agrees. "Next point. This time, a minor one. What's Kurogiri's true name, and what is his relation with Cloud?"

"Why do you want to know what?" Kuroiri narrows his eyes. He looks at Aizawa with suspicion written on his face.

"Is his name Shirakumo Oboro?" Aizawa asks, completely ignoring the interjection. Kuroiro seems to be thinking over his answer for a few long seconds. Izuku is rather aware that this wasn't a part of the talk that he was clued about. What was happening?

"Looks like a former associate of yours, huh." He seems to be relishing in that fact. "She did mention that he was a former cop, so I guess it checks out." He grins. It's not a nice sight. "Yes. His true name is Shirakumo Oboro. Cloud's his runaway daughter."

"Why did she run away?" Aizawa asks. Izuku is increasingly confused. "Did he…"

"He wasn't that bad of a father, I've been told." Kuroiro interrupts him. "But Suna decided that she can't stand using an ability this powerful for smuggling goods for some lowlifes in Tokyo. That he could do so much better, but lacks the spine. So she ran away to find criminals with vision. With traditions. With aesthetics. She found Rojiya Yonenaga. But it seems that Kurogiri refuses to get a hint." He clicks his tongue. "And instead of finding a similar clan with some common human decency, he joined hands with Overhaul. Once a lowlife, always a lowlife. So…" He looks curiously at Aizawa. "...what's your story together? I answered your question, surely you can answer mine."

Izuku, honestly, is curious as well.

"He was my former partner." Aizawa replies. It's not a full answer, that much is clear. The curiosity of neither Defiant nor Vantablack is satisfied. "Also, I expect this deal to remain secret. On both sides."

"Yeah, yeah, I know." Kuroiro rolls his eyes around. "You wouldn't want to be tainted by being associated with active villains, I wouldn't want to be tainted by being associated with the police. I get it. I swear on my clan's good name and Manhole's memory that none of this spreads beyond the short list of my 'lackeys', as you called them, that you have imprisoned in this place. Anything else to add?"

"Not really." Aizawa replies, while standing from the chair. "We're done here. Feel free to think over the ways of rebuilding the Abegawa Tenchu Kai. You'll be released tomorrow morning."

"I don't plan to rebuild it. At least not by my own hand." Kuroiro replies. Then he chuckles as he sees Aizawa's suddenly suspicious look. "Oh, come on. I'm going to need every help I can get on this. Including the villains that I'd normally not let join my own yakuza clan. Including the villains that might not want to join yakuza for whatever reasons. I think I'm going to create something else. An organization composed entirely of the villains, that might just happen to have a yakuza clan or two working under them." He tilts his head a little, giving them a wry smile. "How does 'League of Villains' sound like?"

(***)

"He is dangerous." Aizawa announces once they leave the interrogation room. Kuroiro is dragged back to his cell by some of the wardens. Torino joins the soon-to-be Commissioner and young superhero for the talk.

"I know." Torino replies bitterly. "I don't like the deal at all, just so we're clear once again. Vantablack feels like he'll be an absolute menace to us further down the road. Are you sure…"

"Yes." Aizawa replies. Defiant nods lightly behind him. "I don't like it either, but having Overhaul control the criminal underworld of two prefectures will hurt us much more. More secured ground means more newly-awakened metahumans that he'll be able to recruit for himself. More income sources outside of my ability to suppress." He shakes his head. "All we need to do is to make sure that the Musutafu underworld shrinks enough by the time Overhaul is dealt with. So that the Abegawa Tenchu Kai and the League of Villains won't manage to take it over and become as much of a menace as he was."

He clearly doesn't like it. Yet somehow, Defiant's arguments managed to persuade him enough for him to actually support that idea in front of Torino.

"Well, that's your call." Torino decides to surrender. "We'll have Eclipse boot them out of Tartarus tomorrow morning."

(***)

The first thing that happens once they are free (the Network warper dropped them right by some country road in Shizuoka, with Rabbit disentangling them from his quirk by shouting 'unchanged' at them through her warpgate right before it was closed), is Sunako Oboro practically leaping at her boyfriend.

The heroes gave them their clothes back. Great. Kuroiro felt weird when not in a suit. He wanted to look serious, and wearing a black suit gave him bonus points for being able to merge into it at the moment's notice, avoiding any physical attack by being temporarily immaterial.

"Missed me, sunshine?" Kuroiro asks while grinning at her. The lines on the black cloud that acts for her face reforms into a smile.

"Of course I did." She replies. Sure, having a technically faceless girlfriend kind of sucks. Sunako scores points elsewhere, enough for Kuroiro to not be interested in anyone else. "How did you get us all out?"

She was devoted, dangerous and hardworking. She had respect for traditions. And, last but not last, she was the good type of crazy. The 'this meeting is boring and unimportant so let's score a homebase under the table with some creative usage of my warpgates' crazy. What was there not to love?

"The local police hates Kai Chisaki more than it hates us." Kuroiro replies. "And with the boss dead, the Shie Hasseikai is busy swallowing what's left of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai. The clan, as far as I know, has mostly fallen."

He is seething with rage. Sunako is equally as furious, he can see that much in the slight shifts of the black cloud. Even if the 'face' remains unchanged.

"Fuck Chisaki, dude." Kaminari says. Tagawa nods furiously. "With a chainsaw." Kuroiro will probably never get used to being consistently referred to as 'dude', but he certainly agrees with the remaining words.

"So, what are we planning to do with that?" Hiryu is the second most serious and calm among what's left of the ATK villain unit. Kuroiro already misses Kashiko Sekigai. Rin's eyes are locked onto Kuroiro with a lot of intensity.

"For now, you all have to make a decision." Kuroiro replies, one of his arms thrown around his girlfriends' back, with the hand resting on Sunako's hip. The other one, he extends towards the three remaining villains. "You haven't officially joined the Abegawa Tenchu Kai. That's something that only me and Suna did. This is the last moment when you can turn your back on us and leave. Considering what Chisaki does to his enemies, I won't hold it against you."

Besides, what's the point of FORCING people to follow him? It never works well in the long-term. He needs followers, not slaves.

"Dude." Kaminari chuckles bitterly. "You know what happened when my power manifested. It wasn't the government, police or child services that extended their hand to me. It was Rojiya Yonenaga and the Abegawa Tenchu Kai. I didn't join officially because there is no way that I can remember and follow all the rules, and I don't like tattoos… but if it's about avenging the boss, I'm in. No matter what it takes."

Regardless of how long his life will be, Shihai Kuroiro will never forget that show of support. Especially as it seemed to set up the mood to a degree. Rin and Tagawa seemed to be slightly more unsure of it themselves. Until that moment.

"Yes." Rin says first. "Fuck Overhaul. In Manhole's memory." Yakuza didn't care that he was Chinese, as long as he was ready to live according to its rules. One more thing that couldn't be said about the 'lawful' society as a whole.

Until Yonenaga's death, he probably still hoped to somehow get accepted. The tattoos made you stand out even more. Being a Chinese AND a yakuza was a death sentence. Now, he no longer cared.

Miyuki nods again. She can't exactly speak, not with the way her quirk works. She is still not good with fingerspelling, but Kuroiro can more or less realize what it was about. Being a living chemical weapon makes you even more socially excluded than being Chinese.

Although only narrowly so after the war ended.

"Great." Kuroiro smiles. It is time to share his plans with them. "You don't have to join the yakuza, though. I have greater plans as of now."

He can see Sunako's eyes turn towards him in the corner of his eyes. Of course, she is at least slightly confused, very curious… and probably a bit horny. Or, at least, 'suddenly more attracted to him'. A lot to catch-up on, and she really looks up to criminals (or villains) with a vision.

Unfortunately, business comes first. Especially when the situation is this bad. But being looked at that way is still rather flattering to Kuroiro's ego.

"There are probably many villains that wouldn't want to work for yakuza." He says. The people in front of him are listening to him intently. "And many that yakuza wouldn't like to work for them. We're going to need every villain we can in order to make the difference. And thus… we're going to form something unique. We're going to form an organization composed entirely of villains… though with various more mundane clans and gangs working for us." He smiles wryly. "So from now on, we're the League of Villains."

"Sounds cool, boss." Kaminari gives him a thumbs-up gesture and a wide smile. "What's the short term plan?"

"We need to find out what's left of the Abegawa Tenchu Kai." Kuroiro replies. "Make it work for us, like it did for Manhole. Start preparing our counterattack against the Shie Hasseikai. Find as many additional villains as we can. Probably expand outside of Shizuoka, just not to Musutafu. At least…" He grins. "... until our little truce with the heroes last."

He'll have to be ready for that. If the Metahuman Network expanded so far, why can't the League of Villains do as well? He'll need some good source of income first. Perhaps some allies. Most likely better equipment.

Defiant was wearing what looked like a hoodie, but it was almost certainly an armored uniform. It gave Kuroiro' ideas. He needed to find some good engineer, but he could certainly organize similar (if less… expensive) things for his villains. How much more dangerous could Kaminari get with something as simple as a whip capable of conducting his electric outbursts?

The future looked bright. For as long as he survives the next two to three weeks, and the remaining ATK members will accept him as their leader. Everyone knew that he was Ronenaga's ward, and all of the executives were dead. Making him the closest thing the Abegawa Tenchu Kai had to an heir apparent. But he was still nineteen years old.

Still, he really looked forward to what would happen next.

(***)

If this chapter is giving you a serious 'send Lenin back to Russia to help Germany win the WW1' vibes, it's working as intended. Will it backfire further down the line? Who knows? :P Also in a way it's birth of a first 'proper' villain crew in this universe. Like the ones that supplanted organized crime in canon (which I consider dumb but nvm).