No comment answers right now because the comment system broke and I'll wait until they display themselves properly before replying in bulk.
(***)
Tsuyu was in the boarding party mostly in case of the smugglers trying to flee on a lifeboat or something like that. You could never be sure if they didn't have a villain or two onboard to occupy the attackers in order to buy the time for that. When they arrived, she quickly relocated into the surrounding waters.
Eclipse was going to be on a standby on the deck. Her quirk needed some space to be used in combat. She also tested if her quirk's warp element was working - and it turned out that it did. So, Kurogiri wasn't aboard. They had a plan B for that eventuality.
Earworm was there because it was her absolute dream work environment. The first thing she did after they landed was to slam her earphone jacks into the ship's metal.
"I'm picking up twelve heartbeats." She said a few seconds later. "Three under the deck, nine in the superstructure. One of those in the superstructure sounds… odd, might be a complex mutant."
"We'll start from that." The SST leader announces. "Guide us there."
(***)
Earworm's quirk wasn't 'just' about her ears. She could do more. In a way, it was mostly about controlling vibrations, a fact that extended into the field of hearing by the virtue of sounds being vibrations.
In a closed and restricted space, such as that of the ship, she was a terrible opponent to have. Because she could do more than just locate her opponents. She could also manipulate the sounds pretty much everywhere.
The SST moved not just quietly, but absolutely soundlessly. For as long as there were walls around them, Kyoka could suppress all sounds from leaving the room. Calls for help, warning shouts, the sounds of an incapacitated crew member falling to the floor - all of that was rendered null.
For as long as you weren't in the same closed space as them, you simply couldn't hear them coming. And with her echolocation, she always knew your exact location, even without being in the room with you. So the SST kept appearing behind the crew members. She made sure of that.
Slightly larger open spaces were no problem either. If the sound had to bounce off the wall to get somewhere, Earworm could suppress it as well. Opening doors and bulkheads? Not a problem either, she could suppress the sounds too, making the whole process practically soundless as well.
"Jesus Christ." One of the SST folks mumbled to himself, loudly enough for the microphone to pick him up. "It's like shooting fish in a barrel."
He wasn't wrong about it. Out of nine crew members hiding in the ship's superstructure, six were at this point incapacitated. The remaining three (including the suspected complex mutant) were still out there - but were yet to realize that the ship was attacked.
Izuku began to suspect that the long list of potential clients of the Metahuman Network was going to expand soon.
Jirou's quirk was scarily useful.
She was even right about detecting a complex mutant. Izuku was following the SST troopers (he was certain that they wouldn't let a de facto civilian take point, so he didn't even ask) and ended up missing the fight.
"What the fuck was that thing!?" One of the SST guys shouted. Another was busy trying to get something black and inky off his face.
It was the ship's bridge. Now a bit of a mess, with two decidedly human looking crew members being on the floor (and in handcuffs). Lots of black sludge, a completely shattered window…
… and, well, the alarm siren blaring. Damn. Their plan B was to take the ship over quietly and pretend that everything is alright while going to the meeting spot in hopes of catching Kurogiri when he comes to retrieve the goods.
Now there was a large chance that the alarm automatically warned Overhaul that something was amiss. Even if it was a small chance that the Shie Hasseikai had it all networked to this degree, they simply couldn't risk going with that plan.
Knowing Overhaul, he would have Kurogiri warp in Dabi together with a small canoe or something and then have him melt the ship from a distance with a Prominence Burn. Dabi was at this point pretty much a humanoid dispenser of Prominence Burns, and that was rather irritating to deal with.
"What did I miss?" Izuku stood behind the coast guard officers. He decided to make himself known right now, because well, he IS a bit of a quirk expert. Knowing what just happened sounds like a good idea.
The worst case scenario was Overhaul doing this before they managed to leave the ship properly. They think that it was still outside of Kurogiri's effective range, but… two-staged warps are a thing.
The SST leader seems to be aware of Izuku being an expert as well.
"Complex mutant." He replies scarcely. "Looked like a humanoid octopus. Fired this sludge at us, then bolted through the window. Earworm, do you know where he is going?" Sounds like a pain to deal with, but not THAT much of a pain.
"Just jumped off the ship." They hear Jirou answer them back through the commlink. "Kappa's going after him."
Izuku had some very mixed feelings about his girlfriend going after the octopus villain alone. The operative word of his worries was tentacles. It was one of those words that he didn't want to hear in the same sentence as 'Tsuyu'.
Ugh. She was deadly in water, so he should probably worry more about the octopus guy.
"Eclipse, go after her." Izuku decides to intervene a bit. "Stay above the water. Kappa, if you can't beat him, just draw him near the surface and have Eclipse grab him in her quirk." Six of them made for some pretty convincing cage, although like in the case of most of the restraining super moves, the range was shit and it could be overpowered. "Earworm…"
"Shit!" Kyoka interupts him. "One of the heartbeats under the deck is rushing towards you. They are moving way too f… look out!"
Izuku was about to open his mouth when the front wall of the bridge - the one with the window - was suddenly demolished when someone barged in through it. He had enough time to put up a barrier to deter shrapnels from wounding anyone inside.
The villain was a woman. Anywhere between eighteen and twenty-five years old, messy, greasy and downright dirty black hair, massive eyebags, the eyes of a crazed animal, wearing some tattered rags. Certainly some form of a strength amplification, as she just tore through a metal wall like it wasn't there.
Defiant wasn't giving the villain time to do anything. They were restrained with his telekinesis a second later, their arms at their sides and their legs glued together, floating like that in front of them.
Then they somehow managed to force it back with pure physical strength. Izuku promptly slammed them into the wall.
SST decided to give him some space and pulled back, getting the two arrested smugglers with them. That was very nice of them. Considering the fact that the villain didn't seem to notice being slammed into the steel wall, getting potential accidental victims of the fight out of there was a good idea.
Izuku settled for the Force Choke. Once again, it just didn't work. And he had absolutely no idea how the hell did the villain resist it. What the hell was their quirk?!
The villain laughed loudly and in a clearly deranged way. Then she leapt at Izuku, her fist raised. He dodged by flying sideways, giving him a nice view of the bulkhead caving in after the punch.
Okay. If she hits him, he is dead. Should he call Eclipse in? No, wait, it won't work. The villain will punch through her surfaces. Mieko would have to slice her apart to stop her and that's kind of lethal.
Plan B. Or is it Plan C?
He briefly Ignites and breaks the villain's arm beneath the elbow. That pauses her frantic attack for maybe ten seconds. She looks down on her broken limb, clearly trying to figure out what happened. Then grabs it with the other hand and sets it up.
A second or two later, she waves the broken arm around. It's clearly healed. She laughs and tries to punch Defiant again. He once again manages to dodge it, but he isn't doing so well in a closed space. If she gets too close, he'll fail to respond to her frenzied lunges.
What the hell is her quirk?! Strength-enhancement, endurance-enhancement, now regeneration?
Should he try to break all her limbs and hope that they regrow wrongly? That's a bit… drastic, but it's not like she is giving him a lot of a leeway in this.
He circles around her, narrowly avoiding some punches and then flies out through the window. She either didn't care about the SST operatives or didn't notice that they were there, because she follows him. There is much more open space on the deck.
He breaks both her arms this time, to test his theory. He hoped that they wouldn't grow back right, but… no such luck. She clearly doesn't have to set her bones straight before they regrow.
Shit.
Okay, plan Whatever The Letter We're On Right Now.
"I'm going to need your men's help in this, Orca." He says through the commlink. The SST was paranoid enough to hide their true names from the heroes that they were deployed alongside. Sigh. "Nothing I do to her sticks."
"What do you need?" Orca doesn't waste time.
"I'm going to keep her occupied." It's not THAT hard when outside of the ship, the villain's clearly not big of a thinker, it's just frenzied laughter, confused stares and punching attempts. He is floating above her, keeping the distance allowing him to react to the attack in time and easily. "You try to find out what the hell her meta-ability is, because I sure as hell have no idea. Ask the smugglers maybe?"
"On it." Is all the answer that he gets.
(***)
Defiant is still keeping the crazed villain occupied when Tsuyu manages to surprise the fleeing octopus villain who clearly didn't expect to be suddenly attacked by someone underwater.
Thinking that you basically own some place makes you vulnerable to ambushes when someone's actually on your level.
Kappa plays it safe. Before he has time to react, he is restrained with her tongue and then flung up, above the water. Where Eclipse easily catches him into her Sixfold Cage (her little super move that she is SUPER proud of and is ready to talk your ears off when prompted, as Kyoka can attest to).
Few seconds later Tsuyu realizes that it's going to be a busy day for her, because Earworm relays another objective to her.
(***)
The captive smugglers, it turned out, had absolutely no idea about the villain's quirk. Kugo Sakamata only managed to learn that her villain name is Frenzy, and that she was kept restrained in a closed container in the cargo bay.
A cage that was set to be automatically opened when the alert was sounded. She was technically being transported to Hosu (Overhaul's new recruit, apparently), but she was also being used as a sort of… security measure.
Kai Chisaki, Kugo decides, is one crafty fucker. Thankfully dealing with him is - mostly - not his job.
Oka Mariner was approaching the smuggler ship at full speed. SST was busy hauling the captives to the deck on the other side of the superstructure than the area where Defiant is busy battling the villain. Sakamata wanted them off the ship as soon as possible.
In the meantime, he sent four of his men to the location where, according to Earworm's echolocation, Frenzy was being restrained for the duration of the journey. Maybe they would find something there.
The whole operation has gone off the plan and he can't even blame the heroes. Because it all happened due to the octopus villain moving faster than his men and slamming the alert button before leaping off the window.
(***)
The two remaining smugglers that were under the deck when the alert was sounded managed to get a small escape boat going.
They were very busy being torn between the 'FUCK EVERYTHING WENT WRONG', 'FRENZY IS GOING TO RIP THE SHIP TO SHREDS' and 'WE'RE SO SMART FOR MAKING IT OUT ALIVE AND FREE' when suddenly they heard a loud splash.
"Good evening, ribbit." They hear as a figure wearing a dark green/black bodysuit suddenly emerges from the water right next to the boat. Before they have time to do anything, she throws a small vial at the boat's floor.
It contains Mina's maximum-potency acid. Only a few droplets, but it's enough. The resulting hole is large and goes all the way through their little boat. Naturally, the sea water starts pouring in.
The figure vanishes back into the water. The smugglers immediately realize that they are going to sink before getting anywhere and, however reluctantly, start their journey back. They end up having to swim for the last ten meters.
(***)
"Alright, so we're at the container." Defiant hears Orca's voice and shit if he isn't reassured by that. He managed to expand the stamina bar of his quirk a lot during the past weeks, but this is still getting quite tiresome. And Frenzy's clearly not getting tired in the slightest. "Some computer screens displaying flashing images, speakers playing some ear-rending cacophony constantly, the floor seems to be covered in very small spikes, not enough to wound but certainly enough to irritate, some drugs that we don't know how to identify and…"
"Max Damage." Izuku cuts in. Things suddenly make so much goddamn sense.
"What?" The SST officer is clearly out of the loop on this.
"A character from one slightly less-known superhero comic." Izuku elaborates while dodging another punch. "The longer he stayed awake, the stronger he got. Strength, endurance, speed, everything." Frenzy must have also had an accelerated healing factor.
The container that Orca described sounded like it was made to make sure that Frenzy wouldn't fall asleep during the journey. And Frenzy clearly looked way more sleep-deprived than Hijack, Assistant Commissioner Mera and Commissioner Aizawa combined.
Figuring out how to deal with her was going to be the problem here. She was clearly pumped up by fighting. Adrenaline was going to keep her awake. And the longer she stayed that way… well, a few more minutes didn't mean much after days of staying awake, but it still meant some slight growth in strength as the fight grew longer.
It was a…
"Keep her occupied for two or three more minutes." Orca cuts in. "Then draw her where I'll tell you to."
Oh?
(***)
Three minutes later Frenzy was thrown into a cargo container… together with two sleep gas grenades. And then the container was closed to make sure that she got the maximum healthy dosage to overwhelm her clearly improved resistance.
Defiant stayed Ignited the whole time, keeping her restrained mid-air from the outside of said container. That was the only way for her to not just punch her way out of the trap. It also made him know immediately when she stopped struggling.
When that happened, the container was opened to make sure that she doesn't overdose on the sleeping gas. They were here to arrest her, not kill.
Operation successful. Two more villains to be sent to Tartarus. Shie Hasseikai denied valuable cargo… or so they thought. Izuku was looking forward to discovering what Captain Selkie was going to find after giving the ship a proper search.
(***)
During their return journey aboard Oka Mariner (the smuggler's ship is trailing behind it) they have some time to celebrate their victory.
Uraraka feels slightly more lively now, but it's still not what Izuku was hoping for. Tsuyu is very very smug. She has a reason for that - she just joined the still rather exclusive club of heroes that managed to apprehend actual villains (even if it was a team-game).
Kyoka and Mieko are various degrees of satisfied. They did the job well. They helped stop some bad guys. They earned another nice paycheck. They didn't lose anyone. The day was good.
Izuku is busy being happy that everything went well and no one was wounded. And he is very happy when he sees Tsuyu being smug. Because she did a great job and she truly deserves to be happy.
Besides, her smug-self is incredibly cute and funny to watch. Rewarding her with cuddling and/or headpats was even better.
(***)
He gets his questions answered two days later.
"Medical equipment?" Principal Sasaki voices the surprise. This is one more meeting of the council, although smaller than normally. Aside from Mirai Sasaki, only Commissioner Aizawa and Izuku Midoriya are present.
"I'll give you the whole list, maybe Shuzenji will figure something out of it." Aizawa replies. "But generally speaking, yes. Medical equipment. Plus some samples and preserved body parts in a freezer. No idea whom they belonged to, but we speculate that he is buying them from China."
With the Chinese civil war going on ever since the World War ended, it wouldn't be the weirdest (or objectively worst) thing that was sold overseas to finance the war effort. Izuku preferred not to think about whom the body parts belonged to.
He could only hope that they died from unrelated causes and only then were disassembled for parts. The alternative was… uncomfortable.
"Defiant." Principal Sasaki says while turning his head towards the superhero. "Do you think that he has already reached stage two?"
"It certainly sounds like he is trying to." Izuku sighs. It's only going to get worse from here on, isn't it?
Months ago, when he created his first analysis of Overhaul's quirk, he divided its potential growth into three stages. Stage one was disassembly (or reassembly) of matter. So both the standard combat usage - and healing.
Stage two was using this quirk not to simply restore an earlier state, but to actually change it. Overhaul's quirk carried almost endless potential when altering - and improving - humans was involved.
He could - with some understanding of the body parts involved - replace your entire bone system with some much lighter (yet much more resistant, essentially bulletproof in fact) carbon nanopolymers. Making you stronger and faster at once. And that was merely a single idea.
Of course, making sure that the end-result was long-termly stable before applying it to his lackeys was going to take a while.
"So he is probably looking into the creation and mass production of bio-engineered super-soldiers." Aizawa says before sighing painfully. He read Izuku analysis of Overhaul as well. It's still giving him nightmares. "Well, that's just splendid. And we won't know how far he'll get with that until we end up running into them."
The only question that Izuku had was 'why the additional body parts'. Something special in them? Then again, Overhaul might have been a genius… but an utterly deranged genius. Predicting his actions was problematic.
They can still stop him. Even if he achieves stage two. It's stage three that's terrifying. If Overhaul somehow manages to understand quirks enough to be able to copy or transplant them… It was EXTREMELY unlikely to happen, as Chiyo didn't seem to make any progress on trying to figure out what they were about.
And unlike him, she wasn't a surprisingly competent quack without a medical degree, working on it in their basement. But a famous professional that could work openly. Still, if Overhaul somehow got there…
Honestly, that would be the end of it.
The power to obtain more quirks? The power to take the quirks of others permanently? The power to create more villains? End of story. They could only hope that there was no one with a quirk like that out there.
"Well, now that we have that covered…" Izuku decides to move to the subject that's really interesting to him. "... what about the villains?"
"The octopus one was apparently the actual captain of the ship." Aizawa replies. "The one we knew off was a false one. Doesn't have a villain name and refuses to give us his true name. Someone in Tartarus crew is a Lovecraft's fan and decided to name him Innsmouth, so we're sticking to that for the time being. He isn't technically a Shie Hasseikai member, merely a smuggler." Aizawa sighs. "Tsukauchi graded him as a D-Rank. Any objections to that?"
Considering what Izuku knew about Innsmouth's quirk and what he just learned about his criminal history, it was a correct assumption. His first reaction to seeing the coast guard was to unleash Frenzy on them and bolt through the window. Not a very terrifying villain. And they certainly can keep him imprisoned if they are cautious enough about it.
"Frenzy's real name is Konno Keiko." Aizawa continues his report. "Her fingerprints were in the database for some batteries in Tokushima. Also your guess about her quirk appears to be a correct one. Sleeping depowered her to pretty much a normal level of strength."
"So a B-Rank." Izuku said and Aizawa nodded. Dangerous villain but perfectly containable. They just need to make sure that she is sleeping regularly, thus not allowing her to amass enough strength to break out of prison. "I see."
"We think that she might be… redeemable." Aizawa adds, surprising both Sasaki and Midoriya. The Commissioner himself doesn't seem to be particularly happy about it. "We suspect that her attacks were at least partially caused by the fact that while she grows strong the longer she stays awake, it also erodes her judgment. It happened once, she fell into a bad crowd, and so on. However I'm not exactly willing to bet on that after just two days." He looks at Sasaki questioningly.
"I believe that having Hijack interrogate her is a good start." Mirai replies. "I'd follow with some extended sessions with specialists, for example counselor Inui, that can give us something resembling a guarantee that she won't snap back at the first opportunity. Unless Defiant has a different idea on that?" He looks at his… student? protege? questioningly.
Izuku really doesn't know enough about Frenzy to have an opinion on her rehabilitation chances. She was a bit too out of it during the fight to make cohesive sentences, although the fact that she constantly tried to murder whatever was in front of her in that state was a bit… telling.
Then again, second chances. Every hero counts. All of that. Let's be smart about it, though.
"It's alright, although…" He decides to add. "I'd prefer her to not operate anywhere where Overhaul has active businesses just in case. If she gets included into the Underground Hero scheme, send her to Repulse."
She felt a bit too powerful for the Tokushima branch. It wasn't a big branch. Izuku didn't think that anyone there could meaningfully stop Frenzy if she stayed awake for a few days.
Its leader had a quirk that made his hair impossibly sticky (yet for some reason he was excluded from that). Yes, he was incredibly creative with using that for traps and restraining people (Izuku was actually impressed by how much he could do with such an odd and superficially useless quirk), but if he didn't expect that Frenzy was preparing something nasty and didn't have time to prepare for that… yeah.
He was, in the end, an ambush predator. Frenzy was… a bad match-up. Even if his hair was sticky enough to restrain her. Tokyo was probably a better bet.
"That sounds reasonable." Aizawa agrees. It's still rather clear that he isn't exactly comfortable with the whole villain rehabilitation program.
(***)
Tsuyu versus Tentacles. Tsuyu wins. Phew. That could escalate in a variety of directions, most of them bad :3 Also a slight teaser of Overhaul being himself and the Network managing to slightly inconvenience him (although the best plan of potentially capturing Kurogiri was a failure).
Did you recognize the Tokushima branch head? :V