Fencer29 - Yeah, but it's an interesting change of pace when Yagi's involved, ngl.
(***)
Aizawa Shouta was just a small cog in the machine of the Japanese police. Yes, he was a Commissioner in charge of the law enforcement in the entire prefecture, but that was a relatively new development. For most of his career he was busy chasing minor criminals in Takoba. Pickpockets, drug dealers, occasional extortion rackets. This sort of stuff.
As a result, many things that were happening around him nowadays were ripped straight from 'if someone told me that I'd be doing it in the future, I'd laugh my ass off and then send them to a therapy' category.
Having a long discussion with Tsukauchi about what exactly was the detective supposed to do during a diplomatic meeting with the representatives of a clandestine militia (supported by the CIA, armed in superpowers and for some reason trained in HIS prefecture) was certainly one of those things.
Especially as the meeting's goal was organization of a joint raid against what was giving Aizawa some strong Mad Scientist Lair vibes. Also, the delegation was supposed to include some superheroes. What a time (and yes he'll reuse this phrase for as many times as he wants to) to be alive.
The meeting is of course supposed to be held in Masegaki. Knights are a paranoid bunch, and Aizawa can't really blame them. At least Governor Yagi guaranteed the safety of the delegation, with an added clause of 'unless you'll try to arrest them or do something similarly stupid'.
Hopefully things will end alright.
(***)
"You want to take WHOM?" Aizawa was really taken off-guard by this announcement and it shows. He allowed Defiant to pick three other heroes (they should probably find a joint term for them all, heroes is a bit too… well, it means something a bit else for most people) to go with him.
He… didn't expect that choice.
"I want to take Earworm, Hijack and Kappa." Defiant replies. He is, of course, wearing his hero uniform. They have that meeting in Aizawa's office at the precinct. Defiant is allowed inside, because at this point anyone working here knows who he is.
He's getting some mixed reactions out of people when he visits. Ranging from excitement to worry mixed with fear. Aizawa begins to suspect that Defiant is much less social than the Commissioner previously suspected, but if so, then he was truly getting some top grades in the act of pretend.
"Why?" Aizawa expected him to take some of the Network's heavy-hitters. Todoroki was a safe bet, for as long as no one took him out in ambush he could end most fights in an instant. "I get Earworm and Hijack, but… Kappa?"
Earworm was an omnidirectional real-time scout slash threat detector with an ability to do a lot of sound-oriented tricks that even Aizawa found cool. Hijack was an universal countermeasure which could stop practically every non-mute villain dead in their tracks for as long as said villain didn't know what his quirk was about. Those two were perfectly logical. But… Kappa?
Oh, she had a fine track record as a Takoba Branch sidekick. Not the busiest one of them all, but she did quite a lot of good deeds for the police and rescue service. She was also one of the Musutafu heroes that had a villain apprehension under their belt (even if she did it alongside Eclipse), just…
… why? She was best near the water. Sending her into the mountains was something that Aizawa found odd.
"Well, we heard that the Knights gathered a lot of mutant metahumans, right?" Defiant half-states half-asks. In Aizawa's opinion he should be a tiny bit more confident when speaking, as he does tend to have a lot of good ideas. Sometimes a bit too idealistic and/or impractical, but the Commissioner learned to not discredit his opinions only due to his young age. "I mean, coming around with one of our own, clearly well-treated and not discriminated against, more than that, actually saved from something nasty… it sounds like something to break the ice easily."
Aizawa thinks it over for a few long seconds. Finally he arrives at the conclusion.
"That's… not a bad idea." He eventually admits. "But I have a strange feeling that you're doing this because you want to make your girlfriend happy."
Midoriya blushes under his helmet. Aizawa isn't exactly wrong on that.
(Slightly altering his plans for their participation in the police operation for personal reasons wasn't the nicest thing Midoriya ever did, yes. But letting Tsuyu experience her first trip by train was totally worth it. Even if she had to be concealed for most of the time, and even if Izuku had to buy out all seats in the compartments for people to not freak out over her excited ribbiting.)
(***)
Eventually they arrive in a small town near Masegaki. Actually a few minutes before the rest of the delegation, that just happened to be going there with cars. They had no idea how far the Knights' observation network was reaching, and they didn't want to risk betraying Eclipse's existence to anyone.
Mieko Eto was extremely alright with the concept of United States-funded militia not knowing about her. It made her kidnapping for NASA much less probable. The whole idea was frankly more of a joke than anything else, but considering how much of a strategic asset she was to the Network Izuku decided that the warp component of her quirk should be kept secret.
She practically had a whole combat quirk (and a powerful one) to use alongside her warpgates. This meant that even if someone fought her, they would still not expect her to be the Network's warper.
Thus far the only other warper within the Network was in Aichi' branch. He had an effective range of fifteen kilometers and needed at least thirty minutes of recharging between warps. So… worse. And his quirk had no combat element. So he was defenseless post-warp.
Yes, unlike Eclipse he could warp elsewhere instantly and could actually transport everything within a set area of space (so if Izuku was to deploy a strike force somewhere where he expected to be instantly attacked, he would pick that guy over Eclipse). But it still didn't change the fact that Eclipse was irreplaceable (and also a close friend of his, which probably contributed).
The rest of the journey was, thankfully, rather simple and uneventful.
(***)
They stopped for ten minutes right before Masegaki, mostly because they arrived a bit too early. Tsuyu quickly hopped to the side and pulled out her phone. After a few seconds of ringing, her mother picked it up.
"Yes, Tsu?" Nemuri Kayama sounded a bit worried. "Are you there already? Did something h…" Well, her daughter is attending a diplomatic meeting with an armed militia, so being worried was understandable.
"Me and Zuzu took a train, ribbit." Tsuyu replies and the sheer amount of innocent excitement in her voice warms Nemuri's heart. A lot.
The frog girl was so incredibly excited by what she went through that she simply had to talk with someone about it. And since the people around her were busy preparing themselves for the meeting, she decided to phone her mom about it. Nemuri, of course, was up for the task.
"Tell me about it." Nemuri says while putting the papers she was grading aside. She had her priorities, after all.
(***)
Masegaki was a simple, unremarkable town. It had maybe twelve to fifteen thousand inhabitants scattered throughout two sides of a river. It was a bit high in the mountains, so the river managed to carve itself quite a riverbed during the past centuries, enough for most of the town to be at least ten meters above its level. Not a canyon, but pretty close to it in shape.
There was also a large bridge in the middle. One and only. Probably a boon for defensive purposes, if the Knights were ever attacked.
It was otherwise mostly unremarkable as already stated. Of course, that's if you excluded the existence of the Knights. And the fact that a notable group (they didn't know a thing about the exact numbers) of mutant children was apparently attending a local school.
Probably at night. Or at least way after the normal classes concluded. The school was on the edge of the forest, so it probably wasn't hard to sneak people in and out. Izuku was left wondering for how long the Knights managed to keep it all hidden. And how long they'd manage to continue doing that if not Purity's defection.
The meeting location was a two stories building close to the school. The delegation had no idea what exactly it was supposed to be, but it had a large enough open room on the ground floor. With a large table.
It was also defensible enough, but that's something that they only saw when they got really close to it.. Several nasty looking men, each with tactical vests, helmets and long guns. The newcomers were all searched before entering the building.
The escort stayed outside. It was composed of Hawks and his squad in two armored vehicles. Earworm stayed with them - she ran her earjacks under the clothing and connected them with the ground, fully committed to her role of an early detection system.
The rest of the delegation was composed of Commissioner Aizawa, Defiant, Kappa, Hijack, Tsukauchi and Counselor Inui. Tsukauchi was there mostly as Aizawa's assistant, while Ryo Inui had a bit of a special role to play. Which didn't stop him from most likely also representing Principal Sasaki.
After a quick search, they were allowed to enter the conference room(?). Large table in the meantime, with four people on the other side.
The leftmost one was a man (30-35?, no, closer to 40) years old, wearing what seemed to be the standard outfit for the combat wing of the Knights. So the vest, helmet and an identity-concealing balaclava. Izuku couldn't say a lot about him, except for the fact that he was there.
Considering the age, most likely not a metahuman. The rest were all around Izuku's age, so considering the fact that they were a part of this meeting and what they knew about the Knights… most likely metahumans. Oddly enough, none of them had their faces concealed.
The only one whose power he could more or less figure out was the woman on the opposite side of the group. Having thorny vines instead of hair was a clear sign of her metahuman status. Except, was that all?
Probably not. The only question Izuku had was whether this was a mutant or a transformative quirk. Was her hair only a form of mutant adaptation for a transformation quirk? Could she grow and control that hair?
Kyoka could extend her earlobes and connect them with things, but it was pretty much an adaptation allowing her to use her sound/vibration generation and control quirk. Was there even such a thing as simple mutations? Sometimes Izuku truly felt like those (like the one of the guy with sticky hair) weren't 'truly' quirks. More like an adaptation to a quirk that for some reason didn't show up, while still being to a degree functional on its own.
If Kyoka's quirk didn't arrive, she would still be capable of showing her earjacks into someone's eye in melee. Making it, in a way, into a functional quirk on its own. In all honesty, the more Izuku thought about the quirks as a phenomenon, the more confused he was getting.
So many questions, so little answers. He had even less to work on with the two remaining representatives.
One looked… tough. That was the first word that came to Izuku's mind. He wasn't wearing a face mask, but the rest of the equipment was similar to the rank-and-file combat members of the militia. He was built like Kirishima or Yoarashi, except with a short beard and brown hair.
The other man was… scrawny. Brown hair, similar to the former one. Brothers, maybe? No beard, but the standard combat attire. As everyone else (the woman was wearing it too). Something in the intensity of his stare was rather worrying.
Well. Here comes nothing.
"Commissioner Aizawa." The bulky maskless man speaks first. The new arrivals are busy taking seats. The handful of armed militiamen that led the new arrivals to the room all leave it. "A pleasure to finally meet you."
Aizawa would like to reply in a similar vein. But to be honest, he would prefer to live his life without meeting the person in front of him. Who the hell thought that sending Aizawa to do diplomacy was a good idea?
"Likewise." He eventually forces himself to say. "I'm not in the mood for pleasantries and beating around the bush, so I'll get straight to the point. Is that a problem with you?"
"No, no it isn't." The Knights' speaker(?) replies calmly. Looks like Aizawa isn't the only person who finds this meeting to be awkward. And wants it as short as possible. "Though I believe that some introductions are in order."
He has a point. It'll certainly make the talk simpler.
The Knights, of course, do not mention their real names. Only the nicknames. The bulky man is introduced as Paladin, and both a metahuman (they don't mention his power) and a leader of the Knights. The scrawny one is Chancellor, his brother and right-hand man.
Naturally, another metahuman with an unknown power (although they refer to it as 'blessing'). The thorn haired woman had a rather unimaginative name of Thorn. The last remaining man (the one who was actually hiding his face) was Hermit. Whether he was a metahuman or not wasn't stated.
Commissioner Aizawa doesn't have to introduce himself. Ryo Inui was introduced as an advisor, without specializing what sort of. Tsukauchi wasn't anyone important, but he still got a mention.
The others were a bit more complicated to introduce. Or, so Aizawa thought. Life, as often, decided to surprise him.
"We know about the Network." Paladin interrupts him when he tries to explain that. "Though I only recognize Defiant."
"Really?" Aizawa says before Defiant manages to. "How?" It sounds like a potential information leak.
"It would be a rather stupid thing to do to simply settle in those mountains without keeping an eye on what's happening around them." Paladin dodges the question by answering it… without actually answering it. "We also know about Overhaul and his empire of crime and his war against Kuroiro in Shizuoka." He probably suspects the talk to be about Chisaki.
"I see." Aizawa replies. He clearly doesn't enjoy being the less informed side in that talk. "The other two are Hijack and Kappa."
Hijack is wearing his identity concealing uniform… while also being explicitly told NOT to try to use his quirk (even passively) until the things will start clearly going towards confrontation. Every new meta ability they discovered was something completely new and surprising - what if Knights had some sort of passive quirk activation-detecting quirk?
That would sour the mood a lot.
Neither Aizawa nor Defiant were sure about it, but the latter's plan seemed to be working. Kappa had her face visible (there was no point in hiding it when you were THIS different - you knew that she was a metahuman at a glance either way). And she got at least some appraising stares from the people in front of them.
"So now that we're done with the introductions…" Aizawa decides to get to the point finally. "We're here to talk about Gunga Mountain."
"Of course you do." Paladin either truly expected that or was a good actor. "It's great that you noticed their existence and want to do something about them. We were planning to try it on our own, but it's rather obvious that we lack the firepower to do it without a lot of risks. If I may ask, what brought your attention to it?"
"A defector from the Shie Hasseikai narrating to us the results of the meeting between Overhaul and certain Yoshihiro Riko." Aizawa replies. The name's familiar, no doubt. Paladin's hands clasping into fists is a sure enough sign of it. "That's also what brought your existence into our attention."
"Each time I think that she can't fall any lower, she does something like that." Thorn says, mostly to herself. Chancellor shoots her an odd stare. Paladin looks like he wishes he could punch someone right now.
"Looks like our approach to the Shie Hasseikai is going to change from 'ignore their existence' to 'righteous fury-motivated murder'." Paladin announces. Izuku decides at that instant that he likes the man. Although he'd still love to know what his quirk is. "I assume that they are planning to storm the Gunga Mountain facility together, and that's why you came to us."
Oh. A smart one.
"That's true." Aizawa replies. What's his opinion on Paladin is something that only he knows. "In a week, in fact. We are hoping to free the captives from it before that happens. But since the whole thing will be done in a rush, we need information. "
"Well, we are ready to provide them." Paladin proves to be surprisingly cooperative. "However, not for free." Nevermind, he's no longer surprisingly cooperative. Now he's only cooperative.
"I assume that it's not about money." Aizawa replies. His stare is probably rather unnerving , at least for once it's not Defiant that's on its receiving side.
"We're doing well enough on that field." Paladin replies. "Besides, I personally find the concept of monetary compensation as a necessary prerequisite for the action of helping someone a rather morally questionable thing."
"Is that a jab at me and the rest of the Network?" Defiant decides to step in. Aizawa, for some reason, doesn't stare daggers at him for cutting in. It could certainly be read that way, and… well, Network is a bit of a touchy subject to him.
He is terrified of how much it grew, perpetually doubtful about his ability to lead it… but he is also incredibly proud of it. In a rather twisted way, it's the one and only thing in his life that he actually felt like he succeeded in (even if too much). So hearing words like that is a bit….
"Would you refuse to help someone in need in front of you because you weren't going to be paid for that?" Paladin asks. Izuku isn't sure if he is confrontational or not. It does sound a bit bad, to be honest. But his face seems rather neutral about it.
"Of course not." Midoriya replies. "I helped people with my powers before I was paid for it, and I'd still do it if the payments stopped." Although he would probably have to find himself a job (at least, unless he'd have Mei to finance him), so he would be doing it less often.
"Then it's not a jab at you." Paladin states. "It's completely understandable to want to be paid for your work. Doubly so when it's a job where you are risking your life. In fact, what we want in exchange for our help is to become part of that."
… what?
Izuku isn't the only one with this type of reaction. Aizawa especially looks like he couldn't believe what he just heard.
"Wait, you want to join the Network?" Defiant actually manages to speak first, although it was clear that Aizawa was about to speak as well. Paladin nods. "Why?"
"It's actually quite simple." Paladin replies. He appears to be rather confident about it, too. "I assume that you figured out what our mission statement is, yes?"
Midoriya nods. Pretty much a self-defense militia, just focused on people of specific worldview.
"That could work in, let's say, normal times." Paladin says. When Aizawa gives him an odd stare, he shrugs. "We don't have the manpower or the resources to do it on our own. Not when who knows how many people out there are amassing their own supervillain brigades while trying to go Overhaul on society. We'll be forced to spread ourselves too thin to make any degree of difference. But…"
"... but the Network has both the numbers and resources to do it." Defiant cuts in. Aizawa is the head of the delegation, yes. But he is the head of the Network. And while he is following the police guidance in most situations, it's still his organization. There is probably a reason why the Commissioner is only listening to this talk for now. "You'll get access to its information network, police assistance and equipment."
Paladin nods. This is, honestly, a rather brilliant idea. There are certain things that are rather questionable, but the idea itself is sound. To begin with, letting so many people into the Network… people from an organization that was very close to being certified as villainous…
If the government was responsible for certifying people and groups as villainous or not AND if the times they were living in were normal ones… they would certainly be classified as villains.
Izuku, naturally, was rather suspicious about the concept.
"The non-metahuman part of the Knights would continue operating as it is." Paladin says. Because of course they borrowed the terminology already. The existence of the superpowers and both superheroes and supervillains is slowly turning into a journalist's secret, at least in Musutafu. "However, at least some of its metahuman members would join the Network. You'd be free to organize them as you see fit."
"... thus giving you insight into the police and Network operations." Aizawa finally decides to comment. "While also tying the Knights with the Network. And since the police are going to need the Network, especially after the Reveal Day… it'll also need you. Not to mention the fact that it'll have to keep an image of a united front no matter what."
Even Izuku realized that. If people stop trusting the Network, the results will be disastrous. For the people, the Network and probably metahumans as a whole.
"Correct." Paladin doesn't seem to cower behind Aizawa's death stare. Whether he would react the same way if the Commissioner didn't have his glasses on is a riddle for the ages. "In exchange you'll get some additional heroes to use as you please, and a lot of valuable intel that'll help you not get wiped out. Because trust me…" He sighs. "The Gunga Mountain raid is going to be a mess."
Well, if that ain't ominous.
"Defiant?" Aizawa decides to inquire the person who's supposed to make the decision.
"We can make a Nabu Mountains branch." Defiant replies. He has some rather mixed feelings about the deal. New recruits are fine, but the circumstances are a bit worrying. "We wouldn't have to worry about information leaks. And we could treat them pretty much as a strategic reserve." They certainly could use some. And not just in Musutafu.
Paladin doesn't comment on that. Chancellor is giving Izuku a hard to summarize stare. Thorn seems vaguely bored. Izuku gets the feeling that he is missing something, but isn't sure what.
"We would also get to know their quirks." Tsukauchi adds from his seat. "I don't like being in the dark about that." Chancellor smirks at that remark.
They really got us good, didn't they? Izuku realizes that the Knights prepared for the talk extremely well. Their offer of merger was something that the police/Network side didn't expect. So they didn't prepare for it. Forcing them to strategize in front of the other delegation. Or at least exchange their opinions on it, betraying their personal opinions on it.
Whose idea was that? Paladin's? Chancellor is giving Izuku some strong 'Gray Eminence behind the throne' vibes, if he's to be honest. But he has no proof.
"I would prefer to make the final decision after finding out what you know." Commissioner decides to be problematic about it. Then again, that's his job. He is also slightly intruding upon Defiant's rights and duties here, but…
"You expect us to give up our leverage?" Chancellor, for the first time since the start of the talk, speaks. His voice feels oddly emotionless. "In exchange for what exactly? You making a decision? That doesn't sound particularly fair."
"I don't think you realize…" Aizawa begins to formulate some very nasty retort. Paladin decides to intervene.
"Now, now, let's not get too confrontational." His smile is actually rather friendly. With his bulky physique, religious connotations, ability to talk quite eloquently AND his apparent nickname, he is beginning to give Izuku some serious DnD paladin vibes. "Commissioner Aizawa told us what Riko is up to nowadays. I believe that returning the favor is a perfectly fine option here. Especially as we happen to know something about Overhaul that the police most likely doesn't."
Oh?
"What would that be?" Aizawa is suddenly very interested in hearing the Knights out. Chancellor doesn't comment on that.
"Do you want to know why he destroyed that mountain village a few weeks ago?" Paladin asks.
Aizawa replies almost immediately.
"... speak." The meeting really is going according to the Knights' plan, isn't it?
(***)
The things are going to go downhill from here, plot-wise. Trust me about it.