All That's Left

by Mirrond

When All for One died, it was supposed to get better. Japan was supposed to get better. But it didn't. Vigilantes are now as common as heroes and villains, there's a new Trigger epidemic across the country, and things are going from bad to worse. Meanwhile, a group of people has enough of it, and wants to live in peace. But was that ever truly an option?

5. Unicorn

SirNighteye: On my way back from Longshot's Hero Agency.

SirNighteye: I have news.

Nedzu: Oh? Something important?

SirNighteye: We should increase the estimated threat level of the Numbers. And ramp up security concerning this investigation.

SirNighteye: By a sizable degree.

Eraserhead: ugh

Eraserhead: what is it now?

SirNighteye: Marksman noticed a bunch of kids that might have been living on the street, so he launched an investigation into them with the intent of involving child services once he could confirm that they were truly homeless or were otherwise abused.

SirNighteye: He suspected them of being used by some gang to do the legwork on the street.

SirNighteye: He dropped his inquiry into the subject after a letter from Vox kindly asking him to stop getting involved in things that didn't concern him.

TsukauchiN: what sort of letter from a potential villain makes a pro hero drop an investigation into them?

SirNighteye: The one left on their desk by someone looking exactly like them. After said someone spent a full eight hours pretending to be the pro-hero in question, fooling both their sidekicks and all the bio-scanners present in the Agency in the process. While making sure to spend at least ten minutes face to face with every single one of said sidekicks (and also the civilian workers). Meaning that, as Marksman put it, they proved themselves capable of assassinating all of their employees in a single day.

TsukauchiN: … oh, yeah, that works

Eraserhead: are you kidding me

SirNighteye: Unregistered Class-Five impersonation quirk. Voice, DNA, fingerprints, everything was a perfect match to Marksman.

SirNighteye: Depending on the activation factor (that we don't know a thing about), the person in question could probably walk into Nedzu's office tomorrow wearing Eraserhead's body as a disguise and stab the principal in the eye with a pencil.

SirNighteye: While probably framing Eraserhead in the process.

Eraserhead: I hate being used as an example like that, but I hate the fact that it makes sense even more

SirNighteye: And either there is some personality copying element to the quirk in question or its user is a very good actor, as the sidekicks didn't notice anything amiss in their behavior; even Marksman himself saw nothing behaviourally incorrect in the security feed.

SirNighteye: Walking posture, sitting posture, gestures while talking, the way they ate food, everything was perfectly copied. The only incorrectness reported by the sidekicks was the Not-Marksman generally avoiding important subjects to avoid accidentally tripping over lacking knowledge that the real Marksman would have.

SirNighteye: So, chitchat and publicly available knowledge only.

SirNighteye: Despite that weakness, it's still one of the most powerful and dangerous impersonation quirks I've ever heard of. This is a gigantic security problem and I can't stress that enough.

: A question ;), do you think that they are a part of Numbers, or do they have some sort of backer that intervened to scare Marksman off?

SirNighteye: i don't want to even imagine an organization having unrestricted access to the Quirk Healer AND an impersonator of this magnitude.

Nedzu: True!

Nedzu: With a quirk like what Vox has, it's entirely possible that for him it's much easier to find (or even cultivate, depending on what he can actually do) rare and powerful quirks.

Nedzu: Thus far we have no indication of him having contact with any organizations whatsoever.

Nedzu: He seems to be interested primarily in being left alone by the world and I fail to imagine villainous organizations not having demands.

Eraserhead: well I certainly don't want those kids to be villains

Eraserhead: is that all you got from Marksman?

SirNighteye: No.

SirNighteye: He realized that he was outmatched and that he had no evidence to persuade a larger hero agency to take him seriously, so he stood down from active investigation and focused on passive information gathering.

SirNighteye: Gave me his entire database, while looking genuinely relieved that it was off his hands now.

SirNighteye: Can't say I blame him.

Eraserhead: fair, I would be terrified if someone pulled this on me too

: mood ;v

SirNighteye: I'm still looking through the data, in the meantime: Nedzu, can you get that man some support?

SirNighteye: He is doing a great job despite being badly outgunned in his neighborhood, and even when Numbers pulled this on him he kept gathering intel in hopes of delivering it to any larger agency that would come asking and thus he could at least hope that they would believe him.

SirNighteye: That deserves some recognition.

Nedzu: I'd like to, but it's not easy. Not nowadays.

SirNighteye: Didn't you drop your money left and right for years.

Nedzu: That was before the insurrections.

Nedzu: Guess I'll elaborate now to get it over with.

Nedzu: The Government wasn't fully aware of just how divided Hero Society was, in big part thanks to the HPSC not wanting them to know beforehand.

Nedzu: Then the insurrections came and the Prime Minister's office discovered that the pro-heroes, the foundation of the society as a whole, were split between a handful of secret societies/cabals/political parties.

Nedzu: First the MLA-aligned heroes launched a quirk supremacist coup, then the HPSC that was supposed to squash it was embroiled in an effective civil war against an internal revolt of Paragons led by Invincible, whose very existence implied that the HPSC plotted a coup of its own.

Nedzu: Then the Government asked the heroes and while my faction and a lot of independents answered, Miruko and Gang Orca turned out to be the heads of the Table of Rejects, a quasi-secret (I knew, a lot of heroes knew, the Government didn't and that's the problem here) mutual-support society for heteromorphic and 'villainous quirked' heroes.

Nedzu: And the government discovered it when the heroes in question started taking their sweet time delaying their response to the MLA coup to let Geten pummel the HPSC as much as possible, and it's a journalist's secret that the MLA was courting the Table of Rejects and the delay makes the Government suspect that Miruko and Gang Orca considered saying yes.

Nedzu: (in my opinion they didn't, they just wanted the Commission to bleed before intervening, for the record)

Nedzu: I might have been crucial in suppressing the insurrections, but no one up there trusts me fully - just as they wouldn't trust any person that isn't an elected politician and has that much influence in politics and beyond it - and I know for certain that there is an entire task force of the Public Security Intelligence Agency dedicated to tracking my activity (just as there is another one covering the Table leadership) because the Gov realized that we can both launch a coup with a serious chance of success at our leisure.

Nedzu: How do you all think they'll react to me suddenly drowning local hero agencies with money?

Eraserhead: this is incredibly stupid

Eraserhead: but familiar

Eraserhead: underground hero network has a third PSIA task force on it and we all know it

: Aye

SirNighteye: So they would worry that you're securing UA's surroundings (i.e Musutafu) as part of preparing a coup or just strengthening your position in relation to the Government.

Nedzu: Yes.

SirNighteye: They would also, in the worst case scenario, discover the Numbers and do who knows what.

Nedzu: True!

SirNighteye: You're not worried about the HeroNET getting compromised?

Nedzu: No, that would require getting the World Heroes Association involved and I have friendly faces there so I'd know.

Nedzu: But I prefer to avoid worrying the Government anymore, it's jumpy enough and for honestly valid reasons.

Nedzu: I'll try to get some of my friendly faces in the business circle to support Marksman with donations and maybe fund the re-establishment of Rapier's Hero Agency to give him some friendly faces west of Hosu River, but it'll take a while and it'll have to be done in a more natural-looking way to not make it look as if I'm supporting them.

Nedzu: It will also be less than Marksman most likely deserves.

Nedzu: Anything more to add, Sir Nighteye? Have you found anything in the database yet?

SirNighteye: A few things.

SirNighteye: Marksman did a good job with it.

SirNighteye: 1. I have a map of confirmed sightings throughout Musutafu.

SirNighteye: This gives us a few locations that appear to be hotspots for Numbers activity.

SirNighteye: Aside from confirmation that the Labyrinth is their base that's not a lot of new intel, we knew about the soup kitchen, a handful more are just part-time jobs, the only odd thing is the old fishing wharf north of Labyrinth.

SirNighteye: 2. A small database of numbers and their rough physical descriptions, nothing there seems to be enough to run them through a police database but it's something to start our own intel gathering with.

SirNighteyet: The highest recorded number to date is 39. Marksman confirms that sightings of the single digits are almost unheard of. They are practically urban legends of their own at this point.

SirNighteye: Marksman thinks that they exist, but they almost never leave the Dagobah Labyrinth.

SirNighteye: He also noted down a gossip that one of the Numbers is an impersonator, apparently number 12, but he had no evidence to support it.

SirNighteye: 3. The big thing: the Numbers apparently have some sort of contact with the Abegawa Tenchu Kai, a yakuza clan whose territory is adjacent to the Dagobah Labyrinth.

Eraserhead: oh?

Eraserhead: doesn't that count as having contacts with villains?

SirNighteye: They are more of a gray zone, yet to receive an official villain designation.

SirNighteye: One of Marksman's sidekicks took a picture of Number 10 talking with Rojiya Yonenaga [head of the ATK] in front of some warehouse.

SirNighteye: Messy indigo hair. Nickname: Hijack. Marksman notes that he suspects Hijack of being Vox's representative of some sort or perhaps his second-in-command. Quirk - unknown. Might be quirkless or have a mental quirk. Seems to be carrying a taser for self-defense.

SirNighteye: I believe that the Abegawa Tenchu Kai will be our next stop.

Nedzu: You think they'll talk with us?

SirNighteye: I can at least try.

SirNighteye: Tsukauchi, what's your opinion on their clan?

TsukauchiN: They are less of a pain in the ass than most of the villains in the area, I give them that much

TsukauchiN: moved in Musutafu a few years ago, from Tokyo, after some altercation with local vigilantes

TsukauchiN: stick to the old yakuza ways, they run a few gambling houses and brothels in western musutafu, run protection rackets typically targeted at larger companies while steering free from small local businesses, run some loan sharking business too

TsukauchiN: Indulged in some not-quite-vigilantism by beating up some random local villains intruding onto their territory for an improvement in publicity and so that the police and heroes consider them less of a priority target

TsukuachiN: I hate to admit it but they've carved out a turf in western Musutafu and are basically running it as a combination between police and local government

TsukauchiN: for as long as you pay a moderate tax to them, they'll keep villains off your back, even solve local arguments

TsukauchiN: one time some woman had a massive marital argument with her husband (who was physically abusive), but she was the one earning money for their protection tax, so a few yakuza thugs showed up and promptly sent said husband to a hospital with several broken ribs and a gentle suggestion to move out and not cause issues on their turf

TsukauchiN: Two cases where villains damaged the property of some local businesses that paid their protection taxes ended with the ATK financing the rebuild, so their 'protection tax' counts as property insurance for as long as the damage was caused by villains that they were supposed to protect them from

SirNighteye: Huh.

SirNighteye: Someone got very enterprising in the absence of government influence over the area.

TsukauchiN: very, we're trying not to touch them, because their move to Musutafu changed them from medium-sized fishes in a big pond to apex predators in a small pond, most of their execs should be classified as A-Rankers, one or two with potential to be S-Rankers; they would all walk through Marksman and his sidekicks without noticing they were fighting someone

TsukauchiN: besides, they are popular among the locals and no one feels like knocking them out right now and risking another bloody turf war, so the police is currently focused on slowly gathering evidence for their criminal activities and avoiding confrontation

SirNighteye: Do you think they'll talk with us?

TsukauchiN: That depends on too many factors for me to predict it

TsukauchiN: they don't like the police - obviously - but if, say, All Might's sidekick shows up on their doorstep, they might choose the 'avoid confrontation' route and at least tell us something

TsukauchiN: I can't speculate anything more without knowing what sort of deal they made with the Numbers though

Nedzu: It's likely to betray Sir Nighteye's involvement into their case to the Numbers.

Nedzu: Are we ready for that?

SirNighteye: I don't think we have an awful lot of choice on that field. Besides, if Vox is as cautious as we suspect him to be, it's likely that he knows I visited Marksman and already suspects that it was about him.

Nedzu: I see, I see.

Nedzu: Anything else to report?

Eraserhead: had a patrol close to the Labyrinth last evening, I can confirm that Numbers are present in the area

Eraserhead: i believe i saw the soup kitchen delegation returning to the Labyrinth, so it's most likely their headquarters as suspected

Nedzu: Good, good.

Nedzu: I in the meantime managed to find something truly delightful!

SirNighteye: Oh?

Nedzu: I'm at this point 90% certain that the fire that killed Midoriya Izuku and his mother was staged - by the Midoriyas. They didn't die in it, yes. But it wasn't a kidnapping or a struggle - they wanted to disappear and used the fire to cover all evidence and make people believe that they died.

Nedzu: No idea what happened to them afterwards, the cover-up has been… good.

Nedzu: Disappearing without a trace and living elsewhere under a different name and identity feels like a logical (if slightly extreme) response to your son developing the sort of quirk that the Quirk Healer has.

Nedzu: What's more, I have confirmed without a shred of doubt that Midoriya Inko was/is the former supervillain known as Mischief.

SirNighteye: …You're kidding?

Nedzu: nope!

Eraserhead: what's his father's quirk?

Nedzu: Firebreath, Midoriya Izuku's quirk is either a random mutation or his parents' quirk registry was faked to a smaller or greater degree.

Eraserhead: does that count as a confirmation of identity for Vox?

Nedzu: That's still not a 100% match, but the fact that pursuing Vox's identity led us to a disappeared relative of an S-Rank villain is telling, to say the least.

Eraserhead: I see, please continue

Nedzu: Midoriya Inko apparently suffered some spinal injury, which might explain Mischief suddenly vanishing from the scene.

Nedzu: And, clearly, deciding to focus on her family.

Nedzu: I'm still investigating Midoriya Hisashi, her husband, but I'm almost one hundred percent certain that his entire identity is fake.

Nedzu: In fact I'm yet to be convinced that he actually existed! Inko might have been a single mother for reasons unknown the whole time

Eraserhead: this is just getting better and better with every new discovery, isn't it?

Nedzu: I assure you, Eraserhead, that I absolutely love every second of it

Eraserhead: of course you do

: yeah :V really living up to the mad rat god stereotype aren't you?

Nedzu: How nice of you to say that!

SirNighteye: Also that just leaves us with the Abegawa Tenchu Kai.

Eraserhead: when do we go visit them?

SirNighteye: We?

Eraserhead: I have a reputation on the street, making them known I'm on the case might give them an additional incentive to calm down

SirNighteye: That's reasonable. Tsukauchi?

TsukauchiN: I'll phone them and 'suggest' a meeting. Preferably tomorrow. Me, Eraserhead and Sir Nighteye.

Eraserhead: great

(***)

The clan headquarters is a large, three-story building in a seedier district. There're some clan members hanging around it, but someone already told them that the guests were invited and they let them in without causing any trouble.

By the time the visitors reach the room used by the Abegawa Tenchu Kai's executives for official meetings, they are painfully aware of one thing: the yakuza clan they are visiting is more dangerous than they thought. Oh, weapons and so on were well hidden, but they noticed a surprising amount of support items.

"Please, sit down." Rojiya Yonenaga, known under the street name of Manhole (it wasn't the villain name, the clan didn't respect those, although the difference was academic), announces.

He's a well-built man with a sizable strength and endurance-enhancing quirk, who seemed to have an odd habit of collecting manhole covers that he also used as a curious combination between melee weapon, a shield and a throwable weapon.

The best picture of the way Abegawa Tenchu Kai conducted its business was the fact that Rojiya always had one of his underlings stand guard until the police arrived after stealing a manhole, just to make sure that no one fell down the hole by accident. Nuisance to the locals rather than a menace, for as long as you made sure to not appear rude to him.

The remaining executives are Tetsu (who had some armor quirk), Haruhisa (elderly man with a lot of scars and a transformation-based strength quirk) and, finally, Soji. A man with a helmet, hammer and a thunder quirk.

As far as Sir is aware after reading the data the police had on them, they're rather capable. Just as Tsukauchi said, A-Ranks, if they were officially designated as villains. It would be a fairly close battle if the meeting ended in one, especially with the regular yakuza members on standby, ready to barge in.

"So, what brings the long arm of the law to our establishment?" Rojiya adds when they are all seated. Executives on one edge of the table, the visitors on the opposite one.

The atmosphere isn't particularly tense. Both heroes and the policeman refuse the alcohol, claiming that they are working. Tetsu looks especially saddened by the disrespect shown to his favorite drink. He treated it very seriously.

"Numbers." Detective Tsukauchi replies. Sir sighs seeing the familiar reaction. It's like Marksman times four. Faces freeze for a moment, and then the calmness (and some colors) is gone from them.

"I figured out that someone would eventually start digging into them." Rojiya says finally. He sounds… dry. Tired, maybe? "I'm not going to help you catch any of them. But I can tell you a few things. Consider this a gesture of my clan's good will. What do you want to know?"

Soji looks at him with a sudden spike of worry on his face. Rojiya dismisses him with a shake of his head.

"You're ready to talk with the police about them?" Sir Nighteye says, trying not to sound confrontational, or as if he suspected Yonenaga of dishonesty. The people in front of him treated such things seriously.

"I've spent a significant part of my childhood on the street." Yonenaga replies calmly. "I can empathize with them to a degree. For now they are doing pretty well, but eventually, as they keep growing older, their little Peter Pan-o-topia is inevitably going to face completely new hurdles and attract the attention of groups that aren't going to be deterred by their urban legend reputation. For reasons I'm planning to share with you later on in this talk, I genuinely believe that regardless of their own will, they should be taken off the street as soon as possible. For their own good."

"And you get nothing out of it?" Sir Nighteye asks, his eyes squinting on the man.

"I get peace." Manhole replies calmly. "The ability to continue doing my business in peace without having to worry about groups beyond my ability coming in to try to dig intel on the Numbers. Starting from, it seems, the sidekick of the Symbol of Peace."

That's his game, Sir Nighteye realizes. At least partially it was all done to maintain their 'we're yakuza with rules of honor and common human decency, not villains' image, all while appearing that way to people close to All Might himself. After all, not all villains were immediately arrested, some were better kept in place for as long as they didn't go too far, especially in situations such as the current one - where dismantling ATK would mean starting a turf war between several much nastier villain crews.

It wasn't a bad idea. Yonenaga didn't expect protection, but he hoped for the occasional minor favor exchange and the off-the-script confirmation that the UA wasn't going to try to uproot his clan. After all, Eraserhead was also there, and everyone in Musutafu knew about his connection to the UA.

"What's your business with the Numbers?" Detective asks, clearly reading the lengthy silence as a bit too lengthy. That's the most important question to ask right now.

"You could say that we are their PR department." Rojiya replies. Sir is honestly surprised by that statement. "We helped spread the gossip about the Numbers and how dangerous they are. We also gently explain to newcomers from outside of Musutafu that the Dagobah Labyrinth is a bad place to be in. In a way, we are acting as if it's part of our turf. We also inform Vox about… developments among the local villains that could somehow affect the Numbers."

They talked earlier with Tsukauchi about the ways in which he would (discreetly) inform them that they heard a lie. He made none of them.

"In exchange for?" The detective asks. "You aren't doing this for free."

"Actually, technically we do." Rojiya replies with a faint smile. Eraserhead stares at him strangely. "We aren't getting paid for it. Neither in money, nor in services or goods. Instead, we are the only group in Shizuoka that can buy things from them. Their representative, Hijack, arrives once a month with a list of goods and the pricing. We pick what we want, give him the money and a few days later everything arrives at one of our warehouses."

Truth. Sir is growing increasingly surprised with the way the talk goes. Numbers are oddly competent (if not hypercompetent), but what exactly can they be selling? Support items, perhaps. Yeah, that makes sense.

"What are they selling?" Sir decides to ask, in the end. There might be more than just the support items.

"Lots of things." Rojiya replies. "Support items, very high quality ones and for a very modest price. We also had them replace all our computers and phones and upgrade their security a few months ago. I had several hackers try to hack them as a test and they all sung praises for whoever set them up. Once again, the price was low when compared to what you get on the market." He seems to be considering whether to say something or not for a few seconds, before adding further words. "Finally, drugs. But those come with restrictions. "

Oh dear, as Nedzu would say.

"Drugs?" Tsukauchi asks immediately. The mood in the room tenses.

"Strange ones, and before you ask, we're forbidden from selling or giving them to others." Yonenaga replies. "Besides, we don't traffick drugs per policy. It's all for our own use. And for as far as we know, none of them are addictive. Medical drugs, in short, although they clearly weren't produced in any legal pharmaceutical company. Hijack mentioned that they stole the recipes from someone, and if said someone notices them being used in Musutafu, things will get ugly. Considering how dangerous the Numbers appear to be, we've figured out that keeping those drugs hidden is a good idea." Yonenaga's eyes narrow. "I hope you won't do anything stupid about it, yes?"

"Naturally." Sir Nighteye nods. "This entire investigation is strictly confidential. Could you tell us more about those drugs?"

"They're called Overtrigger, Boost and Restore." Yonenaga replies. All names in English, oddly enough.

Sir dislikes the first name especially. Trigger is depressingly common these days, especially among various rioters and lowlifes. Nobody knows for certain who is supplying them, but Sir Nighteye is almost certain that the Quirkless Liberation Front is involved.

"Overtrigger is basically Trigger, but the effects are less intense." Rojiya continues. "In exchange, it's not addictive and doesn't make you stupid or aggressive. Boost is a powerful physical stimulant, makes you stronger and faster for a while without amplifying your quirk, instead the strength of the strengthening depends on how powerful your quirk is. Restore, in the meantime, is basically a strong energy drink, but for quirks. Something to stave off quirk exhaustion for a while. As much as we looked into, we didn't find anyone else out there offering them."

Sir stares at the yakuza executive in silence. He isn't the only one. Eraserhead and Tsukauchi are shocked as well. Weaker (how much?) Trigger without the negative side-effects?! A drug to cure quirk exhaustion?! Neither of them ever heard of something like that. They didn't even know that was possible to make.

The existence of those drugs and the support items trade explained why the Abegawa Tenchu Kai recently developed ambitions and began to expand. All probably according to Vox's plan, since this means that their living smokescreen is more intimidating. And more likely to divert problems away from the Dagobah Labyrinth.

"Is… is there a chance that you'll hand us some samples?" Tsukauchi asks. Rojiya shakes his head.

"No. I promised to not share them with any outsider." The clan head replies promptly. "On the honor of our clan. I'm not going to budge on that. As far as I'm aware, you have a lie detecting quirk. It should confirm that those drugs exist, but I'm not going to give you anything."

The H-word is thrown around. No sense trying to push. The people in front of them aren't (technically) villains, so they can't just try to attack them to get their answers. That would be assault. And they don't have the evidence to justify it.

Contrary to the popular picture of pro-heroes, unless there was a crime in progress, you needed a warrant to engage people in combat. Especially on their own property, and especially in their own home.

"Fine." The detective knew that there was no point continuing that line. They would only offend their hosts, and that would end up badly. "Anything else they give you?"

"Healing." Rojiya promptly replies. "They have someone with a healing quirk. Probably a powerful one. When one of us is badly wounded, I phone a certain number. Then we deliver the wounded member before the Labyrinth, and leave them there. I get a call back two or three days later, and then we pick up our man or woman where we left them, their wounds healed. They are apparently kept unconscious during the whole time, so they don't know anything about the Labyrinth's insides." He shrugs. "Once again, the price is very modest. And they don't ask questions."

"What's the worst injury that was healed that way?" This time it's Sir that asks. Considering All Might's injuries, he is personally interested whenever the words 'powerful healing quirk' are involved.

"That would be Soji." Rojiya answers. "He was jumped by several villains. Lost an arm, lots of blood and was stabbed with a knife several times. Returned three days later, looking as if nothing happened to him."

Sir - one more time, this conversation is rather plentiful when it comes to moments like these - stares at the yakuza. This is at least Recovery Girl's level. Most likely more, considering the arm part. She could reattach limbs if she acted fast enough and the slice was clean, but unless the Numbers somehow recovered Soji's arm…

"We were in a hurry that time, so they picked him up on their own." Rojiya seems to be quite enjoying the shock on the heroes' faces. In his own twisted way. "Told us to leave the building, leaving Soji and the phone behind us. We returned five minutes later and we only found the phone. Considering that and how their regular deliveries work, I'm almost certain that they have someone with a warp quirk as well. Don't quote me on that, though."

Sir is as shocked as he is worried. There is a nasty frown on his face. Part of him suspects that this is some gargantuan joke and he is falling for it. The Numbers are slowly approaching a ridiculous level of ability. They are children, dammit! Skillful, but…

Well, unless there is someone hiding behind them. That would explain a lot. Is someone using the Numbers to test new drugs and support items? But there were easier ways of achieving that.

The presence of a warp quirk would also explain how they manage to 'disappear' people attacking Numbers out there on the spot. Numbers probably carry some sort of panic button (unsurprising, considering the amount of support items they have access to). Someone is attacked, they press the button and soon the reinforcements arrive through a warp gate.

But it required a precise long-range warp quirk to achieve.

"Anything you can tell us about their members?" Tsukauchi moves the subject to a slightly saner field.

"I didn't see a lot of them." Rojiya replies. "Besides Hijack. I met Vox at the beginning. After Carnage vanished and the area around the Labyrinth opened up, I knew that the Numbers were involved. And that they don't take attacks on them nicely. So I went alone to the Labyrinth and waited on the edge of it. Ten minutes later Vox emerged and asked me what I wanted. So I told him that I'm from the yakuza, that I'm inheriting the local streets from Carnage and that I know that he took him down. So I came to discuss how to be a good neighbor. He looked at me for like half a minute, before he offered the terms. And I agreed."

"Was he alone during the negotiations?" Sir asks. This sounds strange for someone as paranoid as Vox apparently is. Also it's hard to say if the word 'negotiations' is a correct one, since Rojiya just agreed to the stated terms.

"No." Yakuza replies. "He had Hijack with him. Plus a creepy looking kid with light blue hair and a realistic looking human hand instead of a facemask. It had a number eight tattooed on it, but I didn't hear his name. There was also a girl with a number two on her mask, looking rather scrawny and staying quiet in the background, but… I'll be honest, her glare was actually intimidating. I sharpened my instincts on the streets for most of my life, and they were rather clear that they wanted me to not fight that girl."

"One last question." This time it's Eraserhead. "Do you have any idea what the Numbers actually are?" He doesn't specify what he means by 'what they are', but Rojiya figures out the meaning well enough.

"I know the answer." Yonenaga replies, surprising them all. "In fact, it's the reason I mentioned later. The one for me wanting them off the street. I got curious, once, and asked Hijack about it. He said that they are all children and teenagers that became victims of the war between the villains and heroes and decided that they don't want anything to do with either side. And since they can't hope to be truly left alone on their own, they banded together to live in peace." He sighs. "They are apparently hiding, because if either side learns of them, it will attempt to use them for their war again."

"That's an extreme overexaggeration." Sir immediately replies. He is angry. Is that how Vox is keeping the other Numbers in line? With threats like this? "They are runaway kids who were told that they are going to be used by the adults if they are caught. This is child abuse."

He decides to ignore the part where Nedzu seems to salivate at the thought of getting Vox in his paws. He is going to have to do something about it, although if Vox is really using fear to intimidate the other kids, then…

Eraserhead and Tsukauchi seem to be agreeing with him.

"Oh, no." Rojiya shakes his head with sadness on his face. "They will most certainly be used if they are caught, by either heroes or villains. With one justification or another. You see, Hijack told me what are the basic requirements to be recruited into the Numbers. First one is being underage. Second is being on the run from villains or heroes. And the third one…" He sighs. "... is being a bearer of a Class Four or Five quirk."

(***)

Feel free to speculate the heroes' reaction to the last sentence from this chapter lmao.

Plus here, get some more breadcrumbs about the past events :P