The NorthernDireWolf - Want to hear a fun fact? Things are going to continue to escalate with every chapter from now on :D
Triforce Guardian - Actually, yeah. Things just continue to happen around him and it's hilarious.
Shahryar - Thankfully the Iceclimbers are getting better and Overhaul is... errr, well, you're read how things went in this chapter.
MrMateusz - You'll get some of the events summarized and something shown up in detail :V
Tyler4945 - :D
Kilo8 - Still innocent, but don't worry, I'm sure Ko's on it :v
Detrametal - Curious will have her own crack ship, and no, I'm not saying anything :v
Naruto30 - League would get stomped and we all know it.
Guest - Worth it it is :D
(***)
"It was, uhm, honestly a series of unforeseen, errr, complications." Curious says with the eloquence of an expert journalist. "Things, how to put it, unexpectedly escalated."
"That's…" Skeptic glares at her, Trumpet still looking too dead to speak. "...not an answer. Grand Commander, are you willing to join us in spirit and offer something that is actually constructive?"
Koku Hanabata was mostly knocked out by the fact that he switched the TV on just to see a live recording of a massive figure of Destro (made by Geten, of course) battling it out with a kaiju.
This wasn't what he expected to see today.
Skeptic wants to give the man an explanation before he ends up keeling over and dying from sheer stress and shock.
"Well, errr…" Re-Destro raises his head. "... I contacted Ko's attending physician and consulted Midoriya's claims about the mechanics of Overhaul's meta-ability. When she confirmed that, if Izuku wasn't bullshitting me about his power, then he should be able to heal Ko, I then used my numerous contacts to strike a deal with the Shie Hassaikai."
"And here things become complicated, I assume?" Skeptic asks dryly.
"Yes, because Midoriya's intel was outdated." Re-Destro replies, before sighing painfully. "The clan's oyabun was overthrown some time ago by Overhaul, who made sure to not make that public, and was officially just an acting chief due to his boss being ill. Still, we managed to strike a deal. The Shie Hassaikai was interested in obtaining a significant amount of funds in exchange for Overhaul healing the daughter of the wealthiest person in the country."
"So, you set up a meeting." Skeptic says, Re-Destro nodding. "And why was Curious even there?"
"She wanted to, err…" Re-Destro glances at Curious.
"I wanted to see one of the last remaining yakuza clans up close, with an intent to, eventually, write an article about them." Curious admitted.
Skeptic sighs painfully. Curious and her… curiosity. He has no idea if there is a greater power out there in the world. Well, aside from Midoriya Izuku's deep seated love of meta-abilities.
"Alright, what happened then?" Skeptic asks. Trumpet still looks somewhat brain dead.
"We headed to the Shie Hassaikai compound with my personal security detail, all of them active members of the Meta-Liberation Army." Re-Destro continues. "It included Geten, who, according to the falsified paperwork we had made for him three years ago, is a pro-hero at the Deika Hero Agency."
Oh, the things they had to do to allow at least a single member of his security detail to use his meta-ability legally in case of an attack.
"Things went perfectly fine and Overhaul proved himself capable of healing Ko's injuries, restoring her eyesight, and fixing the joints and nerves of her legs." Re-Destro then says, and it's clear that he loves to be able to say those words. "As Curious focused on calming Ko down, I decided to pay Overhaul so that we could all go home to celebrate."
"And then… what exactly happened?" Skeptic asks.
"Well, a little girl showed up." Re-Destro replies. "Apparently her caretaker didn't get the memo that there was a meeting, and brought her out of the underground facility to get some fresh air. For the purpose of maintaining a healthy degree of blood production in her body, judging from what we've found out later."
"I see, I see." Skeptic nods. "What happened then?"
"Overhaul went furious, and started shouting at the girl that her quirk is a curse, that she shouldn't be there, and that it's back to the laboratory for her." Re-Destro replies, clearly angered by the memory alone. "So, being the responsible adult and a CEO that I am, I decided to find a diplomatic solution to this… incident."
"You punched Overhaul through the wall, didn't you?" Skeptic asks dryly.
"Well, yes." Re-Destro admits. "But I did consider a diplomatic solution, I just found it unfeasible. After thinking it over for, errr, five seconds or so."
Not just a little, mistreated, and frail girl, but also some dickwad saying that someone's meta-ability was a curse that shouldn't be used. Yeah, absolutely no wonder why Re-Destro reacted to that the way he did, Skeptic decides.
"At this point, the girl, apparently called Eri, lost control of her meta-ability." Re-Destro continues. "As our security was fighting back the yakuza thugs, she started screaming and emanating quite a lot of light. Curious tried to calm her down, only to find herself enveloped in said light."
"And that's why…" Skeptic glances at Curious, who once again avoids his eyes. "... she lost a solid twenty years of age, being instantly downscaled from what I believe is called 'a prime case of MILF' by the internet people and into…"
"Please never say those words again." Re-Destro cuts in dryly. "Curious, how are you feeling right now?"
"Absolutely brilliant!" Curious - now looking 25 years old at most - replies with a bright smile. "I've sacrificed that part of my life to focus on establishing myself as the head of the Shoowaysha Publishing and a member of the Meta-Liberation Army, but now that I'm young again, I could actually give dating a shot! Have a family! Have as much hot, steaming s…"
"Okaaay, stop that, too much information." Re-Destro sighs painfully. Trumpet just let out something akin to a dying whale sound, only to keep staring into space blankly again.
The Grand Commander isn't sure if he's actually hearing what they are talking about.
"The girl clearly has some permanent de-aging meta-ability." Re-Destro decides to continue. "Which, to be honest, is probably one of the most powerful and useful meta-abilities that I've ever heard of. But she clearly lacks control over it, probably due to a certain motherfucking, cocksucking shitbiscuit telling her to suppress it and never ever use it."
Re-Destro is SLIGHTLY angry at Overhaul. Despite his attempts to stay calm, it leaks out a little.
"So Curious is still alive, because…?" Skeptic asks.
"Because the newest member of my security team acted fast enough, showing personal initiative that she'll be most certainly rewarded for." Re-Destro replies. "Miyuki Tagawa, villain name Toxicity, realized what was happening and hit the girl with a small dose of her own breath, which works as a sleeping gas. Eri lost consciousness before she could rewind Curious into nothingness."
Re-Destro does his best to remember as much as he can about all the members of the MLA, however, he doesn't remember everything. As a result, there are clearly some unpolished gems in its ranks that he missed.
As a result, he has made it an official policy for the Detnerat Company to send him reports on the results of Midoriya's little quirk analyses. Precisely to locate such gems for urgent polishing.
Miyuki Tagawa was one of them. Re-Destro had no idea how potent her capabilities were before she ran into the Midoriya & Geten Flying Meta-Ability Analysis Patrol.
After all, it's one thing to know that someone's meta-ability is 'their body is poisonous' and another to know that they can breathe out a form of a sleeping gas (that doubles as a painkiller and sedative) that doesn't cause allergic reactions in people, works almost instantly and dissolves without leaving a trace.
She was an extraordinary bodyguard material, capable of de-escalating violent arguments without bloodshed simply by breathing in the enemy's general direction.
Yes, Re-Destro is still pissed off that someone with such capabilities ended up on the street due to the government's utterly idiotic policies where someone from a poor household (like she was) couldn't even hope to earn a license, much less become a hero (if only because they were born poor).
Thus, a walking anesthesiologist miracle (that could also work as a perfect, say, orderly in a mental hospital for violent inmates, seriously, the directors of those would have lined up in front of her begging her to work for them, one-upping each other in terms of pay) ended up being forced to try to rob people in the alleyways as a part of a small-time gang due to bad education and lack of prospects in life.
Midoriya's idea of improved support equipment for Toxicity included a variation on the gasmask that stored her knockout gas and could discharge concentrated shots of it through a wrist launcher.
She could set the dose, too. Stronger for bigger people, smaller for smaller people. The minimal dosage ended up safely knocking Eri out, stopping her meta-ability instantly.
Mentioning Toxicity's real name and a villain name in a meeting like this (together with what she did) was the MLA's equivalent of a commendation for an extraordinary service, and implied only good things for her future career.
"Alright, I get what happened thus far." Skeptic admits. It's incredibly stupid in his opinion, but it makes sense. "But can someone please enlighten me as to how this situation somehow escalated into Overhaul growing to approximately 43 meters in height, Geten retaliating by creating a similar-size ice sculpture of Destro, and both resulting kaijus battling it out in the middle of a city as if it was a Godzilla movie? Because I think I'm missing some important middle steps here."
He truly did, yeah.
"Well, following our successful suppression of the yakuza thugs and their executives…" Re-Destro replies. Because honestly, fighting Re-Destro in close quarters with some rather meager meta-abilities was a very bad idea. Chronostasis was the only dangerous one there, and even he went down like a little bitch after discovering that he couldn't pierce through the Stress-enhanced skin of the juggernaut in front of him. "... we decided to find the answer as to why Eri was being treated like this."
"And thus you accidentally, accidentally, obtained the solution to the threat of the Quirk Singularity, that we're all aware was going to destroy Mankind." Skeptic says dryly. "Because you realized that Overhaul was in the works of making a quirk erasing drug. So you stole his computer's hard drive, samples of the drug, and, well, the girl herself. Packing the former two into a conveniently placed suitcase, and having Curious carry the latter. Am I missing something?"
"The suitcase turned out to be one of Overhaul's sidekicks with a mimicry quirk, but that's… like… it has been dealt with already." Re-Destro replies, trying not to shrink a little under Skeptic's glare. "Then Overhaul woke up while we were back in the meeting room, deciding how to exit the compound without drawing the heroes' attention."
"And then?" Skeptic asks him, when the silence grows too long.
"And then I made a mistake." Re-Destro admits. "Because I decided to … errr… give Overhaul a piece of my mind in hopes of correcting his numerous life mistakes."
(***)
"You stupid bastard!" Re-Destro shouts at Overhaul, who is clearly still dazed after the blow to the head that shattered his gas mask, the man on all fours right next to a big hole in the wall. "You solved the Quirk Singularity, created the drug that could be Humanity's salvation, and you tried to sell it on the streets to finance your gang?! What in the everliving fuck's wrong with you, Overhaul?!"
Overhaul's head tilts to the sides a few times, the man clearly trying to wake himself up properly.
"AND WORST OF ALL!" Re-Destro yells at him up close. "YOU'VE REPEATEDLY BUTCHERED A LITTLE GIRL WHILE TELLING HER THAT HER META-ABILITY, THE BLESSING OF INDIVIDUALITY SHE WAS BORN WITH, IS A CURSE TO BE SUPPRESSED!"
Even if you excluded the part where quirk/meta-ability suppression was a stupid mistake, Overhaul was just being an asshole. A genius asshole, yes, but an asshole nonetheless. If he just waited for, say, a few years, before telling the girl that quirks will end the world and that she could help save it, she'd probably donate that goddamn blood on her own!
But no!
He had to butcher her repeatedly in his basement, occasionally patching her up from death itself with his meta-ability!
The fact that Ko is seeing this and Re-Destro wants one of her first sights in life to include Rikiya Yotsubashi being a responsible father and a decent human person actually makes him scream even louder.
Overhaul looks up at him, still on all fours, his eyes torn between being dazed and earth-shattering, murderous fury.
"So, I'm going to take everything from you." Re-Destro stands up. He expects Overhaul to try to attack him with spikes, but he'll boost himself with Stress to resist it before the attack connects. "I'm going to take the girl and give her a happy childhood, and I'm going to steal your research. And you know what? I'm also going to not pay you for healing my daughter, either." He smiles wryly at the downed Overhaul. "So what are you going to do about that, eh?"
Five minutes later, when Overhaul performed a fusion dance on dozens of his (mostly unconscious) yakuza members, becoming a 43-meter tall, hundred-eyed abomination of warped flesh capable of using dozens of meta-abilities and screaming bloody murder, Re-Destro realized that taunting him instead of finishing him might have been a mistake.
(***)
"Grand Commander." Skeptic says, looking exhausted and disappointed more than anything. "What's the MLA's official policy on taunting our enemies?"
"We taunt them once they are dead, because you don't kick someone who's just lying on the ground as they can always stand up and kick you back." Grand Commander recites, before sighing. "Yes, Skeptic, I know. It was my mistake, I was too furious at Overhaul to think. I admit my responsibility for this… incident."
"Good." Skeptic replies dryly. "So I assume that you had Geten fight Overhaul just so that the rest of the delegation could evacuate safely, yes?" Re-Destro nods. "Geten, why the fuck did you make your kaiju look like Destro?"
Geten wakes up. Skeptic is honestly unsure if he was listening to what was being said the whole time, too focused on the painful lack of Izuku Midoriya in the vicinity.
"Well, err, I was watching a historical movie with Izuku about Destro before we left Deika, and… I think I accidentally borrowed the aesthetic." Geten replies, trying to avoid eye contact with Skeptic.
Well, they should all be happy that he didn't make a giant statue of Midoriya Izuku instead because then Mischief would probably show up at Deika to ask questions that Re-Destro wasn't sure how to answer.
"Alright." Skeptic inhales deeply. "Good news is that we didn't lose anyone and Overhaul was eventually terminated by All Might after JSDF softened him up with several hours long artillery bombardment and numerous missile strikes, all while the heroes and the police were evacuating civilians from the vicinity. The only member of the Shie Hassaikai that survived and can potentially talk with the heroes is apparently someone named Kendo Rappa, who was absent from the facility at the time of the Great Japanese Kaiju Battle of '47."
Being able to hack the hero and police networks was a blessing in moments like these. Skeptic was one of the very few people in the country that could pull off something like that, and the second biggest reason (after loyalty contract meta-abilities) why the MLA could exist in secrecy despite its present size.
"How much does he know?" Re-Destro asks. "Shouldn't we find a way to kill him? We have a few good assassins in our ranks."
Skeptic checks his laptop quickly.
"According to the preliminary reports, he was absent from the facility due to enjoying a week-long leave, spending time with his girlfriend, one Otsu Kawauso…" Skeptic reads from the screen, before freezing and exchanging glances with Re-Destro.
"Nevermind then." Re-Destro announces quickly. It's not worth it. It's very much not worth it. "So, now we have to explain somehow what the hell happened there because I have come to believe that our presence on the scene cannot be hidden for long."
"I've already figured out how to spin the tale." Curious activates the moment the talk shifts to her familiar subject. "We'll make it into a sob story of a father seeking to heal his daughter. You heard of a meta-ability that could fix your daughter's injury, however, the whole thing turned out to be a trap. While your daughter was healed, the healer turned out to be part of a yakuza, the rest of them trying to blackmail you with threats of releasing the fact that you had struck a deal with them. When you refused, they attempted to kidnap you and your daughter, not knowing that one of your bodyguards was a pro-hero from Deika."
Oh. Oh.
"Which makes this a perfectly legal fight between hero and villain." Re-Destro understands the point of it. "It was disastrous, and we'll probably have to use Geten's own words to explain the Destro figure, but ultimately Overhaul was an unknown villain that pulled a completely bullshit power-up mid fight that we couldn't predict. And since Chisaki destroyed the compound completely and the fight left no survivors, aside from the absent Rappa, no one will be able to tell the authorities that I and the others used our meta-abilities."
It'll probably hit the Detnerat stock prices for a moment, Re-Destro thinks. Then again, most of the company's stocks are in the hands of the MLA shell companies just to avoid Detnerat from losing too much in case of some connected PR crisis, which sometimes happens when you're building a villain army on the side.
By now, Detnerat had the reputation of an unsinkable company that always got much better after every single crisis in its history.
"This can actually work." Trumpet speaks, suddenly looking completely conscious. Is it the fact that there was a lifeline in front of him? "Two problems, though. First is the girl, second is Curious'… new… aesthetic."
"I love it and I'm not changing it." Curious comments immediately.
"Yes, yes, but we have to somehow explain how it happened." Trumpet replies. "In a way that doesn't make wealthy old people storm our headquarters in Deika to ask to be de-aged too."
Fair point, it was pretty much an immortality-bestowal meta-ability, Eri would be way too popular for her own taste.
"We could say that it's just like plastic surgery." Geten comments. "That Curious is still as old on the inside as she was before it." Somehow she doesn't slap him in the head for putting it that way, but it's clear that she was considering it. "And that doing it actually risks your life due to the mismatch."
…
"What?" Geten asks, the prolonged silence getting a bit too prolonged.
"No, nothing!" Re-Destro replies quickly. They'll need to take a while to get used to the fact that Geten's actually having good ideas nowadays. And ones that do not equal 'kill everyone involved'. "It's a good idea. Now, time to talk about what we are going to do with Eri."
(***)
Eri opens her eyes, before yawning loudly. She's still very sleepy, but…
Actually, her own loud yawn wakes her up. What if someone heard it? What if someone shouts at her to be quiet and not make a mess?!
Then she realizes that she is in a foreign place and she's suddenly a lot more worried.
The bed is fluffy, and comfy, and completely unlike what she slept on the last night. Why would someone put her in such a nice bed?
"I-it's still p-pretty weird." A green haired boy says. Not to her, she can see him talking to someone in a wheelchair. while sitting on a chair right next to her. A girl, with some fabric over her eyes. How weird. "I m-mean, you were h-healed, Koshi, and y-yet…"
"Midori, I need some time to learn how to use my eyes properly." The girl replies, holding the boy's hands. "Thus far my attempts to drive my wheelchair while relying on sight resulted in me almost falling down the stairs because I apparently mistook the decrease in the distance for the stairs growing bigger. Being able to see is weirder and more confusing than I thought!"
"Well, I g-guess?" The boy answers. "It'll t-take us a while, but we should…"
"I think that the little one woke up." A young woman with bi-coloured hair says. Eri didn't notice her earlier and she was actually a little afraid when she suddenly spoke. But at least she isn't screaming at Eri.
(Izuku had a good idea when he heard from Toxicity about the Shie Hassaikai members wearing masks and told her to take her own gas mask off to not scare her).
"Hello there, Eri!" The green-haired boy says while waving at her. Eri, nervously, pulls her quilt all the way up to her nose. "You don't have to be afraid! We won't hurt you."
She doesn't know if she should trust him. Overhaul said that no one would ever want to help her.
"Of course he stops stuttering when he decides that someone needs help." The girl in the wheelchair sighs. "I'm Ko, and that's Izuku, Eri. Do you remember the group that visited Overhaul, before you fell asleep? The man with the big forehead and nose was my father, he took you away from those nasty people that were holding you."
That… Yotsubashi guy? Or Re-Destro, she heard someone call him that. She wasn't sure what it meant. Then again, most adults around her had a nickname like that, and so did heroes, apparently. Were these people heroes?
But Overhaul said that no hero would ever come to help her.
"Y-you should t-take me back." She asks. "O-otherwise Overhaul w-will..." They seem nice. She doesn't want them to be hurt when Overhaul…
"Eri, it's over." Izuku says, sitting on the edge of her bed (she moves away from him, she doesn't want to hurt him with her curse). "Overhaul is gone. Heroes stopped him. He isn't taking you back."
H…he wasn't? But how? He was so scary, everyone was afraid of him, and no one dared to say a word to him. And he was … gone?
"You know what?" Ko suddenly speaks. "I think I know of a funny thing we could do together to celebrate your freedom from that man."
(***)
Re-Destro and his fellow first advisers finish their emergency council, before deciding to break the news to Eri that they decided to look for someone among the MLA ranks that will be interested in adopting her (although probably not before she manages to learn how to control the activation of her meta-ability, they don't want to worsen the girl's apparent trauma).
They come upon Eri and Izuku sitting side by side on the couch, Ko next to it on her wheelchair, and Miyuki Tagawa standing behind the couch, ready to put Eri to sleep if her meta-ability activates again.
"This is sooo weird." Ko says, the blindfold temporarily off. "It's totally not like I imagined it, and… honestly, I can scarcely figure out what I'm looking at, really. Except for Heinz Doofenshmirtz. He looks pretty much like I expected him to."
… of course they are watching that cartoon, should Re-Destro be surprised? Someone from the MLA mentioned to Ko that Doofenshmirtz looks like her dad and has a daughter that he cherishes a lot, and somehow, it became her favorite.
She couldn't even see it, she had enough fun just hearing it.
"We have guests." Toxicity proves once again to have a very respectable degree of situational awareness.
"Daddy!" Ko smiles at him after turning her head to see what was going on. The fact that she could do it and recognize him really warmed his heart. "Eri, do you recognize that person?" She then asks the little girl that Re-Destro saved.
Eri thinks it over for maybe three seconds, before replying.
"D-Dr. D-destroshmirtz?" She then half says, half asks.
In less than two seconds, Ko is laughing so hard that she actually ends up falling from her wheelchair, Re-Destro, and Midoriya almost headbutting during their simultaneous dashes to help her return to her seat.
"D-did I say s-something wrong?" Eri freaks out. Toxicity leans over her from behind the couch's backseat.
"No, quite the opposite." She says. If there is someone in this room that truly relates to Eri with her 'accidental quirk kill trauma' that they managed to get out of her during the past thirty minutes, it's Miyuki Tagawa. "You've said something incredibly funny."
Eri appears to be confused about it.
"Alright." Re-Destro says, having gracefully conceded the position to Midoriya, who promptly helps Ko return to her position in the wheelchair. "We've come to a decision regarding what to do with Eri."
"Daddy, can you adopt her?" Ko says immediately, her standard angelic smile on her face. "Please, I always wanted to have a little sister!"
"Uhm." Re-Destro blinks at his daughter. "Well, I understand that, but you know that my work keeps me rather busy and…" Ko's pleading smile somehow gets even harder to resist. "Ko, listen, I …"
A sound of doors closing behind him. Re-Destro looks in that direction, just to see Trumpet missing from the group of his advisers.
"Where did he go?" He asks, confused.
"Decided to save ourselves some time and went to prepare the adoption papers." Curious replies dryly.