Summary: In a grand debut to the world, the League of Villains make their appearance, but something is off about these typical run-of-the-mill villains, and the students are pushed into a corner, forced to fight for their lives could have expected. While students find themselves thrown over the deep end, the two masterminds of the attack observe and learn. All while Overhaul profits from it.
Chapter 8: Encounter, League's Debut!
As the mass of people approached, the students found themselves taking steps back out of fear, how could they not? Sure, they wanted to be heroes and knew fighting villains could be a daily occurrence, but they all rightfully thought that would come later, after months if not years of training and guidance. This? This was them being thrown into the deep end without any damn floaties! "Villains? How did they even get in?" Kaminari asked, seeing the crowd of at least 5 dozen people slowly approaching.
"Thirteen-sensei, doesn't the school have trespasser alarms?" Yaoyorozu, one of the calmer students, asked their teacher as surely, the school had security and countermeasures for this. She could disregard the wrap as those kinds of quirks are incredibly rare but U.A. must have had some kind of alert that would be blaring right now, perhaps it was silent.
"We do, but they aren't going off." Thirteen replied, her face unseen but her voice making it clear she was thinking about the situation.
"They probably have someone with a jamming quirk, but if that's the case, it means that whoever that is would be hidden, far from any danger." Todoroki voiced her thoughts correctly, looking around as he recalled seeing the lights blow out, which seemed to imply this was the work of an electric type quirk-most likely, one that blew the system.
"Which means that we can't wait for someone to notice and get their ass here to check up on us, we're on our own," Bakugo concluded, his eyes narrowing at the approaching mob of villains, but while he had next to no experience with fighting them, he swore there was something strange about these, and he wasn't the only one to get that feeling.
"Something's…off about them." Shoji, the tallest of the students spoke up, one of his tentacle arms shifted to grow an eye which he used to look towards them.
"What, what is out of place in the literal horde coming to kill us?" Mineta yelled at him in fear, but he didn't react to it and merely answered the question.
"A lot of them are…twitching…and they have pulsating veins." He replied, noting that many had bulging muscles, something that wasn't so strange as quirks did weird things but for it to be a trait shared by so many was. Upon hearing his student's observation, Aizawa's eyes narrowed as he looked closer at the members of the group, not their numbers and he could make out many did have bulging muscles but that they also had distinctive pulsing red veins. He had seen this before and could only mutter a curse under his breath.
"Of course, that's the case." He lowered his goggles into his eyes and gripped his scarf, this wasn't going to be easy but they didn't have the luxury of such, such was the life of a pro.
"Thirteen, start the evacuation. Get the students out and as far from here as you can. If they do have a jamming quirk, it's most likely not too large an area, else the rest of the school might have caught on by now." He instructed his fellow educator as she nodded her head as he stepped forward.
"Understood." She only got out one word as Aizawa leapt right into the action, in full hero mode as he rushed the villains.
Seeing his approach, three of the villains in the front of the group smirked, one of whom dressed plainly but has a clear mutation which altered his fingers into gun barrels. "Shooter squad, let's get him."
"Wasn't it supposed to be just Thirteen and All Might? Who's this guy?" At his side, a woman with vine-like hair asked, not recognising the underground pro rapidly approaching them.
"Don't know, don't care! But he has to be an idiot to be charging us head one by himself." Another replied smugly as the group moved to attack, but in an instant, it all went wrong as they found they couldn't use their quirks.
"What?"
"My quirk!"
Eraserhead didn't give them a second to think as he made his move, keeping his gaze on them, he wrapped them all in his cloth, swinging them around before bringing them all together, slamming their heads into one another with enough force for there to be an audible thud from the impact. With the three dropping to the floor, knocked out he moved on to the next and dealt with them as well before he landed in the middle of the swarm, most of their ranged attackers dealt with, buying the students time. "Idiots! He can erase quirks just by looking at you, you can't just charge him!" Eraser cursed under his breath again, he had hoped that these gutter punks wouldn't know who he was but that was wishful thinking.
"Erase? Well, can you do anything about mutants?" One of the larger mutants asked as he charged the pro, his four arms ready to punch him into the ground.
Aizawa saw him coming and prepared, ducking under his blow, he kicked him in the midsection as hard as he could, pushing him back as he ducked under a sneak attack from behind, his binding cloth wrapping around the offending limb and sending him into the multi-armed villain. "Unfortunately, no, but even with your increased power-" He jumped over the third attack and wrapped her in cloth as well, swinging her large body around like a flail to take out a few others before he brought her down like a hammer on the still recovering villains that had first attacked her. "Your technique is lacking." He finished as the impact rung through the air.
However, while it appeared like he was cutting through them like a blade through flesh, Aizawa could tell this wasn't going to be easy as even when his gaze was suppressed, his blows didn't deal the same effect, forcing him to strike even harder while he worked as hard to avoid their blows. One of which from a man who he was looking at created a small crater in the concrete fall and would have landed if he hadn't dodged. 'Even without their quirks, they're stronger than typical gutter trash, but if they're using it…' He thought to himself, the man already building a sweat thanks to just how far this was from his normal operation style.
Watching all this play out, the two villains along with their monster remained in the back, obverting how Eraser managed to hold his own, even if he wasn't making any progress towards them. "He's skilled in martial arts, and with those goggles of his, it's impossible to tell where he's looking at any given time." The mist teleporter stated, his gaze focused on the goggles over all else.
"Not bad for a rouge class. Even against buffed goons, he's holding his own." The other added as he had read up on the pro, his master having detailed records of him, but they had claimed he wouldn't rush them like this, most likely they were based on an older version.
"It would appear so but they're still keeping him busy, someone like him isn't built for this kind of fight, especially in this context." The mist villain replied as even from this distance, they could make out that he was starting to sweat and need to exert more force than he most likely used to take down opponents.
"Kinda sucks that Nomu won't be used here, but these mobs aren't worth our ultimate move." The hand villain replied as sure, they brought it along to kill All Might but since he wasn't spawning, and this guy wasn't enough of a threat, he now felt like he over prepared. However, while he was handling them well enough given the situation, both villains noticed that there was a tell-to when his quirk seemed to be active. "Oh…I see." The hand villain smiled once he realized it, his companion coming to the same conclusion.
Still, while it would be fun to continue to watch Eraser burn through all his skill and magic points, they had something else to do here. "Kurogiri, you know what to do." The mist villain nodded before he vanished to carry out his second assignment of the day.
With the students, they were all rushing away from the stairs and back towards the exit. "Keep moving students, while Eraser keeps them busy." Thirteen guided them but they only made it halfway before a pool of black mist formed before them, from which the mist villain appeared before them, his size being closer to an elephant standing on its hind legs than a man.
"I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He told them as they all froze, with Thirteen stepping to face him and keep the students behind her. "It is a pleasure to make your acquittance, we are the League of Villains. Rude it might be, but we have invited ourselves into the home of Japan's finest heroes, U.A. High to do but one thing: Ensure that All Might, the symbol of peace, breaths his last." He introduced himself, sounding calm and refined in his manner but this helped them little as the students looked on in fear and confusion.
"What?"
"Kill All Might? That's crazy!"
Some of the students shared their thoughts on their plan as coming to fight them was something that made some sense, maybe even the teachers but to do all this to challenge All Might was insane, he had never lost a fight, he was the number one for a reason! Seeing all this, Kurogiri didn't react in any negative way, his eyes slitting almost from amusement. "I understand your confusion, but we must move on. It was our understanding that he was supposed to be here today, was there a change in plans by any chance?" Thirteen filed that away for the moment, as she and the rest of the staff could worry about HOW these villains knew their schedule after she ensured the student's safety.
"Well, it doesn't matter at the moment, I have my part to play in all this." Thirteen wasn't going to let him do that, uncapping a finger, she was about to use her quirk on him but before she could, two of her students rushed him despite her calling for them to stop. Kirishima and Bakugo didn't wait as they jumped at the villain, one with his explosions ready and the other with a hardened fist, both made contact with a bang, kicking up some dust as they landed.
"Before you try and fight All Might, how do you plan on getting past all of us?!" Kirishima asked the man through the smoke kicked up from their attack. He wasn't about to just let them walk all over them; their numbers be damned. However, to his and Bakugo's surprise, they saw that their attack dealt no damage as the villain merely reformed his misty body.
"Oh my, that was a close one, but one should have expected such," The villain started with a compliment to them. "Those chosen few that call U.A. their school are truly golden apples." His words seemed to take on a slightly impressed and nostalgic tone but his glowing eyes had no mercy in them.
"Get away from him, now!" Thirteen yelled at the two, but it was too late as Kurogiri expanded his quirk to encompass the entire area, engulfing the entire class.
"But let us see how well the golden apples stand to a little bruising." With that, he opened numerous portals underneath the students to send them away, and while some managed to avoid this fate, once he pulled back the curtain, he could see that a little over 3 fourths of the class were gone, leaving him with but a small group and the Rescue Hero Thirteen to deal with, a number well within his capacity as he went at it.
If Tomura was honest with himself, he was pretty bored. He had made sure to prepare for his big day, gathered all the gutter punks he could and even got his hands on enough Venom to shoot up half of them and give his Nomu a quadruple dose of the stuff to make sure that it could get the job done. But as he looked at Eraser's beaten body, he felt bored as the man lasted longer than he expected, no doubt he didn't slack on the stamina meter, but he still fell to the horde who presented his beaten and battered body to him. He wondered if he should kill him, but decided against it on a whim, the man deserved that much for being such a badass in his book.
After he took a quick head count and saw that Eraser had managed to take out a 3rd of the goons he had brought to the Plaza, he noticed Kurogiri reappear next to him. "Oh, you're back. Did you handle things?"
"Thirteen is down, though no dead. I managed to scatter most of the students to the planned drop points, but…" Tomura turned to his companion, an irritated look behind the hand he wore on his face. He had hoped to hear that 'Yes, Thirteen was dead and so were a few students.'
"But what?" He asked the man who bowed to him slightly in apology.
"I'm afraid that one of them managed to get past me and escape, they're no doubt on their way to alert the teachers," Kurogiri reported as he had been caught off guard by their efforts, more so the girl with the gravity quirk as it brought the speedster just enough time to escape. Hearing this, Shigaraki was silent for a moment before he started to growl in frustration, scratching at his neck.
"Kurogiri….If you weren't our escape plan, I'll dust you for that fuck-up." He told the man who merely bowed once more, sure that he wasn't lying about that statement as he had killed people who annoyed him in the past.
"My apologies."
"I've already dealt with Eraser," He pointed to the down-and-out pro. "He lasted longer than I thought, but he just doesn't have the stats for this kind of game."
"So, shall we retreat?" Kurogiri asked him, getting him to hum as he thought about it as their main goal was to kill All Might, but hadn't spawned yet and while he could throw his goons against any more teachers that showed up thanks to Kurogiri's fuck-up, that wasn't the point, nor would it be as fun if they came with the cops and overwhelmed them. However…
"Not yet. Send the remaining to handle the most annoying ones," He instructed the man as he pointed towards the remaining grunts he had with them in the plaza. "I want this to be remembered."
"As you wish." Kurogiri nodded his head but found he couldn't teleport. The source was Eraser, who despite the pain shooting through his body from the many broken bones he suffered, he woke up just in time to glare at the mist villain through hazy eyes, his quirk active.
"No…" He slurred out but coughed out some blood when Shigaraki walked forward and kicked him in his side, getting him to close his eyes from the pain.
"Sorry, Eraser, but why don't you go back to the lobby?" Shigaraki told him as Kurogiri used the chance to teleport away, along with the grunts. He returned shortly after to find Shigaraki sitting on Eraser's prone body, both the man's elbows decayed enough for the flesh to be visible which stopped him from trying to get up again.
"It's been done," Kurogiri reported back, Shigaraki being happy that that went off without a hitch.
"And?" Shigaraki asked, curious as to how the rest of them were doing as he wasn't about to let himself be caught off guard just because his grunts couldn't take out a student or two.
"It seems that those in the Rain and Ruins weren't in any need of assistance. The students are putting up a remarkable fight, but they shouldn't last." Kurogiri replied, having stayed long enough in each zone to both observe the situation and talk with the villains about the situation.
"The rest?" Shigaraki nodded, his mood improving a little at that as they had just thrown people into random zones, the only one that had been pre-selected was Tesla and if he knew what was good for him, he'll his ass hidden in the mountain zone. Asshat thought he was the shit but he could barely hold his own in a real fight.
"The water and mountain zones seem to be ours; the students all but beaten. It is the same for the Mountain and Landslide zone." He smiled after hearing that, it wouldn't be long before they could pull out. Sure, they didn't get to fight the boss, but he did think that the image of All Might arriving to find them gone and the bodies of students greeting him was a pleasant one. That pleasant mood only increased when the door leading into the USJ damn near exploded, the sound of which was clear for just about all of them to hear. Shigaraki could only think of one person in U.A. that could have done that.
His prediction was true as from the dust the door's destruction kicked up, a tall blonde man appeared, his ever-present smile gone as he glared down at them with hatred and while he felt his body shiver from the fear of facing him, he also couldn't help but smile that he finally arrived, and after they had already cleared most of the dam mobs that would have gotten in their way.
"He's here." Kurogiri moved a little closer to him, which proved to be the right move as All Might blinked out of existence, moving so fast that he only saw him right before he tried to strike him with one of his punches, but as its programming dictated, the Nomu moved to defend him, taking the blow that was so powerful that even while he wasn't it, he and Kurogiri were still blown back some ways, allowing the number one to grab Eraser and blink away, returning seconds later without the defeated underground hero.
"Finally, I was starting to think there was a bug in the system…come All Might, Nomu's waiting to play." Shigaraki smiled with glee as Nomu obeyed his orders and charged the number one hero to kill him.
Shigaraki in hindsight, could see that this wouldn't come to be, not when the USJ now had a new fucking skylight, courtesy of his purpose-built Nomu being sent into what he could imagine was low fucking orbit! How? How the fuck did it lose?! Master designed it with super regeneration and shock absorption, All Might was all about punches so he shouldn't have been able to do shit! Even when Nomu held him down for Kurogiri to try and slice him in two with his portals, the blonde bastard had managed to wiggle free just in time to escape, the fight after that point being too fast for Kurogiri to try again.
All this led to them standing in the thoroughly destroyed plaza, debris all over the place from the smashed-up fountain, the destroyed ground and even a few damn trees that had been thrown into the place from the fight dragging itself into a small wooded area. They were standing there, facing off against a still-alive All Might, neither being anywhere strong enough to fight him and so very screwed if he moved on them. "What the fuck? He…He beat nomu?!"
Without the dust and smoke cloud his victory kicked up, All Might chuckled but he didn't move from his spot. "These old bones aren't as strong as they used to be." He patted his chest with his arm, his clothing torn and bloody but the man remained standing. "In my prime, 10 hits would have been enough to fall such a foe, but I needed over 600 hits." Shigaraki didn't care if it did take him so many blows, he still bested his prized pawn.
"Well, Villain," Now when he spoke, he didn't get that spark of excitement through his system, just the anger…and the fear at the symbol of peace's piercing blue eyes locking onto his blood-red orbs. "Would you like to continue? Now that your ace is gone?"
"Hacks, I call fucking hacks! Nomu was built to beat you, given super regeneration and shock absorption to counter your crazy strength. I even had it shot up with quadruple the dose of Venom!" Shigaraki scratched at his neck even harder, lines forming as his nails dug through his skin in his growing anger, but Kurogiri moved closer to calm him before he tried to fight and possibly lose.
"Tomura Shigaraki, please calm yourself." The shadowy figure whispered to him, his gaze directing that of his master's to the man, to really observe him. "Observe…the master was right." Shigaraki was about to tell the man to shut up, but then he saw it as well. All Might…was shaking, he looked like it was a challenge just to remain standing. With that realization, came the conclusion that while Nomu had lost, he had managed to force the symbol of peace to use up all SP and MP points, with the bonus of draining him of most of his health. The only reason All Might looked fine was that he wasn't the kind of character that showed too much battle damage.
To All Might's concealed concern, Shigaraki seemed to calm down, his breath easing out as he stopped scratching himself. "You're right. All Might, you really are growing weaker, otherwise, you would have tried to attack us by now but," All Might kept his smile up, even as he cursed in the privacy of his mind at the fact Shigaraki had caught onto his bluff. "You can't. All you got is hot air."
'Shit!' All Might thought to himself, as he couldn't even take a step forward to try and trick him into suspecting he was wrong in his allegations else he lost his hold on his muscle form. His fear was only heightened by the fact this Shigaraki seemed to have a master that knew about his weakening body.
"Tomura Shigaraki, your orders? Shall I recall the remaining villains back here?" Kurogiri asked the man, getting him to hum in thought as All Might awaited the inevitable attack, trying to dig up as much power as he could muster in his weakened body to at least try and counter it. if he could launch him far enough way…
But lucky for him, this wouldn't come. "…No. We're retreating. All Might, you get to live another day, but after this, the world will know that you're no God, that you can't save everyone." Shigaraki told him as All Might felt his heart fall, knowing he was right as Kurogiri, if that was the villain's true name, opened up a portal for the two of them to retreat through, leaving him standing but far from victorious.
"I hope you enjoy seeing our work, All Might." Before he left, Shigaraki turned back to him and even with the severed hand he wore on his face, All Might could see the twisted amusement on his face. "It won't be the last time you do." The portal closed just as the rest of the staff finally arrived on the scene, Snipe's bullet striking where Shigaraki stood only a moment prior.
"Students, have no fear, your teachers have arrived!" Nezu announced as the teachers sprang into action to save their students, whoever was left standing at the least.
"My Goodness…" Snipe muttered as he returned to the stairs of the wrecked USJ, students being supported out either by friends or by the first responders on the scene. The pro looked at his gun and noted that he had used it more in the last 15 minutes than he had in the last week as while the two instigators of this entire mess had escaped, there were still a worrying number of villains that had been left. Many of whom didn't go down with a single bullet, if it even pierced. He suspected it was the twice-be-damned drug Venom that turned them into monsters that didn't go down unless they hit them hard.
"No remaining villains?" Midnight joined him, the woman had been key in settling things as fast as they did as while their foes had been hulked out on drugs, it didn't offer them any more protections to her sleeping gas, allowing them to handle groups in seconds.
"No, it seems the students were correct in their statements, most retreated just before we arrived." He replied as he looked to the side where Bakugo and Kirishima sat, both bruised and exhausted from their battle, Kirishima more so than Bakugo as his quirk gave out mid-way due to overuse and nearly cost him his life. A battle he had to stomach they only survived thanks to luck as the students reported that the bulk of the villains retreated only a minute or so after All Might gave the USJ and new skylight.
"The fact that they managed to escape despite a showy entrance is shameful, it's only luck that no one died." Midnight retorted, though both like it was a shitty consolation prize as while it was true, they didn't lose anyone, it wasn't like they were all walking out as Eraser and Thirteen had to be carried out on stretchers, both unconscious and in dire need of medical care. The students weren't much better as while most would need to at least see Recovery Girl before they headed home, a few needed to be rushed to the hospital same as their teachers.
"Yet, you mean? Tsuyu and Mineta didn't look too good, same with Ojiro, Jiro, Kaminari and Hagakure." The sharpshooter asked back, the condition that the first two had been in had been horrible, truly reflecting the fact they were literally thrown into the deep end and had to fend off a horde of water-related villains, a task they barely survived as their battered, bloodied bodies were carried out. Ojiro had severe burns from his stay in the fire zone where he had the misfortune of being thrown into one of the raging fires, his quirk thinking being the reason he hadn't been charred to death. Jiro and Kaminari along with Yaoyorozu had fended off their group the best, till the boy overtaxed himself and become liable which the source of the communication block made sure to make them bleed for.
Hagakure's injuries were the only ones that didn't result from a villain, but rather the bad luck of being invisible in an area where Todoroki had been unleashing literal waves of ice. It was only good luck that he had heard her pleas for help and melted her out before the hyperthermia could take her. Speaking of, he turned to see the bot fretting over her, displaying far more emotion than he had since he started at UA, though it was mainly guilt as he helped to keep her warm with a blanket that one of the first responders gave her, and his fire.
"Hound-dog" The two teachers turned to their colleague, the man nodding his head, already in motion to speak with the two before this could settle.
With Nezu, he stood at the top of the stairs, hands at his back as he observed the place with his normal smile absent. The students had already been found and escorted out of the place, and in their place, dozens of police combed through the field with some escorting out the last of the captured villains. "If the gate incident was the declaration of war, this was their opening strike." He spoke his tone grave and carried a hint of malice at the villains for this unforgivable attack on children. "Please tend to the students, I'll handle the press." He signed as he turned to leave as he had seen the first of the media arriving with the police. They had been kept out for the moment, but that wouldn't be enough, not if they caught even a glimpse of one of the students being loaded up and taken away.
"Bakugo, you good?" Kirishima asked the boy he had just fought for their lives with, the redhead covered with bandages from the cuts and bruises he took.
"Worry about the others, Rockface," Bakugo growled back at him, but his fury dying as quirk as it rose as he looked away. "They're in worse shape than I am anyway." Even with them gone, he could still see the blood stains where his teachers and his classmates had been laying while they waited for the ambulances. Why had this happened? All Might was late, sure but he did show up. So why?
"Hagakure, I'm sorry about that. I didn't…" Todoroki, the normally reserved Todoroki fretted over Hagakure as he felt nothing but guilt for what he had done to her. He hadn't meant it, he had only been targeting the villains, only used his mother's gift to its most powerful when it become clear the villains wouldn't be stopped by anything else. If he had known she had been sneaking up on them…How could he bring such shame to his mother's power?
Hagakure, the ever-friendly Hagakure, raised a shivering hand to his right cheek, her touch calming him despite how she was the one in need of aid. "N-No…It's a-all goo-d." She got out through the chitters, leaning closer to his right side which was warm. "Y-you didn't k-now I was..there…" She whispered, the boy not knowing what to do other than just hold her closer as he continued to apologise for his actions, the invisible girl saving her strength and just letting him get it out as she snuggled closer, enjoying how warm he could be when he wanted.
"We now return to our top story of the evening. Earlier today, a villain group going by the name of League of Villains attacked UA's USJ facility while it was hosting a hero class at the time. According to police, the group had infiltrated the facility with the explicit goal of killing All Might, who has recently taken up a teaching position at the school." The news anchor reported to the nation, shots of the mentioned USJ in the background along with police cruisers, transport buses and ambulances.
"At this time, the police have confirmed the arrest of 40 villains and no fatalities amongst the teachers or students present but we can confirm there have been reports of severe injuries. However, sources close to the incident claim that All Might was indeed present at the time of the attack but declined to speak on the issue."The anchor did a good job, but Overhaul could tell that he was shaken by the events that happened, more so the fact that All Might wasn't able to save the day for once. He turned his attention away from the tv that was playing to the phone he held in his hand.
"You guys sure made a splash with that attack, it's all the news can talk about." He said, looking through the latest sales report of Trigger and Venom, allowing a little satisfaction to spur in him as he noted that for the 5th month in a row, sales had increased which brought up total income for the Shie Hassaikai by another 3.3 million Yen.
"As was the intended goal of the operation. One's debut need to be flashy and attention-grabbing." His contact, Kurogiri was his name if he was recalling it right, replied.
"I wouldn't be wrong to think that your other goal succeeded, right?" He asked the man, looking at Chrono who stood at his side.
"Unfortunately, All Might still lives but we did learn something from this attack. Something that the young master is eager to exploit in later attacks." Kurogiri replied, though he didn't sound all that upset about it which he suspected was the man just being realistic as while his products were good, if they would turn gutter trash into threats against the symbol of peace, he would have already killed him and the rest of the top 10.
"I can assume that you'll be interested in getting your hands on more Venom for when those attacks come." The League had been a sketchy buyer when they approached one of his middlemen, but they had potential.
"Correct, the villains administrated with a dose performed above our expectations, low-level thugs they may be," Kurogiri replied as Overhaul handed the financial report to Chrono for a place into its appropriate folder.
"As I promised, but keep in mind that I gave you a generous discount in our first transaction, I don't intend to repeat that." However, as lucrative a deal as this was, he wasn't about to allow them to think they were any better than the rest of the people that he sold to.
"Of course, we'll happily pay full price for your Venom," Kurogiri replied before he hung up, their business was done. Putting his work phone away, he took a moment to enjoy the situation as he walked to the window to the side, one that gave them a view of the renovated medical theatre below them. A medical theatre that like the rest of the Shie Hassaikai reflected their fortunes turning his way in recent times. In the around 6 months that had passed since he had discovered the goldmine that was Midoriya-san's cells, he had managed to bring them back into the picture through the sale of not just Trigger, but also the ever-increasingly potent variants of Venom. Such recognition brought them, clients, clients brought in millions in profits, and those profits increased the number of investors he could acquire to increase product performance and production.
It brought a smile to his face to see it all, the increased territory, clients, funds and membership, even if he had to make ample use of Nemoto to weed out spies and other infiltrators that his enemies tried to sow into his organisation, but they never lasted long as if there was one thing he and the old man agreed on, it was that slights against them by other Yakuza were to be handled with extreme prejudice.
All the result of the diamond he found in the rough, one of the only pure people left in their diseased world. If that wasn't the heavens smiling down on his plans, he didn't know what was.
"You know, Chrono, she is a gift." He noted, grabbing the attention of his second as he finished filing away the report he had given him.
"Who?" He asked as it wasn't like the quirk-suppressing bullets weren't a hot seller either.
"Midoriya-san. It's thanks to her and the wealth we can extract from her that my plans for the quirk-deleting bullets are months ahead of schedule, with a list of potential buyers as long as my arm to boot." He told the man as he smiled as he recalled how many people wished to get their hands on his product, everyone from small-time villains to what he was sure were clandestine government agents, as to which government they worked for, he didn't care as they all offered to pay quite the sum for his product come completion.
"It's still a shame that the shelf life for the bullets is still limited. We might have been able to correct the issue if we could extract more sample material." Even after all this time, the girl was still extremely disobedient with all things involving the brat, fighting and demanding that they provide better conditions for her. He would have punished her, but his master didn't see the need for such. Perhaps he was amused by her barking and like a small dog, let her do as it wasn't like she could do anything more.
"I'm afraid that can't be done, Midoriya-san did insist on fewer sessions but increasing her own has increase Venom production so it's a fair trade-off." Overhaul replied as his plans for the two worked out wonderfully. Granted, he couldn't harvest as much material as he liked from Eri, but Midoriya offered herself up, increasing her sessions from twice to 4 times per week. The doubling of his Venom materials had allowed him more of a license to experiment and craft new variants without needing to worry too much about meeting his growing list of buyers, perhaps he could offer to increase their time outside in exchange for adding another session to her schedule if it would benefit Eri, there was no doubt she would refuse.
Below within the theatre, the girl in question was fastened to the operating table as 3 grunts with medical training carried out their job of harvesting blood, muscle and bone samples. The months under Overhaul's care hadn't been kind to her as was never the picture of health before, but she now had lost a good portion of her weight, leaving her with a small, thin frame covered with scars. Despite her eyes being closed thanks to the Overhaul granted the mercy of anaesthesia 4 months back; her eyes were sunken with visible dark bags under them from lack of sleep and stress.
Her hair, which had once been an unruly mess that she kept short, had grown in her time in captivity, the wild mess of curls and split heads now reached her lower back, more than that, there were parts of it that had lost their green and black shine, fading into a bright white from the stress of it all, but she didn't dare tell Eri the reason, lying that she attempted to look more like her to fit the mother role. Soon, they finished their job and Overhaul reversed the worst of the damage, with Izuku waking up to a now familiar feeling of dull pain, exhaustion and mental fatigue as she was led to another room where she got a quick shower done, refusing any aide from Jun in this before she dressed into a clean change of clothes, having worn nothing but traditional clothing since her abduction and left.
Outside, they were escorted back to her room by Jun, who was now her primary contact with the rest of the place, and 2 grunts as Overhaul had deemed it was no longer necessary for him or any of the 8 bullets to need to ensure she didn't try anything. June tried to make conversation and Midoriya appreciated the attempt, but she was too exhausted to offer up anything more than short responses which turned the trip down the sterile, windowless halls silent. It wasn't long before they reached her cell and left. Pressing her ear against the door and waiting for the sounds of their footsteps to recede into the distance, it was only after she couldn't hear them anymore that she allowed herself to relax, collapsing to her knees.
Looking around the room, she couldn't help but smile as she took in all the changes that had happened in her time there. The first thing was most of those godawful dolls and other toys were gone as Eri didn't like them and Izuku found them creepy, especially since Overhaul got his grunts to just buy whatever was popular with little girls. However, the second change was that the room felt far more lived in, a sense she mainly got through the copious amounts of pictures pinned to the walls, some drawn, some painted but what they all shared was the fact they were created by Eri and her. She shared her passions with the girl and while there wasn't anything worth analysing in this place, there were plenty of things for the two to draw, especially after she managed to win them 1 hour a day in the Shie Hassaikai large and expansive gardens, even if it was under strict supervision.
Of course, her smile faded for as many colourful images of the sky, trees and flowers were adorning the walls, there was a notable amount depicting the things Eri saw in her recurring nightmares, and they all had one thing in common: A man wearing a yellow plague mask.
Thankfully, it seemed that tonight wouldn't be another of screams and nightmares as Eri was fast asleep, undisturbed since she had tucked her in before she left for her…session. Seeing her peaceful brought Izuku's mood up, as it always did with her blessing as she quietly crossed the room, took a seat on the larger desk, turned on the desk-lamp and opening her math book and finish up the problems she had started earlier. As she worked through the problems, her mind drifted to Bakugo, if she had been keeping the days right, he should have started UA by now. When alone like this, she couldn't help but wonder if she had been forgotten or if the world had truly moved on without her as Overhaul liked to remind her.
Ideas like this scared her. Not for the fact she wouldn't get help, but because every time she thought of it, it hurt a little less as she found herself slowly accepting this fate, that she'll never be able to save herself, or her daughter from this fate and only continue to direct Overhaul's cruelty towards herself. She could have never known that Kizuki hadn't forgotten her and that the reporter-turned-business leader had found her and was already working on seeing the two free.
