17/01/2023
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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 39 - Interrogation
Vlad resisted the urge to rub at his temples. He'd pulled all nighters before. He'd pulled multiple days before. The life of a hero dictated readiness, even in the face of personal exhaustion but this was different. He now knew why they always said you couldn't be involved in cases where you knew the victims. He'd known that before but he now truly understood it.
Except there was no choice. There was no one else here and there wouldn't be for another few hours. That meant it was up to him, and the other heroes to take charge.
Now, hours after the attack, they had all the students together and had a firm role call. Two of Aizawa's class were missing, and several of his class were injured. It was mostly minor injuries caused from falling when they inhaled the noxious gas but Kamakiri also had wounds relating to blood loss. He'd be fine though. He was now with the others in the communal sleeping area they'd made. Maybe the classes would bond but he doubted it.
In addition to the missing students, one of the Pussycats had been taken and their nephew was still missing. No one was sure if the kid had taken or was hiding. They were all fervently hoping he was hiding, though with the sun rising, it was possibly time to organise their classes into search parties.
Or question the prisoner again except it was pretty obvious that the man knew nothing. Or at least nothing useful. They'd been kept off balance the entire night and Kamakiri's injuries said that there were villains they hadn't even accounted for.
How had the villains known they'd be here? And how had they known they'd be so vulnerable? After his class had taken their positions for the so-called test of courage, scattering into the woods, the villains had struck.
One of them - so far unaccounted for - had released toxic gas. Thankfully it appeared to just induce sleep, but it had been enough, and with most students having never really been in the woods at night, it had spread effectively. They hadn't recognised the mist as not natural.
In some ways he was kind of glad for that. It meant most of his class slept through the worst of it but it also meant they couldn't help. Though as students they should not be in a position to fight.
Then, just as they were beginning to grasp something was wrong, the villains had actually appeared. They'd defeated the fire villain but then he'd dissolved and they had realised he had never really been there. That was the first real hint that there were multiple attacks from the villains. And then the explosions had started.
Aizawa had recognised them. They belonged to his student. He'd yelled for him to remain in place and run towards the explosions, straight into a villain they both recognised. Given that the camp was being run with the Wild Wild Pussy Cats, they'd both done their research on the group. They knew about the death of Water Hose and who did it. Seeing Muscular here was not comforting.
The villain was a tank and he'd held them back. They'd been fully occupied fighting Muscular that hearing the explosions in the distance had been a good thing. Even the fire was good once Aizawa had told him it was Todoroki's fire. He'd been worried about his students then, and so had Aizawa but at least the students had the sense not to attempt to interfere in the fight.
He'd felt thankful for that. Vlad wasn't thankful now. They hadn't interferred because they couldn't.
Todoroki and Bakugo had obviously been occupied fighting other villains, and they'd lost because they were no longer here. Kirishima, and others from 1A had been there and had tiredly reported that the two boys appeared to be the target all along. He didn't know both boys well but he couldn't see them going quietly. Apparently they hadn't had a choice. One of the villains had some sort of quirk which did something to them. Kirishima had said it turned them into beads. And they hadn't been able to retrieve them. It wasn't their job to retrieve them.
They should have been safe.
That wasn't even the end of the bad news. The Pussycats had lost a member. Ragdoll had been taken by a villain they hadn't even seen. The others had confirmed it and that only added to their worry about Kota.
Vlad sighed. There was some good news. Despite the injuries, everyone would recover, which was a good outcome. A great outcome. And… Momo had quietly informed him she had put a tracking device on one of the villains and had given him a tracker.
That was a brilliant outcome. One he was proud of. While they probably couldn't advertise this attack much, he'd make sure her actions under pressure went on her record. It spoke well of how level headed she was.
"So," he said tiredly, looking towards Aizawa. The other teacher looked perpetually tired but he looked over as he spoke. "Reinforcements are coming within hours. Two students have been kidnapped, as has one Pussycat and their nephew is still missing," he summed up the situation.
Shouta thought about the statement for a moment before he nodded. "The villains are getting bolder," he added.
"You think these are the same as USJ?" Vlad asked. He didn't like those implications but… In some ways it was better than them being a new group targeting UA.
AIzawa sighed. "Kirishima saw one of those monsters," he said. "And Yaoyorozu said the villains disappeared through a warp gate."
"Oh," Vlad sighed sadly. Momo hadn't seen the warp gate from the USJ. She shouldn't have even heard about it. Shouta's class had been sworn to secrecy and had, as far as they could tell, kept the events secret. Those they could anyway. They couldn't hide the fact that some students were injured then. But the fact that villains had a warper was a guarded fact. And if this was the same warper… "What do they want?"
He already knew what the villains said they wanted last time: to kill All Might. This time, it appeared that they had genuinely been after the two boys and Ragdoll for some reason. And maybe another mission that led to Kamakiri being injured.
Vlad shook his head. "Why them?"
"The Sport's Festival," Aizawa answered.
There was no gloating in his voice but Aizawa didn't gloat that way. He did it in his actions and in the looks he gave you. Right now though, there was nothing of that. He pretended not to care but he did. Even about the students he expelled.
Vlad nodded. "We should get them up, and searching for Kota," he said, as he mulled over why the villains would want the boys beyond the Sport's Festival results. Todoroki was obvious. He could be ransomed back to his father but Bakugo was… he had no famous connections so it had to be the Sport's Festival which pushed him into the limelight.
"Check again," Aizawa said.
Vlad nodded. He knew what the other teacher was saying. Check again that the villains were gone because they couldn't afford to have their students encounter them. They were meant to be gone. The villain the Pussycats had captured indicated that the villains were here for a mission and were then withdrawing. It would be tempting to believe him but… They couldn't trust the word of a villain.
He got up and turned to the room they had secured the villain in. Mandalay was camped in front of the door. It was the only compromise they could make with her or she'd still have been out searching for Kota.
Her eyes cracked open as he approached and Vlad gave her a friendly nod. She nodded back but he could tell she didn't want to. "Let's get this over with," Mandalay murmured, getting up and turning to the door.
She opened it and they both saw the villain's head jerk up before he huffed. This one was named Rhino, an unimaginative name for an unimaginative villain. Vlad didn't shake his head but mentally he shook himself. He knew better than that. He'd been surprised, many years back, when one of his mentors had taken him aside and chastised him. He'd been thinking of villains as stupid and illogical. They weren't. They were just as intelligent as anyone else. And yes, sometimes their actions seemed illogical but if you could understand their mindset, then their actions made sense. He just had to understand what they wanted, and what limitations they had, which impacted their decisions.
The man, Rhino, had a large build. His quirk made his skin tough and while he was muscled, it didn't enhance that.
"What do you want?" the villain demanded.
"Tell us again who was involved," Vlad said. They'd already told him that he'd be taken into custody later and had the argument about wrongful arrest. They were heroes, and therefore had a right to hold people, temporarily, when they had been engaged in villainous activity. Since this was the Pussycat's training ground, they could add trespass to the list of crimes that were attached to attacking their classes.
"We saw Dabi and Twice," Vlad said before Rhino wasted time on them. They'd wasted enough time last night. The villain duo had been effective at delaying them.
Rhino rolled his eyes. "There were four missions," he said. "Distract you, grab the brats, grab the bitch and something else I don't know about."
They knew all of this already. It wasn't comforting that the villains had managed to carry out multiple missions under their noses and had multiple goals. "Who was to grab the brats?" Vlad asked using Rhino's terminology. So long as you understood what a villain was talking about, they often responded better if you used their words.
"Compress, Moonfish, Muscular with Whisper as back up."
Vlad nodded. The villain wasn't quite correct, or something hadn't gone to plan because Muscular hadn't been involved in kidnapping the boys, he'd been fighting the Pussycats. They were fairly sure that it was Compress who had put the boys into the little marbles Kirishima had seen. "Why them?"
"I don't know. The boss was interested in 'em," Rhino said. Which was what he'd said last night.
"From the Sport's Festival?"
"Probably," the villain shrugged.
"Who was to grab Ragdoll? Vlad asked. With Mandalay present he couldn't use Rhino's term.
"I don't know. It was something big. Kinda creepy. You could see its brain."
That information hadn't been any better last night. Aizawa had been pissed. He knew why. The monster that had fought All Might at the USJ had an exposed brain. It meant there was someone out there with a lot of resources. That wasn't a comforting thought when that someone was a villain.
"What was your job?"
"To fight the kitty-cats," Rhino replied. "But fuck'n Muscular got in the way," he added.
Muscular was the reason Rhino had been captured. While Vlad had never faced off against him, he knew Muscular had no self control. He liked fighting and proving he was stronger. It didn't matter who he fought so long as he fought but he wasn't just interested in fighting. He had a cruel streak. That's why they were so worried about Kota. He really hoped the boy had hidden.
"Who else was to help you?" Vlad asked. He was pleased that Rhino had decided to talk. The villain obviously had no loyalty to his boss, which was a boon for them.
"Butterfly. Or at least that's what the chick looked like."
Butterfly was the other reason Rhino had been captured. The Pussycats indicated that she appeared fragile and played up on that. Muscular had pushed Rhino off balance, Butterfly had actually tipped him over long enough for the Pussycats to get the drop on him. But in doing that, she'd managed to grab Ragdoll and then Muscular had kept them busy so they couldn't pursue.
"And the other mission?"
"Just two. Someone with gas and a creepy chick."
"There was no one else?" Vlad demanded. They had, he was fairly sure, accounted for all the villains but it never hurt to be sure.
"No one on the mission."
"So who wasn't on the mission?" Vlad asked.
"Tch, the guy paying us, and the guy who transported us," Rhino replied.
Ah… The villain's lack of loyalty began to make sense.
"You didn't like that did you?" He asked shrewdly.
"The brat acted so high and mighty but wouldn't even do the job! He tried to say it was a test! As if he'd be any better! Just 'cos he has a warper!"
Vlad schooled his expression carefully. "A warper?" Mandalay demanded. She wasn't stupid. She knew what it meant for villains to have someone who could provide such transportation.
"All black and wispy," Rhino confirmed.
Vlad knew what that meant. This was the same group that had attacked the USJ. They'd suspected that with the monster being here but, the person making them, might have been giving them out to other groups, to test their abilities. But if it was one group then… That was both good and bad. Good because it gave them one target but bad because that target was obviously well funded and very strong. And if they had a warper…
"No one else?" he pressed again, ignoring the way Mandalay wanted him to ask about the warper. She picked up on that and her expression soured. He was going to have to explain things to her. It meant that the search for Ragdoll was now going to have to cover far more distance.
"No one," the villain growled at him. "I ain't got no reason to protect them!" he added.
"Thank you," Vlad said before rising.
They'd have to do one more sweep before they sent the students out to search for Kota. That would keep them occupied until they could get transportation here.
"What was that about?" Mandalay demanded as soon as the door closed.
Aizawa looked over at her shout. Interestingly, Manga Fukidashi was standing there too.
Vlad sighed but knew there was no point in keeping secrets. It would just lead to resentment. "We've encountered this group before," he told her. "They attacked at the USJ," he gave the specifics.
She glared. "They were after All Might then. There was no reason to believe they'd be interested in any of our students," he added. He knew she understood the implications. There was no reason UA should have told them anything more about the attack. He saw her expression sour. She didn't like it but accepted it.
The problem was Shouta had snorted lightly at his sentence.
"What is it?" Vlad asked, looking at his student. Given that Manga was here. Aizawa had probably learned something from him.
"Sir," his student said. "Last night, one of the villains recognised Uraraka."
He suddenly felt cold at that statement. Uraraka was a good girl. She was hard working and- potentially the perfect spy. "Tell us what you saw?" He instructed, remembering that while most of his class had been gassed, and thus out of the main fights, they had still been subject to a villain attack.
Manga nodded. "There were two villains. They were both in gas masks and I think one was responsible for all the gas. They were in high school uniforms. One was male, the other female. She was blonde and had some sort of syringe system. I think she's the one who hurt Kamakiri."
Vlad nodded at the information. He was going to have to give lessons on providing battlefield reports. Manga had the information but it was disjointed.
"She went towards Sen, Reiko and Uraraka, but then she said she couldn't do something to one of them."
"How do you know it was Uraraka?" Aizawa demanded.
"She said they had the same pendant and that she couldn't harm one of Dragon's friends."
Vlad didn't recognise the name. Apparently Shouta did, though he was good at hiding his reaction. Manga didn't notice but Vlad did. Aizawa made a sign to indicate he'd explain later.
"Were you sure it was the same pendant?" Mandalay demanded.
"She was sure," Manga replied without actually answering. "The male villain seemed to think that Dragon was a myth and then there was an explosion before she could do anything more," he explained.
Vlad wasn't sure what to think about that. Obviously the villain was sure but… how much could she see in the dark? And did Ochaco know? Or was this a coincidence, and the pendants simply looked similar? Or was Ochaco an active part? Was Dragon the boss? There were many questions.
"Thank you, Manga," he said. "Please do not mention this to the others," he added the instruction and was pleased to see Manga nod again.
"Now can you wake up the others, and have breakfast while we do a last sweep and then we will organise what we are going to do before we leave today," he said.
His student nodded and turned away as Vlad turned towards Aizawa. The first thing his fellow teacher had to do was explain.
While they ran the sweep of course and his explanation better be good. Vlad knew he wasn't the only one thinking that. He just hoped…
He hoped they could get to the bottom of this… Maybe Nezu could shed some light on these villains because the implications…
He didn't want to think about them.
-ted-
You probably noticed a few new names in the attack. Magne and Spinner are heroes now. Not entirely sure how that happened but they are, and they were involved in training Inasa for heroics, so maybe ask him.
New names are Whisper - Thank you to Cathulhu from Discord
Butterfly - Thank you to Ramble Jamble from Discord
Rhino - Thank you to Ramble Jamble from Discord
You may not see much more of Rhino but the others will probably be around for a bit.
The attack went about the same as canon. Bakugou was still arrogant and didn't listen if someone worked out the villains were after him and all that so now we are properly on the path.
My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!
-ted-
Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!