21/01/2023
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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 40 - Conniving
Shoji lay quietly as he listened to the others talk. It seemed most of 1A was here but there were a few voices he recognised as belonging to students from 1B. They were arguing. Kirishima would probably state they were discussing things but he'd say they were arguing. Apparently one of the 1B students, Momo had made some sort of tracker and had it put on one of the villains. She could tell them exactly where the villains were.
She was arguing that the Heroes should be left to plan their mission and that students, specifically them, should not interfere. Momo Yaoyorozu had a bit of an odd relationship with Class 1A. She was definitely a part of Class 1B but she had some friends in Class 1A. Todoroki being the main one but she'd known Iida too. It was because of their parents' work but it was a bit odd. Most of 1B was, if not hostile, then at least cool towards 1A. He didn't understand why but now was not the time to think of that.
He closed his eyes as he listened.
"I just feel like I should have done more." That was Kirishima. He'd been with Bakugou and Todoroki when they were taken so his feelings were understandable.
"We all feel that," Tokoyami replied.
"How do you think I feel?" Shoji wasn't sure who that was, except he knew it was one of the women from 1B. Because 1B had been spread out in the forest when the villains struck, a lot of them had been knocked out by the gas. That meant that most of them had not been involved in the battle so again, he understood the feelings being expressed. They hadn't had a chance to even try! And had honestly been lucky that no one had been more badly injured. It just said that the villains had a different agenda. None of their teachers had said anything but Shoji wasn't blind or deaf. And… he remembered. Villains had seemed to come out of nowhere. There were more villains in the forest than they knew about.
There was silence for a few moments.
"It wasn't your fault," someone murmured to the 1B girl.
"And it wasn't your fault," the girl replied.
"I still should have done more," Kirishima responded. "And Yaoyorozu, we can do more."
"We aren't meant to," she said, somewhat crossly.
"I know we aren't meant to." That was Iida. "But, Momo, we want to," he added earnestly. He was almost always earnest.
Shoji didn't move but he felt the same. He'd been just there and yet the villains had still gotten away. He understood Kirishima's feelings.
"How?" Yaoyorozu demanded. "Unless I give you the tracker then you won't be getting anywhere," she pointed out. While the sentence could be taken as vindictive it was a simple statement of fact.
"So come with us," Kaminari immediately replied. "I didn't get a chance to do anything," he added. He'd been in remedial classes with Aizawa and so had been relatively safe… except when the villains attacked the building.
Kaminari often said things without thinking it through but in this case it was a good idea. "You can make sure we don't go too far, and you can plan things so that we don't stuff up!" Kaminari continued as realised that it would be good to have Momo accompany them on any attempt to rescue Todoroki and Bakugou.
"Yes! You definitely should!" Kirishima agreed.
"I get that you want to rescue them but-" it was the girl from 1B again.
Shoji cracked one eye on his arm open to watch. He recognised her voice now. She'd fought Bakugou in the Sport's Festival which explained how uncertain she sounded.
Kaminari looked confused, and Iida wasn't sure but thankfully both Momo and Kirishima seemed to understand what she was asking. Momo didn't have the answers.
Kirishima smiled. "Bakugou is rough and you didn't see him at his best," he said.
She gave him a look.
"All right, you saw him at his worst," Kirishima allowed. "But he does genuinely want to be a hero and… I know he'd do the same for us," the red haired teen added.
The girl, Uraraka, Shoji remembered her name, didn't look convinced.
"He would," Kirishima reinforced the statement. "And Todoroki… well…"
"He's quiet but he does care," Momo observed.
That fit with what Shoji had seen of his classmate.
"So we gotta rescue them!" Kaminari cried.
Momo sighed at that but Shoji could see the way she was thinking. Her hands were twitching and he imagined she was thinking about logistics. She sighed again, almost defeated. "If we do this, we do it my way," Yaoyorozu said firmly.
"Of course!" Kaminari agreed.
"And you can't all come," she added.
"What?"
Shoji suppressed a wince at the shout, though he noticed that not everyone was against the idea.
"Momo, are you sure?" Uraraka whispered. She sounded worried.
"I'm not, but they are going to do something," Yaoyorozu announced. "So I'd better make sure they are controlled."
The other 1B student didn't look convinced but she nodded.
"Are we sure?"
This time it was Setsuna who objected. "We should leave this to the heroes."
Shoji had to acknowledge the truth of that statement but he waited for others to speak.
"We have to do this," Kirishima replied. "I don't ever want to be that powerless again," he added.
That seemed to settle Setsuna and her expression changed. Shoji wondered what she was thinking about but 1A's second recommendation student didn't say anything.
Yaoyorozu looked around at them all. "Who wants to go?" she asked, holding up one hand to forestall immediate answers. "Keep in mind that if we do go, we will get in trouble and if we fail…" She didn't finish. There was no need to. A quiet fell over the gathered students as the seriousness of the situation set in. The villains had already proved that they didn't care that they were students.
"I want to go," Kirishima said softly. "I owe it to both bros."
Momo nodded and looked around.
"I wish to go."
The statement got gasps of surprise from the group. Shoji understood. Iida was not someone who they thought would have volunteered for this. "After my brother was injured, I was so angry," he explained. "I wanted to fight Stain. I wanted to make the villain pay but-" he swallowed hard.
They all knew why he hadn't been in Hosu but they also knew what might have happened if he had been there. Iida had accepted a work experience placement with Native, and while the hero had survived his encounter with Stain, it was unlikely he was going to return to active work. Tenya might not have been that lucky. "That isn't what a hero does," he whispered. "Therefore… I want to do something to prove I can be a hero," Iida explained.
Again, Yaoyorozu nodded.
Shoji closed his eyes again and took a deep breath as he assessed himself. He'd be lying if he said he didn't want to go but… "I wish to go," he said through one of his mouths.
His statement brought the attention of the group. Apparently they'd forgotten he was in one of the other beds. He knew better than to think it was because he had gotten better at stealth, rather they had forgotten who was in ear shot.
"I think we need one or two more," Yaoyorozu said without arguing.
"Me!" Kaminari volunteered. Momo thought about that for a moment, obviously fitting him and his quirk into her team before she nodded. "Okay," she breathed.
"All right!" Kaminari celebrated. "When can we go?" he demanded jubilantly.
Shoji watched as the Class 1B girl shook her head slowly. "I think we need one more," she said softly. "If there's a problem then-" she didn't finish but Shoji could see she was thinking. "Honenuki?"
For a moment, Shoji didn't know who she was talking about but then he realised she was referring to someone else from Class 1B. That made sense. While Yaoyorozu was friends with Todoroki, she would be more familiar with those of her class, and the other recommendation students.
Honenuki looked resigned but then he nodded.
Shoji watched as she smiled at him before turning her attention towards him. "I will be fine," Shoji told her. He had worse wounds in training… and he shouldn't. This had been a real battle. He shouldn't have… He was going to make it right.
"Later tonight then," she decided. "Meet me at the front and…" she looked around at the rest of the group. She didn't know them all but Shoji knew what she was going to say. "You need to remain quiet about what we are doing."
"We'll cover for you!" Mina assured her.
Momo nodded. "All right," she said breathily. "I will meet you at 8," she said before she got up. Uraraka moved with her and Shoji could see she was worried and as soon as they cleared the door, Uraraka began talking but Shoji couldn't listen in for long before they were out of earshot. And those remaining burst into conversations.
He sighed. He'd best rest while he could. He had a feeling there'd be no rest tonight.
-ted-
"Uraraka," Vlad called to his student.
"Sir?" She turned to face him.
They were in an odd situation at the moment. The students had been brought back from the camp but they had not been allowed to return home. They were able to contact their families. The mission to retrieve the boys would go ahead tonight, though there was still a lot of politicking to go through first. For now though, he had to test what, if anything she knew about Dragon. The word of a villain could not be trusted but… The villain had no reason to lie so at least she had believed her words.
So they had to find out.
Rather than formally questioning her, it had been decided he'd ask casually. Aizawa was in ear shot, just in case Ochaco was something more than she appeared.
"Do you know Dragon?" he asked, going for the straightforward method. Aizawa would let him knew if he saw anything in her reaction to indicate she was lying. He'd have preferred if Yagi's friend, Detective Tsukauchi, and his truth detection quirk had been available to watch but they were questioning a student. It wasn't deemed important enough with all the other things he was having to coordinate for tonight.
She frowned. "Sir?"
"Do you know Dragon?" Vlad repeated.
Uraraka blinked but he couldn't see that she was trying to make up a story. "I call Izuku Dragon," she said. "But that's just a nickname," she added. "I don't know anyone called Dragon."
There was no signal from Aizawa but Vlad frowned. "Who's Izuku?" he asked. He didn't know all the intimate details of his student's lives but he knew Uraraka hadn't formed very many close bonds with those in the heroics class. She instead had lunch in the Support Department with a student from each of the courses. There were advantages and disadvantages to that and he wasn't there to dictate his student's lives.
"Oh, that's Mitei Chui," Uraraka told him.
"But you call him Izuku?" he pressed, as he tried to recall what he could about the boy. He was in the Management Class and had entered the Sport's Festival. He'd gotten through to the last round, almost carrying his friends from Support and General Studies before he'd pulled out. He was the son of Windy Chui and that was about all he knew. Beyond that though, he was not aware of any student needing to use a pseudonym.
She gave him a smile. It was one of those fond, tolerant smiles one had when remembering something that exasperated you about a friend. "Apparently his dad promised his mum if he got into UA, then they could enroll him under the name she wanted to call him," Uraraka explained.
That didn't gel with what he knew of Windy Chui but it was the sort of detail a friend would know. And it didn't really matter what the kid was called, it wasn't Dragon. Aizawa hadn't indicated she was lying either.
"Thank you, Uraraka," Vlad said, dismissing his student. She nodded and then continued down the corridor.
Vlad waited for a few moments for Aizawa to appear. "You got nothing?" he asked for confirmation.
"Nothing but-" the underground hero paused as he thought. "I'll need to check something," he said finally.
"What?" Vlad demanded.
Aizawa looked at him for a few moments and then apparently remembered he wasn't just a sidekick who could be ordered around and he wasn't another underground hero. He was someone who could demand the explanation and would not be amused by his supposed logical ruses.
"Something about Windy Chui," Class 1A's teacher said finally.
Vlad still didn't know what it was but he also knew that was the only hint he was going to get and it gave him a place to start looking too.
"We'd better get going," he huffed.
They had a meeting to get to because this operation would impact UA far too much for them not to be involved.
-ted-
Dabi looked at the prisoner. Once they'd gotten them back to the base, the two had been separated. That was good for him. He didn't need people around when he did this. Shigaraki had told him Shouto would wake up soon. Then they'd probably put him back to sleep… unless he agreed.
He closed his eyes briefly. Hopefully his brother would see the truth.
Shouto hadn't changed much. Oh, he'd grown up but his hair was still the same and … he looked peaceful when he was sleeping. It was the only time any of them got any peace in that house. He'd lost his baby fat. There was a sharpness to the lines of his face that Dabi hadn't seen before. Another thing that was lost early in that house. And… he reached out but paused. The scar was still there. The scar would always be there.
The same way his would.
He pulled his hand back and just looked at his brother for a few moments.
Dabi took several deep breaths. He didn't have all day to do this.
Shigaraki seemed to think they were safe but… Enji would be searching for his prize…
But if he could make that prize a poison chalice…
It would be better for them all.
He closed his eyes briefly and stood up from where he'd crouched to get a better look at his brother. "Wake up," Dabi commanded.
Tomura said he'd wake up but they didn't have time.
There was no movement from Shouto. Dabi wasn't sure what they'd used to knock him out. It could be part of Compress' quirk but he didn't know.
"Wake up," he said, slightly louder.
Still nothing.
Dabi steeled himself, and reached out to poke his brother on his shoulder.
Shouto moved with the gesture but didn't wake.
Dabi sighed and poked harder. "Wake up!"
Again Shouto moved as he pushed him and didn't appear to wake up but Dabi was wiser than that. "Good, you are awake," he said, leaning back on his heels. He let Shouto consider that for a few moments, wondering which way his brother would go. Would he admit he was awake or would he continue to feign unconsciousness?
It looked like the latter.
"If you are going to pretend, you need to control your breathing better," Dabi offered the advice.
That did the trick and Shouto brought his head up. The problem with feigning unconsciousness is that you had to stay in the position you were left, and having your head resting on your chest wasn't the easiest position to breathe in. He blinked. The room wasn't that bright so it wouldn't be hurting his eyes, but he was probably also assessing where he was.
Dabi had been unconscious often enough that he knew the drill.
"Yes, you were captured," he confirmed for his brother. It was probably best to get that over with.
"Where am I?" Shouto demanded.
"No idea," Dabi shrugged, giving a grin. "It doesn't matter though. You are here, I'm here, and you're only going to leave once one of us decides you can."
"Us?" His little brother asked.
Dabi laughed. Oh… that was so cute. Shouto was running through the questions that had been drilled into them. It was a pretty simple procedure. If kidnapped, find out as much as you could. "You don't need to worry about that," he said. "And you don't need to ask the rest of the questions you were told to ask. I'm not going to answer," Dabi explained. "Besides, it doesn't work like that. I ask the questions."
He saw Shouto tense at that.
"But don't worry about that. We didn't grab you to get information."
"Money then. He won't pay," Shouto spat.
"Oh," Dabi cooed. "I think he would. You are, after all, his prize possession."
Shouto looked to the side at that.
"You don't have to be though," Dabi murmured. He didn't like seeing his brother like that but he ruthlessly crushed that feeling. For the moment, he couldn't afford to think that Shouto was his brother. Not yet.
Shouto looked up at his statement. There was a flicker of hope in his eyes.
"Enji thinks you are his prize possession, but you don't have to be," Dabi repeated. "You are you, you can do what you want," he told his brother. "He will never tell you that, of course but you can… and…" At this, Dabi looked to the side. He couldn't appear too eager.
"I can?" Shouto eventually prompted after a few moments of silence stretched between them.
This was the delicate part. It had been easier for him because he'd wanted to get out so badly. Shouto had been pushed but had been relatively respected. Enji needed him to go in the right direction and couldn't afford to have him be completely obstinate. As such the thought of changing from hero to villain would be more difficult. Enji had kept the heroes looking white.
"You can," Dabi confirmed. "Those of us who are labeled villains, see the world one way. You, labeled a hero, see it differently. But you, of all of those labeled a hero know that the world isn't that different. You've seen it. You know what the label of hero can hide."
"It's not the same," Shouto retorted.
Dabi could hear the doubt in his voice. "Is it really?" he asked.
"Villains kill!" Shouto told him.
"And you don't think Enji would kill All Might if he could?" Dabi countered.
He knew he'd made an impression with the way Shouto looked to the ground again.
"Think about it, Shouto, and ask yourself what the difference really is? Because from where I am, the only difference is villains are honest about what they are going to do, while heroes have to cloak their intentions but they are all the same."
He left it at that and turned away, towards the door. He wanted to push it but knew he had to give it at least a few hours before he came back.
Dabi just hoped they had the time. He was sure he could turn his brother and that… well that would be just the first step of Enji's downfall and that… that would be so sweet.
-ted-
1A and 1B are having to do a bit of work together, since Momo is in 1B and she made the tracker. If 1A want to be idiots and go after their classmates, they need 1Bs help.
And now Izuku might be in a bit of trouble since the heroes, some of them at least, know who gave her that pendant. And while the initial reaction may be 'it's coincidence' Aizawa at least is doing some investigation but that takes time, and other events might take precedence. He can't investigate much at the moment when he has two kidnapped students to worry about.
As for Shouto, he's not just gonna go villain 'cos Dabi asks nicely, and presents a logical case. Shouto is emotionally stunted, but he is intelligent and he knows that you can't just be a villain to see something happen to his father and then go back to being a hero. It's a big choice and it's not going to be one he makes conveniently or easily or maybe not at all. Enji is after all on the hero side and no doubt hurrying up the investigations as much as he can with his not inconsiderable resources.
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-
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