04/03/2023
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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 52 - Why Didn't You Tell Me?
Izuku's morning hadn't been great. The only thing anyone wanted to discuss was All Might's fight last night against that villain. The way everyone said it made it clear that they thought All Might had saved them from some unspeakable nastiness. And if they weren't talking about that villain, they were talking about All Might and his true form. That was a revelation to the world.
He was slightly more interested in that, but realised it wasn't a revelation to him. His Dad had been hinting for ages that All Might had a secret. Now the world knew that secret. Now the villains did. That was a fear that had been voiced.
Izuku couldn't bring himself to care. Really, were people that stupid? Did they not realise if they put all their hopes for peace on one man then eventually that man would break? That seemed to be the second revelation a lot of people were having.
No one was talking about the violence displayed or the lack of consideration shown to civilians. Actually when that had come up in class, blame had been placed one hundred percent on his father. There wasn't even a thought that All Might had done something wrong, or could have done anything differently. No, all the blame went to his dad, and as for the violence… Necessary force to take out a villain of that calibre.
As soon as you were tagged as a villain, it was like you were less than human. You no longer had rights and if it was a licensed hero fighting you then it wasn't assault, it was necessary force and… he'd given up asking.
And he'd only asked once what would happen to the students who'd been there. Not the ones Tomura had kidnapped, those who had gone to rescue them. Ms Kanri had simply said they'd be dealt with and that he should not be overly curious about things that were not his business. She also pointed out there was a fair possibility the villain - his Dad - was the subject of a lethal force order but with the televised nature of the battle, that wouldn't have been carried out. She hadn't said that but she sure as hell implied it.
So his morning hadn't been great. If the class wasn't discussing the battle, they were trying to come up with ways, theoretical of course, to put a positive spin on All Might's reveal.
As a result, Izuku was feeling tired and sick and he really wanted to rest at lunch. The walk to Mei's lab seemed exorbitantly long and it was all he could do to trudge there. Mei had been absorbed in some baby and when Ochaco and Hitoshi arrived, Hitoshi took the lead in questioning Ochaco. And Ochaco, at least, was not putting Hitoshi off by claiming he shouldn't ask about things that weren't his business. Hitoshi was also keeping her from asking the question she'd asked last night. He'd admitted it was his Dad to Hitoshi but he'd ignored Ochaco's question.
He didn't want to think about what that meant but he knew what it meant nevertheless. It meant, on one level he trusted Hitoshi over Ochaco. .
"Tell us everything," Hitoshi demanded. "What happened at your camp?"
Even Mei looked interested.
"At first, nothing but training," Ochaco answered, glancing towards him. Izuku knew what that meant. She wanted to ask him about last night. "Then, we were doing a joint exercise with 1A and-" She shook her head. "I don't actually know what happened,"
"Why not?" Mei asked carefully.
Ochaco looked a bit rueful at the question. "I got knocked out," she admitted in a small voice. "One of the villains had a gas attack and-" she shrugged, not needing to explain much further.
"You must have heard something afterwards," Hitoshi said. "Why'd they take Bakugou and Todoroki?" he pressed.
"I don't know," Ochaco shook her head. "I mean, both 1A and 1B have theories," she explained, "but it's not like any of us asked the villains why they were doing this."
Izuku worked hard at keeping his expression tired. He knew why. At least for Bakugou and… Tomura hadn't gotten away clean! He promised he had and now… He flexed his fingers. Right now, he wanted to hurt Tomura but with no one answering his calls, he had no idea how to find him. At least for now.
Probably just as well…. He was going to give Tomura a piece of his mind the next time he saw him, no matter what situation they found themselves in.
"What theories?"
Ochaco rolled her eyes. "The obvious one is ransom for Todoroki. With his dad being the Number Two Hero, Endeavor would pay to get his son back," she said. "No one's really sure about Bakugou, though-" she snorted. "Maybe they wanted to be a villain," she suggested. "Monoma thinks that."
Hitoshi chuckled. "Monoma's not stupid," he said.
Izuku nodded. That was all he could bring himself to do.
"Okay, go on, the villains kidnapped two students and then-?" Hitoshi urged her to continue.
"We got bussed back to UA and then… last night," Ochaco gave the brief answer.
"Ochaco!" Hitoshi complained.
"1A was there," Mei pointed out. "And two of 1B," she added, as if remembering. Izuku was interested in this. He knew who had been kidnapped already but he wasn't sure who had gone after them. And… in some ways, they were also to blame for his dad being captured.
"Yeah, and they are going to get in the shit!" Ochaco grumbled.
"Why?"
"Because they attacked the villains without a license," Izuku explained. They'd gone over this this morning in class. Ms Kanri had been firm on the necessity of hero licenses before the use of any quirk. She completely failed to mention that limited quirk use licenses were available for the public if they could show that it was safe to use. Business got them all the time for useful quirks.
"Kaminari is an idiot!" Ochaco growled.
"You knew they were going, didn't you?" Izuku asked. She'd said something about being able to explain later.
"We all did," she admitted.
Izuku felt sick. He felt his breath catch in his throat and then forced himself to take a deep breath. She knew… She'd known! If she'd told them earlier then he could have warned Tomura… No, Kurogiri and his Dad.
If Ochaco had told them earlier, had told him earlier then, none of last night would have happened.
He swallowed.
How could she do this to him?
"What do you mean you all did?" Hitoshi challenged.
"We all did," Ochaco repeated. "Most of 1A and B got together and decided we had to do something."
"But you aren't licensed," Izuku pointed out.
Ochaco shook her head. "We had to do something."
"You could have left it to the heroes."
At that Ochaco snorted. "Little Dragon," she chided. "You've shown me the statistics heroes have. We had to do something."
He couldn't say much to that. They didn't have to do anything. All they were doing was showing that they… On one hand, they were showing they had no respect for authority and the system and would help people they thought needed help. He liked that aspect. But on the other hand, they were being selfish. They were being arrogant vigilantes who thought they knew better than everyone.
"Yeah but how did they know where to go?" Mei asked. She hadn't said much about the events but Izuku was sure she had some thoughts.
"Oh, Momo made a tracker," Ochaco shrugged. "She got a tracking device on one of the monsters and gave the tracker to the heroes. But she made us one too."
So Tomura hadn't gotten away clean, as he'd announced he had. Izuku already knew he hadn't but now he knew how he'd been found and how his Dad…
Ochaco had told him about Momo before. He'd liked the concept of her quirk.
It wasn't as attractive now.
"Who went?" Hitoshi asked.
"Momo, of course," Ochaco replied. "Then we decided Shoji would be good. Iida wanted to go too. 1A said that Kirishima had to go since Bakugou was kidnapped."
"Why?" Izuku asked.
She made a face. "Apparently Kirishima is the only one Bakugou will listen to," Ochaco didn't sound impressed.
"Arrogant twit," Izuku muttered.
She grinned at him in reply. "Momo, Shoji, Iida, Kirishima, Kaminari and lastly Honenuki," she listed the student's who'd good on the rescue.
"So four from 1A and the two from 1B who made it possible?" Hitoshi mused.
"Yeah, 'cos 1B is awesome like that."
"1B won't get into as much trouble like that," Mei murmured.
"That too," Ochaco agreed.
"So what will happen to them?" Hitoshi asked.
"What do you mean?"
"The entire country saw them being vigilantes last night," Izuku snapped, harder than he meant to. "I'm sorry! I'm tired and-" he shook his head. He didn't want to explain.
"It's okay, Little Dragon. You're not wrong," Ochaco agreed. "We agreed we should do something but only if they didn't engage. For that exact reason. We don't have licences and it's vigilantism. Which for us, Hero students, is actually worse than if it had been a civilian. A civilian could claim self defence, or something like that."
Izuku nodded but it was Mei who spoke. "The students actually travelled to the raid zone and got involved," she pointed out.
"Yeah. They weren't meant to," Ochaco stressed.
"But they did," Hitoshi said for Izuku.
"They did and I don't know what's going to happen to them because of that," Ochaco said. "They aren't back yet."
"Why not?"
"I think Kaminari got detained when they dropped Bakugou and Todoroki off at a Police Station."
Izuku nodded at that, but Mei and Hitoshi looked confused. He shook his head slightly. "As kidnappee's Bakugou and Todoroki have to go to authorities to prove who they are, and to show that they are no longer kidnapped," he explained.
"But the country saw that!" Mei objected.
"TV doesn't fill out paperwork," Izuku countered.
She humphed and Izuku chuckled. The supposed inefficiency of having to go to the Police Station was probably annoying her.
"So what happens now?" Hitoshi asked.
Ochaco shook her head. "I guess we wait and see," she said, giving Izuku a look.
Izuku cocked his head quizzically at her, wondering what she wanted but he kind of knew. She had asked if it was his Dad last night and he hadn't told her. She probably wanted an explanation. He was saved from answering when the bell to end lunch sounded.
He got up, probably a little too quickly and gave Ochaco a look. "Be careful," he told her. "I know helping is revolutionary but if you do it without working in the system then-" he didn't really want to finish that thought 'cos he knew his dad was going outside the system. It seemed a bit hypocritical to say it but… He knew his dad had tried to work with the system but because people were people, his dad would have been abused. He had no choice. Ochaco and the other hero students definitely had a choice.
"What do you mean?" Ochaco asked.
He gave her a serious look. "If you go outside the system, you will either be tagged as a villain or vigilante. And the way things are now, no one listens to them. Not for real change," he pointed out. "You have to remain in the system if you want to change it," he added with a sad smile. He might not be in the system much longer and then… he'd be a villain and rip the whole thing down.
Ochaco nodded. "I know but…"
"It's hard," Izuku was sympathetic. "Anyway, better go!" he added knowing that he really wanted to get out of here before they asked any pointed questions. He turned to the door and managed to get there before Hitoshi caught up.
"I'll walk with you," his friend said.
Izuku gave him a look. The General Studies tower was not in the direction of the Management tower. Hitoshi shook his head slightly to indicate he shouldn't ask.
"Catch you later!" Mei said, though she sounded oddly disappointed.
Was everyone being odd today?
"Later, Little Dragon!" Ochaco called as the door closed.
Izuku nodded and with the door closed he didn't see the way Ochaco and Mei shared a look.
In Mei's lab, Ochaco sighed.
"He'll be here tomorrow to answer questions," Mei pointed out.
Ochaco looked at the Support Student. "You want answers as well?"
"I wanna know where that villain got his support gear!" Mei replied. "It was sweet!"
"Huh?"
"His helmet! It wasn't just headgear," Mei gushed. "There were other features there and-" She paused, her eyes almost lighting up with stars. "They looked brilliant!"
Ochaco chuckled. Trust Mei to be focused on the peripherals. "Well, given that it is villain gear, the HPSC should be able to take it apart and maybe you can see it then?" she offered to hope.
"That would be great!" Mei almost jumped up and down with happiness. "You have class don't you?" she said pointedly.
Ochaco sighed heavily. "Yeah… probably a lecture on responsibility today," she grumbled but got up to go. "What fun!"
Mei's chuckle followed her down the corridor.
-ted-
Yakuni sat in the chair, staring at the small screen the Shie Hassaikai leader had provided. It showed All Might fighting Dragon's Dad. Specifically it showed All Might defeating Dragon's Dad. He was seeing the images but his mind was on other things.
There was only one reason the Shie Hassaikai's leader would show him this. It was to supposedly break any final loyalty he had to All For One. Except… While he was loyal to Dragon's Dad, he was loyal to Dragon first and seeing this.
Dragon was going to need his help.
He couldn't exactly tell the man that though. And he wouldn't tell the man that his first loyalty, unto death itself, was always going to be towards Dragon no matter what he did to him.
The Shie Hassaikai leader would either kill him or would want to test that and… He really didn't feel like being disassembled again. It wasn't going to change anything.
So… he was going to have to say something soon, and it was going to have to be something they expected. There were two facts the Shie Hassaikai had focused on with him. He was quirkless, and he worked for Dragon's dad as a scientist. He could work with that.
As All Might punched Dragon's Dad, Yakuni sighed heavily and allowed himself to slump slightly in the chair. "Well, I guess that's that," he murmured, for the sake of his audience.
"Ah, you see," the man said.
"Yeah," he replied, somewhat dejectedly. "He's not going to be able to give me a quirk when he's arrested," he added.
"Indeed," the man said. From the tone of voice, Yakuni thought it was the Shie Hassaikai leader himself. His quirk was named Overhaul, and it sort of sickened Yakuni that he knew that but didn't know the man's name. It said a lot about society, even Yakuza society that they only focused on the person after the quirk.
Yakuni looked at the ground, affecting an air of despondency.
"The old man is gone," Overhaul said. "I told you his time was limited but you have skills which can be leveraged by others."
At that Yakuni allowed himself to give a bark of self deprecating laughter. "You, you mean." It wasn't really a question.
"Quirks are an illness," Overhaul said. "You should be thankful you are not ill."
He might be trying to give the Yakuza boss what he wanted but that was going too far. "In this society, quirks get you everything," Yakuni snapped back, clenching his teeth.
"They do," Overhaul agreed. "But they should not. And you, of all people should know that."
"Oh, I know it. That's why I was working for the old man."
"And he's now gone. So why not look to the future?" Overhaul asked. "You know what I'm trying to do."
Yakuni nodded.
"So work for me," the Shie Hassaikai boss invited. "Instead of getting a quirk off the old man, and being just another drudge, work with me and get revenge on the world. Make them the same."
That was tempting. If he hadn't met Dragon, and Dragon's Dad, Yakuni would have jumped at that chance. Now, he just felt tired. The Yakuza boss was so… rigid in his thinking.
"So you plan to go large scale?" he asked. At the moment, they were still just going with bullets, and while that would be dangerous, you could only get a few people with bullets. Large scale would… if this Overhaul had any vision, then he'd want to be aiming towards that. Making whole cities quirkless.
Overhaul reached up and took off his plague mask to give him a smile. Most would have thought it sincere. Yakuni saw the lie. The Yakuza boss was just like everyone else. It was interesting that he claimed quirks were a disease but in the end… he'd keep his.
"Can you make us large scale?" He asked, just a shade too eagerly..
Yakuni nodded. "But first I'd need to perfect the bullet," he added the stipulation, giving the Shie Hassaikai boss his own smile. He was much more practised at being sincere when he wasn't.
"Then work for me," Overhaul said again. "And you'll get everything you've ever wanted."
He already had that. Dragon had seen to that but Yakuni nodded, lifting one hand timidly.
Overhaul took it. "Welcome to the Shie Hassaikai," he said.
Yakuni sighed. "It's good to be here."
And if they were dumb enough to believe that then… well, they deserved what he'd do.
In time.
-ted-
For anyone interested in the timeline, Izuku's morning after, is the same time as Nezu, Nighteye, All Might and the Commissioner's discussion. As you can imagine there is a lot going on in 'the morning after' and a lot of perspectives to take into account because Kamino is a pivotal event.
So Izuku is having a shitty day, and so is Yakuni. I think I know which one is going to turn it around the fastest.
My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn 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!