28/03/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 59 - Wanting to Make Contact

When Izuku woke up, he was still on the floor. Not that he expected the Doctor to have moved him. He'd have probably lashed out if something came close. He was hungry though and the Doctor was still working at his station.

"You're awake," Doctor Garaki murmured, proving he wasn't as absorbed with his work as he would have seemed.

"Hmm-hm," Izuku said as he pushed himself up. The floor was hard and he felt stiff but he was feeling relatively rested. "What's the time?" he asked as he stood. He could feel a buzz under his skin from the new quirks.

"It's about 11pm," the Doctor told him.

Izuku nodded. "Is there anything to eat?"

Kyudai waved one hand towards a door Izuku hadn't seen earlier. "The kitchen's through there," he said absently.

Izuku nodded and took himself through the door. He'd eat and then ask about a place to sleep. He found the kitchen, though it was more a bench, with a small fridge under it and a kettle. There was a cupboard overhead. Izuku put the kettle on and rummaged through the cupboard. He found a cup and a bowl, and then noticed the rice cooker that was pushed into the corner. Izuku reached out. It was hot. He opened the fridge and saw some pickled vegetables and a number of other things that were best not thought about. The pickles were on a plate he recognised as coming from Kurogiri's bar so they should be safe. He put them on the bench and opened the rice cooker.

That was a mistake. There was rice in it. It was just… Izuku gulped. Yeah, it was not edible. He turned the appliance off and pulled out the cooking bowl, looking for the bin. Thankfully it wasn't that far away and he got rid of the bad rice. Fresh rice had been in the cupboard so after washing the bowl and wiping out the lid of the cooker, he put on a fresh batch of rice, willing it to cook faster.

He got himself a drink while he waited but then sat and thought about what had happened. By now, UA would have figured out he'd taken the failed hero student's quirks. They would probably be trying to figure out what to do about it. Izuku half closed his eyes as he sipped his water. He wondered if they'd offer Ochaco her place back as an inducement to get him to give the quirks back. Though to do that, they'd have to talk to him and…

Well, they would find out his phone number and they would probably raid his apartment but if they did give Ochaco her place back would he give the quirks back?

He knew the answer immediately. No. They had expelled her for such a flippant reason! And were prepared to keep the others, who openly broke the rules. He had no reason to give the quirks back. And he'd be putting himself in danger to do that. If he agreed, he had no doubt the HPSC would arrange for multiple heroes to be there to make sure he didn't get away and to possibly make sure he lost breathing privileges.

First year didn't cover the reasons for a lethal force authorisation, just that it existed but he had the feeling, if they were prepared to expel Ochaco on the suspicion of knowing a villain, then they'd have no problem authorising lethal force on a villain who could take quirks.

So, they weren't going back. He raised his left hand and let a small flame dance on it. It was Todoroki's quirk… The fire came easily to him. It was kind of like Fire Breath but not the same. He could feel the heat but since he was fireproof, it was warm, not painful. Though it was too warm and he could feel sweat forming. Then his hand exploded.

Instinctively his hand jerked down, away from the explosion. That wasn't meant to happen! He lifted his hand again, examining it for injuries, before regeneration kicked in. There was a bit of black soot on his skin but he was otherwise fine. The surprise had been the pop when the explosion occurred. Why had that happened?

Wait… The loud moron's quirk! He produced explosions from his hands. Izuku licked his palm. The taste was sweet, not salty as it should have been. That meant the explosion must have come from sweat. Izuku snorted at the realisation. The moron had great control but… Someone seriously thought that someone with explosive sweat would make a great hero? How had Endeavor's kid not already set him on fire?

He shook his head. Heroics made no sense at times.

So he wasn't going to give them back but he didn't necessarily want to keep them for himself. Except Kirishima's. That one was going to be useful. Izuku concentrated on its feel. It was kind of red and jagged in his mind but he pulled it to him and activated it. He could feel his arm firming up and tapped his hand against his forearm. Yep, it was harder, armoured almost. Then he tried to form scales. A couple of green scales formed but not the usual overlapping layers he was used to. Izuku frowned and released Kirishima's quirk. The scales covered his arm fully then. He tapped them but could tell they were the same as normal. Then he activated Kirishima's quirk again. This time…

Ah that was better. The scales felt tougher. They lost a bit of the shine he expected with them but he could feel that they were stronger. He smiled. Oh… yes, Kirishima's quirk was going to be useful!

He checked the cooker but the rice wasn't done yet, so Izuku went back to examining the new quirks he had acquired. He'd have to ask the Doctor for something to put Bakugou's in. He wasn't going to keep it but he wasn't going to give it back either. They'd find some use for it. Kirishima's would remain with him and… Probably Todoroki's. That left Kaminari, Yaoyozoru and Iida's quirks. Iida's was a mutant type quirk. He could remember his father saying they could take them but it didn't necessarily mean he'd get any benefit from it because he didn't have the required mutation to make it work. So… Iida's quirk was speed. He should now have the ability to think and react at the speeds Iida was capable of but without the mutation he wasn't going to be able to use that quirk much. Oh well… Neither would Iida.

Kaminari's quirk of electricity could be interesting. Izuku held up one hand and concentrated on it. "Ow!" he cried out. He'd zapped himself! What kind of quirk was that? Though… had he done something wrong? He could distinctly remember Kaminari covering his hands with electricity… so he must have done something wrong. He looked down at his hand again, everything seemed okay and he once again stretched to use Kaminari's quirk. This time he didn't zap himself but at the same time, it wasn't that strong. What the hell was wrong with Kaminari's quirk?

Wait… Kaminari's quirk was electricity. Izuku thought about what the vigilante had been wearing. "Oh," he muttered to himself. Kaminari had been wearing rubber shoes. Well that was a kind of useless quirk. He understood the need to use support equipment but if you had to use support equipment just to use your quirk safely… that didn't seem right. He'd have to think about what to do with the vigilante's quirk.

Now… Yaoyozoru's… that had possibilities. Ochaco had told him the other girl could create anything she wanted from her lipids. He rolled his eyes when he thought about that and her general stature. If she relied on her lipids then she should have lipids but convention and prejudice said that female heroes had to be lithesome and pretty. Fat would not be popular, even if it was more practical. Fatgum got away with it because he was male. Yaoyozoru would never get away with it.

It was so stupid and Izuku sighed… he probably wasn't fat enough to make full use of her quirk either. But he could experiment. So what did he want? Cooked rice! Izuku thought to himself but realised that would be a silly waste of power. Plus, if he used his own energy to make rice, and then ate it, while he'd no doubt not be hungry, all he'd be doing is replacing his energy. It didn't make sense. Better to wait for the rice to be cooked and that had to be soon. So what did he want to make? Something simple would be best.

A little trinket he decided. A key chain. Izuku concentrated on the look and feel of it. It would be a small, flat character. There'd be the coloured paper picture, covered in hard plastic. He thought about the character he wanted. His Dad! How did he design his dad into the style of a keychain? Izuku thought about it for a few moments. He'd mostly seen hero keychains, though there were a few villain ones. In his opinion, the people who had them were trying too hard. But thinking about the hero ones gave him a template and style to base it on. And some heroes he'd seen wearing suits!

So, black suit, no tie, white hair, gold eyes and a confident grin. Izuku envisaged that and then willed the keychain to emerge from his arm. He felt a tingle and then something like a pulling sensation and then the keychain was there.

Except…

It was nothing like he'd seen in his mind's eye. It was a bulbous, bubbly thing with streaks of black, white and gold running through it. That was not what he wanted.

Izuku sighed and he taped it. Whatever it was, it didn't even feel like plastic… Wait! Hadn't Ochaco told him that Yaoyozoru needed to understand the materials she made…

That might explain this outcome. He really didn't understand plastic polymers.

Hmm… though what counted as understanding? That was going to take more experimentation but before Izuku could think about that, the rice cooker clicked to done. He grinned and found the spatula, scooping out some rice into a bowl to go with the pickled vegetables. As an afterthought he found a second bowl and got a portion out for the Doctor. Who knew when the man had last eaten?

Izuku shoved his failed creation into a pocket and picked up the two bowls, grabbing chop sticks between his fingers before taking the bowls out to the Doctor. It hadn't been that long but maybe Kurogiri had called. He needed to talk to them! Well… after he gave Tomura a piece of his mind and then they had to regroup and move forward. The heroes would be doing that.

They couldn't be left behind.

-ted-

It was amazing how, when you were hiding in a two room hovel, with far too many other people, the most important gift belonged to the physically weakest member. Whisper was keeping everyone quiet. She'd done it to herself first then offered her services to Himiko and Butterfly after Muscular had been set off over something stupid. It had taken Dabi to distract the strong man so that Compass could put him into a marble to deescalate the situation. Tomura probably could have done it but the boss was too depressed.

Himiko had seen the signs before and she ached for Izuku. Tomura was mourning his teacher. Izuku had lost his dad! At least they knew the old man was still alive. They'd gotten that much news but apart from that, they had been cut off.

And squashing nine villains, who hadn't worked together into two tiny rooms was a recipe for disaster. Whisper's quirk was keeping them together. Silence was a far more useful quirk that it initially seemed. Silence could make it seem as if they were alone, even if they were all in the one room. Whisper had used her quirk on herself first, making sure that no one was disturbed when she moved. Butterfly had seen the effects and had asked Whisper to apply it to her. Not all the time. Just when tempers were fraying. And Whisper had a trick with her quirk, while she could make you silent, she could also block the noise of others from you. She could only do that while you were in her proximity but with them being stuck in the two rooms, that was hardly an issue. So… with her doing that, you could pretend you were alone.

It was helping.

Not that Tomura seemed to care. Izuku had never really had a chance to explain about his dad but it was obvious that their leader was deeply affected by his loss. Twice and others weren't but they were aware it was the man's efforts which meant they were free now.

Even with Whisper's silencing on her, Himiko could hear her phone! The beep was surprising and she pulled it out. There was a message from Izuku! Himiko was about to tap on it when a black misty hand closed over her phone. Darn! Whisper's silencing was good! She hadn't heard him come up.

Himiko looked up, growling into the non-expressive face of Kurogiri. The man had been recovering from the forced quirk activation. He shook his head, yellow eyes narrowed almost to slits. "His phone may be compromised," Kurogiri said softly. Because he was touching her, Whisper's quirk didn't dampen his statement. "I will enquire."

She wanted to know how he would do that, but knew enough to know that Izuku's father at least, would have had a support network. The misty man could probably access that. Himiko nodded but… she wanted to answer. Except… People called her spontaneous, they called her stupid and short sighted and they didn't think she could plan. She could. But Himiko didn't see any reason to hold a grudge when the means for vengeance were in front of her. In this case though… she knew the heroes were hunting them. More heroes than had ever hunted her before. And she knew if they were captured…

They knew Izuku's dad had been taken to Tartarus. They probably wouldn't get that mercy. None of them were big enough names. They'd be put on trial and executed. There was no way she wanted that. She hadn't had enough fun yet.

So… for now, she had to stay quiet. She had to! Izuku would eventually come to the right side and… Himiko suppressed a smile. They would have so much fun! He'd probably be innocent at first but she already knew he'd have the best ideas! This was going to be the best. She just had to be patient.

"When?" Himiko asked before Kurogiri could pull back.

The misty man was smart enough to know that the question also related to how long they had to remain here. It might be safe enough to stay here for now but sooner or later it would be too dangerous. The heroes were still looking for them. "Soon," he indicated.

Himiko nodded at the response. She wasn't happy but at least she knew the man was aware of the dangers. Though if Tomura didn't get it together soon then… She looked around the small room.

Butterfly and Whisper were talking in a corner. She couldn't hear them but Butterfly's wings were spread either side of her but up against the wall so that they didn't take up space. Whisper was pulling gently on the end of her braid. Tomura was in the corner rocking back and forth as he stared at something only he could see.

Himiko knew that Compress, Dabi and Twice were in the next room. Muscular was still reduced to a marble. They'd all decided it was safer in the long run though it was going to be a bitch explaining it to the muscle head. He might be strong but… he had no sense and was too consumed by his passions. Himiko liked to pursue her goals but she had always been aware of her limitations. Muscular seemed to think he could fight his way out of anything. The moron.

She nodded to herself. The shock of the raid had passed and now it was Kurogiri who was keeping them together. If Tomura didn't do something soon then… This little venture was doomed to failure and she'd be better off on her own. The others probably knew that as well and that's what they were probably thinking about.

There was a little time yet.

But it was running out. She didn't like that feeling.

-ted-

So Izuku is playing with his new quirks already and figuring out that maybe his Dad's policy of taking 'easy to use quirks' isn't actually that much of a bad policy. Sure you don't get some of the subtlety you can get with other quirks but do you need it if you can just flatten the opposition?

And Whisper is proving her worth. But time is running out and the villains will need to get moving so that they can reign supreme over the heroes.

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-

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