18/04/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 65 - This Is The Dragon?

Konchu, better known to the world as the villain Butterfly, waved her wings gently as she listened in on the conversation below. She was lying on one of the rafters of the warehouse the warper had brought them to. The warehouse was mostly empty, save for an old couch or two and a set of tubes set up on the other end.

The tubes were not empty but after the initial revulsion at seeing the people in them, they were easy to ignore. Especially with what had happened.

"You are kidding? No you can't be!" That was Twice. The masked man was looking at Himiko.

"That was Dragon," she confirmed looking at Mr Compress.

The magician had a pearl in his hand. Butterfly thought it was Muscular but it was obvious he was considering letting him out but hadn't decided. Now wasn't really the time.

Last night, their little group had all been woken by a scream and a crash and had seen someone with green scales and glowing eyes fighting Tomura. Actually, it wasn't so much that the scaled guy was fighting Tomura, it was more that Tomura was fighting him. And losing.

The combatants had been yelling at each other the entire time. Something about hurting him.

They'd tried to help. The green guy, the one Himiko called Dragon, had ignored them and had held them in position with contemptuous ease. It was easy to see the guy as Dragon. Except Dragon was … She could no longer say Dragon was a myth, not when she'd seen him.

Dragon had been unhappy. He'd dominated the fight with Tomura. He'd shown absolutely no fear of the guy. Tomura could disintegrate people with a touch but Dragon had gone hand to hand with him as if there was no danger. It wasn't until he'd dealt with them that she knew why.

Dragon had some sort of quirk that meant he could move things without touching them. It was how he'd held them in place and…

She shuddered. It was one thing to kill. She'd done it herself on occasion but it was another to hold a man and kill with your quirk.

"Dragon's older!" Dabi replied to Himiko.

Butterfly looked down at the girl. Her only concession to the cold had been to put a cardigan over her uniform. Though obviously it wasn't her uniform since she didn't go to High School even if she was the right age.

"He's not," Himiko giggled. "You all think he is, but he's not," she laughed again. It caused the green scale she had threaded through a string around her neck to bounce slightly, catching the light. They all knew what that scale meant.

Butterfly wondered briefly when she learned that information. It was the kind of information she felt like she'd known forever, but it could only have been a few years. It seemed as if Dragon had always been in the underworld but he was really new.

But powerful, her mind reminded her. Very powerful if he could organise massacres and get away with it, if he dealt with the Emperor as an equal, which everything had said he did, and definitely if he could mark people for protection or favour and expect it to happen. She knew what the green scale meant and… while she wouldn't have helped Himiko, she would have at least not gotten in her way.

Except now they had seen that Dragon was some punk kid… Powerful yes, but still going to High School… What the fuck? How did you explain that?

She was trying to answer her own question when the warper returned. A black disk opened up in the middle of the floor, gaining yellow eyes but before the warper himself materialised, someone familiar walked through. It wasn't Tomura but the boy who had attacked him earlier. He looked determined. Kurogiri reformed behind him and made no move to attack him.

That was interesting. It had been obvious earlier that the warper knew him but… It answered a few questions. This kid, whether he was Dragon or not, outranked Tomura. Or maybe the warper was just pragmatic. If Tomura was dead, and he definitely seemed dead when the warper had taken him out earlier, then there was no point in following him. Dragon could be a good new leader.

The kid looked around. Butterfly got the impression he knew exactly what was in the tanks as he barely glanced at them, instead he focused on them.

"Dwagon!" Himiko yelled happily as she skipped over to him. She glomped on to him which didn't appear to bother him. Instead, the kid gave her a fond smile and patted her shoulder.

"You're not Dragon," Dabi accused.

It wasn't how Butterfly would have approached this. She'd have let Dragon make the first overture.

The boy just gave him a smile and snorted softly. "Expected me to be older, huh?" he said, without seeming to take insult.

There was no need for Dabi to answer.

"You should be older. No you shouldn't," Twice said.

The boy sighed and shrugged. "I wasn't meant to be active yet," he admitted. "But you can blame All Might for that."

Mr Compress cocked his head slightly. He still had his mask but wasn't wearing his top hat. "But you are known to the world," he pointed out.

"Preparatory work," the boy replied. "But does that really matter now?"

"It might," Mr Compress said.

At that, the boy acknowledged the point and nodded. "I suppose it does depend on how I use it, doesn't it?" He asked rhetorically. "But that will depend on you," he added. "All of you," he continued, gesturing vaguely at them. He even flicked his fingers up to indicate her. Butterfly found that to be quite nice.

"Wha'cha want?" Himiko asked. She was still hanging off him, as if she was afraid he'd disappear again.

Dragon smiled at that. "You were all following-" he paused and frowned. "Where's the big guy?" he asked.

"Ah," Mr Compress said, holding up one hand with the pearl clasped between two fingers. "Kurogiri asked me to compress him for transport."

"Could you let him out, please? So I can go over this once?" Dragon asked. The question sounded a bit imperious but the tone was polite.

That was interesting. Tomura would have just ordered it and expected it to happen. The word please didn't exist in his vocabulary.

Mr Compress nodded. The suggestion was sensible and he threw the pearl to the ground. When it came to a rest, there was no longer a pearl there. Instead Muscular was lying there, unconscious as he had been when Mr Compress had used his quirk on him.

The boy sighed and then flicked one hand at Muscular.

"What did you do?" Whisper asked softly. Butterfly hadn't ever heard the other woman raise her voice. She hadn't heard the other woman much at all. It was part of her quirk but it appeared she practiced being quiet even without her quirk.

"Just gave him back something I took earlier," Dragon explained as he watched Muscular. After a few moments he frowned. "That's taking longer than I thought," he muttered.

"What is?" Dabi demanded.

"I thought he'd wake up faster," the boy told them. Just as he said that though, the large man stirred.

Muscular woke up all at once and roared as he came to his feet, looking around to find the enemy. His eyes fixed on the teen and he snarled. Then he charged.

"Don't!" Compass shouted, though it was obvious Muscular wasn't listening.

Butterfly had the best view. The teen didn't look impressed and before Muscular could get close he slammed into something. She couldn't see anything because there was nothing to see… and then she realised, this was similar to what had happened to Tomura.

Muscular growled and pulled back before slamming into that same invisible wall.

"Calm down!" Compass urged. It didn't appear as if Muscular heard him.

Butterfly watched as the teen sighed. He didn't appear bothered by Muscular but he gently pushed Himiko to one side and took a few steps forward. Muscular roared and swung at him, this time not encountering the invisible wall. The teen raised one arm to block Muscular's swing and they were all surprised when Muscular's punch was stopped cold.

The huge man looked astonished. To be fair, everyone else did too, except for the teen. He looked bored.

Muscular exploded and tried another punch. From one of her eye facets, Butterfly could see Kurogiri. The warper was standing on the edge of the warehouse but was making no move to protect the teen. So either he had total faith in the boy or… did he want Dragon taken out for killing Tomura? There was nothing in his expression to tell.

Again the punch was blocked. The bored expression didn't change and as Muscular strained against the boy, he looked up at the larger man raising one eyebrow to question him. That didn't go down well and Muscular drew back.

The teen, who had been content to just let Muscular attack moved. Butterfly saw it because of the way her eyes worked. The boy balled up his hand and took a step forward ramming it into Muscular's gut. The force must have been incredible as Muscular folded over, his eyes bulging and the air rushing from his mouth.

Dragon took a step back, out of the way as Muscular doubled over. He seemed to consider his next move before he linked his fingers together, forming a double fist which he then brought down on the back of Muscular's head.

The man crashed into the floor.

Dragon sighed audibly and before Muscular could get up, he put one foot on his head. It was incongruous. Muscular should have been able to throw off the teen. It should have been easy. Except Muscular was flailing around, attempting to dislodge the teen who was not being moved.

"That isn't going to work," Dragon told him, looking down.

"Let me up you brat! I'm going to kill you!" Muscular snarled.

Dragon's expression didn't change but somehow Butterfly didn't think he was impressed. He looked around at everyone else. No one had moved to help Muscular. Himiko was just giggling as she watched. Dabi and Mr Compress looked more assessing and Whisper was in a protected corner.

"Let me up!" Muscular roared.

"Well, I guess I'll just have to go over it twice," the teen said before he stepped back.

They all expected Muscular to explode from the floor after him but he didn't move. Butterfly focused on him and realised he was unconscious. The teen had done something, probably the same thing he'd done last night to knock out Muscular. He… well, he could fight, at least some.

"What did you do?" Dabi demanded.

"He wasn't listening, and I'd prefer to get this over with," Dragon said.

"Get what over with?"

Dragon didn't answer immediately. Instead he looked over them all, meeting their eyes. "You were hired to follow Tomura, and he's dead," the teen told them matter of factly. He gave them all a depreciating smile. He was the one who'd killed Tomura. "So will you follow me?"

It was safe to say they weren't expecting that question. They should have been. When Kurogiri hadn't let them leave, they should have been expecting to be asked something like this.

"And what do you want to do?" Mr Compress asked.

"Yes, tell us. No, don't!"

They saw Dragon tremble and both hands formed into fists. "All Might's head on a platter would be nice," he half growled.

That was the same as Tomura.

"We had a deal," the teen told them. "I'd help Tomura kill All Might, and he'd help me get to Toxic Chainsaw and the HPSC. He only got All Might because I'm younger, but I wanted him as well."

"And how are you going to do that?"

"Which bit?"

"Kill All Might," Dabi clarified.

"He's injured, and I'm not above exploiting that," the teen told them.

It wasn't a plan. Butterfly could see that the teen didn't really have a plan and she could tell that the others were thinking that it wasn't worthwhile following this child. Tomura was older… and therefore better.

Apparently the teen sensed that as well. "I'm not Tomura," he told them. "But I have roughly the same goals and the same resources," he added shrewdly.

The air changed slightly. Being paid was always a good thing for a villain.

"Go on," Mr Compress told him.

Dragon gave a mocking laugh. "If you follow me, you are following me," he told them forcefully. "I don't want you to go out and make trouble. I may not have a full plan yet, but there will be one, and I am open to suggestions on aspects. But once I make a decision, it will be made."

It was an interesting statement and Butterfly could see the others thinking about it. Himiko would follow the boy. She didn't need convincing. The others did. With his statement, the teen had made it clear he intended to lead but would supposedly take advice. It was difficult to tell if he meant it. It was easy to say. But… they really hadn't been able to see how Tomura would lead them either.

"Though, you asked me what I wanted, and while killing All Might is important, what comes after that is the more important consideration."

"What comes after? Nothing comes after!"

Dabi looked vaguely interested in that. "What do you mean?"

"Exactly what I said," the teen told him. "Killing All Might doesn't change anything. It just gives Endeavor the Number One spot. I want to change society. I want the sheeple to realise that heroes are the true villains in the world, that they and the HPSC are the real chains on the world."

"And Endeavor?" Dabi was trying to be disinterested but failed.

Dragon was controlled enough not to question him though Butterfly noticed how Mr Compress gave the fire-quirked man a look. Even Himiko had picked up that there was something more than Dabi intended there.

"I've only met him once, and he's an arrogant prick," the teen shrugged. "If he gets in the way, he gets dead," he added.

That seemed to satisfy Dabi but the others weren't as convinced and she had to consider what she wanted to do.

"What's your quirk?" Mr Compress asked suddenly.

Dragon's green eyes glittered as he looked at Mr Compress. "Which one?" he asked with a mocking smile.

"What?" Whisper was the one who demanded that.

"My Dad was the one who saved you and you saw him fight. He used multiple quirks, right?" the teen asked them.

Butterfly admitted to herself that she hadn't really thought about it but on the other hand… it did make sense. The man had blasted away All Might but had also shown prodigious strength and a couple of other odd quirks. It made sense that they weren't all one quirk. Though she didn't really want to think about how he'd gotten multiple quirks… were they copies or had he taken them from someone else? He was a villain so… he probably took them.

Mr Compress nodded, as did Twice before he shook his head.

"I have a similar quirk to my dad. I can take quirks," he told them. "And give them to someone else."

"You can give them to someone else?" Mr Compress gasped.

The teen shrugged. "I wouldn't advise it," he said offhandedly. "If you get too many, you could end up insane," he explained.

"And you don't?" Dabi didn't seem convinced.

"My quirk lets me handle it," the teen said, holding up his hands. In one hand fire danced over his skin and in the other electricity cracked visibly but then his skin turned green and scales formed as his eyes changed to a deep gold and his hair changed to white.

It was an impressive display but Butterfly saw the way that Dabi froze at the quirks in use. What did he know?

The boy looked at them all again, including a glance up to the rafters. "I'll give you a few hours to think about it, and if you don't want to follow me, then I'll have Kurogiri transport you somewhere and no hard feelings."

"Just like that?" Mr Compress asked, a bit doubtful.

"Just like that," the teen said. "I have no reason to keep you here, and if we cross paths in the future, we'll see what happens then," he explained.

It was a realistic view. Butterfly was impressed. She didn't think he'd be that realistic. And… she wasn't sure what she wanted. It was pretty obvious that Muscular wouldn't follow the kid. At least she didn't think he would. He wouldn't get over being beaten, twice or maybe he'd see it as a challenge? She wasn't sure and it didn't matter. She had to decide what she wanted to do.

The kid was heading towards one of the back rooms in the warehouse. Himiko was going with him and Kurogiri did as well, leaving them alone. Leaving them free to go if they wanted.

Mr Compress and Dabi looked at each other, and then towards Twice. Dabi shrugged and it seemed to say that the decision was something they should all make themselves.

"Well, we'd better think," Mr Compress said.

"No we don't. Yeah, we gotta," Twice replied.

Butterfly pushed off from the rafter, fluttering to the ground. "Yeah, we gotta think," she agreed. "And then-" she paused.

"And then we'll see," Dabi answered for them all.

What they'd see though, that was the question.

-ted-

Tomura is the type to say 'obey me or die', Izuku is much more willing to negotiate and if the League takes that as a sign of weakness, then that's their misconception. This is their chance to get in on social re-adjustment from the beginning and they'd be fools not to go for it... but alas, all men are fools at times. Izuku has shown he has the skills, and the ruthlessness but does he have that wow factor that they want to see?

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!