22/04/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 66 - Age Is A Factor

Izuku wanted to collapse the moment he was out of sight but he couldn't. Himiko didn't need to see such weakness and Kurogiri… He'd been put in charge of Tomura and probably thought he'd failed by letting him die, so he couldn't disappoint the warper. He took a deep breath to steady himself and then looked at Kurogiri. "I'm sorry," he told the misty man.

"Sorry?"

"I won't say I didn't mean to kill Tomura, because in that moment, I did," Izuku told him. "But when you brought me here, I only meant to give him a dressing down," he explained. "It was seeing him with Dad's quirk that changed that."

Kurogiri looked at him. Izuku wasn't sure what the other man was looking for. He wasn't going to apologise any further for killing Tomura. He was vaguely sorry but at the same time… it was an odd feeling. Yes, he should have been told about his Father's plan but he knew why he wasn't. Except, if that was his Father's plan then Tomura shouldn't have been putting him in danger like that. Even if it wasn't his Father's plan, Tomura knew better than to put him in danger.

Himiko came over before anything else could be said. She shoved her face into Izuku's but said nothing. He got the impression she was examining him for something. She frowned as she pulled back. "You can show it," Himiko told him.

"Show what?" Izuku asked.

"You are better than me, Izu! You've always been better than me," Himiko told him. "You feel bad about your first kill and you can show it," she added. Himiko cocked her head at him. "You'll recover. Just take your time and don't worry about them," she said, gesturing back to the warehouse. "Even if they decide to go, I won't!"

He looked at her, and then nodded. He wasn't going to show any weakness. He couldn't but it was nice that she thought he could. The fact that it would take time to recover sounded reasonable but he knew he wasn't going to forgive himself for removing his Father's chance to heal. And he couldn't delude himself that he'd find another way. If the Doctor hadn't in the years since then…

How was he going to face his dad?

He couldn't think of that now. He had to be strong for Himiko and Kurogiri and-

A beep… two beeps interrupted his thought. Izuku had left his phone with the Doctor and so gave Himiko and Kurogiri an amused look.

The misty man pulled out his phone and looked at the screen. Izuku saw him blink as he read what was there. Then the warper offered his phone to Izuku while Himiko giggled at what she was reading. It must be a news story, Izuku realised as he took Kurogiri's phone. He looked at the screen and froze.

"Oh," he murmured and then snorted.

The Yaoyorozu's wanted their daughter's quirk back, and they were prepared to pay. Apparently they were hosting a news conference.

"We should watch," Izuku said.

Himiko giggled. "Are you going to give it back?"

Izuku thought about it for a few moments before he shook his head. "I doubt they'd be able to pay my coin," he decided.

She chuckled and Kurogiri nodded. It seemed approving but Izuku knew better than to assume that. "Should we invite the others to watch?" he asked.

"I'll set up a screen for them, but I think it best that you give them distance," the misty man advised.

Izuku nodded and the warper opened into a portal. It was probably back to the Doctor's and Izuku went through it after grabbing Himiko's hand to pull her through. Kurogiri was right. The others who had followed Tomura would need time. He just hoped they'd… There were other villains out there who could be brought into to work for him but these ones had been picked for a reason and thus… he hoped they would work with him.

-ted-

Dabi looked at the group after the kid left. He made mental assessments in his head. There was no way Muscular would follow the kid, not after the two put downs he'd experienced. Conversely, those sort of attracted the others. He could tell. And Dabi almost grinned when he realised Mr Compress was doing the same as him. Butterfly probably was as well but he couldn't tell. Her expression was too insectoid to be easily read but the rest of her body language suggested she was thinking.

"The kid could be Dragon. No he can't!" Twice said, bringing the other issue to the fore.

Dragon was the underworld equivalent to the Boogie Man. Sort of anyway. The only difference between Dragon and the Boogie Man was that everyone knew the Boogie Man was fictional. Dragon was thought of as fictional and people wanted him to be fictional but there was just enough truth in the stories about him to make you doubt. He didn't strike down lowly villains but he could take out whole cartels. And had.

There were certain events Dragon had been said to have a hand in and since no one else claimed responsibility it was one of those things that everyone just accepted. And then there was Dragon's mark. Himiko had one. The small green scale. Usually it would have meant nothing but when a broker like Giran took it seriously, Dabi had known he had to take Dragon seriously.

Except… Dragon was that kid? His displays of power against Handsy and Muscular were impressive but… He was a kid! He couldn't be older than Shouto! There was no way he could really be Dragon. The Dorei Ring had been taken out about three years ago. He would have been 13! Except… He'd told them why he was so young!

"He could be," Butterfly agreed with Twice.

"So young?" Whisper asked in that breathy voice that almost passed unnoticed.

Mr Compress looked thoughtful, though it was hard to tell with his mask still in place. "He could be," he agreed in a tone that indicated he was thinking hard. "I agreed to work with Shigaraki because Giran doesn't work for no ones," he said. "But Giran didn't tell us everything. The man who saved us, you all know who that was, right?"

Dabi thought back to the other night. He'd been unconscious so there wasn't much to think about but he'd seen the footage. The man was well dressed, wearing some heavy duty helmet and had fought All Might as if it was nothing. Whoever the man was, he was a power in his own right.

"All For One," Whisper said.

"He's a myth!" Butterfly objected.

"No he's not. Yes he is," Twice told them.

Mr Compress shook head. "All For One wants to be believed as a myth but he's not. My great great grandfather supposedly knew him," he added. "So All For One is probably a hereditary title but he is real."

"And powerful," Dabi added. He'd heard rumours about All For One since he became a villain. It was things almost like Dragon. Don't do this or All For One would get you. The difference between the rumours was that All For One was known to put out, via brokers, jobs. None of the jobs ever made sense and were not usually for high level villains. He needed those who had hand to hand combat skills. He needed those who would come to a warehouse on a certain day for an unspecified task. That wasn't anything he was interested in. And the other jobs he offered were usually through established networks. He didn't distribute Trigger but he was the source. Most of the illegal fighting competitions were run by those who worked for him and… Dabi had an easier time believing All For One was real over Dragon.

"So you are saying All For One is behind the underworld and the way they hand down power is to create a place for their successor to step into?" Butterfly asked.

"That makes sense," Mr Compress said. "Think about it. Except for a few years back, there's never been a really large power vacuum in the underworld. All For One has been there, running it. It was that way in my great, great grandfather's day. It was that way in my grandfather's day all the way to now. So they have to have some way of transferring power," Mr Compress explained.

Dabi nodded. It made a certain sort of sense. He didn't know about that far back. He didn't care but he could see how it would work now. All For One was established but if he was going to pass power to his son, then he could either wait for the boy to be old enough and establish his own reputation except to do that, they'd probably come into conflict, or start early and set up a persona for the kid. Give the credit for a few of your crimes to the kid and the reputation is established and then… He almost laughed. When the kid's old enough, he takes the name, and the reputation and there'd be very few people who'd admit they were duped into following a child. The only risky part was… now.

This was the riskiest time for truly establishing Dragon. When the truth came out and people would be expected to follow. They could walk away, spread the truth about Dragon and the reputation would disappear. The kid might build it back up. He had some skills but he might not… Or they could follow him now and establish Dragon, and themselves as a force to be reckoned with.

Dabi pulled his mind off that thought before a very familiar fantasy could overcome him. He had to be serious here. "Muscular won't follow him," he said.

Mr Compress almost looked amused. Muscular was still lying on the ground, unconscious. "No, Muscular won't," he agreed. "Though what did he do?"

"Took his quirk," Whisper gave the answer.

A little while ago, that would have been an unthinkable answer. Now it seemed reasonable. The kid had admitted he could take quirks.

"No he didn't. Yes he did."

"So you think when he takes a quirk the person is knocked unconscious?" Mr Compress asked.

Whisper nodded. They all connected the dots. They'd seen Muscular knocked out twice and the kid hadn't really hit him either.

"That's one hell of a quirk," Dabi said.

"That's a bull shit quirk," Butterfly objected.

"So what quirk does he have?" Mr Compress asked her. They'd all seen the kid's demonstration earlier. Electricity, fire, scales, eye and hair colour were not the effects of a single quirk. Or at least not the effects of an easy to recognise single quirk. And even if they could come up with something to explain that, there was still the chain, the strength, the barrier and the way the kid had choked Shigaraki. When you thought about it like that, multiple quirks became a much more realistic proposition though if the boy could take them or had them implanted was still a consideration.

Except, the kid had no reason to lie to them. And Dabi thought he was pretty good at spotting lies. The others would all have their techniques as well and no one was suggesting the kid had lied.

Butterfly sighed. "It's a bull shit quirk," she muttered but acknowledged that she couldn't think of a quirk that fit.

"It is," Mr Compress agreed. "But-"

The magician didn't finish. Dabi could tell he was tempted to follow the kid. The kid was young but had obviously received training, if you could say you could be trained to be a villain. He hadn't broken down after killing Tomura and he had resources. The warp gate had moved to follow him and he'd obviously been somewhere else… Which just reinforced the fact he had resources.

It was tempting but he was young… really young. Was he really fully blooded and ready to commit? Did he really understand what he was saying?

Dabi recognised the hypocrisy of him thinking that but most kids went through a phase where they thought villains were cool. Any that acted on it and the toughs that came out of Middle School soon found out they weren't anything special. If they had the right quirk, they were just another thug, expendable. Those who had something special… they didn't come along every day.

That was the real question. Was the kid just a wanna be…

All For One didn't think so except he was All For One's son and obviously the favoured son given Tomura's demise. Dabi clenched his fist, ignoring the way his skin pulled tight. Should he be more sympathetic to the now deceased Shigaraki? He'd been in that position. He knew what it felt like except… No, it wasn't the same. Shigaraki had the backing of All For One. The man had come to rescue him. Whatever else he'd planned, that was still true.

"Why are we even discussing this?" Dabi asked sharply. "It's not like we have to make a group decision," he pointed out.

"Hearing other opinions sharpens and develops your own," Whisper told him.

He wanted to snap that it wasn't true but… it was. He still didn't feel particularly close to the villains Shigaraki had gathered but having done a mission or two, he knew he could work with them. At least somewhat, and he knew that they had some similar goals to him.

"I need to know what he thinks of Stain," Dabi said.

Butterfly couldn't roll her faceted eyes, but he got the impression she wanted to.

"That's important. It's not important," Twice agreed.

"Himiko will follow him," Mr Compress pointed out.

"She knows him," Dabi replied. It was a reminder of how young the kid was.

He would have said more but there was a beep from his phone. A moment later someone else's beeped. Kurogiri had them on black out and they'd done that for a day or so but a villain who didn't know what was going on was a dead villain. Or worse, one caught by a hero! So they'd all put their phones back on the network. They weren't stupid though. No one was taking or making calls but they were getting the news. All of them used burner phones and all of them would be replacing them as soon as they were out of here. But for now, they could at least get news alerts.

Dabi pulled out his phone as did the others.

"What the fuck?" He growled.

The headline was unbelievable. 'Yaoyorozu's Plea to Mitei Chui to give back Daughter's Quirk. Press Conference at 11am.'

Mr Compress chuckled.

"He took her quirk. He didn't take it."

"I think we all want more information from Dragon," Whisper said before anyone replied to Twice.

"Yes."

They waited but no denial came from the man.

Dabi was just looking at the headline. It was… While the kid had skills and a great quirk, and had been polite, and had killed Shigaraki there was… With the kid's youth he was still questioning his dedication but if he'd already taken a UA student's quirk then… He recognised the name. The Yaoyorozu's daughter was one of the few children Shouto had been allowed to interact with. It was because they were heroes, legacy heroes, so while Endeavor didn't actually say it, he was interested in learning how they made a dynasty. The Iida's hadn't been that interested in speaking with him. He remembered that the Yaoyorozu's were better at pretending but they also combined heroics with business. Not all their money came from heroics. Their business deals were near legendary as well.

Except now… He wasn't going to be the only one wanting more details. Just as he was thinking that the warper reappeared. His yellow eyes said he knew exactly what news alert they'd all gotten.

"I will set up a screen," he told them.

"Thank you," Whisper said.

"Did he tell you to?" Dabi demanded. If the kid had said to do it that would show a level of consideration that was… well, it would say good things for the kid.

Kurogiri gave him a look before nodding. "He indicated that arrangements should be made. I suggested that he remain separate for now."

"We have questions," Mr Compress told him.

The warper nodded again. "I will tell him," he acknowledged the request. "For now though, I should prepare," he added before opening a small gate. A screen came through it and the misty man busied himself with it, attaching his phone to it.

"Shall we?" he invited as the screen came to life and a table was shown. It was in a rich room and there were people preparing for the press conference. There was a timer on the side and it was quickly counting down.

They gathered together, just as someone walked on screen and sat at the table. Silence fell, both on the screen and in the watching group.

Dabi stared at the screen. The conference would tell them a lot about the kid… And if they were to make a decision, they really needed to know because this could either be the beginning of something great…

Or just another waste of time.

Right now… he wasn't sure which he wanted it to be.

-ted-

So in the absence of truth, theory does abound and with the myths of All For One and Dragon, some of those theories can get pretty interesting. But there is always some truth to the rumours... it's finding the truth that is an issue. And Dabi has some sympathy for Tomura because he has been in that situation. Just sympathy doesn't really translate well when the guy is dead and Dabi's a professional villain. He'll move on quick.

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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