27/06/2023

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 82 - Not Expected

Commissioner Sozo stared down at the report on his desk. He hadn't opened it yet but was anticipating savouring the reading. It wasn't often that a report was good news for the Hero Public Safety Commission but this one promised to be. The Taxation Department had finally conceded that Hisashi Riji was a villain and the courts had ordered Hawein, Mori and Nishimura provide access to Hisashi Riji's assets. The company had complied. And now he was going to see the boost the Commission would receive.

They needed it. While Commissioner Motoo of the Taxation Department did not get a say in allocating budget, that was all done by elected officials, as Tax Commissioner, she worked closely with Treasury and Finance and those two groups did the work of allocating the spending. The HPSC hadn't had a funding cut, but they had been told to fund new initiatives from the savings they were meant to have made from previous initiatives.

He couldn't go back to Treasury or Finance to say that the initiatives hadn't made the savings they'd promised to government. Not without having to explain why, and he couldn't explain why without revealing some of the Commission's secret projects. On paper, the initiatives hadn't made any savings, in reality the initiatives had made the savings they should have, just that the money had been diverted to other things. Usually no one called them on it, and the HPSC got allocated the budget they asked for. Except this time… Motoo would say she'd done nothing. He knew she had.

That's why it was a rather delicious irony that the villain Hisashi Riji's assets would now come to the Commission and would serve to bring in more villains. It was fortuitous timing. Controlling ownership in JBQC would give the Commission enough cash to cover their short falls and the extra assets, those he knew Hisashi had to own but had no idea what they were, would allow the Commission to launch new projects. Sozo already had several ideas.

With a smile, he reached out to the report and flipped it open. It was rather slim but this was probably just the first draft, outlining what assets were where, with an initial estimate of value. Other, more detailed reports would follow telling him exactly how much each asset was worth.

Sozo scanned through the first paragraph and a feeling of cold came over him.

In accordance with the court order, Hawein, Mori and Nishimura have provided all documentation of Hisashi Riji's estates and assets. The list of assets is contained in Appendix A. A summation is as follows:

Liquid Cash in accounts: 266,197 Yen.

That couldn't be right! Hisashi Riji was a millionaire, probably a billionaire. He would not have so little means! He had to have liquid assets to run his business, to ensure his criminal empire obeyed him. Or… Sozo frowned, was everything tied up in the Company and Hisashi had truly run his personal bank accounts stupidly lean?

He ran his eyes through the report but could not see JBQC mentioned anywhere.

The cold feeling grew. There was mention of several safe deposit boxes but the contents were not valuable. What did he have need of the stupidly old USB technology? There were papers in another, containing two birth certificates, one over 100 years old, and one a mere 16 years old, and a marriage certificate. With that there was also a divorce filing.

It made no sense. He recognised two names on the certificates. Inko Midoriya was Hisashi's, now divorced, wife. Izuku Midoriya, who's name was on the current birth certificate was his son but who the hell was Yoichi Shigaraki?

The Commissioner shook his head and flipped through to the Appendix. There had to be more assets! JBQC had to be somewhere. Though… For a moment the Commissioner frowned. Did JBQC trade under another name? He tapped at his tablet, bringing up a government listing. All registered businesses were registered on the government listing and JBQC, while being majority owned by a villain, was still a registered business. It traded mostly legitimately. He found the listing and confirmed that JBQC was not just its trading name, it was the company's real name. So where was it in the documentation? He'd already checked that the company was not officially owned overseas.

Sozo scanned the Appendix but it was not there. There was a tally of Hisashi's Riji's assets and it added up to a depressing 600,000 Yen, give or take a bit. Where was the property? The companies? The cash? He'd even accept diamonds, or… anything.

Sozo threw the report down and took a deep breath. Hawein, Mori and Nishimura couldn't have given them everything and he was going to have a great deal of fun seeing that their practicing license was removed.

Or… He didn't like to think it but it was possible that they had given the Commission everything of Hisashi Riji's and that the rest of his assets were in trust. It did not seem likely that a man as … powerful and arrogant as Hisashi Riji would have allowed that but, to protect his assets he might have. Other's had.

It was something that would need to be checked.

Sozo reluctantly pushed the report to the side and tapped again on his tablet, calling up the record of JBQC. The company's identification details were there, including the fact it was a listed company, majority owned by… Wait?

That should have read 'Majority owned by Hisashi Riji'. It read 'Majority owned by Mi Enterprises'. What was Mi Enterprises?

The Commissioner clicked the link. Mi Enterprises was a registered company but not publicly traded, he learned as he looked at their information page. That was unusual but not unheard of. There were some privately owned companies that could have purchased Hisashi Riji's share of JBQC. The trick would have been keeping it quiet. He looked at the information and frowned. That wasn't right. Mi Enterprises was listed as a small company with minimal assets. How the hell had they bought JBQC if they were listed as having starting assets of less than 100,000 Yen?

There was something fishy going on here. Sozo clicked the link, calling up the owners of Mi Enterprises and chuckled. The names were withheld.

Oh… so the villain wanted to play it that way, did he?

Hawein, Mori and Nishimura probably had provided everything they had belonging to Hisashi Riji, they had just not transferred those assets Hisashi had moved into a new name. He laughed. They could play that game but he was going to win it.

-ted-

Dabi looked at the message from his little brother. The kid, Dragon, was off with Kurogiri trying to find out who had assaulted his friend and they were waiting for him to come back.

And what would this deal cost me?

It was a sensible question and he knew what his brother thought. Shouto, no doubt, believed the messages were from some scammer, eager to claim cash for a bogus 'cure'. So with the question he couldn't just name a sum, even if it was trivial because that would cement Shouto's belief and then he'd delete and block the number. Dabi knew he could get around that but it would waste time. Equally, he couldn't say that he was paying the cost. Again, Shouto would never believe that. So… how did he reply.

The obvious way to answer would be to ask if Shouto could afford not to take the deal, since it would mean the loss of his quirk, forever. Except such a response was like a scammer. If they could not gain what they wanted by deception, they tried scare tactics. So how could he answer? He couldn't answer that he'd be paying the price either. No one would believe that.

Ah… He vaguely remembered hearing of a restaurant. It was when he was just starting out as a villain. He'd been hungry, and in pain, but mostly hungry. The villain with him had laughed and said they should go eat at Muryo. He'd never heard of it and asked why, pointing out that they had no cash. The guy had laughed again and explained that was the beauty of Muryo, you paid what you thought the meal was worth.

They'd never gone but the idea remained.

You determine the cost, after you are satisfied your quirk is returned, Dabi typed. It still sounded like he was a scammer, but at least not a traditional one. He pressed send and wondered how long he'd have to wait for his brother to reply. He wondered if his brother had spoken to their other siblings.

Probably not, Dabi decided. Endeavor wouldn't have allowed that, not while there was any hope Shouto could still be his prize.

So I just meet you, and you somehow convince Dragon to be there, and to return my quirk?

Dabi didn't laugh but it was a close thing. His little brother had gotten snarky. Not somehow. I already have. You just have to agree to meet us.

The reply didn't sound the best, but that was all he could offer. He needed Shouto to meet him and Dragon so that his quirk could be returned. And then… Then Shouto could continue on the path of a hero and Dragon would pull society down. If it happened fast enough, Shouto might have a chance to be a real hero, not one of the ones controlled by the HPSC.

He saw the dots that indicated his brother was replying and then they went away. They came back and then vanished again. It happened a few more times before the dots vanished.

Dabi watched for a little while longer before he shrugged and put his phone away.

The thought was in Shouto's head now, and he'd just have to let it grow and every day he spent without his quirk, he was sure it would grow further. He just had to be patient.

-ted-

"We have a problem," Mirai announced as he walked into All Might's office. The man was teaching at UA but he spent time here every Saturday morning. UA students still went to classes but they were mostly academic, not heroics, so Toshinori could attend to business.

"What do you mean?"

Sir Nighteye threw a manilla folder onto his desk. It slid across the wood and came to a rest in front of the still Number One Hero. Yagi flipped it open and frowned at the contents. Mirai already knew what it said. It was a police report from Niigata. He winced seeing the pictures of the deceased. They'd both seen murder victims before. It never got easier. Yagi picked up the report, reading the name. "Shuyona. Who's that?"

Sir Nighteye sat in one of the chairs and closed his eyes briefly. "When I tracked him down seven years ago, it was from a note left by a Principal in his son's file," he started to explain.

Toshinori caught on quickly. "She's the Principal?"

He nodded.

All Might looked back at the report, reading through it quickly. The part that Mirai wanted him to see was near the end. A small green scale had been found at the site.

"Oh," Yagi said and Mirai knew he'd gotten to that bit. "Are there any leads?" he asked.

Mirai shook his head. "There were two sets of fingerprints. One has been identified as belonging to Himiko Toga," he said. There was no need to point out that she had been at the villain hideout the other night. "The other is unknown."

"But suspected to be Izuku Midoriya?"

"The Police aren't saying but-" he nodded. The Police did not want to cut off avenues of investigation so they wouldn't say who they thought the finger prints belonged to but that was the favoured theory.

"The murder weapon?"

"Wasn't found," Mirai told him, "but it appears to be a knife of some sort. It is speculated that he used some quirks but there is no evidence."

Yagi sighed at that. It was a worry that he might have been using the UA student quirks. "I had hope-" he didn't say what he'd hoped for but Mirai knew. He had hoped they could quickly capture Izuku so that he could be guided on to a different path. This murder… If it had truly been Izuku, and the signs suggested that it was, indicated he was following in his father's footsteps. Toshinori shook his head and then punched a number into his phone, before he connected it to the computer screen and swiveled it so that Mirai could see who he was calling.

"It's Saturday," he pointed out. The Commissioner wouldn't be working.

Toshinori just gave him a smile right before the call connected and the screen displayed Commissioner Sozo. "All Might," he greeted Yagi, though Mirai could tell he was curious as to the reason for the call. He was dressed in a polo shirt and appeared to be walking through some park. Mirai realised he was probably out playing golf.

Yagi didn't bother with pleasantries. "You've heard about the attacks on the UA students."

Sozo frowned. "There's more than one?"

"Ochaco and Katsuki," Toshinori reminded him.

"Ochaco is no longer a student," Sozo replied.

Yagi shook his head. "That doesn't matter," he muttered, indicating that he didn't want to get into an argument. "Have the assailants been identified?" he asked.

"Those who attacked Bakugou should have been brought in already," Sozo told him.

"No, the ones who attacked Ochaco," Toshinori pressed.

"I don't think so."

"Shit!"

All Might didn't swear, so it was noteworthy when he did.

"Does it matter?" Sozo asked, obviously understanding that there was something else going on here.

"Tell me there's at least some knowledge of who they are?" Toshinori pushed for more information.

"You'll have to ask the Police."

"There was quirk use!" Yagi objected. The Police were involved in those cases where no quirk use was detected. Ochaco had been subdued because of a quirk! There had been evidence there. The instant quirk use was involved, a Hero took over the investigation.

"So? No one cares about her."

Mirai understood Toshinori's distress. "I'll start looking," he mouthed the words at his friend.

Yagi picked up a picture of Shuyona from the file Sir Nighteye had brought him and held it up for Sozo to see. It showed the blood on her night clothes. The blood on her bed. The wounds that had been inflicted pre-mortem and the fall of blood that marked the stab wound that had killed her.

"Urgh," Sozo gagged at the image. "Who's that?"

"Her name was Shuyona. She was the breakthrough in the case that let me find All For One, seven years ago," Mirai answered. The Commissioner had seen him earlier.

"Okay, and?"

"We believe Izuku murdered her," All Might told him.

The man was at least quick to understand the implications. "So you think he'll go after those who attacked his friend?"

Toshinori looked sad but nodded.

Sozo looked thoughtful. "Given that they are hardly going to be the flower of society, that does suggest some possibilities for capturing him," he observed.

"They are unlikely to be together," Mirai said. "Unless they've been arrested," he added.

"You really think he will attack them?" Sozo asked.

Yagi nodded. "He's trying out what he can do. And as much as I'd like to say he's a new villain, he is most likely with his father's generals."

"I thought you took them out?"

"Those who survive," All Might said. "They will ensure he does not make the mistakes we see most new villains make."

That appeared to get through to the Commissioner. "And there is still Tomura Shigaraki," All Might added. He didn't need to say more. The young man had been building a reputation and with the addition of Izuku, and his power… The Commission and UA were already having to deal with the fall out from his actions. Having Izuku do something would just put more strain on public relations.

Sozo sighed. "Talk to the Police. They'll move for you," he added.

Toshinori nodded. He didn't trade on the reputation of All Might but it was useful at times.

"I will put a guard on Ochaco as well," Mirai said.

"You think he'll visit?"

"I think he will believe he can," Sir Nighteye replied. "If he looks at the response between the two - Katsuki and Ochaco - he will probably believe that no one cares about his friend."

Reluctantly Sozo nodded. "Do it. We need to bring him in fast," he observed.

All Might nodded but Mirai could tell he was saddened by this turn of events.

There was nothing they could do though but react. Izuku had made his choices. They had to make theirs. And he would be brought to justice to ensure the continued peace in society.

All For One would not win. Not via his son and not via his student. Not by himself.

Heroes would see to that.

-ted-

Well... Sozo got a surprise and not a good one and Izuku is off trying to find out who assaulted Ochaco - that scene will be next chapter. Dabi is talking to Shouto and All Might is now aware of Izuku's activities. Things are beginning to coalesce.

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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