Quirks not Required

by darksider82

"You don't need a quirk to be a villain."-Daiten Kato; quirkless and paraplegic. His legs may not work, but his love of science will bring him onto the radar of a certain Doctor.

3. Chapter 3

Quirks Not Required

OC

MHA

III: Time to Dance

Garaki wheeled Kato through the hospital to a Hospital Lift. Wheeled them through "I do request that you keep your eyes closed; my friend whilst trusting of me doesn't like too many people knowing how to reach him."

"That is logical. With all of this secrecy, I am guessing that he got caught in a difference of opinion with a hero; potentially All Might." Kato replied stressing the 'difference of opinion'. Garaki stiffened, slightly the more he spent time with his potential successor the more he realised he might have bitten off more than he could chew potentially.

"Daiten-Kun, I know, this seems over the top and unnecessary but please; trust me." Kato sighed deeply.

"Then at least allow me to wheel myself places." Garaki nodded and let go of the wheelchair and pressed the code.

"Why? Why may I ask do you resist being pushed everywhere?"

"Since I can't use my legs, I refuse to allow people to push me anywhere; getting a lift is fine. Also to be slightly metaphorical, lyrical, poetic 'If I'm heading to Hell, I'll do the damn pushing myself'. If its time for me to dance, I'll meet my suitor on my own wheels, pace and time."

"In essence, it's a form of pride and trying to keep a semblance of independence. I can understand that, have you got someone to turn to in case it gets too dark for you? Research can be nothing but disappointment after disappointment."

Kato smiled thinly "What happens outside of these walls and basement is my business. I'll not have anyone interfered my paradise; I fear I'll be making hard choices soon, so grant me some naivety, innocence and the ability to be a young man who thinks he's hopelessly in love."

"To be you again, Daiten-Kun. I dare say, I'm a little jealous."

"Let the jealousy go, you enjoyed your happiness did you not? Did you take the opportunity to love and hold on for grim life?"

"I did, I also did horrific things. I enlisted in the JSDF when I was a young man; I served from 1940 to 1945. I then became a doctor, and I had a life with a wife; who I've outlived for by fifty years I think. She was just shy of a hundred."

Kato patted his mentor on the lower back "When you finally meet her again, you'll be able to tell her your incredible tale."

"That is if I'm worthy of joining her. The things I did in Project Shiga with Ishii Shiro and Kitano Masaji…horrible but necessary. These things were given to me and then Shigaraki gave them back to me. It's hilarious, I was discharged from Unit 713 to serve on the front and yet I've outlived them all." Garaki took the time to remember things he'd done and achieved both for international good, for Japan and then the things he'd done for his own pleasure.

The elevator dinger "Daiten-Kun, please...wheel yourself out ten rotations and then wait. Keep your eyes closed." Kato listened and soon enough Garaki was with him.

"Let there be light!" Garaki called and Kato felt the sudden surge of heat as lights flickered on.

"You can open your eyes!" Garaki instructed. Kato opened them and his jaw dropped and he turned pale.

In front of him, was a laboratory filled with more high-end equipment and facilities than he could even grasp. "Doctor, did you happen to ransack the United Federation of Planets, The Galactic Empire and the 42nd Millenium? Because of the level of technology here is well amazing and all of this is screaming 'Too good to be true' and 'because it is'. Thus I have one question; what's the catch? What's the hefty another shoe that will drop?"

Then he heard it, the unmistakable formula of trumpets, trombones and the biting chords of the string elements; as a man dressed in a black suit with a skull-like mask with an inbuilt respirator with various other tubes. Kato whistled "Either you got into a serious accident and the insurance payout didn't cover the injuries, or you got seriously screwed over by a Hero or genetics."

The response was a wheezing but deep bass chuckle "That's the first time someone has made a comment like that. Most people when I've encountered them have made Star Wars references."

Kato grinned "Believe me, my master, the desire to make such jokes are on my mind; but I'm a quirkless paraplegic and your still one of the most powerful if not dangerous people in this room. Regardless if you had the high ground or not."

Garaki groaned slightly "Oh Shinigami, now there are two of them!"

"Come now, Garaki; all pre-quirk pop-culture references aside we're entertaining. Or at least I am."

"Like a heart attack, Shigaraki. Okay, Daiten-Kun; this is Shigaraki, you might know him as All-For-One."

Kato stiffened "All-For-One? As in All-For-One and One-For-All, if so are you paying Alexander Dumas descendants royalties for using that phrase? I mean, I've read rumours about someone known as All-For-One like you were around at the beginning of quirks."

Shigaraki nodded "Indeed I was, as was Garaki Kyudai. In fact, Garaki was alive during World War II and had served in Unit 713."

Kato blanched and turned grey "I've read enough about Unit 713 to say 'I don't want to know the details.' Now, I definitely feel like I've struck a deal with the devil."

Garaki chuckled mirthlessly "Yes, you have. Daiten-Kun, remember I've sponsored you because I genuinely think it's a shame that you've suffered so heinously at the hands of the current law."

Kato looked at the pair of them "Why me? You've brought me into layers upon layers of conspiracy and secrecy. I only ask for one thing; the pair of you speak truthfully, don't give me political double speech."

Shigaraki nodded "You do deserve that much. Your intention to cure spinal injuries without the usage of biomechanical and mechanical implants is the purest idea I've seen in my extended existence. However, people are liable to steal your ideas, patent them off as their own and make a living. We, want you to succeed; but, we know of your distaste at certain heroes and that you're more than willing to get even. We want you to work on a specialist project for us."

Kato looked at them "You're doing this to protect me, and allow me to pursue and peruse my ideas and quite frankly hypothetical and potentially devastating research; on the condition, I help you by indulging in quite frankly exhausting and draining thoughts of revenge against Japans blatant second security force by the name of Professional Heroes."

"Kato-Kun, I call you that?" Shigaraki asked.

"Yeah...why?"

"You said it yourself. This laboratory looks like something out of Star Trek, Star Wars and Warhammer 40'000. Here, in this workshop, you'll have all the tools required to fulfil your desires and assist in our endeavours."

Kato bristled at the word "Can we bring Endeavour down, have him choke and drown in his burning aspirations and desires in fire and brimstone?"

Shigaraki chuckled "My, my...you're poetic one. Of course."

"I'll want payment; not because of any grandiose desire of being an attache to a Big Bad Evil with a score to settle, but rather I want to keep my distance. Better to be employer-employee and I'm going to need as much plausible deniability and obfuscation that I can possibly acquire. I'm sleeping with a Pro-Hero for kami's sake."

Shigaraki smirked "Naturally, we have sprung this on you. This does leave us in a precarious situation does it not Kato. You know my location and my plans."

"Yet you're also my sponsor. We're bound by oaths, deals, agreements and arrangements. I do agree; that we are at an impasse. But we have a way out; a non-disclosure contract, employer-employee along with trust; trust in the fact should I slip-up, my own livelihood is at stake."

"Quite a complex and simplistic situation. Very well, Kato, you have an accord."

Kato smirked, "I will not disappoint you, Lord Vader…Now, what are you planning to do to deal with Endeavour? I mean there are hardly any quirks that can stand up to him; he IS the Number Two Hero, after all."

Shigaraki chuckled "Allow me to show you my soldiers to take down the Hero establishment; my Artificial Soldiers Nomu."

Kato looked and in one of the tanks was a colossal nine-foot-tall, blue thing, "That looks like The Things, slightly uglier brother." It was big, blue, muscled like a steroid-using body-builder with the only apparent weakness is the exposed brain.

"Impressive, would you not agree?"

Kato couldn't disagree with that "True, needs considerable refinement. But if this is a working prototype then this project is worth working on. What are its specifications? Quirk?"

"Quirks, Kato. It has multiple quirks."

Kato's eyes widened "That...shouldn't be possible. A human can only...it's artificial. Of course."

"It's...not fully artificial. It's a bio-artificial; the original human underneath the enhancement was a cheap rent-a-thug with a strength quirk. Naturally, I enhanced the strength-quirk four-fold and gave him a Shock Absorption Quirk and Super Regeneration."

Kato nodded, outwardly non-plussed but inside he was face-palming. A regeneration quirk, worked by splitting cells; whilst certainly effective if hit with enough force to remove limbs there was a possibility of it decomposing as it regenerated itself out of existence.

"Something wrong?"

"Nothing wrong per se…but rather there are several major drawbacks with the quirk combinations being used. Since I've just joined the project, what do I know? Anyway, as long as I can get data from it working in the field; I'll know my foundation."

Garaki and Shigaraki looked on in amazement, as their newest colleague descended into fanatical murmurs and mutterings "Is there any paper? Pens?"

Garaki stopped "Er…not presently."

"Two ancient entities from the pre-quirk era being the Big Bad Evil intent on bringing Japan to its knees and not one iota of paper…did you people skip reading the 'Top 100 Things I'd Do If I Ever Became An Evil Overlord?' seriously, it helps."

"I thought it was a joke."

Kato sighed "It is…read it and then re-watch your old films. You'll see what I mean…Are there any other questions and requests before I ascend back up-stairs to start 'work'."

"Are you good at those electronic voice readers?"

It turned out Kato was. He programmed Shigaraki's speakeasy to sound suspiciously like the following: Ian McDiarmid, James Earl Jones, Sir Christopher Lee amongst others. As he left, Shigaraki was left listening to the recommended joke document being spoken by James Earl Jones. "Kato-Kun, I really wish you wouldn't influence Shigaraki like that."

"For once, this wasn't my fault. How was I to know that my boss was and is a total pre-quirk pop-culture extraordinaire! On to something completely different, is it possible to replicate quirks?"

"Entirely…Why?"

"I'm going to need something known as a dead-drop. I've got some ideas."

Garaki nodded, they ascended to the twelfth floor and materialised in a luxurious office. At just after eleven, the duo left the office and Kato got to work; experimenting and tinkering with his team of busy-body scientists. Of the Fourteen people working with him, twelve had quirks and were most put out when Kato had told them "no quirks".

"But...but, my quirk replaces several…"

Kato looked him dead in the eye "I…don't care. You want in on this project, correct?" The man nodded.

"Yes, sir."

"Then you do it my way. Some of us aren't lucky to have a quirk. Some of us aren't lucky to have functioning legs; my project, my rules. Take it or leave it. Garaki-San put me in charge of this project…capiche."

The man nodded, scowled but returned to work. Kato sighed; it felt like it was going to be one of those days, but at 16:45, as the staff were heading to the showers to get changed; Kato was approached by one of the members of his staff.

"Yes…"

"Yaoyorozu, Daiten-San. Yaoyorozu Konan, I need you to have a look at this…I think, I've got something."

Kato cocked his head and followed the endowed black-haired woman, over to a unique set of microscopes. After applying the breaks, and playing Russian-doll step ladders with a set of seats; Kato was looking through the lens, at his binding process on mice lumbar spines.

"Oh Kami, Yaoyorozu-San, you're onto something. What batch is this? Have you been recording this?"

Yaoyorozu blushed and gulped before pulling out a hefty 90page A-5 note-pad "Since I clocked in at 08:30. Notes on the briefing and got to work. I did use my quirk to create several notebooks and pens."

"You've got a creation quirk?"

"Allows me to create simple carbon-based products and pens. My husband has a fat transfer quirk, it allows him to adjust his mass; its why he's managed to keep a near-enough six-pack at 39."

Kato's eyes widened "No offence Yaoyorozu-San, but your husband is a double-lucky bastard; Yaoyorozu Inc, being so profitable especially in pharmaceuticals and science technology development and having a brilliant person like you in his life."

"You sound jealous."

"Ever so slightly; but let's not get into that. Let's get this recorded; tomorrow we're going to retest your methods. I need this to work; I really, really do."

Kato couldn't help but smile, today was a very good day for him. His project was working, he'd met the most dangerous man in Japan and survived; even struck up a friendship based on pop-culture references, and one his colleagues may have found a working solution and cure. Then again it was for mice; humans, rats and mice…if there's one thing that science-fiction, Garaki-Sensei, Shigaraki-Sensei had right; something Kato was slowly beginning to agree with: humanity reproduced like mice and rats and Bill Hicks was right "I'm tired of this back-slappin' isn't humanity neat bullshit. We're a virus with shoes."

Tonight, was a goodnight as Kayama picked up and they returned to their mutually shared apartment and a glorious activity took place. As the duo fell into the arms of Morpheus, Kato smirked. "It's brilliant to be bad."