Quirks Not Required

Chapter XVIII

Asuma answered the phone, it had been 78 hours since the Doctor had been in contact "Daiten Kato residence, Daiten Asuma speaking."

"Ah! Asuma-san, I just wanted to let you know that your son has ascended from his slumber and is alive and well."

Asuma's breathing hitched, his son was alive! He was awake and more than likely had his legs working and had a quirk! "But will he want to proceed with the plan? Of course he will, we Daitens' have an axe to grind with hero society. I know of a few people with quirks and not that are willing to help break the system."

"Doctor, that's incredible news…when can I see him?"

"Now if you wish…but Asuma-san, but Asuma-san, out of the respect and love that I have for your son; he's like the grandson and son that I never had, do you truly wish to see what he's working on?"

Asuma could feel his hands shaking, his son was in deep with something that, he, barely understood. "To assist my son…yes. I know he's on edge about something; but as his father, I have my duty to if not protect him but I must assist him."

On the other end of the phone Garaki chuckled, Kato who was finally tinkering with the Nomu's; specifically the ones classed as 'High Ends' smirked. "Papa, thank you, for taking that leap." Kato didn't remember the base body of his Nomu's original name; but he remembered the quirk, Nova. "Nova is the base quirk…an extreme heat quirk…that allowed the wielder to use fire attacks on the equivalent of the sun…but if I remember rightly the body couldn't withstand the heat. So let's add in six copies of a cooling quirk, to counteract the sheer heat of Nova…the body seems to be taking it. Now for some minor bullshittery, what a term, let's add some heat and flame resistance quirks."

"My boy, is it ready, I mean you've been doing nothing but sketching and planning…I am most eager to see something…practical."

Kato let out a tense breath as his quirk rippled along his skin. He was resting on crutches, feet planted firmly on the ground. "See…for…yourself, Doctor. It's nothing special but nothing to be sniffed at."

"You're using the Nova Quirk as a base…ah, oooh, now that IS interesting. You realise my boy that with that particular resistance and cooling quirks the Nomu…"

"Hyperion, Doctor. Its name is Hyperion, in Greek Mythos was the Titan of the Sun. Hyperion is the Nomu of the Sun; one designed and tailored SPECIFICALLY to counteract Endeavour. The plan was to use the innate nature of the heat quirks to absorb Endeavour's Hellish Signatures and return it ten-fold."

"Ten-fold? A little low for redirecting the power of the Number Two." Shigaraki rumbled.

"Ten-fold, Emperor Palpatine, because it is a scientifically accepted standard of science, especially in the realms of Thermodynamics that Ten-Fold is the desired return rate. Also, it means if it works and consistently that is; we have a terrifying baseline to advance."

"Good points. Now, are you familiar with what is known as 'Laws of Variation'...because when we mix these quirks there is less than a 5% chance that you'll get what you're hoping for in terms of 'perfect quirk synchronising'."

"Make it 15% if one of the variations resembles that of a brilliant seafood delicacy."

That caused the old men to pause "You're hoping for a side-effect based on seafood? That…doesn't…sound the remotest bit logical. Please evaluate?"

Kato grinned "Sensei, Shigaraki…what would you say the most powerful animal in the world is?"

That flummoxed them "Lions? Tigers? Maybe Osprey or even a Shark?"

Kato nodded "Understandable, very understandable, documentaries have demonstrated their prowess. But they're not, they're powerful noble and animals…so true. But in reality the most powerful animal in the world is about 2 inches long, it's a shrimp. Specifically the Pistol Shrimp; little thing but it'll hit something so hard that it vaporises the water around it…roughly 8000 degrees fahrenheit…the surface of the sun."

Shigaraki and Kyudai took a step back "You might make a Nomu, have an attack that is roughly 4500 degrees Celisius…my, my, my you are a dangerous one.

Asuma put his phone back into his pocket. The flat, whilst spacious, was really cramped with six residents. Nemuri was just getting up, feeding her son "Nemuri, I'm heading out."

Nemuri turned to Asuma "Is he…"

"Not sure. Garaki said that the anaesthetic had worn off. Whatsmore, Garaki specifically asked for me. I know you're my son's significant other but I'm still his primary emergency contact."

Nemuri nodded, that was understandable; her being a Hero and teaching in a Hero School did mean her life was rather hectic but now with Kazuki in her life it was going to be much worse. "When you see him, remind him he's on stay-at-home-dad duty."

Kato groaned as he manuevered his way to what All For One called 'His Workout Facility'. It was an immense gym "Impressive isn't it?"

"That it is. That it is, now what am I going to be using for my…" His sentence was unfinished as All For One lightly jabbed him in the stomach dropping him to the floor, knocking his crutches away.

"Rehabilitation starts now. Come on Daiten, I'm going train those weedy useless legs and lower back of yours like a packing mule. Because, now that we've fulfilled the end of our bargain it's time for you to fulfill yours."

Groaning, Kato rolled onto side only for tendrils to roll him backwards "Use your spine, sit up vertically and push up."

Garaki smirked as his phone went off, the caller read Diaten Asuma. "Kurogiri, please pick up Daiten Asuma and bring him here." Giran instructed, due to being the Creator of all the Nomu each one was implanted with two chips; one for All-For-One and by extension Shigaraki Tomura but also one for himself.

Asuma had made it to the convenience store, and off to his right was an alleyway where an entity of smoke awaited. "Are you Daiten Asuma?" It asked, there was a tone of something known as the 'British Upper Lip' elegant and eloquent but at the same time absolutely terrifying.

"I am."

"I am Kurogiri, I have instructions to bring you to your son."

Asuma nodded and didn't resist when the smoke engulfed him. Unfortunately, one Awata Kaoruko, Bubble Girl, was on her way to work with four coffee's and she'd seen the disappearance. "Sir, needs to know. There was a sighting of Kurogiri and he's taken Daiten Asuma."

Asuma shivered as he found himself in an underground facility. He quickly turned off his phone to disable the tracking. "Welcome, Asuma-san."

"Doctor Kyudai…I have to ask, what's with all of the secrecy?"

The elderly Doctor smiled "Come and you'll see. As for the secrecy, the scientific community is already celebrating about your sons discovery and soon his own success. He's talked about you most fondly and exasperatedly."

Asuma chuckled "How so?"

"Kato remembers you telling him that people will respect you for doing the same things he do himself. So he willingly, well it took some convincing, but he underwent the surgery here. He only wanted me to do it because he doesn't trust his own colleagues."

Asuma's eyes widened, "I…don't understand, I…will admit Science aside from electricals and technology and the very basics goes right over my head. But why wouldn't Kato trust his colleagues? I mean the most obvious thing was the fact of his disability and that's…"

"Why he went into science. Asuma-san, you're here for many reasons but I can guess one of yours; you want answers as to what your son has gotten himself into."

The older Daiten nodded "Yes."

"Your son has a well-deserved grudge…You know that, and you seem to agree with it. Anyway, he started writing in notebooks various groundbreaking and even I admit breathtaking theories and dissertations designed to shift the world on its head. I happened among them during my rounds, Kato-kun was in a dangerously deep state of depression looking for something to get him out. Only it wasnt something but someone…enter me."

Asuma nodded "You gave him a chance, to start his project."

Garaki nodded "Yes! Even I was thwarted at the chance of trying to repair the spine, but I was born when Quirks were manifesting and the utter chaos. No-one had bothered with what was available, everyone wanted to learn about the Homo Superior or Mutants by another name."

Asuma nodded "Things are making much more sense now. With the odds against him, my son has linked up with you."

Garaki nodded "Furthermore, your son has unofficially joined the League of Villains."

Asuma paused "As in the idiots who attacked the USJ…"

"The temptations and tempestuous influences of being youthful." An older voice rumbled.

Asuma turned and paled, as an independent investigative analyst he'd found himself researching old cold cases. That was on top of his original job as an analyst "You're him! The 'boogeyman' off the Dark Days of Quirks."

"Shigaraki, at your service, but perhaps you might know me as All For One."

"Ah, I know that name…so you want my son to assist you."

"In essence, yes."

"Father!" Asuma turned and his jaw dropped, looking haggard but standing with assistance from crutches, was Kato. "Sensei, Shigaraki…"

Asuma stared "You're working with villains…if this gets out…"

Kato turned to his father "What is a Villain? What is a Hero? To me, Endeavour is a Villain and Sensei and Shigaraki are Heroes."

Asuma paused "A bit like Suicide and Martyrdom…the coverage."

Kato smiled "Father, you want to help me…us, then all you need to do is simple, send us the Quirkless and those who have been kicked to the curb for not having the "perfect" quirk. I have schemes and schemes to help them."

"No harm will come to them?"

Kato paused, "Harm is a nebulous term after all." "No deliberate harm will come to them."

That seemed to reassure Asuma "I'll also send you Heroes, I don't think are worthy of the title Hero."

Shigaraki smirked "You'll be well paid and your family looked after."

Kato could feel the tension build and with his next phrase shocked his father "What if I told you the Fused Metatarsal Theory was bullshit?"

"What if I told you the Fused Metatarsal Theory was bullshit?" Those words rocked Asuma's world. He had a quirk but only a partially fused fifth toe, the tarsal and metatarsal were fused but the philange wasn't. "I've got my suspicions as to how…All-For-One, I'm in…I'm not entirely down with the entirety of your League of Villains actions but to protect my son and our family, can you guarantee it?"

Shigaraki said nothing, his mind going a mile-a-minute "I can. It's simple, your instructions will come from your son. You can rest easy as what you're going to be doing is merely 'suggestion' based."

Asuma nodded, he looked at his son "It's good to see you're walking assisted at least. Now, I don't want to remember this location or this dialogue…plausible…"

"Deniability. Garaki can see to it."

Kato smiled, his father was on board. Now to see if his patches really worked.

(Inko and Shota Aizawa)

It was with practised ease that Aizawa slid to Inko Midoriya's Office. He smiled softly as the fond memories. "Inko."

The Greenette smiled "Shota." With little prompting she had a cat-themed thermos flask on his side of the desk. He chuckled which was quickly followed by a groan as Inko's Coffee reached his lips. "Espreso with three drops of vanilla, perfection. I wish this was more than just two friends meeting for coffee."

Inko chuckled "That is true, but coincidences can happen. Two people who happen to be friends, having coffee as they discuss official business can happen. What is it Shota?"

"Your son was originally diagnosed as quirkless but is demonstrating an extreme abnormality quirk that has a backlash that breaks his body. When I've confronted him about it he calls it a 'late blooming quirk' and goes on about how physical quirks. If it wasn't for the fact that I know both his parents quirks; one in a less than pleasant situation and the other from being a frequent visitor to the only legal practitioner that I can trust."

Inko blushed faintly at that "Inko, do I really need to book you for illegal quirk usage?"

"You wouldn't. Okay, Shota…humour me, if my little boy has such a different quirk from his genetics, what would you have thought he would have had? HIS family were known to varying flame quirks and mine were telekinetic or psychokinetic?"

"Abnormally? Either an extremely potent version of either or both…" Shota paused, the pieces were falling into a very bleak picture "...you're suspecting fowl play. Izuku's quirk was taken from him at a young age due to its potency, but I would say that's impossible as I've not found any evidence of such a thing…Unless, Inko…you have something?"

"I do. Shota, I promised a dear friend of mine, Yagi Toshinori, that I'd take this secret to the grave; but he did the one and only thing that I cannot fully hate him for. But I can do this, he's many things an incredible hero, the number one in fact but he keeps too much to his chest."

"Yagi Toshinori…incredible hero, the number one…" They were the most important words "Yagi Toshinori is All Might…okay. That's not what I was expecting, I suspect there's more to this."

Inko nodded and she opened a drawer, removed the draw and from beside the coffee machine, she pulled out a prybar and she prized up the bottom of the drawer. Shota saw a bulging thick red folder "This…is everything I have on a Quirk-Removal Quirk and its Twin."

Aizawa, being an underground hero, was used to horrible cases; but this turned his stomach. He recognised the names of the heroes: Hikage, Lariat, Smokescreen and Float all of them displayed well used quirks but also incredible potent strength enhancements. "This…is big." He almost hurled when Inko passed him a birth certificate and the Doctor's name was Ujiko Daruma.

"Midnights' Sons father is Daiten Kato and he's studying under and with Ujiko Daruma, furthermore I did digging…"

"On several illegal blacksites that the Japanese Government would love to see buried and forgotten, no doubt, I taught you all you know Shota-kohai, but not ALL I know."

"Ujiko Daruma was the most recent alias, the one before that was Shiga Maruta…At the USJ, I fought something known as Nomu."

Inko gulped "Abnormally tall, exposed brain…Shiga Maruta, was known for trying to create 'Homo Sapien Superior' and 'Superior Homo Sapien' during World War II, a few decades before the Luminescent Baby…"

The duo gulped "I'll train your son. By the way, HE is still imprisoned."

Inko nodded "Where is he?"

Shota smirked "Turns out the British and the Americans have traced him to a bunch of unsolverd Arson Homicides and asked him to be extradited. He's in ST-13."

"ST-13?"

"Sub-Tower Cell 13…being thoroughly questioned."