December 28 - Day 16

"Turtleneck, you know what to do." Tomoyasu spoke, straightening himself up and adjusting his clothes and duffle bag as he looked on ahead, specifically on a certain area on the island walls. I-Island 'Black Market Shoppers' arriving via their own personal aircraft have additional layers of tasks (on top of an already-numerous list) they need to do first before being granted clearance to land on the artificial island's secret airports.

Turtleneck simply replied with a nod as she continued to pilot the plane closer to its destination.

"If you ever need me, I'll just be back at the passenger cabin." Tomoyasu walked away. But before he could fully exit the cockpit, he then quickly turned around. "Oh and by the way, make sure you land the plane gently, I don't want Re-Destro knowing we borrowed his toy – if he ever somehow gets out of the villa, that is."

"Copy that, boss,"

"Good." Tomoyasu nodded before entirely leaving and heading back towards the passenger cabin of the aircraft, specifically towards the particular sofa he sat on earlier. "Hey old man, what are you watching?" he couldn't hep but ask as he sat down, seeing Dr. Garaki now just sitting in front of the wall-mounted television, watching something.

"Barbecue recipes."

Tomoyasu could only shrug as a response. But before he could truly push his back onto the sofa and inspect the materials he brought with him in his duffle bag, he suddenly remembered a certain topic he certainly needed to discuss with the Doctor. "Hey Doc, we need to talk about Dabi." He paused a bit as Garaki turned his head to him. "He's a little too lacking on the discipline and respect department," he added, swinging his duffle bag behind him and leaning forward, propping himself up by his elbows on his knees.

Garaki nodded as if understanding the issue at hand, and immediately reached over to the remote nearby him and, with a press of a button, turned off the TV. "Quite the oddball, that fella is. You know how Elementalists tend to act!" he replied in a semi-joking tone, shaking his head, "which is especially why the Elemental clans have to get 'exterminated' by War Machines back in the day!" he added before doing a long pause. "They've always been rude to anyone who cannot unleash the elements like they can. But well to be fair, they do have some standing on it, genetics-wise, which is what created the People of Tomorrow cult in the first place. Quite 'friendly' people, those were-"

"What the hell are you even talking about?" Tomoyasu interjected, utterly confused on whatever Garaki is saying.

"Oh! About War Machines-!"

"Doc, I don't have any more reason to care about those now-extinct Japanese Anti-Elementalist bioweapons, they're long gone from the face of the earth." Tomoyasu leaned back on the sofa. "What we should be talking about right now is Dabi." He sighed, shaking his head. "Okay, in a scale of one to ten, with ten being the highest, how discipline-able is him? You've known the League for months now, how would he fare as a shock troop? Can he be trusted enough to follow orders?"

Garaki shrugged nonchalantly . "If I were you, I wouldn't rely too much on anyone part of the League. Would you really trust someone with Shigaraki as the leader? Dabi may be a bit different from the rest but still…" He took a quick glance on one window to his left. "The League is nothing more than a bunch of pathetic failures, it's almost a miracle how they're not even caught yet. As for me, I have never given them more than 10 of my Nomus even though I have thousands. I don't fully trust those people, not to mention my creations are just too precious to be squandered just like that – to be given away to people like them." He ended his sentence with a distinctive look of disgust.

"Are you saying you have thousands of those Nomus and yet you haven't given them much? Even though they're just meant to be cannon fodder as you said? Harsh, if I might say." Tomoyasu nodded.

"All for One may be done for. But still, my work is my work. They're not to be wasted, to just be thrown out the gutter and be forgotten." Garaki turned to face the taller person, his face sporting a very serious look. "My Nomus will stay."

"Whatever you say, Doc." Tomoyasu gestured towards the metal door that leads towards the flight deck, feeling no more need to argue. "Although you might want to update your creations. Who knows? Maybe here in I-Island you could find something that could improve them." He then turned his attention back to the old man. "I have more than enough funds with me as of this current moment and-"

"Are you implying that I can just point at things I like and you'll purchase them for me?"

Tomoyasu, one eyebrow twitching, let out a weak, "yes… But don't go ham on the pointing, understand? I need to get something out of this too."

"Oh don't you worry, ol' chap!" Garaki giggled to himself, rubbing his hands. "If you went through that promise, I might even forgive you for executing some of my high-ends!"

Tomoyasu raised an eyebrow, finding the doctor's chuckles a little too unnerving despite his age and small stature. "You're not planning on stabbing me in the back, are you?" He asked, narrowing his eyes. "Unless you want to know how I deal with backstabbers..."

"You're not really planning on stabbing me on the back too as well, are you Mr. Skeptic?"

There is sudden silence between them.

Tomoyasu eventually sighed. "Let's face it old man, none of us can really prove anything. Right now we're just in some sort of unofficial alliance, united only by our shared hatreds for our respective superiors and wanting to 'accomplish more'. Tomoyasu glanced a bit on the nearest window, noticing the plane's now-noticeable downward angle of flight. It's coming close to a landing at any minute now. "But since we're basically striving towards similar compatible goals, I don't see the need for backstabbing," he added, deliberately ramping up the sarcastic tone of his voice as if a thinly-veiled threat. He might not be planning on backstabbing anytime soon, but he just have to be sure Garaki gets the point.

By all means his crew can wipe out legions of Nomus no problem, whatever quality they are, because of their lack of Backforce… that is unless the old man is hiding something far more powerful than his average 'High-Ends'. But still, there's just something that's telling him that there's no threat in Garaki at all-

"I suggest you 'fix' that contact with Humarise the moment we return. And then afterwards let's just forget that ever happened."

"Very much agreed," Tomoyasu replied through gritted teeth, annoyance towards himself suddenly rising in remembrance of his errors in regards to contacting them in the first place. But still, "Humarise never really answered a single one of my discreet contacting attempts anyway. Looks like all is just well. They didn't notice anything and there's nothing we should be worrying about. Although once we get back I'll make sure to 'edit' the messages so that they'd appear as nothing more than prank-calls, just to be really sure they won't contact us back."

Before long, the aircraft sufficiently neared the massive man-made island enough. And because its pilot managed to pass the pre-requisites for the secret landing area, a large metal plate opened on the side of the wall facing said aircraft, rising upwards like a hangar door, allowing it to fly through and land.

The interior of it is just a 'small' empty space, just enough for a small aircraft to make a proper landing. It's also barely lit – with only rows of light bulbs lining up the ceiling and sides of the runway, but quite neat in its appearance.

It took a short while, but the plane eventually made it to a stop. Since then two white-colored humanoid robots (wearing Santa hats) appeared from a dark area of the corner of the landing strip, walked in, and attached a cable onto the plane's front wheels, in which it began pulling said plane towards a spot marked with a white rectangle – just barely visible under the dim lights. After another short while, the aircraft is finally pulled to its destination, in which it slowly descended. The white rectangle is an aircraft elevator platform of sorts.

'Quite a lot of people going shopping today…' Tomoyasu thought to himself, now on the cockpit and standing just behind Turtleneck – who's still sitting on the pilot's seat, as he stared up front. The elevator platform they're currently in is encased in nothing but reinforced glass, and just visible on either side of them as they kept descending, are enormous structures resembling conventional multistory car parks, but instead of cars, they're filled to the brim with all manner of small aircraft. And walking amidst them are hundreds of the same humanoid droids that assisted them earlier, once more doing their jobs of assisting in parking other aircraft to their designated spaces through pull cables. All of them are also wearing Santa hats.

But perhaps the main sight of the entire trip is no doubt the central point, the underground 'Black Market City' of Irkalla – set on an elevated platform deliberately shaped and designed to look exactly just like the exterior appearance of the island. It's only the size of the surface's central city, but still enormous considering its core purpose. It's covered in a massive glass dome simulating the sky, with a large spotlight outside pointing directly to its left, attached to a moving mechanism that allows it to go around the city, simulating the sun.

And as for the city itself, its aesthetics looked nothing like the city it based its platform off. Its entire design is highly-futuristic, with numerous black-and-white themed blocky buildings dotting the landscape, and floating vehicles driving everywhere. For short it looks exactly the way one would think I-Island should have looked like.

Meanwhile, on the outsides of the city, beyond the giant glass dome, are parking lots for massive cargo planes. There are also equally massive hangars and warehouses, and still with plenty of room to spare.

"Simply marvelous…" Garaki, who's now beside Tomoyasu and also looking through the front of the plane, couldn't help but comment. "I've never arrived here by way of private jet and I never got this view. Must be something about catering to the well-off customers, am I right?" he added with a joking tone and a few chuckles. "Rich folks these days… they always get the good side of everything…"

Tomoyasu simply nodded in reply as he continued to observe, fully understanding what Garaki meant. This particular area, and the view it gives, is only accessible to those who arrive via private aircraft. And since the Doctor obviously doesn't have such a thing, he has no choice but to just go with the conventional path to getting to the underground city in his past visits. "Okay. Here's what we're going to do. We start small, like maybe purchase around 20 new Nomu vats-"

"They're called Cloning Tanks, Mr. Skeptic. Get with the times," Garaki responded in a tone reminiscent to the one Chikazoku used against him in reminding him that his Nomus are now useless. "Cloning Tanks," he repeated in the exact same manner, albeit now much more slowed down. "Although they're used in various other biological projects other than cloning, but that's just the name that stuck to it, yes?"

"Doc. I get it, the Nomus will stay. Geez…"

…

Soon enough, the aircraft reached a certain floor in which it's finally pulled out of the glass elevator it's in. And outside are once again two humanoid robots wearing Santa hats, making repeated movements as if gesturing for the occupants to come down and exit the plane.

"And there are the B1 droids again!" Garaki excitedly said, wasting no time in heading towards the exit. "Neat little fellas, aren't they? Certainly much better than D1s! Well then, let's come down and 'greet them'! I can't wait for this shopping trip to commence!"

Tomoyasu simply rolled his eyes at Garaki's excited comment before clutching his duffle bag securely and heading towards the aircraft exit, pressing a button to drop down the jet's entrance/exit stairs. And out he came, immediately inspecting his surroundings. Despite the area they're in being a dedicated aircraft parking lot – obviously catered for the richer customers, yet everything is not much different from a conventional parking lot. The lights are dim, the air is dusty, and there are the same potted plants that look like they haven't even been watered in over a month. All in all, just a standard-looking parking lot, only with air vehicles instead of ground vehicles.

"Masks." The droids spoke out in a lightly distorted English voice.

Tomoyasu snapped back to the present, quickly realizing that there are still the humanoid droids to contend with. But since he already knew the 'basics' of Irkalla City, he didn't miss out on anything important. And without even looking at the robots, he casually picked up the item they're giving out. It's a full-face mask with a built-in translator and receiver, in which he wasted no time in putting on. It may be uncomfortable, even silly in appearance, but when you're going to be visiting an entire 'Black Market' city, keeping your face visually hidden should always be a top priority.

While there are always Quirks that can nullify such facial covers, but most people don't have such an ability.

"Arms out please," the robots spoke out again in unison.

Without hesitating, Tomoyasu, as well as his two other companions (who are also now wearing face masks), stretched out their arms. Immediately they felt a light smack as if something suddenly wrapped around on impact with their forearms.

It's an armband, with an attached smartphone on one side. And on its screen are three sections, separated by red vertical lines, and within those sections are a bunch of zeroes.

"Boy I do love these things. Futuristic, aren't they, Mr. Skeptic?" Garaki spoke out through his mask, giggling a bit as he jokingly tapped the screen like a character of a science-fiction movie.

But as for Tomoyasu, 'futuristic' is not the word he would describe the armband. It's merely just an average everyday armband used by joggers to keep their smartphones secure with them, just given an automatic-attachment mechanism and repurposed into something else. But still, it's the most important aspect of any Irkalla visit.

"Turtleneck, stay with the plane, I'll be doing a solo trip with the old man," Tomoyasu told Turtleneck beside him. The tall pink-haired woman simply responded with a nod before going back to the plane, which was then pulled along by cables and guided to its designated parking lot. After a few seconds following its disappearance from the scene, a particular code appeared on the left side of the respective screens of Tomoyasu's and Garaki's armbands– the location code of where their aircraft is parked.

"Mr. Skeptic, how come that woman received a better mask than us?" Garaki suddenly asked as the droids that gave them the armband and the mask went off elsewhere. "She received a skull mask while I just get to have a werecow mask. I've never felt life get so unfair until today…"

"At least you have a werecow mask…" Tomoyasu grumbled, only now realizing that the mask he put on is a creepy clown mask. "All I have is this crap and it's pissing me off…"

"Well to be honest, everything pisses you off…" Garaki shook his head as he peeked in a particular direction, fully expecting something to eventually come out from it. "I bet even those B1 Droids ticked you off…"

"Machines are not meant to look like bipedal humanoid robots, acting independently away from supervision… I don't care how high-tech they are, it's just… unnatural…" he replied through gritted teeth as he, too, looked in the general direction Garaki is looking.

Soon enough, the thing they're both expecting arrived. It's an automobile of sorts, colored and designed like that of a Christmas-themed roofless taxi, but instead of standard wheels, it came installed with hover-pads, allowing it to glide silently over the terrain. In its driver's seat is another B1 droid with a Santa hat. It drove the vehicle closer and then gestured for the two to get onboard.

"I should get metal plates installed underneath my main lab and get my transport pod modified so I can also glide along too," Garaki muttered through his mask alongside some other incomprehensible words as he climbed on the back seat. "Take us to the Outer Rim, my good driver droid!" he then told the robotic driver in an excitable voice.

"Metal plates huh?" Tomoyasu commented as he went into the vehicle's back seat, clutching his duffle bag securely. "So is it true that these hover cars are simply managing it by repelling the embedded metal plates on the ground?"

"True hover-tech is still far from reach. Too much fuel consumption, jet engines make too much noise, they blow too much air, things like that…" Garaki nodded as his voice trailed off. "Magnetic levitation is sadly the only non-Stratonite and non-noisy method and of accomplishing it."

Tomoyasu could only nod back as their vehicle drove off. And as with Garaki's statement about the car's mechanisms, the ride is indeed eerily silent.

Soon enough, after several twists and turns down the parking building, they eventually left it altogether and into a very wide still-enclosed area, filled with all manners of other roofless levitating taxis numbering in the hundreds, all huddled up in front of a large metal gate - with the stylized letters 'Irkalla' painted across it.

"They should invest more in lighting up this place, it's even darker than the last time I've been here, and that's still back when I'm still getting the real Claustro built-" Tomoyasu abruptly stopped in his muttering, turning his attention to the few ceiling lights that are still functional. "Wait… the Nomu lab's dark… the underground section of the Gunga Mountain villa is dark… why does everything have to be so dark?" he asked, shaking his head in annoyance, fully knowing what's beyond the huge metal gate is yet another series of bright lights.

"Because it's more villainous." Garaki adjusted his mask afterwards. "Dark is always good."

"Yeah right… and then that gate over there is going to suddenly open and we're all going to get our eyeballs absolutely fried so we can't properly see the price tags of the ridiculously overpriced crap they sell here... But since there's no more material source as reliable as this, we have no choice on this matter..."

"I may have to remind you that Cloning Tanks can be very heavy on the wallet. Are you sure you have enough for at least 20-?" Garaki was about to ask more but he quickly cut himself off. "But on the other hand, with the advancement of technology, I've heard that Cloning Tanks these days can do with just thin glass. That means anything advertised as 'reinforced glass' is just charging extra."

"Do you know how to rate Cloning Tanks, Doc?"

"Mr. Skeptic, I've been making Nomus and various other organic experiments for around a decade now. I know the dos and don'ts, and the ins and outs of abomination-creation. I have a very good idea on what a good quality Cloning Tank is like. Tube systems, control systems, plumbing systems, biofuel systems… everything."

"Whatever, old man, just make sure you don't quickly blow a hole in my wallet. I'd like to get my hands on a Dreadnought-"

Garaki suddenly blurted out a quick laugh. "I may not be sure on the amount you have with you right now, but Dreadnoughts DO NOT come for cheap. They're priced as a medium-sized yacht these days, and those are the cheap ones! But with the genetic template of a Valkyrie, maybe I can somehow make one. Emphasis on maybe." Garaki paused a bit. "Now while there's technically always a Dreadnought available for sale here… But buying it? In my opinion, just forget about them. While yes Dreadnoughts are EXTREMELY powerful, but modern Quirk-Linked Valkyries can do very much the same things as them… kinda… and they're way cheaper and come with more abilities."

"Can you make really a Dreadnought?" Tomoyasu abruptly asked.

"Like I said, maybe. Dreadnoughts are extremely hard to make! And that's from a person who regularly makes monstrous zombies on the regular! I once acquired some parts and tidbits from a recovered corpse and just analyzing their genetic templates and I have to say that it's enough to turn a mad scientist into an insane scientist!" Garaki shook his head. "Every manufacturer has their own recipe. An extremely well-guarded recipe..." He then sighed. "If only I could discover the secret to make them properly, I would be the most powerful person on the planet. But alas! I'm only stuck with my High-End punching bags..."

Tomoyasu raised an eyebrow, noticing the unusual way Garaki described his High-End Nomus. "Punching bags?"

"You're in the right about them, Mr. Skeptic. They lack Backforce. No matter how tough and powerful they are, they just die too easily. And due to technical and biological limitations, I can never attach them with too many weapons."

"Hmmm… so you finally admit the Nomus are now just things of the past huh?" Tomoyasu ended his sentence with a smug smile. "Took you long enough."

"Well technically they are, but that doesn't mean I'll just throw them out. They're great teleport mediums, background props, intimidation… At the end of the day, they're still my work. They took effort to make! Maybe I can just repurpose them into something else..."

"We can use them as meat shields for the soon-to-be-mass produced Garaki-grade Valkyries…" Tomoyasu commented, nodding.

Garaki stopped talking, realizing what the person beside him is talking about. "Oh! I get you! An unrelenting swarm of death and bullets! Evil. Very evil indeed."

"Look Doc, I know you're a mad scientist and all, making zombies and all that, but the way you say 'evil' is giving me the creeps. Your obsession with evil is really something else..." Tomoyasu slightly moved away from Garaki. "And that werecow mask you're wearing is just exacerbating it."

"I've lived for over 200 hundred years now. When you've lived this long, your perception of reality gets warped and-"

"Please do not continue anymore, you're going to give me an existential crisis," immediately came a sarcastic-sounding reply.

Before long, the huge metal door-like gate in front of them opened. And as expected, on Tomoyasu's side at least, there's an almost-blinding glow from the other side. Luckily, he managed to look down just in time to avoid the illuminative blast, quite unlike what happened to some other nearby people – judging from their loud complaining easily audible from his location.

And as for the levitating taxis, they all started slowly driving in one by one through the entrance.

"This is it," Tomoyasu couldn't help but comment, a smug grin etching up on his face as he stared upon the visible parts of the city from beyond the gate. In the meantime Garaki said something as well – some words of praise for the city. He just ignored him and instead just kept his focus on the sights in front of him.

There are futuristic high-rise buildings and other various massive shopping mall-like structures visible right from the get-go, which is exactly the sight Tomoyasu expected. Since they arrived via their own personal aircraft and regarded as 'well-off' customers, it's only natural that Irkalla drops them right into the section of the city where the most expensive products and services are sold.

He heard Garaki comment about something again, but for some reason it's completely muffled by his mask and Tomoyasu didn't really comprehend what he said.

A little while later, as their roofless taxi neared the gate, a soft beep emanated from the smartphones of their respective armbands. It's a timer set at 4 hours, slowly trickling down second by second. Tomoyasu just nodded to himself as acknowledgment of its presence. It's the timer indicating how much time left the two of them could stay within Irkalla's premises – a method to ensure that not too many people are present within it at any one time, thus making it easier to manage.

The levitating vehicle eventually passed the entrance, with the full Christmas-themed brunt of Irkalla city greeting them with open arms. Now despite being a fully-fledged futuristic city basically ran by 'criminals', located in a hidden section underneath a man-made mobile island, Irkalla is, more or less, just a regular city with a different splash of 'futuristic paint' over it. On one side there's the usual business structures and skyscrapers, and on the other there are some bars, barber shops, and even some ice cream stalls and clothing stores. But still, as for Tomoyasu, there's just a certain air here that he couldn't piece together. Was it the unusual feeling of order and lack of the endless chaos as typical with the Japanese streets? Maybe it is.

By all means Irkalla is literally a 'Villain City', but ironically that also makes it 'extremely safe'. Everyone knows better not to mess with anyone. And even if they're dumb enough to do so, Irkalla's management comes pre-equipped with patrolling clones of a person armed with a Quirk that allows him to know the entire nature of an altercation – especially who's in the wrong in the first place, which will then lead to instant execution of the troublemaker.

It might be far different from Tomoyasu's vision of the perfect place, but it is nonetheless 'peaceful' to an extent.

…

After a few more minutes of driving, the general location of the Outer Rim slowly became visible on the artificial horizon. It's drastically different when compared to the rest of the overall city, with the massive silhouettes of (futuristic) warehouses everywhere, giving the area an industrial feel rather than a commercial one. And indeed, the Outer Rim is that one part of Irkalla where people can purchase the most powerful and complex support equipment (vehicles included), hire the most elite mercenaries, buy blocks of pre-processed Stratonite, and of course, acquire Valkyries and Dreadnoughts. And all of those are ridiculously expensive.

Soon enough, they entered the actual area of the Outer Rim, their roofless taxi going under a futuristic blinking neon sign with a stylized 'Outer Rim' words displayed on it. Almost immediately the road became almost four times as wide, with massive semi trucks with attached trailers parked about on the sides – various materials being offloaded off of them. And as for the massive warehouses littered along the road, they're even more enormous up close, and within each of them Tomoyasu could see a whole lot of assorted high-tech wares being sold within as they pass by.

"Take us to Zorcon please," Garaki suddenly spoke out to the driver, his voice a bit muffled by his werecow mask. "I've been hearing good things about their Valkyries."

Tomoyasu was about to ask what Garaki meant about Zorcon and their Valkyries when he noticed that there's a whole lot of people in roofless taxis also going along their route. As for the occupants of the other vehicles, aside from the robotic driver of course, they're all noticeably rich folk, judging alone from their various jewelry on them in full display for everyone to see. "Showoffs…" Tomoyasu muttered to himself as he discreetly observed, thinking how pathetic they are by feeling the need to advertise their prized belongings to the public.

"Have you ever heard about Zorcon, Mr. Skeptic?" Garaki suddenly asked.

"Of course I know about Zorcon… kinda…" Tomoyasu's voice trailed off as he happened to look where they're going. At the end of their path is a massive cul-de-sac area with three equally massive warehouses arranged around it. Each of them are stylized with their own unique architectural theme and design to differentiate them from each other, as if they're three different brands selling similar products. And indeed, each of the three warehouses are three different brands of black market goods manufacturers.

Tomoyasu couldn't help but recall his younger days as a very imaginative gradeschooler at the sight, thinking that 'evil megacorporations' are just a stuff of fiction. But no, over time he came to know that they're actually very much real. In fact they've been existing for far longer than he's alive. And right in front of him, are three 'companies' that withstood the test of time, outcompeted the rest of their rivals, and ultimately flourished to become the best known 'black market' brands on the planet (although obviously they get 'de-branded' upon exiting Irkalla for their own safety reasons).

But perhaps the one thing that really caught his eye is the single biggest thing on the overall scene - A purple-themed hangar-like structure so enormous is looks like it could fit in at least two commercial jets within, located just behind the rightmost warehouse.

'Dreadnoughts…' Tomoyasu thought to himself, fully knowing what the building is for. And as expected of its purpose, there are already taxis loaded with rich-looking folks huddled up in front of it, waiting for the building to open. Immediately Tomoyasu checked the time on his wristwatch. He nodded at what he saw. The building won't be opening until an hour. He still has time to do some other needed purchasing first.

"Hey Doc…" Tomoyasu tapped Garaki's back. "Why not go for Paragon?" he asked, genuinely curious as to why the Doctor specifically picked Zorcon. "Most of the parts of the real Claustro is made with Paragon parts. They're of genuinely good quality, too."

"Well to be fair we are buying Cloning Tanks and Valkyries today, so I figured out that why not we just shop at the brand that specializes on those? Not to say Paragon and Scorpion are not any better but still… You get the idea."

"You know what? I have to ask, where did you get all your Cloning Tanks anyway?" Tomoyasu raised an eyebrow, suddenly remembering a piece of fact about Garaki. "From what you've shown me, you have hundreds of them. And then there are other vats within the other laboratories as well. You have thousands of them. Where the hell did you get those anyway? Did you steal them? Did you buy them?"

"Around a decade ago, some villain megacorporation went bankrupt from 'too much innovating'. Long story short, the CEO started selling everything at a greatly-reduced price, especially the Cloning Tanks, just so he can get enough money fast to pay off his debts." Garaki paused and nodded. "Fun fact: the Cloning Tanks are being sold at the same price as a branded T-shirt on a second-hand clothing store!" he exclaimed before pointing towards the massive hangar-looking structure Tomoyasu saw earlier. "I remember there's a whole crowd at the 'Dreadnought Hall', but everyone's just trying to get Cloning Tanks instead… Good times… that was a decade ago by the way," Garaki said, making sure to emphasize the time he bought them.

"Not bad eh? Cheap Cloning Tanks that lasted for a decade? What a deal!" Tomoyasu slightly moved back, impressed at the savings Garaki made by his bulk purchase. "Did AFO help out with that?"

"That old fart who never knew more than just sitting around and pretending like every single criminal activity in the country is part of his plan? You're really expecting that guy to do anything?" Garaki shook his head. "Just a reminder. All for One is never a part of history. History books barely mention him, and that is not because he's just that good at concealing himself, but simply because he never did anything."

"Hmmm… the guy gets even more pathetic the more you tell me about him…" Tomoyasu snickered to himself as the taxi continued to drive. "Say, are there any more AFO jokes?"

"He's scared of six-year old Dabi."

"What the HELL?"

"Sometime ago, All for One decided he wants to get a new body to transfer himself to because, let's face it, he's getting old. For that, we once had orphanages scattered throughout the country, each one scanning for possible candidates. And then here comes young Dabi, who then proceeded to burn down the orphanage he's kept in, killing every single kid there. AFO's response? Let him be."

"Old fart's scared of being absolutely roasted by Endeavor…" Tomoyasu snickered again, with Garaki also blurting out a few giggles. But still, Endeavor is a formidable foe, so AFO being fearful of him is quite understandable. "Our bosses are a bunch of cowards aren't they, huh? One is scared of a little kid, and the other will straight-up send in an entire army and ready up his 'super suit' against six morons!"

"That's why they never deserved to be in charge. And that is why we're doing some Irkalla shopping, because we're the ones in charge!"

Tomoyasu just nodded, a smug smile on his face. Technically, he IS the boss, and Garaki is just working under him, but for some reason he just didn't feel the need to correct him anymore. If he thinks they're both bosses, then that's fine. Nothing wrong with that.

After a few more stories here and there, the taxi eventually reached its intended destination.

"Ah, Zorcon!" Garaki reached over and excitedly tapped Tomoyasu's back, before hurriedly exiting the vehicle after giving an odd 'congratulations' to the B1 Droid (that somehow congratulated back in its own little high-pitched robotic voice). "I heard many good things about the Valkyries of this brand!"

"Yeah you already told me that several times now…" Tomoyasu exited as well, making sure his duffle bag is still with him. The taxi then left afterwards. "Okay I'm going to load up some digital currency on my armband for a while," he said as he raised up his left arm and tapped the screen of the smartphone attached to it. He then immediately started looking around. "The cash conversion stall should be right around-"

"The 'conversion-place' is just right over there," Garaki suddenly butted in while pointing at a certain bright purple stall just some walking distance away from them. "As for me, I'm going to visit an 'old friend' I haven't seen in a decade for a bit. It'll just be quick. I'll just go back here when I'm done," he added before quickly walking away in an exciteable manner.

As for Tomoyasu, he simply began walking towards the stall the doctor pointed at, but made sure to make repeated glances on his companion (who's just skipping about as if he's glad on what he's about to do) every once in a whole just in case the old man's planning something sinister-

He saw Garaki eventually reach a small stall sandwiched between two of the gargantuan warehouses, that seems to be selling VECTRE phones judging from the small white cuboids floating around the person who's manning said stall. But still, Tomoyasu kept his repeated glances as he got nearer and nearer his own destination, but the moment he saw Garaki gesturing odd as if complaining about something, he just rolled his eyes and went on his way. He felt the need to not keep check anymore. By all means, Garaki is probably just upset that the stall doesn't carry the certain phones with the defective personality-building AI - the same ones everyone's been talking about, that has somehow reached an almost-legendary status in rarity… somehow…

He never understood the craze. Machines are just not meant to have free will. That is how it's been, and that is just how it always should be.

…

Tomoyasu soon reached the stall. And as with the roofless levitating taxis continuing to pour into the particular area they're in, it's now a little too much on the crowded side, but he just ignored them all and instead just stood in line. He's here just to buy some needed beneficial upgrades for his new partner-in-crime, he has no time getting annoyed by the idiots surrounding him.

Upon his turn, he pulled out a card from the duffle bag he's carrying and handed it over to the person manning the stall, who then placed it on a scanner-like machine for about five seconds, to which it was eventually given back to him. Tomoyasu then left the stall, immediately placing the card back to his duffle bag and checking his armband. And indeed, the middle part of the screen of the phone attached to it now has a series of blinking dots on it, meaning it's now connected to a preset fake bank account that's also connected to his real bank account, and he's now able to draw cash directly from there upon making a purchase. And despite the known risks black market purchasing has in relation to online bank accounts, Irkalla's systems has multiple failsafes against detection – all maintained by its own management team itself, guaranteeing safety. With those systems at play, Tomoyasu can pull absurd amounts of cash out of his bank account, with the holding bank being none the wiser.

"Very sophisticated…" he couldn't help but mutter to himself as he started walking back towards the warehouse-like building of Zorcon, the brand Garaki picked. He didn't even reach a few steps into his short trip when he saw the old Doctor now hurriedly walking back to him, his face looking full of disappointment.

"I tried my luck, but lady luck is not on my side today, nor she has ever been on my side on my eternal quest to find-"

"A faulty VECTRE phone…?" Tomoyasu spoke out, interrupting the Doctor from his melodrama.

"Yes."

"Whatever, Doc. Let's just get to the thing we came here for." Tomoyasu secured his hold on his duffle bag and adjusted his creepy clown mask before walking in towards and pushing through the glass entrance of the Zorcon warehouse - that is strangely located on the rightmost side of the building instead of the middle. What greeted him inside is a sight he didn't expect. Despite the exterior being nothing more than warehouse-like (with a few futuristic tidbits here and there), the interior is like an air-conditioned factory.

Beyond the Christmas-themed stalls arranged in a neat line in front of him, are rows upon rows of conveyor belts, stretching almost up to the ceiling of the building, with all manners of Cloning Tanks and various other items being transported on them.

But what stood out most to him is the entire left side of the building. There's a huge wall running through the center of the warehouse, effectively cutting the entire thing into two sections. He was about to ask Garaki what's on the other side but held back at the very last moment. By all means it's probably just storage space.

"This is very different from Paragon's warehouse back when…" Tomoyasu didn't get to finish his muttering as he noticed that there are already other customers present and talking with the salespeople manning the stalls in front of the 'factory'-

"Hello there how I can help you two?" came a sudden loud voice in English from the leftmost stall, getting the attention of the both of them.

Adjusting his clothes, Tomoyasu then walked over to it. "Okay let's go do some shopping…" he muttered to Garaki with a smug grin on his face, prompting the short old man to follow him. Soon enough he reached the stall, immediately noticing that the employee stationed in it – some short feminine-looking young man with short green hair styled to cover her right eye and wearing a white-and-yellow themed uniform, is somehow not wearing a face-covering mask unlike the rest of Irkalla. It's only then that Tomoyasu realized that the rest of the Zorcon salespeople are also not covering their faces.

"I heard it's a brand-new policy regarding the Big Three," Garaki whispered through his mask, seemingly already knowing what Tomoyasu is wondering about. "Employees of Paragon, Scorpion, and Zorcon have to have their faces revealed in light of some 'issues' in the past few months regarding stolen equipment… or so what I've heard from the VECTRE salesman..."

"Hmmm… fair enough…" Tomoyasu just nodded in response before turning his attention to the short green-haired salesman. Pressing something on the right side of his mask to activate the translator and receiver, he asked, "I'm here to purchase some Cloning Tanks?" he asked in Japanese upon getting within decent range. A few moments later, his creepy clown mask spoke out the same question with the same tone of his voice, but now in English.

"Ah yes, Cloning Tanks! You're in luck, sir! You see we just fully restocked yesterday after a whole long month of VERY successful merchandising and we've uh… we've got everything you need, right here!" the young man said complete with some cutesy gestures, including batting his long eyelashes, as he pulled out a desk bell-looking device from under his desk and placed it on the counter. Upon removing his hand on it, the device then projected a holographic screen in front of them, showing all manners of Cloning Tank products – complete with specifications underneath every photo.

'Villainy has really come a long way…' Tomoyasu couldn't help but be amazed. While yes it's the same device that's used back then when he first purchased parts for the real Claustro at Paragon. But still…

"Doc, go get your tanks over here-" He didn't even get to finish his sentence when the short old man excitedly went in to inspect the products being displayed, at the same time pressing a button on the side of his mask as well to turn on its translator function.

"Oh! May I suggest our Revitalize line of products?" The salesman interjected, slamming down a second desk bell with accompanying holographic projections of another line of Cloning Tank products. "Eco-friendly stuff! We may all be bad guys here and all but, Planet Earth's been on a steady decline now… and if you want your playground to last longer, why not give these a go?"

"Ah yes… the Eco-friendly stuff…" Tomoyasu rolled his eyes and crossed his arms. "After pumping out tons of factory smoke making those things, and shipping them out through more atmosphere-destroying cargo planes, we're the ones who's supposed to save the planet?"

"Oh no no no no, my good sir! As you see, uh… Our factories are completely smoke-free! Even our cargo-planes are smoke-free! In fact the only smoking thing at Zorcon… is me!" The young man said, smugly pointing his fingers at him while once again batting his eyelashes.

"You're a very strange young man…" Tomoyasu shook his head, now getting impatient that Garaki is taking too long to pick out the right Cloning Tanks.

"Young man…? Man…? Do I look like a man to you?" The salesman asked, prompting Tomoyasu to squint his eyes at him in response. "Sir, in case you don't know I work as a model part-time… like, a really hot smoking lady model!"

Tomoyasu couldn't help but just roll his eyes. Apparently, the salesman in front of him is actually a saleslady. He just didn't figure out at first because of her very non-shapely form. "Agreed," he replied in a sarcastic manner, "you're the perfect ironing board model. You probably modeled so much at this point that your breasts got shaved off…" he added, narrowing his eyes on the short young woman's completely flat chest. "You'd be totally smoking after that…"

"Ha ha ha… very funny…" The saleslady muttered, crossing her arms and whispering something about her sister 'taking everything'. "So anyways, is your grandpa going to be the one making the purchase?" she then turned to Garaki. "Nice werecow mask you got there!"

"Oh thank you!" Garaki waved her off as if flustered by the compliment to his werecow mask. He then turned to Tomoyasu and repeatedly tapped his back. "Let's go with the cheapest one here."

Tomoyasu leaned down and inspected the Cloning Tank Garaki is pointing at. While it does look 'cheap' (for an Outer Rim product, that is) but the glass seems a little too thin. If Garaki were to fill it up with 'Nomu sludge' it would likely burst-

"Oh come on… not this clown again…" The young woman muttered, seemingly staring at something from behind the two in front of her, and making the both of them turn around to see what it is.

There's a person standing outside, looking at them through a window. It was a tall broad-shouldered man with long white hair, wearing a smiley-face mask. He stayed still outside the window for a few moments before walking towards the left and entering the building.

"Oh come on…" The saleslady muttered some more, facepalming hard. Tomoyasu raised an eyebrow at her strange reaction. He was about to ask about it when he suddenly heard annoyed groans from the rest of the Zorcon salespeople. Apparently they just don't like this particular person, whoever he is.

And amidst some salespeople yelling at him to leave, the strange man just ignored them all and instead just proceeded to Tomoyasu and Garaki.

"Mr. Zero what the hell, man?!" The short saleslady climbed up the entire counter and glared at the person. "Couldn't you see I'm making a sale here?! Can you not wait anymore before you pester someone?!" she yelled out, seemingly not minding the fact that she looks extremely unprofessional.

"I just want to-"

"No buts, Mr. Zero!" The short green-haired saleslady hurriedly slung her arm to her back and pulled out a futuristic assault rifle-looking weapon and didn't even hesitate to point it directly at the intruding person - Mr. Zero as she called him as. "LEAVE!"

"I-"

The saleslady tossed her weapon upwards, in which it quickly detached its parts off of each other and re-transformed into a giant levitating gauntlet seemingly five times bigger than the weapon it transformed from. It then grabbed onto the back of the man's shirt and pulled him out of the building, to which the gauntlet soon returned, transformed back into its assault rifle form, and finally returned back to its holster on the saleslady's back.

Almost immediately Tomoyasu heard sounds of relief from the other salespeople. "What the hell… was that…?" he asked. Since his tone sounded off, it took his translator a while before it's able to speak out with a correct translation.

"Mr. Zero…" the saleslady said, shaking her head as she jumped down from the counter. "Some months ago he started showing up around here. Aparently he's got some kind of Quirk disease – his Quirk's supposedly too powerful and it's weakening his body from within and he's only got a few months left to live and yada yada yada… He 'makes a living' here pestering people who buy Cloning Tanks and volunteering himself to be a human lab rat in the chance that maybe he could live longer…" she paused a bit and crossed her arms. "Word is that he'd be dead in two weeks that's why he's getting really desperate. We all wanted to get rid of him but too bad he's not really breaking any rules…"

Tomoyasu smirked from behind his mask as he held onto his duffle bag. "What a loser-"

"A willing volunteer for a live human experiment you say?" Garaki suddenly spoke out, interrupting them. A few seconds later, his English-translated words went out his mask. He then turned to Tomoyasu afterwards. "I've always wanted to do a live human experiment! I've never tried those before!"

"Doc. Some guy volunteering to be human lab rat doesn't mean he means it, nor he's telling the truth."

"Nah he's telling the truth," the saleslady spoke out. "There's been a whole slew of Truth-Quirks used on him for funsies and he all answered them the same. Guy just straight-up gave up on life and now he wants to be a lab rat." She then shrugged. "Willing to take him home, grandpa? You'd be doing Irkalla a favor."

"Do we get a discount?" Garaki asked in an obvious joking manner.

The saleslady laughed and crossed her arms. "No. Obviously not. Removing some annoying person out of a scene does not equate to discounts."

"Well at least I tried." Garaki shrugged. "What's the guy's Quirk anyway?"

"Weather Manipulation… something like that."

The old man stepped back as if in surprise. "Weather Manipulation…? That's… well that's not something I would have expected from someone supposedly dying of a rare Quirk Overload illness… But still that's quite a nice Quirk he's got there!" He then paused a bit and took a deep breath from behind his werecow mask. "Alright! I have decided we're taking Mr. Zero home!" He gave Tomoyasu a thumbs-up before starting to mutter to himself about all the biological experiments he haven't tried yet that he could run on an actual live and willing human.

"Doc, you can't be serious…" Tomoyasu shook his head as he kept a secure hold on his duffle bag. "We can't just take some guy home just like that-"

"But think about the positives! I get to learn new things! And in turn I'll then apply those things to support your upcoming plans!" Garaki flailed his hands around like an excited little kid. "Just think about it! It'll soon heavily outweigh any initial negatives!"

Tomoyasu facepalmed. "You cannot guarantee that you'll still be helping me at that point. I'd rather not give a new partner too many advantages and level his playing field higher than mine. I'm not going to take that risk."

"Hey! My Nomus helped out with your plans! It's time you return the favor! Plus, what's so bad about taking the guy back home? It's free and it's not like you're going to get inconvenienced in any way anyways."

In came another facepalm from the taller person. He was about to counter it with something but Garaki does have some valid points. Taking Mr. Zero home will not really inconvenience him in any way, shape, and form... If anything it could potentially further his plans indeed with some new biological inventions… at the cost of also potentially leveling out Garaki to him…

…

Tomoyasu thought hard… Should they take Mr. Zero home with them…?

…

"Okay…" he sighed. "We'll take the guy home…"

"YES!" Garaki jumped up and down, his fists raised high in the air like he just won a Nobel Prize.

"Your grandpa's quite the kid, huh?" The saleslady commented as she observed the old man now dancing in circles around Tomoyasu, clapping his hands along, singing a song, and generally just making a scene. "It's honestly adorable."

"He's not used to his opinions being considered by his old boss-"

"So, should I call Mr. Zero then?" Garaki then spoke out loud, interrupting Tomoyasu. "Should I call him now? What to do? What to DO?"

"Doc, you're going to buy Cloning Tanks first, and then you call him."

"Of course of course of course! I'll point at things and then you'll buy them all for me, and I get to take Mr. Zero home! I may have some other opinions on you back when we're just starting but they're all changing now into the positives! How very generous of you!"

"Doc… I'm only generous because I'm just using Curious's stolen bank money… You won't get a single Yen out of me…" Tomoyasu facepalmed. "And I just allowed taking home Mr. Zero because he'll maybe further my plans… None of that is me being generous… it's me being my usual incredibly selfish self…"

"Ah yes stolen money and evil plans!" The saleslady chuckled. "Some tall guy who hates fun and his short energetic grandpa! You two would make good villain duo, I assure you that!" she said, accompanying it with a double thumbs-up gesture. "Oh and by the way. If you're really taking Mr. Zero home, he'll just be walking around outside. You won't miss him."

"Okay Doc, you heard the lady. Mr. Zero will-"

"Are we really going to take him home?"

Tomoyasu slowly facepalmed once more. "Yes Doc, we'll be taking the annoying Weather-Control guy home..."

Notes:

These Skeptic chapters will still take a while. I need to set up the main villain first before I can go back to Curious.