Author's Note: Here's another chapter for you guys! I know, it's crazy. I managed to get a chapter out in decent time and not, yknow, two months this time. Yay! After last chapter's author's note, I went ahead and made a server of my own, so...
I have a discord server now! Come join it, we're trying to make it a great community!
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I do hope you guys enjoy this chapter. I would really appreciate some reviews. I don't know what to do better if I don't get feedback. Still love y'all, though. Enjoy, and I'll see you guys next time!
The ride back up to Tartarus was as uneventful and uncomfortable as the first time she had gone up to the flying prison. It didn't help that the cab of the airship that took her there was just as barren of windows as well. She supposed that it was to keep people from knowing where the prison was in the air whenever they took people.
The hallways were suffocating and barren as well. As she walked down the hallway towards her technically-still-husband, escorted on all sides by armed guards, her nerves swelled. The halls weren't necessarily warm, but she was still sweating. She didn't like this feeling. This sense of dread that hung over her head telling her that something was going to happen. That feeling came to a head when she was face to face… er… face to door… with the barely familiar steel that separated her from answers.
The steel door hissed for a split second as it opened and let her in. The guards stayed outside as she entered.
"Someone's come to see you again." The speaker sounded off. Clearly a person in another room monitoring the supervillain.
The scarred face of Hisashi Midoriya looked at her through the glass. A smile spread quickly across his mouth. "Inko! You're back! I had a feeling that you were never coming back here again. Now, I've been doing some thinking, and-" Hisashi rambled. Seemingly one of the traits that Izuku had inherited from the man. Inko cut the man off.
"I'm not here because I want to hear what you've been thinking about. I'm here because I need answers." Inko said.
"Still cold, it seems." Hisashi said, smile still plastered to his face. "No matter. You're still here. You came back to me. Go on, then. Ask your questions. I have a few of my own." Inko couldn't believe that his smile had somehow gotten bigger.
"The villain Blackout. Do you know her?" Inko asked.
"Of course I know her. She used to work for me until the vigilante group took her down. I have her quirk." Hisashi said nonchalantly. It struck Inko as strange that he said 'the vigilante group' rather than 'our son'.
"If you have her quirk, how does she?" Inko asked.
"There is more than one way to gain access to someone else's quirk. In fact, I know that our son has figured it out. Or at least someone close to him." Hisashi explained. "Is that all you wanted to know?"
"No." Inko said. "If she worked for you, did you send her out on the mission at the hospital I work at?"
"My apologies, but yes. I was not aware that you were on shift that night." Hisashi chuckled. "You weren't hurt, were you?"
"Why do you care?" Inko asked.
"I don't want my wife to be in danger." He offered.
"Bullshit." Inko said. "Why did you send her there?"
"I wanted what was in the vault. Simple as that."
"And what. Was in. The vault?" Inko demanded.
"Some chemicals that were needed for the latest experiment my scientist was performing. It was something to help ease the procedures he was doing." Hisashi said. "I'm sure you've seen news of something called Trigger, yes?" Inko nodded. "The Hero Public Safety Commission has been working on their own version, and I happened to have an experimental version of it.. I'm sure you remember me telling you last time that the quirks I steal can no longer undergo evolution or awakening. The effects of Trigger will temporarily allow quirks to undergo awakening. It allowed us to make some great strides."
Inko stayed silent. The HPSC was making Trigger? Weren't they the ones that banned it in the first place? That didn't make sense. Unless they just wanted it for themselves and not for others. To keep those below them in line?
"I know what you're thinking, and the answer is yes. It is exactly what you're thinking." Hisashi said.
"How did you figure this out?" Inko asked, leaning forward.
"It's easy to know when I had a mole in the HPSC. Otherwise, I would have had to keep using the street brand. Even as the demon prince of the underworld, that can get expensive. So I went with the second option: figure out the location of where they're experimenting, get what they had and all of their research, and then start making my own. Too bad that vigilante group put a stop to my people. And then I ended up here. A truly sad reality." Hisashi explained. There it was again. 'Vigilante group' instead of 'our son'. Everything that related to the group was just labeled as such, but the things that related to Izuku outside of the group was referred to by the latter. Was he… protecting Izuku? Hiding his connection?
"I see…" Inko said quietly.
"Now, since I've answered your questions, could you indulge an old flame and allow me to ask a few of my own?"
That caught Inko by surprise. "Sure, I guess."
"We're keeping him isolated from the news." A speaker said. "Please refrain from giving him any information."
"Now, now. This isn't about the news at all. It's just a few questions about my son. Simple as that. Surely you have enough compassion to allow me, a father, to hear about his son's well-being." It wasn't formed as a question. There was no arguing with that.
A long sigh came over the speaker. "Fine. You may ask about your son ."
"Wonderful!" Hisashi smiled again. "Does he have a girlfriend? He's getting to be about that age, you know."
"He does, actually. They're very cute together. And their room is big enough for now." Inko said without thinking.
"Sharing a room already? I do hope you've given them the talk about the birds and the bees." He laughed. When Inko didn't laugh with him or respond at all, he pressed. "Who is it? I bet it's the girl with the ear quirk. Their chemistry seemed good together."
"That's right, it is. She's very good to him. I'm excited for their future together." Inko said, smiling. "It makes me happy seeing my son so happy."
"I can understand that. I wish to see it myself some day." Hisashi said. "Perhaps I'll be as happy as you are now with them."
"I don't believe that will ever happen, Hisashi." Inko said. She stood up. "I think we're done here." She turned around to walk away. She almost made it to the door when he spoke.
"One last question, but this one about us." That stopped Inko in her tracks. She was about to spin around and yell at him, berate him, lecture him. Tell him that there was no "us" when it came to the two of them. But before she could, he continued. "Did you mean what you said last time?"
Inko stayed silent for almost a minute, just standing in front of the door with her back to the man who had asked her a question, before finally answering.
The single word shook Hisashi to his core. The emotion behind it. The determination he felt radiating off of her. The sadness that came with it.
"Yes."
"Are you being serious right now?" Hitoshi almost yelled.
"I am." Izuku stood in front of him, steadfast with his arms crossed.
"You want to hijack the airwaves again?" Mei asked. "I can do it easily."
"Not helping, Mei!" Hitoshi cut in. "We need to stay low right now."
"We've been challenged, Hitoshi." Kyouka said. "We need to at least respond to it."
"Something about their challenge seems dark." Fumikage said. "Like there is an unending abyss within their motives."
"They're heroes, though?" Himiko asked.
A ding from the computer sounded out. The first message they had gotten from Prometheus since the news broadcast. "NightHawk is right. I've done some digging into your challengers. They're deep in the HPSC's pockets. This is likely a way for the chairwoman of the HPSC to save face. Be careful. I'll send a quirk dossier on each of them by the end of tonight."
"Thank you for your agreement, Prometheus." Fumikage nodded.
"All the more reason to make our own announcement in response." Izuku continued. "And we'll have a chance to actually start on the assignment Nezu gave us."
"Fine." Hitoshi sighed. "They need to be caught up to speed with the broadcasts, though." He pointed to the three former UA students and Himiko.
"Right." Izuku said. He turned to the four of them. "We've only really done one before, so there's not too much we have to catch you up on. Did you all watch the original?" He asked. Himiko nodded vehemently.
"I was able to catch the initial broadcast." Shouto nodded.
"It was taken down from the internet before I could find it." Eijirou said. "Not manly."
"I saw it, too. Auntie Nemuri showed it to me." Setsuna said. "You guys were showstopping. It was legit."
"Well, the only real thing that needs to be done is that we use our code names and that we all say the last line together. Otherwise, we'll be writing a short script for us to follow." Izuku explained. "Mei should have your costumes done, including your masks. This will technically be your first time suiting up with us, Eijirou and Setsuna. Your first real mission. Do you think you guys are up for it today?"
Eijirou and Setsuna looked at each other and then back to Izuku. "Hell yeah, we are!" Setsuna cheered.
"Alright, then let's get to work." Izuku said with a smile.
Onga was unamused. It had been a day and half, and there was nothing from those vigilantes. He was beginning to grow bored.
"Boss!" One of his subordinates called out. A smile immediately made its way back onto his face. Now this was the show he'd been waiting for. He'd told some of his men to be monitoring the news in case they made an announcement of their own.
He got up from his desk and followed the man to the living room of his house. His TV was paused on a weather report.
"Well, let's see it." Onga said, plopping onto the couch with as much grace as a whale that had just surfaced. The screen began to move.
"As you can see," the weather girl started, "here in Shizuoka, the temperatures will be-" Before she could finish, the news feed cut off and the screen went black. A moving LED image of two dice rolling appeared on the screen before stopping on double ones. The yellow color of each of the dice pips turned blood red before the logo that Onga had seen many times in incident reports flashed beneath them: the logo of Societas Requiem.
The screen darkened once more. A spotlight lit on a chair. In the chair sat a person, the same symbol on its face as the initialization of the video. Two red dots. "It's come to our attention that we've been challenged." The slightly robotic voice started. He steepled his fingers. "We accept."
More spotlights lit up. Additional people. Onga recognized a few of them: their initial cast. He recognized Snake Eyes of course, Heartquake, NightHawk, Overwatch, and Mastermind. He'd seen two more of them in the videos he'd received as a means of learning about them, but there were two more there that he didn't recognize. The few he did recognize by name stepped forward.
"The last time you saw us, our group was a bit smaller. But we've grown since then. As has our resolve." Snake Eyes said.
Next was the melodic voice of Heartquake. "We will not stand down to you or anyone else." Onga scoffed.
Mastermind spoke next. "We are not intimidated."
Then it was Overwatch. "You said that you and your men are rusty?"
Then NightHawk. "Well, we will not be your training dummies."
One of the members Onga recognized but didn't know the name of stepped forward. They wore a long black cloak and several vials at their hip level. "We will be your reckoning."
The one that looked like they were wearing a fireman's coat then spoke. "We will not let you tread on us."
"We will bring forth a new society."
"We will bring forth a new world."
One by one, each member said "I am," stepping closer to the camera that was recording them each time.
Once they had all said it, all nine voices then spoke as one. "We are the dying song of society. We are Societas Requiem. We will change the world."
Snake Eyes stepped forward towards the camera and crouched down in front of it. "Infernal Orchestra, if you're watching this, let it be known that we cannot and will not sit idly by while you challenge us. If it's a fight you're looking for, then a fight you will get. Just let it be known that when this is over, you'll be wishing you hadn't challenged us like this. Five days. Futakotamagawa Park. 6 pm."
The screen went black, and then a few seconds later, the news screen came back. The TV was paused again.
"So, what did you think, boss?"
Onga chuckled to himself. "The kid has balls, that's for sure. Let's see if they can back up their words." He had expected a response, wanted one even, but this was beyond a response. This was them trying to call his bluff. The bluff that didn't exist. This was fanservice, obviously. No doubt that their fans would find their announcement and response endearing or even cool, even though Onga found part of it a tad cliché. But most importantly, this was ego. Even though they had been around for a few months, they still thought they could challenge heroes that had been in the game for years. Onga couldn't help but laugh harder. "I am going to enjoy breaking them."
"Yeah, they're just a bunch of posers! They don't stand a chance against us! We're gonna pulverize them! We're gonna-" His assistant said with gusto before Onga held up a hand, cutting him off.
"Alright, that's a little much. Temper yourself." Onga said. "We will not lose." He stood up from the couch and spoke up to everyone in the room. "Now that that's over, back to your training. We have a big week ahead of us. Make sure that everything is ready."
"Sir, yes sir." And just like that, Onga was alone again.
"Are you sure about this?" Kyouka asked as the group got together to suit up. Today was the day of the challenge. Ever since their message had been broadcast, they've spent every waking minute since then training and making sure that their items and tools were restocked, seeing as the Overhaul fight had depleted their resources. Everyone in the warehouse was anxious, and Izuku knew it.
"No," Izuku replied. "But we don't have much of a choice, honestly." He pulled his suit on.
"I know, but you have a plan, right?" Kyouka asked, putting her own jacket on.
"Enough of one." Izuku nodded. "We'll be fine. I have a feeling like today won't be the end of things. This started out as a publicity stunt, but it'll end up becoming a war.." All of his costume was on but his mask at that point.
"How do you figure?" Kyouka asked, full costume on. She rifled through her jacket pockets for her auxiliary weapons.
"I don't know, honestly. It's more of a gut feeling, but it's a strong gut feeling." Izuku shrugged.
Kyouka laughed. "Hitoshi would roast your ass if he heard you say that."
"And that's why I'm not gonna tell Hitoshi." Izuku retorted. He grabbed his mask and took a deep breath, trying to steel his nerves and calm himself down. As he let out a sigh, he looked at his girlfriend. "Are you ready?"
"Never really was, but we don't have much of a choice now, do we?" Kyouka smiled at Izuku. She grabbed the hand that wasn't holding his mask and squeezed it gently. He squeezed it back and returned her smile.
"Alright, then. Let's do this." The two walked out of their bedroom and into the main room of the warehouse, where Shouto, Mei, Hitoshi, and Fumikage were already waiting.
"Hey guys. How are we feeling? Are you guys ready for this?" Izuku asked.
"As much as I love Eri, it's nice to have your mom take care of her right now so we can get this over with." Hitoshi said.
"There are times when I have to keep her away from my babies, so I agree." Mei stated as she was tinkering with something that fit into her palm.
"Are you two ready?" Shouto asked Izuku and Kyouka.
"Absolutely." Izuku said with a wide smile.
"Great, good to hear." Hitoshi slapped Izuku's back with some gusto.
"It is imperative that you are ready." Fumikage said. "That we all are."
"Are you guys talking about readiness?" Setsuna's voice came from the hallway. All heads turned to see her dressed in her new costume. A dark crop top hoodie with the word 'hoodie' emblazoned on the front, fishnet gloves, dark jean shorts, a flat-billed cap, and hi-tops. The final piece was what looked like just a simple black hospital mask and sunglasses. "Because I think I'm ready."
"Then welcome aboard, Scopos." Izuku said. "It's only your second mission with us, and it's a big one. Sorry for the whole timing on it."
"You keep apologizing to us, but you gotta remember that we did sign up for this." Setsuna said. "We chose to join you."
"Yeah, don't take all the responsibility, Izuku." Eijirou said, walking out behind Setsuna. He was mostly shirtless, keeping that from his old hero costume. On his wrists were two bangles that became fist gauntlets or claw gauntlets that could harden with him. His legs were both covered in dark black and red baggy pants. His mouth was covered by a red oni mask. His hair now hung straight, framing his face instead of being spiked. "If I didn't want to do this, I wouldn't be here."
"I'm glad to hear that, Mars." Izuku said. "Now, this is my last time asking this question. Are you both sure that you're ready for this, regardless of the danger that lies beyond?"
"Absolutely!" Eijirou pumped his fist and grabbed his own bicep in a show of excitement.
"Oh yeah, I'm ready for this." Setsuna nodded.
"Alright. Just waiting on Himiko now." Izuku said. He heard running down one hallway.
"I'm here, don't worry!" Himiko yelled from the hallway. "Okay, we can go now." She jogged into the room and stood next to Fumikage, who smiled at her. She smiled innocently as if she hadn't just been running late.
"Great, then let's go." Izuku said. "Who's driving?"
"Fumi's driving!" Himiko said loudly. "Also, shotgun."
"Alright, well then that's decided." Izuku simply agreed. They all piled into the van and began their drive to Setagaya. It was mostly silent in the car, only really having the radio on low volume and Himiko humming along to some of the songs that played. Everyone else was too anxious to say anything. An air of dread hung over them. Izuku was especially affected; Kyouka must have been able to sense it because she was rubbing his back the entire drive to the park.
The park itself was beautiful. Pagodas and small temples and shrines littered the large field. The Taka river cut through the park, and there were well placed stones that acted as a natural bridge. It was beautiful, a prime place for families to go and enjoy nature. Too bad it was about to be the field of battle between Societas Requiem and the Infernal Orchestra. And people knew it, too. There was a not-so-insignificant crowd that had gathered to watch this fight.
They parked off site and slowly made their way to the park, dodging the crowds as best they could.
"So, you actually came." Izuku recognized that voice. Onga was standing by the treeline next to the river that cut through the park. His cloak billowed in the wind, gold patterns swirling around his costume. Strapped to his side was a trumpet. To his back, a much bigger brass instrument. Slung over his shoulder, a violin. From what Izuku knew of his quirk, he knew there would be more instruments somewhere. "Call me surprised. Now, you deal with us." He smiled. Several other people emerged from the bushes and from behind the trees.
Izuku and the others took up fighting stances. "Bring it on."