Izuku POV, three months later

I receive a ping from Hitoshi.

'Izuku, take a look at this'

He's sent me a hyperlink. I give it a click and let it open in my browser.

'Schoolgirl sentenced to Tartarus for murdering classmates'

I read through the article. It's… it's bad. The girl, Aki Tanaka, was a late bloomer that had a quirk awakening at the age of sixteen. While quirk awakenings past the age of ten were extremely rare, it was not unheard of. With her awakening, Aki Tanaka killed several of her classmates with some sort of forcefield quirk. The article described her forcefields as slicing through everyone and everything standing around her, killing a half dozen students instantly. The article framed this as a cold-hearted murder and declared that the girl was almost certainly hiding her quirk the whole time.

Her classmates described her as being cold, off-putting and a loner. They said she started fights constantly and was a very disruptive student. Her teachers said she had poor grades and would interfere with the learning of other students, often going so far as to threaten her classmates. Her own parents had come out and publicly denounced her, declaring her a useless and horrible child.

I immediately knew that something was wrong. No one in this society would lie about being quirkless, especially all the way to the age of sixteen. What reason would someone have to lie about having a force field quirk? Based on the description from the article it seemed to have a great deal of power. If she was able to send them outward in an arc as per the article, this could be indicative of some sort of telekinetic ability to move her fields. That could be very strong.

I didn't need to ask Hitoshi to know what he was thinking. I type out a message.

'So, we intend to break her out?'

He replies instantly.

'Breaking into a Tartarus transport is going to be hard. I think we need the full team for this, that means you bossman.'

The transport would be far more heavily defended than a typical prisoner transport. There would be a full convoy and likely several Heroes. This breakout would need to be a full-scale operation for it to be a success. This would be the first time I see the battlefield in person. Ah, but what quirk should I use? I type out the question to Hitoshi.

'What quirk should I use as my primary? Whatever I use will be what I am stuck with, the Heroes cannot know of my real quirk.'

Hitoshi sends me a reply in seconds.

'Decay. It's perfect, super powerful and super high utility. Contrasts well with our current team. As long as you stack durability and passive quirks no one will second-guess it.'

I decided to trust hitoshi's judgement. The trick would be avoiding direct hand-to-hand combat, brushing against a Hero would be certain death for them if I used Decay. I also didn't want to take too many hits. The Heroes would definitely notice if I start face-tanking blows that would ordinarily be kill shots.

Sometimes being too powerful was inconvenient.


Izuku POV, one day later

"Ready?"

I hear three replies through the radio. Kurogiri is hiding deeper into the forest, ideally keeping out of sight. He will be our trump card if needed. As long as we had him we could always flee if needed.

We decided to intercept the convoy in the forest as it was the most remote location along the convoy's path. The section we decided to set up in was thirty kilometres from Tartarus, but more than a hundred from the city our target was coming from. Tartarus transports were always performed via ground vehicles as aircraft were, well, fragile. Putting angry S-class villains in an aeroplane was a recipe waiting for disaster.

I spot the cars coming in from the distance. I immediately note that there are more cars than expected, ten in total. Intel suggested there would be only five. Were the Heroes catching on? I relay the information through the radio.

"Update, ten cars total. Intel underestimated. ETA thirty seconds."

The plan is for me to Decay a pit in front of the convoy, and then have Kurogiri warp me to repeat it behind. The convoy would be trapped between two chasms and would be forced to be on the defensive. From there, Eva and Hitoshi will clean up the Heroes.

This was also our first opportunity to test our costumes! Or at least the costumes we could think of at the time. Hitoshi wanted to make some sort of tactical combat outfit but had ended up with a spare business suit for now. Personally, I elected to wear a blank facemask to cover my features. My distinctive green and white hair would be exposed, of course, but hopefully, no one would be able to do much with that information. I really didn't want to have to cut my hair.

The cars draw closer. I click my radio.

"ETA ten seconds."

I stretch my muscles and prepare myself for battle. The convoy drives closer and closer. I can see the sun glinting off the windows.

Three.

Two.

One.

I walk out from behind cover and place my palms on the road. I pull Decay to the front and slot it into place.

Now.

A vast chasm is immediately torn into the earth. It's easily twenty metres across and twice that in depth. I force the decay to spread horizontally until I've created a canyon that splits the road in two. The convoy comes to a screeching halt mere seconds before they would have reached the edge. Kurogiri forms a portal linking behind the convoy and I step through. I immediately place my hands on the road, repeating the process I had just performed. The convoy is now trapped.

I hear Kurogiri's voice over the radio.

"Phase one complete. Initiate phase two."

The guards and Heroes alike begin flooding from the car doors. I spot a full six Heroes among their rank. The guards open fire with non-lethal rounds on me as if mere rubber would bother me. I evapourate the hail of projectiles with a wave of my hand.

One of the Heroes, Psychic Storm, scowls at me.

"Are you really here alone kid? Stand down and maybe this won't hurt."

I cock my head.

"Why would I be alone?"

The earth quakes as Eva rockets down from the heavens. The first car is obliterated in an instant. By the time they've realised what's happening, it's too late. Eva leaps into the fray and starts throwing punches and kicks. The first Hero is knocked out instantly. The second, third, and fourth Heroes suffer the same fate.

Muscle Man seems to figure out what is going on and slides into a boxing stance. Eva is standing across from him with four of his comrades on the ground. A hail of nonlethal gunfire is blasted at her, but she simply elects to ignore it. Muscle Man scowls at her.

"You think you can take me kid?"

Eva dives forward and, to his credit, the Hero manages to land a punch clean on her chin. Unfortunately for him, his knuckles immediately shatter as they make an impact against her skin. Eva responds with an uppercut that puts him to sleep.

Psychic Storm decides to ignore the chaos behind her and begins floating up into the air. Lightning batters the area as her quirk performs its namesake. She starts ripping dozens of trees from their roots and promptly throws a veritable wave of timber at me. Any normal Villain would have been crushed under the dozens of tonnes of wood and dirt.

Unfortunately for her, it's not enough. I place my palms forward and disintegrate the projectiles before they reach me. A shower of ash rains down over me. Psychic Storm takes a look behind her and promptly realises she is the only Hero left standing. The various guards had been dealt with in the same matter, Eva slicing through their numbers like a flaming chainsaw through butter.

A voice calls out from the direction of the armoured cars.

"Psychic are you okay?"

She responds instinctively.

"Yeah I'm-"

"Float down to the ground and put these handcuffs on yourself."

The woman does as ordered by Hitoshi. There are a few guards left conscious but all are disarmed and none have the will left to fight. I step over to one of them. I place my hands together behind my back and address him as professionally as possible.

"Hello, sir. I am looking for a girl by the name of Aki Tanaka. Could you please point me to the transport vehicle that contains her?"

The man shakily points a bloodied hand to the third car.

"Thank you, sir. I am so terribly sorry for all of this."

I walk over to the third car and Decay away most of its surface area. Inside, a teenage girl is contained, wrapped in some sort of medieval-looking contraption. Her eyes look frantic as she desperately tries to back away from me into the corner. It's a disturbing sight. I'm immediately struck by how scared she looks. She's a small and mousy figure that seems to disappear under her outfit. She has a short bob cut of brown hair and eyes the colour of molten copper. I move slowly and attempt not to startle her.

"Greetings, miss. I am Azazel. I wish you no harm, please stand still and I will remove your restraints."

I place a hand on the metal and carefully activate Decay. The restraints are instantly reduced to ash as the older girl gasps with tears flooding her eyes.

"T-thank you…"

Hitoshi takes this opportunity to poke his head around the corner.

"Azazel, is she secure?"

"Affirmative Armaros, the package is secure and awaiting extraction."

I prompt the girl to follow me and she stumbles to her feet. Outside I see Eva scanning the surroundings, ever vigilant for threats. I give her a nod.

"Apollyon, all clear?"

"Affirmative Azazel. Preparing for extraction."

A portal forms and I delicately usher Miss Tanaka through. The portal closes behind us. Kurogiri is already standing with bandages at the ready, the five of us now in the infirmary. Kurogiri glances me over.

"Master, did anyone suffer injuries?"

Eva and Hitoshi report negative. The mission went perfectly, as expected. I guide Aki Tanaka to one of the beds and have her sit. She rests on the bed and looks up at me with an unreadable expression. She's surprisingly calm, all things considered. Kurogiri moves over to her and addresses her directly.

"Greetings. Are you feeling okay? We have medical supplies if required. An event like that may be rather unsettling, it is normal to feel scared or uncomfortable."

The teenager lets out a shaky breath and closes her eyes. When she reopens them she has a hardness in her eyes that I did not expect.

"I'm fine. So, you are Villains, right? Those kids who have been on the news?"

Hitoshi gives her a wave.

"Yeah, we've been doing some stuff behind the scenes. We saw your 'trial' and decided to step in. It's not your fault those bullies pushed you that far."

She goes to retort before the realisation of his words kicks in.

"You… believe me? That I was bullied?"

Hitoshi scoffs.

"I was put in an orphanage after my parents learned of my 'villain quirk'. I was beaten every day of my life past the day I turned four. I left that life to join The Elite, and have never looked back since."

She pauses for a long moment and taps her fingers against her thighs.

"This is about to become a recruitment pitch, isn't it?"

Hitoshi immediately begins delivering the sales pitch of the century. He has memorised all of our policies and pay rates and is able to recite them on the spot. Aki immediately begins arguing with him over our yearly paid leave policy and Hitoshi retorts by pointing out our world-class sick leave. I walk out of the room and leave the two to discuss things with each other. Getting between Hitoshi and a conversation was a bad idea.

He was a rather talented spokesman.


Izuku POV, three hours later

I walk out into the central chamber and spot Aki Tanaka and Hitoshi sitting at the bar. Kurogiri is polishing a crystal champagne flute with a linen rag. I wander over to the two and take a closer look. Aki has a glass of what looks to be whisky in hand, a tasteful amount of ice included. Clearly, she was able to convince Kurogiri to give her a drink. She may be 16, but what good villain doesn't break a few rules?

I take a moment to listen in on the conversation. They seem to be ranting about Endeavour and what he represents to society. Tanka Aki seems to have some sort of harebrained assassination plan involving a car bomb. Personally, I think he would just tank the explosion, but I didn't have the heart to tell her that. I clear my throat.

"Greetings. Is all well?"

Miss Tanaka gives me a sideways look.

"Oh yeah. Hitoshi caught me up to scratch on what was going on. Can I just say you guys have a great anti-discrimination policy? I wish my part-time job had something like that. Once they realised I was a quirkless chick they fired me the morning after. Oh, and call me Aki. Fuck my family name they can all suck my non-existent dick."

Well. Another successful recruitment for The Elite, I think?


Naomasa POV, one day later

The pre-teens are becoming a major problem. Attacking a random prison transport is one thing, but attacking a Tartarus transport- and somehow winning? That was something else entirely. The Hero Commission was nothing short of furious. They had managed to keep the attack covered up from the public, but if this kept happening there wouldn't be much choice. If these kids keep escalating it's only a matter of time before they bite off more than they can chew, and end up dead.

The goal should be to try to capture them before they reach this point, and ideally take down their organisation with them. With any luck, we'll be able to reform them into Heroes with some therapy and training. The three of them had quirks and skills that very few would be able to match.

As such, Nedzu was hosting a short remote conference with Sir Nighteye and myself. The Hero Commission wanted to keep this under wraps, but Nedzu always knows. I suspect Nedzu was hosting this mainly for his own amusement. He often went to great lengths to create puzzles for Nighteye and me. An investigation, in his own words, is the ultimate puzzle. Ah, it's about time to start.

The screen is black for several seconds before Nedzu and Nighteye appear. Nedzu gives the camera a little wave.

"Am I a mouse? A dog? A bear? I'm the principal!"

Neither of us react whatsoever. The chimera continues unimpeded.

"Thank you for making time for me today. I wish to discuss this new group, The Elite."

A photo of what looks like a gold boilerplate appears. It has 'The Elite sends its regards' stamped into it. Nedzu continues on.

"The three villains left this at the scene of the crime. Considering this is sixteen thousand dollars worth of gold, this is a rather significant investment to be made for a mere calling card. Evidently, there is far more to this little group than we are seeing."

Sir Nighteye immediately jumps in.

"This reeks of Yakuza. Lavish spending and blatant waste of wealth is the bread and butter of a gang that controls a casino."

I clear my throat.

"Nighteye makes a good point, but somehow I feel like these kids aren't associated with any known Yakuza. Yakuza groups have been on down low for years, why would they start sending their kids out on suicide missions? There's no way anyone within the Yakuza would support this."

The only thing I can imagine is that this is the children playing around with their quirks. Their parents likely don't care what they do, so long as they don't bring the trouble home.

Nedzu cackles with delight.

"Good analysis! After reading the statements made by the Heroes and guards involved, I have a few ideas. Azazel and Apollyon reportedly spoke in a highly formal manner with rather peculiar speech patterns. Apollyon spoke in an utterly monotone voice and never intoned any emotion. Azazel was reportedly oddly formal and spoke rather with a remarkably smooth and soft voice. A direct quote of Azazel from one of the guards was that he sounded 'professional'. On the other hand, Armaros spoke like a normal boy, and after reviewing his facial recognition I now know why."

A quirk registry entry pops up on the screen.

"Meet Hitoshi Shinso, aged twelve. His quirk, Brainwashing, allows him to mind control those that respond to his voice. His parents gave him up for adoption at age six, but he seems to have disappeared from his orphanage approximately six months ago."

Things are starting to make sense. I write down a quick note to investigate the orphanage involved before I decide to speak.

"This sounds like a clear case of quirk discrimination. The kid has a scary quirk so his parents got rid of him. Then he was discriminated against by other kids, so he decided to run away entirely. How he ended up with the other two, however, is something I am struggling to understand.."

Nedzu beams. He seems to enjoy talking to the two of us, probably because we are able to come to the conclusions he is leading us to. Nedzu enjoys this sort of thing.

"Exactly! However, with a bit of further digging, I have found something interesting. One of the boys in the orphanage came in with broken ribs the day before Shinso was reported abandoned. I took the liberty to break into the private hospital records involved and the doctor noted that the breaks were consistent with a strike from a strength quirk. The boy was also noted as having a bruise the size of a child's fist. What if, instead of running away, Apollyon and Azazel meet him by random chance and decided to intervene with an act of bullying?"

Nighteye immediately jumps on the thought.

"If that is the case it is entirely possible that this boy has influenced the others into these attacks. He could very well be jaded against society and be using their power and wealth as a tool to enact his revenge. Are we certain that his quirk isn't capable of long-term control?"

Nedzu hums to himself for an awkwardly long period of time.

"I believe it to be unlikely. It wouldn't be consistent with the way Brainwashing works, it appears to more or less hypnotise the target. Also rather interestingly, after running facial recognition on Apollyon I was unable to find any matching results on the Japanese databases. I took the liberty to run her details through various European databases as well, but also had no results. Considering her highly distinct appearance and eye colour, I doubt this is a false result. Officially speaking she simply does not exist and is not a legal citizen of any country on Earth. Azazel wore a mask so we cannot verify facial recognition, but emerald green hair with white roots is rather distinctive. Yet again, zero results. "

So, rich kids playing villain who have powerful quirks. Oh, and at least one of them was born and raised in secrecy. Just great. The fact that the one wearing the mask was reportedly the formal and professional one is not a surprise. Perhaps Azazel's identity would reveal his parents? I chew the end of my pen.

"I'm guessing you want to push for capture and reform?"

Nedzu nods. I snort.

"Well, we just have to hope the Commission doesn't do anything dumb. With any luck, the kids will fly under the radar and we'll be able to nab them later on."

Surely the Hero Commission couldn't screw this up.


Izuku POV, one week later

I take a look at the headlines before me.

'Child gang declared A class villain group for unknown reasons!'

Well then. The Hero Commission has decided to take us seriously. How quaint.


? POV, ? later

I type away at my computer. My minion decided to interrupt my lab research, declaring that he had discovered something important. He proclaimed that he had finally successfully hacked into the greatest depths of the Hero Commision's database, and had found classified information that I would find interesting.

I will determine that for myself.

I open the database that has been sent to me. Documents. Files. Images. Medical data that only a highly talented Doctor would be capable of producing. Dozens of terabytes of data. I take a look through the headers and hum to myself. It's neatly formatted and looks to have immaculate notes. Interesting. I open one of the files and begin reading.

It's a work of genius. The idea of fusing multiple quirks into a single body is one I am experienced with, but to be able to mostly automate the process? To stabilise the body in suspended animation? To have performed the tests and iteration required to determine the chemical solutions needed to adapt human flesh for the new quirks?

Brilliant, although flawed. There was so much about biology that was simply not public knowledge. Even a Doctor as talented as this lacked the understanding and information I possessed. No one else on this Earth would have been able to make any user of the information here. Interestingly, the Doctor stated that the use of a special quirk was needed to transfer the new quirks into the subjects. Thankfully, my own quirk was more than capable of replicating such a feat with a bit of… creative surgery.

Ideas race through my mind as possibilities fill my head. So many ideas… so little time to implement them. I dial a number on my cellphone.

"Hack into the quirk registry. I will send you a list of descriptions as well as parameters and requirements. I want you to build an algorithm to sort for quirks that match the descriptions I have provided. We are undertaking a new operation, one that will change the Shie Hassaikai forever."

A feral grin crosses my face underneath my mask.