When school had ended, and Yaoyorozu got home, questions still racked her mind. The questions lingered as she entered her large room and sat at her desk. What was the radiological accident Grizzly had mentioned? She couldn't remember anything like it from the news, and a story like that would have been impossible to miss. At first, she attempted to ignore the question by focusing on her studies.
When that didn't work she pulled out her phone to listen to the news… what? It was her duty as a Yaoyorozu to keep up with current events. Regardless she had it playing in the background as she studied, trying to focus on either task.
"With the UA Sports Festival being only a few weeks away, many have voiced opposition to the event. Specifically to the event's security. Many view the event to be a possible risk for any participants, with the Hero Commission President saying that UA has become a school controlled by villains. Without heroes present, the MSF can do whatever they please. As such anyone thinking of attending the festival in person should be wary of possible threats. After the President's remark, UA officials agreed to allow several high-ranking heroes to act as security for the event."
Yaoyorozu quietly sighed to herself as the news continued to play. It did nothing but bring the questions back. So she changed her phone to a different channel, this one luckily talking about something else.
"From all findings, the authorities have officially declared a sudden rise in breaking and entering cases. The string of crimes taking hold in Southern Musutafu as of yet, has not been linked to any known Villain organization. However, video surveillance has caught one of the supposed villains in the act, though a purple and white skull mask unfortunately covered the perpetrator's face. The villain caught in the act was seen breaking down the door to one woman's home, before looting it of any electronics,'' the new channel started, with Yaoyorozu using it to drown out her questions.
"In response to the sudden rise the Hero Omega Samurai has promised to have his agency start patrolling the area. With Omega Samurai's promise authorities believe the villains responsible will be dealt with in a few short days. Until that time, the Shizuoka Prefectural Police Department warns people living in the South Musutafu area to keep a lookout for suspicious activity. As while no deaths have been attributed to the break-ins, Police believe the risk of one occurring is possible," the news anchor added, with Yaoyorozu silently sighing in relief.
Sure the news in Southern Shizuoka didn't affect her, but it was worrying to hear about. But at least a hero would deal with the problem-
"Hunger is the greatest villain of them all, which is why you should come on down to Native's all-you-can-eat Native American Buffet! Come see authentic Native American cuisine, with a lively atmosphere, fun for the whole family!" an ad suddenly exclaimed, with Yaoyorozu skipping it quickly. It was annoyingly sudden, but Yaoyorozu moved on, the news continuing to play in the background.
"In other news, unknown satellites have been discovered orbiting Earth's atmosphere. At the moment Poland has claimed ownership of the satellites, however, several prominent officials claim otherwise. The head of Roscosmos, Pushkin Dmitriy, has gone on record stating, the satellites seen were not built by the Poles. If they were, we would have seen news of their launch. We don't know whose satellites they are, but they are not the Polish Government's."
At this point, the news was barely being registered by Yaoyorozu. She attempted to remain focused, but that became all too difficult. The news switched to a new story, something about the Commission's Vice President opening a new museum, then a story about someone called the Hero Killer, a story about the rumors of an unknown giant stomping around an obscure Japanese island, and another ad, this time involving the Motorist Hero Rev's car decals.
Yet Yaoyorozu couldn't focus on any of it. Her mind always went back to that question, as her fingers tapped at the desk. It was nothing important, she thought to herself, just focus on your school work. But it didn't go away. The question ate away her mind, it became unbearable to not have an answer. Finally, she caved in, grabbing her phone and searching for whatever she could find.
She looked up radiological accidents and found nothing. There, she had her answer, Grizzly was lying. Now to get back to her studies… And yet that didn't seem quite right. Why would Grizzly lie about something so easy to disprove? Everyone would have heard of some kind of accident. But then she looked back on how Grizzly said it. His answer was with hesitance, a lull as he thought up the words.
"He was lying… but not about the incident," Yaoyorozu unknowingly muttered to herself. Grizzly wasn't lying that he was helping refugees, but he was lying about why it happened. Suddenly Yaoyorozu had a new question, what if it wasn't an accident? Slowly she swapped a few words in her phone's search bar and hit enter. The very first article was one she knew very well.
"The Nuclear Gang Strikes in Nigeria! Stopped by Coalition of Heroes!" the title read, Yaoyorozu looking over the title carefully. How had she not thought of this before? This was the single most devastating villain battle in years! Radiation from the fight had traveled all the way to Greece. It had so many heroes killed in action, trying to save the people. It led to the biggest scandal the support gear industry had ever seen.
This had to be what Grizzly was referring to. Which was odd, there was never any mention of the MSF, at least not that she could remember. Curiously Yaoyorozu read through the article, not stopping until she reached the end of it. Not once was the MSF ever mentioned, just small conflicts with random villains trying to exploit the Nuclear Gang's actions. So she checked another article and again found nothing.
A third article, a fourth, a fifth, and still nothing. She soon gave up searching for new articles and began looking for anything to do with the MSF. To her surprise, she found nothing. Not one mention of the MSF came up until UA hired them. She looked up the storm that hit the Philippines and found no mention of the MSF. It didn't make any sense. What was she missing? Her mind returned to the Nuclear Gang and soon remembered Grizzly lying. He lied about the "accident" that was in actuality a gang of radioactive villains.
But why? Was the MSF working with the Nuclear Gang? No, Yaoyorozu reasoned, the entire gang was in prison. And the heroes wouldn't let the MSF go free if they were involved. But the MSF was involved in some way. Was it just aiding in refugee efforts, or was there something else? What was she missing?
Luan was sick of this. Staring at the map in front of him, he could only feel unrivaled fury. If he had a knife in his hand, its blade would be embedded in the wooden table in front of him. Either that or the skull of the officer nervously standing next to him.
"Read it, again," Luan ordered, his eyes fixated on the map. The officer nearby nervously gulped, looking down at the paper in his hands.
"Again?" the officer asked, flinching back when Luan slammed his fist on the table.
"Again damn it!" Luan shouted, slowly looking away from the map and now at the officer's face.
"U-uh, w-well the MSF's offensive into Cameroon advanced another fifteen kilometers, w-with local commanders estimating at least thirty thousand casualties," the officer answered, shrinking into himself from Luan's glare. Another fifteen kilometers, Luan thought, five more, and the MSF would have officially taken half of Cameroon. Every word made Luan's frown deepen, and he asked, "And the others? What of Razak's forces?"
"T-they… they were not seen in the area," the officer answered, causing Luan's anger to peak. He flipped the table in front of him in a single loud shout. Grabbing one of the table's legs he ripped it off and chucked it at a nearby wall. He continued to destroy the table, before moving on to the fallen map, and finally calming down. With a deep angry breath, he faced the officer again.
"Call back all forces," Luan ordered. Five years of this conflict and it had gone nowhere. It was bad enough that the HPSC could never hold up their end of the bargain, with all of their promised equipment never being enough. At this point, he couldn't care what Madam President threatened him with. He didn't even care about Outer Heaven at this point, because why would he waste resources on a conflict so far away?
Fighting it would only weaken his hold on power more. Better to use the other warlords as a shield, to prepare a better defense, Luan reasoned. Though that was assuming those idiots up North could hold them off long enough.
"Thanks for coming out here by the way," Uraraka said while picking up a large microwave. It was somewhat heavier, as she filled it with random bits of scrap she picked up on the beach. Both to clean the area quicker and to add some extra weight for the workout. Akatani meanwhile, seemed to be unfazed as he picked up two microwaves.
"I'm just glad you asked me to. I was bored out of my mind on campus," Akatani replied, walking next to her. Quickly the two reached a large dumpster, which originally was not there. It was brought in by the MSF, whom Akatani had to cash in some favors for. It was one reason Uraraka asked for Akatani to come to the beach with her, as… well where was she going to get the money needed to dispose of hundreds of tons of trash?
In a few seconds, they both dumped the appliances into the dumpsters. They then turned around to look at the progress they'd made. However one wouldn't see a difference if they compared before and after. It was still a massive center of trash, now with a circular gap in the middle. Most of the smaller bits such as shards of broken glass and a frighteningly large number of syringes had been removed luckily.
Wiping the sweat from her brow Uraraka thought over her next move, soon spotting a large fridge. She was tempted to use her quirk on it, but immediately shot the idea down. I mean, what kind of hero would she be, if she broke the law? Still, she eyed the fridge carefully, thinking for a moment.
"You think I could lift that fridge?" Uraraka asked, turning to face Akatani.
"With your quirk, yes. Without it, I'm going to say no," Akatani answered, dumping some sand out of his shoe.
"I figured as much," Uraraka commented, looking back at the fridge. It was currently sitting in the middle of everything, which cut down on all the available space. So leaving it there for the time being wasn't exactly an option with what Uraraka had in mind.
"What if we tried it together?" Uraraka asked, walking over to the fridge.
"Well…" Akatani began, slowly thinking over the idea, "I don't think we could lift it into the dumpster. We could drag it close though."
"Works for me," Uraraka replied, pushing one side of the fridge. It took a bit of effort but soon it fell onto its side. Akatani didn't protest the idea so he walked over to join her. Quickly the two got a hold of the fridge, slowly lifting it. And instantly Uraraka thought her muscles were on fire. Years of helping her family's construction company had made her somewhat fit, but that was not nearly enough.
Her breathing sped up as she and Akatani carried, or more accurately hobbled, the fridge to the dumpster. Uraraka could feel as if her arms would fail her at any moment, her grip constantly slipping. But it was just a few more steps to the dumpster so Uraraka pressed on. Finally, they arrived, dropping the large appliance next to the dumpster. Uraraka quickly sat down, breathing heavily, while Akatani leaned against the dumpster.
From what Uraraka could see, he didn't seem all too tired. And here she was struggling, Uraraka thought to herself, before immediately shaking her head. She was done with those self-deprecating comments. Sitting up slightly, Uraraka turned to face Akatani before immediately freezing. Akatani, who was staring out at another pile of trash, had lifted his shirt to wipe the sweat off his brow.
It gave Uraraka a full view of Akatani's abs, and the sight was practically burned into her mind. Her eyes lingered on it in shock, before she quickly looked away, her face a deep red. It was like he was chiseled from marble. It was shockingly hard to look away, and Akatani noticed it. Following Uraraka's eyes his face became an equally red shade to hers.
"Uraraka?" Akatani said, immediately dragging her out of her thoughts. She instantly turned away, somehow redder than before and she mentally screamed. It was rude to stare, and friends don't stare! It was just an honest mistake… maybe she should- nope! Friends do not stare at friends! That did explain why cleaning everything up seemed easy for him though, Uraraka thought, before focusing back to the topic at hand. Quickly she plotted over trying to think up an excuse, but only one came to mind.
"S-sorry for staring! I just, uh… I was just kind of… wondering how much you work out," she replied, with… well it being somewhat true. It was what she hoped to be a perfect save.
"I mean, you're… well…" Uraraka nervously continued, gesturing to Akatani, "and I was just wondering how you got that way. To uh… improve my workout regimen."
Akatani thought it over for a second, still beet red, but to her gratefulness, he seemed to believe what she was saying.
"W-well… I tended to help out around the base a lot. Mostly lugging around heavy equipment," Akatani nervously replied, while scratching some sand off his face, "Other than that I worked out with my dad a few times. Oh! Also a lot of sparring matches."
There, Uraraka realized an opportunity!
"Oh? Think you could help me then? My dad taught me how to throw a punch, but… well compared to you or Ojiro it's basically nothing," Uraraka told him. And Akatani thought it over for a second. Silently Uraraka begged he would agree, just to change topics away from… that.
"...Sure," Akatani replied hesitantly, with Uraraka quietly celebrating to herself. Slowly both of their faces returned to a normal shade, as the two looked at the surrounding area. Quickly Akatani walked away from Uraraka, before turning and facing her. He then moved slightly, adjusting his posture before he stood still. Both his hands were raised and his legs were slightly apart.
"Wait, we're fighting now?" Uraraka asked, confused, thinking there was going to be something more to it. She expected a kind of lesson, maybe to check what she already knew.
"Well… yeah. I can't help you if I don't know where you're at progress-wise," Akatani replied, "It would be like having an infant write Shakespeare when they barely know how to talk."
To some extent, Uraraka could see the logic. So she relented and slowly took up a stance she remembered seeing some heroes take. Uraraka knew it probably wasn't the best form, but that's why she was trying to learn. Then Akatani began to walk to the side, still facing Uraraka.
"Any rules though?" Uraraka asked slowly, doing the same as the two circled each other.
"No knockouts, no breaking limbs, you win if you can restrain me," Akatani answered, Uraraka giving a slow understanding nod. They continued to circle each other for a few seconds, neither one deciding to make the first move. Both knew this couldn't go on forever, but one of them knew what the other's first move would be. Because Uraraka knew she couldn't beat Akatani hand-to-hand, not currently. But, if there was one thing she knew about Akatani, it was that he didn't fight fair.
The previous training exercise had been proof enough. He was far away picking them off one by one, with the use of drones and Victoria backing him up. His suit was specifically designed to be as quiet as possible, and DD was trained to be another set of eyes or more accurately a nose. He had smoke grenades, flashbangs, landmines, tranquilizers, and hidden knives. No matter the situation he would not fight fair.
And given they were on a sandy beach, Uraraka could tell what Akatani was going to do first. She was proven right, quickly blocking her eyes as Akatani kicked up as much sand as possible. A little sand got through but only landed on her face instead of her eyes. Quickly Uraraka sidestepped a strike from Akatani, before feeling herself go weightless. The next thing she knew she was looking up at the sky.
She wasn't restrained though, so Uraraka quickly got up and found Akatani standing across from her. He charged at her quickly, with Uraraka reacting quickly. Throwing a punch with her right arm, she aimed to hit Akatani's chest. Instead, he grabbed and twisted her arm, forcing Uraraka to turn awkwardly. Now her arm was being held up against her back, Akatani standing behind her. With one arm still restraining hers, his other wrapped around her neck.
Uraraka tried to pry it off with her only free hand, but couldn't. So she tried to elbow him instead, only to meet air behind the strike. She swapped to stomping on his feet, but he simply tightened his grip. Uraraka squirmed, using her body weight to try and loosen Akatani's hold, but it didn't work. She tried to make him trip, hoping that her landing on top of him would hurt enough for him to be stunned. But he wouldn't fall over.
No matter what she tried she couldn't get free. The only thing she hadn't tried was kicking him in the balls but she shot that idea down instantly. That would have been a dick move, which she quickly chastised herself for. So, ever so slowly she stopped struggling, realizing that she was completely restrained. Seeing Uraraka had stopped resisting, Akatani let her go. Uraraka then stepped away and turned to face him with a curious look on her face.
"So, how was I?" Uraraka asked. Considering how quickly it had ended, she didn't think she did all that well. Though Akatani seemed to think over it as if there were more details she missed.
"Not bad. You managed to adapt well, so that's a good thing. If you could use your quirk, then I think things might have been more difficult for me," Akatani replied, which Uraraka kinda saw the logic in.
"Not like there was much else I could do," Uraraka muttered, before noticing Akatani shake his head.
"You could have grabbed a pipe or something from the trash pile," Akatani countered, pointing out at the massive piles surrounding them.
"But this was a sparring match," Uraraka pointed out. One would think using a weapon would break the rules of a spar. Of course, then Uraraka noticed Akatani gave her a cheeky smile.
"Yeah, and the rules never said you couldn't pick up a weapon," he said cheekily, leaving Uraraka to pause for a second before her eyes went wide in realization.
"Oh come on!" she cried out annoyed with herself. It made Akatani laugh before her annoyance shifted to a small smile as well.
"Want to go again?" Uraraka asked.
"Sure, I'll go easier on you this time, if you want," Akatani replied, stepping a bit farther away from her. The last part, however, lit a fire of determination inside Uraraka. She clenched her hands back into fists, holding them up ready as she looked over at him.
"Oh no, no, no. I want to do my best and improve, so you better not hold back," Uraraka told him. Akatani gave her a small smile while taking up his position.
"If you say so. Just expect a lot of sand in your future," Akatani replied cheekily.
"We'll see about that," Uraraka replied while bringing up a confident smile.
Midoriya was excited, and for good reason. At the moment he was busy helping some soldiers carrying crates from a C-17 that had just landed. Most of it was extra ammo, replacement parts for vehicles, food, medical supplies, and all other assortments of extra equipment. However, that extra equipment was why Midoriya was excited because they were also transporting exoskeletons.
They had already been carried off the plane, but Midoriya was hoping to catch a peek at them so he could possibly try one on. He knew it was a longshot though, since exoskeletons were still very valuable assets few had access to. But that could only happen once everything was unloaded. So quickly he worked, carrying ammunition boxes to and from the C-17, a dozen other soldiers doing the same.v
After an hour or so it was done, and the C-17 got ready to take off again. Midoriya, still excited, used this moment to go check with the officer in charge.
"Hey, everything's unloaded, do you mind if I check out the exos?" Midoriya asked, the officer thinking it over quietly.
"Don't see why not. Everything should be in order… wait nineteen?" the officer muttered before facing a different soldier farther away, "Flamingo! Manifest says there's supposed to be twenty exos!"
"I counted twice, we've only got nineteen!" Flamingo replied, shouting back. However, a third soldier interjected quickly.
"You sure? I counted twenty when we unloaded them!"
"So we lost an exo? Great. Search the area! Someone had to have misplaced it!" the officer ordered annoyed. Midoriya, ever so helpful, assisted the soldiers in their search. Yet no matter where they looked, they couldn't find it. The only places the missing exo could have been were in the main school building or at one of the campus's facilities. Neither option seemed likely since… well none of the staff ever involved themselves in MSF affairs. And the students never got close to the MSF.
So one of them swiping MSF equipment was very unlikely. When they gave up the search, everyone was quietly hoping that it was just an error in judgment. That someone had miscounted, and not lost the thousand dollar piece of highly advanced technology. In the end, Midoriya gave his goodbyes to the soldiers and went off to the campus.
Now school still had an hour or so before it started, so he began thinking up things to do. Slowly an idea began to form for what he should do. I mean for all his time on campus, he only ever spent his time around the hero portion of UA. Quietly Midoriya wondered what the Business or General Education classes were like. They were probably just regular classes. Then again, he always wanted to check out the support labs.
Not like he had anything better to do, Midoriya thought. With it decided he began his short journey to the support courses. It wasn't all that far, truth be told. A bit of a walk, sure, but as he entered the hallway leading to 1H, everything was going- The doorway ahead of him exploded, thick black smoke now pouring out of a support lab. Midoriya mentally panicked for a second, before noticing a lack of alarms.
Cautiously his hand went to his sidearm, unsure if he would have to use it. Midoriya stepped forward though, briefly covering his face from the smoke. As he got closer to the classroom, he began to hear talking inside.
"Damn-cough, damn it Hatsume! School hasn't even started yet!" Power Loader shouted, with Midoriya fanning away the smoke from his face. It began to clear eventually, and he peeked his head through the door.
"Everything alright in here?" Midoriya asked concerned, noticing a pink-haired girl covered in soot, who he assumed was the Hatsume Power Loader yelled at. She didn't seem to notice the soot though, and instead was busy loosening the screws of a smoking machine. What the machine was Midoriya couldn't tell.
"Everything's fine Akatani. Just dealing with a lab accident," Power Loader answered, "Though I wish it would happen less!"
"You can't have success without failure!" Hatsume happily countered, still focused on the machine she was working on. Though hearing Power Loader's annoyed groan told Midoriya that the explosions were commonplace.
"What's she working on?" Midoriya hesitantly asked. Power Loader was about to answer him, only for Hatsume to somehow appear right next to Midoriya. It caught him off guard for a second. So that's how that feels, Midoriya thought unsure how Hatsume ran up to him so quickly.
"Glad you asked whoever you are! This is a Hatsume Industries original! Introducing Baby 272, the lightweight handheld grappling gun! Made with an advanced carbon fiber cable capable of withstanding the strongest of forces, it can help any hero easily traverse any terrain!" Hatsume exclaimed, forcing Midoriya to lean back as she got in his face. Which was counterproductive since it made it impossible to see the grappling hook she made.
Hatsume did step back though, continuing to talk as she held out the grappling hook. It was fashioned kind of like a single-shot grenade launcher, though Midoriya saw prototypes resembling pistols on the workbenches. He was immediately intrigued looking over the designs with curiosity.
"You could use it for practically anything," Midoriya muttered, "That's incredible! How fast can the projectile move? Does it have multiple hook variations for different circumstances? What about the cable, can it be cut in case of emergencies?"
"Oh no," Power Loader muttered off to the side. But it was already too late because Hatsume looked at Midoriya surprised for a second. That was until the surprise turned into pure excitement.
"Someone who knows their gear I see! Hatsume Mei at your service!" Hatsume introduced, before again getting in Midoriya's face.
"Akatani Mikumo," Midoriya replied, stepping back from Hatsume, who of course stepped forward. In the brief second he stepped back though, he managed to spot something that surprised him. Sitting on one of the workbenches, was the missing exoskeleton.
"Wait a minute, why's that here?" Midoriya asked, pointing at the Exo. It brought a confused look to Hatsume, as Power Loader followed where Midoriya was pointing.
"Whys what here… damn it Hatsume," Power Loader muttered, with Hatsume now seeing what Midoriya was talking about. She seemed undeterred though and practically ran over to the exoskeleton.
"Ah, you mean this baby! It's an incredible piece of technology, one I had to get a better look at," Hatsume replied, leaving Midoriya dumbstruck for a second as the words registered.
"So you stole it… you know that's MSF property right?" Midoriya asked, with Hatsume waving him off.
"No, I borrowed it. And besides I doubt anyone will be mad for long once they see these upgrades!" Hatsume replied. Out of the corner of his eye, Midoriya saw Power Loader shaking his head in disapproval, muttering "She's going to get herself killed". Which Midoriya thought was a bit rude. Sure her tech seemed dangerous but… oh he was referring to the MSF. Never mind then, Midoriya thought. Slowly though Midoriya walked over to examine the exoskeleton closer up.
"What kind of upgrades?" Midoriya asked, looking the exo over.
"Well this baby was already a beauty, but I made it more so! For starters a jetpack!" Hatsume replied, pointing at the back of the exo. There it had a small backpack-sized set of places welded onto the back, with a couple of holes at the bottom. It was rather compact too, not taking up much space, or adding any unnecessary weight.
"It can sustain one hour of flight, but that's if you decide to burn through your fuel. If you're more conservative with your resources it can also be used as a sort of jumppack." Hatsume explained while Midoriya traced his hand over the device.
"Next I added a built-in grappling hook, for obvious reasons," Hatsume continued, with Midoriya quietly agreeing, "And finally a few quality of life improvements. Mainly small things like added protection for the battery and joints."
"Cool… wait a minute," Midoriya realized. This exo was just unloaded today, barely even an hour ago.
"How long did this take you to upgrade?" Midoriya asked, and Hatsume brought a still-soot-covered finger to her lips.
"Hmm… about thirty minutes," Hatsume replied, catching Midoriya off guard. It took the R&D department years to design this thing, and she upgraded it in half an hour. Midoriya was impressed, as he slowly thought up a new question.
"So, does Hatsume Industries have anything available for purchase?" Midoriya asked intrigued, swearing he heard Power Loader shout "fuck". His question brought a look of untold glee to Hatsume's face.
"What are you looking for?" Hatsume asked, smiling widely.
At this point, All Might didn't know what to say. Yet again assembled was the staff of UA, all waiting in the campus's main conference room. It had taken a week of searching, but Tsukauchi eventually called him back. Yet, he just couldn't believe it.
"They don't exist," Tsukauchi stated over the phone, causing Vlad King to grumble annoyed.
"Wasn't that what you said before?" All Might asked, and though he couldn't see it he knew the detective was nodding. Probably out of instinct.
"It was. And yet that's how it still is. I've gone through every database I could find be they international or local. Not one has anything on the MSF. The best I've got are two photos. The first is one of their helicopters flying away from an abandoned power plant near Musutafu. It was taken nine years ago. We only found it because one officer took a picture of it on his way to work, and thought it was cool," Tsukauchi replied, much to everyone's annoyance. After a week of searching all they had was a pair of photos.
"What of the facility, does it have any clues we can use?" Vlad King asked, his hand impatiently tapping on a desk.
"We haven't been able to investigate it yet, so I'm not sure," Tsukauchi replied, causing Vlad King to again grumble. It wasn't much but it was at least something they could use. Still, it only brought up questions. What was the MSF doing there? It had to be something important, but what? And why couldn't they find anything on them? All Might simply shook his head tiredly.
"What about the second photo?" Snipe asked, voicing everyone's thoughts.
"The second photo, was of Snake standing next to Colombia's previous president, Cristian Sainz," Tsukauchi answered, "It was taken seven years ago, during an award ceremony for the American hero Infini Leap."
"Not much we can investigate there," Snipe muttered, with All Might nodding sadly. It was times like this when he despised jurisdictions. Were they not a factor he would have gone to Colombia himself looking for answers.
"Is that everything Tsukauchi?" All Might asked, the sounds of paper being crunched up coming through the other end of the phone.
"Not sure. I'm going to try scouring over everything again just to see if we missed anything," Tsukauchi replied, causing All Might to sigh.
"Alright. Tell me when you're going to investigate that power plant by the way. If it's not too much I would like to join you," All Might told him.
"I'll do that," Tsukauchi replied, right before hanging up the phone. It let the staff stew in silence for a few moments, everyone collecting their thoughts.
"How is it, that the more we try to find out about them, the more questions we get," Present Mic muttered quietly, "I mean we don't even know how many of them there are."
"It can't be that many," Vlad King replied, only for Snipe to quickly disagree.
"They brought a division's worth of people, and that's normally the largest some villain groups get. So call it common sense but I don't think they would bring all of their men for this one job," Snipe countered, Vlad King quickly realizing he was right. The point did bring up a new question though, one All Might couldn't fathom.
"Even then, where do they get all their funding?" All Might asked, "I can't think of a single villain group with the capital to finance everything the MSF has with them."
For crying out loud the MSF had dozens of tanks, attack helicopters, cargo planes, thousands of men, and day by day continued to unload thousands of rounds of ammunition. All the while they were now showing up with tech All Might had only ever seen on I-Island, or with heroes. The price tag for this army had to be ridiculously large. So unless every known villain organization pooled their funds together, then there was no feasible way the MSF could afford any of their gear.
"Government contracts?" Midnight proposed, "He was seen with Colombia's ex-president."
"That doesn't mean they worked together. Even then what self-respecting government would hire villains?" Vlad King pointed out, which everyone thought over.
"True. I mean Colombia has some of the best heroes the world's seen in years," Present Mic agreed. It just didn't make sense, and it brought All MIght back to what Present Mic had first muttered. No matter how much they tried to learn about the MSF, the more questions they got. For some reason, only the universe knew they never got a straightforward answer. All Might wanted to try and get answers to some of these questions, but his phone started to ring.
It dragged everyone's attention to him, as his phone loudly proclaimed "A phone call is here!" over and over.
"You really need to change that ringtone," Midnight stated, though All Migh simply ignored her. Checking his phone he found it to be Melissa calling. So very quickly he stood up and began walking to the door.
"I've just gotta take this, be back in a few minutes." All Might told the staff, before stepping out the door. With a deep breath and a brief walk to a secluded part of the campus. Looking around for a brief second he answered the call.
"Hey Uncle Might! Just calling to let you know the plane's landing in a few minutes. I should be arriving at UA soon," Melissa told him, excitedly.
"Good to hear. Do you need me to pick you up, or…" All Might asked slowly trailing off. He was hoping she said no, not to be malicious though. It was more so he could plan out what he was going to say. Because how else would he explain Skelemight… huh, not a bad nickname, All Might thought.
"No thanks. It should just be a short walk to the campus," Melissa replied, causing All Might to pause for a second. Because that didn't sound right. The nearest airport was at least an hour away. At first, he assumed Melissa meant she was going to take the trains, but then he slowly began to remember something. He moved quickly looking for a window looking out of the campus.
"Melissa, where exactly is the plan landing?" All Might asked warily.
"Oh, the airfield in UA. Papa made a few calls to the Principal and he said it was fine," Melissa answered, just as All Might found a window. There up in the sky, he found a private jet slowly coming in for a landing. His eyes slowly widened. And here he thought he had more time to prepare.
