30/04/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 15 - Cry Havoc!

Yoi Roudo liked working in his building. It had a nice garden to look out on and to spend time in for the few minutes he allowed himself to take for lunch. It was also nice to walk through at the end of the day before he left to commute home. The building wasn't too tall and was reasonably well maintained.

The others who worked with him at Nise Kai agreed with all of that but despite all the advantages of their building, they hated the place. Nise Kai did share the building with another company, the one that owned the building and that's where the problems were. There were always shifty looking characters going through the building, at all hours of the day.

If it was one thing that the advent of quirks should have taught society, but hadn't really, was that you shouldn't judge a book by its cover. Sure, he'd admit that some of the people who came through the building looked terrifying but they never bothered the people who worked at Nise Kai, and some of them were quite nice. Shin, for example, always said hello. Yoi didn't know what the name of the company they worked for was. It was one of those new fangled ones that didn't actually put a sign up but they were okay. Their boss never said anything but his two helpers were also friendly.

So just because someone looked scary, didn't mean they were. It wasn't that bad sharing the building. Plus he'd overheard the boss saying they got a really sweet deal on the rent, so that had to be good.

The only drawback was that when he worked late, like tonight, he got glared at by the other company's workers. They always seemed to work back late and tonight was no different, except there seemed to be more of them than usual. Rumour had it that they had some pretty big contracts in Europe and America so had to work the later hours. Tonight though, they seemed agitated and Yoi didn't know why. There was a feeling in the air that said it was best not to ask, so as soon as he was finished, he practically flew through the shut down process at his workstation and secured his equipment before he grabbed his coat and practically flew down the stairs to the exit.

Even that motion showed there were things wrong. The other company worked odd hours. That was true but he'd never seen this many of them around this late. And they seemed agitated.

Every single one that he passed gave him a sharp look, as if measuring him. Their gazes turned dismissive once they realised who he was and no one stopped him leaving but it was definitely tense.

Yoi would usually linger slightly in the garden on his way home but today he just rushed through it. He didn't want to be here. As he got to the gate Yoi almost felt relieved to be out of there and when he turned down the street, he knew he was.

Usually the road was empty. Today it was full and… He definitely didn't want to be there.

Yoi had never really believed his colleagues when they said the other company were really thugs but lining the street were… he couldn't call them people. They were things and they exuded aggression. Like the people in the building they looked at him and then dismissed him. Yoi made his way down the footpath quickly and was thankful when he could turn the corner and get away.

Except when he turned the corner there was another group of people there. They were an eclectic group. There were three tallish men, and a shorter man and woman. Three of the men wore long coats over their attire while the last was in a skin tight suit that included a mask. If they didn't radiate hostility, Yoi would have said they were heroes. The woman was dressed in… He vaguely recognised the costume. It looked Indian and was a tunic and pants. They were a muted grey.

He inched his way around them and managed to hold his nerve for a few steps past them before Yoi ran. He didn't look back and he kind of knew there'd be trouble at the office tomorrow… if there even was an office. Either way, there was something going on and whatever it was, he wanted nothing to do with it.

-ted-

"Go!" Izuku ordered both verbally and via Radio Waves when the last confirmation came in via text. They had to get a better comms system. He'd separated the Nomu and his comrades and sent them to the corners of the Shie Hassaikai facility. Whisper had confirmed there was movement within the building. While she couldn't be invisible, she could snoop around the outside garden and had confirmed. They'd also found out there was another business in the office block but thankfully, by the time everything was ready, it was late, and the last stragglers from that business, Nise Kai were leaving.

Even if there was a janitor or someone else there, the Nomu should ignore them so long as they didn't attack. Izuku had told the Nomu to focus on those attacking them because he reckoned the Yakuza would do that, and it was the easiest way of assuring he didn't accidentally take out someone who wasn't involved.

He was keeping one of the Near High End Nomu with him. He didn't want to expose himself and had told the others to be careful but he'd have to go in eventually. The Nomu had been instructed to guard him and he had no doubt it would. It just felt like it would.

Izuku had ordered Kurogiri to be on standby, an order which was supported by the others. The warp gate was too valuable to risk against the Shie Hassaikai but his skills would probably be needed to get them out. Izuku had no doubt that the heroes would launch a counter raid. Even so, his plan was to get in, get the cure, and get out. It was slightly naive but he'd just have to deal with any of their survivors and attacks they made later.

And then after he got out, Izuku planned to sleep for a good long while. He was still developing stamina. Then after he slept and Himiko was better, he was going to ask everyone for a genetic sample. While the Shie Hassaikai would be weakened, there were probably bullet's out there. If they got hit, he wanted it to be a simple thing to replace their lost quirk. And he'd ask them if they'd thought about how to improve their weaknesses.

Izuku shook his head. He had to pay attention now. The future… it would happen but only in the future. He had to focus on now.

-ted-

With the Boss, Mimic and Chronostasis missing, Shin had gotten the job of organising defences. It was defence first and then they'd organise to get Overhaul. There was no doubt All For One's brat would attack. Talking with the others, they'd come to the conclusion that Chronostasis had fired at the brat but the girl had gotten in the way. Then the brat had done something to take out Kai. They had no idea what but it had to be something to do with his quirk.

Toya had pointed out that even with the Police Raid they had to assume the brat knew about the plan. He had spoken with Kai for a little while and the boss had wanted to recruit them for the cash the kid represented. So, he'd have explained a little. That's why they were preparing for an attack. There was no cure for the permanent bullets, but the brat wouldn't know that. Unless the chick was expendable then to save face with the rest of his allies, he'd have to try to get it. Which meant an assault here.

Plus, even if they wanted to rescue Kai immediately, they didn't know where he was so for now they had to defend. They had considered running but that just put them in the situation where the brat could pick the location of their confrontation. Here was best. The girl was secure with the scientist Kai had been using. There was only one entrance to their location and Hekiji was stationed at the entrance. It was a bottleneck, so even if the brat got there, Hekiji could easily hold him off alone.

Rikiya and Kendo had insisted on being further out. They were the vanguard and… Shin hadn't had time to research the options All For One's brats would have but the older one had been seen with Twice, Dabi, Mr Compress, Muscular, Whisper and Himiko. Kendo had been hoping he could fight Muscular since he learned that detail but knew he'd fight whoever came.

"They're here!" The yell came from one of the lower ranks who was on look out.

The Eight Bullets knew the lower levels would be wiped out but if they could hold back All For One's brats for even a few minutes, then they'd have been lost for the only cause that mattered.

Shin had all the comms routed to him so he heard all the calls of confusion from the lower levels.

"What the hell ar-urf!"

"We're overrun!"

"ARGH!"

The chatter was much the same. "Toya, report?" Shin ordered.

"I don't know which Brat it is but they have some sort of bioweapons," came the assessment.

"How many?"

"Not sure. They just keep coming," Toya told him and Shin knew better than to interrupt.

"You heard?"

Hejiki nodded. Behind him the girl cowered. "You don't need to worry," Shin said.

The guy with her gave him a look. At least one of them was realistic. The guy knew what was going on, or at least suspected it. "I'll keep her safe," he promised.

"You'd better," Hejiki growled.

Shin dismissed him. He had to focus on getting rid of the pests now.

-ted-

Jin had worked with a couple of other villain groups before. Never for long but enough that he could read the mood of the meeting. One of his calming routines was to smoke a cigarette while he watched the world go by. You learned a lot just watching people. That's how he knew he'd screwed up. The kid hadn't said anything. Not directly at least, but Jin knew it.

The kid was beyond angry that the Shie Hassaikai boss had attacked. The kid would have just walked out and that would have been that but…

Jin shook his head. The kid might know business but he had a lot to learn about the underworld. Even so, he knew better than to make excuses. He had brokered the meeting, so it wouldn't be out of the question to believe he knew Kai's intentions. He didn't… He hadn't but- In some groups that wouldn't have mattered.

It appeared it did matter for the kid, which was a very big point in his favour. Jin had worked for groups where the boss was always right, and where even the suggestion or hint or whisper that you had done anything that might inconvenience him was punished by death. The kid might not know the underworld but he knew enough and was reasonable. Plus he had access to power. Jin didn't know what these Nomu were but he knew you didn't get them if you were a low level villain. They were the result of resources and cash. The kid's old man might have had them created, but since the people in charge of them were willing to work with the kid, that meant they were his.

So, while Jin had never worked for a group long, he was kind of hoping he could keep working with this one. Sure, it wasn't with the original leader but- Things changed. The kid wasn't that bad. He'd need to learn but… Compress had said that. They could teach him, they could guide him.

They could destroy him.

If they wanted. That was another truth. He'd never worked for a group where he had that type of power. He didn't think any of them had. It was heady. It was…

It was temporary. Jin could already see the kid was growing and soon they wouldn't be able to threaten him and while they could reveal that Dragon was just a teenage brat, it wouldn't matter to the underworld. Dragon would be enough of a power that the truth about him wouldn't matter.

So, Jin was leading Nomu through one of the office wings. He didn't think the Shie Hassaikai had anything here, but he had to search. So far the group had been nice to him. They'd never demanded he do all the heavy lifting. They'd never demanded he use his quirk… Sure, the kid had him use it earlier in the day but that was sensible. It benefited him as well to get away, and the kid had done most of the work there, flying them out.

Plus, he did feel a bit sorry for the girl. Himiko had always been nice to him and she was obviously loyal to the kid but- Yeah, he kind of wanted to stay with this group, which was new for him but they felt… they felt like they could be the group for him.

There was a hiss from the Nomu that caught his attention. They were usually rather quiet but this sounded wrong.

His eyes snapped to the Nomu. One of the dun coloured ones was facing off against an ambulatory diamond. It was shiny and strong from the way it was hitting the Nomu. The Nomu weren't retreating but Jin knew they wouldn't. They couldn't. They could only obey orders. And it was fighting back. Each of them had been given command over at least three dun coloured Nomu, one with a more colourful skin and one with jet black skin. The Nomu were all different shapes and sizes and the only similarity between them was their exposed brains and impressive musculature.

"It's not here, is it?" Twice called to the man.

"You!" the guy growled.

Twice recognised him now. Yu Hojo. He was a member of the Eight Bullets. He'd never been able to get a clear picture of what they did but it didn't matter. They were obviously loyal to Kai, even though he'd been captured. It was the kind of loyalty that Twice thought the group might have. Eventually.

"Where's the cure?" Twice asked.

Yu snarled at him again. "Why would we give it to a treacherous bastard like you?" he snapped.

It was interesting the way the Nomu reacted. They seemed to know he was wanting to talk and were keeping their distance from Yu.

"We didn't break terms," Twice pointed out.

"Argh!" Yu growled and charged. The crystals on his arms grew and he raised them to punch. Before he could get close, the coloured Nomu intercepted.

It had to be one that had strength enhancement as it didn't even grunt when the punch hit it. It simply hit back, though as Twice watched, he saw spikes appear on the Nomu's arms. It had some sort of quirk to do that though Twice couldn't tell what the spikes were made of.

Yu drew back. "You will never understand us!" he declared.

Twice shook his head. He didn't want to understand them.

"You will never know what it is to live for one man," Yu continued but before he could say much more the Nomu attacked.

The spikes met the crystal and caused a shower of sparks. As Twice watched, the spikes cracked and broke off. Yu snorted. "It's weak!" He announced.

Twice didn't think so. The Nomu was showing no sign that it was in pain and already the spikes were regenerating. Though, Jin shuddered, it appeared the Nomu was just making them over or was that under, the damage. The Nomu's skin was whole but it was bleeding a thick, almost black blood. It was kind of gross, even by his standards.

And, he didn't have time to be delayed here. "Help him," Twice ordered.

His voice caught the attention of the Nomu and for a moment they all looked at him. It was kind of disconcerting before they turned towards Yu.

"Since the cure isn't here, I don't have time to waste," Twice told him as the Nomu charged.

Yu was a skilled fighter. Twice could see that. He managed to keep enough distance to fight for a few moments but the Nomu didn't care about each other, or collateral damage or even damage to themselves, and while Yu was strong, the Nomu, as a group, were stronger. They simply swarmed the crystal man under. There was a series of thumps, accompanied by cracks and the air was filled with a shining dust. It puffed up from between the Nomu, who were continuing to hit Yu.

"Let's go," Twice ordered after a few moments. There was no way Yu was getting up from that, and he had other areas to search.

The Nomu obeyed immediately and all moved away from Yu. Twice glanced down at his body. The crystals that were his quirk were cracked and shattered and were falling away from him. Some had cut Yu and were now bleeding and his skin was purpling from the hits of the Nomu. At least one arm was broken from the angle it was lying at and…

Twice didn't know if he was unconscious or dead and he really didn't have time to find out. He had to find the cure. Jin turned away.

In another group, he would have been blamed for what happened. With this one…

Yeah, he wanted to stay.

-ted-

It has begun!

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-ted-

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