23/03/2024
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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 4 - There Will Be Questions
"Stay a moment," Shouto asked Momo after the others had left.
"What is it?" she asked.
For a moment Shouto wanted to tell her everything but knew it would be too dangerous. Instead, he gathered his thoughts. "What if there was a way to get your quirk back?" He asked.
"What do you mean?"
He handed over his phone, on the messages he'd received. There was nothing in there to indicate the date he was meant to be at the park, except for the date it was sent.
He watched as Momo read it.
"I'm sorry Shouto," she said finally, after flicking to the final message.
It took him a moment to understand what she meant and then he realised she thought he'd gone to the meeting and no one had been there. He thought to correct her but the words didn't leave his mouth. "Did your parents get anything similar?" he asked instead.
"I can check," Momo promised him.
Shouto nodded.
"How did they get your number?" Momo asked.
"No idea," he told her.
There must have been something in the way he said it because Momo gave him a sharp look. "Shouto, that's just a scammer, isn't it? You didn't go?" She asked worriedly.
This wasn't going how he thought it might. He could lie but…
"I did," he admitted.
"And?" Momo pressed.
He fixed his eyes on her and raised his hands before letting a tiny flame dance on his left hand while forming an ice block on his right.
Momo's eyes widened and she stared. Shouto watched as her eyes flicked between his hands, as if confirming that she really was seeing his quirk in use.
"How? What happened? Why didn't you tell anyone?" Momo demanded.
He let his quirk fade. "I thought it was a scam," Shouto told her.
He was surprised when her eyes suddenly became sad. "Shouto," Momo whispered. "What did you promise him?" she asked, almost too gently.
"Nothing," he said immediately. "I thought it was a scam, and they'd just demand money, or information or something. And then when whoever it was said they'd already convinced Dragon-" Shouto shook his head as the words tumbled out of him.
"Wait! Who's Dragon?" Momo asked with a frown. "It says him there but-" It didn't matter what name was there if the text had been a scam. The fact that he had his quirk back made the name important.
While Momo's parents were rich, he sometimes forgot that they weren't heroes. There was information they just didn't know. "My dad's been talking about someone in the underworld for a while. Some guy named Dragon. Except no one knew who it was. Your friend, Uraraka-"
"What does Dragon have to do with her?"
"She apparently has a pendant or something that was supposedly given to her by Dragon. During the camp, one of the villains recognised it, and left Uraraka alone."
"What?" Momo demanded.
"That's what I got told," Shouto defended.
"Why weren't we told?" Momo bit her lip. "Does Ochaco know her pendant came from a villain?" she worried.
"I don't know," he replied. He really didn't know any of that detail. "It's just… Dad said they figured out who Dragon was recently."
"No!" Momo was quick on the uptake. All the Hero students were.
"So Mitei is the traitor?"
"I don't know," Shouto shook his head. "He was there though, with someone else. I don't know who. And he gave back my quirk."
Momo took a deep breath and then looked at him. "You have to tell someone."
"I know! But-" He shook his head. "I didn't tell anyone at the time, because I was positive it was a scam. And then he just walks up and grabs my hand and it's back," Shouto said.
"You have to tell someone! They can get information from it!" Momo insisted.
"I asked about other quirks," he said softly.
That silenced Momo. She looked at him and he knew what she was thinking. She wanted to know what he'd said. "He said he'd give them back if someone paid the price."
"What price?" Momo whispered, as if she didn't want to know but Shouto knew she had to know.
"Loyalty," he said simply.
"Shouto?" Momo questioned him again.
"I swear, I didn't," he promised her. "I don't know who did."
"But everyone will believe you did."
He nodded. "That's why I don't know how to tell people."
Momo sighed. "They can test what you were thinking," she said, waving one hand.
"Test?"
"There are people with lie detector quirks," she told him. "The police like them," she added.
Oh, he felt stupid for not thinking about that possibility. He could prove that he hadn't done anything and then… "I'll talk to Aizawa," he assured her as he got up.
"I'll talk to my parents," Momo said. "No one is willing to be loyal to him but… Maybe there is something that can be done to change his mind?" The suggestion was hopeful.
Shouto wasn't sure. He hoped they could capture Izuku and get back the other quirks but, he already knew it wasn't going to be that simple.
-ted-
Aizawa looked at the scores and pursed his lips. At least the physical ability of the want to be hero they'd foisted upon him, was no worse than those in his class. That was something. He wasn't one of those people who thought his quirk would get him everywhere. Aizawa looked at the boy through heavily lidded eyes.
The kid was waiting for his assessment. He was silent and appeared to be patient. That was another point in his favour but the kid would need a lot of points to ever get out of the red.
Shouta understood why he was ordered to do this but no one said he had to like it. The kid was Izuku Midoriya's friend and… He had no idea what the Commission was thinking. No, he did know because he'd… he couldn't say he'd seen this before. This was a new play for them but it was so predictable that he knew exactly where it was going.
What he really didn't understand was why the Commission didn't just question the kid and leave it at that? They were questioning the kid, tomorrow, but they were still making him go through with training him.
"All right, we will have to work on your physical abilities," Shouta huffed and was inwardly pleased to see the kid nod. "Now, I don't have time to find out how your quirk works through observation, so tell me," he instructed. It would be a good test to see if the kid could be succinct in his description. He'd watched him at the Sport's Festival but the teen hadn't had a lot of chances to show off his quirk.
Aizawa was glad when the teen paused for a second, and he could see him rewriting what he had been about to say. That was good. He didn't need the sensationalist spiel that most quirks had. He wanted the realistic, fact based one.
"It's a conditionally activated quirk," the teen told him. "If you fulfil certain conditions, I can control your body," he explained the consequences.
At that, Shouta suddenly had a much better idea why the Commission was doing this. "What are the conditions?"
"You have to reply to something I said," the teen told him, looking down, though he quickly looked up.
That gesture was telling. The teen had been bullied about his quirk but had gotten support. Aizawa had a horrible feeling that he knew who had provided the support. Then he realised something… Nemuri had called the battle against Todoroki too early… If she'd let it continue, then Todoroki would have said something to the teen and would have walked out of the ring like Ojiro had and… Well, it was possible when the ice melted the teen would have been unable to continue, or that he would have slid out of the ring making it a double elimination but it was also possible he could have gotten out of the ice and been functional for the next round…
No doubt Izuku Midoriya had pointed all of that out to his friend. The fact that the teen was still here was a good start.
"Anything else?" Aizawa asked, pushing aside thoughts of the Sports Festival.
He could see the way the teen was thinking. To most, it would seem as if his face was blank. To him, it was clear. They were going to have to work on his ability to lie. "Just spit it out," he ordered.
"I can leave subliminal orders," the teen said quickly.
Fuck.
"You are absolutely sure about that?"
The teen swallowed and then nodded. He at least knew how dangerous his ability was.
Aizawa cursed some more in his mind. "The Hero Public Safety Commission is questioning you about your friend tomorrow, aren't they?" He asked, already knowing the answer.
"Yes," the kid said.
Aizawa huffed. "You absolutely cannot tell them about that," he said urgently.
The teen looked at him and then huffed. "So he was right."
"Who was…" Shouta asked before he realised there was only one person it could be. Thankfully the teen realised he had worked it out and didn't bother to say anything. "It's difficult to explain," he said slowly. "Your friend isn't stupid. He's foolish for being a villain but he's not stupid, however… I do not believe the Hero Public Safety Commission would be of danger to you."
"Then what do you mean?"
"Your friend probably told you that the Commission would want to control you, and they'd do whatever it took to ensure they could control you?" Aizawa made it a question.
The teen nodded.
"It's not impossible," he had to admit, "but I don't think it would happen," he reassured the kid with a sigh. "The Commission, though, is made up of powerful people. People who are convinced they are right. People who-" he sighed again.
"People who will use any tool to maintain their power," the teen finished for him.
"Yes," Shouta agreed. "That's why I don't believe it would be the Commission but someone either associated with them or-" he shrugged. There were a lot of possibilities.
The kid nodded his understanding and Shouta actually believed he got it. "They aren't meant to be asking about my quirk," he said.
"Just your friend," Aizawa replied somewhat sarcastically.
"Just Izuku."
"All right," he said softly. "Do not volunteer any further information. Answer their questions honestly, but don't give them more than they ask for," he advised.
The kid looked at him sharply before he nodded. "I know you don't really want an apprentice, but-" he paused, and Shouta could tell he was trying to think of what to say. "Thank you," the kid settled on those words.
"We have a lot of work to do before you can even consider entering a heroics class," he dismissed the thanks. "And there is a fair chance you will have to fight your friend."
The teen looked down. "Yeah, I know," he said softly.
Shouta understood but had no idea what it would feel like. He'd never had a friend turn villain. Dead but not a villain. He felt like he should say something but the usual words, that even if it was difficult to take him in, that it was for his own good were hollow and it wasn't something the teen would want to hear now.
Aizawa was surprised when the kid sighed. "He made his choice," he murmured. "I just wish he'd picked another way," the teen continued.
"For what?"
The teen stared at him, meeting his eyes squarely. "There are things that the hero industry can do better," he said but while the statement was one a teenager would make, the tone of his voice showed there was thought behind the statement. "But this is not the way to make the world decide that," he added.
"You thought about it?"
"We did," the kid admitted.
"And what did you want?" Shouta asked. Maybe it was just teenagers discussing things but it could give them insights into Izuku and what he would do to gain what he wanted.
The teen thought about it for a moment. "More accurate reporting on hero activities."
"What do you mean?"
"At the moment, every fatality and injury gets blamed on the villain. That's not possible," he explained.
Aizawa nodded. It wasn't quite the truth but it probably appeared that way. If it really was that way, then Heroes wouldn't need insurance. "A lot of the deaths and injuries are down to the villain," he said. "And property damage is usually paid for by the hero's insurance," he pointed out.
"I know," the kid said reasonably, "but the reports make it seem like everything is the villains' fault, which just puts heroes on a pedestal they can't possibly sustain."
That was a better argument.
"Look, he's not against all heroes," the teen told him. Shouta was surprised. The statement told him that the kid was aware he was fishing for information. "He actually thinks underground heroes are pretty good, but-" he shook his head. "I don't know anymore. I thought I did."
He didn't say anything more. Aizawa wasn't sure what to say. The kid would have to work it out for himself.
"Well, that's for tomorrow," he indicated. "For now, give me five laps. If you are going to be a hero, then you are going to need to be fit. After that, we'll discuss support items."
"Five laps of what?" the kid asked.
For a moment Shouta was tempted to say UA, but the kid would collapse. They'd have to work their way up to that. "The training grounds," he said instead.
The teen gave him a nod and heaved a sigh before he started… well, not running but trotting. They'd work on that.
Aizawa watched him go. He still didn't want to do this but… Maybe it wouldn't be that bad. The kid, at least, seemed to be realistic and he could work with that.
-ted-
Tartarus was an island. It was also one of the best defended places in the world and its very design created walls, both physical and mental, to keep the prisoners it contained in. But what a lot of people forgot about Tartarus was that it was self-sufficient. It could lock itself away from the world for a minimum of five years without issue. Longer probably but that had been considered enough. As such, as well as guards, there were other professionals working at Tartarus.
Yoshisato was one. In another setting, he'd be a research and development specialist. At Tartarus, his job was to catalogue and register the prisoners' personal belongings, and then put them in storage. If there was something useful in those belongings then he registered that as well and then the various groups in charge of Tartarus decided what to do with it. Usually, the HPSC took the lead but not always.
Since Tartarus' prisoners didn't get released, his secondary job was maintaining the generators. These were not just stock standard diesel generators. They were a variety of clean energy sources and required some maintenance. Everyone in Tartarus was multi-skilled.
He'd been skimping that maintenance for the last few weeks to examine the latest prisoner's gear. The mask the man had been brought in with was a thing of wonder and Yoshisato could see it providing much needed mobility to some people who desperately wanted it. The mask was laid out on the table before him.
The protective armour plates were stacked in one corner and the other bits were displayed with almost anatomical precision. You had to do it that way if you wanted to be able to rebuild. On a screen behind the parts, were the scanned diagrams of how everything went together. He could see several independent systems had been integrated into the helmet and Yoshisato could see the ways they'd be useful to others.
Probably not to heroes, or at least not active heroes, but some retired heroes would no doubt benefit from some of the systems. Millions of people could benefit from them. Diabetics could simply load up the drugs, and let the system monitor them and administer insulin as needed. Those who were otherwise healthy but required extra respiratory assistance could use the breathing apparatus. It was far more compact and powerful than what was on the market.
So now all he had to do was register the individual parts and then the various agencies who contributed to the upkeep of Tartarus could negotiate to use the plans in various projects and for profit. It wasn't their primary source of funding but it added a nice little extra.
He entered the first section into the Patents Database. It was part of the respirator unit. The system beeped at him. He frowned. It wasn't the beep of acceptance but the deeper tone indicating an issue. Yoshisato looked at the screen.
"What the-?"
The system was telling him the design was registered already.
No, no, no, no, no! That wasn't possible. It had come off a villain! If anyone had a system like this they would be revolutionising the support industry, not-
He scanned it again, and again the system gave him the warning.
Yoshisato clicked for more information and frowned. According to the Patent's Database, the system was registered to a company called Mi Enterprises.
He'd never heard of them! But he couldn't say that they didn't exist. The company details were filled out correctly, including their business registration number. He sighed. It was probably a shell company for the villain. But… sorting that out so he could register the respirator and other systems for official use was going to take some time.
He was going to have to get legal involved… Tartarus' legal team was mostly involved with their special workplace arrangements and sometimes with prosecuting infringement notices on idiots who came too close, but they knew what they were doing. And they'd probably tell the HPSC and then… Yoshisato groaned.
Why did villains complicate things so much?
-ted-
Another bit of a joiner chapter but Hitoshi is training with Aizawa and has an interview of his character coming up. And Shouto has told someone, but will his discussion with Momo get people's hopes up artificially?
My discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
YouTube Audio is here! I'm uploading two chapters a week so today is chapters 3 and 4! Link in my profile.
-ted-
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