09/11/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 67 - Hard Working Forensics

All Might was officially retired. Toshinori Yagi, on the other hand, was still an active member of the Hero community and was determined to remain that way for as long as he could. As such, he was on duty, as back up for this raid and was watching it unfold from the high tech command vehicle.

The vehicle hosted a veritable army of staff, and consoles and every part of the operation could be monitored and controlled from here. It was, apparently, standard equipment for the Police and they used it when they were called in to help with hero operations. It made sense. There were very few agencies who could afford to keep equipment like this.

Toshinori glanced over the screens, eyeballing the heroes who were active. Flame Hero Endeavor, the new Number One was here and already stalking through the area he'd been assigned. EdgeShot was in the rafters, ready to reinforce anyone who needed it but so far things had gone smoothly.

Miruko was literally bouncing in place and Crust was looking grimly determined.

The warehouse had been found by one of the HPSC's informants, and while they… she, Toshinori believed the informant was a woman, had rushed to tell the Commission what they knew, by the time the heroes had scrambled, there was evidence the warehouse had been used but the majority of the contents were gone. Even so, they were treating this as a live case where the villains could appear at any moment.

They actually could, given that they had a warper. From the looks of things, both Endeavor and Miruko were hoping that the villains reappeared. From what he could see, Toshinori didn't think they would but they had left evidence of their presence.

There were tanks, and pipes, and what looked to be a major computer installation that was still sparking. The villains had destroyed it and forensics was already going over it to see if anything could be restored. He had a feeling, based on finding things in the past, that the destruction of the computer was absolute. All For One was not a rookie villain and even if he was in Tartarus this situation stunk of him. The people who had worked here were not low level despite what the fingerprint scan suggested.

The more 'low level' forensics team had gone through first, escorted by a scowling Endeavor, scanning everything. They had found a wealth of fingerprints and so much genetic material it was going to take them a while to go through it. Some of the fingerprints though had already gone through the system and had popped out a variety of names. A good proportion of them had criminal and villainous records. But nothing major. They were major crimes for the victims but on the scale of crime… not that bad.

They'd run about 60% of the finger prints and were running the others. A few had come up with no record. Looking at the warehouse, Yagi felt sick about them.

There were the remains of glass tubes everywhere, and they all had a thick, almost gelatinous residue in them. From what the HPSC informant had indicated, they'd all been filled with people.

The warehouse was some sort of twisted science facility. God alone knew what had been done to the poor people here.

There wasn't much else. It was a single level warehouse with a small office beside the main entrance and a mezzanine level above it. The mezzanine level was being swept now and they were hopeful for some good material from it, since it contained several couches and a table. It was almost impossible to think of people just sitting there, drinking tea or coffee while the experiments went on below them but…

All For One's followers were sick and they had most likely corrupted his son already.

Sir Nighteye was right. Now, anyway. Mirai had been wrong in the past. Toshinori refused to believe that there had never been an opportunity to save Izuku Midoriya. Sometime in the past, they could have if they'd just done something different… At Tsu, if they'd gone after him at school… All Might knew the risks but…

Now… looking at the evidence here, there was probably no chance of saving the teen. Not if he was already in this deep.

That wasn't to say people couldn't change. All Might knew they could but it had to be their choice. It was usually a long and hard process and… Izuku wasn't going to change. Not while he thought the system was unfair. It was such a waste. He could have tried another way. Izuku was strong. He had connections or he could get them. He could have gone into the system and then changed it from within. Now… No matter how just and fair some of his suggestions were, the system itself would fight him because he was a villain.

Yagi cast his eyes over the screens again. There were various technicians moving into place to collect evidence and he sighed.

The villains had been here. They weren't here any longer and they'd have to find them again.

This was not going to be easy.

-ted-

It was one thing to be able to observe the raid, it was another to be presented with the evidence but Toshinori was rather thankful when Mirai pushed a report over the desk towards him. His lips were pursed in a thin line. That wasn't a good sign.

"What is it?" Yagi asked.

"Just read," his side kick told him.

Toshinori reached out to the report and flipped it open. The logo declared it to be an official Police Report, not anything from the Hero agencies who'd been on the raid. Since nothing had been found… well nothing for Heroes to be interested in, then their reports would be proforma.

He scanned the information and almost immediately saw what Mirai wanted him to see. There was a list of forensic evidence that had been found and processed. From hair and fingerprints, the front page indicated that there was a list of known individuals and a rather impressive number of unknowns who had been at the scene.

The former Number One Hero didn't bother to read anything more. Instead he flipped through the pages to the forensic results.

There was a list of names of people who had been positively identified by both fingerprint and other genetic sample, followed by a list of names of those identified by fingerprints, and those by genetic sample and then the bulk numbers of unknowns.

Beside each name was a checkbox to indicate if they had a criminal record. A surprising number of the people did not have any record but Toshinori knew that wasn't what Mirai wanted him to see.

He read through the names. Most were those he knew. Atsuhiro Sako, Jin Bubaigawara, Himiko Toga, Josai Shizukana… They were people who had been with Tomura Shigaraki. Then there were other names that weren't marked as villains.

Yakunita Tanaihito was marked as quirkless with a minor criminal record. Toshinori felt sick when he saw that one. It was possible it was just coincidence but he knew what All For One did with the quirkless. Yakunita might be one of his followers.

Kyudai Garaki had been positively identified as well. From more than one sample. That made the likelihood of him having been in the warehouse causally much smaller. But Toshinori had never heard the name and… the age listed was ridiculous. The man was over 150? How? Except, even as he thought of the question, he knew the answer. There were longevity quirks in existence… Kyudai may have one. There was an asterisk indicating that there was further information about him. Yagi flicked the page over, holding it open so that he could read. Kyudai Garaki was a Doctor and had a hospital where he was the chief Doctor… That did not sit well with him.

"The Doctor?" Mirai murmured. He wasn't watching exactly which pages Yagi was reading.

"The Doctor," Toshinori confirmed for him.

"There's already a raid in the works," his sidekick said.

Yagi nodded and let the pages drop so that he was looking at the list of people again. "I think someone should question Yakunita as well," he murmured.

"They are on it," Mirai said, "but he has no address," he added the complication. That wasn't unexpected. The quirkless often didn't have fixed addresses.

Toshinori looked back through the names and then he frowned. There was a name that wasn't possible.

Touya Todoroki. He ran his eyes over the identification line carefully. Genetic sample and fingerprint identification. "Is Endeavor getting this report?" Yagi demanded.

"It will be sent to him," Mirai replied blandly but there was a note in his voice that indicated he knew what the consequences would be.

"This is going to be a nightmare," he murmured. He could already see the consequences but… "Is there any way of telling if he's one of those things?" Toshinori asked.

Mirai gave him a sad look. "Forensics don't think he is," he announced.

It was like a second blow to the gut.

"There's enough residue on some of the samples that they think they can separate out those who are those things and those who have been at that warehouse in another capacity. But in this case, his hair and prints were found in that mezzanine level," Mirai added, which all but confirmed that Touya Todoroki was not one of those monstrous things.

That was almost worse. Touya Todoroki was meant to be dead. He was meant to be buried. He was… There was very little chance he was there innocently. Toshinori didn't know much about Touya but the link to the villain Dabi was obvious. And that fit in with Shouto's assertion that someone else had paid the price to have his quirk returned. That someone could very easily be Dabi… who was most likely Touya.

This was going to cause havoc.

Toshinori ran his eyes back over the names but there were two which were conspicuous in their absence. Mirai knew what his frown meant. "Touya's prints and genetics were on file because technically his body was never found and Endeavor wanted that on record. Izuku Midoriya has no official record and neither does Tomura Shigaraki."

"What about Izuku's kidnapping case?" Surely they'd taken a genetic sample then?

Mirai shook his head and Toshinori sighed. There were a number of reasons they hadn't collected a sample then and they had no bearing on now. They'd just have to accept that there was no sample… which was not comforting. Especially as on the unknown fingerprint list it displayed how many times the set had been found. There was one set, unknown but physically about the right size to be Izuku, that was there a lot. In the mezzanine, in the little kitchen, and on the casing of the computer. There was another set that were never complete that were linked by implication… they probably belonged to Tomura Shigaraki.

Toshinori pushed his eyes back up to two earlier names, overlooking others which, as far as was listed, belonged to a motley crew of various thugs and other street toughs. Most of them were identified from either a matched partial print or some genetic material, almost never both. The former Number One Hero had a terrible suspicion what had happened to them. But the two names… Yakunita and Kyudai… They represented leads.

He hoped they could capitalise on them.

-ted-

"Are you sure the hospital is safe, Doctor?" Izuku asked politely but with concern in his voice.

As expected the Heroes had raided the warehouse. All the Nomu had been removed, and most of the tubes. Those that couldn't be moved were smashed, and the computers the Doctor had there were sent into self-destruct. The information would be burned out. They'd had time to copy things to a back up too, so all in all, while the loss of space was annoying, in the end, they'd come out in a better position.

They now knew the Heroes were looking for them and had a spy who was invisible. Izuku wasn't sure what to do about that, though Yakuni was already installing heat sensitive cameras around his facility. Maybe he could ask Whisper if she could find out who the spy was? She did seem to be full of information.

"The hospital is safe," Kyudai replied.

"But-" Izuku objected. They had gotten the physical things out of the building but they had left evidence behind.

"I have no doubt the Police will know I was at the warehouse," the Doctor told him. "My fingerprints will have been found, as will yours," he said. "As will many of our fingerprints," he added.

"Then they will come for you," Izuku objected.

"They will, and I expect to be questioned," Garaki admitted. "Yakuni too, if they can find him but the Hospital is the safest place for the moment. It's not like I'm storing the Nomu in the open wards," he added with a touch of rebuke.

Izuku worried at his lower lip. It was true that the Nomu were in a secret wing but… He didn't like them being so close to the Doctor when he was exposed.

"The heroes will question me for a week, and then have to release me because they have nothing to charge me with. Just being at that warehouse is not an offence. The fingerprints of the others could have been there at other times. And if they bring in their spy then it is their word against mine and they will not have seen things clearly."

Kyudai sounded confident.

"You've done this before?" Izuku asked.

"Not exactly this," the old man admitted. "But I have been working for your father for a long time. Police and hero interference is an occupational hazard but not necessarily a career ending event."

Izuku sighed. He wanted that to be true, and he was sure, in the past, it had been true but… With everything that had happened… He thought the Doctor was being too blaise. The Heroes were not going to let this go.

"Be careful," he said eventually. He could order the Doctor to another facility, to abandon his identity but he already knew what the man would say. This had happened before and he just had to ride out the lack of evidence until he was released.

The hospital was safe. Tomura would be safe there, as would the High Ends… and the quirk holder with Dad's quirks.

But… If the heroes couldn't find the Doctor, then his absence would be enough to confirm to them that the Doctor worked for him. He could never show his face in public again. That would be bad. The Doctor's public persona gave him access to a lot of useful items, including drugs and Nomu bases. So if the heroes couldn't find him then…

Maybe the Doctor was right. Maybe he'd be detained for a week and then released. He certainly thought that is what happened and Kuroguri had said it had happened that way in the past, before the Doctor had the hospital. And, Izuku supposed, if the Doctor went quietly then there would be no need for the heroes to search the hospital, so they wouldn't find the secret area where the Nomu were being stored.

If this had happened before then… There was no reason to think it wouldn't go as the Doctor predicted. He was being paranoid…

He hoped.

Izuku couldn't shake the feeling that this time… it was going to be different but right at the moment, with no other alternative ready… He didn't have much choice.

Kyudai better be right about this.

-ted-

Dun, dun, dun... So a very informative raid, even if they didn't directly capture anyone.

Kyudai had better watch out, though he seems to think he knows what is happening. And Dabi... well they now know who you are.

It always bothered me that they never seemed to do anything with every day forensics. So time to address that and it's rather devastating when you look into it and I don't even know that much about them!

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.

-ted-

Loved it? Hated it? Found a spelling mistake? Let me know please!