02/11/2024

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The Emperor's Dragon
Dragon 64 - Friends in Low Places

In as much as Izuku would have liked to discuss plans in the aftermath of All Might's interview, he knew that they'd come up with better ideas with fresh minds. And a lack of witnesses and so he'd told everyone they would have a proper conversation in the morning. Plus, having the conversation in the morning would allow the Doctor and Yakuni to be present.

This morning, Kurogiri had locked the bar and then transported them all to the Doctor's main warehouse. They weren't in the working area this time. The Doctor had a mezzanine level which was set up as a living area. There were papers everywhere, and they had swept them into sort of neat piles to be able to sit on the couches that were there. The Doctor was sitting in front of his desk. Gigantomachia was standing in the warehouse, looking over at them.

"Get it over with," Dabi grumbled, looking at Izuku.

He gave the fire villain a grin. "Okay. I told you so," Izuku said before he shrugged. "There you go, that's done. Now, moving on-"

"You told him what? You didn't tell him?" Twice asked.

"He told me that All Might would retire soon," Dabi answered.

Izuku nodded his agreement but before they could get tied up with that, he looked around. "How have you gone with working out Tartarus?" he asked.

The villains looked at each other and from the reaction Izuku knew they had found something. "We know who we have to talk to," Mr Compress replied. "But it's not straightforward," the magician added.

Izuku nodded, and motioned for him to continue. Himiko came over and sat beside him, leaning onto his shoulder. "I'll ask Yakuni about your quirk soon," he whispered to her.

"We think it's best to talk to them while they are off duty but that means we will need their addresses," Atsuhiro explained. "So, in a roundabout way we talk to the Electoral Commissioner and get a copy of the electoral rolls with the addresses, then talk to Fulaka Puchon, Tartarus' Manager, and find out who the guards are, and then-" he shrugged because the rest of the plan should be obvious.

It was obvious and Izuku foresaw some late nights. But it would be worth it.

"How are you going with the quirks?" Whisper asked gently.

"Yakuni?" Izuku passed the question on, looking at the young man.

"Your father had a short term memory quirk," the Doctor put in before Yakuni could answer.

"He did?" That was the first Izuku had heard of it.

"He put it into a holder before Tsu," Garaki added.

"So where is it?"

Garaki gave him a look. "I'm not sure," he admitted. "You know what happened."

Izuku did and didn't really want to be remembered but if Garaki didn't know where it was, why was he mentioning it?

"I'm simply pointing out that they exist and I may have one," Kyudai told them, defensively.

"Did the person Dad got that one off, have brothers? Sisters? Mother, Father?" Izuku asked. That might be easier than letting Garaki try to find a quirk from at least 7 years back.

Children usually got a copy, with some upgrades, of one of their parents' quirks. If they didn't get that, they got some sort of combination. It was rare for an unrelated quirk to come into existence.

"I'll check," Garaki acknowledged.

"Please," Izuku said before looking at Yakuni.

"I don't have a memory quirk but I do have a quirk that will force people to remain calm," he announced.

Izuku grinned. They were going to need that, especially on the Tartarus guards. And he knew Yakuni was saying this as a way of informing the others about the quirk. He already knew it and knew why Yakuni had a copy.

"I believe, as a bonus, it will allow you to leave subliminal commands," the young man continued.

"I know that quirk," Izuku murmured.

"You do?" Atsuhiro seemed concerned.

"It's ready?" Izuku asked, ignoring the magician for the moment.

Yakuni nodded. "And before you ask, Himiko's quirk is ready as well," he added.

"Excellent!"

"What about that Nomu?" Dabi demanded.

"Nearly," Yakuni told him. "It will be ready when the time comes. I want to have the whole group ready."

Izuku nodded. "I think we are almost ready to go on the plan," he announced, feeling somewhat excited. "The Nomus need to be finished," he acknowledged, before Dabi could object, "and we still need to find and acquire a memory quirk but things are going well," he said.

"Twice?" Himiko said the man's name, looking over at him.

That took Izuku's attention to him. Jin was frowning. "Is there something?"

"I might know where to find a memory quirk," he said slowly, as if struggling to remember something.

Izuku waited for him to continue. "When I was younger I saw several therapists," Jin admitted.

"My parents made me see lots!" Himiko replied but Izuku knew she was trying to tell Jin that it was nothing to be ashamed of.

"Some of them had quirk licences," he continued.

The connection was obvious and… useful. "I thought people went to therapists to access repressed memories," Dabi joked.

"True," Izuku agreed. "But if they can repress one on purpose… It could be useful to help people combat their fears," he said. The quirk could be useful for villains too. Witness memories were such fragile things… "Can you look into that?" Izuku asked Twice.

The man nodded and Izuku gave him a bright smile.

"I don't want to plan too much," Izuku told the gathered group. "Because the actual plan will depend on what we learn," he explained.

Atsuhiro nodded and Izuku saw Gigantomachia agree with the statement. "If you could look into the Electoral Commissioner's habits, that would be great, and I'll start focusing on getting those quirks," Izuku said.

The group nodded and Izuku felt a wave of happiness. They didn't have all the pieces, but they had most and with All Might's retirement… Hopefully the heroes would be distracted by those who would now test the system.

They were going to fail. The HPSC would be vigilant now but… they would cause a distraction and for that… well, Izuku would at least say thank you. Nothing more, but Dragon's thanks had more traction than he knew. It would be enough.

-ted-

Goumanya growled as he slunk his way down the road, with his hands thrust deeply into his pockets to hide the bandages that were wrapped around them. No one was interested in taking him on, not like they had the love birds… or even Unten, that pretentious git! The love birds had gone to a restaurant and applied. Rakura was waitressing and going to night school, and Shibou was doing something in the kitchen, the fat bastard. He was better than that. Restaurant work was for those who had no ambition and he'd aimed higher.

And been shot down. Sure, people were interested, but then they looked at his record, and told him he was a lying git. He fixed that but every time he used the quirk, he hurt himself, which just left them shaking their heads and shooing him away.

Goumanya wasn't stupid. He knew who's quirk he had. It was flipping obvious, even if the love birds weren't thinking about that too hard. Theirs were obvious as well… though he wasn't sure where Unten's had come from.

But what was the point of having a quirk if he couldn't use it?

All the brat had said was that the quirk wasn't subtle and that he had to be careful not to hurt himself. He never said that every time he used the quirk he would hurt himself! It was ridiculous. He had burns on his hands all the time and every open flame was now a problem.

"Yo! Wait," the call was surprising and it took Goumanya a moment to realise it was directed at him. Everyone was usually happy to see the back of the quirkless.

He turned around to see a young man hurrying down the road after him. His clothes were cheap, Goumanya realised as he looked the guy over. His hair was a uniform and drab brown, over a conically pointy nose. The guy grinned, revealing a set of teeth that in any other age would be deformed and Goumanya wondered if his quirk had anything to do with his teeth. A moment later he knew that wasn't the case when the guy reached out and his fingers stretched abnormally. "Tsuke is a moron. He doesn't know what he's missing out on with you," the guy said, without introducing himself. Tsuke was the guy who'd just rolled his eyes and said that he didn't need someone who couldn't use their quirk on his crew. This guy had been there and hadn't said a thing and was now telling him that Tsuke was stupid? What was up here?

Goumanya stared at the digits for a moment before he reluctantly pulled his hand out of his pocket and gave them a tentative shake. Or at least he tried to. The instant his hand was free of his pocket, Goumanya felt his hand grabbed and the guy turned his hand over, before ripping away the bandages to look at his palm. He pulled his arm back but couldn't move it. Wrapped around it were long, flesh covered tendrils that Goumanya only belatedly realised were the guy's fingers. It seemed they didn't just stretch.

"What do you want?" he growled, still keeping pressure on his arm to indicate he wanted it free.

The guy didn't listen, and just kept looking at his palm… he even leaned in and sniffed it! "Gross," Goumanya growled.

The guy just looked up at him and gave him a grin but didn't release his arm. "Like I said, Tsuke doesn't know what he just said no to. You've got his quirk, don't you?"

"What?" Goumanya snapped.

"You've got his quirk," the guy repeated, putting emphasis on the pronoun but Goumanya had no idea who he was.

"It's my quirk," he growled.

At that, the guy laughed, and actually released his hand. "Oh, I'm not going to tell on you, or do anything like that. I just wanna know, that you really do have his quirk?"

"Whose quirk?" Goumanya demanded.

"Bakugou's!"

The name was familiar. Shibou might be fat but he was on the money. He'd asked the kid if the quirks he was giving them were the ones from UA. The kid hadn't answered, which was answer enough. Goumanya didn't care then. He didn't care now but he had figured out the name of the quirk he had, and by default the name of the person who'd had it.

"What's it to you?"

The guy looked at him and then grinned. "Look, it may not mean anything to you, but it gave me a great deal of pleasure to know that the arrogant little turd had lost his quirk. And now, it would give me even more pleasure to know that the guy who took it, didn't even think it was worth keeping."

Goumanya didn't know what to say. The guy was radiating glee at Katsuki's predicament. It was the sort of glee that was personal, that an enemy felt and sure, Bakugou was a hero student but… he was a student… how did he already have enemies who would probably be dancing on his grave if he was dead? The brat was 16!

"You knew him?" He asked instead.

"Baku-bitch?" the guy gave the derogatory nickname.

Goumanya nodded.

"Had the displeasure to go to school with him all the way to the end of Middle School," he replied.

He nodded again. "If I did have his quirk," Goumanya said slowly. "And you knew him for a long time, you wouldn't have any tips on how to use it, would you?"

The guy blinked at him, and as Goumanya watched he looked down at his palm again, and this time he saw the bandages, and the burns. The grossly extended fingers pulled back and the guy gave him another look, one that was more considering this time. Goumanya could tell he was seeing things that should have been obvious.

"My name is Nobasu Yubikoto," he introduced himself. "And I might have some ideas."

"Goumanya Rou," he replied, supplying his name as he gave the guy with stretchy fingers a smile. He'd listen to ideas, and use this Nobasu to gain contacts before ditching him. How long that took would be up to Nobasu. If he dictated shit then… But on the surface it appeared to be a fair exchange. This Nobasu obviously had a huge grudge against Katsuki Bakugou and Goumanya was indifferent to the teen but did need to learn to use his newly acquired quirk. If Nobasu could teach him, and that ruined Katsuki's reputation or something then, that was just the price to pay. "And I'm interested in ideas," he added.

Nobasu gave him a smile. "Well then, let's get you some quirk lessons before-" he broke off to chuckle. "God… I wish I could be a fly on the wall when Baku-bitch hears about this," he said, still grinning.

Goumanya didn't care. "Maybe you can be. Now, lessons, when?" He prompted. He needed to be able to use this quirk before he could do anything.

Nobasu looked at his watch. "Eh, I got time now, come on. Let's go to the park. So long as we don't disturb anyone too badly, or damage stuff, no one will give a shit," he explained.

That matched with what Goumanya knew. Kids used their quirks all the time in public and so long as no one was hurt, and nothing was damaged, no one cared. Hopefully they'd not care when it was an adult.

"And if someone complains," Nobasu added, "we'll just say you are working off some steam."

He nodded. That sounded fair. They began walking towards a park Goumanya had been vaguely aware of but Nobasu's stride said he was familiar with it. "So, what's your history with Katsuki?" he asked carefully. No one hated someone with a quirk that much unless they were quirkless. Even then it was more a generic, not specific hatred.

Nobasu gave him a look, as if the reason for his hatred of Katsuki Bakugou should have been obvious. It wasn't, and thankfully for Goumanya he realised it. "Have you ever known anyone who is an absolute shit? I mean rude, arrogant, self absorbed, and convinced that everyone, everywhere is below them?" Nobasu asked him.

For a moment, Goumanya didn't answer. For the quirkless, that described practically everyone who had a quirk. The quirked generally viewed the quirkless as beneath them. "I've known a few people like that," he allowed.

The long fingered teen nodded and huffed. "They have everyone convinced they are god's gift to heroics. That no matter how arrogant they are, how much they beat up anyone, they are going to be a hero, so nothing can be permitted to go on their record and they can do no wrong."

Goumanya saw what had happened now. Katsuki Bakugou had been told, probably from the time that his quirk came in, that it was great for heroics, and no one had ever dared correct his behaviour. So the kid was arrogant and probably, from Nobasu's reference to his record, a bully, with a spotless record. Teachers would have said that things were the fault of those he bullied or someone else… He gave the long-fingered teen a look.

Things were becoming clear now.

"So what you are telling me is that those villains weren't exactly wrong to want to recruit him?" he asked.

The guy gave him a look and then laughed. "Yeah," he said, as if the suggestion was a revelation. "Yeah, I think they were right. Pity he didn't take them up on it," Nobasu grumbled.

"Yeah, pity," Goumanya agreed, before looking ahead and spotted the trees lining the edge of the park. "So how do you think he's going to go being a quirkless hero?" he asked. UA had kept all the students enrolled, though some of them had taken up the option to shift classes. Of the six who had had their quirk stolen, one had their quirk returned, and speculation was still running wild as to how and why that had occurred. Goumanya hadn't asked the kid why, since he knew he wouldn't answer. Two other students had pulled out of heroics, one going into General Studies… Rakura had that quirk, and one went into Management. Shibou had that quirk. The other three had remained in heroics and were now vying to be quirkless heroes.

Goumanya didn't often agree with the old farts who liked to believe they ran the quirkless society but he did agree that the three 'quirkless' heroes would never represent those who were truly quirkless.

He knew better than to think he'd represent them but he wasn't going to try to be a hero. Heroes were… heroes were too embedded in maintaining things the way they were. All he wanted was… well, really cash. Nothing more. With cash he could buy whatever else he needed.

And one way or another, this quirk was going to get him cash. Maybe Tsuke had said no… but not all of his crew agreed, and yeah… this kid could probably teach him a bit.

He'd make it enough.

-ted-

Lots of things happening and someone finally knows that Bakugou's quirk is with another person. But probably the worst person to know.

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-

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