Well, I'm pissed as shit. I nearly finished downloading all of ZZZ, I was at 95% but had to go to bed, but when I boot up the game's install, the event's over and for fucking reason, that means I have to start the download…from scratch. Like, how?! How could I have downloaded well over 20GB of it, and be told 'Yeah, start again'? Was that entire first 95% event-exclusive content? Now if I even bother to try again, I have to wait till next month as I've already used up far more data than normal trying the first time and I still need the rest.

But with this, I'm been thinking about taking a break from writing Emerald Furnace, not right now, but in a couple of weeks. The reason is that I'm running out of notes and stuff to work with and while I could always just think of ideas as I go, that led to the mess that was Heroes of the Dark Sky.

In terms of materials, I have enough to finish this current arc, as in the first movie, and the Sports Festival for Path of Waves, but after that-nothing. And with so many ideas going through my head, I need to sit down and properly plot things out so I can write another 30+ chapters of content which you all seem to thoroughly enjoy.

I still haven't worked out a timeline of how long that break will be, or when but when I do iron out those details, I'll be sure to announce it till then, enjoy the chapter.

Chapter 34: The Partner

"And that's it." Midoriya finished explaining to the group. He had returned from his meeting a little while ago, visibly shaken by his encounter with that demon.

They had once more moved safe houses, into one of their newer ones which they had acquired with their ill-gotten funds, one that wasn't hidden away in some industrial park or the fringes of town, but rather it was a normal looking 2 story house in the middle of a suburb. A spot that few would even consider would be a spot where villains would hide, even if it was still a less then clean part of town, their neighbors were mainly regular folk, people who just wanted to get on with their day and didn't talk about anything weird they might saw, like say spotting what they thought was a wanted villain.

"Shit, this is big…real big." Kon groaned as he rubbed his face, as he had been worried that the kid would have issues with going solo, but dammit was this not what he expected would be the issue.

"I'm sorry about it, I just…it didn't feel like I had much choice in the issue, not with him." Koharu nuzzled his cheek as he sighed, Midoriya's shoulders slumped as he had been trusted with something important and managed to mess it up.

Nine reached a hand over to him, rubbing his hair to calm him. "It's unfortunate but understandable. All for One ruled for as long as he did for a reason, his mere presence being one of them." Nine defended him, calm as ever, at least on the surface but they could tell that he was just as concerned and scared as the rest of them. How could he not when dealing with someone like All for One?

"Still, you heard him. Bastard was on life support." Makihara reminded them all, as Midoriya had been pretty detailed in describing how the room he was brought to was filled with medical equipment and other stuff, most of it seemingly geared toward keeping the demon alive. He might have survived his battle with All Might, but it was clear that he didn't walk away without some serious injuries.

"Life Support or no, he's still dangerous. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he was more dangerous now than he would have been when he was in his prime. Wounded animals and all that." Hasaki crossed her arms, shivering at the thought of what a man like that would do when cornered. Hell, she wondered if they could corner him as if not even All Might could kill him, what chance did they have?

"She's right, the old king was rumored to be able to give and take quirks as he pleased. I once thought it the whispers of the fearful, but those Nomus, they all have multiple quirks." Nine told them, recalling the Sky Egg incident. Those…things were described to have multiple powers, he had thought it was just a result of a single quirk being abused and then augmented through drugs, but what if they were given multiple quirks?

Then there was the Nomu that Shigaraki thought could take on All Might, the brat bragged that it had at least 2 quirks, super regeneration, and shock absorption. He didn't want to imagine it, as the idea that some tyrant could strip away something so personal and dear to someone, unnerved him.

"Wait, so he could have dozens if not hundreds of quirks at his command?" Makihara asked, and when Nine grimly nodded, the rest of them slumped or cursed under their breath. Midoriya holding himself as he still felt cold even though the meeting had ended 2 hours ago and he sat next to the roaring fireplace.

He liked his quirk, he liked what he could do, and he was accepted by his friends where others shunned him. he wished to do so much with his flames, and help others embrace them like he has since he was little. But, he was within reach of that monster, he could have been rendered powerless if not worse. Koharu was just as frightened as him, as she didn't wish to lose the quirk that gave her the intelligence to form bonds, she didn't want to lose herself and all the connections she made with her humans.

"It would make sense, he seemed to know where I was in the room, despite not having eyes or a nose. He always turned his head like he was looking at me. So at the very least, he has a quirk to make up for the lack of eyesight." Midoriya stated, Hasaki walking over and taking the seat next to them to hug him close, the woman worried that he was still warmer than most, yet shivering like he had been left in the cold.

With her there, he managed to reign in the worst of his fear, but he did recall something else. "Oh, and the equipment looked high-end, really high-end. So, he's clearly not strapped for money."

"Considering he agreed to you demanding 10 million dollars, that's an understatement," Makihara stated, as that would translate to a shit load of cash for them to use, by far the biggest payout they had earned.

"That also means that he could also try and take our quirks should we have refused, and I don't like how much he seems to know about us," Kon added, standing by a window that allowed the light of the setting sun into the living room.

"Just to be on the safe side, we're moving to another safe house in the morning. We'll get into contact with this Wolfram person then and iron out the details of the plan." Nine decided, as they still didn't know how All for One was gathering information about them. He had no reason to suspect their current hide-out was compromised, but they couldn't be careless, not with him.

As the group got up to pack up their stuff before they went to bed, Koharu shared a look with Midoriya, telling him that they wouldn't be mad. He took a breath and coughed to get their attention. "Before we go, there's something else I want to talk about." He stated, Hasaki looking back over her shoulder at him.

"What's that?"

"It's about All Might," He took a breath and while it felt like it didn't mean much, he still sent a silent apology to All Might. "And his weakness."

A few days later, the group moved to another safe house, one further north in the Tōhoku block, which also made it easier to select an airport to leave the country. One which had the capabilities of managing trans-Pacific flights, but was out of the way enough that while they wore disguises, they could bride only a few officials to not scrutinize them or their expertly forged passports before boarding the flight.

That said, it was still an unpleasant 12+ hour flight on the budget airliner, the group having to take different seats from one another to further mask who they were in case a passenger did more to give them a passing glance, Midoriya couldn't even rely on Koharu as she had been smuggled through in a specialized briefcase.

Safe to say, then when they finally landed in Honolulu, Midoriya was ecstatic when they collected their baggage and left the airport. "I can't believe they're still in service, that flight was shit," Makihara grumbled as they walked away from the main terminal of the airport, Midoriya busy cuddling Koharu who was wrapped around him.

"They didn't ask questions, so we'll stomach them," Kon replied, adjusting his cap to hide his face, though his snarl was hard to miss which looked quite strange thanks to the fact his fur had been dyed to a hot pink of all things, with some black thrown in to mask his identity.

Hasaki glared at nothing in particular, as she might not have needed to be dyed as drastically as Kon, but that didn't mean she liked what she had to do. Not only styled her hair into a restrictive top bun but dyed it purple to further mask who she was. Even though she packed something to get rid of it, it would take more than a single wash to clear it out.

"This job better be worth it." She muttered, a couple walking by looked at her, saw her glare, and decided to give them the entire side work. Nine, dressed like a typical tourist including wrap-around sunglasses which made Nine feel like a moron, played peacemaker among them.

"This was the spot they said we could meet in, I-island will be in the Southern Pacific in the next few days, at least according to Prof. Shield. So, this is an optimal place to set out from once the plan starts." He stated.

Midoriya, who dressed like a rich person's idea of a biker, could stomach the god-awful fashion he had chosen while Kon joked that he could just cross-dress, too many people thought Pyre was a girl, so he had to lean hard the other way, even having fake tattoos stuck to his exposed arms.

"If all goes well, that still gives us 2 days to just relax on the beach till we need to set off. We can even return once the mission is done and have our first team summer holiday."

"Maybe you and Yasuda might have the chance, Samukawa," Hasaki stated, using the fake names that they had printed on their passports. "But the rest of us would still need to be available for work, as our employer requested."

"But it won't be fun without you guys." Midoriya, or Samukawa, complained. People around them that weren't intimidated by how displeased Kon and Hasaki were, just assumed that they were a group of college students on spring break with one of their younger siblings as a tag-along. An older couple even said it was cute that Samukawa seemed to be trying so hard to look older than he was.

"Well, we can always try and fit in as much downtime before our next flight. There's plenty of smaller beaches we can go to, away from the…crowds." Makihara, or Nagaregawa suggested, his eyes looking at how many people were around them, most of them tourists which was good as it meant they could blend into the summer crowds, and most would return to wherever they came without issue or reporting anything about their presence.

"We can decide on that after the meeting." Nine, or as he was going by for official purposes, Andō stated. The group fell in line behind him as they traveled through the city. They hit the usual tourist spots, to make the act seem real, but that still had some fun, as they had converted some of their cash into US dollars, giving them walking around cash of $500 each and credit cards that gave each another $6100

Such funds meant that they were able to buy quite a bit of trinkets and souvenirs before enough time had passed that they could end over to their meeting spot, which happened to be across town, far from most of the tourist traps and a little run-down, but not neglected.

"This the place?" Kon asked, looking at the backdoor to the closed auto shop, the group had been able to sneak away from the crowds and find a motel where they could change, Hasaki and Midoriya helping Kon wash away most of the damned fur dye.

"Better than the standard dark warehouse." Makihara mused.

"That could be because there aren't that many warehouses in the city so…" Midoriya added with a little giggle, Koharu taking a nap around his shoulders. Either way, they walked up to the entrance and knocked, but the door was open so they let themselves in. Inside, they found it occupied by a dozen or so guys, all dressed in grease and oil-stained clothing or overall as they worked on a car.

Upon their entry, all work ceased as they eyed the newcomers with open hostility, gripping at their tools in preparation to use them.

"What are you all looking at?" Hasaki asked them, unamused by their looks, especially when she saw a couple giving her the once over like a bunch of horny teenagers. Her speaking up did reveal that she could speak English, but it was thick with her Japanese accent, and some words were mispronounced.

"Christ, just what we need, a bunch of tourists," One of the auto shop workers muttered, though it was still loud enough for it to be heard as he matched up to them. His pink hair sticking out among the rest. "Get the fuck outta here before we throw you out."

"It's cute you think you can," Kon smirked at the shorter man, while another even smaller, stout man growled at them, his form growing just a little, hinting at his quirk.

"Enough," Nine ceased things before they boiled over. "We're here for a meeting with a man called Wolfram. He here?" He had done his research on the man beforehand, and his name wasn't widely known, at least on sites that offered Japanese translations of their material, so he didn't need to worry too much about someone suspecting their intentions if they did end up at the wrong place.

"You want to meet with the boss?" The pink-haired man looked at him, Nine having remained in his vacationer clothing rather than swapping to one of his suits, so he imagined he didn't strike quite the intimidating or serious appearance.

"Not want, we will. So is he here or not?" Nine made his point clear, accent be damned as the pink-haired man glared at him even harder, the rest looking ready for a fight before at last, he pulled back and looked towards the small office up on the second floor.

"Yo Boss, you got some Japs here to see you." The man said with a sneer, not caring for how they glared right back at him.

"I heard, Swordkill. I was expecting them." Their boss spoke up, stepping out from the office to look at them, revealing himself to be a tall, bulky man, certainly larger than Nine and second only to Kon in terms of size and bulk. His dark red hair was partially slicked back, but some strands were loose, and his yellow eyes looked them over like they were tools to be judged, used, and disposed of. Lastly, he had a scar on his left cheek, but in their line of work, that meant little.

"Walking over the guard rail, he gripped it and looked down at them. "So, you're the infamous 5 Thunders that have been wrecking shops all over Japan? You look like your pictures if nothing else."

"You looked into us." Nine stated, to which Wolfram smirked back.

"Just like you looked into me. I don't buy much into honor among thieves. After all, by our very nature, we're duplicitous violent robbers and fighters. If I'm going to work with someone, I need to be sure they're worth my time, and won't try and stab me in the back till the job's done." Pyre noted the word choice there, as he seemed to think that they'd try and betray him once the coast was clear, but that also implied that he wouldn't be opposed to trying to stiff them either.

"Well, do we meet your expectations of that?" Nine asked him, to which the man scoffed.

"Well, I don't think I need to about killing you, but there is another question: Why should I let any of you into my team? I've already got good people already." He gestured to the people present, more of them making themselves known, surrounding them as the door behind them was closed by 3 others.

Interesting, was he trying to intimidate them? If so, it wasn't very effective as Nine hardly bat an eye. "Did our employer not tell you?"

"He said that it'll be up to me to make the final choice, so answer the question," Wolfram replied, though he did find his surprise phone call and its follow-up to be two of the weirdest he's ever had.

"For the sake of this job, it will only be Nine and I on." Pyre was the one that stepped up, all eyes on this brat dressed in what Wolfram was pretty sure was women's clothing, though he didn't know or care enough about Japanese fashion to be sure. "As for why, well-you already have a way in, but do you have the means to fight off that many top heroes."

"We have means to…handle them." Wolfram kept it vague, but Pyre pushed it.

"But what about fighting them? Also, do you have the means to distract them once you finish once the professor realizes the deception, he'll fight back." One of the people at their level laughed at that statement.

"You think a pencil pusher like him would be a threat?" Pyre turned to them, stopping the man in his tracks as he looked into the emerald inferno that burned in Pyre's eyes. He had the look of someone who would torch him without a second thought.

"Considering his inventions litter I-island, yes-yes I do," Pyre told them, as it would be a foolish thing to assume that they could account for everything. Besides, even if the professor was fooled, it would be quite strange if he didn't have some sort of countermeasures set up just in case.

Looking back toward the boss, Pyres's smile grew as smoke started to leak out his mouth. "You've looked into us, right? Then you know what I can do with my flames. That I'm more than capable of setting fire to anything that stands in our way."

Nine nodded at that, as he could see some interest in Wolfram's eyes. "As for myself, the power is the weather itself. Out at sea, a violent storm can endanger anything, even an artificial island."

"Of course, there are smaller things I can do." He added.

"Like?" Someone asked, and in return, Nine gestured towards the floor, a move Wolfram nearly missed but he sure as hell didn't miss how his guy went flying into a tox box, knocking it over with a pained groan.

"That." Nine replied, as he didn't need large shows of force, his quirk drawbacks had instead pushed him to practice and perfect smaller things like that.

Wolfram clapped his hands to stop his people from retaliating for that little slight. "All right, but just because you can make yourselves useful doesn't mean I'm letting you in," He told them, but his interest didn't die.

"But you have my attention, so what's so special about your quirk, kid? Elemental quirks are a dime a dozen." Pyre didn't look afraid, embarrassed, or angry about the comment.

"Slice, do I need to give them a demonstration?" Instead, he looked towards his teammate, a frown on his face but one that didn't speak to anything relating to what Wolfram would expect, instead, he seemed worried for her sake.

Slice sighed, holding up her hand. "Just the finger."

"What-" In a flash, a strand of her hair shifted into a blade and struck out, slicing off her finger with a hiss from her, but she didn't scream even as the lost appendage dropped to the floor.

"Jesus, what the fuck was that?" The pink-haired man yelled in shock.

"You one crazy bitch, that's what you are!" Someone else yelled though Wolfram remained calm, as he noted the rest of Thunder hardly reacted to it other than with annoyance. Something was going on here.

"What, you're gonna cauterize her wound?" He asked, to which Pyre turned to face Slice.

"Nope." He put a pop on the p sound as he grasped Slice's bloodied hand, and then slowly let out a steady breath, with it, came a small jet of flames which included the stump and the rest of her fingers, Slice wincing, but again she didn't scream or flinch too badly. The scent of burnt pork and iron filled the hair, but when he ceased and pulled back, they saw her hand was covered in burns, but they seemed minor.

More importantly, they saw that she had the lost index finger.

To their surprise, Pyre presented his work. "Ta-da, a brand-new finger. I'm not just a fighter, but I can make sure that any injuries we might take would be taken care of like that." He puffed out his chest in pride of his work, further proof that his quirk and flames were tools that could heal and build.

He looked back fondly on when he figured out he could do that with people, as he burned away his entire form and rebuilt it every time, a perfect copy of what he was just before he used his quirk, down to his hairstyle. If he could do that, then what said he couldn't use his quirk to do more than simply heal wounds, but regenerate entire sections of lost flesh or organs? However, they hadn't managed to do any testing on stuff larger than rats for more complicated stuff like internal organs.

"Just remember that he's setting you on fire to heal you, and it's not a pleasant experience." She told them, flexing her newly grown finger with a grimace, as she'll be feeling that for the next 10 minutes or so.

"Well, are you satisfied?" Nine asked, and this time, the hunger in Wolfram's eyes was unmistakable as the man let out a deep laugh, the steel guard rail groaning and twisting under his quirk before he got control of himself.

"Well, I wasn't expecting that. Everything I found about you said you were a little pyromaniac dead-set on burning everything," Wolfram said as he jumped down, landing in a crouch before standing at his full height, towering over both Nine and Pyre. "But this only sweetens the deal. We have a deal." He lifted his hand for Nine to shake.

As he and Nine shook on their dead, their new partner looked towards the pink-haired man. "Swordkill, get them a copy of the plan, and hook them up with some gear." The man nodded before he went to make the copies.

"Support gear?" Pyre asked.

"Nothing that fancy. We're not going dressed like villains, at least-not the traditional type, so you don't get to dress like the belle of the ball, Pyre." Pyre pouted as he glared at him for the comment, but the man hardly cared.

"Poo."

"Anything you can tell us now?" Nine asked them as Swordkill returned with a small folder and handed it to Kon, who then handed it to Nine to read over.

"Well, you already know we're being hired by David Shield and his assistant Sam, the good professor thinks we're actors that will help stage a hostage crisis during the upcoming I-Expo," Wolfram explained to them as he led them over to another room, opening the door, this one having several locks which he opened with a swipe of his hands, but Pyre didn't see any hand scanner or anything. Was it just his quirk at work? A lock only he could undo?

Inside, there were plans for I-island hanging from the wall, schematics that should have been all but impossible to get, yet they have several, stuff with images talking about everything from the core structure to the machines that made the island capable of movement.

"But we're not, how did he get that wrong?" Pyre stated, Wolfram turning to look his way while Nine read through the file, and compared it to what he was seeing on the walls. "He's not a criminal mastermind, but no way he's got this far by being gullible."

Wolfram smiled, though Pyre felt no love or care in it. it was the amused smile of a wolf upon seeing a duck do something entertaining, a little more. "You know your stuff, kid. Truth is, he's not the one that approached us, it was his assistant. According to him, he and the doctor came up with the plan together to steal some invention that got confiscated, but it seems like the assistant wants more of the pie."

"So Shield's been betrayed by his closest colleague? It's sad, but in a way, poetic." Nine closed the binder.

"It is, isn't it?" Wolfram seemed to care more about how amusing it was than anything else before he opened a drawer from the desk and pulled out a small, black phone. A common model. "This phone is our only lifeline with both Sam and David, we'll be told when to fly in, which terminal to use and everything else through it." He placed it on the table before he started to explain things.

"Our job is to infiltrate I-island and take everyone at the party. With the leverage, we can then 'force' the good doctor and his assistant to access the vault and take what they want." He laughed a bit before he said the force part, as while they were going to turn on the professor, he didn't know that. As far as he knew, he would be in control till he wasn't.

"But how do you plan to take that many hostages, this is a major annual event. There's bound to be pros all over the place, both within and outside the party." Nine asked him, to which it was Swordkill who replied, the man had followed them in.

"Because we're going to turn the island against them. Our clients have arranged to get us direct access to I-island's security room. From there, we can make use of any and everything built to keep villains out or restrained against them." Swordkill explained, his arm shifting into a blade as he pointed its tip towards the top of the tower, where on the schematics, there was a room marked as 'central security'. Next to it, were images and schematics for the myriad of security measures I-island came equipped with.

Deployable roadblocks that could withstand most super strength quirks, electrical fencing that can pop up in-between buildings. The fact that every building's main and emergency entrances could be sealed remotely, and if one were to be opened, they would immediately know which and when. Within the tower itself, the security doors were of a completely different level, the sort that made most bank vaults look like cheap home safes.

But the star of the show was the security drones, cutting-edge machines equipped with the best armor, immune to any kind of electrical or hacking quirk out there, fast and incredibly intelligent as they're designed to perform their duties to the best of their abilities. Also, as they were all on the same network, if one saw you, they ALL knew where you were. Just one was an incredible feat of science and engineering.

And I-island had over 3,000 of them, within and outside the tower. Each was designed to handle villains, so if one were to turn them on regular folks…

"They either comply with what we say, or we make the system take out the hostages." Swordkill finished, no care in him for the innocents that could be caught in the middle of this.

"I doubt we'll need to, but as we're going to double-cross the doctor, he might have second thoughts. So we're bringing in our own tech guy to make sure that the system remains under our control for the duration of the mission." Wolfram added though the Thunder all knew he was just as concerned for collateral as his second in command. He was merely more concerned with not making things more complicated than they had to be. But they could work with that.

"If everything goes to plan, it won't even make that much of a fuss till it's over." Swordkill continued. "Everyone outside the party would think it's a standard security protocol as we'll broadcast that a chemical agent was found and that everyone would remain inside."

"Which limits the amount of focus needed for the non-essential parts of the plan." Slice finished the thought, to which Wolfram smiled at her, yet somehow that made her feel dirtier than the looks his men were giving her earlier despite the fact he had little perversion in his eyes.

"That seems to be well enough, but I have some questions." Nine started.

"Shoot, Weather Wizard." Nine ignored that little jab from their partner for this mission and focused on the details.

"We've accounted for the doctor, but what about Sam? Are we to follow his command?" He asked as it seemed like Shield was merely a child being allowed to play pretend in this.

"Of course not, as soon as he hands over what he want-you can get rid of him." Wolfram shrugged.

"Of, he means that little?" Nine didn't sound surprised by it, and Wolfram didn't take insult to how little Nine thought of him. If anything, he was impressed that the man could tell that much about him.

He gestured to himself. "Make no mistake, I'm an evil man, and I've done and will do some villainous things. But while I don't trust you lot all that much, I trust my boys. Loyalty among a group is the only thing keeping it from tearing apart. As far as I'm concerned, Sam signed his death certificate the moment he decided to stab his boss in the back." Pyre thought that if nothing else, this man was an honest kind of evil.

"Pyre?" Nine turned his attention to him, and he shrugged

"I won't kill him unless I have to." He doubted that it would come to that point, Sam wasn't a particularly strong person. Even if he had a useful quirk, Pyre had handled trained pros with ease, an overweight middle-aged man would be almost too easy to manage.

"Then onto the other question. What happens to anyone that isn't caught outside or in the ballroom when the clock starts?" Nine asked, as this plan required that as many people as possible be within the ballroom when they staged their assault. But it didn't seem to take into account that people could have stepped out, they could be late, or just have decided not to attend.

"Either you heard them to the ballroom, or take care of them. I don't care how so long as they don't get in the way." Wolfram gave them cart Blanche to work as they pleased.

"One last thing. If someone as well connected and with as much authority and clearance as Shield can't access this, and he's so desperate to get it that he'll commit organize a hostage crisis, even if he thinks it's fake," Nine leaned in closer. "What are you planning to do with it?"

"Does it matter? Or do you also want it?" Wolfram replied, but his refusal to say something was in of itself a hint to what this was, and that it was priced. Nine did not doubt that Wolfram and his gang probably planned to steal it for themselves.

"No, our target is just some research. Maybe we'll snag some other stuff while there, but that's it." Nine told them, also playing it safe with what they wanted as they'll be the ones that All for One went after first should they fail.

"Well then, we'll see you in a couple of days," Pyre spoke up, as it seemed like the conversation was over. But even as they turned to leave, he was giddy about the chance they were given. "Oh, I have a feeling this will be a fun work trip."

Done. The OG name for this chapter was going to be Pact of Steel but well…you can imagine why I changed it. And just so we're clear, they all spoke with accents, but Izuku's was the least noticeable thanks to years of following All Might and with how much he loves the US and mixes in English words into his speech-you get the idea.

Next chapter should be out on August 28th.

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