Chapter 13: Deskwork and Investigations
Marie and Denki both laughed as their kids finished telling them about their respective training tests. "It's good to hear Uraraka learned from Midoriya," Denki commented on his video feed.
"She always was dedicated," Marie pointed out, "I remember when we studied together, she was probably the only one paying as much attention as Yaomomo." Marie turned her attention back to her kids, "So, anything else special happen?"
Her kids all were quiet before Hana said, "I think I have a crush…that's all I'm saying. Love you guys, bye." She then cut off and left the rest of her family surprised. "Huh…who do you think she has a crush on?" Kaoru wondered. "I'm sure she'll tell us when she's ready," Denki said, "Now, you guys should get some sleep. I'm pretty sure it's after ten back in Japan. I love you guys." The three kids still on the feed said, "Love you, Mom, Dad," and hung up, leaving Marie and Denki to themselves. "How you doing, babe?" Denki asked Marie in Japanese.
Marie sighed, she was in her office at the main base for the Frightening Five, she couldn't fight until her arms healed, "I wish I wasn't here. I wish I was out doing real Hero work."
Denki rubbed the back of his neck, "I know. But, well, I'd rather have you doing this than you losing your arms to something worse. It's only a few weeks. You've been through worse." Marie nodded, remembering her teenage and young adult years when she was blinded from Pyromaniac's fire. Even after he was dead for years, executed by lethal injection for scores of murders in Japan and the U.S. including her father, Joseph Jerome Freeman Sr. and her stepmother, Mysa Freeman, the memory of him filled her with rage. "I hate sitting still while others are working. Even if the paperwork is important, it doesn't feel the same, Denki," Marie complained.
"I know, I know. But hey, you finally got it done. This'll make taxes easier this year," he joked, then Marie heard a loud sound on his end of their conversation. "I gotta go, love you, Marie," Denki said. "I love you, be careful," Marie responded, and hung up. She sighed and looked at the paperwork completed before she got off her desk and went to the main strategy room of the base. Precious little evidence had been gathered since the museum robbery. The robbers she captured refused to talk, no matter what threats or deals were promised.
DNA was also confusing. Somehow, the robbers all seemed to have DNA of different people, as if their entire genomes had been altered to allow them their multiple Quirks. It was similar to the Nomu that All For One had used, only these people were still alive, and apparently had their minds intact. The question was, how?
Did someone get their hands on Dr. Garaki Kyudai's research? Or was this something different? Marie remembered learning in History class in High School about how multiple civilizations were able to create similar engineering feats, such as dams, pyramids, and mathematics, despite never contacting each other. Could there be some genius out there that was twisted enough to do similar research, and go even further than Garaki and All For One?
Marie looked at the voice activated computer in the room and said, "Show me cases of missing persons, cross reference with Quirks of suspects in Museum Robbery case." The screen of the computer changed rapidly as various pictures were shuffled around, cross referencing their Quirks along with those of the robbers. The ones that Marie had captured had all been identified:
The Tall Woman with Claws was named Roberta Rodriguez y Montoya, a former bodybuilder that was banned for steroid use turned gang enforcer. The Short man was Donald Quincy Pope, a con artist with a long career. Neither of them had Quirks before, they were officially Quirkless, until they became museum robbers. In five minutes, she had several people's photos, all missing persons with Quirks similar to the ones that were given to Montoya and Pope. All of them were gangsters with records. "Cross reference known associates of the robbers and missing persons," Marie told the computer.
This took longer for the computer to search, looking for references in social media, cameras, records of known accomplices, and other sources of information and then looking for matches for all of them. Marie had time to make a glass of peach tea as she waited. She was half finished with her cup when the computer finally responded, NO MATCHES FOUND. Marie sighed at this news, "Of course it wouldn't be that easy…" She laid back and thought about what else she could search for to find out who her evil genius was. The wished she could be out in the field, but she needed time for her body to heal from her injuries.
She was interrupted in her thoughts when her team arrived from their patrol. "Hey, Marie," they all greeted her. "Hey guys," Marie responded, "I was looking to find out how our thieves could have multiple Quirks. Here's what I got so far." She then explained to them her reasoning and showed them her results on the computer. Sammy whistled, "That's pretty good, I'd say. We still can't make those assholes talk. No matter what we threaten or promise them. This gets us a little closer at least." Lilith looked over the data Marie gathered, "I think you might have messed up. The compute interpreted your commands as looking for known associates of ALL of them, including the missing persons. We need to start with our missing gangsters first, I think. If we do have some kind of genius on our hands, they must have been careful. Let me try."
Lilith was more old-fashioned and chose to type out her commands into the computer. Within five minutes, they had three pictures onscreen. "Alright," Marcus said, "This looks promising."
The first picture showed an old man with blue skin, black hair, and all red eyes. His name was Theo Rawndo, a successful art dealer suspecting to have connections with the criminal underworld to help him collect rare art pieces, his Quirk was X-ray eyes. The second picture showed a middle-aged woman with African features except for her red, blonde, and green hair, Emily Phukuntsi. She was a former chemical engineer who started using her knowledge to manufacture drugs and Quirk steroids, her Quirk was called Sugar High, sugar allowed her to move at twenty times human speed, or could allow her to think at twenty times normal speed for thirty minutes with the cost of a twelve hour cooldown afterwards. And the last picture showed an unknown person, only pictures. "Huh, that must be our genius," Francesca said pointing to the last, unidentified person.
They wore a large blue raincoat and white pants with black shoes and a large black boonie hat that hid their face. It was impossible to tell their skin color because of how their body was covered, and they even wore black gloves in the image. "Search for images of this person," Lilith typed in and highlighted the final picture. A dozen more pictures were shown, and whoever they showed, they knew where the cameras were and hid their bodies in all of them. And all of the pictures showed them with the missing gangsters, and even Roberta Rodriguez y Montez and Donald Quincy Pope.
"Who the Hell is this person?" Francesca wondered as they all stared at the images.
At a Restaurant in Summerville, SC
The woman watched as her small fly-camera sent her video of the Frightening Five to her iPad. Her test run was effective, but she knew she could do more. She took a sip from her drink as she smiled then got up and left some money behind her, enough for her meal and a generous tip. "Phase Two can commence." She typed on her iPad and watched as hundreds of cameras were activated. She then typed in the command, "Collect DNA."
She turned off her iPad and pulled out a burner phone. The one on the other end answered and she said, "Proceed with Phase Two. I'm sending you pictures of your targets. I only need them alive." She then sent pictures of those she wanted. Her men would be ready when they got their chance. It was time to give some people some extra Quirks. And if their bodies couldn't handle it? There were plenty of other test subjects available. The woman had a tingle in her spine as she walked through the streets of Summerville and got into her car. Soon, her work would be fulfilled. When it was all over, she would be hailed as the greatest scientist that ever lived.