12/04/2025

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The Emperor's Dragon
Chapter 109 - The Silent Ones

Unten picked a thin cushion and placed it on the floor before he collapsed into it. He was so tired. And he hadn't even been working or doing anything much.

"What's the matter?" Rakura asked. She was sitting at a low desk, looking down at a book in front of her.

Unten was the one who'd invited himself here, so it would be impolite for him to expect Rakura and Shibou to completely rework their schedule. Shibou was making some tea, but he looked up and the question and Unten could see he was concerned.

"I-" he got the single syllable out before his jaw snapped shut. It wasn't that he couldn't speak, it was he had no idea what to say. "How's Goumanya doing?" Unten asked instead.

Shibou, at least, noticed the change of subject or rather knew that Goumanya was not the topic Unten wanted to discuss. Rakura probably knew it as well but was better at hiding her expression.

"Last I heard, the idiot was involved in some gang," Rakura said as Shibou poured mugs of tea.

Unten rolled his eyes. That sounded about right. And to be fair, it was exactly what his employer had wanted Goumanya… actually all of them to do. Not join a gang but do something that was flashy. He'd gotten out of that responsibility because he'd agreed to chauffeur- and before his mind could spiral, Unten firmly steered his thoughts away.

"Anything in particular?" he asked for more details.

Shibou handed him a mug and then gave the second one to Rakura before he went back to the bench and poured a third mug for himself. Their apartment was small and sparsely appointed but Unten could see the signs that Rakura and Shibou were doing okay. He could also see the signs they were still doing their best for the community, and the signs that the community wasn't accepting that help. It was in the little things. If you were really tight for cash, you only had enough cups for yourself. The fact that they had a third, and Unten could see two others told him they were doing okay. There was also some bedding, neatly folded at the side of the room. Rakura and Shibou could offer a safe place to sleep for others.

"Just dumb crimes," Rakura elaborated. "They've done some armored car heists recently."

"Really?" That was news to him.

"Yeah," Shibou confirmed.

"Enough to get caught?" Unten was curious.

"Probably."

That single word said a lot about the time they were living in. Probably.

But they hadn't been caught yet. Because the Heroes were far too busy chasing other villains that armored car heists were… Unten wouldn't say ignored but at least low level. "That could get interesting then," he said.

They knew what he meant. When, and it really was only a matter of time before Goumanya got caught, he'd talk about where, and how he got his quirk. That's what Dragon had said to do and given it was far easier than lying and bearing those consequences, Unten had no doubt that Goumanya would do that.

"Will you be okay?" Unten asked.

Once Goumanya talked, the three of them would also be impacted. No doubt the police, probably heroes, would want to interview them all. They might even be arrested. Unten wasn't sure how the law would treat them. He didn't even have to look to know there had never been a case like this and the courts would have to decide of having someone else's quirk given to you by a villain counted as being in possession of stolen goods.

The closest analogy he could think of was from the past. When people had their organs harvested and given to others. Except… no one ever prosecuted those who got the organs. Often their names were suppressed. All the pressure came on the people who'd done the harvesting…

There was already heat on Dragon, and he didn't appear to even notice.

"It will depend," Shibou replied for them. He wasn't talking about what they'd experience with the authorities but the community.

"Yeah," Unten nodded. He understood.

"What's happening with you?" Rakura asked before he could move to a new topic.

The question was casual, but Unten knew it was linked to her previous one. She'd noticed he'd changed the topic. "Things aren't going too badly," he replied. That was a lie. Things were going terribly.

"You've got a break?" Shibou teased.

"Yeah," he agreed. He might as well try to joke about this. "Dragon's laying low," he elaborated.

"I'll bet," Shibou said. It was obvious he wanted more details and Unten knew he wasn't gagged about those details but… He had no idea how to say it.

"Obviously, things have been going well for Dragon and-"

Rakura closed the book she'd been studying and picked up her mug of tea before turning around to face him. She crossed her legs as she shifted, moving from a kneeling position to the more casual stance. "What is it?" she asked softly, gently and then waited.

Unten recognised the tactic. She was giving him time to speak, giving him time to consider what he said, or to even decide not to speak if that's what he wanted. The quirkless got good at this, growing up. Those in the community were used to dealing with each other's hurts. They'd all experienced them before so knew how they could best help each other.

He sighed. If he was going to tell them, it had to be now. He could ask how they were going, how Rakura's studies were going, and they'd move on or… He could come back to the topic later, but Unten knew himself. He knew how he felt. It had to be now.

"Do you guys know the villain-" Unten said the word with distaste. Villain was too mild a term for him, but the media liked that tag, and everyone was slapped with it. "- Bloodline?"

Shibou immediately shook his head, but Rakura looked thoughtful. "I've heard the name," she said slowly, obviously thinking. "Where have I heard it?" she murmured.

The question wasn't disrespectful. It was genuine as she tried to recall.

"Probably not recently, Or maybe… The media's been pretty quiet on events," Unten noted. The media had of course reported that there was a break in from Tartarus and that some villains had escaped. They'd even given a list of names, warning people to stay away from them. Then they'd said that the heroes were involved in operations to recapture the villains, and they even sometimes said when a villain had been caught again. But there were a lot of names not accounted for. They were getting away with it, for the moment, because the villains were probably recovering.

In the underworld Unten got the impression there was a lot going on. Factions were no doubt forming and … Yeah… That's the real reason Dragon was laying low. He was in the thick of it because as the guy who'd raided Tartarus and the guy who was known to be employing Dabi, he was the guy who'd made it happen.

"I think it was at school," Rakura agreed with him. So that was kind of recent but not from the current events.

Unten felt sick but he nodded. "That could be it. Bloodline is a villain who-" Why didn't they already know. Bloodline was a villain he'd been warned about when he was younger. Except Unten knew the answer. They didn't know because Bloodline was meant to be in Tartarus. "He targeted people like us," Unten told them. "He'd offer jobs, he'd offer... Whatever it took, and then-" He raised one hand, and slashed his finger across his throat.

"I remember now."

"What do you remember?" Shibou asked.

"Bloodline did that," Rakura agreed, giving Unten a nod. "And he also did some really gross experiments."

"He did," Unten confirmed. Really gross wasn't how he'd describe what Bloodline had done. And experiments wasn't the right word either. Torture was closer but of course… that no longer applies to the quirkless. "He tortured a lot of people like us."

He was pleased when Rakura nodded her agreement. It told him that despite the fact that they all had a quirk now, they still thought of themselves as part of the Community.

Shibou frowned. "Won't people just avoid him then? he asked. "I mean the Community knows what Bloodline looks like right?"

"They should," Rakura agreed, but Unten could hear the doubt in her voice. He felt the same.

Actually, he felt worse. He'd enabled Bloodline's release. It had been for Dragon to release his father, but he should have thought about other consequences. Unten was pretty sure if he'd asked, Dragon would have made sure Bloodline wasn't released but it was too late now.

He felt stupid.

He felt ashamed.

He felt angry.

All at once.

If Bloodline … when Bloodline killed someone, Unten knew it was his fault. He'd helped Dragon.

"Are you okay?" Rakura asked. She seemed to have an idea of what he was going through.

"No." Unten swallowed hard. He took several deep breaths and then downed his tea. He was panting after he'd finished it. "I… I let this happen," he said. It was the barest tip of the iceberg, but he felt like he had to say it.

"Let what happen?" Shibou asked.

"I let Dragon raid Tartarus," Unten clarified.

Rakura gave him a questioning look. "I didn't think you let Dragon do anything," she murmured. He understood the sentiment. He was Dragon's employee. He didn't dictate what the boss did. That was true. He didn't determine what Dragon did, but he had facilitated it. He was just as guilty.

"I let it happen," Unten corrected.

Shibou looked at him. "You drive Dragon around," he said, trying to walk the line between being dismissive, while staying respectful. "That's not letting Dragon raid Tartarus."

It sounded reasonable. It was reasonable…

They didn't know what his quirk was.

Unten shook his head. "You two got quirks from UA, same as Goumanya," he told them.

"Yeah?"

"I didn't."

"So?"

It was so easy to dismiss.

"I don't exactly know where mine came from," Unten said. "Yakunita told me it came from a Yakuza Dragon took out."

"Hey, that's great!" Shibou gushed.

Unten knew why. Both Shibou and Rakura felt some residual guilt for accepting the quirk. They knew there was a quirkless teenager out there now but… having been truly quirkless, they knew the change the quirk had wrought in their lives, and it was worth it. If Unten's quirk came from someone who society didn't like, then he had even less reason to feel guilt. At least that was the reasoning.

They just didn't get it.

Unten stared at Shibou. "What's a small thing that annoys you about Rakura?" he asked, activating his quirk.

"What?" Rakura demanded.

He waved her down.

Shibou looked horrified. Unten knew what was happening. He was trying to fight the quirk, but Unten knew he couldn't. "When she trips the apartment. We've had to explain so many times that it's her quirk. The property manager is pissed."

Unten released his quirk.

"What the hell?" Shibou demanded. Rakura was glaring at him.

"Rakura, what is a small thing that annoys you about Shibou?" Unten asked, hitting her with his quirk.

She stared at him and Unten could tell that she was going to try not to answer. He stretched a bit. "When he leaves crap that he's made everywhere," she said. "It's gross."

He let her go.

"What the hell?" They both demanded, glaring at him.

"That's my quirk," Unten said. "I can force people to tell me the truth when I ask them a question." It was interesting that they'd both said something about the other's quirk. But then Unten remembered that Rakura and Shibou had been close in the Community. They knew each other and while there were no doubt, other habits and things the other did that annoyed them, the changes made by getting quirks were new. The annoyance was raw.

And neither annoyance seemed bad, so they'd work out any issues from their forced reveals once he left.

They both nodded and then Rakura frowned. "So how does that-" she started asking but didn't finish.

"How does that relate to Tartarus?" Unten finished for her.

Rakura nodded.

"They haven't made it public, but the first thing Dragon did, before he even set foot on Tartarus, was take out the outer defences, the power connection and the back-up generators. Then he attacked. And he knew what every building was for and who every important person was. It was all planned."

"Yeah, I get that," Rakura said. Shibou nodded.

"You don't think Tartarus people just told him that information, do you?" Unten prompted.

"Oh."

Unten said nothing.

"Heh Heh. Heh. Heh!" Rakura laughed. She stared at him with wide eyes.

"Yeah, it's hysterical." Unten agreed.

Shibou was staring at him now. He'd put things together as well.

"What are you going to do?" the question was whispered.

They were silent for a while. The weight of what they now knew was on them. And that's what everyone forgot. Just because they were quirkless didn't make them bad people. They wanted to be good. They wanted to be helpful but…

"I don't know," Unten said. "Right now, there's no reason to say anything," he reminded them, as he'd reminded himself. Bloodline hadn't actually done anything so… And maybe Bloodline wouldn't do anything. Maybe being in Tartarus had redeemed him. Maybe one of the other freed villains would kill him.

And maybe pigs would fly. Without a quirk.

"And it would be bad to betray him," Shibou nodded.

Unten knew even better than him how bad it would be. Dragon was… Dragon didn't give off an air of danger. You could be forgiven for thinking he was weak, but Unten had seen his determination. He'd seen how far the teen was willing to go. He'd seen how Dragon didn't want to hurt people but would, if that's what it took.

Dragon wouldn't want to hurt him, but he'd do it.

And Dragon had given him his quirk, and work. He was benefiting the Community… and he'd already warned them about Bloodline, and some of the other villains… They had put the word out, so they should be safe but…

"It would be very bad," Unten agreed.

Rakura levelled a stare at him and Unten felt the room change. He gave her a questioning look.

"I think you should leave," she said softly.

"Rak-" Shibou objected but fell silent when she held up one hand.

She didn't say anything further but kept staring at him.

He got the point. The less they knew, the less they could reveal if asked. And while they had agreed to accept the quirk from Dragon, they had also walked away then. They hadn't agreed to chauffeur Dragon and thus be privy to at least some of his secrets. They were not involved in this.

Unten nodded. "Thank you for the tea," he told Shibou as he rose.

"But-" he objected.

"She's right," Unten assured him. "I'm sorry to have bothered you."

"No, you had to tell someone," Rakura accepted his apology, but he knew that was the limit of what she would do.

"I know," he said before she could. "I knew what I was getting into. And Dragon actually checked with me," Unten told her.

He saw Rakura bite her lip. He had a fair idea what she wanted to say. If he knew what he was getting into and Dragon confirmed that he was okay, then he shouldn't even be thinking about … anything really. Certainly not Bloodline.

But he was.

Bloodline was a real threat, and he was responsible for letting him go free.

And the other villains but they… well… in as much as Unten wanted to do what was right, he also recognised the limits of his empathy. Everyone in the Community did. Their empathy generally extended to each other, and no further. They couldn't afford it to go further.

"I'm not going to do anything stupid," he said to reassure her.

Rakura nodded but didn't relent. Still, Unten knew she wouldn't be running to Dragon carrying tales.

He made his way to the door, slipping his outside shoes back on as he reached it. Both Shibou and Rakura remained seated as he showed himself out.

Once outside, Unten moved to the stairwell and stood in the corner of it, looking up at the sky. There was too much light pollution to see the stars, but he looked up into the darkness.

Most people would say he'd already had his sign, when he'd gotten his quirk, and he shouldn't question things. Unten wasn't sure… So long as Bloodline did nothing then…

But if he did.

Then…

God.

He had no idea what he'd do.

-ted-

Unten is incredibly grateful to have gotten a quirk from Izuku and work as a chauffeur, however, he's also fundamentally a good man, and releasing prisoners is big and concerning. Just because he has been shunned by society, doesn't mean he automatically wants to destroy it, so he's having a moral crisis right now. Especially with the release of Bloodline, who has a known history of killing the quirkless. The quirkless community is the one Unten is concerned about because while he can help them with cash, he can't help them if they are dead.

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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