Ch. 3: Noh Time for Mourning
Seigo walked out of the bathroom after a nice, relaxing shower from today's training with a smile on his face. It was so nice to be squeaky clean after smelling like gym socks for the last four hours. Though he was happy at the chance to relax
'Dad really ran me ragged lately. I had to fight five matches yesterday,' Seigo thought as he dried his hair on the way to his room to change into clean clothes. 'It's like he's afraid of something coming for me or something… well I guess most people don't have as many quirks as me so I would probably raise more than a few eyebrows if anyone noticed… and called the police… and turned me into a human guinea pig to figure out why I have so many quirks…"'
After putting on some nice jeans, white socks, and an All Might shirt that Tai bought him a couple months ago for his "birthday". They didn't know his birthday so they just treated the day they met as his birthday, April 4th.
Seigo walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge, pulling out a big bowl of what Tai called a "hobo stew" which was another way to say a bunch of meats and vegetables thrown in a pot of broth. Still tasty though, Seigo admitted as he poured himself a smaller bowl to pop into the microwave. After waiting four minutes, stirring periodically, he sat down and enjoyed his stew. He could hear a set of footsteps approaching, causing Bio Scanner to flip on in curiosity.
Tai. Who else would it be? Sure enough, walking through the door, was the big man himself. He was reading something on his phone before putting it in his pocket, his face looking impassive.
"Seigo, after you're done eating, why don't you head out for some fresh air. It would do you some good after all the time you spend cooped up in here," Tai tried to seem pretty calm and relaxed about everything but his son was no fool.
"What's going on, Dad?" Seigo asked as he swallowed some of his stew.
"I'm expecting someone in an hour and I have a bad feeling your presence would lead to… problems for you," Tai's voice was even but even Seigo can hear the annoyance in his voice. Besides, Seigo knew better than to argue when it comes to hiding what he could do. He wouldn't let him hide in the shadows before and he won't let him now. Not after he nearly gave a parent a heart attack when Tai was speaking about a particular disciple's… less than acceptable behavior and then he pops out of the floor.
"Okay… If you say so," Seigo wanted to pout about basically being forced out of the house.
"Hey, don't make that face. It'll be fine in the end, alright? Just me talking with some guy, no different from the other ones I have to talk with," Seigo wasn't convinced but forgot about it when Tai wrapped him in a hug.
Hugs were rare but nice when they came. Seigo returned the hug with gusto, happy to feel the warmth coming from his dad.
"Be safe while you're out and if you get into trouble?"
"Get out of there immediately!" Seigo responded with a confident smile.
"That's my boy," Tai said as he ruffled his son's hair affectionately before heading to the backroom.
It was a nice, warm June day as Seigo was seated at a bench at the park a block away from Tai's Dojo. He couldn't believe it's been fourteen months since he passed out here. It was honestly making him wonder how much time had flown by. He could see a few little kids playing heroes, bringing a smile to his face. He didn't get to see many heroes but when he did, he couldn't explain the excitement it made him feel or even why he felt it. It was just how he was.
"Let's go everyone, we need to find us a villain, defeat them, and save the day!" The blond in front rallied his troops for battle against a foe they hadn't faced yet.
"Which one of us is going to be the villain though?" A little boy with black hair among them asked, voice even and matching his blank, passive expression. The kids all seemed like they didn't know who to have for a villain. It also wasn't the best role to play since everyone would gang up on you. Seigo thought about it for a second but since he needed to kill some time anyway while he waited for Dad to be finished with whatever it was he was getting ready for. Besides, he rarely played with other kids.
"Hey, if you guys need a villain, how about I play the part?" Seigo asked as he walked up the group. The kids had to be five to… maybe seven years old.
"Who are you?" Asked a girl that Seigo somehow completely missed. Her hair was green like his and had the same blank, emotionless expression as the boy who was currently trying to hide behind her. Though her face was blank, Bio Scanner's threat detector was sending every alarm bell in the world, mostly 'touch that boy and your face will be a lot more acquainted with the ground."
"H-hi, my name's Seigo Saichirou, my dad's the owner of a local aikido dojo nearby," Seigo introduced himself, trying to hide the fear of God that the girl was putting in him. Tai's first rule: Be afraid but never show it.
"Oh yeah, you're the guy who beat up my brother yesterday in a match! That was so cool how you threw him around like that!" One of the boys suddenly recognized him. "I wish I could be as strong as that!"
"Oh, you're Noboru's brother, right? He's not still mad he lost to me, is he? He seemed to be avoiding me today at practice," Seigo hoped there were no hard feelings. He only ever wanted to get along with the other disciples.
"Aw, he's fine! I don't know what his problem is but he'll get over it because he always does!" Seigo turned back to the girl with a smile on his face.
"What's your name?"
The girl's eyes seemed to be less… deadly, as she relaxed a little. The kid vouching for him must have calmed her down. A little.
"Tsuyu Asui, this is my brother Samidare. We just moved in a little while ago so we don't know the area all that well."
"Ah, sorry to just walk up like that. I don't get out much so only the other disciples really know who I am. Sorry about that," Seigo bowed his head to the girl in apology before straightening up to look at her. All she was wearing was a green dress and some sneakers as far as Seigo could see but he was still getting signals not to mess with her.
"It's alright, ribbit. Hmm… Maybe I should try this aikido thing… It might help someday," There was an unmistakable edge in there as the girl put a long finger on her chin in contemplation. This girl's dangerous was all Seigo could think but…
"We'd love to have you, Asui! Dad's always looking for new disciples so we can keep the lights-"
"Hey, can we play now?" Seigo was interrupted by one of the kids, clearly growing bored and impatient.
"Yeah, you said you'd be the villain!" Another chimed in, ready for action.
"I hope you're not lying!" The blond leader punched into his open palm as he readied himself. The action sparked something inside Seigo as a sudden headache approached.
"Ow…" Seigo grabbed his head as he looked at the now concerned blond boy in front of him. He saw it for only an instant. Another blond boy with spiky hair appeared with a smirk, saying something he couldn't quite hear like he was speaking underwater or something. They were at a playground like this one but… different.
"Are you okay?" Asui was looking at him, with an expression of worry, something that was more surprising than the headache if Seigo was being honest. That boy… where did he see that boy from? Well, it wouldn't do any good to think about it now. Not with all the kids around him.
"I'm fine… I just get headaches sometimes," Seigo scratched the back of his neck for a second with a sheepish smile before turning to the group, striking a pose he saw a villain do on a cartoon before. "Alright, heroes! You think you can take the devious Seigo down?! I'd like to see you try!"
"And his evil partner, Tsuyu." Seigo turned to his left to see Asui join up in the game, even if here expression was just as blank as ever. Girl was full of surprises. "Let's see if you can take us both down, puny heroes." The kids roared as they charged the duo, forcing them to flee at a speed they could keep up with.
After playing with the little kids for about an hour, Seigo and Asui sat down at the bench from earlier to catch their breath.
"Gotta say, I wasn't expecting you to join, Asui," Seigo said with a sigh as he leaned into the bench. With aikido training, quirk practice, and now this, Seigo was getting pretty tired.
"I knew my brother wouldn't play if I didn't join in. Didn't think it would be that much fun though," Seigo had to admit, it was really fun to play with all the little kids. It just brought a smile to his face when they were smiling. I guess that's what All Might means when he says he's a hero to put smiles on everyone's faces. It wouldn't be all that bad now that he thought about it. Maybe he could be a hero too… Though that was a long way off so it didn't matter right now but something to think about. Maybe Dad could help him. "So Saichirou-"
"You can call me Seigo, Asui. It would be quicker that way," Seigo cut her off. It's not that he didn't like his new family name. It was more a matter of efficiency with him. 'It also doesn't help whenever iIm with Dad and someone goes "Saichirou" and we both look.'
"Just like that?" Asui looked at him curiously with a long finger on her chin.
"Just like that," Seigo replied with a smile.
"How about I call you Sei then and you can call me Tsu," she suggested, her normal monotone turning a bit more jovial. "It'll be even quicker then."
"Fair enough, Tsu. I guess that makes us friends then, huh?" Seigo stated, not really thinking about it so he was a bit surprised by her reaction.
"Friends…" Tsu looked at Seigo like he said the nicest thing in the world to her. "Friends it is then," she said with the first smile Seigo's seen all day.
Before Seigo could talk to perhaps his first real friend, Bio Scanner went off. A threat was detected. Two people were on their way, looking for him and they certainly weren't friendly! He couldn't warp home yet since Dad hadn't texted him the all clear so the only choice was to hide. 'The park bench shadow, perfect!'
"Tsu, listen to me, if anyone asks for me in the next minute, say I made a run for it out the gate," Seigo explained calmly as he stepped on the shadow.
"What do you-" but by the time she got that much out, Seigo had disappeared into the shadow itself, startling her at the use of his quirk in public. Not a few seconds after Seigo disappeared, Tsu noticed a man in gray hoodie run into the park, looking around feverishly. The two locked eyes, green to red. As he walked up to her, she could see that he towered over her and gave off a menacing aura. She could also see his scarred and wrinkled face clearly despite his white hair falling over it.
"Have you seen a boy with green hair and green eyes anywhere? About your age?" He said calmly in a raspy voice as if he hadn't had a glass of water in weeks. He was after Seigo… and Tsu could tell that this guy was no friend of his or he would have come out by now.
"He left out that gate over there not two minutes ago," Tsu spoke as she pointed to the gate on the other side of the park that the man had come in from, thankful that she wasn't expressive enough to freak out about this.
"Bah… looks like I missed him," the man was scratching his neck at a frantic pace, annoyance coating his every word as he ran out of the park the way she pointed. Tsu waited until he was gone but somehow it still didn't feel safe so she waited until Seigo came out himself… about five minutes later.
"You were down there for a long time," Tsu spoke as Seigo fell to his hands and knees after fully emerging from the bench's shadow, "Seigo, why were they after you?"
"Tsu… I need to head home, right now!" There was urgency in his voice that put Tsu off guard. It made sense, though: if someone like that man had been looking for her, she'd run home too.
"Okay, well see you later, then. I'm gonna grab my brother and head home too. I don't want to be around when that guy realized I tricked him," Tsu quickly got from the bench to grab her brother, while Seigo didn't waste any time. As soon as he was out of sight, he warped back to his room, inside his closet.
Bio Scanner roared to life as he searched for threats, finding nothing… not even finding Tai.
"Must be out of range… or out all together," Seigo tried to convince himself. Confident that there was no one to harm him, he walked out of the closet and was greeted with a big mess. Someone had just trashed the whole apartment. That guy from earlier as well as the second presence he felt… they were after him so they were probably looking for him. Seigo ran downstairs to the dojo, to see if there was a clue as to where Tai went.
What greeted him when he reached the bottom collapsed his whole world. Lying in a pile of ash and dust in the middle of the dojo was Tai's Gi and belt and a knocked over bench. Nothing else. No sign of the man who took him in… just ash and his Gi. Seigo brain shut down, unable to process anything except for one thing.
"NOOOOO!"
"Were you sure it was him," Naomasa asked, now looking at the crying child in front of him. Gone was the cheeky thief who made life miserable for villains and heroes alike from before. Now in his place, was a vulnerable child, clearly still grieving about his dad's murder.
"I was in denial for a little while, until I found a note inside my closet. It told me to check the secret compartment behind bench #4 in the dojo for the full story of who he was and the people that came for me… and him."
"A secret compartment?" Naomasa asked with a raised eyebrow.
"He used it to hide sweets so he could have the occasional snack without heading upstairs."
"What did you find?"
"A digital recorder, recording his whole conversation between him and two men," Jackpot. Something useful.
"Can you tell me what was said?"
"I could never forget it..."
Seigo rewound the recorder to its earliest possible point, anxious to hear what Tai had left for him. After hearing the click of it hitting the beginning of the message, he hit play and braced himself.
"Hi, Seigo," Tai's voice came through after a second, his voice still calming to Seigo's ears as if nothing was wrong. "If you're hearing this, then I've reached the end of my road," Seigo's breath hitched in his throat. He knew it… But he just couldn't accept it before. Now, there was no debate. Tai knew it was coming and had sent him out to prevent him from getting involved. Did he not trust him? Was he that useless to him that he needed to get him out of the way?! "But please don't cry. It's not over for you yet. They'll be coming for you and if you waste time crying, they won't show you any mercy. I have three things I need to tell you. First, head to my room and find my kitsune noh mask and inside is an address and a copy of my will. Head there and hand that to my sister and you'll be taken care of. Next, another address to my storage unit containing everything I used in my old job and the key to open it as well as one million yen hidden in the safe under my bed. 30 left, 36 right, 2 left. And lastly… This last year was the best of my life. I've ruined a lot of lives but yours is the first I saved for someone else's sake. I love you and never believe anything different, no matter what you hear about me. I'm sorry I had to send you away but I couldn't risk them taking you. These monsters can't be reasoned with and I'm not sure if they could be beaten by ourselves. You're too young and inexperienced and I've grown old and have no quirk of my own anymore."
'Anymore?' Seigo, despite how touched by his dad's heartfelt words, couldn't help but notice his phrasing.
"I can't protect you anymore but know I leave with no regrets in anything I've done for you. I don't know what you'll choose to do with your quirks and your skills but I know you'll be great so do what you feel is right for you. Don't worry about what I would think, just keep breathing, keep surviving and keep fighting until you get to where you need to go. Though I may die here, I'll always be with you. Goodbye, son."
The tape kept rolling as the sounds of the tape being placed in the secret compartment, before being moved to the center of the room played on. There was silence for a good minute before…
The sound of a light wind filled the room. "Good afternoon, Master Saichirou," A deep, almost gentlemanly voice suddenly appeared out of nowhere. "Or should I call you 'Transporter'"
"Saichirou is my name now. I walked away from that old life with your master's permission." Tai replied, voice even and respectful.
"So, you're the one Sensei was talking about, huh? You don't look like much to me, old man," Another raspy voice came through, one Seigo recognized immediately. It was the man from the park!
"Looks can be deceiving, Shigaraki," The first voice responded.
"I doubt that's the case here though, Kurogiri," Shigaraki replied with boredom filling his voice. "At least he made sure to bring out some seats for us," The sounds of benches shuffling as the other two sat down.
"What can I do for you both today?"
"We've come on orders from All For One,"
"All For One?!" Naomasa couldn't keep his shock in.
"What are you so shocked about?!" Seigo would've fell out of his chair if he wasn't attached to the table at the sudden exclamation from the detective in front of him. Naomasa refocused before looking at Seigo with a deadly serious look in his eyes.
"All For One was a villain that we believed to have died in a fight with All Might five years ago, the same day that you awoke. After midnight on April 4th." Naomasa couldn't believe it... but they never did have a body to confirm it. "Are you absolutely sure that what they said? They were there on orders from All For One?"
"I still have the recorder. I could give it to you if I wasn't cuffed."
"You know we can't do that," Naomasa deadpanned, as Seigo dropped the seriousness of the situation to zero.
"Yeah, I know." Seigo said in mock disappointment.
"What does the master want with me?" Tai asked, choosing his words carefully.
"Well, we've hit a problem concerning one of his projects as it got loose last year. We've been looking for it ourselves and we were hoping if you've seen it," Kurogiri explained. "We've been working on a new breed of villain with multiple quirks called Nomu and one of the first successful ones escaped during All For One's battle with All Might."
'It. They were calling me a thing?! I'm not even human to them?!' Seigo thought with anger. The tape continued regardless of his feelings though.
"Damn him… he went and ruined my birthday..." Shigaraki muttered angrily as the sound of scratching skin could be heard.
"We were wondering if you've seen it."
"So he's trying that again? Why are you asking now? That fight was last year like you said yet you wait this long to ask me? It wasn't even that far away from here."
"We wanted to keep this strictly in house as I'm sure you're aware of our master's methods but we weren't having any luck so we decided to try the old sources."
"Old huh. I guess it has been twenty years now," Tai said, his voice almost nostalgic at the thought. "Haven't seen the man himself since I gave up my quirk in exchange for my freedom to leave his organization,"
"You haven't told anyone anything, have you?" Shigaraki spoke up.
"I didn't even know where he was until he and All Might started slugging it out and left their mark on the ward. If you don't work for him, he doesn't say a thing to you so as far as I was concerned, I'm glad I don't have to keep looking over my shoulder when I go to the grocery store and have some hero bust my skull in."
"Not like they could with that quirk you had. Targeted Warp, was it?" Seigo's heart nearly stopped. That's the same name as one of his! "Such a powerful quirk that was. The ability to warp to anywhere you've marked and then summon marked objects to your hand in an instant. No wonder he spoke so highly of your skills. You'll be happy to know that the Nomu we're looking for actually has that quirk now."
"Good to know? It's not like it's my problem anymore," Tai brushed it off. He knew. He had to have known. No wonder he knew how to use it! "Though if this thing has my quirk and knows how to use it, finding him would be impossible. Besides which, you're going to have to give me more to work with here than "It's a thing,". What does this guy look like?"
"A small child, around 11 years old now, green hair, green eyes, freckled face. Ring any bells?" A slight pause and a humming noise could be heard from Tai like he was trying to think.
"Not recently no."
"You gulped when he described it and even knew we were referring to a 'him'," Tomura spoke without raising his voice as he stood up, bench falling over, "You're lying, Saichirou."
"So it would seem, Shigaraki," Kurogiri added, before the sounds of a struggle came through the recorder as well as a loud thud.
"Do you know what happens when I press all five fingers down on something? It decays into dust in seconds. So, tell me where the brat is or it's your funeral," Tomura's voice, despite about to murder his father, was calm like it didn't even matter. Like killing was no big deal. Like a real villain would.
"I'll tell you nothing. I sent him away before you even showed up. He's long gone by now and you will never have hi-"
Nothing. Seigo listened but could hear nothing. After a few seconds, Tomura spoke again.
"Stupid man. Wasted our time, gets me dragged from my game and now we have to go look for the brat, again!" Tomura suddenly shouted, switching moods at the drop of a hat.
"It was a waste but it was inevitable. Sensei wanted him dead anyway so no real loss. At least the intel we got from that teenager was correct. The nomu was here. We should search the building. He might have left some clue, somewhere."
"Then you search it then. I'm done here. If the brat took off running, might as well look for him. Someone had to have seen him."
"Very well, I'll meet up with you after I'm done here."
Seigo stopped the tape. He couldn't hear anymore. His heart couldn't bear it. Shigaraki, Kurogiri, All For One…
'THEY KILLED HIM!'
Seigo felt something surge through him before he passed out from the experience, falling from the chair to the hard floor below.
"You just passed out?" There were a lot of things Naomasa wanted to ask but he kept them to himself for now. He had names though. That's a good start.
"I think Body Burst may have gone out of control and just knocked me out. Or something. I don't really know. I just got so angry like something snapped and I woke up like five seconds later, on the floor."
"Has it happened since?" Seigo paused for a second as he thought about it.
"No, and that's what's weird so I don't think it was a new quirk or something," Seigo answered, leaving Naomasa to ponder all that he learned. This is exactly what he was hoping to get out of him. Shigaraki and Kurogiri claimed to have been moving on orders from All For One but that doesn't guarantee anything. But when you're dealing with a man who can level city blocks by pointing at them, you don't write off the slim possibility that he might have survived.
Shigaraki's quirk was also nothing to sniff at. Turning what he touches to dust with just five fingers? He was someone to be wary of if he was properly trained though his attitude was less than promising. Man-child seemed too nice for him. And both just appeared out of nowhere? No door? Did that Kurogiri also have a warp quirk? Possibly.
Next, Tai Saichirou was Transporter. A man who would kidnap people with promising quirks for All For One. No one knew who he was until after he left twenty-four years ago and became an aikido instructor and then was killed on the orders of his former master. 'I'm going to have to look up what he was arrested for. If it was something to do with All For One, there was no way in hell he'd get off with only one year,'
Finally, Seigo Saichirou, formally Izuku Midoriya, was kidnapped by All For One and turned into a Nomu, a sort of bioweapon using multiple quirks to wreak havoc on the world.
Tai Saichirou may have been scum for most of his life, but he died to save his son and give us this intel. If he sees him in the afterlife, Naomasa owes him a drink. Shigaraki and Kurogiri were careless but they'll take that win.
"Do you have what you want?" Seigo looked at Naomasa, eyes red from crying but now was much calmer. He seemed to be getting sleepy.
"I've got a lot to unpack here but if you're up for it, I'd like to keep going. Now that we've established your motives, that being finding Shigaraki, I would like to talk about everything you did as Noh. I don't want to risk anything, especially with who we're dealing with. Let's start with your… 'explosive debut,' if you could."
Seigo, for his part, nodded as he continued, though the grimace on his face didn't go unnoticed.
After waking up from his rage nap, Seigo went to Tai's room. The mask in question was kept hidden in his closet if he remembered correctly. Tai said it was something he made once for a play in middle school that he kept around. He reached into the closet and pulled out a small shoe box. Inside it was the white kitsune noh mask with the only color being the green around the eyes and whiskers.
'Though, now I can think of what this was used for… "Transporter", huh?' Seigo thought as he flipped the mask to the other side. Taped there was an address and an envelope containing a copy of his will. He put the address in his pocket for later. He'd worry about it later. Moving to the safe under his bed, 30 left, 36 right, 2 left. Opened with ease. Seigo saw the second address for the storage garage and the key for it, the money he left, but also, strangely enough, the records for his disciples. 'This might be useful.'
With all that out of the way, Seigo changed into a black hoodie, pants and sneakers, usually reserved for when he wanted to sneak out into the night but now it was for something else.
'Okay, so Kurogiri mentioned that it was a teenager that lead them to me, stating that they knew a person with multiple quirks lived here. None of the current disciples know that I have more than one quirk… but, because of my carelessness, there was one guy who did before he was thrown out.'
Seigo flipped through the book until he found the teen he was looking for.
'Kenji Taichisu. Reason for his expulsion: disrespectful attitude, lacking effort, using his quirk against another disciple in anger. His address is here. Time to pay him a visit.'
"Wait… this was the same day?" 'Didn't take him long, did it? Not even a day to grieve?'
"Yeah…" Seigo responded with a sheepish shrug, "Dad said not to cry so I had to press on. So, I've been meaning to ask but, how many jobs do you think I did?"
"We have you on file for 480 possible acts but with all the copycats in your wake, we could never be sure which were which," Naomasa explained, his voice betraying his annoyance for all the problems Noh has caused, "But if you ask me, I'd say it was somewhere around 50."
"You'd be right," Seigo confirmed with a tired smile. He needed sleep soon by the looks of it, "I was only responsible for around 52 jobs, that's all. Though for me, a job was anything I planned for. I got into a lot of fights with random villains along the way."
'That's pretty low but within expectations."
"You'll be telling me all about them, correct?"
"Sir, yes, sir," Seigo sarcastically quipped, trying to do a salute before remembering his hands were cuffed to the table, forcing him to bend down as low as he could get his head down for the salute.
After collecting all he needed from the house and heading for the storage garage to see what Seigo had to work with in dealing with for the unpredictable future he had in store, he headed for Kenji Taichisu's address listed in the records. Just as it was in view, his target walked out of the house. Seigo quickly hid from sight, turning on Bio Scanner to keep track of his prey. Seigo looked at his watch, curious of the time.
It was now half past 8 p.m. and the sun was setting. 'Where is he going at this time of night?'
Keeping an eye on Taichisu wasn't difficult but with the crowds being smaller compared to earlier in the day, he had less places to hide in plain sight.
'I need to keep just far enough away that he won't notice me but he's still in range,'
Seigo followed Kenji around for about an hour which sometimes lead them in circles like he was trying to shake a tail but strangely, Taichisu never seemed to actually look to see if he was being tailed. Finally, just as the sun had set and it had even started to rain, Taichisu arrived at an abandoned looking warehouse next to the docks. Seigo knew this place as one of the places that Tai told him to avoid at all cost. Now that he was close enough for Bio Scanner to work, he could see why. He could see at least twenty different signatures in there, though he could only recognize Taichisu's for now. He needed a better vantage point.
'Here's hoping they've got roof windows.' Seigo warped the kitsune mask onto his face before he picked up a pebble on the ground, marked it, and threw it up to the roof, landing without making a lot of noise thanks to the rain. After warping his way up to the metal roof and trying his best to not make too much noise, he hit paydirt. He saw a skylight that would let him look inside the warehouse.
Seigo moved closer and looked down into the not-so-abandoned building. From what he could tell, it looked like a mad scientist's laboratory as he could see a bunch of street thugs all working on making… some kind of chemical. He could see Taichisu sitting in a chair with a few other teens he didn't recognize. He wouldn't be able to hear anything from here, not with all the noise they were making; he needed to get inside. Turning on Bio Scanner again, he could see that there was no one patrolling around, instead they were simply focusing on the product they were making as if nothing else mattered.
The only lights on were low to the ground, above the workstations so the above catwalks were completely dark. 'They probably don't want people to know what was going on in here. That's fine, I'll take that,' He could use that if he could stay quiet. Next, his entrance. He could use one of the windows from the balcony if possible. 'The best thing to do would be to warp the glass out of the frame, sneak in, and then replace the glass again… maybe. They might notice a breeze if I'm too slow'
Finally, he needed a plan B. 'If things get hairy, I'll need to kill the lights. There's no way I'll be able to take twenty guys in a fair fight. I can see in the dark. They can't.'
With the plan in place, Seigo got to work. After successfully infiltrating directly above Taichisu and his "friends" without sounding an alarm, Seigo merged with the nearest shadow to remain undetected as he waited for… whatever they were waiting for. Ten minutes of heart pumping anxiety later, an older man in a freshly pressed suit and tie showed his face, causing the four teens to bow their heads in honor. Seigo could tell he meant business despite his smiling face.
Smiles shouldn't be as creepy as his.
"Gentleman, welcome back. I'm hope everything on your side went well, no?"
"We sold out on the product you gave us sir," Kenji spoke, as he lifted himself from his bow.
"Good! Good! I'm so glad to hear it!" the older man enthusiastically exclaimed as he patted the teens on the shoulders, "Now come into my office and we'll discuss plans for your future in our organization!" The five men walked to a room in the back, completely oblivious to the shadow following overhead. The catwalk led straight to the top of the room, with its own open window above it, allowing Seigo to listen in on their conversation. "Now I ask for you to leave the profits on the desk so we can count them in a bit," the boys did as he asked before he continued, "Now that the money has been taken care of, I'd like to show you boys something," the older man walked around the desk and opened one of the drawers, revealing a corked beaker of orange fluid.
"This is our new product that we'll be working with for the future. It's an improved version of the Trigger you've been selling. We're codenaming it 'T4'. It's just as powerful but much less likely to turn users crazy… and is far more addictive," the older man's smile only seemed to widen at the prospect of turning people into drug-fueled cash machines. He set the beaker down on the table before walking back around the desk to the others. "Though you'll need to be more careful with it. It's also explosive near fire for some reason and we're working on fixing that but hey, the customers don't need to know that. Now the last thing I'd like to discuss with you boys is that the boss will be coming by soon and has agreed to meet with you. You all should be honored as you'll be official Yakuza by the end of the week,"
'YAKUZA?!' Seigo had to stop himself from panicking. Tai had told him about the Yakuza: the former kings of organized crime in Japan but were weakened heavily by the existence of quirks. Now they're a shadow of their former self but that didn't make them any less dangerous. 'Stay calm. They haven't seen me and I still have an escape route with Targeted Warp. Just need to be careful about this.'
Excuse me, sir, but I have something you should know about," Seigo was snapped from his thoughts as it was Taichisu who started to speak. "I ran into some weirdo today."
"A weirdo?"
"Yeah, his face was all jacked up, covered in wrinkles and scars and spoke like he had lung cancer or something. I couldn't even tell what old he was."
'So, he did run into Shigaraki. Good to know.'
"What did he want?"
"He wanted to know where this green-haired kid I knew was. He was from that old dojo I used to go to and was the son of the master there. He then flashed me the creepiest smile I've ever seen and then pissed off towards the dojo."
"So, he asked you nothing about us?"
"No, but normally I would have told him to piss off but," Taichisu visibly struggled to find the words.
"He had an aura about him? Like he could and would kill you in broad daylight?"
"Yeah, exactly!" Taichisu exclaimed. "I kind of panicked just to get the guy away from me,"
"I know the kind well," the older man picked up the envelopes on the desk and put them all in a back wall safe. Hearing about Shigaraki must have unconsciously spooked him. "Though you gave him what he wanted, it had nothing to do with us, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. Anyway, you boys follow me downstairs. We need to make sure you're ready when the boss comes," As everyone exited the room. Seigo sighed with relief.
'I'm soooo lucky no one looked up,' Now that he could breathe normally again, he took stock of the situation. "Okay, Taichisu had run into Shigaraki by chance and he led him to me and Dad. That's less than helpful. I'll need to find another way to track them down." Seigo noticed a filing cabinet in the corner of the room. Above it seemed to be a circuit breaker controlling the power for the building 'Paper evidence is easier to get rid of quickly so they'd need to keep it physical. The cabinet's light enough so I can take it with me and it might have a lead I can use. I'll need to work fast though. While I'm here though... 'There was also the safe full of drug money that re-entered his vision. While I could use the yen Dad gave me for myself, I'm going to be giving Dad's sister the money from his safe anyway, but I can't stay there since they might expect me to do that and she'll die too. I'll need money of my own… I'm sure these guys wouldn't mind making a deposit to the International Bank of Seigo.'
Plan in place, Seigo took the marked pebble and dropped it through the window, warping to catch it right before it hit the ground. He quickly and quietly warped the cabinet and the safe back to the storage garage. He took the beaker of Trigger as well in the heat of the moment. After cleaning the place out, Seigo warped back up to the roof of the room and took a look around at all the Trigger being produced.
'Even if I call the police, they'll just run for it and probably get away… but if I contact the police and take them down before they get here, they won't be able to get away. I might be committing vigilantism but… I can't risk letting them slide. Though, I won't be able to take them all on in a fair fight but then again…' Seigo looked back to the circuit breaker in the room. 'Who said I needed to?'
As the grunts below continued to work diligently making Trigger, the lights all around the warehouse cut out, confusing everyone in the building.
"What the hell's going on?!" one shouted, now blind.
"Looks like we lost power!" another replied.
pop* *ding* "Oof!" *crash* *pop* *ding* "Augh!" *crash* *pop*
"Da fu-ah!" *ding* *crash* *pop*
What the Yakuza couldn't see, was Seigo's Shadow Double, pebble in his left, metal baseball bat in his right, using a combination of Targeted Warp for movement, Body Burst for strength and speed, Full-Spectrum's thermal vision to see, and Bio-Scanner to locate, to utterly trash everyone as fast as possible. As for the real Seigo…
"Look, I know the Yakuza aren't considered a "big deal" anymore, but you're the police! Act like enforcing the law is slightly important!" He was at a payphone having trouble getting the police to respond to his call. "This is literally a Trigger factory. How is that not "important?!"
"Look, kid, we have a villain attack happening right outside our station. We're a little busy to deal with a child's problems. We'll send someone when we can spare a few officers. Good night."
"Wait-he hung up on me!" Seigo slammed the phone down, enraged at the nerve of that guy. Though he had to wonder why someone would be stupid enough to commit a crime next to a police station. It didn't matter now; he couldn't expect the police to make a hasty arrival… though he figure that did give him more time. Warping back to the warehouse, just in time to see his shadow finish with hog tying all the thugs with rope and chains he didn't remember having access to. Taichisu and the other boys weren't among them or in range of Bio-Scanner, so they must have been sent home.
"Hey, who's trashing our business?!" or went to get back up… they could have done that as well. Bio-Scanner alerted Seigo to another five guys rushing towards the building. A wall was suddenly blown out and flashlight beams filled his vision after the dust settled. Before he could move away from the scene though, "There they are! Get them!" Seigo could see through thermal that they came without weapons but that didn't stop something bright and warm whizzing by his hood and crashing into the crates behind him. Just as soon as they started fighting, now they were running the hell away. Seigo looked behind him only to be blinded by the heat in thermal vision, forcing him to turn it off, allowing him to read the writing on the crate that did nothing to improve the situation.
'Product: T4?! Explosive?!' Seigo wasted no time in warping the all of the unconscious thugs out of there before making himself scarce… just in time for the boom.
The entire building went up in a thunderous explosion that nearly rocked Seigo off his feet from over 200 hundred meters away. He had to run out of the alley he warped himself into to see the cloud of dust, fire and debris rising over the surrounding buildings and into the rainy night sky. As he looked at the sight that snowballed from him attacking the Yakuza, only one thought went through his mind and he voiced it loud and clear in language that Tai would frown upon:
"HOLY SHIT!"
Naomasa looked at Seigo's sleepy eyes. He could see it in them that he hadn't meant for things to turn out that bad but that hardly matters now.
"For what it's worth, we never found any corpses so we're mostly sure no one died," Naomasa explained, causing Seigo to relax a little. "With you warping everyone out of the building, you actually saved quite a few lives."
"That's good to know," Seigo gave a weak smile to hear that he did manage to get everyone out.
"While the fact that the police refused to respond just cause of a villain attack that was being handled by heroes is concerning, it, by no means, excuses any of the actions you performed," Naomasa scolded, "You have no right to use your quirk against criminals without permission from licensed professionals. But you know this since you wouldn't be here otherwise."
"Yes sir," Seigo meekly responded.
'His attitude and demeanor have changed dramatically. Recalling his near-death experience must have triggered something. Underneath all the bluster, might just be a scared child. He may even have a case of PTSD from it."
"So. did the files give you anything?" Naomasa decided to shift focus on less problematic things for now.
"A few things: Turns out the reason they didn't send any cops was because the operator and several others were on the take." Seigo causally revealed. "There wasn't even a villain attack there. He made it up to protect them. The feeling must not have been mutual since the Yakuza were basically blackmailing them without them knowing."
'Oh, joy. I was afraid he'd say something like that…'Naomasa thought as he took a deep inhale. Ota Ward's branch of the Tokyo Police, where the explosion took place, did have claims of corruption, but to hear it so casually made him sick that it was true. Naomasa motioned for Seigo to continue.
"Next, the recipe for the new T4 was there but you guys should have that now."
'Right, he sent that into the police two days after the incident. It was invaluable to developing a counter drug for the effects of Trigger but it's still dangerous to administer.'
"Lastly, it listed the boss of the operation as someone going by the name 'Overhaul'."
Naomasa walked out of the interrogation room, far more exhausted than he looked. He headed towards the observation room to find it a lot more crowded than he left it. Yagi and Tamakawa were still here but now a tall, lanky looking man in a white suit and glasses, a short elderly man in a yellow and white hero costume, a tired man wearing a black jumpsuit and a white scarf, and most surprisingly, a white animal in a suit.
"Well, if I knew we were going to have a party, I would have ordered takeout."
"Funny, I suggested the same," the lanky man said with an unreadable face though Naomasa could tell with his quirk that he actually thought his joke was funny.
"Tsukauchi, you remember Sir Nighteye and Gran Torino, yes?" Yagi asked, as he pointed to the lanky man and elderly man respectively.
"Yes, though I've only met Torino in person, it's nice to make your acquaintance, Nighteye. I wish it were under better circumstances," Naomasa lamented while extending his hand which Nighteye took without hesitation.
"Yes, well, when I heard about what you had arrested, I had to see it for myself."
"I wasn't expecting to see Eraserhead and Nezu here though," Gran Torino added, as he jumped down from his seat to the floor.
"I was the main hero on the case for the last few years as we thought Noh had some connection to the Trigger cases. Of course, I'd be here for this." Eraserhead grumbled tiredly. Clearly, he wasn't happy they'd gone for quite a few hours now.
"A boy with multiple quirks is fascinating to me but the fact that even All Might had trouble catching him made it impossible not to see this," Nezu, the weird bear-mouse-dog-thing, spoke joyfully, more hyped about this then anyone in the room.
"I feel like I heard a lot of things I shouldn't have, boss," Tamakawa didn't look so good, like he was struggling to process all the things he had just heard.
"Well, you know now so no point in worrying about it. Just keep the specifics to yourself," Naomasa replied with a smile that could only convey "sorry about this". Naomasa looked at the glass to see Seigo being taken back to his cell by the guards.
"So, what's the verdict?" Torino asked, stroking his beard with his gloved hand.
"There were no lies, not even about the number of quirks he thinks he has, but I could tell he was withholding certain pieces of info," Naomasa began after clearing his throat, "He's an experiment of All For One, that much we can be sure of but for what purpose, I can only speculate. There's also the matter of the battle between him and All Might, Endeavor and Eraserhead."
"You mean that strange quirk, right? He does have a power set perfect for infiltration and escape but that one doesn't fit," Eraserhead replied, "Maybe he was made for theft or espionage and they had this one thrown in?"
"All For One is too confident in his abilities to scare or force people to do his bidding. He's not the kind of guy to use a scalpel when he has a perfectly good sledgehammer on hand." Yagi answered, well versed in the subject of All For One. "As for espionage, he would have made a more… heroic-esqe power set rather than one that basically allows him to break into a building with nothing more than a rock. Most likely just to taunt me."
"There's also the fact that he was made before the fight with him ever accorded," Nezu added, "He might have been trying to remake 'Transporter' or he may have been just a test subject."
"To see if he could make more of him?" Nighteye asked, to which Nezu nodded.
"The boy has a useful set of quirks with each one aiding the others, the last one notwithstanding, but otherwise doesn't really fit into All For One's methodology. There was also the number he mentioned on the bracelet. '1113' means he could either be the third one… or the 1113th."
"These 'nomus' are going to be a problem if this is true," Eraserhead complained as he rubbed his eyes in annoyance. Dealing with Noh was enough of a problem.
"We can worry about the nomu later," Torino suddenly interjected. "If what the boy said is true and this Shigaraki and Kurogiri are working for All For One, that means he's still alive. We need to find him and deal with him, quickly."
"The name 'Overhaul' came up as well," Nighteye added. "He became head of the Shie Hassaikai over 2 year ago and then lost most of his lieutenants when they were captured. Noh was involved then too."
"There's a lot to go through and a lot I'll need to talk with him about later," Naomasa remarked as he rubbed his forehead, "Right now, why don't we all call it a night. It's technically morning now and half of us don't look very good."
With everyone in agreement, the group left the observation room leaving Naomasa alone… with Yagi and Nezu remaining behind with Yagi looking particularly troubled, though considering the situation, Naomasa could hardly blame him.
"Something else on your mind, Toshi?"
"There was something that was bugging me at first but once I heard his name, I suddenly remembered why he looked familiar. The hair color is different from before so he may have dyed it back in April but he was there when I met Young Uraraka," Toshi explained, voice grave.
"He was at the Sludge Villain attack? He was the child with that warp quirk?" Nezu's never-failing smile suddenly faltered. Naomasa suddenly realized what he was trying to say.
"That kid knows about One For All."