A day later...
BOOM
The sound barrier broke, visually appearing as a massive circle. The cape blew in the wind as Superman weaved through the villain's attacks.
"SUPERMAN!" The villain shouted maniacally before shooting out another dozen energy orbs at Superman. Superman narrowed his eyes as he increased the throttle. He boomed yet again, catching the villain by the leg and throwing him far away from the city.
TSSSSSSK
Superman dodged the feather, a suspiciously sharp feather.
"Hawks..." He muttered before turning back to the villain.
The villain hasn't fallen yet. Superman rushed behind him, caught his leg again, spinning him faster than the human eye could perceive, and threw him onto the ground.
"Eh, he'll deal with it, he's strong enough," he grumbled before he narrowly missed another feather. "Hawks! We're in the same team here, man."
FWIP–FWIP–FWIP!
Three more feathers sliced past Superman's face, close enough to give his cheek a cool breeze.
From above, Hawks hovered, arms crossed behind his head. "Turn over yourself, Superman."
"I'm sorry, but I can't do it," Superman replied. "Get the villain to prison." He said before bolting off faster than the Hawks could respond.
"...Huh."
He uncrossed his arms, wings spreading wide as he hovered downward, eyes narrowing.
"Since when does the Big Blue Boy Scout skip the clean-up?" He muttered.
WHOOSH!
Hawks turned to the criminal, flew over to him, and grabbed his hand before taking off.
The villain groaned, coughing as Hawks yanked him up by the arm. His body was bruised and battered.
Hawks carried the villain higher, banking sharply toward the massive gray complex that loomed on the outskirts of the city.
The villain groaned, blood still dripping down his chin. "Tch… Superman… always plays rougher than he admits…"
"Cry me a river, tough guy," Hawks quipped, feathers adjusting to keep them steady as they descended toward the sprawling supermax facility.
They landed in the reinforced courtyard with a solid thud. He threw the villain against the wall as the guards poured out, apprehending the villain.
The guards swarmed the villain, shackles clamping down with a hiss of glowing restraints. He hissed in pain.
Hawks looked perplexed. "Superman skipped the clean-up..." he sighed. "Anyways, HPSC called a meeting, I should go." He whispered to himself.
----------------------------
Hero Public Safety Commission
The projector hummed, casting an image of Superman on the wall. The shot was from a street camera: cape snapping in the wind, red boots hovering a foot above the asphalt, civilians staring up in awe and fear.
"Superman," the commissioner said flatly, tapping a file on the table. Japanese national. No registry. No hero license. No legal standing."
Across from her, a group of senior heroes sat. Mt. Lady leaned back in her chair, frowning. "Does it matter? Guy saved half of Musutafu by himself. Earthquakes, villains, collapsing infrastructure—he shows up first every damn time."
Edgeshot looked at Mt Lady. "It matters because he bypasses the law. If every quirked powerhouse decided they didn't need licenses, the hero society would collapse. We're already barely keeping vigilantes under control. And the hero killer guy running rampant in the streets, killing corrupt heroes, though a good deed, a crime is a crime."
On the far side, Hawks gave a lazy stretch. "Yeah, but we're not talking about some alleyway punk. This is Superman. Stronger than him in his prime, if the footage is legit." He pointed to All Might. "If we crack down on him and the public finds out? Forget 'vigilante', they've already started calling him the Symbol of Hope within just one year of operation."
"He's a freaking missile, and he ain't gonna stop now, is he?" All Might muttered.
"A missile without a launch code, without a controller. A weapon walking around in human skin."
"The people are safer with him out there! Isn't that the entire point of this system?" All Might retorted. Of course, he did. He'd met him once, and that was more than enough for him to tell what kind of a man Superman was.
"Point of the system? No. The point is order. If we let one man stand above it, then the entire foundation crumbles."
Mt. Lady scoffed. "Tell that to the crowds chanting his name. He sneezes in the middle of a disaster zone, and suddenly, three buildings don't collapse. He's like Jesus or something."
Hawk sighed, "I met him this morning, he apprehended a villain and got away, seemed like he was in a hurry," he reported.
"You didn't chase him?"
"Yeah, chase the fastest man on Earth, who can also fly," Hawk responded, sarcasm clear.
"Hawks-"
"What? Would you like to apprehend the most dangerous man on the planet, who's stronger than us by miles? I'd say leave him, we can't get to him anyway."
"Hawks, your flippancy aside, your point is valid. We cannot catch him, not with conventional assets. But that does not mean we ignore him. An unregistered power operating beyond oversight—this is unacceptable."
"Unacceptable?" All Might's voice boomed. "He's saved more people in a year than most Pro Heroes manage in their careers. You would rather have let Shibuya burn so the paperwork looked clean?"
"Don't twist this," Edgeshot cut in. "This isn't about gratitude. It's about survival. If Superman decides tomorrow that we are the problem, who stops him?"
The Commissioner tapped the folder again. "Which is why oversight is non-negotiable. I want him registered. Licensed. Monitored. I. NEED TO KNOW. WHO THE HELL IS SUPERMAN?"
"Superman must reveal his identity, obtain a license, and operate under the same rules as every other Pro Hero. In exchange, his vigilante crimes will be pardoned. A clean slate."
...
...
..
The silence was deafening.
"Get it?" She asked.
-------------------
Meanwhile, across the city...
News footage flickered across multiple screens in the dimly lit bar. Superman carrying the survivors. The HPSC's stern-faced commissioner speaking at a press conference. The same loop, over and over.
One screen showed a news anchor: "-continues to operate without official sanction, raising questions about the future of hero regulation-"
Another displayed social media feeds: #SupermanSavesUs trending alongside #UnlicensedVigilante.
In the shadows between the flickering displays, red eyes watched.
Tap.
Tap.
Tap.
"Kurogiri... what do we do about this 'Superman'? All Might was our target, but this Superman seems to be a bigger threat than him." The man asked, scratching the back of his neck, almost desperately.
"Panic. It doesn't suit a leader, Shigaraki," Kurogiri said, pouring some whiskey.
Shigaraki's hand twitched near his neck, scratching harder. "I'm not panicking! I just… damn it, this guy's not normal, Kurogiri. All Might was supposed to be the ceiling. The wall we had to break. But this- this freak? He's breaking the sky."
"His strength, his speed, his durability, his flight, his heat vision, his weird freeze breath thing, he's like a fucking successful version of our Nomu, except it's one of those despicable heroes," Tomura complained again, scratching harder.
Kurogiri passed the cup of whisky to Shigaraki, "Then we have to find a way to control him. Our main priority is still All Might, Shigaraki. That's our Master's enemy. We need to find his weak point. Use that to bend him to our will."
Shigaraki looked at Kurogiri, a sinister smile stretching on his face. "You mean his family..." he said.
"Precisely, but to do that, we'd need to find out who he is," Kurogiri told.
"And how do we do that?"
"Information, Shigaraki. Every wall has a crack. Even gods leave footprints when they walk among men."
Shigaraki's nails dug into his neck harder, skin breaking. "He's too fast. Too strong. We can't tail him, can't touch him. So how do we get close enough to find the crack?"
"We don't chase him. We make him come to us."
Shigaraki stopped scratching. His hand hovered midair. "…What?"
"We create a situation," Kurogiri said. "A disaster large enough, loud enough. Something he cannot ignore. And when he comes-"
"We watch. We follow. We wait for him to slip." Shigaraki grinned, the skin around his mouth splitting slightly. "You're saying… bait the god."
"Bait him, yes," Kurogiri replied. "But do not fight him. Fighting him now is suicide. We study him. His patterns. His attachments."
Shigaraki tilted his head, smirking like a child planning arson. "And if he doesn't have attachments? What then?"
Kurogiri poured another glass. "Everyone has a weakness, Shigaraki. If not people, then principles. And principles can break."
Shigaraki stood up, "What about that USJ attack? When are those annoying kids gonna come?"
"Two days. The schedule is confirmed. Class 1-A will attend disaster training at the USJ. All Might will be there."
Shigaraki's grin widened, teeth flashing through cracked lips."Perfect. The Symbol of Peace, trapped with his little playthings. And Superman…"
"He'll come. He cannot resist a stage like this. Children in peril. His principles will chain him to us more tightly than any Nomu ever could."
Shigaraki began laughing, growing more uncontrollable, it reached to the point of he held his stomach.
Hhhah… hhhaahh…
He bent forward, shoulders shaking violently, hands clutching his ribs as if the sheer force of his amusement was tearing him apart.
"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAH-!"
His head snapped back, and the glass Kurogiri held trembled faintly as that laughter crawled through the room.
"We'll put him on his knees, Kurogiri. We'll make him beg. And when they see him break… when they see their precious Superman fall like the rest…"
Shigaraki dragged one trembling hand up to his neck and clawed hard, leaving angry red lines in his skin as he hissed, giggling now, giggling like a rabid child.
"Bring the Nomu," he whispered, licking cracked lips.
The other members of their League just sat there, listening to both of them talking.
One of them, Twice, just sat beside Himiko Toga. He leaned into her ear, "He's a fucking psycho."
Toga grinned, tilting her head, her knife glinting in the low light. "Mmm… I like psycho. Psycho makes things fun. Psycho makes things bleed."
Twice groaned, holding his head. "Yeah, but psycho also gets us all killed. And I like me."
"Shut up, twice," Shigaraki rasped without looking back.
Toga leaned toward Twice again, giggling like a schoolgirl. "I like him like this."
Twice whispered back, voice trembling, "I don't."
--------------------------
[A/N: I used this chapter to just take care of the villains. The next one would most probably be world-building. Updates will be more frequent from now on :>]