Chapter Text
Mitsuki sat across from Carol and the rest of her guests. Masaru quickly joined them and sat next to Mistsuki. They were within the den of the Bakugou Residence, and a tense silence hung in the air.
“Ahem.” Masaru cleared his throat and decided to take center stage in this conversation. “Now you said that you are looking for our godson, Izuku. I take it that you’re the rescue party from the dimension he’s been in for the last ten years?”
That seemed to catch Carol and the Champions off guard. “You know about that?” asked Carol.
Masaru and Mitsuki nodded. “Yes, Izuku told us when he came to visit.”
Carol felt a surge of renewed resolve. This was the first real lead that they’d had since getting here. “So he’s been here?”
“Yes, he came here looking to get some answers about his parents,” explained Masaru. Mitsuki looked like she had swallowed a lemon, and Masaru couldn’t blame her. “But sadly, we had to tell him that they were dead.”
“So he already knows,” said Cho. “At least we don’t have to be the ones to deliver that bombshell.”
JAB
“Ow!” shouted Cho. Viv had punched him in his de-hulked ribs.
Getting the conversation back on track, Carol asked the all-important question. “If you’ve had contact with him, then does that mean that you know where he’s been staying all this time?”
Masaru and Mitsuki nodded. “Yes, we know where he’s been staying.” Masaru got a pen and a slip of paper and began to jot something down. “He’s been given a place to stay at the UA School of Heroics. They’re located in Mustafu.” Masaru handed the note to the group before him. “Will you be needing a ride?” asked Masaru.
“No,” said Carol. “We’ve been able to get around just fine so far. We won’t impose on you.” Carol stood up and took Eri back from Cho. Everyone else followed her example and stood up before heading for the door.
“Hold on a minute,” Mitsuki called out. The team turned to look at her. “I know that this might be a lot to ask, but how possible is it for someone on our side to head to your side? I’ve already lost Izuku once, along with his family…I don’t want to lose him again.”
Carol looked between herself and the Champions. “I’ll see if we can arrange something.”
“Thank you. That’s all that I ask.”
____________________________________________________________________________
Within the cordoned-off area of Deika City, Slidin’ Go led his fellow brethren from the Meta Liberation Army to escape the city. Everything had gone downhill so fast. First, that mysterious armored woman showed up, taking down their glorious leaders. Then she tore apart the city to leave our secrets out in the open. Now the police, military, and pro heroes were combing the city to arrest them all. At first, the first wave of pro heroes was manageable. It was a bunch of no names from below the hundredth-ranking mark. When those bastards found some of their secrets, that was reason to call in the big names.
Endeavor. Mirko. Hawks. Crust. Gang Orca. Ryukyu. Snatch. Mount Lady. Shishido. Fatgum. Airjet. Backdraft. Death Arms. Slugger. Kamui Woods. Gunhead. Mr. Brave. Ms. Joke. Rock Lock. Uwabami. Mister Blaster. Along with all of their agencies.
Still, Slidin’ Go and his people managed to avoid them. He made sure to memorise all of the exit points in Deika. He even managed to coax out the lesser-known exits from Geten over drinks. Slidin’ Go was down with overturning the current status quo and putting strong quirks on top, but he wasn’t dumb enough not to have an exit strategy.
“We’re almost there, people.” Slidin’ Go led his people underground to a bunker that had an escape tunnel. It was on the outer edge of town, meaning that it would still be a while before the authorities found it. Slidin’ Go was thankful. Before comms went down, he had heard that All-Might and that crazy kid from Kamino had shown up.
“Alright, we’re here,” Slidin’ Go said. He punched in the combination on the security pad and was instantly let in.
“So what comes next, boss?” asked one of Slidin’ Go’s subordinates. It was a man with a fiery head quirk. He could fire flames from his scalp.
Slidin’ Go turned to answer his subordinate, but his reply was drowned out by the sound of the ceiling coming crashing down.
CRASH
Slidin’ Go and his cronies fell back on their behinds as they were nearly flattened by debris. They looked up, expecting to see All-Might. Instead, they saw the kid from Kamino. Warbird.
“I’m sorry to say this, but you guys aren’t going anywhere.” The kid stood triumphantly in his pristine hero costume with light radiating off of him. His eyes glowed, and his fists were clenched with pulsating light.
“Die, oppressor!” shouted one of Slidin’ Go’s cronies. He had the ability to turn his arm into a crossbow and fire arrows. He tried to aim, but before he could even lift his arm, Warbird was in his face and driving his fist into his gut. Slidin’ Go could tell it wasn’t even the brat’s full strength. It was just enough force to disorient and disable the fool. In an instant, the poor sap was on the ground and clenching his gut.
Not deterred by their ally’s swift defeat, the rest of Slidin’ Go’s crew tried to attack Warbird. Electricity, rubber fists, air blasts, paralyzing tongues, and many more. They all tried to use their quirks ot take down Warbird. The kid responded by moving at the speed of literal light. No one could track his movements. All Slidin’ Go could see was his men being taken down like a game of whack-a-mole. In moments, they were all laid out on the ground and unconscious.
Slidin’ Go was now on his own. A commander without subordinates. Slidin’ Go watched Warbid turn to him, arms on his hips. “So do you want to resist arrest as well?” asked the kid. “I’d prefer if you just surrendered. No need to drag this out. If you surrender soon, then we can get your friends some medical attention as well.”
Was this really how it was going to end for him? Beaten by some punk kid who was too strong for the rules to apply to? Slidin’ Go knew that the MLA prioritized strong quirks, but he knew for a fact that the leaders always had themselves in mind when it came to the top of the food chain, not some punk kid who came out of nowhere. There was only one thing for Slidin’ Go to do in this situation. “Alright, I’ll surrender.”
The kid looked relieved. “Thanks, much appreciated. I don’t like having to fight people who are so much weaker than me. It feels like I’m bullying them.” Slidin’ Go watched the kid reach behind his back. What for? He did not know. What he knew was that this was his chance.
While the kid was distracted, Slidin’ Go activated his quirk and shot across the distance of the bunker at insane speeds. His plan was simple: grab the kid by his face and race through as many walls of the bunker as he could. This kid may be tough, but even he has to buckle under that much repeated head trauma. All he needed to do was grab the kid by his head and…why wasn’t the kid budging?
Slidin’ Go had his grip on the kid’s head, but that was as far as his plan got. His sliding quirk wasn’t moving him forward at the speed that he wanted. He was stock still. Slidin’ Go couldn’t believe it! The kid was this strong!?
Slidin’ Go heard an exasperated sigh. “I was really hoping you were genuine, but I guess not.” Slidin’ Go watched the kid raise his hand, then swipe the fallen hero across the chin. From there, Slidin’ Go’s world went dark.
____________________________________________________________________________
Warbird sighed. “I hate when I have to punch down,” he said to himself. Moving past his distaste, Warbird put two fingers to his ear and spoke aloud. “This is Warbird reporting in. I’ve apprehended the last of the people on Deika City’s Census List. They’re all incapacitated and ready for pick up.”
-BZZT-
‘Thank you, Warbird. We’re sending over police and heroes right now to transport them to our location.’
“Cool. I’ll wait for them to arrive,” Warbird said.
“Affirmative.”
The transmission cut out, and Warbird was left by himself and the unconscious terrorists. He was about to check in with All-Might when he heard a sound that was rising with each second.
“Mine, Mine, MINE, MINE, MINE! ” A new hole was torn open next to the one Warbird had made during his search for the terrorists. What caused the hole landed right next to where Warbird had landed and was now crouched down, waiting for the dust to settle. The new assailant looked up at Warbird with a manic grin. “MINE!” she shouted. She stood and pointed a finger at Warbird. “Fight me, Warbird!”
It was the pro heroine, Mirko. She was a hero that Warbird wasn’t familiar with. She wasn’t around when he was a kid, so she must have shown up during the last ten years. She was relatively young, but was already in the top ten. Warbird thought that was impressive. Still, he wasn’t going to indulge her.
“No, Ms. Mirko,” Warbird said emphatically.
Mirko stomped her feet. “Why not you coward!?”
“Because we’re on the job right now. Also, what hero picks a fight with other heroes?” Warbird really shouldn’t have asked that question. Plenty of his friends and colleagues fought each other for one reason or another. There was the Civil War back in the day, the tiff between the Avengers and X-Men, and the war between the Inhumans and the X-Men. Heroes fighting heroes was common back home. Warbird still didn’t like it. “Also, why fight me?” he asked. “All-Might’s here and he’s in top form!”
She stomped her foot again. “I’m working my way up to the main course!”
Warbird just stared at Mirko, then stared at the unconscious men who were supposed to be getting transported. “Shouldn’t you be getting these guys to the holding area?” he asked.
“What? Why would I do that?”
“Because that was what I radioed for? Why else are you here?”
Mirko rolled her eyes. “To fight you! When I heard you radioing in, I followed your location and got ready to attack!”
Warbird dragged his hand down his face. He couldn’t believe this woman was a pro hero.
As Mirko geared up to badger Warbird some more, the heat in the area spiked ever so slightly. Warbird looked up and saw Endeavor accompanied by his sidekick, Burnin, floating down from the sky. “Alright, Mirko, that’s enough. Warbird is right. We still have jobs to do.” Along with Endeavor and Burnin, the rest of the Flaming Sidekickers, along with police and soldiers, rappelled down into the hole to apprehend the terrorists. They were tied up and lifted out of the bunker.
“Killjoy,” said Mirko. With her chance ruined, she leaped out of the hole, startling a few officers and soldiers, and went away.
Warbird sighed again and looked toward Endeavor. “Thanks for that. I wasn’t sure if she was going to let go of trying to fight me.”
“Think nothing of it,” said Endeavor. “Now, head back to the command center. You may be here as All-Might’s official sidekick, but you are still a student.”
Warbird chuckled at that. No one here knew that he had already graduated from high school and college. “Right, sir.” Warbird turned to leave, but not before Eneavor called out to him one more time.
“Before you go, one more question?” Warbird stopped in his tracks and turned to listen. “Where were you born, if you don’t mind me asking?”
“Oh, that’s no problem. I was born here in Japan, but I spent the last ten years of my life in America, or just generally abroad.”
“Thank you. You can go now,” said Endeavor
That exchange was weird, but Warbird shrugged and flew away.
____________________________________________________________________________
Endeavor watched the young hero known as Warbird fly away. Once he was out of sight, Endeavor flipped open his phone and started texting the family group chat.
FlameHero: He was born here in Japan, but went abroad for ten years. See if you can narrow it down.
Endeavor put away his phone, but he could hear the notifications going off. Truly, his children worked fast.
____________________________________________________________________________
Warbird was flying through the air towards the command center like Endeavor had asked. He was by himself until he heard the rumble of an engine.
VROOM
Right next to Warbird, the All-Mobile pulled up. On board were Night Eye and Gran Torino. Just like last time.
“I hear you rounded up the last of the terrorists. Good job, brat,” said Gran Torino. He sat in the passenger seat with Nighteye, who was flying the car.
“Thanks,” said Warbird bashfully. He looked around, noticing their missing number. “Where’s All-Might?”
Nighteye spoke up. “He’ll be joining us soon. He’s finished up things on his end.”
“Here I am, joining you in the air like a normal hero!”
“Speak of the devil and he will appear,” said Gran Torino.
“Hahahaha! I swear it’s great to be back in my prime! I feel like a young man again!” All-Might did barrel rolls in the air as he flew between the All-Mobile and Warbird.
“I wouldn’t say you’re back in your prime,” Nighteye corrected. “You’re still in your fifties, All-Might. You still have to worry about your age catching up with you.”
“Bah! I’ve still got a few good years left in me!” All-Might waved off the concerns about his age. He looked at Warbird. “How did things go on your end? All good, I hope.”
Warbird nodded. “Apprehended the last few terrorists and called it in. For some reason, Mirko tried to fight me?”
“Why did she try to fight you?” asked Nighteye, voicing everyone’s question.
“I don’t know. She just wanted to fight. She said something about working her way up to All-Might.” Izuku gestured to his childhood idol.
All-Might put on a thoughtful expression as if trying to recall a memory. “Hmm, I have heard talk of young Mirko challenging other heroes to spars, though this is the first that I’ve heard of her wanting to fight me. Well, it’s no matter. I relish a good spar with my fellow heroes.”
The group continued to chat as they reached the command center located at Detnerat’s former headquarters. Officers and soldiers moved with purpose as they ushered terrorists into temporary holding cells. The more dangerous perps were kept under armed guard by soldiers armed with the latest in weapons technology.
Warbird and the rest were ushered to a conference room where they were asked to wait while the other heroes arrived.
After about half an hour of waiting, the gathered heroes arrived and were seated. Standing at the head of the conference room was Commissioner Tsurugamae. Instead of his usual suit, he was dressed in police issue emergency gear. So were many other officers on site. It was necessary. Many of the residents of Deika City did not quietly surrender.
“Now that everyone is here, we can get down to explaining what is really going on here.” Tsurugamae gestured to Officer Tamakawa, who pressed a button and activated a digital projector. On screen, the headquarters of Detnerat. The same building that they were all presently in.
“As you all know, a distress signal was sent out to all forms of law enforcement in the country. Police, military, pro heroes. Etc. When we got here, we were all expecting to find the place overrun by villains. Instead, we found the entire city ransacked. Our first instincts told us that we had missed the attack. Further inspection revealed that the areas that were attacked were housing illegal firearms, trigger drugs, military vehicles, data caches with dirt on every politician or person of importance in the country, military style training barracks, combat-ready support items, and much, much more. Whoever attacked this place did it with the intent to expose Detnerat as a front for being an MLA.”
Tsurugamae gestured to Tamakawa. Tamakawa pressed the slide, and another image showed up. Warbird nearly gasped. It was one of Tony’s Armors. Warbird couldn’t help but think that Tony had come over here. But what could he possibly have to gain from attacking Detnerat? Even if they were secretly this ‘Meta Liberation Army,’ Tony had no way of knowing that. “These are images caught on various surveillance feeds.”
“Is that a suit of armor?” asked Ryukyu. “With energy katanas?”
“And it’s got flight capability,” said Airjet. Someone who used armor as well. “It looks more advanced than my own gear.”
Endeavor chimed in. “This looks like the sort of thing that would come from I-Island. Has anyone reached out to them for confirmation?”
The chief shook his head. “We made a formal request for confirmation with I-Island, but hearing back from them is going to take time. In the meantime, we do have a name to go with these images. We interrogated several MLA members, including the members of Detnerat’s board. While trying to hide the truth, they mentioned the name of their attacker. They go by ‘Gwenpool.’”
Warbird facepalmed once he heard the name of his friend.
“Is that their actual name?” asked Gang Orca. “Are we dealing with an American?”
Mister Blaster scoffed and folded his arms. “First the kid, now some other American?” he gestured to Warbird. “Are we sure the Americans aren’t making a power play?”
Warbird sighed. He needed to get ahead of this. GP was the last person who should have come to rescue him. She makes things so much worse.
Warbird raised his hand and got everyone’s attention. “I may know who’s inside the armor.”
“Ah-ha!” Mister Blaster declared. “I told you the Americans were up to something!” Mister Blaster pointed a finger at Warbird. “What are you bastards up to!? Trying to steal back the focus of heroics from Japan!?”
POP
Gunhead struck Mister Blaster in the back of the head. Mister Blaster went limp and unconscious. Gunhead looked at Warbird. “Could you explain what you mean?”
“Her name is Gwendolyn Poole. With an ‘E’. She’s from America like I am, and she’s a bit of a wild card and a loose cannon. She’s trained in how to fight, and I don’t know how best to explain her power beyond the fact that she knows a lot of stuff that she has no feasible way of knowing. This includes top secret information. Personal information. And sometimes, the future.”
“So she knew that the MLA was still operating, then,” said Endeavor. “But why didn’t she alert someone?” he asked.
“Obviously because she wanted the action for herself,” replied Mirko. “I can respect wanting all the enemies for yourself. Definitely something that I would do.”
“But what about that suit of Armor?” asked Shishido. “That’s not standard equipment. That’s something out of I-Island or some other government think tank. If it's not part of her quirk, then where did she get it?”
Warbird wasn’t keen on mentioning Tony. All-Might had mentioned that his circumstances weren’t being made public. Everyone was under the impression that he was from America and waiting to be picked up. Those in the know were the Commission, All-Might, his circle, UA’s Teachers, the Bakugous, and certain members of the police force, such as Commissioner Tsurugamae, who was giving Warbird a certain look at the moment. Warbird couldn’t spill the beans on this.
“I don’t know,” was all that Warbird could say. Technically, it was the truth. Warbird knew for a fact that Tony would never let anyone remotely similar to Deadpool anywhere near any of his Armors.
“Well, what can you tell us about her?” asked Mount Lady.
“Since she knows a lot of secrets, she tends to try and solve other people’s problems for them. Usually to disastrous results,” Warbird explained.
Endeavor chimed in. “And seeing as she just attacked an organization that we didn’t even know was still operating, she is liable ot attack others.” Endeavor paused and thought of something. “What are the chances that she’s going after the League of Villains?”
Warbird thought about it. Considering that the villain they fought at Kamino was the head honcho in charge of the League of Villains, and that Gwen had been the one to point Warbird in that direction, there’s a chance that she’ll go after them. “I think there’s a nonzero chance.”
Endeavor became quiet. “I think if we want to catch this girl, we should keep tabs on other villain groups. Put out feelers and try to ambush her while she’s in the act.”
All-Might chimed in. “That’s not a bad idea. And if this girl is targeting them, then that means that they may be up to worrisome plans. We can kill several birds with one stone.”
“We may be looking at the most dissolutions of Villain organizations in Japan’s history,” Ryukyu concluded.
“Yeah! Let’s kick some villain ass!” shouted Mirko.
Warbird and the heroes had a plan of action. Now they needed to implement it.
____________________________________________________________________________
VWORP
Sinister’s portal landed him in an underground lab. He was between a row of tubes containing grotesque creatures. All dark of skin and missing their scalps, with their brains showing. Following Sinister were his clones. They all looked like him but wore different clothes. One was dressed like a court wizard. One was dressed like a normal scientist. Another dressed like a politician. A witch doctor. A grand vizier. A high noble. And so on.
“Hm, it seems that we have stumbled into someone else's lab,” stated Sinister. “Their work is rather subpar.”
“Yes, quite. No sense for aesthetics,” said Clone 1. He went over to a computer, easily bypassed their security, and began looking at the handiwork. “It seems they are composed of the ‘quirks,’ probably the local name for mutations, of other individuals. Looking at this collection of abilities and the parameters, this creature is quite laughable. The regeneration is at least halfway decent, but it has glaring weaknesses. It can be overtaxed quite easily and outright stopped in other ways. The hack who designed this creature would have been better off coating their bones with a durable substance. If this world doesn’t have anything like Adamantium, then they could have easily fashioned some alloys.”
One of the other clones sighed. “We’ve been over this. The Adamantium bonding process, while effective in the short term, will only degrade the subject in the long run and deplete the effectiveness of the subject’s healing factor.”
Clone three chimed in. “They’re right. It would be more prudent to engineer a subject with a natural coating of Adamantium on its skeleton. I believe one of Wolverine’s children had a biological adaptation such as that. James Hudson Jr, I believe.”
“Do we have any DNA samples of him?” asked the second clone.
“I believe we do,” said Sinister. “Both with and without the Poison contamination. But enough about that. We simply must find the hack who designed these specimens. They are in dire need of an education in proper genetic manipulation.”
“Ahem!”
All the clones looked ahead at the end of the chamber where the tubes were housed. Standing there was a portly older gentleman with a thick mustache, flanked by grotesque creatures similar to the ones in the tubes. On the man’s shoulder was another such creature. Smaller in size with only two legs as appendages. It had an exposed brain like the rest and a dopey smile.
The man had a gun and was pointing it at Sinister and his clones as if he didn’t know what he was doing. “Who-who are you?” the man asked. “You are trespassing on the property of All-For-One! The Demon King of Japan!”
Sinister and his clones simply smiled. “I’m sorry, lad, but I don’t know who that is, nor do I care. Tell me, are you the one who designed these creatures?”
The portly man seemed to perk up once Sinister said ‘designed’ and not something defamatory, like ‘concocted.’
“Yes, they are some of my best work,” explained the man. “They have multiple quirks and have been biologically augmented to have superior physicality on par with All-Might.”
Sinister didn’t know who this All-Might was, but made a point to look into him. He sounded important. “Yes, yes. Now, how long have you been in the genetic experimentation game? From the looks of it, not that long, as your work still seems rudimentary.”
“Rudimentary?” the man said, insulted. “Sir, I will have you know that I am at the cutting edge of quirk theory! I have discovered things that even those fools on I-Island have yet to grasp. If anything, I am the foremost authority on quirk genetics!”
Sininser smiled. “Really, now? And what makes you so sure?” he asked.
The man smiled. “I have artificially managed to induce multiple quirks within a single target without them dying. This proves there are biological adaptations for such things. If that is the case, then humans will eventually be able to produce more than one quirk within themselves, given evolutionary timeframes. The rest of the world is still under the assumption that this is impossible.”
Sinister liked this young man(young by his standards). He was a fledgling in the genetics game and had clear passion. That also meant that he would be easy to manipulate. “What say I take you as my apprentice?”
The man looked at Sinister. “Poppycock! What man my age would be apprenticed to one so young? And let's not forget, I am the leading expert here.”
Sinister smiled. “Oh? Are you? Truly?” With a flick of his wrist, Sinister gripped one of the creatures guarding the man with telekinesis and crushed its head. He moved on and blasted the creature next to it with an energy blast, incinerating it. The man was finally catching on to what was going on and fired his gun at Sinister. He hit him square in the head. The bullet was pushed out along with some blood. The wound closed immediately, and Sinister’s pale flesh looked good as new.
Sinister walked toward the man and loomed over him. It wasn’t meant to be threatening, but it was nonetheless. “You see, young man , I have spent my entire existence tampering with the genetics of the empowered. I’ve used it to improve myself a great deal. From my appearance, to my mind, to abilities beyond your wildest imagination. Now here I find myself in your world. A world of possibilities that has yet to truly delve into the deep end of the potential of mutations. I wish to explore this world’s potential and conjure up new creations from it and further my research. You claim to be the most knowledgeable about this world’s genetics? Then prove it by aiding me in my research. I look around and I see wasted potential. Why not expand your horizons and become a true visionary of the genetic medium?” Sinister reached out with his hand. “Join me!”
Sinister saw the desperation in the man’s eyes. He knew that he was being offered something worthwhile. He needs only to take it.
“Yes! Teach me!” the man grabbed Sinister’s hand, and Sinister had to contain himself from laughing maniacally. So did his clones. This fool would give him all the information that he needed. Sinister does not take students. All he has are lackeys and patsies. This fool did not need to know that.
To Be Continued.