Recovery and Discussion

I woke up to sounds. Unintelligible talk rang out around me piercing deep in my ears and ringing throughout my skull. I let out a groan; anything to cease the noise. But the voice only continued to increase on all sides. Were they arguing? Opening my eyes I could only make out three blurry shapes. I couldn't focus at all, it was like looking at that blind spot when you have a migraine. Another pang of sharp pain struck my head making me screw my eyes shut. I pressed both hands on my forehead, rubbing gently in a circular motion.

Deep breaths. I repeat the 'in and out' mantra in my head to center myself.

Recon, what information do I have? From what I made out the three shapes were two each on my side and the larger one further by my feet. Wolfman is in the back but I don't know who's by my side. I can assume I'm on a couch or bed due to the squishy feeling below me. Just as I was getting a semblance of togetherness another sharp pain threw my thoughts off course.

I need the voices to stop. Now. I can't gather my thoughts like this. I test my vocal cords, drawing out a long groan. The voices are louder now. My head is spinning and I start dry heaving. The feeling of liquid slowly creeping up my throat.

"Szhhhut Uhb!" I manage to drawl out - acutely aware of how wet it sounded - a slightly legible sentence. It worked though since, with my admonishment, the noises died down. I'm pretty sure I went in and out of consciousness a few times. Since each time I attempted to open my eyes the three blurry shapes were sitting in different spots.

Reaching to my side I feel the coolness of the wooden table. Cupping my hand sideways I slowly moved them across the smooth surface. I feel a soft tap on the back of my hand and I stop. Almost immediately a cold glass is placed in my hand. Sitting up slowly - ignoring the pain reverberating through my skull - I carefully bring the glass to my lips. It wasn't filtered. I had always disliked unfiltered water; something about the taste. Now wasn't the time for that so I ignored the flavor and kept drinking.

Placing the drink down and feeling much better I lay down and start to think. Erasure Head - Shota Aizawa - was there, at the station. Knowing his personality - and heroes in general - the fact that I'm a kid and a villain definitely piqued his interest and turned a lot of heads. The things I know about him might be too influenced by fanfiction with the whole 'Dadzawa' thing but it's better to be careful and assume he is interested. If he contacts 'The Rat' then things get a lot harder for me. A super-intelligent hero giving advice to a quirk canceling one is the last thing I need.

With my head feeling slightly better, I push myself up into a sitting position and firmly clutch the armrest my head was laying on just in case I topple over. I take a second to observe my surroundings. The couch was a smooth black leather, with a few suspiciously red stains blotching its surface. The room was a mess, about the size of my old living room, with cracked red paint that dotted all over the walls. Metal folding chairs were strewn about the room, with Sam sitting in one to my left, holding a few pill bottles and intently watching me. Haru was laying on four chairs just behind the wooden table, playing some game on his phone. He glanced at me for a few seconds before returning to tapping furiously on the screen. Finally, Wolfman was laying down circularly - like a cat or dog - in the right corner of the room, his tail slowly swaying back and forth.

"Are you okay, Boss?" A feminine voice rang out. Sam.

"Yeah, I'm fine," I slowly said, "Drop the 'Boss' though, it's getting annoying."

"Yes, b-hey!" Haru was rubbing his forehead where Sam had thrown a bottle. She sat up and went to me, took my hand, placing two small pills in it. "Aspirin. It should help."

I didn't think she would poison me so with a quick motion I popped the pills in my mouth and took a swig from my glass of water to wash it down. "Drugs? Already? What would your mother think," Haru said, with mock sternness and a wave of his index finger. Ignoring him I focused on Sam.

"Sam, how are things with the lackeys? Did they recover the money?"

"One group didn't make it but the rest made it back undisturbed. Koji is currently counting the money."

At least five members are lost, "Which group was it?"

"Group C, the members who weren't present for your rise to power of you're wondering."

"What happened?"

"They tried to betray you, so I took care of the problem," There was nothing in her eyes as she said it. No remorse, no regret. My speculations on her were seeming more and more likely. She was the type of person that was fiercely loyal and took orders, one of the more dangerous ones, the ones that would do anything you said even if it was the vilest and most disgusting thing on the planet. Useful.

"I see, good job. That should send a message to the others with ideas."

I looked to the corner, "Wolfman, now that's you've escaped the police and All for One are you going to keep your end of the deal?"

"Hey, who is this All for One guy?" Haru said, looking away from his phone.

"A Quirk stealer." Wolfman said, his voice hard.

Sam's head turned to us slightly and Haru's eyes gained a level of sharpness i handt thought they could. Something to take note of.

"A Quirk stealer who had been alive for over a hundred years at that," I added. That got a reaction from Wolfman, a small tense. "How long," Wolfman said, his voice pained, "No, what year is it?" I glance at Haru. Taking a hint he looks at his phone and drags his thumb down on the screen, "It is currently 4:27 am, February 13th, 2168," Wolfman groaned, it was a groan I was all too familiar with, one of pain, disbelief, and grief.

I decided to give him some space.

"Sooo, if this guy has lived for over a hundred years that means he has hundreds of Quirks right? How are we supposed to beat this guy?"

"He has some weaknesses, Haru. For one, he thinks he's a god among men, the years of stealing Quirks and getting stronger and stronger have extremely inflated his ego. He doesn't believe anyone could kill him and if anyone could it would be his Quirk counterpart, One for All, All Might."

"Huh, All Might is this dude's nemesis, I guess that makes sense. What's his Quirk though, it just seems like an emitter strength Quirk. Not a lot of versatility."

"It's a stockpile Quirk. It gets stronger the more it's passed down. Like a-"

"A discount version of mine?" He offered.

"If anything, yours is the discount version."

"But, the threshold will be met soon. The next user will be able to use all nine of its Quirks."

"Okay, there's the versatility. How do you know all this?"

"Does it matter?" I said, my voice harsher than intended.

He put his hands up in a placating gesture, "Woah, Woah, didn't mean to touch a nerve."

I sigh, "Anyways he's weakened, both of them are actually. They each have one foot through death's door. But we're not ready for a confrontation first, we need to build notoriety, build strength by gathering allies and members."

"I'll help," Wolfman said. I suppressed my smile. I knew he was paying attention. I noticed the slight twitch of his ears when I mentioned All for One was weakened. Now that he knows I actually have information on him, more than the average person would know, he ought to be more interested. Placing my hands together I look at him, "Sure, you were always welcome too. If you're going to really join we need a name. I'm sure you don't want to keep being called 'Wolfman'.

"I-I don't remember. All for One had me imprisoned for such a long time that I can barely remember my life before." I could hear the low rumbling of a growl, "But. Call me Gale for now. It means something to me. I can feel it, even if I can't remember the reason."

I finally allowed my smile to show, "Okay, Gale, Welcome to The Pieces."

—

"No. This is not all right Aizawa-san." A small white animal mutters out. Nezu. His day had been going quite well but of course, work, as it seemed, always found a way to give him problems. Now he has to deal with one of All For One's experiments on the loose. With children no less. Nezu didn't particularly agree with the way All Might handled the situation but he never really liked humans so maybe these feelings were due to the man looking like an animal in appearance.

Of course, Aizawa couldn't fully understand Nezu's annoyance. In his eyes, it was a group of idiots playing villains bound to be captured and sent to a correctional facility eventually. The only real danger is the escapee.

Rubbing the bridge of his furry nose Nezu tried to explain the severity of the situation. "We have a group of young children affiliated with a gang. We may be able to blow this under the rug but if the press finds out it makes the heroes look like idiots. What experienced hero loses children?"

"The girl knew who I was. She went all out before I could cancel her Quirk. Most villains don't even know who I am, let alone children. It was a mistake on my part but It would have been too dangerous to run into the mass of bubbles blind."

Nezu sighed. He needed to regain his composure, "Yes, you're right."

"Have you identified the kids yet?"

"No, but we have a few suspects for the white-haired one, since she seems older. The others will take some time" Nezu pulled out three papers, "We have Kana Takahashi, born on January 4th, 2150. Saki Nakayama, born on August 15th, 2153. And Sam Hirano, Born on June 23rd, 2152. Each of these three has one thing in common, their Quirkless"

"The girl obviously had a Quirk. You watched the footage."

"Yes, yes, I was getting to my explanation. My running theory is that she was born into this life. She's too experienced. The way she moves is like she's been doing it for a long time. So, if you have parents who are villains and don't want their daughter, a potential villain, to be tracked, what's the best thing to do?"

Aizawa's expression was grim, "Set it up so she's Quirkless."

"Exactly. It's just a theory, but I think it's likely. So far I've put in her file that she has some sort of metal-based telekinesis."

"And the others?"

"Inconclusive. I haven't found anyone who registered with a water-type Quirk that specializes in bubbles. And the boy, who seems to have an energy leeching Quirk, came up with the same result."

Aizawa grunted, "We need to capture these three before they do something they can't come back from."

"Yes," Nezu stacked the files and put them aside. Opening a drawer he pulled out a larger manilla folder, "On to other matters. I heard you were interested in becoming a teacher."

***

I woke up today and decided to finish the chapter I've been slowly writing. I've been reading a web serial called Worm lately (It's really good you should read it) and I feel like my first-person writing has gotten a lot better because of it.

This fanfiction will still have an inconsistent schedule but with summer break coming up soon I'll have more time to write.

Have a good day. ಠ_ಠ