CHAPTER 009(Negotiations Pt.3)
Read auxiliary chapter World Info before starting the story.
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CHAPTER START---
"Hero?" Law couldn't quite wrap his mind around the absurdity and stupidity of that idea. "You want me to go to UA and become a hero?"
"Precisely," Nezu nods enthusiastically, "starting next year, this school year... let's just say things aren't right just yet."
"Why not just get me a Pro-Hero license now so I can start working off their sentence?" Law asks, "you know I'm already more capable than most heroes in Japan, just let me get to it."
"Unfortunately the Japanese constitution and hero regulations forbid that, plus you're only..."
"Fifteen," Law says.
"Exactly," although the truth was that Nezu wanted to force Law into a hero-centric environment alongside other young heroes for as long as possible, hoping that they rub off on him, but he would never say that. "And besides, if you are as good as you think then graduating UA shouldn't be an issue for you."
"It won't be," Law declares, "but it is a waste of time."
Nezu chuckles, "you'll find that every year there are exceptional prodigies, I'm sure you'll be able to find worthy competition, in fact, I guarantee you will."
"I doubt that," Law says. "But obviously you won't budge on this term, right?"
"Right."
"Sigh... so I heal your friend, attend UA, and how much can I get their sentence reduced?"
"If you perform well enough it could be entirely," Law perks up at that. "But we can discuss that at your graduation, and every year afterward. Until then they will remain exactly where they are."
"And they won't be executed before that? I know that super high priority people like my parents are kept isolated, I need some guarantee that this isn't all for nothing," Law says.
"You have my word, so long as you uphold your part of the contract, I will uphold mine," Nezu nods.
Law sighs, "mom taught me how sacred contracts are, contracts and my family are all that matter to me, I never agree to a contract I can't fulfill, and I never break a contract. I also don't renegotiate the terms of any contract I agree to, even if the job turns out to be a lot tougher than expected, it's on me to do the research after all."
"That's good, a strong sense of family and honor, even if the work you did was...less than clean, I can respect your work ethic and how professional you kept yourself," Nezu says.
"I'm fully aware of how the world views us," Law sits back in his chair and stares at Nezu for a long while, then he sighs, then speaks. "Before I agree to anything, I've got some specific terms," he looks to the mirror, as if he could see Tsukauchi standing there. "I need to discuss them with you, only you."
"I see," Nezu narrows his eyes slightly. "And I can trust that you won't try anything harmful or deceitful when I order him to leave?"
"Of course I won't, I just want as few people as possible to know my business."
"Detective?" Nezu asks.
"He's not lying," Tsukauchi says through the earpiece, "but that doesn't mean I'm comfortable with this."
"Leave us detective," Nezu says. "I trust him..."
After Law senses Tsukauchi leaving he nods to Nezu. The Mouse-bear removes his earpiece and sets it down on the table, turning it off.
"Alright, what are these terms you want to discuss?" Nezu asks.
"My face, and information about my family."
"The police and government weren't able to recover anything at all. All documents were burned in the fire your father started, all systems were wiped clean, they can't even find the legal names you three were operating under, Law..." Nezu says.
Law narrows his eyes at that, "I'm guessing you don't include yourself in police or government?"
"I'm an educator and consultant," Nezu says. "With the way you three operate I fully expected you to be concerned about this, when I realized I needed you I assumed it would give me good bargaining power, which it clearly does."
"Does anyone else know?" Law asks.
"No," Nezu doesn't hesitate to answer, having Law all figured out by now he knew he was safe, after all, he's the only hope Law has of saving his parents. And his parents are most important to him, followed closely by his ego.
"Then let's keep it that way," Law says.
"What do you mean?"
"If you could wave your hand and make a full pardon appear, I'm assuming you can make an ID and medical license or two appear, right?"
"If I wanted to, of course," Nezu was very intrigued by this suggestion. "What do you have in mind?"
"I don't want my face being a hero, especially not at UA. Putting my face and Quirk in the spotlight is just inviting villains to pay my family a visit in the future, when I start my own family specifically."
"I see," Nezu strokes his chin, "most people don't consider that since being a hero means being a celebrity."
"Most people are morons who don't think a step past themselves, especially teenagers," Law says, a new harshness in his tone.
"You disapprove of that?"
"Obviously," Law scoffs. "I think they're selfish, arrogant, careless, and lack any sense of accountability if anything does happen, it's disgusting. Can't expect villains to follow the rules, so the last thing I want is to head back home from patrol and find my house turned to ash while my family was inside."
Nezu taps his chin, 'so every thought goes into protecting his future or current family...' he thinks to himself.
"Understandable, I can have new identification created for your personal and hero use, including a mask."
"Perfect."
"And about the medical licenses, I'd have to review some of the medical notes in your father's files, but from what I saw on the drive here, I don't think a medical license for each identity is beyond reason, prodigies exist, more so than ever since the advent of Quirks."
"Good," Law says. "I just need my hero and personal life as separate as possible, that's very important to me."
"So then we have an agreement?" Nezu asks.
"On the day of the surgery, or whatever it is your friend needs, if you've got everything by then yeah I'll play hero for you, anything to fix what I did."
"What you did?" Nezu was suddenly very curious by this choice of words.
"Sigh, I guess it doesn't really matter since you have all the dirt on me," Law shrugs. "I chose that job, first one I've ever picked and it turned out to be a trap, I fucked us..."
Nezu shakes his head, realizing that they'd both been so focused on the future that they never even discussed what happened, deciding to take a risk, he tells the truth.
"It wasn't your fault," Nezu says, causing Law's eyes to snap to him. "There have been teams tracking her for nearly two decades, since before you were born. We finally had enough info to narrow down her pattern. For the past year, all her jobs have been tracked and some were even provided by us to get rid of certain undesirable people, to let the bait sink in."
"What?" Law was amazed that they never noticed, but not completely surprised since Nezu's intellect is beyond even a complex supercomputer, many of which he personally designs and sells to major governments.
"Any job of the three dozen she would have chosen would have been the same trap, she taught you well, she always chose the perfect job, we just figured out how to appear like the perfect job. So if you're going to be mad at anyone, to hate anyone, it should be me," Nezu says.
Law doesn't even hesitate to slouch down in his chair and shake his head, "no, you did your job well, I'm the one who failed. I fucked up so badly that I destroyed my family, maybe got them killed, and I'm guessing all our accounts are gone too?"
Nezu nods.
"Fuck," Law rubs a hand down his face. "The only person to blame is me, they trained me to be my best self. I've trained so hard to be perfect, and I ruined everything. I saw her get hurt and I didn't even think to check for feathers, this is all on me. Responsibility and accountability, right, that's why I'm the only one who I should hate for this."
Nezu sighs, "do you have a safehouse remaining?"
"Of course, all our assets weren't digital, just ninety percent..."
"Good, I'm sure you want some time to process this," Nezu takes one of the documents out from his stack and slides it over, face down. "This is the only one I printed, the other personal files are here," he places a phone on the table.
"And a tracker I can't get rid of..."
"Naturally," Nezu says, gesturing to the phone. "But from what I can tell, you and I will work very well together, be ready for my call, Law."
"Thank you," Law says, suddenly feeling very tired as he feels the meeting ending, the adrenaline and anxiety cocktail that was keeping him going is finally wearing off.
"I'll contact you when I have everything ready," Nezu hops off his chair, takes the remaining documents, including the unsigned contract, and begins walking to the door. "You can get yourself out of here, right?" he asks playfully.
"I'll be fine, principal," Law groans at the word, already knowing this was going to be a long journey.
With that Nezu nods and exits the room, shutting the door behind him.
Law takes a deep breath, feeling exhaustion seeping into his bones. "Fuck me..." he groans, taking the picture from the table as well as the phone. "Shambles..."
He disappears, swapping places with a few raindrops from outside...
END CHAPTER---
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