"Where are you right now?! Are you okay?! Where is Melissa?!" All Might's voice practically exploded through the phone, so loud that David Shield instinctively pulled the receiver away from his ear with a wince.
Letting out a small sigh, David brought the phone back closer and spoke in a calm tone, "Relax, Toshinori… we're fine. Both me and Melissa are completely safe."
As he said that, his eyes drifted through the glass window of the telephone booth, where he could clearly see Melissa grabbing Arata by the hand and dragging him away from the roller coaster ride, the girl practically glowing with excitement as she pointed towards a ghost house attraction, completely ignoring Arata's half-hearted resistance.
On the other end, All Might didn't calm down immediately. "Then why didn't you contact me sooner?!" he asked, his voice dropping slightly but still carrying urgency.
David's expression hardened just a little as he leaned against the booth wall, his tone becoming more serious.
"Because I can't trust anyone from the pro heroes, the HPSC, or the government," he said bluntly.
"The only reason I'm calling you… is because you're different. You're my friend." That single sentence made the line go silent for a moment.
All Might exhaled slowly before speaking again, "I… spoke with Hawks about what happened—" but David immediately cut him off, his voice firm. "I don't want anything to do with that. Not anymore. I didn't call to discuss them."
He paused briefly before continuing, softer this time. "I just wanted you to know I'm safe… so you don't keep worrying. I saw how you've been acting after the I-Island incident."
There was another pause, longer this time, before All Might finally asked, "Then… where are you now?" David glanced outside again, watching Melissa pull Arata along like an excited child while Arata looked traumatized after coming out of the Haunted House.
"We're with Nova Genesis," he answered. "And I'm staying with them. I agree with Novabel's ideals. I want to help remove the corruption in society."
That answer clearly hit something deep, because All Might went completely silent again.
After a few seconds, he let out a small sigh, and when he spoke, there was a faint, wry smile hidden in his tone. "So… does this Novabel truly have the heart of a hero? Like I said on TV?"
David couldn't help but smile at that. "He does," he said honestly. "Honestly… he's almost on par with you in that regard."
That single statement made something inside All Might finally relax. The tension he had been carrying for so long seemed to melt away as he leaned back, letting out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding.
For a few minutes after that, the conversation shifted completely. The chaos, the war, the politics—everything faded into the background as the two of them simply talked like they used to… like old best friends, like brothers who hadn't spoken in years, laughing quietly and reminiscing as if nothing had ever changed.
Far away from that peaceful moment, inside the headquarters of the World Heroes Association in California, USA, the atmosphere was anything but relaxed.
A large-scale meeting was underway, with multiple screens lighting up the room as the heads of HPSC branches from various countries appeared one by one. At the center of it all was the new Japanese HPSC head, Madam President, who had initiated the meeting.
She leaned forward slightly, her expression serious as she addressed the room. "The Humarise organization has been making coordinated movements across the globe," she stated.
"This is no longer a regional threat. They are preparing for something big."
Immediately, the Hero Public Safety Commission head from India spoke up, his voice firm. "We've detected increased activity as well, especially in major cities like Mumbai. Their presence is growing."
The Russian HPSC head followed next, her expression grim. "We intercepted shipments linked to Humarise. They contained some kind of drug. When our heroes tried to intervene… their quirks went out of control. They died."
A heavy silence fell over the meeting at that revelation. Then the representative from Pakistan spoke, narrowing his eyes slightly. "That substance… it's likely a modified version of Trigger."
The room tensed even further at that conclusion. Finally, the USA HPSC head spoke, his tone decisive. "Then we don't have time to wait. We need to form an international hero task force—deploy them globally and shut down Humarise operations before they can act."
One by one, the representatives nodded, the gravity of the situation clear to everyone present.
What started as a discussion quickly turned into strategic planning, with cities across different countries being marked for surveillance, as they prepared to hunt down Humarise before whatever they were planning could come to fruition.