"Huff! Huff!"
Late at night Asui arrived near the base where Albert went into. Asui got out the tracker and looked at it. She came here to see what Albert is doing, she needed see it with her own eyes. She really worked to arrive as fast as she could.
'It's here.'
She looked at the building, and she got on all fours and blended into the ground. Due to her training she could camouflage to match her surroundings. This took a considerable amount of effort on her part.
Before she could even move she saw a figure in pure black jump out of the building's premises and into an open field near her. In their arms was a person, she didn't know who it was as their cape covered their head.
'A hero?'
She carefully took out the tracker and looked at it to see it moving, Albert was the one in pure black.
'Why did—M-maybe he is dealing with corrupt heroes! Hm! Yeah that's right!' Asui could live with that, bearing that knowledge. At least she thinks she can. 'It has to be that! I am sure this is why Albert doesn't like his father! He forces him to do these jobs!'
She watches as Albert put the body down as he quickly runs away across building from building.
'I should—' A bright light catches her eyes from above. She looks up to see a ball of light shoot down.
"Oh no!!" She shouted as she quickly turned and ran for cover.
The ball struck the base and blew it up, the force was just powerful enough to shatter the windows nearby and rumble the earth.
Asui looked from her cover to see only a large cloud of dust blocking her view. Aside from her ears ringing and her body still shaky from the force of the explosion raddling her she was fine. She quickly and stealthily escaped the area and took out her tracker again. She saw Albert leaving at absurd speeds like he hopped in a jet and just took off.
Considering the situation Asui decided to head back to the dorms.
It was not till an hour later where as she was coming back to see several news outlets reported the scene. Asui stopped and watched the news. It was not until the news showed her senior, her senpai she had just met a day ago, Mirio Togata, appeared.
Thump-Thump!
Asui's heart sank. Her body shook and for the first time she felt truly cold-blooded like a frog. Asui then kept walking. Her mind was a mess as different emotions and thoughts conflicted with one another.
There was one emotion that she was certain of, the bitterness of her first love.
Asui returned back to her dorm successfully and just went to bed hoping everything was just a nightmare and that this was just some long elaborate dream.
Albert a while after he killed and staged Sir Nighteyes suicide all the while adding in some other elements to muddy the waters as well as looking through his stuff for information carefully.
He called Herod once he got back to his dorm after putting his gear away.
"I seem to have shit luck."
"Must be if the whole damn place blew up." Herod said having seen the news. "What the hell happened?"
"Well for one Archer was there and this time they were gonna make sure I don't escape again. We fight for but a brief moment, but their matchlock rifles matched my guns. At this point I wonder if the we invested to much in these high grade guns if some gun from the Sengoku Era could match them."
"Maybe. Most likely it is their Quirk."
"Anyway. Three people showed up, Mirio and two others, a young girl clad in samurai armor with a black bodysuit, and another more mature woman who dressed like a ninja."
"How did that go?"
"Have you seen the news, they were smuggling explosives so through all my effort dealing with this clusterfuck I blew the place up. I managed to get Mirio's body out of that place. He got pierced from the back from Archer with her sword and her rifle."
With this it explains way the similar shot his gun makes and shifts the murder of Mirio onto Archer.
"So who survived besides you?"
"Archer. They single handedly killed the young samurai and the ninja one. They did put up a fierce struggle."
"I see… why did you save Mirio's body? You could have just left it inside."
"He was my senior, I respected how hard he trained to turn his Quirk into a genuine force to be reckon with. But him showing up was kinda weird."
"I guess he and his mentor were involved in some shady people."
"What do you mean?" Albert grinned.
"Well Mirio's mentor, Sir Nighteye was found dead from suicide. His sidekicks found his body after learning of what happened to Mirio.'
"What terrible luck. A lead found and lost at the same moment.
Albert has just killed two servants and masters. Things will begin to tighten for Albert. Now he has to navigate carefully and not get exposed. This did, however, remind him of someone.
'I'll need to call them to see how their progress is.'
"I any case his suicide is rather shocking. So much so the Hero Public Safety Commission asked us to look into it."
"Really?" Albert grew weary.
"Yes. So I went ahead and called your school to inform them that a family emergency came up. Your job now is to look into Sir Nighteye's suicide."
'Was it because he was a Master that is why? I already tampered with the recordings in his building and entered through the rooftop so there is no evidence of me. Still this is rather… surprising that we are getting involved in a murder.'
"What about my Hero Studies?"
"Eh. You can put it off. Unless you got a thing for Mirko?"
"She is a good mentor." Albert replied.
"Uh-huh, sure. Rest up because tomorrow you will begin your investigation."
"And where exactly do I begin?"
"Well for one I suggest trying to get either into the League of Villains or the Shie Hassaikai. Better to start at the big two elephants in the room before anything else. But on which one you pick is on you. They are our best leads to what might have happened with him."
"Very well. Is that all?"
"Yup, keep me posted." He then ends the called.
Albert ended the call and crushed the burner into fine powder.
"Hah… Three more pairs to go." Albert mumbled to himself.
He goes to his bookshelf and takes one and opens it to reveal a satellite phone. He turns it on and calls Azure. She picked up after a minute or two.
Click!
"Moshi, moshi. How's it going boss?" Azure answered. "This is the boss right?"
"Yes it is me." He answered. "How is your progress?"
"Fine enough. I am currently flying to Singapore, got word of a cult that has all the old money as members. Figured it must be Holy Shepherd."
"I thought I told you to look for your sister and John?"
"You did but with his help the work search would go faster."
"You don't sound displeased?"
"Of course not. You said you will handle him so I can't wait to see his face crumble when you meet him."
"How are you on the authorities?"
"Kissing my ass. Heh! I have been keeping my head down and moving with the upmost caution. By the way do you have any thoughts on making a base? We will need one eventually."
"Was thinking of Texas, lot of evangelical groups there. Tons of company towns as well. I already have a base in mind."
"Not a huge fan of the heat, and the rest of Texas. I am a fan of Austin's food scene though."
"Well there is a base in South America, it takes a while to get to it."
"Where specifically?"
"Well the closes would be to travel to it from Colombia and then ride and trek through the jungle—"
"Nah. Texas is good. I'll make sure to bring some chefs. Maybe some guys with useful quirks for construction."
"Then call when you find and meet Holy Shepherd."
"Understood. Click!"
Albert ends the call. He turns and looks at Mélusine who was drinking a bottle of soy sauce. He can't fathom drinking straight up soy sauce.
"Ahhh!" She finished the bottle.
"I can feel my blood pressure rising looking at you drink it straight out of the bottle."
"Fufu!" She said smugly. "One day you will understand the greatness of soy sauce!"
"I hope not. In any case, here."
In the morning Albert got up and got himself ready for the day, he filled a duffle bag of some important stuff. He left his room with a chipper mood, he even skipped from how good his mood is. When he arrived at the common area he saw many of his classmates looking a bit glum with dark expressions.
Albert walks over to see them watching the news. He looked around to see Asui, her expression was exceptionally darker.
"Asui are you okay?"
Albert walked up to her. Asui shuddered, she couldn't look at Albert.
"S-sorry I'm not feeling so well. Ribbit!" Asui excused herself and went to the restrooms.
"Hey um…" Albert walked over to the girls of the class. "Could one of you look after Asui? She seems to be feeling terrible."
"Hm." Momo said. "I'll help her."
"Thank you." Albert nodded. "Here um give me your number, text me if she needs anything? I'll get it quickly and come back."
"It's no issue." Momo wryly smiled, it really was not a good day. "But thank you for asking." She took notice of Albert's clothing. "Are you not going to class?"
"Family stuff came up. I won't be here for a while. It seems bad lucks keeps coming."
"It seems so." Momo nods.
"Then I'll go tell Aizawa that Asui isn't feeling good again."
Albert then left the dorm. As he left the dorm he saw Aizawa was coming up the stairs.
"Oh, Albert." Aizawa looked at him. "I was informed of your situation. There is no need to worry about today's lessons, the principal decided to cancel classes after he gives an announcement."
"It is a bit…" Albert showed emotion on his face, a bit stiff and agape. "Surreal, you know?"
"Yes…" His lips pull into a wry expression with a sadness in his dark eyes. "It is never easy. I wish you luck Albert." He walks up the stairs and pats his shoulder. "I hope this family emergency isn't serious."
"Thank you!" He gives a heartfelt smile that lightened Aizawa's mood.
Albert headed to Nezu's office. He figured he should tell him what is up with him and Herod. As he walks there he thinks to himself that he made this mood. Even as he walks through U.A. he could feel a cold, weird vibe to it. He stops and looks out the window at the clouds.
"… Gloomy." He said softly.
He looked down at the school's front gate to see two people, Nejire and Amajiki. They both had tear stained faces as they left the school grounds. Even for Amajiki he looked especially gloomier than usual like he lost his sun. As for Nejire she looked just as gloomy as Amajiki with red and puffy eyes with disheveled hair.
'So that is grief.'
Albert wonders to himself if he could feel that way. He can feel emotions such as being worried or excited and genuine happiness. Now thinking about it he doesn't feel fear when he faced against Medusa or even when he faced AFO. He doesn't even feel any sort of sympathy or regret for killing Mirio.
His mind then runs through the list of people he would probably feel for, only two people came up. Mélusine and Asui. He is sure he would grieve if they died.
'I guess my heart could only fit those two. Don't really feel bad for people I barely have any contact with.'
Albert resumed his walking and heads to the principal's office. Entering he saw Nezu behind his desk. There was no All Might.