"Are you sure this is real?" "Quite sure, unfortunately."
I sighed as I went over the HPSC report Nezu had shared with me. It spoke of a new villain running around, taking quirks. Sound familiar? The HPSC wasted no time blaming me, but Nezu sorted them out once they got footage of the guy.
"So, we know it isn't AFO; maybe he had a child?" Nezu ventured as I shook my head; I already knew who it was. Nine. I made a gesture to Nezu, and he nodded; the room was secure.
"Remember how I told you about that doctor AFO has working for him? This is his work. The man now known as Nine has a power Weather Manipulation quirk that's slowly degrading his cells.
I'm guessing he donated his body to the League to find a cure, and they shoved a version of AFO inside him. What I do know is he can only hold eight additional quirks, hence the name."
Nezu mulled over this as I pretended to read the file once more, when really I was going over what I knew from the canon. In the show, and as I speak, Class 1-A was going to Nabu Island as part of the HPSC's Work Recommendation Project.
Basically, hero students were sent to low-risk areas to do actual hero work on their own, giving them a better idea of what to expect after they graduated. That was all nice and fine, but there was a big problem. No pro heroes would be with them.
That was a particularly big problem because in canon, Nabu Island is attacked by Nine and his entourage personally. I get he's doing it to find the one quirk that could permanently help him, but he goes about it the wrong way.
I then slot in Tinker-Fallout to find something I could make that would be useful for tracking down Nine, and hopefully not killing him. I'd gotten my hands dirty with AFO because he was that awful, but I'd held back with Overhaul.
I'd rather not dirty my hands with blood at all if I could help it, but nothing and no one was perfect.
"This is concerning, more so since Nine has dropped from the radar. I'll send out alerts to make sure everyone is aware, somewhat." Nezu said as I nodded. "I'm going to go make something; it might be helpful." He waved as I left his office.
The second I left his door, I shot Sasha a warning text, just in case, before bolting towards the labs.
Since the hero classes were gone, the school was quieter, but still very much alive as the hundreds of students went about their days. I made sure to steer clear of the Support Area, since I had no plans of getting poached again.
Once I made it to the secure lab Nezu made for me, I got straight to work making the Crimson Dragoon Stealth Armor. Though not American, the armor was still very much a part of Fallout; therefore, I could make it.
The reason I went with this over the M-II Stealth Suit made by Big Mt. was that it had an active stealth field, like the one the Elites in Halo use. That would be very useful, so I got to making it, spending the next two days testing it before I was done.
Just in time as well, since the radar I had Nezu point at Nabu Island just pinged; something was moving towards it. I was already donning the stealth suit as I called Nezu to tell him my plan, and he gave me the green light.
Within moments, I had become nearly invisible thanks to the suit, as I flew as fast as I could without damaging it. Since I was focused on making it, I didn't have time to reinforce certain things, but it would work.
I was about an hour away from the island when the radar pinged again; no signals were leaving Nabu; they were now cut off from the outside. At least until I got there, then things would get better.
'They do have Alarielle, Eren, and Mikasa there. Do they really need me?' I suddenly thought as I got closer. While they certainly didn't need me, it would be nice to see how they operated under pressure.
[Gift from beyond the veil, 1x Random Gold Ticket] (Sibou_Kurai)
Nice! Maybe I would get something last minute that would be really useful. Spin it!
[Spinning, spinning, spinning, done!]
[Onyx Blaster]
|Uncommon Item|
Terraria - A shotgun crafted from shards of pure darkness. This gun does not consume bullets but instead converts energy/mana into shards of dark onyx bullets that deal unholy damage.
Sweet, this would be a good thing to use. I wonder how it would work on Nomu?
I didn't think about that too hard as I flew towards Nabu. I was going very fast, much faster than Hawks or Ryukyu, but still nowhere near my limit since I had tons of Restraint Levels active, and didn't want the stealth suit wrecked before I tested it out.
About two hours later, I finally reached Nabu and found things in chaos. The first things that told me it was bad were the down comm towers and the large boat that crashed into the docks. A few plumes of smoke wafted into the air, but things were mostly quiet for now.
Activating the stealth field, I slowly flew around the docks and the town itself to try and find anyone. I found plenty of damage, torn-down walls, and holes in the street, but no civilians or bodies, which is good.
As I begin to head towards the mall, a massive Izuku suddenly forms in the forest, and so I head towards that instead, passing Bakugo, who is doing the same. I get inside the forest to find Izuku protecting a pair of children from Nine himself.
It's a pretty close match; Izuku is much stronger right now than he should be normally, but Nine has too much power, and several quicks that work well together. The balance shifts in Izuku's favor when Bakugo exploded onto the scene.
The two then work together and really push Nine back, only for him to call down lightning and take them both out. 'That must be the disease working,' I mused as Nine spasmed for a moment before calling for help. A woman with really long hair then arrives and takes him away.
Once they leave, I check on Izuku and Bakugo since they were both in pretty bad shape. I gave each a stimpack just in case, as the sounds of others running through the forest drew closer.
I was out of sight by the time the others arrived to help. I flew higher up into the sky before contacting Nezu and telling him I'd found Nine.
"Hmm. The HPSC has yet to declare him an enemy of the state, but the HeroNet has been informed of the danger he poses, and an active manhunt is underway to find him. He doesn't have to die; maybe the technology you've made can help him?"
I thought about it for a moment, and we started thinking of various ways to help Nine, should he be willing to change sides. Looking through my ability list, I spotted something else that might be helpful for Nine.
Using my Knighting ability, I could give Nine my Regeneration ability since I don't really need it anymore, and it would also give me a surefire way to control him. I could also use Purification since his condition should count as a negative effect.
That one was more of a gamble, but still an option. I told Nezu of this as I slowly flew to where Nine, Slice, and Chimera were hiding in the lighthouse, and he gave me his answer.
"As much as it bothers me that you can just hand out pseudo-quirks, it would be a great way to fix his problems and get information on what the League is currently up to. Not to mention having such a powerful ally should things go horribly wrong.
I guess you can try. See if he's willing to change, and if not, try to at least figure out how we can help him change his mindset. I would rather you not bloody your hands a second time."
I thanked Nezu for his time, as I lightly knocked on the lighthouse door. A thick bundle of sharpened hair shattered the door and struck at my heart, but I clamped down on it before it could touch the suit.
"I'm just here to talk. I may have a way to fix you."
There is no answer for several moments, then the hair slacks and returns to its owner as I step into the lighthouse. Slice and Chimera glare at me, as Nine lightly spasms. "Who are you?" Chimera rumbled as I removed the suit's helmet.
"I'm sure you know who I am. I'm also certain the doctor told you to be cautious of me as well." Nine looked mildly surprised by that, but didn't refute my claim as I dragged a chair over and sat across from him.
"I'm not gonna beat around the bush; the HPSC knows about you, and the rest of the heroes are hunting for you. Only Nezu and I know you are here, and we have an offer for you."