Chapter 30: Hints of What's to Come
"I was right!" Shouto slammed open the door to Izuku's base with zero preamble and Izuku was off the couch with a knife in his hand before he realized who it was.
"Oh, it's just you." Izuku put the knife away and sat back down, "And what were you right about?"
His boyfriend looked at him intensely, "It's a conspiracy."
"Another conspiracy?" Izuku laughed, "Is this the one Officer Sansa being a cat god?"
"No..yes...maybe, that part hasn't been proved yet." Shouto took off his hat and ran his fingers through his hair. "I'm talking about the one where a bunch of major companies, including Feel Good Inc., are part of a major extra-governmental group that's trying to take over the world!"
"Mhm." Izuku raised one eyeborw. "Not that I don't believe you Shouto, but what actual evidence do you have?"
Shouto sat down, "So, you know how you were complaining last week that nobody could get ahold of Giran?"
Izuku nodded, "I mean, now I'm pretty sure he's been kidnapped if the fingers and clothes the police have been finding are any indication."
"Bingo." Shouto smiled. "So, we were off in the mountains trying to let Shigaraki beat Gigantomania, right?"
"Right." Izuku nodded.
"Well then, we got this call on Twice's phone from the people who kidnapped Giran, giving us an hour to meet them in Deika City if we wanted to save him. When we showed up, they basically attacked us on sight to prove they were stronger. Not only is it Feel Good Incorporated, but they've got Detnerat and the leader of the Hearts and Mind party, not to mention a handful of heroes! Seriously, it was crazy!"
"Really?" Izuku hummed thoughtfully and leaned his chin on his hands. "With such powerful backers, I'm surprised I haven't heard of them."
"They haven't really done anything hugely criminal yet." Shouto shrugged. "Just some black market support items and stuff like that. They call themselves the…" Shouto struggled for a moment. "Oh, that's right! They call themselves the Meta Liberation Army."
Izuku's eyebrows shot up, "You mean like Destro? I thought that cult died out decades ago?"
Shouto hit himself on the head, " That's what they were acting like!" He laughed and put his feet up on the coffee table, "And I don't really know, I'd never heard of them before, I think the leader called himself Re-Destro, though."
"So basically," Izuku hummed, "this Meta Liberation Army tried to challenge the league in order assert their dominance. Considering you're here, I take it they lost."
Shouto nodded eagerly, "Yep. Oh, and your theory on Twice needing to be injured to overcome his psychological trauma was correct, by the way. We probably wouldn't have made it out alive if he didn't turn the tide by cloning himself. Well, that and Gigantomania showing up to try and fight Shigaraki again. As it was, Toga was pretty badly injured, but the doctor treated her wounds, so she'll probably have a few scars, but he said she'd make a full recovery."
Izuku clenched his fists, "Were you injured, Shouto?"
Shouto wrapped him in a hug, "Don't worry about me, I'm fine."
"But they tried to kill you! And you said for yourself that they hurt Himiko! What if they'd killed her? I don't have that many friends Shouto," Izuku's voice cracked, "I can't afford to lose any of you."
"Yeah," Shouto said softly, "but I'm strong and so is Toga. We wouldn't be in the league if we couldn't defend ourselves and we never go into battle alone. Dabi was there to protect me, and Twice protected Toga. We're ok."
"I should destroy them for trying to hurt you guys." Izuku said darkly.
"We can take care of ourselves, Izuku." Shouto gave him a look. "I mean, you can do what you want, but for right now we won and they lost, and they agreed to give us access to their resources. And besides," Shouto shrugged, "at this point we're basically just biding our time before stabbing them in the back and they're doing the same to us."
Izuku took a deep breath, "Alright, I trust you. But if they try to hurt you again, they're dead, ok?"
Shouto nodded, smiling, "Thanks, Izuku! They also want to meet you. They apparently already know who you are, since they're basically running a surveillance state behind the scenes, but they said they had some questions for you."
Izuku looked at him skeptically, "They have questions or they have a job? Because those are two completely different things."
Shouto shrugged and leaned back further into the couch, "They didn't specify. I do know, though, that they aren't lacking for cash. They can afford even your ridiculous prices."
"Fine." Izuku huffed. "I'll meet with them, but if I don't like them, I reserve the right to kill them."
Shouto laughed and kissed him, "I wouldn't expect anything less. Now, since this part of the conspiracy has been proven true, I just need to find undeniable evidence that Sansa was present in ancient Egypt."
Keigo Takami frowned as he looked in the mirror after his meeting with Dabi. He'd begged the Hero commission to pull him out after Endeavor's death, but they argued that he'd already laid the groundwork and it was too late to send in anyone else. Keigo didn't think it was good for the number one hero to even pretend to be a villain after what happened to the last number one, but maybe he'd be able to catch a glimpse of Mastermind or even identify him, considering his close relationship with the league.
The latest JP Hero Billboard announcement had been...tense, for lack of a better word. After he'd been announced number one, the other heroes kept glancing at him like he'd been given a death sentence, which maybe he had. Hawks sighed and began washing his face. It was just so frustrating. The point of having popular heroes was to reassure the public, but with Mastermind on the loose, the more popular heroes were having the opposite effect. At the afterparty, there had even been rumors that this would probably be the last JP announcement until Mastermind was safely behind bars, to avoid giving him more targets.
Dabi had yet to introduce him to any other members of the league, Keigo hadn't even met Dabi's brother yet, though Tokoyami had mentioned Shouto a few times during his work study. Keigo dried his face and scowled. To think that Endeavor really... he shook his head. It didn't matter. Endeavor may have been an inspiration to him, but he wasn't the reason he became a hero.
My future as a hero? Or my future as your masterpiece? Either way, it's no great loss, I didn't ask for either one.
Keigo pushed those thoughts from his head as he got ready for bed. No. He wasn't like Freezerburn. So what if neither of them had been given a choice when it came to their career path? He wanted to help people, not hurt them, so at the end of the day, they weren't the same at all. Besides, growing up with the hero commission hadn't been that bad. Sure, it'd been a lot of training, but… it'd all been worth it, hadn't it?
Dabi had mentioned a new group the league was partnering with, something called the Meta Liberation Army. Keigo would have to look into them more tomorrow, see what they were about and what their ideals were. Hopefully there was a weakness the Hero Commission could exploit when the two groups came together. He didn't know what they'd do if the league didn't get taken down soon, the media was already tearing the Commision apart as it was.
They couldn't afford any more failures.
Giran jumped when a loud bang sounded in the alley outside his office and he froze for a solid minute before realizing it was just a cat that had just knocked over a trash can. He shook his head. He'd heard that same sound hundreds of times during the decades he'd been in this office, so why was he getting so freaked out now?
He grimaced as he finished adjusting the mechanical hand he'd ordered and tried to flex the fingers. The hand moved sluggishly, giving Giran the feeling that everything was just slightly to the left of where it should be, and it hurt. As if having his fingers removed one by one hadn't been bad enough, now he had to deal with pain every time he wanted to move his fake ones.
His cell phone rang and he tried to answer it, only to drop it as his mechanical hand refused to cooperate. He tore the hand off and threw it down on the desk in frustration, glaring at it for a long moment before using his left hand to answer the call.
"Hey Dragon, what can I do for you?" Giran tried to smirk like he usually did, but the expression slipped from his face almost immediately.
"Glad to hear you're alright after your kidnapping, Giran. You had us worried there for a minute." Dragon's voice was harsh and somewhat gravelly, a side effect of his fire-breath quirk.
"I'm fine." Giran said too quickly. "But you didn't call to enquire after my health."
Dragon laughed, "You're right. Glad to see you haven't lost your head for business. I want you to set up a meeting with Mastermind."
Giran sighed, "Like I told you the last three times you asked me, he refuses to work with you. Sorry, Dragon, but you should know better than to make Mastermind do something he doesn't want to do. Those who try are lucky if they only end up dead."
"Why? I'm willing to pay his prices!" Dragon yelled and Giran knew he probably had literal smoke pouring from his nostrils.
"I don't know why." Giran tried to rub the bridge of his nose, only to realize at the last moment he didn't have the fingers required for the action. "Look, he didn't tell me why he doesn't want to work with you, just that he won't. I'm not gonna go behind his back to set up a meeting, I value both our lives far too much for that."
On the other end of the line, Dragon huffed, "Fine, have it your way. But just let Mastermind know he's not the only villain capable of holding a grudge."
Dragon hung up abruptly and Giran took a deep breath before putting the phone down and picking up his new hand again. Mastermind wasn't usually picky about who he worked with. Normally even if he didn't like someone, he'd still meet with them if the payoff was right. That's what made it so odd that he outright refused to meet with Dragon or his gang, The Dragon's Horde, no matter how much the man offered to pay him. When he'd asked, Mastermind had mentioned it was personal, but refused to explain any more than that.
Giran shook his head. One thing was certain, whatever Dragon had done to piss Mastermind off, it had to have been big.
Weekly Power Status
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Ranking 
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