章 31: Legacies of Our Fathers
Izuku scowled at his reflection as he untied the tie for the tenth time that night. They were going to be late if he kept this up.
"Here, Izuku." Shouto grabbed his hands and placed them at his sides, "Let me do it. If there was anything that bastard did right, he at least made sure I knew how to tie a tie."
Izuku huffed, "Yeah, well, I guess that proves there are multiple breeds of dead-beat dads, huh? The overbearing abusive assholes and the ones that fuck off into the sunset the moment the doctor says quirkless ."
"There." Shouto smiled at him and Izuku rolled his eyes when he looked down to find a perfect triangle knot. How come Shouto had to be so good at everything?
"Re-Destro said he was sending a car, right?" Izuku grabbed his bag, filled with probably too many notebooks and knives, but hey, it paid to be prepared, right?
Shouto nodded, "Dabi texted and said they already got picked up, so they should be here any minute." There was a knock on the door. "And there they are now."
Izuku straightened his tie one last time before opening the door with a smile. A chauffeur led them down to the waiting limo that looked amazingly out of place in the bad neighborhood Izuku's base was in. Izuku almost laughed as he imagined the shiny black covered in graffiti like the walls behind it. Inside the car, Dabi was laughing as Shigaraki tried to disintegrate his tie and Compress scolded him. Compress was pretty much the only one who didn't look vaguely uncomfortable in his evening wear, but the Meta Liberation Army had insisted that they pull out all the stops when they met the infamous Mastermind.
It didn't take them long to reach Re-Destro's mansion. The limousine pulled up and a butler opened the doors and took their coats while another led them up an elevator to where the surviving members of the MLA leadership were waiting around the already set dinner table. Re-Destro himself smiled amiably and stood when they entered.
"Hello Mastermind. I must say it's a pleasure to finally meet you." He gestured for them all to sit. "You've acquired quite a fearsome reputation."
Izuku chuckled, "A fact I'm proud of, Re-Destro. Your own reputation, however, leaves something to be desired. Perhaps you'd care to enlighten me on what your group hopes to accomplish, because for now it seems your only great accomplishment is staying in the shadows."
Re-Destro's knuckles turned white as he clenched his fist around his chopsticks, but he smiled. Izuku's eyes narrowed. So he was easily stressed, but gave a great effort to hide it, why?
"Our group is called the Meta Liberation Army." Izuku recognized the speaker as Koku Hanabata, the leader of the Hearts and Mind party, and the one Shouto called Trumpet. The man had quite a bit of political power, something that could be very useful in the future if they were to work together.
Izuku turned to him, "Yes, Shouto told me as much, but what is your vision? I assume you're taking cues from the original movement?"
"The original Destro was my father," Re-Destro replied, "a little known fact that even the man himself was unaware of."
Izuku laughed, "Well, I can understand the perils of absent fathers, but normally you'd expect a kid like that to avoid anything to do with their father, not follow in his footsteps."
Re-Destro grit his teeth, but hid it with a smile, "Yes, well, my father may not have been there physically, but he made sure to provide for me well in terms of ideology. He taught us that the power is everything, a fact that has only become more obvious in our age of quirks, and that it is, quite frankly, idiotic to pretend otherwise. People should be allowed to use their quirks freely and let their power determine their place in society."
"Well, I'm all for encouraging people to use their quirks," Izuku hummed, "but I'm sure you understand why someone like me might be hesitant to have a societal structure completely based on quirks."
"Of course, of course." Re-Destro waved away his concerns. "But in our vision of society you would never have to hide such a powerful analysis quirk, not that I understand why you choose to pretend you're quirkless anyway. But that is, of course, something you wouldn't have to worry about in the society we are working to build."
A heavy silence enveloped the room and Izuku blinked a few times as he tried to comprehend what Re-Destro had just said, "What?"
"He said you won't have to hide your quirk anymore." A man with long, greasy hair said sharply. "I thought you were supposed to be intelligent."
"Now, now, Skeptic, don't insult our guest." Re-Destro smiled. "I apologize for the behavior of my associate, he has little patience for stupidity, a trait that I'm sure you share."
Izuku frowned, " I am patient enough to understand not everyone can match my intellect, and am also intelligent enough not to jump to unfounded conclusions." He turned to Skeptic. "I would think that with the level of surveillance you're capable of, it would be quite obvious that I am, in fact, quirkless. If I wasn't, I would most certainly not hide it, considering how poorly I've been treated my whole life. The illegality of this treatment did nothing to prevent it, and now you're telling me that you are trying to make that mistreatment not only legal, but encouraged."
Re-Destro scoffed, "Please. Do you really expect us to believe you'd have gotten as far as you have if you were actually quirkless? You're one of the most powerful men alive, Mastermind, so you obviously have a powerful quirk that has catapulted you to where you are now. If you were, in reality, quirkless, there is no way you would have risen through the ranks of the villain world as quickly as you did. The quirkless are worse than useless, so no, Mastermind, I refuse to believe you're quirkless."
Izuku glared at the MLA executives, clenching his fists beneath the table and subconsciously reaching for his knives. Shouto put a hand on his shoulder and gave him a reassuring glance. Izuku smiled at him and forced himself to relax.
"Perhaps it's best if we save here and keep playing another day?" Shigaraki said.
"But we haven't even brought out the main course!" Trumpet pouted.
"Yes, well," Compress stood, "unless you're particularly fond of blood sausages, it is time for us to take our leave."
"Don't worry, Re-Destro, we're still on to work together." Dabi shrugged. "But it's getting late and you're putting your foot so deep down your throat you're gonna need surgery to get it out, so believe me, this is better for everyone."
Re-Destro glared at them, but didn't get in their way as they left and called the limo back to take them home. Izuku was sure it probably hadn't been the shortest business meeting he'd ever had, but he was blanking on any that had ended more quickly or abruptly. How blind could they get to insist that he had to have a powerful quirk, simply because he was a successful villain? Especially since he probably wouldn't be a villain at all if he'd gotten a quirk like he was supposed to.
Shouto squeezed his leg, "Calm down, Izuku, we're almost home."
Izuku took a deep breath and nodded. The entire league ended up getting out when they arrived at Izuku's base and tipped the driver to just go home. Izuku slammed open the door and yanked off his tie as he screamed, "Just who do they think they are? Of all the biased, prejudiced, quirkist… "
"Yeah, that seriously did not go well." Dabi went to the pantry and grabbed enough instant ramen for everyone, since they'd left before they really had the chance to eat. "I had no idea they were gonna take it that far. I thought they knew you were quirkless, since they knew everything else about you and all."
Toga nodded and pouted, "That was seriously not cute."
"It wasn't that bad." Twice said. "It was terrible!"
Izuku finished his tantrum and took a deep breath as he ran his hand through his hair, "What has the Meta Liberation Army offered the league?"
"It doesn't matter Izuku." Shouto sat down and pulled at Izuku's hand until he sat down as well. "We aren't going to choose them over you."
Izuku face hardened, "What have they offered you?"
Shigaraki shrugged, "Access to their satellites, money, that sort of thing."
Izuku took a deep breath and nodded. He could work with that. "If I call in a favor to La Brava and have her transfer those resources directly to you, can I destroy them?"
"You don't have to…"
Izuku shook his head, "She still owes me for making sure the media covered their UA infiltration. Gentle's videos have been going viral ever since, so she'll be more than happy to help. I don't want to leave you guys in a lurch just because those idiots chose to piss me off."
"Even if you did," Spinner smiled, "you'd still be doing the right thing taking down those false heroes that aligned themselves with their rebellion."
Shouto nodded, "We'll even help you bring them down. It matches well with the league's image, taking down a few corrupt organizations just seems like the natural sequel to robbing a few corrupt banks and killing a few corrupt heroes."
Izuku laughed, tears welling up in his eyes, "What did I do to deserve friends like you?"
Dabi raised one eyebrow, "You helped us kill people."
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