Chapter 15
Morte_Perpetua
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Chapter 15
Not much beside Himiko got the jump on her these days. More than two collective decades of training and constant vigilance gave Tanya the skills to easily stay on top of most fights. One needed to heighten their awareness and evolve their sense for danger of any kind, in order to not get killed by stray bullets, assassination attempts or bloodthirsty madmen lying in ambush. She could defeat ordinary, run-of-the-mill villains with her eyes closed by now.
Although the Japan of the twenty fourth century was filled with a diverse array of enemies with unpredictable skill sets and abilities, in reality a confrontation with the so called 'villains' was rather mundane. Most of them tended to flaunt their imaginary superiority either directly or by brazenly using their quirk in public, so identifying and disposing of them was child's play.
And there exactly was the biggest problem.
It was only ever easy until it was not.
If ninety nine percent of the criminal population was dumb, boisterous and/or unhinged then the remaining one percent was all the more dangerous for it. Those that did not fit the schema could inflict far more damage on society by being sneaky and cunning. They got overlooked by law enforcement, because they knew how to blend in with the crowd instead of presenting themselves on a silver platter.
They weren't spouting pathetic speeches about how unjust they had been treated or about how much fun it was to crush someone's skull. They were not stupid enough to rob a bank in broad daylight or attack the UA sports festival with knifes drawn, shouts of glee on their lips.
Tanya saw the Nomu when it rampaged around and instantly connected it to the League of Villains, an inexperienced terrorist group full of dreamers and small-time killers. People like them lacked a proper vision and calculative mindset to be anything other than barking dogs. Their assault on the USJ training facility had been terribly executed, regardless of the half decent preparations that went into it.
Subsequently she deemed their raid on the UA stadium a mad attempt for revenge, performed without cleverness or hidden agendas. Of course she kept her guard up for any unwelcome surprises, but by the time she incapacitated, i.e. crippled , the Nomu and went over to the panicking civilians she believed the violence to be largely over. After all, dozens of pro heroes were present as visitors for the event.
Then the building started crumbling and she figured it had been a desperate last strike by the League to send a message by killing a large number of spectators. Not too bad of an idea, but a few bombs would have done a better job in her opinion. If it came to massacring droves of people quickly, explosives were unmatched.
She kept the disintegrating floor from breaking away with her barriers which took considerable effort, seeing as she was stabilizing tons of stone and terrified humans. Nonetheless, she was able to quickly evacuate the collapsing stands before most of the heroes even arrived from the other side of the stadium. Being able to fly at lightning speed was wonderful to reach disaster zones, despite how dizzy the sudden accelerations and decelerations could make her feel.
Ten civilians, twenty, thirty...
Their number blurred as she pushed her quirk and concentrated solely on effectively saving as many as possible. Erecting a temporary pillar here, carrying a hyperventilating woman there...
So focused was she on rescue that she fell for a trap that normally would not even deceive a rookie. It was perhaps the second most embarrassing mistake of her career as a professional hero! Tanya had not expected a villain to masquerade as a helpless citizen after the brutish approach earlier. If he had not telegraphed his attack in such an incredibly obvious way then she would have fallen prey to his scheme.
How? She should have seen it coming! His relaxed demeanour in the face of death and the fact that he sat right in the middle of where the disaster originated from... Overlooking those apparent hints nearly ended her third life!
It was a disgrace that stoked the bright flames of indignation in her chest which had been first ignited when she realized that the entire world was probably able to see her bra through the hole in her uniform. Luckily, covering herself with a silver veil was simple, even though she looked like an awful fashion designer had wrapped her in aluminium foil.
A shout of " HAVE NO FEAR FOR I AM HERE! " snapped her out of her spiral of self-critique, directing her surging anger at another target.
All Might was apparently saving the last couple civilians and placating them with his usual brand of energetic confidence. It was loud. It was grating. And it was totally unearned! She was the one who nearly got killed right now! Where had this asshole been while she did her job?
"Do you make a habit out of showing up too late?" she sneered coldly.
Her voice was not very loud, but enough for the number one hero to hear. Slowly he turned towards her, his trademark smile nowhere in sight.
"I APOLOGIZE FOR ARRIVING SO LATE! AS SOON AS MR. PRINCIPAL INFORMED ME I FLEW OVER AS FAST AS I COULD!"
Closing the distance, Tanya got right up in his face and hissed: "Is that the best excuse you have? The media will never know, but I hope you are aware that a lot of today's calamity could have been prevented if you did what you were supposed to. You failed your duty, All Might."
She didn't care that she was making an enemy out of the most influential man in Japan or that one snap of his fingers could break her barriers and splatter her entrails all over the floor. This close call with death was pushing memories to the surface of her mind that lay long forgotten. Old hatred and even older fears clawed at the edges of her sanity, reminding her of times full of blood and acrid smoke.
When she had been called the Devil.
"I know. I do not seek forgiveness for my mistakes, but let me attempt to make this right. I am sure Nedzu will chew us all out later anyhow."
Huh? He admitted to his mistake? At least that was a beginning…
All Might was missing, though his stand-in Mr. Toshinori was able to represent his interest. The principal did not question why a mere assistant was privy to this meeting, so Tanya held her tongue. She had the suspicion that he might be secretly Himiko in disguise, considering the strong stench of blood on his person and the tiny spot of dried red on his chin. Not many other people had vampire quirks after all. Later she would need to lecture her partner if she was getting this sloppy in a room full of pros.
Another odd face was an unannounced man clad in a beige trench coat and white gloves who most likely was a criminal investigator of some sort. The way his presence purposefully blended into the background was telling for someone who had received intelligence training, but the standard issued boots and the lack of those dead, placid 'government-agent eyes' indicated that he was not from the secret service.
Only someone who completely lost connection with normal, everyday life to become a shadow of society could look so apathetic. It was one of the major reasons why she tried to involve Himiko in peaceful ordinary experiences and pull her away from an existence of pure bloodshed and corporate busywork. To see that wonderful spark inside her go out would be... most unpleasant.
Then again, this trench coat guy could just be faking it. Without reading his mind she would never know.
Fitting to her gloomy thoughts, the orange light of the afternoon sun seeped through the windows and cast the conference room into an ominous glow. Long shadows obscured the principal's expression which made the suffocating silence in the air even more menacing. Nedzu's paws lay carefully folded on the conference table, giving him an outward appearance of calmness that fooled nobody.
"It is with my greatest regret that I have to announce the second emergency conference of the UA faculty this year. Although you all have performed amiably in the defence of our school, the possible long-term consequences of this catastrophe are going to be severe. Already I have been messaged by multiple members of the school board who want to implement drastic changes to the way our school is run. I presume that many more parents will also want to reconsider the enrolment of their children in our institution. Even the Hero Public Safety Commission has approached me just half an hour ago with the demand of more oversight into our internal security."
Shocked gasps rang out among most of the gathered teachers.
"Of course they have no legal rights to do so, but I doubt that will stop them when the media campaigns against our independence. Public support will naturally be swayed to what they perceive as the 'safer' alternative."
A hair-thin smile spread over his animalistic face.
"Argent, what do you think of this extraordinarily quickly made proposal? Would our situation improve if the HPSC got more influence over us?"
Why was he putting her on the spot like that? Tanya understood why he would be sceptical of her, but such blatant antagonism was undeserved.
"I cannot say. I am not an expert in this field. In fact, coming to decisions beyond my actual job description is rarely something that is required of me, despite my willingness to learn."
Saying 'I am not involved in this debacle, but also am not allowed to talk about it' any more clearly would be dangerous.
"Is that so? Then Midnight, what would you make of..."
On and on the questions went, ranging from innocuous to organizational. What version of the story they would present at the press conference, what ideas they had in order to improve themselves and the security in the future, how to best pacify the legions of angry parents that were going to show up and so forth.
That was until Nedzu all of a sudden dropped a metaphorical bomb on them.
"Now to the most concerning topic of this meeting. Our dear Eraserhead here has returned to UA high school for the first time since his injury... today. "
Oh…
'Himiko what have you done?'
Uncontrollable noise broke out as every emotion from shock to confusion was expressed among the teachers. The news that a shapeshifter had managed to trick all of them appeared to hit Midnight and Present Mic the hardest.
"Calm down!" the Voice Hero shouted, overpowering the frantic discourse with the help of his quirk. "There must be a mistake! He visited last week!"
"No, I am not mistaken. Else Mr. Aizawa would be able to recall such an event happening, don't you think? Not to mention that the security information leaked to his impostor was the same that provided the villains with an opportunity to break into the sports festival. Isn't that strange..."
Nemuri winced in discomfort, now aware that she was partly to blame for the incident.
"But who could predict something like this? Were there any rumours circulating in the criminal underworld perhaps? You are the most active hero out of all of us at the moment, Argent. Have you heard of any possible plans that the League might be hatching?"
"I am not an underground hero. I don't make a habit out of listening to the chatter of random thugs in dirty alleyways."
"So you heard nothing at all?"
Why was he so insistent on her spelling out the truth? There was some sort of ploy at work here for certain. What if he believed to have found incriminating evidence on her and was now attempting to goad her into revealing it?
"Nothing. It was not my assigned case and I learned early not to stick my nose in other people's business. Even if I had possessed the faintest inkling that any organization, let alone the League of Villains, was planning an assault on UA then I would not have sat by idly. It was as surprising to me as the rest. Believe it or not, but I have not climbed the public rankings by withholding information on villains."
At this point she was becoming rather annoyed. For a being who claimed to be the smartest mind on the planet, the principal sure was lacking in interrogation skills.
"Please forgive me. My question came off as rude, but I never tried to insinuate negligence on your part. It was merely harmless curiosity."
As if! He sounded so painfully sincere that it was almost comedic.
"And why, if I may ask, was your first response to use lethal force against the Nomu?" glared Aizawa from across the table.
Really, what had she done to deserve this much hostility?
" You are the one asking this? After getting near fatally injured by a creature of similar design? I acted with the best interests of myself and my students in mind. So I chose the fastest way to take down and permanently immobilize the largest threat on the field. The police report on the first one declared it officially brain-dead which makes eliminating those weapons both legally and morally acceptable. You would have done the same."
She was losing her relaxed composure, but having to deal with the unprofessional behaviour of people who were dumb enough to voluntarily pursue heroics without adjusting their worldview was draining. Many experienced heroes killed at some point in their career! It was only natural when one participated in violence that a slightly too hard kick or an unfortunate fall would end a fragile human's life. Endeavour exterminated a few villains per year with the thermal shock of his flames alone!
If Tanya's covert operations far away from the public eye had not forced her to learn the delicateness of a spine or the frailty of internal organs the hard way then she would not have the flawless track record in her day time job. Through much bloody experimenting she knew exactly how much pressure she could put on each body part, giving her an advantage over those who studied anatomy only theoretically.
"And what about the villain that you maimed on live TV?"
Her face scrunched up in distaste. This bastard just had to remind her of that failure. Losing control like that was going to haunt her dreams for a while.
"He came very close to touching me with whatever powers turned an eighth of the sports stadium into rubble. Forgive me for prioritizing my own safety over that of my assailant. The loss of a few fingers is hardly worthy of outrage."
Aizawa's eyes flashed a venomous red, but he finally ceased his unnecessary critiquing.
Snickering broke their impromptu staring contest and continued to spread through the entire room.
"Pardon me, what sort of joke am I missing?"
Midnight looked at her in a way that made her quite uncomfortable, but Tanya refused to show weakness and turn her body away from her leering gaze. Oddly enough, the laughs were only increasing in volume. Cementoss was pressing his lips together and looking away with a slight frown, but most of the others were openly giggling like children.
Ultimately it was Present Mic who burst out in full laughter and pointed his finger at her.
"Hahaha... Roses! Hahahaha!"
"Wha-"
She looked down where he was pointing and discovered to her growing horror that the reflective veil preserving her modesty had mysteriously dissipated. Her printed undergarments were openly visible! Eraserhead, that absolute prick had cancelled her quirk!
"Aghh! You pervert! " she yelped and reflexively conjured an opaque cylinder around her whole body.
These degenerates pretended to be heroes? Disgusting!
"Hahahaha! Who would have guessed them to have a flower motif? Hahaha!"
Never would she let Himiko gift her any piece of clothing again! In the name of good work relationships she had perhaps been too lenient with her kohai. Cuteness of any kind was going to be forbidden from this point onwards!
"You know that I am technically not allowed to disclose any details of an ongoing investigation, Nedzu." answered the detective.
"I was not asking for that. I have a law degree after all. But as a friend... could you tell me what I should keep in mind to better manage my dear colleagues?"
"Mmm... As a friend I would say that most of them are very honest. You should not be overly worried."
"Most of them?"
"Well... That some statements were identified as lies by my quirk was fairly troubling..."
"Oh? Could you give me examples? Purely for educational purposes, you understand."
"Argent, was... at least not completely convinced that her success is not based on withholding information on villains... In and of itself that is not too worrying, but..."
It seemed that provoking Degurechaff had paid off. Argent was far too comfortable in her role if she remained unchallenged. Questioning her in a room with witnesses forced the young hero to react to his probing under enhanced stress. In a rush to appear as believable as possible Degurechaff had less time to come up with a strategy and hide her secrets.
Still, she was no simple puzzle to crack.
"Interesting..."
"Nedzu, let me remind you, my quirk is not perfect. It does not filter for objective truths, only for what people believe to be true or untrue at any given time. This could mean literally nothing. "
"Of course. I am not assuming any guilt here. Although... if we for a moment take her statement at face value... then the implications are very, very remarkable."
"Ugh, I know that I am going to regret this, but please explain."
"You see... Our beloved Ms. Degurechaff has not been a hero for very long. In fact, she has been in the public rankings for barely over a year. That is certainly not long enough for her to be tempted to fall back on such unscrupulous methods in order to achieve fame. Corruption of this breed evolves in heroes who are so deeply unsatisfied with their career progress that they see no other alternative but to cheat their way to the top. Yet based on her stellar ascent towards the number seven spot this is highly unlikely..."
"A powerful quirk like hers makes that a somewhat straightforward process."
"Only a potent quirk would not have been enough, but it definitely helps. Anyways, due to being closely associated with the Hero Public Safety Commission it stands safe to reason that she faces stronger and more severe oversight than most in the business. Wouldn't you agree?"
Detective Tsukauchi hummed noncommittally, however his furrowed brows showed that he was pondering intensely over what Nedzu was saying. Perfect.
"If the public success of one of Japan's brightest rising stars is partly the result of corruption then it stands to reason that her benefactors would be the first to notice. And if the HPSC is aware of this... then that would be quite the scandal. They might not simply be condoning it, but possibly even endorsing it... Why else would a young woman with keen intellect, outstanding discipline and an astonishingly powerful quirk be indirectly collaborating with villains in her first year on the streets?"
"Careful , Mr. Principal. This train of thought might take you to places that could be unpleasant even for a figure of your renown."
The detective's lips were pursed in the grim realization that he could not intellectually disagree with him, but was also not very fond of the uncomfortable conclusion that that led to. Upsetting the belief system of humans almost always resulted in denial.
"Why, I was only speculating. Never in a thousand years would I accuse our benevolent and capable government of such heinous crimes."
He was lying and they both knew it.
Not much beside Himiko got the jump on her these days. More than two collective decades of training and constant vigilance gave Tanya the skills to easily stay on top of most fights. One needed to heighten their awareness and evolve their sense for danger of any kind, in order to not get killed by stray bullets, assassination attempts or bloodthirsty madmen lying in ambush. She could defeat ordinary, run-of-the-mill villains with her eyes closed by now.
Although the Japan of the twenty fourth century was filled with a diverse array of enemies with unpredictable skill sets and abilities, in reality a confrontation with the so called 'villains' was rather mundane. Most of them tended to flaunt their imaginary superiority either directly or by brazenly using their quirk in public, so identifying and disposing of them was child's play.
And there exactly was the biggest problem.
It was only ever easy until it was not.
If ninety nine percent of the criminal population was dumb, boisterous and/or unhinged then the remaining one percent was all the more dangerous for it. Those that did not fit the schema could inflict far more damage on society by being sneaky and cunning. They got overlooked by law enforcement, because they knew how to blend in with the crowd instead of presenting themselves on a silver platter.
They weren't spouting pathetic speeches about how unjust they had been treated or about how much fun it was to crush someone's skull. They were not stupid enough to rob a bank in broad daylight or attack the UA sports festival with knifes drawn, shouts of glee on their lips.
Tanya saw the Nomu when it rampaged around and instantly connected it to the League of Villains, an inexperienced terrorist group full of dreamers and small-time killers. People like them lacked a proper vision and calculative mindset to be anything other than barking dogs. Their assault on the USJ training facility had been terribly executed, regardless of the half decent preparations that went into it.
Subsequently she deemed their raid on the UA stadium a mad attempt for revenge, performed without cleverness or hidden agendas. Of course she kept her guard up for any unwelcome surprises, but by the time she incapacitated, i.e. crippled , the Nomu and went over to the panicking civilians she believed the violence to be largely over. After all, dozens of pro heroes were present as visitors for the event.
Then the building started crumbling and she figured it had been a desperate last strike by the League to send a message by killing a large number of spectators. Not too bad of an idea, but a few bombs would have done a better job in her opinion. If it came to massacring droves of people quickly, explosives were unmatched.
She kept the disintegrating floor from breaking away with her barriers which took considerable effort, seeing as she was stabilizing tons of stone and terrified humans. Nonetheless, she was able to quickly evacuate the collapsing stands before most of the heroes even arrived from the other side of the stadium. Being able to fly at lightning speed was wonderful to reach disaster zones, despite how dizzy the sudden accelerations and decelerations could make her feel.
Ten civilians, twenty, thirty...
Their number blurred as she pushed her quirk and concentrated solely on effectively saving as many as possible. Erecting a temporary pillar here, carrying a hyperventilating woman there...
So focused was she on rescue that she fell for a trap that normally would not even deceive a rookie. It was perhaps the second most embarrassing mistake of her career as a professional hero! Tanya had not expected a villain to masquerade as a helpless citizen after the brutish approach earlier. If he had not telegraphed his attack in such an incredibly obvious way then she would have fallen prey to his scheme.
How? She should have seen it coming! His relaxed demeanour in the face of death and the fact that he sat right in the middle of where the disaster originated from... Overlooking those apparent hints nearly ended her third life!
It was a disgrace that stoked the bright flames of indignation in her chest which had been first ignited when she realized that the entire world was probably able to see her bra through the hole in her uniform. Luckily, covering herself with a silver veil was simple, even though she looked like an awful fashion designer had wrapped her in aluminium foil.
A shout of " HAVE NO FEAR FOR I AM HERE! " snapped her out of her spiral of self-critique, directing her surging anger at another target.
All Might was apparently saving the last couple civilians and placating them with his usual brand of energetic confidence. It was loud. It was grating. And it was totally unearned! She was the one who nearly got killed right now! Where had this asshole been while she did her job?
"Do you make a habit out of showing up too late?" she sneered coldly.
Her voice was not very loud, but enough for the number one hero to hear. Slowly he turned towards her, his trademark smile nowhere in sight.
"I APOLOGIZE FOR ARRIVING SO LATE! AS SOON AS MR. PRINCIPAL INFORMED ME I FLEW OVER AS FAST AS I COULD!"
Closing the distance, Tanya got right up in his face and hissed: "Is that the best excuse you have? The media will never know, but I hope you are aware that a lot of today's calamity could have been prevented if you did what you were supposed to. You failed your duty, All Might."
She didn't care that she was making an enemy out of the most influential man in Japan or that one snap of his fingers could break her barriers and splatter her entrails all over the floor. This close call with death was pushing memories to the surface of her mind that lay long forgotten. Old hatred and even older fears clawed at the edges of her sanity, reminding her of times full of blood and acrid smoke.
When she had been called the Devil.
"I know. I do not seek forgiveness for my mistakes, but let me attempt to make this right. I am sure Nedzu will chew us all out later anyhow."
Huh? He admitted to his mistake? At least that was a beginning…
~[#҈#]~
Indeed, Nedzu looked deadly serious when he called the teachers together as soon as they had given their police interviews, sent everybody home and underwent medical checkups. Surprisingly, Aizawa was present as well for some reason. From his brief explanation it seemed to have something to do with confiscating a sports car and crashing it through the police blockade, but that sounded far too absurd to be true.
All Might was missing, though his stand-in Mr. Toshinori was able to represent his interest. The principal did not question why a mere assistant was privy to this meeting, so Tanya held her tongue. She had the suspicion that he might be secretly Himiko in disguise, considering the strong stench of blood on his person and the tiny spot of dried red on his chin. Not many other people had vampire quirks after all. Later she would need to lecture her partner if she was getting this sloppy in a room full of pros.
Another odd face was an unannounced man clad in a beige trench coat and white gloves who most likely was a criminal investigator of some sort. The way his presence purposefully blended into the background was telling for someone who had received intelligence training, but the standard issued boots and the lack of those dead, placid 'government-agent eyes' indicated that he was not from the secret service.
Only someone who completely lost connection with normal, everyday life to become a shadow of society could look so apathetic. It was one of the major reasons why she tried to involve Himiko in peaceful ordinary experiences and pull her away from an existence of pure bloodshed and corporate busywork. To see that wonderful spark inside her go out would be... most unpleasant.
Then again, this trench coat guy could just be faking it. Without reading his mind she would never know.
Fitting to her gloomy thoughts, the orange light of the afternoon sun seeped through the windows and cast the conference room into an ominous glow. Long shadows obscured the principal's expression which made the suffocating silence in the air even more menacing. Nedzu's paws lay carefully folded on the conference table, giving him an outward appearance of calmness that fooled nobody.
"It is with my greatest regret that I have to announce the second emergency conference of the UA faculty this year. Although you all have performed amiably in the defence of our school, the possible long-term consequences of this catastrophe are going to be severe. Already I have been messaged by multiple members of the school board who want to implement drastic changes to the way our school is run. I presume that many more parents will also want to reconsider the enrolment of their children in our institution. Even the Hero Public Safety Commission has approached me just half an hour ago with the demand of more oversight into our internal security."
Shocked gasps rang out among most of the gathered teachers.
"Of course they have no legal rights to do so, but I doubt that will stop them when the media campaigns against our independence. Public support will naturally be swayed to what they perceive as the 'safer' alternative."
A hair-thin smile spread over his animalistic face.
"Argent, what do you think of this extraordinarily quickly made proposal? Would our situation improve if the HPSC got more influence over us?"
Why was he putting her on the spot like that? Tanya understood why he would be sceptical of her, but such blatant antagonism was undeserved.
"I cannot say. I am not an expert in this field. In fact, coming to decisions beyond my actual job description is rarely something that is required of me, despite my willingness to learn."
Saying 'I am not involved in this debacle, but also am not allowed to talk about it' any more clearly would be dangerous.
"Is that so? Then Midnight, what would you make of..."
On and on the questions went, ranging from innocuous to organizational. What version of the story they would present at the press conference, what ideas they had in order to improve themselves and the security in the future, how to best pacify the legions of angry parents that were going to show up and so forth.
That was until Nedzu all of a sudden dropped a metaphorical bomb on them.
"Now to the most concerning topic of this meeting. Our dear Eraserhead here has returned to UA high school for the first time since his injury... today. "
Oh…
'Himiko what have you done?'
Uncontrollable noise broke out as every emotion from shock to confusion was expressed among the teachers. The news that a shapeshifter had managed to trick all of them appeared to hit Midnight and Present Mic the hardest.
"Calm down!" the Voice Hero shouted, overpowering the frantic discourse with the help of his quirk. "There must be a mistake! He visited last week!"
"No, I am not mistaken. Else Mr. Aizawa would be able to recall such an event happening, don't you think? Not to mention that the security information leaked to his impostor was the same that provided the villains with an opportunity to break into the sports festival. Isn't that strange..."
Nemuri winced in discomfort, now aware that she was partly to blame for the incident.
"But who could predict something like this? Were there any rumours circulating in the criminal underworld perhaps? You are the most active hero out of all of us at the moment, Argent. Have you heard of any possible plans that the League might be hatching?"
"I am not an underground hero. I don't make a habit out of listening to the chatter of random thugs in dirty alleyways."
"So you heard nothing at all?"
Why was he so insistent on her spelling out the truth? There was some sort of ploy at work here for certain. What if he believed to have found incriminating evidence on her and was now attempting to goad her into revealing it?
"Nothing. It was not my assigned case and I learned early not to stick my nose in other people's business. Even if I had possessed the faintest inkling that any organization, let alone the League of Villains, was planning an assault on UA then I would not have sat by idly. It was as surprising to me as the rest. Believe it or not, but I have not climbed the public rankings by withholding information on villains."
At this point she was becoming rather annoyed. For a being who claimed to be the smartest mind on the planet, the principal sure was lacking in interrogation skills.
"Please forgive me. My question came off as rude, but I never tried to insinuate negligence on your part. It was merely harmless curiosity."
As if! He sounded so painfully sincere that it was almost comedic.
"And why, if I may ask, was your first response to use lethal force against the Nomu?" glared Aizawa from across the table.
Really, what had she done to deserve this much hostility?
" You are the one asking this? After getting near fatally injured by a creature of similar design? I acted with the best interests of myself and my students in mind. So I chose the fastest way to take down and permanently immobilize the largest threat on the field. The police report on the first one declared it officially brain-dead which makes eliminating those weapons both legally and morally acceptable. You would have done the same."
She was losing her relaxed composure, but having to deal with the unprofessional behaviour of people who were dumb enough to voluntarily pursue heroics without adjusting their worldview was draining. Many experienced heroes killed at some point in their career! It was only natural when one participated in violence that a slightly too hard kick or an unfortunate fall would end a fragile human's life. Endeavour exterminated a few villains per year with the thermal shock of his flames alone!
If Tanya's covert operations far away from the public eye had not forced her to learn the delicateness of a spine or the frailty of internal organs the hard way then she would not have the flawless track record in her day time job. Through much bloody experimenting she knew exactly how much pressure she could put on each body part, giving her an advantage over those who studied anatomy only theoretically.
"And what about the villain that you maimed on live TV?"
Her face scrunched up in distaste. This bastard just had to remind her of that failure. Losing control like that was going to haunt her dreams for a while.
"He came very close to touching me with whatever powers turned an eighth of the sports stadium into rubble. Forgive me for prioritizing my own safety over that of my assailant. The loss of a few fingers is hardly worthy of outrage."
Aizawa's eyes flashed a venomous red, but he finally ceased his unnecessary critiquing.
Snickering broke their impromptu staring contest and continued to spread through the entire room.
"Pardon me, what sort of joke am I missing?"
Midnight looked at her in a way that made her quite uncomfortable, but Tanya refused to show weakness and turn her body away from her leering gaze. Oddly enough, the laughs were only increasing in volume. Cementoss was pressing his lips together and looking away with a slight frown, but most of the others were openly giggling like children.
Ultimately it was Present Mic who burst out in full laughter and pointed his finger at her.
"Hahaha... Roses! Hahahaha!"
"Wha-"
She looked down where he was pointing and discovered to her growing horror that the reflective veil preserving her modesty had mysteriously dissipated. Her printed undergarments were openly visible! Eraserhead, that absolute prick had cancelled her quirk!
"Aghh! You pervert! " she yelped and reflexively conjured an opaque cylinder around her whole body.
These degenerates pretended to be heroes? Disgusting!
"Hahahaha! Who would have guessed them to have a flower motif? Hahaha!"
Never would she let Himiko gift her any piece of clothing again! In the name of good work relationships she had perhaps been too lenient with her kohai. Cuteness of any kind was going to be forbidden from this point onwards!
~[#҈#]~
"Anything noteworthy to report?"
"You know that I am technically not allowed to disclose any details of an ongoing investigation, Nedzu." answered the detective.
"I was not asking for that. I have a law degree after all. But as a friend... could you tell me what I should keep in mind to better manage my dear colleagues?"
"Mmm... As a friend I would say that most of them are very honest. You should not be overly worried."
"Most of them?"
"Well... That some statements were identified as lies by my quirk was fairly troubling..."
"Oh? Could you give me examples? Purely for educational purposes, you understand."
"Argent, was... at least not completely convinced that her success is not based on withholding information on villains... In and of itself that is not too worrying, but..."
It seemed that provoking Degurechaff had paid off. Argent was far too comfortable in her role if she remained unchallenged. Questioning her in a room with witnesses forced the young hero to react to his probing under enhanced stress. In a rush to appear as believable as possible Degurechaff had less time to come up with a strategy and hide her secrets.
Still, she was no simple puzzle to crack.
"Interesting..."
"Nedzu, let me remind you, my quirk is not perfect. It does not filter for objective truths, only for what people believe to be true or untrue at any given time. This could mean literally nothing. "
"Of course. I am not assuming any guilt here. Although... if we for a moment take her statement at face value... then the implications are very, very remarkable."
"Ugh, I know that I am going to regret this, but please explain."
"You see... Our beloved Ms. Degurechaff has not been a hero for very long. In fact, she has been in the public rankings for barely over a year. That is certainly not long enough for her to be tempted to fall back on such unscrupulous methods in order to achieve fame. Corruption of this breed evolves in heroes who are so deeply unsatisfied with their career progress that they see no other alternative but to cheat their way to the top. Yet based on her stellar ascent towards the number seven spot this is highly unlikely..."
"A powerful quirk like hers makes that a somewhat straightforward process."
"Only a potent quirk would not have been enough, but it definitely helps. Anyways, due to being closely associated with the Hero Public Safety Commission it stands safe to reason that she faces stronger and more severe oversight than most in the business. Wouldn't you agree?"
Detective Tsukauchi hummed noncommittally, however his furrowed brows showed that he was pondering intensely over what Nedzu was saying. Perfect.
"If the public success of one of Japan's brightest rising stars is partly the result of corruption then it stands to reason that her benefactors would be the first to notice. And if the HPSC is aware of this... then that would be quite the scandal. They might not simply be condoning it, but possibly even endorsing it... Why else would a young woman with keen intellect, outstanding discipline and an astonishingly powerful quirk be indirectly collaborating with villains in her first year on the streets?"
"Careful , Mr. Principal. This train of thought might take you to places that could be unpleasant even for a figure of your renown."
The detective's lips were pursed in the grim realization that he could not intellectually disagree with him, but was also not very fond of the uncomfortable conclusion that that led to. Upsetting the belief system of humans almost always resulted in denial.
"Why, I was only speculating. Never in a thousand years would I accuse our benevolent and capable government of such heinous crimes."
He was lying and they both knew it.
