Canon Fodder

CHAPTER 71 HERO WORK

Ryuko was true to her word. We had to watch some orientation videos about working in the office. We promised her we would calm it down with the joking. She started sparring and beating us up. Ryuko was stronger than I expected in her normal form. Her grip like iron she had no qualms hitting me full strength. 

She went a little easier on Toru, but the business woman saw herself as a guide to the next generation of female heroes. Giving offers of internships to most any females, I was the only male she sent one to. Ryuko was quite surprised I took the offer. The big 10 heroes all send one to the winner, trying to bet who they will accept. I made her a nice profit when I agreed to go to her office. 

There was a lot more going on behind the scenes in MHA than was in the comic. Betting, groupies, sex clubs, rivalries, affairs, love triangles, and a whole bunch of drama infected the top 10 heroes. It was easier to see why the Hero Killer hated all but All Might. He really was the boy scout of the super heroes. All of this became abundantly clear over the first couple of days at the Ryukyu Agency. 

After sparring with Ryuko she took us patrolling. Nejire and Toru went off to patrol in their costumes. Nejire had her Provisional Hero License so she could use her powers without supervision. We would switch partners during the afternoon patrol. People waved at Ryuko as we walked, simply out and about in our hero costumes as we assured the neighborhood we were close. 

“This is the majority of the job,” Ryuko said. “Being seen. 80% of people have quirks, but only about 15% of those use them on a daily basis. The majority of people are completely content being ordinary. No special powers. No fighting or drama. They want to be able to go to work or school, hang out with friends, go to the grocery store and bank, and get home safely. Before quirks it was easier to do that. But when you get a 12 year old that can release ammonia gas just by thinking about it, bad things happen.” 

I nodded. Wearing my hero costume with the hood and mask up I was more than interested in what she had to say. “What about the League of Villains?” I asked. “They attacked my school and had this weird monster trying to get All Might.” 

“There is always a League of Villains,” Ryuko said boredly. “Back when I first started hero work there was a group called the Brotherhood of Quirks. At first it was a harmless gathering of men and women that wanted to use their quirks for the good of humanity. Then the leader got it in his head that they needed money to help people. He had this Oration Quirk that made people believe what he said, or helped them believe. The Brotherhood quickly turned into a cult, then a crime syndicate. There are still stragglers in the neighborhood, preaching the word of the Brotherhood’s leader.” 

“What happened to him?” I asked. 

“Prison, All Might put him there himself,” she said. “All Might and the other top heroes back then.” Ryuko let out a sigh. “That’s another thing. There is always a top 10, and a number 1. Always changing. People give up, get injured, or some get bored with the work. It is a demanding job, Weston. If anyone tells you hero work is easy, they’re lying.” 

“I never expected it to be,” I said. “Why do you do it?” 

“Because I love it,” she said with a slight smile. “My quirk gives me strength far beyond what normal people can handle, but one of the biggest things is it allows me to turn into a dragon. Back when I was a kid I scared the other kids my age. They made fun of me and I would turn into a dragon and they would run away. It wasn’t until I became a hero that people stopped running. If I wasn’t a hero I wouldn’t be able to turn into a dragon as often. People would call the police and I would be disciplined or fined, simply for turning into my real self. So I help people. And they love me for it.” She waved to a small girl walking by. The girl had stars in her eyes as she stared at Ryuko. 

“And that’s enough to risk your life?” I asked. I knew a lot about MHA. Not everything. I stopped reading after All for One became a big issue. But I knew that there was death and destruction coming up. No one would be safe from it. 

“It is enough to keep me going,” she admitted. “I have strength. Why not use it to help?” She was quiet for a time, simply happy walking around the block as people streamed by. 

“So why did you really want to partner with me first?” I eventually asked. Ryuko gave me the side eye. “Oh come on, you’ve been leading up to something since we left. What do you really want to say?” 

“Hmm, honestly, I don’t know,” she said. “Just trying to get the sense of you for now. There is a lot of pressure on you Weston. Do you know the winner of the Sports Festival that graduated last year?” I shook my head. “Strong kid. He won it 3 years in a row. There was a lot of promise in him. Know where he is now? Prison.” 

“Being a hero is like being a celebrity. And you kids that win the Sports Festival are the child stars,” she admitted. “Do you know what happens to child stars?” 

“Nothing good.” 

“That’s right,” she whispered. “Some make it out okay. But there have been 3 people that recognized you since we started walking. There is a lot of attention and pressure on you. Something that the hero schools don’t like to admit. They are good at training you for villains. But the attention of a beautiful girl. The draw of drugs. Real life? Not so much.” 

“So school hasn’t changed,” I mumbled. 

“No, it is school. An ideal world with structured lesson plans. But nothing can teach you how to turn down some girl that throws herself at you. Doing anything and everything you can possibly want. Then it turns out she has money problems, or her uncle beats her, or she has an addiction to drugs. You find yourself helping her. But you have been trained to use your quirk. Why not use it to help her. Only for it all to be a setup. There was no Uncle, and they now have you on tape using your quirk on someone. You better do what we say and get us this money or your life as a hero is over.” 

“Jeez,” I said. “That’s a little too believable for my taste.” 

“Because it’s true. It could happen. Has happened, more than once. As us heroes showed up to help against villains, they got smarter. Protect these people,” she said waving at the people in front of us. “But don’t trust them. Con-men and women are everywhere. People trained to trick you and take all you have. Or not trained at all. They simply get off on it. Finding some hero and watching their life fall apart gives them an extra thrill.”

“Depressing,” I said. More than happy with Toru, I was glad I had chosen my girl from UA. I didn’t want to let myself get pulled into some drama. “Thanks for the warning.” 

“Of course,” she said. “You shouldn’t have to worry about it too much for now, but next year, yes. The legal age of consent is 16, and that is when they like to target people.” 

“What about you?” I asked. “Gonna target me?” 

She giggled. “Maybe I will, but you are safe for now. I simply want to warn you.”

“Thanks.” I was surprised how comfortable I felt with the dragon lady, and was happy I had chosen her. “Got any more interesting stories I should be wary of?” 

“Tons,” she said. “Endeavor has at least 3 families he is supporting.” 

“No way, I go to school with one of his sons,” I said. 

“Oh yes. After his first wife went off the deep end he found some other girls with quirks he was interested in. One could control water. He already has 3 kids with her. The other was a young intern a few years back. She could control wind. I have heard he is trying for a fire cyclone kid.” 

“Oh god,” I groaned. “That’s stupid.”

“I agree,” she said with a small smile. 

“Then again, maybe you should go with him,” I said. “Maybe your kid would turn into a dragon that could breathe fire.” 

She stopped walking, studying me, then burst out laughing. “Wow, Endeavor has been hitting on me for years. Do you really think that’s what he was trying?” 

“I know I would,” I said. 

“Oh boy, I better watch myself,” she said. “You ever heard of a hero named Wash?”

“The number 8 hero? Looks like a washing machine?” 

“That’s the one. He is into some very weird stuff. I heard he likes to get dirty in the bedroom.” 

“As in…” 

“As in it’s more like a bathroom.” 

“Oh god, I had an offer from him. I’ll never be able to look at him the same. What about that Woods hero? He has got to be into some sort of nature play or something.”

“Don’t get me started. Everyone has their own rumors about them. Like Edgeshot, there’s a reason he is called Edge, I heard…” 

—

It was easy to break into the apartment. Almost laughably so. Breaking the glass I could tell no one had been there in a while. I did a cursory search and didn’t find anything of interest so I went back to begin doing a more in depth investigation. 

The last 2 days had gone by quickly. Ryuko was a trove of information and was more than happy to share the secrets of the hero world. The media painted these people as saints, but they were really human. All with their own drama, kinks, and peculiarities. I wasn’t too surprised about it, but still it was hard to think of them the same. 

We sparred more, and I would go out with Nejire to patrol. She told me more about herself and I was beginning to like her. Nejire had an interesting power called wave motion. She could turn her energy into powerful shockwaves like Chi blasts from DBZ, but different. Instead of traveling in straight lines they traveled in spirals. I sparred her as well and was impressed by the strength of them. Her codename was Nejire-chan. 

Since she was serious about doing hero work I didn’t bother to flirt with her much during our patrol. A fact I could tell impressed her. The first night after patrolling she didn’t wait too long to join Toru and I. Making both girls cum fast and hard they didn’t have near the stamina Reina and Hina had. Forced to limit the chakra moving to my Chikyugi they were done before midnight while I was barely getting started. 

I had just finished the 3rd night with them and made them pass out by 10pm since I went so hard. Leaving them with a shadow clone I snuck out of the agency easily and headed to the address I found. 

Searching through the apartment now I could tell Eiko Tamari had left in a hurry. I guessed she went on sabbatical around the time I killed Landslide. Going into hiding because I had warned those that helped him, they would be next. 

I found some cash, but not too much. Finding a small safe in a closet it was easy to tear open with my chakra powered body. Inside I didn’t find too much, except for a lease agreement on another apartment. 

Quickly out the window I decided to check it out as well. Using my transformation jutsu I decided on the perfect face for the Villain Slayer. Kakashi Sensei. The white haired ninja trainer was far away in another world, and I thought it best to no longer hide the face behind a mask like a hero did. I needed to give the Villain Slayer an image. And since I could transform into most anyone with chakra it wasn’t too hard to pick one. 

The woman’s apartment was across town above a tattoo parlor. Climbing the wall I found my target awake. Sitting in a chair as she watched TV. She was a little older than I expected. Mid to late-thirties. Black hair cut short. She wore pajamas and had bags under her eyes. 

She was smart enough to lock the windows. But I was a ninja. After some finagling with a knife I had pried it open and was in her bathroom. Cycling chakra I powered up. Sliding out of the door I was on her before she could scream. Knocking her out with a simple blow she dropped boneless. 

Picking her up I tied her to the bed. Then began my search. It was like she had prepared it all for me. Splayed out on the table were pictures of villains. Before and after transformations. All polaroid. It was the proof I needed. No interrogation was necessary to know I had the right person. She had transformed the faces of Landslide and the other villains. Ensuring they wouldn’t be captured after every heist. After they had inadvertently killed my mother. 

I felt rage seeing all the pictures. There were hundreds of them. Hundreds of villains she had helped to stay out of the police clutches with a quirk that let her change faces. 

I found her trove of money soon enough. More than Landslide had stored away she had been very busy. I threw it in my Status Screen and moved to wake her up. Slapping her awake she was soon screaming under the tape over her mouth. 

“Shhh,” I ordered in my best impression of Kakashi. My gray hair sticking up, scar on my eye, I had to guess what his chin looked like, but I was close. “Scream and you die. Try to fight and you die. Do anything besides what I tell you and you die.” 

Tears in her eyes she stopped trying to fight. Ripping the tape off, her mouth was shut tight as she stared up at me. “You know why I’m here.” She slowly nodded. “I see you kept proof of those faces you transformed. I will set up the camera. You will tell me about them. Then if you do what I say, I will let you go to the police and turn yourself in.”

“They-they’ll kill me,” she whispered. I slapped her across the face. 

“Bitch, I’ll kill you. You don’t talk till I tell you,” I said. Her eyes let more tears go as she nodded. I bought a camera directly from my System Store. Last time I bought it before because I had to test it out, but this time I knew I didn’t have to charge it. It wasn’t long until she began to confess. 

Her quirk was called Plastic. She could alter faces with her quirk. The interesting thing was they stayed that way unless she changed them back. Eiko had to take before and after pictures so she would remember what they looked like. At first she had been an aspiring model. Able to change her face at will she was quite famous. 

Then she got into drugs. She started changing villains faces to help support her habit. After a drug fueled tirade at a model shoot she was blacklisted and relied on villains to get by. She made a lot of money. Especially when villains had to go on the run. Changing their faces so they could assume a new life and escape capture. 

“And why haven’t you come forward with this information?” I asked. 

“Because I am not a hero,” she said. “They will kill me, torture me, rape me.” 

“Like the people they killed, tortured, raped? Then you changed their faces to make sure they didn’t have to pay for their actions? You’re right. You are no hero. You are a villain.” I bought another gun and some ammo from the store. Loading it quickly I fired and killed her before she could scream. I had debated on it. But after hearing her story, I thought it best to end it. She probably already changed her face from when she worked at Ryukyu Agency. Eiko could have walked out the door and disappeared. 

I let out a sigh. Moving to in front of the camera I showed my Kakashi face. “Villains deserve what is coming to them. Hero Killer Stain. You will be next.” Getting up I turned the camera off. Pulling the video tape I was soon out the window and on my way to another local journalist. 

I knew there would be a minor trail to me. First the guy who killed my mother died. Then a woman that helped him died. I burned the before and after pictures of Landslide. But they could find out somehow, I was sure. Which was why I made sure Nejire and Toru were with me. Providing me an alibi. I simply had to do this now. Who knew when I would be in the area next. When I was choosing which agency to go to I checked out websites. Low and behold Eiko Tamari worked for Ryuko. Sealing the deal and my next course of action. 

I wasn’t completely sure it was the right person until I found the pictures, but now that I had there were only 3 people left I had to kill for my revenge. Landslide’s uncle and his 2 accomplices. I hoped it wouldn’t be too long till I found them.

Back at the agency I knocked on my apartment door. My clone walked out and disappeared. Heading to the bathroom I showered and made myself presentable. Then I was back in the room trying to talk the girls into another round. They groaned but Toru woke up and soon enough Nejire did too. 

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