Chapter 13
-Hours later-
-Early afternoon-
-Musutafu's hospital-
Allmight groaned slightly as Recovery Girl took the oxygen mask off, allowing him to take a deep breath of fresh air, and sighing in relief as his nostril didn't feel like they were on fire. "You were pretty lucky. The chemicals in that smoke didn't cause permanent damage," Recovery Girl told him as he coughed slightly.
"Indeed, I didn't expect him to have those kinds of smoke bombs," he said, trying to get up, but Recovery Girl stopped him.
"You need to rest. Just because you are in the clear, doesn't mean you should get on your feet already," she chastises, making the man stay put just not to anger the shorter woman.
Allmight sighed as he stared at the ceiling, thinking back on what Omuni told him. "He knows too much, even for someone that worked for All For one," he thought as the brief conversation between him and Omuni replayed in his mind more than once. "I need to find him and know everything he does."
He kept thinking on the matter, that was, until he heard the door opening, snapping him out of his thoughts, seeing Naomasa and Nighteye walking in.
"How you holding up?" Naomasa asked.
"Besides needing a bit of rest, I'm alright," he said, noticed both them were still wearing their work attire and the bags under their eyes. "Any news?"
"There's some, we've cleared the entire area of the red lotus, found a member of Yishi's closer circle who was trying to escape," Naomasa started. "He's currently under arrest and isn't cooperating. The people who attended the auction are in the same situation. Minister Daishin, Commissioner Toka and Captain Tsuragamae are ordering to have them interrogated further and have their houses raided for more information,"
"And about Omuni?"
Nighteye pinched the bridge of his nose. "Besides a fully body description of him, there isn't any news. He completely disappeared."
Allmight perked up at that information. "According to Endeavor, he is around 6'1 or 6'2, a rather thin body, Caucasian, comb back silver hair and purple eyes," Nighteye said.
Allmight nodded. "I might also add some information that I gather during our fight," he said as Naomasa took his notebook and pen. "He has more than one quirk," he said, getting a surprised look from Naomasa. "The one I noticed the most is that he, has a pretty strong healing factor, he can also add a layer of energy on his arms and lastly he can lessen the effect of other's quirks, and possibly he can also block them if you get too close."
Naomasa written down and then glanced at Nighteye. "Lessen and cancel others' quirk? Like Aizawa's?" he asked getting a nod from Allmight. "That might explain why Nighteye couldn't see him."
"But that isn't the most worrying thing about him," Allmight said. "He knows about One for All," he said making the two looked surprised, sending all trace of being tired gone from their bodies.
"To which extent?" Nighteye asked
"More than I expected for a villain like him. He knows they were other users; he knows that it's passed from user to user, he somehow knows how All for one, acts especially on targeting others…" he said looking down. "And he probably knows more about the Minogashita Murder case than any of us."
Naomasa and Nighteye stayed silent for a bit. He even stopped writing. "He mentioned more than just that I didn't put enough effort in finding the murderer, and with how he mentions his personal grudge with heroes and his multiple quirks… I believe he is or was working for All for One."
Naomasa sighed slightly. "If that's the case, Omuni is a far worse threat than we thought," he said as Allmight kept thinking about that possibility. "But something that doesn't add up. Why would he risk getting caught?" Naomasa questioned, getting a nod from Nighteye.
"That's something, I've been wondering too, but even now I don't have any idea," Allmight said. "But with how he sounded, it was like, he was just playing with us."
"A twisted game at that," Naomasa added, as his phone started ringing, making him pick up, causing Allmight to look at him. "Hello?"
{Hello detective!} came a sing-song distorted voice, causing the man to pull his phone away. {Sorry for my late reply. The fight with Allmight really took a lot out of me.} Omuni's voice came from the phone now on speaker mode. {But now, I'm fully rested and feeling generous.}
"And what you mean by that?" Allmight asked as he stood up, causing him to cough slightly as Recovery Girl told him to stay still. "What are you planning this time, Omuni?"
{You should really get that cough checked out. I don't want you to crock over too soon,} Omuni laughed, making the hero grunt.
"Answer the question," Naomasa told him, getting a deep sigh.
{You were way more fun last night,} he said. {Fine, What I'm planning? Well, I want to play a game,} Omuni said as his voice got deeper. {I'll send a list of people who are associated with our friend Yìshí Kòngzhì. The list is pretty long, by the way. And your job is to arrest them all.}
"That sounds too simple to be true," Naomasa said, making Omuni laugh loudly.
{Yeah, I know well consider it as a PR stunt, since I'm going to let you guys take the credit for the rescue last night.} He chuckled once again. {This Is why I'm allowing you to get a bit of good press. Arresting all of Yìshí's friends.}
"And what's the catch?" Nighteye asked. "I thought your goal was to cast heroes in a poor light, but now why would you help us and let us take the credit?"
Omuni was silent for a bit. {Because…} he continued the pause and then chuckled. {it's way more fun like this, trust me I know the dark side of hero society that you and many other heroes hide, it would be so easy to expose it and make society fall but, I want for you all to see the system you tried so hard and even sacrificed your whole life to keep, is nothing but smoking mirrors,} he said making Allmight narrow his eyes and clenched his fist.
"You know nothing about what we have to do to keep our society safe!" the hero yelled, making Omuni burst out laughing.
{You can believe that all you want Toshinori, but we both know the dark secrets you heroes hide, but to answer Nighteye's question, the catch?} he asked.
{That's easy. If you don't arrest them in a week, I'm going to do that instead and show that the rescue only happened because of me.}
{Well, it's 7:20am, if I don't see in the news of every single one being arrested. You know what will happen,} he finished as the call ended, leaving the three in silence.
Allmight sighed. "We are basically in a risk-all situation," the hero said, sitting on the bed. "I hate to admit, he got me surprised." He admitted with another sigh.
Naomasa and Nighteye agreed. "And he is probably using this as a distraction," Nighteye said. "According to Endeavor, Omuni was running with a limp and had to support himself against a wall. He's probably using this time to recover."
"That's probably the case," Naomasa said as his phone rigged again, this time being Tsuragamae's number. "Chief?"
{Naomasa, we need you at the station right now. You and Nighteye. Omuni just contacted us.}
"He also contacted us, moments ago we are on our way," he said, hanging up and looked at Allmight. "Omuni, already sent the list," he said. "I'll send any information if we get any," Naomasa said as he and Nighteye made their way to the door.
"At least get some rest for once," Nighteye said, before leaving the room.
Allmight sighed once again, laying down looking at the ceiling as his mind wondered back to the recent events.
-Titan Enterprise Tower-
-Lower Labs-
"And we are done," Yusei said as he took off his headset and looked over at Tarkin and Byoki. "That will keep them busy," he said as Tarkin grabbed a seat.
"Told you it would go well," Tarkin said, leaning on his chair next to Byoki's desk. "Maybe I could get used to it, calling the shots."
"Yes, and that's impressive that you could read a script," Byoki yawned as she rubbed her eyes. "A script written by Yusei," she said, glancing over at the snow haired man.
"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a jab," Yusei commented, getting a shrug from the woman.
"See it however you want to," she said, getting up. "Did you finish going through the data?" she asked with a yawn, getting a nod from him. "And what did you find?" she asked, walking towards Yusei and leaning on the desk.
Yusei pressed a few keys and showed an extensive list of names, locations, and sales. "Basically, what you expect from any other business is just way more messed up," he said as Byoki read through the list.
"Messed up is putting it lightly," Tarkin said, getting up. "Those are the people who the police are going after or those are for us?" he asked, going to Yusei's left to check the list.
Yusei typed a bit and showed a list with fewer names. "This is our list."
"Huh, gonna be an easy catch," Tarkin muttered, glancing at Byoki. "Are you going to need any new test subjects?"
She yawned once again. "I wouldn't mind some extras; I'm running low on them." Byoki said, backing away slightly.
"Alright," Tarkin straighten himself. "Let's wait until things die down, but have some people watching them. Yusei, I need to get eyes on them"
"I already hacked most of their devices to keep a watch on them," he pressed a key, showing many cams aimed at the different houses of their targets.
"I'll be damn. How did you do this?"
"They use Titan devices," he said simply.
"Easier than I expected," Tarkin patted his shoulder. "You pretty much reduced our work for a bit. Now we just have to wait for a bit of the heat to die down."
"Yeah, until they decide to bail town," Byoki said, pulling a chair for her. "It would be better capturing them before, since this will signal them to bail."
"And risk them not get them they are about escaping? They probably are going to keep it low until the police or we are knocking on their doors," Tarkin said. "So, we just have to wait."
Byoki yawned once again. "Well nice, and how about Yishi? Aren't you going to interrogate him, oh our new outstanding leader?"
He laughed dryly. "Very funny, but no. Jen has it covered," that made Byoki chuckle slightly.
"Oh great, she'll have him talking in 10 minutes," she glanced over at Yusei. "Mind changing the feed to the interrogation room? I want to watch."
Yusei nodded, and did as he asked, changing the feed for the one in the interrogation room where Yishi was cuffed to a metal table in the middle of the room.
Yishi looked neutrally at the silver door in front of him. "When will they start their interrogation?" he thought, glancing at the clock as the only source of noise in the entire room. "Are they planning to drive me mad, or get taken over by hunger?" he contemplated, looking around once again. That was until the door opened.
"Finally," he muttered under his breath, as Jen walked in with a big smile.
"Sorry for taking so long," she said, pulling a chair and sat down facing Yishi. "Early morning was a pretty hectic, don't you think?"
"That's putting it lightly," Yishi grumbled while he straightens himself. "So, are you going to be direct with me, or do you prefer small talk?"
"I wanted to talk a bit before asking direct questions. But if you want, I'll be direct," she said, making Yishi nod.
"I know that at the moment, I don't have a way to leave her alive, besides cooperating that is," he started glancing at his handcuffs, and then back at the woman. "So ask me what you want to know."
"I'm surprised that you are willing to cooperate with me, without even a threat."
"You invaded my casino, and you kidnapped me. I'm sure anyone would be really talkative after that, and like I said, I don't have a way of escaping and me being alive until now means that I have information that you want or need," he said. "It would be better that we go straight to the deal part. Don't you agree?"
"I do, then I presume the first thing you might want is an agreement that you will be leaving here alive?"
"Correct. I don't mind exposing all the dirty dealings, as long as I'm safe."
"Self preservation at first?" she asked, getting a nod from Yishi. "Then I can assure you that we'll escort out of the country to somewhere else."
"Sounds like a wonderful offer, but how can I confirm you'll keep your word?"
Humming slightly, Jen leaned back in her seat. "Well, we could've violated your mind and tunnel through it to get the information or using any other morally questioning methods, but instead," she leaned forward with a smile. "We are here making deals as educated adults."
Yishi sighed and nodded. "I see. And what do you want to know?"
"The heads of all of this, no offense. I doubt that you are the main head of this."
"Non taken, I'll gladly tell you everything as long I get out of here,"
Jen nodded. "Then you can trust me. You will leave here alive," she assured.
Yishi sighed slightly and started explaining to her everything she needed.
-Ben's house-
-Living room-
Taking a breath, Lilith looked at the tv watching the reporting about the police raids, at the many houses of the people who were involved in previous auctions. "At least, they are actually getting arrested," she thought, grabbing the mug besides of her.
She heard the door opening and made her glance back to see Izuku. "Oh, hey little Green," she greeted with a smile. "Where are you coming from?"
"Hey Nee-chan, I thought you and aniki would still be asleep by this hour," he said, walking in the living room with a few transparent bags which contained newly bought action figures.
"Well, I'm used to waking up earlier than him," Lilith chuckled. "And no need to tell me where you were. I already have an idea," she said, returning her gaze to the tv not seeing the slight blush on Izuku's face, but it disappeared when saw the news.
"Currently we are awaiting a statement from the Commissioner of Police and The Minster of Hero activities, about the waves of allegations and arrests of people believed to be linked with a trafficking ring," the reporter said as the footage changed into a camera crew filming a SWAT team with a few heroes invading a mansion.
"I guess this was what the mission was about?" Izuku asked, sitting down getting a nod from Lilith.
"Yeah, we were lucky that we did so without any casualty," she said.
"That's good… I honestly prefer when aniki does these missions, where he doesn't kill and just does good."
"I can't blame you; I prefer it as well. Makes me remember the time when he was back in Paris," she said, looking at the coffee. "And was just a hero," she muttered, getting Izuku's attention.
"Wait, Aniki was a hero? Like a legal and recognizable hero?" he questioned, making her look at him.
"Ah, yeah. Didn't Ben tell you?"
"Vaguely. He just said he lived in Paris and worked with you and Yusei."
She chuckled slightly. "Well, that's true, he started out as a special force officer with me, but eventually he went to the hero branch since there were some restrictions we had compared to the heroes," she said with a slight smile. "He even became a chair of the French Hero Commission."
"And why is this the first time I'm hearing about that?! What was his rank?! What was his hero name?!" he asked in rapid succession as he pulled out a pen and notebook from the bag.
Lilith laughed slightly. "Calm down, I can't answer all of them like that," she said. "Well, in order, I'm not sure, I thought, he would've told you about it. He was at the top 5 if I remember correctly and his hero's name…" she hummed. "Sorry, I can't really remember. It's been some time since I called him by it."
Izuku noted down every single thing she said, and then something came to mind. "Lilith… Can I know what happened for this to change?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean, what happened to make aniki to go from a top 5 hero in Paris to be a villain here in Japan?"
Lilith took a deep breath, leaning back. "As much as I want to answer that question. I can't Izuku," she looked at him. "That's something only Ben himself can tell you."
He nodded slightly. "I see, but can I ask something else?" he asked, getting a nod from the older woman. "Was Yusei involved with the change?" he asked, and noticed the drop of expression on Lilith's face.
She quickly recovered and looked back at her coffee. "Well, I was also involved, but yes, he was."
"Is that why you treat him differently from how you treat me and Ben?" Izuku asked, making Lilith have her eyes slightly wide, but then laughed slightly.
"Maybe, but it's nothing you should worry about, little green," she said. "It's nothing major, just me being vengeful," she added.
Izuku closed his notebook with a slight frown, but shook it. "Ah, well, how about we change the topic? I need some help with bettering my French?" he asked, making Lilith look up.
"You're as bad as him when it comes to learning a new language," she joked. "Sure, just let me watch the statement and later we can practice."
"Alright, I'll be in my room organizing my toys," Izuku said, making Lilith chuckle slightly.
"Hope, you didn't buy the entire Allmight section of the store," she said, making Izuku blush as he made his way to his room. She smiled slightly and then sighed, looking at her coffee. "He's being pretty observant, wonder if he has a concrete idea of what happened," she thought, taking a sip and returned her focus to the tv, as the news changed to a live feed of the Commissioner of police and Daishin.
Both men stood behind podiums as reporters and cameramen kept their eyes on them, awaiting them to talk and clarify the situation.
"As Commissioner of police, I'm relieved to say that with the combined force of the hero department and law enforcement we secured, the victims of The Red Lotus Trafficking ring and arrest those who were involved in any level of the Red Lotus's actions." Toka said as reporters raised their hands and shouted questions. Toka pointed at one of the reporters.
"Commissioner Toka, how long has the trafficking ring been operating and what are the whereabouts of the Red Lotus's owner?"
"They've been operating for 3 years in Japan, but we believe they have contacts outside. The whereabouts of the owner are unknown at the moment, but we believe our informant will contact us soon."
"They rescued how many victims from the raid at the Red Lotus and at the house of the buyers?"
Toka took a few minutes, taking a breath. "During the raid at the red lotus, we saved 260 victims, most of them being children, teens and few adults." Toka answered, instead looking at the reporter. "At the house of the buyers, we were only able to rescue nearly 100 victims, sadly the number of those who already passed. Due to murder or suicide, out ways the number of people saved."
"Minister Hado and Commissioner Toka, how could this kind of thing happen for so long under the nose of law enforcement and the heroes?"
"Sadly, many crimes happening in a single day, that these kind of things slip through the cracks of our system," Daishin said as he pointed at another reporter. "Yes?"
"And what will be the fate of the officers and heroes involved with the trafficking ring?"
"They will be stripped of their rank and imprisoned for being involved in such a thing," Daishin explained as he picked another reporter.
"Was Omuni anyway the cause of the investigation?"
Daishin raised an eyebrow. "Could you please clarify what you mean?"
"I mean, the oldest report with a mention of a trafficking ring was around a year ago, and it was the information from one of Omuni's victims that was soon confirmed that the victim was involved in such actions."
Toka clenched his fist under the podium. "There was already an internal investigation happening the moment Omuni started his spree of murders," he answered.
"And you are certain that he didn't have any involvement in the investigation? Since most of his victims now seem to be involved in the same trafficking ring."
"As mentioned, many times before, we aren't involved or work with villains," he said. "Miss, this interview isn't to talk about Ominu's involvement, but to talk about the horrible ring that has been operating for 3 years in this city." Toka intervened before the reporter could ask something. He picked another reporter. "Next question."
"Commissioner Toka and Minister Hado to the families who lost or had a family member go through this. Do you have something to say to them?"
"I know that no matter what we say, will smooth the pain of the grieving families of those lost and affected by this horrible nightmare. For that as commissioner of Police I deeply apologize for my incapacity of fulfilling the duties of keeping the people of Musutafu save," he said bowing the same as Daishin.
"For our incompetence, we deeply apologize," Daishin finished and stood straight.
"And how are we supposed to trust heroes and officers with our safety?" asked the same reporter.
"As from now onward, there will be stricter rules that both Pro-heroes and officers will have to follow with even the smallest infraction will have heavy consequence for who breaks it," Toka answered as an officer approached him and whisper him something. He nodded and looked back at the reports. "Apology, but we have other matters to attend," he said as he and Daishin walked away as reporters took pictures and kept questioning, but to no avail as the officers escorted them away.