"Is everything in place?" Shigaraki asked, his tone sing-song as he walked through the low shallows, the water lapping over his feet and soaking his shoes but his mind seemed focused on other things. The warm water was simply a sensation that he was able to ignore like the itching pain in his neck.
"Yes sir," Mario said, something was clearly wrong with the man, his face was pale and clammy and his body was barely standing. His feet dragged leaving lines in the sand.
Chuckling Shigaraki looked at the sky, reaching out to the horizon as his hands closes around the setting sun. Soon he would have this world on its knees. Soon he would let it all burn. Even the strong would fall when things went into motion. Some things could not be stopped.
Pipes all around Australia were being used. It would be enough, Nicklaus couldn't be everywhere at once and even if his fail-safe didn't work and he died. It would still be enough, as long as he was able to set this world ablaze he cared not if he was caught in the fire.
Looking over at The Sovereigns advisor he tilted his head, she was a key part of this all working and seemed interested in helping his plan unfold. He didn't care why, he just knew that she would help him.
Everything was coming together, they just needed to finish Mario's activation of the final pipe. They had left their stuff there and worse case Nick was already there. But that didn't matter. Mario just needed to step inside. That was it…
Then get back to the extraction sight that they had just set up but that wasn't necessary. As long as Mario got into the pipe it was fine.
Looking over at the worn man with them Shigaraki smiled as he fell into step beside him and said. "Soon, soon your vision will be possible. With this the Heroes will need your help, they will have no choice but to give us the respect that we deserve. Despite how dangerous my quirk might be, despite how threatening your creations could be to them. Despite it all, they will need our help. This is all for a just reason, for our rights. We stand together. As long as we are by each other's side we won't have to bear the injustices that we have all faced. Soon brother, soon."
Putting his single patchwork hand on the man's shoulder he gave him the best confident look that he could. He could feel it, his quirk wanted to activate but he held it back. This man was useful in more ways than one.
"T-Thank you. I just hope… you know that people will understand. But I can't keep on being hindered and ignored like I was… I just can't. They understand, I know they will." His voice was pleading. He was already too far into this to back out now.
"They will brother, they will in due time. And even if they don't, and even if our children don't. Their children will, and so will the generations to come. Change is harsh, but it needs to happen. And when the world is corrupt as it is, then sometimes extreme measures are the only way to make change happen. It will be worth it, we carry the weight of these sins so the future may be more fair, more just." His voice actually held emotion and tone. As if he truly believed in this grand goal.
His master taught him well, to lie, and deceive. And those that are desperate or agree will follow.
"How much further?" He called out to Garaki who was walking ahead.
"Not much brother. It should be just over this dune." His words tired, they had been walking for a while now. The sun had just dipped below the horizon a moment ago bringing the darkness of night. Soon it would start. Their goal, the world… would change.
---
The footsteps echoed into the stone pipe. He couldn't see anything since his eyes were closed but he could feel the five figures walking into the concrete pipe.
Just as he was about to wash the entire pipe with fire and turn them all into ash before they could even do anything. Ending his mission here he made a mistake. He looked. Opening his eyes to see who was there.
He saw Shigaraki, his arm blotchy and purple, his hand looked sewn together, and one of the fingers was a carbon black. The same as the Nomu's, constructed. It was clear what it was meant to be, something related to his own quirk.
It would have been best if he had never opened his eyes and just burnt them all. Because the shock of what he saw stopped him in his tracks. Stealing the air from his lungs as his entire body tensed up.
Dad?
Mark Hendrix was with them, his hair greyer than he remembered it. Bags were developed under his eyes. His face was worn and weary and the skin seemed to sag a bit more. His smile was gone, the one he had always tried to have. His face was just… tired. Although his eyes held some sad determination. A foolish dream maybe… Nick just didn't know.
But he froze, why was his dad here? He hadn't seen him for months since whatever project he was working on had become much more prominent… had he been with Shigaraki all this time? No that didn't make sense. It must have started after All for One, Kurogiri, Twice and Toga had been captured…
He was conflicted, he should just wash this place with fire and turn it all to nothing but embers but he couldn't bring himself to do it. He couldn't, why had his dad of all people joined them? Were they holding him captive? It didn't seem like it. Why?
Surely it was some sick ploy of Shigaraki's to try and hinder him. Surely that was all it was, he was being tricked and deceived just like All for One would have tried to teach him. That was it, he must kill them all now! He could talk to his dad later.
"Okay it is linked, it doesn't matter what happens now. Our work is done…" Said a man with a thick brush moustache. His face was pale and clammy even now. His entire body was shaking and lumps were clearly pressing against his shirt, almost like tumours that grew on his skin.
What was happening? What was done? Was he too late? Now he couldn't just kill them, he had to figure out what they were planning so he could stop it.
Oh… The pipe was feeling odd.
He had spread his nerves out through it, down far too far to be practical but he felt it. About 200ish meters down the pipe suddenly changed. He could feel another location on the other side. The air that came into the pipe was different as well now.
He had to act.
Just as everyone was about to turn and leave he suddenly grabbed them all with his nerves halting them in place.
And then everything happened faster than he could process.
He knocked his father out. Sending the man unconscious as he started to process his quirk of Mario. It confused him, he had the same quirk flowing through him that the bugs did mutating and enhancing him. But it was far more intense, forcing his quirk factor far beyond what it should be.
Before he could properly process he cut his nerves to Olivia. She was forcing her quirk through the connection. It was something wicked and twisted but he felt like it was trying to warp his quirk factor. Force it to change. Whatever it was it had been what corrupted Mario and made his quirk stronger but at a price. She had been trying to mutate him. In that single moment. He had cut the nerves to protect himself instead of slamming her into the wall with a fist made of stone not caring for her health. The sudden attack shocked the rest of the people in the pipe.
Cackling wildly Shigaraki yelled. "NICKLAUS! COME OUT, YOU BASTARD!" His tone filled with unparalleled excitement.
Knocking the other two out. Mario and someone who shared a genetic bond with Garaki, was it his brother or son? His quirk was to extend the lives of others.
Before he could focus on that much more he felt the stone around the old lady start to warp. He needed to kill her, she was too dangerous. Her quirk was sickening.
With the nerves of Shigaraki turning to dust with the stone around his feet he continued his wild cackle as he stared at the forming figure of Nick.
"SO YOU FINALLY SHOW YOURSELF!" Shigaraki yelled as a heat ray slammed into the warping stone around the old lady turning the spot she had been into a smouldering crater. She surely had been killed with that blast.
Pulling his father and the two others beneath the stone to keep them safe he brought hundreds of stone hands down on Shigaraki seeking to tear him apart but as soon as they made contact with him they turned to dust.
"How does it feel to have part of your quirk used against you boy! Look at what you helped me become! This world will burn and it will be your fault!" Shigaraki said as he laughed, his voice a shrill cackle of maddened joy.
"Then I will turn you to ash and question your friends then," Nick said, the fire echoing with his words as the entire stone pipe suddenly heated up with intense golden flames. His voice was a deep growl, he needed to figure out what was happening. But Shigaraki was too dangerous to let live.
"Kill me. My work is done." Shigaraki said, the laughing gone. His face was just a broad smile. His mad eyes and shaking pupils stilling. He was at peace, he had finished his goal. He didn't care what happened to him now. He had put the pieces in place.
With a single burst of fire, Shigaraki turned to ash, his body crumbling as embers drifted off his skin and his bones crumbled, but he didn't care.
His purpose was complete.
And what a joy that was.
Turning to the smouldering crater he felt that the old lady had been in he checked it with his nerves. Confirming that she was dead. Looking at the quirk left over in Mario it was clear to see what her quirk had been. It was able to mutate quirks, creatures and objects. It was insane…
This was how all the creatures in Australia had become so strong, he also suspected why there was such a variety of strong quirks here. Her quirk was consumed when people ate the meat of mutated animals spreading the quirk to themselves in very small amounts encouraging mutations. Her quirk was insane… how was such a strong quirk not taken by All for One? Or did he leave it here for a reason? None of this made sense.
Shaking his head he turned to the end of the pipe and saw through it… the previously incredibly long pipe had changed… it was not a tunnel. The other end of the pipe could be seen, it was leading to the shore of another beach. The pipe had become a gate to another continent.
Turning to Mario he saw that the man was almost dead. He would kill him, it needed to be done.
Turning Mario to ash after taking a sample of both her quirk and his own. He looked back at the gate… it was still there? Was it permanent? He would just bring the pipe down. He couldn't risk bugs getting out into the wider world.
Wait… was that why they had travelled around Australia? Why he was so sick? This wasn't the only pipe. And his dad was here now. He didn't know what to do… he was. Lost.
All his power and he couldn't figure out what to do. He needed to find and collapse all the pipes but even missing one would mean disaster for countless people. If this mutation quirk got into the food chain of the wider world the animals would become wild and that wasn't even mention what would happen with humans. When everyone gained mutations even minor and large power-ups. The chaos and the stronger villains and Heroes would surely lead to catastrophe.
Looking at the crater where Shigaraki had been he clenched his jaw. This man was planning on burning the world… he needed to do something. Looking at where his father was he compressed him and Garaki down and stored them for now… he would figure that out later.
For now, he had to do something about this problem. He had to figure it out. And fast.