Chapter 60: Part 1 – Information.

The longer Toga stayed with these low-life Yakuza, the more she understood what Mister Compress was talking about: They were archaic, too stiff, a downright endangered species of criminal. These boring old men were stuck in the ways of a past none of them were ironically old enough to remember, a time before the glamour of heroes, of the excitement of quirks.

And it showed that despite having been sent as muscle to keep their sorry operation out of trouble, Toga had been forced to help the other women with mundane stuff, which only made her want to stab someone even more, an urge she hated she had to hold back on because it would throw their cover into the dumpster.

Now, as someone who never finished school, you would assume she would be useless regarding mundane paperwork. Still, she was not, and she would sneak rat poison into the booze of the next person who muttered such as she walked by. She had top grades for years, even was in an advanced course, so all the boring numbers, spreadsheets, and other money that came from managing front companies and business for a criminal group weren't too much of an issue.

At least, he wouldn't have been if she was barred from that as well! Why? Because they didn't trust that she'd look through stuff she shouldn't, which…well, she couldn't say, maybe she would, maybe she wouldn't, it would depend on how bored she was that particular day. Besides, at least it'll give her something to distract herself from the fact that she was a glorified intern to all the repetitive and dull yakuza wives and girlfriends who ran most of the 'legit' stuff.

But just because they can keep her from looking through it alone doesn't mean she hasn't learned some juicy stuff about them. She might have learned the skill to get away from people and close to those she found cute, but being able to walk by people without them noticing her was a real boon. She was there as long as she didn't take too long and left no trace; there weren't many places in this snooze feast of a compound she couldn’t get to.

She had even been out and about in the gardens when the mood hit her, and not once had she been caught. Pyre thought she should be careful; he and Twice were so sweet with how they worried about her, particularly with all the horror stories they'd all heard about that Kai loser, but she wasn't a little girl. Besides, they didn't even have cameras or motion sensors.

She made sure to check.

'But there was that fun time the other day.' Toga smiled as she walked through the white, disinfectant-smelling halls of the base, carrying some files that she knew she couldn't open and read, as they would leave evidence.

She wished she was able to taste how much blood Pyre and that Rappa guy spilled as they beat each other senselessly. She had to say, she didn't like any of those masked guys with Overhaul, but that Rappa guy…she wouldn't be opposed to getting to know him, provided she was allowed her trusty knife.

It was almost as fun as watching that loser Yakuza go from confident that Rappa would win to nearly crapping their pants from fear when they realized they had someone who could keep up with the former underground fighter and seemed to enjoy fighting as much as he did. Ever since, whenever she saw Pyre doing his duties, they walked on eggshells around him.

“Hiya!” Toga chirped as she sat at the lunch table she shared with her two co-conspirators.

“You’re late, right on time, Toga!” Twice returned the greeting, snacking on his food.

“I had work to do, you know.” She pouted, wishing to trade places with them even for a bit. She smiled at Koharu as she reached into her pocket and pulled out a little container. “I managed to snag some meat from the kitchen.” She opened it, and to the snake's joy, she saw a prime slice of pork

“Koharu appreciates that. Not many rodents to catch in this place.” Pyre spoke for his serpent friend, who was too busy eating Toga’s offered meat to care about decorum. “But how’s the mingling been?”

“I’ve made many friends; I'm a loner loser!" He twice gave a thumb's up, pulling his mask back down now that he'd finished his food. Toga noted that he ate surprisingly fast, but then again, with how the rest were eyeing them, they weren't very welcome. Plenty of them are willing to talk when I can help with the workload; my quirk's pretty amazing."

Toga shrugged, picking at her cake slice. Why cake? Because she needed a sugary treat, the cooks didn't dare try to tell her, or else she would sneak into the kitchens and mess around with stuff. “A few younger ladies seem to like me, but they don't talk much about work. Plenty of gossip.”

Pyre whined, laying his head on the table. "Then why am I the only one not making much progress? Everyone acts like I'm snapping them in two and feeding one half to Koharu. She doesn't even eat people."

“I hear people taste gross." Someone walking by their table paused before hurrying away after hearing Twice’s statement, which Pyre knew would come back to annoy them later.

"You're super adorable. I'm sure that you'll be making plenty of friends. In fact, if you need help, you can hang with me," Toga offered, as she was sure the others wouldn't mind having Pyre around. But then again, maybe they'll take offense to how pretty he looks and get jealous. She'd heard a few of them really cared for their looks.

“I doubt that I’ll have the chance to really do that. We work in different parts of the base.” Pyre stated that lunch and dinner were the only times they could meet, and even then, they couldn't be so open about things.

"Well, Overhaul should let us move around. We've been here forever, and he doesn't even let us above ground!" Toga complained to other tables, only irritating them as it was bad enough that the trio was at the heart of their operation; they couldn't even act respectfully about it.

"We're more people to him, nah, we're free as the birds, and this is messed up!" Twice agreed with her.

Ignoring how some glared at them for how loud their table was, Pyre did have more meaningful things to say. "But I did talk with some guys about things in the organization. Overhaul's is apparently the real leader's adopted son and right-hand man."

“Where’s he?” Toga asked as she would have thought the king of the boring old farts would want to call them villain trash and act like the pecking order was in reverse.

"He's in a coma, and Overhaul's been running things since, but it's a pretty big rumor that the boss's coma wasn't an accident. The last person to speak with him was Overhaul." Pyre added, speaking a little softer than normal but not whispering. A fine balance as one would give their conversation’s real purpose away, and the other would only draw further suspicion to them.

The two listened as he relayed what he managed to get from others through casual conversation. “The boss was more of a traditionalist and often argued with Overhaul on how to run things.”

“Anything about a kid?” Toga asked out of nowhere, which confused both. When Pyre asked why she would bring it up, she elaborated on a piece of gossip she happened to overhear. "One of the older women heard that a while back. They got this kid that the boss wanted to watch, and she was in charge of getting them all the kiddy stuff. Then, one day, Overhaul just removed her from it."

Both villains frowned at that, though it was more pronounced with Twice. This was news, and it wasn't good. Overhaul was a man none liked or could follow as a leader. He seemed to treat anyone and everyone as pawns with no value for life, seeing how he spoke about how Shigaraki got them back for killing Magne when he dusted one of his guys.

Even his own mentor was safe from whatever ambitions he had, considering it was an open secret that Overhaul had done something to the true Yakuza boss and left him comatose, taking over the organization that seemingly took him in. A man like that restricting access to a child was just a parade of red flags.

“What happened to the kid?” Twice asked, his fist clenching and releasing as he tried to keep his cool. Pyre warming up, smoke leaking out his nose like a volcano venting before it erupted.

Toga shook her head, her yellow feline eyes taking on a dangerous glint. "She doesn't know, I listened to other conversations, and she's never come up since."

“Oh! Now I know something, I know nothing!” Both looked towards Twice, who seemed to remember something as well.

“Twice?” Pyre asked, Koharu lazily slithering about their table.

"One of the guys I help was talking about getting some pretty expensive medical stuff. I thought it was because Yakuza are weak and get their butts kicked, but maybe it's for the boss." Twice told them, which…made sense. It wasn't like Overhaul could see the man every day, and even if he did, being in a coma meant round-the-clock care, which he simply couldn't give.

“So we have a comatose boss who wouldn't be pleased to see us here and an unknown child that Overhaul doesn't want anyone but his trusted circle getting close to." Pyre mused as the pieces fell about in his mind, disconnected with strings jumbled and knotted about. But he was sure that if they pulled on the right ones in the right order…

“Say, Pyre, couldn’t you work your magic?” Toga asked, but he shook his head.

"I'll need to find the guy, and it's not like we have much time to look. They got that Mimic guy watching me like a hawk whenever we're working." Mimic seemed to hate him more by the day and thought yelling and screaming would get anything done. As if he had anything on Bakugo, he and his mother made yelling into a fine art.

“Same here, it’s super great having fans!” Twice added, as he often had one of the eight bullets watching him. It often was the one who wore a sack over his head or the bald one, and neither seemed friendly to him.

"Pretty sure some of the grannies I work with also watch me, but we must find a way to him." Toga blew a raspberry, stretching at the table like an overgrown cat.

“It’ll be really fun, total snoozefest!” Twice complained, but then something came to mind. “But aren’t we supposed to find out about the drug thing as well? And get payback for Big-sis Mags.”

Pyre placed a hand on the masked teammate, the warmth radiating off the pyro-based villain calming Twice, just a little. "We'll tackle this one at a time. Twice and I can look into the boss. Toga, can you handle the search for the drug and kid?" Pyre turned to Toga, who thought about it for a moment.

Truth be told, it would be hard, like incredibly hard, to do, as she knew she wouldn't be allowed near any papers that could point in either direction. So she'll need to do more sneaking about and possibly get people to think that the other did stuff so she could move with the distractions drawing attention. It wouldn't be too hard, but it would be tedious, almost as much as when she had to pretend to be that Camie chick and infiltrate the provisional license exam. There'll be no chance of running into cuties like Shoto or Ochaco.

But Pyre was asking, and she found it hard to say no to such an adorable face. "You're lucky you're cute. I totally see why Dabi likes you." She giggled when his face turned red as blood.

“What?!”

As the undesirables continued to goof at their table, yelling regularly came from their table. To the other end of the dining hall sat a group of Yakuza.

“Are you sure about this?” One asked, the man sweating out of nervousness.

"Look, we're just checking; we're not gonna say anything damning." Another reminded him, the table trying to keep things on the low, as if the wrong people heard them, then death would be the least of their problems.

“Still!”

The oldest of them, a man whose red skin seemed to darken with his anger, spoke up. "Will you two shut up?" Once the rest of the table calmed down, he took a breath to try and get his annoyance under control, his skin fading to a lighter pink. "We don't have time to second-guess ourselves. If this can help, then we owe it to the boss to try."

“Then it’s one?” One asked as they spotted one of Overhaul’s more smug goons walking in, Nemoto. The man was a real pain to deal with, both because his quirk made it impossible to keep secrets from him and for the fact he was so high and mighty, believing himself to be the best thing since sake because Overhaul hand-picked him like he did the rest of his enforcers and attack dogs.

For this plan to walk, Overhaul could not even suspect it, a fact made hard by the fact the little shit was naturally untrusting of everyone. However, when you were a heartless bastard who couldn't be trusted, it made sense that you, in turn, couldn't trust others.

Nemoto was like a teacher's pet, always on the hunt for even the slightest signs of a rise in discontent with their false leader's command. Their best move was to remain as unnoticeable as possible and keep plans and activity to a bare minimum. As long as Nemoto didn't turn his attention their way, the better.

The leader of the table nodded. “Yeah, it goes down tonight.”

Line break

The night couldn't come fast enough for the six conspirators, having taken on night shift work. With Overhaul and his goons busy, they made their move. Shifting through the base, they let trusted comrades who looked enough like them from a distance take over their posts and made sure they didn't do anything that the real ones wouldn't help sell the illusion.

Moving deeper into the base, they came towards one of the largest training halls that Overhaul and Mimic had recently created. It was a large cavernous space that, when silent, could hear the hum of several ventilation fans slowly spinning. A blessing in disguise as when they entered, they were hit with the immediate and noticeable increase in temperature coinciding with a giant ball of green flames sailing into the other side, bathing practice dummies in the intense heat, lighting them ablaze before the fireball exploded on contact with the rough stone wall.

Their eyes went towards that source, spotting Pyre just as he shifted into a low stance, his war fans in each hand, their bells jingling like distance chimes with even the slightest movement.

Barely noticeable, he inhaled, a flick of emerald flames dancing at his lips. With an exhale, he expelled another blast. This one didn't go far, but it turned and started flying around him, directed by his hand movements.

Heat surrounded him, causing his robes to flutter in the updraft he seemed to create without thinking. As he spun, that only made him feel less human and less beastly as if he were a performer in a movie given the spotlight.

Like a viper's strike, his hand shot out, one of his fans closing like the jaws of a bear trap, a sharp 'ting' from his bells following as at his silent command, the fireball which had been flowing around him like a serpent would a rock left to bath in the hot midday sun, shot out even faster than the first, destroying two of the 5 dummies and taking chunks out of the wall, leaving it hot to the touch as molten rock flowed to the floor.

Pyre advanced, each step measured and controlled, sweeping a fan forwards with another song from its bells, forging a ribbon of green flames that roped from his jarred lips, down his arm and into his fan, where it spread out along the edge of the surface, tripling its length and leaving a fiery construct so large that the Yakuza knew that one would need a strength quirk to get any use out of one-handed if it was that size.

A second step and another motion with his other fan, this block motion, only this time the flames didn't leave him blind to what was on the other side as Koharu, who had been on his shoulders as always, rose up, acting as his second ears.

With a chime, Pyre closed the first hand, creating a sizzling lance of concentrated green flames. They noted that he closed his eyes, yet despite that, he moved without issue through the rest of his training, all while Koharu coiled when he went to strike and lunged when he went into a defensive stance.

However, as mesmerizing as this was, they had a tight schedule. "Pardon me." When one of them spoke, Pyre came to a slow and steady stop. He would have been surprised that they were there, but Koharu had spotted them already and filled him in.

Now, why they were, he didn't know. He had booked the training slot because he knew everyone else would be busy or sleeping at this hour. The training room was far enough from rooms that no one could complain about the sounds of explosions.

“What can I do for you?” Pyre asked.

“We wanted to ask something, so be honest about things.” He raised an eyebrow at their attempt to intimidate. Was it something they did without thinking?

“Oh?” Were he someone else, he might have slapped them down, but that would defeat the purpose he even bothered to keep up the charade. “All right, ask away. But know that while I won’t lie, that doesn’t mean I’ll just give away info.”

"Rumour has it that your quick can heal people." One of them stated, pulling up their phone and showing a still frame of his Hosu fight.

Pyre smiled when he remembered how much fun he had then, from getting his new fans to fighting many opponents and spreading the good story of his flames. "Rumour would be right; I use it all the time on myself, else I'll be a burnt-out corpse just from that simple training.”

“Simple?” One asked, wondering if the kid was even crazier if he called that they saw simple training.

“Can you heal anything?” The apparent leader kept things on topic.

Pyre thought about it for a moment. "Well, I can regrow lost appendages and limbs and even repair extensive cell damage. Why, any of you hurt?" He looked them over but couldn’t see any outward signs of injury or sickness, but then again, sickness could have subtle marks of its presence.

“Not us,” the one taking charge of the group replied, looking around the place as if he had expected someone to just pop into being. Still, he leaned in close and whispered the rest: "The boss. The overhaul put the boss into a coma, bad enough that we forced him to bring in 3 different specialists. Otherwise, most of us would have worked, but all of them said it might never wake up."

That was news. Overhaul could kill them, but enough of them had been against him that he had to bow to their demands or at least make it appear as if he did. Koharu pressed into his cheek, mentioning that this was a fortunate break for them, as he wondered how he'd get his part of things down. “Well, I like to know what I’m working with, but it shouldn’t be an issue.”

“So you’ll do it?” One of them asked, hope clear in their voice.

"I could," Pyre confirmed, but the leader caught his word choice.

The older man crossed his arms, Pyre noting that his arms were covered in tattoos. “But you won’t, not without a price?”

“Come now, gentlemen, we’re criminals. When we work together, it’s for some benefit.” Pyre gave a friendly and open smile as if he was just a regular boy, but they all knew better. "Lucky for you, I also wish to help your boss out. It would wrench Chisaki's plans if he suddenly had to worry about a power struggle. But I need something from you."

“What? Money?” They asked, to which he laughed.

“As if I need money.” Pyre giggled as he doubted they could even pay what a villain of his caliber could charge. While it would be nice to drain Overhaul's coffers before wrecking house, it would be best to keep the organization financially stable. "No, I want information. First, how many Shie Hassaikai would you say are loyal to your former boss?"

The tattooed man whose name Pyre didn’t know narrowed his eyes. “About 80% of us are still loyal to the true boss.” Oh, touchy about their boss’ status? Noted.

“And if he were to wake up tomorrow and order you all to turn against Chisaki, how many of that 70% would follow through?” Pyre asked, to which the group needed to think about it for a moment before they gave him an answer.

“Maybe 80%.”

That…wasn’t ideal. “So a little over half then, that’s not promising numbers.”

"You can count on Rappa going against him; he hates Overhaul." One of them spoke up, which drew Pyre’s attention.

“And why’s that?”

"You'll have to ask him; he doesn't really talk to any of us," as if they didn't bother talking to him. “But you’ll probably have better luck then most seeing how you beat him in your fight.” He didn't seem chatty during the fight, but he gave him a fun time.

“Why’d you even want to know all that?” The tattooed man asked him.

“Next question,” Pyre ignored the question. “What is Chisaki working on?”

The tattooed man glared at him, but his anger wasn't just at being ignored but at what Chisaki had done to their organization. “He wants to make the Yakuza powerful again, at least, his perverted version. So, he's been getting really involved in the drug game, mainly trigger, but he's been working on something. A drug I hear can erase quirks permanently."

That would explain the increase in drug crime despite the Thunder cracking down on it. Now that he thought about it, Overhaul hadn't asked that they stop them. Probably because he knew their contact with the League didn't cover such, or perhaps he didn't know…he couldn't tell with that masked Yakuza.

However, that came second to what Chisaki was working on.

"Erase, not temporarily suppress?" What he had apparently used on Compress was dangerous enough. A bullet that, when it injected its cargo into the target, left them quirkless and open to an attack. Such a drug was already a game changer, a means that could render even the strongest so much weaker that any chump with a knife or a gun could kill them.

The tattooed man nodded. "We've heard him and Chrono talking. Apparently, the stuff they have now is just a prototype, a means to get interest and investment so he can work on mass-producing the final product."

“So, he’s already made some of it?” This was bad, incredibly so. Pyre needed to find where they were stored and torch them before Overhaul could move.

"Not sure how much or where he keeps it, that much he doesn't talk about, and asking is a fast way to die." Not ideal, but he couldn't get mad at them for not being idiots. Even if one had decided they wished to die, it was not like they could pass along such info without being wired.

However, there seemed to be more, as Koharu could pick up how the men seemed nervous, unsure about something. Pyre was curious, but he didn't ask. Instead, he waited for them to come forward with the info. "There is a rumor, though, but we can’t confirm it.” His whisper grew softer. Word around the place is that he's using someone else's quirk to do it—the boss' grand-daughter."

They had to jump back when a flash of heat burst out of Pyre's body. His body steamed as flames nearly came pouring out of him. His eyes, however, glowed like an angry sun.

Taking a deep, long breath, Pyre calmed enough that he wasn't dangerous to touch, but the Yakuza could tell that whatever fury he had just demonstrated was still present, merely contained better. "Tell me everything you know. Do that and agree to my terms, and I'll heal your boss, and you won't need to worry about Overhaul and his supporters anymore."

Line Break

The last chapter got a little fun if you like seeing maniacs tearing into each other, but the story does need to continue. With the raid set and coming, I needed to get moving on some things. Lucky for me, they didn't need too much in the way of development to get it done. Also, can I just say that writing a chapter around the characters in question was just a treat because of their personalities and how well they bounce off each other.

Oh, and I've watched up to episode 7 of MHA Vigilantes now, as I kinda fell behind, and yeah, I can see what people were talking about when it came to Makoto as damn, she was so fun to watch. I'm now convinced that her brother was tired-looking during the final arc because she wasn't around to remind him to smile just by being herself. While I knew most of the talking points already(MHA Vigilantes Manga has been out for years), it was still nice to see it animated as the characters explained the details of their world and how popularity plays such a big role in heroes.