1 Audiokinesis in MHA

A/N: Sorry that I haven't written anything in a while, my depression kinda clapped back rather hard so I've been struggling to do much of anything at all. For now, all I got is this one shot.

I don't honestly know if this is good or shit. I wrote it in separate parts with big periods of time between them without really bothering to reread what I wrote, so I can't remember like a third of it.

Either way, the power is based on Screamer from worm, but probably buffed a lot cuz you know me.

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Power.

Could you comprehend power?

To have power absolute over everyone around you?

It's a feeling that can hardly be described, not in a way that anyone who hasn't experience it could understand.

And I don't mean power in the ephemeral sense, like the power a boss would have over their employees. I mean real, actual and actionable power.

In a world like this, there are plenty of people who understand the feeling, but very few to the same degree that I do. After all, in a world where four in five people have some form of superpower, it's bound to happen.

Thing is, the vast majority of those powers are hardly anything of note. Slight physical and mental enhancements, the ability to elongate one's fingers, skin that is resistant to sunburns. Certainly enough to provide an edge over the Quirkless, but nothing that really makes much difference in the end.

Some Quirks are more impressive, and the people that wield them make sure the world knows it, either becoming Villains or Heroes. Showing off their power while fighting for whatever cause they believe in, even if that cause is simply their own vices.

There's weaker people, like Snipe, who never misses any shot he takes. Ingenium, who has engines in his elbows. They are enough that the masses can laude them as protectors, but to anyone with eyes, they're nothing much.

Then you get the other end of the spectrum, Heroes like Endeavour, who could probably turn a city block to ash with a minute of effort. Or the vaunted All-Might, who could probably destroy that same city block with simple punch.

Their power transcends all the other Heroes in the country, they're in their own league. Basically demi-gods.

It's no wonder they're numbers one and two in the country.

But at the end of the day, all they really have is brute force. The only power they hold over people is the knowledge of how easily they could kill everyone in front of them.

I'm not explaining this right.

...The point, is that it's only when you are in front of them that they would ever have to think about how much power they have over your life. When they're walking down the street, they won't be thinking about how the family doing back to school shopping in the back of the mall across the street could die if they let their power loose.

Because they need only consider what is right in front of them.

I still don't think I'm explaining this right.

Perhaps some context will help.

See, I have a quirk too. My power? Audiokinesis. Sound manipulation.

It's not something people really think about as being strong. If you asked someone for examples of a powerful quirk, they would point at the strength of All-Might, or the fire of Endeavour. They would speak of gravity controllers, teleporters, maybe even something meta, a power that can effect other powers.

Audiokinesis isn't something anyone is likely to suggest. It's just not thought of as a powerful ability to have.

The most notable example of the power would be Present Mic, a Hero and Radio Host both. He's well known only because of his personality and radio show, not because anyone thinks he's powerful.

Not that people think he's weak, just sort of middling. He could probably collapse a building or two if he really wanted to, but no one really remembers that in the moment. They just see the exuberant Radio Host that likes to shout a lot.

I suppose it makes sense if his power truly is just what it is known to be, enhancing his voice and nothing more.

My power is not so limited. My power is more absolute.

See, unlike most powers which have rather limited area of effect, my range is not so simple.

Most powers are close range, touch based or limited to a hundred metres or so. The bigger ones are more loosely just line of sight based.

My range, is eight kilometres in every direction.

In that range, I hear everything. I am aware of every sound and fully capable of manipulating them. Despite the impossibility of it all, I can process all of it with relative ease.

Could you imagine it? Every sound? Every conservation, every breath soft and heavy alike. Every footfall, the soft rumble of every car wheel rolling over tarmac, the near imperceptible clicks and ticks of every watch, phone and camera.

It's enough to drive anyone mad.

Most Quirks come in at around the fourth birthday. I got mine when I was ten.

They say that I was a late bloomer because my brain needed to adapt to be capable of processing all the information my power provides.

I wonder if they'd be mad that I lied to them? As far as my records are concerned my range is only fifty metres.

I'm not sure why I lied- actually no, I know exactly why.

Hearing almost every conversation happening in the city has a way of aging you. It's not like I've lived any longer than my eighteen years, but at the same time, I've listened to thousands of arguments about every topic. I've heard people discussing their opinions on just about everything that exists.

And a consensus I got pretty early on is that blind trust will never end well for you. Even ignoring all the hushed conversations about why the authorities can't be trusted, I have heard the kind of shit those same figures of authority say in the comfort of their homes.

Granted, it's not like I'm some incel pessimist or something. The world has a lot of shit in it, and any large organisation is more than likely fundamentally untrustworthy, but most people are actually pretty good.

Haaah, I'm rambling.

Shaking my head, I focus back on the world at large. Now isn't the time to get lost in thought.

I am 'working' after all.

Leaning back in the park bench I'm sitting on, I close my eyes and focus.

Most people are good. It's just a shame that I'm not one of those people.

Two kilometres away, I hear a middle aged man walk into a bank. I've never actually seen Mr Shinoko before, so I have no idea what he looks like, but while my power is limited to sound, there is so much that can be inferred from that alone.

I can tell how tall he is by the sound of the air parting around his body. I can tell that his hair hangs down to his shoulders and that he has a beard from the slightest rustle every fibre of hair makes with every step he moves.

I can tell that he has visited a barbers like I told him to from how uniform his hair sounds. I can tell that he is wearing a suit like I told him to and carrying the briefcase I left for him.

Shinoko is no one important. Just some homeless guy. It was easy enough to get him to do what I wanted.

I spoke to him while I was having dinner with my family three kilometres away from his alley. I didn't even have to offer him much, just ten thousand yen. And really, that's the lowest number I'll ever willingly work with when I'm 'working'.

Shame he doesn't know how to negotiate. I'd have been fine with giving him ten times as much.

Either way, I follow the sound of his steps as he approaches one of the counters and listen as he recites exactly what I told him to.

"H-hello, I am here to make a withdrawal," he says, and I click my tongue at his stutter. I hate unprofessionalism, but you get what you pay for I guess.

Luckily, it doesn't matter, because the lady behind the counter doesn't hear anything he said anyway.

Instead, I twist the words as they travel from his mouth to her ears, and instead she hears, "I am here on behalf of Mr Kiyoshi."

Immediately, a practised and polite smile lights up her face as she recalls her own instructions.

"Of course Mr Hanaka, one moment please," the lady says, even as Shinoko only hears her say that she 'understands'. Better to let him think he's just being used as a gopher.

It was child's play to make her hear the sound of her phone ringing after all, then all I had to do was mimic the voice of Mr Takeyama, who happens to be the boss of this bank, and tell her that a VIP, Mr Kiyoshi, was wanting to make a discrete withdrawal of one hundred million yen.

Now, that is a lot of money. Even for Mr Kiyoshi, who is a billionaire and the CEO of Kiyoshi Corp., a company that creates support equipment for Heroes. However, when your boss is telling you that a billionaire wants a briefcase to be filled with a hundred million in cool cash, you don't ask questions if you want to keep your job.

I hear the lady behind the counter quickly accept the empty briefcase, open it, and start discreetly packing it full of stacks of bills out of sight of anyone else. Well, Shinoko sees, but he thinks that it's all low denomination bills instead of exclusively ten thousand yen notes.

Wouldn't want him getting any bright ideas about running away now, would I?

Soon enough, the case is filled, closed and returned.

"Have a nice day, Mr Hanaka," the lady says, even as Shinoko hears a warning not to get 'lost' with the money.

Gulping, Shinoko accepts the case and leaves, all while vibrating in nervousness.

But there was a reason I picked Shinoko for this job, even with his complete inability to act like a professional. His Quirk. I'm not sure of the exact mechanics of it, but it seems to be something related to 'smoothing' himself out.

In effect, that means that when he gulps nervously, it merely looks like he is swallowing some saliva, nothing out of the ordinary. It means that when he should be shaking in his boots with nerves, his body instead just seems to be swaying slightly.

It's not potent enough of an effect to get past any enhanced senses, but this girl's Quirk just lets her change her hair colour at will, so that's no concern of mine.

Walking out of the bank, cash in hand, I hear Shinoko speedwalk down the street, around a corner and down another street, before finally coming to a stop at a specific bench.

Sitting down on one side, he puts the briefcase on the floor by the middle of the bench and waits, shifting his hands nervously.

As I wait for that plan to continue it's course, I turn more of my attention to other parts of the city.

Six kilometres away from me, in another bank, a similar scene has just finished taking place, only this time as my 'agent' steps out of the bank and walks away, a police car pulls up beside him.

My worker isn't phased and simply waits for the front window to be rolled down before offering his own case of one hundred million yen to the officer inside. The officer gives the man a nod and then quickly goes on his way.

A short moment later and a man in a trench coat and an identical briefcase sits down on the opposite side of the bench Shinoko is sat at, leaving his own case right next to Shinoko's.

Jumping slightly, Shinoko calms himself before reaching for the other man's case, picking it up and walking off as if nothing is wrong.

As trench coat sits there sipping on a coffee, another man walking with his own case five kilometres from my position comes to a stop as that same police car pulls up besides them and accepts the case with the same ease as the last.

Five minutes later and trench coat picks up the case left behind and walks off, not having a single clue how much money he is carrying.

At the same time, four kilometres from my position, the police car picks up a third case before driving off.

A short walk later and an unremarkable car pulls up alongside trench coat, slowing down only long enough for him to get in before speeding off.

The car pulls into an out of the way car park and waits for about ten minutes before a certain police car pulls up next to them and rolls down it's window.

"Detective Kitsuchi," the officer greets with a smile as he starts handing the cases over to the plainclothes detective.

"Officer Mabui," Kitsuchi nods, "any problems?"

"Nothing that we saw sir. They were where we were told they would be and the exchanges were quick and quiet."

"Good, good." Kitsuchi idly hums to himself as he places the three cases with the fourth in the back seat.

"If I may, sir," the other officer with Mabui tentatively begins, continuing at the smile and nod from the detective. "What exactly is in those cases? What's with all the subterfuge?"

Chuckling slightly, Kitsuchi shakes his head. "I'm afraid I can't give too many details, Officer," the man deflates slightly, only to perk up as the detective continues, "that said, I trust you can keep quiet, right?"

Both officers nod their heads seriously.

"Well, we got word from an informant in the Yakuza that they managed to stumble across a whole lot of condemning information that we can actually use to finally nail those bastards. We had to do this quietly like this at the informant's request. They're understandably worried about what would happen to them if the Yakuza found out after all."

"Ahhh, I see!" Mabui exclaims. "That's honestly a relief to hear Detective. It's about time we could get something to stick on those slimy bastards."

I can't help but smirk to myself as I listen to them talk.

I'm not a great person. Hardly even a good  person, that I will freely admit. I have my vices, many of them at that. One of those vices just so happens to be using the police to commit my crimes for me.

There's just such a sense of irony to it. I know I'm probably playing with fire doing this, adding needless risk to what would otherwise be a perfect heist, but I just can't help myself.

In about an hour, the good detective and his partner will return to their station and hand the cases off to another officer to be prepared for analysing. However that officer will instead hear that he should pack them into the back of a patrol car.

That car will then be driven to a specific spot in the city and though the officers won't understand why, they won't disobey their superior's orders when they are told to leave the cases under a certain bench.

Then, once they drive away, another 'agent' of mine will take the cases to another drop off point, collect their own fifty thousand yen in payment and then leave.

And only then, after a probably too convoluted plan, I will simply walk in and collect my 'hard earned' four hundred million yen.

Truly, the easiest way to commit a crime is to not commit a crime at all. The only truly difficult part of all of this is getting the money into a bank account. There's not a lot you can do with this much money in cash without people getting suspicious after all.

Luckily, I've long since figured a solution for that.

Which is Mr Ichirou Tarou, an eccentric billionaire investor and owner of Jugemu Investment LLC.

I had a bot of fun making that identity, as the name basically means 'first son eldest son'.

It's not like that's the only 'company' I own either in part or in full anyway. I have a few dozen shell companies and enough offshore accounts that I honestly forget about some of them sometimes.

Really, most of my money ends up in my Swiss account. I generally put about half in there, both because it is incredibly secure and also because those Swiss investors are insanely good at what they do. Waaay better than me.

So I just give them half my money an let them do whatever they want with it to make me even more money, in exchange for a cut of the profits.

In short, I am insanely rich. I could buy an island and live in luxury for the rest of my life while also supporting my next seventeen generations and more.

So why do I continue to rob people like Mr Kiyoshi?

Well that's simple. What else am I supposed to do with my time?

Besides, you can never have too much money, and I find it endlessly amusing watching, or rather, listening to rich pricks freak out about a third of their wealth vanishing overnight.

Is it hypocritical of me to call them rich pricks when I am, in fact a rich prick?

Maybe. But I haven't even properly indulged in being a rich prick yet so it doesn't count yet.

I only turned eighteen the other day, and I'm only moving out of my parent's house tomorrow.

I'd say I'm going to miss my family, but that'd be a lie.

Not to say I don't love them, because I do. But I want to spend excessive amounts of money damnit!

I have all this wealth and I haven't spent a single night in any penthouse suites or mansions or anything!

It's not like we're poor or anything, obviously. My parents were already well off before I discreetly started making their jobs pay more. Not to mention that time I created my one one time lottery and let my parents legally win ten million yen.

We went out to the most expensive restaurant in the city after that, and my little sister finally stopped being so reserved about asking for stuff she wants. She's always been considerate like that, not asking for gifts because she didn't want to burden the family finances.

These days she buys everything she wants whenever she wants. She has like fifty guitars in the basement. Who the fuck needs that many guitars. I guess it's better guitars than shoes.

Not for any practical reason, guitars are just cooler than shoes.

Speaking of my adorable little sister, she's also part of why I'm happy to move out.

As much as I love her, she's going through a 'Hero phase' right now and it's annoying listening to her go on about it all.

Why would you want to be a Hero anyway?

I don't get it.

Maybe it's a matter of perspective. If you can only see the people in front of you, then you fall for the illusion that their lives are valuable.

It's just a matter of supply and demand. The more of something there is the less valuable it is. So if you exist your whole life only aware of those directly around you, then you can come to the mistaken impression that human life is valuable.

But it isn't.

There are so many people.

So many.

All of them moving. All of them talking. All of them shouting and fighting and fucking and crying and breathing and dying and laughing.

There are just so many of them. If one or two or fifty were to disappear, it would make no real difference. A thousand people enter and exit my range every minute.

Human life is not precious, it is not valuable, you don't need to risk yourself to protect them, idiot sister of mine.

Haaah, whatever. Even if she want's to waste her time playing Hero, it is the duty of the big brother to look after his idiot sister.

So if she wants to waste her life being a Hero, then I'll support her. Even if I am the most wanted Villain alive.