The Emperor's Dragon

Everyone Needs Enemies

Scarab noticed that All Might was not smiling. That was actually odd. She might be an underground Hero but she knew that the Number One had a persona and that persona smiled. The man behind it might not, but... he was in uniform so he should be in his persona. Though, that fact that he wasn't smiling would explain the oppressive weight he was projecting. Whatever this meeting was about, the Number One hero was really not happy about it.

"Stop that," Sir Nighteye muttered.

Scarab almost rolled her eyes when several of the lesser ranked heroes actually trembled. The look All Might gave his sidekick was testament that whatever was happening was disturbing him greatly.

As expected, Sir Nighteye returned the look and nonchalantly pushed up his glasses.

The gesture must have meant something because the weight in the room lifted somewhat but All Might still continued to brood.

"What's this about?" Endeavor growled. It was amusing to see that he was sitting as far from All Might as he could and the fiery Number Two Hero glowered at everyone who came near. He was making it clear that he thought this meeting was a waste of time.

"A mission," the answer came from the side of the room and the assembled Heroes looked over. Most were surprised to see the Commissioner of the Hero Public Safety Commission walk into the room, followed by a trail of others.

"One that needs all of us?" Endeavor was naturally skeptical.

Commissioner Soukan smiled thinly. "One that we want done quickly, quietly and efficiently," he elaborated.

"Because quietly is a quality the Number One hero has in spades," Scarab muttered.

The Commissioner didn't hear her but several of the heroes standing near her did. A few actually relaxed at the quip. Others were still tense from the obvious hostility in the air.

"Most of you have heard about All Might's capture of Toxic Chainsaw," Commissioner Soukan continued.

Scarab didn't hear any more. "Fuck." The word was quiet but if the Commissioner was leading with that then... She released a string of profanity in her mind, looking intently at All Might again.

Toxic Chainsaw was a cover story. She knew that better than anyone else, given that she'd taken out that moron. What did that mean?

She knew what it meant. She'd been around more than long enough to know what it meant. It meant that the villain All Might had killed was not as dead as he should have been. It meant that the villain, if taken into custody, had escaped.

It meant that a villain All Might himself needed to deny the existence of was alive and well.

She felt sick.

No wonder All Might was not smiling.

Scarab turned her attention back to the briefing. There were images on display now. One was from a street camera and displayed an absolutely huge man. He wasn't doing anything illegal in the image.

"This man is believed to be a close associate and according to our intel will be in close proximity. He is exceedingly dangerous and is on record as killing at least three heroes, and injuring more."

She narrowed her eyes, looking at the image. If he'd taken out daytime heroes, why was he still on the loose? Usually the daytime heroes took that sort of thing personally and made an effort to capture hero killers. And if they couldn't it was given to the underground heroes. It wasn't like they were immune to hero killers either but they had more means available to them to deal with the issue, means made available to them by the lack of prying eyes. That what looked to be a huge mountain of a man was still at large was odd. She'd have to make some inquiries later to find out what had happened.