The Emperor's Dragon

Wheeling and Dealing II

Being All Might's side kick meant no one looked at him in askance as he moved through the corridors of the Hero Public Safety Commission heading towards the Commissioner's office. It didn't mean he wasn't looked at though. People always gawked when high level heroes were at the Commission, it just meant that no one questioned why he was here. Sir Nighteye kept his gaze neutral. It was a long practiced habit and what everyone expected from him. Inside, he was seething.

This was meant to be dealt with. Sozo was meant to have made this issue go away, but now, after about a month of quiet, it was back. The Commissioner better have answers or else everything would blow up and there would be no good solution.

For anyone.

He was not going to take the fall. He already knew the Commission didn't want to take the fall. That damnable Detective couldn't take the fall, not without a lot of papers accidentally going missing and Mirai already knew All Might wouldn't allow that. And no one wanted the Number One Hero to take the fall on this. Toshinori did not realise how protected he was in that position.

No, Sir Nighteye corrected his wayward thoughts. All Might did know, he just didn't usually take advantage of that protection so blatantly.

"Ah, Sir Nigtheye," Sozo's Executive Assistant greeted him when she saw him approach. "The Commissioner is expecting you, so please, go right in,"

"Thank you," he said, nodding as he moved past her desk to the Commissioner's Office.

Like all Commissioner's Kouki Sozo had taken over Soukan Haruta's office and made it his own, while keeping with the expected grandeur such a position demanded.

Mirai was not impressed by the office. He never had been but it wasn't designed to impress him. It was designed to impress the plebs who did Kouki's bidding and the politicians who relied upon the Commission to keep Heroes in check.

"Commissioner," he greeted as he closed the door behind him. The office, like most top level beaurecrat's offices, was soundproofed, but only when the door was firmly closed. Sir Nighteye already knew they did not need the contents of this meeting leaking. Kouki knew it as well.

"Sir Nighteye, it's good to see you," the Commissioner returned his greeting, gesturing to one of the plush chairs in front of his desk.

Mirai took the offered chair. Some would say it made him take the supplicant's position but on this, they both knew that wasn't the case, and that was the important distinction. He waited for the Commissioner to initiate the conversation.

"So, what are you going to do about this woman?" Kouki asked eventually. He even managed to keep a straight face.

SIr Nigtheye smiled thinly at the Commissioner. "No," he replied firmly. "It is not what I am going to do. It is what we are going to do," he elaborated.

Sozo gave him a distinctly superior smile as he shook his head slightly. "No, no, no," he said gently, almost as if he was speaking to a child. Mirai felt vaguely insulted like that but recognised the tactic. The Commissioner thought he had a position of strength. He'd forgotten several key points. Politicians were like that. They liked to focus on those bits of information that made them look favourable, while dismissing or discrediting those that didn't.

The real world didn't think the same. Thankfully.

"The Commission simply backed your recommendation," Kouki told him. "This was your call, therefore your responsibility."

So that's the way this was going to be. "Then perhaps if the Commission had been more-" Mirai paused as if seeking the right word. "-competent at their duties, we wouldn't be here," he said with a slight smile.