The Emperor's Dragon II

Many Paths to Take

After being in prison for the last few years, former Police Captain Saitsu was attuned to the comings and goings in the prison. At first, he'd woken up for every little thing and so his night's rest was interrupted by the guard patrols, their shift change and every vagrancy of the other prisoners. Now, he knew, unconsciously at least, what was going on around him and so got a decent night's rest.

Usually anyway.

There had been a few times when he'd been put into the general population. Usually, putting a cop into the general population of a prison was- well, no one called it homicide but that's what it was. Survival rates weren't good. In his case, the prison population knew who he had been really loyal to and it was kind of odd. He knew they hated him 'cos he was a cop but they respected him because of All For One.

Saitsu usually wasn't kept in the general populace for long. Nor did he share a cell.

That's why, when Kurogiri's warp gate opened in the dead of the night, he was instantly awake. All For One knew he had accepted prison. The boss knew he was awaiting the day of his victory as the day of his release. There was no need for Kurogiri to come to him... except...

Saitsu blinked in the darkness, shifting slightly to watch the gate.

He knew All For One had fought All Might again, and lost. The Prison had shown them all footage of the fight and it had been like a knife to his heart to see that. He'd actually felt physically sick and it was only the knowledge that the Boss had been defeated, and taken to Tartarus that had eased the pain somewhat. So long as the Boss was alive then there was a chance. And Saitsu didn't pretend to know All For One's plans but there was no question that he was a canny man. He'd have a plan for facing Tartarus so while the news, and the guards and just about everyone else had seen All Might's victory, Saitsu had focused on All For One's plan.

There was one there. He had faith.

"You shouldn't be here," Saitsu breathed the words at Kurogiri.

"Will you come?" the warp gate ignored his statement to ask.

Given what had happened, this wasn't him asking, unless this was part of the plan. "Who's asking?" Saitsu whispered.

"His son," Kurogiri told him.

Lying on his bed, Saitsu felt his eyes widen. He'd vaguely known that the boss had a son but... No one said anything about it and it wasn't his business. The boss knew he would wait here, unless or until the boss needed his service but his son... "Why?" Saitsu asked.

"For information about Tartarus," the warp gate replied.

The boy's plan became clear in an instant. He was going to break his father out of Tartarus. But with his instant of understanding also came acknowledgement of his limits. "I cannot tell enough," Saitsu said earnestly. "Not enough to warrant extraction," he added.

Saitsu sensed Kurogiri thinking about that. The warp gate was very good at not letting others know what he thought of something, even when he took the time to think. "I will let him know," the misty man said finally and the warp gate spun again, becoming smaller.

It was only when it disappeared and no alarm was raised did Saitsu breathe a sigh of relief. He didn't think he was being watched. The heroes had watched him years back, when he'd first been incarcerated to see if his boss would rescue him. How little they knew! But with All For One in Tartarus, there might have been a need to watch him again. If they were, then it was not overt.

But... the son was going to rescue the father. Saitsu didn't know if that was All For One's plan but he was confident his boss would have considered it. He hadn't lied to Kurogiri. He knew something of Tartarus but not enough to warrant extraction. If they broke him out of prison that would alert the heroes, so it was best he wait. He'd tell All For One's son all he could but it would be from here. With Kurogiri that would be easy.