The Emperor's Dragon II

Hope and Pain

Yakuni looked into the tank. There was an in-tank camera that allowed him to focus on what he was growing. It was still small, really small, microscopic, a few hundred cells. They were multiplying but they weren't recognisable yet as anything.

The Doctor had been skeptical that he could clone Kurogiri but had worked with him on a theoretical method of creating Nomu from before childhood. When Yakuni had suggested going forward with the idea, Durama had refused to provide any genetic material. That was not a problem. The Shie Hassaikai hadn't provided him with any genetic material either, but he'd stolen enough to be able to clone all their quirks so getting a sample from the Doctor, and Kurogiri hadn't been hard. Both samples were now on file and growing here, before him, was the beginning of a Kurogiri clone. At least, that's what he hoped.

There was, theoretically, no reason it shouldn't work. Durama had agreed on that so Yakuni was determined to try. Even if it took years, and it would take at least that long, the pay off was going to be worth it. Another warper, one loyal from birth and as a fringe benefit, he'd get the practical experience of growing the clone and of putting it through the Nomu process. Even if it failed, that was worth something.

He watched the cells for a few minutes, but couldn't detect anything wrong with them. At this point in the reproductive cycle, the cells would be embedding into the nutrient rich womb lining but liquid they were floating in provided enough nutrients, so they should be fine. It wasn't like he hadn't done this before.

The regular clones were grown at normal speed for another week or two before he accelerated them by supercharging the nutrient feed along with a few other tweaks to the liquid mix. This one would be kept at more natural levels and allowed to grow at a natural rate, so he'd have time to watch it.

He sighed as he turned to another project. This one was far less defined than cloning Kurogiri. With that project, he at least knew what the steps were, this one... he had no idea what he should be doing.

Izuku had given him a sample of something he said was venom and asked him to create an antidote. The problem was, he didn't know the first thing about antidotes. The Doctor had shown him enough that he could help on Nomu and could actually clone Kurogiri (if everything went right) but other questions of biology were not something he really knew much about. He had paid attention in school but teaching the quirkless was not a priority.

So this was actually a great opportunity to learn. Yakuni looked at the sample, and put it away. Before he tried anything, he had some reading to do... And before he had reading he had to deal with his phone.

The buzz was annoying.

It was actually ringing, which was odd. Usually people texted him. Yakuni pulled back from the microscope and pulled out his phone. Pocket was brilliant for storing it and his phone was always in a small pocket that was mentally linked to a pocket in his pants. That way, since most things in his quirk created Pocket went into a type of stasis, he could still feel when something happened. It wasn't really linked to his physical pocket, rather it was a quirk pocket that he never closed, which allowed signals to travel in and out. With the normal quirk pockets, he closed them entirely, which activated that stasis effect.

Sometimes he forgot, and then his phone was out of service but... that was a small price to pay.

Yakuni looked at the caller. It was Unten. The older, formerly quirkless, man had gotten a quirk off Dragon the other day. Confession, Yakuni believed. "What's up?" he asked as he answered the call.

"Nothing has gone wrong," Unten was quick to reassure him.

"I didn't think it had," he replied.

"Can you tell Dragon I'm good to begin," Unten said instead of saying anything else.