Powerless - A My Hero Academia/ DC Crossover

Chapter 45: Visitors

Abandoned Sionas Warehouse. Gotham Bay. 1:00 AM

A heavy storm had raged on for hours, giant waves crashing against the walls of the warehouse. A man sat alone at a small desk, the only source of illumination was a small laptop in front of him. Next to the laptop sat a red helmet, which the man had just removed before sitting down to his work.

He had been in Gotham for only a few weeks now, having been gone for three years. His time away felt like little more than a dream, wandering in a haze of pain and confusion. In the short amount of time that he had returned, news of his handiwork with Black Mask had spread throughout the criminal underworld and the local media. A newspaper was sprawled out on the table next to him, the headline reading "Red Hood kills Black Mask."

How fitting, he thought bitterly to himself.

Normally, the death of a major player like Black Mask would leave a power vacuum that other criminals would be killing themselves over. However, no one dare step forward to claim Sionas' territory. The Red Hood had sent a wave of fear among the various criminal empires, one that Batman could never duplicate: a fear of death.

Batman had failed to rid this city of its monsters. Especially its biggest one. But the Red Hood would not fail.

The Red Hood continued his investigation through Black Mask's files. They were his only lead to the whereabouts of the Joker. He coupled these findings with others that he had discovered in different cities across the US. The Joker had completely disappeared from Gotham, and many had assumed that he was dead. But from what he could gather, the Joker was alive and well, and was using the weapons he purchased from Sionas to rob banks across the eastern United States. He was also purchasing technology that Sionas had stolen from various illicit sources. The technology in question was all considered by the criminal database to be highly illegal in nature, mostly used in dangerous experiments on quirks. But instead of sending it directly to the Joker, Sionas was sending them to a third party, one "David Shield" from I-Island.

The name immediately struck a chord with the Red Hood. David Shield was one of the most well-known names in Hero Support technology in the world, contracting with several Support Companies across the world, Including WayneTech and Queen Consolidated, to produce many of the technologies and support items used by heroes everywhere, including the Justice League. He even personally designed each era of hero costume for the Symbol of Peace, All Might.

This provoked so many questions in the Red Hood's mind. Why would Shield be working with the Joker? And why would the Joker be supplying him with stolen technology?

Perhaps he would be able to ask him personally. According to the local news, he and his daughter were coming to Gotham for a Gala in his honor. This was his chance to get some answers, and perhaps finally find out where the Joker was hiding.

Izuku sat his empty suitcase on a large four-poster bed. He had just finished unpacking, having arrived at Wayne Manor with Bruce and All Might. Izuku thought it was strange that Bruce had invited him along. Apparently, so did All Might, who tried to decline, but Bruce was insistent. Alfred was already waiting for them upon arriving and had prepared rooms for each of them. The room around him was sparsely decorated and looked as if it hadn't been used in a number of years, but was still tidy and well-kept (no doubt thanks to Alfred).

Izuku sat on the bed, lost in thought. The events at the Watchtower had filled him with a new lease on life, but also had left him with a plethora of questions. Most of all, how Kacchan had come to his rescue at his moment of need. As J'onn described it to him, exobytes operate very much like living cells, but they also have an internal memory system that collects and stores information, biological and otherwise. This is how the exobytes were able to assimilate the various quirks and powers that were associated with thim. This was also why, through intermingling of DNA, new information from different hosts is assimilated into the exobytes, causing new generations to inherit one or more quirks from their parents. A side-effect of this data retention is it has the ability to capture and retain brainwaves from their hosts, including memories and even personality traits. Though All For One's presence was eradicated, when the quirk was passed down to him, an imprint of who Kacchan was passed to him as well. To Izuku, this was both humbling and mystifying.