Chapter 61: Part 2 – Planning.

Soft moonlight filtered through the shoji screen’s windows, offering rectangular beams of silver light, brushing the tatami mats with their light as Pyre’s soft footfalls hardly made a sound on the polished floorboards, his sandals gone as he wore a pair of guest spillers.

There were lights that could turn on, but the villain chose not to, as the fewer signs of anyone even being in this wing of the Hassaikai's estate, the better. He and Koharu could enjoy the quiet. They could enjoy the soft beams of moonlight on their skin and the shadows they cast as he silently walked along. They could enjoy the scent of old cedar and faint incense.

While this was for a purpose, this was the first time he had even stepped foot in the mansion of the Yakuza fortress. He would savor it as it was a much-appreciated change of pace from the sterile void of the darned concrete tunnels and bleached tiled floors. There was no wood down there, no warmth. No sun or moonlight to speak of, just the ever-present fluorescent lights that hummed like static.

“I don’t know how you humans do it, but I was getting headaches every day down there because of how piercing that smell was," Koharu complained.

"Oh, we noticed. Twice complains about it all the time; you're just asleep for them." Pyre softly chuckled as he approached the end of the hallway, where a sliding door awaited. There were no guards, locks, cameras, or anything else.

Perhaps Overhaul thought he didn't need them; perhaps he couldn't put them in, or he didn't want to. Pyre didn't care for the reason, only for the chance to enter, as his hand reached for the door and gently pulled it open.

The quiet of the hallway was broken by the consistent and impossible-to-ignore beep sound coming from within the room. Pyre closed the door and took in the sad sight awaiting him. The room was large and well decorated, befitting the fact that it was the bed chambers of the head of the Shie Hassaikai group. The space was only disturbed by the absence of a proper bed, and in its place, a hospital bed whose white frame and sheets were an ugly contrast to the rest of the traditionally warm colors of the space. In it, the boss lay comatose, with life support hooked to him.

Along the walls were sighs of hard workers, men who didn't give up and strived for perfection. That came in the form of rewards or photos of ceremonies with him holding up various other marks of achievements.

But that wasn't all there was. There were photos of a younger man, though no doubt the man who lay before him. In those pictures, he stood with who Pyre assumed was the previous leader and the current leader's father. In others, he was with a woman who could have been his mother. In one, he was with his wife on what had to be their wedding day, and then more going through their lives.

It was sweet to see how much this man valued family. It helped explain why his men were so loyal to him that they'd choose to remain under a pretender like Overhaul if only to remain close to him.

And to think, despite such loyalty and how proud the man seemed to be in the pictures he had with a young Chisaki, his adopted son could still betray him.

"Koharu, can you even picture such a man's heart?" Pyre asked, his scaly friend leaning against him. Her eyes locked on a particular picture, which drew Pyre's gaze as well. Reaching for it, he quietly removed it from the wall and inspected it.

It was a picture of the boss out in the gardens on what had to be a bright and sunny day, and he wasn't alone. With him was a woman with clean grey hair and a younger man with rich red eyes. Based on other photos, Pyre and Koharu could guess that the woman was the boss' biological daughter and that the third was her husband.

Thinking about it, where was she? Surely, a Yakuza princess would be around more often or would have wished to meet the new 'hires.' 'Or did Overhaul drive her out?' He frowned but shook his head because of his attention to the fourth person in the shot.

A little girl, no older than maybe 3, held in her mother's arms. She had her mother's hair and her father's red eyes. She looked happy; they all looked happy.

Pyre breathed out a thick, hot cloud of smoke, his eyes glowing with anger. "So this is the grandchild? The child he's taking advantage of? " he asked no one. As his hands started to shake, he nearly cracked the frame of the picture but took a deep, calming breath before returning the frame to where it had been on the wall.

"Later, that comes later." He spoke aloud to remind himself as he walked over to the bed and looked over the man again. Pulling down his bedsheets, he inspected the man's body for any obvious scars or injuries, but only found ones that, at best, were years old. Overhaul hadn't taken control that long ago, roughly three years ago. But what marks he could find were much older than that.

"Overhaul could have poisoned him or used his quirk.' Koharu suggested as Pyre set the blankets down.

"Probably his quirk, from how it was described, it's incredibly versatile, and a powerful one at that. Besides, considering when the boss fell into this state, Overhaul couldn't have had time to poison him." Pyre stated as he had learned that it was an open secret among the Yakuza that Overhaul had done this. The man hardly cared to deny it, only brutally punishing those who brought it up, a despot silencing criticism rather than confronting it.

"Well, let's hope that they weren't wrong about the fire alarms," Pyre smirked, his eye glowing. His jaw was near unhinged as he breathed out a torrent of bright, searing hot green flames across the old man's body. The flames engulfed him, lighting up the room like a froom as they ate away at the man's flesh.

Pyre watched in glee as the flames grew brighter and burned hotter, consuming the man down to his very bones before new flesh formed, growing out from under the burnt and charred old and replacing it with newer cells, stronger cells untouched by whatever Overhaul did.

As these new cells and flesh grew, his flames retreated, leaving only mild burns that would fade in a few hours. Pyre silently watched, ensuring his work had been finished before he snapped his fingers, killing his flames and leaving behind a healthy man.

There was a shift as the man stirred for the first time in years. First, Pyre noted eye movements under his eyelids, then how his mouth twisted before, at last, he slowly opened his eyes. The old man, one Hassaikai Naomi, looked around his room, confused, as he didn't recall being here. When had he gone to bed?

“Good evening,” To his credit, the old man didn't jump in fright at the very much unfamiliar voice. Seeing the smiling boy at his bedside, his eyes just shot in Pyre's direction. “Nice to see you returned to the waking world.”

“Who are you?” He didn't mince his words. He was certain he would remember having a member as…eccentric as this one. So, he could only be an extremely capable intruder if he could get this deep into the compound without so much as raising the alarm.

“Maiden of Purgatory, Pyre the Green of the Thunder.” Pyre bowed to the man while Koharu offered no such courtesy. “As you can tell, I’m no Yakuza.”

“And what do you want with me? Are you here to demand we bend the knee?” Naomi asked as this was what he feared would happen if they had decided to 'adapt' like other groups. It wouldn't be the first time he would be threatened by upcoming groups, but they had to send a message if they sent this teenager. What was even the Thunder? He kept up with the underworld; in his last report, he saw nothing about such groups.

Pyre could see where the man's thoughts were going. He might be old, but he was far from senile or unperceptive. "No, quite the opposite. I was hired by Chisaki, along with two of my colleagues."

“Chisaki?” Naomi asked, as he didn’t…remember.

Pyre could see the recognition in his eyes. "Oh, you're remembering, aren't you."

Oh, he did; he remembered the argument. What Chisaki wanted to do, and how he had the gall to act surprised when Naomi refused to break tradition and bring Eri like that. Chisaki didn't leave them but removed his glove and reached for his face, saying that he'll 'bring him back when he finished.' He had tried to fight back, but when your attacker could kill with but a touch…

Naomi sighed, feeling as old as he felt. “So…he did it? He forced his way into power? What did he do?”

"To you? Put you into a coma, which I can only assume he could wake you from, which was part of why many of your men remained loyal despite his coup and, well, terrible personality." Pyre didn't feel the least bit ashamed to call Overhaul out. That man deserved nothing but the cold, brutal truth of how much of a failed human being he was.

"As for the Shie Hassaikai…Well, it's a good thing you're already lying down, as I have much to tell, and I doubt you'll like most of it." Pyre explained what he had heard about Overhaul's operation since he put the true boss under and how the world had changed.

Line Break

It took around 20 minutes to explain everything properly, Pyre having to focus on what he knew but also give the old man time to process this. He wasn't in the mood to burn him again if he suffered a stroke from hearing about how much things had shifted and how much the boy that Naomi had taken in and treated like a son had shamed both his adopted father and the organization he led.

"I can't believe it. After all I did, all the lessons I tried to instill into the brat. Taking on a villain's persona, bringing in lackeys, breaking from our traditions and values, and even Eri…" Naomi reached for his face, feeling nothing but shame. He had called his daughter a fool for abandoning her daughter in his care because of a tragedy the toddler couldn't possibly be responsible for. As tragic as it was, that was just life in a world of quirks.

But he, too, was a fool for ever letting Chisaki near her. He had believed that the young man, a promising medical doctor, could understand things and work to understand Eri's quirk so that she could learn how to control it to live a fulfilling life.

Were there sighs, or did he just, or worse, ignore them?

“And I was powerless to stop it.” He slumped in his bed, only to feel a friendly hand on his shoulder.

“You were a man betrayed, even to us criminals; we must live by some codes, or else we'll devour one another like rabid animals. But Overhaul…" How does one say that a person was an untrustworthy psychopath with delusions of grandeur who was deserving of being beaten half to death politely? 

His pause was enough sign that Pyre was thinking unflattering things about Chisaki. Still, he wouldn't hear anything to the contrary from Naomi. He instead focused on another question. "How did you even get here to begin with? If that brat distrusts you as much as you, why would he let you anywhere close?"

To that, Pyre giggled as he recalled the little plan he and the rest hatched up. "He didn't because he doesn't even know I'm here. As far as he thinks, I'm still down at my post, having stopped a fight between two guys who got a little too drunk." It was pretty smart; twice made clones of them and went off to sleep early, which was something they made sure Overhaul's truth seeker had seen. And to ensure they couldn't learn more, the two mooks chosen to get drunk and fight weren't in the know of the plan; they had just been played by Toga to keep drinking by insulting their egos.

Even if they suspected Toga had ulterior motives, which they banked on, seeing how their quirk worked on her before, Pyre guesses that it didn't work on whims. Shigaraki hadn't told them to betray Chisaki, and Pyre hadn't told Toga to act as she did; he just asked her because it would be fun.

"Then why are you here? You're right; even we criminals live by a code. But do you expect me to think you're here out of the kindness of your heart?" Naomi asked.

"That's part of it. I'm not heartless, you know," Pyre pouted at that. Did people seriously see him as such? Okay, this one got a pass; he just woke up from a coma, but still! “But I also want your help. If you were to return, then Overhaul’s hold will crumble, as his loyalists are few and mainly in the 8 bullets.”

"You want me to start a counter-coup." Naomi frowned, as that wasn't something he would do lightly. If Chisaki was in power and willing to do such terrible, dishonorable things, then killing those who rose against him would be very much on the table.

Pyre nodded, understanding that look in the elder’s eye, which only made him respect him all the more. "I want you to retake control. My group and I have no issues with Yakuza, not enough that we want you to cease to be. You know how to handle things and keep the piece locally. We have a few under us that do just that in our territory." Well, Shigaraki did, but he could perhaps talk to him about this.

"But more than that, I have reason to see Overhaul's downfall, and if he loses his soldiers, that will be made so much easier." Pyre smiled, unable to hide anticipation for the event.

After all, their beef was with Chisaki and his ilk. They handled them, and then they would get their revenge for Magne and Pyre. Magne and Pyre could only find more reasons to loathe the man the longer he spent under his 'authority'. It would even help build them up if they could count on a Yakuza group as large as this one as allies and middlemen between the two villain groups.

“When does this go down?” the man relented despite his misgivings. It seemed like his foolish son had gone and made powerful enemies. The best he could do was steer them away from the bulk of his people.

"I'll send a signal, and you can handle the rest. We can sort out the details of what comes next when I don't need to sneak around to speak with you." Pyre nodded toward the bed, which Naomi just realized was horribly burned. "But for now, we must keep up the illusion; otherwise, Overhaul decides that desperate times call for desperate measures." Pyre smiled as the door opened again, and some people came in with spare sheets and mattresses. The group looked relieved to see their boss up.

Line Break

They weren't the only ones making plans as the heroes, having spent their time since Nighteye's meeting, had been hard hat work scouting each of the Shie Hassaikai's locations, questioning locals and monitoring their activity. That information, gathered from pros working across Japan, came together quick, as at the same time that Pyre had gone to visit the Yakuza's true leader, Nighteye sending a message out to all of them, including the up till now, benched U.A. students that they'll have one final meeting the following morning.

Uraraka, having been up despite the late hour, was quick to see the message before she sent it on to the rest to meet in the common area. Getting there, she found Bakugo already present, with Kirishima quickly following and finally Tsu.

“All right, you too?” Kirishima asked without clarifying, as he didn’t need to.

Bakugo grunted, his face in its typical irritated look. “I wouldn’t be up at this time otherwise.”

"We got the info we need, so now we can make our move," Tsu called out. They all agreed to wake up an hour earlier just to ensure they left school in time to get to Nighteye's agency on time. The sooner they got through the meeting, the better.

Line Break

When morning came, they found their choice to arrive early wasn't a unique one, as most of the heroes were in the room 20 minutes before things kicked off. Nighteye and his sidekicks came in 10 minutes early, with the man looking around the room. When he saw that everyone was there, he kicked things off with a surprise announcement.

“You mean to tell me they’ve been keeping this Eri girl at their stronghold this entire time?” Lock Rock asked, Bakugo glaring at Nighteye for the news.

“And if they’re one spot that can be called that,” Fatgum just rolled with things.

“It must be their headquarters.” Ryukyu finished the thought, and on paper, it made sense. Why move them somewhere less secure, especially when she had been seen by 2 heroes. But on the other hand, there was the chance that such an assumption was what Overhaul was counting on and that she had been moved to an alternate location.

“So all that time we spent investigating was for nothing?” Lock Rock grunted, to which Nighteye shook his head.

"No, we gained plenty of new information, which could prove essential." Nighteye didn’t like loose ends or unknowns, not when such could be used against them. When their enemies could mess with their heads using that knowledge, throwing them off and leaving themselves open.

"How'd you narrow it down? It's not like you can just ask one of them about it," Fatgum asked, to which Nighteye produced…a large pink glitter-covered box. On its side were stylized stars and bright colors, while through the clear plastic front, they could make out a magical-themed doll.

"A member of the Hassaikai visited a nearby department store and purchased this. As you can tell, it's marketed towards the young girl demographic," Nighteye stated, noticing the questions on many of their faces.

“The hell’s wrong with him?” Bakugo gruffly asked, to which Fatgun spoke up.

“Hey, you don’t know who it’s for. Different strokes for different people, you know.” That said, the plump hero turned to Nighteye. Also, you want to tell us what you're doing with one?" It wasn't like he needed to bring it to show them; they would have believed him if he had just said he saw one of them buying a child's toy.

"That was a possibility. People all have eccentricities, but the conversation he had with the store clerk narrowed things down." Nighteye didn't disagree with Fatgum or rely on baseless assumptions about people's tastes. Still, from what he heard from the man, it was clear he was neither a fan nor a toy collector. He spoke like a man getting a present for a younger niece he barely knew.

Patting the box, Nighteye continued, "As for why I purchased it, it was to get closer under the guise of purchasing something similar for a niece of mine."

"Doing so allowed me to get close to touch them and view his future. With that, I can confirm that he purchased this gift for Eri. I also confirmed that their stronghold has underground passages and rooms designed to confuse any invaders. Lucky for us, the target revealed how to find the entrance and unlock it and made a direct trip to Eri's room." He also saw that Eri was terrified of the man, but revealing that would only make the students more likely to fly off and act recklessly.

“You ended up using foresight anyway?” Lock Rock asked him, as he was still unimpressed that All Might's former sidekick had refused to save them all the time by using it on one of them.

Nighteye pushed his glasses up, the light reflecting off the lenses. “I never said I wouldn’t use it, only that I would when our path was more certain.”

Ryukyu caught that, as maybe he was just adjusting his spectacles. Still, she had been in the hero business long enough to notice when someone was hiding something or uneasy. “There’s something else, isn’t there, Nighteye?”

Nighteye frowned, as he had been debating telling them, but he could say they deserved to know, even if he wasn't sure about the complete picture. "I looked further into the yakuza member's future, no more than a day, and discovered something. During our raid, there'll be an uprising."

Fatgam frowned, while many other heroes seemed confused but happy to hear the news of fewer foes and disunity among those they will need to handle. "An uprising? Amongst Yakuza? Those guys are thick as thieves; they rarely rat each other out, even for shorter jail time. Why would they break now?"

That was a question Nighteye wished he knew the answer to. From his vision, it didn't seem like the scale of the raid or the members of it were the root cause. “That I don’t know, but it means that some will not fight us and will willingly surrender, so stay on the lookout for that.”

“Aside from the expected mutiny, anything?” Ryukyu asked.

"Not that we can predict or see. We've handled all our tasks well and gathered intelligence and evidence." Centipeder answered for his boss.

"Which we handed over to the police, who got us a warrant to search the place." Bubble Girl added, smiling as she posed, though she looked at her hand where she had kept some notes. “Next step is-”

“Is to barge in there.” Fat-gum cut her off.

“Oh man, that’s my line!” To her dismay, she was ignored as the group thought things over.

‘The hell?’ Bakugo turned to see Tin-tin speaking with Round cheeks, or more accurately, he was trying to hype her up like this was a contest. Bakugo shook his head, clearing away such thoughts. ‘No, he’s probably pissed that he didn’t grab her when he had the chance.’

His fists clenched as he recalled, not too long ago, that he was taken and the effort needed to rescue him. He so badly wanted revenge, but he hadn't had the chance. But with this? With this, he could ensure these villains got what was coming.

“Shitty hair,” He spoke up, drawing Kirishima’s attention. "Don't mess this up. This time, we'll take the absolute victory over some lousy villains."

Kirishima blinked but met the call with energetic confidence. "Yeah, man, you know it!"

Line Break

With Overhaul, he was sitting in his office, not in his regular chair but on the couch, thinking about the work that he'd need to do that day when Chrono got a call. As it could only be important, his right-hand man stood to take it, listening in to what he heard from their informant.

Nodding, he told the man to keep an eye out before ending the call. "Boss looks, the heroes are onto us."

“So they’re coming?” Overhaul asked, though unsurprised as Eri had been seen, and he hadn’t been able to deal with those two heroes. Well, nothing that could be done now. “Proceed with things according to the plans.” He ordered as he got up.

"Got it," Chrono replied as Overhaul glanced at his left-hand man, Mimic.

“Prepare yourself.”

“Right.” The tiny man nodded as Overhaul moved to leave, but not through the door that would lead deeper into the base.

“Where are you going?” Chrono asked as Overhaul turned his eye towards him.

“To take care of something.” With that, he closed the door.

Line Break

With the heroes, they had gathered outside the police station, where the detective they were working with stood; along with him were 3 dozen other officers, mainly outfitted in riot gear.

"I'll keep things short. Thanks to Nighteye, we confirmed that the target's main base has underground facilities and that the girl known as Eri is being kept there. We didn't have time to properly map out the structure. Still, it's basic human behavior to take the shortest path to their destination, so that's the route we'll focus on when we make entry to retrieve Eri and get her out." The detective stated, loud and clear.

"We also know that for whatever reason, the unity of the Shie Hassaikai is set to falter today, and while that means fewer foes, we can't ascertain who will fight and who will not. As such, we'll be passing out a list of their known members with names, photos, and quirk details." He nodded to another officer, who passed out papers with said details on them.

“Solid information, thank you.” One of the heroes, Mr. Brave, stated as he read over the details, his eye was going to the ones marked as high priority.

"Once the infighting starts, it might be helpful to continually call for their surrender; that way, some of the defectors can be handled without as little fuss as possible." Another suggested.

"Regardless of who surrenders and who doesn't, our aim is to capture all members before they have time to go to ground while also rescuing the girl and putting a stop to their suspected drug manufacturing effects.” The detective called out, as they had already made arrangements for the mass arrest of at least 100 people, and the means to keep others restrained long enough for further transport to holding facilities could be made available.

“Things are moving fast now,” Kirishima noted, as he and the other first-year students felt slightly out of place among the adults.

Tamaki pulled his hood down to hide more of his face. “You’re awfully energetic, considering how early it is.” He muttered, as he often did.

“I’m getting nervous.” Uraraka frowned. She didn't regret being here, but this was a lot, as the heroes and police moved without issue.

"First detective work, and now we're working with the police; there's so much I don't know." Asui pointed out.

“Right? So official.” Hado added that this wasn't the first time she'd seen something like this, though this was the biggest gathering.

"Being in the classroom can't prepare you for investigations like this. Make sure to learn all you can because you could be called for many more as the years go by." Ryukyu told them all as she approached, though she left out how pros could be excluded not just for skill but also for personality. No one wanted to work with someone who was an asshole.

“All the pros seem like they’re pretty chill, so brave!” Kirishima smiled, getting an annoyed sigh from Bakugo.

"Idiot, they're just acting like they're supposed to, so don't embarrass us by getting all excited about it," Bakugo told him, seemingly calm, but Kirishima doubted it.

“You’re calm.” Still, he didn’t call him out for it.

"I just hate being the one who keeps losing. So, I won't give them a chance to trick me or run away." This wasn't the League or the Thunder, but they were another group that was trying to take away the peace All Might had worked so hard to uphold, and he'll be damned if he let them get away with it.

Asui looked around but croaked when she noticed she didn't see an old man in yellow. "Hey, I just noticed, but where's that old guy? Gran Torino was what Uraraka called him." Pointing that out, Uraraka and the rest also noted Gran Torino's absence. In fact, he hadn't been at Nighteye's agency either, and for Uraraka, that was strange, as while old, the man was a real early bird.

Nighteye responded, “He couldn’t join us today. He was pulled away to help with Tsukauchi’s investigation into the lead.”

The detective offered additional information: "They were invited into this because of the suspected involvement of the League, who apparently are on the move, so they needed to redirect their focus. Lucky for us, we have plenty of hero support, so we could spare him."

“Are they close?” Bakugo asked as he could almost hear that damn pyromaniac's laughter in the wind and feel the area growing hotter.

Luckily, Nighteye shook his head. “No, he boarded a train going northeast into the mountains.” He hadn't gotten the details, but there was something about a Kurogiri sighting, though he didn't know why he was in the mountains. 

Kirishima saw it as a bonus, wrapping an arm around Bakugo's shoulders, much to the blonde's annoyance. "Maybe we can take down both of them. That'll leave the Thunder as the big fish in the villain world that we can go after from all sides."

Thinking it over, Bakugo couldn't deny that the idea wasn't bad. In fact, he liked it a lot, and it showed in how he smiled. “Now that’s something to smile about.”

Line Break

“You finished on your end?” Pyre hummed as he ate his breakfast along with Twice and Toga, the boy feeling giddy after the night he had.

“Yup.” Twice gave a big thumbs up. "I'm ready for a hard day's work. We've slaves, and we need to be free!" Other tables ignored them, as they always did, but that was more than fine.

Toga seemed the most excited of all, patting her side where she kept a little surprise for later that day. "Then we just wait. Come 3 PM, the fireworks will start."

Line Break

It's a bit late, but I'm happy with this chapter. I made some revisions to the planning, as I wished to add some things and had to account for others not having been done earlier since they got cut. Sadly, there is no action, but when the next chapter comes…oh, it will be nothing but.