Dragon's Pride (Ch 10) (Patreon)

Eraserhead scowls at seeing the Mohawkians meeting with a high-ranked information broker. He has no idea how they managed to get enough influence to call on the service of a high-ranked information broker, but it’s concerning. It implies that they have someone actually influential backing them. Which is why he got assigned to tail them and find out who it could be.

Thankfully, having a backer doesn’t mean that the group themselves are any more competent. It’s easy to follow them to the meeting point, suspiciously so, in fact. Thankfully he has two other heroes on standby in case things go south: Present Mic -his friend from high school -and Snipe- a more experienced pro. Couple their capabilities with his own quirk to erase other active quirks, and they should be able to take down most villains that would bother showing up to a meeting like this.

Of course, that all changes when the broker shows up with a little girl in tow. She’s dressed casually: a pair of denim jeans and a pink hoodie, her hands are buried inside the large pocket in front under the words ‘It’s not cannibalism, it’s eating leftovers!’ Eraserhead curses silently to himself, his mind immediately recalling the power struggle that’s been going on ever since the Treasure Triad was taken down.

It’s been a bloodbath, with bodies being found across three cities. Not in large numbers, thankfully, but over the course of a year they tend to add up. Even without including the ones they never find.

Of course, so long as it’s only gangs or small-time villains taking out their rivals, most people in law enforcement are content to sit back and let the problem beat itself out before they make a move. He disagrees, given there’s always the chance for spillover into the civilian population. It hasn’t happened so far, but with the girl here it seems that’s finally changed.

He hides in the rafters of the warehouse -Why’s it always a warehouse?- as he tries to glean any details he can. But other than what seems to be the second in command of the Mohawkians making a call before they start negotiating, shooting surprisingly surreptitious glances at the girl the entire time, there’s nothing.

But that call can mean many things. Was the girl not meant to be here? Was there meant to be more kids? Does her presence have some kind of hidden meaning? Is their backer going to show up? And the fear in his eyes… He doesn't know what it means, but he does know that he’s going to make sure that the girl doesn’t fall victim to these criminals.

He needs to wait for a good opportunity to call Present Mic and Snipe, and maybe get additional reinforcements depending on if anyone else shows up. But the more the gang and the broker talk, the more confused he gets. There’s no mention of the girl whatsoever, and other than a few of the gang members keeping an eye on her, she goes otherwise ignored.

Likewise, she ignores them, reclining on top of a crate while using her tail for support. Some kind of reptilian quirk? Is it just the tail, or are there other aspects? He can’t tell, but knowing could be the difference between getting her to safety and getting her hurt.

When he’s sure they’re distracted, he radios Present Mic and Snipe over his comm about the situation, and what it could mean. They move to get into position, but it will take a bit of time. Luckily the negotiations seem like they’ll take long enough for them to be prepared. He settles in to wait, letting his focus wander between the criminals and the girl.

There’s a few moments where he tenses, thinking she’s seen him, but other than looking upwards for a few minutes she doesn’t react, going back to blankly staring at the broker and the gang soon after. Her mind is clearly on other things. Eventually he manages to stop panicking every time she seems to look at him, mentally waving it off as her simply being bored, forcing himself to ignore the itch between his shoulder blades.

And doesn’t that set off alarm bells, her being calm enough to be bored. Is she under the effect of a quirk? Or is she actually here because she wants to be? Or at least needs to be. Could she somehow be related to the broker? Or worst of all… could this be a trap?

Before he can come to a concrete conclusion, the meeting ends and the broker begins to take his leave, the girl joining him as they exchange banter. His suspicion ratchets up another notch and he’s reaching for his comm to warn his support, but then the warehouse doors blast open.

He curses, this time out loud under the cover of Present Mic’s…exuberant…entrance, as he drops down, his hair floating upwards both from physics and his quirk as he activates it. He swiftly begins taking down the gang members while they’re confused, focusing at first on the ones with clear mutation quirks that he can’t erase. They go down easy enough, taken off guard as they are. The rest flounder as they try to activate their quirks only to find out that they can’t, following their allies into the darkness of unconsciousness.

After taking down the leader, Eraserhead glances over to Present Mic and Snipe to see if they’ve arrested the broker yet. But his eyes widen in shock as he sees the literal child slam Snipes head into the ground, cracks radiating out from the point of impact. Off to the side, the broker is moving away from her, his warning only serving to confuse him even more.

“She’s a bit sensitive about people saying that she has a quirk.”

What the hell does that mean…?

`~`

I flex my hand, working my claws a bit as I turn back to take a look at the hero who’s been here since the start. My brows furrow at how I don’t recognize him, though the yellow goggles on his face seem familiar…

Must be an Underground hero.

“So,” I say conversationally, “we can do this the easy way, or the fun way.” I smile, baring my sharp teeth at him. “Just don’t make the fun way boring, got it?”

He comes out of his momentary daze, his hair starting to float around him as he launches his scarf at me. Telekinetic quirk? I wonder, stretching out my arm and letting it get wrapped up. The hero tugs on it, whipping me towards him. Does he really think this will work out for him?

I let my curiosity run, hoping to see his quirk in action. Unlike the usual rabble that I deal with, this is a hero. They’re actually trained to use their quirk! And considering literally the only things I wish I could go back to the Midoriya household to get are my quirk analysis notebooks…

Well, let’s just say that I want to see all of their capabilities!

But I’m disappointed when he just flicks his scarf and cocoons me in it before pressing me against the ground. But I guess he could have used telekinesis for it? Don’t think so, though.

“Stay down, kid.” There’s an odd note of concern in his voice when he makes his request that feeds my curiosity, but it’s vastly overpowered by my interest in seeing what their quirks can do.

“I already told you,” I slice through his scarf -needing a surprising amount of force to do so- before standing up, his hair briefly falling before rising again. I glance back at Present Mic and see him checking on Snipe, who’s… probably unconscious. His equipment wouldn’t really be any good if such a weak attack rattled his brain around enough to kill him. I return my focus to the unnamed hero before giving him a mocking grin. “Don’t make the fun way boring.”

I whirl around on one foot, blasting a hole in the floor as I launch myself at the second hero, appearing next to him in an instant. His eyes widen and his head pulls back. I raise my claws high, bringing them down in an overly-exaggerated manner to see if he’ll manage to break through his surprise, or die.

It seems that all his training hasn’t been for naught as he screams, a sonic wave blasting me backwards. I land lightly by the wall on the opposite side of the warehouse from Giran, retracting a claw on a single finger that I dig in my ear. “Geez, you’re a loud one. No wonder you wear those headphones.” I tilt my head as a thought strikes me. “Speaking of, I wonder how many of the villains you bring in become deaf. But then again, you clearly have good control of your quirk, given the power you managed to output even when you were at the end of an exhale. So I suppose the number wouldn’t be too high.”

He’s looking a little pale, though I’m not sure if it’s from me pointing out that some of his captures probably lost their hearing or me almost killing him. Probably the latter. But then again he’s still relatively new, and most villains have five to ten years in prison depending on a variety of circumstances regarding their crime, so maybe he hasn’t encountered any of his previous captures to find out yet?

“Mic! Get your head on straight, this kid isn’t normal.” Mr. Underground warns and I snort. Normal is all about perspective, after all. On my end, it’s perfectly normal for me to be bored from ‘fighting’ people so much weaker than me. It’s normal for them to get confused, then terrified when they realize just how far above them I am.

It’s not normal from their perspectives, but what do they matter? Most of the ones who bore me end up dead. And that’s the most normal thing of all.

Present Mic looks at his partner, and I’m pleased to see that he still keeps part of his attention on me from the corner of his eye. Competency is always something to approve of! “Your quirk was active?”

Mr. Underground nods, nods even glancing at his partner. “No effect. And I was using it when she formed her scales earlier too. Whatever she can do, I can’t erase it.”

“Hmm. Erase?” I tilt my head and scratch my chin, wrinkling my nose when I realize it’s the same finger I just cleaned my ear with. “Gross.” I wipe my chin on my shoulder while wiping my finger on my pants. “Anyways, I thought that you have some sort of telekinesis quirk? What’s this about ‘erasing’?”

My eyes narrow and he tenses up, his hand held up to warn Present Mic from doing anything yet. “Come to think of it, don’t I know you? It’s such an annoying feeling, like it’s right at the edge of my thoughts but refuses to actually get into them, you know?”

“Let us take you in and I’ll tell you who I am.” He offers immediately, and I throw my head back and laugh at the sheer audacity he has.

“Hahaha!” I look back down, meeting his eyes as I abruptly cut off my laughter. “No.” I smile, letting my eyes drift to Giran, who’s scrolling through his phone. “Giran! You know this guy?”

“Huh?” He looks up, blinking for a moment as he mentally replays my question. Present Mic turns to him and opens his mouth wide after taking a deep breath, but before he can scream I’m next to him, already in motion. My leg sweeps into his side and launches him at Mr. Underground, who catches him. His hair continues to float as he probably glares at me, his eyes still hidden behind his goggles.

“Oh, the guy with the goggles is the Underground pro hero Eraserhead. Pretty on the nose given his quirk, Erasure, lets him erase the quirks of anyone he looks at. But it only works while he’s looking at them.”

“Oh?” The two heroes must detect something in my tone because they tense, Present Mic rapidly getting back to his feet and taking a stance right next to the now named Underground hero. “So, you’re telling me that he thinks… I have a quirk?”

There’s a moment of silence before Eraserhead speaks. “No, I don’t. If you did have a quirk, then mine would have done something to it by now.”

I return him a sharp smile, tilting my head a bit to the side as I let my bloodlust build a bit. “You say that, but you’re still trying to use your quirk on me, aren’t you.”

His hair is floating, and since it wasn’t floating when he was in the rafters, that means it isn’t always on. He has to activate it. Which means that he’s still trying to erase the quirk that I don’t have.

My smile turns malicious. “How about you try and erase this!” On my last word I breathe out a wave of emerald-tinged fire, watching as it gets closer and closer to the two heroes.

Eraserhead curses, grabbing his scarf in one hand while reaching for Present Mic with the other. Likely hoping to drag the two of them to safety. Present Mic seems to have the same idea, grabbing onto Eraserhead before looking down. It’s Present Mic’s escape plan that gets them out of the way of my flames.

He screams, letting the soundwaves launch the two of them towards the roof of the warehouse and the rafters they can land on, my flames passing harmlessly under them…

…and engulfing the unconscious gang members they seem to have forgotten about.

With no way to move, the flames wash over them, their bodies rapidly becoming charred before they can even wake up from the pain. A blessing, considering how often people usually scream when I light them on fire. Though interestingly enough, one of the members appears to have a fire immunity quirk, the only thing catching light on them being their clothes. The rest of the gang just needs some barbeque sauce and they’ll make an excellent meal or five!

The two heroes above me curse, together this time, and I snap my fingers, dismissing the flames. I look up, my slitted green orbs having no trouble locating them. “So,” I tease, “let’s not try something we know won’t work again, shall we? I don’t have a quirk.”

“Of course not.” A sudden voice takes me off guard, and I whirl around.