Viridian: The Green Guide

Chapter 39: Information

Izuku stood tensely at the entrance to the alley, a marble at the ready in his slingshot which was pulled taut and trained on the collapsed villain who could potentially get up at any minute. Eraser was at the opposite end of the alley, his capture weapon floating ominously around him as they waited. After a few seconds which felt like a lot longer, Eraser blinked, then sighed in relief when the villain stayed put, the trigger-enhanced quirk that had made the fight already starting to shrink back to it's normal state.

"Good, he's just another junkie." Eraser said. "I was almost afraid he'd be another berserker."

Izuku put his slingshot away as he looked at Eraser in confusion, "Berserker?"

Eraser glanced up at him as he restrained the villain, "Yeah. That's what we've started calling the next phase in the villain factory's experiments. You were right about that, by the way. That villain you helped apprehend the other day, Hamasaki, wasn't a next level villain, he was whatever comes after. A berserker."

"Oh..." Izuku said quietly. He hadn't wanted to be right about that, especially not after seeing the destruction that him being right caused and how miserable the poor villain must be. "So you think there's going to be more of them?"

Eraser sighed, "That's the way the villain factory works. We'll probably see at least a few of these guys, then they'll go dormant for a few months or even years like last time before moving onto the next phase of their expirament. God only knows what they're actually trying to accomplish with all this."

"Most likely some type of supersolider." Izuku had been thinking about it more and more ever since Hamasaki had been recaptured. With many powerful heroes like All Might out there, most villains' best best was to run and hide like the sludge villain had when it attacked him. If enough people had permanently strengthened quirks, however, they might even be able to give the number one hero a run for his money even without his secret weakness. "I'm assuming that Hamasaki's alterations were permanent?"

Eraser nodded, "That was the main difference, actually. All the next level villains eventually powered down once the trigger was out of their system, but he didn't even have any trigger in him to begin with. The rage didn't fade either, hence berserkers."

"Then they're probably getting closer." Izuku said. "Did you guys ever figure out why he was so angry?"

"The doctors said it was something to do with his brain attacking itself or something." Eraser looked frustrated as he stood. "The rage center was the only part that hadn't been turned into swiss cheese."

"An autoimmune response?" Izuku frowned. "But the experiments didn't trigger that in the next level villains, did they?"

"Nope." Eraser clenched his fists. "Besides the extra mutative aspects they were fine."

"So something new was introduced..." Izuku muttered, then looked up at Eraser, embarrassed. "I mean, obviously, since it was a new experiment, but, um, I mean..."

"It's fine kid." Eraser had tucked his chin into his capture scarf so Izuku couldn't see his expression clearly, but he didn't sound mad, so that was good.

Izuku waited a long moment for Eraser to continue, but he'd apparently said all he wanted to say, so Izuku figured he may as well ask a question that had been bothering him, "So, how did Hamasaki escape custody anyway? I thought he was arrested."

"He didn't escape, he was kidnapped right when we were starting to get somewhere with the interrogation." Eraser growled. "It was just so frustrating to see him again like that, since they expriramented on him in retaliation for talking, but the only clue we got from him was the symbol of evil, which doesn't even lead to anything except for legends!" Erasers eyes widened momentarily as he seemed to remember he was talking to a vigilante who was still a child, "Don't look into that!"

Izuku's brain raced with possibilities. He felt like he'd heard that phrase somewhere before, probably on one of the various hero forums he browsed, but it was a pretty ominous moniker, especially with the way it played off the symbol of peace. If the person behind the villain factory was trying to be an equal to All Might it would make sense why he was trying to create an army of supersoldiers, so then...

"I mean it, Viridian, don't look into that!" Eraser sighed. "Who am I kidding? You're a suicidal teenager, of course you're going to look into it. I don't even know why I try."

"At least you're trying to protect me." Izuku shrugged. "I don't think anyone else really cared enough to try, except Mom, of course. So...the symbol of evil?"

Eraser glared at him, but Izuku simply gave him a bright smile, not really wanting to dig deeper into all the feelings that Eraser's concern was starting to bring up. It'd be a lot more fun to have something to analyze, even if they were just old legends.

"We're going to talk more about that later" Eraser said sternly.

"Sure thing, Eraser." Only if Izuku couldn't find some way to redirect the conversation next time it came up. "So about the symbol of evil...?"

Eraser glared at him for another moment before giving in, "Fine. From what little I could find, it seems like it was a nickname for some guy who went by the name All for One back at the dawn of quirks. I don't think the legends are accurate though, since according to the stories All for One could give and take other people's quirks."

"If that were true, it would change everything we knew about quirks..." Izuku muttered. "So it can't be true, but maybe they're trying to use a drug to produce that effect? It might explain the autoimmune response. If they were trying to introduce a new quirk then of course the body would attack it, but then why did Hamasaki's quirk just get stronger?"

"Of course you instantly start analyzing, problem child." Izuku couldn't see Eraser's eyes, but he was 98% certain he was rolling them. "Promise me you won't chase any leads on your own Viridian. That's what official heroes are for, ok kid?"

Izuku nodded frantically, "I would never do that! If this symbol of evil is really behind the villain factory then I'd just mess everything up if I went after him alone!"

Eraser sighed, "Good enough. Now get going kid. And don't die."

Shouta watched as the problem child jumped away over the rooftops, his parkour still a little sloppy, but still amazing considering that he'd only been doing it a few months. The kid went at everything with so much dedication, it was just a shame he couldn't direct that passion toward something that didn't double as a suicide plan. Why couldn't he direct it toward become an actual hero? Shouta was sure that Nedzu would kill to get his paws on an analysis quirk like Viridian's. Maybe he could convince the kid to try for UA? They could probably make an exception for the age requirements if Viridian had already entered highschool, and they might be able to get the kid some counciling while they were at it.

He regretted telling the kid about the symbol of evil, but sometimes it was hard to remember that Viridian was a kid playing vigilante instead of an adult hero, especially since he was just as involved in the trigger case now as any of the real heroes were. Once the hint had slipped out, Shouta knew that the kid would attack it like a dog would chew a bone, so at least if he told Viridian the basics, it'd keep him from turning to the dark parts of the internet to find them. It was probably the safest course of action, considering that the problem child was perfectly capable of accessing everywhere on the internet that he wasn't supposed to if he was able to hack into the heroes' secure comm system.

Well, at least they'd be able to use Viridian's expertise on the case. The kid was amazing at analyzing quirks, which would be necessary if there was any truth at all to the All for One legends, not that Shouta expected there would be. Still, if there were going to be more berserkers, Viridian's ability to analyze their quirks could make the difference between a successful capture and an escape.

And maybe if he stayed alive to help them, eventually Shouta could give him something else to live for.