checkmate rewrite

chapter three

Everyone except Tsuyu sat down. It was quiet for a few minutes and Izuku could only assume their minds were racing the same way he was. What did this mean for him? For the commission? "Why are we just now seeing real-time footage of the fires? It's been hours. You would think your house exploring in blue flames would be pretty memorable. And how would they set fire to all those houses at the same time and not have anyone see them?" Izuku asked. He was forcing himself to stay rational, to stay calm. The League being back was bad news, obviously, but it also brought forth conflicting feelings. He was scared. He was also slightly excited. He knew he shouldn't be. There would most likely be many more casualties before they were caught again, but this opening gave him a chance to do something he never could have in high school. Izuku couldn't have fought them but Occult could.

"I doubt I would take out my camera and start recording if my home was being engulfed in flames," Shouji pointed out. His eyes had been fixated on Izuku ever since the realization. He looked nervous as if he somehow knew what Izuku was thinking.

Izuku took out his phone and started scrolling through social media to see if there were any other posts from other perspectives but there was nothing. There hadn't even been any other pictures. That was even more odd. People film everything nowadays, so why would this be the exception? People were talking about it but as he kept scrolling he realized none of the comments made were by people that were there.

"Do you think it could be blackmail? Maybe one of the members threatened the witnesses to keep their mouths shut," Tokoyami said.

"Or threatened a civilian into starting the fire," Shouji added.

Tsuyu seemed to finally snap out of her panic. She sat down shakily next to Izuku and said, "If All For One is still leading them he would have just ordered them to kill the witnesses. There would be no point in leaving them alive. It would only draw more attention to the crime."

"There could have been someone hiding there they were trying to smoke out literally," Izuku said.

Tokoyami shook his head. "I can't imagine anyone powerful to hide from the entire League."

"Why else would they be committing all these petty little crimes? It doesn't make sense. They aren't even trying to hide it. It's like- I don't know, like they want us to realize. Are they trying to scare us into submitting before a war even starts?" Izuku asked. He thought back to USJ, to the early days. He and Tsuyu looked over at each other at the same time. He could tell by her wide eyes she was thinking the same thing. "Unless they are trying to distract us. It's kind of smart. They have one of their lesser members doing all these media-grabbing crimes while something else is building behind the scenes. They must be planning something. All For One and Shigaraki are a lot of things but they aren't stupid."

"If that's true, we are all screwed," Dark Shadow interjected. Everyone looked up at him, exasperated. That was not what they needed to hear right now.

"Read the room," Izuku said and shook his head in mock disapproval. But the shadow demon was right, they needed to take action, quickly. "Tsuyu, do you think you can find out when the League escaped and why the commission is hiding it? You are the highest ranking of all of us and they like you a hell of a lot more than they like me."

Tsuyu nodded. "Of course, kero."

"Good. Then the next time there's a crime, we head in the opposite direction. Most of their stunts have been on the outskirts of the city. If anything is happening it's in one of the old district buildings or maybe even underground. I doubt they're operating remotely. Everything has been pretty central to Musutafu."

"Not alone. We need to go all together," Shouji said, he looked around the room somberly. "If we are doing this without help there's a good chance we could get killed. We need to be extremely careful. I am sorry but if I think any of you are going too far I won't hesitate to tell Tsukauchi. It isn't worth it."