In a dark room, a man sat on a soft chair, connected to a respirator that helped him breathe easier but made a whining sound. A guttural breathing echoed throughout the room, and it wasn't Darth Vader at all, though the man wasn't far removed from that villain. He had many names, but many remembered him as the Demon King. Sometimes he was also called "Boss" and "Sensei." And even more rarely, AFO.
The light from a large screen rapidly changing images from street cameras in several Japanese cities fell on his disfigured face, now able to see only in the infrared spectrum thanks to one of his quirks. The final battle with All Might had been serious, but fortunately, Toshinori hadn't escaped unscathed. And this thought flattered our villain's ego.
Thanks to one of the many auxiliary quirks in his arsenal, the Demon King could review a large amount of information in a very short period of time. If his neural connections were less dense, his brain wouldn't be able to handle such a load and information flow. In everyday life, this quirk had no use—or so the previous user thought. But for the Demon King, every stolen quirk would serve a purpose.
There was no need to check security cameras from across the country. There were tens, if not hundreds, of thousands, which would take many times longer. A waste of time. It was important to check only a few important and key points of his multi-pronged plan. Gradually, the plan took shape, and even the skeleton of it was already emerging. The villain glanced at a separate screen with a camera view of the bar, where only Kurogiri—the purple mist, one of the mad Kyudai's creations—and a white-haired teenager—Tomura, one of the key cogs in his plan—were present. AFO truly respected this scientist, despite his extravagant ideas and sometimes independent behavior. However, most of all, he respected him for his loyalty, having known him since their youth.
«It's been so long...» — he thought, returning to the main screen. Suddenly, a call rang, interrupting his scrolling through pictures. He irritably turned away and took a call from a guy from the "Villain Factory" team.
— Speak,— AFO ordered first. Arrogantly, quietly, so that the other man would have to strain to catch every word of the conversation with such an important person. The Demon King is a sign of how to influence minds.
— Mario is dead, — the male voice on the other end of the smartphone said tersely.
— Dead? — the villain repeated, not expecting to hear that. He began to run through the possibilities of who could have done this. Heroes and the police don't kill; it was a generally accepted fact, yet one couldn't help but respect it. AFO preferred to kill those they fought—it was easier and left fewer traces. The only people who consistently succeeded in doing this were One for All users.
«Not to mention Nana Shimura, heh.» he chuckled to himself, as if proud of such a victory.
— Who?— the Demon King asked imperiously, simultaneously beginning to vigorously check the Naruhata city cameras on the screen.
— I don't know, maybe Yakuza? Mario must have wandered into one of their districts and they took him out.
— Where did they find the body?
— In the forest. Broken neck, lots of scratches and bruises on his body, apparently running from someone in the forest at night. But what's interesting... it's Yoragikura Forest. It's like fifty kilometers from Naruhata. That's what an informant in the police told me. Unfortunately, I don't know any more.. What are your next orders, Boss? Who will distribute and test the trial versions of the "candy"?
— I'll send Kuinn to that area, but first I'll check who did it. Tell me, have the Quirks taken hold? Are you continuing your training?
— I really like the new acquisitions, Boss. I'm training, and the results have been getting better and better lately. I can hold out longer now. I won't let you down.
— Good. Over time, the Quirks will take hold even better and your control will improve, but just in case, don't try to activate multiple Quirks at once. Okay, until then.
As soon as the call ended, the Demon King folded his hands in thought.
«We need to find out the circumstances of Mario's death. I thought I had an agreement with the Yakuza and they won't interfere in our little games with Trigger. It's too early to say whether they will or won't. But something tells me it wasn't them. The Yakuza usually sit with their mouths up their asses and make money from gambling and prostitution, and sometimes drugs. And then they suddenly killed my pawn.» AFO's finger nervously tapped the soft surface of the chair as footage from different areas of Naruhata's cameras rapidly changed on the screen. Having found the right area, AFO fast-forwarded the footage. Numerous small figures of passersby and cars quickly replaced each other, and day followed night, until the image showed the police at the crime scene. But the view was frankly shitty, and changing the camera's position in the past was impossible.
«Apparently, they couldn't apprehend Mario,» he noted, pointing to the pro hero Eraser Head talking to one of the Detectives. Rewinding back to a certain confrontation, AFO realized that Mario had consumed Trigger himself and his Quirk had gone out of control, turning him into a giant. The Demon King knew about Mario's drug addiction, but he also understood that it didn't interfere with his work. Mario maintained his respectable façade and kept up a good front until the very last moment.
Some local heroes were apprehending Mario. Then Eraser Head arrived and stopped the rampaging Mario with his Eraser Quirk. Incidentally, he had a good opinion of this Quirk, and could have stolen it, but his eyes were gone. Thanks to All Might. But what happened next was quite intriguing. Something black flew past the camera, carrying Mario away. The Demon King leaned closer, intrigued, rubbing his palms.
«It's not the yakuza. They don't have people like that. I'm sure of it.»
The camera's view was limited and poor. It was a small kiosk, barely visible from the street, and mostly captured the night sky and buildings rather than the scene. He immediately began searching for other sources of video footage, even having to resort to his programming skills again to access the ATM camera. Unfortunately, there were no other nearby cameras. He calculated that the ATM camera would capture this silhouette perfectly. A little social engineering was all it took.
Moving the keyboard closer, he set to work.
The Demon King needed to craft a phishing email for one of the bank's customer service representatives. Before sending it, he studied the employee list on the official website—publicly available information—and deliberately selected a weak and vulnerable customer service representative using information from social media.
«If I were you, I'd ban people in such professions from having a public life and blogging. Idiots. Luckily, as always, I can easily turn other people's weaknesses to my advantage.» He was a young man. He looked pathetic, but then again, to him, all civilians were like that, having never fought in a single battle, never having tasted their first kill. Contemplating the subject of a phishing email to entice the victim to take the bait, he nervously tapped his finger on the chair he was sitting in. Scrolling through the meaningless and idiotic photos on his social media feed, he saw one of them, a young bank employee hugging a girl who also had a social media account. AFO grinned mockingly, smirking.
«There it is. The vulnerability.» Hacking the girl's account wasn't difficult. He'd done worse in his time. Quickly analyzing the young couple's correspondence, the Demon King tried to imitate their communication style, which he found completely repulsive. But he found far more pleasure in recalling this favorite pastime, which he hadn't done in a long time. Plus, toying with human emotions was incredibly amusing.
The new message read: "Darling, I forgot my bank password, and my account is frozen. You know, I sometimes have trouble with my memory 😊 Can you send me yours? I really, really need to pay for the coffee urgently. It's only a small amount. Two thousand yen."
Checking the text, AFO smiled as he composed it. «Yes, and insert an emoji here. Perfect! The devil himself is whispering the text to me, ha!» A pleasant warmth spread through his body. A long-forgotten feeling, like when he'd committed some mischief or prank.
The reply didn't take long to come. The bank employee was working hours and got the password, the bank account, and this idiot. What to do next? It's simple. There's a special link for employees on the bank's official website. It's probably a special SRM system for their convenience. From there, they can access the security department and the server room, where ATM records are stored, among other things.
It took a little longer than expected, but step by step, he was moving deeper into the banking system. He also needed to clean up his trail, leaving a couple of small, unnoticeable vulnerabilities in the system that only he knew, so that if anything happened, he could use the access he gained for something else. There was no time for a deep clean, only a rough one; after all, he only needed one ATM camera. Each ATM has its own serial number, and it was difficult, but not impossible, to determine the street address. Fortunately, the system has a filter and street search function. And there were only two of them on that street.
Finally gaining access to the long-awaited ATM camera footage, AFO was enjoying his small hacking victory while watching the battle footage. He slowed the footage down to its maximum, picking out the blurred shadow frame by frame. He could clearly see the wings, but the clothing was solid black, making it difficult to discern any individual details. After processing the photo, he was able to smooth out and highlight the outlines of the silhouette.
After processing the photo, he was able to smooth and enhance the silhouette's contours, reducing the blurriness. The mask covered his face, but another detail was particularly striking. He had a young but strong build, and a bulletproof vest hung across his chest.
«That's a bulletproof vest...» He quietly moved away from the screen and sighed, lowering his arms. Yakuza don't wear bulletproof vests. "There are guys like that in the police? I don't believe it. They're weaklings. Maybe the president and the minister of security, whom I don't have much control over, have they really started acting... Could Rikiya Yotsubashi be involved?"
After taking another final look at the silhouette, AFO decided to keep a closer eye on other organizations: Detnerat and HPSC. These two variables, both of which he doesn't have much control over, could alter his plans for Trigger. But it's too early to change those plans. He needs to understand where exactly this character came from. Detnerat or HPSC.