Crane's Wings Main Facility - Central Meeting Room - 3:47 AM
The meeting room was packed with every major member of Crane's Wings. Suguro stood at the head of the table, still showing minor bruising from his encounter with Batman hours earlier, his expression carrying unusual tension.
Around the table sat the key players: Jaina's primary form with three duplicates stationed around the room for security, Ivy in her chair with vines wrapped loosely around the armrests, William via video link from his surgical suite, Basil in his default form, Langstrom perched on the back of a chair with his wings folded, Cameron sitting at rigid attention like a soldier awaiting orders, Silver leaning against the wall with arms crossed, Waylon hunched to fit in the space, and Grundy standing in the corner looking confused but attentive.
"Tonight was a success," Suguro began, his voice carrying through the room with clinical precision. "The Southside Defenders have been eliminated, however, there's a complication."
"Batman engaged me directly," Suguro continued. "We fought for approximately thirty seconds before I used fear toxin and escaped. He's now aware of my existence as more than just a mysterious chemist."
He looked around the table, meeting each person's eyes. "I'm telling you this because you deserve to know the risk."
The room remained silent for a long moment.
Cameron stood, his body language showing something almost like religious fervor. "You gave me purpose when I was drifting through meaningless criminal work. I'll follow you against Batman, against the entire world if necessary. Your vision is worth the risk."
One by one, each member of Crane's Wings pledged their loyalty. Only Ivy remained silent, her green eyes studying Suguro with an intensity that made the room feel smaller.
"Ivy?" Suguro asked, his voice carrying unusual uncertainty.
She smiled, her vines reaching across the table to wrap around his wrist with possessive affection. "I'm not going anywhere. We're partners. If Batman wants you, he goes through me first."
"Then we continue as planned," Suguro said,
"Take the next few days off. Rest, recover, and we'll reconvene in three days"
Suguro remained in the meeting room after others left, Ivy stayed with him, her vines maintaining gentle contact with his arm.
One Week Later - Crane's Wings Underground Laboratory - 11:34 PM
The private laboratory was Suguro's personal workspace, separate from William's surgical suites and the main research facilities. Here he could conduct experiments without interruption.
Tonight he stood with both hands extended, palms up, trying for the hundredth time to recreate the yellow energy barrier that had manifested during the Sparks fight.
He focused, channeled his Quirk, varied the concentration and composition of gas production. He tried to recreate the emotional state he'd experienced, the fear when the electricity had been coming toward him and the survival instinct that had overridden conscious thought.
Nothing.
The gas remained gas. Black mist that could be contained in canisters or dispersed into the air, but nothing resembling the glowing barrier that had nullified electricity so completely.
"Still no luck?" William's voice came from the laboratory's entrance.
Suguro lowered his hands, his expression showing rare frustration.
"Not yet."
William entered the room, "You'll figure it out eventually. You're too stubborn not to." He moved to a terminal and pulled up a video call interface. "Speaking of figuring things out, that group on the dark web is meeting in a couple minutes. Thought you might want to sit in on this one."
The dark web group was a collection of villain scientists, surgeons, researchers, and engineers who met regularly in encrypted video calls to share ideas, techniques, and research findings and potentially sell techniques or "products". William had been a member for years, and he'd let Suguro into the group six months ago.
"What's tonight's agenda?" Suguro asked, moving to join William at the terminal.
"The usual, everyone showing off their latest projects, bragging about breakthroughs, trying to impress each other" William pulled up a roster of participants. "Though tonight might be more interesting than usual. One of the Japanese members has been hinting he's got something major to share."
"Also you'll want to wear these later" William added handing him a pair of headphones
He took them and settled into a chair as William initiated the connection. The screen divided into multiple windows, each showing a different participant, faces were obscured or masked, voices were distorted, and locations were untraceable.
"Evening, everyone," William said, his voice carrying cheerful menace through his mask. "Ready to see what I've been working on?"
Affirmative responses came from various windows, distorted voices, text responses, some participants not responding at all but clearly watching.
William stood and moved to a workbench where a strange organic device sat under a surgical drape. He pulled the drape away with theatrical flair, revealing what looked like a megaphone but constructed entirely from biological material, human skin stretched over a framework of bone, with what was clearly a mouth and vocal cords integrated into the structure.
"Organic sound amplification device," William announced, holding it up to the camera. "Constructed from a sound-manipulation hero's Quirk-enhanced tissues.
He positioned the device and activated it by speaking into the mouth component: "Testing."
The word emerged amplified but distorted, carrying unnatural resonance that made the laboratory's equipment vibrate. He increased volume gradually, demonstrating how the device could produce sound at levels that would rupture eardrums or cause structural damage.
Then he directed it at a crash test dummy positioned across the lab and unleashed maximum output or at least what it was for now.
The sound was devastating, a piercing shriek amplified to weaponized levels. The dummy's torso ruptured and the synthetic flesh was blown off in certain spots.
"Not quite optimized yet," William admitted, studying the device with a critical eye. "But version two should be significantly improved if I can get my hands on a better sound quirk."
The chat exploded with responses, compliments, questions, requests for detailed documentation, the usual mixture of professional interest and morbid fascination that characterized these calls.
"Excellent work, William," one distorted voice said. "Though I'm more interested in those human drone soldiers you mentioned last month."
William pulled up images of modified subjects.
More questions followed, technical discussions about optimization and potential improvements. Suguro watched with analytical interest but didn't contribute, this was William's presentation, and he preferred to observe rather than draw attention to his own work.
Then one of the video windows changed, showing a participant who'd been silent until now. The figure wore a doctor's coat and distinctive goggles, his voice carrying a slight accent that Suguro identified as Japanese.
"Ah the mysterious Dr." William said, his tone showing respect. "We've been waiting to hear what you've been working on."
"I've successfully created beings that incorporate multiple Quirks into a single biological framework, artificial humans that combine combat capabilities far beyond any natural Quirk user."
The chat went silent, everyone processing the implications of that claim.
"You're claiming you've solved the Quirk combination problem?" someone asked, skepticism evident even through voice distortion.
He pulled up images, horrific creatures that combined human features with monstrous modifications, multiple Quirks manifesting simultaneously, beings that looked like nightmares made flesh.
"My employer has expressed interest in expanding our partnerships," Garaki continued but his true name remained hidden, his goggles reflecting his screen's light. "Particularly with specialists in biological modification and psychological conditioning. Your work with human drones could complement my Nomu research significantly.
Suguro remained silent, his mind calculating. This Dr. character was offering collaboration, which could provide access to advanced biological research and resources. But it would also mean revealing more about Crane's Wings' operations to an outsider with unknown motivations and unknown loyalties.
The call continued for another thirty minutes, other researchers presenting their work, discussions about techniques and methodologies, the usual mixture of scientific curiosity and criminal pragmatism.
When the call ended, William turned to Suguro with his masked face showing interest. "What do you think? The japanese offer worth pursuing?"
"Potentially," Suguro said, his analytical mind still processing. "But we need more information before committing to anything."
"Agreed," William said. "Though having access to his Nomu research could accelerate our own human enhancement projects significantly. Imagine combining multiple Quirks into our drone soldiers, or even upgrading ourselves with transplanted abilities."
Suguro considered this carefully. His own combat limitations had been painfully demonstrated during the Batman encounter. Enhanced physical capabilities could make him far more effective in direct confrontation.
"By the way Black Mask should be waking up in the next few days."
They continued discussing future plans while the television in the corner played Gotham news on mute.
Then a headline caught Suguro's attention: "BATMAN CAPTURES DEADSHOT IN DRAMATIC AMBUSH."
He turned up the volume.
"—the notorious assassin known as Deadshot was apprehended last night during an attempted visit to his ex-wife's penthouse in Upper Gotham. Batman had apparently been surveilling the location, anticipating Deadshot would try to see his daughter despite a restraining order."
The footage showed Deadshot being loaded into an armored GCPD transport, his signature weapons confiscated, his expression showing betrayal and rage. He'd been caught trying to see his child and Batman had used that weakness against him.
"Efficient," William commented. "Cant believe he got Deadshot"
"Deadshot's let his guard down from caring about his daughter."
William laughed, the sound carrying through his mask with disturbing cheerfulness. "That's why I killed my parents years ago!"
The statement was delivered with such casual pride that Suguro almost didn't process it initially
but then again he killed his grandmother.
"They were going to report me to authorities after discovering my early experiments. Couldn't have that, so I handled the problem. Used their bodies for practice too, it was very educational!"
He continued talking, moving into a rambling story about the specifics of his parents' deaths and his siblings' terrified flight from him, but Suguro's mind had already tuned him out.
The casual mention of family, of parents, had triggered something in his own thoughts. Did he have family? Biological parents existed somewhere, obviously, human reproduction required two contributors. But he'd never known them, never met them, had no memories of anyone who might have been related to him beyond his grandmother.
His mother, whoever she was, according to his grandmother had abandoned him as soon as he was born. His father was dead; he assumed from her rants that he could remember. They'd given him life and then discarded him like garbage, leaving him to be raised by an abusive grandmother in the worst city in America.
Should he care about that?
"William," he interrupted, pulling the surgeon's attention back. "Get Basil and Cameron. I need them to make another delivery to Joker."
"Smart," William agreed, "keeping Joker supplied and active should help distract Batman. If the clown goes on one of his crime sprees, the Dark Knight will have to focus resources on stopping him rather than investigating us."
U.A. High School - Midnight's Private Quarters - 11:47 PM Japan Time
Nemuri Kayama sat at her desk, staring at her computer screen with an expression that would have shocked anyone who knew her as the confident, flirtatious Midnight.
The screen showed multiple windows, international news reports about Gotham, web forums discussing villain activity, and the almost non existent hero activity now.
Her last tab however showed prices for flights to Gotham City.
Next to her keyboard sat the U.A. Forest Training Camp schedule.
The students would be gone for a week.
It might be her last chance before the city was too far gone.