The Cosa Nostra (Part 2)

Police sirens wailed across the city. Crime had gotten worse across the country, but primarily in California. On the East Coast, All Might had simply been a name. Crime was nearly unaffected there since the heroes on that coast had been keeping crime down without ever needing a Symbol of Peace. The West Coast was a different story. Without All Might, crime was rising from an average 5% to a steady 20%, just like the rest of the world. Some experts say that the crime rate will eventually climb to the high 30%. The change was as clear as day for those in the big cities. Criminals were robbing stores nearly every day now, and were not afraid to do it in broad daylight while fighting a hero or two along the way.

Twice walked through the city, watching a robbery in progress. He was following Shigaraki's orders and looking for potential recruits. The League of Villains were forced into hiding after the defeat of All for One, and the bulk of their force was now down in Los Angeles. Once they had enough powerful members, they would return to Santa Cruz to continue their battle. Twice stopped walking to see how the end of the robbery would play out. The thugs loaded up their truck with electronics and cash. "We're going to be rich!" "Shut up and get in the truck!" The thugs drove off. Twice sighed as he talked to himself. "Criminals have no class these days."

The criminals rounded the corner, ignoring every traffic law in the book. Then the driver slammed on the breaks. There was a man standing in the middle of the road, staring at his phone. One of the thugs poked his head out of the window. "Hey! Move it asshole!" The italian man looked up from his phone. He wore a jet black mask that resembled the nose of a plague doctor. It matched with the rest of his black clothing, including the black fur that lined the inside and top of his coat. "Hm? Am I in your way?" "Yea, you dumb fuck!" The man looked back down at his phone. "You're noisy." He didn't move. One of the thugs hopped out of the truck. "We'll fucking show you!" The thug hit the phone out of the guy's hand. It fell to the ground and cracked. The man sighed as he slowly took the white hospital glove off of his right hand. "Hai portato questo su di te."

Twice heard an explosion in the direction the thugs had gone. He ran to see what was happening. He turned the corner to see several bodies laying on the street. The truck the thugs had been driving was now on fire. The italian man put his glove back on. "This world needs to be cured of the disease. I'll be sure to cure you all." Twice smiled from underneath his mask. The perfect recruit. Or so he thought.

It was dark by the time Twice and the man arrived at the abandoned warehouse. The man looked around. "Nice place." "Temporary headquarters." Twice opened up the door. Toga looked over before smiling. "Twice is back!" Magne looked over and smiled. "And he brought a friend." Shigaraki looked up, peering through the grey hand that served as his mask. Mr. Compress hopped down from his ledge. "New recruit?" The man put his hands in his jacket pockets. Dabi rubbed his head, waking up from a nap. "Is it Halloween already? What's with the mask?" The man chuckled a little, having heard that particular insult a few times already. Shigaraki never took his eyes off of the new guy. "Twice… You caught quite the big fish…" Twice held his thumbs up. "I found this powerful villain! He wiped out an entire-" "That's no villain." Shigaraki stood up. "That's Overhaul: leader of the Cosa Nostra."

Toga looked up at Mr. Compress. "What's the 'Cosa Nostra'?" The older villain looked down at Toga. "The Cosa Nostra, or the 'Italian Mafia', is one of many gangster groups that ruled the underground back in the day. However, once quirks became commonplace, mafia groups lost power and were eventually entirely eclipsed by villain groups. Now they're nearly extinct." Overhaul sighed. "Nearly extinct. As much as I hate it, I can't argue with facts." He looked at Shigaraki. "Now I have a question. Now that All for One is gone, who will rule the underground?" Shigaraki didn't skip a beat. "Me. As leader of the League of Villains, I'm now in charge." Overhaul laughed a little bit. "Funny. You aren't the leader. Just because you say you're something doesn't mean that's what you are. The truth is, none of you understand what it takes to truly run the underground. It takes a lot of fear and respect, in which you all lack." He raised his hand, as if to accept a handshake. "Join me, and I'll ensure our rise to greatness. Under my leadership, we'll all get what we want. I promise you that."

Shigaraki stared at Overhaul for a minute. Then he spoke. "Go home." Magne jumped into action, activating their 'Magnetism' quirk. "Sorry, but we'll never bow down to scum like you!" Overhaul was suddenly being dragged towards Magne's giant magnet. He quickly tore off his right glove. Magne struck his head. Overhaul ran a single finger along Magne's arm. In an instant, the top half of Magne exploded into blood, leaving nothing but of a pair of legs. The League was in complete shock. Toga shrieked. "Magne!" Mr. Compress ran towards Overhaul. "Let's put you away for a while!" Shigaraki tried to stop him. "No!" Overhaul shouted. "Now!" A large group of people, all wearing plague doctor masks, burst through the door, one of them standing 20 feet tall. The one guy wearing all white with a black mask shot a gun at Mr. Compress. The gun didn't fire a bullet. Instead it fired a small red dart. Upon hitting Mr. Compress, his quirk ceased working. "What?!" Overhaul reached up and grabbed Mr. Compress's left arm. The arm was obliterated. The rest of Overhaul's group tried to rush in, but Dabi ignited his flames and fired them, keeping the majority of the group at bay. Shigaraki charged Overhaul. Another dart was fired, but it missed. In a panic, Overhaul called for help. "Shield!" One of his crewmates charged through the fire and jumped in between Shigaraki and Overhaul. Shigaraki slammed his hand into the poor bastard. 'Shield' instantly turned to dust. Overhaul was horrified to see one of his own murdered as easily as he had just killed Magne. Both leaders backed off of each other.

Overhaul raised a hand to stop his crew. "Enough. There's a death on both sides. This is a good time to stop." He stood up straight. "It's counterproductive to whittle down each other's forces anyways." Shigaraki also stood up straight. Toga pulled out her knife. "You bastards! I'll cut you up good!" Dabi also ignited his flames. "We have a reputation to uphold, afterall." Shigaraki raised a hand. "No. We're disengaging." The League was angry and confused, but obeyed. Overhaul pulled out a card and wrote on it. "Neither of us are calm. Let's take a few days to clear our heads. Then we can continue this conversation." He tossed the card onto the floor near Shigaraki's feet. It had an address. "Come visit when you're ready to take this seriously." Overhaul's group left.

Dabi looked at Shigaraki. "We're seriously not going after them?" "No. At least, not yet." Shigaraki picked up the card. "I knew the Cosa Nostra still operated down here, but I didn't expect them to be as powerful as they are now." Shigaraki walked a few feet to the left and picked up one of the red darts. "Compress. Why didn't you compress him?" Mr. Compress forced himself to talk through the pain as Dabi sealed the wound. "...I… I couldn't… use my… quirk…" The leader turned to him. "Can you use it now?" Mr. Compress picked up some small rocks and successfully compressed them. Shigaraki's eyes narrowed. "...It would appear that they have developed a quirk negation bullet. Doesn't last long, but just long enough to get an advantage."

Shigaraki looked in the direction Overhaul had gone. "...What in the world are you planning, Overhaul…?"