Inside the infirmary wing of UA academy was the unrecognizable frail form of All Might. Recovery sat at her desk with her security detail standing stoically as they usually did. Izuku sat next to the hero while he was bedridden with multiple injuries and health complications. As upset Recovery Girl wanted to be with the injured symbol of peace, there was little she could work with in terms of summoning a complaint against the hero.
"Still can't stay out of trouble, can you? I almost feel bad enough to let you off the hook."
"... Almost?"
"Almost."
Her attention returned to the desk with the open laptop with documentation that still needed attention from her. All her cases for healing are still required through paperwork to help those preceding her treatment. She was busily typing away at her paperwork while All Might spoke to Izuku.
"... I think I shortened my time limit again after that. I'm barely over an hour at this point."
"... All Might, I-"
"Well, whatever! No use crying over spilled milk."
A new presence came through the infirmary after submitting to a thorough pat down and bioscan to check for any possible threat. Through the door approached an officer dressed in a beige overcoat with tan fedora to complete the ensemble. This investigator was far too infatuated with the classic image of silver screen detectives for this outfit to be standard issue from the police department. Izuku stumbled to his feet in panic over All Might's hidden condition being revealed to somebody who looked to be a stranger.
"Pardon my intrusion. Well, it's been a while; All Might."
Rather than coming off as standoffish or defensive, the injured hero returned the greeting to the new arrival.
"Tsukauchi! It's been some time, hasn't it?"
All Might helped put Izuku at ease by informing him about who this was.
"Izuku, I'd like for you to meet Naomasa Tsukauchi. He was a detective back in the day that I used to work with regularly as a hero."
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Midoriya Izuku."
With the greetings out of the way, the adults moved on to talk about the recent events that had taken place.
"Sorry to bother you while you're recovering; but there are a few more things I'd like to ask about the villains earlier today."
"Hold on, there's something I need to ask you first. Are the students safe? The teachers? Everybody?"
Tsukauchi gave his ever professional neutral smile to help put the man at ease.
"Yes, they're all safe. Nobody from the school staff or students were injured besides from the occasional scrape or bruise."
A sigh of relief from Izuku and All Might helped cut the tension for a moment. Another question reared itself into the conversation and shifted the tone slightly into darker territories.
"... The officers? What about them?"
The detective looked at All Might before confirming the hero's desire to know their fates.
"Do you really want to know?"
A solemn nod while looking into his eyes told Tsukauchi enough about how much he needed to know.
"Three officers were found dead after the fact. Through their efforts they made sure that everybody here at UA Academy was safely returned to their daily lives."
All Might wished to pay his respects to those officers. This idea was immediately shot down by Tsukauchi as it was against confidentiality to reveal the identity of the officers that had passed on. A rather heartless approach to safeguard the identities of the officers and their families.
"Just know that this is what comes with the territory with ESD protocols. They wouldn't have done so if they hadn't been prepared to go that far for your safety. So don't blame yourselves for their deaths, blame those who actually took their lives."
It was barely any consolation for the hero or his trainee. Even Izuku was feeling a bit guilty of those who lost their lives to protect him and everybody else. A memory of what had happened right after the incident surfaced for the young Midoriya.
UA Academy DSA Exterior
The police had finally arrived on scene and were coordinating with the ESD to help in the effort of identifying whoever may have been behind the attack. After doing a headcount the police confirmed that none of the student body were too severely injured and were free to go after they had whatever minor injuries treated by the ESD medical staff.
"Ojiro, I heard you really put up a fight all by yourself out there. Good job!"
"Uh, yeah… I barely managed with hit-and-run tactics; where were you this whole time?"
Toru gestured towards Todoroki, who was standing as stoically as he usually did.
"I was at the landslide area. He was super strong!"
It was now that it dawned on the teenage boy that he almost got his fellow classmate caught in the crossfire. He was thankful nobody else was around to see his almost mistake. It wasn't just Toru that had gone missing during the chaos. Another familiar face made himself visible after being apparently absent for the whole time up until just now.
"For me, would anyone like to guess of my whereabouts?"
Nobody paid attention or cared to give Aoyama the time of day as they recapped their time inside the disaster arena. Felling a bit left out, he redirected the question towards someone he knew was nice enough to speak to him.
"Asui-san! Would you like to guess where I was?"
"Where?"
It was less of an inquiry on her part and more of a reaction from being called upon by the eccentric and exotic looking boy.
"Alas, tis but a secret…"
The lead officer finished up with his discussion with one of the ESD squad leaders and was now directing the rest of the class to return to the bus and back towards the main campus. Tsuyu had stopped paying attention to Aoyama barely a second after she responded to him.
"Detective! How is All Might-sensei?"
A direct and concise response was given to help put those who weren't clued in at ease.
"He's mostly alright for the most part. Just a few bruises and scrapes, but other than that he's fine."
A lot of the class visibly relaxed at the confirmation that their teacher who risked life and limb for his students was still alive and kicking. Midoriya had a very different perspective of the situation as he knew how much damage his anonymous mentor had taken by remaining in his form throughout that brutal melee. His clock was already expended of all it's usage; and still, All Might kept at it for several minutes while delivering a punishing barrage of punches while tanking a similar amount of damage at the same time. Izuku's apprehension was mounting over what the results were and it was killing him to just stand there while his mentor's specific condition was being attended to by medical professionals transporting him back to the infirmary. A soft but familiar touch wrapping itself around his arm made the teenage boy come to realize that Mina was concerned over his mental state after surviving the brunt of the assault.
He had almost forgotten her in the whole mess of it. It was the pang of guilt that made him want to cry then and there. She didn't know where he or the others were and was powerless to help any of them while she was dragged back outside the building. He embraced her then and there with the entire class to witness the public display of affection with little regard to who was watching. Not that she was complaining, since a while back she herself did something familiar during the entrance exams; but she was quite rosy to allow her classmates to witness such a vulnerable and intimate moment. The single boys once again cursed Izuku under their breaths.
The sounds of helicopter blades drew everyone's attention away from the private-made-public moment between Izuku and Mina. Three or four double rotor copters came in with payloads of tankards containing some sort of liquid came in with ESD officers coordinating the dropoff of said payloads. This got the class of 1-A curious as to the purpose of such a large amount of liquid. Tsuyu was the first to speak up due to her forward habit of speaking.
"Why are these tanks here? A-are they here for…"
Even she wasn't able to finish the sentence. Only about half the class knew the carnage that had ensued a little while ago in the Disaster Simulation Arena. It was still easy enough for them to disassociate from the incident as the sight of dead bodies was so surreal and the officers present were actively instructing the children to either look at a specific direction or told them to close their eyes entirely. Most followed the instructions, but it wasn't foolproof enough of a plan to prevent them from seeing the dead littering the grounds all around them.
"They're here to clean up after they clear out the bodies."
Todoroki often lacked social cues and was one to speak his mind without any sort of filter. There was enough information to go off of to clue everyone in that what had occurred inside that building wasn't as innocent of an incident they wished had occurred. Before Tsukauchi could speak up in defense and dissuade the teenagers from such dark thoughts; a hand clapped down onto his right shoulder, followed by the sound of gas hissing free and the shifting of some sort of heavy duty wear. The officer in charge of the first charge had revealed his face to confront the class's suspicions over what had happened. It was a scarred and gnarled face with plenty of years in the field to show through the remaining damage done.
"Good afternoon, young heroes. I do apologize if what has occurred here today has ruffled a few feathers. I do hope there are no misunderstandings as to how it is we conduct ourselves within the Emergency Security Department."
His voice and manner of speaking was gentle and polite. It made the class almost fall into the false sense of security the officer was lulling them into, had it not been for one outburst from a rather spirited girl in the class.
"Apologies? What good are they when so many lie dead at the feet of your so-called intentions?! What gives you the right to take lives so haphazardly without fear of consequences for your actions?!"
Momo had been one of the more idealized thinkers out of the entire class. It was a certain someone who had pulled her out of hell and high water was often seen through rose tinted glasses that helped shape her idealized sense of justice. Oddly, the officer didn't respond with any sort of harshness or stern behavior. He looked towards the entire class with a look of sympathy and understanding before speaking once more.
"My men don't take pride in what we did. We only did what was necessary in keeping you all safe from harm's way. All the same, you are not responsible for the events of today."
It was a curious way to phrase the sentiment as many of the students were certain that these officers were tough as nails, no talk back sort of authorities. The officer even knelt down to Momo's eye level as he spoke to her.
"We're here to protect you; both the heroes and the innocent bystanders. If that means we have to match the aggression of those intent on hurting you or anybody else, we won't hesitate to do so. We're not heroes, like you all are. We are officers sworn to protect and serve the public's safety. If you wish for us to act as you wish for us to, then you must work to become heroes that can stop any sort of villainy as you see fit to do so. Remember that we only do what's necessary, so to prevent something like this from happening, be heroes that we can all depend on."
Not another moment was wasted between them as the officer stood back up and returned his mask to its original placement. He walked off to help coordinate the remaining tasks left for his department while leaving the students a little stunned at what the ESD officer had just said. All of this was part of this uniquely functional department's response protocols, and it was going to be up to them at some point to prevent a loss of life for not only the public; but for the villains they will encounter as well. A rather abrupt and jolting reality check for the young teenagers.
"I apologize, children. I have to attend to other matters for now, so if you can excuse me."
Detective Tsukauchi took a short bow before leaving the class of heroes in training to the responsibility of their homeroom teacher to speak with the ESD officer he was conversing with earlier. Elsewhere, the principal was conversing with another ESD officer over the incident as well as any other adjustments necessary for UA security. The hero instructors were listening intently towards the conversation.
"So far; what we have assessed as the primary issue was the lack of patrol officers. Systems responded accordingly and prompted a usual response time of roughly one minute and twelve seconds. Our concern now is the lack of immediately available officers to act as responders when we receive the security alert."
"Didn't you get here in, like, five minutes? I'd find that hard to call a failure."
The officer displayed his tablet to the principal and knelt down low enough for the head educator to observe the recommendations the ESD had made for him to approve.
"We would be able to place officers at these locations with closed circuit security to prevent any form of wireless hacking. With these additional posts we will be able to cut down any sort of time delay for responders by over fifty three percent. Would you like a copy of all the necessary documentation?"
"Please do, thank you again."
A polite bow was made before the officer turned on his heel to report to his superiors. It was almost overwhelming the hero teaching staff with how efficient the ESD and police were working to clean up the aftermath of the incident. Some distance away; Tsukauchi got a report from one of his officers over the status of the mysterious creature that All Might had scrapped with before sending it flying into the forest.
"Detective Tsukauchi! ESD scout patrols have been unable to locate the creature and are now attempting to locate the creature as we speak. It's last known location is roughly half a kilometer from where we are now."
"Thank you, officer."
Tsukauchi turned to the animal hybrid principal to ask for further assistance in his investigation.
"I need to go over your security footage and documentation. Would it be all right if I were to take a look at everything personally?"
"Hm, oh course! One of the ESD officers here should be able to direct you in the right direction. Thank you again, detective."
They bid their farewells and returned to the business at hand. The tanks were now prepped and were already being utilized to clear out the human remains that were still seeping blood and other unmentionable fluids onto the concrete they were laid upon. These professionals were far from being unfamiliar with such acts of macabre violence.
Present Time
Izuku knew that these officers were there to protect and serve, no matter the cost they had to pay. It still didn't sit well in his stomach to imagine anybody else taking the fall like those who died in the line of service today. What the officer spoke about had only cemented his worry as now it was clear there was a further reason for heroes to exist in this day and age. Now with the addition of this security response department firing off in all cylinders the heroes now needed to make sure they were doing their jobs to prevent the loss of lives for the villains as well. Their actions were far from those who wished to uphold the image of heroism; a pragmatic and calloused approach that only focused on the safety and wellbeing of the citizens they swore to protect.
Momo was rather flustered over the ordeal and had her other friends help coax her down from her stress. After school the entire class went home with a heavy heart and an exhausted spirit that weighed on everybody's mind. Only Izuku remained to see All Might after insisting Mina go home ahead of him. All Might himself could feel Izuku think deeply on what had come to pass today. The doubt of his position here as not only a UA educator, but as Midoriya's mentor as a hero passing on the mantle grew as he thought about what he should say to Tsukauchi to finish the conversation.
"Anyways, it's all thanks to the officers, Aizawa, Thirteen, and you that the students remained unharmed."
"... That's where you're wrong. It wasn't simply because of us."
A light in the hero's eyes caught the detective's stare as All Might gave his honest praise of the young heroes-in-training that stood up against villainy that day.
"These young heroes-to-be rose up and stood against evil and succeeded in repelling them. They faced off against insurmountable odds and still fought with all they had; that is what won the fight today!"
Izuku felt a sense of accomplishment that he hadn't felt so strongly before erupting in his chest. His mentor shot him a thumbs up and gave the boy a grin. A knowing smile crossed Tsukauchis face before he straightened up and began discussing other matters.
"The creature you faced today. Anything you could tell us about it? It may be on the run as we speak."
"You couldn't find it?!"
All Might winced at the sudden sharp pain radiating from his sides. He slumped over with Izuku catching the hero and helping him to sit upright in the bed.
"ESD patrols couldn't locate the body. It looks like you really did a number on it since they found remains of it scattered throughout the landing zone."
That comment made All Might look down at his right hand and remember the feeling of the fight. It was a rather subtle thing for other less experienced heroes; All Might could feel that his opponent had not been going at it with all of it's faculties, just like himself.
"No, not just me. That Nomu creature was slow on its left side. I don't know what had happened; but had it been fighting at full power, I may be worse off right now…"
A monster that even All Might conceded some credit to after sending that thing flying into the horizon. It was a chilling revelation for Izuku as if that was enough from these mysterious enemies to bring All Might to his knees; what else were they in store for?
"Nevertheless, what's done is done. Anyways, if that's all there is then it's best I take my leave as well."
With that, Tsukauchi took his leave and left the dynamic duo to allow them space to mull over the day's events. Izuku needed to figure out if the progress he was making was good enough for what was ahead of him in the future. All Might had to struggle with his feeling of inadequacy with not just his role as a hero, but as a mentor and teacher here at UA. Just because people consider him to be the greatest hero didn't automatically grant him the same competency in other fields. They had their work cut out for them.
Elsewhere
The detective had received an SMS message for him to come down to the ESD office for a debriefing with the officers there. The hallways turned and twisted as he approached the offices he was requested to appear at. A checkpoint of sorts with several officers standing at attention was the last obstacle between him and the entrance. He surrendered his weapons and badge before stepping into the bioscanner to check for any sort of irregularity that would indicate if he was either a danger or not who he appeared to be. After a few moments the scan checked out and the inspected equipment was returned to Tsukauchi. The doors up ahead slid open and allowed the detective passage into the technically impressive command center.
People were all going over the data and potential leads to identify those involved in the incident earlier that day. He found a spot where his other officers from the police force were standing by and joined them in waiting for the last necessary presence before they could start the debriefing. Some conversation and theories floated into the conversation Tsukauchi was engaged in with his fellow detectives when an announcement over the intercoms caused everybody to return to their positions and stand at attention. A few moments of silence preceded the door opening from the other side of the door and allowing the masked figure to enter. Everybody in the room bowed in unison for the figure taking his time to seat himself at the desk overlooking the entire operation.
It wore a different gasmask than those of the ESD officers. The build and design of it was clearly custom and it was almost like a piece of fashion more than being a functional piece of protective gear. The jacket had its hood up to cover the hair of its wearer with a draping amount of luxury fabric. If this was an officer, then his wear was far too casual for any sort of work they did here. Nobody there was stupid enough to say such a shallow minded thing to this individual. He finally sat himself in the chair and removed the mask and hood to make himself more comfortable.
From out of the jacket pocket he fished out a pack of smokes and flicked a single fag out and grasped it with his lips. Tsukauchi was the one to respond to the action with a lighter he held onto for such an occasion. The flame ignited the cigarette and the smoker took a deep first drag before addressing the room.
"What have you got for me?"
The rest of the room began the meeting proper with the detective updating the white haired man leading this whole operation.
"We have the doctor taking a look at the remains you sent in and are awaiting results. If you wish, we can go over the scanner data in depth."
"Pull up the body cam footage as well. I want anything and everything up on the monitors."
Another polite bow before going off to complete his assigned tasks.
"Yes, Nakamura-san."
A Few Days Later
Inside the UA Conference room was a gathering of both legal representatives of Japan's ESD and police departments as well as the UA instructors. Around the perimeter of the room and posted right outside the doors were ESD officers armed and ready to respond to another possible intrusion. Since the unexpected invasion from the League of Villains there was no way the ESD could relax and just remain complacent with current security measures until they got permanently set up in the newly formatted security for the school. All around the school were temporary stations for the officers until the new permanent set up was implemented. It was well known that the invasion had occurred and it did make the public slightly restless as to the underlying issue of a gathering underground criminal society. The lack of injured students and event reported kept tensions low; but there were whispers of concern as to the intention and abilities of these new terrorists.
Some of the teachers in the room like Midnight and Thirteen were feeling slightly apprehensive at the sight of so many faceless men armed to the teeth just standing there silently. It was warranted for their safety, but it still was unsettling. The lead officer of the ESD technical department as well as the lead officer of the ESD response unit were seated at the table to share their evaluation reports after Shimura shared his report mocked up for the meeting.
"As of right now, not too much is known about this individual that goes by the name of Shigaraki. All we know so far is that he was the leader of the attack on the UA Disaster Simulation Arena as well as having a quirk that we have named decay. Whatever he seemingly touches appears to not just break down; but insteads crumbles into dust."
Not a comforting amount of information. The police detective continued on with his report.
"Nothing on this warpgate user, either. These two are going by aliases and have been out of the public eye for quite some time. Nothing , not even a parking ticket, can be traced back to these individuals."
"So what, these guys are ghosts? You know once he recovers it could spell out for another disaster. Isn't there anything else?"
Snipe was the first to speak up for the rest of the UA teaching staff. All Might was pondering on something about this Shigaraki character when the lead officer for the tech department spoke in response to the teacher's question.
"What little we know is based on what was already available. The rest of what we could gather is from active footage as well as scans we retrieved from our eyes in the sky."
The monitor mounted in the front of the room came to life with windows of live camera footage and recordings of biometric readings of the mentally unstable leader. It was almost too much information for everybody before a secretary began passing out folders with information of what was being shown to help the teachers keep up.
"His behavior and speech patterns indicate somebody who is still mentally regressed as a child. This would indicate that despite being assigned as the de facto leader of these villains; he was in no way involved with the actual assault of UA Academy. There was no actual indication of active communication or direction given to any of these individuals. There were no forms of signal or radio frequency that could hint at any sort of planned coordination. Likely this was a rag tag group of criminals sent in with the strategy of brute forcing their way against All Might."
After such a long winded explanation was the Officer who ranked highest amongst the officers who responded. His presentation shifted the overhead display to footage of the groups of villains all spread throughout the arena.
"Based on observations of the types of villains as well as the patterns that these individual groups moved in; the evaluation that these criminals had no formal planning going into this would be a correct one. There was no structure to their chain of command on top of being completely uncoordinated against the few students who had engaged with these villains. It was because of this chaos and disorganization that kept many of these students alive and fighting."
A piece of footage that had the shadowy figure in action paused itself and widened for everyone to see.
"This individual was quintessential to their plan. Identified as Kurogiri; an alias he went by in the assault. As it were, there was a rather risky maneuver he pulled to disperse and separate the group into smaller clusters for the rest of his men. Somebody like this acting in such a manner indicates that this group is more than less likely operating on a smaller scale than we had initially thought."
So much more information was shared like the number of dead, the characteristics of certain individual villains, and finally the discussion fell upon the intended subject of the meeting.
"Are there any other questions?... Very well, now to the agenda of reviewing new UA security standards..."
Some Time Later
The heroes returned to their regular duties as UA instructors while the ESD lead officers and Tsukauchi returned to the ESD head UA office for a very sort of meeting. Once inside, they all met inside the conference room with their esteemed leader already seated at the head of the table and looking over his own reports from other sources of information. Immediately they all bowed and offered their respect.
"Nakamura-san. Good day to you, sir."
He didn't even look up from his monitor as he dismissively waved a hand to come and join the others already seated at the table. Another minute or two passed before Haru looked back up at the officers seated at the table, now ready to move on with the meeting.
"Alright, what do you have so far?"
Tsukauchi was the first to speak as the holographic projector built into the table began playing out the same footage from earlier in a 3d layout instead of just being 2d footage. The tablets that each officer possessed was synced up to receive the reports they needed to review.
"So far, what we have discovered is that the individual who led the attack on UA Academy is indeed not the one who coordinated the assault. His alias is known to be Shigaraki Tomura; in actuality his real name is Shimura Tenko. He is the grandson of the late Shimura Nana, who was confirmed to be the mentor of All Might. His involvement within this organization is still being investigated as we speak, but it was likely due to the case from about fifteen years ago when he went missing after the murder of his family."
A younger photo of Shigaraki with a few family members now long passed away came up on the display above. The officers scrolled through the data and some made necessary notes when necessary.
"His home life is likely the cause of his mental regression. Certain behaviors analyzed indicate him receiving treatment to increase his aggressive nature from around the time he went missing. The family itself was found dead and physically turned to dust; this sort of damage to the family's corpses match those we found on one of the bodies found at the assault."
A scanned model of the villain that Shigaraki decapitated with his quirk was pulled up for the officers to observe.
"His personal history sided with this sort of instigating event would explain his erratic and immature behavior. However, his involvement within this group is not a small role in any capacity."
Documentation on the next topic of discussion along with photos of those involved hovered above the table.
"The League of Villains was a rather influential criminal organization before the foundation of our organization. We have been keeping other groups in check and have noticed their presence to an extent, but it was only in the past eighteen months or so that we picked up more active movement from this villain group. It has been some time, but it is likely that it's former leader has some unfinished business to attend to."
A picture of a man came up and the rest of the room could feel the temperature of the room drop. Haru was just staring a hole into the hologram of the image floating above the conference table. Nobody wanted to poke at the beast while it was like this. What they thought was contempt for trying to usurp control from him was in fact misinterpreted by everyone there. His hatred was personal. He can still remember the last time he saw this man.
How helpless he was in reaching out towards the darkness closing behind him and the boy he abducted from Haru's care. How he knew that the boy became who he was because of that man's delusions of grandeur. How he failed to protect the child when he promised him better. It would seem that the stink of shit is indeed powerful when a sewage dweller pops out from the gutters it frequents.
"... Apologies. I just remembered something unpleasant. Continue with the meeting…"
Tsukauchi cleared his throat and continued on and moved to the subject of the second elephant in the room.
"We have also received a complete medical assessment of the creature used in the UA assault. The information will be shown in your reports as well as above. Please go over the information before we continue…"
The creature that had gone berserk at the DSA was shown as a 3d model that was segmented into many sections and parts. It gave the officers there a good idea what this thing looked like from both the inside and outside.
"... Now that we're up to speed; the creature was identified as a Nomu by the villains. From our diagnostics we confirmed that this creature was indeed human and was transformed into the creature you see before you now. There are no mutations of sorts besides those of aesthetic changes."
Tsukauchi zoomed in on the full scale model of the Nomu.
"It seemingly had multiple quirks forcefully injected into it and caused the visible mutations you see before you. Somehow there is somebody who not only uncovered the method of possessing multiple quirks, but has already begun to experiment on humans. We're cross referencing any sort of information that could lead us to this individual as well. From here we can see…"
For the next few hours the meeting went on until the evening. Many would assume that there were forces at work waiting for their opportunity to strike. What they didn't know was that there were even bigger things in the deep already hunting those barely starting their own hunt. The meeting was about to wrap before Haru asked for one last thing before they dismissed themselves. All eyes were on him immediately with their undivided attention.
"Where are we with the acquisition of the Terrawork Inc. shipment?"
One officer who had a hand in the operation chimed in to answer his question.
"We're two days ahead of schedule. We'll be sure to alert you when everything is ready for you."
Satisfied with that, he waved his hand and everyone there stood to bow to Haru before leaving the conference room with Haru continuing his work on the laptop by his lonesome.