raw666 - Incorrect! Glassmaker has a quirk almost identical to canon Starservant's :P Momo will take a while more to show up.
Shin - Thank you for your kind words! And yes, your theory about what happened to Bakugou is very, very close to the point :P Although not perfectly so. Time will tell you more :P
(***)
Metahuman Network File [Excerpt]
Hero Name: Eclipse
Hero Class: Sidekick [Superhero potential]
Meta-Ability: Warp Gate/Surface Control [name recently changed][Emitter].
Her quirk allows her to create and control two-dimensional, circular surfaces while bestowing upon them the properties of naturally existing surfaces. The main usage of her quirk is making her circular surfaces carry the 'properties' of a circular-shaped area of space in another place entirely. This connected both places, allowing an instantaneous movement between them.
To facilitate this, she only needs to be aware of the approximate location of the target in relation to her, which requires knowing the GPS coordinates and locating the target through the internet. Narrowing down the destination is also time-consuming - she needs anywhere from three to ten minutes to open the warpgate, depending on the distance.
There are limits to her teleportation ability. The first one is the range (about six hundred kilometres), the second was that the properties of 'airspace' that she connected couldn't be vastly different. To open a warp gate to the upper Earth's orbit, she would have to stand in an artificially created vacuum. The third is that she can maintain only two warp gates open without overstraining herself.
Recent testing showed that she can also connect her surfaces with solid surfaces, bestowing them the appropriate properties. By connecting them to a concrete wall of the building, she can make them as strong as approximately 25 centimetres of concrete, despite still being effectively two-dimensional. This allows her to use them (she can generate multiple, but the more she has, the lesser her control) as shields.
The edges (both external and internal if used as warpgates) of her surfaces are two-dimensional, thus making them into effective monomolecular blades. They can cleanly cut through everything, regardless of the material resistance. However, this is a double-edged weapon - she can easily (and accidentally) kill someone. Tripping while passing through her warpgate has the potential to instantly sever a human in half.
Recommendations: Semi-instantaneous long-range transport. Potential superhero, however mostly for self-defense if engaged by villains or common criminals. Deploying her for combat is risky, especially considering the value of her warpgates.
(***)
"I'll be honest with you." Aizawa replies after a few seconds of silence. He was probably busy trying to gauge how honest Sasaki was with them. Izuku's feelings of being out of the loop intensify. "Neither of us knows much. I found out soon after the gas attack when two of my subordinates came to me to tell me they were saved from it by a self-proclaimed superhero… that is sitting next to me."
Aizawa seems vaguely reassured that they didn't step into a trap. Probably. Then again, Tsukauchi is outside of the room. If there is a governmental death squad about to storm in, they would hear the shouts.
Principal Sasaki takes his eyes off Aizawa for a second. He gives another analytic look to Izuku, then returns to the one who was clearly the narrator.
"Ever since then, I've been trying to somehow respond to the discovery that the organized crime in this prefecture is practically run by a handful of supervillains." Aizawa says with a voice as bitter as humanly possible. Sasaki's eyes widened in surprise. "Whose meta-abilities make them capable of committing crimes, while leaving no material evidence behind. Or of walking out of any prison I can lock them in. Or both."
"I assume you tried to contact people who might know more." Sasaki replies calmly. "Including me." It was a logical reaction to the described scenario. Probably together with calling the GSDF to step in.
This was one half of the reason for the meeting, but they were yet to get to the second half. This could wait. At least for a while.
"The scope of that was rather limited." Superintendent says. Izuku is incredibly weirded out by two people emotionless to this degree talking about something in the same room as he was. It felt borderline unnatural. "Some subtle probing here and there. I've decided to avoid ruining what's left of my career and making my family into a laughingstock by openly stating the truth, but what I gathered is that no one in the Musutafu police seems to know anything. So, we came to you."
Sasaki remains silent for close to ten seconds. Izuku can practically see the gears turning intensely in his head. He is trying to figure out how to react to that. And the subject of the talk seems to be way out of his comfort zone.
"For as much as it shocks me, I truly know nothing." Sasaki finally admits. "I believe that this lack of knowledge led to me misinterpreting certain inquiries and gossip from my acquaintances in and around the government. As of now, I'm almost certain that at least the government knows, but doesn't consider it as something high on its list of priorities."
Oh my fucking god, Izuku thought. Their government was filled with idiots. That, or the war messed everything up more than they thought.
"The government is in for a rude awakening." Aizawa seems to share Izuku's opinion, but in a much more restrained (and vocal) manner. "Thus far the list of known metahumans in Musutafu alone includes a girl that can teleport things and people at the distance counted in hundreds of kilometres, a girl that can permanently deage living organisms on touch, and an apparent supervillain in charge of local yakuza that can instantly disassemble and reassemble whatever he touches. Including human beings. And since he can change things during reassembly, the only question right now is whether he can splice the victim's DNA or brainwash them by instantaneous brain surgery."
Aizawa Shouta didn't say that to anyone, but the part of Defiant's report about Overhaul's quirk marked as 'Speculations' was pure nightmare fuel. That was probably responsible for his recently reinvigorated insomnia. Especially the 'might eventually learn how to transplant/copy quirks' line.
Mirai Sasaki is simply staring at him. For the first time since the start of their talk, there are actual emotions on his face. Namely, horror. And perhaps a bit of shock. And maybe some disbelief.
"Welcome to my world." Aizawa sighs while leaning back in his chair. "I've spent all the time since that discovery trying to find help, any help. I found absolutely nothing. And as of now, I have no clue how to even try arresting that yakuza supervillain. He will simply dismantle the prison and walk out. Or dig an instant tunnel to freedom. Our prison system is unprepared. The police are busy running around like headless chickens. Our government is ignoring the issue. The press maintains the masquerade simply by inertia and the war teaching it to keep quiet and don't meddle with things too much, or perhaps because of some half-forgotten wartime gag-order on superpowers. It's so bad that I'm starting to think that establishing government-mandated death squads to deal with the supervillains is a good idea. Except, we don't even have money for that. And we don't have the government to mandate them."
Izuku shudders a bit with the government-mandated death squads bit. Then again, Aizawa said that those were for the villains. And against himself, the young superhero/vigilante has to admit that it might be the only option left if they won't find a way to suppress people's quirks.
Principal Sasaki looks like he just transcended the shock and horror and leapt straight into the realm of existential horror. With, still, a hint of disbelief. Except for this time, it's less 'I don't believe you' and more 'I don't want to believe you because the implications are too horrible'.
Eventually, he recovers. Mostly because Aizawa decides not to kick him anymore and give him time for that.
"How?" He says. "How's it possible for the government to overlook something so big?"
Alright, it's Defiant's time to shine. He and Mei (and Mieko occasionally too) spend awhile trying to figure out the answer to that question.
"I have a theory." He says. All the eyes are suddenly focused on him, and he manages not to shrink in his seat only through heroic willpower. "The thing is, there is a clear spike in strong meta-ability manifestations during the last two years, typically in people between seventeen and nineteen years old. We know of two older metahumans that awakened before this time. One has significant medical complications related to his power, and it's way more… subdued. The other can heal himself with his ability, making the situation a bit more complicated to assess. However…"
He pauses for a split second. That's enough for Sasaki to hijack the conversation.
"... however, if the government investigated the issue during the war, they have probably run into weaker metahumans with often self-destructive powers." The principal says. "Thus, they came to believe that the problem is mostly self-solving. Hence its low level on the list of priorities, especially with the chaos in the country. With the country in a growing crisis then they failed to notice the sudden spike in the metahumans numbers, power and stability, especially as it's a recent development AND the information network of the country is practically in ruins."
The principal was really smart. He figured it out immediately. Defiant limited himself to a nod.
There were many odd events during the war that might have been attempts at combat-deployment of some superpower user. If those ended with failure… major countries probably left the issue be, probably wondering when the general population will figure it out.
And then, after a few years, once the people whose careers grew on rejecting the importance of the superpowers settled in… suddenly, the superpowers stopped being useless.
"This is unsustainable for a longer time." Sasaki decides. Izuku isn't sure about it, but the principal feels like he is actually speaking to them both now. "We have several months at best before the situation goes public. Even with people exhausted by the war and busy rebuilding, the inertia goes only so far."
"Which is precisely why we're, excuse me for the wording, screwed." Aizawa replies. His face is mostly expressionless, which somehow adds gravity to his words. Not like they needed that. "No theories behind the metahuman birth, no means of containment, no means of detection. It's one big unknown. And people fear the dangerously powerful unknown more than anything. Things will get ugly after Reveal Day."
Especially once the public starts realizing how many crimes and other odd events are perpetrated or caused by people with superpowers. Add a few terrorist organizations launching attacks with those (Mustard would be horrifying if employed like that - and who knows if there are no others like him out there?) and suddenly you have social strife.
Japan cannot survive further social strife. Especially not one of this magnitude.
And even if the United States has a well-developed supernatural warfare program with means of detection and containment included, the time needed for them to share it with other countries will probably be the death sentence to Japan as a country.
"I might have an idea for something of a stopgap measure, but mostly for our prefecture." Aizawa continues. "Maybe more. But this is something that I'll need UA's help with."
"You'll have our full cooperation in that." Sasaki replies. "Whatever 'that' is."
"You're surprisingly cooperative." Aizawa pointed it out. This is something that Izuku noticed as well.
"I'm, most of all, a logical and rational person." Principal replied. "I failed to find a logical explanation for your earlier presentation that doesn't include various degrees of you speaking the truth. I will, I assure you, investigate it further once you leave. This includes both testing myself for chemicals that you might have slipped into my drink earlier and looking for any signs of you tampering with objects in my room. However, in the meantime, I feel convinced. And sticking to beliefs that someone proved beyond a reasonable doubt to be false is a height of irrationality."
Aizawa's brief pulse of paranoia has found its answer. It seems to be satisfying.
"My idea… although I admit it was mostly Defiant's… can be summed up as fighting fire with fire." Aizawa continues. "The criminals out there have people with superpowers in their midst? Well, let's get some for ourselves."
"You are letting untrained civilians… even if with superpowers… fight criminals?" Sasaki appears to be as curious as he is worried.
"No, I don't." Aizawa replies calmly. "I let them use their abilities to assist the police. Under our oversight. Their leader, Defiant, who is the problem child next to me…" Problem child sounds so diminutive! He is an adult! He might look like a kid under the suit, but… "... has given me the list of the local Metahuman Network members and their powers. When the police need one of them, I contact him and the Network delivers. If the police officers run into a villain, I contact him, and the more combat-oriented Network members come rolling."
Principal Sasaki looks intrigued.
"How does that system work in practice?" He asks.
"A single week isn't enough to form a definitive opinion." Aizawa replies honestly. "However, thus far, we've called them four times, and only for assistance. Not for combat. And each time they proved extremely useful."
The fourth intervention actually involved Carmilla. An undercover police officer had a car accident at the worst time possible, and they really needed a replacement asap for some very important criminal meeting.
Izuku decided to ignore the fact that he was 90% sure that it was merely superintendent Aizawa's way of trying to test how undetectable the Hosu Vampire really is when she impersonates someone. It barely counted as actual intervention. At least to Defiant.
She turned out to be very undetectable. Aizawa seemed to be incredibly worried by that discovery.
"This sounds like a logical way of dealing with the problem." Sasaki decides after a few seconds. "Not only does it improve the law enforcement's firepower, but it'll also provide the public with a 'yes, but' counterargument to violent reactions to the metahumans. Not to mention the fact that the superheroes are potentially marketable. And the country in the current state certainly needs someone to believe in."
Izuku didn't think about the last bit. But it was probably an extremely correct assessment.
"What do you need the UA for, exactly?" Sasaki then asks.
"Your school teaches politicians, actors, doctors and sportsmen." Aizawa says dryly. "Is it willing to teach superheroes as well?"
The principal seems to have gone through some rather intense gear-turning for a few long seconds. Then he visibly relaxes.
"I see." He nods scarcely. "A lot of space, privacy, and unrestricted access to a hospital. And all of that, while receiving the highest quality education, having some qualified educators maintain oversight over them to make sure that they aren't a danger to anyone, and access to psychological help if their hero work turns out to be troubling. This is a well-thought proposal."
This isn't an agreement. Merely a statement. Aizawa decides to speak.
"We also hoped to employ your hospital and engineering section." He says, drawing Sasaki out of his little mind shell. "Figuring out how those… quirks work is the first step in finding a way of disabling them, at least temporarily. And that would make imprisonment of arrested villains much easier."
"IZU!" Mei yells into his ear. "Tell them about me and my babies, now! I don't want to get sidetracked like that!"
Ugh.
"Makes sense." Sasaki nods. "And I would never say no to allowing my school to enter a completely untouched field of research. Especially one which appears this important."
"Even your surn…" Izuku tries to speak back. His mask filters the sound and makes it so that only Mei can hear him. Of course, he doesn't finish speaking when he hears an enthusiastic YES.
Ugh x2.
"I believe that it's the right time to mention that one of the Network members is a rather brilliant inventor." Izuku says, and Mei squeals into his ears at this description of herself. "She is creating our gear, my current outfit among other things. Her dream is to become the modern equivalent of the Wright's brothers, but for superpowers-oriented support equipment. And she'll absolutely hate getting pushed off the stage, so you might want to incorporate her into this."
And also he will do his best to not make her angry at him. He'll probably wake up in a room filled with TNT or something like that. Her babies and her dreams of greatness were Serious Business™.
"Your outfit?" Oddly enough, it's Aizawa who asks. Well, he wasn't clued about it either. "It's just a hoodie with a face mask, though?"
"It's a knife and partially bullet-proof full-body armour made to resemble a hoodie with a face mask." He replies. "And the helmet includes night-vision, infrared vision and enough communication equipment to let her act as my mission control. I can even talk with her with you next to me because the helmet filters those words out when I want it to. And she designed and manufactured it by herself."
"And also Jesus Christ, Mei, stopped squealing like that into my ear!" He adds after a second, his helmet switched into the sound-cancelling mode for a second. Principal Sasaki and superintendent Aizawa are busy staring at him, clearly surprised by his earlier statement.
"Hey, you are advertising my babies to someone extremely influential in the country. How am I supposed not to…" He mutes her for a few seconds. Brutal, but maybe this will make her behave.
"Well, I get the feeling that it's something that I should have known beforehand." Aizawa points it out. Izuku is actually surprised by that statement.
"Wait, you thought I was waltzing around in a hoodie, despite every criminal carrying a gun nowadays?" Unfortunately, what the mask doesn't do is make his sudden, repetitive blinks visible to people outside of him. "You can't be a combat-oriented superhero in the Network if you're not reasonably bulletproof. We aren't suicidal."
Superintendent appears vaguely surprised at the suggestion that the local superheroes aren't suicidal. Vaguely surprised, but also very relieved.
"Also, I thought you said something about Network not being financed well." Aizawa drills him further. Sasaki seems to be gear-turning in the background again. "But you seem to be better equipped than the local police."
Oh, they certainly are. Except, only he and Singularity are actually properly equipped. And she has only received her new support item (it was a gun, but Mei was adamant that it was simply a support item) yesterday. One or two others have minor stuff (like Carmilla's new restraining mask), but nothing substantial.
Mei Hatsume was a genius, but a lonely one. She had limits to how much she could produce. Especially as she also needed to design everything first. If anything, she was performing almost impossibly well, given the circumstances.
"Because it isn't financed well." Izuku is almost defensive at this point. "Her parents don't trust her with money, but they trust her with tools and materials. So she is slowly gearing us up, but we still need to be thrifty with toilet paper."
"Who exactly are her parents?" Sasaki asks. Right on point. The principal is a man of action, in his own way.
"Tell them!" Mei yells at him again. He didn't even notice that her silence ran out of time.
"Mari and Kimiko Hatsume." Izuku admits. "Hatsume as in Hatsume Industries."
He at this point knows what this is about. Mirai Sasaki is famous for helping his students achieve greatness. The prospect of having a modern Wrights' Brother (except singular and a girl) on his Wall of Fame will immediately put him in Mei's corner on this.
And she both realized it in time and took advantage of that. A small step for Izuku Midoriya but a great leap for Mei Hatsume Road to Greatness' plan. And she has enough backing to still be untouchable and for the government to not really be able to get to the Network through her if this was all a trap.
Besides, the suggestion that the Network has Hatsume Industries in its corner (even if it's a false one) certainly improves Izuku's negotiation strength. Even a governmental anti-metahuman death squad (with the government in its current, messy state) would probably end up gently asking Defiant to get shot voluntarily and back down after he'd say no.
She achieved all of that with a single announcement.
Why the hell did her parents want to make her younger brother into their heir? They just had to motivate her to take the CEO bit seriously. She would be absolutely terrifying in that role.
Aizawa stares at him in shock. Principal Sasaki corrects his glasses.
"Mei Hatsume?" He asks. Her fame as an inventor must have reached all the way here. And he knows what's the supposed average age of meta-ability manifestation. So things fit.
"Hero name Alchemist." Izuku replies. He gets maybe three seconds of silence before Principal Sasaki speaks.
"Do you think that she'll agree to attend the UA with you?"
Mei won the game.
(***)
What followed was almost thirty minutes of a rather intense discussion concerning the details of the initiative. UA needed at least a week (and that was still extremely fast) to prepare a separate school building, gather proper teachers (with very strict NDAs, apparently) and for the UA University Hospital to get (or at least core parts of its crew) enlightened.
It wasn't said openly, but Principal Sasaki probably needed that time to double-check everything in his room. To make sure that it was just one giant prank.
"I might actually get you some additional classmates." Sasaki mentions it at some point. "When I mentioned the misinterpreted inquiries, I meant certain people subtly probing me in a way suggesting that they wanted to find out if I know about superpowers. I suspect that some of their relatives at the age when they could get admitted to our school developed those. The list also includes at least one current student from my school."
Nice. New recruits. Hopefully, no one who could be a pain in the ass. Or, worst of all, a potential villain. Then again, with how stringent the UA was about the approved behaviour, the parents of potential villains would most likely not bother probing Sasaki.
There were other moments of importance in this talk. One came when Tsuyu was mentioned. And her critical lack of past education.
Aizawa looked actually creeped out (in a good, so protectively furious, way) by the discovery that someone kicked out a few years old child for looking weird. And with no one else to pick her up, she continued to live in the wilds for years.
Mirai Sasaki adopted a particularly hostile (yet still almost expressionless face, how is he doing that) at that discovery as well. Tsuyu's family should probably hope that no one was going to find it. Otherwise, they are in for a world of pain.
"It will not be a problem." Sasaki replies finally. "She'll receive more personalized lessons, tailored for her level. We do not require academic excellence from all our students. When you have a clear talent for something else, such as sports, we are satisfied with mediocrity. For at least when we see some effort put into it. Enough to persuade us that this is all that you can potentially achieve in that field."
He knew, of course. But he preferred to make sure of it. He wasn't picking any chances, not with his friends' futures.
"And what in the hypothetical scenario when one of us loses his power or ability to use it to their injuries?" He asks further. After all, all that Uraraka needs for that is losing two fingers. And fingers aren't the toughest part of the human body.
Of course, he could theoretically ask Eri for help. But what if she isn't available? What if she refuses because of the whole associated trauma? Izuku isn't forcing her to use it. He isn't Overhaul. And they aren't even sure if it will work on missing body parts.
"The same thing that happens to any of our sport champions if an injury puts an end to their careers while their grades aren't high enough to justify transfer to another course." Sasaki replies calmly. "They are transferred to an affiliate school fitting their level more, while the UA pays their medical bills, regardless of their size, to help them regain as much of what they lost as possible. We also finance their further education. We're loyal to our students, present or past, for as long as they are loyal to us."
The last sentence could be skewed in all the wrong ways. Sasaki is either entirely unaware of it or has said it that way consciously.
"Big part of the UA's education is focused on the morals of our students." He continues. "Our graduates become influential people. Close to ten percent of the current National Diet members attended our school. 'Gestures' such as what I just described might be costly, but showing the remaining students that the world isn't all about cutting corners, throwing deadweights off and demanding repayment for acts of goodness is priceless."
It makes sense. Although his open mention of the graduates in the National Diet right after the 'loyal to them if they are loyal to us' is a bit… suspicious.
"Personally, I'm looking forward to having superheroes among our graduates." Sasaki continues. Either unaware or uncaring of the slight turmoil within Izuku. "Just be aware that considering the potential danger level of you and your compatriots and how much your behaviour might influence the future of this country, we'll be observing you all with extreme attention to detail."
Well. Talk about ominous.
At least they were still going to live in their quarters, getting to and from the school with Eclipse's warpgates.
(***)
Sir Nighteye being the UA Principal is especially horrifying when you realize that he is practically a combination of the canon traits of both himself and Nedzu. Really damn creepy, although it's nice that he is on the heroes' side.