TheGreatBubbaJ - Hmmmm :V
Naruto30 - That's intentional. He is just playing a completely different game than everyone else.
Thestalo - :D
Detrametal - That's right. Be nervous :P Some crazy twists incoming.
Planar-Walking-Entertainment - Jokes aside, no one's telling me that he didn't need therapy after losing Nana...
(***)
It's late evening, a few days after their meeting concerning the PLF situation. Nedzu just finished watching one of the first meetings of the Committee for the Ethical Review of the Heroics. On the TV in his office.
It wasn't a live transmission, but some of the media were allowed to be present. Certain things weren't said, because of that. Certain things were said, but the media were told to not repeat it.
The journalists decided to focus on more interesting things. Today's transmission was probably going to end up rather famous, especially due to All Might being… well, himself, except in public.
This time, it was mostly about the suspicion that a certain hero sunk a community outreach program dedicated towards the quirkless in order to use the assets in question for something else. Namely, the help for general poor people (which technically meant a lot of quirkless, but practically…), which was also significantly more marketable in the media.
So, he exchanged one charity work for another one, yes. It also wasn't anything technically illegal. But All Might was… well, himself. And when he really put in some effort into something, it tended to pay back.
The result was fifteen minutes and five seconds long (Nedzu counted) public verbal beating (with All Might not raising his voice even once) over the hero in question forsaking a group that really needed help over one that was in much less dire straits.
It was… colorful. And well-researched. All Might was freely juggling around facts, from the local crime and poverty stats to particular tragedies, going down so far as to to name two quirkless suicide victims from the area and show the knowledge of their particular circumstances.
The hero couldn't be punished, because he technically didn't break any law. However, by the twelfth minute of the verbal beating he was visibly shrunk in his seat, while crying profusely. A grown-up man, reduced to this. In front of the cameras.
If he ever had any hopes of becoming a higher Ranked Hero (he was a Number 203 hero), they died that very moment. People were going to remember what just happened. Even if All Might gave him a choice between retiring right now or remaining a hero and working hard to become someone worthy of the term, his long-term prospects weren't looking particularly good.
It was even worse for two more heroes than the Committee found some real dirt on. All Might's verbal beating was even worse in their case, and the Committee has promptly requested the police to do an official investigation. Which, by all intents and purposes, meant that they were about to be arrested and trialed.
There were already on-going investigations into Nightshade, Red Wing and Thunderbolt (the last one, obviously, in absentia). Retrials for the former two in order to slap a much harsher sentence on them were about to start as well.
In short, things were getting better. Merely a beginning of the process, yes. And Nedzu had no idea what the end result would be, which was… worrying. He had several ideas, but there were simply too many variables for him to settle on something. But… most of the possible outcomes were positive.
Much more positive than he expected to be possible merely a few months ago. Which only strengthened his worries. The world was changing, and the number of unexpected variables meant that that change for the worse was still entirely possible.
That's when he hears his phone ring. It's the one that's used for the secure communication, provided to all active heroes by the government and employed with a lot of anti-surveillance features.
Commissioner General Kenji Tsuragame of the Japanese police. The police found a lead and needed Nedzu's help in preparing a raid against the Paranormal Liberation Front in…
… Jaku?
(***)
"I-I'm scared." Suto announces, fidgeting nervously in the corridor. She is already wearing the UA Hero Course uniform and Tenko genuinely thinks that it looks super cute on her but he's a bit too emotionally incoherent to state that aloud.
In the meantime, Tenko has to deal with something else. Namely, the fact that Suto is scared of something.
"Of what?" He asks. He is ready to du… okay, he isn't ready to dust whatever's making her scared. Damn it, the whole heroics dig is really getting to him, isn't it? He is so confused about it.
"T-that they w-won't like me." Suto looks down, her fingers fighting a war between each other. "B-because of my f-f… Beast."
Yeah, yeeting that asshole out of her family tree is a great idea. Tenko approves wholeheartedly, because he 100% deserves that. Lifetime in Tartarus is a light punishment for what he did. Shame they don't have an immortality-bestowing quirk just to make him spend several lifetimes in Tartarus.
And that Izuku will certainly veto that particular application of Eri's quirk.
"It's going to be alright." Tenko announces. If he had a better way with words, he'd point out that they already have children of Eclipse and Purity around, but alas, he's still himself. "And if they'll be mean to you I'll d…" He realizes immediately from the flinch on her face that it's the wrong way. "...ust their clothes or something. I'll be creative."
Slightly better. Slightly. Note to self - telling a girl that you're ready to annihilate her enemies isn't a good idea. Tenko Shimura can practically hear the level-up announcement of that weird dating sim slash RPG game that his life is nowadays.
He is learning.
"H-heroes, h-huh." She decides to change the subject and tries to smile at him, but the anxiety… too much. Way too much. "K-kind of un-unexpected, right?"
"Tell me about it." Tenko sighs back while restraining his overwhelming desire to run towards her and give her a hug.
"W-why did you d-decide to d-do it?" She asks. "I r-remember that y-you d-didn't like heroes."
Yeah, that was a… thing. Honestly, Tenko Shimura is sometimes confused about that himself. How exactly did he get so swept up by Izuku? Sure, he isn't exactly against that, especially when it resulted in Suto being right next to him, but…
Time for some introspection. After a few seconds, Tenko arrives at the conclusion.
"I… I think that I just wanted to p…" NO MEAN WORDS IN FRONT OF SUTO, TENKO! "... make a certain person very, very angry. Even if they were already dead." Tenko replies. "And I figured out that becoming a pro-hero with the quirk they gave me was the best insult I could do."
Suto knows about All for One. Even before her disappearance from the internet, Tenko had no secrets before her. He kept the ones that weren't his (like all the ones surrounding Midoriyas'), but when it was just him… no.
"O-oh." Suto looks down a bit. "I t-think that I can r-relate." Yeah, her dad is/was a dick. Becoming a hero with a quirk he 'gave her' (even if that was just genetics) felt like an extraordinarily good and constructive insult.
Tenko somehow felt like the Tartarus guards wouldn't forget to mention how his daughter is a pro-hero now to him. Just to see him scream in impotent rage in his cell. Cool, in his opinion. He'd do the same.
"But I just…" She is still fidgeting around. Tenko still wants to hug her. "... f-fighting is scary."
Well, Tenko can't exactly relate to that, as he is enjoying that particular activity. Like. a lot. Although…
"You can be a rescue hero, you know?" He says. She looks back at him questioningly. "They don't fight. Just save people. You have an awesome sense of smell, right? You could be the type of a heroes that looks for…" the absolutely stupid "… people that got lost in the mountains or something like that."
Izuku's girlfriend was opting for that. Yes, she could hit people. Yes, she was surprisingly good at that. But, apparently, battling out high-ranking villains, seeing the nasty stuff that bad people were doing to good people and so on isn't for everyone.
She COULD do that, she just preferred the 'simpler' rescue work. While having some abilities in her arsenal that could be used if a villain actually showed up to interfere with rescuing people..
Tenko didn't make it official, but honestly, he was probably going for something like that. His quirk was too destructive to focus on fighting villains alone. He would quickly kill someone accidentally. And in his own opinion he wasn't mentally tricky enough to be an underground hero. But selectively dismantling things, for example to free people trapped underneath… yeah, he could do that.
Especially if Suto was going to be there.
That made everything better.
Honestly, she was just so incredibly beautiful, and nice, and kind, and could kick his ass in Mortal Kombat because when locked in her gilded cage she ended up playing a lot of videogames to kill time and was super good at them… what was there not to love?! Tenko was yet to find a single thing in her that wasn't absolutely lovable.
And her tail looked so fluffy, it was…
"T-that's an option?" She wakes him up. Right, her sperm donor probably didn't elaborate on the heroes AND Tenko kind of had other things in mind when they were playing videogames through the internet together until 3am (how did she always manage to wake up looking completely refreshed and just as pretty as the day earlier was a mystery to him).
"E-errr, yes?" Tenko replies, clearly surprised by her surprise. "I'm k-kind of leaning that way myself." He decides to admit it.
"A-awesome!" Suto smiles at him and Tenko feels like he is going to die of cute. "L-let's become g-great heroes together!" She adds, smiling even wider and raising her hand in the air.
No. It's now that Tenko truly feels like he is going to die of cute. Also, he gets a faint feeling that he now understands why Izuku is so goddamn lovestruck when Uraraka is around because damn. Just… damn.
(***)
Suto's enthusiasm was slightly short-lived, because Tenko couldn't exactly walk into the 1-C with her. There was a teacher (Present Mic, if she remembered the hero name correctly), and a lot of students.
She… wasn't exactly doing well with the crowds. And that was… a lot of people.
"We got a new transfer student, little listeners!" Present Mic announces to the class while Suto is busy fidgeting (and SLIGHTLY shrinking) next to him. "She's a bit nervous, so give her some space, alright?"
He isn't right. She is VERY nervous, not just a bit. She expected hostile glares, but she didn't get any. Just a lot of stares.
She is asked to write down her name and surname on the chalkboard (she hates the latter, because it's HIS, she hopes to change it as soon as possible and honestly Shimura surname sounds kinda nice stop Suto don't blush in front of them!).
(at the very least her 'father' DID get her some education, she is beneath the UA level for sure but she'll work hard to make up for it! but it was all through the internet, and while she really put her back into it, this is literally the first time ever that she's in a school and it shows)
"Any questions to our new student?" Present Mic asks. Suto tries not to crumble internally. And to not run out of the room to find Tenko and ask him for a best place to hide on the UA so that no one will find her anymore.
"I have one!" A girl in the first row stands up. "I'm Ayako Nakahara, the class president of 1-C." She then says towards Suto. "Is it true that Beast is your father?"
Oh. Well, there goes her short-lived hope for happiness. Against herself she (worriedly) nods.
The class erupts. It's not the bad type of eruption, Suto realizes after several seconds. Ayako Nakahara herself yelled "YEEEES!" while raising her clenched fists in an universal gesture of triumph.
"E–eh?!" Suto lets out. Present Mic sighs as the rioting continues.
"Sorry for that, little listener." He says to Suto, who promptly looks at him with an expression of shock on her face (and hopes for some answers underneath it). "They really want to catch up to classes 1-A and 1-B and… 1-B has two children of supervillains that arrested their parents in their Villain Rehab parts. So they were really looking forward to having at least one in their own class."
"O-oh." Suto lets out once again, while her mind is busy trying to comprehend what just happened.
When her mind managed to process it, she then had to employ her entire willpower to not burst into tears in front of her new classmates.
She was really free, wasn't she?
(***)
Doctor Garaki puts the phone down. On his face, anger.
Things weren't going up to plan. Things were certainly going bad. Nay, they were going worse than that.
The PLF's High Council was running out of members. There used to be three factions. Doctor Garaki's, which included Glassmaker and Purity. Eclipse-Overhaul's, that include those two, Liberator and Mechanist. And, finally, Re-Destro's, which included Dictator and Beast.
Together, the Paranormal Liberation Front was a formidable force. It was also rather balanced when factions were involved.
Re-Destro had money - and a lot of it, the entire Meta-Liberation Army had practically endless resources when money was involved. Doctor Garaki had his mad science and noumu shocktroopers. Eclipse/Overhaul had both a powerful healer and his quirk-suppressing gas.
The division of elements brought to the table went further.
Glassmaker had her smugglers, invaluable to continuing the research of both Overhaul and Doctor Garaki. Dictator was an information broker and a main source of intel on the government's operations. Mechanist had a small army of hackers, not to mention his help in laundering money and providing internet security (too bad that someone out there kept ruining that).
Liberator, Beast and Purity tended to provide the muscle. Liberator's were of rather inferior quality, but together with the sheer numbers and combat preparedness of the Quirkless Liberation Front, it was enough to maintain the balance between the factions.
Losing Eclipse didn't cost them a lot, as Overhaul was good enough of a replacement. If anything, Garaki was happy that she was out of the picture. She was… dangerous. Much less amenable than Overhaul was. Despite her methods, she had the unfortunate flaw of genuinely caring about the quirkless and her subordinates.
Losing too many of them without Eclipse feeling like their deaths had a point would make the QLF split off. Overhaul was much more ready to justify their deaths but focusing on their goals.
Then they lost Purity and Liberator. Equalists all but collapsed in Liberator's absence, rendering most of the effects of their Hosu stunt invalid. Because while they managed to breach the police databases, the serious terrorist organizations (like CRC or ISP) were 'handled' by the Public Safety Intelligence Agency.
Equalists had strong enough ties in minor gangs to benefit from that intel. So were Mechanist and Glassmaker, but to a generally smaller degree.
CRC was holding for now, but it was clear that without Purity to hold them together, the Clan was on the verge of collapse. They couldn't risk deploying their cannon fodder en masse because the risk of infighting (or one of them dealing with the others with a well-timed message to the heroes) was too great.
Now they lost Glassmaker, who vanished from the country taking most of the House of Glass' money - the heroes were already organizing mass arrests, though naturally of only the lower ranked House' members, as the executives all vanished as well. Thus, the PLF lost a significant part of their logistics.
They also lost Beast. With the ISP collapsing, they lost another large chunk of their potential numbers. He was hard to control (unless you knew where to metaphorically scratch him), but useful.
Oh, and Overhaul as well. Garaki meant to end him from the moment he realized that his mad dream of the world without quirks was actually achievable. Quirk Singularity was a horrifying concept, but ENDING quirks as a whole? No, no, no. Garaki invested more than a century of his life in them, there were other ways of dealing with that issue.
Unfortunately, he (and Re-Destro) kind of didn't foresee the newest development. Dictator reported to them a few days ago that the government is negotiating with the QLF remnant forces about standing down in exchange for major systemic benefits towards the quirkless.
The Paranormal Liberation Front was running out of its manpower dangerously quickly.
Eliminating Overhaul was still a necessity, yes. Him getting the girl back and creating a quirk-erasing drug was too much of a danger. However, Garaki needed Overhaul alive. Now everything was going pear-shaped, and plan B was not particularly viable.
Also, Re-Destro actually called him a 'moustached potato' over the very angry phone call concerning Doctor Garaki's 'supposed quirk-expertise' and it stung. More than Garaki was ready to admit.
Now, this. Another insult.
"So…" Nine decides to ask. He is one of the very people that Garaki even remotely trusts at this point. He is paying him well enough, not to mention helping him stabilize his medical condition. "... what did he say?"
"Flect Turn is deeply uninterested in investing into the reanimation of the Quirkless Liberation Front." Garaki replies. "Eclipse all but throwing Humarise out of the country after her rise to fame didn't help. Unless, of course, we'll give him Overhaul's research AND that girl."
Nine sighs. Yeah.
"Which completely defeats the point of eliminating Overhaul, as Flect Turn would simply produce a quirk-erasing gas en masse and achieve Chisaki's objectives for him." Nine comments. "Except faster and much more worldwide."
Kyudai Garaki nods. It's a logical assumption.
"This is why I hate religions." Garaki then groans. "They keep talking about making the world a better place, but when I actually try to achieve that, they are all like 'eeuugh'. What makes me worse than them? Goddamn holier-than-thou hypocrites."
Nine opens his mouth, considers the results of pointing out that they are having that talk in Garaki's secret laboratory filled with involuntary human test subjects and post-human brain-dead abominations, then decides that he isn't ready to die on that hill and closes his mouth.
Doctor Garaki is the absolute opposite of self-conscious. Practically a walking ball of prejudices. Brilliant, but… yeah, he wouldn't recognize his own hypocrisy even if it jumped at him out of the bushes and tried to maul him in the face.
Also, his approach to the long-dead demon king was… decidedly unhealthy. They were yet to see any conclusive proof, but Slice and Mummy already had a bet going over whether Garaki had an All for One-themed body pillow or not.
"So, what now?" Nine decides to ask his (temporary) employer.
"We're waiting." Garaki replies, surprisingly calmly "Re-Destro is planning something big. Looks like the MLA will finally step in, and we're going to need it if we're supposed to get anywhere."
Yeah, certainly not a perfect situation for the Paranormal Liberation Front. For a handful of reasons Nine thinks that it's only going to get worse from here on. For a handful of reasons he decides not to share that knowledge with Garaki.
(***)
"... you're kidding." All Might asks Nedzu. Who, promptly, shakes his head. Endeavor remains relatively calm.
"It seems that thanks to the recent arrests among the House of Glass members, the police have managed to track a number of rather… interesting deliveries." Nedzu decides to reiterate the message. "To Jaku General Hospital. We believe that we've managed to locate Doctor Garaki's hideout."
"... when do we launch the attack?" Endeavor goes straight to the point.
"In three days from now." Nedzu replies. "I was asked to command the operation. We'll use Sense to scan the area for underground sections of the hospital, but right before the attack. Mostly due to his Hearts and Minds Party contacts. We'll also use the heroes with absolutely no connection to it… including several members of the UA faculty."
"So, the final battle." All Might, thankfully, decides to not go into the whole 'HMP' bit. Nor mention the fact that for some reason it was going to happen on Christmas. "If we get him out of the picture, we won't be surprised by any additional Revenant."
The original was officially executed a few days ago. Tartarus Prison rarely resorted to that particular sanction, but here there was simply no other option. Revenant was held in a medical coma the whole time because, frankly, he would break free the moment he would wake up.
"Yes." Nedzu nods. "If we eliminate Doctor Garaki… and, hopefully, one or two additional supervillains… we'll weaken the Paranormal Liberation Front badly enough for our recent casualties to not matter in the long-term."
"Hopefully it won't be another successful Kamino." Endeavor grumbles. "But I must say that with the casualties we've sustained thus far, storming it is… honestly, it might get ugly very easily."
"I'm aware." Nedzu replies. "And so is the government. Invincible, the Number One Paragon, has been conditionally cleared to participate in the operation. Together with several additional Paragons and Boulder. It's bad enough that I considered asking for Hawks to be conditionally drafted, but…"
"He wouldn't agree… probably." Endeavor says before sighing. "Actually, scratch that, he'd probably agree just to help the heroes, but… I'm just not sure if letting him out right now is a good idea from the point of view of the popular outlook on heroism."
"Fair, we need to restore the public trust in the law, and allowing a theoretical Tartarus inmate to participate in the hero operations would be a bit… problematic." Nedzu admits. "How's he doing, by the way?"
"Hawks' getting a VIP treatment in Tartarus." Endeavor replies. "The wardens dismantled a wall between two cells to give him more space, let him cover walls in hero posters and are even allowing him some unsupervised internet access. I'm visiting him on Mondays, All Might on Fridays."
"Despite being jailed he says that he never felt more free." All Might adds. "Which is, honestly, rather heartbreaking. But I guess that I'm happy for him. His smile certainly feels much more honest. Hopefully he'll accept parole in a year or two. Because honestly, he's the one who feels like he doesn't deserve it."
Nedzu makes a mental note to - when Hawks does leave Tartarus - try to hire him as… well, not a teacher (that wouldn't pass), but as a more general employee of the UA. You don't have to be a teacher to be 'invited' regularly to combat spars, and having a former Top Hero as an enemy (especially one with such a versatile and powerful quirk) would certainly teach his students a few things.
Besides, it would be one more way of rubbing salt into HPSC' president's wounds. Her trial was still on-going, but it was rather obvious that it was going to end very, very badly for her. Seeing the woman being practically comatose in the courtroom (that she attended online, from her cell in Tartarus) was a delight to Nedzu.
"Looks like things are changing for the better at least in his case." Nedzu adds loudly.
"Not just in his case." Endeavor mumbles to himself.
(***)
Soon after the Overhaul's death
"Enji, Burnin said that she really needs you…" Rei, clearly, has finally arrived at the hospital. She saw him sitting at the bench in the corridor, and started speaking immediately once she got close… only to stop when she realized that something was amiss. "Enji?"
He was sitting there, his back slightly hunched, his eyes at the wall in front of him. He was… overwhelmed by something. She had no idea what it was, she heard that Shoto was involved but he returned without a scratch, and…
"Sh-Shoto was here." He says, stumbling slightly. She moves closer to him before standing next to the bench, and right next to him. "He… something happened during the battle, he's alright but… it was something bad, and he wasn't sure how to deal with it so… he came to me."
Oh.
Shoto came to him willingly. Shoto wasn't sure about something so he went to ask his father about it. After years of pretending that his father wasn't there (or opposing him entirely), Shoto… actually opened up to him. Voluntarily.
She doesn't even try to restrain the smile on her face. Choosing to stay was the right decision. Things will never be as they were before all that happened, but…
Rei decides to make a slight step forward herself. So, while her husband is still almost petrified, she takes advantage of her standing position right next to him to wrap her hands around his head and pull him closer, into a hug.
It's not a long hug. But one that he certainly deserved. Which didn't make his subsequent freak-out any less intensive.
He had a lifetime of work in front of him, but… at least for now, things were slowly getting better.
(***)
Suto x Tenko is an official go, and she'll certainly make him a better human being. Endeavor's sidestory is also at the end - in canon his redemption story is one of the few positive things in the plot, making my little 'fix it' fic not being able to improve upon it. I decided that Shoto willingly approaching his father when something was ailing him (even if we can't exactly hope for Natsuo to try that anytime soon) feels like a good enough cap for the redemption story, especially as it seems that Rei's getting better as well.
Hawks's redemption story hit the end line as well. The rest of this chapter is mostly preparations for the Endgame Arc, plus All Might being the based madlad we know and love.