Jack Redhawke - Soon, soon :P
Fencer29 - Yes, big F, on the other hand, survival of the country might kind of depend on this sooo :V
Jpx0999 - Yep.
Shahryar - Maybe xD
Raw666 - Thank you :D
(***)
The Gunga Mountain Raid is still making waves when, about two days after their post-battle meeting, Commissioner Aizawa is invited to visit Governor Yagi.
Naturally, it's not exactly an invitation. More of an order. Seeing his current situation, Aizawa isn't in a position to test the limits of Yagi Toshinori's patience.
He is also secretly relieved that when he arrived in the governor's office, he wasn't met with a Council of Twelve's strike force there to apprehend him in order to let Hisashi Shigaraki brainwash him.
The special police/PSIA task force supposed to arrest him for almost routinely considering the police regulations and the Japanese constitution to be guidelines more than actual rules wasn't there as well.
"Congratulations, Commissioner Aizawa." Yagi announces once the police officer takes the seat in front of him. "You've managed to ruin the Prime Minister's… I'd like to say 'day', but we both know that it won't be just a day."
Welcome to Aizawa's life. He hasn't seen Emi in at least a month now. She knows why, she agreed to it, but… shit. He just wants Overhaul out of the picture, so they can slightly deescalate the security.
Say what you want about Kuroiro, he at least doesn't consider killing his enemies' loved ones a priority. Or, well, unless you're a member of the Shie Hassaikai because he has a murderboner towards everyone who ever said anything positive about Overhaul.
"I have news for you and your superhero friends." Yagi replies before sighing loudly. "They'll get governmental support, however faint it will be in the current situation."
Oh thank the gods. The idea of the government trying to react to meta-abilities by attempting to suppress them was goddamn terrifying.
"Most of the government and the National Diet are having a closed session right now." Yagi continues. "Trying to establish something akin to a legal framework. I can't tell you details of it right now, all I know is that Shimura is ready to call in any favor she has and indulge in bribery or downright death threats in order to do it the way Sasaki's… proposal described it."
Once again, there is a lot of venom when that surname is mentioned. And the fact that it's his proposal clearly made things problematic for Yagi. Although, to be honest, Aizawa really doesn't care about their personal history.
"You mean, they are actually going to let the heroes govern themselves?" Aizawa blinks at the man in front of him. "Despite them being so young?"
"That's apparently one of the least heatedly debated issues." Yagi surprises him. "From the point of view of the majority of parliamentarians, this is just a temporary concession. Something of a toy to give a child to pacify them for the time being."
"That makes more sense." Aizawa agrees before sighing loudly. "They expect the heroes to end up having to rely on the government more and more as the time passes, and that's if they manage to avoid messing up something big time. Then the government will take over the system more and more, but if someone asks..."
"... then look how progressive and supportive we are towards the rights of the quirked." Yagi takes over. "We actually let them govern themselves! Yeah, I believe that's the point of view of most of the parties with representatives in the Diet. After getting some meta-ability presentation, everyone with a brain there is pissing their pants off and is ready to do their goddamn best to not antagonize the metahumans too much. They expect the 'Hero Association' to be more of a publicity stunt, with actual work being done by the police."
Aizawa decides to not address the implication that people without a brain in the Diet are trying to antagonize the metahumans. Yeah, they really can't expect everyone to unconditionally accept the new world.
"So, they are looking forward to the day when the Association de facto collapses, letting the heroes be absorbed by the 'standard' law enforcement'." Aizawa summarizes. "So rather than a country-wide organization of heroes, you'd have the local police precincts with local heroes on a speed dial."
"Yeah, exactly." Yagi nods. "Which is honestly rather stupid, but…"
"No, uhm…" Aizawa realizes that he just interrupted the governor (who is now staring at him quietly), and then promptly decides to just say it and be done with it. "... it's actually supposed to end up that way."
That surprises Yagi.
"What?" He blinks at the Commissioner over the desk. "Why?"
"Defiant, the head of the Network, could probably write several doctoral theses about the superhero genre from memory." Aizawa replies. "He seems intent on making Japan avoid all foreseeable issues with the implementation of the hero system."
"Foreseeable issues such as…" Yagi asks.
"Such as giving a small gremium of people with superpowers de facto control over hundreds if not thousands of people with superpowers…" Aizawa replies. "... while propping them up as celebrities against the background of 'normal people'. Which might or might not discriminate against people with superpowers."
After maybe three seconds of thinking it over, Yagi sighs loudly.
"Yeah, that really feels like something to lead to a coup d'etat further down the line." Yagi admits. "Probably with some complimentary massacres of either the quirked or those without meta-abilities. What's the planned endgame?"
"That depends on many factors." Aizawa replies. "Such as whether the meta-abilities are going to grow more common or not, stronger or weaker and so on."
There is a fair chance that Yagi will - unknowingly, of course - hand the recording of the talk to All for One. If so, then doing some additional 'masquerade' might be wise, at least in Aizawa's opinion.
After all, they aren't supposed to know how the meta-abilities will evolve.
"In general, making the heroes be something rather… normal is the endgame." Aizawa continues. "As you said, just local superpowered people to call for assistance when needed, without a need to make a lot of fuss about their existence. Alternatively, keep the superheroes for serious issues, and let those with the weaker quirks, such as sidekicks, become police officers or firefighters and so on. Just with a right to use their meta-abilities when applicable. Frankly, that's for the future to decide."
Is Yagi attempting to figure things out for Shigaraki? Like, get a better grasp of Metahuman Network goals in order to establish a game plan when twisting those goals to serve him was involved? It felt likely.
"So, Hero Association as a stopgap measure." Yagi decides to summarize it. "Something for the metahumans to look up to, while simultaneously acting as a symbol for the general population that the metahumans are beneficial to the society, and letting the metahumans have at least some influence over the government. Because whoever becomes the head of the Association, they'll have enough firepower behind them to be at least listened to. But once the society starts recovering from the chaos of the Dawn of Quirks, it'll be dismantled to make sure that its leadership won't try to go Destro 2.0."
"Correct." Aizawa nods. "I think that Defiant's intention is to make the quirked accepted, and their powers treated akin to having some rare talent to be explored and built upon. While not making them feel like they are some sort of superhumans."
"That kind of clashes with the 'pacify top superheroes' by making them celebrities' plan, in my eyes." Yagi comments.
"From his point of view, that's not much different than being born beautiful or with a great voice, and becoming a celebrity through being an actress or a singer." Aizawa replies. "In the metahuman case, especially during the interim period when they're going to be treated as something new and foreign, it's probably a better option than making them go political."
Yagi sighs.
"It's all just one big improvisation, in my eyes." He replies. "Which makes perfect sense, because frankly, there is no 'ideal' way of dealing with the issues of metahuman emergence. We can only go for the least bad option in most cases." Aizawa nods. It's regretful, but it's the truth. "Also, the more I hear about that Defiant kid, the more I'm beginning to like him. He has a working brain, and a vision for the future. We need more people like him."
Here Aizawa can agree entirely. Just with less 'my father started a world war' backstory, because world wars are too steep of a price for getting more Defiants.
"By the way, if that's one of the least heatedly debated issues…" Aizawa decides to switch the subject. "... then which ones are more heatedly debated?"
"Underground Heroes, especially." Yagi confirms Aizawa worries. "Don't get me wrong, me and the Prime Minister are in total agreement with you that every villain taken off the street, especially those whose quirks can potentially make them into nightmares, is a victory for Japan. Honestly, most of the Diet seems to be in agreement with you."
… did Shigaraki brainwash so many people, or was Aizawa's opinion on Japanese politics too low? Unless it was a combination of Shigaraki brainwashing and Sasaki's aggressive persuasion techniques.
"Frankly speaking, having Carmilla's quirk described to them alone did wonders." Yagi continues. "Together with cases of walking weapons of mass destruction like Dabi, because sooner or later you'll get an Underground Hero candidate whose quirk makes him or her capable of a similar degree of devastation."
"So what are they debating about?" Aizawa asks, and Yagi sighs loudly.
"Technicalities, mostly." The governor replies. "Where to draw a line about being redeemable or not, should 'high danger quirks' be given a priority and so on. Some people up there are worried that the heroes image might be seriously tarnished if too many former villains become involved with it, which… yeah, it's honestly a completely valid fear."
Hard to disagree about it. Expecting the whole public to get intimately acquainted with personal circumstances of every underground hero candidate in order to understand that they were all valid rehabilitation cases was a folly. Enter fake news, moral outrages, and so on.
Worst of all, the image of the heroes might be extremely important to the continuous survival of Japan as a country.
"Take that with a grain of salt, because the situation is rapidly changing…" Yagi continues. "But I believe that it will end with the decisions about non-violent villain rehabilitation being left to the Hero Association, mostly because the Prime Minister pointed out that this will strengthen the Association' image among the metahumans with a more morally gray disposition, potentially pulling some potential villains out of that path. However, the National Public Safety Commission will maintain the right to veto certain cases."
"What about the amnesty?" That was important.
"No idea as of now." Yagi admits. "The Diet is worried that non-violent villains, like thieves and so on, would attempt to use the Underground Heroism as a lifeline to avoid responsibility for their past crimes. One option is to make the underground heroism an alternative to jail time, so people like Hijack would have to be criminally prosecuted first, and then take said alternative."
Aizawa dislikes that fact, but the idea of using underground heroism to avoid jail time is another completely valid worry from the government side.
He is also fairly sure that a lot of underground heroes (at least those that actually have some criminal history, because he can barely count Blackwing in despite him brutalizing some orderlies as that was mostly his quirk doing) won't like the concept of having to be trialed first.
But if the heroes are supposed to become a public thing… then they aren't exactly in a position to keep everything running on the legal basis of 'trust me bro'.
"Second option is to make a special commission composed of judges, police officers, psychologists and so on that would be tasked with reviewing whether the candidate has properly atoned for their crimes and if they did, file an official request for pardon." Yagi continues. "Such underground heroes would technically continue to legally be villains, their punishment would be simply delayed in execution. Some, however, worry that this would be seen as forced labor. Because if such rehabilitation candidates decided to drop from service, even if due to injuries, they would end in prison."
Yeah, that would suck big time. Sure, being injured (permanently) in the line of duty would probably make receiving the pardon easier, but what if someone with genuine honest intention to turn over a leaf would be bedridden with some illness?
They would suddenly be very likely to end up in jail.
Frankly, none of the options in question appear particularly good, but they are still, well, a thing. Seeing the Japanese population approach to former criminals (which wasn't very nice as a whole), it was still a lot.
Underground Heroes basically meant that former criminals would be allowed to join law enforcement in certain circumstances. It was revolutionary, and completely insane in any other set of circumstances.
Instead, the world was already going insane. So it fits right in.
"I'll update you if the situation starts developing in any particular direction." Yagi continues. "Anything you want to ask about it?"
"What about violent criminals?" Aizawa asks.
"Right, Carmilla." Yagi sighs. Yeah, he got updated about certain details of her backstory, so it was an understandable reaction. Although Aizawa could add Frenzy/Insomnia, currently being an underground hero serving under Koichi Haimawari, to the list. "Frankly, it's… a mess."
Aizawa expected as much.
"I believe that it's treated as a too serious matter to leave it to the Association." Yagi continues his answer. "The Prime Minister suspects that it will be left to the National Public Safety Commission, instead. Each case reviewed separately, with factors such as the threat level of the quirk in question, the details of crimes, attenuating circumstances and so on being factored in."
"It's not ideal, but I guess that the Network can't hope for more." Aizawa replies. "Worst of all, Defiant has already ended up making a theory of what this is going to cause."
"And what would that be?" Yagi asks.
"Vigilantism." Aizawa replies. "People wanting to 'turn the leaf over' but not being allowed to do so through 'public channels'. So, they would try to prove to themselves that they are better people now, or in hopes of doing it 'smoothly' enough, so hopefully non-lethally but we all know that accidents happen, to prove that they deserve a chance to the authorities."
If Aizawa had to choose between Midoriya Izuku keeping his smarts and mountainload of superhero genre trivia and him keeping his overpowered quirk, he would choose his quirk. But only for as long as All for One was still alive.
Without an overpowered quirk to counter with One for All, Aizawa would consider Defiant's superhero-themed foresight to be his most valuable asset.
Yagi sighs.
"Yeah, that sounds about right." He admits. "I'll mention that to the Prime Minister, although honestly, I don't think we can do a lot on that field. Vigilantes will undoubtedly be on the rise, especially where the law fails to reach. I'm surprised there are none in Hosu."
"That's… not exactly the truth." Aizawa replies. Yagi groans.
"Well, that's just absolutely goddamn brilliant." Governor announces. "Another potentially problematic field is the concept of a Meta-Ability Registration Act, because this feels like something that would provoke rather violent reactions from metahumans nationwide. Despite being completely logical."
Ah yes. Avengers: Civil War 2: Electric Boogaloo. Aizawa watched the first movie, and while he has no idea why '2: Electric Boogaloo' was added by Defiant while they were talking about it during one of their regular meetings at UA, he has to admit that the comparison fits.
"If it makes it any better, Defiant is supporting the idea." Aizawa decides to add helpfully.
"Wait, he what?" Yagi blinks at him. "I expected him to be against it, especially with his and yours attempts to make sure that the government isn't in position to crack down on meta-abilities as a whole."
Yeah, a registry would be a wonderful way to out metahumans. Practically a cornerstone of any 'final solution' plan, because otherwise you just need to not use your meta-ability to remain hidden.
However…
"Defiant thinks that it is a necessity, simply enough." Aizawa replies. "And I agree with him. Meta-abilities are tools that allow people to do things otherwise impossible. Worst of all, we can't detect the fact that someone has them unless they are mutants. This means that someone could commit any number of murders without a murder weapon to be found unless we'd manage to get witnesses of them using their power. However, if their quirk was registered after being manifested…" He pauses.
"Makes sense." Yagi admits. "So, you basically want the quirks to be treated like firearms?"
"Something like that, yes." Aizawa replies. "To me and Defiant it's simply the most logical option. In the long-term it would also be beneficial to the metahumans, because we would be able to arrest villains before letting them reach major notoriety, thus weakening the potential public backlash against the metahumans as a whole."
"Logical doesn't mean 'publicly acceptable'." Yagi replies dryly. "Metahumans are going to freak out that they're going to be targeted for their meta-abilities, not to mention the existence of such a registry meaning that trying to stay hidden would be made into a crime. This, in turn, during a time when people might potentially resort to 'pitchfork and torches' against your social group, is rather…"
"That's mostly if someone was insane enough to make the registry public." Aizawa replies. Worst of all, there'll certainly be people trying to do so. They both know that.
Unless… wait, Aizawa has an idea.
"Why not leave that to the Hero Association?" He asks. Yagi gives him a questioning look. "It's going to be treated as a governmental agency, but composed of metahumans, right? Making them run the registry while keeping it strictly confidential should placate the metahumans a bit, and make the concept more palatable, right?"
Yagi is clearly thinking it over for a few seconds.
"Not the worst idea I ever heard." Yagi admits. "It would prevent the police from perusing it, they would probably have to send a request to the Association for its members to look through it for them… so the police would probably be pissy about it. I can also expect a lot of people suspecting the Association of replying falsely to inquiries in order to hide villains from the police. As, after all, we all know that the metahumans are just one big world domination scheme, and they're all in on that, am I right?"
Yeah, Aizawa can totally imagine some people thinking that way.
"To be honest, it's probably a better idea than all others that I've heard thus far." Yagi continues. "Because, let me be honest with you, the concept of quirk registration is being treated as a rotten egg by the Diet. No one really wants to be in any way involved with it, because you can end up smelling badly."
Aizawa isn't sure if that simile is sensible, like at all, but whatever floats Yagi's boat.
"I'll relay the suggestion to the Prime Minister, together with the information that at least the head of the Network thinks that the registry is a necessity." Yagi continues. "Extremely helpful. And another good idea from Defiant."
Aizawa coughs slightly.
"The 'give registry to the Association' is actually my idea." He decides to admit that much. "And I had it right now."
"Oh." Yagi takes a deep breath. "Then it's a very good idea from you. Speaking of, I have some personal good news for you. Good news that, to be honest, you just proved one more time that you truly deserve."
(***)
Tsukauchi enters the Aizawa office (with Torino in tow) to see him slumped over the desk, looking like he aged ten years since their last meeting.
And, to be honest, he already looked quite old back then.
"What happened?" Tsukauchi asks, before glancing at Torino. "What did you do this time?"
"Hey, don't pin that on me!" Torino retorts. The last time Aizawa looked so thoroughly done with his life was when he heard about the stunt that Torino did. The one that ended with a police car being totaled and Hari Kurono dying. "Aizawa, talk to us. Who died?"
"I did." Aizawa groans. "You remember me being happy that Shizuoka isn't my problem?" They nod. "The Prime Minister just booted Koji out of the Force and made me into a Senior Commissioner. She gave me his job. So I'm not responsible for not just Musutafu but also Shizuoka."
After ten long seconds of total silence, Torino starts laughing like a madman.
(***)
Rikiya Yotsubashi's personal assistant finishes reading the official announcement that Defiant just published on the HeroNET. Almost everyone from the MLA leadership is in the room, including Nedzu represented by a computer screen.
There is a rather nice render of a mouse displayed on it. Nedzu is being himself. Destro was content giving him and his small menagerie of horrors some personal space in the MLA headquarters in the Deika Valley.
Nedzu enjoys privacy.
Destro isn't even sure if Nedzu was still in that building, or if he already vanished elsewhere (where no one knew where he was - he liked it that way). Well, it didn't matter for as long as the goals of Nedzu and Destro aligned.
"That son of a bitch." Skeptic is as brutal with words as always. "He dares to…"
They don't know that the accusations were true. Nedzu made sure to leave no evidence. Defiant's response will certainly impair MLA's recruitment attempts among the Network members, but the idea was too outrageous for the present MLA members to see it as anything other than propaganda.
In the meantime, Destro raises his hand.
"Skeptic, my dear, let's not use such words." Yotsubashi says, Skeptic giving him an odd look from behind his (slightly irritating) hairdo. "Fighting against him, maybe even killing him if, nay, when we'll manage to do that is one thing. But I see no reason to badmouth him."
"He has decided to become a dog of the state." Skeptic replies, clearly disagreeing with his Grand Commander. "He willingly went over to them and started to use his meta-ability to fight against us, those who are trying to fight for the rights of the metahumans. If that's not a reason to badmouth him, I don't know what is."
"Trumpet, what's our organization's stated goal?" Destro asks another person present by the table.
"To pave the way for the world when the metahumans are free to shape their future according to their dreams and aspirations." The former politician replies. Destro's eyes return to Skeptic.
"Defiant does exactly that." The Grand Commander replies. "He has his meta-ability, wits, willpower and charisma to make people follow him. And he uses it to shape the world in the way he sees fit. It's just that his dream is that of superheroes, while ours is of free usage of meta-abilities."
Personally, Destro regrets the fact that he didn't 'discover' Defiant first. To get such an organization going in such a short time, and at such a young age? Whether he got help (from Hatsume Industries, for example, Destro knows that it's involved) or not, the fact that he achieved something extraordinary wasn't up to debate here.
Unfortunately, Rikiya Yotsubashi will instead be forced to end Izuku Midoriya's life. Eventually. For now, they need his help against Hisashi Shigaraki.
They might be Japanese real world equivalents of Magneto and Professor X. They might even respect each other, and in an extreme set of circumstances cooperate against common enemies. But their visions of the future are incompatible. They are and will remain enemies.
Unless the government does something terminally stupid that will make Defiant consider more… revolutionary approach. Destro is torn between hoping for that to happen in order to get Midoriya onboard and hoping that it won't happen, because of how many deaths of metahumans would that cause.
"In the meantime, we have plans to make." Destro announces. "Nedzu, I believe that you finished reviewing the Deika Valley base defenses for the inevitable visit from Mr. Shigaraki. Any ideas on what to change to make this valley into an even worse death trap?"
(***)
Sorry, but it's time for some legal talks about the foundation of the heroics industry. I promise some fluff in the next chapter :D