22/11/2022

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The Emperor's Dragon
Emergence 27 - Contemplation

Izuku sniffed and gulped as he unwound from the tight little ball he'd curled himself into. He sniffed again, reaching up to wipe the tears from his eyes before he leaned back against the wall.

That had not gone well.

He'd thought he could handle seeing All Might, and in his mind he could but the reality was so much different. The man projected himself, much like his dad and Gigantomachia did but while he knew Ochaco and Hitoshi found it comforting, he didn't. It was a reminder of what had happened.

It wasn't going to happen again, Izuku resolved. He was not going to run from All Might again. But did that mean he had made his decision?

No… he didn't think he had but perhaps now was a good time to examine his options. They were more than just be a hero, stay neutral or be a villain, though most would view them that way. There were shades between each one and right now he was in a period of transition, he just didn't know what he was transitioning to.

Could he be a hero?

Izuku shook his head. That was a dumb question. He had no doubt he could be a hero. Physically he was certain he could perform everything necessary and with his current quirks, he'd be good at it. Even if he only decided to show one quirk, then… eh, he wasn't sure which one he'd show but Caeli Imperium was probable. Except… by saying 'be a hero' he was limiting himself. His dad had implied that if he went against him, then he would have to use all his strength, he would have to lead the charge but that didn't mean he had to be a hero. All it meant was that he'd have to actively work to keep himself safe from his dad's agents and to oppose his father.

He made a face at the thought but even as he did it, Izuku realised he couldn't lie to himself. It had felt undeniably good to help that woman a few weeks back. It also felt good to help his friends. Sure, most people would say he'd carried Hitoshi and Mei through the first round, he almost literally had, but that was his choice to help them and it had felt good to know they had gotten through. Same for the second round. That hadn't been all him. In fact it had mostly been Mei and Ochaco who had carried them but… Seeing Hitoshi come in first and then all his friends qualify for the last round, that felt good.

Really good.

The type of good he wanted to feel again.

Izuku just sat still and thought of nothing for a few moments as he let himself become used to that realisation. He did want to feel it again, he acknowledged. He really, really did.

But he didn't have to be a hero to feel it. He wasn't a hero now though… Heroes were paid to help people. They were expected to help people, they could feel that-

No! That was the naive view. He knew it was the naive view. Heroes were meant to help people, and some of them did but a lot didn't. They were only in it for the money. Many were in it for the fame, the recognition, the acknowledgement that they were the strongest.

But if he became a hero then… Would he want that? No. He wouldn't. Or would he…

Izuku sighed. He'd want to help people. He could live with being unknown in the ranks so long as he was helping people but… he'd want to change the system and that required acknowledgement. It required him to be known to be acknowledged as the best, the strongest and… It would require him to be part of the system.

And if the system found out his real quirk- He shuddered. That was something Dad had told him though Izuku knew his Dad had slanted his words for particular effect. So while it was true and was a possibility, what were the other possibilities?

If he was popular, the system, which was mostly the HPSC, would have a much harder time making him disappear or making him do what they wanted. Except the problem with that was that he'd have to be popular and the HPSC controlled much of that. They couldn't stop you clearing missions but they could prevent you from ranking well in the polls. There was a certain tipping point for heroes. Once you started clearing enough missions, and going up in the polls more and more people became interested in you and you got even better ranked.

But … what did heroes have to do to get to that tipping point? Was there some test of loyalty to the system or the HPSC first? He didn't know and while it seemed like it could be a defense against them using him, it was one that literally put him in their thrawl all the time.

And he was pretty sure the HPSC could wait.

Was there another way to be protected? To be in a position to change the system but not be at risk from the system?

Izuku laughed. He didn't want much, did he?

He supposed he could campaign to change the system from the beginning. That would make it very clear what he was on about and while it would mean he wasn't popular… actually it possibly wouldn't mean that. It would mean that he wouldn't get the exposure from the HPSC that others could rely on but they couldn't stop word of mouth. If he did enough jobs then people would talk about him and fame would come that way and…

Why was he thinking about being a hero?

Because the feeling of helping people was nice and as a hero he'd be expected to help and as a hero he could be publicly known to campaign for changing, and improving the system. He could make people aware of what needed to be changed… except being a hero would mean being beholden to the Commission and it would mean being dad's enemy.

Or would it?

Dad had Gargoyle and he was a hero. Granted he wasn't a very well known one, but he was a hero. Could he be a hero and not oppose his dad? Yes, but it would be difficult. And he'd have to be prepared to back his dad, even at the cost of his hero career if it came to it. But was that a bad price?

Right now, he didn't know.

Izuku sighed. But that was still thinking about being a hero and to help people he didn't have to be one. He could just do it anyway.

Vigilante his mind supplied.

No, Izuku retorted. He didn't mean that, though maybe he did. Being a vigilante was stupid though. Heroes hated you and actively worked to take you down, sometimes far more actively than they worked to take down villains. And villains hated you as well. Plus if he became a vigilante then he'd have no platform on which to change the system. So while he'd get to help people, he'd be hated by all and wouldn't change anything. Not with any wide ranging consequences.

Vigilantism was simply something you did to stroke your own ego now. You did it when you couldn't be a hero but didn't want to accept the truth. He pushed that thought from his mind.

What he really meant was why couldn't he help people by continuing what he was doing? He was enrolled in UA's Management Course and while the cover story for him was that he'd go and manage his mother's businesses, why couldn't he switch to properly managing heroes? Ochaco would need a good manager, and he was sure he could find some who would agree with her, that heroes should help people and not cause damage.

He could manage them, make a team of revolutionary heroes and while individually the Commission would be able to dismiss them, as a group… that would be harder.

That actually had possibilities.

Except he'd still be propping up a system with no guarantee of changing it. He might be able to have a louder voice but, as would be the case if he was in the system there was no guarantee of change. While helping people felt good, what was the point if the system simply put them back into the same problems?

That's why his father wanted to tear down the system and rebuild it. It wouldn't be the same but it would be different. Except doing that would cause a lot of social upheaval.

He let his thoughts go to what would happen if he fully supported his dad. He'd be an outcast from society but dad had told him that much. Heroes and vigilantes would come after him. The former because it was their job to protect the system, the later because they would perceive him as bad. And other villains?

Some would side with him, others would fight against him.

Or wait… Dad had said he'd be a villain but he'd also said he'd be the glue to hold everything together. Izuku blinked as he thought about that and realised what his father had meant.

He'd be the public face. The person who ran the businesses. The person who didn't necessarily do the dirty work. That would be Tomura. But if he had to, then he'd be able to do that work, but do it in such a way that he wasn't known for it. Izuku snorted to himself. He thought that was how dad had done it, except his father had fulfilled both roles.

Which is why All Might had gone after him.

Izuku froze before he took a deep breath and wiped the new tears that had formed with that thought. Could he do the role his dad wanted him to?

There was no question that he could do it. He was coming to see that running a company was simply a matter of being informed and then making a decision which fit your goals both for now and the longer term. But if you were making a long term decision then you had to say that, and work out how to keep the cash flow positive while working towards that goal. Perhaps the better question was would he want to do it?

He wasn't sure. It was a difficult question and… what would be the consequences of him doing that? The first was obvious. He'd never get respect from Tomura. The young man would see that he was taking on all the risk and he wouldn't care for that. Or rather, he'd make sure that Izuku knew he thought him weak and ineffectual and only interested in the safe jobs. There was one thing to be said for Tomura and that was he wasn't afraid to get his hands dirty. He'd see it as a weakness if Izuku didn't.

Except… if he did that job he couldn't get his hands dirty. It relied on him being clean…

Wait no, it relied on him being perceived to be clean. That was the difference.

Izuku sighed. In business he was probably going to have to stab people in the back but he wouldn't be doing it literally. He'd have to take the information they'd given him and use it to his advantage. Tomura was going to be doing that literally, or probably dusting them and he would let him know he felt superior because of it.

He could do the job but he didn't want to feel inferior to Tomura so… He'd have to get his hands dirty in such a way that Tomura knew but no one else did. Or rather, no one who wasn't family did. That might be the better way of thinking about it. His dad wouldn't betray him on that. Infact dad would probably be happy that he recognised problems and removed them.

So, could he go that way?

He wouldn't be helping people though. And… he wanted to. It felt good.

Well, he could help individuals, Izuku realised. There was nothing stopping him from helping individuals except that wouldn't be the focus of what he was-

Wait a second.

The problem with being a hero, or even managing a group of heroes was that he or they would only be helping people one at a time, or in limited groups, while working to change the system. It was the system which was at fault. There was also no guarantee that the system could be changed from within. He knew that. It would be like him… oh joining UA as a teacher and trying to change their Heroics Course Entrance exam! If he was a big, well known hero there might be a chance he could but there was no guarantee.

However if he went into business, if he did what his dad wanted or even took a more active front line role, he could still help people, because no one was going to tell him he couldn't but he could also work to completely destroy the system so that a better one could take its place. That's what he and Tomura had talked about as children. They'd tried to figure out how to take down the system so that Dad was in charge but… Dad was considered a villain and-

Oh… was that why dad wanted him to take the public face? So that he could be the new leader? Izuku felt kind of sick at that before he remembered something his dad had said once. When they were discussing a hypothetical question of how to take over Japan, which Izuku now realised wasn't hypothetical, he'd realised that combining military or at least disruptive force with someone in government was the most reliable way to bring swift change. He'd asked dad who was in government and his father had replied that he would find someone.

That meant he already had people there.

That made sense. Tomura, as the face of violence, even if that violence instigated the change to a better society would not be trusted. And he… would be viewed as too young to be able to lead them to a better world. Children could not change the world unless adults listened and while he'd probably be an adult by then… He'd still be too young.

Izuku nodded to himself. It was still possible dad wanted him to take the reins but he wouldn't be the first choice, which meant… he could get his hands dirty a bit. While he had no doubt that running the business was work, he also felt that he shouldn't let Tomura take all the risk. It wouldn't be right.

Actually he could work on the problem of society from a number of angles. Ochaco and others like her could work to change the system from within. Tomura would be working to change the system from outside and he could support them both, so long as he was careful.

Except was that really what his dad wanted? Was it the answer to his question? He took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before he realised it wasn't. It was an answer for now but it was… still uncommitted, Izuku realised. Doing that sounded good but was… He was still trying to work both sides and avoid making a decision because in that role he wasn't going to be prepared to sacrifice everything. He could do that role, even once he made a decision for his father, but he'd have to know which side he'd sacrifice if push came to shove.

Izuku sighed. He wasn't making a decision today but he had made some important realisations. One, he was never going to run from All Might again. It didn't matter what happened, he wasn't running. Two, he did want to help people but three, he also wanted to change society and maybe the best way of helping people, helping the most people, even those who thought everything was okay, was to tear down society and build it back up.

They wouldn't appreciate him for doing that. But maybe that was the right thing to do in the long run. After all, some decisions involved pain and were unpopular but the future was better for them.

For now though… He reached up to wipe his eyes again. For now he'd best return to his friends to find out how they'd gone.

The future was tomorrow, and it could wait a bit more.

-ted-

Izuku, your dad isn't planning on Tomura's survival. If he can't have Tomura as a body then he fervently hopes All Might kills him for the mental damage that would do to the man. Also you need to realise that having someone do all the work that you take credit for is acceptable both in business and villainy!

My discord is on this code: ZX2R5h2cEm FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all!

-ted-

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