Chapter 12: The Evil Lurking Beneath

"The public has accused all hero-schools as being discriminating. However, like UA, Shiketsu has produced several heroes who are not well known specifically for their combat. Therefore, we believe that these allegations of us being discriminating is baseless."

"You have only produced rescue heroes alongside combat heroes. None of your graduates are neither intellectual heroes or underground heroes. Records that people on the forum have pulled show that over 80% of underground heroes are UA graduates and all the other schools put together the measly 20%. The numbers disagree with your statement." A reporter replied.

"At least own up to it!" One of the reporters shouted.

"Boo!" The others said.

"In that case, we are actually sorry and we will be working to correct this misjudgment and we'll be fixing the entrance exams too," Shiketsu's principal tried to excuse himself.

"Oh now that following UA has backfired, you are following in the steps of the other schools, huh?" A reporter asked aggressively.

"At least the other schools owned up to it! Liar! Coward!" The crowd of reporters booed.

"Well, the media is as colorful today, Garaki," All for One commented to his trusted doctor. It was the morning after UA's statement and the two villains were watching Shiketsu's live press conference.

"Indeed, this article has caused a huge uproar. Our fellow intellectual villains have also put their activities on hold in anticipation of society changing their views on them, allowing them to revert to a normal life. Surely this would throw a wrench in our plan?" Garaki asked.

All for One laughed, "Do I really seem that pathetic? There are always ups and downs in plans. We will recover soon. However, this article really has caused a huge amount of problems. Have you had any luck on tracking the signal?"

"No," Garaki shook his head dismally, "The signal was bounced various times. However, all the articles appeared at the same time, even though on different websites. There wasn't even a second's delay." Garaki asked.

"What about the forum accounts?"

"I was successfully tracking them. However, in the middle, the program was overridden. Someone erased their digital footprint before I could finish tracking." Garaki said.

All for One frowned, "That damn rat of a principal has something to do with this, I am sure. He's the only one smart enough for all this,"

"Surely, he can't be much smarter than me," Garaki said with a smile.

All for One growled, "He's the reason I lost to that wretched All Might. I had him but that damn rat had given him too good of a strategy. That pro, Gran Torino too..." All for One gritted his teeth and punched the wall above with his quirks activated.

Garaki jumped back, startled at the sudden aggression, "So, do you think Nedzu wrote the article?"

All for One shook his head, "He's too smart to allow himself to be tracked even for one second. He wouldn't have slipped up while posting on the forums,"

"So... it's someone else?" Garaki asked skeptically.

"Yes, there are two others who have written this article. But, Nedzu knows the authors. No one else is smart enough to completely erase any trace on the internet. Since he erased their trace on the forum, it means he knows the authors. However, considering the article publishing has zero trace, it was published by Nedzu. My best guess is the original writer is someone else but Nedzu is the publisher." All for One deduced.

"Should we be worried?" Garaki asked.

"OF COURSE WE SHOULD BE WORRIED!" All for One shouted at his doctor, "This means that someone else with the same level of intellectual capability has entered the playing capability. And two of them that too," All for One muttered angrily. "You! Get back to work now!"

"Y-yes," Garaki stuttered as he ran out of the room.

Angrily All for One picked up the phone and dialed. The phone rang continuously and eventually, someone picked up at the other line, "Ah, Kenji. How are you and the others doing?"

"Rather good. I assume you are calling for some more test subjects?" Kenji replied.

"Obviously. The hospital is just a front. We still need people to come. Children are especially stable with our experiments. So your lost child department is perfect for business!" All for One said with a wide, evil grin on his face.

"Well obviously we will need a favor done in return when we make the transaction," Kenji sighed.

"What do you mean, 'when'?" All for One asked, his smile dropping.

Kenji sighed on the other end. He could understand this was going to be a tough conversation, considering he was talking with the worst of all the villains, "The superiors at the hero commission are much more hawk-eyed right now, after that damned article came out!"

"I thought you were one of those on the board too?"

"I am, but me and Abarai are the only two. The rest are all 'law-abiding' and what-not, the idiots. Anyway, we are lucky enough as it is,"

"What do you mean?"

"The public thinks that hero-schools are discriminatory. That's why we only see strong combat-based heroes in society. But none of them have connected that hero commission is the one that regulates hero society and therefore is the one that ultimately that decides who gets to be a hero."

"But, as far as I know, you have never blocked anyone from becoming a hero," All for One commented grimly.

"No, but we can control what the exam will be and block a certain type that way,"

All for One laughed, "That's why I like you and Abarai,"

"Don't forget about the others. They may be lackeys but they do the dirty work. But you know perhaps we should look into the weaker quirked ones too," Kenji commented.

All for One laughed villainously, "Have you gone mad? Just because Hawks turned out okay, doesn't mean all those weak-ass people will."

"Hmm, perhaps not. However, the others on the board will no doubt vote to change hero licensing exams now. And if Abarai and I say no, they'll suspect us and remove us." Kenji moped.

"What if they catch you right now?" All for One asked with a laugh.

"Are you kidding, I have my own office. No one's ever getting me! And the lackeys are there anyway. But you should think about what I told you about Hawks. If you train someone like that, they'll get strong." Kenji said.

"Then imagine, how much more stronger I would get by just grabbing a strong quirk instead,"

"That is true. So why don't you give breeding your own villain a shot? Unfortunately, we can't make Hawks a villain. The idiot likes Endeavour too much. The others on the board are also angry that we have 'brainwashed' him and whatnot and warned us not to do anything."

All for One laughed, "The stupids: trying to act like the so-called symbol of peace,"

Kenji laughed in return, "At least we still got to keep Endeavour in second place by sabotaging the numbers. That way we can manipulate people by telling people that the number 2 hero does the same thing, and get away with it."

"Hmph, you're just making him stronger. It'll backfire." All for One predicted.

"Nah, anyway try being a mentor,"

"I'm already one,"

"Those experimented ones don't count," Kenji said and hung up.

All for One smiled villainously flashing all of his teeth, "Who said that's the only one I'm mentoring. Hahahahahahahahahaha"

Chaos
No, it's just that only those with stronger quirks can bully someone. Someone with a mental quirk can't really bully someone with a physical quirk. Since you said that bullying is good because the victim will get stronger, does your flawed statement mean that you do believe that those with weak quirks can become heroes!?

What!? Do you dare twist my words? That is not what I meant! Why don't you come face to face and then-" All Might knocked Endeavour out cold.

"God, this never gets old, haha," Dabi squealed as he sat rewatching Endeavour's interview while munching on a bowl of popcorn.

"They not only turned his logic on him but they also embarrassed him by forcing All Might to knock Endeavour out, haha," Dabi, or the one formally known as Todoroki Touya said aloud.

Touya munched on his popcorn as the recorded interview started again. He sighed and took out his phone. He reread the article and went through the forums, "The article showed hero and quirk inequality and implied how bad heroes can be. But they didn't say anything about reforming villains or ousting heroes explicitly," Dabi thought, "It's still too early to tell what effect this would have on society, from both hero and villain's view as a whole."

"But," Touya spoke out loud to himself as he watched Storm and Chaos bash Endeavour on live TV, "I'm going to bring even more chaos into your life, father," Touya grinned,

"Now only if both Storm and Chaos would be willing to help me... For all I know they could be a vigilante pushing their own agendas too." Touya munched on his popcorn as he thought, "But... I'll let both Storm and Chaos live if I ever meet them. They are much too fun!" Dabi chuckled. His chuckles echoed in the empty room and soon transformed into maniacal laughter.

Bubaigawara Jin had finally decided to read the article after wrestling with his other side for nearly a week. He was no stranger to the chaos the article had formed. The villains seemed to be much more interested in the article than heroes so he had gotten his information from them. But he had missed out on reading the article, forums, and the Endeavour interview. But luckily, his other side was allowing him to look up everything online today.

Jin had first watched the Endeavour interview and had a good laugh. Both sides agreed that they liked how Storm and Chaos had manipulated the number 2 hero. Since he had heard chatter about the forum from other villains, he decided to skip it since it would take a long time to weed through it and find relevant information. So here he sat, reading the article.

Once he had finished, tears started falling out of his eyes. "I could have been a hero?" He asked himself in a sad choking voice.

"Idiot! No! No one ever liked us, people always like heroes! We were meant to be villains!" His other side replied angrily.

"But Ectoplasm has the same-"

"So what? People loved him. They don't love us."

"But maybe people disliked him too. Maybe we were too stupid..." Jin said, tears streaming down his cheeks.

"Hmph, as if, we were meant to be villains, haha, let's go rob someone," Jin's other side exclaimed randomly.

"You are right, we are villains. It's too late for society to accept us..."

"What are you talking about, we can be a hero!" Jin's other side replied cheerfully. "Hero! Hero! Hero!" Jin's other side exclaimed happily like a child.

Stain had no clue why he was doing this. He was a vigilante for god's sake. By definition, he was a criminal. Yet he still couldn't bring himself to steal a damn phone. So here he was, dressed up in his only casual clothing, trying to buy a phone.

He didn't have any problem with money as he had saved up quite a lot by getting money off small-time villains he beat up. He still needed to get proper food and water and stealing them would bring even more attention to him. Something he wanted to avoid. So here he was, in front of an electronic store. He was nervous as he hadn't socially interacted with someone for quite a long time. Taking a deep breath he entered the store.

"Hello there! My name is Aki and I work here. What can I help you with today?" An enthusiastic salesman asked Akaguro.

"Uh, I was hoping to buy a smartphone," Akaguro said in a low voice.

"Sure, sure. You can afford it right?" Aki asked hesitantly looking at the state of Stain's clothes. Akaguro simply held up a wad of cash in response.

"Great! Follow me and we'll get you settled!"

Once Stain had bought his phone, he had perched himself on a roof and started reading through the forums, and rewatched the Endeavour interview.

Once he had finished most of it, he fell into a deep thought about his ideology. He thought that attacking heroes would cause them to be more vigilant and would make them better. However, Storm and Chaos had done what he would have taken months to do. With one swoop they had tarnished hero society and had exposed all the heroes he considered to be false. Not only that but the forums had also pointed out many other heroes who had a good heart besides All Might.

Stain let out a deep sigh, "I need to think about what I want to do now..."

All for One was sitting at his table, hunched over a notebook. Since the tracing had not worked, All for One was listing the things that he had deduced. Till now he had:

Nedzu is not the author but he knows the author. Nedzu was the publisher. There are either two writers or only one writer. Most probably there are two writers because their personalities on the forum seem very different. For Nedzu to have agreed to be the publisher, he knows the authors well. Therefore, the author is either an underground hero or a smart hero. OR the author(s) are students at UA. In that case, they probably have an intelligence quirk. Since they talked about bullying, they are most likely students. Adults would want to forget about the bullying.

All for One reviewed his list of deductions and frowned. He had asked Garaki to get a list of UA students with an intellectual quirk but he couldn't hack into the UA servers and get the names. All for One had, therefore, tried to weed through UA sports festival tapes, but all the intellectual quirked ones rarely made it to the final round or used their quirk to its potential. On the other hand, the list of underground heroes who might have written the article was overwhelming and he couldn't place who it might be.

As All for One stewed in his anger, Garaki came rushing in, panic all over his face. "What is it now?" All for One asked, annoyed.

Garaki's body shook with fear as he replied, with a stutter, "Mo-more n-news just c-came,"

"What news?" All for One grunted questioningly.

"S-something about a school c-called Aldera,"

A/N: Hope you enjoyed it. Please leave a fav/follow and a review.