Shahryar - Yeah, regretfully it's a war. And wars aren't nice. Also, yeah, Meat Man is clearly inspired by Stain in canon, the heroes declining even further feels like something that would push him further.
(***)
Revival Celebration Day
Ten seconds after the FRU arrival at the USJ.
"Why?" The head warden stares at Shishikross in shock, his body only partially meatballed. His head and a prolonged yet flaccid arm are still sticking out of the pile of flesh. Fleshwarp needed both to get through all those pesky security credentials checks.
They are ignoring the gunfire at the distance. The wardens at this level of the fortress realized that they just lost the command center and did their best to alleviate the problem. The PLF reinforcements were trying to buy as much time as needed.
Even if someone manages to rush through them, Shiozaki covered the whole area with her vines. That should be enough to delay an attack further. They need only a short moment.
Several Hatsume Industries technicians start manning the computer terminals. They are going to need at the very least some camera feed. Tartarus's main point is something completely different than brand promotion, but… it's important as well.
Fleshwarp is standing in front of the main computer terminal Tartarus command center, surrounded by meatballed officers and personnel.
"You want to know why?" He replies, his eyes still on the screen while his hands sprinting around the keyboard. "It's because I fucking hate you, that's why. I joined the Tartarus guards to follow in my father's footsteps. To guard Japan from the world's biggest collection of villains and degenerates. And how did it end?"
He gives the head warden a brief and hate-filled look before
"Political prisoners. Torture rooms. People imprisoned in secret, the world told that they died. Denied their constitutional rights with some holier-than-thou smirks from bastards like you." He snorts with indignation that's almost palpable. "If this is how Japan is today, if this is what its 'heroes' support, then I prefer for it all to burn."
Last click on the keyboard. The deed is done. The wardens are in for the surprise of their lifetime.
(***)
"Alright people, time to push back!" An officer shouts to the hall full of the wardens. A-Rank Hero, Powerfist, takes a step back nearby. Dead QLF soldier collapses to the ground in front of him.
The punch practically smashed him into the wall, vapourizing his head through a helmet. It was one of several casualties that the PLF suffered in this brief skirmish, the fight clearly progressing in the wardens' favor.
The Eclipse group in front of them just pulled back, losing several members. Between the security systems and the wardens that began to reorganize themselves after the initial shock.
Things are going as plann…
The automatic turret on the ceiling that greatly helped in stopping PLF's forces earlier suddenly turns and shreds the surprised Powerfist. More wardens die in the next few seconds, before they have the time to realize what happened.
And then the second wave of PLF forces arrives, raring for a rematch. This time the turrets completely ignore them.
Automatic turrets are just one thing. Elsewhere, sleeping or poison gas is dispersed. Entire warden units are locked down by the secured gates. Robots emerge to engage those that they were supposed to support.
(***)
The head warden's face went pale in horror as he realized just what Shishikross had done. When he realized what the PLF's plan for the day was. When he realized that the plan had at this point all but worked.
Tartarus had many contingencies, prepared for every imaginable threat. Most of them were automated, the government only ever fully trusting the one thing that couldn't be bought. That couldn't develop a political stance incompatible with the general societal consensus.
They also work fast. Activation of most contingency programs is a matter of a few clicks. It was set that way by design. Swiftness of a response to situations was seen as paramount.
Unfortunately, the computers also do not question orders they receive… for as long as they are within the programmed parameters.
As a result, they did not question it when Shishikross used the head warden's security credentials to initiate the procedure of transferring the position of the head warden to himself.
They also didn't question it when he activated one of the many contingency programs. The so-called House on Fire procedure. The system was created in a case of a large-scale betrayal of the wardens. Allowing the head warden to quickly set many if not most of the wardens as enemies, to be engaged by the security systems.
It was, once again, set to be quick. There was a chance of the head warden having to do it while the command center was under attack. The system was largely automated, run by state-of-the-art artificial intelligence. Capable of filtering through the camera feed real-time at head warden's order. Capable of accurately judging the situation - and, for example, properly reacting to orders such as 'mark all wardens attacking the command center as traitors'.
Unfortunately, it didn't consider the order of 'everyone but me is a traitor' to be weird. Day like any other, really.
It also didn't consider the order to consider all unregistered newcomers to be heroic reinforcements to be in any way strange. After all, it was a part of the House on Fire protocol. Except, the newcomers weren't the Fast Response Unit and the soldiers from the nearby military base as the creators of the protocol intended.
Especially as the bridge was promptly blown up.
Needless to say, what followed was a massacre.
(***)
14 Days Before Revival Celebration
"... holy shit." Eclipse blinks at him a few times. Somehow, Lady Murder seems to be shocked speechless. A rare achievement. "This…"
"... this might work." Mastermind admits. His eyes have just stopped glowing, his analysis of the probability of the plan working complete. "It's a solid 50/50, to be honest. So many things can go wrong during the attack on the command center that…"
"That's why this attack has three different variants, depending on whether we fuck up the timetable and the command center attack or not." Midoriya cuts in. Yaoyorozu nods in agreement. She isn't sure what the alternatives are, but she agrees with the fact that they're going to need it.
Midoriya raises a finger.
"First variant..." He continues. "... is that we mess up the chronology severely. I cannot announce to the world that we're attacking Tartarus if I'm not sure if the attacks will get anywhere. If that happens, I'll simply not mention it in front of Thunderbolt. The attack will continue off-screen, however."
Midoriya raises another finger.
"Second variant…." He continues. "... is that our spy is eliminated before he manages to turn the security systems against the wardens, or that head warden manages to commit suicide before capture. However we'll know of it BEFORE the time to announce our second attack will come. If that happens, we're cutting our losses. We pull our forces back through the warpgates… and warp in as many bombs as possible. Damaging the prison severely. We'll kill a lot of inmates, but the image of Tartarus and through it, the government, will be tarnished."
"There'll also be a chance that many inmates will escape in the chaos." Yaoyorozu decides to add. She looks… thoughtful. And maybe a tiny bit excited. "Not to mention, we'll do something that even the first PLF' failed at. Even if only narrowly. Promoting our brand further."
"Precisely." Midoriya nods in agreement. Third finger joins the other two. "Finally, the most optimistic outcome. We manage to turn the security against the wardens, giving us an actual fighting chance. We'll also capture the command center, allowing us to transmit the recordings of wardens dying to the world." He grins slightly. "While also giving some introductory shots to the leaders of our sub-organizations. Though without the camera-noumu, so it'll require some quick editing."
"I have the people to do that, no problem." Hatsume cuts in. "The Hatsume Industries' advertisement and PR department is ready to work overtime."
(***)
Revival Celebration Day
Thirty seconds after the FRU' arrival at the USJ.
As the chaos took hold of Tartarus, many wardens expected some input from the head warden of the prison. As the electronic system of the prison obviously went haywire, the command center felt like the best place to solve the issue. But it wasn't responding to any calls.
Things got even worse when the prison cells began to open up everywhere throughout the prison, one by one. Releasing the monsters inside. With the command center silent and the communication network in shambles, the defensive efforts of the wardens were disjointed and disorganized.
"This is the temporary head warden Senji Shishikura speaking." The intercom finally flared to life. "All suddenly freed inmates should head to the evacuation points in Blocks A and F of the surface level, or either the lowest or highest level of the Maximum Security Wing. The PLF's warper can pick you up from there. You are also welcome to kill any wardens you come across. Shishikross out."
Needless to say, that wasn't the message that the wardens expected. Despite that, they did their best. Unfortunately for them, it wasn't enough.
"CLOSE IT OFF!" A heavily wounded officer yells at the nearest wardens. There are only a few of them gathered up in the main guard post in one of the attacked surface blocks. The rest perished or were scattered elsewhere to get massacred by their own security systems.
The attempt of some of his compatriots to weld the entrance door to the guard post (so that their sole remaining programmer could focus on trying to retake control of the electronic system of this block in peace - a true sign of how desperate they were) is for naught. Before they even manage to close the door, someone runs inside.
They are wearing an Ascending Path robe. And an awful lot of explosives.
The suicide bomber kills everyone inside. And the warden's chances of stopping the take over of this block with them.
(***)
"Some of the heroes managed to clear up the automatic security in the section neighboring the one you're in, Mastermind. I think they are gathering scattered survivors for a counterattack."
"Tell me their exact numbers and placement, Fleshwarp. I'm on my way."
(***)
The security gate opened up, surprising the seven heroes that gathered inside. They are all exhausted, shocked, traumatized, yet still ready for fight. They just need a moment to recover their bearings.
One of them recognized the person in the black robe and golden skull-mask that walked inside.
"That's Mastermind!" He shouts to the others. "A-Rank, head of the CRC!"
Mastermind sighs. A-Rank. What a disgustingly low rank for someone of his status and abilities. A great reminder of how low his organization fell since the times of his mother's reign. How low the Paranormal Liberation Front as a whole fell. He should be a double S-Rank. Thankfully, that will change after today.
"An intelligence quirk." The hero adds. The others are relieved. They fail to realize that there is a reason why he just showed up in front of them, despite having an intelligence quirk. It's a Class-Five intelligence quirk, one to equal Nedzu.
Perhaps surpass him - Transformative quirks surpass mutant ones in output when activated. Besides, the baseline level of intelligence prior to the application of their quirks was incomparable. Nedzu's quirk had to raise his intelligence level from one of the non-sentient animal.
He activates his Living Computer. Within a heartbeat his cognitive speed is improved to the level that's comparable to a supercomputer. Everything around him are numbers. Trajectories, speeds, sizes, he knows everything. And Shishikross was nice enough to summarize the quirks of the people that he was facing. So he could factor that in.
The first hero that tried to lunge at him dies with his throat slit. Attacking him from the front was peak stupidity. Another one was smart enough to try to go at him from the side. It didn't help him a lot.
"Shield." He says emotionlessly. The combat knife that was going after him instead stabs one of the CRC soldiers that jumped in to take the blow for their leader. A second later Mastermind throws a knife over the shoulder of his living shield, hitting the hero right in the eye.
He didn't even have to look in his direction. The sounds of the fighting bounced off the walls. His brain took them in and analyzed them in a way similar to echolocation. 360 degree of permanent sight, for as long as he was using his quirk.
Another hero gets shot in the head a few seconds later. Slaughtering two of them in melee made the others reconsider their tactic and keep their distance. Mastermind adapted immediately. Yes, the hero hid behind cover when he saw the gun. No, it didn't change anything - Mastermind calculated things perfectly and got him with a ricochet off the wall.
Like taking a candy from a kid, really. Shame none of the victims are mutants. But it's not like he is particularly picky about that. Besides, they are here today as members of the Paranormal Liberation Front. Not as the CRC.
Another hero tries to power up some sort of fireball attack. Mastermind actually lets him do that (it's not like that's dangerous or anything) while shooting another hero dead. The resulting explosion makes the heroes lose sight of the villain.
"We got him?" The fire hero says, his voice slightly shaken by the massacre. "Did we get h…"
"Nope." Mastermind announces while pulling a trigger. He managed to get close enough to the flame hero to shoot him in the side of his head practically point blank. The hero's brain gets splattered over his two remaining comrades.
Limiting your own visibility while engaging an enemy with a form of echolocation… sigh. Sure, it's mostly because they have no idea that he has it, but it still hurts a little. Slaughtering them isn't emotionally satisfying when they are this outmatched.
Hopefully they'll up his rank after this, so that the enemies will at least know what to expect when facing him.
The two remaining heroes die quickly. He can only hope that the ISP's chief bitch scored less kills than he did. Anything else would be humiliating.
The world gets to see the whole massacre from the perspective of some of the nearby cameras.
(***)
"You look strong." Lady Murder yells at the wardens in front of her from her perch at the top of the large hall. What was it? Some sort of conference room? Office space? She doesn't care about that. "Are you strong?"
She follows the plan, yes. She isn't stupid. If anything, it's the stupidity of most of her subordinates that was the most taxing part of being an authoritarian despot of that ghetto. But if there is one thing that she was really interested in, it was fighting.
There are two bulky men in front of her. Both wearing outfits betraying the fact that they aren't normal wardens. Both have multiple hands, enough to be armed in at least three sets of guns each. Each with two hands to operate.
Fucking idiots. Yes, that's a lot of suppressive fire. But they can forget about hitting more than one target at once, unless they also have several sets of eyes to follow targets around. Hmph. They should have used blades and shields instead. That would be cool.
"How about we find out, bitch?" One of them barks back aggressively. "We are Briareos and Gyges, S-Rank hero duo known as Gatekeepers of Tartarus. And who are you?" At least they have enough common fucking decency to introduce themselves before fighting.
"I am Lady Murder!" She yells back, drawing her sword. "High Warlord of the new Inhuman Supremacy party! Currently unranked! Now give it your all, because the rest of you lot are fucking boring!"
She jumps sideways before the storm of bullets can hit her. There are enough covers for her to dodge attacks and stay hidden, but the area directly surrounding the Gatekeepers is empty. If she jumps out haphazardly, she might get shot. Her quirk doesn't make her bulletproof.
She jumps around a few times, showing herself for a moment or two, testing their reactions. They are fast. They trained fighting alongside each other long enough to not make any stupid mistakes. Even if she tries to position herself so that one of them is between her and the other one, they'll rapidly adapt.
They can fight her like equals. There is a chance that she'll die. It's fun! It's fun!
Murder laughs loudly. This betrays her position, and her cover comes under fire. She doesn't care. It's fun! That's what's important! She pulls out one of her side-weapons. It's pretty much a small knife at the end of a long chain. She starts swinging it around before jumping out of cover and throwing it.
Her aim isn't off. She calculated the range and their movements perfectly in the split second she had an eye on them. The wound is shallow, but that's not a problem. She jumps to the cover a second before the Gatekeepers' guns shoot her dead. She thought she would die for a moment. It was fun! It was exhilarating! The adrenaline rush alone was… AWESOME!
They yell some form of 'You thought that's enough to kill us'. She doesn't care. Few more jumps around, waiting until they are positioned perfectly. Then she jumps out of her cover and runs towards them, full speed.
The one in front of her jumps sideways, the one behind him raises his guns. That's when she licks the blood on the knife before letting it fall to the ground. The enemy that was about to shoot her suddenly feels his body go limp. If she was a moment slower, she would be shot. It's awesome! It's fun!
"Brot…" The other one shouts in horror after seeing that with a corner of their eye. Too slow. She lifts off the ground with a powerful kick, twists her body mid-flight and decapitates him with a single blow to his neck. The blood gushes from the wound.
The paralyzed one screams, their face facing the other one. She slits his throat a few seconds later. Then she goes to look for even more fun. Surely, those two weren't the only tough people among the Tartarus wardens, right?
Naturally, the cameras were on her. No way the PLF would leave such a gem of a fight unrecorded.
(***)
Eclipse is very pragmatic in combat. Her quirk lets her conjure two-dimensional surfaces with properties of fifteen centimeters of any natural surfaces around her. She has a lot of concrete around her, so she can use it quite well.
Step one: Enter a corridor filled with surviving wardens. Step two: Conjure a surface to act as a shield from their attack. Step three: conjure several more vertical and horizontal surfaces, their monomolecular edges facing her enemies. Step four: launch those through her shield, immediately slicing everyone in front of her into small bits. Step five: deactivate them before they slice through the facility walls and flood something important.
It's not very glamorous, but it does the job well. The resistance of the wardens at the lowest level of the facility is broken very quickly.
Once again, the world is graced with some recordings. Midoriya is especially fond of the part with Eclipse walking past piles of bleeding warden-bits, followed by a squad of QLF soldiers. It's a rather grizzly sight. Which means that it fits the atmosphere of the day like a glove.
(***)
Almost two minutes into the battle, it finally happened. Trumpet was, honestly, waiting for it. He had one of the MLA soldiers accompanying him be on the lookout. To warn their blind Grand Commander (more like a deputy, it's Midoriya's spot regardless of what Notebook says) when it happens.
He could guess it from Kouta's slightly panicked gulp. Losing not just sight but also his sense of smell improved what was left of his hearing. Like a second quirk, really. Trumpet found the very concept amusing.
"Jetstream just killed a warden." The MLA trooper whispers to Trumpet. "Beheaded him with the Jet Cutter." His super move. Yeah. Kouta was incredibly proud of himself when he managed to create it. Probably by imagining what it would do to Muscular if the murderer of his parents was still around.
Yeah. As Trumpet expected, Jetstream did it. His first kill. A necessary element of his development as a villain. Of course, what sort of villain he'll end up as is something that Koku Hanabata will have to influence.
"So, it finally happened." Trumpet announces. Sure, they are attacking Tartarus. But Koku Hanabata's command of this is only theoretical. Someone else is issuing orders. He is only supposed to be there. "What do you feel, Jetstream?"
The main combat zone relocated elsewhere. Trumpet's group is lagging a bit behind. They'll be warned before the camera's on them - when they will, Trumpet will pretend to be issuing orders to people in the area with some dead wardens in it. He is a politician, after all. He knows how to look well, even if he is currently missing his face.
"I…" Kouta struggles with finding the right words. "I… don't know. I mean, I thought it was going to be easy, but…"
"... but it shouldn't be." Trumpet decides to give him a hand. Guide him in the right direction. The burden of those that lived in this world for much longer. "You aren't supposed to enjoy it. You aren't supposed to find it 'easy'."
"But… it's a war, right?" Trumpet wishes that he could see his face now. The tone of his voice can only get him so far. "We're supposed to kill them."
"We are, yes." Trumpet nods slightly, ignoring the pain. "But remember one thing. Every person we kill is a person that we failed. A person that will not live in the better world that we'll create. A person that we didn't persuade to accept our ideology, resulting in us having to resort to the final sanction. There is nothing to be happy about in that."
"I-I guess." Kouta says after a few seconds. "Liking that, it's… something Muscular would do, right?"
"Yes, Kouta." Trumpet replies. Kouta never ran into Muscular during the Training Camp Massacre nor afterwards, but he spent years trying to understand what drove the person that killed his parents. Even today, Kouta merely wanted to destroy the system - but it was Muscular whom he truly and honestly hated. "Be happy when a mission goes off correctly, when our objectives are met and when your comrades return unharmed. Not when you end someone's life. It might be a necessity. You might and probably will grow to accept it. But never ever grow to like that."
They had enough of that with Entropy and her little circus. Trumpet missed out the time when the first League truly lost it, but Midoriya has recently filled him in on the details. He was… furious. Livid. To see Re-Destro's dream - their dream - led to ruin by these sorts of people, was horrifying to him.
Jetstream will be a much better villain than they ever were. Trumpet will do his best to ensure that. For as long as his body will hold.
They get a warning that a camera will be on them in ten seconds. Trumpet quickly starts barking out orders. They have only a single shot on that. They'll make it count.
(***)
Wardens getting massacred by Eclipse. Lady Murder slaying an S-Rank duo without getting scratched. Mastermind slaughtering a squad of heroes. Trumpet issuing orders, flanked by Kouta Izumi.
Japan gets to see all of that. And more.
Wardens getting killed by their own security systems. Cell doors opening up, releasing the monsters inside. People long thought dead, returning to life - the people manning the Tartarus command center show the world a shot or two of people like Miruko and Stain, exiting their cells. To the almost immediate detriment of any warden in sight.
"W-what?" Thunderbolt stares at the image in front of him in shock. Somehow the screen behind the stage remained operational.
"We're going to help ourselves to this buffet of recruitable villains that you gathered for us there." Midoriya announces. "Including the ones from the 'Shinigami Record', the secret list of people you imprisoned there in secret, while telling the world that they died. We're going to unleash a tidal wave of serial killers, murderers, rapists, terrorists, crime lords and former heroes upon Japan."
The day is almost over. Just two small things left for the day and they can pull back before the government has the time to unleash the Sword of Damocles.