"The Battle of Kuat was truly a historic event. Indeed, it was so significant, that we changed our entire dating system to commemorate it. For example, 300 BBK (Before Battle of Kuat), was the year quirks manifested for the first time among Human beings and 25 ABK (After Battle of Kuat) was the year the Kuat monument was commissioned by the United Nations."
- Encyclopedia Britannica, circa 50 ABK.
Forward Command Post, Huang Li Township.
"Ok, final call." began General Onomori Ichi. "All Might."
"CHECK!" replied Toshinori, glancing towards his fellow heroes.
"Endeavor?"
"Check." grunted the perpetually annoyed Number Two hero.
"Mt. Lady?"
"Check!" cried Yu Takeyama, her voice booming across the town, causing everyone to hold their radios away from their ears in pain.
"Damn it, Yu!" shouted Kamui Woods. "My ears nearly bled!"
'"Sorry!" she whispered, not sounding sorry at all.
"Kamui Woods already confirmed,.." Ichi continued, unfazed. "ok, Death Arms?"
"Here."
"Eraserhead?"
"Why am I even here?" asked the world weary voice of Shouta Aizawa.
"Because there is literally no other hero on the planet with an Erasure quirk like yours!" responded Nezu chirpily. "Ugh whatever. Let's just get it over with, and go home." Aizawa replied.
"Hawks?"
"Oh I'm here all right. Along with every other hero who could be considered important in all of Japan. What's the plan?" asked the curious Keigo Takami.
"We shall fill you in after we finish the call. Ryukyu?"
"Ready." replied the Dragoon Hero, curt and to the point.
"Edgeshot?"
"Yes."
"Vlad King?"
"Let's get this over with fast." said Sekijiro Kan, hero name, Vlad King. "I have a class to get back to."
"Mirko?"
"LET'S GO KICK SOME ASS!" cried the enthusiastic Rabbit Hero.
"Best Jeanist?"
"Yes."
"Ok, heroes. Here is the situation. The drones we sent earlier have been shot down." General Ichi reported, much to their shock. "They appear to have prepared well in advance. They have anti-aircraft guns all over the Complex. Ryukyu, Hawks, you may not be able to engage in air combat with them."
Ryuko cursed, while Keigo nodded solemnly. "Understood. Stick low to the ground then?"
"That is probably the best approach. However, long range photos our recon elements sent back to us show that they have cleared an area a mile across in every direction around the Comp.."
"A minefield, isn't it?" interrupted the bored voice of Aizawa.
"Indeed." Ichi confirmed. "What makes it even more troublesome are the active defenses close to the walls of the Complex itself. There appear to have constructed a network of pillboxes and bunkers, all interconnected and presumably well stocked with ammo for their guns and cannons."
"Cannons?" asked Sekijiro, intrigued.
"Yes. Photos indicate they have a couple of 100 mm anti personnel cannons, like the ones mounted on light tanks. They also have procured a very few 180mm anti tank cannons, which are the kind that are used on heavy vehicles."
"Holy shit that is ridiculous!" Mirko exclaimed. "How the hell did they get something like that?!"
"They revealed that last night." Ichi deadpanned. "In case you didn't watch that," Aizawa added. "Look just a few kilometres south, at the two giant towers, as well as the giant logo on them. It should tell you how."
Mirko merely snorted in annoyance. "Jeez, you guys ever hear of the term, 'rhetorical question'?!"
"Anyway, those cannons are not the main threat. All Might," called Ichi in a grave tone. "They probably brought this one to deal specifically with you."
Toshinori narrowed his eyes, and his bright smile ever so slightly faltered. "AND WHAT WOULD THAT BE?" he asked.
"A few metres ahead of the main gate, there are four 280mm cannons. For reference, the earlier cannons were used on tanks. These four,..were used on battleships."
There was utter silence, as every hero tried to absorb the incredulity of that. "Just how wealthy are these guys?!" Kamui Woods gasped.
"Until last night, the Kuat Corporation, all legal assets and money included, was worth well over 10 trillion US dollars." explained Ryuko. "And if we include all the illegal ones, it goes up to easily 20 plus. If anything, I'm surprised that they only got four. They could buy eight if they wanted!"
"Whatever the case.." Ichi brought the discussion back to the offensive. "All Might, those four are meant for you, we are guessing. So stay the hell away from the line of sight of those monsters."
"GOT IT!" The Number one pro hero flashed a quick thumbs up.
"Moving on, their static defense is the Complex's wall. It is a three hundred inch thick wall made of a variety of metals, all of which are heavy and strong. Do not expect it to crumble with a single punch, or melt from high temperatures. The only weak point in the structure is the gate."
"The gate with four giant cannons guarding it." commented Nezu, weirdly happily. Everyone sweat dropped at that.
"Y-yes. But even if we broke through the gates, we still have the problem of the army they have assembled."
Every hero perked up at that. They had all seen the satellite images earlier, when they had first arrived in fact. The size of the army was intimidating indeed.
"We have all types of villains here it appears. From D class villains, common street thugs and thieves, all the way up to S class villains, the serious ones. They will offer heavy resistance. And from what we can tell of their formations and movement, the inexperienced ones are at the forefront, and the truly experienced ones are further back. Their strategy appears to be to wear you all down with resistance, and letting the experienced ones take you out. So deal with the thugs quickly. Otherwise we won't have the strength to make it to the penthouse, which is where Lucifer is."
Everyone stiffened at the name. The only villain, or, given what they knew now about them, villain group, that had reached SSS class status, besides All For One.
"As for the minefields, we will be conducting an airstrike all across the minefields. Heroes from other nations will be assaulting elsewhere. Since Lucifer's origins are from our nation, we were allowed to take the main gate. Remember, the goal is to reach the penthouse. The group may have set traps on every floor. Unfortunately," Ichi frowned. "We do not know what manner or shape these traps will take. I hate to say this, but, the villains will have the home field advantage within the buildings themselves."
Every hero nodded solemnly. It was a daunting challenge indeed. The group known as Lucifer were no fools.
They had chosen the playing field.
They had chosen the time.
And they had chosen the circumstances. The heroes were forced to be reactive, instead of proactive.
"But that does not mean that we're going to give up!" Ichi said forcefully. "Remember what we are here for. Lucifer has been the cause of the deaths of countless heroes across the world! And yesterday night, they openly challenged the worldwide hero community. What is worse is that they are from our nation." he bowed his head in shame, alongside many other heroes. "This makes Lucifer our responsibility. We cannot fail! In fact, the Prime Minister forbids it!" cried General Ichi.
"So prepare yourselves, for the hardest fight you will ever face!"
"Understood/yes/got it/whatever!" everyone replied.
KCC
The KCC was truly gargantuan. Two massive towers, each two kilometres high, stretched up into the clouds. They rested on a foundation of other buildings, which connected the two towers. These buildings alone were at least four hundred metres tall, and sported various structures like domes and radio towers, all of which looked like tiny structures in comparison to the behemoth main buildings that loomed above them.
The building formed the main structure of the Complex, but by no means was it the only structure. The whole compound itself was easily larger than I-Island, and just as heavily fortified. All these other structures had been cleared out however, and were replaced. Schools were children once walked became storerooms for weapons. Shopping centers and residential complexes became mini fortresses that the heroes would have to take in order to proceed. The streets, which were once weighed down by cars, now were weighed down by makeshift barriers of concrete and steel.
"All right, beginners, amateurs, and pros!" began Tomura Shigaraki, an excited grin on his face, though none could see it. Kurogiri stood silently behind him, the warp gate user visibly exhausted after transporting so many villains to the KCC. "The game will start within an hour! All of you who don't want to play, exit the server now! I shall call out your names, and if you don't respond, then you're considered disqualified! Got it?! Let's start! Compress?"
"A gentleman never betrays his allies! I will fight." Atsuhiro Sako declared.
"Spinner?"
"Stain was right. This world is full of fake heroes! Today, they shall all lose, and I, Spinner, will be glad to play a part in this mission!"
"No long winded monologues!" roared Shigaraki. "Keep it simple! Dabi!"
"Hell yes. Let's do this." was the enthusiastic reply.
"Twice!"
"Absolutely ready boss!/ Hell no, I am out!" came the paradoxical reply of Jin Bubaigawara.
"Magne!"
"Yes!"
"Moonfish!"
"Yesssss.."
"Mustard?"
"Ready and waiting! Let's give them hell!"
"ugh, this will take too long.." Shigaraki grumbled. "Ok, everyone else, confirm with your hands, or wings, or whatever."
Instantly, right across the Complex, all manner of limbs shot up. Some even let loose with their quirks. The army they had gathered was enormous, with villains from nearly every continent on Earth. And it would go through the heroes like a meat grinder.
"Very well!" cried Shigaraki. "Remember the plan! We must delay the heroes for as long as possible! Do whatever it takes! Go all out, and send them running back to their base with their tails between their legs!"
The army roared once more.
Tomura grinned. I hope you're watching, Sensei. He thought.
Seventeen Years Ago..
"No! NO! L-l-let m-me GO! Please...no!"
"Ah, thank you so much, Captain!" gushed Mother, as she watched Izuku getting dragged back to her by the ever smiling Captain Celebrity.
"Does he always run away?" asked the pro hero, in an annoyed tone.
"Yes, it's quite a problem.." Mother sighed heavily. "You see, the other children in the orphanage bully him quite a lot. I've tried to get them to stop, but they just don't listen..." she looked dejectedly at the ground.
"I see." the hero nodded, while beside him, Izuku struggled and pulled with all his might against Celebrity's tight hold.
"Thank you for bringing him back, Captain Celebrity-san!" she bowed. "And sorry for the inconvenience he has caused! Rest assured, I will take some more...strict measures." she smiled a sickly, menacing smile. Izuku paled at the sight.
"You are nothing but a waste of space. You are a nobody, and you will never be anything. Repeat."
Izuku would have gladly done so, were his throat not hurting like he had had a red hot poker jammed down his gullet.
"I..am...no.."
"LOUDER!"
Izuku attempted to raise his voice, but couldn't. His voice was gone, nothing but a whisper now.
He wondered what would happen if he screamed again. Would my throat tear open? Would I lose my voice forever?
His questions were soon answered, as Mother sadistically pushed something forward, just out of his sight. A searing pain flooded his bound body, screaming down his spine, penetrating every bone,and every blood vessel, turning them inside out and tearing them apart.
And Izuku had his answer, as his screams echoed across the room.
Izuku suddenly felt eerily calm and focused, and he watched his actions as if he were watching another person. His teeth found purchase on the hero's wrists. His mind echoed with the harsh words that he had endured for years upon years. Words that drove him forward.
"You're a weak, pathetic nobody!"
Captain Celebrity roared in anguish. "Why you litt- GAAAAH!" Before he could finish, Izuku had jumped up, and dug his hands straight into the the hero's blue tinted visor, cracking it into a thousand glittering shards that lodged themselves into the hero's eyes, causing the man to scream once more.
"Why don't you go kill yourself? You're nothing but a waste of space anyway..."
Twisting himself around, he leapt from Christopher Skyline's head to Mother's, one of his scarred hands clutching the biggest shard he could find. Mother stumbled back in shock, as her eyes met with her ward's.
The emeralds had stopped shining.
"You will never amount to anything. You were born useless, and you will die useless."
With not a word uttered, Izuku calmly bowled the sixty year old woman over onto the road. Her skull cracked slightly upon the hard impact. There was more damage to come however.
The greenette straddled her, and his empty eyes stared into the very depths of her soul, igniting in her an emotion she had shut away so long ago. An emotion that had fueled her rage and hate against those born without a quirk. An emotion that she had refused to acknowledge even existed, since those bleak days, living with her monster of a father.
Sheer, dark, terror.
"You killed your parents. That's why you're here. You killed your parents, and do you know why?"
No words were spoken. No apologies exchanged, no screams heard. Just a pathetic, weak gurgle, as Izuku Midoriya plunged the shard with the strength of two years of abuse, into the woman's wrinkled and mottled throat, penetrating into her larynx, and breaking it like a glass shattering against the floor.
"Because you are a pathetic, quirkless subhuman. You don't deserve to live in this world. Your parents died because of you! It. Is. Your. Fault!"
Thunder resounded against the sky, and snapped the greenette back to life. His eyes shone once again with that zeal of life, only to be smothered by horror, as he saw what he had wrought.
Mother lay dead before him, blood flowing like a fountain out of her throat and mouth. Behind him, Captain Celebrity, a pro hero, moaned and cursed, clutching at his eyes which bled crimson.
A strangled cry escaped him, as he realized what he had done. His eyes began to tear up.
You must kill him too. His mind suddenly declared, causing the boy to freeze for a moment, before shaking violently, as he stood and turned towards the hero, gripping the shard that he had ripped out of the woman's throat.
"I'm sorry.." he whispered. To whom, he did not know.
Your fault. Your fault. Your fault...Deku.
Some time later, Alonzo DeCosta, the photographer extraordinaire who had been appointed as Christopher Skyline's personal cameraman, would come across the grisly scene.
The police would be called, and Alonzo would give them the details, albeit a little hysterically.
No suspects were ever found.
Tartarus Prison
Musutafu, Japan
Tartarus. In Greek mythology, it was the name of the abyss into which the wicked and evil were thrown, to suffer for their sins in the mortal world.
It made sense then, that it would be the name of the greatest, most heavily secured prison ever built in the planet's history. Made to hold even the legendary SSS class villains, who were the truly terrifying ones that could obliterate cities, and bring down nations with the same ease as normal people would crush an ant.
And like an ancient Titan, at the deepest point of Tartarus, was a prison for the most powerful villain to have ever lived. A man who ruled multiple nations from the shadows, and -directly or indirectly-, caused the deaths of millions, until the Symbol of Peace himself fought the Titan, and brought him down from from his Olympian throne.
This Titan's name, was All For One. And as Shigaraki had hoped, he was indeed watching. Despite being bound heavily and covered in quirk suppressing cuffs all over his body, incarcerated behind hundred inch thick titanium reinforced walls, he was still allowed to watch television. And the television was currently showing the scene in Huang Li, where the heroes of Japan had gathered, alongside many others from various nations.
He couldn't help but chuckle. So it begins. He thought, happily.
Honestly, he wasn't surprised. When he had first met Izuku Midoriya, and his companions, he saw in their eyes an anger that he knew all to well. A raging fire that roared against the society they lived in. He should know, after all, it was that very fire that had gained him so many allies. But when Izuku told him his plan, All For One could only stare.
The sheer simplicity, of Izuku's ideas was so jarring that All For One couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it earlier. And the ancient villain had instantly known that this was it. That Izuku Midoriya was the ace in the hole. The one he could use to finally end Hero society, along with everything else society was about.
As Izuku had told him, so long ago;
"There can be no heroes if there are no villains. There can be no villains if there are no heroes. Take them both out together, and society will fall."
A quick note: For consistency's sake, Izuku and his 'family' are all roundabout the same age, and All Might has not handed over One For All to Mirio.
SpectreOfMars