TheGreatBubbaJ - *screams*
Jpx0999 - That chapter should answer that question :P
Shahryar - Everyone wants it to end. But it's going to take a while more, I'm afraid :V and there are a lot of deaths ahead of us.
Mernom - That guy is basically the Evil Mad Scientist in canon, it comes in a package :P
MosesArk Reborn2000 - Yes, let's just say that the collapse of Japan is going to be written in detail. And it's going to be bloody.
(***)
The second message from Revenant to the public was aired live throughout numerous TV Stations, once again either hacked or secretly bought, or due to them not caring about public safety and not wanting to stay behind on the new scoop.
Monoma and Kuroiro saw it, both of them knowledgeable enough to know that this time it was going to be answered much more actively.
Eri & Her Two Idiots saw it, the message happening during their allowed TV Time, a wry victorious smile on Eri's face.
Ayako Nakahara saw it, right in the middle of officially taking over the Northern Army's Headquarters. She didn't like it one bit, and the message that Midoriya just pulled a rushed Hokkaido on Kyushu (that the world learned of before the actual Hokkaido) made her seethe.
The Prime Minister saw it, her hurried (and angry) phone call to Mera cut short. It was at this point that she began to realize the mistake she made with Saiko Intelli.
Variant Yellow of the Citadel Plan was put in effect, some of the JGSDF forces and heroes receiving messages telling them to relocate now.
Way too little, and a bit too late. The Kyushu garrison was getting massacred more and more with every passing minute. Midoriya clearly preferred increased casualties caused by the sheer exhaustion of his forces to letting too many soldiers reach the relative safety of the local Citadels.
Things would stabilize sooner or later. But for now, speed and initiative were of utmost importance.
Thanks to Cloud, the PLF had both in spades. She was the lynchpin of their entire war effort, right from the start. The world's most effective force multiplier.
Less than an hour after Revenant's public address, Ryukyu and Gang Orca (still exhausted and injured after Marukane Ward, but under a good make-up to hide that) made a public speech of their own.
In it, they announced the deposition of the Prime Minister… and dissolution of the New Vigilante Alliance. From now on, they were no longer vigilantes. They were pro-heroes, loyal to the new government of Japan, that was going to be temporarily centered on Hokkaido, before inevitably reclaiming the rest of the country from the despote in Tokyo.
In one fell-swoop, Nakahara got herself an army, a lot of pro-heroes and the appropriate support infrastructure to them both, while dealing another blow to the Prime Minister's image.
Naturally, it didn't take a lot of time for the theoretically legal government of Japan (they should probably start referring to it as the Tokyo Government) to officially denounce the secessionists as villains and terrorists.
Ironically enough, the denouncement wasn't far from the truth.
There were regular clashes on Hokkaido, but it was clear that they wouldn't last for long, as the overwhelming majority of the Northern Army sided with Spyglass. The resistance was coming mostly from hero agencies belonging to locally deployed Paragons that retained their loyalty to the Tokyo Government.
Midoriya's speech about the misdeeds of the Prime Minister greatly helped in that, by making it somewhat more mentally acceptable for a lot of soldiers to turn their back on the oaths they made. A final push for many of them.
A lot of them decided that both sides could go fuck themselves equally and left the barracks, leaving their equipment behind and trying to head home before the front got there.
Then again, the soil in the Northern Army was fertile to begin with, the officers exiled there slowly cultivating it for months if not years, the dissent slowly growing more and more intense, boiling under the surface.
The JGSDF general staff had known about it, and had continued to do their best to alleviate the situation. If not for the NVA's active support in the process of corrupting the Northern Army, it would have probably worked.
The social order in Japan was steadily skydiving… and it was only going to get worse from here on.
Thirty minutes before Revenant announced the establishment of another 'new government of Japan' (centered on Kyushu and made up of former members of the Hearts and Minds Party that were either parts of the MLA the whole time or were freed from Tartarus during the Revival Celebration), Saiko Intelli and Mirio Togata reached Itsuka Kendou's hero agency.
(***)
"L-Lemillion?!" Kendou recognized him right off the bat, disguise be damned. Should Intelli be surprised that Mirio knew exactly what to say to make the receptionist at the agency call Kendou immediately? It really sounded like a special password. "What are you doing here? Shouldn't you be in Tokyo?"
She rushed downstairs, the atrium of the agency practically empty. She wasn't allowed to be an SS-Rank Hero (due to politics), but she clearly got around that fact by making her agency big.
And filled with a lot of competent heroes that weren't allowed to be promoted too far (even with Lemillion's unofficial patronage). It was an agency worthy of an SS-Rank Hero, that much was certain to Saiko at a glance.
"I've decided to leave the capital before the Prime Minister could get the arrest order ready." Lemillion replies dryly, while taking his cap, sunglasses and a face mask off. Thankfully, it was the allergic season, so face masks didn't look off. "I think that the Top Bitch #1 just lose it completely and began to purge everyone who dares to have a differing opinion."
Kendou looks at him in shock and disbelief for maybe a second.
"Is that why they just sent an arrest order on Mindscape as a triple S-Rank villain?" Kendou says. Intelli is torn between sighing in concentrated 'why the fuck was I working for that woman' and a hint of guilty pleasure over overtaking Spyglass in a villain ranking. "What the hell's going on?"
"A civil war started for real, that's what's happening." Lemillion replies. "The Prime Minister lost it after discovering that Nejire-Chan was apparently possessed by the body-hopping spirit of Entropy…" Kendou stares at him slackjawed over that. "... and that Crusader was an NVA mole. She has begun to crack-down on everyone that even theoretically might be a traitor. And yes, I'm 90% sure that she has you on the 'to-purge' list. So we're going to have to act as quickly as possible. Did you call everyone back to the agency?"
"Yes, right after Revenant's internet speech." Kendou replies. "Everyone's already here or heading here as we speak. Wait, wait, wait…" She shakes her head a little. "... are you telling me that Saiko Intelli got purged? What the hell did she do to warrant that?!"
"Yeah, I agree, that's quite the shocking development for the Top Bitch #2…" Lemillion replies. Somehow he manages not to smile wryly at that. Saiko, similarly, manages to not react to discovering how she was referred to among his friend's group. It's almost entirely incorrect, either way. If anything, she saw herself more as Sub Bitch #1. "... although it turns out that she wasn't the uncaring, downright psychopathic child-eating monster we've all assumed her to be."
Oh, he is doing this on purpose, doesn't he?
"So what, was she actually an uncaring, downright psychopathic adult-eating monster?" Kendou retorts venomously. Uh-oh.
"Not even that." Lemillion replies calmly. "But she scored brownie points with me by reacting to the announcement of my soon-to-occur purge by referring to the Prime Minister as, and I quote, 'stupid, fucking, prejudiced bitch' and telling her to go burn in hell right next to All for One, as the two of them were clearly deserving each other."
Kendou seems to have bluescreened at an attempt to visualize Saiko Intelli telling that that to the Prime Minister. Eventually, she resorts to disbelief, a very valid form of coping.
"Who told you that?" Kendou replies, while staring at Lemillion with shock in her eyes. "Someone made it up, it's probably some sort of plot to force the potentially disobedient to out themselves by making them flee the capital, with some 'if they purged Mindscape they can purge everyone' idea behind it."
Oh. That was actually quite ingenious. Then again, Monoma was working at her agency, no wonder she picked up some ingenuity and cunning plots from him. Getting him on their side was going to be a big thing for the soon-to-be rebellion.
"I was actually standing right next to her when that happened." Lemillion hurried up with a reassurance. "In fact, I think it might be a good idea to make it clear that I'm still standing right next to her."
Kendou blinks at him. Then glances at his companion. The one that she probably thought was one of his sidekicks.
The one with short and messy black hair, a pair of dark gray headphones on her neck (with the logo of some modern rock band), a black T-Shirt (of the same rock band), strategically tattered jeans and black combat boots.
Saiko Intelli was proud of her disguise skills. Shame she didn't have anything pre-planned for Lemillion, which is why his disguise was of significantly lesser quality. Then again, he wasn't (yet) legally a supervillain.
Also, regrowing her hair was going to last forever. Ugh.
Saiko Intelli decides to let her inner gremlin out for a moment, and with a completely expressionless look on her face pulls out the monocle from her pocket, before putting it on her eye.
"Better?" She then asks Kendou dryly.
Kendou stares back at her for several seconds, before looking back at Lemillion.
"You didn't." She then half-says, half-asks.
"Look, this is going to be a regular civil war, hell, it already is one." Lemillion replies. "We have little choice right now. None of us could stomach working for the PLF. The NVA is barely any better. The Prime Minister wants us dead. Our only shot of going through this mess without losing whatever shreds of dignity we have left is to tell them all to fuck off. And for this to work, we're going to need everyone we can get on our side."
"Including Intelli?!" Kendou is clearly not agreeing with the idea in the slightest. "Who else are you going to recruit? Mera? Invincible? Fucking Revenant?!"
This is, honestly, the reception that Mindscape expected. She was way too high in the Government's ranks to expect anything else. But then, Lemillion decides to surprise her.
"Yes." Lemillion replies calmly. "If they show willingness to join us, I'll let them join. Under proper supervision of course, since trust is something you have to earn. But I believe in second chances, Kendou. If Revenant's little public statement and what happened to the Cursed Class are anything to go by, we would be facing ten times less bullshit if so did the whole country."
This time, Intelli and Kendou both stare at him in shock. Lemillion sighs painfully.
"This is going to be the last flight of heroics as they should be, heroics as they were during the Era of Peace." Lemillion adds, looking at Kendou calmly. "If we crash and burn, there'll be nothing left. The ideas that we all used to believe in will vanish. Heroics will be no more, just a bunch of quirk warlords and their armies, with or without mock hero licenses. So whoever sees All Might, thinks that this is what a hero should be and is ready to fight for it, but without losing themselves to acts that would make the Symbol of Peace look away in disgust, is welcome."
Silence in the room. Lemillion, in Saiko's opinion, really reads like a character from another story. One much more optimistic.
"Even Revenant?!" It's probably not surprise that Kendou knows about Lemillion's hatred for the man, especially over what happened to Sir Nighteye. Centipeder's death only reinforced it.
"I hate him." Lemillion says calmly. "I hate him, and I want him jailed or dead. He is a monster and one of the worst villains in the history of this country." He pauses for a second, before sighing. "But a hero is supposed to prioritize saving people over stopping villains. I'll not tarnish the memories of Sir Nighteye and All Might by letting all that they fought for fall to ruin because of my personal hatred. I know that it'll never happen, so I'll never have to prove the sincerity of my words. But if Revenant showed up in front of me, apologized for what he did and said that he wants to help us win, I'd accept his help."
Against herself, Saiko looks to the side. It's… hard to look at him now. He really is from another story, isn't he? Seeing him speak words like that… it makes her look back at her own work story and…
… was she really a hero the whole time? She might have had a license, but… she was pretty much a governmental official with a badge, wasn't she? It kind of hurts.
She feels really out of place among them.
"We'll probably have a lot of people that the recent events… influenced." Lemillion adds, completely unaware of his lover's internal turmoil. "It's one thing to obey the government in the name of public safety, of seeing a rotten peace to be a better option than a civil war. It's another thing entirely when the civil war is already there, and you have to choose a side. Ours might be morally right, but also the weakest, and probably by far. Many people will have to decide whether to choose their safety or their conscience… and I think that anyone who chooses conscience, despite knowing the odds, deserves a second chance." Lemillion pauses for a second before giving Kendou a rather solemn smile. "And I think that All Might would think so as well."
It seems, Saiko decides, that the himbo she was hopelessly in love with really put a lot of points in the Charisma stat. But it required some correction, preferably while Kendou was still digesting it.
"Mirio, do me a favour." She says, Mirio glancing at her. "Don't tell anyone we're trying to recruit that we're the weakest of all factions and that the odds are completely against us, okay? It's not a good recruitment policy."
"I don't think there is a point in lying to people who know how it really is." Mirio replies. "But I get your point. I'll do my best to make it look like we have a chance in public. Even if I'll have to lie about it."
"One day, they'll find you stabbed to death in your sleep, and they'll never find the perpetrator." Intellli comments dryly. Mirio gives her a wry smile.
"Why do I have a feeling that you're way closer than I ever imagined you to be?" Kendou wakes up from her thoughts and decides to ask.
Mirio opens his mouth to say something, but Intelli decides to say it first.
"Let's just say that if you somehow persuade him to arrest me for being a, technically, SSS-Rank villain…" Intelli replies with a wry smile on her face. "... it won't be the first time that Mirio handcuffed me."
Yeah, take that Kendou.
"Okay." Kendou takes a deep breath. Right after a brief glance at Mirio's face confirms that she understood those words correctly. "I'm going to need a brain bleach after that. In the meantime…" She looks at Lemillion's face. "... you're serious about it. About starting another frontline in that civil war."
"I've never been more serious in my life, Kendou." Lemillion replies. "We can no longer hope to change anything peacefully. And if war is the only option to change this country for the better, then a war it is."
Kendou stares at him for several seconds, in complete silence. Mirio responded in kind. Eventually, Battle Fist speaks.
"Very well." She says. She feels… resigned. "Guess that's one more hero agency on your side. What's your plan?"
Lemillion glances at Saiko.
"I need a command center." Intelli announces. "And Lemillion and you have to contact whatever hero dissidents and supporters in the JGSDF or the police you might have and make sure that they're on our side. I had my sidekicks scatter and hide before the Prime Minister could have them arrested, it'll take me a while to gather them all here and I'll need them to coordinate everything properly. Once that's done, we should…"
(***)
There was one more public announcement that day. It had a much smaller initial range, due to the people behind having much lower capacity when hacking TV Stations was involved. But it spread through the internet and from person to person.
"... everyone who is ready to take a stand, to join us." Lemillion says towards the camera. The man is as charismatic as ever. He is still the hero that ended the First Paranormal Liberation War. The tale of Entropy's unlikely survival didn't spread to the public. His words hold weight. "To help us remind the heroes of the virtues that once made them great. To help us restore the Era of Peace. To help us punish the Prime Minister and her lackeys for their crimes. To help us restore the democracy that they destroyed, changing us into the pariahs of the world. To…"
Midoriya switches the TV screen off. It… hurts to watch.
There is a part of him, deep inside, that feels like he should be the one saying those words. That he shouldn't be hiding in All for One's very own citadel of doom with a small army of villains. That he shouldn't treat words like those as a declaration of war against him.
"Izuku, ribbit?" Tsuyu is there, right next to him. He left the command center to Mastermind, most of the PLF soldiers that weren't wounded during the intense fighting that covered most of the day had just dropped to sleep.
He passed through a few of them sleeping on the corridors, having fallen there out of exhaustion before getting back to their barracks. It was a… demanding day. The casualties were pretty bad, but it wasn't going to matter a lot.
The Old Guard was sacrificing itself to pave the way for the new generation of recruits that were making their way from Japan to Kyushu or swearing their allegiance to Revenant from the places where they were living in.
"Nothing, I just…" C'mon, don't lie to her. "... Stain's probably crying in his room, right now. He proved me wrong. The heroes, at least some of them, still had it in them, you just had to hit them strongly enough for them to do it."
"I can't imagine that man crying, ribbit." Tsuyu replies. She's sitting on the couch right next to him, as adorable as ever.
"Neither do I, honestly." Izuku replies. "But if there is something that can draw tears out of the Old Murderhand, it's this." He doesn't know that, but he is right. Stain might have gotten out of Tartarus, but Tartarus never got out of him. It gave him a different perspective of his cause.
"Does it… does it complicate things, ribbit?" Tsuyu asks. It's cute how she's worrying about him. It's… refreshing? To have someone who looks at him and doesn't see an invincible mastermind that can fix everything with one or two decisions. He loved it. He never realized how much he was missing that in his life.
"A bit." Izuku admits. "But it depends entirely on how much sway Lemillion's going to get. We'll know everything in just a few days, once the frontlines stabilize. It's entirely possible that his rebellion will be over by then."
He should hope that it doesn't. It could complicate the preparations for the Liberation Festival. If Lemillion succeeds too much, it might ruin it completely. But… he can't find it in himself to do so.
Godspeed, you glorious madman. May your little Shizuoka Government survive more than those few days.
"He really was a great person, wasn't he? Ribbit." Tsuyu says. When Izuku glances at her, she points to the All Might's poster on the wall. It never ceases to amaze Midoriya how natural it feels in the den of one of the worst villains in the history of Japan.
"He was, yes." Izuku sighs. "He held society on his shoulders for decades. When we lost him, everything went to hell. But even then, his spirit is still with us. It was less pronounced with the Table of Rejects and the Underground Hero Network, but… what Lemillion started right now is the fourth attempt to fix the country done by people using All Might's name as a rallying cry. Done by people ready to fight and die for his dream of a peaceful and safe Japan protected by heroes worthy of their title. And I have a feeling that if the winner of this war won't make things better, there'll be more."
The people that were raising in his name were those who were heroes during his era and realized too late how their own negligence and focus on popularity helped ruin what he built… and those who remembered the Era of Peace from their childhood, only to grow up in a world that was a twisted parody of the Japan from their memories.
All Might was a man too great for the times he was living in. All for One lived and shaped the country for two centuries, but who remembered him today? What was left from his empire now fought for someone else. He was a dream, the sort that was fading from memory soon after you woke up.
Two centuries of scheming, two centuries of trying to overthrow the Hero System, two centuries of being a demon lord. He started a civil war, the first one in Japan ever since the Meta-Liberation War.
But if you asked people what they actually remembered about him, it'd inevitably be the fact that he killed All Might.
Izuku wonders how much the old demon lord would seethe after realizing that, after two centuries of scheming, he ended up being reduced to the antagonist of All Might's story. And that the future events made it clear that he was the main antagonist of the first book in a series, all but forgotten by the time the third book came.
The entire bearing he had on the plot reduced to being a part of the backstory of some of the characters.
"If they ever wanted to make a proper memorial for him…" Izuku adds, his eyes on the poster of the wall. "... they should write 'exegi monumentum aere perennius' on the plinth."
(***)
Saiko Intelli was surprised with the strength of the response Lemillion and Kendou got. As the names began to be listed to her, she began to realize something very, very important. Something that Lemillion clearly preferred to leave unsaid.
His friendly group of dissidents was a coup in the making. No solid plans or preparations, but they were still a large group of people that knew how to fight, were solidly armed… and didn't like the Government enough to react to Lemillion's 'hey, wanna start an armed rebellion' with 'sure, bro, when and where?'.
They made sure to do nothing illegal. They stuck to protecting each other's careers, doing their job while complaining about the government in secrecy. But when the word was sent, they were ready.
She realized that less than an hour after Lemillion's announcement, when the Shizuoka prefecture police (under Commissioner Tsukauchi) announced their full support for the Shizuoka Government and started arresting locals known for being in the Prime Minister's pocket.
Including the prefectural governor. This all looked like someone (probably Tsukauchi himself) was keeping a personal shitlist that was changed into a proscription letter the moment the wind changed. She knows that because he literally sent it to Lemillion (and, thus, to her), together with the justification of each arrest, to get the green light from him to do it.
"Police officers, soldiers, heroes, hell, even politicians." Saiko sighs, rubbing her temples. "Mirio, you're either the most naturally charismatic man I've ever met, or this little 'circle of friends' of yours was downright terrifying."
"Politicians?" He asks, an energy drink in his hands (he got her a decent tea a moment ago, that muscular dork) while leaning over her shoulders. "Oh, the old Peace Party. Yeah, I kind of expected them to pop-up after my speech."
The last attempt to dismantle the HPSC and the buddling dictatorship that it was establishing without a coup or a civil war. It was scheduled to win the elections, especially as it got enthusiastic vocal support from someone with even more connection to All Might than even his fellow Top heroes like Ryukyu and Gang Orca.
Yes, she notices how he avoids answering her actual question.
"Speaking of." He looks down at her. "I always wanted to ask you. Was it the HPSC that assassinated Ashido and Kirishima or not?"
"I have no clue, and I'll not be able to tell you anything until we capture the HPSC headquarters and get access to all their dirty laundry." Intelli replies. "Ashido might have been too young to run for the National Diet, but as All Might's old student she was very popular. Killing her and her boyfriend did coincide with the HPSC campaign of slander and harassment that ended up collapsing the Party, but…" She sighs. "I think a part of me still hopes that it wasn't them. If only because I worked for them after that."
"I can imagine. Didn't their newborn child die too?" Lemillion asks. Yeah, that would have made things even worse. But…
"Actually, no." Intelli replies quickly, her eyes back on the documents she was skimming through.. "It wasn't made public, but someone apparently kidnapped their son soon after their death. The perpetrator got in through the window, after turning it into grayish dust. They never found any suspect." She rubs her temples. Time to change the subject. "Alright, so we've got another SS-Rank Hero candidate among those sworn to our cause. Mt. Lady's popular enough, and I think that…"
(***)
Intelli can practically hear the record scratch sound effect in the middle of her phone call (fully secure and encrypted, of course) with Neito Monoma.
He didn't like the idea of Itsuka Kendou and her agency joining an armed insurgency against the Government, but he felt like there wasn't really any other option left. It was going to be a regular civil war either way, and the risk of death when being loyal to the Government wasn't much lower than when being its enemy anymore.
So, clearly against himself, he decided to do his best to see it all through. Which led them to the current moment, and to Saiko Intelli developing an intense desire to commit mass murder.
"You kidnapped whom?" She needs confirmation. Just in case, she pinches her arm. Yeah, it hurts.
This is going to be a long day.
(***)
After decades, almost centuries of living in All for One's shadow, All Might showed the people of Japan that they could live differently. It clearly sticked. And between us, it's six more than four. Midoriya did mention All Might during the initial call to arms during the Revival Celebration and the Peace Party counted too, Midoriya just focused on armed insurgencies.
That's almost one attempt yearly ever since the end of the First Paranormal Liberation Front.