Three Years Ago…
"Buu… Buu…"
"Look at you… You're making a mess all over yourself." Izuku watched as Ochako picked up a napkin, wiping the spilled food off of Ukamiho's shirt. The sight put a smile on his face.
"Was I that messy whenI was his age, mom?"
"I'm afraid so," his mother said with a little laugh, picking up her cup with tea. Looking at her, he could see that since he'd last seen her she had lost quite a bit of weight. There were also visible bags under her eyes. "You always played with your food, making up some story that you were protecting it from Villains. Then once you were done playing you would eat it all quickly, wipe away the crumbs and look at the All Might plate and shout 'I am here!'"
"I wish I could see that," Ochako said, turning her head.
"Don't worry, you can. I took plenty of…" She caught herself mid sentence, looking down. "I'm sorry, I forgot that all the photos and videos I took were in the apartment when it collapsed."
"Ah…" The realization was followed by a moment of awkward silence, none of them really sure how to break the oppressive atmosphere of all those bad memories.
But eventually, they managed. "Well, I still have all that matters. And that's enough for me."
"That's right," Izuku said, "We're still here. And as long as we have each other, that's enough."
"Buu!"
"Ah, Ukamiho!" All three of them raised their hands to shield their faces as Ukamiho slapped his hands on the table, knocking over the tray in front of him and sending the bowl of food flying.
Izuku's mother let out another small laugh as Ochako rushed over to pick up the bowl. "Well, at least this little one has plenty of energy."
"It's honestly somewhat surprising," Izuku said, a little exasperated. "We met the Todorokis as soon as we left the airport, and we visited Ochako's parents yesterday. But even so he doesn't seem any more tired than when we left Korea."
"You should take him to the park. There's a lovely one nearby, it even has a playground for the little ones. I've actually been taking strolls there to make sure my bones don't get too creaky."
"Really? Then maybe later we can all go together and-" Izuku was cut off by the buzz of his phone, a text message. "Ah, sorry."
"No, it's alright." She took another sip of her tea as Izuku pulled out his, checking the message. It was from-
He stood up, bumping into the table. "Izuku, is everything alright?"
"Mom, can you watch Ukamiho for a moment? Ochako and I need to take an important call."
"An important…? She shook her head, "Of course, I can watch him. You can use the spare bedroom, it's empty aside from a few things that I'm keeping there."
"Thanks. Ochako, come with me."
"Right…" The two of them walked out of the dining room and towards the spare bedroom, closing the door behind them.
He set up his cellphone on a nearby box and tapped the number on the screen, then took a few steps back. A hologram display appeared. "Mr. Midoriya, Mrs. Midoriya. It's good to see your faces again."
"Mr. Aurdel, it's nice to hear from you. Though, this call does come somewhat out of the blue."
"I would have called to speak with the two of you sooner, but up until recently you were stationed in Korea as part of the recovery efforts. I had to wait until you were out of the country and off any bases."
"Why would you have to wait until we were out of Korea?" Ochako asked, an eyebrow raised.
"Concerns over privacy. I may be the person that everyone answers to, but that doesn't mean that people below me won't spy on me or you. It's easy for them to do it in a military installation, especially like the one in Korea where so much surveillance equipment is set up for accountability reasons."
"Mr. Aurdel," Izuku sighed, "Do you have any reason to be so paranoid?"
"I do. I can't imagine that you haven't seen the news. That some police captain had a stockpile of League of Villains matériel."
"We have."
"Well, I had my personal guard intervene in the matter before the Internal Security Forces could step in. You don't know how glad that I made that decision," he pinched the bridge of his nose, "After extracting a confession, my guards arrested nearly seventy members of the Internal Security Forces. Three of them were high ranking members, one was even a man I had personally appointed."
"That's…"
"It gets worse. After arresting the main ringleaders, we managed to get a partial list of those they'd sold matériel to. Additional ISF personnel, members of the Ministry of Justice, members of the Ministry of Defense, leading members of the MInistry of Education, judges, heads of prefectural law enforcements, local politicians… The list goes on." Mr. Aurdel shook his head, "Some of these men and women were people I personally appointed, and less than a few years later they've already gone behind my back and done something like this."
"Then… The reason you're contacting us is because we're the only ones that you can trust."
"I… I don't have any other choice. Politicians, the military, internal security, local law enforcement… With how many are involved, it's impossible to account for every possible leak or corrupt official. With Class 1-A, I personally know all of you. You were directly involved in defeating All For One and putting an end to the League of Villains, so you, more than anyone else, know just how much of a threat any possible lingering sentiments in their favor might be."
Ochako and Izuku looked at each other. The paranoia… It certainly did seem to be getting to Mr. Aurdel. But they couldn't turn him down, especially not since so far nothing he'd said had been wrong. "Have you spoken to the rest of our class about this?"
"I have. Katsuki, Shoto, Momo, Mina, Tenya, Denki, Kyoka and Hanta have already agreed to my proposal, the rest are still deciding."
"And what is it that you're proposing?"
"The formation of a task force, one that won't answer to anyone in the country except to myself. Your primary task would be to track down anyone related to the case regarding the stolen items."
"…Primary task?"
"Yes. Aside from tracking down and capturing any remaining matériel related to the League of Villains, you will also serve as Japan's foremost anti-corruption unit. You would have the authority to take in any figure, whether it be politician, service member, etc., without a warrant or a trial, then hand them over to my personal guard for judgment."
"No way!" Ochako shouted, "How did you manage to convince any of the others to agree with what you're saying?! You should just listen to yourself. What you're proposing to do is exactly what the Hero Public Safety Commission was doing years ago, the exact same thing that you were fighting!"
"I can understand the hesitation, I myself never wanted to resort to practically Stasi-esque methods. But at this point I don't have any other choice." Mr. Aurdel lowered his head. From the expression he made underneath, Izuku could tell that he'd clearly lost some sleep over the idea. "Ochako, do you remember how at the beginning of my governance I signed a charter in view of the public?"
"I do."
"The reason that I signed that charter, and the reason that I made sure to do it in view, was because I wanted to make a point. I was not going to be some dictator that would rule over the country for over a hundred years, and then let my children take over. I wanted to show that despite myself taking the title of "Emperor," it was only ever for ceremonial reasons to try and keep morale up. I received my power from the people, as any leader of any nation should," he sighed, "In order to receive that power, one of the stipulations placed in that charter was a clearly defined set of time that I would serve as the Emperor. As of roughly two weeks from now, I will have served eight of my twelve years."
"What does that have to do with what you're suggesting?"
"Listen to me," Mr. Aurdel looked up, "Already I am beginning to face opposition from members of the government about the length of my term, saying that with how quickly Japan has been able to recover from the war they should be allowed to transition back to a normal democracy. And while that was always the goal of my governance, I cannot allow that to happen just yet. If the corruption that managed to plant itself in the ground as soon as the country collapsed keeps taking root… Then once I am forced to step down from my office, things will end up going back to the way they used to be before the war. Maybe even worse than before."
"You can't be sure that-"
"No, I can be sure," he interrupted, "Ochako, over the last seven years I have had to make over five hundred personal vetoes and personal objections to legislation that the rest of the government was trying to push through or various different aspects of the government that were trying to dismantle. Privatization of Japan's public sectors, relaxing the regulation in manufacturing and other industries, lowering the funding for hospitals, cutting down on the number of displaced persons shelters, ending the public works program… The list goes on. But in all of these cases, and more, I had to personally intervene to keep them from moving ahead. So please. If you're not willing to do this for my sake, then consider the future of your son." Izuku heard her grit her teeth, "Even if you ignored the task of removing the corruption within the corruption, and only acted to seize what's left of the League of Villains before it has even the slightest chance of being reborn, you would be doing a great service. As I said, you know more than anyone else what they stood for and why they can't be allowed to return."
"I am considering his future. If you really do believe that you are being targeted by corruption, then what would getting ourselves involved in that problem do for us? We would become just another target. And while you may be the most powerful man in the country, we don't have the same level of protection or even systems in place to keep us from being attacked."
"I understand that, and that's why I am not ordering you to be a part of this task force. I only ask that you consider what I have had to say, and that you make the best choice for the future."
The phone call then cut as Mr. Aurdel hung up. "It's just unbelievable… Right, Izuku?" Mr. Aurdel and Ochako both had their points… "Izuku, you aren't seriously considering what he said in his offer are you?"
"I'm… I'm not sure what to think," Ochako let out an exasperated sigh, "I'm being serious. You're right about what you said, that joining that task force he plans together would put a target on our backs. But I'm not sure that even if we didn't join we would be in any better of a situation."
"Why do you say that?"
"Even ignoring the possibility of the League of Villains coming back and targeting us because of our past, you heard what Mr. Aurdel said about what the rest of the government was doing. If they're planning to cut off basic necessities like those, then Hero work, especially like what we did over the last year, would be one of the very next things to go."
"Izuku…"
He tightened his hand, "I may not agree with every action that he has taken, or with many of the decisions that he has made, but I know that what Mr. Aurdel does what he does because he truly believes that he's doing. Not just for himself, but for everyone. And the only way to help him actually achieve that goal is by guiding him towards it."
Izuku reached out with his other hand towards Ochako, but she turned away. "I… I still don't like it. Just before we left Korea we were talking about how the time we were spending doing work might have a bad effect on Ukamiho. Something like this would be far more taxing on us than just physical work. All of the things that we'd have to keep up with, and all the extra worries we'd have on top of our heads…"
He took a step forward, and put a hand on her shoulder. "I know. Even now, as I'm thinking about, I'm not entirely sure that we'll be able to handle the extra pressure that it will put on us. But when I think about Ukamiho… About us… I want to make sure that the future we have won't come undone. And I'd be willing to do anything to make sure that it doesn't."
