Author's note : ... i regret nothing.

Chapter 41 : Setting up the setup.

"Izuku, calm down. I know you are excited but seriously." Mr Compress tried to calm down his son (yes it was official now) but could hardly do it. Izuku was enjoying this trip to I-Island, though he agreed beforehand with his adoptive father to actually let him and his mother enjoy the trip on their side, to have some quality times together. It was their honeymoon after all.

"Bu-bu-but ALL MIGHT IS GOING TO GIVE A SPEECH ! And there are a lot of top heroes! I wonder how many of them I can get to sign my notebook!"

"If you want Izuku, I can introduce you to my uncle!" A certain blonde French said that, with a smile. Everyone in the class knew about Yuga's relationship to Captain France. He was the embodiment of 'weird quirks weren't useless'. Breadomancy might seem idiotic as a power, but not when you got hit by a baguette at 300 km/h in the chest.

"With pleasure! So… Do you know everyone who is going to come?" Izuku asked, as Yuga knew everyone's plans. If you wanted to know anyone's secret, you asked either him or Mina.

"Well, I know that Mei won an award and is somewhere in the plane." Both students seemed a bit scared at that thought, but not even Mei was crazy enough to try to work on a plane while it was still flying.

"AH! WELL, EVEN IF 1B IS ONLY REPRESENTED BY ME, PONY AND YUI, THEN…" Monoma then got shut up by a stewardess as he was too noisy, making everyone staring at him with a wrong eye.

"How did you even get here?!" Izuku had to ask, as Monoma seemed to be here without his parents. Sure, they were 16 and he wasn't alone but how. Why.

"... I got a job at a stand. That's a good way to get some money and some visibility." This was significantly mundane and Izuku didn't press more.

"So we have the Zone-Fighter couple, Koda, Pony, Monoma and Yuga." Izuku counted on his fingers, before Yuga smiled. The French wanted to see Izuku's reaction when he would learn that Mei brought Tooru too, as she was essential in her process to make invisible stuff.

—--

"TIA!" The 1A's students were actually quite surprised to hear their friend's voice.

"KODA!" They didn't expect to see a woman clearly related to Koda, considering the horns on her head, but tall. Well, except Izuku as he was extremely knowledgeable on the subject.

But clearly, it was an heartwarming reunion, as the Amazonian #1 hugged tightly her nephew against her, lifting him with ease, only to enjoy the moment more. Quickly, the two of them began to speak Portuguese, clearly in their own world. From what Yuga could barely understand from the one or two words who had a latin origin, apparently she was asking how school was for them.

Koda smiled at them, before signing to them to go, while he was going to enjoy the moment with his aunt. He would present them later, but for now, he wanted to discuss at length with her, and know more about her works. To be fair, Koda actually planned that with them beforehand and told them he would meet up with them later that day. Everyone understood why he wanted to spend some time with this aunt he never met before, only spoke through the phone and only when she was technically safe, which was not often.

Not to mention Mei actually threatened to use them as test dummies if they didn't come to her stand soon enough. Well, Izuku and Yuga. Katsuki and Yui had other plans.

—--

"So, basically, you are flying by making explosions just to get to my level and ask me to sign this old poster for your girlfriend?"

"Yes. Now, can you do it, before a hero actually thinks I am a menace and takes me down?"

"Yes, sure, sure, but I doubt you have something big enough for me to sign.."

When Godzillo finished that sentence, he saw Yui silently pulling a lot of posters, before embiggening each of them. The Godzilla hero had to admit this power was quite useful. Thankfully, they were on I-Island, and as a result, there was no quirk restriction such as needing a quirk license.

Truly a boon for the various corporations on the Island, as it clearly eased the research on quirk and support equipment. The now defunct Triceps Corporation often used that to study mutant biology in their official venture… Well, before all the scandal about the human abduction, allowing Detnerat Corp. to buy them cheaply.

However the Kaiju hero was happy to finally be able to sign some goodies for some fans. Besides, the two of them were actually cute together. The boyfriend and the girlfriend helped each other to get their goodies signed, one by asking, the other by making the goodies .

"Mister Godzillo? Did you see Hyperman? I would love his autograph too!" It was quite strange to see the emotionless girl ask that with some vibrant excitement but endearing for the giant mutant and a highly known activist for mutant rights. Hyperman was a good friend of his, and one of his supporters to that end, and they worked often together.

Strangely enough, not many racists wanted to argue against Godzilla and Ultraman, to explain to them why they should have restricted rights.

—--

Meanwhile, a man who was totally not an android with an egyptian design in a trenchcoat and his henchmen finally finished to make sure their gears were in perfect condition. Having teleportation technology was useful, sadly it didn't work on living matter.

Still, they had a few hours before the heist, and as a result… Now that the gear was checked, the Architect was now at his granddaughter's stand.

"GRAMPS!"

"MEI!"

Both of them hugged each other tightly, as the Android activated a hologram to give to himself an elderly appearance with pink hair. Plausible ascendancy from Mei, and a good excuse to be around her.

"You won the contest for the student invention in Japan? What did you make?"

Mei's grandpa was proud to know she inherited his intellect, but as she kept her own project secret, he was actually in the dark about what she created. So, when she pulled an invisible iron bat, he was legitimately impressed.

"Invisible alloy?"

"Invisible alloy, and with decent solidity. I made it thanks to my friend, here!"

The SSS-Villain turned his gaze toward what seemed like a floating uniform, before switching to a heat vision. Strangely, she registered colder than most humans… Oh, right! By refracting light, she was probably lowering her own internal temperature in a most efficient way.

"Hello, mister! Mei often talks about how her grandpa is proud of her and how you taught everything she knows about science!" Tooru said, before extending her hand, to grab his… and then, pulling him, with surprising strength, and lowered her voice. "Why didn't you teach her safety and not make too many explosions?"

All henchmens sighed, as they totally understood. In their airship, their boss' lab was infamously known for its explosion. Also, unlike Mei, their boss had several bodies ready in case one explosion destroyed his current one. As a result… Well, safety was a concept for others, literally.

"I taught her everything she knows about it!" Tooru could feel the pride in his voice, and her gaze turned to the poor henchmens who nodded their heads. Officially, they were his bodyguards.

"Oh god, they reproduce?" She asked, clearly scared.

"Apparently. Don't ask how, we have no idea."

"Too… Tooru?"

A certain invisible girl quickly shifted her attention from the family of mad scientists, to focus on the voice, and do a sprint to hug her boyfriend

The Architect smiled, seeing young love and his daughter with friends. In plural. Who were apparently happy and ready to deal with her madness. Truly, some good heroes who wouldn't be scared of her parentage if she ever revealed it to them. Though to be fair, one of the blondes was familiar to him… Hmm…

Oh well. They had time before the heist. Time to spoil his granddaughter a bit!

—--

Wolfram was quite unhappy. Sure, he and his men were in place. Sure, they had their entries in the system. Sure, he knew the plan, and it was a good one. But good god, he hated when it was that kind of plan. Sure, he understood his boss' idea to mess with All-Might, but Wolfram didn't like the support he was given to do that.

Wolfram was a mercenary, though he was part of All For One's inner circle. As a result, when he did a mission, he liked professionals. He liked when a killer was cold, logical, efficient and who didn't deviate from the mission. His men were like that. The one or two times he worked with the Architect, he liked that about his team.

The ISP sending some men to help him didn't sit well with him. They were maniacs and crazies. They were going to make the plan go wrong, he knew it. Not to mention the noumus, who were still creeping the shit out of him, and he hated them. Sadly, he saw their efficiency, and how they could actually take down heroes in 1v1, unless they were exceptionally strong.

This time, though, unless the animal noumus, which were not really creepy and easy to see as big attack dogs, Wolfram got… human noumus. The creepy and incredibly powerful kind, especially as the Doc managed to greatly improve his work. In fact, one of Wolfram's secondary targets was I-Island's database on quirk research.

Fuck, Wolfram wasn't stranger to atrocities. Hell, he tortured people for his boss on a daily basis. But what Garaki did was on a whole different level. Also, he was too much of a sycophant to be truly loyal to their boss. The day Garaki's true color would be revealed, it was going to be a mess.

He turned to Terraformars, who seemed the only calm in this situation. However, Wolfram knew about how bloodthirsty he was once the fight began.

"Do they know their part?" He asked.

The cockroach nodded. He knew Wolfram didn't ask because he thought mutants were bloodthirsty beasts. He asked because a shark mutant was currently eating a head in front of them. Discipline was still something he needed to work on.

"They know. We will accomplish our objective. Extraction point is known. We also have secured two other ways to escape."

Thankfully, Wolfram thought, the leader was one of the boss' heirs. Well, rather extra life. Yes, Wolfram was in the knowledge of the gods, but he also knew it came with a price to ensure his silence.

Still, he preferred him to that goodie two shoes Tomura. He wondered how the kid was going to manage the attack on his bar by the CRC?

After all, Wolfram didn't appreciate the fact the kid was responsible for Gust Duster and his men's defeat and may have left something to the CRC's head for the little war that was brewing. Oupsie~~

—--

David Shield welcomed All-Might in his laboratory, and he knew something was strange. His friend was still losing his quirk steadily as they projected, but his face showed his concern about… Something.

Unknown to him, All-Might was actually hesitating about a potential successor for One For All. The current leading theory was that his quirk mutated inside his quirkless body to only accept Quirkless people as host. However, there were less and less quirkless people, and the only one with a true fighter skill set was becoming too old and broken, thanks to years of vigilantism.

Worst of all, Nedzu finding about the former holder seemed to validate the theory, as there was a report on one user dying of old age at 40 years old.

As a result, All-Might only had one choice left but it was a hard one: David was the brother he never had, and Melissa was the niece he would have wanted. That's why he made them support, far from Japan, during his war against All For One, to not make them targets. To not endanger them.

And there, right here and now, he was going to ask one of the most brilliant minds he knew to drop her career as a support engineer, to become a superhero, even if it was temporary. Which meant an insane fitness training, and combat training at UA with the best teacher she could hope… Or maybe ask some friends, like Stars and Stripe to let Melissa train under her.

The two friends stayed in silence, as David sighed. In the same way, he could not tell All-Might he was going to scam the fuck out insurance to maintain afloat the Shield Corporation, after their latest invention (made for All-Might nonetheless) was considered as a danger for mankind. Which, to be fair, was not totally untrue. The Crown was indeed a very powerful artifact, and even if David knew All-Might would use it for good, there was no way of telling if All-Might's body would actually hold.

It was best to find a way to make a profit quickly. Thankfully, the Architect was a fan of his work and accepted to steal an old heritage of his, highly insured. A collection of Bored Ape NFT. Fucking useless and yet, they had a value on the market as a memento of mankind being dumb.

Now, all he had to hope was that the thief would do the job quietly, so no one would actually see the theft. Especially not All-Might.

Meanwhile, none of them knew a certain head scientist, disgusted by the fact "The Crown" project had been scrapped, had decided to sell it, and was currently putting a virus in the system. He was paid a hefty sum for his treason, but seriously. He wasn't rich and he had a family. Samuel Abrahams was committing treason and he knew his price.

—--

Nine, Slice, Chimera and Mummy were out of the water, having successfully infiltrated the island. They knew the plan, they knew the diversion, and they knew their target.

All For One had deemed two people as target, and sadly for them, Nine's crew was to kill them. After that, Nine would get a regeneration quirk he lacked from Garaki, making him better than ever. As for the others, they would get money, which was always nice.

"Chimera, Slice? You take target B. Mummy and I will take A. Remember, we want a quick killing though in your case, and if you are uncomfortable with it, the boss said that disabling her for life was enough." Nine calmly commented. His crew looked relieved.

Nine just took the most dangerous mission assigned by All For One to them: Killing the Amazonian Hero. Her actions had greatly interrupted the amount of quirked animal they could buy, which was a huge pain for his operation and the noumu fabrication. So, sadly for Serafina Varela, she was going to die.

Assigning Chimera to fight a Hero that could instantly use the quirk of any mutant and/or animal in her vicinity would have been the epitome of stupidity, hence why he was going to take care of that himself.

However, if Nine was allowed to disable, instead of outright killing, the second target, it was not only because killing a teen was hard.

It was also because Melissa Shield was All-Might's unofficial niece after all.

No one wanted a murderous All-Might after yourselves.

—--

Atsuhiro Sako, and his wife, Inko Sako, were enjoying their trip on I-Island a lot, hoping that everything in Japan would be fine. Surely, Gentle Criminal could lead the team for the few days Compress wasn't there, right?

—--

Hinata Tobita, president of the HPSC and theoretically one of the most powerful women in Japan, was humming pleasantly, as her driver was bringing her to the last thing she had to check on her to-do list. Making surprises was always fun after all, and she already had a lot of fun during the late afternoon, when she finally activated "Sundowner".

— — —

A few hours earlier, inside Tartarus.

Lady Nagant wasn't used to being brought out of her cell outside of exercising. She was quite proud to have maintained a perfectly shaped body, even inside the prison cell. However, she truly wondered why she was summoned inside the black site inside Tartarus. She was here for quite some time now. If she had any intel, it was surely useless now.

She didn't expect what she saw.

The supposed to be dead Hero Killer, Stain, heavily restrained, and who was drinking something out of a tube. Herself still had her hands restrained, and the guards made them wait inside the room by themselves.

"Lady Nagant." Stain said with a graspy voice, clearly wondering what was going on himself.

"Stain. I thought you were supposed to be dead."

"Not going to lie, I thought the same. However, if the HPSC make sure I stayed alive, I doubt it is to kill me by poisoning me with this tube. And I am hungry."

Kaina had to admit it was a sound logic.

Then the wall in front of them opened and a woman sitting across a table was writing something… Before looking at them. Both of the villains knew instantly who she was and Stain actually tried to break out of his chain to kill her.

Unfortunately, the HPSC wasn't a bunch of buffons who had unchecked power for no reason. Some of them were actually competent at their job.

Hinata smiled, and used her quirk to make them bounce toward herself, gently.

"Ah, exactly the two people I wanted to meet. Kaina, I am delighted to see the prison is doing wonders for you! As for you, mister Akaguro, I see the rumors about your death were indeed greatly exaggerated." The thing with Hinata, was she always seemed extremely sincere when she was kind with you.

"Cut the crap Hinata, we both know that both events are due to you." Kaine told her former friend.

"WITCH, LEADER OF A BUNCH OF COWARDLY CORRUPT CRETIN, BEOTIAN, SLUT OF BABYLON, PERIPAPETICIAN!" Stain yelled with a surprising vocabulary.

"Yes, I know most of that, thank you Stain. As for you, Kaina… Dear. Of course. I have a deal for both of you actually."

"Unless your offer is for me to rip apart your corrupt organisation and decapitate the heathens corrupting heroes while allowing crime to run rampant, you can…" Nagant was about to nod to what Stain was saying, before Hinata smiled at them and cut him out with the only answer they didn't expect.

"That is exactly my offer." The HPSC president told them with a smile, before drinking some tea, and serving two cup for the two villains, who were effectively shut up. "Kaina? As you can guess, you are currently watched by enough soldiers to turn you into Sponge Bob if you were to try to shoot me. Can I trust you to not do anything dumb if I let you drink your tea?"

Nagant was puzzled enough to simply nod, and actually drink the cup of tea. Stain glared dagger at the HPSC president.

"And me?"

"Stain, I am pretty sure you don't care about the bullet and with what we did to save you, I am certain you could kill me if I released you. Nagant will help you drink the tea. Since I have your attention, may I explain what exactly I want you to do?"

Both villains stayed silent. Hinata took that as a sign to continue.

"The hero job shouldn't be as it is now. Most of the heroes are more interested in the ranking and the money it can bring than actually doing their job. As a result, many heroes are simply sponsored thugs or working for media." She stopped to giggle sadly. "Let's not even talk about the one that are actually working for villains."

"Or All For One" Stain added, having discovered the man was real after all. Testing water and seeing the HPSC president's reaction. She was… Pleasantly surprised.

"Yes, the immortal Quirk Thief. I have reasons to think he infiltrated the HPSC to make it as it is now."

"Then, as the President, you can just cut them off, no?" Nagant inquired. She remembered how Hinata was shrewd, back in the years when they were actually friends.

"Did you ever hear the expression "a small cog in a big wheel"? Well, my situation is the opposite. Yes, I am theoretically the most powerful person in the HPSC. It doesn't mean I dominate the political landscape. If I try to cut out too much corruption, I will definitely get a knife in the back."

Nagant sighed, while Stain gave her a look. He knew her story, and clearly, was relying on her reaction to know if it was true. Yes, Hinata actually had a point.

"However, it took times, but I have found the identities of the most dangerous people in the 'corrupt faction'. Your job, if you accept it… Is to deal with them with extreme prejudice. Do it, and you will be allowed to be free. Refuse, and I put you back in Tartarus."

Stain stayed silent, and Kaina too. In fact, the last one was vibrant of rage.

"So you want me to be your weapon again?"

Hinata put down her cup and look at her in the eyes.

"Yes. Exactly. Because Stain trust your actions and opinions. And because I trust both of you to actually do the job. Both of you stained yourself so no one would have too."

"... I had a crew." Stain stated, as Nagant looked at him surprised. Was he going to accept?

"The League of Villains ? They hunt terrorist groups for now, and we both know why you can't ask them to do the job."

"I want a pardon for them. Both of them." Stain plainly stated, and Hinata considered the offer.

"Boss will be easy. There is technically no proof he was part of a murder, thank to his quirk destroying all evidence. In fact, he is known to actively let some people alive during his raid against nefarious heroes or organisation to not fuck up investigation." Hinata could allow Stain to know that, especially as it made him smile. "As for Loony… Woopsie, apparently, all proof she killed Thunderbolt were among the archives Compress and his crew stole."

Not a pardon, both of them knew it. However, it was damn close and showed Hinata was willing to negotiate. Nagant looked at her, and asked.

"It is that bad, Hinata?"

"... Kaina. The only reason I am still the President is because a certain someone finds it too much a hassle to deal with the paperwork." Namely Seijin. But the bitch had her own bodyguard, she nicknamed them her Watchdogs. All on par with Hawks, or close.

They needed to root out her support, to weaken her. Less funds, less money to move and bribe people. Less competent subordinates. Less… Everything.

"So. Do you agree?"

Both criminals stared at the President in front of them…

—--

"Cannibal Chicken, I want a report."

"Well, from what I am seeing, the warehouse used by Hoji Haku is now painted with gore. Did you send the Doomslayer or what?"

"That's the idea. The best sniper and one of the most competent fighters in Japan." Hinata smiled, as her car drove her to her destination.

"And how did you make sure they will stay loyal to you?"

"They have bomb in their neck. I am not stupid." Hinata also clearly warned the two of them. Hawk was to be their control, checking with him their target and progress.

Hinata smiled. She was done defending herself. She was fighting back.

—--

Manami Aiba, soon to be married to the love of her life, was humming as she went to the door. They didn't have many visitors, but currently, her fiance was busy training and Sophie was busy watching the TV. As a result, only her could answer the door.

When she opened the door, La Brava didn't expect to see the President of the HPSC with a basket of gift and apparently wine.

"HEl…" La Brava slammed the door. Then opened it again, wondering if she had an hallucination. The woman was still there, "Llllo! Is my nephew here? Oh, are you Manami maybe? I have heard so much about you!"

"DANJIROOOOO" La Brava yelled, understandably, while Sophie actually fell from the sofa. When La Brava was scared, it was always bad.

Fortunately, they had Danjiro, and Sophie grabbed a baseball bat to be ready to deal with the intruder too.

Sophie also went silent when she saw the HPSC President entering the house with a big smile, before actually waving at her.

"Hello, Sophie, is that right? Nice to meet you, I really like your job." Oh fuck. The HPSC President knew her.

"MANAMI ARE YOU O… Oh." Gentle actually arrived as fast as he could, still shirtless and sweating from his exercise. Gentle stared at his aunt… And grumbled. "Auntie."

"Auntie?" Both women asked, in surprise, while the President smiled and took out the wine out of the casket.

"Congratulations on your wedding! I am so happy for you!" Hinata said before approaching him to hug Gentle with warmth.

"Aunt. I would appreciate you calling, before coming." Danjiro stated semi coldly. Shit. His aunt was the one who helped him enter the army when his family otherwise threw him on the street. It was her who gave him this decrepit house, but his house nonetheless.

So, even if he knew what the HPSC did… To him, it was aunty Hinata. The only family member he still had.

"And I would have loved to receive an invitation to your wedding, young man. So… I have ordered dinner!"

Gentle grumbled, while the two women of the house were wondering what the fuck was going on. Maybe his aunt didn't know about his activities…

"By the way, La Brava, is that right? I would appreciate it if you toned down your algorithms to boost your views, thank you." Fuck. She knew. Looking at her, Danjiro was puzzled… Especially as she was still smiling.

"Danjiro, if I wanted to arrest all three of you, I would have done it ages ago. If anything… I am really proud of you." Hinata told him, before patting his head, "I knew that school was incompetent to fire you! Now, all of you have a question, I guess. How about we speak about it around a good meal?"

Gentle grumbled, as everyone was wondering what the hell was going on.

—--

"DEATH TO THE MUTANTS!"

"GO FUCK YOURSELVES!" Spinner answered to the CRC member, before slamming him on the ground, sadly not strong enough to kill him. Fortunately, that issue was solved by Twice's clone who kicked the goon into unconsciousness. Meanwhile, in the bar, it was pure chaos.

They had to relocate a few times already, to avoid being caught by the heroes, if Stain ever said anything by mistake before his death.

It was the first time Tomura and his crew actually were the one attacked, though. Like really attacked, and this time, it was by powerful emitters quirk. Tomura actually had to kill two of them by breaking their neck now.

When the silence came back, in the bar, the whole LoV was wondering what the hell happened. How were they found by the CRC? It was supposed to be a safe house!

When Kurogiri came back from his grocery run, he saw his kids trying to clean up the bar, and Kurogiri knew.

"Oh, so the battle royal began, master Tomura. Don't worry about the corpse. I will dispose of them."

"...The what now, Kurogiri?" Tomura asked, with venom in his voice as his friends could have been hurt badly.

"The Battle Royal. Sensei has a few students across the country, each leading a major criminal organization. As he is feeling you are losing your villainous touch, he told them that whoever managed to kill you, would take your position as his heir." The noumu explained, kindly, as he warped the corpses inside a volcano, and Tomura broke a table with his fist.

"WHAT?!"

"Now, you have two solutions. Wait wave after wave they weaken themselves, unlikely, or learn to fight an underground war. Also, by Sensei's order, I won't fight by your side during these attacks."

"WHAT?!"

—--

It was going to be a summer that would stay in history.

The attack on I-Island.

The War of Hate.

The HPSC Culling.

The Exegol Crisis.

The Storm was here.