Izuku looked down at the table in front of him. His Centipede drone was smashed into three pieces. Its armor warped beyond usage with several of its legs dangling by their wires. He looked to another table, the old machine that had destroyed his Centipede drone lay on its side.
Izuku approached it carefully, grabbing tools as he did so. He let his hand run along the machine, a feeling of nostalgia running through his system. He felt along the edges, along the openings and screws. Carefully he wedged the head of his screwdriver in and began twisting. With the delicate hands of a surgeon he took the machine apart piece by piece.
He took time to analyze each part of it. Every bit of wiring, each screw used, the assembly of its limbs. All were documented by the camera built into his helmet. As he took the last pieces apart he held up the machine's circuit board. On the side was the words Sapia Labs written in bold.
He placed the circuit board down and turned his attention to the legs. They were made of some form of plastic rather than metal like the rest of the body. He gave the largest piece a quick bend, feeling the way it gently flexed in response to pressure. He handed the leg to a nearby B Unit. "Get the material analyzed." he instructed as the machine took the part and walked away. He looked back at the dismantled machine, now inspecting each piece with careful eyes.
"You, you're the first step to greatness." Izuku muttered as he picked up the circuit board again. He walked away from the table and approached the computer. He connected a small wire to the board and let an A.I. start running it's way through the system. "Now let's see what you were hiding." he muttered as data began appearing on one of the screens.
He raised a brow as the designation of the machine appeared. "A Herding Droid?" he asked out loud as he looked back at its pieces on the table. The machine had apparently been designed to herd farm animals using its legs to nudge them onwards while the jump ability was meant to let them keep up with moving herds. The machine was still in its beta so its programming was unrefined.
"A Herding Droid, capable of kicking metal into scrap." Izuku muttered as he ran a hand over his face. The thing had torn apart both his drone as well as several R and B Units by itself. "The future could have been much crazier." Izuku muttered as he contemplated just what could have been.
"Well, I only have so much time." he muttered as he eyed the built in clock on his display. He only had one more hour before he had to be home. He typed in a command and looked back at the R and Bs still at the lab. He had set the Issue Models to act as guards in case anymore surprises were lurking around.
He stood up, turning back to the ruined Centipede Drone and the disassembled Herding Droid, a small group R and Bs surrounding the tables. "Be back tomorrow." He said as R and B Models started to repair the Centipede. None of them touched the Herding Droid, not even brushing against the table.
Izuku walked out of the lab, bracing his legs for the inevitable elevator rush.
Nedzu typed away at his computer. Nonchalant as he ran the numbers on how much staff will be needed for this year's U.A. Sports Festival. Villains may have attacked, but he had no interest in showing weakness. Bringing in more heroes and police wouldn't be difficult, Many heroes owed their career's too U.A. after all.
He sent out another email as Toshinori walked into the room. "Hello Yagi, what can I get for you?" Nedzu asked. Yagi just sighed, taking a seat in one of the chairs in the office. "Have students been mocking your 'civilian' form?" Nedzu asked. "No, nothing like that." Yagi replied. "Then what is it, I am rather busy at the moment?" Nedzu asked.
"I..." Yagi trailed off, coughing up a bit of blood. "I believe, that you may need to expand our current staff even further." Yagi said. "Really, more permanent staff?" Nedzu inquired. "Indeed, its clean that the students are benefiting from the 'Gentleman's' lessons rather well. Not to mention how the support course has taken to the Dutchess' programming courses rather quickly." Yagi explained.
"So, you want me to find more... 'Convertable' individuals to bring into U.A.'s fold, for the benefit of the students?" Nedzu asked. "Yes, I know you're in the middle of contracting more security so I decided to bring it up." Yagi replied as he rubbed his neck awkwardly. "Well, you have made a good choice Yagi. You may want to hurry though, your next class starts soon and they need their teacher." Nedzu advised as Yagi stood up and bowed before leaving.
Nedzu shook his head as the door slammed shut. He had already been doing that before Yagi had walked in, for such a brilliant hero he can be quite the fool. He returned to his computer, running a small program that gathered the best choices for staff.
Then he noticed quite the group.
The Hooded Guild, a collection of phantom thieves and anti-villains with notable members such as Mr. Compress, the already captured Seltzer, and the now 'retired' Gentle Criminal.
A perfect place to start looking for new staff.
If Gentle Criminal and La Brava were model examples of the Hooded Guild, than the rest would be quite easy to bring into his fold.
Of course he could start looking into more... hallow places.
Nedzu pulled out another file, this one labeled 'Dropouts'. Inside was a long list of students who had either left U.A. willingly or were expelled, later becoming vigilantes. He sighed, scrolling past a vast collection of greyed out names before he stopped at a name written in simple black text. Nedzu frowned before trailing further down the list and stopping.
The largest group of "Dropouts" were known as the Night Haunters. A group of rather neutral and efficient vigilantes led by an ex-hero named Cipher. They worked as information brokers and additional muscle to other vigilantes across the prefectures. He knew Cipher quite well, the man having been a personal student of his who "retired" to "watch over his children".
Nedzu cracked a smile as he moved the Night Haunters into a separate file with the Hooded Guild. Then he pulled out another one and began rifling through it. This file was filled with extra heroes who had just graduated from U.A. and continued their careers to this day. He had a wide cornucopia to choose from with this file. Several names flew by, some added to the separate file, others just passed along.
He continued compiling his list, ready to do what was necessary for both his students and hero society as a whole.
All For One stood in front of a shooting range, numerous barrels with the crudely drawn faces of several heroes stood in front of him. With a shout he channeled several energy Quirks into an Air Cannon that he held in his fingers. With a simple snap he let it loose, the projectile piercing a barrel with All Might's face on it. The barrel left as a gaping maw with a mass of scrap behind it.
He did the same with the next barrel, severing a Miruko faced barrel into three pieces. He fired again and again, each target was left mangled and broken with little mercy. Afo just smiled with a feral grin as he imagined each barrel as their respective hero.
All the chaos he could cause, all the destructive power that he held at his finger tips.
A pair of Noumu approached, dragging away the mangled targets. Afo turned his head back and flexed his back as he clenched his hands. He could imagine All Might, that blonde oaf, on the ground hopeless as he slowly tore his organs out with his bare hands. The feeling of the blood and the warmth strong in his mind.
He had seen it before, he can recreate it far better the next time.
Izuku finished preparing his AI for his trip. His warehouse was ready to act on it's own for the week while he was gone. His villain lab would be quiet, working hard to prepare Sapia for his return. He was going to leave his expedition into the Laboratory until after his trip to I-Island.
Who knows just what he'll find at I-Island? Maybe he'll gain some inspiration for his next machine? Maybe an idea to implement for his villain operations?
He stopped thinking as his phone pinged. He looked down and pulled it out, finding a message from his Entiers. He opened it, watching as several paragraphs of text were sent to him. He skimmed through it, taking in what was important.
Project Cell was ready to begin phase two.