Enjoy!


The AMF's newest soldiers marched into the camp, exuding pride rarely seen outside of a parade. They had finished their training, and now stood ready to take the next step. They looked at the world and its dangers with a contemptuous smirk. They were AMF now. It was what they did.

"Can't wait to kill those bugs. I bet I'll get five of them," said Gantaro. And to think only a year ago he'd thought of Heroes as the greatest of them all.

"I'll kill six!" said Ari.

Sho raised his fist. "To our first fight!"

"Yeah!" said Akihiko.

The four of them were marching in line with the others. Gantaro had heard the stories of the AMF, he'd seen the AMF fight Godzilla while everyone else huddled scared. Just walking in this uniform made him feel unstoppable.

Gantaro elbowed Sho and said, "What's with the patch?"

Sho glanced at his patch of the Hero Dynamight. "What? He's awesome! Been a fan of his my whole life!"

"We don't need no Hero patches here! We're AMF! We're better than those bright colored-"

"Oh can it!" said one of the veterans, Emoto, from ahead of them. "The Heroes have faced more hardships than you have for most of your lives."

"Oh? Then why were you guys mocking them?" said Ari.

Emoto threw a glare over his shoulder. "We've actually fought kaiju. We earned the right through blood and fire. You're just a bunch of kids talking tough on the playground."

Gantaro glared at the older soldier. He turned back to speak with his friends. As he did, he thought he overheard an exchange murmured between Emoto and another veteran, Akai.

"What do you think of them?"

"Fast food."


Izuku hopped off the transport, breathing in the welcoming smell of open air mixed with fuel exhaust. It was good to be back.

The area was rich with the roar of heavy machinery as troops hauled their way through the woods, accompanied by a light maser detachment. The masers were unnecessary for the Meganulon, but would be needed if another kaiju showed up.

Overhead, Izuku heard the roar of ASTOL-MB93s, maser fighter jets. Those had been brought in case the Meganulon hive was hiding Megaguirus. Fortunately, they had spotted Megaguirus a day ago heading due east, several hundred kilometers away. She bore the telltale marks of a fight. Evidently Rodan had been guarding his skies.

Izuku entered the command tent. Several saluted him. Izuku weakly saluted back, unused to the respect. Especially when many of the officers technically had seniority over him. However, in the AMF, achievement and experience outranked all.

"Captain Midoriya," one of them said. "Welcome to the front."

"Glad to be back. What's the status?"

"We've tracked the hive to this mountain," a soldier pointed at a map. "A cave system, perfect for them. They've amassed quite the hive."

"We have reinforcements coming in," said another. "Some of ours, some from foreign armies lending assistance. Also a couple Heroes."

"Again?" someone said.

"You know how the politicians are. They like cooperation. At least they know toonly send us ones who are halfway competent.

"And know to take orders."

Kenji said, "There's more to the hive. Several of the tunnels have flooded. That means they could be in the lake too. We aren't sure, but if they are-."

"That makes it harder," Izuku said. "We'll need depth charges and water teams."

"Already prepared."

"We could use chem charges," someone said.

"Those would poison the lake. Let's hold those for now." Another said, to Izuku's nod.

One soldier said, "There'll probably only be a few in the water itself. Real issue is if they take to the air."

Izuku glanced up. "Have there been signs of molting?"

"No sir. But we've been checking. Hopefully this is one of those hives that just remains as they are. "

"Be on lookout," Izuku said. "Ready a power station if they do. Those things are a nightmare to track."

"Will do."

Izuku looked over the map, looking at the cave system. He turned to Tchujimori. "These look like your area of expertise."

She said, "I say we send scouting teams to give us intel on which caves the Meganulon are in, and how many they have. Meganulon are aggressive, but they tend to only swarm when desperate or under full attack. Our lines of retreat will be here and here. In case of-"

The plan was made within the hour. It was a standard kill operation to kill them. Izuku's masers wouldn't be needed. He offered to join the infantry, but was told he could only join one of the later expeditions. No point killing him if a scouting party got ambushed.

Still, he would be allowed to join. Izuku was glad to be back. It was simpler here. Study the kaiju's behavior, guess on their next move, and plan accordingly. Also, here the people were all to willing to let him fight. He vastly preferred company here to the publicity events.

As Izuku walked across camp to get infantry gear, he glanced at the new soldiers, the ones recruited after Tokyo, laughing and joking around. Some had Hero decals on their uniforms, while some of the others loudly declared how they were better than the Heroes ever were. The more experienced soldiers threw contemptuous glares at both groups. Pro or anti-Hero, they were all new meat.

"Fit for the grinder, huh sir?" an infantry soldier said, flicking his head to them.

"You shouldn't talk like that," Izuku said.

"You know it's true. When the kaiju come…well the one upside is that these guys have numbers. As for the rest…" One of the new soldiers tripped and fell. "You can't give them what we have. Not this quick."

"Their training wasn't that short. Plenty of us had just as much time."

"We had plenty of veterans to guide us. These…there are entire teams of all new guys. Recipe for a massacre."

Izuku grimaced, but didn't disagree.

"Your team isn't made of new meat, right?"

Izuku said, "Two of them. The other four are veteran fighters." Probably an attempt to get Izuku to behave more cautiously than before. His new partner was a veteran, but not of G-Force. She did her job, but she wasn't Zeni or Ochako.

"Good. Names Akai by the way."

"Were you at Tokyo Akai?"

"Yeah. Had some old friends in the maser battalion. They said it was normal for teams to live together, and die together. Even if partners separated, they stayed close."

"What happened to them?"

"Take a guess."

Izuku winced. "I'm sorry."

"It's fine. You get used to it. Something they'll learn the hard way." He gestured to the new meat.

"They can learn, you know," Izuku said, "Just as much as us."

"Yes. But first they'll have to survive."

Izuku didn't respond. He just looked at the new soldiers sloppily marching up the road.


"That's our price," X said.

"No deal."

"You said you'd do anything. But now some measly cash and mildly expensive gear is too much?"

"You don't even have proof your device works!" said their buyer over the phone. "For all we know you're just a couple of petty con-artists with a neat story-"

"Where can you have someone watch?" Mifune said.

"...What?"

"Where can you have someone watch? Because we'll be more than ready to provide a field test. if you wish."

X turned around, fixing Mifune with a long stare. "Yes. We will. Somewhere remote though. You're not getting two uses out of us. And no telling anyone, or else you get nothing."

"Deal. We shall bring death to the Heroes!"

"Sure, as long as you pay your end."

The call disconnected.

"Why'd you do that?" X said. "Installing another transmitter is too much of a hassle for a mere test. You know that."

"I'll handle it," Mifune said. "Besides, we need their parts. More importantly, if they don't believe us they'll either refuse and become a loose end, or try and find someone who can confirm our story. Also a loose end. This avoids both problems."

X nodded. "Ok. Sounds logical enough."

"Of course it is. What else would motivate me?"

"Spite?"

Mifune glared, but opted to remain diplomatic, "We should tell their liaison to make sure he's in constant contact when the kaiju arrives.

"Oh? And why is that?"

He smirked. "We promised a kaiju. We never promised anyone's safety. Kaiju are very dangerous creatures."

X chuckled. "You raise an excellent point."


Ochako's shoulders tensed. She resisted the urge to run a hand through her hair. As her elevator reached its destination, she cleared her throat, and put on her best media smile.

Ochako walked down an expensively furnished hallway, glancing at a pocket mirror to make sure her business dress looked good. She was ready for this.

She entered a waiting room. The Pro Hero Tentacole was also there in a business suit (minus the sleeves due to his distinctive arms). However, he was still wearing his mask. Mina had put them in contact for this special meeting.

Ochako was moving beyond mere charity events. She was going to try and get a certain law passed. One that would end quirk requirements wherever they were unnecessary. A mostly useless law, but one that would mean the world to two people she valued.

"Tentacole," she said with a bow.

"Uravity," he said, reciprocating.

It felt weird, he spoke to her like she was…well a peer. By all rights she should be considered a rookie next to him. He was a UA graduate, from a class taught by All Might himself of seven years. A top-tier Hero, a well known crusader Heteromorphs facing discrimination. Ochako had joined a little under four years ago and until recently had just been Nejire's sidekick. A fairly popular sidekick, but a sidekick nonetheless.

Now her popularity was on par with Heroes like Tentacole.

Fame is fleeting, she thought to herself. This is just a brief bump after Tokyo. Once it all blows over he'll probably overtake you again. That, along with your natural cheapness, is why you have to be very careful with your newly incoming money.

"Congratulations on your new agency," Tentacole said.

"Thanks," Ochako said. "It was scary, but it was time. I needed the work anyway." Nejire had taken an indefinite leave of absence after Tokyo. The physical wounds were healed, but the mental ones… "How about you?" she asked.

"Hero work has been daunting as usual. Especially with all the recent kaiju attacks. I'm sure you're less rattled than most of us."

"Actually I'm as thrown off as you guys. Heroes haven't been doing this regularly in Japan for nearly a hundred years. And we never really fought in cities back in the day. Besides, I was a maser driver. We were never part of evacuations."

"Yes, I suppose, tanks aren't exactly rescue vehicles," he said. "I knew kaiju were a problem, when I was young we had to evacuate several times due to them. But I never knew how hard they'd be to bring down. Even if I did…nothing could have prepared me for Godzilla."

"He's in a league of his own." Ochako shuffled her feet. "When I was young, our town was evacuated due to an approaching Gargantua. The aftermath gave my parents some extra work, and put the AMF on my radar."

"I only knew of them by reputation. You know that out there in the rural areas, people with appearances like mine aren't treated as well, right?"

"I've heard. My town didn't have that, but I've heard stories of other places." Many of her comrades in the AMF, especially heteromorphs, had described some very ugly things.

"Mine town had plenty of those stories." He touched his mask. "They said the AMF were more likely to treat you well, even protect you from others. But if you got into a fight with them…I heard they were truly merciless."

Ochako grimaced. "I can see that."

"I suppose it's easy to think of us like a kaiju during a fight. Especially since their heteromorphs were the same way. I never saw it in person, but I knew better than to find out."

Ochako nodded. She could imagine that. Far too easily.

After an awkward pause. Then, Tentacole said, "What made you involved with quirk rights? I joined because of my own past, to help those who suffer like me. What about you? Of course if it's private-"

"No, nothing like that. I just had…a friend who could have been treated better."

"Midoriya?"

Ochako scratched her neck. Right. He was famous too. "Yeah. People like him can still be banned from Hero school, and are banned from the tests. I want to change that."

"And this general rule forbidding quirk discrimination including quirk tests-"

"Bans that. Yep. I kind of had to join the general fight for quirked rights because nobody really fights for the quirkless alone anymore. There just aren't enough of them."

"Ten percent of the population isn't nothing."

"Most of whom are foreign, old or content with their lives. There's barely anyone of our generation without a quirk. Even fewer younger than us. Barely anyone remembers they exist beyond Midori, and they deserve to be treated fairly."

Tentacole chuckled. "You have a good heart. I'll gladly help you with your cause."

Ochako smiled. She opened her mouth to reply when the door to the waiting room opened behind her. "Shoji! It's been too long!"

Ochako turned around. A man with the head of a jackal stepped in. He had sleek fur, barring an ugly scar on his neck, a very expensive, and jolly smile. He walked up and clapped Shoji on the back. "I heard about your recent rescue work in Kyoto. Well done."

"Thank you Mr. Katsuhara," Tent-a-Cole said.

He turned to Ochako. "You must be Uravity. ou must be Uravity, I've seen your exploits on television. Masterful use of your quirk."

"Thank you sir," Ochako said. "And you are?"

"Someone with some experience with this activism business who decided to help. I am a lawyer from Shoji's home region. My name is Haru Katsuhara and I am very pleased to meet you."


Hope you enjoyed! Life was busy so I wasn't able to revise this as much as I would have hoped.

Reviews bring me joy!