Wow, I did not realize how much people hate Bakugo. I've seen the reviews. You've asked for his retribution, and in time, I shall deliver.


Chapter 9: Project Zero Dawn Part 1


Datapoint: Enduring Victory

Elisabet was now seen with a group of commanders around a circular table. This was inside US Robot Command, and the brilliant scientist has finished proposing a solution to the onlookers there.

"Thank you, Doctor Sobeck. You can take a seat." General Herres nodded.

"Wait, what happened to the rest? Are we just seeing this recording after she proposed a solution?" Iida asked.

"Unfortunately, this is all I could find from what I've salvaged. This was from the ruins of US Robot Command." Aloy explained.

"Well, it looks like Ted really did sign the proposal. Looks like Elisabet's plan is in motion." Nezu stated. "Now just what is it, exactly?"

"Huh?! You're going to thank her?! After what she just said?!" Another commander stood up in protest.

"Doctor Sobeck has made the situation very clear, General, and given us an option." Herres replied. "We should all be thanking her.

"It's just… I mean, my god." The commander tried to process what was happening.

"Wait, what are they discussing?" Midnight asked. "Is this about Zero Dawn?"

"Partly. Ted may have the funds necessary to build Zero Dawn, but the swarm will still consume the Earth in fifteen months. They don't know how much time they need, so they're gonna buy as much of it as possible." Aloy explained.

"You… you mean…?" Midoriya asked.

"Maybe take the discussion offline?" Another commander asked.

"There's not going to be any discussion." Herres stood up, planting his feet firmly onto the floor. "You saw the numbers. Now Ted, he'll foot the bill, but his money can't buy the time necessary to complete Zero Dawn."

General Herres sighed.

"That… can only be paid for in blood."

"What?!" Kirishima exclaimed. "They're going to send people out to fight the swarm?!"

"This is madness. They're basically going to be sacrifices to the swarm, all to buy time for Zero Dawn." All Might gritted his teeth.

"Unfortunately, I feel that is the only option they have, as grim as this sounds." Aizawa stated.

"But Aizawa-sensei! How could sacrificing lives to the swarm be better?!" Uraraka asked. "Can't they find another alternative?!"

"Oh, come on! If we upgrade our fleets, crack the code somehow-" Another commander gave his two cents on the matter before being interrupted.

"Were you not listening?! Robots can't do the fighting for you this time!" Elisabet exclaimed. "When it comes to hacking, this swarm is an apex predator! Anything automated you throw at it, they will hijack and take over!"

"But this?! We'd be throwing civilians into a meat grinder!" A commander protested.

"C-Civilians?!" Tsuyu sweatdropped upon hearing that word mentioned in that manner.

"Hold on, time out, they're really going to throw soldiers AND civilians at the swarm?!" Ashido exclaimed.

"That's too far! They should be evacuating them before they can stop the swarm!" Kaminari exclaimed.

"Commanders!" Herres raised his voice once again. "The enemy we're facing self replicates faster than we can kill it, and it eats biomass as fuel. Zero Dawn is all we got."

"So we put a railgun in the hand of every civilian strong enough to carry one, show them where the trigger is, and point them to the front?! How the hell do we sell that?!" A commander asked.

"By giving them something to fight for. Zero Dawn. The top secret super weapons program that can save us, so long as humanity holds off the swarm long enough for Doctor Sobeck and her team to finish it." General Herres added. "The file I'm sending contains the war plan for Operation: Enduring Victory."

"War plan?! This is a war crime!" The first commander protested once again.

"I agree. It's too risky, and billions of lives will be lost in the process." Shoji closed his eyes before sighing. "But whatever this superweapons program is, it is better than nothing."

"If those people died fighting the swarm, at least they died with hope, hope for Zero Dawn." Tokouami stated. "And they were right to hold that hope, life preserved in the end."

"Hold on, yeah! Maybe Zero Dawn isn't for nothing! We can see outside that life carried on! Life has survived the Faro swarm, humanity survived the Faro Swarm!" Hagakure tried to look on the bright side of things.

"Yeah! Life went on! The Faro swarm managed to defeat the swarm in time! Their sacrifices at least weren't in vain!" Sero exclaimed.

"I don't know about that." Midoriya spoke out, catching the attention of the rest of the students.

"W-What do you mean?" Sato asked.

"What about all those other machines outside? Why has humanity regressed into primal tribes?" Midoriya asked. "Why is humanity today still under attack by machines?"

"I feel like I'm starting to have an idea." Nezu stated. "This is not looking good. A society in ruins, without any efforts to rebuild itself. If not another civilizational collapse, then what… oh no."

"It may be ugly, but it's something. Consider the alternative." Herres stated. "Doctor Sobeck. I've secured use of a decommissioned Orbital Launch base outside Bryce, Utah as the Zero Dawn staging area. Plenty of space there. When can you get started?"

"I've already mailed you a list of Alpha and Beta candidates. Most are foreign nationals or subjects of corporate holdings, so extracting them…"

"Leave that to me. You'll get your dream team, count on it." Herres stated.

"Then I'll be off." Elisabet walked off towards the exit as the recording stopped.

"Wow, she already has a plan in mind. She even has a list of candidates to help her build Zero Dawn. She must have quite the plan." Hatsume stated.

"But what exactly is Zero Dawn? What saved the Earth from the Faro Plague?" Iida asked.

"It must be a damn good superweapon." Mineta added.

"Turn to the next datapoint." Aloy stated.


Datapoint: The Bad News

"The Bad News?" Kaminari quickly deflated.

"What? Did they hit a roadblock or something?" Kirishima asked.

"No… what you will be watching is of the true nature of Zero Dawn…" Aloy stated. "This… is going to be a lot to take in."

"I'm sure I haven't felt my heart skip a beat until watching these datapoints. This is really wracking on my existential crisis threshold." Kirishima stated.

"Yeah, I feel like we should take a break with this." Present Mic stated.

"No, I really want to know what Elisabet's baby is! What Zero Dawn is! We can't stop right now! Not until we know how Zero Dawn defeated those evil Faro babies." Hatsume exclaimed.

"Well, we made it this far, haven't we?" Midnight asked rhetorically. "I agree, we can't stop now. We have to see it through."

"Aloy's response… this will get dark, isn't it?" Nezu thought once again. "Then, my hypothesis is true. But how will it play out? I'll wait and see."

"Well then, continue the datapoint." Aloy motioned.

The hologram of General Herres appeared once again, hands behind his back and with a serious expression and arms behind his back.

"Welcome to Project Zero Dawn." General Herres spoke. "I am General Herres, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff of the United States of America."

"Alright… what do you have for us, General Herres?" Present Mic nervously said.

"Spill the beans, Herres. Whatever it is, I'm ready for it." Hatsume muttered.

"No, you're not." Aloy and Nezu thought in unison.

"I'm sure you've heard the rumors. That Zero Dawn is a top-secret superweapons program, the technological miracle that will save us from the Faro Plague, if Operation: Enduring Victory can hold off the robots long enough." Herres continued.

"The reason I'm sure you've heard the rumors is that I'm the one who spread them. And they are all lies." Herres continued. "Zero Dawn is NOT a superweapons program, and it will NOT save us."

"W-What?"

Nobody from the hero universe knew who said it. No one cared. At that very moment, the students and faculty members of UA High went into a frozen shock at this information.

The datapoints of the Faro Plague and its consequences did shock them, who wouldn't. But they still clung to the hope that the people of this world had at least survived to see another day. That life would persevere.

But no.

They didn't survive, they didn't persevere. Billions of people, as well as trillions upon trillions of blameless animals, pets, trees, all of them fell to the Faro Plague.

"Nothing can save us. Here's why."

Herres stood aside as an infographic appeared, one of the Faro Plague, its chain of command and its progress as it ravages the biosphere.

"By the time the Glitch was noticed, it was already too late. Nothing could stop the Faro Plague. Nothing can." Herres stated grimly. "Its robots will continue to replicate and devour the biosphere. Life on Earth will be destroyed."

"Our planet, reduced to a barren sphere. Global extinction is inevitable." Herres continued. "Every possible countermeasure has been attempted. Weapons, even nuclear, only delay the inevitable. No matter how many we kill, the robots just keep exponentially making more."

"I… I didn't think it would get this bad. Life on Earth… Ceasing to exist?" Power Loader gasped.

"This… can't be…" Uraraka had her hand on her mouth.

"All those people, those pets, the wonderful forests, all life on Earth… gone." Todoroki gasped.

"Ted Faro…" Midoriya and All Might both gritted their teeth in anger at the singular man who had caused all of this. His recklessness, abuse of power and overwhelming ego caused not only the downfall of humanity, but mass extinction… on a global scale.

What would happen if this was their world? Would they be able to stop it before it's too late? Would any Quirk, any Quirk at all be able to stop such an unstoppable force?

"If we had their deactivation codes, we could shut them all down. The entire swarm." Herres added. "But since their cryptographic protocols use polyphasic entangled waveforms, cracking a code set would take half a century. At best, we've got fifteen months. Not exactly what you'd call a survival option."

"The destruction of a biosphere is not the sort of apocalypse you can wait out in a fallout shelter or space station. There will be no Earth left to reclaim. Just a lifeless, toxic rock with millions of Faro robots on it. Hibernating. Waiting for something to eat." Herres continued.

"This is the horrible truth behind the lies of Operation: Enduring Victory. My lies. Lies designed to inspire millions of innocents to sacrifice themselves in battle." Herres asked.

"This… this is wrong!" Iida yelled out, catching everyone's attention.

"Whoa! Iida!" Sato exclaimed.

"I can't accept this! They're letting all those civilians die in battle! Civilians!" Iida let out his emotions on the matter.

"Should we stop them, Shota?" Present Mic asked.

"No. It is within their right as heroes to speak up against something like this." Aizawa stated. "I'm sure all of us in our early years would've been angry as well. Hell, even I'm getting pissed at the implications of this entire damn thing. I knew things are always unfair, but I didn't think it would have the ability to escalate into something like this."

"I really really hate this! Does this mean those soldiers died for nothing?!" Ashido asked.

"How great the darkness that has befelled this world." Tokoyami stated. "Broken hope, dark lies and even darker truths."

"Yeah!" Kirishima spoke out as well. "They put all their hope on a web of lies, they put their trust in the hope of a superweapon that can save them when there isn't, all for what?!"

"Why? One reason: to buy time for you, and the work you will do here."

"Zero Day, the day life on Earth ceases to exist, is coming fast. It cannot be stopped." Herres continued. "The hope of Zero Dawn is that something new might come after."

That last sentence suddenly stopped the feeling of hopelessness that the datapoint had made them feel.

"Something… new?" Midoriya was the first to ask.

"Like… a second chance? For life itself?" Uraraka asked.

"But I will leave it to Elisabet Sobeck to shine that thin ray of light into the darkness. Herres out."

The datapoint ends once again. But instead of adding another layer of shroud and misery in this already bleak history lesson, the ending of this recording felt a bit more… hopeful.

"A thin ray of light… into the darkness?" Yaoyorozu muttered.

"They may have accepted their fate… but somehow… Elisabet found a way for life to continue." Midoriya pondered. "And it did continue! The world outside! And the other tribes, like the Tenakth! She and everyone working on Zero Dawn must've done it!"

"But what?! What did she do?!" Mineta asked.

"Weren't you listening to the recording, Grape Boy?! It's Zero Dawn! Elizabet's brainchild!" Hatsume yelled excitedly. "You know the drill, turn to the next datapoint where that amazing redhead explains everything about it! Everything about how her baby preserved life itself!"

"Okay, that's quite the energy there." Aloy commented as she and Principal Nezu switched to the next datapoint.


Datapoint: The Good News

Elisabet Sobeck appeared once again, and everyone is ready for what she has to say.

"You've heard the bad news, and it's all true. The Faro Plague is devouring the biosphere. Life itself will cease to exist." Elisabet spoke grimly. "But does that have to be the end?"

A hologram appeared, glowing a bright green of a singular spherical mass, eventually coagulating into a seed.

"What if we could give life a future? What if we could build a kind of seed from which, on a dead planet, life could blossom anew?" Elisabet spoke.

"A seed? On a dead planet?" Todoroki asked himself.

The seed plants itself into a piece of dead soil, and from there, it expands, it blooms and… it grows.

"This is the aim, the hope, of Project: Zero Dawn." Elisabet continued. "To create a super intelligent, fully automated terraforming system… and bring life back from lifelessness."

"A terraforming system? To bring life back from lifelessness?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"The purpose of Zero Dawn was to reverse the ecological damages wrought upon by the Faro Plague. It is meant to be fully automated, constantly working to make a new biosphere long after the last humans died." Beta explained.

"This is why we're here now. Why life on Earth had continued to flourish." Aloy spoke. "It is because of the work of Elisabet and her team that all those sacrifices, all that pain and suffering from a thousand years ago weren't in vain."

"Ah, that is simply genius." Nezu stated, grasping his hands as he took in the information. "Considering it was only a few days after she learned of the Faro robots glitching, I'm deeply impressed with how quick she thought of this plan. It is a risky plan, but even I see there is no other choice.

"A second chance for life. Something that can bring the biosphere back from the death and darkness of the Faro Plague." Tsuyu stated.

"But how does it work?" Iida asked.

"What would such a system require? At its core, it would need a true AI, fully capable of making the trillions of decisions necessary to reconstitute the biosphere." Elisabet explained. "An immortal guardian, dedicated to the re-flourishing of life."

The hologram shifts as the brilliant scientist speaks, as another hologram appears. It was a logo, an insignia of the birth of a small sapling that would re-flourish life on Earth, and next to it…

"We call it GAIA. Mother Nature as an AI." Elisabet stated, as an image of the AI herself appeared.

That was when everyone froze. All of them slowly turn, craning their heads towards GAIA, her general presence changing as they take in what Elisabet had said.

"Whoawhoawhoawhoawhoa! Whoa!" Kaminari put his hands up. "So you're saying that GAIA was the one who headed the Zero Dawn terraforming system?!"

"Yes." Aloy nodded.

"And Elisabet Sobeck was the one who created her?" Todoroki asked.

"She was the one who designed it, along with her team of Alphas and Betas." Beta added.

"And she was the one who brought life back from extinction?!" Surprisingly, Present Mic jumped with a question, somewhat startling his colleagues.

"Affirmative. However if it weren't for Elisabet's determination and hope for life to have a second chance, I wouldn't have been created." GAIA added.

"Wow! You're the one who manned the terraforming system to save the world!" Midoriya excitedly stated as he held his notepad. "I really want to ask you about Zero Dawn!"

"Nonsense, green bean! You don't have to ask her! Elisabet will tell us with her presentation!" Hatsume pointed to Aloy. "Let the scientist take the lead once again, Aloy!"

"Hatsume! You're too close to the portal!" Power Loader exclaimed as the pink haired inventor noticed that the tip of her glove's index finger had disintegrated as it passed through the portal.

"Eep!" Hatsume jumped back in fear before quickly trying to compose herself. "M-My point still stands. Continue the datapoint!"

Aloy took a glance at Midoriya, who was just exasperated from the pink haired girl's antics. She slightly laughed, before continuing the datapoint.

"But that's just the core of the system. She will need to be surrounded and empowered by a comprehensive suite of Subordinate Functions." Elisabet added as the insignia of GAIA was surrounded by a total of 9 more logos, each one signifying a Subordinate Function.

"Subordinate Functions?" Yaoyorozu asked.

"Think of them as extensions of GAIA's mind, each dedicated to a specific purpose." Elisabet explained. "Now these aren't AIs, but make no mistake. Each presents an engineering challenge more profound than anything the human species has ever before attempted."

"Hardware that preserves and then gestates the billions of seeds and embryos from which life can be reborn. The construction of underground facilities to hold it all." Elisabet added.

The insignias of the Subordinate Functions lined up together, forming a list as the names appeared next to them one by one.

MINERVA- With the insignia of a signal being emitted out of a transmitter.

HEPHAESTUS- With the insignia of a flame, similar to ones used to forge metal and steel.

AETHER- With the insignia of a white, fluffy cloud.

POSEIDON- With the insignia of a raging tidal wave.

DEMETER- With the insignia of a green maple leaf.

ARTEMIS- With the insignia of a paw print of a mighty wolf or bear.

ELEUTHIA- With the insignia of a human fetus, human birth.

APOLLO- With the insignia of a Focus and its ability to gather and store information.

HADES- With the insignia of an upside down power button.

"Quick, green bean! Write them down!" Hatsume yelled out once again.

"H-Hatsume! Your finger is getting too close to the portal again!" Iida yelled out.

"Gah!" Hatsume quickly pulled her hand back. "Man, I really have to stop doing that."

"Aaaaaand done!" Midoriya exclaimed as he finished writing down all of the Subordinate Functions.

"Whoa, that was quick." Beta commented.

"You got all that in 20 seconds?" Kaminari asked as he took a look at the notepad. He was then shocked that the green haired boy had drawn the logos as well. "He even drew the logos?!"

"Hey, yeah. He did." Jiro joined in as well.

"It could take me a whole minute to draw just one of these." Sero stated.

"I gotta say, these are some interesting designs." Yaoyorozu stated. "I wonder what each of them do."

"And that's just the start." Elisabet added. "We don't have to build the entire system. The beauty of a fully-automated terraforming system is that it can build itself."

"Build itself? What does that mean?" All Might asked.

"It's pure genius, is what it means." Hatsume answered. "What she's saying is that the system will essentially put itself together. They essentially gave GAIA the tools and how to use them."

"Yeah, it's almost like a living plant in and of itself. Self sustaining and constantly growing." Midoriya stated as he wrote the information down.

"That is an accurate analogy of how I was created." GAIA turned to the teachers. "Your students have achieved quite the level of intellectual performance."

"Hey, even the AI goddess knows your class is good. Really put a lot of care into them." Present Mic nudged his colleague in the shoulder, though he didn't get any response.

"Now, over the days to come, you'll learn how all these Functions, all these pieces that you'll be working on fit together." Elisabet continued as a timer of Zero Day appeared. "How we'll race the clock to execute our harvest initiatives, write the software, build the tech and the facilities, how we'll lock it down and seal it down before the inevitable occurs."

"But even more important, you'll know that it doesn't end here."

The logo of MINERVA appears.

"How GAIA will generate those deactivation codes General Herres talked about, and build the transmission arrays to broadcast them, shutting down the Faro robots for good." Elisabet explained.

"So this is the first step in Zero Dawn, to shut down the swarm that had eaten all life on Earth." Midnight stated.

"A new clean slate. A canvas to paint on. A painting that replicates that of the past." Tokoyami added.

The logo of HEPHAESTUS appears.

"How GAIA will not just build but imagine any conceivable robot it needs to do its work across centuries."

As Elisabet explained the concept of HEPHAESTUS, the hologram began to form and change shape, taking on the form of…

"A machine?" Midoriya and some of the classmates around him gasped, seeing the projection.

The machine was different in its design, a deer, something they haven't encountered. But even through the slight distortion and color deviation from its hologram, the design was clearly one of the many machines outside.

"A-A machine?" Hagakure gasped. Even if she was invisible, you can basically see her mouth open agape.

"B-But HEPHAESTUS was supposed to help the Earth. It was a part of Zero Dawn." Jiro gasped.

"YOU MEAN HEPHAESTUS MAKES THE MACHINES THAT ATTACKED US OUTSIDE?!" Mineta asked, failing to keep his cool.

"H-HEPHAESTUS…" Both Aizawa and All Might widen their eyes at the implication.

"But wait, how does that–" Iida was interrupted as the datapoint continued.

The logos of AETHER and POSEIDON appeared.

"From detoxifying the Earth's ravaged atmospheres and poisoned seas…"

The logo of DEMETER and ELEUTHIA appeared.

"...to the re-greening of the Earth through cryo-preserved seed stocks to re-wilding the Earth with animal life." Elisabet continues.

The logo of ELEUTHIA appeared.

"And then, when it is all said and done, how a new generation of beings, spawned from Cradle Facilities around the globe, would partake of APOLLO…"

The logo of APOLLO appeared.

"The vast archive of human knowledge and cultural achievement from which they learn from us, our world, and most important…" Elisabet continued. "...how not to repeat our mistakes."

"Wait… APOLLO? A vast archive of human knowledge? And they planned to use it on today's humans?" Todoroki asked.

"But… that doesn't make sense." Yaoyorozu jumped deep into thought. "If APOLLO existed, then humanity wouldn't have regressed into tribes! They would've picked up where the Old World left off!"

"But that didn't happen! The world barely knows of what happened before! If they did, they would be only slightly on par with modern day, if not on par!" Uraraka exclaimed.

"Then… what happened to APOLLO?" Ashido asked.

"Did… did APOLLO not work." Midnight worriedly looked at Present Mic, as the two were passionate about learning different cultures relating to the subjects they teach.

"I…" Present Mic didn't have an answer.

"All that knowledge, and it didn't work?" Hatsume asked.

"It's not an impossible dream. It is within our grasp if we work tirelessly and stop at nothing to achieve it." Elisabet continued. "We can't stop life from ending. But if you will help me, help GAIA, we can give it a future. Join me, and help make that future real."

Elisabet gave a slight nod, before her hologram fades away, ending the datapoint.

It was quite a recording. Zero Dawn was interesting. Though they did not approve of Operation: Enduring Victory, it was made clear that this swarm, this Faro Plague cannot be stopped. Zero Dawn was almost a feeling of relief for them, it helped them think that people can achieve the impossible, like how the heroes in their world did.

But alas, there was something amiss. While the recording helped to clear some answers about the nature of this world, some parts, specifically that of HEPHAESTUS and APOLLO, left even more questions. This was getting annoying, and somewhat disheartening to those from the hero world.

"Um… can you tell us more about these Subordinate Functions?" Iida asked, trying to keep his own composure. "I… I believe there are more questions that need to be answered."

"Yeah… questions. Specifically about HEPHAESTUS at least?" Midoriya asked. "The machines outside can't be created by HEPHAESTUS, right?"

"Yeah, it was created for Zero Dawn, right? No way it makes machines that attack people." Kirishima asked.

"Indeed. I may have not seen the machines myself, but from what you have told us, these machines were enough of a challenge to you all, and enough of a threat to the people of that world." All Might stated. "Machines created by something like Zero Dawn shouldn't attack humans."

"A-And APOLLO. Don't forget about APOLLO." Kaminari stated.

"If APOLLO was intended to teach the people of this world of all the knowledge and cultures of the past, then we would've seen society trying to rebuild, trying to rebuild the past. Not fighting machines with spears and bows" Yaoyorozu stated.

"But no, the Tenakth may have learned fragments about the Ten, but they only see fragments." Uraraka added. "If APOLLO had worked, then they would've seen the full picture, about all the discoveries and achievements humanity had."

"Right now, that world's society is still being threatened. People are in danger, and worst of all, they don't even know why." All Might stated.

"Oh, that is an understatement." Aloy nodded to the sentiment, to which Midoriya looked down in guilt as he saw it firsthand with Tekkrah's death.

"If that is the case then, Aloy and Beta…" Aizawa looked at the huntress. "What happened to HEPHAESTUS and APOLLO?"

"That is a good question." Beta answered. "You see, Zero Dawn was successful. It disabled and shut down the Faro Plague, it detoxified the Earth and reintroduced its biosphere."

"However… there were some unforeseen hiccups. Two of them" Aloy added.

"And what were those hiccups?" Todoroki asked.

"Well, the first one… APOLLO was purged from the system. Manually. Some time after Zero Day." Beta explained.

"Manually purged from the system?!" Hatsume, Midnight and Present Mic exclaimed.

"You… you mean someone went in and DELETED APOLLO?! Just like that?!" Yaoyorozu exclaimed.

"Yes. Because of that, those Cradle Facilities only gave them kindergarten-level education. And because the purge, which was supposed to include a variety of different languages such as Spanish, Mandarin and Chinese, the system was set to English. Only English." Beta explained.

"You mean… all the cultures of the past world disappeared? Just like that?" Midnight gasped.

"Then… What was the second hiccup?" Midoriya asked.

"Well… around 20 years ago, something happened which caused GAIA to self-destruct." Aloy stated, causing everyone else. "This GAIA here is a backup. Her predecessor self-destructed herself after detecting a threat to everything she built."

"Detecting a threat?" Midoriya asked. "So the Subordinate Functions were left to their own devices?"

"Yes. That is a problem we've been having for a while now." Aloy stated

"So, which do you want to know about first?" Beta asked. "About what happened to APOLLO or about why HEPHAESTUS is creating machines?"

"You know what?" Nezu takes a breath. "I feel like we should start with APOLLO first. That way, we can find out who purged it."

"Alright then." Aloy nodded, then the next datapoint appeared.