15/03/2025
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The Emperor's Dragon
Chapter 101 - Politics 101
Even though Sozo had tendered his resignation to the Minister, he was still nominally in charge of the Hero Public Safety Commission and was responsible for dealing with the fall out.
And apart from figuring out how the brat had been able to raid Tartarus, they had to figure out why they'd had no warning. If they could work out how the brat had done it, that would let them figure out how to prevent it happening again. And if they could work out why there had been no warning, that would improve their intelligence networks.
Thankfully, the other High Security prisons hadn't been raided so the prisoners who'd been recaptured were still secure. That was something.
Tartarus was one issue. Osaka was another. The public would focus on Osaka, right up until they twigged how bad Tartarus had been, then there'd be… a lot of hysterical civilians probably.
"Let's go through this chronologically," he told the room. The virtual room. It was impossible to get everyone together in person at a time like this for a meeting. Irresponsible too given their priorities.
"First is Osaka," the HPSC's Chief Operating Officer said.
"The villain Dabi and Nomu," Sozo added context for others on the line. They all had a briefing, but he wasn't sure who would have had the time to fully read it.
Until the villains who had been freed from Tartarus started rampaging, most people would consider the events of Osaka to be the greatest threat. It was just the fucking diversion but losing the newly announced Number One Hero was something the public would focus on, especially with Hawks being injured.
The medics said he'd heal, and they'd managed to set his bones right, but he'd always have some damage from the burns. He'd never have quite as many feathers and Edge Shot… he had burns over 50% of his body. The hero was fast but hadn't managed to get away in time. Those who were closer…
If they survived, they only survived because their quirks gave very specific assistance against fire. Shouto had used his ice to drive back the fire and the evidence suggested Wash had almost survived but everyone else in that square… everyone else had died.
Endeavor.
His sidekicks.
The villain Dabi.
Those monstrosities he had with him.
Everyone.
The thing was, that event was over. The villains were dead.
Sure, there were heroes dead and injured as well, but for the square, that event was over. There would be fallout, but not additional events. Each of the survivors was being tended to by multiple doctors, and those with healing quirks. They'd have scars, but they'd be back on their feet relatively quickly. The HPSC absolutely needed that, because Tartarus had a lot more fallout. The villains were free. They could be planning anything, and they were still running the numbers to figure out where all of the prisoners were. There had been some murders at Tartarus. Sozo's callous side said not enough. Not with who had been freed and those who could do something. They were the real risk.
"We'll do Osaka next. I know it came first but let's focus on Tartarus," Sozo added before the conversation could get established. "Why didn't we know it was coming?" he put the question to the room. It wasn't just the HPSC here.
There were heroes, Police, intelligence, and even UA for some reason. Sozo would like to tell Nezu to take a hike. The rat was only the principal of a high school but technically, UA was involved since it was one of their students who attacked Tartarus… and maybe that's another angle to play off in the media.
It was something to consider. Especially if Nezu had not taken steps to remove Izuku from their enrolment.
But since Sozo didn't want UA, specifically Nezu to get ideas, he messaged his executive assistant to invite Shiketsu into the meeting. Kenshin would catch up on the purpose from context.
"We did know," Nezu said.
The remark got the rat a sharp look from intelligence.
"There was nothing on our sweeps," Chinou said firmly.
"Izuku's desire to free his father was anticipated," Nezu pointed out.
"Yes! Which is why we've been watching every bar the guards frequent and watching the higher ranks like hawks! He hasn't approached anyone for information," Chinou insisted.
"What if he didn't?"
Sozo didn't see who asked.
"No, he definitely had insider information," Eren Kuchisu objected. The Tartarus Controller had seen the attack in person from the control room. He'd done his best to stop the escape. So had many on Tartarus. They were still finding the bodies.
"The attack was too precise," Eren told them.
"So did someone give him the information?" The question was blatant.
Sozo was sure people had been thinking it but hearing it said, sent a shiver down the back of quite a few of those present. He could see it in their expressions.
"That is possible," Sozo allowed. In as much as they tried to guard against the possibility of betrayal, it was something that was always a risk. The guards, and other Tartarus personal, when not on shift, lived on the mainland, in a nice, secure village with their families but sometimes… They were monitored but if someone just decided to tell the brat what he wanted… They could not always guard against that. "We have specialists coming to check that possibility," he explained before anyone could get hysterical, or accusative. "But I think it more likely he found some way of obtaining the information without alerting intelligence."
"He didn't get it from one of the normal routes," Chinou confirmed.
"If we knew Tartarus was in danger, then why wasn't Tartarus warned?"
Sozo cringed. That was a dangerous question.
"We were," Fuluka replied easily.
"So why weren't you ready?" The accusation came from one of the Minister's lackeys. They'd been let into the meeting by the Chief Operating Officer. The currying for favour was obvious and Sozo suppressed a chuckle. Obvious, and with this audience, something bound to get you looked upon disfavourably.
"Are you stupid?" Fulaka asked after a moment of silence. Contempt dripped from her voice. "Or just deaf? We knew it was a possibility, but Intelligence had picked up nothing."
"So you should have been on alert," the Minister's lackey retreated slightly but wouldn't give it up.
"Got it," Fulaka huffed. "You're stupid. We can't have guards on alert forever. It just does not work like that," she said, glaring at her screen, probably at the image of the Minister's lackey. "Who are you anyway?"
The guy puffed up with importance, no doubt thinking about how he was going to complain to the Minister to have Fulaka fired. "Daijino Buka," he told her, as if she'd recognised the name.
Fulaka frowned and then looked around. The question, even over video conference, was obvious. It asked anyone for further clarification of who this was.
No one spoke up. Not even the Chief Operating Officer. Sozo knew his underling now realised how bad it was to invite Daijino.
"Can someone remove him?" Eren asked on Fulaka's behalf.
"What?" Daijino objected.
"You are not authorised to be a member of this meeting," Eren pointed out. "You don't have the clearances," he added.
A moment later the names of those in the meeting shuffled around to show that Daijino had been removed and the meeting settings had been altered to require the approval of all non-invited attendees.
"We knew that Izuku Midoriya would probably attack Tartarus," Fulaka told the meeting. "But there was absolutely no warning of his attack."
"Fuluka, are you really suggesting someone came in, interrogated us all without anyone noticing and then what, wiped our memories?" Ryunosuke demanded.
The man, Tartarus' Warden, was in an interesting position. He had not been at Tartarus on the day of the raid, which was an immediate, massive red flag but he had been in hospital, in emergency with a severe case of food poisoning. There was not a trace of drugs in his system to suggest it had been induced, and he'd already been checked to ensure that he had not deliberately eaten something that would make him sick. Even so, the people here would be thinking it could be coincidence, or it could be conspiracy.
But Ryunosuke had not been selected for his inability to confront the truth.
"That's a possibility," Nezu replied before Fulaka could.
Everyone looked at Nezu questioningly.
"One or two of us, I could accept," someone said. Ah, that was Fulaka. Tartarus' Manager. "But he'd have to have spoken to at least… five of us to get the details we saw his forces acting upon," she pointed out.
"Still possible," Nezu acknowledged after a moment's thought. "There are quirks which erase memory," the principal pointed out as Sozo noticed Shiketsu's principal Kenshin joining the call.
A couple of the Tartarus people nodded at Nezu's statement. They would be tested for signs of those quirks soon.
"And we know this particular group of villains has a way of getting around alarm systems," Nezu continued. People didn't look happy about that knowledge.
"I suppose he used a truth detector, or a truth forcing quirk as well," Eren sighed.
"Most likely," Nezu agreed, far too happily. "That's if he got the information that way. Which would seem likely," the principal said.
"For someone who can take and use the quirks of others, it would just be a matter of identifying who has a quirk that would be useful."
"The quirk register is not public."
"It's not that hard to steal either."
"No one has reported unexplained quirk loss," Sir Nighteye interjected before people could explode over the previous statements.
Sozu gave him a nod of thanks for diffusing the situation.
"Good citizens do not use their quirks," Chinou said tactfully.
"They'd still know it was missing."
"They could have been paid off."
"Enough!" Sozo interrupted the argument. He'd heard these types of things before. Accusations would follow if left unchecked. "We do not yet know if that was how he got the information," he pointed out. "And the Tartarus Staff will be undergoing tests shortly which will provide more information, so we will move on." Sozo could sense that they didn't want to, but they also knew there was a lot still to cover.
"Now, the attack itself," he introduced the new topic after waiting a moment for people to realign their thoughts. "Eren, please," he asked the Tartarus Controller to speak.
The man took a deep breath. "It was precise. The wanton destruction of everything simply hides how precise the attack was," he explained. "Our outer defenses were taken out in one coordinated attack. The power connection to the mainland was also taken out and the connections to the backup generators."
With every point of attack Eren outlined, the clearer the level of planning became to everyone, and the level of intelligence needed to conduct the attack. Tartarus had been compromised before the attack began.
"Then they sent over those things. They were everywhere," Fulaka took up the thread of explanation. "There were multiple warp gates."
"How many?" Sir Nighteye asked intently.
"At least fifty," Fulaka replied.
The implications were not good. They knew the villain's warp gate could transport multiple people at once and that there could be multiple outlet points but fifty was beyond human capacity. Which meant…
Sozo might have resigned but villains of this calibre were everyone's problem. Either their warper had superhuman capacity or they had figured out how to have multiple warpers. Either option wasn't good.
"They are using Jin Bubaigawara's ability," All Might said softly.
Sozo wasn't the only one reaching for the files. A moment later, he didn't like what he'd read. If that quirk worked as it seemed to…
"That's probably how," Fulaka said, sounding relieved. Sozo knew she'd think about the implications later.
"Even with all the troops the villain had, we probably could have driven them off, or at least holed up, except-" she sighed heavily. "They sent a dragon."
There was silence.
Then everyone burst out with questions.
Most of them were denying the possibility. Rather than reply, Fulaka made a gesture and a short time later the questions died down as Eren shared a video of the … dragon. There was no other word. It had four legs and a set of huge green wings. It was covered in scales and had glowing green eyes and it was huge! They watched as it slammed its tail into one of the buildings and then reared up to pull the rest of the building down. The video clip didn't include sound, but they knew it would be loud. Just as the clip ended, they saw the dragon sweep the guards away from it with contemptuous ease.
"What the hell quirk is that?" someone asked.
It was a coincidence that Sozo was looking at Sir Nighteye when the question was asked. All Might's sidekick looked ill, but he also started, as if he knew something. Before the debate could be hijacked, Sozo asked, "You know something, Sir Nighteye?"
The sidekick gave a small sigh before visibly gathering himself. "I have seen that dragon before, with my quirk," he told the group.
Sozo suddenly realised whatever Sir Nighteye had seen was very personal. Even so, this was personal for many of them. The guards who had died took it personally. As did their families.
"You saw this happening?" the accusation was immediate.
"Of course not!" Sir Nighteye snapped instantly. You could tell he was insulted but you could also tell he had refrained from adding an extra phrase to his reply. "I saw that dragon at Kamino," he elaborated.
It took less than a heartbeat for everyone to recall that nothing like the dragon had been at Kamino.
"The vision obviously changed and the dragon, while looking the same, behaved differently."
"How so?" Fulaka asked before anyone else could interrupt.
Sir Nighteye gave her a nod. "At Kamino, it was controlled by the villain All For One. Here, it seems aware and acting on its own recognisance."
People digested that thought. The video had shown no one directing the dragon.
"So, you think that's someone's quirk?"
"Or an amalgamation of quirks," Sir Nighteye agreed.
"The villain's troops appeared to have multiple quirks," Eren mused aloud, which effectively cut off any argument that having multiple quirks was impossible.
"Those things are called Nomu," All Might told everyone. "They are artificially enhanced to possess superhuman abilities and multiple quirks." All Might's identification shot down any residual argument.
"So, what the hell are we facing? A villain who can take quirks and can make artificial soldiers with multiple quirks and who has a fucking dragon?" The question bothered everyone, not the least of which because it was true.
"Did the dragon survive Kamino?" The question was a good one and distracted from the previous thought. If the dragon died at Kamino then they could replicate whatever it took to kill it.
"Yes," Sir Nighteye said, his voice pained. "All Might did not," he added.
"Fuck!" It was a reasonable sentiment.
"There are issues," Sozo said. "But they are what we are here to work through," he reminded those gathered. "Firstly, we need to find out how this villain learned about Tartarus. Then we will look at defences," Sozo noticed Moumoku frowning. "You have a question, Moumoku?" Thus far the woman hadn't said anything.
"The villain has access to a warp gate, so why did he assault Tartarus? From what I've seen he was after one villain. He didn't need to raze the place?"
"Can't be done," Eren answered immediately, shaking his head.
"Why not?"
"Because we have quirk use detectors in each cell. The instant after the warp gate opened, the machine guns would have fired."
Moumoku nodded but didn't appear completely convinced.
"We will learn more about Tartarus once everyone is checked, unless anyone has anything else to say?"
There was silence.
Sozo sighed. That meant he couldn't put off-
"Wait! Where is Mirko?" That was Sir Nighteye. "She went to Tartarus."
"We are still searching for her," Sozo admitted. "We believe she made it to the island but not in time to save Mt Lady and then-" he shook his head.
"So, she's been captured," Sir Nighteye concluded.
"That is, unfortunately the most likely outcome," Sozo allowed. "We are looking for her but do not have any leads."
"The villains have said nothing?"
"Not so far."
Sozo watched Sir Nighteye and All Might exchange a look. "I'll see if I can get any information," All Might said.
The Commissioner nodded and then heaved a sigh. "Now, onto Osaka-" he said reluctantly.
The meeting turned their attention to him fully, knowing there were still issues from Tartarus to consider but also appreciating that the situation was complex. From the way their eyes were sharp, Sozo braced.
This was not going to be nice.
-ted-
The heroes do not know for sure that Izuku is the dragon seen at Tartarus. There are a number of reasons for this. Firstly, Sir Nighteye never shared his vision much so this is the first time seeing the Dragon for most of the heroes. Secondly, in a world of quirks, if you make one assumption it could blind you to other things. So while the heroes know izuku's villain name is Dragon that doesn't translate to him being the dragon. It could be he can control it (and then what Sir Nighteye saw in his vision was AFO with that quirk), or it could be that Izuku can create something like that.
Eventually, soonish, the heroes will put together that Yakuni is on Izuku's side and most likely stole genetic material from Ryuukyu to copy her quirk, and Izuku either stole or has a gigantification quirk, and AFO stole Scale a long time ago, which are the three basic ingredients to make the Dragon. And they will realise that Izuku is Dragon, especially once the truth of HOW he makes his 'scales of favour' get out. That is that they are not taken from an animal, he creates them.
So, there's a little bit more to go before they realise it and for now, they are still trying to work out how Izuku so successfully got into (and out of) Tartarus. And of course, no matter how, there is political fall out. Next chapter the focus will return to our heroes.
Discord is on this code: TcBnRN7aDn FFN will remove links but you should be able to figure that out. There's a heap of other authors there, so come along and chat to us all! Not just about MHA.
-ted-
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