Point of View

Aurdel sat in his room, quietly. He watched the files pass through on his helmet’s HUD, using his neural lace to manipulate them and pull up certain bits of information or figures when he needed them. Currently he was going over a massive amount of data that he’d compiled from various places across Asia. All of it was related to the I-Island incident. Of course he’d first found all the information that was gathered from those on the island, but what they’d told the authorities hadn’t been enough to identify those who’d attacked the island. Making assumptions solely based on hearsay and unreliable sources led to errors in judgment, so he did some of his own digging. On the day of the incident I-Island was in the western pacific, relatively close by to the Bay of Bengal but too far off from the coast of India or any other country to be seen. At the time the plan for those who were in control of the island was to pass into the Andaman Sea before traveling through the Malacca Strait. Then they would make a stop at Singapore, allowing those who were on the island a moment of reprieve and a chance to visit the city. Afterwards they would continue into the eastern Pacific after crossing through the South China Sea. Obviously those plans had never happened, but it didn’t hurt to know when trying to get a bigger picture of the situation. He leaned back in his chair, fiddling with a red ribbon and his dog tags in his right hand as he kept thinking,

No one on the island had seen the aircraft as they’d approached the island, nor the direction that they’d approached from, meaning that there was no way to track their path relative to the island. That was where the extra information came in. He had effectively personally undertaken the largest single data breach in human history up to this point in this world, as he took and pulled up long term radar data taken from air control towers in India, Bangladesh, Burma and Sri Lanka from over a period of several weeks. A few weeks before, and a few weeks following. The reason for performing such a broad search was because it was very likely that the aircraft involved in the attack had organized themselves some time before the island was in position. Then, once the time was right, they struck. It made sense, it was what he would do. He set up a multilayered screen, dedicating one layer to track the identification of confirmed aircraft travel and another to that of unconfirmed objects. At first the only non-identified craft he spotted was something he hadn’t been looking for, an American UAV operating in the region. But after a moment he saw it. For a few mere milliseconds six unidentified aircraft flashed on the map before falling off of the radar. He enhanced the layer and brought up the unidentified aircraft, then determined their most likely flight path based on what little data he had. It placed them somewhere in the northeast, in West Bengal. With that not he then accelerated the timescale and watched the remainder of the radar footage looking for the same radar blips, for any sign. But there was nothing.

Any other person would have given up there, but Aurdel had noticed something odd. With the first layer of identified aircraft still present he kept a mental note of which aircraft came and went where. Therefore it was easy to imagine his shock when he noticed that an aircraft that had landed in Burma the same day was registered as having flown out of an airport in West Bengal. Upon searching through the data he located the flight, and pulled up its manifest. The flight was that of a cargo aircraft, and a large one at that, registered to a company in Pakistan. The company that he traced it back to claimed to be a firm involved in contracts for the mass import or export of both raw materials and completed goods. However upon closer investigation, and remotely accessing the company internal network, he found that it was little more than a front company. This suspicion was confirmed even more so upon discovering that all of the other companies it had done business with were shell companies. Their latest exports were to various businesses in Afghanistan, though there was no paper trail that confirmed that they’d actually done business. The goods were then exported via a land route into Afghanistan known as the Khyber Pass, a region infamous for having been a hub of terrorist activity as well as a producer of faux firearms for what could be considered low prices. So it came as no surprise to him that the company then claimed that their trucks were attacked and that both employees were killed and the goods were either taken or destroyed, petitioning the governments of the region for restitution. Such an occurrence was likely and made for a good cover story, allowing them to transport the material the rest of the way without being monitored by any official channels. However it also meant that his international trail to follow, unless he physically went and investigated each location, had ended. From here it was completely speculation.

He knew that neither India nor Pakistan were responsible for the attack, as had it been their handiwork they would not have transferred the goods further and further away from their own borders. It could not have been the work of the Pashtun or the other tribes in Pakistan and Afghanistan that control the area, as while there may be some incentive none of them would have the proper equipment nor the motivation to carry out the attack. The Central Asian states were slightly more likely due to their own national situations, but even then they were not likely enough to have taken part in such subterfuge. That left him with several more likely suspects, though with no evidence to prove his theories. One was the Russian government, as even with all of the former KGB and much of the original FSB dead they continued the quest of ever increasing their influence. Another was the Russian mob, one of the few organized crime groups around the globe that had survived the onset of quirks and Hero society due to large amounts of corruption allowing a blind eye to be turned. There was also the various nations in the EU and their more localized terror or criminal groups, wanting to get a leg up on their targets or levy more power for themselves against their respective governments.

But yet another possibility was the Triads being responsible, another criminal group that had managed to survive though not due to a lack of effort on the part of the Chinese government. They had managed to survive the age of quirks due the heavy restrictions that were initially imposed, and by the time many of them were lifted and Heroes were permitted there were already criminal influences in high positions to cover their tracks. But there was also the possibility of it being the Chinese government itself. Historically he knew that they had often tried to violently expand their level of influence on a global level, something that seemed to be further exasperated on this world. On top of that, the Chinese government was also known for their technology stealing. One of the most infamous cases was when they breached US firms and stole design details for the American fifth generation fighter program. And so with all that said they were the ones he cast the most suspicion on, though that’s not a guaranteed guilty verdict. But ultimately there was also the chance that the Japanese government was involved, not wanting the quirk amplification device to be stolen like it had previously. Though that made little sense given the fact that Japanese citizens had nearly made up a plurality of the population, and a plurality of the casualties. He let out a sigh, despising the situation. Due to his past with ONI he knew all about black operations and espionage, but that didn’t make him like any of it any better. It was all disingenuous, and he knew with hindsight where ONI had originated from and specifically which people were responsible for a number of the world’s problems. But there were other things he needed to worry about, so assassinating oligarchs and bureaucrats wasn’t on his priority list.

He sat up straight in his chair, there was something else that had been keeping him preoccupied. Because he was a registered Pro-Hero who got into a number of high-profile cases against Villains, he was legally required to have an office for his ‘agency.’ Really, he had only taken that as a suggestion. Because he was currently basing his Hero work out of UA it meant that any mail or members of the press would be coming to the schools doorstep, and as a result they were inundated with requests for interviews and other offers. The security system has also been tripped several times by people trying to sneakily get in and have a look at him. As such, there was some pressure on him to find a real agency office. Something that he ultimately relented on after deciding it was in the best interest of the students’ safety. So, he’d come up with a solution. Upon finding several loopholes regarding laws relating to asset forfeiture he was able to present a case with the help of Sir Nighteye’s agency to the Hero Public Safety Community and the national court to hand over the property of the Creature Rejection Clan to him. Normally something like this was heavily frowned upon and the case would have been stricken down, but his public influence had intervened in his favor. Court and commission officials were lambasted by the public, saying that the members of the Creature Rejection Clan deserved their property being taken away due to having terrorized the country for decades. The most wild of supporters came from the community surrounding the Creature Rejection Clan’s mansion, citing the low presence of Heroes in the area as the reason why the group was allowed to get away with all they had for so long. A few of the more small government minded groups protested against the case, saying that it would set a precedent of Heroes imprisoning people and calling them Villains just so they could seize their assets. But in the end the supporters outnumbered the detractors, and the court was influenced in his favor.

After it was officially handed over to him he spent some time searching the property, ensuring that there were no parting gifts left over from its former owner. But in reality there were many. Scattered around the inside of the mansion were caches of weapons and drugs, likely how they’d been making ends meet despite their unpopularity. After gathering everything together he had it all cataloged, then handed over the drugs to the police as evidence while keeping the weapons for himself. Something he also found was more evidence of their killings, as they’d done more ritual sacrifices than just the one he stopped. He dug up bones and decomposed bodies all over the property, ultimately calling in the police and a coroner’s unit to DNA test and identify the dead. Nearly all of them were missing persons from the area who had been gone for years, kidnapped by the CRC. There were even a few more infamous members among the dead, one being the corpse of a pro-Hero with a mutant quirk that had gone missing decades ago. And though the families of the victims held some bitterness towards the police for what they thought had been not enough effort to find their loved ones, they were grateful for the closure. Naturally he tried to comfort them, but he knew that they were inconsolable. One more thing he went on the search for were bugs and wiretaps, as the last thing that he needed was for someone, no matter if it was a Villain or even the government, from listening in on him. Luckily he found none, giving him at least some sense of safety temporarily. And with that he’d begun cleaning the property.

Any symbols or tags the CRC had left on the property were scrubbed away, not wanting the community to be associated with the group any longer. After that he cleaned up and worked on repairing the mansion. The interior was what required the most work, and while it had been the active residence of the CRC they had left many rooms in disuse and disrepair. Walls, insulation, flooring, roofing and ceiling all had to be replaced, something he did by hand. The commission had offered to assist him in renovating the mansion to ‘Hero’ standards, but he’d outright refused them. Part of his reasoning was that he felt that their requirements were extremely lackluster, and if he did things their way he would ultimately just end up renovating the entire mansion again. But another part of it was the fact that he held distrust for the organization itself. He may be someone that tries to see good in people no matter who they are, but he also holds a great deal of natural paranoia after years of working with ONI and having been one of their pet projects. That wasn’t helped by the fact that the HPSC held a rather vast amount of unchecked power, dictating legislation to nearly the entire populace of Japan through an unelected committee that could very rarely be held accountable or have their legislation repealed without direct government executive intervention.

Frankly he wasn’t sure how such an organization like this had managed to form or continue without protest, but he supposed that because drastic times had called for drastic measures and people simply didn’t think about future proofing the organization. It didn’t make it any more acceptable to him though. If he had his way the system would be radically different. If anything, he’d make it more like the way the UNSC and Colonial Militias used to interact. The Colonial Militia were able to settle issues and conflicts on their own, deal with their own Insurrections. But when things got out of hand? That’s when the UNSC stepped in. That’s what he’d want. Nearly everyone had a quirk, that meant that nearly anyone could fight off a criminal or Villain. So believed they should be allowed to do so at their own discretion, though with regulations in place to prevent wanton destruction and injuries. And if no one feels safe enough to step up? That’s when you would call in the Heroes. Granted in a perfect world none of this would be needed, but that kind of world was near impossible without a complete totalitarianism. Put simply, he didn’t approve of the commission and wanted to distance himself from it, even if he had to work with it on occasion.

One of the many improvements he made to the mansion was the property’s security, turning it into a relative fortress that could not be snuck into like he’d done previously. One of the first things he’d done was replace the wall surrounding the property, tearing out every brick and replacing the barrier with that of a reinforced concrete mesh and several layers of steel plating. He also lined the wall with angled barbed wire and sets of electrified wire, maiming and shocking anyone that tried to climb over. Behind the wall were reinforcing braces, designed in a way so that if anything smaller than a heavy main battle tank tried to ram the wall it would hold. He also replaced the relatively weak wooden and cast iron gate with that of a set of heavy steel doors that were magnetically sealed and would not open unless powered. Some may have considered this overkill, but for many UNSC complexes these were standard measures. The difference was that those tended to have many more layers of armor plating and concrete in order to take sustained plasma fire. There was still much more that had to be done though. For starters, he needed to expand and reinforce the basement into a bunker-like structure. He also needed to set up a triage center, a data storage area, command area, a workshop, a-

Suddenly he shook his head. His mind had been completely lost in thought and was so preoccupied with compiling evidence and renovating the property that he hadn’t noticed the time. The school day was about to begin and he hadn’t even started his daily routine. He slipped the ribbon and dog tags back on, then put his helmet back on his head. After double checking that everything on the property was secure, he left for the school.

Aurdel was running the class through another intense set of exercises when Ida raised his hand. “Mr. Aurdel, may I ask you a question?”

“Of course, what’s your question?”

“What do you think of the Villain known as the Hero Killer?” Upon hearing it the class went silent, it was a loaded question..

“What do I think of him?” He thought back to what he’d read about him. “Well, they say that the way to hell is paved with good intentions. And with the way he turned out he’s probably an epitome of the phrase. Inherently, I do not disagree with his idea of a Hero. I for one don’t believe that Heroes should be doing their duty for fame, popularity, wealth or anything of that sort. I believe that they should primarily focus on what they’re supposed to, protecting others and saving all the lives they can. But the problem is he felt that he had no way to influence the system, so he turned to his own methods. Killing and maiming Heroes isn’t an effective way to create change. At best, it would just be driving the behavior underground until the threat had passed. To get actual change you would have to expose the malintents for who they are, and give the people the chance to either force them into retirement or change for the better.” He stopped, “Why do you ask? I know that your brother was paralyzed in one of his attacks, so I would assume that you would be hesitant to bring up the topic.”

“No, I’ve accepted the circumstances that forced my brother to retire prematurely. The reason I wanted to ask is because myself and many others cannot help but draw parallels between your actions and his idea of what a Hero is supposed to be.” He paused, “You rarely appear in the forefront of the media spotlight, often disappearing from the scene of a resolved case before police have even arrived at the scene and try to thank you. And in the few cases that you have been caught in public you’ve been incredibly reserved and and tried to refuse and praise that comes your way. On top of that you don’t seem to have any ulterior motive to your work, not even monetarily since It was reported that for almost half of your cases you completed you didn’t receive any money because you didn’t do the paperwork or acknowledge it as having been done by you.” He shut his eyes for a moment, “But there’s also the fact that you show very little mercy against the Villains you face, and set a dangerous precedent.”

“I can see where you’re going. You believe that people will begin looking at me in a similar vein to Stain, using my ideas to influence their own. Then from there, there would be those who would take my ideas to a radical level and the logical extent. Then they would act on it, causing a great deal of violence.” The boy nodded, Aurdel sighed. “As with anything, I suppose that it is a possibility. But just because there is a chance something may happen does not mean that it is guaranteed to happen. However,” he began to explain, “You should know that it was never my intention to influence anyone. And while I do have a certain amount of responsibility to my public image and the things I do and say, I am not responsible for those that look at me and take some twisted form of inspiration to justify their own actions. My actions are of my own choice, and the actions of others are their own to bear. I do not intend to go on a self-righteous crusade just because there are those that go against what I believe in, because above all else I believe that people have the right to live their lives as they wish and that judgment over personal beliefs should be withheld.”

“I see,” Ida said quietly, putting down his hand. The answer that he’d given him was likely not the one that he had wanted to hear, but he personally believed that it was better to tell the brutal truth than a blatant and bold-faced lie. Especially when it comes from someone who is supposed to be educating you. It was the same reason why Doctor Halsey had been honest with him and the other Spartans from the moment their training began.

“Does anyone else have any questions? We may as well get them out of the way now before we go back to what we’re doing, no sense in interrupting the class again once we’ve gotten back on track.”

“Actually, I do,” Midoriya said, raising his hand. “The school festival is coming up pretty soon, and I was wondering whether or not you would be attending.”

“Depending on how things go, I might either be serving as security or the festival or I’ll be out in the city solving cases. I can’t predict the future so I can’t give you an exact answer, but it’ll likely be one of those two possibilities. Granted I’ll try and do what I can to be here either way, I know just how much effort you all put into your performance so I don’t want to miss it.” That slightly brought up the mood of the class. “Now, back to what we were doing.”

Kindling

“I know that you have something planned,” All Might said, staring stoically at the man across from him behind the glass.

“Oh, and what makes you say that? Have my abilities really gone that much into a rut?” All For One’s mouth was hidden behind the mask, but he didn’t need to see the man’s full face to know that there was a wild and evil grin forming as he spoke. “Could it be that you’re getting desperate? Or, could it be that because you’re powerless to do anything against what’s happening and so you’re just trying to find a scapegoat?” All Might tightened his right fist, the time that All For One had spent in prison so far hadn’t put any manner of damper on his spirits or attitude. “I’ll tell you what I told you what I told you before. I had nothing to do with the kidnapping of your little friend, not this time. I decided it wasn’t worth it after Wolfram had previously failed.”

“You’re lying.”

“Am I? Can the Symbol of Peace read minds now? No, I’m not lying and you know it. You just refuse to admit it. If anything, I shouldn’t be the person that you’re going after.” All Might remained silent. “As it stands, you’re currently being supplanted as the Symbol of Peace. Soon enough, not even your successor will be able to reclaim the title and have the same effect.”

“Someone had to take the role after I retired.”

“That’s not what I meant,” All For One chuckled out. “Every day the idea of a Symbol of Peace is being eroded, because another is taking its place.”

All Might stood up, “I won’t let your future come to pass, no matter what it takes.”

“It’s not my future that you should worry about, it’s his.”

“Nine, do you really think that we need to enlist the help of these crazies?” Slice questioned him, “I understand that generally they possess ideas similar to our own, and that they have a great deal of resources. But you can’t forget that the last time they tried their ‘liberation,’ they lost.”

“Wars are never won in a single battle, especially not in the first one. Back then they struck out as soon as they could, motivated but disorganized and lacking the material they needed. That’s why they lost. But now they’re organized, they’ve increased their resources dramatically and now they have more motivation than ever for their idea of liberation.” Nine spoke, looking out at Deika city.

“That may be the case, but I don’t think they will be willing to reason with us,” Mummy spoke his mind, otherwise remaining quiet. “It would be better if we enter while making a show of force, then take over from there.”

“No,” Nine rose a hand in objection, “If they wanted to, they could have already annihilated us.” His compatriots looked confused, until he explained his reasoning. “Almost the entire city is under their direct control, around ninety percent of all people that live here believe in their Liberation ideology and the rest are coerced into keeping silent about the truth. The four of us may be strong, but compared to an army of ideological extremists we are nothing. Without a doubt they already knew that we were coming, and had they not wanted us here we would have been attacked and wiped.”

“Did someone tell them that we would be coming?” Chimera reasoned. “All those attacks on Heroes and Civilians can’t have gone unnoticed, especially with their quirks going missing. Especially after Nabu.”

“It is either that, or the man who helped me found a way to contact them. Either way there is no reason to keep them waiting” The four of them walked down the hill and towards the city. Upon entering and wandering the sidewalks they found that no one was surprised to see them. In fact, it almost looked like they were expecting them to be here. A few people walking by even looked to be gauging their abilities.

“Ah, it is you. I assume you are here for the meeting?” A man said, walking up to them. At first his companions put their guard up, seeing who the man was. But he raised his hand and had them stand down. This man was a pro-Hero he recognized, one by the name of Slidin’ Go. It was almost shocking to see a Hero having joined the Meta Liberation Army, but knowing what they fought for he could surmise his reasons.”.

“We are.”

“That’s good, the heads were beginning to think that you might not come at all. Follow me, I shall bring you to Re-Destro.” Re-Destro, huh? Then the rumors were true, they actually had managed to find Destro’s son. Nine had always guessed that the man would have a son, but it seemed that his followers had managed to sequester him away from the government before they could get to him. Then, after years of grooming, he took up his father’s mantle of leadership in secret. Now they were led through the streets of Deika City with a purpose, and at every turn the roads were lined with people. Men and women all dedicated wholly to their cause, ready to give their life if necessary. This directed them to the center of the city where a large tower stood tall above the rest, one that had a view of everything in the surrounding area. Led by Slidin’ Go, they ventured inside.

“Is there anything that I should know about your leader before this meeting?”

“Just that you should know who you’re speaking to. So be respectful, and try not to be shocked when you see who he is.” The elevator reached the top floor, and the doors opened. Upon gesturing the four of them left the elevator and walked towards a large study, Slidin’ Go staying behind in the elevator.

The study was separated from the rest of the floor by a large set of wooden doors, and after a moment Nine took the initiative by knocking on it. At almost the exact same time they could hear a neck being snapped, a rather distinct sound. It was followed up by a man speaking. “Please, come in.” They did.

“You… You’re the-”

“The CEO of Detnerat? Yes, I am.” Re-Destro cradled the neck of a man that looked like a teddy bear in his arms, before setting the dead man down gently at a nearby desk. “I’m sorry for this, but I unfortunately had to terminate my secretary. He… He was a good man. But his views were not compatible with the company or the army, and I could not risk him leaking the details of our Liberation or this meeting.” He then walked over and sat down at a much larger desk. “Now, where should we begin?”

Chimera asked the first question. “You knew that we would be coming here. How?”

“As I’m sure that you can extrapolate, we have many members in high places. Even among those in the Hero commission. And from them we heard that a man associated with the League of Villains and All For One would be set loose. Then when we picked up the trail of quirks being stolen, we figured out who you are.”

“If you know who we are, then you must know what it is we seek to do.”

“Liberation. Just like us you seek to be liberated from the rules that hold all of us quirk users down, from the stigma held against us for our powers. You want to see this system of Heroes and Villains brought about, so that each man and woman can do as they see fit with their lives and powers.”

“More or less.”

“Would you happen to have any more questions?

“Just one, are you ready?”

“Ready?” Re-Destro smiled, his hands folded. ”My friend, the start of our liberation began years ago. All we need now is the spark that will start a roaring fire and burn it all down.”