Encroaching Storm

“International Breaking News! Several divisions of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard and Army have been moved to the Iraqi and Kuwaiti borders, in what many anticipate to be a violent end to the years of peace that the Middle East had for so long desired following decades of sectarian violence. This retaliation comes after the Israeli government caused the deaths of nearly three hundred Iranian civilians, having performed several ‘surgical’ air strikes on what they believed to be Iranian nuclear facilities engaging in nuclear proliferation in violation of the Kiev Accords. The move was almost globally condemned, as following investigations by the UN and the Red Cross no nuclear material was found at the attacked locations. However Saudi Arabia has surprisingly stepped behind Israel to support their claims, with the Crown Prince stating that Iran had been in violation of the accords for several years and had brought the attack upon themselves.”

“With the movement of troops on both sides, a full out war is expected with Iraq and Kuwait being the main battlegrounds. As of now the Iraqi Republican Guard has been placed on full alert and mobilizing its forces to secure its borders from what it sees and invaders on all sides. However in the north Kurdish militias have been seizing the opportunity, rallying support across national boundaries in order to establish a Kurdish state and push out their oppressors. The most active of this preparation has begun in Turkey, with several Kurdish militias raiding Turkish armories and throwing officials out of the provinces. As of this morning the United States has been attempting to ensure peace in the region, but with the US election growing ever closer the gesture is likely to fall flat. Countries across the globe encourage citizens currently visiting the region to quickly vacate, with several international airlines offering full refunds for those who’d planned prolonged stays.”

“In other news, diplomacy in Europe is at a standstill as talks with Russia to reopen the natural gas pipelines fall through. As of today Russia has completely shut down all attempts to export fuel towards Europe through its own borders, a move that was met with protest by European nations and China. With the talks having fallen through it is very likely that Europe will have to return to using fossil fuels, though with the imminent conflict in the middle east it seems ill advised to assume that they will be getting that fuel from the region. Experts have determined that the fuel reserves in the EU are enough to last the combined nations a year with rationing, but with what is expected to be an extreme winter with all time low temperatures it’s likely that the time frame may quickly shrink. This order however also applied to those nations not in the EU, among them Belarus and Ukraine. With a lack of reserves to support the nations throughout the winter a humanitarian crisis is likely to begin.”

“And lastly in international news, South America has been set ablaze by gangs and cartel violence. Corporations that previously held great interest in the continent due to its large abundance in natural resources have since abandoned their locations, claiming that the ventures were no longer worth the risk that a recent large spike in violent crime presented towards their workers. As such the many criminal groups that exist on the continent have attempted to fill the power gap, taking many of the now abandoned resources for themselves in an attempt to gain both local and international leverage. The nations of Brazil, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru have since set up a collaborative task force in order to attempt to stomp out the gangs and restore the rule of law, but with rampant corruption in each of the respective nations they have been plagued by early consistent failures. To many it would seem as though the world was sitting upon a precipice, and with all the events we’re left to wonder whether or not we really are. In local news, murmurs have begun about a movement known as the ‘True Heroes.’ Whether or not this is an actual group or not has yet to be-” Aurdel shut off the news, unwilling to listen for another minute.

Today was the day before the UA School Festival, and Aurdel had been really hoping that he would actually be able to stay and participate in the festivities. Unfortunately if he was being invited by someone else for a meeting, that meant that there was likely an important job to be done. And those kinds of jobs took a lot of time. “‘True Heroes’ huh? Guess the media can’t help but get things wrong.”

"What do you want Hawks?” Aurdel folded his arms as he stood in front of the winged Hero, who sat back in his chair with his feet kicked up and picking at his teeth with a toothpick.

“What, I can’t just invite you over as a fellow Hero just to see how things are?” Hawks grinned before sitting up straight, tossing the toothpick into a nearby garbage can. “I needed to talk to you about a growing case involving the Nomus, the ones that are appearing all over the country.”

“I’m listening.”

“The police and the commission have been tracking them, and they were able to confirm their existence. They really have been the ones appearing and causing chaos in the less dense regions of Japan. Of course none of the Heroes in those regions were actually able to capture them or take them down, they simply didn’t have the firepower to. However,” he put a finger up, “It was noted these aren’t those weaker Nomus, each one of them were more like the big one you fought in the city. Smarter, stronger and more talkative.”

“Were there any common threads to the attacks? Any sign what their creator might be after.”

“If I had an answer for that question I would have opened with that, but there isn’t one. Every time they appear it’s at an almost random location, with no consistency in when it happens either. It’s less likely that they’re being used to acquire something or target someone, and much more likely that they’re just being let loose as a sort of experiment from their creator.”

“Then it’s a much worse problem than I thought. But if there’s no way to predict their appearances then it’s unlikely that we can do anything to prevent them. The only thing that can be done is to prepare the Heroes in the outlying country to fight them head on, large quantities of them if they have to.”

“On top of all that, it managed to get worse.” Hawks slapped a vanilla folder onto the desk in front of him, Aurdel picked it up and began looking through. “It’s a case that was being investigated for a number of years now, one that went completely cold last year after he disappeared with no sign of where he went for months. But now that he’s been seen again, and with recent information, he poses a bigger risk than ever. Pun unintended.”

“Quit skirting the details and tell me what I’m looking at,” Aurdel pulled out sets of photos from the folder.

“Well, what you’re looking at is one of All For One’s most loyal servants. His name is Gigantomachia. In the past he has been seen a number of times roaming around cities and towns with a giant cloak on, coercing nearby bystanders into telling him the location of whatever Hero agency he was looking for. Uncoincidentally those same agencies being targeted were the same ones that had managed to find some scoop of information on All For One. Every time that something new or substantial was found, this fella came in and destroyed it all. The only time this didn’t happen was the last time he showed up in a city, after a group of middle schoolers misdirected him and he was forced to flee before there was a chance for Heroes or police to capture him.”

“Has there been a new lead in the case?”

“Well, you remember Gran Torino right? He’s that old guy that was supposed to come with us on the Hassaikai raid. Well, he got pulled away during that because they found out where this guy was.” Hawks dropped another photo in front of him. This time the photo was that of a still frame from a police body cam, one taken in what appeared to be a forested and mountainous area. There was also some minor motion blur on the photo, slightly obscuring what it was trying to depict. But the intended focus point was obvious. Gran Torino was in the middle of pulling the officer away from the fists of a giant creature that towered over them. Even with all Aurdel had seen he was amazed at its size for a living creature. From his estimate the creature stood at about eighty two feet tall, or nearly six stories in height. It’s body looked only vaguely human, coming off more like a monster. All of his limbs looked to be made up of a material that appeared like stone, the kind that could be found on a large cliff face that bore constant storms. Jutting out from his mouth were incredibly large and sharp teeth, along with what looked to be tusks not too dissimilar to that of an elephant. His back looked like that of a large turtle shell, with large spikes jutting out of it that looked to be held on solely through sheer force. His hands were giant, easily forming natural pile drivers that could crush anything they came into contact. All in all it was an effective killing machine, one that would be near impossible to stop.

“Alright, you couldn’t capture him. Why bring him up to me? He won’t be found again unless he wants to be found, and given just how long he spent hiding I don’t think he does.”

“Because he’s important to this case. With him gone for so long we managed to get some new information. Gigantomachia is a type of Nomu.” There was silence.

Aurdel shut his eyes, he could pick up on the implications. “I see… You’re under the mindset that if All For One was able to have something like Gigantomachia made in the past, then he could have another one made now. And with the more common Nomu being far more powerful, anything made like him would likewise be more powerful.”

“Exactly what I was thinking,” Hawks leaned over the table, “That’s why I wanted to talk with you. I heard that you were looking into who was making the Nomu, I wanted to see if you had anything to add.”

Aurdel shook his head, narrowing his brow behind his helmet at the hero. “You can’t expect me to sort through quite literally hundreds of thousands of missing persons cases, tens of thousands of physicians and hundreds of hospitals within such a short time span.”

Hawks innocently raised his hands, “Hey, I’m just trying to stay on top of things. Can you blame me for asking?”

“No, I suppose I can’t. But I will say that I have been able to significantly reduce the number of suspects that I think may be involved.” Aurdel placed a tablet onto the table and switched it on, projecting a holographic map of Japan. “Overlapping all of the corresponding information allows me to rule out large portions of Japan.” Thousands of red dots appeared on the map, “This is just with missing persons cases involving children and young adults as well as medical deaths, but this is what you get after reducing the areas of these cases to facilities that would actually be capable of performing the necessary medical procedures to create a Nomu.” The number of red dots dropped dramatically, appearing in clusters now rather than sporadic dots across the country. “This is what happens when we overlap the current suspects with the presence of doctors who specialize in procedures, treatments or care for quirks and are capable of performing what is necessary.” The clusters decreased, nearly half disappearing. Almost all of northern Japan had been eliminated from the map as possible suspects. “And now if we can plug in the locations of Nomu attacks that I just obtained from your agency’s network,” Hawks raised a brow, “I take what I need. Regardless, if we plug it in we get these few locations.” The number of clusters were even fewer now.

“Isn't this far too easy? You just plugged in a bunch of statistics and matched a bunch of possible correlations.”

“If you think what I did was easy then you should be thankful you’re a Hero and not an info-analyst..” He turned off the tablet, pulling it back into a case on his armor. “I had to individually sort through every single case and avoid confirmation bias. Regardless, none of this is hard proof and I could have easily picked up on a number of false positives.”

“So then, what do you plan to do?”

“Simple, I’m just going to walk into every hospital I can and start asking questions,” Hawks rolled his eyes at his idea, “I’m not sure what other options you think I have. If I decided now to choose one hospital and bust the doors down with the SWAT, and if I get it wrong, then we’re going to end up in ten times as much trouble. The real suspect will hear about what we’re doing and book it.”

“See, this is why I said I’m not the kind of person to sit on the top,” Hawks slumped back in his chair, spinning it slightly.

“I’ve already looked into the probable cause legislation and have all my bases covered. If they try to actively hide anything while I’m there, then I’ll just have to take action as soon as possible.”

“Sounds risky to me, even if you are strong.”

“I can manage, but I don’t expect anything to actually happen while I’m searching. If anything they’ll just escort me around wherever I ask and then I’ll leave.”

“Where are you going to start?”

“Jaku General Hospital, they’re the closest one so there’s no reason not to go there. I also plan to stop by the Villains hospital since they would readily have access to quirks that are considered dangerous.”

“Makes sense, but do you actually think they’re involved?”

“Maybe, maybe not. Right now no one is above suspicion at this point.” Hawks looked like he’d suddenly remembered something.

“Oh, there was something else. I wanted to give you this,” he put a hand inside of his jacket and pulled out a book, “It’s a book that I’ve been reading recently, a popular reprint I thought that you might be interested in.” He laid the book down on the table, Aurdel spun it around to face him and got a good look at it.

The book was a hardcover with a nearly pure red outside. The only illustration on it was what appeared to be a small mask stylized in the form of ink blots. The title read, ‘Meta Liberation War.’ “I’ve heard of this book.”

“You have?” Hawks seemed surprised.

“I have, didn’t have a chance to look into it though. But from what I’ve seen and heard people are using it to justify acts of terrorism, something I’m not exactly fond of.”

“Well then you probably need to read through it again. I’ve read through it, and those people are exaggerating. I even highlighted a few passages that I thought you might be interested in,” Hawks said that with a wink. So, that’s what was going on then… Someone was watching Hawks, and he needed to pass along a message without being found out. Alright, he’d play along. Quickly he thumbed through the book, before shoving it into one of the many hardcases on his armor.

“Alright, I’ll give it a look through. Anything else I should know before I leave?”

“Not unless you’re in need of a new PR team”

“I can handle my minimal public appearances myself,” Hawks gave an idle shrug.

“So, what news do you have for us?” Re-Destro said, his hands folded.

“He’s getting closer to finding the League’s main lab for making the Nomu, it should only be a matter of time before he kicks down the door and puts the good doctor under his boot.”

“That’s good, I was wondering whether or not he would actually end up dealing with those freaks. But it seems that my fears were unjustified.”

Nine spoke up, “The only thing keeping us from telling him outright is that we’re still trying to trick the doctor. If that becomes less of a priority, then we could very well just point him in it’s direction and be done with it.”

“Destroying the lab and imprisoning the doctor would not do much. What’s more important is that the League is made an example of and that Spartan becomes an important figure for us,” Skeptic didn’t even look up from the laptop in front of him. “He has already gained quite a following, and when the situation arises we will be able to associate our organization with him and fill our ranks in a manner not too dissimilar from the way the League did with Stain.”

“Except the only difference this time around is that the figurehead is going to be an actually rational and level headed person, not just a murderer playing dress up in the name of a ‘better society,’” Hawks butted in.

Curious leaned on her desk, “I think we need to get the scoop on him, especially with how much of a mysterious figure he is. We know a first name and a little bit of his backstory, but that’s it! We don’t know his face, much of where he’s from or even the many experiences that shape him into what he is now..”

“It may be true that we don’t know much about him, but he’s likely to open up and show that with time. With any luck he’ll be the kind that hides a soft core with callous and tough exterior, as that character type is one of the most below. So Hawks, how are the efforts to recruit him going?”

Hawks looked over towards Re-Destro, trying not to look him directly in the eyes. “I didn’t have much of a chance to meet him before, but I just had a meeting with him and I’m not sure that things are going to go the way you think.. Sure he has a lot of ideas in common with most of us, but just judging from the way he reacted it’ll be an uphill battle to get him to side with the Meta Liberation Army.” Hawks looked uncomfortably towards Skeptic, he knew that he was the one spying on him.

“What Hawks says is true, and I concur with his thoughts. The struggle necessary to bring him to our side may not be worth the reward. And if he were to join but was not fully convinced by our words, then he would work behind our backs to destroy us from the inside with one fell swoop.”

“There is truth in your assessment, but as it stands he is the only one that commands enough of a publicly powerful and influential personality to garner widespread support. Without him, we wouldn’t be able to enter open opposition with the government. Give it time, we will simply have to convince him of our cause.” Re-Destro shifted, “However there is something else that we must discuss, as it is of great importance.” The mood changed drastically, as everyone at the meeting was caught off guard by the shift in topic. “I believe that despite our efforts of safeguarding our liberation, there are spies among us.”

“Did something come up to trigger this revelation?” Nine asked.

“No, nothing in particular. If anything it is more of a hunch. But it is a hunch that I believe in greatly.”

Skeptic reaffirmed his loyalty, “Our loyalty lies with you, as it laid with your father before you. I know that many in our ranks would rather die before betraying our cause.”

“That may be so, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t those who may have been swayed one way or another. We can only prepare for when we do find whoever it is. But, my friends,” Re-Destro put on a smile, “I know that I can trust all of you. You have earned my trust with your loyalty, performing tasks far beyond what I would have expected of you. I only ask now that you watch for those who might try to overturn us. This meeting is adjourned.” They all stood up, and most left the room. Hawks internally let out a sigh of relief, thanking his good fortune. Thanks to over a year of constant work for these crazies he wouldn’t be considered a suspect. He just needed to work on engineering a fall from grace for one of their lieutenants, but that conditions would be left up to his handlers in the Hero Public Safety Commission. For now he just had to keep himself in good graces, something that shouldn’t be too difficult.

Only Nine, Re-Destro and Skeptic stayed in the meeting room. Nine was the one that broke the silence once all the others had left. “I’m sure that we all know who the spy really is”

“Yes, when he first came to us and for a while he was able to put on a convincing act. But eventually it became obvious, he lacks a certain air of subtlety.”

“I could have him killed.”

“I don’t doubt that you could do that,” Re-Destro said, “But it would be odd if the soon to be official number two Hero suddenly turned up dead. No, we won’t kill him. Instead, we’ll just have to use him.”

“In what way?”

“I do truly think that we can convince some Heroes to join us, especially Spartan. And Hawks holds the key to those Heroes' involvement even if he does it only half-heartedly.”

“Then we wait for the right moment.”

“Yes, we’ll wait for the right moment. Hawks as a member of the Meta Liberation Army served a great deal, but the Hawks that acts as a spy within the army will serve an even greater purpose.”

Wellness Visit

There was a certain irony to what Aurdel was doing. He, a Spartan, was looking into the unusual and unnatural deaths of children by the hands of forces unseen, made into superhuman beings for the sole purpose of fighting an enemy that their kidnappers deemed a legitimate threat. He closed his eyes, reminiscing. He had long since forgiven Dr. Halsey, forgiven those who’d worked with her to make him and the others into the Spartans they were now. Because as much as they’d been torn away from their families and from their old lives, they were given a new lease on life and a greater purpose. Had he not been kidnapped into the Spartan program he would likely be dead right now, turned to the glass with the rest of Arcadia. That’s not to say that he didn’t know that what ONI did was wrong. He very well knew what was wrong with kidnapping children, devastating their families. Especially when he saw what happened to his family. But it’d given him a new chance at life, as well as the chance to save others. And he would be damned before he gave up the chance to help those that needed saving.

He approached the hospital on foot, looking up towards it as he walked. Before leaving he’d gone through the effort of causing the second largest data breach in history, breaking into vast government data stores and extracting the building plans for every hospital built during the last hundred plus years, alongside the previous iterations of those plans due to the many renovations that would have over the years. And for Jaku General Hospital, almost everything looked to be in order. Except for one thing. Like any other hospital, it had a number of expansions and renovations over the years. Mostly to expand the various wings of the hospital. But there was one expansion that stood out from the others, simply in the scope of it. From what he could see an entire additional sublevel was built onto the hospital, with the foundation needing to be relaid to support the change. One of the stranger details he’d gleaned from the plans was that the only way to access the sublevel was through a door in the morgue, one that was considered off-limits to almost all staff. If that alone wasn’t odd enough, there was the fact that the expansion was done to counter a growing drain on power and other utilities for the hospital, with several backup generators, boilers and furnaces set up to make the building almost completely self sufficient in case of an outage. Certainly something like that wasn’t unheard of, a lack of resources or access to utilities was something that could lead to a number of deaths. However, his doubts arose when he saw just how close in proximity it was to the morgue. A morgue was supposed to be kept cold in order to preserve the bodies, but with the way the pipes from the boilers were positioned it would have drastically increased temperatures far above the standard procedures. Keeping all this in mind, he walked in.

“Good afternoon, how can I help-?” The secretary behind the counter looked up from her computer and at Aurdel. “A-Ah! Excuse me, I didn’t know we were being visited by any Heroes today. It’s a pleasure to meet you Spartan.”

“The pleasure is mine,” he said back. “And don’t worry, you’re not forgetting anything. I didn’t plan this ahead of time with the hospital.”

“I see, then what are you here for?”

“I decided that I would do an impromptu tour of a number of medical facilities, it’s my duty as a Hero to make sure that people stay safe and part of that means ensuring that they get the care they need.”

“Ah, of course. I’ll call someone down to show you around right away.” She picked up a phone, Aurdel only idly listened in and instead looked around the waiting room. Not too many people were there, but those that were looked in awe of his presence. He crouched down next to one of the kids who was there with his parents, taking a good look at him. The boy looked somewhat frightened by his appearance, and clung to his mother’s leg. He reminded him of someone else. Aurdel gave the boy a pat on the head, then stood up as his tour guide entered the room.

“It’s an honor to meet you Spartan,” the doctor said, only slightly intimidated by his appearance. “I’ll be the one to show you around. Follow me.” The Doctor led him forward and into an elevator. “Do you have any specific questions or concerns about the hospital?”

“Nothing too out of the ordinary, just some basic questions. Like when the hospital was made, who’s in charge. Those sorts of things.”

The elevator started up. “Oh, those are easy. The modern hospital that stands now was founded on a previously abandoned hospital in twenty twenty three, the original hospital that it was built on top of was founded just after the end of the second world war. Our head chairman is the same man who founded the modern hospital.”

“Really? Sounds like he’d be rather old. What’s his name?”

“Daruma Ujiko. And he may be rather getting up there in his years, but that just tells you how good of a doctor he is. He’s managed to survive this long of his own volition and keep practicing medicine the whole time, that alone seems like reason enough to keep him on the board.”

“I suppose you’re right, but everyone has to leave at some point or another.” The elevator stopped and the two of them walked out. “What part of the hospital are we in now?”

“We’re about to enter the children’s ward. The majority of cases are usually due to diseases or accidental injuries, they’re usually spared from harm when a Villain attacks since not many people are willing to hurt a kid.”

“But not all of them.”

“Yes… We have a number of patients who were seriously injured from Villain attacks a while back, and we’re doing everything we can to make sure they live and try to help them recover… But for many of them I don’t think that’s possible.”

Aurdel was silent for a moment, not saying anything in response. Then he spoke. “Show them to me.”

“The rules say that we’re not allowed to let anyone unrelated to the patients-”

“Please.” The doctor's looked to the side, then relented.

“Alright, I’ll show you.” The doctor led him again, taking him to a separate section of the ward. There were several doctors sitting at desks with several computers and monitors all connected to the life support systems the kids were hooked up to. They were surprised to see him, but didn’t appear too concerned. “Let him in.”

The others turned towards him, “Are you sure?” The doctor he was following nodded. The door unlocked, Aurdel entered alone. Aside from the beeping of the heart rate monitors and quiet breaths being taken, the room was completely silent. According to the monitors they were only barely being kept alive by the systems the hospital had on hand. He walked over to each of them, examining them. Scars, cuts, stitches, bruises. But if that were all they had they wouldn’t need to be kept like this. Without a doubt, they all had serious damage done to their internal organs and a number of broken bones. To think that someone would willingly hurt children like this… He put a hand on each of them, healing them before leaving the room. They wouldn’t wake up until he was gone.

“We saw some weird reading in there, what did you do?” One of the doctors asked.

“Must have been my armor interfering with the equipment, I just said a few words to them. That’s all.” Aurdel and the tour guide walked out of the room. There’s another question that I just came up with,” the doctor looked at him with an eyebrow raised. “Is there anything odd about the hospital?”

“What do you mean by odd?”

“Anything strange. Could be someone acting out of character, going some place they’re not supposed to be in or even just rooms that don’t really fit with the rest of the hospital.”

“Would that include places that are off limits even to a number of staff?”

“Does the hospital have anything like that?”

“Sure it does, There’s a room connecting to the morgue that no one except for the chairman is allowed to go into. Not sure what’s down there, though we were told that it’s mostly just boilers and old remnants from the hospital that’s kept down there.”

“Has anyone gone down there?”

“Anyone besides the chairman and a few workers he brings in sometimes? Not really. One of the younger orderlies tried to sneak in there once, ended up with some nasty burns as a result. We just keep away since we want to keep our jobs.”

“I see, just something I had on my mind. Why don’t we get back to the tour? I want to see more of the patients in this hospital before we’re done.”