The Symbol of Judgement

“We’re supposed to do what?!” Midoriya couldn’t believe the words he’d just heard. Moments after he, Todoroki, Bakugo and Endeavor had arrived at the scene of the battle, a wave of Heroes with their sidekicks had also shown up. Many were shocked at the sheer level of destruction caused in this one encounter, the foremost among them being a number of UA students that were undertaking their work studies with those Heroes. “What are you talking about? He’s a pro-Hero, just like you! Just like everyone else here!”

“Look around you, this is the aftermath of his work. And you heard what he said. He’s gone over the edge,” Endeavor stated. “There is only one thing worse than a Villain, and that’s someone who’s strong, possesses a very loose set of morals and an incredible belief that what they’re doing is the right thing. Unfortunately for us Spartan passes all three of those requirements with flying colors.”

“But he HAS been doing good! Don’t you know about all the Villains and the criminals that he’s put away? Or all of the people that he saved from all those incidents?”

“How about all the people that he’s killed?!” Endeavor countered, “He’s been a pro-Hero only a few weeks longer than you’ve technically been, and in that short time he has managed to rack up a body count greater than any Hero, or even any vigilante, ever since the dawn of quirks! Even if I disagreed with the assessment that he poses a threat to society, there’s no disobeying the order. It was handed down to us by the Hero Public Safety Commission, at the behest of the government. There’s no arguing against it.” Endeavor looked up as Hawks floated down from above, “Civilian casualties?”

“None, people must have been too afraid of the weather to try hiking up here at this time of year.” He touched down on the ground, “What’s the plan, number one?”

‘You, Ryukyu and Majestic will go ahead of everyone else, you’re to catch up with him as quickly as possible and stall him for as long as possible. The fight is going to be massive no matter where he goes, so I want to keep this away from any population centers to avoid any bystanders getting killed in the crossfire. Don’t try to engage in a straight fight, just do what you can to slow him down.”

“Are you sure that sending us up is a good idea?” Hawks said, nervously. “He doesn’t particularly like me, and if he’s still holding a grudge against Ryukyu for what happened… Well.”

“You’re our rapid response, there’s no one else that can catch up quick enough. Now go, or else we’re never going to get him.”

“Roger,” Hawks sounded uneasy as the group departed, taking with him the aforementioned Heroes but also Yaoyorozu, Tokoyami, Nejire and Setsuna Tokage.

“He was being held back by everyone and everything, that’s what finally pushed him over the edge…” Bakugo muttered.

“This matter is not up for debate,” Endeavor said, blasting into the air. “Either you come with us to stop him or you return to the agency to wait for us to finish our job.” He then blasted off, the other Heroes following him as they went after Mr. Aurdel.

Midoriya shook his head, “Nothing about this situation is right, what did Mr. Aurdel do to make the Hero commission send everyone after him? And even if he did do something, how can they possibly expect to take him in? We all know how strong he is normally, and right now it looks like he’s way stronger than usual. If they try to capture him a fight is going to break out, and nobody is going to walk away unharmed.”

“Then there’s only one thing we can do. Intervene,” Bakugo said matter of factly.

“How?”

“Our class has known him for longer than literally anyone else on the planet, even among the pros. If there’s anyone that can try to talk him down, or at least try to make sense of all of this crap, then it’s going to be us. Especially you,” Bakugo pointed a finger at him.

“Me?! He said, shocked.

“Of course you!” Bakugo shouted, jabbing a finger at his chest, “You’ve got to be a massive moron if you haven’t picked up on it! You’re the only one in our class that he gives weird special treatment to. If you want a perfect example, just look at the way he treated you after the joint class battle exercises! You passed out before the end of the round and he ended up taking care of you for twenty four hours straight, pampering you like a complete baby! Doesn’t that strike you as odd?!”

“He…” Midoriya cut himself off, only just now considering past events and their implications. At the time he hadn’t thought there was anything strange with Mr. Aurdel taking care of him, especially since he’d brushed it off as the culmination of a multitude of factors. But now, looking at all of it with some manner of hindsight… It was strange. There was even the fact that Mr. Aurdel had called him by a completely different name. “You’re right…”

“If we’re all agreeing to do this, then there’s no reason to stand here and keep talking,” Todoroki interjected, “The longer that we stay here the more time he and the others have to fight, and the longer they have to fight the more damage is going to be done.”

“For once, half and half, I agree.”

Aurdel kicked off of the ground again, launching himself into the air once more. The path that he was taking was a direct beeline for the hospital. He had no other intentions right now except for killing Garaki, putting an end to the life of a man who had brought so much suffering into the world. But with people on his trail…”Spartan, stop this! You’re overstepping your boundaries as a Hero and you’ve become a threat to everyone around you. You need to turn yourself in!”

Following him in the air were a number of Heroes, even two of his students were with them. The nerves of the commission, using his own pupils against him… Dozens of Heroes were likely following close behind them and he couldn’t afford to let a single one of them slow him down, lest they allow a chance for the good doctor to escape and never be found again. “You’re only going after me because you’re a bunch of no good government lapdogs, men in suits tell you to do something and you listen! The government wants me dead because I’m a Hero that can’t be controlled, someone who’s doing exactly what the people want! If you believe that you truly are Heroes, then you won’t get in my way.”

“We can’t do that.”

“THEN YOU’RE NOT WORTH THE INK THAT THEY’LL PUT ON YOUR FUCKING TOMBSTONE!” Aurdel jumped into the air as Nejire let out a blast using her quirk, completely missing him as he rocketed upwards. Large bits of debris went skyward as he came up, allowing him to touch them and send a hail of spikes towards the Heroes following him. Ryukyu flew into them, scratching up her body and wing to knock them to the side. “Ryukyu…” He fumed.

“Think about the example you’re setting!” Ryukyu dove straight towards him with her claws, grabbing him and slamming him at full force into the ground.

“MY EXAMPLE?!” His hand touched the ground and he drew up a field of spikes, forcing Ryukyu into the air and having her dodge to avoid them as he launched them upward. He then used his hand, using the spatial distortion quirk he’d stolen from one of Nomus. WIth it he tore a massive hole through Ryukyu’s right wing, nearly ripping it off entirely and forcing her to plummet towards the ground. The moment that she touched the ground he used Overhaul to completely surround her with spikes, pinning her to the ground before enveloping her in a stone sarcophagus. He then kicked off the ground again, going again towards the hospital. Nejire broke off to go help Ryukyu.

“Bastard…” Hawks sent out a flurry of his feathers towards him, looking to either knock him off his course or slash at him. But Aurdel used the spatial distortion quirk to destroy many of them before they even got close. For the ones that did get close he used the eye laser firing quirk, incinerating them with the one eye that was exposed due to his visor breaking. “I asked you to help us because I thought you would be the best person to fight against those terrorists, that you would prepare everyone for what was to come. Instead you sided with them against us. Why?”

“Initially I would have thought that if anyone could have understood me, that it would have been you Hawks. But eventually I realized that we’re more different than we are alike. You’re just a tool for the Hero commission and their corruption.”

“There’s corruption in everything, but that’s not enough to justify becoming an ideological extremist!”

“At least I believe in something you spineless coward!” Aurdel used the quirk directly on Hawks, ripping apart most of the feathers on his left wing and creating a spike bed for him to plummet onto. But Majestic saved him at the last second, allowing him to readjust the feathers he still had and continue following him. “All you want is a cushy position in the world where you can do nothing and be praised for it, but you’re not even willing to shoulder the burden of getting there! You put it all on the shoulders of other people!”

“Meanwhile you talk big, but have you even considered if people actually want what you’re selling?” Hawks shot back up, avoiding his attacks. Aurdel could feel his heart beating erratically, his lungs felt like they were starting to fill up with water. “You can’t just force a new system on everyone!”

“The fact that you think what I’m offering is new is exactly the problem!” With a swipe of his hand he launched another barrage of spikes towards Hawks, with him just barely avoiding getting impaled using the speed he had from his remaining feathers.

“What makes you think you even have the right to try and change the world? Just because you have some ideas tucked away inside your head doesn’t make you any more than anyone else.”

“Because when I came here I saw the power hoarding, I saw the rampant corruption, societal rot and the never ending battle between Heroes and Villains that kept being fueled as more and more people died in the crossfire. I know what has to be done, but no one else is willing to pick up the torch. No one is willing to disobey the status quo, so direct intervention is the only option!” Aurdel jumped up again, gunning straight for Hawks. “You’ve seen the worst of it, and even still you only want to live off of the goodwill of the people. You’re more like your father than you would ever care to admit, Keigo Takami!” Hawks froze up at the mentioning of his real name, giving Aurdel the chance he needed. He punched him straight around the face, shattering his lower jaw and sending him careening off into the distance. Aurdel watched as he smashed straight through a tree before landing on the ground in a messy heap. The others looked at him in abject horror, thinking that he’d killed Hawks.

“Spartan!” A man shouted. Damnit, they’d slowed him down too much. “Flashfire Fist: Hell Spider!” Aurdel landed back on the ground, using Overhaul to create a massive wall between him and Endeavor. The lines of fire cut through the stone and many of the trees in the area. “You’ll pay for your actions today!”

“Everyone here had their chance to back down, the only one they can blame is themselves!”

“No matter what, you disgrace the very name of Heroes!” Endeavor let loose a wall of flames towards him.

“That’s rich coming from Japan’s abuser in chief!” He raised his hand, using the spatial distortion quirk to suck in the flames before redirecting them at Endeavor. “Your son is one of my students and you’re the number one Hero, so I decided to take the time to look into your past and a few of the rumors. The fact that you even have the gall to say what I’m doing is wrong is astounding!” Aurdel launched, blowing past Endeavor and slashing his right calf. “You were so angry that you couldn’t become the number one Hero because of All Might that you felt you needed to slight the world! You forced your wife into a marriage for the sake of having children with strong quirks, then you neglected her so much for so long that she eventually snapped and you locked her away in a mental institution!” He shot back around, slashing his left calf. “When your children didn’t live up to your standards you abandoned them, forcing them to fend for themselves as you raged against the world for the sole fact that you weren’t on top!” Endeavor tried to use his flames to counter his attacks, but he was moving too quickly. He attacked and left a deep gash in Endeavor’s chest, forcing him to the ground. Aurdel stood with his boot on him. “For the children that you saw the most promise in you pushed them towards the breaking point! Your eldest son disappeared and your youngest son is permanently scarred as a reminder of the past! YOU’RE FATHER OF THE YEAR, AND A FUCKING PARIAH!” As he was about to stomp on Endeavor a wall of ice suddenly threw him back, he landed on his feet. This was…

“As much as I probably would have liked to see him dead in the past, I can’t say that’s what would be the solution to our problems now,” Todoroki said, some frost on his arm.

If he was here, then… “Mr. Aurdel!” Midoriya ran over to him, “You need to tell us what’s going on, you can’t just run off and do something crazy like you’re doing now!”

He was… Aurdel fell to his hands and knees, vomiting through the hole in his helmet. Out poured a mixture of what looked like blood, liquified skin cells and bone marrow. It was likely an unintentional side effect of him taking so many quirks from the Nomus, and then using them all so much. Midoriya, Bakugo and Todoroki all gathered around him, effectively shielding him from the other Heroes with their bodies. “Get away from him!” Majestic shouted.

“I’m trying to make things right,” Aurdel said, rubbing the space around his throat.

“Make things right?”

“Do you remember when I took that trip all around the country? When I went to all of those hospitals, and helped all those people?”

“I do, you healed a lot of people that would have been dead or terminally ill.”

“I did, but that wasn’t the primary reason for doing it,” he sighed, “The reason I went to all of those hospitals was because I was trying to find the source of who was making the Nomus, going in person was the only way to verify the data that I had collected up until then.”

“Did… Did you find where they were being made?”

“I crossed every hospital off the list, looking at their staff, facilities, history with patients and other factors. Anything I could use to narrow my search, I did. And one by one crossed them off the list, eventually reaching the hospital that seemed most likely. It was the first one I’d visited, Jaku General Hospital.”

“Why didn’t you tell anyone about it?”

He looked up, “That’s exactly the problem, I did tell people about it. As soon as I’d finished gathering information I reported my findings to the Hero Public Safety Commission, but instead of sending a team to verify the information or setting up a group of Heroes to raid the hospital they completely disregarded my efforts. Now look at what’s happened.” He stood up, weakly. “I was trying to hunt down the League of Villains, and because of that they sent an army of Nomus to try and kill me. They even used the idea of another one of my students being hurt to lure me out in the first place.”

“They made you think one of us was being attacked?”

“They did, but that’s for later discussion. The reason I didn’t stick around after wiping out the Nomus was because I knew that this was the majority of their forces and they were all sent to kill me, and if they didn’t succeed then the person who sic’d them on me would flee. I had to get to the hospital.”

“But what about the commission? Why would they try to capture or kill you?”

“Because ever since the early days of quirks emerging, and up until now, the League of Villains was the greatest threat the country had ever seen. It validated the reason the Hero Public Safety Commission existed, and seemingly vindicated any past transgressions they’d committed.” The other Heroes, who’d been on their guard up until now, finally stood down. By now they gathered around, listening to him speak. “The commission was granted a blank cheque to put an end to the League of Villains, though eventually they bit off more than they could chew.”

“But what does that have to do with you?”

“The commission is just another part of the government, one large cog in a massive machine. I’m sure you know that most of the criminals and Villains I dealt with, I never officially claimed responsibility for putting them down or locking them up. Half of the reason for that is because I just genuinely hate the media, the other half is because of the people that were involved in those cases.” He looked around, “Do you know how many public servants and officials were involved with all the groups that I’d taken down? Dozens. Bribed customs officials, crooked cops, local politicians and even a few small-time Heroes who turned a blind eye to certain activities. Because of that the government found out where my loyalties lied, but because I didn’t officially do anything against them they didn’t have their excuse to put me down. But now that I did an interview, and boldly said what I did on TV, they got their reason. If I were them, I’d mark myself down for incitement to violence and subversive activities.”

“Then… What you’re saying is that everything you’ve done is to try and fight corruption?”

“It’s more than that, I want to give to everyone the lives that they should be living. The lives that were taken from them, all because people in suits in high places want to keep themselves in power.”

Everyone looked around, it was a tough pill for anyone to swallow. Especially given the circumstances. Midoriya looked at him, “What’s your plan?”

“The most pressing issue first. Bring the ones that I injured back here, so I can fix their wounds. After that I’m going to put the good doctor responsible for making the Nomus six feet into the dirt.”

A Step in the Right Direction

Midoriya and Mr. Aurdell walked towards the hospital, most of the other Heroes behind him. A few of them, primarily Endeavor and Hawks, had refused to go along with them, but the others had wanted to see how the day would end. When the two of them finally entered the hospital they found everyone there acting completely normally, nothing seemed out of the ordinary as people went about their day. “It’s… you.” One of the security guards looked straight at Mr. Aurdel, his eyes wide, “We were warned that you might come here, but why are you actually here?”

“The morgue, take me to the morgue.”

“The morgue? But no one is-”

“I don’t have any time to discuss this. Take. Me. There.” The guard looked blatantly intimidated by the interaction, giving into the pressure. Eventually he led the two of them towards another section of the hospital, one that seemed to rarely ever get any foot traffic. Midoriya noticed that Mr. Aurdel kept one hand on the wall, propping himself up as he walked. “There, open that door.” After getting halfway through the morgue, he pointed at one of the doors in the room.

“There? But…”

“Open it, or I will.” The security guard obeyed, unlocking the door and opening it for them.

“What… is this?” Midoriya peered in through the doorway, a maze of pipes and wires ran alongside the wall that went deep underground.

“It’s where this all ends.”

The two stepped into the hallway together, the sound of a distant voice echoing off of the walls. “...No, I have to finish this one. It’s the only way I can keep him from following me.”

“He’s here,” Mr. Aurdel stopped leaning on the wall, breaking into a full on sprint towards the room at the end of the hallway.

“Johnny! Warp-!” The doctor shouted two a pair of small Nomu, but Mr. Aurdel immediately wiped the two out using one of the quirks he’d taken. “No…”

“There’s no running from the consequences of your actions, doctor. Not today.”

“So it would seem…” The doctor solemnly slunk away from a tank where an incomplete Nomu floated inside, then sitting down in a large chair. “You know, I was wrong about you. You are strong, and would have made for an excellent specimen. Just the way you’ve managed to hold on after taking so many quirks with being properly modified… You could have been better than Machia.”

“Is that what this is?” Mr. Aurdel spat out onto the floor, the same disgusting mixture he’d vomited up earlier spraying out. “My body is deteriorating because it can’t keep up with all of the quirks?”

Midoriya looked at the doctor as he spoke, “The regeneration quirks are the only thing keeping you alive, otherwise you would have decayed into a pile of indeterminate biological mass.” No… It couldn’t be. “That’s what the purpose of my resource was, to solve the problem of biological failure resulting from the presence of multiple quirks. I had found ways around it, but never truly solved it.”

“Doctor Tsubasa?” Midoriya interrupted the conversation, confusion and dismay on his face. “You’re the one that has been helping All For One? Making the Nomus?”

“For over a century. Every time that I needed to operate publicly to further my research, I took a different name. Tsubasa just happens to be one of the many names I took.”

Midoriya grit his teeth, balling up his fist. “Then you were the one that did it, you turned your own grandson into a Nomu.”

“Grandson?” He looked confused for a moment, “Oh, you mean the one with the wings. Yes, I suppose you could say that I did. Though I would hardly call him my own grandson.”

“How can you say that?!” He shouted.

“Do you really think that he was the only one that faced that kind of fate? That I cared about anything other than furthering my own research? I was exploring the impact of directly inserting a different quirk into a genetic line and seeing how they would pass on. I wanted to use it as an alternative method of duplicating quirk in order to get more copies for my other Nomu, and it was a success. The boy was simply a means to an end.”

Midoriya didn’t know what to say, he was completely incredulous hearing such a cold and uncaring explanation be delivered so nonchalantly. Mr. Aurdel entered the conversation again, “That’s why the primary victims that I discovered were essentially all children, you just cultivated the quirks as they were needed and then left the kids to die afterwards.”

“Indeed, they were left to die. But you prevented a tidy clean up. People would get suspicious if dozens of people with similar or the same quirk began disappearing all at the same time, but no one would particularly notice if children started falling terminally ill before their quirks ever manifested and they were isolated.”

“You’re sick.”

“I am a man of science, one that will do absolutely anything that is necessary to reach the end of my research. It is something someone like you would never understand.”

Hearing all this, there was something that Midoriya needed to ask. “Was I really quirkless?”

The doctor looked at him, giving him a hard and familiar stare. “Does it really matter?”

“I need to know.”

Silence. “No, you were not. But I suppose you could consider it a matter of fate or destiny that you would eventually be the one to take possession of One For All from All Might.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“For years All For One asked me to make copies of his power, but the conditions were never right. Time after time the ones that I used to gestate the quirk were failures, resulting in premature deaths and the disposal of the respective families involved. But eventually your parents came along, providing the perfect subject for me to use.” The doctor shifted, “Initially I had very little hope that it would succeed, but when you were born I was proven wrong and it brought me joy like no other.”

“No… My parents, they would have known.”

“Would they?” The doctor cocked his head, “For much of your early life your father was constantly out of the country, and throughout all this time your mother never had any suspicions of what we were doing. We had eyes on you the very moment that the inserted quirk, All For One, emerged. Then it was as simple as waiting until the next time that you showed up to the clinic to harvest your quirk. In fact, you managed to be one of the early bloomers of your generation.”

“You’re lying. If it was a success, why am I still here? Why wasn’t I disposed of?”

“Genetic harvesting. Since you were born with the quirk despite all the odds, it was very likely that once you had matured and produced offspring that they too would inherit All For One. As such I wanted to use it as a way to produce and take more copies of the quirk. To succeed we needed to guarantee that you and your family would not come under any strain, financial or otherwise. So we had insurance.”

“Insurance?”

“All For One had access to extensive financial resources, ones that would easily be able to support your family. From there we just needed to imitate your father.”

He took a step back, “But I saw him… While he was away he would call, send messages and even talk with us on video.”

“The pool of quirks among the population is vast, finding sets of quirks that could imitate his voice and appearance was like childsplay. From there it was only getting his mannerisms and personal knowledge down. So, we captured him while he was on a business trip abroad and wrenched all of the information we could out of him. Once that was done I used the opportunity to try and take my crack at producing a fire breathing Nomu. But ultimately it was a failure, it conflicted with its ability to regenerate. So I had him disposed of.”

Midoriya collapsed onto the floor, his eyes beginning to tear up. Everything… Everything he’d ever known was a lie. “How can you say that… without even an ounce of regret?!”

“Because if I’m reading the room correctly, then I was never to leave this encounter alive.”

“You’d be right,” Mr. Aurdel started walking towards the doctor, “You’ve lived a long time, so you must have some way to extend your lifespan. A quirk is my guess.”

“You’d be correct. I gave the original version to my master, while retaining a copy for myself.”

“Good, then let’s see how long you’re able to live without it.”

“Wait, no!” The doctor suddenly scrambled to get up from the chair, only for Mr. Aurdel to push him back down, “It wasn’t supposed to go this way!”

“I’m sure all the innocent lives that you’ve taken would say the same thing. Doctor.” Mr. Aurdel put one hand on the doctor’s chest to hold him down, putting the other on his face. Then he took the quirk. Within seconds it looked like the very life itself was beginning to drain out of the doctor's body as he began to age again, his face becoming saggy and the rest of his body very gaunt. He looked like he was on the verge of expiring then and there.

“You’ll… die… without…”

“We all die eventually, but I don’t plan on dying today.” The doctor flopped off of the chair as Mr. Aurdel stepped away, only managing to crawl an inch before dying. Mr. Aurdel then walked over to the tank with the unfinished Nomu, putting his fist through the glass before grabbing it by the head. Within seconds he transferred seemingly all of the quirks that he’d taken from the Nomus out of his body and into the inactive monster, with it bloating due to the influx before decaying into a biological soup inside the tank. He then walked over to Midoriya, crouching down next to him before enveloping him in a hug. “I’m sorry.”

After dealing with Garaki, and after destroying all of the facilities used to create the Nomus, Aurdel walked back out of the hospital with Midoriya. There he found the Heroes that were originally meant to capture him. “It’s done. Garaki is dead, and there won’t be any more Nomus.”

“What happens now?” One of them asked.

“Now? There’s a choice that I’m going to need you all to make, one that I will give you time to think over. It was something I never originally wanted any of this to come down to, but it has become abundantly clear that the people in charge need to be done away with. The corruption needs to end, the control needs to end. And there’s only one way to do that.”

“Are you saying that you want to overthrow the commission? The Japanese government? That’s insane, it’s treason.”

“Do you think that if there was another option that I would be telling this to any of you?” He looked around, “I don’t care if at the end of this I’m completely forgotten, or even drawn and quartered. For the sake of this country something needs to be done about the rot that has taken hold, and for the rest of the world with the war that is about to come.”

“A war? You’re saying that there’s going to be another world war?”

“Only a fool wouldn’t have noticed that one is coming. South America is already embroiled in conflict. Soon enough the United States is going to be fighting a three front war, Europe will erupt into violence and so will Asia.”

“You’re believing in non-existent brinkmanship!”

“You don’t have to believe me about the war, I don’t particularly care if you do. What I need to know is much more important. I need to know that when I walk into the capital I know where you stand. With me, against me or on the side.” There was no response. “You don’t need to decide now, because before I coup the government I plan to arrest the League of Villains once and for all. Once that’s dealt with, everything else will go ahead.”

Majestic spoke up, “What you’re asking us to do is absolutely insane. You want us to believe the words and actions of one man, you, over the rest of the country.”

“If you didn’t have some inkling of belief that what I say might be true, then you would have continued trying to capture me. You wouldn’t be standing here, listening to what I have to say. All that I ask is that you take into consideration everything that I have said and done before coming to your decision.” After that, there was really nothing else for him to say. So all the Heroes began to leave, returning to their homes and agencies. But there was one of them that he still needed to talk to.

Midoriya sat down on the sidewalk, Aurdel sat down next to him. “A lot has happened today, I’m still not sure how to process all of it. Or what to think.”

“I can understand how you feel. Having everything you’ve ever known be torn up right in front of your eyes… It’s not a pleasant feeling. But the only way you can ever make peace is to keep moving forward, no matter how difficult it gets sometimes.” He lowered his head, “You know, when this is all over I’m not sure that I’ll be able to go back to UA and finish teaching your class.”

“Do you really have to do this? I’m sure that if you just explain to them that-”

“You don’t know how much I wish it was as simple as explaining the problem, then having it be solved. I really wish that was all it took to fix things. But it’s not. If it was, then… To tell you the truth, I don’t think I would even exist. I’m left to carry that fact of life on my shoulders.” He put one arm around Midoriya, “I want to make it so that the decision I’m making, and the actions I’m taking, will never need to be done ever again. There’s so much that I wish I could tell you, but I’m not sure if right now you would understand any of it.”

For a while, they sat in silence. “Mr. Aurdel, do I remind you of someone that you knew?”

At first he wasn’t sure how to respond. He turned his head, looking at Midoriya. “Yes, you do. They were someone very close to me.”

“If I asked you, would you tell me who they were?”

“I…” Aurdel’s voice trailed off as a pang of emotion went through him, a deep rooted sadness that never seemed to leave side. He lowered his head, slightly ashamed. ‘No, I’m sorry. It’s not something that I’m willing to share yet.”

“That’s alright. But one day, I want you to tell me who they are. That way I can understand why you do what you do.”

He looked up towards the sky. “Yeah, one day.”

Colonel Cai Shun took a deep breath as he walked towards the doors that led into the large party conference hall, running a hand across the wooden door that was all that stood between him and achieving his goals. For decades now he had dreamed of this moment, working tirelessly in the shadows to achieve his goals. When he was young he had joined the army, back then he was a healthy starry eyed recruit with kick in his step and ideas bigger than himself in his head. He’d done his training and begun his service, the first three years being relatively boring. But once he’d made the rank of Junior Sergeant he’d volunteered to join the Party Security Forces, specifically as part of the Workers Peacekeeping Forces Detachment. And so after additional months of training he served in enforcing the interests of the party abroad. In Somalia he served as part of the outer layer bodyguard for Chinese diplomats in the country, fighting off American based terror groups during a diplomatic proceeding for investments in the country. In Venezuela he’d taken it upon himself to rescue two Chinese industrialists who were kidnapped and taken across the border into Colombia by local cartels, being awarded a two rank promotion to Senior Sergeant. And in Mauritania he had helped the local Chinese based revolutionaries, training many of them and leading them in battle to liberate their country. He himself would have been there for the seizure of the capital had he not been injured five days before the end of the siege.

But the deployment that he remembered most was that of his time in Japan. Many years ago, when he was Second Lieutenant, he was sent to Japan ahead of a Chinese diplomatic team in order to perform espionage within the country. By then he had lost much of the initial enthusiasm he’d had when entering the army, falling into the mundane busywork of spying on Japanese officials and gathering blackmail for future use. For some time he’d considered simply asking to retire, but that was when a man had suddenly approached him. According to him the reason that he’d found Cai was because the two had similar quirks, and as such thought that it was natural that they should know each other. Initially hesitant, he eventually opened up towards the man and listened to what he had to say. And indeed, what he had to show and say was life changing. Through his quirk he had gained near limitless power within his own country, influencing the very politicians he was sent to spy on. He had made advances in the medical field, using it to make the early form of monsters that would be able to take on waves of men.

But most importantly, he had used to create a quirk with near limitless potential.

When he’d learn of this the stars shot back into his eyes, and he knew that his old dream could be accomplished. Once his deployment was finished he returned to China, showing new talents and laying the foundation for the Liberation Through Superhuman Ability branch. From their he bowed to many of the party members, gaining the financial support and manpower to fund his research and endeavors. This resulted in his crowning achievement in the form of a new weapon. A quirk, one that would be able to bring entire nations to their knees. For years it was under testing, but now that it was finally done…

He pushed open the door, walking into the conference hall. At the table where there were meant to be seven of the highest ranking men in the country, only four sat at the table. An elderly Admiral Zhang Wei of the navy, a middle aged General Zhao Baozhai of the rocket force, a similarly aged General Qin Zhiqiang of the air force and a much younger General Xie Shen of the army. “Colonel Cai Shun, do you have the report on the attack against the party?”

He saluted the officers as he approached, “Yes Admiral Wei, I have the report with me right now. And I am afraid that it confirms everything that we have feared.”

“Tell us the findings without dancing around the question,” General Xie Shen demanded.

“Western assets snuck their way into the country around a month ago, embedding themselves into specifically designated positions across the country. Then yesterday, they performed a simultaneous attack against high ranking party staff and military commanders. The chairman, General Deng Yaozu and General Hao Tian were among those casualties.” Cai Shun easily lied straight through his teeth. The assassinations were his doing, with loyal soldiers carrying out the attacks.

“How were you able to confirm that these were western agents?”

“We caught a number of them alive, and through interrogation we were able to root out their network and find proof of the means they used to enter into the country despite the freeze on travel.”

General Qin Zhiqiang looked around, “I think that this makes our situation evidently clear, for us and all of the party to see. We are under attack from the capitalist west.”

“Then what are we to do?” General Zhao Baozhai asked.

“We should strike back,” Xie Shen slammed the table, “An indignation against the workers demands a righteous correction.” The high ranking commanders all looked to Zhang Wei.

The old man let out a sigh, it was quite obvious that even he did not know what to do. “Colonel Cai Shun, as a close member of the party, its security forces and the internal committee you have been privy to the information that even we do not know. Is it possible that you are aware of the actions the Chairman would have wanted taken in the event of his death?”

This was his chance. He looked around, “Is all present company aware of Combined Arms Field Exercise 230997?” There was a shift in the air of the room as he spoke the number.

“Combined Arms Field Exercise 230997?” Zho Baozhai asked, “Are you referring to the wargames that were undertaken sixty seven years ago?”

“Yes.”

They looked at each other, the older men uneasy. “What does that old wargame have to do with the current situation?”

“Chairman Chiang Yongzheng often spoke in private that he knew of a conspiracy to destroy our workers' state, and that if it were to succeed then all of China would be lost forever. I was told that, in case of his death, the exercise was to be made into reality.”

Qin Zhiqiang fixed his collar, “What you’re suggesting is an invasion-”

“On all fronts, yes.”

Zhang Wei shook his head, “We all know the results of that exercise, such an invasion is not feasible.”

“Such an invasion was not feasible in its day, but with the men that I have trained and the technology I have at my disposal it is more than possible. In fact, it is guaranteed that we will succeed.” His confidence seemed to startle the officers, but eventually they resolved to accept his suggestion.

“Very well,” Zhang Wei folded his hands. “Comrades, make your preparations in haste for the invasions.”

“Our workers' state will stand atop the rest of the world, even if all that will lie beneath its feet are ashes,” Cai Shun said, “Or else it will not stand at all.”