Work Text:
I x V: Aftermath
Recommended one-shot read order so far:
I x V: The Sports Festival
I x V: Neither Knighted Nor Military
I x V: Rage, Apathy and Sheer Delusion
I x V: Aftermath (current)
I x V (Either read before or after Aftermath)
It was no secret the HPSC had no love for the worker or disassembly drones from Copper-9, the first thing they had done when learning of the alien, sentient robots being to order that they be handed over to the HPSC. Everyone involved had known that the HPSC would have dismantled and scrapped the survivors of Copper-9’s destruction without a second thought.
Then after the battle of Kamino, after Overhaul’s attack on U.A, the HPSC crossed a line. Led by Hawks, a handful of heroes loyal to the HPSC infiltrated U.A fully intent on capturing the Copper-9 drones. Luckily, the HPSC, or perhaps the one who had organised the operation, had grossly underestimated U.A’s defences and the infiltrators were discovered long before they could carry out their mission. The ‘heroes’ had easily been foiled, even after attempting to fight back and it was testament to the drone’s capabilities that they had been able to subdue their attackers without causing fatal injury.
While U.A had ultimately been forced to release the heroes, Hawks had claimed sanctuary within U.A’s grounds after Nezu had offered it, the U.A Principal having deduced that Hawks had managed to give away his team’s location in the school without alerting said team to his actions.
After being informed of the Japanese HPSC’s actions, the WHA, having already kept an eye on Japan due to the country being far more obsessed with heroes than any other country, including the entirety of America, had concluded this was the last straw and sent a team to investigate the HPSC in detail.
A team who died within minutes of landing in Japan when their plane exploded, killing everyone on board.
The HPSC had put out a statement within the hour, claiming that heroes would capture those responsible, but it was clear as day who was truly responsible for the act. And if anyone had any doubts, those were put to rest when less than twelve hours after the deaths of the WHA team, HPSC backed heroes along with people who would later be identified as MLA soldiers stormed the National Diet Building and killed more than half the Japanese parliament, including the prime minister.
This would officially be the first act of the Japanese Heroics Civil War.
Within two days of the war’s start, thousands of heroes and sidekicks siding with the HPSC and their MLA allies had taken control of a handful of locations and enforced control over them, condemning the locals over even the slightest grievance against them. While the majority of the top fifty heroes had opposed the HPSC, they had been quickly derided as villains by the HPSC along with anyone else who stood with them, hero and civilian alike.
As a result, there had been several small battles where those who had aligned with the HPSC, or at very least were foolish enough to take their word as law, had engaged the heroes opposing the HPSC. Several civilians from the areas now controlled by the HPSC had fled to U.A, the school using its extensive grounds as a refuge for those displaced by the war. This came at the cost of becoming a massive target for the HPSC and MLA and thus on the ninth day of the war, the HPSC laid siege to U.A.
Hundreds of HPSC aligned heroes and MLA soldiers, aided by agents that had infiltrated the school alongside allies within U.A’s own ranks engaged heroes, teachers, drones and even students in what would be the biggest battle of the war. It would also be the last major battle before outside intervention.
The WHA had not been idle following the deaths of their team, the blatant act of murder (and the most paper-thin attempt at denial) by the HPSC having left the WHA completely and utterly pissed off. The WHA had spent the past few days arranging for not a team, but an entire force to decisively end the war.
The HPSC had thousands of heroes on their side. The WHA in response went for quality over the HPSC’s quantity and while they only sent in a hundred heroes, every single one of them was in their respective countries top twenty. America in particular had sent their entire top ten as part of the WHA’s task force, a task force that also included a military population more than three times the size of Deika City’s own population.
On the eleventh day of the war, the WHA task force arrived and the war irreversibly swung in favour of those opposing the HPSC. For all their posturing and claims of quirk superiority, most of the HPSC heroes and MLA soldiers could not measure up to the WHA task force and all the territory they had claimed was lost within days, the majority of it lost within hours.
By the fourteenth day of the war, there was only one city left under HPSC and MLA control.
XXXXX
“Incompetents! All of you!” Lilith Yamamoto, president of the HPSC screamed at those assembled in Rikiya Yotsubashi’s office, including the man himself. “We were supposed to be taking charge!” Lilith turned to her second in command of the HPSC. “You promised me our heroes would be capable of asserting our authority over the country!” She then turned to Trumpet. “You said that there was nothing that could stand up to us!” Rikiya moved to speak but Lilith turned to him next. “And you! You promised me an army of soldiers whose quirks could overcome anything! You gave me nothing but a bunch of two-bit thugs!”
Black spots appeared on Rikiya as he remained silent for a moment. The man silently admitted to himself that he had grossly underestimated the pragmatism of the WHA. Having powerful quirks meant nothing if they could be neutralised from afar and the deployed military forces had done exactly that.
Turns out heroes who favoured melee combat came up short when faced with guns outside of melee range. Who’ve thought?
“And now, now those WHA bastards have chased us out of everything we controlled. We were the ones in charge! And they hunted us down like dogs!” Lilith ranted before another voice cut her off.
“Well maybe if someone could stop ranting like an immature brat for five minutes, maybe we can come up with a plan.” Skeptic said as he looked out the window. Although it was impossible to see from where they were, the room’s occupants knew that Deika City was surrounded. Thousands of soldiers and tons of military equipment, vehicles and ordinance had created a ring half a kilometre away from the city, surrounding it and ensuring that no-one could get past without being spotted. The remains of the Meta Liberation Army, the Japanese HPSC and their loyalists were effectively confined in their last remaining stronghold.
Lilith was about to snap at Skeptic before Rikiya cut her off. “The WHA believes they have us trapped and yet they do not advance. We are too well entrenched and our numbers too concentrated for them to attain victory without significant cost and they know it.”
“And the moment we try to mount any kind of offensive, those same bastards surrounding us will be all over us.” Lilith replied sharply. “Our supplies will run out sooner or later. They don’t need to invade. They can just wait us out.”
“Which is why…” The leader of the Meta Liberation Army interrupted before stopping to wipe some sweat off his head, more black patches having appeared due to the stress the HPSC president was causing him. “Which is why we need to cut our losses.” Re-Destro then nodded to Skeptic who spoke up.
“Geten and Curious are currently gathering followers hand-picked by our leader to join us. Once they return, the rest of the MLA will launch an offensive against the surrounding WHA forces while we, along with those hand-picked by our leader, will evacuate Deika City via evacuation tunnels we made sure were kept out of every single document of the city’s layout for this very reason.”
“So that’s it? We run? That’s your plan?” Lilith snapped.
“No.” Re-Destro replied. “We go to ground. We rebuild. We renew our forces and we come back stronger than before.” Lilith was about to say something else but one of her underlings, the same person whose quirk enabled him to track aircraft up to ten thousand miles away, rushed into the room. “We’ve got incoming.” He gasped, out of breath from running to the room. Skeptic and Trumpet were about the rebuke the man for interrupting but Rikiya spoke first. “What do you mean?”
The underling stood upright and everyone in the room could see the concern on his face. “A dozen aircraft are approaching and they’re not moving to land and reinforce the WHA’s line and they’re too fast to be helicopters. I don’t think they’re transports.”
It took a second for the man’s words to sink in and Re-Destro spun to look at the window in horror even as Lilith moved to rush out of the room. Already there were several dots on the horizon and Rikiya knew it was already too late to escape.
On the fifteenth day of the Japanese Heroics Civil War. Twelve bombers and gunships unloaded their entire arsenal upon Deika City. Bombs, missiles and shells slammed into the final stronghold of the MLA and HPSC, the very tower that its leaders were currently in collapsing into an inferno as explosions and fire tore apart every building in the city, any of its inhabitants lucky enough to escape quickly being captured by the surrounding forces.
Within ten minutes, Deika City had been annihilated, with a crater filled with barely identifiable scrap all that remained. Specialists with quirks that allowed them to locate people searched the former stronghold but confirmed that aside from the (un?) lucky few that were now in custody, there were no survivors.
The war was officially over.
XXXXX
When news of the war’s end reached U.A, there was celebration all throughout the grounds. People cheered, embraced each other and were happy to spread their joy. In the room currently shared by several repair drones and 1-A students in particular, several occupants broke into cheer as Kyoka and Fumikage hugged each other, Uzi and N fist bumping each other, Lizzy comforting Mina who was smiling but still grieving over Ejiro’s death during the HPSC’s attack on U.A.
Thad himself in his cheer had kissed J on the cheek and got slapped in response before the pigtailed murder drone grabbed his shirt collar and pulled him close enough for J to shove her tongue down his throat, the two remaining in their embrace for a good minute.
As the drones and humans celebrated, they paid no attention to the absence of two of their own…
XXXXX
Despite the death of Katsuki Bakugou occurring days ago now, this was the first time Izuku had visited his body, the one responsible for Katsuki’s death stood next to him.
“I honestly thought he was better than this.” Izuku said sadly. “For all his problems, he was dead set on being a hero.” Looking at Katsuki’s body, Izuku saw that even in death, his former friend still had an expression of anger. “And then he goes and sides with the HPSC. Out of all the things he could have done…”
“I don’t think he cared about what other people thought made a hero.” V said softly. “He made it pretty clear that he thought he was the centre of the universe.” V looked away for a second, focusing on the stitched shut stab wound on Katsuki’s chest, the injury she had inflicted that had finally killed the berserker. “He hated you ‘Zu. I know you thought he was your friend, but he despised you so much he wanted you to suffer.”
Izuku was silent for a moment before he turned away from Katsuki’s body. “I thought of him as my best friend for a long time.” The greenette said quietly. “But the Kacchan I knew, I think he died a long time ago.”
V looked concern for a second before glancing at Katsuki. V herself had left a long line of dead bodies behind her. She had killed a lot of worker drones in her time. She had a lot of oil, and blood, on her hands.
But the V of U.A was not the V of the past. She had her sins, but they would not dictate her future. And V knew who she wanted in that future. “Come on, there are better things we can do than hanging round in a morgue. Besides-.” V then smiled at Izuku softly. “We need to decide where to go on that date you promised we’d go on after this war ended.”
Izuku stammered for a second before composing himself and smiling as V walked to the door, deliberately shaking her hips to keep Izuku’s attention on her. Izuku couldn’t help but appreciate V before looking at Katsuki’s body one last time.
“Goodbye Kacchan.” Izuku said softly before following V out of the room.
XXXXX
“FUCK ALL OF YOU!” An eternally enraged demonic looking humanoid screamed as he fired an explosion from his grenade-shaped forearm. Katsuki Bakugou has been pissed beyond comprehension when he woke to find himself surrounded by what could only be described as Hell.
Him. In Hell!?
There was obviously some bastard out there who thought this was a joke. All he needed to do was find out who that was and kill them for this insult.
And if this really was Hell? He would prove he didn’t belong down here. Prove that he was a hero and the best way to do that had shown itself on a television screen in a shop window (Television in Hell? Katsuki found the very concept to be so ridiculous that he exploded the ship for even making him think about it).
Now he was fast approaching his target, a large building that its owner had promised redemption to its residents. And that was something he saw as reason enough to kill said owner, whoever they were.
Another explosion rung through the grounds leading to the hotel, forcing those who had accosted Katsuki on his approach to back away but as he used the explosion to propel himself towards the entrance, he could make out humanoid shapes behind the windows. “Finally!” He sneered. “Now you can die!”
Katsuki was about to swing his hand forward when something grabbed him. Turning round to see who was responsible for restraining him, Katsuki turned to blast whoever was responsible.
Razor sharp teeth and blood-red eyes filled Katsuki’s vision.
“My oh my.” A voice sounding like it was filtered through a radio said with no small amount of malice. “Someone needs a lesson in manners.”
For all his anger and arrogance, Katsuki Bakugou would learn that there are worse things than dying.
XXXXX
As Izuku left a part of his past behind, Shoto Todoroki was in a different room trying to come to terms with a part of his. “I don’t understand.” He said to the room’s other occupant. “You were the strongest hero the HPSC could have had. You could have had everything you wanted. Why did you surrender?”
Enji Todoroki took a deep breath before speaking. “After Kamino, after… what happened there, I took a long look at myself. At everything I done.” Endeavour looked at the table he was sat behind and the quirk suppression cuffs around his waist chained to said table. “I did not like was I saw. I have done terrible things. Things that in my desire to become the number one hero, I failed to recognise just what kind of monster they made me.”
“If the world thinks you a monster, then the world is wrong.” The hellfire quirk user stated solemnly. “But when you think of yourself as a monster…” Enji trailed off before looking at his son. “I do not expect forgiveness for my actions Shoto. All I ask, is that you be a better man than I ever was.”
Silently, Shoto approached his father. The man had been brutal with his training, had committed so many despicable acts. And yet, Shoto found himself putting his arms around his father.
“Shoto…” Enji whispered. “For all that I have done, whatever punishment they give me, I deserve worse.”
After surrendering to what remained of Japan’s government at the start of the war, Enji Todoroki’s crimes would be made public and in doing so, revealed how the HPSC enabled his crimes to begin with. The former flame hero would be sentenced for his crimes, but his cooperation would grant him a more lenient punishment. Enji would live to learn that his youngest son would become an accomplished hero and would take pride in knowing that Shoto Todoroki would be a better hero, a better person than Enji ever was.
XXXXX
“YOU CANNOT KEEP ME IN HERE! YOU ARE ALL TRAITORS AND VILLAINS! HEROISM WILL PREVAIL!” Tenya Iida shouted for the he’d-long-forgotten-th time, his throat sore from the shouting but that did nothing to dissuade him. Tenya had been brought to what was a plain room a few hours ago, his hands cuffed and shackled to the desk in the middle of the room, the desk itself fixed to the floor. The villains had clearly left him here for something, but he could not imagine what.
Tenya ultimately got his answer when he heard the door to the room he was in unlocking. Mentally preparing himself for whatever nefarious plans the villains had for him, Tenya braced for whatever happened next.
Only for a familiar, dark haired woman in light armour to walk into the room.
Tenten Iida. His mother.
“Mother, you’re here!” Tenya cried out in joy, immediately jumping to the only conclusion that made sense to him. “I knew those villains would never prevail. Heroics has defeated villainy as I knew it would.”
“Tenya…” Tenten said sadly. “Which side do you think your father and me were fighting for?”
“On the side of heroics. On justice.” Tenya declared. “What other possibility is there? You and father are paragons of heroics. You stood alongside those who stood for heroism, who represent the highest authority and thus prevailed-.”
“Tenya.” Tenten cut her son off. “We opposed the HPSC and they’ve been defeated. The war’s over.”
Those words struck Tenya but after a moment, he shook his head in denial. “That cannot be true. Heroism always triumphs over villainy. You have been deceived moth-.” Tenya was once again cut off but this time not by words but with a harsh slap to his face.
“Wake up Tenya.” Tenten snapped. “The HPSC committed mass murder, allied with terrorists, they’re guilty of high treason! How can you possibly think they’re heroic in any way?” Tenten put her hands to her face for a moment before looking at her son again, the sad look on her face still there. “Where did we go wrong Tenya? I know we never taught you to be so narrow-minded.”
Tenya was silent for a moment before responding. “How dare you.”
“Excuse me? Tenya-.”
“You have no right to say that.” Tenya snapped. “It is clear that you are a villain who has disguised themselves as my mother in an attempt to deceive me. To resort to such underhanded tricks shows just how villainous U.A has become.”
Tenten looked at her son, seeing how he clearly believed what he was saying. How did we fail him so badly? The Iida matriarch thought sadly before turning away. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.” Tenten then left the room, tears running down her face.
Inside the room as the door closed, Tenya felt pride in having defied such a villainous trick. No doubt one that was meant to deceive him. It would only be a matter of time before the HPSC would prevail and he would be freed to see heroism triumph.
Tenya Iida would never see freedom again. A week after the HPSC’s defeat, Tenya would find himself put on trial for his actions in aiding with the HPSC. His refusal to acknowledge the Copper-9 drones as living beings would do him no favours, nor would his continued belief that he was in the right.
The final nail would be when the judge, upon sentencing Tenya, would call him a stain on his family’s legacy. This would send Tenya into a rage that would reveal his attempt to kill Stain and condemning Tenya as a hypocrite who claimed that heroics was absolute except when it suited him.
Sadly, although Tenya was spared life imprisonment due to being a student, just a few months into what was his sentence, he would be fatally wounded by another prisoner, one of several that had quickly grown tired of Tenya’s attitude and constant hand-chopping. Only his immediate family would mourn his passing and Tenya Iida would be merely a footnote in historic recordings of the war.
XXXXX
“Why?” Nemuri asked the heavily restrained Shouta Aizawa, the restraints necessary after the now-former hero had managed to break out of his previous restraints previously and tried to escape, only to find J guarding his room and wasting no time in stopping his escape. “That’s all I want to know Shouta. Why did you betray us?”
Shouta simply remained silent, refusing to say anything even to one of very few people still willing to talk to him. The R-rated heroine looked at her friend before turning away for a moment, looking back at him before speaking again. “There were thousands of people who came here for refuge because they trusted us to protect them Shouta. We promised we would protect those people, and you betrayed them, betrayed us and you won’t even tell us why!”
Nemuri then thought of the bodies that she had seen in the makeshift morgue following the battle, some more than others coming to her mind. “You even killed some of our students Shouta. I, I can’t even begin to understand why you would do that.”
“If they wanted to be heroes then they should have been able to survive this.” Shouta said coldly. “The fact that they didn’t proves they should never have come to this school to begin with.”
Nemuri took a step back as the processed her friend’s words. “N-not every student in U.A applied to become a hero, you know that! And even then, you don’t have the right to-.” The R-rated Heroine cut herself off as she recalled that Shouta had been stripped of his position as homeroom teacher for 1-A, how he had complained about Nezu and the times he had gone behind the principal’s back.
And then realisation struck Nemuri. “Shouta. Please. Please tell me you didn’t betray us out of spite.”
“We’re done talking.” Nemuri’s fri-former friend said before turning his head away from her, leaving Nemuri to clench her fist in anger and disgust.
“Fuck you Aizawa.” The ravenette snapped before turning towards the door. “Oboro would be disgusted with you for what you’ve done.” Nemuri stormed through the door, slamming it with enough force to rattle the room and leave its sole occupant alone.
Shouta Aizawa would receive no mercy for his actions, his refusal to acknowledge any of the harm he caused as well as the disrespect he showed towards the dead and their families during his trial making it clear that the man had no regrets over what he had done.
The Emperor of Japan, having rallied what was left of Japan’s government under his leadership during the war, made it clear that Aizawa would be recognised as one of the biggest traitors not only to heroics but the country as a whole. This declaration would be followed up with Eraserhead’s sentence. One that only a handful of those that is sided with the HPSC received.
Shouta Aizawa was sentenced to death and would go down in history as one of the most prominent figures to side with the HPSC during the war.
XXXXX
Nezu stared at the person in front of him.
Shinso Hitoshi glared back. The boy cuffed to his chair and an extra set of quirk-suppression cuffs on each arm.
“You know, I’ve seen humans do a lot of terrible things. Both to each other, and to me.” Nezu said calmly. “People like that infuriate me. Sometimes I pity them. And yet I can’t quite figure out just what I feel for you.”
Shinso just sneered. “What do you care? Your little pet retard beat the student you victimised for having a villainous quirk. I was just trying to be a hero when the Null ambushed me.”
Nezu was silent for a minute. Shinso was about to say something else before Nezu finally spoke up. “It always comes back to your quirk, doesn’t it? It doesn’t matter what grievance people have; you always accuse them of discriminating against you because of your quirk.”
Nezu then made sure to look Shinso in the eye before continuing. “You know, you’ve used that excuse so many times, it lost its worth long before the war. But that is hardly your biggest problem right now.”
“Typical, trying to wave off any abuse I got be-.”
“I AM NOT FINISHED BOY!” Nezu suddenly shouted before composing himself. “You keep claiming that your quirk is villainous but as far as the WHA is concerned, there is no such thing as a villainous or heroic quirk. Our choices and our actions determine what is heroic or villainous, not our quirks. And you chose to you use your quirk to hurt other people. You chose to use your quirk to kill people who didn’t deserve to die. You chose to be cruel. To be selfish. Your quirk never made you a villain. You chose to be.”
Shinso was silent for a moment before sneering at Nezu. “Don’t insult me. You’re the villain here rat. I’m the one who deserved to be a hero. Not those pampered little idiots in 1-A and not those little toys of yours. And certainly not that freak you keep around.”
Nezu shook his head silently in disappointment. “You’re beyond help Shinso Hitoshi.” Nezu said with finality before exiting the room.
Shinso Hitoshi would be told during his trial that his age was the only thing keeping him from a death sentence. During said trial it was confirmed by a number of doctors that Shinso was a clinical psychopath, a diagnosis that would have a dramatic effect on more than Shinso’s trial.
Shinso would be put in a high security psychiatric hospital. One for prisoners with mental disorders. Shinso would receive regular examinations as well as different therapy attempts but he would never show any kind of improvement, nor would he show any kind of remorse for his actions.
During one examination, the quirk-suppression cuffs that had been attached to him were not known to be faulty and the moment Shinso realised he could use his quirk, proceeded to use it to force the doctor examining Shinso to murder himself before Shinso stole his keys and attempted to escape, only for several guards to try and stop him. When one of the guards caught hold of Shinso, the latter had attempted to use his quirk again in an attempt to free himself only for another guard to strike him in the head in an attempt to stop Shinso. While this act prevented Shinso from using his quirk, the resulting injury also left Shinso Hitoshi brain dead.
Shinso Hitoshi would go down in history as a villain of his own making.
XXXXX
A few days after the war ended, the immediate clean-up had been completed. People were finally able to get on with their lives once again. But there was still recovery to be made and more importantly, certain things that needed to change and other things that needed to be addressed. Which was why Nezu was making a public statement, several reporters in the audience.
“I will not lie, nor will I try to avoid responsibility.” Nezu said calmly. “I believed that Shouta Aizawa had once been a capable teacher and by alleviating some of his responsibilities, he would be a capable teacher again. I was wrong. Instead, someone who I thought I could trust, that so many others thought they could trust, instead betrayed us at a level I cannot forgive, nor can I ignore the fact that betrayal happened because I did place trust in him.”
After letting those words sink in, Nezu continued. “Perhaps it is my ability to trust, and belief that people can improve themselves that allowed Katsuki Bakugou to kill so many people. Over three hundred people sought refuge here, only for Katsuki to murder them.”
“Are you saying that you could have prevented these deaths if you had Katsuki Bakugou removed from your school?” One reporter asked.
“Truthfully. I do not know.” Nezu said softly. “All I know is that I have failed those who died. I failed to provide protection to those I promised it to. I failed my duty and thus, I am standing down as principal of U.A.”
XXXXX
As several reporters tried to shout over one another, Power Loader sat with Izuku and V in the recently repaired maintenance room. “How much longer is this going to take?” V asked impatiently. She had come into maintenance earlier after getting some messages on her HUD that she didn’t recognise and even after an hour of checks and scans by Power Loader, she was still no closer to answers.
The two of them had been here when J had come in, supported by Uzi and carrying one of her own legs whilst complaining that Mei should be banned from being anywhere near a laser cutter. By the time J had left, the two were still waiting.
When Recovery Girl entered the room, V just had more questions. “Sorry, why is the doc here? No offence, but I’m pretty sure I’m too mechanical for her to help.”
“Not necessarily dear.” The Youthful Heroine said kindly. “I was looking at the scans of you that Power Loader took and I thought I best come see you two in person.”
“You know what’s wrong with me?” V asked, Izuku still sat next to her.
“Nothing wrong per se.” Recovery Girl said. “I have to ask first however, as you two know, as U.A’s head of their medical staff, I have access to all of the student’s medical records, including their quirk status.” Recovery Girl then looked at Izuku. “On that note, I agree that your quirk’s name shouldn’t be made easily accessible to the public.”
“Er, thank you, but why are you bringing this up?”
Izuku asked.
“Tell me,” Chiyo Shuzenji said. “When the two of you ‘discovered’ Midoriya’s quirk after your date, did the two of you bother to use protection?”
V immediately blushed to the point of getting an overheating warning. She recalled trying to be as intimate as she thought possible with Izuku after her date only to discover he had a quirk and after the initial excitement, the two had experimented before spending the next several hours exposing V to more passion than she had ever thought possible. (She had forgotten how many times pink love hearts had replaced the eyes on her visor.)
There was a reason Izuku didn’t think it was a good idea to let the public know his quirk was named ‘robot lover’.
After V managed to get her blushing under control, she responded to the heroine’s question. “With all due respect doc, I don’t exactly have the equipment I would need protection for.”
Chiyo then let the silence fill the air for a moment before speaking. “Well, you do now dear.”
“V. You’re pregnant.”
END