Chapter Text
Takashi Arata, from all angles, appeared to be nothing more than an athletic middle-aged Asian man with a faltering hairline. He spent his younger years enveloped in the chaos of Gates. When they first appeared, he was ten years old. His parents fled from providence to providence seeking safety for their young boy. But in the end, destiny chose them all as important players.
The first A-Rank to ever break from its cage was in Japan, an Oni-Type… named Diablo. And its stomping ground was just a few miles from Takashi and his family.
The sudden surge of Mana caused a great deal to Awaken, including the entire Arata family. But while Takashi was stuck at E-Rank, his parents became some of the first A-Rank humans. They were critical in the fight against Diablo, but upon his beheading, Diablo released a poisonous gas.
All Awakened Humans who it struck began to decay, the poison feeding off their Mana. Because of his status as an E-Rank, Takashi survived the poison over decades, eventually leading to it and his Awakened status canceling out each other, making him little more than a normal human.
His parents, before succumbing to the poison, went on to help found the Hero Safety Commission, which led to a new and still on-going Golden Age for Japan in the midst of the crisis. Heroes like All Might began to appear, and alongside thousands of others, directed by the Commission, they quelled the chaos.
Takashi, after his parents’ deaths, went on to contribute to the Commission in their stead as one of the top brass. His mathematics were unparalleled and he was responsible for creating many of the modern day Gate-Predictive Equations. They weren’t perfect, as seen by the Gate Break by the Fujiya hospital, but it was estimated that the equations had saved the lives of tens of millions across the world as other countries adopted it. And countries were spared hundreds of billions in clean-up and repair costs. He was regarded as a Hero…
So it broke Izuku’s heart to see him sitting at the table, alongside all the other cultists listed on the piece of paper Momo’s parents had given her.
The table, which was too long for its own good, sat in a dining room so ornate that it could’ve funded a small country if its decorations were auctioned off. At the table were a dozen men and women, with most being on the young side, and only two at the end of their life cycles. They were the heads of the cult.
“You hear about the South Korean Heroes? Those two are finally getting married.”
“Don’t beat around the bush, Takashi.” One of the elderly women rasped, ignoring the comment. “This decision needs to be made. Moving forwards? Or giving up?”
Izuku and Momo listened from inside the room, their Stealth completely cloaking them from visual and magical detection. This house wasn’t nearly as locked-down as Momo’s parents’ was.
“We can’t make that decision yet… not until the Shadows reveal themselves to us. To disband now, whilst both lie in play, would be stupid. But we can’t move forwards either. Our path to that power is lost…” He sighed. “Forgive me, I need a glass of wine…” He went to stand, but before he could, a bottle of chardonnay floated before his face.
“Don’t bother standing,” Izuku said, using Dominator’s Touch to hand the bottle off.
Both him and his partner were wearing their Shadow Duo disguises, their faces completely hidden.
The other eleven men and women instinctively went to stand, but Momo waved her hands and they all became locked to their seats by her own Dominator’s Touch. She went around, one-by-one, tying them to their chairs using coils of shadowy rope that even Izuku doubted he could break.
Takashi, to his credit, didn’t look surprised at all. As if he’d known all along they were coming tonight.
“His words did sound a little forced… was he just putting on an act? Waiting for us to show up?”
“I didn’t expect the Hero Commission’s own man to be involved…” Momo said, finished with restraining everyone. None of them were overly powerful anyways, but it was always better to be safe and have hostages.
“Miss Yaoyorozu, we have men inside the governments of many other nations, not just Japan. You really think the Commission was spared from our involvement?”
Momo scowled behind her mask. “People trust you to keep them safe!”
“And I have yet to betray that trust,” Takashi responded, his face an impenetrable wall similar to Yui’s.
“You kidnapped-”
“Miss Yaoyorozu, the actions of your parents do not speak for us all. We knew of their plans to use you as a conduit for the powers of the Monarch and Empress. We condoned those plans. But we did not condone of their more… religious… attachment to the Chaos World. We could not expose them without exposing ourselves, which endangered the world.” His eyes narrowed. “Sacrifices are made so that wars are won.”
Momo scoffed. “Don’t pretend you’re a saint. You had me running for my life, you protected my slimeball parents, and this cult isn’t doing anything worth a damn for humanity.”
“Is it not?” Takashi looked between the two. “In the past five years, my equations have become outdated, less accurate. Do you know why?” He scowled. “Because Villains are becoming stronger, more numerous… at a rate which humanity could not withstand for any significant length of time. Awakenings of high aplomb were too rare and weaklings weren’t even popping up fast enough to be fodder. But through the manipulation of many of the world's governments, we delayed the inevitable several times.” Had he been given the power to stand, he would’ve done so with great importance.
“Yes, I defended disgusting people and practices. Yes, I put you on the run, and I do regret that.”
“Not enough to have done anything about it, apparently.” Izuku commented.
“I… have a daughter,” Takashi uttered. “It hurt me to know what we had to do more than it hurt the Yaoyorozus. But I did what I did to save my own daughter… so that I could leave the world just a little bit better for her than it was for me… as my parents did. Inch-by-inch I will make this world a better one, a safer one for my daughter and her generation to come.”
Momo didn’t say anything for a long while, leaving the room in suspense.
“Fine.” She snapped her fingers and the rope holding Takashi vanished, but not the ropes holding the others down. She strolled up to him, putting her mask right in his face. “I want to kill you… slowly… painfully… but that’s also not my nature. You’re not that much better than my parents, but I’ll hear you out at least, as a daughter who was never loved by her own father.” She got one bite in at him, reminding Takashi that she would never get back the time he had taken.
Proving that he had, in fact, expected them, Takashi gestured to the table, which had many holographic displays over it. It worked well as a fancy business tool for get-togethers with all the evil masterminds.
The displays had too many numbers and graphs for Izuku to follow, but Momo took only a few moments to look. “Your numbers are correct at least,” She said, “But this spike here indicates that humanity should’ve been overwhelmed years ago.”
Takashi nodded. “That’s what I meant earlier. We have been using my equation to predict the areas that will have the highest concentrations of Mana. Through clever marketing, real-estate control, and a buttload of money, we managed to move a serious amount of the population of the world around to these hot-spots. By creating more Awakened humans we delayed the apocalypse as I said.”
“Then if your intentions are pure… what is all this?!” Momo shouted at the top of her lungs, smashing her fist straight through the table. “Why bother with this cult?! Why not go public with this?! Why do all of this?!”
“We tried!” Takashi replied forcefully, but his eyes suddenly dulled. “We tried. But the governments refused to take this matter seriously. Memories fade far too quickly. They no longer see this as a war, but a daily occurrence. They take the Gates for a minor inconvenience these days. All Might and the others lulled them to sleep. No one understands that this is a losing fight. We are slowly giving more ground every day. Soon, Jeju Island will not be a single mishap, but only the first of its kind.” He sighed, feeling conflicted upon revealing all of his inner demons. “The Yaoyorozus and their zealots were engulfed by religious fervor. But they also provided us all the money we needed and they provided us with most of our information, in return, they got a seat at the table.”
“Information… from Stain?” Izuku asked. He had still yet to reveal himself. The cult leaders knew of Momo’s identity, but they still had no clue who he was and he intended to keep it that way.
Takashi nodded. “We never met him, but he gave us everything we needed to buy humanity a trump card of its own.”
“The Monarch and the Empress.” Izuku surmised.
“Even with Thomas Andre, All Might, and every other Hero. Humanity by itself would not survive. To survive as a species… we needed more.” Takashi took his cue, and knelt on the ground, pressing his forehead to the floor. “This organization was meant to be more than just some cult. We don’t worship you as Gods as others do, but we do need you. All of us… we’re all fighting for our family’s future. We don’t care about our own bodies.”
The other eleven at the table had their heads bowed in reverence. It seemed that the entire night had been planned from the start. All twelve had known they were coming. They simply acted naturally to quell their nerves, because they knew their fate was in the hands of the Shadow Monarch and Empress.
“You can torture us, cut us up into pieces. You can order us to behead each other and we will do so. Fill our veins with poison or drown us in acid. Unlike our ancestors, we will accept the burdens of our misdeeds. Now that you are both here, all we ask is that you fight for humanity. So that our children… and their children, will see another sunrise.”
Izuku could tell some of the younger folks at the table were choking back tears, but their resolve was firm. They were ready for whatever they had to accept. Not because they were tied to the chairs, but because war required those with strong wills.
Again silence elapsed, and Izuku and Momo shared a glance. They didn’t need to say a thing to the other.
“How many know of our identities?”
Takashi didn’t miss a beat, his head still firmly planted on the floor. “The twelve here know of you, Miss Yaoyorozu. And it is likely the cultists present for your ritual know your identity. But other than that, your identity is secret. As for the Monarch… no one knows who he is.”
Momo nodded. “Then my decree is this…”
The room waited with bated breath. They had heard of what happened to Momo’s parents.
“Await further instructions. Do not act without our permission. We are watching you… And we intend to act in humanity’s benefits, but not in such a manner.”
Takashi shook with trepidation, but didn’t dare to lift his head, not even after an hour had elapsed. None of the seated men and women, their limbs free of the ropes, moved either. They had scarcely avoided Death, and his chill crept down their necks, pinning them in place just as it did Bakugo earlier in the day.
*******
On a private mega-yacht, five miles off the coast of Japan, a helicopter was touching down. The floating castle had more than enough room for a landing pad after all.
The two who stepped off the helicopter looked as if they could be supermodels. The first, whilst plain looking, with his dark-hoodie and plain black hair, had piercing electric-blue eyes and a flawless physique. They were intimidating enough to pin someone to the floor with fear, but kind enough to be asked for an autograph by children.
The second was an outright beauty. With her blonde hair, gray eyes, and hourglass figure, she was the picture you’d find in the dictionary next to the word “gorgeous.” But unlike her compatriot, she wore her battle armor, a red, black, and gold piece of the finest metals. With her blade at her side, her armor, and her stunning looks, she was closer to a Goddess of War than a mortal. Many worshiped her as such in her homeland.
The two were greeted by a butler, who led them along the ship’s corridors until reaching a bar, where a single man sat, in little more than a business suit. Despite that, the raw power he contained flowed off of him in waves of heat.
“Sir, your guests have arrived.” The butler expertly bowed and dismissed himself.
“Sung Jin-Woo. Cha Hae-In. Can I get you something to drink? To congratulate you on the engagement?”
Cha frowned, her bob-cut hair dancing in the sunshine. “We’re not here for pleasantries Endeavor.”
He turned around at the bar, flashing a smirk at the young woman. “How’s your arm? All healed up?” Endeavor asked with a smirk that could only be described as evil.
“My arm is not the concern of this conversation,” She once more countered, resisting the urge to reach up and rub the arm that Endeavor had broken when the two of them last fought.
“We’re here on behalf of Chairman Go Gun-Hee,” Sung Jin-Woo interrupted. “Your offer for aid in exchange for 80% of all the Villain Cores and Materials is far too high. We’re willing to offer 65% at most.”
Endeavor downed the rest of his glass, a single malt. “Japan is allowing South Korea to reclaim one of her precious islands. We’re giving you all of the top Japanese Heroes. I don’t need to remind you that the Top Ten in Japan easily trump all of South Korea’s S-Ranks put together.”
Sung Jin-Woo didn’t bat an eye. “The Nomu on Jeju Island are continuing to breed and evolve. This won’t be an easy raid for either country. We’re both going to have to put in a full effort, but we are offering you the majority still.”
“Here’s the thing. The Raid got moved up because those bastards are learning how to fly, yes?”
“Yes,” Cha responded.
“See, they’ll go for Korea before they fly all the way to Japan. This is your crisis. We’re simply being good neighbors. 80% of the Villain Cores and Materials is necessary to ensure the full cooperation of the Top Ten.” Endeavor poured himself a second glass. “But for our neighbors, I’ll go down to 75%”
Sung let the smallest of grimaces cross his face. “Fine. 70% it is.”
“I said-”
“70%”
A genuine grin crossed Endeavor’s face for the first time. “Sounds good to me.”
“We couldn’t do this over the phone?” Sung asked.
“Thought you two might want to get away from it all for a bit,” Endeavor teased. “Enjoy some time on the sea and have a drink.”
“...We’ll see you during the briefing. Goodnight,” Sung responded, strolling out of the bar and retracing his steps back to the helicopter.
“Sung… is this really okay?” His fiance asked as they boarded the craft.
He scowled. “As much as I hate him… he’s right. Clearing this Raid, getting that island back… it means more than some lost profits. What concerns me is Endeavor’s own plans.”
“What do you mean?”
“He brought us out here just to screw with us… I’m not sure we can trust someone like that… but we need him all the same…” The two reached over to hold hands, contemplating the days to come and the work that had to be done before the Jeju Island Raid could commence.
*******
“What are you thinking?” Izuku asked Momo as the two made their way to school for their second day and their first actual training session. She had been silent ever since last night, and Izuku had given her space to think… up until now, of course.
“I’m thinking they could be useful to us. They’re devoted to the salvation of the world…”
“But you’re not sure you can forgive them.”
Momo let out a sound that was a cross between a sigh and a moan. “I just… I’ve… I want to think about this logically. But I’m struggling to find the will to.”
“On one hand, their efforts have preserved humanity long enough for us to reach this power. On the other hand, they’ve committed plenty of crimes and have hurt, if not outright killed, many people. Yourself included, obviously.” Izuku tallied up the points in his head.
“What are you thinking?” Momo asked back. “Honestly. Don’t hold anything back from me.”
Izuku nodded. “I don’t like being the type of person to make someone cry at the sight of me,” He put simply, referring to the previous night where many had held back sobs at the thought of what Izuku and Momo would do to them. “That’s my first thought. I don’t want to ever experience that again.” Despite the undeniable crimes that the men and women had committed, Izuku hadn’t been able to sleep. He was so sick to his stomach knowing that he appeared as such a menace to these people.
“I… didn’t like it either…” Momo admitted, averting her gaze.
“My second thought is this. They’re not insane like your parents. They clearly have logical thought processes behind them, as seen by their mathematics. To them, it's a situation of the ends justifying the means, not a crazy religious conspiracy. They’re doing it for their families, and to top it all off, they were more than happy to let us kill or even torture them if it meant our cooperation.” Izuku had an entire database around the cult in his Documentarian Skill by now. “I’d rather we turn them into our own personal work force, for the Shadow Duo persona. We can have them working behind the scenes for us in a legal fashion and they have numerous connections inside governments and other important institutions. This way, we can also keep them under our thumb. If they disbanded, or were sent to jail, the fringes of the organization could be left without leadership and cause a good deal of chaos.”
Momo took a deep breath… let it out… and nodded. “Thank you. I needed someone to do that logical part for me.”
Izuku chuckled lightly. “Always here to be of assistance ma’am.”
“I’m begging you to stop calling me ‘ma’am.’” But Momo was also smiling now.
“And we need a new name for the Shadow Duo. Cause that name just isn’t going to fly for long,” Izuku added.
“Our Hero names could be Monarch and Empress for that persona?”
Izuku nodded. “I like that. Hopefully they’ll find a different way to refer to the both of us. We’ll have to wait around the next time we show ourselves using our full power and speak to a reporter or something.”
With that all sorted, Momo felt like she could actually focus on her classes.
*******
“Today is your first Raid as a Class.” Aizawa droned on. “As such, I’ll be leaving it to your Hero Instructor. I think it’s important that you-”
“I AM HERE!”
Aizawa looked ready to shoot himself in the head. “You’re here too soon. You wanted to do that entrance but your timing is off. I hadn’t even finished my sen-”
“AND IT IS TIME TO TRAIN THE NEXT GENERATION!”
“I… fine…” Aizawa just walked out of the classroom, leaving it to the man shouting before him.
“All Might…” Izuku gasped out.
Even Bakugo and Shoto sat up a little straighter at the sight of such a legend. With rippling muscles and a Hero Outfit that screamed ‘Merica, with a cape and everything, he was instantly recognizable.
“Today, you as Heroes take your first step forwards! You will be conquering…!” He let his voice trail off and the hype build. “...An E-Rank Dungeon!!!”
“Huh?”