Chapter 110: Outcomes

Summary: ...and they were all out of bubble gum.

Warning! Chapters 109-111 were all published back-to-back! Don't miss any of them!

Chapter 110: Outcomes

Izumi ached in ways that hadn't happened for a while. Her progressive Heteromorphic changes had sped up a bit under the heavy strain of the last year, leaving her within six months or so of full transformation, and her time limits had increased in conjunction with that fact. Combined with the system she'd developed to store her own already aligned QE in batteries and lean on them to run things like her Combat Flight Unit and Super Move Chips, her original limitations had become less and less a pressing issue. The time limit, unfortunately, wasn't entirely gone. At full stretch, she could manage maybe an hour instead of her original anemic fifteen minutes. Leaning on the batteries in the CFU to stretch that out farther could push the limit out as far as two hours, two and a half if she was willing to suffer some QE pathway burns at the far end.

Normally, two and half hours was an insane amount of time to be able to fight on par with All Might for. Nothing during Clean Slate, not even the raids on Jaku City and Nabu Island, had pressed her to burn through that much endurance. The Battle for the Yokohama Greater Gate, on the other hand, had pushed her limits. The enemy had unexpectedly attempted to salvage the situation by targeting Rifts to deploy additional forces, attempting to repair the Gate during the back-and-forth struggle that had resulted. While they had ultimately won out, the battle had stretched for over two hours, and Izumi had pushed the limits with several uses of her Berserk Chip.

In the aftermath, she'd been barely conscious as she'd been firmly guided away from the cleanup when she'd attempted to keep helping. The medics had not been in the mood for any self-sacrificial bullshit, and Izumi was relatively glad for that, in the main. She'd not exactly been thinking clearly, running on autopilot and defaulting to the raw determination to save lives that had first developed when she and Momo had worked with disaster relief efforts prior to UA. Thankfully, the medics had gotten her to listen, and she'd collapsed in a field hospital for a few hours. Even so, she'd been lightly into the 'QE pathway burns' territory, and now every movement reminded her that she'd overreached her limits again.

Not that she regretted it.

The Yokohama Greater Gate was now firmly closed, though the price paid in lives lost for doing so was still being calculated. Higher than they'd hoped and lower than they'd feared was, so far, the general consensus. She did, at least, know that Momo and Jirou had come through the battle fine. Well, mostly fine. Momo's stamina blew Izumi's own away at this point and she'd remained to help with recovery efforts, only returning to the field hospital when she'd been alerted by 2B that Izumi was awake. Mentally a bit drained but physically fine, Momo had fussed over her until Izumi had captured her in a cuddle-hug and refused to let go until Momo let herself crash off the high that was One for All. Now, Momo was sleeping that off, though she'd likely be up and around in half an hour or so. Most likely less the worse from wear than Izumi, annoyingly.

Jirou had been significantly less fortunate, having been wounded during the initial phase of reinforcements the enemy had forced through crude Rifts. Three snapped ribs and a punctured lung had forced her from the battlefield. Thankfully, the overall command team had concentrated a lot of healing Quirks at the nearby field hospitals in preparation of this assault, knowing it would be a potentially costly battlefield. Jirou was fine as a result, though would need some recovery time, as the Quirks that had been used on her weren't Recovery Girl grade. A week or two at most, or a visit to Recovery Girl if it could be managed after said healer was less busy with emergencies. Either way, a full recovery was expected, which was still a terrific result given the level of violence this battle had seen.

Operation Missile Storm had also been a success, on the whole. Though as Izumi used her clearance level to look over the results from both here and elsewhere, she couldn't entirely agree with all the choices that had been made. She'd known that the military brass, including Counter, had wanted to take the Shield systems the enemy used intact for study anywhere possible. Personally, she felt that continuing on with that secondary goal after the enemy started using Rifts for emergency reinforcement hadn't been justified. Yes, they'd succeeded in taking the Yokohama Gate intact enough that its Gate Shield was still in working order. One of only three Gates out of the twenty targeted that had succeeded in doing that. But doing it had meant they couldn't deploy a RADS array that would have shut down the reinforcement Rifts. Which had prolonged the battle and raised the casualty figures sharply.

Personally, Izumi disagreed that it had been the right decision. Then again, she wasn't a military commander, or great strategic mind. Even 2B was more tactician than strategist, though 2B's exposure to the worldwide efforts was rapidly giving her some level of strategic insight. Perhaps, in the fullness of time, the price paid for capture of the Shield would prove to have been the right call. One way or another, it was the call that had been made, and now it was time to live with it. At least Izumi herself had been earmarked as one of the people that would get first call on studying the shield system. So, there was that.

As for the other Gates, the successes had been, thankfully, more numerous than the failures. Hitting so many Greater Gates simultaneously had proven to be an inspired choice, as the enemy had been forced to outright abandon the defense of several almost immediately. They'd doubled down on the ones that they did fight for, resulting in three such Gate assaults failing. One in Germany, another in Hong Kong, and the last in Venezuela. No one was quite sure just why the Venezuelan Gate had attracted such a strong defense, it having previously not been considered a high priority traget. But clearly the enemy knew something they didn't, which was causing a reexamination of that Gate and everything they knew about it.

Still, despite those three failures, that meant that a full twenty-one Greater Gates had been closed worldwide. By pretty much any standard, Operation Missile Storm had been a success, achieving a number of critical objectives. Several of the closed Gates would help increase security near major industrial nodes, while others would allow major cities to be fully covered by RADS arrays. All of the successes meant freed up defenders as well, which could be used to shore up other areas or begin offensive operations. Then, of course, there were a few like the Yokohama Gate that would also, hopefully, allow other successes on various domestic fronts.

The Meta Liberation Army, for example, was now firmly in the crosshairs of Japan's Heroes and Military alike…

... ...

Yotsubashi Rikiya, or Re-Destro to his many followers, glowered at the reports he was getting back. They weren't nearly as detailed as they once had been. Once the Free Meta Nation of Japan had officially declared itself, the Japanese government had been quick to try rooting out any of their agents or sympathizers, despite the ongoing invasion crisis. A crisis that proved, once and for all, that his ancestor had been correct. A nation where free Meta Ability use was the norm, and strength with those abilities encouraged, would have been far better off than the weak edifice of lies their opposition had turned Nippon into.

Something proven all the more clearly not only by their own ability to seize a sizable chunk of the country, but by their own ability to keep the Rifts and Gates in check without the massive military expenditures that their opposite numbers, and other nations for that matter, needed. No, this crisis had proven their own point far more effectively than anything he could ever have imagined. A world where Meta Abilities had been free and encouraged would be one that would have easily shrugged off this ridiculous alien invasion.

Alas, the fools would never admit the truth. They were too in love with their own power to do that. No, it would have to be taken from them. Something that must be done delicately so that they could properly turn this nuisance invasion around and put the world back on its proper path. Which had proven annoying, as someone on the other side had clearly been mapping their agents and connections for months before the Invasion. He personally suspected it had something to do with Stain having been sighted in Deika City several times, after he'd seemingly stopped his Hero Killing spree. Thankfully, whoever's hand was guiding that effort, they hadn't gotten to everyone. Not yet. According to their remaining sources, the power mad idiots in charge of Japan had made a mistake. Thrown themselves at one of their Greater Gates in a bloody-minded attempt to close it.

The fact that they'd succeeded was pleasing. It would be one less irritation to deal with once they were properly in control of the homeland. The fact that the fools had weakened themselves so much to do it was even more pleasing, however. There was a window of opportunity here to expand their control. Hmmmm. There was no point in trying to expand west from Hamamatsu. As much as he'd like to take Nagoya, there was too much strength concentrated there at the moment. Likewise, with how much of a strong rallying point UA presented in Shizuoka, going east from Hamamatsu was even worse than west. No, they had Hamamatsu properly fortified, but trying to strike out from it would be foolish, at best. Outright suicidal for their own forces at worst.

Thickening the corridor they currently controlled was tempting. Moving up from Matsumoto to take Ueda and Nagano, possibly even Joetsu? That would give them a much firmer control of the land routes within the country. None of those cities could hold against them, and the populations there would add to their new nation nicely. Yet…there was the matter of external access. Hamamatsu was trapped between Nagoya and Tokyo, and didn't have much of a port to begin with. Toyama did have a port, but the JMSDF had been able to blockade it fairly effectively. Joetsu wouldn't help with that, as it would be too easy for the JMSDF to simply move their blockade out farther, to seal off the entire natural gulf that contained Toyama Bay. That would just barely encompass Joetsu too, leaving them having gained little of substance for foreign contact.

No. They would go west from Toyama instead. They already mostly controlled Takaoka, and the small towns between there and Kanazawa wouldn't be able to stop them. Adding the Port of Kanazawa to their holdings would make it far harder for the JMSDF to keep them contained, allowing them access to some of their overseas assets that were still waiting in the wings. Some of those had been lost due to the invasion, of course, but not everything had. Better yet, the military hardware they'd stashed on a few isolated islands would be accessible at least until the JMSDF could throw up another blockade. That would allow them to secure their holdings better.

Yes. It was a good plan. Now, they just needed to get moving on it before the foolish opposition recovered from throwing so much strength away just to close a single Gate…

... ...

Nedzu's teacup settled with the gentlest of clacks. He gave All Might and General Utsumi as close to a human smile as he could manage, even as he presented his latest findings. Findings that were exactly what he'd expected to see, or at least one possible variant of such. There had been two possibilities, in truth, but given how aggressive Re-Destro had been from the start, Nedzu had expected him to go for the bolder option. Something which had proven to be the case, from the latest reports of the hundreds of moles they'd gotten into the MLA. Along with the few spies that Stain and the Idaten Agency had left in place at his careful direction.

Why the braindead idiots of the MLA thought that the populations of the cities they conquered would be on their side he could only attribute to a bit too much belief in their own cause. It made it hilariously easy to penetrate their lower and mid-level ranks. Which, given that such included their logistics people, meant it was easy to read any big move the group was going to make. Meanwhile, for all that Stain was a questionable ally in some ways, he'd also brought the MLA to the attention of Team Idaten in the first place. For that, and turning his hands to helping eliminate the threat, Nedzu was willing to extend the fanatic a modicum of trust. A blade that was a bit sharp to hold could still be very useful, so long as you wore suitable gloves so as not to gut yourself.

"It seems, gentleman, that my primary guess was on the money. General, I take it that the ambush at the Expressway junction is already prepared? As well as the Shiroyama Park force?"

The General nodded, his own expression quite pleased as he gave voice to the confirmation.

"Yes. The Expressway was harder to get everything in place unnoticed, of course, given how many of the illusion and stealth specialists were tied up by Missile Storm. But the MLA will be walking into a hell of a deadly ambush now that it's properly set up. The Shiroyama force was much easier. Pixie Bob was able to help us set up the trap that will take out the Oyabe Bypass when they try to use it. Honestly, she seemed a little too eager for the chance to unleash chaos instead of keeping it in check. The job she did will probably wipe out half their force all on its own."

Despite his best effort, Nedzu's smile went from friendly to predatory at the news that his plan was coming together perfectly.

"Excellent, General. I'm pleased you were able to talk your superiors into the plan of action. With so many of their mobile forces tied up trying to expand, their Greater Gate won't be getting any reinforcement for its containment troops. We should be able to take over control of it in one firm strike. With the biggest issue taken out of the picture, we can start rolling the MLA up without risking the larger problem. I doubt Re-Destro has a clue that the only reason we haven't crushed his little rebellion is fear that they'd lose containment on the Gate when they started losing."

Far from being off put by Nedzu's smile, the General's own was nearly as predatory. The man hadn't become the liaison between the JSDF and the Heroes because he was a diplomat. That would have been exactly the wrong sort of person for this type of crisis. Instead, he'd ended up in that position because he'd come up the ranks through the Special Forces.

That meant his mindset was far more compatible with the way Heroes operated, while also being excellent at handling larger strategic thinking. He'd proven an excellent foil for Nedzu. He was able to fill in gaps where Nedzu's usual methods of operation were better being replaced or supplemented by preponderance of firepower, in place of the scalpel that Nedzu preferred. They'd made a deadly team so far, to the point that the powers that be in Japan's Government were largely giving them their head and whatever support they needed. Of course, said Government was still a mess from a number of losses, including the opening round of assassinations. But in an odd way, that had actually helped the response, as the politicos were too busy handling a dozen other crisises to try telling the professionals what to do.

A new, more integrated High-Command was being worked on, in which the civilian Government might try to stick their fingers again, since the immediate issues were calming down. But, for now, Nedzu and General Utsumi were the most influential shot callers for overall policy against the external threat of the Empire. If their plan against the MLA worked out as well as it should, that fact would only be cemented farther. Which, Nedzu reflected, boded well for their chances of selling Miss Midoriya's rather ingenious longer-term solution.

The General had been a bit skeptical at first, when Nedzu had brought him into the loop on that concept. But the more Nedzu had talked up the idea, the more the man had seen the value in it. In a lot of ways, it wasn't too different from the decisions that had created the Hero System itself. Which, while not perfect, had held up surprisingly well to the current disaster. Despite never having been intended to deal with something on the scale of an alien invasion, the sheer flexibility of the Hero System had allowed a remarkably effective response that had staved off total disaster. Its only real failing was a lack of broader organization. Something that the new idea would effectively fix in the long haul, if it worked. Putting that thought aside again, Nedzu turned to the last person present.

"All Might. How is it looking on the Hero Side? Will you be able to put together a strike and containment team fast enough?"

Toshinori Yagi, looking much closer to his prime despite still suffering certain limitations, was quick to answer.

"Yes. I've been working with Endeavor every step so that we can cycle some of his fresh people in for those of the Missile Storm team that won't be ready for a quick Strike, but are still up to performing in a defensive role. Resolution may end up being in that camp, as she pushed a bit too hard. But Keystone will be ready. With those we can now pull off the defenses, those we held back specifically for the follow up, and the people cycled in from Osaka, I'm confident we'll exceed the stipulated force levels required."

Nedzu nodded, pleased with the confirmation.

"Excellent. Resolution did us proud by getting the Gate disabled so fast and fighting off the reprisal so well as they tried to restore it. She made the entire affair far less bloody than we'd feared, even with the Rift reinforcements, and gave us a nearly intact Greater Gate to study in the process. We can easily afford to let her rest, possibly even set her to studying the captured shield instead of cycling her to Osaka. Though it would still be better to have her as part of the strike force, if possible, of course. Let me know soonish if she'll be recovered or not."

All Might nodded and promised to do just that, the meeting wrapping up just a few minutes later. All three of them had places to be and unpleasant things to plot for their enemies, after all…