Chapter 54: Concerns
Summary: The heroes aren't blind, and they have concerns about how much information seems to be leaking into enemy hands. And they aren't the only ones with concerns...
Warning! Chapters 50-54 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss any of them!
Chapter 54: Concerns
Nedzu hated leaving the security of his University at the moment, but the fact that the JSDF were crawling all over everything on the physical and digital levels had caused him to arrange this meeting elsewhere. The Blue Nova's special rooms, specifically made to high security standards as places for inter-agency meetings, would have to be a good enough replacement for his own security. He had to admit, knowing that the firewalls here were 2B's constructs, that the staff were all extremely carefully vetted even by his standards, and that one of his own instructors was a partial owner of the place, all helped put him at ease with the change in venue. Somewhat.
At the table with him, only half-nibbling at the admittedly amazing food, were the most trusted and senior of his own people. Eraserhead, Midnight, and Present Mic were all on one side of the table. All Might and Gran Torino were joined by Snipe and Ectoplasm on the other. Recovery Girl was at the foot of the table, just as he was at its head, and all of them were visibly tense, despite the food and awe-inspiring display of the cosmos on the wall screens around them. They knew why everyone was here, after all. Best to get on with it.
"We have a leak."
They all tensed farther, only Eraserhead nodding firmly, as he finally stated it out loud.
"There is no other possible explanation. As all of you know, we changed the Water Terrain group's destination and trainers due to the risk that Miss Midoriya might be a specific target. We kept the effort quiet and even set them up in a location without cell signal to limit any chance of accidental location leak by a student. Yet, not only were they found…but they were assaulted by a Nomu that virtually had to have been preselected for their target environment. While we don't know how long it takes to make one, it does indicate at least some level of strategic planning based on whatever information they got."
There was silence for long moments, before Eraserhead's gruff voice broke in.
"Do we have any leads on how it leaked?"
Nedzu grimaced.
"Sadly, no. Given the revamp of our security with the help of Miss Midoriya's Quirk, it's extremely unlikely it leaked through cyber penetration. Likewise, the students themselves were kept in the dark about their destinations until they left. All communications from their phones have been traced since then and we've found nothing. The students that went on the trip have been cleared, and the Coast Guard didn't know which students were coming until they actually arrived, with Vlad carrying the list they used for identity checks. They were several days into the training trip before the attack, but it seems unlikely that was sufficient for so targeted a job. Add in our previous concerns about the USJ incident, and we appear to have a serious problem."
More than one nod was seen around the table, expressions grim. Grand Torino, blunt as ever, spoke up.
"Is that why blood guy isn't here? Concerns he may be comprised?"
Nedzu waved a paw in a so-so gesture.
"Yes and no. I have confidence that he isn't a willing leak. But he volunteered to undergo a telepathic security scan to make sure no one has recently used a mental Quirk on him."
There were several winces around the table. Understandable ones, to be honest. Telepathic scans were unpleasant to say the least. But Vlad really had volunteered for it, without Nedzu even bringing it up. Clearly, the man's own thoughts had been following similar trains of logic, and he'd been visibly distressed by the deaths and injuries on his watch when he made the offer.
"The most likely culprit is a student, I'm afraid. While it hasn't happened in decades, before All Might there were several attempts by various Villain Groups to plant agents in with the students. The trouble with that theory, of course, is that we cleared all of the students on that specific trip. Which is, along with the JSDF's presence, why were are here. While UA's cyber footprint is secured…there's nothing keeping pure audio recordings from being manually taken in and out of the building."
Nedzu let that sink in for a moment, then continued outlining what he thought was the most likely means of a leak.
"Had this occurred during renovations, it could have been one of the extra workers. But we cleared all of them out before we redrew plans for the Water Terrain camp. Someone, somehow, must have recorded one of the conversations needed to relocate the camp, then physically moved the recording from UA to elsewhere. That means staff, a student, or a visiting hero. The visiting heroes should never have had the access, as we kept them away from the actual Heroics building on patrols most of the time. They also couldn't have leaked the USJ info."
Midnight was the one to speak up this time, pointing out the obvious hole in that.
"Unless it's more than one leak. The break-in prior to the USJ is still the most likely culprit for that leak."
Nedzu nodded.
"It is. Indeed, I had previously believed that it was unlikely we had an internal security problem. With far-harder to acquire details having now gotten out, however, the specter of that particular issue must be taken more seriously. The problem, of course, is what we do about it."
Eraserhead frowned.
"More in-depth background checks on the students are the obvious place to start. As well as going over footage to look for any non-heroics students that have been frequently in the heroics building. Same with the non-heroics university staff."
There were reluctant nods all the way around the table. No one wanted to pry too invasively, but events had escalated too far to pretend it wasn't necessary. Nedzu was pleased to see that level of pragmatism in those collected here, particularly given what he had to say next.
"Precisely. The issue, of course, is who to trust to do so. Those in this room are ideal choices…but all of you have jobs to do and are currently under scrutiny from the Powers that Be. Which is why I've gathered you all here to make suggestions about who we contact regarding this. This needs to be done discretely, and preferably without using any of my own usual agents. Many of those agents are known to the various government agencies, after all. And more of them may be known to All for One, given how long he's had to prepare for this."
Understanding dawned on all of their faces, even as each of them clearly started going through their own mental list of contacts. Good. Hopefully, this would create enough of a layer between UA and their fact checkers to keep All for One from spotting them…
... ...
Five individuals sat around a round table deep under a Detnerat satellite facility. All of them had been reading a series of reports, and the last of them pushed his copies away with a grimace. The man, who would have been recognizable to many as the leader of the Hearts and Minds political party, spoke as soon as he pushed the reports away.
"This is a complete fucking disaster."
He was answered by the irritated voice of his leader, a man who would also have been recognized by his public face. This time as the head of Detnerat.
"Not quite, Trumpet. But it's certainly…problematic."
The only woman in the room immediately spoke up.
"Why? This is doing our job for us by eroding faith in the hero system."
One of the remaining duo that hadn't spoke yet, who was known to the others in the room as Skeptic, spoke up derisively.
"Because of the JSDF, Curious. Isn't that obvious?"
Trumpet grunted, nodded, then sighed and expanded on Skeptic's somewhat unhelpfully terse statement.
"One of our biggest issues from the start was that we are the Meta Liberation Army. We have over 100,000 members, spread out all over the country. More than enough to crush the heroes once the public was against them. But that always assumed that the JSDF wouldn't get involved until it was too late. We even have a fair number of members in the higher ranks of the Defense Force to ensure that. But now they are getting involved directly in this affair. If they stay involved, the numbers and hardware advantage will be firmly on the government's side when we act. Not everyone has a Meta ability that makes them bullet proof. Not even among those in this room."
Re-Destro frowned at that little detail being pointed out, but didn't disagree. Instead, he began to issue orders.
"Very well. As much as it pains me, in this case we need the Heroes to come out on top. Each of you are to start tapping your information sources. We'll see if we can't find a few pieces of critical information to pass on through our own loyal Heroes. It will serve to raise their status, which will be useful. And if the Heroes end up getting bloodied badly by this League in the process of taking them down? All the better. We can be patient. We've waited so long already. A little longer won't matter."
A mix of annoyance at the delay and acceptance of their orders came back to him. A few minutes later, the meeting broke up. Most of them held positions that meant they couldn't afford to be missed for too long, after all…
... ... ... ...
A/N: This is the one-per-update that I mention this and my other works have a Page. Currently, chapters 55-61 (roughly 17,500 additional words) are already up in early access! Not to mention there are early access chapters of my other stories amounting to roughly another 20-40k words at any given time. If you're enjoying this story, please consider tossing a bit of support my way? But, as always with my fanfiction, nothing is permanently paywalled! So if you don't want to/can't support me, just wait for the early access to end and you can read it here ;-).