Chapter 71: System Breakdown

Summary: Things start coming to a head, but that doesn't mean efforts can't be made to get ahead of the onrushing disasters...

Warning! Chapters 69-71 were all posted back-to-back! Make sure you don't miss one!

Chapter 71: System Breakdown

Izumi had been right to think she'd be in the infirmary overnight. Even now, late into the morning afterward, her QE pathways felt strained. Both they and her reserves had grown measurably, enough so that she was fairly certain she'd gained at least another ten minutes on her time-limit even at maximum transformation. Though that was something she wouldn't be able to test for a few days yet, as her pathways still needed some time to heal before she put them through the strain of a complete drain and refill again.

Unfortunately, while the outlook for her personal growth was positive, it appeared to be the only positive thing that had come of events the day before. Momo and the Dean, both normally impeccably groomed and unflappable, were both looking a touch rough around the edges as Izumi took her seat at the conference table. One whose other occupants that made her uncomfortably aware just how out of their depth both she and Momo might be.

The conference table itself was an unusual affair. A three-sided triangle with a half dozen seats on each 'side,' as well as a chair with controls for a central hologram display at the three 'points of the triangle.' Momo, Dean Nedzu, and a woman Izumi recognized as UA's political liaison each had seats at those points, neatly dividing the types of people filling each side of the angle.

On the side of the angle between the Dean and Momo, were All Might, Nighteye, Ryukyu, and Izumi herself. On the side between Momo and Mitosume Anyo, UA's political liaison, were Momo's father, the Japanese branch leader of Recovery International, a liaison from the World Heroes Association, and Aoki Akihiko, who Izumi recognized as being the senior assistant of the current Minister of Defense. On the final side of the triangle, between Mitosume and the Dean, was a more eclectic bunch. Eraserhead was present, but so was the vigilante Knuckleduster, a bureaucrat who was entirely too plain looking to be at this table, and 2B using her civilian 'adult' body.

In short, one side of the table had traditional Heroes. Another had industrialists and politicians. And the third had what could only be counted, in context, as spies and experts on the underworld. The fact that 2B had a seat on that last side made Izumi inwardly wince. Still, given just how complete 2B's penetration of various cybernetworks worldwide was, there was no arguing she had a legitimate seat at the table in that sense. Something Nedzu clearly recognized and was ruthlessly using, despite the fact that it was likely going to backsplash a bit on Izumi and 2B in the long run. Still, given the cause for the Dean calling this meeting, she understood the necessity of the move. Speaking of that cause, as the last of them sat, the Dean wasted no time in getting down to brass tacks.

"Thank you all for coming. You all know why we are here. In short, due to the events of yesterday, we are beginning to see the previous cracks in the System become full blown splits. The JSDF has virtually ceased all cooperation with both Heroes and police forces, the HSPC is under enough pressure that it's internally fracturing, the Japanese economy is reeling, and the government itself is splitting into distinct factions with hard lines being drawn between them. All of it is happening at arguably the worst possible time, as we have multiple large-scale threats that require broad cooperation to deal with. And we aren't going to get it. This meeting is to find an actionable way to either patch the cracks, or else unify the Heroics faction in order to at least get a seat at the discussion table."

Mitosume Anyo and Aoki Akihiko looked at each other. With the latter sighing and being the next to speak up.

"It's going to have to be the latter, Dean. Mitosume and I spoke before the meeting to compare notes. The JSDF is turtling, barely responding to the civilian authorities they are supposed to answer to. There is no concern of a coup at this time, but we are fairly certain that yesterday's events revealed a subversive faction within the JSDF. One that they are focused on trying to identify and weed out. Already there have been reports of Special Forces deployments against some of their own facilities, as well as indications of both Quirked and mundane combat at several JSDF bases. The subversive elements appear to be in the minority, but placed in such a way that the JSDF has effectively crippled itself temporarily in the attempt to burn it out root and branch."

Mitosume took up the political half as grim expressions filled the room.

"That's added to the political chaos. But factions had already been forming due to the numerous attacks, disasters, and near disasters. The Hearts and Minds party has gained converts that claim the Hero System is no longer enough. Meanwhile, the successes the Heroes have had in eliminating All for One and largely blunting major attacks, has shored up general support for Heroics. Unfortunately, that support is fractured due to virtually all the successes being on account of UA and investigations into the HPSC turning up more and more dirty laundry. Heroes are being trusted, but the overall System governing them has lost virtually all support. Meanwhile, other factions are pushing for increased police powers, and fighting both for and against going to the World Heroes Association for support. It will be months, at absolute minimum, before any sort of political consensus can be reached."

The deep, and deeply unhappy voice of Knuckleduster was the next to speak up.

"Months we don't have. The underground is a complete mess. All for One was apparently puppeting half a dozen different criminal groups, all of which have either collapsed or are running wild. One of the most dangerous is led by someone calling himself Nine, who seems to have multiple Quirks himself. Then, of course, there are the League of Villains, who we have to assume is behind the Nomu that attacked Endeavor, as that flame villain Dabi was also present. The Creature Rejection Clan is also stirring, and yet another unknown group has apparently subverted the JSDF far enough for the missile attack yesterday to happen."

Eraserhead nodded firmly, speaking up after Knuckleduster.

"The underground heroes are seeing the same thing. Though we, at least, have a name for that last group. We're almost certain the attack was generated by a resurgent version of the Meta Liberation Army, which has been recruiting heavily for a unknown amount of time. The belief is that they were trying to generate an incident that would lower faith in Heroics, at a moment where faith is already shaky and uncertain."

2B was the next to add something. Even as several people reacted with visible shock to the fact the MLA was not only still around, but organized to the level required for such an attack.

"Provided with some direction based on what the underground heroes have found out about the MLA, I've been able to conclusively determine two facts. One, they are the primary power behind the Hearts and Minds Party. Which seems to be a political wing of their movement." 2B ignored distressed noises coming from Mitosume and Aoki. "Two, they have essentially completely taken over Deika city. Which, with how heavily Detnerat is invested there, likely indicates that company is heavily involved. Though they appear to have some very good cyberpaths working for them and I haven't been able to conclusively prove Detnerat's connection as a result."

There was a moment of silence as everyone absorbed the information. Then Aoki reluctantly nodded, seeming to have realized something himself.

"That fits. I'd have to look at the reports again to be absolutely certain. But two of the JSDF's most visible internal clashes were near Deika City, and at least one of the bases is one I know has major contracts with Detnerat."

Momo's father, Yaoyorozu Toko, was the next to speak.

"Detnerat's stock is one of the few that's barely moved. Which is extremely odd, given that they are well known as a Support Gear company and Defense contractor. Virtually all such companies, even the Yaoyorozu Group that is diversified enough to lessen the impact, have been fluctuating all over the place since the attacks yesterday. Their odd immunity to the fluctuation would make sense if Detnerat's larger shareholders know something we don't."

There was a short lapse as everyone absorbed and adjusted to the new information. Then Momo broke the silence with a question directed towards the Dean and 'Heroes' side of the table.

"Okay. So the government is paralyzed and the enemies are at the proverbial gates. We can't count on the JSDF for the time being, and the HPSC is likely crashing and burning. So…how organized are the Heroes outside the framework of the HPSC and other governmental services?"

The Heroes look at each other for a moment, before Nighteye fielded the question.

"In this, at least, there is some good news. Mostly due to the HSN taking off."

He nodded toward Izumi and Momo, giving credit where it was due, before continuing.

"Prior to the HSN, networking out of sight of the HPSC was problematic for hero agencies. Their Hero Network was known to be bugged by the HPSC. Worse, it was extremely basic, without the heavy encryption and additional support features of the HSN. Since the HSN's advent, there has been a slow build up of interconnection between agencies. Shared comm channels and secure information exchanges. Combined with Nedzu's network, there's enough there we could conceivably run the majority of the Heroics System even if the HPSC collapses completely."

Nedzu finally interjected again at that.

"That is indeed true. However, while it will serve well against most of the current threats, there is a chance that the HSN has been comprised to a degree by the MLA. Not in the sense of direct access. But in the sense that we suspect at least a few Heroes have turned coat to the MLA. Which means that any of those secure channels those Heroes have access to have to be considered compromised by the MLA."

Izumi grimaced. That was really the only real flaw in the HSN's security. No one could break in to the HSN from the outside. But if you got a Hero to willingly leak information, there was nothing the HSN could do about that. Though it was compartmentalized to the point that no one hero had access to any but the most general knowledge, unless they had agency to agency information sharing agreements. The problem was that such information sharing agreements had become more and more common as Hero agencies turned to the HSN as a much more secure alternatives to the systems originally put in place by the HPSC. Aoki turned to her and Momo a moment later, to ask a question she knew had to be coming.

"Can Aegis tap into the HSN deeply enough to help sort out the traitors?"

Izumi instantly shook her head.

"No. We intentionally made the HSN as impregnable as possible. With no back doors. 2B and I understand how it works well enough that we could brute force our way in, given time. But we intentionally designed it so that even we would have to do so for every channel individually. If we can find specific suspects, and have several days to work with, we can break that single person's activity open. And even that is only possible because the HSN is using a significantly less sophisticated version of the same advanced hardware my Quirk generates. No one else has a prayer of doing it at all. Not even other cyberpaths."

There were mixed expressions at that. Most of the Heroes visibly approved that the level of security on the HSN was exactly as advertised. Even if that fact was inconvenient, at the moment. The civilians in the room all look genuinely surprised. They had all doubtlessly assumed that the creators of the system, at least, had left themselves a back door. There were several more seconds of slump while everyone chewed on the answer, then All Might surprised everyone by speaking up for the first time.

"I believe we've more or less agreed that Dean Nedzu's secondary plan, to create an independent Heroic faction, is our only option that will produce viable results fast enough to matter." He paused for a moment, waiting for any protest. While several people looked like they would like to, none did. "In light of that, I think we need to consider practical steps. Including creating a truly centralized information exchange. Two of them, in fact. One for General information exchange, then a second for those Heroes we can full vet as cleared of MLA or HPSC influence. I believe the logical location for the General exchange is right here at UA. And I want to offer up my own agency and Might Tower as the central location for those we fully vet. It has the security, facilities, and enough room to bring in the personnel required. My own reputation will also help things along."

Several people blinked at the extremely sensible suggestion. It was the World Heroes Association rep who, speaking for the first time, managed to respond first.

"That would be ideal from the international community. All Might is not only a recognized international hero, but his agency is already fully vetted as a fallback contact point in case of governmental breakdown. As, for that matter, is UA. If you did this any other way, it's likely the W.H.A. would not be able to acknowledge you. But if you use the Mighty Agency and UA as your central links, I can sell this to the international Powers That Be as a simply good sense extension of that fallback plan. One created in response to an escalating situation where governmental breakdown is increasingly likely. There is precedent for it, in that case."

The rep's remarks got several surprised looks and exclamations. In fact, it looked to Izumi like only Nedzu, Ryukyu, Nighteye and Eraserhead had been aware of that detail. Aside from All Might himself, of course. Even 2B looked as surprised as she ever did, shown by a rapid blinking as she recalculated what she knew and, most likely, tried to figure out why she hadn't known that not-so-little detail.

"That was part of my reasoning, yes. I remember a similar, if lesser, issue the Association dealt with in South America early in my career. A government there collapsed, and the national school and two internationally rated Hero Agencies were used as rally points for W.H.A. intervention."

All Might paused, then shrugged and dropped another, thankfully smaller, bomb.

"There's also the fact that I've been actively recruiting for my Agency for the first time ever. With my inevitable retirement creeping upon me due to age, I've been quietly converting some of Might Tower to house promising Hero Teams. Teams are a practice I've long regretted the decline of as part of my own rise, and I believe they represent a viable solution to some of our current problems of scale as well. As demonstrated by UA's First Years during the Swarm Attack on the Campus."

Everyone in the room nodded at that, even if Izumi was trying not to squirm at being used as an example. The truth was that both Groups A and B had functioned as sizable Hero Teams during that attack, and had been able to see off many times their own number in cloned Villains as a result. Add in how well they had performed in the Provisional Exams, and it was clear that Hero Teams might be at least a partial answer to swarm tactics. Something that UA had promptly begun experimenting with using those very student groups as a seed to build from.

There was a brief silence as everyone worked through the new information, considering how housing a few teams at Might Tower would fit into the picture. The answer everyone quickly came to was 'extremely well.' It would make the Tower even more of a hardpoint than it already was from having been constructed during the waning period of the Era of Chaos. Like UA, that meant it had far more in the way of active defenses than most agencies. Ones that, unlike UA, had never been decommissioned since the Tower remained an active target for Villains that wanted to knock the #1 off as a road to rapid fame. For long years into All Might's new Era of Peace, it had been a rare month where the tower wasn't attacked at least once.

Eventually, as they all absorbed the idea fully, Yaoyorozu Toko leaned forward again with his own offer.

"This sounds like an excellent plan. One that can be made better with some additional upgrades. I know the Might Tower expansions are being handled by my own company, and if Aegis Inc is okay with releasing the Yaoyorozu Group to provide you with copies of some of the HSN server hardware…"

He looked over to his daughter and Izumi, who both gave firm nods.

"Perfect. Then we can slip the additional needs for making it a proper hub in with the upgrades we're already doing. Given how important this is, I'll outright waive the costs of it so there is no paper trail for the hardware, either. Even if I get called out on it down the line, I don't think anyone on the board of directors is going to yell at me for attempting to stabilize the country we're most heavily invested in."

Momo, always the one to handle the more business side of things for Aegis, spoke up on his heels.

"Aegis will do the same. We can also talk privately about providing some of our more experimental projects to both UA and Might Tower, as additional failsafes to secure them as the two central nodes of this project."

Nedzu clapped his paws together when Momo finished, drawing attention back to him.

"Excellent. UA will, of course, agree to house the other Hub, as we are the logical choice. Now, while we have everyone here, let's see what we can't do about tying in some support for our investigation units, underground heroics resources, and possibly even the vigilante network."

There were a few wary look at that, but no one protest as Nedzu began to outline several ideas, with others chiming in where and when they could. The central holo-display flared to life as they began to map everything out, piece by piece. Once this meeting was over, they would all be moving as rapidly as possible to set up a new set of backbone systems that would move Heroics in the direction of independence from the government. At least for now. Aoki Akihiko didn't look overly happy about that, but agreed it was necessary. With the World Hero Association backing the effort as a 'backup system,' he was fairly certain he could sell it to his boss, as well. And through his boss, hopefully the Prime Minster. Slowly but surely, they all worked to try and mitigate the potential disasters they could see looming on the horizon…

... ... ... ... ...

Author's Note 1: So, things are going to shit...but the Heroes are a bit more willing to be proactive than canon, do the changes in events...

Author's Note 2: This is the one-per-release that I mention this and my other works have a  Page. Currently, chapters 72-75 (roughly 16,000 additional words) are already up in Early Access! Not to mention there are early access chapters of my other stories amounting to roughly another 40-60k words at any given time. If you're enjoying this story, please consider tossing a bit of support my way?