Narrator:-Grey
It had been some time since the large-scale battle that the Military Defense Line Incident was conducted and it's also has been long enough to stabilize most of the area that the Verdant Group had taken over during that mission.
"Great," Izuku sighed, "one less thing to worry about."
However, all things were not easygoing as word had reached Izuku about the desperation that the heroes and government have reached in attempting to end the war. From what has been gathered through the bug quirk user is that the government is planning to aim for Izuku's head in an assassination attempt that they were planning to conduct.
"Wow! An assassination attempt! Who would have predicted that?" Nemuri made a sarcastic remark.
The problem the government was facing was finding Izuku's location which Izuku and the Verdant group had made it near impossible to find due to all of the bases spread across Japan and internationally. Then there is the issue of even finding one of the bases to start with since they were all hidden.
'Well if that's the case, why don't I invite them myself,' Izuku thought to himself.
"Zuzu, what happened?" Ochako asked, "you looked like you were lost for a moment."
"Nothing serious," Izuku said, "I was just wondering if leaking information about one of my bases would be beneficial or not in this situation."
"Huh? Why would you do that?" Ochako asked.
"Well there are some pros as well as cons as well," Izuku explained, "wonder what Verdant will do next."
As such, Izuku had called a meeting and what this meeting was about was considering leaking a location of a fake base.
Izuku's eyes went wide as soon as he heard that. Then he looked to his side and saw Ochako giggling at him.
Everyone was concerned about sacrificing one of the actual bases since they were so well hidden and took time to set up. As such, they needed to decide on how they would allow the government to 'find' Izuku's location without setting anything off but also make it accurate enough to pull the government in without risking really anything.
"I don't think it will be that difficult tho," Mina said, "I mean I'm pretty sure that they are desperate enough to act on any entail you throw at them."
"Still it doesn't hurt to be a little cautious while making plans that affect everyone," Momo added.
As they sat there and talked about it Stain proposed an idea that caught their attention. "What if we leak a fake advance base?" Stain suggested and he was asked to explain what he meant. Stain walked over to the current war map on the wall that showed the places they controlled and the publicly controlled place where the government forces were located at. He then pointed at Aichi on the map which they controlled the underworld but not publicly. "What I am suggesting is to leak somehow a fake plan of us aiming to take the prefecture of Aichi over. There are a lot of ports/docks in this prefecture with a lot of warehouses which include a lot of abandoned ones. As such, we could start converting it into a fake base and allow a hero or someone to spot a few of our men in the area which they could track down to the warehouse." Stain said it would be reasonable to find a hidden base in Aichi since the group would end up pushing toward that sooner or later.
"Great idea. This way we can easily lure them in without giving away any of our assets," Dabi said, "still, it is really surprising that Stain is the one who is coming up with these ideas."
"What was that brat?" Stain glared at Dabi, "I already told you I am not stupid, didn't I?"
They would also have Izuku make a few appearances instead of a clone of himself so that the government would know he was real.
"So Verdant is going to give them enough bait that they will go through with their assassination attempt without thinking about it," Nezu murmured to himself.
Later on, they could send a clone in his place so they didn't truly risk his life if a random hero decided to get a stupid idea in trying to take Izuku out before the government attacks.
"I would honestly like to believe that no one is stupid enough to try that but..." Momo let out a tired sigh.
"If given a chance, someone will surely try that," Jiro said and Momo nodded her head.
They were all liking the idea and they could use a lot of clones without risking their actual men for the assault.
"Sometimes it really feels unfair how Verdant is playing this entire thing on easy mode while his opponents are barely holding themselves together," Kaminari said.
"Listen, twerp, life is not fair. Deal with it," Stain replied without even looking at him.
After some more decision making the plan came to a conclusion and it was time to set it into motion. Clones of the construction teams were made and would be taken via the teleportation gate. They would also be using a secondary location to do the transportation instead of leaving via the main base in the event a hero goes into one of the teleportations somehow. This would stop any tracking devices from giving away the main bases.
"Good, defending the main base should always be a priority," Izuku said.
Another few weeks passed and it was time to put the plans into motion but on a separate note, the Verdant group had taken over all of south Japan's underworld since they had recently gotten all organizations in the grey-colored land to give in to the group. A few groups were put down due to what they were doing for example as one organization took part in human trafficking which Iuzku had wiped out. As such, the Verdant group now controlled everything in Light blue down to the very end of Japan in grey in regards to the underworld and had the Orange and Purple publicly controlled.
"So now, Verdant legit has half of the country under his control," Aizawa said, "that means his influence will still haunt the nation even if they manage to kill him."
"Not necessarily," Nighteye said while pushing up his glasses, "a few good policies and well-crafted propaganda said by a few likable faces will easily eradicate his presence from peoples' minds. And if push comes to shove we can start spreading rumors about how he tortured his men, used women in his group without their consent and his vows of changing the country were nothing but empty promises."
"And you think people will believe you after all the things you have done?" Himiko asked as she glared at him.
"Oh they definitely will," Nighteye smirked, "all we have to do is hire some trustable faces as our speakers and spread those rumors around for long enough that they are indistinguishable from the truth."
"Hmm... sir, that sounds like something a villain will do," Mirio said, feeling a little uncomfortable by his mentor's words.
In return, Nighteye flashed him an annoyed look, "Mirio, remember this. Sometimes you have to get mud on you while you fight pigs like Verdant," Nighteye explained, "and when that happens make sure that no one other than you can see that mud."
They were still gathering new numbers on how many forces they gathered from the new organizations as they were stabilizing the groups into the main group but it was slowly working out.
"Oh right, I kind of forgot how they have to rearrange so many things every time they get a new group of members to join their group," Mina said with a slight grimace.
Now back to the main topic at hand! They had the fake base in the middle of being set up and supplied with weapons and stuff to look like an advanced base getting ready for battle with the defense line from the backside. Izuku had been making appearances and the bug user had been paying close attention to anything moving around the warehouses on the 6th day of setting the fake base up they discovered a hero locating the base.
"And thus rat found the bait," Shinso said, "now we have to see if the rat is smart enough to spot the trap along with it or not."
This hero was none other than Death Arms which Izuku found ironic. That was one of the heroes that scolded Izuku all that time ago before he had set off on this path.
"Karma is a bad bitch~," Himiko said in a singy songy way.
After allowing Death Arms to confirm Izuku's presence and Izuku even letting himself get injured by a knife he was playing around with that showed him bleeding which meant he wasn't a clone, Death Arms left and the bugs followed him to hear what he reported.
"So hungry rat didn't notice the trap," Shinoso said with a smirk, "and now he will bring his mischief along."
It was about 10 minutes later that Death Arms stopped moving and pulled out a phone as he started to make a call. The bugs listened in and he was calling the task force that was created for dealing with the war. They listened and heard Death Arms report Izuku's current location and how he told them that it appeared to be a forward base of the Verdant group that was likely preparing for a push into the Aichi Prefecture. They could hear the voice from the other side of the phone that told him to retreat for now since they didn't need to spook the Verdant group.
"They were serious when they said Death Arms might spook us, didn't they?" Compress asked with an amused smile.
"It seems like it," Dabi replied with an equally amused smile.
The call ended but the spying didn't stop as Izuku's group already knew where the task force was based at which was in a bunker underground in Tokyo. It was an interesting place to have their task force since it didn't allow for direct attacks but still, it was easy to find it using the bug user. They listened in to the conversations and found that they were planning to send the assassin team in to try and take Verdant Emperor aka Izuku Midoriya out.
"They assembled a legit task force to takeout a single quirkless boy," Izuku said, "I am really honored by that."
Izuku though wanted to know who was on the team aiming for his life since they haven't heard any words of that. However, they soon learned who it was going to be! The people on the team aiming for Izuku's head and to destroy the organization were the big 3 of UA working with other Pro Heroes with a range of different abilities.
"Wait! Why I am getting dragged into this?" Nejire said, "I never wanted to be a part of this."
"We don't have a choice," Tamaki explained, "we technically agreed to this when we renewed our licenses."
Izuku was also shocked that the government was sending the current number one pro hero Best Jeanist on the mission as well.
"Even tho that bastard is a good hero, he is a big sucker for rules and has a big stick up his ass in regards to how a hero should look," Bakugo said.
Overall it was a risk to send the newer number one pro hero since if he failed it would be a large dent in Japan's hero system.
"Especially after what Hawks did at the National Diet building on live television," Nighteye said as he glared at the said hero.
"Glad you loved the show," Hawks replied with a smirk.
However, the government wasn't playing around as they had a large number of police forces and military forces joining the raid. It looked more like a traditional raid than an attempt on his head which confused them until Izuku realized that all of the other forces of the raid didn't know of the main mission for LeMillion who had directly received the order.
"Now it makes sense," Nejire said, "if we knew that Mirio was ordered to do something like that, we wouldn't have participated in the first place."
'Interesting, I wonder if LeMillon will have the courage to try and kill me, or will he still play his role as a hero?' Izuku thought as he sat in his office. They knew the raid by the government would be going on in a few days and they were preparing everything they could as they were setting up traps across the docks and other things as well.
Mirio clenched his fist as he worded that as well. Was he really going to go for the kill even before trying to apprehend him? Was he really going to abandon his morals just because someone ordered him to? And hell, the people who are ordering heroes around, do they even know what a hero's duty is? He knew the answer to all those questions but right now he didn't want to acknowledge it.
Soon time passed and Izuku had his clone sitting in the warehouse working at a desk with a lot of guards around him. However, what the government didn't know was that there were no real members of Verdant in the warehouse as they had all been replaced once they got spotted by the hero the first time.
"Of course, because they won't have the backbone to face heroes head-on with their real bodies," Nighteye remarked.
"That's called having a brain and using practical strategies," Aizawa said, "that's the same reason why heroes don't go around challenging villains for one on one fights like the heroes in the manga do."
Everything was in place and they just needed the government to trigger the trap which they indeed ended up doing as about halfway into the day the docks became surrounded by police, military soldiers, and heroes. Within seconds the doors were busted down and everything went silent as Izuku stepped forward with a smile on his face.
"You know shit is going to hit the fan when the person you think you caught off guard is smiling at you," Kaminari said.
Izuku's clone looked around as Izuku and all of the real members were back in the main base watching via the bugs.
"Of course, they are enjoying the new episode of 'Miserable heroes & their miserable plans,' in the comfort of their house," Jiro said as she rolled her eyes.
"Well if it isn't the new number-one hero! We've gone through quite a few of your number ones recently. All Might, Endeavor, Hawks, and now we are on you! Now I must ask what you are all doing here since I don't think I was foolish enough to allow a leak so easily?" Clone Izuku asked and Best Jeanist stepped forward to speak. "It doesn't matter how we found out in the end, does it? We will be arresting you here!" Best Jeanist and Izuku looked at him and then the others on the government side before laughing out like crazy.
"Oh god! His clone is more eccentric than him," Dabi said exasperated sigh.
LeMillion spoke up and asked him what he found so funny. "You think the military behind you will allow me to be arrested? No, the moment they get the chance they are going to kill me since they have their orders. I wouldn't be surprised if some of you heroes received orders to kill me either since quite a few of you have quirks that are perfect for killing me off if given the chance." Clone Izuku said as he smirked and waved his hand as the crates around him broke open to reveal massive amounts of clones. "Do remember I always plan for different encounters so the possibility of this forward base being found was a high one since the government is getting desperate with how much land I've taken under my control. DEAL WITH THEM!" Clone Izuku said as he backed away and the clones moved forward which set the hero's side off as both sides attacked each other.
"I find it amusing that how none of them didn't even consider that they might be walking into a trap laid by their enemy or were they so confident in their abilities that they didn't care as long as they can get to Verdant," Nezu said to himself, "either way they should have prepaid an exit strategy if things went wrong."
Bodies began to drop left and right when Best Jeanist noticed that all of the people on the Verdant side were clones as they got destroyed. "THEY ARE ALL CLONES SO DON'T HOLD BACK! WE NEED THE VERDANT EMPEROR!" Best Jeanist yelled as he saw Izuku's clone run away out the door as the clones of his men were fighting everyone making a path for him.
"Yeah, I think you noticed that little too late there buddy," Kirishima said, "and Verdant himself is a clone as well so it will be better for them to retreat immediately."
"But they don't know that," Bakugo pointed out, "they are still acting on Death Arm's intel."
LeMillon decided to charge after Izuku as he sunk into the ground and propelled himself. However, what LeMillion didn't know was that is what he wanted LeMillion to do as Izuku was leading him into a trap set in a warehouse further down.
'Please don't die,' Nejire thought to herself. She was pretty sure that Verdant wouldn't kill him but part of her brain was arguing that he didn't have any real reason to keep him alive either.
After about a five-minute run Izuku's clone arrived in the warehouse and was taking in breaths as he stopped for a second and was about to walkie into others as an act when he noticed something in his eye. It was LeMillion who came flying out of the floor.
"Hey guys look, discount Kitty Pryde is here to save the day," Dabi sarcastically said.
"Huh? You read old superhero comics as well?" Izuku raised his brow.
"I used to read them before that flaming asshole over there started putting me through the wringer," Dabi explained.
"Still, I never thought you would be interested in this superhero shit," Izuku said.
"What do you mean?" Dabi asked.
"Don't get me wrong but I always imagined that you would be more interested in trash revenge fantasies like 'Redo Of Healer.' or something," Izuku said and a visible tick mark appeared on Dabi's head. So in retaliation, he threw an empty can of bleach at Izuku who instinctively raised his hand and caught it.
'Lucky Bastard,' Dabi muttered under his breath but then redirected his attention to the screen.
"Well, I expected some heroes to follow me but only you? I think I should feel insulted!" Izuku's clone yelled out as he dodged LeMillions attacks.
"To be able to avoid LeMillion's punches... man Verdant's tech is really amazing," Kirishima said.
"That reminds me, where is Mei? I haven't heard her voice in a while," Izuku said as he looked around and noticed her sitting at the very back working on some blueprints. Izuku let out a chuckle and shook his head fondly, "as long as she is enjoying herself."
Both of them were now staring at each other when Izuku's clone decided to speak up. "LeMillon I have a question for you! Are you here as a hero or a soldier?" Izuku's clone asked and LeMillion froze at that moment and looked shocked he was asked that.
"Mirio, snap out of that. Don't let him trick you," Nighteye said as he glared at the screen.
"I ask again, are you here as a hero or a soldier?" Izuku's clone asked and LeMillon said he was there as a hero stopping a villain which made Izuku's clone chuckle. "Interesting that I am a villain when I am waging a war for freedom and you are on the oppressing side!" Izuku's clone said and LeMillion frowned and shook his head as he told Izuku's clone that he wasn't fighting for freedom but to take over Japan under his rule as a dictator.
"Dude, even kids know how to differentiate between right and wrong," Kaminari said.
"But I am not wrong," Mirio objected, "he is technically trying to become the Emperor."
"If you want to argue on the basis of facts and logic then Verdant has presented plenty of that during the Kamino incident already," Momo replied.
Izuku's clone just looked at LeMillion in pity. "I was hoping you were better than that LeMillon since you most likely received some abuse and discrimination due to your birth quirk but I guess you have become blind as you rose up in fame. What I am doing is no different than the American war for freedom and the french overthrowing their king. There have been many wars in history that showed that the people have the right to overthrow the government when it no longer functions! I have made this speech before LeMillon!" Izuku's clone yelled out as he dodged an attack from the hero student who kept attacking Izuku. LeMillion gritted his teeth as he just kept attacking while Izuku's clone dodged and talked.
"Good decision Mirio," Nighteye said, "there is no need to converse with him. That will only distract you from your objective of dealing with him."
"What are you going to do after you defeat me? Take me to prison where I will be executed since I dared to rise up against the injustices of the government and hero system!?" Izuku's clone asked and LeMillion gritted his teeth and said it wasn't right of Izuku to want to rule the country when he could have made changes by joining the system and doing changes from the inside which made Izuku laugh out loud.
"Brace yourself people here comes one of his speeches," Himiko said as she refilled her bowl of popcorn.
"FROM THE INSIDE!? THIS SYSTEM CONSIDERS QUIRKLESS PEOPLE WASTES OF SPACE THAT DESERVE TO DIE! SO HOW EXACTLY WAS I EVER GOING TO JOIN IT WHEN IT WOULD KILL ME THE FIRST CHANCE IT COULD GET SINCE IT FAILED TO DO SO WHILE I GREW UP? YOU ARE A FOOL LEMILLON AND A DISGRACE AS THE 9TH USER OF ONE FOR ALL WHEN YOU SHOULD BE FIGHTING FOR JUSTICE NOT INJUSTICE! YOU ARE WANTING TO KEEP A SYSTEM THAT ABUSES EVERYONE FOR THOSE WITH POWERFUL QUIRKS! PEOPLE LIKE YOU NOW!" Izuku's clone yelled out and LeMillon's eyes widened for a brief second as he heard that which made him is the low sound of a muffled gunshot as a bullet hit him in the side.
"Mirio!" Nejire and Tamaki yelled as soon as they heard a gunshot but calmed down when they saw that there was no blood at all.
This caused LeMillon to jump away and grab the bullet. His eyes widened when he saw it. "Like it? It's the same thing I used on All For One as it's perfect for multiple quirk users such as yourself. It's a nasty cocktail of drugs my group made." Izuku's clone said with a smirk on his face as another shot went off and it hit LeMillon in the neck who grabbed it. LeMillon realized he couldn't use his quirk. "These... these are from Overhaul!?" LeMillon asked as he was fighting himself from going to sleep.
"And thus the strongest piece of the Government has been captured," Nezu said, "now they are truly on their last leg."
"And I am worried that they will do something more stupid," Aizawa said, "which will doom the entire country."
Izuku just smirked as he watched LeMillon go down as he waved for the men hidden to come out and help take LeMillon away. "Lock him in quirk-cuffs and make sure he is mentioned at all times in the cells. Take him to the new prison site we created on the small islands off of Japan's coast." Izuku's clone said and they nodded their head as a portal opened up and they walked through it. Izuku's clone then headed back to the main warehouse since the main goal was done as LeMillon was removed from the game.
"Mirio I am really ashamed that you allowed yourself to get captured by someone like him," Nighteye said as he gave his student a disapproving look, "do you even understand the severity of this situation? You lost to a powerless person despite having the power to change the weather with a single punch and to top that off you got shot with a bullet... for god sake, you have a quirk that lets you phase through things," after his little outburst Nighteye calmed down and let out a disappointed sigh, " I guess all that training about environmental awareness and the ways of quickly disposing of enemies was a waste after all."
"I am sorry," Mirio said as looked down trying not to cry.
"Stop it!" Nejire glared at Nighteye, "stop bullying him. And what are you even angry at, this Mirio and that Miro is different people."
"Nejire stop!" Mirio yelled at her.
"But-" "No he is right," Mirio countered, "if I can't even take out a single powerless person. What right do I have to even dream of becoming the next symbol."
Izuku's clone arrived back and saw the leftover of the battle which was all of his men defeated except for a few that were closer to him as they stared down the heroes.
"Well, Jeanist did pretty well compared to others," Kirishima said.
"Of course, he did well spiky hair," Bakugo said, "he isn't the number 3 hero just for the show."
"Well... isn't this lovely..." Izuku's clone muttered out loud as everyone turned their attention to him which made Best Jeanist speak up. "Where is LeMillon!?" Best Jeanist asked and Izuku chuckled a bit. "He's been permanently taken care of."
"Great! And now everyone will think that you are dead," Nighteye shook his head, "great work Mirio... great work."
In return all Mirio could do was stare at the ground.
"I'd focus on your situation though since you all looked dead on your feet from the fight while I am quite fueled up for a fight ---" Izuku's clone was saying when he got cut off by a rumbling sound. Izuku's clone turned around and saw a lot more forces from the government side.
"They were smart enough to bring back up I guess," Endeavor said.
"No, there has to be a catch here," Hawks said, "I don't know why but something isn't adding up."
"Well... I didn't think you would take forces away from the defense line." Izuku's clone said as he looked in shock at the military tanks, heroes, police, and other people from the defense line that was between Aichi and Mie prefectures.
"Idiots!" Aizawa said, "they pulled out people from other prefectures' defense lines"
"Who is even coming up with these plans?" Nemuri asked, "they are so sad and desperate when they need to be accurate and well calculated."
"No someone smart, I can tell you that," Mic added.
What they all didn't know was that the real Izuku saw this as well and had the bug user confirm that a good chunk of the forces from the defense line was pulled back with the aim to take Izuku's clone down. "ARE THEY STUPID! THEY DON'T EVEN KNOW IT WAS ME STILL!" Izuku yelled.
"You have to have the talent to make even your enemy mad with your plans," Mina remarked.
But then quickly calmed down as his eyes widen and looked at his guards and the men around him. "GET EVERYONE UP AND MOVING NOW! I WANT THE FORCES IN MIE TO PUSH INTO AICHI AND TAKE IT NOW! HAVE REINFORMCENTS SENT AND REBUILD OUR DEFENSE LINE IN MIE AS THEY MOVE IN! WE'RE MAKING A QUICK GRAB FOR AICHI SINCE THEY WEAKENED THEIR DEFENSE LINE!" Izuku yelled out over the communication system in the base which sent the entire base into a frenzy.
"As expected," Nezu said, "Verdant will look stupid if let go of such a gifted opportunity."
Izuku ordered Twice and the rest of the generals to get clones of themselves on the front line and reinforce every position since this could trigger a larger battle than he intended for.
"Let's go, guys, time to earn our keep," Compress said.
If they could take Aichi then they were only a skip away from UA itself in the prefecture of Shizuoka which was closer towards the north-east side but still in that prefecture.
"Already setting your site on U.A. huh?" Nezu said as he stroked his chin.
"I will be stupid if I didn't," Izuku replied with a challenging grin.
"In that case, I will be waiting for you with my robots and tea," Nezu said with an equally frail grin, "it's up to you to decide which one will you like to take."
It would also thin out the government forces over a larger area since they would have more land to block off from the Verdant group which would make things easier in the future. Izuku was desperate to get Aichi even though he didn't need it right now but it would be a huge blow to the government forces if they screwed up in redirecting their forces and lost a Prefecture over trying to kill one single clone of Izuku!
"It is such an understatement," Aizawa said, "they will lose more land to Verdant and in return won't have a single thing to show."
Then the screen turned black and the words appeared on the screen. Ep.27 'Desperation!'
To be continued...