Hero Class Civil Warfare by RogueDruid (Icarius51)

Chapter 24: Interlude: The Observers (Part 2)

Day 1: 17 hours, 42 minutes (5:42 pm, local time)

"What do you mean 'technically,' Aizawa? It's literally right there in the rulebook! 'Team composition is final, and intentional violation thereof is an automatic failure!' I know for a fact that you and Nedzu know those rules. You wrote most of them!" growled out Vlad King. He furrowed his brow and leaned in slightly, pointing at the still bundled-up form of Aizawa. "How did he get Setsuna on his side?"

Aizawa merely smirked as Nedzu stepped in to mediate.

"Kan-san, please relax. The villain team ran their plan by us regarding this, and we have given a tentative go-ahead. If at any time they break that plan, we will remove Tokage from play. For now, we will simply watch."

Vlad King growled softly before he collapsed into his recliner, grabbing and drinking deeply from a bottle of water.

Power Loader nodded along and then spoke up as he tapped his tablet. "We may wish to return to the feed. It seems as though the villain team is already doing something."

They turned to see the screen showing four of the villains - Jirou, Yaoyorozu, Monoma, and Aoyama - entering an elevator.

The doors closed and Midnight pulled up several other screens of cameras placed throughout the location, looking out at the nearly empty building. "Where are the civil-bots? Isn't there supposed to be a civilian presence in the museum?" she asked, tapping through feeds.

Power Loader frowned at his tablet, checking the recent commands before groaning. "That little hacker. Hatsume sent the closing message early. Attached a fake cover letter too, talking about scheduled renovations and maintenance. The Security-bots won't leave, but she got all the civilian bots out."

As the elevator reached the top floor, the screens showed the villains going to work.

Aizawa watched with sharp eyes as Jirou and Aoyama took the lead. Jirou moved in fast and close, ear jacks slamming into computer processors; and through chest plates, the blonde next to her fired lasers in short bursts, mimicking the ear jack damage on the more distant ones.

He had to admit, their coordination was impressive.

All Might had been sitting quietly for a few hours now, mind drifting from the events on the screen to his conversations and observations over the last few days. He had to admit, seeing his successor... seeing Izuku, the young, bright hero-in-training, as a villain?

When it had been announced, he had almost laughed it off.

Oh, he didn't doubt it would be a grand fight, that Izuku would put up a fine resistance and maybe pull out a win...

But he hadn't thought that Izuku could act like a villain–

–Instill fear like a villain.

He had seen bits of it, but before his successor had blown up a building just to make a statement, it hadn't felt quite real.

Now he could see it, and it was strange. The side of a coin that could have been... Had it simply been luck that Izuku always landed on the good side, that he never had the right shove to tip to the bad side of the coin?

All Might would never know. He wasn't quite sure what to say or comment, so for now he stayed quiet, watching his successor's plans click and grind away like a great machine of war.

...Maybe his master really would have liked this kid.

He pushed that thought to the side and directed his attention to the screens. The coffin was on its side and the alarms were now blaring. A mistake. How would things be handled now?