Hero Class Civil Warfare by RogueDruid (Icarius51)

Chapter 32: Epilogue: Among the Fallout

The morning after the exercise

Aizawa crossed his arms and leaned against the hallway wall as the low murmur from the rest of the teachers drifted out of the door next to him. He had paled, then turned red with rage less than twelve hours ago, mimicking the villains as they rampaged and argued against the fifteenth objective.

Still, those words echoed through his mind.

Seven words that nearly broke the so-far-defiant villains.

"The villain team must kill the Kingpin."

Even now, that thought made him grit his teeth and wonder.

He remembered his run as a villain during his second year. Him and only ten others. They played it long and slow. Stealth was their weapon, and for teens they were good at it. But manpower and time were against them... One by one, members were picked off, objectives destroyed or taken back as the heroes spread out to take them out.

He had walked out with only three remaining teammates, and only four objectives on the third day. Nemuri and Hizashi had been his best friends ever since and had joined him as teachers when he decided to step back from the front lines to focus on the next generation. His third surviving teammate had pushed forwards. One of the youngest pro heroes... and one whose career burned far too fast and was cut short.

"Tensei... your brother needs to loosen up," he muttered under his breath. He shook himself out of his reverie. "But man, you should have seen these villains..." Aizawa chuckled before his mood dropped once more.

Finally, Nedzu stepped out of the room and started walking past him.

"Would you like to join me, Aizawa? I intend to go congratulate our winner when he exits the infirmary." Nedzu's voice was even and pleasant, but Aizawa knew his boss, his old history teacher, well enough.

"...Fine."

For a moment, the two were silent, Aizawa slouching as he kept pace with Nedzu.

"You know, I am quite impressed with the villain team," Nedzu finally mused. "In the entire history of the Civil War exercise, only three other teams ever actually reached the fifteenth objective. And all three lost at that point. You remember I taught history, so... how about a quick lesson? I feel you'll appreciate the context of the fifteenth far more."

Aizawa tilted his head and focused on Nedzu, feeling his interest stir.

"Oh, you've never heard of them. They never won their matches in the end. And several were even expelled. The first went into a rage and ended up seriously harming several of his teammates when they tried to take him out. The commotion was so loud, it drew the entire hero team to their location, and all of the villains were apprehended."

Nedzu chuckled, "The second was worse. He answered the phone by himself and decided that it meant he must offer himself up to the heroes. Sadly, he never found the loophole and lost the team the game. Several weeks of fairly intense social aggression, particularly from his past teammates, and he resigned from the school."

As the two entered the elevator down, Nedzu continued his lesson. "The third was enlightening. A duo had formed an alliance, two of the strongest students of the year's 1-B class. Both worked together, trying to form a cohesive team with much of the rest of the class, but with two very different roles. One team was intel and information retrieval, run by the Kingpin of the year. And the other team was the offensive force that quite simply destroyed any competition they came across."

The elevator opened and the two teachers stepped out and began following the trail between the Training Ground F observation building and the hospital much closer to the field. "In the end, it turned into an all-out war as their team fractured under the objective. Half going on the defensive, the other half attempting to kill their once leader. Quite a number of very serious injuries arose from that."