42 Dominos and Butterflies: Ch 1
I'm an idiot. I'm fucking stupid. Actually mentally flatlined.
I spoiled a whole 3rd of the reveal in the AN last chap, by talking about Entropy.
Aiuvavdvsjjhavsvpwqhhdvhjkhj
Popped my own fucking balloon.
I like to write like dominos, with things slowly adding up to big reveals and giant explosions! But what's the point if I accidentally knock the final thing over and spoil everything!
My mood isn't being helped that I'm visiting my parents, and am having to use a Bluetooth keyboard to write on my phone- I swear this thing has a two or three second delay, and will sometimes just send the wrong key.
ALSO, I don't have Hot Chocolate, instead I'm eating this weird coco oatmeal with Protein additives. It takes like the diet low fat chocolate milk my old Middle School used to give us (which always seemed juuuust about to expire), and has the texture of sludge.
Cold sludge, now. I'm eating it in occasional bites, and it cooled off.
*Sigh*
Enough about that. Welcome to arc 7 of the story! Where all the little changes really start to add up, and cannon takes a tank shell to the knee.
Naturally, such a thing requires an appropriately fitting name-
Unfortunately "Final Redemption or Eternal Damnation?" The name suggested to me, is WAAAY too fucking Badass for anything that's not the final arc! (and also over the character limit for FFN's chapter titles)
So I went with something a bit more fitting to this arc's theme of "little changes add up"
-Rain of Sins-
-Arc Start: Dominos and Butterflies-
-Dominos and Butterflies: Ch 1-
[ENTER PASSWORD]
12345
[DENIED]
54321
[DENIED]
Izuku
[DENIED]
izuku
[DENIED]
Midoriya
[DENIED]
Izuku Midoriya
[DENIED]
Midoriya Izuku
[DENIED]
ukuzI
[DENIED]
Origins Lab
[DENIED]
SCIENCE!
[DENIED]
Fuck You
[DENIED]
Ujiko grunted and flopped back into the, admittedly very soft, spinny chair that Izuku had in his office. It was a lucky break that Izuku hadn't put one of those "locked out after three guesses" things on his file passwords, because Ujiko's attempt at playing hackerman was going absolutely horribly.
"Think Ujiko!" He scolded himself. "You're the brightest mind this century, you can guess a password lock!"
Far in the distance… Lightning struck.
Ujiko sat up in his chair, eyes wide as everything, just… clicked.
Delicately, as if grasping the fruit of knowledge from the forbidden tree, he reached out to the keyboard, his fingers ghosting across the keys like swans in the morning mist.
Rumbling from the unknowable depths of genius, the answers of the cosmos spoke from the heavens themselves, whispering to him the truths of the unquestionable truths of existence! The precipice of enlightenment! The Doorway to Eternity!
Password
[DENIED]
"Bullshit!"
-Rain of Sins-
The hospital staff parted around the small group of men in black suits and tinted glasses, getting out of their way as fast as possible, as they made their way through the hospital with purpose in every step.
This was, at least, until they turned the corner.
"Stop right there." An old woman in a doctor's coat stood up from her desk. "The patient's still in critical condition! No one's allowed to visit him yet! And even when he recovers, only family and relatives are permitted."
"That's unfortunate for us." The man in the front stepped forward, his freshly polished cowboy hat shining under the hallway's LED lights. "But unfortunately for you, I don't care." The man flashed an HSPC badge at her, and continued on without breaking stride.
"Wait!" The old woman called, stumbling after them, but the men just ignored her.
The two suits took position at either side of the door at the end of the hall, and the leader took a moment to brush off his shoulders.
"Alright. Showtime!"
He opened the door, and stepped through it. When it closed behind him, the two men each took a step towards one another, effectively blocking off the door.
Inside the room, William Dixie, chief of security at the HPSC, took off his tinted glasses to get a better look at the sight in front of him.
There was a large man, his entire form covered in casts and bandages, physically strapped down to the table with metal bars. He had numerous IVs and tubes stuck into him, and the pieces of skin that were visible beneath the bandages were cross cross with stitched up cuts from numerous surgeries.
"There's the man of the hour!" Dixie threw on a practiced camera smile, and swaggered over to the bedside, tapping it with his shoe. "How are you doing champ? I came over the moment we were told you woke up. You look like a million dollars already!"
"Fuck… You." Enji Todoroki growled through gritted teeth, a metal jaw brace keeping him from opening his mouth.
"I'm glad to see you're feeling lively!" Dixie chuckled. "And that you're recovering well, especially after all you did!"
"Sniffing out the mastermind behind the Villain attack and bravely rushing down to the depths of the colosseum where you single handedly held off the main force of the attack!" He grabbed the bed post and shook his fist.
"Alone, you Heroically fought off a previously unknown S rank Villain and his army of monsters out of a Sci-Fi movie! And even survived the Villain's desperate final attack, when they lit the gas line, point blank! Where then you emerged from the rubble with minimal injuries, chasing off the Villain before he could detonate the other bombs our cleanup crew found hidden all across the entire festival area!"
Enji stared at the HSPC chief, confusion evident in his sole good eye. "That's not… What happened?"
"According to the media it is." Dixie chuckled and showed his phone, which displayed several articles. "From Hero News, to Japan Daily- Hell we've even got overseas outlets singing your praises! The New York Times had their whole front page dedicated to you, with three more following it, front and back!"
He sighed semi-dramatically and sat down in a chair. "We let All Might and that UA girl take the headlines for the day of and after, but right as that was winding down- BOOM!" He snapped his fingers. "We released the 'early results' of our investigation and the media damn near caught on fire!"
A moment passed, before a wide grin stretched across Enji's face. It hurt, pulling at stitches and sewn together muscles in his jaw, but he didn't care.
"About time… they said something good about me."
"That's the spirit champ! Now rest up, you have two weeks to heal up from your minor injuries." The HPSC chief gestured to Enji's destroyed form. "Before we pull you out of bed, cover you in makeup, and put you on stage!"
"…Stage?"
"Yup. It's gonna be a big stage, too. Biggest one we could find in Japan. After all, it's a special occasion, and we want the public to be… let's just say 'sufficiently wowed' while we announce the crowning of the new Top Hero."
Enji's breath caught, and he stared in disbelief.
"And you are gonna have an announcement for the nation, while you're on stage." Dixie leaned forward. "This is your rebrandin' moment." He smirked, his southern drawl slipping out. "Endeavor's long gone. Left behind with search results leadin' back tuh domestic abuse allegations, quirk breeding conspiracies, and all the civilians who died in that apartment fire."
"But when they hear the name KING, all anyone will think of will be the Top Hero in Japan, the flaming heart of the nation, that lights the way forward."
"They'll rationalize it away at first, and rightfully so. You'll be the number two hero who surpassed All Might in the moment, because of an exceptional act of bravery. But when the next yearly ranking announcement comes around, you'll prove them wrong. You will still be on top. Let All Might retire as a friendly mentor and National legend, as his star fades yours will only ever glow brighter. The new pillar of this nation!"
Enji's eye widened as Dixie talked, life seeming to visibly return back to him at every word. He looked almost desperate for it to be true, terrified that he might wake up any second to find it was just another dream.
But as if dangling over the edge of a cliff, he grasped tightly at the farthest end of a rope, barely willing himself back from everything he ever wanted.
"But did… Did I actually surpass him?" Endeavor whispered.
"My Friend." Dixie sighed, looking at him with fake sympathy. "Rankings are numbers, and positions are words on a page. We've fudged All Might's rankings before, to make him seem even more impressive, by artificially widening the gap between him and everyone else… But now it's your turn. You've proven yourself to be a rock strong enough to hold the country up on your shoulders."
He leaned in, the ceiling light outlining his head.
"Do you really want to spend the rest of your days slaving away on a fruitless Endeavor, only for your goal to one day be snatched away from you by some cocky upstart, unharmed by the wear and tear of time?" Dixie slowly reached out his hand. "Or will you seize the chance you've earned, and take your rightful place atop the world?"
Endeavor took a shaky breath, staring at the outstretched arm like it was poison.
Visions flashed through his mind, of him sacrificing decades of his life slaving his way at Second place, of sacrificing his friendships to spend more time training, of sacrificing his family, of sacrificing any chance he would ever have at a happy marriage, sacrificing his children- forcing himself to crush any fatherly love in the pursuit of one day overcoming All Might's legacy.
And now he lay, with even his body burnt at the pyre of his struggle…
With all he had ever given… how could he ever have said no?
Endeavor let go of the rope, allowing himself to fall into the abyss.
King grasped the hand as best he could with his casts, a menacing grin covering his face.
"I look forward to working with you."
-Rain of Sins-
"GOOOOOD MORNING JAPAN! We're coming to you live from Smash News! Today's story- an update on the Villain attack several days ago!-"
CLICK
"-What more and more people are beginning to call the 'Day of Loss'. Referring to the overwhelming loss of life, loss of quirks during the attack, and, perhaps more importantly, our loss of safety.
Coming up after the break: Is your child safe at school, from rising villain attacks?"
CLICK
"What is up drama alert nation? I'm your host, killer keemstar, let's get riiiiiiiiiiiight into the news! The first story comes from the HSPC releasing more documents on just what happened last-"
CLICK
"-am here on the scene of the attack, you can see the collapsed coliseum behind me, there in the background. HPSC personnel have been working tirelessly these past few days to secure the area, and just this morning they announced they've found upward of twenty different explosive devices they, they say, show signs of having been here BEFORE the festival was even set up!
Nezu and UA have objected to these claims, and say that most locations that the HPSC have pointed to, were on the patrol paths of not just one but SEVERAL Heroes, who never noticed them. They've also demanded that the HPSC release photos of the bombs, in light of the allegations against them.
The HPSC has denied this request, citing international security."
CLICK
"-Leaving everyone with the question, just how did all of this slip by UA? And if not even THEY could stop it, what can WE do to protect ourselves?"
CLICK
"Here just outside the congress building, the Prime Minister has called for an emergency session to vote on the bill put forth by the HSPC, that would attempt to centralize the various branches of security under one network, and create a quick response force to deal with national threats.
The bill would also give the HSPC more control over what's going on behind the scenes in the Hero Schools-"
CLICK
"-ome back to Hero Trackers Weekly! Where we're discussing the huge Villain spike across the board-"
CLICK
"Already there have been over a dozen attacks in the last three days by people wearing red scarfs, and search engine trackers report an alarming uptick of people attempting to find Stain's ideological manifesto. Police are worried this might be only the begin-"
CLICK
"-ed sightings of what residents call a 'giant lizard'-"
CLICK
"-e Villain, or Vigilante depending on who you ask, known as Gentle Criminal has exploded in popularity since his dramatic entrance during the festival, and subsequent showdown with Stain. With videos and pictures spreading across social media like a storm!"
CLICK
"Uwabami completely distraught that her daily internet searches have been surpassed by, what she says is a 'pop culture' Villai-"
CLICK
"I WANT PICTURES OF SPIDERMAN!"
CLICK
"-ith Endeavor reportedly leading the charge to hold back the main assault-"
CLICK
"Scientists baffled at the charred remains found under the coliseum! With one going as far as to call it something out of a science fiction movie!
The Catholic Church has even given a statement. When shown the photos released by the HSPC, a Cardinal exclaimed 'Demon!' and called it 'the work of the Devil'."
CLICK
"Ibara Shiozaki is the name on everyone's mind here at the quaint town of Golden Springs, her childhood home, hidden deep in the country. The UA student was catapulted to media fame after being caught on tape, for the whole world to see, helping All Might hold up the collapsing Coliseum, and allowing well over a thousand civilians to escape with their lives.
Unsurprisingly this had bought her no small amount of fans.
Surprisingly, she seems unwilling to take advantage of such a situation, and remains staunchly humble, thanking her religion in every rare interview, and telling the audience to not thank her, but instead the christian G-"
CLICK
"-Church has allegedly sent a handwritten note to UA, addressed to the girl, thanking her for her actions and faith and blah de blah.
Now, I don't know about you, but to me this screams publicity stunt! And a desperate one at that! Everyone knows their membership has reached an all time low in the past decade! This is a last ditch attempt to grasp at public relevance, by a dying-"
CLICK
"-ll Might was relegated to holding up a building, and even then he had to get help from a student! A STUDENT! Meanwhile Endeavor was on the front lines, waist deep in monster guts, going APE SHIT on their asses! I think I know who deserves the REAL credit!"
CLICK
"I'll pass the mic over to our reporter at the scene, Lisa, what's going on down there?"
"Thank you Chuck! And Hello World! My name is Lisa Lavender, and I've gotten special permission from the HPSC to be down here in the maintenance tunnels beneath the Colosseum! Well, what's left of them at least.
As you can see the damage is extraordinary! Really showing just how intense the fighting down here was, between Endeavor and the horde of monsters that came up, through what we believe was the sewers.
Unfortunately- or fortunately, depending if you ate anything recently, the HPSC has already extracted all the dead creatures. But what has been confirmed was that there was someone leading these things! A previously unknown S rank villain!
One still at large!
One still dangerous!
And we have no idea- Who. They. are."
CLICK
Naomasa Tsukauchi sighed in annoyance as he turned off the office TV. All the news channels were just spitting out the exact same stories they had been for the past several days.
People were angry, and both the media and the government had been pressing the police force for answers, which in turn was pressuring their Detectives to get a statement out.
Some things about the attack had been easy to put together: it was a Villain attack that involved the smuggling of various explosives onto the festival grounds and maintenance tunnels.
The League of Villains played a major role in the attack, as evidenced by the same swarm tactics being employed that were seen at the USJ, the fact Tomura Shigaraki was sighted by numerous witnesses, and well… also the fact they sent out a video claiming responsibility.
This happened to coincide with Gentle Criminal's latest stunt, and his partner has been confirmed to be an expert at hacking and cyber warfare- explaining why UA's systems were compromised to begin with.
That's about where the easy facts stopped.
Was Stain working with the League? The lack of coordination would say no, but then again there wasn't much coordination with the Villains to begin with. The League wanted attention, but Stain never mentioned them in his broadcast.
And then there was everything that went on beneath the ground, in the tunnels.
From the hijacking of the ventilation room to disperse some kind of unseen Quirk suppressing gas, to all of the- the THINGS found in the rubble!
It spoke of a group with vast resources, that had been in operation for a long time, and that had a lot of brain power behind it. There was all the markings of an actual strategy behind the madness- one that Endeavor had thankfully acted as a roadblock to. But all of that contrasted with the profile they had accumulated for the League.
The League was loud intentionally- they wanted as much attention as possible.
All of the behind the scenes shadowplay in the tunnels was just about the exact opposite. Slowly taking out all the patrols and lookouts in the tunnels, setting up specialized equipment, lying in wait, using biological weaponry, and forgoing human wave tactics.
But for what end?
The obvious answer was that it was in preparation for yet another wave of attack on the festival, but the key flaw in that argument was that well, there were all the opportunities in the world, with the Villains running rampant, security scattered, and communications down… but they never attacked.
Whoever was behind the tunnels, stayed in the tunnels- only reacting when Endeavor confronted them. And Naomasa had a strange suspicion that if they had completed their objective, they would have cleared out quietly, only leaving the gas as any evidence of their existence- something that everyone would have just written off as the League's doing.
Why?
What was the purpose?
What was the goal?
And the fact the HSPC not only had the entire site on lockdown, but were being tight lipped about all their findings, wasn't helping at all either.
Call him a conspiracy theorist, but the cut and dry "early reports" they had published seemed almost designed to rile up the media. They were almost entirely flashy words and prevocational imagery, but there was very little in terms of actual answers to be found in the documents.
…This whole thing was a mess.
Naomasa was startled from his thoughts by the loud sound of a desk phone being slammed shut.
"Agents Nick and Judy just phoned in, apparently the HPSC has the entire industrial district, where the explosions were, locked down tight." Officer Gori, a large Gorilla mutant growled in frustration. "Saying they're not letting anyone in or out until they finish investigating. Do these idiots want us to do our jobs or not!? Wilde even chimed in and said not to count on his more 'off the books' tendencies, two mutants would stick out like sore thumbs in an area entirely inhabited by suits."
"I don't suppose they'd let us pass if we bring donuts?" Naomasa snarked.
"Ha! I'd like to see the looks on their faces when you try." Gori scoffed. "I've never seen anywhere near this many in one place- usually all you hear for them is complaints about how spread thin and overworked they all are. Whoever's ordered whatever this is they're doing up there, must either be pretty high up, or did something to kick the hornet's nest."
The door to the meeting room opened to reveal the tired face of a familiar dog mutant.
"All right everyone." Kenji Tsuragamae yelled to grab attention, as he waved a stack of manila folders in the air. "We finally got a report back from Endeavor on our mystery Villain. So finish your coffee, gather around, and put your brains into thinking mode."
Naomasa and Gori followed the other detective to the meeting table, where the rest of the group met up with them.
"We have three reports from three different eye witness groups that came in contact with our mystery Villain." Kenji said as he passed out a folder to each officer present, each containing three groups of stapled papers. "The first is from two Heroes, Water Whip and Alpha, who he took out before the attack even began. The second is the shortest, and is from the recovery team that retrieved Endeavor. The third, and the one we've been waiting on, is the report from Endeavor."
Kenji scoffed. "And since it seems to be an unspoken law at this point, every time someone brings up the number two, the HPSC assures everyone Endeavor is in perfect health, with only minor injuries. Regardless of the fact that it took him three days to draft up a report that should have only taken an hour, and that he's in the most advanced hospital in Japan, and that only top Safety Commission personnel are allowed to see him. Given all evidence, I stake my credibility as a detective, the man is obviously in good health."
The room laughed, and Kenji let it die down before continuing.
"As you can see, the first report is interesting because it both gives us a clear picture, but is also completely vague. Subject is male, likely in his early to mid twenties, pale skin, green eyes, and dark green hair. Roughly six feet tall. Wore a thick black or dark gray coat, a black mask device on his lower face, and made use of syringes full of a liquid type of the quirk suppressing gas that was released in the vents."
"A solid description." He said. "Then comes the next part."
"Name: Unknown. Quirk: Unknown. Abilities: Unknown. Combat capabilities: Unknown. Unknown. Unknown. Unknown." Kenji snarled in annoyance and tossed the paper onto the table. "It fits everything else in our investigation to a T. No leads, no info, no fingerprints, no evidence, no trace. The Heroes described him like a Ghost that emerged from the dark, and I'd have to agree, mainly because if it weren't for the eyewitnesses, we would have no idea this guy ever existed."
"Isn't calling this guy a 'Ghost' a little far?" Sansa, an officer with a cat head, asked.
"I'd say it's a damn odd coincidence, they called him a ghost." Gori snorted. "Nighteye's report he wrote when he woke up yesterday, on his fight with Stain, says the Butcher referred to someone as a 'Spook' during one of his monologues."
"Really?" Naomasa raised an eyebrow. "Well it's more than anything else we've gotten, I say we put it on the list."
"Agreed." Kenji nodded, turning and writing 'Spook?' and 'Connected to Stain?' on the few remaining blank spots on the whiteboard behind him.
"Moving on, the second document is more or less useless. They confirm he was wearing black clothing of some kind, but they were at a distance and under attack, so never got a clear look. And the only member of the group to get close was KIA. The group heard a gunshot, but by the time they made their way over, he was nowhere to be found."
Kenji tossed the second batch of paper to the table with the first. "More or less completely useless. It just tells us more of what we know, a dark coat, and a knack for not leaving any details behind. Also, considering the group was pulled aside by the HSPC for a long chat, shortly after Endeavor was rushed off, I can't count out the possibility that their report on what happened wasn't altered in at least a minor way."
"The final report, Endeavor's report, is perhaps the most detailed and the most enlightening. Although it does clash with some of the facts from the first document. Endeavor claims the man he fought was six and a half feet tall, with green eyes, and black hair, with an age range of late twenties to early thirties. He also claims the guy claimed to have lured Stain to the festival."
The detective flipped a page, his eyes flicking through the document.
"But the core details still match up. Black coat, dark hair, uses quirk suppressing biological weapons, and wears a mask of sorts that's most likely to filter out the gas." Kenji's face morphed into a grimace. "Of course the way his report mainly differs is in regards to those… things."
At the mention of those, everyone winced. The pictures released by the HPSC of what they had unearthed in the rubble… weren't for the faint of heart.
Gori cleared his throat and tried to break the sudden unease that had fallen upon the room.
"Look, the only thing we've seen even remotely similar to these things, was the 'nomu' Villain at the USJ- which was an attack by the League of Villains." He said. "Now we're seeing these things pop up at the same time the League attacks the festival. Common sense says this guy is with them."
"If I remember correctly, several UA students reported seeing a Villain in a black coat- same as our guy. Called him the 'lost scientist' for some reason- I'm pretty sure there was a brief media spike over it." Another officer chimed in.
"Working with, doesn't automatically mean working for. Let's not forget, when we collaborated with UA to clear up the USJ attack, Eraserhead and several other witnesses were insistent that the 'nomu' didn't listen to anything from Shigaraki, and only entered the action when All Might went after a different Villain." Kenji said. "Besides, every Villain apprehended after the attack had no idea anything was under the coliseum, and seemed just as freaked out about the pictures as everyone else was."
"So what, you're saying that four different Villain attacks happened on the exact same day, at the exact same place, just by coincidence?"
"The festival wasn't exactly a hidden target." Sansa butted in. "It's one of Japan's largest events, and the government's been worried this would happen for years nyaow. And if you are gonna attack the festival, it would make the most sense to do it during the awards ceremony, when the most people would be watching, and during the first year's tournament, so you'd be fighting the weakest students."
"After the USJ attack, people have been having doubts about UA's defensive abilities. If there was any year this would happen, it would be this year."
"So less of a coincidence, and more of a pattern." Naomasa cut into the argument, and pinched his nose. "What a mess."
The S Rank villain.
The Spook.
The Scientist.
A black figure that left no trace, and you would have never known existed if you hadn't seen it with your eyes.
"..Almost like a ghost." He muttered.
-Rain of Sins-
[DENIED]
Ujiko stared at the six letter word on the screen with a frown.
It was times like this that made him feel like a flower pot short of being a vegetable garden.
He slumped back in his chair, let out a sigh, and brought a hand up to massage his face. The force of his slump sent the chair slowly spinning, drifting left and away from the computer screen.
When Ujiko opened his eyes it was to a different portion of the dest, one empty of any equipment. Instead a single picture frame stared back at him.
A picture of a happy family, a young Izuku ginseng held by his mother, wide smiles on both of their faces.
Slowly, he reached back out to the keyboard.
…
Inko Midoriya
[Access Granted]
The folder opened, and he was greeted to files upon files filling the screen.
Ujiko hesitated at the rabbit hole in front of him, but he took a deep breath, and stepped onto the slippery slope.
The files were separated into three clear groups, each correlating to a specific project. Project Entropy, Project Kronos, and Project Rapture.
Entropy was the one he was the most familiar with, and the only one he had any prior knowledge of- it had been the project Izuku had shown Ujiko after the death of his mother.
The goal of the project was to make a quirk suppressant chemical. Ujiko had even helped the kid find a place to start, and had gotten him a steady supply of Trigger to reverse engineer.
But as he read through the files, Ujiko's eyes widened.
The suppressant was a temporary stopgap, something Izuku even went as far as to refer to as a "failed prototype". Project Entropy's true goal wasn't to create a way to suppress quirks, it was to find a way to erase them.
Ujiko felt a shiver run down his spine as he poured through files, documents, and records of experiments.
Using the Origin's Lab Izuku had managed to reverse engineer the Nomu process. Where Ujiko had taken years to find a way to transfer quirks without relying on All for One, Izuku had spent his time reverse engineering the process to take away quirks- to remove the quirk gene in its entirety from a person's DNA.
And he had already succeeded… Starting with cloned animals, before moving onto old nomu, Izuku had successfully managed to give and remove quirks from living subjects while they were suspended in one of his vats.
Project Entropy wanted to recreate this effect in a chemical dose. From being able to administer the compound to single targets with syringes, to gas bombs that could eradicate the quirks of entire cities.
Gone. Ripped from the DNA sequence. Impossible to recover.
Master… All for One… would not like this…
Ujiko swallowed as the thought occurred to him, that maybe Izuku had been right to hide this file from the main network.
Slowly he removed the goggles from his face, to gaze at the work of his successor with his own eyes.
Project Kronos. The thing Izuku had desperately tried to point him to. It was an... odd thing.
It was, from what Ujiko could tell, originally designed to be a sister project to Entropy, but had grown beyond its initial scope.
Logs talked about "accelerating the countdown to midnight" and "taking control of the clock", the mere mention of which caused cold terror to grip his heart.
Slowly, the truth dawned on him.
Project Kronos was a quirk mutation program, an attempt to create an artificial quirk singularity.
Research was still in its early stage, but Izuku had been working to splice quirks together, causing their effects to merge and fuel one another. And what better place to start, than with some of the strongest quirks from UA students, the school that routinely churned out the strongest Heroes in Japan, if not the world.
The next step would be to use cloned artificial animals, with an incredibly strong similarity to humans, to both breed, and undergo forced mutations after being given the improved quirks. And over time, through precision splicing, trial and error, and continuously introducing more and more powerful quirks into the experiment, eventually create a quirk singularity.
The idea was ludicrous! Mad! Crazy!
Especially when logs mentioned creating a similar final product to Entropy, one that could be bottled and used via syringe!
With great hesitation, he followed the threads that both Entropy and Kronos led to. The final project, Project Rapture.
The Rapture file was… different.
On the surface, it was simply described as a "collection of different things".
One document in particular laid out a relatively clean plan, to flood the black market with cheap mass quantities of Entropy, and then several weeks later, to use the result of Project Kronos to bottle quirks and mass sell them. Slowly expanding the variety offered until the top end quirks sold outperformed the quirks of some of the best "natural" Heroes.
The threat and fallout of the quirk singularity that Ujiko had feared for so long, would be negated by widely available Entropy. Meanwhile, the exponentially increasing frequency of erasing quirks and buying new ones, would erode society's view of quirks, turning them from bedrock of someone's worth, to just another tool to use.
A tool anyone could pick up, regardless if they were born quirkless or not.
All for One would absolutely not like this. If he found out, there was a good chance that Izuku's health could be at stake!
…yes, All for One would immediately crush this idea, and every operation that even had the slightest notion of being involved with it.
…
But Ujiko?
Ujiko couldn't help the smile that slowly spread across his face.
To him. This was art.
And as the mad scientist reached the darkest depths of the rabbit hole, his grin continued to grow unabated.
Most of the Rapture file was incredibly rich and well documented. Scientific theorem and neatly compiled data.
But be it through references, or quotations, every single piece of it traced back to a collection of seven handwritten journal pages that had been physically scanned into the system.
Seven pages, where neat note taking broke down into illegible scribble.
Seven pages, written with tears that stained the paper, with hate filled strokes that tore the edges.
Seven pages, depicting a biological monstrosity, one befitting the name of the Biblical end of times, a beast that would crash upon Japan like a storm, and bring judgment upon all that had wronged him.
Seven pages, explicitly explaining in detail, step by step, the creation of a creature that would dwarf even the combined might of All for One and One for All together.
Seven pages, dated the same day Inko Midoriya died.
Seven pages, written with all the irrational rage and sorrow of a grieving child.
Seven pages, of the Magnum Opus Ujiko had been searching for his entire life.
Seven pages, detailing the creation… of true perfection.
And deep beneath the ground of Japan, a mad scientist cackled in unrestrained glee, as clouds began forming far above.
-Chapter End-
Ah, and Ujiko's obsession for "art" and creating "perfection" finally comes back around after 40 whole chapters. Talk about foreshadowing.
During this chapter, I really wanted to go back and edit the fic, so project Kronos was renamed to project Midnight, or maybe even "The Clockworks"- referencing trying to force the Singularity doomsday clock to midnight. But what can I say, naming has never been my best strong suit, and hindsight is 20/20.
You know. You could join the discord.
The Discord is growing, lots of good folks on there, but one of 'em got hacked while on other servers. (Don't click suspicious links, guys.)
Started spamming [FREE NITRO] links in every chat.
I tried negotiating, but sadly, no matter how much I pleaded, they never offered free coin.
So sad.
(Luckily Cheeto got his account back, and rejoined)
Also, weirdly, the bot posted in every channel except the NSFW channels.
So apparently the 20+ gigs of furry hentai Charnel has dropped in the channel I gave him for the stuff, scared off the bot.
Well you see, I'm a man of opportunity.
I've reached out to both the Pentagon, and the White House, to see if I could get patched in to the head of the CIA- for this vital information about how to counter foreign AI on the modern battlefield of cyber warfare.
It's only a matter of time before my vital insights are implemented, and used to their fullest extent, to fight threats abroad!
Watch out world! I'm gonna be the star of the next War Dogs movie!
(Join the Discord dum-dums)
Next Chapter: Feb 20
Https://Discord.gg/PkRSmwc6E9
