AN: Fate seems to be dead-set on making the last few updates of this series on a Sunday, lol. Of course, what I mean by that is. . . My internet went and died yesterday. It put up a great and valiant fight but ultimately succumbed to my crappy provider, and so to did my drafts. So, sorry you guys are getting it now, but I didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"All great changes are proceeded by chaos."
-Deepak Chopra
Ochako Uraraka awoke to car sirens and explosions in the 'peaceful confinements' of her dorm, albeit not necessarily in that order.
She also, most notably, awoke to riot.
"Wha-! Why... Why is there so much noise..?"
With a deathly glare into the void, Uraraka grudgingly wiggled her toes, legs, and soon her entire body out of the threadbare blanket that was starting to get a little too thin for the weather, and stood up. She blinked, still groggy, but having enough sense to know that she wouldn't be getting any more sleep any time soon, and she marched in line to her window-still with a distant sort of dread.
For she may not know what was happening quite yet, but-
"...Dear lord. W-Why are they..?"
-somewhere deep inside, she recognized that something was wrong.
Rubbing her eyes, pinching herself even, as she stared down at a literal stream of people, all clambering and pushing and shoving, sowing destruction in their wake as they marched ever-onward; off to kill the witch, she presumed, with signs in their hands like pitchforks and torches. Onward to her.
Onward to the school.
Some part of her couldn't help but understand it, to a limited degree. The populace had seemed rather disgruntled, after all, and to the under-represented quirkless minority, it was like gas had pored on a prairie; something would have happened eventually, there was no doubt about that. A larger, greater part of herself balked at it, a sequence of actions so seemingly incomprehensible that her worldview couldn't help but gain some cracks. The two varying state-of-minds swam freely in her own, mixing and mashing and colliding in an incomprehensible kaleidoscope of thoughts and emotions.
Then she heard a crack, and everything but the thrum of adrenaline ceased to exist.
Kota stared out at the destruction, the chaos, transfixed in place.
Hordes of people flooded buildings, roads, paths— anywhere that a human could be, a human was, and that human was very, very mad. For, in their self-imposed anarchy, they weren't just an individual anymore, accountable for their own actions and their deeds, but an aching gear of an invisible, chaotic whole. And of course, a human, in the first place, only shows their true colors beyond the grip of the law.
Anonymity is a tool that transforms man into a beast, intellectual to an animal.
Not that the child could comprehend such a thing.
No, all he saw was plenty of people striking out against UA, a school of young heroes, a symbol of all that is good and just in the world, and thoughts that he already had reverberated throughout his head once more.
'Why are the good guys getting treated like bad guys?'
Naturally, Kota's thoughts—as well as many others—soon began to echo yet another in resp0nce.
'Are the good guys not...'
They thought.
'Good?'
"This is the scope of the year, no, the century! We haven't had these kinds of protests in years now, and even then, they were always against those who had quirks! You damn bastards better catch every single moment of it, you hear me?!"
The reporters grumbled slightly at their supervisor's yelling but had a little light of motivation and ambition themselves despite it.
It was clear that, indeed, this was the greatest scoop any of them would probably get in their lifetime.
They all shuffled out like they had ants in their pants, leaving only one person sitting almost aimlessly in their seat, mouth curled in the slightest of smiles. She was a tired-looking woman, with dark circles like sharpie and pale skin like a ghost, and yet... She was the most alive that anyone had ever seen of her at that moment, quiet and content within the chaos-ridden destruction.
The team leader almost shivered at the sight.
Aiko was a particularity alright, but she had a subtle presence to her, something that lent her honey-dipped words that extra touch of credibility and most notedly, persuasiveness. There had been many a case in their not-so-little firm that had been solved with a passing word from her; she was great at getting interviewees and the populace alike to trust in her, to follow her words to the end of the world and back.
An ability he feared had been aimed at himself more than once.
It wasn't a coincidence, after all, that the tone of their articles had... shifted after she came.
The very object of his attention stood up, body folded in a slight bow as she slinked out the door with all the grace of a silent ballerina. The team leader felt his rigid body relax in a bow as a matter of course, before letting out a sigh as the lingering tension in his body returned full force as the battered door clanged to a shut. Clicking his tongue, he let his tired and achy body fall into his chair, a beautiful cigarette falling into his spindely grip almost unconsciously.
Digging around in his pocket for the accompanying lighter, he lifted the warm orange flame up and breathed in nicotine, content in the smoke and ash swirling around him in a direct parallel to the very world outside of his office. A doomsday scenario, some might venture; flocks of people roaming around, destroying everything in their vengeful wraith. It even smelled the same, he thought, bemused, as tar and burnt rubber mingled in his nose.
He doubted more than a tenth of them actually cared about the 'cause' they were out there for.
Just men who wanted more than to watch the world burn.
They wanted to burn it with their own hands.
"Shit!" He exclaimed, wiping the burnt remains of his cigarette on his pants in distaste.
He had gotten distracted again, and he hadn't even been thinking of that twice-damned woman. It wasn't like him to care about ethical conundrums nor did he have any kind of belief in the sacredness of humanity either. He just... It was sad, he supposed, to seen the city torn apart at the hands of its very creators. To see rocks thrown, and to see fires rampage unbound as they were lit faster than they could be put out.
"Dammit. I wouldn't have thought about it if it weren't for her..."
He rubbed the ash between his fingertips until it was all gone.
"At least she makes good money."
"...we aren't agents of anarchy, dear sirs. Anything but that, in fact."
Dabi smiled as fire seemed to flicker within his irises, the politicians before him flinching unconsciously.
If you stayed too close to the fire, you'd get burned, no?
"We simply wish to eliminate what we feel has turned into an instrument of social division and segregation. The days where Heroes and Villains are needed have long since passed, and with the new age, new methodologies are needed. We can afford to be picky about the suffering of the minorities now, after all. We can afford to be picky about our saviors."
A middle-aged, portly man huffed in the background, before freezing in place at Dabi's cold stare.
The smile didn't leave the tips of Dabi's lips all the while, and somehow, it made it worse.
"If you have something to share, please speak up. We are a representative democracy, after all."
"...We'd be throwing away our foundations here, Todoroki-kun," The man stated, hesitantly but clear nonetheless. If nothing else, he was a good speaker. "Eliminating the Hero system entirely... It's insanity. None of those in the international community have even-"
"Then we'll be the first. It's as damn simple as that."
The politician glowered at the explosive teenager who interrupted him, far less scary than Dabi, but taking the conference room by storm nonetheless through sheer force of presence.
"Did the French disparage the Americans for springing a democratic rebellion? No. They followed by example and cut off a bunch of fucking heads along the way. The Haitian Revolution inspired throngs of slave revolts years after the fact. Good ideas will be followed, and history will remember the first who do it."
The politician, emboldened and in his element, scoffed.
"And what makes you certain this is a good idea, boy? Forcing the beloved of the public down from their pedestal of glory? Even disregarding public outrage, the political shitstorm that those bastards will kick up as they fall will have everything in chaos for years after the fact."
Dabi put a 'gentle' hand on the boy's shoulder, and the politician's face split open in a shit-eating grin...
Until it didn't.
"If I may elaborate, this 'boy' as you call him does have reasons as to why, in the long run, this country will benefit from banishing the idea of Heros and Villains, and of course, you gentleman as well. First and most importantly, Heroes no longer have the status that they used to. At least, the top dogs that have all the influence. All their credibility has gone down the drain alongside their ties to UA. Even All Might, although certainly to a lesser degree. But surely you know that the Number One Hero, regardless, isn't one to use his influence."
The politicians unconsciously nodded.
That much was certainly true.
"And with Endeavor locked behind a jail cell, assuredly the most troublesome one is out of the picture. The rest are simply too weak individually and unlikely to group together. They have their pride, after all. With the riots still going hot, you can assure a swift takedown of the system and a happy populace to boot. Of course, you also get back your authority, ladies and gentleman."
Dabi's smile slowly shifted into a terrifying grin as the conversation continued to drag on.
"No more will individuals of power receive more authority than the government. No, they'll become firefighters, policemen, special responders, and Heroes of an unnamed sort, all feeding the glory not back to themselves, but to the country they serve. You can even continue to make brand deals with the especially distinguished, but this time, the government gets a cut. As it should, truly."
The politicians soon began smiling as well, trapped in a dream of sweet fantasies led by a false shepherd.
"After all, this country doesn't need individuals. It needs people."
AN: Dabi goes wack-o-mania near the end, as he should.
#DabiTheCultLeader