[70: Release the Files]
(Deika City, Nighttime)
In the dark sky, multiple cloaked stealth drones were flying. It was taking multiple pictures, intercepting signals, conducting surveillance, and conducting electronic and cyber warfare. All the information gathered was being sent right back to Eleanor and her setup. It was one thing to gather all the data, but it was an entirely different beast trying to analyze and make sense of it. Luckily, Eleanor had computers and AI to help.
The raw data gathered by the stealth drones were pictures and videos, but most importantly, it was communication. The drones intercepted phone calls and messages sent from various devices. The target, or group, of interest was the MLA, or the Meta Liberation Army. Eleanor didn't want much to do with them, but she wasn't taking any chances.
⁂
(Eleanor's Base)
"Alright, this is not looking good. For us, I mean. We're stretching ourselves thin with the HPSC and the League of Villains, but now the MLA is being thrown into the mix." Lady Nagant was looking through all the data being put together by the computers and AI. There was one thing being made clearer as more data was being input. The League of Villains and the MLA were in communication.
"We can't really stretch ourselves thin, Kaina. You know that, right?" Eleanor came from behind. (A/N: Pause on that!) She didn't like it either.
"I know, but Toga and Jin are off doing their sabotage missions on some of the League of Villains' hideouts, and now we might have to deal with the MLA. No, we will have to deal with them," Kaina said.
"We can just handle things with drones, Kaina. A machine being destroyed is better than a human dying."
"But we still don't know everything, Eleanor. I think you may have been right. We might just have to go to Deika City ourselves."
"Whoa there now, Kaina. You realize we'd literally be walking into enemy territory?"
"Yes, but this was your idea, wasn't it?"
"Yeah, I guess. But things change."
While Eleanor and Lady Nagant were having their conversation, the AI in charge of analyzing the data gave an alert. Eleanor and Lady Nagant looked at the message that had been intercepted.
"Lady Nagant…get ready to move to Deika City. It seems my hunch was correct. A high-level meeting between the League of Villains and MLA? Too good to pass up. A lot of leadership will be there."
"Who will we assassinate?"
"We'll have to pick a target. I could drone strike them, but it wouldn't get all of them. And I don't want to go blowing things up right now. It's enough attention already with what Toga did, I don't need to add to it any more. I have a few in mind sorted by importance. I'll have their pictures for you to see."
"And for stealth?"
"It's an urban environment. Buildings. First, we'll need to hide our hair. After that, mostly grey colors."
"What about Toga and Jin?"
"I'll have them continue their missions to sabotage hideouts while we're in Deika City."
"When do we leave?"
"Soon. We'll have to be there on the day of the meeting, which means we have some time, but not a lot. We'll have to use it wisely."
"I see. Do you think the League of Villains and the MLA will get along?"
"No, absolutely not. I find it a small miracle that they're only meeting and going straight to fighting. Actually, I'm kind of surprised they're even meeting at all. Anyway, if the League of Villains weren't in the situation they were in, they'd definitely go straight to fighting. Although…it's also the situation that they're in that should also make them want to start fighting. How weird."
"What do you mean, Eleanor?"
"What I mean is that…we only know what the League of Villains is going to do based on their messages to the MLA. Who knows what they're actually thinking?"
"Ah, I understand now."
"I'll have the drones look for potential spots to set up and get information. You know, take care of the actual job of a sniper and the boring stuff, so you can just pull the trigger."
"Should I use the sniper or my quirk?"
"Use the sniper. Your hair is too identifying, and a bullet can do the same thing your quirk does for this situation."
Lady Nagant felt a bit weird. It wasn't completely wrong, but…does she only have to use guns all the time? "Uh…you're not saying my quirk is useless, are you?"
"What? No. Your quirk is good. But, like I said…too identifying. There will be a lot of people, and when they see a bullet-shaped piece of hair with quite the distinctive hair color coming from a long distance…it's not hard to put together that you were responsible. Which means they'll come after you, which means it'll jeopardize our security."
"Hmm…okay, yeah, I can see your point."
"Look, let's just focus. It's about time for another HPSC leak anyway. I haven't forgotten about them."
"You can continue to keep them off our backs?"
"Look, if they were willing to send an investigation team into that valley, then there's no doubt they'd send an investigation team anywhere. Maybe I'll send them to Indonesia or Singapore, or something," Eleanor said.
"Indonesia? Singapore? You really think they have it in them to go into a foreign country? Those countries aren't close."
"And do you think that's too far for the HPSC? Besides, it's not the first time a foreign country has interfered in Indonesia or Singapore. And, hey, if they do, that's more material for leaks. They were desperate enough to go into a remote valley; they'll only get more desperate from here on out."
Eleanor started to put the leak together. She declassified documents already released and put new documents into another leak package. The process only took a few minutes.
"And…there we go. New leak ready. I'll release this tomorrow. While they go crazy, we'll prepare for Deika City." Eleanor set a timer for the release.
"Alright, let's do this then," Lady Nagant said.
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(The Next Day. Noon.)
It was chaos. Outside one of the Hero Public Safety Commission's headquarters, a large crowd was gathered. Protestors. The next phase of the leak had been the biggest disaster so far for the HPSC.
It was a sudden drop, just like the other two, across multiple news sites, both mainstream and independent. Hundreds of articles were written, and debates and discussions were being shown on mainstream sites and TV. The HPSC tried to do damage control, but it was too little; they couldn't keep up with the proliferation of the news story.
The leaks had revealed the most damning evidence so far. Documents showed that secret operations were approved by the HPSC, witnesses were silenced, and civilian casualties were an afterthought. At the very least, there were no names, but that didn't stop the speculation and theories.
Every minute, it seemed that a new theory came out, trying to connect all the dots and assigning possible names to unnamed operations. But no matter what, all the theories had one thing in common. The HPSC was not to be trusted at all. Polls and opinions had turned venomous towards the HPSC.
And the HPSC had no clue what to do. They tried what they could do to track where this was coming from, but they were running into constant dead ends. Eleanor's worm, which had long been in their systems, was wreaking havoc, all while being undetected.
Police and some heroes were trying to hold off the protestors, but more and more came onto the street. With so many people, something was bound to go wrong.
"We want answers!"
"Release all the files!" (A/N: Sounds familiar. What could it be?)
"All of you are villains!"
The protestors shouted many things. Signs were held. Profanities were said. And confrontation seemed possible.
And in one instant.
CRASH
An object flew into the building, breaking one of the glass windows of the HPSC building. That one moment was enough to snowball everything.
The anger in the crowd spiked. Rocks, bricks, and anything else that could be thrown were hurled at the police, heroes, and the building.
As soon as it happened, the police started moving in and detaining the protestors.
"They're protecting them!"
"They should be the ones arrested, not us!"
The detentions only increased the aggression and hostility of the crowd. They started to shove away any police who tried to detain a protester. The heroes tried to calm things down, but they were the only ones who didn't try to detain anyone. Some of them feared the backlash they'd receive. While the police would most likely be blamed as a group, the heroes would be blamed individually, and their agencies would take a hit to their reputation.
The police, in response to the increased aggression, deployed tear gas. Plumes of white smoke filled the area where the protestors were. The gas made them spread out, but it didn't make them go away. While many of the protestors were coughing, rubbing their eyes, and trying to get away from the gas, there was one protestor on the extreme end.
This protestor consumed what was on social media. They bought into the speculation from the extreme. They stayed in an echo chamber of extremism. And seeing the response from the police only further validated their views and biases.
They reached into their backpack and took out a bottle with a cloth wick in the neck. They took out a lighter and lit the cloth. As soon as they did, they threw it into the HPSC building through the broken window.
On impact, it blew up into a ball of fire, spreading all over stacks of paper and plants, and coming into contact with aerosol cans.
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(A/N: Well, that escalated quickly.)