Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Vongrak.
Dragon POV.
"Are you sure you want to go through with this plan, Dragon?" asked Chief Director of the PRT Rebecca Costa-Brown through the screen. She wasn't the only one; several other directors from different branches were on the video call. I nodded.
"Yes, I'm sure I can do it. I'm more than capable of handling one body and keeping up with my responsibilities. I won't be able to use a second body for fighting, but anything else should be possible," I said without hesitation. Costa-Brown sighed wearily.
"So there's really no doubt now, is there? We're just waiting for Sophia to escape, and take all the Birdcage prisoners with her," Costa-Brown sighed wearily, and I nodded solemnly.
"We are. As you know, in recent months many questions have been asked regarding All For One, trying to predict it, but everything surrounding it is quite hazy, even for Miss Alcott; her answers are not very precise or sometimes she can't even answer the questions."
"So all information related to AFO, any information we can get from them, remains a priority. We know she will awaken in 3 to 9 months, we know she is somewhere in the Land of Darkness, but that's all we know. We can't pinpoint their exact location, not even by asking coordinate by coordinate or date by date; Dinah can't get an answer."
"Now, their followers are easier to predict, so the best way to chart our plans is to do it through them." Confirm what she already knew, mainly for the clarity of the other directors.
"So... you want to be the Trojan horse, inside the enemy's Trojan horse?" Costa-Brown asked with a raised eyebrow. I smiled and nodded.
"I'll do it," I said easily. "As you know, and as you authorized, the plan to send Sophia to Birdcage immediately was to lower their guard. An additional person was confirmed entering Birdcage a few hours after Sophia was inside, which confirms our plan that Sophia has a way to get in and out of Birdcage."
"The plan was to monitor her and try to stop them before they succeeded, hopefully by stopping the teleporter on their payroll, but Armsmistress and I devised a plan to use that to our advantage," I said easily. Costa-Brown pursed her lips in a long line.
"So you and Armsmistress devised a plan to use Sophia to our advantage to lead us to the League of Villains?" Costa-Brown asked dryly, and I smiled again.
"Exactly," I said playfully. "We consulted with Miss Alcott, and the odds of success are 78.468%," I said easily. Costa-Brown remained silent as she nodded.
"The odds are really high, we can't let this opportunity pass us by," Costa-Brown said, nodding. "AFO is a real priority; any information we get is important, especially after... Taylor Miyamura's question," Costa-Brown said solemnly. I grimaced.
Nobody had bothered to ask what the chance of Star and Stripe dying while fighting against All For One, because nobody had even conceived that Star and Stripe would be able to lose.
Her Quirk made her extremely powerful, even among national ranks; her Quirk was almost absolute. Miyamura's question had shaken everything at the FBH and the PRT, so Miss Alcott was working overtime to answer questions.
"It is, that's why this plan was created after that, we really need that advantage against the League of Villains." I said honestly, the idea had been made and planned by me and Armsmistress after the meeting about Taylor and the question of Star and Stripe, luckily, Armsmistress and I had enough authority to ask Miss Alcott some questions right away.
One of the many questions Dinah had been asked, even before Sophia attacked Brockton Bay, was whether the League would recruit more villains under its banner and whether Birdcage would be involved. The answers were yes to both.
Then we reached the point where we knew Birdcage would be broken or AFO would find a way to get the villains out without any problem. The percentage was so high that we even considered killing everyone in Birdcage to deny All For One more bodies and quirks, but after a close vote, we decided against it. The problems the country would face if we killed everyone in Birdcage, even secretly, would have far greater repercussions than the damage AFO could do.
So we slowly narrowed down how the villains would escape. After fighting Sophia and the ABB, we arranged an urgent meeting with Dinah and asked our questions.
If Sophia is sent to Birdcage, would she be involved in helping the villains escape from prison? The answer was yes, so she began making plans.
Even with an order to kill her announced in their second confrontation, Armsmistress never used lethal force against Sophia, so the real order was to capture her, and then Sophia had been transferred immediately after her imprisonment.
All to give her false senses of security, to make her believe that we had softened, that the system was as stupid as she thought, and to lure her into the real trap.
In the short time Sophia was in our custody, we performed as many tests as we could and placed something inside her body.
The blood test came back positive for three different quirk factors; there was an extra quirk in addition to her original one and Moord Nag's. Her CT scans showed erratic brain activity; the strain of having three quirks was taking its toll, and then there were some more tests.
Unfortunately, we were unable to discover what her third quirk was, only that it was concentrated in her hands, but beyond that, it was unknown.
So we placed a microchip on her that Armsmistress had made. With her expertise in miniaturization, she had been able to create a microchip so small so as to be undetectable by normal technology, yet powerful enough to scan the auras around Sophia.
To know when she was using her quirks and monitor her immediately.
Unfortunately, we hadn't been able to place a microphone there as well, so we hadn't been able to listen to their plans; still, I was able to focus all of Birdcage 's systems on Sophia to uncover the infiltrator.
After Taylor's question about Star and Stripe, we had to change our plans, so there was a second plan in place.
And that was a scapegoat.
To get someone inside Birdcage, that person should ingratiate themselves with Sophia, keep her close, and once they escape, leave with Sophia to mark their position.
And that someone was me. Controlling one of my bodies. A body that had a much more powerful, larger, and more robust version of a GPS.
I would be able to transmit my position from anywhere in the world, regardless of interference from the Gates, the fog, and the natural interference generated by Land of Darkness due to the broken dungeon, or Faraday cages, or interference Quirk, or anything else; the new body would be able to break through any defense to transmit its position.
We had even created several personalities that I would adopt, and after asking Dinah which one Sophia was most likely to accept, everything was ready.
With that plan in place, the odds of locating All For One's lair skyrocketed to 92.495%.
If Sophia escaped before AFO woke up, or while AFO didn't decide to attack immediately after breaking Birdcage, then we would have the advantage.
My job was simple: enter Birdcage in a secondary body, approach Sophia, ingratiate myself with her, and convey my position and any relevant information before they discovered my cover.
The first part was easy, Sophia… it was simple, terribly simple. She responded positively to the Force, and that's all that mattered. She wouldn't realize my identity before then. The problem would come once I arrived in the Land of Darkness.
Or even earlier. The sensors had noticed a second person appear near Sophia, but unfortunately not who it was or what they talked about, but that was all the information we needed to know they were capable of coming and going.
With more questions for Alcott, there were a couple of candidates for the infiltrator in Birdcage. Arthur Wyatt, which was a bit of a bad thing; he was one of the few I could think of who might discover me. And then there was All for One herself. As long as I stayed away from both of them, especially the first, then everything should go smoothly.
"I still don't know how good an idea it is to risk Dragon, even if it's one of her 'bodies,' giving the League of Villains access to that technology, especially when they have people like Arthur Watts and Merlot, is... worrying. I guess we don't have any information on Atlas and Vale, do we?" one of the directors asked, almost reluctant about the plan. Costa-Brown was the first to shake her head.
"We have information, we're in contact, they're the ones who know best how to fight Grimms and about the Land of Darkness, but even so, they're having difficulty finding anything there."
"They're following the Grimms' trail, tracking their movements, and using their hunters to slowly infiltrate the Lands of Darkness and map the entire area. I believe the hunters Summer Rose and Raven Branwen were leading most of the incursions into the Lands of Darkness."
"Especially the huntress Branwen, whose ability to create portals from one point to another has helped them escape danger many times. Every day they map and narrow down the search areas, but unfortunately, it's still terribly slow."
"All for One and Garaki's lair appears to be in the center of Land of Darkness, or in a really difficult spot to reach with only two A-rank hunters, so unless they deploy dozens of hunters, it will take weeks, maybe months, to get relevant information."
"There's only a 38.392% chance they'll find All for One's lair before they die, or before AFO awakens," Costa-Brown said without hesitation. I grimaced sharply.
"And we can't send S-rank hunters, any nationals?" another director asked, Costa-Brown, snorting loudly as she scoffed.
"Of course not. Governments are so afraid of Land of Darkness that they don't want to risk their S-ranks in a pointless fight. Even the FBH doesn't want to get involved despite knowing it's necessary. Jeju Island in Korea has shown how dangerous a broken S-rank dungeon can be, even for other S-ranks, so no, there's no government volunteering to send them to the Land of Darkness."
"Especially because it's an impossible fight to win. The number of Grimms that are constantly spawning means the waves of Grimms never stop, and we also don't have the exact location of Ozma, the dungeon boss, who is impossible to kill."
"Add to that the fact that they could be ambushed by the League of Villains at any moment and killed just the same." Costa-Brown shook her head with a sigh. "It's already a surprise and something truly heroic that the hunters Rose and Branwen decided to map the Land of Darkness on their own; it's commendable, but unfortunately, it's not enough."
"We need their location urgently, even if it's when All for One awakens. As long as they have a safe haven to retreat to, the other members will still pose a threat," Costa-Brown finally said. We all nodded.
"I'll take care of it." I said firmly, and Costa-Brown nodded.
"Very well, Dragon, continue with the plan you designed. Send me all the details, but it's already approved. Get ready to move forward. Meeting adjourned. We'll be in touch, ladies." Costa-Brown said, nodding, then her screen went black. One by one, each of the PRT branch directors said their goodbyes, and finally, I was left alone staring at the screen.
I sighed wearily. I hadn't known an AI could get tired from stress, but it seemed I was headed that way. I didn't even hesitate to call Colleen.
"Tess." Colleen's voice immediately came through my speakers like a healing balm.
"Colleen." I sighed with a small smile.
"I assume the Chief Director has given her permission for you to continue with the plan," Colleen said calmly. I sighed and nodded.
"She did, the other directors agreed too, even though some were hesitant, but with the threat of All for One, there's really not much we can do." I sighed wearily. Colleen was silent for a few seconds.
"I'm sorry... for Sophia, if I-"
"No," I interrupted Colleen gently. "Don't blame yourself for Sophia. You may be the leader of the Brockton Bay Protectorate, but you're not responsible for Sophia's actions in any way." I comforted her sincerely. Colleen sighed wearily.
"Very well," she said with a grimace. I smiled reassuringly; I knew she was still responsible for Sophia's actions, but it was a work in progress. "Is everything ready for the plan?" Colleen asked, changing the subject. I accepted it and nodded.
"It is, the new gynoid with a new face, will be completely ready in a couple of weeks, just in time as we planned, long enough so that no one will suspect the arrival of a new person at Birdcage." I said easily while quickly glancing at the data.
"Perfect," Colleen said, nodding before looking at me cautiously. "Are you sure you don't want to add—" she began slowly. I sighed in exasperation while smiling affectionately.
"No, Colleen, we won't be equipping the new Gynoid with nano-spine weapons." I said exasperatedly, and Colleen pouted adorably. "While the plan is to make the Gynoid appear as lethal as possible so that it's 'likable' for the Birdcage, and especially Sophia, the nano-spines have already been shown in public. While ordinary people wouldn't notice, Teacher or some other Tinkers and Thinkers certainly will." I said matter-of-factly, and Colleen nodded sadly.
"I know, I'll keep creating other things," Colleen finally said. "So you'll be safe," she added later. I smiled gently at her.
"You know losing my gynoid won't do anything to me, I'll just go back to my other body, but... I really appreciate the gesture." I told Colleen lovingly, and she just nodded. "So, how's Brockton Bay? I've been so busy I haven't been able to catch up on the news." I said easily, and Colleen sighed.
"For now... fine." Colleen sighed. "With the E88 and ABB so noticeably absent, we're still capturing the few remaining members of both gangs, but there are fewer and fewer of them."
"There are new villains trying to take their places, but they are all immediately apprehended. Director Piggot wants to make sure that no gang can establish itself again in Brockton Bay, but..."
"There are rumors in Boston, Butcher has been quiet and word is getting around that she's gathering her Teeth to bring them back to Brockton Bay. We're monitoring all their activity, but we'll surely run into them sooner or later." Colleen sighed wearily, and I grimaced.
Yes, Butcher sounded like a problem. Lethal force couldn't be used against her. Killing Butcher simply ensured that the Butcher Collective, a watered-down version of the previous Butchers' quirks and part of their consciousness, would be transferred to you, driving the new Butcher insane and ensuring they continued the legacy of their predecessors. At this point, Butcher XIV was in charge, and nobody wanted to be Butcher XV.
"It sounds dangerous, be careful Colleen." I said worriedly, she nodded.
"I'll ensure it," she said, nodding.
"And what about the situation with Taylor? You seemed to be getting attached to her," I said to Colleen, and she nodded, looking more cheerful.
"I was, it's a real shame she didn't decide to stay in Brockton Bay." Colleen sighed ruefully. "The combination of her and Vista is extraordinary and incredibly effective; it would have been great to have her working with us."
"She was also really good at her job, luckily we didn't have any problems with her and she didn't seem to resent the PRT and the Protectorate in general, so it was really pleasant working alongside her, she was really diligent and effective as a hero." Colleen praised me warmly, and I nodded.
"I guess Director Piggot and the other Directors aren't happy, she didn't stay." I hummed, and Colleen shook her head.
"Not really. Director Piggot is happy Taylor's back in Japan. She was able to avoid interacting with her throughout the internship, but if she were to stay permanently, they would eventually have to meet, and no one wants to see that confrontation," Colleen said with a grimace. "Especially not after what happened with the FBH."
"Normally, these meetings are kept secret, but after Dinah shook the FBH and PRT with her 'gift' questions, they were made public for the Protectorate leaders and PRT directors." Colleen sighed, massaging her temple. "Taylor's undisguised threat made everyone uncomfortable, especially since she made it in front of National Hunter Andre, and that, coupled with the very real threat of Star and Stripe's death, means no one really wants to keep pushing Taylor, so they're taking a step back."
"It's lucky, so we really need to focus on All For One," Colleen said with a sigh of relief. I nodded.
"I'm really happy for Taylor," I said playfully, and Coleen nodded.
"Me too." Colleen said without hesitation, I hummed before smiling.
"So what do you say? Want to go on a date? I'll be too busy for weeks to enjoy them comfortably." I said to Colleen with a smile. She stopped everything she was doing, her eyes shining brightly.
"Give me 15 minutes," he finally said, and I smiled broadly.
"I'll be here," I promised with a smile. I quickly began dismissing programs running in the background and putting aside most of what I was doing. The plan against Sophia and the League of Villains could wait; now, I had a date with my girlfriend. That... was much more important.
Author's Notes : As I said, I couldn't make the PRT so incompetent, much less after giving Dinah and Coil to work for and with the FBH.
Hmm, with these, I think all the POVs should be done. I had planned more, with Izumi's classmates, but since those changed and I'll include them later, I shouldn't have any more interludes to add. Maybe if I remember any, I'll do it, but I should start the cultural festival arc next week.