Author's Notes: Chapter edited and corrected by Scott Fellman.
May 10, 2xxx - Piggot Pov.
"So, Director Piggot, do you want to tell us again how you gave away an S-rank student?" Davida Brennon said slowly through her screen. My gaze was fixed on all the lit screens with the faces of the other directors from other branches of the PRT in the United States. The most important were Chief Director Rebecca Costa-Brown and the United States Federal Bureau of Hunters Director, Davida Brennon.
I was cursing Sophia, Emma, and everyone involved in this mess for the hundredth time. My lips pressed firmly into a thin line. I said nothing; there was nothing to say, only empty excuses, excuses already written into the preliminary report that surely everyone present had read. And the other directors knew it. Davida Brennon sighed almost contemptuously and looked at me with a bored expression.
"One of my duties, as director of the Federal Bureau of Hunters, is to bring promising hunters to our country, especially S-rank hunters. Do you know how difficult that is to accomplish? Even with Selner's help, our success rate is low. My job is difficult enough without me having to worry about the PRT giving away our own S-rank hunters," Brennan said with the same annoying slowness.
"I didn't give her away to anyone." I couldn't help but retort. Brennan just raised her eyebrow.
"My apologies, exile her," Brennan corrected herself mockingly. I just grunted.
"That's not what happened either." I retorted forcefully. Brennan just snorted disdainfully.
"So, oh illustrious Director Piggot of PRT ENE, enlighten us as to what exactly happened," Brennan drawled slowly. I gritted my teeth but said nothing. "I thought so. You allowed two of your then-Wards to torture Miss Hebert in an aggressive bullying campaign that ended in a Reawakening. Not only did you ignore her statement." she paused.
"But you decided to charge her with aggravated assault and unlawful use of a quirk in public. Then you threatened her with jail or exile. When Ms. Hebert reasonably chose exile, it was your turn to send a student to UA, so the PRT didn't notice anything strange. But you ignored all the preliminary tests that must be performed before you let her leave the country. Tests designed to avoid exactly this situation."
"Those tests would have proven that Miss Hebert had undergone a Reawakening and that her ranking rose to S rank. We are the first country to hand out an S rank on a silver platter for no other reason except for stupidity. The first Director Piggot. for what? So you could keep two B-rank heroes? Was it worth the trade?" Brennan asked tersely. Visibly annoyed.
"I've asked for help countless times. I have a group of S-rank neo-Nazis leading me around and a raging dragon that can climb to national rank if angered. All my requests have been rejected. Hess and Barnes are two of my most efficient heroes. I need all the bodies I can get." I immediately growled. Brennan's gaze seemed disappointed.
"You have over 400 heroes at your disposal, Director Piggot. It is hard to believe that two heroines who just entered the protectorate are capable of making such a huge difference. And if so, you're not the only one with problems, Director."
"New York has The Teeth, led by an S-rank, possibly a National Rank. Boston has the Ambassadors, led by another S-rank. The entire West Coast has The Elite. Even Stars and Stripes is chasing Slaughterhouse Nine across every state without success. My hunters are closing Gates all over the country to prevent another Kamish. Everyone has their problems, Director. You're not special," Brennan said coldly. I gritted my teeth once more.
"What do you want me to do, Director Brennan?" I asked through gritted teeth.
"I want you to get Miss Hebert to step on American soil by any means," Brennan said simply. I frowned.
"It's not that easy." I snorted. I could feel the headache coming on.
"Of course not. You made sure the girl hates her country and the PRT." Tagg snorted. And I grimaced.
"I don't care, Director Piggot, find a way. If you have to get down on your knees and apologize publicly, do it. If you have to send the two girls who wronged her to prison, do it. Miss Hebert alone is worth more than hundreds of Hess and Barnes." Brennan said nonchalantly. "It's not like those girls are innocent. Their phones had all the evidence we needed. Even if they didn't, if Miss Hebert wanted to, we'd still send her to another country."
"Their phones? You spied on my heroines' phones? Who gave you the right?!" I growled loudly as I clenched my fist.
"I did it, Director Piggot," Costa-Brown said coldly. Better known as Alexandria. Her cold, emotionless gaze stared at me through the screen. "Your... report, if you can call what you submitted a report, had too many holes. As members of the PRT and the Protectorate, I can authorize a search of any personal belongings of Hess and Barnes," she said simply.
"It wasn't your place to do that," I growled. They both ignored me.
"Furthermore, we're lucky you didn't ignore all the rules and handed over a PRT phone and computer to Ms. Hebert. We were able to search both devices without any problems. We have access to her entire call history, messages, and personal files," Costa-Brown added.
"What a terrible violation of privacy, I'm sure it will impress Miss Hebert." I couldn't help but say with annoyance.
"She won't find out," Brennan said dismissively. "What we found is troubling. The agent who should be in charge of her hasn't contacted her to check on Miss Hebert's progress in over six months, when she's required to check in every two weeks. She didn't even check to see if Hebert had gotten into UA. Her relationship with her parents and family is equally damaged because of Emma Barnes, her sister."
"During the first few days of her stay in Japan, she contacted her family regularly, once or twice a week, as usual, but that exchange became increasingly prolonged. The day of the festival was the first time her parents tried to contact her in almost three months, and she didn't answer."
"UA issues Scrolls to all of its students, so I have no doubt she never exchanged her new caller ID with her parents. She probably just stuffed the PRT's phone in a drawer somewhere and forgot about it, and thanks to that, we no longer have access to her records. Which is annoying."
"Not only that, Miss Hebert had several opportunities to return to the country for vacations, but she's never made an effort in over a year. She's practically distanced herself from the United States so much that it will be nearly impossible for her to return on her own," Brennan said with a frown.
" That's thanks to Izumi Miyamura, her fiancé. I don't know how they met, but they did a year ago and somehow got engaged almost immediately. They have a great relationship, so much so that Hebert moved in with him and his mother. Hebert also has an excellent relationship with her, to the point of calling her 'mom'. They practically made a family for themselves in Japan."
"Just like with anyone in the exchange program, that's why we don't send B-ranks or higher," Costa-Brown said coldly. "Miyamura is an S-rank too, but more importantly, He is a man. Japan will practically declare war on us if we try to steal him somehow to bring Miss Hebert back, so we can't bring both of them to the United States."
"Forgive me for butting in. I understand why an S rank is important, but... why do I get the feeling there's more to this than that?" Director Armstrong asked. It was sobering that both Brennan and Costa-Brown remained silent.
"What we're going to say here stays between us, understood?" Costa-Brown said as if in an order. All the directors, including me, immediately agreed. "We're doing this for her Quirk and her sword, Shusui." Costa-Brown said simply.
"As everyone knows, Shusui belonged to Ryuma. It was the sword that decapitated Kamish. Kamish's remains are well protected beneath the FBH headquarters, everything except the head. The head that Ryuma took back to Japan."
"We never knew what happened to the head. Watchdog and other thinkers keep going around in circles, and the only information we received is that his skull is being used as a decoration in the center of someplace. No one can agree on it. Some even go so far as to say something so ridiculous that it's being used as a store's centerpiece. It's ridiculous, but there's no museum or government building where Kamish's head is displayed."
"We had Watchdog investigate Miss Hebert down to the last hair. We discovered a lot, and the following conclusion was reached: 'Shusui was freely given to her, she has the full approval of Shusui's previous owner to use it, and the same previous owner is personally teaching her.' That tells us that she has Ryuma's approval, and Ryuma gave her the sword."
"While Miss Hebert's fighting style is different from Ryuma's, it may simply be due to the difference in body type and compatibility. It's not surprising that Ryuma taught Hebert something different. Bringing Hebert in is possibly bringing Ryuma in. As old and retired as he is, he's still a national ranker, and you've seen what Miss Hebert was able to accomplish with just a year of training with him. Ryuma would be invaluable."
"Then there's her Quirk, which works on insect-type dungeon monsters, and the thinkers unanimously agree," Brennan said, her eyes glittering. My eyes, and those of the rest of the Directors, widened in surprise at the implications.
"I see you understand. It was agreed that Miss Hebert's range is almost a 4-block radius. That means that with proper preparation, Hebert can form her own army. While the study shows that Miss Hebert will barely be able to control B and A rank monsters without problems, it also shows that with Selner's help in improving her quirk, once again, S rank monsters shouldn't be a problem."
"That means we could form an entire army of S-rank monsters. She has the potential to become a national rank with the proper preparation," Costa-Brown said solemnly.
"And Director Piggot, you exiled her to Japan," Brennan said with the same solemnity. I felt myself go completely pale. It's one thing to give away an S-rank Hunter; if I couldn't get Hebert back to American soil, the least I'd do is lose my job. But now that she has the potential to become a national Hunter? My neck was literally on the line.
We all fell silent. The United States already had its national hunter group, Star and Stripe, at the top. Thomasin André and Christina Reed followed, and finally, the Triumvirate, as a whole. There were never enough national hunters in a country.
"Can't we bring her in any other way? Force her to come to America under some excuse? Force Nezu to send her away temporarily?" Director Seneca asked, frowning. Both Brennan and Costa-Brown snorted.
"That rat is smarter than all of us present. He'd smell any plan we try 10 steps before we even tried it," Brennan growled, and I grimaced. "No, any plan must be carried out against Miss Hebert. It must come at her own initiative so as not to raise any suspicions. And it has to be before they realize Miss Hebert's potential."
"From the looks of it, they don't know yet, maybe even she doesn't know that she can control dungeon monsters to increase their danger. If she hadn't used it at the festival, it's almost certain that they're still unaware. We have time," Brennan said, frowning.
"Shouldn't summer vacation start in a few months?" Armstrong asked, frowning. "We can try to convince her to come here to file a report on her stay in Japan, just as a matter of routine," he added.
"Unfortunately, summer break is a part of the UA curriculum, and they need to be in Japan because training camps are held during that time. She'll almost certainly refuse if we insist, or UA and Japan won't let her return. Or worse, if we alert Japan that we strongly want Hebert, they'll almost certainly detain her. The same would happen with any other school year period," Costa-Brown said.
"So what? Do we need to wait until after her first year at UA is over, giving her time to build stronger bonds in Japan? So there's more opportunity for them to discover her potential?" Tagg asked dismissively.
"If we don't want to alert the Japanese government, then yes. That's the only way: to wait and find ways to sweet-talk Herbert back into staying in the United States," Costa-Brown said with a grimace.
"And why don't we find a way to bring her fiancé over? She'll follow that boy anywhere if they're as close as you said. She doesn't have to stay in Brockton Bay; I'm more than in favor of them moving to Chicago," Director Hearthow chimed in. All the other Directors snorted at the blatant attempt to get Hebert under her wing.
"Unless we can get Miyamura to commit high treason against the Japanese government, there's no way they'll release him. Even then, they'll probably use him as a breeding bull. It's impossible to steal him from us legally," Tagg replied dispassionately. We all grimaced at that image.
"What if we offer more boys to Hebert?" Wikins asked.
"It won't work. Like I said, the Miyamuras are now her family. Hebert deleted all of her social media before leaving and created new ones in Japan. Her only pictures are of her fiancé and his mother, although she recently started posting pictures with two other girls, so it won't work," Costa-Brown said.
"A fiancé, a mother, and two friends—yes, for a victim of domestic abuse and neglect, that's basically everything she could have been looking for. There's no way we're getting her out of Japan without a good excuse," Armstrong said with a grimace. We all fell silent.
"Leaving that aside. We need to figure out what we're going to tell the public first so we don't look so incompetent as to give away an S rank," Tagg said tersely. Everyone grimaced, but remained silent.
"What if… we involve All Might?" Armstrong tried. Costa-Brown frowned.
"Explain? I hope your plan isn't to call All Might to give us an idea," Costa-Brown said dryly, Armstrong shook her head.
"Of course not, but rather, using the figure of All Might as a UA professor, we can say something like. 'when we learned that All Might would be becoming a professor, in honor of the memories of All Might's time in America, we were motivated to send one of our best and most promising students, Miss Hebert, someone registered as an S-rank, to temporarily study under All Might, in his alma matter', or something like that," Armstrong said.
We all stood still as the idea sank in. All the directors' eyes lit up immediately.
"That's perfect. There's no way we're admitting we didn't know Hebert was an S-rank, so doing it this way will make us look good to the public, including Japan. Also, by using and drawing a parallel with All Might, we're implying that Hebert's time in Japan is temporary, so it wouldn't be strange when she returns to the United States in the near future," Brennan said approvingly. "Rebecca."
"Glenn Chambers will take care of it right away," Costa-Brown said immediately. "We'll have a preliminary statement in a few hours. About Shusui? Do we mention anything?" Costa-Brown asked. Brennan grimaced.
"No matter how reliable Watchdog thinkers are, we can't assume anything. But we also can't say we didn't know about her having a Japanese national treasure," Brennan said grimly, and Costa-Brown nodded.
"Then we'll just leave it at something like, 'We're aware and have been closely monitoring her entire growth and are completely satisfied with the results of her training since she arrived in Japan.' Or something along those lines, just be general and let the public make up their own minds," Costa-Brown said. Brennan hummed slightly and nodded.
"Perfect. I'll leave it in your hands, Rebecca. We'll be in touch," Brennan said before the camera cut away. I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding.
"Shall we contact Hebert for her mandatory follow-up?" I couldn't help but ask. Costa-Brown's mouth became paper-thin.
"No, I'll take care of it. There's still a lot we don't know about Hebert. We need information, and I'm sure she'll give any ENE branch employee a dirty look if they approach her," Costa-Brown said bluntly. "The others can go, Emily. You stay." I wanted to grimace. I ignored the pitying looks from the other directors as they logged off one by one. Costa-Brown stared at me for a few seconds. Even without knowing she was Alexandria, the woman was intimidating.
"What's my punishment?" I asked directly. There was no need to sugarcoat this; I knew what was coming.
"What 'are' your punishments? You mean, you, Hess, and Barnes will be punished, along with a few other members of the PRT, for this whole mess of shit. This includes all of Winslow." Costa-Brown said without hesitation, my eyes widening.
"What?! For a prank gone wrong?!" I growled loudly. Costa-Brown narrowed her eyes, and I closed my mouth.
"I don't care if it was just a prank that got out of hand or if it was over the top or not. I saw the videos. Teenagers are stupid enough to put that whole 'prank' on the internet. What matters is what Hebert thinks. I've already taken care of taking them off the internet before anyone makes any kind of connection between the 'locker girl' and Hebert."
"At this point, Hebert is your goddess. If she says the sky is purple, you'll just say, 'That's a pretty color.' So, even if it's a lighthearted joke, it'll be treated as an act of biological terrorism. As far as I'm concerned, we must get on Hebert's good side. I don't care about collateral damage. And you, Emily, are collateral damage at this point. I don't care if you had a hand in this whole shitty thing or not. You, along with Hess and Barnes, will be punished, period." Costa-Brown said coldly. I gritted my teeth.
"Of course, CEO," I said simply, gritting my teeth.
I was going to kill Hess and Barnes.
As soon as Costa-Brown is done with me.
Author's Notes: Wow, they were way longer than I expected, almost 11k words in total, but I had fun writing them! I hope they live up to what you expected! I considered cutting them into more chapters, but decided against it, so they ended up long.
I wanted to add the punishments everyone would face, but they would be even longer, so I decided to save them for later chapters, sort of showing the consequences of said punishments. Maybe.
Another thing, even more gender changes! Yes, all the PRT directors are women, as are the national-rank hunters. I don't remember mentioning them in previous chapters, but I did, and in that part, they were men. Ignore that. They're women now.
The fact that Alexandria is CEO and the public knows it doesn't change anything. For those familiar with Worm canon, Cauldron doesn't exist, and Quirks are almost universal, so nothing prevents people with them from holding positions of power. So Alexandria is in that position completely legally.
And another thing, in case anyone is nitpicking, yes, I know the time difference between the East Coast of the United States and Japan is about 13 hours, so the schedules would be really difficult to coordinate so that it would happen on the same day, or at least in the afternoon/evening in the US as planned. So… let's completely ignore that for the sake of the narrative. (I completely forgot about time zones.)