My Villain Isekai 6 (MHA)

Danger Zone

“How far out are we?” The boisterous woman atop the plan asked through her commlink. One of the pilots on the many fighter jets escorting her responded.

“We should see landfall in about fifteen minutes. These babies are fast, they can make a trip across the Pacific in just under two hour- whoa! Boogey, ahead, twelve o’ clock!”

Cathleen Bate, better known as Stars and Stripes, snapped her attention forward, locking on to the person in dark metal armor, flying in the air ahead of them. The helmet had a solid visor that acted as a faceplate and almost certainly a HUD, with who knows what other gear packed within it. They were clearly humanoid in shape, but from the enlarged muscles, visible as enhanced beyond regular human potential even around the fancy support gear they were wearing, they had a distinctive look. There’s only one person that could be. The enemy I came here to defeat, for the sake of my master. 

“Shisaki Yotsubashi, your reign of terror ends here!” Cathleen shouted. Given the vast distance between them, there was no way the armored figure could have heard her, but from the ‘bring it’ gesture, she had received the gist of it loud and clear.

Shisaki put on speed, the blocky platform she was standing on accelerating towards the fighter jets. There were exhaust ports on the armor that indicated she wouldn’t be without maneuverability, even if her flight platform was taken out of the equation. Does it have a life support system as well? Don’t know, but I can’t waste time trying to make a vacuum around her if that’s the case, I’ll wait for my brothers-in-arms to make an opening and end this in one move!

The fighter jets broke out of formation, moving to encircle her, when the villain pressed a button on her platform. A barrel opened up, releasing a wave of electromagnetic disturbance, all of it sliding harmlessly off the shielding each of the jets had. “Did you really think it would be that simple?” Stars and Stripes laughed, before she realized she couldn’t hear anything from her commlink. Was that- was she trying to cut me off from them? It was an odd opening move, but if it meant Shisaki was leaving herself open, Cathleen would take it.

It wasn’t however, as just before the jets got into position to blast Shisaki, the platform she was on started breaking apart. It split into several panels that floated around her, each projecting a small barrier out in front of them.

The shields took the laser blasts, deflecting them away from the villain until the fighters were forced to abort their attack, circling around for another go. Ugh, fine, we’ll do this the hard way! Gritting her teeth, Stars tensed, and leapt forward towards Shisaki.

Despite not being able to see the girl’s face under that armored helm, she could feel a mocking smile as she stretched her hand back, gathering a black ball of energy behind her before swinging it forward and letting it loose at the hero. Cathleen smiled, reaching out to grab it as it approached - only for the ball to explode inches away from her outstretched fingertips.

Stars and Stripes was sent spiralling backwards, tumbling through the air from the force of the blast. Shisaki doesn’t look ruffled at all - she must be able to direct the force of the explosion, pushing it all forward in this case. It was an important note to keep in mind as her enemy dove down after her, creating four more ‘Stress Balls’ which tendrils on her armor extended out to grab and hold around her.

The pilots tried to blast Lady Destro, but her shields kept on deflecting the attacks. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a couple of those barrier plates flicker, the thin pieces of tech having difficulty keeping up with the most advanced American hardware money could buy, and Cathleen could only hope that they would continue the barrage, but she had other things to focus on. Namely the villain’s fist headed straight for her face!

She raised her arms up to try and take the blow but was pushed back hard by the attack, the metal gauntlet that crashed into her pistoning forward, the mechanisms adding even more force onto Shisaki’s already enhanced strength. This woman is no joke; I can see why she’s a threat to all of Japan! But even with that…

With a quick New Order fired off on herself, Cathleen removed all the inertia forcing her down, then another one to step off the air, springing forward. …You still aren’t on All Might’s level! 

Shisaki abandoned her hoverboard, letting fly off to play laser ‘tag’ with the jets to avoid the Stars’ attack. The villain countered with a kick this time, her leg bulking up massively to add more force - and more importantly more reach with which to connect the blow. It stung like hell, but Cathleen had been a hero for decades now, so she rolled with it, pivoting mid-air in a way that Shisaki’s technology assisted movements couldn’t let her match. 

Two of the Stress Balls fired off in quick succession, blasting into her, but with far less strength than the previous blast. If she wasted her power there then I don’t need to use a New Order on defense here and can afford to go all out! Finally, she landed a punch on Shisaki, the blow crumpling the armor around the villainess’ left ribcage, and giving her an inch of flesh to grab onto.

“Shisaki Yotsubash-” Stars began, only to be nailed by a devastating uppercut, thrown faster than the enemy had moved before, the blow cutting the tip of Cathleen’s tongue off between her teeth. It didn’t stop there, with the enraged villain firing off a flurry of blows to overwhelm her. Was she sandbagging before?! No, or only slightly - she’s using her armor to enhance her attacks. Her muscles haven’t swollen up either, but they’re just as strong as ever. Denser too, The hero realized as she tried to push a punch aside, barely managing to move the limb away.

With years of practice, she strategized. Clearly, she knows how my Quirk operates, at least to some extent. She knows she can’t let me call out her name. Given the different modes of Shisaki’s own Quirk and given how it operates, assuming she didn’t get something else added by All for One - unlikely given how the reported animosity between the two factions - she must have Awakened her Quirk. I can’t tell if it’s what lets her fire those blasts or keep her strength while not enlarged, but it doesn’t matter either way. I just need to go beyond.

Stars and Stripes began punching back, trying to break through Lady Destro’s defenses, only for the young woman to switch tactics. Grabbing an arm, she swung Stars around, maneuvering her into the firing line of one of the laser beams from one of the planes that had broken away from the rest. Dammit, in close quarters like this they can’t help me! But it also gets me closer to her. 

Grabbing her left leg with my free hand, I said “Armor,-” she pressed a button on the side, detaching it “-disintegrate.” With those plates already detaching, the rest of her suit remained unaffected, and she placed her legs on either side of my gripped arm, extending it out in an armbar while pushing against my torso. The third Stress Ball fired, and proved that her previous blasts were modular in nature, the explosion hitting just Cathleen’s face, but more power than any of the explosions thus far.

The force also added into the tension placed against her arm, wrenching it out of her socket, the America’s number one hero crying out in pain. It feels like my face has burnt off, my right is useless, but with my left I can still win this! Grabbing the villainess’ leg, she cried out, “Shisaki Yotsubashi, your heart will stop if you move a muscle!”

It was difficult to enunciate that with her tongue damaged, but she trained to speak quickly and clearly in all situations, something that came in handy here, Lady Destro freezing in the air… for a second. Then she spun around and drove her fist into Cathleen’s gut. Doubled over, the hero heard the villain whisper gleefully, “What if I told you, my name wasn’t Shisaki Yotsubashi?”

Impossible! She heads a whole movement based on that, on her family name! How could the intel we received be wrong? Stars and Stripes didn’t have time to think about it further as Lady Destro pressed her further, striking viciously. In terms of strength, Stars and Stripes felt she could match the villain, or at least come close, but one arm was useless and the villain was relentless, doing her level best to break the heroine down, piece by piece. 

New Order failed to help too; even if it couldn’t directly affect the woman commonly known as Shisaki, it could have worked on Cathleen herself or the air around her, but she wasn’t given any time. She’d barely get out a single word before a kick or punch would pummel her and force her to stop. When she tried powering through, guarding her head, the young woman snaked a punch through to Cathleen’s throat.

What could have been the demise of America’s greatest hero was interrupted by another pilot slipping a shot through, managing to hit the woman pummeling her with pinpoint precision, not hurting Stars and Stripes at all. Lady Destro used the last Stress Ball and made it explode, the air turbulence from the blast sending the brave pilot spiralling away.

The slight distraction gave her time to set another Order. “Cathleen Bate is restored to full health,” the heroine said in a ragged whisper, pushing the words past her damaged vocal cords. She felt her body recover in an instant, her shoulder popping back in place, the bruises fading, and her skin regrowing. With that healing, the next command, “Cathleen Bate is immune to explosions,” was much easier. It came out quickly, as Lady Destro launched a point blank Stress Ball at her, rather than trying to use New Order on the villain once again. I doubt it would have worked in any case; I don’t believe ‘Lady Destro’ is any more her true name than Shisaki was.

The blast hit her hard, sending her flying away, but the expected explosion never came, the blast simply knocking her back like an oversized bowling ball until she rolled around it and it dissipated in the air. “Looks like you aren’t doing so well, villain,” Stars jeered, trying to hide her ragged breath. 

In response, the young, blue-skinned woman popped off the half melted plate on her back, as well as her gauntlets, which were dented and damage from what she’d put them through so far. That armor is good, but part of it’s strength must come from focusing more on lending her power over durability.

The villainess had an answer for that problem though, revealed as her hoverboard flew back towards her, more segments breaking off of it to reveal replacement armor that snapped into place around her to make up for the pieces she had shedded. “You aren’t the only one who can fix themselves back up,” Lady Destro taunted back. 

The modular nature of her armor, needing to be able to expand and contract must make it easy to replace critical components. The fact that it’s as strong as it is too is a testament to the engineering expertise needed to create it. Didn’t the Meta Liberation Front have a Support group working for them?

“That might be true, but you can only replace so much before you run out,” Stars and Stripes said, jerking her head towards the hoverboard she stood atop once again. It looked far slimmer than before, with only a few more sections that could possibly be broken off before there was nothing left. Of course, the situation was the same for Stars. There was a limit to New Order; it was immensely powerful, but there were physical limits she couldn’t exceed. Healing as she had might have kept her back in the fight, but too much would tire her out.

Whispering her next order, trying to move her lips as little as possible, Stars brought out her super move, creating a giant of solidified air around her. Despite the lack of visible change something - perhaps the sensors in her suit, informed Shisaki of the incoming attack, and she charged ahead.

Stars clapped her hands together, the air giant projected around her copying her movements, swinging to pin the villainess in place - but she had already begun juking out of the way the moment the hero had started moving her hands. The clap missed, clearly displacing the nearby air and giving the game away. With that trump card anticipated, the heroine swung her hands out wildly, launching a flurry of enlarged blows, yet Shisaki continued to dodge, reading her motions perfectly, getting ever closer.

The fighters blasted as well, but the last of Shisaki’s shields were used up preventing those shots from landing too, and then they’d have to pull away, to avoid impacting the giant Stars and Stripes had created. How is she doing this? To use me and my brothers against each other like this shows incredible planning, but none of these maneuvers have ever been shown to the public, unlike my usual heroic escapades!

A part of her absently wished for the ability to rain down the Tiamat missiles upon her foe, but even if her communicator worked, the missiles couldn’t possibly arrive in time. She lacked time to linger on those thoughts as the villainess neared, getting ever closer. “Cathleen Bate is physically repulsed by any woman approaching her,” she declared, letting go of her aerial maneuverability Order to escape the oncoming foe.

Suddenly, Stars was rocketed back through the air, out of range from Shisaki. Out of range to even hit her with Fist Bump to the Earth, the air giant not able to solidify that far out from Stars and Stripes.

Shisaki slowed her chase, in response, her armored head cocked to the side, confused for a moment before she straightened out. The chase resumed, but this time instead of going on a horizontal level, she rose up before diving down on the hoverboard. The repelling force immediately forced Cathleen away again, this time towards the ocean. Dammit, I can’t survive that. I’d need to drop both my Orders to avoid drowning and being crushed by the pressure, and if I did so she’d just tear me apart.

All of that was predicated on the idea that Lady Destro’s Quirk and/or armor would let her survive that too, but at this point it wasn’t a gamble Stars and Stripes was willing to take. Dropping the repulsion Order, she said, “The air around me forms a thick barrier.”

Immediately, Shisaki’s chase slowed to a crawl. The barrier stopped her own attacks, at least of a physical nature, but there were other options for a Quirk as versatile as New Order. Discarding Fist Bump to the Earth, Stars added, “The air beyond thirty meters in front of me is now 1500 degrees Fahrenheit.”

Immediately, that earned a cry from the villainess as she began to roast in her own armor. Rather than press ahead however, she backed off, reversing the thrust from her hoverboard. Given the two Orders in place and Cathleen’s inertia, as well as the stubborn pull of gravity, that meant she was still falling towards the ocean. I still have time, we’re a couple miles up still, but whatever change I make, she’ll be able to press on… good.

The haze of heat remained, as Stars and Stripes dropped the thickness and regained the ability to step on air as she willed. Taking the bait, the villain rushed ahead, Her glider burning up from the wall of heat and the extreme strain Shisaki forced on it as she moved faster than before. “Cathleen Bate is strong.” Her muscles swelled with power once more, and she met the villainess’ fist head on!

Stars and Stripes winced, hissing from the heat. Impact wise they were evenly matched, but Shisaki was so hot that the impact were burning the heroine each time they traded blows. If they’re burning me this badly, then how is she handling it?! It must be hurting her more!

Too late, the American hero remembered the name of Shisaki’s Quirk: Explosive Stress. The pain, the anguish, it’s making her stronger! From what parts of the metal that had melted off, Stars and Stripes could see her assumption was true, the girl’s muscles covered in a pitch black energy, far darker than the purple that had been displayed in the few pieces of photographic evidence on her file.

There was also the fact that Shisaki was slowly gaining the upper hand in the fight, landing more shots than she took against Cathleen. Attempting to change it up, she tried to use her superior mobility to leap away. The villain was clearly strong enough to leap around and maneuver off the air with pure strength, but that was alot more effort, and Cathleen was convinced she could dance around her enemy with her own strength and ability to control where she stepped.

This assumption proved faulty as the jets on Lady Destro’s armor flared to life, boosting the villain ahead to grab on to Stars and Stripes. The shock on her face must have shown, because the villain gave a hoarse chuckle. “I build my gear to work well, even under extreme conditions; that’s a Deternat promise.” Then she used the grip on the hero’s arm to leverage a powerful punch into Star’s face.

Brawling in close, the two super strong woman fought hard, each strike creating shock waves. Shisaki didn’t let her grip go, which cost the younger woman her own arm, but limited the use of her elder’s in turn. Stars tried to give as good as she got, but she just couldn't quite match this foe, especially not after the point-blank Stress Ball to her gut that exploded with tremendous force and had the heroine cough up blood. 

After that, however, the strength from Shisaki’s attacks died down, back to the level they’d been at before she’d been burned. Like all Quirks, there’s physical limits. There’s only so much stress she can hold onto at a time. The fact that it let the young woman fight evenly with someone second only to All Might in terms of strength, was still incredible, but it was still a limit. When she uses those Stress Balls, she burns up some of her stockpiled power.

Above them, Stars and Stripes was heartened to see that the jets had caught up to them, and finally destroyed that annoying hoverboard of Shisaki’s as well. It seemed like things were turning around, and they were, but not in the way the hero had anticipated. The split-second of distraction was enough for the villain to begin putting her in an arm lock behind the back.

Cathleen had done her hours of basic training and knew how to grapple as well as any of the boys on the base, even without her powers. The principle was the same when it came to this fight and she spun into the grip to escape. But Shisaki had clearly practiced more than a bit, anticipating the motion, and spinning around herself, maneuvering behind Cathleen. At the same time she released the armor around her arms, ejecting the metal plating to give her a smaller angle to snake an arm around the older woman’s neck in a bar across it.

She instantly tried to grab the choking arm, pulling down on it with both her hands and digging her chin down. Shisaki was holding onto it with her other arm, but that arm hadn’t been placed around the back of her head yet, so Cathleen was able to get some breathing room for a moment.

It wasn’t long enough to launch another Order before Lady Destro kneed Stars and Stripes sharply in the back while at the same time roughly pulling her head back by her hair. The pain and pull were enough to let the villain cinch her choking arm back around the hero’s neck and fully lock down the air choke.

Not a Sleeper Hold - she’s more worried about me talking again than trying to knock me unconscious quickly. The Air Choke was a hold that took longer to knock someone unconscious with, but it would be more effective in preventing Stars and Stripes from talking in the meantime. 

Struggling, Cathleen attempted to elbow, kick, and otherwise flail the grip off, but nothing was working. Wrapping her legs around Cathleen’s took away some of the heroine’s mobility and ability to fight back as they were stuck in empty air, nothing around to help break the grip the villain had on her. Her arms are like iron- no, stronger than iron, I bend iron easily. Whoa, getting lightheaded.

While much too close to fire their lasers at the pair, the jets dived down towards them. Shisaki seemed upset by that, trying to make some distance, possibly dive under the water, but with what little strength Stars and Stripes had left, she fought back, pushing them back up.

The jets converged upon them, the group clustering together tightly. Too tightly, if they get that close- ah, I see. So this is how it ends. We go down together. It wasn’t the ending Cathleen Bate had pictured, but it wasn’t one she could bring herself to regret. Dying alongside my brothers, taking down a villain that threatened all of Japan? It’s a worthy death.

The explosion would kill Shisaki, the hero was sure of it. An explosion of that magnitude, from all the planes blowing up at once would kill anyone. The young woman’s panicked cries as she realized she couldn’t out pace the jets and reach the ocean in time, cinched it. She was trying to radio the pilots, offering Stars’ life for her own. Fool, they won’t- 

Suddenly the pressure around her neck abated, the lightheadedness fading as Shisaki let go of her. Above them, the jets broke off, having to perform a desperate break maneuver now that they saw she was safe. Stars’ first thoughts were of a trick, that this was some ruse to attack her again, but they faded as she saw the girl simply floating in the air. “Cathleen Bates, let’s talk.”

***

The two of them stood on opposite wings of one of the jets, the rest in a loose formation around them: Close enough to break away or close in as necessary if fighting broke out again. For her part, the young woman didn’t seem inclined to fight further, but nor did she stand submissive. Her back was unbowed, and as she pulled her helmet off, Cathleen was caught by how young she was.

I read the reports, but it’s always different seeing the criminals in person. She hardly looks like a crazed villain terrorizing the world, tearing Japan apart. Just a young girl, the kind just about to enter post-secondary and go partying with friends. She also looks incredibly tired. There were deep bags under her eyes, but those yellow ringed eyes were sharp as she stared at the hero across from her.

“What brings you to Japan, America’s Number One hero? I don’t remember inviting you,” she spoke up laconically.

“You don’t speak for Japan,” Stars’ spat out. “We were called on to liberate it.”

“By whom? The Diet? I hardly think they’re in a position to ask for much of anything right now,” Shisaki said with a smirk, and Stars’ clenched her hand into a fist.

“Keep on laughing about your evil deeds, you’ll be in cuffs soon enough.” That comment earned a laugh from the villain, but it lacked any real sense of humor.

“Please, with Tarturus gone and everything I’ve done? The only way this ends is with me ruling over Japan… or on the end of a guillotine.” It was slight, the flinch that Cathleen felt, but Shisaki spotted it instantly, leaping (metaphorically) upon the perceived weakness. “Ah yes, that disturbs you, doesn’t it, hero?” The last word was laced with venom, like the badge Cathleen wore with honor was the greatest insult she could send her way.

“Keep on wasting time yapping. We’ll be at the shore in a few minutes and then you’ll be taken in to face justice, whatever that looks like.”

A gust of wind blew a few longer strands of her otherwise short brown hair into her face. “That’s the crux of this whole issue, isn’t it? I saw things I perceived as ‘injustice’ upon my land, and I sought to fix them, even if it meant breaking the law. And now you have done the same, breaking international law to invade and depose me.”

“You can’t be serious!” The heroine spluttered. “You’re trying to pull a ‘not so different’ speech on me?”

“Well,” the young woman drawled, “I wouldn’t go quite that far. After all, I didn’t invade a foreign land to enact my version of justice.” This girl is really beginning to piss me off. Oh sure, the villain had tried to kill Stars and Stripes, but that was expected. A villain looking down on her? That hadn’t happened for… a long time.

“You aren’t the ruler of Japan, no matter what your deranged minions might say. And don’t try and play the sad act about how you’ll be killed if you fail; you intend to do the same to my Master!”

“Right, your ‘master,’ All Might. You know, I don’t hold him any ill will.” Cathleen snorted derisively, but Shisaki shook her head. “No no, really. The heroes cling to an old system, but wanting to save people? That’s a noble goal, and I approve of it. Admire their selflessness. I just feel they’re stuck to a status quo that is untenable.”

The American wanted to outright deny Shisaki’s words, but they rang with a hint of truth to them. Either she’s an incredible liar, or she honestly believes what she’s saying. “Yet you and your ‘Liberation Front’ have been fighting them ferociously. I’ve read the reports; the whole world is scared of what you’re doing.”

“Of course they are - I’m changing things, and people react badly to change, even if it’s for the better. Especially when it comes from a woman. Oh, don’t look so surprised, those biases still exist to this day, running deep in our society. Even after the majority of the population has developed biology and physics warping superpowers, and people still assign so much weight to your gender. Look at how much heroines are forced to appeal to fanservice.”

“Hmph, look at me? Do I look like I bow to some horny idiots?” Stars and Stripes said, hand and hip on her chest. I’ve certainly heard people complain online about me not showing more skin, but even there they’re shut down quickly… why is Shisaki smiling?

“Oh, you might not, but those biases can be subtle at times. You yourself doubted if you weren’t able to become as strong as All Might because you were a woman once, did you not?” Shisaki’s head was tilted to the side and she was smiling calmly even as Cathleen felt a chill down her spine.

The heroine remembered that conversation well, but the only other people to have heard that were flying the planes around and below them. How could she possibly know that?

“Your next line will be: ‘how did she know that? Nani!’” Shisaki said with finger guns at the heroine who remained stonily silent. “C’mon, the joke works better if you play along,” she slumped, dejected. For a moment, Cathleen caught a glimpse of a carefree young woman, the kind of girl Shisaki should have been. It was quickly replaced by that calm mask she wore though as the villainess continued.

“But yeah, those biases run deep. I wonder if those played any part in why-” Shisaki opened up a section of her armor and Stars and Stripes tensed up. “Chill, just pulling out a phone.” She slowly did so, giving the hero plenty of time to see that was all it was.

“You might want to give this a listen, and see if you really think you have the time to be dealing with problems over here.” She pressed the play button, and even with the volume cranked up to an insane degree, Cathleen had to strain to hear what was being said in the recording. It was made easier by the fact that it was a very familiar voice (aside from Shisaki’s) on the recording.

‘There, I’ve sent you the flight path, and told you everything about how New Order works. I’ve done my end of the bargain, now get rid of that blackmail you have!’ That was the voice of a man who Cathleen had met several times at galas, charity events, and award ceremonies, many of which had seen him personally congratulating her and giving her medals in recognition of her service to her country.

Shisaki’s voice continued after the man’s. ‘Thank you very much, Mister President. Such a lovely little dossier I dug up from All for One’s files about you. It’s almost a shame that the public will never get to see it…’ she trailed off teasingly for a second. ‘But a deal’s a deal. You promised to keep any American heroes out of my turf for me, so I guess giving me all the deets on Stars and Stripes after she ran rogue is the next best thing, huh? Well, with her gone, I suppose I won’t have to worry about anyone else from abroad coming after me, so sure. I’ll get rid of the blackmail once I’m done with her.’

‘What?!’ The President of the United States sounded agitated now. ‘If she kills you then-’

‘Then all that information will be revealed automatically from my private servers to the public at large,’ Shisaki interrupted him. ‘Guess that means you better wish me luck, huh?’

‘Good luck,’ he said tersely before hanging up, ending the recording. There was nothing but the howling wind, the sound of the jet beneath her, and silence as the American Hero tried to process the revelation.

How? How is it possible? How could the President betray me to a villain? No, this- this has to be a trick. She’s just trying to shake my faith.

“You’re lying,” Stars and Stripes said hotly. “There’s no way-”

“That I could know how your power, a top classified secret, works? That I could have the flight path sent to me in time to prepare for your arrival when you left without permission, thus leaving very few people outside the situation room that would know those details? You’re correct, there is no way I could know that… unless the President told me himself.”

“You’re lying,” the hero repeated, more to herself than Shisaki at this point. “It’s- it’s just some edited audio or other trick. He wouldn’t. I voted for him!” It wasn’t like Stars and Stripes to lose her composure, but cracks were forming here - it felt like her entire world was flipped upside down and she needed to hold on to what she knew to be true or it would all crumble away.

Extending her arm, Shisaki held the phone out for the hero. “Go ahead, check it.  I’m sure New Order can do something to make sure I haven’t faked the audio or to make sure it can’t play anything other than a recorded phone message or whatever else you need to determine its veracity. We both know that this is true, though.”

Cathleen Bate glared down suspiciously at the young woman even as she took the offered phone. “How do I know you haven’t protected it with whatever trick you used to protect yourself?”

“I can’t exactly have the phone think of itself as a different name than the one it was given, now can I?” She asked rhetorically before adding. “Unless it was a true artificial intelligence. But we don’t have those yet, despite being in this day and age.” Then she frowned, as if the state of scientific development of the era was a slight against her personally.

Stars and Stripes put that out of her mind and began trying to find Orders she could give that would prove that the recording was a fake, even ones to make sure that there wasn’t some other Quirk or technology affecting her to mess with her mind or perceptions. None of them worked. Even the one that stopped any audio other than the President’s voice simply caused Shisaki’s parts of the recording to be muted. It’s true, he really did sell me out. Me, and everyone who went with me on this mission.

Nothing she could think of made any other sense; there wasn’t any other way for Shisaki to know what she knew, to be here with this recording, other than that. The only conclusion that fit was that one of the men she had trusted most in this world, one who she would have given her life for to save him… had betrayed her.

“How?” Was all Cathleen could whisper out as her hand tightened around the cheap phone, crushing it to pieces.

The villain gave her a sympathetic look that just made it worse. “Men like him see people like us as disposable to their ambitions. They want power for its own sake. He took All for One’s aid years ago and then became terrified that the knowledge could be used to shake his own position now. He didn’t run on the ideals he espoused or for the country but for himself.”

“I’ll kill him,” Stars and Stripes growled, and as she raised her gaze, she caught Shisaki smiling.

“Oh will you now? And will they throw a parade for you, for killing the elected leader of the country, or will they treat you like they treat me?” She asked sarcastically, and the heroine snapped back to the moment.

“I- it’s different! I’ll arrest the President through the proper legal channels, not overthrow the government!”

Lady Destro ‘hmmd’ non-commitally. “You say that now, but you might find the process more difficult than you think. You’ll start out trying to oust him, but find it’s not so easy for one person to make a change like that, even if the law is supposed to be on her side. So you’ll gather support and try to pressure them to change, but they’ll grip on to power tighter and smear your name, and the name of all those who support you,” she said, waving her arms out at the pilots in the air around them.

“Then, when you see justice not being done, cruelties that break your heart, rules of law overturned and ignored, you take the power into your own hands. And the people who support you? They will see that empty seat and move to place you upon it. For who else but the one who saved them, who removed the evil that infested the heart of their land could lead them?” She paused her dramatic speech before giving Stars and Stripes a goofy smile. “Well, at least that’s what happened to me.”

I’m sure she’s paraphrasing at least a bit, twisting the narratives to match a bit more, but I can’t deny that our tales are far closer than I had first realized. Even still… “I will find another way. To do things right, to expose wrongdoing without causing massive strife for America!”

“I wish you the best with that, I do. However it turns out though, I think you have to deal with that before you try to deal with me?”

“What makes you so confident that I won’t be back again soon, this time with the full support of my government?” Cathleen demanded.

“I think that the current months-long conflict we’ve been going through is a sign that regime changes don’t come easy. By the time you’re done there, I’ll be the new Empress of Japan, and if you come with hostile intentions, it will mean a war your constituents will want no part of.”

She shook off the insinuations Shisaki was spouting, glaring at the young woman. Cathleen Bate felt torn, between moving to strike Shisaki down, and turning to do the same to the President.

The tension grew as Shisaki made a shooing motion. “Go. You don’t need to be here, interfering with this country when you have problems of your own to deal with. We both have our opinions on how things are going to shake out in the end, but we can agree that you need to deal with the President, right?” Stars and Stripes said nothing, still weighing the situation out in her mind.

“C’mon! Your Commander-in-Chief was working with the Symbol of Evil and sold you out! What more do you want?” Shisaki demanded, her muscles bulging and twitching slightly as she lost her composure for the first time in their conversation.

“Promise not to hurt Master!” Cathleen shouted, taking another step towards the villai- Shisaki.

“I- what? That’s it? Promise not to hurt Toshinori Yagi and you’ll leave?” The blue-skinned girl clarified, her eyes darting to the shoreline they were rapidly approaching.

“Yes. You might have some points, maybe you are really fighting for your own warped version of justice-” “Feel like you didn’t need to call it ‘warped,’” “-and maybe I have problems I need to deal with at home… But I can’t abide by the idea of seeing the man who saved me dying at your hands! Not when I could have stopped you here and now.”

“Wow, still making a lotta assumptions here that I wouldn’t win round two, Obaa-san,” the young woman muttered, and Cathleen felt her eye twitch. I’m not that old! I’m barely fourty, in the prime of my life! 

Sighing heavily, she dipped her head, nodding. “You’ll spare him? You promise?” Cathleen pressed. I need to hear it from her lips.

“Yes. Like I said, I want to end this with hurting as few heroes as possible, and All Might was the greatest. I’m going to seek a resolution all of us can agree on. Even if they don’t, I promise that I won’t kill Toshinori Yagi.” The older woman let out a sigh of relief, undercut immediately by Shisaki’s next words. “But if All Might steps back onto the field, all bets are off.”

“What?! But you just said-”

“If he wants to remain retired or work behind the scenes, that’s fine, I can promise he won’t be hurt by any of my people. But if he makes himself an active combatant, I can’t make any promises.”

The words are reasonable but the situation… “He’s lost his Quirk and is severely injured; what possible threat could he pose to you?”

Shisaki gave Stars and Stripes a flat look in response. “He was the number one hero in the world for ages. I hope you’ll forgive me if I don’t underestimate him.”

Cathleen paused, then chuckled slightly. “Fine, I suppose I can’t hold that against you.” I’ll have to find some way to contact Master and warn him off just in case, but I’m sure it’ll be fine. He’s been retired for months now, he’s hardly about to leap into fighting villains now of all times.

Letting go of the tension in her body, Shisaki nodded. “I hope we can meet on better terms in the future,” she said before hopping off the plane as they were barely a mile away from the shore line. The other planes tensed, until one of the pilots caught Stars and Stripes shaking her head and signalling for a turnaround. 

I really don’t get you, Shisaki or whoever you really are. But I hope that things really do end peacefully. There’s already been enough chaos in Japan. The tragedies of the civil unrest had clearly cost people much already. The sight of ruined houses, people shambling in rags, covered in filth, or otherwise despairing were something the heroine could see clearly from high above,and it pulled at her heart. But I have another calling, justice to bring in my own land. And I will, and in a manner that doesn’t see what’s happening in Japan happen in America, I swear it.

A/N: So, the Stars and Stripes fight. It had some cool moments, but wow, were there a bunch of plot armor, things working as the plot demanded, and so much physics breaking. Just so much. Characters catching lasers, planes being slow enough for the characters to fight atop them despite a pretty limited range on how far S&S could manipulate the air around her, ICBMs crossing over to reach them way faster than the heroes in Japan could respond… and all that is even before getting into New Order not being able to just outright kill Shigaraki after he stole it.

Obviously, narratively they had not built up S&S nearly enough for her to actually even stand a shot at ending Shigaraki… but the fact that they just use her to erase a few Quirks which doesn’t even matter when Shiggy gets even more, non-Quirk ‘mutations’, it’s rough. So much of the ending of MHA really feels like things got majorly rushed and a lot of the battles/encounters occur solely because there were emotional beats that needed to be finished, not based on the logic of the situation.

Anyways, enough complaining, here was my take on the fight, as well as my headcanon on who betrayed S&S to All for One in the first place: The President. Given what we see, with S&S leaving without permission, and how short the flight is, only a few people would have known the flight plan and the vast majority of them would be in the command room. The details of her Quirk are also a classified top secret, so even of the people there, many wouldn’t know the particulars of it and be able to tell him so he could counter plan around in. On top of that AfO is very paranoid, and would likely want a phone call update in order to guarantee the loyalty of whoever tipped him/to ensure this wasn’t a trap. This would be difficult for anyone in the situation room, but easy for the President.

Also, later in the anime, the President tries claiming that they have to cow-tow to AfO, because Shigaraki has ‘grown beyond their technology.’ Not that it would cause too much collateral damage or anything, but that he’s simply too strong for them. This rings false in a number of ways, not the least of which being that the theoretical output of a really really big nuke could be, but also due to how we see that All Might got his Iron Might costume at least in part from America. The costs might have been astronomical, but clearly they could have given it a shot, right? Unless, the President had no desire to ever oppose AfO.

This is all just a headcanon, but I think it fits well with the scenario we’re shown. It would also work with the schemer past AfO was shown to be - All Might fought for a long time in America, so him going and finding some young, ambitious politician and giving him a Quirk or some edge to later control him as he rose up through the ranks, so that AfO would eventually have dirt on the President themself would be both very beneficial for his criminal activities and a great way to spite All Might.

This is a chapter where I made a clear distinction to give her ‘Explosive Stress’ as her Quirk instead of Feruchemy. I feel like the fight works pretty much as well with Feruchemy instead though, with Shisaki being less worried about losing and moreso about using up too much of her stockpiled attributes before she finishes clashing with the Japanese Heroes, and maybe some changes to her armor, like using a powerful gun/missile system to replace the Stress Output Burden, compensated by needing less gear for the flight system by storing her weight. 

This is the last snippet I have written up thus far, and this part clearly takes place much later than the other ones, but I’ve got a general idea of how everything could go leading up to it. What do you think of this story idea? Comment and let me know, thanks.