Project New Dawn

Fox, Nezu, Aizawa and All Might sat in Nezu's office, having returned to UA after sorting things out at USJ.

"We can discuss things here. There are no cameras, mics or anything in this room." Nezu says.

"As much as I trust you Nezu, I will have to do this." Fox says, placing a small device on the desk and pressing the button on the apex. The device, a pyramid like metal structure, floats into the air above a small metal plate. 

"Do you always carry that on you?" All Might asks.

"Yep. We SWORD agents play a lot of roles, from being soldiers, to being negotiators for various peace talks. Espionage is a... you could say important part of our job. At the same time, we are targets of espoinage as well. Especially when we meet governmental executives to discuss plans and other things. We usually do these at neutral public locations. This device, The Scrambler, is a multipurpose device. On one hand it loops the feed of CCTV cameras and forces the audio drivers in them to crash, making it seem like a system error." Fox explains. 

"Interesting. I am assuming you'd have issues sharing the blueprints for the device?" Aizawa asks.

"They don't supply the blueprints, but as far as I remember, we can talk to their marketing department and set up a deal where we get a supply of the device itself. This and a few other gadgets that we have designed, contribute to about 25% of the funding that they get." All Might explains.

"We still do that, but I'd suggest letting us handle the entire security for UA, because as capable as Power Loader is, he is but a single person and can only do so much." Fox answers. "If you let us take care of the security and everything around it, I'm sure it'll be helpful given the way the future might play out."

"Don't tell me..." All Might says, accidentally letting go of his hero form.

"All For One might make a move soon, today's ambush has confirmed this for us. However, this time, he is playing against 2 kings and at least 4 queens this time instead of 1." Fox answers.

"That's not good." Yagi says. "If the society learns about his existence, it won't be long before the society collapses, because I don't have enough time at hand to fight him more than once."

"You won't have to." Fox says. "That's where our 4 queens, Izuku and his team, come in."

"What do you mean?" Aizawa asks.

"Have a seat, Eraserhead, this will be important for you since you're his homeroom teacher." Fox says, removing his mask. "Though at this point, they will be less in class, so they're as good as absent in class."

"Why?" Aizawa asks.

"I'll explain that later, first you should know about those 4." Fox says. "Before I start though, you should know that if any of what I tell you leaks out of this room, we won't hesitate to kill both you and Izuku." He threatens.

"You don't have to go that far; I believe that all of us here can keep a tight lip." Nezu reassures Fox.

"Good. I'll start with what we do, because understanding that is key to understanding what these kids can do and why they can do that." Fox answers. "SWORD is an autonomous body that is aimed to ensure peace across the world and follow no specific government. SWORD in itself is an acronym that stands for Sentient World's Observation and Research Department. We're a team of scientists, assassins, military personnel, doctors, and former spies from across countries. New agents are often hand-picked by veterans based on their lives. The lesser a person's social footprint, the easier it is for us to wipe them off the face of the world to ensure no loose ends." Fox explains. "Think of us like your Hero Public Safety Commission with their recruitment of individuals they train to be heroes that work on their orders."

"Like the Rising Stars Program that Hawks and a few others were a part of?" Aizawa asks.

"Yes, something like that but we take in people with all sorts of quirks or no quirks at all. Aside from this, we majorly focus on international threats and don't interfere in a nation's personal and internal issues unless the world is at risk or if we've been explicitly asked for help by the government." Fox explains.

"The governments know of your existence?" Aizawa asks.

"The SWORD headquarters is a massive spaceship of sorts, it's visible if any country uses their telescopes at specific times, so all governments know of its existence. But no one is allowed to speak of it unless and until they have been authorised to do so. The last time this authorization was given was the day my Master, Nana Shimura fought All For One, when some agents were sent to help in the clean-up. Even then, only a small number of people knew of their existence." Yagi explains. "At least that is what is remember."

"We're quite secretive that way, but if things go the way we have predicted them to go, we might be going public soon." Fox explains.

"Hmm. So, how long have those 4 been a part of Sword?" Aizawa asks.

"Izuku joined Sword when he was 10, slightly before the rest of his group."

"Is that why he's better in close quarters and has a seemingly better grasp at his quirk?" Aizawa continues, causing fox to chuckle.

"Not really, Izuku is what we would call a CQC prodigy, the kind that you get once a generation. At the age of 12, when he had less than 2 years of training, he was able to fight almost 100 other recruits all with the same training as him and came out on top. Over the years, he has made his own style of fighting." Fox says. "He is the type of student that could recreate even the most complex move just by watching it once. I'll get to his quirk later, but in terms of training, all of them have the same amount."

"What form of martial arts is it?" All Might asks.

"I thought his moves seemed a lot like Taekwondo, but there's a difference in them, right?" Aizawa asks.

"He calls it Renewal Taekwondo or Renewal for short. Izuku used multiple different martial arts, learning and studying the basics of each form, finding their weaknesses and eliminating them." Fox explains. "The others also have their own forms that they will default to if they see an opponent worthy of the form or if they're fighting larger groups. Uraraka, for example, would default to a form of martial arts that use staffs and sticks called Pumba, Tokoyami defaults to Moon Light Style of the blade and Kaminari defaults to Full Contact Karate due to his quirk but the boy does amazing things with the form. Most recruits at SWORD become agents only after they gain a second dan black belts in at least one form of martial arts. These kids mastered 4 each in 4 years before going on to create their own."

"They might be masters of 4 but they know more, right?" Aizawa asks.

"Yep. In total they know quite a few other forms." Fox answers. 

"To think that they all have that level of prowess and have yet to show it." Nezu says.

"I don't think they'd show it in a classroom set up or against pro's either." All Might says. "I might be able to force it out of them by going all out but the risk of me losing time in my hero form is too high."

"That's true. If they use their own martial arts, they'd easily be able to overpower most heroes with ease. Including you, Yagi." Fox adds.

"You said you were responsible for training Izuku, how'd you meet him then?" Nezu asks.

"Found him unconscious in the playground, covered in injuries and cuts, since I was in SWORD gear, I had to take him to the base and not a hospital. We called his mother to the base and explained things to her. The rest of the incident is classified as per Izuku's request as it pertains to certain personal aspects of his life prior to SWORD."

"Where is his mother now?" Aizawa asks.

"She works for one of the many companies owned by SWORD that act as our face and primary source of income for our projects. An example of this would be Japan's Yaoyorozu Corporation and USA's Alchemax." Fox explains.

"Does Izuku go to meet her often?" Nezu asks.

"He used to." Fox answers. "I'm not sure if he does anymore, and that's probably our fault since he's been going on assignments almost every month."

"Their quirks, what are they exactly? Because there seems to be a bunch of things they can do with them, which most people normally wouldn't be able to do." Aizawa asks, referring to his notes from their classes.

"They're technically experiments." Fox answers, confusing the 3 UA staff members.

"Let me explain." He says as he takes a deep breath, pulling out his phone and placing it on the desk in front of him. A few taps later, a holographic screen hovered over the phone with three words written in bold.

'Project New Dawn'

"Project New Dawn was started as a self-funded project at SWORD that took 3 generations or almost 70 years to complete," Fox explains. "It was the brainchild of the then head of SWORD, Cortez Julian and continued by the current head, Ms. Abigail Brant."

"New Dawn was, in reality, an umbrella term given to a group of 8 similar projects. Project Brute, Project Psyche, Project Rebirth, Project Lazarus, Project Gladiator, Project Adam, Project Tomorrow and Project Purgatory. All of these projects had but one job, creating artificial or synthetic quirks. And its sole purpose was to counter All For One."

Yagi's body tensed at the mention of All For One's name as a reflex, while his injury ached with phantom pains

"Each project aimed to harness certain aspects of the human body." Fox says as the different project holograms start showing small icons in them.

"Project Psyche had to do with the mind and the senses. Project Brute was supposed to harness the muscles and hence was supposed to be strongest in terms of physical strength. Project Purgatory harnessed the shadows and the powers that came from it." Fox explains. "Project Adam was speed in its purest form. Project Gladiator wanted to see how destructive we could get with synthetic quirks. Project Tomorrow was an attempt to replicate teleportation. And Project Lazarus was to boost innate human regeneration to the point that it resembled a hyper-regen quirk." Fox says as each of the projects branched out from the main one.

"What about Project Rebirth?" Nezu asks.

"Project Rebirth was more like a combination of the other 7. It aimed to combine aspects of all the other projects." Fox explains. "And it was the project with the least probability of success."

"If I had to make an educated guess, Uraraka was a part of Project Psyche, Tokoyami was in Project Purgatory, Kaminari was in Project Adam and Izuku was in Project Brute. Am I right?" Nezu asks.

"3 out of 4, Mr. Nezu." Fox says. "Izuku wasn't in Project Brute. He was actually in Project Rebirth, he actually had the least chances of surviving, there was a 0.5% chance of him surviving, but he survived through what our scientists call sheer willpower. However, his project... it isn't a success according to our scientists."

"What about Tenko?" All Might asks.

"Tenko was a part of Project Gladiator before he betrayed us during a mission." Fox answers.

"So, were all of them quirkless before the project?" Nezu asks.

"Yep." Fox answers. "The darkest part of the project though was the fact that only 8 of the 20 recruits that were brought in for this project survived."

"What happened to the rest 15?" Nezu asks.

"Of the rest, 3 dropped out and currently serve as tech aid for Izuku and his team. But the other 12, they went through with the experiments and didn't make it out alive." Fox says.

"WHAT!" Aizawa shouts. "You experimented on kids and only 5 made it out alive! You realise that you basically violated most of the international clinical ethics laws, right?"

"They didn't. The Ethics Laws are not applicable to their case. Not if their legal guardians have agreed to the process and they themselves were informed multiple times during their training process." A new voice says. The 4 adults turn around to see Mirio standing in his hero costume. "Especially if everything was recorded and backed up multiple times."

"Why are you here Togata?" Aizawa asks the boy.

"I came to meet Fox." Mirio answers.

"Go home Mirio. It's getting late." Fox answers.

"Don't be like that Fox. I know you've missed me too!" Mirio says hugging the man.

"You haven't changed at all have you Mirio?" Fox says hugging the boy back. "If you're wondering, Mirio was one of our best before he decided to leave SWORD to attend UA and become a hero much like you did Yagi."

"I thought SWORD put mental blocks on those that left." Yagi says.

"We do, but we decided to not put it on him. Izuku, his team and a bunch of other scientists up at Peak did a bit of maths and gave us a tentative pattern that All For One and organisations like the Kaioh's would follow given their previous moves. As a result, we sent some of our younger agents to apply for Hero schools in their native countries. Mirio and 2 others came to Japan. Mirio applied here while the other two went to... what were the other places again?" Fox asks Mirio.

"Ketsurbutsu and Shiketsu sir." Mirio answers. "We also have civilian contacts in other major hero schools in Japan too."

"Remind me to ask you for a mission report sometime soon." Fox says, making a mental note of what Mirio had told him. "This was done to ensure that SWORD is able to get in words with the current hero community and not just control things by using the Hero Commission." Fox answers.

"Well, I just came to say hi. You guys continue. Sorry for interrupting." Mirio says as he phases through the doors and leaves.

"Any questions till now?" Fox asks.

"How were they trained. All 5 of them." Aizawa asks. "And I want all the details on their quirks. They're my students too."

"Alright. When it comes to training, as I've already told you they're proficient in multiple forms of martial arts, the use of weapons melee and ranges, including all sorts of guns and artillery weapons and they can drive almost any vehicle." Fox says.

"When you say proficient, are we talking basics or higher than that?" Nezu asks.

"Skills on the level of a second-degree black belts." Fox answers.

"How long have they been active agents?" Nezu asks.

"Why do you ask?"

"Because they seem to mature for children who have just turned 18 and the only way for that to happen, from a purely psychological perspective is for them to have undergone trauma." Aizawa asks.

"I must say you heroes are rather smart at perceiving things." Fox says with a chuckle. "Though I guess it comes with the experience in the field. But you are right. They have been active agents for almost 6 years. And before their experiments, these kids were active agents who acted as watchouts for the main teams, so each of them can come up with a plan in seconds and easily defeat a small army of 100 fully equipped and formally trained soldiers with a small group of 5 SWORD agents. After the experiment and the rehab period, they all could individually beat a small army."

"And what about their quirks?" Aizawa questions.

"Well, all I can tell you right now is the basic abilities of their quirks. Any more than that will lead to a bullet through your head." Fox calmly threatens.

"I can work with that." Aizawa says.

"Alright, but they wouldn't really need a lot of attention from you in terms of skill development since they're more comfortable training within themselves. Anyway, Izuku's quirk super-soldier gives him super strength comparable to what All Might currently shows and that is his base, he has a skill he calls Ashura which has 3 stages. I believe you saw the final stage earlier today when he fought the Nomu."

"Uraraka's quirk is a form of Molecular excitation which can make things explode, it has a passive ability to act as a sensory quirk. She also has a mental weakness that stems from her quirk which turns her into a battle crazed woman and so far only Izuku has been able to match that state of hers."

"Tokoyami's quirk allows him to control shadows through the one living inside of him, he can perform Umbrakinesis, shadow travel things like that. He prefers darker areas as they bolster his strength."

"Finally Kaminari, his quirk is basically electricity generation, redirection and absorption. He can shock you, make you numb from a lack of any sensation and even zap in and out of view. He is by far the fastest of the group and has the best fine motor controls when it comes to his quirk usage for combat."

"That was a lot of information, I think I'll be able to work with that." Aizawa says.

"Say Fox, would it be possible for you all to train the other students?" Yagi asks. "Directly or indirectly?"

"That is something that you'll have to talk to the Boss about. I don't handle logistical stuff." Fox says when the door to the room is broken down. Quite literally.

"YAAAAAAAAAGGIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!" A voice shouts as Yagi gets tackled by a green-black blur.