Version A, Too | Boku No Hero Academia Reader Insert

XVII: Lamb to the Slaughter

Three days had elapsed since the kidnapping and rescue of (Y/N). Three days since the image of UA had been wiped from the forefronts of hero society in the student's mind, three days since the first step in the League's plan had been acted upon, and three days given to heroes to take preventative measures and go on the defense.

They took this opportunity, and responded with an exceptional amount of efficient and effective effort.

In the period of 72 hours, heroes had made sure that every verifiable plan of the League's had been challenged and put to a standstill.

Increased surveillance around (Y/N)'s neighborhood made it virtually impossible for any members of the association to get close, detailed logs of where people were at what time decreased the chances they had of being able to craft successful disguises, and a thorough examination of all civil servants in the vicinity had been conducted in order to see if any of them were conspiring with the League -- five of them were found to be affiliated with the group, and were promptly interrogated then jailed.

The proposition was called H.A.P.P.I.E.R. (The Hero Association's Peacekeeping Plan for Intelligent and Emotional Response), dedicated to making sure that the general well-being of (Y/N) (L/N) and the environment around them remained adequate so that the League could no longer use the student for their ploys.

Admittedly, there were areas that could use some work in H.A.P.P.I.E.R., such as the fact that they were unable to gather enough information from the League's henchmen to make any moves, lest they wanted to compromise the safety of the child and the unobtrusive nature of their plans, but the methods taken were rather exceptional, given that it was so early in the process.

The heroes may not have realized it, but to the League, the preventative measures that were taken already proved to be more than effective.

From a villain's perspective, heroes made their best effort in thwarting their plans, and succeeded, accounting for nearly all the casualties they would have to take care of in the future, and all the added obstacles that now stood in their way, such as increased security and surveillance catered to precise regulations. Less people were willing to be paid off as well, as the threat that heroes imposed on those who were found to be working actively with the League was that the perpetrators in question would get no chance at bail when convicted, and would subsequently be sentenced to prison for a number of years.

The League was in hot water.

But what seemed to be the bigger problem was not active police force searching for their base, nor the scrutinizing demand from the public for them to be brought to justice, but the impatient hands the villain organization was in, and, as a result, the inherent lack of understanding their leader had of the situation.

A certain blue-haired villain never really had a knack for composure, nor empathy for those that worked underneath him.

So, in recognizing that little to no progress had been made on the League's behalf in the span of three days, Shigaraki was growing restless. He had previously made it a habit to scratch his neck or chew on his fingernails when stressed, and lately, the tips of his nails were frayed and the skin over his nape and collar was raw, reddened by irritation and unnatural peeling.

"Why hasn't any work been done?" Tomura growled, angrily picking at young scabs that formed above his shoulder blades, "We need to get work done if we want our plan to work. I thought I gave you orders." The room fell silent as the group internally sighed at another of their leader's tantrums -- the third one today. Dabi was the first one to shut him down, growing tired of Shigaraki's incessant complaints.

"Look, handsy," Dabi sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose and furrowing his eyebrows, "I don't know if you've noticed, since your head is clearly up your ass, but there ain't exactly much we can do, given the current circumstances. Working on the Nomu's, that we can do. Scoping out vendors and doing shady business in alleys, no. We ain't looking to be reckless and get our faces blown off by a machine gun in the middle of 4th Avenue because we were caught by some minor sidekick."