Meta Liberation Army

Abbreviated M.L.A., the army built its doctrine around liberation instead of regulation, insisting that limits on superpowers were an injustice the government dressed up as order. Chikara Yotsubashi raised the banner first under the name Destro, and generations later his descendant Rikiya Yotsubashi rebuilt the movement in secret as Re-Destro.

Members refuse the word Quirk on principle, calling their powers superpowers or Meta Abilities until liberation is complete. They salute by forming an L with thumb and index finger, then pressing the thumb to the forehead. The organization headlines the Meta Liberation Army Arc and is now disbanded, its ranks arrested.

The movement traces back to a woman who bore a son with a Meta Ability during an era that feared such people. She argued in public that what her son carried was merely a quirk of his, nothing more sinister, and pleaded for equal treatment. An anti-meta group killed her for it. Authorities later borrowed her language while writing the very laws constraining superpower use, and history remembered her as the Mother of Quirks.

Her son Chikara read that as theft. He gathered liberationists, took the name Destro because he meant to tear down the status quo, and waged a years-long struggle against the powers that be before the militia was crushed. Imprisoned, he wrote an autobiography laying out his philosophy, then took his own life. It went through reprint after reprint, and opinion on him stayed split between admiration and disgust at the civilians he got killed.

Survivors of the old army adopted his hidden heir and raised him for the role. Rikiya grew into the president of the Detnerat corporation and used that wealth to rebuild quietly across decades. His commanders were similarly placed: Skeptic sat on a board at Feel Good, Inc., and Trumpet headed a political outfit called the Hearts and Mind Party. Curious ran the publisher reprinting Destro's book. Because only Destro deserved credit for liberating society, any rival movement had to die, which made the League of Villains a target.

Re-Destro abducted Giran to find them, tortured him for a month while Skeptic cracked his files, then dared Tomura to come to Deika City or be handed to the heroes. Deika was ideal ground: its routes were easy to control and nine in ten residents answered to the army.

The Revival Celebration that followed went badly for the hosts. Himiko killed Curious and her squad after her Quirk awakened, Twice flooded the streets with doubles once he shook off his self-doubt, Geten and Dabi fought without resolution, and Tomura's Decay spread until it swallowed most of the city. Trumpet's Incite kept the warriors charging into that meat grinder. Re-Destro cut off his own legs to stop the rot from taking the rest of him.

Beaten and strangely impressed, Re-Destro conceded that his people had always followed Destro rather than himself, and judged Tomura the better commander. He handed over the army, and the two forces merged into the Paranormal Liberation Front.

Rikiya Yotsubashi, the Grand Commander known as Re-Destro, wields Stress, a power converting his own frustration into raw mass and strength. Chikara Yotsubashi founded the original army as Destro and died by his own hand in prison. Chitose Kizuki, the journalist called Curious, died at Deika. Koku Hanabata used Incite as Trumpet to whip crowds into fanatical action, and Tomoyasu Chikazoku puppeteered enemies as Skeptic. Both were arrested, as was Re-Destro.

Below the commanders sat fighters such as Geten, whose ice unnerved even the League, plus Sanctum, Amplivolt, Takaie Kanigumo, and Red. The Pro Hero Slidin' Go worked inside the movement while carrying a license. Beneath them all stood more than 116,000 trained warriors, zealous enough to let Curious detonate their own ingested blood to corner Himiko.

Its leadership drew from the corporate and political elite, giving the army social reach the government never noticed. It is also the only villain organization whose executives all lack mutant-type powers.