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Chapter Text

We all know the story of the quirkless kid who impressed a hero, how that hero in turn gave him a quirk to make his dream a reality. It all started when he was told he would never get a quirk, when he cried and asked his mother if he could still be a hero. And her response was simply to cry and tell him she's sorry.

...But what if she didn't? What if she resolved to support her son? What if her response was instead, “Honey, I'm so sorry...that I ever made you think you couldn't.”

With those words, Inko Midoriya walked over and held her son, rubbing his head and calming his sobbing. She decided that day that she was going to give Izuku the best shot at living his dream that she could. Even if he never made it, he would have done his best, and would have no regrets if he decided to do something else.

And over the next few months, things changed drastically for young Izuku. Within a month, his mother had sold the house and moved them to the other side of town, giving the Bakugos a piece of her mind as she left. The young Katsuki looked horrified, seeming to come to grips with the reality of his horrible treatment of his “friend.” He didn't want to admit it, but the youngest Midoriya felt a little bit of sick pleasure at watching his bully get what was coming to him.

Izuku had difficulty at first making new friends in his new school due to the outing of his status of being quirkless. This was solved the next day by Inko personally threatening the principal with legal action if something wasn't done. Three days later, lo and behold, Izuku's record no longer showed him as quirkless, but his quirk was listed as [redacted]. And with rumors of his true, quirkless nature quickly squashed by faculty, students were only left to question what his quirk was, which netted him some companions purely through intrigue.

Recognizing her son's natural affinity for analysis and learning, Inko decided it would be a good idea to enroll him in some extracurricular classes, as well as assign him some private studying at home. To help with the ultimate goal, she also decided to enroll him in some self defense classes after school. Between all these things, the young boy's schedule was pretty packed. But he took to the challenge like a fish to water. Not only was he acing his classes, he was studying topics in his off time that his regular schooling wouldn't touch for at least two more years. He also took a good amount of his private study time to learn many of the most prominent heroes, along with their quirks, how they use them, and where their weaknesses were. Two months after moving, the only thing he wasn't excelling at was his self-defense classes.

It's not that he didn't want to follow through with his mom's suggestion. It's just that the more he researched, the more he realized that head on fights with powerful quirk users was a suicide attempt. His heart just wasn't in the training anymore. Sure, there were a few moves that he could pull out in a pinch to surprise an opponent, but how does one judo throw a guy with spikes all over his body? Was he really expecting to be able to punch a lava-skinned guy in the jaw to knock him out? It just wasn't realistic, if he wanted to put it mildly. He eventually built up the courage to tell his mother as much, and her only response was to apologize.

“I'm sorry, you're right. I'll see if I can find other classes, but for now we'll just free up that slot in your schedule. You just worry about your hero training, I'll let the instructors know you won't be coming in anymore.”

While he was sad to see his mom so disheartened, he knew that this was the best way forward. He'd learned more than he would ever really be able to use from that class. He just needed to remember the useful techniques and keep that muscle memory in case it ever came up. But for a replacement, Izuku looked to the internet.

Sure, he could train himself to be stronger, but what he needed was to be faster. No matter how hard he trained, he knew that realistically he could always be taken out in one or two hits. So he needed a way to avoid that. He'd already spent some time learning proper dodges from his HEMA reading, but he needed ways to be exceptionally mobile and hard to hit. An hour later, Izuku was halfway through his third video tutorial of how to do parkour.

Years passed, and Izuku started a journal compiling all of his notes and thoughts of various heroes, eventually including a few villains to the mix in case he ever came up against them. His grades never faltered, with his fellow students, and eventually most of his teachers, convinced he had a mental quirk to heighten his intelligence and learning. His body developed very lean from years of acrobatic maneuvers, but one would be a fool to assume he didn't have some strength. Due to his interactions among his friends, he did grow a little more harsh and sarcastic as time went on, but he always strove to make sure it was all light-hearted, or at the very least constructive. He never shunned away from mentioning his dream to be a pro hero, and through his founded support system, he got plenty of assurance that he would do it.

By the time he was fourteen, the young man was a far cry from the boy who'd been bullied by an explosive quirk. He had a close circle of friends, a few of which knew and kept his secret. He'd not only stood up to quirked bullies over the years, he'd actually won most encounters and sent them running. He was a little shorter than he would like, but that wasn't a big deal. It just meant he was faster on his feet. And all the years of parkour combined with actual fight experience had honed his body into a lean mass of pure acceleration. And his mind was honed to abuse every advantage he could think of. And he would think of one before long. His green hair was cut short to manage its unruly curls, as well as prevent its use as a handle to manipulate him. He wore his school uniform partially unbuttoned to allow more comfort and flexibility, while still conforming to requirements. And he always wore his favorite red shoes.

It was near the end of his last year of middle school that Izuku reached a turning point in his life. He was walking home one day, musing over his notes on All Might when he heard some slurping behind him. A quick check with his peripherals revealed a large, mostly amorphous blob with eyes, a mouth, and some money stuck in it. He stopped, closing the notebook.

“I think you'll do,” it said coldly, lunging at the young man. Unfortunately for the blob, Izuku was faster. He leapt to the side, sliding to a stop to avoid the villain and force them to swap directions if they wanted to keep up.

“Think I'll do for what?” Izuku replied, feigning innocence.

“How did you,” the villain began. “Whatever. Don't worry. I'm just going to take over your body. This'll only hurt for about a minute.”

“Oh, if that's all,” Izuku responded sarcastically. “Let me guess, that's how long to suffocate me and reorganize my organs? Sorry, I kinda like the way I have this whole thing set up.”
He motioned to his body for emphasis. “So that's gotta be a hard pass from me.”

“Well, what are you going to do to stop me?!” the blob villain yelled, lunging forward again.

But before either side could make a proper move, a nearby manhole launched from its spot in the road high into the air. Shortly after, a large, blonde man stepped out, his left fist still raised, and a wide smile across his face.

“It's all right now, young man,” the large man said confidently. “For I am here!”

Even in a simple white t-shirt and cargo pants, it was hard not to recognize the number one hero in Japan: All Might. Izuku smiled, turning back toward the slime villain. But before he could make any snide remarks, the ooze lashed out with an extended arm toward the hero, who easily dodged it. With another, he attempted to grab Izuku again, but he'd done way too much training to let some small-time slime get the better of him. He leapt over the tendril, legs spread wide for more clearance, then brought his legs down early to land on the outstretched limb and spring off of it toward his long time hero.

“Texas SMASH!” the pro yelled, punching toward the slime villain. The force of his fist through the air caused enough pressure to launch a wind vortex at the slime, blowing it to pieces.

A little while later, with two liters of soda drank, and the bottles refilled with slime, All Might turned to the young man.

“You know, you really handled yourself well back there,” he said with a thumbs-up. “You were a big help. Sorry for getting you involved in my villain fighting. I don't usually make mistakes like this, but I was distracted by my vacation.”

So this was the number one hero, huh? He looked a lot different in person. Good to know he was just as great in person as on screen, though.

“Well, I'm glad for it,” Izuku joked. “Means I get to meet my favorite hero. Oh, and while I'm on the topic....”

Izuku opened up his notebook to All Might's page as he petered off, holding up it and a marker for the man.

“Would you mind if I asked for an autograph?”

“Okay!” The large man replied in English. With a flourish, he slid the bottles into his pants' side pockets, and snatched up both the pen and paper before him. With a quick scribble, he handed it back, now complete with his name in English, as well as a small symbol to represent his face.

“Thank you very much,” Izuku responded with a bow. As he righted himself, he slid the notebook back into his pack, buttoning together the front pocket reserved for it.

“Well, I need to take this guy to the police,” All Might replied with a wave. “See you again on the other side of the screen!”

“Wait, already?”

“Pros are constantly fighting enemies and time,” the pro said casually as he stretched, prepping for takeoff.

Unfortunately for him, Izuku still had things he wanted to discuss, and couldn't let such a golden opportunity just leap away.

“Well then,” the hero began slowly, then leapt into the air. “I'm counting on your-”

“Sorry, but I'm not done yet,” Izuku interrupted from his spot on All Might's back. “I have something important I need to ask.”

“Hey! Getting a little too friendly there! Let go!”

“If I do, I'll fall to my death.”

“You're right,” the large man replied after a short pause. “Just hold on, we'll land soon.”

As he looked around for a safe place, All Might gave a slight cough. And Izuku saw a small drop of blood leave the side of his smile, only to be pulled away by the wind. Something was clearly wrong.

With a loud thud, the two landed on a rooftop, and Izuku hopped down from his perch.

“If you go down, I'm sure-”

“I'll worry about getting down from here after I ask you my question.”

“Sorry, but I'm seriously out of time. I have to-”

“Sir, please. I have to ask you this,” Izuku interrupted again, his expression hardened. Even after years of prep work, doing his damnedest for a day like this, he still had to fight his nerves.

“Do you think that even though I don't have a quirk, I can become a pro hero?”

Clearly, that caught the man's attention. He stopped looking around, his focus returned to the boy in front of him.

“Can someone without a quirk be like you?” Izuku repeated, his resolve hardened.

“Quirkless...?”

As the pro started to consider the question, he gave a sharp inhale, and stood bolt upright for a second before hunching over in obvious pain, using the railing nearby to steady himself. With a groan, smoke started pouring out of the man, covering his entire body. And Izuku knew that wasn't a feature of his quirk.

“All Might? Are you okay? What's going on?”

He didn't have to wait long for an answer as the smoke cleared to reveal a skeleton of a man where his hero had stood mere seconds earlier. It actually took Izuku a moment to recognize the signature golden tufts coming from his scalp.

“What the hell?” he asked before he could catch himself. “All Might? Is that still you?”

With an annoyed groan, the deflated man replied. “Yeah, it's still me.”

This was accompanied with a violent cough, blood pouring out of the man's mouth. He continued as he rubbed his mouth, cleaning off the expulsion.

“You know those guys at the pool, constantly flexing and posing? It's kind of like that.”

“But that doesn't make any sense. How can you be like this?”

With another groan, the skeletal man sat down.

“Look, kid. Now that you've seen me like this, you can't go revealing my secret, okay? I'll tell you, but you've gotta keep it under your hat.”

With that, he lifted the side of his shirt, revealing a grievous wound to his left side. It looked like he'd been stabbed by a lance the size of a man, with all the force of a fully-loaded eighteen-wheeler at freeway speed.

“I got this injury five years ago fighting a villain. I lost a lung, and most of my stomache. I've become emaciated from the multitude of surgeries and recoveries, and now I can only do hero work for about three hours per day.”

“Five years ago? Well, I know it couldn't have been Toxic Chainsaw, that guy's quirk doesn't stab people like that. And that's the only big fight I can remember from back then.”

“You know your stuff,” the pro mused. “But no, that punk couldn't have had a chance against me. It was a fight that never made the public eye, by my own personal request. I will save people with a smile. I'm the Symbol of Peace. I can't be daunted by evil. So I smile to keep my fellow heroes' hopes up, and scare off the fear I feel.”

Izuku cocked an eyebrow at the mention of All Might's fear. He certainly hadn't expected those words to be in the same sentence.

“Look, kid. Us pros are constantly risking life and limb for this job. So no, I can't say I think you could become a hero without power.”

Izuku nodded, looking down. Of course, he had expected this. Deep down, he'd always known that was what people thought. He sighed deeply.

“I see,” he said softly.

“If you want to help people-” All Might began as he started to stand up again.

“I guess I'll just have to prove you wrong, too.” Izuku finished, looking up again with a wolfish grin.

“Look, it's not bad to dream, but you-”

“Have to be realistic?” Izuku finished for him, his smile shifting to an angry glare. “Yeah, I think we're done here. Go ahead and turn in that slime prick. I'm gonna go continue my prep for school.”

It was as Izuku mentioned the slime from earlier that he realized both of All Might's side pockets were empty. That meant the villain was out there somewhere right now.

KABOOM!

And that narrowed down the possibilities of where it had gone.

“Fuck.”

Chapter Text

Both Izuku and All Might stared at the massive dust cloud for a few seconds.

“We gotta go!” Izuku yelled, sprinting for the stairwell. He wrenched open the door and launched himself down the stairs, hopping the railing to get down faster. He never checked back, focused wholly on getting to the site as soon as possible. He couldn't let anyone get hurt because of his mistake!

Meanwhile, All Might hobbled along at a faster pace than walking, but nowhere near the all-out sprint his young fan was in. What the hell was this kid thinking? First he risks his life by latching on during All Might's leap, then he asks a crazy question, and now he's running straight at danger, apparently with no quirk? He had to be crazy. But there was nothing All Might could do to stop him right now. He'd reached his limit for the day.

“Damn it,” he grumbled as he nearly fell down each stair.

Back down at the bottom floor, Izuku shoved open the front door, continuing his sprint toward the explosion from earlier. He looked up, checking the dust cloud over the buildings, and after factoring in the current wind speed, he determined how far away the source was. Thankfully, that was only a few blocks. Unfortunately, there was no direct path there on the street level. He'd have to run around several rows of buildings if he wanted to make it there like this. So he turned right, across the street.

“Holy shit!” he heard a motorcyclist yell as he slammed his brakes. An unnecessary action, but helpful nonetheless. Izuku checked his left as he crossed the first lane for any more vehicles, and leapt high when he saw a sedan headed for him. With an exhale, a contraction of his abs, and sticking his legs up close, he managed to leap over the car as it passed him.

As he landed, there was loud screech of tires as the sedan came to a violent stop. Izuku himself, meanwhile, landed gracefully and continued his mad dash forward, straight toward a nearby wall. Once more, he launched himself upward, and this time he planted his right foot on the wall. With great effort, he kicked himself off the wall, getting a small boost in height. Just enough to grab the bottom ledge of a balcony overhanging the street. Using his momentum, Izuku then swung his legs backward, then kicked slightly while flexing his right arm in order to pull himself slightly upward. With his left hand, he grabbed the board layered just over the balcony's flooring. He repeated this process until he was on top of the balcony's railing, then turned and ran across it, launching himself over a wall and into a parking garage. From there, he continued forward toward the ramp to the top level.

His lungs were burning, but he couldn't stop. Not when someone was in danger. Especially when that danger was his fault. Reaching the top level of the garage, he double checked his bearings from the smoke. It was off to his left.

With a yell, he sprinted at the waist-high concrete wall, then jumped and used the top of it to get a further leap. With his momentum and height, he launched himself all the way across to a nearby rooftop. Landing in a roll, he continued moving, only temporarily losing some speed.

From here, it was a straight shot, and he could see where the trail of smoke had been blown askew. Finally arriving above the scene, he slid to a stop, huffing and puffing as he took in the situation going on below.

Well, front and center was the slime villain from earlier. Except now he was surrounded by fire. Izuku wondered for a moment how that happened. Looking around, he didn't see the legendarily hot-headed Endeavor, so that wasn't it. He also noticed that almost every hero that was actually present was just waiting around, watching. Mount Lady, he could understand. Her quirk was poorly suited to narrow confines like an alleyway such as this one. Backdraft similarly had an excuse, as he was busy quelling fires until actual firefighters arrived. And while Kamui Woods would probably be able to help, the danger of the flames presented a heavy risk. Such was the disadvantage of wooden skin.

Then there was Slugger and Death Arms. Both simply stood there, staring at the slime and doing nothing to try and take him down. Why the hell were they....

And then he realized. There was a reason everyone was on the defensive and avoiding the slime monster. He saw a glimpse of light, spiky hair sticking out of part of the villain's “torso” and heard a yell.
“I'm not about to let sewage swallow me!” an angry voice cried, followed by a large blast. Well, at least that explained all the fire. But why was it him of all people? As the smoke cleared, there still was the boy covered in slime. Though he definitely had lessened its grip for a moment.

Izuku sighed, dropping his pack. He popped his neck, then opened the top to see what he could find. All he had that would be usable was an unopened soda can and a metal pen. With a quick scouring of the area, he noticed a damaged flagpole that barely hung onto the roof he stood on. With a smirk, he made his way over, grabbing it by the middle. With a quick, levered yank, it snapped off its base. Then, after tucking the pen into his breast pocket and ripping the flag off its pole, Izuku started forming a plan.

He had limited time before Bakugo suffocated. As cathartic as that might be to see, it wasn't a good option. So plan B had to wrest him free before he ran out of air. From the look of it, he had reset that timer a few times by blasting away parts to free his mouth, but he was tiring. Looking at his equipment, then down at the scene below, Izuku nodded. Plan B was going to suck.

With a short hop, Izuku leapt directly over the villain, flagpole raised. Then, with a yell, he threw the pole downward as hard as he possibly could. Several gasps and raised fingers alerted the gathered crowd to the boy who'd just jumped off a rooftop toward a villain, then speared them vertically. Just as intended, the pole ripped through the slime, but didn't touch the hostage inside.

The villain looked up, trying to figure out who'd run it through, only to be met with two feet to the face. Leaping off, Izuku landed on the ground, then spun to face his target, who had momentarily lessened its grip on the intended victim.

“Deku?” the young man wondered aloud before his face was covered again. Oddly, Izuku could swear his old bully was fighting harder than before to get the ooze off his face. Probably just wanted to insult him again or something. But that wasn't important now. As the slime's face reconstituted to look at the newcomer, an expression of recognition began to form.

“You!” It began.

“Me!” Izuku yelled as he threw the soda can at the slime's face. He then charged in, leaping toward the monster. With the momentary distraction from getting hit square in the eye, he was able to leap into the ooze's center of mass, almost beaning himself with the pole he threw earlier. There were several gasps as the green-haired boy was swallowed up by the mass of slime. Confusion pervaded for a second as Izuku oriented himself, hands grabbing the pole, and feet planted on Bakugo's back, with him laying horizontally in the villain's mass of ooze.

Well, here goes nothing, Izuku thought to himself as he pushed off with his legs and twisted his torso as hard as he could to start rotating rapidly inside the villain's body.

Due to the cyclonic physics of what he was doing, the slime's mass was pulled outward, lessening its effective reach with the edges of its body. And with Izuku kicking off of Bakugo as hard as he did, he managed to launch the young man clear of the villain, onto the ground. He was quickly scooped up by Kamui Woods before there was an opportunity to recapture him. As the realization of what had just happened set in, the villain yelled at the young man still inside.

“You bastard! That was my ticket to explosive power! You'll pay for that!”

Well, now was the time for death or glory. Izuku let go of the bar in his hands, and went to reach down to pull out the pen he'd stored. But he quickly realized that the slime was putting up too much resistance. The villain must have started hardening himself a bit to resist his further plans. He could barely bend his arms enough to touch his head, let alone reach his breast pocket. And with him engulfed in the slime and running out of breath, he realized he was screwed.

Or at least, that was what he thought until he felt a tight grip on his forearm. It was a large hand, covering his entire forearm with a grip so solid he could have mistaken it for a manacle. It was hard to make out, but Izuku definitely heard a muffled voice from where the hand seemed to originate.

“Detroit...SMASH!” a familiar voice yelled in English.

Suddenly, Izuku could breathe freely. Movement was another story, but he wasn't about to complain that he'd gotten to see a Detroit Smash up close and in person. The slime villain, on the other hand, probably wasn't having so much fun being splattered across the entire alleyway.

The force of All Might's punch created a vortex reaching into the sky which lasted a good ten or twelve seconds. As the wind died down, a huffing All Might stood and raised his fist for the stunned crowds. A second later, rain began pattering down. Amid the cheers, a few people called out the obvious.

“Oh my god, All Might changed the weather!”

As Izuku sat down, he noticed All Might wipe a spot of blood from his mouth. That was definitely not a good sign. But the look from All Might told him asking about it would be a bad idea.

Over the next fifteen minutes or so, police came in and gathered all of the slime into trash bags to be hauled off. Izuku was scolded for being so reckless, completely ignoring his successful rescue of the hostage while the idiots scolding him had done jack shit. Meanwhile, Bakugo was praised for his “awesome” quirk and “bravery in the face of danger.” All Might, of course was just answering a few questions from the news people. When he was finally able to get away from the pros on scene, Izuku noticed that All Might had slunk off at some point. And since he didn't exactly want to have a conversation with the exploding douche, he opted to just head home. He was halfway there, walking down a back road between some houses when he heard a call from behind him.

“Hey, Izuku, wait up!”

Oh, God damn it. They were doing this now? Izuku sighed, half turning to look at Bakugo as he ran up, one hand outstretched.

“Oh, so you do remember my name,” Izuku responded sarcastically. “Kinda funny that you think we're that familiar, though.”

Bakugo came to a stop a few feet away, huffing for a second. Did this asshole really run the whole way?

“You're right,” he began, finally catching his breath. “You're right, Midoriya. I have no right to call you that. I was horrible to you.”

The shock of hearing him admit that was only surpassed by Bakugo's next action. He got to his knees, dropping his bookbag next to him, and pressed his forehead against the concrete in a groveling bow.

“Ever since your family moved, I've been hoping I could one day make up for how I treated people back then. Especially you. I've changed, and I want you to know I apologize.”

Izuku stood for several seconds, running through dozens of responses and explanations in his head. The only explanation that seemed possible for the Bakugo he remembered was the least likely one: that this was genuine. With an exasperated sigh and pinch of his brow, Izuku processed.

“Okay, let's say I believe you, and that I forgive you. Now what? What do you want?”

“I want us to be friends again.”

Izuku couldn't hold his laughter at that notion. “Yeah, no. I don't think so. Now, you've said your piece, so get up and leave me alone.”

Bakugo raised his head, mild confusion on his face. Izuku smiled at that, and decided to leave that confusion to fester. A small bit of payback, as it were. As he turned and walked away, Izuku gave a casual peace sign over his shoulder. Now that that headache was done, it was time to...

“I am here!”

Oh God dammit.

“What the hell do you want, All Might?”

“Well, I decided to leave early so that we could chat, man to-”

As he neared the end of his thought, the mighty form of All Might suddenly collapsed into his skeleton again, blood spewing from his mouth.

“Bloody skeleton?” Izuku finished for him.

“That's not funny, kid,” All Might said as he wiped his mouth.

“I disagree, but go ahead.”

“Look, kid. I came here with a thanks, a correction, and a suggestion.”

Izuku cocked an eyebrow, relaxing his stance.

“If you hadn't been there, if you hadn't run in like that, I would have slowly fizzled out into a shell of myself. Thank you.”

“Listen, bud. I was just righting a wrong. It was my fuck up, and my job to fix it.”

“And you see, that's just it. It was the caring, quirkless you at that scene who drove me to action. There are stories of top heroes from their early days, and most share one trait: they acted before their minds had time to think. I'm guessing it was the same with you?”

“Fuck no,” Izuku laughed. “I had plenty of time to think. How do you think I came up with my plan of attack? Thinking is all I do for fights.”

“Oh,” All Might faltered. “Well, either way, I realized. You can become a hero.”

“Oh, geez, you think?” Izuku responded sarcastically. “Took you long enough to notice.”

“You are worthy to inherit my power.”

“I'm sorry, what?” Izuku replied, anger starting in his voice.

“You see, my power was handed down to me like a sacred torch. And now I'm offering it to you.”

Izuku let out a huff, only slightly calming himself.

“So what you're saying is that you still think I'm useless without a quirk,” he said matter-of-factly.

“That's not what I-”

“That is exactly what you implied,” Izuku interrupted. “And no. I don't need your quirk. Find somebody else for your damn torch.”

As he finished, Izuku shoved his way past the “hero.” He didn't need this shit.

“Young man....” All Might started, trailing off dejectedly.

But Izuku didn't care. He had training to get back to. It was only a few months until his debut for UA, after all.

Chapter Text

As soon as Izuku arrived home, his mother was waiting for him. He hadn't even removed his shoes when he noticed her face lean in from the next room.

“Hey Mom, sorry I'm late. I got-”

“I know what happened,” she said flatly as she held up her tablet. On the screen was the news, probably a recording from earlier that day, showing the incident he'd injected himself into. Then a recording of him popped up in the top right, seemingly taken by a phone camera based on the heads and arms that kept getting in the way, combined with the less-than-stellar quality. However, there was definitely enough detail to see exactly how he'd saved Bakugo, followed by All Might's massive punch.

As he finished getting his shoes off, Izuku searched his mother's face for a reaction. There was definitely something going on, but he genuinely couldn't place what.

“Yeah, that,” he started awkwardly. “But if it makes things any better, I'm perfectly fine....”

Inko stepped forward, staring her son in the face. Her dark green hair showed little disheveling, and while she had definitely lost some height since his younger days, she was still just as fit as ever. Early on in his training, she had done her best to encourage Izuku by working out alongside him. Situps, pushups, squats, stretches, the works. And at first, his drive to impress her had kept him going. But soon, he'd found that he didn't need the motivational speeches, nor the exercise partner. In fact, she actually held him back somewhat after a time. But, being the ever-supportive woman she was, she let him do his things without her. Though, by that point, the habits had already taken root in her life. Even today, she had been cleaning the house with ankle and wrist weights, then used the commercials during her favorite show as a timer for her planking. Her fashion had shifted slightly over the years as well. Instead of the old button-up shirt and sweater over short skirts, she wore half-open track jackets with plain tees and leggings. Her hairstyle had shifted from the standard high bun and long bangs to a more manageable single-braid design. It had definitely been a welcome surprise to her husband, and Izuku could tell she was happy to be staying healthy. And the regular early retirements to bed whenever his dad was home were a good sign that he appreciated it, too. But he didn't want to dwell on that particular thought.

Thankfully, his awkward train of thought was interrupted by his mother hugging him around the neck, seemingly on the verge of tears.

“I know I can't admonish you for helping people,” she said shakily. “But could you please at least leave the life-threatening incidents until after you get your hero license?”

Izuku realized in that moment how much she'd probably worried about him. Her concerns for his well being, her worry that he might have been taken to the station. Hell, since Bakugo's face could be seen in the video, she had probably worried that he'd been assaulted on his way home from the scene. So he hugged her back, tightly.

“I'll do what I can,” he replied, his heart only half in the joke. “But you know how I am. I can't just stand by and let someone get hurt.”

“I know, and I love you for it,” Inko smiled, her sadness seemingly gone in an instant. “That's how you met Sutore, after all.”

In that moment, both Midoriyas had similar realizations.

“Shit,” Izuku swore.

“Language,” his mother admonished.

“Japanese.”

His sarcastic response was met with a light bonk on the forehead from the shorter woman. She then continued as though nothing had happened.

“He called as soon as the report made it to tv. You need to call him and tell him everything's alright.”

“I know, I know. And I'm sorry to make you worry, by the way. Love you, Mom. I just want you to know that you're the best.”
Inko blushed a little as Izuku pulled out his phone, already ablaze with multiple dozen missed texts, and at least five missed calls. In all the haze since he'd met All Might, he hadn't realized his phone had buzzed so much. He always kept it on vibrate, after all.

He opened up the text app to find six recent messages from his best friend, Sutore. Named in his phone as “Stretch,” in English of course. It was his chosen hero name, after all.

-Bro, I just saw you on the news! Text me as soon as you can!
-Come on, man! All Might was there! You can't hold out on me!
-If you're dead, I will fucking kill you!
-HEY
-Text me back, bitch!
-You have ten minutes before I come to find you!

Apparently, that last message was sent...eight minutes ago. As much as he thought it would be funny to respond at exactly ten minutes, Izuku decided he should call now. So he hit the phone icon in the top right of his screen.

Sutore Ichi was a dickhead, and the best friend a young Izuku could have asked for. The two had met when Sutore had been bullied by some other kids over his quirk. Since his ability was Expansion, it naturally came with the stigma of being fat. And according to the bullies, “nobody wants to be saved by a tub of lard.” After a quick reminder of Fat Gum's existence and popularity, followed by a short “fight” consisting of a single dodge and a punch to the gut, Izuku had scared off the kids. After that, the two began to hang out during lunch, and after some encouragement from Izuku, Sutore decided he should try his hand at hero business, too. And with some time training his quirk with Izuku, he was definitely well on his way. The biggest seal of trust the two had, though, was definitely the day Izuku told him the truth about his quirk.

Izuku smiled as he listened to the ring tone, silently counting them. One, two, three, and...beep.

“Where the fuck have you been?!” screamed the voice on the other end.

“Well, let's see. There was school, the road under the bridge on my way home, the rooftop courtesy of All Might's back....”

“You fucking what?”

“Well, he tried to leap away,” Izuku responded casually, shrugging despite the fact he knew his friend couldn't see. “I had to ask him.”

“Ask him wha-” Sutore began, his voice catching as he realized the answer. “You told him, didn't you?”

“Yeah.”

“And his response?”

“Honestly, shock. But not so much in the bad way I'd expected. More like an impressed stun.”

“What did you do to impress him?”

“Nothing much, just fought a slime monster.”

“I'm confused.”

After a quick rehash of the events of the day, which left out certain details of course, Sutore simply laughed.

“You have no idea how much I would have payed to see the look on that kid's face when you told him off. But hey, good on you, man. Closure. Oh, and if you need it, we can postpone our training. We got four months, after all. I get it if you need to take some time after today.”

“Nah, we're fine. Pizza Patio tomorrow after school. I still need to get faster, and you need to work on that Springboard move of yours.”

“Alright. Gaming at my place after?”

“Duh, we still have to beat the Forgotten Golem. Just please don't roll spam this time. I need to get some time not gaming so I can get my homework done.”

“Fuck you, panic rolls are a real thing. Good night, man.”

“Later bro.”

As he hung up the phone, Izuku looked at some of the other messages he'd gotten. Most were concern about his well being, a few were encouragement of his quick action, and one was just a meme. After spending a good hour and a half responding to messages, eating dinner, and doing his homework, Izuku decided to get online and look at the footage of his fight properly. He needed to check his form, and reassess his strategy. If All Might hadn't saved him today, he probably would have suffocated to death. So, for the next few hours until bed, he added to his notebook and reconsidered his approach to the fight today. No more needing to be saved.

…............................................................................................................................

The next afternoon, Izuku sat and waited for Sutore, his feet dangling off of their favorite pizza place's roof. As usual, there were a couple of people who noticed him and either pointed, took a picture, or asked the employees about him. Just as he was about to pull out his phone to check on him he saw his friend running up, one arm raised.

Sutore wasn't one to impress just from his outward appearance. He was of pretty average build: five foot nine, and one hundred sixty five pounds. His black hair was pulled back, but naturally resisted the influence, creating a head of backward-facing spikey tufts. Currently, he was wearing his black school uniform in his most common style. Jacket unbuttoned, showing his tee shirt underneath, pants purchased one size too large, and his custom-ordered shoes with a green lightning bolt pattern.

With a quick wave and a smile, Izuku dropped from his seat toward the ground. Several gasps accompanied the fifteen foot drop, which almost made him laugh as he landed in a roll, coming to a stop in front of his friend.

“You're late,” he said casually.

“Yeah,” Sutore replied, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly. “Teacher wanted to talk to me about my high school applications. I told him there's only one.”

“U.A.”

“Damn right.”

The two smiled toothily at each other, sharing a fist bump.

“But yeah, he tried to convince me to try for a few other schools. He mainly suggested Shiketsu High. You know, just in case.”

“That's really pragmatic.”

Both kids stood staring for a second, letting the gravity of the claim set in, then both burst out laughing, turning toward the window to order.

“Like either of us isn't gonna make it in.”

As the two friends approached the counter, the cashier folded his arms.

“You were on the roof again.”

“I was. Didn't touch anything up there, I promise.”

“Good,” the man responded, his voice not having changed tone once. “The usual?”

“You bet. Two slices of pepperoni each, with medium fries for me and buffalo wings for him.”

“Any drinks today? Or is it just fountain water again?”

“Nah, I brought flavor packs today. Thanks though.”

“That will come out to four hundred yen.”

Izuku tossed two bills on the counter, then turned and started walking toward an empty table.

“Thanks Kamina. Keep being that ray of sunshine.”

An unamused stare was all he got in response, as usual.

After a quick meal complete with jokes and comparing notes on the fight from the previous day, both Izuku and Sutore stood and readied themselves on either side of the table they were at. Both boys stared intently at the crosswalk signal at the intersection ahead of them.

“So what's the goal?” Sutore asked, not looking away. “Swings? Slide? Tree?”

“Sidewalk.”

“That's rather easy, don't you-”

“On Omochidori Avenue.”

“Now that ought to be interesting.”

Both friends smiled, lowering slightly as they readied for the signal change. The instant the signal switched to green, they took off in a full sprint. Izuku ran with a low lean, pushing his legs around as fast as he could manage. Sutore, on the other hand, took great long leaps with each step, using his quirk to enlarge his foot rapidly and launch him further, before quickly shrinking it again. His shoes changed size to match, having been special ordered from a support item company in America. Though their approaches were wildly different, there was no discernible difference in their speeds overall. Naturally, Izuku would take the lead whenever Sutore landed, but when he launched, Sutore took the lead by a decent margin. As they made it to the other side of the crosswalk, their paths diverged. Izuku continued directly forward, jumping and using a foot against the wall to gain height to grab the top of the seven-foot-tall wall. Sutore had to turn and go around the wall, but he didn't lose much time as his footwork seemed to allow for nearly perfect momentum conservation as he made a ninety degree left turn.

As he pulled himself onto the top of the wall, Izuku jumped a little to his right then sprinted along the top of the concrete barrier overlooking the waterway the two boys were running alongside. Sutore, meanwhile, was running down the rampway toward the water level, his great bounding stride keeping Izuku constantly aware of his relative position. As the concrete wall turned to follow the path around a support beam for the walkway that went perpendicular to the path below, Izuku leapt toward the railing ahead, tucking in his legs to clear the handrails.

He decelerated quickly, catching himself with the opposite rail, then set off to his right, leaving all the people in the vicinity of his appearance slightly bewildered. He continued his mad dash to the end of the walkway, then turned left toward the stairs. Unfortunately, he couldn't just jump down and expect to not break an ankle, so he took the first half three at a time, then jumped the rest, rolling to conserve momentum, and set off again in his sprint. He angled himself to the left, seeing a tree he figured would easily allow him to get back on another wall behind it. He jumped, using the angle of the trunk as a second foothold to get a second great leap, then tucked his feet up to land standing on the wall, only momentarily losing his balance. He quickly recovered, setting off along the top of the wall toward the park that was the site of the finish line. As he cleared the apartment complex that he'd climbed up here to get around, he realized that Sutore was just then making his way into the park. That bastard had gained the lead! However, unfortunately for Sutore, Izuku had one more trick up his sleeve. He dropped down from the wall, now a good distance behind his friend. Instead of running directly toward the fence on the other side of the small playground, Izuku ran to the slide setup, climbing up onto the roof quickly. Now, with just a quick dash and some small steps up, he was able to launch himself onto the top of the fence, and dropped down casually on the other side while Sutore was still pulling himself up toward the top bar so he could swing over. With a groan, the boy shifted himself over the top of the fence, then dropped down to land next to his friend.

“Just how the hell,” Sutore huffed. “Did you jump onto the top of that fence?”

“Slides,” Izuku replied, slightly winded himself. “They give a good enough height advantage.”

“And here I thought I finally had you. Damn your parkour.”

“That's what I studied it for. The fastest path between to points is always a straight line. I had the route advantage at the end.”

“Yeah, whatever. You know any good high jump spots nearby? All I can think of is the jump straight up to the walkway over the canal.”

Izuku thought for a moment, a smile slowly spreading over his face.

“Yeah, there is one I can think of.”

With that, he turned and started walking, motioning over his shoulder for Sutore to follow. The two made their way a few blocks down, and as Izuku turned down an alleyway, his friend stopped. He knew exactly where they were going.

“Izuku, what are you doing?”

“Showing you a high leap I can't make,” the green-haired boy replied innocently.

“Yeah, and it must be just a coincidence that we're near one of Stain's suspected hideouts?”

“Are we? Huh, that's so weird. Either way, the wall is right over here.”

Izuku pointed to a wall of steel sheets reaching over ten feet up ahead and to their right. On the other side was a long-since abandoned warehouse, with several windows boarded up. The wall they were headed toward was just one section of the blockade that encircled the building

“You and I both know you did this on purpose. And I'm not going to just launch you to your death.”

“Come on, Sutore. I'll be in and out in less than five minutes. You can even time me if you want. I'm not trying to run into the guy, just look for evidence. Surveillance of a threat, that kind of thing.”

Sutore wasn't fully convinced, but he knew his friend wasn't actively suicidal, and had to admit that it would be good to be able to confirm or deny the claims of the hero killer being in this area.

“Alright, fine. But if anything happens, you yell for me. I'll break down every wall in my way to kick your ass back home safe.”

“Fine. Just get over there.”

Izuku pointed to a spot in front of a section of the wall. Sutore sighed, but walked to the spot, then took off his backpack, jacket, and shirt. He then braced himself by lowering his stance.

“You have five minutes in there,” the boy said, nodding to his friend.

Izuku smiled, running straight toward him. He jumped, putting both feet directly on his friend's stomach. Sutore in turn leaned his torso back, then activated his quirk, launching the other boy high into the air. Izuku adjusted his position midair to place a hand on the top of the wall, pulling himself just clear of the wall before flipping himself to an upright position in time to land in a roll. He looked around to find a possible exit, and luckily it seemed that the walls seemed more to keep people out than in, as there was chain-link fencing on the interior of every wall. At least that meant it would be easy to climb back out.

“Better start that timer,” he reminded Sutore before making his way over to the warehouse. He was pretty sure he heard the telltale beep of a timer app on his friend's phone.

As Izuku neared the building, he kept himself low, watching every window warily. If the stories were true, he probably wouldn't be in much danger, but a psychopath who hunts “false heroes” isn't exactly someone who's logical consistency should be relied on. The there was the more likely, and more dangerous, possibility that it was a homeless person or people. He made his way over to a broken window that wasn't boarded up, sidling up against the wall next to it. He leaned his head in slightly, only revealing his right eye as he peered in. It was hard to see much in the dark, but the light making its way in the window made him certain there weren't any traps directly under this window. So he carefully, silently climbed up and in.
With a quick motion, he pulled up his phone, turning on its flashlight. He scanned the room, starting with a search of the floor for traps. He raised the light high enough to check down the hallway in front of him, seeing nothing. He lowered the beam so he could see in front of him, but not high enough to give away his position to others. With that, he started forward into the dark, keeping his ears perked up the whole time. As he went, he checked every side room he passed just in case, but nothing moved in any of them. Well, nothing barring a few rats. The far more notable thing was that every single surface and item he saw was damaged in some way. Walls were punched, or had sections collapsed. The floors were stained and cracked with time, weeds coming in through some of the cracks. Pieces of wood, glass, and warped metal dotted the floors in each and every room. He made his way down the hall, took a right, then entered a side room labeled “stairs.”

The second floor wasn't much different. More broken chunks of material, more damaged walls, more busted floors. The difference up here was that some sections of floor were completely missing, having apparently collapsed in from disrepair and possible water damage based on the stains. As he searched, Izuku couldn't shake the nagging sense that someone was watching him. He shook it off, though, since he hadn't heard a single thing yet, and in the dead silence of this place, even his own footsteps felt like they broadcast for miles. As he finished up checking all the rooms on the floor, he checked his phone.

18:35, it read. He had to get out now, before Sutore made good on his promise. It's not like there was anything in here, anyway. With a resigned sigh, Izuku stood properly upright, putting both hands on his hips.

“Well this was a bust,” he said to himself quietly. He shrugged, then pulled up his phone, shutting off its flashlight as he made his way over to the nearest window. Luckily, it was only boarded up partway, allowing him to slip out between the boards and the sill, finding himself on the fire escape. He made his way down, dropping the last eight feet, since the ladder was missing. He walked over to where Sutore should have been waiting, calling out as he approached.

“Nothing, the place has been ransacked,” he said loudly enough for his friend to catch from over the wall. “I kinda feel bad for the building owners. It's gonna take a lot to fix this up and make it livable again.”

“That's on them,” Sutore replied, the relief only barely hidden from his voice. “Now lets get out of here and get to gaming.”

“Yup.”

As the boy climbed back over the fence, a masked man pulled his head back in the window of his hideout, re-sheathing a sword over his shoulder. He never liked dealing with kids. It made him feel too much like a villain. He checked the tarp nearby, making sure all of his equipment was accounted for before setting it all out again. He hoped the kid wouldn't come back. That had been too close.

Chapter Text

Izuku popped his neck as he and Sutore approached the front gate of what would soon be their high school. He was slightly distracted, though, as he was busy penning in some finishing details on an entry in his fourth hero note journal.

“So,” Sutore chuckled as they crossed the entryway. “Low score buys lunch?”

“You're on,” Izuku replied confidently, not bothering to look up from his journal.

“Hey,” a familiar voice called from behind. “Midoriya, wait up!”

Izuku groaned inwardly as he turned, looking up from his notebook to glare at Bakugo. However, he'd neglected to watch where he was going, and as he continued to walk backward, he accidentally bumped someone. The surprise of hitting someone else, combined with his attempt to not step on their feet and simultaneously turn to catch himself ended up with him over-correcting and accidentally flinging the notebook into the grass, with his shoulder on its way directly to the bricks below.

With a quick readjustment, he angled his shoulder so that he could roll out of this predicament. But, just as he pushed off with his legs, he felt a hand touch his back, and suddenly he found himself flying upward instead of forward as intended. Combined with his intent to roll, he was now floating about four feet off the ground, upside down. He paused as he realized he couldn't feel gravity's pull toward the ground on any of his body.

Somebody had trolled him with their quirk.

“Sorry,” a feminine voice quickly said. “Release!”

As soon as the last word was uttered, Izuku felt his weight return, much to his dismay. He put his hands up to catch himself, but didn't really know where to go from there, and ended up landing with most of his weight directly on his shoulder blades. Then his feet came down, and now his ankles hurt slightly.

“Ow,” he said simply.

“What the hell?” Sutore asked, angrily making his way over to his friend without breaking eye contact with the girl responsible. As he walked, he picked up the discarded journal.

“I'm sorry,” she said quickly, raising both hands defensively. “I just saw that he was going to fall, and tried to help!”

“Yeah,” Izuku said as he sat up. “You prevented me from falling over, that's for sure.”

He looked up at the girl in question, a look of annoyance settling on his face. She was cute, for sure, but based on her “help,” she was a bit of a dullard. Her light brown hair draped down her head like curtains, with a bang on each side reminding him of the presentation of a stage in drama club. Her brown eyes shined brightly, and the spots on her cheeks made her slightly rounded facial structure look all the cuter. Her pink checkered scarf matched well with the burgundy jacket, and her dark gray skirt matched the leggings underneath that. Completing the outfit was her black backpack and brown slip-on shoes. It was as he looked her over properly that Izuku noticed the small spots on each of her fingertips, likely where she had to touch to activate that anti-gravity quirk.

“That was a cute ploy, but I expected better.”

As he spoke, Izuku stood, dusting himself off. He paused for a second, looking around for his dropped journal before Sutore handed it over. Just as he set his pen back in the spine and pulled his pack around to put the book in its pocket, Bakugo made his way over.

“Hey,” he said somewhat sheepishly. “You okay? That looked like a rough landing.”

“I'm fine,” Izuku spat. “Now if you and your friends are done with your little prank, there's an entrance exam that I need to get to.”

“What do you-” Bakugo started, but Izuku had already turned and was walking away.

“So,” Sutore asked as they made their way up to the central building. “One of his pranks?”

“The timing feels too convenient to not be planned. It's possible that was genuine, but I have doubts. Especially with Baku-bitch involved.”

“Well, hopefully that's all the interference he runs. Come on, let's go.”

With that, both boys pushed open the door in front of them, and made their way to the orientation room. It was a large room, with three sections of seating, each one made of several rows of benches with an accompanying desk from the top of the seat in front of them. In middle, toward the back, there was a large stage, with a giant screen behind it displaying UA's logo, with an animated glint and a scrolling background with indecipherable lettering constantly flowing behind. As they made their way to their preferred seats--front and center of course--more potential students filtered in and filled the room. Before long, the place was packed. Izuku reached into his pack and took out a small, unmarked notebook and opened it to the first page.

Eventually, after everyone had found their seats, the lights in the room dimmed, shortly followed by several coming on in succession directly pointed at the front stage. On said stage, Izuku recognized Present Mic, a local radio host and professional hero.

“Welcome, listeners, to my show today!”

He then switched to English as he finished, “Everybody say 'Hey!'”

The only two who actually responded were Izuku and Sutore.

“HEYO!”

“Well, that was a lackluster response,” Mic mused aloud. “Well, I guess I should just get on to the rundown of the practical exam.”

Again, he switched to English as he asked, “Are you ready? Yeah!”

This time, he was met with complete silence. Being the only two responding was a lot more annoying than it was worth....

“Just like it says in the application requirements, you will all be partaking in ten-minute mock battles once we're done here. You can bring whatever you want with you. After this presentation, head over to your designated battle center, okay?”

As he spoke, the screen behind Mic displayed a representation of what he was talking about, with the building they were all in at the low center of the screen, and several colored mockups connected to it via dotted lines.

After a few seconds of silence, he repeated in English, “OKAY?”

Izuku and Sutore smiled to themselves. They'd already figured out that the practical exam was intended to separate friends to prevent potential cheating. Unfortunately, that only worked in their favor, since that meant they didn't have to worry about the other stealing kills. Izuku had been assigned to battle center B, while Sutore was assigned to C.

“Three types of faux villains have been dispersed in each battle center. You'll each gain points based on the number and difficulty of villains defeated.”

As he spoke, the screen behind him showed visuals of each villain type around a neutral-colored mockup from earlier.

“Your goal is to gain the most points possible by immobilizing your opponents, and feel free to use your quirks as much as you want. However, as could be expected, attacking other applicants and other un-heroic actions are prohibited.”

Present Mic wasn't even finished with his sentence by the time a tall boy stood and yelled, “May I ask a question?”

“Okay,” Mic replied in English. As he spoke, a light came on directly over the kid with the question.

“On the printout we were given, there are four villains listed. If this is a misprint, UA should be ashamed of their mistake. We examinees are here to be molded into exemplary heroes!”

“Wow,” Izuku chuckled to himself. “Somebody's got a stick up their ass. Wonder if he's looked into surgery for it?”

Sutore snorted a little as Puppet Boy turned and pointed at Izuku.

“This is not a comedy club. If you're here as a joke, then you should leave immediately.”

Izuku just leaned on one hand a held up his notebook with the other sarcastically in response.

“Okay, okay,” Present Mic said in English before continuing in Japanese. “Examinee number 7111, thank you for your message. And you are correct.”

With that, the screen displayed one more villain design.

“The fourth type of villain is worth zero points. He's an obstacle, if you will. There's one in every battle center, and things will get crazy in narrow spaces. It's not impossible to defeat, but there's really no reason to.”

As soon as the words “zero points” were said, Izuku knew there was more to that thing than was being let on. The most dangerous villains are the ones you don't get any reward for beating? That's idiotic. But he also knew that with the description given, those things were going to be a major problem for everyone. Hopefully, disabling that thing wouldn't take too much time.

“If I'm being honest, listeners, I would recommend avoiding it.”

“Thank you very much,” Puppet Boy responded with a bow. “Please excuse the interruption!”

With that, he sat down as robotically as he talked. There were a few murmurs from the other students as the lighting returned to its focus on Present Mic.

“So, it's basically like those big obstacles in video games?”
“This whole thing kind of seems like a video game...”

“That's all from me!” Present Mic yelled, getting everyone's attention again. “Finally, I'll leave you all with a quote and our school motto. Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Go beyond, Plus Ultra!”

With that, the lights came back on, and everyone began their written tests. Izuku flew through his, with Sutore finishing a few minutes later. Before heading out, everyone got changed into some more comfortable gear to fight with. Izuku had swapped over to an old tee shirt and light green sweatpants from a few years back, and Sutore wore nothing but some shorts and his custom shoes. Afterward, Sutore looked for his friend before spotting Izuku walking toward the line of buses for the battle centers with a large stick over his shoulder.

“Where'd you find that?” Sutore asked, unsurprised.

“Attached to a tree, duh.”

“You can't just make a club for yourself!” Puppet Boy yelled from off to the side.

“Actually, if you paid attention, he said we can bring anything we want with us. I want a stick.”

“That was not the intended meaning of that, and you know it!”

“It's the definition of what he said, though.”

The two boys stared each other down, each seemingly daring the other to respond.

“Alright, everyone on!” one of the bus drivers yelled. “We gotta go, kids!”

Twenty minutes later, Izuku stood staring at a giant pair of doors in a giant wall surrounding a mocked up chunk of a city. Around him were about two dozen hopefuls, all talking and psyching themselves up for the challenge ahead. Of course it was just his luck that Puppet Boy was in his group....

And, as he looked around, he realized so was Bakugo's friend from earlier. She looked over to him and smiled slightly, which he just responded to with a cold stare. He didn't have time for her bullshit. But, so long as she stayed out of his way, it wouldn't matter. It was as he was considering what her goal was that Izuku felt a hand on his shoulder.

“I'd take that off of me if I were you.”

The hand lifted, but the owner stayed where he was.

“Why are you here? Do you intend to interfere with everyone else?”

“Why the fuck would I come here for that?”

As Puppet Boy tried to think of a response, a voice shouted at the gathered group from above.

“Okay, START!”

As the rest of the applicants stared up at the voice stupidly, Izuku dashed toward the doors, which he'd just realized had opened. He sprinted forward as fast as he could with the large stick weighing him down, but knew he would need it for the first step of his plan.

“What's wrong?” he heard yelled from behind him, and he realized the voice sounded like Present Mic. “There's no countdown in a real battle! That guy gets it!”

Izuku ignored the rest of what was going on behind him as he focused on his plan: nullifying the zero point “obstacle.” Step one: he needed to get some wire, a spool to wrap it around, and enough batteries to power it. He smiled as his first parts donor rounded the corner in front of him. It seemed to be a one-pointer, based on its size. The robot looked vaguely humanoid, despite its long neck, the gatling guns under each arm, and a wheel instead of legs.

“Target acquired. I'll-”

The bot never got to finish its sentence as Izuku jabbed his stick into the robot's chest cavity and pried its head off by dropping to the floor and yanking the stick with him in his slide. He stopped for a short time, pulling as many copper wires as he could from the now open chest area, along with its battery. Unfortunately, he seemed to have bent the rotating piece for the neck's base when he pried the head off, but that was fine. He'd be able to live with that. As Izuku stuffed the battery in his pocket and started prying the rubber off of the wiring he'd procured, he realized the other applicants had made their way to him and were proceeding to run around and destroy every robot they could find. As he finished stuffing the now bare copper wiring into his other pocket, Izuku again picked up his club and started running deeper into the city. He knew they had to have it far away from the start.

As he made his way further and further into the mockup that UA had set up, Izuku took out a couple more robots. He didn't really pay them much mind, but if he remembered correctly—which he usually did— he was pretty sure he'd scrapped one two-pointer and two three-pointers. And, as he finished wrapping the last of his wiring around the rotation piece he'd taken off of the two-pointer, he saw it.

This was definitely the zero-point bot. Upright, he estimated it would stand easily eighty feet tall, and its structure reminded him of a tyrannosaurus, except without the tiny arms. Fortunately, right now it was ducked down and curled up so as to not give away its position. Shoving his arm through the hole in the electromagnet he'd built, Izuku dropped his club and got to climbing the behemoth. He knew they'd activate it soon, since the announcement of the two-minute mark had just recently been made.

As he made his way up the thing's back, he heard a whirring, then felt the monster under him move.

Fuck! He'd taken too long! But he wasn't going to stop here, he still had time to get to the right spot! It was just now beginning to head toward the others, after all. So he continued scrambling up toward its shoulders. He was vaguely aware of the behemoth crashing through some buildings as it made its way through the streets, but thankfully the wiring and cables he was climbing were underneath its exterior armor plates, and that protected him from the debris.

As Izuku pulled himself onto the top of the giant's chestpiece, he reached into his pocket, and pulled out what he'd originally thought was a battery. As he recognized the glowing insignia on the case of what he held, he realized that UA had powered these things with power cores, which meant that not only would a single one be able to suffice for his plan, but the electromagnet could also detonate the core of the robot he was currently standing on if it broke the outer casing. However, his train of thought was interrupted by several screams from below.

Izuku made his way over to the front of the bot and looked down toward his fellow contestants. Most were running for their lives, as could be expected, but one was mere feet from the tank tracks the giant robot used to get around. As he looked closer, Izuku realized it was Bakugo's girlfriend from earlier, with her leg stuck under a chunk of busted concrete. If he didn't do something fast, she was likely to die.

With a resigned sigh, Izuku turned and ran over to the hole where the robot's neck sprouted out of. Quickly, he placed the spooled copper down on its side, then shoved the power core into the middle, making sure to touch the positive and negative nodes to the excess wiring he'd left hanging. As the device activated, he rapidly wrapped both sections of wire around the nodes they connected to, securing the whole thing together as a single unit. With a low hum, the magnet came to life.

As Izuku stepped away from his creation, he heard the structure beneath his feet groan as it was strained by the magnetic force being generated. Three seconds after the magnet was activated, there was a loud crunch, followed by several snaps and whip crack sounds. The entire beast had ground to a halt by now, and most sounds had stopped shortly after. This made it all the easier to hear the crunch of a polycarbonate shell shattering.

With no time to react, the spot Izuku had placed his magnet detonated, the warping metal launching him off the platform he was stood on. He looked down toward the ground, quickly calculating his odds of survival from this height. Given his current nearly-head-first orientation, that made it about two percent. So, he rotated his body, then flung his arms and legs out wide to create as much air resistance as possible. Even with the plan he had, his odds of survival were under fifty percent, and his legs were absolutely guaranteed to be shattered, but it was the best plan available to him. So he did his best to slow himself as much as possible. At the last possible second, he righted himself to land feet first.

And then he got slapped across the face.

As surprised as he was to feel the slap, he was even more surprised to find that he landed on his feet, and was currently standing with no injuries whatsoever. Well, no new ones. His face was definitely scratched up, and he had bleeding gashes running down his arms from the explosion. Hell, his legs weren't even bent from the landing because there had been no pressure against them.

“And...release.”

Suddenly, Izuku felt his weight return, followed by the crash of a three-pointer rocket pod as it landed on the ground nearby. As Izuku looked over at the girl from before, she gave a small smile before violently puking. He laughed a little to himself as he looked away for her sake.

“Thanks,” he said calmly. “You really saved me there.”

She simply gave a thumbs-up in response.

“AND....TIME!” Present Mic announced from all the nearby speakers. Shit, that meant he'd burned all his time taking out the one enemy. Izuku's total score was...nine. Fuck. He stood angrily for a few seconds, wondering if there had been anything he could have done differently. But he also knew that even if he could, he still wouldn't have. He was screwed, but he still knew he did the right thing.

“Okay, good work,” an elderly female voice said. “Is anybody hurt?”

Several people immediately pointed at Izuku.

“A little, but I'll live.”

It wasn't until he finished speaking that he recognized the short woman approaching him. Her hair was done up in a tight bun, with a syringe styled pin through it, around her head was a pink metal band with a dark purple visor, and she wore a doctor's gown over a red and white jumpsuit and yellow rubber gloves. In her left hand was a syringe-design cane that she was currently leaning on for support. This was Recovery Girl, the youthful heroine. Her healing quirk was one that Izuku had meant to study for a long time, and now he was in a prime position.

“I wouldn't mind a quick heal, though.”

“Okay, dear boy,” the old woman smiled. “Lean down for me a little.”

As soon as he did so, he felt her lips against his forehead, stretching the solid foot-and-a-half distance between them. As she pulled away, he felt his cuts and scrapes all close, slowly but steadily. And somehow, the blood pouring down his arms faded at the same time.

Well, he'd definitely learned a lot in those few seconds. And while that was all fine and good, he sulked as he thanked her and made his way to the exit. There were several murmurs from the students around him, but Izuku was deep in thought, and didn't bother to listen to any of it.

As the bus for battle center B pulled up to the classrooms, Sutore stepped away from the sign he'd been leaning on. As soon as the bus door opened, he saw his friend step out, a look of resigned determination on his face. He knew that wasn't a good sign.

“You win, Sutore,” Izuku said curtly. “I'll pay up tomorrow, but I have something I need to do now.”

Without a chance to say a word, Sutore watched his best friend walk right past him, never even making eye contact. The shorter boy went straight back into the testing hall, never breaking stride. Sutore sighed and picked up his pack, deciding on his own action, as he made his way to the administration building.

Chapter Text

It had been a week since the exams for UA, and as Izuku stared at his meal, his mind again wandered to the practical test for the hero course for the millionth time. He thought of all his options, any answer that may have eluded him in all of his mental runs of that day. As always, there were hundreds of possibilities for him to have gotten a good score, but at the same time he still knew he could never do any of them knowing that the zero-point bot would be a threat. He sighed as he took a bite of fish.

“So,” Inko said nervously. “The results should be here either today or tomorrow, right?”

“Yeah,” he replied, trying to keep the disappointment out of his voice.

There was a couple seconds of silence as Inko watched her son. She sighed, making up her mind.

“Honey, are you thinking of giving up on hero work?”

The question had no malice, and he knew she would never try to talk him out of this. She just wanted to know what his plan was.

“No,” he said, the determination in his voice still clear. “I'm just taking a detour. But hey, we always knew this was coming, right? Work twice as hard for half the results?”

“Izuku, I-” she began, but was interrupted by the doorbell. Both Midoriyas looked toward the front door, then to each other. Izuku shrugged.

Inko stood and went to answer the door, and Izuku leaned back in his chair, looking at the ceiling. It wasn't the way that he wanted to do things, but his hands were tied. He knew that the school allowed for students to move from General Education up to the Hero Course if they showed initiative and performed well at the sports festival a few months into the school year. His plan was to go through the festival and prove himself there. If that didn't work...well, he'd just have to make sure it worked.

His train of thought was interrupted by Sutore's smiling face entering his vision. In his hand, he held an envelope with a red wax seal.

“Hey Sutore,” Izuku said, setting his feet back down slowly. “What are you doing here?”

“Just came to compare scores from the exam.”

“You're not normally the type to gloat,” Izuku replied, the annoyance in his voice clear.

“And today's no different. Trust me, you're gonna wanna see why there's only one envelope.”

Izuku hadn't even told his friend he'd applied for General Studies. Something was up.

“Don't worry, we'll be here for when you get back,” his friend said as he sat down, waving a confused Inko over from the doorway.

Izuku took the envelope to his room, partially dreading what was in it, and partially curious. He sat at his desk, staring blankly for a few seconds as he considered the paper before him.

“Fuck it.”

He reached up and tore the end of the envelope open, then poured out the contents. Inside was a folded piece of paper and a metal disk that beeped to life as it hit the desk. Immediately, a projection began to play.

“I am here as a projection!” a gold-suited muscle form All Might yelled, his face taking up ninety percent of the screen.

Wait, what? All Might? What was he doing in a UA official recording? Why did they send him a holodisk in the first place? And why was there only one sheet of paper in the envelope?

“Hello, young Midoriya. I'm sure you have several questions. Never fear, for I am here...to explain! You see, I came to this town to work at UA.”

Suddenly, a hand came into frame from offscreen, motioning to All Might to wrap things up.

“But I have some things I need to...it'll push everything back? Fine. Fine.”

As he finished up his conversation with the silent offscreen man(at least Izuku assumed it was a man based on the trim, uncolored nails and suit sleeve he saw), the hand gave an “okay” symbol, then pulled off-screen.

“Even though you aced the written exam, your score for defeating villains in the practical exam was only nine points. Of course, with a score like that, we can't let you pass....”

The disappointment in All Might's voice sounded genuine as he spoke, and Izuku's eyes drifted downward. Even though he was already well aware of this, it still hurt to hear it.

“I know that...” he mumbled.

“If that were all there was to it.”

Wait what? Izuku's gaze immediately jumped to the projection again, hope returning to his face.

“I'm an entertainer, after all! But first, watch this.”

With that, the camera panned to the left, and All Might pulled out a remote and pressed a button. The tv that was revealed came to life, and showed what Izuku could only assume was a recording. In it, the float-quirk girl from the exam walked into frame from a hallway.

“Excuse me,” she said nervously.

The video paused, and All Might filled the silence with explanation.

“She came in after the exam to negotiate personally. What, you may ask? Let's see.”

All Might pressed a button again, and the video continued.

“The person with the short curls and freckles, do you know who I'm talking about? He's uh...kind of plain looking.”

As she spoke, the girl mimed a description of what Izuku could only assume was him. He smiled a little at her description. Couldn't she at least have mentioned the green hair? Not a lot of people around with that. Also, ow. Plain looking?

“Is it possible for me to give him some of my points? I saw the look of disappointment when the exam was over, and I think he spent most of his time taking down that giant robot. I at least want to give him enough to pass the exam, because if it weren't for him, I could have been seriously injured. Please, please, please!”

Many emotions flowed through Izuku as he watched the video. Memories of all the work he'd put in, all the pain he'd gone through. Thankfulness to this girl, sadness for what she had to do for his sake, and some anger for the school making her choose.

“And there's more.”

With the press of a button, the screen changed to another room, this time on screen was Sutore.

“I want to give up my spot in the school to Izuku Midoriya,” he said flatly. “I can't let you guys make the mistake of not accepting him. I don't care what happened for him to get a low score, he's already one of the best heroes I know, and if I have to give up my dream to make sure others see that, so be it.”

As the video paused, tears were flowing down Izuku's face. Sutore really did that? For him? Was that why he couldn't get in contact the last week?

“It would seem your actions have spurred others to action,” All Might said, his back still turned to the camera. “Which is why the exam was not only scored based on villain points.”

The video on screen again shifted to show the girl from before, and this time Present Mic could be seen in front of her.

“Sorry, miss, but even if you ask, we can't give your points to him,” the pro explained. “Besides, there's no need to give him any.”

The video paused, and All Might walked into frame. The camera panned up to his face as he spoke.

“How can a hero course deny students who save others? Call that lip service? This is a job where we risk our lives to put that lip service into action!”

Izuku stared, dumbfounded. How could he have been so stupid? Of course the school for heroes wouldn't neglect half of hero work!

“Rescue points!” All Might yelled in English.

The screen flicked over to a scoreboard for students, showing the word “rescue” over a column.

“These are awarded by a panel of judges. It's the second half of what we look for at UA. And you, Izuku Midoriya, earned sixty points!”

The screen panned down, showing Izuku's name and score for both villain and rescue points. Combining that score meant his final total was...heh. Nice. But that also meant he probably passed! Holy shit, he was going to UA as a hero!

“Ochaco Uraraka, forty-five points! And Sutore Ichi, thirty-six points! All three of you pass.”

Izuku suddenly stood, pumping his arms in the air triumphantly as his chair rolled away, bouncing off his bed.

“Young Midoriya,” All Might said, his hand outstretched to the camera. “Your hero academia starts here.”

“Fuck yeah, it does!” he yelled back.

Suddenly, Izuku realized why he hadn't seen Sutore the whole week. Reviewing the scores he'd seen on screen, his friend had earned thirty villain points and thirty-six rescue points. That meant that Izuku had won their bet. And Sutore wasn't going to let him pay for something he hadn't earned. He laughed with relief as he shut off the hologram and opened his door, wiping the tears from his eyes.

Back in the living room, Sutore was laughing with Inko, probably having explained the situation to her already. As the two recognized Izuku walk in, they both smiled at him.

“Congratulations, dear,” his mother said.

“I'll buy lunch tomorrow,” Sutore shrugged. “Looks like you already ate today.”

Izuku felt the tears starting in his eyes again as he walked over to his friend and gave him a big hug. It took a second, but Sutore returned the gesture.

“I saw what you did,” the shorter boy explained. “It means the world to me.”

“Well, technically, I only offered. They wouldn't let me actually do that.”

“Shut up, idiot,” Izuku said as he smacked the back of his friend's head. “You know what I mean.”

“So,” Inko interrupted with a small chuckle. “How much time do we have to prep for your classes?”

Chapter Text

“It's gotta be around here somewhere, right?”

“If the map was right, it should be up ahead on the left. Last door before that inlet.”

Sutore and Izuku ran to the door the shorter one had pointed out, stopping to catch their breath. This was definitely the place: class 1-A. As evidenced by the giant characters painted on the door, which was over fifteen feet tall and easily five feet wide. Assumedly, this was for the more...uniquely shaped students.

The boys were in their new attire: a gray jacket with dark green accents over a white button up shirt with a tie. Their pants were matching dark green slacks. Their slippers for in-school time were white with more dark green stripes around the soles. While Sutore had done his outfit up properly, Izuku had his jacket unbuttoned and his shirt left the top two buttons undone. His necktie hung around his neck like a businessman coming home at the end of the day, so loose he might as well have not even worn it. But, to meet dress code, he wore it anyway.

“How late are we?” Sutore asked.

Izuku checked his phone. “We're fine. Two minutes to spare.”

Both stood upright again, taking deep breaths. They looked at each other a moment, then nodded, and Sutore pushed the door open. Immediately they were met with a voice yelling from the back of the room.

“Don't put your feet on the desk!”

Oh God damn it, not Puppet Boy.

“Alright, alright. Calm down, man.”

“Don't you think that's rude to the UA faculty and those who built the desk?”

“Dude, it's a piece of furniture. As long as I don't damage it, they won't care. Seriously, what school did you go to that made you think everything has to be so damn important?”

Two for two...yay. Izuku's face dropped as he realized he was going to have to spend the entire year with these two.

“I went to Somei Private Academy. My name is Tenya Iida.”

“I swear, this better not be you acting all high and mighty because you've got money. If so, fuck off.”

Iida was clearly offput by the response, and came to a completely wrong conclusion.

“Are you sure you're cut out to be a hero?”

Sutore's laughter alerted the class to the newcomers, and Izuku just gave a small wave to the class in response to all the stares.

“Good morning!” Iida said, walking over to the two boys. “I'm from Somei Private Academy. My name is-”

“Tenya Iida,” Izuku interrupted. “We heard. Good to finally have a name for the robot.”

“Robot?” Iida asked as he stopped before them.

“Nevermind. Name's Izuku Midoriya, and this is Sutore Ichi. What do you want?”

“Midoriya, I wanted to ask you something. You knew there was more to that practical exam than was let on, didn't you?”

Oh, right. The two had been in the same battle arena. Izuku just shrugged.

“Not really,” he replied honestly. “I just wanted to get the big obstacle out of the way so nobody got hurt.”

“You really were just trying to help others. I misjudged you, and I'm sorry. You truly are the better man.”

Just as he was about to respond, Izuku heard a familiar voice from behind him.

“I recognize that curly hair. You're the plain-looking one!”

Somehow, it hurt more the second time.

“You passed, just like Present Mic said. But of course you did, that destruction was awesome!”

“Thanks, and also thanks for talking to Present Mic for me. I'm sorry if I was a jerk before. I think we just got off on the wrong foot.”

“Wait, how did you know about that?”

As the two continued their conversation, Katsuki smiled to himself. He was glad he was in the same class as Izuku. This would make it a lot easier to prove he'd changed. His younger self would have been ecstatic to know he was the first kid from Aldera to get into the UA hero course, but his current self couldn't care less about the accolades and well-wishes. He wasn't here to make a show. He was here to do the right thing. To redeem himself.

Izuku, meanwhile, was dealing with the overly-talkative girl at the door with him.

“I wonder if today is just the opening ceremony and orientation. What do you think our teacher's like? Aren't you nervous?”

Izuku stared at her blankly, letting the girl run out of her plattitudes before he responded. However, he was distracted by the large yellow sleeping bag he'd just noticed was on the floor behind her.

“Go somewhere else if you want to just make friends,” it said coldly.

Apparently, the other three around Izuku had just noticed the thing on the floor in the hallway, as they all slowly turned their gaze to it, then leapt back in surprise.

“This is the hero course.”

With that, the sleeping bag unzipped partway, and the man inside raised a juice pouch to his lips, drinking it dry in seconds.

Izuku raised an eyebrow at this. This guy was supposed to be a teacher? Even worse, this was a pro hero?

Slowly, the sleeping bag stood, then unzipped most of the way, allowing the man to step out. He looked like a mess. He had a short beard as though he'd forgotten to shave for a few days, his long hair was unkempt, his bloodshot eyes looked like he hadn't slept in a week, and his attire looked like an emo kid's sleepwear, minus the logos. It was a one-piece baggy jumpsuit, with a belt interwoven at the waistline, and ripped sleeves. The most noteworthy thing Izuku could spot on the guy was his scarf, which appeared to be about forty feet of what appeared to be thick cloth. On closer inspection, though, he realized it was much more than that. If the small glints of metal were anything to go by, that scarf was strong enough to swing from. A unique assist tool like that wasn't going to be used by just any hero, which cut down the potential answers to who this guy was professionally.

“It took you eight seconds to quiet down. Time is limited, and you're not rational enough.”

There were a few seconds as the class took time to process what they were seeing, before the man continued.

“I'm your homeroom teacher, Shota Aizawa. Nice to meet you.”

Somehow, his voice sounded even more worn out than he looked. But Izuku was still having difficulty trying to place which hero this was. He was about to ask when Aizawa reached into his sleeping bag and pulled out a track suit.

“It's kind of sudden, but you all need to put these on and go out to the field.”

Somehow, Izuku didn't like where this was going.

About a half hour later, all of class 1-A stood out on the field in their new outfits. Most students were quietly talking to each other about what was going on, but Izuku was still pondering his new teacher. Just who was this guy, and why were they out here on the first day of classes? Was it a more practical introduction to each other? Or was something going on? Sutore seemed just as nervous as he was.

“Alright everyone,” Aizawa said loudly. “We're going to do a quirk assessment test.”

“A what?” most people responded in near perfect unison.

“What about orientation?” Uraraka asked. “What about the opening ceremonies?”

“If you're going to be a hero, you have no time for such leisurely activities.”

While Izuku could understand where he was coming from, this seemed a bit overkill. All work and no play makes for a very dull life.

“UA sells itself on how unrestricted our traditions are. The same goes for our classes.”

There were several murmurs of discontent from the small crowd gathered. Aizawa held up his phone as he continued, with several datapoints shown on the screen.

“You've all been doing these since junior high, right? Physical exams where you're not allowed to use your quirk. We still take averages from that, you know. That's irrational. The Ministry of Education is so sluggish.”

With a look around, he singled out one student.

“Bakugo, you finished top of the practical exams, correct?”

Interesting, he already knew all their names. He probably knew more, Izuku realized as his nerves went on edge.

“What was your best result in the softball throw back in junior high?”

“Sixty-seven meters.”

“Try doing it with your quirk.”

Izuku's hand reflexively clenched at this as he realized what this was. He paid close attention as Bakugo was handed a gps-tracked softball and led to the throwing position on the field.

“Go ahead. You can do whatever you want so long as you don't leave the circle. Give it all you've got.”

“Alright then,” Bakugo replied as he started stretching, clearly non-plussed.

After a few short stretches, he reared his arm back, then launched it with all his might, adding a large blast to the end of his throw to send the ball skyward. As it sailed through the air, Aizawa spoke calmly to the students.

“Know your upper limits. That's the best way to build a foundation for your hero career.”

As the ball landed, he held up his phone. On it, the screen showed an impressive seven hundred five point two meters for Bakugo's throw. Clearly, the students around him were excited at the prospect of freely using their abilities, but Izuku simply stared ahead, knowing that this was all targeted at him. But he knew something that Aizawa didn't. He knew he could abuse his knowledge.

“This should be fun!” one of the girls yelled.

“We can use our quirks as much as we want?” another boy yelled. “As to be expected from the hero course!”

“Fun, you say?” Aizawa replied coldly. “You have three years to become a hero. Will your attitude stay like that the whole way?”

Izuku folded his arms at this. Here it was, the “suddenly inspired” reveal.

“Alright then. Whoever comes in last place overall after all eight tests will be judged to have no potential and be expelled.”

Oh, wow. Izuku could never have seen that coming....

Clearly, the rest of the class was far more serious about their surprise. Several students even cried out in shock.

Quickly making a plan, Izuku raised his hand.

“Yes, Midoriya?”

Good to get proper confirmation of his awareness of the class.

“I would like to request going last in all tests.”

Several people looked at him confused, and several even voiced as much, but Aizawa simply stared at him for a second, cocking an eyebrow.

“So be it. You can go last, individually. Everyone will be able to see your result specifically.”

Izuku nodded, smiling. It seemed that his teacher hadn't yet realized what his plan was.

“We're free to do what we want with our education style,” Aizawa continued as he looked out over the class. He pushed the hair out of his face with one hand and smiled; the look sent shivers down Izuku's spine. “Welcome to UA's hero course!”

“But it's the first day of school!” Uraraka yelled. “And even if it wasn't, expulsion seems too far!”

Aizawa's response almost felt rehearsed.

“Natural disasters, big accidents, major villains. These are all major calamities that we can't predict. Japan is covered by unfairness, and heroes are the ones who are expected to turn those situations around. If you wanted to laze about with your friends after school, too bad. For the next three years, UA is going to throw one hardship at you after another. Go beyond. Plus Ultra. Overcome it with everything you've got.”

How cute. He even came up with plausible deniability to oust the quirkless kid. Izuku looked over to his friend, but Sutore seemed to have bought the bullshit, and was smiling ear-to-ear. He didn't want to ruin his friend's fun, so he decided to do this solo.

“Alright. Demonstration's over. Time to get serious.”

It was quickly explained that there were going to be eight sections to this. The first test was the fifty meter dash. With so little distance and no turns, Izuku knew he would have to bend the rules here if he wanted a good place.

“Mr. Aizawa, when exactly are we counted as having crossed the line?” he asked the teacher innocently.

“As soon as any part of you crosses that finish line.”

“Cool, thanks. I'll be right back.”

Aizawa gave him a confused look, but carried on with the test anyway. As the first students lined up at the starting blocks, Izuku made his way back into the school's main building. He entered the first classroom he found, and after apologizing for the interruption, quickly grabbed a pair of scissors and a piece of tape. He then cut off a small patch of hair and taped it all together as a single piece. He thanked the teacher for her time, then turned and left, tucking the lock of hair into the laces of his right shoe. As he returned, the third set of runners were taking the field.

At the blocks were a flamboyant boy and a girl with pink skin and hair with horns. Around the boy's stomach was a large metal belt with a giant lens on it. Currently, the boy was standing backwards despite the start of the race about to be called, much to his opponent's confusion.

As he approached, the pop for starting the race went off, and the boy jumped, firing a laser from his belly. Meanwhile, the girl, who Izuku now realized wasn't wearing any shoes, launched off and began sliding along the ground as though she were rollerblading. It took him a second to realize she was excreting a fluid from her feet, which she was using to slide along the dirt. Clever. The boy's attempt at using his quirk was...less so, as he landed flat on his back about two-thirds of the way down the track, forcing him to awkwardly get back up and jump again to launch himself the rest of the way. While he was getting to his feet, the horned girl passed him and finished the race.

“Five point five one seconds,” the robot announced for the boy.

As he stood where he landed after the race, the boy turned his body halfway to look at a few of the other kids present.

“If I go for more than a second, I get a tummyache,” he said, sounding almost cocky about it. Was that really something he wanted to be advertising?

Next up were Bakugo and Sutore. As soon as the shot went off, Sutore took the lead, his training with Izuku clearly paying off. However, he was shortly passed by a flying Bakugo, who was using small explosions to launch himself through the air. Try as he might, Sutore couldn't keep up with that kind of pace.

“Four point one three seconds,” the robot announced for Bakugo, with the other boy less than a second behind.

The tests continued like this until Izuku was the only one left. As he made his way to the start line, he untied his right shoe.

“Remember, you wanted this,” Aizawa said, the rest of the class looking on from behind him.

“Yup.”

Izuku took a running position that could only be described as...odd. He straddled the starting blocks, not touching it whatsoever. He leaned most of his weight on his left foot, and his torso was twisted, with his left arm directly in front of his chest, and his right arm held back over his right leg. As soon as the starting shot was fired, he roundhouse kicked as hard as he could, stopping slightly short of directly forward to launch his shoe accurately. The entire class watched as the shoe sailed all the way past the finish line, landing half a meter past the robot.

“Two point five six seconds,” the bot chirped.

“What?” Iida asked, clearly not impressed. “You can't count that, right Mr. Aizawa?”

“Why not?” Izuku asked as he stood on his one leg. “Part of me crossed the line.”

“Last I checked,” Aizawa chuckled coldly. “Your shoe isn't part of you.”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied with a wolfish grin. “But the lock of hair in my laces is.”

Quickly, Iida went over to confirm the claim. He returned with the shoe in one hand, the taped piece of hair in the other. Izuku continued smiling as he took his shoe back from his classmate, replacing it on his foot.

“You dirty little cheater,” Aizawa replied with an equally wolfish grin. “You're just a little problem child, aren't you?”

“Could be,” Izuku shrugged.

The class went through several more tests, and Aizawa made sure each time to word his rules for them very carefully to avoid any more of Izuku's shenanigans. Izuku also noticed that during several tests, Aizawa's gaze was focused entirely on him with an unblinking stare. The grip test had to be done with only your own hands, which meant his original plan of simply climbing some bleachers and tying a rope to the rafters to force his entire weight onto the device was a bust. His end result: fourty-eight kilograms. Thankfully, Aizawa's rule for the standing long jump was simply that you couldn't leave the starting box's area before your leap, and when you did, the part of you farthest back was what would be tallied. This meant that he was able to jump directly upward to try and build some momentum to launch himself with. He didn't know if it worked, but it was still something. End result: one hundred eighteen inches. Next was the standing side-steps. This part wasn't anything he could reasonably cheese without some really poor wording on Aizawa's part, so he settled for his slightly above average score. Fifth up was the ball throw, and with Aizawa's standards already being set, Izuku knew exactly what he was going to do. This was the exact reason he'd asked to go last. However, as he was walking to the circle, Aizawa stopped him with a hand on the shoulder.

“You plan on exploiting the rules for this one, too?”

“You said you don't care as long as I stay in the circle.”

“And what are you going to do when you come up against a villain that you can't exploit like you are these challenges? Without a quirk, you're just going to become another person to save.”

Izuku almost laughed. Of course that was his cop-out. He was “doing this for Izuku's safety.”

“Probably the same thing you'd do if you came up against a villain you couldn't nullify, Eraser Head. I just out think them, find a different strategy, and use the resources at hand. There's more than just brute force to beating your enemies.”

There was a pause as the pro hero regarded his student carefully, then let go of his shoulder and let the young man enter the circle.

“Alright,” Aizawa said as he returned to his spot near the gathered students. “What's your workaround for this one?”

“Well,” Izuku said as he unlaced his shoes and removed them. “That's simple. Basic physics says that a larger arc of travel creates more momentum on an object due to centrifugal force.”

Izuku set the ball on the ground, then proceeded to unzip his pants. Several students looked away or started chuckling.

“So I need something that gives my arm more effective length. And hey, if I can accelerate the ball faster than my arm alone can do, even better results.”

He grabbed both legs of his pants in one hand near the feet, then placed the softball in the crotch.

“My first thought, based on materials at hand? A sling.”

As he finished, he held up his makeshift sling for emphasis.

“Now, this may not reach infinite distance like Uraraka, hell it probably won't hit the seven hundred meters of Bakugo's throw. But it'll be a hell of a lot further than most of you can reach. And that's why I asked to go last. So nobody can copy my strategies.”

A smile was slowly forming on Aizawa's face as he watched his student start spinning his pants over his head with determination. As he readied his release, Izuku spun a full three-sixty to add even more momentum to the launch, then released the pinch he had on one of the legs, sending the projectile in a perfect forty-five degree launch angle for maximum distance. As the softball went sailing into the air, there was a loud snap from the end of the pant leg as it whipped around. Izuku casually stepped back into his pants as the ball landed, hearing a couple outraged cries from the gathered crowd as his score was shown to them: three hundred seventy two point eight meters.

“Not only did he cheat,” Iida bemoaned. “He exposed himself to his classmates! That is ill-befitting a hero for this school!”

“Wrong on both accounts,” Izuku replied plainly. “He literally said he didn't care what we do so long as we don't leave the circle. I didn't leave the circle. And I only took off my pants. I still had my boxers on. Trust me, you'd have failed to measure up twice if I had gone further.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?”

“I'll tell you when you're older.”

While several of his classmates weren't exactly impressed with how he'd worked around the rules of the test, Izuku knew that at this point, he was all but guaranteed to get through. Two of his scores were well above the average, even with quirks in play. With all of his other scores being moderately good, there was no way for him to come in last. That thought comforted him as the class finished up the two final tests: a seated toe touch and an endurance run. He was happily surprised to do rather well on both, with his over-reach on the toe touch measuring the full length of his fingers, and his jog able to keep up for the entire duration of the exam. As it turned out, specializing in mobility and dexterity were a big help.

As the students all gathered up after the final test was done, Sutore made his way over to his friend. He held his fist out, which Izuku took to be a fist bump. But as he pressed his knuckle to his friend's fist, the taller boy grabbed his hand with his opposite, flipped it over, and handed him a chip.

“As soon as expulsion was mentioned, I knew he was targeting you,” Sutore whispered. “If you show that to the principal, it won't matter how relaxed their approach is. That's quirk discrimination: a fireable offense. We both know you're not in danger, but we can at least save whoever does get the treatment.”

As Izuku looked down at his hand, he realized why Sutore hadn't been saying anything the whole time, despite his obvious excitement at the start. He had been putting on an act to help his friend. With a smile, he pocketed the chip and focused on Aizawa, who was finishing up his spiel about the scoring.

“...I'll show you the results all at once.”

With that, he pressed a button and a display appeared, projecting the class's final positions for the tests. Thanks to his “cheating,” Izuku had managed to place fifth overall, and Sutore had landed in eighth. Then, at the back of the pack were Denki Kaminari, Kyoka Jiro, and finally...Toru Hagakure.

“No!” a girl cried from Izuku's left. He assumed that the invisible girl who was currently on her knees and presumably staring at the ground was Hagakure.

“By the way, I lied about the expulsion,” Aizawa said casually as he flicked off the projection. “It was a rational deception to draw out the upper limits of your quirks.”

The smile he gave as he finished seemed...almost genuine. Creepy as fuck, but genuine.

“What?” several students cried out simultaneously. Izuku and Sutore shared a dubious look, but Izuku handed the chip back anyway.

“Of course that was a lie,” a black-haired girl said, though her voice betrayed some doubt. “It's obvious when you think about it.”

The invisible girl collapsed, rolling onto her back.

“Coulda fooled me,” she said with clear exasperation.

“Well that was stressful,” one boy said, turning to look at his nearest classmate.

“But a welcome challenge,” a red-haired boy next to him replied.

“With that,” Aizawa said, pocketing his phone. “We're done here. There are handouts with curriculum and other stuff at your desks. Look over them when you get back to class.”

With that, he took his leave. Though he did stop as he passed near Izuku and Sutore.

“By the way, Midoriya. I hope I didn't scare you too much back there. I wanted to make sure your were up for the challenges this school is gonna throw at you. We've got more hurdles tomorrow, so be ready.”

At that, he shuffled off toward the classrooms, and all the students started discussing the trial among themselves. Izuku watched him round the corner, then turned to Sutore.

“Keep that thing just in case, alright? It'll be a nice tool if we need it, but I don't want word getting out this early.”

“Got it. And you know I got your back for whatever, right?”

“Always.”

Both boys shared a fist bump as Izuku noticed Bakugo approach.

“Hey, guys,” he said awkwardly. Clearly he still didn't know how to approach this. Namely that he shouldn't.

“What do you want?” Sutore asked sharply, subtly putting himself a little between Izuku and the boy.

“I just wanted to say you guys were great out there today. I'm really surprised at how you used your head to overcome the challenges ahead of most of us. That was really clever.”

Okay, this was getting weird. Bakugo was not only being nice, but he was gentle about his approach? While he wasn't exactly receptive to this whole thing, he didn't want to be a dick and full-on reject it.

“Thanks. Only way I was gonna realistically avoid last place.”

“And I wanted to apologize for the other day. I didn't know that was going to happen, I swear I just wanted to talk.”

“Yeah, sure,” Izuku replied dismissively. “Whatever, apology accepted.”

As he turned and walked away, Sutore followed. The two continued with the larger boy giving his friend a pat on the shoulder.

The rest of the day continued rather uneventfully, despite a small amount of dejection when Izuku realized he and Sutore were going to be right behind Bakugo in the class arrangement. As it turned out, those were the only pair of seats left when they had arrived that morning. However, after some complaint, Izuku settled on taking his spot directly in the middle of the right side of the classroom, seat sixteen.

As everyone made their way out to go home that afternoon, Sutore nudged his friend, motioning to their left. Looking over, he recognized two of their classmates headed the same direction they were: a boy with a raven-shaped head and a purple-haired girl with headphone jacks hanging from her earlobes.

“Wanna go say hi?”

“Sure, why not?”

With that, Sutore turned and lead the way over, one hand raised.

“Either of you taking the blue line?” he asked casually.

“I am,” both replied in unison, then shook their heads in shock and shared a look.

“How convenient,” Izuku chuckled as he held up his train ticket. “So are we. And hey, more people means more heads together to come up with the answers to the homework, right?”

Not that Izuku needed any help. He'd covered most of the year's curriculum in his off time two years ago.

“That sounds practical,” the bird-headed boy replied with a shrug.

“Just don't take your pants off again,” the girl teased.

“Deal,” Izuku chuckled. “At least now I know for sure you're not just trying to get in them.”

The girl laughed at that, and Sutore sighed as he introduced himself.

“Sutore Ichi, by the way. My friend here is Izuku Midoriya.”

“Fumikage Tokoyami,” the boy replied.

“Kyoka Jiro.”

As the four made their way to the train station, Sutore tried to convince the two new additions to join them for some gaming. Izuku smiled. He was here, living his dream, and maybe with a few new friends. All in all, today was a good day. He only hoped that would carry over to tomorrow.

Chapter Text

The second day of school was much more relaxed than the first. The morning class was English, which Izuku barely paid attention to. He already practiced that regularly when he talked to his American friends online. After that was lunch, which was surprisingly affordable given the gourmet options on offer. He and Sutore opted to sit with their new friends from class, and though the two didn't really express it outwardly, Izuku could tell they liked the company.

“So, Tokoyami,” Izuku asked as he pulled out his journal. “What is your quirk? I must have missed it during the exam yesterday.”

“Dark Shadow,” the boy replied calmly as a dark figure stretched out of his torso. It waved politely as he continued. “I can manifest this guy here and use him to fight for me. He's rather strong, and can cover my defenses if need be.”

“Cool,” Izuku replied as he began writing. “That seems like a really strong quirk. Should be easy to work with to take down villains.”

“That's the downside. He's not always easy to work with. Dark Shadow is affected by the light in the area, as well as my emotions. If it gets dark, he's much stronger, but also a lot harder to control. Same happens if I get stressed, angry, or otherwise irked.”

“Well,” Sutore said as he swallowed a bite of his curry. “That explains why you're so...calm all the time.”

“And what about you?” Jiro asked Sutore. “What exactly is your quirk?”

“Expansion. I can make any part of my body grow as though it were being inflated like a balloon. Though it gets painful if I push too far, and I can even rip my skin open if I expand too much. Thankfully, my skin is also quite elastic, so those upper limits are pretty wide.”

“I assume your quirk is in those earlobes, right Jiro?” Izuku asked.

“My quirk is my earlobes. They're fully functional headphone jacks that I can plug into pretty much anything and listen through it. I can also project my heartbeat through them into whatever I plug into. I have full control over them, and can stretch them up to three meters.”

Izuku continued writing as she spoke, writing down ideas for how to best utilize the two new quirks he'd learned about.

“So what about you?” Tokoyami asked. “Is your quirk related to your intellect? I'd have to assume so based on your strategy yesterday.”

Izuku paused, giving it a few seconds of thought.

“You could say that.”

Both of the newcomers shared a look at the dismissive response. They clearly weren't impressed with that explanation.

“He's kind of sensitive about it,” Sutore explained gently. “Doesn't much like to talk about his quirk because of past experiences.”

Thankfully, neither Tokoyami nor Jiro pressed the issue after that.

Izuku continued writing, silently thanking Sutore for the save. He really didn't want to go over his experiences with new people. It was always a chore, and made all the worse by the fact the cause of them was in the same room.

The rest of the lunch period went pretty smoothly, with Izuku even getting to talk to Lunch Rush a little bit before heading back to class. Everyone sat for a minute as they waited for their next teacher to arrive, when suddenly there was a loud voice at the door.

“I am,” yelled All Might as he yanked the door open and leaned in while holding onto the frame from either side. “Coming through the door like a normal person!”

Well that was a lie. Izuku rolled his eyes at the hero's antics. Though several of the other students didn't seem to share his sentiment. They all gasped and looked on with excitement. Even Bakugo smiled wide at the number one hero's entrance. Several comments were made about not only his presence at the school, but the outfit he wore today.

It was a classic Silver Age costume, with a red skin-tight torso piece accented with consecutive broken circles on the chest. His cape was fastened with gold-striped metal fixtures, and featured a dual-color design: red on the interior, blue on the exterior. His boots and bracers were a vibrant yellow, and the forearms covers even featured small wings. His thick gold belt separated the red torso from the blue and white leggings, which were also skin-tight, of course.

As the class admired the hero, he showboated his way over to the podium at the front of the class, then turned to face them as he struck a pose with his fists on each hip.

“I teach Basic Hero Training,” he announced heartily. “It is a subject where you train in different ways to learn the basics of being a hero.”

Ah yes, and redundancy is redundant.

“Most of your units will be in this subject! So let's get right to it! This is what we'll do today.”

With that, the hero flexed, pulling out a card with the English word “battle” written on it in a comic-inspired font.

“Combat training!”

Well shit. Now they were getting somewhere. Izuku sat upright as he considered what this meant for the day. No downsides, as far as he could tell. This was going to be the most education he got all day.

“And to go with that are these!” All Might said with a flourish, pointing to the far wall of the classroom. As he spoke, several sections slid out, each holding a row of suitcases. Each one of these had a number on it, likely corresponding with the students' position in the classroom. “Costumes made based on your quirk registrations and requests sent in before school started.”

As case number sixteen slid into view, Izuku's smile also slid across his face. Now he could really show what he was capable of.

“After you change, meet me in ground beta.”

There were several cheers as All Might took his leave. Izuku and Sutore shared a look, their dumb grins a mile wide.

Twenty minutes later, class 1-A stepped out onto the battle arena, everyone in full costume. Izuku had to admit, these kids had some class with their designs. He almost felt like his outfit was too reserved for a second, but quickly dismissed that thought. He wanted to be able to blend in, after all. His costume wasn't meant to stand out much.

His design had been inspired partially by the covert look of heroes in media, outwardly appearing to be simply a green stylized hoodie and brown cargo pants over a set of black hiking boots. The darker, jagged stripe pattern across his chest was meant to be recognizable, but not so flashy as to call him out from a mile away. The hood, when up, covered the top of his head to just above his eye line, creating a nice shadowed look for his eye sockets. Out of the top sprouted two tall cloth pieces which covered the radio and wifi antenna under each which could tune in to any nearby signal. His nose all the way down to his jaw was covered by a metal mask which he'd purposely designed with jagged separations to make it look like a heavily fanged smile. Underneath his hoodie, he wore a thin but dense stab vest made of ballistic fibers. If his research proved true, it would be rated viable for anything up to a nine millimeter luger round. On the inside of each sleeve, he had steel cable bracers with mechanical and electronic additions to extend the cable in sections and activate their secondary function. Similarly, his shins were covered by guards made with much the same concept, though he doubted their use would ever come up. Around his waist, hidden by the baggy hoodie, was a utility belt stuffed full of goodies. He'd managed to convince the school he needed devices to clear debris, which had allowed him to get access to small shape charges of his own design that doubled as electroshock nodes. He had to promise to use them sparingly, and his belt could only hold a total of twenty in the four tubes ringing his waist, but that was more than enough to give him confidence. He had also designed the five throwing needles that, upon impact, would begin to heat up to over three hundred degrees Fahrenheit. Obviously, he would pass that off as an “accidental design flaw” if and when it came up, but for now, he had an option for igniting whatever he needed, or potentially melting access points for electronics. He also carried eighteen small smoke bombs just in case he needed to create a distraction, and in the center of his back was a pair of quirk-dampening cuffs, perfect to level any playing field. On each hand, he had a small cloth ring, each one connected via small adhesive wire to his hidden bracer. Holstered along his right thigh, he carried an extending baton which reached twenty-six inches when extended. His pants were lined with a less serious ballistic fiber than his vest, and his shoes featured much the same treatment. When all was said and done, the entire kit weighed less than fifteen pounds, and spreading that weight over his entire body made it easy to handle for parkour.

Sutore, on the other hand, had definitely gone for style with his hero costume. The upper half of his head was hidden by the hood of the billowing brown cloak he wore. Two eye holes had been cut so he could see out, and when fully drawn it covered down to just below his nose. The cloak itself reached down to his knees and seemed to be made of a strong cloth, not unlike Izuku's own ballistic fiber, but it was definitely lighter and more flexible. Under that, the boy wore no shirt, instead only sporting two arm bands with a couple utility slots Izuku had failed to identify the contents of. His legs were covered by a set of extremely loose-fitting light brown pants, which sagged down at the knee to cover the top of his black shin guards, which were obviously inspired by samurai armor. His feet were covered by a set of traditional sandals, though these ones came with a twist: they were made of the same super-elastic material as his normal custom shoes.

As they both stepped out into the light, Izuku looked around to see what Bakugo had come up with. The answer was...genuinely surprising.

The boy's normally standout blonde hair was covered by a black facsimile of his hairstyle with orange tips. His eyes were covered by a classic headband-style mask. His torso was covered in what resembled green o-yoroi armor, but was separated out into what appeared to be detachable sections. Under that, he wore a skin-tight black shirt with long sleeves. Lining each arm were a bunch of green orbs with large gray buttons on them, likely grenades made to harvest his sweat. His legs were covered by what looked like dark flectarn camo combat pants, complete with black rubber shin guards. On his feet he wore thick black combat boots, reinforced with steel plates over the achilles heel and toe area.

With a subdued nod to Bakugo as he noticed he was being watched, Izuku turned and made his way over to where Tokoyami and Jiro waited.

Tokoyami's costume made him think of a fantasy mage, if the story had been written by Edgar Allen Poe. His upper half was covered by a pitch black sheet, and all Izuku could see other than that were the black baggy pants and thick black leather boots.

Jiro's hero costume made her look like she was the lead guitarist for a techno-punk band, and he liked it. Her ears were covered by a set of dark blue headphones which still allowed her jacks to dangle freely. Under each eye, she had a touch of red facepaint, each one looking like a small teardrop. Over her torso, she wore a black leather jacket and a pre-ripped pink tee shirt. On each hand, she had a fingerless glove, and a small white device was on the back of each. Her tight black jeans led down to a set of large, dark green boots with what were clearly speakers in the shin portions. Izuku whistled slightly as he stared at them, realizing they had to be heavy as hell.

“Like what you see?” she asked cockily.

“Yes, but that's not why I'm whistling,” he replied just as snarky.

“Oh yeah? Why then?”

“Brave move carrying ten pounds around your feet. I couldn't handle that sort of mobility loss, personally.”

She shrugged as All Might began to speak.

“That's great, everyone. You all look so cool!”

Izuku disagreed on a few instances, but he wasn't going to say as much.

“Now, shall we begin, you zygotes?”

That...didn't work as well as he'd intended. He was trying to mimic the drill instructor trend of calling his charges maggots, right?

“It's time for the combat training!”

“Sir!” a white-armored boy said, raising his hand stiffly. Based on the voice, that was Iida. Izuku couldn't help but notice how similar the costume was to Ingenium, a pro hero. Then he realized as he looked at Iida's legs that he had exhaust pipes coming from them. He was either related, or a really big fan due to the similar quirks.

“This is a battle center from the entrance exams, right?” the boy continued. “Will we be conducting urban battles again?”

“No,” All Might replied. “We'll be moving two steps ahead. It would seem at first that most villain engagements take place outside, but statistically they're far more common indoors. Imprisonment, house arrest, backroom deals. In this hero society, the truly intelligent villains hide in the shadows. For today's class, you'll be split into teams of two to fight as villains and heroes.”

“Without basic training?” a frog-looking girl asked from the side.

“This is a real battle to understand those basics! However, there's no robots you can just destroy this time.”

“How will victory be decided?” asked the black haired girl from yesterday.

“Are we still allowed to hurt them?” Bakugo asked.

Fucking typical.

“Will the punishment be expulsion, like with Mr. Aizawa?” Uraraka asked.

“How will we be split up?” Iida asked.

“Doesn't this cape look nice?” the flamboyant boy asked stupidly.

Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose as All Might held up a hand for everyone to stop.

“I'll answer all your questions.”

With that, the large man reached into a back pocket and pulled out a small notepad. Oh great, he wrote a script....

“Now listen here. The situation is that the villains have hidden a nuclear weapon somewhere in the building. The heroes are trying to dispose of it. The heroes need to either capture the villains or the weapon before time runs out. The villains need to either hide the bomb the whole time or capture the heroes.”

Well, at least the premise sounded plausible...ish.

“Teams and opponents will be determined by drawing lots,” All Might continued, suddenly holding a cardboard box.

“Teams are being decided that haphazardly?” Iida asked, clearly annoyed.

“Well, yeah,” Izuku replied. “You think pros get to decide who they're working with in every event? No, it's just whoever gets there first.”

“I see, he looked that far ahead. Please excuse me for being so rude!”

Iida bowed as he finished, and Izuku rolled his eyes.

“It's fine,” All Might replied. “Let's do this quickly.”

Everyone drew their lots, and Izuku found himself paired with Uraraka, while Sutore was paired with the black haired girl from before, who he learned was named Momo Yaoyorozu. Izuku was less than enthused to find out his opponent was Bakugo's team.

“Team A will be the heroes, and Team D will be the villains,” All Might explained.

Bakugo's partner, Iida, seemed...less than happy about being put on the villain side of the engagement.

“Everyone else, head to the monitor room,” All Might continued. As the rest of the class left, Sutore gave Izuku a pat on the back. He responded to the gesture with a thumbs-up.

Looking over to his main opponent, Izuku couldn't read the boy's face. Unfortunately, his train of thought was derailed as Uraraka approached.

“Let's do our best, okay?” she chirped.

“Yeah,” he replied after a second. “Let's kick their asses.”

“Alright,” All Might said, staring down both remaining teams. “Villain team, go to the building over there and set up. The heroes will break in in five minutes, and the battle can commence!”

With that, the large man gathered up his boxes of lots, and made his way over to the monitor room. Shortly thereafter, the villain team made their way into the building. As soon as the door closed behind them, Izuku turned to Uraraka. Her outfit was a black and pink rubber skin-tight bodysuit, with exaggerated plastic covers for her wrists, waist, and boots. Her helmet looked like a minimalist style space helmet, though it didn't provide any seal over her face.

“So hey, your quirk removes gravity, right?”

“Yeah, why?”

“I want you to use it on my phone real quick.”

With that, he held out his phone for her to touch. Then, he made his way over to the building and turned on the camera, setting it to its record function.

“What are you doing?” Uraraka asked ask she ran up behind him. “All Might said we can't enter the building for five minutes.”

“Correct. But he never said anything about gathering intel.”

With that, he looked back to the office in front of them, assessing where the most reasonable places to hide the bomb would be. Likely, they'd choose somewhere far from the entrance to force the heroes to waste time climbing stairs. That also meant they'd want the opposite end from where he and his teammate currently stood. So he walked around to the other end of the building, looking up to see if there were any good entry points to make use of. If they could skip fighting through the interior of the place, that would make their fight to the bomb a hell of a lot shorter and easier. Though, with no idea where in the building the bomb was, even a higher level entry point would be wasting time.

As he stared at the windows above him, Izuku realized Uraraka had been trying to talk to him.

“...a bit like cheating?”

“Sorry, I was distracted,” he chuckled, holding his hand behind his neck. “But no, this isn't cheating. It's definitely not the spirit of the rules All Might intended, but I am following them to the letter. And if it makes you feel better, real heroes do this sort of thing all the time. They gather information on their targets before they even start the operation. The more we know, the higher our chance of success.”

“But how do you plan on seeing what they're doing without going in?”

“Like this,” Izuku smiled as he hit record, then gently pushed his phone vertically, making sure the camera faced all the windows. “Alright, now do your release thing.”

Uraraka did as asked, and the phone plummeted back to earth, only to be caught by Izuku, who stopped the recording and played it back. Nothing on the first floor, nothing on the second floor, but there was definitely movement on the third floor. Clever, they'd opted to avoid the top floor in case the heroes came in from the roof. The camera didn't manage to catch much, but it definitely looked like it caught Iida pointing to a room in the center back of the building as he explained something to Bakugo. Unfortunately, the captured audio was indecipherable, so they had to assume he was explaining the way he wanted things set up. And they had no idea what that setup was.

“Alright,” Uraraka said, still nervous. “We know where they probably set up the bomb. Now we just have to take them both down, right?”

“Wrong.”

“Why?”

“Because they're not going to make it easy to capture them. Hell, Bakugo alone would be a chore, especially with an opportunity to set things up beforehand. And while I'm pretty sure I know what Iida's quirk is, I'm not about to rush in without knowing for certain. At least not when we don't have to.”

As he finished, he clicked off the phone and pocketed it, then motioned for his teammate to follow. He found the spot directly under where it appeared the villain team would set up their operation, and looked in the window with his face pressed against the glass.

“What are you doing?”

“Checking out the structural setup of this building.”

“Why?”

“Trust me, you'll love it when you find out.”

As he pulled back from his viewing spot, Izuku looked back up toward the target room, and did some quick analysis. Based on what he could tell, there weren't many options, depending on how the villains went about their roles. If both stayed put, as unlikely as that was, they'd have to make either a risky play for the bomb or lure one of the two out to give themselves a numbers advantage. If one or both of them patrolled the building to find them, then the job became a lot more direct and interesting. But he wanted to double check that the enemy pair were actually in the room he'd figured, so he asked Uraraka to again lighten his phone. After a quick check, he had confirmation that the bomb, along with Iida and a large metal shield blocking the door's sightline, were in the room he'd figured they would set up in. Izuku was curious where they got the shield from until he recognized it as being made from Bakugo's chest armor. So that's why it was designed like that. But utility for allies wasn't something Izuku had counted on from Bakugo. That was definitely noteworthy. With a shrug, he locked his phone again and pocketed it.

“Alright, from the look of things, I think I have a plan that will work. I just need you to get to the right spot.”

“Where do you need me? What's the plan?”

“I need you to get to that room,” Izuku explained, pointing to a second-floor room.

“But the bomb is on the third floor.”

“I know it is, just trust me. If I'm right about what they're doing, then I just need you to make it there, then tell me.”

“How?”

“With this,” Izuku replied, reaching up and pulling off a piece of his mask from next to his left ear. He handed it to her, and she immediately recognized it as an earpiece. She touched the outer section, and a small microphone slid out. She then placed the thing in her ear, completely hidden by her helmet.

Izuku touched his finger to the button on the side of his mask.

“Test test, one two three. Can you hear me?”

“Yeah,” she replied, and he heard her voice through his mask's earpiece.

“Good, now let's go back to the front door.”

“Why? We know where they are. Shouldn't we try to enter as close to their location as possible?”

“No, we don't want to let them know that we know anything. Again, the more intel you have over your opponent, the better your chance of success is.”

As the last thirty seconds of the prep time were announced, Uraraka turned to her teammate.

“I just realized, you told me to go to that room and tell you. You're not going to be with me?”

“Nope.”

“Why not?”

“I'm the bait.”

She gave him a confused, concerned look as Izuku turned back to face the building, popping his neck for good measure.

“Don't worry, I got this.”

“Alright,” All Might announced over the speakers. “Let's start the person-to-person indoor combat training between teams A and D!”

With that, both Uraraka and Izuku made their way into the building. Izuku led the way, keeping his ears open and his head on a swivel. He led his teammate slowly closer to where the stairs led upward, making sure to try and spot any traps or explosive-oriented children along the way. However, as the pair neared a corner, their first opponent leapt toward Izuku.

“I got you, nerd!”

Izuku shoved his teammate back as he ducked Bakugo's swipe at him. As the explosive boy sailed past, his hand connected with the opposite wall, blowing part of it into chunks and raising a cloud of dust. As it cleared, Izuku realized that Bakugo had no armor left covering his torso. He'd sacrificed all that to hunt them down.

“Come on, Midoriya,” the boy taunted. “Don't just dodge me.”

Izuku smiled under the mask as he jumped back to put some distance between himself and his old bully.

“Well, if you want to hit me, you'll have to make it harder to avoid than that.”

“Is that a challenge?”

“Not really,” Izuku replied cockily. “Not if your moves are that slow.”

Bakugo yelled, charging at his quarry. Izuku in turn simply rolled onto his back and kipped himself up toward the explosive boy as he passed over, which launched him down the hallway. With his momentum, Izuku managed to land in a crouched position, looking directly at Uraraka. He nodded toward the staircase, then turned around to face his opponent as he stood upright. Behind him, he heard footsteps receding. Bakugo winced from the pain of his landing, likely getting his breath back as he sat up. Izuku used this moment of weakness to his advantage, running over to his quarry. However, much to Bakugo's surprise, he simply leapt over him, placing both hands on the boy's head as he went, leap frog style.

“Tag,” Izuku yelled back as he continued running. “You're it.”

He was concerned for a moment when he didn't immediately hear explosions, but that was quickly righted shortly thereafter. One decent blast, followed by a dozen quick pops, all growing closer. Good, Bakugo was blinded by rage and chasing him, just as planned. Just as the exploding boy got close, Izuku rounded a corner sharply, focusing on losing as little momentum as possible. He couldn't truly outrun Bakugo, but if he made him overshoot his launch, the guy couldn't catch him, either. He abused this once more before Bakugo caught on. Just as he rounded the corner into a large room, Izuku heard a blast behind him. The force knocked him to his knees, but he rolled out of it, ending up facing his bully.

“Running won't save you, you know.”

“Yeah, I know,” Izuku replied as she stood, flicking out his baton. “I just wanted to get somewhere nice and personal. Just you and me.”

Bakugo seemed unnerved by that response, but held his tough face.

“Alright then, you damn nerd. Time to finish this.”

With that, Bakugo went for a swipe with his right hand toward Izuku's face. He responded by lunging in, grabbing Bakugo's arm, and judo throwing him as far away as he could. Unfortunately, with one hand full, he couldn't put as much force into the throw, and Bakugo had apparently learned, tucking his head as he landed and rolling to his feet a good five feet away.

“Nice try, but your tricks won't work on me twice!”

“Pretty sure my corner dodge trick worked exactly twice,” Izuku responded, stepping a little to his left.

“Well let's see if you can throw me with both arms coming down!”

Izuku leapt forward as Bakugo came down exactly where he'd been a second before, accompanied by an explosion that shook the building, blasting all the nearby items to smithereens. As he put some more distance between the two, Izuku turned and readied himself. Yet again, his opponent launched himself at his target, this time with a direct palm strike. Izuku responded by sidestepping the attack and bringing his baton down directly into Bakugo's spine. As he hit the dirt, Bakugo let off a relatively small explosion, blasting away part of the nearby pillar. Izuku once again put distance between the two, checking his placement as the other boy stood.

“If my open hand attacks aren't gonna work,” Bakugo said angrily. “I'll just have to switch things up, I guess.”

With that, the boy made a slower approach, this time much more grounded. Izuku recognized that he was going for a more defensive style so that he couldn't be countered and avoided so easily.

“Take this!” he yelled, spinning on his left heel for a roundhouse kick. Izuku easily caught it with his left arm, then reached out and grabbed Bakugo's belt with the other, dropping his baton in the process.

“Yoink,” he said cockily, swinging his bully around into another pillar. It cracked, but held strong. However, he was surprised to find that Bakugo had grabbed the pillar with both arms, and was currently wrapping both legs around Izuku's midsection.

“Got you now!” he yelled, twisting and using the pillar to brace against. With the added force of his quirk spinning him faster and blowing away half the pillar, he managed to not only take Izuku off his feet, the force sent the side of his face directly into the pavement with a sickening thud.

That was definitely going to be a concussion....

Both boys lay prone for a second before Izuku rolled away and grabbed up his baton. Shakily, he stood, just in time to see Bakugo do the same. Holding his head to stop the ringing, Izuku almost didn't recognize his opponent looking around.

“So that was your plan, huh?”

Fuck.

“Trying to make me take down part of the building, I'm guessing? Get the bomb away from us so you technically win?”

“Nope,” Izuku replied, shaking his head clear. “Just wanted to bring the house down on you so we can take on Iida two-on-one.”

As he finished talking, Izuku heard a small voice in his ear.

“...thing on? Hello? Midoriya, I'm in position! Do you copy?”

Izuku touched the button on his mask as he spoke.

“Yeah, I copy. We're nearly ready.”

“The hell you are!” Bakugo yelled. “I know your plan, and you're not tricking me into taking out another pillar!”

“Don't need to,” Izuku replied as he reached down and retrieved four of his shape charges. He pressed the button on each, making sure to twist left as he did so. He then reared his arm back, obviously aiming at one of the nearby pillars.

“No you don't!” Bakugo yelled as he launched himself between Izuku and the pillar. Unfortunately, he'd fallen for the bait. Izuku rotated about one hundred degrees left, then threw all four charges at a different pillar. As each one struck, they were set off, blowing a huge chunk out of the top of the pillar. As the structure collapsed, it took every floor above it down with it, just as Izuku had intended. Since each pillar went from the floor to the roof, they each acted as a border for a section of the building, and would only ever fall in chunks. As both boys watched, the ceiling above caved in, bringing the room directly overhead one floor down, landing directly next to them. As the section of the building came down, it tilted to one side, smashing a slightly larger hole around it. And since the debris had to go somewhere, it was going to spread and knock down some of the walls in its path, which meant....

“I've got the bomb!” Uraraka yelled in his ear.

“HERO TEAM WINS!” All Might announced over the loudspeakers.

And with five minutes to spare. Izuku looked at his former bully, and folded his arms.

“Who's the deku now, huh? Not only did I beat you, not only did I have you win for me, I even saved you in the process.”

“Damn,” Bakugo said, the animosity in his voice suddenly gone. “You really got me. Good job, dude.”

“Wait, what?” Izuku asked, standing upright. “What happened to that attitude you had just a second ago?”

“Oh, that? That was just to sell the 'villain' angle. You didn't actually think I...meant any of it...did you?”

Honestly, he had. He thought that was Bakugo showing his true colors under the guise of the test. But the way he'd slowed just now as he realized what Izuku thought suggested otherwise. And that honestly annoyed him a bit.

“Kinda, yeah,” he said honestly. “Sorry? Old habits kinda die hard.”

Bakugo gave a forced smile as he waved it off, slowly making his way over to the staircase. Izuku just stood, looking after him with a sinking feeling.

Was he the asshole now?

Chapter Text

As everyone made their way into the monitoring room, Izuku couldn't break his gaze from Bakugo. After consideration, he realized that his plan hadn't been purely about bullying him again. It had been strategic, if not a little foolhardy. Okay, very foolhardy. He'd assessed the biggest threat to their plan, and had attempted to remove it. And since Iida couldn't understand Izuku's strategies, that left the explosives expert to take care of the problem. Hell, he'd even left his armor as a way to protect his teammate, making sure the enemy couldn't easily sabotage him from the doorway. And, as Izuku had found out on the way here, he'd instructed Iida to avoid the window for similar reasons. His plan had been relatively solid, but he had neglected to anticipate Izuku's own plan. Hell, even then, he probably could have won if it weren't for the shape charges that nobody could have seen coming. And like he'd said, the admittedly mild insults were just an act to get in character. And now Izuku felt like a douche.

“Right,” All Might said as he took position in the center of the room. “Even though I said the hero team won, Iida is the MVP of this trial.”

Izuku raised an eyebrow at that claim.

“Wait,” the frog girl asked. “It's not either Uraraka or Midoriya? Even though they won?”

“Indeed, can anyone tell me why?”

“Yes, Mr. All Might,” Yaoyorozu said confidently. “It's because Iida adapted best to the context of the training. From watching the match, Bakugo clearly acted on his own for a personal vendetta. After all, his unchecked attacks were what lost the event for his team. Midoriya, meanwhile, was also rather rash. He actively let himself get attacked to buy time, and if Bakugo had been allowed to use his grenades, it's likely he would have won the encounter handily. Uraraka didn't even go to the right place, instead getting lucky that the weapon practically landed in her lap thanks to Bakugo's negligence. And on top of all that, the hero team was extremely lucky this was a training exercise, or they would have won this for the villains all on their own. In short, Iida was the only one who took the training seriously and did his job as intended.”

“Wow,” Izuku said with a slow clap. “I'm impressed. You got literally every detail wrong.”

Several confused looks followed his statement, along with a few questions. Even All Might seemed to not be following. Izuku sighed.

“First off, Bakugo didn't act on any vendetta. He acted on the information he had: that being that I was the main threat. No offense, Uraraka. He targeted me because he figured taking me out of the fight would give his team a better shot at victory. However, I admit I had expected him to target me because of our shared history, which is something I'm not going to go over right now. Point is, I accidentally predicted his moves with the wrong mindset. I got lucky. Also, Bakugo couldn't use his grenades haphazardly without risking the entire building's structural integrity, so those were out of the question from the beginning. The bomb landing right with Uraraka was the plan the whole time, by the way, so there was no luck involved there. I tricked Bakugo into destroying the pillars on purpose because I understood the physics of how the building's structure was held up. That section that collapsed was intentional. Oh, and she went to that spot under my direction, so if things hadn't worked out, that would be on me. Meanwhile, Iida only planned in the short term, on the small scale by hiding the bomb in the back of the building near the top floor. Honestly, it wasn't a bad plan, but what he neglected to anticipate was my recon ability.”

“You have a reconnaissance quirk?” Yaoyorozu asked. “But I didn't see you use that at any point.”

“I didn't, and I don't,” Izuku explained as he pulled up his phone. “I just had Uraraka give me an easy tool to spy on them with. Which was how I knew, even before entering the building, where they'd hidden the bomb.”

“But that's-”

“Not cheating. We were simply told we couldn't enter until the five minutes were up. Nobody said we couldn't get any reconnaissance on the enemy. Besides, what do you expect us to do outside for five minutes? Sit around with our thumbs up our asses?”

“You could have looked at the layout sheet provided....”

“No need. I just needed to make sure we knew where the bomb was, and where we needed to get to. Unfortunately, I neglected to give my teammate a good note for how to tell where she was in the building, but it all worked out.”

“Okay, but what about the fact that you dropped the weapon directly to your teammate? If this had been a real scenario, you would have wiped this entire area out with your plan.”

It was pretty clear that she was getting annoyed that Izuku's explanation invalidated all of her previous points. Too bad he had an answer for this, too.

“No it wouldn't. He said it was a nuclear device, right? That means its detonation is triggered by one of two things: a heavy impact on the nose, or a separate detonator. At least, based on my knowledge of the devices. I'm not exactly an expert. But, in either case, the bomb wouldn't get set off by a relatively small drop of ten to fifteen feet. On top of that, if it were so easy to set off, sending two heroes untrained in bomb diffusion is a stupid plan at best. I figured that was why we only had to touch the thing to win.”

Yaoyorozu didn't seem to have any reply to that, so Izuku then turned to All Might.

“By the way, I'm actually curious. Why was Iida the MVP when all he did was wait around for the enemy to come to him? Hell, his biggest strategy in the whole incident was where they placed the bomb, from what I can tell. Bakugo assessed the threat, made a logical call, covered his teammate just in case, and even tried to stop me when he realized my plan. Honestly, his only mistake was not anticipating my own strategy, which coincidentally relied on him. If you ask me, he did best thinking on his feet, he deserves the top spot here.”

“While you may have a point,” All Might said proudly. “Bakugo's plan ultimately led to his own defeat. Iida simply acted as best he could given what he could expect, even as a villain. He worked with his teammate, kept careful watch over his charge, and took precautions to nullify his opponents as much as possible. As such, he gets the top marks for this.”

Ah well, he'd tried. He couldn't entirely fault All Might's reasoning, but he still wanted to give Bakugo a win. But simply stating his opinion wasn't going to be good enough for that. So he shrugged.

“Whatever you say, sir.”

With that, All Might called the next two teams up and sent them to a new building, seeing as the first one was now sans a large chunk. Things progressed rather uneventfully from there, with most participants showing off their abilities quite well. A few, however, were countered so hard that they had no chance to really do much. Like the invisible girl and a blonde guy with a tail who was wearing a karate gi. While their plan would have been solid for most opponents, it didn't work so well when the other team froze the building solid. And since Karate Man had opted to go barefoot for his costume and the invisible girl had taken off her only gear, that of a set of boots and gloves, both were frozen to the floor with the only chance of escape being to rip the skin from their feet. That wasn't exactly a great prospect. Izuku took mental notes as he watched the originator of the ice now covering the building stroll through casually. His entire left side was covered in a sheet of ice, though Izuku couldn't tell if that was fake or not. The red monocle shoved over his left eye was definitely legit, though. The rest of the kid's body was clothed in a white jumpsuit, with a light tan back brace covering part of his torso. Given the half of the boy's hair that could be seen also showed white, this guy definitely had a theme going.

Then he melted all the ice he himself created in a matter of seconds after touching the bomb. It took a few seconds for Izuku to realize this kid had a dual-sided quirk. And one hell of a powerful combo, if he was guessing correctly. He hoped that was just a stroke of luck and not because of...the other option....

As things continued, Sutore and his partner were called in as the villains for the scenario. Immediately, Yaoyorozu got to work making a bunch of metal sheets. It only took a few seconds longer before Izuku realized what the pair were doing, as Sutore slid each sheet into place behind the door that was the only proper entrance to the room they'd set up in. The hero team only had thirty seconds left by the time they'd managed to smash down the reinforced door, and they were so tired that Sutore's mass blocking the way behind that barred them for long enough to pass with ease.

Tokoyami's team was up shortly after that, and the two handled themselves well, though unfortunately they were ill-suited to the pair they faced, as well as having minimal synergy with each other. They lost their round, but when the deck is stacked against you, that's gonna be the result more often than not.

Jiro's team, meanwhile, had no difficulty with their adversaries whatsoever. With a quick zap to the floor above from Kaminari, both villains were knocked out without ever even seeing their opponents.

At the end of the training, everyone gathered up in front of the entrance to the battle arena, with All Might standing before them. Izuku went to his new little circle of friends, high-fiving Sutore and Jiro for their great work. Tokoyami got a fist bump of recognition.

“Good work, everyone!” he yelled encouragingly. “And we managed to avoid any serious injuries! You guys definitely took this on seriously. This was a fantastic showing for your first day of training!”

As he finished, the hero gave everyone a big thumb up.

“Having a proper class like this after Aizawa's training,” Asui said, somewhat tired. “Feels...anticlimactic.”

Several heads nodded in agreement around Izuku, who had to hold back his scoff. He agreed, but just hearing the mention of that attempt against his future brought back some anger.

“We're free to have proper classes as well, you know!” All Might practically sang. “Now, if you'll excuse me. I must go review your battles and prepare for next time! Be sure to change and head back to class!”

With that, the man took off like a bullet train. There were several gasps, as though it was a surprise the top hero could and would run that fast. Though, looking at the clock on his phone, Izuku figured All Might had left himself very little time left in the day to stay in his muscle form. By his estimate, the big guy would probably make it back to the teacher's lounge with less than ten minutes for the whole day to spare. This job may be his best bet to find an heir for that quirk of his, but it might just kill him in the process.

Izuku stared for a few seconds before his train of thought was forcibly derailed by Jiro jabbing him in the arm.

“Ow,” he said, rubbing where she'd been poking him with her earjacks. “Those things are sharp, you know!”

“Don't ignore me next time,” she responded with a pout. “And you won't get poked.”

“Oh, sorry. What were you saying?”

She sighed.

“I was asking what's up between you and Bakugo. You two clearly had it out for each other back there.”

There was a moment where Izuku considered brushing the situation off, but he settled on a more direct answer, even if he didn't want to get into specifics yet. Especially for Bakugo's sake.

“We knew each other as little kids,” he laughed. “I haven't seen him in almost ten years, but we were so close back then that I think we just know what to expect from the other on a subconscious level at this point.”

“But that doesn't explain why you were targeting each other,” Tokoyami interjected.

“We each made the call that the other was the greatest present threat, and figured neutralizing the known variable first would be the most prudent course of action. It was basic battle strategy.”

As he finished explaining, Izuku realized he had drawn the attention of several other classmates at this point.

“Oh, like you guys wouldn't deem the guy who can blow shit up as the heavy threat?”

Most looked away at that point, and a few others nodded in agreement. Bakugo, meanwhile, had a resigned look on his face. That look was one Izuku knew all to well, even if he had grown used to it from the other side. That was not a good thing to see.

When afternoon classes finished, much of the class opted to stay and discuss the training they'd had with All Might. Izuku was happy to give pointers to those who asked his opinion, but he very quickly noticed the distinct lack of a certain boy who definitely should have been keen on hearing these sorts of strategies.

“Hey, Kirishima,” Izuku asked the red-haired boy obsessed with manliness. “Where's Bakugo?”

“Huh? Oh, he left a few minutes ago once he got all his stuff packed. Shame, too. I wanted to ask about his armor design.”

Izuku didn't like the sound of that. He immediately turned and booked it out of the classroom toward the front of the school. He made it to the locker room before spotting the blonde boy.

“Hey, Bakugo!” he called out.

There was no response. The kid just kept walking.

“Bakugo!” Izuku called again, making his way closer. Again, there was no response.

“Kacchan!”

Bakugo immediately froze, and Izuku came to a stop just next to him.

“What are you doing? Shouldn't you be back up there with the rest of us, going over strategy and quirk ideas?”

“No. I shouldn't,” Bakugo responded shakily. “I realized today that things aren't that easy. As much as I tried to change, when it came right down to it, you still saw me as the same piece of shit I used to be.”

There was a venom in those words toward the end that Izuku had never heard from Bakugo before. And hearing it directed at himself was unsettling, to say the least.

“I can't hold up to people like that frost kid. And once the real reason we know each other gets out, everyone will look at me like you did today. No, I think it might be better to get out before I fuck things up again. It was fun, Izuku. Really. I hope you do well in here.”

As the blonde raised his foot to continue his walk of shame, Izuku rested a hand on his shoulder. The boy froze again, then slowly turned to look at his old friend.

“No,” Izuku said flatly.

“What?”

“I said no. You're not leaving. Because you're wrong.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that I was wrong to look at you that way. It's pretty fucking obvious at this point that you're not the same kid you were back then. My assumption of anything different was on me, not you. We've both changed a lot since we were kids. And I'm sorry I made you think anything different. Oh, and for the record, I'm dead sure you could whoop Frosty's ass right now. Even if not, that's why you're here. To get good enough that you can.”

As he spoke, Izuku held his childhood friend solidly by the shoulders and stared him in the eye.

“If you still want to, I'd like to try and reset things. I want us to be friends again. What do you say...Kacchan?”

There were tears in Bakugo's eyes as he processed what he'd heard. After a few seconds, he rubbed his eyes, then nodded. Both boys smiled, then Izuku pulled his old friend in for a hug. There were a few seconds of nothing, then he felt arms wrap around his back gingerly. He let go and took a step back, giving Bakugo a playful punch to the shoulder as they separated.

“Now no more talk of quitting, alright? Either I see you here first thing tomorrow, or I drag you here. I still know where you live, remember?”

“Yeah,” the explosive boy replied with a chuckle, the last of his tears drying. “See you tomorrow.”

As the blonde boy turned and started walking home, two figures watched from the doorway to the school building.

“Told ya,” Sutore said, his face curling into a smile.

“Very well, Young Sutore,” All Might replied. “You surely do know your friend quite well. Please take care that you help those two with this path they've settled on. I believe in you all.”

With that, the hero turned and made his way back toward the teacher's lounge. Sutore looked one more time at his best friend before he turned to go back to class. He didn't want Izuku thinking he'd been spying.

Chapter Text

The next week passed mostly uneventfully. On the third day, everyone introduced themselves properly, and Izuku did his best to remember everyone's names. There was a crowd of reporters for a few days, but that settled down shortly. Apparently somebody had made a big deal that All Might was teaching at UA. Izuku's forced “interview” had amounted to him telling them that All Might was a straightforward teacher and that they should watch their step before the steel plates that barred any trespassers slammed into place.

The class decided on representatives, and after some consideration, Izuku decided to vote on Iida. As much as the guy reminded him of a puppet with how far that stick was up his ass, there was no doubt the guy had valid logic, and tried his best to keep things under control. Much to his surprise, that one vote was the deciding factor in who got to be primary rep versus secondary, with Iida getting three votes and Yaoyorozu getting two. And his decision was verified as solid when that day's lunch period was disrupted by the presence of intruders that turned out to only be reporters. Thankfully, with Uraraka's help, Iida was able to float his way to the front of the pack of jostling idiots clamoring for the exit before anyone got hurt, alerting everyone to the truth while posed hilariously against the wall.

There was also the new addition to Izuku's small circle: Bakugo. The first day after their reconciliation, Izuku had been hesitant to introduce him so fast. He needed to prepare. The second day, after alerting Sutore, Jiro, and Tokoyami to his plan, he brought his old friend over with...only mild trepidation. Once the awkward greetings were done, and Sutore's initial threat was received, things settled down.

“So,” Jiro said as the five of them ate at lunch. “Midoriya said the other day you two had a 'shared history' as he put it. You mind explaining?”

Izuku slammed his face into the table in annoyance. Of course that was what she asked about.

“You good, dude?”

“Yeah,” Izuku said with a sigh. “I guess I just figured we could hold off on this topic for a bit.”

“Sorry, I'm just curious!”

“You don't have to explain if you don't want to,” Tokoyami interjected. “We haven't known each other that long, after all.” He pointedly jabbed Jiro's ribs as he finished.

Bakugo remained completely silent, clearly watching Izuku to take the lead so he could judge how to proceed. Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose.

“I'll give you the short version, how about that? We were friends when we were really little. Like, 'before quirks' little. He got his quirk, and started looking down on me. Started bullying people. My family moved because of the bullying, and he realized his mistake. I didn't know until a couple months ago, and we made up the other day. Happy?”

“He was your bully?” Tokoyami asked apprehensively.

“I-” Bakugo began.

“When you get a powerful, literally flashy quirk, it can have a tendency to boost the ego. Just look at Endeavor.”

“Harsh, but fair,” Jiro commented as she grabbed another bite.

“Point is, he got better. And this is me extending an olive branch back.”

“So what was his reaction when you got your quirk?” Tokoyami asked.

Izuku paused. He didn't have a good answer to that. He looked to Bakugo, considering his response. He didn't expect what happened next, though.

“I told him it made him worthless and could never hold a candle to me,” the blonde stated matter-of-factly. The entire table stopped at that.

“Obviously I don't think that anymore!” he continued, putting his hands up defensively. He looked nervously from one person to the next, finally settling on Izuku, who just waved him off. It was in the past, all but forgotten at this point.

“Like I said, he got better,” Izuku reinforced.

A few seconds passed before the group resumed eating. Bakugo tried not to make a big deal of it, but Izuku could tell that had been a big moment just now. He wasn't going to forget that.

That Friday, the class was met with exciting news.

“Today's hero class has been changed a little. It'll be with three instructors: myself, All Might, and a surprise instructor.”

Changed? Izuku couldn't help but wonder if there was a special reason.

“Hey, so, what are we gonna be doing today?” a boy near Izuku asked. He took a second to remember his name was Sero.

Aizawa pulled up a card from his sleeve which read “Rescue.”

“Disasters, shipwrecks, and everything in between. Today is rescue training.”

Izuku couldn't help but wonder how people like Bakugo and Kirishima would handle themselves in this training. Neither one had a quirk particularly suited to this work. He made sure to grab his journal to take notes later.

“Hey, I'm not done,” Aizawa continued, his tone as annoyed as ever. “You can choose to wear your costume or not for this exercise. Some of your designs might limit your abilities.”

Izuku snickered a little at that. If people made a design that limited them, it was a pretty crappy design, no?

“The training is taking place off-campus, so we're taking a bus. Start getting ready.”

With that, the pro pressed a button on a remote, and the left wall of the class slid open. As the suitcases slid out, Sutore and Izuku grabbed theirs immediately. After a moment's consideration, he also grabbed Bakugo's case and handed it down to him, followed shortly by Jiro's. Looking around, he was glad to see that everyone in the class had opted to use their hero costumes. That bade pretty well for the average intelligence of this class.

After a short, slightly embarrassing debacle with Iida's planning to get on the bus, everyone was seated comfortably as they rode to the location of their special training for the day. Izuku tried to guess based on their path, but was having difficulty narrowing down the options. His train of thought, however, was interrupted by the frog-girl next to him.

“So, I often speak my mind. Hey, Midoriya.”

“What's up Asui?”

“Call me Tsu.”

Well crap, that was forward. Izuku's voice caught for a moment before he continued.

“Sure thing, Tsu. But what did you want?”

“Your quirk is really understated.”

“Hey,” Kirishima interjected from her other side. “That might not have come out right.”

“Well,” Izuku laughed. “Pray tell: what exactly do you think my quirk is?”

Tsu looked at him quizzically, clearly considering her response.

“It's a mental quirk, right?” Kirishima asked. “Kind of reminds me of my own Hardening.” As he spoke, he showed off his quirk over his left arm for everyone.

“It's effective, but not exactly flashy.”

“I disagree,” Izuku said, smiling. “That could definitely pass as a pro's, and the idea of a hero rock solid enough to stop any villain in their tracks sounds like a hell of a good pick to me.”

“Yeah, but you gotta think about popularity, too, when you're a pro.”

“My Naval Laser is pro-level in both flashiness and power,” Aoyama, the flamboyant boy stated from across the bus.

“It's just not that great that it gives you a stomachache,” the pink girl, Ashido, said as she placed a hand on his shoulder.

“I think if we're talking flashy and powerful, the top two contenders have to be Todoroki and Bakugo, right?”

The mention of his name seemed to draw the attention of the resident samurai. He cocked an eyebrow at the group.

“Though,” Tsu continued. “I think he might need to control his emotions a bit if he wants to get popular.”

Immediately, the cocked eyebrow dropped, and those red eyes went back to staring out the window. Izuku felt bad for him, but was comforted when Jiro put her hand on Bakugo's shoulder from her spot next to him. And when those eyes caught Izuku's own, he flashed a bright smile to let him know it was all fine.

The conversation was cut short, however, as Aizawa stood up from his spot at the front of the bus to announce they had arrived at the destination. Izuku was confused for a second before he looked out the window, then smacked his forehead for being stupid before. Of course they were going to the USJ!

As everyone piled off the bus, they were met by a talking space suit: Thirteen, the Space Hero. Several squeals of excitement accented the class's departure from the bus.

“Come on, everyone. Let's get inside quickly,” she said, motioning toward the doors.

“Look forward to working with you,” the class said almost uniformly.

As they entered the giant domed structure, Thirteen gave her introduction to the facility.

“A shipwreck, a landslide, fires, massive storms, whatever I could think of, it's here. I made this training ground to practice with numerous disasters and accidents. I call it the Unforseen Simulation Joint, or USJ for short.”

Aizawa stepped forward as she finished, clearly trying to ask her something in a hushed way. Unfortunately for them, Izuku could still hear pretty easily.

“So, Thirteen. Where's All Might? He was supposed to meet us here.”

“It seems that he did to much hero work on his way to the school and ran out of time. He's resting in the lounge.”

“That is just the height of irresponsibility.”

Izuku subconsciously shrugged at that statement. He couldn't blame the guy for saving people, but yeah. It was pretty dumb to use up all that time in muscle form this early. What if a big villain attacked?

“Oh well,” Aizawa said before continuing louder. “Shall we begin?”

“Yes,” Thirteen replied. “But before we do, I just want to say one or two things. Maybe three...or four....”

Much of the class groaned as the space hero kept counting higher. After a short delay, she finally got to her point.

“I'm sure you're all aware of my quirk: Black Hole. I can suck up anything and turn it to dust.”

Izuku smiled, remembering some classic footage of the hero's methods of using her quirk to save people. There was the time she ate an entire crane arm to remove the weight from rubble that blocked access to construction workers, the time she pulled a small boy out of the way of a raging bull villain....

“It is a power that can kill quite easily.”

Izuku's train of thought derailed immediately. And based on the surprised sounds of his classmates, they had similar thoughts.

“I'm sure some of you have quirks like that, too. Don't you?”

Izuku had to fight not to look at Bakugo. He could feel the tension, though.

“In our modern society, quirks have been registered and highly regulated, so it may not seem like such a big deal at first glance. However, you must never forget that many quirks have to potential to kill with just one wrong step.”

Izuku couldn't help but put his hand over the shape charges in his belt. He wondered if anyone else had truly considered the capacity they carried for murder....

“Aizawa's test was to show the hidden potential of your powers. All Might's combat training was designed to make you aware of the danger you could present to others. This test is much the opposite. This is where you learn to use those abilities to save lives.”

Under his mask, Izuku felt his smile mimic the toothy grin covering his face. This was where true heroes showed their stuff. This work right here was what it was truly about to be a hero. To save people. And he couldn't wait to get started.

“You do not have powers so you can harm others. I want you all to leave here with the understanding that you have powers in order to help people.”

The tension that had been radiating off of Bakugo just moments before was gone, and as Izuku looked at his small circle of friends, he saw confident smiles on every face.

“That is all. Thank you all for listening,” Thirteen finished with a slightly eccentric bow.

Applause immediately roared from the class, with several people shouting praise for the speech. Sutore and Izuku joined in with heavy applause and a whistle respectively. However, the joy was cut short as the lights in the facility dimmed seemingly out of nowhere. Down below, in the main court of the building, a dark purple gate opened up. Recognizing that things were definitely going sour, Izuku nudged Sutore, motioning toward the portal. It seemed that Aizawa had already taken notice, himself.

As they watched, the portal grew larger before exploding out into a wall of darkness, with two glowing yellow eyes near the top. A section opened up, revealing a man with light blue, unruly hair and what appeared to be a severed human hand covering his face. Ever the vigilant type, Aizawa took command.

“Everyone, gather together and stay back. Thirteen, protect the students!”

It was at this point that the rest of the class seemed to catch on to what was happening. Meanwhile, the handsy man made his way clear of the portal to reveal that the mask he wore wasn't the only hand in his outfit. One covered his face, another held the back of his head, two around his neck, two more at the shoulders, three pairs covered his arms, and there were two gripping either side of his ribcage. His skin was deathly pale, made all the more noticeable by the pitch black tee shirt and too-short pants he wore. The bright red shoes on his feet almost reminded Izuku of his own back at school. And then several mutated villains stepped out alongside the original.

“Is this like the entrance exam,” Kirishima asked stupidly. “Where the lesson's already started?”

“Don't move!” Aizawa shouted as he pulled up a set of goggles over his eyes. That definitely proved this wasn't part of the plan.

“Those are villains.”

Several students gasped, much to Izuku's annoyance. No shit these guys were villains, why would UA hire a portal quirk user just to do this? He assessed the numbers of the villains he could see and tried to guess a few of their quirks based on what they wore. That was, until a beaked monster of a villain stepped out onto the field. The man's brain was open to the elements on full display, with his eyes seemingly jammed directly into the gray matter. The beak on his face was permanently curved into a smile and featured teeth, which make his visage all the more horrifying. His skin was dark black, with several large, distinctly red gashes lining each arm. Thankfully, he wore a pair of utility pants, but other than the skull-shaped kneepads, that was it. Looking at the figure's scale, Izuku estimated the guy to be at least six foot seven, and easily over three hundred pounds of muscle. As the last of the crowd left their portal entrance, the shadowy face coalesced to say something to his companion.

“Thirteen and Eraserhead, huh? The teacher's schedule we received the other day said All Might was supposed to be here, too.”

“The trespassing the other day was the work of these scumbags, then?” Aizawa said, mirroring Izuku's own thoughts.

The gathered crowd began spreading out over the courtyard they found themselves in, and Izuku thumbed his baton reflexively. This was shaping up to be a bad day.

“And I went through all the trouble of gathering this crowd,” the handy man said slowly. “I can't believe All Might isn't here. Maybe he'll show up if we kill some kids?”

Izuku felt his blood run cold at the casual mention of child murder. These guys were psychos. However, he was slightly comforted by the protective placement Thirteen took combined with Aizawa's hair and scarf beginning to billow in an unfelt wind.

“Wait, so how did these villains get in?” Kirishima asked.

“What about the intruder sensors?” Yaoyorozu continued.

“Of course we have them, but they're not responding,” Thirteen replied with a quick look over her shoulder.

“Did they only appear here, or around the whole school?” Todoroki asked. “I guess that's not the most relevant, but if the sensors aren't responding, they must have someone with a quirk that can do that.”

“Or, you know, a hacker...” Izuku corrected.

“Yes, but they're still attacking a location separated from the main campus exactly when a class is supposed to be here. They may be fools, but they're not dumb. This was all carefully planned with a specific goal in mind.”

All eyes in the class turned to the scrawny man below, who simply stared up at them behind his mask. Todoroki was right, of course. They were definitely intelligently organized, but that didn't change how brazenly stupid the plan seemed. But what was their goal? He tapped one of the “teeth” on his mask.

“Thirteen, begin the evactuation,” Aizawa said. “Try calling the school. They have something-”

“No use,” Izuku interrupted, looking at his projected HUD. “No signals are getting through right now. They either have a jammer placed somewhere, or they've got someone with a radio wave or magnet quirk down there. It's a potent field, too. I can't get any frequency or wavelength to get around it. Unless we can get to a grounded line out, nobody's getting any messages. We're on our own for now.”

As he finished, Izuku pushed the “tooth” again, removing the HUD.

“Well, then keep trying different methods,” Aizawa said, his voice faltering.

“And what are you gonna do?” Izuku asked, stepping forward. “Eraserhead's combat style is suited to capturing small groups, not full-frontal assault.”

“You can't be a hero with just one trick,” the pro responded plainly. “I'm leaving it to you, Thirteen.”

With that, the erasure hero leapt down the stairs, his capture scarf already in hand and ready to fling. He knocked out the first three quickly due to their surprise at finding their quirks inactive, and through careful acrobatics, he was handling the others as they attacked him nearly one at a time. Izuku looked on with concern as he analyzed the situation, only to be pulled from his reverie(literally) by Sutore yanking him toward the exit.

“Study later, run now!”

The two of them quickly caught up with the rest of the class, only to find their path blocked by the dark purple figure they'd seen portal in below. He towered over them all, his nebulous form pulling him to a menacing eight feet tall. Everyone slid to a stop as the misty being spoke.

“Nice to meet you,” he said oddly formally. “We are the League of Villains. It may be presumptuous, but we invited ourselves to UA, home of heroes, to assist All Might in breathing his last.”

Izuku frowned as he listened to the man. Kill All Might? That was one lofty goal they'd set for themselves.

“I was under the impression he should be here. Was there some kind of change? Either way, it is irrelevant. I'm here to play a different part.”

As he spoke, the villain spread his “arms” out wide, creating the look of a large cloak blocking the path forward. In that moment, Izuku drew his baton and charged, finding a welcome surprise to see both Bakugo and Kirishima beside him. All three swung as one, with a massive explosion marking the moment. As the dust began to settle, Kirishima threw out a taunt.

“Did you ever consider that we might not let you do your part?”

“Oh dear,” mist man said from his cover. “That's quite dangerous.”

As their vision cleared, Izuku realized the three had made no apparent effect, though he did note that he could now spot what appeared to be a large metal neck brace floating in the mist.

“Even as students, you're quite the golden eggs. My job is to scatter you and torture you to death!”

Man, this guy was really fond of announcing their plans. At least that made it easy to work around. However, the black tendrils that flung from the villain's body were far more difficult to contend with, as Izuku found himself swallowed by darkness. A few seconds later, he found himself hurtling head first toward a large body of water. With little time to think of an alternate solution, he flipped his way over and held his arms to his chest for a pencil dive, bending his legs at the waist the instant he hit the water to minimize the depth of his entry. Looking around, he reoriented himself and popped up above the surface to get his bearings. He had just recognized his location as the shipwreck zone when he caught some rapid movement out of the corner of his eye. He went to grab his baton, but quickly remembered that he'd had it in hand when he'd been teleported here. In his haste, he must have dropped it. So he did the next best thing, dipping below the surface and holding out his left arm in a block in front of him. He was met with a shark-mutated man swimming directly at him with an open jaw. Just before he hit, a green torpedo slammed into him from Izuku's right.

“Midoriya!” Tsu yelled to him before shooting out her tongue to wrap him up.

She then kicked off the villain, pushing him further into the depths as she dragged Izuku along. This method was definitely a lot faster than he could do himself, so he had no complaints. It wasn't until he found himself lifted in the air that Izuku realized where she was taking him: the titular shipwreck. As the tongue around his torso unwrapped, Izuku rolled to catch himself on the deck of the ship. With a quick press of one of the “teeth” on his mask, the left side popped open, spitting out a small air cartridge. He dug through his pocket for a few seconds before pulling out a new one, quickly slotting it in. As his mask closed back up, he saw Sutore being placed gently on the deck alongside him. The two went to the side of the ship, pulling Tsu aboard.

“Thanks Tsu,” Izuku said with a bow.

“No need to be so formal, you know. But this has turned into a really bad situation.”

“You said it,” Sutore said, wringing out his cloak. “I can't believe anyone would think to try and kill All Might.”

“Not to mention that they knew our schedule,” Izuku added. “They must have gotten in during that intrusion a few days ago. They used that info to plan this attack.”

“Do you think they might have actually found a way to kill him?” Tsu asked, concern sneaking into her voice. “They did just say they were going to torture us to death, so we can't be sure what they're capable of.”

“But they're on the same footing,” Izuku pointed out. “Clearly, for all the research they did, they still don't know what our quirks are. If they did, they wouldn't have sent you here, Tsu. We can't be sure that everyone will make it through this unscathed, or even alive. But we can for damn sure prevent as much damage as possible. We're not going to just wait around for All Might to save the day. We need to make sure there are still people to save when he gets here.”

Just as he finished, there was a shout from the port side of the boat.

“I'll kill you!”

All three students peered over the side of the ship to see themselves being surrounded by villains in the water. They stopped a fair distance away, forming a perimeter in the water.

“So what's the plan, Izu?” Sutore asked with a smile.

“I think I have something.”

“Well,” Tsu interjected. “I think we should share our quirks with each other to make sure we have as much info to work with as possible.”

Both boys shared a look, but neither could refuse her.

“Okay,” Sutore replied. As with Tokoyami and Jiro, he explained his quirk to the extent he understood it. Tsu opted to go next.

“I can jump high, stick to walls, and stick my tongue out to about twenty meters. I can also spit up my stomach to clean it, but I doubt that will be useful here. Oh, and I can secrete a toxic mucus that just kind of stings a little.”

“Well, I kind of figured most of that, but it's good to have confirmation. Any chance your mucus gets more potent in water?”

“Water actually disperses it.”

“Alright, that's fine. Not like that was part of the plan, honestly.”

“So what's your quirk, Izuku?”

Both he and Sutore froze for a second, before Sutore started trying to cover for him.

“Well, you see-” he began.

“I don't have one.” Izuku stated flatly.

The taller boy whipped around, the shock evident on his face.

“This is a serious situation,” Izuku explained. “Lies right now could lead to serious consequences. I'm not going to hide it. I'm quirkless.”

“Oh,” Tsu intoned, clearly a little surprised herself.

“Please just keep it under wraps,” Sutore begged. “It's made a lot of challenges for him, and-”

“It's fine,” Izuku interrupted. “I think we can trust her.”

“Kerro” Tsu ribbitted with a smile.

Unfortunately, it was at that moment that the boat was sliced in half by a giant knife hand made of water. One of the villains had revealed their quirk. And now they were sinking, though slowly.

“So, that plan?”

Izuku nodded, dispensing a dozen of his shape charges and handing four each to his classmates.

“Place these around the inside of the hull, then meet me back here. To activate it you need to press the center button and slide that down until you feel it click. Do not touch the underside once you've done that, it will stick to you and it will hurt.”

Both of them nodded, then dashed off to place their charges. Izuku himself set about placing his four in the corners of the deck. As each charge contacted the surface, it dug itself in with nearly microscopic hooks, seeming to weld itself to the surface. Once finished, he leapt back to the starting point to find the other two waiting.

“Now Sutore jumps us clear of the ship, and Tsu flings me and Sutore closer to shore. Don't worry about those guys, they should all be out cold soon. Catch up as soon as possible, Tsu.”

Tsu and Sutore shared a look and a shrug before getting into position. Izuku grabbed onto his friend's shoulders, riding piggyback. Tsu simply wrapped her tongue around his waist. With a quick pat on Sutore's shoulder to let him know they were ready, he activated his quirk and launched into the air. As soon as he recognized that Tsu was clear of the boat, Izuku hit a button on his mask. The instant he did so, every shape charge on the boat released its entire electric charge at once. The resulting shock spread through the water, electrocuting all the villains below. By the time they reached the top of their arc, most of the villains were simply bobbing in the water, knocked out. After that, Tsu whipped her tongue to add momentum to the two boys, and flung them over toward the shore. With a loud splash, they landed mere meters away from the edge. Izuku double checked behind them to see Tsu swimming confidently over after she landed back in the water. With a smile, he and Sutore made their way to where they could stand on the bottom of the pool. They were joined shortly by their new friend.

“So what now?” she asked.

“Well, we can make our way back toward the entrance like the teachers wanted,” Izuku said, pointing toward that direction. “Or we can help Mr. Aizawa. He's going to be slowing down by now, and their numbers are a problem for him. So I know where I'm going.”

As he turned toward the central plaza, Izuku was surprised to hear both his companions following suit. As they made their way over to the shoreline, they ducked down to avoid being spotted. Raising up just enough to see what was happening, they realized there were quite a few knocked out villains laying around the plaza. Izuku smiled at the fact Eraserhead had managed to hold his own this long. This was much larger scope than the hero would ever deal with normally. Just then, he saw the hero leap over two villains, ensnaring them with his capture scarf, and using it to pull himself back into them for a dive kick while pulling them tightly together to minimize reactions. It was a smart play. But, as he took a moment to gather his breath, the handy man rushed in. It was only thanks to Izuku's mask amplifying distant sounds that he heard the man's mumble on approach.

“Twenty-three seconds.”

“The last boss?” Aizawa said to himself, readying his scarf.

Izuku's eyes went wide. He knew exactly what the man had just quoted. He'd been tracking the delay! Fuck!

“Twenty-four seconds,” the scrawny man mumbled.

Aizawa flung one end of his scarf forward, only to have it caught by his opponent.

“Twenty seconds.”

As both men neared each other, they each readied themselves to strike. Oddly, the paler man raised his left hand with an open palm, almost like he wanted to simply grab the hero.

“Seventeen seconds.”

Aizawa grabbed the tendril of his scarf the man still held, using it to launch himself forward unexpectedly. At the same time, he curled his other arm in, striking the villain in the chest with an elbow. And while that looked like it hurt, Izuku couldn't help but notice that the villain brought his hand down anyway to grab the elbow that had just struck him. Just as he grabbed hold, Aizawa's hair fell flat over his face.

“It's hard to see because you keep moving around,” the paler man hissed. “But there's an instant where your hair falls. That's when you've finished an action.”

“Shit,” Izuku whispered, raising to go to Aizawa's aid. He was quickly stopped by Sutore's hand on his shoulder, though.

“And the space between has gotten shorter and shorter,” the villain continued. As he spoke, Izuku noticed the teacher's elbow area turning gray and developing cracks. “Don't push yourself, Eraserhead.”

As he finished, the cracked pieces fell away, revealing Aizawa's elbow, skin crumbled away to expose the muscle to the open air. Thankfully, the hero reacted quickly, punching his assailant off of him and leaping away. Several smaller villains attempted to capitalize, but the pro easily dodged each attack. Izuku's worry furthered, though, when he realized the hero wasn't countering afterward. Instead, he finished with villains on every side, holding his right arm protectively.

“That quirk isn't suited for long fights against large groups, is it?”

Izuku's blood ran cold as the main villain stood up again.

“Isn't this too different from your usual job? What you're good at is a quick fight after a surprise attack, right?”

Izuku's mind was in overdrive. This guy clearly knew how to analyze his opponents. In just one move, he'd crippled the biggest threat currently stalling his plan. That made him target number one, and with his quirk revealed, Izuku set about planning how to take him down.

“Even so, you jumped right in to fight us from the front. Was that to put your students at ease?”

As soon as the last word was spoken, Aizawa's hair dropped. A clawed villain ran in to take advantage, but quickly found himself ensnared by the scarf. And as another villain ran in to attack, the first was offered as a shield. The spiked ball hit the clawed man, and the second man was delivered a knuckle sandwich directly to the jaw. A third villain attempted to get involved, only to be taken out with a roundhouse kick. Aizawa was panting as he turned back toward the main threat again, grabbing a piece of his scarf as the hair on his head flew upward.

“You're so cool,” the villain said with genuine admiration. “You're so cool!”

Izuku felt a shiver run up his spine as he recognized the similarities between himself and this disintegration villain. This guy gushed over learning quirks, was able to analyze his opponents to strategize around their shortcomings, and seemed to actually have a respect for heroes. But then why was he wanting to kill All Might? Shouldn't the greatest hero of all have his utmost respect?

“By the way, hero,” the man said, his tone suddenly shifting. “I'm not the last boss.”

Both Izuku and Aizawa turned their gaze toward the monstrous villain from before, who had managed to approach the scene completely silently somehow. The giant raised a hand, and slammed it directly into the hero's face, breaking off one eyepiece of his goggles as the man's head struck pavement. Izuku leapt from the water the instant he saw the blood come out, drawing two needles from his belt with his left hand as he sprinted forward. There was no way he could stand by and watch this thing kill Eraserhead! Both villains looked up to see the green-haired boy charging toward them, and the disintegration one jumped in, hand at the ready. Izuku slid to a near stop, lunging his body perpendicular to the ground backward, and stuck his right leg out straight into the man's chest. The swipe meant for Izuku's head area missed, and he dropped to the ground to avoid a follow up grab like he'd seen the man do earlier to his teacher. Rolling onto his back, Izuku flung his left arm to toss his needles.

There was just one problem.

As he went to release the needles, Izuku realized his left hand had been caught by the giant villain.

“That is the anti-symbol of peace,” the disintegration villain said, standing upright fully as he rubbed his chest where he'd been kicked. “The bioengineered 'Nomu.'”

At that, Izuku felt the hand covering his squeeze, and numerous distinct cracks and pops could be heard as the bones in his hand shattered. Izuku let out a scream, frantically grabbing at his arm. He stopped for a moment as he felt another crunch, recognizing the sound of breaking metal.

That was a bad sign.

And it only got worse as he felt the electricity course through his body from the ruptured needles. Worse yet, the current was flowing into him from the body of the casing, just as he'd designed it, which meant the needles he held were also heating up and burning into his skin. Luckily, the electricity also seemed to be affecting the Nomu, which reeled back from the pain, letting Izuku go. The young man rolled backward, kipping himself up to his feet. A quick glance downward showed that his left hand would be less than useless now, and he might even have to have it amputated. It hung limply, even when he raised his arm a little. It was crushed into practical obscurity, with Izuku barely able to make out each finger. Blood poured from the mess, though thankfully the needles had dropped onto the ground when his hand was released since he couldn't control the digits anymore. He looked back up at his two assailants, then raised his right arm to a ready position.

“It's great that you can erase quirks,” the scrawny man said as though nothing had happened. “It may have even saved the boy just now. But in the grand scheme of things, that's nothing truly impressive. In the face of overwhelming power, you may as well be quirkless.”

Izuku's temper boiled as the villain spoke. He saw Aizawa glare at him, hair flowing upward once more, but that was quickly squashed by the Nomu stomping on the man's left arm. Izuku could almost feel the bone snap as it flopped limply back to the ground. The creature then kneeled, grabbing the hero's head in one hand, proceeding to lift it before slamming his face into the ground hard enough to leave an indent. As much as Izuku wanted to rush over again to attempt aid, he knew that would be suicide. He had to wait for an opportunity.

Just then, the mist villain from before rose from seemingly nothing next to the disintegration villain.

“Tomura Shigaraki,” he said, addressing the scrawny man.

Good, Izuku thought. He had a name now.

“Kurogiri,” Shigaraki replied calmly. “Did you kill Thirteen?”

Izuku's eyes narrowed to pinpricks from rage as he awaited the answer.

“I was able to put Thirteen out of commission, but there were students I was unable to disperse. One of them was able to run away.”

Well, that was the best news Izuku had heard all day. And he was once again truly thankful these idiots were willing to talk about their plan so openly in front of their enemies.

“Huh?”

Shigaraki looked to his companion, then back to the scene before him, beginning to scratch at his neck above the hands that gripped him. The process grew more and more severe until he was shaking with rage, both hands scratching violently.

“Kurogiri, you,” he began, the sanity leaving his voice along with the calm. “If you weren't a warp gate, I'd have crushed you to pieces.”

Suddenly, he stopped scratching, and the same calm demeanor returned. Izuku didn't like where this was going.

“We can't win against dozens of pros. It's game over this time. Aw, man, let's just go home.”

That didn't sound right. There was no way this group was going to give up like that this early. And what was with this guy? He sounded like a ten-year-old complaining about losing a game! Was that all this was to him? And what the hell did he mean “this time?” If they just left now, UA would undoubtedly increase security and make it even harder to try this kind of stunt again. What the hell was this guy thinking?

“Before we go, let's smash some of his pride,” Shiguraki continued, turning toward the water. “As the symbol of peace!”

Fuck! Izuku pressed his right thumb to the cloth ring on his index finger, swinging the arm wide. As he did so, the cables that made up his bracer started flinging out in sections, forming a long whip that he whirled overhead. As Shiguraki lunged toward Tsu, Izuku grabbed hold of his whip and flung it at the villain. Just as it seemed that he was going to connect, the Nomu's form slid into the path, and the cable tethered itself to the creature's body due to the current Izuku's ring node put through it. The image of Tsu crumbling to dust flashed in his mind for a second before he realized that the disintegration villain had stopped his hand mere millimeters from Tsu's face.

All eyes shifted to Aizawa, whose hair was once again floating. This time, however, the red glow from his eyes could also be seen.

“Damn it. You really are cool, Eraserhead.”

Izuku quickly let go of the cable, sliding his thumb down the ring as he did so. Just as the cable went slack, the Nomu went to grab what had attached to his stomach, only to find that it had released itself from him and separated back out into pieces, which all fell to the ground. As the creature attempted to process what had happened, Izuku made a mad dash to his teacher, screaming at his friends.

“GET THE FUCK OUT OF THERE!”

Sutore grabbed Tsu just as Izuku reached their teacher, both friends heaving their companion to get distance from their assailants. Unfortunately, both villains were also trying to get hold of their respective targets, and Izuku wasn't sure if he could get himself and Aizawa to safety together, especially while down one arm. Just as he was considering throwing the pro to save the most people possible, the doors of the facility exploded.

Everything seemed to freeze for a few seconds as everyone turned to look at the new entryway. There, slowly walking in his golden suit, was All Might. With a stomp of his foot, he loudly made an enraged proclamation.

“It's fine now. I am here!”

Izuku looked back at the Nomu, using this distraction to his advantage in order to drag Aizawa away from harm. As much as he was glad to see All Might, the man could definitely work on his dramatic flair. Slow walking onto the scene gave villains time to kill people, after all! Izuku checked on Sutore and Tsu, who both slid away from their assailant much like himself and Aizawa, before looking back at the symbol of peace again. The clearly enraged man threw his suit jacket aside, glaring daggers at Shiguraki as he then ripped off his tie. It was only then that Izuku realized: the man wasn't smiling. The pro whose entire image revolved around always smiling had his face twisted into a fierce grimace.

“I've been waiting, hero.” Shiguraki said calmly as he stood. “You trash of society.”

Wait, what? Izuku found himself questioning, yet again, what this man's whole deal was. If he hates heroes so much, why did he call Aizawa cool earlier? What the fuck even was this anymore?

As Izuku came back from his train of thought, he realized several of the lower class villains around him were discussing the possibility of taking down All Might. Before they could even finish the idea of killing him, the man had begun jabbing them. In the blink of an eye, All Might was mere feet from Izuku and Aizawa, with all the villains blocking the path between falling to unconsciousness.

“I'm sorry, you two,” he said as he grabbed both the teacher and student in his arms. With a quick turn, the hero leapt past the Nomu and Shiguraki, grabbing Sutore and Tsu along the way. He slid to a stop several feet from the villains, setting all four of his passengers down gently.

“Everyone, go to the entrance. Leave this to me.”

Both Sutore and Tsu immediately stepped forward to assist their companions. Sutore acted as a support so that Aizawa could limp his way along easier, and Tsu grabbed Izuku's good arm to pull him away. As he was dragged off, Izuku offered some advice to his hero.

“They made that Nomu thing to kill you, don't let your guard down.”

Aizawa, meanwhile, offered his quirk nullification. All Might waved it off, though.

“We can't afford you risking more damage to yourself. I can handle things here.” The large man gave a peace sign to add to his claim.

It was only as he looked back at the villain pair that Izuku realized Shiguraki's mask had been knocked off. He was covering his face with his own hand and sounded like he was sobbing.

“It's no good, no good. I'm sorry Dad...”

His breathing calmed as the hand was replaced on his face.

“He hit me as he was saving them. That's the violence of a government official. He's fast, as expected. I couldn't follow him with my eyes. But he's slower than I thought he'd be. I guess it's true after all. He's getting weaker.”

As they walked, Izuku's watched the fight behind them. He wasn't surprised at this point that Shiguraki knew All Might was weaker than normal, but the way the man pointed it out seemed like he had more up his sleeve. As the first blow struck, Izuku followed his small group with a blank stare. His mind was racing as he assessed what he knew. Just as he heard the explosion of a combatant hitting the ground behind him, Izuku realized he'd made a fatal mistake.

“...even if he can't teach without looking at his notes,” Tsu said, finishing a conversation Izuku hadn't been paying attention to.

“Tsu, let me go.”

All four of them stopped as Izuku pulled his hand from his classmate's grip.

“Kerro?” She croaked quizzically, putting a finger to her face and sticking her tongue out ever so slightly. “What's wrong, Midoriya? Did something happen?”

“Probably. You guys go ahead.”

“Midoriya, wait!” Aizawa called, reaching toward his student uselessly. Izuku had already turned and was sprinting as fast as he could back toward the one-versus-three fight. He couldn't believe he'd been so stupid!

As the dust cleared from the last attack, Izuku recognized All Might holding the Nomu in a suplex position. The only problem was that there was a portal allowing the Nomu to stick his body in the ground where he'd landed, and come up again just underneath All Might's lower back. The creature's hand was currently digging into the exact spot All Might's injury sat under his shirt, and the fingers were piercing skin based on the copious amounts of blood pouring from the area. In the mere seconds since the blow had been struck, All Might was already coughing blood and his shirt had a stain larger than Izuku's head. This was what he'd been dreading.

“Were you trying to keep him still by burying him in concrete?” Shiguraki asked in a calm taunt. “That's not going to work. Nomu is just as strong as you are.”

Izuku stopped, trying to come up with any type of solid plan to help the situation. However, with so much of his kit either missing, used, or unavailable, he couldn't think of much. Especially not anything that wouldn't risk serious injury to someone. It was as he started considering drastic options that Shiguraki continued.

“Good job, Kurogiri. This presents an unexpected opportunity.”

Izuku wondered for a moment what that meant, until he realized the portals were moving away from each other. It was only a few moments before All Might released his grip on the Nomu's torso, frantically trying to pry its grip from his own. This, however, only seemed to spur the creature on to hold tighter, enlarging the blood stain on All Might's side.

“This is your first attack?” he asked, looking at the remaining two villains watching. “You had better prepare yourselves.”

“Kurogiri,” Shiguraki responded, scratching his neck again.

“I do not want blood and guts writhing around in me,” the mist said stoically. “But I would be happy to endure it for someone like you. You're too fast for the human eye, so restraining you was Nomu's job. Once your body is halfway in, closing the gate and ripping you apart will be my job.”

Izuku's mind flashed with the image of what had just been described. He could see the portal closing, and only the ribcage up on All Might remaining. Dashing forward frantically, he was determined to make sure that didn't happen. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the hero being slowly dragged down toward his doom. He deposited a single shape charge into his hand as he continued toward the mist villain. He double tapped the button on the device, readying for a slap to Kurogiri when he saw another portal open up directly between them. There was no time to stop and adjust, no time to avoid the threat. He was going to be taken away again.

“Not this time!”

Just when Izuku thought things were over, an explosion blasted the portal in his way. The same blast that had removed the obstacle also created enough force to push Izuku away slightly, causing him to land on his back. Now kneeling over the pinned villain was Bakugo, missing his shoulder pads. With a quick look back, he flashed his old friend a smile before he refocused his attention on his quarry. Izuku deactivated his shape charge, placing it back in its dispenser tube before getting back to his feet. Off to the left, Izuku realized that the Nomu had been half frozen, with just enough left thawed on the creature's left side to not affect All Might.

“All I heard,” Todoroki called from the sidelines. “Was that you were here to kill All Might.”

The hero in question broke the grip of his assailant, flipping his way over to stand next to the student. He still held his bleeding side, but things were definitely looking better now. Izuku stepped forward to re-engage the threat. He was confident, this time, that they would win. This confidence was boosted as Kirishima leapt into the fray, only missing Shiguraki by millimeters as he attempted a falling hammer fist. He quickly jumped back toward his allies afterward.

“Damn it, I didn't get to show off!”

Izuku smiled at that, happy to see more of his classmates were handling themselves well in all this.

“Hey, Midoriya,” he heard Bakugo ask. “What happened to your hand?”

Izuku turned to see that his friend's face was down, clearly glaring daggers at the villain he was pinning by the neckpiece. Small pops radiated off the boy's fingertips every few seconds.

“It's fine,” Izuku responded calmly. “We can get it fixed later.”

“You should know,” Todoroki called over to Shiguraki. “The symbol of peace can't be killed by the likes of you.”

It almost seemed like the frozen hero-in-training had ignored everything around him. Not that he could really be blamed at the moment: he was focusing on the only real threat remaining. Shiguraki himself simply stared at the scene before him for a few seconds before turning toward his misty ally.

“Kurogiri has been overcome. He was our entry and exit. This is quite the pinch.”

“Yeah,” Bakugo said coldly. “He told us earlier that an attack had been 'close.' I inferred that there was something we could have hit. My first guess was the only thing not covered by his mist. By the way, if I feel you move in any way I don't like, I will detonate this thing to pieces.”

“In addition,” Shiguraki continued as though nothing had been said. “they're mostly uninjured. Kids these days are amazing. They make the League of Villains look bad.”

Izuku looked around, trying to find any allies this could be stalling for. He easily confirmed that the only villains still conscious were Shiguraki, Kurogiri, and the Nomu. So what was with this speech? He didn't like it.

“Nomu.”

As soon as the word was uttered, the creature in question began sliding itself out of the portal it was sticking out of. Being half frozen, however, resulted in its right arm and leg crumbling to pieces. It tried to stand, but faltered with the lack of two of its limbs.

“I can't believe it's still able to move,” Izuku mused aloud.

“Get back, everyone!” All Might yelled, placing his arm out protectively.

No sooner had the hero spoken than the ice covering the Nomu's side shattered, revealing bare muscle on the stump. That muscle then began to regenerate, forming a new arm and leg for the creature.

“Shock absorption wasn't his quirk?” All Might asked, dumbfounded.

“I never said that was all he had.”

Izuku's eyes went wide as he realized what that meant.

“This is super-regeneration. Nomu was designed to take you on at one hundred percent. He's a super-efficient human sandbag.”

As the explanation finished, there stood a now fully-regenerated Nomu. The only remaining damage on the creature was to its shorts, which had lost most of the outside of the right leg, including the kneepad.

“First, we need to get our gate back. Go, Nomu.”

There was no time to react as the monster rushed toward Bakugo. As its blow struck, the shockwave of the blast sent Izuku, Todoroki, and Kirishima flying. It was only thanks to his parkour training that Izuku managed to catch himself with one hand and use that to pull his feet down to skid to a stop facing upright.

“KACCHAN!”

“I..” Izuku heard from his right.

Looking over, there was Bakugo, sitting only a foot away. He was completely unscathed. Only then did Izuku realize that there was a pair of trenches that had been dug into the dirt going from the Nomu to a nearby wall. As the dust settled, every student recognized the form of All Might, standing in a blocking pose with the sleeves of his shirt torn below the elbow. He was breathing heavily.

“Do you not know how to hold back?” the hero asked, blood streaks covering the edges of his mouth.

“I needed to rescue my companions,” Shiguraki stated matter-of-factly. “You left me little choice. Just like how the plain-looking one over there was going to throw sharpened needles at me earlier. Violence for the sake of others makes it admirable, right? You know, this world makes me so angry. They drop us into categories for the same violent acts as heroes or villains. They decide what's good and what's bad. 'Symbol of Peace?' Please. You're just a tool to repress violence. And that violence you use only breeds further violence. Once we kill you, the world will see the truth!”

Izuku couldn't help but look over to where his broken needles lay, still glowing faintly with their heat. The man's basis was sound, but the logic he extrapolated was ludicrous at best. At this point, it was unclear if they were dealing with a simple band of villains, or a cult. And the fact that Izuku actually agreed with parts of what the leader said sent a shiver down his spine.

“That's preposterous,” All Might said. “The eyes of white-collar villains like you burn silently. You just want to enjoy this yourself, don't you, liar?”

And just like the typical cult leader, Shiguraki didn't believe a word of what he spewed. The longer things went with these villains, the more disappointing they were.

“It's three against five,” Todoroki stated from his place next to Izuku.

“And we know the misty one's weakness,” Izuku continued.

“These guys are crazy,” Kirishima added, hardening his arms.“But if we back up All Might, we can push them back.”

“No!” All Might said sternly as he stepped in front of the group. “Run away.”

“Fat fucking chance,” Izuku laughed.

“If I hadn't helped earlier, you would have been in serious trouble,” Todoroki pointed out.

“That was a different story, Young Todoroki. Thank you. It's fine now. Stand back and watch as a pro gives it everything he's got.”

“You're going to have to finish this quickly, then,” Izuku said, raising an eyebrow.

The concern was met with a simple thumbs-up. In that moment, Izuku realized that the hero had a plan.

“Nomu, Kirogiri, get him,” Shiguraki said. “I'll take care of the kids. Let's clear this and go home.”

At that, the disintegration villain rushed headlong toward the four students. Izuku readied another pair of needles, noticing his classmates prepare similarly for what was to come.

“Looks like we gotta get involved after all!” Kirishima called.

But he was quickly proven wrong. Before even half the distance could be cleared, both All Might and Nomu rushed in and punched. Each hit the other's fist, but Izuku noticed the vibrations run up Nomu's arm. He didn't have much time to process it, though, as the shockwave from that hit launched him and his classmates further from the action. Shiguraki, too, seemed to be blown away, as he called out from his new place much further back than he had been.

“Hey, you talked about his shock absorption earlier, didn't you?”

“Yes I did!”

Both giants began punching at each other again, the force of their blows creating winds that threatened to push everyone away again. Izuku let out a couple lengths of his cable, then gripped it and latched himself to the ground. He wanted to watch this. He was curious what the pro had thought of to defeat his opponent. The machine gun blows were all extremely powerful, but none of them seemed to have a strategic placement. What was All Might trying to do?

“I can't get near them!” Kurogiri yelled from across the way.

“If your quirk isn't shock nullification, but shock absorption, then it must have a limit!” All Might shouted at his quarry.

Oh, for fuck's sake, that was the plan? Izuku sighed as he watched, knowing there was no way he could currently stop the idiocy before him. Of all the ways to abuse Nomu's weaknesses, he went with beating his head against the wall until it breaks....

“If you were made to fight me, to take me at one hundred percent, then I'll just have to go beyond that to make you surrender!”

As the rapid fire punches continued, the Nomu seemed to be losing ground. Slowly but surely, the creature was staggering back. Then, one decisive blow launched the creature flying. It was met by a foot-diving All Might once it caught itself, and once it tried to retaliate the hero flipped it and rode the creature through the ground for a short distance. With a kick, the Nomu was again launched skyward, and All Might jumped up to grab it. After a couple spins, he launched the beast back toward the ground, resulting in a massive indent and several blocks of concrete launching into the air. As he landed, All Might asked one question.

“Hey villain, have you ever heard these words?”

With a final, explosive punch, All Might screamed in English, “GO BEYOND! PLUS ULTRA!”

With that, the behemoth was launched so hard that it broke through the wall of the faciilty, creating an explosion that shook the entire facility and leaving a massive hole for sunlight to pour through. Through the hole, Izuku saw a couple clouds get blown away as the Nomu flew through them.

“Is this a comic book or something?” Kirishima asked, mesmerized. “It's like he nullified the shock absorption. His brute strength is crazy.”

Izuku stood, releasing the cable so it would detach from the ground. With a quick swipe upward on the ring node, his bracer retracted its line. He looked over to All Might, sorely disappointed. Kirishima was definitely correct in one thing: All Might had brutish strength. He also had brutish intellect.

“That power is insane,” Bakugo mused.

And so was the strategy, Izuku thought with a roll of his eyes.

“Did he rush the thing so fast it couldn't regenerate?”

“I really have gotten weaker,” All Might said with a slight laugh, the dust from his final punch still settling. “In my hay day, five hits would have been enough. But today, it took three hundred mighty blows to get the job done.”

The dust cleared a little, but Izuku couldn't help but notice some of it was still pouring from All Might's face and neck. That wasn't all dust, he realized. All Might was pushing his limit, and could pop back to his skeleton form any second.

“Now, villains,” the pro said confidently. “I'm sure we'd all like to end this as soon as possible.”

Shiguraki was shaking. Whether it was rage or fear, Izuku couldn't tell.

“Weaker? No way. We were completely overwhelmed. He beat my Nomu...did he use a cheat? Did that guy lie to me?”

Izuku's eyes narrowed. He made sure to make a mental note of what was just said. He also noted that Shiguraki was scratching again.

“What's wrong? You're not coming? You said you'd 'clear' this or something, right?”

How the hell is it that even with video games being a staple of entertainment for over a century, All Might still didn't recognize gaming terms?

“Come and get me if you can.”

Well, that one line cleared up what was causing the shaking. Shiguraki stumbled back slightly, despite no movement toward him. He was terrified.

“Well then,” Todoroki said calmly. “It looks like there's no need for us to fight.”

Except Izuku knew that was wrong. All Might was bluffing. Hard. If the villains actually went after All Might right now, there was no chance of his victory. Izuku wasn't even sure the man could move from his spot without losing that muscular form he was in.

“Midoriya!” Kirishima called. “Let's get out of here! We don't want to become hostages and make this more difficult!”

“Well? What's wrong?” All Might yelled at the villains.

“If only I had Nomu,” Shiguraki bemoaned, scratching again. “That guy would have been able to go up against him without thinking about anything!”

“Tomura Shiguraki,” the mist villain interjected. “Please calm yourself. If you look carefully, you can see he was indeed weakened by the Nomu. Besides, the children seem to be frozen with fear. We still have underlings who could be used. We have precious minutes before reinforcements arrive. If you and I work together, we still have a chance of killing him.”

Fuck. That wasn't good. Even though Izuku knew Todoroki and Bakugo alone could probably take on the villains that were recovering while still fighting Shiguraki and Kurogiri, there was zero chance All Might's secret would be kept under wraps.

“Guys, get ready,” he said to his classmates.

“All Might will handle the main bad guys,” Kirishima said, turning to the first of the small fries that had woken up. “We should go help the others.”

“Midoriya?”

There was no time to reconsider his next move as Izuku rushed toward the pair of villains, who were already making their way toward All Might. With one quick motion, Izuku launched his last needle. It was aimed directly for the neckpiece on Kurogiri, but was intercepted by a portal. Just as Izuku had planned. With the gate blocking his vision, the mist villain wouldn't be able to react to Izuku pulling a shape charge to plant on his weak point. It was a drastic measure, but desperate times and desperate measures. It was just as he was getting near enough to plant the device that a hand came through the portal. Shiguraki was reaching for his face!

And then a gunshot rang out. The hand that had been intended for Izuku's face had a hole torn in it, and the force of the blow pulled it out of reach. He used this moment to drop to a slide, ending up behind the pair of villains just as two more gunshots were heard.

“Sorry we're late!” A small voice called out.

Izuku looked up toward the entrance to see a group of heroes approaching the top of the stairs. Standing with them was Iida, ready as ever.

“I gathered everyone who was available,” the small voice yelled again. This time, Izuku spotted the rodent it was coming from. Nezu, the school principal.

“I, class 1A rep Tenya Iida, have returned!” the boy yelled.

Several of the villains who had recovered charged toward the newcomers, and some used their quirks to attack at range. All were met with a single yell from Present Mic, which stunned the people and repelled all projectiles. After that, seven Ectoplasms rushed in to knock down many of those who remained standing on the stairs. Izuku looked back down toward the big threats he and All Might were flanking, while several blasts rocked the area as the teachers continued their decimation of the villain forces.

“Aw, man. They're here,” Shiguraki moaned like a child who had been told to put his toys away. “It's game over. Let's go home and try again later, Kirogi-”

The villain was interrupted as a bullet forced its way through his arm, followed by two more through a leg each. More rounds were sent his way, but the mist villain swept around and provided cover. Izuku, meanwhile, was hesitant to risk getting shot, especially when there were pros on the scene who made the use of his abilities unnecessary, and thus illegal. Shortly thereafter, the bullet rain stopped, and a massive gust of wind began. Kurogiri had managed to grab his ally in one of the portals, but the pair were being sucked away by the vacuum of Thirteen's quirk.

“I may have failed this time, but I'll kill you next time, Symbol of Peace.”

Then, with no further ado, the scrawny man sunk into the portal fully, and it disappeared. Izuku cursed himself for not noticing that Kurogiri had teleported himself in the confusion. He stood properly upright, looking around. The fight was over.

The better part of that afternoon was spent with Recovery Girl, watching villains being carted off to prison by the dozen. Fortunately, All Might had kept the cover of his dust cloud long enough that none of the other students saw his face, but Izuku had gotten a good look at him with the heroic form half faded. And though there was a scare that Kirishima or Bakugo might see, Cementoss had blocked them and protected All Might from being seen. It had been hard to explain to all the teachers that Izuku already knew about All Might's secret, but with some reassuring of the man himself and Nezu, the faculty let him be. As the rest of class 1-A left on the bus, Izuku sat in one of the ambulance vans, doors closed. Shortly after, a skeletal All Might stepped in and closed the door behind him. He had a new shirt, but there were the edges of a few bandages sticking out underneath. Hopefully nobody had noticed and drawn any conclusions.

“I wanted to thank you,” the hero said honestly.

“For what? I didn't really do anything but get my hand crushed and burned.”

He looked at the hand in question, mostly healed thanks to Recovery Girl's quirk. There was still some warped and scarred flesh along the inside of his index, middle, and ring fingers from where the needles had burned him. And several new scars dotted his palm and the back of his hand from where the bones had broken the skin from compound fractures. It was unclear if those would ever go away, but he just counted himself lucky to still have a hand at all.

“That's not true. If you hadn't bought me those few precious seconds, I would have been killed. You saved me, again.”

“Your timer was run out, and I was the only one who knew. I'm not gonna just watch some lowlife kill my favorite hero, you know.”

Izuku's explanation was met with a warm smile. Then he felt a small smack on his knee, triggering the typical response.

“I can't berate you due to the circumstances,” Recovery Girl sighed. “But know that I don't approve of the state you're in.”

“Who?”

“Both of you.”

“I'm not surprised,” All Might replied. “And I can't be sure, but I think I may have lowered my time limit again.”

Both Izuku and Recovery Girl leaned in close at that, concerned.

“I just hope I have at least an hour left per day.”

“But if that's the case, all you can do is teach classes.”

“It can't be helped. These things happen.”

Izuku looked over toward the nurse, debating his next question.

“Do you still need to find someone?” he asked, hoping he was vague enough the other hero wouldn't understand what he meant.

“Yes,” she replied for him.

“Wait, she knows?”

“Correct. One of six people. The other five are you, the principal, my successor, an American friend of mine, and a friend of mine on the police force.”

Well, Izuku figured the American friend was probably David Shield. The policeman, though, could be anyone. Probably a detective that sleuthed out the truth?

“Any hints as to who this successor is?”

“Don't worry, you'll meet him soon enough.”

Well, that eliminated about half of the possibilities. Just as Izuku was about to make a snarky reply, the rear door opened again. There stood a detective, who doffed his hat and stepped into the vehicle.

“Tsukauchi!” All Might yelled, blood pouring from his mouth. “You're here too?”

The man in question smiled and closed the door behind him.

“I take it this is your friend on the force?” Izuku asked.

“Correct. This is Naomasa Tsukauchi, my best friend in the force, and a great man besides.”

“What's with that introduction?” the man asked with a chuckle. “Sorry to cut to the chase, but I need info about the villa-”

“Wait, please,” All Might interrupted. “Are all the students okay? And what about Aizawa-- Eraserhead and Thirteen?”

“Other than the boy next to you, there were only a few minor injuries among the students. The teachers are in stable condition right now.”

Both Izuku and All Might let out sighs of relief at that.

“If you three hadn't risked your lives, it's doubtful the students would have survived today.”

“Don't forget, though, that the students risked their lives as well,” All Might added. “Have there ever been other first years who experienced a real fight so soon, survived, and learned the reality of this profession? Those villains did something dumb. This class is strong, and they will become strong heroes. I'm certain of that.”

Izuku smiled, remembering how everyone had stepped up and held their own. All Might was right. And the experience today just propelled the entire class further toward their goals. Then he realized the detective's question hadn't been answered yet.

“Oh, right. I've got quite a bit of useful info for you, Mister Tsukauchi.”

Chapter Text

The next day, school was canceled. Izuku wasn't surprised, considering the investigation that was going on, the redoubling of security measures, allowing the affected students to recuperate, and briefing all the teachers on the situation.

Izuku used the day off as a reason to go visit an old friend. He quickly texted Sutore that he'd be busy for the day, then set out for his old neighborhood. He just hoped the Bakugos would be okay with him arriving unannounced, since he'd never gotten around to asking for Katsuki's number. It was as he rode the train that he got a response.

-What's up? Not interested in seeing your best friend after risking our lives? I didn't even get to see you yesterday afternoon!

Izuku sighed as he responded.

-I know, I'm sorry. Injuries kept me from coming back to class yesterday. I'm fine. But I figured today would be a good opportunity to do something I've been meaning to all week.

-...
-Bakugo?

-Yeah. Don't be mad.

-It's cool. At least now I know why you said you'd be busy all day.
-All the way across town. Fuck.

-Thanks bro. Lunch is on me tomorrow to make up, alright?

-Yeah.

Izuku put his phone back in his pocket, watching the city pass by. He knew that Sutore still had misgivings. He knew this might not go super well today. But he didn't care about that. He wanted to do the right thing. For Bakugo. For Kacchan.

About an hour later, Izuku stood outside the house he remembered from so long ago. He rang the bell, and hearing the familiar chime brought a small smile to his face. It was only about ten seconds before the door was opened, and there stood Masaru Bakugo, Kacchan's dad.

The man stood a little under six feet tall, with dark brown hair sticking out straight, like his son's. He had a thin mustache, thick framed glasses, and brown eyes. All this time later, he still wore his polo shirts and slacks with dress shoes. The man's figure hadn't adjusted much, if at all, leaving him with a moderately muscular build.

“Midoriya?” the man asked, clearly shocked. “What are you doing here?”

“Hey, Mister Bakugo.”

Izuku flashed his best smile, then gave a courteous bow.

“I just wanted to check on Kacchan after yesterday. I realized I don't have his number, but I remember where you guys lived, so here I am.”

“What's up, Dad? Who-”

Behind Masaru, Kacchan stood frozen, staring at their guest.

“It's just me,” Izuku said with a wave.

“I'm sorry,” Masaru said, finally catching himself. “Did you want to come in?”

“Sure.”

Izuku stepped into the familiar entryway, catching a scent of cooking oil.

“Oh, was I interrupting? I hope I'm not creating a lunchtime issue.”

“No, not at all,” Masaru replied, clearly uncomfortable.

As Izuku finished taking off his shoes, he sighed.

“We really need to clear the air, don't we?”

His words were met with a shared look from both Kacchan and his father. Both men nodded, and Masaru motioned for Izuku to follow him further into the house. They made their way through the living room into the dining room when Izuku heard the final Bakugo's voice call from the kitchen.

“Who was it at the door, Honey?”

Izuku piped up as he rounded the corner, looking into the kitchen. In it was a woman, looking much thinner than Izuku remembered. Her blonde hair was much like her son's, styled similarly as well, though longer. She wore a light purple turtleneck, a white apron, and a black knee-length skirt. She looked to be doing well.

“Hi Auntie Mitsuki.”

There was a clatter as the woman dropped the spatula she'd been holding. Izuku could almost hear the grinding of stone as she slowly turned to look at him, tears already forming in the corners of her red eyes.

“Oh, you dropped that,” Izuku said, pointing to the utensil on the ground. “I'll get that for you.”

There was an eerie silence as Izuku grabbed the spatula from the floor, looked it over, and tossed it in the sink. He then went over to the utensil drawer and pulled out a new one, holding it out for his mom's old friend.

“Don't think we want floor germs on the food. Don't worry, I'll help clean up to make up for it.”

“Izu...ku?” The woman asked like she'd seen a ghost.

“Yeah, it's me. Sorry I never call.”

“Midoriya,” Kacchan said from the next room. “I think we should all sit down.”

“Come on,” Izuku called back, placing the spatula on the counter next to Mitsuki. “I think we've been friends long enough that you can call me Izuku.”

“Right....”

Izuku went over to the dinner table, grabbing a chair and turning it so he could sit while looking at the whole family before him.

“I'm sure this is a shock, and I was hoping we could just return to our old norm, but I guess we really need to hash out what happened back then, huh?”

“Izuku, please, I-”

“No, seriously,” Izuku interrupted. “I think this will be good for all of us.”

It was only a few minutes later that the table was set, and food was served for all four people in the house. Izuku made sure to take things slow and not make sudden moves, but couldn't help but notice the tension when dealing with him. It was like he was a bomb, about to go off any second. Once everyone was seated, Izuku began the conversation he felt was long overdue.

“So, I'm sure you guys aren't exactly enthused to see me again after all this time.”

“NO!” all three Bakugos exclaimed as one before pulling back, each one looking to the others to continue.

“It's not that,” Kacchan finally said.

“I don't mean that you guys are upset that I'm here, I mean that the last time I was at this house, my mom was screaming at your mom.”

“As she very well should have....”

Izuku gave Mitsuki a confused look, but her head was down. He couldn't really figure out what she was thinking.

“Look, we all make mistakes,” Izuku offered. “And it seems Kacchan learned from his.”

Mistuki looked up again, tears still on her face.

“That's why I'm here. Because I want to be Kacchan's friend again. And I think you and Mom can be friends again, too.”

“Izuku, I think-”

“Hold on, I'm not done. This family clearly suffered some trauma because of me. And I'm sorry about that. I just wanted to stop being bullied, not fracture a family dynamic.”

Masaru gently placed his hand on Izuku's shoulder.

“I think you should know, we're all very sorry for what happened.”

“I know, and like I said. Kacchan learned his lesson. Things are fine, so I don't want any bad blood to remain.”

“Izuku, it's all my fault,” Mitsuki said in between sobs. “I failed Inko as a friend, you as a caretaker, and Katsuki as a mother.”

“Mom, we talked about this.”

“Aunt Mitsuki, you're no more at fault than I am. Kacchan may have inherited your temperament, but his choices are his own at the end of the day.”

“Izuku, I...” the woman sobbed, before suddenly standing and reaching for the neckline of her sweater.

“Woah, woah there!” Izuku yelled, looking away and covering her with a hand from his vision.

“I want you to know I tried to make things right.”

Izuku slowly turned his head back, keeping his hand up. It took him a moment to realize she was still fully dressed, and only a moment longer to notice what she was doing. She was holding the neck of her sweater down to reveal the lower half of her own neck.

Izuku immediately recognized the rope burns. He'd gotten a couple while learning to climb. The ones on Mitsuki, though, were partially rub burns, partially pressed indents into the flesh. It didn't take much to realize what she meant.

“Auntie, you...why?”

Izuku found himself shocked to his core. With everything that had happened, everything that had changed, everything he'd learned, he still never saw that revelation coming.

“Because my poor parenting skills almost got you killed.”

Then it hit him. Why the family was so tense, why Kacchan was so timid these days, why Mitsuki had tried the unthinkable.

“No,” Izuku said, standing abruptly. He stepped over to the woman, pulling her into a hug. “That's not on you.”

Izuku saw his friend's head droop.

“Hey, none of that.”

All three of the Bakugos shifted their gaze back to him. Kacchan was slowest, but even he looked Izuku in the eye. He stepped back from his mom's old friend and let out a breath.

“Look, guys. I'm going to be honest here. After USJ, I don't think a third degree burn is really all that big a deal anymore. Hell, with three-D printed skin grafts, I often forget about the patches. And once more, things have changed. Kacchan likely could blow my entire left side off these days, but he's learned control. Of his quirk and his emotions.”

“I'll never forget those screams,” Kacchan said quietly.

“Kacchan,” Izuku warned before turning back to Mitsuki. “I think both our families need a get-together. You and Mom need to make up, and I think it's time she met the new Kacchan.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“Definitely. Now let's eat and stop moping. I got a movie in mind that will bring things right back to normal.”

“After the meal,” Masaru piped in, a little more confident than before.

“Yeah, of course.”

With that, the four got back into place around the table and started eating, and Izuku could feel the aura in the room had shifted for the better. He hoped he'd set things up to heal properly.

Chapter Text

Things were calm at school the next day, other than the surprise that Aizawa would still be teaching despite his injuries. He'd walked in that morning wearing so many bandages, Izuku could almost mistake it for a Halloween costume. There was an announcement early in the day that UA would still be having their sports festival, which had Uraraka pumped to no end. It was frankly a little creepy. But her motivation sparked a question in his mind, which he brought up during lunch that day.

“So hey, if you don't mind me asking, why did you guys decide to be heroes?”

Tokoyami paused mid-bite at the question.

“Would you mind if I ask you first?”

“Yeah,” Jiro interjected. “You're always so cagey. You gotta have give and take, you know.”

“Yeah, sorry,” Izuku replied, rubbing his neck awkwardly. “I just...have bad experiences. I've learned to be careful.”

“I notice you still haven't answered the question,” Tokoyami said, finishing his bite of food.

“Fine, fine. I want to be a hero to inspire people. You know how All Might is the symbol of peace, reminding everyone that they're safe? I want to be a symbol, too. One to remind people they can be heroes, too. Even if it's in small ways.”

“A respectable goal,” Tokoyami smiled.

“I want to be a hero to do things for other people,” Jiro offered in response. “My parents wanted me to be a musician, but I wanted something that would be for the benefit of other people rather than myself. It took some convincing, but they're on board these days.”

“How about you, Bakugo?” Tokoyami asked.

“I,” Kacchan began. He paused for a second or two, sighed, then continued. “I want to be better than I used to be. This is my way to prove it. To myself, and everyone I've hurt.”

“I'm in it because of this guy,” Sutore said, pointing a thumb at Izuku. “He helped me out when we first met, I'm kind of just trying to repay the favor.”

There were several chuckles, then all eyes turned to Tokoyami. The raven-headed boy looked around, then sighed in defeat.

“I can't avoid this, can I?”

“Not really.”

“Well, then I guess I'll just have to be cryptic about it. I joined the light for the sake of the darkness. To hone it, nurture it, and control it for the betterment of all. My hope is that my darkness can reach all through the light.”

“What the hell does that mean?” Sutore laughed. “I don't think you really answered the question.”

“He did,” Izuku said, patting his friend on the shoulder. “He said a lot more than I thought he would.”

Tokoyami raised an eyebrow, and seemed about to say something when he was interrupted by a loud voice.

“Young Midoriya!” All Might yelled, placing his hands on either of Izuku's shoulders. “I know you've already started eating, but I was hoping you would join me for some lunch discussion!”

Ah, All Might. Ever the subtlety....

“Sorry guys,” Izuku said as he stood up. “It seems I have some pressing business. I'll see you back in class.”

He waved to his friends as All Might pulled him aside. The instant the door closed for the lounge All Might brought them to, he deflated in a puff of smoke.

“So, what's up? You don't normally pull people aside like this. Must be important.”

“Indeed,” All Might replied, his tone solemn. “Do you remember how I told you I thought my time limit had lowered? I was right.”

“How much time do you have?”

“I can look the part for about an hour and a half a day, but I can really only be effective for around fifty minutes.”

“You're gonna have to get clever with your teaching strategies.”

“So it seems.”

“And why does this involve me? I know your secret, sure, but it's not like I'm in any position to help.”

All Might looked out the window dramatically.

“I was hoping you could help me with preparing my successor.”

“Can't really do that very well when I don't know them.”

“You will. I'm sure of it. And I want you to help him along the way.”

“How so?”

“You're far more clever a hero than I ever was. I'll openly admit that. So my hope is that your perspective will be able to help him in ways I can't.”

“All right.”

“I'm going to be honest: I don't have much longer as the symbol of peace. I know that. And I think there are villains out there who know it, too. I want to leave this world with a fighting chance once I'm gone. And I need your help in that.”

“I already said I'll do it. And to be frank, I don't think your influence is going to be so easy to brush off.”

“Good to hear, and thank you young man. Now go back to class, you can't afford to slack off. I know you're hoping to do well at the sports festival, too.”

As Izuku left the room, he paused a second as he realized the phrasing. Did that mean he was going to meet this new inheritor of One For All at the festival? He smiled, a new determination burning in his soul. Things were going to be interesting.

At the end of the day, there was a crowd outside 1A's classroom, blocking the exit. Kirishima naively asked what they were doing.

“They're scouting the competition,” Kacchan said as he casually walked to the doorway. “We're the class that dealt with an actual villain attack, so they want to see us with their own eyes. Well, get a good look. This is what future pros look like.”

He stood confidently in front of the crowd, staring them down. Izuku was actually impressed. Not only had he pushed them back, lowering the tension toward his classmates, but he had boosted up each and every one of his class to bolster their impression.

“So this is class 1A?” a voice called from the back. “I heard you guys were impressive, but you just sound like a douche. Is everyone in this course as delusional as you?”

The boy who pushed his way through looked like he hadn't slept in days, with his purple hair hanging much like Aizawa's. He rubbed his neck as he made his way in front of Kacchan.

“Hey, man,” Izuku called as he grabbed his pack. “Just because you couldn't hack it doesn't mean we're delusional to have confidence. Hell, if you work really hard from here until graduation, you might get a spot as some small-time sidekick to a sidekick.”

“You know, a lot of us tried for the hero course, but were forced to take a different path. Such is life. But now, I have another chance. If any of us do well in the sports festival, the teachers can opt to transfer us to the hero course. They'll have to transfer students out to make room, of course. I can't speak for everyone here, but I'm not scouting the competition. I'm here to let you know that if you don't bring your all, I'm going to take your spot from you. This is more like a declaration of war.”

“Well thanks for the heads up, then,” Kacchan smiled as he patted the guy's shoulder. “Though you should know you just made your task that much harder since we're all going to train now.”

Just as Kacchan began to walk away from the situation, a second student piped in loudly from the side. The kid speaking had dull gray hair and weird yellow marks around his eyes.

“Hey! I'm from class 1B next door! We heard you fought some villains so I came over to check on the rumors! But you're just a bunch of entitled jerks who think you're better than us!”

“Literally nobody but you said we were better than you,” Izuku pointed out as he bumped Kacchan to get things moving. The two boys casually made their way past the crowd, ignoring the continued berating from the class 1B boy. As they made their way to the front gate, the rest of the group caught up.

“So, two weeks to train, right?” Sutore asked excitedly.

“Yes,” Tokoyami answered. “We should all make the most of it.”

“Not like we'll really need it though,” Bakugo said cockily.

The group shared smiles as they continued walking. Now was their time to shine.

Chapter Text

The two weeks of preparation went by in a flash. Izuku wasn't sure what the rest of the class did, but he spent his time building cardio, training his dodging skills with some robots throwing rubber balls at him, and refining his notes on heroes in his journal. He considered getting in some baton practice, but decided that without an actual opponent, that would be minimally helpful at best. All too soon, the day of the sports festival was upon them.

“You're going to do great, honey,” Inko told him on his way out the door that morning.

“Thanks Mom, love you.”

“I love you too, and I'll be recording the whole thing in HD.”

“Just remember,” he said with a hug. “I couldn't have done this without you. Today is going to be a victory for quirkless everywhere, no matter where I place.”

With that, he opened the door and, with a wave, set off for school.

The place was packed as Izuku made his way past the front gate. He snuck past the crowd of reporters, sticking to the edge walls as he snaked his way toward the stadium. Eventually, he made it to the changing rooms.

“Man, it's crazy out there,” Sutore said as he pulled up next to Izuku.

“Yeah, can't be surprised about that. We've overtaken the Olympics, after all.”

As he spoke, Izuku pulled off his school uniform and started stepping into his PE outfit. Sutore continued in a hushed tone.

“So how are you planning to deal with the disadvantage out there?”

“What disadvantage?” Izuku asked with a smile, opening the locker in front of him. Inside were his bracers and utility belt.

“You snuck those out?”

“Nope, we're allowed to use any gear we need today, so long as we sign some paperwork and remove anything dangerous. Costume's out, and so is the baton, but many support items are fine. I asked the Support class to leave my stuff here today for me.”

Sutore gave him a playful shove as he began dressing down. Izuku finished up redressing, putting on his belt and bracers. After making sure everything was secure, he put his backpack and school uniform away, closing the locker. Then he made his way to the waiting room adjacent to the current one.

Inside, nerves were high. Fortunately, so were spirits. Everyone was looking a little jumpy, but most of them wore none-too-forced smiles. Most of the class was seated, but a few people were either stretching along the sides, or standing and chatting with friends. Izuku was making his way over to talk to Tsu when he was stopped by a voice.

“Midoriya.”

Stopping in his tracks, Izuku turned to look at the speaker. Todoroki stepped forward, one hand in a pocket casually. Or was that supposed to be intimidating?

“What's up, Todoroki?”

“Objectively speaking, I'm stronger than you.”

“Weird flex, but okay,” Izuku replied, raising an eyebrow.

“But it would seem All Might has set his eye on you.”

Of course that incident in the cafeteria had caught attention....

“I'm not here to pry, but I want you to know. I'm going to beat you.”

There was a moment of silence as the room took in what had been declared.

“Is everyone just going to declare war on each other now?” Kaminari joked.

Kirishima, meanwhile, was trying to be diplomatic.

“Come on, man. We don't need to go picking fights right now. Calm it down.”

“We're not here to make friends,” Todoroki replied callously. “I'm being serious.”

With that, he turned and began to leave.

“We may not be here to make friends, but that doesn't mean you should forsake the idea,” Izuku called out. “And besides, if you're gonna declare yourself as my rival, I'd rather it be a friendly one. Helps us both grow that way.”

“Damn,” Kirishima said with a smile. “That was pretty manly of you.”

“And for the record,” Izuku continued after waving off Kirishima's praise. “I know you're stronger than me. You're stronger than a lot of people. But strength isn't all that wins in this world. Brains are important too. So is spirit, and cooperation. I hope you have more of those last two than your father, or else today might not go as well as you hope.”

Just as Todoroki seemed about to respond, Iida opened the door.

“It's time, everyone! We need to head to the field!”

Izuku smiled at his proposed rival, then patted him on the shoulder as he passed. The boy seemed stunned for a second or two, then shook himself and turned to follow suit. As the class made their way out toward the main field, Present Mic could be heard finishing up his introduction speech.

“...about to begin! Everybody, are you ready?”

As usual, the voice hero finished his lines with English.

“It's time for the first years to enter the stage!” he yelled.

Right on cue, the first of class 1A exited the hallway and into the sunlight. Cheers erupted as the crowd got a good look at them. A few of the class shied away from the attention a bit, but everyone kept moving. Izuku had to mind his heightened pulse, but everything was fine. The booming voice over the speakers somewhat drowned out the tension.

“The sports festival! The annual test of mettle for every fledgling hero! And this year, we have quite the unique attraction. You've doubtlessly heard about their run in with real villains by now: it's hero course class 1A!”

The crowd only seemed to grow louder at that declaration. Izuku took a deep breath to calm his nerves when he felt a familiar hand on his shoulder. Sutore smiled down at him, clapping his friend on the back.

“Come on, man. You gotta get used to this sort of thing. This is what pro heroes deal with all the time, remember?”

Swallowing his nerves, Izuku replied.

“Yeah, you're right. Just part of the job.”

“Man,” Kirishima mused from off to the side. “Present Mic really went all in on the praise, didn't he? Kind of makes you nervous, huh Bakugo?”

“Nah, just fires me up,” the boy lied. The smile on his face was strained, and though he acted tough, Izuku knew that Kacchan was going through the same thing he was. But, much like himself, he was trying to hide it.

“And though they haven't gotten nearly as much screen time, this class has plenty of talent themselves! It's hero course 1B! Next, we have General Studies classes C, D, and E! We also have Support Courses F, G, and H! And last but not least, we have Business Courses I, J, and K! With that, all of UA's first year students are on the field!”

Once everyone had gathered in the center box of the stadium, the hero Midnight took her place on the stage up front. While Izuku normally admired her outfit for all the reasons a straight man should, in this setting it seemed rather...offputting. Her costume could best be described as dominatrix gear, with a red cloth mask over her eyes, black leather bodysuit conspicuously avoiding her breasts and stopping just past the crotch, thigh-high leather boots connected to a garter belt, handcuff bracelets, white lace bodysuit under everything, and a bedroom whip in hand. As she raised said whip toward the sky, Izuku was wrenched from his reverie, completely missing what she'd said. Fortunately, he realized he didn't need to have heard it as Kacchan made his way to the stage next to her.

“Wait, Bakugo's our representative?” Sutore asked incredulously.

“Makes sense,” Izuku pointed out. “He scored highest in the entrance exam.”

“Yeah, for hero course,” a girl muttered angrily nearby.

Well, it seems the fan base is out in force today, Izuku thought to himself sarcastically.

“She clearly hates us...” Sero whispered, mildly dejected.

“You should all know,” Kacchan said casually into the microphone. “My class is going to be on top.”

Grabbing the mic stand, Kacchan turned to look at the rest of his peers.

“Try to prove me wrong if you can,” he taunted with a wry smile. “But we're just going to go beyond. Plus Ultra, after all.”

With that, he placed the mic back, gave a quick bow to Midnight, and made his way back into the crowd. Izuku had to admit, that was clever. A direct challenge, stating his confidence with unwavering calm. He wasn't belittling anyone, simply raising his allies up. A bit callous, sure, but definitely fair. And based on the angry stares, his challenge had been taken. Class 1A was going to have a target on their backs, but that just drove them to do better. Besides, it's not like that wasn't already a probability.

Izuku gave his friend a high-five as he came to a stop next him.

“Well then,” Midnight called from the stage. “Let's get right to it, shall we?This first game is the qualifying round! Every year, many fall here. Now then, what will it be this year?”

Behind her, a large hologram appeared, with small sections spinning in individual colors like a slot machine. Suddenly, the display froze, showing the kanji and lettering for “obstacle race” along with a stick figure and a cone.

“Alright, all eleven classes will participate in this race. The course will be the circumference of this stadium: about four kilometers!”

Izuku felt a wolfish smile cross his face. A good jog before the real contest started sounded like just the right warmup.

“Our school sells itself on its freedom! So long as you stay on the course, it doesn't matter what you do!”

Izuku wondered if she'd reconsider that phrasing before long. But, then again, not his circus, not his monkeys.

“Now take your places, everyone!”

Almost as one, the entire crowd of students ran toward the starting gate, which threw up three green lights. Most fought to be at the front of the pack, but Izuku opted to stick toward the back.

“Not gonna join the front runners?” Sutore asked as he passed by on his way to the mosh pit.

“I'll catch up.”

“Suit yourself, bud.”

As Sutore made his way toward the large group, Kacchan stepped up next to Izuku.

“I think I'll hold back with you. Might just help me in the long run.”

“You just want in on my winning strategy, don't you?”

“Maybe a bit.”

As the crowd settled down, and people found their final start positions, the first green light went dark. Izuku took a deep breath.

Two lights down. He let out his breath, settling to a sprint position.

“START!” Midnight yelled in English.

Izuku and Kacchan both took off, and just as Izuku had suspected, the narrow corridor led to a bottle-neck, halting the entire crowd trying to force their way through. With a leap, Izuku made his way onto one of the horde's shoulders, using him as a stepping stone. He leapt from person to person, abusing every shoulder he could to stay above the rabble. Kacchan, however, got ahead of him due to the lack of need to land and slow down. Just as Izuku thought the people ahead of him were getting spread out, a great gust of freezing wind shot through the hallway. Izuku made one more leap, touched his thumb to his index finger, then whipped his arm high, grabbing the cable he'd produced. He felt the cable bite, then covered his face against the wall he'd stuck to until the cold passed.

Out ahead of the now frozen crowd ran Todoroki, freezing the ground beneath him as he went. Shortly behind him were Kacchan, Kirishima, Yaoyorozu, and Aoyama. Each one had either broken or avoided the ice attempting to hold them in place. Izuku himself found that he was frozen to the wall, but with a swipe of his hand and the power of gravity, he broke free too. He landed directly on the back of a kid who was attempting to yank his foot free, then used him as a launch pad to clear the last of the stuck hopefuls.

“Naive, Todoroki!” Yaoyorozu yelled at the frontrunner.

“You're not clearing out that easy!” Kacchan growled.

As Izuku landed and whipped out more cable to assist his skating over all the ice, he realized a majority of his class had managed to overcome Todoroki's trap. Ojiro used his tail to launch himself clear of freezing, Tokoyami had Dark Shadow keep him clear, even Uraraka had somehow managed to avoid being frozen in place. With a smile, Izuku tethered one cable to the ground, pulling himself forward. He let go of that cable, then grabbed the other one, pulling himself again, and repeated that process to start catching up to the leaders.

Sutore was using a strategy similar to his friend's, but used his quirk to launch himself from wall to wall on his belly, ping-ponging his way directly to Todoroki. However, just as he was about to take the lead, a large metal claw dug into the dirt, blocking his way. It was only thanks to quick reaction that Sutore launched himself upright and clear of a second attack. As everyone stopped, Izuku recognized what their first real obstacle was: more of the robots from the entrance exam.

“Targets found,” one of them said threateningly. “Lots of them!”

Further back, a line of the zero-point giants loomed, waiting their turn for some prey.

“Seriously, the hero course had to fight these?” a General Studies student bemoaned nearby.

“Yup,” Izuku said coolly as he retracted his cables. “But this time, they're easier.”

With that, Izuku pulled out two black orbs, holding them in one hand.Just as he was about to throw them, an icy chill swept the area, freezing several large robots in place. Recognizing the opportunity, Izuku made a beeline for the gap between the tracks of the bot in front of him. Clearly, Todoroki had the same idea.

“He stopped them!” someone shouted.

“Between their legs, we can get through!” someone else followed.

“I wouldn't if I were you,” Todoroki yelled back. “I froze them while they were unbalanced. They'll fall over.”

As if on cue, the bots collapsed, nearly landing on the crowd of students. Izuku almost felt bad as he followed that up with his smoke bombs, creating a haze to hinder those who stumbled through the mess.

But, he thought to himself, that definitely cleared the field a bit so he could stretch his legs. Though maybe less than he'd initially hoped.

A series of explosions marked the approach of Kacchan, apparently opting to go over, rather than through, the obstacle. Sero followed suit, accompanied shortly by Tokoyami. There was a lot of commotion from behind the smoke, which Izuku assumed to be his other classmates using their abilities to make headway. However, he had to focus on the task at hand: catching and surpassing Todoroki. But for now, he would bide his time.

It wasn't long before the two reached the second obstacle: a huge pit. Thankfully, there were stone pillars every thirty feet or so, and each was connected by a rope. Looking down, Izuku couldn't even see the bottom. And with the edge walls spreading further than Izuku felt comfortable with, abusing them to skip this was out of the question.

Todoroki immediately began skating across the top of one of the ropes, using his ice to assist him. Izuku whipped out his cables once more, leaping into the void. He grabbed the cable in his right hand, swinging it toward the rope next to him. It tethered, and, using his momentum, he swung himself forward. He grabbed his left hand cable and swung that up to catch the rope once more just as he let go with his right hand. Repeating this process, he was able to swing along like he was on extended monkey bars. Overhead, Kacchan was flying his way past the obstacle, taking second from Izuku. He wasn't surprised, but it was still annoying that he had to lose speed like this. It was definitely faster than crawling under the ropes, but it wasn't ideal. He could actually hear several students catching up to and passing him.

As Izuku pulled himself up to the surface world again at the end of the pit, he looked around to gauge his position. At least a good twenty students had passed him, and as he started running, a couple more caught up. He really hoped the next obstacle would be something that could even the playing field. When he reached it, he almost laughed.

It was a minefield, with obvious circles of disturbed dirt showing where each one lay. And based on the students who set a couple off, they simply launched the unfortunate away from the epicenter, accented with a puff of pink smoke. Up ahead, Kacchan and Todoroki were battling it out for the top spot.

Doing a quick stretch, Izuku plotted his route through the field. He knew he could never keep up with the likes of Iida, who was attempting to outrun the explosions he set off, so he decided to do the next best thing: abuse the mechanics of the game.

“Here we go!” he yelled as he took his first step directly onto a mine. The force of the resulting blast launched him away, and since he placed himself forward of the explosion's center, it launched him forward through the air. He barely managed to right himself in the air in time to land on a second mine, launching him again. He kept focusing on orienting himself to be directly on the forward edge of a mine each time he landed, and with each blast he gained both speed and position. He also managed to pull out two more smoke bombs by the time he flew over the leaders, smiling down at them as he threw his payload directly at mines in front of each. With his momentum, Izuku managed to get in front of the blasts as they went off, which meant he was not only sent clear of the obstacle, but his competition was launched backwards. With one last twist to sail upright, followed by a roll as he landed, Izuku set back into his run. It only took a few seconds for him to realize that the end was ahead of him, by which time both Kacchan and Todoroki had recovered from his distraction. Unfortunately, it was already too late.

Izuku lowered his position, and began to truly sprint. He may not have been as fast as Iida, but he knew he was faster in a full sprint than most of the class, even with quirks. The only problem was that he couldn't keep it up for nearly as long as them, so he had to hold back until the end. And as he came to a stop in the stadium again, he knew his plan had payed off. With some mild panting to catch his breath, Izuku watched as Todoroki and Kacchan finished only seconds behind him.

“Izuku Midoriya has made a huge splash!” Present Mic announced to the gathered crowd.

Damn right he had.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Kacchan,” Izuku called to his friend. “Great effort out there, you really gave me a run for my money.”

“I still can't believe you used the mines like that, you sneak. I never would have thought of it.”

“Well, you know how it is. Risk versus reward and all that.”

Both friends smiled as the last of the stragglers filtered into the stadium. Todoroki seemed to be watching the two closely, but Izuku payed him little mind. He was more focused on the rest of his friends, who were making their way over with heavy breath.

“So how'd you guys do?” he called out hopefully.

“It seems we will all be moving forward,” Tokoyami replied.

“Damn right,” Sutore continued. “Though I think a lot of us are kinda bummed about our placement. We can't all be Mister Number One over here.”

“Hey,” Izuku interjected. “Kacchan could have easily gotten that spot if not for the minefield. And if there had been a section requiring quick turns with speed, you or Iida probably would've wiped the floor with the rest of us. It was kind of a crapshoot if I'm being honest.”

Kacchan started to say something when Midnight interrupted.

“The first years' first stage is finally over!”

Izuku was surprised to see that, indeed, the last person was just now finishing the course. He figured that trick Todoroki started the course with had screwed things up quite a bit.

“Now, let's take a look at the results.”

A large screen behind her flashed up Izuku's, Kacchan's, and Todoroki's images. Izuku featured a number 1, Todoroki a number 2, and Kacchan 3. Then the screen flipped over to the next four finishers: Ibara Shiozaki in fourth, followed by Juzo Honenuki, Iida, and finally Tokoyami. Each of them got a slightly smaller section of the screen to place a face to the name. After that, the screen flipped to a column format, showing the position finished, followed by the name, and finally a headshot of the individual in question. As it scrolled down, Izuku noted his classmates' positions. Sutore had placed eighteenth, just behind Yaoyorozu. Jiro had done the worst of the group, but even she was in the upper half of the list, since it only went to forty-two for some reason. Izuku was curious why they had only counted to that particular number.

“The top forty-two will go on to the next round. It's unfortunate, but don't worry even if you didn't make it! We've prepared other chances for you to shine!”

Izuku scoffed. Being part of the half-time show wasn't exactly what he'd call an “opportunity to shine.” With a lick of her lips, Midnight continued, though Izuku felt that was a bit...disturbing given she was currently looking at a bunch of young teens.

“The real competition begins next! The press cavalry will be all over it, so give it your all!”

Well that was oddly phrased, Izuku thought.

Once more, the slot machine display played behind Midnight, and Izuku could feel the tension rising.

“Now then, the second game. I already know what it is, but what could it be? I already told you, it's-”

She cut herself off for dramatic effect, but Izuku already knew. By the time the words “cavalry battle” appeared on the screen, Izuku was already looking to Sutore so he could group up with him. Midnight carried on, but Izuku wasn't really paying attention. He heard the words “two to four people” and was formulating his team. That is, until he heard the words “point value.”

“...the points go up by five from the bottom. So forty-second place gets five points, forty-first gets ten, and so on. And the value assigned to first place is....”

Izuku turned to look at the screen, immediately feeling his heart sink.

“Ten million!”

He could feel the gazes of his fellow students turning toward their mark. Most of them started murmuring amongst themselves. He understood now: this part of the contest was about keeping things interesting, letting the stragglers get a chance to stand on top. And that competition made him falter in his confidence that he could get anyone to team up with him.

“That's right, it's survival of the fittest. This is your chance for those at the bottom to overthrow the top!”

With a sadistic smile, Midnight continued as she pointed her whip seemingly direct at Izuku.

“Those at the top will suffer more. You'll hear this a lot at UA, but this is what 'Plus Ultra' means!”

He couldn't help but wonder what would happen if he failed to find a teammate. Hell, even if he did manage to convince someone, what were the odds he'd be able to pass this stage, let alone keep his spot? His mind ran a mile per second, trying to calculate his odds in this event. They weren't good. He knew that much. And based on some of the things he heard from those around him, everyone realized that.

“Now, then. I'll explain the rules of the cavalry battle,” Midnight continued almost mockingly. “The time limit is fifteen minutes. Each team is worth the total of its member's points, and the leader will wear a headband with that number on their foreheads. Teams are to gather as many points as they can and protect those they already have until time runs out. All stolen headbands must be worn from the neck up. Thus, the more you have, the harder it will be to manage them! The most important thing is that even if your headband is stolen or your team falls, you're not out!”

Well shit. That ruled out snatching headbands as fast as possible to lower the number of threats. But, Izuku realized, that did give him wiggle room for another strategy. But using that strategy would be risky at best, downright suicidal at worst.

“During the game, it will be a cruel fight where you can use your quirks. But it's still a cavalry battle. You'll get a red card for any attempts to unbalance your opponents and purposely make them fall! We will remove you immediately. Now, you have fifteen minutes to make your teams. GO!”

Izuku looked up finally as the explanation finished, hoping beyond hope that there was someone, anyone who would pair with him. And despite the majority of the crowd splitting off to avoid him, he still found that his little circle of friends was right there, staring right back at him. Each one wore a smile, and he felt his stress slowly fade. They still had a chance, he just had to decide how to handle it.

“So, who are you gonna pick?” Sutore asked.

“Come on, Ichi,” Jiro chided. “He's thinking about it.”

Izuku suddenly realized that in his joy of realizing that he wouldn't be solo, he hadn't counted the number of people present. They were one over the max allowed.

“I really don't know,” he said, suddenly embarrassed. “All of you guys have such great quirks that it makes it hard to cut anyone.”

“I'll go,” Kacchan offered. “It's not like I can do much when I'm not the leader, anyway.”

“Are you sure?” Izuku asked, slightly sad for him.

“Yeah, it's fine. Just don't lose, alright? I wanna beat you myself for the finals.”

“Sure,” Izuku laughed. “If your fireworks can pull that off.”

With a two-finger salute, Kacchan made his way toward another group from class, and Izuku turned to his teammates.

“By the way, I just want to say thanks. To all of you.”

“You know I'd never back down from something like this,” Sutore scoffed.

“It may not be the ideal position,” Tokoyami said stoically. “But I know your quirk can pull us through. So thank you for the opportunity.”

“Given the options, I think this will rock hardest,” Jiro joked. Izuku noted that she completely avoided his thanks, but didn't say anything about it.

The following minutes were spent planning. How they were going to go about this game, who would be where, and what, if any, quirk combos they could pull off. Everything was going well until Izuku heard a set of fans approaching. Looking over, he could see that they were attached to the boots of a girl he recognized from the support class. She wore support gear over most of her body, including a set of goggles currently over her eyes. The most distinguishable thing he could see of her person was her flamingo-pink hair, currently draped over the sides of her head with heavy bangs brushed sideways out of her face. She was currently floating over to his group rather slowly.

“You stand out, team up with me, person in first place!”

“Uhh....”

“I'm Mei Hatsume,” she continued, lifting her goggles. Izuku was a little shocked to see that her eyes appeared to have targeting reticles in them instead of pupils. “I'm from the support course! I don't know you, but let me use your position!”

“Well gee, let me think about that,” Izuku replied sarcastically. She was already pissing him off. “I'll have to give it a lot of—no.”

“But if I team up with you, I'll be part of the team everyone's watching the most! If that happens, my super cute babies will inevitably be seen by the big companies.”

He could almost respect her hustle, trying to make herself look good so that she could sell to the highest bidders. Almost.

“That's nice, don't care. Besides, we're full up. Now go away.”

While she didn't seem happy, Izuku couldn't help but notice that she left with no malice, either. That was definitely...odd.

“What was that all about?” Jiro asked as he returned to the group. “Did I hear something about babies?”

“Just a support student making her pitch. Probably wanted to sell us on her creations, or 'babies.' I told her we were fine.”

The team selection buzzer sounded shortly after, pulling Izuku's team from their discussion.

“Now then, it's about time to get started!” Midnight yelled, stretching her arms in the corner.

“After fifteen minutes to form teams and talk strategy,” Present Mic called from the booth. “Twelve cavalry teams have lined up on the field!”

“There are some interesting teams out there,” Aizawa mused. Izuku had actually forgotten he was present until now.

“Now,” the voice hero continued. “Raise those battle cries! It's time for a bloodbath!”

As Izuku tied his headband, he couldn't help but question the phrasing of that last line. But he shook it off, focusing on the teams around him. It seemed that the next highest total after his own ten million four hundred fifteen points was a relatively minor seven hundred five. Kacchan's team had the next highest at six hundred sixty-five points, and the rest ranged all the way down to a measly seventy points. He couldn't be sure what most of his competitors' quirks were, but he knew one thing: he had to focus right now. Their plan relied on quick action and decisive plays.

“Light the signal fire!”

One last time, Izuku looked at his team. Sutore was on his right, to keep his strong arm free to run interference. Tokoyami took up his left side, with Dark Shadow acting as a stretchable shield. Jiro stood up front, seemingly leaving them open to a frontal assault. And that was part of the plan. Unfortunately, this left Sutore slightly crouching to keep them level, but that would be fine.

“You all ready?” he asked from his spot atop their shoulders.

“Hell yeah,” Sutore cheered.

“We have your back,” Tokoyami said confidently as Dark Shadow flashed him a thumbs-up.

“Ready,” Jiro finished.

“I'm not gonna ask if you're ready or not,” Present Mic announced. “Now, let's go! Counting down in three, two, one!”

“START!” Midnight yelled.

Izuku immediately grabbed his headband, throwing it high into the air. Just as he'd suspected, several of the other teams rushed headlong toward it, completely ignoring the team that had just tossed their points.

“Alright guys, Metalmouth!” Izuku shouted.

As one, his entire team ran forward, directly toward the class B boy from two weeks ago. Thanks to intel from Sutore, he knew the boy's quirk was similar to Kirishima's, in that it hardened his body greatly. The other three of his team were still a mystery, but he counted on them being too distracted by the shiny thing he'd thrown to react to an attack. As luck would have it, Jiro was able to slip the seven hundred five point band off without the team even noticing, or at least caring.

As Izuku fastened his new point value on his forehead, he looked around. Most of the field was busy fighting over the high-value headband, which meant that only the less confident or crafty teams were left to create obstacles. It seemed that at least a couple teams had settled for a similar strategy to his own: focusing on getting lower scores, but still maintaining their ability to move on. And with his removal of the top headband, that seemed to signal them that he didn't like his chances. Oh, how wrong they were.

The lowest scoring team on the field was currently charging him, with horns flying from several directions. These were easily blocked by Jiro's ears and Dark Shadow's claws, and Izuku capitalized on their gap close by snatching their seventy points before his team dashed off. Clearly, they'd underestimated their target and paid the price. And in defending so easily, he'd scared off any others who doubted his confidence.

As Izuku watched the fiasco currently surrounding the top headband, he noticed that it had been sent high into the air at some point. It was at that moment he heard a series of explosions as Kacchan launched himself to get the top spot. Having successfully claimed his prize, he was snatched out of the air by a long line of tape, then pulled back onto his horse. Izuku had to give him credit: that was incredibly clever. However, when he'd looked up, he noticed something else particularly concerning.

Half the field was resting at zero points.

He knew he'd taken two of the other teams' headbands, but that still left teams with missing points who'd gotten picked up by someone else. And that made them a threat. It was just as he realized this that Izuku felt something approach from his left side.

Thankfully, Dark Shadow managed to block the assailant at the last second, but Izuku knew this was a major threat to him. The blonde boy currently staring him down smiled darkly.

“I'm impressed. You're not half as dumb as you look. I'd hoped we could eliminate all of you before you even realized.”

Izuku smiled back as he recognized the headbands around his competitor's neck.

“Time is over half gone!” Present Mic announced. “In this unexpected rise of class B, who will wear the ten million points at the end?”

“Well well well,” Izuku taunted. “It seems we have secret admirers. By the way, the tsundere thing isn't working for you. I'll take those headbands as compensation, though.”

With that, the two teams rushed toward each other. Neither one was particularly concerned about other interference, as they were either too afraid of the abilities on either side, or were too focused on the top headband to pay attention. Izuku was surprised when Sutore's first punch at the leader was deflected by seemingly nothing. He was even more surprised when his own palm strike was deflected, but the boy seemed to hesitate for a moment afterward, which Izuku capitalized on by grabbing every one of his headbands and signaling to back off. Moments later, he had a very secure third place at least.

“Monoma, what the hell?!” one of the boy's lackeys yelled. “Why didn't you do anything?”

As he turned to look at Izuku once more, he recognized that look in Monoma's eye. It was one he'd dreaded ever seeing again.

“Because I couldn't copy his quirk,” he said, starting to laugh. “Izuku Midoriya is quirkless!”

Izuku felt his heart stop, and so had most of the field. A majority of players were now turning to look at him, their confidence rekindled.

“Fuck,” Izuku spat. “We need to get out of here.”

“Right,” Sutore replied, but the other two team members seemed sluggish. Izuku looked to them, but neither would return his gaze. Even Dark Shadow was “distracted” by keeping an eye out for threats.

Once more, chaos reigned. Izuku and his team focused on defending against any attacks toward them, but shortly they found themselves surrounded.

“Less than thirty seconds left!” Present Mic announced.

“Sutore! NOW!”

Izuku stepped over Jiro to stand on his friend's arms as the boy crouched low. Then, with a great huff, he stood fully upright and used his quirk to expand his forearms, launching Izuku high into the air. He pressed hi right thumb to his index finger, whirling his arm overhead. As the last of the cable extended from his bracer, Izuku flung his arm upward, desperate to cling to something. With the height of his launch combined with the length of his cable, he was just barely able to snag a beam hanging over the field. From there, he simply held on and waited for time to run out. Much to several teams' annoyance, they would not be retrieving his stash soon enough. And as he looked over to where Kacchan and Todoroki were fighting, he realized they had no hope of getting any other points, either. He was just noting the excess of ice and lack of fire around the field when the buzzer sounded, announcing the end of round two.

It took a minute to figure out a safe way down, but eventually Tokoyami came over and had Dark Shadow catch him and lower him to ground level.

“Time to announce the final placements!” Present Mic shouted. “In first is team Todoroki! Second is team Bakugo! Third is team Midoriya! And in fourth is team...Shinso? When did they come from behind?”

Izuku looked over to the only other team with any points, that of the purple-haired boy who'd declared “war” on class 1A. While he seemed content with his position, his teammates seemed...confused.

“These four teams will advance to the final round!”

As Izuku looked back to his team, two of them eyed him warily. He knew what was about to be said before Tokoyami even started.

“Midoriya, we need to talk.”

Chapter Text

“Let's just get this over with,” Izuku said angrily as he sat down.

Around him were Tokoyami, Jiro, Sutore, and Kacchan. Each was handling things in their own way, but all of them were still talking about the reveal during the cavalry battle. Luckily, they had an hour to hash things out during the lunch break.

“Is what that 1B boy said true?” Tokoyami asked directly, cutting between Jiro and Sutore mid-argument.

“You and I both know the answer to that.”

“Why didn't you tell us?” Jiro asked, clearly hurt.

Izuku cocked an eyebrow sarcastically.

“That would be my fault,” Kacchan piped up. It was only then that Izuku realized the boy had been pretty much silent up until now.

“Not exclusively,” Izuku corrected.

“What's that supposed to mean?” Jiro complained.

“Alright,” Izuku said, sitting proper and holding a hand up. “Do you want the long version, or the short one?”

“I want to understand,” Tokoyami replied flatly. “Please.”

“Izuku, you don't have to do this,” Sutore offered. Despite his best efforts, it was clear the boy was nervous about this.

“It's fine. Had to come out sooner or later. I'll just give you a quick synopsis, how about that? Not like you're going to stick around after this.”

“That's not fair.”

“Don't lecture me on what's fair! You have no clue what I've been through!”

Everyone shut down the instant Izuku raised his voice. He could already feel the nerve on his forehead pulsing.

“As you might have already guessed, yeah. Kacchan's known I was quirkless since we were little. And he never let me forget it. He bullied me for it time and time again. It started out harmless enough. Simply brushing me off, minor 'accidents' that involved his quirk hitting me, but things escalated.”

He pulled off his shirt, motioning to the barely noticeable scar on his right shoulder. He could see their eyes tracing the square, followed by the recognition of what it meant.

“One day, I stood up to him. This was before his quirk counseling. I got hit with a blast so powerful, it seared my shoulder practically to the bone. There's a second patch on my chest here, but the doctors had time to mesh the graft properly, so it healed more cleanly. I was in the hospital for three weeks. We were five.”

All eyes slowly drifted to Kacchan, and Izuku felt the judgement in them. It was almost as bad as some of the looks people had given him when they learned his quirk status. The worst was Sutore, though. He forgot he'd never told him the extent of Kacchan's torture.

“My family moved the day I got back,” Izuku continued, pulling attention back to himself. “But not before my mom chewed out his parents for their negligence. I'll leave it to him if he wants to relay the consequences of that. Suffice to say, he learned his lesson and I've forgiven him. But he isn't the only reason I'm not open about being quirkless.”

As Izuku pulled his shirt back on, he was surprised to find Kacchan taking an interest in the next part.

“Obviously, my paperwork announced to my new teachers what I was. They notified the students so that they would 'be careful' around me, and the bullying commenced again. Thankfully, Mom managed to get them to change that box on my sheet to a simple 'redacted.' From there, it was simple to convince people my quirk was just special. Many, like yourselves, assumed it was a more internal quirk, which was why it was never obvious that I used one. Others assumed it was so strong I simply couldn't use it in normal situations. Nobody considered that I could really be quirkless. After all, if that were true, then I had to be some lesser being.”

“We don't think that, though.” Jiro interrupted, her voice shaking slightly.

“If that's true, it's because I've already proven myself to you. What was it Tokoyami said before the cavalry battle? 'Your quirk will pull us through?' Would you have relied on me so readily if you had known I didn't have a quirk?”

The silent response was deafening.

“Not that I blame you, really. When everyone you know has some power to make them your equal or even your better, a hierarchy is formed. At the bottom are people like me. At the top are people like Kacchan and Todoroki. That's how the world works. And when people from the upper echelons feel challenged by the lower, or God forbid, lowest echelons, they reject it. They reject me. And don't say you wouldn't do that, I've seen it too many times. Sutore is the first person I told in six years.”

“How long have you two known each other again?” Kacchan asked timidly.

“Seven years. I told him a year and a half ago.”

“Why did you take so long to tell him?” Tokoyami asked.

“Because he's one of three people I've told who actually stuck around. I've told fifteen people total. Nine of them tried to spread the word. I managed to counter it as being a prank.”

“So you stopped telling people unless you were certain you could trust them,” Tokoyami guessed.

“Yeah. If I didn't, I wouldn't have been able to make it here today.”

“Oh, come on,” Jiro countered. “There's no rule against quirkless at UA.”

“Several schools adopt that policy, but there are backdoor ways to weed out the riffraff. Things like a quirk aptitude test.”

It took a moment before Tokoyami and Jiro caught his meaning.

“You're saying Mr. Aizawa knows?” Tokoyami asked incredulously.

“How could he not? His whole thing is about deleting quirks, so when he couldn't erase mine, he knew. He even had a good cover story for it: he's expelled classes in previous years, and I would represent a special risk to myself if I wasn't weeded out early. Why do you think there was only one spot that was supposed to get dropped?”

“You don't know that's how he found out,” Sutore corrected.

“It's a safe bet. Also not the point. The point is that there's a good reason I didn't tell you guys I'm quirkless. But if you need that lie as a reason to ditch me, it's fine. Just don't be like those other nine, okay?”

As he stood, Izuku could feel the air grow heavy. Nobody said a word as he opened the door and left. Chances were, Sutore and Kacchan would be spending the next few minutes trying to clean up the mess, but he was too upset to care. He was almost outside the arena when he ran into Todoroki.

“Oh, Midoriya. Just who I was looking for.”

“What's up, Freezerburn? I'm not in the mood for more drama right now.”

“I wanted to talk to you.”

“Ugh, fine. Make it quick.”

Izuku leaned his back against the hallway, folding his arms.

“It seems you have yet to use any obvious quirk,” Todoroki began calmly. Izuku didn't like where this was going.

“Are you refusing to use it because your father is watching?”

“What?”

Izuku felt like he was reading a book that had skipped a few pages.

“All Might is in the teachers' booth today, isn't he?”

Izuku stared for a few seconds, trying to parse out what he meant.

“Do you think...All Might is my dad?”

“I think it's a possibility.”

Izuku wanted to groan, but instead laughed.

“No, he's not my dad. And I have been using my quirk.”

A moment passed before Izuku realized something.

“Is that why you think he's taken an interest in me? Even if it was, why would you care?”

“So there's a connection you have that you can't talk about. Understood.”

Izuku was a little annoyed that he'd completely glossed over the questions, but let it slide.

“Endeavor is my old man. I'm sure you're aware he's been stuck as the number two hero for forever. Your connection to the number one hero means I have all the more reason to beat you.”

Izuku sighed, realizing that the boy before him was nothing more than a tool for Endeavor to vicariously attempt to overthrow the top spot. The man must really have a fragile ego if this was how low he was willing to go.

“My old man has a strong desire to rise in the world. He made his name as a hero by crushing every challenge before him. As such, the living legend All Might is a major eyesore for him. He realized he couldn't surpass him, so he decided to do the next best thing.”

“Train someone who would,” Izuku finished for him.

“Correct. Are you aware of quirk marriages?”

Izuku immediately felt his blood boil. His original suspicion had been correct.

“Quite,” he replied through gritted teeth.

“Well, my father chose my mother with the quirk hybrid in mind. Convincing her family wasn't difficult with his money and social status. Now he's trying to raise me to fulfill his desire and surpass All Might. But I refuse to become a tool for scum like that.”

Izuku held back his immediate thought about the irony currently in the air.

“In every memory of my mother, she's crying. She was even crying as she told me my left side was unsightly and poured boiling water on my face.”

Izuku felt a little bad at that. He'd assumed this whole time that the red part of his face was a birthmark.

“So you know, I picked a fight with you to show him what I can do, and I refuse to use his damned quirk to do it. I'm going to get first place with only my right side!”

Izuku didn't know how to really respond to that. On one hand, he respected the drive to prove himself, but at the same time, that refusal to use his full potential was, frankly, idiotic. He couldn't help but feel like the two had some common ground, even if he would rather not mention why.

As Izuku pondered a response, Todoroki began walking away.

“I don't care if you can't tell me how you're connected to All Might,” he said calmly as he went. “No matter what you two have, I will still rise above you with only my right side.”

Izuku rolled his eyes at the classic edgy teen behavior. He wanted to continue the conversation and help the guy, but right now he was too bothered by his own demons. He'd have to let things go for the time being. Right now, all he cared about was getting some food in his stomach.

Chapter Text

Izuku stood at the doorway to the stadium center, hidden by shadow. He watched all of his peers as they gathered back up after the lunch break, debating whether he should step out and face the hate or just leave and go home. Neither option sounded particularly appealing at the moment.

He looked down at his phone again, reading the last three messages he'd received.

Stretch: -Secret's out. Where are you?
Kacchan: -1B bastard blabbed. Gonna talk sense into him by force if necessary.
Mom: -Saw on the news that UA is putting students in danger? Some special interview soon. Any idea what they're talking about?

He didn't even want to check his online messages. He knew a lot of his old friends from middle school, as well as some of his online friends were watching today. He already knew to expect a notification count in the triple digits.

Apparently, Monoma had taken it upon himself to let anyone and everyone know that there was a quirkless kid in the school. If his mom's message was to be believed, he'd even gone to the reporters about it. He pocketed his phone, looking out at the students again as the return bell sounded. With a deep breath, he closed his eyes, trying to calm his nerves. This was it. End of the line. He opened his eyes again, letting out a heavy sigh as he took that first terrible step forward.

God, he hoped nobody had saved any fruit from their lunch.

“Now that lunch is over, it's time to reveal the final game!” Present Mic announced over the speakers. Izuku kept his focus directly ahead, toward where Midnight was standing on her little stage yet again.

“But before that, there's good news for all of you that didn't make it into the finals! This is just a sports festival, so we've prepared recreational games everyone can participate in! We've even brought real cheerleaders from America to liven things up!”

Okay, Izuku had to admit, that was a pretty good reason to look around. He turned his gaze to the cheerleaders, enjoying their routine for a few seconds as he neared his fellow students.

“Midoriya,” a voice croaked next to him. He turned to look at Tsu, trying to keep his face as blank as possible. “I'm glad you're here. I was afraid the rumors had scared you.”

He simply smiled back at her, not sure how to respond.

“Alright, let's have fun competing in the recreational games! When that's over, the sixteen from the top four teams that made it to the final round will duke it out tournament style, one-on-one!”

Izuku stared at the screen ahead of him, trying to tune out the world around him. It was only a matter of time until his dream died, and he wanted to savor every moment until then. It was then that he felt a hand on his shoulder.

“It's gonna be fine,” Sutore said plainly. Next to him were Kacchan, Tokoyami, and Jiro. All of whom gave him a small sign of encouragement.

“You have a great group of friends,” Tsu noted.

“I like to think so,” Izuku finally responded as he looked toward her, his voice much steadier than he felt. He wanted to believe that his friends were right, but he'd seen what the world thought of people like him. And in the back of his mind, he was already making backup plans. Didn't legally defined vigilantism require someone to use their quirk?

“And here we have our lots to draw!” Midnight announced. “But first, I think it's necessary to address something.”

Izuku audibly swallowed the feeling rising in his gut. This was it.

“Apparently, a rumor has begun circling during the lunch break, and I must admit it is true. We had hoped to keep it under wraps for a little longer, but it seems the young man had to surpass our expectations. Yes, one of our students in the hero course, Izuku Midoriya, is indeed quirkless.”

Izuku felt his entire world caving in. He could barely hear anything over his own heartbeat. His vision had consolidated down to only Midnight's face, but he still knew everyone around him was staring. Everyone in the stadium probably was. He was so terrified, he almost missed what was said next.

“And look at what that has meant for him! Standing among the top performers here today! Many have said in the past that a quirk is a requirement in today's world. Well I say to you, look at Midoriya's spot and tell me with a straight face that any more could be expected of a quirked student!”

Izuku was snapped from his stupor at the praise by the feeling of several people patting him on the back and a few shaking his hand in various ways. He had no clue how to react to all of this, and simply stared at the people cheering him on. A whip crack brought attention back to the stage, but Izuku still recognized a few of his classmates giving him silent encouragement. This was weird.

“And now that that's out of the way, we can have the finalists draw their lot numbers! After that, we'll have our recreational games, then we can start with the final tournament!”

She looked down at the gathered students, seeming to directly address them for the next part.

“The sixteen finalists can choose whether or not they want to participate in the recreational games, since I'm sure you want to rest or save your strength. Now, from the first-”

“Excuse me!”

Izuku turned to look at the interruption. It was Ojiro, holding his hand high, but his gaze fell low.

“I'm withdrawing.”

“Wait, what?” Izuku asked aloud. “Why?”

“This is a rare chance to get spotted by pros,” Iida added.

“I barely remember anything from the cavalry battle until near the end,” Ojiro explained quietly. “I think it was that guy's quirk.”

Izuku looked over to the warlord from general studies, and was unnerved slightly from the cold stare he got in return. The boy silently turned away, as though it would draw the attention from him if he ignored what was going on.

“I know this is a great chance,” Ojiro continued. “And it's foolish to waste it. But everyone here competed by giving their all. I can't be up there with everyone else without knowing what happened.”

Was this a ploy? Izuku couldn't be sure. The timing was definitely odd, but nothing about it seemed to directly point to him. And nobody seemed to be looking to him to follow his classmate's example. If anything, everyone was trying to stop Ojiro.

“You're worrying too much about it,” Hagakure offered. “You should just make sure you produce results in the finals!”

“If you're gonna say that,” Ashido continued. “I didn't do anything, either.”

“That's not it,” Ojiro said, covering his face in shame. “I'm talking about my pride here. I can't...”

Izuku understood what he meant. It was foolish, but also arguably the right thing to drop out if you felt you didn't deserve the spot. And part of him felt like this was a manipulation to get him to follow suit. His train of thought was interrupted by a voice closer to the stage.

“I'm Nirengeki Shoda from class 1-B, and I would like to withdraw for the same reason. Regardless of ability, don't you think it goes against the spirit of this festival to have those who didn't do anything move on to the final round?”

“What's with these guys?” Kirishima asked, tears forming in his eyes. “Being so manly!”

“This is an unusual turn of events,” Present Mic said over the speakers, though Izuku felt it was unintentional given how quiet his voice was.

“We'll have to see what the chief umpire, Midnight, has to say about it,” Aizawa said stoically to cover for his partner in the booth.

“Youthful talk like that is something I like!” Midnight announced with a crack of her whip. “Shoda, Ojiro, I accept your withdrawal!”

Well, that wasn't going to make for the best look in the world, Izuku found himself thinking.

“In that case, we'll have to move up two people from the fifth place cavalry team,” Midnight pondered aloud.

“If you're doing that,” an orange-haired girl offered. “I think we should be skipped, since we barely did anything during the cavalry battle. Why not move up the team who stayed near the top until the end, and fought their hardest?”

She looked to her teammates, earning a nod from each.

“We'd rather Tetsutetsu's team go ahead.”

“Kendo?” a gray-haired boy asked. Izuku couldn't help but wonder what the white frills were around his eyes. They seemed to be part of his body....

“This isn't collusion or anything, it just makes sense.”

Izuku's eyes narrowed at the comment, but he knew he couldn't call them out on anything. At this point, he had no idea what to think was going on.

After a short few minutes of deliberation, the gray-haired boy and a girl whose hair was made of vines were picked as the replacements for the two withdrawals.

“And so, Tetsutetsu and Shiozaki have moved up to make sixteen!” Midnight announced. “Now will the finalists please come up and draw your lots!”

Izuku got into line with his friends, and soon enough, he had drawn his number. After handing the slip back to Midnight, he was met with a smile that felt genuine. He wanted to believe it, but every fiber of his being was screaming that this was a trap. Something was happening. It had to be. But no matter where his mind went, he couldn't find a way for this to be a realistic trick. Not unless almost everyone was in on it. And Occum's Razor said that wasn't it.

After the last of the finalists stepped off the stage, Midnight directed everyone's attention to the screen above her.

“This will be the bracket based on the results of the drawing!”

Izuku looked at his placement, noting who his first two opponents could be. Assuming he won, that meant he'd be facing either Todoroki or Sero. Though, no offense to Sero, he was pretty sure it was going to be Todoroki. But first, he had to face...Shinso? Wasn't that the general studies guy?

“That's you, right? Izuku Midoriya?” a voice asked next to him.

Izuku jumped back, adopting a fighting stance out of habit, but quickly breaking it.

“I look forward to our first match.”

Just as Izuku was about to respond, a tail covered his mouth. He started to struggle, but Ojiro's voice brought him back.

“Midoriya!”

With a sneer, Shinso turned and walked away. Which was odd.... Ojiro removed his tail once the other boy was clearly not coming back.

“So, mind explaining what that was just now?” he asked his classmate, annoyed.

“Don't answer him.”

“...Ominous. Explain.”
“All right! Let's leave the tournament aside for a temporary interlude!” Present Mic yelled through the speakers. “Let's enjoy the recreation!”

Izuku motioned for Ojiro to follow, heading toward the locker rooms. Both Sutore and Kacchan gave him worried looks, but he waved them off. Sure, Ojiro could be trying to play him, but there was also the chance this was legitimate. He'd just have to take that risk. He pulled out a chair, sat down and motioned for Ojiro to do the same.

“So what's going on? Why did you tell me not to answer?”

Ojiro plopped into his seat with a sigh.

“Because I think that's how his quirk controls people.”

“So if I don't reply, he can't use his quirk on me.”

“Exactly. I don't remember much after I answered his question, so I think that's how it works.”

“Any idea if it's only questions I need to watch out for?”

“I don't know, but there is more I can tell you. Remember how I said I barely remember anything until nearly the end?”

“Yeah. Did you manage to break out of it?”

“Not exactly. When we were running away after stealing Tetsutetsu's headband, I think I bumped one of his horses. I remember everything after that clear as day.”

“Okay, so I get caught up in his mind control if I respond to him, but can be knocked out of it with a simple bump. Noted. Anything else you think I should know?”

“Sorry, but no. I don't think there's anything more I can figure out. But I'm sure you've already got a winning strategy against him.”

“Pretty sure I do.”

“Great, mind sharing?”

“Yes, actually. I do mind.”

Ojiro looked a little offended at his statement. “Did I do something wrong to you, Midoriya?”

“Honestly, I don't know yet. Which is why I'm not telling you my plan.”

“What?”

“I need to make sure everything's on the up-and-up, so I'm sorry if it's nothing, but I can't risk the plan. I hope you understand.”

“Y-yeah...sure.”

Ojiro sounded genuinely sad as he spoke before standing and leaving with a short bow. Fuck, he was going to have to apologize again, wasn't he? He sighed as he pulled out his phone and unlocked it. He'd have to say sorry later if this worked.

Chapter Text

Izuku stepped out toward the field, a smile on his face. So long as the information he had was good, he was going to be winning this first stage of the tournament pretty easy.

“The finals you've all been waiting for are finally starting!” Present Mic yelled over the loudspeakers.

As he spoke, flames erupted from braziers built into the new arena platform Cementoss had built in the center of the arena.

“Match number one! Our first quirkless hero course student has made quite the showing today, it's Izuku Midoriya!”

The crowds cheers drowned out everything else for a few seconds, and Izuku waved, trying to stay calm.

“VERSUS! Uh, sorry, but he hasn't done anything to stand out yet! From general studies, it's Hitoshi Shinso!”

The cheers continued unabated. Izuku only now realized they were excited to see the competition, not interested in either competitor. He mentally kicked himself for thinking anyone would be that interested in him of all people.

“The rules are simple: force your opponent out of bounds, or immobilize them! You can also win by getting your opponent to say 'I give up!'”

Izuku cracked his knuckles as he came to a stop, eyeing up his opponent. The flames behind him raged, and he felt their fire in his heart. He would not be losing here today. His opponent, however, seemed calm and disconnected. He simply stood across from him, idly scratching his neck.

“Bring on the injuries! We've got our very own Recovery Girl on standby! Put your morals and ethics aside for a moment! But of course, anything life-threatening is crap! OUT! Heroes should only use their fists to catch villains!”

Izuku was pretty sure Snipe would disagree with that statement, given his fucking gun.

“I'll stop things if they go too far,” Cementoss stated plainly as he took a seat in his newly formed chair.

Izuku took a deep breath, then let it out slowly. It was time to see if he was getting played, or if he owed another classmate an apology.

“'I give up', huh?”

Izuku stared at the boy blankly, his arms dropping to his sides. He cocked an eyebrow as the boy continued.

“This is a fight to test the strength of your spirit. If you know what you want for your future, you have to be willing to take it.”

“READY?” Present Mic yelled in English.

“That monkey was going on about his pride,” Shinso continued.

“START!”

“But don't you think he was dumb for throwing away his chance?”

Izuku had to hand it to the guy. He definitely knew how to push buttons and get a response. But Izuku was smarter. He simply smiled back, reached into his pocket, and pulled out his phone. A few taps later, it was unlocked, and he pressed play on the audio file he'd queue'd up.

“You know, Shinso, I'm glad you picked one of my classmates to use your quirk on before this,” the phone played. “Otherwise, I might not know about how your brainwashing works. I can't reply verbally, or else you have me in your grasp, right?”

Shinso's face dropped, and Izuku picked up a note of panic setting in.

“I'm curious, does it still work if I respond in sign language?”

He caught the quick glance up from the phone at that. He couldn't help but think that was a no.

“Not that it really matters, I have this recording, which you've doubtlessly figured out is how I plan to talk to you through our encounter here.”

Shinso tried to fall back into his cocky persona again. “What, too afraid to talk down to me in person? You have to do it through a recording?”

“HEY YOU TWO!” Present Mic yelled in English. “The match has started! Aren't you going to fight?”

Izuku held up a finger toward the booth, telling them to give him a second.

“Midoriya is playing with Shinso's quirk,” Aizawa filled in. “It can be quite powerful, but it has its limitations. People like him are why I've been saying for years the entrance exams aren't rational.”

As the announcers continued their little commentary, Izuku's recording played further.

“I'm sure you've tried a second attempt to hypnotize me by now, the first probably being right as the fight started so I'd be off guard. Sorry bud, you can't hypnotize a recording. And I'm sure the audience is waiting for our fight, so I'll give it to you straight. Either you give up without getting physical, or I'll kick your ass all over this arena. You and I both know you have no chance of winning straight-up, otherwise you wouldn't have been using others to get this far. Which, by the way, begs the question of whether the hero course is a good fit for you considering how underhanded and villainous you've been acting to get here?”

As the recording finished, Izuku locked his phone and pocketed it again, waiting for Shinso's response. What happened next was far from expected.

“I'm NOT a villain!” the boy shouted, raising a fist. The sleeve of his jacket tore away, revealing glowing lines running over his arm. Izuku widened his stance, trying to think of a good way to deal with this quirk, whatever it was. So was the brainwashing thing not true? Had he wasted his time all along?

With a yell, Shinso launched himself at Izuku, who barely had time to fall to his back as the boy sailed overhead. Sailed way too far, in fact. Izuku's opponent had accidentally launched himself clear out of bounds and into the far wall, where he crumpled into a heap.

“Shinso is out of bounds, Midoriya moves on to round two!” Midnight announced.

“HOLY CRAP!” Present Mic yelled. “Since when could Shinso do that? And is he alright?”

Izuku rushed to the boy's side just as fast as the medics, quickly bringing his fingers to his neck to check for pulse. It took him a moment, but he felt the rhythmic pumping, and gave a thumbs-up to the crowd. There was a collective sigh of relief, followed by cheers.

“He's okay, everybody! And a big thank you to this battle's winner for his sportsmanship in helping his opponent!”

As Aizawa and Mic told their thoughts on what had just happened, Izuku looked over his former opponent. Both his right arm and left leg were shattered, with his leg flopped at an unnatural angle and the arm looking only a little better than Izuku's after the Nomu crushed it.

“Please stand aside, young man,” a voice said next to him.

“Oh, yeah. Sorry.”

With but a simple kiss on the cheek, Shinso's arm and leg began reforming into a more natural, healthy shape. He was surprised, but also thankful there was no sound of bones popping back into place. As the treatment finished, the boy's breath steadied and he fell into what was assumedly a comfortable sleep. A stretcher was brought out shortly, and Izuku watched them carry him away toward the infirmary. He also noticed one more thing: a suited skeleton watching from around a nearby corner.

“Hey, they don't need me out there for the announcement of the winner, right?”

“No, I think it will be fine. You run along for now, dear.”

“Thanks.”

With that, Izuku walked over to where the thin man stood, still staring down the hall toward where the medics had gone.

“So, I take it I just met your protege?”

All Might whirled around, then sighed in relief.

“Indeed you did. I warned him about using One for All so soon, but it seems you put him in a corner.”

“I think I more got under his skin. Speaking of which, gonna have to apologize to Ojiro for doubting him. His advice won me this fight.”

“And while I am happy for you, I also feel I must ask. Couldn't you have given Shinso this one thing?”

“What do you mean?” Izuku replied angrily. He had to fight for every step of his way here, why should the boy who coasted get special treatment?

All Might put a gentle hand on Izuku's shoulder. And despite everything, his anger quickly fled. He could never stay mad at his idol.

“I mean that you've already proven yourself. I hoped young Shinso would get his turn.”

It finally dawned on him what All Might meant. But wait...

“Proven myself?”

“Young Midoriya, you're in the finals of the UA sports festival without a quirk. And you've shown yourself to be a top contender at that! Do you have any idea how few people can say they've done as well as you in their first showing? Do you know how much more incredible it is that you did so quirkless?”

“But I....”

But he what? He didn't even know how to continue his objection. He'd been so focused on showing everyone up, he'd pushed them all aside. And that had only doubled once Monoma found his secret.

“Okay, that's fair I guess. And you wanted Shinso to be able to show off his skill so he could make the hero course, I assume?”

“Of course! He can't very well follow his dream from general studies! He can't even properly train his quirk there!”

“But that would force one of the other hero students out to make room.”

“Who told you that malarkey?”

“Uh...Shinso.”

“Damn, that boy's even more broken down than I thought,” All Might said sadly, looking once more toward where his successor had been taken. “I think you should talk to him. You're smarter about these things than me, I'll admit. Besides, I still want you to help the boy. He could use someone else like him, especially right now.”

“What do you mean, like him?”

“An outcast.”

Izuku coughed nervously as he approached his classmates in their booth of the stands. Several students turned to look at him, including the one he wanted the attention of. He took a deep breath to steady himself, approaching Ojiro admittedly stiffly. As he neared the boy, he bent sharply forward to bow in apology.

“I'm sorry, Ojiro, for doubting you. I was so lost in my head that-”

“Midoriya, please,” the boy interrupted, waving him off with a smile. “It's fine, Ichi explained the situation to us already.”

“He what?” Izuku turned to look at his best friend, who in turn just gave him a smile and a thumbs-up. Next to him was Kacchan, casually leaning back with his arms behind his head. The boy was watching the little show, but showed no real interest.

“He didn't go into details for your sake, but he told us that you've been bullied a lot for your lack of a quirk.”

“I wish we'd met sooner,” Kirishima piped up. “I'd have whupped those guys' asses for doubting you! You are all that is man!”

“Were things different, you might not have felt the need to build walls like you have,” Tokoyami offered. “But we can rectify the problems now. Better late than never.”

“So now we're gonna help you melt those walls!” Ashido added with a small spritz in his direction for effect. Izuku couldn't help but laugh a little at her antics. He also had to fight the tears he felt forming in his eyes.

“Thanks, you guys,” He said shakily. “For everything.”

“Come on and sit down now, crybaby,” Sutore teased, patting the seat in front of him. It was only then that Izuku realized all his friends were surrounding the empty chair, Tokoyami on its right, Jiro on the left, Kacchan behind her, Sutore next to him behind Izuku, and Tsu next to Sutore. He wiped his face and sat down as everyone looked back out toward the stage.

“Thanks for waiting!” Present Mic yelled. “Next up is...these guys!”

Down on the stage, Todoroki and Sero took their places. Sero stretched his arms a bit, while Todoroki stood stock still, seeming to stare daggers at his classmate. Izuku figured that wasn't a good sign.

“He's good! He's good, but what's with that plainness he just can't get rid of? From the hero course, it's Hanta Sero!”

Wow, Izuku intoned. Way to talk up the competitors, Mic.

“VERSUS! Taking second, then first in the prelims, you're way too strong, kid! He wasn't recommended for admission for nothing! Also from the hero course, it's Shoto Todoroki!”

Izuku rolled his eyes at the blatant favoritism. Sure, Sero was going to lose this without a doubt, but come on. They could at least pretend they thought he was worthwhile.

“And now, for the second match of the finals, READY? START!”

Immediately, Sero launched his tape, wrapping around Todoroki's torso. Then, cutting off one of the strands, he yanked his opponent sideways toward the boundary line.

“A surprise attack aimed to push his opponent out of bounds! Don't you think that was the best choice for this situation? Seriously, get him, Sero!”

Present Mic had barely finished his sentence when the ice started to form. A second later, half of the arena was frozen by a towering wave of frost, and recovering from the magnitude three earthquake it had caused. It took so much room, the ice actually covered over Izuku and his classmates' viewing area and reached all the way out of the building. And for the first time, the stadium stood silent.

Todoroki was making a show of power.

Izuku hopped out of his seat, leaping to the next window so he could see what was still going on. With a casual flex, Todoroki broke the now frozen tape around his torso, standing upright. Sero was covered in ice from his feet to every extremity, and covering most of his chest. He was a popsicle now. From her small stage near the arena, Midnight stood half-frozen herself.

“Sero, can you move?” her voice came through the speakers. Though the ones around Izuku's class were definitely broken now, as the audio was heavily muffled by ice and he was pretty sure the movement had just broken the diaphram.

He couldn't make out Sero's response from where he was, but Midnight quickly followed, saying “Sero is immobilized! Todoroki advances to the second round!”

Slowly, Todoroki made his way to the frozen boy, laying his left hand on his chest. Heavy steam began to rise, and with it, the ice melted. Despite the victory, Izuku couldn't help but note the solemn, almost sad look on the boy's face. Something was very wrong.

Chapter Text

As Izuku took his seat to watch the match of Kaminari versus Shiozaki, a voice called out over the nearby wall.

“Hey, 1-A!”

The class looked over to see the orange-haired girl who gave up her spot to Tetsutetsu's team hanging half over the wall to look at them.

“Have any of you guys seen Monoma? Nobody over here has been able to find him since lunch break.”

“No, and I really don't want to,” Izuku replied coldly.

“Well, hitting him for his stupid behavior is why I wanted to find him in the first place, if that helps.”

“Well, he's not here, so sorry.”

“Thanks anyway,” she finished as she hopped down from the wall.

“He was the one spreading the rumor, right kerro?” Tsu asked, a finger going to her chin.

“That would be the one,” Izuku replied flatly.

“That's super un-manly,” Kirishima added. “Seriously, I thought we'd moved past quirk discrimination!”

“Given how everyone tells me how great mine is, no,” Kacchan noted. “And I heard some people saying Shinso's quirk was inherently villainous.”

“I'm fucking sorry?” Izuku asked, whirling around. “Inherently villainous?”

“Well sure,” Sato interjected. “Think about it: he could perv on girls as much as he wanted without anyone knowing. He could steal things by being handed them. He could do any number of crazy things and be nearly impossible to catch!”

“You say that as though similar couldn't be said of literally every quirked person.”

“What? How am I gonna perv with my muscles?”

“Eat a packet of sugar, climb a tree, and hang upside down with a camera. Or you could do what some men did before quirks and abuse your strength to take advantage of women.”

“Do you really think I'd do something like that?”

“No, actually. But my point stands. Literally every quirk can be used equally for good or evil. The only difference between a villain and a hero is their choices of what to do with their power.

Look at All Might and tell me he wouldn't make for the most dangerous supervillain we've ever seen. Look at Shiguraki and tell me his quirk wouldn't be amazing to help during an earthquake. Even I could be a major threat if I were on the other side.”

Several looks were shared as he finished, a few seeming more than slightly worried.

“But I'm not. That's the point I'm making.”

With that, he turned to look back at the battle, only to see that Kaminari was already tied up in vines that were sprouted from the ground. And based on the dumb look he had, the guy had blown every ounce of electricity trying to shock his already grounded opponent. But at least he knew her quirk now.

“Wait, what?” Kirishima whined. “I didn't even get to see the fight!”

“I think calling it a fight might be a bit generous, honestly,” Izuku mused. “Kaminari was in way over his head.”

“Well, in that case,” Jiro chuckled as she stood. “I guess that means I'm up.”

“Good luck,” Izuku offered with a smile.

As she made her way toward the stairs behind the seats, Izuku turned to look at the screen. He honestly couldn't even remember who she was supposed to be fighting, he'd been too focused on his own match. He sucked in a breath when he saw it was Iida.

“Something wrong, Midoriya?” Tsu asked.

“I hate to say it, but I don't like her odds. Without support gear, she has no real ranged options, and extending her lobes to stab at her opponent risks a lot of counterplay. If this stage had obstacles she could strategize with, it would be different, but as is, Iida has a clear advantage with his speed.”

“Kerro, you really assessed their quirk matchup fast.”

“Force of habit, really. I kind of do it with everyone. I've actually made notes and assessments on everyone's quirk in class.”

“Even me?” she asked, her finger coming up again in thought.

“Yup, I can show you them sometime if you want. Though I'll be honest, your notes are mostly questions of the limitations for your quirk.”

“I'd like that,” she finished with a smile just as the speakers came to life again with Present Mic's yelling.

“Now, it's time for the fourth match! We're just gonna keep rolling right along! Rush headlong toward the top!”

Izuku chuckled slightly at the over-the-top intro as he rolled his eyes. But at least the crowd was eating it up. Though now that he thought about it, they seemed to get hyped up for anything that happened.

“He's like the epitome of the middle of the pack! From the hero course, it's Tenya Iida!”

And the insults just kept coming out of that booth, huh?

“VERSUS! She's been coasting along without much fanfare, huh? Also from the hero course, it's Kyoka Jiro!”

It didn't take a far-seeing quirk to tell that Jiro was mad about her insulting introduction. The voice hero was definitely going to get an earful later.

“It's time for the fourth match! START!”

Just as Izuku expected, Iida started the match by running directly at his opponent. And with his speed, he closed the distance before Jiro had much time to do anything at all. The surprise came when she simply turned aside and held out a foot, managing to trip Iida up as he stumbled and nearly fell. He managed to catch himself, but the fact that he was thwarted by such a simple maneuver didn't exactly look good for him.

As he turned to try and face his opponent once more, Iida was met with a headphone jack nearly stabbing him in the face. Once more, he was able to handle the threat, but only barely. He was forced to limbo backward, catching himself on one arm. It looked like Jiro's next move was going to be to attack that arm, but with a quick boost from his engines, Iida pushed himself to the edge of the ring and out of Jiro's reach. Both opponents stood up again properly, eyeing the other as they prepared their next attempt.

It didn't take long for Izuku to piece together Jiro's strategy: let him come to her, and try to force a mistake she could take advantage of. If he was being honest, it wasn't a half-bad idea. Very risky, but it also had potential. Especially with Iida's close-minded honorable style. However, there was the downside that her opponent was going to figure out her tricks eventually, and relying on them like she was would leave her wide open.

Once more, Iida ran for his opponent. This time, however, she returned the motion. This threw him off a bit, but he quickly recovered and continued charging. He slid to a stop before Jiro, throwing a punch that used his momentum to increase its power. Unfortunately, that also meant he was committed to going forward. This worked entirely against him as Jiro slid to the side, grabbing Iida's non-punching hand and attempted to swing him around.

And if she'd had a better grounding or more strength, it might have worked. As it was, though, Iida was thrown off balance and forced toward the edge boundary, but he also had enough time to force himself low and grab Jiro with the arm she'd tried to use against him. With a quick side roll, the boy managed to pull her over top of himself, where she landed with her lower half out of the ring.

“Jiro is out of bounds! Iida carries on to round two!”

Both competitors stood and dusted themselves off before returning to the ring to give their opponent an honorable bow. Despite her loss, Jiro looked rather composed on stage. Iida too seemed to be handling the situation well despite his rough start. Izuku respected that.

The next round went much as Izuku could have guessed. While he respected Aoyama's quirk, the boy really had no tact. He simply sat and shot his laser in the most awkward pose, hoping to either wear out his opponent or get a lucky hit. With Ashido's ability to slide around on her slime, the match only had one possible outcome.

He figured he should probably give the boy some notes later about better strategies with his quirk.

The next match was also easy to predict, but he felt bad for Yaoyorozu. The poor girl was a born strategist, but she took too long to come up with her plan of attack, and couldn't handle well in the heat of the moment. So, while she put up a valiant effort and never took a single blow, Dark Shadow's incessant pace of attack kept her from coming up with much. She was so overwhelmed and so focused on blocking, she didn't realize she was being pushed toward her defeat until it was too late.

The fight of Kirishima against Tetsutetsu was honestly a boring one. It seemed that in a fight, both of them were meatheads, simply face-tanking any and all blows while hitting as hard as they could in return. Essentially, they were treating the fight as though they were barbarians in a game of Pathfinder. Hell, neither party even attempted to grab, trip, or block the other. He was actually relieved when Ojiro turned to get his attention.

“So, Midoriya, you said you did analysis on all of us?”

“Yeah. I kind of do it naturally at this point, but I also figured it would come in handy for fighting you guys or helping you if it ever came up.”

“Well then what's your advice for dealing with Bakugo?”

Izuku turned to look at the blonde, who cocked an eyebrow in response.

“Sorry, but I'm not wanting to play favorites. I could tell you ways to deal with him, but then I'd have to do the same for Sutore, and I don't think we want to get into that feedback loop of strategies.”

“Okay, then how about...Asui?”

“Kerro?”

Izuku looked over his shoulder at the frog-girl, who seemed to have some piqued interest in his opinion. He felt himself smile without meaning to, before he turned back to Ojiro. Already, he could feel his face a little warmer.

“Well, she's a difficult one to pin down, really,” he began with a cough. “And I mean that both literally and figuratively. Starting with the obvious, she can hop around and avoid me while using her tongue to maximum effectiveness at range. And while I have my cables, I'm pretty sure a prehensile whip has more utility than my tools. Plus, if she were to grab one, I'm forced to either strongarm her in the hopes of getting an advantage, or sever the cable and lose out on not only an offensive tool, but a useful blocking tool. But I think I can mitigate her advantages with my smoke bombs. Then there's the factor of her quirk understanding.”

“What do you mean her 'quirk understanding'?”

“Here we go again,” Sutore sighed.

“It's something I've noticed with many quirked people. So it's not just you, Tsu.”

“What isn't just me?”

“I don't think you've realized just how many abilities your quirk has.”

“What do you mean?” Ojiro asked incredulously. “I'm pretty sure she knows her quirk. I mean, she's had it all her life.”

“Doesn't stop a lot of people from underestimating their quirk's potential. You know how some people have quirk awakenings later in life? It's because they never thought about the ramifications of what their quirk could actually do.”

“So you think my quirk can do more than I already know about?” Tsu asked, genuinely interested.

“Yeah. I mean, think about it. You have a frog mutation quirk, right? Well, what kind of frog? Or maybe you have several species of frogs' abilities? I don't know, personally. And by the way, this is pretty much getting into the questions I mentioned earlier about your quirk for my analysis.”

“But wouldn't you think most people would ask these kinds of questions already?”

“My mom didn't,” Izuku shrugged. “She used to think she could only pull objects toward herself, and I asked if she could push them too. She realized she'd never tried, and after some work, now she can freely move small objects all around. She essentially has low-level telekinesis.”

Before the conversation could continue further, Present Mic called the fight between Kirishima and Tetsutetsu a draw. Both boys had knocked each other out because they had assumed they could take more blows than the other. This was despite knowing their quirks were effectively identical.

“Welp, looks like that's our queue,” Sutore said as he stood up.

“Yeah, let's do this,” Kacchan replied confidently.

As the stretcher bots finished carrying away the hard-headed teens, Present Mic began announcing the upcoming match.

“The eighth and last match of the first round!”

As Kacchan stepped out onto the field, he waved to the audience with a wide smile.

“He was kind of famous in middle school, and his prediction to start us off is looking pretty good! From the hero course, it's Katsuki Bakugo!”

Sutore leapt to his side of the arena using his quirk before shaking out his nerves.

“VERSUS! He's been kind of a background character this whole time, huh? Also from the hero course, it's Sutore Ichi!”

Both boys flashed the other a confident look as they dropped to ready positions.

“Eighth match, START!”

No sooner had the last word left Present Mic's mouth than Sutore launched himself at his opponent. Kacchan had barely enough time to react, slamming his arm to the ground with an accompanying blast. The resulting smokescreen hid the two from view for a second, but when it cleared, Kacchan was picking himself up off his back, now much closer to the boundary line than Izuku was sure anyone would be comfortable with.

“Wait, what?” Present Mic asked over the speakers. “How did Bakugo get on his back when Ichi got hit by the blast?”

“He didn't,” Aizawa corrected with a sigh. “He used his quirk to bounce himself at the last second and avoid Bakugo's counterattack. He followed up with a kick while his opponent was open.”

Sutore rushed his opponent once more, but Kacchan countered with a lunge of his own. He leapt forward, just to Sutore's side, and capitalized on his lack of options for aerial maneuvering by creating a blast just next to the taller boy's torso. Once more, the field was obscured by smoke, but Sutore was launched to the corner of the arena, only barely managing to catch himself in time. Several quick blasts could be heard as Kacchan came rocketing out of the smoke, his arm raised and ready to strike. With little option otherwise, Sutore launched himself at his opponent before expanding his belly midair in a desperate attempt to attack. Fortunately, Kacchan hadn't realized that was an option, and though Sutore was still hit by the blast from his opponent's attack, it also sent Kacchan into the air, flipping wildly.

“These two heroes in training are really going at it! These are some crazy moves they're pulling, and we're only in round one!”

Sutore crashed to earth with a heavy thud, and Kacchan barely managed to right himself in time, tumbling to a stop halfway across the battlefield from his opponent. As both boys painfully got to their feet, the crowd roared with applause. Sutore wiped the blood from his mouth, then tore away his already seriously damaged jacket.

His mom was going to be upset about this....

With a yell from both combatants, they rushed headlong toward each other once more. Kacchan's low swipe was met by Sutore's expanded arm and leg, absorbing some of the force from the blow. He did, however, use the remainder to carry himself into a spinning hammerfist to Kacchan's left arm. The blonde reeled from the blow, but countered quickly. He grabbed Sutore's arm before he could fully retract it, then used his quirk to blast himself forward sharply. With the force of him yanking the taller boy's arm, combined with lowering himself to pivot the weight, Sutore was sent spiraling over Kacchan's back, landing prone on his stomach.

Sutore tried to get up once more, but he only made it halfway. As he got his first leg planted, Kacchan's boot struck the side of his face. He sprawled into the dirt once more, struggling to move. Midnight made her way onto the field as Sutore pulled himself up to all fours, only to collapse from exhaustion.

“Ichi is unable to continue! Bakugo moves on to round two!”

Izuku sighed as the crowd cheered. He'd been fifty-fifty on how the fight would go, but Sutore had simply pushed himself too far and gotten greedy. In the end, he fell because he expected to be able to take more blows than he really could. Izuku stood from his seat, waving to his classmates as he went.

His next match was coming up after the short break.

On his way through the hallways, he was stopped by Kacchan.

“Hey, can we talk a sec?”

“Sure,” Izuku replied, a little confused. “What's up?”

“You've changed, you know.”

“Thanks.”

“It wasn't a compliment.”

“What?”

“The old Izuku didn't snark people just for kicks. He didn't push people away because he was afraid of what might happen. And most importantly, he didn't spill details that hurt his friends.”

“What do you-” Izuku began, but he knew exactly what the boy meant. Without even thinking, he'd told their entire group about the worst mistake of Kacchan's life. One he probably wanted to be kept secret.

A secret much like his own.

And just like his own secret, some douchenozzle had blabbed about it without a second thought.

“I didn't know you felt that way about it.”

“Of course I do. I lost my best friend that day, and a lot more after it. I wanted to forget it ever happened, but now the whole group knows. Now, I don't know that they'll ever trust me again.”

Izuku's head dropped, and he nodded silently.

“I fucked up. I'm sorry.”

“I just wanted you to know. That wasn't your secret to tell.”

“I know it wasn't. There's a lot going on right now, and it's hit me hard. But that doesn't excuse what I did. And I'm going to make it right. I promise.”

Kacchan sighed, placing a hand on Izuku's shoulder as he passed.

“Don't worry too much about it. We just have to do better in the future, right?”

“Y-yeah....”

Izuku watched his friend walk away solemnly. He looked forward down the hall, then back to Kacchan, thinking.

Maybe he could start doing better by helping someone else right now....

Chapter Text

Izuku steadied his breath as he stared at his opponent. The crowd cheered around him as he considered his approach to the situation. His thumb hovered over the ring on his right index finger, but he decided against it. A tether would be more hindrance than help. His fingers twitched nervously as he considered the few options he had. He knew he had to make this round last long enough to talk to Todoroki, but how? There were few options. He shook out his shoulders as he settled on his first step. Hopefully it would keep him in the fight long enough to actually get some words in. Of course, he could just start talking now....

“It's time for the first match of the second round,” Present Mic yelled over the speakers. “Both of these students have shown top class performances here today! Midoriya! Versus! Todoroki!”

The crowd roared, cheering both competitors on. Izuku was almost surprised that neither he nor his opponent seemed to even pay any attention.

“Hey Todoroki,” he called over. “I wanted to say some things if you don't mind.”

“It's like two great rivals fighting against each other!” Present Mic continued, heedless of the conversation on the field.

“Now, START!”

The instant the last word began to leave Mic's mouth, a wall of ice rocketed toward Izuku. He smiled as he leapt to the side, realizing his assessment had held true. With a roll, he stood back up, clear of the oppressive force that had been hurtled at him. It was nice to know his gamble had worked out.

“I want you to fight me with everything you have!” Izuku yelled as he dodged another wall. Figuring the next attack would prevent his maneuver a third time, Izuku opted to leap onto the ice left by Todoroki's first attack.

“You say that like I'm holding back,” Todoroki replied in his usual, almost bored tone. He loosed yet another wave, but Izuku didn't really need to dodge this time since it covered the whole field in ice below him. He'd barely avoided getting a leg stuck, but such was life.

“Well, to be fair, you are. You're only using half your quirk.”

Todoroki flashed him an angry glare as he jumped onto his ice field, charging his opponent. Izuku recognized the danger approaching, and whipped out a cable from his right arm, sticking it to the surface beneath him. Then he leaned back and allowed his feet to slide as he yanked his arm up, pulling himself forward and into his opponent's shins, tripping the boy. With a quick release of his hand on the cable, his tether point decoupled, and he continued to slide to the cleared spot Todoroki had started in. Izuku retracted his cable as he stood up, then dusted himself off. Todoroki, meanwhile, was just staring back as he struggled to stay standing on his new, exceptionally slippery footing.

“I already told you, I'm not going to use my father's quirk!” He shouted.

“And I'm telling you that it's no more your dad's quirk than it is mine! Stop limiting your potential over your damn pride! It's going to get someone killed someday!”

For a few seconds, Todoroki froze. He stared at Izuku blankly, clearly processing what had been said. Just as he shook it off and was about to continue the bout, the end was called.

“Midoriya has stepped out of bounds! Todoroki moves on to the finals!”

“Midoriya stepped out of bounds?! What kind of end to the match is that?”

A mass of jeers came from the crowd as they realized Izuku had placed his right foot out of bounds. With a snarky smile and a quick salute, Izuku stepped off the field fully, making his way toward the exit.

“Aren't you going to stay to congratulate your opponent?” Midnight called to him, sounding a little hurt.

“Nah, I've got more important things to do. Sorry. Hey Todoroki! Think about what I said, man! Use your flames too! And don't feel cheated, you were going to win anyway!”

Many boos followed him off the field, but Izuku didn't care. He really did have a more important matter to attend to.

One that he hoped he still had time to catch. Izuku quickly made his way over to the infirmary, knocking politely before opening the door.

“Mister Midoriya,” Recovery girl mused as he entered. “What are you doing here?”

“I wanted to talk to Shinso.”

“He's just over there,” she replied, pointing to the end bed on the right. “He should wake up any minute now.”

“Great. Mind if we keep this private, though? I promise to make it quick.”

“Very well,” the hero sighed. “I can't believe I'm being kicked out of my own medical facility.”

“I'm really sorry,” Izuku offered with a bow. She simply waved him off and walked into the hall, closing the door behind her.

“So,” a voice said pointedly. “You came to gloat?”

Izuku stepped closer, pulling the curtain away to see a very awake Shinso glaring at him.

“No. I came to offer some help.”

“And what kind of help do you think you can give me?” Shinso scoffed as he sat up.

“I can try to help you hone All Might's quirk.”

“How do you...?”

“Truth is, he offered it to me a while back. I told him no because I wanted to make it on my own. I want to inspire more people to be great heroes, like he inspired me. And I want to show that powerful quirks aren't what makes great heroes. The drive to help others is.”

“So I was just the backup? I'm not even special in receiving his gift?”

“No, you're definitely special. Just because you weren't the first person he asked doesn't mean you weren't the best pick for it. Remember that.”

“Okay, but how are you going to help me master One For All? You don't even have a quirk.”

“True, but I study them all the time. I can analyze you, and maybe come up with strategic ways to use the quirk, or maybe work around your current limitations with it. I'm kind of good at that.”

“Well what use is it? I'm never going to make it into the hero course now, anyway.”

“I wouldn't say that. Sure, you didn't make it far in the tournament, but you made it to the tournament. The finals. You showed you're at least in the top tenth percentile of students in our grade. You beat out most of the hero course students today. That counts for something.”

“And what does any of that matter? Nobody's going to ever see me as a hero. Everyone always talks about all the underhanded, perverse, and villainous things I could do with my quirk. Most people are too afraid of me using it on them to even talk to me.”

“Well I'm not.”

“And why not?” Shinso asked pointedly, turning slightly to look at him.

“Because-”

Izuku felt his body lock up, standing idle despite his continued attempts to speak. He felt like he was in a deep fog, barely able to make out anything going on around him. So this was what the brainwashing was like. He'd definitely have to write notes later for reference.

But as suddenly as it happened, the effect was gone, and Shinso turned back to face the window.

“Because you're not that type of person,” Izuku finished, holding firm. “There's no such thing as a villainous quirk, just villainous people. All Might could be the greatest villain our world has ever known, or Stain could make for an amazing hero. The only difference between a powerful hero and a powerful villain is the character of the person. Never the quirk.”

“And you're not just saying that because you lack one?”

“Absolutely not.”

Izuku lost his bodily control again, and could only watch as Shinso stood from his bed, turned, and walked in front of him. Part of him worried what would happen next, but his tactical mind told him this might just be a test. A way to see if he really meant what he'd said.

“So you think the power that holds you right now could be used to help people?”

The quirk continued to hold as Shinso looked Izuku over, almost as though he were appraising him.

“Well, I guess if you can do it, then anyone can have a chance.”

Suddenly, Izuku could control himself again.

“Please stop that so we can talk properly. Also, not just anyone can be a hero. But everyone....”

He was alone. Shinso had left while he was stuck in the mind controlled state. He sighed as Recovery Girl made her way back in.

“You know, whatever you two talked about in here really helped him. He looked like he had a purpose with the way he walked. You must be a good friend.”

“...I hope so.”

Chapter Text

As Izuku made his way through the halls back toward his classmates, he was stopped by a small, squeaking voice.

“Mister Midoriya! Can I trouble you for a few minutes?”

He turned to look at the newcomer, and was surprised to find a small, furry creature standing less than three feet tall. His white fur around his rodent-like face was scarred deeply over his right eye, and the small, rounded ears made it hard to tell exactly what animal he was supposed to be. His almost weasel-like tail didn't clear up any confusion, either. But the creature carried himself well, with a beaming smile on his face, and a friendly chirp to his voice at all times. The suit he wore was formal, but kept him approachable due to the lack of its jacket. The soft leather boots on his feet barely made a sound as he approached the boy, one hand raised in a wave.

“Principal Nezu? Uh, yeah. Sure. What do you need?”

Izuku had always been nervous about meeting the principal. He was well aware the hero had an intelligence quirk, which made him nervous about the creature paying too close attention to him. The principal wanting to have a conversation with him immediately dried his mouth and wet his palms with nervousness.

“I was hoping to talk to you privately. Well, you and your mother. She should be arriving shortly.”

His mom was being called in? Was he going to be punished for something? Moved down in the classes? Expelled? He tried desperately to keep his breathing under control, simply nodding and following the small rodent as he turned and started walking back toward where he'd come from.

“Now I'm sure you have many many questions right now. And I can tell you're nervous about what's happening.”

Izuku's breath caught in his throat.

“But I assure you, there is nothing to worry about. In fact, I think you'll be quite happy we had this conversation by the time we're done.”

Well that was certainly...an interesting claim. Izuku let out his breath nervously, but felt his nerves calm slightly.

“Okay, so what's this actually about?”

“Please, step inside and I can explain,” the rodent replied as he opened a door on their right. Izuku looked to the principal, then to the room. He then stepped in, figuring he didn't have a lot of choice in the matter. As he sat at the couch provided, Nezu stepped in and closed the door, locking it before turning with another bright smile.

“Now, I'm sure you have several questions, and we can get to them all in due time.”

He made his way over to an adjacent chair, crawling up into the seat awkwardly. He continued after managing to get to a sitting position, though Izuku had to admit the creature looked like a toddler in his chair, which made him a little harder to take seriously.

“However, I would like to only answer your questions once. Save everyone the headache, you see. Tea?”

It took Izuku a moment to realize there actually was a pot of ready-made tea on the table. This had been planned. He chuckled slightly.

“I see you planned this little meeting. Alright, so I have one question that is probably going to be a repeat, but I want to know: am I being expelled?”

“Heavens, no!” the rodent laughed. “I had you figured as a cynic, but my you're really distrustful.”

“Blame it on experience. But yeah, I know I need to chill out. It's been getting worse lately.”

“We can talk about all that later, as I'm sure your mother has similar concerns. For now, I wanted to get us on the same page. You're not in trouble, none of the staff think any less of you for your quirklessness, and young Mister Monoma is currently being disciplined for what he said. Things that I can assure you he said without thinking.”

“Is that why 1-B hasn't seen him since the recreational games?”

“Correct,” the rodent chirped.

Just as Izuku was about to follow up his question, there was a knock at the door.

“Missus Midoriya is here,” came a muffled voice from the other side.

“Oh, fantastic. She's ahead of schedule.”

“I'll get the door,” Izuku offered, standing.

“Thank you young man. It's honestly a little bit of a hassle to get in and out of these chairs.”

“I noticed,” he chuckled.

Izuku took a deep breath as he unlocked the door, only to have it shoved open, nearly knocking him over.

“HOW DARE YOU!” his mom practically screamed, stomping into the room.

“Hi Mom, great to see you,” Izuku replied sarcastically as he pushed the door closed again and locked it. “Glad to see you're so calm today.”

“Young man, do not mock me right now! And you!” she turned, pointing an accusatory finger at Nezu. “Your staff announced to the world information you had no legal right to access! I have half a mind to pull my son from this-”

“MOM!” Izuku interrupted. “Can we sit down and talk about this rationally?”

“How can you be so calm right now?” she yelled. “All those years of keeping your secret safe, and now it's out in the open for the entire world!”

“Yeah, it is,” Izuku sighed. “But I think there's a good reason for that.”

“Honey, please,” Inko pled. “Don't tell me they talked you out of your dream. You're so close!”

Izuku could see the tears forming in his mother's eyes. He shook his head and gave her a tight hug.

“Not even close. Don't worry, Mom.”

“Missus Midoriya, if you would take a seat, I'd be happy to clear everything up. I was just discussing with your son why I wanted you both here today.”

“So why didn't you just call me down here?” she asked as she cautiously sat on the couch.

“He did,” Izuku replied, suddenly realizing. “That's why Midnight announced me as quirkless.”

“Correct, young man. I do admit it was a little more underhanded than I usually like, but once it was clear the cat was out of the bag, I thought it best to get out ahead of the rumor mill. If we openly announce not only our knowledge, but our support of you being the world's first quirkless hero, that should shut down much of the dissent from onlookers. After all, who's going to question the endorsement of pros? Moreover, you showed plenty well today that you can stand on your own. There will always be those who refuse to accept you, but trust me when I say that a little faith can lead to great things.”

“And what would a pro hero know about not being accepted?” Inko spat.

Izuku sighed. He loved his mom, but she could be a bit dense at times.

“Mom, look at him. He's a...stoat, I want to say?” The question was met with a simple shrug from the creature. “Either way, he's an animal with a quirk. He's seen the worst of humanity and how they treat those who are different. Experimentation, abuse, and distrust were the norm in his early days.”

“It seems you've done your research.”

“He always does,” Inko mused. “Alright, so how are you going to protect my son from the kind of treatment he got back in elementary school?”

“Which reminds me, how did you figure out I was quirkless in the first place?”

“Ah, yes. That,” the stoat mused. “Your record should be over there on the desk.”

Inko leapt to her feet, quickly making her way to the desk indicated. She rapidly flipped open the folder, looking it over frantically.

“It's the version without redactions, isn't it?” Izuku asked, his head in his hands.

“Yeah, but...how?”

“We work directly with the police all the time, ma'am. Requesting unedited records was a simple task.”

“So you all knew the whole time.”

“Indeed.”

“So that's why you let me request so many support items?” Izuku asked.

“No, but I must say you're the first student to ask for so many. Though I must say, I recognized your future-proofing skills immediately. You wanted items that would be useful in nearly every situation, but not weigh you down with their bulk so you could stay mobile. You wanted a tool to give you not only an offensive option, but something that could be stowed away. You wanted a multitool that would allow you to keep up with your peers, but also be a viable weapon if need be. You even threw in defense to its capabilities. I know why you wanted those shape charges, and it took some personal reassurance of the support department to get those made for you. I also know about your 'malfunction' in the needles, which I will have to request you remove. Not only are they needlessly dangerous, but anything you could have wanted them for can be done with other tools in your arsenal.”

“Damn, thought I'd gotten away with that.”

“You did not.”

“Language.”

“Sorry, Mom,” Izuku apologized before turning back to Nezu. “Can I just re-design them? I still want the extra utility of a ranged tool. In fact, I think I know what I can do with them.”

“Hmm,” the stoat mused, rubbing his chin. “Okay! So long as it's for utility, I think that's fine. I just can't have you using anything blatantly lethal. If you want something like that, you'll have to wait until you graduate. I have to consider the public optics, after all.”

“Of course.”

Well that meant guns were a definite no. But it's not like he was surprised.

“And getting back to your question, Missus Midoriya, I genuinely don't think there will be any requirement of special instruction. However, if any other students ever harass you for your lack of quirk, young man, you let a teacher know immediately. I assure you it will be handled within the hour. We do not tolerate quirk discrimination of any kind.”

“Not a big surprise, considering,” Izuku chuckled, motioning to the creature. “No offense, of course.”

“None taken, and yes. I suppose it would be expected that someone like me would find intolerance particularly heinous. But as stated, there should be no reason to worry.”

“How can you be so sure?” Inko asked, her concern less obvious than before.

“Probably because he ran the numbers with his quirk. And I have to admit, it's unlikely anyone's going to try anything. And that becomes a practical impossibility once you factor in my class backing me up, especially Kacchan.”

“And don't forget the faculty. Midnight may have unveiled your quirklessness on my recommendation, but what she said was truly her own words.”

“Okay, okay,” Inko conceded. “I'll trust your judgment. But if anything happens to my son, I'm coming for you.”

“I understand completely,” Nezu replied, putting his hands up.

“So was that what you wanted us here for?” Izuku asked, flopping back into the couch.

“I wanted to put you both at ease, yes. I feel like you've had a bit much stress thus far, and I wanted to clear things up on both ends. Communication goes a long way, after all.”

Izuku thought about all the things he'd done lately. Maybe the stress had been a bit much....

“Yeah, I guess we have. And it's amazing how little talking it's taken to clear up so much. I think this is the first time I've had a moment to just relax since I put in my application....”

“And doesn't it feel nice?”

“It does,” Inko smiled, taking a seat next to her son. She motioned to the tea kettle. “Do you mind if I have some?”

“Please, be my guest.”

As his mom poured out three cups, Izuku reflected. He wondered if he'd completely screwed things up with Kacchan. Screwed up any chances of Sutore and Kacchan becoming friends. Screwed up his own chances of getting a pro to take him on. Even if he had, he resolved to fix it. He'd made it this far, already achieved the impossible. What was repairing a few friendships by comparison? He'd always have more chances to prove himself to the pros, but there was only one chance to help Kacchan. The boy was already on his second chance, he didn't need anyone screwing it up. But how to-

“-zuku?” his mother asked, shaking him slightly. “Your tea is ready.”

“Oh, yeah,” he replied, shaking his head. “Sorry, lost in thought.”

He grabbed the cup, giving thanks as he brought it to his lips. The warmth was welcome, and the calming flavor soothed his nerves. He sighed contentedly, resolving to cross bridges as he got to them. Things were less stressful that way.

“I think you should get back to your friends,” Nezu said calmly. “You could use the relaxation, and some light analysis of the competitors might be a nice distraction right now. Me and your mother will talk a little more here.”

While he wasn't particularly enthusiastic to go back, Izuku also knew it was for the best.

“Mind if I take the cup for now?”

“Of course,” the principal smiled. “Besides, it gives me a reason to check in on you later.”

“Clever,” Izuku replied with a small chuckle. With that he stood and made his way to the door. With a quick bow, he made his way out. The muffled voices on the other side of the door were still quite cordial as he walked away, sipping his tea.

He smiled to himself. Nezu was a good guy, definitely someone he felt a kinship with. And for the first time since arriving at UA, he made his way through the halls with no weight on his spirit.

Chapter Text

“Midoriya!” Jiro shouted as she ran up to him. Sutore wasn't far behind, a look of concern on his face. “Where have you been? The third round already started, and you were nowhere to be seen!”

“...And is that a cup of tea?” Sutore asked, pointing.

“Not normally mine,” Izuku shrugged. “But yeah. And sorry, just got out of a little meeting with Principal Nezu.” He sipped his tea a little.

“What did the principal want to talk to you about?” Jiro asked, the nervousness in her voice clear.

“Me,” he replied casually. “Specifically my desperate need to calm down. I've been kind of an ass lately.”

“I wasn't gonna say anything, but,” Sutore ribbed.

“So you're not in any trouble?”

“Nah, not yet. Might have gotten that way if I had continued the way I was, though. Oh, and I need to change some of my gear.”

“Why?”

“Apparently, throwable heating elements are too dangerous for kids. Who'd'a thought, huh?”

Izuku started walking again as he spoke, motioning for the other two to follow him. Jiro piped up as she fell into Izuku's pace.

“Throwable heating elements?”

“Yeah, my needles. Fun little feature I designed in: they superheat themselves once they hit a target. Or once they are broken in half, apparently.” He held up his left hand for emphasis.

“Wait, why are you having to get rid of it now? Shouldn't that have been denied from the get-go?”

“I mean, yeah. If I'd made it clear that's what they were designed to do, they definitely would have.”

“Izu....”

“Yeah, I know. Not my brightest move, okay? I just figured it would be good to have an option to prevent flash drive use, or start a fire the enemy didn't want, or just burn a dude badly to distract him.”

“Distract him? I'm pretty sure a superheated piece of metal stuck in your skin counts as more than a distraction!”

“And couldn't you just chuck any old thing to break a flash drive? Plus, why would you need to start a fire, ever?”

“I don't know, I just wanted some things I could throw non-lethally!”

“You have throwable tazers!”

“And smoke bombs, I know. Look, I haven't been in the best mindset lately, okay? I'd blame it on getting in the school, but I think it's more than that. And the fear of everyone finding out my secret has been hell.”

“Lucky you don't have that problem anymore, then,” Sutore muttered sarcastically.

Izuku took a big swig of his tea before responding.

“Honestly, kinda yeah. Think about it. Everyone knows, so there's no need to be secretive about it. Sure, I'm gonna have to deal with bullshit tonight, but after that, I'm free. I never have to lie again. I would have definitely preferred another way for this to go, sure, but this is far better than I ever expected.”

As he finished, the group exited to the stands of the arena. He was surprised to see the field below empty as he made his way to his seat. Jiro and Sutore sat flanking him.

The rest of the tournament went fairly predictably, for the most part. Iida's plan to eject Todoroki from the arena backfired on him, as it allowed his opponent to directly freeze him solid. Tokoyami's weakness to light was abused almost instantly by Kacchan, earning a quick victory once Dark Shadow was weakened. However, the final match was where things got interesting.

Though he couldn't hear what they were saying, it seemed that Kacchan was egging Todoroki on the entire match. He even let him have time to think about his next move multiple times. Eventually, though, the frosty personality gave way and Todoroki unleashed his flames. The resulting explosive pressure difference knocked both combatants back, essentially starting round two. Which brought more flames and more excitement to the crowd. However, it wasn't enough to turn the tide in his favor, and with some backburn to weaken the flames' potential followed by a double-palm explosion, Todoroki was sent sailing out of the arena.

During the award ceremony, Izuku was happy to see two of his friends getting proper recognition for their efforts, but he definitely caught a few of the photographers directing their cameras at him instead. He caught himself as his train of thought went to slander pieces, and quickly shook that train of thought away. Even if people wanted to diminish his accomplishments, he knew where he stood. And looking around, he figured that it was among a pretty damn good set of future heroes. And as the last of the top three performers graciously accepted their medals, Izuku cheered right alongside his peers for them. Things were looking pretty good.

Chapter Text

“So what do you think happened with Iida?” Sutore asked as the class headed back to homeroom.

Izuku looked at him, confused, then checked around. It was true: Iida was missing.

“Honestly, must've missed him leaving. Probably family matters.”

It was as Aizawa opened the door to let his class in that Izuku got the notification. As he pulled up his phone, he realized he'd been right in the worst possible way.

“Hero Killer Stain has attacked Ingenium!” the notification read. It was from a group he subscribed to which kept up on all the latest hero news. And this was the freshest piece.

Shit.

“Good job today, everyone,” Aizawa said as though nothing were wrong. “You all put on a great show today. You may talk amongst yourselves for the rest of the final period before going home. Oh, and you get the rest of the week off starting tomorrow. Rest up, recover, and relax. I'll see you all on Monday.”

Without any further ado, the man curled up behind his desk and got into his sleeping bag. The rest of the class, though, turned almost as one to look at Izuku.

“So you're really quirkless?” Iida asked immediately.

Izuku flinched reflexively, but sighed and tried to relax.

“Y-yeah....”

“I'm impressed, it takes a strong will to take on villains like you do without a quirk to fall back on.”

“I was curious why you never directly answered about what your quirk was,” Yaoyorozu added thoughtfully.

“Guys,” Sutore interjected. “Can you take it slow with this, please?”

Izuku pulled himself back enough to speak for a moment.

“No,” he said. “It's fine. There are a lot of questions, and I want to be more open. It's scary, but I have to learn to accept that.”

“If it helps,” Tsu piped in. “I'm pretty sure everyone here is on your side.”

“Yeah, man,” Kaminari added. “I think I can speak for everyone when I say we're just surprised, and want to understand.”

Izuku took a few deep breaths to calm his nerves. He didn't know if he was close to a panic attack, or if he was going to cry from joy.

“I-”

“He was abused and harassed for years about it,” Kacchan interrupted with a hand on Izuku's shoulder. “Talking about it dredges up past trauma, and it's difficult for him. If you want any specifics of what he did to get here, feel free. But if you want an idea of what he's been through, let me, Ichi, Jiro, or Tokoyami tell it. He's still not ready, and this is already a massive weight on him.”

“I'm sorry,” Todoroki offered from his seat. “We'll wait for you to tell us when you're ready.”

There were several murmurs of agreement, and Izuku felt at least a couple people grab his arm supportively. And while he did feel comforted, he couldn't help the feeling of doubt in the back of his mind. A certain fear that this was all a trick, that something was going to go wrong soon. Several conversations started in a low tone that he couldn't focus on, he dared not confirm his fears.

“Hey,” Kacchan said quietly. “You're alright. You look like you're going through what my therapist calls cherophobia.”

“What's that?”

“The fear of being happy. Let me guess, you're waiting for the pin to drop and for things to go wrong again?”

“...Yeah,” Izuku admitted, forcing a chuckle. “Am I crazy or what?”

“You're not crazy. It's a defense mechanism that those who have been through a lot of trauma develop sometimes. You're so used to things going wrong that when they aren't, you're put on edge because you don't know where the next threat is coming from. Because your brain recognizes the pattern and assumes there has to be a threat on the way.”

“So how do I get rid of it?”

“Immersion therapy,” Kacchan said with a smile and a head bob toward the class.

That evening, Izuku sat at his desk, staring at his phone. Fourty-five new texts, sixty notifications on social media, and five missed calls. He shook himself loose, then pressed the screen to open his texts.

Some were pretty much exactly what he'd expected:
-You low down piece of shit, I hope I never see you again
-Is it true? Why didn't you tell me? I thought we were friends?
-Looks like the truth is out, couldn't hold that secret forever, huh?

Others were...far less so:
-I'm sorry you didn't think you could trust me. I'm still here for you, bro. Call me when you can.
-DUDE! You're insane! I always knew you were awesome, but holy crap!
-If you want to talk, I'm here. I hope now of all times, you'll understand that I wanted to help.

It took nearly an hour to go through and respond to everyone who showed support and delete the ones who hated him, but eventually the little blip of new messages stopped. He was about to check his socials when a new message popped up. This one was in English.

-I see you're finally online. Hope today wasn't too overwhelming for you.

It was from a friend of his in America: Technomancer. The guy always hopped on just as Izuku was going to bed. He assumed he'd just woken up.

-Oh, no. Not at all. Just had my secret exposed to the entire world. Nothing too big.

Izuku flopped back in his seat, dreading the next message. Unfortunately, his friend was a fast typer.

-You and I both knew it was going to happen eventually.

-Yeah, I know. And I should be happy that I'm getting the support I am.

-Buuuuut...

-But, I wanted to hold out longer. Really build my image so that nobody could deny that I belong.

-A: quirk elitists will always deny you. So foolish point. B: the longer you went, the more argument there is that you had a reason to hide it, and it damages your reputation more. C: I don't know that there's much better image building than getting to the quarter finals in your first year at UA. Honestly, you could have just coasted on being first in the obstacle course and been fine.

Izuku stared at the message for several long seconds.

-You know I hate it when you're right.

-I do. But it will never stop me. Muahaha. Oh, and you might want to know...

Just as he finished reading the message, a link was attached. He clicked it, and was taken to a news article.

“Local Quirkless Student Cheated to Get In?”

-Oh joy, the hit pieces have begun.

-Thought I'd warn you. Oh, and check paragraph three.

“After some digging, I found several students who claim to have taken the entrance exam with Izuku Midoriya. They did not have positive views of him. Several corroborate that he defaced public property to take a branch into the exam, undermining the spirit of the whole experience. There are even claims that the young man brought in a homemade explosive device! How could-”

Izuku had to stop reading and set his phone down. He just couldn't deal with it. Unfortunately, a new message came up, and he had to pick up the device again to read it.

-You know I'm still with you, right?

-Yeah, I know.

-Good. Look, I gotta get ready for school, but you hang in there. Alright?

-Yeah. You have fun.

-Good night, dude.

With a heavy sigh, Izuku set about going through his other notifications.

Chapter Text

“You all good?” Kacchan asked as Izuku walked into class with his friends.

“Some idiot cursed him out on the train today,” Sutore explained. “Apparently he took the hit pieces too seriously.”

“I'm okay,” Izuku offered. “I guess I just forgot how much people assume about me.”

“Some people,” Tokoyami corrected.

“Yeah, sorry. Some people.”

“Wow,” Ashido interjected. “I mean, I got talked to by a lot of people on the way here, but that was all positive.”

“Me too,” Kirishima added. “No offense, Midoriya. I'm sure you've got plenty of fans, too, though. Right?”

Izuku sighed. “I'm not sure about that. But then again, I'm not going to let it stop me. And things aren't going to get better by lamenting people not liking me.”

“It's okay to be upset,” Kacchan said.

“If it makes you feel any better,” Sero offered. “I had some elementary schoolers suddenly tell me 'don't worry about it.'”

“Don't worry about it,” Tsu joked.

Sero yelled in frustration, much to everyone's amusement. A few more pleasantries were exchanged, but Izuku simply opted to take his seat as the classroom's door opened.

“Morning,” Aizawa said amongst the shuffling of several chairs and feet.

“Good morning,” the class responded as one.

“Kerro, Mr. Aizawa, your bandages are gone,” Tsu noted. “I'm glad.”

“The old lady went overboard with her treatment,” he replied casually.

Izuku saw that the man was definitely exaggerating, considering the bandages poking out from under his sleeves. And he'd seen up close how damaged Eraser Head had gotten. But hey, keeping spirits up is part of a hero's job, after all.

“More importantly, we're having a special hero informatics class today.”

Special informatics? Izuku couldn't help but wonder what they were going to go over. Different quirk abilities? Hero strategies and focuses? Maybe secret identities?

After a long pause, the man finally answered the question lingering in the air, “Code names. You'll be coming up with hero names.”

Much of the class responded immediately, shouting as one, “We're gonna do something exciting!”

Izuku simply smiled and fist bumped Sutore. They had long since done this step, but now it was real. The excitement was quickly stifled by the red glare of Aizawa's eyes, and his hair billowing upward.

“This is related to the pro hero draft picks I mentioned the other day. The drafts begin in earnest in the second and third years, after students have gained experience and can become immediate assets to the pros. In other words, for them to extent offers to first years like you shows that they are interested in your future potential. These offers are often canceled if that interest dies down by graduation.”

It made sense, in a way. Not only did hiring an up-and-coming hero straight out of school boost interest in an agency, but it boosted interest in that hero from those already looking at the agency. It was really a win-win. And if interest in a student died down over time, it was probably because either their peers had shown real promise, or they themselves had shown squandered opportunity. While it wasn't perfect, Izuku couldn't deny the efficacy.

“So we'll have to prove ourselves once we get picked, huh?” Hagakure asked.

“That's right, and here are the totals for those with offers.”

Aizawa turned as he spoke, hitting a button on a remote he picked up from his desk, and a display shone on the blackboard, listing out students' names, and a bar graph showing how many offers they'd received. Naturally, the top two placers in the tournament were also the top two recipients of offers, with both Kacchan and Todoroki receiving a little over four thousand offers. Far behind that were Tokoyami with three hundred sixty, and then Iida and Kaminari with around three hundred offers each. Yaoyorozu got one hundred eight, Kirishima had sixty-eight, Sutore had twenty, Sero had fourteen, and Izuku had...one.

“In other years,” Aizawa explained. “It's been more spread out. But all eyes were on the top two this year.”

“There's such a big difference!” Kaminari complained, throwing his head back.

“Those pros don't know a good thing when they see one!” Aoyama said with a huff. Izuku honestly couldn't tell if that was meant to be sassy or fuming.

“Wait, why did Midoriya only get one offer?” Tsu asked.

Before the answer could be given, Izuku knew.

“He had more, but several withdrew their offers.”

“What, why?” Kirishima asked.

“Because they don't want to be associated with a guy who's reputation is in limbo from hit pieces,” Izuku answered, leaning on one arm. “Honestly? I'm just glad there was someone who was willing to take the risk.”

“I'll see if I can put in a good word for you,” Sutore offered.

“Same here,” added Kacchan.

“Thanks,” Izuku said, waving them off. “But I don't want anyone getting the impression that I got anything I didn't work for. Doesn't go with the image I want to build for myself.”

“Kerro?” Tsu asked with a head tilt. “Thinking ahead, are we?”

“What else is new?” Izuku responded with a wink.

“You're pretty amazing, Todoroki,” Yaoyorozu said, turning to her neighbor. She was probably trying to move the conversation along.

“They're probably all because of my dad,” the boy replied coldly.

“Keeping these results in mind, whether or not anyone asked for you, you will all be participating in internships with pros,” Aizawa continued, quieting the class once more.

Izuku raised an eyebrow at that.

“At USJ, you already got to experience combat with real villains, but it will still be meaningful training for you to see pros at work firsthand.”

“So that explains the hero names,” Sato said, clearly feeling pumped up.

“Things are suddenly getting a lot more fun,” Uraraka added.

“Well, these hero names are still temporary, but if you're not serious about this,” Aizawa said threateningly.

“You'll have hell to pay later!” an enthusiastic Midnight finished as she flung the door open, much to the appreciation of a few male students. “Because a lot of hero names used by students become recognized by society, and they end up becoming professional hero names!”

Izuku still couldn't understand how this woman got away with sexualizing herself to teenagers like she was as she sashayed her way next to Aizawa. To his credit, the man looked just as done with her shit as Izuku felt.

“Well, that's how it is,” he said in monotone, reaching down and grabbing something from under his desk. “And Midnight will be making sure your names are okay; I can't do stuff like that.”

Izuku couldn't shake the feeling there was a story behind that....

“When you give yourself a name, you get a more concrete image of what you want to be like in the future, and you can get closer to it. This is what it means when they say 'Names and natures do often agree.' Like 'All Might' for example.”

Izuku snorted slightly at that, remembering the man's “strategy” for dealing with obstacles: hit them really hard. As the plaques for writing hero names were passed around, Izuku gave a knowing look to Sutore. He was about to put pen to paper when he heard Kacchan's voice.

“Would it be okay if we take suggestions from classmates? I can't really come up with any good ones for myself....”

“That may very well help some of you,” Midnight gleamed. “If anyone would like assistance with coming up with a name, please come up to the front of the class.”

Izuku was surprised by the utter silence as Kacchan made his way to the front, alone. Wow, nobody else wanted help? He couldn't help but feel bad for the guy.

“Why do you want someone else to help?” Kirishima eventually asked.

“I'm pretty sure none of the ideas I could think of would be allowed,” the blonde responded with a shrug and nervous scratch of his neck. “Best I could think of was something like King Explosion Murder or Great Explosion Murder God.”

“Oof,” Kaminari intoned.

“Not great,” Izuku agreed. “Though clever.”

“A bit tacky,” Sutore added.

“Yeah, so I figured I would ask if anyone else had a better idea.”

“Well,” Midnight said with a wave of her arm. “Does anyone else have better suggestions?”

“Boom Boy!” someone immediately shouted, followed by laughter from the rest of the class.

“Maybe Bakuretsu Go?” Sutore offered after some thought. That got a few nods, but was mostly met with neutral shrugs.

“Izuku?” Kacchan then asked. “Do you have any ideas?”

He felt the whole class shift to him as one. “Wow, way to put me on the spot,” he joked. “But I think I have something.”

“Well, let's hear it young man,” Midnight said.

“I know a lot of heroes use english words for their names, so I kind of default to that. But with some careful consideration, I'd say you could be the Armory Hero, 'Bunker Buster.'”

That was met with general approval, though Kacchan's response was definitely the most enthusiastic. With a smile as wide as Izuku had ever seen, he nodded.

“And why do you call him the 'armory hero' Mister Midoriya?” Midnight asked, leaning on the desk.

“Because he obviously designed his costume to provide assistance for others. Those plates of armor could be shields for allies, and it's far easier for a teammate to chuck his grenades than it would be for him. He's basically a walking weapons depot for heroes.”

“I like it, and do you mind if I make an offer in return?” Kacchan asked. “I was thinking while standing here that I know a good hero name for you.”

“Alright,” Izuku mused. “Show me what you got.”

“Well, you see,” Kacchan said, turning to write on the board. “I always used to get confused between the symbol for 'de' and 'zu.'” As he continued, he wrote the symbol for 'de' below Izuku's name. “So playing with your name, we could shift things around and get Dekiru, saying that you can do it. That would make you the quirkless hero, Dekiru.” As he finished, he wrote out the full name, which just hit Izuku that it looked very much like a play on his own name. And with a small laugh, he clapped at that.

“I like it, I really do,” he said honestly. “The quirkless hero who can do anything? I might have gone for it if I didn't already have one picked out.”

Kacchan deflated visibly. Izuku felt bad, because he realized the boy had thought really hard about that name, quite clearly.

“No offense, but I just don't want to put emphasis on my lack of quirk. I want to be seen as a hero who happens to be quirkless, not one in spite of it.”

“That's a very good point, Midoriya,” Midnight said enthusiatically as she laid a hand on Kacchan. “And Bakugo, while he may not have used your suggestion, there's no need to be upset. Just like Ichi shouldn't be mad that you didn't use his suggestion.”

“No offense taken, by the way,” he offered. And with a nod of agreement, Kacchan walked back to his desk.

“Now,” Midnight said with a clap. “Everyone get back to writing your ideas. If you want any suggestions, please feel free to come up. If not, I expect you to not disturb your neighbors.”

A few minutes later, the pro spoke up again.

“Okay, let's start presenting names, beginning with those who are ready.”

Almost immediately, Aoyama stood and took to the front of the class. With some flair, the boy held his sign backwards by its top edge.

“Here goes,” He said with what seemed false confidence. “Shining hero: 'I Can Not Stop Twinkling.'” On the plaque was the phrase he'd used for a name written in English. “Which means you can't stop my sparkles!”

Oof. Izuku had to admit the kid had guts to use an entire sentence as his name. And a goofy ass one at that. Yet again, Aoyama was showing himself to be an idiot.

“It'll be easier to use,” Midnight offered, writing on Aoyama's board. “If you take out the 'I' and shorten to 'can't.'”

She turned the board back to show the results.

“You're right, maemoiselle,” Aoyama replied.

“That's okay?” Several students asked in hushed tones. Izuku was just as surprised. Most people knew to keep code names short to keep comms clear.

“And choose one: English or French!” Sato added.

“I'll go next!” Ashido yelled as she bounced her way to the front of the class. She placed her plaque down with her chosen name written on it. “Hero name, 'Alien Queen!'”

“Two!” Midnight said, incredulous. “Are you trying for the thing with acidic blood? I wouldn't if I were you.”

Izuku didn't hate the name, but had to agree that using a monster title might have been a bad play.

“Dang it,” the pink girl bemoaned as she trudged back to her desk.

“Kerro,” Tsu said with a raise of her hand. “May I go next?”

“Go ahead, Tsu.”

The girl made her way to the front, holding her plaque close, almost tenderly. As she explained herself, she looked at the words almost as though they were a childhood toy.

“I've had this in mind ever since I was in elementary school.”

She turned the plaque to show her results, placing it down confidently as she recited what it read.

“Rainy Season Hero: 'Froppy.'”

Midnight immediately slid in behind her. “That's so cuuute! It seems friendly, I like it!”

As did Izuku. It was original, approachable, and denoted her quirk instantly. The only downside was that it made any opponents easily able to guess her quirk based on the name, but that was probably out in the open unless someone was blind, anyway.

“It's a great example of a name that everyone will love!”

“Froppy, Froppy!” the class began to chant as one. Izuku was more than happy to join in.

Up next was Kirishima, or Sturdy Hero: Red Riot as he'd decided. Izuku appreciated the chivalrous hero was getting recognition still. While the guy wasn't the biggest hero in popularity, he was definitely a good man to build one's self around. As the spiked redhead took his seat, Izuku debated going up with his own plaque. However, Jiro beat him to the punch.

“Hearing Hero: 'Earphone Jack.'” She proclaimed confidently.

“That's good! Next!”

After that, students kept coming up before Izuku had time to stand from the last one. Shoji went with Tentacle Hero: Tentacole. A clever play on words. Sero was Taping Hero: Cellophane. Simple, but not bad. Ojiro was Martial Arts Hero: Tailman. While Izuku didn't really like it, he couldn't deny that it worked for him. Sato was Sweets Hero: Sugarman. Again, Izuku had misgivings about announcing your quirk to everyone. Ashido had changed her mind to Pinky, which Izuku enjoyed because it reminded him of the enemies from Doom. Kaminari was the Stun Gun Hero: Chargebolt, Hagakure the Stealth Hero: Invisible Girl. Izuku wasn't sure that her name would fly with American copyright, but didn't figure it worth mentioning. Next was Yaoyorozu the Everything Hero: Creati. He wasn't sure that name was as creative as she might have thought. Todoroki chose to just use his first name, which was...odd. Tokoyami was Jet Black Hero: Tsukuyomi. A name close to his own, and the name of the moon god. It was pretty good. Koda was the first person not to read his hero name aloud, simply showing the plaque reading “Petting Hero: Anima.” Izuku really liked that one, since he was pretty sure it would throw off any villains to think Koda's quirk was something very different from reality. Uraraka was Uravity, which he thought was mildly clever given the utilization of her name.

“Alright, this is going more smoothly than I thought it would,” Midnight said as Uraraka sat down. All we have left is Ichi, Iida, and Midoriya, right?”

“Well, almost right,” Sutore said as he stood. “I've been biding my time. You see, Izuku and I have had our names picked for a while now.”

As he got to the front desk, he spun his plaque and placed it for everyone to see. “I am the Bounding Hero: Stretch.”

“Ooh,” Midnight said. “I like it. Though I don't know that there was any need to hold out.”

“Hey,” Sutore replied with a shrug. “It builds dramatic intrigue.”

Izuku looked over to Iida, who seemed to be struggling. The guy was visibly shaking, almost unable to write anything, so he decided to go ahead of him and check after. With all eyes on him, Izuku placed his plaque on the desk.

“Enigma Hero: 'Cheshire.'”

“Oh, like the cat from Alice in Wonderland,” Midnight mused.

“I even added my mask to fit the theme,” Izuku replied.

“I like it,” Midnight said with a nod.

“Kind of fitting that you imply you're insane,” Jiro joked.

“Eh, sanity's overrated,” Izuku retorted, sticking out his tongue jokingly.

He was about to say something to Iida when he suddenly stood and walked directly to the desk, placing down his plaque and not even looking at his fellow students.

“Oh, you're using your first name, too?” Midnight asked, a little concerned. But Iida simply turned and walked back to his seat. That...was definitely not what he wanted to write. But he didn't want to ask about it so openly. That would have been a bad idea.

“Now that everyone's decided on their hero names,” Aizawa announced as he stood with his sleeping bag around his waist. “We'll go back to talking about the internships. They will last for a week. As for where you'll have them, those who had offers from the pros will have their own lists, so you can choose from those yourself. Those who didn't have offers will choose from among forty agencies around the country that will be accepting our interns. They all work in different places and have different specialties.”

Well, at least that meant Izuku had options.

“For example, Thirteen would be focused on rescues from accidents and disasters more than fighting villains.”

Okay, maybe a few less options than he originally thought. He had nothing against the Space Hero, but he simply didn't have much capability to do anything for most rescue missions. At least nothing your average fireman couldn't do.

“Think carefully before you choose,” Aizawa finished.

“Yes sir!”

“I want to fight crime in urban areas!” Kirishima proclaimed as he received his list.

“I hope I can intern at a place with floods,” Tsu mused. “I wonder if there are any....”

“Turn in your choices before the weekend,” Aizawa said as the bell rang.

“We only have two days?” Kirishima asked incredulously.

“Make your decision efficiently,” the teacher responded matter-of-factly. “Dismissed.”

Well shit, that really narrowed Izuku's time to research. He had hoped to look into every agency he could and decide based on their stats on his darkweb tracker. He shrugged, deciding to just look into the agencies he liked most after some preliminary cuts. He'd have to look deepest into the one agency that had truly offered, and eliminate from the rest based on the founding hero's proficiency. Hopefully that wouldn't leave to large a list, but if it was more than twenty, he'd have trouble. He was beginning to debate which hero he wanted to investigate most when he felt multiple pairs of eyes on him.

“I was mumbling again, wasn't I?” he asked as he turned to look at Ashido, Sutore, Uraraka, and Ojiro.

“You're really thinking about this carefully, huh?” Tsu asked as she walked up to him.

“I always do,” he shrugged. “Did you want any help deciding for yours? I think my analysis might be useful.”

“Well, you did offer to show me your analysis of my quirk,” she replied with a smile.

“Happily,” Izuku chirped.

“Well, I've already decided,” Uraraka interjected.

“Really?” Ashido asked.

“Where?” Ojiro added.

“Death Arms,” Uraraka replied confidently.

“Aren't you going for more of a rescue hero like Thirteen?” Izuku asked.

“Ultimately, yes,” she replied. “But I realized during your fight with Bakugo that if I'm stronger, it will only open up more possibilities. Seeing everyone during the final battles pushed me even more toward that thinking.”

“You know what,” Izuku laughed. “That's fair. Broaden your horizons, and cast a wider net. Jack of all trades beats a master of one, after all.”

“Exactly.”

“Just remember that we're still in the learning stages, and focusing on our skills is important right now. Nothing wrong with broadening experiences later.”

“He who chases two hares catches neither,” Tokoyami agreed from the back.

It took some time, but Izuku did eventually narrow his perspective internships down to a nice round twenty. He'd had to cut some heroes he looked up to, but he wasn't great for rescue work. And while he had nothing against rural heroes, he needed the more constant stimulation from those in more urban environs. He also eliminated a couple known quirk supremacists. As he opened the door to leave, a muscular All Might slid in front of the opening bent at the waist toward the door.

“I am here!” he shouted. “In a bizarre position!”

“Then maybe make an entry like a normal person?” Izuku offered.

“Come with me for a moment,” the man stated, ushering him to follow.

“Yeah, okay. Sure.”

The large man led the way over toward the restrooms, which at this time of the day were deserted. Izuku wondered why they didn't just go to a lounge where they could ensure privacy, but he figured this worked well enough.

“I'm going to cut to the chase,” the large man said as he came to a stop. “I want you to take the offer you were given.”

“I was honestly hoping to look into Gran Torino before I made any decisions, but-”

“Young Midoriya, please,” All Might said, turning to look at him. The big guy was shaking like a leaf! “He knows about One For All, and requested Young Shinso as well. I imagine he asked for the boy for that very reason. But I want you to go with him to help him prepare to take on the responsibility of his new quirk. I haven't done a very good job as a teacher, and I know that. I just want the boy to have someone to soften the blows a bit.”

“I thought you said there were only six people who knew,” Izuku said, folding his arms.

“Gran Torino was the sworn friend of my predecessor,” All Might explained. “He retired a long time ago, so I forgot to count him.”

Dumb reason, but whatever. And why the hell was the number one hero shaking in his boots talking about the guy?

“So let me get this straight. You want me to go on this specific internship because I'll be able to 'soften the blows' for Shinso. So, what, you want me to take hits? I don't get it. Why should I be there?”

“No, nothing like that. Truth is, the man is intense. I wanted you there to be a counterbalance to his teaching style. Someone to explain things calmly and thoughtfully. Also, I do genuinely think Gran Torino can help you improve, too. On top of all that, I want you and Shinso to get along. I think each of you will be an invaluable asset to the other as time goes on.”

Wow, All Might actually thought things through. He was giving his successor a chance at friendship, recognizing not just one, but two potentially better teachers than himself for his own quirk, and he was trying to encourage Izuku into getting a genuinely good teacher. Although he dreaded meeting a man who had All Might quaking in his boots....

“Alright, you win. I'll take the offer.”

Chapter Text

“And Young Midoriya, if I may?” All Might asked as Izuku was turning to leave.

Izuku let out a small annoyed puff. “Yeah?”

“I wanted to apologize for what I said all those months ago,” the man said earnestly. “I may not have meant the words as you heard them, but it was what I said, and I should have been more careful.”

Izuku turned to face his long-time idol, confused. He'd almost forgotten about that whole thing by this point.

“I wanted to offer you my power not because you needed it, but because I thought it would benefit you. Help you save more people.” The man looked almost sad, his face no longer smiling, but a serious and flat image. “I understand now that to do so was an insult to your true intentions, and I feel like a fool for not realizing it then. So I'm sorry. Truly. I can see that you will grow to be a great hero in your own right, and if there is any hope in this world, you will be the one to inspire it in countless more future heroes. I just want you to know that, and that you should be very proud of yourself. You've done more in your short life than many people could dream of doing in over triple the time. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to get going.”

Izuku nodded silently as the man walked away. He could already feel the tears forming.

“Th-thank you, sir...”

Katsuki was more than a little nervous as he followed Ichi. The guy had asked him to come to the field after school, and he dreaded what this was. Despite his outward appearance, Katsuki knew he was hiding serious rage. It wasn't anything he could really put to words, but there was a fear every time the other boy looked at him, a certain tension when he moved wrong, and part of him felt like it was just his insecurities coming full circle. But a bigger part told him it was definitely true. This was De-- Izuku's best friend after all. He silently cursed himself again for the mental slip. That name was dead, he would never let it come out again. He was focusing back in when he realized the two had come to a stop by the same field they'd been on their first day in the school.

“We need to talk about what happened back then,” Ichi said coldly.

“Talk, or 'talk?'” Katsuki asked genuinely, punching his hand for emphasis.

“Talk talk.”

“Okay, so where do you want to start? With me getting my ego, or the day I-”

“I don't care about any of that,” Ichi said loudly before continuing in a softer tone. “I don't care. Izu moved on, so I can too. I only have two questions for you.”

He could tell the kid was lying, but opted not to push it. “Alright, ask away.”

“First: do you really mean it that you regret that day happening and that you want to be his friend again? Like, a real friend?”

“More than anything I've ever done,” Katsuki said firmly. He hoped his conviction showed as true as he felt it.

Ichi nodded. “And second: what will you do if anyone ever treats him like that again?”

“The same thing I'd do to any villain: stop them by any means necessary.”

Ichi smiled at him, and for the first time it felt...genuine.

“Good. I trust you to be good for your words today, so don't make me regret it. He works harder than anyone I know for his dream, and he deserves it. In fact, do you know why I'm actually here?”

“You said it was for him. 'Repaying the favor,' right?”

“I said that, but it was a bit of a lie. I'm here because he saved me. He showed me that anyone can be a true hero, and that the quirk that I had always thought was useless could be used for so much. So now I'm here to show him that no matter what, he's already succeeded. He's inspired me. And that's been his real goal the whole time: inspiring others. He doesn't want to be the number one hero, not even close. He just wants to be a hero people can look to and feel like their dreams aren't just pure fantasy.”

He turned to face Katsuki, a hand outstretched. “So do you think we can work together to support him?”

Katsuki smiled back wolfishly, taking hold of the offered limb. “Definitely.”

DING DONG

“I got it, Mom,” Izuku said, opening the door. On the other side was just the green-haired friend he'd hoped to see.

“Kerro,” she ribbitted. “I hope I'm not too late. A few people on the train were commenting on my performance at the festival.”

“Nah, you're fine,” Izuku laughed. “I was distracted before you got here anyway. Research stuff.”

With that, he opened the door properly for Tsu to enter.

“I really appreciate you helping me like this,” she said as she took off her shoes while he closed and locked the door. “I just need some help figuring out where to go, and it's a bit overwhelming.”

“Yeah, I get it,” he said honestly. “Even with no actual offers on the table, there are still a lot of agencies to go through and research. But I think this will be a lot easier for you since you've already decided what parameters you're searching for.”

“Kerro? You heard that?”

“I hear a lot,” Izuku shrugged, motioning her toward the living room.

“Hello,” Inko said from the kitchen as the two approached. “You must be the Tsu Izuku mentioned. It's always nice to meet new friends of his.” She turned and gave a warm smile to the girl. It was only as she started talking again that he realized she was still holding a kitchen knife. “And since everyone knows the truth now, I'm sure I don't need to explain to you that I care deeply about my son and making sure his dream becomes reality.” She finished her sentence by sticking the tip of the knife into a cutting board vertically, continuing with a wide smile. “I hope we're clear on that.”

“Crystal,” Tsu gulped nervously.

“Mom,” Izuku said calmly. “Please don't threaten my friends. And I hope you don't do this when the Bakugos come over tomorrow. I love you, but please. I can handle myself. And everyone at UA is really nice. I promise.”

“Okay sweetie,” Inko chirped. “Sorry Tsu, sometimes mother bear comes out. You understand.”

With a sigh, Tsu seemed to calm down. “I do. I would be the same way with anyone who I thought might have it out for any of my siblings.”

“Oh,” Izuku intoned. “I didn't know you had siblings.”

“Two: my younger brother Samidare, and my little sister Satsuki. When Mom and Dad have to travel for work, I look after them. You could say I act as a surrogate parent half the time.”

“I'm glad to know you don't take it personally,” Inko replied. “Thank you. Dinner will be ready in half an hour, so go on up and work hard. I'll call you down when the table is set.”

“Thank you Mrs. Midoriya,” Tsu croaked.

“Love you,” Izuku said with a wave as he led the way upstairs.

It didn't take nearly as long as Izuku had thought to narrow the list of options for Tsu. Given her desire to work near water, there were only a few real options. And of those options, Izuku knew two were definite no-go's. Not exclusively because he was aware of their records, but because he figured Tsu would hate them the instant she got to know either one's personality. But there was one that jumped out to him as a good fit.

“What about Selkie?” he asked, pointing to the name on her list.

“I like him,” she agreed. “But is there any particular reason you chose him?”

“I have a few,” Izuku answered honestly, though he didn't want to go into detail. “I mean, it's what you're looking for. Open water missions, plenty of rescue work, and there's the added bonus of a pro with a similar type of quirk to yours: a mutation. I figure if anything, he'll have a good idea of what you need to learn since he probably went through a lot of the same stuff.”

“Midoriya,” she said flatly. “You're not saying everything.”

Izuku paused, rubbing his neck nervously. “You're correct.”

“What aren't you saying?”

He sighed, debating for a while if he wanted to go all-in on this. But he did trust her....

“That I know more about heroes than I let on.”

“Like what?”

There was no judgement, no anger, no dismissal. She genuinely was curious what he knew.

“Okay, what I'm about to say is going to sound kind of crazy,” Izuku prefaced. He knew this conversation didn't usually go over well with quirked people. “But there are some...extra struggles that quirkless people go through that nobody realizes.”

“Kerro?”

“Beyond the bullying, beyond the stupid dismissal of us, beyond the worry, is a harsh reality. That we get shafted in every aspect of life.”

“How do you mean?”

That...was a first. He'd never had anyone flat-out accept what he said before. Even his mom had needed to see the statistics and videos before she believed him.

“There's a lot, actually,” he started nervously. “We're less likely to get hired to any job, regardless of quirk applicability. We get paid less on average with the excuse of not earning the raises. And...”

This was the real difficult one.

“We die younger, consistently.”

“How can that be? Aren't quirkless people less likely than average to be in a dangerous situation?”

“Statistically, yes. But when we are, and it happens to everyone eventually, we get...let's call it 'unlucky.'”

Tsu's eyes narrowed, her brow furrowed. “Explain.”

“Every hero across the board has a lower success rate with rescuing quirkless people. That's to be expected, honestly. We don't have any special way to help ourselves in a catastrophe. That success rate is cut even further when we're hostages. But some heroes have drastically different percentages. Like, eighty percent with quirked and five percent with quirkless. Slidin' Go, for example. There are videos I can show you of him specifically avoiding rescuing people he realizes are quirkless.”

“That's horrible!” she croaked angrily. “How can those people still be heroes?”

“Most people don't believe this stuff, and if anyone is caught out, it's treated as an isolated incident. Sometimes the evidence is just wiped from every clearnet site, so it's only available on the darkweb. And it doesn't stop with the heroes, either. Doctors have an average of twenty percent lower survival rates with quirkless people than quirked people. Most chalk it up to our lesser durability, but that doesn't make sense to me when I see people like Yaoyorozu. No offense to her, but I don't know how she can survive surgery better than I could.”

“I'm sorry,” Tsu said softly, and he could tell the sentiment was genuine.

“It's okay, but I don't know if I should continue,” he replied.

“I want you to.”

He debated for a second, then sighed. “The worst part is that none of that is the biggest reason we have shorter lives. The biggest factor is our suicide rate.”

He was genuinely surprised when he felt Tsu's arms wrap around him and pull him close. She didn't say a word, but everything she thought was conveyed clearly.

“Approximately sixty percent of all quirkless deaths are eventually by their own hands. From the shitty treatment in our day-to-day lives, to the less-than-stellar prospects for employment, to the daily threat of nearly everyone around us, it gets to be too much. Without close friends and a strong support system, we just break. It doesn't increase our death rates enough to give the general public concern, but we are very much over-represented in suicides. Many of us don't get the support we need, even from family.”

“I didn't know,” Tsu said softly. He leaned back, looking her in the eye.

“It's not your fault,” Izuku reassured her. “You're a good person, you just don't see the evils because they don't affect you. They've always been outside your periphery. It's like that for most people.”

“Is there any way I can help? Anything I can do?”

“There are a few forums intended for quirkless people to talk to other quirkless. It helps us feel less isolated. If you talk to the people on there, I'm sure they'll be happy to hear from you. You'll probably get a lot of distrust at first, but you're so genuine and kind, I can't imagine it will take long to get accepted.”

“Thank you, Midoriya,” she croaked, eyes glassy.

“Actually, about that.”

“Kerro?” she asked, head tilting. With a sniffle, the sad look dissipated.

“I was thinking that since you want me to refer to you so informally, I want to return the favor.”

“Okay...Izuku?”

“I was actually thinking something a bit...closer. Could you call me Izu-kun?”

She smiled at him, blushing slightly. “Sure thing, Izu-kun,” she nodded.

“Dinner's ready!” came the call from downstairs.

“Well,” Izuku laughed. “I guess I'll have to ask you about your quirk another time. Second date, maybe?”

“K-kerro?”

“Oh, right. You said before that you like to be straightforward. So I guess I should just come out and say I like you.”

And that's when the real blushing started.

Chapter Text

“Hey, Iida!” Izuku called out after his classmate. They'd just separated so everyone could go to their internships, but he wanted to talk to the boy after he'd realized where he was going.

“Oh, hello Midoriya,” he replied, clearly confused. “What is it? I'm pretty sure you're supposed to be heading to a different terminal.”

“I am,” he confirmed. “But I just wanted to tell you that you should reconsider going after Stain.”

“Why would you think that?” Iida asked despite the shift in tone and look showing that he knew exactly what Izuku meant.

“I read the news, and I know about your brother. I heard Aizawa say you're going to Hosu to train with Manual, and I put two and two together. I don't blame you for being angry, really. But you shouldn't go after him right now, and especially not with the motivation I see in you at this moment.”

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You want to kill him.”

There was a moment where the two simply stared at each other, and Izuku hoped his classmate would understand.

“I've been there, I know the anger. But you shouldn't get yourself killed. Or worse, you succeed and become a villain yourself. You'd be letting down everyone you could help as a hero, and your brother surely doesn't want this.”

“Goodbye, Midoriya,” Iida said flatly as he turned to leave.

“Damn it,” Izuku swore, watching him go. He wanted to continue with the guy, but he also needed to move. Now. His train was at the other end of the station, and left in twenty minutes. “Just please be okay....”

Izuku sat next to a very clearly bored Shinso, who was currently tapping away at his phone. And while he wanted to ask several questions and talk about a dozen other topics, he refrained due to the people surrounding them. As the train arrived at their station, he got up calmly and walked onto the platform with his fellow intern close behind.

“So, did you change your mind? Are you too afraid to talk to me now?” Shinso asked as they got clear of the crowds. Izuku didn't know if he was trying to trick him, so he opted to see if one of his theories panned out. He focused on what he wanted to say, putting Shinso's questions out of his mind.

“I'm not afraid of you,” he started, happy to find that he was still in control. “I just don't have a lot to talk about that is public-safe to discuss.”

“How did you-” Shinso began to ask.

“I'm guessing that you intended to brainwash me, so I'm glad my theory panned out. I wondered if the trigger for your quirk was the person thinking about your question, and that seems to be the case. For future reference, you might want to keep that in mind. If you can confuse someone into responding without thinking, then you win automatically. But don't go using it on me. Please.”

“Okay, okay. I'm sorry,” the boy replied. “I just wanted to get your attention. It feels like you've been ignoring me this whole time. In fact, I'm still not sure why you're here.”

Izuku thought about Shinso's words for a second, debating if he could safely respond. Eventually he decided to just drop the bull crap.

“I'm here because All Might asked me to help you. And because I think Gran Torino can help me, too. And I'm not ignoring you. Like I said, I can't really focus on many things to say right now that would be okay for the world to hear.”

“Like what?”

“Like how to explain what you did at the festival.”

“What do you mean?”

“Shinso, people don't just have multiple quirks. If you don't come up with something, and fast, people are going to start looking at you a lot closer. And there are a lot of villains you don't want looking at you at all. So we better come up with something to explain your new strength quirk.”

“I...hadn't even thought of that.”

“Neither did All Might, but I have an answer for you. Just tell people you used your brainwashing on yourself. You tell yourself to be stronger, and you are. It's not so far out there that people won't believe it without reason to think you got another quirk somehow.”

After a few seconds of thought, Shinso replied. “Thanks, that helps a lot.”

“No problem. Like I said, I'm here to help.”

“Holy shit!” Izuku yelled, running toward the man on the floor. He threw his case aside, sliding to a stop next to the bleeding man. He took his two fingers, pressing them to the side of the old man's neck to check for a pulse and started counting the seconds. He got to three before he noticed the man looking up at him.

“I'm okay,” he said cheerily, as though there wasn't a puddle of red under him.

It was just then that he realized...that red puddle was way too gloopy to be blood. And the meat he'd seen poking out from under the man when Shinso and he arrived was just a sausage link.

“Son of a bitch,” he cursed, sitting back. “You scared me half to death, sir.”

Shinso stepped in quietly, one hand on his chest. The old man laughed, standing shakily with his cane. He brushed himself off as he explained.

“Man...when I was carrying a string of sausages with ketchup poured over them, I fell!”

“Are you okay, Mister Gran Torino, sir?” Shinso asked nervously.

“I'm okay, young man. And who are you two?”

“What?” Izuku asked, confused. “We're the students you requested from UA.”

“What?” he asked, holding a hand up to his ear.

Izuku tried louder. “We're Izuku Midoriya and Hitoshi Shinso from UA!”

The man lowered his hand from his ear, shaking in place for a couple seconds, simply staring at them.

“Who are you?”

Izuku sighed. This was going nowhere fast. The old man kicked his legs out, sitting on the floor with his cane still in hand.

Wait...that didn't make sense.

“Toshinori,” the man suddenly said in a much deeper, more present tone.

“What, no,” Shinso replied, hands coming up defensively. “I'm Shinso!”

Izuku watched as the other boy pinched the bridge of his nose, pulling out his phone, turning away. “I need to call someone real quick.”

Izuku was about to say something when he felt a hand on his arm. When had Gran Torino gotten up? With a wink, the man put a finger to his lips, shushing. He then stepped over to behind Shinso.

“Fire off a One For All at me,” he stated clearly. Izuku also noticed the cane was gone, and the man stood on two steady legs. “I wanna know how well you can handle it.”

Shinso stopped, slowly turning to face the man. He stared for a few seconds, seeming to debate himself.

“I don't know if that's a good-”

“Who are you?” the old man interrupted with a false stupid tone. Izuku didn't understand the routine, but he knew now the man was messing with them.

“I don't have time to mess around,” Shinso groaned, turning toward the door.

“Well then,” the old hero said, smiling. Just as Shinso turned to see him, the old man launched to the ceiling before bouncing off and ricocheting around the room a few times. It was hard for Izuku to keep up with his movements, and only realized a split second before he would impact that Gran Torino was on a collision course with Shinso. At the last possible moment, the old man launched himself upward, slamming into the wall over the door and cracking the concrete as he clung to it.

“In that case, there's even more reason to fire one off!” the pro said with a devilish smile. “You zygote!”

Oh, God damn it. That's where All Might learned that....

“I saw you at the sports festival, and the way you carelessly used that power was unthinkable. You had no tact, no control. He's called the Symbol of Peace and Number One Hero, but that justice-obsessed All Might is worse than a novice when it comes to teaching.”

Shinso seemed to be recovering from the shock of the man showing his true abilities, shaking himself a bit.

“I can't stand watching how you're using your power,” Gran Torino continued. “So I'm going to teach you. Now, let's get you changed into something more fitting.”

Both boys smiled at that. “I look forward to working with you,” Shinso replied.

It didn't take long for Izuku to get into his costume, only a few seconds longer than Shinso with his UA jumpsuit. With a quick test of his “ears,” Izuku was ready to go.

“All right,” Gran Torino said. “Do it.”

“I hope you have medics nearby,” Shinso said, clearly unsure.

“I don't,” the old man replied casually. “I guess you'll have to just be careful.”

With that, the man crouched low, then launched himself. He bounced around the room a few times before slamming into Shinso's back.

“I'm losing patience!” he said as he continued to ricochet. It almost seemed like each point he hit and leapt from made him just that little bit faster.

“Real combat?” Shinso asked with a cough. He turned, but the old man had long since left the area the boy looked.

With a cackle, the man danced around a bit more. Then, he launched from the ceiling directly onto a nearby microwave, crushing it.

“You couldn't see my true strength from that hit? I can't believe the ninth holder of One For All is such a wet blanket. All Might is a real novice.”

Before Shinso could respond, the pro had already launched off his perch and bounced off the wall behind him, hitting the boy in the back. A few ricochets later, he collided again, knocking the young man to the floor. He continued to bounce around, throwing the boy off his game and keeping him from making any sort of plan. Shinso seemed worried, but eventually he began to glow and he readied a punch, directing it downward. Unfortunately for him, he never got to complete the motion.

“I see you opted to cover your bases,” Gran Torino said, pinning the boy. “You wanted to make sure you got me by creating a shockwave against the floor, so I couldn't dodge. But you're slow, stiff, and can't control your power. That's why it turned out like this. Your sense from your quirk and your admiration for All Might are like shackles. I had hoped you'd noticed by now, but you're looking at your power the wrong way. You need to get stronger, and fast. But time and your enemies won't wait for you to do it at your own pace. You're thinking All For One is more special than it is, boy.”

As he finished, the pro stood up properly, letting the boy go.

“So then what should I do?” Shinso asked.

“Figure it out yourself,” the old man replied as he made it to the doorway. “Or get him to help you. I'm sure he can figure it out. I'm going to go get some grub, I'll leave the cleaning to you two.”

With that, the old man left. Damn it, he'd wanted to get some real training done. But no, he was being ignored. Figured.

“Do you have any idea what he meant?” Shinso asked after a few seconds.

“I have a few guesses,” Izuku answered honestly. “But we should clean up quickly. It'll leave more time to test my hypotheses without worry of when he gets back.”

“And what about helping me?” the purple-haired boy asked.

“I'm trying to, I just don't want time constraints. Besides, we can talk and work at the same time.”

“Fine.”

Sorahiko was impressed. From the little time he'd spent analyzing Shinso, Midoriya had already learned enough to come up with theories and understand the riddle before him. This quirkless boy truly was something else. The other one, though, had a long path ahead. He hoped the two would work together well, but saw no reason to worry. While the boy had little training and it showed, he showed promise as well. And behind all the angst the boy had a good heart. Toshinori had chosen well with these two.

“Alright, so first question,” Izuku started as he set books back on shelves. “How are you looking at One For All?”

“What do you mean? I'm looking at it as a strength booster, how else can I look at it?”

Izuku sighed. The boy wasn't getting it.

“I mean, how are you using it? Like, what are you viewing it as when you activate it? And how do you plan on not incapacitating yourself every time you use your new quirk from here on out?”

Shinso almost audibly rolled his eyes. “I view it like I do my base quirk: I use it when I want to punch someone! And All Might said that if I get stronger, I won't hurt myself anymore when I use it, so I just planned on doing that: become strong.”

Ah, the classic All Might method.

“That's pretty brain-dead if you ask me,” Izuku said honestly. “You're never going to get a solid handle on this if you're just waiting to magically get 'strong enough.'”

“Okay, genius, what do you suggest? I know it might seem easy to you, but quirks take a lot of control to use.”

“I'm aware. But that's just it, you're not using control, you're just...flicking a switch.”

Izuku paused what he was doing as an idea came to him.

“Actually, that's a good question: when you use the power, are you basically just using it full force every time? Like flicking a light switch and then just throwing a hail mary with a power boost?”

There were a few seconds of consideration before, “Kinda, yeah? Why?”

“And how have you been trying to keep it from just destroying you every time?”

“All Might told me to imagine an egg in a microwave, and just picture it not exploding.”

Wow, okay. That was...less than helpful.

“Okay, axe that visual, cause that's frankly stupid.”

“And what do you suggest?”

“Think of your power usage as a slider in a video game or a light dimmer. Try to turn it on, but to the lowest setting. And only try to up that setting if you feel like you can handle the strain. Like if you go with the light dimmer analogy, you have sensitive eyesight. You need to train yourself to get used to brighter settings, but go slowly and turn it up as you get used to the brightness. Eventually, you can turn it all the way on, but for now, let's just click past 'off.'”

Shinso stopped, thinking for a few seconds.

“Is that what he meant when he said that my sense and admiration are shackles?”

“And why he told you it's not as special as you think. You need to use the power more consistently, even if it's much weaker when you use it. Even with a small portion of the power at your disposal, you'll be more effective than if you can only use a couple blasts full power.”

“Got it.”

Izuku looked around as he put the crushed microwave in the trash. That seemed to be the last of things disturbed by the hero's bouncing.

“Hey,” Shinso said softly. “I thought about what you said at the sports festival.”

“Oh yeah? Which part?”

“A lot of it, honestly. You were right, I acted like everyone assumes I would with my base quirk. But no more. I'm not going to use it for any selfish purposes or to mess with people. And I know what happened at the train station could count, but I guess old habits die hard, so I'm sorry about that. From here on out, all of my abilities are going to be for helping people. It's all about the drive, right?”

“Exactly,” Izuku smiled.

That evening, Izuku and Shinso stood in an alley behind Gran Torino's office. Izuku genuinely wasn't sure if it was run-down on purpose as a front, or if it was just in disrepair because the man had no one to help him. He hadn't seen anyone else in the whole building, but the old man was also pretty lazy, simply nodding off after he got back. But that wasn't important right now.

“Right,” Izuku said, stretching. “Time for your first trial of One For All. Even at a minimum level, say...two percent, you could easily leap from wall to wall up to that roof there.” For emphasis, he pointed at the roof in question.

“But what about-”

“Now is not the time for 'what ifs' dude. Just make sure you keep it active the whole time, and you'll be fine. Besides, that power should reasonably boost your durability, too. So a dozen foot fall will be fine.”

“I'm just not sure I can do it,” Shinso said honestly.

“Well let me give you some motivation, then.”

Izuku quickly reached into the boy's pocket, snatching his phone. Before he could do anything, the green-haired boy ran over and jumped up, climbing into a nearby window sill. While it wasn't very far out of reach, Shinso still had to jump to reach Izuku's shoes, which were quickly moving higher.

“I'll see you at the top, better get a hang on your power before I figure out your password and text your crushes,” Izuku teased, pocketing the phone and making his way up to the third floor, then the fourth.

“That's not funny, Midoriya!”

“I disagree, I think there will be plenty of laughing.”

Izuku heard an angry growl from the ground below him as he clambered his way up the last ledge onto the roof. As he laid on the edge, he looked down at the boy below, who was clearly trying to psyche himself up.

It took a few seconds, but he eventually stopped pacing and focused. Those same lines from before etched into his skin, glowing and humming with energy. Then the lines faded, and a lower glow settled in, along with dark purple electricity sparking over his body on occasion. He was shaking with exertion, but clearly he was getting the idea of his new ability. Izuku debated goading more, but figured there was already plenty of stress right now. No need to pile on.

With some effort, the sparking purple teen took a few steps, then jumped toward a nearby wall. However, he was slow in bracing himself, and simply slammed into the bricks, then fell into a pile of trash in the alley. When he stood, the power was gone.

“Damn it,” he cursed, restarting the process. He tried a good few times, but never managed to get past the first wall. By ten that night, he was able to leap onto it, but couldn't manage to leap off once he was there. The strain and focus was too much. Izuku could tell this boy was new to every part of this experience.

“Alright,” Izuku shouted down. “You and I both know I've been through your entire contacts list on every app by now, so let's just call it for the night. You're not getting up here anytime soon.”

Izuku stood, popping his neck, then leapt from the roof with his hand on one ring. With a simple wave of his wrist and a flick back toward the building, he caught himself, swinging back toward the wall. He braced himself with his legs, then let go of his cable, dropping the rest of the way. In freefall, he retracted his cable, then landed in a roll to soften his impact. Meanwhile, Shinso simply wheezed from the latest pile of trash he'd ended up in.

“Why is this so hard?” he asked, slamming his fist down.

“Because you're learning a new skill,” Izuku answered plainly, holding his hand out to help the boy up. With effort, he pulled him to his feet, then handed the phone back. “If people could master new skills on the first try, there would be no need for terms like 'mastered.' Take it easy, dude. I didn't expect you to actually get up there first try.”

“So you just wanted to go through my phone?”

“No, I just wanted to motivate you. I never even took the thing out of my pocket.”

The boy looked at the phone as it was handed over, annoyed. “There are better ways to motivate a guy, you know.”

“Meh, this one was simple and ready to go. Figured why not.”

The next morning was spent making frozen Taiyaki and Shinso training his new ability with Gran Torino. The goal: land a single blow on the hero within three minutes. The two had several bouts against each other, with Shinso basically flailing his way around the room trying to catch the smaller man. Every time, one of two things would happen. Either he would get close to catching his quarry just as time ran out, or the old man would swap directions and suddenly boot the purple-charged boy away. Usually, into a wall. It didn't take long to figure out that the old man was making this impossible to succeed with the current strategy on purpose. After about twelve attempts, Gran Torino looked over to his other intern, and told Shinso to take a break. Izuku raised an eyebrow from where he sat, bored, still in his casual shirt and shorts. He wasn't learning anything here, and he didn't know if that was on purpose at this point.

“Alright,” the old man said, suddenly pointing toward him. “It's your turn.”

“Okay,” Izuku replied, excited now. “Let me just get my gear and-”

“No equipment.”

“Wait what?” Both Izuku and Shinso replied as one.

“Why not? Shinso's allowed to use his stuff.”

“Shinso has no stuff. Besides, if you're a real hero, you don't need it.”

Well that was a callout and a half. He was baiting Izuku, and he knew it. But at the same time, if the guy took it as easy on him as he had been Shinso, it wouldn't be that hard to pin him down with a different strategy.

“You know what, fine. Let's do this.”

He stood, intending to get ready, but as soon as he was off the chair, Gran Torino had started his ricochet routine. Izuku dove toward the center of the room quickly, knowing the man was coming for a swift kick. It missed, but there was no opportunity to retaliate. He leapt to his feet, trying to orient himself. It took a little for Izuku to figure out where the little bouncy ball was due to being at the center of his chaos storm, but he quickly pinned it down, tracking him with some admitted difficulty. He waited for the man to attempt something, and when he heard the wall behind him crack slightly, he dove forward, spinning to his back, then kipped up hard. As the old man neared him, he saw the smile on his face, which concerned him. His feet connected directly with Gran Torino's chest, sending the man upward at an angle from his prior momentum. That same momentum carried Izuku over backward onto his feet, standing to look at Shinso. It clearly took some effort for Gran Torino to right himself before he slammed into the far wall, but he did. And when he grabbed hold, there was a stopwatch in his hand. He clicked it.

“Thirty-seven seconds,” he announced.

He let Izuku hit him.

“You two set that up,” Shinso accused.

“No, we didn't,” Izuku countered. “When could we? You've been with me since we got here, remember?”

“But there's no way you could have gotten him when I couldn't!”

“Why is that?” Gran Torino asked pointedly. “Because he doesn't have a quirk?”

Shinso quickly put his hands up defensively. “No, I didn't mean it like that! He just-”

“Has been training for about a decade while you've been at this for a few short months,” the old man finished for him.

Just how much did this guy actually know?

“I know you're proud of yourself after cleaning that whole beach, but that doesn't mean you know how to use the muscle you built. Izuku has been honing his skills since he was barely out of diapers. Don't expect to pass him up any time soon.”

Izuku realized that yet again, he was being used to teach Shinso. He groaned as it hit him this week really was just going to be a complete waste of time. Though he did make a mental note to ask what “that whole beach” was.

“None of that, young man,” the pro chided. “Come with me, we need to talk. You, Shinso. Clean up around here, this place is a mess.”

Izuku followed up the stairs, rolling his eyes and shrugging to the other boy. When he reached the second floor, Gran Torino was waiting, staring him down.

“You think I'm wasting your time here.”

It was a statement, not a question. Practically an accusation. So, Izuku opted to reply just as directly.

“You've barely said anything to me since I got here. You've been spending your entire time training Shinso.”

“You're smarter than that,” the old man replied, folding his arms in disappointment. “I teach every student of mine differently. For example: All Might was able to use his power normally almost immediately. His only redeeming feature was his body. Thus, it was exclusively practical training for him.”

Well that explained the shaking while talking about his teacher....

“Okay, so you taught All Might via combat, you're teaching Shinso by using me, and you-”

Suddenly, it hit Izuku. Why he'd been shouldered with the unraveling of the riddles. Why he hadn't been directly addressed except the once, and why that once was to make a point. Gran Torino didn't want to train him to better himself, he wanted him to train to be a better helper.

“You want me to use my analysis to help my friends rather than just exploit my enemies,” Izuku finished.

“Took you long enough,” the old man chuckled. “Honing your body won't do you much good, and you've clearly honed your mind for your own use. I just want to make sure you're widening that application. Heroes help others, after all.”

Izuku thought about his task for a few moments, reflecting. It was true, even when he'd been teamed up with Uraraka, he basically just used her and did all the work himself. He hadn't really tried involving other people in his plans. He'd always been selfish. Sure, he'd agreed to help Shinso, but this whole time he'd been thinking about how he would deal with the situation, not how Shinso could do it.

“So is Shinso supposed to be a challenge for me, or just a warm-up?”

“That is yet to be decided,” the hero replied cryptically. “By how well he does.”

With renewed vigor, Izuku bowed to his mentor.

“Thank you sir, I won't let you down again.”

Chapter Text

Shinso crashed into the back wall yet again as Gran Torino landed, clicking his stopwatch. Izuku went to check on him, helping the boy up as he groaned painfully. They had been at this all day, and the sun was starting to go down.

“I thought I had him that time,” he said, disappointed. And if Izuku was honest, he was right. Gran Torino had had to change directions midair to counter Shinso's play, which was to counter the old man's movements rather than chase them. Izuku had suggested it after realizing that with his current speed, Shinso had little, if any, chance of catching up. So it was time to either try more power, or change strategies.

And while he was confident the kid could up his power output by now, he was still getting the hang of the moves required to handle the speeds, and even with his surprisingly fast comprehension of his new quirk, he was still struggling to put it to use. He often lost the electricity effect in the middle of what he was doing, but it would come back on as soon as he noticed. It seemed that he was just struggling to get his coordination together, and would lose focus when he thought about what to do too hard.

Honestly, Izuku figured that wasn't a bad thing, since it meant he didn't have any downtime between wanting to use his power and when he could do the thing he wanted to use it for.

“We should stop now,” the pro suddenly said. “If you fight against my tactics more than this, you might fall into weird habits.”

“But I still haven't caught you once,” Shinso replied, annoyed. “You gotta at least let me-”

“No, that's enough. Go change into your costumes, both of you. It's time to move on to phase two.”

“What?” both boys responded as one. Izuku didn't know what was actually happening, but opted to follow instruction anyway as he shrugged to his companion and went to get his costume.

Izuku was still confused a few minutes later as he watched the old man lock the doors to his “agency” and pocket the key. He turned and raised his cane skyward, smiling.

“Let's go fight some villains!” he shouted.

“Oh, you were serious,” Izuku replied. “I guess we're ready for some small-time crooks, but I'm not sure this is the best idea. What if-”

“Yes sir,” Shinso interrupted.

Izuku looked at him, confused.

“You already fought villains at USJ, I want a chance to catch up,” he explained. “I need this.”

“Fine,” Izuku sighed.

“We need to get you used to fighting other types of quirks and situations,” Gran Torino explained as he started walking. “We're not going to touch anything that big, so this will be a good way to see how your skills really match up. We're gonna go on a little excursion, since the decreasing population in this area means a low crime rate.”

They reached the corner of a nearby road, and the hero hailed a cab, which all three climbed in. With a quick flick of data to the driver, they set off.

“Hero agencies do set up in urban areas for the local crime rates,” Izuku said, nodding. “It makes sense.”

“And around Shibuya, you'll find lots of small fights that break out on a daily basis,” the old man continued.

“In Tokyo?” Shinso asked, clearly annoyed. “I'm going to be in my gym uniform in such a fashionable town....”

Izuku didn't hear the rest of the conversation as he thought about what that meant. They were more than likely on their way to the bullet train from Kofu toward Shinjuku, meaning they had to pass Hosu. He had a terrible feeling in his gut as he realized they were on their way to where Iida was hunting Stain. He didn't know why, but the dread settling in his gut told him there was a reason they were taking this particular route.

The feeling had only increased in the last couple hours as Izuku watched the rooftops of Hosu pass by. He was beginning to consider messaging his classmate when he heard some of the passengers around him shifting and talking amongst themselves.

“That building just exploded!” one said.

“You're right, there's smoke!”

“What's going on?” Gran Torino asked, turning as he woke from his mid-ride nap.

“Passengers, please hold onto your seats,” came an announcement over the speakers.

Izuku sat, bracing himself against the seat in front of him with his legs just in time, as the train jerked forward and a man was flung into the car with them. He hopped back up immediately, turning to see the new occupant. Izuku didn't recognize the pro hero, but knew that he had to be one based on the themed costume and cat claws on his gloves. He wasn't doing well, though, based on the blood running down his forehead.

“What's with that-” the hero started before a large hand grabbed his face, cutting him off. The hand belonged to a teal-skinned creature wearing only pants, and as it peeled away the train's side, he noticed had its brain exposed with multiple eyes stuck in it.

“Another one?” Izuku asked, incredulous. Shiguraki had made it sound like Nomu was the only one. He was annoyed to see that wasn't actually the case.

“What is that thing?” Shinso shouted.

“Sit down, kids!” Gran Torino shouted, launching into the fray. With a swift kick to the face, followed by a wall-assisted tackle, he and the monster sailed into the night.

Izuku and Shinso ran to look out at the city from the gaping hole in the train, and Izuku felt his blood run cold. There was a massive fire off in the distance, with the screaming audible even from where he was.

“Shinso, check on him,” Izuku commanded, pointing to the downed pro. “Someone get him medical aid!”

He then turned, readying himself to jump from the now slowing train.

“Where are you going?” Shinso asked.

“I have a bad feeling,” he replied honestly. “I need to check things out. Don't follow me.”

He then leapt from the train, tucking and rolling to slow his momentum as he landed. With a good leap and a kick off the nearby wall, he climbed to the top of the barrier on the side of the track, then extended his right cable and jumped, swinging the tether to catch the underside and bring him down in an arc toward a nearby rooftop. With a quick release and retraction, he dropped and rolled as he landed, running over to the other side to look. He was on the twelfth floor, and approximately a kilometer from the flames as the crow flew. With a quick check over his shoulder to make sure Shinso wasn't following, he hopped the waist-high wall in front of him, extending his right cable once more.

Iida better be okay.

He tethered himself, swinging down to the next floor and catching himself against the wall. Kicking off, he let go of the cable, then grabbed it again and swung in once more. Repeating this process, he made his way down to the ground and broke out into a sprint toward the action as he retracted his cable. As soon as it was fully in, he brought his arm up and held a button on the side of his mask.

“S.A.I., I need you to ping any nearby phones from my contact list,” he said in English. “Find their locations and report to me as soon as you have it.”

“I'm on it, sir,” came a female voice. He smiled, glad that his friend had built the AI in his mask the way he had. He'd had his doubts originally, but now that he needed to use his suit's features and focus on the world around him, it was definitely coming in handy. And it wasn't like he knew how to ping phones anyway.

“I have three results for your pings,” Sai said. “Tenya Iida and Shoto Todoroki are both within one mile of your location. Hitoshi Shinso is close, but my ping shows he is likely on a train at the moment and unable to be reached easily in person.”

Well that made things interesting.

“Path me too Iida, and send his location as a message to Todoroki. Tell him I need his help.”

“Sending now, and you should take your next right.”

“Thanks Sai.”

It didn't take long to path his way to Iida's ping, and when he arrived, he was horrified by the scene before him. Stain was standing over the boy, whose helmet had been knocked off at some point. On the villain's other side was an injured hero in a stereotypical Native American getup. The pro's shoulder was bleeding badly from an obvious stab wound, and he was fighting to stay conscious. Iida was belly-down on the floor, blood pooling around his left shoulder. Izuku could see him glaring daggers at the villain who was currently pinning him with a boot on the back and licking the blood from his heavily damaged katana. He could also see several other sheaths for various blades all over the man's body, and some were empty.

“That's why you'll die,” Stain said before flipping his weapon backhanded and raising it.

Izuku extended both of his wrist cables, flinging them toward the downed heroes. With a hard yank, he dragged both a few feet closer as he leapt toward the villain with a side kick.

“Not unless you can get through me!” he shouted as the hero killer tumbled, catching himself in a ready position. Izuku released his cables and retracted them before drawing his baton and flicking it to ready. His mind went into overdrive trying to figure out how to get the injured to safety, but he faltered. The only viable option he could see was to stall for time. And that wasn't a great option, either, since it left the monsters less attended.

Once crisis at a time.

“Midoriya, why?” Iida asked from the floor. For some reason, he didn't seem to be even trying to stand.

“Because I came to help, now stand up and fight!”

“I can't move my body,” came the struggling reply.

Shit.

“Ever since he cut me...I think it's his quirk.”

Double shit. He had figured that the reporters were right that Stain could paralyze his opponents, but with just a cut? No, wait. That blade lick!

“Midoriya,” Iida strained to speak. “Don't get involved!”

“The fuck do you-”

“This has nothing to do with you!”

What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

“Your friend came to save you,” Stain commented flatly. “That's a great line, isn't it? But I have a duty to kill him. If we clash, of course the weaker will be culled. Now what will you do?”

“What else?” Izuku asked sarcastically. “Fight the villain and save the people. That's what heroes are for.”

He didn't like the smile that brought to Stain's face.

“I told you already,” Iida shouted. “This doesn't have anything to do with you!”

“Heroes inject themselves into situations they're not a part of, you idiot!” Izuku countered. “Or did All Might's lessons go in one ear and out the other?”

With that, he launched forward. He hoped that Stain would be off-guard because of the conversation, but the quick readying of his blade proved otherwise. Izuku rushed in close, anticipating the slash loosed toward him. Regardless of its angle, he knew he could dodge low and left to get clear of it due to the right-handed swing, so he ducked and bobbed, leaping to his left foot and then again to slide to a stop behind his target. With a quick spin and a flick of his wrist, he smacked the villain on his right shoulder. Stain quickly attempted to counter, only to find his blade caught by Izuku's forearm, or rather the bracer on it. He smiled, leaping backward and smashing his baton into the other man's wrist. Unfortunately, he didn't manage to break his grip on the sword. Hopefully, he had gotten the man's attention, though.

SLURP

Izuku immediately felt his body lock up, dropping him to his knees. But how? When had he been cut?

“You move well, you know,” Stain praised coldly. “I was barely able to recover in time to angle my blade.”

Izuku looked down to his right hand, and there on his palm was the smallest, barely noticeable cut. He must have nicked himself as he drew back from his wrist strike. He internally cursed himself for such a novice mistake.

“People who are all talk are a dime a dozen,” the hero killer continued, turning toward the others. “But you are worth letting live. You're different from these guys.”

Izuku's mind raced to find a solution. Stain wanted to kill the unworthy, right? It was worth a shot.

“You're right, I'm worse!” Izuku shouted, stopping the man in his tracks. “I'm a quirkless nobody who had to cheat to get here! So if you're gonna kill anyone, kill me!”

Stain turned slowly, a wide smile across his face. “You're lying,” he almost laughed. “You're lying to save them.”

Triple shit.

Just then, a gout of flame soared through the alley, and Stain barely had time to dodge.

“One after another,” he groaned. “There are a lot of people getting in my way today.”

At the far end of the alley, a still-flaming Todoroki stood, holding his phone.

“Midoriya, you need to give better information at times like this,” he said with a little annoyance. “You made me late having to translate from English.”

“Apologies,” Sai said in his ear. “That would be my fault.”

“Todoroki?” Iida asked incredulously. “Why are you here?”

“I see you're using your flames,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes at his downed classmate. “Glad to see you've stopped limiting your potential.”

“Midoriya said he needed help,” Todoroki answered to Iida. “The better question is why you're here.”

Suddenly, a sheet of ice spread from the boy's right foot, which unfortunately Stain leapt over, dodging yet again. Izuku and the other injured were simultaneously raised onto frozen platforms, providing some minimal cover.

“Don't worry, the pros will get here in a few minutes,” the angsty boy said, readying flames. As he loosed them, the platforms tilted, sending all three paralyzed men to the newcomer's side as they slid under the fire.

“This is just like the information about him implies,” Todoroki said. “I won't let you kill them, Hero Killer.”

“Hey, Todoroki,” Izuku offered. “Don't let him cut you. If he ingests even a drop of your blood, it'll paralyze you. And if your estimate is even remotely accurate, he'll be long since done and gone when the others get here.”

“He sucks blood to keep people from moving,” the boy replied thoughtfully. “That's why he uses blades, huh? I can keep my distance and-”

He was cut off by a knife slicing his cheek as he dodged at the last second.

“Don't announce your strategy!” Izuku shouted, annoyed.

“You have good friends, Ingenium!” Stain announced as he leapt toward Todoroki. Izuku didn't have time to question that name as he caught a glint above him as the villain attempted to slice the elemental hero-to-be. And though the knife was stopped by an ice spike, there was still more.

“Get back!” he shouted. “Sword coming down!”

Just as Todoroki looked at the secondary threat, Stain lunged toward him, tongue at the ready. Luckily, the young man was able to flare his fire in time to push the villain away, and as he dodged back he grabbed his sword from the air.

“You need to keep your mind on him even if you're not looking,” Izuku told his classmate. “We can't afford you going down. Please, if I tell you how to move, you need to trust me.”

The boy nodded contemplatively before going again on the offensive.

“Why are you two...?” Iida asked angrily. “Why? Please, stop! I've inherited my brother's name, I have to do it! That guy's mine!”

As flames raged and ice shot through the alley, Todoroki retaliated to his peer verbally.

“You inhereted it? That's strange. The Ingenium I saw before didn't have that look on his face. You've got a lot going on behind the scenes in your family too, huh?”

Izuku focused on the physical fight rather than the verbal one, pounding his fist as the ice wall Todoroki had attempted to use as a shield for them shattered.

Wait...he pounded his fist?

“To block your own view against an opponent faster than you,” Stain chided. “What a foolish plan.”

“I wonder about that,” Todoroki responded, readying his flames. Izuku saw the glint of steel only moments before they struck the arm preparing the fire, not giving him enough time to warn the boy. And the villain was coming down with his blade poised vertically to stab the pro who was still on the ground.

“You're pretty good, too,” Stain mocked.

Well, Izuku had been planning to hold out for a surprise....

At the last second, he leapt to his feet, picking up his baton from its spot next to him, and bashed Stain's blade, knocking it just clear of the pro hero's head. Then, with a flick of his wrist and a grab of the cable with his other hand, he sidestepped around the man and brought his arms up and around the villain's neck, leaning forward with all his might. Letting go at the peak of the weight transfer's arc resulted in the villain tumbling down the alley, where he rolled to his feet just in time to dodge a wall of ice coming after him. Much to Izuku's annoyance, he still had his sword in hand.

“His quirk has a time limit,” Izuku provided for the others as he retracted his cable once more.

“But he got you last,” the pro noted confusedly. “How are you the first one back up?”

“I don't know, but if I were to guess, it's based on the amount ingested or the person's blood type. But better idea: let's not go figuring that out.”

“Solid plan,” Todoroki smiled as he readied for more. The knives he'd pulled from his arm clattered to the ground and Izuku wondered how lucky the villain had gotten that his foldables were actually weighted for throwing.

“If it's blood type, I'm type A,” the pro offered.

“I'm B,” Iida added.

“Blood type?” the villain asked, a cruel smile spreading over his face again. “That's correct.”

Why do people give this information out so much?

“I wanted to hurry up and carry those two out of here,” Todoroki informed. “But he can react so fast he can avoid ice and fire. I can't leave myself that open.”

Izuku glanced at his new friend's arm, taking quick stock of their situation. Two men down, one injured arm, pros on the way. He wasn't sure how much Todoroki could still do with his flames given how he was holding his left arm. And carrying dead weight would just get the boy caught out with his back to the enemy. Even with smoke bombs for cover, he doubted their success rate. And if Izuku made a single mistake, he'd be out of the fight again. He wasn't sure his friend could last the way he'd been going, and with only a hair more wiggle room his odds didn't look good either. They were going to have to cover each other.

“I think our best option is to hold on by avoiding close combat until the pros get here,” Todoroki offered.

“We need to give each other cover,” Izuku added quietly. “But I have limited ranged options, and I have to be hyper aware up close. I know what you just said, but I also know you've lost a good amount of blood, so hopefully my toys can provide enough ranged support if he comes after you. To minimize that risk, I'm going to be in his face. Try to keep me safe, and follow my lead.”

“That's a pretty big risk,” Todoroki replied thoughtfully. “But yeah. The two of us will protect them!”

“Two against one, huh?” Stain mused. “It won't be easy.”

“I can assure you, this will be quite easy,” Izuku countered. “For us.”

As he spoke, Izuku stepped forward casually, though every muscle was tensed. He just hoped the man before him didn't notice. At the last word, he flung his left arm forward and dodged to his right. Just as he'd hoped, a column of flames erupted where he'd just been, forcing the hero killer to dodge and break focus on the boy in green. Using the flames as cover, Izuku ran forward to get close to the villain, flicking down the new flap of his utility belt. A small leather flap fell over his left leg, revealing three groups of five needles. He drew two, and readied himself for when the fire passed. The instant he could see his target, he rushed forward and loosed the projectiles. The villain managed to deflect one, but the other caught him in the thigh. Izuku followed up with a swipe from his baton, but it was blocked by the knife now in Stain's left hand. He in turn blocked the man's sword with his left bracer, then straight kicked the villain back. As he rolled to his feet, he looked down at his right thigh.

“The numbing agent in that needle is going to make the rest of this fight difficult at best,” Izuku offered, causing the villain to quickly remove the offender. “That leaves you few options.”

Suddenly, flames rushed through the alley, forcing the hero killer to leap away, putting himself behind Izuku from Todoroki's perspective. This guy was smart, using his opponent as cover from the boy providing ranged support. And that was encouraging, since it meant Stain could still rationalize to some extent. He hoped that rationality extended further than just fights.

“Look properly at what you want to be!” Todoroki shouted behind him, probably to Iida. Izuku wanted to offer some help, but remained focused on his target. He wasn't sure how the night would end, so he decided it was time to do what he'd been looking for the hero killer to do: he reached into his pocket, pulled a memory chip from his phone, and tossed it to the man. Stain caught the device, staring at it with clear confusion.

“In case you get away tonight, I want you to see that,” Izuku explained, ignoring his classmates. “I hope it helps.”

With an uncertain glance down, Stain pocketed the chip. Izuku relaxed slightly at that, only to be caught off-guard by the man suddenly swiping at him with his sword. He realized too late that the arms he'd brought in to block were behind the blade, and braced for impact against his chest. But the impact never came.

“...BURST!” Iida shouted, kicking the villain with a roundhouse. Stain once more went tumbling through the alley, but this time took a little longer to recover. It was too early to be certain, but Izuku was pretty sure the drug was taking effect.

“You got free?” Todoroki asked. “That quirk isn't as great as I thought.”

“Todoroki, Midoriya,” Iida said solemnly. “This has nothing to do with you two, and I apologize.”

Izuku continued to watch the villain as his classmate spoke, noting the confused anger spreading across his face.

“That's why I can't allow you two to bleed more than this!”

Izuku was about to make a sarcastic comment when Stain spoke up.

“It's no use trying to be reformed for appearances' sake. A person's essence doesn't change so easily. You will never be anything but a fake who prioritizes his own selfish desires. You are a cancer to society that warps the idea of 'heroes.' Someone must set you straight.”

Though the man's words stayed strong, Izuku saw the falter in his resolve.

“Then be the one to set them straight,” he told the villain. “But you can't change people's minds when they're dead! It's fine if you want to catch fake heroes, but give them a chance to be better! Less heroes means less people to help those in danger, and if the real heroes are too burdened by the lack of support, every death that leads to is indirectly your fault! Here's a crazy thought, rather than going low and killing people to make your point, go high and show the fakes how they should be! It'll put a spotlight on all the terrible heroes that a fucking criminal is doing better for the world than them!”

“You're right, Stain,” Iida added. “I have no right to call myself a hero. But I can't give in. If I do, Ingenium will die.”

“Out of the question,” Stain replied, suddenly lunging. Both Izuku and Iida dodged away from the vertical strike, which Todoroki took advantage of by loosing his flames between them. The villain faltered in his dodge, catching some of the attack with his right side.

“Idiot!” the pro shouted from the back. “The hero killer is after me and that kid in white armor, right? Don't fight back. It'd be better if you ran away.”

Wow, for a professional, this guy was an idiot. And why was he still on the ground? Was the difference in blood types really that significant, or was he just letting three kids handle his job for him on purpose?

“We don't need to,” Izuku countered, watching the killer leap up and stick his sword in the nearby wall. “He's done.”

As if on cue, the villain leapt up off his sword, using it as a springboard to get to the roof, where he stood for only a few moments to stare before sprinting into the night.

“Just like that...?” Iida asked, bewildered. “But why?”

“Easy,” Izuku answered. “It was either leave now or guarantee he gets caught. Three on one with people who know his quirk, and he's getting slowed by the numbness in his leg. That's why he got burned just now. Then you remember the backup on the way, and he doesn't know how long the effect will go for nor how much it will spread. It doesn't take a genius to realize he can't win, and probably can't even get one of his targets. So fleeing now to have more opportunity later is the best play.”

“Well, come on, let's go after him!”

“No.”

“What do you mean, no?”

“We've pushed our luck with even being here in the first place. We don't have licenses, remember?”

“He's right, Iida,” Todoroki agreed. “We're likely to get in trouble as it is, and there are other threats to people's safety right now.”

“Plus,” Izuku added with a pointed look at the pro still on the ground. “We need to take care of the pavement princess.”

“I think his quirk is finally wearing off, actually,” the man said, shakily getting to his feet. “Call me Native, by the way.”

Izuku nodded, moving to collect some of the scattered blades left by the villain. He pocketed the two folding knives, slipped the fixed blade thrown at Todoroki's face into his shinguard, and was forced to leave the sword since he couldn't reach properly to pull it out. He also handed Iida his helmet.

“I'm sorry,” Native said as they began walking. “Even though I'm a pro, I was just in the way.”

“Not really,” Izuku corrected. “But I was surprised at how long the difference between blood types seems to be. Should be noted so future pros who meet him know, not that it'd matter much solo.”

“You know, I hadn't really thought about it, but you're right,” Iida added. “I feel like you were down for an extremely short time relative to the entire fight, whereas Native and I were out for most, if not all of it.”

“And I doubt any of us would have had the success we did if not for our numbers advantage,” Todoroki offered. “We fought three on one, with the guy making mistakes himself, and we still barely pulled through.”

The four made their way to the sidewalk, where Izuku spotted a familiar yellow-clad hero across the street.

“Wha-? Why are you here?”

“Gran Torino?” Izuku returned. “What're you-”

Suddenly, the old man zipped through the air, flinging himself feet-first at the boy. He blocked it, and the pro jumped back, fuming.

“I thought I told you to stay seated on the bullet train!”

“You told me to sit down,” Izuku corrected. “I then stood back up and ran toward the danger because I wanted to help.”

“Who's that?” Todoroki asked, not skipping a beat.

“Gran Torino,” Izuku answered. “I'm interning for him. But why are you here?”

“I was told to come here all of a sudden. Well, I don't know what's going on, but I'm glad you're okay.”

“Yeah, sorry. I saw people in trouble and went to help. Only reason I'm not running over to stop the fires right now is that these guys need a medic and I'm exhausted.”

“It's around here!” a feminine voice shouted.

The group turned together to face the speaker, who seemed to be one of several heroes running up to them.

“Endeavor told us there was a request for help here, but...” a stick-headed hero said.

“Children?” the next asked.

“Those injuries look serious!” another said worriedly. “I'll call an ambulance!”

Izuku waved off the concerns at his torn sleeves as the pros assessed the damages. He was starting to explain what had happened when Iida spoke from behind him.

“You two....”

Both boys turned to look at their classmate, who bowed his head in shame.

“You were injured because of me,” the white-clad boy said. “I am truly sorry. I couldn't...see anything...through my anger.”

Iida began to cry as he spoke, the weight of his actions clearly weighing on him. Izuku looked at his hand, and then to Todoroki's cheek and arm.

“Flesh wounds,” Izuku scoffed. “And like I said at the station, I get it. But in the future, let us know if there's a problem. That's what friends are for.”

Izuku smiled as the boy looked up, then realized he couldn't see it under his mask. So he opted to pat his good shoulder instead.

“Pull yourself together,” Todoroki added. “You're the class rep, right?”

“Yeah,” Iida agreed, wiping his eyes.

“Now how about we bandage that-”

“Get down!” Gran Torino suddenly shouted.

Izuku turned to look, but was snatched off his feet the instant he noticed the flying villain coming for him.

“Midoriya!” several of the people on the ground yelled together.

“This society overgrown with fake heroes,” a voice called out suddenly. “And the criminals who wave their power around idly...”

Just as Izuku recognized the voice, Stain leapt out from the nearby rooftop, stabbing a knife into the head of the monster. The three plummeted together, with Izuku feeling himself get picked up before they all slid across the pavement.

“Should all be purged,” the man finished. Izuku didn't know whether to be fearful or thankful in that moment. Then he felt the hand pressing down on his back. He focused on the villain's movements as the pros commented among themselves. It didn't seem like Stain was doing much more than retrieving his knife at the moment, but he knew that could change quickly.

“All this is to create a more just society,” the man said coldly, ripping his knife from the dead creature's brain. As he stood up properly, he turned to look at the gathered group, letting his rescuee roll over to look at what was happening. Izuku knew things were about to get bad, but just as he was about to say something, he noticed three small pellets in Stain's left hand behind his back.

“Why are you all standing around in a group?” an approaching man yelled, his face and torso alight.

Oh great, Endeavor. Just the hero they needed....

“The villain should have escaped this way.”

“How are things on your end?” one of the gathered pros asked.

“Things got a little rough. But don't tell me that man is...?”

“Endeavor,” Stain said, venom dripping from every sound.

“Hero Killer!” the burning “hero” yelled back, readying flames.

So this was how Izuku died.

“Wait, Todoroki!” Gran Torino yelled, seeming to draw the man's attention to the friendly fire.

“You fake,” Stain continued, ignoring everything as he stepped forward. The air grew heavy with the sense of death. “I must make things right, someone must be dyed with blood, I must take back what it means to be a hero! Come, try and get me, you fakes! The only one I'll let kill me is the true hero: All Might!”

The overwhelming aura the man put out caused everyone present to either freeze or stagger back. With a brief look around, the hero killer laughed to himself, then threw his pilfered smoke bombs at the gathered crowd.

He'd bluffed them all.

“You win this round, kid,” the man said over his shoulder before dashing off. It was only a moment later that Endeavor slid to where the villain had been, looking around frantically.

“You let him get away?” he asked angrily.

“You want me to break the law?” Izuku countered. The hero growled, then ran down a nearby alley in pursuit. He watched until the burning man turned a random corner out of sight.

Izuku stood with a groan. “Hey Gran Torino, we should probably go find Shinso.”

Chapter Text

Stain sat at his pilfered laptop, staring at the chip in his hand. That boy was quirkless.

Just like Leuwen.

It had been a long time since he'd thought about why Chizome had started down this path. Why he hated false heroes. Why he wanted- no, needed change in this cancer-ridden hero world. A tear dropped through his mask to the floor. But Stain didn't cry. Stain was beyond that now. And so, with a deep breath, be inserted the chip.

Izuku collapsed onto his bed, still in his costume pants. He was tired, oh so tired. After getting chewed out by the chief of police from Hosu, he just wanted to relax and then get some sleep. He opened his phone to the music app, and pressed play on his favorites playlist. First track was G.O.A.T. by Polyphia. Just as the guitar started, Shinso walked in.

“What's with the old school techno? Aren't computerized sounds kinda outdated?”

“It's not techno,” Izuku responded, nodding to the beat. “This is all done by hand, with electric guitars and standard drums.”

“So the guitarist has a multi arm quirk?” Shinso asked, confused.

“Pre-quirk era,” Izuku countered casually.

“Wait what? How? I admit that's pretty cool, but why are you listening to such ancient music? Most modern musicians can do things these guys could only dream of.”

“That's exactly it,” he responded, pausing the track. “They did this without a quirk to help them. Nothing to shortcut them to better results. These artists made masterpieces through sheer skill and effort that literally anyone could build for themselves. And that means something.”

Shinso looked him over for a few seconds, processing. Suddenly, it seemed to hit him what Izuku had meant. He coughed awkwardly.

“R-right. That makes sense.”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied with a shrug. “I kinda considered a few back-up plans.”

Both boys sat in the awkward silence for a little bit.

“You wanna see some other cool stuff pre-quirk artists could do?”

The video player hung on the opening frame as it loaded the file Stain had selected. On screen was a young, green-haired boy. And though there were tears in the boy's eyes, they held a determination and conviction Stain had rarely seen.

“Hello there,” the boy said nervously. “Mister Stain. I don't know if when you see this whether I'll be alive, but I have some things I need to say. I'll start by saying some things that will hold true no matter how much time passes. My name is Izuku Midoriya, and I'm quirkless.”

This was the boy under the mask he'd met earlier...he wondered where this was going.

“I'm starting this video diary at age ten, and it is currently one hundred-eight ME. I found out about you just a few weeks ago, after you killed your ninth hero. And while I don't know much about Puppeteer, I do know that he didn't deserve to die. He was one of the few heroes with a success rate for quirkless within ten percent of his success rate for quirked people. He did his best as a hero, and you took him away from us. You keep going on about 'false heroes,' but you can't seem to even reliably find them. So please, just stop. We need heroes, even if they can be jerks sometimes!”

Katsuki watched the anchors struggle to explain how Izuku had fought the hero killer and lived. The man on screen seemed to be arguing with his co-host about what it meant that the hero killer had actually saved the life of a quirkless boy. He was arguing that it must mean the man saw this kid as someone similar to All Might. The woman next to him was trying to counter by saying that it wasn't a good look for a murderer to take a shine to anyone. Katsuki tuned them out as they continued to bicker. It was irrelevant, anyway. Whether people liked him or not, this quirkless hero-to-be had just made himself known in a big way. It was going to be hard to ignore this little green boy.

And that thought brought a smile to his face.

Stain looked up the boy he'd just finished the first video from. Izuku Midoriya, age fifteen. Current student of U.A. High, class 1-A. Apparently the boy had made quite the showing at the sports festival, and despite several different news outlets questioning his admittance and actions, there seemed to be far more that showed clear support of the boy.

For now.

He clicked the next video, hoping to figure out more. As soon as it started, there was a determined look in the boy's eyes. He held a couple sheets of paper.

“I spent the last week using some spare time to research heroes. I don't know how you determine who is and isn't a 'true hero,' but I can define who is and isn't doing their level best to help people. In my hands I hold a list of heroes and how I know they're just trying to help. First up is Manual, the Normal Hero. He may not stand out for his quirk nor his power, but he is genuine, and doesn't back down from challenges. He knows his strengths, and does what he can when he can. Second....”

Nezu looked through his records, trying to figure out what had happened. In front of him sat his computer, on his left a stack of request letters, and on his right a small pile of complaints. One of these things didn't make sense, though. Try as he might, he couldn't figure out why agencies were complaining about having their requests rescinded. According to his electronic records, all of the agency letters on his left had been canceled. According to the complaints on his right, no such cancelation had been requested by at least five agencies. In a pip screen on his computer, the hero Crust was explaining to a journalist that he was outraged that his requests had been deleted.

“I'm not trying to point fingers at anyone, I just want answers,” the masked man was saying. “I believe Nezu when he says he only removed my request for Mister Midoriya because he got a message from my team to do so. But I also know I didn't send any such message, nor did I request it. And I have friends in the business who say the same. I hope the boy knows I have the utmost respect for him, and I can personally assure that my agency would be happy to take him on whenever the next opportunity arises. I will not be rescinding that offer, and this recording will be all the proof needed to confirm.”

The interview continued, but Nezu wasn't paying attention anymore. Someone was interfering with his students' educations, and he couldn't have that. With a few taps of the keys on his keyboard, he pulled up a direct line with his favorite contact.

Stain smashed his chair in fury. How dare this boy call his actions pointless! He had conviction, he was taking down false heroes, he was culling the weak for a brighter future!

But then again, was he truly working toward a brighter future? He'd killed and maimed three dozen people over the course of a decade, and yet the only thing that had truly changed was that people took note of him and his words. Most heroes still worked for money and fame rather than to help, and just tonight he'd met a boy who was driven to revenge as his “heroic” angle by Stain's own actions.

Now that he thought about it, he wasn't even on this path for him. It was for Leuwen. Actually, Stain wasn't on this path for anyone. Chizome was on this path for Leuwen.

You are Chizome, though.

He held his aching head, ripping off the mask covering his eyes. He stopped as he heard the fabric tear, his eyes wet.

“I'm so sorry, Ototo....”

Chizome looked at himself in a nearby mirror for the first time in...God knew how long. His hair was so long and unmanaged it was tangled in long knots. His nose was practically non-existent. And his face was permanently wrinkled with a scowl.

What was he even doing anymore? Killing people for a better tomorrow? How was that even supposed to work? He looked back at the laptop, still sitting on the last frame of the last video. The boy was right.

“I need a system,” Chizome said aloud, in control of himself for the first time in over a decade. “And they need a chance. I see it now, my true way forward.”

He proceeded to close the laptop and throw it at the wall. He didn't need anyone tracking him. Especially not some kid. He looked down at himself in silent thought, then started taking off his arm wraps as he set out.

It was time for a few updates to his kit.

Chapter Text

“Morning, you two,” Izuku called out with a wave as he stepped into the hospital room.

“Oh, Midoriya,” Iida started, a little surprised. “It's you. And Manual?”

“And me, too,” Gran Torino added as he stepped in, arms folded.

“Why are you all here?” Todoroki asked, his eyes narrowing. “There wouldn't be all of you if this wasn't something important.”

“Perceptive as ever,” Izuku sighed. “Yeah, we've got trouble.”

“Indeed you do, woof.”

At that, a large man with a dog head walked in, hands in his pockets. He wore a black suit with a cow-print tie, looking around the room rather morosely.

“Boys,” Gran Torino said. “This is Hosu's chief of police, Kenji Tsuragamae.”

Both injured boys stood out of respect, and Izuku folded his arms as he leaned back against the wall, annoyed.

“So these are the other two who helped fight the hero killer,” the chief mused. “Well, in regard to him, we didn't manage to catch him yet. However, there is another matter. Since you're U.A. students, I'm sure you already know that when superpowers were still becoming the norm, the police attached high importance to leadership and standards to make sure quirks were not used as weapons. Out of that regulation came the profession of 'hero,' woof. For an individual's use of force and power that can easily kill others, actions that would normally be heinous, to be accepted officially, is thanks to early heroes who followed the ethics and rules of their profession, woof. Even against the hero killer, for uncertified individuals to cause injury with their quirks without specific instruction from their supervisors is a clear violation of the law.”

“So wait,” Iida started. “What does that mean for Midoriya? Since he didn't use a quirk, does he not face punishment?”

The chief put up a finger as he continued, implying that he'd get to it.

“The two of you, and the pro heroes Endeavor and Manual must receive strict punishment. And we can't just let your classmate off without any punishment, otherwise people might think vigilantism is okay so long as they don't use their quirks.”

“Even though technically it is,” Izuku mumbled, earning him a sharp look from his mentor.

“Hang on,” Todoroki interjected. “If Iida hadn't done anything, Native would've been killed. And if Midoriya hadn't come, both of them would have been killed.”

“Todoroki,” Iida said, forlorn. But his classmate continued, his anger growing.

“Nobody realized the hero killer was there, are you saying we should've followed the rules and watched people get killed?”

“Are you saying that as long as it turns out alright, it's okay to bend the rules?” Tsuragamae countered bluntly.

“Isn't it a hero's job to save people?”

“That is why you're not a full-fledged hero yet. Goodness, what are you being taught by U.A. and Endeavor, woof?”

“You mutt!” Todoroki snarled, stepping forward.

“Stop it,” Iida insisted. “He is absolutely right.”

“I'd put on the ice if I were you, hothead,” Izuku interjected, holding up a hand.

“Hear him out until the end,” Gran Torino added with a nod.
“That was the official opinion of the police,” Tsuragamae continued. “And the punishment would only happen if this were made public, woof. Should it go public, you would probably be applauded by the masses, but we would have to punish you. On the other hand, this is a bit underhanded, but if it's not made public, it wouldn't be hard to convince the public that the heroes present fought off Stain, and it would end there, woof. Thankfully, there were very few witnesses. This violation could be crushed here, woof. But this would also mean no one would know about your good judgement or achievements. Which do you prefer? Personally I don't want to be the one to find fault with promising young ones because of one big mistake, woof.”

“Either way,” Manual said, mildly upset. “We will need to take responsibility for being negligent in our supervisory duties.”

“And I'm under extra strict supervision,” Izuku added.

Iida stepped forward, looking about to cry. “I am truly sorry,” he said with a bow.

“Too right, you'll cause trouble for others!” Manual repremanded with a soft chop to the boy's bent head. “If you understand, don't do it again!”

“Right!” Iida replied.

“Please take care of it,” Todoroki replied softly, bowing his head.

“Because of the unfairness of adults, you will not be able to receive the praise you would probably have gotten,” the chief said as he bowed at the waist towards the boys. “But as someone who also protects the peace, I thank you.”

“Please start with that next time,” Todoroki scoffed.

With little extra fanfare, the adults filed out, and Izuku found himself alone with his classmates. He assured them that the whole class knew they were safe, making sure to note that he hadn't told anyone about actually fighting Stain. And though he was still upset about his lack of self control, Iida did resolve to take the name Ingenium for real. He explained that it would be a constant reminder of the hero he wanted to be. A goal to strive for. Another hour later, Izuku bid his friends farewell, making his way back with Gran Torino.
He spent a lot of that afternoon distracted, not helping Shinso much with his training. He was too focused on the rabbit hole of hero killer discussion boards. A few videos were being shared on repeat, no matter how often the video got taken off the clearnet. One in particular was prominent: a dissection of Stain and his ideology. Apparently, someone had figured out his real name and done some background searches. They had laid out his entire life, from his entry into the hero course at his high school, to his disillusionment from hero society and dropping out, to his family's deaths, to his speeches and their failure and his subsequent transition into villainy. Accompanying the deep dive of his character, with obvious idealizing of his goals, was a recording of the man's last speech before running away, though that was cut out of the clip. Among the comments were several people pointing out Stain's willingness to save the quirkless hero in training, which suggested to most on the board that he was recognized by the man as a true hero. Izuku wasn't sure how well that would go over with the public....

“Hey, Midoriya!” Shinso yelled. “Are you going to help me or not?”

“What do you mean?” Izuku asked, shaking his head.

“You haven't given me any advice since I started chasing him!”

“Well yeah, because I already told you the method to beat the clock.”

“What? No you didn't!” Shinso complained.

“You have every tool you need to beat him. You just need to think about it.”

The training continued for the rest of the week, with Shinso getting faster and faster each day. By the end of the week, Izuku was sure the boy could handle a good deal more of the power than he was using, but got dismissive responses every time he voiced as much. Shinso was apparently convinced his partner wasn't trustworthy. It was on the last day that he finally decided to settle things.

“You know, if you upped your usage of One for All a little bit, I'm pretty sure you could catch him,” Izuku said as he helped Shinso to his feet.

“And I'm sure if you gave me any actual advice, I'd listen,” Shinso countered coldly.

“I am,” Izuku sighed. “I guess I just thought you'd want to train your new quirk this week while you figure out what I meant.”

“What's that supposed to mean?”

“Tell you what, turn up the power a notch or two on this try, and I'll tell you how to beat him guaranteed. Deal?”

A few seconds passed before Shinso replied, “Deal.”

With that, the electricity flowed over the boy's body again, and this time he launched at the pro with more speed than ever. It looked like Gran Torino had to really try this time to avoid being touched. However, the three minutes still passed, and other than a small, barely noticeable tear on the man's cape collar, nothing had changed.

“That enough notches for you?” Shinso wheezed.

“Yeah, I think that works. And the way to beat him is literally the way I told you when we got off the train.”

“What do you—Oh God damn it.”

“Gran Torino, please start the next round, if you would.”

“Sure thing, kids,” the man replied, clicking his stopwatch and immediately setting off on his bouncing routine. “So what's the strategy change this time?”

“Hey Gran Torino, what do you think of purple flamingos?”

“But there aren't--”

With that, the man slammed into the back wall of the building, falling flat on his back.

“Ow, what happened?”

“I won,” Shinso said as he flicked the pro on his forehead.

“You were so focused on One for All that you forgot he could brainwash,” Izuku clarified. “Just like he forgot that he has a base quirk. Which he should remember to use in conjunction with his new power to ensure people can't think properly.”

“Alright, well I guess that means your training is complete for now,” Gran Torino sighed, popping his back. “But if you both want to become great heroes like All Might, you still have a lot to learn. Now go get ready, your time is almost up.”

“Yes sir,” both boys replied as one.

Chapter Text

“Seriously Bakugo?” Kirishima and Sero asked together as Izuku entered his class. Kacchan was clearly annoyed, glaring at the two. His normally spiked hair was combed down into a Beiber-esque mop top, which looked ridiculous.

“Shut up,” he said coldly. “You think I want to look like this? No matter how I comb it, it just falls back into this style. It's gotten used to it, and I'm already pissed off.”

“I'm sure you are,” Sero laughed. “I would be too.”

“I don't think the guy with a mullet gets to laugh at anyone's haircut,” Izuku interjected. “Now give him a break.”

“Killjoy,” the boy replied, suddenly stopping his laughter.

“Nah, he's right,” Kirishima added. “But seriously, Bakugo, you need to do something about that soon.”

“I know, shut up.”

“Wait, you got to fight villains?” Ashido asked Jiro from over at Tsu's desk, drawing Izuku's attention. “I'm so jealous!”

“I just helped people evacuate and did logistical support,” Jiro responded nervously, toying with her right-hand jack. “So I didn't do any actual fighting, though.”

“Yeah, wouldn't recommend it,” Izuku commented with a laugh. “We're definitely still in the learning phase rather than the takedown phase. Oh, and good morning, Tsu.”

“Kerro,” she replied with a smile.

“Oh yeah,” the pink girl said, turning to face him. Jiro mouthed a silent thanks. “You fought Stain, right? I heard about that. Bet you're glad that Endeavor showed up when he did.”

“I can honestly say that was the most glad I've ever been to see him,” he said, holding himself back. “He really is the same in person as on TV.”

“And here all I did was train and go on patrols,” Tsu said thoughtfully. “There was just one time where we caught smugglers from a neighboring country.”

“That's crazy!” both Ashido and Jiro said together.

“What about you, Ochaco?” Tsu asked, trying to change the focus. “How was your week?”

The girl stood in a ready position, a threatening aura coming from her. “It was very worthwhile,” she replied stoically.

“Well, good to know some of us got what we wanted out of the internships,” Izuku joked.

“She's awakened, huh?” Tsu added.

“Didn't she go to that battle hero's place?” Jiro asked no one.

“Speaking of mysteries,” Izuku interjected. “Where did you go, Sutore? I don't remember seeing your internship listed before we left.”

“Hmm?” the boy asked, looking up from a notebook he was pouring over. “Oh, I went with Kamui Woods because I figured the quirk similarity would be useful for helping me learn to use mine differently.”

“Okay, but seriously, we need to get back to you three,” Kaminari interjected, pointing to Izuku, Iida, and Todoroki. “Seriously, you all encountered the hero killer and survived!”

“Really glad for that, by the way,” Kirishima added. “I saw it on the news and was worried for a while. By the way, how did you manage to come out unscathed, Midoriya?”

“I heard Endeavor saved them,” Sato said. “Guess he showed up before you could get hurt.”

Izuku nodded, straining to keep his mouth shut. He understood why they'd done what they had, but it didn't make him any less annoyed to give Endeavor credit of all people.

“That's amazing,” Hagakure said joyfully. “As expected of the number two hero!”

“Yeah,” Todoroki replied, his mind clearly far away from the conversation. “He saved us.”

“I heard the hero killer was associated with the League of Villains,” Ojiro added. “Imagining someone that scary coming to USJ freaks me out.”

“Doubt it,” Izuku replied, rolling his eyes. “The guy's nuts, but unlike Shiguraki, he's actually got an idea of where he wants to go.”

“Well,” Kaminari interjected. “He is scary, but have you seen the video?”

“You mean of the hero killer?”

“Pretty sure he means the deep dive one,” Izuku offered.

“Yeah. Seeing that, you can really understand how he's really single-minded and, like, tenacious. Doesn't it almost make you think he's cool?”

“No,” Izuku replied. “As it well shouldn't. If he wanted the change he so desperately seeks, he should have set an example of what he wanted them to be. Anything else is at the very least nearing insanity, if not sheer stupidity.”

“Well you certainly have strong opinions,” Iida noted.

“He's been researching the guy for years,” Sutore chuckled. “He's had time to form his educated opinion.”

“I didn't mean anything by that, by the way,” Kaminari said genuinely to Iida.

“It's fine,” the boy replied calmly. “It's true he's tenacious. I can understand how people would think he's cool.”

“So long as you can live with the swiss cheese logic,” Izuku chuckled.

“But,” Iida continued pointedly. “He chose purging as a result of his beliefs. No matter what he thinks, that part is definitely wrong. In order to keep anyone else from turning out like me, I will once again walk the path to becoming a hero!”

Izuku smiled wide, nodding along with a couple of his classmates.

“Now, it's time to commence class! Everyone take your seats!”

The boy continued to shout instructions, but Izuku tuned him out as he rolled his eyes and went to his seat to review his latest notebook. Despite Iida's insistence otherwise, there was no reason to be actively ready for class until the bell rang, and he wanted to take advantage.

Hero training that day was interesting, forcing Izuku to use his cables to swing to the finish as fast as possible. Unfortunately, he still came in third, since Sero was able to pull himself along with his tape, and Iida's sheer speed made up for his need to go around obstacles. But, he could live with that. He wasn't the slowest, meaning his mobility plan for the bracers was a success. However, after their round was over, All Might told him to meet up after class, which was concerning. All he could get out of the man was that it was time to learn about him and One For All.

So here he was, knocking on the door to a private room on the third floor. He opened the door after announcing himself to see a shrunken All Might sitting morosely on a couch, his successor sitting opposite him with a blank stare.

“Have a seat,” All Might said calmly.

Izuku raised an eyebrow toward his fellow student, but only received a shrug in return.

“You went through a lot, huh?”

Izuku shrugged as he sat down, still trying to parse out what was happening.

“I'm sorry I couldn't be nearby.”

“No need to apologize for that,” Izuku replied, confused. “Even the greatest heroes can't be everywhere at once. Even Ectoplasm has his limits.”

“And what's all this about talking about One For All?” Shinso added.

“I heard Stain got a taste of your blood,” All Might replied cryptically.

“That's how he activates his quirk, yes.”

“Do you know how I gave Young Shinso my power?”

“Pretty sure you said he ate some of your hair,” Izuku replied, the realization hitting him. “Wait, could Stain have stolen One For All if Shinso had been there?”

“No, no. In fact, that's one of the things I wanted to explain to you both. One For All cannot be transferred to anyone unless the bearer wishes it. So if you come across someone who happens to ingest some part of you, Young Shinso, you need not worry about the quirk. It cannot be stolen by force. It can be transferred by force, though. Like a confident girl giving you chocolates you didn't ask for.”

“A weird example, but okay.”

“It's a special quirk, and I want you both to know how it came about. One For All was derived from a certain quirk that existed long ago.”

“And the fact you're telling us this suggests we may be familiar with its parent quirk, too,” Izuku replied thoughtfully. He had a bad feeling about where this was going.

All Might nodded. “The name of that quirk is 'All For One.' A quirk that could steal quirks from others and make them the holder's, and could give those quirks to others.”

“All, as in every quirk for one person?” Shinso asked shakily.

“This was when superpowers were first showing up,” All Might continued. “Before society had figured out how to deal with the changes. With the appearance of quirks, what made someone a normal human crumbled away. With just that, laws lost their meaning, and the progress of civilization stopped. It began to decay.”

“People have said that if quirks didn't exist, we'd be in the space age by now,” Izuku said, nodding. “And I imagine a quirk that powerful among that chaotic society would have a lot of opportunity to use it to change the course of history.”

“Correct. During that chaotic period, one man was the first to unify all the people. I'm sure you've both heard of him. He stole quirks from people, and with his overwhelming power, he spread his influence. He moved people in a calculated way, committing evil acts to his heart's content. In the blink of an eye, he became the leader of the evildoers and ruled over Japan.”

“But I thought that was just rumor,” Shinso asked hopefully. “It's not in textbooks or anything, so it's all fake, right?”

“No, the historical documentation and video evidence is still out there. It's really hard to find on Japanese servers, though. Some people take that to suggest that the man responsible is still out there pulling strings today. But he can't be, he'd have to be well over a hundred years old by now.”

“Indeed,” All Might sighed. “They can't put secret dealings into the textbooks, can they? If people get powers, they look for places to use them.”

“So are you suggesting that One For All is part of All For One?” Izuku asked plainly.

“I said All For One could give quirks to others, right? He made others trust him or surrender to him by giving them quirks. But apparently, there were many who were given quirks and could not bear the burden, becoming like living dolls who couldn't speak.”

“Like the Nomu,” Izuku shuddered.

Shinso inhaled sharply at the revelation.

“Meanwhile, there were also quirks that changed or mixed once they were passed on. All For One had a quirkless younger brother. He was small and sickly, but had a strong sense of justice. It pained him to see his older brother's deeds, so he resisted him. So the man forced a quirk that could stockpile power onto his younger brother. At this point, it's impossible to know if that was out of kindness or an attempt to force him into submission.”

“Don't tell me,” Shinso said breathlessly, staring at his hands.

“Yeah. He was thought to be quirkless, but there was something inside him. Something not even he had noticed. He had a useless quirk that could pass on his quirk!”

All Might spread his arms wide for flair, continuing emphatically.

“The quirk to stockpile power mixed with the quirk to pass on quirks.”

“And One For All was born,” Izuku finished. “But I feel like there's another thing you aren't telling us.”

“It's ironic,” All Might continued as though nothing had been said. “That justice always comes from evil.”

“All Might,” Izuku said pointedly. “Why are you telling us this? Shinso, sure. He should know the origin of his power. But why am I here? Why do we both need to know about a supervillain who's long since dead?”

“He can steal quirks you know. Anything goes. Even a quirk to stop aging.”

“He's not dead,” Izuku realized with horror, his face paling as he made an even darker revelation. “He's the one who stabbed your gut and emaciated you, isn't he?”

“The symbol of evil,” All Might continued, holding up a hand. “Was pretty much immortal. With the huge difference in their combat abilities and the state of society at the time, the defeated younger brother decided to entrust his quirk to future generations. He believed that even if he couldn't win then, if he slowly cultivated the power, then one day it would become strong enough to stop his older brother. And then, when it was my turn, I was finally able to defeat him! At least, that's what I thought, but he survived and has started moving again as the brain behind the League of Villains.”

Both boys stared silently as the hero stood and walked over to the nearby window.

“One For All is power inherited to defeat All For One, so to speak. Shinso, you may one day have to fight against this great evil. This is harsh on you, but-”

“I won't let you down!” Shinso shouted, standing with a fist of determination. “No matter what, All For One will know defeat! We'll bring him down together!”

“And you can bet your ass I'll help out too,” Izuku added with a confident smile. “A villain like that has a lot to answer for, and I'm not just going to stand by and let him keep hurting people.”

As excited as All Might seemed to hear that, there was a moment of hesitation before he replied. He looked sad for a moment.

“You must,” he began, stopping suddenly. He clasped a hand over his mouth, releasing its hold slowly. The boys shared a look of concern as they waited for the man to continue.

“Thank you,” is all he said.

And later, as the two boys went back to class, Izuku couldn't help but feel that the number one hero was hiding something vitally important.

Chapter Text

“During summer vacation, we'll have a training camp in the woods!”

“I knew it!” much of the class shouted together. “YES!”

Izuku was happy to get the chance to hang out with his class, but he felt that they were overreacting. Or maybe he was just distracted because he was still stuck on what All Might had held back from saying....

”However,” Aizawa continued, bringing immediate silence. “Those who do not pass the final exam before that...will be in summer school hell.”

Well, a logical incentive to have everyone do their best was definitely Aizawa's style.

A few days later, after class was finished, Izuku found himself approached by a couple of his...less gifted classmates. Tokoyami also approached him for help, but he wasn't who Izuku worried about. At least he could be taught without going back to basics. Kaminari, on the other hand....

And then there was Aoyama. The boy approached him for help, but acted like he was doing Izuku a favor. Despite his annoyance, he agreed to help if only to make sure the kid had some level of intellect to use for his quirk. He would need it, after all, given his quirk's drastic drawbacks.

“Thank you, Midoriya,” Yaoyorozu said genuinely. “I may have the space at home to teach a large group, but I lack the efficiency to do so well.”

“It's nothing. Besides, it makes the most sense to have the top two students helping out, right?”

They were also reminded that there was the practical portion, too. So Izuku decided that he should probably put his new training to work.

“Kaminari, Aoyama,” he said flatly. “I'm going to be honest. I will be going pretty hard on you both to make sure the lessons stick. It's nothing personal, and I want to assure you anything I say or do is purely to help you be better with your quirks.”

“Sure thing,” Kaminari said, flashing a thumbs-up.

“Oui, mon ami,” Aoyama added, nodding. “We expect nothing less.”

“By the way, Midoriya,” suddenly asked Shoji. “I have to ask, did you get lucky, or have you just been cramming all year? I heard you got a perfect score on the midterm.”

“Neither,” Sutore replied with a chuckle. “He just remembers the subjects from when he studied them two years ago.”

“He what?” asked Kaminari and Ashido in unison.

“Why were you already studying this class's material years ago?” asked Tokoyami.

“Same reason I don't have a lot of free time to hang out in the evenings. I do a lot of extracurricular work. Have been since I was five.”

“Like what?” Kirishima asked.

“Martial arts, chemistry, statistics, parkour practice, hero analysis, psychology, sleight of hand....”

“Sleight of hand?” Kacchan interrupted.

“Yeah, in case I need to hide something or steal something from a villain. Comes up more than you might think.”

“Wow, you've been putting your all into this for a long time, it sounds like,” Shoji commented.

“Well, when you don't have a quirk to carry you, you have to make up for it somehow,” Izuku said dismissively before realizing how that came out. “Not that I think anyone here has been slacking, or anything!”

“Nah, none taken,” Kaminari laughed. “You're definitely right. What's the English saying? Twice the work for half the results? And yet you're still one of the best heroes here.”

“Bro,” Kirishima berated. “You could have said that way better.”

“No, it's fine,” Izuku laughed. “He's right. And besides, I kinda like knowing that my efforts aren't being downplayed. Means that my time hasn't been wasted.”

That day during lunch, Monoma came by to annoy the class again, this time griping about the three who met Stain. As he was being dragged off, Kendo offered her knowledge as way of apology. According to upperclassmen, they were going to be fighting robots for the practical exam. That got Izuku forming a plan immediately.

And during the week of study sessions, he focused on his classmates' progress.

“Okay, now we practice realistically,” Izuku said after their first half-hour of studying material. “Let's head out to the waterways.”

“What, why?” Kaminari asked incredulously.

“So you guys don't get in trouble for using your quirks.”

“Que?”

“You're all going to practice new methodologies with your quirks that I think will make you more efficient.”

And when they got to the spot, it immediately became apparent he was serious. Straw dummies and steel targets had been placed around the area like a shooting range, and some more dummies stood off to the side with fake weapons.

“Alright, first up is Kaminari.” Izuku announced. “I want you to set this dummy's head on fire.”

“What? I can't do that!”

“You can if you spark between specific points and grab someone. Turn yourself into an efficient taser. Oh, and go for amps, not volts. A billion volts will only tickle the skin if they don't have the amperage to make it deeper. You'll know you've done it right when you grab the dummy's face and only his head lights on fire.”

“Okay....”

“Aoyama, I want you to hit the three white targets in under five seconds.”

“How?” asked the boy. “My standard blasts last a half second each, so I can only fire two rapidly!”

“Then cut down on power. A missed forty millimeter does less damage than an accurate twenty-two long rifle does. Remember that.”

“And me?” Tokoyami asked.

“We're going to spar, utilizing the dummies over there. The ones with the sticks.”

“And how are the dummies going to come into play?”

“Simple. Don't get stabbed. For the purposes of this training, those sticks are knives and machetes.”

“I feel like there's more to this, but I will do as you say.”

“You're right, but I think it'll be easier to just show you what I'm thinking.”

With that, Izuku took his spot among the dummies, and Tokoyami let out Dark Shadow. Without much thought, the quirk manifestation began to go after the dummies, taking out two before Izuku could move much. But he didn't need them all to stay upright, so he proceeded to run around to Tokoyami's left side before moving in.

“Dark Shadow, the real threat is here.”

Izuku smiled, diving toward his classmate. The boy dodged away, with his quirk coming up to provide cover. With a roll, he managed to avoid the counterattack Dark Shadow attempted. As he raised back to his feet, he positioned himself a little differently, waiting. It was only a few seconds before Dark Shadow became impatient and went for another strike, which Izuku dodged and used to rush past the attacking entity. Tokoyami once again attempted to dodge away from him, but stumbled when he stepped on a dummy that had been knocked over, resulting in him falling directly into another dummy, then the ground.

“And just like that, you're dead. You got stabbed.”

The black-clad boy groaned as he sat up.

“I failed to pay attention to my surroundings, and that cost me,” he intoned.

“No, you got stabbed because you forgot that you can fight, too. You were so focused on getting away from me and letting Dark Shadow do all the work, you forgot that you have fists you could fight with for yourself. You could have either slapped over every dummy while I was fighting Dark Shadow, or you could have easily teamed up against me. There is no reason for you to not jump in to help your quirk fight. Even if you're at reduced effectiveness from keeping him in check, you can definitely provide assistance in encounters. So why not boost your effectiveness?”

For a solid five seconds, the boy stared dumbfounded. Izuku could see the cogs turning, re-assessing every encounter he'd ever been in. With a shake of his head and a look of determined resolve settling in, he stood.

“Thank you for helping me realize. I hope to remedy this quickly. And I'm sorry to you, Dark Shadow, for not providing you with backup.”

“Don't worry,” the quirk replied with a thumbs-up. “I didn't think of it either. And this ought to be fun!”

“Now I want you two to work on your teamwork. Try to get some combo work going on this pile of dummies while I focus on the other two for a bit, okay?”

Ten days came and went, and though his classmates complained about the extra work a few times, they did also see the benefits of his help. So, all things considered, he was fine dealing with a little whining. There was no whining though when the test itself came around. Kaminari even thanked him, saying he had filled in every answer as though that was actually an achievement.

And then there was the day of the practical exam. Izuku lined up alongside the rest of his classmates, listening to their teachers as they explained what was to come.

“Of course, it is possible to fail this exam,” Aizawa stated matter-of-factly. “If you want to go o the training camp, then don't make any stupid mistakes.”

“There are a lot of teachers,” Jiro noted quietly.

“I expect that you all have gathered information ahead of time,” Aizawa continued. “And that you have some idea of what you'll be doing.”

“We're fighting robot warriors like at the entrance exam, right?” Kaminari blurted thoughtlessly.

“Fireworks!” Ashido added. “Curry! Test of Courage!”

“Too bad!” came a small voice as Aizawa's scarf began to wriggle. “For various reasons, the exam will be different starting this time!”

As the rodent spoke, Izuku realized that it was the principal talking, and toward the end of his announcement, he popped free of his confines.

“Principal Nezu!” several students commented.

“Different?” Yaoyorozu asked.

“From now on,” Nezu explained, climbing down from his perch. “We want to focus on person-to-person combat and hero work, and stress teaching that is closer to actual fighting.”

“That makes sense,” Izuku thought aloud. “Since the robots don't have quirks, but most enemies we will encounter as heroes will.”

“Exactly!” Nezu beamed. “So, we'll have you form teams of two to fight against one teacher!”

“Against...the teachers?” Uraraka asked, clearly nervous.

“In addition, the pairs and who they will be fighting has already been decided,” announced Aizawa. “These were determined at my discretion based on various factors, including fighting style, grades, and interpersonal relationships. So here they are.”

As he spoke, Izuku looked over the roster in front of them, trying to deduce which one was most likely to be put up against his team. His teammate would likely affect the choice, but he could rule out Aizawa immediately. No way the quirk erasure hero would volunteer to gimp his own ability and give the team a simple counterplay. And given Aizawa's style, he didn't want to give anyone an easy time. It would have to be possible, but never easy for the students to win. As such, Nezu wasn't unlikely, given their similar styles. Snipe could definitely cause problems for him, but if given the right partner, that would be another easy victory. But then again, the one enemy type that could really cause Izuku problems was a power type. So maybe Power Loader?

He was jolted from his train of thought by Kacchan elbowing him.

“I was mumbling again, wasn't I?”

“Yeah, and you missed us being on a team,” the blond sighed.

“And it will be versus,” Aizawa started again.

Just as he was about to continue, a massive form landed in front of the boys. As he rose to his feet proper, All Might spoke.

“I...will do it!”

“Fuck,” Izuku swore.

“All Might?” Kacchan asked nervously.

“Work together to beat me, you two!”

The boys shared a look, and Izuku swallowed his nerves.

“We got this, right?” he asked a little shakily.

“Yeah,” his friend smiled back. “We got this.”

“And now,” Nezu announced. “We'll announce the teams and the teachers they'll be up against all at once!”

That felt odd, since it subsequently singled out the teams who had been announced separately. But Izuku didn't question it, nor did he really pay attention as the other teams were announced. He instead turned to his partner.

“Alright, so we need to work together for this,” he stated. “But we're going to have to be smart. All Might is a tough shell to crack, and we definitely can't just take him head-on.”

“Actually, about that,” Kacchan replied thoughtfully. “I think we can take him if we get tricky with our approach.”

For emphasis, he patted his shoulders.

“Maybe,” Izuku replied with a smile. “We do have a good amount of support tools, after all. But what if we were paired up because of that? Think about it, we are the two with the most support gear in the class. I wonder if Aizawa just wanted us to realize we can't just rely on our gear to carry us...”

“Well, we already-”

“The time limit for the exam is thirty minutes!” Nezu announced loudly, pulling the boys from their conversation. “Your objective is either to put these handcuffs on the teacher, or to have one of you escape from the stage!”

“Capture the teacher or escape,” Kaminari mused. “It's kind of like the combat training.”

“Is it really okay to run away?” Ashido asked.

“Yes,” Nezu confirmed with a thumbs-up.

“But it'll be different from the combat training!” Present Mic warned. “You'll be up against someone waaaaaay better than you!”

“Way better than us,” Jiro repeated. “I can't really imagine it, though....”

“Dummy!” Mic yelled back. “Hey girl, watch your mouth! You hear?”

Gripes aside, Mic did have a point. There wasn't much chance for most students to win, realistically. Even with a two-on-one advantage, they were underprepared for this almost across the board.

“This time, your exam will be very similar to a real battle,” Thirteen continued. “Please think of us as villains.”

“To be fair,” Izuku noted. “Our opponents do mean that we don't have to hold back this time.”

“If you come across an enemy,” Snipe carried on. “If you think you can win a fight against them, then that's fine. However-”

“In cases where there's to big a difference in your abilities,” Aizawa interrupted. “It would be smarter to run away and get help.”

“Like the USJ,” Izuku nodded.

“Todoroki, Iida, Midoriya, I'm sure you understand this well,” Aizawa continued as though nothing had happened.

“That's right!” All Might yelled cheerfully. “Your decision-making skills are being tested! But with these rules, you're probably thinking the only choice is to run, right? That's why we had the support course make these for us!”

With a flourish, the large man pulled out a metal bracelet covered in black rectangles.

“Ultra compressed weights!” he announced. “We'll put on about half of our body weight. It's a handicap. It's old-fashioned, but it makes it hard to move and eats up stamina!”

Izuku thought about what that would mean for them. Unfortunately, it was a double-edged sword for his own team. All Might would be slower, and potentially reactable, but he would likely hit harder if they messed up. For the other students, though, this was a pure positive. It truly made the fights possible.

“Oh shoot, they're heavier than I thought,” All Might said quietly as he attached the last of his eight bands. “By the way, there was a competition to decide on the design, and we ended up using young Hatsume's.”

“And I'm sure it took five iterations for her to stop adding unnecessary extras, huh?” Izuku asked, rolling his eyes.

“To allow us to consider fighting you, right?” Kacchan asked, staring his teacher in the eyes with a wolfish grin. “I think you're underestimating us.”

“I wonder,” All Might replied with a similar look.

“All right,” Aizawa announced. “Each team will take the practical exam in order on the prepared stage. Sato, Kirishima, get ready.”

“Yes!” both boys responded together.

“Those waiting their turn can watch the exams or think of strategies as a team,” Aizawa said, starting to wrap up as the other teachers turned to head out. “Do what you want. That's all.”

As everyone made their way in, most everyone was talking strategy. Whether it was to come up with combo moves, what their end goal was, or how they would approach the fight.

“So,” Kacchan said casually as they walked near the back of the pack. “What's the real plan?”

“Easy, we take him head on,” Izuku replied with a shrug. “He knows we both hold him in high regard, so he probably thinks us agreeing to be sneaky and tricky about our approach is the most likely. Thus why it'll be perfect if he's only half right.”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean that you should go for a faux full frontal assault for a short time. Don't give me any of your armor, that would make it too obvious that I'm doing something else. I do want one or two grenades, though.”

“And while I'm getting pounded, you're just going to sneak away?”

“No,” Izuku replied, a little hurt. “I'm not going to leave you like that. That's not what heroes do. I'm going to set up a few traps for All Might, and hopefully we can whittle him down just enough for me to get some cuffs on him.”

“So our plan hinges on pure hope?”

“No, it hinges on me reading All Might correctly. This is a test of my analysis.”

“Alright,” the samurai nodded. “Then I trust it.”

“Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm gonna go do analysis on our classmates and teachers. You just try to work up a sweat.”

It didn't take long to realize that the teachers and students had been purposely chosen. Kirishima and Sato were up against Cementoss, and they lost handily due to the duration limits of their abilities. But then again, as much as Izuku respected them, neither boy was exactly top-tier for brainpower. So their full-frontal assault was completely expected. Tsu and Tokoyami were much more in sync, and Tokoyami's training at being a better backup came in handy a few times, but he still wasn't great at fighting for himself. Ectoplasm, meanwhile, seemed to be specifically targeting the boy to weaken them. It almost looked like they were going to lose until Tsu pulled out a surprise tactic of having swallowed the cuffs to hide them. The plan was just quick enough to get a cuff onto the teacher's leg, winning them the match. Ojiro and Iida, meanwhile, used a clever combination to launch the former out of the arena faster than Power Loader could respond. Izuku noted down that Iida had used his recipro extend to spin himself and his partner up for the launch. That boy was getting clever. As for Yoayorozu and Todoroki, they looked like they were about to fail until Creati came up with a rather clever combination of a cloak, catapult, a dummy, and some nitinol alloy. With their opponent bound in metal wrappings, he wasn't going anywhere, regardless of his quirk erasure. In the next round, Aoyama and Uraraka walked straight into Thirteen, getting themselves stuck holding onto a bar to avoid getting sucked up. All seemed lost until Uraraka suddenly let go and used the suction force to tackle the pro. While he wasn't sure her strategy was the best idea in a real life scenario, it definitely worked here. He was sure they would get docked for the unrealistic solution to the problem, given that she'd probably have died if Thirteen hadn't deactivated her quirk at the last second. Ashido and Kaminari were up next, and their bout against Nezu went expectedly terrible. The two got stuck because they couldn't find the right path through the destruction the principal was generating from his crane perch. Izuku couldn't help but feel like the rodent was chosen because of his intellect and their lack thereof. Jiro and Koda managed to pass by grossing out Present Mic, despite Koda being afraid of the bugs they ultimately used. It may have required Jiro's ears to bleed, but they passed without serious injury. Mic, however, did suffer serious embarrassment. Shoji and Hagakure also managed to pass by distracting Snipe for long enough that the invisible girl managed to get the cuffs on him during Shoji's surrender. He didn't get to see Sutore's and Sero's fight against Midnight, but he heard as he approached Kacchan by their arena that the two were successful.

“Trade ya,” Izuku said as he held out a couple needles.

“I can't throw these, you know,” Kacchan replied, despite taking them and handing over two grenades in return.

“That's why they're a last resort tool,” Izuku chuckled. “Just hide them up your sleeves and stab him with them if you get caught. It probably won't do a lot to an experienced fighter like All Might, but it could be enough to give you wiggle room.”

As Kacchan slipped one needle into each sleeve of his outfit and Izuku stuffed the grenades into his right side pocket, making sure to utilize the inner sleeves to keep the buttons pointed in a safe direction. Just as he got the velcro on his pocket re-attached, the doors to the arena opened, revealing a small cityscape much like the entrance exam and original battle training. Both boys walked in, and Izuku did some final checks of his equipment. As he finished up, he popped out a tooth and tossed it to Kacchan.

“I figure your outfit doesn't have any communication equipment,” he said as the boy popped the device in his ear.

“I didn't,” he chuckled in return. “But now that you mention it, I might have to ask for something. Still think the pincer attack is our play?”

As they carried on, the large doors behind them closed, and both boys started their journey toward the scenario's villain.

“Definitely,” Izuku nodded. “We just need to be careful once we are actually fighting him. Realistically, neither of us can win in a direct fight against the guy. So we need to gimp him as best we can to maximize our room for error. Honestly, the longer this fight goes, the slower he should get. So long as we don't take any serious blows and think ahead of him, we should have a good shot. Speaking of which, you take the cuffs.”

“What? Why me?”

“Because I'm the one who's going to make a run for the exit if things go south, and he'll expect me to have the cuffs since I'm the one making the big plays initially.”

“Ouch,” Kacchan said, feigning hurt.

“I just mean that we're going to be trading off focus from each other. Think of it like drawing aggro from bosses in RPGs, except we're both half tanks.”

“Fine. So no issues with going straight forward to the exit?”

“Since that's probably where he's starting, nope.”

Just as he finished his sentence, though, he heard a great rumble from down the street, approaching rapidly.

“Take cover!” Izuku shouted, diving behind a nearby staircase. Just as he made it behind the structure, a massive column of wind rushed past, destroying everything around him. He tentatively looked over toward Kacchan and was relieved to see that he was safely in an alleyway where the destructive collapse wasn't reaching. The entire road and sidewalks were ripped from the ground, leaving a flat dirt path running down the middle of the city mockup, and as the pressure wave passed, most structures that lined the main street they were on were either entirely defaced, or smashed to near obscurity. Settling dust covered the area as Izuku got to his feet. As he stealthily made his way around the somehow still-standing cement stairs, Izuku heard All Might's approach.

“Who gives a damn about damaging the city?” he mocked, the tone in his voice dangerously violent.

With a heavy stomp, the man blew away the dust, clearing his line of sight. Thankfully, Izuku was still behind cover, with only the slightest bit of him peeking out to watch events unfold.

“If you think of this as an exam, you'll be sorry,” All Might threatened. “I am a villain, heroes. Come at me with everything you've got!”

“Sure thing!” Kacchan yelled, launching from his hiding place. “Stun Grenade!”

There was a bright flash as the boy held his palm out toward the villain, which Izuku used to his advantage, rushing out and drawing three needles from his side before throwing them into the dirt behind the large man whilst drawing the first grenade from its sleeve. Kacchan went for a follow-up blast, but was caught by his face at the last second. Rather than try to remove the offending limb, the boy simply held out both hands and released two large blasts to his opponent's face. The force of the blow caused the man to stagger backward slightly, stepping on a needle. He reflexively let go of his captured target, attempting to pull the offender from his foot. But Izuku kept up the pressure by pressing the button and throwing his grenade, which exploded on contact. Without his grounded friction, the blast tossed the large man to the side, smashing him through a shop's nearby window.

“You okay?” Izuku yelled to his partner, who landed smoothly and wiped some sweat from his brow.

“Scared me a bit, but yeah.”

“That was pretty well done,” an intimidating voice commented from the shadowy storefront. “But you're going to have to do better than that to win here today.”

“Which is why I made sure to think ahead,” Izuku commented, chucking his last grenade and drawing two more needles with his other hand. As the explosion went off, Izuku dove to his right to avoid the lunge he knew his teacher would go for. With a quick flick of his wrist, he loosed the needles in his left hand, and landed in a roll while drawing a third with his right. As All Might slid to a stop, both needles went wide, which he used as an opening to launch at his focus once more, just as Izuku had hoped. With great effort, he threw the needle directly at his target, who moved his head out of the way to take the attack directly to his left shoulder.

Perfect.

Izuku smiled for a moment before the punch hit him, sending him tumbling through the dirt. He was so disoriented by the time he stopped, he wasn't sure for a moment whether he was face up or face down. His chest also hurt like hell, and he was pretty sure he had a few cracked ribs.

“DEKU!” Kacchan bellowed in rage. “I'LL KILL YOU YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”

Izuku couldn't focus on much as he painfully got up, coughing heavily. He couldn't catch his breath, and the explosions he heard seemed miles away. He shook his head to focus. He still had work to do.

Deep breath, one two three.

And release.

He got to his feet, refocusing on the fight at hand, but was surprised to find All Might being kept at bay blow for blow with Kacchan. The boy was making precise strikes with a power and speed Izuku didn't even realize he had, with tears streaming down his face. The whole time, he was just shouting one word over and over.

“DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE!”

It wasn't as fast nor as steady as he wanted, but Izuku made his way back to the fight, drawing yet more needles. He made his way behind the larger man, who was taking each blow in stride, but couldn't seem to do much else but focus on the enemy in front of him. With less accuracy than he'd normally like, Izuku threw six more needles at his opponent, with four hitting him square in the back and the last two going either over his shoulder or into the dirt by his foot.

“You're still fighting?” All Might asked, incredulous.

“Don't ignore me!” Kacchan shouted, pulling out the cuffs.

All Might turned, recognizing the situation, but stumbled as he attempted to leap away. The numbness was clearly getting to him, and with an overhead swing, Kacchan secured the target. The buzzer sounded loudly as the other end was attached, and Izuku sank to his knees, coughing heavily.

“Team Bakugo and Midoriya have passed the exam,” the automated announcer said.

“I got you,” Kacchan offered, sliding in next to him. With great care, he helped his friend to a seated position and held him up.

“You called me Deku,” Izuku commented between coughing fits as the medic bots approached.

“I know,” the blonde replied softly. “I'm sorry, it just kind of happened.”

“It's fine, I just think it's funny to hear that name said so defensively.”

With one last chuckle, Izuku passed out.

Chapter Text

“Everyone,” Ashido sobbed. “I'm looking forward...to hearing your stories...about camp....”

“I wouldn't worry about it if I were you,” Izuku offered. “Everyone managed to pass the written section, so that's gotta count for something, right? And if we're going to a training camp, why wouldn't they bring the people who actually need practical training?”

“Dude, don't get their hopes up,” Sero chided, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Saying it aloud will probably jinx it.”

“If we failed the exams,” Kaminari grumbled. “Then we'd have to skip training camp and be in summer school hell. And since we didn't pass the practical exam, if you guys still don't get it, then you're dumber than monkeys!”

With a quick turn, the boy went to poke Izuku in the eyes. But, with a quick raising of his hand, he managed to block the attack.

“Calm down, man,” Sero said. “I don't know, either. Ichi carried me to victory while I was passed out. And since we don't know how they're scoring it-”

“If you feel bad for us, then I dunno, just bring me back lots of stuff!” Kaminari interrupted.

Izuku heard footsteps stopping right outside the door just then, and leapt over several desks to get to his seat as it was slid open.

“Once the bell rings, get in your seats,” Aizawa said flatly as the rest of the class quickly clambered to their spots without a word. “Morning. Unfortunately, there are those who did not pass the final exams. Accordingly, for the training camp in the woods...”

Four students could easily be heard sucking in a breath.

“Everyone's going!” Aizawa announced with the most genuine passion Izuku had ever seen from the man.

“We can go too?!” Kirishima asked, sounding on the verge of tears.

“Really?” Ashido added, tears already in her eyes.

“Yeah. Some failed, but no one failed the written exam,” the teacher explained. “In the practical, Kirishima, Kaminari, Ashido, Sato, and Sero failed.”

“I knew it,” Sero groaned with a facepalm. “Just because my team passed doesn't mean I scored high enough to not fail....”

“For this time's exam,” Aizawa continued. “We on the villain side made sure to leave a way for the students to win while watching to see how you all would take on the task at hand. If we hadn't, most of you would've gotten stuck before you got started.”

“So when you said you were really out to crush us,” Ojiro began.

“That was to make you feel cornered. In the first place, the training camp in the woods is one to increase strength. So those who failed need it the most. They have to get stronger. It was a rational falsehood.”

Izuku couldn't help but feel that was a lie given his usage of the “rational falsehood” line again, but said nothing. Iida, however, did speak up. He seemed to be muttering to himself while the five who failed celebrated their inclusion.

“However, since you lied to us twice, our faith in you will waver!”

“It's been more than just twice,” Tokoyami said pointedly.

“I'll take it under consideration,” Aizawa said calmly before turning to face the bird-headed boy. “And what do you mean by that?”

“You knew from day one that Midoriya was quirkless,” Tokoyami replied coldly. “And yet you still had a 'quirk aptitude' test ready for him. I don't think it takes a lot to conclude that you intended to single him out. And when he didn't come in last, you decided that you weren't going to expel anyone. Rather convenient, isn't it?”

Several murmurs flowed about the classroom, quickly shut down by Aizawa's quirk flaring up.

“Tokoyami, do you remember what I said to him after the test?” Aizawa asked calmly.

“Not particularly.”

“You told me that you wanted to make sure I was ready for the challenges this school could throw at me,” Izuku answered. “You were testing me specifically while not taking me aside and making it obvious. I assumed at the time it was because you wanted an excuse to get rid of me.”

“What? Is that true teach?” Kirishima asked, smacking his desk.

“Of course not,” Aizawa countered with a glare. “It's like you said that day, Midoriya. There isn't much difference between me and you. I just wanted to make sure you were up to the challenge, and you more than showed yourself prepared. And I only half lied. I was going to expel you if you came in last, but I also wanted to use the opportunity to see every student's potential.”

“So you did want to single out the quirkless kid,” Kacchan stated flatly.

“No, I wanted to keep a student of mine from dying because he was underprepared for this job!”

“That sounded personal,” Izuku noted.

“It was. Now if we're done with that, I would like to get back to the training camp, where we have prepared a separate time for extra lessons for you all. Frankly, it'll be tougher than the extra lessons you'd get if you stayed at school.”

The already tense mood was brought low as the man spoke, and Izuku felt a bit responsible.

“Midoriya, I'd like to talk to you after class.”

And that didn't help anything....

“So what is it that you wanted to talk about?” Izuku asked, closing the door to the private room he'd been shown to.

“I want to make sure you don't think I'm discriminating against you,” Aizawa replied, sitting seriously. “I may have had my concerns, but I want to ensure you that I don't think of you as any lesser than any other student of mine.”

“I'm aware,” Izuku nodded, taking a seat across from him. “I decided to look into your history after that first class, and realized you 'expel' students often. You could have mentioned that when you say that, you only mean that you're moving them to general studies so that they have to re-earn their spot in the hero course.”

“Resourceful as ever,” Aizawa mused. “Yes, I make sure to not fully crush any dreams or ruin any lives. But I do make a habit of ensuring that my students understand the severity of the choices they make. Especially the choice to be a hero.”

“And I respect that. But at the same time, I don't appreciate you underestimating me. You may see us as the same, but the reality is that because others don't, I have to deal with a lot of shit you can't even understand. If I didn't understand the reality of my decisions, I could never have made it to this school.”

The man looked him over for a few seconds, clearly considering his next words.

“Young man, I never want you to think that I do anything to hurt anyone. I send students to the general studies course as a faux death of their dream, rather than see them die a very real death.”

“Except that I face that very real death as a possibility every day of my life.”

“A valid point. But that doesn't lessen the danger you would face by throwing yourself at villains like we do.”

Izuku paused, thinking about what his teacher had told him. About what he'd seen in the short time since coming to this school. About All Might.

“I still want to do what's right, even if it's likely going to get me killed. I've accepted the reality of my circumstances, but I refuse to accept the claim that I can't be a hero. I want to inspire people, like All Might did for me.”

“And I can tell that you're well on your way, in both being a hero and inspiring others. In case you couldn't tell, you've already done pretty well at that latter part with your classmates.”

“How so?”

“You're pushing them to think about their abilities more, to be better people, and to refine their skills so that they can keep up with you despite you not having a quirk to compete with them. You're already so far ahead with your training that by simply working alongside you, they're improving faster than average. Please never think that I don't believe in you. I know you can be a hero. I just had concerns early on. I apologize if it came across as anything other than the best of intentions.”

As he finished, Aizawa stood and bowed in apology.

“It's alright, sir,” Izuku replied, rubbing his neck. “I get it. And my response may have been a bit overly cautious. I can see that you care, but I've had to re-assess a lot of things lately due to my prior distrust. So I'm sorry about that. Think we can just call it all water under the bridge?”

“Agreed. Have a good evening, Midoriya.”

With that, the man walked out of the room and headed down the hall.

Izuku looked around, marveling at the stores before him. His classmates had invited him to Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall, and he'd happily accepted. With a couple thousand yen as his limit, he left for the mall, arriving ten minutes early, wearing an old Nirvana shirt written in kanji, some old worn jeans, and his ever-present red shoes. Today, though, he figured they'd be getting some new friends, since they were wearing a bit thinner than he liked. Among other things.

“Midoriya!” came an excited shout.

Izuku looked over to see Ashido, along with about a third of the class. It was interesting to see everyone's unique style when they didn't have to conform to the school's dress code. He noted that several people's looks were very much expected of their personalities(such as Iida wearing business casual), but was surprised by Shoji's outfit in particular.

“No offense, but why the army brat look?” he asked the multi-armed boy.

“My dad is ex-US army,” he explained with a shrug. “I am an army brat.”

“Oh, shit. No offense meant, dude.”

“None taken.”

“Hey, aren't those U.A. students?” a bystander asked as the group continued into the mall.

“First years?”

“I saw them on TV!”

“Sports festival, yay!” all three boys shouted together.

“Oh, there are people who still remember that,” Uraraka said nervously.

Izuku chuckled as he waved at them. “Right? It feels like that was forever ago.”

He was surprised to see the three suddenly stop waving and move on. He couldn't help but notice one glare at him before leaving.

“Anyway, I need to but a big carry-on bag,” Jiro commented.

“Oh my,” Yaoyorozu replied. “Then why don't we go around together?”

“I'm gonna make sure to grab some extra snacks and some spare controllers in case any of you guys wanna join for some gaming,” Sutore announced.

“Good looking out man,” Kaminari replied. “But I don't have any outdoorsy shoes, so I want to go buy some.”

“Oh, me too, me too!” Hagakure added.

This brought the ire of the local robot.

“The guide said to bring shoes that are already broken in,” Iida started, then paused and held a hand to his chin thoughtfully. “Oh, but I see, perhaps we should choose based on utility?”

“Everyone has different things they want to do,” Kirishima interjected. “So why don't we decide on a time to meet back up?”

“Sounds reasonable,” Izuku replied.

“I agree!” Ashido shouted.

“Then let's meet back here at three o'clock!”

“Okay,” the group said together as they split up. Izuku started heading over toward the hobby store, hoping to pick up a lockpicking set. Given his often more covert approach, he figured learning the skill would be useful. It was as he was checking the mall directory that he felt someone rest their arm on his shoulder.

“Hey, I know you,” a raspy voice said. “Let me have your autograph.”

Izuku caught light blue hair out of the corner of his eye, and that the man was wearing an all-black ensamble of a hoodie and sweatpants, but had red shoes.

“You're the quirkless kid, right? The one who forfeit in the quarter finals?”

“Yeah, that's me,” Izuku replied with a sigh. “I'm happy you remember me, but can you-”

“And aren't you one of the students who ran into the hero killer in the Hosu incident?”

Izuku was getting a little concerned by the change in the man's tone.

“I am.”

“Man, I can't believe it. I can't believe I'd see you again in a place like this.”

Again? Izuku shifted his head slightly to look at the guy properly, and immediately recognized the grinning face of Tomura Shiguraki.

“It makes me feel like there's something to it....”

Izuku panicked for a moment as he realized the danger, quickly scanning the area for police or security officers, but felt the man's hand slide to his neck.

“...something like fate, or destiny.”

“Or stalking,” Izuku said quietly.

“Could be, but well, from your perspective, I guess we haven't met since the attack on UA, right? Why don't we have tea or something, Izuku Midoriya?”

Izuku felt a chill run down his spine. The man knew his name. He wasn't just some kid from UA.

“Sure,” he responded more calm than he felt. “Let's go. And if you put your hand on my shoulder instead, it'll look a lot less suspicious.”

After a moment's consideration, the hand did slide down to his right shoulder, but he noticed that the middle finger stayed raised off his skin. Maybe that was the trigger for his quirk?

“Just act natural, like I'm an old friend,” the man said coldly. “Don't make a fuss, okay?”

“I wasn't planning on it with all these people nearby,” Izuku replied honestly. “Too much risk.”

“Smart boy. I want to talk to you. That's all.”

“So where are we going?” Izuku asked, holding his calm.

“Let's go over there where it's more private,” Shiguraki smiled, pulling him along. “Look at these people. Any one of them could use their quirk at any time. How can they smile and gather up like this? When it comes down to it, laws and rules assume that individuals have morals.”

“You're technically correct,” Izuku replied, scanning for any potential help. “But generally speaking, people do have a moral code. Just because someone can do something, doesn't mean they will. Some people will do horrific things, and that's a reality we can't escape. But on the whole, people will pretty much act in whatever way serves them best. Part of that parameter is risk mitigation, meaning not to hurt others if you can't get away with it.”

“Well, I guess I'm not like most people,” the man sneered. “I figure I could crumble twenty—no, thirty people even if I need to escape.”

“Like I said, some people. Individuals are nearly unpredictable, but groups are generally predictable within a margin of error. The larger the group and the better you understand their general mental state, the better you can predict their actions.”

They arrived at a bench surrounding a large shrubbery, and Izuku was forced to sit.

“Whatever. Anyway, I hate everything, but what really pisses me off the most right now is the hero killer.”

“And here I thought you guys were friends after the Hosu incident.”

“That's the story the news is running with, but I'd rather not acknowledge it. That's the problem, almost everyone is looking at the hero killer. Meanwhile, the attack on UA and the Nomus I released in Hosu, all upstaged by him. No one's looking at me. Why? No matter how much he boasts, in the end he just destroyed what he didn't like, right? What do you think the difference is between me and him, Midoriya?”

Izuku rolled his eyes despite himself, earning a tighter grip, and a taunting wag of Shiguraki's middle finger.

“It's simple: you're just making chaos for chaos's sake. You have no endgame. Sure, you want to kill All Might, but what comes after the final boss? I still don't even know why you want to kill him in the first place. You say it's because you hate him, but what do you hate about him, and why do you hate it? In the eyes of pretty much everyone, you're a one-dimensional character. Stain, meanwhile, is a heavily flawed man with good intentions at his root. He wants a just society where heroes do the job for the benefit of others rather than for fame, power, and money.”

“So what are you saying?”

“You need to have motivation. And not like that fake script you came up with at USJ, I mean a real end goal and something to achieve besides just 'kill the opposition.'”

“That's a weight off my chest. I feel like I've connected the dots. Why the hero killer irritates me, and why you seem so interesting. I think I understand now. It's all because of All Might.”

So apparently sanity just wasn't a stop on this trip through the mind of a villain. The man began to smile, and as he spoke, his tone became more unhinged.

“Yes, that's it. When all's said and done, that's where I ended up. What was I worrying about so much? These people are able to smile thoughtlessly because All Might is smiling thoughtlessly.”

Again, he was technically correct....

“It's because that trash is smiling thoughtlessly, as if there was no one he couldn't save!”

Well, that sounded personal.

“I'm so glad we could talk. It's great. Thanks, Midoriya! I don't have to do anything different.”

Suddenly, the man stood, removing his grip from Izuku. With every muscle tense, he stood too, faking a smile.

“Good, glad I could help.”

“If you try following me, I'll get angry,” Shiguraki threatened quietly before walking away.

“Don't need to,” Izuku replied casually before dropping his tone to a serious one. “I'm sure we'll be seeing each other again soon enough. And next time, I plan to learn a lot about All for One.”

Izuku didn't like the smile that crossed the man's face as he said that.

“Midoriya?” came a voice. “Who's that?”

It was Uraraka, and the look on her face told him she was understanding the vibes of the situation.

“He's just a really dedicated fan,” Izuku lied, rubbing his neck. “Don't worry about it.”

With one last look at the hooded man sinking into the sea of bodies, Izuku turned and started heading back to his original task.

“So hey, Uraraka, do you think this place has a hardware store?”

He never did actually tell anyone he'd seen Shiguraki that day.

Chapter Text

“UA High has finished its first semester and started summer vacation,” Aizawa announced to the gathered class. “However, those of you trying to be heroes will not receive days of rest. At this summer training camp, we'll have you aiming for even greater heights—for 'Plus Ultra!'”

“Yes sir!” the class announced as one. Izuku smiled to his little group, giving a fist bump to Sutore.

“Here's hoping we can dress more casually because we're not technically at school,” he said.

“I would imagine so,” Tokoyami replied, a hand on the larger boy's shoulder. “Who knows, we may even be using our costumes once or twice.”

“I wouldn't count on that,” Izuku countered. “This is training, after all. They probably don't want anyone abusing the mechanics their suits provide, wince that would lessen the gains.”

“I'm just happy to be spending so much time with you...all,” Tsu added, awkwardly extending her sentence.

“You good, Tsu?” Jiro asked, clearly noticing.

“Yep, definitely,” she replied quickly. “Just had a random thought in the middle of my sentence, sorry!”

Her blushing was pretty obvious, but it seemed everyone was just accepting that answer, since they dropped the subject.

“What?” a voice suddenly interjected. “There are people in class A taking extra classes? Does that mean you had people who failed the finals? What? Isn't that weird? Even though they're supposed to be way better than class B? How can that be?”

The mood immediately soured, and Izuku noticed a couple of his classmates take a step closer as they recognized Monoma. He chuckled as he coughed before responding.

“First off: the five who failed are aware of their shortcomings in performance and are seeking to remedy the situation. Second: you're literally the only person I've heard say we're better than you, so I think you're kinda just announcing your insecurities. Third: please step away before I knock you out.”

“Too late,” a feminine voice replied just as its owner chopped Monoma in the neck, causing him to faceplant. “Sorry about him, by the way.”

With a wave of apology, the redhead dragged the unconscious boy away.

“Hey, we kind of met during the sports festival,” another girl said, “but it's nice to meet you, Class A.”

Izuku turned to see another group of students whom he took to be class B.

“Well I hope the rest of you are better behaved than the quirkist,” Izuku joked.

“Hey,” one boy said defensively, “he's not a quirkist! He may be a jerk, but--”

“He literally called out Izuku for being quirkless and laughed about it,” Sutore said flatly. “I don't know what you call that, but us sane people call it quirk descrimination.”

Izuku turned to his friend and shook his head, then looked back to the other class.

“Look, I'm gonna assume that either you didn't know, or that you made a mistake just now,” he said calmly. “I don't want to make enemies, but I'm also not afraid of any of you, so I'd recommend being smart about engagement.”

“Alright everyone, on the bus!” came the call from the redhead, still dragging the unconscious boy by his collar.

“Okay!” class B called, heading to their transport. Just as Izuku was about to say something, Iida called for his class to get on their own bus. He sighed as he got in line.

This trip wasn't going how he'd hoped, and it technically hadn't even started....

Izuku stretched his legs as his class got off the bus. His calves felt particularly tight, and he decided some low lunges would be good while he listened to his teacher explain what was going on.

They'd stopped in some random pullout, with enough room for maybe their bus and a few cars to park in. There was a blacked-out car parked off to his left, but he figured they must just be people heading up the other way based on their orientation. Several students mused on the oddity of their break point.

“There's no point in stopping without a reason,” Aizawa announced to everyone, drawing their attention.

“Hey, Eraser,” came a feminine voice as the nearby car opened its doors.

“Long time no see,” he replied with a bow.

Out came two cat-themed heroes in costume, standing tall for a moment.

“Lock on with these sparkling gazes!”

“Stingingly cute and catlike!”

They did a small routine to announce themselves, striking a pose at the end. Izuku was, however, more focused on the random kid with them. He looked annoyed, and was wearing a red hat with horns on it. At least he was pretty sure they were on the hat. The boy couldn't be older than ten, but wore a scowl he hadn't seen since...well, when he looked in a mirror a while back.

“These are pro heroes who will be working with us during the camp, the Pussycats.”

“Ah yeah,” Izuku smiled, “the four-person joint agency that specializes in mountain rescues. They're awesome.”

“Glad to see we have a fan here,” Pixie-Bob mewed.

Izuku thought about correcting her, but decided against it. He'd heard she was quite vain in person.

“Greet them, everyone.”

“Nice to meet you!” the class said together, with some student using the opportunity to group up closer.

“So,” Mandalay announced with a motion toward the forest, “we own this whole stretch of land here. You all will be staying at the foot of that mountain.” She pointed to direct the eye, and Izuku did spot a wooden roof peeking out of the treeline in the distance.

“Huh? Then why did we stop here?” Uraraka asked.

“Could this mean,” Tsu began tentatively.

“That we're supposed to walk the rest of the way,” Izuku finished for her.

“No way,” Sato chuckled nervously.

“Why don't we get back to the bus, huh?” Sero added, beginning to turn.

Izuku rolled his eyes, knowing that there was no way that was going to be allowed.

“You know Pixie-Bob can just force us away from the bus, right? It's better to just go along with it and save the energy you'd waste trying to avoid the plan.”

“It's 9:30 am now,” Mandalay said threateningly, her tail twitching. “If you're fast...maybe around noon?”

“And with that,” Izuku said with a tone of finality, “I'll see you guys at the bottom.”

As he finished, he hopped the wooden fence nearby and began sliding down the hill as fast as he could while still maintaining control. He heard a couple of his classmates follow, but most seemed to be running toward the bus to get away from their fate. There was some yelling, followed by an explosion of dirt which carried the rest of the class down past him. Thankfully, it all went over his head, leaving those who had gone down for themselves untouched. As he landed, Izuku looked around at who was up or down. Apparently, only Kacchan, Sutore, Jiro, Tokoyami, and Todoroki had followed his lead. The rest of the class was either flat on their backs, or on all fours from the landing.

“Can't say you weren't warned,” Izuku pointed out.

“Hey!” came the announcement from up top. “Since it's private land, you can use your quirks as you wish! You have three hours! Come to the facility on your own two feet after getting through The Beast's Forest!”

“The Beast's Forest?” Izuku repeated, a little confused by the name.

“That name sounds like it came right out of Dragon Quest!” Kaminari added.

“Not gonna question how you even know that game, since we should really get going.”

“UA does stuff like this way too much,” Jiro complained.

“It's no use complaining,” said Kirishima. “We just have to go.”

“And we should stick together,” Izuku added. “Just in case that name isn't a misnomer.”

He motioned for his class to follow, taking his first steps into the forest. However, the instant he cleared the first row of trees, there was a large beast waiting for him. The thing had large scales, huge underbite fangs, and each claw on its toes was the size of Izuku's hand. It also seemed to lack any eyes in its sockets, yet turned to look directly at him, opening its mouth to roar and show the stoney teeth behind the fangs. He dropped to a ready, watching to see what his best option was to dodge away.

“Calm down, kind beast!” Koda shouted from behind Izuku, running closer. But in spite of his words, the creature raised a claw, preparing to strike down the intruder to its territory.

Izuku used the opportunity to rush in, diving under the monster as its attack landed. Before he could even kip himself up again, the creature had its hind left leg frozen, and then its head kicked to pieces, finally being blasted apart by an explosion. It was only as the dirt fell into piles around him that he realized the creature they'd just fought was actually a mud monster, likely made by Pixie-Bob's quirk.

“She's trying to slow us down!” Izuku announced. “We need to work together to make it through here before lunch!”

“How many of them are there?” Kaminari asked, hearing more movement ahead.

“What should we do?” Ashido furthered. “Run away?”

“We have no choice but to get through here and take the shortest route,” Momo answered.

“Good thinking,” Izuku nodded, looking at his classmates. “You should start by getting us something to make sure we stay on the straight-line path as best we can, while Iida, Shoji, and Jiro do recon. The rest of us should stay pretty close together but keep enough distance to make sure nobody gets caught in your attacks or trips up from you dodging away from something. Kirishima, you should head up the main pack and Todoroki should take rear. Kacchan, keep your explosions to a minimum, we don't want to burn the forest down. Ashido, back up Kirishima with some ranged acid, and Tokoyami, you cover our sides to make sure those of us who can't fight these things properly can actually continue the trek. That being said, if anyone thinks they can provide assistance along the way, feel free to do so. I'm just thinking a lot of us are going to be more of a hindrance if we to fight, and I think it's best for everyone if we just focus on keeping our progress steady rather than stopping to fight every enemy along the way.”

“Agreed,” Momo replied, focusing on her quirk. “Everyone get into positions, we need to get moving.”

And move they did. With the communication Shoji was able to provide, and Iida finding safe routes for them, the group was able to keep moving throughout the day. Only occasionally did they have to stop and get numbers on groups of the enemies with Jiro's quirk, and those obstacles were cleared quickly after with decisive action by some of the resident powerhouses. However, despite their constant progress, three hours came and went before the GPS Momo created showed them making it two thirds of the way. Izuku growled, realizing they'd been given an impossible task, so he decided to get a little creative.

“Hey, how's your voice doing?” he asked Koda as the group crossed a stream.

“Getting a little hoarse,” he replied, holding his throat. “Why?”

“Tell the birds to find a cat girl in blue and peck at her headset. I think we'll have a much easier time once they do that.”

Sure enough, fifteen minutes later, the dirt monsters stopped showing up in their path. With some effort, the group made a great push, making it to a clearing a couple hours later. Everyone was tired, but other than a few scrapes and some necessary damage to clothing, nobody was hurt. In front of the large facility that was their destination stood the three heroes and the kid from before. Pixie-Bob did not look happy as she held her glasses in one hand.

“What do you mean, three hours?!” Sato yelled, falling to his knees.

“That's the time it would have taken us,” Mandalay explained. “Sorry!”

“You were trying to boast about how much better you are?” the boy asked, incredulous. “That's mean....”

“Please tell me that means the no lunch thing I heard about was one of your rational deceptions,” Izuku begged.

“I'm hungry,” Kirishima whined. “I'm gonna die....”

Pixie-Bob simply chuckled in response before saying, “But honestly, I thought it would take even longer. You guys didn't have as hard a time beating my earth beasts as I thought you would. Though I wish you hadn't bypassed the latter half of the bunch by destroying my headset. You guys are great, especially...”

She paused before pointing toward Izuku, Todoroki, Iida, and Kacchan.

“...You four! Were you able to act without hesitation because of your experience?”

“I mean that's-” Izuku started before she launched herself at the group.

“I call dibs!” the woman screamed, launching at the small group while making a kissy-face. While the other three brought their hands up to block the attempted fawning, Izuku simply stepped back and placed Iida between him and the cat girl. He accepted feeling bad about it later.

The fawning continued with much disdain from the affected parties, while Mandalay and Aizawa talked. Izuku caught something about “suitable age” being discussed.

“Speaking of 'suitable age,'” he began, only to find a gloved paw clamping over his face.

“What about it?” came the threatening response.

“I was just wanting to ask whose kid that is,” he said, pointing to the young boy. “And isn't mid twenties appropriate for a kid? Why are you so mad?!”

Despite the mild growl from Pixie-Bob, Mandalay replied casually.

“Oh, he's not one of ours. He's my cousin's kid. Come on, Kota. Greet everyone. You'll be with them for the next week.”

With some effort, Izuku managed to pull himself from Mandalay's grip. After catching his breath, he smiled brightly at the boy.

“Yo, I'm Midoriya. We're U.A. High's hero course 1-A. It's nice to meet you.”

With a wordless spit into the dirt, the boy turned and started walking.

“You disgusting boy,” Iida shouted, arm chopping the air angrily. “Why would you disrespect Midoriya like that?!”

“I don't intend to hang out with guys who want to become heroes!” the boy spat back with a death glare.

“'Intend?' Just how old are you?”

Izuku rolled his eyes. “Kid, you might want to cool it. Contrarianism only seems cool to the immature.”

“Enough of this charade,” Aizawa cut in as Kota continued walking. “Get your stuff off the bus. Once you've put your bags in your rooms, we'll have lunch in the cafeteria. After that, you'll bathe and have three hours free before dinner, then you all get to sleep. We'll start for real tomorrow. Now, move quickly.”

Lunch was a rather luxurious affair, the tables having been set up with numerous food options covering their surfaces. Several conversations carried on around him, but Izuku didn't pay much attention. He was much more focused on the fact he didn't see Kota at all through the whole thing, despite Mandalay and Pixie-Bob constantly coming and going. He wondered where he'd gone to, but opted to figure it out later. He could ask at the same time he asked about what the boy's issue was.

After their baths, Izuku broke from the pack and decided to explore the forest they found themselves in, earning several confused looks.

“I get that you guys want to relax,” he told them. “I'm just not built like that. I need to be doing something, and I can't really do my normal afternoon studies with this place's shitternet. So I need to figure out a way to stimulate my brain. I'll probably just practice picking my clear lock and trying to identify useful local flora. Don't worry, though. I have plenty of snacks and I'll be back before nightfall.”

“Alright, man,” Sutore replied with a sigh. “I'll hold you to it, though. We'll just play some games and keep an eye on the treeline.”

“Have fun,” Kacchan said casually.

With that, he walked out the front door of the facility, making his way through the woods. He set himself on a general heading for a nearby mountain, and began fiddling with his lock. His research had found that a surprising amount of modern locks were susceptible to magnets, and most that weren't were easily bypassed with a simple hook tool. The five-pin clear lock he was using was able to be bypassed and, stupidly, simply smacked open. He was actually fairly upset at how many different locks and lock types he'd discovered could be easily opened without actually interacting with the pins and tumbler at all. But he put that aside and focused on learning the actual picking technique, in case he came across a lock that wasn't actually shit. He placed his turning tool in the top of the keyway, applying a little tension with his index finger. He then inserted his hook tool, watching it through the clear case of his training tool. He attempted to feel each pin as he went down, but he couldn't really make it out through touch. It felt like trying to make out a person's face from fifty feet away through privacy glass.

He grumbled to himself as he pushed up pin five. He loved learning new skills, but this was always the most annoying part. The blind start. Of course he knew well that sucking at something was the first step toward mastery, but it didn't make that first step any more fun. He still didn't understand how to feel a pin binding, or more worryingly, when a pin hit a proper set. He'd assumed he would feel the lock turn slightly, but either it was incredibly subtle, or he was fingerblind. After a few minutes of getting nowhere with feeling his way to success, he gave up, stuffing the items back into his pocket angrily. He heard a groan and stopped, knowing that he hadn't made the noise. Looking around, he realized he was next to a large cliff, and looking up he spotted two short legs with black boots hanging over it, probably a good twelve meters up.

So this was where Kota had gotten to.

Izuku turned, making his way over to where the cliff formed a path down to his level. He went up, making his way to where he'd seen the boy sitting. As he neared, he realized Kota was staring angrily into the distance, tears running down his face. Off to Izuku's left was a cave, likely a hiding place for the little adventurer. He turned back to look at the angry child, suddenly hearing another groan as the boy's stomach growled in hunger. Izuku pulled two granola bars from his pocket as he approached, plopping down next to the kid.

“You know it's really bad for development to let yourself go hungry.”

“Ah!” the boy yelled, clambering to his feet. “How'd you find this place?”

“I heard your stomach growling from the forest below,” he replied, holding out a bar. “Now if you want it to stay secret, I'd suggest you start by eating. You're less likely to alert passersby, and a fed brain is much better at thinking things through.”

“I'm fine,” the boy spat, scowling. “And I told you, didn't I? I don't intend to hang out with you. Now get out of my secret hideout.”

“Kota, I'm a hero in training,” Izuku replied with a sigh. “It's plain to see you're not fine, and I want to help. I don't care if you hate me, but you shouldn't hate yourself.”

“I don't hate myself, I just hate you! Getting all into trying to improve your quirk. It's gross. You want to show off your power that badly?”

Izuku chuckled. “Kid, you have no idea how wrong you are.”

He tossed the granola bar over, which the boy reflexively caught.

“I'm not here to improve my quirk. I can't.”

“Well then why are you even-”

“I'm here to improve myself. Not to show off, but to be more effective.”

“Well, great for you, calling yourself a hero and going out to kill those 'villains.' You're just another part of this crazy world. All of you showing off made it end up like that.... Stupid....”

“Is that really what you think heroes do? Show off and kill people they randomly label villains?”

“Am I wrong?”

“I mean, yeah,” Izuku shrugged. “But I assume you have personal reasons for feeling like that.”

“Shut up, you don't know anything about me!”

“I know you're hurting, and that's all I need to know. Listen, Kota, if your hypothesis were correct, then riddle me this: why is a quirkless kid even trying to be a hero, if it's all about showing off? Why is Mandalay taking care of you without telling the world? I want to help you, but I can't do that until you're ready to let me. So I'll tell you what. I'll leave you alone, but please let me know when you're ready to talk about what's really wrong.”

With that, he pulled a small juice box from his pocket, set it down alongside a bag of crackers, and started walking down the path. He didn't know if the silence that hung in the air as he left was because the boy was thinking, or because he was still glaring at him. Either way, nothing more was said.

He didn't get nearly as much done that afternoon as he normally did.

Five-thirty the next morning felt pretty early to most of the students, yet here they all were, outside and dressed in their PE uniforms. Several kids yawned, and a couple wavered as they fought to stay awake.

“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen!” came Aizawa's greeting. “Today, we will begin training camp to increase your strength in earnest. The goal of this training camp is to increase everyone's strength, and with that, for everyone to obtain their provisional licenses. It is to prepare you all to face hostilities that are becoming more real by the minute. Proceed carefully. So Bakugo, try throwing that.”

As he finished, Aizawa tossed Kacchan the same ball from the first day of school. It didn't take long for everyone to realize what the plan was.

“Your previous record, from right after you started school, was seven hundred five point two meters. Let's see how much you've improved.”

“Oh, we're checking our progress?” Ashido asked excitedly.

“Since a lot has happened these last three months, huh?” Sero mused. “Maybe he can throw it a kilometer or something now!”

If that were the case, they wouldn't be here. Izuku knew the improvement would be underwhelming. Otherwise, why make a point of showing it when they were in a camp specifically to increase the rate at which they were going to improve?

“Do it, Bakugo!” Kirishima shouted.

“Alright, here I go!” Kacchan yelled, winding up and letting the orb fly. With a last-second explosion, the ball soared just like it had the first day.

“Seven hundred nine point six meters.”

“That's...less than I thought,” Sero intoned.

Even Kacchan seemed surprised. He ground his teeth in frustration.

“It's been about three months since you started high school,” Aizawa explained. “Through various experiences, you all have definitely improved. But that improvement has mainly been at the mental and technical levels, with some increase in stamina. As you can see, your quirks themselves have not improved much. That's why we will work on improving your quirks starting today.”

He side-eyed the students with a wolfish grin.

“It'll be so hard you'll feel like dying, but try not to actually die.”

What followed was possibly the worst day of training Izuku had ever experienced. Apparently, Tiger was of the impression that Izuku needed more physical training, so he was forced to do standing limb thrust exercises with intermittent sparring with Tiger himself. It wasn't so bad at first, but once he realized the pro wasn't going to let him rest, ever, it settled in just how stupid this “training” was going to be. It was made all the worse when 1-B came along and he was shown off as an example of their training at the camp. But, despite his complaints and reminders that strength training wouldn't help him as much as reflex training, he continued to push himself with the exercises. As the day wound to an end, Izuku shuffled toward the dinner tables alongside his classmates.

“Now, remember what I said yesterday?” Pixie-Bob asked as the students approached, all of them exhausted. “'Today's the only day we'll be doing stuff for you!'”

“At least make your own food!” Ragdoll added. “Curry!”

With a groan, he realized, seemingly alongside the rest of his peers, that a couple tables were covered in ingredients and spice packs rather than actual meals. Which, obviously, meant that this was a test for them.

“Yessir....” the group moaned as one.

“You all look exhausted!” Ragdoll laughed, pointing at them mockingly. “But that doesn't mean you can make any old sloppy cat food!”

With a sigh, Izuku started making his way over to the last table with the curry spices, pulling open a box to find the instructions. He belatedly realized that Iida was talking, probably vocally processing that this was a disguised rescue training effort. He looked over the sheet, trying to plan who could do what. He didn't expect that much from anyone, except the guy whose quirk operated on food consumption, obviously. Hell, he could barely trust himself to make pasta with pre-mixed sauce.

“Let's make the most delicious curry in the world, everyone!” Iida yelled.

“I wouldn't get too enthusiastic,” Izuku chided. “But we can definitely work together to make it passable. Anyone mind if I take lead on the project for organization?”

“No arguments here,” Yaoyorozu replied, giving him a thumb-up.

“Are you all seriously going to just follow the qui-” Monoma began, before getting his head bashed by Kendo.

“We see no issue, either,” she corrected.

“Great,” Izuku said, holding in a laugh. “Then I need everyone to listen close and try your hardest. If anyone slacks, we all suffer. Iida, Sero, Tokage, and Koda, you all go out and gather fire wood. Make sure to utilize your quirks for maximum efficiency. I know you're all still sore, but please. We don't need a mountain of the stuff, just enough to light and tend about six fires. Todoroki, Kaminari, Aoyama, and Monoma, you're all on fire duty. Light 'em and tend 'em. Monoma, you should copy Todoroki. Uraraka and Yanagi, you're on cooking duty. I'd suggest working together.”

He switched to English as he pointed to Poni. “Poni, I need you to help with transfers of items to each stage of the process, okay? Use your horns to pick up items and send them around. If you can't handle multiple horns going different directions simultaneously, try to practice today. But don't push yourself too hard, we don't want you accidentally messing up anyone else's job. Think you can handle that?”

After a moment of surprise, she nodded gleefully. “You got it!” Izuku gave her a thumb up as he switched back to Japanese to continue.

“Kendo, Shoji, and Shiozaki, you all help Poni with transfers to each stage. You're all probably going to be running everywhere constantly, so remember to communicate so you don't mix up who's going where. Kamakiri, Kaibara, and I will be on prep work. Sato, I need you to act as head chef here, since you're the only one I know has a good amount of cooking experience. You should give everyone advice on what to add, and don't be afraid to taste test to make sure the meal is on track. Komori, if you can produce edible mushrooms, please do so. We could use the extra ingredients for flavor and body. Everyone else, you're at Sato's beck and call. He's going to know best what we need, so make sure to listen to him. Any questions?”

There were several shared looks as everyone seemed to process his instructions, but nobody spoke up. He even saw a couple smiles from his classmates.

“Alright, then,” Izuku nodded, heading over and picking up a knife. He flicked it over in his hand as he looked it over. “Let's get to work, shall we?”

Izuku was surprised at how quickly everything came together after that. He spent only a couple minutes chopping up meat and veggies before he was told there was no more for him. With a quick spin of his knife and a wipe of the blade, he set it down and looked around. Everyone seemed to be taking their jobs seriously, and he noticed a small group simply standing around and waiting for orders. Sato was making his way past the cooking station, but simply nodded, saying nothing. It was only forty-five minutes after the group started cooking that the first bowl was served.

Izuku sat, looking over his meal. Honestly, he wouldn't consider it the best looking meal he'd ever had, but if he'd been served it at a restaurant, he wouldn't complain.

“You know, I'm actually really impressed,” Kirishima stated with a chuckle. “Great job everyone, it looks good!”

“And kudos to Izu-kun,” Tsu added, taking her seat next to him. “For organizing everyone so well. I doubt we could have finished in even double the time if not for his direction.”

“Too true,” Shoda nodded. “I don't know that I've seen that level of coordination in this class all year.”

Izuku couldn't help but blush a bit, rubbing his neck. He was thankfully saved from the attention before it could become to much for him, though.

“Enough pats on the back,” Tetsutetsu yelled. “Let's eat! I'm starving!”

As everyone dug in, conversation was bountiful. Izuku had to break up a fight between Ashido and Sero after he misidentified lipids as poop, before explaining that they were actually more like fat cells. After that, a few of 2-A's students asked him about his quirklessness.

“I know it's a touchy subject,” Shishida started. “But I'm curious about your experience. I find it hard to imagine life with such a handicap.”

“Shishida!” Shoda chided from the next table. “That's rude.”

Izuku was comforted by the feeling of Tsu wrapping her leg around his, her eyes showing complete support as he glanced over to her. He smiled before turning back to his classmates.

“No, it's fine,” he offered. “Really. I mean, technically speaking, he's not wrong. And I know you didn't mean anything by it, considering you phrased it better than Monoma would.”

He could actually feel the glares from 1-A settle on the boy as he continued.

“But to answer your question,” he continued, looking down. He considered his words a moment. “It's harsh. I don't want to take away from anyone with a mutation quirk, but I think I get similar looks, ridicule, and avoidance. Though I don't know if I'd call it better or worse that it only comes once people find out about my status. And then there's the well-meaning treatment. The people who try to protect me by lowering expectations because they don't want to single me out, ironically leading to me being singled out.”

Tsu leaned in and gave him a hug. He felt his eyes begin to wet, but he continued, staring at his lap.

“It always feels like I'm Schroedinger's loser. Either I'm doing so great because I'm overcoming the limits of my station, or I'm dreaming too big because I can't possibly do anything without a quirk. And God forbid I actually do something, cause then I obviously have to have cheated. Nevermind the fact that I've been working harder than anyone to get where I am, nevermind how much I pushed myself and broke my body, and who cares how many times I wanted to just skip to the inevitable be-”

Izuku caught himself, realizing he was yelling, tears streaming down his face. He looked up to see everyone staring at him, looks of worry on every face. He wiped the tears from his face as he stood, finishing the last bites of food from his bowl.

“I'm sorry, everyone. I didn't mean to ruin the meal. Please excuse me.”

With a bow, he turned and left. He noticed Kota walking into the forest as he went, but wasn't concerned since he saw the bowl in the boy's hands. He set off in a different direction, trudging his way slowly along a path. He needed to clear his head.

However, as he walked, he felt a form slide up next to him, attaching to his arm.

“Oh, hey Tsu.”

“Everyone's worried about you, kerro,” she replied as though he hadn't said anything.

“I know,” he said solemnly.

“You know it's because we all care about you, right?” She asked tentatively.

“I know,” he nodded.

“And I'm here for you no matter how long you need,” she finished.

“I know.”

The two walked in silence for some time, and Izuku knew that the longer this went, the more he worried his friends. He resolved to make it up to them later, because at that moment he needed some time alone.

“You're incredibly strong, kerro,” Tsu commented.

Okay, alone with Tsu. But she was different.

“I don't know about that,” he shrugged.

“I do,” she said flatly, giving him a pointed stare. “I've been through a lot because of my quirk. People always made fun of how I regularly say 'kerro.' I've been denied access to restaurants because of people thinking I'll slime up the floors and chairs or leave poison on the dishes. But I've never been told I couldn't be a hero.”

Izuku looked her in the eyes for the first time that night, suddenly realizing she was on the brink of tears. He noticed the shake in her voice as she continued.

“I went on one of the quirkless forums you mentioned, kerro. You've had to fight your entire life to prove yourself worthy of the basic respect the rest of us get by default. You've worked harder than anyone, and your every accomplishment is belittled despite the fact that you're miles ahead of anyone else here. But I want you to know, to properly understand, that everyone in our class knows you're going to be a hero. We're all pushing for the stage you've already reached. And the fact that you take the time to help us catch up shows me that you're not just going to be a hero, I believe you're going to be one of the best.”

Izuku smiled, pulling her close.

“Thanks, Tsu. That means a lot coming from you.”

As he leaned back to look her in the eyes, Izuku felt a compulsion to kiss Tsu. He was just starting to lean in when he heard the shuffle of a nearby tree branch. He looked up to see Aizawa as he landed, kneeling to watch them.

“You two okay?” he asked. “A couple students asked me to check on you.”

“Yeah,” Izuku replied calmly. “I just needed to clear my head.”

“Well, I think you've cleared it enough. You should get back to base so you can rest. Tomorrow will be just as long a day as today was.”

“Yes, sensei,” both students said together before turning to head back. Izuku couldn't be certain, but he felt like Tsu was holding him just that little bit closer than before. He leaned into her touch.
-

The next day was just as intense, but for different reasons.

“Alright, Midoriya,” Aizawa started, a small smile on his face. “You're going to instruct Ojiro and Kirishima as they spar to use their quirks more effectively. I expect at least ten notable changes in approach and technique by the time I get back.”

“So that's why Tiger was training me so hard yesterday,” Izuku sighed. “You wanted to wear me down so that today I'm trying to think while exhausted, huh?”

“You got it, kid. Now get to work.”

He turned to his classmates, who were already deep into a heavy spar. Kirishima was hardening his arms while Ojiro bashed them as hard as he could, flipping around the whole while to better orient his tail toward his opponent. It didn't take long to notice an issue with their approaches.

“Hey, Kirishima,” he called. “If the point of this is to strengthen quirk potency, why not harden your entire body even though you're only getting hit on the arms? In fact, why not practice better blocking techniques with other parts of your body?”

Kirishima seemed to slow for a second before nodding. “Good idea, Midoriya!” he shouted before hardening his entire body. “Though I think you're gonna need to show me better blocks, 'cause I don't know what you mean!”

“Then take a quick break,” Izuku said, walking closer. “I'll show you.”

With a quick bow to Ojiro, he settled into his favorite fighting stance, with both hands up and slightly open, but his left side presented and his left arm held slightly out. He bent his knees slightly to prepare them for launch, and watched his opponent. Ojiro, meanwhile, looked slightly nervous.

“Please tell me I get the next tip....”

Izuku chuckled as he waved his classmate over with his left hand. The other boy nodded, dashing forward and spinning at top speed to bring his tail in for a sideways strike. Izuku shifted to face the blow, palm striking it with his right hand. The force canceled Ojiro's tail's momentum, which Izuku used as an opening to feint an elbow strike to the face. All three students stood still for a moment as Izuku let them process what just happened, then dropped his stance and stepped away.

“I could also have raised my left knee to block that particular attack, but I wouldn't suggest that for you. It leaves you open to being taken off balance, and the benefits of the position aren't really worth it unless you plan to speed up your combat from where you're at. Which, frankly, I wouldn't suggest since it's not in line with your quirk.”

“Got it, let me try.”

“Any tips for me?” Ojiro asked as the two reset to practice some more.

“Yeah,” Izuku said flatly. “Use more than just your tail. We're here to train quirks, but your quirk is just part of your body. Focusing exclusively on your tail is detrimental to your future potential. Or do you only plan on ever attacking by turning your back on your opponent?”

“Good point!” Ojiro called, suddenly throwing a roundhouse kick directly after his tail strike.

“Oh, and Kirishima,” Izuku added. “Something you should start considering for future battles is learning to quickly activate and deactivate your quirk to conserve energy. Though I suggest training the technique of hardening at the point of impact for easy fights to save your stamina for hard fights. Think of the mob of throwaway villains at the USJ versus fighting the Nomu.”

“Damn, are you sure you don't have an intelligence quirk?” Kirishima joked. “Cause that's pretty deep assessment of a quirk you don't have!”

The training continued through the rest of the day, with Izuku providing tips every few minutes and occasionally needing to step in to demonstrate. After a few hours, Aizawa came by and handed Izuku his utility belt and mask.

“We can't have you slacking on the sidelines. Take these and train with them.”

So he did. He put on the belt and hooked the mask at his side, stepping into the fray. He opted to hold back by not actually using his throwable gear during the spar, but he found himself struggling against two opponents without the extra utility they provided.

And he liked that. It meant he was improving today. As he leapfrogged Kirishima and then ducked low to avoid Ojiro's kick, he found himself smiling.

That evening was stew night. And just like the previous dinner, everyone set into separate groups to accomplish tasks. And yet again, the food was ready before night fully fell. As everyone settled in to eat, Izuku once again found Tsu at his side, her leg curled around his. On his other side was Sutore, silently eating. Shishida once again took the seat in front of Izuku, putting his hands up in apology.

“I'm sorry for my question yesterday, I didn't mean to bring up such dark thoughts.”

Izuku paused his meal. “What do you mean? You couldn't have known about my trauma.”

“I knew you had it hard,” the boy said, shaking his head. “I could have asked more privately, if nothing else.”

“Dude,” Sutore said flatly. “Trust me. You're fine. And who knows, maybe Izuku will finally actually look into therapy.”

“I was actually about to recommend that,” Aizawa said, surprising the table with his presence. “When we get back, Midoriya, I'm going to recommend you talk to Hound Dog. It's your choice, but I think yesterday was a pretty good indicator that it would be a good idea.”

“Yes sir,” Izuku nodded. He wasn't sure about Aizawa's reaction to his words, but as the man walked away, Izuku shrugged.

After darkness fell, everyone except the extra studies group gathered in a clearing amidst the trees for what Pixie-Bob referred to as a “test of courage.” The goal, it seemed, was for one class to scare the other as pairs walked along a set path through the woods to retrieve papers with their names on them. Points were to be awarded for each successful scare. It was only as Izuku drew his lot and looked around for his partner that he started doing the math for how many students were left. With fifteen remaining students outside of extra studies, that meant that one person would be traveling alone tonight.

And he had a bad feeling that group eight was the solo “group.”

He spent a few minutes lamenting his poor luck before he noticed the smell of smoke wafting through the forest. Looking to the north, he could see blue light shining from over the treetops.

“W-what?!” Pixie-Bob suddenly yelled, a pink glow forming around her as she levitated slightly before shooting off toward the treeline. Izuku readied himself, watching as a villain slammed a heavy, wrapped thing into Pixie-Bob, driving her into the dirt. The man had thick lips, sunglasses, and a very casual outfit, which somehow made the fact he was leaning on the wrapped mystery item currently pinning the hero by her head all the more horrifying. Next to him was a lizard-man in a very obvious mockup of Stain's outfit, with two large swords across his back and a large knife behind his waist. Izuku stepped forward, ready to engage, but was stopped by Tiger's arm blocking him. He was annoyed for a moment as he realized the pro wasn't going to let him fight.

But then he noticed Mandalay's face, contorted with worry and fear. It only took a moment for him to realize what she was thinking.

“I'm gonna go get Kota,” he assured her, turning to run. He heard the two villains behind him announcing themselves, but ignored it. He didn't care. He had much bigger fish to fry.

He mentally mapped the forest as he ran, setting into a mad sprint. He knew he wasn't far from the cave Kota hid out at, but he needed to get there as fast as possible. He turned slightly, diving between a couple trees and tumbling to maintain momentum. As he saw the side of the cliff path come into view, he jumped, using a tree trunk to gain extra height before grabbing hold of a branch. With his momentum, he swung himself up, kipping forward to launch onto the next branch. He proceeded to leap from tree to tree, ever closer to the path upward. On the last tree, he climbed even higher, jumping from it to the edge of the cliff and grabbing hold. With a groan, he heaved himself up, quickly rolling and launching himself up the path. He rounded the last corner just in time to see a large robed figure leaping off of the rock wall, extra muscles coiling around his arm as he prepared to punch Kota with a quirk-enhanced blow.

“Let me get a shot in to cheer up!” the man shouted.

“How about no?” Izuku mocked as he dove under the man, tackling Kota out of the way just in time. He felt the fist graze his right calf, and though it hurt, it wasn't serious enough to cause him much concern. He tucked and rolled, placing himself between Kota and the villain as he stood in his fighting stance. Immediately, he found himself strategizing around the muscle quirk he was faced with.

“Hey, you were on the list,” the man said casually.

“List?” Izuku asked, faking his casual tone. “Did I embarrass Shiguraki that bad last time?”

The villain simply smiled, licking his lips as he stepped forward.

“I don't get what the boss sees in you,” he replied coldly. “I think I'd like a taste, see how strong you are. There has to be a reason you're the main target, right?”

He didn't like that.

“Stay back, Kota,” Izuku instructed, reaching under his shirt. “The party's just getting started.”

“Oh, I like you!” the man laughed, tossing his robe to reveal a red tank top and a mechanical eye as muscles broke his skin and coiled back over his arms. He leapt forward, right arm coiled back for an obvious punch. Izuku tossed his smoke bomb at the ground, leaping to the side as he unclipped his extra pouch and drew two needles. With his other hand, he retrieved one of his charges and slid down the face button. As the man landed in the smoke, his punch dispersed it, creating a ring of haze around himself that hid the two boys.

“A smokescreen?” the man laughed. “That's your party trick?”

“Not really,” Izuku taunted as he rushed the man, throwing two of his needles. The villain caught one in his palm, the other sinking into his shoulder. Izuku kept charging, sliding under the slow punch the villain had aimed for his face. As he went, he slapped the man's thigh before sliding past. With a quick roll, Izuku managed to launch himself out of the way just as the man turned and stomped where he would have been.

“Did you really just slap me?” the man balked. “And bad news, kid, tranquilizers get less effective with more muscle mass to work through. I can effectively shut off these needles with my quirk!”

Izuku drew two more needles and another charge, throwing the former at his assailant and moving slightly closer to the wall. Just as he'd hoped, the villain launched to where he'd thrown his needles from. Unfortunately, he'd misjudged the man's bulk, and as he went for another slap, the man elbowed him, launching him into the wall with a sickening crack.

He really hoped broken ribs weren't going to be a common occurrence.

Getting to his feet, Izuku noticed that his opponent seemed very annoyed as he turned to face the teen once more. He had also increased how much extra muscle he was using, which explained why Izuku had misjudged the man's size just then. He needed to end this quickly. He tossed down one more smokebomb, leaping backward up the wall to get height as he drew two more charges. The villain roared as he punched where Izuku had been, his fist burying itself in the stone. Izuku leapt from his perch, flipping as he went to place both hands on the man and use him as a springboard. The moment he landed his backflip, though, he found himself punched into the dirt, bouncing up from the force. That was immediately followed by the villain hoisting him up by the throat, fury in his eyes.

“I always knew quirkless were pathetic, but you really do take the cake. I might just kill you after all,” the man taunted, his grip tightening. Izuku smiled, drawing two final tools from his belt. With one hand, he slapped the man across the face, and with the other, he stabbed his needle into the man's hand. With the pain and numbness, his grip loosened enough for Izuku to wiggle free. As he leapt back, the villain reached up and felt the node that was welded to his face.

“What the hell is this thing?”

“Hey dumbass,” Izuku taunted. “Quick science fun fact: tazers lock up muscles, which means they're more effective against people with tons of strength. And with no fat to insulate yours, this is gonna hurt.”

“What?” the man asked, trying to piece together what was happening.

Izuku reached down and hit the button on his mask, setting off the electrical charge of the nodes he'd stuck to the villain. The large man screamed, his every muscle tensing up at once. Izuku smelled burnt flesh as the man fell to his knees, then heard several loud cracks as the man crumpled inward, collapsing in pain onto his face. Izuku staggered, coughing hard. It really hurt to breathe, but the threat was taken care of.

As the smoke and dust dispersed, Izuku heard a small voice from his right.

“Why?” Kota asked, tears flowing. “Why did you come here? Why did you risk your life for me?”

“Because I'm a hero,” Izuku laughed painfully. “Just like your parents were. This is what we do. Speaking of which, I need to finish saving you, so hop on.”

With only a moment of hesitation, Kota nodded, then made his way over, climbing onto Izuku's back. Only a second later, they were over the cliff and falling toward the treetops below. They broke a few branches as they landed, but Izuku managed to ensure they slowed enough that when his feet caught a solid branch, it only stung a little as he bounced from it toward the ground. With a low crouch upon hitting solid earth, he felt his back to make sure his passenger was still safe.

“All good back there?”

“Yeah.”

“Great,” Izuku chirped. “Now let's get you back to base.”

He wasn't able to run quite as fast as he had on his way out to the cliff, but Izuku did manage a good pace as he bee-lined for the Pussycats' base. After a short distance, he realized sweat was getting in one of his eyes, so he closed it. He couldn't hold Kota to him and worry about wiping crap out of his eyes at the same time. He was just starting to worry about the other eye when he spotted Aizawa running perpendicular to him. He slid to a stop, dropping Kota behind him.

“Sensei!” he called, pulling off his shirt and tearing it. He wrapped a torn piece around his forehead to absorb his sweat as he continued, finally wiping away the blockage to his right eye with his hand. “I need you to take Kota, maybe get him to where the fire is burning. I think the villains are after me, so I want to lead them away.”

“Midoriya,” the man chided.

“If they're focused on me, then we need to make sure as many of them are on me as possible. They're not going to kill me, but they might kill the others. This is the best move we have!”

There was a couple seconds of silence as the two stared at each other before Aizawa sighed heavily.

“We're going to talk about this later, problem child. But tell Mandalay to inform the students they have my permission to fight back.”

“You got it!” Izuku yelled as he turned to run. His chest burned like nothing else, but he pushed himself anyway. He had a job to do.

He made his way back to the clearing he'd started at, arriving in time to see the lizard man from earlier holding a belted-together amalgam of swords over his head, ready to bring them down on Mandalay. With a quick motion, Izuku readied a charge and flung it at the abomination of a weapon, blasting it to pieces as he rushed in. In the resulting confusion he slid up behind the villain, wrapping his arm around the man's neck. Then, dropping to one knee, he rotated hard and pulled his arm close to force the man over into a backflip, landing on his face.

“Mandalay, tell everyone Eraser Head gives every student permission to fight back!” Izuku shouted before leaping away from the stunned villain. “And hey, aren't you two here for me? Pretty incompetent henchmen if you get distracted by heroes as soon as you show up!”

“He's right!” the big-lipped man realized, seemingly more to himself than his companion.

The Stain wannabe groaned as he got to his feet, shaking his head. “Let's get him!”

Izuku smiled, dashing toward the woodline. As he entered the denser woods, he heard leaves and branches crunching behind him. He ignored the pain building in his chest as he ran, focusing on his path further away from his friends. He dodged a few knives as he ran, focusing intently on where he could go.

Then he heard the gun shots. They were staggered, three distinct shots. He couldn't place their orientation to him with the echoes in the forest, and he cursed as he found himself unwillingly launched back toward the two chasing him. He flipped to orient himself feet-first toward the man responsible, drawing a needle as he did. The man stopped, trying to block the kick at the last second, shutting off his quirk. Izuku used the presented forearms to his advantage, leaping off his assailant high into the air and throwing a needle directly down, striking the man in his neck.

Several more gunshots rang out in succession as he landed, and Izuku feared what they may signal for his classmates. He glared at the two men chasing him.

“Any chance you two could tell me where the rest of your friends are?” he asked, readying himself again.

“Ask, and you shall receive,” a voice called from his left, making Izuku leap away. He looked over to see two glowing yellow eyes watching him from the shadows. Just as he was about to say something, a masked man in an overcoat launched forward, swinging a cane at him. Izuku ducked, then spotted the man's other hand reaching for him. With a quick backward roll, he kipped up into his latest assailant and launched the man into a tree.

“And two more join the dance,” Izuku mocked, stepping slightly back. “And as usual, it's a pleasure Kurogiri.”

“Oh,” the eyes replied thoughtfully. “You remember me. Good.”

Izuku smiled a wolfish grin, then took off once more away from the gathered villains. Behind him, he heard more crunching as they tried to catch up. He also heard Kurogiri say something that made his blood run cold.

“We've found the target. Everyone meet at the extraction point in five minutes.”

Izuku's mind raced as he started to dart in and out of bushes, trying to ensure the villains could track him, but not let them target him. More than once he had to dodge a portal that opened in his path, but he managed to evade the group's efforts as he ran. That was, until he pushed through a bush only to find three more villains standing directly in front of him.

One was an older teen by the looks of it, possibly in his early twenties. He wore a purple overcoat with stitched up pants, and his arms and lower face were covered in purple-ish scar tissue. The second was a teen girl, barely older than Izuku from the looks of it, who was wearing an unidentifiable school outfit along with a fang-themed cloth mask and several needles on her back, all connected to a central pack. And the last was an adult man wearing a black, skin-tight suit. There were white lines over his torso, and the top half of his mask was also white. On each wrist, he had large red cuffs that Izuku couldn't place the importance of. He slid to a stop as they all turned to face him.

“Well,” he joked. “I guess I made it in time for exfil?”

“Indeed you did, Midoriya,” the smoky villain replied coldly, popping up to his right. To his left, the original two villains landed, both obviously ready to fight. From behind him, Izuku heard a slow clap approaching him.

“I must say,” the masked man said flatly. “You certainly made us work hard to catch you, but I think this performance has come to an end. You're surrounded. Please, come quietly and we won't hurt you. We just want to talk.”

Izuku huffed, looking around at each person in turn. He weighed his options as he watched each figure for a sign of movement. He coughed violently, and noticed blood on his hand when he wiped his mouth.

“With my current state, I can't fight all of you,” Izuku said honestly. “I'm low on gear, far from any backup, and operating on at least a couple broken ribs.”

“It's okay, Real Hero,” the lizard guy said. “You should be proud.”

“At least I managed to get you all away from my friends,” Izuku sighed, kneeling in pain. He coughed a couple more times, feeling his breath rattle in his chest. That wasn't a good sign.

“Get the gate open,” the masked villain called triumphantly. “We must take care of our guest of honor!”

With that, several smiles went around the group, and they seemed to ignore Izuku as they made their way over to where the warp gate opened. Izuku waited for the last person to pass him before standing, making sure to turn with the side his mask was on away from the villains as he swiped his right arm down to flick off a tooth into the dirt. He faked a stumble to cover it with a little dirt, then proceeded to walk over to the portal. Be braced himself, taking a shaky breath before he stepped through.