Chapter Text

Someone once said that, when you hit rock bottom, there’s nowhere else to go but up.

That sounds… very inspiring honestly. Unrealistically so. Truthfully, it’s always possible to go lower. Going down is, after all, easier than climbing up.

In a sense, it was almost poetic that he found himself here. After climbing so high (albeit, by hitching a ride on All Might’s pants), having met his idol and finally being able to ask him his question, only to be sent carreling back down to Earth.

Reaching for the Stars is a beautiful dream, but in the end, it’s just that. A Dream.

I’m sorry young man, but you have to be realistic.

Right, realistic.

From here, atop an abandoned rooftop, gaze frozen where All Might’s emaciated form had stood moments before, the only realism left was by the guardrail.

Slowly approaching the guardrail, he gripped it tightly, his knuckles turning white, teeth clenching. He, Izuku Midoriya, had-

His mother? No. She had been kind, probably kinder than he had deserved, but in the end, she hadn’t been able to give him the one thing he wanted. Needed .

Self-Assurance.

Certainly she had been present, physically at least, and yet every time he seeked out personal reassurance, the only thing he could find were apologies. Never did his mother believe in him.

I’m sorry Izuku…

He, Izuku Midoriya, had-

Kacchan? No. He hadn’t had Kacc- Katsuki for almost a decade at this point. Since, almost ten years ago, Katsuki developed his Quirk.

If you really want a Quirk, then you should take a swan dive off a roof and pray you get a good Quirk in the next life!

He, Izuku Midoriya, had-

Absolutely nothing.

Glancing back over the railing, he swallowed the lump that had been forming in the back of his throat. Slowly taking off his red shoes, he pushed them to the side, looking up towards the sky.

Should he leave a note? Probably…

Taking his notebook out of his backpack, he slowly flipped through the page in search of an empty one, his gaze lingering slightly longer on All Might’s autograph, proudly taking up two whole pages.

His breath shook as he wrote- I’m sorry mom - debating whether or not he should mention Katsuki’s final words to him this morning.

He decided not to, despite Katsuki’s brash and violent personality, he could still be a Hero, an amazing one. Surely.

Finalizing his… his suicide note, he placed it within his right shoe, making sure that it was visible enough that anyone examining them would find it, while still tucking it in enough that it wouldn’t fly away in the wind. His backpack, with notebook placed back inside, would sit beside his shoes, he wouldn’t need it where he was going.

Once more glancing up at the sky, he couldn’t help but think about how beautiful today was. No clouds in sight, really it was a beautiful day to be outside.

At least, the alleyway was out of the way, no one should find his body, at least not too quickly. Hopefully, it would be a few weeks before anyone found him.

Steadying his breathing, he climbed over the guardrail, keeping his grip tight to not fall off, ironic considering what he was about to do. He glanced back towards the closed door where All Might had left a while ago, as if a small part of himself still hoped that, despite all rational, All Might would suddenly run back up here to take back his words, to say that he, Izuku Midoriya, could be a Hero even without a Quirk.

But no, it wasn’t meant to be. Truly, it would have made a great beginning for some manga, but this wasn’t a manga, this wasn’t fantasy, this was reality. And, because this was reality-

All Might didn’t return.

Inhaling one last time, he, Izuku Midoriya, 14 Years Old Student at Aldera Junior High, Hero Hopeful, and Quirkless waste of space-

Fell towards the ground.

Despite being only a few dozen or so meters above the ground, the fall seemed to take forever, time dilating before his eyes as memories flashed in his mind’s eye.

Look mom! All Might’s so cool! When I grow up, I wanna be like him!

Right, there had been a time like this, once.

Memories flashed before his eyes as the ground came closer and closer towards him. Regrets, Happiness, Anger, Hatred, Resignation, it was strange how, the more he thought back on his life, the more he realized how few the truly ‘happy’ moments had been, the moments where he didn’t have to constantly lie to himself, about how he was fine.

Now, as the ground grew ever closer, he realized that he didn’t have to carry it all. He, Quirkless Midoriya, Useless Deku, how delusional had he been when he thought he could actually carry it all-

And, as he struck the ground, Izuku finally felt his chest clear-

-ke …p, w-a-e -p! P-e-s-! I—u!

He was… dead. Weight down by 14 70 ’s worth of regrets.

He was… Quirkless Powerless , weight down by ‘should have done’.

He was… Izuku Raven Midoriya Gael , Useless Winter Deku General .

He was…

Alive

Heaving, he, Izuku Midoriya, who should have been recently deceased,

Breathed once more.

His vision was blurry as he slowly, painstakingly, found his way onto his feet, his balance was off, his breathing heavy, too heavy, oh god why was it so heavyhewasgoingtosuffocateohmygodohmygo-

Silence. He was… fine.

His balance was off- several broken cervical vertebrae - His breathing was-

His right arm shot out, winding back and striking his neck- he had to fix his airway -

Winding his right arm back once more, he struck his neck again, this time aiming for the back. Piercing the already bloodied skin keeping his cervical vertebrae hidden, he pinched all seven of them, trying to figure out which were broken and which weren’t.

To slow, black spots were already starting to appear in his vision-

Ripping his arm away from the gaping wound he’d just created in his neck, he- ohgodhewasonfirehewasgoingtodieohgod - activated his- threehundredandtwentythreemagiccircuits - an almost comforting burning sensation rippling through his body starting from his chest.

Accompanying the burning sensation was, in an almost contradictory fashion, a cold sensation located on the back of his neck. Good, his- ohgodthishurthisspinewasbreakingfixingdyingreviving - He was alive.

He was fine.

He was Izuku Raven Midoriya Gael , 14 74 years old student teacher at Aldera Junior High the Clock Tower .

He was… not fine.

Once the cool, comforting sensation was gone, he swung his neck to the right, and then to the left, causing a sickeningly satisfying cracking noise to echo out as the bones within his neck and upper spine realigned themselves. The wounds, both self-inflicted and not, were also healing, slower than he would have liked, but healing nonetheless.

He was… barefoot.

He was… unfit to go out into the streets.

Glancing at himself, he repressed a shudder as the memory of his suicide suddenly hit him like a truck. Right, he was… dead? Alive? He had committed suicide after all, jumping off of a building and cracking his neck…

Except that he hadn’t.

No, that wasn’t right, his neck had been broken- three of his cervical vertebrae to be exact - but… he hadn’t died.

Was it a Quirk? What kind of irony was that, that to activate his Quirk he would’ve had to die.

Except, it wasn’t a Quirk.

He knew that. No, that wasn’t right; He, Izuku Midoriya, didn’t know that. But He , the person he had been before, R-v-n G--l, knew that. He had been…

Please, if there’s one thing you remember, it wasn’t your fault!

Another flashing memory seared itself back into his brain, causing him to hack up some blood as he fell back to his knees, coughing a few more times to properly clear out his airway before rolling onto his back, allowing the cooling concrete below to absorb his body heat.

He couldn’t see the Sun anymore, it must be approaching dusk then, since the sky was still mostly blue. How long had he been laying there, a cooling(?) corpse? An hour? Perhaps two, maybe more. In any case, he couldn’t tell. His backpack (and thus his phone) was still on the rooftop. He could… he could scale the building… But did he want to?

He was… Not Izuku Midoriya anymore.

Izuku Midoriya, Raven Gael, both of them were dead. Izuku as of however many hours ago, when his neck had snapped when the top of his head struck the concrete he was currently laying on. Raven, more than two hundred and some years ago. He… the year was… 2262… He- Raven, had died in… 2044? He wasn’t sure, his memories were hazy still. Concussion? Unlikely.

Improper Reincarnation? Also unlikely, since he still had all of his Magic Circuits functioning properly. Maybe… maybe it was simply an acclimation period? He would have to see as time went on.

For now he had… he had to figure out what to do.

He could… he could go back home? To… to his mother.

Would she want him to?

She had… she had always been… supportive…? No, as kind as Inko Midoriya had been to him, the one thing she lacked, the one thing she should have done, was support his dreams. Even if it was impossible, even if it was doomed to fail, she should have, should have… at least supported it.

No, he, he needed some time alone for now.

He… he needed a drink, god dammit.

Of all the things to resurface outside of his Magecraft, it was his rampant alcoholism.

Slowly rising back onto his feet, he slowly dusted himself off, adjusting his uniform to try and cover any obvious tears or blood spots on his uniform. This meant that, unfortunately, he had to ditch his jacket.

After making liberal usage of [Material Transmutation] to roughly patch up his remaining clothes, he slowly exited the alleyway where he’d previously cracked his neck in half, making sure to keep his back hunched and hands in his pockets. It wouldn’t do to draw any more attention than necessary after all.

His lack of shoes could be easily explained away, Quirks were weird after all. A little white lie about his ‘Quirk’ requiring constant contact with the earth would do the thing. It wasn’t like someone could ask him for proof of his supposed Quirk, since that would be Illegal Public Quirk Usage.

He… didn’t really have an excuse for why he looked so roughed up, maybe he could just say he’d been mugged? No, that would lead to at worst an entire police investigation trying to find an imaginary criminal, and at best a short interrogation where his lies would undoubtedly unravel themselves. Normally he would’ve been supremely confident in ‘His’ ability to lie to some cops, but considering his frazzled mental state, he was simply thankful that his Magecraft and body worked properly.

He… he still had his wallet with him, good. He… he didn’t have much in it, outside of some basic IDs and a few thousand Yen… around 36 Pounds give or take… That… that would probably get him a bottle of something strong, hopefully.

Carefully making his way through town, he spotted a TV propped inside of a shop, placed in such a way that even those outside could see it. No doubt it was being advertised or on sale, in any case, it was currently switched onto a random news channel.

Apparently… Apparently the Sludge Villain had gotten loose from All Might’s pants- no doubt because the bottles had been grossly oversized compared to the size of All Might’s pockets - and had caused some more chaos.

He had, during his rampage, attempted to take possession of another child, using his Quirk to completely vandalize an alleyway, turning it to dust. While the child had been rescued by a timely intervention from All Might, the casualties were still wracking up, with at least two people dead from collateral damage from the child’s Quirk, and three more being hospitalized due to smoke inhalation.

He… didn’t care.

He… was tired, again.

Sighing once more, he slowly trudged his way towards the nearest convenience store, combing his hair back- he would have to deal with his mop of hair later - and entering. He ignored the cashier, who in turn ignored him back, simply glancing up from his magazine to see a teenager enter his store.

Once he was no longer being observed, Izuku(?) slowly made his way towards the more… adult section of the store, ignoring all of the dirty magazines on display and instead shifting his attention on the store’s wine selection.

It wasn’t anything breathtaking, as was expected for a convenience store, but it would do. He quickly fetched a bottle of the cheapest thing he could find, mentally calculating how much he was spending on this, and how much he would have left, before trudging back to the counter, placing the bottle in front of the now bewildered cashier who, after just realizing that the teenager in front of him was expecting to just… purchase this wine bottle without trouble-

“Y- You know you have to be an adult to buy this, right?” The cashier said, trying to appear more threatening and mature than he actually was, gaining an unimpressed raised eyebrow from Izuku.

“I do, but you see, I am an adult.” He said, his voice smooth and relaxing, so unlike his current appearance. His voice, laced with [Mental Manipulation] Magecraft, oozed confidence as he spoke. “I am an adult after all. There is nothing wrong with me buying this, see?”

As he spoke, he slowly shifted the man’s attention away from his diminutive frame, to instead focus on the money he was placing on the counter.

“See? I’m paying for it, everything is fine , I’m just an adult buying adult things .” Giving one last push, he allowed a sigh of relief to escape him when he noticed the lethargic look the cashier was giving him, slowly processing his purchase. Good, at least that trick still worked. Either people in this era had shit for Magic Resistance, or that guy was just way too dumb to resist a simple Suggestion Spell.

Either way, he now had booze.

After, ahem, convincing the cashier to delete the last few minutes off of the security system’s records, Izuku found himself once more meandering the streets of Musutafu. If he had to take a wild guess, it would be around 8pm or so, given the lack of sunlight and the slowly diminishing populace swarming the streets.

Good, less chances that he would be spotted guzzling down a bottle of suspiciously red liquid. The label had been removed using a swift application of [Material Transmutation] , but you could never be too careful. Wine was, after all, quite recognizable. Sure, he could try and pass it off as grape juice or something, but anyone taking a closer look at the ‘juice bottle’ would quickly see that it was alcohol.

Still, this was the time of criminals, people who didn’t really care if a homeless-looking kid was currently guzzling down a bottle of alcohol like it was water.

Left alone with his thoughts (and some good cheap booze), his mind slowly drifted out of reality as his body went into auto-pilot.

What should he do now? Sure, he could probably pass off his Magecraft as a Quirk, Later Bloomers were a thing after all, even if a decade late was a bit suspicious.

But did he even want to be a Hero anymore?

Why did he even want to be a Hero in the first place?

He, Izuku Midoriya, had been single-mindedly driven by the dream of one day becoming a Pro-Hero, and for what? For his mother?- who didn’t believe in him - For Katsuki?- who kept bullying him - To prove that Quirkless didn’t mean Powerless?- Even if he’d done nothing to prepare himself for his ‘Heroic Journey’ -

No, the reason, the real reason he wanted to be a Hero… was to prove to himself that he wasn’t really Useless Deku…

But now, now that he had ‘His’ memories again, now that he had ‘His’ Magecraft again, he could…

But did he want to be?

Raven, he, the previous him, was he still him?- Nevermind for now, Raven hadn’t been a Hero. Nevermind that the profession hadn’t even existed back in his days, but being a Magus and being a Hero were almost completely opposing career paths. Being a Hero was to selflessly save others for the sole purpose of saving them- what a joke, what a lie -

To be a Magus was… To be a Magus was to walk with death. To be a Magus was to selfishly advance your research, regardless of anything or anyone else. He, Raven, had been a monster .

Regardless of what S–n had said, of what Ritsuka had said, of what anyone had said, it was a simple fact. Raven Gael had been a monster. Even after trying to completely abandon his identity as the Crimson Lotus Alchemist, he hadn’t really changed. Sure, his more violent tendencies had been curbed somewhat, but even still, he had still been nothing more than a shell trying to be human.

He was… Not a Hero.

Saving the World had been a selfish thing, to see his family again, because he had promised Ritsuka, because he had promised her that he would do it.

And even then, it wasn’t like Ritsuka had really needed him in the first place.

He, Izuku Midoriya, Raven Gael, whoever he was, was once more nothing more than a shell of a human being, drifting along the waves of Fate to wherever they would go.

Once he came back to reality, he found himself sitting alone in a park, Takoba Municipal Beach Park, if he remembered correctly.

“...What a shithole this is…” He snorted almost ironically, guzzling down the rest of his cheap wine, tossing the bottle haphazardly on the ground away from him, ignoring the broken shards of glass he was leaving behind as he instead focused on the piles and piles of trash left before him.

Once he was sufficiently far into the mountains of trash, enough so that anyone standing outside of the beach-turned-junkyard would have a hard time seeing him, he flexed his Magecraft. 323 Magic Circuits each of incredible quality buzzing to life, a light humming noise emitting from them as he slowly filtered the World’s Mana into himself, performing a quick [Structural Analysis] of himself.

He was… not human anymore. At least not fully (as if regular humans could survive having their necks broken). His previous Vampirism was slowly taking root into this new body, starting at his heart.

Soon enough, he would have to start drinking blood to sustain himself, or risk going on a frenzy and attracting even more attention towards himself.

Letting out a somewhat annoyed grunt, he passed his hand through his hair, grunting in annoyance as the horrendous broccoli-like mop of hair tangled itself around his fingers. Right, that had to go, now.

Beyond the fact that it was perhaps his most recognizable trait (ignoring the color of his hair anyways), his hair was absolutely horrendous. A quick glance around allowed him to locate an old and completely rusted shard of something metallic. Grabbing the shard and carefully applying some light [Material Transmutation] and [Reinforcement] to it, he carefully reforged the metallic shard of rust into a sharp knife.

Locating a somewhat reflective surface (the side of a dishwasher if he wasn’t mistaken), he went to work hacking away at the mop he called hair. It was a rough and rushed job if he’d ever seen one, any competent hairdresser (or really anyone who cared the slightest bit about their hair) would consider it attempted murder on all things style, but for his purposes it would do.

Gone was the mop of hair which made him vaguely resemble a broccoli, instead he was left with almost a buzz cut, not the taper haircut he’d worn as the Winter General more than two centuries ago, but good enough for his purposes now, namely not being recognized by the police once news of his suicide (and lacking body) reached the local news.

The last thing he wanted was a swarm of police officers running after his ass simply because his broccoli hair gave him away as ‘not actually dead of a broken neck’.

Once his impromptu ‘haircut’ was done, he slowly wandered the beach-turned-junkyard in search of, well, anything useful. Really, if modernization had done one thing for humanity, it was show just how wasteful people were. Anything remotely considered ‘broken’ or ‘old’ was thrown away in favor of ‘new’, even if whatever was being thrown away still worked perfectly, or at least required a few repairs to get back in working order.

Fortunately for him, Alchemy was great at doing such small repairs and, coupled with more than six decades’ worth of experience taking things apart and putting them back together, he was pretty sure he could get a few interesting baubles from his spelunking.

This did pose a question though, where would he store these items? Obviously he would need to secure some lodging within the near future, hopefully some place secure enough that he could turn it into a Workshop. This led to another problem, he had no money to buy or rent anything.

Sure, he could probably get a few hundred Yen recycling shit (if that, he still wasn’t sure on the price of copper these days), but even if he did somehow miraculously scrounge up enough money to rent an apartment, he still had no sustainable income. For fuck’s sake, he hadn’t even graduated high school yet! Or well, Izuku hadn’t anyways, Raven had a few PhDs and Masters Degrees under his belt after all, all of which were completely useless in acquiring capital because they belonged to a corpse that had been rotting and cooling under the earth for the major part of three centuries.

Well, not fully actually. A quick glance around and some mental gymnastics showed that, at the very least, he could scrounge up enough materials to create some basic Alchemical Equipment, enough to get him started on a Workshop anyways. If he could secure a somewhat safe room to settle his stuff in, he could… he could start producing some illegal drugs and narcotics.

Medicine was, after all, ever sought after. Even with the rise of Quirks, medical care was still incredibly expensive. Enough so that, unfortunately, not many had the means of buying expensive medicine. Not only that but, as always, students in need of off-the-counter meds were always a reliable source of income.

There was always that one student who, for some odd reason, couldn’t get any aspirins to deal with a headache, or who would be willing to buy from a somewhat shady dealer if it meant getting whatever new drug was being peddled if it meant ‘being more concentrated during exams’.

Was it immoral? Absolutely, but did he seriously care at this point? Err, somewhat. The part of him that was still Izuku, incredibly naive about the world and its innerworkings, felt that turning to villainy was unbecoming, but the part that had lived for at least five times Izuku’s lifetime, who had more experience than most adults in Izuku’s life could even begin to comprehend, told him that it was that or starvation and homelessness.

Sure, he could go back home and… stew in his mediocrity, try and make a living in a World that would never accept him, try to explain away why he wouldn’t become part of the 80 to 90% of Quirkless people who committed suicide yearly. He could try and… get a job? A normal, mundane job where he would surely be underappreciated, overlooked for anyone with even the most mundane of Quirks, because they weren’t born with a defect.

Sighing once more to shake himself out of his thoughts, this wasn’t the time to tumble down the depression tunnel, this was time to be proactive.

He could probably secure a room inside of an abandoned building, Lord only knows how many of those existed, just waiting to be demolished after a Villain attack of some kind. That would suffice as a temporary HQ for now, after establishing a few Bounded Fields anyways.

Now with a goal in mind (meaning he didn’t have to think too hard about his current unenviable situation), Izuku went to work collecting anything that would be useful to setting up his new drug enterprise.

First, he would need something to carry around his things, either a wagon or a car… No, a wagon would have to do for now. Not only was he obviously not of age to drive (and hypnotizing everyone into thinking otherwise would be a waste of time and energy), but every car he could see here was either completely destroyed or barely held together by some cosmic will and some sludge.

After spending a few minutes debating whether or not it was worth creating his own wagon, he decided to just bite the bullet and do it, peeling off pieces of metals here and there, alongside whatever wheels he could find that were roughly the same size, before once more making liberal usage of his [Material Transformation] to slap together a rudimentary cart for himself. It was… somewhat disappointing in appearance, clearly something slapped together with the barest of materials, it seemed to be held together by wishes and a prayer, but it would do for now.

Now came the less wonderful task of gathering glass. He held no illusions that he would somehow find completely unbroken flasks, beakers, and whatever other glassware he would require here, so instead he would once more cheat using his Magecraft and just scrounge together every piece of glass he could find. Bottles, plates, windows, it didn’t really matter what it was, so long as it wasn’t just tiny shards, he took them, placing them into his little wagon after transmuting them into cubes for ease of transportation.

Once he had enough glass to hopefully last him more than a week, he went to work finding batteries, engines, and anything electronic, ripping toasters apart for their electronics. He had a degree in Electrical Engineering, and while these materials were basically worse than anything you could buy, they were better than nothing. By his estimation, he could make himself some basic instruments necessary to start creating drugs and whatever other narcotic he could peddle to random junkies and students for ridiculously cheap.

Really, the hardest part of this operation would be finding a place to hunker down for now. That and acquiring raw materials to work with, but he could cheat that somewhat too.

Once he was sure he wouldn’t accidentally run out of materials midway through creating things, he hoisted his wagon off the sand and onto the road, once more making sure that no one was paying too much attention to him. It was around 10pm, a suspicious time for a kid to be out (especially since he was wearing the somewhat tattered remains of a school uniform), so he would have to be quick.

Making liberal usage of [Reinforcement] (god he would need to train) to give himself the strength necessary to carry his wagon along, he started ‘browsing’ the many buildings he came across. Rather, he simply examined them and tried to determine whether or not they were abandoned or not.

Unfortunately, it seemed he wasn’t the only one who thought of this idea, using abandoned buildings as shelter, since there were plenty of homeless people (and just straight up petty criminals) hiding out in the ruins of buildings.

However, with some perseverance (and a small fight that forced him to use a Reinforced Metal Pipe to bash in a junkie’s skull), he had found himself a suitable place to hunker down for the near future.

Biting through the skin of his right thumb enough to draw blood, he started smearing the substance all over the walls, drawing [Runes] on them. Since he lacked any writing utensils, he was forced to use his blood, so hopefully he’d be able to get some chalk, animal bones, and mercury sooner rather than later to replace his blood doodles with, but these would do for now.

Once the walls of his new ‘Workshop’ were sufficiently covered in doodles, he clapped his hands and activated his Magic Circuits, chanting.

“ The House of Four Corners-

Hecate, Goddess of Crossroads, I call thee-

I beseech thee with mine lifeblood-

Dionysus, God of Madness, I call thee-

I beseech thee with mine lifeblood-

I call, grant protection, misdirection, misfortune-

I offer thee- ”

It was… admittedly not his greatest work. By his very nature, his Thaumaturgical Foundation had almost nothing to do with the Greek Gods, fortunately for him his experience with them, and the somewhat loose nature of Alchemy allowed him to create this rudimentary Bounded Field around his new ‘Workshop’. It would, in theory anyways, prevent anyone from accidentally stumbling upon it, following him inside, or locating him once he was inside.

He wasn’t sure if a Quirk would allow someone to bypass that, something to test out in the future perhaps, but for now it was the best he could do using his highly limited resources. He did have some mercury (from pillaging batteries and thermometers), but truthfully he couldn’t afford to waste any of it on a Bounded Field, especially since using mercury would only slightly increase its current efficiency.

For now though, he had a workshop to set up.

Emptying his cart, he redid inventory on all of his materials, making sure he would have enough to at least start producing something basic within the next few hours. Tiredness was starting to assault him, but he couldn’t afford to sleep, at least not right now.

“Right then, another all-nighter it is.” He sighed out, pinching the bridge of his nose to try and ward away the tiredness he was feeling. God he couldn’t wait to turn back into a Dead Apostle, at least then he wouldn’t need to sleep 8 or so hours a night to recuperate.

Ten months.

It had been ten months since Izuku Midoriya had died.

Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi sighed deeply as he got off the phone with Miss Midoriya, her desperate crying the only thing he could hear despite having ended the phone call minutes ago.

Of course they had found Midoriya’s suicide note, his leftbehind backpack and shoes, the blood splatter that had been undoubtedly created when his cranium had impacted the ground below, and yet that was all they found. No, that wasn’t completely true, they had found his jacket discarded a few paces away from his supposed ‘death place’, and no body to speak of.

Which meant that either foul play was to blame, and thus Midoriya wasn’t actually dead and had instead been kidnapped, or someone had stolen his dead body.

The latter seemed a lot more probable than the former, especially given his lack of a Quirk, meaning he couldn’t have been kidnapped for his Quirk. Did someone have possession of his body? Or had it simply been cleaned up by accident? No, that was stupid, no one would simply ‘clean up’ and body by accident.

Which meant that Midoriya’s body had been moved somewhere else after his death for an unknown reason.

Naomasa quietly mulled over the idea that the Villain Factory was back in action, before dismissing the idea entirely. The Villain Factory, despite its name, hadn’t actually used dead bodies to create villains (as far as they knew anyways), so the theory was at worst preposterous and at best flimsy, definitively nothing that would prevent the case from being closed.

Unfortunately, Midoriya had been a Quirkless child, a disruptive one at that if the file his school had provided was to be believed. His lack of a Quirk already made it hard for an investigation to be opened at all, given that it had already been ruled as a suicide (despite the lack of a body), leaving it open for any longer (and thus taking up resources that could be placed towards helping children with actually useful Quirks) was unthinkable.

Sighing softly once more, Naomasa took a sip from his too-cold coffee, grimacing a bit as he finished the drink and got up from his chair, making for the office coffee machine to get himself a refill.

Outside of Midoriya’s death, a surge of illegal narcotics had been spotted within Musutafu, to the point where the police force was heavily suspecting that some criminal organization was making a move, either that or some new people were making waves.

The drugs, as of now still relatively harmless, were being distributed by low-level thugs and even students as ‘helpers’. According to the people who sold the drug, it was supposed to ‘improve concentration and information retention’ within its user. The worst part was that it apparently worked, with the only relevant side-effects being migraines after long periods of studies (toxicology still wasn’t sure it the migraines were actual side-effects of the drug or just a side-effect of the intense study the would-be user would put themselves through during the drug’s effective period).

Regardless of its actual lethality, it was still an unregistered and illegal narcotic being peddled towards students (or well, anyone who would need it really, but whoever was making this narcotic seemed to be specifically targeting student bodies). Furthermore, the drug’s low price made it easily accessible by even young teenagers with little pocket money, and its effects, while not inherently addicting (again, from what they could tell), usually made repeat customers due to how useful the drug was.

Most of the dealers were low-level thugs, scum that mostly spent their own money buying more drugs, but a few of them were students who had been anonymously provided ‘test samples’ of the narcotic and had been allowed to spread word of it within their school.

Whoever was making this drug was experienced as well, leaving almost no traces behind. No fingerprints on the baggies (outside of the buyer and dealer), no stray bits of DNA, only a ‘seal’ of sorts, a dragon-like emblem which certified that the product was real and not a fake.

Despite the cheap price of the narcotic, the eggheads estimated that the drug couldn’t be all that expensive to produce, meaning that even if the producer only took half of the revenue, they were still making off with quite a bit of profit. Nothing compared to larger operations, but big enough to pull suspicion towards someone should they attempt to cash in a check or something.

And yet nothing, whoever was creating this drug seemed to be a ghost, even within the memories of those who should have made contact with them. All the dealers knew was that the drug was provided for them at a specific location every Sunday at an agreed upon time (the method by which the time was set varied from dealer to dealer ranging from displacing a plant to a specific window, to highlighting a specific date on a calendar), and that payment was to be left behind where the drugs were picked up.

Normally it would’ve been easy to perform a sting operation by having one of the dealers call the producer and having police survey the area, except not so. Oh, it wasn’t like the drugs didn’t show up, because they did, except it was always when someone wasn’t looking. Somehow, within the blink of an eye, the drugs would almost magically appear at the designated location each and every time, left for the police to just pick up without trouble.

Outside of completely baffling investigators as to how the drugs were being sent in the first place, with the current prevailing theory being through a Warp Quirk that allowed the producer or one of their accomplices to simply warp the product towards a designated location while also warping the money back to them. The worst of it was probably what happened to the dealers who didn’t pay up for the drugs they were taking.

The three tests made by the police had left them with three vegetables, with each dealer suffering from a seizure exactly three hours after the drugs were retrieved without payment. Assuming they were the work of a Quirk, this meant that, assuming this drug wasn’t being produced by a Quirk (something that was looking more and more improbable by the day), there were at least three people involved in this operation.

A Warp User, someone who could give people seizures through some means, and someone to produce the drug. If it weren’t for the fact that this drug had such an intricate way of being delivered, Naomasa would’ve quickly pinned the blame on the Shie Hassaikai, or at least pondered their involvement in the operation. But as things went, the threads tying this theory together were drying up faster than they were appearing.

For now at least, Naomasa would have to hope that the drug’s no-kill streak (outside of unpaying dealers) would stay as is. They didn’t need more people overdosing on drugs after all, especially not students.

Currently, Izuku Raven Midoriya Gael (he really needed to get his identities under control) was feeling quite proud of himself.

His new drug, simply titled ‘Helper’, was becoming quite the rage amongst the various student bodies he introduced it to. It was also quite cheap to produce, being a mixture of a few Advils, some painkillers to ward off migraines, and a bit of Alchemical Fuckery to create something that stimulated just the right parts of the brain to increase memory retention and ward off mental fatigue for awhile.

Normally making something like that would probably lead to a mass outbreak of aneurysms and other brain-related issues, however due to the method he was using (namely, using the pills to introduce extra proteins within the body to compensate for the sudden drop caused by excess usage), he was able to ward off most bad side-effects. Outside of migraines anyways.

Unfortunately, migraines couldn’t really be dealt with permanently, only pushed further away. The reason migraines were such a major side-effect was that, after a while, all of the mental fatigue being held at bay by the drug would resurface and put quite a bit of mental pressure on the brain, leading to a migraine. And because this migraine was the result of pushing back hours’ worth of mental fatigue, it couldn’t really be dealt with using conventional medicine.

At least it wasn’t lethal (assuming the user didn’t have other underlying conditions anyways). At worst it would cause the person to puke, pass out, and wake up a few hours later with symptoms not dissimilar to a severe hangover.

As far as side-effects for drugs went, he was pretty sure this was on the tamer end of things.

Plus, given how cheap it was to create these pills, he was making quite a bit of money in profit. Enough that he now had actual chalk to draw his Magic Circles, animal bones had been relatively easy to acquire (by just buying food), so that dealt with most of his pressing issues.

On the same train of thought, his hideout was beginning to look more like a proper apartment- if you assumed it was owned by a drunkard who worked at a cheap restaurant for a living anyways- instead of a shithole barely holding together. He had managed to acquire a couch (liberally patched together using [Material Transmutation] to cover holes using extra fabrics) and a TV.

Of course, the TV was hooked up to the most bootleg antenna imaginable, having been made from the remnants of a clothes hanger, a can of Monster Energy, and some wires, and thus could only pick up like 3 channels that weren’t the news. Still, it was enough for him now, it wasn’t like he had unlimited amounts of time to just spend watching TV anyways, but it did let him stay up to date on how things were doing currently.

From what he knew, the police were finally done looking for his dead body (he was somewhat surprised it took them this long to stop looking for the dead body of a Quirkless boy), and were instead shifting all of their resources to drug crackdowns, no doubt thanks to him.

While information was scarce (mostly due to how sensitive a topic this was), he had enough to get a pretty good idea of what was happening. The police were looking into him, and trying to figure out who he was, where he ran his operations from, and how he turned people into vegetables from a distance like he’d been doing.

On another note, he’d managed to get some news about Katsuki, more specifically what he’d been up to recently. Apparently he’d been the kid assaulted by the Sludge Villain ten months ago, and while he’d survived, it wasn’t without problems. Due to how the Sludge Villain had tried to possess him (namely, by shoving himself down Katsuki’s throat like the worst deepthroat in the world), his entire throat had been somewhat damaged.

Apparently he wasn’t completely mute, but he couldn’t endlessly scream like he used to, and he had to drink most of his meals, or well that was what he’d gathered four months ago. Honestly he wasn’t all that interested in figuring out what Katsuki had been up to recently (thought apparently he’d made it to UA and people still didn’t know he’d goaded him to suicide).

“Fuck sakes, whose calling…” He grunted, fishing out the cheap flip phone he’d bought at another convenience store, using the phone as a burner more than anything else. He didn’t really have anyone to call, so most of the callers were the few that managed to grab a hold of his number to ask for drugs or narcotics.

“Y’ello, this is Richard Sanchez, what can I do for you?” He answered, giving a random fake name he thought up, waiting for whoever was calling him to reply.

“Hm, well Mister Sanchez, we have an… offer for you.” A distinctly masculine voice replied, causing Izuku to raise an eyebrow as he heard the voice. There was a type of… echo to it. Voice Modulator? Perhaps, or maybe it was to do with their Quirk, he couldn’t be sure just yet.

“Hmph, go on then, I’m all ears.” He said, flopping down on his couch, willing to at least hear them out. His number changed every three weeks after all, if they were calling him, they had at least gone through the trouble of finding him, so he was willing to listen to them.

“Good, we are currently recruiting villains for an operation. If you agree to this, we’ll provide you with an address and a date. For every ten people who you bring to this address on the agreed upon date, we’ll pay you thirty thousand Yen. If any of them have powerful Mutant Quirks, we’ll be willing to pay even more.” The voice said, its tone and the background noise filtering through the phone convincing Izuku that this was the guy’s actual voice and not some modulated shit.

He hummed a bit, pondering the idea a bit. While he wasn’t exactly hurting for money, whoever they were, they weren’t afraid of spending money. They were offering around 180 Pounds per dozen people he would bring to some shady address for shady purposes.

“Hmm, sure, why not. I’ll do it.” He didn’t think too much about it, rallying a couple dozen mooks to get some easy cash wouldn’t be too hard. He had managed to accrue a sizable network of connections in the last 10 months after all, enough that getting two or three dozen thugs to show up for this event wouldn’t be too hard.

“Good, we’ll text you the details shortly. We’ll also be expecting you at the designated location on the date so we can provide your payment.” With that, the call ended, with a text following shortly after. As said, the text listed the address of an abandoned warehouse in the Industrial Sector of the city, alongside a time. Around 1pm, strange, but whatever.

Rolling his shoulders, he jumped off his couch, he had some mooks to start recruiting after all.

It was time. Standing behind him were the thirty three people he’d managed to recruit for this ‘event’, all of them looking quite out of place considering they were standing in front of an abandoned warehouse.

Still, this was the designated location and time, so…

Like clockwork, the moment 1pm hit, the doors to the warehouse opened, allowing him and his group to enter.

Unlike most of his ‘recruits’ who were wearing casual clothes, Izuku himself was garbed in a complete costume, if it could be called that anyways. An ugly yellow raincoat, coupled with latex washing gloves, and a cheap baseball mask he’d bought at various locations. The entire ‘outfit’ had been layered with a few [Runes] , enough that it would survive a light scuffle, and maybe some low-caliber fire, but definitely not anything rough.

Still, it did its job to keep his identity hidden, with the raincoat keeping his hair covered, the gloves preventing his fingerprints from being left anywhere, and his mask preventing anyone from getting a good look at him. Even his eyes couldn’t be used to ID him given the mask covered them (even if it meant his vision was tainted red until he took it off).

Once he was inside, he was instantly approached by someone wearing a bartender outfit. The man, if he was even that, had fog hiding his face and hands. Neat.

“Huh, well what’you know, you learn something new every day.” Izuku said cheekily, crossing his arms as best he could while wearing this ugly raincoat.

The bartender either didn’t care, or decided that the comment about his appearance didn’t mean much to him, since he didn’t react.

“So it seems. I am Kurogiri, I assume you are ‘The Dealer’?” He asked, causing Izuku to grunt in annoyance. Right, that shitty nickname the police had slapped on him considering they still didn’t know who he was or what he looked like. Considering his business was literally drug dealing, they’d taken to calling him ‘The Dealer’.

“Yeah, I am. So, payment.” He said, extending his gloved hand towards the fog man, Kurogiri, only for the man to gesture for Izuku to follow after him.

“This way, my employer wishes to talk to you.” Without any further discussion, Kurogiri led the way towards one of the warehouse’s backrooms.

Deciding that he may as well, since he already was here, Izuku followed after Kurogiri, hands shoved in his raincoat’s pockets. He didn’t have anything hidden in there, but it wasn’t like he needed a weapon with his Magecraft. At least not yet anyways.

Stepping into the backroom, Izuku found himself mask-to-face with someone else, or rather, mask-to-hand with someone.

The man, completely covered in severed hands (he even had one covering his face), was currently occupied playing on a game console. After a few moments of awkward silence, the man (who Izuku just now realized was holding the console without using his pinkies) placed his control down and turned to ‘face’ him.

“So, you’re ‘The Dealer’... I’m not impressed. You look like some shitty disposable NPC.” Hand-man grunted out, getting a raised eyebrow out of Izuku, not that he could tell given his own mask.

NPC? Wasn’t that… a video game term? Great, he was dealing with a manchild, amazing.

“Sure, whatever you say boss man. Listen, I just need my money and I’ll be out of your hair.” Izuku said, lifting his hands up in a surrender motion. He wasn’t exactly scared of the Hand-man, or of Kurogiri. It didn’t even really matter what their Quirks were, it wasn’t like they’d be able to stop him if he actually tried to escape.

Apparently Hand-man didn’t appreciate being talked to like that, since he started vigorously scratching his neck, showing a plethora of scars lining his neck.

“This is wrong, you’re just a shitty NPC… Fine, Kurogiri, pay him. I don’t like him.” Wow, well the feeling was mutual, Izuku thought, suppressing the desire to rub the back of his neck in annoyance.

Dealing with manchildren was not his forte.

Kurogiri, now that he had his boss’s approval, handed him a small briefcase, allowing Izuku to open it and see the various stacks of money. Doing some quick mental calculations, he nodded once he was sure that all the money was there.

“Well, it was a pleasure doing business with you, gentleman.” Deciding to make his exit, Izuku went to exit the room, only for… something to block his exit.

More burnt chicken than man, the All Might-sized chicken headed creature that had apparently been hiding just out of sight now blocked the exit. Glancing back towards Hand-man, Izuku prepared to blast his way out of the room, only to be greeted by another voice, this time echoing out of a TV.

“Now now, it would be such a shame to let you leave like this. Mister Dealer, I would greatly appreciate it if you would be willing to accompany Tomura on his quest.” The voice said, another male voice, also heavily modulated, but this one was being filtered through an actual modulator, unlike Kurogiri’s voice which was naturally weird.

“Hoh? And why would I do that?” Izuku asked, crossing his arms once more, turning to face the TV, not all that bothered by the hulking chicken behind him. It didn’t seem to have a shred of brainpower, and given its exposed brain, he wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or a bad one.

Still, he was still quite confident in his ability to kill it should push come to shove.

“Well, I would be willing to triple your current payment.” The voice said without hesitation, causing Izuku to still a bit. That was… quite a bit of money, not something most people would carelessly throw around unless they were sure their investment would be worth it.

“You see, Tomura plans on killing All Might and invade UA. It would do me great pleasure if you could accompany him.”

Shit!

Stiffening up ever so slightly, Izuku tried to ignore the mounting pressure that permeated the room. With a plan like that, it was unlikely they would allow him to just leave should he refuse. Meaning he would either have to accept, or have to blast his way out of the building fighting Tomura, Kurogiri, Chicken Face, and perhaps the hundred or so thugs gathered within the warehouse.

“...Fine, I’ll join Tomura, but don’t think I won’t abandon him if the opportunity presents itself.” Unfortunately for the mystery voice, Izuku was not at all intimidated by them and their threats. While he still wasn’t sure what kind of Quirks they had, he highly doubted it was something that could kill a Dead Apostle like him, especially if he started fighting back with all he was willing to show.

“That is fine, so long as you don’t ally with the Heroes, that is acceptable.” The voice said before the TV turned off, leaving the room silent save for the breathing of its three occupants.

“So, what’s the plan?” Izuku asked, his gaze shifting between Kurogiri and Tomura. Honestly, he didn’t have much confidence in Tomura, he was obviously not the leader of this operation, the mystery voice was, but considering everyone seemed to have left leadership to him for now, he’d listen. For now.

“Graa, we’ll use Kurogiri to warp us in the U.S.J, then we kill All Might and everyone else there!” Tomura exclaimed, pushing past both Izuku and the Chicken thing to go and ‘greet’ his army, and hopefully brief them on the plan.

Glancing back towards Kurogiri, he couldn’t help but chuckle when the bartender gave an exasperated sigh, following after Tomura, leaving Izuku alone with the Chicken.

“...So… what the actual fuck are you…” He hummed, visually examining the Chicken Thing. He didn’t have much time to examine it before Tomura called them both out to the front so they could step through Kurogiri’s Warp Gate (apparently his Quirk was Teleportation, neat), but he was fairly sure the so-called ‘Nomu’ thing was some sort of Synthetic Beast, or at least some science experiment.

Also, considering it was literally called ‘Brainless’, he was pretty sure it was actually dumber than a rock, since it seemed to be content listening to Tomura’s orders without complaints.

Stepping through the black sheet of fog generated by Kurogiri’s Quirk, Izuku’s eyes squinted as he used one of his gloved hands to try and ward away the sunlight from the other side.

Looking around, he managed to situate himself somewhat. They were in some kind of plaza-type area, with stairs leading up towards the entrance, and a class of students standing there, terrified. With them stood two adults, a scruffy-looking hobo and the michelin man. Great, he wasn’t sure who the hobo was just yet, but the michelin man was obviously Thirteen, the Space Hero. Her Quirk would be… annoying to deal with, but not impossible.

“Wasn’t it supposed to be just Thirteen and All Might? Who’s this guy?”

Oh? Apparently Hobo-Man was moving! He seemed to be using some kind of scarf-like weapon, a Telekinesis Quirk then? No, he was wearing goggles. Unless his Telekinesis was based not on his mind’s eye but his actual eyes?

Unlikely, but possible.

“It’s Eraserhead! A Pro, he can cancel your Quirks just by looking at you!” A random mook said, answering that question. Eraserhead huh? Right, right, the ‘Black Mark Teacher of U.A’, and probably the most dreaded/hated teacher there.

Apparently he expelled an entire class of students last year. Great, a moron who thought he was big shit and had to flex his imaginary power.

Izuku sighed a bit, glancing around a bit. Kurogiri was gone, apparently gone to scatter the students around the U.S.J to be picked off by the other thugs he’d also spread around the location, leaving him, Tomura, and Nomu to stand around and watch Eraserhead beat the shit out of their mooks.

“Well, that’s dandy and all, but Imma go see how the students are doing, toodles.” And with that, Izuku was gone, Reinforcing his legs and jumping away before Tomura could stop him. With that Nomu thing following him around, he should be fine unless All Might showed up out of nowhere. Given the size of its muscle, it must be quite strong, especially since it was supposed to be strong enough to kill All Might.

He had some doubts about that, but whatever, he didn’t have the thing’s specs anyways, maybe it could match All Might. It wasn’t like he hadn’t seen people with more raw physical strength then All Might before after all, so who knows.

For now, he had some students to check out, and who knows, maybe he’d catch a look of Katsuki while he was at it!

Chapter Text

In his, admittedly, very very long life, Izuku Midoriya, formerly the Lord of Zoology of the Clock Tower some two and a half centuries ago, had seen many things. Among these ‘things’ were myriad discoveries, amazing moments, and disappointments.

This, he thought, would be easily categorized as a giant disappointment.

Sure, gathering lots of mooks together for a concerted attack against the U.S.J was… somewhat of a good idea, except apparently no one had any idea as to what the children’s Quirks were, how good they were at using them, and even if they had some sort of Super Secret Move they could pull out of their ass to save themselves.

Case and point, the giant rampaging shadow currently running amuck within the Squall Zone, oh and the rock-head kid hiding underneath some rubbles over there.

Really, if they’d known that a kid with a Shadow Quirk that strong existed within the Class’s roaster, why then did they send him to one of the darkest fucking zones in the entirety of the U.S.J?

It was an easy question to answer, they didn’t know.

Sighing softly, Izuku once more Reinforced his legs to superhuman levels, his ten month long training allowing him to regain some of his former strength, but to get back to even Executor-level he’d need a few more months, and a lot more training.

It was somewhat hilarious, in his mind anyways, that for as strong as Pro-Heroes were, most still weren’t even as strong as basic Church Executors. Which led to the question of: Why hadn’t the Moonlit World crushed any opposition?

Magecraft still functioned, as was obvious by his own usage. Dead Apostles still existed, as was obvious by his own existence. So then what happened?

It didn’t take him very long to answer that question, after trying to contact the Mage’s Association using some secret channels, he figured it out.

They had been wiped out during the Quirk Uprising.

Magus, an already dying species of humanity, had been mostly wiped off the face of the Earth during the Quirk Uprising, not because of any concerted attack, but rather, because Quirks were intrinsically incompatible with Magecraft.

No, that wasn’t it. It was rather, Quirks held different powers to Magecraft, instead possessing fewer limitations in exchange for fewer powers. A Magus could hold the power of ten Quirks or more simply through Magecraft, and yet a singular Quirk could hold greater power than most Modern Magecraft could only hope for.

From what little he’d gathered, some Magus Bloodlines had attempted to integrate Quirks into their lineages, but doing so sacrificed the careful balance of Magic Circuits within their bodies, eventually leading to heirs who lacked any Circuits to speak of.

If he had to make a guess, the total population of active Magi within the World was around 20 to 30% what it was in his days.

The Age of Magecraft had simply dwindled, not due to the inherent decline of Magecraft, but instead due to the rise of Quirks. Instead, this was an Age of Quirks, one which showed no signs of dwindling, if the kids running amuck within the U.S.J were any signs anyways.

Making his way to the Landslide Zone, he allowed a quiet whistle of amazement, oh my, that half-and-half kid had an Ice Quirk, and a powerful one at that. Interesting.

He couldn’t be sure, but judging by how effortlessly he’d created this much ice, Izuku was confident in saying that kid was a stronger Cryomancer than his 20 years old self had been. Impressive all things considered.

Oh, and there was an invisible kid there too, he almost missed her, if it weren’t for the almost imperceptible shifting of the light when she moved. Good lord, if his eyesight had been any worse, he would’ve completely missed her there.

A loud explosion sound turned his attention back towards the central plaza, causing him to jump back over there. Jumping around using Reinforcement wasn’t that effective, especially since he had other methods of going around, but best keep those to himself for now. It wouldn’t do for him to show all of his cards just yet after all.

By the time he made it back to the plaza, Eraserhead looked less like a Pro-Hero and more like a Hobo Pretzel, the Nomu thing standing over him menacingly, having seemingly destroyed his arms and forehead, or at least shoved his head through the flooring.

Glancing around, Izuku slowly made his way back towards Tomura, gloved hands shoved in his raincoat’s pockets.

“Well then, that was… anticlimactic. What now?” He asked the Hand-covered boy, watching with bemusement as the ‘Leader’ started furiously scratching his neck again, just in time for Kurogiri to Warp back over to them.

“I’m sorry Tomura Shigaraki, one of the children managed to escape.” The fogman said, causing Shigaraki’s scratching to somehow double in intensity. Good lord, that could not be good for his skin…

“Grrr, Kurogiri, if you weren’t our Warp Gate I’d disintegrate you!” Tomura growled in-between scratches, almost folding over himself as he tried to scratch some invisible itch. “Fine, we’re leaving.”

Hoh? That was… unexpected? No, actually it wasn’t. Tomura was a man-child, and seemed to have the attention span of one. Since All Might wasn’t here, and Eraserhead was done for, it seemed his ‘hype’ was done with.

“But, before we go, how about we kill a few kids, just to send a message.” Moving faster than any of the villains had previously, baring perhaps the Nomu, Tomura shot towards the artificial lake where three kids were currently frozen in fear.

One of them, a frog-faced girl, seemed to recover just enough to push her two classmates away from Tomura’s approaching hand, apparently fully aware of what his Quirk was, unlike Izuku who only had context clues to work with.

Time seemed to dilate once more as he was presented with a choice. Do nothing and watch at least one child die, or intervene and save them.

He, Izuku Midoriya, by his simple presence here, was no Hero.

He, Raven Gael, by his simple existence, had been no Hero.

He…

He’d gotten soft…

Once more Reinforcing his legs, he shot towards Tomura, using speed far surpassing anything displayed by anyone here, again perhaps baring the Nomu. Considering the amount of momentum he was displaying, even the lightest blow would have massive repercussions.

Tsuyu Asui blinked in shock, both because she wasn’t actually dead, and because of how surreal the situation unfolding before her was almost, well, surreal.

Shaking just a few inches away from her face, was the Head Villain’s hand which had caused Aizawa’s elbow to disintegrate, the hand that would, without mercy or hesitation, kill her. Except that somehow, by the providence of the World, it couldn’t cross the tiny distance separating them.

Because another villain was keeping it from covering this distance.

Clad in the ugliest yellow raincoat she’d ever seen, wearing dishwashing gloves and a silly dollar store mask, was the only thing preventing her untimely demise. With a grip of iron, the Raincoat Villain kept Tomura’s hand from reaching her, disregarding the almost animalistic growl emanating from the hand-covered villain.

“Hey hey! What gives!?” Tomura exclaimed, trying to overpower the latex-clad hand preventing him from killing Tsuyu.

“Now now Tomura Shigaraki, it’s true that I agreed to accompany you, but I never said I wouldn’t stop you from killing any of the students.” Raincoat replied nonchalantly. The argument was incredibly weak, even to Tsuyu who had almost none of the context surrounding the two villain’s relationship, outside of the fact that they were apparently not allies, or at least not true allies.

Growling again, Tomura ripped his arm out of Izuku’s grip, cradling the arm like it would be stolen from him if he didn’t. Dammit, just how strong was this guy!? This was going to bruise!

Sighing once more, Izuku glanced towards the trio of U.A Students, examining them briefly. Shaggy purple hair, eyebags, picture perfect tired student. The lack of musculature showed that he had absolutely no physical strength. Emitter Quirk maybe? It must be pretty powerful if it allowed this guy to coast on it for so long.

The frog girl was obviously a Mutant Quirk, Frog Mutant? Strange, but not out of the ordinary. Did she have all of the abilities of a Frog, or just some of them? Could she secret poison? Stick to walls? How long was her tongue?

The final kid had, for lack of better terms, ball-hair. A Mutant Quirk obviously, thought he couldn’t for the life of him figure out what those balls in his hair did. Could he pull them out? What did they do? Explode? Probably not, considering the kid was wearing a diaper of all things. Were they just balls? Maybe, but that wouldn’t explain how he made it in the Hero Course then, unless the Entrance Exam was truly that easy to pass. The kid was almost smaller than grade schoolers, meaning he probably didn’t have much in the way of physical strength.

Another loud crash turned his attention away from the children towards the entrance gate, where All Might stood.

“Well, Tomura Shigaraki, it seemed exercising some patience was worth it after all.” Izuku said lightly, grinning a bit underneath his mask. Why was All Might late? Did he overdo it again? Knowing him, probably. He’d probably used up his time limit this morning and had to recharge before showing up to class.

Before either villain could speak another word, All Might blitzed forward, punching down every mook leftover from Eraserhead’s rampage with blistering speed.

Grabbing Eraserhead’s downed body, All Might muttered a few words to the unconscious teacher before blitzing towards Izuku and Tomura.

Striking Tomura, Izuku barely managed to defend himself against the blow, bringing his Reinforced arms forward to absorb the blow, though he still went flying back a few feet from the impact, he at least didn’t lose his mask.

Shaking himself back to reality and blinking away some ripples in his vision, Izuku once more took stock of the battlefield. All Might had, with blistering speed, retrieved both Eraserhead and the trio of students, telling them something he couldn’t hear. Probably to run away with Eraserhead.

The students said something back, to which All Might simply gave them a peace sign before blasting towards Tomura.

“Nomu.” Tomura, speaking with absolute confidence, called upon his ‘Ultimate Weapon’, the hulking behemoth answering its master with awe inspiring speed to intercept All Might’s blow.

The two behemoth proceeded to exchange a few blows, with All Might’s blows seemingly doing nothing to the Nomu, though the Nomu was unable to land any successful attacks.

“It’s no use All Might! Nomu here has Shock Absorption!” Tomura bragged, causing Izuku to facepalm. Right, tell your weapon’s abilities, why don’t you? Why keep that a secret when you could just scream it out to high heaven.

All Might, apparently realizing the same thing, proceeded to suplex the Nomu into the ground, or well attempted to since Kurogiri managed to create a Warp Gate underneath them, allowing the Nomu to turn the tables on All Might, grabbing the Symbol of Peace’s weak point.

Suppressing a wince, All Might attempted to loosen Nomu’s grip on his bleeding left side to no avail, Kurogiri once more explaining their plan, for some god awful reason. Really, did everyone here have to be some cliche cartoon villain!? Was secrecy a dead concept to the World here!?

Shifting his attention back towards All Might, Izuku managed to catch the sudden change in temperature that preceded the wave of ice which completely covered the Nomu’s right side, ending just before it could reach the Symbol of Peace’s body. It seemed that the bicolored kid was back, nifty that.

Sighing more once All Might was free, if injured, Izuku shifted his head to the side to avoid being clotheslined by a red object, with Kurogiri being a bit less lucky as a large explosion quite literally slammed into him, bringing him down to the ground.

“I’ll blow you to bits you fog fucker!” A familiar shrill voice screamed, causing Izuku’s gaze to snap towards its owner, witnessing Katsuki Bakugou clad in his Heroic Regalia. It seemed that Fate truly had a strange sense of humor. When they were children, Katsuki had always been the Hero, and Izuku, Useless Deku, had to play the Villain. Now though, they weren’t playing make believe, Katsuki was a Hero Hopeful, and Izuku was a rising Villain.

Chuckling underneath his breath, he avoided a telegraphed hit from the red child, some kind of Transformation Quirk? Hardening if his stone-like skin meant anything. Simple, yet effective. How strong was it? Like stone? A bit weaker? Or stronger? Regardless, it didn’t matter.

The red haired rock child, rearing back his arm for a punch, let loose a roar as he rushed forward. Izuku, sighing once more and thinking he’d been doing that way too much, deftly avoided the telegraphed attack, one hand grasping the overextended wrist, his opposite leg planting itself in-between his opponent’s own, displacing his stance.

Firmly planting his feet into the ground, Izuku allowed the simple principles of physics to work in his favor, basically creating a lever using his body as a fulcrum, throwing the red rock to the ground hard enough to crack it, but apparently not really injuring the kid as he used his Quirk to prevent any big injuries.

Huh, apparently he was sturdier than regular concrete, nice.

Stomping on the kid’s diaphragm, he kept a tight grip on his wrist, twisting it in a wrist lock.

“Wiggle too much and I’ll break your arm and maybe a few ribs.” He threatened, causing the kid to stop squirming once Izuku flared a bit of his Killing Intent, pressing more heavily on the kid’s chest to emphasize his threat.

Glancing towards the bigger fight, he had to bring up his empty arm to shield his gaze from the gales of winds being generated from the Nomu’s reckless attacks against Katsuki, Izuku’s enhanced vision barely catching All Might moving to intercept, throwing the explosive blonde out of the blast radius but taking the blow himself.

Huh, wasn’t the Nomu frozen? How was it fine now? Regeneration? Probably, so it had multiple Quirks? Highly interesting, he’d have to get a blood sample later then.

What followed was, quite simply, a shitshow. All Might, in the most braindead fashion imaginable, proceeded to ‘punch through the Nomu’s Quirks’, throwing the creature into the sky and out of the U.S.J at the cost of probably overextending his Quirk severely.

What!? Why? The half-and-half kid had a powerful Ice Quirk, just use it to try and restrain the Nomu! Or, if that wasn’t possible, just, I don’t know, try to do something other than recklessly rush an opponent with Shock Absorption and Super Regeneration.

Deciding that getting triple his money was absolutely not worth this shitshow, Izuku glanced towards the awestruck teenager stuck underneath his foot, snapping his fingers a bit to get the kid’s attention.

“Alright kid, listen up. Imma let you go, but you gotta promise to schmooze the fuck out of here, yeah?” He said, causing the kid to blink in bewilderment as Izuku made use of lingo that was more than two centuries outdated, nodding either out of reflex or bewilderment.

“Alright, have fun kid!” In an almost practiced motion, Izuku grabbed the rock kid, chucking him towards Tomura and, given the speed the hardened teenager was flying at, neither Kurogiri nor Tomura could react properly, meaning Tomura was quite literally stoned, ending his dumb last ditch charge towards All Might just enough to avoid losing his hand to a bullet.

Flashing everyone there the middle finger, Izuku decided to follow his own advice and schmoove the fuck away, running off into the more forested area to hide from view. Once he was sure no one was watching him, he opened his own Gate, making use of his [Displacement Magecraft] to do so. Flash Air was damn useful after all!

Exiting the U.S.J from the backside, he shifted his gaze towards the sky, trying to roughly calculate where the fuck the Nomu had flown towards, before rushing towards its approximate location.

He could either try and wrestle the creature back to his hideout to study it, where he definitely didn’t have the space necessary to keep it, or take a shit ton of blood from it.

…Right, ripping a shit ton of blood out of that thing it was!

Quickly finding the Nomu, by virtue of following the trail of destroyed forestry and the giant crater left by the creature’s unceremonious impact with the ground, Izuku riffled through his raincoat in search of his Alchemical Equipment, more specifically the syringes and blood vials he was carrying around. As a Vampire, it was basically a necessity that he would carry vials of blood to snack on, and empty ones to fill in case of emergencies, though after today, he may start carrying them for other reasons too.

Approaching the creature, he blinked a bit when it did absolutely nothing, apparently it really was braindead, being programmed to follow only Tomura’s orders. Why? He wasn’t sure, if it were him he would’ve left it with at least some animal instincts, or even just a basic subroutine to follow! Why leave it as the dumbest corpse puppet ever!?

Whatever, questions for later, for now he had blood to collect. Reinforcing the tip of his needles, he unceremoniously stabbed the creature in one of its major arteries, proceeding to drain around a liter of blood, mostly because unlike with regular patients, he didn’t exactly care if the Nomu survived the extraction or not. Once he was done, he quickly pondered ripping its brain out, before shrugging. Why not.

Reinforcing his fingers and a scalpel, he started the arduous task of carefully ripping out the creature’s exposed brain, again, why leave that thing exposed!?

Despite possessing Super Regeneration, it seemed it didn’t extend to its brain, meaning he didn’t have to constantly fight against a time limit to rip out the organ. Once he was sure the brain was fully disconnected from any connective tissue, he quickly removed the organ, fusing his remaining glass vials together into a container for the brain, filling it with more of the Nomu’s blood. It wasn’t cerebrospinal fluid, but it would do for now.

Frantically glancing around as his enhanced hearing picked up the sound of what was either Pro-Heroes or police scouting the surrounding area, Izuku once more flexed his Magecraft, using Flash Air once more to GTFO as far as he could, before discarding his ugly raincoat, gloves, and mask, using some Fire Magecraft to properly dispose of the bootleg costume, before making for his Workshop.

He had some DNA (and a brain) to analyze after all. No matter what kind of technology or Quirks was used to create this Nomu, he was Izuku Midoriya, Reincarnation of Raven Gael, Lord of Zoology and Alchemist of Atlas.

Reverse Engineering this thing would be a cakewalk.

Naomasa sighed for the nth time this week, god he was starting to do this motion way too much.

Sitting beside his friend, Yagi Toshinori, alias All Might, the detective slowly flipped through the various papers making up his report.

“So. This Nomu thing, it had multiple Quirks?” He repeated for the second time, as if another confirmation would make the fact less real than it actually was.

Toshinori grunted in affirmation, leaning back into his bed to rest his back.

“Yeah, he was a real tough customer too, according to that man-child, Tomura I think they called him, he had Shock Absorption, Super Regeneration, and some combination of Strength Quirks and Endurance Quirks.” The Symbol of Peace’s emaciated form recounted once more, causing Tsukauchi’s frown to deepen some more.

According to their report, Nomu had been found a couple dozen meters away from the U.S.J, not quite alive, but not quite dead either. Apparently, someone had seen fit to remove the creature’s brain, leaving behind nothing but a gaping hole in its half-open cranium. Did its Super Regeneration not apply to the head area, or was it simply a result of the method used to remove the brain?

Why remove the brain and yet leave the Nomu behind? Was this the work of that strange Yellow Raincoat Villain?

“Well, the eggheads back at HQ are running DNA tests on the Nomu, so hopefully we’ll figure out more info once they’re done.” Tsukauchi sighed out, flipping to another page of his report, this time being a couple of statements made by both Tsuyu Asui and some of the thugs they’d captured. “Apparently the villain in the yellow raincoat was ‘The Dealer’, no clue why he was here. According to a few of the villains we interrogated, he was paid to be there.”

The information caused both Symbol of Peace and Detective to raise an eyebrow and share a confused look. Why would a somewhat notorious drug dealer, someone whose kill streak as of yet involved a few dealers who didn’t pay him, be at the U.S.J Raid?

Even if he was being paid, it didn’t really make any sense, unless there was something else they weren’t aware of.

“Young Asui said he saved her, didn’t she?” Toshinori asked, having been briefly briefed by Recovery Girl on what his students had said, apparently the young frog girl had been saved by the Raincoat Villain for some unknown reason.

Tsukauchi nodded as he flipped through the statements in his hands.

“According to her, he simply said he wasn’t here to kill anyone, just to watch.” By the tone of Tsukauchi’s voice, it was obvious that he found it highly unlikely that someone notorious like ‘The Dealer’ would really be there simply for ‘watching’, especially since he didn’t seem to be gaining anything out of this deal.

“Well, regardless, we’ll do what we can on our side, you and the students do your best to recover, alright All Might?” The Detective said, rising from his spot and making for the door, giving his friend a wave as he exited back towards his work.

A notorious drug dealer joins the U.S.J Raid? That made no sense, even if money was involved. Was he the reason the Nomu’s brain had been stolen? And if so, why the brain only? It didn’t make any sense, why steal a brain of all things?

Tsukauchi sighed once more, palming his face.

“I need more coffee.”

The news played in the background, detailing the police findings of the recent U.S.J Raid, though omitting various details that were either classified or simply unimportant. Like how the Nomu’s brain had been stolen for unknown reasons.

Said brain was currently floating inside of a glass container on his desk, the organ being a veritable mine of information. Despite having absolutely no memories worth digging through, the data he managed to extract out of its modified form was more than enough to make up for its lacking intellect.

Chuckling underneath his breath, Izuku wheeled his newly bought desk chair around his Workshop towards a machine he would tentatively call a ‘DNA Analyzer’. Unlike its more modern counterpart used in the medical and criminology fields, this baby was quite a bit more advanced than anything non-Atlas people were used to. Outside of possessing the basic functions of a mundane DNA Analyzer, this machine also allowed him to ‘zoom in’ on specific parts of the DNA and analyze them fully.

To say he was surprised by what he found would be an understatement. For the first time, he had access to the DNA of a Quirked individual, no that wasn’t true. For the first time, he had access to the DNA of someone who had been forcefully grafted with multiple Quirks.

It was truly interesting to sift through this DNA Sequence, allowing him to fully analyze the so-called Plus Alpha Elements , or more commonly referred to as a ‘Quirk Factor’. By further analyzing these Plus Alpha Elements, he was able to isolate them separately, giving him quite the nifty collection of Quirks.

Each Quirk, stored within a specialized bottle composed of both a small vial of a blood-like substance containing the Quirk, alongside a sort of USB-like device containing the Quirk’s Genetic Sequence, allowing him to reproduce it fully by combining specific proteins together in the correct order.

Normally doing something like this would be well out of the possible for most modern technologies, he couldn’t say all modern tech since obviously it was possible given the Nomu’s existence, but given his aptitude in Alchemy and Atlas Technology, replicating a Quirk was childsplay for him.

It was, in the end, simply replicating a DNA Sequence, the basis of creating a Homunculus or a Synthetic Beast really, even more than basic.

Which led him to completely ‘exploding’ the Nomu’s DNA, ripping out all of the Quirks it had access to.

• Super Strength
• Enhanced Endurance
• Super Regeneration
• Shock Absorption
• Hyper Bone Mass

From what he could find, the bird face was the result of extensive bodily modifications and had nothing to do with any Quirks, strangely enough. The exposed brain also served absolutely no purposes as far as he could tell outside of being a glaring weak point.

From what he could find, the Super Regeneration Quirk was a little marvel of modern engineering, being a combination of various Healing Quirks strung together in order to create a more powerful Quirk, while also doing away with some of their individual weaknesses. Still, despite its power, it still had a few weaknesses of its own.

For one, it absolutely could not deal with carbonized cells, dislocated joints, and anything that wasn’t outright physical damage. Second, there was an inherent limit to its regeneration speed, which explained how All Might was able to overpower its healing. Third, it couldn’t really do anything to recover basic proteins, rather, unlike his own Healing Factor as a Dead Apostle, Super Regeneration made use of the body’s inherent resources to do the healing, meaning that if too much damage was incurred, it would be impossible for the body to provide enough resources to fully heal the damage dealt to it.

This led him to the final problem with the Quirk, it couldn’t deal with injuries incurred while it was either received or activated for the first time. Rather, it wouldn’t help heal past injuries received before it was given to someone, which meant it was only really useful if it was given before any debilitating injuries were given.

Still, despite its weaknesses, there was no doubt that this was an outrageously powerful Quirk to be giving away to a meatbag, which meant he wasn’t the only one able to replicate Quirks. That or Tomura’s benefactor had literally thrown away a super powerful Quirk on a maybe, which didn’t make sense (unless he really was the only person in the world with a functioning brain).

The Nomu’s brain had revealed a few more things, primarily that normal humans were not able to handle multiple Quirks. From what he could find, the reason the Nomu was quite ironically brainless (despite having its brain literally exploding out of its cranium) was because its nervous system was completely overworked dealing with the various Quirks it was bestowed with, leaving it as a literal meat puppet.

It was somewhat disappointing really, but he couldn’t fault whoever had created the Nomu for being unable to work around this problem, since doing so would mean strengthening the receiving nervous system beyond anything found in nature. Unless there was a Quirk out there that naturally did that, he wasn’t sure a modern scientist could do it.

Fortunately for him, he had been an Alchemist of Atlas, overcoming problems like this was his bread and butter. Hence why he was currently standing in front of a tank where, inside a viscous green-ish liquid, a creature floated.

The creature, a quadruped-like creation, resembled more a hound than anything else, if you were used to watching Ben 10 anyways. Some kind of alien-looking hound with a carapace-like exoskeleton, the creature was currently acclimating to the multiple Quirks he was shoving into it. Created from all the Quirks the Nomu had provided him, he was still hoping to collect some more Quirks before finalizing his creation.

He also had something else cooking in the background, but that was far from finished. The existence of the Super Regeneration Quirk, a Quirk created completely through outside genetic manipulation, left him wondering. Could he do the same thing?

In theory, yes. Quirks were just a bunch of proteins strung together within a particular formation to create more proteins which, for some ungodly reason, resulted in Superpowers, or at least physical mutations. He wasn’t exactly sure why a human would suddenly develop the ability to turn half of their body into sand, but sure, whatever, evolution and whatever.

Still, disregarding the absolute clusterfuck that was Quirk Evolution, it was possible to somewhat alter the genetics behind a Quirk simply by breeding with someone possessing a compatible Quirk, Katsuki was a prime example of that (and the only one he could think of at the moment). His Explosion Quirk was a mixture of his parent’s own Quirks, with his father’s Acid Sweat, a Quirk that turned his sweat acidic and, if rubbed together in sufficient quantities explosive, combined with the Bakugou Matriarch's Glycerin Quirk which, well, allowed her to secret glycerin from her skin.

Again, he wasn’t completely sure why the fuck evolution would allow someone to do that, but sure, whatever. Anyhow, the combination of those two Quirks allowed for the creation of Katsuki’s Explosion Quirk, which was actually not the spontaneous creation of explosions, but rather the production of a nitroglycerin-like substance, with Katsuki being able to willingly detonate the thing to create explosions of various sizes.

Disregarding the absurdity of such a mutation arising for no particular reason, Quirks were, in some weird fashion, pliant to their own strange pseudo-science, in the same fashion Magecraft was. Quirks had rules and by understanding these rules, it was possible to bend them backwards and wipe your ass with them.

Thus, Izuku was currently in the process of, for lack of a better term, ‘growing’ a completely new Quirk. Not for himself of course, he didn’t care enough about acquiring a Quirk, assuming it was even possible for his Dead Apostle physiology to accept one, acquiring a Quirk would just be something else he’d have to deal with alongside his Magecraft, something he couldn’t currently afford to deal with.

Maybe in the future once he had more free time, but not for now.

For now, this new Quirk, whatever it would become, was to go to one of his creations, who unlike the strange dog-like monstrosity, was a fully human creation, a Homunculus.

Shifting his gaze away from the embryo currently gestating within a canister to the ‘Quirk Modification’ station he’d created, a complex amalgamation of scavenged mechanical parts, alchemical symbols, and other bits and bobs strung together in an almost nonsensical creation, he went back to work modifying the Quirk Factor to suit his need.

It would be easier if he had more Quirk Factors to fuse together, but considering his current lack of supplies, this would have to do. And anyways, it wasn’t like he was trying to do anything too big.

Hmm, the U.A Sports Festival was approaching, maybe he should visit again, collect a few more blood samples while he was there. Some of those kids had wonderful Quirks after all, and acquiring Erasure would be quite the boon (he mentally kicked himself for not collecting some of Eraserhead’s blood while the Nomu had restrained him, but oh well, soon).

The idea of acquiring All Might’s Quirk was also interesting, while not the strongest person he’d ever seen (especially after the Chaldea debacle), he was still substantially stronger than mostly anyone else currently alive, as far as he knew anyways.

This led him back to Tomura’s mysterious benefactor, whoever they were. He’d done a bit of digging, particularly on the events that happened six years ago, when All Might lost his left side and all that. Apparently there was a ‘Quirk Boogeyman’ of some kind running around.

According to the rumors permeating the underworld, he could give and take Quirks, for a price anyways. Usually he dealt with more wealthy clients, but he was known for taking useful Quirks whenever he wanted. Most people dismissed those rumors as, well, just that. Rumors.

Yet Izuku knew better. Where there was smoke, there was fire. Even if the rumors had been altered through hearsay, a Quirk giving and taking other Quirks was definitively within the realm of possibility. He could do it with his Alchemy, and obviously someone else could using other methods to create the Nomu (assuming it wasn’t this ‘Quirk Boogeyman’ anyways).

As Holmes had said many times, when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth. Quirks were strange, following their own strange set of rules. A Quirk being able to steal and give other Quirks was improbable, but considering his own experiments, the Nomu’s possession of various Quirks, Tomura’s strange shady benefactor, and All Might’s secret fight, its existence (or at least something comparable) was definitely possible.

Which led him to another question. If this ‘Quirk Stealing Quirk’ actually existed, why the fuck did this Quirk Boogeyman not already own the World? Sure, there were wicked powerful Quirks in the World, All Might and Star and Stripe were obvious examples, but if you could steal their Quirks, what did you have to fear?

Obviously there had to be some limitation on stealing Quirks, but even then, the Nomu existed, proving that matching All Might was definitively possible to some extent. So then, how was this Quirk Boogeyman not already victorious?

Assuming All Might had dealt with this Quirk Boogeyman (badly if they and Tomura’s benefactor were one and the same), then someone with potentially infinite amounts of Quirks had lost to someone whose whole strategy was ‘punch hard, and if that doesn’t work, punch but harder’ was definitely a let down.

Sure, All Might’s power was awe inspiring, but the Nomu had displayed at least comparable strength. Honestly the only thing he could think of was that this Quirk Boogeyman was an absolute moron, or just someone without proper planning.

Still, he would have to leave the pondering for later, once his current experiments were done with. That and, he should probably start working on a miniature version of TRI-HERMES, or at least on something comparable. He’d worked on TRISMEGISTUS and had seen and examined TRI-HERMES before with S–n, so creating a bootleg copy should be possible.

Seeing the future was always a gamble, but it was a useful gamble. If anything, it would let him stay ahead of the game in his precarious situation. That and his father-in-law had always enjoyed fucking around with people using his predictions, and truthfully, after seeing both that old geezer and L–n-r-o do the same, he was wanting some of that action.

“No rest for the wicked…” He muttered, a smirk making its way onto his face. If there was one thing that always stimulated a Magus, it was completing worthwhile experiments and creations, and given his Origin, he was absolutely not the exception to the rule.

“...I should get a radio.”

Chapter Text

The U.S.J fiasco had brought many questions and excitement to his life. What were Quirks really? Why the Nomu? Was he the only person in the World to own a functioning brain?

But amongst these various questions, he was left feeling…

Unfulfilled? No, not quite, rather he was simply…

Tired? Yes.

He, Izuku Midoriya, had done the one thing he had always been good at, even in his past life.

Lie to himself.

That everything was fine, that his problems could wait, that if he ignored them long enough, they would just vanish.

Copious amounts of alcohol and cigarettes had also helped somewhat, the state of his flooring reminding him that he was right on the way back to alcoholism and being a chimney.

Sighing deeply, Izuku palmed his face, allowing the limb to drag down from the weight of his conscience once more slamming into him at full force.

Standing up from his desk, he dully remarked that his work hadn’t progressed at all since he’d started three hours ago. Maybe it was time for a break, one that didn’t involve him drowning his sorrow away in more alcohol anyways.

Passing his hand through his hair, he almost missed the mop of hair he once sported, being reminded of the careful haircuts he’d given himself three days ago to make sure his untamed broccoli hair wouldn’t grow too long. He had managed (after spending way too much time debating the situation) to reacquire his taper haircut, a cursory and self-deprecating look in the mirror informing him that all he was missing was a beard and twenty years’ worth of stress to go back to his previous incarnation.

His body was still changing, slowly but surely adapting to his new physiology as a Dead Apostle, though the craving for blood had returned months ago, leading to him having to make time in his nights to go out and hunt.

He could have started production on artificial blood, he knew how to do it after all, but the resources necessary to do such a thing were currently better spent on other projects. As well, there was no shortage of villains to prey upon, and since he didn’t kill most of them, it meant he could always reharvest from them some other time.

Swinging a leather jacket over his back, he swiped a bottle of beer, the glass bottle tinted a crimson amber-like color, the sickly smell of copper oozing from it. Blood.

It wasn’t very hard for him to create ‘Blood Alcohol’, filling for both his hunger and alcoholism. Amazing.

Taking a stiff swig of the crimson liquid, he allowed his hand to hang limply at his side as he jumped out of his window, the Bounded Fields he had around his ‘house’ ensuring that no one would stumble upon it, and even if they did, they wouldn’t be able to enter it without being displaced somewhere else.

Making light use of his Magecraft to cushion his fall, he began his stroll through the streets of Musutafu. There was an unusual aura of fear and paranoia, the news of the recent U.SJ Raid having temporarily galvanized a feeling of anxiety within the common folk.

Part of them was telling them that everything was still fine, All Might had won after all, yet a more rational and pessimistic part of them told them that these villains had infiltrated U.A, perhaps one of the most secure places in Japan, what did that say about the competence of Heroes?

Of course the Heroes had won in the end, so most people simply told themselves that everything would be fine, that they were the common folk, surely nothing bad would happen to them.

Izuku snorted under his breath, taking another swig from his beer bottle. People were so predictable, it was easy to delude yourself that everything would be fine. After all, all the bad things happened to other people, not to you or your own. That was the general thought process of most people, no matter how empathetic you were.

It was why people usually didn’t help others even if they could, why bystanders didn’t call the police when they could. ‘Someone else will do it’, ‘Someone else already did it’. The Bystander Effect they called it, everything would be fine so long as you ignored it, so long as you lied to yourself that someone else would handle it.

“...What a hypocrite I am…” He muttered under his breath, slowly meandering his way throughout the city. Before he knew it, he found himself standing in front of a metro station.

Shuffling through his pockets, he found a few folded bills, just enough to get him a ticket to somewhere.

Stepping up to the cashier, the lady barely looked up at him from her computer, probably underpaid and too tired to deal with another delinquent-looking kid skipping class.

“A ticket to wherever this’ll get me.” He said, placing the few hundred yen notes on the counter, allowing the lady to count out the money, giving him a sideway’s glance while she was at it.

“Um, what do you mean?” She questioned, glancing over at her monitor. “This is enough to get you a ticket of course, but, I mean, tickets are valid all over the network.” She explained, causing him to facepalm.

Right, this wasn’t the train, he wasn’t in England anymore. Taking the train wouldn’t cost more or less depending on the distance he was traveling.

“Sorry, I’m not from around here… Just, a ticket please.” He replied, flashing her a tired looking smile, to which she simply nodded, reciprocating with her own uncertain smile. Right, he looked completely Japanese, saying he wasn’t from around here was just strange.

“Here you go, the next train departs in five minutes if you’re going East, and in ten minutes if you’re going West.” She informed helpfully, gesturing towards both boarding stations, before proceeding to hand him a few coins and his ticket.

Mumbling a thank you, he trudged over to one of the boarding station, taking a seat on one of the empty benches, glancing up at the TV hanging from the ceiling displaying the current trains, when they were supposed to show up, alongside some more news and whatnot.

Closing his eyes, he drifted in and out of reality for a few minutes, he wasn’t sure how long, just that it was long enough for his train to show up.

Boarding the mechanical construct with a shuffle, he found a quiet area and sat down, seemingly resolute to travel for an arbitrary amount of stations before getting off.

He didn’t really have any plans today, outside of just… getting out of his head really.

His, quite literal,  dual identity weighed heavily on his mind. As did the state of his mother’s health. He’d done a little research on her of course, apparently she’d moved in with Mitsuki shortly after his ‘death’, unable to live alone in their once shared apartment.

With her husband all but estranged in America (he was surprised to find they weren’t actually divorced) and her only son ‘dead’ from suicide, it made sense that she couldn’t stand to stay in that empty apartment any longer.

His father, Hisashi Midoriya, finding information about him had been a little harder, but only because he was currently across the great pond. From what he could find, his father had been distraught over his son’s death, having flown back to Japan on a temporary break to grieve with his wife, but had been forced to fly back to America to return to work.

Despite having lost his son, Hisashi was still a working man, one whose wife didn’t work, meaning that even if she was staying over with the Bakugous, she still had expenses to pay (apparently she had enrolled into therapy for parents who had lost their children to suicide), something he had to work for.

Taking another swig from his bottle, he caught a glance of the electronic sign displaying the station name; Osaka.

Decently far from Musutafu, that would do.

Getting off at the station, he started meandering his way through the streets of Osaka, eventually discarding his bottle once it was empty, using his Fire Magecraft to burn out all traces of blood from it. While blood wasn’t the strangest thing to consume, especially with the rise of Quirks, best not to raise any questions.

Now truly left alone with his thoughts, he dissociated with reality a bit, his body going into autopilot as he pondered himself once more.

Who was he?

Was he Izuku Midoriya? Hero Hopeful, bullied Quirkless child of Inko Midoriya and Hisashi Midoriya?

Was he Raven Gael? Winter General of the Clock Tower, Alchemist of Atlas, Ex-Chaldean?

Or… was he neither?

He… He wasn’t Izuku anymore, not fully anyways. Izuku, Izuku wouldn’t have turned to villainy, he wouldn’t have killed those dealers, actually he wouldn’t have sold anyone any drugs. He, he would’ve… He would’ve just died.

He wasn’t Raven anymore, the Winter General would have simply flown back to England, even if his lineage didn’t exist anymore (which it did, he’d checked, even if his sisters and grandmother were already dead), he wouldn’t have stayed in Japan, he wouldn’t have saved that frog girl.

He was… something completely new.

For better or worse, he was something completely new, a relic from another era, a waste from the modern era, he was…

Rizukan? Izavu?

No, that was stupid, no need to change name, Izuku would do fine for his purposes.

Despite all the regrets he’d carried, the Winter General had lived a long and fulfilling life, he had married (he thought), he had a child (maybe? He wasn’t sure), he had died peacefully (hopefully, he didn’t remember dying). On the other hand, Izuku had lived an empty life for more than 14 years, lying to himself and his mother day in and day out.

I’m fine mom! I just tripped, it’s nothing bad…

Oh that? Yeah, Me and Kacchan were playing and I tripped into his Explosion, but it’s fine! It doesn’t hurt!

Lies after lies after lies, to comfort himself that he could still be a Hero without a Quirk, that Katsuki had still been his friend, to make sure his mother didn’t worry about him.

It was strange, back then, Raven’s parents had been typical Magus parents. Uncaring, cold, callous, the type of people that had experimented on their child simply to increase his compatibility with the family Magecraft.

In the end, he’d killed them.

It was strange, almost a conflict in his mind, to try and reconcile the memories of Inko’s warmth, with —---’s cold and callous behavior. The memories of Inko carefully holding him the first time he’d tripped and bruised his knee, with the memory of —--- striking him after the nth time he’d failed in whatever training they’d been doing.

The memory of learning he didn’t have a Quirk, the memory of Awakening his Origin.

Whether by the standards of this era, or the previous one, he was deranged, broken, fundamentally incompatible with it.

Quirkless, Distorted, Awakened Origin, Restored.

R̶̯͎̲͖̿ͅͅE̷̛͓̘̞͕̘̦͌̾̋̈́C̵̟̝̏Ò̵̻͉͙͔̹̼̏̉͊͠N̴̠̘̯͑̆͝S̴̖͖̀̈́̽̈̕̚T̵̨̺̫̒͠͝R̷̖̘̼̻͙̼̉̋Ù̵̡͔̬̖̣̈̿̅̈́̏C̵̡͇̪͋̀͐̓̒͘Ţ̴̯̝̮̫̻̓͆̔́I̷̯̙̒͑̔̈͆̏Ö̴̡̨̻̫̰́͊̉N̶̢̡͖͗̔̈͘

He was shaken out of his thoughts when something collided with his leg, glancing down to see E̴̯̝͎̻̅̅̉͐̄̄̔̂̌͝r̸̢̮̻̪̣͍͇̖͋į̷̨͖͓͕̻̭̺̳͔̘͗̒̍̾̽̕k̵͚̮͙̞̱̱̊̓͗̈́̓a̵̡̞̠̘͒̈͒̓̇̎̈̂̕ a small child clinging to his pant leg.

Glancing around, Izuku tried to find her parents, a pit forming in his stomach when he noticed just where he was. Near the Red Light District of Osaka, next to a dark alley.

Crouching next to the child, he ignored just how much she reminded him of E̴̯̝͎̻̅̅̉͐̄̄̔̂̌͝r̸̢̮̻̪̣͍͇̖͋į̷̨͖͓͕̻̭̺̳͔̘͗̒̍̾̽̕k̵͚̮͙̞̱̱̊̓͗̈́̓a̵̡̞̠̘͒̈͒̓̇̎̈̂̕ , instead focusing on her in the present.

She was covered in bandages, worst, she was emaciated, the ‘dress’ she was wearing (if it could even be called that) showed just enough of her neck for him to realize just how underfed she was. She was barefooted too, which considering the current weather wasn’t too strange, but still a redflag.

But, by far the worst of it was how much she was shivering, how tightly she was clinging to his shirt. It was almost like… like… like…

Like he was a Hero…

“Eri, you shouldn’t run away like that.” An almost nasally voice called out from inside the alleyway, a relatively young man stepping out. Clad in a green jacket, wearing gloves reminiscent of those worn by surgeons, and bearing a plague mask over his face, he was the picture of nonchalance. The inherent arrogance of someone with power, who had never tasted defeat, who didn’t know No .

“I’m sorry about my daughter, we were playing a game of tag and it seems like we got too separated.” He explained, gesturing towards the quivering girl clinging to Izuku’s pants. “Eri, it’s not nice to bother the nice man like that, come back .”

The last words caused the girl to stiffen up, her grip tightening to the point where her knuckles turned white. Her breathing calmed, before suddenly becoming completely erratic, unshed tears filling her eyes as she bowed her head, unsuccessfully trying to hide them from him.

“H- He’s not my dad…” Her voice was barely a whisper, yet to him, even without accounting for his enhanced senses, it was almost like a scream.

He- She- What- E̴̯̝͎̻̅̅̉͐̄̄̔̂̌͝r̸̢̮̻̪̣͍͇̖͋į̷̨͖͓͕̻̭̺̳͔̘͗̒̍̾̽̕k̵͚̮͙̞̱̱̊̓͗̈́̓a̵̡̞̠̘͒̈͒̓̇̎̈̂̕ -!

The man, he didn’t care who he was, didn’t get to say another word before his neck exploded in a spray of blood, causing him to wildly swing his arms around, catching the wall to steady himself, using his other hand to try and prevent any more life-giving blood from escaping his body.

Eri, the girl, E̴̯̝͎̻̅̅̉͐̄̄̔̂̌͝r̸̢̮̻̪̣͍͇̖͋į̷̨͖͓͕̻̭̺̳͔̘͗̒̍̾̽̕k̵͚̮͙̞̱̱̊̓͗̈́̓a̵̡̞̠̘͒̈͒̓̇̎̈̂̕ , gasped, her vision suddenly filled with red.

Blood, she knew that smell, that color, but- but it wasn’t her own.

Slowly glancing up at the boy- man- she had clung to, she noticed that his right arm was covered in more blood, Chisaki’s blood.

Slowly turning to look back at Chisaki, she caught sight of him using his Quirk to fix himself, his gaze turning murderous as he inhaled sharply, air filling his lungs, preparing to scream something else, only-

It wasn’t meant to be.

Seeing as his first attack had been somewhat nullified by Chisaki’s Quirk, Izuku reared back his arm once more, this time striking straight through the man’s skull. Some creatures could survive losing their hearts after all, but usually, losing your head was game over, unless you were a Dead Apostle, or had a really gnarly Regeneration.

Predictably, Chisaki’s limp, headless body flopped back into the alleyway, dead, with no witnesses besides his killer and a frightened little girl, a timely Bounded Field being just enough to prevent any noises, any thing wrong from being noticed by passersby.

Shaking his arm to try and get rid of as much blood as possible, Izuku slowly rose from his crouched position, stepping closer to Chisaki’s dead body, seemingly dead, was he dead? best to check.

Swiftly rising his leg, he broke one of Chisaki’s legs, watching with bated breaths as the seconds ticked by, one second, two seconds, three-

He was dead.

Shifting his glance towards the girl, E̴̯̝͎̻̅̅̉͐̄̄̔̂̌͝r̸̢̮̻̪̣͍͇̖͋į̷̨͖͓͕̻̭̺̳͔̘͗̒̍̾̽̕k̵͚̮͙̞̱̱̊̓͗̈́̓a̵̡̞̠̘͒̈͒̓̇̎̈̂̕ , he suddenly became fully aware of what he’d just done.

Obviously that guy, whatever his name had been, hadn’t been the girl’s father (by her own admission even!), and yet… Was she a kidnapped girl? Did she have parents somewhere? If so, why was she in such a terrible state? Had he missed the news of a kidnapped child? Did Amber Alerts no longer exist in this era!?

Placing himself in such a way to block the dead body from Eri’s sight (as much as possible anyways), Izuku once more crouched before the girl, using his non-bloody hand to cup her checks, stomping down the anger welling up inside his chest when she flinched.

“So… Eri… Do- Do you have any parents?” He asked softly, drawing upon decades of experience taking care of small children. She nodded sideways. No parents. He frowned. “Do… Do you have anywhere to go?” Another sideways nod. No home, or at least nowhere she wanted to go back to.

“Do… Who is this?” Izuku asked, gesturing vaguely to the corpse behind him, making sure to not expose it to the girl. She stiffened again, trying to glance behind him, as if trying to confirm that he was really, truly, dead.

“C- Chisaki…” She muttered, her voice weak, weaker than he remembered it (had he imagined it before? Had the adrenaline been that strong?) He nodded, opening his arms a bit to see what she would do. She took a hesitant step forward, her tiny hands clenching the hem of her dress, hesitation clear on her face, she almost seemed smaller than she actually was.

“I… I’m not going to hurt you Eri…” He whispered, trying to reassure the child of his intentions. Internally he winced, right, he was sure his brutal killing of Chisaki had done everything to convince her of his pure intentions.

Yet, despite everything, she approached. Taking one hesitant, shaky step after another, until eventually she was close enough for him to wrap his arms around her, feeling just how emaciated she truly was, just how tiny she actually was.

In hindsight, it was funny, something they would laugh about in the future when reminiscing on this day, but of the two of them, the first one to cry, to break down and sob, was him.

He wasn’t sure why he was sobbing, but suddenly, the entire World seemed to fall on his shoulders, attempting to crush him. Suddenly, it didn’t matter where he was, it didn’t matter who he was, all he knew was that-

He cried.

He felt Eri stiffen up in his arms, her hesitation as she slowly wrapped her tiny, bandaged arms around his neck, choked sobs slowly rising out of her throat, tears gathering in the corner of her eyes, before she too joined him in sobbing her heart out.

Suddenly he, both of himself, was sobbing. He didn’t let out any loud wail, he didn’t start screaming, he didn’t hit anything. Instead, he simple sobbed quietly, his grip on Eri tightening ever so slightly as he shifted from a crouch to fully sitting down, the girl half collapsing against him as she also sobbed.

He wasn’t sure how long they spent there, sobbing, Chisaki’s cooling corpse rotting behind them, ignored by the World at large. The Bounded Field he’d set up previously ensured that no one would bother them. By the time he was done, the sun was setting, Chisaki’s body was starting to smell, and Eri’s stomach was growling something fierce.

Slowly gathering his wits, Izuku dried his tears, ignoring the way his reddened eyes made him look as he lowered his gaze towards Eri, the child shedding a few more tears before hunger and tiredness took over, leaving her to snooze peacefully in his arms.

Glancing back towards Chisaki’s body, he scowled. He’d have to do something about it…

Gently placing the girl on the ground, propping her up against a wall to make sure she was at least comfortable (as comfortable as could be anyways) while he dealt with the body.

He hummed, reaching into his jacket to pull out a syringe and some empty vials. Chisaki might have been a child abusing asshole, but his Quirk had been interesting, and hopefully he could use it better than the man had in life. Slowly draining some of Chisaki’s blood, he was left with a dead and rotting corpse to deal with.

He slowly pondered his options, before simply shrugging. A dead body found in an abandoned alleyway? Strange, but not outside the norm. Hopefully it would just be categorized as a mugging gone wrong, or something like that.

Using his Magecraft to clean himself off (mostly his bloodied right arm), he picked up the sleeping Eri, dismissing his Bounded Field and stepping back on the streets.

Surprisingly, if you didn’t draw attention to yourself, most people didn’t really notice anything about what you were doing. A teenager carrying a sleeping child? Oh, she was probably his sister. She looked homeless? Well, so did he, kinda, it was sad, but they were probably homeless siblings.

The human mind’s ability to rationalize anything it didn’t want to deal with was amazing as always.

Making his way back to the train station, he quickly purchased a return ticket for Musutafu, giving the cashier a shaky smile when he said he didn’t have enough for two tickets.

“Well, you see… it’s for…” Izuku gave himself a mental pat on the back as he slowly upped the ‘homeless look’, giving a saddened glance towards Eri’s sleeping form in his arms, her decrepit state of dress, the obvious redness around her eyes indicating crying (he wholly ignored that this same redness was also around his own eyes), all in all, they made for a sorry looking pair.

Apparently that was enough to tug on the cashier’s heartstring, enough that he gave Izuku a second ticket for free, allowing the Alchemist to board a train back to Musutafu before night settled in fully.

It must have been around 10pm by the time he made it back to his hideout, Eri had somehow slept through the entire trip (probably due to how tired and hungry she was). He didn’t exactly have a bed, since he mostly slept on his desk or in his chair, but his couch was large enough to fit the small child.

She had to be 6, 7 at most (that or she was a tall 5 years old, but he doubted it). Deciding to at least clean her up a bit, he started unraveling the bandages on her arms, the softer part of him becoming appalled by the amount of scars on her body. Arms, chest, legs, back, it didn’t matter where he looked, the only part of her he couldn’t find scars were her feet, arms, and face.

Good lord, what the fuck had been done to her!? Why!?

Taking a towel, he made use of his Magecraft to clean her up, finding a surprising amount of grime and dirt on her body, her hair somehow being worse. Tangled, unkept, dying. He wasn’t sure how long he spent undoing knots in her hair, using his highly limited skillset to try and get it back to a somewhat normal state.

Turning his attention back to her scars, he felt unsure about what to do. Of course he could remove them, but should he? Even if he did remove them, would that help Eri at all? Scars like those were as psychological as they were physical. Simply removing their physical imprint on her body wouldn’t heal her mental state.

Still…

Swallowing the growing lump in his throat, he decided to do away with them, at least the bigger ones. Slowly tracing them with his fingers, he closed his eyes, activating his Magic Circuits and feeling his Prana slowly trickle out of his body.

Healing Magecraft was, quite simply, strange to use. The feeling of connecting with another individual, with another living body, was strange. Slowly, almost instinctively, he found himself humming a wordless song, the same one his grandmother had hummed when she used her Healing Magecraft.

Slowly, a golden glow started emanating from the tip of his fingers, almost like the Sun- His grandmother, Queen of Sunlight, had taught him much, including how to do this-

The glow, warm and comforting, trailed behind his fingers as he traced Eri’s scars, each of them slowly fading as the motes of light trailing behind his fingers caressed them away, marks that should have been permanent slowly vanishing away like a cold breeze.

The operation didn’t take more than five minutes, but to him it felt like an eternity, not because it was a significant display of effort for him, but because of how fast his mind was whirling about. Thoughts flying around his mind at a hundred miles per hour.

Some about Eri, some about himself, some about total nonsense.

Eri, he noticed, had gone from frowning and shifting around, to sleeping peacefully, or well as peacefully as she could. She still looked cold, but she seemed better. She was still dressed in that rag he’d found her in, but at least the night was warm today.

Rising from his spot at her side, he made for his kitchenette, deciding to make a late night meal (mostly for Eri), riffling through his mini-fridge to get some ingredients. He was on a budget after all, and he didn’t exactly need anything fancy himself, so his fridge was mostly empty. Still, he had enough for eggs and bacon, hopefully she enjoyed that.

Beginning the mindless task of cooking late night breakfast (nightfast? whatever) for the child in his living room (if it could be called that), he was suddenly assaulted with the reality of the situation. He, Izuku Midoriya, near-homeless drug dealer and small-time villain, had just taken in a lost (probably kidnaped) child.

What the fuck was he supposed to do!?

He was barely keeping himself together (mentally anyways), his home was a dump held together by thoughts and a prayer, filled with the bare necessities for him to function along with his alchemical equipment, which wasn’t something an abuse victim should look at!

For fucks sake, he had a brain in a jar floating on his desk, an embryo gestating in a weird looking container, and a dog-mutant-thing growing in another container!

This was not a place to raise a child in!

Never mind that he had been raised in such an environment (because clearly he was a stunning example of a stable individual), he couldn’t possibly keep the child here!

His thoughts were cut short by the sound of someone screaming, Eri-!

Quickly placing the sunny side eggs to the side (no need to burn down his dump of a house just yet), he sprinted over to her side, watching as she slowly returned to reality, realizing that she wasn’t wherever she thought she was, but was instead in a (debatably) better place.

The moment she caught sight of him, her gaze snapped to him, her crying resuming as she jumped off his couch to run at him, clutching onto his pants as she got a few more tears out, babbling something he couldn’t make out.

“Shh, shh, it’s alright baby, I’m here…” He wasn’t sure why he was saying such things, this was a commitment, one he wasn’t capable of undertaking, one he shouldn’t be undertaking. And yet-

Fufufu- Husband, how predictable you are! I knew you would do it if it meant making —- happy!

Hmph, really Elder Brother, did you have to make such a big cake? I know Erika said she loved chocolate, but really, this is going to be bad for her health! H- Hey! Don’t laugh! I’m serious!

Cradling the child against his chest, he whispered sweet nothing into her ear, trying to transfer as much bodily warmth as he could to her, rising from his spot to bring her towards the kitchenette.

“Are you hungry?” He asked, his voice soft as he gestured towards the plated eggs and bacon, watching as Eri’s expression turned conflicted. Obviously she was hungry, but at the same time…

“It’s alright baby, I won’t hurt you… You can ask for anything you want, alright little unicorn?” He reassured her, booping her nose, watching as she scrunched up a bit, shooting him a small pout before she nodded. Satisfied with the answer, he sat her down at the only chair in the room (his desk chair), before giving her the breakfast food and some utensils.

Watching her scarfe down her food, he couldn’t help but give a raised eyebrow as he focused on her horn. Obviously it had to do with her Quirk, whatever it was, but why a horn of all things?

“So, Eri, w- what’s your Quirk?” Izuku asked, trying to make some conversation. From what he remembered, children absolutely adored bragging about their Quirks, even if it was something useless or mundane.

Apparently Eri was an exception to this rule, as she completely stiffened up, tears welling up in the corner of her eyes as she suppressed a sob.

Going right back into panic mode, Izuku started panicking, flailing his arms around to try and figure out what to do.

“W- Woa there kiddo, don’t worry, you don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to!” He exclaimed, trying to calm her down, which worked to a certain extent (he wasn’t sure if it was his words or just the fact that her body couldn’t physically produce more tears).

“I- I’m Cursed…” She mumbled, causing him to blink a bit. Huh? Cursed?

Placing a hand on her hair, being careful to not disturb her eating, he closed his eyes and opened his mind’s eye, trying to feel any lingering Curse placed on her. Had a Magus cursed her? Or did she have an encounter with a Cursed Artifact, or just a run in with a Ghost?

Nope, nothing.

Opening his eyes, he started patting her hair, trying to reassure her.

“I- If I get glowy and things- I, people disappear, j- just like papa…” She muttered in-between a bite of bacon, drawing another bewildered blink from Izuku.

Disappeared? Was her Quirk disintegration of some kind? Apparently it was, was this why this Chisaki fellow was harvesting her flesh and blood (because really, what else had he been doing)?

“W- Well, you don’t have to worry about me vanishing, I’m immune to Quirks!” He exclaimed, giving a little white lie. Well, kind of. His immunity to Quirks wasn’t exactly an immunity, but more like a resistance. Despite not being the product of Magecraft, Quirks were still classified as ‘Mysteries’, highly modern mysteries at that. Being a Dead Apostle gave him a resistance to Mysteries, especially those produced by man.

It wasn’t a complete immunity, so it wasn’t like he could just shrug off any Quirk being sent his way, but it would at least diminish any effect they would have on him. Coupled with his Curse of Regeneration and his Magecraft, he was pretty sure that unless someone could detonate the entire continent of Eurasia, he would be fine.

Come to think of it, unless a Church Executor showed up, he was pretty sure no Quirk would be able to kill him (not like he would tempt Fate and recklessly charge into situations without preparation).

Apparently that didn’t convince Eri fully, but at least she wasn’t on the verge of crying anymore, which was good.

“Tell you what, how about we take a blood sample and I can-” In the last few minutes, Izuku had learned much about Eri, she liked eggs and bacon, she didn’t have any parents, her Quirk could apparently disintegrate people.

And she really, really , did not like needles.

She didn’t scream, or start flailing her arms around, or anything like that, but in retrospect, her actual reaction was somehow worse than if she did have a massive freakout episode. Instead, she seemed to physically wilt under his gaze, folding onto herself and trying to appear as small as possible, giving an almost submissive whine.

He-

-took a deep breath, being angry at others wouldn’t do anything right now.

“-do you not like needles?” He asked softly, placing a comforting hand on her shoulders, watching as a shudder passed through her body at the physical contact. She seemed to slowly come out of her shell once she noticed he wasn’t screaming, or harming her, or Chisaki, but she didn’t speak, simply nodding slowly, hiding her gaze from his.

“...That’s fine, we don’t have to use a needle, you won’t even feel it.” He reassured, watching as uncertainty and fear flashed through her eyes. Right, exemple. “I’ll show you, watch.”

Snapping his fingers, he placed his pointer and middle finger on his wrist, a light golden glow emanating from there before he slowly lifted his fingers, revealing a small bubble of blood hovering underneath his fingers, floating there without a care for the laws of physics.

Eri, sufficiently shocked by the seemingly painless procedure, glanced towards his wrist only to find no scars or anything. Glancing towards her own wrist, she only now noticed the absence of any scars on her body. Frantically searching her arms, Izuku quickly and discreetly swallowed the bubble of blood since he didn’t need it, placing his hands back on her shoulders.

“I got rid of your scars, is that alright with you?” It wasn’t like he could make them pop back up, at least not without inflicting more on her, something he was fully unwilling to do.

She didn’t seem too sad about her scars being gone, simply shocked, shaking her head at his question. Once she was fully sure all of her scars were really gone, she pointed towards his wrist, wordlessly asking if it hurt or not.

“Oh, no, it doesn’t hurt at all, I promise.” With some final encouragement, Eri slowly and hesitantly presented her wrist, allowing him to place two of his fingers on her wrist just like he’d done his.

“So… Do you like apples?” He asked out of the blue, trying to shift her attention away from the procedure. Painless or not, it was still somewhat disturbing to watch your blood quite literally slip through the pores of your body. Apparently she really liked apples, if the almost dazed and dreamy look she gave him was any indication.

Laughing a bit, he pulled back his fingers once he had enough blood, watching with amusement as the child blinked in surprise, looking at her unscared wrist, scratching it a few times as if she expected a scar to suddenly pop up, or pain to suddenly explode from nowhere.

“See? Painless, as promised.” He said, giving her a cheeky wink as he placed her blood inside of an empty vial for future testing.

“Alright, how’bout we watch some TV and then sleep, yeah?” He proposed, getting a much more enthusiastic nod from the child. Grinning, he took her now empty plate, giving it a quick rinse in the sink before fetching Eri and turning on the TV, switching to one of the only channels that wasn’t the news (fortunately it was one of those 24 hour movie channels) where some new Disney movie was playing, Toys Story 8 or something like that, he wasn’t sure and truthfully he didn’t care, but Eri seemed completely taken in by the colorful images, cheery songs, and almost magical scenario. Apparently, even two centuries after his time and Disney still had that spark, how’bout that.

Sighing once more, he glanced towards the awestruck Eri, his resolve to take care of her only strengthening as he did.

Right, the people he loved were gone, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t make new loved ones…

And, if these loved ones happened to be broken people, well, he was quite good at fixing things. It was, after all, in his nature to do so.

He was Reconstruction after all .

Chapter Text

Izuku gave an almost tentative sigh as he helped Eri put on her newly bought shoes. About a week had passed since he’d… adopted? Taken in? whichever the word was, a week had passed since Eri had entered his life, for better or worse.

The U.A Sports Festival had been announced, to the surprise of many (except him). Many had expected the Sports Festival to be delayed, or even outright canceled, but he knew better. Allowing the Festival to go on as if nothing happened was a two-pronged move by U.A’s Principal, Nezu.

By allowing the Sports Festival to happen as if nothing had happened, not only did this allow the Hero Students to acquire even more fighting experience (and also perhaps score useful internships), but it also acted as a subtle way to reassure the public that ‘everything was fine’. Despite the mass outcry from many concerned citizens about the previous U.S.J Raid showing the failings of U.A’s security, if the Sports Festival went well, it would subconsciously imprint the idea that the Raid had been a fluke, a one-in-a-million event that not even U.A could take into account, but that this one-in-a-million event, and others wishing to follow in its footsteps, would be prevented from ever happening.

It was a deceptively smart move from the U.A Staff, showing not only public relation skills, but also advanced planning. But, this was still a gamble, a gamble that the Sports Festival would go without incidents (at least no Villain Incidents anyways). Oh, Izuku was absolutely sure that Nezu would employ many Pro-Heroes outside of his staff team to monitor and patrol the event, again, not only as a publicity stunt, showing that U.A was taking steps towards fixing its problems, but also as additional security.

Which was why he and Eri would be attending the Festival.

Not as Villains of course, not only was he not willing to drag Eri into this kind of lifestyle (not anymore than she already was, having lived with a Yakuza Boss and currently staying with a Drug Dealer), but he also didn’t want to take his chances with anything. Don’t get him wrong, he was confident in his strength and abilities, but he didn’t feel like showing all of his cards just yet. Furthermore, he wasn’t completely sure that U.A (or any Pro-Hero for that matter) didn’t have ties to the Moonlit World.

While he did know that most Magi didn’t care about being Heroes (since the profession itself spat in the face of generations of traditions), there was no way to know for sure that each and every Hero in Japan didn’t have some kind of connection to Magecraft. While them learning of his past identity wasn’t all that bad (the name of the Winter General still kept the Gael Lineage well off despite him having been dead for the last two and a half centuries), the chance that some hotshot Magus or Executor would try and kill him in a presumably weakened state (something that would definitively result in a ton of collateral damage) was just not worth the effort.

For now, as far as the authorities were concerned, he was just a small-time Drug Dealer with a yet unidentified Quirk, and hopefully he would be able to keep it that way for the near future.

Making sure Eri was fully strapped in, the small girl gave him a makeshift version of a smile- the best she could do at the moment- as she grabbed his hand and they left their newly remodeled housing.

The ‘apartment’ had undergone a few changes in the past week, having not only grown in size (thanks to copious amounts of tearing down walls and expanding his Bounded Field around the entire floor of the once abandoned building), but also being furnished with everything a young girl would need; a proper bed, decorations, plushies, suitable food, functioning amenities, the whole nine yard what.

Most of that had, ironically enough, come out of the League of Villain’s money. Apparently, despite Tomura’s repeat insults over the phone, his mentor/benefactor hadn’t been all that displeased with his actions, for some reason, deciding to still pay him regardless (though giving him only half of the original amount planned). Considering how things had gone, he was quite sure ‘The Boogeyman’ was simply happy his pupil was in mostly intact conditions (having narrowly missed obtaining new holes in his arms and legs courtesy of Snipe).

“Alright Eri, now remember, when we get to the Festival grounds you have to stick close alright? I don’t want to accidentally lose you.” Izuku had, of course, used mystical methods to track Eri (notably the new necklace she was wearing which would protect her from most commonly found ammunition, fire, water, high winds, dehydration, acne, and a few other miscellaneous things, while also acting as a tracking beacon for him to find her), that didn’t mean he still wasn’t outrageously paranoid about her being kidnapped under his nose, or god forbid, crushed underneath the rampant waves of attendees.

…Okay, that last one sounded quite a lot less probable now that he actually put some thoughts into it, but it was still possible!

“Mhm, I’ll stick close pa…” Suppressing a clenching feeling in his chest from how cute Eri was, he wasn’t sure why or where she’d gotten the idea to call him ‘pa’ (probably from one of those Disney movies that oversimplified every concept imaginable for young minds to digest and become indoctrinated with), but he wasn’t complaining. Sure, it was somewhat strange for a preschooler to call a barely teenager ‘pa’, but hey, he could always claim his Quirk just made him short.

It wasn’t like size was a sign of maturity or age, not after the emergence of Quirks anyways.

Making sure that his grip on Eri was as tight as possible, Izuku led the way towards the U.A Sports Festival Stadium. Technically they were early, with the actual festival only really starting in an hour, but it was always good to be early (that and there would hopefully be less people to maybe-trample Eri). He also wasn’t sure how hungry Eri was at the moment. While she had eaten a substantial breakfast, with her body weight having increased substantially compared to what it previously was, she was still a bit on the thin side for a child her age. Not worryingly so anymore, but definitely on the ‘oh god what’s happening’ side of things.

“So… anyone you wanna see first?” He asked once they arrived at the Festival grounds, three panels proudly indicating where the First Years, Second Years, and Third Years Events would be held. It made sense that each year would be given its own stadium (said someone on U.A’s Board of Executives that clearly thought their pockets were a little too full), so each event was run concurrently.

Personally, Izuku didn’t have any preferences. Technically watching the Third Years would be most beneficials, since they were almost fully graduated and were expecting to hit the streets as fully fledged Sidekicks before the end of the year, so learning all he could about them would be quite useful. On the other hand, Class 1-A would be heavily scrutinized as the ‘Class who survived a villain attack’, meaning that a lot of hype and information would circulate around them.

The Second Years were, unfortunately, stuck in an awkward spot this year. Usually they would be more interesting than the First Years due to having more training and experience to show off, but still less interesting then their more experienced and even popular Third Years. However this year, with the Raid happening, the First Years were suddenly thrust into the spotlight, leaving the Second Years to be awkwardly stuck between the other two events that had way more attention (or criticism).

Eri, who was just now starting to come to terms with the fact that she could literally ask for whatever she wanted without repercussions, seemed to shyly ponder the prospect (he wasn’t sure how one ‘pondered shyly’, but it was literally the only way he could describe Eri’s current posture and facial expression), before shaking her head, not really having anyone she wanted to see.

Humming a bit, Izuku carefully weighed his options before settling with going to watch the Third Years, since the First Years were mostly just Class 1-A and whoever would beat them, and he didn’t want to risk Katsuki somehow recognizing him despite having a new haircut, darker colored hair (a side-effect of his Vampirification, or at least he thought), and red black-crimson eyes (again, Vampirification, probably). Katsuki, despite his absolutely feral behavior, was surprisingly smart, meaning it wasn’t out of the range of possibilities that he would recognize Izuku if he stared long enough.

“How’bout we go watch the Third Years?” He asked the child, to which she simply gave an absentminded nod, her attention having been grabbed by a nearby food stand, one which sold-

“Candy Apples? You want one?” Eri, in a display of enthusiasm reminiscent of a completely normal child, nodded vigorously. During the past week he had learned much about Eri, primarily that her favorite food was all things apples, it didn’t matter which form it took, so long as it was ‘apple-something’, she loved it.

Giving an amused grin, he approached the food stand, taking out a few bills to pay for the sugary treat, which he was promptly handed by the almost cooing cashier (who had caught sight of Eri’s absolutely radiant expression once the candy was placed in her hands). Eri, now in possession of about twice the recommended amount of sugar a child her size should eat per day, slowly brought the treat to her mouth, going to take a bite from it-

“Oh gosh! You look so cute! Wait, are you her big brother? Wait no, you don’t have the same hair color… Is this a kidnapping!?” A bubbly, sweat, and absolutely out of nowhere voice asked cheerfully, startling everyone nearby (including other passersby). Izuku himself simply blinked, not having registered the new presence for some reason. Was it because she wasn’t hostile? Or because of her Quirk?

His inquisitor, a blue-maned young woman a few years his senior (as Izuku), gave a bright and cheerful smile as she attempted to coax the clearly upset and unsettled Eri into her arms for a hug. Feeling his definitively not fatherly instincts flare up, he promptly and swiftly stepped in-between the two girls, giving the strange interloper a scathing glare, using his body to shield Eri from view.

“Excuse me, but who are you?” His voice was dry, cold, and to the point, genius mind whirling with possibilities. Was she a spy? Some Yakuza goon sent to retrieve Eri? Or worse, was she a Pro who had somehow unraveled his secret identity here to arrest him? No! Obviously she was here to kidnap Eri for herself, having learned of her Quirk through the grapevine (that didn’t exist but still!)

…He did not have fatherly instincts, you did!

Seemingly unfazed by his withering not-a-dad fury, the blueberry girl seemed to positively bounce on the ball of her feet, giving him a megawatt grin as she spoke.

“Ohhh! I’m Nejire-chan! It’s nice to meet you Mister Redman! Is that your Quirk? Actually, what’s your Quirk? Oh oh! Are you here to watch the Sports Festival? Wait, of course you are! Is she your little sister? Why do-” Whatever other nonsense she was about to word-vomit was decisively cut short as he shoved his gloved hand into her mouth, preventing her from making another sensible sound.

Ignoring the almost bewildered look she (and a few other bystanders) was giving him, he gave a heavy sigh, before flashing her a look dry enough to make the Nevada Desert look wet.

“My name is Darius, no my red hair is natural it’s not because of my Quirk, my Quirk is none of your business, yes we’re here to watch the Sports Festival, no she’s my daughter, my Quirk just makes me short.” Let it not be said he had no manners, despite having shoved his fingers down her throat (which, why the fuck was she trying to lick them!?), he had at least answered her questions.

“Now, is there anything else you want to know, or can we go?” Eri, who had realized that the strange woman was just that, strange and thus not a threat, had moved slightly from behind him, still using his legs as a shield against Nejire’s gaze, but shifting to the side enough to at least glance at the strange girl.

Giving Nejire another look, Izuku slowly retracted his fingers, giving an almost disgusted look as he removed his glove and tried to dry it at least somewhat by swinging it through the air a bit.

“No! I’m fine! Hey! Mirio! Tamaki! Here!” Apparently, despite being done with her millions of questions, she had instead decided to invite her friends over. “Look! This guy says his Quirk makes him short! Isn’t that strange?”

Answering her call into the void of the Universe was an exceedingly muscular Tintin-lookalike and a depressed-looking lad who seemed desperate for the ground to open up underneath him and swallow him whole.

The Muscular Tintin guy, apparently called Mirio, shot Izuku an apologetic smile as he dragged Tamaki behind him, the blue haired lad seemingly wilting even more underneath Izuku’s withering gaze.

“Sorry about her, she’s hyper like that!” Mirio apologized, giving a good natured laugh as he hooked an arm around Nejire’s shoulders, probably to keep her from running off to bother someone else. “I’m Mirio by the way, Hero Name Lemillion! Nice to meet you Mister Red!”

Raising an eyebrow and ignoring the sigh of relief Tamaki gave once the withering glare was taken off him, Izuku processed this new information. So, these were U.A Third Years huh?

Going by what Mirio had said, introducing himself as ‘Lemillion’, he had at least done an internship, meaning he had to be a Third Year. Interesting…

“...Darius, Darius Ainsworth. This is my daughter, Eri.” Using a fake name, Izuku introduced both himself and the still-hiding Eri to the trio of U.A Students, with Tamaki looking even more scared (or at least riddled with anxiety) than Eri did, somehow.

“Well then Mister Ainsworth! Hopefully you enjoy the Sports Festival!” With his piece said, Mirio promptly dragged his friends away, probably to prepare for the Festival.

Glancing back at Eri, who was currently nibbling at her sugary treat, Izuku sighed heavily.

“So, still want to watch the Third Years?” He would forever deny how proud he felt when Eri, deciding to gather her wits, nodded resolutely at his question, trying to look courageous like Simba (whoever that was).

Grinning slightly, he led the young girl towards the Stadium where the Sports Festival’s Third Years would be competing over a nonsensical, wasteful goal for the entertainment of the masses, and a chance at a good internship.

He felt something strange from that Mirio kid… hopefully it was nothing, but considering how Fate worked, he and his friends would probably become very important soon…

Best to try and learn his Quirk while he could.

Chapter Text

Izuku scowled slightly.

It seemed that he had miscalculated ever so slightly.

Apparently the main problem he should have been worried about wasn’t being recognized (as unlikely as that was), or Eri being kidnapped again. No, the main problem he should have worried about was-

“HELLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOO! CROWD! I HOPE YOU’RE ALL EXCITED FOR THE SPORTS FESTIVAL!”

-the noise .

While Present Mic wasn’t doing the commentating for the Third Years, being much too busy commentating the First Years with Eraserhead (that poor, poor man, truly), apparently whoever they were using to commentate the Third Years was doing a damn good job at making up for it.

Eri, who didn’t seem as bothered by the deafening noises, simply continued to munch away at her popcorn, a large American-size apple juice at her side. A normal parent would’ve been worried about feeding so much artificial sugar to a child.

Izuku didn’t give a shit, and thought it was good for Eri to try out new foods! (Definitely not because he couldn’t find it in himself to say ‘No’ to her).

Still, at least they weren’t being squished like sardines in a can, so it could always be worse… probably.

Personally, Izuku wasn’t paying much attention to what anyone was saying, whether it was the commentator or the contestants screaming shit at each other (or at their fans), instead being absorbed in a text conversation.

His past week had been fruitful after all (not with just Eri-related things of course), with his Homunculus having reached completion. The Artificial Quirk he’d created had been quite something for a first try, especially given his lack of materials. Most people would probably relegate it to a low-end Quirk given its initial description, but considering who he was, well, he was sure it could be put to good use.

Wave Force he’d called it, a Water-based Quirk which revolved around the manipulation of water in all its forms. Simple, yet effective. He’d actually used some of his own DNA in the process, as while he was Quirkless, his DNA still carried the potential to generate a Quirk further down his lineage. More specifically, he’d used the X chromosomes he’d inherited from his mother, more specifically the one that designated her own Quirk.

Inko Midoriya had, quite simply, a deceptively useful Quirk. Attraction of Small Objects she called it, certain that it could only be used to, well, attract small objects. Of course, given she’d never trained it in her entire life, that was a given, but with a little genetic alteration and voila! Something great was born.

Izuku had, through strenuous and repeated attempts, bolstered the Quirk’s effectiveness and power, increasing its range and power. For a cost at least. Nothing was free in this world after all, but considering everything, this tradeoff was well worth it. In exchange for increasing the Quirk’s overall power, he had to sacrifice some of its versatility. Rather, instead of being ‘telekinesis which affects all forms of matter’, it was now ‘telekinesis which affected only water’. But, considering what water could do when placed in the right circumstances, that was quite enough for him.

The Homunculus he’d created, infused with the traits of a Shark to further bolster her aquatic nature and compatibility with her new Quirk, had also been infused with some of the Nomu’s gathered Quirks, more specifically a few Strength and Endurance Enhancers, and Super Regeneration, all under the cover of ‘an inheritance from her parent’s Mutant Shark Quirk’ of course.

He had been forced to add the Super Regeneration Quirk earlier than he would’ve liked, something that had some less than optimal repercussions but oh well. Izuku had previously noted that holding multiple Quirks usually overloaded the central nervous system, hence why the Nomu was quite literally braindead, so in order to combat that he’d attempted a few things. Strengthened nerve cells, enhanced levels of brain chemicals, and denser bone structure were but a few modifications he’d attempted to try and circumvent the problem.

Unfortunately, all of these changes had one unforeseen repercussion, the Homunculus was growing at a rapidly decreasing speed. Rather, it was dying on itself.

In order to combat this, he had attempted to graft the Super Regeneration Quirk into its body in an attempt to save his work to… somewhat successful effect. Quite simply, the Homunculus had survived, successfully so at that, being endowed with the full mental capacities one would expect from its physical age.

Except… All the changes he’d made to allow her to handle multiple Quirks had made her… volatile. Not murderous or dangerous, simply… volatile.

In a twist of event he couldn’t have foreseen for the life of him, the Homunculus was in a constant state of what he could only describe as ‘the world’s biggest sugar high’. Hyperactive, unable to sit still, and constantly driven to cause shenanigans.

Not the worst thing, since it was still quite mature, but that was somewhat counteracted by its constant need to do something .

Hence why he was currently regretting some of his life choices, and why his phone was currently blowing up with text messages and unanswered calls.

“Sorry, I gotta take a call, stay here alright Eri?” The child didn’t seem surprised by her pa’s words, if anything she seemed quite mischievous about the whole situation.

Sighing once more, Izuku slinked off into a quieter part of the stadium to answer his phone-

“HEY BOSS! WHY’D’YA LEAVE ME BEHIND!?” Despite almost losing his damn hearing to the admittedly melodious voice, Izuku could only find it in himself to sight deeply.

“Because, Laurentina, you have work to do.” His tone was dry and tired, prompting the Shark to cackle mischievously.

“Awe, come on boss~ It’s so boooriiiiiiiiing here!~” Had he not been sure she was a Shark, Izuku could’ve taken her for a siren. Then again, given the amount of times she and Eri had rewatched The Little Mermaid (Disney Edition, no need for Eri to watch the original Hans Christian Andersen version), she might as well be. He would’ve never thought that soundproofing his shower would be a necessity…

“Of course you find it boring… God dammit fine, just make sure to finish what you’re doing and after that you can come join us, I’ll save you a seat.” He relented, ignoring the boisterous cheer coming from the other side of the phone- “God dammit Laurentina! I mean finish your job properly! Not ‘do a rush job so you can join us quickly’-! Hey! Laurentina! LAURENTINA!” And the line went dead, no doubt the cackling Shark was halfway through Musutafu at this point, using her enhanced physical attributes to completely disregard any form of safety regulation in favor of getting here faster.

Mischievous and childish she may be, Laurentina was still frighteningly intelligent, both in the  standard academic meaning, but also as a real time strategist, even if she just seemed to prefer putting all that smart into devising problems for him.

Sighing once more (he really needed to stop doing that), Izuku pocketed his phone, making his way back to where Eri was, placing his jacket in a chair next to him to save the Shark a seat, lest she start annoying random people to try and get their seat.

“...Laurentina’s coming.” He would forever deny any claims made about how utterly defeated he sounded just now, especially when Eri flashed him a barely suppressed smile, a smile that was almost bigger and more ‘real’ than any she’d shown him beforehand (he would also still vehemently deny any fatherly pride he felt in her or Laurentina despite all the troubles that came with them).

Slouching in his seat, Izuku allowed his mind to wander a bit as the Festival finally started, with the first event being… A race?

I-, huh?

Whatever, this was a festival, sure, why not…

The Stadium’s exit, which would allow the contestants to formally begin the race, was extremely narrow, enough so that the contestants looked more like crushed sardines more than anything else.

Of course, that was more so because they were all sabotaging each other instead of haphazardly trying to rush their way forward, each of them apparently believing that this was the first obstacle with each other as ‘environmental problems’. Some purposefully created massive walls of earth and fire and ice and whatever other material they could using their Quirks to create even narrower sections of tunnel to travel through, others used their strength to simply bulldoze their way through everything, forcing the other contestants to squish together or be trampled.

Admittedly, doing this was quite unheroic, but it was still effective. Still, there were a few that used their Quirks to avoid any and all obstacles placed in their way, chief amongst them was… Tintin?

Wait, no, it was that Mirio kid, ‘Lemillion’ or whatever his Hero name was. Interesting, he was using his Quirk to slip through the other contestants, while also keeping a tight grip on his pants for some reason.

Permeation then? It didn’t seem to be able to affect anything he was wearing or holding though, since his pants would regularly fall off, only to be caught by him before they could flutter off too far from him. Still, quite the impressive power, especially given the ease with which he used it.

Could he still see while using it? It was still too soon to tell, since he’d yet to do anything that couldn’t be passed off as ‘just knowing pre-emptively’. He also seemed to be able to selectively use his power, only applying it to specific parts of his body instead of the entire thing (probably how he avoided slipping through the floor).

Mirio, unsurprisingly in first place given how easily his Quirk had allowed him to avoid the cacophony happening within the stadium’s exit, was met with the second (or first depending on your viewpoint) obstacle of the race. Giant Robots.

While less impressive than those of Olympus (a statement Izuku never thought he would’ve made in his lifetimes), they still easily towered over buildings, being around five or so stories tall and quite mobile to boot.

The Alchemist hummed a bit, ignoring the loud slurping noises made by Eri and the almost savage clap on the back he received from the now-arrived Laurentina, observing Mirio closely. His power was dangerous, disturbingly so at that. Not because of its strength, but with the versatility with which Mirio applied it.

Izuku almost expected Mirio to breeze through the so-called ‘Robo-Inferno’ simply by slipping through the obstacles, but to his (and undoubtedly everyone’s surprise), he didn’t, instead wreathing himself in some odd golden lightning and, in a display of absolutely superhuman abilities, jumping towards one of the robot’s head, blowing it clean off with a shout of ‘POWEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEER!’

Izuku blinked, Lanrentina blinked, Eri cheered.

Both Shark and Alchemist shared a look, the Shark’s expression unnaturally serious for once, surely mimicking her creator’s own.

Something wasn’t right, Mirio’s Quirk was obviously some type of phasing, so where did this Super Strength come from?

Obviously it came from another Quirk, there was no reason for his Quirk to spontaneously mutate Super Strength of all things instead of something like Teleportation, or being able to affect others Mirio was making direct contact with.

No, Mirio had two Quirks, his own and a given one. Assuming his phasing was his original Quirk (given the ease with which he used it), then where did this Super Strength come from? The Quirk Boogeyman? Possibly, he’d heard that one of the U.A Students was a mole after all.

Or maybe… Maybe it had to do with the lanky, emaciated form he could see peeking out from behind the VIP balcony’s window. It was almost unnoticeable, situated just outside the range of most commercial cameras used by the media, but it was there. A familiar, lanky, yellow haired figure currently coughing out puddles of blood as he watched Mirio defend his first place.

Did All Might do this? It would make sense, as according to All Might he could only perform Hero Work for around three hours (perhaps even less after his bout with the Nomu back at the U.S.J). Had he used Governmental Tech to transfer his Quirk over to Mirio? No, that couldn’t be it, All Might was still active after all, less so than previously (something that was blamed on his new position as a U.A Teacher), but active nonetheless.

Then… had Mirio been granted a copy of All Might’s Quirk then? It was possible, given what Izuku knew. After all, Laurentina was a prime example of this, given that she was blessed with at least five different Quirks, most of them being copies.

Was this it? Was this why Mirio showed such ease with his power? Had he been groomed by All Might to be his successor? It made sense, now that Izuku actually looked at Mirio as something other than a nuisance. His muscles were well defined, not as much as All Might’s, but enough to show significant strength training. He had a good head on his shoulders, as shown by the myriad tactical decisions he’d had to make during the race thus far, and he seemed quite heroic and charismatic, if their brief interaction back at the Stadium Entrance meant anything.

Or perhaps… Was Mirio a clone of All Might!? Granted a Quirk that would further enhance his Super Strength!? Yes, it would make sense, especially given just how… alike they both looked. Had All Might been endowed with something like Mirio’s phasing six years ago, then there was no way he would’ve sustained such a debilitating injury.

“I see… it seems I’m not the only one able to create Artificial Humans…” Laurentina raised an eyebrow at this, fully aware (and quite content really) of her origins as a Homunculus, her focus redoubling onto Mirio, an almost predatory mania in her gaze. Yes… He would make a fine prey to hunt…

The Reincarnated Alchemist hummed some more, glancing at the screen. Mirio had, unsurprisingly, won the first event easily using a combination of his phasing and Super Strength to great effect. Yes, that must be it… Mirio, no, Lemillion was-

“...The next Symbol of Peace.” Both Alchemist and Creation said simultaneously.

Abruptly standing up, Izuku riffled through his pockets in order to confirm just how many empty vials he had with him. Three. It seems he would have to be picky about which Quirks he wanted to harvest then…

“Laurentina, stay with Eri, I’m going to…” Despite the sentence being left hanging, the Shark nodded knowingly. There was no need for further words to be exchanged between them as both knew their respective tasks. Izuku would infiltrate the Medic Team and Laurentina would keep an eye out for any suspicious showings from Mirio (and make sure Eri stayed safe).

Mirai Sasaki, otherwise known as the Pro-Hero Sir Nighteye, felt pride well up inside of his chest as he saw his protege, Mirio Togata, easily reach first place in the U.A Sports Festival. Truly, his protege had been worthy of inheriting the sacred torch that was One For All .

Still, despite how fruitful Mirio’s training had been, Mirai was still left with a case that had been blown wide open in the most hair pulling, all-nighter inducing way.

Kai Chisaki, Overhaul, the Young Boss of the Shie Hassaikai, whatever you wanted to call him, had been found brutally murdered in a random Osaka alleyway with no witnesses to speak of. Despite the murder being placed at around 6 to 7pm, when people still roamed the streets, there had been no witnesses, either visual or auditory. Nothing.

It was almost as if Chisaki had been killed by a ghost!

Obviously this was the work of a Quirk, one that either manipulated memories in some way to allow its user to wipe certain events out of the minds of whoever they chose, or one that created a bubble of ‘silence’, preventing noises from leaving its active range.

Whatever the case may be, this was still horrible for him. Mirai had, over the course of the last few months, been painstakingly building up a case against the Shie Hassaikai. Not only were they selling the illegal Quirk Enhancer Trigger, there were also rumors that they were developing a ‘Quirk Destroying Drug’.

Quirk Nullifiers didn’t exist in this World, at least not without the help of another Quirk. This meant that Quirks like Erasure, those who could temporarily prevent the activation of Quirks, were highly sought after both by Villains and Heroes, for obvious reasons. In the same vein, a drug that would temporarily prevent the activation of a Quirk was… frightening to say the least, especially if it was in the hands of Villains.

Of course, Mirai and his agency had been discrete in their investigation, not only because they lacked any formal evidence to incriminate the Yakuza Group, but also because there was no telling what sort of lengths Chisaki would be willing to go to to silence all opposition. The Young Boss already had quite the violent reputation after all, especially if reports of his Quirk, Overhaul, were to be believed.

Really, it was such a shame that someone possessing such a powerful and useful Quirk had to be a Villain…

Still, now that Chisaki was dead, murdered by some unknown third party, the Shie Hassaikai were growing even more desperate. Whether it was due to the loss of their boss, or the supposed ‘human ingredient’ required to produce their Quirk Nullifying Drug was yet unknown, all that was known was that they were spreading out their members to try and figure out who had killed their boss.

The Heroes were also scrambling, not only was a murderer on the loose (even if he had killed a Villain), but assumedly this third party had knowledge of the Quirk Nullifying Drug (or at least unknowingly carried its prime ingredient with them), meaning that they had to find them first, both to arrest them for Chisaki’s murder, and to prevent any Villain Groups from retrieving this ‘Prime Ingredient’, whatever it was.

What was worse was that the method used to kill Chisaki, which according to the autopsy was ‘extreme physical trauma which led to explosion of the cranium’, could mean anything! Whether it was Super Strength, a Support Equipment, or even just raw physical strength (as unlikely as that was), they had no means of tracking this killer!

All they had was the presence of water at the crime scene, almost completely evaporated by the time they’d gotten there, the moist conditions of the alleyway had kept some of it from fully disappearing. DNA Analysis of the liquid proved fruitless, besides the fact that it was the product of a human somehow.

A Water-based Quirk could have been responsible for the murder, using it to strangle Chisaki or simply destroy his head in a singular blow. It would also explain the distinct lack of blood at the crime scene, besides the puddle created by Chisaki’s missing head anyways. Maybe the perpetrator had access to some method of keeping sounds from escaping the alleyway, and had used their Quirk to gather water and used it to murder Chisaki.

That would correlate to the sudden increase in Water-Quirk related vigilantism that had been sprouting up in the last few days or so. According to intel, a new Vigilante had, for lack of a better term, ‘sprouted out of nowhere’. No records of them or their Quirks, absolutely nothing.

All they knew was that this Vigilante, going by the name ‘The Unchained’, had a Water-type Quirk that allowed them to manipulate (and possibly also generate) obscene amounts of water for multiple purposes. Currently, their rap sheet limited itself to mostly assault using a Quirk, a few counts of murder (only Villains, no civilians or heroes yet), and a few counts of trespassing and property damage.

All in all, Chisaki’s murder would at least fit their M.O, what little they knew of it anyways. Perhaps he should start investigating them, their sudden appearance would correlate with Chisaki’s murder after all…

Chapter Text

Quite like what one might think, the backhalls of the Stadium, the place reserved exclusively for staff and contestants alike, was quite empty while the Events were happening, mostly because everyone was supposed to be at their proper place making sure everything ran properly.

Given the amount of preparation required for something like the U.A Sports Festival to go off without a hitch, especially with the added security in the form of extra Pro-Heroes, it was a wonder that he’d been able to infiltrate this part of the stadium as easily as he had, but then again he wasn’t exactly using regular methods.

Cloaked in a subtle [Mental Manipulation] Spell, it acted as a kind of ‘Notice Me Not’-type effect, so long as he didn’t actively draw attention towards himself, he wouldn’t be noticed. As effective as this was, it wouldn’t prevent people from seeing or noticing things moving (like needles), or doors opening. It might be Magecraft, but it did have its limits.

To make up for this, Izuku had procured a standard issue doctor’s coat, a fake ID identifying him as a nurse hired by Recovery Girl, and was currently using some masterful footwork to avoid making too much noise. Despite the spell’s usefulness, it wouldn’t work if someone was actively looking for him, only preventing an unalert mind from noticing him, or rather, from paying too much attention to him. It was a fine balance between being subtle enough that a Pro wouldn’t be tripped to something being wrong, and being hidden enough that he wouldn’t be stopped every three steps.

Stalking the halls, the (Not Really) Fake Doctor took stock of the myriads of Pro-Heroes that had been hired by U.A to act as extra muscle. Some of them were quite reputed like Kamui Woods, while others were newbies like Mount Lady, and others were just irrelevant like Death Arms. Still, not a bad lineup of mooks to throw at a potential invasion by the League.

He still wasn’t exactly sure what Quirks he wanted to harvest, only that if they had made it to U.A, then the students had to have impressive powers. Mirio’s DNA would do Izuku wonders to acquire, but he wasn’t sure Recovery Girl would let anyone else handle All Might’s (probable) successor. Especially if he actually was a Clone of All Might.

With that presumably off the table, he was left with every other student in U.A (or at least those participating in the Sports Festival). Obviously, those of the Hero Course had priority over others, because their Quirks were obviously more developed, and they were more likely to make it to the second and third events, which usually meant bigger injuries for him to deal with.

Finally reaching the Temporary Medical Ward, he slinked inside to find Recovery Girl, the diminutive heroine being quite spry for someone her age. Still, despite how spry and healthy the Youthful Heroine was, her mind was still putty against him. It wasn’t like he was changing much anyways, just adding his face in the list of many nurses she’d temporarily hired to help her deal with the less grievous injuries that were sure to arise within the Sports Festival. Just because she could deal with most injuries on her own, didn’t mean she could suddenly duplicate herself to help everyone that would get a scrape or bruise.

Once he was done messing with her memories, he dropped the cloaking spell, allowing Recovery Girl to blink as she returned to the present, opening her mouth to speak, only for him to beat her to it.

“Are you alright Recovery Girl, mam? You look a bit faint.” Izuku flashed her a decently concerned smile as he spoke, acting as if he’d been there since the beginning, his attire leaving nothing to be desired, nothing for Recovery Girl to nitpick anyways. He had been an actual doctor once after all, he knew what he was doing.

The Head Nurse blinked again, her eyes refocusing as she did so, shaking her head a bit.

“Yes, I’m quite fine, thank you. I guess I’m not as youthful as I used to be.” While she didn’t seem to quite believe what she was saying, she gave a throwaway line to close any potential questions he might throw her way, to which he nodded. No need to press her further. He was using some contacts and rapid hair dye to change his features a bit, a fake mole underneath his left eye. While he hadn’t changed his entire facial structure, the difference in hair color, eye color, his slight slouch making him a good inch, inch and a half shorter than he’d previously been, and his kinder demeanor made him almost completely different from ‘Darius Ainsworth’.

Hey, if Clark Kent could pull it off, then so could he.

“Since you’re here, some of the First Years got injured during the race, those dumb kids. Really, they don’t know when to stop pushing…” She vaguely gestured towards where the actual ‘waiting room’ was. Leaning to the side, he managed to catch a glance of a trio of very sheepish looking teenagers, each of them sporting a large, angry bruise somewhere on their face.

Laughing good naturedly, Izuku stepped towards her, taking Recovery Girl’s wordless call to deal with them before she got to them (for better or worse).

“So, I’m guessing you tripped during the race?” At least the trio had the decency to look even more sheepish at his question, causing him to laugh some more as he gathered some basic supplies, mostly some anti-inflammatory cream, warm compresses, and some pain killers if they were serious enough.

“Here, stay still.” Deftly opening the cream container, he quickly stuck his index inside, pulling out some of the cream before gently applying it on each of the bruises, proceeding to hand each of the students a warm compress. “Hold that over the bruise for ten to twenty minutes. If it keeps swelling, come back, if not you guys can go back to the stadium to see the festival.”

He did end up giving one of them a pain killer, since the bruise was just above their right eye, and while not being an actual black eye (or causing any visual problems), it was quite painful.

After making sure the students understood and didn’t have any questions, he allowed them to leave, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly as he did so. It felt… strange, to be back in this kind of setting again, after so long just… doing other things.

“Hm, your bedside manners are quite good for someone your age, I’m impressed.” Praise from Recovery Girl, had he been a quarter his age (and actually a newly graduated nurse) he would’ve been actually quite excited. Now though, Izuku simply flashed his temporary ‘boss’ a sheepish smile, rubbing the back of his neck as he slouched some more. People tended to empathize more with modest people after all.

“I don’t think I’m that great, I’m just doing what I think is right.” He followed his words with a light, sheepish laugh, to which the Head Nurse simply gave him a bemused smile, shaking her head as she went back to dealing with a student’s fractured left arm, probably from trying to do something stupid.

Time went by quite quickly now that he was actually doing something, most of the students he dealt with were only lightly injured, the worst injury he had to deal with being a bruised ankle that would take a few weeks of healing to deal with, or well, a few hours until Recovery Girl could effectively deal with it.

That was, until an earthquake-like spread throughout the stadium, shaking even the office he was sitting in.

Steadying himself and Recovery Girl, Izuku instinctually spread his senses out, trying to figure out just what the heck had happened, only noticing a humongous chunk of ice covering most of the First Year’s stadium.

Glancing towards the unsure Recovery Girl, he straightened up slightly, opening the door to see if it was an invasion or just one of the students being an overachiever.

Seeing as there was no subsequent explosion, no screaming, and no Pro-Heroes running around to tell them to evacuate everyone, he shot his fellow doctor a shrug.

“I’ll go see?” He offered, to which she simply gave a dismissive wave, trying to look composed, not just for him, but also the other students in the infirmary, all of which looked suitably spooked by the sudden quake that ran through the stadium at large.

Lightly jogging towards the source of the quake, his enhanced hearing picked up the frantic sound of screaming and running, causing him to accelerate towards the source, quickly understanding what the panic was about as he arrived on the field.

The first thing he noticed was the giant iceberg-size piece of ice jutting out of the stadium, the second (and other subsequent) thing he noticed were the myriad students stuck inside said iceberg.

Some were completely frozen, others only partially. Some were screaming, some were just shaking silently, but everyone seemed absolutely terrified of the dual-haired kid (who, if the track of ice running down the Iida Boy’s side and leg meant anything, had created the iceberg), not that he could blame them.

Quickly looking around, and ignoring Mic’s frantic screaming, he caught sight of the partially frozen Midnight, who had apparently not been fast enough to avoid being caught in the surprise blast.

Instinct took over as he rushed forward towards the nearest student, grabbing them by the shoulder and performing a quick check up on them. Once he was sure they weren’t seriously injured (just outrageously shaken) he sent them to check up on their fellow student, mostly to just try and clear out the field as much as possible.

“Everyone stay calm! If you’re uninjured or still able to move, please try and evacuate the field! Those who can, try to help those who can’t move!” His voice was loud and charismatic, and despite lacking a microphone, it was easily heard throughout the entire field as he began running towards the slowly melting iceberg.

Either it was melting due to the sudden change in temperature, or someone was doing that.

Making for the shivering Iida boy, he cringed a bit as he noticed telltale signs of frostbite starting to affect the boy’s left side.

“Alright, boy, kid- Can you talk to me?” Izuku snapped his fingers a few times in front of the boy’s face, trying to catch his attention. His efforts were rewarded with a shaky nod, the boy’s teammates (apparently this was a Cavalry Game) gathering around him. “Good, listen closely, you’re going to be fine alright?”

He wasn’t sure if the half-frozen boy was reassured by his seemingly empty promises, but he would hold try to them. Placing his left hand on the ice, Izuku slowly channeled his Magecraft through it, slowly forcing heat back into the affected area. He couldn’t melt it too quickly, or the boy would go into shock, or worse suffer from an aneurysm.

Slowly, the ice began to melt, the rest of the medical team rushing onto the field to deal with the other injured students, a familiar frog girl being wheeled back towards the infirmary to cover in heat blankets, her amphibian body slowly going into hibernation with the sudden drop in temperature.

Once he was sure the boy was safe to move, Izuku slowly lowered him to the ground, laying him down there to take stock of the situation, the boy’s teammates crowding around him in worry.

“Alright, everyone please give me some space to work!” Waving his arms around a bit to try and get some breathing room, Izuku refocused his attention on the Iida Heir, running his arm along the boy’s left side, making liberal use of [Structural Analysis] to make sure nothing was damaged.

He sighed softly once his impromptu diagnosis was done with, glancing towards a mature looking girl, who had also been somewhat affected by the ice.

“He’s going to be fine, but he won’t be able to participate in the next event, not unless someone has a Quirk that can suddenly bring him back from the brink of hypothermia in less than thirty minutes safely.” He called towards one of the other nurses, getting a thumbs up in return. Shifting his focus back to the girl, he snapped his fingers in her face too, getting a startled yelp in return.

“Miss? Are you alright?” He glanced towards her swollen right hand, the ice being gone but still displaying telltale signs of having been left out in the cold for too long. Angry swelling covering the limb.

She nodded almost indecisively, yelping again as he took hold of her hand, repeating his examination of her limb, before nodding.

“Alright, you’ll be fine, miss…” He raised an eyebrow, wordlessly asking for her name, to which she replied after regaining her senses. “Ah- Yaoyorozu, Momo Yaoyorozu, Mister…”

Sighing a bit, he shot a glance around to make sure everyone else was dealt with properly, refocusing on Momo.

“I’m Julian, nice to meet you miss.” He gave yet another fake name, since Darius was supposedly a spectator and not a nurse. He watched the girl nod a bit, looking quite conflicted as her eyes shifted rapidly between him, the unconscious Iida boy, and the bicolored hair (who was apparently a Todoroki, neat that, apparently violence ran in the family. Who knew).

Sighing softly, Izuku placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

“Listen, things like this happen. It’s why you kids are students after all. Don’t hold it too much against him, yeah?” He could see that she wasn’t all that convinced by his words, prompting him to continue speaking. “No one got grievously injured, heck, I’m pretty sure Iida here got the worst of it and he’ll be fine after a bit of rest and maybe some hot soup. I’m not asking you to suddenly make up and kiss with that other kid, what I’m asking is for you to not ostracize him for this.”

He slowly stood up, guiding Momo back to a standing position with him, her expression growing even more conflicted as she processed his words.

“Give it time, you might be a Hero Student, but you’re still just a child, you can’t be expected to fix everything yourself.” He said softly, getting a feeling of dejà vue from his time in Chaldea with Ritsuka. “Hold your head up high, walk forward, learn from this. All that’s expected of you is that the you of tomorrow is slightly better than the you of today, if that means learning from this incident, then all the better.”

Hopefully this was supportive enough, and given the almost resolute look she gave him, it seemed to have done the trick for her. Flashing her a confident grin, he fished around his lab coat and pulled out a lollipop, handing it to her.

“Here, for being a good patient.” He teased, laughing a bit when she flushed, her flush only growing when some of her classmates, who had returned to get her, saw the sugary treat and started laughing at her. All in good fun of course. “Now go along, your friends are waiting for you. You can visit Iida later after you get some food in you and take a few minutes to rest, yeah?”

As he spoke, another nurse arrived with a stretcher, causing Izuku to crouch down and help his fellow nurse lift the unconscious (but now less purple) boy onto the stretcher, starting to carry him back to the infirmary.

Well, that was… chaotic. Much more so than he’d been expecting.

Once he was back in the infirmary, he mostly just helped Recovery Girl as she ran around dealing with the big injuries, mostly broken bones, swelling from the frost, and a few colds. Honestly, if it were that easy being a teacher at the Clock Tower, he would’ve held the job way longer (had he retired? he wasn’t even sure…)

Once the chaos diminished enough, he heard the door open, where a familiar purple haired boy stood looking almost regretful for being here.

Blinking a bit, Izuku gestured for the boy to fully enter. The boy looked… more muscular than Izuku remembered. Not by much, but enough to show that he’d started working out at least a bit.

Turning to fully face the purple boy, Izuku unwrapped a sucker for himself, popping it in his mouth as he addressed the newcomer.

“So, what can I do for ya? You don’t seem too injured?” He questioned, watching as the boy wilted under his questioning gaze.

Raising an eyebrow, Izuku watched as the student slowly gathered his wits and opened his mouth to speak.

“I, err, the cold gave me a scratchy throat, got something for that?” He asked, causing Izuku to blink again. Oh, that was… surprisingly mundane, probably why the boy looked so… shy, no, uncomfortable for being here. Probably felt dumb for how trivial his problem was compared to everyone else’s.

“Sure, I’ve got some syrup for that, unless you prefer getting a sucker?” Izuku snickered a bit when the boy gave a great impression of a fish at his offer. “Not that kind of sucker, get your head out of the gutter kid. This kind.”

His laughter only grew stronger at the relieved look the kid gave him. Glancing down at some papers on Recovery Girl’s desk, he made a show of reading them, casting a subtle illusion on them as he did so.

“So… Hitoshi Shinso, right?” The boy nodded. “Right right, gimme a sec… Says you’ve got some blood shots to do, wanna do them now?”

The boy, Hitoshi, blinked in confusion, before a light veil of fog clouded his mind. Not enough to tip him off to anything wrong, but enough to convince him of Izuku’s words. The Alchemist watched as the gears slowly whirled around in Hitoshi’s mind, before he nodded slowly.

“Sure, why not. Might as well…”

Grinning a bit, Izuku beckoned the teenager closer, seating him on a nearby stool before prepping him to take some of his blood.

“So, ever done that before?” He asked in-between doing things, handing the Hero Student a pink lollipop to suck on, the candy being one of those aimed at kids, laced with meds to trick them into taking them by hiding the taste. This one would help deal with his throat problem quickly enough.

His temporary patient nodded sideways, looking almost nervous at the size of the needle Izuku was prepping, prompting Izuku to chuckle a bit as he slowly felt around Shinso’s arm for a vein.

“Well don’t worry, it looks more painful than it actually is.” And, with absolutely no warnings, Izuku slowly inserted the needle inside of the teenager’s arm, watching in barely covered delight as the boy almost jumped in his seat, his self-preservation instincts keeping him from actually jumping to avoid the needle potentially breaking in his arm. “Here, hold this.”

Giving the boy a stress ball, Izuku started filling up a few vials, one for Recovery Girl, and one for himself. It wouldn’t do for Shinso to tell on this little experience only for the U.A Staff to find no records of this. Of course, if they dug deeper, they would find that Shinso wasn’t exactly supposed to get his blood taken, but that could be easily passed off as malpractice on the part of a newbie nurse.

Squeezing the ball slowly, Shinso tried to keep his breathing steady (and to pointedly not look at the needle jabbed in his arm), before relaxing almost comically when he felt the nurse remove the needle, giving him a light chuckle as he did so.

“Welp, you’re done! Congrats on your first blood test! See? It wasn’t so bad.” Despite his cheery words, Izuku barely repressed a snicker when Shinso shot him an almost betrayed look, cradling his arm, more precisely the little wad of cloth Izuku had given him to prevent more blood from escaping his arm.

“Now shoo, back to the Sports Festival you go! And hopefully you won’t be back here for an injury!” Once he had acquired the kid’s blood, Izuku was quick to shoo him out, mostly because he didn’t want to deal with questioning from anyone. He had done some research on the kids after the failed U.S.J Raid, and had learned most of their Quirks. He knew their names, but not what they looked like exactly, so unless they had absolutely striking defining traits (like Mutants) he probably wouldn’t be able to recognize them at first glance (like with Iida and Yaoyorozu).

Still, now that he had Shinso’s blood, he felt an idea form within his mind. Information was key after all, and what better way to acquire information than through a Telepath? Sure, Shinso’s Quirk wasn’t exactly Mind Reading, but that wasn’t a big problem when you could genetically modify Quirks.

Izuku was sure he could make something quite potent by adding in some more Quirks, maybe give this prospective Homunculus some sort of defense? Telepaths were known for being quite frail after all. Hmm, ideas, ideas.

Well, it wasn’t like he was short on Quirks, even if he only had two vials left (he couldn’t afford to steal any, medical equipment was heavily scrutinized and Recovery Girl would quickly find out if anything went missing without a good reason), so he would have to be selective with his choices.

Hitoshi Shinso, Hero Student of Class 1-A, walked briskly but with purpose down the halls of U.A’s Stadium. Given the chaos caused by Todoroki’s absolutely outrageous attack during the Cavalry Battle, the Festival (at least, the First Year's Event as far as he was aware) was put on hold for now until everything could be settled with.

That meant that, everyone had a thirty minute break to do whatever they wanted with, with around ten or so minutes remaining.

He wasn’t sure when he’d remembered, but as he was eating through a quick snack, it suddenly hit him like a ton of bricks. There was-

There was an invader inside of U.A

He didn’t remember who they were, just that they were inside the temporary staff hired for the Festival, hence why he was currently walking (not running, that would be suspicious) towards the teacher’s booth.

It didn’t take him long to reach the door, labeled ‘Teacher’s Only’, loudly knocking on it thrice before returning his arm to his side, waiting.

He didn’t have to wait long as Eraserhead, still covered head to toe in bandages, answered the door, looking positively done with Yamada’s shit, giving Shinso a raised eyebrow that all but said ‘this better be good or you’re getting detention’.

Before Eraserhead could say anything, Shinso all but shoved his teacher (dad) back into the office, a look of panic erupting on his face despite his best efforts to keep it from showing. The panicked look startled Aizawa enough that he didn’t fight against his student (son)’s shoving, instead simply looking even more tired than usual.

“There’s an intruder in U.A.” And suddenly, he wasn’t tired anymore. Gone was ‘Tired Teacher Aizawa’, and instead the Pro-Hero Earserhead was in his place. Giving his not-son a steady look, he gestured for the boy to keep speaking, the other Pros inside the room quieting as they also heard Shinso speak. “I- I’m not sure why I just realized it now, b- but one of the temps on staff, o- one of them’s the Dealer!”

Shinso’s scream, all but muffled by his hands, echoed clearly across the entire room. Suddenly, everyone bolted into action, jumping out of their seats, lunches and drinks discarded on tables, chairs, tables, and even the floor as Shinso was unceremoniously dragged further into the room for more questioning.

Once he was sat on a (clean) couch, Shinso continued talking, holding his head in-between his hands, trying to fight through the headache currently assaulting him.

“I- I’m not sure who they were impersonating, b- but they weren’t a Pro, o- or a member of U.A’s regular staff, j- just a temp.” He stammered out, frowning as he tried to recount more details. Due to his Quirk’s Mental Effects, he had a slight resistance to other types of Mental afflictions, nothing too severe, but enough that now that he was fighting against the memory alteration, he could start to slowly unravel it. Whoever had done this had done it in a hurry, the changes were mostly sloppy, with only parts actually blurred, but enough so that Shinso couldn’t accurately recall where he’d been at the time, or who he’d talked to, simply that they weren’t a Pro or a regular member of staff.

The revelation sent ripples through the assembled Pros, plans and theories being thrown around. The Dealer was inside of U.A, despite all of their preparations and measures. At least he (they assumed it was a man given Asui’s description of him) had yet to cause a disturbance. However, they also couldn’t be sure he hadn’t done anything like plant a bomb, or worse.

Quickly, Pros started pouring out of the room to examine every inch of the Stadium, interrogate all of the temp hires, though for now they were narrowing their searches to only the males (given that Shinso had specifically pointed out that this mystery intruder was ‘The Dealer’ and not someone else).

Aizawa sighed deeply as he sat down next to his not-son, palming his face with his one usable hand. First Todoroki, and now this. What next, another Nomu?

…On second thought, he’d better not tempt Fate like that, it was known for being a bitch after all.

Chapter Text

Izuku frowned heavily as he briskly walked through the tunnels connecting the backend of the U.A Stadium, narrowly avoiding collision with another staffer.

For some reason, the Pro-Heroes were going around interrogating everyone in search of ‘strange activities’. Or well, not ‘everyone’, just the temporary hires made to help man the Sports Festival.

Was he compromised? No, or at least if he was, he wasn’t fully. They didn’t seem to know who he was, just that someone was among the temporary staff. But that left the question, how did they know…?

Unless…

“Shit.” Quickly glancing around to make sure no one heard him, the Alchemist quickly pulled out his phone, hitting one of his speed dials and waiting for the phone to ring. If there was one thing the Shark took seriously, it was his calls-

“HEY BOSS! WASSUP!?” Of course she was screaming into his ear, but then again, she did have to make herself heard over the god awful noise that was Present Mic’s incessant screaming in the background.

Grumbling a bit under his breath, Izuku inhaled, making a sharp left towards the Stadium Exit.

“Take Eri and get out of here, I’ve been compromised-” Before he could say anything else, a large metallic object flew towards him at high speed, forcing him to duck underneath it. A person? Hardening Quirk- That Tetsutetsu kid then.

Ending the call and pocketing his phone to focus on his newly arrived opponents, Izuku wasn’t sure whether or not he should be grateful that his so-called ‘opponents’ were just kids-

“...1-B Students, if I’m not mistaken.” One of them, a narcissistic blonde boy, gave an incredibly self-satisfied grin at Izuku’s words, throwing his arms out to the side as he spoke loudly, whether it was to try and alert others to their location or not didn’t really matter, it wouldn’t work. Before anyone could say anything, the Magus pulled out a small baggie full of odd gemstones, each the size of a marble if that, emptying them onto the floor below.

Unlike what one might have expected, the marble-sized gems didn’t haphazardly scatter across the floor, instead spreading out in a pre-designated formation to encompass this section of tunnel in its entirety. He was, quite simply, erecting a Bounded Field that would prevent outside interference.

“Oh my! I’m honored that someone as well known as ‘The Dealer’ would know of us! IT JUST PROVES THAT WE’RE SO MUCH BETTER THAN THOSE 1-A PEOPLE!” The blonde, either because he wasn’t paying attention, or because his eyesight really needed fixing, didn’t seem bothered by the sudden shift in color, the surrounding area of the tunnel being bathed in a kaleidoscopic light as the Bounded Field did its job.

“...You know, I’ve read all the Class 1-A and 1-B files, and I still don’t know who you are.” A small lie of course, Izuku had quickly determined that the bombastic blonde was the Copy Quirk user, Monoma, but seeing the blonde wilt underneath the brutal declaration did bring a small smile to his face. Still, acquiring a sample of his Copy Quirk would be quite useful, since Izuku was wondering just how did a Quirk evolve to ‘copy the Quirks of others’, and whether or not he could actually make those copies permanent or not.

If anything it would just make the process of bonding Quirks to his Homunculus that much more simple.

Shifting his head to the left, Izuku deftly avoided another haymaker from Tetsutetsu, grabbing the boy’s arm and twisting it in an armlock. The Reincarnator sighed slightly, ignoring the growls and heaves of effort his temporary prisoner was making.

“You know, you really need to stop telegraphing like that.” Watching the boy cover himself in iron, Izuku felt a smile grow on his lips. Hardening Quirks were simple, but quite effective, especially if it involved mineral substances like this one. Grabbing one of his empty syringes from his coat, Reinforcing its tip and jabbing it straight through the iron hardening.

Tetsutetsu yelped in shock as he felt the needle viciously penetrate through his Quirk, instincts keeping him from jolting too much, lest the needle break in his arm.

Extracting some blood from the boy, Izuku kept dodging Monoma’s half-hearted blows, kicking him away before retrieving his needle, tossing his prisoner through a wall to slow him down a bit.

“Huh, what’s with the blood collection? You a Vampire or something?” Monoma taunted, trying to think of a way through The Dealer. He still didn’t know what kind of Quirk he had, unless it was something subtle like Strength Enhancement. That would certainly explain how he’d easily handled Tetsutetsu after all… Still-

Izuku grinned at the taunt, his k9s elongating just a bit through his smile.

“Yeah, something like that.”

He enjoyed the way Monoma stilled at the response, allowing Izuku to jet forward, throwing a heavy jab at the Copy User. Despite how simple the strike was, given Izuku’s aptitudes as a Dead Apostle, he was moving quite fast, enough that he could rival Mirio at this point.

Monoma never stood a chance.

Crumbling to the ground and clutching his thoroughly bruised stomach, he was completely defenseless to stop The Dealer from grabbing his arm and jabbing a needle inside, sucking up some of his blood before fully knocking him out.

Glancing around, Izuku dispelled his Bounded Field, this time sprinting towards the exit. A bunch of students had managed to find him (probably by accident honestly given what he’d said into his phone), there was no telling how many Pros would converge on his approximate location.

Cursing a bit, he placed his hand on a nearby wall, using [Material Transmutation] to break a hole in it, deciding that subtility was no longer an option. He still didn’t want to show [Flash Air] , so [Material Transmutation] it was!

Despite her boss’ frantic call, Laurentina was taking her sweet time to ‘evacuate’ Eri out of the U.A Stadium. Well, it made sense since most of the people weren’t aware that there was an intruder inside the building, it would be quite strange if she were running around (especially while carrying Eri).

Still, after gently informing Eri of the current situation, the Shark was currently trying to exit the building without causing too much of a fuss, and to be fair, she was accomplishing that with relative success.

Or well, she was, until she was confronted by a yellow projectile coming at her fast .

Fortunately, she was endowed with physical aptitudes well beyond that of regular humans. Enough so that, even burdened with Eri, Laurentina was easily able to avoid the haymaker coming her way, the loud SMASHHHHHHHHHHH! coming afterwards almost fooling her into believing All Might was here.

But no, it wasn’t All Might (or maybe it was in a way), it was Mirio (the maybe All Might Clone).

The All Might Successor gave a small grin as he took a stance.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you leave with this kid, Miss!” That was all Mirio said before once more making a grab for Eri, said child letting out an almost terrified shriek as her PTSD flared up something fierce.

Making use of her powerful legs, the Shark mimicked a bird in how gracefully she flew through the air, jumping over her attacker before flashing him a grin.

“Sorry big bro! No time to play around!”

And with that, she ran towards the streets of Musutafu, using the rooftops to lose her pursuers (which were mostly just Mirio and a few less important Pros). She made sure to not display her Quirk too much, or at least nothing that couldn’t be misconstrued as ‘Super Strength’. Still, they were tenacious if anything.

Before long, a Warp Gate made of [Flash Air] opened in front of her, allowing her to step through it back to Izuku’s hideout.

Once back, she let Eri down, before giving an overdramatic stretch, allowing a fake yawn to escape her.

“Waaa~ That was fun, don’tcha think boss?” The amusement she felt was almost doubled by the dry look her creator gave her.

“Sure, fun.” He sighed, slouching in his chair, the DNA Analyzer whirling as the three blood samples he’d collected were being processed in order to extract their Quirks. “At least I got what I was looking for…”

His sulking was interrupted by Eri trying to get ‘upsies’, which he promptly obliged, picking her up and placing her on his lap.

“So~ What’s next bossman? Business as usual, or?~” Despite the almost laisser-faire tone she was using, there was a slight edge to the Shark’s tone, not of anger, but of excitement. She was itching for another bout, the small altercation she’d had with Mirio had set her blood ablaze and now she was itching to throw hands with something.

Izuku sighed a bit, before rifling through a few folders he had on his desk, pulling one out and tossing it to his creation.

“This is your new assignment. Feel free to kill them after you get what you need from them.” His tone was cold as he spoke, gesturing to the file in Laurentina’s hand.

The Shark, now thoroughly curious about her newest assignment, cheerfully opened the file in her hands, an interested eyebrow raising as she read the details.

“A Drug Dealing Ring selling Trigger huh? And, oh my, what’s this, a connection to them of all things? My, how exquisite.” Her smile turned downright predatory as she saw the dealing ring’s connection to the Shie Hassaikai, apparently they were selling Trigger to amass funds for something, probably whatever they’d been using Eri for (this mysterious ‘Quirk Nullifying Drug’ of theirs, whatever that was). “I’m guessing you want blood from anyone I kill?”

She didn’t even need to look at her boss to see him nod.

“Well then, I should get to it then, toodles!” Tossing open one of the windows, she carelessly threw herself out of the three story tall building, catching onto a nearby railing and swinging herself onto another rooftop to begin her hunt.

Now alone with Eri, Izuku glanced down at the child, who was patiently waiting for him to say something, causing him to sigh once more.

“Sooo… wanna get some ice cream?” He proposed, getting a wide grin from the now very excited child in his lap. “Alright then! Let’s go then.”

Sir Nighteye frowned as Mirio finished explaining his recent altercation with who they thought was ‘The Unchained’, the newest Vigilante to show up. All Might’s Ex-Sidekick frowned heavily as he glanced towards the equally frowning Nezu. They were currently sitting inside of U.A’s Staffroom, surrounded by the rest of U.A’s Staff.

“Hmm, this is quite the problem. Young Tetsutetsu and Young Monoma tried to engage The Dealer in combat, they’ve been reprimanded for needlessly putting their lives at risk, but they were able to give us a visual description of The Dealer.” Nezu said, beginning to list off what U.A knew on the subject. “According to both of their testimonies, along with Young Hitoshi’s recollection, The Dealer was here to collect blood from a few of our students.”

This caused everyone to frown, blood collection was a strange motivation for infiltrating U.A of all places. If The Dealer’s reply to Monoma’s question had been more than just a joke and he actually was a Vampire, or at least someone who had hematophagy, then raiding a blood bank or a hospital would’ve made more sense. So what gives?

“Do we have a lead concerning his intentions?” Snipe asked, still taken aback by the strangeness of the situation. “I mean, if he’s really a Vampire then why come to U.A a second time?”

Nezu hummed as he pondered the situation, according to Mirio, The Dealer had entered the Stadium posing as a regular person with a daughter, Eri. He had used the name ‘Darius Ainsworth’ then, and according to Shinso and Recovery Girl had used the name ‘Julian’ with them. Assumedly, neither of those were his real name, meaning they didn’t exactly have a name, only a face (if that).

From what they knew, The Dealer had enough physical strength to overpower Tetsutetsu and drive him into a wall. He also was fast enough to quickly dispatch Monoma without much of a fuss, meaning all evidence pointed towards him having some form of Strength Enhancement. Or well, all evidence except the gaping holes left inside the Stadium Walls. While one might initially believe these holes to have been created through sheer strength, careful analysis of the holes had revealed that they were much too ‘clean’ to have been made using typical methods.

Furthermore, Mirio had encountered someone who had been able to match him despite his use of at least 20% of One For All’s power, despite also carrying a child, Eri.

Eri, the name caused Nighteye to frown a bit, was this the child that the Shie Hassaikai were holding captive? It was hard to say, but given her reaction to Mirio trying to take her away, it would make sense. Still, who was this woman, and how was she connected to The Dealer? Was she his enforcer? Possibly, but where did she come from? They had no files about her, no records or anything, it was like she was a ghost or something.

“Whatever the case may be, we need to reconsider what we know about The Dealer, he’s obviously much more than just a simple drug dealer. He’s getting bolder.” Nezu said, gathering everyone’s attention. “For now, we should focus on making our students stronger. They are being targeted by both the League of Villains and The Dealer as far as we’re aware.”

This acquired a nod from everyone in the room, an aura of tension covering the room.

“The students are going on their first Internship soon, make sure they choose wisely.”

Izuku grinned slightly as his plans started coming together slowly. First, the Copy Quirk; from what he could gather at first glance, it was quite simple. The Quirk utilized skin-to-skin contact to create a copy of a target DNA, allowing it to replicate the effects of the target Quirk. There didn’t seem to be much limitation to its copying abilities, outside of the two most glaring flaws. Firstly, it had a time limit, one that could be increased of course, but a time limit nonetheless. The second was a bit more situational, while it could replicate Quirks, it couldn’t replicate anything they required to function. Rather, if a Quirk held a Stockpile-type sub-ability like Eri’s, then the Copy would need to gradually accumulate this resource, and given the relative time limit, it was simply impossible to make full use of Stockpile-type Quirks. In the same vein, it didn’t seem possible to replicate any substantial training the Quirk acquired from training or Awakenings, meaning the Copy would always be the base Quirk as it was developed by its original holder.

The Hardening Quirk was a lot more simple, simply gathering minerals from the body’s reserves to create a type of ‘shell’ over the skin. This ‘shell’, while in theory would be somewhat unwieldy due to covering the joints, didn’t seem to affect mobility. The shell didn’t seem to adhere to regular physics, bending easily at the joints despite offering prime defenses.

Shinso’s Brainwashing Quirk was the most interesting of the three though, being able to remotely interfere with the brainwaves of others, thus taking control of their bodies. While it could be easily broken by something as simple as bumping into the target, this could be easily dealt with by some genetic modification or simply by adding in more Telepathy-type Quirks to bolster it.

Eri and Chisaki’s Quirks had also been analyzed, and while he wasn’t sure what to do with Chisaki’s Quirk (given that it was basically a more limited version of his Alchemy), he was currently putting Eri’s Quirk to use. He was using it to try and create (or rather recreate) a particular Mystic Code he’d seen in life, and while he wasn’t sure he could get the full effect, even a diminished version of its effect would be quite the boon.

“This, will be my trump card.” He grinned as he watched his creation take shape before him, the dagger-like object responding quite favorably to the Prana he was flowing through it. It would be a One-time Use Weapon, meaning he would have to create more as he went. Currently he only had the resources to create three, but that would be more than enough. “What should I call it, hmm, yes, this’ll work.-

Fragarach Alternative - Gouging Sword of Rewinding Time

Chapter Text

“God dammit, this is what I get for being so efficient.”

So says Izuku Midoriya, Winter General and Alchemist Extraordinaire, currently meandering his way through the streets of Musutafu. He was, of course, armed. Just in case.

He had recently managed to (illegally) acquire a firearm, a simple pistol, something that had taken a disconcerting amount of effort to do. Really, it had been easier to sneak into U.A for god’s sake!

Still, at least he had the thing, having customized it using some Magecraft to give it a little bit more ‘oomph’, just to be sure.

He was also carrying a silver cane, though it was painted to look like a regular wooden one. By using his Alchemy and Magecraft, he could not only change its shape, but also Reinforce it beyond what it could normally do. Quite simply, it was a lethal weapon in his hands.

Oh, and he also had one of his ‘Trump Cards’ with him, having left the other two at home just to be safe.

Eri was, fortunately, being babysat by Laurentina (which, now that he actually thought about it, sounded like the worst idea ever), meaning he now had the entire day to himself, with nothing in sight to do.

His current projects were either done with, or at such a stage that there was nothing left to do but wait, either for more resources to arrive, or for them to incubate. In better news though, his dog-alien-thing had finished incubating, its creation having required a bit more time than Laurentina’s had (mostly because he still wanted to add some Quirks to it before finalizing it), and was currently walking alongside him.

While Quirked animals were rare, they weren’t unknown, simply a special sight. This meant that, while some pedestrians were staring at him, it was less about ‘Oh my god wtf is that’, and more about ‘Oh, that’s really cool’.

Said creature seemed completely relaxed despite the many eyes on it, mostly because it was quite intelligent, enough that it could easily read the intentions of everyone it saw, and felt.

“...Alright buddy, let’s see what kinds of shenanigans we can get up to.” Deciding that he may as well do something productive with his day, Izuku began carefully extending his sensory range, using his enhanced hearing to try and pick up nearby conversations, specifically anything suspicious or just strange.

He picked up some miscellaneous information as he wandered the streets, mostly useless dribble, about people’s lives, their problems, their issues, a few about students cheating (or trying to) on their exams, others about gamblers losing all of their money on an unlucky bet.

Still, nothing that could draw his attention too much. At least, that was until he heard a distinct scream originating from a nearby hospital (okay, it wasn’t that close, but given his speed it really was). Raising an eyebrow, he shared a look with his creation (who really needed a name now that he thought about it), before heading towards the scream’s location.

As he walked, Izuku slowly pondered names for his newest companions. Was it okay to treat it like a pet? It kinda was, but then again, it was still quite smart. Hmm, maybe-

“Hmm, how about I name you, Baskerville, how does that sound?” He asked, to which the dog-creature simply… shrugged? It looked like a shrug at least, or at least, as much of a shrug as a dog-alien-creature thing could do.

Before long, the Phantasmal Duo were standing in front of a nondescript hospital, shrugging a bit before entering. The hospital was, if only at first glance, the image of normality. Sick and injured people sat in a waiting room, nurses and other staff were meandering around, running around as they attended to the tasks of the day, and above anything else, the smell was sickeningly familiar.

Inhaling slowly, Izuku frowned slightly as a wholly familiar sentiment overtook him. Hospitals were, unsurprisingly, familiar territory for him. Not only had he been a doctor before (having even joined Chaldea as part of its Medical Staff), he had actually owned quite a few hospitals due to his family’s deep connection with Alchemy. That and restaurants for some reason, not that he was complaining, his wife had loved his home cooking after all.

Still, seeing this sight was… painfully familiar, in a way that a psychologist might refer to as ‘disturbingly close to PTSD’. Still, it wasn’t like he was about to have a crisis in the middle of a hospital waiting room (even if that would be a quick trip to the ER). Instead, he steeled himself, walking towards the welcome desk and putting on a charismatic smile. Despite the Pro-Heroes having a somewhat detailed description of his face, that didn’t account for the limited Shapeshifting he could do (which was mostly just returning to what he looked like two and a half centuries ago).

To put it plainly, he looked distinctly like a foreigner now, a young adult, but a foreigner nonetheless.

Putting on his best smile, he leaned against the desk, his enhanced hearing managing to pick up his target’s name through all the cacophony.

“Hello there, I’m here to visit my aunt, I think she’s here under the name Rei Todoroki?” He didn’t think too much about her surname, Todoroki, while not exceedingly common, was still heavily spread throughout Japan, there was no reason to assume she actually was the wife of the Number 2 Pro-Hero.

The secretary, while somewhat taken aback by his sudden appearance, managed to quickly school her features, flashing him a bashful smile as she attempted to discreetly ‘fix’ her collar.

“Erm, I’m sorry but no one can visit Miss Todoroki without her primary caretaker’s say so…” Her voice was soft, yet apologetic, in a professional manner of course. Despite her words, the Winter General was not deterred, if anything he had expected such a thing, his eyes glowing softly as he caught her gaze.

“Oh, but you see, I do have permission to see her, see?” He proceeded to take out his phone, showing the blank screen to the secretary. Despite the blank screen, the woman’s eyes widened a bit, his Mystic Eyes of Enchantment doing their job. If only he’d had access to them during the Sports Festival, that would have saved him quite a bit of time. Unfortunately, his return as a Dead Apostle was taking its sweet time, and he had only regained access to his Mystic Eyes this very morning. Still, no use crying over spilled milk, as they say.

“So… room?” He left the question hanging, watching as gears slowly whirled inside of the woman’s mind, her thoughts rewiring to fit his purposes, before she gave a shy nod, searching something on her terminal before answering him.

“Erm, yes, it’ll be room 419. H- Have a good day, sir…” She flashed him a bashful smile before trying to ignore his existence entirely, busying herself with something on her monitor.

Satisfied with her answer, Izuku gestured for Baskerville to follow him into the elevator, riding the metal contraption right up to the fourth floor. He did wonder, was she really the wife of the Number 2 Hero? And if so, why was she here, in some backwater hospital, instead of in a state of the art facility? Too many questions, too few answers.

Still, hopefully he would be able to get some answers out of the woman, or at least acquire her blood (if her Quirk was even half as strong as her potential son’s had been, then it would be well worth it).

A familiar ding signaled his arrival to the fourth floor, which was crowded by hospital staff. Nurses and security guards taking cover behind various miscellaneous furniture, whether it was a trashcan or a bench didn’t matter, so long as it protected them from… something.

That ‘something’ soon became clear as he ducked underneath a stray ice shard, apparently his ‘objective’ was having a panic attack, if the shrill screams and the thin ice sheet covering the whole corridor meant anything.

Strafing through the myriad people there, Izuku and his creation slowly but surely approached the room containing the seeming madwoman, using his Mystic Eyes to prevent anyone from stopping him. This was becoming quite interesting already!

Carefully stepping into the room, he ‘dismissed’ the retinue of people clogging up the hallway, their vacant gaze indicating clearly what was happening. Well, that was fine, it wasn’t like he was going to leave camera evidence for police to find anyway.

Closing the door and locking it, Izuku turned his attention towards the panicking woman. No, that wasn’t right, she wasn’t panicking, at least not at him , instead, she was panicking at something that wasn’t there. Raising an eyebrow, he carefully avoided her random blasts with practiced ease, ending up in her face.

The woman, Rei, screamed bloody murder (thank god Baskerville could set up Bounded Fields for him), before falling silent as his Mystic Eyes took hold of her thoughts.

Slowly, but surely, he started unraveling the mess that was her thoughts. It took a few minutes, but eventually he was able to dissipate her panic, and he learned something interesting.

Someone had sent her into this state.

Silence permeated the room as Rei slowly took stock of her surroundings, her mind slowly returning to reality as he allowed his hold on it to dissipate.

“Rei Todoroki, it’s a pleasure to meet you.” Izuku said pleasantly, giving her a true smile. It wasn’t exactly kind, but it was comforting in its own way. “I apologize for the rude awakening, but I just had to talk to you.”

Rei, whose last memory had been of her eating breakfast in the cafeteria, looked positively panicked as she attempted to figure out what was happening. Firstly, she was back in her room, she could recognize it despite all the ice spread around it. Secondly, there was a strange… man? boy? person (and a dog-thing) in her room. He said he was the one to return her to sanity, but why did he-

“You’re wondering why I’m here, and why I helped you.” It wasn’t a question, but a statement. Izuku had seen that kind of look many times before, the kind of people that didn’t believe they should, or could, be saved, regardless of their problem. “I’ll be honest, I’m bored.”

He blinked, right, that didn’t sound right, so he quickly corrected himself.

“What I mean is, I was taking a walk with my dog, and I heard you scream. My curiosity suitably peeked, I decided to come and see what was happening, and well, you know the rest.”

Right, that sounded much better, if still unusually strange.

Rei nodded slowly, deciding to take his words for what it was, the words of a stranger, but a kind-looking stranger, one who had returned her sanity, if only temporarily.

“I… I see, t- thank you, I suppose.” She wasn’t sure what to tell him, but decided that thanking him might be the best thing to do at the moment. “So… you said you had questions for me…”

She didn’t look too sure about things, but decided to at least humor him. It had been quite awhile since she’d spoken to someone other than her doctor and the nurses that came daily to check up on her…

Taking a nearby chair, and defrosting it, Izuku took a seat backwards, using the backrest to prop himself as he gave her an amused look.

“Why are you, the wife of the number two hero, here in a hospital like this?” Rei gasped at the question, grasping her head as painful memories flashed through her mind, her consciousness fraying as years of abuse at the hands of her husband flashed in her mind-

And suddenly, she was back to reality, her gray eyes looking deeply in her interlocutor’s own, his eyes had gone from their previous crimson, to a soothing gold.

“Ah, I see, that explains it.” Despite her having said nothing, the man sitting before her seemed to have figured something out. “Ah, don’t worry, I’m not looking through your memories, I’m just… perceptive.”

That… she wasn’t sure whether that was better or worse, honestly. At least… his eyes lost their golden hue, returning to their regular crimson hue, his pupils almost like wine as they glimmered with mirth and understanding.

“Tell me, Rei Todoroki, do you wish to be free?”

She blinked, free? What did he mean by that.

Apparently she’d spoken aloud since he started laughing at her question, causing her to flush a bit in embarrassment.

“Well, it’s obvious that you’re not in any stable state of mind, so I’ll offer you this.” Izuku started, pulling out an empty blood container from his pocket. “If you agree to give me some of your blood, I’ll help set you down the path to recovery.”

She… Rei blinked, unsure as to what to believe. W- Was this some hallucination? Was she dreaming? W- What? T- This seemed… almost too good to be true…

All of that, just for a drop of blood?

“I assure you, I’m not lying.” His voice was… friendly, in a way, not in an overly creepy or strange way, but in a way that made her almost believe they’d known each other for years now. It was… something she’d missed in her time here.

“I… and what if I agree? W- What will you do to…” She left her sentence hanging, but they both knew what was hanging at the tip of her tongue, the words she didn’t believe were true, but desperately wanted to be.

Izuku smiled softly, an almost understanding smile on his face.

“Well, whether you believe it or not, I have the ability to alter your thoughts.” He explained, his eyes regaining their golden hue as he spoke. “Using that, I’ll be able to start unraveling the trauma of your past and, hopefully, set you well on the way to recovery.”

Rei, almost dubiously convinced of the veracity of his words, carefully considered her options before, at least, nodding.

“I… I’ll do it…” She… she desperately wanted to get out of this place, to see her children, see her family, her parents, anyone that wasn’t part of the monotony that had plagued her fractured life for the last decade or so.

Catching his gaze once more, she waited for the sudden feeling of unreality to hit her, watching as he smiled, nodding in agreement before speaking once more.

“Good, I guess I should introduce myself then… I’m… Raven, it’s nice to meet you Miss Himura.”

Activating his Mystic Eyes, Izuku started slowly sifting through the last two decades of Rei Todoroki’s life, unraveling the mysteries behind her trauma in an attempt to help her.

It was… somewhat disconcerting to see the Number Two Pro-Hero be so abusive, and yet at the same time it wasn’t all that hard to imagine. Endeavor was, for lack of a better term, intense , with a capital ‘i’ for good measure. Quite simply, the Flame Hero was just as intense as you’d imagine him to be. Some people took this as a good thing, a determined hero, someone who didn’t galavant around and all that. Others thought he was a tad bit too intense, and now Izuku knew that it wasn’t just a work persona.

Endeavor, Enji Todoroki was, whether he admitted to it or not, a shitty person. He couldn’t fully blame the man for his behavior, but being blind to your own flaws wasn’t a good enough reason to beat your wife into insanity, indirectly kill your firstborn, and cause untold mental scarring to the rest of your family.

Sighing softly, Izuku continued digging through her mind, making sure to leave any personal information out of his search. He was here to help after all, not intrude on her privacy. Slowly but surely, he unraveled the tangled mess that was her mindscape, taking whatever thread he could and slowly untangling it from the rest.

Eventually, he had to leave her mind. As miraculous as what he was doing seemed, it wasn’t an instant cure-all. Mental scarring of this magnitude (or of any magnitude) didn’t just vanish out of thin air suddenly, no matter what you did. Even repressing memories wouldn’t exactly help, just delay the inevitable. But, in order to deal with trauma, you had to take the first step forward.

Glancing over at his watch, he tried to calculate how long he’d spent inside of her mind, before addressing the now much… not happier, at least not in the regular sense of the word. Rei seemed-

“You seem quite a bit better now, Miss Himura.” His tone was calm and gentle as he watched her nod slowly as she came to term with what had happened. In a sense, what he had done was simply help her come to terms with what had happened, and understand things from a different perspective. Trauma wasn’t something you could just magic away after all.

“I- Thank you, it’s… as if a weight was suddenly lifted from me…” Her tone was much softer now, looking about twenty or so years younger than before. The stress of everything slowly dissipated from her shoulders.

“So it seems.” He grinned slightly as he glanced outside the nearby window, seeing the beautiful blue summer sky announcing a beautiful day. “I trust that I don’t need to tell you, but despite what I’ve done, you will need continuous effort to not relapse.”

He almost effortlessly slipped back into the shoes of a doctor counseling his patient about the does and don’t of their problems.

“Do that, and I’m sure you’ll be out of here in no time.”

Rei smiled at his words, suddenly much more trusting of them, not because of anything intrinsic, but simply because of her better mindset. It was as if… the fog of nihilism and pessimism had retreated somewhat, allowing the light of optimism to shine through.

“Of course doctor, but…” She looked somewhat bashful as she glanced anywhere but him, before taking her courage by the shoulder and speaking up. “Will… will I see you again?”

The hopefulness in her tone took Izuku aback, not expecting such… dependence? Trust? something else, in him from the woman. Perhaps, the years of fruitless therapy had simply worn her down, and now that she was finally seeing progress, she was trying to grab it with everything she had.

Slowly debating his options, he glanced back at the grown woman, suddenly seeing Eri in her place. He…

He really had grown soft…

No, that wasn’t it, it wasn’t that he was softer than before, it was simply… simply that now he had a desire to help others more than ever before. He, Izuku, still wanted to help others, deep down, despite knowing that he could never be a Hero.

Sighing softly, he flashed her a comforting smile, giving her a thumbs up.

“Sure, why not… I can’t promise weekly sessions, but I’ll be sure to swing by whenever I can, alright?” He promised, watching as Rei’s smile slowly brightened up at his promise. “O- oh yeah, since I am technically not a doctor, err, I’d be great if you, err, kept this on the downlow, yeah?”

His grin turned sheepish as he slowly realized that, right, he wasn’t actually a doctor anymore (at least not legally anyways), and that what he was doing was incredibly illegal. Still, Rei giggled slightly as she nodded, unwilling to turn in her unofficial-official therapist now. It wasn’t like he was hurting anyone by helping her after all.

“Alright, I, err, I’ll leave you my number so you can call me… If anything happens to you, err, you can call, yeah?” God, he felt like a doctor again… It felt… nice, in a sense.

Quickly jolting down his (permanent) phone number on a piece of paper, he handed it to her before quickly melting the ice around her room, returning it to its original state.

“I, err, take care of yourself, and I’ll see you next time.” Flashing her one last grin, Izuku quickly slinked out of the room to deal with the rest of the hospital staff (and the ice still lining the rest of the hallway). He would… he would leave Baskerville nearby, just in case.

He- He was not feeling responsible for her safety!

This… he wasn’t in love with her, and neither was she, but there was a certain feeling of comradery between them, an unspeakable friendship starting to blossom, perhaps not as friends just yet, but definitely as ‘something’ that wasn’t strictly professional.

Still, for now he had to…

Flexing his Mystic Eyes quite a bit, he implanted a simple suggestion into the minds of the entire staff, ‘ Rei Todoroki had a new therapist ’. Well, that, and to not look into it. He also implanted a bit more information where it was needed, mostly a name (a fake one of course), and what he looked like. Of course, his ‘look’ was actually just what the Winter General looked like two and a half centuries ago, back when he had lived.

He’d have to work on getting a decoy planted in the hospital… He’d been waiting for a good excuse to recreate his Mandrake Foot Soldiers after all, and apparently this was it… Perhaps not the way he would’ve liked to do it, but it was something.

He needed his right hand man (or goo blob) back, desperately.

Entering the hospital’s data center, he proceeded to delete and alter the security footage of the last hour, erasing any signs of Rei’s outburst and his intrusion into the facility. He also doctored (huh, funny) her records to indicate a change in her current therapist to himself, feeling almost nostalgic as he filled out the (fake) paperwork.

Once he was done, he had one more stop to go to, Doctor Kimura’s office. According to the schedule he’d stolen, the good doctor should be back in a few minutes from his lunch break.

And what he would find upon his return, well, that was between the good doctor and the Winter General, and no one else.

Chapter Text

Izuku frowned as he continued work on his newest project. Etching Runes onto objects had always been a time consuming process, but this took the cake. Carefully carving mystical symbols on the surface of a broadsword, the Reincarnated Alchemist glanced towards a nearby window, humming to himself in thought.

The moon glimmered silently in the background, its fullness almost mocking him. The closure of a cycle, and the inevitable resuming of this cycle come next night. As an Alchemist, he was intimately familiar with such concepts as ‘Fate’ and ‘Causality’, rather, the entirety of Alchemy was based on the concept that “ Everything Flows ”, and in this belief came the inevitable understanding that Fate had a way with the Past.

He had seen the news, given how broadcasted it had been, he would be surprised if someone didn’t know. Ingenium, Tensei Iida, had been attacked by the Hero Killer, and while not dead, he had suffered a career ending injury.

It didn’t take a genius to understand that someone would try and take revenge on the Hero Killer, and if Fate had a hand in how things were to happen, the person to try and exact revenge would be the youngest Iida son, Tenya, the boy Izuku had saved during the Sports Festival.

Sighing deeply, he shot a glare at the moon, as if showing it his ire would somehow make the flow of Fate alter itself. Fate, or Causality, or even Inevitability, was a concept often misunderstood by people, in the same vein that prophecies and precognition was. Fate was, quite simply, a river, one that simply allowed everyone to coast on its current uninterrupted. Time flowed with Fate, it was why going back in time was so complicated, and usually amounted to nothing. You were, after all, trying to swim counter to the strongest current in the Universe.

Precognition, Prophecies, everything that allowed someone to peer into the Future, was simply going down the stream of Fate further than the ‘Present’ to see what was happening, yet the Future was not set in stone. Instead, choices could be made to alter one’s trajectory within the flow of Fate. Rather, if Time was simply the current that propelled one down the river of Fate, then this river itself held multiple branches. It was possible to change which branch you were flowing down, thus ‘altering’ the Future in a way.

Of course, most people (especially those who learned of prophecies) had a tendency to believe that Fate was preordained and that nothing could be done to change it once it was told. In a sense, this simple mindset ensured that it would remain so. Being defeatist about something never helped, why would that be any different when dealing with cosmic forces?

In any case, he didn’t need any fancy precognition powers to know that the current Fate of Tenya Iida was death at the hands of the Hero Killer, revenge was a powerful thing after all, drawn together through the strings of negative emotions. Fate was, if nothing else, fond of repeating the past. Or maybe it was simply that Humanity had a knack for that?

Personally, Izuku didn’t have any real vested interest in saving the Iida boy, nor did he have any real interest in the Hero Killer, a deranged maniac who couldn’t see past his own hubris and hypocrisy. However, something drew the Alchemist’s attention to the current situation, or rather, to the location where it would all happen.

Hosu City.

After the Sports Festival, Izuku had managed to finalize his bootleg recreation of TRI-HERMES, which he had almost mockingly called ATHENA (despite her help during the Lostbelt, he still harbored a deep dislike towards the Grecian Goddess). Still, if the hat fits wear it, as they say, so the Pseudo-Spiritron Supercomputer had been christened ‘ATHENA’ for now.

ATHENA, just like TRI-HERMES and both iterations of TRISMEGISTUS, was a ‘primordial soup’ of all the information in the World (or at least everything he could get his hands on), collecting and storing all the information from the past and present to compute the future, or rather, futures. By accessing this information and making his own predictions, Izuku could easily filter out the most likely outcomes to his current predicament, and infuriatingly, everything pointed towards Hose City.

That was why, despite his annoyance, he had sent a few probes to observe the city. It was also why he was currently working on finishing up this Sword. While he did have a trump card in Fragarach Alternative, it wasn’t a dependable one, or rather, it wasn’t one he could use lightly. The amount of resources he’d placed into making even three ‘bullets’ was mind boggling, and not something he could just ‘do’ because he needed to. Hence why he was working on another Mystic Code, one that would act as his second trump card before using Fragarach.

Outside of this new Sword, Izuku had also been busy researching (or rather experimenting) with Quirks he had acquired, and those he already had. Most importantly, he’d managed to find a use for the Copy Quirk he had acquired from Monoma, using it as a kind of ‘binding agent’ to more easily fuse Quirks together, and also to handle part of the load that came with holding multiple Quirks at the same time. This had, through even more modification of his own genome, allowed him to create-

“Boss, the probes are in place, waiting for your orders.” This. His newest Homunculus creation, Phoenix. Named after her Quirk (because he was great at names like that shut up) which, as one might expect given its name, granted her pyrokinetic abilities, alongside enhanced regeneration. He wasn’t sure how powerful her Regeneration was exactly, but given that he’d fused it with his Quirk Factor (which held his father’s Fire Breath Quirk inside it), Phoenix was unaffected by things like carbonized cells, which was a welcomed mutation.

Furthermore, due to her more… precise and advanced creation, she was much more ‘stable’ than Laurentina was. Enough that she didn’t constantly meander around causing shenanigans for him (and now Phoenix) to deal with.

Currently, the FireBird was busy overseeing Hosu, mostly to ensure that he had eyes on whatever was about to happen (assuming his prediction came true anyways). Her enhanced eyesight complimented her sharpshooter skills, enough that he had no qualms about saying that she surpassed Snipe as a sharpshooter. Armed with a Military Grade Sniper, a Thermal Imaging Scope and some ‘special’ ammunition, she was ready to do her job while he finished up his project.

If anything came of it, she would simply contact him or Laurentina for backup, it wasn’t like they would need more than a few minutes to reach her if they moved at top speed. For now though, he would simply have to hope that he wasn’t turning paranoid or senile and that his prediction would come to fruition.

Phoenix, currently using the inane nickname of ‘Blazing Hot Wings’ given to her by the Cackling Shark (and parroted by Eri, the poor child), was currently perched atop one of the many rooftops of Hosu City, her High Performance Thermal Imaging Scope allowing her a clear view of most things within a 3.6 kilometer radius, the current effective range of her rifle. In theory she could reach 4 kilometers with it, but she would have to overcompensate using both her pyrokinesis and some wild angles.

Having been… birthed? created? deployed? Whatever, less than 72 hours ago, she had been given a brief overview of her current mission to go along with the information innately given to her by her nature as a Homunculus. Rather, since Homunculus were usually created as adults, they were imparted with all the information necessary for them to function properly within their assigned roles, meaning that even though she’d existed for less than three days, she held the same amount of knowledge (if not more) than the average middle aged person, not counting the specialized knowledge she held of sharpshooting.

This is why, despite having no actual combat experience, she was quite confident in her ability to at least not get instantly killed should a confrontation be inevitable.

The night was cold, a brisk, bone chilling wind blowing through the city as people retreated back to their houses, the city nightlife starting to make itself known as people began drinking in earnest, chatter echoing across the streets and bombarding her senses with auditory garbage to the point where she needed to spend a few moments concentrating to avoid being lost in the mess of sounds.

Despite her less than insulating clothes, Phoenix wasn’t actually bothered by the temperature, her internal flame stoking itself to keep her warm, the Firebird’s gaze sweeping through the city as she tried to find anything ‘concerning’, whatever that meant.

Some movement in the corner of her eye caught her attention, causing her focus to shift towards it. There, standing atop a water tower, was the so-called ‘Leader of the League of Villains’, Tomura Shigaraki. Accompanying him were the Warp Gate Kurogiri, and three brain-monsters, ‘Nomu’ she recalled, somewhat disgusted that this was what the League used as pawns.

Carefully adjusting her stance, she refrained from announcing her presence too soon, instead observing the duo of Villains and their pets. Shigaraki’s lips were hidden by the hand-prosthetic-thing covering his face, and Kurogiri was a literal cloud of smoke, meaning it was impossible for her to make up what they were talking about, but considering the erratic behavior displayed by the Decay User, he was planning to do something stupid.

She watched, almost dispassionately, as the Nomus jumped down from their perch, each taking a random direction to spread mayhem and chaos to, Shigaraki himself taking out a pair of binoculars to observe his ‘pets’ do their work.

The sniper was almost tempted to take them out here and now, Kurogiri’s Quirk would be quite useful after all. Perhaps she could sneak in a shot when the Heroes started dealing with the Nomus…

More movement caught her attention, shifting her scope towards a white blur trying almost desperately to strike a red-ish figure. So this was the Iida boy (if his car-like armor meant anything), and she assumed the homeless, noseless person he was fighting was the Hero Killer, he certainly fitted the description she had of him…

She shivered in disgust when she saw the Hero Killer slice into Mini-Ingenium’s arm using one of his knives, bringing the bloodied blade towards his abnormally long tongue and almost erotically licking it. Outside of being incredibly disgusting (and absolutely not sanitary in any sense of the mean), it seemed that him ingesting that little bit of blood caused Mini-Ingenium to freeze up, collapsing to the ground.

Was this his Quirk? Some kind of paralysis ability that worked by ingesting his target’s blood? Weird, but it would explain why he had more edges than a 13 year old emo kid on Tumblr. Was the paralysis’s duration dictated by the amount of blood he’d ingested? or maybe the blood type of his target?

Well, who cares, it wasn’t like she cared much.

Carefully aiming down the scope of her rifle, she inhaled slowly, relaxing her shoulders and leaning into the stock of her sniper, her pointer finger slowly tensing up over the trigger as she exhaled and-

BANG!

A loud, resounding explosion rocked her backwards as a tiny piece of enchanted lead left the barrel of her rifle, her braced figure absorbing the blowback without troubles as she watched the bullet travel at over 800 meters per seconds, easily breaking through the sound barrier before, in what must have been an incredibly shocking instant of dread, the Hero Killer’s head exploded cleanly off his shoulders, blood showering the downed Iida Son as he gaped silently, perfectly mimicking a fish out of the water.

Shifting her attention towards Shigaraki and Kurogiri, she managed to catch a Shigaraki screaming something at his associate, the hand-covered villain almost turning his binoculars to dust as he frantically attempted to locate the source of the bullet that had ended the Hero Killer’s life.

Sliding another round into her rifle, a tranquilizer-like bullet, as she aimed her sights towards Kurogiri. She would have be careful since, according to what her creator had told her, Kurogiri had been able to redirect Snipe’s bullets during the U.S.J Raid. While she wasn’t sure if he could actually react to something moving slightly slower than Mach Speed, she wasn’t taking any chances. All she needed was a blood sample from him after all.

Considering her options, she observed the duo’s surroundings. No clear obstacles outside of Kurogiri’s Warp Gate, she inhaled and-

BANG!

Another shot rang out, a tch! leaving her mouth. The bullet had hit its mark, sailing straight through the Warp Gate’s arm and into a nearby building for later collection, but that wasn’t the problem. No, instead, the problem was-

She leaned back, discarding her rifle to the disembodied hand emerging out of a Warp Gate, clutching the firearm as it slowly turned to dust. Avoiding Shigaraki’s hand, she un-holstered a pistol from her waist, taking a few warning shots toward the appendage, a few of her bullets grazing her target before it could fully retreat back inside the Warp Gate.

Sharpening her senses, she grabbed a nearby suitcase containing all of her equipment, sans her now dusted sniper, before starting to run towards Shigaraki and Kurogiri, flames licking the soles of her feet as she jumped from rooftop to rooftop leaving burning footprints where she’d stepped.

Her speed was, while not as egregious as Laurentina’s, still completely abnormal for a normal human, allowing her to quickly traverse the vast distance separating her and her target.

That wasn’t to say that her path was unobstructed, with Kurogiri making a concerted effort to keep her at bay by opening Warp Gates wherever he could to either try to make her fall into them, or by transporting one of Tomura’s hands through so the Decay User could try and turn her to dust himself.

Warp Holes were avoided by releasing quick bursts of flames to propel herself away from them, hands were charred into submission and, coupled with a bit of parkour, she was slowly coming face to face with her target, the barrel of her pistol glimmering from the light created by her flames as she took another shot, this time piercing one of Tomura’s shoulders.

Once more wounded, the hand-villain let loose a deranged shriek of rage as he let out a deluge of insults and threats, Kurogiri deciding to wisely retreat before his employer could share in the Hero Killer’s untimely fate, thought not before Tomura could scream something about her being a ‘cheating cheater that should be nerfed and banned’, whatever that meant.

Settling on the rooftop previously occupied by the League of Villains, she collected the discarded binoculars left by Shigaraki during his tantrum, using them to scout her surroundings. The Nomus were still being menaces to society, with Endeavor having to step in to help contain them, carbonizing two of them before the third winged one could be effectively contained by a dozen or so Pros. Mini-Ingenium was, unsurprisingly, still alive, having dragged himself back towards the larger commotion, a haunted look plastered on his face. Well, seeing someone’s head explode in front of you did that to someone she imagined.

Sighing softly, she pocketed the binoculars, before going on a search for the bullet containing Kurogiri’s blood. Really, as cool as Quirks were, firearms were still quite viable if you knew what you were doing.

It didn’t take her very long to find the bullet, lodged inside of a bloodied brick which forced her to crack the thing open (after forcefully removing it from the wall it once called home). The semi-destroyed bullet was then transferred inside of a special container, which was itself secured inside of her suitcase for safe transportation.

Once she was sure she’d left minimal evidence behind, she quickly hightailed it back towards Musutafu, deciding to make a quick stop to buy herself some gummy worms while she was out.

What? Just because she looked like a bird, didn’t mean she had to like gummy worms… even if she actually did like them.

Chapter Text

Because she was terrible and had no manners, Laurentina, Great White Shark Homunculus, feared vigilante known simply as ‘The Unchained’, and one of Izuku Midoriya’s trusted accomplices (mostly because he’d created her), had decided to take Eri out for the day.

Without saying anything, to anyone .

Of course, she had carefully calculated her move, making sure to ‘escape’ when her creator was at his most busy doing something else, allowing the Shark to simply coax the Unicorn Child out of the house for some RnR!

Or well, that was their story at least. In truth, Eri wanted to buy something, something… sinful. Something… that she was sure her pa would never buy her (not that she was willing to ask). It was… an Apple Plushy. A giant Apple Plushy, bigger than she was and, according to the commercial, ‘ So fluffy you could lose yourself in it forever! ’

Of course she just had to have it, hence why she, Eri, former captive of the Yakuza Group known as the Shie Haissaikai, had basically blackmailed Laurentina into taking her out on this expedition. Really, it hadn’t taken much convincing for Laurentina to agree to this brainless plan, mostly because it was more (mostly) harmless shenanigans for her to add onto Izuku’s plate.

To make sure no snitch would give away their plans, Phoenix (currently using the nickname of ‘The Excaliblazer’) had also been dragged along as ‘Appropriate Adult Supervision’. After all, Izuku had said that he didn’t trust Laurentina as ‘proper adult supervision’, but he’d never said anything about Phoenix! Which made the Shark technically correct , the best kind of correct!

Phoenix, thoroughly unhappy about being dragged out of her nest at the ass-crack of dawn to go out and buy a plushy of all things (don’t get her wrong, she absolutely loved Eri to bits and would be willing to commit mass genocide for the girl’s happiness, but she had a reputation, however meager, to maintain dammit!), gave the cackling Shark dragging her along a withering glare, pointedly not looking at how happy Eri looked as the child cheerfully dragged both of her guardians along.

“So, explain to me again, why we didn’t tell the boss where we’re going? ” The Firebird’s tone was low and steady, yet still managed to convey just how absolutely fucking annoyed she was at the Shark. Said Shark proceeded to not give a shit about the withering threat and simply cackled some more, giving her coworker/younger sister a sly smile showing all of her pearly whites as she answered.

“‘cause why not, of course! The boss is so busy with his projects, I’m sure he’ll see that we’re gone… eventually.” A cackle followed the Shark’s answer as Eri cheerfully tugged the two ‘adults’ along (not that she could actually force either of them to follow her, but they were both unwilling to leave the child alone and out of their sights for even a second).

“We’re gonna buy a plushy~ We’re gonna buy a plushy~” Eri, woefully unaware of the animosity slowly building up within ‘The Excaliblazer’ towards her sister, happily sang along as she skipped her way through the streets of Musutafu. It was bright and early after all, the Sun was proudly shining atop the city, bathing it in a shroud of yellow and warmth. The perfect day to go buy oversized (and most definitely overpriced) plush toys.

The rest of their short commute was spent in relative silence, with the two Homunculus listening in to Eri’s cheerful singing about her future new plushy, and Phoenix being busy trying to set her sister ablaze using just the power of her angst and anger, something that had yet to work if the madly cackling Shark had anything to say about it.

Unfortunately, despite being incredibly early in the morning (too early by Phoenix’s standards anyways), they were met with a large pink sign proudly displaying blackened text reading ‘Out of Stock’ on it.

“...Welp, fu-” Quickly smacking her free hand over Laurentina’s mouth to try and preserve Eri’s innocence just a bit more (disregarding her horrible childhood anyways), Phoenix carefully gauged their current options. They could return home empty handed, explain to Izuku that they had left to go try and obtain a plushy, leaving a sad Eri to sulk around the house for a few days, or…

“Hey! I’m sure there are more shops selling these things!” Ignoring her younger sister’s yelp as she licked her hand, Laurentina tried to steer Eri’s opinion towards continuing their little outing. After all, just because one shop was out of stocks, didn’t mean all the shops were also out.

Stiffening up slightly, Phoenix watched as Eri’s mood suddenly brightened up at the prospect of still being able to buy the horrendously oversized plush, the tiny Unicorn turning her gaze upwards towards the Firebird to give her the biggest and most pleading puppy dog eyes imaginable.

Phoenix, predictably, folded like a house of cards during a tornado.

“Alright, we can go check other stores for it…” Giving a resigned sigh, Phoenix watched as both Laurentina and Eri cheered, with Eri quickly climbing up onto the Shark’s shoulders for a bird’s eye view of the street, and a piggy back ride because her feet were starting to hurt.

Carefully taking her cellphone out, the bird woman quickly sent Izuku a text (which he would hopefully read before going on a warpath to find Eri once he noticed her absence) informing him of their current outing. What? Just because she said they could go visit more shops to try and find the thing, didn’t mean she wasn’t going to be at least somewhat responsible!

Now resigned to her fate, Phoenix allowed herself to be dragged along with little resistance. If they were going to be out and about causing shenanigans, at least they could tell Izuku had ‘they had brought adult supervision along’.

“Sooo, Miss Excaliblazer~ Whatcha been doing recently? The boss’s been running ya rag hasn’t he?” Lacking in both tact and personal boundaries, the Shark had no qualms against getting right in her younger sister’s face, her wide grin showing almost too many teeth to be anything but mockingly amused.

Phoenix sighed, running her free hand through her hair as she tried to think up some bullshit she could feed the Shark to nip this conversation at the bud.

“Just some errands, the kind that we don’t trust you to do properly.” She spat out, adding the last bit just to spite the Shark some more. If Laurentina’s cackling laughter was anything to go by, she didn’t care much for the general animosity displayed towards her, if anything it only galvanized her into causing more trouble. “Gah, why do I even bother with you… Eri, are you sure we need her here?”

The almost too smug smile Eri sent Phoenix quickly convinced the Firebird that the small Unicorn was quickly being corrupted by the Shark’s shenanigans and bad attitude, sounding the alarm inside of her head. She had to act quickly before Eri was irrevocably lost to the cackling Shark’s madness!

Before she could say anything, Laurentina (probably under Eri’s urging) dragged the trio into a nearby store, Phoenix barely catching the ‘ Toy Land ’ sign hanging proudly over the doorway before she was swallowed up by the too bright interior. As one would expect from a child friendly store, there were myriad toys and bright colors, and some inane hip hop song resonating from some hidden speakers, ensuring that parents would want to vacate the place as quickly as possible, to the dismay of their hyper children who would obviously be taken in by all the bright and cheery things.

It was certainly working as intended, with both Eri and Laurentina showing great amusement towards all the brightly colored things on display, and with Phoenix wishing the ground would just swallow her whole so she could escape the absolute cacophony happening around her. For God’s sake, the flooring looked like a Unicorn had vomited all over it! To say nothing of the walls and the signs strewed about their surfaces.

“So, we’re here for-” Once more cut off, the suffering Firebird was once more dragged along by her much physically stronger older sister like some ragdoll as Eri led the way into the many isles of the store, both in search of the almost mythically rare plushy she had set out to find initially, and probably for whatever other strange contraption that would catch her (or Laurentina’s) attention.

Despite her enhanced kinetic vision, Phoenix had to blink multiple times as the motions of the duo she was accompanying seemed to blur together like some badly animated motion blur, to say nothing of all the dragging around that was happening (at some point she’d even been picked up like some dissident sack of potatoes!)

Various things were also being thrust into her face, be they plushies, childish clothes, or strange baubles whose purposes were probably more mysterious than the inner workings of Laurentina’s mind. Before she knew it, Phoenix was clad in a bright pink shirt with the words ‘ Proudly Amazing ’ written on its front, while also carrying bags full of random items, including but not limited to; a bird plush, a flame-themed night light, a toy gun which fired foam darts, more shirts with strange inscriptions on them, and a strange fan-like device that was obviously much too small to actually be helpful.

Blinking once more to try and get her grip on reality back, Phoenix glanced over at Laurentina and Eri, her bewildered expression earning giggles from both girls. Laurentina was clad in a baby blue shirt with the words ‘ Shark To Meet You ’ written on it and some strange hat pulled straight out of some fantasy setting. She was also carrying her own set of bags, alongside a staff length wand that seemed more at home inside some Magical Girl show.

Eri was, almost horrifyingly, clad in a complete Magical Girl attire, completed with a fake diamond tiara and wand, the attire complimenting her little unicorn horn almost too well actually, if you ignored the absolutely disgusting amount of glitter and flashing reflections every ray of light caused the moment it hit the dress. Unlike the two older women, Eri was only carrying her wand and a vacuum sealed bag which, assuming the label wasn’t lying, was the plushy they were supposed to buy. Good lord this thing was large, it was a wonder Eri could carry it on her own given that, even vacuum sealed as it was, it was still almost as large as she was!

“H- How did we pay for all this…?” The trepidation lacing her voice wasn’t lost to Phoenix as she slowly watched a shit eating grin spread across Laurentina’s face, the Shark fishing around her pockets to pull out a fat wallet, almost overflowing with bills of all denominations. Blinking again, Phoenix shot her sister an inquisitive look, coupled with a glare that almost certainly accused the Shark of being a thief.

Laurentina cackled a bit more before she actually deigned to answer her younger sister’s question, pocketing her wallet again.

“S’not my money obviously, every time I go out on a job and get some interference I just collect on some loot~” T- That-! That no good siren! Obviously Laurentina had been ‘modernizing’ herself in more ways than simply looks (if this strange lingo was anything to go by), but then, it was easy for Phoenix to get the idea. Every time Laurentina killed someone, she would just steal their shit.

“I- Ho- Why!? ” The exasperation in her voice must’ve been quite familiar to the cackling Shark since all she did was laugh carelessly, leading Eri back home and leaving the dumbstruck pyrokinetic standing in the streets making a great impression of a fish out of the water.

Throwing one last glance towards her sister, Laurentina’s grin somehow widened, the mockingness of it increasing almost exponentially.

“What is it kids say these days? Ah yes! Git Gud sis!” Cackling madly, Laurentina grabbed Eri, placing the confused but happy child on her shoulders, before taking to the rooftops to avoid the literally flaming bird that was Phoenix, the Firebird feeling her blood pressure shoot up to unsafe level as her crest caught on fire, letting out a scream of frustration and annoyance as she shot after her sister and Eri.

“G- GET BACK HERE YOU SIREN! ”

Back home, Izuku shivered, still hunched over his current project (which had to do with Kurogiri’s DNA). The house was just too… quiet, which was never a good sign. Maybe he should call Phoenix and ask what was up.

Glancing over at his phone, he was met with an empty battery icon, showing that his phone was absolutely dead. Fortunately, this meant that he was spared from the current situation. Unfortunately, this meant he’d have to eat all of it the moment Laurentina and Phoenix got home.

He shivered once more, some ominous premonition triggering his Mind’s Eye with some unseen danger.

Just when he’d hoped for a peaceful day…

Chapter Text

Mirio Togata, also known as the Provisional Hero Lemillion for his dream of saving at least a million people, had initially felt blessed and honored when All Might, known to a select few under his civilian identity of Toshinori Yagi, had offered him the sacred torch that was his Quirk, One For All.

A Quirk that had been passed down since the Dawn of Quirks with the sole goal of spreading peace and eventually defeating the villain known as All For One. It was a heavy burden to carry, but one Mirio accepted without hesitation. He was going to be a Hero after all, shirking this new responsibility simply wouldn’t do. While All Might had fought All For One a little over six years ago, the recent rise of the League of Villains and the Nomus showed that the ancient villain wasn’t as dead as they would’ve hoped him to be.

Thus, it was with absolute confidence that, here and now, Mirio could say that he’d never felt as useless as he was currently feeling. Sitting in the terrace of a small cafe, clad in his Hero Suit, Mirio Togata clenched and unclenched his fist underneath the small table separating him from two (potentially three) villains, and a child.

Sitting casually in front of him, mouth quirked in an almost smug smile as he chatted away with the waitress, who was woefully aware of the danger she was currently in, was the villain known as ‘The Dealer’, Darius Ainsworth (if that was even his name), and the strange woman he’d brought with him during the Sports Festival, Laurentina she’d introduced herself, otherwise known as the Vigilante/Villain ‘The Unchained’.

The third woman, apparently Laurentina’s younger sister, was called Phoenix (or ‘Suffering Bird’ as Laurentina had called her, probably in jest given the scathing look Phoenix sent her in exchange) was a relative unknown. Her simple affiliation with ‘The Dealer’ and ‘The Unchained’ made her a risk, and despite her relatively bulky clothing, Mirio could see prominent muscle definition on her arms and legs, and if the look in her eyes meant anything, she was a dangerous foe.

This only left the small child to observe. Eri, the child previously held by the Shie Haissaikai (at least until Chisaki’s untimely death anyways). Suffice it to say, Sir’s hypothesis that ‘The Dealer’ held the Yakuza’s previous ward after his (presumably) brutal killing of their leader for still unknown reasons. The child, who couldn’t be older than six or seven years old, looked woefully unaware of the tension emanating from the Hero sitting in front of her, happily eating wolfing down a large ice cream the drug dealer had ordered her.

“So, Mister Togata, how are you doing?” After placing his and his entourage’s order, ‘The Dealer’ shifted his amused gaze towards Mirio, an almost shit eating grin showing underneath his pleasant smile. Mirio could only grit his teeth as he slowly glanced at his surroundings, taking in the amount of people here that would, inevitably, become collateral damage should he engage ‘The Dealer’ and his crew.

“I… Why are you here?” Unwilling to play into the villain’s hand, Mirio instead asked his own question, a glare worming its way onto his face, one which did nothing but amuse the trio sitting before him (since Eri had long since disconnected from the on-going conversation, her attention being fully on her desert and the phone in her hand).

Izuku raised an eyebrow, clearly amused by Mirio’s hostility, the lad had yet to realize why it was that nobody was freaking out over the clear tension oozing off of them, or rather, he’d yet to realize at all that nobody but him appeared to be on edge. The Bounded Field he’d set up around the table made sure to keep their conversation quiet after all, even radio signals would be blocked.

“Hmm, that’s quite the heavy question, but I suppose I can’t blame your curiosity.” The Alchemist hummed, lacing his fingers together as he quietly pondered his answer, taking a few moments before answering. “How about this, I’ll answer your questions truthfully, and in exchange you answer mine?”

It was easy for Izuku to see just how on edge Mirio was if his stiffening meant anything. The opportunity to, presumably, have his questions answered, in exchange for answering himself.

“Don’t worry, I won’t ask you for anything too personal or confidential, but feel free to ignore this little pleasantry with your questions.” The almost too casual way Izuku spoke set multiple alarms off in Mirio’s mind. Why was this villain so… nonchalant about answering questions like that? Was he that confident in his ability to lie? Or was it simply that he just had nothing else to hide…

“...Alright.” Seeing no other alternatives, outside of hunkering down and hoping Sir and Bubble Girl would show up sooner rather than later, Mirio accepted the offer, his expectant gaze causing Izuku to laugh a bit before he spoke up again.

“Alright then, as for what I’m doing here? Well, that’s easy, I’m out shopping.” The answer was almost too casual, too unsuspicious, too… non-villainous. It wasn’t that Mirio didn’t understand that, underneath everything they did, villains were still people, who held needs and required frequent trips to important amenities like food and whatnot, but the way ‘The Dealer’ spoke just made it seem like there was something more to his answer, something he wasn’t seeing.

“...Who are you? Is your name even Darius?”

Izuku smiled at the question, humming slightly as he pondered his answer. He could say he was Izuku Midoriya, that he was the child who had reportedly committed suicide over 11 months ago. Or, he could say he was Raven Gael, a man who had died more than 250 years ago.

“That’s a hard question to answer. Hmm, let’s start with your second question then. No, my name isn’t actually Darius, or Julian. My name is…” He hummed once more, pondering which name he should give to All Might’s potential clone. “Raven. Raven Gael, of London.”

Mirio blinked, trying to process the answer. Of London? What? He blinked again, focusing on ‘The Dealer’, Raven’s, features as he tried to figure out what he meant by ‘Of London’.

“...I… okay?” Deciding to file that information for later once he was back with Sir and Bubble Girl, Mirio pressed on with his makeshift interrogation, ignoring the waitress as she returned with Izuku, Laurentina and Phoenix’s orders, a set of alcoholic beverages and deserts littering their side of the table as both women seemingly deigned the Hero a non-threat, instead turning their attention to their food and beverages. Even Izuku seemed more interested in his beer than Mirio. “...You know I can’t let you leave, right?”

Izuku blinked at the straightforward statement, before laughing. It wasn’t a cruel or condescending laugh, if anything it was actually quite friendly, the type of laugh you would give to a friend after being told a good joke.

“I know, you’ll certainly try to detain me, to no avail.” The confidence in Izuku’s answer sent Mirio reeling, once more running through all the information he had on the trio sitting before him. Laurentina had, in their previous ‘fight’, been able to easily avoid his attacks. Nobody knew what ‘The Dealer’s’ Quirk was, but multiple theories gave him a sort of Warp Quirk like Kurogiri. Phoenix was a total unknown, though if her bird motif (both in appearance and name) was anything to go by, she was a pyrokinetic of some sort.

This left Mirio in quite a bind, considering both Laurentina and Phoenix could potentially unleash absolute chaos on the cafe and its surroundings if a fight were to break out, especially if Mirio made for Eri to try and rescue her. While he had access to One For All’s abilities, he wasn’t confident enough in his ability to handle all three of them at once. Laurentina had been able to fight him (or at least evade him) while he was using 20% of One For All’s power, even if the other two couldn’t keep up at this level, it would only take one wrong move on his part for multiple civilian casualties to occur.

“But enough about that, I guess it’s time for me to ask you a question.” As he spoke, Izuku’s entire demeanor shifted, his back straightening slightly as his gaze darkened, a strange pressure coming down over Mirio’s shoulders, as if the force of gravity suddenly decoupled over him. The sudden appearance of this otherworldly pressure caused Mirio to stiffen up, his back straightening, eyes narrowing, fists clenching as he prepared to summon up his Quirks to fight. “Tell me, what drives you? Why do you want to be a Hero?”

Just as quickly and mysteriously as it appeared, the pressure vanished, Izuku’s expression returning to its friendly facade as he patiently awaited an answer. This sudden shift in behavior, coupled with the unexpected question, caused Mirio to still gape slightly, mouth hanging low as his brain slowly caught up to the present and processed the question he’d just been asked.

“Wa- Huh? That’s… That’s it?” The surprise Mirio was experiencing was almost palpable as he watched Izuku nod, a bemused smile worming its way onto the Alchemist’s face. Despite being completely taken aback by the unexpectedly mundane question, it didn’t take long for Mirio to answer the question. After all, it wouldn’t do for him to falter now.

“I… I want to save others.” This earned a nod and a quirked eyebrow from Izuku, who gestured for Mirio to elaborate. “When I was a child, my Quirk activated and I had to be saved by a Pro before I drowned. I know I can’t save everyone, so instead I’ll settle for saving at least a million people!”

Recounting his dream aloud and solidifying his motivations allowed Mirio to galvanize himself, confidence returning to his eyes as a fire lit in his belly. Unfortunately, no amount of self-confidence could stop him from shivering at the sight of Izuku’s withering glare. It wasn’t just the anger in there, but also the disappointment that followed, as if the villain was equal parts angry and disappointed by the answer.

“I… I see, so you want to save others, how? By following the rules? By beating up people until there’s no one else to beat up?” The Alchemist made no effort to mince his words, causing even his entourage (bar Eri who seemed completely oblivious to the conversation going on around her) to flinch at the fury in his words. “That’s… I suppose I should’ve expected such a thing from someone like you.”

Izuku sighed, his glare relaxing ever so slightly as Mirio quickly gathered himself, trying to figure out just why the villain’s attitude had suddenly soured. It… his questions were good, how did he intend on saving others? Sure, showing up to beat bag guys was… something, but even then, he couldn’t be everywhere, he couldn’t ensure that every victory would be flawless, and the rules…

He glanced towards Eri, a weight forming in his stomach as he thought of what she had to endure, what she had to do just because the Heroes and Police had to follow the rules, couldn’t just bust down into the Shie Haissaikai’s headquarters to arrest them, even though it was common knowledge that they were doing shady things.

“I- I can’t answer that, not right now…” Shamefully, Mirio had nothing else to say as he felt disappointment wash over him, not simply because of the villain’s gaze, but also because of his lack of an answer. All Might had saved others by inspiring a feeling of safety, by being so overwhelmingly powerful and charismatic that villains quivered at the mere mention of his name, and yet… Even All Might had flaws, even All Might couldn’t be everywhere…

Even All Might couldn’t have saved Eri.

The disappointment in Izuku’s gaze receded as he stood up, Phoenix and Laurentina following suit, with the Shark Woman taking the thoroughly confused child in her arms, whispering sweet nothing in her ear to distract her from the tension she now perceived.

“That is… disappointing, but not unexpected I suppose.” Inhaling sharply, Izuku’s gaze shifted towards the sky, before landing back on Mirio, fury now covering any other emotions. “If you ever hope to defeat me, you’ll need a concrete answer.”

Bringing his arm up, he watched as Mirio stiffened, bringing up his guard to try and block some unseen attack, before Izuku brought his arm down, and-

Blink

Mirio blinked, confusion lacing his face as he tried to work out how, just how, four people had simply vanished into thin air at the literal drop of a hand, the table before him bereft of any signs that someone had been using it, its cleanliness almost mocking him.

It wasn’t long after that his phone blew up, message after message suddenly appearing on his feed (alongside a few missed calls), each of them from Bubble Girl with each message becoming more and more frantic as she tried to contact him. He- what…

“H- Hello?” Another call, presumably from Bubble Girl again who, once he actually answered, proceeded to scream into his ear, her voice full of worry as she berated him for not picking up sooner. “W- Wait! Bubble Girl, is Sir with you? I- I need to talk to him, right now.”

The seriousness in his tone must have taken her aback, considering her tirade stopped dead in its tracks, before some shuffling was heard, presumably as Sir got closer to the phone.

“Yes Lemillion, it’s me. What is it?” Despite having only spent a dozen or so minutes with the villain, Mirio felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulder once he heard Sir’s voice echo out of the device.

“I- Sir, it’s The Dealer. I- Call All Might, call- You need to call the other Pros! ”

Once they had been brought up to speed by Mirio, a tense aura proceeded to fill the room containing the multiple Pro-Heroes that made up U.A’s teaching staff, plus Sir Nighteye and his intern, each of them mulling over the newly revealed information about ‘The Dealer’.

“So, this Phoenix woman, what can you tell us about her?” Ever perceptive, Nezu’s genius mind allowed him to processed the provided information with extreme ease, his natural affinity for knowledge guiding him through as he fished for more information. He watched, disappointed, as Mirio shook his head. According to the blonde intern, only ‘The Dealer’, Raven, had spoken during their little altercation, with his other companions being relatively silent.

He mentally went over the information they did have about this person, which was precious little all things considered. As with Laurentina, there was nothing to be found within government records. No birth certificate, no parents or family, nothing. It was as if ‘The Dealer’ was surrounded by ghosts. It made sense for Eri, who had been kept by Yakuza and was relatively young, but for two highly trained people to have no footprint in this era?

It was inconceivable. Even the Nomus could be traced back to someone , even if their creator was still unknown, they still had records as individuals (prior to their modifications anyways). They didn’t even know what her Quirk was, though assuming her name had anything to do with it, it was safe to assume she was some sort of Pyrokinetic, which made it all the stranger that she was apparently Laurentina’s younger sister (to say nothing of the fact that they looked nothing alike).

If Laurentina truly was ‘The Unchained’, then her Quirk was some sort of Hydrokinesis, which initially pointed towards a situation like the Todorokis, where a Quirk Marriage of some kind was involved. And yet, Laurentina held the physical attributes of a Shark, while Phoenix held bird-like features. It just made no sense at all…

“And Eri? Did she…” Sir Nighteye was the one to speak up this time, and while he did well to school his features, it was obvious that he was concerned for the child’s well-being, not that anyone could fault him. This entire operation, if it could be called that, against ‘The Dealer’ involved this child after all.

“I… she didn’t look ill, or injured. If anything…” Mirio swallowed harshly, flashes of his conversation with the villain replaying in his mind. “If anything she seemed to trust them more than anyone else.”

A vague sentiment of ease spread across the room and its occupants. While it wasn’t like they were happy that a child was still in villain custody, it seemed as if ‘The Dealer’ still provided for the child properly, if her healthy state meant anything, unlike the Shie Haissaikai which reportedly used cruel and inhumane methods of dealing with her back when she had been their ward.

Neither All Might or Sir Nighteye said anything, but both shared a knowing look as they observed their successor, the fledgling Symbol of Peace seemingly being eaten up from the inside by something, something he wasn’t saying to anyone.

It didn’t take long for the meeting to end, Nezu promising to do some research into the name ‘Raven Gael of London’ while Sir Nighteye went back to observing the Shie Haissaikai and keeping an eye out for any activities done by ‘The Dealer’. The rest of the staff still had the Training Camp to set up after all.

Taking his mentors to the side, Mirio ignored their inquisitive gaze as he composed himself, for the first time feeling absolutely unsure of himself as he raised his gaze to meet the two Pros, trying to seek some ephemeral answer from them.

“Sir… All Might, w- what does it mean to be a Hero?”

Chapter Text

A slight humming filled the room, coupled with almost regular keystrokes emanating from a nearby computer, its user being wholly focused on his work.

Izuku Midoriya, Reincarnated Alchemist, was currently working on a new Homunculus to which he would grant the Warp Gate Quirk. Honestly, he didn’t have very many ideas on what to create, since both Laurentina and Phoenix were doing admirable jobs as is. It also wasn’t like he could create some mindless creature to operate the Quirk, since its operation involved quite a bit of mental strength.

Maybe he could draw some inspiration from Norse Mythology? It wasn’t like he was unfamiliar with it, being a user of Runecraft himself after all. Hmm, that could work.

He was quite surprised when he finally cracked Kurogiri’s Quirk, being that it was another Artificial Compound Quirk, that being a Quirk created through genetic engineering performed through third party interactions (ie. not sex). It was quite the ingenious thing really, using a combination of Spatial Location Quirks and Area Warping Quirks to create a Coordinate-based Warp Gate, all built on the back of a rather simple Quirk. Cloud, the original Quirk of the Nomu Kurogiri.

It did explain why the Warp Gate was made of fog, or rather ‘cloud’, after all.

Still, it was somewhat limited as the Gates could only be formed from the fog itself, or rather, the ‘Entry Point’ would have to be within an already existent fog to function, though the exit point had no such restrictions.

Hmm, perhaps he could… Yes, that would work.

He had, through the proxy of Laurentina, managed to acquire a tidy collection of blood samples from the various villains she had hunted, something that had allowed him to build up a sizable collection of Quirks. Of course, most of them were rather weak or niche in application, at least on their own. With a bit of genetic engineering magic (or rather, Magecraft in this case), he could finagle his way into making something quite powerful.

Case and point, both Laurentina and Phoenix.

In this case, he had managed to acquire a Photokinesis-type Quirk, though it was only really useful for creating mirages or rainbows. A weak Emitter-type Quirk called, rather uncreatively, Flash. It could be used to generate small amounts of light anywhere within its user’s field of view, only really making it useful to create distractions. It was bright enough to be seen even during the day, but unless you were literally creating the light in your opponent’s face (something that took a few seconds to do, making it hard to aim at a moving target), it was really quite useless.

However, it could be used as a base to replace Cloud within Warp Gate’s foundation. Coupled with another Quirk he had found, being much more creatively called Location Sight, it was another Emitter-type Quirk which allowed its user to mark objects or individuals, allowing them to ‘see’ through them, borrowing their point of view, or creating one in the case of objects.

Quite useful for scouting, and it would do away with one of Warp Gate’s main flaws, that being that its user was required to be present in order to open up a Gate.

By adding both Flash and Location Sight to replace Cloud, this new Quirk would be, in theory, capable of being used even if its user wasn’t physically present, using a Location Sight to, well, find a location, before using Flash to generate a Warp Gate. It was all quite good.

Now came the hard part, actually creating a stable Quirk.

After some trial and error (notably with Laurentina and Phoenix), Izuku had found that the trick to creating mentally stable Homunculus containing multiple Quirks was to, quite simply, create ‘Stable Quirks’. Rather, adding Quirks together was a bit of a gamble (as was all genetic engineering honestly), where Plus Alpha Factors were mixed together in hopes that they would coexist successfully.

It was a matter of creating a stable balance within the Quirk itself, lest catastrophic failure happen. In that sense, the more ‘stable’ the Quirks were together, the easier it would be to create a shell (Homunculus) around them to contain them successfully.

Now, that sounded all fine and dandy, except that actually creating a Stable Quirk was incredibly difficult. Using his method was less of a gamble than whoever was creating these Nomus, but it was still a gamble.

Thus, he went to work, firstly by unraveling Warp Gate into its base components, before fetching a copy of Copy, Location Sight and Flash, returning to his ‘Quirk Synthesizer’, really just a large alchemical apparatus connected to ATHENA to act like some sort of snazzy computer.

First, he would have to construct a stable base for this new Quirk, which involved creating a stable mixture of Location Sight, Copy and Flash. Copy made this slightly easier, as it could be used to stabilize things to a point given the malleability of its genome.

After three unsuccessful tries, he frowned. For some reason, Flash and Location Sight wouldn’t bond properly together. If he had to make an analogy, it was like trying to connect a computer to a monitor, and being left holding three cables you didn’t know the use to, just that your entire system wouldn’t boot up until you did something with them.

He hummed, taking a step back to reexamine his situation. Location Sight was bonding with Copy properly, which meant the problem lied with Flash, but what exactly? Was he missing something?

Wheeling his swivel chair over to a set of cabinets, he flipped through the various dossiers he had stored within it, each of them containing a detailed analysis of the Quirks in his collection. Finding the file detailing Flash’s inner-workings, he brought it back to his workstation to re-read.

It didn’t take very long for him to feel very stupid. Apparently, unbeknownst to its original user, using Flash properly required both sight and sound, not because of any auditory components, but because sound was an important part of spatial awareness. By taking in both the visual and auditory components of a target location, it was possible for the mind to get a general sense of spatial awareness around it, thus allowing Flash to function properly.

With this information in mind, Flash’s uncooperativeness now made sense. Since he was missing an important component to its inner-working, of course it wouldn’t bond properly.

So, now he had to find a Quirk that would overcome this problem. Location Sight, true to its name, only gave visual information (unless you could read lips anyways). This meant that he would need to find a Quirk that could either replace Location Sight, or add something that could give auditory information from a far-away location.

Back in his cabinet of files, it took a few minutes of going through his collection to find something suitable. Another mundane Quirk called, quite unhelpfully, Surround Sounds which had nothing to do with creating sounds, and everything to do with hearing them.

It was, quite possibly, one of the most detrimental Quirks he’d ever heard of, because it allowed its user to hear anything so long as their name was somewhere in a sentence. Quite simply, if you said anything and added their name somewhere in that sentence, this Quirk would ensure its user would hear what you were saying about them.

That might sound quite useful, but given that it was impossible to turn off or filter what you did and didn’t hear, it could get quite annoying, especially since there was absolutely no way to distinguish which noises were real and which were caused by the Quirk. Honestly, if it weren’t for it being impossible to turn off, it would’ve made for a great espionage-type Quirk, but unfortunately its user had turned to villainy (or rather, had gone insane from hearing everything everyone said about them all the time), which eventually ended them on the wrong side of Laurentina’s fists.

This did mean, however, that he could use the Quirk to stabilize his base. Adding the Quirk (and making sure to create some kind of off-switch, or at least distinction between what was real and what wasn’t) to the mixture caused it to stabilize. Unfortunately, he wouldn’t be able to tell what was and wasn’t new until he ran a few tests on it, which would have to wait until the end, but as of yet everything seemed to be working properly.

Carefully putting Warp Gate back together around its new base, he did away with the Cloud Quirk and slowly began shifting the component Quirks over from one base to the other over the course of the next few hours, making sure that each new Quirk stabilized properly before moving on to the next.

Eventually, after around ten or so hours of work, he was done, a new Quirk sitting within ATHENA’s Synthesis Chamber ready for testing. He would be able to run some preliminary tests on this Quirk before creating a Homunculus around its usage.

His tests were able to show this Quirk’s new abilities, which were sufficiently different from Warp Gate that no one should be able to figure out it was a modified copy of it (at least not without some deep understanding of Quirk Modifications). The biggest difference was its Effective Range. Unlike Warp Gate which required its user to be present in order to generate an entry point, this new Quirk could be used remotely, however unlike Warp Gate which was nigh-instantaneous in activation, this new Quirk took a few seconds to activate. Both because visual and auditory information had to travel from a target location to its user, but also because the light-based gate had to form, something that took more time than using Kurogiri’s already existing fog.

There were other changes between Warp Gate and this still-unnamed Quirk, such as the ability to target specific individuals, or rather the area around them. Unlike Warp Gate which required additional steps in order to transport an area, this new Quirk could simply use Flash’s spatial awareness to generate a gate around an entire area. It wasn’t person-specific though, so anyone or anything within the affected area would be transported, but that was fine.

This did leave him with a problem though, who to give this Quirk to? Or rather, what kind of Homunculus should he create to house it?

He still didn’t have many ideas as to what to create, other than the prerequisite of ‘being smart enough to use it’. He also wasn’t sure if the Quirk (which still needed a name) would be able to differentiate between regular sounds and those passed on through Surround Sounds, or if fusing it with the other Quirks had changed something about it. All he knew was that the Quirk functioned like he intended it to, not what its side-effects would be.

Thus, he spent a few more hours browsing his collection of Quirks and library of mythology books, mostly to try and spark some inspiration in him. He felt that, if he was going to create a Homunculus that would be useful as something more than a battery, then he may as well put some effort into its creation.

He had a few Mutant-type Quirks, or Transformation-type Quirks that he could use, more for aesthetics than anything else really. Eri seemed to enjoy the animal motif he’d had going with Laurentina and Phoenix.

Considering Laurentina was a Shark, and Phoenix was a (Fire)Bird, then the logical continuation would be to create some sort of earth-based creature so… a dragon? Well, he didn’t have any Dragon-based Quirks, or actual Dragon Factor, to use (he refused to call Ryukyu’s Quirk ‘Dragon’ because it was an insult to the few Dragons he actually knew), so maybe…

A snake? He was in Japan after all, and the Yamata-no-Orochi had been a Snake-Dragon Hybrid thing (according to both Shuten and Ibuki anyways), so perhaps…

A snake-based Homunculus? It could work, he did have a few Snake-based Quirks to work with after all, maybe keep the largely humanoid form and add reptilian traits afterwards? A snake-like tongue could be interesting to toy with, given that it was an extension of the sense of smell. Thermal Vision could be useful too.

Riffling through his collection some more, he found a Snake Transformation Quirk perfect for his intentions, coupling it with a few Mutant-type Traits and this still unnamed Quirk, and he would have something usable.

He, unfortunately, wouldn’t be able to give this Homunculus as many Strength and Endurance Enhancers as Phoenix or Laurentina had, given the ‘load’ the Warp Quirk carried, but he could still give it Super Regeneration so that was something. Coupled with the Snake Transformation and perhaps he could add a Poison Emitter Quirk?

That would work, but for now, he had work to do!

Swiveling his chair to face the nearby growth tank, Izuku allowed a large grin to spread across his face, growing a Homunculus was a largely simple task for him, so it shouldn’t take much time for this new creation to see the World. By his calculation, they would be born in time for the U.A Training Camp.

“Hmm, what should I call you.” He pondered, getting to work gathering the materials he would need to create the Artificial Human, before settling on a name. “I know what I’ll call you, I’m sure Eri will love you…

Melascula.

Chapter Text

He wasn’t sure if this encounter was Fate or not, but he didn’t much care either way. Currently, Izuku felt the urge to laugh, but managed to restrain himself, lest he further aggravate his current conversation partner.

He was currently out to get some groceries and other miscellaneous things, but never in his wildest dreams would he have imagined himself running into this man of all people.

“Tomura Shigaraki, we meet again. How quaint.” Flashing the currently disguised villain a shit eating grin, Izuku slung one arm over the disturbed man’s shoulder like they were long time friends, his other arm holding two bags filled with baubles, chemicals, and other such necessities for someone like him. “How about we catch up over some coffee?”

Despite seeming like a question, he didn’t let Tomura say anything, forcefully dragging the disgruntled man towards a nearby fountain to speak, subtly deploying a Bounded Field around them to prevent outside interference from occurring.

“Y- You! I’ll kill you! ” Letting go of all rationale, Tomura swung one of his arms wide, trying to grab hold of Izuku somehow so he could activate his Quirk and disintegrate him. Unfortunately, the Alchemist was just too fast, easily maneuvering around the overextended arm and striking a pressure point, dislocating the joint and causing the offending limb to drop like a sack of potatoes. Screeching incoherently, Tomura attempted to force his arm to move to no avail, using his remaining arm to try and do something to fix it, having apparently learned that bringing his limbs towards Izuku was a great and simple way to lose them (at least temporarily).

“Tutu, my the talons you have on you!” Izuku spoke in a condescending way, almost as if he were talking to an especially dull-minded child (which, admittedly, he probably was), his shit eating grin only growing as he watched the villain growl.

“Y- You cheater! What the fuck kinda debuff is this!?” Cowled but not defeated, Tomura still had much to say, mostly insults and whatnot. “You left us during the U.S.J! Those mooks you bought were all low-leveled NPCs not even worth actual names!”

It did take Izuku a few seconds to process the video game lingo, as while he had played video games himself, he wasn’t exactly proficient when it came to specialized lingo of this nature. Then again, it wasn’t hard to figure out that Tomura was feeling especially cross with him at the moment.

“That so? So you came to a high leveled raid with shit stats and didn’t expect a bit of CBT cringe?” Reciting the words Laurentina had graciously(?) provided him, Izuku unwittingly spouted some incredibly cursed speech, enough to make even Drake blush perhaps.

Tomura, not having expected such rebuttal from Izuku, sputtered incomprehensibly, his brain short circuiting and causing a moment of blessed and awkward silence between them as he tried to come to terms with what Izuku had said.

“You’re lucky that Nomu of yours had some good drip or your clout-chasing yee yee ass would’ve been unable to be anyone’s-” Before he could finish enacting his unwitting (thanks for that Laurentina) cursed speech, Tomura let loose a deranged, desperate screech as what remained of his sanity evaporated, his inability to cover both of his ears (what with one of his arms being thoroughly out of commission) making it so he couldn’t actually protect himself from what Izuku was saying.

“NO! NO! STOP! I- I KNOW WHAT YOU’RE GOING TO SAY!! STOP! ” Desperation overtook Tomura as he attempted to both distance himself and disintegrate Izuku using his remaining arm, his addled mind remarking that, even if he couldn’t cover both of his ears, if he killed Izuku (or made distance) he would still be saved.

Unfortunately, this move cost him his other arm, the limb dropping limply to the side as Izuku easily side-stepped the incredibly telegraphed move, still completely unaware of just how cursed the words he was saying actually were.

“-little-”

“ NO! STOP! PLEASE! ” Now armless (or at least as much as he could be given his useless limbs), Tomura desperately tried to make distance between himself and Izuku. Unfortunately, the Bounded Field prevented him from actually gaining any grounds. From his perspective, it was as if the distance between himself and Izuku just infinitely looped, like in some kind of nightmare where no matter how far or fast you ran, the monster was always just on your heels.

“-pogchamp.” Finally completing his cursed sentences, Izuku watched with almost deranged interest as Tomura let out a sanity draining screech of fright, agony, and desperation, collapsing to the ground in a heap and banging his cranium against the asphalt, seemingly trying to end his own life to avoid processing what Izuku had said.

“...Git gud scrub.” Suitably pleased with Tomura’s current predicament, Izuku quickly speed dialed Kurogiri using Tomura’s phone, telling the fog creature to pick up its Master before the police showed up, dismissing his Bounded Field and calling Melascula to pick him up.

All the while, completely none the wiser to the absolutely cursed words that had fallen out of his mouth, all courtesy of Laurentina and her plentiful Google Searches.

He had to admit, Nezu really knew how to hide information when he wanted to. Unfortunately for the Chimera, Izuku Midoriya had access to information gathering techniques far outside the norm. Notably the usage of Mandrake-like Familiars.

The creatures being plant-based were able to quite literally ‘swim’ within earthen materials, which included concrete, undetected as well as hide their presence from regular people using fairly simple Magecraft. Despite being completely inhuman in appearance (at least for his era more than two and a half centuries ago) being that they were androgynous paper white colored humanoids possessing no discernible features outside of pupiless eyes, their plant-based construction allowed them shapeshifting capabilities, notably being able to replicate the appearance of people. Coupled with the Copy Quirk he’d acquired, and they were even able to replicate a person’s Quirk!

By ingesting a person’s DNA, they were able to copy not only their appearances, but also their voice and Quirk. Unlike the Copy Quirk, they had no time limit, at the cost of versatility. Not only were they weaker than the Original, around 50% of their actual strength, they were also only able to transform into 1 person at a time (and thus only Copy 1 Quirk at a time), requiring the ingestion of other DNA before transforming again.

Still, they were highly useful spies, enough that he could send them inside of U.A without worry for their safety, seeing as they were quite disposable in nature. For Christ’s sake, he literally grew them from a tree in his backyard, there wasn’t anything more ‘disposable’ than that!

He did have something else hidden in his sleeve (quite literally), but it was currently away on business, notably tailing the U.A Hero Course to their little ‘Secret Training Camp’.

He wasn’t sure what Nezu was thinking, sending the obviously targeted students out in the middle of nowhere rural Japan instead of staying in U.A, but he wasn’t complaining. Reviewing the footage from the Sports Festival had revealed quite a few Quirks he was keen on obtaining (notably Momo’s Creation Quirk which would be a godsend for him). He mentally kicked himself again for having missed such a useful Quirk right under his nose, but he hadn’t been able to come in contact with Momo after his little chat with her during his stint as a fake nurse.

From what his (literal) plant was telling him, Aizawa and Kan Sekijiro were the teachers assigned to this trip, alongside the Wild, Wild Pussycats who had been hired as additional help. The camp had already been going on for a few days, but tonight was an opportune time to strike since the children would be left alone inside of the forest surrounding the camp to do a ‘Test of Courage’ or whatever the childish game was called.

It was the perfect opportunity to whisk them away while nobody was looking, and who knows, maybe he could get a hold of Ragdoll while he was at it, her Quirk would do well for Phoenix after all.

“Are you all ready?” Glancing towards his little entourage of people, Izuku spotted two out of his three companions, both Phoenix and Melascula seemed quite unbothered (more like bored in Melascula’s case) by the coming task. Phoenix was once more equipped with a High Powered Sniper Rifle and her case of armaments. Her job was to both run point on the student’s location as well as keep Melascula safe. Unfortunately, the Snake Homunculus was woefully unable to fight, at least when it came to CQC. Her combat capabilities were limited to her poison and her warping, which while not insignificant did mean that if she were taken by surprise she would be quite helpless.

She was also weaponless, her disdain for combat showing (not that he blamed her, she had Phoenix to protect her after all).

Laurentina was, surprisingly, absent, seemingly busy collecting something from her room. This ‘something’ became quite apparent the moment she stepped out of her room carrying some god awful creation on her shoulder, the giant weapon probably weighing more than she did given its size and complete reinforced steel construction, yet she easily carried the object like it didn’t weigh a little less than a ton.

“I- Where the fuck did you find that? ” Bewilderment was clear in Izuku’s voice as he saw the Shark carrying a weapon he was sure should not exist anymore, or at least if it was still in his armory, it should be back in London, not here. Laurentina, careless as always, simply sent him a shit eating grin as she hefted the giant Whirligig Saw over her shoulder like it was a fishing rod.

“Oh, this?~ Found it while spelunking through your stuff.” The careless admission caused all three of them (Izuku, Phoenix, and Melascula) to sputter a bit as they tried to wrap their heads around where she had been spelunking to find that thing. Deciding that figuring that out was not worth the headache that was beginning to take root in his forehead, Izuku decided to simply drop the matter, letting out a heavy sigh.

Eri was being taken care of by Rei, the woman having accepted to babysit the child for the night (almost too quickly if he were honest, but he trusted her).

Making sure the case on his back was appropriately strapped, the Alchemist made sure his sidearm was locked and loaded before grabbing his own Trick Weapon, a sword-like object seemingly made of multiple interlocking parts. Harbinger, a sword held together by Magecraft BS which could reconfigure itself by running Mana through its frame, the weapon being a reconstruction of the one he’d wielded during the Grand Order ordeal.

The case on his back contained both Fragarach Alternative and a few other baubles that he hoped he wouldn’t need to use, but one could never be too careful with these types of things. Making sure everyone was ready, he gave Melascula a nod, the Snake Woman dramatically rolling her eyes as she cracked her knuckles, a shroud of light manifesting around them as they ported over to the Wild, Wild Pussycat’s forest.

Once the shroud of light vanished, Izuku inhaled, taking in the mountainous air, so fresh compared to the city air he was so used to, so full of smoke-

Wait, what?

Craning his eyes, he started looking around for the source of this smoke, quickly finding the giant forest fire going on, blue flames licking the skyline as smoke, both black and purple, emanated from a distant part of the forest.

Glancing back at his entourage, Izuku gave an exhausted sigh, pinching the bridge of his nose as he felt a headache return at full force.

“It seems like we’re not alone here. Great .”

Just as he finished speaking, Laurentina shot forward like a bullet from a rifle, no doubt to confront whoever else had appeared here before them. Shifting his gaze towards Phoenix and Melascula, Izuku noticed his informant, a half-white-half-black plant-man-thing emerging out of the ground besides them, all of them waiting for his call.

“...’No plan survives first contact’, god dammit Da Vinci! Alright, change of plans, Phoenix, take point, I want eyes on everything, Melascula, Zetsu, you two start scouting for Momo and the other targets. I’ll go… greet our competitors!”

Jetting towards the rapidly burning forest, Izuku couldn’t help but feel a slight feeling of déjà vue, or rather, he couldn’t help but feel like something bad was about to happen, but what he couldn’t tell.

God dammit, so much for a relaxing and enthusiastic stroll through the forest.

Chapter Text

Izuku walked slowly as he stalked through the steadily burning forest that made up the majority of the Wild, Wild Pussycat’s private property. He still wasn’t sure who had set the place on fire, but he could hazard a guess as to why they had done it, or rather, who had told them to do it.

This kind of plan, attacking a (temporary) U.A Facility where the Hero Course Students were?

You didn’t need Precognition or Clairvoyance to figure out it was Shigaraki and his gaggle of morons.

Still, he didn’t think the so-called ‘League of Villains’ would be this brazen in their attempt to attack (and probably kill) the Hero Course Students.

Were they looking for something? Probably. A student? Debatable. One of the Pro-Heroes stationed here? Maybe, some of them did have very useful Quirks (Eraserhead being chief amongst them), but still-

A loud explosion caught his attention, towards a nearby mountain which he could see was mostly barren of treelife and, as such, of any fires. Had someone found refuge there only to be attacked? It was possible.

Humming slightly, his curiosity got the better of him. If anything, the sound of fighting ensured that he would run into a member of the League of Villains there anyways, so it wasn’t like this was a wasted action.

Extending his sensory network, he frowned when he caught the ‘scent’ of the mountain’s two occupants, a child and a man. Strange, this child was much too young to be a Hero Student, he couldn’t be that much older than Eri for God’s sake.

With purpose and haste at his heel, Izuku rushed towards the two presences, already pondering what he would do once he got there. Rationally speaking, he should just teleport the child away (or even have Melascula do it), and then deal with the attacker. Yes, that would be easy.

“Phoenix, cover me.” Using the communication device he’d provided his entire ‘team’, the Alchemist radioed in to his sniper the moment he caught sight of the bruised and bloodied child. From his point of view, the child looked somewhat injured, but not deathly (unless he was sporting some unseen internal injuries or whatnot).

“Hey dickhead! Over here!” Calling out towards the huge mountain of muscles. Goto Imasuji, Villain Name: Muscular (how uncreatively fitting). Known for various murders and violent crimes. Also known for being an absolute moron who fought by quite literally throwing his hands around and hoping to overpower his targets through sheer strength alone.

For any normal Hero, such an opponent would have been quite difficult to beat. Goto’s Quirk, Muscle Augmentation, allowed him to generate and manipulate muscle layers which he could layer over himself to an unspecified limit, allowing him to quite literally ‘get swole’ very quickly, increasing most of his physical attributes by a wide margin.

Unfortunately for Goto, he wasn’t fighting a ‘regular Hero’, but instead, he was fighting-

“Huh? Who’re you!?” The villain drawled out, glancing towards Izuku with almost palpable disinterest, before a murderous grin crossed his face, his Quirk flexing with effort as he increased the amount of muscle fibers covering his body in preparation for an attack. “Doesn’t matter! I’ll kill ya either way! SHOW ME YOUR BLOOD! ” Heaving out a warcry, the horrendously overly muscular villain shot forward with incredible speeds rivaling the U.S.J Nomu and All Might.

Taking a few moments to adjust himself, Izuku quirked an eyebrow as he watched Muscular approach him, disinterest clear on his face as he held up one arm forward, his other one resting almost petulantly in his pants pocket. Pinching his thumb and middle finger together, Izuku allowed a shit eating grin to grow on his face as he spoke.

“Me? I’m the Winter General.” Snapping his fingers, a torrent of flames erupted from the friction point, enveloping Muscular and thoroughly cooking him, sending the villain flying backwards. “I’d say it’s nice to meet you, but that’d be a lie.” Snapping his fingers once more, another torrent of flames met Muscular halfway out of the cliff wall, incinerating his remaining eye and causing the villain to collapse as agony wracked through his body, his nerves quite literally alight with pain. “So do me a favor, try not to die too quickly.”

The charred villain could only roar wordlessly, his sightlessness causing him to rampage in an attempt to hit anything within his reach, malformed threats and insults barreling their way out of his mouth as he alternated between trying to say something and breathing heavily, flexing his Quirk as much as he could to try and replace the burnt and charred muscle fibers that kept his body mostly protected from the blaze being sent his way.

“Pity, but I guess Quirks or not, humans are still pretty flammable.” Ignoring the horrified look being sent his way by the injured child sitting listlessly a few paces away, Izuku mercilessly attacked the blind villain, carelessly avoiding any swing sent his way and retaliating by burning the offending appendage to a crist.

Eventually Muscular had to use his Quirk to replace his real muscles, forcing his now flesh-less limbs to carry him forward in an attempt to satiate his appetite for murder and blood.

“You’re just a beast, but I guess beasts do have their uses.” Deciding to end this farce of a fight here and now, he switched from his previous finger snapping pose to a nukite, fire swirling around his open palm as he jabbed it forward, easily penetrating through all of Muscular’s defenses and destroying his heart in the process. “I don’t need you alive to get what I need.”

With his final words said, Izuku ripped his arm out of the dead villain’s body, no blood coming out since all of the various injuries had been thoroughly charred by the blaze. Instead, Izuku simply pulled out a small empty syringe, taking some of Musclar’s blood for later. Grotesque as his Quirk was, it was undeniably useful (if you had a brain anyways). Once he was done collecting his blood samples, he continued desecrating the man’s body by ripping his head off, muttering a few words underneath his breath before the head caught ablaze, this time ethereal blue flames covering the appendage.

“So, whatcha doing here kid?” Deciding to engage in some light conversation while he was busy collecting information out of the dead man’s head, Izuku turned his attention towards the bloody child still sitting nearby, ignoring the way the boy flinched once he noticed that he was the target of Izuku’s gaze. “You got a name kid?”

Leaving the head to float where it was, Izuku slowly approached the shivering boy and extended his bloodied arm towards the boy, his forefinger making contact with the child’s forehead before a harrowing scream of fear ripped its way out of the child, who promptly fainted.

Blinking a bit, Izuku sighed deeply. Right, approaching a traumatized child who had just witnessed brutal murder while still covered in blood was probably not a good idea. Still, at least now he could work without being interrupted. Giving the kid (Kota if the nametag in his hat was accurate) a once over and healing his broken ribs, he left the child to sleep on the ground, leaving one of his Plant Familiars to watch over Kota until someone else showed up to take him back home.

Returning to his little information collection adventure, he noticed that Muscular’s head had been fully carbonized, turned to ashes and left floating where the head had been. Carefully collecting the ashes in an empty vial, Izuku spent a few moments pouring various liquids inside of the vial from other bottles he had on him, the liquid mixing with the ashes and turning a viscous purple.

Taking a scroll out of his coat, he poured the liquid over it, watching as the paper slowly absorbed the liquid. Once dried, he took the scroll and unraveled it, revealing paragraphs of text which detailed the last few hours of Muscular’s life. Spiritual Evocation wasn’t exactly his forte, but he could pull it off well enough to gather some information.

It wasn’t like Muscular had anything big going on up there anyways, so filtering through his memories wasn’t all that hard. Reading in diagonal, Izuku quickly came upon the League of Villain’s new plan of action, the so-called ‘Vanguard Action Squad’ composed of ten (now nine) villains whose goal was to… capture Katsuki Bakugo?

Chuckling a bit under his breath, Izuku pocketed the scroll and placed his hand over his ear, activating the earpiece there and patching himself through to his entire team.

“Alright girls, keep an eye out for Katsuki, he’s the target of this little attack.” Relaying the newly acquired information, he received a trio of ‘okay’ from them, though it seemed Laurentina was busy doing something. Quickly extending his senses out once more, this time to cover the entire forest, he laughed as he witnessed his Shark completely destroy the Chainsaw Wielding Nomu the Vanguard Action Squad had brought with them. Great, that was two down, eight left to go.

Unfortunately Muscular didn’t know much about the other villains making up his squad (outside of Moonfish who was a bit too famous to not know about), so Izuku was running in a bit blind here. Fortunately for him, running in blind into a hive of mealworms wouldn’t kill him.

Jetting forward towards where he noticed explosions, Izuku had to weave to the side in order to avoid being impaled by one of Moonfish’s teeth, the insane maniac’s Quirk allowing him to lengthen, sharpen, and manipulate his teeth into powerful blades.

“...That cannot be easy to clean!” Avoiding another set of teeth being sent haphazardly his way, Izuku had to avoid another attack, this time a pillar of ice sent his way by Shoto Todoroki, the bicolored boy having taken notice of Izuku’s presence and, not recognizing him, had attacked him. Smart.

“Trigger happy much? Well, can’t blame you. Woah!” Giving the boy a snarky remark, one of Izuku’s arms shot out towards one of his blindspots, catching an arm making its way towards him at high speed, though to no avail as the palm lit up and exploded, sending Izuku flying into a nearby tree, freeing his attacker.

“Ha! Take that you villain fucker!” An unmistakable voice roared out. It was oh so familiar, and yet Izuku could detect a telltale rasp coming from it, as if its owner had been smoking for a number of years, or had inhaled copious amounts of sewage slime and had suffered throat damage from the ordeal.

Chuckling a bit as he rose from the tree’s remains undamaged, Izuku brought one of his hands towards his face, hiding it from view as his chuckles slowly turned into full blown laughter, electing surprised looks from everyone nearby, even the insane Moonfish was taken aback by just how insane Izuku sounded at the moment.

Before anyone could react properly, Izuku shot towards Moonfish, empty hand once more formed into a nukite as he took Moonfish’s head clean off, turning the appendage into a mess of gore and blood, causing the two U.A Students to stiffen up at the sight of such blatant murder.

“Oh~ Oh!~ Kacchan! It’s been awhile, hasn’t it!?” Letting out another almost deranged laughter, Izuku allowed his hand to slip of his face, before bringing it back up and slicking his bloodied hair back, a shit eating grin etched firmly over his features, glee making its way into his eyes as he noticed the recognition and horror slowly forming inside of Katsuki’s gaze as the Explosion Pomeranian’s brain slowly connected the dots together.

“Y- YOU!? ” Disbelief colored the blonde boy’s voice as he pointed a shaky finger towards Izuku, Shoto watching in almost deranged interest at the interaction going on before him. Part of him said to attack now, but another more cautious part decided to simply wait. They had been having trouble keeping Moonfish at bay and then this green-haired guy had just shown up and killed the villain like it was nothing. “ You’re supposed to be dead! Y- You killed yourself over eleven months ago! ”

Izuku laughed, this time more composed and calm, at Katsuki, shaking his head a bit as his posture slouched and relaxed a bit, hands akimbo on his hips as he hung his head low.

“Oh, Katsuki~ I’m sure you were pretty happy I followed through with your advice! Unfortunately for you, I’m not dead yet!” Sending the duo a chilling grin, Izuku brought one arm forward, mist starting to form around the offending limb as he prepared to engage the two U.A Students. “I’m not little useless Deku anymore, Kacchan~ .” There was mocking in his tone as he taunted his previous bully, a small amount of amusement making its way through him as he noticed Katsuki flinching a bit at the childish nickname, mind still reeling at the reveal that his childhood friend wasn’t actually dead.

“You fight the Winter General now, Katsuki.” Shards of ice started manifesting around Izuku’s form, like debris orbiting around a planet, each of them the size of a preschooler as they seemingly defied gravity, hanging mockingly above the ground and orbiting him. “Try not to die too quickly, will you?”

Despite the mental distress he was in, Katsuki still had enough presence of mind to jump back when a projectile shot towards him, the smoke from the impact clearing and allowing both Shoto and Katsuki to see that it was one of the ice shards orbiting around Izuku that had been shot at them at high speed.

Swallowing audibly, the duo gazed warily at Izuku, watching as more shards formed around him, hanging over his shoulders ominously.

“Let’s see if you kids live up to your reputation!”

Chapter Text

Mistakes of the Past

Izuku laughed almost insanely as he kept firing boulder sized shards of ice at the two U.A Students before him, using his projectiles to keep them on their toes while also keeping some near him to ward off any attacks they managed to throw his way.

Honestly this was beginning to get quite disappointing. Shoto was only using his Ice Side while Katsuki was still too mentally shaken to actually do anything more than the reflexive stray shot here and there.

“You know, you’re not going to beat me in a cryokinesis fight boy!” Izuku shouted at Shoto, deciding to make that fact painfully clear to the Todoroki Child as he attempted to generate a giant iceberg as he had done during the Sports Festival. Grinning wildly, Izuku didn’t even bother blocking the attack, simply extending one of his arms towards the oncoming wave of ice and clenching his fist, causing the ice to suddenly stop.

Bewilderment etched its way across Shoto’s face as he desperately tried to generate more ice to no avail, someway, somehow, his opponent was keeping him from even using his ice!

“There! Now what’ll you do boy!? Use your fire, or watch helplessly as I kill Katsuki!?” Izuku taunted, weaving around a blast from Katsuki and throwing a haymaker into his former bully’s stomach, sending the Explosion User back into a tree.

It was easy for Izuku to see just how conflicted Shoto was, for some reason the boy was completely against using his Fire for anything other than melting his Ice after he was done with it. He didn’t really care what his reasons were, if anything it just made it easier to fight them both (not like he was having much trouble to begin with).

“Katsuki, Katsuki~ Oh how the tables have turned~” Izuku’s voice was conceited and arrogant, taunting the downed and mentally shaken Katsuki as he approached him, shards of ice still orbiting him and periodically firing at Shoto, the other boy still refusing to use his Fire and instead frantically dodging the pillars of ice being sent his way as best he could. “Hmm, you used those hands to cause so much pain~ So much for being a Hero huh? Hahahaha…”

Grabbing Katsuki’s right arm, Izuku tightened his grip around the limb, watching almost apathetically as Katsuki started screaming in pain. Somehow, this felt… hollow. He had his former bully, the person that had for all intents and purposes suicide baited him, in the palm of his hand (figuratively anyways), and yet…

“...Revenge really is shit huh?” Muttering the words under his breath, Izuku shook his head and, placing one foot on his victim’s sternum, twisted the limb he was holding, a small amount of satisfaction trickling through his veins as he ripped off Katsuki’s arm like a chicken wing, holding the brutally severed limb like it was a sack of potatoes. “Yep, not as good as I thought it would feel.”

Seemingly disappointed in how dull revenge felt, Izuku threw another kick at Katsuki’s stomach, sending the boy flying towards a nearby tree, the pain of losing an arm sending him straight into unconsciousness. Turning his attention towards the shocked Todoroki, Izuku allowed a cruel smile to find its way onto his face. He wouldn’t kill or maim this one too badly, he had promised Rei after all, but still-

His senses flared up, danger was approaching him.

Jumping away from his previous position as a wall of thorny vines sprouted up where he had previously stood, it didn’t take very long for him to smell what was wrong with those vines.

Or rather, what was covering them .

“Oh boy! I didn’t think I’d find an Executor here of all places!” Grinning wildly as he examined the Holy Water covered Vines, Izuku quickly located the would-be Executor, shooting towards her while making sure to not get touched by her vines. Holy Water wouldn’t exactly kill him, but damn if it didn’t burn like a motherfucker!

His charge was once more stopped by another wall of thorny vines, electing a tch! of irritation from him. Did she know what he was? Or was she just one of those religious nutters that just carried Holy Water everywhere they went like it was some Godsent Purel?

Given the absolutely horrified expression the girl, Shiozaki something his mind supplied, was sporting, he was pretty sure it was the second option. She didn’t look like a hardened Executor, and now that he thought about it… He didn’t think the Church would let one of their Executors pretend to be a Student at a Hero Highschool of all things.

Deciding that he had had his fun for the moment, Izuku made some distance between himself and the U.A Students, inhaling sharply before-

“MELASCULA! GET US OUT OF HERE!” Calling out to his Snake Creation, a veil of light started forming around him as she went to work warping him (and assumedly the rest of their little group) away from here. Already he could hear the fighting diminish, meaning the Vanguard Action Squad was also retreating.

Flashing the U.A Students one last cocky grin, Izuku almost mockingly waved Katsuki’s severed arm towards them before he fully vanished from view, his vision being overtaken by a bright light, before he was back in his office.

Around him, a blood covered Laurentina gave him a wide grin and a cackle, dropping… something from her shoulder. Next to her, both Phoenix and Melascula seemed just as fresh as when he had left them, though Phoenix was holding a few vials of blood she previously wasn’t holding. Finally, Zetsu was back with them, since there was no need to leave him there now that their little operation was done with.

“...What is that ?” Gesturing towards the dead(?) body Laurentina had brought back with obvious disdain, Melascula floated around it with morbid curiosity, flinching back when it inhaled sharply, rising up in an almost comical fashion to show that it wasn’t just any random not-really-dead body, but it was Ragdoll’s not-really dead body!

“...Well fuck me sideways, Laurentina, tell me you didn’t just kidnap someone?” Feeling his sanity slipping away again , Izuku gave the cackling Shark a very, very dry look (one that was shared by everyone currently here, baring said cackling Shark). His answer was, almost predictably, a cackle and a shit eating grin from Laurentina who shook her head sideways.

“Naw, ‘course not boss! I didn’t just kidnap her! I also faked her death!” Exploding into laughter, Laurentina then pranced her way towards the bathroom, already taking her clothes off in a complete disregard for everyone else currently there. “Now, Imma clean up cause being caked in blood is cool for about thirty seconds and after that it’s icky!”

Silence permeated the room after a light click! signified that the Shark had locked the bathroom door, leaving Izuku to nurse an oncoming headache. Both Melascula and Phoenix simply sighed, glancing towards a thoroughly confused and terrified Ragdoll who was doing well to follow Chris Pratt’s advice. Unfortunately, no one here was a velociraptor and thus not moving didn’t really do anything.

Pinching the bridge of his nose, Izuku’s sanity finally snapped, throwing both of his arms in the air as he fished out his phone. “You know what? Fine! Whatever, Phoenix, make sure she doesn’t do something stupid, like eat some random pill or touch something obviously dangerous. Melascula, go get Eri, I’ve got a… phone call to make.”

The trio of women watched as Izuku grumbled his way out of the room, dumping Katsuki’s severed arm on a nearby table to deal with later, already dialling something on his phone, before both Homunculus Women shifted their attention to Ragdoll. Sighing deeply, Phoenix shook her head, gesturing for the crazy cat lady to follow her.

“Alright, first, don’t touch the tea, second, if it looks like meds or something you’ve never seen before, don’t touch it. Don’t eat random things either or you’ll die…” Melascula watched as Phoenix dragged the despondent Ragdoll with her towards the… cell (that was actually just a spare room) while also explaining to her all the does and don'ts of living here (mainly to not touch random things if you enjoyed having all of your limbs and organs). Sighing to herself, Melascula went to work creating a Warp Gate towards Rei Todoroki and Eri, she needed some time alone and going to fetch the kid would be a good opportunity to talk with Rei (the ironically most stable person out of all of them despite being in a psych ward for the last few years of her life).

Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi almost desperately wished for the ground to open up and swallow him whole. The U.A Training Camp had been a complete failure, and while none of the students had been kidnapped, that was mostly because The Dealer and his group had also showed up and killed some of the members of the League of Villains, which had allowed the Pros there to contain the situation at least somewhat successfully.

Unfortunately, the lack of kidnapping or whatnot wasn’t all that great, considering one Katsuki Bakugo had lost an arm, ripped off by The Dealer of all people.

They did have an identity for The Dealer though, for the little good it did. Izuku Midoriya, the dead kid from eleven months ago. Somehow he was still alive, and not Quirkless anymore. Was it All For One? But then, if so, why was he not their ally? It didn’t make sense.

Nezu had been able to find some information on this ‘Raven Gael’ person, not that it did them any good either. The Gael Family was incredibly prominent within England, and the rest of the World too, being that they owned quite a few businesses in both the fashion and hospitality industry, alongside being quite invested in the medical field (owning quite a few hospitals around the UK and surrounding regions). ‘Raven’ had been the patriarch of the family, more than two hundred and fifty years ago , before the Dawn of Quirks (which made his ownership of an Immortality Quirk impossible).

Not counting the fact that the man was actually dead and buried, with his body having been entombed within the ancestral Gael Mausoleum in Ireland. It wasn’t like the Japanese Police had the authority to demand they crack upon the mausoleum just to make sure his body was still there, and even if they did, the economic repercussions of such a move would be devastating.

Even then, if the pictures they had of the man were anything to go by, he looked nothing like Izuku did. Auburn hair coupled with heterochromatic eyes and tan skin, he looked fully European, not like the Japanese Youth they knew as The Dealer. Who knows why Izuku had used that name of all things as a coverup, maybe it had just been bad luck…

Still, news of the boy’s supposed survival and awakening of a Quirk had spread like wildfire, the media having a field day with the news. ‘U.A Facility invaded by League of Villain and The Dealer, student brutally maimed’, ‘Wild, Wild Pussycat Member Ragdoll killed during villain attack on U.A Facility’.

The headlines were still showing up hours after the fact, though the only thing they knew was that someone had been horribly maimed and that Ragdoll was dead. The Police had been able to keep Katsuki’s current status private, though his parents were up in arms at U.A for allowing their son to be so horrifyingly maimed on their watch.

Speaking of the Bakugo Parents, they had been horrified to learn that Izuku Midoriya, someone who they thought of as a second son during his life, was the prime suspect in Katsuki’s maiming (confirmed by the boy himself during his few moments out of surgery). Predictably, Inko and Hisashi Midoriya vehemently denied any accusations towards their deceased son, but considering both Katsuki Bakugo and Shoto Todoroki could attest to The Dealer all but confirming his identity as ‘Izuku Midoriya’, it was hard to deny his involvement.

Still, that didn’t explain how he had survived breaking his neck like that (assumedly given the amount of blood found in that alleyway). His Quirk was, according to witnesses (including one traumatized Kota Izumi) exactly like the youngest Todoroki Son’s, allowing him to manipulate and generate both ice and fire. Except, his was on a completely different level. According to Kota, he had effortlessly incinerated Muscular (which corroborated the carbonized body they found), and both Shoto and Katsuki confirmed that he could telekinetically manipulate his ice and had been able to prevent Shoto from using his own ice.

It didn’t make any sense, even if he had multiple Quirks. Also, according to Ibara Shiozaki, he had called her an ‘Executor’, whatever that was. He had also avoided her thorns for some reason, despite having been completely undamaged by Katsuki and Muscular’s attacks. According to the girl, it was because of the Holy Water that permeated her hair at the time, but that wouldn’t make sense either.

Unless… Unless Izuku Midoriya really was a Vampire?

That… that sounded absolutely far-fetched and impossible. Unless his Quirk was actually something that gave him Vampire-like abilities? But then why avoid Holy Water but not the Sun? It didn’t make any sense.

No, rather, Tsukauchi felt like he was missing some piece of the puzzle that, if he found, would suddenly make everything else he knew click together into one cohesive answer.

His thought process was interrupted by the ringing of his phone which he annoyedly took, snarking out a greeting.

“Hello?”

“Yes, hello Detective Tsukauchi, it’s me, Izuku.” His blood froze as he processed what he was being told. Izuku, The Dealer , why call him, what-

“Yes yes, it’s me, The Dealer. Horrible nickname by the way.” Izuku’s voice drawled out, sounding much too tired for someone who had, according to testimonies, ‘joyfully pranced around the battlefield’ only hours ago. “Anyways, this isn’t a wellness check. I’m just calling to say I have Ragdoll with me.”

“Huh.” Eloquence spilled forth from the stunned detective’s mouth as his Quirk pinged True . Izuku really did have Ragdoll with him. But then-

“Yes yes, it’s confusing. Don’t think too much about it. I have Ragdoll and I have demands, of course.” Amusement permeated Izuku’s voice as he seemingly guessed the Detective’s reaction to his words. “Don’t worry, it’s not money, or another hostage. What I want is, well. How about we make it a game, Detective~”

Tsukauchi grit his teeth at the nonchalance in Izuku’s voice, as if he wasn’t toying with the life of someone else. Alas, there was precious little he could do besides reverse track the number Izuku was using.

“I’ll give you, what, three days to find me. Don’t worry, I’ll give you some hints here and there, and I won’t be moving from where I am. No, instead, if you can find me within these three days, I’ll release Miss Shiretoko safe and sound.”

“...And if we can’t?”

“Fuhahahaha! Good question Detective! If you can’t find me within these three days… I’ll detonate Musutafu. Goodbye.” The line went dead before Tsukauchi could say anything else. His Quirk… His Quirk had pinged Truth at Izuku’s threat, meaning… meaning he really did intend to bomb Musutafu, somehow, if they couldn’t find him.

Jumping out of his seat, the Detective rushed out of the station towards U.A, phone in hand calling everyone he could. This…

This was bad.

Chapter Text

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

This thought and many others echoing the same sentiment bounced around Katsuki Bakugo’s mind as he sat in his uncomfortable medical bed, the weight of his right arm, or lack of it rather, being a sore reminder of the events that had transpired hours before. Or was it days before? He wasn’t sure, according to one of the nurses that had been taking care of him, he’d been in and out of consciousness for a while.

Deku. Useless Deku. Izuku, was alive. A little over eleven months ago, Katsuki had gotten the news that Izuku had committed suicide, by jumping off a roof.

If you really want a Quirk, take a swan dive off a rooftop and pray for one in the next life.

To say he hadn’t felt anything when he heard the news would have been a lie. He knew he was an asshole, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t felt a weight in the pit of his stomach at the news. Had his words really pushed Deku to kill himself? All evidence points to that.

And yet, was it truly his fault? Sure, he had been pretty harsh on Deku, but at the same time, that was the nerd’s fault for not knowing his place. After all, Quirkless people couldn’t be Heroes, it just wouldn’t happen. It wasn’t his fault that Deku just wouldn’t learn his place properly, especially when everyone else also told him this same thing over and over again.

Katsuki’s thoughts were abruptly cut short when someone else entered the room, a Detective of some kind if his attire was anything to go by. Following the Detective were his parents, Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugo, and a pencil thin guy who looked ready to keel over from a stiff breeze.

“Katsuki Bakugo, I’m Detective Naomasa Tsukauchi, and I have a few questions for you.” The Detective, Naomasa, introduced himself, uncaring for Katsuki’s tired glare. Without prompting, everyone found a seat and waited for the Detective to begin his questioning, Katsuki remaining almost unnaturally quiet as he waited.

“Now, before we begin, I have to inform you that my Quirk is called Lie Detector, and it allows me to know when someone lies to me.” The Detective explained, pulling out a little notepad from one of his coat pockets, flipping through a few pages before starting his interrogation once he was sure no one had any questions for him. “Now, Mister Bakugo, your parents have told me you were friends with The Dealer, I mean, Izuku Midoriya when you were younger. Can you detail your relationship for me?”

Katsuki scoffed at the question, having already expected something along those lines. His parents had probably babbled about him and Deku being ‘friends from the womb’ or whatever nonsense his mom said about them. It wasn’t like either set of parents were aware of his… encouragement towards Deku’s choice of professional career.

“What about it? The nerd and I have known each other since we were young, I’m sure the old hag told you that already.” Nevertheless, Katsuki spoke, ignoring his mother’s indignant squawk at being called an old hag on official record (or as official as this little interrogation could be). “Deku always wanted to be a Hero, damn nerd would chase around them and take creepy notes about them, ‘Hero Notes For The Future’ he’d call them. Tch, creepy shit I tell you.”

Naomasa said nothing, simply jolting down notes as he allowed Katsuki to speak, his face showing no indications as to his internal feelings towards what he was hearing.

“Deku’s Quirkless, was Quirkless, whatever the fuck happened to give him that Quirk, it ain’t normal I tell you.” Unless he hid his Quirk from them for over ten years for some reason, suffering from bullying while hiding an overly powerful Quirk like that. It wouldn’t make sense. “Deku always followed me, cause I was the greatest, he just had to follow me to try and stand out in the crowd of extras. Shitty Deku kept looking down on me even though he was useless and didn’t have a Quirk.”

Katsuki wasn’t sure why he was speaking, maybe he had suffered some sort of brain injury? Or maybe they were just pumping him full of some bullshit chemical. In the end, it didn’t matter. It wasn’t like what he was saying couldn’t be found just by asking the other Extras at Aldera.

“...Alright, I assume your relationship with Mister Midoriya wasn’t the best?” Naomasa asked, a frown etched onto his face as he slowly made notes about what Katsuki was saying. He didn’t need an Empathic Quirk to know that the boy’s parents were horrified to learn what they were hearing. Truthfully so was he. Naomasa knew Quirkless Discrimination ran wild, but to hear it from a child of all people just made it so much more… real.

It wasn’t hard to make a psychological analysis of Katsuki. Impulsive. Brash. Violent. Overly Large Ego. Everything that indicated his largely blameless upbringing, where he had doubtlessly been praised over and over again about his Quirk and his chances of being a great Hero one day. Unfortunately, it seemed no one had bothered to tell Katsuki that being a Hero was more than just having the power for it, being a good person also played into it.

Making a few more notes, Naomasa felt his frown deepen as he pondered just how Aizawa and Nezu had let this one slip through the cracks, U.A had a reputation for its extremely rigorous vetting practices when it came to checking who could and couldn’t apply for its courses. A bully should’ve never been able to get in, especially one like Katsuki Bakugo, and yet…

“Yeah, ‘course. Shitty Deku just wouldn’t learn his place, Quirkless shit.” Muttering the last part under his breath, it did nothing to prevent the other occupants in the room from hearing the words.

Abruptly standing up, Naomasa glanced towards the undercover All Might and nodded. They needed to speak to Nezu about this. Glancing back towards Katsuki and his parents, Naomasa sighed deeply, pocketing his notepad.

“I see. Thank you for your time, Mister Bakugo. I’ll leave you to recover now.” With his words said, Naomasa left the room, All Might in toe as the duo willfully ignored the Bakugo Matriarch’s explosive screams at her injured son, not that they could really blame her. Then again, if she was like that, what said that Katsuki’s problems weren’t rooted in his parents. His father seemed quite reasonable, but his mother’s short fuse was… concerning.

Taking out his phone, Naomasa hit one of his speed dials, glancing towards All Might who seemed deep in thoughts, the duo entering the parking lot and navigating towards the Detective’s police cruiser as Nezu answered.

“ Hello? ”

“Nezu, we need to talk. Gather the other teachers, it’s important.”

“ ...I see, meet us in the staffroom in ten minutes. Is Yagi with you? ”

“Yeah, he’s with me.”

“ Alright. ”

The brief phone call ended, allowing Naomasa to focus on driving towards U.A, All Might contemplating something before finally speaking.

“I… I should have seen it. God dammit, I’m the boy’s teacher and I didn’t even think once about making sure he wasn’t…” Toshinori couldn’t find it in himself to finish his sentence. Part of him still felt guilty about having left Izuku alone on that rooftop all those months ago. When news of the boy’s suicide had reached him, he had been completely torn inside, beating himself up over the news. What kind of Symbol was he if he couldn’t keep one child from killing himself minutes after meeting him?

Still, another part of him felt incredibly vindictive, towards Katsuki, towards the educational system that had allowed this to happen. He knew it felt hypocritical, but at the same time, a rational part of him knew that Midoriya had killed himself not just because of his words, but also because of bullying from school, Katsuki being a prime suspect in all this.

Part of him did wonder, if he had said something different back then, would things have turned out different? Probably. Even if he hadn’t offered One For All, if he had just said that, yes, you don’t need a Quirk to be a Hero, a Quirk isn’t everything when it comes to being a Hero, would Izuku have turned out better? Or would he still have killed himself because of all the bullying he was under. Would Toshinori’s answer really have pushed the boy in the right direction, or would it have only increased the amount of bullying coming from the boy’s classmate in response to his newfound determination?

It was hard to tell, but part of Toshinori felt like if he had just said yes that day, things might have been different.

“...I can’t say this isn’t your fault, but at least, it isn’t yours alone.” Naomasa said, expression glacial as he put together what he was going to tell the U.A Staff. “Nezu and Aizawa should’ve done a better job, you’re just a newbie teacher. Symbol of Peace or not, spotting abuse like that just isn’t your job.”

It was true, while All Might was a Hero, his forte came with inspiring others and beating up people, not spotting hidden abuse like that. Especially not inside an environment where abusers shouldn’t exist.

Nezu sat quietly in his office, the discussion with Detective Tsukauchi had been… Enlightening. Both about Izuku’s threats towards Musutafu at large, and about Katsuki Bakugo’s… less than stellar record. A closer examination of the boy’s file showed a staggering amount of lies and retroactive corrections towards anything that could have ‘blemished’ it, and thus lowered his chances of being accepted into U.A.

It was sickening to see, truly. As an educator, it made the rodent sick to his stomach to see such blatant favoritism and Quirkism displayed. A quick glance at Midoriya’s file showed the complete inverse, making him out to be a nuisance in class, a disturbance, everything to make sure he would sink and be unable to get into any decent school.

Of course, this wasn’t solely Katsuki’s fault there, this was a societal problem at large. Quirkism was something that mostly everyone accepted at some level. Of course, there was a difference between the usual Quirkism and the one shown by extremists, but still. Those with so-called ‘Villainous Quirks’, or those with weaker Quirks, those whose Quirks weren’t ‘flashy’ and ‘exciting’, those without Quirks, there was a social bias against them, even if only subconsciously. To say nothing of those with Mutant Quirks.

It was sad, in a society that called itself ‘Evolved’, to see that socialism hadn’t advanced a single step since two hundred years ago. It was saddening­. Quirk Discrimination was rampant even on a subconscious level, and it seemed the education system (or at least Aldera Junior High) did nothing to prevent such things.

For the first time in quite a while, Nezu felt sumpted. They now had a cause for Midoriya’s actions, or at least his suicide, but that did nothing to explain his actions. Outside of his brutalizing of Katsuki anyways.

It made sense that he would turn to Villainy after what had happened to him, but still, where had he acquired the skills to manufacture a completely new kind of drug, acquire at least two Quirks, and acquire the help of those three women that were following him around. It just didn’t make sense.

Part of him felt like this could all be explained away by throwing All For One under the bus. After all, the Villain could give Quirks, which would explain how Midoriya had survived his fatal meeting with the asphalt that day as well as his newly displayed powers. It would also explain the existence of this new drug, being the byproduct of various Quirks used together to create something else. The women could just be Villains groomed by All For One, or people who had been given Quirks to act as bodyguards of sorts.

Except… There was one glaring issue with this theory.

Izuku and the League of Villains were clearly not allies. Oh, certainly The Dealer had been present during the U.S.J Raid, but he hadn’t exactly helped, if anything he had been a detriment to the Villains, preventing Asui’s death and then all but saving All Might from Shigaraki’s last desperate charge by throwing Kirishima at him.

Then came the most recent incident with the Wild, Wild Pussycats. According to witness testimonies, Izuku and his entourage had killed three of the ten Villains that had attacked the Training Camp under orders of the League of Villains. Both Muscular and Moonfish had been killed by Izuku, and that Laurentina woman had killed the Chainsaw-wielding Nomu and kidnapped Ragdoll for some reason.

It just didn’t make sense for them to be working together, even if the U.S.J was meant to try and hide their relationship by showing antagonism, this was clearly beyond a simple cover up. No, Izuku and All For One were clearly not allies, which meant it made no sense for the man to be providing Izuku with anything.

Unless… Had All For One given Izuku a new Quirk (or Quirks), only for the boy to run away during the U.S.J and form his own group using stolen information from the League of Villains? It would… make some amount of sense, but it still didn’t answer the ‘why’ All For One wouldn’t try and retrieve his failed creation in this case, and where those three women came from.

Then came the problem with Izuku’s claims of being ‘Raven Gael’. From what little Nezu had been able to recover (and good God had it been hard to get even this much), Raven Gael had been an English Business Mogul and Doctor during the 2000s, having been a guest teacher at various Universities around the UK and even the World at times.

According to public records and news clippings he had found from the time, Raven had been married to a woman of Egyptian descent, one Sion Eltnam Sokaris, and they had had a daughter together. Said daughter had left behind three children, who were still alive to this day actually. According to what he knew, Raven and his wife had died under mysterious circumstances surrounding ‘Activities within the English Alps’, whatever that meant.

For some reason, there was no information about anything. No records of events, either digital or paper, no witness testimonies, nothing. It was like… it was like someone had purposefully hidden everything about this event from the public eye!

Except whoever had done that had been even more thorough than the Government, without being the Government. The Pendragon Family had apparently been involved, somehow, but that was all he could find.

Everyone who had participated in this expedition was either dead from it, or had died long ago from old age. All except…

Glancing towards his phone, Nezu suddenly felt an oncoming feeling of dread settle over his shoulders. Somehow, the very notion of uncovering more about this situation made him sick to his stomach for reasons he just couldn’t explain. And he wasn’t the only one. Everyone who he talked to about this also felt sick, as if the very notion of learning more about this mysterious event made someone sick. It was mind boggling!

Steadying his breathing, Nezu picked up his phone and dialed a number, an international one at that, steadily hoping that this wasn’t just some joke number left behind by a particularly malicious individual in hopes of annoying people who were digging into this event.

The sound of his phone ringing almost echoed across his skull, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead as he waited for someone to pick up.

“... Hello? Who is this? ” A tired (not unexpected given the different time zones) voice answered. Undoubtedly feminine in nature, something that made hope well up inside of him. The number was supposed to belong to a woman after all.

“Yes, erm, this is Principal Nezu of U.A High. I’m terribly sorry to be calling you this late, but I’d like to ask you some questions…” Switching to English, Nezu waited with bated breath for the voice to answer, his only potential link to this unsolved mystery from more than two centuries ago.

“ ...How did you get this number? ” Cautiously, the voice answered, prompting Nezu to speak once more.

“Ah, just some digging around. I… I’m looking into an old case you see, and… I require information about someone.” The voice didn’t reply, whispering could be heard just outside the audible range even of his enhanced hearing, causing more sweat to build up on Nezu’s forehead as he waited.

“ ...And who are you looking for? ”

Sighing softly, Nezu double checked the name he had written down on a nearby piece of paper, making sure he wasn’t about to give the wrong name.

“I… I’d like to talk to Mister Leonardo Watson, if possible.”

The voice once more whispered something to someone he couldn’t hear, before the sound of the phone switching hands could be hard, this time a more masculine voice speaking.

“ Oh~ You’re calling quite a bit earlier than I was expecting, but then again, I have gotten quite a bit older so maybe I’m just turning senile. Hahahahah… ” The voice was full of mirth and despite the admission of being old, sounded deceptively young. Swallowing audibly, Nezu opened his mouth to speak, only for someone to stop him. “ Don’t bother asking me anything about Raven, or the events surrounding the English Alps two hundred and fifty years ago. Hero Society isn’t ready to learn about this, and neither are you. ”

Nezu blinked, his throat drying up at extraordinary speeds. Somehow, someway, this man was reading his mind, predicting what he was about to say over the phone from another continent away.

“ Fuahahaha! I’m not reading your mind Nezu, don’t worry. But then again, I don’t need to read your mind to know what you’re thinking about. ” The voice continued, apparently very amused by Nezu’s current state. “ Anyways, I would advise you to stop looking into Raven and the events of two hundred and fifty years ago, but I know telling you that won’t stop you. Instead, hm, I suppose your best bet is to visit a nearby Shrine and hope to talk to the Hime-Miko who lives there. ”

Nezu blinked again. Talking to a Hime-Miko? Why? Before he could ask anything though, the voice spoke up once more.

“ Once you learn what you can from her, then we’ll talk again. Don’t bother calling this number again, or trying to track it, it won’t work. Do what I told you, and then we can have a proper conversation. Goodbye~ ” And suddenly the line went dead, leaving a stumped Nezu to slowly digest what he had learned.

Information he wasn’t ready to learn? What kind of nonsense was that? Was it some kind of government secret? No, then it wouldn’t make sense for a Shrine Maiden of all people to know about it. Did it have to do with the man’s Quirk?

Gulping down some water, Nezu glanced towards the paper containing the man’s phone number and name, only to still when he noticed that all the information on it had been… garbled up. Numbers had been rearranged and mixed together to form nonsense, letters had been scribbled out and written over and over again forming a puddle of ink instead of anything legible.

The only legible thing on the paper was a small message, written in English using a penmanship that wasn’t his. It read;

I know what you are Nezu~ Not everything revolves around Quirks, you know?

Chapter Text

“No amount of words, in any language on Earth past, present, or future, that can explain just how much I hate how all of this makes sense.” So said the Pro-Hero Ragdoll, also known by her real name of Tomoko Shiretoko. Tomoko, after having been kidnapped by the cackling Shark that was Laurentina, had been basically brought up to speed on what was happening.

Not by Laurentina though, but by Izuku himself. After learning of her degree in Psychological Study (which she used in her job as a Rescue Hero to help victims deal with trauma), the apparently reincarnated two hundred and some change Vampire had taken to just… talking with her.

She would be the first to say that the first step to dealing with mental problems was to talk, but she was pretty sure it was an unwritten rule of villainy that you didn’t spill all of your secrets and backstory to the enemy.

Or maybe villains were just different over two centuries ago, who knows (or well, Izuku did but he didn’t really talk about that).

Currently, Tomoko had claimed the plushiest chair in the room that was home to Izuku’s more… tame experiments, with said Alchemist lounging around on a table, using it like a long chair (which couldn’t be comfortable at all but he didn’t seem to be complaining so who was she to judge).

It had been a little over 24 hours since she’d been kidnapped by Laurentina, and after a quick tour of the place by Phoenix, mostly to tell her what she could and couldn’t touch safely (and what would irrevocably destroy her Soul and Body), she had been allowed to roam mostly free inside of the apartment-hideout. Why? She wasn’t sure, but then again, her Quirk didn’t exactly lend itself to physical confrontation, so the idea of her defeating everyone in the building and escaping on her own was laughable.

That and, as Izuku had demonstrated, the only actually way to leave the building was by teleporting out of it, since the doors and windows were all linked together using something he called [Flash Air] , some space bending shenanigans that basically just meant crossing one of these threshold would send her right back to the start, like some sort of nightmare scenario (except the only monster chasing her was Eri asking for hugs).

Honestly, if it weren’t for the knowledge that these people (baring Eri) were villains, you would’ve been hard pressed to convince her that they weren’t just a bunch of dysfunctional people living together.

Unfortunately, she actually did know that they were villains (if the now preserved, severed hand of one Katsuki Bakugo floating innocently inside of a tank nearby wasn’t clear enough), and so she was still on edge. She had been provided a change of clothes by Phoenix, and allowed to basically do anything she wanted (so long as it didn’t kill her anyways).

Hence why she was now listening to Izuku recount his life (and previous life) story.

“You know, the World today isn’t so different than it was in my time. I mean, sure, Quirks are new and all that, but like, for me? It’s all the same thing.” Izuku admitted, lounging on a table he’d cleared of any and all baubles to use as a surface to lounge upon. Why was he talking to Ragdoll about this? Why not, it passed the time, and if anything it just made him feel better to talk to someone about his problems.

Was he concerned that she would babble to the other Pros and the Police if she was rescued? Not really, he had methods to make sure she wouldn’t speak, but even if she did spill, it wasn’t like they could use this information to get back to him. What were they going to do? Track down a bunch of dead people to try and interrogate? Nevermind the fact that most of his old friends (those that were still around) weren’t even heroes to begin with (if anything, most of them had a disdain for the profession, if his conversation with Leonardo had shown anything), so he wasn’t exactly worried.

Tomoko nodded, still a bit taken aback by how… open Izuku was about his past, but nevertheless, she did her ‘job’ and took notes using a borrowed notepad, humming along as he spoke, still trying to process the multiple revelations he was laying upon her.

Truthfully, if it weren’t for the fact that her Quirk, which could be used to show people’s weak point, told her that he was more than two million soul’s worth of people shoved inside of a single spot, she would’ve called bullshit on what he was saying, but considering everything, it was improbable that he was just a delusional kid making stuff up.

“When I was younger, or well, back then I mean, things were just… not that different. I mean, kids were still little shits and all that, racism and sexism and all that shit was normal, ya know? The 1960s, I tell you. Wild times, not at all how those hippies tell you they were.” Let it not be said that hearing about things from two centuries ago from someone who had lived there wasn’t extremely weird. Still… “I mean, even today, kids are still little shits, bullying each other over something stupid like your ‘Quirk’.”

Standing up from his spot on the table, Izuku gestured for Tomoko to follow him, which she did, following him out of the room and into an adjacent one (trying to ignore the ways the doors in this place all seemed to meld together through his usage of spatial displacement bs), ending up inside of a room full of tanks and whatnot.

Each tank was big enough to hold one of those Nomu things, filled with a glowing green-ish liquid, and while most of them were empty, some were filled with various creatures. Each seemingly pulled straight out of a fairy tale, mythical-looking creatures that even Quirks couldn’t fully mimic.

Awe and shock filled her face as she followed Izuku further into the room, being slightly disturbed when she saw some of the tanks filled with individuals, or at least part of them. Before she could ask about them though, Izuku spoke up and explained what this was about.

“Don’t worry, I didn’t kidnap anybody, or well, anyone other than you. Those are Homunculus, artificial humans.” He explained something else she had to wrap her head around. Artificial Humans, not like the Nomus which were (according to him) badly reanimated corpses full of Quirks and ‘shitty gadgets’, but fully fledged artificial humans created from scratch inside of a tank. It was… disturbing, to be confronted with just how expendable humans were to Izuku.

To see that lives really were just numbers for him, because what did it matter if ten, twenty, a hundred humans needed to die for his experiments to bear fruit? He could just grow them in a tank. It didn’t even look like it required all that many resources to do given the amount growing, and if Phoenix, Laurentina, and Melascula were any indications, strength was not something his creations lacked.

Swallowing audibly, Tomoko continued to glance around the room, trying to not look at the half-formed humans growing inside of the tanks, before something caught her attention. There, in an almost central location of the room, stood a tank, though unlike the other ones, this one was much more… complex.

With multiple wires, machines, and tubes connected to it, it looked like it was ripped straight out of a sci-fi movie, even by the standards of this era. Tomoko had never been to I-Island, but she strongly doubted even they had such technology at their disposal. And to think that this was technology created by a man who had lived more than two centuries ago. It was…

Frightening, in a way she didn’t like. It wasn’t the kind of fright she had felt initially, about the kind of person Izuku could have been, or when confronting violence as a Hero. It wasn’t the kind of fear you could just overcome by rationalizing it, by getting stronger or by coming to understand someone. She liked to think that she understood Izuku, if only slightly, that she understood just how completely warped he was as a living being, that he wasn’t innately dangerous, but instead simply outside the Common Sense of regular people.

But this, this fear, it was the fear of the Unknown. Of understanding just how much she didn’t know . Of understanding that, for as much as she knew, as much as she could know, there was still so much she didn’t know , and that, that was frightening.

Already, things that seemed mundane for Izuku, and even Eri, were sending her reeling with how unbelievable they were, and yet she was confronted time and time again with the reality that it was all true.

Such as this, peacefully floating inside of the tank, was a snake-like woman. Covered in nothing but light patches of feathers and scales, sporting a long serpentine tail jutting out of the top of her butt, was a woman. She looked asleep, peacefully so, oblivious to the World around her, to where she was and what she was.

And yet, even asleep as she was, Tomoko couldn’t help but shiver in fright. Something about this woman (if she even was that) simply felt wrong . Instinctively activating her Quirk, Tomoko made sure to not look at the nuclear reactor of things that was Izuku, instead focusing her gaze solely on the woman in the tank, before collapsing to the ground, heaving.

Her Quirk, Search, could be used to gather information about up to 100 individuals, usually their location and weak points, but she could also gather a surface-level amount of information about them. And, this woman, this thing floating in that tank.

She was a monster .

Not like Izuku, who even without looking at her Quirk and instincts screamed at her to avoid , to run away and hide and shiver in fear and hope to God that he wouldn’t find her again.

No, this woman, she awoke some more primal sense of fear, the knowledge that, whatever Tomoko did, this woman, she would, she would-

She would know, and overpower anything .

Seeing her reaction to his creation, Izuku laughed a bit, giving Tomoko some time to gather her wit and deactivate her Quirk, stabilizing slightly, even handing her a bottle of water he Flashed over to them.

“Incomprehensible isn’t she?” He started, gazing with unbridled pride towards the creature floating inside of the tank, a large grin threatening to split his face in half. “This, is the culmination of my research, of my life both past and present. One of my greatest creations!”

Tomoko, having recovered slightly from the ordeal, gazed back towards Izuku in horror as he began describing the thing in the tank. Words failed to leave her flapping mouth despite her intents to speak, instead being left to simply look and listen.

“Tell me Miss Shiretoko, what is a Quirk? Is it just a jumble of proteins strung together according to one’s DNA? Of course not! A Quirk is a part of an individual after all, whether it is a Mutant, Emitter, or Transformation Type Quirk, all Quirks leave their mark on their wielders.” Izuku spoke unhindered, a deranged look etching itself onto his face as he spoke, yet his grin never wavering. “But tell me, does a Quirk influence its user? Can a Quirk, by its sole existence, cause its user to change? Would Katsuki still be as he is, if all we changed was the nature of his Quirk? If, instead of Explosion, he had been born with an Ice Quirk? His upbringing would remain the same, yet his Quirk different.”

It was an interesting question, one still posed to this day within the field of education and psychology. Did one’s Quirk dictate how they were? Aside from those possessing Animal-like Quirks being granted Animal-like instincts, did someone with a Fire Quirk innately possess the desire to light stuff on fire? Did someone with a Blood Quirk innately possess the desire to watch either themselves or others bleed? It was a difficult thing to answer, but the leading theory was that yes, Quirks did influence someone’s personality at least somewhat.

Undeterred by the lack of answer from Tomoko, not that he was looking for any, Izuku continued speaking.

“And so tell me then, what is ‘GOD’?” She blinked, God? As in, the Biblical God? Or something else? “What is a ‘God’? Is it someone like All Might, unrivaled and unchallenged in might, or is it someone unfathomably old and wise?” He paused to breathe a bit, before continuing on. “For most people, a God is someone possessing these traits, but for me, for a Magus, a God is something much more.”

Opening his arms, Izuku turned to face her, somehow looking even more imposing than his diminutive, childish frame should allow for. Lights flickered, shadows gathering almost like a cape at his shoulders. Suddenly he wasn’t 14 anymore, but 30, no, 50, no 70, he was an adult, someone old in only the way experience could do, wise and unflinching, with no hesitation in his path. And, in a way, she was reminded of All Might, of Endeavor, of those few people who could, unflinchingly recount their desires. Who, without even having to think about it, could admit to what they wanted, to what they would do to get there, and execute their actions without hesitation.

It was horrifying to see up close like this, from someone like Izuku, like this monster in front of her.

“A God, Miss Shiretoko, is someone endowed with an Authority! An Authority granting absolute dominion over a certain function of the World. And so tell me, what is a God in this era?” His grin widened along with her eyes as she slowly pieced together what he was saying. No, he couldn’t-

“That’s right! A God, in this era, is someone who has unchallenged control over Quirks!”

Incomprehensible, she, ah-

“Isn’t that completely stupid!? It’s foolish, idiotic, incomprehensible! A God, something like that, who would be bound by something so restrictive as a Quirk!” He ranted, almost as if he were complaining about someone, and horrifyingly, Tomoko realized that he was ranting about someone he knew. “Quirks are nothing more than the Mysteries of a New Age, still developing and growing! Someone calling themselves the ‘God of the New Era’, bah! Don’t make me laugh! The World is much too big for something like that!”

Gesturing towards the thing in the tank, Izuku’s grin returned tenfold.

“This! This will be my Godkiller! If this so-called God of the New Era is as powerful as he claims to be, then this will be my champion! The champion of the Last Era!” She couldn’t wrap her head around what he was saying. The Last Era? Wouldn’t that be… the Age of Man? Where…

Her eyes widened once more, her throat drying out despite the water she was consuming.

“That’s right, this creation, this Homunculus, is a proper Divinity. Or well, as proper as I could make her anyways.” He explained, calming down slightly, yet the crazed look in his eyes never vanished. “Possessing a Divine Core and endowed with proper Authorities, this is my greatest creation yet, a Divine Vessel created using the remnants of a God created from my journey with Chaldea.”

By using the data he had collected with Chaldea, he had been able to alchemically recreate all the materials he required to create this thing. It hadn’t been easy, but considering what Quirks could do, when coupled with his Magecraft, he had been able to do something that should have been impossible even by the standards of his Era, and yet, even by that time he had been non-standard.

A Dead Apostle less than a hundred years of age, yet possessing a Soul from the Age of Gods, having traveled through time with Chaldea and endowed with the knowledge of Atlas. He was a monster even amongst the Grand of his era.

“Watch Miss Shiretoko, the Flying Serpent returned from Venus. I call her, hmm, yes, Ho’olheyak, the Kukulkan of Yesterday!” As he spoke, Tomoko watched in horror as the creature, the Flying Serpent, opened her eyes, glancing for the first time at the World she had been brought into.

Naomasa Tsukauchi signed for the hundredth time today, a corkboard full of notes, newspaper clippings, and other such documents strung together using red twine standing before him as he attempted to unravel the mess that was Izuku Midoriya and his backstory.

Nezu had shared his… encounter with the ‘Phone Man’, one Leonardo Watson of England, which had elucidated just about nothing in this case. If anything, it had only opened more questions.

Some quick research into this Leonardo character had revealed a plethora of more questions, such as how the fuck he was still alive after more than two centuries of life . From the era of this Raven Gael as it were. According to records they had been close friends, which explained why Nezu had contacted him, but didn’t explain how the man seemed so… knowledgeable about everything currently happening inside of Japan. That was without considering the fact that they were more than two continents apart given that the man lived in England still.

Something just didn’t add up here, Leonardo had told them to visit the local shrine to ask some questions, and they did, only to be met with more questions than answers. The local shrine maiden, a woman by the name of Rie, had been anything but helpful. Or maybe she had been too helpful? It was hard to tell.

Especially since his Quirk, Lie Detector, didn’t seem to work on the woman. Whatever she said, he couldn’t tell if she was saying the truth or not. According to her, it was just one of her powers (not her Quirk since apparently she was Quirkless).

According to her, the affairs of the Moonlit World should stay the affairs of the Moonlit World, whatever this ‘Moonlit World’ was. She had confirmed that Izuku (or Old Man Raven as she called him) was indeed Quirkless, and was actually a Vampire (or a ‘Dead Apostle’ as she insisted they refer to him as), which explained nothing.

According to her, their best bet was simply to negotiate with him and try to work something out, confidently stating that not even All Might could beat him in a straight fight. Normally he would’ve scoffed at her claims, but after hearing her belittle All For One the way she had, it was hard not to at least put some credence into her claims.

As she put it, they were starting to meddle with things well outside their understanding, and unfortunately for All For One, he had threaded one step too far out of line, somehow.

It didn’t make sense, All For One was (as much as he disliked saying it), the Modern Day Demon, the Quirk Boogeyman which made the governments of the World quiver in fear. So then, why were government officials quivering in their boots now that they knew who it was they were now confronting?

Before he could spiral down any further, a knock at the door caused Tsukauchi to jump. It was late after all, too late for whoever was knocking to be a newbie, or someone who didn’t know him well enough to just enter the room without asking.

Swallowing audibly, the detective carefully un-holstered his firearm and held it steady as he opened the door. Fortunately, or unfortunately, for Tsukauchi, the person standing at the door was someone he would rather not have met in person.

Clad in a full (expensive) suit, wearing square spectacles, and sporting an easy going smile, was a ghost of the past (literally). One Leonardo Watson, who had somehow entered the Police Station without triggering any alarms, without any records of him ever leaving England (or at least entering any Japanese Airports). No, instead, this literal ghost from the past was standing in front of the detective, unconcerned for the firearm pointed at him. Instead, he simply lifted a large packet of papers, handing them to Tsukauchi.

“Detective, as I agreed with Nezu, now that you are all aware of the consequences for your curiosity, you are free to learn as much as you want.” The ghost explained, crossing his arms behind his back. “And please, put that peashooter away before you hurt yourself. You certainly won’t be harming me with it.”

Taken aback by the confidence in the man’s words, Tsukauchi made no move to holster his firearm, if anything he redoubled his grip on it, clenching his teeth and hands (both around his gun and around the packet of paper Leonardo had given him).

Sighing a bit, the Englishman grabbed the detective’s hand and, in a move that both confused and horrified the detective, pushed the trigger.

A gunshot echoed through the mostly empty police station as Tsukauchi watched, bewildered, as the bullet failed to penetrate both skin and cloth, Leonardo’s suit jacket being unharmed from the gunshot.

Grinning at the detective, the ghost spoke up once more.

“Remember Mister Tsukauchi, Mysteries cannot be harmed with the weapons of Man.” Blinking, Tsukauchi was once more alone, the only signs that Leonardo had actually been here being the file in his hand, and the fact that his firearm was missing one bullet. Everything else was as it had been before he had opened the door.

Dropping into his chair like a sack of rocks, Tsukauchi quickly hit one of his speed dials, calling up All Might to get him and Nezu here as quickly as they could get here. As he did so, he began to thumb through the absurdly large file sitting ominously on his desk, the title alone marking this file as ‘Incredibly Important’.

After all, it wasn’t every day someone came to your door and handed you secret government files, especially not if it was files from your government.

“‘The Moonlit World’... This again…?”

All For One, the Quirk Boogeyman, the Devil of the Modern Era, frowned (or well, as much as he could given the current state of his face).

Nothing was going to plan anymore, not since the rise of The Dealer, Izuku Midoriya. He knew who the child was, of course, a Quirkless boy from Musutafu who wanted to be a Hero, only to kill himself, somehow survive, and take his life in the complete opposite direction, using technology and power that shouldn’t exist.

To say he was annoyed wouldn’t properly cover it. He was seething . A century's worth of planning, almost wasted. Tomura had almost been sent into shock by his last encounter with the Midoriya Boy, forcing the doctor and himself to perform extensive memory manipulation using various Quirks to try and stitch his mental state back together (or well, back to a satisfactory ‘together’ anyways).

In all his years of life, All For One had never been this stumped, even when dealing with the wielders of One For All. Arguably, even his defeat at the hands of Yagi Toshinori hadn’t been this… problematic. Certainly he was now in the worst state he had ever been, but even that was something he was slowly recovering from (especially given his plans for Tomura).

But this, this was completely unplanned for. Izuku Midoriya was doing things, counteracting All For One’s carefully laid out plans at every corner. First it was the U.S.J Raid, which hadn’t been that bad all things considered, but after that it was that Laurentina woman.

He could tell that she had multiple Quirks even without having met her, it was the only thing that explained her powers. This meant, this meant-

Izuku Midoriya was mocking him.

The doctor had been almost inconsolable after news of the Shark Woman’s many exploits had reached him (nevermind the fact that most of those exploits revolved around destroying their resources). A being containing multiple Quirks with no drawbacks? It was almost inconceivable, only two beings had this ability, and arguably Gigantomachia had multiple mental problems from the ordeal.

Only All For One should be able to do this! Not even the Doctor could produce Nomus this efficient and powerful, at least not yet, the High-End Project was still in development after all.

Meaning that this child, Izuku Midoriya, had somehow managed to do the impossible, something even All For One and his faithful servants hadn’t been able to do in over a hundred years.

It was infuriating. Especially when he unveiled that second one, Phoenix he called her. Another ‘High End Nomu’ as the Doctor called her. And then, during the Training Camp Raid, he had unveiled a third one, this one with a Quirk that was arguably more powerful than Kurogiri’s a Nomu with a Warp Quirk that could target a specific individual (or at least the area surrounding them).

It was inconceivable, infuriating, it was- There weren’t enough words in any human or animal languages to express just how angry and seething All For One was, despite his stone cold facade as he watched the Doctor all but froth at the mouth as he saw a brat all but surpass his creations.

But no more. One of his moles inside the police had informed him of Izuku’s threats towards Musutafu, and of the little game he wanted to ‘play’ with the police. And this time, All For One intended on being the one to crash the party.

Gathering all the Nomus they could spare, All For One informed Tomura of his new mission, which the child gleefully accepted. After all, what better way to get back at Izuku than by killing him and stealing his stuff?

Yes, he thought, this would go wonderfully.

Izuku grinned as he watched the unconscious Tomoko in front of him. A light spell kept her unconscious as he slowly forced a Geis upon her, nothing too serious, but enough to prevent her from spilling his secrets to the police and whatnot.

His preparations were almost done, his stuff had been mostly moved out by Melascula, barring a few things. Chief amongst them was Ho’olheyak, who was sitting cheerfully at his side, watching the microwave spin and spin around as her meal, some instant garbage, slowly cooked.

To say he was pleased with her creation would be an understatement, even if she did have some strange fascination with microwaves for some reason (he decided to spare his sanity and not think too much on it).

Besides him sat a suitcase, unassuming in form, it held arguably his greatest asset in this fight (barring himself and his creations anyways). Eri was being kept in a safe location with Melascula, while Laurentina and Phoenix were carefully preparing themselves for battle.

“It’s almost time, if my calculations are correct, the police and the Pros will enter the building in five minutes, and the League of Villains will enter three minutes after… We just have to keep them busy for five minutes, so this can activate.” He said, recounting the plan to his creations, watching as they all nodded, Laurentina looking very excited for battle, Phoenix being determined as ever if somewhat tired, and Ho’olheyak just being happy to watch the microwave do its thing, seemingly uncaring for the humans she was about to ‘fight’.

“Let’s see, Lemillion, have you found your determination yet, I wonder?” Mirth permeated his voice as he spoke, taking out Harbinger and waiting for the fun to begin.

Soon.

Chapter Text

Izuku smiled, carefully eyeing his watch as he watched the seconds tick by. His plan was ready, his people in place, and his bomb ready to detonate.

The plan was actually quite simple, it didn’t need to be any more complicated than it already was. Ho’olheyak would deal with the Pro-Heroes and the Police, while a hoard of Zetsu Clones would corner the League of Villains and slow their progress long enough for Ho’olheyak to get ready and deal with them too. Of course, he didn’t think she could deal with the Pros that quickly, but that wasn’t the point anyways.

She was more than enough to deal with anything the Pros or the League sent at her after all, it wasn’t like a modern human had any chance fighting against someone holding a Divine Core, however fake it was (and he’d be damned if it wasn’t a darn good fake at that).

If he had to give her a rank, he would say Ho’olheyak held a Divinity of D or C Rank, lower than even a Demigod, but much higher than anything born in this age had any business having.

As for Laurentina, her job was to deal with Mirio. Of course, he didn’t want her to kill him, but instead simply to test him. After all, to reach the final boss you had to encounter a few roadblocks here and there, and what better roadblock than Laurentina?

As for him and Phoenix? Well, they had a meeting to attend. A few months ago he had met (through a TV screen but still) All For One, now it was time to properly meet the man, and probably kill him.

Unfortunately for the Quirk Boogeyman, he had meddled with affairs outside of his understanding, and in doing so had bugged quite a few people. With hands in more pies than most grandmothers baked yearly, All For One had bothered his fair share of people all over the World, and unfortunately for him, that included England.

“The Pros should be here in three.” Izuku started, counting down the seconds before the main door would be busted down. He was good at predicting the future after all, perhaps way too good, but oh well, it was fun to mess with people at times.

“Two.” Phoenix fastened her rifle case over her shoulder, the large metallic box being just shy of her height, her incredible strength the only reason she could carry it so easily.

“One.” Laurentina hefted her weapon, this time bladeless, ready to strike at Mirio and separate him from the others.

“Zero-” The door exploded inwards, sending shards of wood and plaster everywhere.

Mirai Sasaki felt a pit form in his stomach. Despite being surrounded by powerful Pros, including both not limited to, All Might, Endeavor, Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Hawks, Eraserhead, and quite a few more people, he still couldn’t shake the feeling that something horrifically bad was going to happen.

Fortunately he had been able to bring Mirio with him, One For All’s Successor being almost indispensable given his knowledge of Laurentina’s fighting style even if they had only clashed once. Unfortunately, the boy was still riddled with questions, questions that neither he nor All Might could answer, something that greatly bothered Mirai.

While he had initially approached Mirio as nothing more than a candidate to receive One For All, he had quickly grown quite attached to the boy, enough so that seeing him so… quiet was somewhat distressing to the Future Sight Hero.

Still, he couldn’t answer Mirio’s question for him, the boy would have to reach his answers on his own.

“Alright people, get ready, we’re entering in T-10 minutes!” Detective Tsukauchi called out, looking a lot more haggard than anyone had seen him in a long time. It was as if the man hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in quite awhile.

Before he could ponder the situation anymore, the detective stealthily gestured for Mirai and a few other people to join him in another room.

Confused, Mirai still followed, spying both Eraserhead and All Might also following, alongside a few other Pros, all of them entering a nearby room that had been cleared out for this raid. The insides of the room looked… concerning, to say the least.

Papers covered quite literally every available surface (yes, including the ceiling), those placed on actual usable surfaces were usually in stacks, while others simply hung loosely from a corkboard or a sticker. If that wasn’t concerning enough, a simple glance around the room revealed that some papers were full of occult symbols and whatnot.

“Please don’t tell me you did a tarot card reading and determined we were all going to die?” Always lacking in tact, Eraserhead dryly put into words the general feeling permeating the room as various heroes entered the room, each of them trying not to stand too close to anything on the floor for fear of disturbing the ADD-esque peace of the chaos enclosed within the room.

Giving a mirthless chuckle, Tsukauchi pulled himself a chair and gestured for each of them to find a seat and sit, or just stand and listen.

“I wish honestly, that would’ve been easier to explain than… this .” He said, gesturing around the room as if to empathize just how obsessive this all looked, and honestly even for a detective, this kind of behavior was concerning. “No, what I’m about to reveal to you all is… it’s something that’s been hidden from the general public for over two millennia.”

Tsukauchi took a moment to breathe, watching as his words slowly sunk into everyone present in the room, most of them slowly starting to believe that the detective had truly lost his marble, but given the gravitas of the situation (they were about to go on a raid after all) and the seriousness on the detective’s face, it was hard not to take this at least somewhat seriously.

“This has to do with the entire villain group we’re about to bust, but mainly deals with Izuku Midoriya, our main villain here.” Tsukauchi began, taking a nearby stack of paper, thumbing through it, and passing it along to the nearest person, who took a copy and passed it along. “The information in this file contains both his current and past information, and honestly, it’s not looking good.”

Intrigued, Mirai took a peek inside of his packet, thumbing through it himself. Everything was mostly standard, his name, birthdate, previous residences, except… This file was much too big for a fourteen years old child.

And, after thumbing through four or so pages, Mirai quickly discovered why. Attached to Izuku Midoriya’s profile, was another file, this one about a named ‘Raven Gael’. Previous residence, ‘somewhere in England’, birthdate ‘sometime during the 1900s’... Date of death ‘sometime during the late 2030s’.

“...Is this some kind of joke?” Eraserhead asked, sending the detective a glare, clearly not amused by the seemingly unrelated information, and truthfully, while he did think Eraserhead lacked tact, Mirai did think this additional information was unrelated to anything current. After all, this Englishman lived more than two centuries ago, before Quirks were even a thing. It was impossible that he had any type of Longevity Quirk, and even if he did, how did he relate to Izuku Midoriya?

Sighing deeply, Tsukauchi turned to the last page, gesturing for all of them to do the same. This one lacked the same professional look of the previous ones, being a copy of a handwritten page, scribbles by the look of it, Tsukauchi’s scribbles. Quirking an eyebrow, Tsukauchi began speaking again before Mirai could question him again.

“After some research into Izuku Midoriya, me and Nezu have been able to use information gathered by Mirio Togata to link Izuku to this Raven person.” Mirai blinked at that, right, Mirio had mentioned this ‘Raven’ person previously, from his ‘dinner date’ with Izuku if he remembered correctly. “As it were… All evidence points towards Izuku being this man’s Reincarnation.”

Silence permeated the room as everyone collectively blinked, leaning in towards Tsukauchi like students waiting for their teacher to tell them just why this information was relevant. In response, Tsukauchi blinked, before facepalming. Right, he had to explain why this was important.

“Me and Nezu conducted some research into this Raven character, and what we found was, well, Superpowers aren’t as new as we originally thought they were.” Shock permeated the room, but apparently Tsukauchi stopped for no one, bulldozing through any attempts to question him. “To make this brief, Raven, Izuku, whatever we call him, is a Mage from more than two hundred and fifty years ago, reincarnated into this day and age with all of his powers.”

“...Alright, so let’s say Magic really is real-” “It’s Magecraft actually.” “...Right, Magecraft , whatever. Let’s say this is actually real and you haven’t just lost your damn mind, why is this relevant?” Eraserhead, once more, made a good point. While this was concerning on many levels (especially with Tsukauchi’s current mental state), this information didn’t exactly seem relevant. So what if their target was supposedly a man from over two centuries ago? It wasn’t like he had a giant collection of Quirks he could just use whenever he wanted like All For One could.

Agitatedly passing his hand through his hair, Tsukauchi answered back, this point gesturing towards a particular line written amongst his scribbles.

“Because he’s also a fucking Super Vampire, that’s the easy way of going about it, and he might be highly resistant if not immune to the effects of Quirks. Not to say that Erasure won’t work on his Magecraft.” The frazzled detective all but screamed out, having apparently reached the limits of his remaining sanity.

“...Ah, that might be bad.” Everyone turned to look at All Might (Small Form), before the information fully processed for Mirai (and seemingly everyone else in the room). ‘Highly Resistant or Immune to Quirks’, was this true? And if so, how far did this extend to? Would his Foresight still work? And, if not, would All Might still be able to punch Izuku?

Before they could question the detective any further, he abruptly stood up, glancing towards his vibrating watch.

“Time’s up, we’ve got a raid to do.” As he walked towards the door, he briefly stopped, fetching a nearby canister of something before placing it inside of his coat, glancing back towards the other Pros. “My advice is this, don’t try to confront Midoriya if you can, unless All Might or Mirio is with you. I don’t know how strong he is, just that he might be more dangerous than All For One.”

With these ominous words, the detective left, prompting everyone else to scramble out of their chair and follow after him, his final words echoing through them all as Mirai discreetly filled Mirio in with the additional information Tsukauchi had given them, using the final few moments of peace to try and fully read through the entire file, even if most of the information didn’t give them any details on Izuku’s actual powers.

Cryokinesis, Pyrokinesis, Suspected Spatial Warping, Suspected Memory Manipulation, Suspected Super Strength, Suspected Super Regeneration, Suspected Resistance/Immunity to Quirks, the list went on and on and on, detailing the basic powers and weaknesses of these ‘Dead Apostles’. Honestly it all sounded so… surreal. Despite the appearance of Superpowers over a century ago, most Quirks followed general rules, but this… this just surpassed everything currently known, at least to the general public. If this was real… to think that this had managed to stay hidden from the general public for over two millennia. It was.. frightening to say the least.

Before he knew it, Mirai was standing in front of the door that would, hopefully, lead to Izuku Midoriya and his crew, so they could be taken into custody, thought a cynical part of Mirai whispered that, if he truly was this power, then taking him into custody would be almost as easy as taking All For One into custody, if not harder.

Still, they had All Might and Mirio, so maybe…

“My! You guys really are on time! Amazing!” Izuku exclaimed, batting away the few shards of debris that got too close to him using the back of his hand, as if brushing lint of his shoulder.

Before him stood a veritable motley crew of Pro-Heroes and Police Officers. From his spot he could spy All Might, Endeavor, Eraserhead, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and there probably were a few others hiding among the police force.

“Welcome, welcome! I assume you’re all here for Miss Shiretoko?” Gesturing towards the passed out Ragdoll at his side, Izuku grinned as he spotted Tiger amongst the crowd, the cat-themed Hero stiffening up at the sight of his unconscious friend. “Now don’t worry, she’s completely unharmed, outside of maybe a fear of overenthusiastic children.”

Tomoko had been treated quite well during her stay with them, unfortunately Eri had been a bit too happy to see the cat themed hero, which had prompted her to all but harass the woman for hugs and to watch Disney movies over and over again. If that didn’t cause you to develop trauma then he wasn’t sure what would.

Anyways~

“This here is the bomb I warned you about, careful now, a stray shot might just detonate it~” He continued, gesturing towards the suitcase at his feet, still as unassuming as ever. Unfortunately, being unassuming didn’t mean it wasn’t highly dangerous, so the police (and the trigger happy Endeavor) couldn’t just open fire, at least not if they wanted to avoid detonating the potentially city-destroying explosive.

“Now, if you’ll all be good, we just need to wait a few more seconds, five-”

The Pros and the Police stiffened up as Izuku started counting down, looking at his watch with interest.

“Four-” Some of the officers started training their sight on his head, preparing to kill him before he could do… whatever it was he was counting down for.

“Three-” Tension rose within the Heroes as each of them began evaluating what they could do to prevent the explosive from going off, with most of them coming up empty. There was no reason to assume killing Izuku would stop it from detonating, meaning they would have to deal with the thing itself to prevent an explosion. Unfortunately, no one had a Warp Quirk that could be used to just send the thing away.

“Two-” The officers tensed, fingers at the ready.

“One-” Something exploded, but it wasn’t the bomb. Instead, another wall burst open, revealing the tell-tale brain-exploded head of a Nomu, of multiple Nomus actually. Dozens of Nomus burst through the wall, with members of the League of Villains (including one barely recovered Tomura Shigaraki) following behind. Tomura, despite the hand covering his face, looked blazingly furious, all but frothing at the mouth as he glared at Izuku’s grinning form. Some of the Nomus were covered in some greenish fluid, with others holding the severed bodies of pasty white androgynous-like creatures, probably Izuku’s attempts to slow them down.

“And you’re also on time! Good! Now, as much as I’d love to stick around, I have a meeting to attend. Toodles~” Giving a mocking wave, Izuku flicked away all of the bullets shot at him from the Officer’s semi-automatic rifles, Laurentina jumping towards Mirio with her (bladeless) weapon held up high, ramming into him and dragging him down to a lower floor. Mirio, who would normally have avoided the strike, held his ground to protect the officers standing behind him, taking the blow and falling to one of the lower floors.

As all this was happening, Izuku took this time to kick the suitcase at his feet before jumping out of the room, Phoenix following right after him.

All Might and Gran Torino went to follow after him, only to be intercepted by Ho-olheyak, the snake woman giving them a wide grin worthy of her snake heritage, her tail lashing out and nailing Gran Torino straight in the stomach, sending him flying back, while she used her deceptively lean arms to hold All Might at bay.

This was all everyone needed to see to jump into action, some jumping towards the bomb to try and deactivate it, while others jumped towards the snake woman who was somehow easily keeping up with All Might, and others even tried to follow Izuku and Phoenix.

Unfortunately for all of them, the bomb chose this moment to detonate, a large, white dome expanding out of the suitcase and easily enveloping the whole building before just… stopping.

The dome held for a few more seconds before disappearing just as quickly as it had appeared, leaving seemingly no casualties behind, or anybody for that matter. Indeed, everyone who had been caught within the blast radius was just… gone. No one could reach them, the various officers charged with coordinating this operation scrambled to try and get in contact with anyone to no avail.

All they could tell was that, no one was dead, since the equipment still registered as ‘Active’, just… it was impossible to connect to anything, as if-

“I- It’s like they were teleported somewhere else!”

Black, followed by a large flash of white, that was all Mirio could see as he desperately tried to ward off Laurentina’s attacks. To say he had been surprised by the Shark Woman’s seeming infatuation with him would be a lie, he had seen the way she had looked at him during the Sports Festival and during their ‘dinner date’ together, the way she had called him ‘Big Brother’, it only made sense that she would target him out of everyone there.

And yet, when she appeared fully unconcerned with the obvious explosion (what else would that white thing be after all), all he could do was tense up and hope that Sir and All Might had gotten to safety.

Until, he hadn’t felt any pain. Despite being hit by this expanding white dome, Mirio felt no pain, no burning sensation, no nothing. Had he accidentally slipped through the dome? No, that couldn’t be, he could hear a faint breeze flowing around him, which wouldn’t be happening if he were using his Quirk to avoid an explosion, meaning-

“Don’t worry, you aren’t dead Big Brother, at least not yet!” Laurentina’s cackling voice brought him back to reality, causing his eyes to go wide as he glanced around him. No longer were they inside of an abandoned building, instead they were-

“A- How did we get here?” Mirio almost couldn’t believe his eyes, they were standing in the middle of a field. At first he thought this was some kind of illusion, yet the breeze, the smell of the flowers, the sun, everything just felt too ‘real’ to be just an illusion. Teleportation? Maybe, according to the intel they had, Izuku had someone with a Warp Quirk on his side, a Quirk that activated with a ray of light.

Pushing the button on his ear piece, Mirio blinked as all that met him was static. This… This wasn’t what was supposed to happen if he were out of range.

“W- Where are we?” He asked, trepidation lacing his voice as the cackling Shark discarded her bladeless weapon, the large metal staff hitting the ground with a heavy thud, leaving an indent on the dirt and a cloud of dust.

“Where are we? That’s a good question! Lemme answer that for you, we’re inside a-”

“We are currently inside of an Artificial Reality Marble generated by the suitcase!” Ho’olheyak cackled, batting away another officer and bending his rifle in half. Already she had dealt with most of the mooks, be they Nomus or Officers. The Nomus were killed, while the officers were merely brutally sent to ‘sleep’. Some might die from their injuries of course, but the majority would hopefully recover given enough time.

As for the Pros and the League of Villains? Well, they were in bad shape. Of the Pro Heroes, only All Might, Sir Nighteye, Endeavor, Hawks, Best Jeanist, Gran Torino, and Eraserhead were still awake, with most of them having to juggle dealing with her and the League of Villains.

Speaking of the League of Villains, they were unfortunately much too busy trying to not get too roughed up by the Pros to deal with her, their Nomus having lasted a disappointingly short amount of time against her supernatural strength and speed. Most of them were still conscious, but roughed up badly.

A shout of DETROIT SMASH! alerted her to another one of All Might’s attacks. Why shout at the top of your lungs when you could be stealthy, she would never know, but then again if Laurentina was to be believed, then All Might was actually something called a ‘Himbo’, whatever that was.

“Stop that, shouting at me won’t get you anywhere.” Smacking the Symbol of Peace away with as much dignity as she gave the deceased Nomus, Ho’olheyak (or simply Hool) continued dancing her way around the various Pros assaulting her. Best Jeanist (again, strange name but compared to his attire she wasn’t sure which was stranger) was the most useless in this situation. According to the information ATHENA was providing her (thanks to the mindlink she had with the Supercomputer), his Quirk was called ‘Fiber Master’ and had to do with manipulating fibers of all kinds, with denim being the best and easiest for him to use.

That certainly explained the… eccentric outfit, but unfortunately for him, her outfit didn’t fall under the category of ‘controllable’ by his Quirk, leaving him with precious little he could use against her. To say nothing of the fact that regular fibers wouldn’t help him against her. So instead, he was relegated to dealing with the League of Villains, trying to arrest them to the best of his abilities despite their Quirks being a nuisance.

Despite being a ragtag group of misfits, Hool was ready to give this League of Villain a B for Teamwork, they covered each other quite well, enough that whenever one of them would get in a tight spot, another one would pop out to cover them.

Eraserhead was also relegated to dealing with the League, what with his Quirk being completely useless against her (not like she had done anything but fight hand to hand yet anyways), and instead of trying for a repeat of the U.S.J, he had instead opted to backup Best Jeanist.

This left Sir Nighteye, Gran Torino, All Might, Endeavor, and Hawks for her to fight. Outside of All Might however, they were all being dealt with quite easily, much to Endeavor’s fury.

Flashing the Flame Hero a cocky smile, she blew him a raspberry and stuck her tongue out at him with all the maturity a Divine like her should have, avoiding another one of Gran Torino’s hits. The old man was moving quickly, for a regular human anyways. Slapping him aside, she threw a kick at Sir Nighteye, who managed to avoid the brunt of the hit using his copious amount of experience, unfortunately his Quirk wasn’t working on her, meaning he couldn’t actually read her future (not that it would do him much good).

“You weren’t in the debriefing! Did Midoriya recruit you in secret?” Sir Nighteye asked, throwing some of his High Density Seals at her, only for her to snatch them out of the air and carelessly throw them towards Gran Torino, their velocity and speed much higher now that she was the one throwing, nailing the old man straight in the head and sending him flying into a nearby tree, the lush field they were fighting in being filled with some light vegetation.

Hiding inside of a nearby bush, she could spot Detective Tsukauchi reading through a notepad full of scribbles, her Divine Perception informing her of its content, causing her to snicker a bit. All of these notes on her creator, and yet no way to defeat him outside of ‘maybe All Might’. How saddening.

“Not quite, I suppose you could say he created me quite recently!” She replied, sending a brutal tail strike at Sir’s midsection, the speed and velocity of the blow being too much for the sharply dressed man to avoid, narrowly escaping some broken ribs when All Might jumped in the way of her strike, taking the strike instead.

The air over her warmed up, warning her that Endeavor was doing something. Jumping back a few paces, she avoided one of his fireballs, his furious glare meeting her cocky one as she used her long legs to jump, meeting him in the sky and punching him in the face, the flames covering his face not leaving a single wound on her skin.

Apparently thinking she was defenseless in the air, Hawks swooped in to try and hit her, sending some of his feathers her way for an omnidirectional attack.

Having grown tired of this little charade, Hool inhaled sharply, exhaling out a veritable torrent of green fire, burning all of Hawk’s feathers as the winged hero sharply rose into the sky, regaining altitude and avoiding being turned into a burnt chicken nugget.

“This has been fun and all, but I’ve grown tired of dealing with your ants!” Jetting towards Hawks, kicking off the air to do so, she brute forced her way through his feeble defense and nailing him in the gut, the tell-tale sound of ribs turning to dust echoing out as she sent him caroling towards the ground, All Might having to jump in once more to stop the unconscious and grievously injured hero from taking any more damage from a horrible collision with the ground.

Switching targets to Sir Nighteye, Hool flashed the horrified hero a menacing grin, her snake-like features showing prominently as she did so, using her Divine Speed to outmatch even the oncoming Gran Torino, the old Pro having seemingly regained consciousness and was now trying to intercept her. Unfortunately for him, she was just too fast for him, easily avoiding him and reaching Sir Nighteye unhindered.

“Bringing anyone other than All Might here was a mistake~ Fortunately, I don’t really care about killing you so-called Heroes, so~” Nailing the Future Sight Hero right in the solar plexus, she felt some of his ribs give out, sending him right into Hypnos’ embrace. Crouching to avoid another one of Gran Torino’s attacks, she whipped her tail around, catching the old timer and sending him back into the ground, the dirt cratering from the impact and finally dealing with the old Pro, leaving her with only All Might and Endeavor to deal with, assuming Eraserhead and Best Jeanist kept their distances anyways.

On their end, both Eraserhead and Best Jeanist were horrified at the speed at which this unknown snake woman dispatched the legion of Nomus, Police Officers, and Pros sent after her. While they were stuck dealing with the League of Villains, because they were useless against her, the others were being struck down like flies. They could only hope that her claims of using non-killing hits against them were real, and that they wouldn’t end up like the Nomus.

Avoiding another blast from Endeavor, Hool shot her own fireball at the Pro, watching as he countered her green flames with his own. Gritting his teeth, Endeavor raised his internal temperature to unleash his Ultimate Move. This fight had been going too badly to keep holding back!

“ FLASHFIRE FIST! JET BURN! ” Compressing the incredible amount of fire his Quirk generated, Endeavor fired one of his Ultimate Moves towards the annoying snake woman who, to his horror, simply batted the attack away with her bare hands.

“So, this is an Ultimate Move huh? I like it~” Giving a smile that showed way too many teeth, Hool manifested her own flames in preparation for an attack. “ Xiuhcoatl! ” Generating her own attack, the Flying Serpent took flight, wings of flames and feathers taking form behind her and taking her high into the sky, before abruptly changing course downward, a stream of green flames becoming a prelude to the piledriver she was aiming towards the Number 2 Pro-Hero.

Endeavor, undeterred and too slow to even consider dodging the high speed piledriver, instead decided to clash with it, gathering even more flames and using his greatest Ultimate Move, uncaring for his health as his skin began to sizzle from the heat he was emitting.

Such was the heat he was emitting that his flames turned blue, almost reminiscent of his late son’s Toya, a large ball of fire manifesting in-between his hands as he held it out towards the approaching snake woman, screaming out the name of his attack with all the air left in his lungs.

“ FLASHFIRE FIST! PROMINENCE BURN! ” A deluge of Hellflame erupted from his entire body, blue flames clashing against green flames, trying to ascend further and further into the sky. From their point of vue, those still on the ground could hardly look at the clashing flames for fear of losing their sight from the blinding light.

For a scant few moments, it looked as if Endeavor had succeeded in rivaling Hool’s flames. Until reality hit anyways. Undeterred by the resistance offered by the Flame Hero, the green comet seemingly sprouted wings, a serpentine head swallowing the blue hellflame whole and descending at renewed speeds towards the ground, no longer simply aiming for Endeavor alone, but instead everyone on the ground.

Recognizing the danger of such a strike, All Might acted quickly, gathering up all of the unconscious Pros before jetting towards Tsukauchi, Eraserhead, and Best Jeanist, slinging them over the pile of people he was carrying and trying to put as much distance as he could between them and the meteorite falling towards them. Unfortunately, not even he could get to everyone, most of the unconscious police officers being left within the blast radius.

Endeavor, realizing that he couldn’t actually compete with Hool but now stuck where he was due to having overextended his Quirk, watched wide eyed as the giant green fire snake descended upon him, for the first time in his life wondering if this was truly the pinnacle of Fire, and if all this time he’d just been deluding himself. All thoughts vanished from his mind the moment Hool’s foot connected with his stomach, the Feathered Serpent swallowing him and his fire whole and continuing down towards the Earth.

“ Xiuh- ” Hool’s voice echoed out ominously from her attack, the fiery snake head striking the ground along with Endeavor’s back, a large explosion following soon after, englobing everything in its path as it rapidly spread out in every direction, nothing being able to stop its growth. “ -coatl! ”

Even with all the distance he’d put between himself and the impact point, All Might felt his skin dry at an alarming rate as the dome of flames rapidly caught up to him, urging him to push himself beyond his limits to try and keep ahead of it. This kind of power, it was horrifying. Not even All For One had this kind of power! Just what had Young Midoriya created!?

Soon however, the flames withered away as Hool stopped feeding them, allowing All Might to slow down and allow his passengers to disembark, those still conscious doing so of their own volition, while those that were out cold were unceremoniously dumped on the ground. Turning around to take scope of the damage dealt to the surroundings, All Might, Tsukauchi, Best Jeanist, and Eraserhead were left slack jawed as they surveyed the veritable meteor crater left behind by the snake woman’s attack.

Some of the ground had been liquified, turned molten from the excessive heat dispersed from her attack, while the actual impact point was nothing more than a crater. From their spot more than three hundred meters away, they could see the burnt body of Endeavor, and while he looked more like a burnt piece of drywood, the steady if weak heaving of his chest signified that he was, miraculously, still alive, if critically injured.

Standing over him, however, was the snake woman, Hool, grinning viciously as she set her sights for All Might, using her Divine Speed to rapidly cross the distance, yet instead of striking the Symbol of Peace, she stopped a scant few inches from his face, her snake-like grin wide enough that it threatened to split her face in half.

Far off in the distance, Eraserhead could spot the remnants of the League of Villains, some of their members dead or grievously injured. He wasn’t sure how injured they were, but he could see that one of their members was gone, either burnt to a crisp or covered up by someone else (which was unlikely given their size, so he betted on ‘dead’). The various police officers that had laid strewed about the battlefield were now nothing more than cinders after the woman’s attack, her smug grin showing just how uncaring she was about the whole situation, something that cause both Best Jenist and Eraserhead to glare at her, yet what could they do? Their Quirks didn’t work on her, and with the ease with which she had dealt with All Might and Endeavor (and that giant crater she had just created), what could they do to fight her?

“Oops, guess I overdid it~ Oh well~” Completely uncaring for the destruction she had wrought around her, Hool playfully swayed on the ball of her feet, watching as All Might’s expression changed rapidly over the span of a few moments, going from shock, to anger, to frustration, back to anger, his smile turning incredibly angry as he gazed down at her. While she was no slouch in the height department, the Symbol of Peace was simply monstrously tall. At least in his Muscle Form anyways.

“You… You really don’t care about all the people you’ve just killed?” His voice was low, a stark contrast to his usually boisterousness, yet it perfectly conveyed just how serious and angry he actually was, his teeth threatening to break with how hard he was clenching his jaw, his nails digging into his palm as his clenched fist itched to try and drive her into the ground.

Despite all the rage and anger being thrown her way, the Feathered Serpent could only give a careless shrug, her smile never wavering as she answered the Symbol of Peace.

“Truthfully? No, I really don’t~ You don’t count the amount of ants you step on daily, do you? It’s the same here for me!” She explained, watching as shock, disbelief, and fury played out across the three conscious Pros, each of them trying to come to terms with the evil standing before them. But this begged the question, if this was her take on this, then what about Midoriya? By her own admission, he had created her. So then…

Was he just as evil as she was?

“You- Do you think you’re a God or something!? What gives you the right to kill so!?” Overcome with emotions, Best Jeanist exploded in anger, index finger pointed accusingly at her as he demanded answers. His accusation caused Hool to blink, before bursting out in laughter.

“D- Do I think I’m a God? Of course not!” She exclaimed, continuing to speak before anyone else could interrupt her. “I don’t think I’m a God! I am one! People don’t go around asking you if you think you’re human right? It’s the same for me really!”

The Pros stiled, before Tsukauchi made a noise that sounded more like a cross between a cough and someone choking on something than anything truly describable, looking at Hool with recognition etched on his face, horror slowly making its way into replacing it.

“Y- You! D- Divine Spirit! ” He screamed out, his mind seemingly giving out here and there as he collapsed, delirious as she gave him a cocky nod. The other Pros looked completely lost as they watched the detective suffer from a nervous breakdown in front of them, All Might kneeling next to his friend to try and calm him down (or at least make sure he didn’t accidentally break his neck in his frenzy).

“Feel free to challenge me if you want, but if not, I have some things to take care of~” Giving another careless wave, the Feathered Serpent pranced her way back towards where the League of Villains, either to deal with them or give them the same threat was unclear, but neither Eraserhead or Best Jeanist could find it in themselves to try and stop her. Being a Hero and stopping Villains was one thing, but fighting this? This monster , it was just something else.

Resolute, they both crouched down next to the still spasming Tsukauchi, trying to get the detective to calm down and explain what a ‘Divine Spirit’ was.

For her part, Ho’olheyak moved towards the center of the crater, kicking Endeavor’s unconscious and burnt form while she was at it, before reaching into the air, a fold in space forming as she took out the suitcase that started it all, the device being the key currently generating the Artificial Reality Marble they were inside, keeping any of the fighting from actually injuring any bystanders (or causing any actual collateral damage).

Extending her senses, she could feel Laurentina approaching her, meaning she was also done with her part. Shrugging softly, Hool fiddled about with the suitcase for a bit before pressing a button, causing the Reality Marble to collapse, returning them all to the real world.

Back in the building in their original position, Hool flashed the Heroes and Villains a cocky smile, before jumping away, leaving the League of Villains to quickly escape using Kurogiri, and the Heroes to lick their wounds, dealing with the unconscious and dead left behind.

Laurentina quickly joined her as they both made their way towards the new hideout, or rather, had Melascula teleport them there.

Now all that was left was to report to Izuku…

While Ho’olheyak was busy dealing with the large group of folks back there, Laurentina was busy throwing hands with Mirio, the cackling Shark cackling away as she avoided Lemillion’s punches and retaliated with her own.

Unfortunately for the boy, his Permeation didn’t allow him to avoid her attacks for some reason, leaving him to block and retaliate using only One For All. In truth, Laurentina was simply using a basic Spell that allowed her to strike Spiritual Bodies, of which Mirio still had whether he was intangible or not, meaning she could still hit him with or without his Quirk.

“So Big Brother, have you found your determination yet!?” She taunted him, easily blocking his strikes and retaliating with her own. It was obvious that he was the one taking more damage in this exchange of blows, nevermind the fact that she could regenerate, he wasn’t leaving any kind of bruises on her period!

Hesitation wracked his form as thoughts whirled around in his mind. Not only did it affect his day to day, it also affected his ability to fight properly, preventing him from fully utilizing One For All.

“I- I still don’t know! W- What am I even supposed to do!?” He answered back frantically, his strikes lacking any of their usual finesse and experience, replaced by doubt and uncertainty, a stark contrast to both her technique and his usual clear movements.

“Hmph, how am I supposed to know!? You’re the Hero here, not me!” She exclaimed back, nailing him firmly on the nose, a sickening crack echoing out as Mirio reeled back, clutching his broken nose with one hand, one eye shut from pain, while his other tracked the grinning Shark, throwing a sloppy punch at her. “Hey hey! You aren’t going to beat me with sloppy shit like this Big Brother!”

Sweeping his legs from underneath him, Laurentina sent the Provisional Hero right on his butt, raising one leg to stomp on him, only to redirect her strike at the last moment and instead crater the ground in-between his legs, Mirio losing quite a bit of color as he saw what could’ve befallen his junior down there.

Frowning, Laurentina almost petulantly crossed her arms, giving a huff that spoke of childish annoyance as she glanced down at him.

“This is no fun, your head’s not in the game, what gives!” She exclaimed childishly, stomping her foot once more, widening the crater and causing Mirio to lose even more color, scampering back as the primal manly survival instinct of protecting your damn balls kicked in.

Still, what she was saying was true, even if she was being a petulant child about it, his head wasn’t ‘in the game’ as she said it. His mind was full of intrusive thoughts, preventing him from giving it his all and use his power to the fullest.

“I- I’m still not sure of what it means to be a Hero!” He admitted shamefully, a faint blush spreading across his face at the bewildered look Laurentina gave him, before she laughed a bit. Whatever she was about to say was interrupted by the humongous ball of green fire that lit up the distance like a meteoric impact, shockwaves reaching even them despite their distances. Despite the shaking, Laurentina easily rode the waves, with Mirio already being on the ground and just feeling his butt jiggle a bit from the rumbling of the earth below him.

The rumbling only lasted a few moments, yet the heavy weight that formed in Mirio’s stomach as he watched the explosion fade away persisted. Glancing at the heavily frowning Laurentina, this weight only grew.

“Welp, looks like Hool went overboard. Oh well~” Glancing back towards Mirio, she was about to say something else before the scenery faded away, a tell-tale sign that Hool had deactivated the Reality Marble, probably because she was done on her end.

Once they were fully back into the real world, Laurentina glanced back down towards Mirio, giving him a small grin and leaning down, close enough that he could feel her breath on his nose, and her his breath.

Watching him still, she reached further down, stealing a quick kiss on the lips before jumping right back to her full height, a faint blush spreading on her face as she considered the experience.

“Huh, not bad! Well then Big Brother, I’ll see you later~ Try to find an answer to your question next time we fight!” Flashing him one last grin, she jumped out of the building, passing the unconscious bodies of various Pro-Heroes and Police Officers on the way to the roof, meeting up with Hool before they contacted Melascula to get them back home.

While both Laurentina and Ho’olheyak were busy dealing with the Pro-Heroes and the League of Villains, Izuku had a meeting to attend, not that his fellow attendee had any knowledge of this meeting.

Kicking down a reinforced steel door which led to an underground bunker located inside of Jaku Hospital, or rather, under the hospital. It had taken a bit of time, but he had eventually managed to track down All For One and his hideout. It made sense that he was hidden underneath a hospital, not only because of his recent injuries, but also given the prime ingredient in the creation of Nomus.

Following behind him was Phoenix, currently weaponless as she instead focused on carrying the heavy metal case on her back, the case containing something that would help him deal with any interference from others, and hopefully would deal with All For One properly.

Kicking down another door, Izuku swaggered his way into a room that looked quite familiar, full of tanks containing floating bodies and purple liquid, the setup was almost like a low-tech version of his own setup back home. It was funny really, to see someone struggle so much in creating such low-tier minions, it was saddening really.

Taking a few steps forward, Izuku had to retrieve his foot before it could be hit by a laser, his grin widening slightly as he came face to face (or was it face to mask?) with the ‘big bad’ of the day, All For One himself.

Accompanying him was one Kyudai Garaki, the elderly doctor seemingly partway through a meltdown and frothing at the mouth at the prospect of studying Phoenix’s body, since in his mind All For One would easily deal with them both.

“It seems we finally meet All For One.” Izuku carelessly remarked, hands shoved in his pockets as he almost slouched, unbothered despite being face to face with the Modern Bogeyman. “I’ll say, you’re a lot more disappointing for real, now that I can see just how pathetic you really are.”

Despite having most of his face covered in a Darth Vader-esque mask, it was easy for Izuku to notice the anger and fury emanating from the Super Villain, as if Garaki’s ‘frothing in anger’ expression didn’t convey the sentiment enough.

“Impudent child, your parents should have taught you to respect your better.” The villain’s mechanically altered voice echoed out from the speaker of his mask. Izuku almost expected the iconic Darth Vader breathing to accompany All For One’s voice, but quickly reminded himself that All For One was just a nerd imitating the Sith Lord. “Well, it doesn’t matter. I’ll deal with you quickly.”

Extending one of his arms forward, All For One’s limb bulged out unnaturally as various Quirks began activating simultaneously, all working in tandem to create something that would, in the villain’s mind, obliterate the impudent child before him.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. Snapping his fingers, Izuku watched with barely concealed glee as Garaki’s expression turned to horror, seeing his master’s arm explode into blood and gore, bits of flesh spraying across both of their faces (or mask in All For One’s case). All For One stumbled back, clutching the stump that used to be his arm, and while he had no eyes with which to glare, it was easy for Izuku to imagine them there, overflowing with hatred.

“W- What is this!? Explain yourself!” The Super Villain demanded as his Super Regeneration trying to do its work and yet being unable to activate properly given the severity of the injury. Izuku merely grinned casually, shrugging softly.

“Why would I? What kind of dumbass would just explain his powers to his enemies!” Swiping his arm horizontally, the Dead Apostle ignored Garaki’s frantic scream as the various vats containing Nomus suddenly burst open, the glass shattering sending their contents sprawling to the floor, permanently dead now. “And speaking of manners, you’re the one who should respect your elders, brat .”

Accompanying his words, Izuku began to undergo a transformation, his body cracking and popping in a sickening and unnatural way, flesh breaking and mending as his bones lengthened, his hair turned from its usual green to a deep auburn almost black under the right lighting. Eyes turned heterochromatic as a wide grin spread across his face, showing abnormally large k9s as he cracked his neck, stretching.

His clothes also changed, blue motes of light gathering around him as his clothes changed. Gone was the casual ‘Saturday Outfit’ he previously sported, instead replaced with an expensive-looking three piece black suit, with the inside shirt being a blood red. Accompanying the attire change were a pair of gloves, each sporting an inscription in English.

Reaching behind his back, Izuku grabbed onto Harbinger’s handle, swinging the large blade around and enlarging it into its full length, the internal mechanics whirling to life as the sword shifted into a scythe. Behind him, Phoenix had slung off the large case she was carrying, fetching an unassuming-looking black sniper rifle which looked completely unique, like nothing you could find on the market.

“Alright brat! You fight the real Winter General now!” With no further warning, Izuku jetted forward towards the Symbol of Evil, scythe poised to take his head off.

Chapter Text

All For One, in his century-long life, had never been this stumped, not even when dealing with the various wielders of his brother’s Quirk, One For All. No matter what he did, what Quirks he used, what strategy he attempted, it all amounted to nothing.

The Nomus housed within the laboratory had all been killed, each sprawled on the floor like useless sacks of meat before they could even begin to be useful. All that effort for nothing, it was infuriating!

And that grinning fool who was responsible for this-

He leaned back to avoid losing his head, his stump of an arm still unable to regenerate for some reason. Someway, somehow, the impudent child before him managed to avoid another strike.

This- This was inconceivable, not even All Might had been this difficult to deal with!

Pushing himself away from his opponent in an attempt to get some breathing room, All For One once more called upon his not-inconsiderable collection of Quirks, sending the Doctor into a frenzy as he attempted to escape the battlefield, the Phoenix woman having left moments before back to the hospital.

The child, Izuku, merely laughed, snapping his fingers once again and causing All For One’s entire attack to fall apart. It was like trying to build a castle of cards during an earthquake! No matter what he did, it felt like every time his attack made contact with the boy, his attack simply failed to be, like trying to mix water and oil.

It infuriated him in a way the ancient villain didn’t know was possible, to see that exactly none of his Quirks could even scratch the cackling, impudent child before him. It wasn’t the same feeling as having his Quirks canceled through something like Erasure, it really was like trying to hold onto a completely flat surface using nothing but your slippery fingers.

“Is that all you have, All For One?” The boy taunted, using his sword-scythe weapon to take down another Nomu before it could get close to him, watching as All For One’s patience slowly dried up even more than it already had.

Resolute in his choice, All For One called upon his Warping Quirk and targeted a very specific individual. This Warping Quirk, while not as useful as Kurogiri’s, could target specific individuals, such as this one-

Greyish goo erupted out of thin air, swirling around an invisible center point, the swirl growing and growing to accommodate the individual being Warped.

“Gigantomachia! Deal with this impudent child!” His greatest warrior, Gigantomachia. The giant took but a few moments to take in his new surroundings, his lacking mental capacities not bothering to wonder how he got from his previous spot in a random forest to some underground bunker. After all, his Master had given him an order!

Letting loose a wordless roar of anger, the giant rushed towards the Winter General with breathtaking speed, his Quirks all working in unison to allow him even greater power. Endurance to convert morale into stamina, Pain Blocker to prevent pain, Gigantification to increase his physical attributes, Energy Saver to allow him to fight for long periods of times without rest, Fierce Gain to even further enhance his physical parameters, and finally Dog and Mole to grant him useful traits for combat and utility.

Truly, Gigantomachia was a marvel of Quirk Engineering. The giant reared back one of its enormous arms, striking the Winter General without care for anything other than killing his target for his Master. The strike, bolstered by multiple Quirks, generated an enormous gale of wind reminiscent of All Might’s own punches, further devastating the already shambling laboratory.

Up above, it must have seemed like some earthquake, or some freak explosion had just taken place underneath the hospital (if there even was anyone left to feel the disturbance). Even lacking eyes, All For One instinctually raised up his remaining hand to block out the winds from reaching his face, surely with a strike like this-

Gigantomachia looked troubled, no, wait-

Standing just where he had been previously, holding up one arm towards the giant, was the Winter General, cocky smile in place, the impudent brat used a singular arm to stop the enormous limb from reaching him properly. Switching his sword-scythe back into a sword and placing it back on his back, Izuku used his now empty hand to punch Gigantomachia’s arm, sending the giant stumbling back much to All For One’s horror and the giant’s consternation.

“Alright then, I guess now that this big lad’s around, I can’t be holding back!” Erupting in mocking laughter, Izuku crossed his arms, inhaling sharply before deploying his next attack.

Had All For One been present at the Hero/Villain Raid, the white light particles quickly beginning to gather and swirl around Izuku’s body would have set alarms off in the villain’s head. Unfortunately, the ancient villain was woefully unaware of what was going on, instead using the moment to try and attack once more.

Exhaling, Izuku grinned. Unlike EMIYA, he didn’t need to recount an Aria to deploy this-

“Alright you brat! Let’s show you the End of the World-! ” Deploying his Reality Marble, a white dome began expanding from his body, enveloping everyone within its vicinity, before dispersing and showing that they were all gone, transported inside of his Inner World.

For All For One (and Gigantomachia too had his mental capabilities been enough to process the drastic change of terrain as anything more than another annoyance), the sudden emergence of this unknown attack set off various alarm bells in his head, however as no new feeling of pain erupted from the collision, the villain was fairly sure that either the attack had failed, or it wasn’t an attack to begin with.

Doing the Quirk equivalent of ‘opening his eyes’, All For One allowed his senses to spread, stilling as he felt his new surroundings. Gone was the destroyed laboratory instead he was currently standing in an ankle-high lake, a chilly breeze almost causing him to shiver as he activated a few Thermal Quirks to prevent himself from freezing over.

“W- What is this?” Once more, All For One was stumped. Was this Teleportation? No, this place was… there was no place like this in the real world, it would be impossible for a lake to exist in a place this cold, especially since they weren’t on either poles (his Quirks could detect Magnetic Fields and he was fairly sure they weren’t currently on either North or South Poles). Thoughts of this being an illusion were quickly discarded, not only would an illusion have to encompass several senses that humans just didn’t naturally have, but the feeling of his shoes and socks absorbing the cold water at his feet was simply too real to be the product of an illusion.

“Hm, the actual theory would go way over your head, but the gist of it is, this is a Reality Marble, my Inner World.” Izuku explained briefly, enjoying the cool air of his Reality Marble. Unlike both of his opponents, he was naturally attuned to the cold (it would be quite shameful for the Winter General to get cold after all). Raising one hand towards the sky, Izuku flexed his Magecraft once more. Inside of here, Gaia held no influence to stop him-

Suddenly, Gigantomachia looked up, watching as an enormous shadow eclipsed the Sun, his eyes widening as he saw the enormous iceberg crashing towards him.

“It’s just a fake, but I guess it’ll work for a fake giant like you!” Izuku declared, the sword-shaped iceberg rapidly falling on both All For One and his fake giant. “This is Ig-Alima , the Mountain Splitting Sword!”

Alarmed by the sudden appearance of this enormous iceberg, All For One activated a variety of Quirks, sending barrages of various elemental attacks towards the iceberg to no avail. No matter what he did, the sword simply regenerated any and all damage dealt to it, crashing into Gigantomachia and, to All For One’s further horror, started pushing the giant back.

Gigantomachia, seeing the desperation in his Lord’s attacks, met the iceberg halfway on its way to the ground, using his giant body as a shield and trying to absorb the attack. Unfortunately, this was an attack that surpassed anything modern humans could muster up, as despite its simple appearance, the attack was far from being simply ‘just ice’. Held together by the power of a Dead Apostle, inside of a Reality Marble, bolstered by the Legend of the proper Ig-Alima, it was a fake worthy of being acknowledged by even the King of Heroes as ‘passably drab’.

A mountain he might have been, but unfortunately for All For One’s greatest pawn, he was clashing with the Mountain Cleaving Sword.

And so he lost.

Letting loose one last roar and digging his feet into the ground to try and stop the iceberg-sword, Gigantomachia felt a previously buried emotions sprout as he felt the rough and unrefined edge of Ig-Alima dig into his left shoulder. Fear. And for good reasons as, the moment he felt fear take hold in his heart, the Mountain Cleaving Sword held true to its namesake and cleaved straight through the giant’s shoulder, taking his left arm with it.

Its impact with the ground caused a rumbling on par with an actual earthquake, far surpassing anything Gigantomachia could have done on his own.

Bellowing out in pain which surpassed even what his Pain Blocker Quirk could prevent, the giant collapsed to his knees, clutching the grievous shoulder wound as best he could, All For One watching in horror as his greatest minion was wounded so easily.

This was inconceivable for the ancient villain, who had seen many heroes and even natural disasters fail to wound Gigantomachia, so to see this simple iceberg-sized sword do him in was…

It was frightening.

Not giving either of his opponents time to think, Izuku swung his arm out once more, multiple copies of Ig-Alima starting to rain down on the kneeling giant, ready to bisect him into little pieces. While this was happening, Izuku jumped towards All For One, golden lightning coursing through his body, a bloodthirsty grin erupting as he could smell the fear emanating from the previously overconfident villain.

“Well!? Where did all that fear come from!? Aren’t you the Modern Demon!?” Bellowing a taunt at the Supervillain, Izuku’s fist crashed into the man’s helmet, cracking the glass and sending him flying. All For One, recovering from the strike, activated a multitude of Quirks in a vain attempt to stop Izuku’s charge, fire, lightning, winds, any and all Quirks he could think of activating manifested and charged towards the rampaging Apostle to no avail.

Izuku allowed his golden lightning to devour each and every attack sent his way, quite literally punching through all of them, the tell-tale sound of glass breaking accompanying each of his strikes as the attacks quite literally shattered upon contact with his body.

“What a letdown you are! But I guess I can’t blame you, since you’re using Quirks and all that!” All For One gritted his teeth at the insult, his wounded pride unable to to reconcile his current losing situation as anything more than a delusion. This- This should be impossible, not even All Might was this strong, so then why- Why was this brat so strong!?

“You’re wondering why this is happening, how it is you’ve never heard of me before, how I could be this strong, your ego just can’t comprehend that.” Seeing the discord happening inside of his opponent, Izuku stopped his attack, instead jumping back a few paces and preparing his final attack. He wasn’t planning on allowing either villains from leaving his Reality Marble alive after all. “It’s understandable, but unfortunately for you, you’ll never know!”

Golden lightning gathered around Izuku’s body, swirling together into a pillar of light that pierced the clouds above, forming its own storm. His eyes glowed with power as he tapped into not his power as a Dead Apostle, or his Magecraft, but instead into something more, something that he could barely comprehend being in his possession, and yet it was.

“ Lift your eyes and gaze upon in wonder!

This is my Legend, unrivaled by any of this Age!

I am Thunder, I am Lightning, the World quivers before me!

I call, in the name of the Plundered God (I, Me)-!

I am he who devours Jupiter (The World)-!

World Discipline Keraunos (I, the Star-Cleaving Thunderbolt)! ”

A storm of unnatural strength manifested within the inside of Izuku’s Reality Marble, scouring everything in its range, the Noble Phantasm he had somehow plundered from Zeus during the events of the Greek Lostbelt having carried over to this life. The sole recounting of his false Legend, of a man who had foolishly devoured the Divine Core of the King of the Gods in an attempt to buy Chaldea the time required to defeat Chaos­.

He could tell that his version of Zeus’ mighty Noble Phantasm was much less powerful than the King of the Gods, lacking the designation as an Anti-Planet, Anti-Star System, Anti-Dimension, and Anti-Space-Time Noble Phantasm. Instead, it was more appropriate to class this attack as an Anti-Army/Anti-Concept attack. Yet even if his attack was nothing more than a pale imitation of the thunderbolt which almost obliterated the World-

What was a Modern Human supposed to do?

All For One, in the final moments of his long life, gazed upon true Divine Power, watching as Gigantomachia’s form turned to atoms as the incomprehensible power delivered through each bolt of thunder obliterated him from existence, before All For One also joined his minion in death.

In his final moments, the ancient villain swore vengeance upon the Winter General, swore a thousand curses, none of which reached Izuku through the cacophony of thunder.

From the outside, Phoenix felt the hospital shake once more as she traveled through its insides, making sure to destroy any and all research corresponding to the Nomus. She wasn’t sure where Garaki was, the man had escaped through one of Kurogiri’s portals before she could kill him, but without his main laboratory and All For One, his means of producing Nomus was vastly diminished. While she might not have known it, this current round of shaking was caused by Izuku’s Noble Phantasm Release being barely contained within his Reality Marble, the Bounded Field quite literally quivering from the effort of containing the blast of Divine Thunder.

Soon after unleashing his attack, Izuku exited his Reality Marble, incredibly tired. While he wasn’t completely out of Mana just yet (and could probably release another Noble Phantasm if he really needed to), he was more tired than he’d ever been in this life. Using a Noble Phantasm was quite exhausting after all, yet the more he breathed, the more he felt his Mana Core slowly regenerating.

“Well, that was fun… I wonder what Eri and Rei want for dinner tonight…” It was strange how, right after killing what could only be considered as the Modern Devil, the most mundane of topics took precedence in his mind. Oh well, what could you do, right?

Joining up with Phoenix, Izuku called Melascula to get them both back home for dinner and some well deserved rest. The Pros would need some time before attempting another raid, and the League of Villains was mostly in shambles with the loss of their leader, meaning that for once, he could actually take some time off.

Chapter Text

Wet, hacking coughs ripped through his hunched over body, propped up by one arm over the bathroom sink, using his other to catch any drops of blood slowly making their way back up his throat. Who would have known that using a Divine Noble Phantasm like that, inside of your Reality Marble, would have such consequences. Of course, he was healing, but slower. Using World Discipline Keraunos would need to be his last trump card, at least at full power anyways.

Inhaling deeply, slicking his hair back, Izuku cleaned up his hands, the sound of Eri and Rei singing along to some nonsense Disney Movie Song penetrating through the bathroom door. Right, Rei was here wasn’t she? He still hadn’t asked what she wanted for lunch.

Making himself presentable, if somewhat tired looking, Izuku stealthily exited the bathroom and entered the main room of their new accommodations. Gone was the hobo-esque look of his previous base of operation, replaced by the glossy finish of an actual home. The home, bought using his ill-gotten gains, had cost a small fortune, being big enough to house everyone (plus some extras) easily. He had, of course, replaced the various Bounded Fields he was accustomed to, with the house being all but untraceable to anyone that wasn’t a Magus, and even then.

Eri and Laurentina had been ecstatic at the prospect of finally having a proper room to sleep in, mostly because this meant they could now decorate it fully. Ho’olheyak and Phoenix had been more subdued in their reactions, though he had spied a small smile on both of their faces at the prospect of being able to personalize their living accommodations. As for Melascula? Well, she seemed much more interested in the cellar she’d found underneath the shed, mostly because it was the perfect location to store alcoholic beverages, not only because it was a cellar, but also because it ensured Eri couldn’t accidentally get into the stash of adult beverages.

All in all, everyone seemed perfectly happy with the new accommodations, even him honestly. While not as large as the Gael Manor in England, it was more than large enough to house his equipment with more than enough living space to not feel cramped. Not to mention the kitchen! God he’d missed having a proper kitchen to use!

Stepping into the living room, he felt a small smile form on his lips as he watched Rei (who looked many times better than before) sing along with Eri, both of them part-way through their ‘Princess Marathon’ as they were calling it, binging through the plethora of Disney and Pixar Movies available on Disney Plus and other online streaming services. While Rei was dressed casually, Eri herself was dolled up fully as a Princess (according to Phoenix the outfit had been bought during their last outing with Laurentina), making her look absolutely precious and adorable.

Ignoring the way his heart squeezed at the sight of his not-really-daughter and friend, Izuku quietly approached them, spying Moana on the large TV Screen, the Princess currently listening to the Demigod Maui sing something or other.

His approach was apparently not quiet enough as Eri’s gaze quickly shifted from the TV to him, a large smile (and good God wasn’t that just precious) blooming on her face as she jumped up from her spot, running over to him as the pitter patter of her feet hitting the wooden floor echoed across the distance. Rei, having also taken notice of his arrival, paused the movie, standing up and flashing him a small smile and wave.

Reciprocating, Izuku knelt down to catch Eri as the child launched herself at him, blowing a raspberry on her nose, sending her into a frenzy of giggles as he adjusted his hold on her, making sure to hold her properly as he approached Rei.

“Well then, seems like you two are having fun, hope Eri wasn’t too naughty.” Izuku joked, listening as Eri babbled about all the movies they had watched while he and the others were busy ‘dealing with some minor problems’. Rei giggled a bit, waving off his concerns as she replied.

“Oh don’t worry, she was an absolute darling.” She said, giving Eri a conspiratory wink, which the child tried to reciprocate, instead simply blinking. Not that either girls seemed to mind as they burst into giggles afterwards. Left thoroughly out of the loop, Izuku allowed a bemused smile to etch itself across his lips, placing Eri back on the couch before collapsing on it himself, landing in a slouch.

“Ugh, today sucked~ But at least it’s done with~” He exclaimed, suppressing a giggle as Eri clambered onto his lap, accidentally compressing his lungs as she did so, not that it actually hurt him any. Cracking an eye open, he glanced towards the amused Rei, his own smile widening. “So, whatcha wanna eat? My treat.”

Rei seemed to ponder the question a bit, glancing over at the curious Eri, before softly shrugging.

“I don’t really mind, how about some Soba?” She proposed, watching as Eri (cutely) tilted her head to the side, having never had Soba before. Humming a bit, Izuku quickly nodded, groaning a bit as his heart heated up a bit, the blowback of using Zeus’ Noble Phantasm like that still not having fully vanished. Shifting his stance a bit so that Eri was fully sitting in his lap, Izuku extended his senses a bit, finding all of his creations lounging around in their own room, eating whatever it was they had made themselves (or in Ho’olheyak’s case, reheated leftovers).

“Sure, why not. I’ll get on with it-” Before he could finish speaking, Izuku felt a cold sensation overtake him, glancing over at the frowning Rei who sported a picture perfect ‘I’m not angry, just disappointed’ look. Crossing her arms underneath her bosoms, the mother of four (five) looked thoroughly unimpressed by his words, lips pinched into a not-quite-a-frown.

“You’ll do no such thing, you’ll rest up and spend some time with Eri, I’ll take care of dinner.” Spoken with a tone of finality, Izuku was left with no room to complain, instead watching in bewilderment as Rei power walked her way to the kitchen, cracking the fridge open and taking out the ingredients necessary to prepare dinner. Glancing over at Eri, the little girl giggled and blew him a raspberry, snuggling up to him.

“Ohhh~ Mama’s angry!”

Her words caused him to blink. Mama huh? It had been awhile since he’d heard that word. Memories of his wife, Sion, came unbidden as he slowly wondered if she was here with him. Had he been the only one reincarnated? Or was he just the only one to keep his memories?

The thought terrified him, that he was alone in this situation. Part of him knew that Leonardo was still alive, and while he was grateful to his old friend, part of Izuku simply wanted to see his wife, missing the domesticity that had permeated the last few decades of his past life. Distorted as he had been (and arguably still was), it was almost a miracle that he had been able to obtain such happiness, even if it had taken a lot of work from both of them.

Don’t get him wrong, he enjoyed Rei’s company, and he was sure she felt the same, but he just couldn’t find it in himself to care for her romantically. He wasn’t sure how she felt about the entire affair, but to him she was just so young , something humorous considering their physical age, but considering just how old he’d been in his past life (enough that he could have been her great-grandfather), the idea of starting a relationship with her just felt…

It felt wrong, or at least horrifically strange. Maybe he was just overthinking it…

Soon enough, the smell of Soba permeated the household, thoughts of fighting and war and everything else leaving his mind as the domesticity of the situation fully hit him.

Shaking his head in bemusement, Izuku decided to stop overthinking things. Fate had a way with things after all, everything would work out in the end.

Shifting his hold on Eri, he rose up from his spot on the couch and made for the kitchen, his form shifting once more to his adult form, long auburn hair quickly caught by Eri who started to mess with the strangely colored hair. Rei, who had already seen the form, didn’t bat an eyelash as he approached her, standing next to her as he watched her cook.

Unbeknownst to either of them, Laurentina had quietly slipped into the room, snapping a few pictures of them using her phones, which were quickly sent to the others with the accompanying caption of ‘ Bossman has moves! ’.

Honestly, these moments were the ones that they fought for, for the simple moments that made life worth living, through the pain and the hardships.

Here and now, Laurentina thought that life was pretty damn good, and while it had its problems at times, she wouldn’t trade it for anything else.

Mirio Togata laid on his bed deep in thoughts, Detective Tsukauchi had filled them (being All Might, Sir Nighteye, Hawks, Best Jeanist, and Gran Torino) in as to what a ‘Divine Spirit’ was, and to say they were horrified didn’t even begin to encapsulate just how fucked they all knew they were.

Would One For All even allow them to fight such beings? It was doubtful, but maybe. One For All was more than just a simple Quirk, it was the crystalized manifestation of more than eight generation’s worth of wishes and dreams, passed down from one person to another in hopes that one day, peace would happen.

In a way, Mirio felt inadequate to carry such a burden, he was just… himself, Mirio Togata, the man who smiled to try and overcome the fear that lay deep inside his gut, the feeling of inadequacy only grew as he met Laurentina and Izuku (or was it Raven?), both of them were simply so sure of themselves.

Laurentina more than Izuku, thought that was probably because he’d just spent more time with her compared to Izuku. The Shark Woman being a bundle of self-assurance, of unbreakable will as she fought against him back in that ‘Reality Marble’ thing. The way she had moved, the way she had questioned his morals, it had been breathtaking, in more ways than one (nevermind the fact that she’d kissed him!)

Still, as much as he didn’t want to admit it, Mirio knew he had no answer to Izuku’s question. What is a Hero? How do you ‘Hero’ as it were. In a sense, Mirio felt incredibly childish as he reviewed his previous answers, continuously win? Keep beating people up until there was just no one left to beat up? How heroic, how… how unrealistically optimistic. In a sense, it made him feel like one of those old school comic book heroes, those people who were just heroic to be heroic, unrealistic and impossible in the real world.

What did he, Mirio Togata, want? His desire, the one he had chosen to name himself after, Lemillion, to save over a million people. And how was he going to do that?

Neither All Might or Sir Nighteye had answers for him, or at least nothing he felt was satisfactory anyways. Both of them spoke of ‘the future’ and ‘the greater good’ and whatnot, everything to make them seem just… more like impossible comic book characters. Honestly, it was funny just how shallow his dream seemed now that he actually thought about it.

It was to the point where he’d started looking up other Pros, trying to see what their motivations were for being, well, Pros, and to say he was disappointed would be an understatement. Fame, Fortune, Pride, Beating people up. Everyone he searched up just seemed so… shallow, unheroic… Human .

Of course, there were the occasional person who was heroic for simpler reasons, spreading happiness to others, saving others from fires, but that wasn’t something only Heroes could do, you could be a police officer, or a firefighter, or even just a doctor, you didn’t need to be a Hero to do these things.

And so, Mirio dug deeper, past the Modern Heroics, back into the Age of Heroes of old, when Miyamoto Musashi had been young, when Heracles had been inspiring, and he found that… Heroes were just as Human as he was, except that back then, it wasn’t about being big, or being famous (at least not always), it was about being yourself, living a life you could be proud of.

‘A Hero’s grander is measured by their Tragedies’, he wasn’t sure who said that, but it matched up with what he saw. The Heroes of Old were all characterized by their failures, their tragedies, their Humanity , something that almost seemed missing from the Heroes of Today, who had to be ‘picture perfect’, marchetable even, unrealistically perfect.

Honestly, it made him sick, to see just how… plastic society was, to see just how flawed things were. Of course, he wasn’t a radicalist, but in a sense, it was true that society was just as faked as it was back during the Emergence of Quirks, just that today, it was more socially acceptable to hate (or at least discriminate) people with certain Quirks.

He, Mirio Togata, what kind of Hero did he want to be? That had been Izuku’s question, and the more he searched, the more Mirio understood the flaws of the World, the problems that permeated it. But instead of being defeated, of falling to despair and becoming just another Hero Killer, another extremist terrorist, he felt something well up inside of him.

The kind of Hero he would be? He now knew.

He would be, not someone that everyone would look up to as the Symbol of Peace, but instead, he would be someone that would make everyone feel Hope, feel Safe, feel that, even if things are down, even if things aren’t the best, they could be better.

He was Mirio Togata, Lemillion, the Defender of Tomorrow, the Hero of Hope.

Arc 1: Villain Emergence - Complete

Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya, Reincarnation of Raven Gael, former Lord of Zoology of the Clock Tower, Dead Apostle and current holder of Zeus’ Divine Core, couldn’t help but feel stumped. Of course, that wasn’t anything new, it wasn’t like he was some omniscient entity capable of reading the future with such accuracy that he was never taken off guard. However, in this case, he felt that no amount of precognition would help him.

‘ Mister Gael, I would like to thank you for your continued services as my mother’s physician, and with the great work you’ve been doing in the past few months. All things considered, it would do me and my family great pleasure if you could join us for dinner at some point in the future. Many thanks, Fuyumi Todoroki ’

Of course, he was faintly aware that this was the Todoroki Children’s way of trying to gauge him, to see if he was just as bad as Enji was, but also so he could judge Endeavor in person (since as far as they knew, they had never met in person). Unfortunately, this made things awkward, incredibly so. Not only did Shoto know who he was (at least by name), but he would have to maintain his adult form so as to not tip them off to anything.

The kind, glowing smile Rei showed him as she handed him this letter written by her eldest daughter made him all the more hesitant to refuse. Good lord, why did he have to land himself in so many problems.

That wasn’t his only problem either, someone had called him on his old phone number (or rather, had called the old phone line that had connected to his office at the Clock Tower), leaving a cryptic message about ‘meeting his past at I-Expo’, whatever that meant. He, of course, was aware of what I-Expo was, but what he wasn’t sure of was how it became relevant to his current plight, or his past for that matter.

Especially since whoever had called him had used such means of getting in contact with him. It could be anyone from his past really, Reincarnation or otherwise, so it wasn’t like the means narrowed down who it could be at all. If anything, it made it all the more cryptic. If they knew of his past, then why call there instead of calling him personally, or at least call the Gael Manor? Were they someone he was barely acquainted with? Or was it Arcueid or Altrouge trying to fuck with him again ?

So many questions yet so few answers. It had been quite awhile since Izuku had found himself in such a situation.

Sighing deeply, Izuku resolved to simply meet up with the Todoroki Children, hope Shoto didn’t cause a scene, and see what was up with Enji. Oh, and visit I-Expo to see what the Hell was up with that.

Glancing towards one of the many vats lining his basement, Izuku caught sight of his newest creation which was progressing quite well for now. He did wonder though, what were the League of Villains up to now? What with their boss being, well, dead (did they even know he was dead?)

Oh well, questions for later, for now, he could smell food being prepared and his stomach was signaling that it was hungry.

Kyudai Garaki, also known as Daruma Ujiko, felt like ripping out all the hair on his head, had he had any anyways. After Midoriya had invaded his main laboratory and engaged All For One in combat, Kyudai had fled the scene, mostly to preserve his own life, but also in order to ensure that his other laboratories were still functional.

Fortunately for him and his Master, that was mostly the case. While some of his lesser laboratories had been vandalized (whether it was by Heroes or Midoriya he wasn’t completely sure but it didn’t really matter in the end), his bigger ones had survived mostly unharmed, meaning he could still produce Nomus and work towards completing the High End Project.

Speaking of the High End Project, Kyudai felt like frothing at the mouth, how dare that brat one up him like that! Creating such perfect beings like that Laurentina woman! A being endowed with not only multiple Quirks, but also being much more powerful than any Nomus he could create, even Number Six hadn’t been that powerful!

Still, everything was fine, Tomura was still alive, and Kyudai still had the original All For One Quirk stored on a device which he kept on his person just to be safe. He could still do this, he could still salvage this!

While the Doctor had yet to hear back from his Master, he had faith in the man who had sponsored him all these years. While injured from his previous confrontation with All Might, All For One was still the Quirk Boogeyman, endowed with the power of countless numbers of Quirks all for the purpose of being the Modern God!

There was no way some upstart like Midoriya could kill him.

At least, that was what Kyudai wanted to think anyway. The continuous silence from his Master did affect his faith somewhat, but he would hold strong. For all he knew, this was simply another part of the plan, devised out of necessity more than practicality as Midoriya hunted down a ghost while All For One planned his eventual return.

For now, Doctor Kyudai Garaki had work to do. He needed to nurture Tomura in the right direction, make sure the boy would be worthy of inheriting All For One and becoming the vessel for his Master’s eventual revival as a Prime Being! One who would surpass any and all human limitations.

Yes, all that was left was to nurture Tomura, and the good Doctor had just the thing for that.

“Tomura, have you ever heard of the Shie Haissaikai by any chance?”

Shoto Todoroki, youngest of the Todoroki Family, felt some strange tension emerge across the familial household. For some reason, his sister had acquired a strange, for lack of a better term, ‘pep’ in her step as she pranced around the house.

She had recently taken to visiting their mother after work, since she had been making astounding progress on her therapy. According to Fuyumi anyways. Natsuo had also joined her on a few occasions, and was looking quite a bit better for it. Still completely bitter against their father, but still, much better than before.

Now thought, it seemed as if something he couldn’t quite describe or grasp had gotten into them. Natsuo seemed, for lack of a better term, pouty , while Fuyumi seemed all too excited by something or other.

Asking his siblings had gotten him a less than satisfactory answer, but apparently they were organizing a family dinner with their mother. While Rei wasn’t fully released from hospital just yet, she had been deemed stable enough to go out and about for a few hours every day. While Shoto hadn’t the faintest idea what his mother had been up to during her free time, whatever she had been doing had been interesting (if that was even the word to describe it) enough to cause his two siblings to arrange this little get-together behind their father’s back.

They were also inviting someone else, according to Natsuo it was their mother’s primary physician, who was responsible for helping her make so much progress in such a short amount of time. Speaking of this mystery physician, Natsuo seemed unnaturally sour when speaking about him, though maybe that was just Shoto projecting on his older brother.

Still, the situation was incredibly strange, especially since this little dinner date was planned to happen smack dab during their father’s ‘Hell Week’, the week where he had to fill in the enormous amount of paperwork that came with running a Hero Agency as massive as the Endeavor Hero Agency. Of course, it wasn’t all paperwork, it was also about sending out internship applications to the Hero Students of various schools, as well as reaffirming their current financial status with their backers and other such sources of capital.

All in all, it was a hellish week for one Enji Todoroki, who basically lived out of his office for the large majority of it (as did his Sidekicks and Employees for that matter) given the amount of meetings and paperwork he had to deal with. The perfect time to do something behind his back, in his own home for that matter.

Whatever they were planning, both Fuyumi and Natsuo weren’t speaking, at least not to him, but it was obvious that Fuyumi was incredibly excited by this dinner date, especially since she was stockpiling various expensive (for the common man anyways) ingredients.

In a way, Shoto could understand the excitement of finally seeing his mother after so long. Endeavor was nothing if not perceptive (normally anyways), and had made absolutely sure that Shoto hadn’t been able to see his mother, so the opportunity to see her again (even in these strange circumstances) was a welcomed one.

Still, for some reason, he couldn’t shake off the strange feeling he had about this meeting, but then again, after all the problems and shenanigans Class 1-A had gotten themselves into, maybe it was just his imagination playing games with him. Surely nothing bad could happen out of a family dinner, right? Even if they were inviting a complete stranger, this stranger was a licensed doctor and had his mother’s trust, so surely it couldn’t be that bad, right?

If anything, if he ended up not liking the guy, he could just excuse himself and hunker down in his room for the night, or at least until he left. Yeah, that was a fool proof plan.

Eri was alone. Well, not really, more like she had sneaked her way into some of her Pa’s stuff! She was out, err, what did Big Sis call it again? Speliky? Spel- Spel-something, whatever, she was exploring!

After the amazing dinner from mama (something called ‘Soba’), Pa was busy reading through some mail mama had given him, leaving Eri completely unsupervised, since everyone else was busy doing their own things, probably also decorating their rooms.

Speaking of rooms, the new house was A M A Z I N G ! It was so big and pretty! And the floor was-! It was… something, but it was cold but comfortable! It was amazing!

There was also a backyard to play in, full of grass and plants and whatever! Even the Zetsu Tree thingy was there!

Honestly, this place was just plain awesome, even if some of the unused rooms were filled with lots of unopened boxes, the best time to play and fiddle with things!

Currently, Eri was busy reading (or more like browsing) through some of Izuku’s books on Magecraft, all of which had been carefully selected as ‘ Unlikely to eat your Soul ’ by the Magus before packing them in such low security conditions. His actually dangerous books and baubles were stored separately in heavy duty suitcases locked using a variety of mechanical and mystical devices.

Currently, the young unicorn was busy browsing through a book about… she wasn’t sure, it was something called ‘Hero Spirits’ or something? It was complicated, but there were pretty images at least! Pictures of knights wielding different weapons, and people riding horses and chariots, and magic casters, and a lot of other things! It was all very pretty honestly.

Despite her strange upbringing, Eri was still able to read, though being able to read didn’t exactly allow her to understand the various complex words and concepts spread across Izuku’s collection of very complicated books (which made up only a small portion of his actual library back in London). Still, she was able to pick up a few words here and there, particularly those that were pink-ish! She wasn’t sure if that was normal (mostly because the words were all glowy and stuff), but hey, they were funny words so!

She pouted a bit as she read the song, it didn’t even rhyme or look like it would sound any good, but at least it was something. Whispering the words to herself to try and see if speaking them would make them sound better together, the young unicorn unwittingly began enacting a large-scale ritual, all underneath Izuku’s nose (who was busy doing his own ritual in the basement).

“Mhgh~ Silver and steel… be the arc- ach- door of promises-” Her face scrunched up with concentration as she attempted to speak and understand the complicated words, the pink light helping her by providing substitutes that she could actually read and speak. “Sparkling stars see me- The strong wind become a wall- A road to a kingdom-”

This was all very complicated, and it didn’t even sound good at all! But, it did cause the pink light to increase in intensity, prompting Eri to continue reading the funny words. After all, if the pink light got brighter every time she read a line, then maybe it would turn the room pink once she finished reading the entire thing!

“I promise- A friend from somewhere else- Please come-” Before she could fully finish reading the lines, the entire house shook as something exploded in the basement, sending Eri to the ground.

Or at least, she would’ve hit the ground had someone not caught her. Clad fully in white, with accents of black, gold, and pinkish purple, a hooded woman had appeared just in time to catch the curious child. Wearing a hood that covered most of her face, the woman gave a friendly smile as she waved, kneeling next to Eri so they could look into each other’s eyes. Actually, they both had red-ish eyes! And white hair too!

“...Waaa! Miss, you’re so pretty…” Unbothered by the sudden appearance of the pretty miss, mostly because no one had shown up claiming that she was an intruder, Eri took her time examining the smiling woman holding her. She gave a very big ‘Big Sister’ feeling (as Laurentina called the feeling), her smile holding a hint of mischievousness as she opened her mouth and spoke.

“Ara~ What a cute Master I’ve been granted! Don’t worry, Big Sister will take care of you!” The woman declared, bringing Eri into a big and warm hug. Before she could explain further however, the door to the room burst open, revealing a soot-covered Izuku frantically looking around, his gaze rapidly locking itself onto Eri, before his eyes widened as he caught sight of just who was holding her.

Following behind him, a strange woman clad in a geometrically patterned hood and cloak matched him step for step, almost shyly hiding behind him. Just like the pretty big sister that had just arrived, the cloaked woman was hiding most of her face using her hood, though Eri could spot a mess of unkempt wavy hair being unsuccessfully hidden from view using the hood and cloak.

“You-! I- God dammit Merlin !” Letting out a scream of annoyance and exacerbation, Izuku pointed an accusing finger towards the now-named Merlin, said woman only giving him a mischievous smile before sticking her tongue out with all the maturity a several thousand years old succubus could muster.

“Sorry Winter General~ I couldn’t not answer this cutie’s call for a friend, ya know?” Merlin replied, amusement permeating her voice as she hugged Eri playfully, standing up so she could meet the Winter General eye to eye (even if she was slightly shorter than he was, even in his 14 years old form).

Giving an exacerbated sigh of resignation, Izuku grumbled something underneath his breath before beckoning both Servants (and Eri who was being held by Merlin) to follow him back to the living room.

“Well, seems we’ve gotta talk about this.” He said matter of factly, giving a tired glance towards his Servant, who seemed much too shy to actually be a Hero of any renown, but then again you never know. “Sorry for the abrupt summoning Euclid.”

Eri pouted, huffing and crossing her arms as she watched everyone (plus Rei) confusedly file into the room, probably because of the explosion that had just taken place in the basement, giving almost owlish expressions as they caught sight of Euclid and Merlin.

“So, this is a fine mess we’re in… Oh well, what can you do.”

Chapter Text

Our Dashingly Exhausted Protagonist

True Name: Izuku Midoriya / Raven Gael

Alias(es):

• Winter General
• Crimson Lotus Alchemist
• Vice-Director of Atlas
• Lord of Zoology
• Usurper of Thunder
• Pa
• Many False Aliases

Species: Human (Formerly), Dead Apostle, Divine Spirit [False], Magus

Gender: Male

Place of Origin: England (Formerly), Musutafu (Currently)

Height: 5’8” (Currently) / 6’2” (Formerly)

Weight: 71 kg / 85 kg (Formerly, Excluding Prosthetic Arm)

Birthday: July 15th (Currently) / May 5th (Formerly)

Age: 15 (Physically) / 70+ (Mentally) / ~300 (Actually)

Likes: “ Hm, that’s a good question… I guess, the people I care about, the scent of chemicals and goodly cooked food. The warmth of another near me… ”

Dislikes: “ ... ”

Day of Decisive Battle: “ Once, three hundred years ago… ”

Occupation: Alchemist, S-Rank Villain, Drug Dealer, Psychotherapist, Tired DadTM

Quirk: Quirkless

Magecraft: Alchemy, Elemental Magecraft, Divine Core of Zeus [Lostbelt]

Circuit Quality: A++

Circuit Quantity: A+++ [Divine Core]

Circuit Composition: Highly Abnormal [Impossible for a Modern Human]

Element: Water & Wind

Switch: “ The cold embrace of Winter, sparks that form a roaring flame. ”

Affiliation:

• Team Midoriya
• Rei Todoroki
• Clock Tower [Loosely]
• ???

Father: Hisashi Midoriya (Currently) / Jacque Gael (Formerly)

Mother: Inko Midoriya (Currently) / Elizabeth Gael (Formerly)

Relatives:

• Sion Eltnam Sokaris (Wife)
• Priscilla Gael (Younger Sister, Formerly)
• Erika Gael (Youngest Sister, Formerly)
• Rosemary Gael (Daughter, Formerly)
• Greco-Roman Pantheon (Distant Relative)
• Eri (Adoptive Daughter / Ward)
• Laurentina (Creation / Daughter)
• Phoenix (Creation / Daughter)
• Melascula (Creation / Daughter)
• Ho’olheyak (Creation / Daughter)

Personal Skills:

• Authority of the Machine God [?]
• One Who Crosses the Sea of Stars (False) [A+]
• Divine Core of the Chief God (False) [EX]
• Lord of Winter [A+++]
• Mind’s Eye (False) [B+]
• Battle Continuation (Fearsome Immortal) [EX]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• World Discipline Keraunos [I, the Star-Cleaving Thunderbolt] | Anti-Army / Anti-Soul | EX
• Harpe [Immortal Slaying Scythe] | Anti-Unit / Anti-Immortal | ???
• Fragarach Alternative [Gouging Sword of Rewinding Time] | Anti-Unit | C+
• ??? | Anti-World | EX
• Divine Core of the Chief God [I, the God-Devouring Usurper] | Anti-Unit (Self) / Anti-World | ???

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ The glass needs a refill… ”

The First of Many

True Name: Laurentina

Alias(es):

• Cackling Shark
• The Unchained
• Big Sister

Species: Homunculus, Magus, Shark

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Musutafu, Japan

Height: 5’4”

Weight: ?? kg

Birthday: July 15th

Age: ~21 (Mentally) / Less than 1 (Actually)

Likes: “ Hoh? Why, causing chaos of course! Fighting, eating good food, drinking good alcohol~ The whole thing! ”

Dislikes: “ Hmmm, I don’t know! Maybe I just need to explore the World some more! ”

Day of Decisive Battle: “ Once, in 9 Generations. ”

Occupation: Vigilante, A-Rank Villain, Mischief Causer

Quirk: Wave Force [Emitter]

Magecraft: Water Elemental Magecraft, General Fundamentals

Circuit Quality: A++

Circuit Quantity B+

Circuit Composition: Abnormal

Element: Water

Switch: “ Water swirling into a torrent, overtaking everything. ”

Affiliation:

• Team Midoriya

Father: Izuku Midoriya (Creator)

Mother: N/A

Relatives:

• Phoenix (Younger Sister)
• Melascula (Younger Sister)
• Ho’olheyak (Younger Sister)
• Eri (Younger Sister / Ward)

Personal Skill(s):

• Blessing of Water [A+]
• Magecraft [C]
• Battle Continuation [B]
• Monstrous Strength [B+]

Noble Phantasm(s);

• Whirligig Saw [Rugged Hunter Weaponry] | Anti-Unit | C
• ??? | Anti-Army | B++

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ Watch me fill that glass with my Quirk! ”

The Bird of Flames

True Name: Phoenix

Alias(es):

• Blazing Hot Wings
• The Excaliblazer
• ‘Proper Adult Supervision’
• Fiammetta

Species: Homunculus, Magus, Phoenix

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Musutafu, Japan

Height: 5’6”

Weight: 56 kg

Birthday: June 12th

Age: ~21 (Mentally) / Less than 1 (Actually)

Likes: “ The calm, quiet comfort of a room smelling of old books and brewing tea. The afternoon Sun shining through a barely opened window. ”

Dislikes: “ Chaos, not knowing what to do. But I suppose I can deal with that if the Shark is there… ”

Day of Decisive Battle: “ On the Land of the Rising Sun, The Day of Reckoning. ”

Occupation: A-Ranked Villain, Babysitter, ‘Appropriate Adult Supervision’

Quirk: Phoenix [Mutant]

Magecraft: Fire Elemental Magecraft, General Fundamentals

Circuit Quality: B+

Circuit Quantity: A++

Circuit Composition: Abnormal

Element: Fire & Wind

Switch: “ The gentle breeze turning into a fiery vortex. ”

Affiliation:

• Team Midoriya

Father: Izuku Midoriya (Creator)

Mother: N/A

Relatives:

• Laurentina (Older Sister)
• Melascula (Younger Sister)
• Ho’olheyak (Younger Sister)
• Eri (Younger Sister / Ward)

Personal Skill(s):

• Battle Continuation [EX]
• Mana Burst (Flame) [A+]
• Mind’s Eye (False) [B+]
• Magecraft [C]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• ??? | Anti-Unit | C+
• ??? | Anti-Group | ???

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ Laurentina is littering… probably. ”

The Goodly Snake

True Name: Melascula

Alias(es):

• Snake
• Drunkard

Species: Homunculus, Magus, Snake

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Musutafu, Japan

Height: 5’1”

Weight: 43 kg

Birthday: August 1st

Age: ~21 (Mentally) / Less than 1 (Actually)

Likes: “ Some good booze, a place to snooze, and maybe the little Unicorn… ”

Dislikes: “ Overwhelming Work, why can’t I just laze around all day, eh? ”

Day of Decisive Battle: “ By the foggy bay of a day, six years ago. ”

Occupation: A-Ranked Villain, Warp Gate, Alcohol Connoisseur

Quirk: Bifrost (Tentative Name) [Emitter]

Magecraft: General Fundamentals, Spiritual Evocation

Circuit Quality: A+

Circuit Quantity: A+

Circuit Composition: Abnormal

Element: Earth

Switch: “ Dark mist slowly swallows up everything. ”

Affiliation:

• Team Midoriya

Father: Izuku Midoriya (Creator)

Mother: N/A

Relatives:

• Laurentina (Older Sister)
• Phoenix (Older Sister)
• Ho’olheyak (Younger Sister)
• Eri (Younger Sister / Ward)

Personal Skill(s):

• Clairvoyance [EX]
• Magecraft [C+]
• Battle Continuation [B]
• Monstrous Constitution [C]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• Melascula [The Eyes that See Everywhere] | Anti-Unit (Self) | D
• ??? | Anti-Army | ???

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ The glass contains a non-alcoholic beverage. ”

The Feathered Serpent of Yesterday

True Name: Ho’olheyak

Alias(es);

• Kuku
• Hool
• The Feathered Serpent

Species: Homunculus, Divine Spirit (False), Magus, Kukulkan

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Japan, Meso-America (Divine Core)

Height: 5’6” (Not Counting Tail)

Weight: 56 kg (65 kg with tail)

Birthday: September 2nd

Age: ~21 (Mentally) / Less than 1 (Actually)

Likes: “ The technological advancements of Humanity of course! The microwave above all else, and maybe I do enjoy the company of my siblings~ ”

Dislikes: “ Reckless Evil of course! Fuhahahaha~ How drab but, quite honestly, isn’t it quite boorish to talk about what you don’t like? Fufufufu~ ”

Day of Decisive Battle: “ Yesterday upon the Blazing Sun. ”

Occupation: S-Ranked Villain, Divine Spirit (False), Microwave Enthusiast

Quirk: Quirkless

Magecraft: Divine Core of the Good God

Circuit Quality: EX

Circuit Quantity: EX

Circuit Composition: Highly Abnormal (Impossible by all standards)

Element: Average One

Switch: “ The Rising Sun, whose Light engulfs everything. ”

Affiliation:

• Team Midoriya

Father: Izuku Midoriya (Creator)

Mother: Archetype: ORT (Inspiration) / Kukulkan [Lostbelt] (Original) / Quetzalcoatl (Original)

Relatives:

• Archetype: ORT (Distant Relative)
• Kukulkan / Quetzalcoatl (Conceptual Older Sister)
• Laurentina (Older Sister)
• Phoenix (Older Sister)
• Melascula (Older Sister)
• Eri (Younger Sister / Ward)
• Meso-American Pantheon (Distant Relatives)

Personal Skill(s):

• Charisma of the Sun [A]
• Wisdom of the Snake God [EX]
• We are the Winged Serpent (False) [EX]
• Golden Sea of Trees Travelogue [?]
• Civilization Creation [EX]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• Authority of the Winged Serpent [The Feathered Snake of Yesterday] | Anti-Unit (Self) / Anti-World | ???
• Xiuhcoatl [Flames, Burn the Gods to Ashes] | Anti-Army / Anti-Fortress / Anti-Unit | A (EX)
• ??? | ??? | ???

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ Can you microwave water safely? ”

The Precious Unicorn

True Name: Eri

Alias(es):

• Unicorn
• Little One
• The Winter General’s Pride

Species: Human, Magus

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Osaka, Japan

Height: 3’7”

Weight: 24 kg

Birthday: December 21st

Age: 7

Likes: “ Plushies, and Apples, and- and! And everyone else here! ”

Dislikes: “ ... ”

Day of Decisive Battle: “ Rewind of Another Age. ”

Occupation: Family Baby, Escaped Yakuza Child, Pro-Hero Target, Plushy Expert

Quirk: Rewind

Magecraft: General Fundamentals, Servant Summoning

Circuit Quality: D

Circuit Quantity: C

Circuit Composition: Normal

Element: Ether

Switch: “ Light flowing and overtaking her. ”

Affiliation:

• Team Midoriya (Currently)
• Shie Haissaikai (Formerly)

Father: Unnamed (Deceased) / Izuku Midoriya (Adoptive)

Mother: Unnamed / Sion Eltnam Sokaris (Technically)

Relatives:

• Laurentina (Adoptive Older Sister)
• Phoenix (Adoptive Older Sister)
• Melascula (Adoptive Older Sister)
• Ho’olheyak (Adoptive Older Sister)
• Priscilla Gael (Adoptive Aunt)
• Erika Gael (Adoptive Aunt)
• Jacque Gael (Adoptive Grandfather)
• Elizabeth Gael (Adoptive Grandmother)
• Inko Midoriya (Adoptive Grandmother)
• Hisashi Midoriya (Adoptive Grandfather)
• Zepia Eltnam Atlasia (Adoptive Ancestor / Great-Grandfather)
• Sialim Eltnam Re-Atlasia (Adoptive Aunt)
• Many Others…

Personal Skill(s):

• Favor of the Sky God [A]
• Favor of the Good God [A]
• Magecraft [E]
• Favor from Another Utopia [?]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• ??? | Anti-Army | ???

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ The glass isn’t full of apple juice. :( “

The Flowery Onee-San!

True Name: Merlin (Prototype)

Alias(es):

• Onee-san
• Magus of Flowers
• Succubus
• Caster

Species: Human, Mixed Blood, Succubus, Magus, Living Servant

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Avalon (Another World)

Height: 5’1”

Weight: 20 kg

Birthday: Unknown

Age: ?

Likes: The Human World, Pranks, Boys, Eri

Dislikes: Boring Travels

Day of Decisive Battle: “ The Beast of Revelation. ”

Occupation: Eri Caretaker, Kingmaker, Court Wizard, Wandering Succubus, Servant

Quirk: Quirkless

Affiliation:

• Eri (Master)
• Team Midoriya (By Proxy)
• Chaldea (Formerly)
• Avalon

Class / Personal Skill(s):

• Territory Creation [D]
• Item Construction [A+]
• Hero Creation [B]
• Dreamlike Charisma [D]
• Succubus Vicinity [EX]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• Hope of Avalon | Anti-Unit | A

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ Fufufu~ You don’t have to drink just water you know? ”

The Traveler From Another Plane

True Name: Euclid

Alias(es):

• Father of Euclidean Geometry
• King in Yellow
• Foreigner

Species: Human, Servant

Gender: Female

Place of Origin: Greece

Height: ? (Shorter than Izuku, Taller than Laurentina)

Weight: ?

Birthday: ?

Age: ? (Legal)

Likes: School, Euclidean Geometry, Learning

Dislikes: Non-Euclidean Geometry

Day of Decisive Battle: “ And so she chants; ‘Iä! Iä! vulgtmm...vugtlagn…’ ”

Occupation: Mathematician, Geometry Judge, Host of an Outer God, Servant

Affiliation:

• Izuku Midoriya (Master)
• Team Midoriya (By Proxy)

Class / Personal Skill(s):

• Existence Outside the Domain [EX]
• Divinity [B]
• Independent Action [C]
• High-Speed Computation [B]
• Technique Elucidation [EX]
• The King in Yellow [?]

Noble Phantasm(s):

• Euclid [The World of Euclid] | Anti-World | EX
• Hastur [The Yellow Sign] | Anti-World | ?

Stance on the Glass of Water: “ The glass is Non-Euclidean. ”

Chapter Text

If he had to rank the various dinners, parties, and other whatnot he’d been invited to over the years by how much stress and anxiety they were causing him, then… actually going to visit the Todoroki Household for a dinner date wasn’t all that high on this list, but still, it was the thought that counted, or something like that.

Still, having been woefully underdressed for the occasion (mostly by his complete lack of formal clothing), Izuku had been forced to spend the last few days hastily cobbling together a decently formal outfit (one that wouldn’t make him look like a typical university bachelor anyways) that he could wear at the occasion.

Said dinner heavily reminded him of that one time Zepia Eltnam Atlasia invited him over. It was… something best left unthought, the less he pondered that memory, the better.

Still, surely this couldn’t be all that bad, right? All he would do was show up, compliment the food (and choke it down if necessary) while answering a few questions here or there from the Todoroki Children, and make sure to avoid causing any big problems, especially when it came to Shoto.

He did wonder if the youngest Todoroki Son would be compelled to act once he saw just who it was that his older siblings had invited for dinner, or if he would just silently ponder the situation. Oh well, Izuku would find out once he got there.

Making some final touch ups (mostly just making sure he was actually in his adult form), Izuku pranced his way out of the bathroom into the living room, getting a few amused chuckles from his creations/daughters, and an awestruck look from Eri.

“I’ll be at the Todoroki Household for the next while, if anything happens just call me. There should be some leftovers in the fridge.” He said, giving each of his creations a stern look, which was quickly disregarded either by a dismissing wave or a snicker. “If you need to order anything make sure to wipe the delivery guy’s memories of you guys, alright?”

Hearing no replies, Izuku sighed deeply before deciding to simply trust in their moral judgment (a troubling thought indeed), before making his way out of the house. He had about an hour to get to the Todoroki which, considering it was within Musutafu, wouldn’t actually take him that long.

Should he get a gift? Maybe, but then, what should he buy? As he walked towards the Todoroki Abode, a nearby shop caught his attention, or rather, the thing on display did. Looking around to make sure he was truly alone, he walked over to it to take a closer look, suddenly feeling like his wallet was going to be much lighter once he was done.

What did Rei say her children were studying in again?

While the Winter General was busy buying gifts, the two Elder Todoroki Children (the alive ones anyways) were busy making sure everything was ready for their guest’s arrival. Their mother had been brought from the hospital, the food was ready (or would be ready by the time their guest got here), and Shoto was presentable.

Speaking of Shoto, he seemed… puzzled by something, though what specifically he didn’t say. He did look particularly happy to see his mother again, and while he didn’t speak much (which wasn’t unusual for him), it was easy for his two older siblings to notice just how much his mood had improved upon seeing (and talking) to their mother again.

Speaking of, their mother was busy regaling her children about the many adventures she had had with her therapist’s daughter, who she said helped her make great strides in repairing her damaged psyche. According to the Himura woman, the man was a British Immigrant who had adopted the girl soon after having arrived in Japan and had been taking care of her ever since.

It was, truthfully, a heartwarming story, though it did make Natsuo and Fuyumi suspicious about the man’s intentions. Was he truly gunning for their mother? Was that why he had introduced her to his daughter so soon? What was his game then, become their step-father or something? Or was he not aware that Rei already had children. Wait, no, their mother had told them she had told her therapist about her children quite early in their conversations. Did he think he could win them over just by winning her over?

In the end, it didn’t matter. All that mattered was that, now this man was about to be judged by the Todoroki Children. While they were quite hopeful given the glowing reviews given by their mother, they also wouldn’t be fooled by any pleasantries and whatnot.

Before long, the hour of wait had arrived, with both Fuyumi and Natsuo waiting patiently for someone to knock at the door. The seconds trickled by before, eventually, a loud knock penetrated the mostly silent (from where they were anyways) atmosphere, causing Natsuo to rush forward towards the door to open it, becoming face-to-chest with an impressively tall man.

Tall enough to rival Enji Todoroki, sporting auburn air with speckles of black, and a distinctly European tan, the man looked… completely overdressed for the occasion. Whether it was due to his desire to impress, or simply because he didn’t have anything else to wear, the man standing before Natsuo was dressed in a complete black three-piece suit with a blood red shirt completing the outfit.

Along with the gifts in one of his arms and the suitcase in the other, he looked more like a father returning from a long business trip than someone visiting for dinner.

Needless to say, Natsuo was struck speechless as he examined the man, performing an admirable impression of a fish out of the water. Fortunately, Fuyumi recovered much more quickly than he did, pushing him to the side and ushering their guest inside.

“Welcome to the Todoroki Household, I’m Fuyumi and this is my younger brother Natsuo.” The only Todoroki Daughter said, gesturing towards her gapping brother as she flashed her guest a professional smile, schooling her feature in a way only years of customer service jobs and dealing with Enji taught her to do. She was rewarded with a kind smile from the man, Raven if she remembered his name properly, something that almost clashed with his features were it not for just how small it was.

“It’s nice to meet you Fuyumi, your mother told me a lot about you during our meetings. Same to you Natsuo.” He greeted them, stepping inside of the house and taking off his shoes without even needing to use his hands, expertly balancing both his suitcase and his gifts. Taking the initiative, Fuyumi gestured to their guest to follow her into the living room where Rei and Shoto were currently having an animated conversation (or well, Rei was talking enough for the both of them).

Once they made eye contact, both adults exchanged smiles (something that Natsuo and Fuyumi made note of, exchanging suspicious glances as they made for the dining room to start setting up the plates). As for Shoto, he froze up the moment he saw their mother’s therapist, the man sending the boy a conspicuous smile.

“Hello again Shoto, it’s been quite some time.” Raven said, greeting the youngest Todoroki who was completely frozen from shock. “I hope you’ve been well since our last meeting.”

Not letting the shocked boy say anything, Raven leaned in towards him in a mock one-armed hug, whispering into Shoto’s ear.

“I promise to not cause a scene if you don’t. I’ll even answer some of your questions after if you want.” He whispered, giving Shoto a wink as he extracted himself from the mock hug, shifting his glance towards Rei as he greeted her too.

Soon enough, everyone was seated around the table, with Raven’s gift having been distributed amongst the family. Fuyumi had been gifted a set of expensive-looking pens, Natsuo had received a small collection of books on the human anatomy, and Shoto had received (to his surprise) a Detnarat Gift Card which would allow him to get a custom made Support Item from the reputed company.

Rei had yet to open her package, though she seemed to have a pretty good inkling as to what was inside the wrapped box, which she had left sitting next to her as they ate the meal her daughter had prepared for the occasion.

Small talk was exchanged, compliments were given, and the atmosphere remained generally cheerful, if not slightly tense as Shoto repeatedly shot the man suspicious glances for reasons neither of his siblings could wrap their head around. Had he figured out the true meaning of this meeting? Or did this have to do with their previous meeting? It was hard to say.

Eventually though, everything had been eaten (or well, everything that could be eaten), with Raven having helped Fuyumi wash the dishes. Now, they were all seated around the table, or well, Rei had excused herself to use the bathroom, leaving only the Todoroki Children and their guest to stew in the slowly mounting aura of tension that radiated from everyone.

Fuyumi, once more putting on the pants amongst her siblings, decided to lead the conversation forward, pulling from the little experience she had confronting her students about the naughty things they’d done (and god damn was this a novel experience, confronting an adult instead of a naughty child, still, she would persevere).

“So, Mister Gael, I’ll be blunt.” She began, her glasses sliding down her nose ever so slightly, reflecting the light just so in a manner that made her look very much like a scheming anime character. “What are your intentions with our mother?”

Despite sounding like a question, everyone was clearly aware that this was very much a statement, or rather, a demand. Fuyumi (and potential Natsuo and Shoto) were demanding what Raven’s intentions were with Rei.

Clearing his throat a bit, Raven shifted in his seat, briefly pondering if he should just use his Magecraft to get out of this situation, before deciding to just go with the flow. It wasn’t like he had any malicious intentions towards Rei to begin with.

“Well, she’s just my patient, perhaps a friend as well.” He started, carefully measuring his words as he spoke, his gaze slowly shifting from one Todoroki to the other as he measured their reaction to his words. “While it is true she babysitted my daughter for me on multiple occasions, she was the one to have offered, something I couldn’t exactly refuse given the situations at the time.”

Taking a sip of water, the doctor continued speaking.

“As it is, I’d like to think of us as friends, though I don’t know what Rei thinks about this.”

Fuyumi shared a look with Natsuo, since Shoto seemed too deep in thoughts to do anything much at the moment, a mental conversation going on in-between the siblings using nothing but carefully calculated looks, the likes of which only years of living together with Enji had taught them to to and read.

“I see, that’s good. It would be a shame if you were a bad man after all.” She said lightly, glancing conspicuously towards a picture of Endeavor hanging from a nearby wall, the day he had received his Number Two spot. Raven slowly nodded as he caught the glance, silently pondering something about Endeavor before deciding to shelve the thoughts for later. Before Fuyumi could continue her interrogation of the Doctor, Shoto spoke up.

“Can we speak, in private.” Blunt as ever, the boy abruptly stood up, making towards the outside patio to wait for the doctor. Sharing a look with Fuyumi and Natsuo, Raven slowly rose from his spot, following after Shoto, leaving the two remaining Todoroki Siblings to discuss their impression of him.

The Reincarnated Dead Apostle quickly caught up with Shoto, the Hero Student having chosen a spot that was out of earshot from anyone at the kitchen table. Clever boy. The two of them stood in silence for a few moments, Shoto clearly troubled by the current events as he tried to formulate some sort of question to ask, but eventually he managed to say something.

“Why are you here?”

Raven hummed a bit, reaching into one of his coat pockets and taking out a packet of scented cigarettes, taking one and placing it between his lips. He considered offering one to Shoto, before deciding against setting the boy down the path of addiction (especially since, unlike him, Shoto wasn’t able to regenerate his lungs to negate the side-effects of smoking). Snapping his fingers, Raven ignited his cancer stick, breathing in the smoke before answering.

“I came because it’s the choice that made Rei the most happy.” He said simply, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “I became her therapist because Fate decided it so. I continued being her therapist because I’m a sappy bastard with too many issues. I’m here right now because it’s what makes her happy.”

Watching the S-Rank Villain silently smoke next to him caused Shoto to have, perhaps not an epiphany, but perhaps a revelation. It was simple after all, villains were still human whether they were criminals or not. Not all villains were simply evil to be evil, the World just wasn’t that simple.

“Then… why attack U.A?” Unspoken went the ‘ Why did you spare me but not Bakugou? ’ as Shoto waited for the answer to his question, the answer that would decide whether or not he would attack the man standing scant a few feet from him.

“Hm, that’s a good question. Honestly, the Sports Festival was a fluke, I didn’t intend on attacking anyone until it got too far into it.” Raven answered after some consideration, dearly wishing he had some wine to drink right about now. “As for the Camp? Well, honestly it was just to see Bakugou. We have some… history together, you see. I hadn’t seen him during the Sports Festival, so infiltrating your Summer Camp was the best I could do.”

In a roundabout way, it made sense. Given that Raven was a Villain, he couldn’t just show up at U.A and start asking questions about Bakugou.

“It’s not good history, before you ask. Maybe one day you’ll know.” Raven cut in before Shoto could ask any questions about the relationship between him and the Exploding Pomeranian. “But, let me ask you something. Why don’t you use your fire?”

Shoto’s expression darkened at the question, the temperature turning chilly as he started losing control over his emotions.

“I won’t use his Quirk. I’ll become a Hero with just my mother’s Quirk.” Was all he said, crossing his arm almost petulantly, something that caused the Winter General to chuckle a bit.

“His Quirk, her Quirk, that’s a pretty narrow view you’ve got kiddo.” This statement earned the Winter General an inquisitive, if somewhat heated, stare from Shoto as he attempted to puzzle together the meaning behind the older man’s words. “You don’t have either of your parent’s Quirks kid. You have your own. Whether you like it or not, your Fire and Ice are intrinsically linked together.”

Taking another puff of smoke, the Winter General extended both of his hands forward, allowing Shoto to see as two plumes of flames appeared within them. One plume was a gentle orange and oozed warmth, while the other was a calming blue and oozed cold.

“Your Quirk’s called ‘Half-Hot-Half-Cold’, right? That’s a dumb name. You have to stop thinking of your Quirk as two separate abilities, and instead think of them as two sides of the same coin.” As he spoke, the two plumes of flames within Raven’s hands started melding together, meeting in the middle as they mixed into something completely different. Neither ice, nor fire, but instead something completely different. “I knew someone, once, who had an ability just like you. He could use fire and ice. The thing was, his fire was a side-effect of using his ice improperly.”

Briefly, Raven wondered if Shoto’s Quirk was anything like Vlov’s ability. Something to ponder later perhaps.

“Y’a see, his ability was a bit more complicated than just ‘making ice’, it was controlling thermal energy. He could draw it out of an area to cause a sudden drop in temperature, creating ice.” As he spoke, Raven noticed just how wrapped up Shoto was in his explanation, something that caused a small smile to appear on the older man’s face. “He could create fire if he wasn’t careful though, instead of making the temperature go down, it would go up instead, kind of like a heat sink.”

Making both flames vanish, Raven incinerated the remains of his cigarette so as to not litter, turning to face Shoto fully.

“This is your Quirk kid, not your old man, or your mom’s. It’s yours. What you do with it is up to you. You need to stop thinking of it so unilaterally.” With these last words of wisdom, the Winter General re-entered the house, mostly to give his goodbyes since it was getting quite late.

Left to his thoughts, Shoto looked down at both of his hands, trying to comprehend just what he’d heard, and seen.

His Quirk, huh? That felt… nice. Manifesting a small flame in his left hand and a chilly mist in his right, the prospective Hero wondered, could he do something like that one day? Was he actually limited to a side of his body on a biological level, or was it more of a psychological limiter.

Nevertheless, he had some deep thinking to do, starting by asking for his mother’s opinion.

Chapter Text

The eve of a confrontation was always tense, but never more than when you already knew part of the outcome.

Clenching his fist, the Winter General adjusted his gear somewhat, the heavy armor he was wearing only made heavier by the large backpack-like device strapped onto it, a meaningless attempt at prolonging his already fading life.

His body was breaking down, there was no going against that, and yet, there were still so many things he needed to do, so many regrets he still had to fix. All for nothing, he couldn’t do anything now but try and hope that his regrets would fade with him.

Hefting a large twisted lance, he stepped out of the changing room into what remained of Chaldea, the facility having been transported back to England after the Human Order Revision Incident, mostly because there was practically nobody left to supervise the facility.

Ritsuka had also joined them back, helped by their ever faithful kouhai Mashu, whose gaze he couldn’t match as she ran over to him, despair and hope clashing in her gaze as she grabbed onto his coat. Her grip felt so fragile, bereft of Galahad’s aid, and yet despair pushed her onwards, her fists turning white from the death grip she had on him.

“P- Please save Senpai-! ” She sobbed into him for the hundredth time, yet he still had nothing to tell her. Couldn’t tell her. They both knew, all knew really, Ritsuka was gone, there was nothing else they could do now but kill them- the thing that had taken over their body.

Gently laying a hand on Mashu’s shoulder, the only thing he could do was softly and sadly shake his head sideways, trying desperately to stop himself from breaking down with her, Da Vinci rushing over to help the girl up and onto a chair, her frail body giving out from the amount of crying she’d been doing over the last few days.

It had all happened so fast, and yet in a sense, they had all seen the signs pointing towards it long before anything had actually happened, and yet Ritsuka had fooled them all with their easy-going smile and cheerful attitude, and yet even that wasn’t an excuse. They all had just looked away, hoping desperately that Ritsuka wasn’t lying about their situation, and yet…

Glancing towards Da Vinci, he could see just how tired the Universal Genius looked, a far cry from even how she’d been during the most arduous of situations during their travels through Time.

“...How long do I have?” Despite how soft his voice was, an attempt to not disturb Mashu’s slumber, even though they both knew that nothing short of a Category 5 Hurricane could do that right now. Da Vinci looked down, fetching a nearby tablet and flicking through it in search of a piece information she already knew, but desperately wished she didn’t have.

“...About five minutes, did you-” “Yeah, I already said everything I had to say…”

Both adults shared a look, something indescribable passing between them, born from the years of experience they had together as teammates. Despite lasting less than ten seconds, the moment felt like it lasted forever for him as the Universal Genius ruffled through her lab coat, fetching a vial of some purple liquid and handing it to him.

“Here, it’s all I could make on such short notice. It should… It should let you come back.” Despite her claims, Da Vinci couldn’t find it in herself to put on her usual bravado, even she wasn’t sure this all but miraculous solution would work, and even if it did, it was the biggest of hail marys in the World.

Wordlessly pocketing the vial, the Winter General breathed softly, a meaningless attempt to psyche himself up one last time, turning his glance towards the only window in the room. The window, a large reinforced glass pane, showed only one thing. His imminent destination, the Hole of the World born from the Birth of a New Beast.

“...Da Vinci, thank you.” Shifting his glance over to her, he flashed her a small smile, before starting his descent towards the Hole, taking his time to, for the last time, enjoy the World they had all fought to protect and retrieve. All the people that had died for them to get here, all the sacrifices, just one last time…

“...You know, today’s a good day to die.”

The inside of the Hole of the World was… strange, definitively fitting for an Alien God trying to spread its influence on Earth. The inside of a Reality Marble born of something unfathomable from the depths of space.

Internally, he was grateful that he could be here, to be the one to do this. Hopefully, doing this would alleviate his regrets some before his end. The powers he had stolen from Zeus, One Who Crosses the Sea of Stars , was the only thing that allowed him to survive the trek through Time-Space.

Said trek was relatively short, but then again he was moving through a fold in Time and Space, ‘distance’ was relative, whether he walked from the Earth to the Moon or did a 5 kilometer run didn’t matter, here it all amounted to the same thing.

Eventually though, he made it through, allowing him to witness what would be, within the next hour or so, the birthing ground of a New Beast of Humanity, born using the body of Ritsuka Fujimaru. Despite all the things obscuring his view of Humanity’s Last Master, he could still see them, slouched down on a facsimile of Solomon’s Throne.

They looked oh so familiar, and yet he could already see the corruption of the Alien God making itself known, horns, patches of unnatural fur, and Demon God Pillar Eyes making up a relatively large portion of their body, making it difficult to say just who was in control now.

It didn’t matter, he-

“...Hey Gramps, here to kill me?”

The voice startled him out of his thoughts, his gaze zeroing into the unnatural smirk plastered on Ritsuka’s face, showing much too many teeth for a regular human. Steeling himself one last time, he gripped his lance, golden lightning crackling around him as the temperature started dropping dangerously low.

“...Yeah, it’s the end kiddo.” Lowering himself into a stance, he didn’t even get to lunge forward before something large and heavy collided with him, part of the Reality Marble no doubt. He wasn’t sure what kind of powers the Alien God could call upon right now, but assuming it was anything like U-Olga, then this was a display of Gyrokinesis, Gravity turning upon itself as the very ground below him broke apart, forcing him to jump from debris to debris as he launched thunderbolts towards U-Ritsuka.

“Fuahahah! Divine Powers or not, it doesn’t matter! You’re still just a puny, insignificant human!” The Alien God cackled, crackles of power rushing around its body as gravity flexed once more, bits and pieces of surrounding planetoids ripping to shred and firing towards the Winter General at high speed, forcing him to punch and disintegrate them all.

Thunderbolts, Ice Lances, and Magecraft crackled around the Winter General, his Alchemy flexing itself as much as possible, remaking and destroying the oncoming bits of space debris, turning them to dust or shields. Despite his efforts though, it was clear that he was being quickly overwhelmed as more and more attacks started hitting him. His Regeneration, already straining to keep him alive, slowed more and more with each attack he took.

Eventually, he slipped as a large boulder struck him, sending him flying into another boulder. The Alien God, making quick work of the opening, started frantically pilling up more and more debris together, forming a veritable planetoid around its target, compressing the newly formed planetoid in an attempt to squish its opponent into goo.

Mad cackles erupted from U-Ritsuka once the planetoid was of sufficient size, swinging their arms wildly as bolts of unknown energy emerged from the space around them, firing at the compressed planetoid and destroying it from the center outward.

“See, I told you. It’s all for-” Caught up in their gloating, U-Ritsuka barely managed to deflect the supersonic projectile that speed towards their head, space folding once more as the projectile was warped from one side of their body to the other, confusion etching itself on their face as they stared incomprehensibly at the ruined planetoid, now nothing but smoldering rubbles.

Rocks shifted as a heavily burnt Winter General, lightning still crackling around him, forced his bruised and battered body out from under the tones of debris over him, his Regeneration no longer enough to keep up, most of his left side being nothing but charred skin, his left cheek being all but gone as the white of his bone gave him an almost ghoulish smile.

He breathed heavily, his metal right arm outstretched and smoldering from the heat generated from throwing his lance at speeds surpassing Mach 6, his gaze unfocused as he opened and closed his mouth a few times, unable to form anything but meaningless sounds.

Yet, despite his state, his instincts were unhindered as his remaining muscles coiled, lightning and Magecraft forcing his body to continue moving, Reinforcement and his Lightning Armor allowing him to move at speeds beyond even what Servants could achieve, using his battered left arm to bat away debris, his right arm forming thunderbolt after thunderbolt, throwing them recklessly towards U-Ritsuka, panic etching itself across the Alien God’s face as they witnessed something that should be impossible.

Most of the Winter General’s armor had melted off, a combination of his excessive speed and the planetoid-melting attack that had struck him, bits and pieces of metal flying off of him as he sped around, his coiled lance being pulled back towards him through the power of magnetism, forcing the Alien God into a corner as panic wormed its way throughout their mind and body.

“T- This is impossible! YOU DAMN HUMAN! HOW DARE YOU!? ” No longer able to form coherent thoughts, the Alien God let loose a roar of incoherent anger, their power fluctuating wildly as it attempted to burn the oncoming Monster in his tracks.

Said Monster simply continued onward, his body now moving solely due to his Magecraft, most of his nerves in the process of burning out from his reckless abuse of power, a wordless roar the only sign that he was indeed still alive, if barely. His left arm, or what was left of it, barely qualified as a piece of burnt jerky, and his right arm was barely holding together, his Magecraft melding the metal of his arm as quickly as it could, to no avail.

His body was breaking down faster than he could fix it, and that was what the Alien God was banking on, a battle of attrition where he couldn’t win.

I’m sorry Ritsuka, I wasn’t strong enough…

Jumping high into the sky, the Winter General gathered all the power he could, lightning bursting through every orifice in his body, his eyes burning out from the intensity of the power surging throughout his battered form, focusing through his metal arm and into his weapon.

Then, as a bolt of thunder ought to do, he fell towards the Earth, his thunder becoming a crimson red as his blood mixed with it, his scream melding together with the roar of thunder, becoming something wholly different.

Horror formed on U-Ritsuka’s face as they attempted to once more fold Time and Space, forming a shield to try and warp the attack away, to no avail. Drawing from Zeus’s Authority one more time, the Winter General traveled through the barrier separating him and his target, his lance poised to strike-

Hey gramps, do you think we can still win?

His eyeless sockets widened, memories flashing through his mind as he neared the Alien- no, Ritsuka-

All my life, I did nothing but regret. Over and over, I pilled up some many regrets, but-

Closing his sightless eyes, he struck, crimson thunder spilling around them both, overtaking everything, burning away everything in its path.

Just this once, please, tell me I did the right thing-

Blearily opening their eyes, Ritsuka Fujimaru found themselve staring out at the vast expanse of space, a large surge of pain in their chest causing them to cough out a purple-ish liquid, a nearby broken syringe dripping with what remained of the mystery fluid, undoubtedly having been injected into them for some reason.

“...Ah… i-it worked… L- leave it to her…” A tired voice brought them back to the present, frantically looking around, their eyes widening as they landed on what remained of the Winter General, his body having burned away from the humongous amount of power he’d drawn upon. His entire lower body had already turned to dust, as had his left arm. His eyes, if there even remained anything in his sockets, were unnoticeable, and yet-

And yet he smiled, tired in a way only oncoming death could do, and yet-

“My… dear… child… I- T-... this… is… everything… I…” His voice faded with every word, his body slowly turning to dust as his Regeneration gave out, incapable of keeping him alive. Ritsuka, spurred on by his words, quickly crawled over to the disintegrating husk of a man they had spent so much time with, gave and received so much-

“I- No! P- Please, not you too! ” They cried frantically, trying desperately to grab hold of the man so fondly called ‘Gramps’ within the halls of Chaldea, but no matter what they did, all they could grab turned to dust, mixing with their tears as they cried.

“D- don’t… cry… E-... everything… wi…ll… b…e… a…ll… r…ight…” With the last of his life, Raven Gael brought up what remained of his right arm, despite his blindness, he could never forget this motion, his remaining fingers brushing up against Ritsuka’s wet cheeks and grazing away their tears.

My dear child, the Future will be harsh, but you have so many people with you. I- I’m sure you’ll be fine…

With his final thoughts given, unable to vocalize them yet surely passed onto his ward, the Last Lord of Zoology, one of the few people to have lived through the adventures of Chaldea, died peacefully after a life full of regrets.

“...a… p… a… Papa! Wake up!”

Abruptly pulled out of his dreams by someone roughly shaking his collar, Izuku Midoriya almost tumbled out of his chair as he tried to awkwardly stand up, his eyes widening slightly as he instead tripped on his feet, grabbing onto the bundle of joy and worry huddled up on his chest as he steadied himself.

Blinking himself awake, Izuku quickly situated himself. Right, he was… he was on a plane to I-Island. Shifting his gaze down towards Eri, he looked absolutely confused at the amount of worry displayed by her, worry that was shared by everyone in the tiny private plane, even the Servants.

Slowly looking at all of them, he finally noticed the few stray tears left in his eyes. Ah, that was it then…

Wiping away his tears, he grinned down at Eri, bringing her up as a nearby light flickered on.

“I’m fine Eri, just a dream is all.” He said reassuringly, to which the young girl slowly nodded, pouting a bit when he blew her a raspberry. “Hey, cheer up, we’re almost at I-Island, according to the pamphlet there should be lots of things to do since I-Expo is a festival.”

Glancing out of his window, Izuku briefly caught a glance of something that almost sent him out of seat once more. Blinking, he glanced back towards Merlin who flashed him a coy smile, causing him to burst out laughing.

“I made the right choice, huh. Fancy that! Fuahahahaha!”

Chapter Text

Author Note, Will Be Deleted Once Chapter 25 Actually Comes Out

So, not exactly the update I wanted to make, but here we are. As you guys might've noticed by the absolute lack of update, I've hit a Writer's Block. Unfortunately, I'm unable to finish Chapter 25 (or 19 if we don't count the Interludes and other whatnot) mostly because I can't make any headway into it without feeling like nothing makes sense anymore. So, in order to somewhat mitigate this, I've started a Patreon and I'll be posting (for free of course) updates and Chapter Previews (both for this story and any other projects I start in the future). The first post on this, which is free of course, is the current Chapter 25 in all of its unfinished glory (or lack thereof).

What does this mean? Not much, updates will continue to roll out as best as I can make them, and the Patreon is mostly a means of pushing out Chapter Previews somewhere else. Hopefully I manage to finish up Chapter 25 sooner rather than later.

patreon AlphaSkullReaper668

Anyhow, this notice will be deleted once the actual Chapter 25 comes out (which, hopefully, will happen before the end of October).