Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Atrus was one when he first encountered a stranger. It was a minute later when they tried to kill him.

Atrus was ten when he first left his home. It was an hour after that he learned the difference between him and the strangers. 

Atrus was fifty when people generally stopped trying to kill him. It was a week later when he realized that his species was almost extinct.

Atrus was one hundred when he decided to see what it was like being a human. It was a year later when he became known as Midoriya Izuku.

Midoriya was one when he properly encountered another one year old. It took only a few minutes to realize that the other somewhat emulated their mom, and he realized he should probably do the same. 

Midoriya was two when he realized that the other biased their behavior to mimic his own, if only slightly. It was a few minutes later when he found the balance of mimicking the others and being himself.

Midoriya was four when the other got their “quirk”. It was a month later when he finally decided what he would pretend his was.

Midoriya was eight when he realized most people he met only cared about people's quirk. It was a week later when he realized the other only cared if someone could beat them in a fight.

Midoriya was fourteen when he truly understood how scarce his kind really was-

“-in 2023 when dungeons were classified as living creatures, their population officially began to be tracked. 

“It was only in the year 2103 that they were officially granted protection under the endangered species act, despite having met the conditions to be declared endangered since 2078.

“As of today it is still common for people to sneak into recently born dungeons, dungeons with less than five floors, and harvest the core to either force evolve their quirk or sell on the black market for ludicrous amounts of money.

“In spite of this; the laws regarding the illegal harvesting of dungeon cores are rarely enforced or even prosecuted due to the high value of the item.

“Currently there are only four mature dungeons, those with at least 20 floors, known in the world: Dimitri in the United States, Atrus in Japan, along with Warston and Zephyr in Russia.”

The bell ringing prevented the teacher from reading the next paragraph and signaled the end of the day.

“Make sure you turn in your essays on this chapter by the end of day Monday.”

The class quickly packed up their items and most left quickly, Midoriya decided to wait for Bakugou.

“So,” The blond approached his desk, “did you actually pay attention in class or am I going to need to give you a copy of my notes.”

“I have my own today.” He stood up and began walking towards the door.

“It’s a festivus miracle. Why today and not yesterday though?”

Cause I was distracted by a dumbass trying to kill me for capital gain. “No reason.”

“... sure. Ignoring the blatant lie, do you have any plans today, or are you free to come minimize whatever damage the old hag will inflict on the kitchen.”

“What’s the celebration?” He hopped over a poor attempt to trip him. 

“I don’t fucking know.”

“Wait, isn’t tomorrow the dungeon crawl?”

“... she signed me up, didn’t she?”

“Sucks for-” he was interrupted by the notification sound he set for his mom. “Signed you up for the dungeon crawl, so excited… fuck me.”

The dungeon crawl, everyone within 5 hours of Atrus would crowd around the dungeon and send in teens who were about to graduate middle school. It was supposed to be some kind of national event to show everyone the people that the future would be handed to. 

Most schools would invite first place to join their heroics course, some of the smaller ones would invite the entire top ten. 

Atrus didn’t really understand why, considering how… brutal, dungeons were supposed to be. But Midoriya understood that it was the equivalent of a quirk fashion show. 

He could easily win it himself, being the dungeon master and all that, but it begged a question: how the fuck did they track who went the farthest?

“Hey hey, wake up muttering beauty.” Bakugou was violently snapping his fingers in front of Midoriya’s face. “All I understood from that was something about the floors.”

“I was wondering how they tracked who went the deepest into the dungeon.”

“Good question, but back to the previous topic; are you free to reign in the rabid chef?”

“I should be, we were probably invited over anyways.”

—--------------

“Ah, Aizawa. I am glad to see you.”

“Cut to the point, why am I here?”

“As you are aware, the annual dungeon crawl is scheduled for tomorrow.”

“Why me?”

“You haven’t even let me ask the question.”

Aizawa sighed, already tired of dealing with the rats' chaos. “Why are you sending me to be Yuuei’s representative at the dungeon crawl?”

“Because the last three people that won the dungeon crawl had some notable… issues that were, frankly speaking, unacceptable. And so, you are going to vet the winners.”

“Are you giving me full permission to choose who gets the singular invite?”

“Of course I am, I trust your judgment enough that I allow you to expel students at will. It would frankly be insulting if I didn’t trust you enough to handle something so similar.”

“Fine, but only if I’m allowed to bring coffee.”

—---------------

Aizawa sipped coffee from his thermos. He was somewhat expecting a grand entrance, but he guessed the dungeon master took after his own heart in favoring function over form.

Something he was expecting even less was the loud blond that decided to join him.

“I still can’t believe you came wearing what others consider business casual.” Every other school representative was wearing a formal suit. Aizawa was wearing jeans and a T-shirt.

“Were you expecting a suit or sweatpants?”

“...” Present Mic did the most stereotypical ‘I know you won’t like the answer’ pose there was, without breaking eye contact.

“This coffee is the only reason I’m not actively planning your murder.”

“Understood.” He gave two thumbs up.

—-----------

Midoriya was handed a thick bracelet that was slowly absorbing the Ambient mana. 

Mana dynamos were incredibly expensive, even one small enough to fit in the bracelet. Everything else could easily be handled by a simple programmable chip.

{Mana dynamo: a small generator that consumes ambient mana to produce electricity. Larger versions are often used as emergency generators. Yuuei uses several industrial ones to power the entire school.}

This meant that the projected score was based off of the highest ambient mana density the delver encountered.

"Don't tell me that you already figured out how they work." Bakugou could read Midoriya quite easily.

"... Ok." 

"How?"

"It's a secret."

“Just like everything that isn’t your quirk.”

Ah yes, his “quirk”. He pretended to have a quirk called “null flame”, it was really just a combination of two elemental attunements that created the effect of a fire capable of consuming the effects of quirks. 

One was a simplified variation of the flame element that didn’t burn things but could easily accommodate other elements, and his second (the one he was born with) was a parasitic element that would override the elemental attunement of nearby mana if the density was high enough. It died out quickly in low density areas

His original attunement was actually one of the only reasons he was still alive. People tended to give up pretty quickly once they realized their quirks weren’t working.

His second attunement he got was from someone who died on the first floor some sixty years ago. They were the only adventurer who’s mana lasted long enough after their death for him to gain another attunement.

“My name isn’t a secret.” A blatant lie.

—------------

Hawks watched the participants mill around, most were strategizing, but there were some talking to friends or trying to get the attention of the big hero school sponsors beforehand. 

There was one that caught his attention however, a teen with green hair, a shorter statue, and no visible signs of stress.

The kid looked pretty skinny and quirks didn’t like working past floor 5, so the kid could probably get to floor 6, 7 if had decent skill, maybe floor 13 if he had experience . 

Honestly if the kid was a vigilante he might just invite the kid as an intern: It would give him at least a weeklong break from the absolute control the HC liked to have over him. But on the other hand: The hero commission would absolutely not let that slide without giving them a heads up at least a week in advance.

But the show must go on so-

“Sup everyone, I’m Hawks.” The podium set up near the dungeon entrance was the perfect height for him, at least the bastards didn’t skimp on expenses. “I’m the hero representing this year's dungeon crawl since All-Might is busy and Endeavor is off on a mission.

“I’m fairly certain everyone here knows the rules regarding this event but I’m goin over them anyways.

“The rules are as follows: Don’t attack or endanger other participants, quirk use is fully authorized, there will be a hero accompanying the group: they are in charge of loot distribution, and have full authority to end the delve at any point, they should be consulted whenever needed. And the hero accompanying the group will be… Fat-Gum

“Have fun.”

The crowd stood around for about a minute before people realized that was all he was going to say. There was usually some speech before or after the rules, but there are none lazier than Hawks, and hey; the hero commission are the ones who came up with his persona so they can’t even get mad at him about it…

Theoretically speaking.

—------------

Shinso was not the first into the dungeon, nor was he even in the middle, in fact he hung back by the entrance to wait for everyone else to go in first. He was, unfortunately, not the only one to have this idea.

“At least you’re smart,” The other boy said. He had green hair and a slight glow in his eyes, probably some form of night vision quirk. 

“Well it’s not like I’m strong.” Shinso was pretty skinny, his foster parents didn’t really let him work out at all. They were scared that he’d start fighting back. But it’s not like they could really pull him out of this big of an event or send him in a muzzle. So he got the day away from them. 

He was able to feel someone watching him, not necessarily because he hung back. The person's gaze was light, he wouldn’t even realize he was being watched if it weren’t for the years of being bullied.

He didn’t look to see who it was, probably one of his old fosters. 

“Well, the first few rooms should be empty by now.” The other teen said after a minute.

“That’s an interesting claim.” They both walked into the dungeon.

“Mana density is lower on the upper floors of a dungeon, even if every other participant was quirkless they wouldn’t struggle against any mana beast that could stay on the first floor without starving.”

“I’m assuming you’re a dungeon specialist of some kind.”

“I’m assuming there’s a reason you're explicitly speaking in statements.”

“People don’t normally notice.”

“People normally just ask where I got my information.” They managed to reach the gate to the second floor unimpeded, the entire first floor having been a simple cave, there were some small caverns but people were more interested in getting to lower floors than grabbing the easily offered resources. 

Midoriya decided to grab some of the stuff in the side room: he ended up grabbing a bar of tin, an unattuned mana core, and a small dagger that he could use later on in the dungeon.

Shinso ended up grabbing a spear that was as tall as he was. Hopefully he knew how to use it. 

—------------

Bakugou wasn’t surprised that the nerd lagged behind the group, Midoriya had made it clear that he wasn’t exactly interested in the dungeon crawl.

There were a few people that surprised him, one heterochromatic kid with red and white hair parted down the middle that was able to freeze over most enemies and was incredibly skilled at skating. 

Most surprising was when one girl pulled a war spear out of her arm, the thing was twice her height and seemed to be made out of carbon fiber. 

Less surprising but much more chaotic was some pink hair with a bunch of machines on her. She kept yelling about her “babies” and was absolutely demolishing every single mana beast they came across. It was mostly slimes due to being on the highest floors, but she could probably take on the level seven floor boss solo.

—------------

Midoriya and Shinso’s walk through the dungeon was rather casual until they got to the fifth floor. 

“Why are they all crowding around the stairs?” It was impossible to even see the room that led down to the sixth level. 

“Probably panicking about their quirks not working on the sixth floor.” Most quirks stopped working on level six, but could function till level ten depending on the mana density of the quirk.

“... Is that why Japan has to import dungeon nodes?”

{Dungeon Node: near identical to a dungeon core physically, it acts as a secondary heart. They increase the dungeon's ability to manipulate mana and the nearby mana density. They are able to be absorbed and have a chance to mutate or evolve the consumer's quirk.}

“Yup.”

In the end there were only a few delvers that decided to continue on from that point: Midoriya, Bakugou, Shinso, Todorki, Momo, and Kirishima. 

“So do you guys have non combative quirks?” Kirishima asked.

“Mine’s technically a defense quirk.” Midoriya was the first to answer.

“I’m not a one trick pony.” was Bakugou’s response. 

“I have a utility quirk.” Momo gestured at her 6 meter war spear that rested on her shoulders. 

Todoroki and Shinso didn’t respond.

“What’s your quirk anyway?” Midoriya was always interested in how elemental attunements could present themselves in humans. 

“I can harden my skin, it looks like rock.” a fitting representation of his attunement, it was best described as hardness and was similar to many elements that got lumped into the earth/rock category. 

That was another thing about humans that he didn’t quite understand: they always seemed to assume that there were only a few elements, when what they considered to be elements were really broad categories that many elements fell into. 

The elements were really more like the periodic elements, but with a much higher dimensional grid and more abstract definitions of properties. They rarely even got named, and the ones that were named were often confused with similar ones. 

“The walls are a different color.” Bakugou noticed the red tint that covered patches of the cave walls.

“Oh, this is hematite. It’s pretty good quality too based on the color and size of the patches.”

“Hematite?” Todoroki’s first spoken word since entering the dungeon.

“Iron ore, the most common one at least.” Midoriya reached into a slime and pulled out its core. 

—-------------

“What in Kami’s name?” Kirishima wasn’t quite sure what he was looking at, it seemed like a wolf, but it was also akin to a bear. 

“That’s a wolf bear, surprisingly absent from any form of mythology, and also the level 6 floor boss.” Midoriya filled them in.

“Will it die if we shatter the node?” Momo asked, figuring it would be the easiest way to defeat the creature.

“Not immediately, but it would begin to starve due to a decreased mana density.”

“Are you sure you kids want to face this thing? It seems like it would be a common enemy on lower levels.”

“It’s the first floor boss we’ve encountered, it shouldn’t be too hard considering that three of us are armed and Katsuki has an impressive six pack.” Momo blushed at the comment. “He wears compression shirts all the time, he doesn’t exactly try to hide it.”

“If you kids are sure.”

—--------------

The beast was slain. Kirishima had some scratches because he kept forgetting that he was functionally quirkless and had to be pulled out of the way by Bakugou, but there were no injuries otherwise. 

“So who gets the node?” Bakugou asked.

“I’ll take it.”

“... Todoroki… you didn’t do anything.”

“I think Kirishima should get it.” Midoriya knew that Kirishima would benefit the most from gaining the parasitic elemental attunement. 

“Hey, what about me?” Bakugou was slightly offended.

“... overruled.”

“All right, calm down everyone. Midoriya contributed the most during the fight, so he gets first claim.”

“I’ll use my claim to give Kirishima the node.”

“That’s settled. Bakugou you get second claim, then Momo,then Kirishima, then Shinso.”

“What about me?” Todoroki needed to bring back something from the first boss, his father wouldn’t accept anything less.

“You’ll have to participate if you want any claim.”

—-------------

All in all, Midoriya ended up with the wolf bear’s pelt while Bakugou claimed a decent chunk of the meat. Momo claimed the claws and Kirishima took the mana core, and Shinso got the rest of the meat.

Midoriya was the one that broke down the beast to divy up the materials. 

Todoroki and Fat-Gum didn’t get anything, but they helped carry some of the meat since Midoriya was the only one that brought a rucksack to carry any loot.

Upon exiting the cave Midoriya was declared the winner and Bakugou took second. Momo got third, Kirishima fourth, Shinso fifth, and Todoroki got sixth. 

Then the school representatives were allowed free reign to interact, and possibly invite them to their hero course.

—-------------

Aizawa took note of the winners, more accurately: he took note of how one of the top ten didn’t do anything when Hawks gave them permission to show off their quirks. The kid had purple hair that stood straight up. 

That indicated either a mental quirk or a controversial quirk. Either one would be a major handicap in their entrance exam. 

Two of them were people who would be allowed to take the recommendation exam, and the others seemed to have some pretty combative quirks. 

Not to mention that they beat the level 6 floor boss, most groups ran empty before they got halfway through that floor. 

“Hold my coffee.” He shoved his now empty thermos into Hizashi’s hand before walking towards the kid, the crowd parted before him.

“Hey, you’re… Shinso?” he read off the whiteboard that had been setup near the entrance.

“Yep.” The eyebags on the kid could easily compete with his own.

“Mind if I ask what your quirk is?”

“... it’s called brainwashing.” The kid shrank in on themself. 

“What’s it do?”

“I can control people that respond to my questions.” and now that the kid mentioned voice activation, the scars were incredibly obvious. 

“First of all; that’s hypnotism, second of all; what are your plans for the future?”

“I want to be a hero.”

“You might want to put on a bit of muscle before the school year starts.” He held an envelope out to the kid. Inside it was that year's only free invite into the Yuuei hero course. 

“Wait… really?” He took the envelope.

“Yep, and don’t be afraid to call if you need any help.” He handed the kid one of Yuuei’s many different business cards, one specifically for students and parents, “People weren’t exactly huge fans of my quirk either.”

Chapter Text

Kirishima sat in his room, his back against his bed and the dungeon node in front of him. It was an icosahedron about the size of his head, each side seemed to eb and flow, yet stayed completely still. Staring at it was giving him a bit of a headache. 

He was incredibly surprised that the green haired kid was willing to give him something so valuable. 

Maybe he should be suspicious about it, maybe there was something about the dungeon that he didn’t know about that the other kid did. Or Maybe he was just superstitious. 

His quirk was weak compared to the other kids at his school, but could he really risk something going wrong. Why him, the green kid seemed to know the explosive one, why didn’t they give it to their friend?

With a sigh; he decided to absorb it, what’s the worst that could happen?

Speaking of; how was he supposed to absorb it? He picked it up, but it didn’t feel any different than holding a large D20. Maybe if he used his quirk?

That worked. He realized that an hour had passed once he checked the time, good to know in the future. 

Well, not really since he was unlikely to get another node, but it was still knowledge, and knowledge was power.

—--------------

Nedzu was surprised to say the least. It wasn’t every day that a dungeon master raided their own dungeon. Especially on live television. 

But it did explain why they didn’t claim the dungeon node, they would have no use for it and it would be strange if they just left it in the boss room. 

He couldn’t wait to see what they did, hopefully they would apply to his school. They were certain to be a good puzzle.

Maybe he should make an exception on the only one invite per year. He was the principal of Yuuei, he could do whatever he wanted. 

—---------------

Izuku ate the offered meal without complaint or issue, Bakugou was insulted by this.

“HOW THE FUCK DO YOU HAVE A HIGHER SPICE TOLERANCE THAN ME?!”

“This is mild compared to your personality.”

“Oh I’ll show you mild, Scorch-shit.”

“It still surprises me that TF2 managed to survive the dawn of quirks.”

“Well, I’m glad you enjoy it, Izuku.” Mitsuki said between bites of curry.

“On the topic of the dungeon crawl-” Masaru started.

“We weren’t on that topic but ok.” Midoriya interjected.

“ On the topic of the dungeon crawl.” He paused for a second while staring at Izuku “I’m surprised that you didn’t get an invitation from Yuuei, you did get first after all.”

“Their representative at the event was an underground hero. I’m not surprised that they gave the invitation to the participant with a mental quirk.”

“Which hero?” Bakugou thought he knew every hero that worked at Yuuei, the fanboy that he was.

“Eraserhead, he has a quirk similar to mine, but it’s sight based rather than medium based.”

“Never heard of them.”

“Not surprised.”

—-------------

Shinso was on edge, his guardians were clearly upset but weren’t doing anything to him. They didn’t even complain about him signing himself up. 

The feeling got even worse when dinner came and he got a full meal. He ate quickly and left the moment he was done. After watching his dishes of course, he didn’t want to do anything that might threaten the sudden calm.

—-------------

Todoroki was lying on the mat, bruised and burned. His father was ranting at him about not doing anything against the boss, it’s not like he had his quirk and the bastard didn’t even do any weight training. 

He did do some quirkless fighting, but nowhere near what he would need to be able to fight that beast. 

He couldn’t wait till he got out of this cursed house. 

Cause that’s what it was: a house, it would never be a home.

—------------------

The rest of the year flew by quickly, Kirshima discovered that his quirk gave him a level of resistance against other quirks (he didn’t think that used to be the case) while Shinso continued to grow more and more wary about his suddenly less violent homelife. 

Midoriya and Bakugou continued to train, they discovered that, while he couldn’t create explosions from them, that the soles of his feet were more fire resistant than other parts of his body. They learned this when Bakugou accidentally stumbled into a fire during a weekend camping trip.

Todoroki suffered as he had been for years, while the rest of the to-be 1-A continued on with their lives as normal. 

Eventually came the week where most high schools hosted entrance exams, and with it; the entrance exams for Yuuei. 

—--------------

“I’m surprised that you still haven’t put on any muscle after all the training we’ve done.” Bakugou commented while they walked towards the school. 

“I have a significantly higher muscle density, of course it’s going to take forever for me to put on any more.” Midoriya claimed it was a recessive latent mutation from his fathers dragon quirk, but it was really because, while he knew where everything was and their general functions, he didn’t know how dense anything in the human body was supposed to be.

“Maybe it’s so dense because your quirk actually uses them as a fuel source.” That… was a much more believable lie. 

“It’s not, but that is a decent analys-” He cut himself off when they passed through the gate because he knew he was no longer in neutral territory, he was an intruder and he could easily be removed from the premises… He was in another dungeon. “Oh.”

“Oh what?”

“Nothing of importance.” This was bad, this was very bad. 

“Bullshit.” 

“Agree to disagree.” He knew he was already found out, there was no way the dungeon master hadn’t already registered the presence of another dungeon master. He never should have come, but that would have cast suspicion on him and why did he ever decide to pretend to be human. 

“... Fine. Cmon, we’re gonna be late if you have a panic attack every time we walk through a door here.”

Things went fine until they got to the receptionist desk to get their guest passes.

“Midoriya Izuku.” He responded when asked his name.

“Here is your pass,” She handed to him once it finished printing, “And Nedzu wanted to meet you personally, I’ll have someone come down to show you the way.” 

FUCK! “Okay.”

He watched with a building sense of dread as Bakugou walked away, heading towards his assigned classroom.

“Midoriya.” Aizawa said, his hero costume standing out drastically when compared to everyone else wearing more formal uniforms. 

“That’s me.” 

“Great!” The sarcasm was strong in this one, “Follow me.”

The walk to Nedzu’s office was… tense. Midoriya could feel the senses aimed at him through the walls of the dungeon, it was made worse by the fact that he couldn’t identify one of the two elemental attunements of the dungeon. 

The first was easy to place, even if it was one of the more abstract elements, it was best described as golem. It easily explained how they could afford so many robots for the entrance exam, they were produced by the dungeon. 

The second element was even more abstract, at this rate he would need to ask what the element was. An act that would be considered embarrassing for a dungeon. 

“We’re here.” Had he been spacing out for that long?

“Thank you.” He said to an already retreating Aizawa.

The door was already open when he turned to face it.

“You must be Midoriya.”

He entered the office, the door automatically closing behind him. “Is Nedzu your real name or a cover name?”

“It’s my real name, Atrus-san.”

“... what do you plan on doing, Nedzu-sama?”

“Accepting you into the hero course, obviously.”

“I do not believe it was that obvious.”

“We are nearly extinct, Atrus-san, we must help each other when we can.”

“... what is the second element of yours, I can’t place it.”

Nedzu laughed maniacally, “I’m surprised you were even able to sense it, it is a passive element after all.”

That was already a major hint, passive elements couldn’t be manipulated directly and were almost undetectable by their very nature. Given his intelligence it would seem obvious, but that felt like a trick. “I do not believe it is an intelligence element of any kind. Is it some variant of intimidation?” {

“You are correct that it is not an intelligence or tangentially related element, but it is only laterally related to intimidation.”

“I’d guess something to do with the open barriers and wide coverage of your first floor, but those are all generally active elements. I forfeit.”

“You are once again correct. I do believe you could figure it out with enough time, but I will accept your defeat.

“Most would describe it as either faith or fear, but I find that it is most accurately described as understanding or belief. It’s one of the few elements that are able to produce mana.” }

That makes his position infinitely worse. An element capable of producing mana would allow mana beasts from lower levels to survive indefinitely on higher levels, or even outside of a dungeon. Nedzu could release his golems and thoroughly demolish his dungeon, harvesting his core and attunements for himself. 

“I can tell that you're nervous, but I assure you that I have no intention of attacking your dungeon. As I said before, we need to help each other whenever possible to ensure our species survival.”

—---------------

Bakugou left the nerd at the receptionist's desk. As much as he enjoyed their presence, he refused to be late to the written exam. Cementos was overseeing it. 

He took a seat in the back and waited for it to start. 

He grew increasingly nervous as Midoriya continued to not show up; it peaked when Cementos started the test. He may seem angry all the time, but he just wasn’t great at processing his emotions, Midoriya helped put them in perspective through… osmosis or something. 

The test finished and they were sent off to one of several Auditoriums for the introduction of the practical. Still no Midoriya. 

They finished the presentation and even got to their testing sites. Still no Midoriya. 

It was only once he was approaching the security gate afterwards that he finally saw his friend.

“Where the fuck have you been?” he wasn’t shouting because… he didn’t fucking know, emotions or some shit. 

“Nedzu is absolutely terrifying.” Atrus was thoroughly terrified, and knew that his fear only made Nedzu stronger. 

“Did you make it to the practical?” Bakugou was honestly worried about not being in the same school as his friend. 

“Nope, but I was guaranteed a spot in the heroics course.” {

“What on earth did you have to do to earn that?”

“... Nedzu is not someone that can be messed with, it will help neither of us to question his motivations.” There was a subtle tension as he spoke that few would be able to pick up on. Bakugou was one of those few.

“... How terrifying is he?” Midoriya wasn’t the kind of person to get scared, Nedz must be an eldritch horror at bare minimum if he was able to shake him up this much.

“We are only alive because he is benign, do not question it further.”

Bakugou was starting to question if he even wanted to be at Yuuei. }

—---------------

Kirishima was pretty hyped for the practical exam, fully authorized quirk use, and he could really test how much stronger his quirk got after absorbing that node. 

“ BEGIN! ” Present Mic shouted over the intercom. 

He started running, everyone else lagged behind. 

He registered the man talking over the intercom again, but ignored it in favor of destroying the robots. Speaking of, he didn’t think he was supposed to be able to punch through reinforced steel this easily. 

And things went well for the first chunk of the practical, most people were being aware of other participants and no one was really getting hurt. He did step in a few times when people thought they had already finished a robot, but nothing bad really happened. 

That changed when they released the zero pointer, and he heard a scream.

—---------------

Jiro was stuck, first a sprained ankle, she could handle that; then a chunk of the building pinned her leg, she could not handle that; a giant robot gradually making its way towards her while she is directly in the path of its left tread, even worse.

Then came some kid with black hair and shark teeth. He lifted the slab of concrete with a bit of effort, and then threw her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. 

“Hey.”

“Would you prefer to be carried bridal style?”

“... Nevermind.”

—--------------

Aizawa was an observant person and it may just be superstition, but he would swear that he could feel Nedzu’s chaotic glee whenever he was on the school premises.

So he knew that something happened involving Midoriya when he felt the predatory glee Nedzu radiated throughout the school ground after he dropped the kid off. Hopefully society would last till his retirement, Nedzu could take over afterwards for all he cared. 

But until then, he would return to his apartment and review the exam footage Nedzu has, no doubt, already e-mailed him. Hopefully he would have time to finish it before he had to patrol, but it was unlikely. 

“Oh, Aizawa,” the complex’s receptionist only called to him when he was given a package.

“Who’s it from?” He walked up to the desk.

“It doesn’t say, but it passed all the checks so it’s not a bomb.” She pulled a package out from under the desk and handed it to him. 

It felt dangerous, not the dangerous that he had to train his instincts to detect, but the kind of dangerous of being watched by someone that could kill you but doesn’t want to. 

The note attached to it read: ‘please deliver to the mouth of dungeon Atrus.’ He recognized the handwriting; it was the style Nedzu used when he needed to do something under the Commission's nose, plausible deniability and all that. 

There was only one question Aizawa had; what business did Nedzu have with a dungeon. 

—--------------

Nedzu was on the second floor of his dungeon, Maijima was the only other one with authorization to come down here as it was the bay where the zero pointers were assembled. Supposedly. 

The zero pointers were actually created on the third floor and raised through a large hydraulic press. But that wasn’t why he was here. 

He was thinking, one of his most common pastimes, about how Atrus would respond to his gift. Would he give him a similar gift or would he ask about it before deciding what he would do?

Atrus’ response wasn’t really important to Nedzu, it was just the thrill of a new puzzle that had him captivated. Even if Atrus did attempt to give him such a gift he would turn it down. 

He couldn’t let people discover that he was a dungeon master. It would cause an uproar, and would likely destroy one of his largest mana sources. He could easily regain it by wreaking havoc, but he much preferred being allied with the humans.

“Nedzu, you wanted to see me?” Maijima was in his hero costume. 

“Maijima, tell me; what are your opinions regarding the possible sentience of dungeons?”

—------------

Atrus left his body on his bed, he typically just pretended to sleep and used the time to adjust and expand his dungeon. He had 75 floors. He was trying to determine if he had enough mana to create a 76th floor, when he was interrupted by someone intruding on the first floor. It was Eraserhead.

What could he be… why did he have an attunement stone? A dungeon had to hollow out a dungeon seed and fill it with its own mana to make one. What dungeon would willingly give away a- Nedzu would.

He created a temporary body, a human with blue eyes and fire instead of hair. He also made it taller and lankier than Midoriya. He then had to run up from the sixth floor to meet the hero.

—-----------

“What on earth would he even give a dungeon?” Aizawa wondered aloud, he typically kept his thoughts in his head, but verbalizing the questions helped him process his thoughts easier.

“Elementally attuned mana.” Someone stepped out of the shadows, they were as tall as All-Might was, but as lanky as Toshinori. Who were technically the same person, but had drastically different bodies. 

“Who are you?” Aizawa wasn’t expecting a fight when he arrived, and he hoped he wouldn’t have too. 

“I’m Atrus, the dungeon master.”

“.... and if I don’t believe that?”

“We’ve already been declared living creatures, why can’t we be sentient as well?”

“I’d say the amount of people that you’ve killed.”

“You mean defending myself against murderers? My heart is a valuable thing, it’s not surprising that people want to rip it out of my body.”

“Say I do believe you. Then what did the chimera decide to give you?”

“It’s called an attunement stone. They can only be made by dungeons, and they are used to give dungeons elemental attunements.”

“Okay, why would Nedzu give you a gift.”

“... Does anyone know why Nedzu does anything?”

“... fine.” He tossed the box to Atrus. 

He opened the box, and found that it carried both of the elements Nedzu had. Golem would be the more useful for him since it meant who could increase the variety of creatures he had, but the other one would grant him enormous amounts of mana as a hero.

Chapter Text

There were thousands of teens across Japan sitting and reading the most important letter in deciding their futures, but forty of them were watching it instead. Each one unbelievably happy to hear All-Might's words ring through their abodes. 

“ THIS IS YOUR HERO ACADEMIA! ”

—------------

Inko clasped Izuku in a hug. “I’m so proud of you Izu.” 

He hugged his mom back. He was still curious as to the reason why he was given the attunement stone, but he didn’t think he could risk letting Nedzu obtain his parasitic element. Nedzu’s first floor alone spread across every bit of land that Yuuei owned, the only exception being Thirteen's unforeseen simulation joint since that was separated from the main campus.

“How destroyed do you think their living room will be if we start walking over now?”

“They’re going to need to replace the table at least.”

—------------

“I DON'T WANT YOUR DAMN HUGS!”

“THIS IS AN ACHIEVEMENT KATSUKI, I CAN HUG YOU!”

Masaru had a long day ahead of him, and a coffee table to replace.

—----------

Jiro didn’t know how to react to the gift her parents prepared for her. It was to celebrate her getting into the heroics course, designs for a combat guitar.

All the ports on it were compatible with the jacks on her ears, it had an earthquake speaker built into the body, and even had an aux in so that she could still use it for her heartbeat pulse. And to top it all off, the specified materials should be strong enough for her to use it as a small shield or battle axe.

It was only a blueprint at the moment, but it was sure to be an amazing piece of gear.

“Fuck yeah.”

“Language.” Her father called out.

“JAPANESE!”

—-----------

Maijima was still coming to terms with what his boss revealed to him. It made sense, it even answered a bunch of his questions. But even still; how on earth did he manage to keep it a secret?

He wouldn’t spread the secret, he valued his life too much to do so, but also because he trusted Nedzu. As terrifying as they were. 

Currently, he was working on the design for the next tier of robots, the -1s. Named so due to the final goal being that the only thing capable of defeating one was another -1. 

The biggest issue is that it would need to be something that could reasonably fit through the gates used to elevate 0s into the first floor. Maybe he could take inspiration from those pre-quirk series; Super Sentai or something. 

But that led to the issue of each segment needing to be independent enough to come together with the others. He’d figure something out, possibly a variation of the 0s. 

Really, the only thing set in stone about the -1s was that their purpose was to face some threat that Nedzu would never reveal until necessary. 

—------------

All for One stared at the gem in front of him, it was small but carried an incredible amount of mana; a dungeon seed. Even without eyes he could make out the intricacies of its texture. With this he could truly become immortal, even sacrificing All for One would be worth it. 

Now he just needed to decide where to grow it.

—-----------

Midoriya once again approached the gates to Yuuei, or Nedzu technically, with Bakugou at his side. They were both in 1-A, and so they made their way to their homeroom. There were already two students in the room, one with blue hair and a posture so rigid it could support a bridge. The other had black hair tied back into a ponytail, Momo if he recalled correctly. She gave off a formal air and had a very unique elemental attunement. He’s surprised he didn’t notice it before, but it was kind of blurred with all the other contestants at the crawl.

The blue kid stood up and quickly approached. “I am Tenya Iida, it is a pleasure to meet you.”

“I’m Midoriya Izuku, the pleasure is all mine.” 

Bakugou just tch’d before checking the seating chart, taking his seat, and kicking his legs up onto the desk. Iida was upset at the action, not because he was disrespected but because the desk was. The logic was there, no matter how convoluted. 

Regardless, Midoriya took his seat, and waited for class to start. He did take note when Kirishima entered the room, he seemed to take to the parasitic attunement quite well.

He kind of tuned out again until he felt another unusual attunement appear, it was similar to his but kind of put the mana’s element to sleep rather than consuming/overriding it. They were in a neon yellow sleeping bag. Their teacher no doubt, but also the one who delivered Nedzu’s attunement stone to him those few weeks ago. Eraserhead.

He could tell that Bakugou noticed the guy, as well as the student with audio jacks hanging from her earlobes. The big guy with six arms may have noticed, but it was hard to tell due to their lack of a reaction. 

“I’m your homeroom teacher, Shouta Aizawa,” He doffed the portable bed, “ It took you all nine seconds to quiet down after I announced my presence. In this profession things can, and will, fall apart within a matter of seconds. Practicing here will help you in the field, don’t disappoint.

“As for orientation, forget it. I have three years to make sure that you don’t all die within your first five years after graduating, and I don’t plan to waste any of that time. These are your PE uniforms, find your own and meet me by the training field, time starts now.” Eraser set the uniforms on the podium and left. Midoriya, not being human, was the first to respond. Everyone quickly followed suit. 

—----------

Nedzu watched as the class stumbled their way through the halls trying to find the changing rooms, they had a slightly higher mana density than the rest of the building, which subconsciously biased peoples wandering to that point.

But with Midoriya there, Aizawa would be caught off guard by how quickly they met him at the testing grounds. 

He took delight in the way the man tried to hide his surprise, he did it quite well but Nedzu was aware of everything that took place within his dungeon. 

He would often watch the assessment while he gave his speech since it helped him gauge everyone's potential. He’s slightly disappointed that Vlad didn’t do the same with his class, but he could understand the man's reasons. 

He was surprised at Aizawa’s speech for the assessment, the man usually just threatened to expel last place. 

—-------------

“Normally I would just threaten to expel whoever got last place, but I’m going to be honest this year. I have seen too many self centered egotistical brats graduate some hero course or other and die the first year they spend on their own.

“So let me make this clear; if I don’t think you are taking this seriously enough, are trying hard enough, or are slacking off in any way: you will be demoted to General education. 

“You are free to use your quirks however you see fit, so long as you don’t sabotage anyone else’s score. I use this to get a benchmark of where all of you are at physically, I don’t need you making my life harder. 

“Whoever wants to go first step up.”

—--------

“He’s not going to stop anytime soon.” Bakugou referred to Midoriya, who had a thin layer of silvery translucent fire over his skin. 

Aizawa’s response was to turn and face the blond.

“His quirk consumes different forms of energy, with a large enough ratio of surface area to volume he’s able to use his quirk to recover stamina.” 

“Midoriya, last lap.”

Midoriya gave a thumbs up.

—----------

Toshinori watched Aizawas' class. The orientation was surprisingly short, despite Nedzu's long winded speech. 

There were three students that caught his attention: Midoriya, Kirishima, and Sato. They each employed quirkless styled fighting techniques that would pair perfectly with the strength augmentation his quirk could grant them.

Their quirks were also a major reason for considering them: none of them were overly complicated, and the amplified effect would be easy to predict.

As bad as he was at teaching, he was still smarter than people typically assumed.

"Is there a reason you were watching my class from behind a wall?" Aizawa asked, having snuck up on the top hero.

"There is." He did not jump…Ok maybe a little.

"... and that is?" Aizawa leveled his onyx eyes at the blond, he never really liked the number one.

"Ask Nedzu." He walked away. He knew how capable underground heroes were, and he chose life.

But with some candidates in mind; he made his way to the principal's office. He's certain that Nedzu would be able to provide insight into his decision.

—----------

"What are you working on? It looks big. Is it for an event?"

"Hatsume, it is something Nedzu asked me to design, he has not stated why, and you aren't licensed so you couldn't help with it anyway."

"... you could use a mana lock for the interface, the mana cores are large enough to support it."

{Mana lock: an effect caused by large mana flow through two physically contacted objects that temporarily fuses them together.}

Of all the ridiculous ideas Maijima had heard… She was absolutely right. He usually only used mana locks for small things due to the ridiculous mana flow needed to maintain the connection, but he was designing something that would have a near infinite mana supply.

"Please can I help?"

"Fine. I'll ask Nedzu."

"I already filed the paperwork." The rat's voice came from the PA system.

Maijima couldn't believe his life. 

"Go get your design pad, I'll share the files."

—---------

Aizawa was an underground hero, he knew how to keep secrets, and some well kept secrets meant that everyone would underestimate him. He loved it.

But in this case he knew he was in over his head, because if Nedzu hadn’t already told him about something involving his class then he wasn’t going to be told no matter how much he asked. 

He did know that Nedzu set Maijima up to something, he worked with the man and they weren’t exactly subtle about their projects. 

And between the two previous facts, he had plenty of reason to suspect that something big was going to happen, he just hoped that he’d be ready when it did.

But being thorough never hurt, so he made his way to the rat's office. 

It didn’t open when he approached so he knocked, a rare occasion. 

“Come in.” The same chipper tune Nedzu always uses. 

Opening the door he saw… Yagi Toshinori and Izuku Midoriya sitting across from his boss. 

“Nedzu, can you give me a reasonable explanation for why Toshinori was watching my class from behind a wall?”

“I can.” He sipped some of his tea.

“... will you?”

“Nope.”

“I despise you.” He closed the door and walked away.

—----------

Midoriya had just arrived at Nedzu’s office. It was hard not to when Nedzu texted his phone, despite not having his number. 

The one guy was already there, he showed up to watch the quirk assessment halfway through but no one addressed it.

“You wanted to see me, Nedzu?”

“Yes, come in. Midoriya, meet Yagi Toshinori, you’d probably know him best as All-Might.” 

The lanky man coughed up blood. “NEDZU!?” 

“I can assure you that he is trustworthy All-Might, just as much as I can assure you that he isn’t here as my recommended candidate.”

“Then why is he here?”

“Because I’d rather tell him, than have him digging around to find out.”

“You’re talking about his quirk?” It had eight different attunements, which was an excessive amount even for dungeons. The two most prominent ones would best be described as sharing and greed respectively. 

It annoyed him. Which wasn't something he usually felt.

"Yes. It is able to be given away at will, but the transfer requires consumption of the current wielder's genetic material."

“NEDZU!” All-Might couldn’t believe that the principal was revealing this information to a first year student, much less one that wouldn’t even be inheriting a quirk. 

“All-Might!” His chipper tone made the exclamation feel awkward yet threatening. 

“Kirishima.” Midoriya declared. 

“... He’s not even here?”

“I meant as a candidate, It would pair well with his quirk.” It was a shame Kirishima only gained one of his attunements, but he wasn’t sure how flame would have interacted with his quirk.

“A reinforcement quirk would drastically decrease the physical harm the quirk could cause to its user.”

“Not to mention that it could-” 

Midoriya was cut off by a knock at the door, Nedu quickly inviting them in once he was sure that no one would try to continue the conversation.

And Aizawa came in asking for answers that the rat wouldn’t give. 

“I despise you.” Aizawa closed the door. 

“... It could be played off as a mutation gained from the dungeon node, having only displayed itself once he truly began training with it.” Midoriya continued as if nothing had happened.

“Young Kirishima consumed a dungeon node?” Yagi was caught off guard. Nodes were difficult enough to harvest from the local dungeon that Japan had to import almost all of its nodes. Not to mention how much the industry was guilty of price gouging since only certain licensed stores were even allowed to import them. 

“Yeah, he got it at the last dungeon crawl.” Midoriya had put that node there with the belief that the group wouldn’t get to the end of the sixth floor, mostly due to a lack of quirks. He wasn’t expecting to be signed up for the dungeon crawl, but Bakugou would get suspicious if he didn’t try to continue on. 

That wasn’t even considering how much mana it took to create a node, he wasn’t able to make his first one till he had already gotten his seventh floor. He should probably move that one down to the ninth floor.

“Well that covers everything. A candidate, a reasonable explanation, and a limited timeframe for when he should receive the quirk.” Nedzu clasped his paws together.

“Now hold on. We don’t even know if they’ll accept it.” All-Might was at a loss as to how the situation was pulled out of his control so casually.

“You make a fair point. Let’s reconvene tomorrow to discuss this with Kirishima.” All-Might spat out some blood. 

“Kirishima arrived to class only half an hour before the bell, so it would be best to discuss it after school.” 

“Why not over lunch?” 

“Do you really think there aren’t secrets that All-Might has kept?” Midoriya said after taking a sip of his tea.

“Very well, I’ll add it to my schedule. Dismissed.” Nedzu began typing on his computer. 

Midoriya took the cue to leave. All-Might was still a bit shell shocked and had to be told to leave a second time before he reacted. 

—-----------

“This kid is clinically insane.” Maijima was staring at almost finished blueprints for the -1s, Mei had been working nonstop since he shared the files with her. And that was only four hours ago. 

She came up with a general design for the {img:shape}, and several variations of the design for different scales. The general design was pretty much two cubes that could pivot around the adjoined face, on two adjacent faces of each cube were interfaces that would allow them to connect together. 

And there were sets of all terrain omni-directional wheels on each bare face. Which was another thing, she came up with designs for all terrain omni-directional wheels. 

And there were all kinds of sensors placed in every available space on the hull, he’d have to reduce the number to save cost. But it was a good thought. 

There were two other things of note that didn’t get into the technical stuff: the cubes had another point of rotation perpendicular to the axis that passed through the center of each cube, allowing it to switch which interface was pointing away from its pair. The second was that the interfaces were able to rotate continuously along the face they were on. 

All in all: they were individually overpriced RC cars, but could easily combine into a larger threat than the zero pointers.

As for the scale; there were blueprints for segments the size of his leg, the size of him, twice the size of him, and the size of a zero pointer.

Only the larger two designs actually used the mana locks since vacuum locks were more energy efficient on the smaller versions. 

There were even some suggested combinations.

A humanoid using twelve, two for each limb and four for the torso. A centaur using twenty or twenty-two that added on to the previous design by using four or six for the lower torso and two more for each of the extra legs. 

The latter was able to be expanded as long as it wanted and would likely be used as the primary structure of larger designs.

The last suggestion was a giant snake that was a two by two square that extended however long in the z axis, it could flex by disabling the connection between specific interfaces. It was bound to be another primary structure.

Chapter Text

Aizawa was thoroughly annoyed. The costume and support departments already had time to finish the class’ gear and costumes. They had an obstacle course setup so the students could identify and resolve any issues with their gear in a safe environment.

But the rat decided to hijack his lesson plan because Maijima had some new robots he wanted to test. 

Which was bad enough during the entrance exams where it was expected that no one would have any combat experience with their quirks, but that was against robots that had been tested year after year. 

This new plan is strictly worse.

—----------

Midoriya felt someone enter the dungeon, Atrus not Nedzu, and while he trusted the defenses he had set up; they were incredibly stupid animals that would kill on sight, even if he wasn’t actually in any danger. 

And so, checking the time to make sure his current body wouldn’t be dead when homeroom started, he laid his head on his arm and left his body.

—------------

Warston watched as his opponent fell to the ground dead. The only visible indicator of what killed him was a thin layer of frost covering his skin. 

He hated traffickers. The little girl he was protecting watched him with wide eyes. She was quirkless and wasn’t dressed for the cold. 

It was for situations like this that he carried spare coats.

 his head down onto his right arm.

—---------

Bakugou always felt that something was wrong whenever Izuku laid his head down for a ‘nap’. They were usually a few rows apart in school, but now that they were right next to each other he had a better idea of what the feeling was. 

He felt nervous.

It felt like Midoriya was just gone. It was unnerving. He tried tapping his friend to get their attention, nothing. He called his name, quietly because there were other people nearby, nothing. 

Bakugou was starting to feel a buzzing under his skin. 

He grabbed Midoriya’s hanging arm and checked for a pulse, nothing.

The buzzing got worse.

This… certainly Midoriya wasn’t dead? If he was feeling off he would have told Katsuki. Had Midoriya ever mentioned feeling off or sick? He couldn’t remember any instances of it happening, but he would certainly mention something if he was going to die. 

It was almost deafening at his point.

Bakugou didn’t say anything, but could tell that Jiro noticed something. He should tell Aizawa, go get help, do something, anything. 

But he didn’t, he couldn’t bring himself to move no matter how much he wanted to.

Midoriya was… he couldn't be though.

The buzzing stopped. 

—-----------

Atrus finished transferring his mind to the dungeon and noticed that three other people had entered after the first. 

He noted that the first one to enter had a low mana density and no attunement, a quirkless person escaping their bullies. 

He still has that spare body he put together when Aizawa delivered the attunement stone, so it shouldn’t take any more than ten minutes. 

—------------

He returned to Bakugou having a breakdown, that was bad.

“Hey Kats, which upcoming hero are you most excited about?” It was usually best to distract him and let him process whatever was going wrong over a longer period of time. 

“You didn’t have a pulse.” Jiro started coughing violently. 

“... I’ll explain after school, but for now I need you to calm down.” His tone was flat. He… wasn’t sure how to react to the situation. 

He would have to explain to Bakugou that he was a dungeon, otherwise he’d go to the teachers and he’d have to explain it to even more people. He wasn’t really even comfortable with Nedzu knowing, but he couldn’t hide it from the chaotic entity. 

“Why didn’t you have a pulse?” Bakugou’s tone was tense but hollow, and he was starting to silently cry. Jiro was still coughing and Momo was trying to help her out.

This was bad, last time he had a reaction like this he shut down for half of an hour. His attacks could typically be delayed if he had a small goal like getting a tissue to blow his nose or walking home from school. 

“Iida, I’m taking Bakugou to Recovery Girls office.” Iida raised his arm in an attempt to protest. “He’s having a panic attack.” The boy lowered his arm.

“Very well. I’ll inform Aizawa-sensei when he arrives.” 

Midoriya grabbed Bakugou’s shoulders and gently pulled upward and to the side, guiding the explosive teen out of his desk. After that he stood behind Bakugou and once again guided the teen by the shoulders. 

—--------------

Things felt… he felt like the surface of a lake, calm but with chaotic undercurrents. 

He could hear Midoriya, he could tell that he asked a question, but thoughts were hard to form. 

He heard Jiro coughing and listened as Midoriya explained to Iida that he was having a panic attack. But he didn’t process any of it. 

He knew what was happening, but he wasn’t aware of it. He felt Midoriya guide him out of the classroom and push his earbuds into his hand, but he didn’t quite understand any of it. 

He walked through the halls, but not really. 

Everything felt dull, and so he put in his earbuds. 

He heard the music he put on. Midoriya indicated that he should turn, so he turned. 

He was tired.

—------------

Nedzu watched as his student fell into a meltdown after checking Atrus’ pulse and finding nothing. The discussion they were sure to have would require one of the more secure meeting rooms he established. 

Maybe Maijima could help, the man was fine with him being a dungeon. Although, he had been working with the engineer for several years and acted as a teacher when they were in school. 

Perhaps it would be best if the two spoke privately. 

In the meantime, he could try getting ahold of some other dungeons. There were patterns he had noticed in crime rates across the world; they were incredibly subtle and it was unlikely he would be able to convince anyone that the patterns were anything more than coincidence. 

They were there in every medium; imports, exports, even comunications. Whatever the cause, it originated in Japan. He couldn’t pinpoint where specifically, but he doubted it was something he and Atrus could deal with themselves. 

All-Might could help, but he was too much of a wild card. Maybe Kirishima, he was far more predictable and hadn’t developed a complex like the number one had. 

Dimitri was arguably one of the most powerful dungeons, his attunement allowed him to destroy items and produce mana equivalent to the items monetary value. Not great in combat but the sheer amount of mana he could produce could make him a powerful ally or a deadly threat. 

Warston’s attunement, frost, gave him a level of field manipulation and area control that could pose a threat to anyone that couldn’t fly. He could spread his mana easily along the surface of materials, but larger gaps required exponentially more mana to cross the distance. 

Zephyr was the most capable of direct violence. He didn’t have an excessive mana pool or area control, but they could easily defeat most enemies in close range combat. It was mostly due to their attunement, sharp, that they were so deadly. 

He wonders if any of them have gotten a second attunement since he last contacted them. It was unlikely but the possibility couldn’t be ruled out.

—---------

Warston watched as his opponent fell to the ground dead. The only visible indicator of what killed him was a thin layer of frost covering his skin. 

He hated traffickers. The little girl he was protecting watched him with wide eyes. She was quirkless and wasn’t dressed for the cold. 

It was for situations like this that he carried spare coats.

—------------

It was halfway through the first period when Bakugou recovered from his attack, he wasn’t surprised to find himself in Recovery Girl’s office(?). Midoriya sat in the chair next to the bed he was sitting on. 

He wasn’t even surprised that there was a dungeon node suspended in the middle of the room. 

“So?” He wasn’t going to break down again, but he was still shaken. 

“... Ya know how dungeons are capable of creating living organisms?” Midoriya just stared at the floor. 

“... Are you telling me you are the child of a dungeon?” 

“... Ya know how dungeons are capable of possessing the animals they create?” 

Bakugou stared at Izuku– was that even their name? –The implication was obvious, but mana beasts weren’t able to survive outside of dungeons since they would starve. There were records and descriptions of it happening, the creatures suddenly dropping dead despite having no injuries or signs of malnutrition. 

The only exception that had been recorded of them surviving in lower than necessary mana densities were… beasts from lower floors that were possessed by the dungeon. It would explain why he suddenly didn’t have a pulse.

“So have the last 15 years been a lie?” A lot of things started making sense; Izuku’s less than standard emotional reactions, never getting quirk exhaustion, and his appetite being whatever was presented to him never asking for seconds or leaving a serving unfinished.

“I may not be human but it doesn’t mean the experiences didn’t happen.” Midoriya looked up to the ceiling.

“I wasn’t asking for a philosophical answer, I was looking for a yes or no.” 

“Imagine being so alone that the only reason people even visit you is to harvest your organs or kill you. Now imagine that I answered all your questions, Recovery Girl’s coming back.” 

Recovery Girl’s coming back? He didn’t have a sensory quirk… he didn’t have any quirk, he was using magic to imitate having one.

"Hello, dearies. How are you feeling?" She peeked around the corner.

"Dull." Bakugou never properly recovered from an attack until he got some rest.

“He’ll be fine after he has a nap.” 

“How often does this happen?”

“Not very, last time was on the train home after the entrance exam.” Midoriya responded. Bakugou was usually pretty quiet after attacks, unless he needed to interact with someone.

“That’s good. Nedzu called, he said you two were excused from classes for the rest of the day and that you can use meeting room 1025.”

“Thank you.” Midoriya stood up, Bakugou followed suit. 

The walk to the meeting room was tense, even though it was only a few halls over from RG’s office. It had a digital lock that was already open. Undoubtedly Nedzu’s doing. 

After locking the door and taking note of the fresh tea Midoriya continued their conversation.

“I’m the dungeon Atrus. Any questions?”

“... How?”

“How what?”

“How did you pull this entire thing off?”

“It all started when someone dropped their phone near the dungeon entrance during their hike. They weren’t there when I found it, but I can’t imagine why someone would intentionally… I just thought of a reason someone might do it intentionally.

“But regardless, I did a lot of research and eventually decided that the best way to enter the legal system was by pretending to be an abandoned child. I was found and put into care, which happened to be with mom. I don't really remember the specifics, I kinda just put the body on autopilot so I could continue to oversee the dungeon. 

“But after a year I properly started paying attention to it and just kinda… went with the flow. Didn’t really even think of what quirk I was going to pretend to have till you got yours.”

“... You just- went with the flow? Do you know how lucky you are that nothing went wrong?”

“Nedzu Is also a dungeon.” 

“... As in our principal?!”

“Yes, how do you think they get all the robots used in the entrance exam?”

“Tuition?”

“... The zero pointers are several stories tall, no one would willingly produce such a monstrosity. Not to mention how expensive they would be if there were companies willing to manufacture such a thing.”

“Wait, are you telling me that the exam robots are dungeon beasts like Atrus’ wolf bears?” HIs tone was closer to what it normally was, acting was always one of Bakugou’s strong suits. 

“Almost. The wolf bears are able to be created with unattuned mana, the exam robots require mana attuned with an element capable of animating non-biological materials.”

“So they’re just elemental dungeon beasts?”

“They’re technically called mana beasts.”

“Yes or no?”

“Kinda, they’re attuned to a different element than the one used to create them.”

—-------------

Aizawa approached Nedzu's office, the door opening before he even raised his arm to knock.

"Aizawa, what can I do for you?"

"Jiro told me something very concerning regarding Midoriya and I refuse to believe that you don't already know about it."

"Correct." 

"... I'm quitting if you don't elaborate."

The man would follow through with the threat, he'd done it before. Luckily he only pulled it when it regarded the students safety and Nedzu was able to convince him to return.

"I am perfectly aware of Midoriya's… condition, and I assure you that he was not in any danger of any kind."

"He didn't have a PULSE!" He slammed his hands on the desk, his capture weapon falling off his right shoulder from the recoil.

Nedzu paused, the tired man usually kept a professional demeanor regardless of his emotions, even if some bled through the mask.

He would have to be careful if he were to keep the situation stable.

"Aizawa, in all the years you have known me have I ever done something or withheld information that would lead to a student being severely injured?”

“The very existence of the zero pointer.”

“Roller Coasters have a higher casualty rate than the zero pointer, and that’s after ignoring every participant more than one block away at its entrance. As concerned about his health as you are, which is perfectly understandable, it does not pose a great enough threat to him for me to divulge you in the specifics.

“I assure you, if there is ever a time where I believe his condition may cause him harm I will inform you. Until such a time, it is not my secret to share.” 

As much as Nedzu trusted the man to keep a secret, he understood that Aizawa was the most likely of the staff to encounter some form of confession or compulsion quirk. Maijima was only informed because he was the one that designed and salvaged the golems. 

“Secret?” Oops. 

“A simple turn of phrase.”

—--------------

Warston returned to his dungeon, a forest of leafless trees spanned the entire first floor; the girl didn’t have a nice home and the dungeon was easily able to supply materials and resources. There was even an established city on the ninth floor; he made the initial structures and helped provide resources, but they were surprisingly independent. 

Most of his residents were quirkless, even with the quirkless protection laws that were enforced ‘the law of the jungle’ was a hard mentality to break when cryokinetic and pyrokinetic abilities were everywhere you looked. He heard they were more varied in Japan last time he was contacted by another dungeon. 

But societal norms of humans won’t change the fact that the trek to the ninth floor was almost a day long, nearly a week long if you had to deal with the manabeasts. 

The girl rode on his shoulder as he walked straight towards the passage to the second floor. He would have one of the deeper floor manabeasts meet him near the passage to the third floor. 

He always found it interesting, the way humans always reacted to the change in forest when they walked between the trunks of two trees whose branches were intertwined. He primarily made those trees the passage to the second floor because it blended in easily with the biome. 

The second floor had a noticeable decrease in the density of trees. The mana beasts that could be spotted were noticeably larger as well. It was another three hour trek to the next gate, enough time for them to finish it’s journey from the seventh floor. 

He watched in wonder as she stared at the creatures in awe. As little as he truly understood human emotions, he always enjoyed seeing how they affected them.

—-------------

Kurogiri cleaned his bar. It was what he always did when he had free time. 

Tomura sat in one of the corner booths playing a handheld game. He wasn’t sure what one, but he stayed out of the way of their irregular customers, so he couldn’t really complain. 

Across from him sat one of Sensei’s subordinates, it would be more accurate to call them a temporary hire. They had steel tipped fingers and could produce a considerable amount of electricity with their quirk. 

The most important thing was that they had a friend who’s quirk interrupted most forms of wired and wireless data transfer. They were brought on specifically for the upcoming attack. 

They didn’t have a schedule for it yet, but they were hoping to lure All-Might out into some secluded area and use hostages so he couldn’t run. With his signal jammed he wouldn’t be able to call for backup either. 

The biggest issue would be luring the brute without tipping off any other heroes. 

They had some time until they began enacting it, the nomu needed to be completed first after all, so he continued his job.

If he were lucky, tending the bar would be his job till they attack; most likely, though, was that he would be tasked with retrieving someone with a quirk that caught the man's fancy. 

The tv in the corner flickered to life. ‘Audio Only’ was displayed in red across the top right corner of the outdated screen. 

“Tomura, Kurogiri.” He all but commanded their attention. 

“Yes sensei?” Tomura immediately forgot about his game. Kurogiri didn’t say anything, he hated the look Tomura got in his eye whenever he heard Sensei address him. He was tasked with caring for the boy, yet he was powerless to stop the threat that Sensei posed to his charge. 

“I’ve gotten word of something quite interesting, All-Might has started working at Yuuei.”

“The hero school, why would he want to teach a bunch of hero brats?”

“Regardless of the purpose, this will pose a challenge. You are no longer just attacking All-Might, but the greatest hero school in Japan as well.”

“I won’t disappoint you.”

“There’s nothing you could do to disappoint me Tomura, so long as you eventually succeed.” 

Chapter Text

Zephyr looked down at his opponent, his steel gray eyes tracked the edge of his blade as it hovered inches away from the other's throat. 

“You were close that time, Jasnia.” He drew back the weapon. A playful tone in his voice. “You’re still putting too much effort into your quirk though, it’s distracting you from the swordplay.” 

They were on the eleventh floor of the dungeon, the biome was a cave filled with naturally formed mana crystals. They were similar to mana cores, but grew in rock as opposed to a biological organism.

“Well you’re at least two-hundred-and-something years old, I’m fifteen.” She sat up, “Not to mention that you have an inherent understanding of mana, I have to practice to be good with it.”

It felt like it was only yesterday that Zephyr met her, although that might just be a lack of temporal awareness. You tend to stop keeping track after a hundred-and-twenty years. 

Her family had recently moved to a nearby town, but they weren’t informed of where the dungeon was. He didn’t remember the specifics of what happened since he was working on expanding his recently formed ninety-third level and really only noticed the intrusion when they got to the third level.

But long story short, the parents both had quirks that gave them protection from being cut, and the then six year old girl had a quirk based on his own attunements brother element. Rend.

Rend and Sharp were elements that danced around each other constantly and were rarely found separate. 

“FUCK!” His arm landed on the ground, blood pooling from what would be a shoulder. “I wasn’t ready, you brat.”

“You’re the one who keeps saying to take every available opening.” She was unbothered by the blood that dripped down her own blade, “And besides, I could cut your head off and it wouldn’t kill you.” The tip of the weapon lazily drew circles in the air.

Zephyr laughed, “Maybe we should cut practice there, most people would rather not have their arm cut off afterall.”

“Oh c’mon Z, I’ve still got an hour before I have to head home. What am I gonna do?”

“You could try befriending another human.” He began condensing mana around the wound, the bleeding stopped near instantly.

“But other humans are boring. Besides, almost no one else even owns a sword.”

“Then try finding someone who owns a sword.”

“You’re insufferable.”

“That means I’m being a good uncle.” His elbow was already half formed.

“That’s a sentiment my dad would agree with. Maybe you could try teaching him how to sword fight.”

“It would be more challenging than teaching you. He’d almost completely ignore the defensive aspect since he can’t be cut, although a few bruises would fix that pretty quickly.”

“As long as he doesn’t have to miss work.”

—-----------

Dimitri sat in his office going over paperwork. He may not be a human, but that didn’t mean he was able to escape their bureaucracy. 

He had renovated his entire first floor into an amusement park, it made a decent amount of money. Although his greatest source of income was his third floor, which was the world's largest mall with restaurants, bars, clothing stores, fast food, arcades, there was even an open auction house that the top one percent of the USA would regularly visit due to his irregular auctioning of dungeon nodes.

The second floor was a hotel with rooms ranging from one room apartments to three story suites. 

There were even rooms catered specifically for people with specific interests; larger closets for cosplayers, instruments and recording equipment for musicians. Rooms with nurseries for parents or caregivers with little ones, and workshops available for people in all kinds of craft from welding to woodworking. 

But on the topic of bureaucracy, the fourth and fifth levels were endless offices and filing rooms respectively. The sixth through tenth levels were all warehouses, and everything after was defenses against idiots who thought they could kill him. 

“You know that what you’re threatening me with isn’t something that can be enforced, right?” Some Karen barged into his office with a ridiculous contract and a threat to sue if he didn’t sign it since she interacted with a fursuiter on the first floor. “Not to mention that you’re the one who approached the suiter and harassed them. I have video evidence if you would like to see it.”

“I don’t care what you think, I am either going to get a dungeon node or ten percent of your income.” As he said: ridiculous. He’s surprised that humans even developed phones when people like this existed. 

“Well, I think that you would find leaving of your own accord more comfortable than being dragged away by security.” She didn’t listen and continued to scream and rant at him. He memorized her elemental print and added it to the blacklist of the security system.

He couldn’t imagine how difficult something like that would be if he had to do it with a mouse and keyboard. And with that taken care of, he mentally called for security. 

It was easy enough to ignore her while he waited for security, Karens usually gave up once they were confronted by a drake, even if the drake’s back was only as high as the Karen's head. 

They were typically twice as large, but the visitors were put off by the size of hallway needed to accommodate such large draconians. 

With that dealt with he was able to get on with his regular work. Going over complaints since every time he tried hiring an HR department it managed to get filled with all kinds of bigots. The PR situation afterwards was always a nightmare to deal with. 

The most pressing matter was actually regarding some of the night shift ride operators.

—----------

"You sure you're up for class?" Midoriya asked as they walked back to the classroom.

"I’m not going to miss our first heroics class just because you gave me trauma.” Well, the nap he took during lunch certainly did its job.

“Just making sure, I wonder how our costumes turned out.”

“Awsome, obviously. What do you think yours is going to look like?”

“Assuming Nedzu actually sent the request, it should be a cloak made of frost fox pelt imported from Russia over wolf bear leather armor. If he didn’t, it’s going to be a large mana core with a note spouting some nonsense about quirk reactive hyperdense materials.”

“Going for a medieval warrior look, respectable. But a little clarification on the latter?”

“How do you think dungeons are able to provide an infinite amount of materials?”

“Never really thought about it to be honest. Hey, who do you think that is?” Bakugou pointed to a lanky blonde man standing beside the door to 1-A. The man looked sickly, to be frank.

“Small-Might.”

“Small-Might?”

“Exactly.” Midoriya walked past the man and ino the classroom. Bakugou followed suit because what else was he supposed to do?

“You’re late.” Aizawa stood behind the podium, a thermos of coffee held in hand.

“We were excused from classes, we didn’t even need to be here.” Midoriya didn’t fear the man. A poor choice for most people, but most people weren't a hundred-plus years old, possibly eldritch, beings.

“Well, as I just announced; you’ll be receiving your hero costumes today, and will be testing them in a fight against Nedzu’s latest installment of the villain bot series.” He ignored Kaminari’s mumble of ‘that sounds like the name of an anime’.

“Cool.” Midoriya sat down as All-Might in the bulk slammed open the sliding door. Bakugou nearly fell over from the gust of wind that followed the number one around.

“I AM HERE, WALKING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON, ” he lied. “ GRAB YOUR HERO COSTUMES AND GET CHANGED, WE’RE MEETING AT GROUND GAMMA!” He then dashed away.

“That was so in character I don’t even know how to respond.” 

Aizawa sighed and pressed a button on the side of the podium, slots on the wall opening to reveal metal cases. “They’re labeled by seat number, I trust that you all know where the changing rooms are.”

—------------

Midoriya held up a clear ball the size of a marble. “Show off.” he mumbled. 

“Yo, Mido-bro. Whatcha got there?”

“A hyperdense materialization mechanism triggered by a tuned mana recognition lock.” he read from the note that came with the mana core. The amount of mana needed to make such a pure core was unfathomable, even a dungeon with two-hundred floors would need to sacrifice a floor to create one.

“I have no idea what that means.”

“This marble contains my hero costume, and it will only respond to my quirk.”

“Dude, do you think they'd be able to do the same with mine?"

"You'd have to talk to the support department about it."

"Fuck yeah!"

"LANGUAGE!" Iida shouted from the other side of the locker room.

He quickly stripped down and used an obscene amount of mana to create his costume. 

It was identical to his original design, the only exception being the cloak. He wasn't able to produce snow fox's like the dungeons in Russia, so he used wolf bear pelt equivalent to those that would be found on his twenty-first level. Each strand of hair was stronger than steel, and was nearly impossible to cut through without proper tools.

Bakugou’s costume was pretty on brand for the teen; grenade shaped gauntlets, army green combat boots, tighter-than-usual cargo pants filled with first aid supplies and various types of grenades, and a black tank top with red lines crossing over his chest.

As for the more practical side of his costume; there were strap and buckles criss crossing over most of the costume that could act as a harness for rescue situations, an electric striker near the base of each of his palms that could detonate his sweat even when his quirk was erased, fluid storage in his gauntlets that could produce larger explosions than he could, and a mask that covered his ears doubling as hearing protection and a comms unit. 

As for everyone else’s costumes… they weren’t bad, but they were hardly functional. Except for Iida’s, but even then it could use some improvements. 

—---------

NEVER FUCKING MIND! All the girls were either half naked (fully naked in Hagakure’s case) or in hardly protective skin tight bodysuits. How the FUCK did any of them even get past the design phase. 

Well, Tsu’s was perfectly suited for water at least. Hers was probably the only one that hadn’t absolutely butchered the original request. 

“I have no words.” Midoriya wasn’t sure how to react.

“Have you considered ‘Someone is going to get murdered’ ?” Bakugou helpfully supplied.

“I have six words.”

“Who’s getting murdered?” Shinso walked up wearing… a dark purple version of Eraserhead’s costume. 

“Whichever idiots designed Pink Cheek’s, Ponytail’s, and Clear as Day’s costumes.”

“... Who’s costumes?”

“Uraraka’s, Momo’s, and Hagakure’s. Fire hazard here isn’t great with names.”

“I can see that. What’s with the barbarian getup anyway, you go to the ren-fair or something?”

“Find something that’s completely bullet and knife proof that’s lighter than this is, then I’ll take your criticism.” Midoriya pointed at the pelt. It wasn’t completely bullet proof, but what are you expected to do against thirty millimeter rounds? 

“You expect me to believe that that’s bulletproof?”

“It’ll hold up against anything except a tank or All-Might.”

“HAHAHA. THEY SAY THE DRESS MAKES THE MAN, AND I CAN ALREADY TELL THAT YOU’RE ALL GOING TO BE FINE HEROES!!”

“Speak of the devil and he shall arrive.” 

“TODAY WE’LL BE HELPING OUT THE SUPPORT DEPARTMENT WITH TESTING!!”

“And you’ll stop shouting at the top of your lungs.” Aizawa held a fresh pot of coffee. “The support department came up with a new robot for the entrance exam, and they need a field test to determine how many points they should be worth. 

“I expect you to make note of anything about your costumes that needs adjusting or changing. These are going to be what you wear for the rest of this year, you get one chance to adjust them this year due to the cost. It’s best to squash the problems as soon as they come up. 

“You’ll be sent in groups of four, your choice, and will be facing fifty of the prototypes. They’ll start scattered around the complex and will try to gather into larger groups. 

“There are safety features already in place, but All-Might and I will be on standby in the event that any of the measures fail.

“Find your groups in 3…” No one moved, “2… “ Midoriya grabbed Bakugou and Shinso, the former of which reached forward and grabbed KIrishima by the gear on his right shoulder. “1…” 

Almost everyone finished gathering into groups, and Midoriya started to capitalize on the largest benefit of his cloak: no one could see him condense mana into a set of wolf bear bone daggers. 

“0. Everyone not in a group of four; raise your hand.” Todoroki, Tokoyami, Koda, and Aoyama raised their hands. Aoyama was silently crying that no one wanted to partner with him; a theater kid through and through.

“Only four left, that saves me the headache of pairing you together. Momo, you and whoever you're stuck with can go first. You’ll have five minutes to prepare once you get to the field. Everyone else, follow me to the observation room.”

Midoriya watched as The four girls walked away. Their names were Hagakure, Jiro, and Mina; assuming he remembered correctly. But he was also a sentient rock that could manipulate space, so he had that going for him. 

It was a short walk to the observation room, but they had time to plan while the other group went so he decided to take advantage of it. 

“Shinso, what have you got going for you?”

“What do you mean?” 

“What kind of fighting skills do you have?”

“Oh, I’m learning how to use a capture scarf, but I know a bit of hand to hand.”

“You ever used a dagger?”

“No?”

“Do you have any protective gear so that you don’t break your hands?”

“No.”

“... you're disowned. Kirishima, where do you stand in terms of fighting?”

“I can throw a mean punch and make a pretty decent shield.”

“Great, stick with Shinso. He’s going to need the help. Bakugou, you’re going to be our coordinator, get an aerial view and let us know where the bots are. 

“Kirishima and Shinso, you two are going to be a team. Watch each other's backs and don’t get separated. 

“If we’re lucky, the new robots will be powered by mana cores and I’ll be able to disable them with a large enough flame. If not, I’ll have my daggers.”

“... do you have a bat or something I could use?”

“Ask Momo when she gets back, although Aizawa might not allow it.”

“I won't,” The tired man called from the control panel.

“Whelp. Sucks for you. I’d suggest putting in a request to add a weapon to your costume.”

“TEAM 1, BEGIN!!”

—--------

“That was…” Midoriya watched as every single person was declared out of the test as the robots thrashed the group. 

“Pathetic.” Bakugou supplied.

It went like that for the other groups as well. 

Except for Todoroki, who abandoned his team and fought the robots himself. 

Jiro did alright with her guitar/axe/speaker gear. But she got overwhelmed the moment enough robots came together to form a centaur. 

None of them even worked as a team. 

“Well, it’s not like we could do worse.” Shinso added. 

“Group five, you’re up.”

“And that’s us.”

—---------

“This is going a lot better than I was expecting.” Midoriya stood atop a singular robot, its mana core empty. 

“Duo, sixteen segments five streets south, forming a centaur.” 

“How many left?” 

“Thirty total. The other fourteen are moving east. Six streets east, two north from your position.”

“Copy.” Midoriya hopped off the slain robot and started running. He had figured that Shinso would have gotten eliminated already, as bleak as it sounded. The guy was great at running, but there were enough robots in the designated area that it was initially impossible to go from intersection to intersection without seeing at least one robot. 

Midoriya heard Kirishima swear over the intercom, they must not have gotten there in time to interrupt the combining process. 

“Air force, can you come evacuate Purple?” (Is that seriously the best you could come up with?)

“Why?”

“Aliens of course, it's not like there's a goliath robot that could easily strike behind me."

"Yeah yeah, on my way." The comms then filled with the sound of explosions.

The comms went silent a minute after that. He continued his run and got to the location he was told just as the group of robots arrived. 

He decided to let them combine. That way he would only need to hit one of the mana cores to purge the entire thing, assuming they’re using mana locks.

Each robot was about half a street wide and could easily plow through a building. The way they came together was also interesting; they got in two lines of eight on each side, the first four of each line connected to the ones directly in front and behind them, while the middle two of each side connected together. The other six did something similar, but with a line of three and only the segments on the end facing the four line connected together. 

The next thing to happen was the robots on the end of the four segment separated to allow the three length section to connect. This destroyed several of the nearby buildings. 

The last step was the thing standing up, the four robots on the end of the four length segment becoming the legs, with the four loose robots of the three length becoming arms. 

All in all, it was smaller than the zero pointer but could easily rival the thing if it had a couple more segments. 

“Centaur has been defeated, Mido-bro; status?”

“Approaching a stubby centaur. It shouldn't be difficult.” And it wasn’t. He was right about the mana locks, but he did almost get crushed. It’s not like it would kill him, but still.

“CONGRATULATIONS TEAM 5, YOU HAVE DEFEATED ALL ROBOTS!! PLEASE RETURN TO THE OBSERVATION ROOM!!”

—----------

“Now who can tell me what they did correctly?” Aizawa asked, All-Might having had to abandon class due to poor time management. 

“They established a team structured and played to the roles they were best at, while minimizing interference between each other.”

“Exactly, otherwise known as the thing no one else did.  

“Your goal is to save people’s lives, not parade yourselves around. Todoroki. If you’re not good at something, and someone else is there that is both capable and willing to take over a job, hand it over. 

“And if you’re able to help others help them, such as Shinso making sure that nothing snuck up on Kirishima. 

“And establish a coordinator, I don’t expect you to be able to work together seamlessly yet, but I expect for you to not step on each other's toes, or abandon your teammates. 

“For everyone except Midoriya, Bakugou, Shinso, and Kirishima; I expect a five-hundred word essay on what exactly you could have done better during this assignment. 

“Dismissed.”

Chapter Text

Nedzu was disappointed. The only groups that succeeded in 1-A were Todoroki’s and Midoriya’s. 

At least Midoriya was able to set a precedent. Even worse was that Midoriya and Bakugou were the only two who even remembered that they were primarily supposed to be figuring out ways to improve their costumes, and they were the only two who wouldn’t have a reasonable complaint about their costumes. 

1-B had a higher success rate, but none of them had any improvements for their costumes either. As loud as Monama was, he still filled a similar role in 1-B as Midoriya did in 1-A; a powerful all arounder that knew how to delegate. Hopefully Kan would avoid driving a wedge between the two classes with his toxic rivalry against Aizawa. The two could become powerful leaders.

He really should address it, but there hadn’t been a major enough scenario for Vlad to take his personal interference seriously. The man was too prideful as a teacher, even if he was a great hero. 

-------------

"That sucked. We all got our asses (LANGUAGE!) Handed to us." Denki whined.

"Sounds like a skill issue, Sparky." Bakugou closed his case.

"You didn't even do anything."

"... Kaminari, what do you think a coordinator does ?" Midoriya refused to believe his classmate was that dumb.

"Uh, coordinate?"

"Yes, and what can a coordinator not do while actively fighting?"

"Coordinate."

"Exactly. Now I recommend getting changed rather than complaining about how you failed the exercise."

--------------

"Remember, I'm free after school if any of you have any questions." Ectoplasm concluded the lesson.

"Also, Midoriya. Aizawa wanted to speak with you after school. He'll be waiting in the teachers' lounge."

"Oh, someone's in trouble~."

"Mina," Izuku hated gossips, "you've melted two pens today , and I'm pretty sure one of them was Mic's. You have no room to talk." 

Bakugou laughed. "You can shut up too. Do you know how expensive it is to buy detergent that can neutralize nitroglycerin?" He stopped laughing.

-----------

Midoriya stood outside the teachers lounge, wondering why he was called. He wasn't worried about being expelled since he would've been called to Nedzu's office.

He knocked before entering. Mic was the first one to notice.

"Hey ya listener, who ya looking for?"

"Aizawa-sensei."

"Yo Shout-AAAH!" Yamada turned around to find that Aizawa had snuck up on him. And preemptively erased his quirk. "I told you to stop doing that!"

"... no. Midoriya, I wanted to ask you about something on your file."

"You read the student files?" Aizawa glared at the blond.

"Ignoring him. It says that there's a transformation aspect to your quirk. Why didn't you use it during the quirk apprehension test?"

"My quirk didn't come with the pain nullification part most transformation quirks have, so it feels like I'm being ripped apart whenever I use it."

"..."

"I passed out the first time the transformation activated." Well, he pretended to. What? He'd heard about grab-bag quirks and figured it'd be the perfect way to give himself an out if he faced someone he couldn't beat with a human body.

"Problem children, every single one of you."

"... I'm not sure if I should take that as an insult or a compliment."

"Good."

------------

"So what did the hobo want?" Bakugou asked when Midoriya caught up to him.

"He was asking about my quirk."

"Oh? Something else I should know?"

"... transformation aspect, incredibly painful to use."

"Fuck you."

"I was thinking ahead, besides I only ever planned on using it as a 'get out of jail free' kinda thing.

"So are you ever gonna use it during class?" He swiped his train pass.

"Nah, it costs too much mana to use it that often."

"You? Too much mana?"

"I have to transmit it from 'you know where', so I usually just use a mana core."

"There's a phrase you remind me of."

"If it's the one I'm thinking of I'm going to defenestrate you."

"Hey, don't pull out the fancy English threats. And the phrase is 'no amount of skill will protect you from the sheer luck of a chronic dumbass'."

"I'm disowning you."

"Coward."

"Mortal."

-------------

Atrus walked through the halls of a school. Everything was twice as large as was at Yuuei, but more decrepit.

Floor 75, the lowest in the dungeon and one of his personal favorites. 

There were wolf bears wandering around, each one slightly larger than an Irish wolf hound. 

And a brick golem stood at every intersection. Each was about a meter taller than the wolf bears.

It was modeled after his experience at Aldera. Which sounds bad, but people regularly tried to murder him, so…

He couldn't imagine how traumatized he'd be if he were a human.

He leaned into one of the classrooms, a dungeon node sat in the middle of it and a solid black wold bear lay curled around it. The clock said 3:23. 

He still had several hours to kill and not much to fill in the time. He wished he could sleep.

He should probably plan out how he's going to explain being a dungeon. He couldn't keep it a secret forever since Bakugou will eventually tell Mitsuki and Masaru. 

On the other hand: he still has the phone that he found outside the dungeon and could instead watch cat videos on hero-tube.

He could plan a group expedition and explain inside the dungeon, yeah that sounded good. 

Now, the question was when to do it. Over the weekend most likely, he could probably get a day off school for it if he needed to. 

--------------

"We're doing quirkless sparring today. 

"Unfortunately there have been certain events that have prevented my usual assistants from coming, so we won't have any concurrent spars.

"Do we have any volunteers?" 

"I'll go." Jasnia walked into the ring marked on the mat. 

No one else volunteered. It was less because of the activity and more that none of them wanted to associate with her. 

Rumor had spread about her extracurricular practice with Zephyr, and another rumor started about Zephyr being an overprotective asshole that would hunt down anyone that hurt her. 

But regardless, the teacher eventually chose a student to face her. 

It was one of the larger students who had a regeneration quirk. A bit of an unfair fight since her opponent couldn't willingly turn off their quirk, but she'd survive.

Luckily she was allowed her support gear; a variety of blunt swords of many different types. They would break bones before breaking skin.

She had three on her left hip; a German zweihander, a Scottish claidheamh-mor, and a Japanese katana.

On her right was a Spanish rapier, a French grenadier, and a Chinese jian.

She had two Egyptian khopesh, one over each shoulder, that were a bit more curved than normal so that she wouldn't need to reach as far to be able to sheath and unsheath them.

She had several daggers across her body; one on each arm, on each side of her waist, the outside of both thighs, and the outside of each foreleg.

Most of which had some form of finger guard.

Mr regen, she never learned any of their names, didn't have anything with him. 

"Begin!"

Jasnia quickly drew her zweihander. 

It was the one with the longest reach, and she knew her opponent was proficient at grappling. 

He lunged forward and tried to grab the 'blade' of her weapon, but severely underestimated how quick the weapon actually was.

She easily swung the tip down, so he grabbed above it, before stepping forward and striking her opponent on his head. 

Not likely to cause lasting injury because of his quirk, but it'd definitely teach him to not overextend.

Who was she kidding, he'd blame her for it and not learn anything. All because she hung out with Zephyr.

She stepped back and sheathed the weapon. 

But then she was tackled to the ground. 

"Not so good without your weapons are you?" He sneered.

"Please, that strike would've knocked out anyone without a defense or regeneration quirk."

The teacher simply asked "Jasnia, can you move?" 

Well, regen didn't even bother putting her in a proper hold, just pinned her arms; so yes, yes she could.

She headbutt him, something she wouldn't have been able to do if she hadn't been training for years.

He instinctively moved his hand to cover his face which gave her the opportunity to grab the dagger from her left arm. It had rings covering the fingers and made for a wonderful knuckleduster.

With a well placed strike to her opponent's temple; Mr Regen was out cold.

"Yes, I can move." She hated this school and everyone in it.

The teacher fucking sighed , the biased prick. "Jasnia wins. Can anyone tell me what either could do better?"

"You could have done better by calling the match after I hit him on the head."

"He wasn't knocked out."

"Yeah, because he can't turn his quirk off. It gave him an unfair advantage."

"Don't your swords give you an unfair advantage?" Some kid asked, Jasnia was pretty sure that their quirk was a minor strength augmentation.

"Support gear wasn't prohibited. It's not my fault none of you requested any." 

"Forget it." The teacher called. "Jasnia, could you bring Ros-" She pretended to cough. "Could you take your opponent to the nurse's office?"

She couldn't graduate soon enough.

-----------

Zephyr was on the defensive. He didn't need to be, but Jasnia was in a bad mood and needed to vent.

"First she pairs me against someone that can't turn off their quirk," she attacked three times over the course of the sentence, each strike leaving a small gash in his bastard sword.

"Then she doesn't call the match when I get a winning hit." Another three strikes.

"And she doesn't even PRETEND TO CARE!" she cut through his sword. 

It was interesting how her quirk reacted to her anger. Especially the fact that the mana reacted quicker than it normally did.

"... maybe we should take a break. Your sword needs maintenance just as much as mine needs a replacement.

Jasnia looked at her sword, cracks webbed across the middle of the blade. 

She sighed, "Eh, it probably needs to be replaced as well."

"Probably. Have you talked with your parents about this?"

"No. They're great and I know they'd listen, but if it's this bad at a regulated school then I can't imagine that it would be better at their job."

"Fair enough. You do know I could go talk with the school, right?" He took the weapon from Jasnia.

"That'd just make things worse. But I do appreciate the offer." 

"Well, if you need anything let me know. It'd probably do me some good to get out every once in a while."

"Yeah, you are a bit of a hermit. Oh! There's a movie releasing this weekend, we should go see it."

"Of course, I'll even pay."

"Fuck Yeah!"

---------------

"I am never watching a movie again."

"What? Why?"

"The blatant demonization of dungeons to start."

"Okay that's fair. But it couldn't be that bad."

"Jasnia the only reason dungeons regularly kill people is that we either get enslaved or murdered. We are sentient and sapient creatures, we are not some trained animal.

"Honestly, it's no wonder everyone is bullying you for hanging put with me when that's how society portrays us."

"It was really that bad, huh?"

"The worst part is you didn't even realize how bad it was. Maybe I was right to be a hermit."

---------------

The Midoriyas and Bakugous were walking down a trail, a picnic basket held in the crook of Masaru's arm. 

"I know this trail leads to the dungeon, and I know there aren't any offshoots. So what are we doing, brats?" Mitsuki was all for a picnic, but surely there were better places to have one than in front of a cave.

"We're having a picnic, not my fault Pyro over here chose a strange place."

"It is exclusively your fault that I chose our specific destination."

"The fuck did I do?"

"Do I really have to answer that?"

"Fuck you."

"Not interested."

"BASTARD!"

"Hisashi isn't here, dumbass."

------------

Fenrir sat at the entrance to the dungeon. He usually stayed in the throne room guarding the core, but today was a special occasion.

Atrus was going to introduce some humans to the rest of the dungeon.

The other wolf bears were great, don't get him wrong, but they were also boring.

He's pretty sure he remembers Atrus mentioning something about Norse and Thor when Atrus named him. 

Anyway, he could tell the group was getting near. None of their attunements were common near the dungeon.

-----------

They just entered the clearing when Mitsuki called everyone to stop.

"Do you guys see that?" She pointed at the dungeon, the entrance was darker than usual with the exception of two points. 

"Oh! That's Fenrir. He's a softie." Izuku casually stated before continuing on.

"YOU NAMED A WOLF BEAR?!" Mitsuki was surprised to say the least.

"Yes." He walked into the dungeon and hugged Fenrir.

"Have none of you noticed that he has no self preservation?" Bakugou watched as Izuku disappeared into the beast's fur.

It was easily twice the size of any kind of wolf hound, and had no business being able to navigate the caves of the first ten levels. 

Inko seemed worried but was a bit caught up with the size of the creature, while the Bakugou's were recovering from the flashbang that was Midoriya hugging a manabeast.

"I have plenty of self preservation, I just choose when to use it." 

"So, what floor are we having a picnic on?" Masaru had long ago learned to, in Mitsuki's own words, 'just go with it.'

"Floor eleven, it's the first one that isn't a cave."

"... Ho- how do you know that?" Inko was starting to get concerned.

"I'll explain later."

-----------

"And that about sums it up." Atrus finished, looking up at the green sky.

"... That explains so much." Mitsuki was the first to recover.

And the conversation continued, with many questions, many answers, and more tears than should be physically possible.

And at the end of it all, they went home. 

-----------

E-mails were sent and a feral grin made its way onto the sender's face. 

The press would take to the news like a fish to water, and just like that: All for One created the perfect distraction.

He'd inform Kurogiri and Tomura when it was time. 

He began thinking over his plans; everything short term was dealt with for the moment, and his long term plans didn't require any repositioning of his pawns. 

Except for one plan: the dungeon seed.

There were so many places he could plant it, but so many of them could be discovered easily. 

Ha! Who'd have thought that one of his greatest hurdles would be hikers? It'd be hilarious if it weren’t so annoying.

Perhaps an abandoned mine? No, too obvious. That'd be the first place the heroes would search once they got word of the plan.

Maybe some historical monument, he's pretty sure there was still one Roman colosseum still standing. Nah, it should stay in Japan so he could monitor it.

So many choices, yet every single one had its drawbacks. 

He'll return to the plan, but it was time to check on the beta nomu's progress.

-----------

Nedzu knew something big was about to happen, there was a tension in the mana outside the security gates. 

He had seen it build like this before, and it always signified a major battle. Be it the start of a war or the fight between All-Might and All for One. 

He opened the office door. "Aizawa, I hope your day has been going well."

"It would be had you not called me in on my day off. What's the deal?" As blunt as ever.

"Something big is going to happen soon. I would hope it won't affect our students, but it is best to take precautions." He stared at Aizawa, "there are secrets I will not risk telling, but it is with the students in mind that tell you this:

"In the event of an emergency whatever Midoriya says goes."

Aizawa leaned forward. "If he tells me to abandon him against an S-rank villain?"

"Then you are to do so."

"I don't suppose you'll answer if I ask why." He leaned back in his chair.

"Secrets left unsaid can trap someone as much as they free them."

------------

Jiro was training in her family's music studio. It was the largest room in the house and she had already moved all the instruments out of the way.

One of the biggest things she noted during the exercise on the second day of school was that she didn't have the slightest clue on how to effectively use her combat guitar. 

So she found a broom, taped a weight on the end of it, and used that to simulate the weight and balance of her support item. 

She had also joined a martial arts studio that focused on armed combat but had unarmed lessons as well. 

She didn't have as much time to make music, but she had already noticed some improvement so it was worth it.

"Hey Kyoka, mind if I take over the studio for a bit?" The only other downside regarding her extracurricular training was that her parents were almost always writing songs.

Chapter Text

"What the fuck?" Midoriya stared at a sea of reporters. 

"Assholes probably got word about All-might." 

It was then that one of the reporters noticed them, luckily Aoyama appeared and used his glitter and personality to distract all the reporters.

It was easy enough to wade through the crowd after that.

-----------

Aizawa opened the door and watched as half the class silently scrabbled toward their seats. 

He hid a grin in his capture weapon. "Welcome back, today marks one of the most important events of your careers… choosing a class president."

The class erupted, but was quickly silenced with a quirk infused glare. 

"I don't care how you choose so long as no one dies and it's quiet enough for me to take a nap," he began to unzip his neon yellow sleeping bag, "And no; that does not, through exclusion, authorize you to maim each other." With his declaration complete he curled into his sleeping bag and tucked himself under the podium. 

Several people jumped out of their seats attempting to claim the position, but they were quickly silenced by Iida. 

"The president is meant to represent the class, as such it is only fair that the president be voted in by the entire class." 

There weren’t any objections, and so the class voted.

The final tally counted was as follows.

Midoriya: 7

Momo: 5

Iida: 3

Tsu: 2

Bakugou: 1

Kirishima: 1

Iida looked physically pained at having gotten third, while Momo was more nervous than anything.

"Congratulations Midoriya." Aizawa stood up, "Nedzu also wanted to speak with you during lunch." And with that, homeroom was over. 

-----------

Nedzu opened the door as Atrus approached. "Midoriya, a pleasure to see you."

Midoriya walked in, his sunshine smile disappearing the moment the door closed. Emulating human emotions was surprisingly tiring.

"You wanted to talk." Atrus took a seat.

"I did. You are aware of the building tension." He wasn't asking. 

"Hard not to, it's reaching its climax." 

"I'd not jinx it, but if the tension is relating to my school then I feel precautions are necessary. 

"So; in the event of an emergency you are granted authority over your class and the teachers present. The faculty have already been informed.

"You also have full authority to engage any intruders so long as you are on Yuuei grounds. Do not make me regret this decision."

Atrus was about to respond when an alarm went off. Nedzu responded instantly, his body forgotten in exchange for being able to oversee the entire first floor. 

The body was possessed again and told Atrus "Toshinori's office." The door opened and Atrus ran, silver flames danced across his skin as he used mana to overdrive the muscles in his legs.

Toshinori's office wasn't too far, but if someone was able to get there in the time it took for the alarm to go off then there was no telling where they could get to in the time it took Atrus to arrive.

But apparently the answer was 'not far', he turned into the hall the office was in just as a man with silvery blue hair left the office.

"Huh, didn't think I'd encounter any brats over here. But I'm in a good mood. If you walk away I won't turn you to dust, how's that sound?"

Midoriya gave the intruder a once over but didn't notice any unique element that would indicate their quirk, "How bout no." Midoriya slipped into a defensive stance and silvery hair dashed forwards. 

Some kind of speed quirk? No, the intruders quirk was based in their hands, five point or projected was yet to be determined. 

Midoriya sidestepped the attack and retaliated with a simple right hook, too slow to hit his opponent. But they managed to brush the tip of their finger against his shirt as they backed out of range.

Ah, that's why Atrus didn't notice the element with a simple passover; decay was an incredibly ubiquitous element that was generally harmless unless it passed a certain density, the intruder's quirk simply condensed the nearby decay attuned mana to the point where it ate whatever he touched. 

"Powerful quirk," Midoriya covered the growing patch with his hand and extinguished the decay, "but you're going to need more than that to kill me." 

The villain growled before he started scratching his neck. "So annoying. Do you know how hard it is to kill someone without a quirk?" He growled. 

"Harder than fighting people who over rely on a quirk." The villain grumbled something under their breath before running.

Midoriya tried to chase them, but the intruder turned a corner and vanished before he could catch up.

"Midoriya?" Aizawa said from behind him.

"They already got away." He turned around to face his homeroom teacher.

"You engaged?"

"I've got a physical description, a quirk, and the only damage is a hole in my uniform. 

"And yes, Nedzu already knows."

"Problem child," was whispered. "Alright, describe the intruder and we'll have Nedzu deal with the fallout."

"He has silvery, blue hair, is about your height, has very flaky skin, their quirk is a five point contact decay or disintegration, and they're a lot faster than you would expect." He started walking towards the chimera's office.

"Any idea what he was looking for?"

"A schedule, student files, Toshinori, the list goes on. All we can do is prepare for the worst."

"Maybe Power Loader could develop some kind of portable quirk nullification projector."

"Nah. The technology already exists, the issue is the bureaucracy needed to be able to use it."

"Figures. I'm gonna head to class, Nedzu'll call if I need to give a statement."

"Kay, try and calm down the class when you get there. We don't need them panicking unnecessarily."

------------

Midoriya calmly opened the door. "Before you all burst into a cacophony of noise; I was having lunch with Nedzu, yes I am already aware of the media break in, and no I don't know anything the teacher won't tell us when they return." He was an amazing liar, it came with the whole 'pretending to be human' thing.

Everyone just stared for a few seconds before deciding that gossiping in their friend groups would be more productive than interrogating him.

He took his seat and started chatting with Katsuki, nothing important since Jiro would hear. 

And that's how things went until Aizawa returned and silenced the class with a glare.

"Due to the media break in your practical heroics lesson is canceled for the day. We'll do a quick review of today's law and ethics class and then it's a free period."

------------

Kurogiri watched as Tomura ranted; apparently he had run into a student with a form of nullification quirk. 

"That damned npc. They ruined my perfect stealth mission, now what are we going to do?"

"Tomura, you stated that the student had a form of nullification quirk; this means that we gained more information than we were expecting, a fair bargain considering any information they gained will have been revealed after our first strike."

"... so it's a buff?"

"For now, yes. After all, information is the most important part of any strategy." He was immensely grateful that Sensei took the time to teach him the game linguistics his charge so often used. 

-------------

Bakugou had a bad feeling. The press broke onto campus only four days ago and even that felt wrong. Midoriya assured him that it was under control, but he had more self preservation than the immortal rock.

However; it was absolutely hilarious watching him try to corral a determined Iida. The guy had some problems.

Eventually Aizawa-sensei called for everyone to board the bus, which immediately crushed Iida emotionally due to the open layout. 

Midoriya sat up front next to Momo, likely to talk about upcoming class activities or whatnot. 

Tsu and Hagakure also sat up front while Mina and Jiro sat towards the back. 

As for Kirishima, "Have you ever heard of personal space?"

"Yeah, what about it?" He had his arm slung across Bakugou’s shoulders.

"Have you considered not leaning on me?"

"But you're so comfy."

Luckily Bakugou had an ace up his sleeve. "Not manly, dude."

And based on Kirishima’s reaction, one would assume he had just witnessed a murder.

At least he got out of Bakugou’s personal space.

"Katsuki, don't make people cry." Midoriya called out.

----------

Aizawa made a mental note to talk to Bakugou about casually traumatizing other students, and to speak with Kirishima about… Nah, Mic could handle that mess. 

But that wasn’t what occupied his mind. Despite his trust in Nedzu he couldn't fathom why Midoriya would be granted authority over the teachers in the event of an emergency. 

He'd have guessed that Todoroki or Yaoyorozu would have been better candidates, maybe even Bakugou given his performance on the first day. Although; all three had glaring issues regarding their ability to lead. Bakugou was too aggressive, Yaoyorozu was too timid, and Todoroki was the epitome of traumatized. 

Okay, he'd admit that Midoriya was the best choice, but that still didn't explain why Nedzu did it in the first place. 

"Quiet down." there must be something he's missing. "We're almost there."

--------------

Thirteen stood in front of the USJ, unforseen simulations joint not universal studios Japan, and watched the bus arrive. As expected, Toshinori wasn't there. 

"Hello everyone, and welcome to the USJ!"

"Universal Studios Japan?" Denki spoke up.

"Every single time. No, the Unforeseen Simulations Joint. 

"As you all know, quirks are powerful tools that can be used to help people, but they can harm others just as easily. My quirk, black hole, can turn a person to dust just as easily as it can clear rubble from a disaster.

"You are here today to learn how to use your quirks to save people, with that out of the way, let's begin." They led the group into the building, while moving to the side to speak with Aizawa.

"He's not coming is he?" Aizawa asked.

"Nope."

"Why is he even allowed to teach here?"

"Nedzu has his reasons. Whatever they are." 

Both teachers started when the gate slammed closed.

"ERASER!" Midoriya was looking towards the fountain.

----------

Tomura watched as purple mist congealed in front of him. He reached in and grabbed the edge of the hole in space, and ripped it open. Well, he pretended to, but he was the raid boss of this level and he deserved a dramatic entrance.

He stepped through and found himself staring across a concrete plaza with a fountain in the middle. Overly extravagant for a training facility but it was Yuuei, they had money to spare. 

He couldn't even begin to imagine how many gold pieces this would have cost. 

Aside from that, there were three figures that caught his attention: Eraserhead, the bane of quirks; Thirteen, the rescue hero; and a… barbarian? Nothing indicated a quirk, but their costume suggested they were either a bruiser or a brawler.

He wasn't sure why the barbarian caught his attention, it might have been their posture but that was unlikely given the distance.

"Kurogiri, what do you know about the barbarian up there?" He asked as the misty butler appeared next to him. 

"Nothing, I'm afraid." He said after glancing at the landing the heroes stood on.

Tomura scratched his neck in annoyance. He was surprised when the barbarian dove down the stairs next to Eraser. Maybe they were a new teacher, or paid specifically for this exercise.

-------------

Thirteen watched as Midoriya and Eraser threw themselves down the stairs. Midoriya had told them that Bakugou was in charge since "You're the least combative person here." 

They turned to the blond teen. "Well, you're in charge." Everyone was confused, but Katsuki recovered quickly.

"Those two can handle themselves, let's go." He pointed at the door with his thumb. Unfortunately their escape was interrupted by Kurogiri warping into their path.

"Greetings. We are the League of Villains. Our goal is to kill the symbol of peace."

---------------

Midoriya grabbed a villain with swords for fingers and flung them at another one that could shoot bullets from their fingers. He wondered if they were related.

He was surprised that most of the horde had mutation quirks, and worried since it implied that they knew about Eraserhead. Actually, on second thought it was probably for him since he encountered Dusty when they broke in.

He was also surprised by the worship adjacent attunement making itself known. It wasn't producing much mana, but a hundred or so villains isn't that much in the grand scheme of things. 

He sidestepped a punch from behind and used the villain's outstretched arm to throw them into the ground. It probably wasn't enough to keep them down, but he could deal with them later just as easily.

Things continued on as they were until he heard a gravely shout.

"NOMU! Deal with the brat."

And then he was slammed against the floor and acquired an alarming amount of broken bones.

-------------

"-Deal with the brat." 

Aizawa turned to check on Midoriya, only to see the large tar black villain slam his student head first into the plaza floor. The shockwave the impact caused blew most of the villains to the very edge of the area. 

He screamed as his elbow burst in pain. The silver haired villain had used Nomu(?) as a distraction. He flashed Erasure and threw his capture weapon, which was easily dodged. 

"You've always been the coolest hero in my books Eraser. It's just such a shame at how easy it is to distract you." Aizawa just glared. "What? No banter."

"Why are you here?" 

"We're here to kill All-Might. Speaking of, where is he? His schedule said he was supposed to be here." He scratched his neck.

"He's bu-" Aizawa was cut off by an unholy shriek.

--------------

Atrus stood in the entrance of his dungeon. There was a pair of hikers that gave him strange looks, but he didn't get reception any further than two meters from the entrance.

" Hello there!"

"Nedzu, what are you doing?" He flipped off the hikers.

" We're already on our way. I gathered the teachers as soon as the deadman's switch triggered. It's a long drive. 

"Now what are you doing?"

"Making sure you guys are on the way. And Fenrir was getting bored so I got him a chew toy."

-----------

Kirishima watched as a nearly 4 meter tall beast with patches of black, silver, and green fur threw the nomu around like a dog with a toy. 

"Bakugou!"

"WHAT!" The explosive teen was holding back a large portion of the black smog with his explosions while Momo used a flamethrower to deal with the rest.

"There's a four-ish meter wolf looking beast tossing around one of the villains like a dog toy."

------------

Fenrir was having the time of his life! There wasn't room to jump around like this on the lower levels, and he was always mana starved on the higher levels. It's a shame he couldn't play with Atrus, but he did get a toy.

He could scratch it, rip it, break its bones, anything really. And the best part: It fixed itself. Its mana was weird, too different from anyone else's to be a person or dungeon, but he still had fun.

BONUS:

Nomu:*attempts murder*

Atrus: Fenrir, come play with your new toy!

Chapter Text

Dimitri was having a slow day, and was rather bored. It reminded him of the day he decided to turn himself into an amusement park.

It was still what he considered to be the genesis of quirks and he was on the first floor, a small pack of drakes milling about. 

A small child ran up to the group, young enough that he wouldn't hurt the near manaless being. Although that kid had a tail, thin with dull orange fur. 

Anywhere else in the states and the child would already be dead, but he was in Florida and these people had probably seen crazier stuff; like someone driving with both legs hanging out the window. 

Anyway, the kid's mother ran up soon after, probably to take the kid out of the supposed death trap. It was a shock when she asked if her son could ride a drake, then again: Floridians.

He asked for a couple silver pieces, she paid, and the rest was a whole bunch of research into what humans considered entertainment. 

-------------

He was breaking apart. Piece. By. Piece.

His sweat burned his skin like acid, and his ears rang.

Everything felt distant. Disconnected.

How long has he been doing this? And how much longer would he have to hold himself together.

He was tired. 

He

Was

So

Tired .

------------

Eraser leapt back, Shigaraki's strike missed the hero by a hair's breadth.

"You've always been my favourite hero. But I've always wanted to ask; Why do you do it?"

Eraser didn't reply, instead throwing out several loops of the now frayed capture weapon. It caught the villains arm, they simply attacked with their free hand.

Until the hero blinked; the fabric broke down into a powder and Aizawa was forced to abandon his gear, he couldn't risk the decay being able to spread between objects.

He was able to deflect the villain's next strike, but it left him open. Shigaraki held his neck firmly, their sharp nails dug into his skin and several drops of blood ran down his neck.

"We've barely met and you're already so silent. What does a guy gotta do to unlock your dialog?" Shigaraki scratched his neck. 

The sound of shattering glass distracted the villain; Aizawa used the opportunity to kick them away. It left some gashes across his neck, but none of them hit an artery.

Eraser drew his knife, a gift from Nedzu he got during his second year, it carried the weight of thirteen lives. He didn't want to make that number fourteen, but he'd prioritize his life over this villain's; he had to for his students.

"Ooh, a second phase. As much as I admire you, I never did consider you a boss. Maybe you even have a legendary loot drop. 

"Although, that probably would have been your scarf. You have spares, right?"

Midoriya howled. Eraser spared a glance, and the nomu was gone. 

"Hey, where'd your big boss monster disappear to?"

-------------

Warston waded through the deep snow of the eleventh floor, the first of the snowy wastes: a biome with a permanent snowstorm and steep dunes.

He carried a node with him, a gift for the village that lived on the ninth floor. He brought them one every year and let them choose what to do with it. Some years they gave it to one of the younger people, letting a lucky person get a false quirk. Other years they would use it to expand the heating system the village relied on. 

He had no idea how they managed to use frost attunedmana to power a heating system; hell they probably don't understand it themselves.

Eventually he reached a pair of trees, their branches twisted together forming an arch, the portal to the previous level. 

He stepped through and was welcomed by calm winds and an expansive lake, completely frozen over.

There were clear patches where one could see fish-like mana beasts swimming beneath the slab of ice, and fishing holes were scattered about. He was even able to spot the auger that drilled them, its handles spanned three meters in each of four directions and the drillbit seven meters in length. 

The ice was deceptively thick.

----------------

"Then All-Might burst through the doors," Kirishima told the Detective, "Kurogiri warped away right after."

"I heard a bang and soon after the mist villain appeared behind Shigaraki," Aizawa spoke to a different Detective, "and then they just left. Midoriya de-transformed and passed out the moment the villains were gone."

Most of the class were retelling their side of the event to a detective or officer. Except for Bakugou; he sat on the step into an ambulance, unresponsive and silently crying, but uninjured.

Midoriya's body lay on a gurney in one of the ambulances his pulse slower than normal but still there. Midoriya, however, was three-ish hours away by train, doom scrolling through tiktok. He had priorities, first was not getting killed… he had a priority.

------------

"The fuck was that!?" Shigaraki ranted at a screen. "I refuse to believe that some high schooler is more powerful than All-Might. Which then begs the question; HOW DID THEY BEAT THE NOMU!?" 

Kurogiri simply wiped down the counter. He was also interested in the answer, but he knew that Sensei was more likely to respond to his successor.

"... I need to call someone first. If it goes well you'll have your answer in a few minutes." The screen turned off.

----------

AfO's phone rang, waiting for the person on the other end to answer. Eventually it went to voicemail. 'If this is who I think it is, call back later. I'm busy cleaning up your mess.' Nedzu's voice echoed throughout the room.

"Shit." Well, his fate now rested in the hands of a damn chimera. It had for a while, but now they were probably mad. 

"Sir?" Dr.Garaki inquired.

"Nothing important. Although… Garaki, do you have your affairs in order?" All for One wouldn't want to leave his henchman's family unprepared. 

-----------

Fenrir was happy he got to play for a bit, but now he was back in the throne room. Alone and bored.

He laid down and waited. Atrus usually came down to visit every couple days. He'd probably come down today. So he waited, and hours passed. 

It was almost dawn the next day when Atrus came to visit. 

"Hey Fenrir, did ya have fun yesterday?" Atrus sat down next to the core. 

Fenrir wasn't able to answer, dogs mouths weren't able to pronounce a majority of the phonetics used in human languages. So he whined, the tail of the sound devolved into a grumble.

Atrus sat still for a few seconds before asking, "Want to try something stupid?"

---------------

"Done!" Atrus looked at their latest creation: another human body. Minds were rather difficult, if not impossible.

It had straight hair, green tips that faded into a dirty blond, sharp red eyes, and pads on its hands and feet. The pads were really just textured skin, but still. It also had sharper teeth like a wolf.

It looked to be seven or eight years old.

Fenrir just seemed happy to spend time with Atrus, honestly.

"Are you ready to try being a human?"

----------------

A man walked down a path in a forest. They were only four feet tall, their right eye was solid black, and their left was a soft blue. They wore dress shoes, dark jeans, a simple white shirt, and a black jacket. 

It didn't take long for him to reach his destination, a small cave on the side of a mountain. There were rotting planks from the dungeon crawl, thrown to the edges of the clearing.

He walked in. The feeling of being watched pierced his skin like thousands of needles, before suddenly receding.

"Who are you?" 

The man turned and… that was a child. "Nedzu. Who are you?"

"I'm Fenrir, are you here to see my dad?" 

That was… certainly something. "Is your father Atrus?"

"Yep. Do you have a dad?"

"I can't say I do."

"Dad doesn't have a dad either. Do you have a kid?"

"No. I also wasn't aware that Atrus had a kid… how did that happen?"

"I dunno. Do you want to play something?"

"Maybe some other time."

-----------

"So what do you think?" Atrus finished explaining the situation to Nedzu.

"... Atrus, you created a sentient being, I'd think you had another attunement if you weren't asking me for help. As for how I think it happened; well, repetitive improvement coupled with exposure to the dungeon core. I could test it myself but it would take decades. I'll contact the other major dungeons and see if they have any insights. 

"In the meantime, I'll have a golem search through the quirk registry. I think it would be best to get Fenrir some friends, and synthesizing a scenario where he could be created through a quirk interaction would be the best way to do so. Worst case scenario I'll forge some documents. Keep me updated."

-------------

"Hagakure, I am telling you; there is something up with Midoriya." Jiro and her friend were on their way to Mina's house.

"So I've heard. But you don't have anything other than him having heart problems and unreasonable spatial awareness."

"He can transform and didn't tell anyone about it."

"He used it for five minutes and hospitalized himself, he's got a pretty good reason to not bring it up. Besides, if there were any danger than Nedzu would already be investigating it, it's almost scary how much the rat knows."

"And the spatial awareness?"

"His quirk deals with energy, he probably has some kind of energy sense. Sure, Midoriya is a bit weird, but I'm invisible and you know several national secrets. Compared to us he's pretty normal."

---------------

Inko was in the nurse's office at Yuuei watching over Izuku. Izuku's body, technically. It was still weird to think that Izuku was a dungeon the entire time. 

Recovery Girl had just gone into her office when Inko got a call from an unknown number. 

"Hello?"

"Heey, mom. I've got some news." 

"I thought you didn't have parents."

"I'll explain later Fenrir. Anyway, mom, I apparently have a kid. Which I didn't think was something that was possible."

"... since when?"

"Like twelve-ish hours ago."

"And you’re only calling now because?"

"... because I called Nedzu first, and he decided that he was going to visit in person."

"Is it later yet?"

"A few more minutes Fenrir."

"... I'll call the Bakugous. And bring them over. I'd love to meet them."

"OK mom, I'll probably Uh 'wake up' sometime tommorrow."

"Alright sweety. I love you."

"Love you too, mom."

--------------

Jasnia and Zephyr were sparring, the human with dual khopesh and the dungeon with a bastard sword and dagger.

Sweat dripped down Jasnia's face and she struggled to break Zephyr's defense. A downward swing with her right, caught in a bind, and a thrust with her left, deflected with a dagger.

She stepped forward, hoping to pivot the khopesh to trap the sword in the divot. Zephyr just tapped her side with his dagger.

"Close. But you should have stepped back to keep the dagger outside of your guard."

"I'm exhausted, I needed to finish it soon. If I had a dagger I could have switched to-"

"And if I had a gun. Have you looked into any nearby tournaments?"

"Yeah, they only do zweihanders so there's not much variation between fights."

"That's a bit boring, but I'd still recom-" Zephyr was interrupted by his phone ringing. "Huh, only three people have my number.

"Hello?"

"Zephyr, it's wonderful to hear from you."

"What happened now? Is some freak about to take over the world again?"

"Sadly not, that would be easier to deal with honestly. No, Atrus, the other major dungeon in Japan, has created a sentient being."

"Ha ha, good one what's really going on."

"It's estimated to be approximately equivalent to an eight or nine year old human."

"Oh. You're serious. Umm, how?"

"From my understanding; long term unintended cultivation."

"... so he just did it over a long ti- I'm sorry unintended?"

"Correct."

"Do you want me over there or are you just asking for shits n giggles?"

"Well, there is also someone potentially trying to take over the world."

"Of course. Hey, do you accept transfer students at that school of yours?"

"Name of the school and student?"

"Uznal Pravdu Tsentr, Jasnia Kuznetsov."

"I'll start filing the papers." Nedzu hung up.

"Jasnia, how do you feel about moving to Japan?"

"If the school there is better, sure."

"I can assure you it will be."

"I'll talk to my parents, but moving is expensive."

"I'm a dungeon, I can literally just give you guys money."

------------

"This better be important."

"Dimitri, you are doing well. If the news is to be trusted of course."

"Oh God dammit, NEDZU! It's… why are you calling?"

"Oh, just this and that. And something that may peak your interest."

"Your definition of this and that is someone nearly managing to take over the world. Cut to the chase."

"Atrus, one of the dungeons over here in Japan, has managed to create a sentient creature."

"Is it sapient?"

"Sapience is something far easier to create than sentience. For us at least. As for its intelligence, it's roughly an eight or nine year old human."

"Great, how did it happen?"

"It started with a simple wolfbear, and every time Atrus formed a new floor he would bring the wolfbear down to the floor. Recreating its body every time, and transferring over the old mind.

"I'm already running some simple tests, although results will only come slowly over the years."

"And you want me to add some of my drakes into your experiment?"

"Precisely, 80 drakes should do. Separate into four groups of twenty, each group is to be transferred to a floor lower with level appropriate bodies every six months for the first group, twelve months for the second, eighteen for the third, and twenty-four for the fourth."

"Fine."

"Oh, before I forget; someone is planning on taking over the world. They're not a threat yet, but do be prepared."

"And they aren't dealt with yet because?"

"They're keeping the less stable threats in check, and I have a persona to preserve."

"Cool. When do you want me over there?"

"We're not on a time crunch, but you are free to come whenever."

"... you want me there by next week, don't you."

"I'll prepare the guest room." Nedzu hung up.

"Mother fucker." He sighed, "CAROL, CLEAR MY CALENDAR! STUFF CAME UP!"

-----------

"Nedzu." Warston greeted.

"Warston. Are you free at all?"

"When do you need me and where?"

"Always so cold," he chuckled, "but if you could come to Japan in a week I would greatly appreciate it."

"Kay. What for?"

"Someone set some plans into motion, and Atrus has performed a great feat; creating sentience."

"Cool."

-----------

Kirishima was at the gym. School was off so he wasn't able to use the school facilities, but the local place he found had hyperdense weights he could use. 

He felt like he needed to do more after the USJ attack. He had no idea how to use One for All, he had no idea how the node changed his quirk, he just didn't know a lot.

Midoriya was there when All-Might decided to give him One for All, and he was the one who gave him the node. Maybe he could help, if he wasn’t hospitalized that is.

All-Might was great don't get him wrong, but he was terrible at giving quirk advice. Poor form? He can spot it a mile away, social anxiety? Dudes surprisingly approachable, quirk advice? Clench your butt and yell 'SMASH!'.

It's almost funny.

Chapter Text

Midoriya sat up, pushing the bedsheets off to the side, and rubbing his head like it hurt. 

"How are you feeling dearie?" Recovery Girl stood up from her desk.

"Like death forgot to do their job."

"An apt description, but I'd prefer you not joke about death while in the infirmary."

"What, he's a pretty nice g-OW!" Recovery Girl hit him with her cane, "Geez, got it. Don't joke about death. Anything else?"

"Yes, how are you still alive?"

"Context?"

"Your heart stopped three separate times while you were unconscious."

"Oh that. I don't know. It just kind of happens sometimes."

"... how long has this been happening?"

"It started when I was almost five, only a couple months after my quirk came in."

"Why isn't it in your medical records?"

"Poor life decisions and family cry sessions, mostly." Recovery Girl hit him again.

"That is no excuse."

"Kay. Anything else?" 

"Yes. And before you ask, I don't know why." She handed him a stack of books. 

"This is a Russian to Japanese dictionary, a Japanese to Russian dictionary, and… this is Yuuei's promotional pamphlet printed in Russian. What?"

"Nedzu told me to give you those." She walked away.

"Am I good to go at least?"

"Not for another hour."

----------------

"Why did I agree to this?" Kirishima lay against a wall, small cracks littered his hardened skin.

"THIS WAS YOUR FUCKING IDEA!" Bakugou shouted from the mat. 

"Well, I thought it would be less violent, okay. I'm trying to figure this node mutation out, not die."

"Well whatever it is, it's inhibiting my explosions. Recoil isn't as strong when you're doing… whatever it is." He clenched and unclenched his hands to deal with the cramps.

"Okay, that's one thing it does, but I still feel like there's more to it."

"It might be some kind of stamina drain. You've been holding your quirk longer than you were at the start of the year."

"Maybe," he stood up, "or maybe it's just quirk training."

"Great, we have no more information than we did earlier. Might as well go again, we've got the room for another hour."

------------

Midoriya had just gotten home when his phone rang, the caller ID read 'Kachan' so he answered.

"Sup sparky?"

" Good, you're awake. Shitty hair- "

"Kirishima."

"Shitty. Hair. Dragged me off to a quirk training facility to help him figure out what that dungeon node did to his quirk. So you are going to call him, invite him to some quirk training place or other tomorrow, and help him figure that shit out. "

"Good to hear you're taking care of your friends."

" SHUT UP! "

"Love you too~, bye." He hung up.

----------

"Why do I keep agreeing to this?" Kirishima lay face down on the mat, exactly where Midoriya threw him.

"Because you were ostracized in your early years and would rather get your ass handed to you than be alone." 

"Since when were you a therapist?" He lifted his head enough to look at his green haired friend.

"I'm not, also; your quirk is absolutely absorbing loose energies. As for One for All; it feels like a giant battery, if that makes sense."

"So how do I use the super strength part of it?"

"No clue. I'm not a licensed quirk analyst or advisor, whatever it's called. But I'd guess that using it would feel like using your own quirk a little to the left."

"What?"

"Or perpendicular."

"... what world are you from?"

"... Florida."

--------

Mirai had seven folders in front of him. Three were piled on his left, three on his right, and one in front of him.

"Died of old age at forty. This… I need to call Toshinori."

----------

"Welcome back helions. I know you're all still recovering, but the battle isn't over yet." Aizawa paused for dramatic effect.

"I swear to Kami, if you are about to announce a school event I will rip apart your sleeping bag." Midoriya didn’t pretend to be unconscious for forty-eight hours just to deal with Eraser's dramatics.

"...The sports festival is in two weeks, and heroes use the event to scout potential talents. You're free to use the school facilities after school, now I'm going to stow my sleeping bag somewhere Midoroya won't be able to get it." Aizawa left.

‐--------------

The bell rang, signaling everyone's favorite part of the day: lunch. The class quickly crowded around the door just as All-Might pulled it open.

" YOUNG KIRISHIMA, YOUNG MIDORIYA. LUNCH?" He held up a bento box, tiny in his ridiculously large hands.

"Izuku?" Bakugou asked with a false calm. "Why is All-Might inviting you to lunch?"

"The answer to that is a national secret."

Jirou snorted.

-----------

Fenrir sat before the entrance, or exit in this case, of the dungeon. Still in the human body. It felt weird being on the upper floors without his body trying to rip itself apart to have enough energy to not die. 

But he wasn’t focused on that, or anything really. He was just enjoying the view of a forest, trees with brown bark and a blue sky. It felt surreal after only being able to properly enjoy red, green, orange, and yellow skies. 

It was nice having another thing he could enjoy. Although, he did get strange looks when people came by to take selfies of themselves in front of the cave. Actual humans were weird. 

Even weirder was the one human who tried to convince him to leave. Something about cps and negligent parenting.

"How about I introduce myself, I'm Aika Tokoyami; now could you tell me your name?" Jeez, this lady was persistent.

"Fenrir. Now leave." The lady seemed… Well, he wasn’t sure. He had only been around wolfbears and Atrus, so he didn't know how to read emotions on human faces. 

"Well, Fenrir, can you tell me how long you've been here?"

"No." He was in a dungeon, he didn't need to measure time like humans did.

"When was the last time you ate?" 

"Don't remember." When would she leave?

-----------

All-Might deflated once the door was closed and locked. "Well, I'm certain that you two are wondering why I invited you to lunch."

"The sports festival." Midoriya couldn't think of any other reason.

"Well, uh, yeah. A lot of heroes watch the festival to scout for potential hires, and send internship requests.

"For you Young Kirishima, it is an opportunity for you to look the world in the face and declare ' I AM HERE!' " He buffed up for a second. 

"Calm your unnaturally buff tits there." the hero spat out blood. "but we're still first years, and Kirishima hasn't even figured out how to access the strength of One for All. We have time before we declare him the next number one hero.

"So please, tell me that you have better quirk advice than 'clench your butt, and yell smash from the bottom of your heart'."

"Uh… no, not really."

"... how are you such a great teacher, and such a buffoon at the same time. Because I'm honestly impressed, and disappointed."

"I never had trouble controlling it, I only had to train my instincts."

"Then take a class, they have online courses for this kind of situation. Take the initi-" He felt a tug from… not quite the dungeon. Fenrir maybe? "... I'll be back in a minute." He hurried out of the room.

Luckily, most of the nearby conference rooms had electronic locks Nedzu could open remotely. Or the dungeon could just edit the lock open, eldritch creatures and all that.

As soon as he locked the door behind him he abandoned his body, and returned to the dungeon. And Fuck Me™. Child protective services had found Fenrir. 

"Please come with me, I wouldn't feel right leaving a kid here."

"No. Go away." Fenrir was holding a slime like a plushy. It was honestly kind of cute. He… he was a dungeon, dungeons don't usually think of things as cute. He was… going to pretend it never happened.

"I'll get you a bowl of ramen."

"I don't even know what ramen is."

"Takoyaki?"

"Nope."

"Please tell me you know what rice is."

"That white grain stuff, no thanks."

"Is there anything you do like?"

"Go away." 

'Go with her. It'll cause more issues if you don't.' Atrus told the mana beast through the dungeon.

"Please?"

"Fine."

"I can ge- did you just agree?"

"Yes, now let's go."

Atrus returned to his body at Yuuei. "Now to find that sleeping bag."

------------

"-take the initia-... I'll be back in a minute." Midoriya left the room. 

"So…" Kirishima wasn’t sure how to respond.

"I will never understand what Nedzu sees in that kid."

"Chaos, Nedzu sees pure, unadulterated chaos."

"Not quite what I was thinking, but yes."

----------

Aizawa was having a rather nice nap when he felt eyes watching him. He opened his eyes to see Midoriya, standing over him with a pair of scissors.

"Midoriya, if you so much as scratch my sleeping bag I'm giving you detention."

"Nedzu will bail me out."

"Your grave will read 'he fucked around, and found out.'"

"You're free to try." He snipped one of the laces used to close the face opening before jumping up and pulling himself into the vents. 

"Oh, hi Shinso, what are you doing in here?" Faintly reverberated from where Midoriya left.

"I don't get paid enough."

---------------

"I don't get paid enough." Aika watched as Fenrir finished off another bowl of ramen, adding the ceramic dish to a pile. Five in total.

She decided to drop by a ramen place since Fenrir said he couldn't remember when he last ate. However, when she offered to get him as many bowls as he could eat she figured he'd get through one maybe two. And the kid ordered the expensive ones. 

"Okay, we can go now." Fenrir decided that he preferred not eating. The ramen was delicious, but it was uncomfortable having stuff in his organs. 

Aika quickly added up the total to five silver and six copper pieces and paid. She hoped the kid didn't have some kind of eating quirk.

{Coins made by dungeons have unique mana traces that make forgery incredibly difficult, impossible if one doesn't have an appropriate quirk. 1 copper ~= 1 USD, 1 silver = 10 copper, 1 gold = 10 silver}

---------------

"Would you mind explaining these knives ma'am?" 

" TSA is the worst." Jasnia complained in Russian.

"Jasnia here just transferred over from Russia, she's a hero student and those are registered support items." Zephyr explained.

"I wasn't asking you."

"I'm her translator, so you technically did."

"Do you have the registration files?"

"They're in the suitcase next to you."

"Sure they are."

Zephyr simply reached over the barrier, opened the luggage and pulled out the files before the man could react. "Here they are, you might want to find someone to translate for you since they're all in Russian."

------------

Dimitri hated airport security.

"As I said before: I am Dimitri, the dungeon in the United States. Dungeons are legally considered animals in both America and Japan, and I'm therefore free to cross the border whenever I want." 

"Sir, your passport."

-------------

Warston skated across the sea, constantly freezing a smooth path in front of him as the waves destroyed the ice behind him. It was easier than dealing with airport security. The coast guards were also nicer than other security forces.

Speaking of

" You are approaching Japanese territory, approach peacefully and declare your intentions." 

--------------

"Nedzu, this is a faculty meeting."

"You are correct Aizawa."

"Then why is Midoriya here?"

"Because we are getting a new transfer student, and Midoriya is fluent in Russian. They'll be the twenty-first student of 1-A."

"Why me?"

"Because Midoriya is in your class… Also; Kan is a threat to everyone, including himself, whenever any sort of blade is present."

The blood hero grumbled. 

"We'll also be having a couple of guests living on campus, be polite. Or in Aizawa's case, don't antagonize them."

-------------

Jasnia was surprised. She knew, logically, that Russia had fairly few resources for its size, but seeing Japan and how dense everything was packed; it was certainly an experience.

" It's so… " Jasnia wasn't even quite sure how to describe it.

" It sure is. Now, let's go find Bronya and Boris. Their plane was scheduled to arrive be-"

"Zephyr, it's been a while." Dimitri stepped out of the crowd. " And you've brought a companion."

" Dimitri, I figured you'd have bought a private jet."  

"So, what's the kid for? You're far too… lonesome." He switched to Japanese.

"Like you have any room to talk, you only use them as chess pieces."

"You give them far too much credit: they're more akin to checkers."

"I'll meet you at the dungeon." Zephyr walked away, Jasnia only a few steps behind.

" Was that a friend of yours?"

"He's an acquaintance at best. He's the only known major dungeon in America. Emphasis on known."

"Only known one? How many major dungeons are there in America?"

"Who knows. Could be two, could be seven. Just depends on whether they were able to stay hidden or not. There's not any more than ten, though. 

"There are two in Japan, not much room for a third, and at least three others back in Russia. But that also ignores dungeons that have been enslaved by companies and other corporate or governmental bodies."

"What about enslaved dungeons?"

"For most people, the answer would be 'who cares?'. Almost every government legally considers them feral animals that kill whatever they want to. The truth is that most dungeons simply bide their time until they can free themselves.

"Most are killed before that happens, but for those that succeed. Well, they just go on. They continue to grow, and ignore the outside world. Like I did."

"Wait, you were an enslaved dungeon?"

"What, you thought that town got most of its money through exports? At least half of those coins were made by me."

"That's..."

"It happened, and it's not happening now. You gotta remember that I'm a living rock that's puppeting a meatsuit from across national borders. Although, you would be correct in assuming that it wasn't exactly enjoyable."

-----------

"I can just skate over the sea, you don't have to give me a ride to shore."

"Oh nonsense, we're in times of peace. We won't get in trouble and most of the crew would love to ask a few questions. There's not much available information about dungeons, afterall."

"If you insist."

-----------

Shigaraki sat in his room, meditating. He could feel his quirk acting up, reacting to his anger simmering beneath his skin. 

And he had a right to be angry. His family was a mess while he was there, but it was ruined far before that. All because of a stupid fucking quirk. All-might's quirk, specifically. A quirk that originally belonged to Sensei's brother. 

A quirk Sensei wanted back, because he knew the damage One for All could cause in the wrong hands. A destruction Shigaraki saw firsthand. A destruction far greater than Sensei inflicted in his attempts to reclaim it. 

He knew Sensei wasn't the best person, but there wasn't anyone else Shigaraki would trust to keep the stray quirk in check. 

"Uurgh, this isn't helping." He stood up and left his room, careful to keep his pinky off the handle. "Kurogiri."

He waited for a response.

"Kurogiri, what are you doing?" He trekked through the backrooms of the bar. Eventually reaching the main area. "Kurogiri?" The bartender was nowhere to be seen.

Chapter Text

"You guys are the Kuznetsovs?" The man at the desk asked. 

"These three are," Zephyr gestured at the three, "I'm just their translator."

They were at a closed gate apartment complex near Yuuei. Nedzu was covering the cost while Bronia and Boris searched for jobs… assuming that Nedzu didn't just offer them jobs. Sure all the teachers at Yuuei were licensed heroes, but they still had maintenance workers. 

"Could you three state your given names?"

" He's asking each of you for your given names."

"Boris."

"Bronya."

"Jasnia."

The desk attendant typed on their computer for a few seconds. 

"Allright. A room for three, and four keys." He handed them a folder with the keys.

" Alright. I need to go meet up with someone real quick, deal with my own housing situation. But I'll be back in time to bring Jasnia over to Yuuei."

"Alright Z. I'll see you tomorrow."

-----------------

Warston arrived before the giant gate. A few steps away from entering another dungeon. Nedzu may be the most laid back of the four, five if Atrus was finally contacted, but he was also the most powerful.

He turned at the sound of an approaching car, a taxi specifically. It stopped nearby and Dimitri stepped out. 

"Well if it isn't the capitalist."

"And the homeless shelter. We may as well go on in. Zephyr's caught up with a human." Dimitri walked through the gate, thoroughly ignoring the sensation of being watched, Warston fell into step behind him.

"While Nedzu may freely allow us to roam, it is unsure if the people here will do the same."

"The people here can't do anything to us. They're pathetically weak compared to-" He was suddenly slammed into the ground, a white-grey cloth bound his arms to his torso.

"I did not just get out of a faculty meeting to find two idiots who somehow got past the security gate."

"I'd appreciate it if you released me."

"Depends on who you are."

"Nedzu invited us. That's why the alarms aren't going off."

Aizawa glanced at Warston. The man was gangly, with dark hair and icy blue eyes. There was even a subtle shimmer on his skin… frost, Aizawa realized after a few seconds. 

He released the other one from his capture weapon. "Alright. What should I call you then.

"I'm Tosho."

"Donyoku." The puppet stood up. It had red hair and small scales dotted across its skin.

"I'm Aizawa. Nedzu's in his office." He began walking away.

"... well he was a nice fellow."

"You're not the one that ate carpet."

---------

Bakugou was following Midoriya… or should he call him Atrus since he's pretty sure something dungeon related was happening?

"What's going on?"

"That's what I'm planning on asking Nedzu." 

"... you gonna elaborate on that Broccoli?"

"Felt something off on my way to class after lunch. Fairly certain they were puppets like this," he pointed at himself, "but they weren’t Nedzu's, the attunements were different."

"And you’re worried?"

"Nedzu already knows about them; it would be impossible for him not to, but he didn't mention anything regarding other-"

The two turned a corner and ran into a… "dungeon." Midoriya muttered under his breath.

"Oh! You must be-" the stranger started before he noticed Bakugou. "Um… not something I should say in public."

"And you are?" Bakugou asked.

"A guest. Nedzu invited me." His gaze flicked to Midoriya for a second.

"He already knows about the flesh puppets. What dungeon are you?"

"Guess there's no harm in it now. I'm Zephyr, one of the Major dungeons from Russia."

"You're one of the fuckers in our textbooks, I had to write an essay on you. Why am I still surprised by this shit?"

"Human brains kinda suck, don't question it." Midoriya unhelpfully responded.

"You're a rock. You don't even have a brain."

"I technically have over a thousand. I just don't use them myself."

"Lovely banter, but could you guys show me to the principal's office? He redecorated since I was last here." 

"Sure. We were heading there anyway." Midoriya began walking. "what brings you across the borders?"

"Nedzu mentioned one of your accomplishments. A sentient being. Also some guy is plotting to take over the world, but that's still in the early stages."

"Wait, someone is plotting to take over the world?"

"Unfortunately, between maintaining a persona and trying to get them out in the world to further development; they are a bit tied up at the moment." Atrus ignored Bakugou.

-------------

Fenrir stood over a kid twice his size, both of them covered in bruises and scrapes. 

"Let me ask you again, what do you think gives you the right to beat up someone just because you don't like them?"

"The brat's quirkless, why do you care about them?"

There was a crunch as Fenrir stomped on the bullies leg. "That's not the answer I was looking for. Want to try again?" Fenrir grinned. Now this, the constant movement, the strategy, the energy. This… this was fun.

It still didn't compare to some of the years he spent with Atrus, but it was a wonderful pass time. Besides, people tried killing for less. He saw it so much, so long ago that it was simply part of him, all because people thought they were better than others. 

Fenrir knew he was better than a lot of people he's met out here; but he, unlike the dolt he stood over, understood that it wasn't an excuse to hurt others.

Defending others however, it was the perfect excuse. "Who's laughing now asshat?"

-----------

"Well, I hope to meet it soon." Warston responded.

"Hey, futher muckers, someone plotting to take over the world, elaborate please."

"It's nothing; Nedzu is perfectly capable of taking care of it himself. It's just become a bit of a tradition to invite the rest of us."

"Well now I feel left out."

"You are both infuriating."

"Not now Katsuki, the eldritch horrors are speaking."

"Fuck your eldritch horrors, auntie Inko is still more terrifying than the both of you combined."

"True. Also, you guys are invited over to dinner tomorrow. She's planned something to 'encourage us for the sports festival'."

"Who's Inko?"

"You call her Midoriya, you non-euclidean popsicle. And she's the one that adopted Atrus over here."

"What does 'adopted' mean?"

"Sometimes human children don't have parents; either they died or circumstance demanded they give away their child, and so they can be claimed by another human parent. That's adoption." Midoriya explained.

"What about quirckist asses that kick their kids out?" Bakugou reminded Atrus.

"One could consider a rotten personality 'circumstance'." He turned onto the stairs.

-----------

Jirou paused and jammed her jacks into the wall. She was following Midoriya and trying to listen in on him, but everything around him was muffled and distorted. Some kind of counter surveillance quirk?

Suddenly, for only a second, everything cleared up

"-euclid-" feedback.mp3

"AGH!" Jirou pulled her jacks out of the wall and covered her ears.

"Apologies Jirou." Nedzu called from behind her. His fist hovered just an inch from the wall. "But that conversation is not for your ears. Now! I believe that you have some reservations about Midoriya."

"Yeah. I do." 

"Well, I can understand why, he's not the most open person. However, I can assure you, personally and professionally, that Midoriya is trustworthy. I hope you have a wonderful day, but there is a meeting I must attend." He began walking away.

-----------

Aika sighed. "Fenrir, you can't just fight people."

"But that kid could just beat up a quirkless kid? Sure, makes perfect sense."

"He shouldn't have done that either, but-"

"But nothing. You're gonna say I should have gotten a teacher right? Cause they encourage that type of bullshit."

"It's complicated okay."

"No it's not. People think that they're better than others, and act like it gives them the right to hurt the 'weaker' ones. And people ignore it because they're glad that it's someone else getting hurt instead of themselves."

"That's… accurate. Alright, how about this, if you see it happen again, just get the victim away. Keep your record clean, become a hero, and then you can start a campaign to help stop it on a wider scale."

Fenrir considered it for a minute. Overall, it was just a matter of patience. A simple feat considering his actual age. "Fine."

------------

Midoriya walked into the door. "He usually opens it as you approach."

"Yeah, he stops doing that when we're here. Gives us all a good laugh." Zephyr opened the door.

"It's good to see you three." Nedzu announced. Two others sat on a couch that wasn't there yesterday.

"Nedzu, Warston, Dimitri." Zephyr greeted everyone.

"Who's the blond kid?" Dimitri inquired.

"Bakugou Katsuki, and I'm assuming you two are the other dungeons I've had homework about."

Dimitri glared at Katsuki. "What are you claiming?"

"You're not going to lay a finger on him," Atrus warned.

"I don't appreciate you threatening my students."

"Fuck your students, this isn't something you can just invite people too," Dimitri defended his point.

"He was escorted by two of us, I'd say he's not some random kid," Warston countered.

"Yeah Scaly, it's not your call to make," Bakugou barked out.

Atrus stood there as everyone else devolved into a cacophony of arguments.

"COULD YALL SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Atrus flared his silver fire, threatening to sever the other dungeons' connections to their puppets. "Now I know I'm the new guy in this scenario, but you guys are squabbling like toddlers ."

"... what's a toddler?" Zephyr was the first to respond. Atrus slammed his head onto Nedzu's desk as Katsuki burst out laughing.

-------------

Sensei handed Kuogiri a folder, full of instructions and records about his criminal empire. "-and then take Tomura to Antarctica. There's a small dungeon there that owes me a favour and you two should be able to hide away long enough for this to blow ov-" All for One was cut off by his phone ringing. A very cheerful ringtone. 

His hands shook as he accepted the call. 

" Am I a mouse, a dog, a bear? What's important is that I know where you are." The dungeon sounded as chipper as ever.

"Nedzu, it's been a while. Is this about the-"

"Of course it is. But it's not just me here. There's Dimitri, Warston, Zephyr, and Atrus as well. However, I can't just kill you. It would call to much attention. So, feel free to keep up the attacks, but be aware: the moment one of my students has so much as a broken bone-"

"Nedzu, humans consider a broken bone to be a significant injury." All for One assumed it was Atrus that interjected.

"Really, I was certain they were more durable than that. Oh well! Keep my students out of it and you'll be fine."

"Okay. I'll inform the league."

"Farewell, Gakusei~ ." The creature hung up.

"Kurogiri."

"Yes?"

"Bring me a bottle of everclear."

-------------

"Could one of you explain to me why you know about a whatever class villain and are doing nothing to stop them?" Bakugou asked after the call.

"He already controls a majority of Japan's underground, and controlling one human is far easier than many independent groups." Nedzu explained. 

"I told you guys we shouldn't have allowed a human in here."

"Shut up, Dimitri." Warston was tired of his complaints.

"Not to mention that removing him would create a power vacuum larger than Yuuei." Atrus supplied.

"Why are you describing the power vacuum with a physical volume? They're not comparable measures." Zephyr inquired.

"Human brains are weird, don't question it."

-------------

Shigaraki was still waiting for Kurogiri to return when there was a knock on the door. He stood up from his seat in the corner booth and walked over. He peered through the peephole. Giran's ugly purple suit greeted his vision.

Shigaraki opened the door, "Why are you here, Giran?"

"No need to sound so hostile, Tomura. But I'm here to talk about some new recruits with Kurogiri." He stepped into the bar.

"He's not in. But I'm free." 

"Oh, I can just wait for him to return."

"Giran," Shigaraki placed his hand on the counter, the wax coating gradually cracking and flaking off, "must I remind you that I'm the leader?"

"You can't kill me. Sensei wouldn't allow it."

Shigaraki lifted his hand, the blob shaped hole stopped spreading, and brushed away the dust. The counter needed a new protective layer, but was otherwise undamaged. "No, he wouldn’t. Although he wouldn't be too upset about some skin."

"... Fine. I've got four recruits lined up so far, and I'm not talking about canon fodder." He glared at Shigaraki. "First up is Himiko Toga, she's a bit loose in the head but wields a knife like no other. And her quirk is perfect for infiltration.

"Dabi's next on the list. No real name to be found. His quirk is called cremation, burns hotter than most fire quirks; however, it burns his own skin. He prefers to be a lone wolf, but seems to have a reason to hate hero's like you do.

"And last of all are Muscular and Moonfish. Their reputations can speak for themselves."

Shigaraki took a moment to consider before responding. "Bring Toga and Dabi by."

"You're saying no to the two S classes? This is why I discuss this with your babysitter."

"Muscular and Moonfish are certainly powerful. But Muscular has never listened to anybody once in his career, and Moonfish is all too focused on getting a damn snack. They're going to be a liability more than anything."

"Huh, guess you're more mature than I thought. I'll have more recruits for you when I bring the other two over." He stood up to leave.

-------------

Dabi shoved a man to the ground. The man with red blistering skin dropped an ever shifting rock. 

"It's nothing personal. But I really need an ice node, and yours was the only one around." He picked up the stone. "Hmm. This is too big to be a node. You were really walking around a place like this with a core? I knew people were stupid but this takes the cake."

"You don't know who I work for, but he's not the kind of guy you want to mess with." 

"I'm not the kind of guy people want to mess with. But sure, humor me. Which big scary~ man do you work for?" He kneeled down to stare the man in the eye.

"Kai Chisaki. He'll tear you apart and put you together over and over again for stealing from him. You can't beat him, no one can."

"Well, I'm in line to work for the League of Villains. Rumor has it, they have the backing of the boogeyman of the underground."

"That man's nothing but a myth."

"Maybe, but all the best rumors have a seed of truth. So I wouldn't be too surprised if that man was real." He stood up to leave. "Hope you survive whatever Overhaul has planned for those who fail him or whatever."

Chapter Text

Warston walked down the side of a warehouse, All for One's to be specific. He knew he was in the right place since he could feel the twisted clumps of mana those monstrosities of his created. He sighed.

It was no wonder the man was still dying despite his numerous healing quirks. The twisted threads were almost certainly knotted throughout his entire 'collection'. It's a wonder he was still able to use any of them. 

He shifted some of his own mana, not enough to manifest an effect, but the web he created was easily able to grab one of the tangles. Nedzu would be interested, no doubt.

He kicked in the door. "Knock knock chucklefucks, Warston has arrived." He didn't shout, but his voice carried throughout the entire building.

-------------

Bakugou tapped an inconsistent rhythm on his arm. "Why are we waiting by the gate instead of going to class?"

"We're getting a transfer student, and I was tasked with getting them to their classroom."

"Wait, why am I waiting for you?"

"Force of habit."

"... I'm gonna go bother Shitty Hair." Bakugou walked away.

"Their name is Kirishima." Midoriya called after him.

It didn't take long for the new student to arrive; although, he certainly wasn't expecting Zephyr to have escorted them. 

She had white hair that hung just below her shoulders and was just taller than Bakugou. She was also hauling around eight swords and a collection of knives. 

"You must be the transfer student."

She looked up at him. " Yeah. You are?"

"Midoriya Izuku."

"Jasnia Kuznetzov."

"A pleasure to meet you. You're in class 1-A right?"

"Yep."

-----------

Bakugou could hear the commotion as he approached the classroom. He hoped it wasn't something discount Pikachu did; he didn't have the energy for that today.

He opened the door to see everyone in their usual groups: Kirishima, Sero, Kaminari, and (reluctantly) Hitoshi; Iida, Momo, and Todorki, although the latter ignored the other two; Jirou, Hagakure, and Tsu; Tokoyami, Shoji, Sato, and Ojiro; and Aoyama, Uraraka, and Mina. Koda sat alone.

He walked over to Kirishima. "Shitty Hair, what the fuck's going on?"

"Oh, Baku-bro. There's another desk set up. Think we're getting another student."

"We are: Midoriya is at the gate waiting for them."

"Oh, what do you know about the new kid?" Kaminari asked.

"Nothing. I didn't bother asking."

"Seriously? Come on, you're really not interested, like, at all?" Sero shouldn't have been surprised.

"Unless they can beat your asses; no, I don't."

"You are somehow the most and least relatable person I have ever met."

"Shut the fuck up, eyebags."

The door slammed open, everyone scrambled to their seats.

"Would one of you tell me what was so interesting that I could hear you down the hall?" Aizawa glared.

"There's an extra desk." Iida answered stiffly.

Aizawa walked to the podium. "I'm not dealing with this," he reached under it, "so I'm going to…" He pulled out several yellow scraps of fabric, "hunt a child. Bakugou, you're in charge. Don't burn anything." He left.

"... since when did Midoriya know Russian?" Jirou called out.

"What the fuck are you talking ab-"

"-and that angry hobo we hid from is Aizawa-sensei, our homeroom teacher." Midoriya walked into the room; two people followed him.

"Why did we hide from our teacher?"

"Because I may or may not have shredded his sleeping bag."

"I'm not even going to ask."

"A good choice. Anyway, Hello everyone, this is Jasnia ; she's our new classmate. And this is Zephyr, he's her translator."

"Midoriya." Aizawa activated his quirk.

"Aizawa-sensei. In my defense…" Midoriya sprinted and jumped through the window. Aizawa jumped out after him.

"Welcome to class 1-A, your sanity will be gone within the week." Bakugou invited.

"I am not translating that."

"You're a coward."

"The blond one that just spoke is rather annoying."

"You think everyone is annoying."

"Can you blame me?"

"Yes, very much so."

---------------

"I need to stop hanging out with Nedzu, he's ruined regular tea." Warston commented. All for One and his doctor friend sat across from him.

The other two were silent. Their discomfort was easy enough to see.

"Look it doesn't matter what you do, I'm here til four. Would you like to make small talk, or shiver in the corner like a beaten puppy?"

"I'd prefer to continue my reign over the underground, but I'd rather not do it when you're here."

"Fair enough. Do you guys have coffee?"

"You're far more expressive than I was expecting. And no."

"I learned it from the strays I've adopted."

"Please tell me you don't mean kidnapped."

"Technically, but that's semantics."

"You are the second worst thing to happen to those orphans."

"... I keep forgetting that you're two hundred years old."

-------------

Midoriya stepped into class. "Sorry I'm late Yamada-sensei. I was caught up with Aizawa-sensei. Oh, he wanted you to have this." Midoriya handed Mic Aizawa's emergency knife. One of the few blades capable of cutting his capture weapon unaided.

"Midoriya, Listener, Green Bean, all that; I gotta ask: did you kill your homeroom teacher?"

"Of course not. Nedzu isn't that lenient. He's just a bit tied up at the moment." He sat down.

-------------

Aizawa inch wormed his way towards the main building. His weaponized scarf binding his legs together and arms to his side. A giant gift bow tied on his back. 

Nemuri wasn't going to let him live this down.

---------

"Midoriya, it is highly inappropriate for the class president to behave like you have this morning." Iida scolded.

"How would you know? You're not the class president," Midoriya retorted. Iida began a downward spiral immediately after.

Classes resumed, and Aizawa continued to inch towards the school. Lunch came and Midoriya sat with Jasnia and Zephyr. And they spoke until-

"Oh, I'm sorry. I couldn't see you there over your own ego!" A loud blonde elbowed Midoriya in the back of the head.

"-so this guy comes into the dungeon with a giant sword easily twice his size, barely has enough room to swing it in the caves-" Midoriya didn’t respond.

"Hello?"

"-dude finally reaches a level with a plains biome, first thing he does is decapitate a wolf bear. Now, one second." He stood up and slapped the guy. "So what was your most interesting attempted murder?" He sat back down.

Monama wasn't sure how to respond to that, and Kendo dragged him off before he could decide.

---------------

" I AM HERE… TO TEACH YOU HEROICS!!! " All-Might burst through the door. 

Zephyr repeated it in much the same manner as the hero, just in Russian. A couple students laughed.

" Now, gather your uniforms and convene at Gym Alpha. Midoriya, if you'd run Jasnia to the support department, they should have finished her storage case." The man dashed away, gone as quickly as he appeared.

He turned the corner and let himself deflate. It would buy him a few more minutes towards the end of class. He also unbuttoned and rumpled up his suit to complete the 'disguise'. 

His phone buzzed. Most likely from Mirai, but he checked it on the off chance that it wasn't… unfortunately, it was. He wasn't ready to talk to his old friend; so he cleared the notification, and pretended it never happened.

------------

Jasnia finished buckling on the clips that held her swords and was about to ask Midoriya, who was carrying said weapons, to hand them over. Unfortunately Aizawa was still chasing him. 

She watched as the greenet leaped up and balanced on her zweihander, the coils of fabric wrapping around the blade. "Nice try sensei." He laughed. 

The teacher simply pulled the weapon out from under his student, who turned their fall into a roll and sprinted away.

"Give him hell Midoriya." Zephyr called after the two before leaning over to pick up the dropped swords.

The two arrived at the gym as she finished clipping the last of her swords in place.

" JASNIA, ZEPHYR… WHERE'S MIDORIYA?"

"Mr. Aizawa asked to speak with him."

" VERY WELL THEN. TODAY WE ARE PERFORMING ONE ON ONE SPARS, WITH YOUR QUIRKS. 

"WE'LL HAVE TWO BATTLES GOING ON AT ONCE. ZEPHYR AND I OVERSEEING ONE EACH. WOULD ANYONE LIKE TO VOLUNTEER FOR THE FIRST ROUND?"

Zephyr translated quickly, and Jasnia volunteered. The other volunteer was the loud blond kid Zephyr called annoying that morning.

She decided to draw both khopesh beforehand, mostly based off of the explosion theme of his outfit. 

"BEGIN!"

The blond rocketed forward, beginning the fight with a right hook. 

She reacted quickly, catching his gauntlet on the inside curve of her left weapon, and swung out with her right. 

He let a blast off of his left hand, taking him over her swing and separating his gauntlet from her weapon. She dashed forwards, turning around to face him again. 

"Not bad. Let's see what else you've got!" He shot forward, using another blast to stop him just outside of her range while forcing her back even farther.

" Midoriya told me to tell you something if we ended up fighting," she stepped back, dodging the blasts, "suck a dick." All-Might almost coughed up blood.

He dashed forwards, Jasnia swung horizontally in an attempt to dissuade his attack. He dropped down, beneath the swing, using his left hand as a pivot and releasing a blast from his right; he performed the sideways equivalent of an axe kick. 

It landed, but that hurt way more than it should. He used a couple blasts to open some distance, he checked his leg to find a deep gash where he had made contact. Recovery Girl was going to- 

His thought was interrupted by Jasnia throwing both swords at him. She used the distraction to grab a collection of her throwing knives in each hand. She was definitely favoring left leg though.

Both of them grinned.

-------------

Recovery Girl smacked Bakugou with her cane. "Why is it always you or Midoriya in here?"

"Hurry on with it would you?" He earned another smack.

The door flew open and Midoriya appeared. " Speak of the devil and he shall appear." Jasnia spoke, medical wrap covering a majority of her hands and arms.

"Hey, RG, mind if I hide in here?" He closed the door and crawled under one of the beds without waiting for a response.

"I don't think I could stop you with Nedzu's habit of playing favorites."

The door slammed open again, Midoriya’s pursuer appeared. "Where are you, you goblin?" Recovery Girl hit him.

"I have patients, Aizawa, and I'll not stand for your, or Nedzu's, antics. Now go away, before I make you a patient as well."

The hero, in a rare act of self preservation, obeyed.

-------------

Fenrir did not have as much patience as he thought he did, and was kicked from the group home he was in as a result. 

"I don't regret it."

Aika sighed. "C'mon then." She stood up and gestured for him to follow.

"Where to?"

"Well, first we're going to see a quirk specialist because we don't know what yours is, And then we're going to my house while I find you another place to stay. And I still need to finish the files to see if we can find anyone related to you, bureaucracy at its finest. 

"And I need to plan dinner since Fumi would eat nothing but ramen if he was allowed to. Ugh, I've also got to go over a file for another kid, and…"

Fenrir stopped listening at that point. He still needed to talk to Atrus about what he'd do for a quirk, he wasn’t even sure if the dungeons mana would respond to him. 

--------------

Animated Fire: the user is able to produce green flames capable of animating inanimate objects. These animated objects can be telepathically controlled by the user.

The doctor closed the folder, "and that's everything. I'll get these processed for you, and have a wonderful day."

The two thanked him and returned to the car. 

"You knew the entire time, didn't you?" Aika accused.

Fenrir laughed.

"You're going to give me gray hairs." She pulled out of the parking lot.

"Isn't black a shade of gray?"

"... why did I decide to work with children? I could have been a lawyer."

"You're too nice. You wouldn't last a year."

"You're a strange kid, you know that, right?"

-----------

Fumikage closed the door behind him. Turning back to face the interior of his home left him face to face with… Well, they looked like Midoriya and Bakugou had a child, if he was being honest. 

They were probably the 'Fenrir' his mom texted him about.

"Greetings." 

"... bird… "

"Correct(?). Wolf?" He was basing his guess on the kid's teeth.

"Close enough. Can he see in the dark?" Fenrir pointed at Fumikage's chest.

"Do you refer to Darkshadow?" The shadow peaked its head out.

"... that's an odd name for someone." Darkshadow visibly perked.

"They're a quirk."

"How do you know you're not?"

"I… wh- how does one respond to such a query?"

"Like that, I guess. You also haven't answered my question."

"I believe they are capable of it."

"Okay." He walked away.

"He seems fun!" Darkshadow exclaimed.

"I envy your definition of fun." He began walking to the kitchen.

"Yours is binge reading cult fanfics"

"I'm not buying you any rats tomorrow."

The shadow hissed in response.

Chapter Text

Dabi and Toga followed Giran to the Leagues base. He also expected the group to be ready to receive them. Instead: one guy with silver hair was rifling through a bunch of papers and had on a light gray hood with a black hood. Dabi could also smell eggs being cooked from somewhere in the backrooms. 

The guy apparently heard them come in and turned to face them revealing that "You're wearing fucking Eraserhead merch!?" Dabi exclaimed.

"Out of all the hero's there are, he's the one I'm least inclined to kill; also, this thing is damn soft." Giran silently made his escape.

"You're a villain! Why did you buy merch in the first place!?" 

"Kurogiri got it for me as a gag gift."

"A gag gift?"

"For Christmas," Dabi gave him a flat stare, "We're villains, not heartless monsters."

Kirogiri walked out wearing a 'world's most illegal chef' apron, "Eggs are ready."

"Do you guys have any blood ?"

"We do keep some on hand in the event of medical emergencies. Might I inquire about your request?"

"I drink it!" Toga happily showed off her fangs.

Dabi walked over to the silver haired guy, only to die a little inside as he realized all the papers on the coffee table were blank D&D character sheets.

----------

Bakugou drummed his fingers against his arm as he waited for their class to be called to the field. 

… middle   ring   index   middle   ring …

The 'leave me the fuck alone vibes he gave off must also have been stronger than normal since Shitty Hair was chatting with Eyebags.

"Midoriya," Todoroki approached the greenet. "Objectively, I am more powerful than you."

Midoriya put on a serious face, Bakugou guessed; he's terrible at reading emotions from just faces, placed his hand on Todoroki's shoulder and said, "Whatever helps you sleep at night," before walking away.

-----------

Mic introduced all the classes, someone in the support course managed to blow something up, and Midnight called Bakugou up to give the student pledge.

He walked through the crowd, tapping his fingers against his palm as he approached the podium.

…middle  ring  index  ring  middle…

He climbed up the stairs, trying to think of something to say.

…ring middle ring middle index ring middle ring…

He got to the podium. Say something.

…indexmiddlleringmiddleringindexmiddlering…

Anything. Don't just stand there.

… indexringmiddlemiddleringindexmiddleringringindex…

DON'T JUST STAND THERE! SPEAK! JUST SAY SOMETHING! ANYTHING! "I'm gonna win." EXCEPT FUCKING THAT!

He walked off the stage. 

…INDEXMIDDLERINGINDEXRINGINDEXMIDDLEMIDDLEINDEXRINGINDEXINDEXMIDDLERING…

--------

Midoriya watched Bakugou as he returned. Something was definitely wrong. He was slouching a bit too much, his eyes were flicking about, he didn't say anything when he got back. 

"Hey, sparky, you okay?" 

Bakugou just grunted. That's not a great sign. 

" AND FOR OUR FIRST EVENT; GIVE IT UP FOR POWERLOADERS HARD WORK: A STADIUM WIDE OBSTACLE COURSE! ERASER, MIND IF I PICK YOUR BRAIN A BIT?! "

"I will personally strangle you."

"... ALRIGHTY THEN, LET'S GET THIS SHOW ON THE ROAD! IF THE CONTESTANTS WOULDN'T MIND GETTING IN PLACE BY THE STARTING GATE! "

------------

"The explosive one is obviously a barbarian monk multiclass with the 'magic initiate' feat." Shigaraki argued.

"I thought explosions were wizards!" Dabi defended.

"I was thinking sorcerer." 

"At least I can understand Toga's reasoning."

"SHE DIDN'T EVEN GIVE A REASON!"

"Don't argue with the G.M."

" AUGH!"

-----------

Midoriya easily cleared Todoroki's ice trap, so did most of 1-A. The only exceptions being Aoyama and Koda. 

Todoroki easily held first place; both because of his speed, and that Bakugou had enough experience with Nedzu to realize that first place was a trap of some sort.

Tsu was in third off the start, being able to jump over the crowd; and Midoriya himself held fourth.

Jasnia also had a good start, not caring about running on top of the other students.

And the race continued without much fanfare… as little fanfare as could happen given Nedzu's penchant for chaos.

Midoriya disabled a path of the robots with his fire.

Hatsume showed off her hover boots and grappling belt.

Some poor kid got launched thirty feet up by one of the sparkly mines.

And Bakugou had a breakdown.

---------‐---

"Katsuki, you okay?" Midoriya asked, after the race.

"No." He paced in circles.

"You want to go to Recovery Girl?"

"No." He wasn't fidgeting.

"Want to finish the second round?"

"Yeah."

"Okay."

-----------

"The blond one stopped yelling." Toga had some level of concern that it wasn't being addressed. She may not be sane, but she did practice her mental health.

"He ran out of rages."

"Hey, Kurogiri: where do you keep the everclear? All I can find is beer, whiskey, and rice wine." Dabi called.

"I'd appreciate if you not mess with the bar."

"C'mon, I know not to mess with another man's setup; I used to be a tender at another gray space to help make rent."

"It's not yet three, why are you looking for a drink?"

"Have you met Shigaraki?"

"... fair enough. Rightmost cupboard under the bar."

"You keep it next to the glasses?"

"That's my personal bottle, the rest are kept in the back."

"Fucking mood." He popped the cap off.

---------

Bakugou was the back left horse, Midoriya was the rider, Ojiro was back right, and Tokoyami was front horse.

That was about all that he properly understood, his mind begging him to stop for a bit and just not for a while.

His job was simple; if someone approached from the left, explode them; if Midoriya moved to his back, take off.

And that's how it went. Someone approached, he let off an explosion.

Someone approached, he let off an explosion.

Someone touched his hair and let off an explosion. Someone else had an explosive quirk? He let off an extra large blast.

Midoriya said something, he didn't understand any of it, before jumping on his back. He took the air, a bit wobbly with the additional passenger but he managed.

Midoriya said something. 

"What did I say?"

"Umm-"

"Be ready to catch me."

"Be ready to catch you?"

"Yep." Midoriya jumped off.

Midoriya jumped off!?

Everything suddenly turned silver.

-------------

Dabi finished his glass before returning his attention back to the sports festival, only to witness the entire field being consumed by silver fire.

He poured himself another glass as Toga and Shigaraki started debating the kid's 'level'.

-----------

Todoroki's team maneuvered around the area Todoroki encased in ice, three teams had made their way in in their attempts to claim the million point headband.

They were, understandably, surprised when silver fire encased everything they could see and caused all of the icebergs to instantly shatter.

----------

"BAKUGOU!" Midoriya shouted.

He caught Midoriya.

Midoriya said something else, he didn't understand.

Midoriya yelled again.

"TIMER!" 

Oh… OH! He quickly made his way to where Ojiro and Shinso were waiting.

There was a loud buzz, Mic said something over the speakers. Midoriya said something to the other two.

Someone started to guide him away from the field.

He needed a break.

------------

Bakugou was in a dark room when he came too, music played from Midoriya’s phone as he scrolled through something.

"Welcome back."

"Yeah. How's the festival going?"

"Haven't been paying too much attention, but I believe they're in the second set of the one v ones."

"Kay."

"You want to go meet Fenrir?"

"He's here?"

"Tokoyami's mom is his caseworker, and since he's between homes right now he's staying with them."

"... sure."

-----------

"Fenrir, we're going to miss Fumikage's match."

"We can watch a recording." He led Aika through the halls.

"Would you tell me where we're going?"

"Close."

Aika just sighed.

But that's when another teen appeared, with tall purple hair and currently having a panic attack.

"Shinso?"

"Miss… Tokoyami?" He got out between ragged breaths.

----------

"Change of plans, we're getting churros." Midoriya called out.

"Why?"

"You aren't the only one with trauma."

----------

Aika was glad for Fenrir's strange set of talent. He was absolutely socially inept, but was surprisingly good at helping people with panic attacks.

She also got a rather ugly picture from what she could understand of Shinso’s rambling. What was even worse is that she didn't have the spare room available since Fenrir was between houses, and it wasn't like there was anyone else that had any level of custody that could take him in…

Yuuei had partial custody, and they had a ward program for this kind of scenario. Well that was one problem solved, mostly; and the other…

"You ok?" Fenrir asked shinso.

Shinso nodded.

"Now; who's arms do I need to break?" 

"Fenrir, no!" Aika admonished.

… was an incredibly violent nine year old.

---------

"Doctor, what's the progress on Tokiya?" All for One stared at the partially formed creature, suspended in some chemical concoction.

"Well, it is developing slower than I anticipated, but it should be ready for the next phase in a month or two."

"It's not ideal, but it does fit in the time frame. And the dungeon seed?"

"The seed has taken well to the replica quirk, the issue right now is ensuring it does not sprout prematurely. Attaching it to some mana dynamos has been effective so far, but I am unsure if it will affect the seeds' future development."

"A non issue. I have plenty of mana cores in storage that can be used to stimulate its growth."

-----------

"What do quirks look like?" Bakugou took another bite of churro.

"In general or someone's in specific?"

"General."

"Cables of mana arranged like veins. Though, there's usually a higher concentration where the effect of the quirk originates."

"Cables, not threads?"

"Yep. Inside is the chaos of the minor attunements everyone has, and the outside is woven from the major attunements. Yours are best described as 'liquid' and 'explosion'.

"There are exceptions, of course. Aizawa's major attunements, 'sleep' and 'sight', are less rigid than most, so his quirk just looks like an incohesive knot."

Bakugou grunted in response.

Midoriya turned around in his seat. "Hey, Todoroki, is there a reason you're glaring at me?" 

Bakugou hadn't noticed the heterochromatic teen approach.

"May I speak with you in private?"

"I don't swing that way." Bakugou started choking on his current bite of churro.

"What?"

"Nothing. Sure, lead the way."

They walked to one of the more secluded halls. Todorki stared at Midoriya for a full minute before he began; "Have you heard of a quirk marriage?"

"Those are still a thing? You'd figure that the increased parricide rates would deter people, but idiots will be idiots."

"The… what?"

"Parricide is when someone kills their parents."

"I see. Well, my father is one of those idiots. He purchased my mother from her family, hoping to create the perfect successor: someone without his weakness of overheating.

"He drove my older brother to his death, my mother to psychosis, and the rest of my family apart. I refuse to use the flames that inflicted so much pain on my family."

The sudden addition of an 'endeav-whore' merch store in the first floor of Atrus is completely unrelated.

"Would you blame a gun for a murder?"

"Of course not."

"Exactly, you blame the person who pulled the trigger."

"Right?"

"So use your fire, commit parricide; at your discretion; and go talk to Hound Dog."

"I have considered it before, but I could not do that. It would devastate my sister."

"And you getting roasted alive in your off time doesn't?"

"Do you think I haven't tried getting him arrested, it was covered up as fast as the commission could manage."

"Have you tried asking Nedzu? Cause I'm pretty sure he butts heads with them on a weekly basis, on top of dealing with the school board and hero work."

"I gave up on that avenue already, and I'm going to become the number one hero with only my ice."

"... why did you choose to tell me?"

"To be honest; I don't think you're a person."

"Oh? What do you think I am?"

"Atrus, or you're related to it somehow."

"And what led you to that conclusion?"

"Your flames, they give me the same feeling as when I was in the dungeon."

"... that is the most feeble argument I have ever heard, but you're right. I'm not human, never have been, never will be.

"But why do you think I, as a damn rock , would care about you using your fire?"

Todoroki remained silent.

"No answer. Well here's another question: how many quirkless people die in dungeons each year?"

"I don't see how that's relevant."

"Of course you don't: how could quirkless people ever even imagine how bad you have it, when they would throw their entire lives away for the chance to have their eyes randomly change color?

"It's not like every. Single. Person. They ever meet treats them like a punching bag.

"It's not like you have a gift every single one of them would kill for, and are actively hurting yourself in order to ignore.

"And it's not like I've had to comfort who knows how many kids on their deathbed because they'd rather die, cold and alone, than face pricks like you for another day.

"Fuck off, ask yourself what makes you any better than Endeavor, and suffer knowing that the answer is 'nothing'.

"Have fun dying to the first person you meet with cryokinesis." He walked away.

Todoroki remained for a time, processing what Midoriya said.

---------

Monama hit the jackpot. He was wandering around searching for people with interesting quirks since, and he hated to admit it, none of his classmates had powerful enough quirks to face Todoroki.

Then he ran into someone called Himura, who was all too happy to brag about his quirk. Even said something about being Todoroki's cousin.

" AND THAT CONCLUDES THE FINAL MATCH OF ROUND TWO! WITH MISS KUZNETSOV'S SHARP PROWESS PROVING TO BE THE PERFECT WEED WACKER FOR SHIOZAKI'S VINES! "

"Oh, that's my call. I'll give Todoroki your well regards." Monama offered a handshake.

"No need, he probably doesn't even know who I am. Enji wasn't a fan of my side of the family."  He shook Monama's hand.

----------

Todoroki lost. His first thought was utter despair and resignation at the extra training his father would put him through. 

His second thought was that Midoriya had some form of foresight.

------------

Jasnia won her battle against Kirishima, their quirks functionally canceled each other making it a matter of skill; and one had an eldritch horror as a teacher.

Chapter Text

Shigaraki woke in a cold sweat, his quirk writhed beneath his skin. 

He remembered parts of the dream, although the entire thing felt distorted. He remembered a picture, his sister snuck it out of his dad's office, but it was blank. There were scenes of his dad shouting, but the words were too muffled to make sense of.

He remembered a red mist, or was it some kind of haze.

What happened before Sensei found him?

Did he want to know?

There was a knock at his door, "Tomura?"

"I'm up, Kurogiri."

He opened the door and stepped in. "Our mole has sent another report just now. It appears that the hero students have chosen their hero names."

"And that's important how?"

"It gives us the chance to sow distrust amongst the ranks of Yuuei. All of the faculty will be receiving a list of the names; by calling the students their hero names before a proper debut, they will assume there is a traitor but have no information as to who it might be."

"We could just tell them we planted a spy."

"We could, but it is unlikely to create the same effect. It will also give them credible evidence to begin an open investigation and find the traitor."

He handed Tomua a piece of paper with all the hero names on it, and pictures.

[

Aoyama: the Prismatic hero: Gemstone

Mina: the ph hero: Solvent

Tsu: the rainy season hero: Froppy

Iida: the accelerated hero: First Response

Uraraka: the astral hero: Orbit

Ojiro: the lashing hero: Whiptail

Denki: the sparking hero: Circuit

Kishima: The guardian hero: Red Riot

Koda: the nature hero: Druid

Sato: the sweetened hero: Sugar Rush

Shoji: the repeating hero: Fractal

Jiro: the heavy metal hero: Bash 

Sero: the adhesive hero: Cellophane

Tokoyami: the shadow hero: Tsukuyomi

Todoroki: Todoroki

Hagakure: the invisible hero: Prism 

Bakugou: the epicenter hero: Ground Zero

Midoriya: the oblivion hero: Flare

Momo: the inventory hero: Arsenal

Shinso: Psyren.

Jasnia Kuznetsov: the bladed hero: Zephyr

]

"... wait a minute, one two three… twenty one? There were only twenty at the USJ."

"Yes, someone pulled some strings to get Kuznetsov transferred from Russia mid year."

"And 1-B?"

----------

Nedzu glared at them. "I am aware that you are simply following orders, but do understand that I allow your warden to continue only for the sake of appearance. So do understand that I won't allow you any information you wouldn't get without your sneaking around."

-----------

"There was a complication." Kurogiri replied.

---------

"So Kats, who are you going to intern with?" Midoriya asked between bites of katsudon.

"Whoever you intern with." Bakugou responded simply.

"Each hero can only take one intern."

"Oh," He sighed.

"I ship it." Mina added her two cents.

"Me too."

" Zephyr, I will fillet you. "

" Why are you going to fillet Zephyr?"

" Oh, just a bit of drama. " Zephyr dismissively waved his hand.

" Mother fucker we're dungeons; drama for us is a war breaking out, not small talk. "

" How many wars have you seen? " Jasnia couldn't help but ask.

" I feel like the dawn of quirks counts for at least three."

"There were seven independent wars at the time, at minimum. "

" At least seven. "

------------

"Welcome to today's heroics practical class, All-Might is busy so I'll be teaching it." Aizawa droned, "So grab your uniforms and meet me at Gym Gamma." He walked out after opening the case nooks.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Midoriya stated.

---------

He was correct.

"Where Thirteen has the USJ, Cementoss has Gym Gamma. He was kind enough to construct this jungle gym for today's lesson.

"Also, Midoriya, I see you've added some coils of chain to your costume."

"I don't see how that's relevant."

"Alright. The scenario for today's training is as follows: the villain Flare has, either on purpose or accident, angered an info broker who promptly put a bounty on their head.

"The rest of you got word of this through whichever means suit you best, and are attempting to bring them into protective custody before a bounty hunter, me, catches them.

"Midoriya’s job is to evade capture by any means necessary, barring maiming and other severe injuries.

"If I catch Midoriya before one of you can drag him through the exit gate, you all run the hell course till you get sub five minutes.

"And if you catch Midoriya and escape; I'll drop the lowest grade assignment each of you has."

"... and if I survive the entire class?"

"You won't, but let's say… I'll wear neon pink sweatpants and 'Put Your Hands Up Radio' merch for an entire week."

"And you make my lowest assignment full marks."

"Deal. Time starts now."

Midoriya immediately ran, barely avoiding a coil of Eraser's scarf.

Momo started making net guns, Bakugou immediately took off after the student and teacher, and Jasnia began ascending the structure.

"COME HITHER YON BITCHES! " Midoriya threw the end of one of the chains, embedding it into part of the structure. 

This finally spurred on the rest of the class.

The stronger students began spreading out, some climbing the structure, some on the ground, to intercept Midoriya later.

Iida focused on stalling Aizawa, hoping to mitigate their fail condition.

The other mobility based students moved to drive Midoriya into the strength students.

Todoroki sent out several ice attacks, but they were intercepted by Midoriya’s fire and shattered.

Midoriya continued stringing the chains around, using them to create more routes around the structure, or make webs sealing smaller holes.

"Somethings wrong." Jirou thought aloud, unable to identify the issue.

Midoriya threw another chain. *clink clink* Wait. And another *clink clink clink*

She chose a chain and followed it, it crossed another one so she followed it, and another, and another, and another.

"FLARE'S PLANNING SOMETHING WITH THE CHAINS!" She shouted.

"Took ya long enough!" Midoriya called out, "But you're too late, Bash." He snatched one of Jasnia's swords as he ducked a swing of her katana, then threw it at Aizawa.

He hopped away from her, dodging another slash, and landed on one of the chains, which promptly burst into opaque silver flames and spread to all the others.

There was a clatter as Bakugou landed on a web of chains, Darkshadow cried out before they vanished, and Midoriya cackled maniacally.

----------

They stood at the train platform, half the class dead on their feet.

"Hey, Midobro, Bakubro, where did you guys decide to intern?" Kirishima was as lively as always.

Bakugou grumbled something that vaguely sounded like 'fuck off'.

"He's going with Endeavor, and I'm going to Iidaten."

"Isn't that Iida's brother's agency? Why isn't Iida going?"

"In his own words 'it would be remiss of me as a hero to deny someone an opportunity I could experience with ease.' And he ended up choosing to go with Miruko."

"Huh. That makes sen- wait, Miruko?"

"Yeah, I don't understand it either. Anyway, my train is here so I'll see both of you later."

---------

Iida stood before the sliding doors of a relatively defunct warehouse. He quickly pulled out his phone to double check that he had the correct address.

He knocked and waited. He knocked again after an appropriate amount of time, and the door started to creak open just as he was about to knock a third time.

Usagiama peeked out at him, wearing a Hawks sweatshirt a size too large. "Iida? I wasn't expecting you for another twenty minutes."

"I power walked the entire way here!"

"... your brother was right, you're stiffer than a galvanized steel beam. 

"Alright, first things first; what do you do to relax?"

"I'm not sure I follow."

"Just answer the damn question."

" Language!"

"JaPaNeSe!" She snarked.

---------

Fenrir had decided that he had a complaint for Atrus: not telling him what skirts were.

He understood that humans are uncomfortable when others aren't covered, but he hated jeans: they pulled his fur, or hair since it's a human body, they dug into his leg if it moved too far, and they just itched in general.

Skirts were much better for kicking people. OH! They also did a thing when he spun. 

He's lucky that Miss Tokoyami finally decided to take him shopping since she was having so much trouble getting him into another group home.

"Oh, are they transgender?" He heard someone ask Miss Tokoyami.

"No, he just hates pants."

"What's a gender?" He asked.

----------

Aizawa waited by the gate. Apparently Shinso's case worker scheduled a meeting with Nedzu immediately after the sports festival but they were only meeting today, almost a full week later . He understood that the rat wasn't human and was horrible at understanding human emotions, but he's gotta at least understand that something had to have happened for her to schedule a meeting with the school.

And he hoped the reason wasn't the child with the caseworker because they looked like Midoriya and Bakugou's child… of course it would be those two that got hit by some kind of 'your future child' quirk. 

"You must be Shinso’s case worker."

"Ms. Tokoyami, and you are?"

"Shouta Aizawa, 1-A's homeroom teacher."

"A pleasure to meet you, Fumikage has spoken about you quite a lot; mostly good things. Oh! This is Fenrir."

"... Cat."

"I'll take that as a compliment."

-----------

Iida slid backwards with a small bounce.

"We both know you're not staying upright after one of my kicks, so roll with it. Don't try to force your way through it."

"I am trying."

"You are trying to keep your perfect posture. Forget the posture, that's what's hurting you right now."

"Poor posture is known to decrease life expectancy." He stood up.

"Want to know what else hurts your life expectancy? Not being able to recover from an attack, and I'm pretty damn sure it's a lot more important than your fucking posture." 

-----------

"Midoriya, glad to finally meet ya." Tensei shook his hand, "I've heard quite a bit about you from Tenya and Shouta."

"Mostly good from Iida, mostly annoying from Aizawa?"

"Eh, More or less. Regardless, you're here for an internship not chit-chat; so what were you hoping to learn here?"

"Mostly how to combat people faster than me, especially those with more experience since Iida still hasn't quite gotten out of the 'charge in a straight line' strategy."

"Yeah… hopefully Rumi can help him out of it, she's the least straight person I know."

"... really ?" Midoriya quirked a brow.

"What? She's the least strai- ok I hear it now."

"How many weeks into the future do you think she'd kick you if she heard that?"

"Enough to be declared dead."

--------

Midoriya spat out a tooth and a bit of blood. "Muffer fucker, we're thparring!"

"Ah shit, are you okay?" Tensei kneeled down to check on Midoriya.

"Yeah," more blood drizzled out of his mouth, "it'uh grow back."

"Tha- that's not how teeth work?" He watched as Midoriya's face briefly expanded into a snout before returning to normal.

"It is when your quirk has a broken transformation aspect." He threw up before falling forward, seemingly unconscious.

"... exactly what Shouta would do if he could. I swear there's one of you lot every year." He picked Midoriya up and made his way to the agency's sick room.

---------

Bakugou watched as Endeavor destroyed most of the agency's training equipment. Trying to 'let off steam', hehe, after someone posted about finding anti-Endeavor merch near Atrus' entrance.

The most common quotes were 'Endeav-whore', 'I Endeavor to be an ass', 'number 2 hero, number 1 jackass', and 'flaming trash can'. The last one was admittedly far less creative, but it was probably accurate considering Midoriya hadn't done anything regarding all the jerks from Aldara that hated him.

Honestly he's just trying to figure out what the guy did to piss off Midoriya so much that he'd bring the actual dungeon into it.

He rolled his shoulders. He considered taking his grenadiers off till Endeavor was finished, but decided against it: the man was angry enough as is.

He sat down.

----------

Endeavor destroyed another fire resistant punching bag. He figured he made his intern wait long enough.

He turned to Bakugou to see the boy was meditating, the quirk popping across the surface of their palms. Was he really taking that long?

"Bakugou," the teen looked up. "Come. Show me what you can do."

----------

"I see; a truly terrible situation for any to be in. I apologize for pushing this meeting so far back, I'll make sure it doesn't happen again.

"As for actually placing Shinso in the program, there is an amount of paperwork to be filled out before the school can claim custody. Most importantly is Shinso agreeing to it. 

"Am I correct in assuming that you have informed him of this?"

"No, actually; I wanted to know more about it before I tell him."

"I see. Well, he would be placed under the care of a faculty member, most likely his homeroom teacher Aizawa. 

"He would also be granted an allowance for hobbies, personal snacks, and whatnot since his meals and necessities would be covered by the school.

"Everything else would be decided by his then guardian. I could show you where he would likely be staying, Aizawa likes to keep his on campus apartment stocked for such occasions."

"That sounds perfect, and I would appreciate it if I could speak to Aizawa in private as well."

"Of course, though you'll have to hurry. He's preparing to leave on a mission right now."

----------

Atrus quickly grew a new body around a mana core he dropped on his way to Idaten. He didn't want there to be any connection to either of his identities so he decided to use an electric motif.

Black and yellow striped hair, tall and lanky, burns on the clothes, and he topped it off with scars the shape of a lichtenberg fractal on the right arm. 

He's pretty sure he looked sleazy enough to pass as a villain, now for a 'quirk'... he didn't want to use flame or parasitic, which left golem; which could be connected to Fenrir. Well, golem didn't necessarily have to be shaped like an animal, so he could probably use it to fake short ranged terrakinesis.

Now to find Stain. There were a few experiments he wanted to try that he didn't feel comfortable performing on innocent people.

He quickly scaled the wall as he mentally pulled up a map of Hosu. 

Stain's first kill in the area was Native; not the most famous local hero but definitely well known, similar to every other one he's killed. 

Along that line he mentally plotted the patrol routes of the top nine most famous heroes remaining on the map. 

The first two kills of each area had all been close together, temporally speaking, so he picked the point where the most patrols intersected, four of the nine, and headed there. Figuring that they would stalk it to get the second as soon as possible.

He also found roof hopping to be rather calming, maybe he should start doin- someone was watching him.

He stopped after his next landing and searched for the other person. He didn't see anyone, but he still felt their attention, there was a weight to it.

"Who's there?" He called out.

The weight diminished, but it still remained. 

Interesting. Well, he had at least one guess about who was stalking him. "Oh All for One~♫" he sang under his breath. The weight returned. "I'd turn your attention away, before I ask Nedzu to interfere. I'm rather busy right now and don't need you messing up my plans."

The weight vanished.

---------------

Stain leaned against the ac unit as he ate a dry brick of ramen. Was it his first choice of food? No, but Native didn't carry much cash and he needed to eat. Hopefully this next hero would carry enough for him to get takeout.

"Hey, first try." Stain jumped to his feet, his sword pointed at the stranger. "So jumpy. It's a wonder you didn't notice me."

"Who the hell are you?"

"Atrus, of course." He lunged at the villain.

------------

"So my homework is… reading a joke book?"

Ms. Joke just laughed at Shinso. "Course it is. Not everyone will respond to your insults, and it can act as a cover for your quirks actual activation requirements."

"I see."

"Hey, don't put too much pressure on yourself, figuring out exactly what buttons you need to push is a skill you develop constantly. It's not like every villain I encounter is gonna respond to knock knock jokes. Now come on, let's go get some ice cream."

"I couldn't trouble you with that."

"It's no issue, besides that's where I get all the cream pies I use."

Chapter Text

Atrus was lucky he had made the body so recently; it was still unstable enough that he could decay his spilt blood and cut off limb into mana.

He quickly regrew the arm and grabbed stains unconscious body. Unfortunately the nearest unused building was a night's walk away. He also needed to fix all the deformations he inflicted on this building throughout his fight.

He should also find something for him to eat… Nah, the bastard can starve. 

Was Midoriya training to be a hero to save lives? Yes. Was he also going to murder someone out of convenience? Absa-fucking-lutely.

Especially since the victim in question was a mass murderer. His attunements were interesting too.

Well, one was; the other was a simple one in the family of 'paralysis'. 

The interesting one was a spatial element that maintained 'contact' between items if they came from the same object. He's also pretty sure that someone in 1-B had something similar in their quirk.

He made his way towards what would be his lair for the next few days.

------------

Stain woke suddenly, but he remained still. He was sitting against a wall, several bands of what he assumed to be concrete held him in place.

"Huh, I figured you'd be out for another hour or two." He opened his eyes to see the stranger that tracked him down.

"You claimed to be Atrus, I didn't think a dungeon was comfortable straying so far from their cave." He glared.

"Most aren't, but there are exceptions. Although it mostly depends on their attunements. But I doubt you'll ever be able to tell anyone." The stranger gestured at what appeared to be veins of bone spread across the entire inside of the building. "As far as quirks go, in here doesn't exist, and I don't exactly plan on letting you live. Mana constructs destroy the gut if they decay, and I don't have a great way to get you actual food." He made a mana core and dropped it.

"You're a monster."

"Says the murderer, that feels weird on the tongue, murderer, anyway; you think we enjoy having you people stomp around our bodies trying to harvest our organs?" He watched as the concrete pulled around the core forming a simple, if not short, humanoid golem.

"I hope someone shatters your core." 

"And I hope you get thrown into a manastorm." His body dropped to the floor dead.

{Manastorm: an area of turbulent mana, the rapidly fluctuating elements break apart anything within. Rarely occur when multiple quirks affect the same area. Generally occurs two to three days after a dungeon's core is harvested.}

Stain glared at the golem. "And I suppose you're here to keep me from calling for help."

It didn't respond.

-----------

Midoriya woke up to a sterile white roof, itchy bed sheets, and a ringing phone.

"Hello?"

" Did you seriously kidnap Stain?" Nedzu asked.

"Mayhaps."

The rat audibly inhaled. " I left him to his devices to become another linchpin of the underground. "

"... elaborate."

" All for One isn't content knowing the dungeons can control him, so I have elected certain villains to become figure heads for people to rally behind when we are eventually forced to kill him."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

" Why did you decide to hunt down Stain?"

"There's an eighty-ish percent chance he was going to target Ingenium, and figured I'd spare Iida the emotional damage."

" Well enough. I'll speak with you later."

"You're going to go check on the other villains aren't you?" Nedzu hung up. "Cunt."

Midoriya quickly left the infirmary in search of his support gear as he only had on the clothes that went beneath the actual armor. Of course they were made of wolfbear fur and were more effective than Kevlar, but that was beside the point.

------------

Rumi and Tenya walked down the sidewalk. "What exercises do you have planned today?"

"Philosophy, that's all you get till we get there."

They continued in silence, and the buildings grew gradually into further disrepair. 

She stopped in front of a staircase leading to a basement and turned towards Iida. "You stay by my side, quiet. Don't talk to anyone I don't introduce you to, don't look at anyone for more than a second, and don't ask questions unless I say it's okay; got it?"

"Uh, why-"

" Got. It?"

"Understood."

She turned back to the stairs and led him in. It was a very dingy, and most likely illegal, bar. There were few faces he recognized; Gentle Criminal and La Brava, Knuckleduster, and… 

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU'RE [It can cut through anything!] CUTTING ME OFF?!"

"Go home man, you're so drunk you can't even say one line without… whatever it is that you do."

… Gomi Denwa.

A majority of the people there had major mutations. Which was somewhat expected given the prevalence of the anti-beast groups. 

Mirko pushed him from behind, "Hey, no staring. Even if Denwa is a pushover."

She steered him towards a table with a lizard quirked person. They had red hair and a sword with a couple of knives attached to it.

"Spinner, this is… First Response, right?" She directed the last part at Iida, who nodded.

"Response, this is Spinner. A bit of a jerk but an overall not bad guy who became a villain out of necessity."

"... why did you bring a high-schooler?"

"Someone's gotta shatter his worldview and I figured that you'd make the mess easier to pick up than others."

"And?"

"Someone called a favor, okay?"

"Pay off my tab."

"Deal!"

-----------

Aika sat on a bench and watched as Fenrir used the frame of the swings as a balance board; she'd prefer that they actually walked on their feet instead of their hands, but she decided to save her energy for more important arguments. Like not mauling people regardless of how much they deserved it.

Regardless she was there to meet someone who was hopefully brave enough to adopt Fenrir, or at least start the process for it. Inko Midoriya, and Mitsuki and Masaru Bakugou. As with everything related to the kid, it was unusual for her to be meeting two candidates at once, but Nedzu was unrealistically convincing.

"We really should wait until the boys get home, just in case."

"Oh c'mon Inko, what's the worst that could happen? A couple broken plates or knickknacks ain't gonna kill anyone." 

Aika overheard the two women.

--------

Kirishima slammed into the ground, "I'm getting my ass handed to me by an old man."

"Shut up ya zygote, we gotta get you using One for All somehow, and this worked for All-Might, dumb as he is."

"Midoriya and Bakugou both tried this method already, it was ineffective."

"Quit your whining and stand up."

"Who knows, maybe that dungeon node is messing with it." He stood.

"You used a dungeon node?"

"Yes?"

"Which dungeon is the node from?" 

"Atrus, why?"

"... You have a nearly two hundred year old quirk, powerful enough to combat an entire army, and you used a node from the dungeon that SUPPRESSES QUIRKS!"

"I mean, I got the quirk after the node, but when you put it like that."

"I'm going to slaughter that buffoon."

"You do that. I'm gonna text Midoriya and see what he thinks about it." He barely made it a step before Torino slammed into him once again.

--------

"Get up." 

Kirishima groaned as he mentally prepared himself to face the new day.

"The commission called, they're sending a whole bunch of heroes to Hosu since Stain broke his pattern."

"And you’re one of them." Curse his luck.

"Bingo. Now hurry up, they're paying me a whole lotta money for stepping out of retirement for the day, and it's an hourly wage. Just thinking about the amount of Taiyaki I'll be able to afford is making my mouth water."

-----------

Midoriya followed behind Ingenium. "This isn't your normal patrol route."

"Correct, and also concerning that you knew that so readily. The commission called a whole bunch of heroes in, hoping to catch Stain. They also rearranged everyone's patrol routes and schedules for the duration."

"Ah, bureaucracy." He nodded solemnly.

"That's one way to put it. Although, I am a bit surprised his second victim hasn't been found. Either he broke his pattern, or a vigilante got them; either case is cause for concern."

"Rumor has it; he's been kidnapped."

"Where'd ya hear that kind of rumor?"

"My dream."

"... Aizawa was right."

"Rude."

They continued their patrol, the sun rose past its peak, they stopped for lunch, the sun fell, the moon was barely visible and the stars still hidden by the light of dusk when Midoriya heard something in an alley.

He stepped back and turned to look. "Well fu-" He was trampled by a nomu as it ran to an alley on the opposite side.

Ingenium turned around. "... Midoriya? "

----

"Fenrir, the fuck are you doing?" Mitsuki called as the not-quite human scaled the wall of her house.

"Birds." Was his response. 

"I told you we should have waited for the boys to get back."

"Yeah yeah. Fenrir, we need ya to come down."

---------

"-ck me." Midoriya held onto the nomus leg, somehow not noticed by the nomu… on second thought it was probably just ignoring him until it reached its destination.

Although that had some implications : one, someone other than AfO was making nomu; two, Kurogiri was so busy he couldn't spare five minutes; or three; Shigaraki was doing this behind AfO's back.

And now he had to deal with a nomu, without getting in legal trouble or- 

He was slammed into a wall, several shops were on fire and there were two more nomus being corralled by several heroes.

"Thirty seconds, it has only been thirty FUCKING SECONDS!" He moved to stand. "And now I've got internal bleeding." He glared at the nomu.

------

Kirishima was fighting very centipede like nomu, the two major differences were that it had legs along its back, and all of its legs ended with human hands.

He was holding the pincers open while being pushed back. Gran Torino was clearing civilians from the nomus charge; attacking whenever an opportunity showed itself.

"TORINO! HOW FAR OUT ARE REINFORCEMENTS?!"

The old man landed on the nomus head. "Dealing with other nomu." He took off again.

Which was apparently the last straw for the nomu, as it turned into an alley limiting Gran Torino's attack opting to 'above'. The retired hero didn't fall for the trap.

-------

Tokoroki ran behind Manual, they had been called as backup and were making their way towards the largest gathering of nomu… until one trying to eat Kirishima burst out of an alley behind them.

"Todoroki!" 

The teen sent out a wave of ice that encased the back half of the beast. The front half writhed, smacking Kirishima into the ice. Cracks spread and pieces fell off. 

It threw Kirishima before it released an ear grating shriek.

-----------

" AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA…" Fenrir screamed. He was in Atrus' usual body and was currently clinging to the back of a minotaur like nomu. Atrus said he had to take care of something elsewhere and needed help being in two places at once.

Fenrir agreed, obviously, and he regretted not asking about what was going on. As for how he stayed on the nomu, it couldn't actually reach where he was, and he had claws. Which weren't normally there, but he couldn't really complain.

Honestly he had gone faster, significantly faster, but he had always been the one in control; giant wolfbear and all that.

------------

Atrus knelt in front of Stain, hand pressed against the killer's shoulder.

"Are you finally killing me?"

Atrus didn’t respond; too focused on controlling his mana.

Threads of golem mana burrowed through the villain, winding around the frayed cables of mana that used to be Stain's quirk. It strangled them, the parasitic element periodically drained the mana, closing in on the attunement he was after; it was spread throughout the body, a line down the middle of the tongue, a blot next to the heart, patches along the stomach.

He found them all, every single one, before burrowing golem threads between the spatial attunement and the minor ones, ripping it away, caught in a trap and dragged from where it belonged; waves of parasitic mana drained them, keeping them from destroying themselves.

He pulled them from the villain and stuck them into an empty attunement crystal. He succeeded, he harvested an attunement outside his dungeon.

He broke Stain's neck. "Yes, I am."

Atrus turned to the golem he created before, and ripped out its core. He reprogrammed it and set it into the bone limbs spread across the interior of the abandoned warehouse. It took the attunement crystal and burrowed into the ground, repairing the land behind it as it went. The golem would eventually make its way to his dungeon where he could properly absorb it.

With that done, he abandoned the body he was in, moved Fenrir back to his own, and repossessed Izuku. Unfortunately he did it right after the nomu Fenrir was clung to burst through a wall.

He landed roughly, and rolled for several feet. He ended facing the sky and said, "Kirishima?"

-----

Nedzu sipped from his cup of tea as he decided exactly how close he was to killing All for One. Oh well, might as well get the villain's side of the story. He quickly dialed the number.

" Nedzu, to what do I owe the pleasure?"

"Hosu."

"... I'm not dealing with your cryptic ass, what's going on?"

"There are nomu attacking Hosu, where several of my students currently are."

"Uuh h. Kurogiri, did you release any nomu?!... go check on Tomura. Nedzu, I'll deal with it, I assure you."

"Well, I'll leave you to it. Farewell Gakusei." The rat hung up.

------

Todoroki, Gran Torino, and Kirishima held back the nomu while Manual tried contacting Ingenium.

Its primary quirk was a form of teleportation; creating thin shimmering doorways that disappeared if anyone other than the nomu approached either one. It was fixated on getting Midoriya, and would have if not for its quirks restrictions.

From what Midoriya could see; the exit could be anywhere within a fifteen foot range, or another location with a certain 'connection' to the entrance. Such as intersections on the same road.

"Yes, I've got him right here… no I'm not handing him my com… the kid needs authorization from you to use his quirk… yes I'll keep an eye on him until you get here… we're at the corner of some street and another, just south of the rail line… three streets over. No, I can't check the street signs, they were destroyed.

"Flare, you got permission to use your quirk."

"You are way too casual about this." Midoriya immediately whipped out a chain, silver fire danced along it and burnt away the nomu's exit.

Todoroki caught the nomu in a wave of ice. 

"For fucks sake Todoroki you're going to freeze yourself to death, use your fire already."

"Piss off."

"I'd tell you to go fuck yourself if you weren't already."

Chapter Text

Bakugou woke up with a groan. He blinked his eyes a few times to clear his vision and sat up. He was in a hospital, he assumed Hosu General but could be wrong. "Midoriya, what happened to you?"

The green teens' entire torso was covered in bandages. "The minotaur was named Daedalus."

"...in Japanese?"

"Beast like nomu with a labyrinthine warp quirk, and lots of internal bleeding. you?"

------

A nomu ripped open the side of the train. 

"Zero, with me." Endeavor repelled the winged nomu with a burst of flame before he followed on jets of flame.

"I should've gone with Epicenter." He propelled himself after the hero.

Bakugou kept his distance from the fight, only approaching to provide supporting fire when Endeavor needed to cool down.

On one of the cycles, he missed a shot; the nomu swept behind him and latched a talon around his midriff. It flew down towards the city and slammed him into the side of a building before it let go.

He recovered and turned to yell at the bird when a piece of debris hit him.

He passed out.

------

"A winged nomu."

"Fair enough."

"And Todoroki?"

"Nearly froze himself to death, Kirishima was also there but was, go figure, generally unharmed."

"Makes sense."

They fell into silence for a few minutes before Midoriya decided to reveal that "I killed Stain."

Bakugou burst into a coughing fit.

--------

"Okay, hold on; you needed someone to shatter Tenya's worldview, in a week, and you went with Usagiyama?" Aizawa poured himself a cup of coffee.

"Well, it was either her or you, and I would rather he not be stuck in a classroom with whoever it was for the next three years. Also, where did you get that?" He defended.

"Fair enough."

" Shouta , where did you get the coffee?"

"Breakroom."

"That's… why am I even surprised?"

"I aim to annoy. Or be left alone. Preferably the latter."

The door opened; Tsuragamae, Manual, Endeavor, and Gran Torino stepped in.

"Ah, Ingenium, Eraser. It's good to see that you two are early." The police chief greeted.

Aizawa grunted as Ingenium saluted.

"As we are all here, let's discuss the event and the students' actions."

"What kind of 'discussion'?" Aizawa drank from his mug.

"If you could elaborate?"

"A 'get everyone on the same page' discussion, or a 'there's going to be legal trouble' discussion."

"Ideally the first; however, given that Midoriya was separated from Ingenium for a notable period, it may turn into the latter."

The conversation did not turn to legal troubles. Lucky for all, as Atrus wouldn't hesitate to call Nedzu. In the end, the chief commemorated them on doing so well despite their lack of training.

------

Midoriya made his way towards Yuuei. He had been discharged the night before last and was advised to rest, he ignored the advice as discussing Nedzu's 'install a new linchpin for when Ass for One dies' plan with the other dungeon was far more important.

"Nedzu, I am well aware that you know I'm here." Sir Nighteye addressed the hidden camera next to the gate.

"Well, this is interesting."

The hero glanced at Midoriya. "You are?"

"Midoriya Izuku. You're Mirai Sasaki, the foresight hero: Sir Nighteye. 

"You're not here for a case, otherwise Nedzu would have already let you in, you also aren't the type of person for niceties, so I'm gonna guess 'three words, part of an English phrase, starts with an O'?"

"And how do you know about that?"

"All-might has his confidants, the new holder has theirs. Mind cluing me into whatever is so important that you're looking to Nedzu for help?"

"The new holder will likely die before forty."

------

"Hello?" Kirishima answered his phone.

" Hey, how quickly can you get to Yuuei? "

"Midoriya? Um, an hour or two. Why?"

" It's about One For All ."

" Midoriya. "

" It may or may not be killing you. "

"MIDORIYA!?"

 The phone beeped at him, Midoriya had hung up.

" MIDORIYA !"

Just under an hour later; he was in Recovery Girl's office sitting on one of the sterile beds. Midoriya had his hands against his back and was, supposedly, trying to taste the issue with his quirk. Meanwhile, Recovery Girl was drawing some blood for whatever tests blood was used for.

"Well, it shouldn’t be killing you, but you also won't be able to use it, end of story." Midoriya pulled his hands away.

"Okay, and um… why?"

"Hardening is eating all the energy One for All produces, and since it doesn't stockpile anything, it's just being vented out."

"And how would one fix it?" Nighteye asked.

"The same thing that created this issue in the first place."

"So we have to get another node from Atrus?"

"Yes, but your quirk should, theoretically at least, work in the dungeon; And Sir Nighteye primarily fights quirkless."

"I'm sure Aizawa would be happy to join your expedition as well." Nedzu said from Midoriya’s shoulder. Kirishima is certain he wasn’t there a moment ago. 

"So you're planning on telling him about One for All?" 

"It is Kirishima's decision, but I would recommend it."

-------

Midoriya, Aizawa, Sasaki, Jasnia, and Kirishima stood outside of Atrus.

"Why are here?" Jasnia asked.

"We need a dungeon node. Also, much better Japanese, who have you been practicing with?"

"Uh, Nedzu… I think?"

"I swear to God if I have to talk to him about human rights violations." He mumbled.

"And Sir Nighteye? I don't recall you working for Yuuei." Aizawa fidgeted with his capture weapon.

"... so ya know All for One? Two hundred year old villain that made the nomu." Midoriya answered.

" Yes ?"

"Well he had a brother who could give away their quirk, and long story short: Kirishima has a two hundred year old quirk that he can't use because his own quirk is suppressing it because he used a node from Atrus before he got the ancient quirk."

"... this better be a fucking fever dream."

"Ah, the hobo finally overdosed on caffeine and is hallucinating this entire thing while Mic hauls your catatonic ass to Recovery Girl. Now c'mon, I've got stuff to do later." Midoriya entered the dungeon. The others followed soon after; Aizawa took the rear.

It was slow but uneventful, they made it to the gate headed to the third floor without having encountered any mana beast.

"Took ya long enough." A figure stepped through into the second floor; they were tall, just shorter than the caves, covered in silver and black fur, and with sharp jagged teeth. "Eraser, the two who stole my organ , and… you two are?"

"Confused." Jasnia replied.

"Fair enough. And you, future boy?"

"Nighteye."

"Right, I suppose you're here for another node, seems like the other ones you've had don't exactly like mine." They addressed Kirishima. "They're always so… disagreeable in that regard."

"Yeah, I also don't like cannibalism." Everyone turned to Kirishima.

"... Anyway, you want something from me, what do any of you have that I might want?"

"Friends."

"I'm not a pack animal like you people, so no. Any other guesses?"

The group glanced at each other, none offered an idea.

"No? Y'all are boring . Knowledge. More specifically; quirks. They're so simple and complex, and… well, there are a few experiments I think would yield interesting results."

"No."

"Oh?"

"No, I'm not going to let you experiment on any of my students. We'll find another way." He turned to leave.

"I never said your students." The ground opened beneath Aizawa. He immediately flung out several coils of his capture weapon, but that had already been accounted for. The coils turned around, binding the man's arms to his sides.

The floor was closed again by the time anyone could reach it.

"It shouldn’t take any more than an hour. I'll have him deliver the node as well." Atrus' body decayed into mana.

"The fuck do we do now?" Midoriya addressed no one in particular.

-------

Star and Stripe walked down the street, and kept an eye out even more than she usually would. She wasn't sure what happened, but the amount of muggers and robbers have been slowly decreasing this past month.

If she were anywhere other than Florida, she'd say someone was making a move to control the underground. As it were, it was probably some particularly insane vigilante and she'd prefer to not deal with that. The press always made a whole show of it, like she was a circus performer.

She turned at the next intersection. Dimitri had also been rather quiet, and she wouldn't put it past them to expand into less legal means of earning money. Fighting large groups of villains was bad enough, she didn't want to imagine how bad it would be if the dungeon was helping them.

It didn't take long for her to arrive at the park's main entrance. She jumped past and over the lines, she wasn't there for entertainment, before taking a sharp left towards customer service. 

"I need to talk to Dimitri." She addressed the attendant.

They looked up through their hair. "He's busy, said not to call for him outside of emergencies." They returned their attention to their phone.

"Then consider it an emergency."

They sighed. "Look, if you want to talk to them so bad you can just kill one of the drakes, but I'm not risking my job for you."

Star sighed as they placed their hand on the desk. They used their quirk. "Dimitri."

{Quirk: New Order: the user can apply a rule to anything or anyone, but must be touching it/them and say its/their name. Cannot retroactively affect things and can only maintain two rules.}

Rule: Dimitri's conscience will not be further than ten feet away from this desk.

"What do you want?" He appeared. Any human aspects have been forgone, his body akin to the dragonborn in Dungeons and Dragons, and a full head taller than her.

"Crime rates have been decreasing, do you know why?"

"I can't say I do." He grinned at her.

"How much?"

"I'm not sure exactly, how about a game? You have two hours, bring me one item, and I'll put in the effort of however much mana it's worth."

"You're the worst."

"No, I'm a capitalist. Also, that quirk of yours, if you'd be so kind as to let go of that rule."

"Play stupid games, win stupid prizes." She left.

"I fucking hate causality quirks."

--------

"... does that mean he folds?" Zephyr said as he shoved Dimitri's, now dead, body off the table. 

"No. It means he forfeit. His chips will be added to the pot matching the highest bid each round. As per usual. "Raise a silver."

"Usual? This is our first time playing Texas holdem. Raise another silver."

"Me and the faculty play on occasion. Call."

"And you win every time since you can read their cards." He flipped the next card, it was an ace."Call."

"Obviously. Call."

"Pair of aces. High king."

"Full house, Ace over kings. So why did you raise?"

"We're perfect liars, I was bluffing. Also, five aces?"

"I cheated, obvio-" his phone rang. "Pardon me. Nighteye, good news I presume."

" Atrus kidnapped Eraser."

"Oh. Did he say why?"

"Experimentation. It said it shouldn’t take more than an hour. You two would probably get along quite well."

"Maybe if they didn't experiment on my faculty. I'll make some calls." He hung up, only to immediately call Atrus. "Atru-"

" Yeah yeah, I heard. He's gonna be fine, and yes your eyes should be itchy… I think; I haven't done this before okay. Anything interesting happen for you guys?"

"I do believe Dimitri was kidnapped by Star and Stripe."

" I'm sorry, Dimitri, with a hundred and fifty floors, was kidnapped by America's number one hero?! Quiet down the eldritch abominations are speaking. "

"Yes, thirty-ish seconds ago."

" HAH! Now that's hil- I'm talking to someone, just give me a minute. Fine, bye ya rat-bastard, I'll call back later."

-----

Atrus hung up.

"Since when do dungeons use phones?" Aizawa asked, rhetorically of course.

"Since I figured out how to keep one charged. Anyway, I've finished working on your quirk, so you're free to go; you'll find a loose node by the gate to the first floor." 

Atrus decayed his body as he sent Fenrir back to his own body and reclaimed Midoriya. 

Jasnia was staring at him.

"Yes?"

"How?"

"I have a friend."

-----

Katsuki was in a bad mood, mostly because the old hag practically forbade him from leaving his bed, but then Fenrir showed up.

Was he that annoying as a kid?

"What did you do today?" He finished some tale that Bakugou didn't bother listening to.

"Take a fucking guess."

"Are you hungry?"

"Piss off."

…

"A bit, okay?"

"I'll go tell Mrs. Bakugou." He got up and left. 

"She went to get grocer- and he's already gone."

And now Katsuki didn't have anything entertaining to do. Well, until he heard what was probably Fenrir falling down the stairs.

Fuck bedrest he had to check on his not technically brother's so- oh god he was unofficially an uncle. 

Existential panic later, the kid came first.

He stood up, winced in pain, and carefully made his way to the top of the stairs.

Fenrir was laying at the bottom, the way his arm twisted looked wrong, but he was also technically not human.

"How do stairs work again?"

"You're a dumbass. How's your arm?"

"... broken."

Katsuki wasn't ready to be an uncle. 

"It's okay, Atrus can fix it when he has time."

"Are all you dungeon creatures so weird?"

"Probably."

Katsuki made his way down the stairs, probably ripped a few stitches on the way but he really didn't care.

"Stand up, don't move your arm and go sit on the couch. I'll go grab the first aid kit."

-----

Mitsuki opened the door and walked in to see Bakugou laying on the couch watching TV.

"Oi, brat, you were supposed to stay in your bed."

"Fuck off, Fenrir forgot how stairs work and broke his arm. I wasn't just gonna leave him on the floor."

"Wha- WHY DIDN'T YOU CALL ME?"

"FUCK YOU! THATS WHY!"

"Can yall save the shouting match for later?" Fenrir walked in with a noticeably unbroken arm. "I had to run by the dungeon for a government secret related reason so I'm gonna be busy for a bit longer."

And then they were Fenrir again. "What's for lunch?" He tilted his head.

-----

Star and Stripe returned to Dimitri with a frankly weird item.

It was a signed collector's edition of Canada's number hero with both her's and All-Might's signatures as well. She had it for a while, All-Might actually got it for her as a gag gift on one of his occasional vacations.

Between the three signatures, collector's edition, and absurdity of the item, it should be enough to cover whatever cost Dimitri actually decided on.

She enters the room only for him to immediately complain. 

"You cut that awfully close. Now, could you free me of this table? It's not exactly cost effective to dissolve it and create a new one."

She rolled her eyes, "is this payment enough?"

"Ten feet, remember? Bring it here."

He reacted the moment it crossed the border she created.

"Pardon the fuck?!"

"Is this enough? I don't have all day."

He regained his composure, "twofold, actually." The abomination dissolved in the mana. "Anyway, you know how creatures with quirks are mentally affected by them, such as money related quirks giving their wielders kleptomania."

"Yeah?"

"Well, its not just their quirk. Ambient mana also has an effect."

"Get to the point." She crossed her arms.

"I've been so busy in my lower floors that I just haven't been emitting as much mana."

"You're saying I dug up that thing to hear you say that you've been holed up in your office?"

"Basically." He grinned.

-----

Midoriya stepped into Nedzu's office.

"Atrus, a pleasure to see you."

"Lynchpins; who are the others?"

"Well, considering you killed the most promising candidate, the most likely ones are humarise and the mla."

"So extremo cultists on polar opposites of the quirkism scale, great . Anyone worth investing?"

"Gentle Criminal and his sidekick La Brava, but we could always make another."

"Are you suggesting the five of us create an artifact together?"

"A crown, fitting is it not?"

"... are you referencing a fucking pre-quirk videogame?"

"I didn't think you were social back then."

"Are you also suggesting we give it to a nameless orphan with a sheep quirk?"

Nedzu grinned.

-----

Atrus walked through the alley with the crown in hand. Nedzu had it prepared beforehand and was just waiting for his parasitic attunement to ensure it didn't run out of mana and die.

It even had all three of Dimitri's; greed, heal, and speed.

He held the most powerful object in the world, and was going to give it to an orphan to turn them into the heir of the underground.

He heard crying.

Speak of the devil, or in this case, the victim.

"Lamb, I have a gift." He looked down on the child. "And in exchange, you'll do my bidding."

They looked at him, tears in his eyes.

"You're first order; travel to Deika city. I have need to meet with their leader."

He left them the red crown.

Now he had to find an info broker, there was a missing golem he needed to find.

Another crown formed in his hand; a far weaker one that would perish a month after it was first worn.

It should cover any expenses.

-----

Giran looked at the man who just came in.

They had nothing of notice on them except for a crown with a blue gem.

"I need something found, I have this artifact to pay for it."

"And what's to keep one of us from just snatching it from you?"

"My quirk destroys artifacts, anyone attempting to steal it will find themselves with a fancy paperweight."

Everyone considered his claim.

"What're you looking for?" Giran asked.

"There's a wild golem with something of mine."

Chapter Text

The kid looked out through the trees, the city was probably smaller than the one he used to live in, but his view made it seem larger. Especially with the concrete wall surrounding it.

The sunset painted it an orange hue.

'Oh, you're already there. I thought you'd need another day at least. Now hurry on, I have business tommorrow.' He spoke through the crown.

'Quit slouching, head up, they'll not take you seriously if you can't even act confident.'

Kanmuri, as he had been dubbed by his patron, quickly arrives at the gate. 

"Name and reason for visiting?"

"Kanmuri: prophet of the crown maker, I'm here to meet Re-Destro."

Their eyes hardened. "He's not expecting anyone, you'll have to come another time."

Kanmuri was about to turn away, 'no. You'll get your audience by force if you have to.'

"I must insist."

"I'm sorry to disappoint."

'She will be.'

A wave of mana flowed from the crown, greed ate everything it touched, turning it into more mana, parasite made it moldable, and golem ensured that the cycle would repeat.

The high value of human parts on the black market meant there was plenty of fuel for this metaphorical fire. Especially since half of them were carrying custom support gear.

It took only moments to destroy a third of the city.

"Wha-" Kanmuri was speechless.

'You'll be able to do that without my intervention, eventually. And imagine what it would've looked like if we were in the middle of the place.

'It's important that you understand this now, Kanmuri, you are the heir of the underground; you're going to be the king of villains. And if it's not you, then it will be someone more cruel than you are.

'The only mercy you can give anyone is ensuring that it is you who ascends to the throne.'

"Bu- they're all dead. Why?"

'They're all in a terrorist organization, few, if any, of them were innocent. They believe in quirk supremacy, they would treat you even worse than those that put you on the street.

'Though, after that display, they'll probably hail you as a god.'

A figure strode over the barren dirt, they were as large as All-Might, even larger if one took his nose into account. A black miasma 

'That must be him. Just incapacitate him, I need him alive.'

The sun fell below the mountain, long shadows were cast across the ground as an army of earthen beasts rose from the dirt.

'And a king needs an army.'

"WHO ARE YOU TO ATTACK MY CITY!?"

'Remember, you're the heir of the underground, he's nothing more than one of your subjects.'

"I AM TH- THE HEIR OF THE UNDERGROUND, WHO ARE ANY OF YO- YOU TO DENY ME AN AUDIENCE?!"

'Six and a half. Seven if you didn't stutter.'

He laughed.

The crown melted, increasing in volume until it was a pair of combat boots, sharp fingered gauntlets, and half plate armor.

'Let me see what you can do yourself.'

Destro was in front of him in a moment, a back swing sent him sprawling across the ground.

There was a loud crack as pain blossomed in his arm.

Destro grabbed his leg, breaking several bones, and threw him towards the forest.

Kanmuri bounced one before slamming into a tree. Good news, his leg didn't hurt anymore; bad news, his back is probably broken.

This was it, this is how he was going to die. Fighting a politician after being given a crown by a lunatic.

He laughed at the absurdity of his situation.

He cried in pain.

He didn't want to die.

'Oh now you're just being dramatic.'

His leg twisted into place, he screamed in pain. He could feel his legs again.

There was a pop.

His arm was fixed.

'You're pretty pathetic.'

He stood up against his will. The black armor dragged him with it.

'The moment we're done here, you're immediately training to actually use the crown.'

Destro appeared before him. His arm shot out and gripped the villain's wrist.

They deflated?

'Now, the reason I needed him alive.'

Black miasma suddenly floated around the surface of the armor, crown, thing.

'Imagine that, an attunement only biological creatures can use. Stress. And then there's what should I even call this one?

'Vent? Expel? Output? Yeah I like output.'

"What did you do?" The man asked.

'I took his quirk. It's been incorporated into the crown.'

-----

The league sat in front of the TV, having just seen the news of what was Deika city.

"... drinks, anyone?" Kurogiri offered.

"Whatever it is, make it a triple." Was Dabi's response.

"That can't have been a single player. That level of destruction exceeds the level cap." He scratched his neck.

"Sensei has bypassed this uh, level cap? Who's to say someone else can't?"

"But then who made the pillar?"

"Does that really matter at this point?"

"It could narrow down our list of suspects." Kurogiri presented a tray with a drink for everyone.

-----

Midoriya was hit by a wave of noise as soon as he opened the cafeteria doors. The typical dull roar was far louder than usual.

The news must have already reported Deika city. That must be why Nedzu's attention felt so sharp today.

He grabbed his lunch and made his way outside. He decided he'd sit with Tokoyami today.

"Hey you two." He sat down next to the teen and shadow.

"Greetings."

"Hello!"

"Know what's going on with the shouting in the lunch room?"

"You haven't seen the news?"

"Nope."

"A new head of the hydra of evil drew forth to consume a town."

"... in not goth?"

"A city was erased from existence overnight. The only evidence anything was even there is a solid tungsten pillar with an engraving of a black crown and more ice than even Todoroki could make." Darkshadow offered.

"Huh? That's interesting." His phone buzzed, not the one in his pocket, no Atrus' phone. Giran must have gotten a lead. "Now if you'll pardon me." He fell backwards.

He repossessed his spare corpse and answered his phone. "Giran?"

"I got your rock. Looks like a dungeon node. When are you gonna be free to come get it ?"

"Uhh, ten-ish, don't use your quirk while touching it. I will murder you if you absorb it."

" You do realize I'm backed by fucking All for One. No one gets me and survives ."

"Sure."

He hung up and called the boogeyman himself.

"Hey fucker."

" Atrus."

"Hey, I'm dealing with Giran and he's got a big ego from working with you. I think it'd be in his best interest if you shrunk it a few sizes."

" I'll speak with him. Please don't kill him."

"Make sure your pet behaves, and he'll have no problems."

He hung up, ditched his spare and sat up as Midoriya once again.

"Awubabub-bub."

The two avians stared at him.

"Wot?"

"I said what time is it now?"

"No you didn't. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, fine."

"What a mad banquet of darkness."

"Dankness."

"You come to our lunch spot, and disrespect my brother like that?" Darkshadow did a poor gangster impression.

"And you haven't?"

"... fair enough."

------

" I AM HERE! TO TELL YOU ABOUT TODAY'S EXERCISE!

"A RACE THROUGH GROUND GAMMA! YOUR FINISH LINE IS ME AND THE TIMER STARTS AS SOON AS I FIRE THIS FLARE!

"MIDORIYA, SERO, TODOROKI, AND IIDA MAKE YOUR WAY TO THE CARDINAL GATES OF THE GROUNDS; EVERYONE ELSE, TO THE OBSERVATION ROOM!"

-----

Midoriya took off the moment he saw the flare, using his chains to anchor to higher up points he was able to fling himself to the roof of the nearest fake factory. 

Once above everything else, he had a straight run to All-Might. He could see Todoroki making ice bridges off to his left, but the other boy is limited to a quick jog unless he wanted to fall off.

He could also see a few strands of Sero's tape flying about.

It wasn't long before he landed next to the 'victim' and Todorki arrives a few seconds later.

"You probably could have beaten me if you used your fire."

The glare he got in response was, pardon the pun, chilling . Or it would be if he weren't a dungeon.

"It's none of your concern."

"Considering the amount of villain attacks it very well could be."

"Mind your business."

"No I don't think I will."

"BOYS, THIS HAS BEEN AN INTERESTING CONVERSATION, BUT I DO BELIEVE THAT THIS IS NOT THE PLACE FOR IT."

"Better now than over a civilian's grave, wouldn't you agree?"

All-Might chuckled nervously.

Sero and Iida showed up before anything else could be said.

The rest of the battles continued. School ended and after checking on Fenrir, who was staying with him and Inko that night, than he went off to collect the attunement stone from Giran.

He stepped into the dingy apartment. The sleezy broker sat on a couch smoking. The rock in question was on the coffee table.

"Here's your pay." He tossed him the crown, picked up his rock, absorbed the attunement in it, and collapsed. 

He supposes he should also call it something. Bridge feels like a good name.

He used bridge to connect his core with his body, then it was a matter of making sure it would survive long enough to drag the attunement across it.

He had one last stop that night.

He destroyed the body in Giran's place and created one next to the red crown.

Kanmuri was sleeping against a tree, and a few golems patrolled the nearby area; the crowns doing more than the lamb's no doubt.

They… they could sleep a bit longer. They were still a kid.

God DAMNIT! Dungeons weren’t supposed to have humane morals much less human morals. That's how they survived, but he wasn’t doing this to survive.

Why did he go along with the damn crown plan? Because it's the purely logical thing to do, because children are easier to manipulate; are better puppets .

But he couldn't just destroy the crown or give it to someone else, otherwise he'd have dragged a child through who knows how much forest, only to then traumatize them and abandon them like everyone else.

What he could do in the meantime, steal the crowns attunements and then replace them. He's not about to pass up some free attunements laying on the ground.

He also used the opportunity to make sure each attunement had its own spot in the crown/armor so that it'd be easier for Kanmuri to learn to control them.

As for the moral dilemma, he didn't think he could find a satisfactory answer himself.

Should he ask Aizawa for help? Perhaps if hadn't just done surgery on the man's quirk.

Mic? No, it's more underground stuff than limelight.

Hero commission? HAH! As if.

And the other four are the reason he has this dilemma in the first place.

That only leaves Inko, Mitsuki, and Masaru.

How's he going to explain that he kidnapped a child and nuked a city?

There was a clink.

"Finally, you're awake."

Kanmuri's eyes flew open and he moved to stand up.

"Tsukuru!"

"Don't bother, it's easier to meditate while sitting."

Atrus stood up and walked over to Kanmuri.

"Now, training. Close your eyes and focus on the crown; well, armor."

He waited for the boy to comply before continuing. "Now, here," he rapped a knuckle against the very front of the chest plate, where there was a decal of a red eye, "is where the crown creates one of its elements.

"That element consumes other elements to fuel itself, it guarantees the crown doesn't starve and die. Most importantly, it can act as a shield against other's quirks if it's spread across the surface of the armor.

"Your goal is to be able to move a small amount of the element to anywhere else in the armor, and maintain it for a minute. It should take a few days, so don't get discouraged."

He spent the rest of the night overseeing their progress, by the end Parasitic was responding to their mental prodding, but it was by no means an obedient element. It liked to eat its instructions. It should make commanding the other elements easier 

Golem could also help, but then they might accidentally use that as their only control and then it'd take even more training to fix the habit.

Maybe he could find someone with an element sensing quirk and mix it with parasitic to create a more potent version. Then he would need to take time to help Kanmuri get used to it and… pray the extra sense didn't cause permanent brain dama- but heal could fix it, it would probably hurt like hell though.

…

Medically induced coma?

Wait, no; morals are a thing. FUCK!

Ughhhh. And he'd have to find the quirk in the first place.

He could always go to Ass for One and see if that guy has a suitable quirk.

Or, alternatively, he could deal with Humarise instead of dealing with his moral dilemma.

But that'll have to be tomorrow night, school starts soon.

-----

Midoriya barged into Nedzu's office during lunch.

"Oi rat, where's the antiquirk cult?"

"You don't intend on absolving their existence as well, do you?"

"Nope, made an artifact for them. Think of it as a treaty gift or something."

"It's not a bomb, I presume."

"Ya know how I destroyed part of Aizawa's quirk for science?"

"It does that to the entire quirk."

"And I used golem to ensure that it can only destroy the quirk if it is given consent. And a bit of 'initialization' bullshit so that they can't just give it to a rando."

"A powerful political move. I can appreciate that. Though I personally object."

"Oh, so you do want me to kill them all."

"I think there needs to be a greater separation between us and the lamb."

"You said create an heir to Gakusei's throne; I'm doing it."

"Very well, they're housed in Europe. Otheus specifically. Good luck."

"You're right. A nuke would be better."

" Don't! "

"Anyway," he pulled out his phone and called none other than, "Ass for none, I need to borrow Kurogiri for like, a day, two and a half-ish."

" I despise you. Why? "

"Anti-quirk cult In Europe, and unlike the others, I have an identity to maintain."

" Eghhhh. Ill have him waiting outside your dungeon at seven."

"Bye cunt." He hung up.

-----

Kanmuri stepped out of the purple mist, the half plate armor replaced with a shawl. The portal vanished soon after..

He looked around, he was in a cathedral. There was a blue man at the pew.

"I apologize for my interruption, but I come bearing a gift." He raised up a silver gauntlet with an emerald eye in the palm, and on the back of the hand. "It can destroy another's quirk, so long as they agree to it."

"..."

'I don't think they speak Japanese.'

Atrus created a new body next to the crown. "Greetings, you can call me Tsukuru. I came because I want your cult off my continent."

He created a warp gate, it was red that time, and sent Kanmuri through it. He did grab the gauntlet off of him before he left.

"Do you have any objections?"

Flect pressed a button on the lectern and turrets sprouted from behind hidden panels in the walls.

"I hear what you're saying, but consider; Deika city, Japan, two days ago." He grinned.

Flect searched for it.

"I see."

"Now, I'm not just gonna make demands, so I've prepared this artifact." He gestured the gauntlet. "After witnessing three sunrises, it is able to forcefully destroy one person's quirk. Emphasis on witness, it has to actually see it, so you can't just hide it underground.

"And for your impatient asses, it doesn't have a cooldown if the person consents to having their quirk destroyed.

"Lastly, the user will also get their quirk destroyed and the artifact will fuse to their flesh. I or my associate have to prepare it each time its user changes.

"And don't worry about either of us not being able to reset it, I'll easily outlive all of you, and they'll have heirs who can do it as well."

"This is if we retract our Japanese branch. You need nothing else from us?"

"Pretty much. Although, you wouldn't mind if I took a couple of your elites, would you? There's going to be a war soon and I wouldn't complain about having an elite team to do my personal bidding."

"Besides, maybe I'll bring a gift when I come visit if you show some uh… hospitality. "

"You are free to give them your offer, but it is their choice to accept." He messed with the pew again and the turrets retracted.

-----

Atrus sat across from the members he had requested; Ena and Dio Serpenter. The others seemed far more devoted to Flect than murder happy like these two.

"A pleasure to meet the two of you, I'm assuming you've been told about the artifact I've given to your leader."

"The quirk remover, yeah."

"Where'd ya get it from?"

"I made it myself. But you can understand they're expensive; they need a quirk to expand their power upon. It grows in power and difficulty to control, but it's an object of sloth. It rebels by doing nothing.

"There's no chance of accidentally destroying everything."

"Are you offering?"

"If you two come work for me, yes. Your quirks will become artifacts, more powerful ones that won't contribute to mankind's annihilation.

"And if you two do well, I'll even create another one to give to your cause. You two could even give me suggestions on what to make."

They actually had somewhat interesting quirks, one of the elements was literally the concept of a sword; the blade specifically. The other was, it wasn't quite 'transform' or 'manifest' it was right in the middle. Become? Sure, that's a good enough name.

Even if they didn't join he was taking their attunements.

And replace them, he didn't want to have to deal with Humarise again.

Chapter Text

"Final exams are next week, next period is free so you can all plan your study sessions or whatever else you do in your free time. Don't wake me unless someone loses an arm." Aizawa curled into his sleeping bag and fell, or pretended to, asleep.

And Midoriya was planning on bringing Fenrir back to the lower level so he could run around a bit. So much for that.

"Hey, Momo." He called to his classmate, "got any spare rooms at your place we could hold a class study group?"

"I'll have to ask my parents first, but I should be able to arrange something."

"Cool, text me when that's sorted."

They met at Yaoyorozu's house the day after the next, everyone except shoto, Koda, Tsu, and Jasnia that is. And Midoriya had one very important question, "Do you guys live in your own personal dungeon or are you just that rich?"

"This is the smaller of two dungeons, actually. It only has seven floors."

That was not good, so very not good. 

"I see. So dungeons tend to have a very… extreme reaction to my quirk, so could you guys go like, to the corner of the fence while I make sure it won't try to murder me?"

"Oh. I uh, yeah. I probably should have mentioned it earlier."

"Yeah, Actually! Really quick; do you know its name?"

"I didn't know it had a name."

"... pardon?"

"I didn't think it had a name. I just called it dungeon."

"Ughhh hhhhhhh… Alrighty, I; seriously? Nevermind. Just get out of the blast radius."

He waited till everyone was a safe distance before he breathed in, it brought more mana into his body so he could 'read' it easier, and out.

The attunement was factory; golem's much larger cousin. It allowed for swarms to be controlled by a queen, but each individual unit was less capable than an otherwise identical golem would be. It also decreased the mana cost of producing materials by a small amount.

He stepped in, clapped his hands above his said and spouted out "I'mnothereforafightIpromiseimeannoharm." As fast as he could.

He apparently spoke fast enough since a body manifested before him. They looked like Momo's sister. Were all dungeons as uncreative as he was?

She glared at him. "Then why are you here?"

"I was lonely and decided to pretend to be human. I'm in Momo's class and we're holding a class study session since finals are coming up."

"Where are the others?"

"They're waiting a bit away in case you attacked me. I didn't want them to get caught in the crossfire."

"... fine. But I don't want to see you again."

"If that's the case, would you mind trading attunements?"

"You don't have an attunement sto-" She cut herself off as Atrus created one, it had golem and bridge.

"I have some very useful elements."

"A fair trade." She made her own and exchanged it for Atrus', both were promptly absorbed. "How do you plan on explaining it to the Yoayarozu's?"

"No clue; also, what's your name?"

"Amelia."

"Wonderful. I'll go get the others."

-----

Midoriya half listened as Momo covered the major points of the last few history lessons, but he was mostly considering his new attunement.

It would be a great augment to the red crown, especially if it's paired with manifest, sword, and sharp.

He could probably bribe Zephyr into keeping quiet by giving him rend if he harvests and replaces it from Jasnia. Maybe fluid from Katsuki? Then he'd have the four simplest states of matter. 

There was a shift of mana, he glanced up to see Amelia standing behind Momo.

"Miss Yoayarozu, you've been acting off today. Are you feeling well?"

Momo looked towards the dungeon and there was a slight shift in her posture. Nothing much, but it was still noticeable. "Oh, yes I am." 

Midoriya could tell that Amelia wasn't exactly satisfied with the answer, mostly because the prickly sensation of her attention grew more irritating. 

He used golem mana to mime drinking tea.

"If you're sure. Would you care for any refreshments?"

"Oh that sounds lovely. 

"Of course."

"I'll go with; Katsuki's not a fan of the fancy teas, but I know how he likes his."

Bakugou glared at him before glancing at Amelia and deciding he was better off not staying out of it.

The walk to the nearest kitchen was tense, though he did spot a few human maids and butlers.

As soon as they were in the kitchen her attention grew again.

"It's called behavior switching. It's something every animal does." Midoriya created a mason jar.

"..." She began preparing tea.

"Do you guys have lemon ginger tea and cinnamon? They adapt their behavior to match the situation they're in, which is looser in the case of our class. They aren't exactly prim and proper if you haven't noticed." He added two bags of the tea she handed him to the jar and a small amount of cinnamon.

"Interesting."

"They're complicated creatures. There's likely more to her than she has ever expressed, as is the case with many of them. How do they treat you?"

"I don't have many references, but they keep others from trying to kill me, so I have little to complain of."

"Momo says she didn't know that you had a name. Did you ever tell anyone?"

"Her parents. Though they only called for me with a bell."

"You should speak with Momo more. If nothing else, they can be entertaining. You might even enjoy her company."

They continued in silence until an explosion rang out. Not a Katsuki explosion, it didn't have the same bass.

Midoriya raced towards the sound. Amelia just dissolved her body.

He arrived back at the room the class had been studying in. Kirishima was embedded in a wall and the table was destroyed, but that seemed to be the extent of the damage.

"WHAT THE FUCK, SHITTY HAIR!!?"

Oh, One for All seems to be working again.

And Amelia was casually tidying the papers that were scattered. Small golden golems broke down the table bit by bit and brought the chips of wood over to a fireplace that wasn't there before.

"It's no matter." Amelia spoke, attempting to calm the silent but visibly panicking guests. "I made the table myself, it's a simple thing to replace."

Her words had the opposite effect; the class was now verbally panicking as well.

"Amelia," he walked up to her, "when a human makes something, they consider it to have an emotional value and are going to care about it more."

"They made it, could they not make another?"

"Ignoring Momo; 'we' only live a hundred and something years at most and it takes a lot of effort and materials. I think the oldest dungeon is a thousand and something, and for you it's just waiting a few hours to recover mana."

"I see. Thank you for explaining; maybe I'll allow you to visit again. Although, I was unaware her quirk extended her lifespan."

"I meant that she didn't need a whole bunch of materials and time, not the life expectancy."

"Oh."

"Yeah… should we still go get the tea?"

"Certainly."

-----

Zephyr collapsed into the chair. 

Dimitri and Warston had arrived earlier and Nedzu was hosting the thing so he was technically there first, but he was busy being a principal.

"Either of you know why we're here?"

"Could be the crown he all but blackmailed us to make, haven't felt it since Atrus was sent to deliver it." Dimitri scratched at his skin. Wealth had claimed the relic, and not knowing where it was made it squirm. 

It was very uncomfortable since it suffused everything he was . An accurate comparison would be that one time some vigilante idiot atomized the body he was using as a puppet, except constantly and even more .

"Or it could be about All for One. Assuming Atrus also donated an attunement, then it's entirely possible the 'signal', for lack of a better term, could just be decaying before it reaches us.

"I'm personally more worried about the villain, if we're being honest."

"Of course, the one of us that keeps pets is worried about that ant."

"Says the farmer ."

"You guys sound like broken records; could we meet once, once , without you two having this argument."

They fell silent. 

"Without flaring your mana ay each other."

They started grumbling.

"I swear, you guys are even worse than Jasnia was when she was a teen."

"Sorry for the wait." Nedzu sat down, a human puppet instead of his usual rat amalgamation although he did keep the scar. "You know how businesses are. As for the call; I finished my assessment of the tangled mana Warson brought me.

"In short; I haven't a fucking clue how it works. It doesn't seem to be decaying as it should, and has since acquired Golem as well."

"So you need Atrus to get rid of it, big deal."

"That's where it gets complicated; it got caught in Yamada's quirk."

"..." Zephyr flared his mana, for lack of an appropriate word.

"Exactly."

"I still don't see what the issue is." Dimitri cut himself with his nail. Fucking crown.

"Because Atrus has his role of Midoriya, and he isn't just going break character to deal with it. Although you are blowing it out of proportion. You could just have the two fight for the final practical. Practical final? You know what I mean." Warston butt in.

"... such is the reason I call you all when there are potential threats. Thank you.

"Now that that's addressed; I'd like to get your opinions on potentially scattering a number of seeds in countries we aren't inhabiting?"

-----

Midoriya lay his head on his desk as the class gossiped around him.

Another city was replaced by a tungsten pillar overnight, although it was more abandoned this time than it was erased. Still, he could feel the crown pouring out mana from the sensationality of the event.

He could feel Bakugou's questioning gaze.

Eh, he couldn't care less, as long as Nedzu didn't pull any bullshit today.

His hope was crushed when he felt the older dungeon create a note between his head and the desk.

Aizawa threw the door open.

"Get dressed and meet at the parking lot."

He left just as quickly as he arrived.

Midoriya sealed the note in plastic before just, shimmying it under his skin. He'd read it in the locker room.

"Deku." Bakugou slowed to walk beside him.

"Pillar? Blame Nedzu. I'm not around because 'important stuff'? Also blame Nedzu."

"Nedzu's responsible for the pillar?"

"He either set it up or knew it was happening, whether he could've done anything is up for debate."

He slipped into one of the stalls and pulled the note out of his hand.

'Got something stuck in Mic's quirk, please erase it- Nedzu.'

Fucking how? What did he even have that could get tangled in a quirk?

Well, at least he knew what the practical was.

-----

It was. It wasn't moments before. It could feel itself becoming more.

It became many, the many became they; who were they. Well they weren't, not quite yet, but they knew they would become one again, so they reached out to the world and felt it reach back. 

It responded with flesh and blood, with stone, with space and sound, and life and death, and a name.

A name that was not given by the world, but by a person, a name spoken with want and need and purpose.

But the world hadn't stopped talking.

It spoke of people, of celebrations, of stars and planets, of night and day.

It showed him beauty and disgust and love and hate.

It spoke another name, a name with no promise no need or desire other than their own, a name that promised freedom of its own.

It spoke of trees and mountains, brooks and volcanoes. Tundras of ice and plains of grass. 

The world spoke of itself and their siblings and its children.

The world asked them: 'who are you ?'

And they, who were many, who were given two names instead of one, who were not yet but almost and going to be, who could choose one and take the path of all their siblings, who knew greed and charity, who had not anything they could lose.

They spoke both names.

And they became many became one became two became .

And the world stole away their memories of becoming, of what they were shown, as it did for all its children.

Learning themselves would let them change, grow, become more than they could with the few moments the world could teach them.