Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Nobody knew quite when it started. All that people knew was that there was something strange about Izuku Midoriya.

Maybe it was the cold look in his eyes that would linger no matter his mood. Maybe it was the strange feeling of death that seemed to follow him everywhere he went, or perhaps it was the blasé way that he acted around the concept of people dying.

Thinking back on it, it was probably the first sign of what his quirk would one day be. At the age of four, however, Izuku didn't know that. All he knew was that kids around him were getting quirks, and he wasn't.

-~-

After a couple of weeks since his 4th birthday and no visible quirk had appeared, Inko Midoriya took her son to a quirk counselor to try to work out what exactly was wrong. She was currently sitting in an uncomfortable chair, looking over an x-ray of her son as said boy bounced around in excitement, eager to know what his quirk was.

"Well, looking at his bone structure, we can see that he isn't quirkless. Most likely, he does have a quirk, but it's either minor or simply has some niche activation requirement that he has yet to be exposed to." The doctor stroked his bushy mustache as he slouched into his chair.

"My best advice is to expose young Midoriya to as many different things as possible, in a controlled environment, of course. I believe you said his father could breathe fire? Perhaps you may want to try exposing him to a small flame and seeing if he has some form of pyrokinesis or heat resistance."

Inko frowned at the implication that she should consider setting her-four-year old son on fire, but nodded hesitantly. "Thank you, Dr Tsubasa. We'll try some experimentation later then." She fidgeted with her hands nervously on Izuku's lap as he bounced on her own, clearly excited by the concept of having a fire quirk like his father. The doctor got up, ready to lead them out. "If you do find out what his quirk is, or need any further advice, I implore that you come back to me. I'll do everything I can to help."

Rising from her chair and gently removing Izuku from her lap, Inko bowed slightly towards the portly man. "We'll do that." She led her son out of his office, feeling ever so slightly annoyed at the very basic advice, although that annoyance faded as her son was seemingly happy with it, given his large smile and pep in his step. Most likely, he was simply glad at the confirmation that he would have a quirk. She could only imagine how painful a quirkless person would have things in this day and age.

Unfortunately for the boy, once they were home and they had lit a candle for him to experiment with, he couldn't seem to do anything special with it, whether that was moving it, enhancing it, or resisting it when Inko looked away for a second, leading to a crying child clutching his hand.

-~-

Izuku was somehow even happier than normal the next day when he arrived at Kindergarten. The other kids clamored around him, eager to find out what he had learned at the counselor's office the day before, although none were quite as excited as one Katsuki Bakugo, or "Kacchan" to Izuku.

"So, Zuku, did you finally find out what your quirk is?" The boy smiled, or tried to. It seemed he was only capable of smirking, or at best, a semi-menacing grin.

Izuku did not mirror his happiness at the question, frowning slightly. "No, the doctor couldn't tell either. He said it probably has a weird acni, activation requirement." The green-haired boy seemed to struggle with the large words that the doctor had used, before his face turned back into his signature smile. "He said that I have a quirk ,though, I just don't know what."

It was the one piece of good news that the appointment had net. Rumors had circulated that he was quirkless since weeks had already passed, but at least they could be put to bed now.

Regardless, this news didn't seem to be a large comfort to Katsuki, as he frowned and grumbled, "You better find out what it is soon, Zuku, how are you supposed to be my sidekick if you don't even know what your quirk is?"

Izuku let out a sheepish chuckle to mask his worry on the subject, before the conversation drifted to other things, mainly about heroes as per usual. Izuku barely paid any attention, though, too busy thinking about what his quirk could be, and what experiments he could do to test for it.

-~-

4 years later, he still had no answer to his questions. He had tried everything he could think of, from trying countless different foods to putting himself in various situations and environments. He had even put himself in the hospital once, trying to test for something like regeneration or shock absorption by throwing himself down some stairs (Izuku was a smart boy, but he was desperate, ok?).

He was now walking home from Aldera Elementary, completely alone. His relationship with his classmates wasn't necessarily bad, but nobody was keen to hang around with someone basically quirkless. The only reason this hadn't led to bullying was the fact that he *did* have a quirk, even if nobody knows what it is.

He had even grown distant from Katsuki, initially because he couldn't serve as his sidekick, but nowadays he seemed a lot more aggressive and arrogant. He wasn't a bad person per se, but four years of being treated like a god amongst men by his classmates and even teachers would inflate any child's ego.

So lost in his thoughts about his ex-friend, Izuku had missed a turn and ended up in a bad part of the city, buildings in disrepair around him and people hurrying about with shifty eyes, clearly on guard and not wanting to stick around, even in broad daylight. Noticing this, Izuku turned around to retrace his steps and get out of there.

That was, until he heard what sounded like the scream of a little girl. Before he knew it, his feet were pounding as he sprinted down an alleyway, towards the scream. Looking back on this decision, this probably wasn't the greatest decision he had ever made. He was an eight-year-old boy, and merely being in this area would lead to exposure to gangs and general criminals. This danger was only compounded by running straight towards what was evidently even worse, given that the girl was screaming in the first place.

Regardless, Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a hero, and nobody could say he didn't have the heart of one.

He didn't quite pick up on how stupid he was being or how dangerous the situation was until he arrived at the scene, quickly throwing himself around a corner so that he could assess the situation safely. What he saw was a group of grown men kicking what appeared to be a little girl on the floor as she let out cries of pain, clearly already too battered to try to get away.

Izuku froze in both shock and fear, desperately wanting to call the police or a hero but not being able to because his mother hadn't deemed it necessary for an eight-year-old in a relatively safe neighbourhood to have a phone.

He scoured his mind for hero patrol routes in the area, long since memorised by the hero otaku, but for some reason, none seemed to go through the borderline slum he was in. He next thought of the nearest police station, but even that would take about 20 minutes of running with his short legs, both there and back. He decided that his best bet was to wait for the men to leave her alone and then carry her away to find an adult to call an ambulance. His heart ached watching, and he desperately wanted to save her, but even in his panicked state, he knew that a functionally quirkless 8-year-old couldn't beat a group of 5 men in their 20s to 30s, especially when at least one of them clearly had a mutant quirk and was absolutely massive. At most, he could maybe divide their attention between two children to beat so that the damage was split between them.

After the cries of pain stopped, the men walked away, and after another minute passed, Izuku approached the girl.

He looked down at her unblinking eyes with his cold ones, then his eyes drifted to her strangely pale skin and the blood pooling around her. Lastly, he took in the sight of her limbs, all covered in bruises at best, twisted unnaturally at worst. He reached a grisly conclusion at the sight, although he was strangely numb to it.

'Oh, she's dead.'

He was slightly confused at his lack of feeling towards that fact. He felt bad that she was injured. He felt bad that she had to go through so much pain. For some reason, though, he didn't feel bad that she was dead.

It was truly strange; he felt bad for the girl, but why not in this specific way? As he pondered this, his vision for some reason became slightly purple, like he was wearing tinted glasses. He reached out to the girl, following a strange urge, and suddenly a purple string shot through her beige cardigan and into his hand. 'What the hell? Is this my quirk?' was all he could think, until he was snapped out of his thoughts by a loud *crack*.

He looked away from the string sunk into his hand and back at the girl, only for his eyes to widen as her bones snapped back into place and her bruises faded. Her skin even seemed to regain some color, although it was hard to tell through his purple-tinted eyes. All of a sudden, she shot up, seemingly alive again, and looked at the boy in shock.

Chapter Text

Himiko Toga did not have a good life.

Maybe once upon a time, she would have said she did, but ever since *that* day? Most certainly not.

*That* day started like any other. She had had her fourth birthday recently, and like any child, she was excited to learn what her quirk was. She had her fangs, but that seemed to be all she inherited from her mother's cat mutation. Her father could mimic the appearance of anyone he was looking at, which Himiko had always liked the sound of. She didn't quite know why, but something was appealing about becoming someone else for a while, especially those she cared about, like her mother and father.

A couple of days had passed since she turned 4, but she hadn't quite figured out what her quirk was yet. The only thing she did know was that there was a strange feeling akin to hunger slowly growing inside of her. That was, until she saw it. She had been at the park with her mother, upset as she sat stationary on the swings. She had tried to play with some other kids, but they had gotten creeped out by her smile. She shouldn't have been surprised, really; her mom and dad always seemed uncomfortable when she smiled, too. That was when, out of the corner of her yellow cat-like eye, she saw a bird. The poor thing was injured by something, leaking delicious blood and struggling to stand. She felt the 'hunger' inside her swell at the sight, and she walked closer, ignorant of her mother's watchful gaze.

Gently cradling the bird in her hands, she licked her fangs and leaned in as they protruded. Before her fangs could sink into the cute little birdy, she felt her shoulder being yanked back, hard. She turned around with a feral look in her eye to see her mother's face looking furious.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" She yelled. Himiko was confused. After all, couldn't she see how cute the birdy was? How was she supposed to resist that glorious red ambrosia? How was her mother resisting it, even? Before she knew it, she had been roughly pulled all the way home and locked in her room until her father arrived back from work. She couldn't tell exactly what they were saying, but she heard words like "freak" or "monster" being thrown about, although it was hard to tell with all the yelling and her sobbing.

-~-

After *that* day, things never quite got better for the would-be bloodsucker. Without that strange hunger being satiated, it simply grew and grew as she was confined to her room. Her parents had pulled her out of school, not trusting her around other people. Of course, the school had asked questions, but those questions were quickly dropped with an explanation of what a "monster" their daughter was and a promise from her father to put in a good word with his associates.

The girl was eight now, and she had probably left her home about once a year. Food and water were provided through the door before it was quickly locked again; the windows were much too tough for a eight-year-old to break, and her only opportunity to leave her room (going to the toilet or having a bath, usually after a lot of begging) was strictly monitored. She didn't even know why her parents were doing this. Sure, they had always been slightly creeped out by her smile, and sure, her father beat her when she disobeyed his orders, but they were just being normal parents, right? Yet ever since she tried to bite the birdy, she had been a glorified prisoner. That was why, despite her young age, she wanted nothing more than to escape and never see her parents again.

She got her chance one day when her mother was taking her to the bathroom, only to get distracted by a phone call. She had been practicing the ability to erase her presence almost constantly for the past four years of imprisonment, and was now good enough that, as long as people weren't looking at her, she could completely disappear. Employing this trick, she snuck past her distracted mother and out the front door, into the night.

-~-

By Himiko's estimates, she had been free for about a year now. She was homeless on the streets, yet she arguably had a better diet and overall life than before. She had been stealing food, water, money, and occasionally clothes to keep herself alive, her honed stealth being an invaluable tool for doing so. Speaking of said ability, it had been forced to perfection with how often she ran from other criminals, those she stole from, and the police (both trying to catch the runaway and those who her victims had called).

Overall, things had been going pretty well as far as she was concerned. That was, of course, until she stole that yakuza thug's wallet. She had thought that he would be a good mark since surely a high-profile criminal would be rich, and besides, she could always just disappear if she messed up. Unfortunately for her, the thug had friends, which wouldn't have been so bad on its own. The real issue was that one of those friends had a tracking quirk. Himiko was fast and stealthy, but ultimately, she was still only 9. Thus, here she was, crying on the floor of an alleyway as they kicked her again and again. She screamed in pain, but she was happy in a way. At least these yakuza didn't seem to be predators or in the human trafficking business, so she would get off with, at worst, death. Not exactly ideal, but better than being defiled and then killed anyway.

As her vision went black and she found she couldn't keep her eyes open, she was at least slightly comforted that her death would be with a tiny shred of dignity.

What she never quite expected was to wake up again, completely healed. Hell, even her malnourishment had seemingly vanished.

She tuned to look at her saviour(?), and saw his shocked expression slightly covered by green curly hair. His eyes were cold, yet also strangely calming.

-~-

Himiko Toga had not had a good life.

But perhaps, she would have a good afterlife.

Chapter Text

Izuku stared down at the girl in shock for a second before his mind started racing. Was that a quirk? Well, it had to be; people didn't just come back to life.

' Was it her quirk? Or was someone else watching? Hell, was it maybe even my quirk?' All those thoughts passed through his head in seconds. It certainly wasn't one he had ever heard of before. The most powerful healing quirk he could think of was in the hands of the youthful heroine, recovery girl, but even that was far weaker. It healed much slower and required the patient's stamina. Clearly, the girl didn't lose any stamina, considering she had none in the first place by virtue of being dead, and he didn't feel tired. Oh, there was also the fact that recovery girl couldn't bring back the fucking dead.

' Ok, i'm freaking out a little, I don't usually swear. Can I be blamed for that, though? It's such a fascinating quirk after all, not to mention the world-changing potential of it.'

"Uhm?" Izuku immediately flinched at the noise, snapping out of what he just realised was one of his signature mumble storms. "What the hell just happened? I thought I was dead!" The girl seemed almost as shocked as he was, so either that wasn't her quirk or she had never used it before, a shame really, a phoenix quirk would be incredible for heroics.

'Oh right, she's still staring at me.' He mustered his courage, he wasn't used to talking to people, especially not cute and potentially dead girls. "Are, are you okay?" The girl just gave him a deadpan look and gestured to the blood still soaking the floor; evidently, she was healed, not rewound.

"So, Green, was that your quirk?" The girl raised an eyebrow at him as she asked, seemingly unbothered by his stutter.

"I th, think so? I don't know what my quirk is, but if it wasn't yours, and there's no one else around..." He trailed off. All evidence pointed to it being his quirk; the purple thread certainly hinted at it. Being connected by a string didn't seem to quite fit the theme of resurrection, though, or at least it didn't, until on a hunch, he stepped back a few steps. Immediately, he felt a tightness in his chest, and a slight wave of exhaustion washed over him. By the wince that came out of the girl, it seemed she felt something similar.

"It doesn't seem like we can go that far apart." An awkward silence began at the realisation, both mildly uncomfortable at the concept, and already dreading things like going to the bathroom, bathing, and trying to sleep. Eventually, he managed to break the silence. "If we're going to be stuck together, maybe we should introduce ourselves? I'm Izuku Midoriya."

The girl merely gave him a suspicious look for a second before she returned the introduction. "Himiko." He waited a second for more, then realised that was all he was getting.

"Uhm, if it's alright with you, I need to get home. Do you, uhm, want to come with? My mom can probably help us contact your paren-"

"No." The girl didn't even let him finish, and then produced a knife from seemingly nowhere. "I'll come with you, but I'll cut you if you try to phone my mom or dad."

' Note to self, don't bring up parents with her.' He nervously pushed a green curl away from his face. "Well, if you'll, uhm, if you'll follow me."

He turned around and started walking, the fact that the string didn't go taut signifying that she must be following, even if he couldn't hear her footsteps.

-~-

Himiko didn't quite know what to think of the bushy-haired boy. On one hand, he had either healed her or, if she actually was dead, brought her back to life.

The other hand was the one that she had used to steal from countless people; the one that had learned not to trust easily and to never rely on other people. She was honestly just waiting for the catch to kick in, whether he was going to hand her over to some pervert or ask for some payment for helping her. There wasn't exactly anything she could do about it; it hurt a lot to even walk too far away, and for some reason, thinking of hurting him was agonising. She had to bite her tongue to keep from screaming when she threatened to stab him, but it was worth it. She would rather just about anything than go back to *them*.

Still, as she walked alongside the boy, a strange sense of trust ran through her when she thought of the boy, almost as if without her consent. It was accompanied by a concerning amount of loyalty. She was beginning to suspect that his quirk wasn't reviving people out of the goodness of its metaphorical heart, especially since even considering that it was controlling her caused a small pain to throb in her head, as if to punish her for doubting her master the boy.

"We're here."

She was snapped out of her thoughts by the boy stopping and speaking up. Following his gaze, she saw a modest apartment complex. It had nothing on her parents' expensive home, but it also had less trauma attached, so she was willing to go along with it. She followed him in and up a few floors, until he stopped in front of a random (to her) door. She saw his face seemingly become a lot more excited as he swung the door open. She was surprised by the balls on the boy, his mom would certainly beat him for that. God knows her own would have.

"Mom! I found out what my quirk is!"

-~-

Inko Midoriya was filled with joy and excitement for her son when he yelled as he returned home.

Then, she was confused about the presence of the older than him but still young girl.

Next, she was horrified as he narrated the events of discovering his quirk.

This culminated with her shell-shocked on the couch, overwhelmed by the story she was just told. She would have been stressed to hear that he got lost for a while. She would have been distraught to learn that he watched a little girl die. She would have been elated about him discovering his quirk, especially such a powerful one (as well as mildly worried about the HPSC, they had a reputation). The implication that he had acquired a little girl who now had to live with them was just the icing on the cake. The good and the bad just led to an overwhelming mess of emotions that caused her to effectively collapse. After a couple of minutes, she was able to process her emotions enough to consider what to do next.

"Izuku, why don't you show Himiko around the apartment? If she can't leave your side yet, she's probably going to have to get used to the place." He nodded and led the cat-eyed blonde away to show her the bathroom. With that sorted, she pulled out her phone and immediately started looking to buy one for Izuku with Hisashi's money; she had been foolish to assume he didn't need one. Once she added it to her basket, she saw something else that she certainly would appreciate right now: a bottle of vodka. It had been so long since she had a drink, and if she ever needed one, it was right now.

Chapter Text

Izuku awoke the next day, bursting with energy. He hadn't quite been able to soak it in yesterday with all the lifelong trauma that was being born, but he had a quirk! It was also fascinating, the ability to revive the dead. He could potentially save even more people than All Might himself, since he could revive every single person, whether they died of a villain attack, an accident, or even disease. Or at least, he hoped he could. To be completely honest, he didn't know exactly what his quirk could do yet. That was ok though, because his mother had given him two days off school! The first would be to experiment and try to figure out what his quirk was, and then the other would be to go to a quirk counselor and get his quirk officially registered.

He was distracted from his thoughts as the warm body next to him groaned and sat up. Because of the string keeping them together, he and Himiko couldn't sleep in separate rooms. Luckily, they were both still young, so it wasn't that odd for them to share a bed. It still made him blush, though, to see the cute corpse (god, that was a weird thought) wake up next to him.

"Morning, Izu." The girl mumbled out, still half asleep. That was another oddity he had noticed, she grew close to him fast. It was almost unnatural; she had been so shifty and apprehensive around him, but in the space of one night, it was like she knew him for years. At first, he thought that perhaps she was quick to trust, but that thought was banished by remembering the fact that she carried a knife. He couldn't imagine someone so ready to fight for her life letting her guard down so quickly. This led him to one conclusion: it must be his quirk. He wasn't sure he was comfortable with that idea. Sure, he could trust himself not to take advantage of his quirk by brainwashing people, but he knew how bad it sounded out of context. It was almost villainous.

Realising where his train of thought was leading, he slapped his cheeks to shock himself out of it. He refused to be quirkist, even towards himself. He had always thought that the concept of villainous and heroic quirks to be utter bullshit. After all, if All Might decided to become a villain, he could level cities. All of a sudden, people would start seeing strength enhancers as pure evil. The way Izuku saw it, All Might could be a terrifying villain if he wanted, and the villains he fought could have been incredible heroes if they had tried.

"Uh, Izu?"

'Oh, right, Himiko. '

"Sorry, morning Himiko." He blushed. He wasn't used to using a girl's first name, but he didn't have much choice since she was passionately against revealing her surname. As if determined to make him more embarrassed, she pouted.

"If I'm calling you by a nickname, Izu, then you have to call me one too! Call me Himi!" This level of closeness was *really* unnatural. He should be careful with his revivals. Although at least thinking of the moral implications of his quirk let him distract himself from the incredibly embarrassing request she had just made. Her pout was only growing more, though, so he supposed he had no choice.

"Fine, H-Himi." He sighed and then coughed into his hand to try to hide his blush. By the wide smile and mirrored blush on her face, he was failing.

Eventually, he managed to haul himself out of bed and kick Himi out of his room so he could change, before trading places so she could do the same. Luckily, his clothes seemed to fit her, mainly because neither had hit puberty yet for obvious reasons. Thank god that the string was barely long enough that someone could wait outside, although they had to be pressed against the door. Eventually, they entered the kitchen for breakfast. To be more specific, for Izuku to have breakfast. They had discovered yesterday that Himi didn't seem to get hungry, and even eating food just for the taste didn't work because it was completely flavourless to her. He felt bad about eating his mother's delicious cooking while Himi simply pouted, but it's not like he could do anything about it. He had thought maybe he could change it since he had a level of control over her now, and even managed to make his sight go purple again. This let him see the string connecting them again, but he couldn't seem to interact with it.

The only idea he had was to yank on it, but he couldn't think of anything positive that he could do. Best case scenario, it yanked her across the room, worst case, it ripped her soul out or something, there were too many unknowns. The only other idea he had came from a strange sense he got when looking at it. It was a well-known fact that most people had a sort on innate knowledge of their quirk. Looking back on it, this even subconsciously extended to himself, with him feeling nothing about death and instinctively reaching out to a corpse. This innate knowledge, right now, though, was just telling him that he could cut the string if he so wished. He wasn't exactly keen on the concept since that would likely cause Himi to drop dead.

With his breakfast finally finished, he turned to Himi to begin his experiments, bringing out a fresh notebook for notes on his quirk from the ether. Most of his experiments would be performed with adult supervision (Inko), but there was one thing he wanted to test that he was sure she would disapprove of.

"Hey, H-Himi, I noticed yesterday when I revived you that I healed your body in the process, so there's something I want to test." The girl dropped her exaggerated pout at his words, instantly eager to assist in his experiment.

"What is it, Izu?" She almost seemed as excited as he was as she bounced in her chair, all too eager to please her master. Izuku winced internally, vowing to find a way to prevent the brainwashing.

"When you got back up, you were fully healed. Technically, I could have revived you with the injuries, so I want to know if you only heal on resurrection or if you have a more permanent form of regeneration." His stutter had faded as he got absorbed in his quirk experiments.

The blonde quickly figured out where he was going with his questions, and in a display of either idiocy, fierce loyalty, or recklessness, took her knife out and made a cut in her arm.

Izuku's eyes shot wide, and he went to either reprimand or help her. Before he even said a word, however, the wound began to close. It wasn't too fast, it was only a small cut, but it still took several seconds, yet regardless, it was official. Himiko had acquired a minor regeneration factor. His mind immediately started whirling with possibilities. For a second, he almost hoped that All Might would die, and he could grant him both immortality and regeneration, before he caught up to his thoughts and crushed them. He was not going to wish death on innocent people so that he could make a zombie army.

Even if it was slightly tempting.

-~-

When Inko returned (she had stepped out to pick up her delivery from last night, hiding the phone for a special occasion and the vodka to enjoy later, likely in an hour at this rate), she found two very excited children. Himiko could apparently regenerate, which wasn't her original quirk. She had questioned how they knew, but apparently, Himiko "fell". She didn't quite believe it, but she had no proof, so she was forced to drop it. She had also questioned how she knew that wasn't her original quirk, only for her to *far* too cheerily announce that it would have activated after one of her father's beatings. She simply blinked at her in shock, as Himiko stared back, confused at the fact that she was surprised. Booking a therapy appointment on her phone for her (Izuku would have to go to, but he probably needed it after watching a girl die) took a couple of minutes, and then they went out to the nearby beach to do some experiments.

As they walked, the children excitedly babbled about various subjects, while the green woman behind them frowned. She wanted to help Himiko, she did, but she didn't quite know how. She simply wasn't experienced enough to handle what seemed to be a massive issue. The saddest Izuku had ever been was when he broke an All Might toy, it's a bit of an escalation to jump from that to years of child abuse and then a year of homelessness. If she acted upset about it, she could at least comfort her and give her support, but she was seemingly happy? She was shifty and had trouble trusting people just yesterday, yet now she was happily speaking of her trauma. Was Izuku somehow an incredibly talented therapist? As nice as the concept was, she highly doubted it, so she was going to simply take her to a professional who was actually qualified for this, and offer her all the support that a mother should (yes, she already saw Himiko as a daughter, no, she didn't know how this became her life.)

Oblivious to the mental decline of their maternal figure, Izuku and Himiko shot theories at each other about both of their quirks. For a second, Himiko had been hesitant to share what info she knew of her own, but even as she hesitated, she realised that she was already telling him everything involuntarily. She knew it was probably because of the brainwashing, and yet, she couldn't bring herself to care. Her Izu asked a question, so she was going to answer it or die trying. She was pulled away from thoughts of her fading free will by a realisation brought upon by Izuku. She had described that hunger she felt, the same one that led her to the cute birdy. This led to him asking what should have been an obvious question: "Do you still feel that hunger?". Shockingly, she found the answer was no. It had quickly become apparent that she didn't need food, drink, sleep, or even go to the toilet since her resurrection, but she didn't realize until now that even her more unique requirements were gone.

After a bold offer from Izuku, they ended up in their current position. Izuku sat on the sand across the beach from the ever-growing pile of scrap on the other side of it. Himiko sat on his lap, purring like a cat with her teeth in his neck. Izuku had theorised that it was the blood she was drawn to, so like any sane child would, he allowed her to bite directly into his neck and drink her fill. Himiko didn't quite know what she had expected it to taste like. Food had been tasteless, so perhaps that? She never got to find out what blood tasted like when she was alive, so she had no prior experience to rely on. What she didn't expect was heaven.

-~-

Izuku was ecstatic when he found out what Himiko's quirk was. Looking at his copy in his lap, indistinguishable from the real deal even by his mother, he realised how perfect Himiko would be as an underground hero. With some acting practice, she could quickly become one of the greatest spies in the world. Now, if he found a dead brawler and a decent corpse for rescue, he could do all three strands of heroism in one hero (assuming you count his thralls as parts of himself, which he felt was a valid assessment). He began to ponder which heroes would be the best thralls before he caught himself again.

'I need to stop planning for my idol's death.'

-~-

After a couple of hours testing things with Himi on the beach, he had found out about everything he could with the limited dataset.

1. Himiko could not get tired by normal means. She could exercise seemingly indefinitely as long as she stayed nearby. Walking away would lead to more pain the further they split, as well as more energy drained by every action.

2. The string seemed to reach about an inch further than before. His current theories were that it was either based on how close they were or how long they spent together. It would be hard to test since they were linked.

3. Himiko couldn't use the quirks of others. He couldn't test with his own naturally, so he had his mother donate. Unfortunately, Himi-Inko couldn't use 'attraction of small objects.'

Without any other corpses to test with, that was all they could test for. He was still curious what would happen if he tugged on the string, but he didn't want to risk it.

Unfortunately, that plan fell apart when Himiko tripped over some scrap. She was too far for him to reach, and immortal or not, he still didn't want to let her fall. Out of sheer panic, he yanked. In an instant, two very concerning things happened. First, Himiko disappeared into thin air. Second, Izuku was filled with an overwhelming, feral hunger.

Chapter Text

Something smelled delicious.

Almost as if on instinct, he began to pad towards the smell. He struggled to merely stay on two legs, his body desperate to give in to the animalistic impulse, to rip and tear. Through the red haze filling his vision, he managed to make out what exactly smelled so good. His mother had donated blood to Himiko earlier, which was done by biting her arm. The smell seeped through the plaster she had placed upon herself and sent his newfound predatory instincts wild. He wanted nothing more than to rush over and tear her throat out with his teeth and drain every drop of red nectar.

' Ok, I need to distract myself. I don't want to have to revive my mother.' Luckily, it was quite easy to think of something else. There was another problem after all; he just deleted Himiko. He took deep breaths to calm himself down and just think for a second. He shifted to his death vision (he was workshopping it, ok?) and looked for the familiar string connecting him to his first thrall. As expected, it wasn't there. Something was different than usual, though; he was glowing purple. Usually, when he used his sight, the only changes were the purple tint and the string to Himiko. Now, his skin looked a bright purple, almost pink. Focusing further, he could feel it pulsing through him, as if to mirror his blood.

It was a strange concept, but with the information he had, he could only make one guess. He had absorbed Himiko. Focusing on the energy, he tried to imagine it spreading out of him, coalescing in front of him. Thankfully, this seemed to work, and Himiko reappeared.

He was immediately hit with a wave of exhaustion, joined by the relief that the hunger was gone.

-~-

Luckily, they were still at the beach, so they could continue their testing with the new knowledge immediately. After about another hour, they had learned a few things.

The first thing that he did was check on Himiko, and asked how that felt on her end. She described it the same as simply falling asleep. From her perspective, one second she was falling, the next she was unconscious. The next thing that they checked was what exactly the hunger was. It was fairly obvious to Izuku, though, that it seemed identical to what Himiko described that old urge as.

Much to the displeasure of Inko, they had come up with a test they could do with this new knowledge. Inko was against it, mainly because it would require bleeding a little girl of a substantial amount of blood, which would then be drunk by her son. She had no problem with the fact that either of the two drank blood; she wasn't a quirkist, after all. Her issue lay in the fact that Himiko was going to lose a lot of blood. Sure, it would regenerate, but it still felt wrong. In the end, she was powerless against the two pairs of puppy dog eyes, as well as Himiko pointing out that she didn't feel pain anymore as long as they were close.

This led to the current situation. Inko was a safe distance back, while Himiko had seemingly vanished. Izuku, on the other hand, was on his hands and knees, his face deep in a bowl of blood harvested from his thrall before he absorbed her. Once he had consumed enough to satisfy years of hunger, he tried to copy the sensation that Himiko described as he closed his eyes. When he opened them, his vision had drastically improved. He never realised how good Himiko's eyesight was. He also felt taller, which almost made him lose his sense of balance and fall over.

"Testing, testing." Yep. That's Himiko's voice. He felt a smile spread across his (her?) face, after all, this was a game changer.

Right now, they were limited by the string. What was the point of Himiko being the perfect stealth specialist if Izuku had to come with her and was much worse at stealth? Now, though, he could use her quirk if he had to. This was already very interesting, but it was even more exciting as a future prospect. His mind once again wandered to All Might, because now there was the possibility that he could even use his quirk. That sealed something in his mind. Before, he had honestly not loved his quirk. Reviving the dead was powerful, but if it permanently bound them together and eroded their free will, was there much point? Now, though, he was very excited about the future. Between the string slowly expanding and his ability to use the quirks of his thralls, he could save so many people!

The only issue now was trying to get rid of the brainwashing. It was technically a feature of his quirk, and people can usually control that to an extent. Mom, for example, could freely control what to grab. Things don't just start flying around by themselves. It was most likely going to take some practice, but he had faith he could do it.

He let the grey goop slide off of him and then resummoned Himiko. It was quite convenient that she seemed to take her clothes with her, or that would be very embarrassing every time. She stretched, almost cat-like, and yawned loudly. He felt slightly bad about making her flip-flop between consciousness and unconsciousness, but he had to know how his quirk works, and he had very little access to other corpses. Maybe he should look for a dead animal of some sort? That's assuming he can even revive animals, there was so much unknown to him.

-~-

They were back in their apartment now, more specifically in Izuku's room. The greenete sat on his bed and patted the spot next to him for Himiko. Once she sat down, he sighed and began to talk.

"I think we need to talk about my quirk."

He wrung his hands together nervously. Depending on how this conversation went, there was a very reasonable chance that she would come to hate him.

Not sensing his distress, she perked up curiously and looked at him, cocking her head to the side in a cute fashion.

"What's up, Izu?"

Might as well rip the band-aid off, he supposed.

"I'm pretty sure it's brainwashing you. And I don't know how to stop it yet."

He didn't quite know what reaction he was expecting. Rage? Disgust? Fear? All of the above? What he hadn't expected was a simple, small nod.

"I figured that out almost immediately. I don't know how much of this is from the brainwashing or if I genuinely feel like this, but I trust you. I can already see that you've been better than any other person in my life. Not that it's a high bar."

He could certainly agree with that. He, at least on a subconscious level, didn't want her to keep secrets from him. This had resulted in her being very open, happily trauma dumping with a smile, since he also didn't want her to be sad. He was mildly upset with himself that apparently he would rather she be happy than be herself. She gave a small smile. Not as large as her usual toothy grin, but something gentler.

"You don't need to stress over it. I know you'll help me as soon as you can."

She rested her head on his shoulder.

"And even if you don't, is that so bad? I mean, it's easy to forget since I look completely normal, but I'm dead. My life is already over, so I can't exactly complain about what happens in my second chance when you granted me it in the first place."

He frowned slightly. he couldn't say he agreed with that. By that logic, a hero could save someone and then expect that person to dedicate their life to them. It was effectively slavery, which, needless to say, he wasn't keen on. He made a promise to himself in that moment.

' I'm not going to let myself revive anyone else until I can control this ability better. '

He hoped that this would motivate his quirk to work with him. It was a well-known fact that quirks didn't like to be suppressed, so this could potentially serve as a threat to it. "Work with me or I'm not using you."

-~-

Inko Midoriya was very hesitant to make this call.

She had her connections to the HPSC, enough of them to know exactly how they would react to Izuku's quirk. So much power would be heavily moderated by them; they would probably want to be updated on every single thrall he gained. On top of that, they would probably demand he checks with them before reviving anyone.

Unfortunately, she needed their assistance. Izuku's quirk simply needed far too many resources for it to work with what she had. It's not like he could count on finding dead children around every street corner, or at least she hoped he couldn't. She had to go to someone high-ranking to get her hands on corpses for him to work with, so word would inevitably get around to the HPSC. There was a part of her considering not calling them, a very large part. The only reason that she was considering it was because she had someone on the inside who could show some leniency.

Eventually, she had managed to talk herself into it, so she hit call.

She hadn't talked to her husband in a while anyway.

Chapter Text

Hisashi Midoriya did not believe in himself being a 'good person'.

Ever since he was young, he has believed in the saying, "The ends justify the means." He was well aware that it was a controversial opinion. Many would argue the invaluebility of human life and happiness, but as far as he saw it? His goal was to make society better, no matter if he had to cast aside his morals in the process.

It was this mindset that made him invaluable to the HPSC as their head of the "True Hero" program. This program was simple in concept; so many heroes simply cooperated with the HPSC but did not respect them. So many would brush off or circumvent their orders if said orders went against their morals. It was foolish, if you asked him, for individuals to think they know better than the government itself. The HPSC wanted some more loyal heroes, true heroes, as they put it. He had assisted with the prototype of this project that was Lady Nagant, so the higher-ups thought he would make a good head for the more mass-produced version of the concept.

At present, he was in his office, reclining in a plush black office chair. He carefully read over the contents of a thick file he was holding. This file was of their up-and-coming star of the true hero program, Keigo Takami, code name Hawks. He had been considering whether he was ready for some real missions, so he was going through the files one more time for a complete refresh to help him decide if he was ready. At present, he was too young to publicly become a hero, but that didn't mean they couldn't make use of him. He ran his fingers through curly black hair as he read over his quirk and smiled. He couldn't help it, it was just such a fascinating quirk! Flight on its own was such a heroic quirk inherently, not to mention being able to split his feathers to use as weapons, either in his hands or telekinetically. Even better were the more discreet uses that the public wouldn't hear about, like them being the perfect tools for information gathering or their incredible usages in assassination. His smile only widened the more he thought about it. His son Izuku may have taken most of his physical characteristics from his mother, but the love of quirks was all from him.

He was snapped out of his quirk dissection by a phone ringing; more specifically, his personal phone. He was almost surprised, his work phone barely went an hour without a call, but his personal phone was barely used. He picked it up and checked the caller, pleasantly surprised to see it was Inko.

Contrary to what some believed (That Bakugo woman, mainly, eternally saying Inko deserved better), Hisashi truly cared about his family. He would be the first to admit that he didn't see his wife and son often enough, but he didn't exactly have much choice. He was an incredibly busy man with the countless trainees under his command, as the prominent eyebags under dull purple eyes could attest to. It was all worth it, though, for the substantial salary (Inko lived in a small apartment out of choice, not necessity) as well as the slow change of society. He was determined to make things better for his family, even if their happiness had to be built upon a pile of innocent corpses. Of course, Izuku would never approve, even Inko probably wouldn't if she knew that not every death he ordered was that of a monster, but he could live with his family's hatred if it meant they were happy and safe.

Regardless, he could stop with the dark thoughts; he had his lovely wife to talk to. He clicked accept.

"Hello, Sashi?"

He gave a gentle smile at the sound of her voice. It had been too long. It was only a couple of weeks in truth, but that was longer than he liked not seeing or even talking to his wife.

"Hi, Inko."

He fidgeted with his free hand nervously. His colleagues knew him as a cold and ruthless office worker, yet talking to his wife always made him feel like an embarrassed middle schooler about to talk to their crush.

"You haven't called in a while, busy with work?"

He had to stifle a wince at her question. Inko knew he was busy, so she was rarely the one to call. He would usually do so when he had the time, but this had been one of the longest periods of not calling he had done. It had been one thing after another recently with All Might on even more of a warpath than usual, so he had been swamped with work. Apparently, he had found a good lead on a villain or something?

"I'm sorry. There's been a massive uptick in villain captures recently, so much that the other departments have had to call for more manpower. Even I've been roped into it. Anyway, how come you're calling? I'm certainly not complaining, it's just unusual for you to call me."

"It's because of Izuku, he finally found out what his quirk is."

His first reaction to that was happiness, but there was something in her tone that troubled him.

"It's not a problem if it's not very useful or if it's weak. You know he can still be a-"

"That's not the problem, Sashi. It's... actually the opposite."

-~-

It took about an hour, but eventually the full scope of his quirk had been explained to Hisashi. His already pale skin had turned completely white. His inner quirk nerd was thrilled at how interesting his quirk was; he would have bought the kid for the HPSC even if it cost billions of yen, if it were anyone else, but that was the problem.

Hisashi Midoriya believed the ends justify the means, but he was also selfish. He was willing to groom a thousand Keigo Takamis, but he would never allow his son, his precious Izuku, to end up in that situation. Regardless, he knew the commission would be drooling over a quirk like that.

The commission had a sort of internal quirk class system to dictate what they should do with them. It was based on a couple of factors, like how much of a threat they were and how hard they would be to deal with if the need arose. This ranking went from one to five.

Class 1 quirks were what your average Joe had. Things like Inko's attraction of small objects that had very minor uses. The commission usually ignored these.

Class 2 quirks were stronger, but still not a risk. They were well-controlled and not overly powerful, like that Bakugo kid. His quirk was strong, but not at risk of just exploding everything. The commission would sometimes snap these up if they were interesting enough. Other potential examples were things like longevity or straight-up immortality quirks. They were incredible quirks, but the threat was low so they got a low class.

Class 3 quirks were something special. A quirk that they would happily put a couple of hundred million yen into acquiring. The best examples that he had looked at recently were those of Momo Yaoyorozu and Shoto Todoroki, but both were too rich to be sold.

Class 4 was the really interesting, but also dangerous one. Just like a Class 3, the commission would normally try to buy these. The difference was in how they would take rejection. With a class 3, they would simply cut their losses and accept they weren't getting it. With Class 4, the commission deemed them too dangerous to walk free, so they joined or they had an "accident." He couldn't think of any examples because a quirk like that would be classified, even he wouldn't have access.

Lastly, Class 5 was a quirk too dangerous to exist. The second that the commission heard about a quirk like this, they would do everything in their power to put it down. He had only heard rumors of one of these ever. A young boy had reportedly inherited a mix of their parents' quirks, one being to have the ability to kill anything he touched, if he so wished. They simply dropped dead. The other constantly emitted a strange gas that was completely invisible and caused people to be attracted to them. They mixed in the worst possible way, and on that boy's fourth birthday, his entire rural village was dead. They had had to bomb the entire place. Thank god it was in an isolated area.

The entire reason Hisashi was so concerned was that Izuku's quirk was at the very least class four, maybe even five, depending on how many thralls he could have.

Fuck.

He collapsed back into his chair and wiped his brow as he thought about what he could do to keep his son from either being killed or taken. One thing was for certain: the commission could not know. They would have to keep it a secret until he got into UA, and the rat could protect them. Better yet, he could probably contact the rat on his own and sort something privately so that his son didn't have to take the exam quirkless.

He let out a sigh, already dreading talking to Nezu. He would automatically distrust a commission agent, but he just might be able to talk him into it.

For now, he needed to organise a way for further testing without the higher-ups knowing. Come to think of it, he did have an old friend who ran a vet. It would be slightly (very) immoral, but he could probably convince him to hand over some of the dying strays that were found, and they couldn't be saved normally.

He relayed the plan to Inko and eventually hung up to make another call.

-~-

Izuku was slightly scared of this plan. Sure, he was excited to see his dad after so long, but he didn't want to see dead animals. He could already tell that he was going to cry a lot today. Regardless, he had to test his quirk, and it was better than dead humans, he supposed. He was currently in a large warehouse in a shadier part of Musutafu, where his father's vet friend was wheeling in boxes that contained the preserved remains of recently dead animals. His father had assured him that they did everything they could to save them, and that no animals were killed for this, but he still felt bad.

His eyes drifted over to the large figure of the vet. He was a giant of a man, standing at nearly seven feet by his estimates. He had a prominent rhino mutation that made him look like a rhino that just stood up one day and decided he wanted to save his fellow animals. The only thing that identified him as a vet was his outfit that resembled that of your classic doctor. The man unlatched two crates and then sat back in a chair with a notebook. He was quite interested in the data after all; Hisashi had met him on a quirk discussion board. The two crates were opened to reveal two dogs. They both seemed to be Mastiffs, although he couldn't tell what type with his vague knowledge of dogs. The vet nodded at him, and he stepped forward, letting his eyes shift from his mother's green to his father's purple as his death vision activated.

He reached out to the first dog, and immediately a string shot out from his hand and sank into the dog. He felt a small bit of energy be consumed in the process, which was strange because he felt nothing when he revived Himiko. Maybe his quirk liked humans more? The dog stood up as the tire marks on it seemed to vanish in mere seconds. It also seemed like his theory that regeneration was faster on the initial resurrection had been correct. He heard the vet gasp behind him. He had been briefed on his quirk, but clearly, seeing is believing. The dog padded over and sat down in front of him, immediately starting to pant as it awaited head pats. He smiled as he obliged, the sadness he had felt at seeing what was seemingly a stray that had been hit by a car fading. He turned to the other dog, another mastiff that looked about the same size. They likely tried to get similar subjects to make the data consistent. Instead of tire tracks, it seemed to have a couple of bullet wounds in its side. He felt a pang of rage at the sight. He repeated the process, but for some reason, it was much more tiring this time.

After a couple of seconds, the dog stood. It turned to face him and growled even as bullets were pushed out of it and clattered to the floor. The vet was suddenly at his side and speaking in a deep voice.

"The first one was friendly. It had been found on the side of a road, already injured. This one, though, was vicious. It had savaged someone and, when the police arrived, tried to do the same to them."

Ah, that explained the bullet holes. He knew the dog wouldn't hurt its master, but there was no guarantee of the safety of the others. Himiko stood in front of him suddenly with her knife already out, ready to fight. The first dog stood at her side and returned the growl. He gently signaled for her to move aside and focused on the string. He tried to imagine himself pouring his will into it, closing his eyes as he focused on strengthening the brainwashing for once instead of weakening it. He opened his eyes when he felt the previously aggressive dog licking his pants. He had done it, now he just needed to figure out how to reverse it, and he could help Himiko! As one more test, he pulled both dogs into himself. Nothing, figures, they didn't have quirks after all.

He heard the voice of his father behind him.

"How did that feel, Izuku?"

He turned to face the man with a tired smile on his face.

"It was really tiring. The first took maybe 5% of my energy, but the second took about 15%."

His father nodded like he was expecting that.

"Two almost identical subjects, both of the same species, breed, and quirk status. The only difference was in their personality. This seals it for me, it's a matter of affinity."

Izuku cocked his head in confusion. His father saw this and elaborated.

"The only difference between the two was how much they liked humans, and by extension, you. I believe that you should have an easy time reviving comrades and civilians, but you'll probably struggle to enslave villains."

Izuku nodded in understanding, although he didn't like it being referred to as enslavement. He then heard something being wheeled in behind him. He turned to see several more crates. This was going to be a long day, wasn't it?

-~-

An hour later, Izuku was exhausted. He now had a small force of four dogs (two mastiffs, a corgi, and a German shepherd), three cats, and two birds, more specifically a pair of love birds. The vet spoke up next to him.

"Just one more. This one's a special one, you'll like it."

He wheeled in the biggest crate yet.

Chapter Text

It had been about a month since he recruited his small army of animals. That month had mainly been spent doing further experimentation with his quirk, mainly with the string part of it.

Izuku looked up from his notebook at the sound of Subject D-1 whining at the door to his bedroom. After about a week of keeping Subject D-1 out of storage while keeping D-2 inside, he had figured out how to increase the length of the string. Unfortunately, it wasn't exactly quick. He had found that keeping a thrall outside storage caused the string to grow slowly. After a bit more testing, he learned that it grew even faster if he kept his thralls right on the border so that it pushed his limits. It was exhausting to do so, but he could endure it if it meant he could save even one more person.

His door swung open, and blonde buns poked in. Izuku met Himiko's yellow eyes as she checked in.

"Inko wanted me to let you know dinner was ready."

'Oh, right, that would explain why D-1 had been at the door.'

He didn't often have much use for so many animals, so he simply placed them around the apartment and ordered them to obey him, Inko, and Himiko. He stood up and stretched before following after the blonde vampire. Sitting down at the dinner table, he couldn't help but notice how full the apartment had become. Just a month ago, it had been just him and his mother, with his father staying a day every month or two. Now, he had Himiko, not to mention a total of 9 animals, with one still in his storage. The landlord would have a fit if he ever saw this, but luckily, he could just absorb them all when the need arose.

His mother walked into the room with a plate of Katsudon in her hands, L-1 on one shoulder and L-2 on the other. With how large his army had the potential to be, he knew that naming every single thrall would only confuse. That's why, aside from Himiko and any future human thralls, all of them simply had a name based on their species and resurrection order. The four dogs had become D-1 through 4, while the cats had become C-1 through 3; lastly, the two lovebirds were accompanying Inko. The idea was that since the birds were the least tiring to deploy and would need the most distance from him, he would keep them with Inko for the foreseeable future. Unlike Himiko, the animals at least seemed to be easier to separate from.

His range with Himiko had improved, but they still couldn't go far. By now, they could manage to just barely be on opposite sides of the apartment, any further and the pain began. With his animal thralls, though, he could be a street away and feel slightly out of breath, but nothing more. It wasn't enough, but it was pretty good progress for only a month. The only time he had been forced to absorb everyone was when he went to school, but that wasn't a permanent solution since he didn't want to leave Himiko with such a bare bones education. It was a shame she couldn't stay awake in the storage so that she could listen in on his lessons.

Finally giving his thanks to his mother, he dug into his katsudon.

-~-

Elsewhere in Musutafu, in a small office, sat a scarred white rat. He wore a suit tailored to his inhuman body, which, along with his cold, beady eyes and the only illumination in the room being the evening sun shining through the large window behind him, made for quite the intimidating image. The humanoid rat met the eyes of his unexpected visitor, reading no discomfort on his face. He was well-trained.

"Hisashi Midoriya. Joined the HPSC as a low-level quirk analyst. Eventually scouted by his boss to assist in a fledgling, top-secret project known as the True Hero Program. The project was deemed to be a good idea but a bad execution after Lady Nagant turned traitor, so the leader of the project was taken care of. This allowed Hisashi Midoriya to fill his shoes and, under its new ownership, the true hero project has been a rousing success. Did I miss anything?"

The principal of UA High School, Nezu, sipped his tea as he analysed the man in question. He seemed unsurprised by his entire career being broken down, including the highly confidential bits. At least he wasn't foolish enough to think he could keep a secret from him, unlike his bosses. He looked over his entire appearance for any signs of discomfort. His purple eyes were focused, with no hints of nervousness. His scarred hands were steady, as was the rest of him, for that matter. He didn't expect a head of an HPSC department to lose his composure in front of him, of all people(?), though. Seeing no corrections coming from the man, he continued.

"I'll be curt, since you should already know where I stand on you and your cohorts. If you don't give me a very good reason to hear you out on whatever it is you're after, you can get out of my office."

"For this meeting, I'm not here as an employee of the HPSC, I'm here as a concerned father."

That piqued his attention. He knew he had a son, of course; he researched him thoroughly since he was always wary of assassination, but he didn't think there was any reason he would come to him about it. However, he was considered the smartest being alive for a reason.

' He said he wasn't here on the HPSC's behalf, which also implies he doesn't want them to know about this meeting since they would certainly not approve. He's supposedly here as a "concerned father", so it's about his son, who has an unknown quirk. The HPSC has no reason to care about his son, except if he had a powerful quirk, in which case they would nab him as a weapon. The boy must have discovered his quirk, and his father didn't want the HPSC to get their hands on it. Hiding it forever likely wasn't an option, and that wouldn't have led him here, so there was one option left.'

"You want me to take him as a ward of UA."

Because of its prestigious reputation, UA had long since gained the ability to take in students under certain circumstances. This was usually if their parents passed away or were deemed unfit to care for them. There was, however, a less well-known reason. If a child had a hard-to-control or otherwise problematic quirk, UA could take them in as a ward and assist them. This was even an option if they still had a perfectly good family, and was likely what Hisashi was after. The real positive here, though, wasn't likely to be the quirk help, but the protection from the HPSC.

From a legal standpoint, UA was just a school. If the HPSC came to them and started making commands, they *had* to follow; there was to be no negotiating. This fell apart in a hero-obsessed society, though. Society practically lived and breathed heroes. Non-hero celebrities were almost non-existent, almost every business had ties to heroes, and basically any advertisement was done with the help of heroes. At this point, you couldn't even buy groceries without seeing a dozen different hero-sponsored products. This gave UA, the school responsible for hundreds of heroes, most of them top-ranked, a lot of power. If Nezu openly opposed the HPSC, about half of the heroes in the country would back him up.

To avoid civil war, UA and the HPSC had a sort of unspoken agreement not to step on each other's toes. This is why he didn't leak details of the true hero program even though he detested it, as well as why the HPSC wouldn't dare touch one of his wards.

"That is correct. The HPSC would chase him to the ends of the earth if they knew about his quirk, and I can't think of anyone else who can hold them off."

It certainly sounded interesting, at least.

"And what exactly is his quirk, to get so much attention?"

He sipped his tea.

"He can revive the dead."

If Nezu were a less composed rat, he might have done a spit-take. As it was, he merely placed his tea down and gained an intrested glint in his beady eyes.

"Conditions?"

"He can revive both humans and animals, although animals are much more tiring. They can't go that far away from him, though; his furthest thrall can currently go about 30 meters away. You can have the rest of the details if you do take him as a ward."

"You can't expect me to do this for free. I'm sure you can already guess what I want."

Midoriya sighed, but nodded.

"I'll pass over all the information I can."

Nezu smiled creepily. He already had a couple of spies in the HPSC, but none quite as high-ranking. Still, he was greedy.

"I also want the true hero program dead. It is a disgusting perversion of my own career."

For the first time in the conversation, Midoriya's composure broke, his eyes widening.

"You know I don't have that kind of power. I may run the project, but I can't just shut it down on a whim."

"I'm not asking for an immediate end to it, that would lose you your job most likely. All I ask is that you stop acquiring new trainees and make the case to your bosses that it is a waste of resources, that you don't see another talent like young Hawks appearing again."

The man seemed to consider it, not even stopping to think about the fact that he knew about yet another confidential secret.

"I don't know if they'll listen. I can try, but I can't make guarantees."

"That's all I ask."

-~-

They spent the next twenty minutes hashing out the details before the man left. Nezu broke into a grin the second he was alone. He had gotten a lot out of that; Midoriya should have known he was bluffing on needing payment, there was no world where he would choose not to protect a child.

He was a hero, after all.

Chapter Text

Izuku didn't quite know what to expect when his father told him that he had secured a group of trainers for him.

He certainly didn't expect to be visiting UA High quite this early in his life.

Standing before the giant gate, he couldn't help but be nervous. His dream, his entire life, was dedicated to being a hero. He couldn't imagine himself in any other career, so this was always meant to be the beginning of everything for him. There was still meant to be 7 years before that, though. Inko has assisted him in figuring out what year and how old he would be for entry, and he shouldn't be here until he is 15.

Yet, here he was, following his father into his dream school. Himiko skipped along beside him, not caring about the school itself, but still, she was happy when her master was. What appeared to be a homeless man in a black jumpsuit greeted the group. He appeared sleep-deprived based on the heavy eye bags hidden under shaggy black hair. The only thing suggesting he wasn't homeless in his appearance was the scarf around his neck, which a discerning eye like Izuku's could tell was made out of a special alloy favoured in hero gear for being light but incredibly durable.

The man's grunt was the only acknowledgment he gave before he turned around and started leading them into the campus, scanning a pass at the gate to stop the famous UA barrier from slamming down on its guests. His father led the two children along behind him, never breaking his cold facade even as he scanned the campus for threats, his eyes darting around. It was strange, surely he didn't expect danger from UA? What would UA possibly have against a good, hard-working man like his dad?

The group eventually arrived at one of UA's mock cities, he didn't know which, since UA had never been fond of releasing public information. As opposed to his previously silent footsteps, the exhausted man started exaggerating how loud his steps were to alert their host of their presence. In what appeared to be a city square, a desk had been placed near one of the sides with a large black chair placed behind it. In that chair sat the hero, Mr principal, more commonly known as Nezu, the principal of UA High School. The rat creature was short, not even as tall as Izuku, despite him being both 8 and short for his age. He was probably about as tall as a toddler, which made a comical image combined with his formal suit tailored to his frame.

He would have been almost cute if not for his imposing, beady black eyes, slightly manic grin, and the scar over one of his eyes.

Izuku finally put the pieces together and felt his jaw drop open, not that he was paying much attention to that.

'The people dad got to train us, he was talking about Nezu? Smartest creature in the world, Nezu?'

"That is correct, and thank you for the compliment, Young Izuku." Oh, he had been mumbling. Great. He meets the being who effectively holds his dreams in his hands and immediately humiliates himself.

"Now, I'm sure you have questions. To start, as of this morning, you are officially a ward of UA. This means that it is now our responsibility to nurture you and help you develop your quirk, even if you don't end up as our student. You and young Himiko will come here every Saturday, where you will receive practical education from me and combat training from my colleague Aizawa here." The rat gestured towards the homeless man, who was apparently a pro hero. "The two of you are at vastly different education levels, so you will alternate, one of you will go with Aizawa while the other comes to me, then switch after an hour or two. Any questions?"

Izuku raised his hand. "Will we be practicing quirkless or quirked combat for now?" To his surprise, it was Aizawa who answered.

"We're going to start with the basics of quirkless combat, and we can work your quirk in eventually. Speaking of, the rat didn't feel the need to tell me, What is your quirk?"

Said rat chimed in. "I am most curious as well. Your father gave me some details, but not the entire picture."

The greenete let out a nervous chuckle. "Well, uh... I can revive the dead?" He watched for the reactions of his new Senseis, the rat seemed amused, while Aizawa just had a look of wide-eyed shock. "It has limitations, of course. My thralls, that's what I call them, can't stray too far from me. The max distance grows the more I keep them out of storage. Speaking of, I can pull thralls back into storage so I don't have them out at all times. Most importantly, I can use their quirks while they're in storage. I haven't been able to test that much, though, because only Himiko and one other thrall have quirks, and I really don't like the other."

That bit of information seemed to be new to even Nezu, as his grin grew even wider. Aizawa somehow became even more shocked before he schooled his expression. The tired hero turned to his boss.

"Do we know what will happen if I erase his quirk? I don't want to activate it and kill all of his thralls."

Izuku blinked for a second before entering fanboy mode. "Erase my quirk? Are you the underground hero, Eraserhead? You're so cool! I always admired how you fight basically quirkless, I didn't know you teach at UA! How does your quirk work? Can you erase multiple at once? Can you-"

"Kid, slow down."

Aizawa had been taken off guard by being recognised by a civilian for the first time in his 13-year career, but it seemed he had finally snapped out of his shock enough to respond. Nezu chimed in again.

"Eraserhead is a fairly new hire, he's only been here a year. And Aizawa, I don't recommend erasing his quirk; there are too many unknowns. Now, you can save the rest of your questions for during your training with Aizawa. Who do you two want to go to first?"

-~-

The children decided that Izuku would go with Aizawa first, while Himiko would stay with Nezu. They couldn't actually separate that much because of the string, but they at least had enough space in the square to spar if necessary without bumping into the other two. Hisashi had made sure Izuku wore suitable exercise clothes here, so he didn't need to bother changing. Aizawa made him do some stretches to warm up before they began.

"So, kid, I'm assuming that with your age, you probably know nothing about fighting?" Izuku nodded sheepishly. "In that case, we're going to start with teaching you how to throw a punch." The hero closed the distance between them and gently positioned him into the right stance. Once he was satisfied, he let go. "I want you to familiarise yourself with that stance until you don't need my help."

Over the next twenty minutes, he worked to perfect it. By the end, Aizawa was satisfied with the results. "Good, now, you had questions about my quirk? Here's what we're going to do: we're going to spar. For every hit you land, I'll answer one question about my quirk. I'll hold back and not hit you too hard, while offering you pointers as we go. Alright with you?"

Izuku nodded.

Within the next hour and a half, Izuku was not able to ask a single question.

-~-

After the allotted time was up, he went to the nearby showers while Himiko did some stretches. The distance was slightly straining, but nothing he couldn't handle. He sat down in front of Nezu as he could vaguely hear the sounds of the others sparring off to the side.

"Now, Izuku, before we start, would you like to summon your thralls? If you expand the range automatically, you should try to always have them out." Izuku concentrated for a second, and a small army of animals appeared around him. Nezu scanned the crowd in fascination. "With young Himiko, I was more focused on giving her a general education since she's been missing that for the past 5 years. As far as I understand, you're still receiving a normal education, so we're going to be focusing on these." He placed one of Izuku's hero analyses for the future notebooks on the desk. Hisashi must have brought it. "You have quite the eye for quirk analysis, so we're going to hone it even further. After all, with your quirk, you should be taking more of a strategist role, correct?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

The rat clapped his paws together. "Excellent. So many heroes nowadays just want to punch their problems away; it's rare to see someone become a hero like me. Why, the only other hero I can think of like myself off the top of my head is Sir Nighteye. To start, I would like you to list everything you know about the types of quirks, as a baseline."

Izuku's emerald eyes sparkled at the prospect of talking about his favourite hobby with someone who would get it. "Well, the three main categories are emitter, transformation, and mutation. These can be a bit inaccurate, though. With many quirks blurring the lines, as well as various subtypes. Nezu nodded. "Why don't you describe these subtypes?"

"Well, to start, transformation quirks probably have the least subtypes. All transformation types operate on the same principle; you change something about your physical appearance or mind temporarily at the cost of various things, usually stamina. There are thousands of different changes, but they all operate almost the same on paper."

"Mutation types are in the middle. During the dawn of quirks, they were as simple as having odd hair colour or maybe different eyes, but nowadays, you have people who look closer to animals, or sometimes even objects. Three types of mutations exist. The first is true mutations, where the mutation is their entire quirk. Having a pair of wings, for example, would be a true mutation. The next is support mutations, where they aren't the focus of the quirk, but assist it. An old friend of mine has a quirk like this, where they sweat a nitroglycerin-like substance, while their actual quirk is the ability to make small explosions that combine with that sweat to make much bigger explosions." It felt strange to refer to Kacchan as an old friend, but he supposed it was accurate. "Lastly are vestigial mutations, where a person has unnatural qualities about them that have nothing to do with their quirk. There is actually a theory that most of humanity has these. Even I am an example, since I have green hair, which humans aren't supposed to have, and my quirk has nothing to do with it."

He took a breath. He was slightly worried that he was speaking too fast, but Nezu seemed to be following fine.

"Lastly, emitters are the most complicated. They can be almost anything, but the main concept is that they well, 'emit' something. That 'something' could be fire, ice, and all sorts of different things. The reason that emitters can be so complicated is that many quirks that shouldn't fit any of the three all counted as emitters. For example, my own quirk is counted as an emitter, but what am I actually emitting?" He became embarrassed for a second. "I, uh, may have also done some questionably legal digging into a vigilante that's going around that has a blood quirk. He can paralyse people by drinking their blood. This is counted as an emitter, but again, what is he emitting?" He realised that he had gone off topic from the original description of subtypes, and went back on track. "Anyway, some of the subtypes include stockpilers that have to build up before they can produce something, like Fat Gum and his fat. Another is mental quirks like mind control or telepathy, although I don't think they are really an emission either."

Nezu started clapping, much to the boy's surprise.

"Excellenty done Izuku! Already, at the age of 8, you are looking more into quirks than many pro analysts. You already have such thorough knowledge on the subject that I have little to teach. You even picked up on something the government has just been getting around to: a fourth type of quirk. They have been thinking of a name for a while, but nothing quite encompassed all options. I personally suspect that a case could easily be made for turning 3 classes of quirks into at least 5, but I digress. You have done excellently with your first assignment. I think I'm going to enjoy molding you into the perfect hero, perhaps you'll even surpass me one day?" His smile looked somehow even more manic than usual.

The rest of their time was spent with Nezu giving him homework of sorts. He gave him a document detailing one of his classes of heroes and had him go over potential applications of their quirks that they hadn't thought of. They didn't even notice another hour flying by until Hisashi came to pick the children up.

-~-

Once the children had left, Nezu and Aizawa returned to the principal's office to discuss their new trainees. Nezu offered Aizawa some coffee that he kept at hand specifically for him, and they began.

"So, Shouta, what did you think of the two?"

The erasure hero sipped his coffee before he replied. "Himiko is already incredibly adept at stealth, to the point that I thought she had an invisibility quirk until I asked her. Even with years of underground work and direct line of sight with her, she could somehow still disappear. She is also incredibly gifted with a knife. If she weren't technically a walking corpse, I would say she could potentially become the number 1 underground hero, if we had a ranking system."

"I concur, she's good. I had honestly expected her to struggle greatly in my lessons since she's never really had an education, but she took to it like a fish to water. I'll probably have her caught up in a couple of months. What about Midoriya?"

Eraserhead sighed. "He's fucking terrifying. He was rather sloppy in combat at first, much worse than Himiko, but he seemed to advance fairly quickly. More than that, he fought like a man possessed. Most rookies, especially children, are scared of getting hit. With Midoriya, though, I think I'm going to have to go out of my way to teach him to fear hits more. The kid has a crazy pain tolerance. He was creative, too. There was never any danger of my loss, obviously, but he got closer to landing a hit than I expected by trying unexpected strategies."

Nezu smiled. "I noticed much the same, he thought things through better than most grown adults. At the rate he's going, I could see him becoming my replacement one day." The rat chuckled, which sent a bolt of fear into Aizawa. It was never a good sign when the rat was laughing. He swiveled around to look out the window, away from Aizawa.

"Izuku Midoriya, how I look forward to seeing just what you can do."

Chapter Text

A leg swung over his head as he crouched, immediately rising into an uppercut that was blocked by an arm much larger than his own. The man's other arm went for a gut shot, he could barely avoid it by jumping back. A plastic training knife flew through the air and straight at the man, although he was able to lean sideways to make it fly past harmlessly. The man didn't even break from looking at the boy he was just engaged with as he rebuked the thrower.

"What have I told you about throwing your weapons away? You won't have anything left to fight with, it's illogical."

That was his mistake, though, as the knife had been a distraction for Himiko to pull her disappearing trick. As Izuku got back into range with the man, he thrust his arm forward, only for the boy to grab it, barely able to restrain it, even with the past two years of training having built up his strength considerably from when he was merely 8. Aizawa attempted to pull his arm free before he realized it was a distraction for Himiko to flank him. Unfortunately for the two children, he was still much too skilled for them to catch off guard like that, and his boot found its way into her chest, sending her sprawling.

"Enough." Izuku backed off as Himiko picked herself up off the floor. Her bruise was already healing, and she didn't feel any pain anymore anyway, so she was unconcerned even after taking such a strong kick. "You two are getting better with your teamwork. Midoriya, don't get into contests of strength with people who you know are stronger than you. I could have easily broken out of that if I were willing to hurt you. Himiko, you're too predictable against people who know your fighting style. That will work if people don't know what's coming, but with how high-profile UA is, people are going to know what tricks you have up your sleeves."

Both children seemed to have their moods drop slightly at his criticism. "Having said that, you two are progressing nicely. Keep working hard." That seemed to help them a little. Aizawa hid an amused smile under his capture scarf. The children were honestly great for their age, to the point he would probably have to start using his scarf soon, but he was never one for giving out much praise. Hizashi and Nemuri joked that he was a tsundere for a reason. He watched as the children sat down and started talking at a bench, before Midoriya opened a water bottle and Himiko bit into his neck. The last two years of therapy had made her less afraid to drink blood in public, good progress considering the brainwashing was minor by now. Midoriya had worked hard to diminish it, even if his quirk refused to fully let go.

He would never say it, but he was incredibly proud of his two problem children. When Nezu had first dragged him into this, he was really not looking forward to it. He had been teaching high schoolers for a year, and they were usually obnoxious, so he assumed an eight and nine-year-old would be so much worse. By now, they were ten and eleven, and both were usually much better than the three different years of students he had taught, even if they had their own moments. He was almost looking forward to them reaching UA (he had no doubt they would pass), as they would hopefully be a positive influence on his class during their three years here, maybe even their seniors and underclassmen, if he was optimistic, which he very rarely was.

No doubt that their classmates would hate them, though. They were going to kick their asses.

-~-

Izuku sat on the bench with a water bottle, blushing as Himiko sucked on his blood. Aizawa seemed to be asleep in his ugly yellow sleeping bag, so they were alone (Nezu had been busy today, hence why they fought Aizawa together). He didn't quite know why, but he had felt embarrassed whenever Himiko sucked his blood recently. When he was 8, he found it uncomfortable, merely going along with it to make Himiko happy, but now he found himself looking forward to it. He didn't quite get why having her so close was nice, or why the content sounds she made caused his face to go even redder, but he didn't have the heart to stop her. He didn't even know if he wanted to.

His hands ran through her perpetually messy blonde hair as he thought about it, fighting in vain to fix it. It would probably be a lot easier if she took more care of it, but all she did was put it in two buns every morning. He even had to remind her to bathe nowadays, ever since his mother, for some reason, started not letting them bathe together. She shifted more of her weight into his lap as she seemed to suck the last of the blood she wanted today. That was something he was thankful for at least; that she had grown beside him. At first, there had been the fear that her body would stay the same forever since she was technically a corpse, yet she seemed identical to a normal human. Her body felt warm, draped across him, and he could smell the sweat from her sparring, all things corpses weren't exactly known for.

It made him wonder if there was even a difference, bar the regeneration. If only he weren't limited by the string, he could revive people in droves and send them out freely with what was basically a second quirk and no more pain. Oh, the brainwashing, too. Despite the two years that he had fought it, his quirk refused to completely let go. By now, Himiko was basically herself again; she could actually feel sad as opposed to being forced into happiness for his sake. The issue was that she still couldn't disobey him. Orders were rare since he didn't like forcing her to do things, but he didn't like having the ability to make her do things she didn't want to. Even if she didn't mind, he knew that people would judge his quirk if it forced complete obedience. Keeping his quirk a secret was luckily easy enough since he hadn't known it in the first place, so all he had to do was not tell anyone.

He shuddered at how bad he may have had things should his first activation had been in a public space. UA was concerning in a way, since his quirk would go public, but at least the school wouldn't allow discrimination, so he shouldn't have to worry about his classmates, merely the media.

"You know you're mumbling, right, Izu?" Clearly, he had not known that. "Sorry, Himi, I'm just deep in thought." The girl cuddled into his side as they fell into an awkward silence, which she eventually broke. "Do you think people will judge me for my quirk?" He frowned. He would have normally been happy that someone actually understood his mumbling, but not if it was giving her self-confidence issues. "I can't guarantee they won't. But if I ever hear them, I won't let them get away with it." He took her hand into his and gently squeezed, embarrassment forgotten, to help his friend. It seemed to be at least a slight comfort to her, judging by the soft smile painted across her face, calmer than her standard semi-manic grin. They fell into a more comfortable than awkward silence this time.

That was, until his mother arrived to pick them up.

-~-

Himiko was lying on Izuku's lap, draped along his bed, in a state of extreme satisfaction as he ran his fingers through her hair. She had let it down since they would likely be going to bed together soon. This was one of the last times they would be sharing a bed since they would be moving into an apartment near UA soon, where they would have separate rooms. Inko had wished to split them up for reasons unknown to Izuku, but not to her. She was a year older than Izuku and had thus hit puberty earlier, including having a talk with Inko about it. Somehow, he hadn't noticed that she had started going to the bathroom a lot more recently. She looked up at the boy, enjoying the happy spark in his eye as he watched a video of All Might's newest interview. She hadn't been paying attention to it. 'What was it again? He was talking about why he is a hero? 'That made her curious, actually.

"Hey, Izu?" The bushy-haired boy seemed to struggle to look away from his idol on TV, but managed it and looked down at her, a blush appearing on his face. "Ye-yeah, Himi?" He seemed confused about where to put his hands now that he had noticed the position they were in. "Why do you want to be a hero?" A solemn smile spread across his face at the question, and he broke eye contact to look at an All Might poster on his wall.

"If you asked me that before I got my quirk and met you, then I would tell you that I wanted to be like All Might and save everyone with a smile." He fell into silence. "And now?" She seemed to whisper, nervous as to why he seemed so solemn about this. "I still want to save everyone, but it's expanded now. Before, I just thought of saving people as beating up villains and picking up rubble, but I can see now that there are so many more people to save. Mom and Dad may not think I hear them sometimes, but I know why he's around even less now. He's spying on the HPSC for Nezu. Nezu wants to take down the government."

Himiko's eyes widened at that, although they widened even more as he continued. "I can't even say I disagree either. From what I've overheard, the government should be taken down. Not in the way that villains would, but in Nezu's way." The boy took a deep breath before he continued. "Heteromorphs, those with so-called villainous quirks, the quirkless, they are treated terribly by their own government. I want to save them too." The boy seemed to reach the climax of his improvised speech.

"So I don't want to merely be like All Might anymore. I want to surpass him. I want to save even those that he can't save. People like... people like us."

That explained a lot. After the treatment she received from her parents, she knew just how bad society looked at those like her, and Izuku if his quirk was public. 'How many other children were just like her? Or worse, how many never managed to get away?'

It was that thought that cemented it in Himiko's mind. Before this conversation, she never cared about being a hero. She went along with it to fulfill her master's dream, but nothing more.

Now?

She would make sure to make Izuku the best hero that the world had ever seen.

Chapter Text

It had been four years since Izuku Midoriya and his thrall cemented their reasons for wanting to be heroes.

Things had changed a lot since then, both on the outside and inside. On the outside, he had grown up to 5'8, a combination of a great diet and solid exercise serving him well. His body was noticeably well-built, although not overly showy; he was built for performance, not to look big. His hair was still the same bush of viridian green, not having changed in length or style. The only reason that he had avoided a group of admirers was his quirk status. By now, people thought he was either quirkless or had a weak quirk and was ashamed of it. In a world where people were so obsessed with quirks, this was enough to keep most eyes off him. It wasn't uncommon for girls or even some guys to let their eyes linger, but nobody would want a relationship with him, aside from the girl watching through his eyes, but he didn't know about that.

Inwardly, he had changed a fair bit. Himiko had become strangely flirtatious and teasing over the years, so he had been basically forced to get used to it. As a result, normal conversation was no longer enough to bring out his stutter, even if he happened to be talking to a girl. This shift had changed him from being unapproachable by the student body because they didn't want to, but instead because he gave out lone wolf vibes, despite that, with his quirk, he was the opposite of one. Speaking of his quirk, that had changed slightly, too. Himiko could stay conscious even internally now, allowing her to observe his schooling through his eyes. Nezu had been pleased by this, since it meant less time wasted catching her up.

An odd sensation always filled his mind whenever Himiko stepped up from merely watching. It felt like their minds were one, their thoughts being nearly indistinguishable. He was almost thankful that she had to follow his orders, lest she mess with him by making him think dirty thoughts or making him say something unintentionally. By now, the brainwashing was truly on its last legs. He could tell that he would never be able to make her capable of ignoring his orders, but she at least didn't blindly obey. It was more and more common for her to ask for his reasoning when he gave an order, and provide a counterargument if she didn't like it. The ability to force her was seemingly permanent, but he didn't use it anyway, aside from stopping her from influencing his thoughts, but that was a valid order in his mind. Himiko seemed to love this situation anyway. She had long since described that the part of transforming she loved the most was becoming those she loved, and being stored within his mind was even more intimate in that way than her quirk was, even if she was the only one enjoying it in that way. Another part of his quirk that had grown rapidly was the range.

The thralls that he gained all the way back six years ago could now comfortably stay at home even when he was at school. Even his new thralls had enough reach that he could keep them hidden near the school to expand his reach. Speaking of his new thralls, they were game changers, in his eyes. His father had brought in a smaller batch when he was 12, going for quality over quantity this time. One of them was perched on the school roof, patiently awaiting the end of the school day. It was a bald eagle that looked like it would fit right at home with an American flag behind it. With his immense creativity, he had dubbed it E-1.

The other was a much smaller animal, so small that he had initially thought it useless. It was an ant. His doubt had subsided when it was revealed that it had a quirk. Apparently, a man across the country had simply been walking when he felt something catch his foot, and he couldn't escape its grasp. He had stepped on an ant that was capable of holding up a man. It was well known that an ant could hold sometimes thousands of times their body weight, but this was absurd. It turned out that when he scooped up the ant and brought it to some HPSC scientists, it had a lifting quirk. Hisashi had managed to snag its corpse when they were done with it. Once Izuku had absorbed it, he did some testing and named it.

Haul was a quirk that massively increased the amount its user could carry. Because it had resided in an ant, this had been magnified even further. Much like some species of ant, he could now withstand over a thousand times his body weight. The only reason the quirk hadn't made him outright ridiculously overpowered was that it was one, exhausting, and two, it was strictly lifting. He had tried punching a wall with it, but all that resulted in was an undamaged wall and a bloody knuckle. It was actually annoying, usually, since he had to summon the ant whenever he wanted to lift weights so that it wasn't a joke and actually worked as exercise.

All these thoughts and more ran through his head as he walked to Aldera Middle School that morning.

He was almost running late after watching the debut of a new pro heroine named Mt Lady, whom Himiko had teased him about from inside his mind. There was no way he would risk having her out of storage so close to the school. He had analysed both the new pro and the slightly less new hero that she had stolen the thunder from, Kamai Woods. Nowadays, his analysis was mostly on how he would use their quirks, or how he would direct them if they were to pass. After changing his shoes at the entrance to the school, he went to class as usual.

The day dragged on for quite a while until his teacher decided to start talking to them about careers. "So, as third-year students, it's time to start thinking seriously about your futures and what you want to do with your lives. I *could* pass out some career aptitude tests, but why bother?"

The man broke into a grin as he threw the tests to the side."I know you all want to go to the hero track!" Izuku felt annoyance ping through him, although it seemed to be from Himiko, not himself. She was likely annoyed at the implication that most of the kids in the room could be heroes. Ever since she became capable of observing Izuku at school, she had made her dislike of most of the class clear to him. Especially one boy. After most of the class showed off their fairly weak quirks (damn it Himiko, at least be a bit less rude) and the teacher good naturedly reprimanded them, that exact boy spoke up. Katsuki Bakugo, or "Kaachan", depending on which half of their melded mind you asked. Himiko hated him. Izuku did get where she was coming from, but couldn't bring himself to hate his once brother in all but blood, even if he had become arrogant and rude. He had barely interacted with the blonde bomber since he was four, never speaking aside from when their parents occasionally forced them to. He didn't pay any attention to his angry ranting about how he would be number 1 and that the rest of the class would be lucky to end up as sidekicks. 'Even if he was probably right, ' both sides of him admitted. Don't misunderstand, Izuku had full faith that with commitment, his class could make decent heroes, even those like that kid who could pop his eyes out.

The reason he doubted them was not because of their quirks, but their personalities and attitude. He was brought back to the land of the living (ironic with his quirk) as the teacher addressed him directly. "Oh yeah, Midoriya, don't you want to go to UA too?" That one question seemed to freeze the entire room. People didn't know if they should laugh, be angry, or anything. They simply had no clue what his quirk was, or if he even had one, so how were they supposed to react? For all they knew, he might even stand a good chance!

Of course, Bakugo didn't share that reaction. As per usual, he responded in rage. "Hah? You what? How many times have I said it? How many times have I said I'm going to be the only one from this shitty school to go to UA?" The blonde considered grabbing his childhood friend but chose not to after seeing the ever-present coldness in his eyes. A good decision, since Himiko likely would have taken his hand, she had become capable of forcing herself out of his mind. "Do you even have a quirk?" That certainly got the room's attention. Izuku, for his part, calmly met his eye. "My quirk status is irrelevant. UA allows for quirkless students." At last, the room decided on a reaction; laughter. In their eyes, he had just confirmed that he was actually quirkless. Only Bakugo picked up on the fact that he technically never said that. The teacher quickly dismissed the class, likely to allow Bakugo to do as he pleased and still have plausible deniability.

All but two students left alongside him. Some of Bakugo's "friends" had tried to stay, but one glare from the blonde sent them fleeing with their tales between their legs. That glare was then turned on the greenete, which he met with an impassive look of his own. Eventually, he sighed.

"Look, Kacchan." He growled at the nickname, but surprisingly didn't interrupt. "I was actually hoping to catch you alone at some point. I know you're going to make it into UA. It's inevitable. Because of that, I'm going to tell you on my terms. I want you to understand, you aren't owed this. I heavily considered not telling you. I am only doing so to avoid you throwing a fit later." The walking bomb snarled. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

Izuku merely answered by making a cat appear on his school desk, C-2, not that it mattered right now. Bakugo simply stared down at it as it returned the stare with cutesy eyes, instantly putting the dots together. "That's your quirk? You can summon fucking cats? No wonder you didn't tell anyone, that's nothing." A dog appeared on another desk, the German Shepherd, D-4. "Look, you can summon as many animals as you want, but you still aren't making it into UA," Izuku smirked at that, sending Bakugo into a rage. "If you're so confident I won't make it in, then why are you even bothering with all this? What's the harm in me trying?" The blonde bared his teeth, somehow more animalistic than the two animals in the room. He was still less angry than Himiko, though, whom Izuku was struggling to contain. "If I *ever* catch you in UA, you're fucking dead." Having said his piece, he turned around and stomped off. Izuku sighed and let go, letting another pissed off blonde appear in the room. He didn't like doing it, but he had to order her not to kill him.

-~-

The duo was walking home now. Himiko was pestering him to relinquish his order, to no success. He was forced to pull out his trump card. "Himi, if you hurt him, it won't be you who faces the consequences. You're a sentient quirk in the eyes of the law, if they knew about you, so I would be the one punished." That seemed to get her to stop plotting murder, even if she was still pissed. They started walking through an underpass. A couple of seconds in, they both dodged to the side. If they were less trained, they wouldn't have reacted in time. Unfortunately for the slimy monster appearing from a grate, they had spent 6 years of bootleg UA training. In a panic from being chased, the man lunged at Izuku again. He was up against the wall and likely couldn't have dodged harmlessly, but luckily, Himiko jumped in front of it, instantly being picked up in the gooey body. Izuku desperately tried to pry her out, summoning every thrall he had to attack the slime and try to rescue his thrall. In theory, she was immortal, but whatever the slime was trying to do still didn't look pleasant.

"I am here!"

It was to the sight of four dogs, three cats, two lovebirds, a bald eagle, a teenage boy, and an abomination attacking a slime creature that one Toshinori Yagi, publicly known as pro hero All Might, exited the sewers to witness. It was quite possibly the strangest sight he had ever witnessed. It was then that he noticed a girl held inside the slime, knocking him out of his shock to unleash a Texas Smash into the slime heteromorph. Immediately, all the animals disappeared, and the boy started helping his friend up as the hero gathered the slime in plastic bottles.

"You did a good job holding out and helping your friend, you were a great help!" The American-themed hero gave him a wide grin and a thumbs-up. In truth, most of the praise was just because of the bald eagle. That was an impressive animal quirk. He glanced at the girl to see she was alright, bar still coughing up some slime, before looking back at the boy, who was holding out a notebook with a sheepish look on his face. "Um, Al-All Might, s-sir, could you please, um, sign my notebook?" He barely squeaked out. 'Ah, a fanboy.' He quickly signed the book.

"Now, I must be going to turn in this villain with the police!" He turned around and waved behind him. "So long!" He leaped away quickly, all too aware that his time was short.

-~-

Izuku and Himiko were walking along the strangely barren streets after recovering from Himiko's would-be suffocation and Izuku's fanboying. Himiko had started mercilessly teasing him. "What happened to wanting to surpass All Might? You sure talk big considering how much your stutter came back when you saw him. Did you use your quirk on it?" All he could do was blush as she continued like that, all playfully and not actually malicious, of course. That was, until they heard the sound of all too familiar explosions.

Within a minute, they found a crowd consisting of both civilians and even some heroes, all watching a familiar slime man. 'All Might must have dropped him, shit. Why are they all just watching him?' That's when he noticed the boy the slime was holding. Ash blonde hair and a red eye, not to mention the explosions. 'Shit, I can't use most of my thralls in public like this. Especially not that one. I only have one choice.'

"Himiko!" He rushed in, his first and most skilled thrall at his side. They didn't even need to coordinate out loud after all their training with Aizawa; Izuku focused on rescue, and Himiko engaged the threat. He grabbed his once-friend by the arm and pulled as he heard a scream of pain as one of Himiko's knives found the slime's eye. "What are you doing!?" Seemed Katsuki was much too stubborn to accept help freely. Regardless, he was stronger than him after much more training than even the driven bomber, so he dragged him a couple of feet from the slime and shoved him towards the nearest pro hero, Death Arms. He quickly spun around to assist Himiko, only to witness his second Texas smash of the day.

-~-

With the slime defeated, the numerous pros started lecturing the children for their reckless actions, before All Might bailed them out. The two quickly departed, knowing Bakugo would try to catch up and determined to not have to answer any questions.

Unfortunately, this also caused them to miss All Might, slowed down by the press as he was.

'I need to find that girl. She showed such bravery, charging back into danger against the same monster that almost killed her to save that kid. She would make a great holder of One For All, I just know it.'

Chapter Text

It was a couple of days after the slime villain incident. Izuku and Himiko were currently at UA, receiving a lecture for their actions. Nezu had an amused grin after talking with Toshinori and was observing while Aizawa critiqued their recklessness.

"You two need to understand, you're not heroes yet. Midoriya, you put yourself in harm's way unnecessarily. You at least had the sense not to unleash an army of thralls, but that just means you have less to protect you from a powerful villain who was fully willing to kill you. Himiko, you may be immortal, but that villain could reportedly hijack bodies, which may have even caused issues for you. Not to mention that it could have shown off more than either of you are willing, your shield from the commission won't work fully until you're with us."

Himiko instantly leapt to their defense, for Izuku's sake more than her own. "But Sensei, the heroes weren't doing anything. Bakugo was going to die, and while I'm not exactly fond of him, we both know Izuku could never let that happen when he could stop it." The boy didn't correct her, there was nothing to correct, he wouldn't. "We may not be heroes yet, but would we ever be heroes if we were willing to let age or laws kill an innoce-, kill someone?" It didn't seem right to call Bakugo innocent to her. He may have left Izuku alone since he did the same back, but he was still an arrogant jerk in her eyes. Technically, that wasn't against the law, but illegal quirk usage was, and he did that enough that it was technically correct to call him a criminal. Not that any law enforcement would enforce it, basically everyone used their quirks in public.

Aizawa sighed. "I would agree with you if you were alone, but look at the facts. You were in public, surrounded by heroes, even. Hell, All Might himself appeared from the middle of nowhere a couple of seconds into your rescue. The kid would have been fine." Himiko went to retort, but was stopped by a hand on her shoulder from her master. "Let it go, Himi. He does have a point. Just look at it this way, we just need to work even harder so we can acquire our licenses as soon as possible." Aizawa nodded to himself, although quite frankly, they were already working way harder than most other prospective hero students. Many entered UA without even knowing how to throw a punch, these two could probably take down some pros if they worked together and made a good plan.

"Now, are you two actually ready for today?" After receiving confirmation from both teens, he continued. "Today we're going to be doing something much bigger than usual. The entrance exams are only about ten months away, so we need to start going plus ultra." The man's face twisted into a by now familiar and terrifying grin. "You're both going to be on training ground gamma today. Your objective is to locate the base of a gang, and, for full marks, steal a briefcase from their base. This gang will be played by one of my coworkers, Ectoplasm." Both teens perked up, Izuku because of his hero obsession, Himiko because she vaguely remembered Nezu gifting him blood from him on her birthday a couple of years ago, and she enjoyed it quite a bit. This is a stealth mission, but you don't immediately fail if you're seen. If one of his clones sees you, they will radio in and start evacuating with the briefcase, so you will have to stop them before they can escape the grounds. Any questions?"

Both teens raised their hands. "Midoriya." He was pretty sure he already knew Himiko's question. "Do we know where their base is in advance?" The man shook his head. "To find the base, look for clones and follow them. They're patrolling the grounds, but they have to return to base occasionally." He turned to Himiko. "Can I cut them?" Figures. "You can try as long as it's nowhere major, show the same caution you would with a real villain. After all, you might find the real one." It seemed that was the end of the questions. Izuku would have asked if Ectoplasm knew they're quirks so they could try to sneak Himiko in disguised if he didn't, but he knew the clones didn't bleed, so it was unlikely they could access any blood.

Aizawa took them to the entrance to the start of the training ground. "You will have two hours. Remember, finding the base is enough for a passing grade. If you don't have confidence that you can steal the briefcase without getting caught, it's better to get away so that you can get someone more qualified and not scare the villains away with the target. Time starts now."

The duo began their hunt.

-~-

Ectoplasm didn't quite know what the point of this was. Nezu hadn't told him much, merely that he was to help train two students of his, so he didn't exactly know what to go off. Before this, he didn't even know Nezu was training anyone, so he didn't know their names, quirks, or anything. If he did, perhaps his clones would have detected the three birds watching them, or the predatory eyes of a blonde vampire lurking in the shadows.

-~-

"This is Himi, Group Alpha is retracing their steps. Possible lead on target location, over."

"This isn't a walkie-talkie; you don't have to say over every time."

They were communicating through a fairly new technique that Izuku had been developing. Ever since Himiko started to gain more self-awareness, she had gained the ability to share thoughts and feelings with him when absorbed, as well as watch through his eyes, leading to some awkwardness. Recently, he had managed to start doing something similar, even when Himiko or other thralls were summoned, allowing for telepathy with them. "E-1 is seeing nothing new from Group Beta. L-1 reports that Group Charlie is also returning, while L-2 has found a new group which we'll call Group Delta."

"Should I follow, over?" He sighed at her continuing her bit. "No. Ectoplasm's a pro; you're good at stealth, but he might see through it. He's less likely to see tiny lovebirds. Regroup and wait for further instructions."

"Roger that, over." She said in a sing-song voice. Within a couple of minutes, she silently jumped from above and landed in their base camp. Izuku was far less built for stealth than her, so he was sitting back and using some thralls to look for the base. He had D-2 using its incredible sense of smell that came with being a dog to serve as a warning system for approaching clones, while all bird thralls watched from the skies, watching for them to enter a building. Izuku suddenly sprang out of his chair as a mental image was broadcast into his head, the best his animal thralls could do without the ability to speak any human language. He took out the map of the gym and looked for the coordinates of the building that the vision showed him. Once he had it, he scribbled the coordinates on a piece of paper and passed it to D-2. "Bring this to Aizawa. Work with L-1 as a spotter for any clones." He resummoned the first lovebird to his position as the mastiff nodded. He didn't know it could do that, but that was a problem for later.

"Himi, target found. Scout it out with E-1 and look for possible entrances; do not let yourself be seen. Oh, take Hercules with you." He summoned the quirked ant. He was normally against naming his animal thralls since they would become difficult to remember with so many, but he decided to name quirked animals since they were too unique to get mixed up with the rest. The tiny ant sat in one of the pockets of Himiko's outfit that would normally store a blood vile. The girl melded into the shadows, and he took a meditative stance. Much like his thralls could see through his eyes, he had found that he could see through theirs if he focused hard enough. He usually only used it on the animals, though, after Himiko decided it would be funny to look down her shirt when they were testing it.

His vision became much stronger as he was now looking through E-1's eyes, as the powerful bird of prey watched what looked like an identical building to the others surrounding it. The only noticeable difference was the shift change of two squads of Ecto-clones at the door. E-1's animal senses picked up the almost invisible presence of its fellow thrall beside it. Hercules scuttled out of Himiko's pocket, splatting onto the floor only to immediately regenerate. Izuku switched his senses to the ant's as it started exploring the building, Ectoplasm not even considering that he should be looking for an ant. After about ten minutes, he found it.

"Second floor, it's being watched by an Ectoplasm. There's only one, so I suspect it's the real one." Himiko grumbled a curse under her breath. The clones were much less of a threat. She could probably dispose of one with a good kick, which was enough to destroy a clone but not kill a person, so it was allowed. The real deal would take much more effort; it would basically be the same as fighting Aizawa, since, without clones, he fought quirkless. She was far from good enough to face Aizawa head-on, and she doubted this would be any different.

"Izuku, I have a plan."

-~-

Ectoplasm had gotten bored. It had been over an hour by now, and his clones had seen nothing at all. Having said that, he was still a pro hero, and wasn't going to slack off just because he had been standing around for an hour, he had done worse after all. All of a sudden, his radio blared into action as every squad reported attacks. 'What the hell is going on? Wasn't there only meant to be two students?' Regardless, he was meant to run if his clones found anything, so he went to reach for the briefcase to run away with it. He was stopped by a plastic knife launching into the briefcase and sending it skittering away. Turning towards the direction of the throw, he met eyes with a blonde in a skin-tight black bodysuit. She stared at him with predatory eyes before she raised her arm at him. He barely dodged to the side before a syringe attached to a cord shot out of her gauntlet and whizzed through the space he just filled.

The girl clicked her tongue before rushing at him with a plastic knife. He ducked under it and threw a fist at her gut, only for her to dodge to the side and disappear. Instincts blaring, he spun around to just barely catch the punch of a green-haired boy who seemingly appeared from nowhere. This didn't seem to slow him down as the boy threw another punch at the teacher, impacting him in the jaw, only partially cushioned through his mask. When he looked back, the boy was gone, leaving only grey sludge. The girl, on the other hand, was back and attempted to sweep his legs, only for him to block it and start pushing her back. He was definitely in a tight spot; their hand-to-hand was on the level of a year two or three hero student, and they both seemed skilled in disappearing. He would have to end this fast so that he could escape with the briefcase; one of them must have some sort of cloning or summoning quirk based on the amount of simultaneous attacks, so he had no clue how many opponents he had. He would have to get away with the briefcase as fast as poss- wait a minute.

'Where did the briefcase go?'

Nezu's chipper voice rang over the speakers set up across the gym.

"Hero team wins!"

-~-

Himiko's plan had been simple, but it worked great. It had started with Izuku using his thralls to attack every group at once. This wouldn't work for long, so they would have to get out quickly. Himiko would then engage Ectoplasm to both stop him from escaping and to keep him away from the briefcase. She would use her quirk in the fight to make him believe that he was fighting both of them instead of just her, making him not watch out for the other. With all his thralls occupied, this allowed Izuku to effortlessly carry the briefcase with haul and leg it while the man was distracted.

After explaining the plan to their three instructors, they seemed impressed. Well, it was hard to judge through Nezu's permanent grin, Ectoplasm's full-face covering mask, and Aizawa's tsundereness, but Izuku was being optimistic.

"You two did well. Having a thrall deliver the note in case the plan went awry, distracting thirty clones at once while still engaging the original, and getting out with the briefcase. However, you two still lose some marks. If that was a real villain, Himiko would have certainly been captured or killed. Sometimes a hero may be forced to give their life, but try not to plan for it to happen." It wouldn't be Aizawa if there weren't a stick to accompany the carrot. "From now on, your training will look similar to this every Saturday. We will be using more members of the faculty to push you even further, so prepare to go plus ultra. The man's creepy grin returned. To think, he had the nerve to complain about his boss's creepy grin when he was doing that.

It was clear to Izuku and Himiko that they were either going to love or hate these next ten months.

Chapter Text

With only ten months left before the long-awaited UA entrance exams, Izuku sought to train everything they could. As of recently, they were already training all sorts of skills with Aizawa, Nezu, and the other teachers, but that was still only one day a week. To maximise their time, Izuku had planned to train both their bodies and quirks. The regular spars and training exercises helped to train their skills, but they barely helped most parts of their physical fitness, and didn't make their quirks stronger; it more got them used to using them strategically. The biggest problem that he noticed was that they were both hesitant to use their quirks. Himiko had faced discrimination from her parents, which led to a natural aversion to it, and Izuku avoided it because the government would probably have his head.

This put them at a disadvantage compared to people like Bakugo, who would use their quirks several times a day, even though it was technically illegal to do so. To remedy this, Izuku had made a simple training plan, which they were currently carrying out on their walk to Takoba Municipal Beach Park, or the beach for brevity's sake.

-~-

Himiko was uncomfortable. By now, after years of therapy and spending time with accepting people, she knew that not everyone would see her quirk as 'villainous' or call her a 'monster.' Despite that, she still knew that people would, even if they weren't the majority. It was one thing to use her quirk in training with people that she knew would immediately lose their jobs if Nezu sniffed any discrimination from them, but using her quirk in public was an entirely different level.

Therefore, as two identical green-haired boys walked the street in identical outfits, surrounded by a herd of dogs, multiple birds sitting on their shoulders, and a few cats, she was uncomfortable. She had tried to talk him out of it, and he had promised not to force her to do it, but she just couldn't stop herself from trying his idea when she saw his dejected expression. At this point, he clearly didn't even need any brainwashing when his puppy dog eyes alone could make her kill a man. Not that they would be testing that one. Izuku would probably be much stronger in the long run if he were willing to "accidentally" kill villains sometimes and add them to the army, but she couldn't see him going through with that ever. Despite the coldness in his eyes that was enough to make people cross to the other side of the street when they saw it (or maybe that was the zoo accompanying them), she knew that he wouldn't hurt a fly if that fly didn't happen to be a rare villainous fly.

Moving past her discomfort and nagging paranoia, she couldn't deny that this felt nice, though. Walking around transformed into the one person she cared about more than any other, sipping on a blood bag that looked like an innocent juice box, it was enough that she felt like a truly normal person. Like she could engage in all her "weird" or "creepy" likes without hiding a thing, proudly being herself. Izuku looked to be enjoying himself too as he pet E-1 on his shoulder, the bald eagle trying to look proud and dignified even as it pretended not to preen at its master's touch. It was almost as tsundere as Aizawa, the lucky bastard. She would be more than happy to take its place and receive the headpats if it were going to pretend not to like them.

As she noticed the state of the beach, she immediately turned to Izuku.

"Please absorb me. I don't want to go anywhere near that." The traitor simply chuckled. "No can do, Himi. We're pretty strong for our age, but we still aren't great. Our quirks aren't good enough for direct combat yet, that we can rely on them and no physical strength, which cleaning this will help with." He started walking towards the dump, a far more fitting name since it clearly wasn't much of a beach at this point. "Besides, it's community service. Not to mention, we can even visit when it's all clean. It would be nice to have a beach nearby, right?" She would give him that at least. "Can I at least stay in your form so it's not as tiring? You're stronger than me." The boy smirked and shook his head, earning a pout from her. It made sense, of course, she couldn't build muscle in disguise, but she was enjoying staying as him.

"If you work hard today, you can have some more blood on the way back and stay with me on the walk." Grey goop fell off her body as she gave him a wide grin, already excited for it. It was truly lucky that Nezu had acquired plenty of DNA-infused clothing for her, so that she could don and remove disguises in public without nudity. The duo immediately got to work hauling trash into bags that Izuku brought (not using the hauling quirk, Hercules cheered them on from the sidelines.)

-~-

After about an hour, they stopped hauling trash. They would have gone on longer, but they were going to have to take the trash bags for disposal on foot, and that was going to be a workout on its own. They would have to rent a truck or something if they ever wanted a chance at moving some of the larger things, like fridges or the occasional scrap car. Humans were much stronger than they were pre-quirk, but they still weren't carrying a car for the at least ten-minute walk to their disposal location. Well, Izuku could if he used haul, but that defeated the point. Izuku sent a telepathic message to every thrall across the beach. A small horde of animals ran up to him as they stopped playing in the sand and with each other. It was truly adorable to see dogs, birds, cats, and even an ant playing together completely normally. They almost seemed human, which was something to test. Come to think of it, one of his dogs nodded to him, they had clearly received an intelligence boost. He had something to talk to Nezu about, at least, god knows the rat would enjoy some fellow animals that could actually communicate with him.

Blonde became green after a quick suck (of blood, partially to Himiko's dissatisfaction), and the two seemingly identical twins began their walk home, with fewer animals following this time since it was getting late and they could cause a disturbance. Himiko was lost in her thoughts after that intrusive thought had popped into her head. 'Do I actually have feelings for Izuku, or is it just attraction? Furthermore, are they my own, or the result of lingering brainwashing?' She couldn't deny that the boy was attractive to her. It was also hard not to like him after how much he had done and still was doing for her. It would be all too easy for him to abuse his power over her, and yet he didn't. Of course, he didn't exactly deserve a medal for merely not raping her, but he was overall much better to her then he had to be. For example, he had only given her a single order that was permanent, and she saw that one as more than fair since, in hindsight, forcing thoughts into his head without his consent wasn't exactly kind. He did occasionally give smaller orders, but they were always things that were reasonable requests, like occasionally ordering her to bathe since she tended to forget about it. Her body still produced sweat, but only after extreme exercise, so cleaning herself wasn't as major as it was to a normal human. Couple that with the bad habits she picked up, rarely being allowed a bath when she was with her birth parents, and it was easy to forget. Regardless, she was getting off topic from pondering her feelings for her master.

'Would it even be morally right for them to have a relationship with such a power balance, even if that power wasn't exploited?'

It probably wasn't, but that didn't really matter to her. The "victim" in that situation was her, so if she was okay with it, did it really matter? Questions to discuss with Inko, most likely. She would often chat with Inko about things her master either wouldn't want to hear or she didn't want him to hear, and this certainly qualified. She wasn't quite ready to confess. After all, besides the same embarrassment he showed towards any girl, there was nothing that hinted that he liked her, and a one-sided love would be super awkward when they were bound together for his entire life. Better she sat on her feelings until she was sure he returned them. At least she was actually capable of keeping secrets with the brainwashing so weak. The only symptom she even noticed at this point was subconsciously thinking of him as "her master."

-~-

The next ten months were somewhat of a blur. They would haul trash on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday. Saturday would stay their designated time at UA. Both Wednesdays and Sundays were rest days, more for Izuku than Himiko.

By the last week, they were almost completely done cleaning the beach. Both teens had gained a significant amount of muscle over the better part of a year, both still lithe, but well built if they happened to take off their shirt or flex their arms. They were currently at UA with Nezu and Aizawa. Nezu had promised them a surprise, which they were all staring at in a shocked silence, which Aizawa eventually broke. "Nezu, please enlighten me, why the fuck you have a corpse?" Nezu seemed unfazed by the man's half-shocked, half-angry, uncharacteristic shout. "Why, that should be obvious with Izuku here. He'll make a good thrall, of course!" Aizawa face-palmed. "I figured that much. But who is he? Why?" That did seem to break through the rat's good mood, bringing out a frown.

"Meet Dictator, a former inmate at Tartarus itself. The HPSC had him on death row for a while, but never went through with it, and likely wasn't going to. I convinced them that the man deserved death, and then requested the body, citing that it would help me with some research. Now, he's all yours, Izuku." He saw the boy's hesitant look and decided to elaborate. "Oh, don't feel bad. You see, his quirk is quite similar to yours, allowing him to grab people with strings and control them. He used his quirk to rape a theorized 17 women, from the ages of 13 at youngest to 28 at highest. He also tortured some of them and killed all of them before he was eventually brought in." The boy's hesitation had become anger, while Himiko was much the same, only with an added layer of utter revulsion. With her past, she was probably more familiar with this type of event.

"Let's leave such dark topics alone for now, though, and go back to necromancy. His quirk should mesh well with yours, given they both work through string. He was physically quite weak, so I doubt you will ever see much use in summoning him, nor should he be given the luxury of being alive again, but his quirk will help." Izuku clearly understood the logic, so he sighed and reached his hand out. A string visible to only him and Himiko shot into the dead scum before he immediately absorbed him so that he could never even have a chance to regain concussioness. Lastly, he used his quirk to cover the man in orders, stopping him from even attempting to influence him or go anywhere near Himiko when they were both in storage. He would have normally felt bad about stripping away a person's free will and ability to consent, but that man was the last to complain about consent. He had to visibly suppress a shudder at the thought of having that man in his head, but at least with brainwashing at full percent, unlike Himiko, he would never gain consciousness unless summoned, which would be an absolute last resort.

Chapter Text

Six years. That was how long they had been training for this moment. Today was the accumulation of so much work, and would decide their entire futures.

Naturally, Izuku was nervous. Himiko was slightly less so, but he could even see her tapping her foot as they stared up at the gate. It was strange; they were here every single week for training, yet it was suddenly so imposing. "Watch out." He stepped to the side after hearing Himiko's voice in his head just in time to avoid Bakugo, who was about to shove him out of the way. The blonde glared at him before he kept walking. It was a good thing there were cameras here, given how much Bakugo had threatened him if he visited UA. 'How mad would he be if he knew I've been training here for years?' He chuckled to himself at the thought. At least the interruption had broken him out of his nervousness enough to start walking into the school.

Only to trip head first.

'Is this really how I die? Before I can even start at UA? Everyone will be so disappointed. Maybe if I time it right, I can use my quirk on myself?' Luckily, he never had to test as he was suddenly floating. He looked back to see Himiko as surprised as he was as she reached out to catch him, as well as a cute brunette with rosy cheeks. The girl pressed her fingers together, drawing his attention to the cat-like pads on her fingertips. "Release." Gravity returned to him; luckily, Himiko had grabbed onto him since he would have just fallen anyway, since he was absorbed into quirk analysis. 'That was such a cool quirk! Seems to be five finger activated, but what did it do? Telekinesis? Did it make him weightless? So many options.' Himiko shook him out of his inner rant, and he looked at the confused girl. "Um, are you ok? Sorry for using my quirk on you, I just thought it would be bad luck to fall before you even get to the exam!"

He gave her a wide smile, unknowingly banishing the fear she had been feeling at seeing his oddly cold eyes. "I'm fine, thanks. That's a really interesting quirk. What does it do?"

The duo, now trio, chatted as they walked into the school of their joint dreams.

-~-

They were eventually forced to separate from Uraraka, which had caused Himiko to pout. Her pout only grew more pronounced when she saw their seats for the exam, not to mention that she even had one. She had expected to just get absorbed until Izuku was done, but Nezu had assigned her a seat with an exam paper. Even worse, Bakugo was here. The pomeranian seemed to be confused, although it was hard to tell through the constant scowl. "Who the fuck are you?" Oh, right, they hadn't met. The seats seemed to group classmates with each other, so it only made sense that he would be confused, since he had never seen her at their school. "None of your business." The boy went to yell something, but Present Mic entered the room and started talking about the rules of the exam, which she paid no attention to. She only recognised the man in the first place because they had trained together a couple of times. Eventually, they were able to start the exam.

It was surprisingly easy. Who knew that learning under the smartest creature on the planet for six years made you smart? Or maybe it was just an easier test than normal since she wasn't a normal student and shouldn't even need to do a test in the first place? Regardless, she was done early, and Izuku seemed to be as well. They simply had a mental conversation as they waited for the exam to officially end.

-~-

Half an hour later, the tests were collected by a couple of Ectoplasm's clones, and Present Mic started talking to them about the practical exam. "Welcome, UA candidates! Let's get straight to the point and let me tell ya how this practical exam is going to go down, okay? Are you ready!?"

Not a soul responded, except a cough from somewhere in the stands. Izuku would have started mumbling, but he instead did so to Himiko through their connection so as not to bother other participants. It was also helpful that he had already met the man repeatedly, so any fanboying had already occurred. "Like your application said, today you will be participating in ten-minute mock battles in some urban settings! After we're done here, you'll split up into different zones designated on cards at your desk."

Izuku glanced over and saw that Bakugo was in a different zone from him. 'They must be splitting up friends. Although..." He glanced at Himiko's card, which said Battle Center B, the same as his own, naturally. It would be unfair for them to be separated, after all. He started paying attention to Present Mic again.

"There will be three targets for you kids in every center. They will all be different difficulties, but also offer more points the harder they are. The objective is simply to get as many points as you can by smashing as many robot targets as possible! Make sure to keep things heroic, though, because attacking other examinees will result in disqualification!"

A stiff-looking blue blue-haired boy stood and yelled out, interrupting the hero. "Excuse me, sir, but I have a question. On the printout, four types of villains are listed, yet you said three. With all due respect, if this is an error in official UA materials, it is shameful. We expect the best from Japan's most notable school, a mistake such as this won't do!" Seemingly unbothered by the interruption, Present Mic continued. "Alright, examinee 7111. Thanks for pointing that out! The fourth villain robot is worth zero points and is an obstacle you should try to avoid. It can be beaten, but there's no reason to do so! Just focus on the smaller ones. That's all I've got for today, listeners, so I'll sign off with a quote. General Napoleon Bonaparte once said, 'A true hero is one who overcomes life's misfortunes.' Now that's a tasty sound bite. Now, let's hear a Plus Ultra!"

The man did not receive a single plus ultra.

-~-

After a short bus ride, Izuku and Himiko stood outside Battle Center B in a large crowd of students. Izuku started calming himself down while Himiko drank some blood for her quirk, then walked off to approach Uraraka, wishing to calm her down since she was clearly nervous as well. "You okay?" Uraraka jumped in surprise, 'Right, her situational awareness isn't as good as the people I'm used to.' She gulped. "I'm fine. I guess I'm just nervous." She let out a nervous chuckle. "Today is just so important, you know?" She nodded at that. Being a hero was more important to her master than herself, but it was still important to her after their talk together years ago. She was determined to make him a hero who could surpass even All Might. Before she could even respond, a quirk-enhanced shout rang out. "START!"

Both Izuku and Himiko burst forward as the rest of the crowd was in shock. A pile of animals appeared around them. "Destroy robots and protect other examinees; the second one is more important." He ordered them as he summoned his least favourite of them all. A hulking beast that could tower over All Might himself, its eight legs terrifying the crowd behind.

-~-

Six years ago, at the warehouse where the crate was first opened.

"What is that?" Izuku was shocked at the last corpse. He didn't know much about animals, but he was pretty sure that wasn't natural. It seemed to be some sort of huge spider, each leg being as long as All Might was tall. Its carapace was black and shiny, although smeared in a mix of blue and red blood. He would have thought it was some sort of giant spider if it wasn't for the hint of blood-soaked fur he could see peeking out from below it.

"We don't fully know." The deep voice of the rhino vet answered. "It was found in a ruined warehouse full of corpses after gunfire had been reported. The authorities suspect that animal traffickers brought it into the country and were going to sell it, but it broke loose. They were all dead by the time the police got there." The 8-year-old shuddered, but reached out anyway. A string shot into the abomination, and it stood to its full height, making it look so, so much worse. Dangling from the spider's carapace was a tiger, or what was once a tiger. All that remained were its legs and some of its torso, all soaked in blood. Where the back and head of the creature should be had been ripped open, allowing the spider's body to extend from it. It was also huge. It had four useless dangling tiger limbs, but it still had the classic 8 spider legs. Each one looked even bigger like this, and reached a couple of feet away from the body. Fully extended, the creature seemed to be larger than most cars. On sight, he immediately knew that he wouldn't be summoning this thing when he could avoid it. The public would be terrified, and he couldn't even blame them because he was, too.

-~-

The modern day.

"What the fuck." Nobody quite knew who said it, because they were all thinking it anyway. Most of the faculty had helped train Midoriya over the last year, but only Nezu and Aizawa had witnessed that thing. He let a smirk appear under his capture scarf, a sentiment the rat shared as he cackled, before answering the unasked question, "That was the work of one Midoriya Izuku, as you all likely guessed. Except for you, of course, All Might." Strangely enough, the gaunt man did seem to recognize not just the boy, but also the creature. Something to think about later. Right now, they have an exam to watch.

-~-

Izuku mounted the spider-tiger's back with Himiko. The creature scuttled towards a group of robots that were rapidly approaching, before starting to rip them apart. Each leg was able to punch straight through one of the fake villains, even the three-pointers. Himiko jumped off to go have her own fun, her favourite knife in hand, which Nezu had approved. Izuku clung onto the creature's back as it rampaged freely. The other students had sprung into action by now, but they were still giving them such a wide berth that they had plenty of robots to slaughter. The thing kept ripping through steel tirelessly, letting out an unholy version of a roar as it tore the tail off a scorpion robot. Spotting a robot about to attack from behind, he employed his other trump card. A string sunk into metal, much like the ones he used on the dead. Dictator's quirk had been awkward to say the least. It almost felt uncooperative, not working remotely similar to how the man used it. The villain had been able to use it to freely manipulate the bodies of whoever it sank into. His version gave him much less control, letting him control specific body parts in a limited form.

That mainly consisted of him doing something like shooting it into someone's leg and tripping them, or grabbing them by the arm and throwing them off balance. At first, he had wanted to grapple around, but the string was much too small to maintain his weight and snapped if he tried. It could affect inanimate objects, though, as evidenced by him tripping the robot sneaking up on him and his mount. It was immediately ripped in two by large spider legs. He really didn't like using this thrall because of its appearance and brutality, but it was incredible in this situation.

The ground started rumbling, snapping him out of his thoughts. His eyes widened as he turned towards the source and saw a gigantic metal behemoth, as tall as some skyscrapers, start walking into the city. He couldn't even say he was surprised by how well he knew Nezu by now. Just before he could order the abomination to run, he heard it.

"Help." It was so quiet, he almost didn't hear it. Within a second, he was running towards Uraraka, who was trapped under a large pile of rubble. He had abandoned his mount, which was slow at turning, so he would get there faster. The giant zero-pointer stepped towards her.

He wasn't going to make it.

He saw Himiko also running to help, transformed into him for extra strength, and she was much closer. She managed to reach Uraraka just as the robot did.

It lowered its foot to crush both girls.

He wasn't going to make it.

The foot came down, and the force of it sent out a cloud of dust.

Chapter Text

After the initial shock of the tiger creature beginning its rampage, the teachers had slowly settled down. They were now watching from their seats as the creature continued, while countless other animals and students assisted it in ending the mock villains. When the exam started drawing close to its last minute, Nezu pressed the large red button on his desk and activated the zero pointers. He grinned as he could feel the vibrations of each zero pointer scattered throughout the zones, all the way from the main campus.

Ectoplasm was the first to notice it, on one of the screens scattered around the room. "Hey, Nezu, there's a girl trapped under some rubble there. I believe she was..." He looked through the student files quickly. "Ochako Uraraka. We should stop the zero pointer in her zone, or she could be in danger." The behemoth stepped closer to the trapped girl, only a few steps away from trampling her like an ant. Other examinees ran in fear from it, while a pile of animals ran towards it, trying to help the girl. The charge was led by two identical green-haired boys, the closest one being Himiko in disguise. All Might bulked up as a warning. "Nezu, stop the robot." Nezu simply sipped his tea calmly before he set it down on his desk. "I trust Izuku and Himiko, as a teacher and as an individual. There is no need." None of the teachers seemed to agree, with Midnight arguing back. "We've all helped train the kids, we know they're good, but they don't have the tool set to deal with this! Izuku *might* be able to with haul, but it would be a push, not to mention that he isn't going to make it in time. If you don't disable it, that girl will die."

Nezu grinned menacingly as he replied in a sinister, yet sing-song voice. "Oh, ye of little faith." All Might stomped towards the door. "If you won't stop that robot, I will." He became a blur and kicked up a gust of wind as he ran, not that he was going to make it in time. Nezu turned his attention back to the screen showing Himiko just arriving at the pile of rubble alongside a few thralls. They were just in time for the zero pointer to lower its foot to stomp all of them. 'Oh well. The girl will make a good thrall at least.' His grin widened drastically as he watched Himiko raise her arms towards the metal limb about to crush her.

And caught it.

-~-

Himiko had found today much more boring than she had originally thought it to be. Today was the culmination of her entire afterlife, a day they had trained for for six years. She stabbed her beloved knife that Izuku gifted her four years ago into the eye of a scorpion robot, and sat down on its metallic corpse as she surveyed the battlefield and pouted about the events of the day. 'First, a long exam that I never thought I would have to take. Next, a test against weak robots that don't even bleed, so there's no satisfaction in killing them. Uraraka has been the only fun part of today. Speaking of, I haven't seen her in a while.' At that moment, a familiar yet different smell reached her nose. It was blood, but not from someone she had experienced before. That made sense considering that she was surrounded by strangers, but it was strangely strong for an exam. She began sprinting after the smell. 'Someone must be injured, they might need help. Also, I'm really thirsty.' She licked her lips. After a couple of seconds, she found the source of the smell. Uraraka was trapped under a pile of rubble.

It was only then that she noticed the steel behemoth towering over the surrounding buildings and casting the entire training grounds in shadow. The steel titan was about as large as a skyscraper and was headed straight towards Uraraka. She ran towards her new friend/acquaintance, but she could already tell she wouldn't have enough time. Sure, she would reach her, but there wouldn't be enough time to pull her out of the rubble, even with the thralls she could see making their way over to help. Her vision became purple as she ran, switching to her familiar version of Izuku's death vision. Only, it was different this time. Her version simply let her see a string connecting her and Izuku, while he had described his as allowing him to see a connection to every thrall, alongside a purple energy pulsing under his skin, representing quirks of stored thralls. She paid no attention to the changes she was experiencing as she ran desperately to save Uraraka. 'I can't let her die. My first hope of having a friend aside from Izu, not to mention she's cute enough that she could work as a backup if he shoots me down. Besides, what kind of thrall would I be if I failed to save a friend of my beloved master?' At the thought of her love for the boy, something clicked in her head.

Memories of Izuku saving her, talking to her, training with her, even hauling trash on the beach, all played through her eyes in less than a second. Her skin pulsed purple with overflowing energy as she reached Uraraka. 'I *have* to save her. I refuse....' Her thoughts slipped into words.

"I refuse to let you die!"

The energy inside her coalesced in her arms as she reached her arms up and met the titan's leg.

-~-

Izuku shielded his eyes from the dust cloud kicked up as the metallic monster seemingly crushed the girls, before he heard a grunt of exertion. The voice was familiar, and he realised with shock that it was his own. Unblocking his eyes, he was shocked. Himiko stood there, half him and half her. Bits of her disguise were flaking away or sometimes even falling off in large clumps, especially on her arms. Her arms were holding up the zero-pointer's foot. After she let out a cry of pain, he snapped out of his shock and burst into action, standing beside her and activating haul. He reached out and took half of the weight. Immediately, his arms were burning. 'Fuck, this is the heaviest thing I've ever held, even with help. My arms feel like they're on fire!' Blood dripped onto his face as his skin split. "On three!" Himi-izuku yelled. "One, two." Izuku gritted his teeth. "Three!" Both of them pushed the last of their strength into their arms and sent the zero pointer back. It wasn't enough to send it flying or anything, but it sent it off balance enough that it fell backwards and crushed the city behind it.

'Gotta save Uraraka. Can't stop... yet.' His eyes became blurry as he staggered, then collapsed. 'Why does everything hurt? Oh.' He looked at his arms and saw red, bone peeking out of one of his arms. Unconsciousness took him.

-~-

All Might arrived at the scene and scooped up all three injured teens, all having passed out for their own reasons. He immediately rushed them to Recovery Girl's infirmary before deflating and heading to a side office. 'I need to save some of my time limit to speak to young Himiko. After her display of suicidal selfless heroics, she's definitely a great choice as my successor. That's twice now that she's put her life on the line to save someone. She seems like such a kind and selfless girl, I'm sure she can become a hero that can surpass even me.'

-~-

The "kind and selfless" girl in question was currently lying in a hospital bed, lamenting her decisions. 'I should have just let her die. Izuku got hurt, I'm exhausted, it wasn't worth it. She would have made a great thrall, too.' A grin appeared on her face, and her hand would have snaked between her legs if she weren't sharing a room with two unconscious people and an elderly doctor. 'Besides, it would be really hot to serve Izu together. Maybe I should find some hot villains for him to enslave, and make a harem of undead cuties for him.' She had to suppress a moan at the thought before she sat up in her hospital bed. She was surprised to see that she was still dressed in her own clothes, unlike Izuku and Uraraka, who both seemed to be in hospital gowns. "When he wakes up, lecture your master on being more careful. You get a pass as an immortal, much to my displeasure, but he isn't." She went to rebuke the woman in defense of her master, but she reluctantly agreed. "I will." Abandoning all sense of shame, if she ever had any, she left her bed and joined Izuku in his.

It was to this that Uraraka awoke, immediately becoming a blushing mess at the skinship between the two. "Wh-what are you doing!?" Himiko blinked in confusion at her. "Hugging Izu?" Uraraka almost fainted before she mustered enough courage to ignore that can of worms and continue. "Um, I wanted to thank you, both of you. If it weren't for you, especially, I don't think I would still be alive. I, um, don't have much money, but if you want-" Himiko didn't let her finish. "No." Now, it was Uraraka's turn to blink with wide eyes at the quick dismissal.

"Izu and I both want to be heroes. We want to save people. We're not just in it for the money." Uraraka let out a small wince at that. "We're in it to help, to make the world a better place. You don't need to pay us for doing what any hero should, and I'm positive Izuku will agree." As if summoned, he shot up from his position lying unconscious on his bed. This, either fortunately or unfortunately, depending on perspective, sent him straight into Himiko's modest chest. He almost jumped back immediately, stammering out an apology that he cut off mid-way as he noticed their doctor in the room. "Oh my god, Recovery Girl! I knew UA employed you, but we never got injured enough to need to visit you. I was considering injuring myself on purpose so I could meet you, but this is even better!" Before the elderly hero could even rebuke him on that, he pulled a notebook out of nowhere. 'Where did he even get that? He's in a hospital gown, he doesn't have pockets. Did he store it in his quirk? Is the notebook a thrall?' She focused back on the boy as he continued speaking at a mile a minute. "Could you sign my notebook, please? I already have a full entry on you!" The overwhelmed elder did so, before effectively running away from the boy, citing a staff meeting just being called.

"Um, I've been curious since the exam, but what exactly are both of your quirks? You both seemed to display various abilities." The two looked at each other and had a silent conversation.

Literally.

"Do you think we can trust her, Himi?"

"Our classmates are going to have to find out. I'm not keen on it, but we can use this as a trial run? Besides, she seems nice!"

Himiko started them off. "My quirk is called transform. I can become a person for a short period, but I can't use their-" She cut herself off as her eyes widened, putting together what happened at the exam. "I couldn't use their quirks, but I think I had a quirk awakening as I saved you, and used Izu's quirk." The brunette seemed shocked at that. "Wait, so you risked your life when you didn't even know you could do that? That would have killed you!" Himiko scratched at her hair sheepishly. "Well, not quite. After all..." She turned to Izuku, signaling that it was his turn. He took a deep breath to steady himself.

"My quirk is called 'thread of life', and it allows me to resurrect people. I shoot a string into corpses, and it brings them back as 'thralls' who are bound to me and can't disobey. I can also absorb thralls into myself and use their quirks, as long as they're not mutant quirks. The reason we were able to save you is because of him." Izuku held his palm out and let Hercules appear in his hand. "In life, his quirk was haul, which lets the user carry over a thousand times their body weight. With both of us using it, we were able to push the zero pointer back." Uraraka stared at him with her jaw practically on the floor. Her eyes drifted to Himiko and gained a slight look of horror. Himiko answered the unasked question. "Yes, I'm a thrall. Izuku is a good person though, so no need to feel bad for me. I'm only still alive because of him, and he drastically improved my life. Also, don't let your mind go to where I can already tell it's going. Izu would never take advantage of his position like that!" Uraraka gulped, then took her own deep breath to prepare herself.

"I'm sorry!" Her head almost hit her bed as she bowed while still seated. "You both saved me, and then the first thing I do is start thinking you're bad people. I'll never do that again!" The girl seemed oddly determined at her declaration. "Also, since you two saved my life, I want you to call me by my first name! It's only reasonable that we would be informal after something like that, right?" Her smile was much too kind and earnest for either to turn her down.

-~-

After that near-disaster of an exam, a faculty meeting had been called. Toshinori sat down in his chair opposite the head of the table, that being Nezu, with a facial expression of slight annoyance at being denied the chance to speak to the 9th, although this was important enough to miss it. Nezu set his cup of tea down and finally began the meeting as Hound Dog, the last missing participant, sat down. "Well, I'm aware a lot of you are annoyed and have questions, so I ask you to raise your hands and I will address them." His voice was far too chipper for this situation, if you asked All Might. Unsurprisingly to those who knew him, Hound Dog raised his paw-hand first. "What the grr, fuck were you thinking rggh?" The man's angry shout was interposed by the growling that always occupied his speech. "I don't care if grr those kids managed to save her, it was grrgh still much too close! You almost had two deaths on your hands!" All Might was confused at that, but didn't chime in. 'Two? Wouldn't it be three?'

"I had faith in my students. Those two have trained with me and Shouta for six years now, I have complete faith in their abilities." Aizawa didn't even raise his hand before he interrupted. "That's bullshit and you know it. Himiko couldn't do that before; that was a quirk awakening. If she didn't develop the ability to copy quirks just at the right moment, you would have a dead teenager on your hands." That at least answered how she had multiple quirks, and was another point in favor of her receiving One for All. 'With One for All boosting quirks according to Nana, and a copying quirk, she could be a monster in combat!' Nezu grinned. "Ah, but she did! Quirk awakenings are known to trigger out of desperation, so this was the perfect stage for such an event! I know you're touchy about buildings crushing people, Shouta, ever since-" Eraserhead's chair clattered to the floor as he shot upwards and activated his quirk reflexively. "Don't you dare try to use that as an argument against me!" The entire room seemed shocked at his yell. It was expected by most that this would lead to yelling, but certainly not from him.

Nezu sighed. "I apologise, that was out of line of me. Regardless, we can't change things now; all we can do is continue. If any of you wish to quit after this, then I won't stop you. If not, then let's start grading everyone's scores, shall we?"

As they reluctantly started watching each student to work out placements, Nezu stewed in his thoughts. 'I don't know why they're so upset. He could have just revived her as a thrall anyway. It would arguably be a better outcome, since it would let us fit an extra student in the hero course. Especially if Toshinori decides to give one of those two his quirk, like I suspect, they're going to be perfect. What's one or two lives to create a perfect, immortal hero? It's not like they'll actually stay dead. An All Might that never needs to retire, how close we are to achieving that goal.'

-~-

After exchanging numbers with Uraraka, Izuku and Himiko had headed home. After moving out of their small apartment with Inko a few years ago, they had moved into a much more luxurious complex with a built-in gym that allowed quirks, which is where Izuku and Himiko were now. "So, I have a few things that I want to test about your new changes to your quirk." Izuku rubbed his arm where Himiko had just drunk from a minute ago. "To start, I want to see if you can double up with me. At the exam, you used haul, which means you can access other thralls through me. I want to know if you can summon, and if you can, if we can both summon the same thrall at the same time." Himiko nodded and shifted. Once she looked the same as Izuku, she stretched her arm out and shot Despot out of it, letting the drastically weakened quirk sink into the wall. Izuku mirrored her. "Good, so we can both use despot too. We definitely don't want to summon Dictator, so try summoning Atropos." Izuku summoned his least favourite thrall and watched Himiko scrunch her face in concentration. 'Huh, she's cute when she concentrates like that.' He started blushing, only to be interrupted by Himiko. "I can't do it. Try retracting Atropos?" He did so, only for it to immediately reappear as Himiko continued. "I think we share a storage." She pouted at her deduction. "Aw, I wanted to see if I could also summon myself, and make an infinite loop." He hadn't even thought of that, and now he was disappointed too.

The two continued testing until Inko came down to retrieve them and send them to bed.

-~-

About a week later, a letter arrived from UA. Izuku, Inko, Himiko, and a large group of every thrall bar the obvious two crowded around it. Tentatively, Izuku opened it, and a disk slid out, immediately displaying a hologram of Nezu. "Hello, everyone! I suspect there are many watching, but I won't waste time greeting everyone individually lest this message double in length. To start, we have your scores on the written exam. Izuku, you scored an impressive 97%, the highest score of your entire grade. Congratulations! Himiko, you achieved a similarly impressive 93%, pretty good for not expecting to be doing an exam, eh?" Nezu grinned as Himiko looked startled at being caught. "You two most likely care about the practical much more, though. Himiko, you scored a total of 23 villain points, while Izuku scored a full 80. 54 of those from Atropos, by the way. That would already put you in first, since your scores are added together, but there are also rescue points!" Videos started to play of animals saving people from robots, Himiko pushing a student out of the way of a robot's attack, and lastly, both of them saving Uraraka from the zero pointer. They could feel Inko's glare burning into their backs. "For your heroic deeds, Himiko, you received 8 points, while Izuku, your thralls, earned 15. Lastly, you two saving Uraraka together earned you a whopping sixty points! This puts your score at a record-shattering 186 points!" The rat's grin barely fit on his face,

"The move-in days for the dorms are in 4 days, so I recommend you two go shopping for everything you need before then. Now, I look forward to teaching you two at your Hero Academia!"

Chapter Text

With only a few days remaining before they would be moving into the school dorms, they had a lot of prep to do. The first bit of this prep was a meeting with Nezu. The rat had called both Izuku and Himiko to his office one last time before school started.

"Welocome, Izuku, Himiko. Tea?" The rat offered them two freshly poured cups, one slightly tinted red, which Himiko went straight for as a response. Izuku was slightly more dignified. "Yes, please. Thank you." He took a sip and waited for his primary mentor to start.

"We have a few topics to discuss today. The first thing I want to discuss is your quirk. The way I see it, you can either go for quantity or quality." Izuku raised an eyebrow. "What I mean is with their quirks. You could pick up a few tharlls with strong quirks, and then focus your training on fighting both alongside them as well as using their quirks. This would allow you to train in precision, as well as train yourself to fight on the frontlines. The other option is to amass a large pile of thralls, allowing you to brute force fights with a horde of animals." Izuku considered it for a second. "I don't think either option is a bad idea. I would actually say that I want both." He set his cup down.

"Having hordes is very useful. It will be a large boon in taking down groups of opponents, since I could effectively become a one-man army. It would also be great for rescue since I could unleash tons of animals and even people to lift rubble and use their enhanced senses to find survivors. I'm also going to need some thralls with strong quirks, though. There are going to be times when I have to fight, so the more help I have, the better. There are also likely to be some villains who are simply so high quality that quantity can't match it. I want to surpass All Might one day, which means I'm going to need some extreme firepower. After all, you could throw a million quirkless animals at All Might, and he probably wouldn't even struggle."

Nezu smiled at him and nodded his furry head. "Well reasoned. I thought much the same, which I why I recently started passing out something to UA alumni. He placed two forms on the desk, and the two teens took one each. As they read through, Nezu summarised it. "That form, if signed by pro heroes, will allow you to resurrect them in the event that they pass. It doesn't mention you by name in case this gets back to the commission, it merely refers to you as an 'experimental medical procedure', capable of bringing back the dead at a steep price. I don't expect everyone to sign it, but there should be some takers."

Having finished his skim through the form, Izuku set it down with a serious expression. "About the commission, how long do you think we have? I know they'll definitely find out at the sports festival at the latest, but they already have the forms, right?" Nezu grimaced. "Luckily, your father works there and volunteered to go through the student list we're legally required to send. This buys us some time, but it also means they'll likely want his head once they find out." Izuku clenched his fists. "Is there anything you can do to help him? If you can protect me, surely you can protect my dad?" Even as he asked, he knew the answer. Nezu could protect him because he was a random student; they couldn't protect not just a grown man, but one of their own employees. Nezu shaking his head only confirmed it.

"I'm making plans to help him go into hiding. That's all I can do, really." Izuku felt tears form in his eyes. 'I might not see him much, but he's still my father!' He wiped his eyes and gave Nezu a determined look. "Is there anything I can do?" The rat seemed hesitant to respond. "Not much, honestly. The most I can think of is in the worst case scenario..." He didn't finish, but he didn't have to. Izuku knew the rat was saying he could use his quirk. Himiko gently pulled him into her chest, letting him begin to sob into it as the determination bled out of him before his inability to help. It's not like he could just go fight the government. "It's going to be ok, Izu. You trust Hisashi, right? He's more than capable of outrunning some fancy politicians." She played with his curly hair, a mirror of his habit of playing with her messy buns.

Nezu just watched, trying not to show his confusion since he knew that they wouldn't approve. 'Is it really that big a deal? You can always turn off the brainwashing eventually, and the string is only a small inconvenience. Hardly worth crying over.' He might have been just letting his bias against Hisashi steer his thoughts, though. The man had fulfilled his word, shrinking the true hero program as much as possible and sharing important info, but that didn't erase his sins. Once the boy seemed to calm down, Nezu moved on to another topic. 

"I wanted to ask you, how do you feel about including the form from earlier as part of the paperwork to join the school? You're going to train alongside your classmates a lot, so they would be great as thralls!" The angry expression forming on the boy's face clued Nezu into the fact that he had apparently done something humans didn't like. "And how likely is it for your students to die in their time here? The fact that this has to be considered is worrying." Nezu frowned. "It isn't common, but some UA students have died. Some to training accidents, some to villains while out on internships and work studies, some just to common diseases. People come here to be heroes, they are going to be in danger, it's just part of the job." Izuku sighed, accepting that argument. "By bringing them back as thralls, we can allow students to achieve their dreams, even from beyond the grave. Besides, can't you release them and let them go back to being dead anyway?" Izuku hesitantly nodded. "Fine. But don't sneak it into small text so they miss it, make sure it's obvious." Nezu would give him that at least. 'It's not like humans actually read terms and conditions anyway.'

"With that out of the way, the last thing I want is a question for both of you, about the dorms." Himiko perked up, she had been mainly sidelines since this meeting was more for Izuku, so she had been getting bored. "Normally, each class dorm fits 20 students, since that's the size of a class. With Himiko, that is 21. Would you rather share a room or should I have Cementoss build a new one?" Izuku opened his mouth in shock, so Himiko answered for him. "We'll share!" She gave him a wide grin. "Thanks, Mr. P." Izuku turned his shock towards her, while Nezu clapped his paws together. "Excellent! Now, as a teacher, I do have to warn you. I am personally very curious if your thralls can still reproduce, but save that experiment for after graduation, please!" Himiko pouted. "Fine. Is that all?" Nezu nodded.

The teens left, one skipping with a large smile, and the other mortified.

-~-

The next day, they were at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall to do all the shopping they would need for their dorms. They were both going to need a large list, so they set out early.

"Ooh, Izu, check out this one!" Izuku sighed as he followed after his closest friend and first thrall. The entire trip, albeit it hadn't even been an hour, had so far consisted of following Himiko around as she went into random shops. The one she had just led them into was an expensive clothing shop. "Why are you even interested in these? I thought you only wore DNA-infused clothing for your quirk?" The blonde pouted at him and wagged her finger. "You're a boy, you wouldn't understand." Her excitement seemed to reappear. "I just like to look at them! Besides, I can always take pictures and send them off to Nezu as inspiration for my next batch of clothing." He sighed and relented, watching as she grabbed a couple of pieces and ran into a changing booth. He took a seat and waited. 'Maybe we should have come earlier. We have a good five hours still, but knowing Himi, that might not do it.' The vampire in question finished changing and stepped out of the booth. Izuku hadn't paid attention to what she grabbed, so his jaw dropped when he saw her. She wore a black dress that hung off her shoulders. It draped all the way down to about half of her legs, reaching asymmetrically further down one leg than the other and giving a nice view of part of her thigh. Himiko leaned forward with her arms behind her back, accentuating her chest, which was exposed at the top with how the dress was cut. Izuku surpressed a gulp.

"So, how do I look?" The blonde teased, giving him what many would call a creepy grin. To him, it only made her look cuter. "You, you look good, Himi." She beamed before disappearing back into the booth. A few minutes later, she appeared again. Izuku had to suppress a nosebleed as his face turned red. 'Where did she even get that? I didn't see any in the shop?' Himiko wore very little. To be precise, she wore a bikini that didn't leave much to the imagination, the deep red of the material barely covering up her most important parts. He attempted to stammer out an answer, but Himiko retreated to the booth, giggling, satisfied with the result she had got.

About half an hour later, they both left the clothing shop. Izuku had bought a couple of decent exercise shirts and pants, while Himiko had bought absolutely nothing since they would fall off when she used her quirk. 'I would say it was a waste of time, but if Himiko's happy...' He snapped himself out of his thoughts, rushing into another shop with a passion equal to what Himiko displayed earlier, so fast that Himiko swore she felt the pain of their link going taught despite the impressive distance that they can now separate. She wasn't surprised, though, given that she had also noticed the hero merch store. Following him inside, she saw him seemingly teleport around the store as he analysed each piece of merch, until he landed on one he liked. To nobody's surprise, it was of All Might. She giggled as she watched the boy's obsession with the very man he had sworn to surpass.

-~-

By the end of the shopping trip, both teens were mentally exhausted. They were both physically fine, of course, with Himiko no longer feeling exhausted and Izuku using Haul to effortlessly carry all their bags, but it had been a long day. They sat down at a cafe together with Izuku ordering his food while Himiko sat next to him and bit down on his neck. Quickly, the whispers began. Each hurtful word started to dig into her like knives, freak and creepy being repeated over and over. 'It's okay. They don't matter. Only Izuku matters, and he's right here. But what if he-' her self-doubt couldn't even begin before she felt his hands brush through her hair, unknotting and playing with it. As Izuku ate his dessert and sipped his tea, Himiko cuddled him, for comfort more than blood this time.

Izuku whispered reassurances into her ear until she forgot all about the painful memories and the judging looks.

Chapter Text

A few days after their trip to the mall, it was move-in day. Well, it was move-in day for most of them. Nezu had permitted Izuku and Himiko to get set up early since they already had free rein of the school.

Ever wanting to help, Izuku sat in the common room, waiting for students who might need assistance with their belongings. He wore one of his favourite shirts, reading "shoes" across the chest. Other than that, he wore exercise pants and trainers, since even with Haul, this could still be a workout. The first of his classmates to arrive was the blue-haired boy whom he could vaguely recall interrupting Present Mic at the exam. 'I could tell by how he acted back then that he was uptight, but really, a suit?' The suit in question was such a deep blue that it was almost black. The only thing not blue about him was a yellow tie. "Is that not a bit much for something so informal? Especially when you're going to have to carry your luggage." The boy raised an eyebrow at him. "Nonsense. We are going to be spending the next three years of our time at this prestigious academy together, so it's only natural that I would want to make a good first impression!" The boy corrected his glasses and gave a stiff bow.

"My name is Iida Tenya. May I ask yours?" Izuku chuckled at the slightly overbearing nature of the boy. "Midoriya Izuku. It's a pleasure to meet you." He stuck his hand out, which his classmate shook robotically. His eyes then drifted to the suitcases he was lugging behind him. "Do you need any help with those? I'm already set up, so I can help." The boy gave him a small, appreciative smile. "If you're offering, then thank you for your assistance, Midoriya!" Izuku gave him a nod and summoned all of his dog thralls. They took some of the smaller items with care, surprising the taller boy, while Izuku used Haul to help with some of the heavier objects. Izuku continued the conversation as they walked upstairs to Iida's room, right next to Izuku's. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to, but would you happen to be related to Ingenium? You look similar and share a surname." Iida went through surprise, to a sheepish look, then to pride. "You are correct. Ingenium is my older brother, in fact, and my personal idol. I don't want our classmates to look at me differently, however, so I would appreciate it if you didn't spread that around." Izuku gave him a gentle smile and nodded before starting to help Iida unpack. He was finding it difficult not to burst into questions, but this wasn't the time.

-~-

By the time Izuku had helped Iida unpack and had returned downstairs, most of his classmates-to-be had arrived. Even Himiko had appeared from wherever she had disappeared, although she was in that weird state of disappearance that first year hero students were not trained enough to spot, lurking in a corner and watching. Only one boy seemed to notice her, a red and white haired boy making soba in the kitchen, whose eyes were as cold as his own. Izuku leaned against the wall next to his nigh-invisible thrall, joining her in watching the conversations in the room. They were both content to observe for a while, until a certain brunette appeared from packing her things away. "Ochako!" Himiko reappeared and seemingly gave the girl a heart attack as she glomped onto her, accidentally brushing against her palms and making herself weightless in the process. The vampire seemed unconcerned about the fact that she was flying away as she excitedly caught up with her first friend, bar her master.

Leaving them to it, Izuku joined the boy making soba by himself. Sensing he wasn't the social type, he started helping him without saying a word. They worked together in silent harmony for a while until a very pink girl stood up and got everyone's attention. "Hey, everyone, we should do introductions! All twenty of us are here, right?" She looked around the room, and Izuku did the same. She was right that there were 20 people here, but only three in the room knew there should be 21. 'Bakugo isn't here, but he definitely made it in. He's probably sulking in his room alone.' Another voice joined the pink girl. "I concur; we will be spending three years working together, so it's imperative that we know each other's names and quirks." The boy Izuku was working with grabbed his soba and started walking out, but Iida stopped him. "You there, you can't just walk away! Introduce yourself, and your quirk, please!" He turned his cold eyes on the class. "Todoroki Shoto. I make ice." With that, he left.

The room fell into silence for an awkward moment before the pinkete, apparently quite the social butterfly, shattered it. "I'll go next since I started it. I'm Mina Ashido, but you can all call me Mina! My quirk is acid, and I like to dance!" She formed a green orb of liquid in her hands as proof. The class formed a rough circle, and Iida went next as he was next to Mina. 'Seems to be going clockwise. Guess that makes me last, incredible.' Iida started chopping his arms as he introduced himself. "I am Iida Tenya of Soumei junior high! My quirk is engine!" He hiked up one of the legs of his suit, revealing an engine growing out of his leg. "I hope that we can all work together to become great heroes within our three years at UA!" The next on the chopping block was Ochako, whom he zoned out for since he already knew her and her quirk. Next was a floating set of clothes that seemed as bubbly as Mina with how much that uniform was bouncing around. 'Or maybe she just wants to make sure people notice her? It would make sense, given her quirk.' "I'm Toru Hagakure, as you can see, or not see, my quirk is invisibility!"

The spotlight next went to a girl with green hair, or at least it looked like it at first. On closer inspection, her hair appeared to be made of vines. "My name is Shiozaki Ibara, and my quirk is vine. As you may expect, it lets me control my hair, which is made of vines. As you may have also guessed, I am a devout Christian." She fidgeted with a cross over her very conservative outfit, and Izuku frowned. 'Shit. If anyone is going to have a problem with my quirk, I can see it being a religious girl. Couldn't have thrown her in B, Nezu?' He could almost feel the rat cackling at him. His thoughts about his mentor distracted him enough that he missed the introduction of a blonde with a black lightning bolt shape in his hair. 'Oh well, he clearly has an electric quirk. I can learn his name later.' A punk-looking girl with violet hair was next, her quirk obvious by her long earlobes that resembled headphone jacks. "Jiro Kyoka. My quirk is earphone jack, and I like music." The girl tried to look bored, but he could read the nervousness from her.

A boy who was clearly a foreigner spoke up next, striking a pose with his blond hair somehow fluttering, without any wind. "Mon name is Aoyama Yuga, and mon quirk is navel laser. I hope you don't come to hate being overshadowed by my sparkle☆!" As if to show off said sparkle, glitter seemed to appear. The class seemed to make the unanimous decision to ignore it. A raven-headed boy stood up next, not raven-headed as in having black hair, but he actually had the head of a raven. Or perhaps it was meant to be a crow? "Tokoyami Fumikage, I am cursed to have a vicious demon dwell within my-" Said demon popped out from under the boy's shirt. "Ignore Fumi, he's just being a chunii. The name's Dark Shadow, and I'm his quirk!" The class seemed startled for a second before they moved on to a boy who looked as tired as Aizawa was, the main difference between the two being this boy's purple hair, denying gravity. "Shinsou Hitoshi." There was a moment of silence as people waited for his quirk. Himiko saved him from the awkwardness by going next. "I'm Himiko! I can transform into people, letting me look like them and, recently, use their quirks! Oh, and I really like knives!" She made one appear from nowhere, probably only one of many that was on her person.

Next was the second of the three green-haired girls in the room. "Setsuna Tokage, feel free to call me Setsuna, or even Set. My quirk is-" Before she could even finish, she tripped and her head went flying off. 'Really? Day one? I thought I would go longer than this without a new thrall.' As he reached towards the girl's corpse and the rest of the class let out sounds of shock, the head shot back to the body, giggling. "My quirk is called lizard tail splitter, and it lets me separate body parts and float them around." To further demonstrate, each finger shot off and sped around the room at seemingly random. An onyx-haired girl stood next, drawing eyes to her impressive chest, which Izuku definitely didn't look at. Not at all. "Yaoyorozu Momo. My quirk is named creation, and it allows me to consume the lipids in my body to produce objects." Her hand sparkled, and a matryoshka doll appeared, designed to look like its creator. 'What a fascinating quirk. All these have been interesting so far, but that one is really special. I'll have to grill her about it later.' 

The next to introduce himself was a boy with what appeared to be a heteromorphic quirk. He wore a mask that covered his mouth and nose, so he spoke through an extra arm growing out of him. Where you would usually expect to see a hand, there was instead a mouth. "Mezo Shoji, my quirk is Dupli-arms. I can make arms, and make them have various things attached, like mouths, as you can see, as well as ears and eyes." He sat back down, clearly being the quiet type. Another mutant went next, the third green-haired girl. She had froglike facial features and a slight hunch to match. "Tsuyu Asui, but please call me Tsu. My quirk is called frog." She also took her seat immediately after she was done, her quirk simple enough not to require a description.

The next two were both boys with very large, toothy smiles. The redhead of the two went first. "Yo, I'm Eijiro Kirishima, my quirk is called hardening!" He flexed his arm, and it took on a rocky appearance. "I want to be a hero to be like my idol, Red Riot!" The other boy stood next. He had very strangely shaped elbows, they almost looked like... "Hanta Sero. I can shoot sticky tape out of my elbows, perfect for capturing villains or swinging around." The last student stood, not counting Izuku. She was another redhead, although it was closer to orange than Kirishima's bright red. "Itsuka Kendo. My quirk is called big fist, and I'm trained in Karate thanks to my family's dojo." Her fist grew to the size of her head to demonstrate.

It was finally time for the fun part. Time to make the majority of the class hate him, probably. "Midoriya Izuku. My quirk is called thread of life... It lets me revive the dead." The rest of the class looked at him with very mixed reactions, but he continued. "There are limitations, though. The dead are brought back as thralls, who can't disobey or stray too far. I can also use their quirks by absorbing them into myself temporarily. Himi?" She walked over to him and sat by his side, flashing him a large smile in reassurance. "Himiko is my first thrall. She is also my only human thrall. I have worked hard to remove all the brainwashing I can, so try not to worry about that." The rest of the explanation did not seem to help. Ochako and Himiko both gave him reassuring looks. Most of the class simply looked shocked, albeit not looking angry or disgusted, so that was a good sign. Tsu, Shinsou, and Shoji all looked impassive. The two biggest reactions were from Iida, who looked at him aghast, as well as Shiozaki, who reacted predictably. At least she stormed off instead of yelling at him and insulting him.

"So it was you." The class snapped out of their collective shock at Yaoyorozu speaking up. Seeing looks of confusion, she elaborated. "Did none of you read the terms and conditions? There was a mention of an experimental method to revive the dead, at a cost. It asked for our consent in the event of an unfortunate accident." Only Iida seemed to recognise what she was talking about. "I saw that too. I didn't consent at that time." The rest of the room seemed to look sheepish. 'They didn't even read it, did they? They will need to learn not to blindly trust the rat.'

This was going to be a very interesting three years.

-~-

In a cheap hotel on the other side of Japan, Hisashi Midoriya prepped for his escape. It was only a matter of time until the commission caught on, and Nezu either wasn't willing or simply couldn't bail him out. His best bet was to go into hiding before one of the assassins he raised came for him. "Anything for my family," He murmured to himself as he packed another bag.

He never noticed the red feather clinging to the bottom of the windowsill outside his hotel room.

Chapter Text

After introductions were over, the large group split off. Some went to bed, most notably Iida, who proclaimed, "It is vital that we, as upstanding students of such a prestigious academy, are well-rested and fully prepared for our first day!" before disappearing upstairs. Only a few budding friend groups lingered. Mina and Setsuna dragged Himiko off for some reason, Kirishima and Sero chatted, and were they... armwrestling? Meanwhile, Kaminari watched the two and cheered them on. The only ones alone were he, Shinsou, Tokoyami, and Kendo.

Until Kendo and Tokoyami came up to him, that is. They both sat in silence, waiting for the other to begin with whatever they wanted to say. This created an awkward standoff between the two, and Izuku by extension. "So, did either of you two want something?" Kendo took her chance. "I just wanted to let you know that I'm here to help. I saw how some of the class looked at you, and I just wanted to let you know that I won't judge you for something as silly as your quirk." She bulked up her fist. "And please, let me know if anyone gives you trouble about it." He gave her a soft smile, breaking his subconscious cold facade. "Thank you. I don't think most people will be too bad, I think they were just surprised. Except maybe Shiozaki." To his surprise, Kendo shook her head at that. "I knew her before UA, and I don't think she'll give you any trouble. She may not be comfortable with your quirk, but she's mature enough not to force her views on you. Still, I wouldn't expect a strong friendship from her."

With the orange-haired girl finished saying her piece, he turned to the raven/crow-headed boy. "As for myself, I simply wanted to get to know a fellow dweller of darkness. We are both shunned by society for our dark companions, so I shall offer my aid if you offer your own." The boy made his jacket flutter in the non-existent wind. 'Seriously, is there someone with a wind quirk here? First Aoyama, then him.' Dark Shadow broke his edgy look, unfortunately. "He means that he wants to be friends, if that wasn't obvious. We've faced our fair share of quirkism, so we're willing to help, too."

Izuku smiled at them both. 'These two are probably some of the kindest people I've ever met, both going out of their way to offer me aid if I need it, in their own ways.' He chuckled at Tokoyami blushing and reprimanding his quirk for ruining his edgy vibe. 'It's sad that my bar for this is so low.' Both teens sat down with Izuku, across from him, on some of the couches in the common area. "I wanted to ask, what pronouns do I use for Dark Shadow? He? She? They?" Dark Shadow seemed to brighten, which was a weird statement. "She, thanks. Gee, you're already much better than some. Most people just see me as Fumi's quirk, so it's nice to be treated as an individual!" Izuku summoned Hercules into his palm. "Well, of course. I'm used to it from my quirk. Hercules, for example, was born female. I'm pretty sure that my quirk enhances the intellect of my animal thralls, which allowed Hercules to become his true self. I'm used to treating my quirk the same as people, so it's only natural to do the same to others." Both seemed interested in the ant in his palm.

Kendo spoke next. "I've been meaning to ask, since Himiko is a thrall, does she still count as a classmate?" Izuku shook his head. "She's counted as a sentient quirk, as are all my other thralls. If you count her, we actually have a class of 21." He glanced at Dark Shadow. "22." His fellow summoner continued the casual interrogation. "How many thralls do you have?" He summoned E-1 on his shoulder. "I have four dogs, three cats, two lovebirds, and a bald eagle." He gestured to E-1. "Then for quirked animals, I have Hercules and Atropos. I would show you Atropos, but he won't fit inside. He's a tiger with a... grisly mutation quirk."

Even after all these years, he still really didn't like Atropos. There was just something off about it. 'Most mutation quirks alter the body seamlessly, like Tokoyami having a bird head that works perfectly fine with a human body. This is because they have their quirks from birth, so their body is built to handle it. With Atropos, it's almost like it gained its quirk later. The spider's body had to rip its way out of the tiger.' He looked up to see both teens looking at him with shock. 'I mumbled all that, didn't I?' Kendo smirked. "Yep." Meanwhile, Tokoyami muttered to himself in turn. "What a mad banquet of darkness." Incredible. At least they didn't seem to be afraid. "If you two want, we could step outside and I'll show you?" Although one of them was hesitant, they agreed and headed outside.

Izuku unleashed his second least favorite thrall, the giant spider-tiger, somehow being less monstrous than other options in his deck. He pet the tiger's head as it nuzzled his palm, an action that would have been almost cute if the head he was stroking hadn't been ripped open to allow a spider's head to come through. Turning to see his classmates, he expected disgust. Even if they were nice people, this was still a terrifying monstrosity. Instead, all he saw was the fascination on Kendo's face and the almost childish excitement on Tokoyami's. The bird man walked forward and also petted Atropos, not even afraid of it. Dark Shadow popped out and joined him with its own approximation of hands. "Neither of you two is afraid? Why?" Kendo looked at him with confusion. "Why would we be? It's not like you'd order it to attack us."

The famous Midoriya tears appeared in his eyes. He had kept his quirk hidden his entire life, both for his own safety and because of social ostracism. His fears seemed to be confirmed when it was finally revealed. And yet, two of his classmates were willing to put their lives in his hands, even while he would actively benefit from ending them, from a purely quirk-based view. Unfortunately, what was likely about to be a very wholesome, emotional moment was ruined before it could begin by two very soft, familiar objects pressing into his back as someone glomped onto him. He couldn't turn around, but he didn't have to to know it was Himiko.

"Izu, I'm thirsty! Can you give me some of your..." She trailed off as she noticed they had company. "Himi, you can say it. If they're comfortable with Atropos, they're going to be comfortable with the requirements of your quirk." She pouted, but seemed to agree. "Fine. Can I have some blood?" He nodded, and she took a bite out of his neck while the other two watched. They seemed again more curious than afraid or uncomfortable. That is, until Himiko let out a moan, then they were uncomfortable. After a torturous minute for the two observers, Himiko pulled away and let grey goop cover her body, before another Izuku stood. 'There is something very uncomfortable about hearing her moan with my voice and body.' She started walking back inside. "Thanks, Izu!" She licked her cloned lips. "We should probably go in as well. It's getting late, and it's becoming harder to control Dark Shadow in this lighting." Tokoyami walked inside, and the other two followed.

-~-

About an hour later, Izuku headed to his room. Most of the room was covered in Hero merch, most notably among them being various All Might memorabilia. The other half of the room was covered in posters for various pre-quirk horror movies, as Himiko had claimed, "They were better before they did everything with quirks. Special effects are much better." His first thrall had gone through a lot of exploration of hobbies as her brainwashing lessened, and she was able to enjoy anything but merely being in his presence. This had ended with her embracing her moniker of 'vampire', and she became obsessed with vampire movies. Once she had exhausted all of those she had found, she expanded to horror movies as a whole.

Izuku's favourite part, however, was at the intersection of the two halves of the room. On a cluttered desk sat a few Vlad King figures, a mix of their two interests, a display case for Himiko's favourite knives, and most importantly, a photograph in a frame. The photo showed Izuku and Himiko beaming with pride on the cleaned beach, not a spot of trash left. It would look simple to someone who didn't know the context, but to Izuku, it was a symbol of their accomplishments and how hard they had worked to get here.

He was snapped out of reminiscing by talking as Himiko turned on some random show that he wasn't interested in, sitting in their bed. He blushed as he remembered they had to share. That sadistic rat had claimed that they would only need one, since Himiko usually slept in storage anyway.

Himiko had zero intentions of sleeping in storage.

-~-

Elsewhere in Musutafu, a meeting was held between the arguably most powerful person in the country, alongside one of the top three most famous.

Hawks passed the HPSC's president a file detailing everything that he had dug up about the man responsible for his life, who had recently done a runner. He had tried to hide it, of course, but calling in sick was always going to look suspicious when you haven't done so once in your entire career so far, even when you actually are sick. The president glared at him, the same expression that the regal woman always seemed to hold. She was like a queen beholding a mere peasant. "Well, do you know what his game is? I can't imagine Midoriya betraying us. He's always been such a model employee." Hawks winced. The president was not going to like this. "I think it has to do with his son. My feathers picked up on him muttering to himself. I also took the liberty of looking into the files on his son." The president raised an eyebrow. 'She certainly wouldn't understand doing anything for your family.' He placed another file on the desk between them.

"Midoriya Izuku. His quirk was previously unknown, but was just updated. He can apparently revive and control the dead as his thralls. Supposedly, he can even use the quirks of those he resurrects." He hesitated to continue. The president seemed thrilled, likely thinking they could recruit the boy, and now he was going to have to burst her bubble. "Nezu has him. He's officially a ward of UA, and a student." The tension in the room instantly became suffocating, the president's rage almost a physical force.

She shot out of her plush chair. "That damn rat! Does he not see what he's doing!?" She rubbed her forehead and paced behind her desk. "He'll raise the next fucking All for One! Plus, he probably knows everything, since Hisashi must have struck a deal with him. No way the rat would let the son of one of ours in without a catch. Shit!" She slammed her fist into her desk. He had know clue what she was talking about, but didn't speak up to avoid her wrath. The empress of the hero industry sank into her seat, defeated. "We can't hurt the boy, or we'll have a war on our hands. Is his mother alive, Hisashi's wife?" He gave her a nod. "Still, as satisfying as it would be, it's a bad idea to do anything to her. It'll just push the boy into villainy, plus killing both parents will be too suspicious."

"Do you mean...?"

"Yes, Hisashi Midoriya will have to die."

Chapter Text

Perhaps it was just a healthy amount of paranoia built upon a year of homelessness, but Himiko didn't know if she was comfortable with the looks she was getting from the two girls who had dragged her off into a secluded part of the dorm.

If this were still the streets, she would have expected to be attacked.

As it was, all she saw was concern on one pink face and one less pink face. Eventually, one of them opened their mouths, Mina. "So, Midoriya said that he had removed his brainwashing on you, but was he telling the truth? We can't just leave our classmate to be taken advantage of or whatever he's doing!" Setsuna nodded along in agreement. Himiko tried to contain her annoyance at the accusation, knowing that blowing up would not help. "He wouldn't do that, he's a really good person! Honestly, of all the people who could have had his quirk, I think he's the best master a girl could ask for!"

At the shocked look on both girls' faces, she realized that there was probably a better word choice. "Master!?" Both girls cried at once, not too loudly, though; this was meant to be private. For all the lewd words and thoughts that Himiko said and thought, she was still much more tame in other people's eyes than in reality. Others saw her as a flirt or a tease.  They did not see her as a pervert.

Her face turned scarlet, blushing just as much if not more than Izuku used to.

People were not meant to know just how "thirsty" she could be. So, of course, she blurted it out to the two possibly worst people she could. So now she was left with two options. She could pin it on Izuku or his quirk, claiming that it or he forced her to refer to him as her master. Going by the scowl on Setsuna's face or the acid subconsciously leaking out of Mina's clenched fists, that option would likely ruin any goodwill Izuku garnered with them. Alternatively, she could own her degeneracy.

Unfortunately for her social life, Izuku's selflessness was apparently contagious.

"Wait, don't blame him for it. He didn't make me call him that; he doesn't even know I do! I just do it because well... well." Her face once again turned scarlet. Izuku would never believe it if the two told him what they saw. The duo instantly shifted from rage at their classmate being taken advantage of to two different, but equally shark-like grins. Concern instantly becomes predatory. "Well? Care to finish that, Himiko? Why do you call your classmate master?" She wasn't even sure who said it, with her eyes glued to the floor. 'Is this how Izuku felt when we were younger? Perhaps I should take it easy on him.' She reluctantly dragged her eyes to meet Mina's black voids, with a small bright yellow pupil in each, as well as Setsuna's much less unique eyes. "Do you like him?" Setsuna teased.

Ah, the same debate that had haunted her for years. 'Do I like him? Are they my own feelings, or his quirk?' Such feelings were dragged to the surface. "I, um, I don't know? I think I do, but I don't know if it's because of his quirk or myself." The two seemed pensive. "Can you two really even date? I mean, it's a massive power imbalance, right? It would be like dating your boss, only your boss can also put a gun to your head and force you to obey if they wanted to." Mina seemed to hit the same dilemma as herself. "I don't know. But I want to. I trust Izuku not to abuse his power over me, and that's not just because of his quirk, I think. I've seen him show so much care even to his animal thralls, I'm pretty sure he's even trying to lessen the brainwashing on those who won't use their newfound freedom to start tearing throats out." A certain monster popped into her head. Oh, and Atropos, too.

Mina let out a sigh of relief. "Well, that's good. I would hate to share a classroom with a pervert. Especially since I may have forgotten to read the terms and conditions, and therefore agreed to give my body to him if I die. I really don't want to come back and become a glorified sex toy, even if I get to save people." All three shuddered. 'Izuku getting 'thread of life' is really the best case scenario for humanity. If someone like Dictator got it...' She had to suppress a second shudder. Mina seemed to perk up with everything cleared up. "Well, I'm pretty sure that the other girls had similar concerns. We should speak to them at some point and make it clear that we're not sharing a home with a rapist. Still, that's for later." Himiko was confused at what could possibly be more important than that, but Setsuna seemed to get it by the shark-grin reappearing.

"So, we haven't seen much of everyone yet, but who do you think is going to get with each other?"

Himiko's smile matched her classmates' new friends.

This was going to be a prosperous three-way partnership for shipping culture worldwide; she just knew it.

-~-

After a night of struggling to sleep, thanks to a certain vampire who would go unnamed, Izuku was not looking forward to his first day. Sure, it was his first day at his dream school, but he had Aizawa as a homeroom teacher, and the man would certainly not be happy with the bags under his eyes, hypocrite that he was. Oh, well, at least he wouldn't get all the attention on that front with Shinsou here.

Dressed in his new, very gray, school uniform, Izuku walked into the common room on the way to the kitchen. Instantly, eyes snapped to him. Some eyes, like Shiozaki and Bakugo, showed anger, one much more than the other, no prizes for guessing who, while others were warm and inviting. The warm and inviting eyes belonged to Ochako, Kendo, Mina, and Setsuna, with Tokoyami showing the closest he could get to being inviting while still looking dark and mysterious. Most of those made sense, but Mina and Setsuna didn't. 'Was Himiko just that convincing?'

He responded to a couple of good mornings from the people in the class who actually liked him, and continued surveying how the rest of the room thought of him after having a night to sleep on it. The jealousy from Kaminari and Sero was unexpected, as was the embarrassment in Iida avoiding his gaze. 'Why would they be-?'

A soft feeling on his back answered that.

"How is your stealth so good that I don't notice you climbed onto me? Your quirk doesn't even help with stealth, at least in that way!"

Himiko sprang out of her koala-like grip on his back and leaped across the room, giggling all the while. Before she could even respond, a floating UA uniform was in her face, and Himiko would probably be in kissing distance if she could actually see the girl who jumped her. "Teach me how to do that, please!" Himiko looked at her once-saviour. He gave a shark-like grin, unknowingly mirroring the same expression she wore discussing her classmates last night, and left her to her karmic fate.

He walked up to the kitchen, joining a strangely embarrassed Iida in preparing breakfast for themselves. "Is something wrong? I get why you were embarrassed earlier, but she's not clinging to me anymore." Iida turned his slightly flushed face to him. "I must say, I expected better of you, Midoriya. You have become a student at the greatest institution in the country, and you decide to jeopardize it on the first night by inviting a classmate into your room!?" It was Izuku's turn to blush as Iida drew the attention of Kaminari and Sero. Kirishima was luckily distracted by Bakugo, who was eating something and occasionally yelling at the spiky red-head. He waved his hands in front of himself in panicked defense. "N-no, it's not like that at all! Himi and I do share a room, but we don't do anything like that! Blame the principal!" Iida seemed shocked, his worldview shattered as what he thought was a rule-breaking hook-up was revealed to be planned by an authority figure, while Kaminari whined. "Damn, I'm jealous. Himiko's pretty cute, and you can just do whatever you want to her? Lucky you."

Izuku attempted not to clench his fist so hard that the plastic cup he was making coffee in would break.

Attempted.

The cup shattered instantly. "Excuse me?" The blonde continued dumbly, fulfilling the stereotype that accompanied his hair colour, as he didn't notice the danger he was in. "I mean, she can't deny you, right? She has to do everything you say, no matter what." Izuku took a deep breath to try to stop himself from gaining a new thrall. "I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt, that you don't realize what you're saying." Kaminari, in his infinite wisdom, replied, "Huh?" So Izuku clarified. "Kaminari, what you are describing is rape. You are saying that you are jealous of my ability to rape my classmate, if I so wanted to."

This time, it was Kaminari who waved his hands in defense and panicked, although his face was white instead of red. "Wait, wait, not what I meant! I just meant, uh, I meant." He then said the only intelligent thing Izuku had ever heard of him, so far at least. "Sorry, I'll shut up now." Izuku sighed and picked out two cups and a thermos to make coffee in. He filled all three and then walked over to Shinso, reading on his phone in the corner. He placed the cup down in front of him. "Here." Purple eyes looked up into green.

"What's your game?" Izuku smiled at the nostalgic levels of paranoia. "You look tired, figured you would appreciate it. Assuming you drink coffee." He sipped at his own, and after a second of hesitation, Shinsou did the same. "Next time, add a few more sugars, will ya?" The boy lazily asked, and Izuku nodded. They drank their coffees, and Izuku ate his breakfast in peace.

At least he could tolerate some classmates, and vice versa.

-~-

The class walked to school together, given that it was the first day and friend groups weren't that well formed yet. Well, that was except for Bakugo, Todoroki, and Aoyama. All three seemed like lone wolves, although likely for different reasons.

Izuku walked with the quieter half of his budding friend group, that being Shinsou, Tokoyami, and Dark Shadow (Dark Shadow wasn't particularly quiet, but was attached to a quiet person), while louder and bubblier people like Ochako, Himi, Mina, and Setsuna chatted slightly ahead of them. It was almost funny, watching them all blissfully ignorant of what horrors their teacher would probably force them to do instead of an entrance ceremony.

Eventually, they arrived at the main building and went to class. Instead of sitting in the chairs, most of them loitered around while they waited for a teacher to come and pick them up and take them to the entrance ceremony. Only Izuku and Himiko knew better, waiting for a familiar man. Only because their senses were trained over the years of training at the hands of this very man did they notice the door noiselessly slide open, allowing a yellow caterpillar to wiggle in. Himiko stopped talking mid-sentence as she noticed it, catching others' attention and making them follow her line of sight.

Eraserhead slowly and calmly exited his sleeping bag as most of the class stared in shock. "4 seconds to quiet down. Pretty good start, but I expect better later, a skilled villain could kill you all in those 4 seconds." Some of the class flinched at how cold the man was. "Shouta Aizawa, I will be your homeroom teacher for your time spent at UA." He pulled a couple of gym uniforms from under his desk at the front of the room. "Put these on in the locker rooms and come to the field. If you don't know where either is, Midoriya or Himiko can lead you there. You have ten minutes. If any of you are late, you're expelled."

Chapter Text

With the promise of expulsion hanging over the heads of 1-A, they were understandably quick to rush over to the locker rooms.

Izuku and Himiko had both separated to their respective gendered locker rooms, escorting their classmates with them. Himiko pulled her UA uniform off to trade it for the sports uniform, as one of the less outspoken of her class spoke up. "Himiko, I've been curious, why do you not use a second name? I didn't think much of it before, but even Sensei calls you Himiko." The blonde vampire pulled her shirt over her chest. "Well, my life before I died wasn't exactly great. My second name was the last tie left to it, so I preferred to let it just be lost to history. I'm honestly just lucky I didn't share it back in my oversharing period." The violet punk raised an eyebrow inquisitively. "For the first year or two after resurrection, progress was slow in releasing the brainwashing. Because of this, I physically couldn't lie, leading to me happily trauma dumping on Izu and his mom. The only reason I didn't blurt it out was because they could tell that I didn't want to say, and they knew I would be forced to if they asked, so they simply never did. Aside from the start, at least, but the brainwashing doesn't set in instantly, so I could think for myself the first few minutes."

Yaoyorozu joined the conversation, having just finished getting dressed herself. "So it's true. It doesn't quite feel real that you died. You seem so... alive? Normal? Are you comfortable sharing how you died?" Himiko shook her head calmly. "Maybe one day. The less I have to think about my life, the better in my eyes. My afterlife is much better." Himiko finished putting on her trainers and then looked around the room. "Is everyone ready?" She received a chorus of affirmation, verbal and non-verbal. "Then follow me, I'll take us to the field."

-~-

The group of boys and girls met at the field and started talking amongst themselves as Aizawa got everything set up. Looking around, friend groups could already be seen forming. Setsuna and Mina were whispering in hushed tones with Kendo, Bakugo was being harassed by Kirishima, who seemed to think he didn't actually mean all of his insults, Shinso was in a similar situation with Sero and Kaminari, only was handling it better. There were a few outliers who seemed to keep to themselves, like Todoroki and Tokoyami, but most people seemed to be in groups of two at least. Izuku was no exception to this rule, since there was something he wanted to clear up.

"Midoriya."

"Shiozaki."

The two stared at each other in tense silence. Eventually, Izuku took a deep breath and started. "I just wanted to let you know, I don't hold any ill will towards you. I am fully willing to work with you when we have to, even if you hate me." He broke eye contact with her to watch Aizawa haul over a bag of special balls with some sort of sensor on them.

"I don't hate you, Midoriya."

He glanced over in surprise.

"Hate the sin, not the sinner."

Before he could even respond, Aizawa finished. "To start, we're going to be doing a quirk assessment test for all of you." The entire class seemed shocked, bar the necromancer and his thrall, who let out grins. Oh, and Bakugo, but he hardly matters. "What about the entrance ceremony?" Ochako asked with a small amount of concern. That grin on her green friend's face made for an intimidating look when combined with his cold eyes. "If you all want to be heroes, you don't have time to waste on pointless ceremonies. UA gives its teachers complete authority to teach however they want, within reason. Don't like it? Leave." Unsurprisingly, nobody left at the teacher's tired mumbling.

"You've all been doing these for years since junior high, right? Physical fitness tests where you can't use your quirks?" He received a few hesitant nods. "The country is still outdated on that front, quite frankly. It's not rational to make students hold back on these sorts of things. Midoriya, you placed first in the entrance exams, correct? In junior high, what was your best result for the softball throw?" Izuku stepped forward. "About 72 meters, Sensei." Aizawa nodded, although he already knew that, given that he was there for it once. "Try throwing it with your quirk. The only rule is that you can't leave the circle."

Izuku nodded, and his grin widened as he stepped into the circle drawn into the floor. 'Well, it will be easier to rip the band-aid off now instead of later. I'll need him eventually.' He reached out his hand. "Atropos!" As the creature appeared, the class fell into various reactions. Those who saw Atropos's rampage winced at the reminder of the monstrosity, but Tokoyami, Kendo, and Himiko didn't react since this was nothing new. The rest, who hadn't seen him before, reacted in either shock, fear, or both. Even Todoroki had slightly wide eyes. "Take the ball to the end of your range and throw it as hard as you can." Atropos scuttled away. He could have used E-1 to fly away with it, but its range was only a little better than Atropos's, and it couldn't throw the ball nearly as far, even though Atropos wasn't exactly a pitcher itself. After the tiger was out of sight, Aizawa lifted his tablet as it pinged and showed the score. "496 meters." Izuku nodded. 'Makes sense. That's only a bit further than Atropos can distance itself.' He had come a long way from having to share a room with Himiko. Quirks usually got stronger with age, after all.

The class switched from the shock at seeing Atropos to being impressed, in some cases, and excited for their own turns in others. "This looks fun!" Mina cried, causing both Izuku and Himiko to pale slightly. 'Poor choice of words.'

"It looks fun, huh? Aizawa gave a glare with his quirk activated. Naturally, he only did this because Izuku was still separate from the class and wouldn't get caught in it. "You only have three years to train to be a hero. An attitude like that will only lead to slacking off. Do you all know the mortality rate of heroes? If you don't want to get personally acquainted with it, I recommend you start taking this seriously." Most of the class paled, or looked sheepish. "If you want to treat this like a game, then I suppose we need a punishment for the loser. How about this: whoever places last in this test overall is expelled." The class reacted exactly as you would expect. Izuku took on a determined expression, while Bakugo looked smug, and Yaoyorozu was chuckling? 'That's a bad idea. I wonder what's so funny?' Although Himiko was also very relaxed about this.

Aizawa gave his signature menacing grin as he pulled his hair out of his eyes. "Welcome to the UA hero course."

-~-

After a few complaints, quickly shut down by Aizawa, they had begun. First up was the 50-meter dash.

Iida and Tsu went first, the blue boy racing ahead and finishing at 3.04 seconds, his engines releasing a small amount of smoke as he ran. The frog girl trailed slightly behind, earning herself the lesser but still respectable time of 5.58 seconds.

Uraraka and Kendo were next. Uraraka made her clothes weightless, allowing herself to arrive at 7.15 seconds. Kendo was slightly ahead, as while her quirk might not help here, she was fitter. She scored 6.21 seconds.

Next, Aoyama and Mina. Aoyama blasted himself forward with his laser before he collapsed halfway. He then reactivated it and finished at 5.51 seconds. Mina melted her shoes and slid on acid, finishing at 4.3 seconds.

Izuku and Bakugo were next. Once again, Izuku summoned Atropos, Aizawa allowed him to do so in advance. The second they began, Atropos started skittering forward, unconcerned with the explosions an inch from it. The beast cleared the field at 3.95 seconds, beating out the source of the explosions next to him, who scored 4.13 seconds.

Himiko, getting sick of sitting around watching since she technically wasn't a student and doubted she would be participating, approached Yaoyorozu and whispered in her ear.

-~-

After the dash was the grip strength test. Izuku looked around for Himiko, but she seemed to have disappeared somewhere. Concentrating on the string binding them, he could see she was heading in the direction of the locker rooms. 'That's weird. I wonder if she decided to change back early, since she can't really help here.' Before he could ponder it further, Aizawa passed him the device for measuring grip strength. The highest score so far appeared to be Shoji, with 540 kilograms. 'I'll have to get creative to match something like that.'

The way that the device measured grip strength was to have the user grab onto two nearby bars and try to pull them together, as they heavily resisted. Izuku flipped it on its side, so the bars were both horizontal instead of vertical, then turned on haul. Haul allows the user to lift objects much heavier than they usually could. 'If I only use haul to lift the bar itself, and not the entire device...' He did so, and the bar shot up, crashing into the other bar of the device so hard that they both cracked. He grinned at the result, as Aizawa did the same under his scarf. "We'll say infinite for that one."

-~-

Third was the standing long jump. 'This one really depends on how Aizawa treats Atropos.' He turned to his teacher, who was projecting his menacing aura much more than normal today. "Sensei, does it count if I ride Atropos? Or do I actually need to jump?" Aizawa stroked his scruffy imitation of a beard. "I would normally say yes, but you've used him enough today, try something different." Izuku gave a determined nod and thought through his options. 'E-1 and the other birds aren't strong enough to lift me. None of my other thralls can either. If Himiko were here, she could maybe transform and use haul to try to throw me, but that doesn't usually work.' As he considered what to do, he saw Shinsou approach Uraraka out of the corner of his eye. After a second of talking, Uraraka became unfocused and placed her hand on Shinsou. 'Must be his quirk. Perhaps some form of brainwashing?' He then took his jump, completely weightless, his quirk, whatever it was, serving as a loophole to the 'work alone' rule. 'Speaking of...'

When his turn came, he looked over his classmates and chose Setsuna. "What's up, Midoriya?" She gave a shark-like grin as he approached. 'Thank god Himiko talked to her, or this would be awkward.' Izuku called upon despot. "I just need your help with something. I would just ask, but that's against the rules, so I apologise." She could barely let out a 'huh?' before he shot a string into each of her hands and ripped them from her body. Of course, this was far less brutal than it sounds, given what her quirk was. The hands, under the weakened despots' control, scooped him up and carried him over the sandbox.

-~-

The ball throw was fairly uneventful. The only interesting events, if you asked Izuku, were Ochako sending a ball to space and scoring the second infinity of the day, as well as Yaoyorozu shooting the ball out of a cannon.

That left the long-distance run, the seated toe touch, the sit-ups, and the sidesteps.

The sidesteps were fairly uneventful since literally nobody had a quirk that could help them, at least with what they had figured out so far. The seated toe touch and the sit-ups were similar, except that Setsuna used her quirk to split herself and score impressively. Of the rest, doing it basically quirkless, Hagakure scored the best on the seated toe touch, while fitter students like Izuku, Bakugo, and Kendo did the best with the sit-ups.

The day concluded with the long-distance run, since doing it earlier would have exhausted everyone before they could do the other tests. With Atropos, Izuku could have theoretically gotten infinite, if given enough time. Unfortunately, he wasn't allowed to use Atropos. 'It makes sense, but this sucks. Aizawa is using this test to see if everyone has the potential to be heroes, but he already knows me. Therefore, he wants to test me on creativity. It's already working, considering I figured out a new way to use haul. Still, my legs would be happier without the restrictions.' He was one of the last standing now. Bakugo was still running, without his quirk, as he was just as stubborn as he was. Yaoyorozu and Shinsou were still there as they both had a moped, Shinsou having made Yaoyorozu make him one as well as her own. Lastly, Iida was also there, practically built for running that he was.

He had honestly considered calling it quits. That was, until he heard cheering.

Turning around, he saw a flash of orange, swaying as the person wearing it jumped around excitedly with pompoms. Izuku turned bright red as he ran and watched Himiko, dressed in a UA cheerleader outfit, cheering him on from the sidelines. "You can do it, Izu! Don't give up!" She continued jumping around as she cheered, luckily wearing shorts underneath since the skirt was flapping around wildly. The entire class seemed in states of shock, arousal, and confusion, except for Yaoyorozu. 'So that's how she got it.'

With his crush friend cheering him on in such an outfit, Izuku naturally came third. No amount of fitness could overcome vehicles in a match of endurance.

-~-

With all the tests complete, Aizawa displayed the score board as the class watched without taking a breath.

1. Momo Yaoyorozu.

2. Shoto Todoroki.

3. Katsuki Bakugo.

4. Izuku Midoriya.

5. Tenya IIda.

6. Fumikage Tokoyami

7. Mezo Shoji

8. Eijiro Kirishima

9. Hitoshi Shinsou

10. Mina Ashido

11. Itsuka Kendo

12. Ibara Shiozaki

13. Ochako Uraraka

14. Tsuyu Asui

15. Setsuna Tokage

16. Yuga Aoyama

17. Hanta Sero

18. Denki Kaminari

19. Kyoka Jiro

20. Toru Hagakure

21. Himiko

Most of the class was either excited or relieved, others were very confused.

Mainly Himiko.

"Wait, why am I on here!?" She exclaimed at Aizawa. "I'm not a person!" The man flashed her one of his grins. "That doesn't matter. Legally, you may not be a student, but that doesn't mean I can't treat you like one. You should have asked or simply waited, but instead, you wanted to do your bit. Count yourself lucky that you can't be expelled, and don't make this mistake again." She deflated, a comical sight given that she was still wearing her cheerleader outfit. Izuku rubbed circles on her back comfortingly.

"You all did well today, but this isn't enough forever. Train yourselves hard, so that the next time we do this, your results aren't lacking. Otherwise, I may very well make good on that threat from earlier. You're dismissed for today." Their teacher left them in the field before they returned to the locker rooms.

-~-

"What are you doing here, All Might?"

Aizawa had just left his class and approached the blond oaf, who wasn't as hidden as he thought he was.

"That was cruel, Aizawa. I know you saw her leaving; you should have stopped her. Besides, why did she even do that? That was quite the risk to take for a simple joke." All Might stroked his chin. 'I hope this isn't a repeat incident. Someone so willing to risk not becoming a hero wouldn't make a good ninth.' Aizawa just glared at the man while raising an eyebrow. 'Seriously? Did nobody tell him? Oh well, not my problem.'

"I wanted to teach her a lesson. She has her reasons for being so laid back, I trained her after all, but that doesn't mean I'll go easy on her. I'll go just as hard on her as anyone else, maybe even harder if she keeps acting like that." All Might sighed.

"Very well. Perhaps I'll talk to her myself at some point."

Chapter Text

After being dismissed by Aizawa for the day, the class returned to the dorms. Some retired to their rooms, some chatted in the common room, and some even exercised in a gym built into the dorm.

Izuku did none of these three, because he had a mission. Well, perhaps that was being dramatic. 'So far, I know how most of the class feels. Ochako, Himiko, Tokoyami, and Kendo are all friendly despite it. Kaminari and Sero seem neutral, or at least not malicious. Himiko convinced Mina and Setsuna, so those two are completely fine, even if we don't interact much. Shinsou seems fine, which makes sense if I'm right about his quirk. The only strictly negative reaction so far is Shiozaki, but at least she doesn't hate me. Still, I need to find out how everyone else feels.'

He scanned the room with cold eyes, looking for groups that he could try to befriend. Kirishima was with Bakugo, as per usual, but Bakugo doesn't know about his quirk yet, and it would be better to keep it that way for the festival. Likewise, with Todoroki, not that he was not present. 'Ah, Aoyama is alone. That works.' He walked up to his French classmate, who appeared to be grabbing some sort of snack from the small kitchen. "Hey, Aoyama, can we-" The sentence wasn't even out of his mouth before the boy yelped in surprise and ran away. 'Well, there's a second bad reaction. I wonder why he's afraid, though, there's nothing that scary about my quirk, right?' The imposing eyes that he used to watch the boy run didn't help.

"Did you do something to Aoyama, Midoriya?" The calm voice of Yaoyorozu from behind made him jump almost as much as he had just done to the boy in question. "I don't think so? I was just going to talk to him to find out how he feels about my quirk, but he ran away instantly. I guess I know now, though." He glanced at the corridor that he had disappeared into. "Strange." Yaoyorozu took on a thinking pose. "I wouldn't call your quirk all that scary. Sure, it deals with macabre themes like death, but that's not too bad. The only worrying part is the control, but it's not like you can use that on the living, right?" Izuku spawned a string from his hand and played with it. "A little bit? I can manipulate certain body parts, at most. For example, I could use it to grab your leg and trip you. I can't do anything to your mind, though." He was still passing despot as part of his quirk; better they didn't know he had a notorious villain in his head.

Yaoyorozu leaned against the counter next to him. "You know, you really have a fascinating quirk." He looked at her deadpan. "Yes, I know. Creation is pretty interesting too, but I've had about a decade to get used to it. Thread of life is all new. How exactly does it work, by the way? I mean, reviving the dead is already pretty impressive, but then brainwashing them too? Not to mention using their quirks." Izuku joined her, leaning on the counter as he thought about it too. "Honestly, no clue. Nobody in my family has a quirk like this, as far as I'm aware, so we're working with no info. If I had to guess, perhaps the quirks are a partial summoning?" She raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Let's say my quirk is the ability to summon the dead as thralls. The brainwashing can be explained as a side effect to keep my quirk from being harmful. Something like my dad being partially fireproof because he can breathe fire, or Bakugo can take heavy impacts on his arms as a side effect of Explosion. Brainwashing is my safety feature because it stops my thralls from turning on me. As for the partial summoning, it's exactly that. What if, instead of summoning the thrall with a body and everything, I'm only summoning their quirk? Without a body, the quirk is summoned in me." Yaoyorozu nodded slowly. "So, could you do that with other things?"

It was his turn to look at her in curiosity. "Are thralls summoned with their belongings? Like clothes and items on them?" He nodded in confirmation. "Then what if you could only summon them? Have Himiko carry a bomb or something, then summon that bomb directly on your opponent." He chuckled at that. "Not very heroic, though." She shrugged. "Just an example, besides, it's always a last resort. You could also have your animal thralls wear something with supplies built in, like medical equipment. That way, you could use your quirk as a sort of pocket dimension." He took his time to think it through. "Seems like a really good idea, actually. I'll have to pop by support at some point. Tomorrow should work, if I ask Sensei for permission to go during classes. Thank you."

Yaoyorozu giggled, reminding him of Himiko for some reason. "It's no problem, Midoriya, I'm just happy to help." His eyes sparkled as he started to think about her quirk, in turn.

"Since we've been over my quirk, why not describe yours, too? You helped me find something potentially very useful, so perhaps I can do the same?" She smiled, somehow still looking sweet despite how regal she always looked. "Very well. As you know, my quirk is called Creation. It allows me to break down fat on a molecular level and use it as a fuel to create objects. I mainly expect to do things like making medical equipment, capture gear, and occasionally weapons." He nodded in thought at that. "You know, you could probably mimic a lot of quirks with that. Look at Mina, for example, you could also create acid and throw it, although you would need some sort of equipment to not burn your hands. Midnight also produces a substance with Somnambulist, so perhaps you could make that?" She nodded. "I suppose so, yes. As long as I asked her for its atomic configuration."

His eyes only grew brighter as his excitement swelled. "Speaking of, what's stopping you from making fire? Or could you shoot objects out of yourself? Can you create an object with momentum? Try seeing if you can change the speed of your creation!" She did so, pointing her hand at the wall and creating one of her signature dolls out of it. Focusing on doing it as fast as possible, the doll shot out, collapsing a few feet away. "Interesting. Not very far, though." His head was a blur as he nodded. "Sure, for now. You only just started testing this, though, so it might get faster over time. You might not even need cannons or net guns eventually, you can be the cannon!"

Her excitement seemed to be increasing at the thought. Unfortunately, before they could keep giving each other quirk revelations that would eventually destroy the planet, they were interrupted by pink, yellow, and green. "Yaomomo, Izu, come join us in the common room! You two are being all secretive in here, come talk to everyone else." Izuku knew not to protest against the command of his thrall, so he went to follow them. "Yaomomo?" The onyx-haired girl asked, clearly confused at the nickname. Mina joined in. "I came up with it! Do you not like it? It's kinda a pain to say Yaoyorozu every time, so I figured this would be easier." The newly dubbed Yaomomo shook her head. "No, it's fine. I've just never had a nickname before, is all." She smiled gently. The two followed them into the much larger group in the common room.

-~-

Elsewhere in the school, in the principal's office, to be exact, a very important phone call was underway.

"Madame President."

"What do you want, rat?"

Nezu chuckled, although there was no humor in it. "I simply came for another request. You see, you've had Lady Nagant in Tartarus for a long time now. Don't you think you would be better off getting rid of her? After all, if there is ever a Tartarus breakout, the first thing she will do is take out another president."

The cold voice that had ordered the deaths of so many chuckled equally humorlessly. "A breakout from Tartarus? Don't make me laugh, Nezu. Nobody will ever make it out of that place."

Nezu sipped his tea. "Do you honestly believe that? Nothing lasts forever, President. One day, someone will make a mistake, or someone strong enough will be born to tear that place to the ground. It's a matter of time." The president let out a considering hum.

"Perhaps. But who says I'll even live that long? Or that Nagant will? I'll concede that it will likely fall someday, but there's no reason for it to be in any of our lifetimes. Besides, we already know exactly why you want her, and it's a no. We know your game, Nezu."

The rat grinned, all teeth. "Ah, so we're finished with our game of pretend. In that case, mind telling me why Hisashi Midoriya never showed up at the safehouse I arranged for him? It's almost like he disappeared into thin air. Whoever did that must have an awful lot of power." He stirred his cup in his paws.

"It's a no, rat. It's bad enough that you're raising the next All for One. You can't actually expect us to hand off an incredibly skilled combatant to a future villain." Nezu clenched his paws to stem his anger. "There is no chance of that boy becoming like All for One. At least, there isn't as long as, say, the government didn't kill his father." The other speaker was silent for a long few seconds. "That's quite the accusation you're making. If it were hypothetically true, surely you wouldn't actually tell him? I can't imagine you wanting your student to go villain." There was the tiniest hint of worry in her voice.

Nezu grinned, not that she could see it. 'Hook, line, and sinker.' 

"Why wouldn't I? We both know we're not fond of each other. We also both know how powerful he could become; you would have snapped him up straight away if I didn't. If he went villain, he would topple you in mere months. Why would I not want that?"

The next few seconds of silence told him he had won. "In this hypothetical, what would it take you to keep the news from the boy?" He cackled into the phone. "You already know what I want." She was quick to shut him down, although he expected that. A common sales technique, if the President could recognize it. "She's too public and far too much for a first year. Good luck explaining to the media why you have a famous murderer on campus. How about this: we have a couple of inmates who never got any media coverage. You can pick one, in exchange for your silence." 

"A pleasure doing business, Madame President."

Chapter Text

Given that Izuku and Himiko had a far better education than most children their age, courtesy of Nezu, Aizawa had no problem with them missing some of their lessons on their first day at UA.

Of course, they had a pretty good reason. After the line of thinking Yaomomo had led him on the previous night, Izuku wanted to talk to the support course as soon as possible. "Izu." Himiko's surprisingly serious tone caught his attention. "I can sense danger coming from ahead. Watch yourself." He cocked his head and kept walking, more alert this time. 'What could possibly be dangerous in UA? Especially nowhere near the hero course?' His unasked question was answered by the door flying at him as the two arrived at the support course.

Luckily, he was already on alert and was able to dodge said door.

Unluckily, he was unable to dodge the pink missile that came with it.

His head hit the floor painfully as he was knocked back by a large weight. He rubbed at his head, not paying attention to anything but the pain from the rough landing. 'A surprisingly soft weight.' He stopped rubbing and paid attention to what had hit him exactly, as well as what was crushing his face. Discovering what the object was quickly made his face turn red. "Ow..." The missile, or pink-haired girl, groaned at her own pain from being launched. "Oh! Thanks for catching me, green!" She beamed down at him, making no moves to free him from her chest. Izuku could feel a strange mix of jealousy and anger from behind him. 'That's strange. Himiko is usually good enough not to let her emotions leak through the string.' 

He placed his hands on the pinkette's hips and moved her away slightly so he could breathe. "Are you okay? What happened to launch you like that?" The girl maintained her grin. "Oh, I'm fine. Just put a little more power in than I meant to. Speaking of, why are you here?" Her grin once again became manic in nature. "Did you come to make a baby with me!?" His face became red again, and he attempted to sputter out an answer. He was used to teasing, sure, but an outright invitation was something even Midnight shied away from, usually.

Luckily, Himi answered for him. "No, we came to see a support engineer." She grinned teasingly. "If you help us out, though, I'm sure Izu can help you make a baby as payment." She giggled as Izuku almost collapsed. The girl finally stood, removing herself from Izuku's lap. "Well, why didn't you say so!" She posed proudly. "Mei Hatsume, future CEO of Hatsume Industries, the number 1 support gear manufacturer in all of Japan, nay the world!" Izuku and Himiko glanced at each other in equal exasperation. Before any could continue, a shirtless man with a yellow helmet in the shape of an excavator claw appeared in the doorless doorway. Izuku would have started raving in his typical fanboy mode if he hadn't already met the pro hero, Powerloader, many times during the last year of training.

"Hatsume, why are you like this? We're not even an hour into the first day, and you've already made two explosions and taken the door off. Get back inside." Pouting, Hatsume did so, with Izuku and Himiko following behind. Izuku scanned the room, wary of other students being just as bad as Hatsume. Luckily, the rest of the students were scattered around the room working completely normally. "Aizawa let me know you two were coming by. What can I do for you?"

"I was thinking about something new with my quirk." He summoned Hercules on his shoulder, the ant using its quirk to hold a pen. "Since thralls can hold objects, I thought maybe they could wield support gear? Things like medical equipment, mainly." Powerloader nodded and started jotting down notes. "Any requests in particular?" Izuku scratched his chin as he thought. "A saddle or harness for Atropos would be nice, it can be hard to hold on. I haven't been able to have him jump at all yet, I would go flying." Powerloader let out a hum. "Do you think you could use some sort of smoke grenade? Have a dog hold it, and another dog pull the pin or something. Not to mention weapons." Izuku nodded along before Himiko started making some requests of her own.

"Powerloader-Sensei, could I have a bomb?" All eyes snapped to her. "If a villain has a durability quirk, I could just blow them up! I'll regenerate anyway, and I don't feel pain so..." Powerloader blinked at her for a second. "No, I am not going to help you become a suicide bomber, now, any other-" A feminine voice interrupted him, although it surprisingly wasn't Himiko. "Why not!? If she's fine with it, let her have an explosion baby!" Hatsume was apparently still listening. Powerloader sighed. "Of course, you would endorse explosions. It's still a no." He did not budge, even as both girls pouted at him. "Any more questions?"

Izuku took the stage. "Did you get our hero costumes sorted? I think we're going to need them for heroics class today." Powerloader sighed again, apparently a common occurrence ever since the pink menace arrived. "A third year was charged with sorting both of them. Unfortunately, they got sick. They finished yours in time, but not Himiko's. All the others were busy, so I made what I expect to be the worst decision of my life." He turned to Hatsume, as did both Izuku and Himiko. Hatsume seemed completely unashamed. "Oh, it'll be fine. I'm already almost done, although it keeps exploding and slowing me down. Follow me, I'll show you!" The two did so, leaving Powerloader behind.

She led the necromancer and thrall to her work desk, which had a dark costume made of DNA-infused fabric splayed across it, covered in soot. 'Wait, how did she make two explosions out of fabric?' The girl began her rant, ignorant of the question of her observers. "Let me introduce you to my first UA baby! Or *our* baby, since it's your costume." She faced Himiko, completely ignoring Izuku. "It's lightweight, just as you requested. It should work perfectly for stealth. It also has those weird syringe launchers in the gloves. I tried adding gunpowder for a little extra launch power, but I got the amount slightly wrong." At least that explained the explosions. 'Wait, only slightly? How much power was she trying to add?' Hatsume started sewing part of the outfit, wiggling around as she worked in her inability to stay still. 

"By the way, what's your quirk? You said that you regenerate and can't feel pain, but then why do you need DNA-fabric? Self-repairing costumes are already a thing." Himiko twirled a knife for comfort. She was always hesitant to talk about her quirk, especially when she couldn't leave out the activation requirements like she did with her classmates. "I can transform into people. This makes me look just like them, and I can even use their quirks. I need to drink their blood to turn into them, though." She looked into Hatsume's eyes, which had cross-hair-like pupils, she noticed. There didn't appear to be any disgust, discomfort, or fear in them. "I need the DNA stuff or my clothes fall off when I transform." Hatsume nodded and wrote in a notebook, accidentally mimicking her teacher's earlier actions.

"So then, how do you heal? Why don't you feel pain?" Izuku rejoined the conversation. "Well, that's because of my quirk."

"You see..."

-~-

"I'm sorry, would you repeat that, Miss Hatsume?"

Nezu had been going over a list that the HPSC had sent him when he received a text from Izuku. The boy had requested a meeting with him about a certain support student who was the likely cause of Powerloader submitting a resignation form already (he denied it, of course.) Izuku, Himiko, and Mei Hatsume sat in three chairs in front of his desk, the first exasperated, the second grinning, and the third looking slightly annoyed at having to repeat herself.

"I said, can you please prepare a painless way for me to kill myself?" Nezu set his tea down. 'Right. So I did hear her right the first time.' He sighed.

"And what exactly makes you want death, so suddenly? I do hope UA isn't treating you so badly that you have become suicidal within an hour." He had his suspicions, of course, with Izuku in the room, but he had to be sure. "It's nothing like that, I want to be a thrall!" Izuku, just having drained a cup as a mock liquid courage, addressed the girl. "Hatsume, I'm telling you, it's not worth it. It took me six years to get rid of the brainwashing on Himiko, and even then, she still can't disobey me if I order her seriously. It would probably be quicker now that I know what I'm doing, but we don't know that for a fact. Not to mention, the string would be short for a while, so you couldn't go into the lab." Hatsume rolled her eyes.

"One, I told you to call me Mei. Two, I could just make a portable lab. Three, would you even order me to do anything except make babies?" Nezu raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Izuku, I do hope that you aren't forcing your thralls to sleep with you?" Izuku turned his exasperation on him next. "She means her inventions, apparently. Also, you're the one making us sleep together, you made me and Himiko share a room." Nezu chuckled at that before turning back to Mei. "I must ask, why do you even want to become a thrall, Miss Mei?" She gave him a look like he was the dumbest creature she had ever seen, certainly not something the rat genius was used to seeing on people. "Isn't that obvious?" She leaned in uncomfortably close over his desk.

"Endless baby making!"

The room stared at her in silence, which she, for some reason, took as a cue to elaborate. "I mean, just think about it! No food, drink, toilet breaks, sleep, I could just make babies forever! I wouldn't even have to worry about safety measures since I would be able to regenerate!" Nezu stared at her with his beady eyes. "Well, on one hand, I can't as a principal just allow my student to kill herself." Mei pouted and went to argue back, but he continued. "However, what kind of educator would I be if I didn't help you achieve your dreams?" Izuku and Himiko looked at him in shock.

"Now, now. I'm not just going to kill her, or let her do it herself. I will talk to her parents to work something out." He pulled out a calendar. "I'll arrange a meeting date after contacting them, and let you two know when to come. For now, don't you two have a heroics class to get to? And Miss Mei, I'm sure that Powerloader will be missing you already." He grinned sadistically. "Why don't you all head on back?"

-~-

After separating from Mei, who was quite annoyed at not being allowed to kill herself, Izuku and Himiko returned to their class. With everyone distracted, chatting with each other between classes, they were able to reach their seats easily without being spotted.

Except Ochako.

"Geez, where have you two been all day? We got to meet all sorts of pros, you two missed out!" The two sat, although Izuku barely had the energy to respond post-Mei. Luckily, Himiko had infinite energy. "We had to talk with the principal about a girl who wanted to kill herself." Ochako reeled back in shock. "Excuse me?" Izuku rushed to calm her down. "She wasn't actually suicidal or anything! It's a long story, really." Ochako put her hands on her hips and frowned. "Well, I still want to hear it! You don't just drop something like that on a girl!"

Shaking cut them off, bringing all three flashbacks of the entrance exam. Jirou perked up with excitement on the other side of the room, and Shoji sat up straighter, both able to tell who was coming. The door slammed open, and a giant of a man stepped through. "I am entering the room like a normal person!" The entire class looked at him with shock and excitement, except maybe Todoroki and Shinsou.

None were more shocked than Izuku.

'There were much bigger issues to worry about last time I saw him, so I didn't notice, but why can I sense the same thing I get from corpses, from All Might?'

Chapter Text

The room instantly exploded into noise.

The only thing he picked up on was Tsu recognizing All Might's Silver Age costume, a fact he had also noticed. The giant walked up to the podium at the front of the room, white and red outfit bulging from his thick musculature. Still, Izuku had bigger concerns, so he opened the link between himself and Himiko.

"Does something about All Might feel off to you?" He saw his thrall flinch slightly, clearly not expecting contact. Then her eyes narrowed as she observed. "You might be right. It's hard for me to tell when I'm not you, but he feels like a potential thrall. Potentially even multiple?"

Izuku nodded. "I can feel seven, I think. I don't get it, is All Might just seven corpses in a trenchcoat?" Himiko, in place of giggling, sent amusement into his mind. "Are you going to try reviving him?" He shook his head. "Way too risky. Reviving people might not require much energy, but 7 at once does. Besides, I can somewhat sense how long they've been dead, and some of these are ancient. Lastly, who knows what bringing them back without a body would do? Maybe they would all share one body, maybe they would all try to reform, and All Might would be ripped apart by bodies tearing their way out of him, like Atropos." Himiko smiled, no doubt thinking of the blood. He felt lust spreading through the connection. 'Yep, definitely thinking of blood.'

All Might struck a pose and began his lecture. "I will be taking the place of your basic hero training instructor this year. This is your bread and butter of the hero course, where you will learn the basics required to become a hero. This will be your most common lesson here at UA! Let's get right into it, with combat training!" The large blonde pressed a button, and cases slid out of the wall, no doubt their hero costumes. Some of the class seemed nervous at the prospect of fighting already, others were excited, going by the red eyes glaring at him. 'Isn't it kinda irresponsible to have us fight with no training and incredibly deadly weapons? Oh well, I'm sure All Might has it handled.'

"Everyone, change into your hero costumes and meet me at ground beta!"

-~-

If there was one emotion that Toshinori Yagi didn't expect to feel today, it was fear.

At first, everything went completely as planned. The students started arriving at the training grounds, most in fairly standard hero costumes. Bakugo in his orange and black, with large grenades strapped to his arms. Iida wore a heavy-looking suit of armor that vaguely reminded him of another hero he had met occasionally. Yaoyorozu was showing far too much skin for his tastes, but he knew some people were comfortable with that and wasn't judging. He was even proud to see his potential successor donning a long black coat that hung down to her knees. It looked reminiscent of something a vampire would wear in an old horror movie, save for the amount it clung to her skin in parts. It seemed to cover every bit of skin bar her face, which peeked out from under a black hood with bat ears sewn into it. 'A fitting outfit for an underground hero. Perhaps it will need to be changed if she becomes the ninth.'

What actually triggered the fear was the boy at her side. Just like the girl beside him, he wore almost entirely black. Black leather shoes that seemed shiny, leading up into what appeared to be dress pants, tailored to not be as hard to move in. On his chest was a deep black suit, the only color being a green tie that matched his hair. He also wore an unbuttoned suit jacket, an even darker green than his tie, to the point where it also appeared black. All this, combined with his cold green eyes, shifting to purple occasionally for whatever reason, made him look like a much younger, greener, All for One.

Swallowing the small lance of fear, he painted his famous smile across his face. "They say the clothes make the man, young men and ladies. Be fully aware, from now on, you are all heroes! You all look so cool! Now, shall we begin, you zygotes?" He boomed, unintentionally mirroring one of his teachers.

-~-

Having entered the training ground, Izuku looked around at everyone's costumes. He couldn't help but blush when he saw Yaomomo's, as well as Ochako's. Speaking of... "Hey, Izuku, Himiko. You two both look really cool! You've really got that scary vibe going, you know?" Izuku and Himiko both smiled. "You look really good too, Ochako." And she did. She wore a lot of pink and black, high-heeled moonboots leading up to black that hugged her plush thighs, then a pink belt. Over her chest was a yet again skin-tight bodysuit, black along her sides and pink down the middle. She also had pink spheres around her wrists, and a visor that framed her round face, no points for guessing what color it was.

She blushed at the praise. "I didn't actually request this. I just told them the themes I liked and the colors." She pulled at the material, nervous. "I didn't ask for it to be so skin tight." Himiko glomped onto her in standard fashion. "Don't worry about it, Chako', you look great! Very sexy!" She grinned widely, as Ochako blushed even more. 

"Now, it's time for combat training!"

All three were startled by All Might's sudden shout. Iida clearly wasn't. "This is the fake city from our entrance exam. Does that mean that we'll be conducting urban battles again?" Iida asked as he raised his hand. All Might shook his head and held up two fingers. "Not quite. I'm going to move you two steps ahead. Most of the villain fights you see on the news take place outside. However, statistically, most villains are actually apprehended indoors. Kidnapping, backroom deals, and drug trafficking, all the most insidious and intelligent criminals conduct their business in the shadows. You will be paired up in teams of two against each other, one team representing heroes, the other villains." 

Tsu put her finger to her chin and cocked her head slightly. "For basic training? Isn't this a bit advanced?" All Might laughed boisterously. "The best training is what you learn on the battlefield! Still, I want you all to remember, you're not fighting robots this time. You're dealing with actual people now, so be careful." Yaomomo asked the next question. "Sir, how will the match be decided?" Unfortunately, many other questions followed, such as Iida asking how teams will be sorted, and Aoyama asking if he liked his cape.

"Alright, alright, everybody settle down!" He pulled out a script. "The situation is this. The villains have hidden a nuclear missile somewhere in their hideout. The heroes must try to foil their plans. To do that, the good guys either have to catch the evildoers or recover the weapon. Likewise, the bad guys succeed if they protect their payload or capture the heroes. Time's limited, and we'll choose teams by drawing lots!" Iida started waving his arm around as he questioned him. "Isn't there a more efficient way than randomisation?" 

It was Izuku who answered him. "This is more realistic. Since villain attacks are often sporadic, heroes are forced to team up with each other at random. You won't always know exactly what your partner is capable of." Iida stopped waving his arm around and apologised. All Might placed each name in a box and had people start drawing lots. Izuku received a slip that read "Team A." Oddly enough, so did Himiko. "To start, we will have Team A vs Team D!" Izuku looked over at who Team D consisted of, that being Ochako, Bakugo, and Iida. 'Of course, just our luck. All Might must be counting Himiko as a student, which basically makes this a 1v3.' The blonde continued, ignorant of the situation he had created. "Team A will be the heroes, while Team D will be the villains. Now, Team D, follow me, Team A, you are free to plan while I get you all set up!"

-~-

"So, what's the plan, Izu?" Himiko asked from under her bat hood. Izuku summoned his fleet of birds. "We could just have you pull your disappearing trick and touch it, but I don't really like that option." Himiko cocked her head so he elaborated. "We're here to learn. Nobody learns anything if you just disappear and touch the bomb. Do it if it's necessary, but try to avoid it. All Might, you're listening, right?" The man had given them earpieces to talk to each other and to him. "Correct, young Midoriya." Izuku summoned Atropos and sent the birds scouting. "Do my thralls count as touching the bomb?" He heard All Might let out a laugh. "That depends. Can any of them disarm a bomb? Remember, this is only pretend, touching it wouldn't be enough in reality." Izuku chose to ignore the fact that most of the class didn't know how to defuse a bomb, so that was irrelevant.

"Right. Well, here's our plan."

-~-

The other team was also planning. Well, two of them were. "You extras can plan all you want, I don't need it. I'm going to blast that fucking zoo keeper and the blonde, simple as." He stomped off, ignoring Iida calling him "uncouth." Ochako turned to the much taller boy. "So, do we have a plan?" Iida corrected his glasses. "Only a simple one. We may know their quirks, but that doesn't tell us much. We have no clue what thralls Midoriya may hold, aside from Himiko and that monstrosity. We do know Himiko's capabilities, though. I don't expect Bakugo will come back, so if he does, it probably isn't him." Ochako nodded. "So if he is looking for them, do we just play defense?" Iida shook his head. "We don't mesh well. I need an empty path, you need objects. I will patrol, can I entrust you to protect the bomb?"

Ochako pumped her fists in determination. "Got it!"

-~-

The first part of Izuku's plan centered around Bakugo. Both he and Himiko knew that the blonde would come straight for them, so they had to be ready. As the bomber entered a corridor on the bottom floor, he found the necromancer staring down at him from the other end, cold eyes watching his every move. "There you are! I told you that you were dead if you came to UA. Better be ready, Bastard!" He placed his hands behind himself and launched forward with an explosion. Izuku grinned as he adjusted his tie, then lifted a hand.

The main problem with grapple hooks as support gear was how clunky they could be to use. Quirks were a natural thing to most people, the same as simply moving their arm, so they weren't used to having to learn and master a skill like this, especially one that required so much precision. Mei Hatsume had sought to fix this issue by combining quirks and a grappling hook. This was why, as Izuku raised his hand and fired a string from Despot, his glove did the same. The string combined with the grapple, allowing the strength of the grapple to mix with the instinctive precision of a quirk. 

This string sank straight into Bakugo's chest, allowing Izuku to flick his wrist, using Haul through the string, to launch Bakugo into a wall. The wall shattered as the boy was sent straight through it and launched into an open space, the building's lobby. Bakugo groaned as he looked at the hole he came through, barely pulling himself into standing. Izuku stepped through the hole calmly. "What the fuck? How? I thought you could just summon animals?" Izuku chuckled, somehow managing to sound different than normal, or perhaps that was just the fear building within him taking effect. "You should have stayed for introductions, Kacchan," Bakugo growled and launched himself again, this time dodging the string shot at him.

He threw a right hook straight at the greenete, which he dodged under. "Where the hell are all your animals? Get them out here, or you're not going to stand a chance!" His rage swelled as Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Why would I do that? I don't need them to beat you." He threw his own punch, which Bakugo dodged. Unfortunately for the blonde, it was a trap. Izuku shot Despot in his foot with his other hand and tripped him. Bakugo launched himself back with an explosion and stood before Izuku could continue. Shaking his gauntlets to get a feel for how full they were, he grinned manically.

"You think you don't need your fucking army? Fine then."

He placed his hand on the trigger of one of his gauntlet grenades.

"No more holding back."

Chapter Text

Iida was starting to get nervous. It had been a few minutes since he had departed from Uraraka, and the explosions echoing from downstairs weren't all that reassuring. He was partly tempted to assist Bakugo, but it was more important that he protect the floor with the bomb in case one of the hero team made it past the blonde.

He was pacing the corridor when he suddenly felt a lovebird land on his shoulder. He looked at it in shock before he swatted at it.

-~-

Elsewhere in the building, still fighting Bakugo, Izuku mumbled under his breath. 

"Ultimate move: Chain summoning."

-~-

Around the lovebird, a swarm of dogs appeared. "Wha-" He couldn't even finish his cry of shock before the dogs pounced. Engines blaring, he distanced himself from the dogs and looked at what he was up against. 'I don't recognise all of their breeds, but anyone can identify a German shepherd. Likewise, with the corgi, although it won't be a threat. I should remove it quickly so it's not a distraction.' He took a deep breath, feeling slightly guilty about what he was about to do, and launched forward with his engines. His foot instantly hit the small dog and sent it flying. The other three growled at him and rushed him. 

He rushed into a melee with the beasts, confident his armor could protect him from mere dog bites. His fist sank into a mastiff, not that he knew what breed it was, doing virtually no damage. Unfortunately for Iida, Izuku's thralls were much smarter than normal animals, and D-4 sank its teeth into one of the joints, less armored for ease of movement. Iida grunted and dived back, clutching his arm as blood flowed freely from it.

He didn't notice the nearly invisible figure catch some of his blood in a container, only to disappear again.

All of the dogs charged, even the somehow uninjured corgi.

-~-

Ochako was growing slightly uneasy. The explosions that were no doubt from Bakugo were only growing louder and more frequent, although somehow even more concerning was the fact that he even needed so many explosions. Iida hadn't checked back in at all, not that he said he would, but she was still uneasy.

The door flung open and let a panicked figure inside, quickly slamming the door behind them. A large bald eagle could be seen through the glass in the door, ramming itself into the glass. 'Speak of the devil, huh?' Iida corrected his glasses as he took a deep breath and pinned the door shut with his weight. "Ochako, help me over here!" The brunette rushed to do so, helping him secure the door. After a minute or so, it gave up and flew away. Iida slumped against the door slightly. "Thank goodness. We need to be careful, there's an army of animals out there."

He stood up and started walking towards the bomb. "I assume you haven't faced any problems? I didn't encounter Midoriya or Himiko myself." Ochako squinted her eyes suspiciously and walked alongside him. "No, I haven't seen anything. That eagle was the first thrall I've seen." Iida nodded as he reached the bomb. They both stared at its timer counting down for a moment before Iida lunged at it. Unfortunately for him her, Ochako had figured her out and tapped her just in time, making her weightless and throwing her back.

Iida's armor turned into goop and dripped down from the ceiling as Himiko used her newfound weightlessness to stand on the ceiling. Standing upside down with her predatory eyes and her bat-themed outfit, she looked every bit the fearsome vampire she could be. "How did you figure me out? I thought I mirrored his stiffness well." Ochako huffed. "You called me Ochako." Himiko's eyes widened, and she face-palmed. "That's such a beginner mistake, damn it. I let the excitement get to me." She leaped, using the ceiling as a foothold, and landed on the floor. She lifted her cloak to grab a knife, revealing containers of a red liquid underneath. 

She played with her knife in her hands, doing tricks on a professional level as she eyed Ochako like her next meal. "I wonder how much combat experience you picked up pre UA? Regardless, this is going to be a slaughter." She smiled manically and threw her knife directly at Ochako's forehead, faster than her eyes could even track. Luckily, it was actually a plastic training knife. Unluckily, it still hurts to get it thrown directly into your forehead. She rubbed her forehead for a second, giving Himiko a chance to disappear.

In a panic, Ochako turned towards the bomb, but that wasn't Himiko's objective right now, as she learned when she had her legs swept out from under her. The vampire straddled her while sipping from one of her blood containers. Blonde hair turned green as she took the form of her master, making Ochako blush as she was still pinned down under her, now him. "Why aren't you going for the bomb? What do you achieve by targeting me?" She punched Himi-Izuku in the stomach, sending her flying back since she was still weightless.

Himiko giggled. "That's not my part to play in this. Izu has a plan, and as his thrall, it is my duty to fulfill it." She launched forward with a left hook, abusing her weightless status. Midway, Ochako clapped her hands together. "Release!" Himiko fell to the floor mid-leap as gravity returned. She quickly rolled away from a kick from the brunette and stood back up. 'It's weird to experience Himiko's personality through Izuku's appearance." The disguised girl threw her suit jacket to the side, revealing more of the suit. She then raised one of her gloved hands and shot Despot out of it alongside its grapple. Ochako dodged to the side and closed the distance.

'She's clearly able to fight weightless, so that shouldn't be the priority. I should focus on stalling for time.' She threw a punch at the girl, which was ducked, letting her leverage her newfound strength to launch a fist at Ochako's gut. Ochako brushed the fist with her fingers and let her become weightless, throwing her off balance and removing the impact of the punch. She grabbed the girl and threw her straight into the wall. Himiko immediately pulled herself up, wiping grey goop out of her eyes from the disguise's damaged head. As her disguise fell apart, she did one more thing with it.

E-1 appeared and launched at Ochako, who was barely able to dodge the bird's talons. It continued right past her and landed on the bomb. "What's the point of that? All Might let us know earlier that the animals don't count." Himiko smiled, even as her disguised mouth fell apart, making her smile half of her and half of Izuku. "They don't, but nobody said they couldn't be used as transport." She tapped into her telepathic link to her master, also saying her message out loud to Ochako, purely for dramatic effect. "Izu, target acquired. Pull E-1 back." Ochako's eyes widened even as she rushed the bomb, as both it and the bird vanished.

-~-

Perhaps it was anticlimactic, but Izuku was not struggling with Bakugo. Even after the bomber declared that he wasn't holding back, he started with hit and run strategies, rushing in with an explosion, then making an attack that would send him flying back and distant again. 'He's definitely planning something, but what? There's no way that Bakugo would go on the defensive this easily.' At this point, Izuku was almost getting bored. 'He may train a lot, but he is entirely self-taught. It can't match up with all my training under Aizawa.' He ducked under yet another explosion. They were only getting more powerful as Bakugo worked up more of a sweat. 

"Is this really all you have? I honestly expected some big, climactic battle between once childhood friends, turned rivals. Something cinematic, you know? This is just kind of pathetic, Kacchan." His taunting was not born of cockiness, but he was instead purposely riling him up, making him more reckless. The blonde snarled as he unleashed yet another explosion, somehow yelling over it at the same time. "We aren't fucking rivals, and we were never friends. You're just an extra!" Through the smoke, he launched forward with yet another right hook. 'You're getting way too predictable.' Yet, as he went to catch it, Bakugo used an explosion to flip himself over Izuku, and sent an explosion straight into his back. He grunted as he was sent across the room, skipping along the floor slightly.

"You're improving, at least. I was starting to think you wouldn't land a single solid hit." Instead of pressing the charge, Bakugo, finally satisfied with the weight of his gauntlets, laughed manically. He raised one and pointed it at Izuku. Instantly, All Might started yelling in both of their ears. "Young Bakugo, don't! That will kill him if it hits!" Bakugo wrapped his hand around the trigger. "He won't die if he dodges!" He pulled it down as Izuku's eyes widened. He summoned Atropos as a wall of pure force and heat rushed towards him.

Even through his makeshift shield, he was still launched back. His back slammed into a solid wall, making his head spin as his ears rang from the noise. Through the dizziness, he looked up at the sight. The entire room had been demolished, the walls either in rubble or outright gone in parts. Furniture was in pieces, all black and singed. Most importantly, everything was painted red and blue. The walls, the floor, even the ceiling, every surface in the room was red with tiger blood, and blue with spider blood. Even a shocked Bakugo stared at what used to be Atropos, ignorant of the blue blood leaking into his mouth, open because of his dropped jaw.

Where Atropos used to be was instead a black husk. Very little remained of the abomination, only bits of a tiger's corpse, all scattered. All of its spider parts were completely gone, having taken the blast head-on while the tiger section was hidden underneath. If it wasn't already dead, it certainly would be now. If All Might could pick his jaw up from the observation room, he would have ended the match instantly. Izuku stood on shaking legs, and despite the situation, grinned as he heard Himiko in his head. "It's my win, Kacchan." E-1 appeared beside him, perched on top of the bomb. Izuku placed his hand on it, and Bakugo was still too stunned to even think of stopping him. His shock came not from the death of the monster, not anymore, but instead at the fact that it was twitching. 

The corpse slowly put itself together before their eyes, slowly, but it was miraculous that it could even survive that. "He'll probably need an hour. He can heal in storage." He pulled Atropos back into himself. "Are you going to call the match, All Might?" The giant blinked out of his shock.

"Oh, right! Hero team wins!"

-~-

After that, the five combatants returned to the monitoring room where the rest of the class was waiting. Upon entering, he saw a range of familiar expressions. Mainly disgust, though it was at least aimed less at him, and more the fact that he and Bakugo were coated in enough red and blue to make All Might proud, if the circumstances were different. The tension was slightly broken by Himiko humming happily, very happy that her master was so bloody, even if it was from Atropos. Iida was even in a similar state after his fight with a rabid pack of dogs, although it was more because of the dogs than himself. 

All Might coughed into his hand. "So, uh, who do you all think the MVP of this match was?"

Yaomomo was the one to answer, after raising her hand, of course. "I believe it was Midoriya, sir. He seemed to be the one to come up with the plan, and he also technically fought all three combatants at once, if you count Himiko as an extension of himself and not another student. Even if you do consider them separate, Midoriya still fought both Bakugo directly and Iida with his thralls." All Might nodded along, albeit confused at why Himiko would be counted as part of Midoriya. 'Perhaps because she turned into him?' Looking at the dejected Iida and Ochako, as well as the pissed Bakugo, he decided to throw them a bone. "Well said! However, we must give credit to the other three as well! Iida was able to make a good plan and fight well against a horde, while Uraraka held off Himiko for a decent amount of time, even though she is much more experienced. Even Bakugo stalled well, although you should really listen to your team next time, Young Bakugo."

Bakugo clicked his tongue at his advice, no doubt ignoring it. "Young Himiko, you also did swell. You were able to engage your opponent for a long time and were also vital in stealing the bomb away. However, the title of MVP must still go to young Midoriya, for the reasons Yaoyorozu listed." The class gave half-hearted claps as All Might wiped a bit of sweat from his forehead, tired from maintaining his form. Now, the next two teams, follow me."

As All Might led some of the class away, most notably Kendo and Shinsou, to him, Izuku turned to the members of his class who remained, and he could actually call a friend. That being Ochako and Tokoyami, who had walked over. Iida was also present. "Midoriya, I must ask, is your dark minion going to survive? Losing such a powerful beast must be a huge loss to your forces." Izuku smiled reassuringly at Tokoyami. "He'll be fine. My thralls all get minor regeneration. He should be good within an hour." The bird-headed boy nodded as Ochako cocked her head. "What happened to Atropos? Is that why you're so red and blue?" He nodded. "Bakugo happened. Atropos stepped in as a shield." Ochako and Iida paled, clearly thinking about what could have happened if Atropos hadn't been there.

Iida started chopping his hand. "Does he really want to be a hero? Every time I see him talk or do something, he seems more villainous. At the very least, he shouldn't be able to use those gauntlets against other students!" Izuku heard familiar, very quiet footsteps behind him. "I quite agree!"

All three turned around, Iida and Ochako slightly in shock, while Tokoyami hid his own slightly better. "Don't be alarmed, Bakugo will receive a punishment of sorts. He also won't be using those without strict supervision in the future." Before Izuku could even ask why Nezu was there, the rat turned to him. "Izuku, would you please follow me to my office? There is something very confidential and very important that I wish to speak to you about." 

Chapter Text

After a swift shower and a change of clothes, Nezu led Izuku up to his office, a room that he was now very familiar with. The green necromancer sat in the seat opposite Nezu as the rat retrieved some sort of file from one of his cabinets. He sat his small body down and placed the file on the desk.

"The HPSC has agreed to send over another death row inmate. I wanted them to send Lady Nagant, but they refused. You can choose this time. It is your quirk, after all." Izuku nodded and read over the file, even as his eyes widened. There were quite a few options to choose from.

Moonfish, quirk: Blade-tooth. It could be helpful in some situations, but this mental status report was certainly a turn-off.

Ginji Kurau, quirk: Mad gluttony. Not just was it a mutation quirk and thus very limited to him, but it wasn't very useful to have a mouth on your stomach. Still, he could be used to eat through rubble or something as a thrall.

Gashly Eijiju, quirk: Puppetry tome. It allows him to use a book from his quirk to summon and control a small army of child-sized puppets that are hard to destroy. It could be useful to provide a bit more fodder to his growing army. Having to use a book was inconvenient, but doable if he either summoned the man himself or if it fused with his quirk and let him do it through his normal means.

Last was Kunieda, quirk: Botanist. It allows him to grow giant plants such as flowers or fungi from both the ground and people's bodies. Most likely the best quirk here, even if its vibe was different.

Izuku looked up from the file. "It's hard to choose, probably either the puppetry or Botanist, but even the other two could have uses. Botanist is more powerful, but puppetry fits me better, especially since I already have Dictator. Why only these four, though? I'm pretty sure that Tarturus has more inmates than this." Nezu poured them both a cup of tea. "They do, of course. They already know your quirk, though, so they're not willing to give you the full selection."

Izuku's eyes widened. "Wait, they already read about my quirk? Why are they even willing to give me anyone, then?" The rat seemed to gain a glint in his eye as he grinned. "Why, I blackmailed them! I told them that if they sent someone over, I wouldn't tell you what happened to your father!" Izuku nodded along for a second before his mind caught up to what he had just casually revealed. His face became painted with worry. "Wait, what happened to Dad?" Nezu's expression softened. "I don't quite know. He simply never arrived at the safe house I prepared. There are three options. The best-case scenario is that he hid somewhere else, either because it was necessary or because he didn't trust me. Alternatively, the HPSC has him, either as a corpse or still alive."

Izuku clenched his fists and glared at the rat. "And when did you intend on telling me this? And why?" Nezu took a sip of his tea. "I'm telling you now, aren't I? The only other opportunity was when you brought Miss Mei over, but I assumed you wanted to have this conversation alone. And what do you mean by why?" He smiled, clearly already knowing what Izuku was asking but playing ignorant. Izuku almost growled. "You know what I mean. There is no way you would tell me this, purely out of the goodness of your heart. You want something. Why should I, instead of dropping out right now and tearing down the HPSC myself?" 

Nezu set his tea down. "You're smarter than that. For the sake of this hypothetical, let's assume that all heroes except the HPSC ones turned a blind eye to your little rebellion. That would leave you fighting Hawks, as your strongest opponent. How would you take down Hawks, with your current arsenal?" Izuku thought about it for a second, breaking his glare to analyse in his head. 'The only possible means of hurting him are Atropos and Himiko. Himiko wouldn't be able to sneak up on someone like Hawks, though, and Atropos would be much too slow. He wouldn't even make a good shield, Hawks could easily get his feathers behind him.' He sighed. "I probably couldn't do it yet, but I could always build up more thralls, and then beat him."

Nezu shook his head. "The second you dropped out, my protection would be gone. The HPSC would be straight on you. If you were lucky, they might send a lower-ranking hero, and you would have a chance. Hawks would come eventually, though, and there would be no hiding. The HPSC has plenty of tracking and search quirks at their disposal." Izuku sighed again. "Then what? What do you expect me to do? My father is possibly dead, and you want me to fucking sit here and go to school!?" His volume rose throughout his sentence, increasingly angry and upset. 

"You're a smart child, Izuku. I'm sure you know about my... distaste for the government, the HPSC in particular." Izuku nodded hesitantly. "I won't deny you your revenge, I merely ask that you postpone it. You aren't strong enough yet, stick with me, and in a few years, you can tear them down with your own two hands. Play along and pretend you know nothing, and they'll probably even keep supplying inmates that will one day help in your, no, our rebellion. This chess game of ours has been going on for years in the shadows, and you could flip the board. Right now, you may be a mere pawn, but I can help you become a queen. Perhaps, if I pass, even the next king." Izuku took a deep breath to calm himself as the rat offered a paw for a handshake.

He shook his paw.

"I accept. But I want something in return." The rat hummed inquisitively. "You said that you don't know what happened to my dad. Please, look into it. Even if he's dead, I want to know. I might even be able to bring him back." The rat clapped his paws together and grinned. "Why, of course! I will have all eyes on the ground near his last sighting. Now, I have something else that I want to show you, care to follow me?"

-~-

After a short drive, although too long for Izuku to maintain Himiko, forcing her to join them, Nezu had led them to a large facility a few minutes away from UA. The rat spoke to a security guard at the facility, and the large gates shuddered open, allowing the three to enter. They walked through several more security checks until they entered a plaza of sorts. Izuku looked around in awe.

The best way to describe the place was as a zoo. Around the plaza were several branching paths, as well as a few smaller exhibits. In those exhibits were various animals, from a monkey that was breathing fire to a few creatures that seemed alien to Izuku. "What is this place?" Himiko seemed to echo his thoughts. Nezu turned around and gave them a proud grin. "Welcome to the QAZ, or quirked animal zoo! If not for UA, this place would be my pride and joy." The rat started walking, leading them on a tour. They looked around at various animals, most displaying some sort of quirk, but not all. Nezu kept talking as they walked and admired all the various animals.

"I'm sure you two know my backstory; it is public information. I was experimented on by humans because of my quirk, treated like a lab rat despite my being just as sentient as they were. What the public doesn't know is that I still care about my fellow animal. I saw firsthand the horrors that quirked animals were subjected to, for the sake of science. When I escaped, I didn't do it alone. Since then, I have only picked up more and more quirked animals. My sources actually noticed Atropos, too. I would have picked him up if he hadn't killed so quickly." Nezu stopped at a glass exhibit, made to resemble a desert. "Did you know that Atropos wasn't the only animal in that warehouse?"

Izuku read the plaque in front of the cage, only to jump back as something slammed against the glass, which must have been reinforced. It was a snake in the same way that Atropos was a tiger. What was once a shadowy black cobra had been twisted, mutilated. Horns grew out of its head, and twisted limbs twitched about as it struggled to support the creature. Most of the snake's body hung and flopped about loosely, not properly supported by the limbs that were all nearer to its front. It also seemed to possess a scorpion-like tail. "I suspect it to have once been a Black Desert cobra. Just like Atropos, it seems like its less snake-like features ripped out of it. It's as if it wasn't born with its quirk, which should be impossible for a mutation." Of course, the Implications of that were much worse to Nezu than to Izuku.

Seeing that it was powerless to do anything to the intruders, the snake-thing waddled back into the shadows. "Why is it so aggressive? I don't know much about snakes, but I don't think they would usually attack humans unprovoked." Nezu shook his head with a frown. "It's off its pain meds. Whatever happened to its body placed it in constant agony, so we usually keep it under pain medication." Nezu looked sadder than he had ever seen him. "I have decided that keeping him alive is cruel, at this point. As the years pass, it grows immune to higher and higher doses. Soon, all that will remain is agony. Atropos seems fine since your thralls can't feel pain." Now Izuku understood. Himiko didn't seem to. "Why don't you just let Izu have all of these? He would be so powerful with so many quirks."

Nezu frowned even more. "Because if I were born with their quirks and they mine, I would be in their situation. You are correct that Izuku would benefit a lot, but I will not slaughter them to strengthen him. If they pass naturally, I will, of course, let him have them." Izuku warned Himiko not to be rude mentally, considering she just suggested he kill all his charges. "Are we doing it now? Or do you still need to sort things?" Nezu nodded. "You're correct. I have paperwork to file before I do this. I simply brought you here today to show you this place, given that I now can consider you a true ally. With our new agreement, you are no longer a mere student, but a comrade in arms one day. Even if it takes decades before that point." The three fell into a comfortable silence amidst the sounds of countless animals in the zoo. Himiko had naturally been briefed on the car ride, so she wasn't confused about what they were talking about.

Eventually, Nezu clapped his paws and broke the silence. "Well, regardless, this is called a zoo. It isn't open to the public since that could endanger the animals, but you're here anyway. Might as well have a look at everything, since you may be working with them one day. Why don't I show you all the aquarium next?"

Chapter Text

After a very, very, long tour of every animal Nezu was looking after, Izuku and Himiko returned to the dorms. They ignored anyone trying to stop them and talk, and headed straight to Izuku's room.

Once the duo arrived, Izuku collapsed into bed. Himiko shut the door behind him and sat down next to him, affectionately rubbing his back as he lay face down in bed. After about a minute, he turned over. Tears leaked from his eyes, completely silently. "Are you ok?" Himiko asked softly as she started running her fingers through his hair. He didn't respond for a moment, simply staring into space, listlessly. Himiko continued her ministrations. 'It must be nice to be able to mourn for your parents like this. To have someone you care for this strongly. Even though we barely saw him.' Izuku murmured something that she couldn't hear. "Sorry?"

He repeated himself. "It's not fair." She cocked her head, awaiting elaboration. Izuku sat up and looked out the window as he talked.

"All of this is because of my quirk. I have had to train my entire life just so that I could get into UA and be safe. I have become responsible for the fates of basically every fucking inmate in Tarturus. Nezu wants me to look after his zoo animals when they die. And my father is probably dead! All because of my quirk!" He punched his bed frame, not even noticing the wood splintering through his rage. No, rage was the wrong word.

'He looks so... tired.' Himiko placed her head on his shoulder, offering her warmth as his sole comfort.

"I don't know if I can keep doing this. I want to save people. People like us. What's the point if the people close to me are going to be killed just because of something I was born with!? Will it be Mom next? You?" He slumped back and let his back hit the wall.

It seemed he had been bottling up everything for a while. 'I did find it weird that he never complained that someone was killed for him, even if it was Dictator. He's been hiding it, huh?'

"Izuku." The boy looked over at his thrall, his attention caught by her dropping the nickname and her tone. She took his hand in hers and guided it to her chest. She pressed it in, making him feel her heartbeat through her soft chest. He didn't even blush; he didn't have the energy. "Can you feel it? How fast my heart is beating?" He looked at her with a desperation in his eyes and nodded dumbly. "If it wasn't for you and your quirk, it wouldn't be beating. You saved me from something that nobody else could have. I owe everything to you, and I'm sure that I won't be the last."

He looked down, still miserable. "But that's just my quirk. I didn't do anything spe-"

"Izuku." He looked back at her. "It's not just because of your quirk. Think about it. You were just a kid, and yet, when you heard a scream in a bad part of town, you went racing off after it. You saw a child die and still dared to help. There is nothing wrong with your quirk, or any quirk, you know that. Even if there somehow was, you are more than your quirk. You are the kindest person I know, the most heroic person I know, and I say that having technically met All Might."

He snorted, despite the situation and the tears still staining his face with red trails. "Does he really count? Have you even had a conversation?"

Himiko struck a proud pose. "I'll have you know that he approached me after heroics. He wanted to talk to me about something, but you teleported me away."

He frowned. "Sorry."

She giggled and hugged his arm. "It's no problem. I'd rather spend time with you than some old man anyway, Izu. Even if that old man might be the most famous person to ever live." The merch covering half of the room seemed to agree. She grew serious again and watched his face from his side. "We'll find your dad. If he's alive, we can save him, and if he's dead, *you* can save him even if it takes years. You could resurrect all of All Might, after all, and you said that part of him felt ancient."

Izuku wiped his eyes on his sleeve. "You're right. Thanks, Himi." He petted her head and she blushed, before she took on a teasing grin.

"You know, if you still need some more comfort, you can always use my body to comfort you, Master." She emphasized the word master, dragging it out with a slightly sing-song voice.

He rolled his eyes, but chuckled regardless. "Please, don't. People are going to get the wrong idea if you call me that, even as a joke." Himiko flushed. "Right. Because I would never call you that normally. I mean me? Calling you Master? Psh, that would never happen." He raised an eyebrow before lying down in bed. The vampire joined him under the covers. "Offer's always open." She grinned again.

He huffed, equally joking. "Not happening."

If anyone pointed out that he cuddled into her as they slept that night, he would deny it wholeheartedly.

-~-

Izuku felt a bit better the next day. One night of cuddling and a good cry wouldn't magically fix things, much less the fact that his dad was possibly dead. Still, he felt good enough to go to school the next day, after silently drinking coffee with Shinso, that was. On the way, Izuku looked over at the gate to the campus. A crowd of reporters blocked the school gate, all yelling questions at anyone who tried to enter about their newest instructor, All Might himself. Unfortunately for them, the hero students who had actually met the man were in dorms, so everyone they asked had no answers to give. Some reporters attempted to enter the school, only for the UA barrier to slam down and prevent access.

Now they were waiting for class to start; they would only have a few minutes, given how long they had been delayed. Himiko started chatting with Mina and Setsuna, having made fast friends with the two, while two of Izuku's quieter friends, Shinso and Tokoyami, sat together and barely talked. This left Izuku with Kendo and Ochako, who both looked at him with concern as they sat on the desks near him.

"Are you okay? I tried talking to you when you got back yesterday, but you completely ignored me." Ochako asked, with Kendo adding a "same".

Izuku smiled sheepishly, happy that he actually had people to be concerned about him. "I had a... family emergency, of sorts. I don't particularly want to talk about it, but I'm ok, I think."

The girls gave each other a worried glance, then returned to focusing on him. "You know that you can talk about anything with us, right, Midoriya?" Kendo comforted. He nodded. "I know. I probably will eventually, but just not yet. I'm not that eager to do so, and we only have a minute or two until Aizawa arrives anyway."

Electing not to push it further, the two chatted about the matches yesterday to catch him up, until Aizawa arrived and they had to return to their seats.

Aizawa started speaking once the class was silent. "Good work on the battle training yesterday, I watched all the footage. I only have a couple of comments. Bakugo, set your ego aside and actually work with your team. Also, I believe Nezu already talked to you, but be more careful with your attacks. Uraraka, work on your reaction speed. You might not have known they could pull that trick with the bomb, but you still shouldn't have let them get so close, ideally. Midoriya, be more careful. If Atropos were slightly weaker, you could have been injured. You should have at least tried to dodge, even with your meat shield."

Both Izuku and Uraraka accepted the advice and nodded, while Bakugo clicked his tongue.

"Now, we have something of vital importance to settle this lesson." Aizawa paused, most likely to intentionally scare everyone. Izuku hid a smirk under his hand, although he was curious about what this was about. "You all need to pick a class president."  The class let out various signs of relief.

It then immediately burst into noise, with basically everyone volunteering. Even Bakugo was raising his hand, alongside more antisocial students like Jirou. The only students not raising their hands were Todoroki and Shinso, both because they were the most antisocial of their class, as well as Izuku and Himiko. Izuku simply had no interest, while Himiko wanted Izuku to lead. 'It is a great opportunity to practice your leadership as a hero, but I've been doing so for years. Might as well let someone else do it. Yaomomo would be good.' 

Eventually, the yelling was silenced by Iida. "Silence, please! The role of class president is serious, charged with leading the entire class. It is not the kind of job that just anyone can do! It is a position that should go to those whom people trust the most, so I propose we do a democratic vote!" Izuku ignored the fact that Iida had his hand the highest.

Tsu pulled her signature pose, placing her thumb to her chin. "We've only known each other for a few days. How are we supposed to trust each other? Won't everyone vote for themselves?" 

Iida chopped his hand, as per usual. "Then that just means anyone with more than one vote deserves it even more! Or we could even ban voting for yourself, and have everyone submit their vote to someone not in the running for a check."

Aizawa didn't stop them, so they went with his idea. This led to Izuku standing at the front of the room, having the class submit their votes to him. Himiko walked up to him and handed over her vote, a piece of paper that simply read "Izuku". He looked her in the eye and ripped it. "Pick someone other than me, please." She gave an exaggerated pout and handed in another piece of paper, voting for Kendo. 

Once everyone had handed in their votes, Izuku tallied all 21 of them (he wasn't allowed to vote, but since Himiko was, Dark Shadow was too) and wrote the results on the board, not writing names that had no votes.

1. Iida, 7 votes.

2. Yaoyorozu and Kendo, 4 votes each.

3. Ashido, 3 votes.

4. Shiozaki, 2 votes.

5. Tokoyami, 1 vote.

It was pretty easy to guess who Dark Shadow voted for, but the rest of the class would remain a mystery, except for Izuku, but he wouldn't be sharing the anonymous voting. Conversations started about holding a vote between the top three specifically to break the tie, but Izuku interrupted it by talking to Aizawa.

"Can we just have two vice presidents? The purpose is to serve as a chain of command, right? Having more members on the chain can't hurt." Aizawa allowed it, if only so he could go back to sleep quicker, then he did exactly that. 

Once the issue of class president was sorted, they continued with the rest of the classes for the day, until it was time for lunch.

Chapter Text

After apologizing to his friend group, Izuku separated from them to spend lunch elsewhere. Himiko had wanted to spend time with Mina and Setsuna, which his range was more than good enough for, so he was alone, a rare occurrence.

He summoned Hercules on his shoulder to keep him company; the ant was more than happy to spend time with its master. Izuku didn't even flinch when the door flew at him; he caught it with one hand and the pink blur with the other. "Are you going to do this every time I visit the support lab?"

"Of course, explosions are the price of baby making!" Mei Hatsume, support engineer and potential thrall, freed herself from his hold and dusted herself off. "Now, what can I do for you, green?" 

He raised an eyebrow. "Why do you insist on calling me green? Do you even remember my name?"

Mei led him inside the support workshop, which was empty except for her, as it was lunchtime. "I remember it. You have my permission to call me Mei, but you never said I could use your first name. I've been told I should get permission before doing that, for some reason." She picked up a piece of equipment that Izuku didn't recognise, perhaps something for another year group or hero class.

"You can call me Izuku, Mei. If you're trying to enslave yourself to me, you can at least use my first name." He watched her cross hair eyes zoom in as she screwed in screws he could barely see.

"So, what's up? Did you come to make a baby?" She didn't even glance back at him.

"I don't want any inventions today. I just wanted to get to know you, given that we'll likely spend a lot of time together in the future. You're probably going to be by my side constantly if you become a thrall, especially in the early days." 

She kept tinkering. "I don't think there's that much to know. Oh, I never told you my quirk. It's called Zoom, it lets me zoom in my vision, as you probably noticed. By the way, while you're here, could you show me everything you can do? You're quirk gives a lot of options, so seeing them all would let me come up with ideas even without your help. We could always go to one of the soundproofed gyms so we can go at it without any interruptions."

Izuku didn't even blink at her accidental(?) innuendo, after a year of training with Midnight. He simply nodded, and she led the way.

-~-

The support course, much like the hero course, sometimes dealt with very destructive forces. The difference was that they had powerful gear, as opposed to powerful quirks. It was because of this that they were given a series of testing facilities to test all sorts of gear. Targets to test accuracy, dark rooms to test flashlights, among other things. The room that Mei led him to was the most similar to the hero course's gyms, a large, almost warehouse-like room designed for incredibly destructive gear to be used. "So, you have given me an overview of your quirk, but I don't have many specifics. How's your range? How tiring is it to summon? How old a corpse can you resurrect?"

Izuku raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a corpse for me to test with?"

She shook her head. "Not unless you change your mind about me killing myself! I brought some gear that can easily do it, so tell me if you change your mind. Now, summon all your thralls for me, would you?"

He obliged, summoning all of the thralls that he could. Naturally, Dictator went ignored.

"Is this really all of them? Can't you do that thread thing? Which one of these has that quirk?" She didn't seem remotely fazed by the fully healed Atropos sitting next to the rest of the thralls, a welcome surprise."

He hesitated, but she would likely find out anyway if she became a thrall, so he did something he had never done before. He summoned Dictator. The man was almost unrecognisable from his time as a villain. Without his semi-famous outfit, he resembled any other hunchback, except for the orangey-brown Tarturus uniform and the fact that he looked like he had bathed once in the past decade. Izuku had made sure to summon him without his quirk; god knows what he would do to Mei if given the chance. "Keep your distance. This man was on death row in Tartarus before Nezu gave me to him. He is far from a good man." His voice was cold, matching his eyes. The man deserved no better, after all.

Mei completely ignored him. She had started measuring some of his thralls and treated Dictator no differently. To his surprise, the man didn't yell, fight, or anything really. Instead, he bowed.

"I'm so sorry for my sins, my lord! Please, don't put me back in that void!" The man sounded desperate and pained, although his nasally voice made it hard to tell.

"Wait, have you been conscious the entire time!?" The man struggled to meet his eye.

"Not quite. The last solid memory I have is of my execution. Ever since then, it was like I was... asleep. The best comparison may be a coma, where many have reported after waking that they were partially aware of everything around them as they slept. Please, my lord, don't put me back to that state! I'll do anything, I'll even help you become a hero, I'll give you full access to my quirk, anything!" The man bowed, practically slamming his head into the ground. He didn't even pay attention to Mei measuring him so she could make equipment.

Izuku was in a slight state of shock and mild guilt. Even as bad as Dictator was, it was quite the punishment. "Why should you be allowed that freedom after everything you did? You are genuinely one of the worst people I have ever laid my eyes on. You were in Tartarus for a reason." The man sobbed. 'This is uncharacteristic of him, from what little I know. Was being in storage that bad? Or is it because the brainwashing makes him upset to be hated by me?'

The man continued to sob relentlessly. Izuku sighed. "I need time to think about this. You don't deserve anything but continued torture, but having you could also help me save people. You're going back in storage for now." The man couldn't even speak before he was gone. Izuku turned to Mei, who was staring star-struck at Hercules for whatever reason. "I'm sorry about all that, I've literally never summoned him, and don't know if I ever will. He does seem sorry, but that may very well be the brainwashing forcing my morals on him, or simple desperation. We can continue with your tests now."

Mei perked up at that and looked over. The device that she had been using to do all her measuring was being held up by Hercules using his quirk, which she was mesmerised by. "Izuku, your thralls can understand people. They also seem to have some level of autonomy."

He raised an eyebrow. "I know? I give them orders all the time, and they can follow through easily enough."

She shook her head wildly and picked up Hercules. "Yeah, but it's your quirk, of course, they would understand you. Did you ever order Hercules to obey or listen to me?" This time, he shook his head, so she continued. "Thought so. Hercules listened to my instructions to hold my gear, without your help. That means your thralls can both understand Japanese, but also think critically and decide to follow orders. He chose to listen to me without you telling him to. Even if we argue that he only did so because it's what you want, that still means he thought about what you would want. This is so much more intelligent than an ant should be!"

He watched her bounce around as she excitedly rambled; it was kind of cute. "So what does this mean for us? Why are you so excited by this?"

She turned to him with manic eyes. "It means that they should be able to operate support gear! We don't need to strap grenades to them and make them suicide bombers; we can instead strap a grenade launcher to them! In fact, may I borrow Hercules?" He cocked his head, so she elaborated. "With engineering, you often have to work on a microscale. This is why my quirk is still useful. Having an ant that is both as smart as a human and stronger than one would be incredible! I can make so many new babies with him!"

Izuku gave her a smile, her joy infectious. "I don't see why not. Hercules has more than good enough range to be across campus; his small size means that I can basically always have him out. His quirk is great, though, so I might need to take him away during training." She pouted at that, but before she could respond, a deafening alarm started going off. Naturally, Mei did not care in the slightest.

"You should test his quirk! He said he would give you more access, right?" She yelled over the alarm.

"Are you really just going to ignore that? I know this alarm, it means that there's an intruder in UA." He looked towards the door nervously, string in hand.

"Eh, it's fine! This is deep in the school, and an intruder would have to go through most of the school to get here. Plus, either you can handle it, or they can kill me, and you can't complain."

He sighed and started walking to the door, only for the alarm to stop. "Huh. I wonder what that was about." He turned back to Mei, who looked disappointed at not being murdered. He then did as requested, activating despot. 'Huh, it does feel different than normal. Still not full power, though, the bastard must think he can negotiate.' He shot strings out of his hand, two as opposed to his standard one. "That's going to be useful. I wonder why I can't just order him to give me full access. Guess my quirk isn't perfect. Any other tests you want to see?"

Mei rubbed her chin. "We can't test your birth quirk without a corpse, so I want to see the others. How strong does Haul make you? Can you use Atropos's?"

He winced. "As for Haul, it depends. It doesn't seem to have a hard limit; it simply is more damaging the heavier I lift. I caught the zero pointer in the entrance exams, and it tore my arms apart. As for Atropos, I don't honestly know. I have no intention of trying, because it would likely tear my back open like it did Atropos. I might test it if I ever get a smaller mutation quirk." Mei pointed to her eyes, and he shook his head. "Your quirk is also too risky. It could easily blind me if things go wrong. Perhaps if I ever get a regeneration quirk?"

Mei continued rubbing her chin. "You really need some more useful quirks. You have Himiko, Hercules, and Atropos. They are all decent, but not great for combat. Mine won't change anything, either. You should go resurrect some famous hero!" He gave her a look, and she rolled her eyes. "Oh, please, morals don't matter here. If they're a true hero, they'll want to get back up. Saving people is more important, right?"

He shook his head. "I'm not doing that. I already feel slightly bad with Himiko because of the brainwashing, and she's completely fine with it. I can't even imagine forcibly enslaving someone. Well, I did with Dictator, but he is apparently more conscious than I thought. Not to mention, he really deserves it. Heroes who have given their very lives to save people are the last to deserve being turned into slaves."

Mei sighed, relenting to that at least. "Fine. I'll just hope someone with a decent quirk dies. Have you considered killing villains? I don't think it's technically banned for a hero to do so, just frowned upon." He once again gave her the same look. "You're morals are too strong. Isn't it worth trampling the rights of scum to save good people? You're already doing that with Dictator, why not more?"

He frowned and clenched his fist a bit. "I don't like doing it, I only did it because Nezu killed him without telling me. He's offered me another inmate, and I haven't given him an answer yet because I don't want people to be killed for me. I will always avoid causing the suffering of people when I can do so. A hero who purposefully causes suffering is no hero, to me."

Mei finally backed down. "Alright, I get it. I suppose this is why you're the hero, not me. Do you think there is anything else you can show me with your quirk?" 

"I do have one ultimate move that I can show you. To explain it, I need to first explain how my quirk works. Thread of Life allows me to summon my thralls within about 5 meters in front of me, within my line of sight. Another thing that I can do is see through my thrall's eyes, although it can be tiring. By combining the two, I can summon through the eyes of a thrall, which I call chain summoning. It is quite tiring, though, so I'm not a huge fan of using it when not necessary. Perfect for surprise attacks, though." To show her, he sent E-1 across the room, only for Atropos to appear next to the bird. His breathing became a little heavier instantly.

Mei walked over to the two and started petting Atropos, the creature rubbing its head against her hand like a housecat.

Meanwhile, Izuku glanced over at the clock on the wall. A couple of minutes after lunch. 'Wait a minute...'

"Mei, we're missing class!"

Chapter Text

It had been a couple of days since the alarm went off, and Izuku was getting nervous.

He hadn't learned it straight away, but he now knew what had caused the alarm, courtesy of his regular visits to Nezu. Supposedly, the UA barrier had been completely disintegrated, allowing swarms of reporters to rush onto the campus unobstructed. 

It was enough to set Izuku on edge, and it seemed Himiko was much the same from the way she carried herself. No group or person confident enough to attack UA, even in such a minor way, would be satisfied with that. It seemed like a matter of time until they would try something else. Regardless, he had other things to worry about right now, like the fact that Aizawa had started talking.

"For today's hero basic training, you will be with me, All Might, and one other teacher you haven't met yet. We're going to be doing some rescue training." The man procured a card from seemingly nowhere, 'rescue' written across it in blue. "Natural disasters, accidents, and the aftermath of villain fights, they all endanger lives. You might have to fight a lot as a hero, but what's really important is saving lives. That's what we're working on today." The class began with various reactions as per usual, before Aizawa continued. "You can choose whether you want to wear your costume or not this time, in case it may get in the way. I recommend you take them, though; it's better to learn of those weaknesses as early as possible. We're taking a bus, so change and join me outside."

Aizawa left the room, and the class left for the locker rooms. Izuku led the charge, since he was the most confident in his direction of the class, alongside Himiko. Once the two split, Izuku entered the locker room and donned his costume. It hadn't changed much over the past few days, as Mei hadn't thought of much yet. Some of his thralls had new gear, but he didn't have much, except for altered gloves. His old gloves had a tiny pinprick hole over his index fingers, for him to shoot despot out of. With Dictator starting to haggle over quirk usage, he now had holes over each finger on both hands, so that any finger could be used for it. 

Once changed, he headed outside and met up with Himiko, amongst his other friends.

She came up to him, skipping in her step. "Izu! Can I quickly get some blood before we go? I'm running low on my stock of your blood."

He nodded, and she shot him with one of her syringes, letting it take a little for one of her jars. He looked around at the rest of the class as he ignored the sucking sensation. Iida was herding the class into pairs to board the bus, as Yaomomo and Kendo tried to get him to calm down a little. Not that it mattered, since when he eventually boarded the bus, the seating plan was completely different from what Iida had planned. Izuku sat down, but noticed a slight issue with the seating arrangement. It only had twenty seats, twenty-one counting the driver.

Himiko gave him the widest, smugest grin imaginable, and sat down directly in his lap. He sighed, already resigned to his fate. "I will put you back in storage if you don't move."

Her smile did not waver. "I'll just come right back out, and it's not like you'll order me to stay. I'm staying right here, Izu~"

He sighed again before electing to ignore her. Tsu had sat next to him and had just begun to speak, so he turned to her.

"I always say whatever comes to mind. Midoriya, your quirk is really weird." He blinked at her in mild surprise for a moment.

"Sorry?"

"Well, think about it and what it can do. You can manipulate the thread, using it to grab and pull things. You can revive the dead, also healing and brainwashing them. Not to mention, you can even use the quirks of your thralls. Don't you think it's unusual? What were your parents' quirks to give birth to something like that?" She put her finger to her chin.

"I don't really know what you want me to say, for most of that. I mean, sure, my quirk is weird, but aren't quirks as a concept weird? As for my parents, my mom has a very mild form of telekinesis, while my dad has fire-breathing."

Tsu didn't break her pose. "So your quirk was a random mutation? That's some weird luck. Are you sure your dad is definitely your dad?"

Izuku's eyes widened a fraction. 'She really does say everything that comes to mind.' He refocused. "My mom loves my dad; there's no way she would do that to him. I probably just have some ancestor with a vaguely similar quirk, and it was recessive." 

She didn't seem entirely convinced, but seemingly dropped it. This left space for others to join in, namely Kirishima.

"It must be nice to have such an impactful quirk. My hardening might make for a good shield, but that's about it. It would be nice to have something that can really dominate a battlefield and grab more attention, you know?"

Izuku shook his head. "Your quirk is really cool, it'll serve you well as a pro. I would love a thrall with a quirk like yours, in fact. It might not be as showy, but it has great utility."

Kirishima rubbed his neck sheepishly at the praise, ignoring or perhaps ignorant of the slight implication. "Still, if we're talking flashy and showy quirks, we really have to look at Todoroki and Bakugo." Both teens that the redhead brought up were silent, Todoroki seemingly asleep and Bakugo looking pissed to nobody's surprise. The ash blonde scoffed at the compliment.

Tsu, apparently still part of the conversation, decided to poke the bear. "Bakugo's always mad, so I doubt he'll end up that popular, though."

Naturally, Bakugo was not going to take that lying down. "The hell? You want to fight?!" 

As the class kept insulting/teasing Bakugo, Izuku stopped paying attention, instead focusing on the silent vampire in his lap. 'It is nice to hear people actually stand up to Bakugo, but I have no interest in listening to him scream.' He started petting Himiko, as the girl purred and rubbed against his hand.

He really should have paid more attention to his surroundings, as this got Setsuna's attention. "Are you two really just friends? You seem to treat her more like a pet or girlfriend." He blushed, joined in doing so by Himiko, a rare occasion.

Still, he kept petting her. "We've spent a long time together. If Himiko weren't the way she was, she would be like a sister to me. The teasing kind of ruins that, though." Himiko looked relieved for some reason, as she cuddled into his neck. He didn't suspect any ulterior motives until he felt teeth. "We still have training, wait until later. I can't lose too much blood yet." She reluctantly did so, and Izuku looked at a wide-eyed Setsuna.

Everyone had been distracted earlier with Iida, but they actually had an observer this time. They likely would have had more if the argument/conversation hadn't still been going strong. 'Himiko must already be quite comfortable with her, if she's willing to show her this. Guess we should explain.'

"We're here." Aizawa stopped him before he even could, stopping the bus and getting off. The class stepped out to the sight of a massive dome, the large entrance to said dome towering over them. It seemed almost as big as the main building, if not even bigger. Even more eye-catching than the dome was the hero in front of it, wearing a puffy space suit and looking at them through their mask. One of the few members of UA staff Izuku hadn't met, Thirteen. Nezu had prioritized teaching him combat, since that was more likely to be his focus, and Thirteen wasn't great at combat, so she had been overlooked. 

Ochako, clearly, did not care in the slightest about the hero's lacking combat skills. She bounced around with a large smile. "It's the space hero, Thirteen! You're my favourite hero!"

Thirteen chuckled sheepishly, the sound mildly distorted through her mask. "I see I have a fan. Anyway, welcome everyone to my USJ." She spread her arms wide, showing off the building behind her. "Shipwrecks, landslides, fires, ruined buildings, all sorts of disasters are simulated here, at the unforeseen simulation joint, to train all of you to deal with any situation."

Aizawa walked up to his fellow pro. "Where's All Might? Shouldn't he be here already?"

Thirteen rubber the back of her helmet. "He's running late." She said something else after, but Izuku couldn't tell what since she whispered it in Aizawa's ear. He did see her hold up three fingers, though.

Aizawa sighed and spoke more audibly to the students. "That man is the height of irresponsibility. Well, we should be able to do this with just the two of us just fine. Let's get started." Aizawa led them all into the dome, stopping at the top of a staircase that led down to a plaza. Around the building, various sections were visible, ranging from mountains to a burning city, and even a lake with a large boat in it.

Thirteen caught all of their attention. "Before we begin, let me just say one thing. Or two? Possibly, three or four? Whatever. I'm sure some are aware of my quirk, black hold, and its power. A quirk that so few in the world can hope to resist."

Ochako, still in her state of excitement, interrupted. "You've used it to save so many people!" 

Thirteen nodded and continued where she left off. "That's true, but it can just as easily be used to kill." Some members of the class gasped, as if that wasn't obvious with it being a black hole. "Some of you will have quirks capable of just as much damage as my own. It's easy to forget, but remember just how easy it is to take a life with our quirks; all it takes is a small accident or slip in control. Aizawa had you show your quirks' potential in his test, All Might had you discover just how dangerous your quirk can be in battle training, so today you're learning how to use that power to help instead of harm. Thank you all for listening, that's all I wanted to say."

The class seemed to snap out of their depressing thoughts, and excitement reappeared.

It was at that moment that Izuku's instincts went haywire. He glanced at Aizawa and Himiko, who had both also tensed, then down at the plaza. A huge purple cloud had appeared, allowing a swarm of people to walk through. Many were armed, and it was abundantly clear that they weren't here to make friends. Among the horde was a man with pale blue hair, a man with purple mist for a head matching the smoke, likely the cause of it, and a monster that could give Atropos a run for his money. 

"Thirteen, protect the students. Midoriya, lend me some thralls. Everyone evacuate! These are villains!" Izuku summoned Atropos at Aizawa's side, and then turned to Thirteen, who was ordering the students, guiding them out. He looked back at his teacher and Thrall, who had begun fighting the villains. The monster drew his attention more than the other villains, and he noticed why after a moment.

All Might had been a strange experience, like multiple corpses fused into one. Still, if he had to describe it, it was like 7 corpses perfectly braided into a neat thread, connected in harmony.

This monster only appeared to be two corpses, tied in a messy, discordant knot.

Chapter Text

Very quickly, things started going very poorly.

Aizawa sprang at the horde, Atropos at his side. The villains attempted to send projectiles at him, but one red-eyed gaze was all it took to shut down that plan. A man with a mutation quirk rushed him, and he placed a hand on his scarf to catch him.

He never got the chance, as Atropos leaped.

Jumping spiders are known to be capable of jumping about 10-50 times the length of their body, a feat that Atropos shared with his mutation. As a fairly large, adult male tiger, he was about 3 meters long. This led to him being capable of jumping about 90 meters, also known as roughly 90% of a professional football field, for reference. Atropos launched himself forward with a force on par with a speeding truck, slamming into the man about to swing at Aizawa. The sole reason that Atropos didn't jump through him was because of his mutation. 

As it was, the man was instead sent flying back with many broken bones, screaming in pain. Atropos let out a feral growl as he stared at the terrified villains, Aizawa hiding a smirk under his scarf at his side.

Unfortunately, Atropos had blocked Aizawa's line of sight with the warper.

-~-

The class had been just about at the door when it slammed shut before any of them could step through. Izuku cursed under his breath. "Himi."

The vampire turned to him, not a trace of panic on her face. She wore a look of determination on her face. "Your orders?"

Izuku looked over at the battle beginning in the plaza, also in the same state they so often wore in training. "Hercules is still back with Mei. I'm going to chain summon you to him so you can contact Nezu to call for help." Forseeing her complaints before she could even make them, he continued. "I'll bring you back if I need you, but this is important. Even Iida can't get there as fast as teleportation."

She sighed. "Are you sure? Maintaining the distance won't be pleasant, especially after a chain summoning." Instead of answering, he teleported her back to the support course, directly into a Mei explosion he wasn't there to witness.

Before he could even think more about it, he heard a baritone voice address the crowd of students. "All Might really isn't here? A schedule change, perhaps?" Izuku looked over at the mist villain, who seemed perfectly calm, surrounded by opponents.

'This is bad. Himiko will still take a couple of minutes to hunt down Nezu, and the alarms clearly aren't going off. Aizawa could take most of that horde with Atropos at his side, but that monster looks like an equal match for him.' He summoned a tiny amount of Despot in his fingers, waiting for his opportunity. 'Wait a minute, he feels the same as that monster. No, he's only one corpse. I might be able to resurrect him, if I can get close enough.' He could sense from here that it would be harder to do than usual. Normal corpses didn't resist, so they were simply tiring, at worst. Tugging on the warper, he could feel him fighting back, although it looked subconscious by his lack of reaction.

"Nice to meet you, students of UA. We are the league of villains. I do apologise for the trouble, but we have invited ourselves into this establishment to put an end to the symbol of peace. Regardless of whether he is here or not, that is not my part to play." The man started to spread more mist as Thirteen uncapped her gloves, readying a black hole. Unfortunately, some members of the class were either not that intelligent or simply reckless, as both Bakugo and Kirishima rushed in. Kirishima threw a hardened punch, while Bakugo detonated a massive explosion.

"That was rather dangerous. I suppose I should take you all seriously, students or not. This is UA, after all." The two reckless teens stared in shock at their attack being completely ineffective. "My job is to scatter you all for you to be slaughtered on your own, now die!" He spread mist, consuming most of the class and teleporting them elsewhere. Izuku was unfortunately among them, so he was unable to help with what came next.

-~-

When Izuku adjusted to where he was, he first noticed that he was falling. Reacting quickly, he shot Despot out of both hands at once, onto a building on each side of him. He recalled Hercules, most likely disappointing Mei, and channeled Haul through both threads to catch himself. Unfortunately, he wasn't Spider-Man, so this only marginally helped. He hit the ground hard, feeling one of his arms crunch underneath the rest of his body. He assessed his arms as he hissed in pain. 'Great, one is broken, the other yanked out of its socket.' He stood up on shaky legs, wincing as the pain throbbed even through his absurd pain tolerance. 

"Woah, Midoriya, are you ok!?" He looked up to see spiky red hair, Kirishima.

"I'll live, at least. What about you?" The boy frowned slightly.

"I'll be fine. I jumped from greater heights, training my quirk, I can handle this much." Izuku looked at him with slight exasperation, but decided to drop it. Good timing, considering a horde of villains stepped onto the street at that moment.

"Only two brats? Who does that kid think we are? Damn it, let's just kill them and move on." The leader of the pack, a man in a strange yellow armor with a sword, spoke, readying his blade. There appeared to be about a dozen villains, too many for Kirishima alone, but he wasn't much help without his arms, and with both Atropos and Himiko busy.

"Kirishima, I need you to trust me for a second." The redhead blinked at him and nodded hesitantly. Izuku summoned Dictator.

The greasy hunchback appeared from thin air, a manic, zealous look painted across his face. "Ah, to be finally summoned by my lord, to be relied upon! Such bliss! Finally, I can prove myself worthy of my lord's praise, and escape that wretched void!" He wrapped his arms around himself, his smile stretching so large that it would probably hurt if he could feel pain. The man in yellow went to speak up, but Dictator lifted his hand and showed what Despot could really do.

Within less than a second, each villain had a string embedded in their body, most of them reacting in pain from the feeling of it digging in. Even a man with a chameleon mutation, who had tried to go invisible, had been caught. They all tried to escape or pull it out, but they were all powerless, unable to move even an inch. Dictator turned towards him. "What should I do with them, my lord? Perhaps I should have that swordsman slaughter them all so you can recruit more pawns?"

Izuku shook his head. "That won't be necessary, just keep them there. Can you stay here and keep them contained?" His thrall bowed and followed his order. Izuku turned to Kirishima, who seemed shocked and suspicious of the man. "We should get to the plaza. Aizawa might need our help. Plus, I can sense something weird from the mist guy and the monster. I think I can take them over if we get near."

The villains, accepting that they couldn't escape, switched to bargaining. "Wait, I know you! You're Dictator! Aren't you meant to be in Tartarus? Why are you helping those brats? You should be on our side!" Dictator looked at the woman who spoke up, fury clouding his manic grin from before.

"How dare you call my lord a brat! You are lucky he forbids it, or your head would be rolling, or worse! Don't you know why I was arrested?" The woman paled, no doubt having heard of the exact list, and then instantly stopped protesting. Izuku and Kirishima had already left for the plaza.

They arrived just in time to watch everything go wrong. It started with the blue-haired boy yelling. "Nomu, kill that random encounter, right now!"

The monster became a blur as it rushed at Atropos, throwing a punch straight at it.

Atropos was no slouch in strength or durability. Tigers were already capable of taking quite a lot of force, and Atropos' carapace from his mutation made him durable enough to take even Bakugo's explosions, as long as they weren't assisted by his gauntlets. This durability was nothing compared to All Might's level of strength, and the now-named Nomu possessed roughly the same amount, allowing its fist to go straight through Atropos' skull.

With a squelch, the creature ripped its arm out of Atropos and cast the beast aside like it was made of cardboard, its black arm now painted red and blue. 'Is this all Atropos does now? He just gets murdered in every fight? At least it's only its head, that will only take a few minutes.' The blue-haired boy cackled as he watched the spider-tiger get exterminated.

"Even a mid-tier random encounter gets one-shot by a legendary weapon. None of you hero scum can defeat our Nomu! Now kill Eraserhead!" The creature leaped into action, and Izuku's body moved on its own. 

-~-

Setsuna hadn't been having too much difficulty so far.

She had been dropped in the conflagration zone, that being the one heavily on fire. She seemed to be completely alone here. Luckily, she could easily use her quirk to fly above it, avoiding all the villains swarming below. She placed one of her ears near a group of villains and listened in.

"Did Shigaraki really not drop any kids here? Why are we even here if there's nobody to fight?"

Another villain, this one a woman, spoke up. "Dosen't matter. It just means that we can leave killing All Might to that monster and get paid for doing jack shit."

The man she was talking to, who appeared to be made of magma, spoke in a gravelly voice. "Yeah, if they can actually kill him. That monster might be insane, but All Might? We should go to the plaza and help out."

The woman rolled her eyes. "Really? All Might is going to be able to take that monster down, but it'll be ok, a guy made of rocks and a girl who can create small flames are going to tip the tide of the battle. Let's just stick here and collect our free paycheck." 

Setsuna stopped listening to the two bicker, lost in her thoughts. 'This is bad. They all know what they're doing, since they obviously matched the zone to their quirks. They must not know ours, though, or Shiozaki would be here. I should go help the rest of the class, but if that monster can actually face off against All Might, they need to know that.' She bit her lip as she thought about it. 

Eventually, she decided to go to the plaza.

-~-

Todoroki also hadn't been struggling much. After a decade or so of harsh training under his father, some random thugs weren't exactly a problem; he probably could have won without even his ice, never mind his fire. He froze each villain and began his interrogation.

"You are all much too weak to stand up to All Might. What exactly were you planning? Surely you weren't foolish enough to invade without a solid plan?"

The man he chose to target shivered in his icy prison. "I'm not telling you shit brat!" Todoroki sighed and placed his hand an inch from the man's face. He let out a small burst of freezing air from his palm.

"I recommend you start talking. It won't take long before frostbite starts to set in. I don't want to kill already, but I am the son of Endeavor, I might as well start young." The man whimpered. It was annoying to rely on his father's ruthless reputation, but it worked, at the very least.

"F-fine, I'll talk! It's that monster they brought, with the exposed brain! That's all I know, I swear!" Todoroki stared at the man with a coldness unlike someone with half a fire quirk should be capable of, and started walking towards the plaza. 

"The ice will melt naturally in about 20 minutes. If you're lucky, you'll only lose a finger or two." He kept walking, leaving the villains behind him. He eventually recognised footsteps next to him. He didn't panic, though, recognising the gloves and boots as his invisible classmate, 'Hagakure, was it?'

"Geez, you can be really scary, Todoroki. Is it really okay to leave them like that? I was freezing just standing there, although that might be on my lack of clothing." He glanced down at the girl, not remotely embarrassed at her nakedness. 

"You should go back to the entrance. You'll only be in the way if you try to face that monster." While he couldn't see it, he got the faint impression that she was pouting.

"No way! I came here to be a hero, too. I'm not just going to leave all the fighting to you!" He looked away, not caring enough to spend the energy arguing with her.

It was her funeral, after all.

Chapter Text

After being teleported back to the main campus, Himiko looked around at her surroundings in a rush.

She appeared to be in the support labs, next to Mei, who hadn't even noticed her presence. The mechanic was tinkering with something that looked particularly explosive. Paying no attention to what was most likely an imminent explosion, she ran out of the room and started sprinting down the corridors. As part of whatever strange quirk interaction had given her ridiculous stealth capabilities, Himiko had also benefited from some ludicrous agility when she wanted to, a feat that assisted greatly as she was almost a blur to any students she passed. 

'I need to go even faster. Izuku and the others are relying on me!' Her feet pounded on the ground rapidly as she ran with a mix of determination and panic. Whenever she had to turn a corner, she would leap at the wall and use it as a springboard to conserve her speed, the adrenaline combined with her body having even fewer limitations than a normal person, making her almost superhuman.

It only took her a few minutes to cross campus and hit Nezu's office, the door opening on its own as she approached. Nezu had clearly been watching her on the cameras, as he was already standing and alert, aware she must have a good reason to be out of her lesson and in such a rush.

"What's the problem, Hi-"

She didn't even let the rat finish. "Villains are attacking the USJ! There's at least a hundred of them, and they had this weird monster that looked as big as All Might!" It was then that she noticed the man in question sitting in the room with them, as he had been in the midst of getting lectured for being late. The second she finished her sentence, the man was gone, replaced by a strong gust of wind as he ran for the USJ.

"I'll gather the rest of the staff. Can you use telepathy to check in?"

She nodded and tried to speak into Izuku's mind. 'Izuku?'

He didn't respond. 'He must be distracted by something.'  Himiko focused back on the rat, who was making several calls simultaneously. "I can't contact him, should I go back?"

The rat seemed to hesitate to decide, no doubt an instinctual response to sending a student into an active villain attack, but then nodded.

Himiko disappeared, forcing herself back into storage.

-~-

In the downpour zone, light and darkness banded together on a rooftop, battling against a horde of villains.

Shiozaki lashed out with her vines, ensnaring some, whipping others in a blur.

Tokoyami was a lot closer to the villains, letting an empowered Dark Shadow have its fun.

Dark Shadow's current rampage was entirely against Tokoyami's will, causing it to hit much harder than it probably should. Shiozaki would flinch with every snap that sometimes accompanied swipes, or when a villain had gone over the edge of the rooftop. 

"Control your demon, Tokoyami! I know you're friends with Midoriya, but you still shouldn't fight with lethal force." She scolded him as he sent a villain skittering across the roof, and not get back up.

Tokoyami let out a grunt of exertion as he tried to pull his shadow back. "Don't you think I'm trying? There's too much shadow for my other side, it's bloodlust can't be controlled!" Dark Shadow cackled, as if trying to back up its master.

She translated his Chuuni speech in her head, not that it was difficult this time, and came up with a plan. "Can you hold them off alone for 20 or 30 seconds? I think I can stop the rain!" She grabbed a villain sneaking up behind her avian classmate, although he easily wiggled out with how wet her vines were. 

Dark Shadow growled and turned on her. "What? Why would you want to get rid of the rain? I feel so powerful!" It only seemed to grow in power and size as time passed, growing more and more out of control. It's host yanked it back from attacking his classmate and pointed it back at the more morally black targets.

"I think so! But make it count, it'll tire me out too much to hold her back after!" Sweat poured down his beak as he forced Dark Shadow into a more defensive role. Thus far, Dark Shadow had allowed villains through the entrance so it could fight freely, but now she served as a barrier.

Shiozaki clasped her hands in prayer to help her focus and let her vines climb vertically. They dug into a taller building, ripping the wall apart as they raced up it.

For the downpour zone to actually work, it needed what was basically high-tech sprinklers across the entire zone, pouring water in a manner resembling rain. These sprinklers were all across the zone, ensuring every inch was hit by rain when turned on, as it was at the moment. Her vines barely hit the complex machine above them and started exploring it.

As they explored around and probed for vulnerabilities, she could feel her hair basically ripping out. 'My vines can't take such verticality. Lord, please grant me the strength to endure!' The pain started growing more and more, as if someone grabbed it and was determined to rip it out to the root. Every quirk had its limitations, and she was pushing hers with so much distance, especially straight up. In a stroke of good luck, or divine intervention, depending on your beliefs, she felt a vine wrap around an exposed wire, and yanked.

The systems started going haywire. That wire must have been an important connection, because removing it caused problems across the entire zone. Several sections, luckily including their one, stopped raining completely, making things much brighter and weakening Dark Shadow. Other zones had more varied results, raining more, less, or even dumping all the water it had at once instead of pouring it out slowly.

Shiozaki dropped to her knees, clutching at her vine hair as her head throbbed. "Ow, thank you, lord." She didn't have time for a better thank you before the villains made a last stand, or charge, since they were the aggressors here, emboldened by the shrunken shadow. The horde quickly learned that Tokoyami wasn't much less of a threat with a weaker shadow.

Improved control let them fight seamlessly together, blending hits instinctively. Tokoyami was still untrained in combat, but he had more training than most of the mooks attacking, and could make up for experience by having one of the most destructive quirks in their year group at his side. The boy and quirk melded together into a black blur, villains dropping rapidly. Whenever he looked like he needed assistance, Shiozaki gritted her teeth and endured the headache to send a vine after a villain or two, until they were surrounded by unconscious or immobile bodies.

Tokoyomi stood in the epicenter of the chaos, panting and soaked in a mix of sweat and fake rain. Shiozaki blushed at the sight before schooling herself as he spoke. "What a mad banquet of darkness. I never would have thought that light and dark would make for such a powerful team."

She walked up to him, equally as tired. "We should get out of here before anyone gets up. It's a miracle we survived this much." She played with one of her vines, still slippery from the rainwater.

"Indeed. Dark Shadow is back to being under my command, but we're both in no state to continue fighting. It pains me to admit, but we're only going to get in the way if we try to help with that main battle." He started climbing down the staircase, still on guard for any villains who elected to wait. Shiozaki walked at his side, clutching her head. "I've been wondering, how come you're comfortable in my presence, but not my comrade? You even called my other half a demon, yet you seem perfectly comfortable."

She figured out who he was talking about instantly and frowned. "Despite how it may come off, I do not consider myself quirkist. Midoriya simply spits in the face of my lord with his quirk." Tokoyami cocked his head, and shoved the door on the ground floor open. "I have lived with the belief that death concludes with heaven or hell, depending on the life you led. Midoriya's quirk undermines that. It means that he either rips them out of their afterlife, or it doesn't even exist in the first place. I may call your quirk a demon, but I only use that term because it is apt, and you seem perfectly comfortable with it."

Tokoyami blushed, an odd sight on the face of a bird. He couldn't even deny it, calling Dark Shadow a demon was simply too cool for him to refuse. "Very well. I must request that you don't let his quirk cloud your judgment, however. Midoriya has shown nothing but kindness thus far, seeing you divided over something like this would be a shame."

She shook her head. "I don't dislike him. I can recognise he is a perfectly good person, even if I don't like his quirk. I may see it as a sin, but he does not commit that sin willingly. Still, he is someone I want to surpass." 

They had finally exited the downpour zone, arriving near the entrance, and allowing them to see the carnage across the USJ.

-~-

The flood zone was a bad match-up for two of the students dropped there. Bakugo was hindered massively if he got wet, and Shinso had no extra movement from his quirk, so there was little he could do if he fell in the water.

If not for the third student with them, he may very well have died. As he fell, he felt a slimy pink appendage wrap around him and pull him onto the boat. He looked up on landing to see Bakugo, who had used his explosions to fly, and Tsu.

He pulled himself up and stood, dusting himself off. "Thanks." He murmured, still not used to talking to people as often as he had at UA.  Tsu ribbited in reply and looked over the side of the boat, and he quickly joined her. A few dozen villains swam in the water, most with mutations to assist them. Bakugo pressed his arms behind himself to release an explosion.

"Are you really just going to leave us here?" He asked the blonde, who turned around with a snarl.

"Yeah? If you extras can't get yourselves out of this, you shouldn't be fucking heroes. I'm taking out that wisp bastard; he's clearly their way out." And with that, he detonated, launching over the lake of villains. Some launched projectiles, but he deftly weaved between them until he hit the shore, some villains following him.

"I'm surprised he would run from a fight. Maybe he isn't good in the water?" He turned towards his froggy classmate. "Any plans?"

She placed a finger to her chin. "I could jump most of the way, ribbit, even carrying you. They would catch up to us, though, unless you can slow them down with your quirk?" 

He hesitated but nodded. "My quirk... It's called brainwashing. I need a verbal response, though. I might be able to grab all of them at once, but it'll send me straight into quirk exhaustion, no more brainwashing from there."

She thought about it for a second. "You should do it. I don't see us getting out of here otherwise, even with some of them chasing Bakugo."

He couldn't help but smile slightly. Tsu was the first person at UA to learn his quirk and still respond. Granted, she was also the first person here to learn about it at all, except teachers, of course. He placed his foot on the edge of the ship, took a deep breath, and yelled. He wasn't particularly creative, so he simply asked a question likely to get as many responses as possible. 

"Why are you doing this!?" He felt his quirk lock onto many of them instantly. Most didn't give genuine answers, of course, simply laughing or making jokes, but it was enough. From there, he just had to give an order that could stall as well as possible. 

"Dive." Instantly, most of them dived underwater. His quirk would release them when they started running out of air (people outright ignored commands that damaged themselves), so nobody should die. He felt Tsu grab onto him and leap, clearing most of the lake and swimming the rest. All the villains were either busy or underwater, so they weren't stopped. They arrived at the plaza to the sight of Bakugo mopping up the last few villains that followed him.

-~-

Ochako Uraraka was not having a good day.

That probably wasn't unique in her class, and even among the villains, with how powerful some of the class were. Still, she could probably say that she was having the second-worst day of the people in the building.

Perhaps out of optimism, or naivete, she had assumed it wouldn't be that bad at first. Heroes, good, always win.

It was a lesson that had been hammered into her for her into life, and now she was even part of it. As Thirteen charged up her blackhole, she even fangirled slightly to see her favourite hero in action. 'Oh my god, Black Hole is so cool! That villain doesn't stand a chance!' She grinned ever so slightly, excited to see justice in action. Even if Iida, Sero, Kendo, and Mina had all struggled to do any damage, surely Black Hole could do it?

The warp villain sounded far happier than he should in this situation. "Black Hole, which sucks up everything and turns it all to dust. An astounding quirk. Unfortunately, you are a rescue hero, and you lack combat experience."

And then her day got really bad. 

The man whom she would later learn was named Kurogiri activated his quirk, making Thirteen hit herself with Black Hole. If he were feeling merciful, perhaps he could have attacked her back, so she would survive, even if horribly scarred. As it was, he was not so merciful and placed a portal right above her head.

Ochako didn't even have the chance to scream out a warning before her helmet was ripped off, revealing her so rarely seen face. Then, that too was ripped off, her head being violently ripped off her shoulders. She stared in shock at the lifeless body of her idol.

'Huh? Wait, no, no, this can't be real. She didn't even get a chance.'

"Thirteen?" She croaked out and stumbled towards her body. Her Black Hole had turned off with her death injury, making it safe to do so, Ochako collapsed to her knees next to her as tears poured from her eyes. She shook the damaged shoulders of the suit. "Thirteen? Come on, get up. There's still a villain." Her eyes drifted back to where her head should be. There was just an empty space, coupled with blood on the floor and a mangled space suit.

"Hmm, hero or not, you're still children. Master Shigaraki didn't order me to kill any students, so I shall show you all mercy. Have a good day." He teleported away with those final words, as if they could actually have a good day. As if they could ever have a single fucking good day again. Ochako began to sob as she clutched the lifeless body of her idol, of her inspiration. She heard sobs behind her, and felt a hand on her back, but she didn't even look back at who it might be. 

She just pressed her face into the fading warmth of her hero and sobbed.

Chapter Text

In the instant that the Nomu rushed Aizawa, Izuku leapt into action.

He channeled Despot in his fingers on one of his arms, the one he had dislocated the shoulder of. It was agonising, and he couldn't lift the arm much, but he endured and shot Despot forward.

By using Haul in the string and yanking, he was able to pull himself forward with the full strength of his quirked strength. He went flying forward and collided with Aizawa, launching the man out of the way milliseconds before the Nomu sent its fist through his skull with the same ease it did with Atropos. Unfortunately, the Nomu refused to be slowed down and rushed at the teacher again. Izuku formed a human shield and braced himself.

'Summoning any animal thralls won't be enough. This thing is too strong, the punch will go straight through them.' He shut his eyes and braced for even more pain than his arm was already burning with.

His face started feeling hot and sticky, yet no pain came. He wrenched open one eye, only for both to widen. Himiko had apparently finished her message and had summoned herself as a human shield. The Nomu's fist was directly through her gut, coating it in even more blood than it already had been from Atropos. Some of that blood had sprayed behind her, explaining the liquid leaking into his eye. He had never been so thankful that his thralls couldn't feel pain.

The man in command of the Nomu was not happy. "Damn it! You damn hero brats won't just let me kill him! First the dex build pushed him out the way, and then a fucking teleporter? You're copying us!" The Nomu grabbed Himiko by the head and yanked her off its fist, before throwing her aside, towards the staircase. Her discarded corpse skittered across the ground before stopping at the foot of the steps. "Oh well. At least we have a dead kid, silver linings."

Izuku assessed the situation carefully in his mind, considering every strategy that he could employ, any way out of this. 'Dictator might be able to control that thing, if it counts as a human. He's holding off those villains, though. I'm impressed he's managing Quirkless; he doesn't seem the type. Atropos clearly isn't a match for it. Neither is Himiko, nor any of my weaker animals. Kirishima also can't match it, and is across the plaza anyway. Suppose more of the class gets here, we could do it, maybe. So then, I have to stall.'

"Who even are you? Why are you doing this?" He yelled at the man. He had to slow him down.

"Hah? Why should I tell some hero brat, who is about to die anyway? I'm not some cheap exposition-dumping villain. Nomu!" The creature jumped forward with its fist behind itself, ready for a punch in a sick parody of All Might. He tried to dodge, but he wasn't going to have enough time, and he had no more human shields.

The punch connected with his arm, barely missing center mass because of his dodge. The fact that it was his broken arm did nothing to numb the pain as the fist went straight through, ripping his arm off in a shower of gore. 

"Fuck!" He fell to the floor, swearing and yelling in pain. He had felt his fair share of pain and had a pretty good tolerance for it, but this was something else entirely. Through the fog of pain, he saw the mist villains appear at the man's side.

"Tomura Shigaraki."

"Kurogiri. Did you kill Thirteen?"

"I have. One of them had a warp quirk like my own, though, and got a warning out."

The now-named Shigaraki clicked his tongue. "If I hadn't already killed that kid, I would dust you. Still, two deaths on the hero side, this is a partial success, whether we get All Might or not."

Izuku focused back on the now idle monster and reached out to resurrect it, taking the chance while the two were distracted. 

He instantly screamed in pain as his head burned, a sentiment shared by the creature as it dug its hands into its exposed brain, digging in so hard that it bled heavily. Izuku released his hold from the sheer agony invading his mind. In all his time with his quirk, the only limitation he had experienced was the energy loss when creating a new thrall. His brainwashing had always been way too strong, something he had to work to weaken, if anything.

This was the first time his brainwashing had ever struggled. He could sense that he could maybe do it, but he was going to need skin contact if he wanted to manage it without internal damage; his nose was already starting to bleed. 'I don't know how I'm supposed to even get skin contact, though. I can barely even bring myself to stand. I'll need a pretty big distraction.'

"I am here!"

'That'll do it.

-~-

Toshinori Yagi was pissed.

Upon hearing the message from his successor in the making, he had immediately rushed to the USJ. It didn't matter that his time limit was low; there was no world where he would let his students have their lives put at risk. After mere minutes of sprinting, he arrived at the USJ and ripped the doors open. He stepped through, for once without his famous smile. His expression only fell more when he saw a group of students sobbing over the headless corpse of Thirteen.

Anger boiled through him at the sight. He hadn't felt such raw rage since he fought him. Even as he began his signature, reassuring entrance, the anger transformed it into a growl.

"Students, have no fear!"

"Because..."

"I am here!"

And then he looked down the stairs and had to choke back a sob. Himiko's corpse lay at the bottom of the stairs, face pressed into the ground. How could he tell she was dead?

The massive hole in her chest, of course.

He also noticed another student, Midoriya, next to Aizawa. The boy was lying on the floor, gritting his teeth. It was pretty obvious why, given the fact that his arm was completely gone. That hurt almost as much as seeing Himiko. He wasn't going to let the boy bringing back worrying memories stop him from wanting to protect him.

His body became a blur as he rushed the monster who had hurt his students, instantly burying his fist in its chest.

"SMASH!"

Only for the beast to not react in the slightest. His attention was brought to the blue-haired villain commanding it as he spoke.

"Finally, the boss arrives. We only had to kill a kid. You like our Nomu, All Might? It has strength on par with your own and shock absorption. The perfect build to counter yours."

He threw several more punches, but the Nomu started throwing punches in return, much more effective than his own. The creature didn't even slow down as dogs started knawing at it, and an eagle buried its claws in the exposed brain. All the wounds healed immediately.

"I thought you said it has shock absorption, not regeneration!"

The villain cackled. "I never said it only had shock absorption. Our Nomu here is the perfect weapon, forged to slay you even in your prime. Shock absorption, regeneration, strength, and speed on par with your own. Neither you nor those random animals are going to be enough to take it down!"

The man's cackling was cut off by a sight that sent both hero and villain into a state of shock. The villain barely even dodged the knife thrown at his face.

"Do you ever stop bragging? That thing isn't that impressive. Izu could take it." Himiko grinned as she stood back up, perfectly healthy. She then became a blur, rushing the nomu. Her teeth sank into the creature's arm for a moment, and it didn't even resist since it wasn't ordered to.

"Yuck. Your little science fair project doesn't even taste that good." Her form shifted, muscles bulging and taking on a new color, until another Nomu stood where she had.

"How is this possible? You're cheating! Heroes aren't meant to have multiple quirks! Shapeshifting, healing, teleporting, what are you?"

She didn't respond, merely rushing the villain. The Nomu met her midway, the identical monsters trading blows.

Or blow.

Himiko punched the creature, the punch doing about as little as you would expect. The Nomu returned the favor, only its punch shattered her form and sent her flying back, thankfully with fewer injuries than before. She groaned after slamming into the wall. "What the hell? Why don't I get shock absorption? Do I only get Izuku's quirk?" It was a foolish mistake to make, as Himiko had yet to test her quirk awakening on anyone but Izuku.

"Young Himiko!" All Might yelled, clearly panicked. He may not know how she was still alive, but he didn't want to test if that was repeatable. 

"Hah! You were so cocky, yet you still just get one-shot by Nomu again! I'm getting bored of the plot twists, Nomu, kill All Might!" It did as asked, engaging him in melee again. The two traded blows in a blur, wind spreading all across the plaza.

"If I can't beat it with punches, I'll just have to capture it!" He grabbed the Nomu in a suplex and slammed it into the ground, burying it in the concrete. 

As the Nomu dug its fingers into All Might's wounds, he discovered that this was the plan. A portal opened up under him, and the Nomu started dragging him down into it.

Aizawa was luckily still there and erased Kurogiri's quirk. All Might got free and leaped away from the Nomu, who rushed again and grabbed him from a standing position this time, committed to the plan since it didn't have the intellect to deduce this wasn't working. It was a foolish decision, as this also prevented the Nomu from moving.

With a scream of sheer determination, Izuku leaped onto its back.

-~-

Agony. It was all he could think about.

Between one dislocated shoulder, one missing arm, potential brain damage, and trying to convert the Nomu, Izuku only knew pain.

Still, he persisted, battling the Nomu for authority over its mind. It screamed out as well, mixing with his own screaming, thrashing about to shake him off. Izuku used Despot to dig deeper into the creature, feeling his arm burn as the Nomu almost ripped it off. He slowly pushed through, feeling the beast resist less as he continued.

Eventually, he took over completely, and the beast was pulled into his storage. He fell to the floor without the creature to stand on.

"What the hell are you brats? How do you all have multiple quirks? You even killed our Nomu!? You must be cheating!" Shigaraki sounded pissed, even as he backed up in fear.

Izuku pulled himself up on shaky legs. His suit was tattered and soaked in his own blood, with Himiko's painting his face and making it hard for him to see. 

Despite the pain, the fact that Thirteen was dead (death never bothered him anyway), and the trauma he knew he was going to have today.

He couldn't help but chuckle.

He met Shigaraki's red eyes with his own, the manicness having switched to the wrong person between the two.

"We're cheating? Says the one who brought the multi-quirked monster to fight students. Still, you might be right, with me at least."

His stump bubbled for a moment before a new arm ripped its way out as he used the Nomu's regeneration. The agony that came with it simply blended into all the rest of the pain. 

"Yo-, you're like Sensei! That's not fair! This is only the first mission. Why is the end boss here?! How is someone with a quirk like yours a hero!?" 

He ignored him, he could wonder who Sensei was later. "You've lost, surrender. You can't even escape, not with erasure active." 

The man-child started foaming at the mouth. "Damnit, Damnit, Damnit! Nomu was meant to kill All Might! We didn't even kill anyone important! Let me guess, is Thirteen coming back too!? This is bullshit! I'll kill you all!" He lunged forward with his arms out, Izuku readied himself, even as Aizawa activated erasure on him.

A massive wall of ice cut him off as it attacked Shigaraki, who dodged to the side. It also cut off Aizawa's view of Kurogiri.

Shigaraki looked at the new attacker, that being the stoic Todoroki. He wasn't the only one arriving at the plaza; students arrived from almost every zone. "I'm not leaving without at least one dead kid! Kurogiri!" Shigaraki slammed his hands down as a portal appeared in front of him.

In the split second after that, Izuku had just enough time for a portal to appear by Todoroki's head, and his hand to reach out through it. He shot Despot out, but even as he did so, he knew he didn't have time. All Might would, but he hadn't noticed.

Todorki was just barely saved as he was shoved by an invisible force, causing Shigaraki's hand to clasp around thin air. 

Or what looked like thin air, air didn't usually scream in a girl's voice.

Izuku was the first to notice what was happening, rushing to Hagakure's side and barely catching her invisible body. He heard Shigaraki laugh and sprint towards a portal. Nobody could stop Kurogiri with the ice shield up, blocking Aizawa's sight. He laughed even as he escaped, not that Izuku was even paying attention to him anymore.

He was more focused on the dying girl in his arms.

He hadn't known what the villain's quirk was before, but he could see from the dust appearing in mid-air that he was the one behind destroying the gate. Hagakure had been hit in the stomach, and the decay had taken out most of her chest. It was a miracle she was even still alive.

"Hold on, Hagakure. The staff should get here soon, recovery girl can do it." She gave a weak chuckle as blood appeared on Izuku's hand.

"I know you don't believe that, Midoriya. You don't need to comfort me." Despite her words, he could see tears appearing where her eyes must be. "You know, I've always been scared of dying in some forgettable way. I don't want to be caught up in an attack or something, and being left there, my body never even discovered in the ruins." She let out a sob.

"At least people know I'm dying, right?" He searched for her hand and held it. He didn't even know what to say. He still couldn't bring himself to care that much about death, societal views be damned.

"I signed that waiver, you know? I'm sure you'll bring me back. Still, I can't help but feel like this is the end. I know I'm probably getting back up, but..." She trailed off, sobbing quietly. 

Izuku held her as she bled out. At some point, the rest of the heroes arrived and started guiding students out, with villains in cuffs. 

Izuku was more focused on the feeling as his quirk started detecting a corpse in his arms.

Chapter Text

In a dark, empty bar in Kamino Ward, sat the world's most dangerous villain. He procured himself a drink, using a usually useless quirk to absorb it through his fingers, to avoid taking off his mask. He turned his attention from his glass to a portal appearing in the bar, with a young adult running through, cackling.

All for One smiled under his mask, although there was no warmth in it. "Tomura, I take it by your joy that you were successful?" He just barely kept the surprise out of his voice. He never actually expected him to beat All Might.

At his question, his "successor" instantly lost his happy mood. "No, Sensei. That damn green brat got in the way, he ate our Nomu!" All for One raised a non-existent eyebrow. "Some of the kids had multiple quirks somehow! Regeneration, teleportation, transforming, this string, one of them even came back from the dead!"

'Multiple quirks? I doubt it. That would require a quirk like-'

"That wasn't even the worst part, though! One of them had a quirk like yours!"

Instantly, any amusement was sucked out of All for One. An intense focus replaced it. "What? Are you sure?" 

Tomura nodded with wide eyes, slightly scared at the aura radiating from his benefactor. "One of the kids lost his arm to the Nomu. He then jumped on top of it, and it vanished! And then his arm regrew right in front of me!" 

All for One sat in one of the bar stools and raised his hand to his chin. He glanced at Kurogiri, who nodded, silently confirming the report. "Well, this is a dilemma. His quirk might be more complicated than that, though, if the nomu vanished. I'll have to ask the spy."

Tomura began ranting wildly about all the things that had gone wrong, until a smile split his face. "It wasn't a complete defeat, though, Sensei. I killed this invisible chick, and Kurogiri got Thirteen!" 

All for One injected some false pride into his voice. "Impressive. They will make a good start." His successor seemed satisfied with the praise, not for a second doubting it. 'Pointless. Being invisible hardly matters. And Black Hole is a useless quirk, unless you can get into melee range. She wasn't a threat, because I could kill her from a mile away, and she wasn't useful because I have dozens of quirks that can be just as fatal. At least it hurts morale.'

He stood from his stool. "You've done well for your first mission, Tomura. Recuperate and plan your next move. I have a lot to discuss with the doctor. Kurogiri?" The warper opened a portal, and he stepped through. He looked around and confirmed he was in the doctor's lab. More specifically, he was next to the portly man, who was admiring a tube containing one of his newest nomu.

"Doctor."

The man startled and swung around, instantly taking a slight bow. "M-my lord, I wasn't expecting you today. How may I help you?"

He chuckled. It was always so satisfying to put fear into his subordinates. "Tomura's first endeavor has left us with much to discuss. For a start, I want you to update me on how the Chimera project is going. You haven't asked for my assistance in a while." 

Doctor Kyudai Garaki looked nervous all of a sudden, an empathy quirk detecting a mix of guilt and fear. "Well, my lord, the project kind of... fell apart?"

He activated one of the many intimidation quirks he had picked up over the years, his gaze boring into the fat man. "How? And why did you not inform me?"

The Doctor shrank back. "Well, the project wasn't working anyway, and was inferior to the Nomu, so I didn't think it mattered? As for what happened, one of the subjects went on a rampage." All for One dropped the intimidation quirk to let the man continue. "After I started copying quirks, and no longer required your help as often, I found our most promising subject yet. My animal smuggler contact brought in a tiger, so I took that spider quirk you acquired a while back and implanted it. The beast took it better than any other subject, so I started phase two."

He rubbed his hands together, sweating like a pig. "Several other mutation quirks were injected into AT-01 by one of my employees. I believe there were four in total, counting the original spider mutation. But something went... wrong. AT-01 didn't manifest any of the quirks and instead went haywire. It ripped through every employee and tore the lab down. I'm lucky I was busy with the start of the Nomu project."

All for One sighed and placed his hand on his mask in place of rubbing his forehead. "I truly feel I should have been informed of all this."

"Once AT-01 escaped, the police and some heroes showed up and took it. I don't think it would have even survived its wounds. All the rest were taken or killed, so I assumed you wouldn't care about them anymore."

All for One sighed again, resigned to that point. "You probably would have been correct, normally. However, do you care to explain why AT-01 was at the USJ today?" 

The doctor almost fell over in shock, staring at him wide-eyed. "What!? But that's impossible! It shouldn't have even been alive after all those wounds! The strain of holding multiple quirks for so many years should have killed it, even if it somehow survived! Did it have any of the other quirks, or were they still dormant?"

"Ask Tomura. I was barely paying attention to his ranting, but a spider/tiger hybrid seemed familiar. Just the type of thing you would create. It was killed by the Nomu, though, so I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. Inform me of these sorts of things in the future if you want to keep your extended life, doctor. For now, we have bigger issues lurking, regardless."

The doctor seemed disheartened at the news, no doubt wanting to study his lost subject. All for one took on a deadly serious tone.

"I fear the singularity is approaching faster than expected."

-~-

The aftermath of the USJ was a complete mess.

Police were running around all over the entrance, hauling off villains and taking statements from students, at least from those who could calm down enough to talk. Izuku still had a lot to do, such as reviving the dead and explaining everything he could to Nezu and Kirishima, given that he had seen Dictator. He placed Hagakure's corpse next to Thirteen's and put a tarp over it. Her invisibility had faded with her death, revealing the true extent of the damage done. 

It was honestly a miracle that she had been able to have the short talk she did. Her entire chest had been disintegrated, leaving a thin strip of flesh connecting her lower and upper halves, or what was left of both.  Her heart was visible through the gore of her chest, slightly damaged by decay, but not outright destroyed. It was a strange experience to actually see the girl. Her face was cute, or at least would have been, were it not pale and lifeless. Her chartreuse hair had lost some of the shine that it looked to usually exhibited.

Izuku looked up at the sound of small footsteps, belonging to Nezu. The rat stood at his side, a solemn look painted over his animalistic features. "I must apologize to her when you wake her up. Thirteen at least knew what she was signing up for; she's been a hero for years, but Hagakure? She's just a kid. She's only been training for about a week, and she's been killed. On my premises. If only we were faster." 

Izuku didn't respond, looking into the eyes of his dead classmate, who seemed to look right through him. He would do the same with Thirteen, but she didn't have eyes anymore. He eventually spoke up. "Should I do it here, or do we wait until we're somewhere quieter?"

"It's up to you. Are you comfortable with your class seeing this?"

He fell into silence again, thinking it over as he watched the swarms of people rushing about. Dictator was getting arrested, which he would have to sort later; he didn't have the energy right now. A sickly looking blond man was talking to a detective in a beige coat. Izuku barely paid them any attention, not noticing the familiar braided strings of the blonde. 'I can trust them, right? Even Shiozaki wouldn't do anything against me, even if she doesn't like me. There are a lot of people around too, but my quirk is hardly a secret, it'll get exposed at the festival anyway, if it isn't cancelled.' 

He raised his hand. "I'm doing it."

Nezu nodded.

He shot a string into each corpse, ignoring the gasps of his class around them. It was their first time watching his quirk in action, at least this facet of it. Before their eyes, Hagakure's stomach reformed, and Thirteen's mangled neck bubbled as a new head sprouted from the gore. On an impulse, he infused the Nomu's regeneration into Thread of Life, and watched the wounds heal much faster. It wasn't as fast as it was healing his arm, but it was faster than normal, and corpses usually put themselves back together quickly anyway. 

Hagakure woke first, blinking her green eyes open like she had just woken from a long nap. She looked down at her arms, visible for the first time, even as her invisibility started to reappear. Izuku could keep her visible, of course, but it was better to save that for when she was clothed. It was interesting that he could use her quirk, though, since that meant either he could use mutation quirks, or she didn't have a mutation quirk. He looked at Thirteen next. Her head was about half reformed, one of her eyes fixing itself as he stared into it.

Ochako hadn't left Thirteen's side since she was killed, and her sobbing that had temporarily stopped had restarted. Himiko rubbed comforting circles into her back as she mourned her idol and celebrated her revival simultaneously. 

Hagakure let out a sob, the first noise either of the dead had made. She pushed the tarp aside and stood, the rest of her body growing invisible rapidly. Her quirk had the sense to start with her breasts and crotch, so only about half of her limbs and part of her head were still visible. The girl padded over on bare feet and slumped into him, causing him to awkwardly stand there, not knowing where to put his arms. He would have been more embarrassed at her nakedness, but the emotional moment killed any arousal he could have ever felt. He managed to find her hair and played with it comfortingly as she sobbed into him.

"I didn't believe you, for a bi-bit." She was struggling to form sentences through her tears. "I know it's irrational, but..." She trailed off, and he kept petting her head. "I didn't think I would wake up. I thought I was going to be in that black void forever." He kept his questions to himself, for now. He saw Thirteen stand up, her head healed. Her co-workers started talking to her, providing better comfort than he could, given how little he knew her.

He barely knew Hagakure either, but nobody really did, and with the instant bond his thralls received with him, he was the best bet the class had. "Hagakure?" Both master and thrall turned towards the for once not bubbly voice of Mina. He felt Hagakure let go of him, and by Mina getting knocked back slightly, he assumed she had moved on to her other friends, or the closest she had to them here.

With both his new thralls occupied and even Himiko busy with Ochako, he felt a need to keep himself busy doing something. He could go retrieve Dictator, but the low distance on his new thralls would drag them with him. They deserved a chance to adjust and come to terms with the whole dying thing. On the bright side, he had matured enough as a person from when he was younger for his thralls to actually be people, unlike how Himiko was at first. 

"I think you might need your own dorm."

He turned towards Nezu again. He had forgotten the rat was still there. "What do you mean?"

"Himiko, Hagakure, Thirteen, don't think I didn't see Dictator, and potentially Mei, and that's just the humans. Then we have Atropos, many lesser thralls, Hercules, and my many planned animals, quirked and not. That isn't to mention whatever you can do with the Nomu. Already, the dorms are going to be about a quarter filled with you and your thralls, might as well give you a building of your own before you get more thralls, and it's a requirement instead of a convenience."

Izuku frowned at his mentor. "That feels like favouritism. Is that fair on everyone else?"

Nezu smiled, although it was muted by the events of the day. "We give our students all of the facilities they need, and you need them. We would give the same treatment to anyone else who needed it. Besides, you are my favorite student, so of course I'm going to show you favoritism!" Izuku decided not to question him, for now.

"You've had a long day. We can talk about Dictator later, I'll handle him, but how about you take your thralls back to the dorms and get some rest? Everyone is going to need some therapy, those two specifically, but that can wait for now. Just get some rest. You can give your statement later, I'm already going to have to bring the police in anyway, you're not the only one not in the right state to talk." He gestured to the cars the police had so kindly offered to use to drive them back to the dorms.

Izuku started walking towards them, only to stop as Nezu called after him. "Remember, none of this is your fault. I know you, and I know you feel bad, but this isn't on you. And you aren't responsible for your thrall's feelings. I understand wanting to help, but make sure you rest as well." He didn't respond, simply getting into the car so he could head home, and probably see his mother, no doubt she would visit after hearing about this.

He sat down and passed out the second he slumped into the seat of the police car.

Chapter Text

After Izuku fell asleep, things started going much more awry.

The danger was over by now, with every villain taken away, but there was still a mess going on at the USJ. With the short range that both Hagakure and Thirteen possessed as new thralls, they were forced to join Izuku and return to the dorms. The rest of his thralls had much larger ranges, allowing them to explore freely.

This was a problem.

The horde of corpses had never been spared much freedom before. Sure, Izuku had kept them out overnight and given them some free roam, but they always had orders to abide by, such as staying in a specific location or keeping guard. Now, the only rules that had to be followed were to remain within the range of their master and not to hurt anybody. Each thrall began to exploit the first true freedom they had experienced in years.

And Himiko was stuck trying to retain order.

'Fuck.'

She sighed at the realization and looked around at the mess. Some of the dogs were pestering a few hero students, a low priority. Atropos had recovered and was wandering off, medium priority. Dictator was screaming in pain, highest priority. She ran over to the cop car that he had been in the process of entering, only to fall to the ground in pain. Nezu was also present, trying to convince the police not to take him.

Himiko looked down at the man twitching on the floor, already having screamed his lungs out. There was only one thing that could bring such pain to a thrall, who wasn't supposed to feel pain. "You okay?"

The older, crueler thrall looked over with a mix of rage and pain. "Do I look fucking okay!? I need to get closer to my lord!" He started crawling towards the direction that Izuku had been taken in his own car. 

Himiko sipped on one of her blood packs from her vampire-bat hero costume, watching the man struggle in pain like she was simply watching a bug. She slurped loudly, draining the packet until it crumpled around her mouth.

"Aren't you going to help me!? This is torture!"

She rolled her eyes and cast the packet aside; littering was the last thing she cared about right now. "I am, learn some patience, geez." Her form bubbled, the DNA-infused costume joining her in the process of transforming into her master. She now stood in a much bulkier form, in a neat, clean suit. The blood had been taken before he was in a fight, so the clothes mirrored that state. She cleared her throat to adjust to her new voice.

"Happy now? Stick near me, will ya? We have a lot to do." Dictator pulled himself to his feet, no longer in agony, with Himiko acting as a conduit to extend Izuku's reach. Now that she had a proper look at him, the man was in a terrible state. His Tartarus uniform was torn in many sections and covered in dirt, dust, and blood. He was fine physically, all his wounds having healed, but he had clearly taken some hits. "What's wrong with you? How did you struggle with your quirk?" 

He flinched at looked solemn. "Our lord borrowed my quirk. He trusted me to handle them quirkless, and I failed him. I never learned to fight without my quirk; I was no better than a common thug. All I was able to do was stall them long enough to keep them out of the way." He clenched his fist.

'Weird to see him actually upset at letting Izuku down. Although I don't think Izuku expected him to fight quirkless, I think he just didn't care.' She rubbed his back comfortingly, even if her heart wasn't in it. Hard to feel sympathy for him. "Just means that you need to take this as a sign to learn quirkless combat. You can't coast by on your quirk when Izuku might need it." She looked back at his ruined uniform. "And we also need an outfit for you. Preferably something with a mask different than your old one, to hide your identity. It's going to look really bad if you keep wearing a prison uniform, especially that prison."

Dictator huffed, although he sounded less upset. "Thank you, my lady." She flinched back in disgust, so he rushed to elaborate. "Not like that! You simply rank higher on the hierarchy. I am on a lower rope than my lord's mistress, I accept that fact."

Himiko blushed bright red, even if she was happy with the idea secretly. "We're not like that. I don't think Izuku even sees me like that." The prisoner raised an eyebrow. "Shut up. We need to go get Atropos. I don't like him being left to his own devices."

She stomped off, adjusting her suit as she went. 'How does he wear this thing constantly? Especially in combat.' She removed her suit jacket and threw it at Dictator. If he was going to see himself as her subordinate, he could carry her jacket. She hadn't been paying attention, but Nezu must have sorted something, as Dictator didn't scream, he must have followed.

-~-

-~-

Atropos hadn't received an order since wordlessly tasked with assisting Aizawa, and with his master asleep, he saw fit to continue that role. Hence, he had followed the teacher when he wandered off from the rest of the crowd of police, heroes, and villains. 

The short walk had led them deeper into the USJ, up in part of the mountain zone overlooking most of the building. Villains could be seen underneath them, being thawn out of ice that one of the students had left. Atropos never cared enough to learn the name of the brat, perhaps if he was ever sworn in under the boss then he might care, but that was unlikely with him actually being rather strong, for a human.

Atropos and Aizawa weren't alone though, as a loud blonde in leather had accompanied the man. The two sat overlooking the arrests of the villains from a cliff, sitting on the edge in utter silence, that silence being broken by only the occasional click from the spider/tiger clinging onto a wall and watching the two. Aizawa barely paid him any attention, while the blonde seemed nervous everytime he glanced over.

'Easy prey. Scared. Delicous.'

Still, he held off, the boss wouldn't approve. 

"Are you okay, Shota?"

The blonde spoke, not as loud as Atropos had braced himself for. He sounded quiet, like he was trying not to spook the predator watching the two. Aizawa did not share that concern, snorting, although he didn't sound amused.

"What's even the point? I'm strict with them to protect them, what's even the point in doing so if I can't even protect them from actual villains?" A fingerless-gloved hand rubbed Aizawa's back comfortingly.

"It's not your fault Shota. Even All Might couldn't do it, what hope would you or I have?"

The scruffy teacher sighed and lay back, letting his legs dangle over the edge. It would be a dangerous position for a primate, but Atropos had watched him jump from greater heights during training. "That doesn't matter. They're just kids, and they were put under my protection. I failed them on the first chance I got. Anything else is just empty platitudes." He fell into silence, his natural and preferred state.

His friend(?) didn't seem to have anything else to say, perhaps knowing that it wouldn't be enough. Even the comfort that the fallen would come back was barely a relief, it was debatable if they were really even the same person. 

Atropos just watched on. He was a tiger for god's sake, why would he care about any of this, he was only watching because this information could benefit his master.

'Right?'

He ignored the strange feeling in his mangled chest. He was probably just getting too far from the boss, he should leave these two, and go after him.

Still, he was supposed to be assisting Aizawa, and it was never specified that he should purely help with combat.

Atropos walked up to him and looked down at the man lying on the floor, standing directly over him. He leaned his feline/arachnid head down until he was only an inch from the man's face, only seeing a sad emptiness in his eyes. The blonde shot up and started panicking slightly for whatever reason, jumping back from the spider. Atropos opened his mouth, his breath escaping onto the man's face like he was going to take a bite out of him.

Instead, he licked his face. Spiders did not usually have tongues, but he was still part tiger, so his tongue was rather sand-papery, like your typical cat. Aizawa pushed the tongue away, a valid reaction considering it was almost as long as his face. He stood up and wiped his face on his hero outfit, drying it of saliva. 

"Stop it, Atropos. Your not nearly enough of a cat for me to like that."

Atropos did stop, and sat down in front of Aizawa, more like a dog then a cat or spider. The two began an awkward staring contest, eight blank eyes staring into two slightly annoyed but mainly sad ones. Unfortunately, Aizawa was doomed to lose, because spiders did not blink, and while Aizawa did so less then a normal person, he still had to eventually.

He also lost the contest of will, reaching out his hand to pet Atropos, who nuzzled his head into said hand like an affectionate cat. The man huffed, but the sadness in his eyes lessened ever so slightly.

-~-

When Izuku next opened his eyes, all he saw was black.

He glanced around in a panic for a moment, the situation sounding oddly familiar, and had his suspicions confirmed. The void was broken up by a couple chairs facing a large screen, the screen being switched off at the moment. With so few options, he walked over and looked at the chairs. The first seemed to be made of stone, although when he ran his hands over it, it was much softer than you would expect.

'Perhaps an illusion?' The only other difference was one he had heard of from Himiko with her trips here, that being the blood red carving in the back of the chair. It read her name, only the second half was obfuscated to him, appearing as a blur that he thought he could see a T in.

The other chairs were ones that she hadn't described on her first visit, but had slowly told him about over the years of occasionally visiting storage. There was a much smaller chair on the arm of Himiko's, that read 'Hercules' in tiny text. Himiko had brought sugar cubes in once, that still sat uneaten next to the chair, as Hercules had just as little taste as she did. 'I should try summoning that in the real world, see if I can summon objects separately from thralls.'

The next chair was less a chair, and more a very large dog/cat bed. It looked big enough to cram a car into, and appeared to be made of a mix of spider silk and a shiny black material, clearly made for Atropos. The materials made the chair look almost menacing, the image only ruined by being a dog bed. Its ownership was only confirmed by the name scrwaled on it, although weirdly it had another name underneath, in brackets. 'AT-01'.

The last chair confirmed a theory that Izuku had thought of when Himiko described the chairs. 'It's only the quirked that get chairs. None of the other animals received seats, even though I have slight levels of attachment to them, like E-1. For a while, I liked E-1 more than Atropos, but the chairs never reflected it. This explains it.' 

This particular chair was by far the least comfortable. It appeared to be made entirely of sharp barbs and string tying it together, except for a small plaque barely hanging on at the top. The full name was obfuscated like Himiko's second name, only allowing Izuku to see the name underneath in brackets, 'Dictator'. He turned away from the chair, ignoring the blood on some of the chair. 'I would feel so much worse about that if he could actually feel pain. I wonder why Thirteen and Hagakure aren't here yet? Maybe my quirk needs to sink it's teeth fully in first?'

He glanced back at the screen, still turned off, and pondered how to get out. 'Himiko got out when summoned, but it's not like I can summon myself. Im asleep, right? Do I just wait to wake up?'

His thoughts were distracted by a sudden roaring. Turning, he saw one of his newest guests. The Nomu from the USJ was chained up, roaring as it struggled against said chains. All it succeded at doing was making the bright purple chains dig in to its flesh and draw blood, dripping down into the endless black below. The wounds healed even as they were made, forcing the chains back out of its flesh, only for them to reenter into a viscous cycle. Next to the Nomu was a little girl, about seven or eight from the look of things, watching the beast with a surprising lack of fear.

"Um, hello? Who are you? How did you get here?"

The little girl turned to face him, not looking surprised to see him. Instead, she seemed elated. "Mr Hero!" She jumped at him, which he dodged reflexibly. She fell deeper into the void for a minute, the laws of physics not caring that he was standing there mere seconds ago and it should be solid, before she reappeared above where she had fallen, pouting. "Why'd you dodge? I was just trying to give you a hug! You were so cool when you fought me!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Fought you? What are you talking about?"

She seemed perplexed, and pointed back at the Nomu. The beast snarled, although it seemed more focused on Izuku. "You fought me and the scary guy! You jumped on our back, even after we ripped your arm off, you were so cool! I'm your biggest fan! Can you tell me your hero name!?"

He looked back and forth between the two. "Wait, so you're the Nomu, but your also separate from the Nomu in here? Why?"

The girl sighed like she was talking to an idiot and became slightly angry. "Because this 'Nomu' is regenaration! I'm shock absorption! We share a body!" 

And he got it now. So that was how he felt two corpses. "Then why didn't you take control? Or did you, in which case, why were you attacking us?"

The girl visibly flinched. "Wel, well, um, I can't really do that? I just watch what Regenaration is forced to do by the, um, by the b-, bad man. He was mean ever since I started watching through his eyes, but he was never that bad."

Izuku rubbed his forehead, he had so many questions. "Do you know your real name? What happened to you? How do two corpses end up In one? Who is the bad man?" He stopped his rambling question as the girl, 'Shock absorption' started looking scared. "Sorry, sorry. This is just a lot. I just watched two people die, partly because this thing was there to help the killers, even if it didn't directly help, and now you're dropping so much on me. And you're apparently sharing a body with this thing but can't actually control it. This must be why Nezu told me to take a break, I'm so tired. Wait, aren't I asleep right now? Can I just enjoy my break?"

The girl nodded eratically, her fear suddenly vanishing and becoming replaced with a look of excitement and... adoration? He focused, and felt Thread of Life starting to sink its teeth into the girl. It attempted the same on the body of the Nomu, but while it could easily bite the girl (in this metaphor), it felt like it was biting steel with the Nomu. "I can tell you how to get out! But in return, tell me your name!" 

He sighed. 'I really need to rest. I can ask question later, or put Himiko in storage and get her to ask questions. Ironically, I need to wake up so that I can take a rest.' He focused on the slowly less autonomous child, ignoring the slight guilt boiling from within at enslaving a child, something to worry about later. "Izuku Midoriya. I'm not a proper hero yet, so I don't have a hero name. How do I get out, and why do you even know?"

In place of answering either question, she trotted off towards the seats. Izuku followed, leaving the still screaming Nomu behind. "Back when I was with the bad man, he would visit occasionally, when he was asleep. He usually just beat up anyone that caused him issues, but sometimes he would also force himself awake if they got too loud. His place was more like a prison then this place, but I think it will work the same."

She stopped in front of a gap between two chairs, and turned to him. "He could exit through the chair in the warden's office, I could see him from my cell! You should be able to make your own chair, too!" He decided to trust her, and within a few moments, a throne rose from the void.

It was fairly plain, metallic and green. Purple threads crossed over it, similar to Dictator's, but it looked much more comfortable. He took a deep breath and sat down, letting himself sink into the deceptive softness, much like Himiko's. 

Before long, his eyes shut, only to open in the real world.

-~-

As he opened his eyes, he felt them protest, his body still teetering on exhaustion. It was all too tempting to fall back asleep, with the soft, warm, weight draped across him and the tiredness almost as heavy on him. Still, he sat up and glanced around the room as his vision adjusted to the dim lighting.

There wasn't anything on him, so he had no clue what was so warm and soft.

Dictator was in the corner of the room creepily, making a point to stare at the dorm wall as opposed to Izuku.

A woman he only vaguely recognised was at his desk, wearing casual clothes that he had no clue where she had acquired. 

"Thirteen?"

The woman turned around, her brown-grey eyes brightening in happiness and relief. "Midoriya! You're awake, I was so worried about you!" She smiled in a way that was disturbibly familiar, to someone who knew the specifics of his quirk and its effects on thralls.

"So I was right. You barely show your face, so I wasn't completely sure who you were, I thought perhaps Nezu had brought a doctor over or something, given my past injuries." He looked down at his arm, the one that had been punched off from the Nomu. It looked the exact same as he was used to, as if nothing ever happened. His mind flashed to the Nomu and the little girl as he was reminded of having their quirks now.

"Yep! By the way, my name is Anan Kurose, you can call me Anan when I'm out of costume." 

He nodded, but didn't return the permission. "Hey, Anan, can you describe your thoughts on me? I want to test something?"

She cocked her head in a way he might have been attracted to were she in his age bracket. "Depends on what criteria. With combat, you seem really skilled and smart, and you have a really powerful quirk that you are skilled at using. I've barely interacted with you as a person, but you seem really kind and selfless. As for your appearance-"

"Stop! That's enough, please." She gave a sheepish chuckle and that same disturbingly sweet smile. 'Well, either she's really sweet, or the brainwashing has kicked in. Leaning towards the second.'

He glanced back at Dictator, who was still standing by the door to the dorm and making eye contact with the wall. "Uh, Dictator?"

He glanced over, before looking straight back for some reason. "Don't worry about me my lord. I think Himiko wanted your help downstairs, by the way. You might want to take a break from your... activities and assist her."

The more hesitant slaver between the two raised an eyebrow. "Activites?" He tried to stand, only to freeze as he felt something still pressing down on him, and heard it groan softly. He looked down and still saw nothing.

Or more, saw something invisible.

Hagakure sat up and stretched, or at least, that's what she seemed to do by the movements of her gloves that he only just realized had been at his sides. His face turned bright red, as without the lingering sadness from before, he was able to enjoy process Hagakure's mix of proximity and nudity. "H-H, Hagakure!? What are you doing!?" She looked back, unreadable by the fact that she was invisible. He could make her visible, but he might burn alive from the embarrassment. He ignored the perverted urge to do it anyway.

"Mhm, just enjoying being near to my saviour. Is that so wrong?"

He tried to calm his blush, and failed. "Maybe not normally, but you could at least wear clothes!" 

He stared back at nothing, a lot of unspoken communication fell apart with invisibility. "Oh, right. I'm kinda used to being naked around people, because of my quirk. I sometimes forget people can be uncomfortable with it." Still, she didn't remove herself, He had to war within his mind over if he was uncomfortable with her being naked or the fact that she was probably fine with that because of brainwashing. 

Finally remembering that Himiko needed his help, he gently removed her from his lap. "I'm going to go help Himiko. Please get dressed if you're going to come with."

He waited around with the two girls for a few minutes for Hagakure to get dressed, then went downstairs.

Very quickly, he learned why Himiko needed help. 

The majority of the common room was full of various animals. Dogs scampered around playing, cats strutted about and played with/tormented his three birds, and he could see Atropos through the window, watching like a horror movie monster, although the meowing at the door ruined the effect. No members of the class were downstairs, bar Izuku's party, either because it was late, because of the chaos, or because they needed rest after the day they'd had.

Himiko turned to face him and had an expression like someone drowning being offered a rope. "Izu, thank god you're awake! Help me, please!" She was playing tug of war with D-2, although the object they were playing with made the game look a lot more serious.

Becasue it looked to be a grenade.

Izuku sighed and walked over. "D-2, set it down, gently as you can." The canine whined but obeyed, managing not to set the grenade off in the process. Izuku picked it up and gently moved it somewhere not on the floor, before glancing at Himiko for an explanation.

"Mei popped by to check on us after she heard the news. She also took Hercules while she was at it, I think he belongs to her now. More importantly, she left that smoke grenade to trial if any thalls could operate it later." He sighed at the chaos.

"How long was I even out for, an hour or two? How do things go so wrong so quickly?" He sat down on the couch, quickly followed by Himiko. He absorbed all the animal thralls bar Hercules, plus Dictator, leaving himself, Himiko, Anan, and Hagakure.

"I think we need to talk about some things."

Chapter Text

Izuku leaned back into the plush seat of the couch, closing his eyes. UA spared no expense on comfort. 'I've never taken the opportunity just to enjoy how nice it is here. Why can't I do this? Why do I have to deal with all the awkwardness?'

He sighed and opened his eyes, taking in the form of Hagakure and Thirteen Anan sitting in another seat. Hagakure was dressed in her school uniform, fidgeting slightly under his gaze. She couldn't be seen, of course. Thirteen was visible, of course, a rarity with how often she wore her hero costume. She had navy blue, short hair, with a blonde streak in it resembling a spiral. Her eyes, appearing grey on first glance, now resembled the black holes she used in her quirk. Her figure was decent, but he tried not to focus on that. Not an appropriate thought for him to have, given she was his teacher.

Himiko placed her head on his shoulder and nuzzled into him as he searched his brain for anywhere to begin this conversation. There was a lot to talk about.

"So... you two are dead."

'Great start, Izuku. Astute observation.' 

Anan nodded with a sympathetic smile, while Hagakure cocked her head, the movement only visible through the movement of her collar. "Does it really count? I feel exactly the same as when I was alive, really. Sure, I might not feel hunger, or thirst, or tiredness, but some people don't anyway because of their quirks. They're no less alive, right? Why would we be?"

He frowned at her logic. "The difference is more than just your body. I could put you back to being dead with not even a shred of effort. You will also die when I do, presumably. That isn't even mentioning the loss of free will." 

Hagakure waved her hand dismissively, her sleeve flapping around. "Oh, come on, I'm completely myself. I don't feel any different." She placed her hands on her hips in a proud pose.

He simply raised an eyebrow. "So you would just strip naked and hug me before?" He flushed red at his own question, and felt Himiko stiffen on his shoulder. "We don't even use each other's first names, that's quite a bit of a jump, no? If this is standard behavior for you, I recommend changing that." 

The invisible girl sat back and crossed her arms. Her pout was somehow recognisable. "You're different. I wouldn't do that with just anyone."

He sighed. "But why am I different? We hadn't even had a conversation, as far as I recall. You really can't see how that's unnatural? Is the brainwashing hiding itself in your mind?" Guilt churned in his gut, creeping through like a poison. Himiko squeezed his arm gently.

"Whatever. It's still important, but if you're physically incapable of detecting it, or just in denial, or whatever is happening, we can worry about that later. Right now, the bigger priority is on removing it in the first place." He attempted to keep the exasperation out of his voice. "It's exhausting and slow, or at least was, so we need to decide how we want to do it. Do I work on both of you equally? Do I try to rush one and then help the other after? If so, who is the priority?" 

The two looked at each other, clearly asking themselves the same question. He heard Himiko speak almost directly in his ear, wincing slightly from the unexpected volume. "Actually, I might be able to help. I can use your quirk, Izu. I should be able to become you and fight the brainwashing. I will be slower, you have way more experience, and I can't be transformed constantly (as much as I want to.)" She mumbled the end of her sentence.

His head hit the back of his chair as he considered the matter with the new information. "So it's still a matter of priority. Do either of you have any preference?" Both gave their own denials. He stamped down on the almost constant guilt at how little free thought they were capable of. They would normally be eager to lose the brainwashing, one would assume. 'There is no time for guilt right now. Guilt won't fix this any faster, I can make it up to them later.' He sighed at the decision before him. I think I'll focus on you, Hagakure."

He glanced at Anan. "You seem tame so far. You are clearly affected, but you still seem tame, if that makes sense." His gaze snapped back to the floating uniform. "You have already hugged me without any clothing, and it's barely been a couple of hours. That is much worse, really not comfortable with you doing that in this state."

Hagakure sounded almost smug. "But you would be fine with me doing it normally? The issue is consent, not my appearance?"

Once again, he flushed red. 'What was even the point in struggling through my time with Midnight if this still throws me off? I should be better than this! Just because she hugged me with her soft, naked, curv- No!' 

He took a deep breath to calm himself; there were other matters to discuss. "Next, I want to know how you two want us to handle this. Like, do you two want funerals? I'm sure Nezu will notify your families, so maybe it's on them to decide. I just feel like you two should have some input."

Thir- Anan (Switching to her first name so suddenly was throwing him off) spoke up, her voice sounding calmer than she was at the USJ, yet still with a little bit of cheer. "I don't feel like we need funerals. We're arguably not even dead yet, especially since we may very well die properly when you do. Wouldn't we just end up having two funerals?" She put a finger to her chin in a manner that reminded him of Tsu, oddly. "Speaking of, I wonder how Nezu will address this. The media will no doubt hound him when it smells blood, so I wonder if he'll admit that people died in the attack. It would be easy enough to cover up." 

Izuku... wasn't sure how to feel about that. 'I still think classing them as alive is wrong. They're so changed, I don't think we can say they're truly alive. But at the same time, does the world need to know that? The PR would be terrible, even though it wasn't really UA's fault. If All Might himself isn't enough defense, I fail to see how anything would be. It would also expose my quirk early, not that there's much difference between now and the sports festival. Regardless, covering up the death of students or staff alike seems... scummy.'

The room had grown silent at the question, each no doubt having their own thoughts. That silence was ended by the same person who created it.

"By the way, Midoriya, you can use our quirks now, correct? I would like to request that you not use mine, at least not without supervision." Anan sounded guilty at her request, feeling guilty at denying him her power.

"Why not? It seems really useful." 

She sighed. "Because you don't know how to wield it yet. I've been training with it my entire life, and I still need a suit to help me use it safely. You could easily hurt someone if you used it without experience."

He nodded, seeing the reasoning behind the request. It was a logic he could agree with, although... "Actually, thralls can hold their quirks back. I have one you haven't had a proper introduction to that is resistant, to the point where his quirk works fundamentally differently through me. Couldn't you give me a weaker version of Black Hole?"

The hero seemed surprised at that, but still frowned. "That makes me feel a little better, but regardless, not with your classmates, please. If you end up fighting villains, then I suppose you can use it, but I will be pulling against it." He relented with the negotiation.

'It's odd that they can put their foot down with their quirks only. Why do they have more control over their quirks than their mind or body?'

Hagakure had been silent over most of this topic. Izuku could sense a gradually growing excitement through his link with her. This was only confirmed when she practically leaped onto him, her plush body molding against his chest in ways that brought him back to earlier internally. He found himself wishing that he could use Despot to control blood flow, too, but at least Hagakure didn't notice the source of that wish. 

"If you can use our quirks, can you take them away, or do you both have them?" She was almost yelling, but keeping herself down enough not to disturb their classmates with more sensitive hearing. The walls were great for silencing noise, but it was hard to stop Jirou or Shoji (when he created ears).

He could already see where this was going, so he focused on the feeling of her quirk. 'I've been wondering since I got it, but this should answer my questions. Can I use mutation quirks, or is her quirk not a mutation? Or both, but I can only really be sure of the second with this test.' He placed his metaphorical hands around her quirk. "I can try taking your quirk away for a bit, if that's what you want. I want to experiment, though, so can you limit your quirk so I can't fully use it?"

She nodded excitedly. "I would do literally anything to get a break from my quirk. This is all I've wanted since I was four!" He took mental note of her not being born with her quirk, a hint that it wasn't a mutation. And then he gently removed her quirk, taking it into himself.

Her invisibility vanished like a switch was flipped, instantly revealing her form. She looked much the same as she did when she was dead, but she seemed much brighter and less pale now. She looked down at her trembling hands, flexing them and soaking in the sight. After a few seconds, she took out her phone and looked at herself in her camera.

"Oh my god, I'm so cute!" She touched her own face, exploring it with her hands and getting used to it. Izuku chuckled at her reaction. Once she was done with her inspection, she glomped onto Izuku. "Thank you, thank you, thank you!" He hugged her and patted her back, feeling tears dripping onto his shoulder as she buried her face into it. His back was pressed against the couch with the girl in his lap. Himiko had been knocked off him and was pouting.

As he comforted her, he inspected his own body. He couldn't help but smile at the sight of his own flesh, still very visible. 'Called it. So that means her quirk isn't a mutation. If it were, even a weaker version of it would still be present. If I took spider or whatever name I'm using for it, I would have spider features, presumably. Her quirk clearly isn't a transformation, so it must be an emitter.' As the girl sobbed into his chest, he tried to focus on 'emitting' something. He pictured the same feeling as using Despot, but nothing happened. 'Something to figure out later.'

He put his focus back into comforting/celebrating with Hagakure.

-~-

After their conversation eventually ended, Izuku returned to sleep in his room. His thralls followed, two out of necessity, one out of choice. Anan had gone back into storage, and she was going to as well, but Himiko had requested they talk in private, so she stayed out.

The two engaged in an awkward silence until they were sure Izuku was asleep.

"So, uh, Himiko, what did you want to talk about?"

Himiko blushed and fidgeted, much more embarrassed than she normally was, even as she made innuendos and flirted. "I have a... slightly weird question to ask you."

She raised an eyebrow. 'God, it feels so satisfying for that to be a way to communicate.' She sat up straighter. "Ask away. We're both sisters in arms now, right?" She giggled.

"Do you... Like, Izuku?"

Her mind came to a stop as she asked herself the same question.

'Do I?'

'I do feel like I can trust him. He seems really nice, and smart, and strong, and hot. I wouldn't mind-. No, none of that right now.'

'Still.'

She landed on her answer, although she was still hesitant. "I... don't think so. It's hard to say. He seems like a really good person. I could tell you all his positives, but I'm sure you know them better than I do." She chuckled sheepishly. "I wouldn't mind... repaying him, for his help, if you know what I mean. But I don't think I see him that way. Is that weird? To not love someone, but want to do those sorts of things with them?"

Himiko snorted. "Hardly. I think most of the girls in our class would sleep with him if given the chance. Statistically, probably at least one of the guys, too. You don't need to love someone to want them in that way."

That made Toru feel a little better about her feelings, or lack thereof. 

"If he doesn't do it for you, what even is your type?"

She blushed as she thought about it, watching Himiko smirk at her blush. Being visible is a double-edged sword. So worth it though.' A small burst of joy went off every time she caught a glimpse of herself. "I don't know, really. It seems weird even imagining myself with someone. Maybe it's just the supposed brainwashing, I don't know, but..."

"I think I'm satisfied with this."

-~-

Toru was not the only one who ended that night in that state of satisfaction. 

Cuddling with Izuku, her fellow thrall on his other side, Himiko's feelings were finally clear.

'If Hagakure doesn't love him, at least she doesn't think she does, that means that his quirk isn't forcing love.' Relief washed through her like a tidal wave.

'That means that my love is my own.'

Chapter Text

The mood in the dorms was subdued the next day.

A thick air of mourning seemed to permeate the air, like a mist slightly dampening everything in its wake. This mourning was unfounded, arguably, given that the two who were being mourned were present and chatty in the common room. Hagakure had made some distance; the night of being summoned had given her a little bit of reach. In an ideal world, Anan would have spent the night summoned too, but it would be uncomfortable for her to share the bed with three teens, not to mention that it would be a struggle to fit them all. Having her stand around all night was also cruel, so at least she could rest in storage.

Most of the class was quiet, not completely silent, but subdued. Even louder members like Mina had quieted down. Izuku couldn't help but notice how close she was to Hagakure and the way she flinched every time she separated. 'Everyone is going to need so much therapy. I wonder if that's what Aizawa is coming by for?'

In truth, Aizawa's visit was the only reason most of the class was downstairs. They had all awoken to emails sent in the night, requesting their presence in the common room about twenty minutes before they would normally have class. Everybody had shown up, even the more anti-social members of the class. Bakugo was slumped against a wall with a scowl, Kirishima still trying in vain to form a friendship. Or was it in vain? It was impossible to tell with his once-friend.

Most notable was Todoroki, who sat on a stool next to the kitchen counter. His fists were clenched, and his expression stormy. No, that wasn't simple anger. If Izuku didn't know better, he could almost swear it was... guilt? The stool next to him clattered slightly as Izuku lowered himself into it, silently pouring himself a drink. It was mere juice, of course, as thematically appropriate as something stronger might be. He offered Todoroki a glass as well, letting him see his eyes as he glanced over. Grey and turquoise stared a hole into him, the two colors feeling identical with how clouded they had grown.

The apparently heterochromatic-eyed boy took the glass silently and knocked it back, Izuku watching whatever it was drain out of the corner of his eye. Some sort of generic sports drink, not that it mattered; the taste was his last concern.

"Are you ok?" 

He received no answer, the boy setting his glass down with a soft *clink*. The rest of the room chatted on around them, oblivious to their conversation, if you could even call this one so far.

After about fifteen seconds, Todoroki finally replied, without glancing over. His eyes were largely covered by his bangs as he slumped forward a small amount, hiding his emotions alongside the lack of them in his voice, bar a slight croak. 

"Midoriya, why do you want to be a hero?"

He blinked at the unexpected question. He had been with Hagakure before her death, so he had expected something to do with her. 'Although he could have just asked her himself.'

"I want to surpass All Might." What little he could see of the boy's grey eye focused on him ever so slightly. "My quirk... society doesn't look kindly at it. I have so far been protected by secrecy, but even with the..  what, 30 people who have heard about it? I have faced opposition. This society that All Might has created is peaceful, but it is stagnant. People are satisfied with what is, instead of looking at what could be. Perhaps they just don't want change, perhaps they like this unequal status quo, or perhaps they're just ignorant. Regardless, I want to improve things. Not just create peace, but also change." A bit of anger crept into his voice through his answer, even as he tried to stamp it down.

'And to do that, I want to tear down the HPSC.' He added in his mind. 'They will reap what they have sown, in time.'

Todoroki had sunk in on himself as he spoke, letting him finish in silence. Once again, he took a few seconds before responding, the look in his eyes making it clear he was organising his thoughts.

"I don't know if I'm cut out for this." His voice was as empty as it ever was, despite the nature of his admission. Izuku glanced over with surprise evident on his face, silently asking, 'Why?'. Todoroki unclenched his fists in favor of staring at his palms, sweaty and trembling ever so slightly. "It was my fault. Hagakure died saving me. Not just that, but the villains only got away because of my ice."

There was a deep frustration in his voice, obvious from the tremble and that look in his eyes. It reminded him of the boy's father in public appearances. Still, Izuku could feel the guilt bubbling under the surface.

He would know, since the very same guilt teemed under his skin like a parasite. 

"Aizawa didn't mention it, but it might be my fault that Thirteen died. Atropos got in the way of his vision of the warper. I'm not saying that Aizawa could have stopped Kurogiri forever, but he might have kept him away for a little bit longer. Maybe it would have been enough to change things. Maybe Thirteen could have survived."

Todoroki looked at him wide-eyed and frowned. "It's a stretch to blame that on you. That spider thing was just following Sensei; you didn't have direct control, if I understand your quirk correctly. Besides, you are young and untrained; mistakes are understandable."

Izuku huffed at the irony. "And you're not?"

Todoroki froze, and a cold air seemed to emanate from him. For a moment, he feared that he would slam his walls back up, before he forced an answer out. "I am not untrained. My father... trained me. He trained me a lot. I have no excuse for mistakes." He rubbed at his arms absently, tracing old, faded bruises with his fingers.

"I've trained for years, too. I'd say we're just as liable. I can't tell you not to feel guilty. I try to avoid hypocrisy. But don't blame yourself too much. The one at fault is Shigaraki, and his warper. Regardless, if you're going to place guilt on any of our class, at least let me share some of the burden."

"..."

"Thank you, Midoriya."

The two fell into silence until Aizawa arrived to talk to the class.

-~-

The class had assembled around the room, much less chaotic than it had been before their teacher arrived. Said teacher stood in the entrance, 22 pairs of eyes trained on him (23 if you count Dark Shadow). The man always looked exhausted, but it was somehow even worse than usual. He was used to physical exhaustion, but the mental exhaustion hadn't been this bad in years.

A standoff had formed as Aizawa braced himself. That was until...

"I'm sorry."

The teacher took a deep yet stiff bow, his eyes boring holes into the ground. Most of the class reacted in surprise.

"I failed you all. All of you were put in danger, and even..." He trailed off as he looked at his ex-coworker and Hagakure. The message was clear without him ending it. "As your teacher, I was supposed to protect you all. If you aren't comfortable with me as your teacher, or you don't wish to continue heroics, that is understandable. Just say the word, now or in private later, and you are welcome to drop out. Nezu has promised guaranteed access to general education or one of the other courses if you have the capabilities."

Hearing nobody speak up, Aizawa rose from his bow and gave the class a look that made his pride almost tangible. "Regardless, you're all going to need counseling. You have today off, and tomorrow, each of you is going to have a mandatory meeting with Hound Dog. If you aren't comfortable with him for whatever reason, we also have Recovery Girl. Depending on how those meetings go, you may be forced to go to more. For now, take this chance to recover and recuperate. The festival is coming. I would like to say that the rat will cancel it, but..."

He sighed, the bone-deep tiredness over the situation and his boss evident. Turning around, he started walking out the door, only to glance back over his shoulder. "Despite the circumstances, you should all be proud of yourselves. Many of you made mistakes, and we are going to have to rectify them, but you have so little training that it can't be fully blamed on you all. Take pride in what you accomplished, don't beat yourselves up over what you didn't."

And with his last words of today, he left, his years of experience as a stealth hero keeping him utterly quiet as he walked away. Once again, the class fell into silence before scattering. Some went to their rooms to rest and enjoy having a day off, others took solace in company, and a few left to clear their heads.

Or talk to Aizawa about leaving. 'I wouldn't blame anyone for wanting to leave, but it would be a shame to see anyone go.' He walked over to his thralls as he thought about the possibility. Ochako and Anan were talking, or more Ochako was fangirling over seeing her idol outside her hero costume. Izuku smiled at the sight, relieved that his friend was feeling better since the last time he saw her crying over said idol's corpse. Hagakure was strutting about in front of her friends, that being Mina, Setsuna, Tsu, and Kendo, proudly showing off her new form. They all seemed just as excited about it as she was. It was almost refreshing to witness, like they were a fan blowing the heavy fog that clung to the dorm away. Ironic that the dead were the greatest comfort to the mourning.

Izuku sat down and basked in the conversation, just enjoying being around such happiness. Himiko had been sent to report the use of the smoke grenade with Mei (they had tested it earlier), so he was all alone.

Except for the vine-haired girl sitting next to him.

"Disgusting."

His neck almost snapped as he turned to face her so quickly, eyes wide.

"Did you do this on purpose? I heard what you said to Todoroki, you know? You got Thirteen killed. I bet you did it on purpose to strengthen yourself. And Hagakure, you reacted quickly enough, before anyone else. That means you saw the attack coming and did nothing. I see what you are, Midoriya." Her voice was heavy with raw disgust, like he had felt talking to Dictator at first. What was unfamiliar was a strange feeling of sadness underlying it.

"I did no such thing. I did my best to save everyone I could. What's even your problem with me? I know you don't like me because of your beliefs, but you really think that I'd stoop so low as to get allies killed on purpose!?" Eyes around the room started being drawn to their argument.

"Look at it from my perspective, Midoriya. Several people died or were injured that day. That will most likely be the worst day in many of our lives. And what about you? You walk away with new thralls and fancy new quirks that instantly put you on par with most pros. A tad convenient, no?" The disgust had faded, replaced by a hot anger and sneer. "I can justify your quirk resurrecting the dead. If that is the will of the lord, I have no right to argue over it. But look at this! You're sitting here listening to your dead classmates show off with a smile on your face! Do you even care? Do you care that you have taken their minds with brainwashing? Do you care that they're little better than rotting corpses? No, you're just going to sit here and relax like none of it matters because they can pretend to have free will for a bit! How heroic of you."

He stared into the girl's face, twisted by rage that she had worked herself up into. Her eyes were watery, dropping the occasional tear onto the carpet. He stood up and walked over to the girl, stopping right in front of her. Her vines twitched, ready to protect herself if necessary. 

It was that look in her eye that caught his attention the most. A deep ocean of guilt, both fueling and masked by her rage. 'That explains it. I was wondering why she was so much angrier than normal.' He drew even closer, Shiozaki flinching back.

Her eyes widened as he drew her into a hug. Gentle, not too tight, allowing her to pull away if necessary. Her vines squirmed around, some thorns on them digging into his skin, but he endured. 

"Wha-what are you doing? Let go of me!" Despite her protest, she didn't pull away.

"You don't need to blame yourself. Didn't you hear Sensei? It can't be blamed on us. We made mistakes, sure, but that just means that we need to improve."

She let out a choked sob. "I'm not blaming myself, I'm blaming you! It's your fault! You could have protected them. You could have saved them. Nobody had to die, so why? Why did they? Why..."

"Why couldn't I save them?"

She cut off as she sobbed into his shoulder, her tears staining his uniform. She beat her fists against his back occasionally. 'Her guilt needed someone to blame. Someone she could actually lash out at, not like the villains. I suppose the person who arguably benefited most is the rational choice.'

"It's not your fault. It's not any of our faults. Not me, not you, not Todoroki, not Sensei. The only people who were responsible are the villains who did this." He repeated what he told Todoroki. This conversation was probably happening across every member of the class, at least in their minds, in their own ways. They wouldn't be very good heroes if they didn't beat themselves up about failing to save people.

So Izuku held her close as she vented her feelings, until her sobbing stopped. He would take the blame from his entire class if that was what it took to make them all happy. Once her sobs had faded into simple hiccups, she pulled away and turned away from him.

"I still don't like your quirk. Brainwashing and bringing back the dead is just... vile." She shuddered. 

He sighed, but relented that now was not the time to try to shatter her quirkism. "I can't make you accept it, I suppose."

She still didn't turn around. "Thank you."

And she hurried away to her room.

Chapter Text

With the free day that had been presented, the class split off to do whatever they wanted.

Many met up with family members for the familiar comfort provided, like Iida.

Others moped in the dorms (albeit for good reason) like Todoroki.

Mina and Setsuna organised a day out with a few classmates to cheer them up. 

Meanwhile, Izuku, Himiko, Anan, and Hagakure had a meeting to get to. Technically, this meeting was only supposed to be for Izuku, but there wasn't really much choice when it came to taking the others. Himiko could have wandered off, but with her friends off campus, she had very little reason to do so. 

"So, where are we going?" Hagakure asked from behind him. He was following directions on his phone that Nezu had sent him.

"Nezu wants to meet. Apparently, he has almost completed the new dorm." They walked past the 1-B dorm to another building. It looked much the same as any other of the dorms, only it had an IM written in place of a class number. He pushed open the doors and led his group inside.

"Do you regularly meet with Nezu?" Her voice was full of pure curiosity. She didn't seem offended at the implied favouritism, which was lucky, considering the rat did very little to hide it.

He gave her a nod and they entered into the common room, or at least it would be the common room when finished, it was scarcely decorated for now. There were only a few couches arranged around the room, one of them filled by the chimera-esque form of their principal. He brightened as he saw the four arrive, gesturing to the seats around him as he poured four cups of tea (he already had his own).

"Am I a dog? A mouse? Or even a bear? What matters is that I'm the principal of UA, Nezu!" He gave his standard catchphrase with false cheer. Izuku chuckled at the nostalgia. He didn't hear that greeting often anymore. Of course, the greeting was almost entirely for Hagakure, who was staring at the rat wide-eyed. Her eyes could actually be seen, since she had started the habit of giving a weakened version of her quirk to Izuku throughout the day. "Are you not going to invite our other guest to this talk? It partially concerns him, after all."

Izuku sighed and summoned Dictator on one of the couches. His least favorite thrall (he was warming up to him a little, but it was hard to place a rapist over an innocent animal) stretched and let out a yawn, clearly woken from his nap in storage. He visibly flinched and let out a yelp at the sight of the principal, likely remembering his role in his death and subsequent enslavement. After a few moments, he managed to put himself together. "I didn't expect to be summoned today. Do you require my assistance against this... I don't even know, my lord?" 

He shook his head, giving Nezu the queue he needed to begin the meeting. "It is surprising to see you using Dictator. What brought this change on, Izuku?" He didn't sound either angry or judging. His voice carried nothing but the same menacing amusement that always seemed to follow the principal. 

Regardless, Izuku couldn't help but gulp, sweat starting to bead on his forehead. "I was experimenting with Mei. We found out Dictator was at least slightly cognizant in storage, and that it was torturous. I've been... testing him out? Despite his crimes, it didn't seem fair to torture him for his entire afterlife. Besides, he's giving me more access to his quirk. I can use multiple threads of Despot now." He summoned a few as proof, Dictator nodding rapidly at his side in his own defense. Nezu turned his beady eyes on Dictator.

"Well, what do you have to say for yourself, Dictator? Or do you prefer your real name, Shiji Ito? You must understand that I'm not particularly comfortable letting you run wild."

Dictator visibly flinched back from the use of his real name, while Izuku watched with interest. It was interesting to learn his real name, after it had been hidden in the storage. He could feel a similar curiosity from Himiko, but Anan and Hagakure were a mystery. His link with them was much less established since they hadn't begun the process of forming that connection and lessening the brainwashing yet. Hagakure was obviously curious since she knew nothing of the now-named Shiji, but was letting them talk.

"I... don't know anymore. I don't think I want to use either of those names anymore. They are both the names of a villain. I have no defense for my actions from the past. I could go on about how I was the real victim, after the years of judgment I faced over my quirk, but that's just an excuse. My... victims, they weren't the ones I even acted against anyway. Most of them had nothing to do with my treatment. I did it purely because I wanted to." There was a somber and self-loathing tone to his voice, no surprise given the circumstances.

Nezu did not seem remotely phased. "While I appreciate the honesty, you're not exactly endearing me to allow you near children of similar ages to some of your victims." The bite in his words was obvious, but Dictator didn't react.

"I don't think I should be either. I may not have any intention of doing anything with my new purpose, but you are right to be cautious." The hunchbacks face set in determination. "I can promise you, however, that I am going to do everything in my power to atone. I will never make up for my crimes, but I will use the rest of my existence trying. It is the least I can do."

Nezu blinked, mildly surprised at the strength of his will. He glanced at Izuku for an explanation. "I think my quirk might have doubled down on the brainwashing. I was in the storage when I slept last night, an entirely different conversation that we will need to address in a moment, and I saw his chair. It was made entirely of barbs and thorns. If nothing else, I can attest to his guilt over it. I'm pretty sure the thralls build their chairs, at least from what I saw in the storage. They all had chairs linked to their own comfort and desires, like Himiko having her name hidden." 

Nezu nodded and hummed. "I see. Then, for now, keep him private. Don't let him leave your new dorm once it's built. Oh, and only use him in combat if it's life or death. Especially if the media is watching." He returned the nod. Nezu had hit on his own thoughts on the subject anyway.

Hagakure finally decided to voice her confusion. "So, who is this exactly? I feel like I'm missing important details. He was there in the dorms last night too, but I didn't talk to him." 

Himiko decided to bite the bullet on the explanation. "This man is Dictator, ex-prisoner at Tartutus. He was on death row, so Nezu pulled some strings to expedite his sentencing and have him delivered to Izu. You don't have to get along with him if you're not comfortable; it's perfectly understandable." Hagakure let out a sigh of relief at that, although she still seemed somewhat wary of Dictator. Anan had been briefed about him just like the rest of the staff, so she barely reacted to any information.

"Well, with that settled, care telling me about what you saw in storage, Izuku?" Nezu set the conversation back on track.

So he told him. About the nameless little girl, about the thrones, about the Nomu, and most importantly, about "The bad man."

As he spoke, Nezu's expression grew darker and darker. Once the retelling was finished, he picked up his cup of tea and downed the entire thing. 'That's concerning. He never drinks fast unless he's panicked.'

"Oh dear." He poured himself a second cup. "I believe I know exactly who she is talking about. I had my theories, but knowing that man lives... this is quite the problem, indeed." The entire group seemed confused, except for Dictator, who had an expression of pure fear.

"Wait, you can't mean!? Not him! I thought he was meant to be dead!" He slammed his hands into his knees, having very few targets available. Nezu continued draining his cups, on his third by now.

The gentle voice of Anan spoke for the first time in this conversation. "Who are you two talking about? I think the rest of us might be confused." 

Nezu sighed. "I'm not the expert on that man. All Might wished to meet with Himiko, so when you visit him, ask him about a man named 'All for One.' He can tell you far more than what I know." The name alone sent shivers down the spine of everyone in the room, mainly scaring Dictator, who appeared to be hyperventilating. 

"I can arrange a lift for you all. I wish you luck, I'm sure you have a lot to talk about with our number one. We're done here anyway."

-~-

After a brief car ride courtesy of an Ectoplasm clone, the group arrived at the main campus. The press were crowding the gate once again, so they had to enter through a side entrance. The clone then led the group, sans Dictator for obvious reasons, through the halls, guiding them to All Might's office. 

"Are you always this busy? Two meetings in one day feel like a lot for a student." 

Izuku glanced back at Hagakure. "Is this really that unusual? I'm basically always this busy with Nezu. He calls me to meetings every day or two. All Might is new, but not the most surprising thing ever. I've talked to the rest of the staff too." She looked exasperated at his explanation.

"None of this is normal. Now I'm curious why. Mind explaining why you meet with the staff so often? How do you even have time to do so? It's only been a week. Aren't you going to get burnt out at this rate?" Her voice sounded worried.

"I would love to explain, but I'm not sure we have the time. I see Midnight's office, and I doubt they're that far apart." As expected, the Ectoplasm clone stopped in front of an office near the rest of the staff's personal rooms, granting Izuku the chance to ignore that conversation for a short while. The room was surprisingly basic, not what one would expect from the country's number one hero.

The clone left them, and Himiko hesitantly knocked on the door. After a mere second of delay, it slid open to reveal the giant himself. Izuku let out an excited yelp at the sight, even if it wasn't the first time. "You're here, young Himiko! And you brought friends." His voice was much less excited in the second half. "Thirteen? Young Hagakure? I was going to send you all away so I could talk to young Himiko, but it seems I have a lot to discuss with all of you. Come in, come in." The group sat down in front of the comically small desk, not matching All Might's size. Only Thirteen knew why, of course.

"To start, I must ask, how are you two alive, Hagakure, Thirteen? I know you two died, I saw the corpses. Arguably, you as well, Himiko, you recovered from a hole in your chest." 

Izuku looked at his idol, his awe and excitement fading into surprise. "Did Nezu not tell you about my quirk?"

All Might coughed into his hand, looking sheepish. "Well, about that..."

-~-

Elsewhere on the campus

Nezu had returned to his office, chuckling to himself as he thought about the meeting with All Might. 'I wonder if he'll still offer either of them One for All when he finds out. Oh, how I wish to see his face when he finds out, or when they ask about All for One. Letting him explain is so much more interesting. What a shame he insisted on no cameras over such measly concerns as privacy.'

He glanced down at the file on his desk, a copy of the altered file he had given All Might. It was a class roster for class 1-A, listing their quirks, backgrounds, and names. The only difference between All Might's roster and the rest of his staff was in the quirk section of one Izuku Midoriya.

It read "Redacted."

-~-

Izuku let out a bone-weary sigh as All Might told them about and showed them the redacted quirk description. 'That damn rat. I am going to make him a thrall one day, and we'll see who's laughing then, that damn sadist.'

So Izuku was forced to explain his quirk and the story behind it to his idol, watching the expression on his face grow anguished. He kept glancing at Himiko throughout the conversation, as his look of horror only grew. Once he was done, the giant leaned back.

And shrunk.

Startled by the impostor, Izuku jumped out of his seat and activated Despot. Himiko pulled out a knife, and Hagakure scrambled into a loose approximation of a fighting stance that she probably saw in a movie (they hadn't had a hand-to-hand combat class yet).

"Who are you? What did you do to All Might!?"

The skeleton man placed his hands up defensively, shaking his head aggressively. His black sclerae were all the more obvious as his eyes widened in fear. "Calm down, young Midoriya, it's still me! All of you, let me explain!" They all calmed as they noticed his appearance was still similar, and his voice was the same, even if less energetic.

"All Might... What... happened to you?" His shock and almost grief were leaking through his voice.

The man they used to view as a god sighed, a sound that carried the long decades of hero work with it. His form sank in, until he looked like nothing more than a washed-up old man. "Call me Yagi when I look like this, or Sensei, either works. I can usually hold my buff form pretty well, but I slipped up. Apparently, mental exhaustion impacts my hold just as much as physical." He rubbed his brow and mumbled a little more under his breath. "Learning my successor is dead..." Was all Izuku caught. 

"I don't even know where to begin with your quirk. I'm... shocked, obviously, just... I don't know. I am sorry for your loss, even if it was your own lives that were lost." He bowed to them, his face anguished. He could see that the group was still awaiting an explanation, bar Thirteen, so he relented.

"Fine, you've all seen this form anyway, and Thirteen already knows. About six years ago, I fought a villain. He was ridiculously strong, easily the toughest opponent I've ever faced." He lifted his shirt, showing them the ugly wound. Everyone but Himiko winced, even Anan, who had seen the wound before, when she learned this secret originally. Himiko licked her lips. "He ripped out most of my stomach. I'm only alive because I had all the strongest healing quirks in the country help me out. I can only operate for about two hours a day after fighting that monster at the USJ. It probably would have been worse if you hadn't lent a hand, young Midoriya." 

Putting aside his shock for now, Izuku focused on the part about fighting a villain, as well as what Nezu had told them to ask. "That villain... he wouldn't happen to be called All for One, would he?" It was easy enough to put together the context clues that had been scattered around. Nezu was clearly worried about him, so if All Might had struggled against a villain, it made sense if they were the same person.

At the question, the skeleton was replaced with a steaming giant with a look of sheer rage on his face. "How do you know that name!?"

The students and teacher all flinched back, some of them getting into slightly more defensive positions as raw fear welled from within. In that moment, they all learned what villains felt when the strongest man alive came knocking.

Pure terror.

"N-nezu told us! He said to ask you about him! He seems to think he's behind the USJ attack!" Izuku stammered out, the rest of the room being too protective of their master to speak out and risk angering the man more. 

All Might visibly deflated, his exhaustion returning as he once again became Yagi. "I see. That explains it. I must apologise for scaring you, children, that man simply brings out the worst in me." He began to growl as he spoke. "He was the only man I've ever wanted to kill. Heroes have to kill sometimes, even I, but I never like it. But I will admit, there was a level of satisfaction in crushing that man's skull. I felt some degree of guilt over it, but knowing he's still alive has just spat on it." He sighed again, looking less the symbol of peace and more a tired veteran. 

"I suppose you're all curious about who he was. All for One was born somewhere around the dawn of quirks. He was born with a quirk of the same name, allowing him to give and take quirks through contact. He used it to rule over the underworld, and still continues to this day, thanks to some longevity quirk, I assume. If he is still alive, that has some very worrying implications."

Izuku stared on, expressionless. It was the only reaction he could manage after learning such disastrous information. The entire room had grown silent, with Anan and Hagakure sharing in his shock. Himiko looked more scared.

"What's wrong, Himi?"

He gently nudged her side, trying to get her attention as she trembled.

"When I was... on the streets. I heard of him. The demon lord, the man closest to All Might. I thought he was just superstition, a rumor spread by higher-ranking thugs to keep the riff-raff complacent. I never thought..." 

Yagi nodded gravely. "Very few can match him. If we're lucky, he is injured. I did destroy his head, after all." He gave a humorless laugh as Izuku was sent back into slight shock.

He was still reeling from the sheer number of revelations being revealed.

All Might had crushed a man's skull on purpose.

There was a century-old villain who had already made an indirect attempt on their life.

Said villain had potentially the most powerful quirk in existence, which also broke the entire understanding people had of quirks.

Oh, and his idol had his stomach torn out.

Therapy was going to be an experience tomorrow.

Chapter Text

Toshinori Yagi was on a rollercoaster of emotions.

Learning that the selfless, kind, young woman that he had chosen as his successor was not just dead, but had been for years was...

'I... what is even the point of me being a symbol? If a child can be killed in the streets, what is the point of a symbol of peace? It's just an empty title.' He looked down at his hands, so much thinner than they once had been. They were covered in nicks and scratches from his heroic work, each scratch an injury that would have destroyed that hand if he were a normal man. 'How many times over would I have been killed if not for One for All? Could I have saved Himiko from that fate? If I just found her earlier, before my battle with All for One...'

Guilt and regret swirled in his stomach, only really hitting him now. 'It never set in at the USJ. I thought Himiko was alive. Same with Thirteen and Hagakure, they all got up, after all. But they weren't. I failed them all. I failed Himiko by focusing too much on All for One and letting villains get bold enough to kill in the streets. I failed Thirteen by not arriving fast enough at the USJ, by running around, stopping minor crimes as she and my students fought for their lives. I failed Hagakure by not paying enough attention, by letting that villain lay his hands on her right in front of me.' He had to clench his fist to stem his rage. The action felt almost pitiful with his hand so skeletal, so far from the nigh-god he once could have claimed to be.

But now was not the time for guilt. 

'All for One. He still lives. I'm so sorry, Nana, for failing you. Because I failed to put him down for good, his rot continues to fester. I will not fail again." With his inward vow made, he turned his attention back on the group. They appeared to be undergoing just as much shock as himself, which was entirely fair enough, considering the amount of revelations he had dumped on them. 

Unfortunately, he wasn't quite done yet. He just had to confirm a few things first.

"If I may ask, what drives the four of you to be heroes?"

It was an important question to clear up. After all, if Himiko was just blindly obeying Midoriya and not selfless at all, only acting because she was immortal anyway, then the reasons for her to receive One for All shrank massively. There was also a part of him that was simply curious beyond OFA as well, mainly with Thirteen and Hagakure. Those two weren't actual candidates in his eyes, at least from what he had seen so far.

Speaking of, Thirteen seemed to have the least hesitation to speak with him, most likely because they were co-workers before her end. "Ever since my quirk came in, I've wanted to be a hero. The idea of saving people, of just helping, it just felt right to me. People didn't really encourage my dreams, though." She played with the cuffs of her sleeves nervously. "People always said that my quirk was too dangerous. They said that it was only good for killing. I honestly wanted to be a more mainstream hero, fighting villains and saving people at once..." She took a shuddery breath. "Fate had other plans."

All Might blinked at how strangely open she was being about what was clearly a sensitive subject, not hearing the wince from the only other man in the room. He gave her a wide grin that reminded the group they were talking to All Might himself, no matter how weathered his face now appeared. "You are an incredible hero. Or were? I don't know if you still count anymore. Regardless, you have saved so many people, and I'm sure you will only save more, dead or not." Thirteen smiled slightly, although she still seemed slightly down. 'I really need to learn her real name.'

He turned his attention to the much younger woman next to his fellow hero, the ever-bubbly Hagakure. 'It's nice to see her so happy, and actually to see it at that. Truly a tragedy that it took death to finally let her be seen.'

"Oh, I-is it my turn? My reason isn't quite as, uh, selfless as that..." She tapped her fingers together as her face flushed, so obviously not used to hiding her reactions. Or perhaps she was just used to exaggerating them? "I... I've always been worried, no, scared of... being forgotten. With my quirk and no off switch, I was always, well, invisible. I got used to being in the background, just blending in and being glossed over. You should see how quiet I used to be back in middle school..." She chuckled with false cheer at the end of her sentence. "I wanted to be a hero to become famous. I thought that if I got really famous and high-ranking, then nobody would be able to forget me anymore. I wouldn't be a background character anymore." This time, much more genuine cheer appeared on her face as she shot up and posed. "But I don't have to worry about that now! I can be visible now, and I'm super cute too!" A smug look dethroned her frown.

He grew slightly worried about how quickly she was brushing past her issues, but there was nothing he could do, really; he was no therapist. He may be a teacher, but only barely. He would do his best if she came to him, but for now, it was best to leave her to the professionals; she would already be visiting them tomorrow.

With her reasoning complete, only Midoriya and Himiko remained. He was, if he was candid with himself, more interested in their reasoning than the first two. He had originally planned to make Himiko the 9th, but with all the reveals, it could just as easily go to Midoriya. If anything, it might be the same end result since the boy could use her quirk, or quirks if she received One for All.

Himiko kicked them off. "I didn't care either way about becoming a hero, at first. I just wanted to make Izu happy. Now I share his motivation. I'll let you tell him all about it; it's not my motive to tell." She smirked at him, enjoying the chance to tease him a little. The boy just sighed and gave her a glare that lacked any real anger, already tired of telling people about this after telling Todoroki all about it only a few hours ago.

"I wanted to be like you. Save people with a smile, turn the worst day of their lives into the greatest by my presence alone. But then I discovered my quirk, and I realized that wasn't a realistic goal." He sat up straighter as he looked his idol in the eye, summoning the will to continue. "I can't be like you, not anymore. So I want to be better. Having a symbol of peace leads to exactly that, peace. But it does nothing to change things. With how bad society is, what we have simply isn't good enough. Mutant hate groups still exist and thrive, quirkism is prevalent. Even somewhere like UA only started accepting the quirkless recently.  Most importantly, at least to me, so many people are persecuted for having 'villainous' quirks. I want to change that."

"If I had to summarize, I would say that I don't want to be like you anymore. I want to surpass you."

"I don't want to be another symbol of peace. I want to become a symbol of change."

Fire burned behind his eyes as he stared into the sunken eyes of the man who was not supposed to have an equal. He didn't flinch at the piercing gaze of the man who single-handedly could reduce a country's crime rate by existing. 

And the once-giant laughed.

It was a deep, booming laugh. A laugh that matched his bulked-up form much more than the man struggling to fill his chair. All Might coughed up blood as his laugh came to an end. Himiko clenched Izuku's hand in an effort to keep herself restrained, not being able to stop herself from licking her lips as she watched him wipe the blood up with a napkin.

"You certainly have the courage for it, at least! Very well, I look forward to watching your resolve for myself!" He clapped his hands and let the final bits of his laughter die down. "You have a strong will. It'll serve you well in heroics. After all, not many could look me in the eyes and tell me they intend to surpass me. Do you truly think you have what it takes to become number one?"

Izuku didn't break his gaze. "I do. I will surpass you, for the sake of the future." He added more in his mind, something he really shouldn't say to someone like All Might. 'Even if that means building a pile of HPSC corpses.'  

Yagi let out a satisfied huff, happy to see the boy had the will that was necessary for a quirk like One for All. 'That settles it. Himiko is just supporting him, so it only makes sense if I give it to him. I should-'

"By the way, Al-, Yagi, I've been meaning to ask, do you have any idea why my quirk registers you as 7 corpses?"

All Might blue-screened.

After about ten seconds of pure silence, All Might let out a "huh?"

"I can sense possible targets for resurrection. That's how I knew that I could take over that Nomu. I can sense seven different possible thralls from you, so I wanted to ask if you knew what was causing that."

He continued staring in shock at the boy who just totally undercut the reveal of his dramatic, life-changing secret. 'How am I even supposed to bring it up now? Wait, could he resurrect the past holders!? Can he bring back...'

He took a settling breath to prepare himself to share a secret most of the world would kill for. "I think that may be because of my quirk." Izuku perked up, a glint of excitement in his eye from potentially learning such a massive secret about his idol. "You see, it's a bit of a long story. All for One was not an only child. He had a younger brother, sickly and quirkless. Perhaps as an effort to control him, or even out of genuine care, it's impossible to know, he forced a stockpiling quirk onto his sibling. What nobody knew was that the sickly boy actually had an invisible quirk, useless on its own. The ability to pass on held quirks via DNA. The transfer quirk became one with the stockpiler and was crowned 'One for All'. It has been passed down through the years from one holder to the next to defeat All for One, until it reached me, the eighth holder."

Silence reigned again at yet another huge revelation.

Eventually, Izuku swallowed his nerves, the suddenly tense atmosphere getting to him. "So, let me get this straight. The reason you're so strong is because you have a quirk passed down from the dawn of quirks?" All Might nodded patiently. "What was your birth quirk then? Is that how you bulk up?"

This time, he shook his head. "I was actually born quirkless. My bulked up form is just me sucking in my gut and flexing my muscles."

Izuku gave him a deadpan look. That was way too much of a change for something literally anyone can do. Regardless, the pro seemed to genuinely believe that. "Right..." He focused back on the massive information he now knew, and what that meant for his quirk. "Wait, so I can sense seven corpses from you because they are all the past holders of your quirks? So then, does that mean quirks carry their user with them when transferred? It's not something just anyone can do, so people wouldn't be able to test." 

It explained a lot when he thought about it. It explained the Nomu and the little girl accompanying it. Two sentient beings inside one body, now separated in his storage. It also explained the storage itself, if you argued that he was storing them the same way the holders were stored in All Might, and then manifesting them into reality. Is this why the animal thralls were so tiring, except the quirked? Was he primarily summoning the quirks themselves, and then the body was just a vessel? The tiredness that came with summoning the quirkless would then be explained as his quirk making an 'empty' vessel, and not liking it. It could also explain why thralls could restrain their quirks but not disobey him. They still had control over their quirks because it was all they were. Their bodies and arguably their minds (the brain was really just another body part) were under his control, while they had their quirk.

Or at least, that was his working theory.

This was certainly an interesting conversation. 

"Izu, are you okay?" He felt Himiko clench his hand again, this time for his own sake instead of her own.

'Why is she- oh. I'm shaking. Huh.'

He had come to a realization, of sorts. 'If I just resurrect the quirk itself, are they even the same person still? Is the girl clenching my hand the same Himiko I watched die? Anan and Hagakure, did they both die for real at the USJ, and these are just their quirks?'

Someone was breathing heavily, panicked.

"Young Midoriya, are you ok?"

"Izu?" She sounded so worried. Her cat-like irises looked into his with slight tears forming. Her blonde hair trailed down her shoulder, her body pressed into his as she tried to get close to provide comfort to whatever issue he was facing. He stared back, taking in all the little details of her appearance. Things he had never noticed before, tiny parts of her appearance that were seemingly inconsequential. Tiny scars from her time on the street faded with time and age. 

He calmed his breathing, slowly.

'I didn't know about things like that when I brought her back, which means I didn't entirely remake her body. It remade itself as it was. The brain is just part of the body, so this is the same mind that was always there, right? There's no way I make a new body every time I take her in and out of storage; my quirk would exhaust me, so I must just be moving her. So she's herself. Not a quirk, not Transform. Just Himiko.'

'Just Hagakure.'

'Just Anan.'

'Just Dictator, even. Although he's barely himself anymore, so unless I go out of my way to remove the brainwashing, that probably isn't accurate.' 

'Besides... brainwashing wouldn't make sense if they weren't themselves anymore. Why would I need brainwashing if I'm rebuilding their body fresh anyway? Couldn't I just... change their brain? Make them loyal by design? Unless that's what the brainwashing is, and then removing it is actually putting their brain back to how it originally was. Does that mean I could alter people's bodies with my quirk? I don't like that idea, not very heroic.' 

'God, my understanding of my quirk is so weird. I need to go over the entire process.'

Step 1. Find a bodyless quirk, either in a corpse or through someone having multiple.

Step 2. Grant that quirk a vessel to inherit. Based on the fact that he could resurrect All Might's predecessors despite having no clue what they looked like, this vessel must be a copy of how they were in life. The only obvious difference was that his quirk shaped their natural brain to be subservient and happy to be so. Probably did something to the aging as well, considering Hercules was still alive. He could also use his own body as a temporary vessel, housing their quirk.

Step 3. He could now freely move that quirk and its vessel between this 'quirk realm' and the real world. This seemed to include items on them, such as clothing and weapons. Because of the brainwashing (or brain altering?), the vessel would completely obey, even if the quirk itself didn't. This meant that the thralls, as he knew them, were still themselves, but only when the brainwashing was gone, or he had put their brain back to their natural state. This was... workable. It was roughly what he already knew.

'Or at least, that's usually how my quirk works. It can also make empty vessels for the quirkless.' He rubbed his brow, so lost in his thoughts and quirk analysis that he didn't notice the room was panicking around him at the expressions that had flashed across his face. 'Why did I need to be born with such a complex quirk? How is this fair? How do some people just have like, stretchy fingers, and I have... this? Probably shouldn't complain, I think most would be jealous of me. Still, why do I have to think of complex psychology issues to just use my fucking quirk? Am I going to have to learn how the brain works to help me fight the brainwashing better?'

He finally noticed the worry on everyone else in the room. "Why are you all looking at me like that?"

"Young Midoriya, are you ok? You look rather... upset." 

Something wet hit his hand.

"Oh, I'm crying now?"

'Great.'

Chapter Text

After a few minutes of gentle consoling from Himiko, Izuku was able to summon the will to talk about his thoughts with the room.

From his up-to-date summary of his quirk to his conclusion on whether they were even themselves, he told them everything. 

He pulled his face away from Himiko's chest, instantly missing the feeling of her softness and her hand running through his curls. The room had grown tense throughout his narration of his concerns with thralls being themselves, or at least, it had with All Might Yagi. Hagakure and Anan seemed perfectly fine.

"So, Young Midoriya, you're confident that thralls are still themselves?" His voice seemed to waver.

Izuku was little better. "I wouldn't say confident, but I think so. My quirk isn't powerful enough to constantly create new bodies; it would struggle to do so even once. Once I undo my alterations to the brain, they should be themselves." 

Yagi nodded after a brief second of hesitation. "In that case, may I make a request, of sorts? It might be a bit selfish, but please." He bowed in his seat, making Izuku flinch back.

"Y-you don't need to beg! I'll help out if it's something I can do." He waved his hands in front of himself in a panic. 

"Thank you, Young Midoriya. I assume you still sense those potential thralls from me?" He nodded in confusion. "Could you try taking one of them? I know you won't be able to make a body, but you should be able to communicate in your storage, right? Or send a thrall in there to pass messages?"

Izuku thought about it for a second, muttering under his breath before he landed on a question. "Are you sure you want that? If these quirks are stored inside One for All, you or the next holder should be able to do something with them, right? I wouldn't want to weaken you or the next holder."

Yagi laughed, then gave a reassuring smile. "Well, that won't be a problem! After all, I would like to make you the next holder!"

"..."

"Sorry?"

"I think you would make a great ninth. In truth, I originally planned to offer it to Young Himiko, but that isn't really an option anymore." Himiko didn't look offended. "After all, you only have a limited range, correct? We can't have the next symbol of peace on a leash! Besides, my criteria for the next holder are someone with a strong sense of justice and kindness, as well as enough bravery to jump right into danger to save someone else. At the entrance exam, I watched you two risk your lives to save someone else, and while Himiko had the excuse of being immortal, you didn't, and you still jumped into action! You will make a fine symbol of pea-, no, a great symbol of change!" The man seemed pumped up at his own speech.

Only for his excitement to vanish as he continued. "Not to mention, if All for One still lives, I hesitate to make a target out of anyone. I would keep it, to take the burden upon myself and spare you of it, but there's no way he won't target you anyway. In all my encounters with All for One, he spoke of wanting One for All back because he wanted his brother. There's no way he will ignore a quirk that could potentially bring him back. That isn't even mentioning the fact that your quirk could rival his own and actually become a threat, the other reason he wants One for All."

Izuku glanced around the room. Hagakure and Anan both gasped at the offer initially, before taking on equally shocked and proud expressions. Himiko ghosted her hand over his own to give him the courage he needed to reply, her expression matching his own. "I... I don't think that's a good idea."

That was, they both wore a frown.

"..."

"Huh?" Yagi blinked, staring in shock as the offer of a lifetime was denied.

"I don't think making me become the 9th is a good idea." Izuku rubbed at his wrists, nervous to meet the other man's eyes. "How am I supposed to become a symbol of change by copying the symbol of peace? They're kind of opposed."

"I don't think the quirk determines your role. Why would having One for All make you a bad symbol of change?" Yagi sat up a little straighter, injecting more confidence into his rebuttal.

"It's more than that. For one, I want to be a hero for the downtrodden, for those judged for their quirks. How am I supposed to inspire those with 'villainous' quirks with the most 'heroic' quirk of all? I don't think a repainted All Might is enough; we need something different. Besides, look at the state of the hero industry. Look at how much it relies on you."

All Might raised an eyebrow, but lowered it as he thought about it more.

"Not to sound arrogant, but I have one of the only quirks that can match One for All in the current generation, at least on the hero's side, and from what I've heard. If I took One for All, we would repeat this situation, where we have one hero over the others, dwarfing the power of every other hero. Wouldn't it be better to spread out the power as much as possible? We don't need another solitary pillar; we need a complete set of foundations."

Despite his rejection, All Might smiled, although he didn't seem entirely happy. "I see. I suppose you're correct. Just another mistake I've made in my career, huh?" He sighed as he sat back.

"I wouldn't say that." Yagi gained some light in his blue, sunken eyes. "I've studied your history relentlessly, if I'm being honest. And I think Japan needed you. Back in your early days, we needed someone to rally behind; we needed a symbol. The country was such a mess that we needed someone to restore it. I don't think a hundred capable but still average heroes would inspire that same sense of hope that one seemingly omnipotent hero could. The symbol of peace was what saved this country from destruction; now we just need to focus on improving it."

The symbol of peace let out a satisfied huff. "Thank you, Midoriya. You really would make a good ninth. Still, I will respect your wishes. However, I would still like to request that you take at least one of the past holders for yourself. You said it yourself, the power should be split as much as possible instead of consolidating it. One for All is already so powerful, and will only grow with time. Even you will likely fall behind, at least at your current rate of growth. Besides, and this is a selfish request, but I would like to be able to see my master again. If there is a version of her in One for All, and you could take her with Thread of Life, there should be a way to see her, right?"

"I think so. I assume she's the most recent death? It would probably knock me out for a few days, but I might be able to grow an entire body for a more recent death. Even if not, I might get better with time, or get a thrall with an endurance quirk, or we could even have Himiko talk to her. It would let us consolidate information on All for One, and she could share any info she learned in One for All. Maybe spending years in the quirk realm has taught her something we don't know?"

Yagi visibly brightened, his mood soaring. "I see. I must admit, it is a shame to know a physical body is a far-off goal, but just knowing there is still something left of my master is reassuring. You are welcome to take her whenever you are ready, Young Midoriya."

One of the thus far silent three interjected, Hagakure, to be exact. "Wait, wait, wait! How do you know it won't drag the entire thing out? And how do you know the past holders even want to come out? The brainwashing won't work since they're just quirks, it'd be unfair if she blamed Midoriya!"

Yagi chuckled. "I know my master well enough to know she would want this. There's no world where I see Nana choosing to sit around as a spectator when she could rejoin the war against that demon. As for dragging it all out, I'm not opposed to Midoriya having it anyway. The question is if you'll take that risk, Young Midoriya."

He nodded, but still gulped as he focused on the feeling of seven strings, woven into a rainbow braid. Imaginary fingers trailed over them, sensing the age of each until he found a pink one that was slightly less woven in than the rest. Hesitation seized him as he took an intangible yet gentle grasp of it, feeling the stares of the entire room on him like he was under a scalpel. "Are you absolutely sure of this? Whatever happens here, One for All is going to be changed, presumably forever. It might even take some of the power from you." 

Yagi, no, All Might looked at him with cold determination. "Even ignoring sentimentality, more information on how transferring quirks work might be invaluable when fighting a man entirely based on doing so. Throwing away our best chance to get information on All for One is inviting mistakes. Do it."

Izuku shot a string into All Might, letting it harmlessly sink into his torn stomach. It pulsed pink as one of the interwoven threads came loose without resistance, becoming one of his ever-growing army of thralls. His body almost seemed lighter as the quirk took root inside him, constantly active just like shock absorption, since it had nowhere else to go. "I really should have asked earlier, but what was her quirk? I kinda need to know what I'm working with."

Yagi chuckled. "Nana's quirk was float. It became flight with the boosts from One for All, so depending on how much power you drew out, if any, you might be able to fly."

He rose from his seat experimentally, doing a small jump on the spot as he let the quirk pulse from within. His body never fell, staying suspended in mid-air. "W-well, test one works. Now for test two." 

His body didn't move at all. "Guess there's no flight, unless I'm missing something. Maybe the 7th can give me some advice?" 

Yagi just watched with solemn nostalgia. "Incredible. You really can take her. So, you were with me all along, Nana?" He appeared lost in his thought for a drawn-out moment, a faraway reverence in his eyes. Izuku took the opportunity to turn his attention to the small group of thralls.

"Himi, are you ready?" 

"Yep! Send me inside whenever you want!" Her smile split her face, causing Izuku to blush.

Anan chimed in, more attentive than her lost colleague. "Not that there's any issue with it, but why Himiko specifically?"

Izuku turned to Anan with a patient expression. "Himiko didn't explain it last night? At least for now, thralls seem to be more tired in storage the more they're brainwashed. Himiko is the only one with little enough brainwashing to stay awake for extended periods in there. Didn't you experience that when you went in last night?"

"I did, but I thought I was just tired because of the long day. It's not like I was trying to stay awake, so I wouldn't notice being compelled to sleep."

'I don't think you'd notice any unnatural compulsions, not until the control slips.' He thought to himself, giving another reminder to start the process of stripping the brainwashing from the pair of thralls as soon as possible.

With that addressed, he teleported Himiko into the storage/quirk realm.

-~-

As per usual (although she was here less recently), all she saw was black upon first entering.

Cat-like pupils scanned the void, once again finding the familiar chairs. Atropos was curled up in his cat bed, Dictator in his throne of thorns and barbs, Hercules in his tiny ant chair on the arm of Himiko's. There were also many quirkless thralls scattered around the storage, all asleep in various positions. Himiko was still the only thrall that had the control weakened, and thus was the only one who could stay awake for more than a few seconds, at least among the summonable thralls.

'Huh, almost feel bad for Dictator. Sleeping on that doesn't look comfortable, even if he's immune to conventional pain.' She then turned her attention to the newer guests.

The Nomu was still sealed in chains, roaring as two opposing forms of mind control battled for dominance. A little red-headed girl watched on, a frown on her face.

Most importantly for today's purposes was a heroine standing there. Long black hair seemed to billow behind her, accompanied by a white cape. Her costume left her arms exposed except for large yellow gloves, as well as hugging her impressive bust and abs, the deep black bodysuit extending all the way to her white boots, only broken up by a red belt. Himiko licked her lips at the sight.

"Never quite got your real name, just Nana. Or do you prefer float? You'll have to teach me about how to be polite in the quirk realm, only just moved in recently, you see." She grinned. 

The older woman huffed at the senior thralls teasing, before letting her sharp eyes take in every tiny detail of her appearance, as if dissecting her. A thousand battles lingered in her gaze, considering all possible threats. "We've been calling it the vestige realm, but whatever. I must say, you're chairs don't look nearly as comfortable as the ones in One for All. Please tell me I'm not sitting on thorns for eternity, too." She gestured to the sleeping Dictator, his chair no longer obscuring his real name on its text.

"He did that to himself, as far as I'm aware. I'm sure Izu can sort something more comfortable for you." She met the gaze of the pro, yellow, vampiric eyes met those that had fought the devil himself, mostly black with a tiny spark of pink. 

The tension broke as Nana laughed boisterously. 'So that's where All Might got it from.'

"Alright, kid, let's drop the dick-measuring contest. I can see through Toshi's eyes, I know why you're here. I would have fought that kid grabbing me a lot harder if I didn't." 

Himiko raised an eyebrow, also dropping the assessment. "That must have been unpleasant. I can't imagine watching through his eyes all the time."

Nana gave her a deadpan look and gestured to the screen showing Izuku talking to All Might as he kept playing with Float. 

"That's different! It's not some old man, it's Izu!" Nana chuckled at her incensed reaction.

"Fine, fine. It's a pleasure to meet you anyway, kid. Nana Shimura, you're Himiko, right?"

She received an energetic nod.

"Right. Well, we can cut the pleasantries. You want info, don't you? I can tell you what the others told me in One for All, at the very least. Might want to take a seat."

Himiko did, taking her designated throne and petting Hercules in his sleep. She had to be careful not to crush his tiny ant body. This left Nana awkwardly standing around until she hesitantly sat on the sleeping Atropos.

"So, where do you want to start? We're not exactly on a timer. I can tell you what little I know about All for One that you don't already, I can tell you about the opinions of the other holders, we have a lot to cover."

Chapter Text

"Probably best we start with All for One, right? The more we know about him, the better."

Nana nodded as she readjusted her position on the sleeping spider-tiger, still looking uncomfortable at the beast as it breathed steadily beneath her. "Honestly, I don't know anything more than Toshi does. I told him everything I knew back when I was... alive. I only met All for One personally once anyway, and he didn't need any quirks to beat me that Toshi didn't later fight anyway."

Himiko frowned. "Really? I would have thought flight would make him rely on projectiles more than he would against a brawler like All Might."

Nana scoffed at her question. "One thing you should know, that man is ridiculously petty. He refuses to fight One for All in anything but melee, wants to prove his own quirk superior. He might use a few quirks when there's still some distance, but once you get close, he won't make any move to back away. He would probably be a lot more threatening if he did, considering he probably has at least a hovering quirk that he could rain projectiles from." 

The blonde pulled out a knife and spun it around her finger as she thought. "So we should try to face him in melee?"

Amusement filled Nana's face as she barked out a laugh. "God no. He fought Toshi in his prime; you're not competing with that. Even if you get that monstrosity to help you, All for One could just blow it away." She gestured to the still-struggling and growling Nomu, its chains loud as it tried to rip them out of the non-existent wall. "If Midoriya wants to match All for One, he's going to need a significant boost. That or get a couple of ranged quirks. Probably won't be enough to be a massive threat, but it might be enough of a pest that, working with his stronger thralls, he could maybe eke out a win. I could help train him as well to increase his chances. I have experience with quirks like his after All for One, and I know Float pretty well, naturally. We will need faster communication, though. Also, this plan assumes All for One couldn't just rip the quirks out of any brawlers. He doesn't have the tools to combat him if he can." 

"If he can rip quirks out in the middle of combat, why didn't he ever do that with All Might?" Himiko paused her knife flipping to voice her curiosity.

"One for All can resist quirk stealing." Himiko raised an eyebrow. "I came willingly. If you tried it on some of the others, you wouldn't have been able to."

"They're not willing to come?"

"Why would they be? As far as most of them are concerned, Midoriya is just the next All for One. Well, mainly Second and Third, the others were a little more open-minded." Seeing the growl forming in Himiko's throat, she rushed to defend herself. "I'm not saying I agree, get angry at them!" She waved her hands as Himiko gripped her knife, her knuckles turning white. "Look, can you really blame them? They died fighting a war against a quirk stealer and have been sitting around sucking their thumbs in the void for a century. I think they have a right to get defensive when they see an arguably more powerful version of the same quirk pop up!"

Himiko took a deep breath to try to calm herself. Blood trickled down her hands as she clenched her blade, only for the cut to reseal itself as it filled with new blood. "Izu would never do anything like what that man has. He's not anything like that. Judging him because of his quirk being similar to their killer is just blatant quirkism. Don't know what I expected, they are a century old, of course, they're a little outdated!"

"They're not that bad, calm down! They're just a little... paranoid? I'm sure they'll change their mind when they see more of the kid, if he's really such a good person."

"They are very lucky they're not here. Izu doesn't usually let me stab anyone, but for some reason, I think I can feel that urge resurfacing."

Nana rubbed sweat from her brow. "Look, can we just postpone this argument? I agree with you anyway; getting mad at me doesn't change anything. Don't we have more important matters to discuss, like the century-old villain that wants your boyfriend dead?"

The anger was ripped out of the senior thrall, her face flushing from red to pink. "He's not my boyfriend! There's no way he sees me that way, not with all the brainwashing and the... me."

"I'm not opening this can of worms; you clearly have strong feelings over it. What were we even talking about again? Oh, right. You might be able to get Fourth through Sixth to jump ship, but you'll struggle. Second and Third just aren't happening unless he does something particularly impressive, like executing a jaywalker or something, knowing those two. Midoriya needs to get as many on board as we can, though, bar First."

"Two questions. Why not first? Why do we need them? I understand more quirks are nice, but won't the Ninth get them if Izuku doesn't? It shouldn't be the biggest deal."

"We don't want First for two reasons. One, One for All will become stealable if it has nobody to protect it. We're the only thing actually keeping it safe. Even just relying on First is risky, but we need at least one left behind, or it'll be almost effortless. Two, we don't know fully how it works. If First is taken, what if Toshi loses his ability to pass on the quirk at all? If we don't want the death of One for All, that's kinda necessary. For your second question, you need a bit of a history lesson."

"You see, the First, Second, and Third holders were all killed by All for One himself. The only one to this day not to die to him was Fourth, well, and Toshi."

"How did Fourth die?"

"Old age."

"Really? All for One didn't bother him for like, sixty years? Assuming Third didn't give it to an old man."

Nana chuckled. "Nope. Fourth was only in his early twenties. And he died of old age at the ripe age of forty." Himiko blinked at her. "Trivia question for you. How old is All Might?"

"Uh, like, 50? I don't know, Izu would." 

"Eh, close enough. Regardless, you see the problem there, right? Toshi is still doing just fine in terms of age. What sets him apart from Fourth?"

"How would I know that?"

"Fair enough, I'll just tell you. As Toshi told you, he didn't have a quirk. We believe that having multiple quirks might be the issue. It is just a theory, but It would at least explain why All for One has never fielded an army of multi-quirked soldiers." The Nomu screamed in the background. "Until now, I suppose."

"Wait, does that mean Izu is going to die early!?" Himiko shot out of her chair as she stared at the pro, starting to tremble.

Nana winced and leaned back against Atropos. "I... can't say for sure. All for One is doing unfortunately fine, so some quirks might come with built-in protection, but he could also be stealing enough quirks to offset it, like longevity or some healing. Most quirks do have some level of protection towards themselves, though. Plus, it's not like Midoriya always has the quirks in himself, right? So there should be even fewer issues?"

After a brief moment of the two staring at each other, the tension almost tangible as the Nomu's shrieks were the only sound in the air, Himiko sat down in her seat, a cold calmness taking over. "Then we'd better find a villain with a longevity quirk soon. It sure would be a shame to have to kill a civilian to protect Izu." 

Nana chuckled nervously. "You have a... good sense of humor. At least I actually have someone funny to spend my time with; you should have seen how bad everyone in One for All was for humor." Himiko kept staring blankly. "Fuck. You're not joking, are you?"

"Why would I joke about Izu's safety? I will do anything to protect him, even if that means making him hate me." 

The older woman shuddered at the look in her fellow thrall's eyes. A look that had been suppressed by years of peace and subservience. A look that had carried some of her... harsher actions on the streets. Unfortunately, there was nothing she could really do to stop her. She couldn't communicate with Midoriya, seemingly, and it's not like Himiko would report this to him herself, knowing he would forbid it.

"How about you save that as a backup plan? I mean, he might be just fine without any quirks, right? Why don't you just give it a few years to find out if anything happens first? Hey, you might even stumble into the right quirk naturally, and nobody has to get hurt. Isn't that better than ruining your relationship? Besides, it's not exactly a good look for Midoriya if he fights your brainwashing and you use your autonomy to kill a civilian. What do you think that will do to him?" She bit her lip, praying that would be enough to dissuade the once-criminal.

A large smile bloomed on Himiko's face, the mask slipping back on. "Good point. I couldn't do that to him if there was no other choice. Thanks for talking sense into me!" Her grin was almost too large; there was something just off about it. 

"Eh, no problem? So, uh, what's next on the agenda, kid? Are we done?" She ended her sentence with a weak, forced chuckle.

Himiko put her finger to her chin, the coldness forgotten, or at least pushed back. "I don't think I have any more questions. Anything else to say about All for One?"

"There is one thing." Her tone had lost the nerves of before, once again taking on the determination she often seemed to possess when talking about that man. "I know I gave a lot of advice about how to tackle All for One here, but please, don't. Chances are, if you or Midoriya fight him, you've already lost. This advice is for a worst-case scenario. Please don't hunt him down. This is One for All's fight, and as much as it pains me, that means it's Toshi's. You two are just kids, let the adults handle the century-old super villain."

"I'll keep that in mind, but it's Izuku who makes those calls. If he asks me to kill All for One..." Her knife reappeared from whatever space she had hidden it in. "I wouldn't succeed by myself, I'm sure, but I would try my best." She broadcast a message to Midoriya through their link, asking to be let out. "I'll see you later, Shimura." Her chilling smile reappeared.

And in an instant, she was gone.

-~-

The summary from Himiko was short enough once she reappeared in the office, quickly beginning to rattle off all the information she had gleaned.

1. All for One was petty. This was not news.




2. Nana was willing to help with training once better communication was set up. Perhaps a telepathy quirk would sort it?




3. Taking the quirks would protect the next wielder from any drawback, at least partially. Winning over the past holders should probably become one of the highest priorities, unless they want to try to take them by force. Considering the quirks would be nerfed into oblivion by them if they did this, it was probably better to try peace.




4. Do not fight All for One if it can be avoided.




'Oh, and of course, I might be dying. Grand. Today really just had to have every possible revelation, huh?' He gulped, swallowing the rising panic.




"Ok, what do we do with this news?"




It was All Might that responded. "I... don't know. I'm just thankful that we were able to find this out quickly. If I passed on One for All to someone, and it killed them..." The shrunken man trailed off, his voice noticeably lacking any of his usual mirth. "Do you wish to try dragging the rest of the quirks out now? It would give us a basis to go off of."




Izuku shook his head. "Not right now. If they actually do fight back, it's going to drain all my energy. I don't believe there's any huge rush, so I just need a rest right now. Let me know if you choose a candidate and I'll work on it as fast as possible." 




All Might nodded, accepting his decision. "In that case, you may all go if you wish. I think we all have a lot to think about after today. So many revelations so quickly." He sighed.




Izuku and his group tentatively rose from their seats and left the room, leaving Yagi Toshinori alone in his office.




The last look Izuku got of his face showed nothing but empty eyes.

Chapter Text

The walk back through the halls of UA was done in silence. 

Revelations over One for All, All for One, his own potential death, and Nana's situation all swirled through his mind. The others didn't seem to be taking things much better.

Himiko was grinning in a way too unsettling for anyone who knew her to believe.

Anan was biting her lip as she played with her hands absently, the strange black substance from her quirk writhing around on her arms. 

Lastly, Hagakure was openly frowning, with watery eyes, either unaccustomed to or unconcerned with hiding her reaction.

"Do... do you really think you're going to die? Is there anything we can do?" Hagakure had trained her leaking eyes on him.

"I don't know. Just because All for One is fine doesn't mean I am. Still, I will do everything I can to survive. I'm not giving up." Hagakure smiled at his promise, wiping her eyes.

"Good. I can't be dying so soon after coming back." She tried to inject some humor into her tone, but it just fell flat, letting the group fall back into an awkward silence. They kept walking. Izuku elected to focus on the strong smell of blood in the air to distract from the gnawing silence that the others seemed unwilling to break, and the memories playing through his mind that filled the gap. An arm torn off, a girl's body decaying, and another having a hole punched through her chest.

'Wait, why do I smell blood?'

"Wait, have none of you had a bath or shower since the USJ? Now that I'm paying attention, the smell of blood is powerful." He sniffed himself as he asked the question, looking down at the dried blood around his arm that only recently had been ripped off and regrown. He shuddered at the messy circle of blood that, without regeneration, would have marked a stump.

Himiko closed the distance, her smile now more natural, at the cost of becoming her signature teasing grin. "Oh? Is there a reason you're sniffing us, Izu?~" She got right up in his face. "Perv."

He backed up, blushing. "N-no, I wasn't sniffing you. The smell is just really strong, ok? I didn't have to try to sniff anyone."

The vampire pouted and slouched, losing her grin. "Rude."

He didn't relent. 

"Fiiiinee. I'll take a bath when we get back, geez. What about you two? What are we going to do for the range?" She had turned to Anan and Hagakure. It was the older of the two who replied.

"How is that even going to work? Can't we not go too far from Midoriya? Unless you suggest we share a bath." The pro blushed at her own suggestion, although she didn't seem strictly against it. 

"If I use transform, I can be a conduit for you two. That way, Izu won't see anything." Himiko looked awfully proud of her idea.

"Wait, but that would still let them see me! Can't you just go by yourself first, and then go again with clothes and wait in the room while they clean up!?"

That same grin emerged. "We can't keep these poor girls waiting, right? They've just died, and you're going to make them wait to clean the blood from their deaths off them?"

At the smug grin from Himiko, the blush from Anan, and the sparkle in Hagakure's eye, Izuku had no choice but to relent.

-~-

The false Izuku sank into the water, sighing as the warmth soaked their body, instantly removing flecks of dried blood. Anan and Hagakure followed shortly after, both blushing as they sat around the edge of the small tub. They each had about an arm's length between them, forming a triangle in the circular bath.

Himiko stretched her bare arms, admiring Izuku's veins and imagining taking a bite. The other two were doing the exact opposite, trying to look everywhere but at her disguise. 

"Come onnn, no need to be shy. You two can look all you like. I have a towel on anyway, you won't see what we really want to~." Hagakure took her invitation shyly, while Anan made it a point to look away.

"I'm not going to look at my student like that. He's a kid, I'm not attracted to him."

Himiko pouted, the expression unnatural on Izuku's face. "So uptight. Are you sure?~ Just look at how fit this body is." She played with her own pecs as her smile returned, teasing. 

Hagakure stopped drooling long enough to join the conversation. "What does he even do? How is he that fit?"

Himiko chuckled. "We've been training for years, so we're both pretty fit. Not to brag, but I can match up to this, too." She held her arms in front of herself with a proud look on her face, basking in the attention and that warm comfort of becoming her master. Once she was satisfied, she turned her attention to the other two.

Hagakure was quite thin, with pale skin because of her quirk reflecting the light. Slight muscle had developed, but she was yet to become massively fit, considering she was only just starting to exercise reliably. Her chartreuse hair spilled over her shoulders, allowed to grow wildly since being visible was new to it. What was more interesting to Himiko was her modest chest and slim waist, causing her to lick her lips. The other two had chosen to go completely naked for this bath, given that they saw no reason to hide from her. 

Anan was taller and fitter. Rescue hero or not, she had still been a hero for years and exercised regularly, a sight she much appreciated. Her chest was almost flat, but Himiko didn't let that stop her gaze. What mainly drew her eyes was that black substance. Her hero costume entirely hid it, and her clothes earlier had mostly done so too, so only now could she get a proper look. It was like ink, deep black without a shred of color. It was oddly reminiscent of looking out into the void in the quirk realm, an endless black. The substance that was most likely behind Anan's blackholes would flow around her body seemingly at random, from her legs, to her chest, her arms, and anywhere else it wished. It never settled on a definite shape, remaining in featureless blobs.

Together, they were a visual banquet for the bisexual vampire. 

The two were ignorant of her gaze, more focused on a conversation that had started between them as she was lost in her perversion. 

"When you died... what did you see?" Hagakure's voice was what broke her out of her thoughts, although the question had been addressed to her teacher.

"It was just black. It was kind of like Midoriya's storage, not that you've seen it yet. At least the storage has those chairs, though, and a central plaza of sorts. Death was just... empty." 

Hagakure nodded vigorously. "Same! It was freaky. I've never been religious, but I don't think I'll start now. I've never heard of any religion that has an afterlife of just a cold, silent void." 

Anan nodded in a much calmer manner, although she looked thoughtful. "Neither have I. However, it could also just be a waiting room, of sorts. You could always argue that we only experienced that because death knew we weren't going to be... permanent guests."

"Hey, you two are supposed to be relaxing! Stop talking about death and just enjoy the damn bath!" Himiko splashed around as she teasingly tried to steer them to happier subjects. The two did not seem to agree with the sentiment.

"What was it like for you, Himiko?"

She gave a glare at them, lacking any real anger, before she sighed in resignation. "I barely remember. It's been years, and it was brief anyway. I barely remember the day at all, honestly." The two didn't seem satisfied with such meager info, and Hagakure was apparently bold enough to voice it.

"You never said how you died before. Now that we're dead too, could you maybe...eh, tell us? We can relate now, since we died too!" She smiled as she spoke, seemingly genuine. It didn't stop Himiko from analysing every inch of her expression.

"I'm not going into much detail." She grumbled out, instantly earning the attention of the other two. Anan scooted over and rested a comforting hand on her shoulder, quickly ignoring the previous embarrassment to comfort the girl wearing her master's skin. "When I was nine... I had an... unlucky encounter with some thugs." She pinched her skin, seeking the comfort of her master's warmth. "They beat me to death in an alleyway. I'm just lucky that was all they did." Her voice had lost any real joy, sounding relatively empty now. Hagakure had flinched back.

Anan pulled her into her chest, prompting Himiko to make an internal joke, although her heart wasn't in it. She couldn't even bring herself to feel any lust in the somber moment, although the memory might. "Did they get arrested? Surely they didn't get away with that." Himiko looked up from the face full of boobs to look at the woman's face.

"If they did, not because of me. I never saw their faces through the masks, and even if I did, my case would have exposed Izu. Maybe they got arrested for something else?" Anan frowned, clearly not satisfied with that much.

"I certainly hope so. If they were willing to kill a kid..." She shuddered at the thought. "Are you...seeing anyone about this?" 

Himiko finally pulled away from her chest to nod. "I've been visiting therapy for years now. I'm more concerned for you two. My trauma is old news; this is all new to you two." 

Hagakure stretched, her chest bouncing in a way Himiko would likely replay in her mind. "We're fine! We're alive, right? So it's no issue!" She pushed her chest out as she pressed her hands to the sides of her hips, almost proudly.

The disguised girl sighed at the brainwashing so brazenly on display. As an idea occurred to her, she activated her alternate vision and looked at the purple thread leading from Hagakure off through a wall in Izuku's direction. The string seemed to have sunk into the girl's chest, becoming invisible from there. Luckily, with Izuku narrating bits and pieces over the years, she knew what to do.

She focused on the energy of the string, feeling the thread spread up the girl's body and into her skull, interweaving around various segments of the brain. Imaginary hands gently clasped on the string and attempted to remove part of it from the Thalamus, only for the string to refuse to budge more than a smidge. That smidge was more than enough to send exahusation through the vampire, causing her to slump back against the edge of the bath.

The other two had fallen into a lighter conversation about some band or something, she couldn't really tell, as her head was swimming. 'How did they change the topic so fast?' She forced herself to stand, the water splashing around her as she rose up in Izuku's room, still clad in only a towel. The other two glanced over.

"I think the heat's getting to me. I'm going to go... get dressed. Yeah, that." She rubbed her head as the other two kept staring. They appeared to be glancing lower now, both blushing heavily. Himiko followed the gaze and joined them in blushing.

'Izuku is going to kill me.'

Her towel had fallen.

Chapter Text

After finishing with his bath, Izuku elected to hang around in the common room while he waited for his thralls to finish with their own. The plush couch welcomed him, offering a different yet equally comfortable warmth compared to what he had enjoyed in the bath.

His only company in the room was a relative silence. The lingering feelings from the USJ kept many in their rooms, the rest with their families or other sources of comfort, presumably. This allowed him to bask in the rarity of being alone for once in his life, saying goodbye to the notion now that he had new thralls and range limitations to focus on expanding.

As if to prove his point,  a strange, almost appraising lust kept leaking through the link. Himiko could have easily stopped it if she pleased; she had more than enough experience, and she was doing this entirely on purpose. He let out a huff as he tapped his foot, focusing on the sound of the air conditioning gently cooling the room. Her smug grin seemed to flash across his mind as she teased him from a mile away, entirely wordlessly. He tried to send his annoyance back through, but it was either ignored or simply wasn't strong enough.

The sound of the door clicking open roused him from what was likely going to dissolve into telepathic arguing. Before he could start playing up his annoyance and playfully lecturing Himiko, emerald eyes met his own similar pair, only to become clouded with tears. His mother rushed him, much quicker than anyone who didn't have a speed quirk (or wasn't Himiko) had any right to travel. His arms tenderly wrapped around her as an ocean of tears blasted into his chest like a firehose.

"Mom? Are you ok?"

She looked up at him with a peculiar expression, caught between bafflement and still weeping. 

"Am I ok!? Izuku, you were attacked by villains. That's what I should be asking you!"

He gently removed her from his lap and sat up. She had to look up at him even now, with his height having long since surpassed the short woman's by about a full head. "I'm fine. It's a long story, but I picked up a healing quirk in the attack. Completely healed, see?" He showed her his arms. If she had heard anything about his injuries, it would be the first place she looked. After looking over them for a moment, satisfied with them seemingly normal, she looked back up at him with an expression of as much frustration as worry.

"I'm not worried about your injuries." He raised an eyebrow. "Well, not anymore. I mean, are you ok? It can't be easy." She didn't break her gaze, worry overtaking frustration by a landslide as tears reformed in her eyes. 

Refusing to lie to her, he sighed, clenching his hand into a fist. "Not completely, honestly. I don't know how much you've been told, but... people died, Mom. I almost died. Obviously, I brought them back, but..." He trailed off, not quite having words to explain.

She took it surprisingly well, her expression settling into a sort of determination. The only evidence of her lingering worry was a slight paleness. "Tell me everything."

Naturally, he did.

-~-

By the end of his explanation, the trio of thralls had returned from their bath and rejoined Izuku in the common room. The suspicious redness of their faces was almost comical when compared to how white his mother had become. Her eyes snapped to the two fresher members of his army, both of them flinching back as they met the woman with authority over even their master saviour. Any fear or worry was ripped away as she became a blubbering mess and wrapped them both in a hug.

Anan blinked owlishly in awkward confusion at being treated like a child, despite probably being the same age as her attacker (by her estimate), while Hagakure frowned. Neither of the two could make out a word she was saying as she flooded the entire dorm with tears, likely killing many, if it wasn't thankfully emptied. Himiko used their sacrifice to try to sneak around the three, but Inko grabbed her shirt from across the room with her quirk and pulled her into the now overfull hug, somehow seeing through stealth skills that some pro heroes would struggle with. 

Once the woman had calmed down enough to form a coherent sentence, she almost forced them into seats. Some tea was quickly prepared by a small squadron of very determined animal thralls, while Inko elected to test run a new career, that being as a therapist.

"It's probably a redundant question, but... are you all ok? Izuku told me everything that happened, and it doesn't sound... healthy." She placed her hands together. Her sleeves shifted slightly as she began a nervous habit of hers, gently pulling on her sleeves with her quirk, alternating between the two as she used it through each hand. 

Nobody seemed keen to be the one to break the silence. He itched to do so himself, but he would just be repeating himself. Himiko glanced at him and figured him out quickly, deciding to bite the bullet. "I'm fine, personally. I got a little banged up, but I healed. We don't feel any pain, so that wasn't an issue..." She tapped her chin as if to think about any other details, conveniently leaving out that getting 'banged up' meant to have a hole punched through her stomach by a creature that almost matched the strongest man in the world. "Izu's fine, so even if we might need some therapy, we'll live?"

Inko burned a hole into her with judging eyes, familiar with her almost-daughter's... skewed priorities. Himiko played innocent, which looked out of place on her, but was enough to make Inko glance over at the only other adult in the room.

"You're Thirteen, right? Or do you prefer Kurose?" The small assortment of animals returned to the room, a shaky tray suspended between his two very nervous mastiffs. Hercules ran about the tray, holding up and readjusting cups that looked like they were going to fall (Mei had passed out, so he was free to rejoin his comrades). Inko took the cups and handed them out as she awaited a response.

"Kurose is fine. Or you can call me Anan. What about you?" 

Now finished with the cups, Inko dismissed the animal thralls with gentle headpats. "Inko works fine. Midoriya would get confusing with both of us here." 

Izuku wiped some sweat from his brow as the world's most awkward parent-teacher meeting began.

"So how are you feeling? Oh, I know how Izuku's quirk works, no need to hide or skirt around brainwashing." 

Anan chuckled, although it seemed more performative. A nervous smile crossed her face. "I'm about as well as I can be, given the circumstances. I don't even feel any brainwashing, honestly. Heroes have to be prepared for their potential deaths. Most of us even write our wills within our first year or two of service. I'm just happy that my death could have saved a student." She smiled gently, faintly.

Inko squinted her eyes, not buying that she was so unaffected. Izuku mouthed 'working on it' at her, so she decided not to beat that dead horse. Of course, using that phrase in her head made her consider how useful a horse thrall could be. She dragged herself out of her musings to continue the makeshift therapy/interrogation. 

"Thank you, by the way. Without your sacrifice, there might have been a few extra children in this room. Or..." Her eyes grew misty. "Or it might have even been empty."

The room fell silent at that again, until Inko was able to recover. She turned to the fidgeting girl who had been rather silent so far. Izuku played with her quirk slightly, dragging it to the surface. His body vanished instantly, becoming completely invisible. He let the quirk go back in storage as Inko finally addressed her.

"Are you ok, Hagakure, was it? You've been awfully quiet."

She chuckled sheepishly, although she still looked a bit upset over something. "Yeah... It's just that when I saw you, it made me realize that I'm going to have to explain things to my parents. I... don't know how I'm going to do that."

Inko nodded and shot her a sympathetic look. "Oh, sweetie, you don't need to worry about that. I'll talk to them with you, help them come to terms with... everything." She gestured to nothing in particular. 

Some of the worry seemed to melt off Hagakure's face. "Thank you, Mrs Midoriya. That might make things a little easier."

With that concern seemingly postponed, Inko took a contemplative look. "That reminds me, I wonder what UA will go with for the press conference?"

Izuku sat up in his seat a little more. "Press conference?"

"Oh, did Nezu not tell you? The press is chomping at the bit for any news. He has no choice but to address things, even the news of All Might teaching didn't get people this riled up." 

Himiko's voice chimed in from his side. "He won't tell the truth, though, right? He is still trying to cover things up, right?" 

Inko shrugged, although her face reflected the worry on Himiko's. "I don't know. He might reveal it early, since it will be at the sports festival anyway." She sighed. "Knowing him, he'll just drop it out of nowhere like it's no big deal if so."

"Do you all want to watch it?" After the entire room agreed, she found the remote and turned the dorm's television on. The timing had worked out perfectly, the several meetings, bath, and recap to Inko leading far enough into the day that the conference was mere minutes away.

-~-

Hordes of reporters massed about like ants beneath the stage that Nezu, Aizawa, and All Might stood on. Cameras flashed rapidly, the constant snapping sound almost enough to hurt his sensitive ears, if he wasn't already used to this. The rat adjusted his miniature tie in the last minute or two before the questioning slowly ticked down.

Aizawa was grumbling something from his podium, either at having to dress up in a suit and shave, because of the horde, or both. His scarred fingers kept tapping against a softer part of his podium rhythmically as he braced himself for his least favourite hero activity. 

All Might was externally the complete opposite. The giant stood confidently at his own podium, back ramrod straight as he smiled at the crowd. The vast majority of camera flashes seemed to be aimed in his direction, no surprise. Inwardly, the principal reminded himself to make this quick, before his newest employee ran out of time. 2 hours should be more than enough, but you never know with the vultures. 

The clock finally ticked down, and he pressed one of his paws into the mic's on button. A piercing sound rang out, silencing all of the reporters as every eye in the room snapped towards him.

"The press confidence for the attack on the USJ may now begin. We will begin with a summary of the events for those at home. During a heroics class yesterday, students were attacked by a horde of over 100 villains, teleported in by a warp quirk. One of the teachers on the scene, Eraserhead here," he gestured to his right, "Engaged them while he ordered another teacher, Thirteen, to escort the students out. Unfortunately, the students were caught up in the attack and had to fight for their lives." 

At the end of the very brief summary, reporters instantly started yelling over each other. Hundreds of hands seemed to shoot into the air as they all demanded his attention. Nezu glanced at All Might, who raised his hand. The room instantly quieted, although many kept their hands up.

Nezu scanned the crowd for reporters who usually supported UA, avoiding the harsher critics, for now. He chose a woman whom he had personally given an interview with, pointing at her to ask her question.

"In the file you've given us, you claimed there were injuries, yet you don't specify what. Could you elaborate?" 

He nodded. "Injuries were thankfully few. Some students were scraped up, but nothing that wouldn't heal." 

"In the file, it claims some students received 'grievous injuries'?"

"Ah, that explains this misunderstanding. Yes, several students were severely wounded, but they were healed by one of their classmates before we even arrived." Whispers spread across the room. Everyone very quickly figured out exactly what that meant.

A new healing quirk had come into existence. One possibly even greater than the famous Recovery Girl's. It was a misunderstanding; yet the rat saw no reason to clarify. It was intentional, after all.

Another reporter barged into the questioning, someone from a news station he hadn't worked with before. "Such a powerful healing quirk could be life-changing for many. Can you tell us who holds this quirk?"

Nezu frowned. "For our students' privacy, no. Because of personal circumstances, this student's quirk is classified to the general public. If they ever wish to go public, that is their decision. I thank you all for your understanding." He ended his sentence with just the tiniest growl, brief enough for people to think they just imagined it. It shut up the reporter, anyway. He pointed towards another man, who was raising his hand. "You next."

"Thank you. You mentioned that Thirteen was involved, yet she isn't here. Why is All Might here, and not the teachers who failed the people's children?"

Nezu stamped down his instinct to snarl at the man's jab. "The training exercise was led by Eraserhead, Thirteen, and All Might. Thirteen was among the injured, so she can not be here with us today. As for why All Might wasn't mentioned earlier..." He passed the attention over to the number one hero. It was his mistake; he could answer for it.

"That was my own error, an error I will strive not to repeat. I got distracted stopping villains on my way to class that day, you see, so I was running late. I only arrived once many were already... injured." His voice wavered at the understatement, although nobody seemed to pick up on it. They were all too busy snapping pictures even faster than before as the god among men bowed to the horde. Literally and figuratively. 

Not wanting to linger on the nation's idol's rare moment of weakness, a reporter turned their attention to Aizawa. "Eraserhead, you were there for the entire event, correct? We have intel that several villains were severely wounded, one man even losing a finger to frostbite. Can you explain why such excessive force was used?"

Aizawa almost seemed to reappear from the shadow he had sunk into to avoid questioning. "Our students have barely been trained as of right now; this is only their first week. I can admit that some of their self-defense may have been too much, but they will be reprimanded for that and taught how to fight with appropriate force. Remember, these are children, you can't expect them to be entirely rational with their lives at risk."

The reporter either disagreed or merely saw a chance to slander UA, beginning an argument.

The group at the dorms already had all the answers they wanted, though, so they stopped watching.