The Shadows Within - Esp1222 - 僕のヒーローアカデミア | Boku no Hero Academia (2024)

Chapter 1: A Legacy is Born

Chapter Text

The rising sun peeked through the curtains, shining a small sliver of light right on his eyes. Izuku woke up, grumbling at the annoyance of the light. He stretched and smacked his lips, sitting up in his bed and rubbing the sleep from his eyes. After a moment of contemplation, Izuku realized he felt… weird. Not bad weird, or even really good weird. Just weird. He’d turned four a few days ago and had been disappointed when he didn’t feel any change to himself. He hadn’t been able to pull objects, or breathe fire, like either of his parents.

But now, his body felt odd, as if it was searching for something. He frowned, then hopped out of bed and padded out into the living room of the Midoriya apartment. In the kitchen, his mom was busy making breakfast, and Izuku suddenly felt an odd pull towards her. He didn’t really understand why. He’d never been clingy with his mom before, though of course he loved her.

Then, his dad walked in, apparently having had to run some errands that morning, and Izuku was overwhelmed by the aura coming off of Midoriya Hisashi. The man slipped his shoes off, setting them to the side, then looked up to see Izuku staring at him. He co*cked his head before a wide grin spread across his face.

“Well, well, little Izuku,” Hisashi said, walking towards Izuku and scooping him up into his arms. “It seems your quirk came in, and is exactly what I hoped!”

“Oh, did it come in?!” Inko said from the kitchen. She scurried out, an apron around her waist and a dish towel draped over her shoulder. She wiped some flour on her apron.

“My quirk?” Izuku asked, confused, before his eyes widened in excitement. “So I do have a quirk?!”

Hisashi chuckled. “Seems so, little one! And I do believe it’s a version of mine! Tell me, do you feel an oddness coming from either me or your mom?” Izuku nodded. “Then you’re probably detecting our quirks. And I suppose I’ll have to apologize for how strongly the feeling is coming from me, won’t I?”

Izuku’s mouth screwed to the side. “But what kinda quirk do I have?” he asked.

“Well, let’s test something,” Hisashi said. “Look for that feeling coming from your mom.”

Izuku did so, closing his eyes. As he reached out for his mom, he saw something akin to a string in his mind, with the end just waiting to be pulled on. He grabbed it and pulled and suddenly felt as if a piece had been added to him. He opened his eyes to see his closed fist glowing. He opened it, revealing a small, green wisp.

“Fantastic! Now, close your fist again and let that melt into your body,” Hisashi said. Izuku once again did as he was told. “Now, see the TV remote? Try to pull it like mom does.”

Izuku furrowed his brow and reached out with his hand, trying to pull on the remote. It shuddered for a moment before slowly floating off the arm of the couch and into the air. It floated there, amazing Izuku. He tugged again, the remote moved towards him a little.

“Oh my!” Inko said, tears filling her eyes. She smiled at Izuku, wiping her eyes with the dish towel. “You really do have your father’s quirk!”

Izuku turned to look at her, confused. “But daddy’s quirk is fire breath… right?”

His lapse in focus caused the telekinetic hold on the remote to end and the device began to plummet to the ground. But before it did, Inko grabbed it with her own quirk, out of instinct. When she realized what she’d done, she stared wide-eyed at Hisashi.

“Wait… He didn’t take it?” she asked her husband.

Hisashi’s grin appeared to grow wider, if that were even possible. “He didn’t! Because it’s a different version of my quirk. Whereas I can give and take, he can copy!”

“Oh my, he’s exactly what you hoped!” Inko cried happily, tears falling down her cheeks. “Oh, Hisashi, I’m so happy for us!”

“I’m confused…” Izuku said quietly, clinging to his dad’s shirt and staring up at him. Hisashi still held Izuku in his arms, and he turned to look down at his son.

“Izuku, little one, we’ve kept some secrets from you,” he said. “First, you never would have had a chance to get fire breathing, sorry to disappoint you.”

“Aw,” Izuku said, pouting. At least he had his mom’s quirk?

Hisashi chuckled. “Well, you were either going to get Inko’s telekinesis, but stronger, or you were going to get my actual quirk. And no, you did not get your mom’s quirk. Instead, you copied it. But you’ll have it forever now, if I’m right about your quirk.” He turned to look at Inko. “After breakfast, I’ll take him to see the Doctor, who should be able to confirm it.”

“Can’t you check yourself, dear?” Inko asked.

“I could, but I don’t want to risk any odd interactions between our quirks. The Doctor can do some checks, because of our research, and if things check out, then I do believe little Izu and I will have a great time exploring his quirk.” Hisashi ruffled Izuku’s hair and laughed. “If his quirk is what we think it is, then the project that the Doctor and I have been working on will be pointless.”

“I’m bad for your work?” Izuku asked, lip wobbling as he thought he ruined something for his dad.

“Oh, little one, no!” Hisashi said, caressing Izuku’s cheek. “You’re so good that you make the work we did unneeded! If your quirk is what we hope it to be, then all of our science and experimentations won’t matter. Because you will be able to do what we’ve been trying to for years!”

“So, I’m good, and helpful?” Izuku asked, looking between his parents. “Could I be a hero, then?!”

Hisashi’s face briefly morphed into a scowl, but his grin was back before Izuku looked at him again and could have noticed. “Maybe, Izuku. But first, we’ll need to see what the Doctor says.”

“Okay!” Izuku said happily, squirming out of Hisashi’s arms. His dad set him back on the ground and Izuku darted off to his room, planning to get dressed before breakfast so that he could go see the Doctor sooner.

Hisashi walked with Izuku to their family doctor’s clinic. The Midoriyas had been taking Izuku there since he was born, and he’d only ever had the one doctor: Dr. Tsubasa. His dad just referred to Dr. Tsubasa as ‘The Doctor’ which Izuku always found funny.

“So, what can Dr. Tsubasa do?” Izuku asked as they walked down the sidewalk. The clinic was only a ten minute trek from their apartment.

“Well, first he’ll double check that you don’t have an extra toe joint. You know why, don’t you?” Hisashi asked. Izuku had been obsessed with quirks ever since he could first talk. It hadn’t been great that he’d also ended up obsessed with All Might of all people, but Hisashi put up with it.

“Yeah! An extra toe joint is a sign of quirklessness!” Izuku answered excitedly. “But I used a quirk, so doesn’t that mean I won’t have it?”

Hisashi chuckled. “Yes, it should. But it is always beneficial to check, just to ensure there are no issues.” Izuku nodded fiercely, understanding the importance.

They walked into the clinic and were met with the nurse who ran the front desk. Hisashi remembered that her name was Kimura.

“Ah, hello Mr. Midoriya! And little Izuku! Oh, is Dr. Tsubasa expecting you?” Kimura asked.

“He should be, yes. I called him directly. I do apologize for bypassing you, Ms. Kimura.”

“Oh, no worries!” Kimura said, waving him off. “You two have your research projects so of course you’d go straight to him! I hope those are going well! I’ll let him know you’re here, just take a seat and it should only be a moment.”

Izuku skipped over to a chair and crawled up onto it, sitting patiently. Hisashi smiled as he walked over to sit next to Izuku. It was only a few minutes before the short Doctor hobbled out into the waiting room. He caught sight of the two Midoriyas and grinned.

“Ah, Hisashi!” the Doctor called out. “Come on back, I’m sure we have plenty to go over with young Izuku.”

Hisashi stood up, Izuku quickly followed, and began to walk after the Doctor. They were led into one of the rooms far in the back of the clinic, for privacy among other things.

“So, Izuku,” the Doctor said, taking a seat on his stool and rolling it over to the medical bed that Hisashi had helped Izuku up onto. “Your father says you manifested your quirk?”

“I think so!” Izuku said. “But I dunno what it is, and daddy won’t tell me. He said you have to check some things, and then you two can tell me what it is?”

The Doctor hummed, nodding. “Yes, he told me. First up, we need to check those feet of yours. So, lay down on the bed.” As Izuku did so, Hisashi grabbed a lead plate as well as a drape.

The plate was slit under Izuku’s legs and feet, and the drape was laid across his thighs. The Doctor then carted over a mobile x-ray machine and placed it so it was above Izuku’s legs. He pressed a few buttons, causing an audible click. He moved the machine back over to the side of the room, and then typed away at the computer next to it. The screen on the wall lit up to show the x-ray results.

Hisashi put away the plate and drape. He beckoned for Izuku to sit up and pointed towards the screen. Izuku slid his body across the bed to sit at the end of it closest to the screen.

“Ah, yes, as you can see, no extra join!” the Doctor said, zooming in on Izuku’s toes. “So, yes, you must indeed have a quirk. Now, onto what that quirk is. Have you tried using it yet?”

“Um, yeah,” Izuku said. “I used my mom’s quirk, but it was like I pulled a string to use it. And then there was this wisp, as daddy called it, in my hand!”

“Inko was still able to use her quirk, even after Izuku used it,” Hisashi added. Izuku nodded quickly in agreement.

“Well isn’t that perfect,” the Doctor muttered. “Are you still able to use Inko’s quirk, Izuku? Try on this.” He pulled out a small flashlight from his coat’s breast pocket.

Izuku stuck his tongue out in concentration as he tried to use his mom’s quirk again. He raised his hand and reached out in the same way he had with the remote. The flashlight shook for a moment before being lifted from the Doctor’s hand and towards Izuku. He continued to tug on it with the quirk until it rested in his own hand. He cheered in excitement and smiled at Hisashi and the Doctor.

“Wonderful,” the Doctor said. He turned to Hisashi. “We need to ensure he can copy more and keep the previous. How do you want to proceed?”

“Hm,” Hisashi said, bringing a hand to his chin in thought. “Do you think my quirk and his are compatible? I do not want to risk them causing damage to each other if he tries copying from me.”

“I don’t see why they would be, sir,” the Doctor said. “Either he copies yours, or you, well you know. Him being able to copy yours is perfect. If he copies yours, then transfers a copy of a quirk to someone else, can he then copy it again?”

“That would make the project so much simpler,” Hisashi said, nodding.

Izuku looked between his dad and the Doctor, confused. “Um, daddy?” he asked, tugging at Hisashi’s shirt.

“Oh, little one, I’m sorry. We got caught up thinking how useful you will be to our research, like I told you that you would be,” Hisashi said, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “So, we believe your quirk is the ability to copy any other quirk, while leaving the owner with the original. First, we want to see if it’s a permanent copy, and won’t be replaced if you copy another quirk. That’s all we can really check at the moment.”

“Oh, um, okay,” Izuku said nervously. “So do I copy your quirk?”

Hisashi chuckled. “Not exactly. My quirk is a bit too much for you to handle, but I have more than one.” He tapped Izuku on the nose as Izuku’s eyes widened in awe. “I’m going to manifest one for you to focus on. It should be easy, since I’ve gotten used to suppressing others. You’ll copy that one and we’ll see if you can use it and your mom’s quirk.”

Izuku nodded. Hisashi debated which quirk to bring forward. He needed one that a four year old could handle without issue, without causing damage to himself, them, or the room, and that he could control. Figuring a simple water manipulation quirk couldn’t go wrong, he pulled the hydrokinesis he had to the forefront of his quirks.

“Alright, Izuku, I have one ready. It’s hydrokinesis. Do you know what that means?” he asked.

“Yes, it’s the ability to control water,” Izuku answered. Hisashi ruffled his hair again, causing him to smile. “So I just do what I did with mom?”

“Correct. Look for the thread, then pull on it.”

Izuku closed his eyes again and reached out with his actual quirk. He saw a loom of threads ahead of him, but one specific one was in front of him. He didn’t want to upset his dad, so he only grabbed the one being pushed towards him, but he was still in awe of the many threads that made up his dad. He pulled the singular thread, and then opened his eyes. Once again, a small wisp floated in his hand, this time blue. He clenched his fist and felt the quirk absorb into his body.

“Fascinating…” the Doctor mumbled, typing away at his computer while also watching Hisashi and Izuku.

“Very good, Izuku. Now,” Hisashi walked over to the sink in the room and turned it on. “Try and control the water. You don’t need to do much, just enough to show you have the quirk.”

Izuku reached out with his hand again and pulled at the water. The stream from the faucet wavered for a moment then began to coalesce into a bubble, increasing in size as the faucet continued to feed it. Izuku pulled the bubble away and towards him. He floated it around his head, giggling.

“I’m doing it!” he cheered. He pushed the bubble back over to the sink and let it go, causing a splash.

“Indeed, very good, Izuku,” Hisashi said. “Now, one more time, try using your mom’s quirk.” He picked up the small flashlight, which Izuku had set next to him on the bed after pulling it to him earlier, and held it in his palm. “Same as before.”

Izuku once again pulled the flashlight towards him. Hisashi clapped once, proud of his son. Then, to prove to the Doctor the quirk was indeed only a copy, he used the hydrokinesis he’d pulled on and grabbed water of his own. He momentarily gave Izuku a water halo, causing the boy to giggle with delight again, before directing the water back to the sink and turning off the faucet.

“So now we’ll have to see how long he keeps the quirks,” the Doctor said. “It’s been an hour since he copied Inko’s, yes? The only other copy quirk we’ve seen manifest only lasts five minutes.”

Hisashi scowled at that. The other had been such a disappointment, but if Izuku’s quirk was indeed what they hoped, then he’d leave the weaker copy quirk behind and focus entirely on Izuku and Inko. He’d always preferred Inko anyway.

“Indeed. Of the temporary quirks I’ve seen, none have ever lasted beyond an hour. That copy quirk, size manipulation, others like it. I do believe Izuku’s quirk is a full adaptation of mine.” Hisashi turned from the Doctor back to Izuku. “So, little one, now I shall tell you of my real quirk.”

Izuku looked giddy, fidgeting on the bed in excitement.

“My quirk allows me to take the quirk of someone else and use it as if it’s always been mine. As you probably had as well, I can even understand the basis of how to utilize the quirk without previous experience.”

Izuku’s mouth dropped open, amazed. But then it clamped shut and he frowned, looking off the side for a moment, before meeting Hisashi’s eyes once more. “But, if you take them, doesn’t that mean you make someone quirkless?”

Hisashi figured this would be the first question Izuku would have. With his obsession with quirks came the knowledge of quirklessness. And of course, the slightly delayed manifestation of his quirk didn’t help his worry about such a… disorder.

“It does mean that, yes,” Hisashi said, taking a seat next to Izuku on the medical bed. Izuku turned so he sat side by side with Hisashi. “Some people do not deserve their quirks. They use them for the wrong purposes, and society is safer with those people being quirkless.” It was a mostly true statement, though of course those people were sometimes heroes, and society was only ‘safer’ because it served his plan to rule. “And, what about people who are old or sick? Their quirks that could be so useful, but would die alongside their owners. Shouldn’t those be kept, to possibly be given to someone else who may want or need it?”

“Given? Can you give quirks, too?” Izuku asked.

“Indeed I can. But if I give it away, I no longer have it. However, your quirk merely copies the original. I could take your copy,” Hisashi pulled Inko’s quirk out of Izuku, holding the green wisp in front of the boy. “And then give it to someone else, then two people could now use the quirk. And if you could copy it again, we’d be able to offer useful quirks to anyone we want.” He then put the quirk back into Izuku, the wisp melting into the boy's body once more.

“Whoa…” Izuku said in amazement.

“Of course, you’re still young, so we won’t go trying that for a while. You need to get used to your quirk,” Hisashi said. “Now, would you like to meet a friend of mine? He’ll most likely become your babysitter, so that your mom and I can go back to work without having to worry about you getting into any trouble.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair again.

“Are they nice?” Izuku asked.

“They are. And they have a very impressive quirk themselves.” Hisashi nodded to the Doctor who messaged someone from his phone. A moment later a swirl of purple and black mist covered the far wall of the exam room. Two long yellow eyes manifested before the mist collapsed into the shape of a man wearing an elegant suit.

“You summoned me?” the man asked, his voice a deep baritone.

“Kurogiri, meet my son, Izuku,” Hisashi said, gesturing to Izuku. “Izuku, this is Kurogiri. Our assistant in our research, among other things. His quirk, as you just saw, is a warping one. He can teleport himself anywhere which he has the coordinates for. He can also open warp gates for other people to walk through. Kurogiri, if you would?”

Kurogiri formed a small portal near Hisashi, another forming across the room. Hisashi stuck his hand through. It disappeared for a moment before reappearing as it emerged from the other portal. Izuku squealed in excitement. Hisashi laughed as he pulled his hand back. Kurogiri closed the portal soon after.

“Kurogiri will walk you home from school and be around to help take care of you. I’m afraid the Doctor and I will still be busy with some of our projects, so I won’t always be able to be home with you. And I’ve encouraged your mom to go back to work as well. You’re growing up, you have to be a big boy.”

“I am a big boy! I have a quirk now!” Izuku said, grinning. He still stared at Kurogiri in amazement. “Can I copy his quirk?” Kurogiri’s eyes narrowed at that.

Hisashi just chuckled. “Not yet, no. His quirk is a tad complicated, and you’ll need a lot of training to handle it. But when you're older, we’ll see.”

“Aww,” Izuku pouted, crossing his arms. Yet he couldn’t fully hide his smile.

“Now, though, we will need to set some rules,” Hisashi said, standing up from the bed and turning to look down at Izuku. “Do not go copying quirks from your friends at school. You should only copy quirks when we say you can. I promise you that you will have ample opportunity to copy quirks you want when you’re older. Until then, stick to quirks I give you, understand?”

“Yes, daddy,” Izuku said. “But how will I show off my quirk? Kacchan already shows his off all the time…”

Hisashi frowned. “I’m afraid, little one, that you can’t. Our quirks, they scare people. That’s why, to the Bakugous and all others who know our family, I merely have a fire breathing quirk. If they knew I could give and take quirks, they’d probably be scared of me. And the heroes don’t like someone like me. I discovered that when I was young.”

“But heroes are supposed to be the good guys, why would they be afraid of you? Can’t you help them against dangerous villains?”

Hisashi sighed. “Perhaps, but they’d never give me the chance.” He glanced back at the Doctor and Kurogiri. “Just understand that heroes aren’t solely good.”

Izuku frowned but nodded. Hisashi knew it’d take some time to push Izuku away from his hero obsession, but he couldn’t just make his son into the heir of a shadow empire. Not yet. One day, Izuku would sit next to him on the throne. But before then, Hisashi still needed to achieve his final goal. And All Might stood in his way.

“Okay, that’s all we needed to come here for. But I still need to discuss some things with the Doctor. Why don’t we have Kurogiri take you home, hm?” Hisashi asked, picking up Izuku and setting him on the ground.

“Is he gonna warp us home?!” Izuku asked excitedly.

“I’m afraid not,” Hisashi said, smiling and shaking his head. “You’ll have to walk home today. I promise we’ll let you experience his ports soon, though.”

“Okay.” Izuku hugged Hisashi’s legs. “Will you be home for dinner?”

“I should be, yes.”

“Alright, bye daddy!” Izuku said, taking the outstretched hand from Kurogiri and walking out with the man. Hisashi could hear the chattering Izuku asking Kurogiri questions as soon as they entered the hallway, and he shook his head amused.

“Well, he’s exactly what you wanted. Pity the other attempt failed,” the Doctor said. “Shall we continue our discussion here, or would you like me to have Johnny teleport us to the main lab?”

“The main lab. While Izuku grows, we still need to work on our back-up copying process. He may need the quirks in the future, and having a catalog of quirks would be beneficial for both of us.”

“Right,” the Doctor said. He dialed a number on his phone. It rang once before it was automatically answered by the lab’s systems. “Johnny, teleport me and Master to the lab.”

Black liquid filled his mouth, bubbling out to engulf him. A moment later he was standing in their lab, stasis tanks lining the sides. In the middle was their work station where a body was strapped down. A failed attempt at a Nomu, but they kept the heart beating as it still held a few quirks. He’d have to take those back.

The Doctor immediately went to his desk, taking a seat and downloading the notes he’d taken during Izuku’s exam. He then pressed a call button.

“Ms. Kimura, I will be out of the office for the rest of the day. You may close the clinic. There weren’t any further appointments today.”

The nearby speaker crackled. “Alright, Dr. Tsubasa. Have a good day!” Kimura had to enjoy working with the Doctor. She got paid for a full day regardless of whether or not he kept the clinic open the entire day.

“I do think we’re near a breakthrough,” the Doctor said, turning to face him. “The samples in the last round of tests almost stabilized before degrading too far to hold onto the quirk. I don’t wish to overstep, but perhaps some of young Izuku’s blood would help?”

He thought for a moment. “It might, yes. He’s due for his final round of booster shots, and we can take some blood during that. I’m sure he’d be ecstatic to assist his father, if we even need to explain why we’re taking the blood.”

“Perfect,” the Doctor said. “Now, what about your other little experiment?”

“Shigaraki Tomura…” he hummed. “Kurogiri will continue to assist in caring for Tomura when not taking care of Izuku. However, Tomura is no longer the pawn I planned for. Izuku is far more important, and has far more potential.”

“Except for his obsession with heroes?” the Doctor said.

“Yes, except for that.”

“I do wonder what he’d think if we revealed to him the truth of All for One and One for All.”

“Perhaps when he is older. All Might is not a threat, for now. I’d rather focus on this work before attempting to take One for All from him. Given his master was such a disappointment, I’m sure he is as well. Despite his ridiculous position as the ‘Symbol of Peace.’”

The Doctor nodded. “For now, we continue with our usual projects, then. Will Kurogiri be returning to the brat after taking Izuku home?”

“Yes. Inko is aware of the plan. She thinks it commendable that I’m caring for an orphan,” All for One said, chuckling.

“I continue to find it so peculiar how easily she accepted the truth of your history,” the Doctor said. “Are you still sure she isn’t biding her time to turn us in?”

“I am. She works in a law firm, currently as a paralegal. If she cared to take us down, she’d have done so. Instead, she’s been looking into cases against heroes. So far, she’s found several that would absolutely ruin the heroes in question.”

“But the law firm is holding them back, I presume?”

“Indeed. With Kurogiri helping take care of Izuku, I’m encouraging Inko to work towards becoming a lawyer. She’s smart. Izuku doesn’t only get his intelligence from me. If she becomes a lawyer, I’m sure she’ll take down many a hero with ease.”

“Back to work, then,” the Doctor said, whirling around his chair and typing away at the computer.

All for One just hummed, regarding the many experiments that made up the lab. They had their work cut out for them, still. But perhaps the Doctor was right in that Izuku was the key to their projects, alongside his destiny as All for One’s right hand.

Chapter 2: Growing Pains

Chapter Text

Izuku hated not being able to use his quirk, but his dad had told him it could be dangerous if people found out what he could do. He didn’t want to cause trouble for his parents, so he listened to his dad and pretended to be quirkless. It sucked.

Bakugou Katsuki, his childhood friend, had turned on him almost instantly. Always bullying him and telling him he was a worthless Deku. But Izuku still wanted to be friends, and his parents had said he’d be able to tell people about his quirk when he was older, so he continued to follow after Bakugou. Though, that only made the bullying worse.

On top of that, he constantly saw the threads of the quirks from those around him. Hisashi had told him he’d get used to it and be able to ignore them unless he actively wanted to copy a quirk. Apparently that was how All for One worked as well. He thought his dad was so cool for being able to handle all that pressure.

Wanting to help his dad’s work, he’d been happy to let Dr. Tsubasa draw some blood over the years since his quirk manifested. Apparently, because of his quirk, something in his blood became the final piece to the puzzle that they’d needed to allow for their artificial quirk copying. Izuku didn’t know why they were so interested in copying quirks, and his dad wouldn’t really explain it fully. Just explain around it, always going back to what he’d said when Izuku first got his quirk: the ability to offer quirks to those who need them was a blessing. And with the copying, they wouldn’t have to remove quirks from other people, like his dad could do with All for One.

Kurogiri had become one of Izuku’s favorite people. And after his eighth birthday, he’d finally been allowed to copy Kurogiri’s quirk: Warp. He definitely caused a few accidents as he learned how to use it. Most often it was because he got stuck in the portal he made. But he liked how using the quirk let him emit a green-black mist. It matched his hair! And it made his version different from Kurogiri’s, which was purple and black.

Along with Warp, Izuku had been allowed to copy a few more quirks from his dad. Nothing too dangerous, just some fun quirks that he could play with while he sat around in his dad’s lab. The main one he’d had fun with was Air Walk. It let him walk through the air just like he did on the ground. His mom hadn’t been too thrilled with his dad when he’d been given that quirk, though. He’d get himself into too much trouble, she’d said, between Air Walk and Warp. So Izuku had been given a lesson on the proper use of quirks, mainly when to use them, and so their home had become less of an accident zone. He only used the quirks when he was with his dad in a safe area of the lab.

As he grew up, he noticed that Kacchan’s bullying came in waves, as if he was trying to avoid getting caught while also being just as ruthless as before. The teachers at Aldera seemed to pay far more attention to Izuku, despite the fact he was listed as quirkless on his records. He’d seen how the one other quirkless kid at their school had been treated, by teachers and students alike. Yet he never had it as bad as them. Izuku didn’t know why, but he wouldn’t complain. Even if he did feel bad for the other kid.

On his tenth birthday, he’d been given a phone of his own, which made him ecstatic. He was allowed to walk around their neighborhood alone, as long as he had his phone on him. Sometimes he even warped himself to a candy store, though Kurogiri almost always showed up right after. He couldn’t figure out how the warper always knew when Izuku’d used his Warp, but he never got in any trouble. Kurogiri was just there to watch over him before sending him home. Kurogiri never came with him back home, at least not when one or both of his parents were there. Izuku guessed he only watched over Izuku when his parents couldn’t be around.

One night, his mom invited the Bakugous over for dinner. Kurogiri had actually shown up to help Inko cook that night, while Izuku just watched. The Midoriyas and Bakugous got together often, having dinner at one of their homes, or sometimes going out to eat. But every time, Hisashi was always busy. Izuku knew, of course, that his dad was busy working with Dr. Tsubasa on their projects. But his mom just made up some excuse that Hisashi was out of town. One time, when his dad had been busy for a few months, she’d even claimed he was working abroad, in America.

There was a knock at the front door, pulling Izuku out of his thoughts.

“Can you get that, Izuku? It should be the Bakugous,” Inko said from the kitchen. Kurogiri was busy setting the table, very carefully setting each dish and utensil in its proper place with precision.

“Sure!” Izuku said, hopping up from the couch and padding down the hallway to their front door. He opened it to find Katsuki glaring at him. Behind him was his parents, Mitsuki and Masaru. “Hi Auntie, Uncle!” Izuku greeted them.

“Hello Izuku, I hope we’re not too early?” Uncle Masaru said.

“Nope! Mom is almost done cooking, I think. Plus, you’re always welcome,” Izuku said, standing to the side to let the Bakugous in. He watched as they toed off their shoes and set them to the side, then entered the apartment. He closed the door behind them and followed.

“Oh, Inko, that smells damn good,” Auntie Mitsuki said as she walked towards the kitchen. Masaru made himself at home on the couch, with Katsuki following him. The boy seemed annoyed at being there. Izuku wasn’t surprised.

“I sure hope so!” Inko said, turning from her cooking to greet Mitsuki. “I’ve worked all day on it!”

“And who’s this?” Mitsuki asked as Kurogiri finished setting the table. “And where’s Hisashi? Don’t tell me he’s busy again.”

“Sadly, yes. You know how his work is,” Inko said, chuckling. “And this is Kurogiri, a family friend who watches Izuku while Hisashi and I work. I can’t believe you’ve never met before!”

“Good evening, Mrs. Bakugou,” Kurogiri said, his rich baritone voice surprising the woman.

“Pleasure to meet you, Kurogiri. And please, just call me Mitsuki. Mrs. Bakugou makes me feel old,” Mitsuki said, laughing.

“Because you are old, hag!” Katsuki barked from the couch.

“Oi, brat, shut it,” Mitsuki said, glaring back at her son.

Izuku watched Kurogiri take in the Bakugous. He of course knew of them. Hisashi had made sure to tell Kurogiri all about the Midoriya’s friends. He’d even met Katsuki before, though the boy just huffed when he’d been denied the chance to bully Izuku and instead had stalked off on his own after school.

Thankfully, Katsuki behaved himself when it came to Izuku during the times their families got together. So Izuku always used that to his advantage, getting to play and hang out with his friend as if nothing had changed. It still sucked that he couldn’t show off his quirk, even in the safety of his own home. According to his dad, not even the Bakugous were allowed to know of it yet. Even though he was ten, he still wasn’t ‘old enough’ according to his parents.

He walked up to Katsuki, wringing his hands. “Um, Kacchan, I got some new hero figures…” he said nervously. Just because Katsuki behaved slightly better when around their parents, it didn’t mean Izuku was any more confident.

“Tch, whatever,” Katsuki said. Izuku was disappointed for a moment before the other boy stood up and started walking to his room. “Well are you coming or what, nerd?”

Izuku lit up and trotted after Katsuki, heading to his bedroom to play while the adults chatted and Inko finished cooking.

“Kurogiri, keep an eye on them, would you?” Inko whispered to the warper. He nodded and created a small, almost imperceptible portal in Izuku’s bedroom in order to keep watch over the two kids. Inko then turned back to the Bakugous. “So, Mitsuki, how’s work?”

“Oh, you know, same sh*t as always,” the woman replied. “We have a show coming up, and are still missing a final design.”

“It’s the intern show,” Masaru added. “But some of them are, well…”

“Garbage,” Mitsuki finished. “We only hire interns that look to have potential, based on their portfolios from school. But some of them this year have just been disappointments. Yet their portfolios were so well done. It baffles us.”

“I’ve tried sitting down with them,” Masaru continued, “and asking what happened to their work since they started with us. They all say the same thing: they’re exhausted, overworked, all that kind of stuff. But you know as well as we do that we don’t overwork our interns. We tell them to take their time, take breaks when they feel overworked, and focus on their schooling. All they’d needed to tell us was that they didn’t have the time to make a design.”

“Instead they give us half-assed work, some being straight up sh*tty copies of discarded designs from the agency. It’s like they went through the shred bin to find something to use. Those designs were tossed for a reason,” Mitsuki said, sighing.

“Oh my, that’s disappointing,” Inko said, frowning. “I’m sorry to hear that.”

“Yeah, well, nothing we can do now.” Mitsuki shrugged. “On a better note, though, we’ve started branching out into support gear.”

“Oh that’s wonderful! Masaru, you must be excited. I know you focused more on that side of fashion in college.”

“Of course I am,” Masaru said, chuckling. “We’re essentially dividing the agency into two: one side will remain in normal fashion and be led by Mitsuki. The other side will be in support gear, and be led by me. We’ve already begun to look for new hires that focus on support tech, and have several applicants from UA. As soon as I mentioned them, Katsuki went off on one of his excited rants about how he’ll go to UA one day and become the next number one hero.” Masaru shook his head, grinning. “He’s a little firecracker, that one.”

“Hm, yes, I suppose he is,” Inko agreed. “Still hasn’t decided against becoming a hero?”

“Ha! Of course he hasn’t, the little brat. He’s obsessed with All Might, and wants to be better than him,” Mitsuki said.

“Pardon me, but would any of you like a drink?” Kurogiri said, interrupting the hero talk before it could go farther. A bar cart sat next to him. Inko, of course, knew he’d just gotten it from the bar using one of his portals, but she wondered if Mitsuki or Masaru would comment on its sudden appearance.

“Sure, something strong for me. Bartender's choice, though,” Mitsuki said.

“I didn’t know you had a bar cart,” Masaru said as he stood up from the couch.

“Oh, well, Kurogiri here is quite a masterful bartender. He brought it himself, since he was helping me host the dinner tonight,” Inko explained. She gave Kurogiri a knowing smile. They put up with Izuku’s hero worship because they knew it was bound to end eventually, once he was let in on more of their secrets. But they didn’t need to hear the Bakugous pining about Katsuki’s hero potential or any discussion of actual heroes, All Might in particular.

As Kurogiri made their drinks, Mitsuki leaned against the counter next to Inko.

“So, how’s your work, Inko? You started as a full lawyer earlier this year, so how’s that going?”

“Oh it’s wonderful. I have a backlog of cases that I’d started assisting on as a paralegal, because they were small time and the main lawyers of the firm didn’t care for them. Plus the defendants weren’t in any rush to see them brought to trial. But now I get to do that, and I’ve yet to lose a case!”

“That’s amazing, Inko. What’d I tell you back in college, huh? I said you’d make a great lawyer,” Mitsuki said, taking her prepared drink from Kurogiri. “I didn’t know how long it’d take for you to become a lawyer, but of course you’d put in the work to do it. I know I never could have been that patient.”

“Yes, we all know Masaru is patient enough for the both of you,” Inko said, nudging Mitsuki in the side and laughing.

Mitsuki just scoffed, meanwhile Masaru covered his mouth, trying to stifle his laugh. His wife glared daggers at him, but she couldn’t help her own smirk.

Inko wrapped up the final dish and began setting things out on the table. “Izuku, Katsuki! Dinner is ready!” she called down the hallway, though she knew Kurogiri’s miniature portal probably carried her voice to them far better.

The two kids came barreling out of Izuku’s bedroom, taking a seat at the table. The Bakugous sat next to their son, and Inko took the open seat next to Izuku. One seat was left empty, as always. Hisashi may never be free to attend these dinners, but he always had a seat at the table, just in case.

“What about Kurogiri?” Mitsuki asked, glancing between Inko and the warper.

“I actually must be off. I have some errands to run before the night is over,” Kurogiri said. He bowed to them. “It was a pleasure to finally meet you, Mitsuki, Masaru.” He then looked at Izuku. “I will see you after school on Monday, young master.” Izuku nodded at him, smiling.

“Bye, Kurogiri!”

“Pleasure to meet you as well, Kurogiri,” Mitsuki said. She didn’t miss Kurogiri’s use of ‘young master’ when talking to Izuku.

Kurogiri gave Izuku one final look before the mist making up his body billowed into a portal, then collapsed in on itself. Kurogiri was there one moment, then gone the next. And he’d taken his bar cart with him.

The Bakugous just gaped at the spot Kurogiri once stood in. Inko and Izuku laughed at the sight.

“It’s his quirk!” Izuku said. “It’s super fun!”

“No wonder you chose him as Izuku’s babysitter. If anything goes wrong, he can be at a hospital, or police station, in an instant,” Mitsuki said once she’d gotten over the shock of watching Kurogiri disappear.

“I can never win hide and seek against him,” Izuku pouted. “He finds me so fast.” That caused the entire table, except little Katsuki, to laugh.

“Master, are you sure it is wise to leave so many quirks behind?” the Doctor asked as All for One added a label to the glass vial he held. Along the wall was a rack of dozens of vials, all labeled with a different quirk.

“These quirks are trivial compared to the ones I am keeping, Doctor. Though I suppose even those quirks will eventually be added, once either we or Izuku copy them.”

The rack was split, the vials on one half having blue labels while the other half had yellow labels. All for One added the vial he was holding to an empty spot on the blue side. He tapped it with a finger before turning to regard the Doctor.

“As we know, our method of copying quirks weakens the quirk ever so slightly. But it is noticeable enough by me, which means it could spell disaster if not accounted for. My remaining quirks shall forever be mine. Any copies we make will be what we use for our projects.”

He paced the lab, looking between the many stasis tanks that held their experiments. No Nomu since Kurogiri had been much of a success. The ones that managed to survive the experimentation were practically useless, or were only used for specialty quirks, like Johnny. But they’d slowly been working on a new one, taking their time to let it adapt to the burden of multiple quirks, and the body enhancement. That Nomu was still a long way off from being usable, but one day, perhaps, it could be used to weaken All Might.

The ridiculous Number One Hero: All Might. Seen as a Symbol of Peace by all of Japan. Held up on a pedestal of his own making, though he always denied it in interviews. All for One scoffed at the idiocy of the populace. But in the end, it was working to his benefit. All Might was seen as the hero who could handle anything and everything, which made other heroes complacent. They figured All Might would take care of the worst threats.

That meant that society would fall apart once he was out of the picture. And All for One would step in and take his position as the Demon Lord once more. He’d always found the title humorous, but it had stuck over the past century, and how could he not use the myth of his existence to his advantage?

Villains would fall beneath him, ready to serve once they realized he was in fact still alive. Heroes and vigilantes wouldn’t stand a chance against him. Not once All Might was gone, and One for All was in his grasp.

But for now, he was stuck continuing his reign from the shadows. Though branches of his empire slowly fell to All Might, the damn hero rooting out the deepest parts of the villain underground. He still held plenty of power, though. No one could stand against him when he decided to make a move. Not the heroes. Not the Hero Public Safety Commission. Not even the government, who probably thought him gone after they’d begged for his help against the Meta Liberation Army a few decades ago.

“Izuku will have plenty of quirks to copy soon. He will have all the power I do, and more. Our Nomu will become an army, unstoppable by any hero. All at our beck and call.” All for One grinned.

“Of course, master, but young Izuku still needs to grow some more before we bring him into the inner circle, doesn’t he?”

All for One chuckled. “Of course, Doctor. He has a few more years to go. His quirk is wonderful, and he’s copied some strong quirks. But not until his body is more developed can he have the essential quirks: strength enhancement, longevity, the quirks I’ve wielded for decades.”

The Doctor hummed in acknowledgement as he returned to working on his computer, tapping away at keys. Though a moment later he stopped, the sudden lack of noise drawing All for One’s attention.

“Doctor?” he asked, walking over to peer down at the computer monitor in front of the short man.

“It seems All Might found another of our minions,” the Doctor said, pulling up a video that showed a raid, led by All Might, on what looked like an abandoned warehouse.

All for One pursed his lips for a moment before waving it off. “They were small, only used for distraction. I do believe I will be needing to deal with All Might soon, however. Pity, it’s been fun watching the man try so hard to find me and fail again and again. Shimura Nana would be so proud of the hero he’s become. Such a shame she couldn’t live to see it.” He grinned evilly. “I will take my time ripping that idiot apart.”

“He works alone, despite having that agency. Do you think he’s chosen a successor at all?”

“Ha!” All for One bellowed a laugh. “I heavily doubt it. I know he thinks he’s strong enough to stop me. He claims he is any time mention of me is brought up in interviews and press conferences.”

“Reporters who ask of you are also often laughed at. So many think you are a myth, or that you died years ago.”

“Indeed, which is perfect for our plans. With only All Might trying to look for us, it has been easy to stay out of the light and work on our projects. The Nomu Project would be far behind schedule if I was having to deal with heroes any time I wasn’t hidden away in the lab. Plus, I’ve made a family during the downtime. Since my brother was so adamantly against me, it only makes sense I create a new, supportive family. One that will aid my empire, and be my legacy.”

“Don’t tell me you’re planning to let yourself die,” the Doctor said, looking at him, one eyebrow raised.

“Of course not, Doctor,” All for One chuckled. “But eventually I will want to expand our reach beyond Japan. And Izuku will take my spot ruling over this country when I do so.”

“So long as we correct that hero worship of his,” the Doctor pointed out.

“Hm, yes,” All for One said, scowling. “I think I will have to find some heroes to make examples of…” All for One trailed off, getting lost in thought.

Izuku frowned as he read the article on his phone. Another hero had been exposed for being a liar. This one, a low rank hero Izuku hadn’t really even heard of, but was apparently very popular in his city, had been paying people to pretend to be villains. He’d then swoop in to save the day, making him well loved and causing the HPSC to increase his payments. The more work a hero did, the more they were paid. That was known by everyone.

Of course, All MIght’s rise to fame had put a damper on many heroes, since they’d begun to lose out on money. All Might’s mere existence seemed to quash a lot of villainy, which meant less work for the heroes. Add to that the man’s undisputed position as the Number One hero for the last several years, and Izuku could see why some heroes had taken to bribing less-than-good people into pretending to be villains.

The article continued on to report that the hero not only bribed the villains, but also paid for their legal representation as well as bail through a shell corporation. In the past few years, Izuku had come across more and more articles reporting on cases just like this. And apparently, even his mom had been dealing with lawsuits brought against lesser heroes abusing their power.

He didn’t know how to feel about all that. He loved heroes, don’t get him wrong. But all these heroes who turned out to be fakes? They didn’t help society’s view of heroes as a whole. All Might seemed to be the only one who kept the hope for heroes going. Of course, most of the other top heroes were also still well liked, though Endeavor was… Endeavor.

Izuku had begun to notice the faces his parents and Kurogiri made whenever he mentioned All Might, and so had stopped bringing the hero up. He still collected all kinds of hero merchandise, and kept up with the number one’s antics on the hero forums he frequented. But he didn’t like upsetting his parents, and his father had made it clear more than once that he didn’t take kindly to Izuku acting against his wishes, so he didn’t talk about heroes too much around them anymore.

He continued to read the article as he left school. He was in his first year at Aldera Junior High. It’d been eight years since his quirk manifested, but he still pretended to be quirkless, per his parents' rules. The bullying hadn’t really changed since elementary school. Kacchan still harassed him. The occasional lackey of the blond sometimes took things too far, but Izuku wasn’t surprised when they got suspended shortly after. Yet somehow they always continued the bullying when they returned.

Kacchan had learned to toe the line, able to stay out of trouble while still making Izuku’s life miserable. The nickname ‘Deku’ had stuck and that’s all he was known as to everyone in school, besides the teachers. They looked at him with fear, probably because of his dad. He’d slowly been able to learn about his dad’s true identity. His name had changed multiple times, but the description of a quirk that could give and take other quirks was pretty unique. And it showed up in articles dating back to the earliest days of quirks, rare as those articles were.

His dad was as old as quirks themselves, and that just amazed Izuku. He didn’t quite understand why Hisashi hadn’t explained that at all since revealing the truth of his quirk, All for One. But it explained so much, particularly why his dad wielded so many quirks. He’d said he held on to quirks from people who died, and so his living since the dawn of quirks provided background as to why he could have so many of those. Of course, he’d also said he’d taken quirks from people who didn’t deserve them, which Izuku thought was kind of cruel, but if it made society safer, then he couldn’t really complain, could he?

And to the point that most old articles that Izuku managed to find labeled his dad as a villain, well, the modern terms of hero and villain really only came into prominence in the last fifty years or so, so who knows what they’d considered a villain back during the early days of quirks. His dad hadn’t shown even up in articles at all in the last few decades, so he couldn’t be a villain.

Izuku did come across a few interviews with All Might which had mentioned All for One, and the number one hero had always said he was still hunting for that villain. But why would All Might be hunting Izuku’s dad? It didn’t make sense. Despite that, Izuku still somewhat liked the number one hero.

“Izuku,” a baritone voice called, pulling Izuku from his thoughts and his focus on the article on his phone.

“Oh, hey Kurogiri! I thought mom and dad were meeting me today because we were going shopping for my birthday?” Izuku asked, tilting his head in confusion.

“They’ve been held up and will meet us at your home. They send their apologies.”

“Aw, okay,” Izuku said, slightly disappointed. But he always enjoyed the company of Kurogiri, so it wasn’t too much of a letdown. No matter how busy his parents were, they always made time on his birthday so they could spend it together.

“How was school today?” Kurogiri asked him as they began the walk home. The warper still refused to use his quirk, or let Izuku use his copy of it, to portal themselves home. He always explained that the walking was better, especially since it was a short trek.

“Fine, like usual,” Izuku said, shrugging. He pulled on his backpack, readjusting the straps. “Tsubasa tried to bother me.”

“Did he now? Perhaps we will have to inform the Doctor that his grandson is misbehaving.”

“I guess,” Izuku said, not having any real feelings about it. He was used to the harassment. Though he was surprised the grandson of Dr. Tsubasa would be so mean. He guessed the younger Tsubasa was in the same boat as him, unable to know the truth about his grandfather’s work. Izuku had a more direct connection to it, but since Tsubasa just had a winged quirk, he didn’t expect Dr. Tsubasa or Hisashi saw any reason to include the boy at all.

His phone buzzed, so he pulled it back out from his pocket after having stowed it away when Kurogiri called to him. It was a notification of a hero-villain fight. He kept tabs on those since he’d started his analysis notebooks, writing all about both heroes and villains, and trying to find time to see any altercation live. Of course, his parents weren’t thrilled about that, which is why Kurogiri still often met him after school to walk him home.

The news blurb said it was a fight between All Might and some unnamed villain. Izuku figured it would be a quick fight, but when he pulled up the live feed of it, he saw a massive amount of carnage, something he’d never expected to see when it came to All Might.

“Kurogiri, I know you don’t like him, but do you have any idea why All Might would have trouble fighting a villain?” Izuku asked, shoving his phone towards the warper.

Kurogiri stiffened, glancing down at the phone and narrowing his eyes. “I’m sure it’s nothing, young master. It was probably a tough fight for some other hero before All Might arrived. I doubt it will be anything of substance in the end. You know that some villains are quite good at causing havoc.”

“Yeah, I guess,” Izuku said, frowning slightly and pulling his phone back to continue watching the live video. Except, the live feed abruptly stopped, the news anchor saying the issue had been resolved and it was just some villain named ‘Toxic Chainsaw,’ which Izuku recognized. But he didn’t see that villain making such a mess of a city block like the brief video he’d seen had shown.

Lost in thought, Izuku missed the frantic texting Kurogiri began to do. He also didn’t notice that they’d sped up their pace from their usual slow stroll.

Chapter 3: Fall of a Titan

Chapter Text

How had All Might found him? How had the idiot even known what he looked like anymore? He’d changed his appearance throughout the years, never staying the same as he took down each consecutive wielder of One for All.

But here the man was, standing before him and his wife, calling him out for who he truly was. Inko glared daggers at the hero. He’d find it humorous if Inko wasn’t in so much danger at that moment. Police were evacuating the street they were on, confused civilians being escorted away from what would undoubtedly be a massive battle.

“Inko, you need to run,” he told her.

“But, Hisashi,” she started.

“No!” he bellowed, whipping around to her. “We both know how this fight will end. I hadn’t planned for it to happen today, of all days, nor with you or our son around. Thankfully, Izuku is safe for the time being. I can’t send you away, since the warping quirk I have only brings people to me.”

“I’ll call Kurogiri,” Inko said, hastily pulling out her phone from her purse and attempting to dial the warper. She stared at her phone. “They’re blocking signal…” She looked back at him. “I can’t call Kurogiri, or the Doctor.”

“sh*t,” he mumbled. “Get back in the store, I’ll do my best to protect it, but try to shelter yourself the best you can.”

“Hisashi… What about Izuku?”

“He has Kurogiri, who I’m sure will work with the Doctor to figure out something. We already had to send Kurogiri to pick up Izuku, so he won’t be alone.”

“But the news,” Inko said, pointing to the helicopters above. “You’ll be on TV soon, if we aren’t already.”

“This kind of confrontation won’t be truly live,” he explained. “The police will have made sure of that. Society today has almost no clue who I am, and they want to keep it that way. They’ll make up some lie once this is all over. It will be interesting to see how they spin the death of All Might.”

Inko leaned in and kissed him on the cheek. “Good luck, Hisashi.”

“Stay safe, Inko,” All for One said, not taking his eyes off of All Might. He heard Inko’s heels click as she hurried back into the store they’d just come from. They’d been out shopping for Izuku and had lost track of time, failing to be back home before the boy would be getting out of school. It was the first time they’d missed picking up Izuku on his birthday. He’d have to make it up to his son later.

“This is the end, All for One,” All Might bellowed. “There’s nowhere to run, and I will put a stop to you today.”

All for One couldn’t help but grin. “Just like your master. She thought she could stop me, but you saw how that ended for her. Are you really here for a repeat of that, Toshinori? Shall I remind you of Shimura’s screams as I killed her? No, I’m sure I don’t have to. You relive that day over and over in your nightmares, don’t you?”

All Might’s signature smile was missing, not surprising. In its place was a snarl, which brought great joy to All for One. His mere existence wiped that ridiculous smile off the idiot’s face.

“Shut up,” All Might growled out. “I won’t fail to stop you.”

“Sure you won’t,” All for One said. “It’s not like I’ve never heard those words before.”

He called on the battle-oriented quirks he’d been stockpiling for decades, the ones he refused to leave with the Doctor except as inferior copies. The quirks he planned to have Izuku copy on his sixteenth birthday, when he’d reveal to the boy the legacy he was growing into. It was disappointing that he’d have to destroy the hero that had interested Izuku for so long, but the boy would understand. All Might was the only one who stood in their way. And with him gone, and One for All back in his control, no one would be able to stop them.

All Might leapt at him, winding back an arm to land a punch on him. He shrugged off the blow, a shockwave blasting out from the contact. All for One strengthened his own arm and hit All Might, sending the hero flying back into the office building across the street.

Taking a moment, All for One created a barrier in front of the store Inko was hiding in using Air Wall. It would reinforce the building so that his clash with All Might wouldn’t put it at risk of collapse.

His momentary distraction allowed All Might to run in and land a hit against his back. He flew down the street, but righted himself and turned to glare at the hero.

“I didn’t figure you one to care about collateral damage, All for One,” All Might said, nodding to the air wall. “Going soft?”

“Ha, you would like that, wouldn’t you?” All for One asked. He fired black lighting at All Might, who managed to dodge it. The lightning hit a car, causing it to explode and send shrapnel across the street.

The police had done their job well in escorting civilians away from the battlezone. Without anyone else around, All Might had no one to worry about protecting. His focus was solely on All for One.

All Might drew back, calling out his ridiculous attack. “Detroit Smash!” A massive column of air rocketed at All for One.

He just sighed and fired his own blast of air with Air Cannon. The two air columns collided, causing a massive gust of wind to blow out from the epicenter. Glass broke on the buildings around them, cars skidded from their abandoned spots on the street. All for One just shrugged off the gale, as did All Might.

The hero rushed in again, aiming a punch at All for One. Was that really all the man could do? All for One drew on several quirks, strengthening, enlarging, and reinforcing his right arm. He met All Might’s fist with his own, and once more a shockwave was released as they clashed.

This was a fight between two titans, and All for One was merely toying with the hero, getting his hopes up that maybe, just maybe, he could actually win. And when All Might got co*cky, All for One would bring down the hammer and end the hero’s miserable and pointless life.

They continued to clash in this manner, the resulting shockwaves slowly chipping at the buildings around them. Occasionally one of them would send the other crashing into a building, causing it to collapse. But both of them would just shove the rubble off their bodies and stand back up to continue the fight.

That was until All for One dodged an assault by All Might, who instead went flying into the air wall in front of the store Inko was in. Cracks spiderwebbed out from where All Might had impacted the wall. All for One watched as the wall splintered then faded away, the quirk taking too much damage to remain effective.

He scowled at All Might, who paid it no mind and ran back at All for One again. He grabbed the hero’s arm and swung him around, launching him down the street. All Might crashed into a car. Yet still the hero stood back up, wiping some blood from his mouth. The man’s hero costume was in tatters, but he still fought on. He took a step, then faltered slightly, falling to one knee.

“Enough of this,” All for One decreed. “I don’t normally repeat an execution, but I’m sure your master wouldn’t mind that you went out the same way she did.”

He formed a massive fireball above his head, engorging it with the strength enhancing quirks he’d picked up over the years. It grew and grew until the heat was nearly unbearable, almost as if it were the sun itself. He launched the fireball at All Might. This had been the way he’d killed Shimura Nana. The screams of the woman as she’d been burned alive had brought him great pleasure.

All for One put up an Air Wall in front of him as the fire ball continued on its course to All Might. The hero could only watch as his demise approached. The downside to this move was how slow it moved, but it didn’t matter when it was used on a crippled opponent.

Except, in the last moment before the fireball would have been close enough to begin cooking All Might alive, he jumped. He must have put his all into the jump because he soared dozens of meters into the sky, well above the fire ball. All for One dropped his Air Wall and sent out a blast from Air Cannon to dissipate the fireball. There was no use in its collateral damage if it didn’t do its main job.

The blast of air hit the fireball in its center, creating a hole in it. The ball then collapsed in on itself and sent a blast of heat out in all directions as it fizzled away.

All Might came barreling back to the ground, right at All for One. He dodged to the side as the hero blasted past him. Right into the only remaining, intact building on the street.

The store all but exploded, concrete blasting away from All Might’s impact as the building collapsed. All for One’s eyes widened as he flew towards the rubble. He funneled more power into his arm and grabbed All Might once more, launching him down the street until he was out of sight.

He scrambled to lift the rubble, searching. As he lifted a piece of the store’s roof, he saw an outstretched, bloody hand sticking out of a pile of concrete chunks. Quickly removing the pile, he was met with the sight of his wife, bloody and crumpled. He didn’t need a quirk to know she was dead, her body bent in ways it shouldn’t be. He roared in anguish and anger. Fury burned deep inside him, and he whipped around to glare down the street he’d thrown All Might.

The hero was there, running back down the street, as if he hadn’t just been thrown several blocks. All for One sincerely hoped there’d still been civilians where All Might had landed, and that the resulting crater from the hero’s impact had caused some casualties.

“You won’t stop me that easily,” All Might bellowed as he launched attack after attack on All for One.

All for One could tell All Might knew he was backed into a corner. His punches were thrown with reckless abandon, and with more strength than he’d ever seen the hero use. But in turn, All for One launched attacks back. This area of the city would be leveled beyond belief before their battle ended.

As he fought back, landing hits against All Might, All for One failed to notice how reckless he was also being. He was leaving himself open to easy hits, which All Might took advantage of. The hero grabbed his head and began to crush it between his hands. All for One screamed, blasting All Might back with Air Cannon and launching dark balls of explosive energy after the hero.

His head was bleeding and he could tell his skull had been fractured. He’d never had this much trouble fighting off a wielder of One for All, and didn’t expect All Might to be any different, even with the stockpiling power of One for All.

One of his Dark Balls landed a hit against All Might’s side, burning the hero’s flesh. It made an easy target for a follow up attack.

All for One took that opportunity and launched himself at All Might, grabbing the man’s side in his hand and crushing it. The hero yelled in agony and All for One grinned.

“You’ve lost,” he said, holding the hero up. “Your quirk will be mine, and this useless legacy of resistance will finally be over. But I’ll take my time killing you.”

All Might roared and slammed his fists together, right on each side of All for One’s head. Japan’s greatest supervillain collapsed in a heap, choking on blood as brain matter spilled from his crushed skull.

His sight was gone, his hearing barely there, but he could feel All Might nearby. He could tell when the hero stood back up, limping over to him. In one last ditch attempt to kill the hero and save himself, he unleashed a blast of power from his body, sending the hero flying.

It was then he realized he wasn’t choking on his blood, but rather the black sludge of his warp quirk. Of Johnny’s warp quirk. The cold feeling of the sludge overtook him, and he lost consciousness before even arriving at the lab.

Izuku frowned as he padded out into the living room again. He’d been home for a few hours, but still his parents hadn’t shown up. And Kurogiri had been pacing nearly the entire time. Izuku had never seen the warper anxious before.

“Kurogiri,” he said, causing the warper to stiffen. “I thought you said mom and dad would be here not long after we got home. But it’s been a few hours…”

“Young master, I-” Kurogiri started, but paused as his phone rang. He pulled it out and answered. “Yes, Doctor? I see. Yes, we’ll be there in just a moment.” He put the phone away and turned to Izuku. “We’ve been summoned to the lab, Izuku. But before we go, I must warn you… something has happened to your parents.”

Izuku couldn’t help the tears that welled behind his eyes. He could only think of the worst possible things that could have happened. He took Kurogiri’s outstretched hand as the man made them a portal. They walked through and arrived in the Doctor’s lab where the man was intensely working on someone on the surgical bed at the back. He had a few of the weaker Nomu nearby, ones Izuku realized as having medical related quirks.

“Doctor, we are here,” Kurogiri said.

“Good, good,” Dr. Tsubasa said, not turning from his patient. “He’s been asking for Izuku. Quickly, explain the situation then bring him here.”

Kurogiri turned, then knelt down in front of Izuku. “Young master, your parents were attacked earlier today, shortly after I picked you up from school.”

Izuku stared through Kurogiri as his thoughts ran a mile a minute. His eyes widened when he remembered what else had happened right after school. “All Might…”

“Yes. I lied to you earlier,” Kurogiri said. “That battle was not just some random villain. That was a fated fight between All Might and your father. All for One and All Might, or rather the quirk he possesses, have been rivals since the dawn of quirks. And each time the quirk All Might has is passed from user to user, All for One has hunted them down, to take back what is rightfully his.

“Today, instead of All for One doing that, he was the one hunted down. He and All Might fought, which caused the devastation you saw on the news. And that is why the news was cut off. The government and HPSC do not wish for the public to know of All for One and All Might’s past. The fight… did not go well.”

“Is that…” Izuku tried to say, but his voice cracked and got stuck in his throat. Tears flowed freely down his cheeks now.

“The Doctor is working on your father, trying to save his life. But I’m afraid your mother did not make it. She was crushed by a falling building.”

“M-mom…” Izuku cried, collapsing to his knees.

“I-Izuku,” a raspy voice called from the surgical bed. Izuku shot up, recognizing it as his dad’s voice.

“Dad!” Izuku ran to the bedside. He was met with the gruesome sight of his father, beaten and bloody, his head caved in. His eyes were gone, and the Doctor worked on the rest of the man’s head.

“Izuku, little one,” Hisashi said weakly. “I need you… I need you to copy my quirk. Copy All for One.”

Izuku didn’t understand, but he did as he was told, just like he always did. He reached out with his quirk and searched for the right thread. Except, it wasn’t a thread. It was practically a rope. It glowed and writhed within Hisashi. Izuku pulled on it, a deep red ball of energy forming in his open palm. He closed his hand, absorbing the quirk he’d never been allowed to touch until now.

“Now, use it. Use your copy of All for One. And take the real quirk from me,” Hisashi commanded, his voice barely a whisper. “Then give me the copy.”

“B-but dad, it’s your quirk, why take a copy of it?”

“Because.” Hisashi wheezed. “I don’t know when I’ll be able to leave this lab again, if ever. And this quirk is your legacy. Make the world pay for what it’s done to you, to our family.”

Izuku cried as he used his copy of All for One to pull the original out of his father. Then using the original, he placed the copy back into its original owner.

“Very good, little one,” Hisashi said. “Now, Kurogiri will take care of you. I hope to see you again one day. The Doctor will- He’ll do his best to heal me. One day, we’ll be together again, and we’ll make the world ours.”

“Daddy…” Izuku cried, tears streaming down his face. He felt like a little kid again, not the thirteen-year-old teenager he now was. What a horrible birthday gift the world had given him.

Hisashi weakly rested a hand on Izuku’s cheek, using his thumb to wipe away the tears.

“Go, little one, live for me and your mother, until I return…” Hisashi’s hand fell away from Izuku’s cheek as he passed out.

“No, Dad! Don’t leave me!”

“Kurogiri, take him away, I need to focus on my work again if we have any hope of saving Master’s life!” the Doctor ordered.

Kurogiri had to drag Izuku from his father’s body. He warped them back to the Midoriya apartment. Izuku continued to cry into Kurogiri’s chest. The warper just held him, rubbing his back and whispering useless platitudes to try and calm the boy down. Eventually, Izuku fell asleep in Kurogiri’s arms. Kurogiri carried the boy to his bed and laid him down. He then took a seat at Izuku’s desk, not planning to let Izuku out of his sight.

Izuku didn’t wake up until the next day, entirely forgetting about his birthday. Though he’d never feel the urge to celebrate it again. It had gone from one of the best days every year to the absolute worst in his life. When he did wake up, he felt hollow. His parents were gone. Even if his dad survived the surgery, neither he nor the Doctor thought he’d wake up any time soon.

The late morning sun shined through his curtains, lighting up his room. He sat up and stared at the wall. He could hear rustling from elsewhere in the apartment, and for a brief moment he almost thought everything had been a terrible nightmare, and he’d walk out to find his mom cooking breakfast like usual.

But the All for One quirk pulsed in his soul, and he knew that it had all been very, very real.

He got out of bed, realizing he was still wearing his Aldera Junior High uniform from the day before. He frowned down at the clothes and quickly changed out of them, into a pair of sweatpants and a random shirt. An All Might shirt lay on the floor. He snatched it up and tossed it through a quick portal, sending it to a garbage dump nearby.

Out in the kitchen, Kurogiri was diligently making breakfast. He’d done it plenty of times before, so it wasn’t necessarily an odd thing to see. But it still made Izuku’s heart ache.

“Good morning, young master,” Kurogiri said as Izuku padded into the kitchen. He’d made coffee, which Izuku usually wasn’t allowed to have, but the warper didn’t stop him when he grabbed a mug and filled it with the dark, bitter liquid.

“Is it?” Izuku snapped.

“I suppose not. I apologize.”

Izuku sighed. “No, sorry, Kurogiri. You’re just trying to keep things going like normal.”

“All we can do is continue on,” Kurogiri said, plating up some eggs and pancakes for Izuku. “Eat. You haven’t had food since lunch yesterday.”

Izuku looked down at the outstretched plate of food and his stomach rumbled. He took it, nodding in thanks, and walked over to the dining table. He began to eat, honestly surprised he had an appetite at all.

“May I speak freely?” Kurogiri asked him, stepping out of the kitchen with his own mug of coffee.

“Yeah, always,” Izuku said between mouthfuls of food.

“I understand that this is a terrible tragedy to live through. But as I said, we need to continue on. I will be taking care of you from now on. However, we need to move out of this apartment. It’s only a matter of time before the police look into your family, due to your mother’s death. I’ve already packed up many of your things. We won’t fully abandon the apartment, but we cannot stay here for the foreseeable future.”

Izuku frowned. He figured as much. Things were vastly different now. He’d been let in on the truth of his father. Those old articles he’d found were evidently right: Hisashi was a villain. But that didn’t change Izuku’s opinion of the man. He was still Izuku’s dad, and always would be.

“Okay,” Izuku said. “We can leave the hero merch. I don’t feel any attachment to it anymore…”

Kurogiri tilted his head. “You and your mother were always so alike. You both got emotional over the simplest of things. Which Master found endearing. But now you seem so much more like your father. Able to accept the reality of things and move forward. I do believe both of your parents would be even more proud of you than they already were.”

“Thanks, Kurogiri,” Izuku said, sniffling a bit, though no tears threatened his eyes. “That honestly means a lot.”

Kurogiri nodded. “After breakfast, we will move to one of the nearby safe houses Master had set up. It’s ‘cozy’ as he once put it. It was meant as a backup home in case something happened and your family had to leave this one in a hurry.”

“Will they have a funeral for my mom?” Izuku asked, sitting back in his chair. He’d finished eating by this point.

“Most likely. Even if the authorities connect her to Master, the Bakugous would never let them slander your mother. Mitsuki will most likely fight the authorities on that, claiming that Inko would have never been with someone like All for One had she known who he was,” Kurogiri said. “We’ll have to keep up that facade, in order to keep you out of trouble.”

“I understand. Will I still be going to Aldera?”

“Yes, besides the move, your life will have to continue on as if nothing has changed.”

“Which means I have to continue hiding my quirk…”

“Correct. Especially now that you also wield the original All for One. I’m sorry, young master. I know you wish you could show off your quirk.”

Izuku pondered his options for the future while Kurogiri cleaned up from breakfast. He hand washed all the dishes and utensils they’d used, putting everything away so that the apartment remained clean. The warper had been cleaning and organizing the home all night.

“Kurogiri,” Izuku suddenly said, drawing the warper’s attention back to him. “My dad, he dealt with anyone and everyone who went against him, right? Hero, villain, even vigilantes?”

“Correct,” Kurogiri said, his eyes narrowing. He didn’t seem to like where this was going.

“What if I… What if I become a pseudo-vigilante, though I’ll probably be labeled a villain. But mom, dad, even you were right about heroes. They aren’t inherently good just because society labels them as such. And I have the ability to stop them easily.”

“You do, but you can’t draw too much attention to yourself, young master. If the authorities catch you-”

“Yeah, I know, but if I can do something, shouldn’t I?” Izuku asked. “And I won’t go after high profile heroes or anything. But like, you and I both know that with the fall of someone like my dad, so many people will try to show up and fill the power vacuum. Just because the news won’t report on the truth doesn’t mean that the underworld won’t know what’s happened.”

Kurogiri was surprised. He hadn’t expected Izuku to be so intelligent when it came to the workings of the villain underworld. He set down the dish towel he was holding and walked back over to stand next to the dining room table, looking down at Izuku.

“You are right. Many of Master’s former connections will turn on him and attempt to take some of the power he’s left behind. The Doctor and I were left with contingency plans to keep some semblance of control, but you may be correct in that you can, and should, do something to assist.”

“Contingency? Like the other kid dad had you watch over?”

“How do you know of him?”

“Well, dad and the Doctor weren’t exactly subtle when they discussed him. And they did that plenty when I was at the lab for quirk training or to assist their experiments.”

“Hm,” Kurogiri hummed. “Shigaraki Tomura is his name. His quirk is destructive, and he was in an abusive household before he accidentally destroyed it. Master found him one day, when you were very little, and took him in. The Doctor and I have been the ones to supervise him since Master had you to focus on. He has a role to play in the future. Master wants him as the temporary face of the remnants of his empire. Until, of course, you are able to step into that role.”

“Right…” Izuku said, looking down at his lap. “I think I want to try my plan for now. Can you, or the Doctor, get me some kind of costume to help hide my identity?”

“Easily. The simplest idea would be for an all black outfit, which includes a hood and mask. Nothing too flashy, and you could look like any normal teenager roaming the streets. It wouldn’t draw too much attention.”

“Yeah, that sounds good,” Izuku said. He stood up from the table. “I’m gonna go shower and change, then we can leave.” He looked around the apartment, taking it in one last time before he finished preparing for their move. They didn’t know when they’d be coming back, but at least it would still be here whenever they were able to return.

“Very well, young master. Once we settle in at the new house, we can go speak with the Doctor and see about getting you some more combat oriented quirks,” Kurogiri said. “Your fitness training will be very useful going forward.”

Izuku nodded as he walked down the hallway. He’d hated the workouts his dad always made him do. But in the end they’d been useful, just as the man had told him whenever Izuku wanted to give up. He’d have to learn hand-to-hand on his own, but with the speed he picked up new things, he doubted it’d be too hard.

He went into the bathroom and organized the things he’d take with him: his toothbrush and toothpaste; his hair brush. The rest of the shower supplies he could leave behind. Besides, he didn’t really want to have to pack up wet things anyway, since he was about to shower.

Once he’d finished his shower and gotten dressed, he grabbed a duffle bag of things he wanted to take with him and met Kurogiri in the living room. Unsurprisingly, they weren’t walking to the safe house, they were warping there. Kurogiri had already taken the suitcases he’d packed for Izuku and now stood waiting on the teen.

Izuku stepped through the portal, which Kurogiri collapsed as they exited on the other side. The safe house was certainly cozy, as the warper claimed Hisashi had called it. It wasn’t much different from their original apartment. Of course, it looked far less lived in. But Hisashi, and Inko most likely, had done their best to ensure this could be a backup home for them all.

“You’ll be pleased to know this place has a secret room, which you can use for your escapades.” Kurogiri said. He pulled up a floor plan of the apartment and showed it to Izuku. In the middle was a room that only had one entrance, a fake wall in the master bedroom. Coordinates marked a spot in the middle of the hidden room.

“For warping?” Izuku asked, pointing at the coordinates. Kurogiri nodded. “That’s pretty cool…”

Kurogiri’s eyes brightened, indicating a smile. “Make yourself comfortable, get moved in and settled. As you probably guessed, you’re excused from school for the remainder of the week. But you’ll need to begin attending again on Monday.”

“Alright, thanks Kurogiri,” Izuku said, heading to one of the smaller bedrooms. He wasn’t about to take the master bedroom. It would feel weird. And even though his parents would never be able to use it, it still felt like it was theirs.

Izuku unpacked his things once he chose a room. His clothes were neatly put away in the dresser and closet. Then he pulled out his stack of notebooks. All hero analysis. Before, he’d noted this information down because he found it interesting. He liked quirks, regardless of the fact his own incentivized learning others, and heroes had always seemed like good people before.

Now, though? Now these were useful for finding ways to stop the heroes. And he’d add to it with villains, whose information he’d get from Kurogiri and the Doctor. Vigilantes would be harder, but he could look into them while doing his own work.

He never expected to become a vigilante/villain at only thirteen. But he had a legacy to live up to. Didn’t he?

—

“The apartment was abandoned, yet it looked as if the residents had just stepped out for a bit,” the detective said. “Almost as if we just happened to miss them.”

“Are you sure they didn’t?” the hero asked. He was tired, like always, and sitting in the detective’s office was making him want to just sleep.

“Seeing as one of the known residents had her funeral a few days ago, and the other is MIA? Yes, I’m quite sure.”

Aizawa Shouta, the Underground Pro Hero: Eraser Head, sighed. He picked up the file in front of him and opened it to read about the case. Midoriya Inko’s crushed body was discovered in the aftermath of a massive hero-villain fight, which somehow Aizawa knew almost nothing about. And Detective Tsukauchi Naomosa wasn’t giving him any details about it either.

Midoriya Inko had been a well respected lawyer, though the cases she focused on centered around heroes abusing their power. The woman’s husband, Midoriya Hisashi, didn’t have much information on him. He had a lot of travel paperwork, though. Based on those records, Hisashi had barely been home. Instead he spent time in other prefectures, and even out of the country.

Then, of course, was their son: Midoriya Izuku. The boy had disappeared for a few days following the death of his mother, but he’d returned to school the following week and even showed up at Inko’s funeral, according to the file.

According to the police, Midoriya had been taken in by the babysitter he’d had as a kid. Though nothing much was known about the man. Family friends of the Midoriyas, the Bakugous, had confirmed as much. But they also said they hadn’t seen Izuku since his mother’s death, except briefly at the woman’s funeral. Their only other knowledge of the teen was the fact their own son attended the same school as him: Aldera Junior High.

“So,” Aizawa said, leaning back in his chair. “Why exactly did you call me down here?”

“Something doesn’t add up,” Tsukauchi said. “The location Mrs. Midoriya died, the fight that happened there and her possible connections to the villain.”

“About whom you’ll tell me nothing,” Aizawa reminded him.

“Not my call, sorry,” the detective said. “All I can say is that he was an extremely dangerous man. And if she was connected to him in any way, then their son needs to be watched. As far as we can tell, they live in an area of the city which you patrol anyway. So if you can just keep an eye out, and let us know if you discover anything, it’d be much appreciated.”

Aizawa sighed. “Fine. But you know I can only watch. Just because you have a suspicion doesn’t mean I can grab the kid and detain him or anything.”

“Yeah, I know. All I want is an eye on him.”

“I’ll let you know if anything interesting happens. But my guess is that this Midoriya is just going to be a mourning teenager trying to continue his life as best he can.”

“I’m hoping you’re right,” the detective said.

Chapter 4: Rise of a Shadow

Chapter Text

Throwing up his hood, Izuku formed a portal with Warp. Black-green mist flowed from his hand to create the swirling mass. He walked through it, stepping out of the hidden room in his home and into an alleyway several blocks away.

He and Kurogiri had quickly decided there was no point in keeping their new home a secret, since Izuku still had to go to school and he couldn’t just warp to and from Aldera everyday. Plus, the police had come to talk to him about the death of his mother three times now. As if he had anything new to tell them after the first one. Though it had given him the chance to learn the quirk of Detective Tsukauchi, which he discretely copied one day when walking them out of the apartment after the interrogation.

The truth was a fickle thing. One could manipulate their wording to come across as true to even the strictest of lie detectors. In addition, if someone believed wholeheartedly that they were speaking the truth, then it would ping as such. Kurogiri and the Doctor had helped Izuku learn how to best fool a lie detector quirk, though Izuku was still careful in what he said and how he worded things. He preferred half-truths rather than attempting to lie in such a fashion that it seemed like he was telling the truth. Regardless of what he’d become, or who his father had been, Izuku couldn’t fully bear lying to the authorities.

Rolling his shoulders, Izuku absorbed the warp mist back into his body and a moment later his hand was once again corporeal and solid. He shook it, since the feeling of using Warp always left him with a sense of pins and needles for a few minutes after.

He was after one specific villain tonight. Someone whose quirk was extremely powerful, though the man barely knew the half of it. The Doctor had discovered it thanks to some of the connections they still had with the underworld.

The villain had a quirk that they'd labeled ‘Amnesia.’ It allowed the user to erase a victim’s memory, to varying degrees if they were correct. But the villain only used it to make people forget him and his actions after he’d had his fun. He used it short term. Izuku figured it could be used to entirely erase someone’s memory of a person, regardless of how long they’d known them.

The quirk would allow him to make people forget him, as needed. It would primarily be useful for anyone he came across on these night ‘patrols’ as he’d come to call them. But it could also be used to wipe the memory of people who’d known him longer, if he saw the need. At this point, that only really included his classmates at Aldera, and the Bakugou family. He didn’t want to wipe their memories, but if he did follow in his father’s footsteps, it might be necessary. At the very least, he had discussed with the Doctor about wiping the Bakugou’s memory of Kurogiri, given the warper was now focusing on taking care of Shigaraki.

Izuku used Air Walk to make his way to the nearby rooftop. Warping into alleys limited the chance someone would notice the portal, but the rooftops were beneficial to scouting. He understood why many heroes used the same strategy.

According to their intel, the villain he was after frequented this part of the city due to its many bars and nightclubs. Because his targets were the drunk patrons leaving those establishments. Sometimes he just took their money. Other times, he did more unsavory things to them. And in the end, he’d cause them to forget the horror they experienced that night, and so he continued to be uncaught by the authorities.

He scanned the street below, on which were three different nightclubs. People flowed in and out of each, moving between them with friends, or whoever they’d met in one club. Izuku had been given a quirk that heightened his vision at night, and so he could easily make out what each person looked like.

It took about thirty minutes before Izuku saw a man that fit the description they’d been given. He was following another young man out of one of the clubs, staying back a few feet. The civilian was nearly stumbling as he walked, obviously drunk which made him the exact target the villain was going for.

Izuku followed them from the rooftops, waiting for his opportunity. The villain wouldn’t act while they were still so close to the crowds of the club, but a few blocks away he finally sped up to catch the young man. Izuku took that moment to run down to street level, using Air Walk, and tackle the villain into an alley. He heard the civilian mutter something, probably having heard the thud of Izuku’s body slamming into the villain and taking them both into the alley. But the young man didn’t investigate. Footsteps faded away as he kept walking.

“What the f*ck?!” the villain snarled, pushing Izuku off of him and standing up. “Who the hell do you think you are, huh?”

“Doesn’t matter who I am. You’ll forget me soon enough.” Izuku’s mask changed his voice to be deeper, distorted.

“Ha!” the villain barked out a laugh. “I think it’s you who’ll forget me, dumbass.” The villain took a step towards Izuku, but the teen just co*cked his head to the side.

He called on the strength quirks the Doctor had let him copy shortly after his parents died, and punched the villain, sending him flying into the wall. The villain’s breath was knocked out of him as he collapsed to the ground, wheezing.

“Yeah, no,” Izuku said as he walked over to the villain and knelt in front of him. While his copy quirk only required proximity, All for One required physical contact. He set his hand on the villain’s shoulder and pulled the Amnesia quirk out of him. “Like I said, you’ll forget me.” He used the new quirk to erase the villain’s mind of the few memories related to Izuku. He then dropped an envelope into the villain’s lap as the man fell unconscious - a side effect of the amnesia quirk.

Izuku often left these villains for the authorities to find, collecting evidence of their crimes and leaving that as well so they’d get locked up. Low level villains like this guy weren’t worth keeping around, even if their quirks were.

A quick phone call to the police, using an untraceable phone Kurogiri had given him, and Izuku was done for the night. He used Warp to head home. He’d achieved his goal for the night.

It’d been six months since his parents died. Whether or not his father could ever be awoken from his coma, Izuku figured it easier to assume him dead. It made lying about it more believable to others if he just thought that way all the time.

School continued to be its normal, annoying part of his life. Bullies continued to harass him, though they’d dialed it back a bit during the first few weeks after his parents’ deaths. But they were back at it in full now. Well, all except Kacchan. Kacchan didn’t bother him much at all anymore, though he still glared and sneered at Izuku, and continued calling him a useless Deku. Izuku honestly didn’t give a damn what any of them thought.

His grades were near perfect. He had more power than any of them could ever imagine. He could probably explode the room, and everyone in it, with ease. But he was still thirteen, and figured outright murder, especially of children, wasn’t the best plan. Nor what he really ever wanted to do with the power he held.

His father had been a villain. Probably the largest and most powerful villain ever known. But Izuku didn’t see himself fully following in Hisashi’s footsteps. Yeah, for now, he was assisting the Doctor in creating Nomu, since his copy quirk made it so easy. And maybe he wanted to tear down hero society because of how corrupt it was. But he also didn’t want villains running free in the streets, terrorizing civilians. And if he took his father’s route, then even with him at the top, that kind of thing was bound to happen. No one could control everything in a society.

So, for now, he just continued his nightly escapades. Sometimes he took down villains, other times he stopped corrupt heroes and left enough evidence behind to get them caught. He’d come across a few vigilantes, who he’d chatted with. He actually rarely saw a need to disrupt them. They were genuinely helping people, and weren’t in it for the money like so many heroes. Though some of them did go a bit overboard. Izuku hadn’t come across any of those guys yet.

He ate lunch on the roof of Aldera, as had become his norm. He’d slink away when class was dismissed for lunch and warp himself to the top, bypassing the stairwells and any teachers who might be guarding them. He was careful, ensuring no one saw him use the quirk.

Kurogiri always packed him lunch, though the warper wasn’t home all that often anymore. He had those contingency plans to take care of, particularly Shigaraki Tomura whom Izuku had yet to meet. But based on the Doctor’s feelings toward Shigaraki, and Kurogiri’s description of him? Izuku wasn’t missing out on much. He’d leave them alone, for now. Both men still happily helped Izuku, and in turn he assisted them when they asked. The Doctor was the one who took that opportunity the most.

The latest Nomu experiment had resulted in failure. The focus on ensuring All for One survived his fight with All Might caused the Doctor to neglect the stasis pod holding the Nomu for several days. The lack of attention had led the pod to failing one day, setting back the project immensely.

The Doctor had cowered from Izuku when he’d had to explain what happened. Izuku had just stared at him, confused. It took a moment to realize the Doctor probably thought Izuku would react like his father, and severely punish him. While Izuku wouldn’t do that, he made sure the threat of such a possibility still existed. He’d told the Doctor he was disappointed in the failure, but understood the reasoning behind it. However, if the Doctor failed again, then there would have to be consequences.

The old Izuku would have balked at such an action. But the old Izuku also had loving parents who still lived. Still hugged him and praised him.

This new Izuku didn’t have that luxury.

The Doctor had immediately begun work on a new Nomu, with the same focus of having the capability to fight All Might. They hadn’t seen nor heard anything of the hero since his fight with All for One. None of them were even sure the man still lived. But given All for One did, they weren’t taking any chances.

The Nomu would be a gift for Shigaraki one day, should the Number One Hero make a return. Shigaraki had apparently been groomed by the Doctor and All for One into hating heroes, All Might most of all. That didn’t surprise Izuku. The story of how they’d come to ‘adopt’ Shigaraki had pinged true when the Doctor told him, thanks to the Lie Detector quirk he’d picked up from Detective Tsukauchi.

His phone buzzed and he pulled it out of his pocket to see a text from the Doctor.

Doctor [11:48]
Can you stop by the lab after school today? I have something I would like to test with your copies.

Izuku had nothing he needed to get done that night, and wasn’t planning on heading out to deal with any stupid villains or heroes. So he shrugged as he typed out his response.

Izuku [11:52]
I’ll be there after dinner.

He only ever warped to the lab from his home, and so he decided he’d take the time to change out of his uniform and eat dinner before heading into the lab. The Doctor wouldn’t complain, and his quick reply of ‘Thank you’ was exactly what Izuku expected.

Izuku arrived at the lab around six o’clock. The Doctor greeted him without looking up from his computer. He had a few of the quirk vials arranged nearby, none of them labeled. Izuku could guess what their experiment was going to be tonight.

Izuku took a seat on one of the many stools strewn around the lab while he waited on the Doctor to tell him why he was there. The latest Nomu project floated in its large stasis tank. The monster was still in its biological augment stage, where the Doctor enhanced the body so it could withstand the many quirks it was going to hold. The Nomu still creeped Izuku out, despite his proximity to them for so many years.

“Thank you for coming, young master,” the Doctor said. “I want to see how many copies of a quirk you can create. We know you can make one, and now that you have All for One, you can transfer that copy to someone, or something, else. But, your father was able to wield multiple copies of one quirk, mainly the strength boosting ones like the single copies you currently wield.

“Since we’ve barely used your copy quirk, which we really should name beyond just ‘Copy’ seeing as that’s too basic,” the Doctor continued. “Especially since the failure already has that listed on official documentation,” he then muttered under his breath before returning to his normal volume. “We need to test how it functions. Besides All for One and the Amnesia quirk, and of course your quirk itself, you only wield copies of quirks. So far, they’ve all been seen to function exactly the same as the originals, unlike our artificial copies.”

“And if I can make multiple copies, then we can replace your artificial ones?” Izuku asked.

“Partially. I do not want to force you to always be available to make copies, and with the amount of originals I have available, thanks to your father, I can make copies for the Nomu without much issue. I will want to test how effective your copies are when it comes to my artificial duplications. Currently, if I copy a copy, the quirk degrades further. It practically becomes useless after two copies.”

“Doctor!” a voice yelled through the intercom nearby, causing the Doctor to sigh aggressively.

“The damn brat,” the short man mumbled. “Young master, put on your mask and hood. Shigaraki is most likely about to barge in here and demand something.”

Izuku snorted as he threw up the hood of his sweatshirt and put his mask on. “You should move him out of the compound, then.”

“We’re working on it. Kurogiri has been setting up a place to be a front for what we have planned with the brat.”

The door at the far end of the lab slammed open just as the Doctor dimmed the lights on everything beyond the first few meters of the lab.

“While he’s here,” the Doctor whispered, “Copy his quirk. I have an interest in messing with it. Just, don’t touch anything while you have it. It’s a five-finger activation.” Izuku nodded, following the Doctor towards the front of the lab. The only visible things behind them was the Doctor’s work area, and the main Nomu experiment.

“Doctor, Kurogiri is not answering me,” Shigaraki whined, scratching at his neck.

“Because he is busy,” the Doctor said flatly. “As we’ve told you, he has other jobs to handle while Master is indisposed.” That piqued Izuku’s attention. So they hadn’t told Shigaraki the truth about All for One yet.

“Sensei better have a good reason to be gone so long,” Shigaraki snarled, Izuku couldn’t help the growl that came from his throat at the careless words of Shigaraki. The other teenager turned to him and glared. “Who are you?”

Izuku waited to see if the Doctor would explain, but the man just gestured for him to go ahead.

“None of your concern,” Izuku said lowly, his voice distorted by his mask. He’d just wipe Shigaraki’s memory of him with Amnesia anyway. The other teen continued to glare at him, narrowing his eyes.

Shigaraki took a step forward, putting him in range for Izuku to copy his quirk. So Izuku did. He found the thread and pulled it, the wisp forming in his hand a blue-gray color that matched Shigaraki’s hair. He let the wisp float in his palm as it drew Shigaraki’s attention. Izuku then absorbed it and clenched both hands into fists, so he couldn’t accidentally touch anything with all five fingers.

He could tell it was a destruction quirk, based on how it felt. That was dangerous for someone as volatile as Shigaraki. He had to wonder how many things the teenager had destroyed, either accidentally or purposefully.

“The hell was that?” Shigaraki demanded.

“Go back to your room,” the Doctor ordered. “Kurogiri will return soon to take you to the location he’s been setting up. I’m sure you’ll be much happier there.”

Shigaraki scoffed and turned to leave, but before he walked away, Izuku quickly wiped his memory of meeting Izuku. The teen shook his head, dazed, before collapsing.

“Ah, right, that quirk knocks them unconscious,” the Doctor said, staring down at Shigaraki. “We’ll deal with him in a moment. First, come here.” Izuku followed him over to his desk, where the Doctor picked up one of the quirk containment vials. He quickly wrote on it ‘Decay’ then held it up for Izuku. “Put that quirk in here. One finger on the vial should be enough to transfer it.”

Izuku tapped his index finger against the vial, pulling Decay from his stockpile of quirks and placing it into the artificial environment within the vial. The glass glowed a dull blue as the Doctor placed it in the rack alongside the other copies. The Doctor then handed Izuku a piece of blank paper.

“Just to be safe, take this and touch it with all five fingers of one hand.” Izuku did and nothing happened. They waited a minute or so to be sure. “Alright, now if you could, please warp Shigaraki back to his room.” The Doctor pulled up a diagram of the compound, pointing out the room they’d assigned to Shigaraki.

Izuku called on warp and formed a portal, stepping through it to see Shigaraki’s room. He then created another portal just above the teen’s bed, the other side forming beneath Shigaraki. The young villain gently fell into his bed. Izuku then returned back to the lab, collapsing the portals behind him.

“Thank you,” the Doctor said. “Now back to what we were trying to work on.” The man grabbed a vial from the ‘Originals’ rack. It was labeled Air Walk. “You have a copy of this already, so first test is to see if you can copy it again.”

“Alright,” Izuku said. “Sounds simple enough.” He reached out for the quirk, the thread floating in nothingness, neither end connected to anything. Normally the thread was connected to a faint outline of the body of its holder. He went to grab the thread, but he slipped through it. He tried a few more times then pulled back. He looked at his hand, where no wisp had formed.

“Unable to copy it, I presume?” the Doctor asked, writing down something on a clipboard.

“No, I can’t even grasp the thread like normal.”

“Next, place your copy of Air Walk into this vial,” the Doctor said, holding out a new vial which he had labeled ‘Testing.’ Izuku did so, feeling odd with not having one of the quirks he’d wielded for several years now. “And again, try to copy the original.”

Izuku reached back out for the original Air Walk, finding the thread and going to grasp it. This time, he could. And so he pulled the thread and formed a copy, the white wisp floating in his palm when he looked down. He absorbed it and tested the quirk out, able to use it just like he could before.

“Fascinating. So you can make multiple copies, but only so long as you don’t currently wield one.” The Doctor placed the vial with Izuku’s original copy of Air Walk into a small rack sitting on his desk. He then took the vial containing the original quirk and returned it to the primary rack of quirks before pulling out a different one.

Izuku saw the label on it read ‘Brawn Boost,’ which was one of the simple strength enhancing quirks the Doctor had already had him copy.

“Your father wields three copies of this. The only reason he doesn’t have the original, currently, is because of his desire to have you copy it as well. We, of course, never got around to that before now. So, as before you already have a copy of this, so we’ll need to place that copy into a containment vial temporarily.”

Another empty vial was handed to him, in which he placed his copy of Brawn Boost, causing the vial to dimly glow a dark red. He still hadn’t figured out why quirks glowed in the colors they did. Air Walk was essentially white, which fit the fact that it was a quirk involving air. But then Shigaraki’s decay had glowed the same color as the teenager’s hair. So what exactly fed into the color? Izuku shook his head, pushing those thoughts to the side before he got too distracted.

With the copy safely stowed in the vial, the Doctor handed him the original quirk. He copied it once more. The Doctor then swapped the original’s vial for the one holding Izuku’s first copy.

“Now, try to pull your first copy back out of the vial and into your body.”

Izuku did, and felt no odd interaction between the first and second copies. Both still existed in his copy quirk.

“We’ve tested your enhanced strength before, so we have a baseline. So, just like before, hit the punching bag as hard as you can and the sensors will record your strength.” The Doctor gestured towards the part of the lab where they’d set up the exercise equipment used to test Izuku’s copies of body enhancing quirks.

Izuku walked over to it and got into his usual fighting stance. He wound his arm back then hit the punching bag as hard as he could. The bag flew back, slamming into the wall behind it as it broke off the chain holding it up. Izuku stared wide-eyed at it. That hadn’t happened when he’d only had one copy of Brawn Boost.

“So they do indeed stack, just like Master’s copies. Will be slightly annoying having to stow away a copy to make a new one, but you can stack multiple versions of body enhancing quirks just like your father, which will be useful for the future.”

“So I’m keeping both copies?” Izuku asked, turning to face the Doctor.

“Why not? We have the original, and I can still make artificial copies for the Nomu. Though if we want to add more than two copies of the quirk to them, I will need your assistance. But even this one,” the Doctor knocked on the glass of the primary Nomu’s stasis tank, “will only need two copies of it, thanks to the other quirks we’re planning on putting into it.”

“And you’re sure only two copies of Brawn Boost will be enough strength for it to handle All Might, should he be alive?”

“Yes, because that won’t be the only enhancement quirk it has. Some quirks alter the body, and so neither your father or you would ever really wish to use them. However, that doesn’t matter for the Nomu and is partially why this one will look the way it will once I’ve finished engineering its biology.”

“Fair enough,” Izuku said. “So is that all the testing you wanted to do with my quirk, today?”

“It is, yes. We’ve verified that you can copy a single quirk multiple times, so long as you don’t hold a copy of it when trying to duplicate it. We then checked that you can wield more than one copy of a quirk, but have to transfer the copies back to yourself after storing them in order to do so. Which is similar to how the artificial copies work with stacking anyway. We of course know you can’t copy a copy, which is why the artificial copies degrade if we try to duplicate a copy rather than the original. I’m stuck with that process for some quirks, given your father still wields a few of the originals himself.”

“I could replace those with copies, couldn’t I?” Izuku asked.

“Yes, but it would require you to have physical contact with Master, and I’d prefer to keep him in the regenerative stasis tank for now. Perhaps one day we can attempt that.” The Doctor put away his clipboard and stored the now-used vials in a small case. “Go on home, young master.”

“Have a good evening, Doctor,” Izuku said as he formed a portal. “Don’t work all night again.”

The Doctor chuckled. “Sadly I have a shift at the hospital tonight, but I’ll try to take your advice.” He waved Izuku off as Izuku stepped through his portal.

He didn’t get paid enough for this.

Eraser Head perched on a rooftop, watching events unfold in the dimly lit street below. A hooded and masked vigilante had stopped two men from harassing a young woman. The woman had run off, though she shouted a quick thank you before doing so. The vigilante, who should have backed off after that, had decided he wanted to beat in the lesson.

He sighed as he leapt from the roof, using his capture weapon wrapped around a pipe to slow his descent. Whipping the cloth, it released its hold on the pipe and he wrapped it back around his neck.

“Look, kid, I think they get it,” he said as he approached the vigilante and his two victims. The hooded vigilante whipped around, glaring at him with bright, emerald green eyes that seemed to glow in the moonlight. The two idiots behind him took their chance to run away. Eraser Head already got their faces on camera, and he’d pass the image along to the police later. For now, he had to deal with the vigilante.

“You do know vigilantism is illegal, right?” he asked the masked figure. The vigilante was short, as if he wasn’t fully grown. His eyes had a youth to them, which only reinforced Eraser Head’s fear that this was, in fact, a kid. Or, well, a teenager most likely.

“Someone’s gotta do the work, hero,” the vigilante said, his mask distorting his voice but the disdain it was clear.

“Uh huh, and that person is you?” Eraser Head raised an eyebrow. “I was watching them, too. You just decided to run in before I had a chance to react. What if they had quirks that you couldn’t handle, kid?”

The vigilante’s eyes narrowed. “I’m not a kid,” he said. And even with the voice change, it didn’t convince Eraser Head in the slightest. “And I can handle anything they might have had. But their quirks weren’t combat oriented. Not strong enough to be, at least.”

“That still doesn’t mean you should be taking them on,” Eraser said flatly. “Come on, kid.” He reached out to grab the teenager’s arm, but in turn the teenager slipped into a fighting stance. Eraser just rolled his eyes and sighed, flaring his quirk and readying to fight.

The teen’s eyes flickered, their soft glow disappearing as Erasure affected him. The teen looked down at his hands and frowned. Then he looked up at Eraser in recognition.

“Oh, you’re Eraser Head!” he said, suddenly excited. A complete one-eighty from his mood moments before.

Eraser straightened up, though he didn’t yet drop his quirk despite the irritation in his eyes. “Not gonna fight me now?”

“Oh, definitely not! You’re a great hero, from the little I know!” The teenager's cheery voice was still prevalent even through his mask’s distortion.

Finally dropping Erasure, and blinking rapidly for a moment, Eraser Head stared down at the teen in front of him.

“So why are you out trying to take my job from me, then?” he asked, crossing his arms.

“W-well,” the teen stammered, the dim glow of his eyes returning. Aizawa figured it must be some kind of night vision quirk. “Those guys had been harassing people, and they were small time so I didn’t know if any hero would care, and I didn’t know that you patrolled this area, so I just thought-”

“Slow it down, kid,” Aizawa said, interrupting the teen’s rambling. “Yes, I patrol this area. I recently changed my route, a few months ago, which is probably why you were unaware. But now that you are, I don’t want to see you out here again. I’m giving you a pass tonight.”

“You said vigilantism is illegal, so shouldn’t you be taking me in?” the teen asked, co*cking his head to the side in confusion.

“Yes, but I’m not. You’re a kid, don’t act like you aren’t, and so you have your life ahead of you. If you want to do work like this legally, I suggest trying for a hero school program. You look like you have the potential to excel in those.”

The kid’s eyes narrowed as he huffed. Aizawa surmised he was scowling behind the mask.

“Look, you may have an issue with heroes, and I can’t really blame you with how some of them are. Why do you think I stick to underground work?” Aizawa said. “But the best way to change it would be from the inside, so why not start there? Now go on, get outta here before I change my mind.”

The teen sighed. “Fine. Thanks for not arresting me, and I’ll think about what you said…” The teen turned and began walking down the alley, which led to a dead end.

Aizawa frowned as he watched the boy, wondering where he could be going, before a swirling mass of black mist formed in front of the teenager. He walked through and disappeared, the mist dissipating behind him.

So maybe he’d been wrong with his guess as to what the kid’s quirk was. He’d have to look into the registry to see if such a quirk was listed anywhere.

A few nights later, Izuku suited back up again to head out on his own patrol. He’d try sticking to the shadows a bit more, maybe just observing for the night. He didn’t want to get caught by Eraser Head again, and he knew the hero wouldn’t have let him close enough to use Amnesia. Besides, Eraser Head was a cool hero, and someone that Izuku had no issues with. The man did his job well and made sure to genuinely help people. Plus, underground heroes often received less pay, since they weren’t as well known, so Eraser Head certainly wasn’t doing it for the money.

He warped to an alley only a block from his home, deciding to stick a bit closer to home than usual and maybe avoid dealing with Eraser Head. He hoped he wouldn’t have to deal with the hero, because there was no doubt the man would use Erasure and stop him from escaping if they came across one another again.

“What did I tell you?” a voice said, immediately ruining Izuku’s hopes for the night.

He whipped around, looking up to the roof of one of the neighboring buildings where Eraser Head stood, arms crossed.

“Eraser!” Izuku said cheerily, voice modulator on. “Fancy seeing you here, huh?”

Eraser Head just sighed and repelled down with his capture scarf (which Izuku thought was pretty badass), coming to stand in front of Izuku. He recrossed his arms and shifted his weight to lean on one leg. He didn’t yet flare Erasure.

“You’re lucky that it seems like your quirk isn’t combat focused, so I won’t claim illegal quirk use just yet. But that begs the question as to why you think you can take on villains and thugs if all you can do is make a portal.”

Right, Izuku had only used Warp in front of Eraser Head, and he probably didn’t pay much mind to the night vision quirk he wielded, maybe thinking it was some other aspect of the Warp quirk.

“Riiiight,” Izuku said, drawing out the word which only made Eraser Head narrow his eyes. “Well, I work out a lot so I just use my strength to beat up thugs who go after innocent civilians?”

Izuku was actually nervous. He hadn’t been nervous around anyone for the last few years, except his parents when they got mad at him, or disappointed. But they weren’t around anymore, and he was now someone who hid veiled threats in his words to the Doctor, and outright threatened thugs. Yet, Eraser Head made him anxious, goosebumps prickling his arms.

“Sure you do,” Eraser Head said, unconvinced. “But I told you that if you wanted to do this, you should do it legally, and wait a few years. You’re what, fourteen? Fifteen? You should be entering high school soon, so aim for one of the hero academies.”

“Thirteen,” Izuku grumbled, though he had no idea why he just gave away his age. He growled at his stupidity.

“My point proven,” Eraser Head said. “Come on, I’m walking you home, and we’re having a conversation with your parents about this.”

Izuku sighed, looking at his feet. “I don’t have parents… not anymore.”

“Oh, crap, sorry kid,” Eraser said, a sudden softness in his voice. “Still, you can’t be out here doing vigilante work, alright? Do you at least have somewhere to stay?”

“Yeah, I still have a home, just no one to live in it with me.” Why was he explaining this to a hero? “But I get checked up on by a family friend every so often.” There was something about Eraser Head that… that kind of reminded him of his father. A rough exterior but a heart that cared. Stern words that showed the fondness he had. And somehow, Izuku apparently had earned Eraser Head’s care? Or at least, his worry since he gave away his age. And the hero had said Izuku had potential. So maybe…

“Well, then we’re back to me taking you home. And no quirk, I want to see where you live.” Eraser Head turned and began to walk out of the alley. “Come on, kid, don’t make this difficult.”

Izuku sighed and followed after the hero. “I’m old enough to go home on my own,” he complained.

“Yes, just like you’re evidently old enough to be a vigilante. Doesn’t mean I trust you to actually do that,” Eraser Head said. “So, your quirk is a portal quirk?”

“Um, kind of?” Izuku said. Then quickly added “But it’s none of your business!”

“Alright,” Eraser Head said. They continued to walk in silence.

Izuku, probably to his detriment, guided their path towards his home. He would have taken Eraser to his old home, the apartment his family had lived in. But the police had hovered around it too much and so he and Kurogiri had decided to fully move everything that Izuku cared about out of there, then end the lease on the apartment. It was sad to lose his childhood home, but Izuku could only move forward now.

They arrived at the apartment he now called home. His father actually owned the entire apartment complex, though under a different name, so his unit was far more upscale than his old home. Of course, the complex was actually overseen by a holding company, also owned by All for One. Once you had enough layers of bureaucracy, people didn’t notice the actual head of a company being MIA.

Eraser Head glanced between Izuku and the apartment building they approached. He raised an eyebrow and looked down at Izuku. But he didn’t say anything. Izuku walked up the stairs towards his apartment, pulling out the key he kept in his pocket, just in case he had to return the normal way. Though he’d never expected to have been escorted home by a hero.

He unlocked the door and walked in, turning to face Eraser Head.

“Well, I’m home, so…” he scuffed his shoe on the floor. “Thanks for walking me home, I guess?”

Eraser Head just stared at him, then glanced at the apartment number on the door. He narrowed his eyes when he returned his gaze to Izuku.

“You know, when your mother was killed, there was an investigation into your family. Of course, we found out that someone had taken you in and that you were well cared for, and given the trauma you’d experienced, the police didn’t want to separate you from someone who cared about you, who you knew so well.”

“I don’t-” Izuku started, but a raised hand from Eraser Head silenced him.

“You obviously knew this, since the police interviewed you several times. Kind of overkill, if you ask me. What could you have possibly known that you hadn’t told them the first time,” Eraser said, rolling his eyes. “Anyway, that information was shared with me, because I was part of the investigation. So I recognized the apartment. I suppose that explains your desire to take things into your own hands, doesn’t it, Midoriya?”

Izuku deflated. He’d been an idiot to listen to Eraser Head and let the man escort him home. He’d also been an idiot to let slip any information about himself. All the other heroes and villains he’d met since going out at night had tried asking who he was, too, and he’d never given them even a hint. But something about Eraser Head had changed his mind and he’d let things slip.

“Fine…” Izuku said, pulling off his hood and taking off his mask. “Do you want some coffee?”

Eraser Head snorted. “Sure, kid.” He walked in, Izuku closing the door behind him. Both of them took off their boots and left them by the door before they walked further into the apartment.

Izuku scurried over to the kitchen to make some coffee, leaving Eraser Head in the living room. The hero scanned the apartment, seemingly taking it all in.

“So you live alone, now?” the hero asked.

Izuku hesitated to answer the question. Kurogiri was hardly around, though he always left a prepared lunch for Izuku to take to school, just to show he still cared. So technically, Izuku did live alone. And he was still a minor, which meant if the authorities knew of that, they’d force him into the system.

Apparently the hesitation answered Eraser’s question. He just sighed.

“Look, kid, I can’t in good conscience leave you to live alone. You said you’re thirteen, so you’re a minor.” There it was. “But I also know the system sucks.” Oh, that was surprising. “To be honest, I was actually told to patrol this area specifically because of you. My normal route is nearby, given the proximity to UA, but still it was a change requested by the police.”

“Why would they redirect a hero to watch out for me?” Izuku asked as he poured two mugs of steaming coffee. He padded back out into the living room and handed one to the hero.

“Thanks.” Eraser took a long swig of coffee. “And it’s because they have this ridiculous belief that your mother was an accomplice to a villain. The fight in which she was a casualty? Except, I wasn’t told who that villain is. Or what even happened exactly that caused your mother’s death. It sounds like some big conspiracy that you are somehow wrapped up in.”

Izuku grimaced. He hated being reminded of his mom’s death. But he found it interesting that Eraser Head wasn’t given the full story about All for One and All Might’s fight. The latter still hadn’t been seen by the public since that day, and the news reported that he was abroad or something. Though the Doctor had discovered that the hero was alive, just still recovering from the fight.

Eraser Head hummed. “Sorry, I suppose that’s a sore subject.”

“It’s fine…” Izuku muttered. “And, well…” He couldn’t tell the hero the truth, but maybe he could spin it? “The Detectives that interviewed me asked something like that. If I knew who my father really was. My dad traveled a lot, so he wasn’t home too often, so I guess it’s possible I didn’t know him that well? But… I don’t know, their questions were so weird. And like you said, they interrogated me several times before finally accepting my answers.”

“Yeah, the police went a bit overboard.” Eraser Head shrugged. “There’s one thing that I do have a question about, though. If you’ll let me ask.” Izuku furrowed his brow, but he nodded. “Your mother had a telekinesis quirk, and your father’s was listed as a fire breathing quirk. Yet yours seems to be a portal quirk.”

“I, um, didn’t hear a question in that?” Izuku said.

“Right, well, I suppose my question circles back to what the police asked you about. Are you sure you know the truth about who your father is, or was?”

“I mean, I guess not? But why would my parents lie about his quirk to me? I witnessed my mom’s quirk, so I know she was truthful.”

“Right, and she evidently used it slightly when she almost dropped something at the law firm she worked at, so we have verification of her quirk,” Eraser Head said, nodding slightly. “I was just curious, after seeing you use your quirk to leave a few days ago, and then again tonight. You seem to have quite good control over it.”

“Yeah…” Izuku said. “So, am I in trouble, then?”

Eraser Head sighed. “No, kid, I’m not going to arrest you or even report your quirk use. But I will inform the police that you no longer have a guardian.” Izuku hummed sadly at that, dropping his gaze to the floor. “However.” Izuku’s eyes shot back up to meet the hero’s. “I’ve seen what you can do, and the aftermath of some of your previous nights out. You’re a good kid, and have a lot of potential. I’d hate to see someone like you get destroyed by being stuck in the system.”

“So I can continue living here?”

“No, but I’m willing to offer you the spare room in my place. You can still attend Aldera, and I’ll work on getting you a proper place to stay. Your family had friends, the Bakugous, right?”

Izuku cringed at that thought. “Um, not the Bakugous please. Auntie and Uncle are nice people, but I don’t want to live with them…”

“Very well, then we’ll see what we can do. But for now, I think you should stay with me. So pack a bag and we’ll head out.”

“But what about your patrol?” Izuku asked.

“I’m ending it early,” Eraser Head said flatly.

Izuku sighed and put his now empty mug in the sink. He then walked off to his bedroom to pack up a few days worth of clothes. He’d have to wait and see what came of this.

The Doctor watched the camera feed of Izuku’s apartment entrance. He saw as the boy was escorted home by the pro hero Eraser Head and brought a hand to his chin in thought. About an hour later, he watched the duo leave, though this time Izuku’s hood and mask were off and he carried a duffle bag.

He got a text from the young boy and read it. The boy was evidently being ‘taken in’ by Eraser Head, given the fact that he was now living alone due to Kurogiri’s focus on Shigaraki. It wasn’t Izuku’s fault that the brat Shigaraki needed more supervision than he did. But alas, this was how things would be. The Doctor would inform Kurogiri of the change, but they’d leave the apartment ready for Izuku’s use as a continued safe house. Especially since he used the hidden room as a sort of base of operations.

On the bright side, this gave them easy access to one of the most useful and powerful quirks they’d had on their radar for several years: Erasure. Not only could Izuku make a copy of it, but he could entirely take it from the heroes. The light of his computer screen glinted off his glasses and he smiled. Things were still going their way, even if the young master was now in the arms of the heroes.

Chapter 5: A New Home

Chapter Text

They walked into the apartment that Eraser Head called home. Both of them took off their boots at the entrance. Izuku placed another pair of shoes, his normal ones, next to his boots. Then he followed Eraser Head deeper into the apartment.

It was late, around three o’clock in the morning. Unsurprisingly, the apartment was dim, though not fully dark. Izuku understood that, seeing as he often left a few lights on at his place when going out at night. It just made sense for a hero to leave some lights on when going out for patrol at night.

The sound of something small trotting through the house drew Izuku’s attention. A cat hopped on up on the counter next to Eraser Head, who had started brewing some more coffee. The cat sat there and meowed loudly, causing the hero to groan before reaching over and scratching behind the cat’s ears.

“You have a cat?” Izuku asked as he set his duffle bag down and walked over to the counter, taking a seat on one of the stools on the opposite side from Eraser Head.

“Two cats, actually. The other one is probably hiding somewhere,” the hero responded, turning to face Izuku. “This is Callie. I’m sure you can guess why that’s her name. And no, I’m not the one who named her.”

The cat turned to look at Izuku. It was a calico, which yeah explained the name. But if the hero hadn't named her, who did? The cat walked over to Izuku and looked at him curiously before meowing at him. Izuku reached out to pet her and she melted into his hand.

“If you didn’t name her, who did?” Izuku asked.

“My, um,” Eraser Head started, then paused, seemingly unsure how to continue. He then sighed and explained. “My partner, and no I don’t mean in the hero sense. You’ll probably meet him in-”

“Sho?” A voice said from the nearby hallway. Another man sleepily walked into the kitchen, rubbing at his eyes as he put on a pair of glasses. He was blond, his hair tied up in a messy bun.

“The morning…” Eraser finished before sighing again. “Or not, because for once he’s a light sleeper.” The man walked over to Eraser Head and inspected him. “I’m fine, Zashi. Just something came up so I ended patrol early.” He pointed at Izuku, the ‘something.’

The other man turned to look at Izuku and although it took him a moment, Izuku realized he recognized the man. He wasn’t in his hero costume, but the face was still the same.

“Wait, you’re Present Mic!” Izuku said excitedly. The Voice Hero was one of the few heroes Izuku still genuinely liked, mostly because he enjoyed the man’s radio show, often listening to it on his walks to or from school, when he hadn’t been escorted by Kurogiri.

“Sure am, lil listener!” Mic said with a smile. “Though out of costume I’m Yamada Hizashi. And who might you be?”

Hizashi. Huh, the world must be playing a cruel joke on Izuku. Someone with such a similar name to his father coming into his life? Kurogiri may have been right in that he'd finally gathered the emotional control that his father had, but he was still his mother's son. His eyes stung as tears threatened his cheeks.

Eraser Head stepped in, noticing the sudden change in Izuku's mood.

"This is Midoriya Izuku. You remember that case Tsukauchi pulled me on? He's the kid," Eraser said. Then he turned to Izuku. "And you can call me Aizawa when I'm not on patrol."

"Oh, that case! Well, then, lil listener, you're welcome in our home! Make yourself comfortable, and I'll get the spare room ready for you." Mic smiled at him before heading off down the hall and rummaging in the closet for spare bedding.

Aizawa watched him go then turned back to Izuku. "Similar name as your father, right? Sorry, kid."

"S'fine," Izuku mumbled.

"Your face tells me otherwise, but whatever you say, kid." Aizawa turned and poured two mugs of fresh coffee, sliding one across the countertop to Izuku. "How about we talk about you some more? Your quirk is some kind of warping one? Because as far as I'm aware, officially you don't have a quirk."

Izuku chuckled awkwardly and took a sip of his coffee. "Heh, yeah… My parents wanted to keep my quirk a secret? For, um, reasons I’m not comfortable talking about just yet…”

“Fair enough, kid. But we should probably update your information at some point. I won’t make you do it now, but if you have any interest in going to a hero school, which I’m sure you do given your nightly adventures, then you’ll need your quirk listed on official documents.”

“Okay…” Izuku mumbled, sipping at his coffee. He wasn’t sure how he’d explain his quirk, well quirks to Aizawa and Mic. And did he want to go to a hero academy? It could be fun, and he’d get to work things from the inside. It was that moment that he realized something. “Wait, you said your patrol route was near UA, like it mattered.”

“Right,” Aizawa said.

“Well… why does that matter?”

“Because I teach at UA.”

“WHAT?!” Izuku practically yelled, causing Mic to come running back into the room.

“Is everything okay?” he asked frantically.

“Yes, Zashi. I just told the kid that I work at UA,” Aizawa said flatly.

Mic burst out laughing. “Oh, that’s all?” he asked, wiping a laughing tear from his eye. “Yeah, lil listener, both of us work there. Sho here is one of the Hero Course homeroom teachers and I teach English!”

Izuku just gaped at them both. UA had always piqued his interest ever since he was a kid and first started his hero obsession. Partially due to its prestige as the number one hero school in Japan, but also partially because of his former obsession with the Number One Hero, whose alma mater was UA. Even with the latter reason gone, Izuku still couldn’t help his excitement at the prospect of attending the prestigious high school.

“So, you think I could be a hero, then?” Izuku asked, pulling the conversation back to Aizawa’s continued mention of Izuku going to a hero academy.

The man shrugged. “I don’t see why not. You have a useful and quite powerful quirk, from the little I’ve seen. You already have the helpful heart of a hero, given your takedowns of several thugs and minor villains.”

“How do you know I caught any villains? I could have been bad at the whole vigilante thing,” Izuku said, looking away from the heroes.

Aizawa snorted. “A few of the people you saved mentioned they were helped by someone around your height, wearing a dark sweatshirt and a mask. I can put the rest together myself.”

“Right…” Izuku muttered. His mug sat empty before him, the caffeine doing little to keep him awake.

“It was decaf, by the way,” Aizawa said. Izuku’s gaze shot back to the man, a look of betrayal on his face. “You need sleep. Don’t you have school in the morning?”

“Yeah…”

Aizawa sat his mug down and walked around the kitchen island. He picked up Izuku’s duffle bag and began walking down the hall, beckoning for Izuku to follow. The teen did, getting up off of the stool and stretching for a moment, a traitorous yawn forcing its way out. Izuku groaned as he walked after Aizawa.

The spare room was basic, probably hardly used. But the bedding looked homey.

“It’s our spare, so it’s lived in,” Mic said from behind them, having noticed Izuku’s eyes drawn to the blankets and pillows on the bed.

“Bathroom is right across the hall,” Aizawa said, pointing to the mentioned room. “Get some sleep kid.”

Izuku yawned again. “M’kay,” he mumbled, rubbing his eyes as he dug into his duffle bag, which Aizawa had set near the bed, for his toothbrush.

A few weeks passed and Izuku found himself feeling truly at home with the two heroes. Aizawa had discussed the situation with the detective in charge of the Midoriya case and the man had apparently pulled some strings so Izuku didn’t have to worry about moving out. They were still waiting on a ‘home visit’ according to Aizawa, where child protective services would ensure the home was fit to live in, and that Aizawa and Mic could responsibly look after a teenager while also being heroes.

In order to prove they could, both had reduced their patrol schedules, meaning outside of their UA work, one of them was always at home. Though most of that for Aizawa was spent napping. Izuku learned that Mic was the better cook between the two, and always enjoyed the pancake breakfasts the man would make each week. It’d become a tradition.

It was fast approaching the end of his first year in middle school, and Izuku was honestly surprised at how much his life had changed in just that year. At the start of the summer term, he’d still had his parents. He had barely known of the crime empire his father ran. But now? Now he knew the truth. His view of heroes had changed drastically, though the two that took him in were exceptions.

He still kept his quirk hidden, but maybe… Maybe he’d change that soon. Maybe he’d finally reveal to Aizawa what his quirk was, and hope the man didn’t suddenly view him differently and want him out of his home.

In the meantime, he’d secretly decided to copy Erasure. It was an extremely useful quirk and would help him on the nights he decided to go out. He’d only been out a handful of times since being taken in by Aizawa and Mic. And only on nights when Aizawa didn’t patrol. He was of course extremely tired the next morning, and he doubted Aizawa hadn’t figured it out yet, but the man didn’t mention anything.

He hadn’t yet tried to use Erasure, having just copied it a few days prior, shortly after Aizawa had wished him good night and turned to walk out of Izuku’s bedroom. (They’d started calling it Izuku’s within the first week of him living there). Izuku stood in front of the bathroom mirror, pulling on the new quirk and flaring it. His eyes glowed red as he activated it. And he instantly knew why Aizawa always complained about how dry his eyes got.

“Hey, kid, you done in there yet,” Aizawa called, opening the bathroom door and coming face to face with Izuku. The teen gulped, Erasure still active as he stared up at Aizawa. The man froze, staring back at him, confusion on his face. Izuku quickly dropped the quirk, rubbing at his irritated eyes.

Aizawa gently shoved him out of the way to stare at the mirror himself, activating Erasure. His eyes glowed red and his hair began to float upwards. Izuku mentally noted that he hadn’t gotten that part of the quirk. Either that or his hair was too curly and thick for it to be noticeable.

The man turned off his quirk then looked down at Izuku. “Explain,” he said, his tone giving no room for argument.

“Um, well, you see…” Izuku began, wringing his hands nervously. Aizawa raised a brow and crossed his arms. Izuku sighed. “I can copy quirks…” he muttered.

“What was that?” Aizawa asked.

“I can copy quirks,” Izuku repeated a little louder. “And I keep whatever I copy.” He wouldn’t mention his ability to actually take quirks. He didn’t need that getting back to the police since that would probably bring hell down on his life. “That’s why my parents wanted to keep my quirk a secret. It’s… powerful. A-and I’m sorry for copying your quirk! It’s just-”

Aizawa put a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “It’s okay, kid. It makes sense that you’d want to keep that kind of quirk under wraps. And I’m not mad that you copied my quirk, though I wish you would have asked first.”

Izuku was breathing hard, anxiety flooding his body. Despite Aizawa’s calmness, Izuku still thought this would ruin everything. That he’d be thrown out. That the police would come for him and connect him with All for One. And then what? Would he be charged with the crimes of his father? Would they force him to sell out the Doctor and Kurogiri?

“Hey, hey,” Aizawa said, kneeling down in front of Izuku. “Slow, deep breaths.” He took Izuku’s hand and placed it on his own chest, guiding Izuku through the breathing until the teen calmed down.

Once his breathing was normal again, Izuku stumbled back before sliding down to sit on the bathroom floor, next to the shower. He pulled his knees to his chest as tears prickled his eyes.

Aizawa still knelt there, waiting for Izuku to be ready to talk some more. He closed the bathroom door and leaned back against it, slowly sliding to sit on the floor as well.

“Everything okay?” Mic asked through the door, probably having heard Izuku’s panicked breathing.

“Fine, Zashi, go on to bed,” Aizawa said back, his gaze not leaving Izuku’s. The sounds of Mic shuffling back to their bedroom disappeared down the hallway.

A few more minutes passed as Izuku calmed down. He wiped his eyes with his sleeve.

“So,” Aizawa finally said. “You can copy quirks. And they’re permanent copies?”

“Y-yeah…” Izuku said quietly, not meeting the hero’s gaze.

“That’s quite the powerful quirk, Izuku,” Aizawa said. “So that warping quirk is something you copied, then?”

Izuku nodded. “From a family friend, but I can’t tell you who…”

Aizawa nodded back. “Fair enough. I’m assuming there’s a lot more to your life than you feel comfortable telling me, or can even tell me at all. But I do have a few questions, if that’s okay with you.”

“Go ahead,” Izuku said.

“First, do you have any problems controlling the quirks you copy?”

“No, I kind of just inherently know how to use them? It’s, um, apparently it’s how my dad’s quirk worked as well.”

“Okay. Do the copies interfere with the original in any way? As in, does your using it prevent the owner of it from using it?”

“No! Not at all! It’s entirely separate!” Izuku quickly explained. “So you never have to worry about not having your quirk just because I copied it, I promise!”

Aizawa seemed to visibly relax after that statement. “Good. And I wasn’t just asking because you copied Erasure.” Izuku still felt awkward at being caught. “Final question. Is there some truth to the Detective’s belief that you and your mother are connected to some big villain?”

“Um…” Izuku hesitated. “Maybe?”

Aizawa just sighed. “Problem child,” he said, but it sounded fond rather than annoyed. “So, what do you want to do from here?”

“Wait, what?” Izuku asked, confused. Was he not getting turned in? Was Aizawa not going to tell Detective Tsukauchi the truth? “What do you mean?”

“This is your life, Izuku. You didn’t choose to be related to who you’re related to. We don’t get to choose our birth parents. And from what I can tell, you aren’t a villain. You tried to help people, even if some of that helping resulted in heroes getting in trouble.” A small smirk appeared on Aizawa’s face. “They deserved it, to be fair.” That made Izuku chuckle. “If you’re wanting to become a hero, we do really need to register your quirk accurately. But we don’t have to tell them everything. And Tsukauchi is a friend, I can probably pull some strings so they leave you alone. But he might still want to ask you a few questions.”

Everything Aizawa just said, what he essentially promised - that Izuku didn’t need to reveal his past - pinged true to his copy of the Detective’s quirk. The hero was really going to protect him from whatever the authorities would want to do with the child of All for One, even if Aizawa didn’t know the full truth himself.

“I, um, I think I’d like that, yeah…” Izuku said. “I’ve hated hiding my quirk. Kids at school bully me for being ‘quirkless’ even though I’m not.”

“They do what?” Aizawa was suddenly very serious.

Izuku just rolls his eyes. “Well, they try to bully me, but it’s not like it bothers me. It’s more annoying than anything. They try to belittle me, insult me, sometimes threaten me with their quirks.” He shrugs. “Not like the teachers let it get that far. They know the truth, or at least whatever my dad told them. Teachers always try to stay on my good side.”

Aizawa’s eyes narrow. “If you’re sure it’s not a big deal.”

“It’s not.”

“But you’d tell me if it was?”

“Well…”

“Yeah, figured,” Aizawa sighed. “I know you can handle yourself, even without using your quirks. But still, if you need help, tell me.”

“Okay,” Izuku said. He took a deep breath. They were still sitting there on the bathroom floor. “I guess we should probably, um, get out of the bathroom?”

Aizawa snorted. “Yeah, probably. Zashi probably thinks something horrible happened. I’ll let you tell him about your quirk.” Aizawa stood, turning to grab the door handle. “Small bit of advice, though? Don’t copy his quirk. It’s far more annoying to control than you probably think.”

“I’m guessing it doesn’t turn off?”

“Nope, so he’s always focused on keeping his voice at a normal level.”

“Good to know,” Izuku said, standing up. “I’m gonna brush my teeth and go to bed.”

“I don’t believe that in the slightest,” Aizawa said flatly as he walked out of the bathroom. “And I’d rather not have to add an extra patrol tonight.”

“Wh-what?”

“Did you really think I let you go out on your own all the time?” Aizawa asked, turning to face Izuku, one eyebrow raised. “Kid, I was like you once, and I was lucky that I was never caught. You’re lucky because you have me looking out for you. But you really need to stop going out at night. Stop being a vigilante. Wait until you’re at UA or wherever and have a provisional license, at least. Yeah, that’ll be a few years from now, but at least it’ll be legal.”

Izuku deflated. He wasn’t surprised Aizawa knew about his continued night adventures. But he wouldn’t have guessed the man followed him every night. He had to be better at situational awareness, because someone like him shouldn’t be able to be followed so easily. For now, he’d give in and listen to his guardian.

“Okay, I’m sorry,” Izuku said quietly.

Aizawa sighed. “Kid, you don’t need to apologize. Like I said, I know what it feels like. I just don’t want your potential ruined because you got caught, alright? So actually go to bed, please.”

With that, the man walked off down the hall, heading for the master bedroom. Izuku sighed as he finally got to brushing his teeth. It was going to be different, but good, to finally be able to be truthful about his quirk. Though the secret of All for One would remain with him. There was no point in revealing that the quirk still existed, especially if the heroes and authorities who did know of the man presumed him dead.

“Hello again, Midoriya. Hope you’ve been well while living with Eraser Head.” The Detective smiled at him, though Izuku could see the man was just as tired as Aizawa always seemed to be. This man just did a better job of hiding it to most people.

“Yeah, it’s been nice,” Izuku admitted. “So, what’s going to happen today?”

“Well, I’m going to ask you some more questions, and we’ll also work on filling out the official paperwork to update your quirk. Normally that can be done at any Quirk Registry Office, but since you’re here for other reasons, I can help get that settled away as well.”

“Okay,” Izuku said. He’d been required to have a one-on-one discussion with the Detective. Despite Aizawa’s objections. They sat in one of the interrogation rooms, and the Detective swore that no one was behind the one-way mirror on one end of the room. Izuku was too smart to believe that, even if didn’t have a copy of the Detective’s Lie Detector quirk which already told him the man was lying about that.

“So, let’s get started with the questions. First, what is your quirk?”

“The ability to copy the quirk of anyone else. I keep the copy of the quirk forever, as far as I know since I’ve held the copy of my mom’s quirk since I was four. It doesn’t affect the person whose quirk I’ve copied, and they can continue using theirs like normal.”

“Could you tell me how many quirks you’ve copied so far in your life?”

“Wouldn’t I be in trouble for copying someone’s quirk since it’s technically illegal use of my own?”

“If the quirk you copied was offered voluntarily, then technically no.”

Izuku thought for a moment. All the quirks he’d copied from his father and the Doctor’s storage were technically given voluntarily. Warp was offered by Kurogiri as a birthday gift. And even Erasure was now technically a permitted copy, once Aizawa understood what happened. The only quirk that was taken without the permission of the owner was Lie Detector, but Izuku didn’t have to admit that.

He tried to count out the total number of quirks he had copies of. The time it took him obviously surprised the Detective. He would discount the duplicates of quirks, like Brawn Boost and Kinetic Booster. He had a total of two copies of both in the end, having gotten the two Kinetic Boosters during one of his last visits to the Doctor early on in his time living with Aizawa and Mic.

“I have eight copied quirks,” Izuku said truthfully. The Detective’s eyes widened, then his brow furrowed as he nodded and wrote down Izuku’s answer.

“Would you be willing to tell me what those quirks are?”

“Do I have to?”

“Technically no. At this point, they would be considered part of your quirk, and we’ll be recording the existence of that officially.” Izuku’s copy of Lie Detector pinged true, so that meant this really was a loophole. Good to know.

“Then next question?” Izuku asked, forcing the Detective to move on. He looked disappointed at not being told the copied quirks.

“What are the names of your parents?”

“Midoriya Hisashi and Midoriya Inko.”

“Did either of them go by any other names?”

“Not to me,” Izuku said. It was true, to be fair. His father never went by All for One to Izuku.

“What were their occupations?”

“My mom was a lawyer, focusing in hero law. My dad kind of did all sorts of things as far as I’m aware. He would disappear for days on jobs, sometimes overseas. He has money in a lot of businesses, stocks which I guess kind of come to me now?”

The Detective nodded, not giving any hint as to whether Izuku’s half-truth about his father pinged true to his quirk. He figured it would. Technically, All for One did do all kinds of jobs, he did go overseas, though nowhere near as often as his mom claimed, and he did have stock in a lot of businesses. Mostly because he partially owned them.

“Do you have any belief that either of your parents are alive?”

Izuku glared at the Detective. What a stupid question to ask a teenager, who saw the mangled body of his mother when he had to help identify her. Kurogiri hadn’t been able to come with him at that time, partially because they wanted to keep the warper hidden from the authorities as much as they could. He was too important.

“No,” Izuku said sternly. “My dad disappeared right around the same time as my mom getting killed. And you and I both know my mother is dead. You had me come and make sure the body was her.”

“Yes, of course, I apologize. But the question had to be asked.” The Detective paused for a moment before asking another question. “Have you ever met a man who goes by the name All for One?”

Now that was risky. His dad never went by All for One around Izuku. He also never really went by that name around the Doctor or Kurogiri, both only ever referring to him as Master. Izuku knew he didn’t have long to answer before the Detective would get suspicious, so he risked it.

“No,” he said simply. “Who is that?” He decided to pry, to see if the Detective would give any information away.

“Hm,” the man hummed. “It doesn’t matter. He’s just someone we’ve been interested in. And might have connections to the battle that killed your mother.”

Izuku almost laughed. They were trying to get him to turn against All for One, his father, by claiming he ‘might’ have been her killer. Except Izuku knew the truth. And this Detective knew, too. Izuku risked asking a question of his own.

“Is he connected to All Might? All for One, All Might, kinda similar, yeah?”

The Detective paled for a moment before coughing to clear his throat, and his nerves. “Um, no, not that we’re aware of.” Liar. Izuku felt the quirk he’d copied from this man blatantly call out his lie. He almost smirked.

“Speaking of All Might, I haven’t seen him in a while. I used to have all kinds of merch of him. What happened to him?”

“He’s taking a break, is all I know.” That pinged true. So All Might was taking a break. A forced break, since if Izuku’s dad had barely survived their fight, he had no doubt the ‘Number One Hero’ almost died too.

“Do you have any more questions or can we do the quirk registry thing? I’m sure Aizawa is getting antsy. I kinda wanna see what he’d look like when angry.”

“Believe me, no you don’t,” the Detective said under his breath, barely audible to Izuku. “We can go out to my desk to fill out the paperwork. I believe, as your current legal guardian, Aizawa has already filled out his part.”

“Wait, he’s my legal guardian?” Izuku asked, unable to help the excitement in his voice.

The Detetive chuckled, probably relieved at the change in mood from the questioning to now. “Yes. You weren’t needed at home for the home check, so Yamada hosted our social services for it. Unsurprisingly, they passed and have officially become your legal foster parents.”

Izuku’s smile was wide as they left the interrogation room, to be quickly met with AIzawa. He gave Izuku an odd look, not expecting such an emotion to be on the teen’s face after an interrogation.

“I told him about you and Yamada officially becoming his guardians.”

“Oh,” Aizawa said, relaxing. “I take it you’re happy about that, kid?”

Izuku nodded. “Definitely. Thank you for taking me in.”

“I’d have been an asshole not to,” Aizawa said, ruffling Izuku’s hair.

Detective Tsukauchi took them to his desk, where he handed a document to Izuku.

“Fill out the remainder of that, including your quirk’s name and a short explanation of what it does.”

Izuku took the paper and picked up a pen. He filled out his personal information: name, date of birth, all that fun stuff. Then he paused, trying to figure out what to actually call his quirk. The Doctor had said there was a failed version of his quirk, that only lasted five minutes, running around somewhere in the world called ‘Copy.’ So Izuku couldn’t use that. He pondered for a moment as he wrote down the short explanation of his quirk before returning to the ‘Quirk Name’ box. He perked up when he figured out a name for it.

The Detective took back the document, reading it over before adding it to a small stack of papers.

“Alright, that’s everything settled. Thank you for coming in and bearing with the questions, Midoriya. And congratulations to you both on the new home situation.”

Izuku nodded, giving a small thanks to the Detective as he stood up to follow Aizawa.

“Thanks, Tsukauchi,” Aizawa said. He set a hand on Izuku's shoulder and guided their way out of the police precinct. They hopped in the car and began driving away before he glanced over at Izuku in the passenger seat. “What took you so long on the quirk paperwork?”

“Oh, I had to figure out what to call it,” Izuku said.

“Did your doctor, or parents, never give it a name?”

“Not really. We just referred to it as copy, but I also heard from my doctor that there was another copy quirk out there, which manifested right before mine I think. They had already labeled that one ‘Copy,’ so I figured I might as well use a different name.”

“What did you decide on?”

“Duplicate. Same premise, just different term.”

“Hm, fair enough.” Aizawa was silent for a few minutes before stealing another glance towards Izuku. “How was the interrogation?”

Izuku frowned. “Basically the same as the other ones, besides the detective asking me about my quirk.” He let out a humorless laugh. “He asked me if I thought either of my parents could still be alive.”

“What?” Aizawa asked, raising an eyebrow. “Why would he feel the need to ask that?”

“Because of the whole possibly being related to a villain?” Izuku said. “But I can’t believe he asked if I thought my mom was alive. He was the one who took me to the morgue to identify her body…”

“Damn, sorry, kid. That must have been difficult.”

“It was. Her body wasn’t… It…” Izuku couldn’t finish the statement as his mind flashed back to that day. To seeing his mother’s mangled, bloody corpse after a building had collapsed on her. All thanks to All Might.

“You don’t have to tell me about it, Izuku. Believe me, I know all about seeing the body of someone you care about…” Izuku wondered who Aizawa had lost, but he wouldn’t pry. They’d both tell each other when they wanted. “So is there a chance your father is still alive?”

“I don’t know,” Izuku lied. His dad was still alive, though barely. Being kept alive by medical technology and a few quirks inside of a stasis tank. “He disappeared around the same time as my mom’s death. So I just figure he’s dead.”

“Was he with your mom that day?” Izuku just nodded in response. He’d already essentially told Aizawa he was related to a villain. But the man didn’t pry, and Izuku wouldn’t explain more anyway. Besides, Aizawa saw the heroic potential in Izuku, so he didn’t care about the teen’s past. “Well, let’s head home and see what Zashi wants to do for dinner, huh?”

“What, you’re not going to cook?” Izuku teased, grinning at his foster dad.

“You act like that and I just might,” Aizawa said, reaching over to ruffle Izuku’s hair again.

Chapter 6: Step Into the Light

Chapter Text

It was a warm summer morning as Izuku made his way to school. It was the start of his second year at Aldera, and his records had been updated so that his quirk was now official. Aizawa had told him not to go showing off, which Izuku wouldn’t do. Plus, the teachers seemed even more nervous during the pre-term meeting they’d had with Aizawa and Izuku, as if fearing the chance that Izuku would use his quirk or his real father’s influence against them had increased.

He had no clue how Kacchan would react. The other boy had always held it over Izuku that he was born with a quirk and Izuku wasn’t. Would the boy have any regrets once he knew what Izuku could do? Or would he double down on the harassment. Izuku bet with himself that it would be the latter. At least he had no real reason to fear Kacchan, unlike many others in their class.

Izuku made his way up the front steps of the school, passing some former classmates who glared at him. He paid them no mind, slipping past them to his new homeroom. Unsurprisingly, he was met with Kacchan brooding at his desk. The blond teen always got to school bright and early, after working out in the morning. His schedule had stayed almost the same for the past few years.

As he walked in, he drew the attention of Kacchan, who glared at him before looking away. Just for fun, Izuku decided to use warp to cross the room before Kacchan looked back at him, as the teen always did. It was like he couldn’t just ignore Izuku, no matter how hard he tried. So one moment, Izuku was by the door to the classroom, and the next he was in the back corner, near the window, at his desk.

When Kacchan looked back, expecting Izuku to pass him by, he looked startled to not see Izuku at all. He whipped his head around, scanning the room before his eyes locked with Izuku’s. Izuku gave him a friendly wave and smile as the final wisps of Warp faded from his fingers. Kacchan’s eyes widened and he was about to storm over to Izuku until the rest of their class began filing in, along with their homeroom teacher.

The first homeroom of the new year was as boring as always. The teacher made his introductions, reminded all the kids of the rules, and also made sure to remind everyone that Bakugou was the best among them, though the teacher did give Izuku a wary glance.

Classes went by until it was lunch time. Izuku pulled out the bento that Mic had made him, smiling at the hard boiled eggs that Mic had turned into little bunnies. Yeah Izuku was thirteen, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the cute things his adoptive parents did for him. And Mic enjoyed doing those kinds of things.

But of course, his lunch couldn’t be as peaceful as the little food animals packed in his bento.

“Oi, Deku,” Bakugou sneered, leaning over Izuku’s desk to glare at him. “The f*ck was that this morning, huh?”

“What was what?” Izuku asked, playing dumb. Either Kacchan would get bored and back off, or he’d try to push the limit and Izuku could finally show him up a bit.

“The f*ckin’ smoke from your hand!” Bakugou said. “And how you made it to your desk faster than you should have.”

“You’re probably seeing things, Kacchan. All that smoke from your quirk must be messing with your eyes.” Izuku picked up his chopsticks and began to eat some of his rice. “Should probably stop using it so much against our classmates.”

“Huh?! My quirk, eh? You want to see a demonstration?” Bakugou’s palms crackled with miniature explosions as he flexed his hands.

Izuku sighed, setting his chopsticks down and looking up at Bakugou. “I’ve had plenty of your demonstrations, Kacchan.”

Bakugou scoffed. “I don’t think you’ve seen enough, though.” He reached out to use his quirk on Izuku’s lunch. His palm hovered just above the bento and he sneered at Izuku again. He flexed his hand and… nothing. “Huh?” Bakugou pulled his hand back, staring down at it as he tried to use his quirk, to no avail. “What the f*ck?!”

“Uh… Bakugou?” one of the other kids in class hesitantly said.

“The f*ck is it?” Bakugou said, whirling around to glare at the other kid. He was pointing at something and Bakugou followed the direction of his point to look back at Izuku. Izuku’s eyes glowed red as he smirked at Bakugou.

“What’s the matter, quirk not working?” Izuku asked. His eyes started to burn from how long he’d kept them open. He’d have to see if the Doctor had something to counteract that, next time he had the chance to meet up with the man. “Shame.”

“Wh-what the-” Bakugou said, taking a step back from Izuku.

Finally releasing Erasure, Izuku rubbed at his watery eyes and blinked several times. “Dang, not used to that one yet.”

“Th-that one?” a girl asked from a few desks away.

“Oh, yeah, I have several quirks. All thanks to my Duplicate!” Izuku said, his smile feigning innocence. “What, you didn’t actually think I was quirkless, did you?”

The class just stared at him, dumbfounded. They had thought him quirkless, he’d made sure of that. His parents always told him he couldn’t reveal the truth of his quirk, but now they were gone. What had hiding his quirk done for them? Nothing good. Maybe if his quirk had been known, they’d be alive. Or maybe they’d have been targets earlier. Only the fates would ever know for sure.

“B-but,” Bakugou stammered. “You’re a f*ckin’ Deku! You’ve never had a quirk, as long as I’ve known you!”

“I have, actually.” Izuku stood up and took a few steps towards Bakugou. “Mom and dad just didn’t want me to reveal it, because they thought it was too strong and would make me a target for villains or something, if they found out. Or the Commission, though they didn’t explain that one all that much…” Izuku shrugged. He reached out, pulling on the thread that was Bakugou’s quirk. He pulled the copy out and opened his palm to show the orange wisp. “It’s yours,” he said, looking back up at Bakugou.

Immediately Bakugou tested his quirk, making sure he still had it after the Erasure scare a few minutes before. He sighed in relief when his palms popped with little explosions before glaring back up at Izuku.

“I’ve always told you your quirk is strong and cool,” Izuku said, staring down at the wisp. The classroom was dead silent as he spoke. “I never wanted it, though. This was yours. But you went and became a bully to everyone around you, including me. I let you, because I was told to keep quiet about my quirk.” He finally closed his hand, letting the copy of Explosion melt into his body.

He sighed, unhappy about the outcome. He’d have to drop the quirk off somehow. Maybe he’d give the copy back to Kacchan. Who knows how powerful it’d make him. Izuku didn’t really want to give the quirk to the Doctor. Kacchan may have become an asshole, but Izuku still wished for them to be friends again, someday. Maybe if they both went to UA.

“Now, here’s the problem. I don’t really want things to change just yet. Maybe I’m a masoch*st, seeing as it would mean I would still get bullied, threatened, whatever you all want to do to me. Because I’m just a useless Deku to you all.” Izuku looked up, scanning the room of students. Each of his classmates, including Bakugou, had a look of fear on their face. “So how about we do that, huh? It’s simple, and the teachers know so they won’t care.”

Izuku walked to the center of the room, the other students parting to allow him to. “If you wouldn’t mind, I’ll need all of you to be a bit closer.” He beckoned them forward, and though they looked scared, they did as he asked. Izuku hadn’t tried using Amnesia on this many people at once, so he’d do it in blocks. He still figured it’d be tiring.

Group by group, he wiped their memories of the lunch period. And group by group, they fell unconscious as the quirk took effect. Luckily, Izuku had discovered it wasn’t hard to wake them back up, but he’d explain to the next period’s teacher before he let them all wake up.

He finished his work, then looked at the only other student still standing: Bakugou.

“Don’t worry, Kacchan,” Izuku said as he walked over to his childhood friend. “I’ll tell you the truth again, later this year probably.”

“I don’t-” Bakugou started to say, but his sentence was cut off as Izuku used Amnesia on him. The blond slumped forward, Izuku catching him and gently setting him down on the floor.

Izuku sighed as he surveyed his work. If he had his timing right, he could wake them up in ten minutes, but he’d need to get each of them back into their seats so they didn’t think too much about what happened.

He spent that ten minutes lifting each student back into their seats, ensuring their heads were laid gently on the crossed arms, as if they’d all just decided to simultaneously nap during lunch. He cleaned up his lunch and put the box away. Mic wouldn’t be too happy about him not eating, but oh well. Returning to his seat, he pulled out two notebooks - one being his current quirk analysis book, the other being the notebook for his next class. His eyes drooped a little, he’d definitely overdone it a bit with using Amnesia on that many people. But he’d be fine. He was strong, he had to be given his potential. Duplicate and All for One both filled him with more strength than normal quirks, or so the Doctor always told him.

Their homeroom teacher walked back in to find the entire class asleep, except Izuku. Izuku just gave them a wave.

“They’ll be awake in a minute. Had to wipe their memories of my quirk,” Izuku said, shrugging. “We’ll save that reveal for later, hm?”

The teacher just nodded nervously. A few minutes later, the class slowly woke up, just in time for their next period. They were confused, but none of them seemed to worry too much about it. Except Bakugou. He scanned the room, as if feeling that something was off. He locked eyes with Izuku for a moment. Izuku just gave him a smile and a wave as the lesson began, pulling Bakugou’s attention back to the front.

Izuku may have many quirks, thanks to the strong duo of his own and his father’s. But his strongest asset was always his mind. His parents always told him that. And that was probably thanks to his father. At least, his proficiency with manipulation certainly was.

It wasn’t until the end of his second year at Aldera Junior High that Izuku finally, actually, revealed his quirk to Bakugou and the others. It was a normal spring day in class, but the end of the year was fast approaching. Which meant they had to decide goals for high school and their final year in middle school.

To no one’s surprise, Bakugou loudly decreed he’d be attending UA. The class cheered him on, even the teacher joined in. But as they circled through the class, each person revealing their own goals, they inevitably had to end up on Izuku. And Izuku wasn’t about to hold back.

“I plan on going to UA, too,” he said simply. Their teacher said nothing, but gave him a look. Izuku still hadn’t revealed his quirk to the class, but the teachers knew. So undoubtedly the teacher was confused as to why Izuku would say that, knowing that he would become a target for Bakugou and the others.

The class burst into laughter. They couldn’t believe the ‘quirkless Deku’ would even dare say he’d attend the same school as their illustrious Bakugou, let alone the top hero academy in all of Japan. Bakugou just sneered at Izuku.

“As if a useless Deku like you could go to UA,” he said, laughing. He stood up, about to stomp over to Izuku’s desk when the teacher chastised him and told him to sit back down. Bakugou begrudgingly complied, but Izuku knew there’d be something later. He honestly looked forward to it.

Classes ended for the day and Izuku slowly put his things away, leaving his analysis notebook for last. He’d needed to add a few things to it that he’d seen earlier that day - little details about some new heroes and their quirks.

He wasn’t surprised when Bakugou stormed over to his desk after class, snatching the notebook and blasting it with his quirk. He held it up as he glared at Izuku, who just sighed as he turned to face Bakugou.

“You really think you can f*ckin’ go to the same school as me? You’re a quirkless Deku! You can’t do sh*t in life!” Bakugou said, his two cronies snickering behind him.

“Oh, if only I had a quirk like you, Kacchan,” Izuku said sarcastically, which only pissed off Bakugou more.

“Yeah, if only you did, huh?” Bakugou said, his eyes narrowing. Then he smirked. “If you want a quirk so bad, why don’t you take a swan dive off the roof and hope for one in your next life.” With that, he tossed Izuku’s burnt notebook out the window. Izuku of course quickly formed a portal, his hand behind his back to hide the use of Warp. The notebook landed safely on the roof, instead of the pond below.

“Maybe I should,” Izuku said as he turned towards the open window. He took a few steps towards it, glancing back at Bakugou and his cronies. They looked surprised, maybe even slightly worried that Izuku was actually about to follow through. Izuku climbed up to kneel within the window, he turned his body carefully to look back at Bakugou. “Might not be the roof, but close enough, right?”

And with that, he fell backwards out of the window. Of course he wasn’t planning on hitting the ground. Instead, he formed a portal and fell through it, popping out several feet above the roof before he called on Air Walk and steadied himself mid-air.

He couldn’t help but laugh as Bakugou’s head shot out of the window, staring down at the ground. The blond whipped around to stare upwards, seeing Izuku crouched and floating in the air. Izuku waved at him as he slowly stepped down towards the window, as if walking down an invisible spiral staircase.

Once he was standing in front of the window, he formed a new portal, pulling his notebook from the roof.

“Good to know you don’t actually want me dead, Kacchan,” Izuku said as he leaned into the window. “I always knew you cared about me.”

“Wh-what…” Bakugou said, his voice catching in his throat.

“Oh, I’ve never been quirkless. It’s funny, actually. We’ve already had this conversation, but I made you all forget. Guess it’s time to let the cat out of the bag for real, though. Can’t have you harassing me all of next year for trying to get into UA just like you.”

“But how?” Bakugou croaked out.

“My quirk, obviously,” Izuku said. “Duplicate - lets me copy whatever quirk I want as long as I’m relatively close to the holder. Actually, I copied yours back at the start of the year, when we first had this conversation.” Izuku held out his palm and created a few small explosions. “But don’t worry, I don’t want to keep it.”

Izuku hoisted himself through the window, his feet planted firmly on the tile floor of the classroom as he turned off Air Walk. He then stepped towards Bakugou, who actually held his ground while his lackeys scurried backwards, away from Izuku.

“Good thing I can give it back to you,” Izuku said.

“I still have my quirk,” Bakugou said, his eyes narrowing.

“Oh I know,” Izuku said, placing a hand on Bakugou’s shoulder and looking him in the eyes. “Doesn’t mean you can’t have another.” He used All for One to push the copy of Explosion into Bakugou before pulling his hand back. “I told you back then that I didn’t want it. It’s your quirk, always will be.”

Bakugou looked down at his hands, crackling and popping as he tested his quirk, just to be sure Izuku wasn’t tricking him.

“You… You hid this, all this time?” he asked hesitantly.

“Yep. Blame mom and dad,” Izuku said, a sad smile on his face. “They thought keeping it a secret would keep us safe.” He huffed out a laugh. “We both know how that went.” He locked eyes with Bakugou. “You want to become the strongest hero. I want to make sure heroes are doing what they’re meant to do: keep people safe. Heroes, villains, they’re two sides of the same coin. And somewhere along the way, the sides have become muddied.”

“The f*ck are you talking about?”

“I’m not sure yet, honestly. But I think going to UA will help me figure it out.” Izuku took a deep breath, looking away. “I’ve got more secrets than just this, and maybe one day I’ll let you in on some more. For now, though?” Izuku said, eyes returning to Bakugou. “Let’s just do our best, okay?” He turned and grabbed his backpack, stuffing his analysis notebook into it. “Seeya later, Kacchan,” he said before forming a warp and stepping through it.

He stepped out into an alleyway a block or so from school. Yeah, he still liked his alley portals, so what? Walking out, he scanned the street to find no one around. He smiled to himself as he slowly made his way home, deciding to take a different route this time, wanting to enjoy the warm spring weather.

He ventured down a path leading beneath an overpass, humming to himself as he wrote in his analysis notebook, recording the things Bakugou had prevented him from writing earlier. He was caught by surprise when something slithered up his leg, quickly wrapping his body up before he could react.

“Huh, you look like a great disguise!” a voice said as a face came into Izuku’s peripherals. Izuku just glared as the villain grinned at him. “Don’t worry, this will only hurt a lot.”

Izuku used Brawn Boost to break free from the sludge villain, jumping back a few feet.

“Oh, a fighter? With a strength quirk? Even better!” The villain launched at Izuku, who tried to flare Erasure. But it did nothing. Right, Aizawa had said it wouldn’t work on mutations.

He formed a portal below himself, dropping through it and out of the roof of the underpass several feet away. He didn’t really have many fighting quirks yet. He almost wished he hadn’t given the copy of Explosion to Bakugou as he rolled out of the way of another onslaught by the sludge villain.

Izuku wracked his mind for how he’d get out of this. Heroes obviously weren’t around, otherwise they’d already be here. His phone sat in his backpack, where he usually kept it during school, so calling for help was out of the question. An idea came to him, and he hoped it was a good one.

“I am the son of All for One,” he said. The villain halted in his tracks.

“Wh-what?”

“You heard me. Do you really want to invoke his wrath?”

“Hah!” The sludge villain laughed. “All for One hasn’t been seen for years! You’re just a kid who spends too much time on the internet, learning about old legends!”

Izuku co*cked his head to the side. “Do you really think that? I’ve already used three quirks while trying to defend myself from you.” The villain’s laughing stopped. Izuku formed another portal, walking through it to stand behind the villain. “I’m sure All for One would be so excited to find out you attacked his son.”

The villain whipped around, the sludge making up his body shifting. He slowly backed away from Izuku. “Oh, sh*t, kid. Look, I’ll leave you alone, alright? No harm done? So you don’t gotta go telling All for One anything, okay?”

Izuku smirked. So his father’s influence was wide reaching, even to low-rank villains like this. He wasn’t surprised, but now he knew he could flaunt this power more often.

The manhole behind the villain rattled, causing him to turn and look at it. Izuku leaned around the villain to watch it as well. A moment later, a hulking mass of muscle leapt out, carrying… shopping bags?

Izuku scowled once he recognized the man, wearing only a white t-shirt and jeans, but still easily recognizable.

“It’s fine now! Why? Because I am here!” All Might decreed as he faced the sludge villain. Izuku just rolled his eyes.

Then a new idea came to him. He’d play the innocent kid in the grasp of a villain, and see what All Might would do.

“Help me!” Izuku cried out as he jumped into the sludge villain. He nearly retched at the disgusting smell and feeling of the sludge, but he held it in.

“The hell, kid?” the villain whispered, his face sliding along the mound of sludge to look down at him.

“Play along or else,” Izuku hissed.

The villain groaned before turning back to face All Might, who’d just noticed Izuku.

All Might wound up his arm, calling out his attack like the idiot Izuku knew he was. “Detroit smash!”

A massive blast of air tore through the sludge villain, ripping him apart and ‘freeing’ Izuku. Izuku fell back once the resistance of the sludge was gone, the column of air knocking him on his back and the breath out of his lungs. He gasped.

“Oh, sorry kid!” All Might said, pulling Izuku to his feet. Izuku just stood there and stared at the hero as he dumped two large bottles of soda out before getting to work shoving the sludge villain into them.

Once he was done, he noticed Izuku’s discarded notebook and pen and picked them up. He scribbled an autograph onto one of the pages then handed it back to Izuku.

“Be careful out there, kid!” he said as he started walking out from the underpass. Izuku quickly grabbed his things and scurried after the hero, wondering how much information he could get from the man.

“Wait!” Izuku cried, nearly running into All Might as the man stopped.

“Sorry kid, I gotta go,” All Might said as he bent his knees, preparing to jump. Izuku latched onto his leg just before the man launched into the air at high speed. The air buffeted Izuku, causing his eyes to water. “Why am I so slow?” All Might wondered aloud as he glanced backwards, spying Izuku holding onto his leg. “What the hell, kid?!”

All Might crashed down onto a roof, managing to lessen the impact and protect Izuku from hitting the hard concrete, but only just.

“What are you doing? You can’t go holding onto heroes like that!” All Might chastised.

Izuku ignored him, trying to find a way to get information from the man without making it too obvious. The first thing that came to mind was Bakugou calling him quirkless. Huh, maybe that would work.

“Wait!” Izuku said as All Might prepared to jump again. The man paused and looked back at him. “Can a quirkless person become a hero like you?”

All Might sighed, running a hand through his hair before mumbling something. In a puff of steam, All Might disappeared and in his place was a skeletal figure in oversized clothing. He collapsed against the low wall at the edge of the roof.

“HUH?!” Izuku gasped, maybe a little too dramatically. He was barely managing to keep his emotions in check, because he really wanted to laugh right now. Of course the Number One Hero was weakened. But he’d never have guessed the man was this weak. “Who are you and what did you do to All Might?!”

“I am All Might, kid,” All Might huffed out.

“Wait, what?”

All Might lifted his shirt to show the mass of scar tissue on his side from a serious injury. An injury Izuku’s father had given him. Though, of course, All Might had gotten All for One back, nearly crushing the supervillain’s head.

“This injury,” All Might said. “My stomach is mostly gone, and my lungs got hit, too. I can only keep the All Might form for a few hours a day.” The man chuckled humorlessly. “I don’t even know why I’m telling you this. It happened last year.”

Izuku thought back to the false story the media put out about the massive fight All Might had been involved in. They’d blamed it on Toxic Chainsaw, a mediocre villain at best who All Might had taken down earlier that day. How they got away with that lie was beyond Izuku.

“Toxic Chainsaw did that?” Izuku asked.

“Heh, no kid. That was just the coverup. This was done by someone far stronger and far more ruthless. But he’s gone now. However, I still have to be a hero. Be the Symbol of Peace Japan needs.” All Might rose to his feet, coughing. “To your question, about whether a quirkless person can be a hero?”

Izuku nodded. “I really want to go to UA, and become a hero!” God he was struggling to keep it together.

“No,” All Might said simply. “You’re better off in the police. You can do good work with them, even without a quirk.”

Finally, Izuku broke. He laughed and laughed, doubling over as he did. He couldn’t help himself. Here was the man who Japan heralded as their Number One Hero. The man who had managed to cripple All for One only barely more than All for One had crippled him. The man who had his quirk given to him, if what the Doctor had told Izuku was true. Not only that, but All Might himself was quirkless before that. Izuku wiped some laughing tears from his eyes as he looked back up at All Might, standing up straight and smiling.

“Aren’t you just a hypocrite, Toshinori Yagi?” Izuku asked, his smile morphing into an evil smirk. All Might’s eyes widened at the use of his real name. Izuku collected his scattered belongings, his backpack having opened during their landing. “Oh, you should probably go catch that villain again. I may have accidentally released him. Seeya around, Symbol of Peace.”

Izuku formed a warp and stepped through it, leaving a stunned All Might behind.

He returned to his normal route home. It may have been an eventful day, but Mic was home and he didn’t want to have to explain why he was using warp to teleport home. So instead he returned to his walk. People scurried past him, rushing towards a growing crowd. Loud booms could be heard from the street they gathered at the end of, so Izuku decided to see what kind of trouble had been caused.

Turning the corner, Izuku saw the familiar, disgusting shape of the sludge villain. He was pretty pleased with the outcome, until he noticed who the villain was attacking now. Bakugou was wrapped in the sludge, his head barely poking out as the villain moved in, cackling. Multiple heroes surrounded the duo, but none of them acted. Bakugou, meanwhile, continued to try to use his explosions to free himself.

Izuku scowled, setting his backpack down near the front of an abandoned shop, its owners likely either out in the crowd to watch, or running home to safety. He then formed another warp, putting himself behind the villain.

“Hey, you!” he called out, causing the villain to look behind himself. His eyes widened in fear when he saw who it was. “Yeah, it’s me. I free you from that idiot and the first thing you manage to do is capture a friend of mine?”

“A fr-friend of yours?” the villain stammered, his eyes darting down to his prize. He quickly released Bakugou, shoving him towards Izuku. “Sorry! Here, take him!”

“The f*ck?” Bakugou coughed out. “I didn’t need your sh*tty help, Deku.”

“Yeah, of course you didn’t,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes. Forming yet another portal, Izuku shoved Bakugou through it. He glared at the villain one last time before following behind Bakugou, closing the warp.

“f*ck off,” Bakugou said, still coughing. Izuku pulled his backpack through a small portal. His arms were going numb with how often he was using Warp today. “I had him!”

“Like hell you did, Kacchan,” Izuku said. “That guy would have killed you. He tried to kill me, but I got lucky.”

“Lucky, huh? That idiot looked like he was scared of you. The f*ck did you do to him?”

“Let’s just say my dad had powerful friends,” Izuku said. “You should probably get checked out by a doctor, but since I didn’t want to get involved with those useless heroes, I warped us away.”

“Heh, yeah, those heroes were sh*t,” Bakugou spat. “Who the f*ck let them have licenses?”

“Good question.” Izuku sighed. “Kinda makes you understand what I was saying earlier, doesn’t it?”

“Yeah…” Bakugou said. “So UA, huh?”

“Where else?” Izuku grinned. “Someone’s gotta keep you in line.”

“Tch, as if you’ll be able to stop me.” Bakugou barked out a laugh. He then reached a hand out. Izuku eyed it before clasping it in his own. “Rivals, then.”

Izuku snorted. “Rivals? Sure, whatever you say Kacchan.” He released his grip. “But don’t think I’m gonna make your life easy now just because you’re not being a total ass to me. My quirk is out there, and people have this weird misconception that I’m weak and useless, thanks to you.” Izuku smirked.

“Is that a threat?” Bakugou snarled, though he was smirking as well.

“Maybe, guess we’ll have to see.” Izuku pulled on his backpack, sincerely hoping he wouldn’t be taking it off again until he finally made it home. “See you tomorrow, Kacchan.”

Bakugou just scoffed as he turned and the two parted ways.

Izuku sighed as he finally stepped through the door of his home. Mic was standing in the kitchen, humming a song and making tea. He turned when he heard the door close.

“Oh, heya kiddo!” Mic greeted him. “How was your day? Anything exciting happen?”

Izuku took off his shoes and sat them to the side. He dropped his backpack as well before stepping into the kitchen.

“No, not really,” he lied. “Same as usual, you know? Oh, we did our future plans in homeroom today!”

“Oh? And what future plans do you have, then?” Mic asked, pouring them both a cup of tea. He set one mug down in front of Izuku.

“I’m going to UA,” Izuku said proudly.

Mic’s face lit up. “Amazing! I knew you’d decide to come to UA, lil listener!” He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “And don’t worry, I’ll do the same as Sho. No special treatment or favors. You’re taking that entrance exam, and you’re passing it with flying colors! All on your own!”

A little while later, Aizawa returned home as well. He carried the mail in as he slipped his boots off by the door.

“Izuku, you have a letter,” the man said, tossing the mail onto the kitchen island. Izuku hopped up off the couch and wandered over, picking up the letter addressed to him. He opened it as Aizawa walked over to brew some coffee and Mic began working on dinner.

Young Master,

It has been some time since we last saw each other, though I’ve been keeping an eye on you ever since those heroes took you in. It pleases me to know you’re happy with them, though I don’t believe the Doctor has the same sentiments. However your life is yours, and I’m sure you know what you’re doing with it already.

Given your guardians’ occupations, that being teachers at UA, I wonder if that means you’ll follow in their footsteps and attend the school as well. I believe that you mean to become a hero for different reasons than most. You and I once discussed that the world is a cruel place, and many heroes do nothing to help that. But you are someone who will. Someone who will no doubt tear down the pillars that society has put heroes upon. We will do our best to work it from our side, but someone within the system will be able to do far more.

In order to help you with this, I’ve convinced the Doctor to allow you a final set of quirks, those being many of the ones your father wielded. My number is below, and all you need do is text or call me to set up when you wish to visit us. Most likely, this will be our final time together before our paths fully diverge. Young Shigaraki is antsy to begin his own reign of villainy, and so we will have to leave you on your own while you work the system from the inside.

I wish you luck, Izuku. And I look forward to seeing you again soon, even if it is to be for the final time.

Sincerely,

Kurogiri

“You okay, kid?” Aizawa’s voice pulled Izuku from his focus on the letter. He shook his head and looked up.

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.”

“Who’s it from?”

“That family friend I’ve told you about…” Izuku said, a small smile on his lips as he stared back down at the paper in his hands.

Chapter 7: Divergence

Chapter Text

Purple mist swirled into a portal at the end of the alley. Apparently, Kurogiri and the Doctor had moved from the original lab, and the Doctor did not want to share the new location of the lab directly with Izuku. So instead Izuku told Kurogiri an alley a few blocks away from Aizawa and Mic’s apartment. He was wearing his ‘old,’ (it wasn’t really old, he just didn’t use it anymore), vigilante outfit. The simple all-black, kevlar-reinforced hoodie and pants, along with his usual red shoes.

He stepped through the portal to find himself in a lab that looked practically identical to the one the Doctor had when he was younger. Except there were far fewer Nomu stasis tanks, and All for One’s stasis tank now took up the majority of the central area of the lab. Tubes and pipes ran from the floor and roof into the tank, exchanging fluids and providing power to all the systems the Doctor had installed.

“Good evening, Young Master,” the baritone voice of Izuku’s favorite person called from behind him. Izuku turned around to see the portal collapse into the body of Kurogiri.

“Kurogiri!” Izuku said, running over to hug the man. Kurogiri chuckled and returned the embrace. “It’s been too long!”

“Indeed it has,” Kurogiri said, his hands resting on Izuku’s shoulders. “Now, come. We have much to do tonight.”

The Doctor whirled around in his chair, his glasses catching the light. “Young master.” His voice didn’t seem as friendly as usual. Kurogiri’s letter had mentioned that the Doctor wasn’t as thrilled with Izuku’s new course in life. But technically Izuku was still their boss, whether the Doctor liked it or not.

“Doctor,” Izuku said, nodding to the man. “Kurogiri said you have some more quirks I can copy?”

“Correct. Now that your father is in a far more stable state, I have created a list of quirks for you to copy from his repertoire.” The Doctor grabbed a clipboard from a nearby lab table and got up from his chair. He hobbled over to Izuku. “Your quirk offers you the same ability as All for One, where you inherently know how to use a newly acquired quirk. However, this does not mean you can just have all the quirks All for One wields.”

“I don’t see why not…” Izuku muttered to himself.

“You already have some very useful quirks, but Kurogiri and I discussed which quirks would still be beneficial for you to have as well.” The Doctor stepped over to All for One’s tank. “First, let’s go over the quirks you have. You currently possess copies of Brawn Boost, Kinetic Booster, Warp Gate, Air Walk, Night Vision, and Lie Detector. In addition, you have your own quirk, Duplicate, as well as the original All for One,” the Doctor said with slight disdain, “and Amnesia.”

“I also have my mom’s quirk?”

The Doctor waved that off. Yeah, Inko’s telekinesis wasn’t very useful.

“Um, I may have also gotten another quirk?” The Doctor just looked at him, unimpressed by any quirk Izuku would have copied on his own. “It’s, um, Eraser Head’s quirk…”

“You…” the Doctor nearly stumbled in his pacing. “You copied Erasure? You have Erasure? Right now?” His voice was higher pitched, excited.

“Y-yeah?” Izuku didn’t like how interested the Doctor suddenly was.

“You must leave that with us! You can get another copy later!” The Doctor hurried over to the quirk vials, grabbing an empty one and returning to Izuku. “Put it here. We’ve been after that quirk for years! Even before Kurogiri!”

Izuku took a step back. “I’d rather keep it. Aizawa is good to me, and wasn’t angry when he found out I could copy quirks. But I don’t want to push it by having to suddenly copy his again, when as far as he knows, my copies are permanent. Which they are, but still.”

The Doctor scowled, his brow furrowing in annoyance. “That quirk is far too important for a mere child to wield! You will give it to us.”

Izuku took another step back before he remembered who he was. He straightened up, steeling his resolve. His face morphed from the scared teenager he’d just been into one that would make his father proud.

“You work for me. Until my father is healthy and able to live outside of that tank, I am your master, as you continue to remind me.” He took a few steps towards the Doctor. Given the man’s short stature, Izuku, even at fourteen, towered over him. “Quirks that I wield, that I copy, are mine to do with as I please. You do not demand things from me, is that understood?”

The Doctor actually cowered from him after that. Kurogiri rested a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, grounding him once more, and Izuku began to regret throwing his position at the Doctor. But he only spoke the truth. All for One had told Izuku that he’d continue his legacy, and thus would be the one to oversee the Doctor’s continued experiments.

“Doctor, I do believe we should return to the matter at hand,” Kurogiri said.

“Right, yes, of course,” the Doctor said. He cleared his throat and swapped the quirk vial for the clipboard again. “So, we’ve been over your quirks. From those that your father wields, the copies Kurogiri and I suggest are as follows. For combat purposes: Air Wall, Forced Quirk Activation, Springlike Limbs, and Air Cannon. For support purposes: Radio Waves and Antigen Swap. And for healing: Super Regeneration.”

“Whoa, that’s a lot,” Izuku said. “They all seem pretty self-explanatory.” He walked over to stare up at his comatosed father. “Except for the ‘support’ quirks? What exactly do Radio Waves and Antigen Swap do?”

“Radio Waves allows for you to disrupt communications and overload some support equipment utilized by heroes and police. Antigen Swap allows you to change your blood type. All for One has used it many times to remain untraceable throughout the decades.”

“Huh, neat,” Izuku mumbled. “Alright, so I just reach into my dad and look for those quirks?” The Doctor nodded. Izuku turned and looked at his father. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, reaching out into the massive network of threads that made up All for One’s quirks. He had to focus to find the proper quirks, touching and feeling his way through the braids of threads until he found the proper ones. Slowly he pulled out each quirk until he had all of them.

He opened his eyes once he pulled the last quirk out. He’d never done multiple copies at once like this. In his palm, the wisps had combined to form a morphing ball of colors. They pulsed in his palm as he closed it, absorbing all seven. The feeling of so many new quirks coursing through his body made him shudder.

“Very good,” the Doctor said simply. “That was all we needed you for, so you’re free to return home.”

“Wait, that’s it?” Izuku looked between the Doctor and Kurogiri who seemed just as surprised by the action as Izuku.

“Doctor, surely we do not need Izuku to leave so quickly,” Kurogiri said.

“Why not? He’s with the heroes now, and will probably be missed soon.” The Doctor waved the two off as he returned to his workbench.

Kurogiri’s yellow eyes narrowed. “Come, young master, there’s still some time before you’re due back to your guardians’ home.” He turned and walked away from the Doctor, forming a warp gate in front of him and beckoning for Izuku to follow after him.

Izuku tilted his head as he watched the Doctor before turning to follow Kurogiri. They disappeared through the warp gate, and Izuku had honestly forgotten what it felt like to not use his own warp for this transportation. He very much enjoyed the lack of tingling in his hands.

They stepped out into a dimly lit bar. Kurogiri flipped a few light switches and the room became much more visible. Chairs were sat atop tables, as if the establishment was closed. Kurogiri moved to stand behind the bar itself, grabbing two glasses and filling one with bourbon. The other he filled with some sort of juice, which he then slid across the bar.

“Come, Izuku, sit and update me on your life.” Kurogiri gestured for him to take a seat on one of the bar stools. “So you’re going to UA?”

Izuku took a seat and smiled at Kurogiri. “Yeah. I think you’re right, that I can do a lot of work from the inside. And, I don’t know, I’ve always liked heroes. Well, most of them at least. And Aizawa and Mic are good ones, for sure. I want to help people, as well as tear down the Commission.”

“And All Might?”

Izuku’s face soured. “Yeah. I met him, actually.”

“So he is indeed back. We’ve heard some news that he was active once again.”

“He is, but he’s severely injured and weakened. He can only keep the muscle form for a few hours apparently.” Izuku smirked to himself. “It’s amazing what he’ll tell someone he thinks is weak and quirkless. You should have seen the look on his face when I used Warp Gate to leave.”

Kurogiri’s deep chuckle warmed Izuku’s heart. “I assume it was entertaining.”

Izuku beamed at him. “It was.” He sighed. “I also saved Kacchan from a villain.”

“That sludge villain, correct? News reports claimed a teenager had been taken hostage, but that the teen was nowhere to be found once the villain was finally apprehended. They honestly worried that the villain had killed the boy. Now that I know it was your friend, I’m glad to hear that they were mistaken. How is young Bakugou these days?”

“He’s fine. An asshole and a bully, but otherwise fine.” Izuku hummed. “Finally revealed my quirk to him. That really messed him up, I think. He’s been less mean to me, but he still likes to try and act like he’s better than me. Despite the fact I can take his quirk if I really wanted.”

“Does he know that?”

“He knows I can copy it, and did at one point. I may have used Amnesia on my entire class at the start of last school year.” Izuku shrugged. “But no, no one knows I have All for One. I assume that’s not something we should share, ever.”

“No, it is not.” Kurogiri took a sip of his bourbon. “Some of our sources believe that All Might will be teaching at UA next year, your entrance year. With your confirmation that he is back, we can believe the stories that he’s been around the area of UA. And UA has reported that it’s hired several new teachers, of varying rankings, including a high profile hero whom they have yet to name.”

Izuku frowned. “So I might get taught by All Might? Aizawa hasn’t mentioned that.”

“He might not know yet,” Kurogiri said. “But yes, I would assume All Might would have some hand in teaching the heroics course.” He took a deep breath. “If All Might indeed works at UA next year, he will have a target on his back when it comes to Shigaraki. The young man is not fully aware of Master’s current predicament, but he holds nearly the same hatred for the man that you and your father have. He believes All for One is working on other plans, away from here, and the Doctor does not allow Shigaraki into his lab.”

“So he doesn’t know? Why?”

“Young Tomura is… volatile. As you know, his quirk is a disintegration quirk. If he touches anything with all five of his fingers, it turns to dust. He has no conscious control over it besides just not using all of his fingers. We’ve tried artist’s gloves, but he complains that they are uncomfortable. Yet he also complains about destroying his things.” Kurogiri sighed. “We figured it would be best to keep some things from him.”

Izuku scanned the bar, seeing doors leading out into the back of the building. “Is this where he lives?” He gestured to the bar.

“Yes.” Kurogiri said simply. “This is what we’d been working on when you were younger. There’s obviously far more to this building. The bar is just a front for meetings and such. It was originally planned for use by Master.”

Izuku hummed. “He doesn’t know me. I erased his memory of our singular encounter.”

“The Doctor informed me.”

“KUROGIRI!” a voice yelled from the back.

“And it would seem our time is up,” Kurogiri said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

“I mean, I could introduce myself?” Izuku said. “I have my mask as well.”

“Then it is up to you whether you wish to formally meet him or not.”

Izuku pulled the mask out of his hoodie’s front pocket. It clipped around the lower half of his face, leaving only his eyes visible. He threw up the hood so that it covered his distinct, curly green hair.

“Mind dimming the lights again? The night vision eyes add to the look,” Izuku said, his voice distorted by the mask’s modulation. Kurogiri laughed lowly and dimmed the lights back to what they’d been like when they’d first arrived. Izuku’s eyes began to glow a dim, neon green.

“There you are!” Shigaraki said as he barged into the room. He froze when he saw Izuku. “Who’s this NPC? You didn’t tell me we were meeting anyone.”

“Because it was unplanned. This is an acquaintance of Master’s,” Kurogiri gestured to Izuku. They’d never really thought up a codename for him, though he’d jokingly given himself one due to his favored way to traverse at night.

“The name is Shadow,” Izuku said.

Shigaraki pursed his lips. “That’s a stupid name. If you’re close to Sensei, why have I never heard of you?”

“Because he does not want all of his plans interconnected,” Izuku said. Kurogiri had said Shigaraki was entitled, but he hadn’t really believed it.

“Hmph,” Shigaraki said, sizing him up. “So are you here to join us or something?”

Izuku chuckled, the mask distorting the noise into something odd. “Not quite, Shigaraki. I was merely catching up with an old friend.” He gestured to Kurogiri. “Before he was yours, he was mine.”

Shigaraki scoffed. “The Doctor said Kurogiri was made for me.”

“And you honestly believe that the Doctor never lies?” Izuku questioned. “If he didn’t, he’d be a poor person for Master,” the word felt odd on Izuku’s tongue, “to keep so close for so long. Don’t you think?”

Shigaraki frowned. Then he scoffed. “Whatever. Kurogiri, I need to talk to you.”

“Very well.” Kurogiri turned to look at Izuku. “It seems this really is the end of our reminiscing, young master.” Izuku didn’t miss the flash of annoyance from Shigaraki at Kurogiri’s use of the title for him.

“It was good to see you again, Kurogiri.” Izuku wanted to hug the man again, but knew he shouldn’t. Not in front of Shigaraki. Instead he simply stood up, looked Shigaraki up and down before nodding. Then he turned. Kurogiri didn’t make a portal for him, which caused him to smirk behind the mask.

“Well, get him out of here!” Shigaraki demanded. “Send him far away.”

“No,” Kurogiri said simply. “He can see himself out.” Izuku knew what that meant.

Izuku gave one final look to Kurogiri, a silent thank you. He then turned to Shigaraki as he raised his right hand, the digits melting into green-black mist.

“I’d say it was a pleasure meeting you, Shigaraki, but I won’t lie. Until next time.” The mist coursed out of his fingers, forming a warp gate behind him. The last thing Shigaraki saw would have been Izuku’s glowing green eyes as he faded into his warp.

The crowd was huge. Izuku hadn’t believed Aizawa when the man told him that kids came from all over Japan, and even other countries, to try their hand at the UA Entrance Exam. Yeah UA was prestigious, but Izuku had never thought it was that prestigious. All of these kids were wanting to get into the hero course. The course which only admitted forty people total, four of which were from recommendations made by pro heroes. So that left sixteen spots for these hundreds of kids to fight for.

The written portion of the exam had been simple for Izuku. He’d always been ahead of his peers, except for maybe Kacchan, when it came to academics. He hardly tried anymore at Aldera and still passed all his classes with amazing grades. It left him with plenty of time to mess around, such as going out on his nightly adventures. Though he didn’t try to stop any vigilantes or villains, or heroes, anymore. He just went out. And Aizawa seemed okay with that, and proud of him for not doing illegal things anymore. Of course, neither of them discussed Izuku’s illegal quirk use when going on those adventures. Unless he got caught by someone other than Aizawa, there was no way anyone would really ever find out.

Since his visit to the Doctor shortly after his birthday back in the summer, Izuku had revealed his new quirks to Aizawa and Mic, just so he didn’t surprise the men during the entrance exam. Mic was, unsurprisingly, the MC of the entire exam, and thus also one of the referees for the event. Aizawa, on the other hand, was an observer. He’d be somewhere watching dozens of students from the cameras UA had around the exam sites. He and other teachers would start pulling prospective students from what they caught during the exam, and then would sit down later to go through the footage again and again until they determined who they wanted in the hero course.

Aizawa and Mic had explained to Izuku how it all worked. He, of course, demanded no special treatment once again, and they reiterated they wouldn’t dare. He didn’t believe them.

Izuku had seen Kacchan earlier in the day, when they’d first arrived, but their written exams had been proctored in different rooms. So he hadn’t seen the blond since that morning. As he filed into the huge auditorium with the rest of the UA hopefuls, he spotted Kacchan already seated. He slid through the crowd expertly until he was plopping down in the seat next to the other teen.

“Huh?” Kacchan had aggressively huffed when someone dared to sit next to him while there were plenty of empty seats. But he deflated only slightly once he noticed it was Izuku. Instead he scoffed and crossed his arms, turning away from Izuku.

They’d had an understanding, ever since the day of the sludge villain incident. Kacchan did occasionally bully him still, but Izuku had determined it was entirely because of the false superiority complex Kacchan had, to hide the inferiority complex he kept deep down. Of course, no one had dared to physically bully him since he showed off his quirk to Kacchan that day. Well, a few stupid teenagers had, but Izuku soundly showed them up and they’d cowered from him ever since.

“Heya, Kacchan,” Izuku said cheerily, only making Kacchan pout more. “Written exam was easy, wasn’t it?”

“Tch, ‘course it was,” Kacchan said, rolling his eyes.

Mic began explaining the exam to them all, but Izuku did pay any attention. The brochures had already explained the basics, so if people really needed to be told how it worked, then they didn’t actually care about the exam.

“Bet you I’ll get more points than you,” Izuku said.

“Ha!” Kacchan barked out a laugh, then coughed to cover it up. “As if, nerd. Your little teleportation sh*t won’t help you beat up robots.”

“Oh, Kacchan, you really think that’s all I have? I’ve told you what my quirk is.”

“Yeah, but you gave a strong quirk like mine back to me, so what kind of sh*t could you possibly have that’s better than my explosions? Huh?”

Izuku rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Whatever you say, Kacchan.”

“And you!” a voice called from several rows ahead of them. Izuku looked up to see a tall, blue-haired boy pointing at him. “Your constant chatting has disrupted the presentation.”

“Oi, idiot, your yelling is disrupting it more than us!” Kacchan bellowed back, causing Izuku to snicker, covering his mouth with his hands. The other boy looked aghast at what he was doing and profusely apologized to Mic before returning to his seat.

“Well, I think that’ll do it,” Mic said cheerily. “Head to your designated zones and get ready for the practical exam!”

Teenages rushed out of the auditorium, heading off to one of the several practical exam locations dotted around UA’s campus. They couldn’t have all of the applicants do the exam in the same place. It would be complete chaos. Or so Mic had told Izuku the night before.

“Good luck, sh*tty Deku,” Kacchan sneered. “You’re gonna need it.”

“Yeah, sure,” Izuku said, waving him off. Kacchan was still an ass, but at least he wasn’t as bad.

Each practical site was set up to be identical, and so the layout of the fake city was provided in the brochure for the entrance exam. Izuku had memorized the layout, as well as the full campus layout so he knew exactly where each site was. Once he knew which site he was at, he knew the exact locations he could Warp Gate to in order to bypass the mad rush into the city.

He wasn’t surprised to find out that he was at Site Two, where Mic was standing atop yet another stage. Of course the man would pull some strings to get Izuku at his testing site.

Mic spotted him and smiled, but didn’t draw any attention to Izuku. He brought a microphone up to his mouth. “You got two more minutes before those doors open and the exam begins!” he called out, pointing to a pair of massive doors. Above them was a countdown clock. “Take this time to warm up your bodies and your quirks.”

Izuku decided he’d show off, because why not? He used Air Walk to step up above the crowd and do some stretches. A few other applicants followed his lead and used their own flying quirks to move above their peers. Of course, Izuku would just dive right into a portal as soon as the gates opened, but they didn’t know that. They probably just thought he had a levitation quirk. The look on some of their faces made that pretty evident. Looks of superiority on some faces, others with awe and jealousy.

“Alright! Three, two, one! GOOOOOO!” Mic yelled out as the doors opened.

Oddly, everyone froze, turning back around to Mic. The countdown had ended without fanfare, except for Mic’s last few second countdown.

Izuku just laughed, forming a portal in front of him. “So long!” he called out to the crowd, whose eyes darted to him as he dove through the warp gate and closed it behind him.

He appeared on one of the main streets, and was immediately accosted by several robots of varying point values. He heard the speakers crackle as Mic called out.

“Well, what’re you waiting for? You gonna let him get all the points?”

There was a roar as the rest of the group finally moved. Izuku, meanwhile, took out the nearby robots with ease, using a mix of Air Cannon and his combination of strength enhancing quirks. He then ran off down the street, ensuring to leave a mess of scrap behind him to show what being slow did to the rest of his exam group.

He tore through robot after robot, throwing up an air wall occasionally as a robot he hadn’t gotten to got a little too close. He’d learned he could only use them as barriers, not really weapons, though he could cause them to bounce back against an impact, though that didn’t seem to do enough damage to actually take down the robots.

Honestly, he could probably use Radio Waves and just annihilate all the robots, but then he’d also take out the cameras, and nearby communications (like Mic’s speaker system, which would make the man very annoyed with Izuku), so he figured it best to not use that quirk.

Glancing down an alley as he ran, he saw a purple-haired kid getting cornered by a few robots. Izuku created a Warp Gate and jumped through it to arrive next to the other boy, who scowled at him.

“What’re you doing here?”

“Helping?” Izuku said. He pulled a heavy piece of metal through another warp, a piece of scrap from one of the bots he’d taken down. “Here, a weapon since it seems like your quirk must not be very useful against robots.” He then stepped back through the main warp gate he made. “Good luck!” And he was gone, running back down the street looking for more available robots.

He heard a crash from the alley and glanced back to see the purple-haired guy stepping out, the scrap metal weapon Izuku gave him in one hand, and then another piece of metal in his other hand. Izuku assumed that meant he’d taken down the bots in the alley. He smiled and waved, then turned back to focus on what was in front of him.

That was when the ground began to rumble. The road ahead cracked and buckled as the earth rose to reveal a giant robot. The Zero Pointer. Izuku knew that thing didn’t matter, but it was definitely a bit overkill. Meant to just distract, but it looked like it also scared some of the other applicants who ran away in terror.

Izuku took the chance to take out a few of the robots being left alone, while another wave poured out of the hole in the earth that the Zero Pointer had created. Other kids had the same plan and were picking off those bots quickly. Izuku even saw the purple-haired kid run by, brandishing both of his makeshift swords as he ran.

But that didn’t keep Izuku’s attention for long, because the rubble created by the Zero Pointer’s arrival was… floating. Or, well, some of it was. The largest chunk being one which a brunette girl clung to for dear life. Izuku ran up into the air and created a gate to warp directly next to the floating rubble.

He jumped through it, using Air Walk to land on nothingness and reached out for the girl.

“Take my hand!” he called to her. Her eyes darted to him, but so did the giant red optic on the Zero Pointer’s head. The massive robot turned to face them and its arm came swinging up. Izuku quickly reached out and pulled the girl off the rubble and threw up a four-layer Air Wall that met the robot’s giant fist. Two of the layers shattered instantly, the third spiderwebbed into cracks.

The girl was behind Izuku, and he belatedly realized he was in the air and thus had nothing for her to hold onto or stand on behind him. And both of his hands were up to create the invisible walls. He turned around to create a warp and catch the girl, his right hand turning to mist, but instead of seeing her falling below him, he found she was floating a few feet away. She looked nauseous, but other than that entirely unscathed.

“Are you, um, okay?” he asked. She just nodded, her hands coming up to her mouth as she heaved. Izuku turned back to the Zero Pointer as the third wall shattered and the final one began to crack. He sighed and called on the full power of his two Brawn Boosts and two Kinetic Boosters. “One sec,” he told the girl.

Then he shot forward, running on air as he brought down the wall and met the Zero Pointer’s fist with his own. Hitting hard metal with his fist, even if it was empowered, still hurt. But the Zero Pointer’s fist dented inwards and Izuku pushed more. He bounced backwards as the Zero Pointer leaned away from him.

While it was distracted, Izuku turned and ran back to the girl. He created a Warp Gate and dragged her through it. They were now at ground level, but the girl still floated, and her face was turning green.

“R-release,” she said as she clasped her hands together. Izuku hummed as he realized it was a five-finger activation quirk. She fell to her knees, and Izuku rushed forward to catch her. “Th-thanks.” And then she was turning away from him to puke.

Izuku stepped back, not wanting to get puke on him.

“And that’s time!” Mic’s voice called out. The Zero Pointer behind them deactivated and went quiet. The few remaining other bots did the same.

“Hello dearie,” a voice said to Izuku’s left. He looked over, then down, to spot the doctor and nurse of UA: Recovery Girl. She regarded him for a moment, looking over his whole body. Unsurprisingly, he had no injuries. The broken skin on his knuckles from punching a metal robot had already healed over, thanks to Super Regeneration.

She then moved on to the brunette, patting the girl’s back and asking a few questions. She hummed at the girl’s responses before moving on to another applicant who seemed a tad more beaten up.

Izuku watched her toddle off then looked down at the girl.

“Are you okay?” he asked her.

“Y-yeah, sorry,” she said, standing up on wobbly legs. “Using my quirk on myself makes me nauseous…”

“Ah, yeah that’ll do it,” he said. He subtly checked the thread of her quirk: an anti-gravity ability. Huh, interesting. “Anyway, good luck, I guess? Maybe see you around?” The girl just nodded, so Izuku strolled off.

He was going to be home alone for a few hours. Obviously Aizawa had a lot of work to do, and Mic would be assisting with the clean up from the exams. Izuku offered to help, but both men staunchly told him no. He did, however, decide to wait around to talk to Mic before leaving. So, after changing back into his normal clothes and grabbing his backpack from the locker room, he found a bench and took a seat, pulling out one of his analysis notebooks and getting to work recording the quirks, and people, he noticed during the day.

At one point in time, his analysis was all about how cool quirks were. New heroes got their own page, with a detailed sketch of their costumes (updated when they debuted a new look). Classmates didn’t get as much detail, and very few of them ever even warranted a page. Kacchan was the only one to have an entire spread to himself, but Izuku would never reveal that to the teen. Kacchan already hated it that Izuku had a few notes in the burnt notebook about him. But this newer notebook contained all sorts of details, about Kacchan, about the top heroes, about villains, and even about Aizawa and Present Mic.

Details like weaknesses. Fears. Past trauma. Anything Izuku could find on the internet, including the dark web. Details that, when pooled together, painted a wonderful picture of how to tear each and every one of them down.

His pages on Aizawa and Mic were abandoned long ago.

But now he had all these hero wannabes to analyze. Of course, he hardly interacted with any of them so it would be difficult to record much about them. But he’d see some of them again. Like that girl with the anti-gravity quirk, or maybe the purple-haired boy he’d helped. Though he had no clue what that guy’s quirk was. He was too busy, at the time, to check what little details the boy’s quirk thread would give him. All he knew was it had to be a quirk that wasn’t useful against robots. Like Aizawa’s.

That reminded him. He really needed to talk to Aizawa about just how the man got into the hero course. Because if this was how they tested all applicants, then Aizawa would have been sh*t out of luck during his entrance exam, even with the ‘experience’ he’d gained from doing his own minor vigilantism.

An hour or so later, he spotted Mic walking out of the auditorium. At some point, the man had changed out of his hero costume, and even washed his hair of the massive amount of gel he used in it. Instead, he wore simple jeans and a t-shirt, though he still had his typical leather jacket. And his hair was done up in a messy bun. He spotted Izuku and waved, walking over to him.

“Heya, kiddo!” he greeted, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “I would have thought you’d gone home by now.”

Izuku shrugged. “Wanted to say hi before I did. I know you and Aizawa are gonna be busy for the rest of the night, so I figured I’d at least wait to see you before I left.”

“Aw, thanks!” Mic said, beaming. “I’ll be sure to pass on to Sho that you waited. He’ll be in one of the conference rooms with the other heroics teachers. First round of eliminations and all that fun stuff.”

“Sounds boring,” Izuku said. Mic chuckled and it brought a smile to Izuku’s lips.

“Believe me, it is. I’m on my way to help, as well. You need any money for dinner? Get whatever you like, obviously.”

“No, I still have plenty from last time,” Izuku said. “Thanks, though.”

“Alright, kiddo, seeya tonight. Or, if you’re asleep before we get home, seeya in the morning.” Mic ruffled his hair one more time before we waved Izuku goodbye and made his way towards the main towers of UA.

Izuku stuffed his notebook back into his backpack and pulled it on as he stood from the bench. He meandered his way off campus, dropping his temporary exam ID into the return bin at the entrance to the school.

He figured he’d get pizza for dinner, that way there’d be plenty of leftovers for his tired and hungry guardians when they got home. Because he knew for a fact they’d head straight home to check on him before even thinking about themselves.

Izuku felt that warmth in his heart once again.

He was sitting on the couch, working on some math homework when the front door opened and Aizawa stepped inside. He took off his boots and then walked over to Izuku, tossing down a sizable, and thick, envelope.

“Figured there was no point in having the school mail it since you live here. Kind of pointless for me to send mail to my own home,” Aizawa said as he practically fell into the couch, next to Izuku. The teen just eyed him. “You know what it is, just open it.”

Izuku had no worries he wouldn’t be accepted into UA, but for some reason his anxiety still shot through the roof when he picked up the envelope and tore it open. A holo-disk slipped out as he turned the envelope to pull out its contents, and Izuku quickly grabbed it before it fell to the ground. He set it on the coffee table and pressed play.

“I’m not doing one of these for Midoriya Izuku. He literally lives with me. I’ll tell him myself.”

And that was it. The hologram of his guardian complaining about needing to record something for Izuku. The teen turned to Aizawa again, arching an eyebrow and gesturing for him to do as he said in the recording.

“You got in, kid. Not like that’s a surprise. The packet is the paperwork you and I need to fill out. I would have done my part already, but Nezu told me off for that recording so I figured I wouldn’t push it.” Aizawa shrugged. “You’re in my class as well, 1-A. Nearly had to fight Vlad King for you. He ended up with some other kid with a copy quirk, I think. I only half paid attention to his choices.”

Another copy quirk? Could that be…

“Oh, and Zashi got called to assist with a mission this weekend, so he won’t be home. Just us.”

“Which means takeout every night?”

Aizawa smirked at him. “Sure does.” He stood up from the couch and made his way into the kitchen, opening the drawer that contained the myriad of takeout menus they’d collected.

Once they’d decided on what to get, Izuku returned to his homework. In just over a month, Izuku would be starting at UA. But before then, he still had to finish his last term at Aldera Junior High. And while he could probably just not do any of his homework for the last few weeks, Aizawa would be disappointed in him. And Izuku couldn’t have that.

Behind him, at the kitchen island, Aizawa got to work on the bulk of the paperwork required for entrance at UA. Izuku’s signature and initials would be required on a few pages, but the majority of it was for the guardians of the future student. It honestly was kind of funny that Izuku and Aizawa had to fill out all the paperwork. Izuku would have figured it was just included in the fact that Aizawa was his da- his guardian.

He looked forward to his first day with more excitement than he’d had for anything in a very long time.

Chapter 8: Show Off

Chapter Text

Izuku sighed as he attempted to do a nice knot on his UA uniform tie. He failed miserably and sulked out into the living room where Aizawa and Mic were waiting for him.

“Um, can one of you help?” he asked, embarrassed.

Shaking his head, with a smile on his face, Aizawa stepped forward and grabbed the two ends of Izuku’s tie, making quick work of it and patting it against Izuku’s chest.

“We really gotta teach you do that on your own, kid,” Aizawa said. “Now go get the rest of your stuff, otherwise we’re going to be late. And trust me, you don’t want to be late on the first day of my class.”

“Even if you’re also late?” Izuku teased. “Besides, we still have like an hour before homeroom starts and we literally live ten minutes away.”

Mic chuckled at that. “He’s right, Sho.”

Aizawa just waved them off and walked over to the coffee pot, refilling his mug. Izuku smiled at his guardians before scurrying back to his room to grab his uniform jacket and his backpack. Walking back out, he made for the kitchen to grab some breakfast and his own mug of coffee. Aizawa always arched an eyebrow when he watched Izuku making his very sugary concoction that he called coffee, but the man never commented on it.

“I know we packed you lunches during middle school,” Mic started to say, but Izuku cut him off.

“But Lunch Rush provides food for all the students of UA, so there’s no point. Yeah, I know, Zashi.” Izuku had finally started calling his guardians by either their given names, or the resulting nicknames, depending on his mood. It had taken longer to get to that point with Present Mic, given the similarity of his name and Izuku’s father’s. But it had now been two years since All for One’s fight with All Might, and the man was still in his medically induced coma in the Doctor’s lab. The Doctor said he was stable, but had made no progress since reaching that point.

“Remember what we said about names,” Aizawa reminded Izuku.

“You’re Aizawa Sensei in class, and Zashi is Mic Sensei. Yes, I know,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes. “I think I can handle that.”

Aizawa sighed, but smiled. He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Alright, come on kid, let’s get going. I’ve got to set up for the quirk exam before class.”

“Oh yeah! We get to show off our quirks on day one!”

“And possibly expel someone, we’ll see what mood I'm in.”

“Oh, come on, Sho, you re-enrolled all of your class last year after expelling them for a singular day,” Mic said as the three made their way to the front door, slipping on shoes.

“But I still expelled them,” Aizawa reminded him, “and they learned their lesson, didn’t they?”

“So you might actually expel someone?” Izuku asked as they got into the car. “Oh, can it be me?”

Aizawa turned around in the driver’s seat to glare at Izuku, who just laughed. “No, kid, it’s not going to be you. No matter how much you beg.”

“Aw, you’re no fun,” Izuku pouted.

The drive over to UA was filled with idle chatter between Mic and Izuku, Aizawa keeping quiet like usual. It all felt so normal to Izuku now. Zashi and Shouta were his guardians, but they’d felt more and more like his parents over the last two years. He’d never forget his mom or dad, but these two filled the hole left in his heart on the day Kurogiri picked him up from middle school. The day his life changed forever.

They parked in the underground parking garage, which sat beneath the school. It allowed all the teachers and other faculty to park on-campus, but also keep the campus clear of vehicles. And of course only UA staff IDs could get them into the lower levels. A few elevators lined the outer edges of the parking garage, and the trio stepped into one, heading for the main floor of the school.

“Here,” Aizawa said, pulling a card out of his pocket and handing it to Izuku. Izuku looked at it, confused. “It’s your student ID. The rest of the first years will be getting them at the entrance. Seeing as we skipped that, I grabbed yours yesterday to give to you.”

“Oh, thanks,” Izuku said, taking the ID and smiling at it. The final piece that cemented his enrollment at UA. He could use this to get on campus without triggering the school’s security system.

“Mm,” Aizawa hummed, looking at something on his phone. “I’ll meet you in class. Nezu needs something from me. The first students should be arriving in five to ten minutes.” He glanced up at Izuku. “No telling them what we’re doing today. All first years come in expecting to attend Nezu’s opening speech. 1-A never attends that.”

“Not since Sho took over, at least,” Mic added as the elevator dinged, signaling their arrival in the main building. “I’ll see you later, Izuku.”

“Bye, Zashi!” Izuku said, waving as Mic made his way down the hallway. He turned to look at Aizawa. “Do-”

“No, you have to use the stairs,” Aizawa said, assuming the question.

“That’s dumb…” Izuku grumbled. They made their way down the opposite hallway.

“Imagine trying to wait on an elevator when all the students of UA are trying to use them.”

“Ah, yeah, that wouldn’t be very fun.”

They stopped in front of one of the teacher’s lounges. Aizawa turned and ruffled Izuku’s hair. “See you in a little bit, kid.” With that, he walked into the lounge, leaving Izuku alone in the halls of UA.

Izuku made his way through the winding hallways and stairwells until he found the classroom for hero course 1-A. The door, like every other door in the school, was wide and tall. Far larger than needed for any normal person. But then again, no one at UA was really normal, were they? Some quirks caused mutations which made people bigger than normal. Izuku wondered if anyone like that would be in his class.

He opened the door and stepped into the empty classroom, deciding to leave the door ajar so it was a bit more inviting to the first years hunting for their class. He couldn’t imagine how nervous some of the kids probably were. Just because he had the benefit of living with two UA teachers, and thus knew there wasn’t really anything to worry about as a student, didn’t mean that every other new student would be as calm.

While he waited, Izuku got to work finishing a few pages of his analysis notebook that he’d started since the end of junior high. Mostly focusing on heroes that debuted after their own graduation from UA and other hero academies, the pages were quite sparse. But with the internet, Izuku was at least able to sketch their looks and add some basic information.

Footsteps at the classroom door drew Izuku’s attention up to find a familiar blond standing there scowling at him.

“Hi, Kacchan!” Izuku greeted cheerily.

Bakugou just scoffed as he made his way to his seat, which just so happened to be in front of Izuku. He assumed Kacchan was very much not happy with that arrangement. They made up the second and third seats in the row closest to the room’s windows.

As the rest of their class arrived, Izuku recognized the girl he helped during the exam. She perked up when she saw him as well and darted over to his desk.

“Oh my gosh you made it in! Well, of course you made it in, you saved me!” the girl said, loud enough to be heard by others in the class. They turned to look at the two. “I was so worried you saving me would have wasted your time! I even went to Present Mic to ask about giving you some of my points to make up for it!”

“Huh?” Izuku said, for once overwhelmed with someone else’s rambling.

“Now you know how I feel,” Kacchan mumbled, a smirk on his face.

Izuku shook his head, catching up with everything the girl had just told him. “Wait! You tried to give me points?! But I didn’t need them! I had plenty of villain points by the time I jumped in to help you!”

“That’s what Present Mic said!” The girl slammed her hands down on Izuku’s desk. “But you got points for helping me too!”

“I did?” Izuku asked, more of himself than anyone in the room. Why wouldn’t Mic or Aizawa have told him that?

The girl nodded vigorously. “You did! You’re a real hero… um… I never got your name.”

“Oh, um, Midoriya Izuku,” he said.

“Uraraka Ochaco!” the girl, Uraraka apparently, said in return. “Thank you for helping me, Midoriya!”

“Y-you’re welcome, um, and I’m glad you made it in as well,” Izuku said nervously.

The girl just beamed at him while much of the rest of the class broke into murmurs as they stared at Izuku and Uraraka. Izuku just sank into his chair. He wasn’t against having the attention on him, but not on the first day and not when he had no real control over the attention on him. He was looking forward to the Quirk Apprehension Test, when he could show off his quirk, (well, quirks technically), and he knew he’d be the center of attention then, but he’d have control over it.

Before anyone could ask more questions, a large yellow object slithered into the classroom. Izuku, of course, knew it was Aizawa, but the object drew the attention of the class as the man somehow managed to slam the classroom door shut despite being wrapped in his sleeping bag. Aizawa stood up and unzipped the sleeping bag, the wrap falling away to reveal the ever exhausted looking man, slurping on a jelly pouch.

“It took you eight seconds to quiet down. Time is a precious resource. You lot aren’t very rational, are you?” the man asked, scanning the students, his gaze landing on Izuku for a second longer than the rest. “I am Aizawa Shouta, your homeroom teacher.”

“Homeroom teacher?!” someone whisper-yelled, though Izuku didn’t know who.

“Quickly now, change into your gym clothes and head out to the grounds.” Aizawa held a gym uniform in his hand, then sat a large box on his desk at the front before tossing the singular uniform on top. He turned and stalked out of the room, leaving the class to their own devices.

“Um… what?” a yellow-haired teen with a black streak in his hair asked, confused.

Izuku just got up, walked to the front and pulled the uniform Aizawa had shown off from the top of the box. He wasn’t surprised to realize it was exactly his size. He nearly chuckled before he started to walk out of the classroom. Turning, he noticed that the rest of his class just stared at him, though Kacchan was standing up to follow after him.

“Well, are you coming or not?” Izuku asked as he walked out of the room. He heard the others scramble to their feet and grab their uniforms.

After they got dressed, the class followed Izuku (and Bakugou since the teen, scowling, walked right next to Izuku) out to the training area. Aizawa had set up a few different fitness-related tests around the grounds. The teacher himself stood there, tapping his foot as he waited on his class.

“Finally,” the man said. “What did I say about time?”

“Um, Aizawa Sensei, aren’t we supposed to be going to the entrance ceremony?” Uraraka asked hesitantly.

“Waste of time,” Aizawa said, waving off the idea. “You lot want to become heroes, right? Then we’re going to get right down to it. This is a test of quirks.” He gestured to the varying fitness tests scattered around the field. “You each had fitness tests during middle school, but you were never allowed to use your quirk. We’re doing those same tests, but you’re required to use your quirks this time.

The man scanned the group for a moment before his eyes landed on a particular student.

“Bakugou,” Aizawa called out, actually causing the teen to straighten up a bit. “How far could you throw in middle school?”

“Uh, sixty-seven meters?”

“Great, now try it with your quirk.” Aizawa tossed a ball to Bakugou. “Do whatever you need to, just don’t leave that circle.” He pointed to a circle on the ground, directing Bakugou to stand in it before he could attempt his throw. “Give it all you got.”

“Hell yeah,” Bakugou said, stretching his arms for a moment. He tossed the ball up and down a few times before he wound his arm back, ready to throw. “DIE!” he yelled as he threw the ball, a massive explosion from his palm propelling it away at high speeds.

“Die?” someone laughed out.

Aizawa looked down at his phone, which had beeped. He held it up to show Bakugou and the class. “It’s important for us to know our limits,” he said, the screen lighting up to show 705.2 meters. “That’s the first rational step to figuring out what kind of heroes you will be.”

“So we can use our quirks for real?!” someone excitedly asked.

“Holy cow, 705 meters?!” another voice echoed.

“Whoa this is awesome!”

“Awesome, you say?” Aizawa said, his eyes narrowing. “You’re hoping to become heroes after three years here… and you think it’ll be all fun and games?” Oh no, here comes the man’s signature, manic smile. The one Izuku only ever saw when Aizawa was grading things from his previous classes. Aizawa looked up at the class, grinning wildly. “Right, the one with the lowest score across all eight events will be judged hopeless… and will be expelled.”

“WHAT!?” cried out a chorus of teenagers. Izuku just shrugged, hopping from one foot to another to warm up. Bakugou gave him side-eye, still not quite used to an Izuku who was so calm under pressure. Despite knowing about this side of Izuku for two years. It was like he was conditioned to see Izuku as a scared little quirkless kid, thanks to their upbringing.

“Your fates are in our hands,” Aizawa continued, brushing his bangs back, out of his face as his smile widened even more. “Welcome, this is the hero course at UA High School!”

The class broke out into murmured conversation. Meanwhile, Aizawa’s face finally calmed down and returned to his normal bored and exhausted look. He sighed.

“Alright, get to it,” he said, gesturing for them to begin. “Event One: Fifty-meter dash.”

Izuku looked at Aizawa, arching an eyebrow in silent question while the first group of five did the dash. He was wondering if Warp Gate technically counted for the dash. Aizawa just gave him a deadpan look, which answered Izuku’s question well enough.

Some guy named Iida got 3.04 seconds on the dash during his group. Izuku recognized the family name of Ingenium, so figured this Iida was related to them. It also just made sense given the boy had engines in his calves. The boy also seemed familiar to Izuku, and it took a moment for him to realize this was the guy who yelled at him and Kacchan during Mic’s pre-exam assembly before the practical portion of the entrance exam.

Another girl, Asui, hopped the dash in 5.58 seconds. Izuku noted she had frog-like features and wondered how that translated to normal living. He’d have to add pages to his notebook later.

Izuku was in a group with Bakugou, which was unsurprising given their class order. Kacchan crackled his palms, small explosions igniting as he flexed to warm up his quirk. Izuku went ahead and melted his hand into the green-black mist of Warp Gate.

As soon as Aizawa’s fake-gun fired, Izuku formed and stepped through a portal, stepping out at the finish line. A couple seconds later, Kacchan came flying past, skidding to a stop a few meters away. The blond just scoffed and glared at Izuku.

“Whoa, a teleportation quirk?!” This was the attention Izuku was okay with. He controlled it here by showing off his quirk.

“2.47 seconds, Midoriya,” the robot at the finish line chirped out. “4.13 seconds, Bakugou.”

The formation of the portals was basically the entire delay in Izuku’s time. If he could make them instantly, or form them beforehand, he’d probably have a time of nearly zero.

They moved on to grip-strength (Izuku broke his tester after using Brawn Boost x2), long-jump (Springlike Limbs helped there even though Air Walk probably would have worked too, but was that really jumping?), repeated side-steps (Izuku did okay there, not much his quirks could help in that regard), before returning to the ball throw. Bakugou, obviously, was exempt from that one, given he’d been the example throw at the start of the tests.

Several of his classmates took their turns, some of them doing well, others doing mediocre since their quirks didn’t add to strength in any way. Eventually, Uraraka stepped up and used her quirk on the ball. She threw it and the class watched as it continued to soar higher and higher in the sky before it disappeared. Aizawa hummed and looked down at his phone.

“You sent it to space,” he said, turning the screen to show an infinity symbol. “Impressive,” he deadpanned.

Then it came Izuku’s turn. He glanced at the ball, then at his free hand which he could use Warp Gate with, then he squinted as he stared up into the sky. The moon was partially visible in the cloudless sky. Aizawa arched an eyebrow, following Izuku’s gaze before he turned back to the teen and pursed his lips.

“No,” he said simply.

“Aw, come on!” Izuku whined.

“Just because you were playing a remaster of that portal-related video game does not mean you should try to warp the ball to the moon,” his guardian said.

“Ugh, fine,” Izuku grumbled as his classmates murmured behind him, wondering why he was so familiar with their homeroom teacher. Instead of using Warp Gate, Izuku combined his strength-enhancement quirks with Air Cannon and launched the ball skyward. A few moments later, Aizawa’s phone beeped and he showed the screen which read ‘705.3’ meters, barely putting Izuku ahead of Bakugou. He shrugged, accepting the result, though Bakugou was none too pleased. He roared forward, hands popping as he called Izuku a cheater.

It wasn’t like Izuku hadn’t revealed he had multiple quirks to the teen, but Bakugou, for some reason, only focused on the Warp Gate quirk and figured everything else must be a lie. As Kacchan leapt forward, mini explosions popping from his hands, Izuku flared his copy of Erasure. At the same time, Aizawa shot out his capture weapon and flared his quirk as well. Bakugou, currently positioned directly between the two, was hopeless to stop his quirk from being blocked.

As the stiff capture weapon encased Bakugou, he fell to the ground, which opened of the field of view of both Izuku and Aizawa, and allowed the class to notice that both sets of eyes glowed red. But as soon as Aizawa’s gaze was able to hit Izuku, his Erasure fizzled out. They’d learned, recently, that in the case of self-interaction of quirks, the original always overpowered the copy. So Izuku could technically never erase Aizawa’s Erasure, so long as Aizawa was also using Erasure on him. It was a nice thing to know, for the future.

“Are you done, Bakugou?” Aizawa asked, not dropping his Erasure. “You’re not getting free of that, unless I want you to. It’s a mix of carbon fibers and a special alloy wire, so without your quirk, it’s hopeless to escape.”

Bakugou struggled for a moment more before going slack, grumbling to himself about Izuku being stupid and a liar. Aizawa finally dropped Erasure and pulled his capture weapon back to wrap around his neck. He sighed as he put eye-drops in, blinking rapidly to help them hydrate his extremely dry eyes. Izuku knew the pain of that now, and blinked his own eyes a few times. They weren’t nearly as bad as Aizawa’s probably were, but the man still subtly offered the eye drops to him. Izuku shook his head as he returned to the group.

“What a waste of time…” Aizawa grumbled as he slid the drops back into his pocket. “Prepare for the next event.”

They finished up the final events and the results were ready. A scoreboard at the edge of the field lit up as Aizawa transmitted the results from his phone to it. Names and numbers appeared on the screen, starting from first place and going all the way to last.

Izuku, unsurprisingly, was in the top five alongside Bakugou, Iida, and the two recommendation students: Yaoyorozu and Todoroki.

“Also, I was lying about expelling someone,” Aizawa said as the short, purple haired kid in the class was crying. The boy glared at Aizawa with tear-filled eyes. “That was a rational deception, meant to bring out the best in all of you.”

“Well of course it was a lie,” Yaoyorozu said, matter-of-factly. “Didn’t take much to figure that out…”

Meanwhile half the class was crying out “What!?” which just made Izuku laugh.

“Anyway, we’re done here,” Aizawa said, turning and walking off, hands in pockets. “Your documents about the curriculum and such are back in the classroom. Give them a look.”

With the first day over, the class slowly returned to the locker rooms to change back into the uniforms before making their way to the classroom to grab the aforementioned documents. Izuku sat at his desk, not expecting to leave with the rest of the class given his guardians literally worked at UA. Instead, he read over the documents and got to work filling out his notebook pages on each of his classmates.

“Midoriya,” a voice said, drawing Izuku’s attention away from his notes. He looked up to see Iida standing there, flanked by Uraraka. “I thought I recognized you this morning, but was unsure as to why. Now I realize it was because you were one of the two applicants I rudely called out during Present Mic’s presentation at the entrance exam. The other being Bakugou.”

“Ah, yeah, don’t worry about it,” Izuku said, chuckling. “We were being a bit loud during that. Partially my fault.”

“Yes, but you apparently figured out a secret in the exam, related to the zero pointer, that I did not. If what Uraraka here has said is true.”

Izuku just looked between them, still confused as to what she had meant that morning.

“Rescue points!” she answered his unasked question. “You helped me and got points for that, in addition to the points you earned for taking out robots. Apparently, because I kept a lot of the rubble from the zero pointer’s arrival from falling onto other applicants, I also got some rescue points!”

“Oh, wow, I didn’t know that,” Izuku said.

“Your acceptance letter should have mentioned it…” Uraraka said.

“Oh, um, well my acceptance letter was kinda different from a normal one?” Iida and Uraraka stared at him, waiting for more of an explanation. When he didn’t offer one up, they glanced at each other then shrugged.

“Well, are you heading out?” Iida asked. “We could walk to the station together.”

“Ah, you see, I’m kind of waiting here on my, um, guardian.”

“Oh! Do you live with Aizawa Sensei?” Uraraka asked, making Izuku choke on nothing. How had she figured it out so quickly?

“Uraraka! There’s no way Midoriya lives with our teacher!”

“But didn’t you see how they interacted during the ball throw? Sensei knew about a video game Izuku had played and told him off for even thinking of whatever idea he was thinking! Something about making a portal to the moon?”

“Oh, you’re right,” Iida said, pushing his glasses up his nose. “I’d nearly forgotten. That also reminds me, Midoriya. You used a portal quirk in the fifty-meter dash, but then used another quirk during the ball throw, some kind of air blast? And your strength broke the grip tester! What exactly is your quirk?”

“Oh, well…” Izuku rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I can, um, copy quirks? And the copy is permanent. So my actual quirk is Duplicate, but because of it I have like, a catalog of other quirks to use.”

“Like Sensei’s!” Uraraka said. “I saw your eyes glow red just like his when Bakugou tried to attack you! Which is another reason you must live with him!”

“Yeah…” Izuku said. He wasn’t getting out of this one. “I do live with Sensei.”

Iida brushed that off and returned to the topic he’d brought up. “You can copy quirks? I’ve never heard of such a quirk before!”

“Well, apparently, there’s another one in Class 1-B,” Izuku said. “But yeah, I can copy quirks. So I have the portal quirk, some strength quirks, the air cannon one, and even Sensei’s quirk. All offered to me voluntarily, don’t worry!” He made sure to add that. “I wouldn’t just take your quirk! That’d be wrong.” Well, he might take their quirk, but he didn’t see a reason to. Yet. Also, he really didn’t want exhaust pipes growing out of his legs like Iida had to deal with. Those were probably such a pain.

“Interesting,” Iida said. “Dual-quirk wielders are rare, and having more than two has never been recorded. But, I suppose, since your quirk is copying, then you only have one quirk, the copies just fall under the umbrella of that quirk, correct?”

Izuku stared wide-eyed at Iida, honestly surprised he had that kind of knowledge. “Um, yeah, basically.”

“You will make an amazing hero, Midoriya! A quirk like yours could allow you to have something to counter almost any villain! And you can have quirks that are more supportive or rescue-oriented than combat!”

“That’s so cool, Midoriya!” Uraraka said.

“Uh, thanks,” Izuku said, a tentative smile on his lips. He hadn’t expected to make friends so quickly, and for said friends to be so interested in his quirk. He figured he’d be the quirk nerd, and everyone else would be, well, normal? Then again, his quirk was anything but normal for most people.

“Well, it was nice meeting you and learning about your quirk, Midoriya,” Iida said. “I look forward to classes tomorrow. Perhaps we can have lunch together, going forward?”

“Oh, yeah! We’re friends now!” Uraraka chimed in, smiling.

“Oh, sure! That’d be nice,” Izuku said.

Iida nodded. “Then I bid you farewell, until tomorrow, Midoriya.” He gave a small bow before turning on his heel and walking out.

“Oh! Can I walk with you, Iida!” Uraraka called after him, hurrying to catch him. She quickly turned back to Izuku. “Bye, Midoriya! See you tomorrow!”

Izuku waved them both off. Their departure left him alone in the classroom once more. Except he was observant enough, thanks to Aizawa’s tips and training, to know that the man was lying down, in his sleeping bag, behind the teacher’s desk at the front of the room. The man stood up, rolling the sleeping bag up and tucking it away in a drawer of the desk.

“It’s a wonder how you kept your quirk a secret for so long when you can’t even hide that you live with me for one day,” Aizawa said, smirking at Izuku.

“Well, I didn’t use my quirk in front of people all those years I kept it secret,” Izuku reminded him as he packed up his things. “And you’re the one who brought up me playing Portal 2 Remastered! So it’s kind of your fault.”

“Says the kid who used my quirk in front of the entire class while I also used it,” Aizawa added.

“Ugh, fine, yeah I did a bad job. But you never said I couldn’t tell them, just that I had to call you ‘Sensei’ at school.”

“True,” Aizawa said, shrugging. “Now come on, Zashi is probably waiting on us.” Izuku hopped to his feet, slinging his backpack over his shoulder and followed Aizawa out of the classroom. “So, Bakugou, huh?”

Izuku grimaced. “Yeah, I don’t know… He knows what my quirk is, and he knows that I have more than Warp Gate copied. But he’s… I don’t know… It’s like, ingrained in him that I’m supposed to be quirkless and worthless. An amazing side effect of my parents’ decision about my quirk.”

Aizawa hummed. “Hopefully he gets over that. It’s not conducive to proper hero training if he’s constantly at your throat.”

“We’ll figure it out,” Izuku said. “Somehow.”

“You do that.” They arrived at the teacher’s lounge, where Mic was chatting with a few other teachers, including a skeletal looking man which Izuku recognized as All Might. The man shot a glance at the new arrivals and gulped when he saw Izuku. Izuku, just to be cruel, gave a wave and a smile to the man, whose face paled.

“Oh, Sho! Izuku!” Mic greeted them, walking over to join them by the door. One of the other heroes with him, a female hero Izuku recognized as Midnight, narrowed her eyes at the three of them.

“Hold it!” she said as they tried to turn and leave. “Explain the kid.”

Izuku frowned, looking between his guardians and Midnight.

“Oh, crap! We never told you, did we, Nemuri?” Mic said, slapping his forehead with his palm.

“Told me what?”

“This is Midoriya Izuku. He’s been in our care for the last two years.” Aizawa looked down at Izuku, who just shrugged. “His parents were killed during a villain fight shortly before we took him in.”

“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry,” Midnight, her mood immediately changing as she took in Izuku. When she looked back to Mic and Aizawa, though, her eyes hardened. “And so you kept him from Auntie Nem?”

“Auntie… Nem?” Izuku asked quietly, immediately making Midnight coo.

“Yes, because the first year was a trial time, ensuring Izuku was comfortable and would want to stay with us,” Aizawa explained, as if it was an annoyance. “Then you were supporting an international thing for most of the last year, so why would we tell you?”

“But you could have told me your kid was coming to UA! And just told me you had a kid now!” Midnight said, gesturing widely to the school.

“We could have, yes. But you’re finding out now, so I don’t see the issue.”

“Sho!” Mic said, slapping his shoulder. “Nem, you should come over for dinner sometime soon, get to know Izuku!” Mic beamed down at Izuku, then caught himself. “Well, if he’s okay with that, that is.”

“Uh, yeah, that’s fine,” Izuku said.

“Perfect! This weekend then!” Midnight said excitedly.

“Fine, can we go now?” Aizawa asked.

“Yeah, yeah, go on.” Midnight shooed them off. “I’ll see your kid tomorrow when normal classes start anyway.

Mic waved at her as they left the room. Izuku had to hold back his laughter at the wide-eyed stare All Might had given them the entire interaction. But at least he’d now confirmed that the man was indeed teaching at UA this year. He’d have to pass that information on to Kurogiri. What the man, or more likely Shigaraki, would do with that information was unknown. But that was their problem, not Izuku’s. He had other things to worry about.

Chapter 9: Battle Trials and Tribulations

Chapter Text

They were seriously about to have their first heroics lesson, barely a week into the Summer term? And it was going to be led by All Might of all people. Izuku could barely contain his laughter as the Number One hero scanned the class, his classic smile plastering his face until his gaze fell onto one specific student: Izuku himself. It probably wasn’t noticed by any of his classmates, but All Might’s smile faltered briefly when he saw Izuku. But, ever the professional, (at least in his muscular hero form), All Might quickly recovered and continued his short spiel about the upcoming activity. The final thing he did was click a button, causing several racks to deploy from the classroom’s wall, each one holding numbered briefcases.

“You’ll need these!” All Might said as the racks extended out. “Your hero costumes!” The class cheered in excitement. “Collect your costume case, get changed, and meet me at Ground Beta!”

With that, All Might rushed out of the room, leaving the class alone. Quickly, they dashed to the costume racks, grabbing their assigned case, based on student number, before making their way to the locker room. Izuku let them rush ahead before getting up to grab his own case.

He took it off the rack and set it on a nearby desk, opening it to take in the costume. He’d submitted a design not unlike his ‘vigilante’ costume that he’d gotten from Kurogiri. Though this was a bit more stylized.

The costume was black and dark green. It was two layers: an undersuit comprised of a black compression shirt and reinforced, well-fitting, black cargo pants, then a top layer of a reinforced, hooded overcoat, (which basically looked like a hooded sweatshirt at first glance), and armored pieces that clamped around his knees and elbows. Green accents lined the pieces of clothing. In addition, Izuku had requested a rebreather, with a voice modulator, just like his vigilante mask, as well as tactical gloves that were fingerless on two fingers. Given he’d already come across two five-finger activation quirks, one which destroyed anything it was used on, Izuku figured he should have a mitigation were he to copy or take a quirk like that..

He grinned down at the new costume. It was similar enough to his original one that it felt like home. Clicking the case closed again, he grabbed the handle and made his way out of the classroom, towards the locker rooms.

Walking into the locker rooms, he was greeted with his half-naked male classmates as each of them went about admiring and putting on their costumes. Izuku scanned each, taking in the accents and extra pieces his classmates had put into their costumes, or that the support course had added when reviewing their designs. Despite UA having contracts with several hero suit and support companies, the support course students got first dibs in reviewing and altering, if only slightly, the first year hero students’ costume designs.

Izuku thanked whoever his reviewer had been for not altering his costume. He was about to find a spot to change when a voice called out from across the locker room.

“Guys, there’s a peephole!” a nasally voice said. Izuku looked over to see the short, purple haired boy, Mineta, peering through a tiny hole in the wall of the room. Remembering the layout of this part of the school, Izuku quickly realized it would be giving a clear line of sight to the girls’ locker room.

“Whoa, really?” a blonde said, Kaminari if Izuku remembered right. The teen quickly moved towards Mineta, followed somewhat hesitantly by Sero.

Izuku rolled his eyes at the ridiculousness. Barely a minute later, Mineta screeched and fell back from the peephole. Something that looked like an audiojack disappeared back into the hole.

“We’re telling Aizawa Sensei!” one of the girls yelled loud enough to be heard through the wall. Izuku figured that would very quickly solve the peeping tom problem, and the looks on Sero and Kaminari’s faces said the same.

Finally claiming a locker, Izuku went about stripping out of his uniform and putting on his costume, clamping the final pieces of armor in place before pulling on his rebreather. He tightened the strap of the mask around his head and threw up the hood of his costume before heading for Ground Beta.

Once he arrived, he was unsurprised to find the girls huddled around Aizawa, talking quietly with the teacher. Aizawa’s eyes darted when Izuku came into view before they returned to the girl who was talking, Jirou. Despite getting to the locker room later than everyone else, Izuku wasn’t the last to arrive at the training ground. That honor, or dishonor probably given the circ*mstances, went to Mineta, who was immediately set upon by 1-A’s homeroom teacher.

“Mineta, I shouldn’t have to remind you of the UA Student Code of Conduct, but according to your classmates, it seems I’d be wrong in assuming that.” Aizawa glared down at the short student, who looked ashamed but it was probably only because he’d been caught, not because of his actual behavior. “You’re on thin ice, and I highly recommend you get your act together if you wish to become a hero.”

Aizawa stalked off, heading towards where All Might stood holding a box. With everyone finally gathered, All Might handed the box to the other teacher and clapped his hands twice.

“My, my, you all look amazing!” he said, once again causing the class to cheer (minus Izuku, of course). “Welcome to your first hero training course! Today, in order to see what your skills are, we will be conducting a… BATTLE TRIAL!” All Might bellowed. The class gaped in excitement, and Izuku heard several mutterings of ‘Hell yeah!’ from his classmates.

“We will be splitting you into teams of two, decided by drawing lots!” All Might continued, gesturing to the box now being held by Aizawa. The hero walked over and began to draw names, calling out the teams of two. Izuku listened in, analyzing each team until his name was called.

“Midoriya Izuku!” All Might called out, eyes scanning the group until Izuku stepped forward ever so slightly. Once again, the man paled when seeing Izuku, but quickly recovered. He reached into the box again and drew another name. “Kaminari Denki!” The blond from the locker room walked over to stand next to Izuku.

As All Might finished calling out the teams, Kaminari introduced himself more officially to Izuku.

“Hey! I’m Kaminari,” he said, grinning. “So, um, my quirk is a bit hard to control, so whatever the goal is here might be mainly on you.”

“I’m Midoriya, and I’m sure we can figure something out, Kaminari,” Izuku said. “Your quirk is super useful for a lot of things, even if you’re struggling to control it.”

“Oh, thanks, not many people tell me I can be useful…” Kaminari said, looking down and scuffing his shoe against the ground. He glanced back up at Izuku. “What exactly is your quirk? Because you used different ones during the quirk test Sensei did, right?”

“Ah, well, I can kinda make a copy of someone’s quirk and keep it. So yeah I technically have multiple quirks.” Izuku shrugged, as if it wasn’t that interesting.

“Holy crap, really?” Kaminari asked, mouth gaping open. “That’s rad as hell, dude! Wait, can you copy mine, then? And like, help me figure it out?”

Izuku smiled. “I could, but if you’re right that it’s hard to control, I don’t think it would end well.” Izuku, of course, would probably have little issue with controlling Kaminari’s Electrification, since both Duplicate and All for One give him inherent understanding of the quirks he copies or takes. But he didn’t need to advertise that to everyone. Not yet, at least.

“Aw, guess that makes sense.” Kaminari deflated, but was still smiling.

“Now that all the teams are decided,” All Might boomed out, drawing Izuku and Kaminari’s attention back to him, “It’s time we explain what we’ll be doing today! As mentioned, this will be a Battle Trial. But in order to have a good battle, you need an objective. That’s where this comes in!”

All Might stepped to the side, revealing a large, bomb-shaped object behind him. “This is fake, first off. But you will pretend like it’s real for the trial. One team will be the ‘Villain Team,’ whose goal is to keep this bomb safe for the duration of the trial. You can also manually set it off, guaranteeing a win for your team, but you would technically die in the process. The ‘Hero Team’ must stop the villains and capture the weapon before time is up. In this case, that simply means putting hands on the weapon.”

Aizawa disappeared for a moment before returning with a new box. He once again held it out for All Might to pull from, a deadpan look on his face. Izuku assumed he wasn’t thrilled being the little helper to All Might, of all people. Aizawa may not know the truth behind what All Might did and why Izuku’s parents were dead, but he certainly held no affection for the man independently of that.

“First up, the hero team!” All Might said, reaching a hand into the box to pull out a numbered ball. “Team 4!” Oh, that was Izuku’s team.

Izuku and Kaminari walked forward to stand to one side of All Might and Aizawa.

“Next, the villain team!” Once again a hand went into the box and pulled out a ball. “Team 2!”

“f*ck yeah! You’re going down, Deku!” Bakugou leered as he strutted forward, a red-haired, shirtless teen following him. Izuku thought he remembered the redhead’s name being Kirishima.

Of course he’d be against Kacchan, but Izuku figured it would be a fun first trial. Assuming he even let Kacchan fight him.

“Villain team, go get set up in the building down the street,” All Might said, pointing at a building which had a painted mark on its front. “Both teams shall have five minutes to prepare, then the hero team will begin their assault.”

“As for the rest of you,” Aizawa interjected. “We’re heading to the observation room for Ground Beta. There, you’ll be able to watch your classmates’ battle trials. Make sure you pay attention, as we will be reviewing the outcome of each match.”

Aizawa and All MIght escorted the rest of the class off to the observation room while Izuku, Kaminari, Bakugou, and Kirishima made for the designated building. The latter two headed inside while Izuku and Kaminari went across the street to a small, fake store, which they’d use as their staging ground.

“So what’s the plan, Midoriya?” Kaminari immediately asked him.

“How do you feel about turning out the lights?” Izuku asked, a small smirk on his face. If they took out the power to the building, then the lights would go out, and most of the building would be shrouded in darkness. To add to it, the sky was overcast so the natural light provided by the windows wouldn’t offer much.

Izuku, thanks to his Night Vision quirk, would be able to infiltrate the building. He figured it would be a lame fight if he just Warp Gated to the bomb, plus he didn’t even know which floor the bomb was on, nor what Kacchan and Kirishima might be doing to prepare for him. At the very least, Kacchan knew Izuku had the warp quirk, even if he continued to doubt the capability for Izuku to have more, for some reason.

“I mean, makes sense, but how?” Kaminari asked. “I wouldn’t think me just overloading myself would do much to a concrete building.”

“There’s going to be a fusebox near the building, probably around the back. First thing we do is find that. Once we do, you can overload it, without going overboard with your quirk, and I’ll infiltrate the building to find the bomb.”

“What’ll I do afterwards?”

“Wait outside,” Izuku said simply. “Your quirk is more supportive for this kind of mission, unless you think you can control yourself enough to just stun someone?”

Kaminari scratched his cheek. “Uh, yeah, probably not. I need to work on only outputting that low of voltage. It, uh, only sometimes works…”

Izuku rested a hand on Kaminari’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Kaminari. It’s the start of our first term, of course you’re going to have some difficulties. But we’re in the hero course at UA, you’ll get a hang of your quirk soon enough. And you’re basically the most important part of my plan, so think about it like that.”

Kaminari smiled back at Izuku. “You’re pretty cool, Midoriya. And I don’t just mean because of your quirk.” Izuku nodded back at him, smiling as well.

“Time’s up! Hero team, begin!” All Might’s voice boomed from Ground Beta’s PA system.

The two teenagers jogged out of the little shop they were standing in and made for the back of the tall building that housed the villain team and their bomb. It took them a minute, but they found the fuse box in the back corner of the building. Izuku pried it open, giving them a full view of the mess of wires and fuses inside.

“Alright, stand back,” Kaminari said as he rubbed his hands together. A few sparks of electricity crackled from the friction. “Here goes nothing.” He shoved his hands into the fuse box and unleashed a torrent of electricity from his body. Electricity arced along the outside of the metal and a moment later it was smoking.

Izuku glanced at the street lamps nearby, which also surged from the power Kaminari had dumped into the system. One of the lamps shattered from the excess energy.

“Think that did it, Kaminari,” Izuku said, turning back around only to find Kaminari sinking down to the ground, back against the building. The blond was wobbly as he slid down the wall.

“Yay…” Kaminari slurred out. He shook his head a bit, looking up at Izuku with vacant eyes.

“Hm, yeah, I’ll help you work on that…” Izuku mumbled. He’d have to analyze how Kaminari’s quirk worked some in order to determine how to counter that kind of drawback. “Stay here.”

“Yay…” and a thumbs up was all Izuku got in response.

“Right…” Izuku left Kaminari there, trusting that he’d be fine alone. He shouldn’t have to worry about getting “caught” by the villains, either, since Kacchan and Kirishima were about to have their hands full with Izuku.

Deciding the front entrance was a bad idea, Izuku used Warp Gate to portal into the back room of the building. As expected, when he stepped out of the portal, he stepped into near total darkness. Activating his NIght Vision quirk, Izuku began to make his way through the building, finding the stairs and climbing up to the next floor.

A step behind him caused Izuku to throw up an Air Wall, deflecting the explosion aimed at his back.

“There you are!” Kacchan bellowed as he used his quirk, only to have it negated by the solid wall of air Izuku created. “What the f*ck?!”

“How many times do I have to tell you, Kacchan,” Izuku said, turning to face Bakugou and forming a warp behind himself. “I have more than one quirk.” He stepped through the portal, ending up behind Bakugou. “You should probably stop underestimating me.”

He punched Bakugou in the back, using the strength of only one of his Brawn Boost copies. The impact still sent Bakugou flying forward to slam into the wall of air Izuku had created moments before. The air was knocked out of Bakugou’s lungs as he collapsed to his knees, gasping for breath.

“Figured you would be looking for me,” Izuku said as he cracked his knuckles. “Now, I think I’ll pay a visit to your teammate.”

Forming another warp gate, Izuku portaled back to the stairwell. He climbed to the next level, stepping out of the stairwell into a large empty room that appeared to take up most of the floor. Taking a cursory glance, Izuku figured this wouldn’t be where the bomb was and so decided to head up another level.

Of course, Bakugou wouldn’t make it that easy on him and came blasting up the stairwell, aiming a kick at Izuku. Actually taken by surprise this time, Bakugou’s foot met Izuku’s chest and sent him backwards, back out of the stairwell and into the wide open room.

Izuku grunted as he skidded to a stop, dropping to one knee and placing a palm on the ground as he caught his breath.

“You f*cking Deku,” Kacchan sneered. “Think you’re better than me? You may have saved me from that stupid villain, but you’ll still never be on my level.”

Sighing, Izuku stood up. “I thought we were going to be rivals, not still be this whole bully-victim situation we had going on before I could reveal my quirk.”

Kacchan’s eye twitched at that. “Shut the f*ck up.”

“Why? Because there’s mics all around and our class can hear me?” Izuku co*cked his head to the side. “You really think I’m scared of you? That I’ve ever really been scared of you? Come on, Kacchan, you’re not stupid.”

Kacchan snarled, raising an arm up. He snaked a finger through the pull-pin of the gauntlet on that arm. “f*cking die, you worthess nerd!” he yelled as he pulled the pin.

Izuku just rolled his eyes as he threw up several layers of Air Wall.

“Young Bakugou, I do not think using that-” All Might started, his voice coming out of a nearby hidden speaker. But it was cut off as a massive explosion was unleashed from Bakugou’s right gauntlet.

The first three layers of Izuku’s Air Wall shattered instantly. The fourth spiderwebbed while the fifth and sixth remained intact. Flame and smoke billowed around the edges of the walls, passing Izuku and blasting a hole into the side of the building. Concrete crumbled and the building shuddered. Izuku turned to look at the hole, frowning. Glancing around, he got his bearings and realized that the damaged wall was the front of the building, meaning Kaminari, if he was still somewhat incapacitated by the fuse box, was safe. Just to check, he quickly made a warp and stuck his head through, finding Kaminari still laying against the back of the building, eyelids drooping.

Pulling back out of the warp, he dissipated it and turned to regard Kacchan, who was seething as he glared at Izuku through the remaining Air Walls. Izuku tapped the closest Air Wall, shattering it and the other remaining ones. Immediately Kacchan leapt forward, palm outstretched, but Izuku was faster.

Dropping his Night Vision quirk, Izuku flared Erasure, stopping Kacchan’s crackling palms as he then grabbed the blond’s outstretched arm. Izuku turned, throwing Kacchan over his shoulder and towards the gaping hole in the wall. As the teen disappeared into the street, Izuku dropped Erasure, blinked several times, then turned back towards the stairwell.

Once he was in the stairwell, he reactivated his Night Vision again. Coming up on the fourth floor, Izuku peered out of the stairwell, tilting his head to listen to any slight movements. Such as the pacing of Kirishima, coming from a room two doors down the hallway. Izuku grinned to himself and walked toward the room.

“f*ckING DEKU!” a voice roared as the wall at the end of the hallway blew apart to reveal a very angry Bakugou. At his yell, Kirishima came skidding out of the bomb room, whipping his head up and down the hallway and making eye contact with Izuku and Bakugou in quick succession.

“What the heck, bro?!” Kirishima said to Bakugou, throwing his hands in the air. “Aren’t we not supposed to damage the zone too much?”

“To be fair, neither All Might nor Sensei ever said that,” Izuku helpfully added.

“An oversight on our part,” Aizawa’s voice said through the speakers. “It will be remedied going forward, but do as you will for your trial. You’ve already practically destroyed that building anyway.”

Izuku snorted at his guardian’s tone, indicating his slight annoyance but also acceptance that this was bound to happen. Kirishima, on the other hand, groaned, still not thrilled about damaging school property apparently.

“f*cking sh*tty Hair, get out of the way!” Bakugou yelled as he blasted down the hallway.

Once again, Izuku dropped Night Vision, (not like it was needed given the gaping hole in the building from Kacchan’s entrance, which provided some natural light), and flared Erasure. The sudden lack of propulsion nearly made Kacchan fall to the ground but he caught himself.

Seeing Bakugou run forward, Kirishima tried to do the same. Given the tension in his upper body, Izuku figured he’d tried to activate his own quirk, Hardening. The surprised look on Kirishima’s face when his quirk wouldn’t activate was priceless.

“Damn nerd!” Kacchan bellowed. “Stop cowering behind Sensei’s quirk!”

“I don’t really think it’s cowering to use my quirk to my advantage, but whatever you say, Kacchan.”

“Wait, you have Sensei’s quirk?!” Kirishima exclaimed, eyes wide. “How?!”

Izuku’s eyes twitched as he held them to keep Erasure up. “I can copy quirks. Now, if you’ll get out of the way so I can finish this?” He raised his arm up, calling on Springlike Limbs and Air Cannon to combine and blast both Kirishima and Bakugou down the hall. Izuku then ran forward, darting into the room with the bomb and placing his palm against it just as the villain team rounded the corner to reenter the room themselves.

“And that’s match! The Hero Team wins!” All Might’s voice boomed

Bakugou let out an aggravated yell as he stalked out of the room, leaving Kirishima and Izuku behind.

“Want a shortcut to the street? I gotta check on Kaminari anyway,” Izuku said, glancing at Kirishima. His hand melted into the green-black mist of his portals and formed a Warp Gate to the back alley behind the building.

“Oh, uh, sure,” Kirishima said as he walked over to Izuku.

Izuku gestured for Kirishima to enter ahead of him, which the redhead hesitantly did. Izuku quickly followed, letting the mist melt back into his hand and reform into flesh once they’d walked through.

“Whoa…” Kirishima said as he stepped out onto the pavement.

“Fun, isn’t it?” Izuku asked as he walked over to Kaminari.

“We won?” Kaminari asked, apparently having regained some semblance of reality.

“Yep.” Izuku stretched a hand out to help Kaminari stand up. The blond happily took it and pulled himself to his feet, wobbling only slightly but gaining his footing with Izuku’s steady assistance. “Kacchan’s a bit pissed, but that’s to be expected.”

“Kacchan?” Kaminari asked, arching an eyebrow.

“His nickname for Bakugou,” Kirishima answered.

“Oh! Kacchan! I like it!”

Izuku snorted. “He might kill you if you call him that. But I won’t hold a monopoly on it.”

“Sweet!” Kaminari pumped his fist.

“Midoriya you seem kinda overpowered if you can have multiple quirks,” Kirishima said as the trio began the walk back to the entrance of Ground Beta.

Izuku was shaking his right hand, the typical feeling of pins and needles, that led into numbness, from using Warp Gate too much overloading his nerves in the hand. “Ah, I guess?” He shrugged. “I guess I just got lucky with my quirk.”

“Super lucky,” Kaminari said.

“Like, ridiculously lucky,” Kirishma agreed. “But it’s super manly!”

Izuku scrunched his face. “Is it?”

“Yeah, like, you’re a super strong dude! And you seem to care about people based on wanting to check on Kaminari immediately! So, like, you’re super manly! And will make a cool hero!”

“Ah, thanks,” Izuku said, chuckling awkwardly and rubbing the back of his neck. “Oh, sorry for not letting you use your quirk, Kirishima. But I had to make sure Kacchan couldn’t stop me so Erasure is just really useful.”

“No worries, dude! How’d Sensei let you copy his quirk, anyway?” Kirishima asked as they entered the observation room.

“Well, I uh… kind of live with him?” Izuku said. “My parents are, um, dead, and Aizawa Sensei found me when I was doing… less than acceptable things one night.” He shrugged. “He took me in and I’ve been living with him for the past two years.”

“Holy crap, dude! You live with our terrifying homeroom teacher?” Kaminari asked, eyes wide.

“Yeah, but he’s only scary in class. To make sure everyone is paying attention and trying their hardest.”

“Stop revealing my secrets, kid,” Aizawa said, glaring at Izuku. “Get over here so we can review the match.”

“Sorry, Sensei,” the trio said in unison as they scurried over to stand in front of the rest of the class, joining up with a pouting Bakugou.

“Welcome back you four,” All Might said, smiling down at them. He turned around to face the class. “Now, who would we say was the MVP for the trial?” A girl with a high ponytail raised her hand. “Yes, Yaoyorozu?”

“It has to be Midoriya. He thought up a plan that utilized his teammate’s quirk, and was then able to deal with Bakugou with ease. That also meant he could handle Kirishima even with Bakugou returning for an attempt at a final fight.”

“Right!” All Might said, though his confident mask seemed to fade a bit as more attention was brought to Izuku. “Young Midoriya here is quite the strategist, it seems!”

Izuku smirked at the man, though he caught Aizawa’s narrowed eyes as the teacher took in Izuku’s reaction to All Might. Yeah, that’d turn into a discussion later, one that Izuku wasn’t too thrilled about having.

“Can anyone identify what might have gone wrong on the villains’ part?” Aizawa asked, turning away from Izuku and scanning the class. This time, no one raised their hand. Because honestly, what had the villain group done wrong? Other than facing Izuku. “Well, you’re all correct. They didn’t do anything wrong, they were just up against a stronger and smarter opponent. Midoriya’s Duplicate quirk, which allows him to have copies of other quirks, such as mine, make him a very difficult opponent to deal with. However, I want all of you to figure out ways to combat someone on such a different power level, because when you become heroes, there will be times you will need to deal with such an opponent. And no, you do not need to be able to handle them alone. Heroes work together often, especially when up against top ranking villains.”

“Well said, Eraser Head,” All Might said, nodding. “Now, onto the next battle!”

Izuku watched the next four matches, analyzing the quirks of his classmates and how they used them. He found a few he wouldn’t turn down copying if he was given the opportunity. A couple seemed very useful and he might just have to sneak a copy of them at some point, but he hoped he could get them voluntarily so that Aizawa wouldn’t question him as to why he suddenly began to wield his classmates’ quirks.

At the end of the day, the class was dismissed to change out of their costume cases and return them to the 1-A classroom. Izuku figured they’d be washed, or at least replaced by a spare, before the next time they needed them.

The ride home was quiet, though not awkward. Izuku knew Aizawa was just waiting for them to get home before he asked Izuku about his relationship with All Might. Home was a safe space, for all of them. They could discuss anything and everything, Izuku had learned that over the past two years of living with Aizawa and Mic.

Once they were inside, shoes off and comfortably changed out of work/school uniforms, Izuku and Aizawa sat on the living room couch.

“So,” Aizawa began. “What’s the deal with you and All Might? And don’t tell me nothing, because I saw the way he looked at you, and how you looked at him. Something is going on there.”

“Ah, well…” Izuku said, not meeting Aizawa’s eyes. “So, you know that Sludge Villain attack a few months back?” Aizawa narrowed his eyes but nodded. “So, I kind of… was involved in that, because he attacked me. But! I scared him off when I told him who my real dad was. But then All Might showed up so I wanted to play a little game, because All Might is kind of responsible for my parents’ deaths, and so I played the victim, was saved by the Number One Hero, then pretended to be quirkless and beg All Might for help becoming a hero, asking him if a quirkless person could be one. And he said no, telling me to become a cop or something, while trying to leave a depressed me, well fake depressed me because you know quirkless kids are treated poorly and all that, alone on a rooftop. After he told me about his injury, for some reason. So I then sassed and taunted him as I warped away. Then I had to save Kacchan because I may have caused All Might to drop the bottles he’d captured the sludge villain in. And then Kacchan and I had to hide from the heroes and authorities because those heroes kind of sucked and were gonna let Kacchan die, and so-”

“Alright I think I get it,” Aizawa said, holding his hand up for Izuku to stop talking. Izuku’s jaw clamped shut with an audible click. He was confident, but he still fell into his childhood rambling habit sometimes. “So, that fight All Might had with an unnamed villain, that was later claimed to be Toxic Chainsaw, was actually against your parents?”

“My dad. But my mom was nearby because they were out shopping for my birthday, or so I was told…” Izuku looked down at his lap, hands clasped and laying there.

“So your mother was collateral damage in a massive hero-villain fight, and your father was the villain, then?” Izuku nodded. “Izuku, kid, that’s a serious issue.”

“Are you going to go to the detective?” Izuku asked, curling in on himself. If the police fully connected him to All for One, he was never going to be allowed to roam freely again. He’d always be watched.

“No, kid, because you aren’t your parents. The circ*mstances of one's birth are irrelevant; it is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are. So-”

“Hold on,” Izuku said, his head snapping to the side and his eyes narrowing as he stared at Aizawa. “Did you… did you just quote Mewtwo from the first Pokemon movie?”

Aizawa glared back at Izuku before huffing and looking away. “Look, it’s Zashi’s favorite childhood movie, so we’ve watched it. A lot. And Mewtwo has a point.” Izuku fell into a fit of laughter at that, which caused Aizawa to smile at him.

“That’s amazing, Shouta,” Izuku said between laughs.

“Yeah, yeah,” Aizawa said, reaching over to ruffle Izuku’s hair. “But back on topic?”

“Okay,” Izuku said, frowning a little. “So, yes, my dad might have been a high ranking villain. But he kept me and my mom out of it. Only thing I got from it was learning to best use my quirk.” Izuku shrugged.

“Was your father’s quirk like yours?”

“Kind of? But if I say any more, then you would probably have to go to the Detective? So I think we should leave it at that?”

Aizawa sighed, shaking his head. “Problem child. But fair enough. So the main takeaway here is that All Might is an idiot, like I thought, given how he treated you when you were acting like an innocent, quirkless kid. He’s also freaked out by you because of that. Does he know he killed your parents?”

“Well, he knows he killed my dad, since he kind of did it with his own hands. But he wouldn’t have known it was my dad,” Izuku said. “And my mom was, like you said, collateral damage. So he might not have even been told about her death. Or if he was, he never bothered acting on it. Like checking in on me, or apologizing, or trying to make sure I was taken care of. Nothing.”

Aizawa frowned. “And now he’s teaching out UA, because his time as a hero is waning.”

“Yeah. I guess it’s his way to keep hiding his injury? I know he was MIA for several months after he fought my dad.”

“We thought he’d died, honestly,” Aizawa said. “He kept the injury from everyone except his closest allies. The Commission locked down any and all news coverage of him, and I guess took care of him in their own private medical facilities. His return shortly before that Sludge Vilain incident primarily coincided with Nezu offering him a job. I trust both of them even less now that you’ve told me what happened between All Might and your family. There must be something else going on.”

“I didn’t mean to cause you to launch into conspiracy theories,” Izuku said, a frown of his own on his face.

“Kid, I’m an underground hero who works with Detective Tsukauchi a lot. It’s not so much conspiracy theories as it is crossing off every possible scenario so we’re as prepared as we can be for the final outcome.”

“So what now?”

“First, we keep this from Zashi. He can’t hide his emotions to save his life, and I have no doubt he’d go barging into school tomorrow ready to tear All Might a new one. I love him, but there’s a reason he’s the limelight hero and I’m the underground one.”

“Okay,” Izuku said. “Makes sense, though it will suck lying to Zashi.”

“Secondly, you don’t go telling anyone the truth about you, All Might, and your parents, unless I am there as your guardian. All Might may eventually put things together, or look into you more and find out about your mother and father. I’ll help you handle that, if it comes to it.”

Izuku nodded.

“Finally,” Aizawa said, looking at Izuku. “We get some dinner.”

Izuku snorted, smiling. “Sounds like a great plan.”

That night, as Izuku slept, he had a dream. Or maybe a vision. A voice called out to him, sounding a lot like his father’s. It called to him, urging him to take back what was rightfully theirs. A flash of All Might. A desire to… be him? No, that’s not right. To destroy him? But not yet. Not fully. There was something about All Might that Izuku needed to learn. Needed to take. Needed to regain.

The phrase “One for All” echoed in the back of his mind. But that couldn’t be right. His dad’s quirk was All for One. So what was One for All?

Chapter 10: Sparks

Chapter Text

Dreams of that sort continued to plague Izuku, but he would wake up forgetting nearly the entire thing. Only left with a vague feeling of desire, he shrugged it off and went to school like normal, not bothering to tell Shouta or Zashi about the dreams. They weren’t really affecting him so why get his guardians involved?

He still didn’t quite understand why All Might was at the center of these feelings. Why did he feel like he had to get closer to the hero? He hated All Might, but took great satisfaction in how All Might always seemed to be afraid when looking at Izuku. It was probably because Izuku knew his secret, not because he’d figured out who Izuku was related to. But when he did learn that truth? Well, Izuku couldn’t wait to terrorize the hero even more. Especially if he managed to take so long to put the pieces together that his injury weakened his body too much.

After breakfast one morning, a week or so after the Battle Trial class, Izuku hopped in the car and fiddled around with his phone during the drive, catching up on hero and villain appearances over the past week. He added any useful details to his notebook while his guardians chatted in the front seats. Izuku paid them no mind, their discussions usually work related but not in any interesting fashion for him.

However, once at school and in class, Aizawa stood in front of the room, something he rarely did unless there was an announcement. He cleared his throat, causing the class’s chatter to die down, though not fast enough for their teacher given his glare.

“Today you will pick your class representative,” the teacher said. “Take the homeroom time to figure it out.” With that, Aizawa crawled into his yellow sleeping back and curled up behind the desk.

“Wait, that’s it? How do we choose?” Mina asked, looking around at the class.

“We could vote?” Yaoyorozu offered.

Iida shot to his feet, making his way to the front. “We can tally the votes on the board! First, we need nominations.”

Izuku tuned the class out, not caring to be the Class Rep nor really worried about who would become it. It was just a useless position in his eyes, since the hero course didn’t really interact with the other courses, such as not being able to join clubs and not really doing anything with the student council. All the Class Rep would do for them would just be an assigned point of contact for the class. Probably.

“I nominate Midoriya!” a voice said, drawing Izuku’s attention back to his classmates. Kaminari was beaming at him.

“Very well,” Iida said, writing Izuku’s name on the board, next to practically every other person’s name. Safe to say the voting thing wouldn’t work the best. “Is that all the nominations, then?”

The class glanced around at each other before Iida nodded.

“Then now we vote. I believe it easiest if we go by student number and put a tally mark by the person who we vote for.”

The class did so, one by one walking up to the board and voting. Unsurprisingly, practically everyone voted for themselves. Izuku, figuring he could break the twenty-way tie, voted for Iida because the teen seemed organized, and though it seemed like he had a stick up his ass, would be pretty good at leading the class if the Rep ever needed to do so.

Disappointingly, he didn’t break the tie. Instead, he caused a three-way tie for Class Rep: Iida, Yaoyorozu, and himself. Iida looked upset about not being chosen. Yaoyorozu, ever the poised teenager, just smiled at the fact she had more than her own vote.

Aizawa slowly stood back up, staring at the board then at the class. “Well that didn’t work, did it? You have until the end of the day to decide your class rep, or I’ll do it for you. And whoever I choose won’t be able to refuse.” He just so happened to linger his gaze on Izuku for a second longer, making Izuku’s stomach drop. He did not want to be the class rep.

Classes went by as normal after that until it was lunch time. As Izuku made his way through the line, getting his favorite food because Lunch Rush literally provided any and every option a teenager could ever want, he heard the mumbled discussion of his classmates as they thought back to the class rep decision. He just tuned them out and found his usual table.

He was quickly joined by the classmates who’d decided they liked eating with Izuku: Uraraka, Kaminari, and Yaoyorozu. Todoroki sat one table over and Izuku was still confused as to why the boy seemed to stay just outside the bubble of Izuku’s friend group. He never responded when Izuku tried to greet him, but stared at the group throughout lunch. It was weird.

“So, Midoriya,” Kaminari said as he sat down. “Are you going to try to win over more votes for class rep?”

“No,” Izuku said simply, shocking Uraraka and Kaminari.

“What? Why not? You’re like the smartest in class! No offense Yaomomo,” Uraraka said, turning to Yaoyorozu for a moment.

The other girl smiled and waved Uraraka off. “No worries, Uraraka. I agree, Midoriya is certainly the top of our class, between his intelligence and his quirk.”

Izuku couldn’t help but blush at the compliments being thrown his way. Yeah, he knew he was probably the top of the class, but to be told that by one of the recommendation students, whose quirk was also amazingly cool and useful, and who was super smart, felt different.

“Well, I don’t want to do it?” Izuku said. “I think Iida or Yaomomo would be better anyway. They’re more organized than me.”

“Yeah, maybe, but like everyone is jealous of you and wants you to help them with their quirks,” Kaminari said between mouthfuls of food.

“That doesn’t mean I should be class rep, though. It just means I can be super helpful to you all.”

The more he was shoved to the front of 1-A, the less control he’d really have over his future. He was already on a collision course with becoming the face of this set of first years, thanks to his quirk. It was inevitable, especially come the Sports Festival. He could just throw his chances during the festival, but not only would Aizawa be disappointed in him, but he’d be disappointed in himself.

If he could push some of that attention to other people, even if only a tiny bit of it, then he’d be happy. And his goal, with this was to get either Iida or Yaoyorozu to be the Rep. They could handle controlling the class and being the student that the Principal showed off when necessary.

“I guess?” Uraraka said, dejected. “But you’re such a nice person, so I just think… I don’t know…”

Izuku smiled at her. “I get it, Uraraka. I’m happy to help my friends, and want to be a good hero.” Or whatever he decided to do in the future. “But we don’t have to be leaders to be good at all that stuff. My opinion is that Yaomomo or Iida should be the Rep, because they both take things like this seriously, and so would do the job well.” He looked over at Yaoyorozu, who smiled back at him, a hand to her chest, grateful he thought she was a good candidate.

“Ugh, fine, so no Midoriya for class rep,” Kaminari said, sighing and leaning his cheek on his fist. “Did you guys have to deal with the media in front of school this morning?”

“Yeah! They were so annoying!” Uraraka said.

Izuku was pleased with the change in topic, but confused as to what they meant.

“What media?” he asked, glancing between his three friends.

“Oh, yeah, guess you wouldn’t have seen it,” Uraraka said. “You come into school with Sensei, right? Don’t they have, like, a back entrance or something for the cars?” Izuku nodded.

“Ah, that explains it.” Yaoyorozu dabbed her mouth with a napkin. “The media was gathered outside the school this morning, having heard that All Might was teaching here. They began harassing students until one of them misstepped and caused the UA Barrier to activate. I don’t know if they are still out there waiting on dismissal or if the teachers have taken care of the situation.”

Izuku furrowed his brow. Aizawa hadn’t mentioned anything of that sort, though he was probably also trying to keep Izuku out of the sights of the media. Between his near-adoption by Aizawa and Mic, (Izuku had seen the final paperwork sitting on the counter one night recently, and wondered what hoops his guardians would have to jump through to become his full fledged adoptive parents), and his connection to All Might, Izuku figured it was only fair he should stay far away from the media.

“Were any of you harassed?” Izuku asked, glancing between them. They all shook their heads.

“I got to school early enough that I avoided them,” Yaoyorozu said.

“They were too distracted with some Gen Ed kids, I think, when I got in,” Kaminari added.

Uraraka frowned. “They looked at me but then turned away to bother someone else. I guess I look too normal…”

“Hey, that's not necessarily a bad thing,” Izuku said. “Means you might have an easier time when we’re heroes with walking around in plain clothes and not being bothered.”

Uraraka shrugged but smiled.

Their peace was broken by an alarm going off, screeching throughout the building and echoing in the massive cafeteria. Students slammed their hands over their ears, surprised by the noise and confused as to what was going on. Quickly, a stampede formed as students tried to storm out of the cafeteria, thinking they needed to evacuate.

Kaminari, Uraraka, and Yaoyorozu were on their feet and lost in the crowd before Izuku had a chance to react. He frowned and furrowed his brow as the sea of students flowed towards the exit. He sighed and, rather than getting up to follow them, figured he might as well finish his lunch. If it was something important, and he was supposed to leave the building, then he’d take whatever punishment the teachers gave him. If he wasn’t supposed to evacuate, then he was fine to stay where he was.

Besides, if it was something like an intruder, Izuku could handle himself easily. Quirks were somewhat allowed while on campus, though he could still get in trouble for injuring someone.

He looked to his left and realized that he wasn’t the only student who didn’t bother getting up. Todoroki sat at the neighboring table, slurping his soba noodles and staring at the crowd. Izuku arched an eyebrow at Todoroki when the teen turned to look at him. Todoroki shrugged.

“I’m pretty sure it’s nothing big,” Izuku said loudly, to be heard over the alarm and the crowd. “Aizawa Sensei told me about all the important alarms.”

Todoroki nodded. “I wanted to finish my soba.”

That was… an understandable reason to stay behind. Izuku knew Todoroki was also strong enough to handle himself, even if he only used half his quirk. Izuku didn’t know why Todoroki only used the Ice part of his quirk, but maybe there was a reason. Except, his Half-Hot/Half-Cold quirk literally complemented itself, and had to allow him longer use of both if he regulated his body temperature.

The problem with a lot of elemental quirks, such as Kaminari’s electric quirk and Todoroki’s ice and fire quirks, was that they often had an upper limit as to how much they could be used before they risked damaging the body of the quirk’s wielder. Fire users could overheat and get heat stroke. Ice users could get frostbite and hypothermia. And electricity users could mess with their central nervous system, though that one was a lot rarer.

Even if Izuku couldn’t see the thread of Todoroki’s quirk, and thus understand the full power behind it, he’d have had little difficulty figuring out that the other boy must have a fire part to his quirk. Between the two-toned hair, the heterochromia, and the fact that Todoroki’s father was Endeavor, it would have been stupid to not assume the boy had two quirks.

Speaking of Todoroki’s quirk thread, this one was one of the few that Izuku really wanted to copy. The power behind it. The possibilities. The fact it could probably compliment other quirks Izuku could get in the future. So many good reasons to take it, and he had to fight the urge to not follow through. Maybe if he became friends with the stoic boy, he could eventually ask and hope Todoroki agreed.

During this rambling thought, Todoroki had just been staring at Izuku, slurping the last of his noodles. Izuku shook his head and refocused on the other teen when Todoroki moved to stand up, putting his empty bowl on his tray and preparing to take it to the dish return. Izuku quickly gathered his tray up and followed Todoroki.

“So, Todoroki,” Izuku asked as they dropped their trays into the return chute. “Who do you think should be class rep?”

For a moment, Izuku thought that Todoroki had ignored him, or maybe just hadn’t heard him, given the screaming alarm still going. But then the teen turned to Izuku.

“Yaoyorozu seems like a good choice,” he said simply.

“I think so too, or maybe Iida,” Izuku said, trying to keep the conversation going.

As the two turned to head for the exit, the alarm finally died off. The sudden silence was slightly jarring, and Izuku’s ears still rang for a minute longer. Shaking his head to try to clear the temporary tinnitus, he looked over at Todoroki.

“Maybe,” the boy said in answer to Izuku’s previous statement, unphased by the sudden change in noise level around them.

Through the exit doors from the cafeteria, Izuku could see the crowd calm down and begin dispersing, probably heading back to their classrooms. He and Todoroki made their way into the hallway. Izuku looked out the wall lined with windows, with a view directly towards the front courtyard and thus the main entrance. He watched as teachers, and police, worked to escort members of the media off campus. Near the main entrance was a hole in the UA barrier. A hole, Izuku realized, that looked like it had been disintegrated. And he knew of only one person with both the quirk to do that, and an interest in bothering UA: Shigaraki Tomura. His dad’s secondary project and the current “face” of All for One’s operation. Though that operation hadn’t been doing much for the past two years, outside of the Doctor’s continued focus on the Nomu projects.

He frowned as he stared out at the destroyed wall. Why would Shigaraki attack the school? What was he after? Izuku did have to give props to the man, though, because he used the media as a distraction for whatever he tried to do. Meaning it was probably the Doctor or Kurogiri’s plan in actuality, but Shigaraki would claim it as his own. Izuku just figured it was something the entitled brat would do.

He’d forgotten he’d walked out of the cafeteria with Todoroki until the other teen spoke up.

“You seem very interested in that,” the boy said, startling Izuku. Izuku turned to face Todoroki, who was analyzing him.

“Oh, well, I mean, it’s a hole. In the UA barrier. I would think anyone would find that interesting since the barrier is supposed to be impenetrable.”

Todoroki glanced back out the window. “Nothing is ever impenetrable. Everything can be broken, eventually.” There was something loaded behind that statement, but Izuku didn’t know what it was.

“Uh, yeah, right,” Izuku said, scratching his cheek. “So, anyway, um, back to class?”

Todoroki just turned and walked off towards the Hero Course wing of the school, leaving Izuku behind for a moment until he hurried to catch up. The duo made the trek back to 1-A’s classroom in complete silence. At least, Izuku thought, he managed to get Todoroki to talk a little bit.

Once back in the classroom, Izuku found the other students excitedly discussing the events of the media infiltration of campus. Finding his seat, he opened his notebook but listened in to the nearby conversations.

Evidently, Iida had taken control of the situation, having Uraraka use her quirk on him so he could get above the crowd, and Yaoyorozu made him a megaphone. He then used that to call attention to himself and explain the alarm was just because of the media, and not because of an actual intruder. (Of course, he didn’t know the full truth like Izuku did. There had been an intruder, but he doubted the teachers would release that information. If they even knew.)

The story explained why the crowd seemed to calm down a few minutes before the alarm finally stopped. Izuku was a bit surprised at how long it had evidently taken the teachers to react, though perhaps the alarm was just the least of their worries as they got to work handling the media stampede. Or Nezu, the principal, wanted to see how the first years reacted under unknown circ*mstances. Probably both, if Izuku had an opinion.

Classes continued, though the first period after lunch was delayed slightly as the teachers worked to clean up the media incident. Aizawa filled them in on what happened, but it basically ended up being a repeat of what the class had already discussed. But the teacher’s eyes did land on Izuku for a moment longer, once again. Izuku just shrugged, causing Aizawa to roll his eyes.

Once the end of the day finally came around, Aizawa returned. He scanned the classroom before speaking.

“So, have you decided who is to be your Class Representative?” he asked them.

The students glanced around at each other. Had they figured it out?

“Let’s do one final round of votes, to see if we’ve made a decision,” Mina said, getting nods of agreement from the class. This time, she was the one to head to the front to tally up the votes.

Nominations began again, though this time it was far more limited. The options ended up only being: Iida, Yaoyorozu, Izuku, Bakugou, Mineta, and Aoyama. Izuku wasn’t too pleased with still being nominated, but he figured he wouldn’t end up getting enough votes to win.

Each student cast their vote, with Mina tallying them up as she went around the classroom. After a few minutes, the final results were in, with Mina excitedly circling the name of the winner.

Iida.

Izuku let out a quiet sigh of relief, earning a raised eyebrow from Bakugou before the boy scoffed and turned back to face the front. Interestingly enough, despite nominating himself, Bakugou had evidently not voted for himself, as he ended up with zero votes.

“Good,” Aizawa said, pushing off from the wall he’d been leaning against the entire time the class was working on nominating and voting. “And Yaoyorozu, you’re Vice Rep. You got the second most votes.”

“O-oh! Thank you, Sensei,” Yaoyorozu said, somewhat surprised.

Iida shot to his feet, moving to the front of the classroom and turning to regard the class.

“Thank you all for the vote of confidence. I promise to do well as your class rep!” He accentuated his words with his standard arm chopping. Izuku wondered if all of the Iida family was like that.

“One final announcement,” Aizawa said as Iida returned to his seat. “Before you leave. Normally this would be a surprise for 1-A, with 1-B being given the heads-up. But because of an issue with one of the 1-B students needing to be out of school the day of this particular event, Vlad King and I have decided to swap around the normal routine.” He paused for a moment. “We will be going to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ, for Rescue Training next week. I will let Thirteen, the hero who runs the USJ, explain more when we take our field trip. Class 1-B is going tomorrow, and we will be going next Tuesday.”

“Why don’t you normally tell 1-A?” Hagakure asked, apparently voicing a common question given the nods and sounds of agreement from several others.

“Because you are normally the first class to go, and so we surprise you the morning of so as to slightly throw you off guard. Class 1-B is normally told ahead of time because word travels fast and we can’t have each class go on back-to-back days due to the time it takes to reset and clean the USJ afterwards.” The teacher shrugged. “It’s nothing serious, just something we do to throw you off guard. Vlad does it to 1-B as well, when given the chance.”

“Now, get out. Class dismissed.” Aizawa waved them all off as he sat down at his desk to sort through homework that had been turned in earlier in the day.

As the class broke out into chatter, standing up and grabbing their things, Izuku tried to get Todoroki’s attention.

“Hey, Todoroki!” he called out, jumping to his feet.

The boy turned to stare at Izuku, no emotion on his face. Izuku stepped over to Todoroki’s desk, opening his mouth to talk when he was interrupted by Todoroki speaking first.

“I’m not here to make friends, Midoriya,” he said simply as he grabbed his bag and walked out of the classroom, leaving a speechless Izuku standing awkwardly, mouth in the middle of forming a word.

Izuku clamped his mouth shut, frowning as he watched Todoroki leave. He’d noticed the boy wasn’t talkative, but he chalked it up to Todoroki just not being used to being around normal teenagers? Because Yaoyorozu had stated she’d been homeschooled, and was a recommendation student just like Todoroki. And given that Endeavor was Todoroki’s father, Izuku figured the same situation applied to him.

“He’s just… like that,” the aforementioned girl said, drawing Izuku’s attention. “We’ve been to several of the same functions, between my parents’ companies and Todoroki’s father’s hero work. I tried to be friends with him, because he was one of the few people my age at those functions. But he never talked to me, only ever giving one word answers to my questions.”

“Oh…” Izuku said. “He was the only other one to stay in the cafeteria earlier, and we kind of chatted. But not about much.”

Yaoyorozu gathered her things and stood up. “Yes, I think that’s just how he is. Perhaps he’ll warm up to us more as the year goes on. Have a good day, Midoriya.”

“You too, Yaomomo.” Izuku gave her a small wave goodbye. He glanced over to his desk where Kaminari and Uraraka were waiting on him. He walked back over. “What’s up, guys? Aren’t you gonna head home?”

“In a bit,” Kaminari said. “I wanted to ask… um…” His gaze flitted away from Izuku’s as he mumbled. “Can you help me with my quirk?”

“Oh, of course, Kaminari!” Izuku said, smiling. “You don’t need to be nervous about asking me.”

“Well, it’s just, don’t you need to copy my quirk to help?”

“To best help, yes, but if you don’t want me to, I won’t.”

“Oh, no, it’s not that! I’m fine with you copying my quirk, it’s just… I didn’t know if you can just copy any quirk or not.”

“As far as I know, I can. Though I haven’t tried to copy any mutant quirks. I’m unsure if I want to deal with permanent mutations.” Izuku shrugged.

“What about me, Midoriya?” Uraraka asked, excitement in her eyes.

“Well, for you, I don’t think I need to copy your quirk to help. You already seem to have a good understanding of how it works, right? You even designed your hero costume to help with pressure points to counteract the nausea.”

Uraraka crossed her arms, pouting. “Yeah, I guess…”

Izuku just chuckled before turning back to Kaminari. “So, did you want me to help now?”

“If you have time?” Kaminari replied.

Izuku glanced past his two friends to look at Aizawa, who threw him a thumbs up. Evidently they weren’t in any rush to head home.

“Sure!” Kaminari’s face lit up at Izuku’s agreement.

“Use Gym Gamma, and call me if you need help,” Aizawa said.

Izuku nodded, grabbing his backpack and throwing it over his shoulders. “Follow me!” he said, making his way towards the door. His two friends were quick to follow. They hadn’t yet used Gym Gamma as a class, but Izuku knew where it was without having to check a map.

“So what exactly do you want my help with, Kaminari?” Izuku asked as they walked.

“Well, like I told you, if I go overboard with my quirk, my brain kinda slows down? And I become stupid… I don’t know why it works like that. Like, I remember enough from biology classes that the brain has some electrical stuff going on, but like why does my quirk affect that?”

“Maybe you use that electricity?” Uraraka offered, unsure.

“Perhaps,” Izuku said. “Though if he did, then using all of his electricity would basically shut down his brain fully… and he’d probably die. So I doubt it’s that.” Both Uraraka and Kaminari’s eyes widened at that thought. “It’s more likely that using your quirk just disrupts the normal discharges of those electrical signals in your brain.”

“Of course you’d have a good understanding of how brains work,” Kaminari said, head dropping down as he scuffed his shoe on the sidewalk.

“Well, you’ve heard Kacchan call me a nerd, so.” Izuku shrugged. “Here we are!” He gestured to the large building in front of them. “Come on, we can set our stuff down inside then we’ll see about helping understand your quirk.”

Izuku couldn’t deny that he was extremely happy to be getting another quirk to add to his arsenal, though he’d have to see how well he could use it given the way Kaminari explained how it worked. His inherent understanding of any quirk he copied would be beneficial, so maybe he wouldn’t overload his brain with it like Kaminari did.

Once they were inside, they set their belongings down on one of the benches by the wall. Izuku took off his uniform jacket and rolled up his sleeves, beckoning Kaminari to follow him out into the middle of the gym. It was just an empty room, though Izuku knew Cementoss could form obstacles of all sorts from the concrete floor when needed.

Kaminari, also shrugging off his uniform jacket, hurried out to meet Izuku. Uraraka just sat down to watch from the bench, merely there as moral support.

“Okay, first things first. Can I copy your quirk?” Izuku asked, making sure to get full permission before beginning.

“Will it hurt?”

“What?! No! You won’t even notice I did anything! Promise.”

“Okay, then yeah, you can do it.”

Izuku nodded, reaching out to grab at the thread of Kaminari’s quirk. He pulled it and opened his right palm where a yellow wisp floated. “This,” Izuku nodded down at his palm, “is a copy of your quirk.”

“Whoa…” Kaminari whispered, as if speaking any louder would somehow blow the wisp away.

Closing his palm, Izuku absorbed the quirk and felt it melt into his body. The sudden electrical power sent a shiver down his spine, and a few sparks arced along his palms before dying down. He felt a jolt in his brain as the quirk settled itself there, indicating it did actually use the electrical impulses of synapses firing as some part of the quirk. Closing his eyes, he let his Duplicate inform him on the workings of the quirk.

Electricity coursed through his body, tensing his muscles ever so slightly as it settled out. This was the quirk’s reach extending out so that any contact Izuku made with something could be a point where electricity could flow out of his body and into the object, or person, he wished to push the current into. But he could also feel a low level static field around him. Kaminari must be able to unleash his electricity all around him, even without being in contact with anyone. Dangerous, but useful as a last resort for defense.

“Wait, your electricity was green!” Kaminari said, causing Izuku to open his eyes again and refocus on the other teen. Kaminari was pointing at Izuku’s palms.

“Was it?” Izuku asked, looking down at his outstretched palms. He rubbed them together, creating friction and some static electricity. Lo and behold, the sparks were indeed green. Interesting. “Huh, so it is. That’s the second quirk I have that has changed colors from its original version.”

“What’s the other one?” Uraraka asked from the bench.

Izuku held his right hand up, letting it melt into the mist that he used for warp gate. Black and green mist fluttered where Izuku’s hand once was. “This one, my portal quirk. The original is purple and black, and mine is green and black. I don’t really get why it changes colors.”

“Wow, even you’re stumped on that?” Kaminari said, his eyes fixed on Izuku’s misty appendage.

“Yep, I don’t know everything, Kaminari,” Izuku chuckled, his hand returning to solid form. He shook it out, pushing away the pins and needles feeling. “Okay, so, I’m gonna be honest. I may have lied during the battle trial.”

“Wait, lied? About what?”

“About me probably having the same difficulty with your quirk as you do, as if a new quirk is completely foreign to me. My Duplicate actually gives me a pretty good, inherent understanding of any quirk I copy, so I can quickly pick up the best ways to use it. It’s probably the only reason I can even use my portal quirk. That is such a difficult quirk to control, you have no idea.”

“I mean, makes sense,” Kaminari muttered. “But wait, does this mean you know why my quirk overloads me?”

“Yeah, and I think it’s a mix between my and Uraraka’s thoughts on it. It does use the electrical impulses in your brain as a source. Those are literally the spark to the currents you can expel from your skin. But they don’t get used up, just reduced. And interrupted. Your brain keeps the most vital functions going. So like breathing, your heart beating, all that fun stuff. None of those signals get touched by your quirk. But the signals for things you’ve learned do get interrupted, hence why you go ‘stupid’ when you use your quirk too much. It’s also why, if you absorb too much electricity, the same issue would happen.”

“Huh, that’s kinda cool.”

“So we need to help you learn how to control how your quirk pulls electricity from your brain to use. You can use a small amount as a lightning rod for nearby electricity as well. Like how you poured power into that building during the battle trial, you could instead pull electricity out of it to store in your body for use. Obviously, like I said, too much will overload you in just the same way.”

“So I could also use my quirk to siphon from some other electric quirk user and hit them back with it?” Kaminari asked. “Because then I wouldn’t overload myself by having too much or too little current in my brain, right?”

“Exactly!” Izuku said, earning a bright smile from Kaminari.

“So how do we test it?”

“Hm, well, we’d want to let you store some electricity, or expel it, so that you were a bit lower than normal, that way we have more to work with when it comes to putting power back in you, and you need to try to see if you can control the current you expel.” Izuku brought a hand to his chin as he thought. “Oh! The support course has plenty of capacitors. Gimme just a second!”

Izuku formed a warp gate and stepped through, appearing in one of the first year support labs. A crashing of metal welcomed him and he whipped around to one of the lab spaces to see a pink-haired girl staring at him, goggles on her head.

“Who are you?” she asked, shoving the fallen metal to the side. She skipped over to him quickly, leaning in and analyzing him. “Did you just portal in here? Is that your quirk? Oh, I wonder if any of my babies would be useful for you!”

“I’m sorry, your what?” Izuku asked, leaning away from the girl.

“My babies!” the girl repeated, gesturing to her lab space where several inventions lay strewn around the floor and tables.

“Oh… that makes far more sense,” Izuku muttered. He shook his head. “Um, I’m Midoriya Izuku. Yes I portaled here. No it’s not my quirk, per se, because my real quirk is a copy quirk and the portal one is just one of many I’ve copied. Also, do you happen to have any capacitors? I’m helping a friend with an electrification quirk learn to control it better.”

“Hatsume Mei, future founder of Hatsume Industries!” Hatsume said, jutting out a hand for Izuku to shake. “You have more than one quirk? That could mean a lot of potential babies!” She whipped around and scurried back into her lab space, rummaging through a pile of discarded metal and pieces of technology. “Here we go!” she turned around and held up something that looked like a capacitor, but also as if she’s made it herself. “This is one of my babies! A capacitor that can store far more electricity than any known capacitor!”

Izuku gingerly took the offered item. “Is it… safe? Like, does it actually work?”

“Of course it does! Well, maybe. It does sometimes overload and expel all the electricity inside! But that’s only happened…” She counted out on her fingers. “About seven times? It’s great, I promise!”

“Hatsume!” a stern voice called. “You can’t go giving the hero course your support tech without my permission!”

“Oh, come on, Power Loader Sensei! He needs a capacitor, and this baby is perfect!” Hatsume snatched the item back from Izuku’s hands and held it out to the new arrival: the hero/teacher Power Loader.

“You need to work out the problems in it before I let it out of the labs, you know that,” Power Loader said, shaking his head. “Come here, hero course, I’ve got a few normal capacitors you can use. Electrification quirk, you said?”

“Um, yeah,” Izuku replied as he followed after the support course teacher, glancing back at Hatsume who was back to working on… something as if they hadn’t just been having a conversation.

Power Loader nodded, reaching into a low cabinet and pulling out two capacitors. “These should do ya fine.” He handed them to Izuku. “Just return them when you’re done. You can give ‘em to Eraser Head if you want, or bring ‘em back to me. Either way.”

“Thank you!” Izuku said as he took the capacitors. He stacked them on top of each other, so he could hold them in one hand, and formed a new portal back to Gym Gamma with his free hand.

Finally back in the gym, he found Kaminari and Uraraka sitting on the bench, browsing their phones. They jumped when he called out to them.

“Sorry! Got held up by one of the support course students! But here are the capacitors!” Izuku set the capacitors down. “So how about we get to trying out your quirk control?” Kaminari eagerly nodded as he stood up, setting his phone back in his backpack and jogging out to the middle of the gym again.

“Okay, so…” Izuku began to explain the plan for the training they’d do. They’d either mess around until they got tired, were kicked out by the teachers, or Kaminari accidentally overdid it.

Unsurprisingly, it was the latter option that came to pass.

Chapter 11: Field Trips and f*ck Ups

Chapter Text

“Line up in class order, please!” Iida yelled over the din of the class’s chatter. “We will be sitting in pairs on the bus, and it’s easiest if everyone is in class order!”

Izuku watched as the tall teen tried to get everyone’s attention, so focused on making them follow his way of doing things. He truly was the class rep and it had only been a few days. Shaking his head, Izuku turned to look at Aizawa.

“It’s not that kind of bus, is it?”

“No, but we’ll see how long it takes for him to figure that out. We’re not even leaving campus. The training camps are the only time we use normal buses, and those are still owned by UA.” AIzawa stared down at his phone, frowning as he explained the bus situation.

“Let me guess,” Izuku said, sidling up to his guardian (soon-to-be adoptive father since they finally got the paperwork submitted). “All Might was an idiot?”

The teacher just scoffed, rolling his eyes but giving Izuku a smirk. “It’s entertaining that you know the truth behind that. The idiot decided he just had to stop some petty crimes and help some old ladies this morning.”

“So he’s gonna be late or what?”

“Who knows. Other than only having myself and Thirteen to supervise you heathens, I don’t see a real need for him to even show up.”

“Isn’t he technically the assigned teacher for Fundamentals of Heroics?”

“We both are, because the hero course homeroom teachers usually take it upon themselves. But Nezu just had to go and hire the buffoon.”

Izuku barked out a laugh, quickly covering his mouth with his hands to quiet himself and not draw attention from the class. He had to admit, he oh so loved making fun of All Might with Aizawa. Mic wasn’t as much of a fan of their disdain for the bigshot hero, thinking All Might was an alright guy. Izuku and Aizawa, in response, always shared a look and snorted at Mic’s innocence in all the chaos that was the All Might-Izuku relationship.

Was that healthy coping? Probably not. But Aizawa never pushed him, and since Mic didn’t know about everything, the other man didn’t even think Izuku needed therapy or anything. Or, well, he probably did but just thought Izuku didn’t have any excessive issues despite his parents dying on his birthday. Definitely not a big issue. Nope.

“Get over with the rest, we’re about ready to leave,” Aizawa said, nodding towards the crowd.

“Ugh, fine,” Izuku whined. He stalked over to the class, pouting, and found his way to stand next to Kaminari and Uraraka. Yaoyorozu was in the front, trying her best to convince Iida it wasn’t that kind of bus . He was having none of it.

“Heya, Midoriya!” Kaminari greeted him, smiling. “Thanks again for the help last week! I managed to snag some time with one of the support course people to work on a way to get some long range use out of my quirk.”

“Was it the girl with the pink hair?”

“Uh, no? Why? Should it have been?”

Izuku chuckled. “Nah, I think she’s going to focus on me anyway after I told her about my quirk. She’s just… a lot. Eccentric, to put it mildly. Pretty sure she’s gonna take over the support tech world when she graduates.”

“She sounds terrifying,” Uraraka chimed in. “I like her already.”

“Agreed,” Kaminari said. “Remind me to avoid her though, I don’t think I could handle a girl like that.”

“You can’t handle any girl, Kaminari,” Uraraka said, sticking her tongue out teasingly.

“Hey!” Kaminari whined, throwing his hands up. “I’m not as hopeless as Mineta!”

“Not exactly what I meant, but you’re right,” Uraraka added, nodding. Izuku snorted.

“Wait, what did you mean then?”

Before Uraraka could even try to answer, Aizawa was standing at the front of the crowd and calling attention to himself. Doing his usual flaring of Erasure and glaring at the class, the teenagers quieted down quickly.

“Everyone on the bus, and Iida,” he turned to look at the boy, “it’s not that kind of bus.”

“I-” Iida spluttered. Yaoyorozu just smiled, shaking her head as she led the way onto the bus, leaving Iida behind.

Onboard the bus, the class discovered the seating was arranged in a massive U-shape, circling around at the back. Aizawa settled into the driver seat, waiting for the teens to find their own spots and settle in as well. Once everyone was seated, Aizawa turned to the wheel and kicked the bus into gear, pulling out of the courtyard of the main building and heading down a long road towards the USJ.

“So, Thirteen is like, my favorite hero ever,” Uraraka said, her excitement palpable as she nearly vibrated in her seat next to Izuku. “I wanna be a rescue hero like her! My quirk would be so useful! Especially since I don’t really know how to fight all that well… All I can do is slap people and use my quirk.”

“Well, first off, that issue is going to be remedied by our quirkless sparring classes,” Izuku said. “Secondly, there’s nothing wrong with that anyway. Not everyone got into martial arts prior to coming to UA.”

“I didn’t, that’s for sure,” Kaminari added, shrugging.

“Wait, quirkless sparring? When’re we doing that?” Uraraka tilted her head.

Izuku forgot that Aizawa hadn’t yet mentioned those. Whoops. “Uh, well, probably next heroics class, or around then? We have to learn to fight, even if not all of us will end up being frontline heroes.”

“Makes sense,” Yaoyorozu chimed in from her spot on the opposite side of Uraraka. “Especially for those of us whose quirks aren’t fully combat oriented. Take mine, for example. Yes, I can make weapons of all sorts, but I can’t use my Creation as a weapon itself.”

“You could use it for defense, though, right?” Izuku asked, leaning forward to look around Uraraka at Yaoyorozu. “Like, couldn’t you only semi-create something like a shield and basically give yourself instant armor?”

“I… well I’ve never tried that, to be honest. I’m unsure how that would work.” Yaoyorozu frowned, staring down at the bare skin of her arms. “Do you really think I could manage that?”

“I don’t see why not.” Izuku smiled. “You can stop a creation, right? Cancel it if you don’t need it, or if you get incapacitated before it's finished?” The girl nodded. “Then I don’t see why you couldn’t stop a creation before it fully formed and disconnected from your body, but also make it so it could actually be used. Might require some finer control since you’d still have it basically welded to your body, and then we have the problem of getting it off of your body once you’re done using it. Like, would you have to finish its creation, or could you just cut off the connection to your body? Or, or! Could you reabsorb it and store the lipids again?”

Izuku’s three friends just stared at him wide-eyed, many of their classmates doing the same, as Izuku rambled on about the possibilities.

“f*ck’s sake, Deku, shut up,” Bakugou growled, dragging a palm down his face.

“You’re just jealous he’s not helping with your quirk, ribbit,” Asui said.

“I am f*cking NOT!” Bakugou yelled, whipping around to glare at the girl. She was unphased and just shrugged at him. He seethed as he crossed his arms and sank down in his seat, glaring at Izuku again.

Yaoyorozu let out a small cough. “Um, so, that sounds like something we could work on? I’d love to have your help figuring all that out, if you’re willing.”

“I’d be more than happy to help you with your quirk, Yaomomo!” Izuku said excitedly. Could he maybe be getting Creation offered to him? Because the things he could do with that quirk were endless. If he got it, he could check off one his most sought after quirks from his classmates. The only other one that was on the same level as Yaoyorozu’s was Todoroki’s, for obvious reasons.

Yaoyorozu beamed at him, nearly imitating the same expression Kaminari had given Izuku when he’d asked for help. If this was the reaction Izuku was going to get every time he agreed to help his classmates, well… he’d say he’d be pretty happy.

“Alright, we’re here,” Aizawa’s voice called out from the front as the bus lurched to a stop in front of a massive domed building.

The class on that side of the bus stared up at the USJ, faces nearly on the windows before they finally rushed out of the vehicle to view the building without glass in the way. Someone let out a low whistle of amazement, and Izuku had to say he agreed with their sentiment. And they hadn’t even gone inside yet.

“Welcome!” a voice called, drawing the class’s attention. Making her way down the steps from the front entrance was the Space Hero: Thirteen. Izuku could feel the excited energy radiating off of Uraraka next to him. “As I’m sure you’ve already been told, this is the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ! I hope you think it’s just as cool as Universal Studios Japan, because the amount of times they get compared is honestly comical.” Thirteen chuckled.

“Today, you’ll be going through basic rescue training with Thirteen,” Aizawa said, moving to stand next to the other hero. “Today’s class will focus more on the basics of rescues, rather than throwing you all straight into it. However, we wanted you in costume so we can go over how useful, or hindering, your current costumes are for possible rescue work.”

“Well, then, follow me!” Thirteen waved them after her as she turned around to head into the USJ.

If they’d been amazed at the building from the outside, the absolute wonder of the building’s contents blew those first impressions out of the park. The class nearly all gasped as their eyes adjusted from the dimness of the entrance hallway to the bright light cast on the building from the massive fluorescents lining the ceiling. The USJ was divided up into several zones, with a courtyard in the center that held a large fountain, surrounded by benches.

“As you can see, the USJ has several areas which simulate natural disasters! We have the landslide zone, the flood zone, ruins zone, mountain zone, conflagration zone, and downpour zone!” Thirteen gestured widely to the zones. “Each zone allows us to control the environment so that, while we may aim for as realistic a disaster as possible, we can ensure your safety while you learn the ins and outs of rescue training! So, are any of you already interested in focusing more on rescue work as a pro?”

A few hands were raised, Uraraka’s shooting up so fast Izuku thought she’d dislocated it.

“Great!” Thirteen cheered. “I’m happy to see we already have some potential rescue heroes in the making! Now, if you’ll-”

The lights flickered for a moment before they all went out, sending the entire building into pitch black darkness. Izuku, on instinct, activated his night vision and scanned his classmates. They seemed nervous, which was fair given this was an entirely unexpected event.

Thirteen, however, just sighed, pulling out a flashlight and grumbling. “Our esteemed principal has taken it upon himself to try to get UA as self-sustaining as possible, meaning he’s been working on overhauling our electrical grid with new generators. He told me it wouldn’t affect the USJ until after the first years’ initial rescue training, but evidently he was wrong.”

“Unusual for Nezu,” Aizawa said, glancing towards Izuku. Of course, Izuku’s glowing eyes could be seen in the darkness. It was probably pretty eerie.

“True, but it should just take a breaker reset. We have our own backup generators. Everyone stay here, I’ll be back shortly.” Izuku watched as Thirteen headed off towards what was undoubtedly the control room, tucked along the outer edge of the building.

Deciding he had nothing better to do, Izuku walked towards the main stairwell, planning on sitting down on the top step while his class huddled together in the darkness. He could hear Yaoyorozu apologizing for the fact that she couldn’t yet make them their own flashlights, and that she’d get on learning the overall combination of elements as soon as she could.

As he moved to take a seat, movement in the central plaza caught Izuku’s eye. He looked down towards the fountain to find…

“That little sh*t…” Izuku grumbled as he straightened back up. Throwing a cautionary glance back at Aizawa and his class, thankful that they weren’t paying him any mind, (probably because they couldn’t see him), Izuku formed a warp gate to the central plaza and stomped through it.

“-perfectly! The hero brats won’t know what hit them! And All Might will be-”

“Oi, Shigaraki!” Izuku whisper-yelled as he stormed over to the man. “What in the hell do you think you’re doing here?”

“Wh-what? Young master?” Kurogiri stuttered. And wow, Izuku had never heard Kurogiri stutter before. “Today was supposed to be Class 1-B’s day at the USJ, was it not?”

“It was, until the teachers had to swap which day each class went due to a family conflict,” Izuku explained. “Now, tell me why you’re here.”

“Damn brat,” Shigaraki snarled, reaching a hand out towards Izuku. “Guess we’ll have to start with this one.”

“I would not recommend-” Kurogiri started to say before Izuku made his move.

Dropping his night vision, he flipped to Erasure as Shigaraki’s hand met his face. Reaching his own hand out, he snagged Shigaraki’s forearm and pulled Decay out with All for One. Thankful for his specially made gloves, Izuku ripped the arm of his now quirkless opponent away from his face.

“The bar?” Izuku asked Kurogiri before leaning to the side to see the massive monster standing on the other side of the warper. “Is that a f*cking Nomu?! You brought a Nomu to my school?!”

“Yes, the bar, young master,” Kurogiri said, having regained his composure.

“What the fu-” Shigaraki said as he realized his quirk wasn’t working.

“You, hush,” Izuku said, still gripping Shigaraki’s forearm hard enough to leave a mark.

“We may have also brought several dozen villains to, ah, help take down All Might,” Kurogiri continued.

“Get them out of here. I’ll handle this idiot and the Nomu,” Izuku said, glaring at his former guardian. He whipped around, forming a new warp gate, large enough for the Nomu to step through, with his free hand. Drawing on his brawn boost strength, Izuku threw Shigaraki through the gate. “Nomu, come,” he commanded.

The hulking monster slowly turned and lumbered through the warp gate, Izuku following after it. Kurogiri was thus left alone to handle the return of all the villains he’d so kindly brought along to begin with.

Izuku stepped into the dimly lit bar, noticing the Nomu was bent over in order to fit inside the building. “Sit,” he commanded it, and the monster instantly dropped onto its butt and sat there, staring at nothing yet everything at the same time. “Wow, you’re something,” Izuku mumbled before turning to glare daggers at Shigaraki.

“Who the f*ck do you think you are, hero brat?” Shigaraki practically screeched, clawing at the dry skin of his neck. “Why didn’t my quirk work on you?!”

“Because I blocked it, then took it, you idiot,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes so hard he was surprised they didn’t see his brain. He took off one of his gloves and reached out to grab a chair at a nearby table. He gripped it with all five fingers of his now bare hand and the chair disintegrated into dust.

“But-” Shigaraki said, eyes wide, as Izuku slipped his glove back on.

“Nope,” Izuku interrupted. “I’m asking the questions. And my biggest one is… what in the hell do you have hanging off your body? Are those hands?!” He cringed back, making a face of disgust at Shigaraki. “Dude, what in the actual f*ck is wrong with you?”

Shigaraki cradled the disembodied hands protectively. “They’re my family!”

“And I thought I had family issues,” Izuku mumbled. “We’ll unpack that another time, sound good?”

“I’m going to kill you,” Shigaraki snarled.

“Not without your quirk you aren’t,” Izuku reminded him. “Doctor! I know you’re listening!”

An old TV sparked to life, its screen mere static. “Young Master,” the voice of the Doctor said through the old device. “A pleasure to see you again. What brings you in today?”

“Get me a quirk vial, one that I can carry with me so I can take this idiot’s quirk more easily,” Izuku said.

“I don’t believe that’s necessary, Young Master, surely-”

“That wasn’t a request, Doctor. I may not yet know the coordinates of your new lab, but Kurogiri certainly does. And your little Nomu are programmed to listen to me, so I’m sure I can get a hold of Johnny and have him warp me there.”

“Ri-right away, Young Master,” the Doctor said, his voice much less confident now.

If he was being honest, the power Izuku felt in that moment was intoxicating. The Doctor once again afraid of him. Shigaraki standing there, silently gaping at him. Kurogiri doing grunt work to get idiotic, probably low-ranking, villains out of the USJ before they caused any harm. All because of little Izuku. He couldn’t help the snort that thought brought on.

His phone buzzed and Izuku pulled it out carefully. Yeah, he trusted his gloves to block Decay from activating, but he still had to be careful. Glancing at the screen, he saw coordinates from an unknown number. He shook his head before making a warp to that location and stepping through.

Unsurprisingly, he found himself in the Doctor’s lab. The man was sweating nervously as he finished putting together a small device.

“Th-this should work as a more portable quirk container,” the Doctor said, holding the device out to Izuku. “It should fit securely in one of the hidden pockets of your hero costume.”

“How do you know I have hidden pockets?” Izuku asked, narrowing his eyes as he snatched the device. He deposited Decay into it and watched the device glow a bluish-gray color. He tucked the device away in one of his aforementioned hidden pockets and pulled off his glove, making grabbing motions with it. “Test object?”

The Doctor grabbed a piece of scratch paper, which held scribbles of some kind of formula, and handed it to Izuku. “Because your design is very similar to the outfit we made you during your vigilante phase. I just assumed you would keep many of the beneficial aspects of that suit for your hero costume.”

When the paper didn’t turn to dust in his hand, Izuku nodded contentedly. “Fair.” He set the piece of paper back on the nearby lab table before turning to leave, forming a new warp gate. He glanced back at the Doctor and frowned. “I will be back to discuss Shigaraki. Don’t think I’m letting you off the hook that easily, Doctor.”

“Of course, Young Master.” The Doctor bowed obediently to Izuku as the teen turned and stepped through his warp gate.

Izuku returned to the bar just in time for Kurogiri to do the same. The elder warper looked as if his brow was furrowed. Izuku had gotten good at discerning subtle facial expressions from the eyes in Kurogiri’s head-mist.

“Ah, Young Master, I do apologize but not every villain was retrievable.”

Izuku pursed his lips, his gaze hardening. “And why not?”

“They had encountered the hero Thirteen and in order to keep our existence a secret, I figured it best to let her take care of them. They were mere D-rank villains, so nothing she couldn’t take care of.”

Izuku dragged a hand down his face, groaning. “Amazing.” He whipped around to face Shigaraki again. “Why exactly were you attempting to attack the USJ?”

“I don’t have to explain sh*t to you,” Shigaraki spat.

“Kurogiri?” Izuku asked, tilting his head ever so slightly as he continued to glare at Shigaraki.

“Young Tomura was able to retrieve the hero course’s schedule for their trips to the USJ a few days ago.” The break-in and the media stampede. “The schedule claimed that your class, 1-A, would be attending the USJ at the end of last week, and that 1-B would be attending today. Both were supposed to have All Might as a chaperone.” Of course this all centered around that idiot. “Given that you are in 1-A, the Doctor and I convinced Tomura to attack the facility today. We set up a backdoor into the power system to blackout the facility, as you saw, before we made our move.”

“Well done on that, honestly. The teachers thought it was something to do with the power system upgrade for campus. Also, All Might is an idiot and wasn’t even there,” Izuku said, still staring at Shigaraki. “So you would have been wasting our resources for nothing.”

“Yes, we were aware of that and determined that if we did not try our plan now, we would be unable to achieve the backdoor power control to blackout the facility,” Kurogiri said.

“Our resources?” Shigaraki snarled. “You’re just a hero brat who got lucky!” Izuku couldn’t help the snort he made.

“Are you honestly this big of an idiot? Why the hell did my father want you as an alternate to his legacy?” Izuku rolled his eyes. “Do you remember meeting a young man who called himself ‘Shadow’ several weeks ago?” Shigaraki nodded slowly, appearing to finally, finally be putting the pieces together. Izuku grinned at him. “That was me! And I’m not just some random villain or vigilante that Kurogiri knew.” He crossed his arms, shifted his weight to one leg and smirked. “I am the son of All for One.” Izuku pulled out the quirk vial. “And this is your quirk, which I took, using All for One.”

Shigaraki stared at the glowing vial, hands itching to grab at it. They twitched forward ever so slightly before he pulled them back to scratch at his neck.

“Sure, try to take it. Whole lotta good that’ll do, since you don’t have All for One, and I do believe my father is…” Izuku turned to glance at Kurogiri. With a subtle shifting of his yellow eyes, he answered Izuku’s unspoken question. “Indisposed currently, yes? So while you may be allowed all these playthings,” he gestured to the Nomu who still sat in the middle of the bar, “you are not the new leader of our empire.”

“Young Master, for now, the plan was to have Young Tomura lead a branch of it that we decided to call the ‘League of Villains.’ It is a disposable name should we decide to try something else, but it will be the front for our plans for the foreseeable future given Master’s schedule.”

Kurogiri had moved to stand behind his bar, immediately getting to work wiping a glass down. A nervous habit if Izuku had ever seen one. To be fair, the man had plenty of things to be nervous about, given his real master was in the bar threatening the man-child who thought himself as the grand leader of All for One’s remaining resources. Izuku would be pretty nervous too if this whole exchange was happening with his father in Izuku’s position and Izuku as the observer like Kurogiri.

“I see,” Izuku said as he sauntered over to the bar, taking a seat in one of the stools. He was probably wasting too much time, and should really be getting back to his class, but he was enjoying himself too much. He inspected the nails of the fingers not covered by his gloves. “So, you were going to attack the USJ, because All Might was there, and your goal is to kill All Might, yes?” Shigaraki scowled at him. “Well, I for one have no qualms with that idiot dying. However, there’s something about him that is bothering me. A feeling that I need something from him, but I’m unsure what it is yet. So we’ll have to hold off on the killing until I figure that out.”

“But without their shining pillar, hero society would collapse!” Shigaraki argued, taking a step forward before thinking better of it. Good, he was learning.

“Yes, it would.” Izuku pondered for a moment. “Well, it probably would since most heroes have gotten complacent. Such as nearly letting a middle school student die because they thought they didn’t have the quirk to fight a villain. But there are still some out there that are actually heroes because they care about the world, about the people they protect.” He huffed. “You can continue your little League of Villains fun. Work on a new plan of killing All Might. Just don’t squander any more of our resources on crappy low-ranking villains to use as cannon fodder. Use up the ones you have, then figure out a better tactic.”

Izuku hopped up out of his seat and walked back over to Shigaraki. With one hand he held the quirk vial containing Decay, and with the other he gripped Shigaraki’s arm again. Using All for One to pull Decay into himself, he quickly passed it back to its original owner.

“There, your quirk back.” Izuku tucked the portable quirk vial into his costume again. “Remember this: I know where you live, and I have the ability to take your quirk away. Or just kill you, but that’s not as fun and not really my style. Kurogiri can attest to that.” Izuku’s cheeky grin turned into a scowl and a glare, like a flip had been switched. “Do not cross me, understood?”

“Yes,” Shigaraki said through gritted teeth.

His toothy grin returned, the smile wide enough to crinkle his eyes. “Great!” His phone buzzed, this time a text from Aizawa asking for his whereabouts. “Oh, darn, guess I gotta go!” He patted Shigaraki on the shoulder, then tazed the young man with his copy of Kaminari’s quirk, causing Shigaraki to collapse to the floor, body writhing from the electric shock.

Izuku strutted back towards the Nomu still seated on the ground. He gave it a pat on the… beak? Yeah, that was probably the best description for it.

“Seeya, big guy. I’m sure Kurogiri will get you settled back wherever they keep you stored.”

The Nomu grunted at Izuku, its eyes locking onto his for a moment before they returned to their glazed over appearance.

“Yep, still think these guys are weird,” Izuku mumbled, shrugging. He formed a warp gate to take him back to the USJ. “Bye, Kurogiri!” he said cheerily.

“Farewell, Young Master,” the warper said, his invisible smile evident in his voice.

Izuku stepped through the portal and found himself in the midst of… not chaos thankfully, but something at least mildly exciting. The backup generators must have been turned on, allowing some of the lights to once again illuminate the USJ. The class was huddled together, obviously still a massive bundle of nerves and anxiety if their jitteriness was any indication.

He caught sight of Aizawa at the same time the man saw him. Izuku cringed internally at the glare he was being given by his guardian, but kept it from showing on his face. The man was not happy, and Izuku figured it didn’t only have to do with the group of unconscious villains tied up next to him. Izuku was in for another not-so-fun conversation that night. Yay.

“Midoriya!” the voices of his friends cried as they rushed over to him.

“Oh, hey guys,” Izuku said, giving them a small wave. His confidence from his encounter with Shigaraki bled out of him as his friends surrounded him.

“Where were you?!” Uraraka said, tears threatening her eyes. Oh, that wasn’t good.

“Oh, uh, I got distracted by something?” Izuku tried to lie. Damn, he was usually better at this. Why were his friends’ worries turning his brain to mush?

“There were villains!” Kaminari gestured towards the group tied up by the teachers. “Dude, you coulda been attacked or something!”

“Kaminari, I think I could have handled myself if that had happened,” Izuku scoffed, though he didn’t feel like meeting his friends’ eyes right now. Instead, he stared down at his shoes, kicking his foot to scuff against the concrete floor.

“I mean, yeah probably,” Kaminari agreed, “but still! Dude!”

“We were so worried!” Uraraka muttered, sniffling.

“Ah, I’m sorry guys.” Izuku rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “Didn’t mean to make you worry. But look, I mean, Thirteen took care of the villains right? So there was nothing to worry about!”

“I guess…” Uraraka said. “But don’t ever run off like that again! It was so dark and we had no idea where you went! Once you turned away from us, we couldn’t see your eyes anymore!”

“Oh, right, those,” Kaminari squinted, staring at Izuku’s eyes. “What quirk was that?”

“Night vision.”

“Handy,” Kaminari said, nodding his approval.

“Yep, just can’t be used at the same time as Erasure so I have to practice swapping between them.” Izuku shrugged. He turned to Uraraka. “But I promise I won’t go running off again.” Surely he said that well enough to be believed, right?

“Good,” the girl said, nodding.

As she and Kaminari turned to make their way back to the rest of the class, Izuku let out a sigh of relief at being believed, and not grilled even more. He was going to get enough of that from Aizawa later. Before they could realize he wasn’t following them, he jogged to catch up and situated himself soundly in the back of their class.

The police, as well as several other UA teachers, arrived soon after to take care of the villains that Aizawa and Thirteen had captured. One by one, the students were interviewed by the police. Except for Izuku, oddly. Instead, Aizawa just clasped a hand onto Izuku’s shoulder, grip probably tighter than it needed to be but Izuku wasn’t about to voice a complaint.

“You’re having a talk with a different group,” Aizawa leaned down to whisper, causing Izuku to swallow nervously. He just nodded in response.

sh*t, sh*t, sh*t, how was he going to explain the situation? He couldn’t just tell them what happened, that would doom him to Tartarus probably. Or at least get him expelled from UA, which couldn’t happen. Because without UA, he’d be forced to take over the League of Villains, and then Tartarus really was the only outcome if he was ever caught by the heroes. Plus, he maybe, slightly, possibly didn’t want to disappoint Shouta. So what if he actually had gotten attached to the man, and Zashi of course, but mostly Shouta. Shouta knew he had a questionable past, to put it mildly, yet he still cared for Izuku. And so, Izuku didn’t want to ruin their relationship if he could help it.

Slowly, the police’s questioning of his classmates came to a close, and the students were instructed to reboard the bus for the ride back to the main campus. Aizawa, still with his hand on Izuku’s shoulder, didn’t follow them. Which meant they weren’t going back to the school with the rest of 1-A.

Once the class was aboard the bus, a cheery Snipe taking the wheel and driving off, Aizawa walked around to stand in front of Izuku, staring down at him.

“Nezu wants to speak with us. Make one of your portals back to the classroom, then we’ll head up from there.”

“Why didn’t we just take the bus?” Izuku asked, though immediately regretted it when Aizawa glared down at him. He just sighed, slouching, then reached a hand out to form a warp gate to the classroom. It was actually surprising that his respect for Aizawa, and thus his obedience to his guardian, overpowered his own feeling of superiority that he had with the Doctor and Shigaraki.

The two stepped through the portal, which placed them at the front of the 1-A classroom. Aizawa pinched the bridge of his nose as Izuku reabsorbed the mist from his portal, his hand solidifying again. He shook it out, having used Warp Gate enough in the past hour to cause the numbness to show its annoying head.

“We didn’t catch the actual people behind that attempted attack, as I’m sure you’re well aware,” Aizawa said, not turning to look at Izuku, which just made the teen feel small. “However, they claimed there was a mastermind behind the plot, and that the man had a ‘warper and a monster’ with him. I also managed a short glimpse of dark purple mist, much like yours, when the lights came back on.”

Aizawa finally turned to look at Izuku, his face showing… sadness? That wasn’t what Izuku was expecting.

“I already spoke with Nezu about my observations, and Thirteen’s encounter with the man’s lackeys. However, as I mentioned, he wants to speak with us directly.”

“Okay…” Izuku said quietly, dropping his head.

Letting out a long sigh, Aizawa just shook his head before turning on his heel and heading for the door. Izuku robotically followed after him. Was he about to be expelled? Would Sho and Zashi rescind their application to formally adopt him?

A hand in his hair brought him back to the present, and he realized they were at the door that led to the principal’s office. Izuku looked up to see Shouta eyeing him.

“Kid, you were mumbling.” Izuku paled. He thought he’d grown out of that. “First, you’re not getting expelled on my watch. If the rat tries it, he’s losing two of his best teachers along with a promising student. And two, Zashi and I would never take back our desire for you to be our kid, alright?”

For the first time in years, Izuku felt the welling of Midoriya tears behind his eyes. He and his mom had been avid criers, though his dad had helped both of them gain better control of their emotions. Yet still, rarely, the dam that held the waterfall back would crack, and tears would stream. But Izuku couldn't have that now. So he straightened up, sniffling a bit and wiping his eyes, and looked back at Shouta with a determined gaze.

“Thanks,” he said first, because Shouta's words meant a lot. “I think I'm ready.”

Shouta ruffled Izuku’s hair, nodding, then turned to knock on the principal's door. Izuku was about to finally come face-to-face with one of the few beings who just might be able to put all the pieces together and figure out who he really was. There weren't many pieces, but Izuku's understanding of Nezu, and his quirk High Specs, prevented him from underestimating the principal.

And maybe, just maybe, he'd come clean with Shouta finally. So he could have some backup on covering his tracks. Just because he was the son of a supervillain, and somewhat worked with villains trying to take down All Might and hero society, didn't necessarily mean Izuku was a villain. Right?

Besides, Shouta seemed to agree with Izuku’s opinion on the current hero society, and since Izuku's current plan was trying to fix it from the inside, he was doing right by Shouta… Right?

“Please come in!” a cheery voice said through the door.

Locking eyes one final time, Shouta and Izuku made their way into the office of the UA Principal, both nervous and determined to deal with whatever the principal tried to throw their way.

Chapter 12: Honesty

Chapter Text

“Welcome, welcome! Please, sit down,” Nezu greeted them, gesturing a paw to the couches in front of his desk. The animal principal then procured a tea set from somewhere in his desk, the pot already steaming from freshly steeped tea. “Tea?”

Neither Izuku nor Shouta responded, but the principal poured them each a cup of tea anyway, hopping up onto his desk and padding across it to hand them their cups. He returned to his chair and took a sip of his tea as he eyed the teacher and student.

“So, young Midoriya,” Nezu said, causing Izuku to straighten up. “Shouta here recounted the events of the USJ to me. Power went out and so Thirteen went to turn on back-up generators but was met by several low-ranking villains. When he went to help, he claims to have seen mist much like yours when you make portals. Evidently you were also missing when power was restored and the lights came back on. Care to explain where you went?”

Izuku swallowed nervously, quickly glancing to Shouta for any possible assistance. The man just frowned, knowing that they were stuck. Izuku couldn’t get out of this without telling at least some of the truth to Nezu, which could have horrible repercussions.

After a few moments, with Nezu silently sipping more tea while his eyes never left Izuku, the teen finally sighed and slumped in his seat.

“I saw movement in the middle of the USJ, by the fountain, after the lights went off because of my night vision quirk. I decided to check it out because I figured nothing much was happening besides waiting around for the lights.” Izuku refused to meet Nezu’s gaze. “It turned out to be someone I knew before I met Sensei, and he was, um, just checking up on me, though the timing was horrible.” Izuku let out a very awkward chuckle at his attempt at a lie and a joke. “I told him to go home and leave us alone, and that I’d update him on my life soon.”

“I see,” Nezu hummed. “And would this ‘someone’ happen to be the person you copied your warping quirk from?”

“It might have been, yes,” Izuku said.

“Interesting,” Nezu said. “Do you have any idea where the villains that attacked Thirteen might have come from?”

“No,” Izuku lied, deciding to stick to simple answers and forever grateful he hadn’t had to answer these kinds of questions with Detective Tsukauchi instead. He vowed to come clean with Shouta later that night. Or at least, as clean as he possibly could without forcing Shouta to take action.

Nezu’s eyes narrowed, examining Izuku for several very long seconds. But then, the principal relaxed and clapped his paws together.

“Well, Thirteen’s belief was that the villains who attacked her were also who cut the power, and I would have to agree.” Izuku didn’t dare look up at the principal for fear of giving away his immense relief at them believing that story. “However, I do recommend you not stray from your class during any future accident like that. You never know what trouble you could get into. You are dismissed, Young Midoriya. I do need to speak with Shouta here for a while longer. So go change out of your hero costume. I believe Yamada is in the teacher’s lounge.”

“Yes, sir,” Izuku said, quickly standing up and giving the principal a small bow. Shouta’s hand reached out to pat Izuku’s arm before the teen left. Izuku gave him a smile in return before getting out of the principal’s office as quickly, but calmly, as possible.

He headed straight for the locker rooms to change, wondering if anyone would still be around or they’d all gone home already. When he stepped into the locker room, he was surprised to find Bakugou still in there, though the teen had changed out of his costume. He leaned against one of the lockers, eyes locked on his phone. He only looked up when Izuku’s shoes squeaked on the tile of the locker room floor.

“Tch, nerd,” he greeted Izuku.

“Um, hi, Kacchan,” Izuku said as he beelined for his locker. “What’re you still doing here?”

“Tch, your dumb friends wanted to stay and wait for you, but Round Face apparently couldn’t afford to miss the train.” Bakugou shrugged, pretending as if he didn’t care. But if that were true, he wouldn’t still be in the locker room, waiting on Izuku.

Izuku frowned. “So, what, you waited for me instead? Didn’t know you cared so much, Kacchan,” he said teasingly as he opened his locker, beginning to take off his hero costume.

“That’s not why I f*cking… Ugh,” Bakugou groaned as he dragged a hand down his face. He kicked off from the locker he was leaning on, stowing his phone in his pocket and walking over towards Izuku. Crossing his arms, he narrowed his eyes and asked, “Who is Kurogiri?”

Izuku was extremely grateful he was facing into his locker at that moment, because the blood drained from his face and his eyes widened. Bakugou shouldn’t know that name. He erased any memory of Kurogiri from the entire Bakugou family using Amnesia shortly after his mom died. Izuku swallowed nervously, slowly turning to look at Bakugou.

“Um, what?” Izuku asked.

Bakugou rolled his eyes. “Kurogiri. That name suddenly popped in my head at the USJ after I overheard Sensei and Thirteen discussing something about seeing some purple mist or some sh*t near the villains that attacked Thirteen. So, who the f*ck is he?”

“Wh-why would you think I’d know?”

“Purple mist sounds a lot like your warping quirk, Deku. Yours is just green like your hair. And for some reason, the name Kurogiri also makes me think of you. So tell me who the f*ck that is.”

Izuku sighed. “He was a friend of my dad’s. I guess you could say he was my dad’s assistant? And he took care of me after my parents died, until Sensei took me in due to… uh, certain circ*mstances.”

“So that’s where you copied your portal quirk from?”

“Yeah…”

Bakugou pinched the bridge of his nose. “Dammit,” he said, grimacing.

“Are you okay?”

“Ever since I remembered Kurogiri’s name, I’ve had a f*cking horrible headache, and I keep getting flashes of other sh*t, like us at Aldera.” Bakugou removed his hand from his face, looking back at Izuku. “This is some other quirk of yours, isn’t it?” He grabbed Izuku by the shirt collar. “The f*ck did you do to me?!”

Izuku wrenched himself free of Bakugou’s grasp. “I made you forget, alright? Kurogiri needed to be forgotten because of my dad’s business! And then I chose to make you forget the first time I revealed my quirk, because I wanted to do it on my own terms! Not yours!”

“The hell you mean ‘on your terms,’ huh?”

“You already know my parents made me hide my quirk. That's why you call me Deku, right? Well, I wanted to reveal my quirk in a way where I had the power in the moment. But instead, the first time, you tried attacking me like you always did, threatening me with your quirk because I wouldn’t play along with your stupid bullying.” Izuku glared up at Bakugou. “So when I had to use my quirk to stop you, I then erased your memory of that so I could try again and do it on my terms. Though I guess we now know I only blocked your memory, not erased it.”

“Wh- wait, I remember now… You used your stupid portal quirk to get to your desk, didn’t you? Then when I tried confronting you about it, you refused to explain so I… And you used Sensei’s quirk first to block mine.”

“Yep, looks like your memory is back.” Izuku scoffed. “Good thing I didn’t use Amnesia on someone for actual important reasons.” He crossed his arms and stared off to the side. “Wish I’d known about this aspect of the quirk before, though.”

Bakugou scowled, making an annoyed noise in the back of his throat. “So you f*ckin’ tried to erase my memory of that, and of Kurogiri. What’s so special about Kurogiri, huh?”

“He was basically my dad’s assistant, I guess. And my babysitter when we were kids. He watched both of us several times. But now he handles overseeing my dad’s business, which isn’t something that can be known.”

Bakugou furrowed his brow, frowning. “Your dad’s business? Uncle never said anything about what he did… What did he do?”

“He…” Izuku chewed his bottom lip for a moment before sighing. “He wasn’t a hero. Not like Sensei, and not like you. I don’t even know what I am. I’m here at UA with you to maybe be a hero, but I…”

Surprisingly, Bakugou brushed past the fact that Izuku called him a hero, and compared him to their teacher. “You’re still involved in your dad’s stuff, aren’t you? That’s why Kurogiri was at the USJ…”

“No, that wasn’t why. It was for something else. For someone else. But I made him leave, and take all the villains he brought with him.” Izuku sighed and sank down to sit on a nearby bench. “My dad had a backup plan, in case I didn’t meet his expectations or something I guess. I remember, when my quirk first came in, my dad mentioned another kid with a lesser version of my Duplicate when talking to my doctor, one that was considered a failure. But I wasn’t, I was considered perfect. And then my dad died, and so the backup plan remained the backup plan because I couldn’t directly follow in his footsteps. He never got the chance to teach me his ways. I think he was saving that for my sixteenth birthday or something.”

“There were supposed to be more villains? What the hell…”

“Yeah, a lot more. And they would have tried to kill us. All to get at All Might.”

“Ha!” Bakugou barked out a laugh. “They thought they could beat All Might? Fat chance.”

“It’s more likely than you think, Kacchan,” Izuku said, giving Bakugou a pointed look. “There’s a lot you don’t know about the world, about my world. And All Might has placed himself front and center.”

“Well duh, he’s the f*cking number one hero, of course he’d be the main thing you care about.”

“He’s also why my parents are dead.”

Bakugou went dead silent, staring at Izuku with his mouth agape. The locker room was so quiet that the slow dripping of one of the showers practically echoed off the walls. Izuku just put his head in his hands. He had no clue why he was revealing all of this to Bakugou, but with the new knowledge that Amnesia could wear off, he figured now was the best time as ever to let the blond in on the secrets Izuku had kept for years.

“My dad, as far as I can tell, was All Might’s archnemesis. And All Might isn’t everything we believed him to be when we were little. He certainly isn’t that shining symbol of peace he claims to be. He hunted down my father, on my birthday, and killed him. And in doing so, he killed my mom. Then, Kurogiri took me in, and because of everything I just figured it would be best to make you and your parents forget about Kurogiri. With what we needed to do, it was safer for you and for him that no one outside of my dad’s inner circle knew of Kurogiri.”

“You’re f*cking lying…” Bakugou finally said after being quiet for Izuku’s explanation.

“I could literally give you a lie detector quirk to prove it, Kacchan.”

“I-”

“It’s all true, and I’m still unsure of what the hell I’m going to do with my life. But for now I’m here at UA to maybe become a hero, or at least learn more than I would by being a vigilante. And also I… I don’t want to disappoint Sensei. He took me in, cared for me, and has kept my secrets even from the police. And I just don’t want to stab him in the back.”

“So this is why you hated those heroes who did jack sh*t to help me so much, isn’t it?”

“Partially, yeah. So many heroes are like that. They wait around for someone better than them, basically always wanting All Might to show up to save the day because they can’t handle all the situations they’re supposed to. Like the sludge villain and you trying to protect yourself. But if you didn’t try to protect yourself, then that villain probably would have killed you in no time. Thankfully, I’d met him earlier that day, and he knew who I was related to.”

Bakugou froze again. “Wait, your dad had that much influence in the villain world that… that villains listen to you when you tell them to stop? Deku, that’s…”

“Insane? Tell me about it.” Izuku took a deep breath. “Think about it, if my dad was so powerful that All Might considered him a threat, imagine what normal villains thought? I could call up Kurogiri right now and probably have an entire group of top ranking villains support a mission I wanted them to go on solely based on the fear my dad puts into them. And as far as they’re aware, as anyone is aware, my dad isn’t dead. Just lying low or doing things abroad.”

“Why are you telling me all this? I could turn you in. That’s what a hero would do.” Bakugou narrowed his eyes and leaned against the locker next to Izuku’s as he looked down at the seated teen.

“Because I’m going to come clean with Sensei, too. And I told you back when I saved-”

“You didn’t save me,” Bakugou immediately interrupted, causing Izuku to huff.

“Back when I helped you with the sludge villain. I told you that hero society has issues, which you saw first hand because of that guy. I don’t want to take over the world, or destroy it or anything like that. Think my dad wanted the former, and our backup plan wants the latter. But I just want to make society better, fix the crappy hero system we have now.” Izuku looked up at Bakugou. “And I won’t be able to do that alone, nor will I be able to rely on my dad’s power and influence forever because of the path I’m going down. So I need allies.”

“f*ck, Deku,” Bakugou said, unable to help the cynical laugh that bubbled out of him. “You’re insane. We’re first years. We just started school at UA. What the hell do you think we can do?”

“Nothing, right now, obviously,” Izuku said, smirking at Bakugou’s use of ‘we’ which meant he wasn’t totally against the idea of them working together. “For now, we’d just go about life like normal. Well, I might have to do some things that aren’t, uh, entirely legal. But while I have the ability to use my dad’s influence, I should.”

Bakugou looked away for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. After a few minutes, he turned back to Izuku and smirked, his expression taking on that feral look Bakugou had when he found something worth chasing after.

“f*ck it,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

“Really? You’ll help me?”

“Won’t stop me from becoming a hero in whatever new society you push things to, right? You’re the one doing all the sketchy sh*t, not me. I’ll be on the fully heroic side while you work in the gray area between heroes and villains, without quite being a vigilante, right?” Izuku nodded since that basically summed it up. “Then I don’t see why I shouldn’t help. I’ll come out of it as the next number one hero, like I deserve.” His smirk dropped and his gaze hardened. “But if you even step one foot over the line into actual villainy? I’ll be the one to f*cking stop you, got it?”

“Deal,” Izuku said without hesitation, standing up from the locker room bench and sticking his hand out to shake. Bakugou took it and jerked up and down once.

“You’re still a f*cking nerd,” he added.

“And you’re still Kacchan,” Izuku retorted, smirking.

Bakugou released Izuku’s hand then made for the exit of the locker room. “Oh, and don’t expect to win in our next fight, Deku.”

“That’ll probably be the Sports Festival,” Izuku called over his shoulder as he went back to rummaging in his locker for his school uniform.

After getting changed, Izuku packed his hero costume back into its case and began the walk back to the 1-A classroom to return the case to the costume rack. On the way he happened to find Mic walking the hall, and so Izuku jogged to catch up to his secondary guardian.

“Hey, Zashi,” he said as he came to walk at the teacher’s side.

“Oh, heya lil listener!” Mic said, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “What’re you up to?”

Izuku held up his costume case. “Only now returning this because of some stuff that happened. Then I was actually going to come find you.”

“Ah, yeah, Nezu sent out a notice to all the teachers about the USJ incident.”

“Yeah… Sho had to keep talking with Nezu after I got dismissed.” Izuku dropped his head a bit. “I hope he doesn’t get in trouble for me wandering off…”

“I’m sure he won’t, buddy,” Mic said, giving Izuku a small smile. “But you shouldn’t be wandering off on your own in situations like that.”

“I know, Sho already told me, and then Nezu reinforced that fact.” The two of them turned into the 1-A classroom. Izuku walked over to the extended hero suit racks and slid his case back in its spot. It being the last one, the racks then automatically retracted back into the wall. “Those do get washed, right?”

Mic chuckled. “Yeah, they do. There’s a system in the walls that’ll take the cases to the support course. The teachers there have their students who get detention do all the laundry.”

“Huh, that makes sense. Sucks if we ever have super intense days and get our costumes gross.”

“True, but it also works as a better punishment for them,” Mic said, shrugging. “Anyway, Sho should be free of Nezu soon, so we can head to the teacher’s lounge to wait on him. Sound good?”

“Sure,” Izuku said as he followed Mic out of the classroom and down the hall.

Later that night, when Mic went out for his night of patrol, Izuku padded out of his bedroom to look for Aizawa. He found his guardian sitting on the couch, grading some of 1-A’s recent homework on the coffee table. The man looked up when he heard Izuku walking over.

“Hey, kid,” Aizawa said, setting down the pen he was holding. “Need something?”

“Um, no, not really. But I, uh, wanted to tell you more about my family? Because of…”

“Ah.” Aizawa slid his body to one side of the couch and patted the cushions of the couch.

Izuku shuffled over to sit on the couch, bringing his legs up to his chest and wrapping his arms around them. He stared at Aizawa for a few moments, the man patiently waiting for him to start talking.

“So, the mist you saw when you went to help Thirteen? That was definitely Kurogiri. And he was there because…” Izuku took a steadying breath, his nerves getting to him now that he was finally beginning to explain things to Aizawa. “Because he was helping a villain try to attack the USJ, us, in order to get at All Might.”

“How would they have known All Might was supposed to be there?” Aizawa asked. Though to Izuku’s surprise, it wasn’t accusatory.

“I think the media stampede was caused by the villain. The wall of the UA barrier was eroded away, right? His quirk decays anything he touches with all five fingers. Including people. But he used the distraction of the media to get into the school and find the plans or something. They even knew that 1-B was supposed to be there today, not us. Which is why they chose today to attack rather than our original slot last week.”

“They chose it to avoid you, didn’t they?”

“Yes…”

Aizawa sighed, leaning back into the arm of the couch. “Your father was a lot more powerful than you let on, wasn’t he?”

“Yeah. And I want to tell you about him. But…”

“This stays between us. You’re obviously a good kid, Izuku. You may not fully agree with the current way society works, especially regarding heroes. But you didn’t become a villain when the number one hero killed your parents. You dropped being a vigilante after living with us for a little while. And now you’re at UA, in the hero course.” Aizawa reached out and rested a hand on Izuku’s knee. “I meant it when I said UA would lose two of its teachers if Nezu had dared to expel you after the events of today. Zashi and I love you, kid. And we want the best for you. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want you becoming a villain, or having to be a vigilante because you get kicked out of a hero academy. But if UA expelled you, then it would be an obvious indication that society is failing even more than we thought.”

Izuku sniffled, wiping some wetness from his eyes with his sleeve. “Thanks, Sho.” He took another deep breath. “So, I explained a lot of this to Kacchan today, because he remembered Kurogiri from when we were kids. He wants to help me.”

Aizawa groaned, pinching the bridge of his nose, but he smirked at Izuku. “Great, now I really do have two problem children to deal with.” Izuku snorted at that.

“So, my dad was basically All Might’s archnemesis. Both of them had been chasing after the other in some fashion for the bulk of their lives. All Might just happened to catch my dad on a bad day: my birthday. He was out shopping with my mom.”

“Oh, kid,” Aizawa said, seemingly only now realizing the date of Izuku’s parents’ deaths lined up with his birthday.

Izuku pressed on. “Normally Kurogiri would have rescued my mom and gotten her away from the fight. But he told me that they must have blocked cell service, and so neither of my parents could contact Kurogiri, or anyone else, to get portaled away. My dad only had a one-way warping quirk, so he couldn’t do it either. So instead, my mom tried to find somewhere safe to hide, but All Might caused the destruction of the store she hid in, and that led to my dad losing control. We think. We don’t believe All Might could have won the fight any other way.”

“I have to ask, kid, who is ‘we?’” Aizawa interjected.

“Me, Kurogiri, and my dad’s business partner. Until now, we’re the only ones who know the truth behind the fight. The Commission and police hid the truth, which is where the story of Toxic Chainsaw causing All Might’s hiatus came from. But in reality, All Might almost died too, and that’s why he can barely hold his muscular form anymore.”

“What about the villain Kurogiri is helping?”

“He’s being lied to, by agreement of the three of us. He doesn’t know my dad is dead. He thinks my dad is just working on things abroad or something. So the Doctor, my dad’s business partner, I think, pretends to be my dad through voice interactions in order to keep the lie going. Basically: the Commission lies to the heroes about the truth, and we lie to the villains. Neither group knows the true repercussions of the fight between two titans.”

“So All Might is teaching at UA to help keep the truth hidden.” Aizawa pursed his lips for a moment. “Makes sense. He only has to teach a couple classes a week, and can use his limited time for that. We were told something of the sort, but not the full extent of it all.”

“I mean, technically that’s not the full extent of it. All Might’s quirk isn’t his own. It was given to him, passed down through several wielders, stockpiling more and more power. Each of the wielders tried to kill my dad, and each failed. Until All Might.”

Aizawa’s eyes widened. “Wait, what?” This was probably the most surprised Izuku had ever seen his guardian. “You’re saying All Might was born quirkless, then? And how would your father have been able to kill previous owners of whatever quirk All Might has? The man’s been a hero for twenty some odd years now.”

“Well I can copy quirks, and I’ve told you my dad had something similar. So he was able to get a longevity quirk. And yeah, All Might must have been born quirkless as far as I know. Which is honestly hilarious since he told me to my face a quirkless kid can’t become a hero.”

“Did he now?” Aizawa asked, arching an eyebrow. “Does he realize that there are several heroes, myself included, that technically fight quirkless because our quirks aren’t some power up?”

“He probably doesn’t care about other heroes,” Izuku said, shrugging. “Seeing as most heroes just wait for him to save the day if he’s in the area, I doubt he thinks too highly of anyone else besides himself.”

“So, the big idiot is weakened, possibly dying, and might be trying to pass on this quirk of his to someone new… That would explain why he was added to the UA staff: Nezu is helping him pick a successor from the students. I’ll get with the hero course homeroom teachers and let them know to be on the lookout for All Might favoring any of their kids. I don’t care how strong a quirk All Might’s is, we aren’t about to allow him to force a kid into his legacy without them fully understanding the history behind it.” Aizawa brought his hand to his chin in thought. “If he is looking into someone specific, would you be willing to help explain everything? It might make the student wary of you, since you’re connected to the one man capable of nearly killing All Might, but that personal connection to the whole thing would be the best way to ensure whoever it is understands the gravity of the situation.”

“Definitely. I don’t want someone getting his quirk just because he thinks it needs to pass on, especially since it seems like the quirk’s end goal was my father’s defeat. And it’s accomplished that.” Also Izuku still had that itch of wanting All Might’s quirk for himself, but he couldn’t understand why.

“Thank you. I’ll keep an eye on things.” Aizawa sighed and leaned back into the couch, dragging a hand down his face. “Who would have thought this year would be more of a mess than ever?” He smirked at Izuku. “Now, you said Bakugou knows the majority of this as well. Do you want to tell Zashi?”

“Um…” Izuku hesitated, debating his answer. “No. Zashi is too good, you know? Like, he’s a true limelight hero, smiling and helpful and nice. I don’t think he needs to be wrapped up in all this just yet. But if you don’t want to lie to him, then I’m fine with him knowing.”

“Nah, I understand,” Aizawa said, waving off Izuku’s worry. “There’s a lot of my work that I don’t tell him about, given underground heroics is darker and grittier than what he’s used to. And this kind of situation is exactly that. For now we can keep it between you, me, and Bakugou, though we’ll need to all three sit down and figure out how we’re going to handle things going forward.”

Izuku nodded. “Right. Kacchan is going to be a hero, I know that for sure. He’ll be a great one once he gets his head out of his ass.” That caused Aizawa to snort, and Izuku smiled. “You’re an underground hero, so you understand the gray area of heroics, that the world isn’t just black and white. And I’m… somewhere else, I guess. Not quite a hero, yet. Not quite a villain. I’m somewhere in the middle, but probably leaning to a darker shade of gray.”

Aizawa sat back up, leaning over to place a hand on Izuku’s shoulder. “You might be, kid, but just know that I’ll always have your back. Well, unless you become a full fledged villain. Then it might be a bit murky, and Bakugou would certainly chase you to the ends of the Earth to either stop you or drag you back to our side.”

Izuku snorted. “Probably.” He did take comfort in knowing he had people who would pull him back from the edge if he started to lean towards becoming an actual villain. Although, he knew he would inevitably have to move towards that side and grow his own power if Shigaraki grew more powerful. The Doctor and Kurogiri may have contingency orders from his dad to support Shigaraki, and Izuku would have to figure out what to do if those orders ever came into conflict with his own goals.

“I’m glad you trusted me with all this information, Izuku. And I promise to help in any way I can.”

“Thanks, Sho,” Izuku said, smiling at the man.

Chapter 13: Glimpse the Void

Chapter Text

“Today will be a quirk training day,” Aizawa said as he stood in the front of the classroom. “We will still return to the USJ sometime soon to have your rescue training introduction course, but for now we will be sticking with the planned lessons as laid out. Get changed and meet me down at the training grounds.”

The class quickly shuffled out, heading for the locker rooms to get changed into their gym outfits before heading down the training ground where they’d done their quirk assessment test on day one of the semester.

Waiting on them was Aizawa and, to their surprise, All Might. The hero beamed his typical smile at them and the students broke out into excited whispers. Except for Izuku and Bakugou, the former just rolled his eyes while the latter crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes at his former favorite hero. Izuku’s revelation that All Might caused the death of Inko ruined any admiration Bakugou had for the hero. Izuku had honestly thought it would take more to knock the hero worship out of Bakugou, but between the sludge villain incident and now this? He supposed it was a long time coming.

“As mentioned in class, you will be working on your quirks today, primarily quirk control. The support course was kind enough to lend us several specialized training dummies, such as one that will absorb and record the overall electrical voltage discharged into it,” Aizawa said, looking at Kaminari. “There are also ones meant for extreme heat and extreme cold, one with a kevlar wrap to allow bladed weapon use, and several with force gauges to record and give you feedback on your strength. All Might and I will be making rounds to discuss with you what you may want to work on and how while you train.”

The class dispersed into their own smaller groups, finding things to train on together if possible. Kaminari, Uraraka, and Bakugou trailed after Izuku, the blond getting odd looks from Kaminari and Uraraka.

“The hell’s wrong with you two, huh?” Bakugou snapped at them.

“Why are you following Midoriya?” Uraraka asked, narrowing her eyes incredulously.

“He’s my f*ckin’ friend, Round Face. Plus he’s probably the strongest person besides me, so why wouldn’t I want to train with him?”

“Pretty sure I’m stronger than you, Kacchan,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes but smiling.

“Hah?! Yeah right, nerd!” Bakugou yelled back, palms crackling from his quirk. Before he could say anything more, the group was interrupted by their teacher walking over.

“Midoriya,” Aizawa said. “I want you to practice your portal quirk. How large can you make it? For situations where mass evacuations might be needed, your quirk could prove invaluable.”

“Okay, Sensei,” Izuku said, nodding at his teacher.

“What about the rest of us?” Kaminari asked.

“I believe you already know things you should work on, Kaminari, thanks to Midoriya here.” Aizawa arched an eyebrow at the teen. “Uraraka, you need to work on control and lowering your level of nausea. As for Bakugou, I suppose you should work on finer control of your quirk. Large explosions are easy, I assume? Work on making smaller, more controlled explosions. In raids and sieges, your quirk could be used to breach doors or walls, but only in a controlled manner so that you don’t cause excessive damage. Now, get to it.” Aizawa waved them off before turning around and heading for another group of 1-A students currently being talked to by All Might.

“Hmph, whatever,” Bakugou scoffed as he looked down at his palms once Aizawa began walking away. He crackled a few small explosions before glancing back up at Izuku.

Izuku just shrugged. “Honestly he’s right. Though… we do need to work on seeing how powerful you are since I uh… gave you an additional copy of your quirk…”

“Holy sh*t, you’re right,” Bakugou said, eyes lighting up and a feral grin stretching across his face.

“Later, though, Kacchan,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes and smiling again. He glanced at Kaminari who’d walked off with Uraraka to the training dummy meant for electrical quirks, leaving Izuku and Bakugou alone in the far corner of the training grounds. Turning back to Bakugou, he started doing a few stretches. Just because he was supposed to focus on Warp Gate didn’t mean he shouldn’t warm up his body. “Sadly I don’t have a quirk to make fake walls or doors for you to test breaching on.”

“What, haven’t copied Cementoss’s quirk yet, nerd?” Bakugou asked, snorting.

“Haven’t asked, so no,” Izuku said, shrugging. “I don’t just copy quirks without permission… well, at least not anymore. Sensei wasn’t too pleased when I did that…” He trailed off, scratching the back of his head and smiling awkwardly.

“Tch, duh,” Bakugou said, rolling his eyes. “Guess that’s also why you haven’t copied anyone else in class’s quirks?”

“Yeah, though there’s a few I’d really like. But how would it sound if I just walked up to them and asked ‘Hey, can I copy your quirk?’ Probably wouldn’t go over great.”

“I know I’d probably just explode you if you did that to me,” Bakugou said.

“I already did, remember?”

“That doesn’t count! You blocked my quirk and made me forget it ever happened, nerd!” Bakugou’s palms crackled as he flexed them, an annoyed look crossing his face.

“Yeah, yeah,” Izuku said, brushing him off. “You should probably ask Sensei what he wants you to practice on if he’s wanting you to limit your explosions.”

Bakugou just growled, but nodded, stalking off to find Aizawa again.

Once he was gone, Izuku took a deep breath before letting his right arm melt into the green-black mist of Warp Gate. As he did so, he felt an odd buzzing in the back of his head, something he’d never noticed when using the quirk before. He just shrugged, though, assuming it could be due to him pulling on the quirk more, preparing for a larger output. Or perhaps it was one of his other quirks trying to help out with getting the desired outcome, such as Brawn Boost.

Slowly, mist flowed from his arm to form a swirling gate that began to grow and grow, and as it did so did the buzzing in Izuku’s head. The buzzing began to get so strong that it hurt, and he flinched at the pain.

“What the heck…” he muttered to himself, watching as the swirling gate fluctuated against his will. Izuku shook his head again, which did nothing to stem the buzzing nor the pain, but it did help his focus return and cause the Warp Gate to calm back down to what it should look like.

With the one side of the gate made, Izuku figured it would be easiest to just form the other end a few meters away, still on the training ground but not near any of his classmates. He didn’t want any of them to accidentally fall through and come crashing into him. Once he decided on a specific spot, he focused and saw a small swirl of mist begin to form in the location. But then it just… disappeared in a small wisp, fluttering up into the air and blinking out of existence.

Suddenly the buzzing and pain in his head slammed him harder than it had before, causing him to collapse to one knee. More of his right arm began to melt into mist, the flowing medium climbing up his limb towards his shoulder. At the same time, his left arm disappeared into mist as well, and without either hand to hold him up, Izuku tumbled forward, scraping his face into the dirt.

“sh*t,” he mumbled as he used his still solid legs to reorient himself into a kneeling position.

Izuku stared down at his misty limbs, the shapes not even resembling arms or hands. The mist also began to crackle with green electricity, as if Izuku was using his copy of Kaminari’s quirk. His gaze shot up to the swirling gate in front of him which also began to spark with electricity, arcing out to hit the ground around it and create small burnt spots in the dirt.

“No, no no no,” Izuku cried quietly. He tried to pull back from using Warp Gate, but his brain was now getting scrambled, unable to focus on anything specific. Images of different locations across campus, his bedroom, and even Kurogiri’s bar flashed through his mind rapidly, like Warp Gate was hunting for an outlet for the other side of the portal.

His arms, now fully the mist that made up Warp Gate, expanded out and began to swirl around him into a storm, continuing to crackle with green arcs of electricity.

“Deku, what the f*ck?!” Bakugou yelled towards him. Izuku strained to turn his head to look at his friend. Bakugou’s eyes were wide, unsure of what to do as the storm of Warp Gate swirled around Izuku.

“Kach-Kacchan!” Izuku cried out. “Help!”

More of his body began to dissolve into mist, making him look more and more like Kurogiri. His vision had a dark green haze to it, as if looking through fog, meaning even his head was beginning to become mist. And all the while, pain lanced out from his skull down his body now, the buzzing nearly deafening.

Unable to hold it anymore, Izuku let out a scream as the pain overtook his misty body. His vision began to fade just in time for him to see All Might and Aizawa running over to him, the latter flaring his quirk to erase Izuku’s. Then, all he saw was black.

Izuku slowly opened his eyes to find… nothingness. A black void spanned the entirety of his view. He scrambled to his feet, only to realize he couldn’t feel any ground beneath him. He looked down to see more black, but he was also standing on… something. His feet were flat against some invisible, untouchable surface.

What the hell, he tried to say, but no sound came out. He brought a hand to his neck, then his mouth, shaping the words with his lips but feeling no vibration of his vocal chords despite trying to speak.

“You’re here,” a familiar voice said, and Izuku whipped around to find his father standing before him, smiling down at Izuku.

Izuku’s eyes widened in surprise as he launched himself forward. Or, well, he tried to, but his feet wouldn’t move. He let out a whimper when he realized he couldn’t get closer to his dad.

“Oh, little one,” Hisashi said, tilting his head affectionately. “Give it a few moments, you’ll figure it out.” Hisashi spread his arms wide and spun around once. “This is a mindscape. For me, it had dozens of others in it, but that was because I had almost only original quirks. Copies, apparently, don’t seem to hold onto the personalities of the original owner.”

Izuku looked at his father confused, which only caused Hisashi to laugh.

“Right, I suppose I should explain some more. Quirks are a part of us, and as such, even when they are taken from their original owners, they keep a piece of the person with them. These manifest as vestiges of the original user, usually with the memories of the person up to the point the quirk was transferred. Sometimes, the vestiges seem to still have some connection to the actual person. It’s rare, though, and before you try to ask, no I don’t seem to be connected to my actual self. However, that may just be due to the comatosed state my body is in.”

“Da-” Izuku’s voice finally croaked out. “Dad!” And finally he launched himself forward, wrapping his arms round Hisashi. His father returned the gesture, pulling Izuku close, and it all felt so real, as if Izuku was in the same room as his father. But if Hisashi was to be believed, (which of course he was, he was Izuku’s dad!), then this was just all in Izuku’s mind.

“My little Izuku,” Hisashi said, leaning his cheek on the top of Izuku’s head. “I’m sorry I had to leave you. And I’m sorry I couldn't protect your mother.” Izuku felt tears prick at the edges of his eyes. “But I’ll always be here, now. Eventually, you’ll be able to come here of your own volition, instead of being forced in due to outside circ*mstances.” Hisashi pulled back from Izuku so that he could look down at his son. His arms never left Izuku’s shoulders though. “I assume it was something traumatic? That’s how it happened to me the first time.”

“Ye-yeah,” Izuku said, sniffling and wiping some tears away. “I somehow lost control of Warp Gate… I don’t know why.”

“Hm, interesting. Between your use of the quirk when you were younger, and what I’ve observed since I gave you All for One before being comatosed… You shouldn’t have any issue with Warp Gate, even if you’re trying to make larger gates than you’re used to. Your control over the quirk is nearly as good as Kurogiri, and he only has the added benefit of being designed for the quirk itself.”

Hisashi looked off to the side, getting lost in thought for a moment before shaking his head and returning his gaze to Izuku.

“But that’s a problem for you to figure out when you wake up. With you not coming here voluntarily, we’re on an unknown time limit and will have no control of when you leave the mindscape and wake up. So, there’s an elephant in the room we need to discuss.”

“All Might?” Izuku surmised. Hisashi nodded at him. “Why am I drawn to him? He… he killed mom, nearly killed you! Why would I have any interest in him?”

“Because he has something that belongs to me,” Hisashi growled, clenching a fist and scowling. “My brother’s quirk, One for All. Passed down from wielder to wielder and now possessed by that bumbling disgrace of a hero.” Hisashi took a deep breath. “It’s a strength stockpiling quirk mixed with a quirk that can be passed from one person to the next. The former is something I gave my brother, when I thought him to be quirkless and sickly. The latter was his actual quirk. Together, One for All has been used to thwart me for decades.”

“So you really are a major villain…” Izuku asked warily.

Hisashi’s shoulders slumped as he looked regretfully at Izuku. “Yes, little one, I am. At one point, I controlled most of Japan merely by reputation and fear. Until All Might’s predecessor managed to spark some hope in the heroes, and All Might himself took that spark and became the ‘Symbol of Peace.’ Ridiculous, but it worked apparently. He was able to catch me off guard and end my reign.

“Now, with me out of the picture for who knows how long, it’s up to you and Shigaraki to move forward. I am well aware you’re treading a different path, deciding to be somewhere in the gray middle of our society’s heroes and villains. I trust that you know what you’re doing. You’re my and Inko’s son, afterall. You’re far more brilliant than we could have ever dreamed.”

Izuku swelled with pride at his father’s compliments. Despite Hisashi really being one of, if not the, strongest villains in history, Izuku couldn’t help but feel validated and supported by him. Besides, if someone as powerful as All for One tells you you’re better than expected, how can you really refuse the compliment?

“So, what do I need to do about him, then?” Izuku asked, bringing the conversation back to All Might and One for All.

“The quirk All for One will perpetually be drawn to One for All, and vice versa. It’s only a matter of time until All Might, or whoever he may pass the quirk to, becomes aware that you wield All for One. When that happens, you’ll need a large amount of support to prevent All Might and his allies from trying to immediately throw you in Tartarus. Or worse…” Izuku could see the pain that flashed across his father’s face as the man thought of Izuku being killed

“I’m already working on that, dad, I promise,” Izuku said, trying to give his father a smile, though it most likely was more of a grimace. Regardless, Hisashi smiled back at him.

“Eventually, you will have to deal with One for All’s wielder, be that All Might or someone else. Either the quirk must be retrieved, or forever destroyed. There is no other way.”

Izuku doubted that, despite his complete trust in his father. It wouldn’t make sense that the two quirks couldn’t both exist. Why did they have to be enemies, opposites, if the source of both were brothers? Izuku knew that his father had to have done terrible things, but Izuku hadn’t. And All Might may not be the shining hero he portrayed, having outright tried to kill someone and caused the death of someone else, but whoever he may give One for All to wouldn’t have committed those acts. And could a quirk really be traced back to what its wielder did? Quirks, even if they contained a piece of their wielder, could not act on their own, so a quirk could never be heroic or villainous. Right?

“I… understand,” Izuku said, though he didn’t really. Hisashi just smiled at him again.

“I figured you would, little one,” the man said.

Izuku suddenly began to float upwards. He held onto his father, trying to not fly away. Hisashi’s smile turned into a sad one.

“Dad, what’s happening?!” Izuku asked frantically, scrambling to keep hold of his father.

“Our time is up, for now at least.” Hisashi grabbed onto the hand Izuku was using to hold himself to his father. Hisashi pulled the hand free from his shoulder, but didn’t let go of it just yet. “I’ll be here, waiting for when you can come on your own. I’m proud of you, Izuku, never forget that.”

With that, he released Izuku, who quickly soared upwards, his father becoming a small dot below him as the black void gave way to bright, white light…

And then he was awake, blinking rapidly as his eyes adjusted to the harsh lights above him. Slowly, the overwhelming white in his vision faded to reveal that he was laying in a hospital bed in what he could only assume was Recovery Girl’s med bay. As his vision sharpened, so did his other senses, and he quickly caught the sound of a very heated argument happening just outside his room.

He couldn’t quite hear what was being said, but the voices sounded familiar.

“Huh, you’re awake,” a gruff voice said from Izuku’s right, and he turned to see Bakugou sitting in a chair. “Finally, nerd.”

“What… what happened?” Izuku asked, his still voice hoarse from the screams he’d let loose before passing out.

“Your portal quirk went haywire, looked like it even pulled that copy of Dunce Face’s quirk in too and created a storm around you. Your… body also nearly turned fully into the mist sh*t you use for the portals. Sensei had to erase your quirk, and it unleashed hell before fizzling out.”

Unleashed hell? Did that mean…

“Is anyone else…”

“No, it was only me, Sensei, and All Might close enough to be affected, and the idiot body blocked your release of power, so I’m fine. Sensei was shoved back some but held his ground, and otherwise everything was fine. Though there is a f*cking crater in the training ground now. If Cementoss hasn’t already filled it in.” Bakugou had watched Izuku carefully while he explained what happened. “Are you alright, nerd?”

“Ye-yeah, I think so…” Izuku said, staring down at his lap, hands bunching up the blanket covering him. “I… I saw my dad?”

“Holy sh*t, you didn’t almost die, did you?”

“N-no! Not like that. I…” Izuku glanced warily at the door to the room. “I have his quirk, the ability to give and take quirks. That’s how I gave you the copy of yours I made. And it's not just a copy of his quirk, it’s the quirk. And apparently… apparently quirks keep a piece of their wielders with them. So I have a piece of my dad with me.” Izuku couldn’t help the small smile that appeared on his lips.

“Huh, that’s some wild sh*t, Deku,” Bakugou said, slumping back into his chair after having leaned forward a little when he thought Izuku’d been on death’s door. “Is it, like, actually him?”

“As close as it can be, yeah,” Izuku said. “He’s… he’s proud of me, even though I’m here at UA.”

“Tch, ‘course he is. Just because he was some villain,” Bakugou whispered the word, “doesn’t mean he wouldn’t be damn proud you made it into the most prestigious hero academy in Japan. Like come on, Deku, a villain’s kid at UA? That alone is pretty damn impressive.” Bakugou smirked at Izuku as he crossed his arms and relaxed in the chair.

“Yeah…” Izuku hummed, smiling as well. He then noticed the argument outside had ended, and so he glanced back at the door, a question on his lips.

“Sensei,” Bakugou said before Izuku could ask. “He was arguing with the rat.”

“What?” Izuku asked, confused.

“The principal. Apparently he’s having the support course work on an experimental warping nullifier. That’s what caused your quirk to go crazy, I think.”

Izuku thought back to what had happened before he’d lost control. He’d been unable to place an exit point to his portal, and his brain had jumped between dozens of locations rapidly, trying to select one but unable to form a portal in all of them at once like it felt the need to.

“Huh…” Izuku said in realization. Bakugou gave him a curious look, and so he explained. “I think Nezu’s plan is to overload a warper’s mind with dozens, if not hundreds, of portal locations when they try to create an exit point inside the nullifier’s zone of control. I was seeing places all over campus, as well as my room and some other places all at once when I tried to form the other side of the portal. It was like my quirk was trying to put a portal at each location simultaneously, but with how it works, it was getting overloaded with information. So it kept trying, getting more and more powerful, until it inevitably would have…”

“Killed you,” a new voice said. Izuku turned quickly to see that Aizawa had stepped into the room. “The nullifier, in its current state, would have caused your quirk to overload your brain, or body, or both, and killed you. You were almost completely mist by the time I got over to help and erase your quirk. Hell, I was afraid erasing your quirk while you were in that state would have caused more damage. Thankfully, I was wrong, and Recovery Girl said you only had some minor electrical burns, which she healed. Beyond that, you’re fine.”

“Sensei…” Izuku said quietly, tears prickling at his eyes. The teacher walked over and placed a hand on Izuku’s head comfortingly.

“I gave Nezu a piece of my mind. He never should have been testing that device without warning us first. Zashi is pissed as well. He threatened to quit,” Aizawa explained.

“What?! He can’t do that!” Izuku said, waving his hands.

“He can, actually. And I would have been right there alongside him. You already know we’d both have quit if Nezu had tried to expel you for your stunt at the USJ. You have potential, Izuku, and you know I don't waste my effort on those who don’t. If Nezu kicked you out, or caused you real harm, then I’d see no reason to stay at UA. It would show me that the school no longer cares to mold actual heroes.”

“The f*ck? What about me?” Bakugou growled.

“You’d really stay if me, Zashi, and Izuku all left?” Aizawa asked him deadpan, arching an eyebrow.

“Tch.” Bakugou scowled, crossing his arms and turning to face away from Aizawa and Izuku.

“That’s what I thought,” Aizawa said, rolling his eyes fondly. “Now, Izuku, you’re fine to come home now that you’re awake. That was Recovery Girl’s one stipulation. So, are you ready to go?”

“Ye-yeah,” Izuku said. “I, um, have a lot to tell you?”

Aizawa frowned. “That can’t be good…” He looked at Bakugou who just shrugged. “You can tell me after dinner, then.” He grabbed Izuku’s gym uniform jacket from the table next to the hospital bed and set it on Izuku’s lap. “I already grabbed your normal uniform and your backpack.”

Izuku nodded and slipped gym jacket on as he moved to get out of the bed. His red shoes sat on the floor next to the bed and he slipped those on as well before following Aizawa out, Bakugou right behind him.

“You coming for dinner, Kacchan?” Izuku asked, turning slightly to look at his friend.

Bakugou just huffed. “No, the hag wants me home for dinner tonight.”

“Well tell Auntie and Uncle I say hi, then,” Izuku said as they exited Recovery Girl’s clinic.

“Yeah, yeah,” Bakugou said as he waved goodbye to both Izuku and Aizawa before heading towards the main gate.

Izuku followed Aizawa as they made their way to the teachers’ parking garage. They were met by Mic, who was leaning against the hood of their car.

“Heya lil listener,” Mic greeted Izuku. “You okay?”

“Yeah,” Izuku said as he slid into the back seat of the car. He barely caught the frown Mic gave Aizawa, but Izuku was used to that. He and Aizawa kept so many secrets from the other man at this point. Izuku hoped it didn’t cause a strain in Mic and Aizawa’s relationship, but since Aizawa never had a problem with keeping things from Mic, Izuku assumed it was fine.

“Before I dismiss you, I have one final announcement. As you all are already aware, the annual UA Sports Festival is coming up next week. You will use the opportunity to show your prowess with your quirk and garner the attention of pro heroes so that you can have internship opportunities,” Aizawa explained over the growing excited chatter of the class. “You will be expected to do your best, as well as put on a good show as representatives of UA. Those that do poorly in the Sports Festival have been known to be knocked out of the hero course, in favor of non-hero course students who prove themselves worthy during the event. Keep that in mind.”

The class grew quieter at the subtle threat of being kicked out of the hero course. They knew Aizawa exaggerated sometimes, but they still could never tell when he was just using one of his logical ruses. Of course, Izuku knew, but he’d never let on that he did.

In this case? Izuku knew for a fact that Aizawa was serious. That was how the man had even gotten into the hero course himself back during his first year at UA. It’s also why he made sure to remind every class of this possibility, and it fed into his desire to expel those students who he saw as having no potential.

As the class packed their things before heading to lunch, Izuku couldn’t help but wonder who, if anyone, from Gen Ed might have the potential to snag a spot in 1-A or 1-B. Of course, dozens of them would be vying for the chance, but the massive cut down in participants between rounds one and two of the sports festival almost always knocked out the bulk of the gen ed kids. With only roughly 48 spots in the second round, the hero courses making up the bulk of that, very few gen ed kids made it very far. Add to that the last round always being a battle tournament, and the tournament was practically rigged for hero course students. Aizawa had made it so far into his battle tournament because he forced his opponents to fight quirkless, and Izuku knew that the majority of first year hero course students flailed when their quirk was taken out of the equation.

Of course, Izuku could do that too. But it wouldn’t be very fair for him to erase his opponents quirk then still use other quirks to beat them. No, he planned to keep the playing field even. During the battle tournament round, at least. The first two rounds he could probably breeze through, with his arsenal of quirks, no matter what they ended up being.

He was broken from his thoughts when he noticed that his classmates were congregating around the classroom’s door.

“The f*ck you staring at, Eye Bags?” Bakugou’s voice said from the middle of the 1-A group. Izuku rushed over to see what was happening.

“So this is the great 1-A, huh? Bit of a disappointment, if you ask me,” a purple haired kid said, crossing his arms.

“And who the f*ck asked you?” Bakugou snapped back.

“You better be ready for us during the sports festival!” another teen in the hallway said.

“Ready for your what? Disappointment?” Bakugou asked, smirking.

Izuku had wormed his way to the front of the 1-A group at this point, coming to stand next to Bakugou. He sized up the crowd blocking their way to the lunch room, before glancing at Bakugou then the rest of his class.

“Nezu hasn’t turned it back on since,” Aizawa’s voice said from his desk, answering a question Izuku hadn’t thought of just yet.

“Oh, good,” Izuku said, turning to look at the crowd once more. “I’m sure you’re having fun trying, and failing, to taunt Kacchan, but we’re kinda hungry, so…”

His right arm melted into mist as a swirling vortex formed behind his classmates, inside of the 1-A classroom. Without being prompted, the class turned and began disappearing into the vortex, leaving the crowd in the hallway with gaping mouths. Mina, just to add insult to injury, blew a raspberry with her tongue at the crowd as she skipped backwards into the portal. Bakugou snorted as he backed into it as well, Izuku having moved the vortex closer to them as the class went through.

“And this is why you sh*tty extras aren’t in the hero course,” Bakugou said before flipping off the purple haired kid and disappearing into the warp gate.

Izuku gave the crowd a taunting wave of his mist hand before the vortex enveloped him and he was standing outside the cafeteria with the rest of 1-A.

“Talk about making an exit!” Mina cheered as she skipped over to Izuku. “That was so cool, Midori!”

“They thought they could taunt us with numbers, so we have to show them why we’re in 1-A,” Izuku said, shrugging. It’s not as if 1-A and 1-B were of different calibers, but everyone always seemed to consider Class 1-A as the top hero prospects. Izuku didn’t really understand why, since according to Aizawa and a few other teachers, this year’s Big 3 was set to include one 3rd year from class 3-B, and apparently he was considered the top 3rd year overall.

“Plus,” Izuku continued, “as far as they know, my quirk is just a portal one. It’ll be fun to see them underestimate me.” He couldn’t help the mischievous smirk that worked its way onto his lips.

“Remind us to never cross you, Midoriya,” Kirishima said, chuckling nervously.

“Don’t worry, Aizawa said I’m now allowed to betray anyone in our class,” Izuku said jokingly.

“But he didn’t say anything about the other classes?” Mina asked as they walked into the cafeteria.

“Nope!” Izuku said, grinning. The class burst into laughter at that before they split off to get their food.

Chapter 14: Let the Games Begin

Chapter Text

“Welcome to the first year Sports Festival!” Present Mic’s voice cut in through the speaker system, drawing the attention of all of 1-A. The teenagers looked up at the speakers in the ceiling as their teacher continued his preparatory announcement before the classes would begin the walk out to the field. “In just a moment we’ll be introducing all you wonderful listeners to our fantastic assortment of first year students from all of our amazing courses!”

Izuku let out a calming breath. Due to getting the top score in the entrance exam, he was being forced to give the opening speech for the sports festival. He tried to fight it with Aizawa but the man was having none of it. In addition, it had pissed off Bakugou that Izuku had beaten him in points. The entire class had basically assumed it after seeing Izuku use his quirk, (well, quirks, depending on how you looked at it), at the start of the term, but still Bakugou nearly blew up a desk when Aizawa informed the class of Izuku’s score.

He had to figure out if he’d play it cool, be nice and inclusive of the other courses and just wish everyone a fun time. Or if he should say screw it and taunt them just like he’d taunted the group that tried to harass 1-A outside their classroom several days before. He was honestly torn between the two options.

“If you f*ckin’ act all goody goody with your stupid speech, I will kill you.”

Well, Izuku supposed that solved his dilemma. He turned to regard Bakugou with an unimpressed look.

“I should do that solely to make you mad, Kacchan,” Izuku said, grinning.

“Okay, for once, I’m on Blasty’s side,” Mina chimed in as she skipped over. “After what you did to that group outside our classroom, I think being nice wouldn’t work.”

“Fair,” Izuku hummed. “I was debating between a serious challenge or being nice. But if you all want me to be serious, then that’s what I’ll do!”

“Yay!” Mina and a few others cheered. Bakugou just scowled but huffed and nodded at Izuku before turning to get in the lines Iida was demanding everyone sort into. This was probably one of the few times the class would eagerly listen to the class rep, solely because this was the sports festival, they had to impress a lot of people.

Izuku hopped up from the bench he was sitting on and dashed over to his spot in the line, right behind Bakugou. Just in time, apparently, because as he slid into his place Present Mic’s voice boomed over the speakers once more.

“Let’s kick off this Sports Festival! Introducing the hero courses! Class 1-A and Class 1-B!”

That was their cue to march, and so they did. Their double-file line made its way out of their staging room and into the bright summer sunlight of UA’s main stadium. The crowd erupted into cheers.

Seats for any of the three sports festivals sold out near instantly, and the first year event was only beaten out by the third years, though according to Aizawa and Mic, it would soon be the most popular event of the three. This was the first time most heroes, and practically the entire public, would see the quirks of UA’s first years. With the school being the top hero academy in Japan, and known worldwide thanks to All Might’s popularity, all eyes were on the newest set of hero prospects.

Of course, this meant that the other courses were under even more pressure than normal, though the business and support courses both knew what they had to do to ensure they got the most out of the festival as well. The business course almost always dropped out instantly, deciding instead to try their hand at either small food or souvenir stands, or to be PR for the hero students. The support course, on the other hand, tried to show how good their support tech could be by trying to compete with the hero students in the first event. The second even tended to see both the support and business courses going in together to get their names out there.

That left the general education course. The majority of the gen ed course were just extremely intelligent individuals who wanted to go to a prestigious high school before going to university and entering the normal work force. Some would work for heroes, possibly as lawyers or medics, while others would just live life as normal civilians.

But then there were the gen ed students who drew the short straw and missed their chance at being in the hero course, either because they failed to impress (gather enough points) during the entrance exam, or because they didn’t even try due to special circ*mstances. For these students, the sports festival was their chance to prove they deserved a slot in the hero course. It was rare, with there hardly ever being more than one or two per year, if even that, that piqued the interest of Aizawa or Vlad King, or, in extremely rare and special circ*mstances, Nezu himself.

Class 1-A quickly found their positions and waited next to Class 1-B as the rest of the first year classes were called out, arriving in sequence: General Education, Support, Business. While they waited, Izuku couldn’t help but scan his sister class for the student who evidently had a copy quirk like his. If it was the kid he could barely remember his dad and the Doctor discussing when he was four, then Izuku assumed they’d have at least some similar features as him. But in the end he couldn’t discern who it might be. He did catch a few of the 1-B students giving him an odd look, one particular blond boy practically glaring at him but with an odd smile.

Turning back to the front, Izuku saw that Midnight, (Auntie Nem as she demanded he call her, but that felt weird in this circ*mstance), stride up onto the quickly fabricated stage, (thanks Cementoss), whip in one hand, microphone in the other. The crowd’s cheering slowly died down as she raised her hands up to get their attention.

“Welcome our wonderful students!” Midnight said, garnering another round of cheers and applause. “For those of you new to the UA Annual Sports Festival, we welcome you! The festival is divided into three events for our students, as well as some extra events and markets for the audience to enjoy! As in past years, round three of the students’ events will be a Battle Tournament, a test of wills where sixteen first years will duke it out to see who comes out on top! But first, we have to make it through the qualifier rounds, which as most of you know, are random every year!”

Another round of cheering. Izuku caught some movement out of the corner of his eye, from his class, and looked over to see Jirou covering her ears and cringing. He watched as Yaomomo quickly and discreetly fabricated some hearing protection for Jirou, causing the girl to blush as she nodded in thanks and quickly put them on.

“Now, before we begin, I want to welcome to the stage the First Year Representative! The student who achieved the highest score in the UA Entrance Exam: Midoriya Izuku!”

Izuku took a deep breath and made his way out of line and up towards the stage, nodding at his classmates as he passed them. He smiled at Midnight, who beamed back at him before handing him the microphone. He gripped it in one hand and turned to face the rest of the first years.

Before he could say anything, Midnight leaned down and whispered in his ear, “You’ll need to introduce All Might at the end of your speech. Last minute change, sorry.”

Izuku schooled his face, knowing that if he let his true reaction show, it would be a grimace or other look of disgust or hate. But instead, he continued to smile, giving a small nod to show he understood. Midnight took a step back, giving him the stage.

“Getting into UA is the first hard fought battle any of us have had,” Izuku began, speaking to the thousands of people in the stands. “This large crowd of first years may look like a lot, but remember that these students, all of them, are the absolute best in the country. For those of you who didn’t manage to make it into the hero course,” Izuku continued, turning his gaze to look at the other courses, “all I have to say is: tough. You tried, and we beat you.” He gestured to both 1-A and 1-B.

“But this is your chance to prove us wrong. So don’t waste it, because we certainly won’t be going easy on you. So consider this the next fight in the three year war that is becoming a hero. Because if you survive, you get to stand up next to,” Izuku had to seriously focus to not scowl as he said the next part, “the one and only… ALL MIGHT!” He yelled the last part and, right on cue, the muscled idiot landed next to him on the stage. Izuku kept up his smile as All Might beamed that obnoxious smile of his as well, waving to the crowd as the stadium erupted into more chaos.

News of All Might working at UA had spread quickly once Nezu confirmed it. The media had caused a stampede onto UA’s campus, (though that was primarily thanks to Shigaraki, but only Izuku really knew that), when that fact had been released. But the audience still never expected to see the man up close, yet here he was, helping to host the first year sports festival.

“Thank you, Young Midoriya!” All Might said as he grabbed the microphone from Izuku. “It’s an honor to be back at UA, my alma mater,” the hero continued, speaking to the crowd.

Izuku tuned him out at this point and let Midnight herd him back towards the stairs. He quickly rejoined his class, finding his spot in line behind Bakugou once more.

“You pissed ‘em off, nerd,” Bakugou said, jerking his head towards the direction of the other classes. Dozens of students were glaring at him, and the rest of 1-A since it seemed like his classmates were feeding the flames by taunting them back.

“Good,” Izuku said flatly as he continued to glare up at the stage.

Once All Might’s long winded speech, (Midnight tried to get him to wrap it up several times but he ignored her), finally came to an end, it was time to learn what the first event was. A large structure rose out of the ground at the center of the stadium. Atop it sat three massive video screens, angled into a triangle to give the entire stadium a view. Of course, there were dozens of smaller screens scattered throughout the stands, especially inside the special viewing boxes which held some of the top heroes and other prominent figures in Japan.

“Round One of the First Year Sports Festival will be…” Midnight said as event names rapidly blinked across the screens, gradually slowing down until it landed on one. “Obstacle Course!”

Well, that was kind of boring in Izuku’s mind. He’d seen a similar event several years before, when he watched the second year Sports Festival with his mom. (To be fair, he’d seen nearly every UA Sports Festival since he was old enough to talk, and they’d even been joined by his dad on a few occasions.) In that event, the obstacle course had wrapped back around to the stadium, and while Midnight explained the rules, Izuku scanned the stadium to see where the starting line was, then where the finish line was.

The starting line was directly behind the stage, meaning the students would shortly be corralled around to that side of the stadium. That probably meant the end was about two thirds of the way around either side of the stadium. Izuku looked to the right first and saw nothing besides the normal staging room entrances. Looking to his left, he found Cementoss opening up a larger gap in the base of the stadium and creating a finish line at the mouth of the opening.

Izuku smirked. This event was going to be easy for him, and he’d have plenty of time to watch and analyze the quirks of the other students once he was back in a viewing area.

Once Midnight had finished her explanation of the rules, (which only caused Izuku to smile even more, because his Warp Gate would not be breaking any rules), she and All Might directed the students around to the back, keeping them in orderly groups and not letting any one class have an advantage over another.

Finally, each class was in place. Izuku rolled his shoulders and did a few stretches in preparation. Kaminari caught his attention with a wave.

“You’re just gonna skip it, aren’t you, Midoriya?” Kaminari asked.

Izuku just shrugged and smiled back at him, causing Kaminari to slump a bit. He was probably hoping he could use Izuku’s help a little for this event. But Izuku had made it clear to the class that he’d not be helping them in any event that was meant to be individual performance based. Sometimes the events were teamwork focused, but this one didn’t seem to be that, meaning the next round most likely was taking that role.

“On your marks!” Midnight’s voice echoed from the speakers and into the long hallway that led out of the stadium. Izuku couldn’t yet see the other side, but it wasn't like it mattered for him anyway. “Get set!” A brief pause. “GO!”

Izuku used Air Walk to run above the crowd storming towards the opening. Bakugou shot up as well, propelling himself with his explosions. Yaomomo created a pole to vault over the bottleneck; Uraraka used her quirk to get above the students and run along their shoulders; Sero used his tape to pull himself and a very thankful looking Kaminari above the mess. Most of the hero course students were using their quirks in some way to make it past the chaos, and even a few support course students were up and away thanks to their tech.

Laughing and shaking his head, Izuku called on Warp Gate, forming a swirling vortex up ahead and just slightly below him, since he’d gained several meters worth of height with Air Walk.

“Good luck!” he bellowed out, catching the eyes of dozens of other first years. He gave them a mock salute as he dove into his portal, disappearing from the crowd.

Thanks to very intense memorization of the campus layout, Izuku knew the exact coordinates he’d need to warp to in order to be just on the outskirts of the stadium over by where Cementoss had made the finish line. He tucked and rolled as he came out of the exit gate, the vortex collapsing behind him and his right arm once again becoming corporeal.

He jogged the last few meters through the hallway and appeared back in the interior of the stadium before the entire mess of first years had even made it into the hallway leading out near the other side of the massive complex.

“And would you look at that, we already have our first completion!” Mic’s voice called out.

“Unsurprising,” Aizawa’s deadpan voice added. “With a quirk like that, an obstacle course is child’s play.” Izuku snorted at his guardian’s statement and tone. Of course Aizawa wouldn’t be all that impressed, and neither would Mic to be fair. But at least Mic would try to play it up a little.

Cementoss just stared at Izuku, mouth agape.

“I- I haven’t even finished the constructs I was making for the finish line…” he said dejectedly.

“Don’t worry, Sensei,” Izuku said, smiling at the hero. “You still have plenty of time before second place gets here!” Cementoss just sighed.

Izuku made his way back to the staging rooms, finding a comfortable spot to watch one of the screens from. The dozens of cameras and drones allowed for all sorts of views of the obstacle course, letting him see his classmates and the other students in action. So, he settled in and began making mental notes about the quirks he saw, planning to add them to his notebooks later.

“And that marks the forty-two students who will be moving on to round two!” Mic announced as a few students ran across the finish line of the obstacle course.

By this point, Izuku had been joined by the entirety of Class 1-A and most of 1-B, the final stragglers of their sister class having just finished the race. In addition, one general education student and one support course student had managed to make it into the second round. Izuku recognized the gen ed student as the same purple haired guy that was involved in trying to harass 1-A about the sports festival. He also realized it was the same guy he helped during the entrance exam. The support student was Hatsume, the eccentric girl Izuku had met when helping Kaminari with his quirk.

“All qualifying students will have twenty minutes to rest and prepare for the second event, as we wait for the remainder of the first years to make their way to the end of the obstacle course!” Mic continued.

“Oi, nerd,” Bakugou called, stomping over to Izuku. “Wasn’t that sh*t risky, in case the rat had turned on that device again?”

Izuku shrugged. “Sensei said he hadn’t, and I doubt Nezu could have worked out the whole killing the warp user defect of the current device in such a short time. Besides, it wouldn’t be fair of Nezu to cut off one of my most prominent quirks during the Sports Festival.”

“Tch.” Bakugou crossed his arms, rolling his eyes. “Well, it definitely pissed off the other classes. Some f*ckers from 1-B are gunning for you in whatever the next event is.”

“Yeah, and they’re not being subtle about it,” Izuku said. “I can feel their glares boring holes in my back.”

“Midoriya!” Kaminari and Uraraka called as they ran up to him. The rest of 1-A had gathered nearby, some throwing glares back at the 1-B students in solidarity with Izuku.

“Dude, if people didn’t think you were a threat before, your actions in that event cemented you as public enemy number one,” Kaminari said.

“The next event is gonna be team based, right?” Uraraka asked.

“Probably,” Izuku said. “It’s the standard for the Sports Festival: one individual event and one team based event, then the battle tournament as the final round. They swap up which happens as round one and two each year, but the format is relatively consistent.”

“So either everyone is gonna want to be on your team, or be against you in order to take you out,” Kaminari said.

“Well I know all of our class will want to be with you,” Uraraka added.

“Probably, but it will depend on what the event is and what the team sizes are. I doubt very many people will be allowed per team.”

Izuku shrugged as he scanned the room, causing several 1-B students to jerk their gazes away from him in fear of being caught staring. In contrast, the 1-A students turned to smile at him as their gazes met. Izuku couldn’t help the light laugh he let out as he grinned back at them.

Somehow, twenty minutes passed quickly and they were called back out to the field to prepare for the next event.

“Let’s welcome back our forty-two qualifiers from the first event!” Mic announced to the stadium as the students made their way back out to the pitch. “I’ll hand it back over to our illustrious host, Midnight, to announce the next event!”

Midnight waved to the crowd as she once again made her way onto the concrete stage in the middle of the stadium.

“Thank you, Present Mic!” she said cheerily. “The first round was based on an individual’s performance, but as typical with heroics, or any job really, there will be times when we have to team up with others, many times without any chance to prepare or get used to our teammates. So, event two will center around that sudden teamwork. Let’s bring up the Wheel of Fun!”

The students groaned at the name of the event choosing roulette as the large television screens once again displayed different events, rapidly switching through them. The text flying by began to slow down until finally landing on the name of the next event.

“Our teamwork event will be Capture the Flag! Now, you might be wondering just how we’ll do an event like this with forty-two participants! Well, first, it won’t just be two teams!” Midnight announced, drawing some ‘oos’ and ‘aahs’ from the crowd at the revelation. “First, each individual student will have a point total assigned to them that is unique, based on their placement in the first round.”

Oh, that probably meant that Izuku was about to be worth a lot of points.

“The student who was last to qualify for the second round will be worth fifteen points, incrementing up by fifteen for each place above that. Except for first place, who shall be worth…” Midnight paused for dramatic effect, during which Present Mic played a drum roll sound effect. “TEN MILLION POINTS!”

Well… that painted a large target on Izuku’s back, if he hadn’t already had one to begin with. It probably also made it very difficult for him to get teammates, since no one would want to risk getting knocked out if they lost their flag, which Izuku assumed was worth the entire team’s points.

“Now, teams must be between three and five players each! You will be using one of our wonderful underground training areas, the subterranean shopping center, as your battleground for this Capture the Flag game. Each team will need to find a safe spot to use as their base, where they will protect their flag. The event ends after thirty minutes, and the top sixteen players will move on to the Battle Tournament round!” Midnight explained. “And before anyone asks, should a team have too many people to all fit within the sixteen available spots, they can either choose amongst themselves as to who gets to move on, or they can allow us to select based on their placement in the first round! Now!” Midnight cracked her whip. “You have fifteen minutes to figure out your teams! Your time starts now!”

The screens flicked over to become giant countdown clocks and the students scattered to work on creating teams. Izuku had no clue who he’d try asking. He knew Bakugou wouldn’t want to team up with him, rather the blond would want to capture Izuku’s team’s flag to claim the points for himself. As he scanned the group of students, he could quickly see teams being formed, meaning he was running out of options.

Bakugou had ended up with a group of four: himself, Sero, Uraraka (the traitor), and Kirishima. Kaminari (yet another traitor) had managed to weasel his way into a team with Todoroki and Tokoyami, as well as a 1-B student with vines for hair. Izuku was impressed with Kaminari’s team, it looked to be quite powerful. Yaomomo (Izuku wouldn't call her a traitor, this time) had partnered up with two 1-B students as well as the purple haired general education student, who didn’t seem all too pleased with his team, though Izuku couldn’t actually tell if that was how he felt or if he just perpetually looked tired.

As the last few minutes of the timer began to wind down, Izuku was still left without a team. Basically everyone was split into teams of three or four at this point, and many of the teams were giving him side-eye, not seeming to want him to join up with them. Though Izuku couldn’t blame them, and at least it looked like the teams were mixed class, instead of 1-B pitting itself entirely against 1-A after Izuku’s little opening speech.

“Midoriya,” a voice said from behind him, and he spun around to see Shouji standing there, flanked by Hatsume and a 1-B student. “Would you like to join our team?”

“I’d love to test out my babies on anyone who tries to take our flag if you’re on our team!” Hatsume added giddily, all the while tinkering with one of her support items.

“Sure, Shouji!” Izuku said, smiling at his classmate. “Thanks for having me! It didn’t really look like many people wanted me on their team.” He rubbed the back of his head awkwardly.

Shouji nodded at him. “Having you on the team will make us a prime target for all of the other teams, but I believe you to be capable enough to prevent anyone from taking our flag.”

“Right, think I can handle that. Though I assume we’ll want to focus purely on defense then,” Izuku said, bringing a hand to his chin as he thought out their strategy.

“Um,” the 1-B student mumbled awkwardly. “So, I’m Honenuki, from 1-B? Shouji here said you had a strong quirk, but I don’t really know what it is?”

“Ah, well, I can copy other quirks and keep them, meaning I have quite an arsenal of quirks at my disposal.”

“Wait, you can keep them? Like, permanently?” Honenuki asked, eyes widening. “That’s like Monoma, but way better!”

“Who?” Izuku asked, trying to not sound too excited about finally finding out who the other copy quirk was. No other copy quirks had been recorded other than this student, and so Izuku figured it had to be the other kid his father and the Doctor had mentioned when Izuku was younger.

“Monoma, 1-B’s resident nuisance, if you ask me. He claims all of you in 1-A think yourselves better than us in 1-B, which your opening speech didn’t help…”

“Yeah, sorry, figured I should make it a challenge rather than trying to be all friendly about it. I mean, this is a competition in the end.”

“Fair. I didn’t say you were wrong to say what you did, it just fanned the flames of Monoma’s distaste for you guys.” Honenuki shrugged. “Anyway, he has a copy quirk, too, but his copies are on a short duration. And I think he can only have a couple at a time, and replaces the oldest copy with the new one if he tries to copy more.”

That fit the description he’d gotten from the Doctor: a short-term copy quirk with limited capabilities.

“Which team is he on?” Izuku asked, turning to look over at the other teams.

“The one with your vice rep and the gen ed guy,” Honenuki said, pointing towards Yaomomo’s team. “The tall guy is Bondo, the other guy is Monoma.”

“Huh,” Izuku said when he spotted Monoma. The teen did not look like Izuku in the slightest, nor did he look like All for One, so Monoma must have just happened to have a copy quirk. Besides, Izuku would have been pissed at his dad, either the real comatosed one or the quirk vestige one (or both), if he found out that Hisashi had a kid with another woman at the same time he was married to Inko and had Izuku. Shaking his head, Izuku returned to the matter at hand. “So, yeah, we’ll need to go on defense. Hatsume, you have any tech for that?”

“Of course!” Hatsume said excitedly. “I have several patent-pending trap babies!”

Izuku highly doubted the ‘patent-pending’ part of that, but he went with it anyway. “Perfect. Shouji, you’ll be able to scout for us to know if anyone is coming. I’ve got plenty of combat quirks to hold off whoever tries to attack, and Honenuki…” He trailed off, not knowing what the teen’s quirk was.

“I can soften surfaces, and can even swim through them. Let’s me trap people or traverse distances decently well, since I can harden material behind me as I swim which propels me forward.”

“Oh, that’s pretty cool,” Izuku said, nodding slightly. He didn’t know if he would want that quirk or not. He’d have to see how it performed in this event.

“How many quirks do you have?” the 1-B student asked.

Izuku began to count on his fingers as he went through his mental list of quirks. “Uh, twenty? Yeah, that seems right.”

“Wait, what?!” Honenuki practically yelled in shock, drawing some attention from the other students.

“Heh, yeah…” Izuku said, scratching his cheek.

“Dude, you’re so much better than Monoma, then,” Honenuki said, and Izuku figured the teen would be holding it over his classmate later. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or if it would just make whatever Monoma’s annoying quips about 1-A were worse.

“And that’s time!” Midnight announced as the timers showed zero and blared a horn noise. “Teams! Pick one person to send up to me with your names, and we’ll get you set up with your point flags! Note: flags must be easily visible wherever you set up your base. The point total will be visible on them, and if you capture another team’s flag, you’ll attach it right next to yours! We have some handy flag poles for you to use as well!”

“I’ll get it,” Shouji said before heading up towards the main stage to get their flag and pole.

It only took a few moments for each team to get their flag. Once done, the teams were shuttled off to Ground Beta, which held the sizable underground shopping center and fake metro station beneath its city streets.

“You have another fifteen minutes to find a spot for your base of operations and get settled in before the event begins!” Midnight’s voice said through the speakers by the entrance of the training ground. “There’s plenty of cameras for us to be able to see you all, so don’t worry about getting forgotten about! Your time starts… now!”

The teams rushed off down the stairs and into the subterranean levels of the training ground, some splitting off on upper floors of the shopping center while Izuku and his team made for the metro station area.

“Most of the teams will probably use the shops as their bases, so we may have an easier time hiding out for longer, and defending, if we go to the metro area,” Izuku said as he led his team through the underground mall.

“Agreed, and I can make the hallways leading to us soft, making it difficult for the other teams to get to us quickly, if they find us at all,” Honenuki said as he jogged behind Izuku.

“These babies are net traps and can tangle up anyone!” Hatsume chimed in, holding up two large devices.

“And Shouji should have an easy time with only needing to survey one direction for anyone coming,” Izuku added, earning a nod from his classmate. “I’d honestly like it if I didn’t have to use too many of my quirks. I want to save the surprises for the battle tournament.”

“Fair enough,” Honenuki said. “You’ve got that portal one you used for the first round, right? What else?”

Izuku smirked at his teammate. “Just wait and see!” That earned him an eye roll but a smile from the 1-B student.

They got settled into their desired spot with barely a minute to spare, given how deep into the subterranean levels they had to run.

“And that’s the prep time up! First years, let the hunt for flags begin!” Midnight’s voice echoed throughout the underground halls, followed by a chime.

The game was on.

Chapter 15: Capture the Flag

Chapter Text

It only took about five minutes before Shouji signaled that multiple people were approaching their base zone. Izuku figured some of the other students must have been watching or following them. And of course there was Jirou, who probably used her scouting ability to hunt them down, opposing Shouji’s ability to hear them coming.

“Get behind me,” Izuku ordered. Shouji, being the only one who wasn’t already back on the metro platform, jogged over to stand behind Izuku. Izuku took a deep breath and raised his hand, pushing out against the air in front of him and creating several layers of Air Wall that filled their side of the hallway leading out of the metro station and back into the subterranean mall. “These should hold them back for a while, unless they find another way in.”

“But they look so… thin?” Honenuki said, tilting his head.

“Three layers handled a built up explosion from Kacchan, when he had his costume’s gauntlets on. One layer can handle his normal explosions, at his current strength. I doubt many people in our year have quirks stronger than that, that are even useful against fortifications like this,” Izuku explained. “Though I already know of several ways some classmates could attempt to break them.”

“Like what?”

“Can’t say. The main one is Jirou, and she can probably hear us, if her team is trying an assault,” Izuku said, shrugging.

Several explosions sounded off from the far side of the air wall gauntlet.

“Sounds like Bakugou is here,” Shouji commented, his arms forming several ears to continue listening in to the siege on their base.

“Honenuki, can you soften the floor of the hallway?” Izuku asked.

The other teen nodded and jogged over to the hallway entrance, setting his palms on the floor. A rippling effect flowed across the hard concrete, indicating the application of Honenuki’s quirk.

“Hatsume,” Izuku said, turning to the support course student. “What’ve you got?”

Hatsume jumped up from her tinkering at the question about her support items. “Well, I still have the jet pack baby and impact absorbing boots that I used primarily during the obstacle course! I also have night vision in these special goggles,” she tapped the goggles on her head, “and I have a few snare babies!”

“Snares?” Izuku smirked.

“Babies…?” Honenuki whispered.

“Yep!” Hatsume confirmed, probably to both of them.

Izuku formed a portal. “Come with me,” he said to Hatsume. The two stepped through the warp gate and into the middle of the hallway leading to the metro station, using an air wall to stand on given the softened floor. More air walls blocked them in on both sides, but large booms and bangs could be heard from the far side of the hall. “Place the snare traps in this area.”

“On it!” Hatsume said, beaming as she set out a few small devices on the hallway’s walls. Once done she ran back over to Izuku and his warp gate. “I’ll arm them once we’re back, don’t want to accidentally set them off! They might explode, but no severe injuries! I promised Power Loader Sensei that none of my babies would cause irreparable damage to other students!”

“That’s… reassuring, Hatsume,” Izuku said, half chuckling. The two of them ducked back through the warp gate and Izuku closed it behind them once they were settled in by Shouji and Honenuki once more.

Izuku wondered if Bakugou had tested out more powerful explosions just from his palms at all since Izuku gave back the copy of Explosion he made during middle school. If Bakugou hadn’t practiced anything yet, Izuku would make sure he did later. There was a chance that the double quirk would have the possibility of making his normal palm explosions nearly the same scale as his support item boosted ones, like the one he used during their first battle training.

“So are the other teams really going to gang up on us?” Honenuki asked anxiously. “Because it sounds like they'd have to, right?”

“Maybe,” Izuku said, shrugging. “At least to get through our defenses. But once they're here it'll probably become a free for all. And they've left their own flags hardly defended. Honestly if I knew where they set up their bases, I'd portal over and take the flags.”

“I can scout them out with my drone baby! It's not as finished as my others, and might break, but it's worth trying right?” Hatsume suggested.

“You didn't mention that one before,” Izuku pointed out, narrowing his eyes at her. She wasn't lying, about having it or that it was unreliable.

“Not my fault you never asked about the thing I was working on,” Hatsume sassed, holding up the small orb-like device she'd been tinkering with since they formed the team. “I only just got the power source functioning anyway.”

“Bakugou and others have made it through a few of your walls, Midoriya.” Shouji pulled the group's attention. “I never noticed they sound like glass breaking until now.”

“I hardly used them, and the only time they've been broken by someone else was Kacchan's explosion during our first battle training, which probably drowned out the sound,” Izuku said. “They aren't as violent or loud when I break them myself.”

A low hum started up and grew progressively louder until it sounded like a guitar string being thrummed. Izuku gave a wary glance to Shouji.

“Jirou?” he asked.

“Jirou,” Shouji confirmed. “Using her quirk.”

“Well, good on her for figuring it out. Hatsume, I hope those snare traps work well.”

“Why, what's going on?” Honenuki asked, glancing between his teammates and the hallway.

“Jirou's quirk allows her to funnel the sound of her heartbeat through her ear jacks,” Izuku began to explain. “My air walls, as Shouji said, are kind of like glass. They're pretty strong on their own, but can be broken with enough force. However, like for a lot of strong materials, harmonics are a death sentence. Jirou figured that out and is using the sound of her heart beat to find the harmonic frequency of the air walls and shatter them. Sound waves are quite powerful against materials like glass.”

“Oh, so that's why you didn't wanna mention this before. Her quirk also lets her hear stuff better, right? I saw your vice rep making her some earmuffs before.” Honenuki was apparently pretty observant.

“Yep,” Izuku confirmed. “Guess we won't be going on the offensive at all, so no need for that drone.”

“Aw,” the girl said dejectedly. Though she quickly recovered, so much so that she giggled as she looked down at the small PDA she had attached to her wrist. “Snare babies caught a few!”

Izuku hummed, nodding with a small smile on his lips. “Good, though that does mean they’re getting closer. How much longer do we have to defend the flag?”

“We still have twenty minutes before the event ends, but given the time it would take for any team to return to their base with our flag, should they get ahold of it, I think it’s better to say fifteen minutes,” Hatsume said, being the only one who could see the time, given her PDA.

“Based on what I saw before the event started, and who I can hear coming, I believe only two people from each team trying to assault our base are here. I can hear a total of six people, Bakugou being the most obvious, with Jirou easy to pick out as well,” Shouji chimed in. “I think Kirishima is with Bakugou, but I don’t recognize any of the other voices. Seems like the teams have been arguing and fighting with each other on their way here.”

“Might be some of my classmates as well, if you don’t recognize the voices,” Honenuki said. “I can go check it out by swimming through the softened ground?”

Izuku nodded in agreement. “Sure, just be careful, don’t want you getting knocked out or something.” With that, Honenuki was off, diving into the floor and disappearing, small disturbances rippling behind him just like water.

However, it didn’t take long before he was leaping back out of the soft earth, the ground immediately hardening behind him as he grazed his palm along the floor.

“They’re here,” he said, out of breath. “Bakugou and the redhead, who I guess is Kirishima? Jirou is with Shishida, from my class. He’s got a beast quirk, makes him stronger and bigger. Then Kendo and Pony, also from my class. Basically all heavy hitters and then Jirou it looks like.”

“Thanks for the intel, Honenuki,” Izuku said. “Shouji, I’m gonna need some help fighting them off.”

“You’ll need to take on Bakugou,” Shouji said. “The others, besides Jirou, are basically just strength quirks, right Honenuki?” He was referring to Kendo and Pony, whose quirks Honenuki hadn’t mentioned.

“Yeah,” the teen said. “Kendo can make her fists bigger, and with that comes more power. Pony seems to have some strength and stamina of a horse, and no it’s not a nickname, her name is actually Pony, and she also has horns she can fire off and control. Shishida, like I said, just gets a lot stronger when in his beast form. I can help Shouji if you take care Bakugou and Kirishima, Midoriya.”

“Sounds like a plan,” Izuku agreed. “Hatsume, you’ll be the last line of defense. Think you can handle that?”

“Yep! I still have some net babies to use!” She patted some grenade-like devices on her waist (more items she forgot to mention when Izuku asked her what support tech she had).

They finalized their plan just in time for the final air wall to shatter, sending shards flying before they dissipated back into the air molecules they were made from, long before they would have hit Izuku and his teammates. Standing at the entrance to the hallway was a very angry looking Bakugou, Kirishima right at his side. Just behind them stood Jirou and Shishida. Kendo and Pony looked to be missing, so Izuku figured they were the ones trapped by Hatsume’s snare traps.

“f*cking Deku!” Bakugou roared. “Hiding out here like a wimp?!”

“I’m public enemy number one, aren’t I? Sounds like the perfect circ*mstance to control the playing field,” Izuku said, smirking. That only seemed to piss off Bakugou even more. “Seems only fair that you can have our flag if you beat me, Kacchan.”

Izuku immediately pulled on his full arsenal of Brawn Boost (x2), Kinetic Booster (x2), and Springlike Limbs, ready to launch an assault on Bakugou. He leapt forward at his friend, only for Kirishima to leap in front in an attempt to intercept. The redhead hardened his body, but the brute force behind Izuku’s attack still sent him flying. Izuku only felt slightly bad, since he’d half expected Kirishima to join the action, and the teen’s quirk was definitely meant to handle hits like that. And if Kirishima hadn’t jumped in, then Bakugou was certainly going to dodge.

Before Kirishima had a chance to recover from being slammed into the wall, Izuku fired off a blast of Air Cannon, which sent the redhead through the wall and into what Izuku guessed was one of the faux restrooms for the metro station. Bakugou’s eyes widened as he watched his teammate get taken out so easily, before he then snarled and whirled back on Izuku, firing off a few explosions.

Izuku just dodged the majority of them, throwing up an Air Wall to block the final one. As the smoke cleared, he just smirked at Bakugou. From where he stood, he could see the fight between his teammates and Jirou and Shishida was also going well. Honenuki was keeping Jirou back by trying to trap her in the softened floor, diving in and out as he attempted to drag her down. Shouji was battling it out with Shishida, the two seemingly of similar strength. In the meantime, Hatsume had set up a large net in front of the hallway leading in and out of the station, undoubtedly to slow down Kendo and Pony if they finally arrived, as well as to slow the escape of the two other teams trying to take their flag, should they somehow succeed.

With his attention elsewhere, Izuku missed the move Bakugou made to get closer to him. An explosion blasted into his shoulder, sending him flying and actually managing to dislocate the joint, causing Izuku to cry out slightly in pain. Once he regained his footing, he looked at his limp arm, then glared at Bakugou, a snarl on his face. Using his healthy arm, Izuku popped the shoulder back into place, rolling it to ensure it was good. His Super Regeneration quickly kicked in and healed the muscle tears enough for him to continue the fight.

“Oh sh*t…” a returned Kirishima said as he climbed back through the him-shaped hole in the wall. Izuku’s glare snapped to him momentarily, but the redhead seemed to not want anything more to do with the fight and so raised his arms up placatingly.

Electricity sparked along Izuku’s arms, green arcs of energy arcing out slightly. He leapt again, planning to stun Bakugou and end the fight there. The other teen propelled himself away with his explosions, uncertainty showing on his face at being on the receiving end of a very angry looking Izuku.

Meanwhile, it seemed that Honenuki had managed to trap Jirou who just crossed her arms and pouted as he lower half was stuck in the floor. Shouji and Shishida continued their brawl. Shouji seemed to have the upper hand, though, given his multiple limbs and enhanced ability to grapple. Shouji was able to get Shishida in a head lock while also landing a few hits to his side, causing the 1-B student to let out a roar of annoyance.

Izuku turned back to his target, launching himself after Bakugou as the blond continued to avoid Izuku’s attacks. Dropping Electrification, Izuku formed a warp in the path of Bakugou’s escape, causing the teen to fly through it and pop out of the exit closer to Izuku. Throwing a punch, Izuku’s fist landed against Bakugou’s side, knocking the breath out of him and sending him careening to the ground. Izuku, not wanting to injure Bakugou too severely, (despite the blond’s apparent willingness to go all out against him, given the dislocated shoulder), had reduced his usage of his quirks to only one copy of both Brawn Boost and Kinetic Booster, and he had dropped Springlike Limbs entirely.

But something deep inside of him wanted absolute victory, to destroy his opponent and leave them powerless, or worse. A hunger for power boiled within, threatening to engulf Izuku. His gaze darkened as he stalked towards Bakugou, palms sparking once more with electricity. He funneled more and more power into the arcs of energy, his palms crackling and emitting enough light to cast a green hue across their part of the metro station.

Bakugou pushed himself up into a kneeling position before wrapping an arm around his midsection, hand holding his side that Izuku punched. He finally glanced up at the approaching Izuku and for the first time, fear truly showed in his ruby eyes.

“De-Deku?” he asked, eyes wide.

“Midoriya!” Kirishima yelled as he ran towards Bakugou to help.

Electrification’s draw of energy, as Kaminari had experienced plenty of times, sapped the electrical signals from the brain, and as Izuku continued to push more electricity into his palms, his thoughts grew slower, his mind dimmer. His eyes unfocused as his steps slowed. Kirishima dove in between Izuku and Bakugou, hardening his skin in order to slightly insulate his body from the inevitable discharge of electricity.

As Izuku lost focus, his hands dropped just as he reached Kirishima, green arcs of energy blasted across the redhead’s hardened skin, singing his gym uniform where Izuku touched it. Kirishima let out a cry of pain, still feeling the jolt of the high voltage even through his insulated skin.

With the electricity discharged, all that was left was for Izuku to collapse right as a klaxon sounded, and Midnight’s voice came over the speaker system signaling the end of the event. He was unconscious before he hit the floor.

“And that’s the end of Event Two!” Present Mic announced. “We’ll let the first years make their way back to the stadium, or to Recovery Girl in a few circ*mstances, before we announce the qualifiers for the Battle Tournament! For those of you watching, or listening, at home, we’ll be back after these messages!”

He flipped his microphone off and turned slowly to Shouta, smile dropping as the other hero made the windows of their announcer box opaque.

“What did our kid just almost do?” Hizashi asked warily.

Shouta’s lips were pursed into a tight line as he replayed the final moments of Izuku’s battle with Bakugou on one of the small screens in the booth. He watched, again and again, how Izuku’s expression darkened into something Shouta had only seen on villains. To be fair, Bakugou had blasted Izuku with a powerful enough explosion to dislocate Izuku’s shoulder, and Shouta had to guess his kid only managed to tough it out due to some kind of self-healing quirk he might have gotten from his biological father, or some other source. Izuku hadn’t given Shouta the full list of his quirks yet, only mentioning ones as they came up during Fundamentals of Heroics classes.

At this point, Shouta didn’t think he could keep as much of Izuku’s past a secret from his partner. Hizashi deserved to know who Izuku’s parents were, at the very least, since that could slightly explain Izuku’s mood swings sometimes.

“Bakugou hurt him, and he reacted instinctively is my guess,” Shouta explained. “Izuku’s father was…” He paused, unsure if he should go through with the explanation or not. He sighed, dragging a hand down his face before turning to Hizashi. “His father was a villain, apparently, and quite a strong one at that. I don’t have all the details,” he lied, “but we all know how nature and nurture work when it comes to kids.”

“But Izuku is such a sunshine child most of the time! Yeah he gets into a mood every once in a while, but what teen doesn’t?” Hizashi said.

“Right, most of the time. His moods aren’t just from being a teenager, though. He comes to me most of the time when he gets stuck in one, because it mostly stems from the things he’s seen and knows about the darker side of our world. And you and I both know you like me keeping that side of things to myself, given my profession in the Underground.”

“Yeah…” Hizashi agreed sadly. “Maybe I should learn more about it.”

“No,” Shouta said adamantly. “You take care of the limelight stuff, I take care of the gritty parts. That’s how it’s always been. It’s how we knew it would be since school.”

Hizashi chuckled dryly. “Right, even Oboro figured it would be this way…” They sat in silence for a moment, reminiscing about their lost friend. “Is he alright, at least?”

“He should be. I’ll go see him, the bots are taking him to Recovery Girl.” Shouta stood up and turned to leave, but was stopped by a hand grabbing his arm. He looked back to see Hizashi staring up at him, eyes glistening behind his costume’s glasses.

“Tell him I’m thinking of him, alright?”

“Of course, Zashi,” Shouta said, laying the hand of his free arm on Zashi’s before the other man released his grip, letting Shouta leave the announcer booth.

Izuku opened his eyes into darkness once again. He glanced around, seeing nothingness, before looking down at his feet. He took a step forward and realized he could already move this time, and his steps sent out ripples on the black nothiness below him, as if he was stepping in a thin layer of water. Figuring he might as well get used to being in this dreamscape or whatever it was, he began to walk.

It didn’t take long for him to come across his father once again. He lit up upon seeing the older man, speeding up his pace. But then he paused when he saw the sad look on his dad’s face.

“Dad?” Izuku asked hesitantly.

“Little one,” All for One replied, a small sad smile on his face. “I’m so sorry.”

“Sorry?! For what?” Izuku asked, confused.

“My quirk… it has the inherent trait of causing the owner to desire more power. It abused me when I was young, honestly it probably led me to being the man I am. Well, was. All for One desires to assimilate any and all powerful quirks around it, or rid the world of those who try to get in its way. And so one has to learn to control the urges it pushes on them.”

Hisashi turned fully to Izuku, taking a step to the side as well. Now in view was a replay of a recent memory of Izuku’s: his battle with Bakugou during Capture the Flag. Somehow, it was a third-person point of view, but Izuku didn’t really expect the laws of the world to work the same in this dreamscape, so he took it in stride.

However, his confidence faltered as he watched the expression on his past self change drastically when he fixed his dislocated shoulder. A darkness sat behind his eyes, one of malice.

“What… what did I do?” Izuku asked quietly as he and his father watched the memory.

He watched as past him channeled Electrification into his hands and stalked towards Bakugou. The look on his face was not one of a contestant in a quirk-filled game. It didn’t even look like one of mercy. He had looked like he wanted to end Bakugou, which was nothing like his true feelings for the other teen.

“It’s good that quirk has a drawback the more power you funnel into it,” his father said as the memory showed Izuku staggering while his palms arced with more and more green electricity. “That classmate of yours as well, his quirk helped prevent catastrophe.” They watched Izuku collapse, unleashing the built up electricity into Kirishima, and then the memory froze.

“Wait, what happened next?!” Izuku asked frantically. “Is Kirishima alright?!”

“You passed out, so that’s the end of the memory I’m afraid. But I do believe your classmate is alright.”

Izuku could feel tears welling in his eyes. “I’m so stupid…” he said, his breath catching in his throat as he tried to hold back sobs. “I could have…”

“Killed young Bakugou, yes,” All for One said. He wrapped his arms around his son, pulling him close. “But you didn’t, little one. Yes, it was only because of one of your copied quirk’s drawbacks, but still. You have regrets about letting this happen to begin with, so you’ll use that going forward to reign the urges of All for One in. I promise it won’t be too hard, it just takes some time and practice.”

“But what if I hurt someone before I can control it fully?” Izuku asked, his face buried in his dad’s chest.

“That is the nature of our quirked society, I’m afraid. We’re always at risk of injuring those close to us.”

Izuku slowly calmed down, a few sniffles still escaping as he pulled back from his father.

“I didn’t think I’d see you again so soon,” he admitted.

“Neither did I, but here we are. And you seem to have a little more control over things this time, but you’re still only here because you were knocked out. I suspect you’ll be waking up soon, between your Super Regeneration and whatever healing quirk that nurse of UA’s has.”

“I promise next time I’m here will be under my own control,” Izuku said, determined. “I don’t want to always be on a time limit when I see you.”

Hisashi chuckled, ruffling Izuku’s hair. “I look forward to it, little one.”

Shouta quietly stepped into Recovery Girl’s pop-up medbay in the depths of the stadium. He’d passed a few first years heading back from her clinic and gave them curt nods. Once inside of the clinic, he scanned the few beds until he found the singular occupied one where Izuku lay unconscious.

“Shouta,” Recovery Girl said flatly.

“Chiyo,” Shouta said back. “Is he alright?”

“Seems so. I gave him a small dose of my quirk, but based on his healing of his dislocated shoulder, I assume he has his own healing quirk.” Recovery Girl rested both of her hands atop her cane as she turned to regard Izuku’s form. “He should wake up shortly.”

“Good, though he has plenty of time before the Battle Tournament.” Shouta stepped towards the bed, resting a hand on Izuku’s arm.

Recovery Girl clucked her tongue. “Are you sure he should participate?”

“He came first in event one, and retained his points in the second event. It would look odd on UA’s part if we pulled him from the final event. Besides, it seems Nezu doesn’t care.”

“Hmph, he never does, does he?” Recovery Girl asked rhetorically.

A groan drew their attention to the bed, where Izuku blinked a few times before fully opening his eyes. He turned to see Shouta and Recovery Girl.

“Sho?” he asked quietly.

“Yeah, kid,” Shouta said. “You alright?”

“I think so… I’m sorry…”

Shouta shared a look with Recovery Girl who just nodded, drawing the curtain around the medical bed and leaving the two alone.

“It’s alright, Izuku,” Shouta comforted. “It’s common to lose control at your age.”

“But not like… not like that,” Izuku said, sniffling. “I could have killed Kacchan. I would have killed Kacchan if Kaminari’s quirk didn’t drain my brain.”

“What happened? I’ve never seen you like that, even when you’re brooding about something,” Shouta said, trying to add some humor to the conversation but falling flat.

“My dad’s quirk. It wants power, I guess? So it either wants me to take quirks, or to remove them from the equation…”

“And it took hold of you after Bakugou hurt you so badly?”

“Basically. I have to learn to control the urges it brings, according to my dad,” Izuku admitted.

“Ah, so you saw him again,” Shouta asked. They’d talked about the first time Izuku had seen his father in his dreams a while back, just another one of the things they kept from Hizashi. Izuku’s explanation, or rather Izuku’s father’s explanation, proved several quirk theories true, but of course it was impossible to prove to anyone. So they’d kept it to themselves.

“Yeah,” Izuku said, not adding anything further.

“Well, you’ve got an hour before the Battle Tournament begins. Obviously you made it to the final event. Your team’s flag wasn’t captured.”

“Who else made it?” Izuku asked, finally looking up at Shouta, seemingly also grateful for the topic change.

“Bakugou’s team. Sero captured a few flags while other teams went hunting. Yaoyorozu’s team made it, and Todoroki’s team as well. Each of your teams had four members, so it added up easily to our required sixteen contestants for the tournament. You’ll find out the bracket when the event starts.”

“Cool,” Izuku said flatly. He still seemed a bit distressed at the final moments of the last event.

“Zashi said to tell you he hopes you’re okay,” Shouta said, giving Izuku a small smile.

Izuku let out a humorous breath. “Good to know.”

Feeling obligated to inform Izuku of the aftermath of his loss of control, despite it most likely ruining the mood again, Shouta quickly added, “And Kirishima and Bakugou are fine. Kirishima just needed a replacement gym uniform, and otherwise is unscathed. Just a bit shaken up.”

“I’m glad. Do you think they hate me?” Izuku asked, his voice small.

“Doubt it, kid. Kirishima is too nice, and you probably, finally, gave Bakugou a reason to respect you without all his extra aggressiveness. Though it is Bakugou, so he might be back to his usual self in the next round.”

Izuku laughed a little at that. “Probably.”

Shouta sat with Izuku for the majority of the break, chatting about random things until Recovery Girl kicked them out of the clinic. Izuku split off to head to the staging rooms before the final event started while Shouta made his way back to the announcer booth.

Izuku would be fine, or so Shouta hoped.

Chapter 16: Qualifiers

Chapter Text

Izuku hurried to the main staging room where he was met with the fifteen other students who managed to make it to the final event of the Sports Festival. Just as Aizawa had said, he found Bakugou’s team, Todoroki’s team, and Yaoyorozu’s team spread out throughout the staging room. Some were lounging on the chairs and couches, others were grabbing snacks and drinks from the options arrayed on tables lining the walls.

Uraraka and Kaminari immediately ran up to him as soon as he arrived.

“Sorry for bailing on you Midoriya!” Kaminari said first. “I just didn’t want to risk not getting into the final round, ya know? Like, yeah you’re strong but so many people wanted to fight you! And those points!”

“I’m sorry too,” Uraraka chimed in. “But I didn’t want to just ride your coattails to the top…”

Izuku chuckled, waving their apologies off. “You guys are fine! Don’t worry. I get not wanting to rely on me.”

“Kirishima said you got super scary in your fight against Bakugou when he tried to get your flag,” Uraraka said. “What happened?”

“Ah, well,” Izuku chuckled some more, though a bit more nervously this time. “He hit me hard and dislocated my shoulder so I got a bit mad I guess.”

“Holy crap, Midoriya! He dislocated your shoulder?!” Kaminari asked, both amazed and horrified. “How’re you fine?!”

“Recovery Girl I’d bet,” Uraraka said.

“Nope, I have a healing quirk,” Izuku corrected, shrugging. Though the school's resident doctor did say she used her quirk on him. An extremely minor dose, but still.

Kaminari slumped. “Of course you do…” he whined.

“They’re setting up the bracket!” someone called, pulling everyone’s attention to the TVs in the room.

“And welcome back to UA’s First Year Sports Festival!” Mic’s voice said as the camera panned in on the recently created arena in the center of the stadium. It zoomed into Midnight standing atop a pedestal, the large monitors once again raised up behind her. “Now let me hand it back off to our illustrious host and referee for the final event! Midnight, take it away!”

“Thank you, Present Mic!” Midnight said. “It’s the moment all of you have been waiting for! The Battle Tournament!” She paused to let the cheering from the stadium die down. “We’ve already shown off our sixteen qualifiers in those amazing highlight reels from the first two events! Aren’t they something? So now it’s time for the bracket formation!”

The screen changed to show the sixteen person bracket, every spot on it currently blank. The first round of eight matches was pulled out, and names began to rapidly scroll past as the roulette wheel of qualifiers spun in each of the sixteen spots.

“Match 1 will be… Midoriya Izuku versus Monoma Neito!” Oh, Izuku was going to be up first, against the other copy quirk. That should be easy. “Match 2 will be Shinsou Hitoshi versus Shouji Mezo. Match 3 is Todoroki Shouto against Sero Hanta! Match 4 is Bondo Kojiro versus Hatsume Mei! Match 5 will be Bakugou Katsuki versus Uraraka Ochaco! Match 6 is Tokoyami Fumikage against Yaoyorozu Momo! Match 7 will be Kaminari Denki versus Shiozaki Ibara. And finally, Match 8 will be Kirishima Ejirou versus Honenuki Juzo!”

“I’m going to die…” Uraraka mumbled as she stared wide-eyed at the match-ups.

“Same,” Kaminari said, slumping down even more. He’d been on a team with Shiozaki, so he must have known how strong she was.

“Aw, come on guys, you’ll do fine! Uraraka, I could help you with some tips for Kacchan?” Izuku offered. “And Kaminari I… well I can’t really help you with Shiozaki since I have no clue what her quirk is.”

Uraraka steeled herself, taking a deep breath then pumping her fist determinedly. “No, I don’t want help, Midoriya. I think I need to do this on my own. Like I said, I can’t just ride your coattails to the top.”

“I guess if you aren’t taking Mido’s help, then neither will I,” Kaminari said, though a little less confidently. Izuku just chuckled.

“Alright, then,” he said, giving his friends a smile.

“Match 1 contestants get ready! Match 2 and 3 contestants on deck!” Midnight’s voice announced through the staging room’s speakers. This must have been an announcement only for the competitors, and not the entire stadium. The TVs had also switched back to aerial views of the stadium.

“Welp, guess I’m off,” Izuku said, turning to walk out of the staging room. “See you guys in a bit!”

“Bye, Mido! Good luck!” Kaminari called after him.

“You got this, Midoriya!” Uraraka yelled, pumping her fist in the air.

Izuku made his way out of the staging room and was caught by one of the helper bots roaming the depths of the stadium. It directed Izuku one way while another bot seemed to be directing Monoma in a different direction. Izuku glanced back at his soon-to-be opponent and saw the teen glaring at him. He frowned, wondering why Monoma was already so upset, but then he remembered Honenuki had said Izuku’s quirk was so much better (and cooler) than Monoma’s, so Honenuki must have bragged to Monoma about Izuku’s quirk.

As he walked, he tried to remember what Honenuki had said about Monoma’s quirk, as well as what he thought he knew about it, assuming Monoma really was the other copy quirk the Doctor and Izuku’s dad would talk about years ago. The quirk was evidently a short term copy quirk, and only had the capability of copying a few quirks at a time. Izuku figured Monoma would have had to gather quirks from his friends just before they left the staging room, unless he happened to pass by other 1-B students before getting to the stadium entrance for their battle.

Izuku, on the other hand, still had his full arsenal of quirks. As he approached the gate out into the stadium, pausing to wait to be called, he tried to formulate a plan on how to best beat Monoma without just instantly knocking him out. That wouldn’t make for a fun match, to play or to watch. Of course, he could just use Erasure then walk up and punch or kick Monoma out of the ring. Or he could drop the other teen through a warp gate, making the teen fall out of the ring. But those were boring and quick ways to take care of the problem. He wanted to at least give Monoma a chance.

“Let’s welcome the students of our first match in the Battle Tournament!” Mic’s voice announced. The doors opened to allow Izuku out onto the field, the sunlight blinding him for a moment after he’d been in the dimly lit halls of the stadium’s catacombs for so long. “First up, we have Midoriya Izuku of Class 1-A! He’s got quite the arsenal of copied quirks, as we’ve all seen! Competing against him to move on to the Quarter Finals is Monoma Neito of Class 1-B, who just needs to borrow your quirk to show off his power!”

“Two wielders of copy-based quirks,” Aizawa’s flat voice cut in. “Most likely the rarest match up one could see in all of Japan, if not the world.”

His teacher was right, Izuku and Monoma’s quirks were practically one of a kind, if it weren’t for the existence of the other. The probability of there being two of them, in the same age range, at the same school, was astronomical. Unless, of course, they both stemmed from the same source. Which Izuku still didn’t want to believe. Midoriya Hisashi had been his father, and there was no way the man cheated on Inko… right?

Izuku marched out onto the pitch, making his way to the slightly elevated battle platform that held the ring in which they’d be fighting. He found his place on his side, just within the line that delineated the ring from out-of-bounds. He kicked his feet a little, hitting his toes against the cement structure to adjust his shoes. Across from him stood Monoma, who still hadn’t wiped that glare off his face.

“The rules are simple! If you’re knocked out of the ring, you lose! If you’re unable to continue fighting, you lose! If things get out of hand, Cementoss and I have the right to step in and halt the fight,” Midnight explained. “And no severe injuries, we all know the cost of those,” she added, reminding everyone of Recovery Girl’s tendency to smash shins with her cane when students, or teachers, went overboard. “Do you understand the rules?”

“Yes!” both Izuku and Monoma responded.

“Then without further ado, let the first match of the Battle Tournament… BEGIN!” And with a crack of Midnight’s whip, the battle was on.

Izuku decided he’d wait to see what Monoma could even do. So instead of attacking, he just nonchalantly strode forward, smirking at the 1-B student.

“I heard you have a copy quirk, too, Monoma,” Izuku said. “Not from our teachers just a minute ago, but from other sources. Though I also heard it kind of sucks.”

“Oh, shocker, the 1-A brat thinks he’s better than me, a lowly 1-B student,” Monoma spat. He formed blades from his forearms and made a charge at Izuku.

“One quirk down,” Izuku muttered to himself, still smirking. As Monoma closed the distance between them, Izuku formed a warp gate behind himself and hopped backwards through it, coming out on the other side of the arena where Monoma had started.

Monoma slashed at the dissipating mist, the warp already having closed as soon as Izuku stepped through. He whipped around to glare at Izuku once again.

“What? Did you expect something else?” Izuku taunted, tilting his head. “You’ve seen me use that quirk already, Monoma.”

“Agh, f*ck you, Midoriya!” Monoma shouted, withdrawing his blades and slapping his hands on the ground. Izuku saw the telltale ripple of Honenuki’s softening. He just shrugged and stepped upwards using Air Walk as Monoma dove down into the softened ground.

Izuku watched the ripples of Monoma swimming through the soft ground, tracking his movements. Unsurprisingly, the teen was swimming directly to Izuku, probably planning on making an attempted surprise attack. Unlucky for him, Izuku already knew how Softening worked. In preparation, he pulled on Springlike Limbs and Kinetic Booster (x2), readying to send a blast of air with Air Cannon. That allowed him to only actually show off one quirk, because the enhancement quirks had no tell to them.

Monoma shot up out of the ground just below Izuku, but the 1-A teen was much further in the air than Monoma thought he would be, so his attack missed. Monoma landed on his hands and knees, apparently not as adept with his movements as he probably thought.

Izuku just chuckled. “Having some trouble, Monoma?” he asked as he walked backwards away from Monoma. Bringing his right hand up, Izuku just smiled. “Well, at least you tried. You know, this explains a lot.” He gestured vaguely to Monoma with his left hand. “Better luck next time.”

A blast of air rocketed out at Monoma. The teen, wide-eyed, threw up his arms in front of him, crossing them, and his skin turned to silvery steel. That made for three quirks. Izuku wondered what his last one might be, and if he’d even get the chance to use it.

The metal skin seemed to work much like Kirishima’s hardening, and also allowed for some shock absorption, allowing Monoma to only skid backwards a few meters instead of being shot out of the arena. Izuku had to say, he was slightly impressed. Monoma hadn’t seemed like someone to take a defensive option. He was aggressive, and based on Honenuki’s short assessment of him, Izuku had expected the teen to try an all out offensive. It honestly disappointed him a little.

“Hm, guess that’s something,” Izuku hummed. He swapped Springlike Limbs for activating Brawn Boost (x2) and rolled his shoulders. If Monoma kept up the metal skin, then Izuku would have to go with brute force. He’d learned that from sparring with Kirishima.

“Heh, you’re not as strong as you act, Midoriya,” Monoma said as he stood up straight. He kept the defensive quirk up.

“I’m not, huh?” Izuku asked, smirking again. “Tell me, Monoma, can you use more than one quirk at a time? Or are you stuck with only the metal skin ‘til you turn it off?”

Monoma’s eye twitch answered Izuku’s question, causing the teen to laugh.

“Yeah, figured. How about I help you?” Izuku flared Erasure, causing Monoma to lose his metal skin. Izuku then dropped the quirk and smiled. “There, now you can try another quirk.” Except Monoma instantly activated the same quirk again. Izuku just clucked his tongue and shook his head. “Fine, have it your way.”

Izuku ran at Monoma, Brawn Boost allowing him to take running leaps to close the distance quickly until he could grapple Monoma and throw him over his shoulder, back across the arena again. He might as well keep toying with Monoma.

Monoma hit the ground with a dull thud, the metal skin quirk increasing his weight. He rolled a bit before scrambling back to his feet. He finally, voluntarily, dropped the metal skin quirk as he glared at Izuku, a snarl on his lips.

“Stop f*cking around!” Monoma yelled. “You obviously can just take me out.”

“What, didn’t you say I wasn’t as strong as I thought?” Izuku asked faux innocently. “Look, Monoma, I’m just trying to give you a chance to show off. But I suppose the longer we go, the less of a chance you actually have, huh? So let’s see that fourth quirk of yours then we can end this. I’ll give you a free hit.” Izuku spread his arms wide. “Come on.”

Monoma looked doubtful but he still took the chance. He dropped to the ground, softening it and disappearing beneath the arena once more. Izuku watched the ripples as Monoma swam near him, and flanked to his side. He turned slowly, watching as Monoma popped out of the earth and quickly got into a boxing stance. He punched Izuku in the chest twice. Izuku wasn’t impressed with the strength, so he figured something was up. He kept his strength enhancement quirks up, just as a precaution.

Monoma smirked at him for the first time all fight. “You want to see my last copy? Fine. Twin Impact!”

Izuku felt two extremely hard hits to his chest, knocking the air out of his lungs and sending him flying back across the arena. Unsure if the force would knock him out of the arena, he quickly used an Air Wall to stop his movement. Of course, the slamming into the Air Wall did nothing to allow him to regain his breath. He fell to the ground, in a kneeling position, one fist slamming the floor of the arena and causing some cracks. Whipping his head up, he narrowed his eyes at Monoma.

“Well, nice try, I guess,” he said once he’d taken a few deep breaths. “But I think we’ve been here long enough.” Izuku let his right arm melt into mist and formed a warp gate just below Monoma, causing the teen to fall through and land outside the arena.

“Monoma is out of the arena! Midoriya wins!” Midnight announced, a crack of her whip accenting the results.

Izuku walked towards Monoma as he dropped all of his quirks, the mist from his portals dissipating and his right arm solidifying. He stopped just next to the 1-B student and stared down at him for a moment before extending a hand to help the teen up. Monoma, however, smacked it away with a snarl on his face. Izuku frowned, pulling back his hand.

“Don’t act like you care, Midoriya,” Monoma sneered. “Pretending to be helpful won’t change that you 1-A brats think you’re better than us.”

“I’d say you’re wrong, but some of us probably do think we’re better than you. Though we have valid reasons. Obviously I’m just a better version of you,” Izuku said, kneeling down and resting his hands on his knees. He leaned close to Monoma, speaking quietly. “I knew of your quirk, and of you, years ago. Now, I have a question for you, of my own curiosity and to hopefully put a worry of mine to rest.” He narrowed his eyes. “What’s your father’s name?”

Monoma furrowed his brow, confused. “My- my father? What does that have to do with anything?”

“Boys, if you could hurry it up?” Midnight called from her ref position.

“Just a minute, Midnight,” Izuku called back, giving her a smile. She rolled her eyes fondly before looking back to Cementoss, who was busy repairing the minor damage their fight had done to the arena. Izuku turned back to Monoma. “Just answer the question.”

“I never knew my dad,” Monoma admitted, turning away from Izuku with a somber yet angry look on his face. The statement pinged true to Izuku’s Lie Detector. “My mom said he never really was around, and then all out abandoned us after my quirk came in.”

Izuku frowned. Hisashi had spent most of his time with Izuku and his mom, only ever disappearing for work related things, obviously some being All for One problems. But if Monoma never met his father, and his father was just never around… could that mean Hisashi was Monoma’s father? The Doctor had made it sound like the lesser copy quirk was a failed attempt by them to make someone like Izuku.

He stood up quickly, ignoring the confused look on Monoma, and turned towards the entrance to the stadium’s catacombs. Monoma stared as he walked off.

“Wha- Hey! The hell, Midoriya?!” Monoma yelled at Izuku’s back. “You ask me something like that then just leave?!”

Izuku paused, turning back around to glare at Monoma. “Did you want something else? How about this: Your father left because you were a failure. You’re looking at the success. Take that however you want.”

And with that, Izuku disappeared into the stadium’s lower levels.

Izuku spent the majority of the other first round battles deep in thought rather than watching the fights. He didn’t need to watch the fights, really. He could handle basically anything any of them threw his way. Besides the only fight that mattered at the moment was the one after his, between Shouji and Shinsou, and Izuku figured he’d be against his classmate. Shinsou didn’t seem to have a combative quirk.

He was pulled out of his thoughts when Yaoyorozu walked in, looking battered and bruised after her fight with Tokoyami. She gave him a small smile as she collapsed into one of the couches in the break room.

“Hello, Midoriya,” she greeted him, holding her side.

“Oh, hi Yaomomo,” he said back, tilting his head to the side as he analyzed her. “Shouldn’t you go to Recovery Girl? You look hurt.”

“Probably, but her pop-up clinic is on the other side of the stadium, and I needed a minute,” Momo responded, shrugging then wincing.

“Here, let me help,” Izuku said, hopping up and forming a warp gate. He then walked over to Momo and let her stand and lean her weight on him. They walked through the portal, appearing just outside Recovery Girl’s clinic.

“Thank you, Midoriya,” Momo said as they walked inside. Recovery Girl was quick to direct the two of them to a bed, instructing Momo to lay down.

“I was expecting you a few minutes ago, young lady,” Recovery Girl said after giving Momo a dose of healing. She handed the girl a granola bar and some fruit gummies as well. “Eat up, you need that for both your quirk and mine.”

“Yes, ma’am,” Momo said, unwrapping the granola bar. She sighed after a few bites. “I didn’t really expect to beat Tokoyami and Dark Shadow, but I really wish I had managed it.”

“He is pretty strong,” Izuku agreed. “How did it go, though? I, uh, wasn’t really watching…” He rubbed the back of his neck, looking away from Momo for a moment.

“Oh, no worries, Midoriya,” she said, smiling at him. “You’re probably just trying to figure out how to beat Shinsou, right?”

“Wait, Shinsou beat Shouji?” Izuku asked, brow furrowed. “How?”

“I’m not entirely sure what his quirk is, but it’s something mental. He used whatever it was to get some flags during the last event, that’s probably how we made it into this round. Monoma wouldn’t stop trying to argue with me, and Bondo just defended our flag.”

“A mental quirk? Huh, I… I don’t actually have something for that.” Izuku frowned, tapping his leg. “I guess I could just end the match instantly, instead of playing around like I did with Monoma.”

“That was entertaining, at least.”

“I hope so.” Izuku chuckled. “But Shinsou is a Gen Ed student, and I saw him during the entrance exam, trying his hardest. He could maybe deserve a spot in the hero course, if his quirk is actually useful for fighting. Mental quirks are special. It’s like Sensei and his Erasure. It’s not flashy, but he can take on practically anyone, so long as they aren’t a mutant.”

“True. Perhaps give Shinsou the chance to use his quirk on you? Not only will it allow you to know what you’re up against, but it will also allow the teachers and others to see that he’s capable. Especially if he manages to almost beat you with it before you turn the tables.”

“I suppose you have a point.” Izuku glanced up to the TV in the clinic, only to see Kaminari get instantly taken out by Shiozaki. “Oh wow, poor Kaminari.”

Momo looked up as well. “Ah, yes, Shiozaki seems quite strong. Kaminari never really stood a chance. He’s close range without any support items, right?” Izuku nodded to confirm Momo’s thought. “Shiozaki can use her vines to attack from range or defend herself in close quarters.” Izuku arched an eyebrow at that. “I watched a fight between her team and another in the mall, from a distance. Monoma was helpful enough to say we wouldn’t be able to take her on with our quirks.”

As the final match of the round was being prepared, the contestants walking out to the arena, the standings flashed up on the TV. Izuku finally checked to see how each of the matches had gone. He wasn’t surprised to see that Todoroki had won his round, though Izuku didn’t know if the boy had used his fire or not. He doubted it. Bondo apparently beat Hatsume, which slightly confused Izuku. He’d have to ask someone about that.

Bakugou had beaten Uraraka, unsurprisingly, and it was only now that Izuku noticed her laying in one of the beds on the other side of the clinic. She looked fast asleep.

“Recovery Girl?” he called, getting the heroine’s attention. “Is Uraraka alright?”

“She’s fine, just sleeping off my quirk. She got pretty beaten up. Bakugou took her seriously and didn’t hold back, much to the shock and chagrin of the audience apparently. Shouta had to tell them off from the announcer booth. Uraraka did good, make sure you let her know when she wakes up.”

Izuku nodded and smiled. He was glad to know that Bakugou didn’t hold back, and that Uraraka had tried her best. To not have the fight end quickly must mean that Uraraka had managed to pull some tricks off.

“Now, you should get outta here, young man,” Recovery Girl said. “You’ve got a match to prepare for.”

Right on cue, an announcement was made for the next two matches’ contestants to be on deck. The final match of the first round was underway so it would be only a short time before Izuku would be back out in the arena.

“Right,” Izuku said, nodding. He turned to Momo. “Seeya later, Yaomomo.”

“Good luck, Midoriya!” She smiled at him. He gave her one in return before heading back out of the clinic.

As he walked, he stumbled upon Shouji, who seemed to be looking for something, or someone.

“Shouji?” Izuku called, getting the other’s attention.

“Ah, there you are Midoriya,” Shouji said, walking over to him. “I was looking for you.”

“Why?”

“It’s about Shinsou. And how I lost my match.”

“Oh, his mental quirk?”

“Correct. If you wish to know what it is, I can tell you. Though I won’t give it away if you wish to go in blind. I don’t think Sensei or Present Mic will be announcing Shinsou’s quirk in your match, they didn’t for mine. Mainly because Sensei stopped Mic from saying it.”

“Oh, interesting…” Izuku said, bringing a hand to his chin in thought. “I think I’ll go in blind, give Shinsou a chance against me, you know? Thanks for the offer, though.”

Shouji nodded. “I figured you would do that, but also thought you would want the opportunity to know it, given your interest in quirks outside of your copying.” Shouji looked towards the way Izuku had come. “Did you come from the clinic? Are Yaoyorozu and Uraraka in there?”

“They are, and both are fine. Uraraka is asleep, and Yaomomo is eating some snacks to stave off Recovery Girl’s quirk as well as her own.”

“Maybe I’ll stop in there to say hi,” the taller teen decided. “Good luck with your match, Midoriya.”

“Thanks, Shouji, seeya later,” Izuku said before the two parted ways.

Izuku continued to make his way to the staging rooms. As he walked, he thought of how he might fight Shinsou, given the other’s mental quirk. Brute force would be easy, but that’s also why it would be lame. He’d already decided to give Shinsou the chance to use his quirk, but then Izuku still had to retaliate and win the match. A warp gate knockout two times in a row would be boring. Maybe another attempt at Air Cannon?

He was disrupted from his thoughts this time by a hushed argument from a nearby hallway, though the main voice wasn’t being too discrete. Izuku followed the voices until he glanced around a corner to see Endeavor glaring down at Todoroki. He furrowed his brow, wondering why the hero would be cornering his son between rounds.

“-of using your fire is ridiculous!” Endeavor chastised. “Your little rebellion needs to come to an end, Shouto. You are embarrassing me as much as you are yourself!”

“If I’m going to become a hero, it will be with mother’s power, not yours, father,” Todoroki said back, spitting the word ‘father’ as if it tasted bad. He was glaring at the floor, though, not meeting the eyes of Endeavor.

Endeavor snarled, his flaming facial hair flaring larger and brighter. Izuku watched as Endeavor brought a hand back and figured this would be the time to intervene. He quickly turned the corner and let out a surprised noise, drawing the attention of the two Todorokis.

“Oh, sorry!” Izuku said, waving apologetically. “I must have turned a wrong corner. I was lost in thought on the way to the staging rooms. Todoroki, shouldn’t you be getting ready too? You’re also on deck.”

Endeavor glared at Izuku, dropping his hand and standing straighter. “You are interrupting a family-”

“You’re right, Midoriya,” Todoroki said flatly. He turned and walked towards Izuku, not sparing a second glance at his father. He continued past Izuku and turned down the hallway leading towards the staging rooms, and Izuku quickly followed. They left an even angrier Endeavor behind.

“What was that about?” Izuku asked, wondering if Todoroki would open up at all.

“I already told you I don’t use my fire. Won’t use it.” Izuku nodded at the statement. “He was just angry that I didn’t use it in the first round, and figured he’d try speaking to me now before my next match.”

“Well, I mean, shouldn’t you use it? It’s your quirk, after all,” Izuku said. He realized it was probably the wrong thing to say when Todoroki halted his walking and looked at Izuku.

“I will not use that man’s power to be a hero. That’s all that bastard wants.”

“Right, okay…” Izuku said. “But it’s not his? I mean, it’s like my copies. Yeah they’re originally from someone else, like Sensei’s Erasure. But now that I have a copy of it, it’s mine. I’m not using Sensei’s quirk, I’m using my own.” Izuku frowned as he looked at Todoroki. The other teen seemed to barely mull it over before shaking his head.

“No,” he said simply before walking off to one of the other staging rooms, leaving Izuku alone.

Izuku sighed as he made his way to the nearest room, barely having time to enter it before his match was called. He immediately turned around and exited the staging room, heading to the arena once again.

It didn’t take long before he was walking back out into the bright summer sun, this time a bit better prepared with an arm above his head to shade his eyes. Once they adjusted, he dropped his arm and walked to his side of the arena. He waved back at Midnight as the ref gave him a small wave of her own. Across from him, Shinsou stepped up into the raised arena. Whereas Izuku had some dirt and scuff marks on his gym uniform, Shinsou’s was untouched, indicating he really had beaten Shouji without much resistance.

“Let’s welcome back Midoriya Izuku from Class 1-A and Shinsou Hitoshi from Class 1-C!” Present Mic announced to the cheering crowd.

“You know the rules,” Midnight said, raising her whip up, ready to crack it. “Are the competitors ready?” Both boys voiced their assent. With a crack of the whip, Midnight announced “Let the first match of the Quarter Finals begin!”

Izuku walked slowly forward, not yet activating any quirks. He wanted to see what Shinsou would do. The other teen narrowed his eyes and took a few steps forward before he began to walk along the edge of the arena. Izuku mirrored his opponent, no longer closing the distance.

After a few moments of inaction, and silence, Shinsou finally spoke.

“So, what’s your deal, Midoriya?”

“What-”

Izuku’s body went stiff yet slack at the same time. He couldn’t control his limbs, and his vision was foggy, his mind clouded. It was as if he was no longer in the present. A second later, he was standing in the void of his mind, looking at a misty vision of the arena.

“Well, that’s interesting,” his father said, coming to stand beside him. “Mind control quirk.”

“Oh,” Izuku said. “Can I break out of it?”

“Mental quirks have weaknesses, yes. Though I don’t know quite how to break out of this one. Usually I just have my own mental quirk that counteracts whenever someone tries to read my mind or any other kind of mental infiltration. But you don’t have one of those.”

All for One brought a hand to his chin, holding his elbow in the other as the two Midoriyas watched Izuku’s body through the misty depiction turn and slowly begin walking towards the edge of the area. Thankfully he had a long way to go.

“Blunt force could do it,” All for One finally said after Izuku’s body walked half the distance to the edge of the arena. “But how…”

“Air Cannon blast to knock myself back?” Izuku suggested.

All for One snapped his fingers and let out a low chuckle. “Yes, that should do it. Good thinking, little one.” He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “Now, focus on the quirk. You have power even in this mindscape. You should be able to trigger it.”

Izuku focused, finding the Air Cannon quirk in his vault of copies. He called on it, bringing it to the forefront of his mind and tried to trigger it. A small burst of air escaped his palm, but it wasn’t enough to do anything.

“Focus, little one,” All for One said. “You’re still having to fight through the control that student has on you.”

He took a deep breath, drawing on Air Cannon once more. This time he pictured a large blast of air firing from his palm. A second later and he was ripped out of the inky blackness of his mindscape to find himself stumbling backwards, landing on his butt.

Izuku shook his head and looked around him. He had been mere inches from the edge of the arena, but his air blast had pushed him back into the zone a little more.

“What?!” Shinsou screeched from behind him. “How the hell did you break through?”

Izuku opened his mouth but thought better of it. When he last answered a question, he was brought under Shinsou’s control. Maybe it was a call and response activation?

He pushed the thought aside and brought his hand up, firing off Air Cannon again, this time aimed at Shinsou. The teen was sent flying out of the arena, landing on his back a few meters from the edge of the platform. Izuku winced, not having meant to hit Shinsou with that strong of a blast.

Midnight announced his victory as he jogged over to Shinsou.

“Hey, sorry about that. Didn’t mean to hit you that hard.” He stuck a hand out to help Shinsou up, hoping that maybe the teen would be a less sore loser than Monoma. Shinsou glared at him for a moment before huffing and clasping Izuku’s forearm, allowing Izuku to pull Shinsou to his feet.

“Whatever,” Shinsou said after he stood up and brushed the dirt from his pants. “There goes my chance at the hero course…” he grumbled.

“I mean, maybe not? Your quirk is a mind control quirk, right?” Shinsou nodded. “You should speak with Aizawa Sensei. His quirk isn’t very combative on its own either, but he managed to get into the hero course. You just got unlucky to be against me. I kind of have some weird stuff going on with my quirk.” Izuku chuckled awkwardly. “It helped me break out of your control. But your quirk certainly seems like it would be good for a hero.”

“Hmph, most people say it’s a villainous quirk,” Shinsou sighed.

“Quirks aren’t heroic or villainous on their own. It depends on the person who wields it.”

“Yeah, guess you would say that since you can copy quirks. Would be poor form to copy a villain's quirk and use it otherwise.”

“I guess? But that’s not why I think that way. Everyone has a choice.” Izuku had many choices ahead of him, the results of which would lead him down a path of heroism, or villainy. Or maybe, if he was lucky, somewhere in between. “So long as you choose to be good, then your quirk is good. A dangerous quirk does not equate to an evil one.”

Shinsou narrowed his eyes. “Fair point… Fine, I’ll try talking to your teacher sometime soon.”

“I’ll let him know to look out for you!” Izuku said cheerily.

“You do that. Good luck in the rest of the tournament, Midoriya. Based on the remaining competitors, you have your work cut out for you, even with all that power.”

The two teens split off, going their own ways into the catacombs of the stadium as the PA system called for the next match contenders to make their way to the arena. If Izuku remembered correctly, the next match was Todoroki against Bondo, the 1-B student with a glue-like quirk if Honenuki was to be believed. It wasn’t as if Izuku’s former teammate was untrustworthy, but he didn’t exactly give a detailed explanation of his classmate’s quirk.

Izuku assumed Todoroki would win again, using only his ice. He’d have to beat some sense into Todoroki in their semi-finals match. Not only was it stupid that Todoroki wouldn’t use his full power in general, but even his overwhelming strength in the ice half of his quirk wouldn’t be enough to defeat Izuku.

So maybe Izuku really did think a little too highly of himself, proving Monoma right. So what?

To absolutely no one in Class 1-A’s surprise, both Todoroki and Bakugou won their matches. Todoroki through the use of his ice once again, freezing his opponent near instantly with at least a somewhat smaller glacier this time compared to his first match with Sero (poor guy). Bakugou’s quirk just countered Dark Shadow too well, with the bright flashes of light from the explosions, for Tokoyami to stand a chance. The fight between Honenuki and Shiozaki had been a little more evenly matched, but the girl had been able to bury her vines and attack Honenuki while he was submerged in the ground, as well as use her vines to create a stable platform beneath herself. In the end, she’d managed to trap Honenuki and claim victory, moving on to the semi-finals. She was probably doomed against Bakugou, but at least someone from 1-B had made it to the semi-finals.

Izuku rolled his shoulders as he made his way out to the arena for the third time. As he walked out, he heard Present Mic reviewing both his and Todoroki’s quirk. Aizawa, to Izuku's surprise and pleasure, stated the fact that Todoroki had a dual quirk, and had yet to use the other half of his power. Izuku hoped that and his own nagging would manage to get Todoroki to use his fire in this fight.

“Are the competitors ready?” Midnight asked. Both she and Cementoss seemed much more prepared for a large-scale fight, with the possibility of having to intervene, given their alertness and quick glances back and forth. Once Izuku and Todoroki gave their assent, Midnight was quick to signal the match start.

Izuku was disappointed when Todoroki immediately tried firing off ice from his foot, most likely trying to end the fight instantly again. To counter it, he fired off Air Cannon with the support of his enhancement quirks. The ice was shattered before it ever reached Izuku. He then used Air Walk to climb upwards, planning to reduce the capabilities of Todoroki’s ice, since the teen seemed to prefer using it from his foot.

“Come on, Todoroki,” Izuku practically whined. “Don’t go easy on me. Remember what I said! It’s your quirk, not his!”

“Shut up, Midoriya,” Todoroki snapped, launching ice spikes up towards Izuku.

Izuku hopped through the air, avoiding the large icicles. He continued dancing through the air, keeping an eye on the edge of the arena to ensure he didn’t step out. Cementoss and Midnight seemed to be thinking the same as they approached the perimeter to get a better vantage on where Izuku was compared to the red lines marking out-of-bounds.

Sighing, Izuku flipped to avoid another ice spike and dropped down to the ground below. He fired off a few blasts of air to shatter the oncoming ice onslaught and tilted his head disappointingly.

“Todoroki, if you keep this up, this match will last forever,” Izuku huffed. Todoroki said nothing and sent another torrent of ice at Izuku. This time, Izuku used his enhanced strength to punch the ice, destroying it. At this point, the arena was quickly becoming covered in a thin layer of ice shards, as if it had been sleeting while they fought. “You know, there’s this quirk I have that I’ve yet to use. Think it’s supposed to force someone to use their quirk. Should I just use it on you to get this over with?” Izuku would never actually use Forced Quirk Activation on Todoroki, since that would be beyond horrible of him. But still, he hoped the threat was enough.

Todoroki growled, which surprised Izuku. “Why are you so adamant I use my fire, Midoriya?” he asked as he launched yet another ice attack. “What does it matter to you?”

“I already told you,” Izuku retorted, unamused. “Our quirks belong to us, not to whoever we got them from. In your case, it’s inherited. In mine, it’s copied. Both of us have these powers for the rest of our lives.” Unless Izuku gives away some of his, but Todoroki didn’t know he could do that. Yet. “So how can your fire still belong to your dad, huh?”

Izuku tilted his head as he noticed Todoroki’s right side was covered in frost. His breath was visible as he huffed, and if Izuku looked close enough, it even looked like the other teen was shivering. All of these things were something Todoroki could counter with using his fire, even Izuku knew that. It was one of the main reasons Izuku wanted to copy Todoroki’s quirk so badly: it was the perfect compliment to itself. The two halves in tandem kept the wielder thermoregulated, allowing the use of ice or fire far beyond what anyone with only one of the two could ever hope for. Even Endeavor, with the extreme heat he could unleash in his fire, could never hope to achieve what Todoroki was capable of.

Which, Izuku thought, was probably why Endeavor demanded Todoroki use his fire half. But Todoroki could use that part of his quirk without doing it for his father. He had to if he wanted to go far in life. Inevitably, despite the power Endeavor both in quirk and in status, Aizawa was bound to crack down on Todoroki for not working towards his full potential. And as all of 1-A, and UA itself, knew, Aizawa didn’t waste time on those who squandered their potential.

“Look, Todoroki, if you don’t use your fire, you’re gonna get hypothermia. I can see you shivering. Even if that wasn’t the case, you still can’t beat me without using your full strength.” He gestured to the shattered ice around them. “So, are we going to do this for real or should I just portal you out of the arena like I did with Monoma earlier?”

“Fine!” Todoroki bellowed as flames ignited along his left side, quickly melting the ice on his right, as well as much of the ice on the ground around him, creating a large puddle. “If you don’t want to win this tournament, then I’ll show you my fire, Midoriya!”

Izuku smirked, crouching down into a fighting stance. “There we go, Todoroki!” he yelled over the roar of the fire and the crowd. “Now, let’s see-”

“SHOUTOOOOOO!” Endeavor yelled from the stands, drawing both teens’ attention to the side of the stadium. The hero was stomping down to the edge of the stands, leaning over the railing with a very creepy look of glee on his face.

Izuku glanced at Todoroki, who was scowling at his father. His flames began to peter out slightly.

“Oh no, don’t you give up on this,” Izuku said. “Let me solve this problem.”

Izuku melted his right hand to form a warp. A green-black tendril of mist snaked its way out of the arena and towards where Endeavor stood leaning against the railing, continuing to shout something that Izuku tuned out. Instead, Izuku threw a look over his shoulder to see the arched eyebrow Midnight was giving him.

“Removing an annoyance, Auntie Nem!” he called to her, hoping the use of her preferred name from him would give him some leeway in his actions. She looked at him then to the tendril of mist that was just about to reach Endeavor and shrugged. He smiled at her gratefully.

A moment later, and Endeavor was warped to the front gate of UA.

“There, that better?” Izuku called to Todoroki as his arm resolidified. He shook it out, the usual tingling sensation starting up thanks to his overuse of the quirk so far. “Ugh, I hate that…” he muttered to himself as he massaged his palm.

He was startled out of his grumbling by laughter. Actual, genuine laughter from Todoroki. Izuku looked up, confused for a moment before smiling and laughing along with the teen.

“You… you kicked him out,” Todoroki said between giggle fits. “That’s- no one has ever kicked out Endeavor!”

“Well, he was annoying,” Izuku said, still smiling. “Now, let’s get this fight over with before he manages to get back.”

“Gladly,” Todoroki said, refocusing on the fight but with a smirk still on his face. The fire on his left side blazed again. His palm began to glow as he increased the output of fire until there was a blazing inferno around him. “Nice try, Midoriya, but even you can’t stand against this.”

Izuku formed an Air Wall in front of him and then pushed his strength enhancing quirks to the max as he prepared a blast of Air Cannon. As Todoroki brought his hand forward to fire off his inferno, Izuku brought his up to fire the air blast. As they did so, both Cementoss and Midnight realized the obscene power about to be unleashed and tried to intervene. Unfortunately for them, Izuku’s air blast entirely negated Midnight’s attempt to use Somnambulist, and the impact of both the air blast and the inferno destroyed the walls Cementoss tried to make.

A shockwave of superheated air exploded from the center of the arena, slamming into the stands and knocking people out of their seats. The ice that coated the ground quickly melted, and as the shockwave threatened Izuku, time slowed and he managed to remember a quirk he’d had since he was four.

The air wall in front of him splintered as flames slammed into it, threatening to collapse at any moment and blast Izuku with the full brunt of the inferno. Izuku called upon the nearly forgotten quirk and the melted remnants of Todoroki’s ice began to pool towards him. Creating a bubble of water from the puddles throughout the arena, Izuku used the first quirk he’d ever copied from his father: Hydrokinesis.

He focused the full wave in front of him as the air wall finally shattered and the final bits of Todoroki’s inferno blasted into him. A majority of the water evaporated away, quickly turning into a dense mist that only hindered the visibility further when mixed with the dust knocked up by the impact of the inferno and air blast.

Once the inferno petered out, Izuku used Air Cannon to clear the view. Across from him, Todoroki melted the wall of ice he’d used to protect himself from the resulting shockwave of their quirks collision.

“Huh,” Izuku said, standing up and pulling the little remaining water to circle around him.

“That was… unexpected,” Todoroki said, looking around at the destruction caused by their quirks. He looked at Izuku. “You have a hydrokinesis quirk?”

“Oh, yeah! I’ve had this one since I was little! It was the first one I ever copied!” Izuku moved the water around his body in a showoffy manner, grinning like a little kid the entire time. “I almost forgot about it!”

“You’re like the main character from that one show where people can bend elements. You can fire blasts of air and manipulate water.”

“Oh! Avatar: The Last Airbender?! I love that show! You’ve seen it?”

Todoroki nodded. “I am kind of a fire bender after all.” Izuku laughed at that, causing Todoroki to smile again.

“That’s true! Guess all I’m missing is fire bending myself, and earth, of course, though I don’t-”

“Uh, you two want to wrap up the fight before you have this conversation?” Midnight interrupted as she peaked out from behind a wall of cement that Cementoss must have made to protect her.

“Oh, right,” Izuku said. “Sorry! Talk later, Todoroki!” He threw the remainder of the water at Todoroki, blasting the teen in the chest, then fired off an air blast just to be sure. Todoroki was sent skidding backwards as he tried to stop his movement, only to finally halt just as his back foot crossed the out-of-bounds line. “And sorry for that, it was a cheap shot.”

Todoroki looked down to his feet then up at Izuku. He rolled his eyes, (Izuku was on a roll with the playful reactions he was getting from Todoroki now), and shook his head, a small smile on his lips.

“Fair enough, Midoriya. I think a cheap shot was the only way either of us was winning this fight.”

Izuku smiled at him, nodding. “True,” he agreed as Midnight announced his victory.

“Now, you two, shoo! We have to fix this arena before the next match!” Midnight waved them off. “Shoo!” she repeated, which only caused Izuku to giggle and Todoroki to huff humorously.

“SHOUTOOOO,” the voice of Endeavor yelled as he finally returned to the stadium.

“Oh, good timing,” Izuku said as he and Todoroki walked towards the entrance to the stadium’s depths. “Bet he thinks you won, if he didn’t hear the announcement.”

“You do realize he will hate you forever now, right?” Todoroki asked, arching an eyebrow.

Izuku just shrugged. “Let him. Not like I looked up to him anyway. Do you know the amount of collateral damage he causes? Like, yeah, his civilian casualty rate isn’t any worse than most heroes, but his property damage is, like, so bad.”

Todoroki smirked at him. “I think I like you, Midoriya.”

“Good, finally!” Izuku said, giving a dramatic sigh of relief. “That’s all I’ve ever wanted. I can die happy now.”

“Why would you die? Does my friendship mean death?” Todoroki’s brow furrowed. “Is that why I’ve never had friends…”

“N-no! Not- Ugh, we’ll work on that,” Izuku said in an exasperated, but fond, tone. “Come on, let’s go watch Kacchan beat the 1-B student.” He grabbed Todoroki’s hand as the teen was still trying to come to terms that his friendship apparently meant death, and dragged him off to the stands.

Chapter 17: Evolution

Chapter Text

The sun was high overhead as the First Year Sports Festival reached its climax: the finals of the battle tournament. Given the hot summer weather, the crowd was given thirty minutes to take a break and get drinks and snacks, as well as to give both of the final contenders the same opportunity after their intense semi-finals matches.

Izuku chugged a bottle of water in his staging room, his friends having joined him for the break. They said they’d head back out to the stands at the five minute warning to allow Izuku time to center himself and prepare for what would probably be just as intense of a fight as he had with Todoroki. The boy in question was in the room with them, having firmly settled himself as one of Izuku’s friends after Izuku dealt with Endeavor and helped Todoroki get past the mental blocks he self-inflicted on his fire half.

“Are you sure you can beat Bakugou?” Kaminari asked. “Like, I know you’ve done it before, but have you seen how he’s been fighting? And doesn’t he know, like, all of your quirks really well by now?”

“He does, yeah,” Izuku replied, tossing his empty water bottle into the trash. “But I’ve known his for years. I can handle Kacchan.” He smiled at his friends.

“You won’t be able to use your hydrokinesis,” Todoroki said. “That would be beneficial against Bakugou, would it not? You could use water to wash away his sweat.”

Izuku nodded. “I mean, I only remembered that quirk during our fight because of the water you created by melting all the ice you made first. It’s not a quirk that’s useful for all times, unless I keep a source of water with me. And that’s not practical. Even if the water benders in Avatar do it,” he added, chuckling.

“I believe in you, Midoriya!” Uraraka was sitting in one of the comfortable chairs off to the side, her body still a little sore from the fight she’d had with Bakugou. Recovery Girl could only heal Uraraka so much given her exhausted state. Izuku really wished he could give his friends healing quirks like he had, or to have one that didn’t require the use of the patient’s own stamina. “Show Bakugou what a true hero can do!”

Izuku knew she didn’t mean for that to hurt him, but it did. Because was he a true hero? Was that his end goal? Yeah, he wanted to help people, but that didn’t mean he had to be a hero. He could help people as a villain, only being called one by acting outside of the law and going against the HPSC, who honestly were villains in their own right. And he also wanted to knock All Might off his pedestal at some point, though he still had to wait on that. Even if he didn’t get One for All from the man.

“Five minute warning,” a robotic voice chimed over the speaker system.

“Aw, I wanted to hang out here longer,” Kaminari whined. “The AC is sooooo nice.” Still, he stood up and walked over to offer Uraraka a hand and some support for the trek back to their seats. She took his offer gratefully and stood up, wincing a bit as she did. “Good luck, Midoriya,” Kaminari said, turning his head slightly to look back at Izuku for a moment. The two of them left the room, leaving only Todoroki and Izuku.

“I don’t think you need it, but good luck, Midoriya,” Todoroki said.

“Thanks, Todoroki!” Izuku grinned at his new friend. “Do you wanna hang out after the tournament is over? There’s still plenty of things to do before the festival ends for the day! And I could definitely go for some food afterwards, the smell of all the food stalls has been tempting me all day.”

Todoroki nodded. “I would like that.” With that, he left Izuku alone.

Izuku took a few deep breaths, readying himself to fight his childhood best friend once again. But this time, it was practically a no holds barred fight, both of them expected and determined to go all out. Even if doing so would probably cause just as much destruction, if not more, than Izuku’s fight with Todoroki had. As he was doing some stretches, there came a knock at his room’s door. He looked up to see Aizawa standing there.

“Sho!” Izuku greeted happily, trotting over to the man. “What’s up? Shouldn’t you be in the announcer booth?” He tilted his head in question.

“I’m heading back there now, but I figured I should stop by to see how you’re doing first. And to warn you about a last minute change for the final round.”

“I’m fine… but what change?”

“Due to your fight with Todoroki going a bit overboard, and all the teachers knowing just how bad a fight between you and Bakugou could get compared to that, Nezu decided that the finals could use a third referee.” Aizawa didn’t sound pleased with the decision, which Izuku could only assume meant one thing.

“All Might…”

“Yeah. The buffoon is going to be the primary ref, and will step in if needed since it’s expected that he should be able to stop either of you should it come to that.”

“He’s been holed up somewhere in his true form the entire tournament, hasn’t he?” He had to, otherwise he wouldn’t have the time left to be in his muscle form. Izuku sighed and dragged a hand through his hair. “Whatever, it will just fuel Kacchan and me to be even worse about it all.”

“I figured, but try not to kill yourselves, alright? I quite like having you around.” Aizawa gave Izuku a small smile before ruffling his hair. “Good luck, kid. See you after?”

“I was gonna hang out with Todoroki and the others for a bit,” Izuku said. “But I’ll find you!”

“Sounds good,” Aizawa said as he turned to leave. “I’ll let Zashi know.”

“Will the competitors for the final round of the battle tournament please make their way to their assigned entrances to the stadium,” Midnight’s voice called through the speakers this time.

With one final, deep breath, Izuku left his staging room and made his way to his side of the stadium, waiting on the green light to exit out into the hot sun once again. He could hear the crowd going wild as Mic hyped up the finals. He couldn’t help but smile, knowing this is the kind of thing Zashi loved to do.

“So without further ado, let’s welcome back our top two first years! With his explosive personality and smokin’ quirk, it’s Bakugou Katsuki!” The cheers of the crowd grew even louder. “And his opponent, the boy with more tricks up his sleeve than you can probably guess, it’s Midoriya Izuku!”

Izuku jogged out into the stadium, and somehow the crowd’s volume increased tenfold, something Izuku didn’t think was even possible. He actually winced a bit at the volume, glancing across to see Bakugou was reacting similarly. And if the blond was hating it, then it had to be bad: Izuku knew Bakugou had at least some minor hearing issues with his quirk, and knew it would only get worse as he got to use it more and more now that they were at UA. He’d have to talk with the other about that at some point soon, perhaps get Hatsume involved for some special hearing aids or other hearing protection.

Both teens locked eyes before turning their gaze to the ref platform where Midnight stood next to All Might. Izuku didn’t have to check to know that Bakugou was glaring daggers at the man just like Izuku was.

“Welcome back!” All Might’s voice boomed, calming the crowd slightly. “Before we get started, I want to remind you of the rules: no excessive use of force, no causing serious injuries, and most of all, have fun!”

Izuku rolled his eyes. They hadn’t been reminded of the rules since their first round matches. Midnight hadn’t seen a need to, though he supposed Nezu probably wanted them reinforced after the fight Izuku had with Todoroki, and the explosive outcome of Bakugou’s fight with Shiozaki. Izuku had watched as the poor girl had been literally blasted out of the arena and into the wall of the stadium, her vines singed and smoking. Thankfully, Shiozaki’s actual hair hadn’t seemed affected much. But the vines she’d used during the battle had been burnt to a crisp.

“Are the rules clear, young Midoriya, young Bakugou?” All Might asked, requiring an answer.

“Yes,” both teens said with a roll of their eyes. Izuku noticed All Might’s eye twitch slightly at their attitudes, but he quickly covered it with a clap of his hands.

“Then let the final match of the first year battle tournament BEGIN!”

Immediately Bakugou was launching himself forward with his explosions, a feral grin on his face as he charged Izuku. Izuku just readied his strength enhancing quirks and prepared to blast air or create walls to block Bakugou’s assault. He knew at this stage, trying to use Warp Gate would be too slow for him to avoid Bakugou, and he wouldn’t use Erasure unless he had no other option. Unfortunately for him, the weather was in Bakugou’s favor, allowing the boy to produce even more sweat than he normally did when fighting.

“Hope you’re ready to lose, Deku!” Bakugou sneered as he sent an explosion Izuku’s way once he was close enough.

Izuku blocked it with an Air Wall, the wall almost instantly shattering but dampening the force of the explosion so Izuku wasn’t sent flying. In retaliation, Izuku fired off a few air blasts, though Bakugou expertly dodged them, flipping and spinning in the air with precise control of his explosions. He landed a few meters away from Izuku, still grinning.

“So how’d you get halfy to use his fire, huh? It pisses me off that I didn’t get to fight him.”

“Told him he was being stupid, basically. Also kicked his dad out of the stadium,” Izuku shrugged. “He seemed to like that.”

“I’d bet. Endeavor is a piece of sh*t, huh?”

Izuku scrunched his brow. “I would have thought you’d like him?”

“Tch, I did,” Bakugou huffed. The two were circling each other, trying to look for an opening. “But I heard some of the argument halfy and him were having before you found them too.”

“Oh,” Izuku said. “Well, guess we’re just adding to our list of top heroes that suck, aren’t we?” They both glanced at All Might, who quirked an eyebrow at them.

“God I wish we could hit him and wipe that dumb smile off his face,” Bakugou grumbled, causing Izuku to snort.

“Guess we just have to cause a big enough blast to do it, then.” Bakugou smirked at that.

Without saying anything, Bakugou shot into the air with a few explosions and began to spin his body, using explosions to speed his rotation up. Izuku knew he’d been working on some special moves, so he figured this must be one of them.

“Howitzer Impact!” Bakugou yelled as he launched himself at Izuku. Given the warning time, Izuku did create a portal this time and dropped through it, coming out across the arena and watching as Bakugou exploded into the arena’s ground, creating a massive crater.

“Nice,” Izuku said as Bakugou stood up, rolling his shoulders and glaring back at Izuku, but not like he used to. No, this glare was a challenging one, one that was the new norm between the two of them. “It’s a bit choreographed, don’t you think?”

Bakugou scoffed. “Only for a quirk nerd like you, Deku.” He rolled his eyes. “Plus you have that stupid portal quirk. Lame villains wouldn’t be able to dodge that.”

“Probably not,” Izuku agreed. He charged up a shot of Air Blast, empowering it with his enhancement quirks. Firing it, Izuku watched the quick reaction time of Bakugou who fired off his own explosions, the resulting blasts hitting each other and sending heated air upwards, smoke billowing out at the base.

In the resulting smokescreen, Izuku darted in, getting close to Bakugou and aiming a punch at his side. But Bakugou was used to this, given how often they sparred during training. He spun around, firing a smaller explosion in Izuku’s face as the punch grazed his ribs. Both teens went tumbling away, but remained in the arena. Standing up, Izuku wiped his mouth on his sleeve, the blast having hit close to his face. No blood, yet at least. But both boys would have bruises from those hits. Izuku was just glad his bruises would be gone before tomorrow, whereas Bakugou’s would remain unless Recovery Girl healed him.

Standing up, Izuku looked towards Bakugou. They’d managed to end up on opposite sides of the arena from where they started, now each at the other’s starting position. Izuku chuckled a bit, which only made Bakugou roll his eyes. But Izuku’s enjoyment of the moment quickly vanished when he spotted movement behind Bakugou, just at the edge of the tunnel Izuku had exited from for the finals. There, in the shadows, stood a man that immediately pissed Izuku off.

Noticing Izuku had seen him, the man grinned behind the object covering his face, his smile peaking through the gaps of the hands attached to his head. Shigaraki waved and a hulking mass lumbered up behind him.

Of course, if Izuku’s portal quirk worked, so did Kurogiri’s. And Izuku had told Shigaraki to use the low-ranking horde of villains he’d hired for the USJ attempt before coming up with a new plan. Izuku just never thought the idiot would attack the Sports Festival.

Izuku looked to the ref stand, only to find that All Might stood there alone, watching them but not noticing that his fellow referees were suddenly gone. Scanning the stands, Izuku noticed that not a single hero was visible, and he spotted the telltale wisp of purple and black mist fading away in a few spots. Somehow, the crowd hadn’t noticed either, even though Midnight and Cementoss were gone. Izuku figured the dust cloud from his and Bakugou’s fight hid the action of Kurogiri warping the two heroes away from the audience’s eyes.

Before he could warn All Might or Bakugou, massive portals formed around the base of the stadium and dozens of villains flooded through. For a moment, the crowd seemed to just think it was Izuku causing some kind of distraction, but then they realized that one, the portals weren’t the right color, and two, the people walking through did not look friendly.

“Kacchan!” Izuku called, running over to his friend.

“Are those villains?” Bakugou asked, frowning as he looked at the horde of villains flooding into the stadium. “What the f*ck is Kurogiri doing?”

“Helping my dad’s backup plan,” Izuku muttered angrily. “I need to find Kurogiri, make him help evacuate the civilians in the crowd. He warped away all the heroes, and given neither Mic nor Sensei are down here or talking, I assume even they’re gone.”

“Then why is All Might still here?” Bakugou asked, his palms crackling.

“He’s the target.”

“sh*t.” Bakugou growled. “Go, I want to blow some f*ckers up.”

“Right,” Izuku said as he turned to head towards where Shigaraki stood in the shadows. He paused, glancing back at Bakugou. “Remember how I gave you that copy of your quirk?” Bakugou arched an eyebrow, trying to remember what Izuku meant before he grinned, feral and excited. “Yeah, go wild, Kacchan.”

He couldn’t help the smile on his lips as he ran off, Bakugou cackling behind him as explosions echoed in the stadium. All Might’s confused questions fell on deaf ears as Bakugou and Izuku sprang into action. The idiot would figure it out in a second, and Izuku had to help the defenseless civilians.

Once in the hallway leading into the stadium’s depths, and after his eyes adjusted to the lighting, Izuku glared at Shigaraki. Behind him stood both the Nomu and Kurogiri. Shigaraki grinned, his face half-hidden behind the hands he covered himself with.

“Hello, hero brat,” Shigaraki greeted, opening his arms wide.

“Kurogiri, bring back the heroes,” Izuku commanded, turning to the warper.

“I’m afraid I cannot do that, Young Master. Tomura has ordered me to send them away.”

Izuku’s eyes narrowed, flitting back and forth between Kurogiri and Shigaraki for a few moments.

“Courtesy of the Doctor. Kurogiri now listens to me.”

“Doubtful,” Izuku mumbled. “Kurogiri, assist in evacuating the civilians in the stadium. The first years should catch on quickly, especially my classmates, that your portals are there to help.”

“Of course, Young Master,” Kurogiri nodded slightly before his body began to expand and swirl the way it did when he was only warping himself.

“Don’t you dare, Kurogiri,” Shigaraki growled.

Kurogiri paused for a moment. “The Doctor has made it so both of you have the same power in commanding me,” he explained, mostly for Izuku’s benefit given the warper was looking directly at Izuku. “So long as your orders do not counteract each other’s, I am beholden to follow them.” With that, he collapsed in on himself and disappeared.

Shigaraki groaned as he scratched at his neck, apparently angry that he didn’t actually have more power than Izuku.

“You had the Doctor alter Kurogiri?” Izuku asked, anger barely contained. Kurogiri was his, not Shigaraki’s. The warper had helped take care of Izuku as he grew up, and his quirk was one of the first Izuku got to have and learn. “How dare you!”

“You foiled our plans at the USJ, so we had to make some alterations. Sensei’s recommendation.” Shigaraki’s statement about that pinged true, which meant he still had no clue about the true state of All for One. The Doctor would need some dressing down once this whole incident was finished. “While you’re here playing hero brat, we have to continue Sensei’s plans.”

“Ha!” Izuku barked out a laugh, but quickly stifled it. “Your Sensei is my father, remember? You honestly think he would have let you have more power than me? The Doctor and I will be having a discussion soon about all of this. Besides, my father isn’t even around. You’re being played for a fool, Shigaraki.”

“Sensei speaks to me daily,” Shigaraki snapped. “He says he hardly talks to you.”

“You honestly believe that, don’t you? I know where my father is, and we talk as much as we can.” Which was not at all, given the real All for One’s comatosed state, but Shigaraki didn’t know that part. And the vestige in Izuku’s mind probably didn’t count. “The person he doesn’t speak to is you. That’s the Doctor trying to cover for the fact that you aren’t the favorite,” Izuku said, venomously. “I am, always have been, always will be.”

“I’ll kill you,” Shigaraki seethed.

“You’ll try,” Izuku brushed him off, turning to the Nomu. “Nomu, go deal with All Might like you’re supposed to.” The Nomu let out a grunt before it lumbered off, out into the stadium.

At this small distraction, Shigaraki lunged forward, grabbing onto Izuku’s arm and touching it with all five of his fingers. The fabric of Izuku’s gym shirt quickly disintegrated, and the skin of his arm began to crack and bleed. Izuku whirled around, flaring Erasure as he grabbed Shigaraki’s arm. He threw the villain over his shoulder and into the far wall using his strength enhancement quirks. Shigaraki slammed into the cement, causing cracks to spread out from the impact point. Shigaraki slid down to the ground, ending in a slumped heap. Izuku stomped over to him, grabbing the barely conscious villain’s chin and wrenching it so the man looked at Izuku with his glazed eyes.

“You’re lucky you make for a good distraction,” Izuku sneered, baring his teeth. “I’ll leave you here to rot, until Kurogiri comes back for you since your and the Doctor’s little experiment with him probably makes him have to ensure your safety.” Izuku released Shigaraki before standing back to his full height.

He left the villain in his near unconscious state, returning to the outside area of the stadium. There he found All Might in the midst of fighting the Nomu. While Izuku knew this Nomu was specifically meant to fight the hero, he doubted the monster would last for long. Unless, of course, All Might was running on fumes. But that wasn’t Izuku’s problem. Instead, he turned to scan the stadium’s stands, finding that he had been right in assuming his classmates, as well as the other first years, would quickly catch on that Kurogiri was there to help. Todoroki came sliding on his ice, skidding to a stop next to Izuku.

“Midoriya,” he greeted flatly. “Is that one of your friends?” Todoroki gestured to the purple and black portals throughout the arena.

“Yeah, a family friend. He’s who gave me my warp quirk.”

“I figured as much,” Todoroki said. “Should we help Bakugou?”

“Probably,” Izuku said, turning to find his childhood friend being surrounded by villains. Though there was already a pile of unconscious, and slightly burnt, bodies nearby, Izuku figured that Bakugou was getting outnumbered. Both Izuku and Todoroki ran off towards the crowd of villains to help.

“Find the f*cker?” Bakugou asked as Izuku came to stand beside him, both of them firing off blasts from their quirks to drive back the villains, with Todoroki having blocked off a large group with a wall of ice.

“Yeah, he’s taken care of for now,” Izuku said, his tone still pissed off. “Our class is busy trying to evacuate the stadium. It’s just us against these villains.”

“Sounds like a slaughter,” Bakugou said, smirking at Izuku. “For them.”

Izuku huffed out a laugh and rolled his eyes, knowing that Bakugou, while he was overly co*cky sometimes, was completely right in this case. The villains in question were mostly low ranking and weak, probably only supporting the plan for whatever payout Shigaraki promised them. Unlucky bastards, none of them would be getting paid today.

More villains poured out of the stadium’s depths, probably having been sent as scouts to make sure no heroes remained, and to distract any students still inside. Izuku nudged Bakugou’s shoulder, pointing out the dozens of new villains attempting to join the fight. Turning to see the horde, Bakugou just grinned wider. The hot summer weather was perfect for someone with Bakugou’s quirk. The teen was drenched in sweat, and he knew what that meant. He shot himself upwards, explosions blasting out around him as droplets of his sweat fell away from his body. Spinning in air and powering up another one of his Howitzer Impacts, Bakugou launched himself towards the horde of newcomers. Izuku threw up a few layers of Air Wall as a precaution.

Izuku’s own grin grew wider, threatening to tear his face should it get any bigger, as Bakugou’s impact created a larger explosion than even his gauntlets had made during their first battle training exercise. The Air Walls Izuku had splintered as smoke and debris blasted outwards from the shockwave created by Bakugou’s Howitzer Impact. Even All Might and the Nomu had to brace themselves for the blast. Luckily for Todoroki, his ice walls dividing up the villains had the added benefit of shielding him from the blast.

As the smoke settled, Izuku saw Bakugou laughing, a crazed look in his eyes as he popped more explosions from his palms. His gym uniform was in tatters, the shirt basically entirely gone and the pants full of holes, one leg entirely burnt off. He stood in a crater that covered a good third of the stadium’s interior, having managed to destroy part of the, thankfully evacuated, section of stands on that side as well as part of the battle tournament arena. None of the villains on that side of the stadium remained standing, and Izuku had to wonder how many of them might actually be dead from a blast that strong. Bakugou probably wouldn’t care if he did kill some of them, given his current catchphrase of ‘DIE!’ that he yelled more than anything else when using his quirk.

Turning back to the remaining villains on his side, Izuku smirked at the wide eyed looks of terror that now plastered their faces.

“Holy sh*t, these kids are insane!” one of them yelled as he tried to turn and run. But Izuku was faster, and he landed a punch to the back of their head, knocking them out and sending them crumpling to the ground.

Tendrils of smoke lashed out at him, tripping him up. The tendrils then latched onto his legs and tossed him around, slamming him into the ground a few times before chucking him several feet. Izuku hit the ground on his back, his breath knocked out of him. He gasped for air as he glared up at the villains again, who evidently figured they could at least take out Izuku while Bakugou was distracted. Unluckily for them, Izuku wasn’t a pushover. Spinning his body, Izuku flipped back to his feet, pulling on the smokey tendrils still attached to his body which caused one of the villains to stumble forward.

“I like this quirk,” Izuku said, gaze hard as he stared at the woman who’d fallen to her knees in front of him. “I’ll take it.” He grabbed her head, pulling her smoke-related quirk out of her before tossing her to the side like a toy. Dissolving his arms into the mist that normally formed Warp Gate, Izuku lashed out with the new smoke quirk, wrapping up the remaining villains and throwing them against the wall of the stadium, the concrete cracking from the impact of their bodies.

Izuku held his arms up, the tendrils of green-black mist writhing around him excitedly. His smile turned feral, just like Bakugou’s, as he turned to see another group of villains. This group was rapidly looking back and forth between Izuku and Bakugou, unsure of what to do. They were stuck between the two teens, with Todoroki’s ice walls blocking off any escape away from them. Their only route was past Bakugou.

“Run,” Izuku said as he smirked at them. The villains did so, some of them stumbling as they tried to move too quickly. Those unfortunate souls were grabbed by Izuku’s new quirk and tossed off to the side, joining the unconscious pile of their fellow villains.

Meanwhile, Bakugou was blasting off after those who had managed to run away from Izuku, a well placed explosion into each of them sending them careening off and crumpling to the ground. As he picked off the stragglers, Todoroki skated in next to Izuku, eyeing the misty appendages the teen now wielded.

“I’ve taken care of the group I separated,” Todoroki said, teeth slightly chattering. Izuku turned to look at him, finding that the teen was covered in frost. He gave Todoroki a pointed look, tilting his head slightly and arching an eyebrow. Todoroki opened his mouth to say something but thought better of it, instead igniting his fire-half and warming his body back up. “I’m not used to just using it without thinking.”

“We’ll work on that,” Izuku said. He turned back to see Bakugou finishing off the last of the villains sent his way. The blond landed a solid punch to a villain’s stomach, causing the guy to keel over, arms wrapping around his body as he coughed and collapsed. Bakugou kicked him in the side for good measure before rejoining Izuku and Todoroki.

“Should we help the idiot?” Bakugou asked, jerking his head in the direction of All Might.

“Does he need it?” Todoroki asked, looking over at the hero fighting the Nomu. “I’ve never seen him struggle in a fight.”

Izuku just hummed, Bakugou understanding the meaning while Todoroki gave him a confused look. Before he could explain anything, Kurogiri materialized next to them, causing Todoroki to nearly lash out before he realized who it was and stood down, trusting Izuku’s judgment when he’d called Kurogiri a family friend.

“All civilians have been evacuated,” Kurogiri reported to Izuku.

“Thanks, Kurogiri. Can you tell me where the heroes are?” Izuku worded the question so it wouldn’t directly accuse Kurogiri, given Todoroki was unaware of the situation.

“I’m afraid I cannot,” the warper said regretfully. Izuku sighed, going to pinch the bridge of his nose before he remembered his arms were currently mist. He resolidified them and ran a hand through his hair instead. “However,” Kurogiri continued, drawing Izuku’s attention back to him. “One of your classmates ran off to find them. I believe he has a speed quirk?”

“Iida!” Izuku said, perking up. He turned to Todoroki. “Do you have your phone?”

“Yes, why?” Todoroki pulled out his phone, holding it up for Izuku.

“So I can call Iida. My and Kacchan’s phones are in lockers in the staging rooms.” Izuku quickly found Iida’s contact and thanked the teen for having made them all share their numbers with each other so that they could stay in contact in case of situations like the media stampede, or for if the class rep just decided to annoy them all with messages about homework. After ringing three times, Iida finally answered, the sound of wind nearly drowning out his voice.

“Todoroki, what do you need?”

“This is Midoriya, have you found our teachers?” Izuku asked.

“Yes, they were at the USJ. I figured I would check around campus for them, assuming they hadn’t been sent far by whatever villain did this,” Iida explained.

“Are you with them now or running back alone?”

“I’m coming back alone, why?”

“Go back to the teachers, then share your location with me. I’ll warp everyone back.”

“Right! I almost forgot you could do that, Midoriya! I’ll text you the location shortly!” Iida hung up after that.

A few moments later a text to the group chat came through with Iida sharing his location. Izuku quickly formed a warp to those coordinates. Before the warp was even fully formed, Aizawa ran through, his goggles on and capture scarf at the ready. He paused when he saw Izuku, Bakugou, and Todoroki standing there. Behind him, the rest of the teachers and visiting heroes began to pour through, splitting off to fight the few straggling villains still standing.

“Izuku, what happened?” Aizawa asked, lifting his goggles up.

“Villain attack,” Izuku said. Aizawa gave him an unimpressed look. Izuku sighed, glanced quickly at Kurogiri, then shrugged. Aizawa followed his gaze and frowned, evidently putting the pieces together. Kurogiri merely nodded at the hero before warping himself away again, most likely to pick up Shigaraki and return to their hideout before the heroes found the villain.

The clashing titans nearby drew Aizawa’s attention before he had the chance to question Izuku further, though the man just arched an eyebrow at All Might and the Nomu.

“SHOUTOOOOO,” Endeavor yelled as he stomped up to the group. Todoroki immediately frowned, extinguishing his fire. Endeavor scanned the carnage, spying all the villains the teens had taken out and, evidently convinced the scorched bodies were Todoroki’s doing, clapped the teen on the shoulder. “You used your fire! Finally!”

“I didn’t,” Todoroki immediately snapped, pulling away from Endeavor. “I only fought with my ice.”

“Then how-”

“Me, you bastard,” Bakugou interjected. “There’s more than one of us here capable of burning sh*tty villains.”

“You insolent-”

“Endeavor,” Aizawa interrupted this time, “why don’t you go assist All Might and wrap up this whole ordeal a bit more quickly?” Endeavor glared at the teacher before igniting his fire and blasting off towards All Might and the Nomu. Aizawa watched him go then turned back to Izuku. “You realize Nezu won’t be allowing your warp quirk anymore, correct?”

“Yeah…” Izuku sighed.

“Damn rat,” Bakugou scoffed.

The three of them pointedly ignored Todoroki’s very confused look as his eyes bounced between them.

“Go join the rest of your class,” Aizawa said. “Izuku you can close the portal, everyone is back.”

Izuku reabsorbed the mist and let his arms return to normal. He winced slightly at the needle-like pain shooting up his arms from using both Warp and the stolen smoke quirk. The three teens then made their way to where Present Mic was gathering their class while the non-homeroom teachers and other heroes rounded up the captured villains. Izuku didn’t miss the very obvious pile of dead villains being made by some of the heroes, many of the bodies having scorch marks all over them. He glanced at Bakugou who seemed to see the pile at the same time. The blond frowned but didn’t seem too upset. Still Izuku would try talking to him later about it.

“There you are!” Mic said as the three joined their class, looking them over and holding his gaze on Izuku for a bit longer than the other two. “You were the only ones missing from my headcount. Are you three alright?” All three of them muttered and nodded, which just made Mic frown, but he shook his head and pointed them to the class. “Stay with them while we figure out what we’re going to do.”

Moving to be near the wall, the three collapsed to the ground, Izuku and Bakugou laying on their backs sprawled out while Todoroki sat against the wall. Izuku turned his head to regard Bakugou who was laying his eyes closed.

“Do you want replacement clothes, Kacchan?” he asked. Bakugou’s shirt was entirely gone at this point, and his gym pants had become shorts, though they were still barely holding together.

“Nah,” Bakugou said, waving Izuku’s offer off. “I don’t give a sh*t, and you don’t need to be using your warp quirk right now. He peaked one eye open and looked at Izuku. “I saw the way you winced when you closed that portal, Deku. You overdid it.”

“So did you,” Izuku muttered.

“The f*ck did you say?” Bakugou asked, opening both eyes now. Izuku was about to roll his eyes at Bakugou’s usual anger until he looked back over at the teen to find that Bakugou was giving him a confused look rather than an annoyed one. His brow was furrowed as he stared at Izuku.

“I said,” Izuku began to repeat, this time a bit louder, “you overdid it, too. Which you just proved because I’m betting you have tinnitus right now.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s what that f*ckin’ ringing is…” Bakugou said, his own voice a bit louder than it needed to be. “My shoulders are also killing me.”

“I feel fine,” Todoroki chimed in, earning a glare from both of the other boys.

The Doctor was too focused on something, most likely working on the continuing improvement of the Nomu to make future ones as intelligent and cognizant as Kurogiri, to look up as he heard footsteps enter his lab. Instead, he just waved vaguely and dismissively.

“I don’t want to hear your excuses anymore, brat,” the Doctor said. “You lost the Nomu I so graciously lent you for your attack, and All Might wasn’t even-”

Misty tendrils wrapped around the Doctor’s arms and throat, yanking him out of his chair and to the ground. His glasses askew in his face, he stared wide-eyed up at his actual visitor. Izuku just smiled down at the Doctor, kneeling and co*cking his head to the side. He didn’t let up on the misty tendrils, in fact tightening them instead as the Doctor tried to sputter out something, his voice catching in his throat along with his breath as the tendril wrapped around his neck.

“Wrong person, Doctor,” Izuku said, “but since you brought him up, let’s chat.” He finally released the tendrils from the Doctor’s neck and limbs, allowing the man to take deep, gasping breaths. Izuku moved to take the Doctor’s chair, forcing the man to clumsily get to his feet, still breathing hard, and stand in front of Izuku. “You altered Kurogiri.”

“Yes,” the Doctor rasped out, massaging his throat.

“Why? It’s obvious my father didn’t make you,” Izuku said, tapping a button on the control panel at the Doctor’s desk and lighting up the back section of the lab where All for One’s stasis tank stood.

“You’ve never ordered me not to give in to Shigaraki’s demands, and he came whining to me about your ability to make Kurogiri and the Nomu listen to you over him. So I did what I could.”

“The Nomu didn’t seem to have any issues. I assume you can’t alter it further now that it’s made?”

“Correct.”

“Hm, well be sure to make all future Nomu listen to me over anyone but my father.” Izuku began to play with a pen on the Doctor’s desk, twirling it between his fingers. Tapping another button, Izuku spoke again. “Kurogiri, come.”

Seconds later, the swirling vortex of Kurogiri warping himself formed in the lab and he materialized in front of Izuku and the Doctor. He looked surprised to see Izuku, making the teen assume that the Doctor had a voice modulator active on the speaker system to the bar.

“Young Master, a pleasure to see you again, in less dire circ*mstances,” Kurogiri said, bowing ever so slightly. “What is it that you need me for?”

“Have you been provided any new orders by Shigaraki, since the attack on UA’s Sports Festival?”

“No, he is still recovering from the bruised ribs you caused in your small scuffle, and as such is holed up in his bedroom in poor spirits.”

Izuku couldn’t help the snort that came out at hearing Shigaraki was pouting about losing to him. “Well, then we shall try something. From now on, Kurogiri, you are to always listen to me over Shigaraki, no matter if what I say counteracts or overrides what he’s had you do. Understood?” Without other orders, and based on Kurogiri’s explanation of the alterations the Doctor made, Izuku figured this was a loophole to return the warper’s loyalty to how it was, and should always be.

“Understood, Young Master, and thank you.” Kurogiri’s eyes flickered slightly as he looked at the Doctor, evidently not pleased at having been forcefully altered to please the man-child that is Shigaraki.

“Good,” Izuku grinned. “Now, what can either of you tell me about Shigaraki’s next plans?”

“Well, you know that almost nothing is ever his idea,” the Doctor said. “But with Stain’s increased appearances as he kills heroes, we believed it would be a good idea to try and recruit the hero killer. We just need to determine where he is moving to next, as he seems to kill three heroes per city he visits before moving on. And we are unsure as to whether he would return to a given city again.”

“Hm,” Izuku hummed as he thought. “Doesn’t Stain worship All Might as the epitome of a hero? I doubt he would work well with Shigaraki who is so desperate to kill that idiot. Unless, of course, we can convince Stain that All Might is not the amazing hero he believes.”

“We are hoping,” Kurogiri said this time, “that we can keep Shigaraki’s outbursts to a minimum while meeting with Stain, and so be able to recruit him for at least some amount of time in order to help move along our larger plans.”

“Good luck with that,” Izuku said, chuckling. “Shigaraki is a bit volatile when he doesn’t get his way, and I’m sure he won’t be able to keep his mouth shut during the meeting.” Izuku thought for a few moments. “Inform me when the meeting will be, and try to do it during the internship week coming up soon for the UA First Years. I’m going to talk with Sh- Eraser Head,” Izuku quickly corrected, not about to show his closeness with the hero in front of the Doctor. Kurogiri was well aware, thanks to the text conversations they had often, but the Doctor had no reason to know. “And see if I can shadow Shigaraki for at least part of the internship. He is fully aware of many of the darker aspects of my life and possible future, so I’m optimistic about my plan being accepted.”

“Young Master, if I can request once again that you allow me to have your copy of Erasure-”

“No,” Izuku immediately cut off the Doctor. “I’ve told you already that I will not be giving you that quirk, Doctor. If you have a need for it, then you can contact me and I can assist in whatever you’re attempting to do.” The Doctor scowled but nodded, dropping the subject. “Remember that I don’t want our resources squandered on useless villains like those we just dealt with at the Sports Festival. The fact that only three first years were needed to take most of them out, regardless of the fact that I was one of the three, shows just how worthless those people were.” Izuku melted his hand in the mist he used for both Warp and the tendrils. “Though it did give me a new quirk, which I quite like.”

“Speaking of quirks,” the Doctor said, earning a glare from Izuku who was expecting a final attempt from the short man at getting Erasure. “There are more that you could copy from our selection.”

“Oh?” Izuku said, somewhat surprised. “What do we have, then?”

The Doctor guided Izuku to the racks of quirk vials, each labeled with the quirk they contained, and color coded for whether or not they were copies or the original.

“If we are to deal with Stain, who we believe to have a blood-related quirk, it would be best to add another of Master’s quirks to your arsenal: Bloodlet. It in conjunction with Antigen Swap should allow you to counteract anything that a blood quirk user tries against you, because it can entirely swap your blood out and remove toxins or other effects.”

Izuku cringed slightly at the idea of the quirk, but nodded. “Understandable. Do we know exactly what his quirk is?”

“No, but vigilantes that knew him before he became the hero killer say he mentioned having to use blood as part of his quirk, and it’s part of the reason he was ostracized from ever trying to be a normal hero, and then ousted from the vigilante crowd.” The Doctor pulled a vial from the wall, the quirk within glowing a deep blood red (to no one’s surprise) and handed it to Izuku. “It’s a copy, so just use All for One to pull it out. I don’t see a need for more of these since it’s useless with Nomu, and Master still has his version of it.”

Izuku took the vial and pulled out the quirk. A coppery taste flared in his mouth for a moment as the quirk settled into his body and he smacked his lips with a disgusted look on his face. The Doctor took the empty quirk vial back and dropped it in a bin next to the racks.

“You have an electricity related quirk now, correct? One you copied from another of the hero kids?” Izuku nodded. “Well, we also have a Black Lightning quirk that Master used many times. It may not combine directly with your other quirk, but it allows for ranged use compared to the close-quarters ability of your current quirk. Another combat quirk from Master is Spatial Distortion, which can do a lot but it’s stamina intensive. Even Master could only use it sparingly.”

“I’ll take both,” Izuku said. “Though I most likely won’t use them too often.”

“Master has many quirks which he’s hardly used, partially because he’s never seen a need due to his strength in comparison to those he’s fought, and partially because of the intense stamina the quirks require. So you would just be doing the same as your father,” Kurogiri explained as the Doctor found the correct vials and handed them to Izuku.

Izuku absorbed the new quirks, feeling the immense amount of power they held. With the Black Lightning quirk, his hands sparked with green-black electricity as the quirk settled in. As he absorbed the Spatial Distortion quirk, the air around his hands shimmered and rippled. Izuku did always find it interesting how each quirk manifested slightly when he absorbed them. Once he was done, he handed the empty vials back to the Doctor to store away again.

“Now that the Shigaraki issue is settled, for now, I’ll be leaving again. Kurogiri, keep me updated on the Stain meeting. Doctor,” Izuku smirked at the man, “keep me updated on any work you do with the Nomu, and don’t you dare alter Nomu to ever listen to Shigaraki over me again.”

“Yes, Young Master…” the Doctor said, giving a small bow.

As Izuku turned to leave, melting his right arm into the mist to form a warp, he paused, looking back over his shoulder. “Shigaraki’s stunt caused the principal of UA to instigate an anti-warping field on campus. I experienced the first iteration of it which apparently could have killed me were it not for Eraser Head erasing my quirk. I highly suggest, Kurogiri, that you never try to warp to UA’s campus again, and probably stay at least a mile away from it should you ever need to warp nearby.”

“Thank you for the warning, Young Master. I shall keep that in mind.”

With that Izuku left to return home, hoping that neither Aizawa nor Mic noticed his absence.

Chapter 18: The Truth

Chapter Text

The result of the attack on UA during the first year Sports Festival ended up being a lot less severe than many expected. Besides a two-day delay on the second and third year Festivals, UA practically acted as if nothing had happened. Of course, the media went wild with their coverage of the debacle, but UA–more specifically Nezu–was able to manipulate it into an exhibition of the students and All Might. With the civilians being evacuated, and no injuries being reported outside of the students who got involved with taking down the villains, the media was easily convinced of the lie.

Despite the coverup, the underground knew the truth and the news spread like wildfire, with the League of Villains gaining some notoriety. Though whether all of that attention on them was good was yet to be seen. The underground was primarily made up of the vigilantes and lesser villains, and most of them didn’t have any reason to hate UA or its faculty and students. But larger, more independent villains had their ways to find out information the underground tried to keep to themselves. So was the way of the world.

Given all of this new unrest and drama, Izuku–after ensuring his guardians were asleep–decided it was time to go back out again as his vigilante persona. He still hadn’t come up with a good name for himself besides the lame moniker he’d given Shigaraki the one time they’d met directly–Shadow–but he figured he should eventually figure one out. He’d recently remade his vigilante costume, due to the similarities it now held with his hero costume and so he wouldn’t be as easily identified if someone tried to tell Shouta about a new vigilante on the scene. To be fair, it was his fault that there were so many similarities, so he had no one to blame but himself.

Thanks to the safe house that Izuku had used as a home after Kurogiri moved him out of his mom’s apartment having a secret room with fabrication and computer equipment, Izuku was easily able to redesign his costume. He’d also been learning that black wasn’t necessarily the best color for going out at night, thanks to Shouta’s advice, and that his hero costume’s dark green was actually better, though that costume had bright neon green accents and still used a lot of black, so it wasn’t perfect either. Black only worked in the complete absence of light, but was clearly visible as a void in shadows given it was so much darker than the surroundings.

So Izuku, in his spare time, worked on making a dark gray and forest green base for his costume, with plenty of pockets built into his cargo-pants. His base layer on his upper body was a kevlar-reinforced compression shirt, and overtop that he used an overcoat with the special compartment for the quirk vial the Doctor had given him. He decided to forgo the hood, but still had a full mask and rebreather, which included his voice changer–he couldn’t have people easily identifying him as a kid. In the end, many of the parts of his original costume were reused or recycled into the new one, just to limit how much he had to dedicate to fabrication of new pieces.

So he now found himself crouched on the roof of a tall office building, scanning the nearby streets for any idiots taking a chance at things with confidence in heroes dropping slightly from the attack on UA. Izuku didn’t really have a formal patrol route anymore, since he was now trying to avoid being seen by anyone who knew Eraser Head well enough to know the underground hero had some connection to Izuku’s vigilante persona. And really all he was thinking about was his confrontation with the Doctor the night before, while Shouta and Hizashi were dealing with the conclusion of the Sports Festivals. They were the hosts for each, to Shouta’s dismay.

Deciding he wasn’t about to go jumping off the edge of the building after any villains or criminals, Izuku sat himself down at the edge of the roof, legs dangling over the side. He pulled a jelly pouch from one of the pockets in his pants and began sucking on it. Yes, he stole it from Shouta’s stash, but to be fair the man had started buying double what he used to for this exact reason. A breeze ruffled his hair as he slurped on the jelly, still scanning the streets below.

“Huh, you’re new,” a rough voice said from behind Izuku. He whipped around, teeth clamped on the jelly pouch as his arms melted into mist to use the tendrils quirk he recently acquired. Izuku was quickly surrounded by several misty tentacles, ready to lash out if needed. “Whoa, there, I’m not looking for a fight.”

Izuku used a tendril to grab the jelly pouch from his mouth and set it aside. “Who are you?” he asked.

“sh*t, you’re just a kid, ain’t you?” the newcomer said, crossing his arms.

Right, no voice changer since I was eating.

Izuku narrowed his eyes in a glare. “So what?” He just hoped he didn’t look too normal right now, so that whoever this was didn’t recognize him from the sports festival, if the guy even watched it.

The man shrugged. “Nothin’ wrong with it, just surprised is all. I’ve met other vigilantes your age.”

“And how do you know I’m not a villain?”

“If you’re a villain, you’re a sh*t one for talking to me rather than fighting me outright,” the man said. “Name’s Hunter. You got one?”

Right, a name, which Izuku still hadn’t come up with and he wasn’t about to use Shadow again like he did with Shigaraki. That was just a spur of the moment decision and not really a good name. He racked his mind for some kind of idea, obviously taking too long.

“You ain’t got one, do ya?” Hunter asked, smirking. “Just how new are ya, kid?”

“I’m not new, I just never figured out a name because I don’t let people remember me,” Izuku snapped.

“Huh, beat ‘em up that badly? Damn, kid.”

“No, that’s not! Ugh,” Izuku sighed, mist returning to his arms so that they could resolidify. He was still on alert, but Hunter didn’t seem like a threat. Once his arms were solid, he snagged his mask from around his neck and secured it over his mouth again, not bothering to turn on the voice changer at this point. “What do you want?”

“I’m tracking a missing person’s case,” Hunter said. “Just so happened to come across you.”

“Missing persons?” Izuku mumbled. “Hunter… missing person… Oh! You’ve got a tracking quirk!” As if in answer, the thread of Hunter’s quirk flashed in Izuku’s mind, something that he normally suppressed. He’d almost forgotten that he could see those without trying, since he’d forced the urge down for so long, since he was a kid. That would have to change, given how useful knowing another’s quirk was. Maybe he could even use it to feel others coming.

“Right you are, kid.” Hunter chuckled. His eyes flashed blue. “I can see trails of people, somewhat. It’s not super accurate, and I can lose the trail if it’s been too long. But it’s still helpful.”

“Why not be a hero, or join the police then?”

Hunter sucked his teeth in annoyance. “Heroes don’t care about random missing people, believe me kid. It has to become a serial kidnapping or something of the like for big shot heroes to take any interest. And the police are… not my favorite people.” Hunter sighed. “What about you, kid? That tentacle quirk seems strong, so why not be a hero yourself?”

“It’s, uh, complicated…” Izuku said, rubbing his arm awkwardly.

“Ain’t it always,” Hunter agreed. “Anyway, kid, I gotta keep on this trail before I lose it.”

“Want some help?”

“Hm, suppose having some muscle wouldn't be bad. Come on, then, kid. And try to keep up.” Hunter quickly ran off, jumping between buildings. Despite his quirk not giving him any strength or agility enhancements, he was fast. Izuku figured that came with years of training, just like with Shouta. Focusing on the moment, Izuku ran to catch up, dipping into Brawn Boost to speed himself up.

Hunter’s eyes shined in the night as he followed an invisible-to-Izuku trail. “We’re looking for a young woman,” he explained once Izuku caught up to run next to him, leaping between rooftops in tandem. “The notice at the Hub said she was last seen at a karaoke bar, with some friends. The last time her friends saw her was leaving the bar, and no one’s seen her since. Family claimed no reason to believe foul play, so I’m assuming it was random gangsters or something.”

Izuku sincerely hoped this had no connection to the Doctor and the Nomu. It was common for the Doctor to use missing persons cases for his own tracking down of new subjects. “Is that common?”

“Eh, kinda,” Hunter said. “Thankfully not too common. Most of the time, people want me to help track down estranged family or runaway spouses, just so they know the person is okay. Or to get back something they stole. Missing persons cases like this are rarer. Though that could also just be because they get covered up, or people don’t notice nor care about the person that went missing.”

Hunter slowed down as they landed on another roof, holding his hand up to silently tell Izuku to stop. He focused his gaze on something, eyes glowing brighter as he followed it to the edge of the roof and looked down into the alley below. He waved Izuku closer, holding a finger to his lips to keep silent.

Crouching down, Izuku approached the ledge as well and looked down. Below stood two thugs, threatening a young man. Given Hunter tracked something to this location, Izuku figured one of the thugs must have been involved with the missing girl.

“You still interested in being the muscle, kid?” Hunter asked in a hushed voice after pulling Izuku back from the edge, out of sight of the alley below. “No heroes usually patrol this area so it's on folks like us to help, regardless of those idiots being involved in the case we're investigating.”

Izuku nodded, immediately melting his left arm into mist. It then split into multiple tendrils. At a cue from Hunter, Izuku launched himself down to the alley below, using Air Walk to soften his landing by bounding down invisible steps. Once down on the ground, he shot out tendrils to wrap up both of the thugs.

“What the-” one of the thugs began to say before Izuku tightened the tendril’s grip on the man, nearly suffocating him.

“A… a hero?” the young man being accosted by the now restrained thugs gasped out.

“Not quite,” Hunter said as he landed next to Izuku, having had to climb a bit more slowly down to ground level. “But close enough. You okay?” The young guy nodded, spouting stuttered ‘thank yous’ to both Hunter and Izuku before Hunter gestured for the guy to leave. He did so at a breakneck speed. Hunter then turned back to the thugs. “Now, you two.” He pulled out a photograph of the girl he was tracking. Izuku peered over his shoulder at the photo. “What do you know about this girl, huh?”

“f*ck you,” one thug, the smaller one, spat. “We ain’t tellin’ you sh*t.”

The larger thug, on the other hand, immediately caved. “We saw her, but we bailed when we found out what the others wanted to do!”

“f*ckin’ hell, you really are a wimp, ain’t you?” Tiny rolled his eyes, groaning.

“Then you can tell me where they might have taken her, right?” Hunter asked Big Guy, putting on a sickly sweet smile while his eyes glowed blue, probably to help intimidate if Izuku had to guess. His own night vision quirk could be useful for that as well.

“Don’t you say sh-” Tiny started but was interrupted by both Big Guy talking and Izuku squeezing him tighter with the misty tendril.

“A warehouse! It’s where we always meet when we do stuff!”

“Ah, yeah, I think I know what you’re talkin’ about,” Hunter hummed. “Thanks for the help, big guy.” He walked up and patted Big Guy on the cheek. “Still can’t let you go, you understand, yeah?” He tied some thick capture wire around both thugs’ legs and wrists before signaling for Izuku to let them go. Hunter then pulled out his phone and sent a message to someone.

“We’re just leaving them?” Izuku asked as he followed Hunter to the mouth of the alley.

“Nah, I sent a text to a cop acquaintance,” Hunter said.

“I thought you didn’t like the police?”

“I don’t. Doesn’t mean I don’t think they have their uses, kid. Now, come on. The warehouse is a few miles from here. Assuming you still wanna help me.”

“I’ll stick with you,” Izuku said, nodding. “But, uh, you want a faster way there than running?” Hunter arched an eyebrow. At the silent question, Izuku melted his arm back into mist and let it begin to swirl into a Warp Gate. “Just need the coordinates and we can portal there.”

“sh*t, kid, that mist of yours has a lotta uses, don’t it?” Hunter pulled out his phone again and tapped a few things. He turned the screen to face Izuku, and the teen saw a pinned location on the phone’s map app. “That work?”

“Yep!” Izuku said happily as he let the portal fully form now that it had a destination. He didn’t think he should really admit he had multiple quirks to Hunter, seeing as the man was just some other random vigilante who happened to cross paths with Izuku. Plus, if he said he had more quirks, Hunter might put the pieces together that Izuku was from UA, though Izuku was still unsure if the man even watched the Sports Festival. Because if he didn’t point it out when he saw Izuku’s face, or now that Izuku was using the same portal quirk he used during the Festival? Well, either Hunter was just oblivious or really hadn’t watched the biggest sporting event in Japan. “After you,” Izuku said, gesturing with his solid arm for Hunter to walk through.

Hunter hesitantly stepped through the swirling vortex as he slid his phone back into his pocket. Izuku followed after him and closed the portal behind them, his arm resolidifying. Both of his arms were bound to annoy him later after turning them to mist so much if the subtle tingling in his right arm was anything to go by. But that was a problem for when he went home. For now, he could grin and bear it.

They found themselves a block away from the warehouse the thug had mentioned. Izuku figured it best to not just drop them directly in the warehouse, or on its roof, just in case there were more thugs keeping watch. The streets were dark in this part of the city, given it was mostly abandoned after the shipping company that owned the warehouses and factories nearby went under a few years back. Izuku debated if he should activate his night vision, but decided against it. He couldn’t explain glowing green eyes away with the mist quirk Hunter assumed he had. Instead, he glanced over at Hunter, whose own eyes were glowing a brighter blue than before. Maybe an indication they were close to the target he was tracking?

“Yeah, that’s it,” Hunter said. “She’s gotta be in there, my quirk giving stronger feedback.”

Yep, definitely an indication. Izuku could even slightly feel the thread of Hunter’s quirk strengthen in response. He would definitely need to use that part of Duplicate more if it could maybe tell him when someone was about to use their quirk, not just what their quirk was. Though, just because it worked in this scenario didn’t mean it would work in every other. It could just be because Izuku was standing directly next to Hunter, their arms almost brushing as they stayed in the darker shadows of the nearby buildings. He slapped his cheek lightly, chastising himself for getting distracted with his thoughts, and returned his focus to Hunter and the warehouse across the way.

“Also think there’s a few more thugs in there. My quirk is mostly focused on whoever, or whatever, I’m tracking. But the more people to touch the person or object, the more traces there are for it to see. That’s why we found those two back in the alley. I can’t get a count, but there’s definitely others in there that have been near enough to the girl to have a trace.” Izuku nodded in understanding when Hunter looked over at him. “I can fight, kid, but just with natural strength and prowess. You’re still the muscle. Or we can let the police know. My contact knows I was tracking someone tonight.”

“I can handle it,” Izuku said confidently.

“Alright, then,” Hunter said, a smirk on his face. He pulled out two escrima sticks from their place attached to the back of his costume. He thrust them forward slightly and they buzzed with electricity. “After you, kid.”

Izuku led them in, both of his arms melted into mist and ready to lash out at any thugs in their way. As soon as they entered the side door of the warehouse, Hunter split off from him. Izuku figured it was to attempt some stealth takedowns. It was times like this that Izuku wished he had a bit more of a sensory boosting quirk, since he was unsure if he could confidently rely on Duplicate’s ability to sense quirk threads to give him enough warning of where people were. And that was assuming everyone in this little criminal gang even had quirks. Izuku knew enough to know that gangs like this didn’t discriminate so long as the member was useful, and usually the quirkless members were more ruthless than the quirked. Shouta had told him that particular bit of information, since he evidently had the most trouble with such members when doing his own hero work. When one is quirkless or doesn’t have a combat-oriented quirk, they tended to be better at close-quarters combat and martial arts. Shouta may be a Pro, but his advantage stemmed from quirk-users being unable to fight well quirkless when Erasure was used against them, so villains and other criminals who fought without quirks were always going to be a nuisance for the underground hero. He’d explained as much to Izuku when they discussed Erasure in more detail after Izuku had copied it.

Figuring he might as well try to use Duplicate’s quirk sensing as best he could, Izuku let Duplicate loose. The hunger it held when he was younger, that desire to copy the quirks around him, surged forward and suddenly Izuku was aware that he could feel Hunter moving through the shadows on the other side of the warehouse already. Whether that was because he’d already come into close contact with the man’s quirk, he didn’t know. But regardless, he could feel the presence of sixteen other quirks throughout the warehouse. Two of those were directly around the corner from him, the crates and shipping containers that sat throughout the building blocking them from view.

Izuku took a deep breath and darted around the corner, lashing out with his mist tendrils at the two thugs standing there. Surprised at the sudden intruder, they were easy takedowns. Izuku wrapped tendrils around their chests and slammed them backwards into the metal shipping container. Of course, their bodies hitting the empty container sent out an echoing boom which no doubt alerted everyone else in the warehouse of Izuku’s presence. But Izuku hoped that just meant Hunter would have an easier time ambushing his targets as Izuku continued to make his way through the maze of containers.

“Oi, the hell was that?!” one thug called out, his voice echoing around the warehouse. Izuku felt the surge of a quirk drawing near, Duplicate allowing him to see a dark red thread approaching just before the thug rounded the corner. “Who’re you?!” the man asked, surprised. “Ah, f*ck it.”

The thug launched himself at Izuku, quickly ducking under the tendrils Izuku lashed out with. He was on Izuku in the blink of an eye, bringing a fist up to slam into Izuku’s face. Izuku spun with the hit, but was still sent stumbling to the side.

Strength enhancer. Easy.

Izuku called on his own enhancements with Brawn Boost and Springlike Limbs before launching himself back towards the thug. He slammed into the thug with his shoulder, sending the man flying backward. Izuku then shot out more mist tendrils to wrap the thug up, but the thug was faster and ducked out of the way, diving behind another crate. Losing sight of the man, Izuku tried reaching out with Duplicate again. He felt the thugs quirk, but he also felt the quirks of three more people quickly approaching, drawn to the sound of a fight.

Izuku groaned. He didn’t want to have to fight multiple people, especially not in such a tight area like this. The crates and shipping containers divided up the warehouse into a labyrinth, the corridors only being a few meters in width.

So not as easy as Izuku had figured. Moments like this were why Shouta kept telling Izuku to stop going out as a vigilante. Well, he mainly told Izuku that because one, it was illegal. And two, he was underage. And three, it was illegal. Shouta really liked reminding Izuku of that. So much so that he’d begun to threaten to arrest Izuku if he was caught going out. The man wouldn’t actually do that, Izuku knew. Or, well, he assumed. Shouta definitely wanted him to stop going out, as it really was dangerous for someone without much experience, regardless of Izuku’s arsenal of quirks, but Izuku doubted Shouta would ever really do anything like arresting him. He was basically Izuku’s… dad….

Yeah, no, not the time for that kind of mental discussion. He could figure those thoughts out after he helped Hunter. Just another item to add to his list of things to self-analyze.

Izuku returned his focus to the warehouse just in time for the first thug to come barreling back around the corner. Deciding he’d had enough of only showing off his mist-based quirks, Izuku flared Erasure at the man. With his quirk suddenly erased, the thug stumbled from the lack of force put behind his legs’ movements. Izuku used the opportunity to quickly grapple and throw the thug into the side of another shipping container, his own strength enhancements empowering him and causing the thug to be knocked unconscious from the impact. So that was three down, and three more on the way.

Reaching out with Duplicate again, Izuku could tell that Hunter had taken down a few of the thugs on his own. Izuku huffed at the fact that the man, who was basically fighting quirkless other than the likely chance he could track the thugs with his quirk, was doing better than Izuku was. The other vigilante was further into the warehouse than Izuku had gotten, and frankly it annoyed him. Izuku had all these quirks at his disposal, yet a tracking-quirk wielding vigilante was doing better than him.

With that realization, Izuku decided to use more of his quirks. He had the extremely dangerous quirks he’d gotten from his last visit with the Doctor–Black Lightning and Spatial Distortion–but the Doctor had told Izuku that quirks like that were more for extreme circ*mstances rather than normal fighting. All for One hadn’t needed to rely on them very often, and if Izuku was supposed to live up to his father’s legacy, then he shouldn’t take the easy route. So instead, he called on his copy of Kaminari’s Electrification and pushed electricity through his arms, which subsequently turned his mist tendrils into live wires. He grinned as he rounded a corner to come face-to-face with the three thugs he’d felt approaching.

They stopped, staring at him. One of the thugs was a mutant with lion-like features. The second one had thick, bone-like structures forming from his knuckles to give him natural brass knuckles. And the third had no clearly shown quirk, which meant Izuku couldn’t underestimate him.

“Sorry to intrude, but I’ve been told you might know the whereabouts of a missing girl?” Izuku asked, his voice laced with confidence but also malice. Lion took a step back from it. “Don’t want to talk? That’s fine. I’ll just find more of your friends.”

“Yeah, right,” Bone Fist snarled. He ran forward, bringing a fist up to punch Izuku, but the teen was faster and wrapped the thug in an electrified mist tendril. The voltage Izuku was putting out wasn’t strong enough to incapacitate, as Izuku couldn’t afford to lose that much of his mental capacity, but it was enough to lock up the thug’s muscles.

Lion and Thug Three glanced at each other for a moment before turning back to Izuku. Lion let loose a deafening roar as he bulked up more, claws bared from his furry fists. Thug Three formed several glowing red disks around him, his palms facing upwards as the disks floated above his shoulders and head. Izuku quickly resolidified his left arm, the one not being used to restrain and tase Bone Fist, and formed an Air Wall in front of him just as Thug Three launched the red disks at him. The first few shattered against the wall, causing splintering cracks to spider web across the translucent barrier. The subsequent hits broke the wall and allowed one disk to slam into Izuku’s shoulder, causing him to loosen his grip on Bone Fist. The thug then wriggled himself free from the mist tendrils as Izuku also lost the electrification due to his focus being broken.

Without giving him time to recover, Lion was on him, slashing out at Izuku’s face. The teen threw up another, smaller Air Wall just in time to avoid having his eyes scratched out. He then fired off a blast from Air Cannon, giving up on Mist Tendrils for now so he could have both of his arms back. The pins and needles feeling was beginning to seriously bug him, but he had to push through, at least until he fought off these thugs. Duplicate had already told him that two more thugs had been taken down by Hunter, which left the three in front of Izuku, and then four more quirk signatures further in the warehouse.

Lion continued his assault, kicking at Izuku since the Air Wall was only guarding his upper body. His legs knocked out from under him, Izuku fell to the ground, hard. He could tell he bit his tongue from the impact, the metallic taste of blood filling his mouth. Izuku turned his head and spit out some of the excess blood, wiping his mouth with the sleeve of his costume. When he looked back up at the thugs, his eyes were full of rage. How dare these lowly thugs lay a hand on him. Didn’t they know who he was?

“That was your last mistake,” Izuku snarled. Deciding to say f*ck it, he called on Black Lightning and fired off an arc of electricity from his hand, his fingertips going numb as the green-black–and why did every quirk with any hint of color always come out green with him–lightning surged forward and slammed into Lion. The man’s eyes blew open wide and he collapsed to the ground, screaming and writhing in agony, with burn marks on his clothing from where the lightning entered his chest.

Thug Three fired off more disks, but Izuku threw up three layers of Air Wall, blocking all of the shots. Shattering the walls himself after the onslaught died down, most likely due to the man needing a moment to create more, Izuku used his enhancement quirks to their maximum and blasted Thug Three with a massive column of air from Air Cannon. The thug went flying back to slam into a wooden crate, destroying it.

That left only Bone Fist, who seemed to still be recovering somewhat from Izuku’s first attack on him. The thug looked afraid, and it filled Izuku with glee. Deciding to use another quirk he hadn’t yet had the chance to, Izuku called on his forced activation quirk and launched himself towards Bone Fist. He grabbed the man’s head in both hands and activated the quirk. Bone spurs formed all along the thug’s body, causing him to cry out in pain. Blood dripped down the man’s limbs from the broken skin.

“Don’t use that quirk except on your hands, do you?” Izuku asked, though not expecting a response, as he continued to force the quirk to activate, pushing it more and more.

“Pl-please,” Bone Fist begged. Izuku obliged, releasing the man. He collapsed to the ground, curling his body into the fetal position as blood poured out of the open wounds left behind from the bone spurs breaking off once Izuku let up on Force. “Who-who are you?” he whimpered out.

Izuku crouched down to look at Bone Fist, his right hand melting to mist again but more so as an intimidation tactic than anything. He played with a swirl of mist, his hand still semi-solid. “I am the son of the Demon Lord, the one who can give and take quirks as he pleases. I am the heir to his empire, and you’ll do well to remember my existence. I am Singularity.” At the name drop, Izuku swirled the mist of Warp Gate in his hand, collapsing it and crushing the remnants in his fist.

Honestly, Izuku had no clue where this was coming from, but he couldn’t say it didn’t fill him with some amount of pride and power. Especially as Bone Fist’s eyes, before squeezed shut from the pain, blew open wide and fearful. And hey, he could use that name for his vigilante persona, since it sounded pretty cool and worked exceptionally well for Warp Gate, his most prominent quirk.

“So you know of my father?” Izuku asked, grinning.

“But- he’s-”

“Dead? As if you’d be so lucky,” Izuku scoffed, standing back up straight. “Besides, even if he was, I’m still here.” Izuku aimed a kick at the thug’s stomach, enhanced with Brawn Boost, and the man let out another scream before going silent. co*cking his head, Izuku reached out with Duplicate and could tell the man’s quirk was still active, though muted, meaning he was still alive.

Izuku continued on through the maze of containers and crates, his Regeneration already healing his tongue as well as the few bruises he’d gotten from the fight. Though if he had to guess, the bruises would still be there by the time he went home tonight. His regeneration seemed to not focus too hard on the less extreme injuries, even if he did still heal faster than normal. It was why Recovery Girl still occasionally used her quirk on him after class trainings that went slightly too far.

Duplicate warned him of the quirks up ahead, but three of them were dull, like those of the thugs he’d left behind. Izuku rounded the corner to find Hunter standing above three unconscious thugs. He held the fourth thug by the shirt collar. The thug had severe bruising along his face, and Hunter had his fair share of bruises too.

“Where the f*ck is she?” Hunter growled, his face mere inches from the thug’s.

“f*ck you!” The thug spat in Hunter’s face, causing the vigilante to slam him into the ground. The thug let out a grunt.

“Tell me where she is or you and your goons ain’t walking out of here tonight,” Hunter snarled. When the thug’s eyes flitted to Izuku, Hunter rounded on the teen, pulling out his escrima sticks again and nearly slamming them into Izuku’s chest. He caught himself just in time, realizing who Izuku was, and stood down. Still, he let out a growl as he turned back to the thug, who Izuku figured must have been the boss.

“She ain’t here,” Boss Thug bit out when Hunter turned his focus back to the man, still fisting the thug’s shirt.

“He’s lying,” Izuku said casually when Lie Detector pinged on the boss’s statement. Hunter turned back to him, anger still plastered on his face, but with the slightest hint of curiosity in his eyes. He was wondering how Izuku knew. “The mist isn’t my only quirk.”

“Your only quirk? What’re you- Bah, that’s a conversation for later,” Hunter said, rolling his eyes.

“Yo-you have multiple quirks?” Boss Thug asked fearfully. His emotions seemed to do a complete 180, turning from arrogance to fear. “But, that’s not-”

“It is possible, and I already had this conversation with one of your lackeys,” Izuku groaned. “Tell us what we want to know.”

“She’s- she’s dead,” the thug answered, mumbling. Izuku froze. “She tried escaping and one of my guys killed her on accident.”

“What?” Hunter’s voice was cold. He glanced back to Izuku, who just nodded hesitantly. It was the truth. Hunter roared and threw Boss Thug to the ground. “You’re f*ckin’ lucky I don’t kill!” he bellowed. Then he turned and stalked off into the darkness of the warehouse.

Boss Thug looked relieved that Hunter had let him live, but his relief didn’t last long as his eyes quickly darted to Izuku. Izuku’s own gaze was steely, wanting so much to punish a lowly criminal that thought they could do something so heinous to an innocent girl, regardless of if it was the Boss’s call or not.

“Why did you kidnap her,” Izuku asked, his voice flat which only fueled Boss Thug’s nervousness.

“I-I didn’t, one of the others did, and we-we just figured we’d have some fun with her before dropping her off in an alley somewhere,” Boss Thug rambled. “Please, you gotta understand, we ain’t killers! I kicked out the guy who did it!”

“That means nothing,” Izuku said as he stepped forward. “Tell me, what’s your quirk?” As he asked, he reached out to feel the thread of the man’s quirk, as the man must have had something decent if he was the boss of this little gang. He was met with the disappointing feeling of a simple enhancement quirk, along the same lines as the one Izuku’d fought when he first entered the warehouse.

“Ju-just a strength quirk. Please, don’t-”

“Disappointing,” Izuku said, interrupting the man. “And not worth my time.”

With that, Izuku turned and left, following the feeling of Hunter’s quirk back outside of the warehouse, where he found the man on the phone with someone. Hunter’s words were short, concise, to the point. He was giving a report to someone–Izuku guessed it was his cop friend–and before too long Hunter hung up his phone. He gripped it tight in his left hand, his knuckles white from how hard he was holding it.

Suddenly, Hunter was roaring and whipped around to punch the wall of the warehouse with his right hand. He pulled his fist back, the skin on his knuckles split and bleeding. “f*ck!” he yelled again, throwing another punch into the wall. After a moment, he seemed to center himself and breathed deeply. “Sorry, kid, it’s just, ah,” Hunter turned to Izuku, sliding his phone back into his pocket and flexing his injured hand. “Like I told you, I don’t get many of these kinda jobs. I always hope I can save the person before sh*t like this happens. But that outcome is rare.”

“It’s fine,” Izuku said.

“It really ain’t, but suppose you’re stronger than you look.” Hunter began to walk past Izuku. “Come on, we don’t wanna be here when the cops show up, and I gotta report back.”

“Report back where?” Izuku asked as he followed the older vigilante.

“The Hub, place I mentioned before? It’s an underground club and bar, mostly for us vigilantes. Some underground heroes pop in occasionally, usually to get news and whatnot. And, uh, a few minor villains may show up every once in a while, though they’re more vigilante than villain, except they like to rob banks and rich people with their quirks.” Hunter shrugged. His mood had brightened slightly, either because he didn’t want to bog down Izuku with his emotions or because talking about this ‘Hub’ actually made him happy. “You’re free to tag along, I’m sure you wanna branch out if you’re new.”

“I’m not new,” Izuku said, pouting.

“You say that, but I ain’t ever seen you before, and you don’t even have a moniker.”

“I figured one out.”

“Oh?”

“Singularity.” Izuku did his little mist vortex trick, collapsing it as he closed his fist. “Thought it fit.”

“Sure does,” Hunter hummed. “Oh, that reminds me. Mind tellin’ me what the deal is with you having multiple quirks?”

“Ah, yeah, that. Heh,” Izuku chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his neck. “My main quirk is a copy quirk, but I keep the copies.”

Hunter whistled, impressed. “Damn. Makes Singularity fit you even more if you believe in that crackpot Quirk Singularity theory.”

Izuku was confused. Hunter evidently had no clue who Izuku really was, meaning he hadn’t watched the Sports Festival, the literal largest sporting event in Japan, if not the world. Yet he knew of the fringe theory of the Quirk Singularity? Hunter was definitely an interesting guy.

“Yeah, suppose so,” Izuku agreed. “So where is this Hub?” Hunter just grinned at him before turning around to continue walking. Izuku sighed, figuring he’d just have to follow the man to find out.

“This is the Hub?” Izuku asked, eyeing the rundown office building Hunter had taken him to incredulously.

“‘Course it ain’t the Hub. The Hub is beneath it!” Hunter said excitedly. Beckoning Izuku to follow him, he led the way through the front door of the office building.

The first room they entered was a dilapidated reception area. But Hunter moved on past the dust-covered desk and through the double doors behind it. Izuku heard a low beep as Hunter pushed on the door and suddenly found himself in a second reception area, this one far more pristine. A man in military-like fatigues greeted them, eyeing Izuku suspiciously.

“Hey, Shield!” Hunter greeted the man. “Reporting back from that job I took. Brought a friend, he helped me out. Care to give him a day pass?”

“He trustworthy?” the man, Shield, grunted out.

“When have I ever brought someone here that wasn’t?”

“You ain’t ever brought someone here, Hunter,” Shield deadpanned.

“Yeah, yeah. He’s trustworthy. Promise. Stake my membership on it.”

“Fine.” Shield reached below the desk before slapping a neon-yellow badge with the word “Visitor” on it in front of Hunter. The man passed it to Izuku. “Keep that on ya. Lose it and you get kicked out.” Izuku took the badge and clipped it to his costume. “Rules are simple: No fighting inside. No quirks inside, ‘cept if ya can’t turn yours off. And don’t go telling the heroes. Got it?”

“Yeah, got it,” Izuku said, nodding.

Shield just grunted, pressing a button on the desk’s surface which opened up the wall to the side of the reception area. The new door led to a stairwell down.

Hunter waltzed on in, making his way down the steps. Izuku watched him go, then glanced back at Shield who just glared at him. Gulping, Izuku jogged to catch up with Hunter, for fear of getting kicked out by Shield.

“Don’t mind him. The Hub’s bouncers are always a little rough around the edges, especially when on duty,” Hunter said when Izuku caught up. They descended three flights of stairs and Izuku began to wonder just how deep underground they’d be going until they came upon yet another set of double doors. Hunter turned around to face Izuku, his back to the door and hands on the door handles. “Welcome to the Hub, kid.” He threw open the doors behind him with a flourish and Izuku gaped at the sight that met him.

He had assumed that this underground club would be dark and grimey, like any seedy bar or club. A place chosen because it would be easily ignored and never suspected of organized vigilante activity. But then he’d seen the true reception area. And the hidden wall-door. So really, he shouldn’t have been surprised to find that the Hub was quite a clean and upscale looking establishment. The floors were a clean dark gray tile, with a silver border. The walls were dark, but covered in posters and art of all kinds, even wanted posters though Izuku figured they were posters of members thrown up on the walls for fun. On the far wall from the entrance was a massive bar, shelves stocked to the top with all sorts of alcohol. The right wall looked to be the armory; a similar bartop and shelving setup but instead covered with knives, swords, bo staffs, guns, and more.

Support columns broke the Hub up into sections, with different seating areas scattered around. The left side of the club looked to be an entrance to another wing, as a large curtain cut off the view through the doorway on that side, and a roped-off area was set up like the line for an amusem*nt park ride.

“Impressive, ain’t it? There’s anonymous benefactors supporting it. The Hub is mainly only open at night, though a few people come and go during the day. So, opposite to most places, the cleaning crew, stockers, and others like that come when the sun’s out. Though I guess that’s basically how most nightclubs are, huh?”

“Whoa,” was all Izuku could say as he took in the sights. He’d had to stamp down on Duplicate again, despite using it to sense quirks earlier in the night. The sheer amount of quirks in the building was overwhelming, and he’d felt the surge as they’d descended the stairs.

“Come on, I gotta do two things then we can talk with the current Hub leader.”

“Current?”

“Yeah, we like our democracy around here, so members do a vote. Though usually the nominees are previous champions of the ring,” Hunter nodded towards the curtain, “but the current one’s a special case. Anyway, first up: the doc.”

Hunter led Izuku through the club, weaving between crowds of people and greeting a few he seemed to know well. Izuku, meanwhile, was met with many curious gazes and even a few more glares, like the one Shield had given him before Izuku scurried off to catch up with Hunter. They reached the door to a hallway with a sign above it that said ‘Clinic.’ Izuku followed Hunter inside and was, once again, shocked to find a very clean, and authentic looking, doctor’s office. A nurse sat at a desk and perked up when she saw Hunter walk in.

“Dammit, Hunter, what did you do this time?” She sighed as she stood up and crossed her arms at him.

“Nothing severe, promise, doll,” Hunter said, giving the nurse a sheepish smile. “Just a few bruises and maybe f*cked up my hand a bit.”

The nurse looked Hunter up and down before holding her hand out for his. Hunter gingerly set his self-inflicted injured hand in her open palm and hissed when she not-so-gently went about examining it.

“You don’t need Doc Lazarus to heal this, it’s too minor.” The nurse released Hunter’s hand and turned around to rummage in a medical cabinet, pulling out some gauze. Izuku watched as she secreted some kind of ointment from her hands and rubbed it on Hunter’s knuckles. She then wrapped his hand up with the gauze before putting medical wrap overtop that to hold it in place. “If the hand still hurts after a couple days, we can see if it’s broken. Unless you go somewhere in civvies.”

“I’ll probably just do that, if it comes to it. Broken hand ain’t nothing special in my daily life anyway,” Hunter said, shrugging.

The nurse clucked her tongue and shook her head. “Whatever you say, Hunter.” Her eyes then locked on Izuku. “Who’s this?”

“Singularity,” Hunter said for Izuku. “Met him when I was trackin’ tonight and he helped me take out a gang. Figured I’d return the favor by showing him the Hub.”

“You better hope Memokeeper likes him, since I assume you’re taking him to meet her before y’all leave?”

“‘Course, what do you take me for?” Hunter asked, mock offended. “After I submit the job results, we’re headin’ her way.”

Izuku had no idea what was going on at this point. Doc Lazarus? Memokeeper? The Hub in general? It was something Izuku would never have dreamed of, and it had never once been mentioned by his father, the Doctor, or Kurogiri. Did they know it existed? Or was it actually a really well kept secret?

Izuku jumped slightly when he realized the nurse had walked over to him to examine him for any injuries.

“I’m fine!” he practically squeaked, and he thanked his voice changer for managing to hide it. “I’ve got a self-healing quirk.”

“Among others,” Hunter helpfully added, smirking at Izuku when the teen gave him an annoyed glare.

“You look fine anyway. I assume those bruises will clear up by morning if you’ve got a healing quirk. Even a boosted metabolism quirk does wonders for clearing up such minor injuries.”

“Oi, minor? You always act like my bruises are horrible!” Hunter cried.

“Because you don’t have a healing quirk, nor a boosted metabolism,” the nurse said, throwing Hunter an unimpressed look over her shoulder before turning back to Izuku. “You can call me Lily. No, it’s not my real name. If you ever do need medical treatment, and you’re allowed back here after tonight, feel free to swing by the Clinic. Either I can help, or if it’s too serious, we can introduce you to Doc Lazarus. He’s got a real kicker of a healing quirk. Though its application is a bit… unsettling. Anyway, off you two go. Don’t keep Memokeeper waiting too long!” She shooed them out of the clinic.

Izuku continued to follow Hunter as he made his way towards the primary bar. Now that they were closer, Izuku noticed massive boards on either side of the bar covered in job listings, wanted posters, and more. Hunter beelined for one of the bartenders, though Izuku doubted that’s all the man was.

“Hunter,” the bartender greeted as soon as Hunter popped up next to him. “Job done?”

“Yep, though not in a good way,” Hunter said. A bit of his solemn mood from earlier in the night resurfaced as he gave an abbreviated account of the events.

The bartender sighed. “Damn, never can get lucky with those, can we? Sorry you had to deal with that, especially with a new guy.”

“He ain’t bad, moreso young than anything. His fighting skills are pretty good,” Hunter said, looking at Izuku as he talked. “Though I ain’t splitting the reward with him.”

“Fair enough, especially seeing as he isn’t a member yet,” the bartender nodded. “I’ll relay to the client the outcome and let you know when to pick up the money.”

“Thanks, Breach!” And then Hunter was off, dragging Izuku behind him once again as they weaved back through the crowd and towards the far corner, near the curtain.

“Wait, what’s going on?” Izuku asked, digging in his heels to make Hunter stop for a moment. “You’ve barely told me anything and keep dragging me all over this place.”

“We gotta meet the boss,” Hunter said, as if it was that simple. Maybe it was, but that didn’t mean Izuku had to just accept it. “Sorry for just dragging you around, but you have to meet her before you can leave. Even if you decide you never want to come back here.”

Izuku relented and let Hunter drag him on towards a VIP area, cordoned off by red velvet ropes and guarded by a man wearing a suit and sunglasses. Inside the area sat a large, maroon couch. On it were three people, two of which were smoking something Izuku couldn’t recognize. The third, a woman in a purple cloak with long, lilac hair and a veil over her face, tilted her head as Hunter approached. She leaned over and whispered something to one of her companions which caused them both to stand up and leave.

“Hello, Hunter,” the woman greeted. “Who’ve you brought with you today? I didn’t realize you had friends outside the Hub.”

Hunter snorted and rolled his eyes, but when he talked he was purely professional and courteous. “Madame, this is Singularity. I happened across him while out on a job and he ended up helping me finish it. He’s relatively new to the scene, from what I can tell.”

“Hmm,” the woman hummed, her head tilting slightly but her veil hid her face too well in the dim light for Izuku to gauge her feelings towards him. “Thank you, Hunter. I’d like to speak with our new friend alone if you wouldn’t mind.”

“Of course,” Hunter said, tilting his head in a minor bow. He turned to Izuku, patting him on the arm. “I’ll meet you back by the entrance, yeah?”

“Uh, sure,” Izuku said.

“Don’t worry, she’s nice, promise.” Izuku watched as Hunter left him alone with the unknown woman.

“Please, do sit down,” she said, gesturing to one of the comfortable looking chairs near the couch. “I don’t bite.”

“Heh,” Izuku chuckled awkwardly as he moved to sit down. He was still blocking out Duplicate, even though he wanted to see what the woman’s quirk might be. There were just too many people around and Izuku didn’t want to have to combat the overwhelming feeling of all of their quirks while talking with the woman.

“My name is Memokeeper, the current Head of the Hub. My quirk allows me to see the full memories held by someone regardless of if they consciously remember them or not. Do not worry, I will not use it on you unless you give me permission. Now, tell me,” Memokeeper leaned forward, pulling out something hidden beneath her cloak. “Do you know the old arcana art of tarot?”

“Um, no?” Izuku hesitantly said, looking down at the table between them to see that Memokeeper had set out a deck of large, ornate cards.

“Understandable,” Memokeeper said. “With the prominence of quirks, old arts such as this fell to the wayside. Foresight quirks give far more accepted readings of the future. But I find myself interested in the arcana, and do believe that Tarot still holds some power in telling our futures.”

Memokeeper shuffled the deck of cards rhythmically, though she didn’t seem to be paying much attention to her actions.

“Hunter said you’re new. What has you going out, alone, breaking the laws laid out by the Hero Public Safety Commission, hm?”

“Um, several months ago, I watched my best friend since childhood almost be killed by a villain because the heroes responding wouldn’t do anything. In the end, I had to help him because I was strong enough to.”

“So you saw the failings of hero society as it currently exists and wished to try to better things yourself?”

“I guess, yeah.”

“A very noble cause, though I’m sure there’s more to you than that. But I won’t pry.” Memokeeper set one card down on the table, face up. “The Chariot, reversed. My, isn’t that an interesting first card. You’re unsure of your future. Multiple paths lie ahead but you do not know which to follow, and instead are dragged through life at the will of the moment.” Memokeeper looked up at him thoughtfully, her eyes barely visible behind her veil. “Vigilantism is a break from your other life, isn’t it? It’s like that for many.”

“I don’t…” Izuku muttered, confused. He was having issues figuring out what to do with his life. He was at UA, learning to be a hero, but he was also here, in the Hub, as a vigilante. And that didn’t even include the possible criminal empire he could inherit someday, if he decided to accept it. Shigaraki wasn’t meant to be a permanent solution once Izuku came along, he knew that well enough.

Memokeeper continued to fiddle with the deck of cards, but Izuku kept his eyes on her veiled face. Her gaze never left him, despite the movements she was doing with her hands as she shuffled the deck. Until another card slipped from the deck and landed on the table, just next to the first. Memokeeper looked down and flipped it over.

“The Four of Wands. Upright, this time. You’ve got a nice homelife, one with people who support you and wish to help you reach your goals, but also who will be there to catch you when you fall. A strong foundation for whatever future you may find yourself in.”

Izuku did have that, with Shouta and Hizashi. And with his friends, somewhat. But the two heroes had been happy to take him in when Shouta had found out his parents were dead, and had loved him ever since. So much so that Izuku would even consider them his new dads, though he had no clue how to voice such a revelation, if he ever even got the courage to try. Except, wasn’t he going against Shouta’s wishes by being out here, as a vigilante, as Singularity?

“You can still have doubts and confusion, even with such support, young one,” Memokeeper said, pulling Izuku from his thoughts, and just how did she know he was young? “These cards only hold the power we believe them to have, and if you do not think they matter then they do not. But given your expressions from these first two cards, I gather you believe.” She smiled. “Singularity, where does your name come from?”

Izuku, for the third time that night, used the mist of Warp gate to form his little vortex and crush it in his fist. “It’s new,” Izuku admitted. “When Hunter found me and asked my name, I couldn’t give him one.”

“A night of revelations and self-discovery, then.”

“I guess,” Izuku said, frowning.

A third card lay out on the table before them, Izuku having not even noticed its placement.

“The final card,” Memokeeper said as she sat the rest of the deck off to the side. She took the card between two well-manicured fingers and flipped it over. “The Eight of Swords. Another Reverse.”

Izuku swallowed nervously. The first card was reversed and symbolized something bad. So what could something with swords being reversed mean for him. If he was going to believe anything Memokeeper was telling him, that is. There was no reason for him to believe anything she was saying these cards meant, about his future, his destiny, his past or present. It was just an old, silly game, right? Yet Izuku couldn’t help himself from thinking, just a little bit, that perhaps the cards really did hold some power. Or at least, that Memokeeper knew something he didn’t and used the cards to tell him the story.

“You may have doubts, but you’re newly confident in who you are, aren’t you?” Memokeeper questioned, her head tilted ever so slightly. “You’ve begun to accept yourself, to understand your path even if it is a confusing one. Even though life tries to push and pull you this way and that, you see a goal: to change the world, make it a better place. For your friend, whom you almost lost. For your family, who support you and guide you. For yourself.”

“Huh…” Izuku said, somewhat surprised. That wasn’t what he expected, yet it made sense. And Memokeeper pulled it all together, the lore of each card uniting into something. A prophecy? A hope? Izuku didn’t know, and figured he might never.

Memokeeper laughed, light and airy. “It could mean nothing at all, or everything. No one can know for sure, Singularity. Now, as to the matter of your being here.” Memokeeper plucked the yellow visitor badge from Izuku’s jacket.

“He-hey! I was told I needed that!” Izuku said, reaching to grab it back. In a flash, the yellow badge was gone from Memokeeper’s hand. In its place was another tarot card, though slightly smaller than the ones she’d just used, and with a bit of thickness to it. She handed it to Izuku, who gingerly took it from her and inspected it.

On the back was the same art as the real tarot cards, but on the front was what seemed to be custom art and a title: The Prince.

“That is not a real tarot card, as I’m sure you can assume. Not just because of its fabrication, but The Prince is not a Major Arcana card. Every Head creates their own membership cards during their tenure. All previous membership cards are still usable, though some Hub members like to swap them out, or just collect a new one when a new Head is chosen. Unsurprisingly, I chose to base mine on the Tarot, but with some minor customizations.”

Izuku stared at it. The Prince wore a cloak and hood, and sat atop a cracking throne. His face showed uncertainty. Behind the throne, the shadow of a horned demon seemed to haunt the Prince. It hit Izuku a little too close to home, if he had to admit.

“I choose each card based on the person I believe a new member to be. There is still some power to these false tarots, in my opinion. And through your ownership of it, perhaps they shall gain a story, a meaning for future use.” Memokeeper relaxed, leaning back on the couch. “Now, do you have any questions for me before you leave?”

“Wait, I’m a member now?” Izuku asked, still confused by the card in his hand.

“Indeed. I see no reason to deny you membership, so long as you do not reveal our existence to just anyone. Vigilantes make up the bulk of the Hub’s patronage, as you probably figured. Some minor villains pop in occasionally, usually to lie low and get patched up. We don’t allow high ranking villains in. And before you ask, yes my bouncers have plenty of power to prevent any from barging in uninvited. There is also the occasional underground hero. The Hub is neutral ground, and the underground heroes know better than to mess with vigilantes on their home turf. Besides, we help them more often than you might think.”

Izuku had to wonder if Shouta knew of the Hub, if he’d ever worked with any of the vigilantes filling the club’s space.

“I, uh, have a teleportation quirk. I assume I shouldn’t just show up directly inside the Hub?”

“That would be preferable, yes. Please enter the same way Hunter brought you in, though you may use your quirk to drop you off directly in the real reception area. I will be sure to alert the bouncers of your quirk so they aren’t surprised.”

Izuku was about to ask another question when his phone’s alarm went off. He’d only given himself a set amount of hours to be out as Singularity before needing to go home to reduce the risk of being caught by either of his guardians. Izuku scrambled to pull out his phone and silence the alarm, afraid that having his phone on him might be a bad thing. Though Memokeeper simply laughed.

“I take it our time is up,” she said lightheartedly. “Do come back soon, Singularity. I’m sure there’s plenty more for us to talk about.”

“Yeah, uh, I will. Come back. At some point,” Izuku said, standing up. “Thank you for the membership, Memokeeper.”

“Farewell, Singularity.” She waved him off. As soon as Izuku left the VIP area, her two companions returned. Izuku didn’t think he wanted to know who they were or what they did.

It took him a moment to make his way back to the Hub’s entrance, but as soon as he was in sight of the doors, Hunter was next to him.

“So, how’d it go?” the man asked as he opened the door for them to leave. Izuku held up his newly minted membership card. “Oh, nice! My card is, kinda lamely, The Hunter. Memokeeper actually laughed when she heard my chosen name, because it was the card she’d already chosen for me before we even talked.”

“You’ve only been a member since she’s been the head?” They began making their way back up the several flights of stairs to leave the building, though Izuku planned to Warp Gate home from the reception area. “How long has she been head?”

“About five years, now. And yeah, I only joined like two years ago but quickly made a name for myself with my tracking abilities, even if they are kinda lackluster in the grand scheme of things.” Hunter shrugged. They stepped out into the clean reception area, where Shield just grunted at them once again. “You done for the night?”

“Yeah, gotta go home,” Izuku admitted.

“Ah, yeah, guess you’re a little young to be out too late, huh?” Hunter elbowed him lightly.

“Something like that,” Izuku grumbled. “Thanks for letting me tag along, and for showing me this place. I think it’ll turn out to be super useful.”

“Anytime, kid,” Hunter said. “I’d be happy to team up with you again if I ever need your muscle for another job.”

“Just let me know,” Izuku said, smiling though his mask hid it. “Seeya, Hunter.” He formed a warp gate and stepped through after waving goodbye to Hunter, the man chuckling and exiting the normal way as Izuku’s mist swirled into the portal.

He decided he’d drop off his vigilante costume at the safe house before returning to his actual home. There was no way Shouta or Hizashi would be happy with him if they found the costume when cleaning.

Once he’d changed out of the costume and into sweatpants and a t-shirt, Izuku folded it up and slid it into a locked case in the safe house’s hidden room. One more Warp Gate and he was back at the apartment. He stashed his Hub membership away with his other things before shuffling out towards the kitchen to get a glass of water, and maybe a snack. He hadn’t realized how hungry he’d gotten from being out. His arms were also bothering him, thanks to how much use he'd gotten out of Warp Gate and Mist Tendrils throughout the night, so he figured he might grab a pain killer as well.

“Izuku?”

Izuku froze. If he was going to be caught sneaking around after his night of vigilanteing, he was very much hoping it would have been Shouta to catch him. But alas, the world wasn’t going to be nice to him.

“Um, hi, Zashi…” he said, trying to keep his voice steady, not wanting to sound guilty for being caught awake at this hour. “What’s up?”

The living room light flicked on and Izuku found himself stared down by both Hizashi and Shouta. Well, at least he had been caught by Shouta. But now it was even worse, because both of his parental figures were there, and they clearly knew he’d not simply been asleep in his room the past few hours.

“Sit,” Shouta commanded, pointing to the loveseat next to the couch.

Izuku obliged and sat down, fists clenched and tucked into his lap. He refused to look up at either of the men sitting on the couch. Hizashi sighed, sounding disappointed.

“Where have you been?” was Shouta’s first question.

“I, um, take it you wouldn't believe me if I said asleep in my room?”

Neither man laughed, or so much as smiled at his attempt at a joke.

“Maybe,” Shouta said, “if we hadn't checked your room thirty minutes ago, when we got home, and found it empty. Or if you didn't have that very clear bruise on your cheek.”

Right, he was still a little bruised from the warehouse fight. Another reason he was wanting that pain killer.

“You were out as a vigilante, weren't you?”

“Yes.” There was no point in denying it.

“Kid, I swear-”

“How long has this been going on? Hizashi asked, interrupting Shouta. And yeah, this was why Izuku didn't want Hizashi finding him. The man had been kept in the dark about a lot of Izuku’s past and present actions.

Shouta just looked at Izuku, saying nothing. Which meant he expected Izuku to explain, or figure out a cover story.

“Well… since before Shouta found me?” Izuku hesitantly admitted. Hizashi looked surprised, jerking his head back and forth between Izuku and Shouta.

“And I keep telling you to stop,” Shouta added, though it did nothing to quell Hizashi’s rising annoyance at being left in the dark.

“Let me get this straight, you,” Hizashi pointed at Izuku, “have been going out as a vigilante for at least the last two years, and you,” he now turned to Shouta, “have known the entire time and only requested he stop?”

“I did the same when I was his age, so it'd be hypocritical of me to tell him he's too young,” Shouta explained. “But I tell him to stop because, unlike me, he has a home and the support of a family to help him live and grow.”

And didn't that make Izuku feel like sh*t. He knew Shouta had had certain reasons to go out on his own before, and during, his time at UA. But Izuku hadn't thought it was because he was neglected. No wonder the man tried to be supportive of Izuku as best he could, while also trying to guide him away from following the same path.

“When my parents died, I kinda lost some belief in the heroes?” Izuku added, trying to explain his own reasoning behind his actions. “And then Kacchan’s fight with the sludge villain happened and I really lost respect for most heroes. You guys not included, obviously.”

Hizashi sighed. “I get that, kiddo. You have plenty of reasons to want to do things yourself. You've been disappointed by the actions, or lack thereof, of heroes. But you're at UA studying and working to be part of the next generation of heroes. That's how you can help. If you go out as a vigilante, you're breaking the law and could get into a lot of trouble. Could even get us into a lot of trouble, as your guardians.”

Izuku didn't really know what to say without admitting more of his history, his lineage, to both men. Hizashi barely knew anything, and Shouta just knew of his father being a villain and that Kurogiri was involved with something. Especially after the attack on the festival. Eventually he would have to sit down and explain that, and reveal the existence of the League, though he wouldn’t be surprised if Kurogiri or the Doctor made some sort of public announcement, even if only to the underground, to reveal the League.

Shouta frowned and looked at Izuku for a moment before turning to Hizashi. He opened his mouth to say something and Izuku couldn’t help but feel absolute dread. The man was about to reveal everything, to stop hiding things from his husband. And while Izuku fully understood, he had hoped he could be the one to explain, and also not do it now.

“Hizashi-”

“Wait!” Izuku blurted out before he could think, then smacked his hands over his mouth when both adults turned their attention back to him. Something like realization flashed across Shouta’s face.

“Kid, I wasn’t-”

“No, it’s fine, it’s just… Let me explain?”

“Seriously, Izuku, that wasn’t what I was going to say,” Shouta said.

Once again, Hizashi’s gaze darted between his husband and Izuku. “There’s a lot more to this than I know, isn’t there?”

“There’s a lot more to it than either of you know…” Izuku quietly admitted, earning a raised eyebrow from Shouta. “I already told you that my dad was kind of a villain, but I never explained who he was. And after the night I’ve had, the people I’ve, uh, talked to, and the thing I want to do that I’ll need to convince Sho of anyway…”

He paused, taking a deep breath. Both men stayed quiet, their attention solely on Izuku but trying not to seem like they were pressuring him to continue. Izuku took the time to arrange his thoughts. It was time to reveal All for One, which would also fully explain why he hated All Might so much. He just hoped that his lineage wouldn’t turn the two heroes against him. He could end up in Tartarus simply because of his bloodline.

“My father is–was–a supervillain known as All for One. He was born shortly after the dawn of quirks, in the second generation, which was really the first real generation of quirks. His quirk, by the same name, is the ability to give and take quirks at will,” Izuku explained. Both of his adoptive parents were invested, and their eyes widened slightly, gazes quickly flitting to each other, when Izuku explained the All for One quirk. “He is also why All Might has his time limit and smaller form. They fought and All Might was crippled while he-”

“You don’t need to relive that part of it, kiddo,” Hizashi said, reaching over to set a hand on Izuku’s knee.

Izuku drew a quivering breath, nodding and sniffling. A rogue tear fell from his eye and he quickly wiped it away. “No, it’s fine, I- my mom was killed in the initial fight–collateral damage–and my dad’s work partner thinks that her death is what distracted my dad enough to allow All Might to win. But of course, he wasn’t going to let the man win without a fight. And All Might has no clue he killed either of my parents, especially not my mom. I doubt he’s even aware she died. If he is, and he never bothered to look into her and find out she had a son… Well, then that just fuels my anger for him.”

“That’s why your quirk is such a strong copy quirk, isn’t it? Your father’s was the ability to give and take, and so it adapted to allow you to make full copies. But you can’t give quirks,” Shouta asked.

“Duplicate can’t give quirks, yeah. But, uh, I can. Because I have my dad’s quirk.”

“A copy of it, you mean?”

“No, the actual quirk. He gave it to me after I made a copy of it for him to take and use to push the original to me.” Izuku was wringing his hands nervously. “He figured it would be best to keep the original alive, in case-” He stopped himself.

“In case what?” Shouta asked. Hizashi had remained quiet, letting Shouta lead the questioning at this point.

“In case… in case he wakes up.” Izuku’s voice was so quiet, he wouldn’t have been surprised if neither man heard him. But when he looked up, the expressions on their faces showed that they had, indeed, heard his words.

“He… wakes up? But you said he was killed.”

“I lied?” Izuku pulled his legs up onto the loveseat, wrapping his arms around his shins and peering at his guardians over his knees. “He’s actually only in a coma. A serious one, and his doctor has no clue if he’ll ever wake up.”

“Izuku, a villain like that, capable of nearly killing All Might? If that man was so adamant about taking down your father, then he must have had valid reasoning. You called All for One a supervillain, but I’ve never heard of him.”

“I’m not surprised. While he controlled the villain underworld for a few centuries, he kept knowledge of him limited. You might know him more by the nickname given to him: the Demon Lord.”

Yep, Shouta knew that name if his breath hitching was any indication. It wasn’t really a surprise that an underground hero would know the tales of the Demon Lord. The funny part of those stories was that they were almost never embellished. All for One really had done most of the things they said he did. There were very few people in the history of Japan that had ever been labeled Supervillain, and even in the world the term was used sparingly once the hero-villain system was established. If Izuku was right, then other countries knew of All for One as well, or at the very least the United States did, given All Might’s presence there while he trained after his predecessor’s death.

“But why was All Might against him? The man is the strongest hero I’ve ever seen, I mean he’s the Number One for a reason,” Hizashi said, slightly confused, “but why only him? Why was the existence of such a… threat not made more public, at least within hero circles?”

Izuku could explain that, because honestly they deserved to know the truth behind All Might’s quirk, and the probable reason he was actually teaching at UA. His teaching skills weren’t horrible, per se, but they weren’t great either. And despite the notoriety of having All Might return to his alma mater to teach, the normal quality of UA teachings was far above what All Might could provide.

“His quirk is a product of my father as well. Funnily enough, it’s called the opposite: One for All,” Izuku did always think it humorous that that was what the quirk had been named. He didn’t know if it had been named by his uncle, All for One’s brother, or if someone else had decided on the name. “While my dad had been given a longevity quirk by one of his colleagues,” the Doctor, specifically, “One for All was able to match it by being passed down from person to person. All Might is the eighth person to have it.”

“Eighth?” Hizashi whistled. “That’s… a lot to take in.”

Shouta narrowed his eyes analytically as he looked at Izuku. “Who was the first?” It sounded like he’d already figured it out, but wanted Izuku to confirm his suspicions.

“My uncle, who died centuries ago, during the early years of my father’s reign.” At this point, Izuku didn’t know why he was explaining so much. But he’d opened the dam and there was no real reason to stop it now. Especially given that neither Shouta or Hizashi seemed ready to arrest him or anything, because of his bloodline. So maybe he was safe, after all. “My family is a bit… different, I guess.”

“You can say that again,” Shouta said flatly.

“Monoma is probably my half-brother, but I haven’t been able to confirm that,” Izuku added casually, though he still hid behind his legs.

“That… makes a lot of sense, given how rare a copy quirk is,” Shouta said, leaning back on the couch. He dragged a hand down his face. “Alright, kid, this is a lot to take in. But you told us for a reason, didn’t you? There’s something else going on.”

“Yeah… Um, I’ve mentioned the back-up plan before, right? That my dad set out and that Kurogiri helps with now?” Shouta nodded, and Hizashi just sighed, having given up expecting to know anything. “The back-up plan is a person: Shigaraki. An adopted son of my father’s, a few years older than me, who was set to be the inheritor to All for One’s empire until I came along. He’s basically my step-brother, so another addition to the insane thing I called a family before you took me in…”

“Was he at the Sports Festival?”

“Yes, but I took him down before he could do anything. His quirk is strong and destructive: a five-point disintegration quirk. Anything he touches decays to dust.”

“sh*t, kid,” Shouta groaned. “Not even Nezu knows of someone like that being there that day. That’s why he was so easily able to explain the whole situation away as a stunt to show you guys off. Though I doubt the public will believe that for too long.”

“Probably not. They’ve created a new group, the League of Villains, and want to kill All Might and tear down hero society. The main reason you found me alone, rather than being taken care of by Kurogiri like I claimed, was because Kuro had to support Shigaraki. A contingency plan after my dad’s dea-, er, incapacitation.” He’d been too used to claiming his dad was dead, it felt weird to say otherwise. “They used connections and money to hire all those low-rank villains to attack the festival. They’d originally planned to attack the USJ.”

“That’s why I saw Kurogiri’s mist that day and Thirteen fought off those villains,” Shouta realized. “You said he was just checking on you.” Izuku just gave him a nervous smile. “Kid, I have to tell Nezu.”

“You can’t! He’s on All Might’s side!” Izuku cried, fear in his eyes. “They’ll kick me out of UA and lock me up in Tartarus for being the son of All for One, for having his quirk!”

“No, they won’t, not if we have anything to say about it,” Hizashi said adamantly. Shouta nodded in agreement. “But we need to at least tell them about the League being behind the attack, and what his quirk is. Nezu already has those warp inhibitors being installed all over campus.”

“But that means…”

“Yeah, you can’t use your warping quirk at UA anymore. I know you rely on it as a foundation to your skills, but this just means you’ll have to use your other copies more,” Shouta said. “And I hope I don’t have to tell you to never use your father’s quirk to steal someone else’s.”

“I’ve never even copied any of the quirks in class without permission! I’d never steal a quirk from them!”

“I figured as much, and I trust you, but I just needed to explicitly state it,” Shouta soothed.

“There’s, um, more to it,” Izuku said when the two men looked as if they believed the conversation concluded. “They’re trying to recruit Stain.” A flash of pain and grief appeared on both mens’ faces, though Shouta schooled his expression quickly. “And I, um…”

“No, absolutely not.” Shouta shook his head, slicing the air with a hand like Iida tended to do. His voice was stern, having already put the pieces together. “You’re not getting involved with that. You need to cut off contact with Kurogiri and this Shigaraki, and whoever else might be in this ‘League of Villains.’ Izuku, you’re a hero student. It’s bad enough you keep going out as a vigilante, but you cannot be involved with a villain group.”

“But-”

“He’s right, kiddo. If you get caught up in all of that, and get found out, there’ll be nothing we can do, ya dig?” Hizashi said.

Izuku swallowed, upset. “But if I don’t stay involved, and my dad wakes up… I’ll be on the opposite side from him. What if…”

“Izuku, everything you’ve said about your parents, in regards to how they treated you–their acts of villainy and such notwithstanding–shows that they loved you. Your father loved you and wanted to keep you safe, yeah?” Shouta asked. At Izuku’s nod, he continued. “If he does wake up, he won’t hate you. You might even be able to talk him down.”

Izuku couldn’t help the humorless bark of laughter that escaped him. His face was wet from tears and he sniffled, wiping his eyes with his sleeve. “Sorry,” he mumbled. “But my dad isn’t one to be easily convinced he’s wrong. It’s more likely he’ll convince me to join him. And he may have loved me, and raised me well. But I know how cruel he can be when it comes to his goals, his desires. I mean, look at All Might, and all of his One for All predecessors. My dad killed almost every single one of them, and tried to do the same to All Might.”

“If he wakes up, he won’t stop just because I’m on the opposite side from him. He’ll want his quirk back, even if he has a copy. He considers both All for One and One for All rightfully his, though he also considered any quirk he likes rightfully his. It’s why I had so many copied quirks before meeting you guys. He offered them to me.” Tears were fully spilling from his eyes at this point. This fear that he would have to be against his dad, the fear he’d kept stamped down, locked away deep inside him, was spilling over.

There was no other way. All for One would need his quirk back, and he would expect Izuku to be at his side. Shigaraki wasn’t the primary heir, was never supposed to be. It was always Izuku. Just like All Might was searching for a successor for One for All, if he hadn’t already found one, All for One had one of his own in his son. There was a high likelihood that if All for One did wake up, he’d still be weakened, and thus push on his plans for Izuku to take the throne. His Hub membership card flashed in his mind: The Prince, in the shadow of a Demon Lord. The face of the Prince worried, unsure. That really was Izuku now. He put on an air of confidence when confronting the Doctor or Shigaraki. Felt sure of himself when he was out taking down criminals as a vigilante. But was that really him?

At UA, around his friends, his new family, the other teachers, Izuku never felt as confident. But it also felt… better. Right. Like he was following the correct path for himself. Memokeeper had it right, life was jerking him all over the place, and he found himself at a fork in the road, with three paths laid out ahead of him. But he had no clue how to make the choice himself. One path led to villainy, to taking over All for One’s empire or at least being the man’s right-hand in enforcing his rule. Another led to heroics, where he followed in the footsteps of the men who took him in, of the heroes he enjoyed watching on TV as a kid–much to his fathers chagrin–where he could help people the legal way, and maybe make society better, not so reliant on overpowered heroes, even if he was bound to be one in the end. The final path–essentially a middle ground–was his vigilante work, as Singularity. Able to mingle into both sides, dip his toes in when needed but not fully commit.

“Izuku…” Hizashi stood up from the couch and walked over to kneel in front of Izuku, resting his hands on either side of the teen’s curled up form. “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it, and Sho and I will do our best to protect you if your father comes knocking. You just gotta work with us, yeah? I know you probably love Kurogiri, and miss him, but you can’t be around him if he’s supporting an organized villain group.”

“You won’t be taken away, just because of your connections to All for One,” Shouta added, having also stood up and moved to stand next to Izuku’s chair. He rested a hand on Izuku’s shoulder, causing the teen to look up at him through watery eyes. “We’ll make sure of it. And, if you really want to keep doing your vigilante work…” Hizashi threw him a half-hearted glare, but obviously accepted this possibility beforehand. “Then as long as I’m with you, you can go out, alright? I’ve already told you I work with vigilantes often. Underground heroes don’t hate that lot like limelight ones do.”

“I don’t hate them!” Hizashi said.

“Fine, like most limelight heroes do,” Shouta corrected, earning a little laugh from Izuku. “We’re not going anywhere, kid. We love you and will be damned if anyone tries to take you away from us.”

Izuku sniffled again before relaxing slightly and accepting a hug from Hizashi. Shouta leaned down to wrap an arm around him as well.

“I love you guys, too,” Izuku mumbled into Hizashi’s shirt. When he pulled back, he yawned. Between his night out as Singularity, and all the revelations he’d just dumped on Shouta and Hizashi, Izuku was absolutely exhausted.

“Think it’s time you head to bed, for real this time, yeah?” Hizashi lightly chastised Izuku.

“Yeah, ‘m goin’,” Izuku said through another yawn. He stood up and stumbled to the kitchen to get a glass of water to take to his room, but Shouta beat him to it. The man probably didn’t trust Izuku to carry the glass successfully. “Thanks,” Izuku mumbled out as Shouta guided him to his room, setting the water on his nightstand. Hizashi followed them, tucking Izuku in and giving Izuku a light kiss on the head.

“Goodnight, kiddo,” Hizashi said.

“Mm, g’night,” Izuku muttered back as they left his room, closing the door behind him. It didn’t take long for him to fall asleep.

Shouta sighed as he sank back down onto the couch. That had been a lot. Hizashi had gone on to bed as well after they’d helped Izuku to his room, but Shouta wasn’t ready to sleep yet. Yeah, he was tired–wasn’t he always?–but he had to do something. There was a call he was supposed to make when he and Hizashi had finally gotten home from the clean-up of the final Sports Festival.

He pulled out his phone and tapped one of his contacts, bringing the phone up to his ear. It rang three times before it was finally answered, the man on the other end sounding just as exhausted as Shouta felt.

“Aizawa,” the tired voice of Detective Tsukauchi greeted him. “I was expecting your call a couple hours ago.”

“I got held up with something,” Shouta said.

When he didn’t elaborate, Tsukauchi just sighed. “We’ve been interrogating some of the villains that were arrested after the first year’s festival. I could use your help with an investigation I’m starting up based on the information we’re getting. Any chance you can come down to the station tomorrow and we can talk?”

“Yeah, I’ll be there. And I think I have some information that might help as well, though you’re not allowed to ask me my source.”

“That’s ominous, and quite vague for you, Aizawa,” Tsukauchi said. “But I trust you. What’ve you got?”

Shouta took a deep breath, as what he was about to do was undoubtedly going to get him pulled into something far larger than he’d ever wanted. This kind of information got you put on a list, he knew that, but he had to help keep Izuku safe.

“What does the name All for One mean to you?”

Chapter 19: Consequences

Chapter Text

Chapter 20: Pandora's Box

Chapter Text

“Is that so?” Nezu asked as all eyes in the room turned to Tsukauchi, awaiting his verdict on Izuku’s statement. Even Izuku flicked his gaze to the detective, breaking his stare down with Nezu.

Tsukauchi was quiet for a moment longer before clearing his throat. “First off, I do not condone this line of questioning, Nezu. You can’t just hijack my interviews with the 1-A students-”

“I’m afraid I can, as it was the agreement with your commissioner in order for these questionings to happen at all,” Nezu cheerfully said. “As all of the students are minors, while it is extremely helpful for them to provide their recounts, there is no law that requires them to speak with the police when legal adults and guardians can provide information in their stead.”

“That may be true, but it is clear to me now that you only wanted this to happen in order to have my quirk at your disposal.”

Izuku liked where this was going. Tsukauchi didn’t immediately call his lie out, and was continuing to deflect as Nezu tried to get the truth out. Izuku couldn’t say if he knew whether what either of the two was saying was true or legal, because while Lie Detector was a truth seeing quirk, something Izuku had figured out was that if the person speaking the statement truly believed something to be true, then it pinged true. The reason the quirk was trusted so much was because it was still extremely difficult to fake it out. Essentially, the speaker had to have no information in their memories that counteracted the statements they were saying.

In those cases, Lie Detector just didn’t ping at all. Izuku had learned to ignore the quirk unless he truly cared about what someone said–which was rare–but he was cognizant of it enough to know when it just didn’t trigger. Normal conversation, gossip, and the like were other instances when the quirk kept dormant. And so, right now, as the detective and principal argued, only half of their statements provided any feedback through Lie Detector. Nothing, so far, pinged false meaning neither Tsukauchi or Nezu were willing to outright lie. Nezu because he knew he couldn’t trick Tsukauchi’s quirk, and Tsukauchi because everyone knew not to underestimate Nezu.

“Correct, but you must agree that this is a serious matter. All Might and I have discussed this and determined it prudent to gather as much information as we can in order to know the truth and be ready to stop whatever this League of Villains may be doing.”

“And so simply because Midoriya here has a similar quirk, you believe him to be connected to the villains?” Tsukauchi asked pointedly. “Even if the portal villain, Kurogiri, is the same man that Midoriya knew when he was younger, that doesn’t mean they’re connected. As he has said, he hasn’t seen the man he copied the quirk from since losing his parents.”

Nezu nodded, turning away from Tsukauchi. “Thank you for that confirmation, detective.”

Izuku had to work to keep his expression calm and not show the shock of Tsukauchi backing him. The detective had actually covered for him. He’d gone along with Izuku’s story, despite knowing the truth. On top of that, Nezu had believed him. Though of course the principal would believe Tsukauchi. As far as the rat knew, Tsukauchi had no reason to lie to him, nor did he think the detective had any reason to protect Izuku. Izuku would have to make it up to Tsukauchi somehow, because by doing this, he had just chosen one friend over the other. Shouta over All Might.

“Have you ever met the man who has been labeled as the leader of the League of Villains?” Nezu asked once his attention was back on Izuku.

“No,” Izuku said simply and watched as Tsukauchi moved his head in a small nod that Nezu caught out of the corner of his eye. All Might still looked tense, however, despite the evidence now painting Izuku as innocent. Izuku tried not to look at the number one, as the man’s presence still greatly annoyed him and the fact that man was as tense as a loaded spring practically begged Izuku to poke the bear.

“Do you have any relationships with any known villains?” Nezu continued with his questions.

“No? Why would I?” Izuku said, confused at that line of questioning. Tsukauchi had already proven, though falsely, that Izuku hadn’t lied about not knowing Kurogiri or Shigaraki. Outside of them, there were no villains that Nezu or All Might should think Izuku dealt with. Vigilantes may be sometimes labeled as villains, given their illegal quirk use and the common occurrence of them disrupting hero work, but Izuku doubted that was what Nezu meant. Besides, the vigilantes he did have relationships with now, Hunter and Memokeeper, were definitely not villain-like at all. At least, not in Izuku’s opinion.

“I don’t know what you want from him, Nezu, but he’s yet to lie to us. I’m now starting to believe that the ‘quirk emergency’ that Eraser got called away to was falsified. You’re trying to pin a crime on an innocent teenager, who just so happens to have a similar quirk to a just recently revealed villain.” Tsukauchi looked from Nezu to All Might before continuing. “I thought you better than this, All Might.”

“Naomasa, I-” All Might began but was silenced by a raised paw from Nezu.

“That’s all we had for you, Midoriya. You can go.”

“Wait, what?” Izuku said before he could stop himself. “That’s it?”

“Yes. Did you expect more?” Nezu pulled out a cigarette from within his vest and lit it. “You can return to class. Officer Sansa will escort you back.”

Izuku’s eyes flicked from Nezu to All Might to Tsukauchi. Nezu seemed unperturbed by everything, which was to be expected. All Might looked ready to snap, though he might also have been about to deflate to his true form. Tsukauchi looked as confused as Izuku, evidently not seeing a need to keep his expression under control.

“I, for one, expected less,” Tsukauchi said. Sansa moved to stand behind him, ears flicking slightly at the tension still prominent in the room. “My base questions have been consistent between each of Eraser’s students. Only if they provided information that I had yet to hear did I ask follow up questions. Yet, with Midoriya, whose testimony I practically already had from Eraser as well as the two students as involved with the villain fights as Midoriya, you decided to interrupt and ask leading questions to try to what? Entrap Midoriya? Trick him into saying he had connections he clearly doesn’t have?”

“Detective,” Nezu said, his voice as chipper as ever but somehow with an underlying tone of threat. All Might moved from his place blocking the door to stand behind the couch on Nezu’s side, essentially creating a standoff between members of the police and faculty of UA. Neither side spoke for a long moment, simply daring the other to say another word.

Izuku’s leg bounced nervously. He desperately wanted to leave, but assumed he should wait until Sansa was willing to escort him back to his classroom so that he didn’t create even more of a predicament for himself than he was already in. There was little doubt in his mind that All Might wouldn’t immediately give chase if Izuku tried to run.

Suddenly, the door to the room opened, drawing everyone’s attention. All Might turned so violently, Izuku thought he was about to punch whoever walked in with the full power of One for All. Evidently thinking the same, the newcomer reacted accordingly.

Erasure flared and Izuku felt all of his quirks fade away. All Might deflated and nearly fell over, though no one in the room even attempted to help. The number one hero steadied himself on the arm of the couch, steam billowing from his now skeletal frame and a cough escaping his lips, droplets of blood dribbling down his chin.

Despite the sudden chaos and the lack of feeling of his quirks, Izuku couldn’t help but feel relief. The one man he’d desperately wanted this entire time had finally arrived, returning from what had to have been a set up by Nezu to get him away.

“What the hell is going on?” Shouta nearly bellowed, his eyes still glowing a fierce red from Erasure and his hair floating above his head. His arms were wrapped in his capture weapon, ready to launch it at All Might or whoever else dared to make a move.

“There you are, Aizawa,” Nezu said, leaning around the practically collapsed All Might to look Shouta in the eyes. “We were just finishing up.”

“You-” Shouta dropped his quirk and capture weapon, the fabric neatly wrapping itself back around his neck upon release. “You’re finished? Don’t you dare tell me-”

“You were busy, and we needed to complete the questionings in a timely manner,” Nezu said simply, as if he expected Shouta to fully understand and agree with his handling of things. “Thus, as another of his teachers, All Might stepped in to fill your role in young Midoriya’s session. I happened to be nearby near the end of the session and decided to pop in-”

“Bullsh*t.”

In an instant, all eyes were on Izuku. He hadn’t even realized he’d said that out loud. Nezu, for once, seemed to frown. His beady eyes narrowed on Izuku, as if silently telling him to think about his next words carefully. But then Shouta was standing between them, blocking Izuku from Nezu’s sight.

“All Might is hardly a teacher. Everyone in this room, save for maybe Sansa, knows that.” Shouta was angry. Izuku had never seen him like this, even when he was royally pissed with Izuku’s antics, or the chaos of 1-A. “And regardless of his status, he is not an assigned guardian of my class. That role goes to me, or to Midnight when I am unavailable, and she has only ever had to fill that role today, thanks to these questionings. Only when both she and I are indisposed, and only then, does someone else take over. Yes, that happens to be you, Nezu, but by your own admission, you were not here for the bulk of Izuku’s session.”

Nezu was silent for a moment before answering. “You are correct, Aizawa. I was not here for most of the detective’s questions.”

“You were not here for any of my questions,” Tsukauchi corrected as he stood up to move to Shouta’s left side. Sansa also moved, though back to his position in the corner of the room rather than towards Izuku. “While you are correct that I was only allowed here today by your permission and agreement with my boss, that does not mean that what you’ve done is acceptable. Hell, it borders on illegal and I’ll be sure to add it to my report on the matter.”

“Detective-”

“No,” Shouta interrupted Nezu. “I thought I could trust you, but evidently I was wrong and the only reason I’m not submitting my resignation right now is that no one else would be able to handle my class, especially in the wake of this whole sh*tshow coming to light.”

“Even if young Midoriya decided he didn’t wish to stay here any longer?”

Shouta deflated slightly, looking over his shoulder at Izuku.

“I never said that!” Izuku quickly said, shooting to his feet and worming his way to stand between Tsukauchi and Shouta. His guardian set a protective hand on his shoulder but didn’t try to hold him back. “I have no interest in leaving UA. It was always my dream to attend the school, alongside Kacchan. We dreamed of it ever since we were little!”

“There are other hero academies you could attend, many of which I’m sure would happily take you in as a package deal to have Aizawa as one of their instructors.” Nezu’s face showed disinterest, as if he wasn’t worried about losing Shouta. Izuku knew he was faking it. The rat was a manipulator. He wasn’t calm in that moment. Rather, he was furious and possibly even scared at the idea of losing Shouta. Probably even at the chance of losing Izuku, given the mysteries surrounding Izuku in Nezu’s eyes. The stoat loved having a problem to solve, a mystery to unravel. “Therefore, it begs the question as to why you chose UA over any other school. Did you even weigh the idea of applying to other hero schools?”

“You don’t have to answer any more questions, Izuku,” Shouta said, his voice straining as he tried to keep calm.

Izuku shook his head. “Kacchan and I wanted to come here because the hero we idolized as toddlers went here. The hero that we thought could do no wrong and always won, always saved everyone, went here. The hero that we thought we could become one day.”

“And what hero might that be?” Nezu asked.

“All Might,” Izuku said flatly, turning his glare to the mentioned man. To his credit, All Might seemed shocked.

“Wha- Me?” The number one hero hadn’t even bothered to return to his muscular form. He did, however, stand up straighter, no longer leaning on the couch, as he stuffed a blood-speckled handkerchief into his pocket.

“Yes, you!” Izuku spat. “But that was before-”

“Izuku-” Shouta started at the same time that Tsukauchi said, “Midoriya, you don’t-”

“Urgh, shut up!” Izuku yelled, pulling at his hair. “You want to know the truth, Nezu? Fine! All Might caused the death of my mom! Collapsed an entire f*cking building on her body just to beat a stupid villain!”

“I would never-” All Might tried to defend himself, but was cut off by a furious glare from Shouta.

“Of course you wouldn’t! Because you didn’t f*cking know. The police did. The Commission did. But they hid it from you! All because you almost died. Because your life is so much more important than the life of a mother!” Izuku knew he was still yelling, his voice straining, but he didn’t care. Even the fearful look on All Might’s face, something Izuku normally relished, did nothing to calm his emotions.

Tell them.

“You- you’re no hero. You told me, when you thought I was quirkless, that I couldn’t be a hero. We were on a roof, and you could have crushed the dreams of a quirkless kid who had nothing else going for him. Did you ever think about that?”

Tell them.

“I’ve never been quirkless, obviously. I revealed that right after you said that to me. But I’m not an uncaring idiot. I know the statistics on kids with quirks labeled ‘villainous’ and those entirely without quirks. Do you? Do you know how many of those kids kill themselves, or are killed by bullies thinking they’re doing something good for humanity? Culling the weak, the wrong. ”

“Izuku, don’t do something you’ll regret…” Shouta whispered to him. Izuku just grit his teeth, balled his fists, and stared at the floor for a few minutes. No one dared say anything, letting silence reign. Though, in the silence, Tsukauchi dismissed Sansa with a hand movement, removing the only person who did not need to know about the links of chaos between All Might and Izuku.

Tell them the truth.

Izuku’s lips curled into a snarl and he looked up, eyes full of hatred as he glared down the number one hero. Nezu was practically an afterthought at this point.

“You killed my mom. Murdered her without a care. You must be wondering ‘What about your father?’ Right?” He took a step forward, angry tears threatening to drip down his cheeks. “Well?”

“Ye-yes…” All Might muttered as he practically cowered from Izuku. The man hadn’t puffed back into his muscle form. He shuffled to stand behind the couch, to put something between himself and Izuku, unsure of what was to come next. He had to know both Shouta and Izuku would erase his quirk if he even tried to make a move.

“Young Midoriya-” Nezu tried to interrupt but was cut off once again.

“Shut up,” Izuku grit out, turning his glare on Nezu for the briefest moment before his gaze was back on All Might. “My father also died that day. How? You. Again. But his death wasn’t an accident, or ‘collateral damage’ as they labeled my mom’s. No, you were there to kill him. That was your entire goal that day.”

“I don’t-”

“Kill? No, not normally. But that was your plan that day.”

“I- You must be mistaken. There’s no one-”

“Oh come on, All Might. Put the f*cking pieces together!” Izuku said, a humorless laugh escaping this throat as he spread his arms and spun around, gesturing to everyone else in the room. “Everyone else here knows. Nezu probably f*cking knew before now. You can’t really be this big of an idiot!”

“No…” All Might’s eyes widened as he tightened his grip on the back of the couch, knuckles bone-white from the force.

“Izuku, there’s no going back from this. We can’t protect you.” Shouta was in front of him now, kneeling to be at eye level. Izuku barely saw him, his eyes blurry from anger and tears. “Izuku, please.” The pleading tone in his guardian’s voice pulled him from his fugue.

“Sho- dad…” Izuku muttered, shaking his head. “No, I have to. I refuse to let other people control my life.”

A brief flash of shock crossed Shouta’s face at Izuku calling him dad, but it was gone as quickly as it arrived. He would no doubt deal with that later, when there wasn’t the potential for a massive breakdown or brawl in the room. Instead, he just nodded solemnly and stood back up, moving out of Izuku’s line of sight to no longer block his view of All Might. Shouta went back to resting a hand on Izuku’s shoulder.

“My father’s name was Midoriya Hisashi, but you knew him as All for One,” Izuku finally said. All Might’s face contorted into a mixture of fear and anger of his own. He quickly puffed back up into his muscular form, and neither Izuku nor Shouta made a move to block One for All. Yet. “Think before you make any brash decision, Toshinori Yagi,” Izuku said, using All Might’s real name, something that was a well-kept secret from the public. “Ask yourself what I’ve done since being here, at UA, to earn any of your hatred.”

“You- Do you have…” All Might trailed off, unsure if he even wanted to know the answer to that question.

He is afraid. Good… Good.

Izuku finally figured out who the voice in his head belonged to: his father. All for One wanted him to reveal the truth. The annoyance of the All for One vestige existing inside him. He had to wonder if One for All was the same, with its past users. Perhaps, if All Might didn’t despise him after this, he could maybe, maybe try to talk to the man about it. He would be the only other person in the world with a similar issue, afterall.

“What if I did? Huh? What would you do?” Izuku tilted his head slightly, a manic grin on his face. “Would you deal with me like you dealt with my father? Or would you simply try to lock me away in Tartarus?”

“The Commission has no reason to do that, especially with the police backing you up, Midoriya,” Tsukauchi said, finally speaking for the first time since the verbal showdown began. Izuku looked over at him, somewhat surprised. “Tell me, right now, what your end goal is.”

“I want to be a hero,” Izuku said without hesitation, determination in his voice. “Heroes failed my family. My father may have been evil, but my mom wasn’t. She died because a hero couldn’t bother to ensure everyone was safe before a fight to the death began. Heroes nearly failed Kacchan. He almost died to a sludge villain, though that was partially my fault for releasing him after All Might was an ass. Still, the heroes at the scene did nothing to try to help. If I hadn’t been there, Kacchan would have died. I want to be the kind of hero that actually cares about everyone. Very few villains are truly evil. Anyone can be redeemed.”

“All for One could not,” All Might said, his voice heavy with disgust.

“Perhaps,” Izuku agreed, unable to say otherwise with what he knew of his father’s operation. “But he was a good father to me. He loved me, loved my mom.”

Tsukauchi looked at Nezu and All Might. “You don’t have to believe me, but his statements are true. For now, at least. If someone is treated as a villain, they often become one. Midoriya is right that those accused of having ‘villanous quirks’ sometimes die in adolescence, either from suicide or bullying. But if they don’t, a sizable percentage go on to become villains, because society treated them that way.

“If you begin to treat him any differently than you already did, what do you expect to happen? Do you want another All for One? Or would you rather have someone like that on the side of the heroes? I, for one, do not think society could survive another All for One, especially one who would have more of a motive than simply to have power.” Tsukauchi turned to Izuku once more. “Do you wish to copy, or take, any and all powerful quirks you come across?”

“I mean… I kinda want to?” Izuku said, figuring he might as well admit it now. “But I ask permission. I would love Todoroki’s or Yaoyorozu’s quirks, but it feels wrong to just copy them without permission.” He frowned. “I… I have done it before. I copied your quirk, and da- er, I mean Sensei’s,” Izuku quickly corrected himself from using ‘dad’ again. “Without asking first. But I haven’t done that since.”

“I’m afraid I do need to ask one more question, Midoriya,” Tsukauchi said kindly. “Did you recently take a quirk from a villain that attacked the sports festival?”

“Yes…” Izuku said, barely audible. But it was evidently enough for Tsukauchi.

“We can remedy that later,” he said, reaching over to squeeze Izuku’s shoulder. “You have your father’s quirk as well as your own copying one.” The detective looked back over at Nezu and All Might. “Midoriya has the opportunity to become an amazing hero, unless you two become roadblocks and force him down the other path.”

Izuku was relieved to have convinced Tsukauchi he wanted to be a hero, because if the man’s quirk pinged Izuku’s statements as true, that meant Izuku truly believed what he said. He did want to be a hero. But he wouldn’t turn his back on his other options yet, because All Might and Nezu were certainly going to put up as much of a fight against him as they could. If all else failed, he could become a vigilante, working in the gray area between hero and villain. Society would probably label him as the latter, since undoubtedly his lineage would be revealed as soon as he turned his back on the proper hero path, but he wouldn’t care. So long as he was helping people. And you didn’t have to be a hero to do that.

“I still don’t like this,” All Might said, frowning.

“You don’t have to. Find me one hero that everyone, and I mean everyone, likes. Don’t say yourself, because we all know Endeavor despises you. And I hate you, for what it’s worth,” Shouta said. “It is nearly impossible for a hero to be universally liked. Izuku doesn’t even need to be a limelight hero. He would work better in the underground, like me. Called upon when his specific quirk–or quirks really–are needed on a case, and otherwise taking care of things from the shadows.”

“I want to be here, at UA. Not just because of Kacchan or Sensei. But because UA is one of, if not the top hero academy in Japan,” Izuku explained. “Here is where I want to learn to be good, to be better than the heroes I saw fail those I care about. I swear to not copy or take any quirks without permission. From class, I only have a copy of Kaminari’s, because he wanted help with learning to use it better.”

Nezu steepled his paws together, deep in thought. “I agree with you, Midoriya, that UA is the best place for you to be.” Izuku was startled by that declaration. All Might must have been too, since he whipped his head to look at Nezu, almost spluttering out some kind of argument until Nezu held a paw up to silence him. “Detective Tsukauchi and Aizawa are correct that you could be a fantastic hero, one to lead the next generation of heroes when All Might retires.”

“But what about-” All Might began, then clamped his mouth shut with an audible click, cutting off the rest of his sentence.

“Your successor?” Izuku filled in the missing information. “As long as you don’t make them hate me for no reason other than I am technically All for One’s successor, I see no issue working with them. I don’t want your quirk. I don’t need it. Whatever obsession my father had with it did not become mine simply because I have his quirk as well.”

Liar.

Izuku knew he wasn’t. The urge to take One for All wasn’t his. It may be an urge of the All for One quirk, of his father’s vestige, but that didn’t force it to be his own. He had to admit, he didn’t much like having his father in his head at this moment.

“While that may be the case, Midoriya, One for All and All for One have been rival quirks for centuries. You and whoever All Might may pass the quirk to would do well to learn from each other and perhaps even treat each other as true rivals. It is clear that the only person to rival the strength of One for All was All for One himself, and I’m sure you are able to achieve the same heights should you wish to.”

“You cannot honestly be humoring him!” All Might snapped. It might take a bit longer for the man to come to terms with everything, so maybe Izuku would hold off on the whole vestige conversation. “He is the son of All for One! We can’t just-”

“Yagi,” Shouta said flatly. “Shut up.”

“I agree with Aizawa,” Nezu said with a small grin. “Tsukauchi has told us that Midoriya has not lied once during this session. While I will take the next steps with caution, I am inclined to trust Midoriya, Aizawa, and Tsukauchi on this matter.”

They’d won Nezu over, if only temporarily. Izuku doubted it would last if he stepped out of line at all, so he’d have to be on his best behavior. But no matter what, at least he had people in his corner. Shouta, Hizashi, the detective, Kacchan. Maybe even his other friends, if he decided to reveal to them the full truth. He internally grimaced at that thought. He wouldn’t be doing that anytime soon.

“I have one request for you, however, Midoriya,” Nezu continued. Izuku couldn’t help the pool of dread that settled in his stomach. “It’s nothing too serious, don’t fret. As you said, you assisted Kaminari with his quirk. I would like you to open up that kind of service to the other students of the hero course, be they first, second, or third years. They will go through me to get time with you, so as to not overwhelm you. And you will be allowed to decline the request, though I would prefer you don’t refuse every student who desires help. If you don’t wish to keep the copied quirk afterwards, I’m sure we can figure out a way for you to dispose of it.”

“I…” Izuku frowned, then looked up at Shouta, wanting his advice. The man just shrugged, as if telling him it was his call. “I’ll do it. I don’t necessarily need to copy a quirk to know how it works and best help someone. I like analyzing quirks, have since I was little. It was one of the few things related to heroes that my father actually encouraged of me. If I did need to copy a quirk, but didn’t feel the need to keep it… I kind of already have a device that I can store a quirk in.”

“You do?” Nezu’s eyes glistened with excitement and intrigue.

“I do. An… heirloom from my father’s work, I guess you could call it. It’s a vial, able to hold a quirk within. I only have the one, and I don’t know about destroying a quirk, but I can at least get rid of it from my body.”

“Interesting… Would you be willing to let me, and the UA support course, have it for study and attempted replication?”

“I guess. Just please don’t destroy it? It is one of the only things I have left of my father, besides his quirk. While he was a villain, he was still my dad, and I won’t turn my back on the family I lost.”

“Understandable, Midoriya. I will ensure it is taken care of and returned to you undamaged once we discover whether or not it can be replicated.” Nezu nodded happily at the arrangement. He clapped his paws together. “Now, we should leave you to the final students who need to be questioned.” The stoat hopped off the couch and made for the door. All Might sullenly followed after him.

“Principal Nezu, given the… extended length of this session, and the fact that I have all the information I need, I believe we can forgo questioning the final two students of 1-A.”

“Mineta wouldn’t be of much help anyway…” Izuku muttered under his breath. Shouta must have heard him, though, as he got a light swat to the back of the head.

“Very well. I trust that you know best for your case,” Nezu said. “Good day, Detective. Yagi, come with me.” The two heroes left, leaving Izuku with Tsukauchi and Shouta.

Izuku collapsed back onto the couch.

“That could have gone better…”

“It also could have gone so much worse, kid,” Shouta said, sitting down next to Izuku.

“Thank you for your candor, though, Midoriya. I promise to leave your admissions out of my report and only stick with the sports festival related information. Sansa won’t share anything he heard before I kicked him out either.” It was only now that Izuku remembered Sansa sneaking out during his little tirade against All Might.

“Thanks, detective,” Izuku said, giving the man a small smile.

“Any time. You two take care, and please don’t do anything that makes me have to see you again for a case, Midoriya.”

“I’ll try!” Tsukauchi just rolled his eyes before leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

“It’s almost lunch time, kid,” Shouta said. The entire morning block of classes had been canceled for the police questionings. “And I need to see how behaved the hellions were with Midnight.”

“We were good, promise,” Izuku said, standing up. Shouta did the same. “Well, when I was there, it was fine. Who knows what happened when I left.”

“You may be well-liked, Izuku, but I doubt your absence would cause them to act that much worse,” Shouta said, ruffling Izuku’s hair as they walked out of the private room in the teacher’s lounge. “Then again, I wouldn’t put it past that class to get fidgety with you being gone so long… We should probably get back there quickly.”

“Agreed,” Izuku said, chuckling.

He felt lighter after everything was said and done. The plan had never been to out himself like that to All Might so soon, but it seemed to work out. And now he didn’t have to worry about getting found out, since he’d just revealed it all himself. Maybe everything really would turn out fine.

“Get your costumes and get changed. We’re heading to the USJ again today,” Shouta explained as he pressed the button on his desk that opened the wall of 1-A’s hero costumes.

A hand shot up and, as usual, a voice spoke before even being called upon.

“Sensei! What about our hero names? Midnight Sensei mentioned we would do that this week before internships when she was covering for you yesterday!” Mina said, earning several noises of agreement from the rest of the class.

“We will do that once we’re back from the USJ.” Shouta crossed his arms. “Midnight likes to be the one to help judge your names, and she’s busy making up for the classes she couldn’t teach yesterday. So she’ll be back for the end-of-day homeroom to do that.”

“Oh,” was all Mina said.

The class stood up and made their way to the wall to grab their costume cases and head out of the room to change. Izuku, Kacchan, and Todoroki hung back since they knew they couldn’t participate in the rescue training directly as part of their post-sports festival punishment.

“Do we have to change?” Izuku asked.

“You might as well, unless you want to stick out like a sore thumb at the USJ. You may not be able to participate, but you will be expected to listen to Thirteen and remember everything she goes over.”

The trio nodded and snagged their costumes as well before heading out to change.

“It’s f*ckin’ stupid we can’t even do rescue training,” Kacchan growled.

“I didn’t take you for a rescue kind of guy, Kacchan,” Izuku said teasingly, bumping shoulders with the other teen and earning a crackling palm towards the face in retaliation. He ducked, dodging the hit and laughed as he jogged ahead. “Besides, we’ll have more rescue training classes. This is just supposed to be the makeup session for the fundamentals. I doubt we’d be doing any actual rescue stuff today anyway.”

“Really?” Todoroki asked.

“I mean, probably.” Izuku shrugged. “It would be kinda dumb for Sensei to ban us from participating when all three of us have good potential for rescue work, even if none of us are planning on being specifically rescue heroes.”

“How would Bakugou’s quirk be useful for rescue?”

“Oi, it’s super useful for everything, IcyHot!” Kacchan snapped.

Izuku ignored Kacchan’s outburst and walked backwards to better talk to the other two. “He can blow away debris in areas cleared of trapped civilians. He can also use his explosions to protect people from falling debris. It’s not super useful to actually, like, rescue people, but it’s helpful for clean up and stuff I guess.”

“You guess? The f*ck do you mean you guess?” Kacchan asked, frowning. “I thought you were a quirk nerd and knew everything about every quirk you ever come in contact with. You had mine for a bit.”

“Doesn’t mean I know how to use it for rescue purposes,” Izuku said, shrugging. “I never thought about you using your quirk for that kind of stuff. You’re not a rescue kind of guy.”

Kacchan frowned, evidently disappointed with that. “If I’m gonna be number one, I gotta be able to do rescue sh*t, too.”

“To be fair, All Might is number one and his rescue abilities are focused on the fact that he can carry people, and lift heavy things. That’s about it,” Izuku pointed out. “And Endeavor is number two and doesn’t do sh*t to help with rescues.”

“He is a bastard, after all,” Todoroki added. “How could mine help, though?”

“Well your fire wouldn’t be very useful unless you’re helping in an avalanche scenario, where you could melt ice and snow, or help warm people up. Your ice, on the other hand, can be used to create support structures or slides to get people out of buildings and stuff.”

“Of f*ckin’ course you’ve already figured IcyHot’s quirk out.”

“What, you’re the one who said I’m obsessed with quirks!” Izuku said.

“Yet you don’t know sh*t about mine and rescue stuff,” Kacchan retorted.

“Fine, while we sit there doing nothing, I’ll help you figure something out. That work for you, Kacchan?”

“Tch,” Kacchan huffed and turned his head away from Izuku. Izuku just rolled his eyes and sighed.

They arrived at the locker rooms right as the other boys finished up changing. Rushing to change so they weren’t left behind, especially since Kacchan was always one of the first ones to any class, the trio jogged to catch up with the rest of the class. Once everyone was together, Aizawa herded them onto the bus and they were off to the USJ again.

Thirteen greeted them outside the building, just like she did last time, and ushered them all inside.

“No power outages this time, we promise,” Thirteen said, chuckling. “So, since we were interrupted last time, I’ll just start the lesson from the beginning. Welcome to the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ! Here we can simulate various disasters and events that would warrant the need for heroes to assist in the rescue of civilians. There are six different scenarios that we simulate here: building collapse in the ruins zone; the landslide zone; mountain rescue in the mountain zone; the conflagration zone for uncontrolled fires; the flood zone; and the downpour zone where we can simulate extreme storm situations.

“Now, for your first lesson here, we won’t be doing any disaster simulations-”

“Told you,” Izuku whispered to Todoroki, who just hummed in acknowledgement. Kacchan elbowed him in the side and he had to stifle a yelp so as to not interrupt Thirteen.

“-but we will be going through the standard rescue procedures. Every situation is different, but rescue operations still follow the same basic principles and procedures. Rendezvous locations, medic tents, supply tents, and more make up the basic base camp setups for major rescue operations. Obviously, small scale rescue operations don’t need these, and usually stick with identifying an area for ambulances and medical teams to wait on civilians as heroes rescue them. When we eventually get to those types of scenarios, most likely in your second year here at UA, we will use the central plaza to set up the various tents.”

“Quiz time,” Shouta said flatly. “You’re the first hero to arrive in a disaster situation. What do you do?”

Several hands went up, including Izuku’s though Shouta passed right over him as he scanned the group of students. The teacher ended up calling on Iida.

“Relay to our agency the situation and put out a call for heroes on HeroNet!” Iida said, chopping the air with his hand as usual.

“Tch, of course Glasses is gonna know, his brother’s a f*ckin’ hero,” Kacchan muttered, arms crossed.

“What’s HeroNet?” Kaminari asked before Shouta could respond to Iida’s answer.

“The network set up specifically for hero use, to aid in team ups and requesting assistance. It also allows for sharing of information between agencies through Commission-encrypted paths,” Shouta explained, holding up his phone which showed an open app that Izuku assumed was the HeroNet. “And that is correct Iida. Tensei’s taught you well.”

Izuku frowned as he watched Iida’s face pale at the mention of his brother. As far as Izuku knew, Iida and his brother had a good relationship. The teen talked about Tensei all the time, and Izuku had figured he’d be interning at the Iidaten agency because of that. Besides the fact that learning from someone with a nearly identical quirk as your own was always beneficial, the current Ingenium was well liked and extremely laid back–which Iida Tenya needed to learn to be.

“Once you get your provisional licenses in your second year, you’ll be set up with HeroNet accounts. For your internships, you will learn the basics of it from your mentor and see how it works at their agencies.” Shouta uncrossed his arms. “For now, you don’t need to worry about it. As for today’s training: we will walk you through the basic first responder situation. To better teach you, you’ll be split into three groups of four, and one group of five.”

“But that’s only seventeen people?” Kirishima pointed out, counting quickly on his fingers. “Right?”

“Correct.” Shouta sank his head into his capture weapon as he narrowed his eyes at Kirishima. Izuku guessed it probably had something to do with the fact that Kirishima seemed unsure of such an easy number to count, and frankly Izuku was too.

“Please tell me-” Izuku began to whisper to Kacchan, who he knew was friends with Kirishima.

“No he isn’t that f*ckin’ stupid. Don’t act like you’ve never had a moment like that, when something simple suddenly seems hard, nerd.” Izuku just nodded, since Kacchan was right in that things like that did happen. He jolted when he heard his name called.

“Midoriya, Bakugou, and Todoroki will be sitting this training out. Punishment for their involvement with fighting the villains during the sports festival,” Shouta explained, eyeing Izuku.

“But weren’t we all involved with that, since all the teachers but All Might disappeared?” Mina asked.

“Yes and no. Yes, you were involved but no because you stuck to helping the civilians evacuate. Only those three actively participated in fighting off the villains.”

“Well yeah, because they’re the strongest! I mean, did you see the crater Bakubro made with his quirk?!” Kirishima exclaimed. Izuku could feel the tension in Kacchan’s body next to him at being called out.

“Regardless, the three of them should have assisted with the evacuation and only fought in self-defense like the rest of you, and 1-B, did,” Shouta continued. “They will still learn the basics, but will not participate in the mock scenarios we have set up to see how well you each pay attention to the lesson.” A group of Ectoplasm clones marched up the stairs to meet with the students near the USJ entrance. “Ectoplasm will take care of overseeing each group, and Thirteen will rotate among them to provide more information. If you need me, I’ll be with those three.” Shouta pointed to Izuku, Kacchan, and Todoroki.

The Ectoplasm clones called out names to divide the rest of the class into groups, then escorted their particular group to a different part of the central plaza. This left the three teens, Shouta, and Thirteen by the stairs. Izuku moved to sit down on the stairs, figuring he might as well get comfortable if he was stuck waiting around for the rest of class. Todoroki joined him, but Kacchan stayed standing, his arms crossed as he glared at the other students.

“Midoriya,” Thirteen said as she stepped towards him. “I’m sure you’re aware of how useful your quirk will be for rescue operations?”

“Which quirk?” Izuku asked, though he could probably guess.

“Ah, right.” Thirteen chuckled lightly. “The warping quirk, like what was used to evacuate the civilians at the sports festival.”

“Yeah, I assume I’d use it the same way. Though I can also use it to clear away rubble if needed.”

“I’m glad to know you’ve already thought about this,” Thirteen praised. She then turned to regard the other two teenagers. “As for each of you, your quirks can be quite destructive. However, if used properly, they can be boons for rescue operations. Hopefully when we get to actually practicing rescue scenarios, you three won’t be barred from participating. Almost every quirk can be used in some capacity for rescuing people, even if you don’t think they can. And even if a specific quirk can’t help, the hero wielding it is still an extra body to assist in the operation. So never ignore a call for help in a disaster scenario. You will always be more helpful than you think.”

With that, Thirteen turned and headed off for the first group of 1-A students actually participating in the training exercise. Shouta stood a few feet away from the three teens, his gaze scanning over his students. Izuku watched him, noticing his eyes flit up and around the entire USJ subtly. He was watching for any chance at another villain attack, since the first time they were there Izuku had foiled Shigaraki’s attempts, and the sports festival was obviously still fresh on all the teachers’ minds.

“You three will be expected to write a report on the importance of rescue heroics,” Shouta said, walking over to stand next to the trio. “Just to ensure you listened to what you were told today, instead of just pouting about being excluded.”

Kacchan huffed and glared at Shouta, easily figuring that the ‘pouting’ comment was directed at him. Though both Izuku and Todoroki weren’t entirely pleased about having to sit out the training either. They just did a better job of hiding it–Izuku with a false smile and Todoroki with his normal stoic expression.

“Have you three looked through your internship offers yet and decided on one?” Shouta asked, deciding to change the topic. His gaze continued to scan the different groups of students, ensuring they were all behaving for their respective Ectoplasm and Thirteen whenever she stopped by a group.

“I was going to go with my father,” Todoroki said flatly. Both of the other teens whipped their heads towards him, furrowing their brows in confusion.

“You’ve spent your entire life learning from him, Todoroki. I would have thought you’d want someone new,” Shouta said, arching an eyebrow as he also looked over at the teen.

“You’re probably right, but now that I’m using my fire, I need someone who can help. I wish there was someone else, but Endeavor is the only well-known, highly ranked fire quirk user. Many heroes with fire quirks end up working for him instead of branching out on their own because of his monopoly on the public’s attention,” Todoroki explained.

Izuku frowned, realizing what Todoroki was saying was true. There really weren’t many other flame heroes, at least none like the Todoroki family. Some heroes existed that could manipulate flames but not necessarily create them, and those heroes ended up as sidekicks at Endeavor’s agency more often than not.

“If you’re sure.” Shouta didn’t look all that pleased either. Izuku wasn’t the only one who could put some puzzle pieces together about Todoroki Enji. Todoroki just nodded, not saying anything more on the matter.

“I was thinking Best Jeanist,” Kacchan chimed in. “He’s well liked and that’s probably something I should figure sh*t out on.” He gritted his teeth as he explained. “I can use training sessions and the next internship opportunity to focus more on my quirk.”

Izuku beamed at Kacchan, who rolled his eyes and huffed again, turning away. He hadn’t expected Kacchan to be so self-aware when it came to the fact that his current attitude and ‘public persona’ was… off-putting, to put it lightly.

“That’s an intelligent choice, Bakugou, and I’m sure you’ll learn a lot from Jeanist.” Shouta’s eyes turned to Izuku, who had yet to say anything.

“You already know who I want, Sensei,” Izuku said, smiling at him.

“Did you even look at your offers, though?” the man asked. “You had offers from the majority of the top fifty. Even Mirko, who has always claimed she never wanted an intern, sent you an offer.”

“WHAT?!” Kacchan yelled, whipping around to stare at Shouta and Izuku, jaw practically on the floor. “Mirko sent you an offer?!”

“Oh, uh, yeah?” Izuku chuckled awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. “I just skimmed through my offers, but yeah her name was there.”

“What the actual f*ck, Deku?!” Kacchan seethed as he stomped forward. “You got an offer from Mirko and aren’t planning on taking it?! Better question: why the f*ck did she put in an offer for you!?”

“Seeing as Izuku evidently didn’t read the offer,” Shouta said, giving Izuku a disappointed frown, “Mirko explained her reasoning on the form. Mainly because she knew we’d be questioning a sudden offer from her. Izuku’s usage of his many quirks shows he can handle all kinds of problems, but she identified that he isn’t the best at close-up, hand-to-hand combat. He relies too much on his emitter quirks even with the obvious strength enhancements he has in his arsenal. The air-based quirks, the previously-unknown-to-me hydrokinetic quirk, as well as his warping quirk were the primary quirks on display during the battle tournament. She also added that she liked the feral glint in your eyes during different portions of the festival and wanted to see more of that.”

“Feral glint in his eyes?!” Kacchan flung his arms dramatically in the direction of Izuku. “He f*ckin’ picked that up from me!”

“I take it you’re a fan of Mirko?” Shouta asked, dipping his head into his scarf to hide what was undoubtedly a smirk when Kacchan’s cheeks turned a light shade of pink at being called out.

“That’s not- I’m- f*ck you,” Kacchan huffed, staring down at the ground. Izuku just laughed. Kacchan glared at him again, before asking, “If you’re not going with Mirko, because you’re an idiot, who are you interning with?”

Izuku just nodded his head at Shouta. “I’d be better as an underground hero. Someone not known by too many people, which probably means I’ll have to purposefully throw the second and third year sports festivals.” He shrugged. “I’ll inevitably end up with more quirk copies over the years, so it’s best to not have my full arsenal known.”

“The Commission only requires the quirk you’re born with to be on record,” Shouta added. “Thus, Izuku only has to have Duplicate noted down. Yes, anyone with access to the Commission’s records will be able to see he has a copy quirk, but no one will know his full arsenal of quirks except as rumors from what he’s been seen to use.”

“His warp quirk will be well known, though, won’t it?” Todoroki asked. “Especially since he used it to anger my father. I’ve heard him ranting about it several times over the past few days.”

“It will, yes. But that quirk, in the future, will more likely be for transportation rather than combat. Plus, it’s not an easy quirk to counter anyway.”

“Yep! I’m fine with that quirk being like, my staple. It would more mean that any villains that know of me would also know I can show up anywhere, at any time,” Izuku said cheerily. “They can run, but they’ll never be able to hide!”

“That,” Shouta said, pointing to Izuku, “is why Mirko seems to like him.” Again, Kacchan just huffed, but the expression on his face was one of annoyed understanding. Even he had to admit that Izuku could be slightly unhinged sometimes. “She’ll be pissed that you didn’t choose her. And she’ll probably take it out on me next time we have to work together.”

“Do you work with her often?” Izuku asked.

“She’s extremely helpful on raids. Between her heightened hearing, her strength and agility, she’s perfect for close-quarters assaults on gang hideouts and the like. We like to stick with non-flashy quirks for most raids.”

“Which is why my father isn’t included on very many,” Todoroki said, earning a nod from Shouta. “Tight spaces aren’t good for unleashing torrents of fire.”

“None of us want to be burned to a crisp,” Shouta deadpanned. He cleared his throat. “Anyway, your reports will be due on Friday, before you head out for your internships. Final decisions for which are due tomorrow afternoon. But I assume none of the three of you will be changing your minds before then, so I’ll submit your responses today while you figure out names with Midnight.”

The three thanked Shouta, in their own ways, and went back to watching their classmates do little exercises with Ectoplasm relating to their first responder training. Thirteen stopped by a couple more times to explain things she’d told to the groups to the three detentionees before rounding back through the groups. Eventually, Shouta announced the lesson was over and that everyone needed to pile back into the bus to return to the main campus. Normally slow to get moving at the end of a heroics lesson, the class readily followed orders and were back in the 1-A classroom, in their uniforms, in record time. It was obviously because of the final homeroom being focused on hero names, but Izuku didn’t miss the pleased expression on Shouta’s face as he sat behind his desk and waited on Midnight’s arrival.

“It’s time!” Midnight sing-songed as she barged into the room a few minutes after the bell rang. She pulled out a few stacks of miniature dry erase boards and set them on Shouta’s desk, giving him an expectant look. With a sigh, he stood up and began to hand out the boards to each row of students along with markers. “I hope all of you have been thinking about your names, because we’re only getting this period to review them. You’ll have to finalize them on paperwork come Friday, before internships begin but you won’t have any other feedback from me before then. Unless you hunt me down in the building, but I make no promises I’ll be pleased to be distracted by your hero name questions.”

“Don’t lie, Midnight, you’ll gladly take the distraction,” Shouta said as he returned to his desk, laying his head down on his arms, probably planning to take a catnap while Midnight did her thing.

“Oh, shut it,” Midnight said, half-heartedly swatting him in the head. “Now, your hero name should fit you, not necessarily your quirk. Obviously don’t be afraid to take your quirk into account, but remember that this name will follow you through your career, even if you end up changing it before graduation. The name you choose today will be what UA and your internship mentors will label you with in any PR they may have. And UA internship week is talked about extensively in the hero community, so don’t be surprised when heroes you’ve never interacted with end up knowing your name before you ever meet them.” Midnight scanned the room and smiled at everyone. “So, take your time to figure out your name. If you come up with one, then raise your hand and I’ll call you up to the front to share so you can get your classmates’ opinions as well as my feedback! Now, get to it!”

Unsurprisingly, the class broke out into chatter as students talked to each other, bouncing ideas they had off one another and providing others to their friends. Izuku, having already decided on his name, quickly wrote it down on his board but didn’t raise his hand. He didn’t want to be the first to share, so he pretended like he was still deliberating on his idea. Peering over Kacchan’s shoulder, he saw that the blond had done the same. He poked his friend’s back, causing the boy to sigh and turn around.

“What do you want?” Kacchan whispered.

“So you’re sticking with that name?” Izuku asked, his voice low as well even though they had no real reason to stay quiet.

“Yeah, it’s f*ckin’ cool.” Kacchan narrowed his eyes. “You better have picked a different name than-”

“Nope! I’m sticking with that one!”

“For f*ck’s sake, Deku.”

“At least you’ll have no trouble using my hero name whenever we’re expected to start using them!”

Kacchan just rolled his eyes and huffed. Midnight called up a few students who seemed ready, allowing both teens to not have to worry about being first anymore.

“Remember,” Midnight said as Mina sulked back to her desk after being told ‘Alien Queen’ may be a bit too scary, and too much of an obscure reference, to be usable. “If you can’t think of a name, you can just use your given names. Those will be much easier to swap away from once you figure out a flashy hero name down the line.”

At that reminder, Iida’s hand shot up and Midnight called him up.

“I was just going to go with Tenya, for now,” Iida said.

“Not Ingenium?” Midnight asked, frowning. Izuku was confused, why would Iida take on the family hero name if his brother still held it and was active? “I would have thought-”

“I’m not worthy of that name yet,” Iida said, cutting her off. He wasn’t one to interrupt teachers so the class all looked on in surprise.

“Iida, Tensei would want-” Midnight started again, but was interrupted by Shouta this time.

“That’s fine, Iida. As Midnight said, you’ll be able to change it later, when you’re ready.”

Midnight just frowned and looked back and forth between Shouta at his desk and Iida as the teen walked back to his own seat. Izuku had no idea what was going on, so he poked Kacchan in the back again.

“What?!” Kacchan whispered angrily.

“Am I out of the loop?”

“Have you not seen the news, idiot?”

Izuku shrugged. “Sho and Zashi don’t like watching it, so I don’t force them to. Why, what happened?”

Kacchan frowned, furrowing his brow before grabbing his phone from his pocket and pulling up a news article. He held it out to Izuku to read. Upon seeing the headline, Izuku immediately understood: Ingenium Latest Victim in Hero Killer Rampage. He read on, hoping that didn’t mean the hero had been killed, and was relieved to see that he’d survived but with a crippling back injury that meant he’d never walk again.

“Oh…”

“Yeah, ‘oh,’” Kacchan mimicked, rolling his eyes. “f*ckin’ Glasses must be going through it right now.”

“I wonder if he’s still interning at his family’s agency. He’s gonna be expected to take it over eventually. Now more than ever.”

“You’re his friend, why not f*cking ask him, nerd?”

“I’ve… not been great about talking with him, or the others, recently… Not since the sports festival,” Izuku admitted. “I’ve mostly stuck with you and Todoroki, when in class.”

“Tch, idiot.” Kacchan rolled his eyes again and turned back around before raising his hand to go next to announce his hero name. Midnight called him up to the front. He casually showed his board. “Ground Zero because the media may be stupid but they came up with a cool ass name.”

“While it’s not the best to reference something that, technically, was a negative event, you’re right that it’s a cool name. And it fits you quite well.” Midnight clapped her hands once. “Ground Zero it is!”

The class cheered, complimenting Kacchan’s name as he walked back to his seat. He ignored most of them but did offer a small nod to Kirishima and Sero when they complimented his name choice.

“Aw, you do have friends other than me,” Izuku teased.

“I swear I will blow your f*cking face off,” Kacchan growled.

“How about you next, Midoriya?” Midnight called from the front, a twinkle in her eye. Of course she’d eventually single him out. She took her unofficial Aunt title seriously. Izuku just shrugged and hopped up from his seat.

“I decided on a name that will, hopefully, make villains and other people underestimate me. Thanks Kacchan for the suggestion!” Izuku winked at the blond who just snarled at him. “I’m going to be Deku!” He spun his board around to show the name.

“An… interesting choice but it makes sense.” Midnight gave a small nod of consideration.

“It can kinda sound like Dekiru, too!” Uraraka called from her seat. “Meaning you can do it… and so it could be inspirational…” She trailed off, voice getting quieter and quieter as the entire class turned to regard her.

“Excellent observation, Uraraka! You’re right! And, regardless, a name like Deku can be inspirational on its own since the occasional meaning for it,” she shot a glance at Kacchan but it wasn’t heated or anything, “is more insulting than anything. If a hero uses it for their name, they’re claiming a new meaning to it, and thus people who may be called that can turn it around on their bullies.”

“I just thought it would be funny to make it my name, honestly,” Izuku said, chuckling. “And to make Kacchan mad.”

“Damn nerd,” Kacchan muttered just loud enough to be heard.

The rest of the homeroom period went by with the majority of the class picking proper names. Only Iida and Todoroki hadn’t chosen hero names yet and instead just planned to go by their given names for the time being. A few students had their suggestions shot down by Midnight and, rarely, Shouta. But with all of them having some sort of moniker to use now, the two teachers dismissed them for the day with a reminder that they needed to get their internship decisions in by tomorrow afternoon.

A few students stopped by Shouta’s desk to turn in their internship applications early before they left for the day. Izuku, as usual, hung around the classroom, slowly packing his things away and pulling out one of his analysis notebooks–the one meant for Class 1-A–and added everyone’s current hero name to their respective pages.

“The hag wants you over for dinner sometime before internships,” Kacchan said as he slung his bag over his shoulder. “She says she misses you.”

“Aw! Tell Auntie I miss her too and that I can come over…” Izuku looked over to Shouta.

“Friday after your detention. You two can leave together,” Shouta said without looking up from the internship applications he’d received. He had to sign off on them before sending them to the respective heroes.

“That works,” Kacchan said before heading out, leaving only Izuku and Shouta in the classroom.

“Last chance, are you sure you want to stick with me for your internship?” Shouta asked, stacking the submitted applications neatly and placing them in a briefcase he rarely used.

“Yep!” Izuku said cheerily. “Sorry, but you’re stuck with me during internship week!”

“You act like that’s a bad thing, problem child,” Shouta said, huffing out a laugh. “We’ll be doing things at night since that’s my usual patrol time. During the day, I’ll be working with Shinsou, so I won’t be home. And it looks like Zashi will have Jirou interning with him, so he’ll also be busy.”

“Wait, Shinsou is getting personal training?! From you?!” Izuku jumped to his feet. “Can I help, too? I wanna help! His quirk is so cool! Of course he’d be an underground hero, like you. Quirks like yours are stronger the fewer people that know about them! I’m sure-”

“You can help if Shinsou agrees. I won’t force him to let you participate. But if he does agree, will you work with him on strength training? I can do hand-to-hand training for both of you during the day, and we can patrol at night like usual.”

“That’s fine with me! Just as long as you don’t overwork yourself.”

“Don’t start nagging me like Zashi does, kid,” Shouta said, giving Izuku an unimpressed look.

“You nag me when I don’t get much sleep,” Izuku retorted, sticking out his tongue. “So it’s only fair I do the same to you!”

“Your lack of sleep is related to you doing illegal things, remember?”

“It’s only illegal if I’m caught, and you don’t seem all that interested in stopping me, dad,” Izuku huffed. The word ‘dad’ still felt odd on his tongue when referring to Shouta, but it also felt right.

“Just because I haven’t forcibly brought you home does not mean I’m okay with you continuing. We’ve been over this, and now that Zashi knows too, you really can’t keep going out.”

“Ugh,” Izuku groaned, dropping back into his seat and face planting on the desk. He turned his head slightly so he wouldn’t be muffled by the desk or his arms. “If I ask permission?”

“Maybe. And only on nights I’m also patrolling.” Shouta clicked the briefcase closed and stood up from his desk. “C’mon, kid. Zashi is waiting for us. And you still need to figure out what you’re going to call him. He’s been whining to me ever since he heard you call me dad yesterday.”

“To be fair, it was more an accident than anything that I called you dad at first,” Izuku said, collecting his things and heading to the front of the room. “But after everything that happened with Tsukauchi, Nezu, and All Might, I figured me saying it meant I actually meant it. Not that I felt forced to. Because if I was in such a… state… then I must have truly meant whatever came out of my mouth.”

“Fair, but still.”

“I know… But like, I can’t just call you both dad. It’ll get confusing.”

The two walked out of the 1-A classroom and made their way towards the teacher’s lounge, where they always met up with Hizashi.

“Just ask him what he’d prefer.” Shouta shrugged. “He probably has ideas.”

Izuku snorted. “He’ll probably tell me that whatever I want to call him is fine, and that he won’t force me to use a specific word.”

“Also fair,” Shouta said, a small smile on his face. He ruffled Izuku’s hair. “You’ll figure it out.