Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Katsuki was frozen in place on the couch. The text at the bottom of the screen, standing out against the blue line it was written on, seemed to glare at him. A hollow feeling settled in his stomach as he watched the screen blankly. The glowing screen shined brightly against the dark lights of the room. His eyes flicked away from the news reporter to the picture displayed next to her.

He already knew who the broadcast was about. That was the only reason he was watching so intensely. The picture shown just proved it that much more. Curly, and slightly unruly green hair, wide and shining emerald eyes, and freckled cheeks. In the picture, Katsuki's old childhood friend was grinning and an arm was wrapped around the boy's shoulders. It was obviously cropped to just show the green-haired boy, but that wasn't the thing going through Katsuki's head. The reporter droned on, voice nearly monotone despite the issue she was talking about.

Then, Katsuki started seeing posters. The same picture with the name, a phone number to call, and the word missing written in thick, red letters. He watched from across the street, standing near the front of his middle school. He frowned at the sight of his childhood friend's mother frantically showing every passerby the posters with a scared, frantic look on her face. It wasn't his usual scowl, but his other friends didn't even look at him as they waved at him, walking away. They knew that he probably wouldn't glance at them, anyways. Katsuki was kind of glad that they didn't notice anything at that point.

Ever since he first saw the news reporting it, he'd been in a state of... blankness. Whenever he was at home, he'd shut himself inside his room with a computer, or sit on the couch and watch the news intently. He looked for anything to fill the shallow feeling in his stomach caused by what he denied was worry. His father had tried to get him back to his usual self, and so did his mother. Neither of their attempts worked, but he could see that they were at least trying. At school, he had stopped picking as many fights, but did have the occasional outburst for a sense of normality. The two guys who followed him around probably had noticed his change in behavior, but didn't mention it—probably out of fear for him snapping at them.

Katsuki's head was pretty much always in a half hazy, foggy state. That was probably why he didn't really feel himself stepping off the sidewalk. He jogged across the street and walked up to the woman handing out posters. She looked up at him, face lighting up in recognition and relaxing slightly as she greeted him.

The woman continued asking people who were walking by on their way to jobs and other places after Katsuki muttered out a greeting in response. Katsuki stared down at his feet as he leaned against the wall behind him. He glanced up a few times before picking up some more of the posters from where the woman had a stack of more posters. He continued frowning, purposefully looking away from the woman as she looked at him in surprise. He ignored the feeling of her eyes on him as he held out the posters, stepping in front of a business man a little as he did so.

News reporters and studios had stopped mentioning Katsuki's missing friend a while ago, around the time the friend's mother started standing on the corner across the street from the school with a pile of papers. That was probably when it started really effecting the blonde. He had kept thinking about why the case had vanished from the media, or why the effort going into it slowly faded into nothing. The case was just called a lost cause, and no one really knew of the green-haired boy.

Somehow, though, they still knew Katsuki. From the story of the sludge monster, and when he was saved by the number one hero All Might. It wasn't old, but like his old friend, it faded into the background of the media. More modern stories of celebrities and heroes took that place in the limelight. But Katsuki couldn't shake the thoughts that kept haunting him every time he was reminded of that friend.

Because the truth was, Midoriya Izuku vanished a month after trying to save Bakugou Katsuki from a sludge monster who was ultimately defeated by All Might.

X X X X X

“We'll see you tomorrow,” Kurogiri said.

“Don't die or anything,” Shigaraki grumbled, glancing up from under his gray hair.

“Right back at you,” Izuku snorted as he opened the door to exit the bar. “See you later.”

Izuku strode through the door and closed it behind him. He pulled the hood of his gray sweater over his head. Doing a quick check that most of his green hair was tucked away and hidden, he strolled out through the alley. He followed his usual route down side streets until he reached the main road. He jammed his hands into his pockets and slouched down a little. After a month or so of being a member of the League of Villains, he learned how to not stand out without over doing it like others did.

As he came to the area near his old middle school. He came to a stop at the corner, and frowned up at the large building. Students were leaving for the day, from after school clubs and just from hanging around on campus. Parents came by in cars and the students climbed in before driving away. Izuku barely felt any sting about that part any more. He turned back to facing across the street as the walking sign turned on and the crowd surged forward.

The men in business suits and woman in pencil skirts all walked around him, each going somewhere determinedly. Izuku simply blended in like he did almost everyday now on his way back to the small, cheap, and admittedly dirty apartment he was living in. He kept his eyes forward, but the bright color of ash blonde hair caught his attention.

He stopped in his stride, a few feet away from the blonde and his mother. The two were near the corner of a building handing out the missing posters he kept seeing. The ones he normally saw were drenched on telephone poles, in garbage bins, and just lying on the streets. He watched them with a blank face, emerald eyes blinking slowly and watching Katsuki's movements as he stopped people and showed them the posters. His mother did the same, except less forceful and with more stuttering.

Katsuki nodded at a man in a suit as he excused himself and he looked around the crowd again. That's when Izuku's eyes met his. Izuku quickly looked back down at his feet and continued walking, red shoes moving quickly across the pavement. He slouched his shoulders and wished his hood to be lower on his head, but didn't want to adjust it at the risk of standing out even more.

“Hey!” he heard the familiar voice shout.

He knew it was directed at him, but he kept walking. It would be bad if Kacchan actually talked to him, or worse, his mother. Despite being around cold hearted villains, he wasn't sure if he could flat out deny his mother's requests for him to come home like he was supposed to.

Shigaraki had told him that soon, even the cutest or most innocent face wouldn't be able to effect him and his decisions. The gray haired male always claimed that eventually, Izuku would barely be effected by anything. That not even the most violent or drastic action would make him blink twice. He wasn't sure if it was true, or how exactly it would happen.

As he turned the corner down a side street, away from the heart of the city and towards the more bad part of town, he glanced back at Katsuki. The blonde was looking after him, having seemingly lost him in the crowd. They made eye contact one final time before Izuku strode down the other street and was able to shake off the feeling of searching red eyes.

Back at the corner, Katsuki frowned. Maybe he was hallucinating

Chapter Text

Izuku glanced around at his surroundings. He smirked to himself as he wandered away from the main walkway and it's crowd of students and into the trees that surrounded the campus. It was the first day of school at UA, and Izuku was sneaking in with the rest of the crowd. He had sunglasses placed over his eyes and his hair was sprayed with temp-dye so it was an off black.

Surprisingly, he hadn't seen Katsuki, but if he knew the blonde, he was already in his classroom and probably picking a fight with a stuck up student. Izuku smirked to himself as he ducked under some branches and picked his way through bushes. He knew exactly where he was going, having memorized the blueprints the League was able to get through their hacking job. He didn't know who did the hacking, but he was thankful and glad that they did. It made his job a whole lot easier, knowing where to go and when to be there to observe the quirks of the students.

As he worked his way through the trees, he easily avoided all of the cameras, staying out of their lines of sight but still making his way to the training field. He glanced around the dirt space, noting the white markings on the ground. He picked one of the taller trees with bright green leaves and jumped up to reach the first branch he could. With a huff, he pulled himself up onto it and sat against the trunk, balancing himself on the branch.

Izuku checked the time on his phone before sliding it back in his pocket. He pulled off his gloves, being careful to not scratch himself with the sharp edges on the back. He places the gloves in his pocket and stretched out his legs, cracking his knuckles and lacing them behind his head. He had some time before the students came out and needed to start his job. Luckily, the leader of the League, Sensei, understood that he probably wasn't the best to fight someone hand-to-hand and placed him on jobs like this. He had a few things to help him if he got in a fight of course, like the gloves and the steel tips added to his usual red sneakers.

Soon after he had joined the League, he was in an entirely new group of people, most far more powerful than Kacchan and probably most of the students. Being Quirkless also became a much bigger issue, what with Shigaraki Tomura killing anything he touched with five fingers, Kurogiri being nearly invincible to physical attacks, and all the lower level villains that were 'members'. Izuku guessed that they definitely weren't full fledged members, or at least ones who helped decide anything, but he still knew from only a few encounters that they'd crush him in a fight without weapons. But that was what the weapons were for, each of them made so that they were not as obvious as other weapons that villains and heroes used. What it all really meant was that he had to make up for lacking a Quirk even more.

Izuku glanced up through the leaves as he heard the sound of a sliding door. He shifted so he was sitting up straighter and pulled out the small notepad he had on him. He pushed the sunglasses up on top of his head and pulling his pen out. He pressed the button on the small gadget resting on top of his ear. A small bar shot out and a small lens appeared in front of his eyes. He adjusted the settings on the edge of the frame until it zoomed in and focused on the students so he could see all the students clearer.

Before he even knocked out the student he stole the uniform he was wearing from, he looked over the class lists that he managed to get. He had pretty much memorized the students names. He had recognized three names, Todoroki Shouto, Iida Tenya, and Kacchan, obviously. The first two, he only noticed because Sensei had him look into pro-heroes to see if he could come up with anyway to beat them—even if it was just theories and in the hypothetical sense. He was actually a little surprised at how easy it was to get information like the real names of pro-heroes so easily on the internet. Maybe there was something to be learned there, but he found it didn't matter to some one like him, who pretty much vanished off the face of the planet a couple months ago as “missing”.

Spinning the pen on his fingers, he watched blankly as they began, doing a regular physical exam, only using their quirks to the best potential. Strangely, the teacher wasn't really on any of the records the League was able to get, but Izuku knew the name from his pro-hero research, and his face from a few years of constant hero worship. Aizawa Shouta, Eraserhead. He'd be a bigger problem than any of the students, and the other teachers besides All Might. He felt that much was obvious, but still wrote a scribble of a note down so he'd remember.

Izuku didn't really pay attention to what the teacher was saying after the initial explanation, but spent the first few minutes matching names to faces from the files he read and marking their names down on his notepad. Once the quirk tests began, he was immediately writing like he used to all the time before the sludge attack. He frowned the memory mid word and glanced up at the training again.

He clamped a hand over his mouth to muffle a yelp as a baseball zoomed by his head, barely missing him through the leaves. His pulse pounded in his ears in the surprise for a little longer before he let out a silent sigh and relaxed again against the tree bark. By the time he looked back up, the student who had thrown the ball had stepped away and the next person was stepping up.

Izuku blinked a few times at the student waiting with a new base ball in his hands. White and red hair was perfectly split down the middle, the colors perfectly separated. A red scar marked his left eye. Izuku heard himself muttering and bit his bottom lip to stop the flow of words. He shook his head as the student drew his arm back and threw. He didn't bother paying attention to how he used his quirk, just what it was. He scribbled down his notes under the right name.

Todoroki Shouto (heard Kacchan refer to him as half'n'half)
Son of Endeavor (Todoroki Enji)
Quirk: Ice Control + (Probably something else?)
Likely not immune to temp changes, could see ice on skin
Good control, likely dangerous in battle
8/10

X X X X X

As class 1-A walked back into the building, Izuku slid his notepad back in his pocket, clicked the gadget behind his ear off and putting the pen back. He didn't really bother watching the students retreat into the building.

He noticed Katsuki acting a little more mellow than he remembered. Then again, his oldest childhood friend vanished soon after saving him from a monster. Izuku could see how that would be easily surprising. As he sneaked his way back to the main gates, he had half a thought to stay on campus until the end of the day to avoid anything else. He shook his head at the idea as he reached the edge of the trees near the main path.

If Izuku was thinking honestly, he couldn't careless about what happened to the random student he had picked out on the street. He placed the shades back over his eyes, ran a hand through his hair and checked his fingers for black dye. After seeing the black spotting, he nodded to himself again. He jumped out from the bushes and ran across the clearing to the gates and outside, off the campus. He didn't remove his glasses or take off the uniform jacket he was starting to hate. It was sweaty, and while that was probably the fault of its actual owner, it still annoyed Izuku that he could feel it clinging to his skin. He kept walking casually, and people only glanced at him, saw the uniform, and then turned away without really registering it.

Once he reached the alley he had dumped the unconscious student, Izuku practically ripped the jacket off as he swept down the alley. He walked down the dark, grimy alley and ducked under an almost arch made by a fallen piece of sheet metal and old, never-used dumpster. His sunglasses were dropped to the ground and he distastefully ran his hands through his hair again, looking at the cheap dye staining his fingers. He glared down at the student tied up on the ground with duct tape over his mouth.

“How do you deal with this horrible uniform?” Izuku spat distastefully. “It's annoying.”

Izuku tossed the uniform jacket onto the dirty ground and quickly changed back into his original clothes—a black sweater and old jeans. He left the UA uniform in a messy pile on the dirty ground and dug through the bag he had left their with the student. The student stared at him with wide eyes filled with fear. Izuku frowned at him as he took out the syringe and vial of green liquid he prepared himself. He sat down and calmly filled the syringe with the green liquid, and disinfected the needle with a piece of cloth. The student's eyes kept glancing back and forth between Izuku's face and the sharp needle.

“Relax,” Izuku sighed, rolling his eyes. “It's just something to put you to sleep before I untie you... I can't have you attacking me, you understand right?”

The student just looked slightly scared again and started trembling. Izuku pouted again and shifted forward, wiping a spot on the student's neck with the cloth so it was clean. The student twitched away and stared at Izuku in fright.

“Do you want to get an infection?” Izuku asked sourly. “I'm just making sure you don't die from anything, the least you could do is be willing and not try to run away.”

Izuku felt the student relax for just a second and he quickly jammed the needle on the spot he cleaned and injected the contents quickly. The student tensed up again and let out a frightened, but muffled noise of fear. Izuku hummed slightly before he finished with the syringe and yanked it out. The student's eyes immediately started drooping as Izuku ripped open a band-aid and placed it over the spot where he inserted the liquid and sticking it down. He patted it and leaned back, smiling in fake happiness at the student as he passed out.

The green-haired teen smirked and started untying the student. He left the duct tape on, not wanting to wake the student up again, even if only a little bit. He started packing his bag again, putting the syringe, vial, and cloth in a small box and sliding that into the leather bag. He got to his feet and stretched out his arms. Grabbing the bag, he slung the strap over his shoulder and double checked the bag. He glanced down at the student again, and decided to kick the uniform slightly closer to the student. He picked up his sun glasses, sliding them on his head, balanced on his forehead. He slid his pen in his pants pocket and took off the small gadget, dropping it in his bag with his other gear.

The League probably wasn't expecting him back until much later, so he decided to go out and wander a bit. He strolled back out of the alleyway, ducking down through the arch again, and back out onto the street. Glancing around, Izuku began strolling down the sidewalk again, nodding his head along to imaginary music as he made his way to the dirtier end of the city. He followed his usual route to the shopping area.

Chapter Text

Katsuki watched with his usual scowl as the pro-hero Thirteen, who was serving as a guest teacher in the class's visit to USJ. He glanced around at the large dome building and narrowed his eyes. Ever since the Quirk assessment, he felt like someone was watching the class. He initially dismissed it as the same paranoia that made him think he saw Deku on the street that first day. Now, though, he was getting the same feeling—stronger than the other times he felt over the past days.

The other students were hyper but still listening intently to what Thirteen had to say. A few weren't as impressed by the speech, but Katsuki only really noticed that Todoroki was glancing at him and looking around the building with similar caution. He didn't know enough about the other, who he'd nicknamed Half'n'Half, but he recognized that the other seemed to feel like something was observing them, too. It was probably a good thing, a sign that he wasn't completely crazy. Katsuki had tried to mention it to one of the other students he found tolerable, Kirishima, but the red head just said he was probably nervous since he was in a dangerous environment. The blonde knew that wasn't right, or denied it.

Katsuki was about to give up on his paranoia when he finally saw something. A black purple swirl of darkness near the fountain in the center of the USJ building. He glanced at Todoroki, who was looking at the fountain, too. Their teachers noticed it soon after him and the other, and then soon the rest of the class. They all watched, murmurs and shouts of fear spreading in the small crowd of students. Katsuki grit his teeth, slight satisfaction flashing in his mind at the prospect that he was right. He immediately mentally shook that thought off and watched as the swirl grew.

Then, people started walking out of the swirl. Two yellow eye-shapes appeared on the dark smokey swirl as what Katsuki guessed were the last people walked out. The smoke pulled back a bit, until it was a sort of moderate size. He immediately looked at the other two standing next to the smoke—who he was guess was probably a person. Without realizing it, he was tuning out the voices of the teachers and students.

His eyes widened a bit at the green hair he spotted on one of the two near the smoke-man. A mask covered the bottom half of the person's face, but their face was tilted up, looking right at the students with shining green eyes. Katsuki couldn't ignore the pang of recognition in his mind. He really tried to, though. There's no way, echoed in his mind over and over. He vaguely heard the person was a villain in the back of his mind that was playing attention to what was happening around him. He tried to look at the other villains, but he couldn't get the feeling to stop and kept looking back at the green-haired villain. He thought of other things that could stop his suspicion. He was a hero nerd, so no... But then again...

Katsuki's hands sparked small explosions as he grit his teeth even harder at the thought that it might be who he thought it was. To the other students, the explosions passed off as him wanting to fight, but he wasn't even listening as Kirishima tried to calm him down. He kept his eyes on the green-haired villain as they turned away slightly, seeming to talk to the gray haired one next to him.

The smoke shifted again, moving over the green-haired villain before going back into it's previous position. Katsuki's breath hitched as he stared where the other had been.

"A warp quirk!" he heard some else say.

He immediately looked around for the green-haired villain, or a flicker of purple-black smoke to signal where they'd appear. Todoroki was looking around, too, having the same idea that they might appear and attack near them.

Their teacher, Aizawa, jumped down the stairs, goggles over his eyes and scarfs ready to attack. Katsuki barely registered anything as he looked for the green, curly hair. He heard Thirteen telling them all to get to the door and evacuate. Smoke appeared between the students and the door, though, cutting off Iida's running.

As the warp-quirk villain materialized, the green-haired one stepped out of the smoke. They had their hands in their pockets, eyes scanning over the students as the smoke one talked. Katsuki knew that the speech the other was making was supposed to make him scared, but instead it made him more angry—even if he was barely making sense of the words. He clenched his fists and felt Kirishima doing the same next to him. Thirteen said something back, but him and the red head were jumping forward. He didn't know why exactly, but he was really pissed and wanted to punch something. It was probably the fact that the itching feeling wouldn't leave him, and the more he looked at the green-haired villain, the more dots connected. What better to punch than a villain?

An explosion blasted out of his palm, aimed right between the two villains in a wide right swing. Kirishima was right behind him, swinging for the warp villain specifically. To Katsuki's surprise, both moved out of the way with ease. The smoke villain seemed to sigh as his smoke body moved back into place. Katsuki turned his head to look at the green-haired one, only to be met with a solid kick to his face. He was thrown back with the force, and faintly recognized that the shoe was probably steel toed, just from the feeling. Kirishima was thrown back, too, by the smoke villain. Katsuki opened his eyes again, rubbing his jaw where he was kicked. The green-haired villain's bright eyes stared at him almost bored as he slowly lowered his foot from where it still was in the air.

Katsuki stared into those eyes intently, trying to make out anything in the familiar eyes. The green-haired villain adjusted the black gloves he had on and tilted his head up to look at the warp villain.

"Told you," he said, before turning his face back to the students and raising an eyebrow. "Right swing every time."

Katsuki stiffened, instantly recognizing the voice. He shook off the hand that was pulling him back and jumped to his feet. He scowled again and stared at the green-haired villain. The students were all whispering and mumbling things as the sounds of Eraserhead fighting with the other villains seemed to echo distantly in Katsuki's ears as he stared at the other. He barely heard Thirteen saying something to him—just sounds without any real definition to the words. He felt his legs take a few steps forward, and the green-haired villain tilted his head to the side again like he was asking Katsuki to say something.

"Izuk-" he whispered, but multiple hands grabbed onto his arms and pulled him back into the crowd of students.

Immediately, he started struggling against the hold, shouting incoherently. He noticed Todoroki staring at him in confusion, and most of the others not holding him back doing the same. Thirteen stepped in front of the students, the small cap on one of their fingers opening up and the vortex beginning to draw the villains in. He stared in horror as the green-haired one slid along the ground a little, being dragged forward with just the force and the smoke one started shifting back, trying to resist the pull. Katsuki could care less about them. He was more worried that who was probably his childhood friend could die a few feet away from him.

Then, another smoke portal appeared in front of Thirteen and one behind them, the vortex following through and thoroughly destroying the pro-hero's back. Thirteen stumbled on their feet before collapsing. A few students went and helped support them.

"Scatter them," the green-haired villain ordered, pointing a finger at the students. "But leave Bakugou Katsuki and Todoroki Shouto, Iida Tenya, too. A-K-A explosion boy, red and white, and Ingenium-Junior."

"Right," the smoke villain said.

The students all tensed up a little bit and glanced at the three referenced. Next thing they knew, the dark smoke washed over the group, forming a giant dome of moving darkness. Students shouted to each other as the wind started swirling with the smoke. Katsuki held an arm over his eyes, and squinted against the dust that was kicked up. His eyes ended up closed as his feet slid back along the cement a little.

He couldn't believe it. It was impossible, right? There's no way Midoriya Izuku was a villain. Almost every day Katsuki could remember, Izuku fawned over heroes. He had kept notebooks of hero research! Even if the other did have a change of heart, he was quirkless! What use could he be to a villain organization?!

The smoke started to clear and the blonde looked around frantically. Almost every student was gone, leaving Katsuki, Todoroki, Iida, and a few other students near the side of the platform holding the injured Thirteen. Katsuki turned back to face the villains with his usual scowl. Todoroki glanced around in shock before turning to glare at the villains. The green-haired villain scoffed and looked over at the students who had escaped his teammate's range.

"Thirteen isn't fully out of action," the green-haired villain mumbled, looking up at the smoke villain from the corner of his eye. "And Uraraka Ochako is still here, her anti-gravity powers would send you sky high."

Katsuki paused for a second to think about how he knew the name and quirk, but quickly dismissed it as the itching feeling of being watched. He clenched his fists again.

"Deku!" he shouted. The green-haired villain looked up in surprise. "That's who you are right?"

The green-haired villain looked up to his teammate and shrugged. He pressed a button on an arm-band and a shock wave went out. The ground cracked and Iida collapsed to his knees, electricity going up the metal parts of his legs and shot pain up his spine. Todoroki and Katsuki both stumbled a little at the force. Todoroki glanced at the other in concern, and felt something wrap around his right ankle. He looked back up at the villains, following the wire that was snug around his leg to the same band on the green-haired boy's arm. The other pressed another button and ice shot along the string.

Ice hit Todoroki's skin, creeping over his hero costume. He heated up his skin and melted the ice and wire off subconsciously, also through the leg of his costume by extent. The green-haired villain immediately pulled a notebook out of his jacket and started writing things down with a pen that seemed to come out of no where. Katsuki instantly recognized the slightly charred composition notebook from when he blew it up and threw it out a window. He felt a pang of guilt at the memory, wondering for a second if he was what made his old friend fall into villainy.

Katsuki shook it off and ran forward, right fist swinging back.

"Why the hell won't you answer me!?" he shouted loudly.

The green-haired villain just ducked out of the way like he could tell exactly where the other was going to end up. The notebook and pen vanished back into the dark coat. Katsuki glared at the other with a scowl but found himself getting hit again. A knee slammed into his stomach and completely stopped his momentum. He hacked dryly looked up at the other in surprise. The green-haired villain swung his leg up again, hitting Katsuki in the chin. He set off an explosion, swinging for the others head, only to have the other duck down. A gloved hand pressed to his stomach, right where he had just been hit.

Another shock wave went off, the direct contact causing Katsuki's head to spin as he stumbled backwards. He grit his teeth and reached his hands out, setting off a flurry of explosions. The attacks stopped for a second and Katsuki got proper footing back. He noticed that the smoke villain wasn't next to the other, but he only dismissed it as one less fighter.

Behind him, Todoroki was watching the fight analytically. When the smoke cleared, the green-haired villain's mask was now covered his entire face. His arms were up, the bands on his arms taking the blunt of it. The lull of the silence only lasted for a few seconds, and the villain was moving again, arm swinging back. His fore arm flashed with electricity and it all swelled at his finger tips and palm. Todoroki ran forward, stopping a little behind Katsuki. Ice shot out from where his left foot hit the ground, shooting out and catching the green-haired villain off-guard. The energy that had build up was slammed into the wall of ice instead of his intended target of the blonde. The villain yelped loudly as the blast also knocked him back, rolling in backwards somersaults along the cement until he skidded to a stop on his back, legs flopping to the ground limply.

Katsuki let out a sigh in relief, glancing up at the other student who was regarding him blankly. He scowled again and turned back to face the green-haired villain.

"Thanks..." he grumbled, standing up straight despite the pain in his stomach.

"Do you know him?" Todoroki asked after nodding to the others comment.

"... I think so," Katsuki said, eyes narrowing as the green-haired boy sat up and climbed to his feet. "But it's really only the hair and eyes."

"Green hair does seem unique..." Todoroki muttered. He turned to face where the villain was dusting himself off. The ice wall he had put up, obliterated by the energy it had stopped. "... What's his name if he is who you think he is?"

"Midoriya Izuku," Katsuki hissed, memories of the days after Izuku's disappearance flashing in his head.

"But you shouted 'Deku'...?" the other pointed out.

"Old nickname," the blond answered simply. "That notebook belonged to him too..."

"If you know all that, then why are you second guessing it?" Todoroki asked, holding his hand out at the ready to launch another wave of ice.

"He's supposed to be quirkless..."

The two students stared across the empty space at the villain as he shook rocks and dust out of his green hair. Todoroki glanced at Katsuki out of the corner of his eye, concerned. Old connections might just make the battle harder to handle. Katsuki stubbornly shook his head and clenched his fists, setting off small test explosions.

X

Izuku frowned under his mask as he picked through his hair, getting rid of the dirt. He looked back up at the students. Kurogiri was handling Thirteen and the other students, Ingenium-Junior lumped in as he tried to figure out what was wrong with his legs. Izuku felt a flicker of pride at his own weapon's effectiveness. But that wasn't the problem now.

He started grinning again and flicked one of the switches on his arm-band. Little bolts of energy flashed between the generators on his arm before solidifying in a blade the stretched over his hand, flashing and twitching in small lightning-like flashes.

Todoroki and Katsuki were meeting his expectations, so far.

Chapter Text

Izuku couldn't stop the eager feeling that washed over him when the fight had really started. He was smiling under the mask as he dodged and ducked out of the way of the explosions and ice. Katsuki's skill level hadn't gone down at all, despite what he probably felt when Izuku disappeared, the quirkless boy noted to himself. Of course, he had almost nothing to base his assessment of Todoroki's skill, but he could easily tell that it was at least equal if not better than Kacchan. His weapon's weren't doing the most they actually could do, but that was because Katsuki was a lot better at dodging now and combined with Todoroki, the attacks were powerful and frequent. He only really had a moment to feel smug that Katsuki had to learn something other than punching, but that had to be expected to some degree.

As he started to skid to a stop, a few yards away from the two heroes in training, ice coated the ground and he slipped. He managed to catch himself before he completely fell over with his hands, flicking the energy blades off so he didn't accidentally hurt his hands.

Katsuki set off a large explosion, the force sending Izuku sliding back on the ice. The heat that the explosion put out melted it a little, enough so that it was even more slippery. Izuku used it to slide completely off the ice as Todoroki froze it over again. He realized that it was a smart move, likely unintentional, and made a mental note to write it down. Izuku jumped to his feet again and looked back at the two heroes. Katsuki stared him down for a few seconds before rushing forward. Behind him, Izuku noticed the slightly exasperated look on Todoroki's face.

Izuku found himself smirking again. The UA school year had barely started, so it was doubtful that the students would get along all that well. Most of them probably barely knew how to act heroic, or how to fight. He instantly excluded Todoroki from that list unexperienced, considering his family.

As Katsuki charged him, shouting something that Izuku didn't care to listen to, the green-haired boy whipped around and ran toward the railing on the side of the platform. He grabbed the bar with his hands and pushed himself upside down, supported in the air. Katsuki paused for half a second, shock crossing his face—probably from the fact that before the League of Villains, Izuku could barely run a few miles without heaving and collapsing. He felt only a flash of pride at Katsuki hesitation, but quickly pushed off the railing when he saw Todoroki running forward and preparing to shoot more ice his way.

Izuku fell down the side of the platform, flipping in mid-air quickly to land on his feet. He was right to put small shock absorbers in his sneakers. He pressed his body to the wall that supported the platform he had just jumped off of. He looked back up at the ledge. The two probably couldn't see him in the shadows, even with the green hair. So he waited patiently for the half a minute that it took for Katsuki to shout something notciable.

"So what he's planning an attack!?" he heard the blonde say. "We can easily beat him!"

Izuku frowned at that. He had planned for Katsuki's confident nature, the inferior feeling he made sure that everyone who dared get near him felt. He was starting to prefer the more reserved Todoroki as an opponent. With a sigh, he pulled the grappling hook attached to his hip out and fired it up. The hook looped around the bar easily.

After a few seconds of making sure the two either didn't notice it or weren't going to mess with it, he pulled the trigger again. The wire instantly started retracting and he held on tight as he was pulled upwards at double the normal speed the grappling hook should allow. You could do a lot with junkyard scraps, he thought to himself when the pride of his modifications actually succeeding washed over him. He pulled up nearly to peeking over the edge when he stopped it. His hands reached up and grabbed the bar as he left the hook hanging. He had others.

Sure enough, Katsuki and Todoroki were shouting at each other. Katsuki completely blocked the others view of where Izuku was now crouching on the railing, and the blonde was turned around, shouting at Todoroki. Izuku took a moment to relax as he thought of what to do, which would be more fun. He could wait for Katsuki to turn around and shock or kick him in the face, that would be fun. Or he could test out his theory with Katsuki's grenade shaped gauntlets. Of course, Izuku had watched the battle training before this, and he witnessed as Katsuki pulled the trigger on those gauntlets and the chaos that erupted from it.

Izuku decided that he could to both. He carefully lifted his hands off the bar, balancing only on his feet. He waited until Katsuki huffed in annoyance, guard going down just a little. He hopped off the bar and reached around the blonde, grabbing his arm.

Katsuki instantly stiffened in shock and tried to pull away, but Izuku had his arm lifted and he pulled the trigger of the gauntlet. Todoroki's eyes widened in shock at the action and then the large explosion that went off. Katsuki was staring in horror as his quirk had accidentally activated on instinct and the massive explosion erupted. Izuku stared in awe at it's strength while Katsuki froze up, even if it was just a little bit, when he had no idea what he just did.

Todoroki coughed dryly, looking back up as the smoke cleared. He had seen the giant explosion, too, but he hadn't thought it could ever be that much. It was probably built up from both the battle training and the rest of the time he had been wearing it, so the size and severity made sense. His eyes were squinted as the pain that had shot up his body faded away as he iced it with his quirk. He was able to defend himself so he did get the blunt of the attack, but it still hurt. His bicolored eyes turned to Izuku, standing half behind the shocked and scared Katsuki.

The mask had retracted back somewhere along the line so that it only covered the bottom half of his face with the teeth patterns. The bright emerald eyes shined with what could only be described as childish awe.

Katsuki snapped back to reality and immediate shook Izuku off his arm and reached for the mask. Izuku dropped to the ground again and swung up with his foot, toes slamming into Katsuki's chin and shaking his skull. Katsuki grit his teeth as he stumbled back, wishing the pulsing in his head to go away. He scowled at Izuku, explosions sparking as he dove after Izuku again. The other easily rolled out of the way and jumped back onto his feet. He swung around and landed another kick on Katsuki, hitting his shoulder and knocking him over.

Katsuki collapsed and rubbed his temples angrily, as he waited for the head ache to go away. He knew it was stupid to completely stop fighting, somewhere in the back of his aching mind, but he could barely think and really didn't want to mess up... like letting Deku sneak up on him and fire the weapon directly at Todoroki at nearly point blank range.

Izuku turned back over to Todoroki and glanced around the main platform. Kurogiri was handling the students well. Ingenium-Junior was no where to be seen, so Izuku guessed that the other villain had let him run away at some point. He sighed and wandered over to Todoroki, hands swinging lazily by his side. He crouched down next to the other, knowing that he was likely far too injured at that moment to do much. Just to be safe, though, he sent a small shock wave through the other.

"You have a fire quirk, too, don't you?" Izuku asked quietly. He watched as Todoroki stiffened instantly and glared hard at the green-haired villain. "But you don't use it... Issues with dear-old-dad Endeavor?-" Todoroki's flinch confirmed that "-He is egocentric, so I don't blame you if you hate him. But they're your quirks, not his by any means. You should start using it, since it is yours. You don't owe him anything."

Todoroki glared up at Izuku, body still aching from the shock wave. He tried to push himself up, but was only able to make it so he was propped up on his elbows before his muscles started to give out.

Izuku stood back up, looking over at Kurogiri and started walking back over to them. The ground shook and he whipped around as a loud crash sounded from behind him. He fell backwards onto the ground as the culprit walked forward, out of the cloud of smoke. His eyes widened and he grit his teeth as a small wave of fear washed through him, making his stomach twist. Kurogiri only glanced once at the approaching figure before warping away, leaving Izuku behind—unintentional, he hoped.

The student's faces all lit up with relief, some with awe, and others with surprise as the figure emerged from the smoke. Izuku stared openly, and muttered, half to himself to help him believe it.

"All Might."

Chapter Text

Izuku scrambled to his feet as his breathing got labored. His head was filling up with previously repressed memories. He had needed to hide those feelings, the thoughts in general, when he was recruited by Shigaraki. Villains weren't supposed to actually have feelings on the battle field, especially ones like the fear and nausea Izuku felt. It blurred his mind, forcing the thoughts to the forefront of his mind and his felt his throat close up a little. He was having trouble breathing as it was all dug up again by the sight of the hero.

Days turning into weeks, all of him staying locked in his room. The hollow feeling that wouldn't leave him no matter what he thought. The tattered posters and smashed figurines. His mother dragging him out of the house occasionally, the pang of hatred that he felt when he heard other people his age talk about heroes, going to UA. Concerned looks, offers of nearly anything he wanted from his mother almost everyday. Wandering along the dark streets, shadowed from the night time, after being forcefully sent out to get something for his mom...

Izuku found himself running out towards the stairs, away from All Might as fast as he could go. He could practically feel the pro-hero's eyes on him as he stumbled a few times. He leaped off the ledge at the stairs, skipping many steps at first before walking down two steps at a time. A black mist portal appeared in front of him about half way down the stairs and he jumped through it. He landed with a roll back next to Kurogiri and Shigaraki. The grey-haired villain was mumbled something about All Might being late. He really couldn't care, busy fighting down the bile rising in his throat.

"You almost left me," he managed to get out, looking up at Kurogiri—anything but the pro-hero who was speaking in his loud voice.

"Apologies, Deku," the smoke villain said, before turning back to All Might.

Shigaraki ordered Noumu, and the beast followed without thought. Izuku honestly wasn't sure if it was able to comprehend any thought. Maybe the brain was just for show? He knew what he was thinking was useless, not relevant, not something he should be thinking in the middle of their debut battle. But to be honest, he was glad his brain was able to conjure stuff like that up to distract him. Falling into one of those hollow-moments he still had—less frequent, but still there—would be much worse than just losing concentration slightly.

Izuku turned his attention to where a pair of student were making their way back to the stairs. The frog girl and grape-head—as he heard some of the others refer to him as—were limping slightly, but in good condition otherwise. He could run over there and fix that, but decided if they were injured it'd be fine. Looking back up at the plat form, he could see the students gathered at the edge. Nearly all of them looked happy and full of awe as All Might started duking it out with Noumu. Katsuki and Todoroki were being supported by some of the other students.

The explosive blonde's eyes were staring right at him, glancing to the fight a few times. Izuku doubted that Katsuki didn't know who he was. Kacchan was a lot smarter than he let on... in a more instinctual way than book smart like people who were considered intelligent.

All of that was irrelevant, though. All Might went to slam Noumu into the ground, but Kurogiri acted. A portal appeared under Noumu, allowing up to reach up and grab All Might by his abdomen—right where Sensei had supposedly injured him severely. He didn't think that All Might seemed any weaker than usual. But judging by his current position, the pro-hero was genuinely in trouble. No one, no matter how amazing or legendary, would be able to hold up against Noumu that well.

Izuku was ready to call it, ready to turn around and walk away. Shigaraki's rambling was starting to get annoying, repetitive and pretty meaningless to him at least. Izuku let the coiled up tension leave his shoulders and jammed his hands into the pockets of his coat. Kurogiri had a lot more patience than him, and was more able to deal with Shigaraki's childish acts when it came to battles. So the smoke villain calmly stayed there, keeping the portals in place as Noumu gripped All Might roughly.

A flash of motion stopped Izuku. He was getting tired of sudden interruptions like this, saviors popping up at the last seconds. It was annoying. He frowned and glared back at the fight. He only felt a fraction of surprise, turning his head up to glare at the students again.

Todoroki was still leaning heavily on one of the other students. His breathing was uneven—Izuku could tell by the small puffs of steam his breath turned into once it hit the air. He had his right foot placed a little forward. Ice coated his leg almost up to his knee, and ice shards were spread out. The ice traveled down the stairs, across the open clearing and straight over to All Might. It froze Noumu, enough so the creature couldn't move.

Izuku heard Shigaraki shout again, but he was more focused on trying to figure out what exactly Todoroki's quirk strength was. He was fairly sure that he did substantial damage to him, at least enough that most people would have either collapsed or passed out. It was probably a training difference. He caught himself getting off track, again, when he should be worrying.

All Might had gotten free of Noumu's grip and the portals vanished as the creature stood up again. Izuku frowned up at the students on the top of stairs again, though they couldn't see it.

To Izuku, it was not a surprise when All Might completely blasted Noumu out of the USJ building. Shigaraki screamed something about cheats. Izuku fought the urge to tell him to shut up. All Might had to be weak, he thought. The hero stood in a cloud of white smoke, but Izuku had an idea that it wasn't just smoke from the fight. Sensei had said that All Might would start smoking when he's running out of energy. Kurogiri seemed to notice it, too.

"If we attack him at once, we should be able to take him," Kurogiri said. Shigaraki hummed something, scratching at his neck. The grey-haired villain nodded quickly then.

Izuku ran forward with Shigaraki, arm bands turned off. He knew that since Ingenium-Junior was gone, he likely contacted other pro-heroes back at UA. They'd likely be here shortly. He wasn't going to attack with Shigaraki, exactly, more like make so he didn't get killed. Kurogiri was behind them, just floating across the ground.

There was a small, high pitched whistle. Izuku grabbed Shigaraki by his upper arm suddenly, skidding to a stop and pulling his extended, deadly hand back. The grey-haired man tensed up, ready to kill Izuku in a matter of seconds. A bullet grazing his hand interrupted him. Izuku and him both looked up at the stairs. Just like Izuku thought, there was a gathering of pro-heroes. He named two off the top of his head mentally, Cementoss and Midnight. He recognized most of them—all dangerous and bad news if Kurogiri, Shigaraki, or him went up against them all at once.

Kurogiri calmed Shigaraki down, as he focused on teleporting them out of there. Izuku breathed heavily, staring up at the heroes and students. He felt a pang of regret that it wasn't him stand up there with them—wearing a hero's costume. He turned back to All Might and blinked at him as everything seemed to move in slow motion. Pro-heroes were descending the stairs quickly, issuing orders and checking on students.

Izuku found himself reaching into his jacket, pulling out the pistol he kept there. It was a plain one, something that was fairly easy to get and unmodified. He held it out at arms length, pointing right between All Might's eyes despite the shakiness of his hand. Why was he shaking? He really didn't know. His gloved finger curled around and pulled the trigger just before the mist swallowed him him. They were all back in the bar in the blink of an eye.

Chapter Text

Katsuki couldn't believe what he just saw. The green-haired villain, who he fairly sure was Deku, just tried to shoot All Might. A stone barrier had stopped it, also blocking the number one hero from the view of the students, thanks to Cementoss. He blinked in horror and as they were escorted out of USJ, he felt Todoroki looking at him. Police came and the injured were given attention.

Teachers and students milled around, talking quietly about what happened. There were mostly just minor injuries, only Aizawa and Thirteen with major ones, but almost every student had some sort of injury. Katsuki had taking pain killers for the head ache, and a few other students had parts of them wrapped in bandages. He honestly hadn't paid attention to what was happening to the others, too focused on sorting out what the hell just went down. Police asked students questioned, but he had turned away from them with a growl.

While Katsuki was sitting away from the others, quiet and thinking it all over, Todoroki walked over and sat down next to him. Neither understood why exactly he did, or why he particularly cared about the explosive blonde. But Todoroki found himself just sitting there, watching his feet and trying to think of what to say. Katsuki was hunched over, elbows placed on his knees as he wrung his fingers together. Small explosions sparked on his palms, almost like a nervous habit than preparation for a fight. Todoroki dug the toe of one of his boot into the ground a little, and drummed his fingers on the bench they were sitting on.

"If that's Deku..." Katsuki started, muttering out his thoughts. "Something went really wrong with him."

"Hmm..." Todoroki hummed, encouraging the blonde to continue.

"Dammit," Katsuki grumbled, clenching his hands into fist and pressing them to his fist—explosions stopping. "This is messing with my head."

"If it is him," Todoroki started, slow and careful so he didn't set the blonde off into a fit of rage. "And you knew him, then think about it... would there be a reason for him to be a villain."

"Hel-" Katsuki snapped, but caught himself. His mind went back to the sludge incident right after he started speaking. He dug the heels of his palms into his temples and groaned.

After the incident was over and before Izuku was claimed missing, the green-haired boy never left his house. Katsuki had went over a few times, forced by his mom, but Izuku's mother just turned him away saying that the other boy wasn't feeling good—wasn't up to it today, whatever "it" was. He didn't know what happened, not a real idea besides he got scolded by a few heroes. That didn't seem like something that would stop Izuku, considering everything he's fought to stand strong with his ideas.

Todoroki watched as Katsuki started grumbling to himself. He looked back at the other students, most sitting down now. Another person, probably a police man, walked up and announced that they'd be taken back to the UA building shortly. Students stood up and started following him to the bus. Todoroki looked back at the blonde as he stood up. Katsuki didn't seemed to have heard the officer.

"Hey," Todoroki said. Katsuki lowered his hands and raised an eyebrow at him, daring him to do something. Todoroki just kept his face blank and turned back to face where the others were walking. "We're heading back to UA."

Katsuki glanced around at the other students all moving before huffing and standing himself. Todoroki started walking after he had made sure the blond was following him, and walked after the other students. Katsuki grumbled cursed under his breath and crossed his arms. There were three too many blanks in the story he was putting together in his mind.

X

Izuku lazily swirled the straw in his drink. He was sitting at one of the tables in the dimly lit bar. Shigaraki was playing a hand-held game across from him and Kurogiri was cleaning a glass behind the counter. He had headphones over his ears, the wire leading to a laptop in front of him he was able to buy with the League's...funds. The small device he normally had hooked over his ear in combat had taken excellent video of the USJ attack. Along with a few other cameras he put around the place, he had a reference video of every single student's quirk. His pen scratching across his notebook paper, and the quiet beeping and music of Shigaraki's game were the only noises in the bar.

As soon as they had come back to the bar, Izuku had jammed his stuff in the duffel bag he used often and marched out of the bar with a short, brief 'later'. Shigaraki had seemed in a similar mood, if him throwing a bar stool at the wall was anything to go by. The piece of furniture had been half destroyed by the time it hit the wall. When Izuku walked in that day, laptop bag slung over his shoulders, Shigaraki had grumbled out an apology, but it didn't change the fact he nearly hit Izuku with the flying chair.

Izuku took a sip from his drink and glanced down at his notebook. He was filling nearly two pages with notes on Todoroki Shouto. It was definitely an experience thing, he had noted when he went over the video the first time. Todoroki fought like he had been for a while, and had training to some extent. It was like Katsuki's instinctual fighting, more thought out or at least careful. He spun the pen along the back of his fingers and tapped the paper, where he just finished writing a small cluster of notes that was slanted despite the the clear lines.

Probably issues with father, would not use fire side (likely has one)

About advanced training? Forceful?

He paused the video, right after he had done the move to save All Might. A frown found its way on his face and he pursed his lips. Todoroki was obviously the most dangerous, but there were many good fighters in only Class 1-A. He had to think about the other, and what kind of quirks they'd have. A half hour or so on the computer might have been enough for him to figure all that out, but he had to handle big threats first.

Knocking his headphones so they rested around his neck, Izuku put down the pen and quickly sipped up the last of his drink, ice cubes clinking against the glass. He slid the cup away from him and rubbed his forehead, eyes closing. Most of his days were spent like this, sitting down at a table in the bar and going through information for the League. And since yesterday was their big "debut," he had a lot of media reports, internet rumors, and data to go through. He'd been sitting down in the bar almost all day—after dragging himself out of bed and grabbing a quick breakfast—going over footage of the battles over and over. It was maybe his fifth time going through them. That's what he thought at least, but he honestly stopped counting about half way through the third time.

The computer screen that sat on the far corner of the bar counter flickered to life. A shadowy figure appeared on the screen. Sensei was sitting in his chair, and it looked like the computer screen was the only light in the room. Izuku turned himself sideways, leaning on the back of his chair to see the screen. Shigaraki pretty much jumped to his feet and moved over to the bar, sitting on a stool closer to the screen. Kurogiri put the glass down and moved closer to the counter, a little behind where Shigaraki was sitting.

As Sensei started talking, Izuku immediately recognized what he was going to say. Sensei gave speeches to Shigaraki in particular, and while Izuku could see why, it was a little annoying how often it happened. He learned to tune out that part, and then pay attention to what he needed to. So he turned his head back to look at the table and picked up his pen again, twirling it on his fingers again.

"Midoriya," Sensei's voice said after a few minutes of talking to Shigaraki. Izuku looked up and hummed his acknowledgment. "I went over some of your footage, do you know Bakugou Katsuki? He seemed to know you."

Izuku nodded briskly, feeling Kurogiri and Shigaraki's eyes on him. "We went to school together before I ran away, he hated me," Izuku explained, clicking the pen. "It's not an issue, and if it becomes one I can handle it."

He couldn't see Sensei's facial express—he's not sure he's ever seen the man's face—but he could almost feel the dubious look he was getting. Izuku kept himself calm though, alternating between spinning and clicking the pen in his hands. Sensei hummed something that sounded like confirmation, and turned back to face Shigaraki at the counter.

"Well, we'll leave the analyses to Midoriya," Sensei said.

Izuku half-listened as Sensei went on and on about how they did a good job, that not all successes ended in wins, that the data they collected would be extremely useful, and that All Might was getting weaker. As their leader dismissed himself, Izuku nodded and Shigaraki hummed a word that sounded like goodbye. Kurogiri turned off the screen as Sensei turned off his own.

Shigaraki turned to face Izuku and narrowed is eyes. The green-haired boy met his gaze head-on and didn't flinch. After seeing the gray-haired man lose his cool like a child so many times, his glares didn't do anything to threaten Izuku. He stood up from the stool and walked over to the table Izuku was sitting at. The other shifted back slightly, hand on the back of the chair twitching slightly. Shigaraki walked right up to him and took the pen out of his hand with two fingers.

"Don't mess up Sensei's plans with your stupid relationships," he growled, touching his other fingers to the pen and disintegrating it instantly. Izuku frowned and glanced at the pile of dust on the floor.

"Trust me, Bakugou Katsuki is more of a fiend than a friend," Izuku scoffed.

Shigaraki nodded slowly and walked back over to his own chair. Kurogiri seemed to relax that no one was hurt, and teleported Izuku's empty glass to the counter—emptying out the ice and putting it away. Izuku turned back to his laptop, moving his finger along the track pad to shut out of his video play and shut it down. He stood up and slid his notebook into his computer bag. Shigaraki was back to his game, thumbs pressing the buttons quickly as he defeated some sort of digital monster. Izuku shut the laptop, and carefully placed it in his bag before walking towards the door.

"I'm going shopping, I'll finish my research at home," he excused. He stopped at the door and looked over his shoulder to glare at the back of Shigaraki's head. "And you owe me a new pen, handy."

Izuku took only a second to enjoy Shigaraki's flinch at the nickname before closing the door and strolling out onto the streets. He pulled up his hood as he went, hiding his hair again. When he passed the corner where his mother and Kacchan usually passed out fliers, he couldn't help but note the blonde wasn't there. His mom kept trying to stop people, but it seemed most of the people who walked through that space had started to ignore her presence as a whole. He dug his teeth into his bottom lip to shut down any regret that wanted to make its way to the front of his mind.

Chapter Text

Izuku's "home" wasn't much. Just a small place that he could keep his clothes, books, and where he could sleep. He didn't consider it much either. It was one of the apartments in an old, and frankly ratty complex in one of the badder parts of the city. Being a villain, even one with a role as a... well, strategist was the best word for it, really.

As Izuku closed the door behind him, he carefully placed his bag on the cheap pull out couch he used for convenience. He probably hadn't had a full night's sleep in a couple weeks, and it was clear to see every time he looked in the mirror with the dark bags under his eyes. So, he let himself collapse face first into the slightly dirty mattress. He didn't think that he had folded the bed back into a regular couch since he got it.

He forced himself to sit up and pull his laptop and notebook back out. He wasn't going to bother waiting for Shigaraki to get him a new pen, because the man had the mind of a toddler and would never do it. However, that was the third writing tool in the last few days, and the pack he had was running out a lot faster than he thought it would. He opened his laptop and powered it up.

The screen lit up with an update notification that was unavoidable. Izuku sighed and clicked the start button and looked back up at the walls of his one room apartment. The wallpaper was peeling a little, and had mystery stains that had been there since he moved in. He never bothered fixing any of it.

Sticky notes, ripped out notebook papers, and sketches hung off the walls with scotch tape. Most of it was to organize his thoughts so he didn't get back into the habit of muttering. The sketches were doodles of heroes and how their quirks would effect nearby areas, diagrams more than anything. And the sticky notes were for anything else that came to mind—quite a few having some variation of why not me crossed out with scribbles. A single poster was up, ripped unevenly with the tattered pieces on the ground. The hero's name was additionally crossed out in thick black marker, and a large, thick, red x on the smiling face.

Izuku let out a slightly shaky breath, feelings climbing up in the back of his throat again. He closed his eyes to avoid looking at the poster that was too familiar, even in shreds. He really didn't know why he kept it. It wasn't like the poster "fueled his undying rage," he would cringe at himself if that was the case. He looked back at the laptop and watched as the percent slowly clicked up.

Grabbing the pack of pens that he kept in a small box under the mattress, he took another black pen out. He dropped the pack back to the ground and lied down across the mattress while he waited, spinning the pen in his fingers. He closed his eyes and tried to let his mind go blank. It didn't work, as per the norm, but it was enough to put him in a half sleep.

When Izuku woke up from his nap, it was late at night. His arms were sore from how he was lying down and the light from outside was almost completely gone, just a moon and stars shining down. He groggily pushed himself up into a sitting position and rubbed his eyes. His stomach growled and he remembered that he completely forgot to go buy any food. He jumped up from the mattress, grabbed his wallet, phone, and changed into an old black sweater that was a little too big for him and old jeans.

Definitely better not to go out in the clothes he wore when working for the League. They were sort of your classic modern villain clothes.

Izuku practically pranced out of the apartment, locking the door behind him.

X

The 24-Hour store was as rundown as the rest of that part of town. Izuku would have gone to a better place, but it was well past midnight and it was pretty close to his apartment. He looked over the shelves of cheap, bagged food. He grabbed three bags of chips and one bag of candy. He quickly payed of them and left the store.

Once he left the building, he was opening one of the bags of chips and starting to eat. The street was near empty around this time of night. A few drunken stragglers from bars, night-owls sitting at the few cafes that were still open, and people like Izuku—the ones with really messed up sleeping schedules. He ate the chips as he casually walked down the sidewalk. He probably seemed really out of place, a teen on the dark streets in a bad neighborhood.

One of the stores he passed had TVs in the window, that were still on as the last employees inside finished closing up. Izuku paused in front of flat screens, momentarily watching the newscast. The media catches wind of everything, and pretty quickly, he thought smirking a little. He wiped his greasy fingers off on his jeans before pulling his phone out and snapping a picture of the news. He half listened to the words the anchor was saying as he thumbed through his contacts—searching for the few that actually mattered.

"UA students were supposedly attacked by a group of villains in their recent training at the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, or USJ, used to prepare the heroes in training for different natural disasters they might face. As far as we know, there were no substantial injuries on the half of the students, or pro-heroes who came to help. There's not much information on this story, and all we know for sure is that the villains did manage to escape, and that we do not know who or where they might be."

Izuku selected Shigaraki's contact, which was rarely used unless it was business related, and sent him the photo with the caption: Look, we're famous. He didn't even considering waiting for a response and kept walking back towards his apartment, sliding his phone back into his pocket. He hummed to himself a little and kept eating. One attack and they already made the news.

Chapter Text

Days blurred together as they usually did. Izuku's sleeping "schedule" was practically nonexistent as he began compiling more notes and strategies. The notebook papers on his walls were pulled off and replaced with new, relevant ones. He could barely walk across the room without stepping on a piece of paper, or five, by the time he was done reorganizing it all. The wall with the lone poster was avoided and ignored as he practically drowned himself in the math and reasoning of it all. He was practically running on coffee and fast food that he grabbed on the few times he left the apartment. He knew it wasn't healthy, but he had a job to do.

Izuku was almost falling asleep mid note when his phone startled him awake. The persistent ringing seemed to echo in the silent room. He squawked as he shot up straight and accidentally broke the tip of his mechanical pencil. He grumbled as he leaned over to the side and picked up the phone.

"Deku here," he greeted simply. He hadn't checked who it was, but he doubted anyone but the League would really risk calling him on one of his non-informant days.

"Deku, how are you?" Kurogiri's voice replied from the other line. Izuku thought he heard the faint noise of Shigaraki saying stuff in the background, but ignored it. He smirked a little, leaning against the arm of the couch-bed and stretching his legs out.

"Fine, and you?" Izuku asked. Kurogiri was always strangely polite for a villain, but he appreciated the civility compared to Shigaraki.

"I'm doing alright, thank you for asking," Kurogiri said. "We just received a message from Sensei, and were wondering if you knew that you were supposed to go and watch the sports festival."

Izuku hummed and tilted his head backwards so it was upside down to look behind him. He thought he had written something like that down. Sure enough, on bright yellow construction paper hanging off the wall and written in black marker was: UA SPORTS FESTIVAL!

"Yes, I am," Izuku answered with a nod Kurogiri couldn't see. "And as far as I know, I'll be on my own. Has anything changed?"

"No, but Shigaraki seems a little upset that you'll be going instead of him," Kurogiri said, ending in a sigh as the mentioned man shouted something.

"To be completely frank, I'm the only one who can blend in right now," Izuku snickered. His mind conjured up the image of Shigaraki trying to blend in with the usual crowd that attended the festival—it may or may not include the grey-haired man with a semi-ridiculous disguise. Kurogiri hummed his agreement. "Tell him to stop being such a baby and realize it's just logical-" faint conversation on the other line before a loud clang "-And tell him if he won't buy me new pens directly, that he should at least give me money for them. Sorry not sorry to end this conversation early, but I am busy so bye!"

"Ah, one more thing," Kurogiri said quickly, just before Izuku could hang up. "Will you be stopping by the bar before the festival tomorrow, or just heading straight there?"

"Unless Shigaraki has the pens he owes me, I'll just be heading straight there, okay?" Izuku sighed, slouching down a little further on the couch.

"... Very well," Kurogiri said. Izuku could easily tell that he had something else to say, but probably didn't want to sound rude. "Have a good night, Deku."

"Thanks... You, too," Izuku replied.

As the phone call ended, a loud yawn forced its way out of his mouth. He checked the time on his phone and groaned. It was nearly ten at night. He dropped the phone next to him and rubbed his eyes roughly. Looking back at the note sheets hanging on the walls, he decided that he had done enough for a while.

Izuku reached over to the lamp that lit up the apartment on the coffee table—the overhead light had been broken long before he moved in. He flicked it off and grabbed the blanket that was clumped at the edge of the mattress. He pulled it up and wrapped himself in it, curling up on the couch bed and letting himself sleep until his alarm went off.

The dreams were fragments, as they normally were when he fell asleep on purpose. Flashes of imagery, of memories and thoughts that were mostly forgotten. Any actual speech was clear, but cut off before it could really finish. Most faces were blurred, but some were clear like they were in high-definition. He wouldn't say that they were nightmares, or really scary in any way. Maybe haunting was a better word, as the pictures and fragments usually stayed with him throughout the following day. Still, he didn't dwell on it too much, because then the images would become clearer and words more defined. And there was a reason he preferred to keep those moments in the dreams or in the darkest corners of his mind that almost never surfaced.

X

The sun was too bright, and the crowd too pushy and loud as it was every year. Izuku never actually had been to the sports festival himself, but had seen it countless times on television as a child and loved it as a whole. Whole being the screaming, the showing of quirks, loud fans which he felt he could relate, and the overall buzz of excitement in the air. Now, as he was weaving his way through the crowd that he had always wanted to be apart of and got an elbow to the gut for the fifth time, he was starting to get a little irritated.

Izuku had taken out the cheap black hair dye yet again. He rarely bothered applying it all the way through, just putting it on his hair enough so that it was a darker shade of green, near black but not quite. He hadn't even tried to hide the dark bags under his eyes, knowing that not many people would pay attention to one kid in a crowd of pro-heroes. He had on a black long sleeved shirt and dark jeans with stains that were probably blood that wasn't his. His tattered old messenger bag was slung over his shoulder, three different notebooks and a fresh pack of pens inside. He had his phone in his hand, sending a message to Kurogiri—knowing that Shigaraki never answered, and never would—and skimming some of the news sites. As always, nearly every single eye in the media was focused on UA's sport festival. Even other hero academies were watching the awe that all civilians did. He really didn't get it any more.

The seats all filled quickly, leaving Izuku without one. He didn't really mind, and hadn't planned on sitting down anyways. A lot of fans stood against the railing, completely ignoring the stadium seats behind them, to scream and cheer on the students. Izuku managed to find himself with a decent spot in front of the crowd, since he was still sort of on the short side and people could easily see over his head. He leaned against the railing casually, notebook open and pen ready in his hands already. He spun the pen leisurely as the rowdy fans pushed and moved behind him, everyone slowly getting settled before the first event began.

An older man, on the heavy side, pushed up next to him. Izuku subtly shifted away. The man was far too sweaty and too close for his liking. He expected stuff like this, but still.

Even before it all began, Izuku started jotting down initial notes and names. The crowds were finally starting to get settled, and the festival was going to begin in moments. The man next to him glanced over, probably hearing the scritch of Izuku's pen. He grinned a little at Izuku, and the green-haired boy glanced up, raising an eyebrow.

"You a fan, kid?" he asked, and Izuku swore he could smell the grease of fries on his breath, but ignored it best he could.

Izuku snorted, smiling faintly as the announcer said that the festival would begin in a minute. He glanced around the stadium, seeing the costumes of multiple pro-heroes and sloppily made replicas belonging to fans.

"I guess you could call it that."

The man laughed, like he thought it all was a joke, or some repressed fanboy trying to hide his nature. Izuku just shifted forward and away from the man a little more, and another hero fanatic managed to squeeze between them. The minute ticked away, and then the festival really began.

Students flooded onto the field the cheers got even louder. Izuku watched them all move pointedly. Not only was Class 1-A there, but every other student in UA. He recognized a few face, but doubted any of them could recognize him.

Except maybe...

A pair of red eyes looked over his part of the crowd. He grinned smugly as the owner immediately stared at him. He raised the hand holding the pen and curled his fingers in a small wave. The blonde tensed up and frowned sharply, something foreign flashing in his eyes before he turned to where a pro-hero was announcing the first event and beginning of the festival.

Kacchan.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was a ball of nerves the entire games. He lashed out more viciously at every slight provocation and growled when people said anything about it. Other students had already been trying to avoid him in the games, but they tried even harder after the first event. He had blasted through the race course, Todoroki with him nearly the entire time, and nearly hit a few people at point blank range with the explosions. A few of the others in 1-A tried telling him off about it, but he just growled at them and stalked away each time.

He couldn't put it together and that put him in an even worse mood. He could believe that Deku was still around, sure. He'd also believe that Deku would get the Sports Festival one way or another—whether he vanished off the face of the planet or not, he was still a hero nerd in Katsuki's eyes. One thing he wouldn't believe, though, was Deku dressing like that and looking like that in general.

When Katsuki thought of Deku, he still had the image of an innocent looking kid with some baby fat left behind, and the bright green curly hair. A weak kid that couldn't really even stand up for himself, with a whole general demeanor of dorky-ness. The Deku in the crowd was pretty much the opposite. No more baby fat that Katsuki could see, in fact it looked like he hadn't had a full meal in months. His hair was darker, and he leaned on the railing with his pen and notebook so confidently—like he belonged there. His eyes were different, too, not like Katsuki could see them that much. But what he could see was a lot darker than before. The demeanor Deku had was the most drastic difference. Every time Katsuki glanced up at him, Deku seemed casual and confident. Not even a small remnant of the shy and nervous boy a few months before.

Katsuki was able to semi-distract himself with the different events in the festival. He managed to get into the second event pretty well. The final battles were mostly a blur to him, thoughts of why exactly Deku was there and what he was doing slowed him down. He beat the gravity-girl, but didn't get much further. There were some mocking comments from other students, but he was instantly tuning them out at this point.

As the winners were announced, Katsuki was much more silent and just glancing up at the crowd every few seconds. He couldn't figure out why and it pissed him off even more. He was practically fidgeting by the time they were dismissed from the stadium and the festival declared over.

Once it was over, most of the students were talking with people with connections to pro-hero organizations. Katsuki only hung around with that crowd for a little while. He didn't talk, but actually made a small effort to listen to them. It didn't last long, though.

In the middle of whatever the person who was trying to talk to him was saying, Katsuki caught glimpse of dark green hair down the hallway. He stiffened instantly and stared at the corner where the person was. Deku walked around the corner, looking down at his phone. The green-haired boy seemed to notice someone was staring at him and looked up. His steps faltered and he swiftly turned on his heel and started walking the other way.

Katsuki growled and immediately started after him, cutting off whatever the person talking to him was saying without a word of his own. Deku glanced over his shoulder and sped up his walking as he rounded the corner. Katsuki scowled and started running after him. He almost skidded around the corner as he ran after the other. Like hell Deku would be getting away without a questioning.

One of the others who had been near him while "talking" to the hero representatives shouted after him. He didn't pay attention though, weaving through the crowd of leaving fans as he chased after the green-haired boy. Deku was moving just as fast through the crowd, ducking and dodging while Katsuki mostly pushed people out of the way.

Deku dashed around a corner smoothly and Katsuki lunged after him. The green-haired boy managed to jump out of the range of his grip and they both came to a stop. Katsuki scowled and Deku stared at him. He stood up straight and crossed his arms. Some how the hall they were in was almost entirely empty. Very few people were around, and Katsuki only let himself think about that for a second. He was a lot more focused on the green-haired boy in front of him.

"Yo Kacchan," Deku greeted simply, tapping his messenger bag with a few fingers as if nervous.

"...What the hell, Deku?" Katsuki growled. The green-haired boy raised an eyebrow and tilted his head to the side a little bit. Katsuki gritted his teeth again and dug his nails into his arms. "Where have you been!? Where did you go!? What the hell have you been doing!?"

Deku drummed his fingers on his bag again, looking up at nothing as if in thought. He hummed a little and shifted on his feet.

"I've been doing... things," he said carefully. "I'd love to tell you more, but I'm afraid I can't."

Katsuki rushed forward again, grabbing Deku by the collar and slamming him into the wall. He glared at Deku angrily. The green-haired boy winced slightly, but kept his cool otherwise and watched Katsuki a little blankly.

"Was that you with those villains?" Katsuki growled quietly, right in Deku's face. The other just blinked slowly, face not changing. Up close, Katsuki could easily tell that Deku's eyes were darker with some kind of emotion that the blonde couldn't figure out.

"Why does it matter?" Deku spat back. "Suddenly care about my well being, Kacchan? That isn't like you."

Katsuki tightened his grip on Deku's shirt and snarled. He was torn between either slamming the other into the wall or punching him as hard as possible. Both sounded like good options to get some information out of the other.

"Bakugou! Are you seriously attacking the spectators now?" the gravity-girl's voice said. Katsuki turned and glared over his shoulder. He didn't get why the hell she felt that she could act bold around him after losing. She looked past him and at Deku. "What are you doing?"

Deku smiled innocently at the girl before headbutting Katsuki. The blonde cursed loudly and stumbled back a little bit. He put a hand to his nose to wipe up some of the blood that started dripping from his nose. Deku shifted on his feet, unsteady for a moment as he rubbed his forehead. He recovered quicker than Katsuki and pushed off the wall.

"See you around, Kacchan," he said, voice happy and cheery as if he hadn't given the other a bloody nose. He started walking down the hall and waved at the blonde as he went. "Have fun at UA."

Deku practically pranced around the corner, hands swinging by his sides. He didn't even glance back. Katsuki cursed again and turned to march back to where everyone else was. The gravity-girl had been watching it all, and she stared at the blonde with a concerned expression. She moved towards him and tried to get a good look at his face.

Katsuki knocked her hands out of the way and stomped past. She seemed flustered for a second before she frowned and tried stopping him again.

"Out of the way, gravity girl," he snapped.

"My name is Uraraka," she grumbled.

Katsuki glared at her again as he pushed past again and into the crowd. He wiped his nose again before jamming his hands into his pockets. He really could figure anything else out besides the fact that Deku—Midoriya Izuku—was a villain, or at least had a connection with them. The one part that kept him from putting anything together was the question of why would hero-nerd Deku changed so drastically.

Chapter Text

"How have you been, Midoriya?"

"Just fine," Izuku replied almost instantly. "Any particular reason you called now? You know that I can't really afford distractions with this stuff."

"I simply wanted to check up on the progress," Sensei said. It didn't even look like he moved on the screen and Izuku wondered if the video was frozen, but Sensei was always like that. "Have you completed the version using Eraserhead's blood we got at USJ? Is it ready for testing?"

Izuku frowned a little and looked down at the pristine table he was sat at. The camera that Sensei was watching through was placed on top of a computer screen on the corner of the table farthest away from Izuku.

The room as a whole was a lot cleaner than any other in the old building. The floors were cleaned frequently, tables wipes down everyday to prevent any accidentally mixes, and the different vials of Izuku's experimental serums were all kept in a neat case against the wall. Every part was labeled—they really couldn't afford to mix up some of those concoctions. The table that Izuku was sitting at was in the middle of the room. Counters lined the edges of the room, a few sinks here and there. The storage case was placed as far away from the door as possible, in the opposite corner, in case Shigaraki lost his temper again and found his way into the lab. Like said, they could not afford to mix up the serums in the case.

"Not quite sure," Izuku said, looking over his notes and back at the beakers he had spread out on the table in front of him. Clear goggles were pulled over his eyes to protect himself from any splash back as he carefully poured one vial's contents into another to mix. "But it could be tested, though I don't think we should use it on anyone we really care about."

"Of course," Sensei said with what seemed like a nod. "How did the interaction with Stain go?"

Izuku carefully put the glass containers down before he snickered. He couldn't cover his mouth to stop the little stream of laughter—no way was he putting hands that had been near the stuff he was making near any part of his face. He ducked his head in an attempt to hide it, but failed. Sensei sighed.

"Not well?"

"Shigaraki got stabbed in the shoulder," Izuku managed as he tried to calm down so he wouldn't knock anything down. He closed his eyes and took deep breaths to calm down. "Got flat out called a kid, pretty much. I almost hit my head on the bar laughing."

Sensei sighed again, sounding exasperated and tired. Izuku really couldn't blame him—but the situation that had happened at the bar was pretty hilarious.

"What about you and Stain?" Sensei asked, interrupting Izuku's chuckling. "Kurogiri told me you got stopped by him outside the bar."

Izuku's amusement was completely shut down with that. He frowned and looked over to the side. He didn't get why the other villain was so interested in him especially with Kurogiri and Shigaraki in the room. Sure, it might have been weird for him to laugh at his "comrade" getting pinned down and called a kid, but who wouldn't enjoy seeing bratty Shigaraki taken down a notch? No one, that's who. Izuku zoned out as he remembered the conversation, replaying it in his head and staring at the edge of the table

X

"You look like a high-school student, why are you with a group of villains like that?" Stain asked. Izuku looked up in shock, not expecting the other to still be hanging around. He kept eye contact, though, not even flinching at the taller male's threatening aura.

"What does it matter, really? Fact is that I am a part of their organization and you are not," Izuku responded casually, shrugging.

"But why?" Stain asked again, taking a step forward. Izuku took a step back.

"Why what?" he asked. "You'll have to be more specific."

"Why would a kid join a group of villains?"

"Why did you become a villain?"

"Because I found that heroes were doing it all for money. Is that why you joined?"

"Not at all."

"Then why did you ask?"

"Why did you?"

Stain scowled at Izuku, fists clenching at his sides. He looked ready to punch Izuku, and the green-haired boy couldn't blame him. He knew he was being irritating, but that was the plan—usually was. Irritate them until they forget their first question. Izuku carefully ran a hand through some of his hair, untangling it gently.

The older man opened his mouth to say something more but Izuku interrupted him.

"You're not getting an answer out of me, just so you know," he said calmly, enjoying the slight flinch of the killer. "I'm not one to spill my life story because someone else asks. If you really want to know, you can try figuring it out yourself. Have a good night."

With that, Izuku had turned around and left. Stain didn't say anything else, didn't have a chance to as Izuku vanished down the maze of alleyways.

X

"Nothing important," Izuku answered, finally. "He asked a questions and I didn't give him a straight answer. I doubt if I had it would have influenced his decision."

Sensei was quiet for a while before he seemingly nodded again.

"Back to the serums," Sensei said, easily redirecting the conversation. "Any idea of when you want to test the serum with Eraser's blood?"

"Any time is fine," Izuku replied. He picked the mixed vial up and held it up to the lamp on the table, watching the liquid bubble slightly and reflect the white light. "It should work for at least a while. The idea is to make it so the effects are permanent, but it's essentially impossible to test that. Just an hour would be enough, really, but more the better."

"Of course," Sensei agreed. "How about tomorrow? I'm sure Kurogiri and Shigaraki should be able to find a few test subjects."

Izuku grinned and placed the vial back in it's holder before standing up. "Sounds great," he said, carefully picking up the holder and placing it in one of the empty parts of the storage case.

"Thank you for all your hard work, Midoriya," Sensei said. "I'll contact you all tomorrow night, then."

"We should have some kind of results by then," Izuku hummed. He closed the drawer and walked back over to the table, peeling off the plastic gloves and tossing them in the garbage. "Have a good night, Sensei."

The screen turned off after Sensei had given a curt goodbye. Izuku whistled some catchy tune he heard in the mall earlier that day as he kept cleaning up. After wiping down the table and shining a black-light on it just in case, he threw the towel in a plastic box he wrote USED on in red marker. He grabbed his bag from near the door and notebook. Sliding the book into the bag, he unlocked the door and stepped out into the little room between the lab and main hall—to keep the clean room as clean as possible.

Izuku peeked out into the much dirtier hall of the old building before he actually walked out. He closed and locked the outside door. The old building was actually right next to the bar, just across the alley. He strolled down the hall and stairs. Opening the side door with his back, he practically skipped out into the alleyway and across it. He looked down the passage as he did, and the city street still lit up with early afternoon light. Oh yeah, he woke up at 3 this morning. He had almost forgot. His steps faltered and he stopped, a few feet away from the bar's door.

High school students, wearing UA uniforms, were standing near the entrance to the alley. They weren't in the hero course—no way Izuku would miss them if they were—but either general education ones or ones interested the tech side of hero work. The small group were chatting animatedly, gesturing and laughing with each other. Izuku felt like he might have seen some of their faces before, but that was expected considering how much footage he went over of UA a day. One of boys laughed especially loud, and patted someone on the back. The others started cackling with him.

Izuku bit his bottom lip and felt a lump rise in his throat, stomach churning in knots. Half of him wanted to puke at the classic display of friendship, and the other just... wanted.

Chapter Text

Izuku walked down the street as quickly as he could without tripping or slamming into anyone else. He checked the time on his phone again. It wasn't as late as he thought it would be, and he could probably still get all the work done that he needed to by the time he had to be out of the area. That was the problem with him trying to have a normal—or at least semi-normal—sleeping schedule. If the sleep was bad, then he'd take a nap and then the "short" naps last almost six hours. Which leads him to running to the bar at night.

He sharply turned the corner and stopped as he saw one of the older men who the League had some sort of deal going on with. The man looked up at him and grinned. He was a little too off-putting for Izuku's tastes. Izuku frowned and walked to the door, closing it behind him without a word. He shook of the weird feeling that the man gave him and dashed down the stairs two at a time. Quickly, he opened the door to the bar and stepped in, eyes closed in relief that he made it there as fast as he had.

"Sorry that I'm here this late," he explained immediately, closing the bar door behind him. He opened his eyes but didn't look up yet. "I too- Woah, am I interrupting something?"

Kurogiri let out a puff of air and Izuku felt a smirk curl on his face. Shigaraki had a foot forward, arms out like he was going to grab the two in front of him, and the other two were standing in similar ways. Kurogiri's portals intercepted what looked like all of them attacking at once, so no one ended up actually getting hit. He didn't recognize the two, which explained the creepy man's presence outside. New recruits.

One of them was a tall male with spiky black hair. His skin was a mix of pale and purple patches. The purple parts were wrinkled and seemed to be attached with crude surgical stitches or staples. He had a black jacket and dark pants. The other was a short girl with blonde hair in two messy buns on either side of her head. She had on what looked to be a female sailor uniform with an over-sized cardigan. Neither moved to look back at him.

"You know what, never mind," Izuku laughed. He casually walked around the three that were all standing stock still. He smirked at the two newbies and waved. The male frowned and the girl looked shocked. "But if you're going to kill him, do it outside. We don't need any more of a mess."

Izuku smoothly hopped onto one of the bar stools, placing his bag on the counter and crossing his legs at the ankles. Kurogiri handed him a canned soda, which he popped open easily. The smoke villain said a few harsh words of warning to the three who were still standing as if frozen. Eventually, Shigaraki backed up, retracting his deadly hands and standing away from the two recruits. The girl stepped back first, and the boy followed shortly after her. The portals disappeared.

"Dabi and Himiko, this is our strategist," Kurogiri answered, maintaining his calm and gesturing to the two as he said their names. Izuku seriously had a lot of respect for him to be able to do that. He smiled over at the two and took a sip from his soda.

"A high-school student?" Dabi scoffed, crossing his arms and keeping a blank face.

"My name's Deku, pleasure to finally meet the new recruits," Izuku said, choosing to ignore the comment. "Shigaraki usually scares everyone off-" he looked up at Kurogiri "-Have I told you how much that broker creeps me out? Always looks like he's sizing me up. What a weirdo."

"I doubt Deku's your real name," Dabi said. Izuku looked over at him and smiled—making it his old bright, innocent one. It made the dark haired male and Himiko's eyes widen in surprise.

"And I doubt Dabi is yours, but I didn't say anything, did I?" Izuku said. He let the smile drop into a smirk and narrowed his eyes at the dark haired male. "You've been doing some crimes right? You know what it's all like? Word of advice to you, then. Don't pry into things that aren't yours, and try to keep questions like that to yourself, okay? Also, for the record, I out rank you in this organization, so show some respect."

Himiko brightened and laughed. Dabi frowned and narrowed his own eyes at Izuku. The girl walked forward and clasped her hands together, bouncing on her heels eagerly.

"I'm Himiko Toga!" she said happily. Her smile showed sharp teeth and her eyes seemed to be bright with something dark. "You look fun and I think we'll get along!"

"Sure," Izuku smiled returned her enthusiasm. It was refreshing to have someone who didn't act like they were some super-cool villain. "I like your teeth. You could probably rip out a throat with those."

"Thanks! I sharpened them myself!" she said, peppy and almost eager to say it. Izuku smiled innocently again.

Dabi went back to looking emotionless and leaned against the bar. Shigaraki grumbled something under his breath and sat down at one of the tables, pulling out his video game. Izuku's phone went off with a reminder and he checked it.

"If you'll excuse me, I have some footage to go over and lethal injections to make," he said casually. He chugged the rest of the soda and threw it at the garbage. The can barely made it in, but it at least made it. He slung his bag over his shoulders again and jumped off the stool. "Nice meeting you Himiko... Dabi, less so."

Himiko giggled and nodded. Dabi frowned and looked away. The blonde girl waved to him as he went out the door opposite the one he entered through. Shigaraki grunted something and Kurogiri wished him luck. Izuku closed and locked the door behind him.

Izuku smiled to himself as he crossed the alley and went into the other building with the lab. As he skipped up the stairs and to the sterile room, he hummed.

The new recruits were going to be fun.

X

Katsuki kicked his legs up and pulled the hood of his sweater further over his eyes, muttering a curse as his mother called out for him. He was sitting on the floor in front of the couch in his living room, completely comfortable and ready to watch TV so he could think. That wasn't going to happen, though, because now his mom was shouting for him.

"Get up, brat! Come here and greet your damn friends!" she shouted.

"I'm coming, you old hag!"

He angrily jumped to his feet and marched out of the room. He purposely slammed his feet on the wooden floors harder than necessary, making loud stomps as he walked. It was easy to hear his mom complaining about it from the door way even before he got there.

The blonde really didn't care who it was, and wasn't planning on doing anything that they asked no matter who it was. He had gone to sleep and woken up prepared to sit around all day and thinking through the whole Deku Situation, as he's begun to call it. He grumpily peered around the corner that led to the hall with the front door. His mom was standing off to the side, holding the door open. She frowned at Katsuki when he glared at her. He looked out the door and pouted in a mix of confusion and annoyance.

Kirishima stood a little in front of the doorway, looking far too awake for eleven in the morning in Katsuki's opinion. Behind him, standing in the doorway, Katsuki spotted another person with blonde hair who he guessed was Kaminari.

"What do you want?" Katsuki growled.

"Yo, Bakugou!" Kirishima said, too happy and too cheery. "What's going on?!"

Katsuki just frowned again, giving him an annoyed look. "What. Do. You. Want?" he spat.

"Show some respect for your friends, brat!" his mother shouted.

"Shut up, old hag!"

His mother scoffed and rolled her eyes. She marched away, vanishing into the kitchen and smacking Katsuki on the head as she went. The blonde growled a little bit and moved out into the hall fully, leaning on the wall with his arms crossed.

"You're that rude to your mom?" Kaminari piped up, peeking over Kirishima's shoulder. "Geeze, Bakugou."

Katsuki narrowed his eyes at the two near the door, as his mom cackled from the kitchen. He sighed.

"What the hell do you two want?" he said, resisting from blasting them out of the house. Kirishima seemed to even get more excited at the question, ready to explain.

"Us and the other 1-A kids are heading out to the mall," he said happily, gesturing randomly with his hands. Katsuki raised an eyebrow. "Kaminari and I thought we'd come here and drag you out with us!

"Why the hell would you think that?" Katsuki spat.

"'Cause you're in class 1-A, duh," Kaminari snorted. "Probably should change your clothes though."

Katsuki glanced down at his baggy clothes. A large blue sweatshirt, sweatpants, and socks. He frowned.

"What makes you think I'd even want to go with you losers?" he asked.

"Listen, dude," Kirishima started. He walked forward and reached out like he was ready to pat the other on the shoulder, but thinking better of it. "Ever since USJ, you've been like... off, I guess? Going out with people might help!"

"No thanks."

"Come on, Bakugou!"

"I'm busy."

"Busy doing what?" Kaminari asked, frowning suspiciously.

"None of your damn business."

"It's just for the day, seriously, Bakugou," Kirishima said with a frown. "Stop being busy doing nothing and come out and do something."

"I am doing something," Katsuki growled. "Now piss off."

"Oh no you don't!" Katsuki's mom called out. She appeared in the door to the kitchen again. "You're going out with your friends. You haven't actually gone out with anyone but Izuku and that was before middle school ended!" She grabbed Katsuki by the shoulder and pushed him towards the rest of the house. "Go get dressed! He'll be out in a minute!"

"Woo!" Kirishima laughed. "Lets go!"

Katsuki shouted a protest as his mom forced him down the hall towards his room. She spun him around near the door to the bedrooms and gripped his shoulders. She bent down and looked him straight in the eyes and pursed her lips. Katsuki frowned and relaxed a little bit.

"Listen, Katsuki," she said, seriously. "You haven't been yourself since Izuku went missing. Just go out for the day, okay? I think you might need it."

The fact his mother noticed should have been obvious, but it still made his stomach unsettled. He sighed and shook her hands off him, turning and marching into his room.

"Whatever."

Chapter Text

Izuku took of sip of the strong coffee he had and typed away on his phone. He shifted in the chair he was sitting in and leaned forward on the table. There really wasn't a reason as to why he liked these hole-in-the-wall coffee shops, but there he was. Probably because it was cheap. He glanced down at the Styrofoam cup in his hands and took another sip. Okay, definitely because it was cheap and he was almost completely broke.

He kept typing on his phone with his thumb. The document was honestly just filled with random notes and ideas he had on what he should try out either with the serums or his custom tech. Most of it was sort of nonsense, uncoordinated words that somehow made sense. Izuku really wasn't awake enough to fix it, which is why the cheap-yet-good coffee. It kept him awake... barely but enough.

A group of students walked in, chatting and disturbing the peace and quiet of the room before they read the mood and quieted down. Izuku glanced up, not actually registering anything. He changed over to the online news site he used frequently and scrolled down. He balanced his chin in his palm and lazily looked through the news. Most of it was trivial hero news, who's with who and things like that. Even news about villains was just who was acting and who was in jail. Nothing really interesting to him, at least.

Izuku zoned out for a few minutes before someone tapped on the table in front of him. He jolted suddenly and looked up. A girl with brown hair and eyes was standing next to the table. He instantly recognized her as one of the 1-A students and glanced past him at the group of students who had walked in. Just his luck it was the UA kids.

"Hey, you're that guy Bakugou-kun chased after the Sports Festival, right?" she asked. Izuku slowly nodded. "I'm Uraraka Ochako. I thought I'd just apologize for him since he's...well stubborn."

Uraraka smiled sweetly and held her hands in front of her. Izuku couldn't help but feel she looked far too nice to even know Kacchan. He smiled back, knowing very well that the bags under his eyes were far darker than normal and he probably looked dead on his feet.

"Oh, thanks for thinking of that," Izuku replied. He stood up carefully, sliding his phone in the pocket of his jeans. The girl smiled even brighter. "I know that if he's anything, it's stubborn and usually angry."

"That's pretty much it," Uraraka laughed. She shifted on her feet a little, just enough for Izuku to get a good look at the rest of the group who walked in. Kacchan was sitting at one of the tables with other students around.

"Do me a real quick favor?" Izuku asked. Uraraka looked confused for a second and then nodded. "Tell Kacchan that Deku says 'hi'."

"He's right over there, actually," Uraraka pointed out. "If you want to tell him yourself..."

"No thanks," Izuku laughed. "I'm gonna need a running start."

Uraraka looked vaguely confused again but nodded. Izuku thanked her again and quickly made his way to the door, sliding out into the main lobby of the mall. He immediately went for the large door that lead out to the streets. He barely got near the huge door when he heard the shop door clang open.

X

Katsuki angrily sat down at the table the others had decided was theirs. He crossed his arms and leaned back in his seat. The group was made up of Kirishima, Kaminari, Uraraka, Todoroki, Tsuyu, Iida, and the angry blonde himself. He didn't get why he even let his mom convince him to leave the house. He didn't try participating in the conversation they were having, and instead focused on some random spot on the table in front of him.

Tsuyu and Iida were trying to get everyone's orders, and Uraraka went somewhere else. Katsuki drummed his fingers on his elbows just to do something while Kirishima and Kaminari chatted. Todoroki didn't even bother trying to start talking to Katsuki, and he was thankful in some far corner of his mind for that.

Uraraka came back from where ever she was and sat down. The bell at the door rang quietly. She shifted a little in her seat, glancing at Katsuki. The blonde looked up and frowned.

"What?" he growled.

She gave him a short dirty look at his attitude and sighed. "I was just talking to someone and he told me to tell you that Deku says 'hi'," she said. Katsuki immediately stiffened.

"Deku...?" Todoroki muttered, recognizing the name from USJ.

Katsuki stood up abruptly, whipping his head around. He looked out the window and caught a glimpse of the green hair. He cursed and glared over his shoulder down at Uraraka.

"You didn't stop him!?" he almost shouted.

"Why would I?" the girl defended. Katsuki went to run out of the shop, but Kirishima grabbed his elbow roughly.

"Dude, what's wrong? Who's that?" he asked, looking confused and concerned.

"Midoriya Izuku," Katsuki spat. He roughly shook Kirishima's arm off and ran. He was out the door and speeding the way that the green-haired boy had gone in a matter of seconds.

The others all stared after him in shock. Kaminari pulled out his phone, muttering that he knew the name from somewhere. Uraraka looked around the group in confusion. Iida looked a little insulted at being so ignored completely and Tsuyu blinked. Kirishima cursed quietly and glanced at the others.

"Hey, I looked up that name, and it says that Midoriya's been missing for months," Kaminari said.

"What, really?!" Kirishima gawked.

"That's the guy who gave Bakugou a bloody nose, though!" Uraraka said.

"If he did that, Bakugou's going to beat him up, probably," Todoroki muttered. "We have to go and stop him. And if Midoriya is missing, then we can turn him into the police."

"Yes, that makes sense," Iida agreed.

The group got up and left. Uraraka pointed towards the main entrance, where Bakugou was sharply turning around the corner. They quickly followed him, hearing him shout loudly after Deku.

X

Izuku should have known that Kacchan wasn't just going to let him go after a few streets. He also should have put dye in his hair so he was less noticeable. Being a villain, even if he wasn't in the field and worked behind the scenes mostly, he learned how to run. Unlike now, it was usually in a confined space with him fleeing from one of Shigaraki's tantrums and he was able to stop after a few minutes. He swung around a corner using a lamp post and glanced back at where he came from as he did it.

Kacchan was gaining on him fast, pretty much shoving everyone out of the way and making it obvious where he was in the crowd. Izuku could feel his lower legs starting to hurt a little as he weaved through the crowd. He really should start doing more training, especially with Kacchan seeming to pop up everywhere.

Izuku turned another corner, jumping over a bar meant to keep cars out. He heard Kacchan shout again, a lot closer than he had expected. It was the momentary panic and thought in the back of his head of all the things he went through during school because of the explosive blonde that probably caused him to forget where he was. He dashed down an alleyway, glancing over his shoulder.

When he turned back to face forward and chose the next alley to go down, he realized he had taken the wrong one. He blamed the area around the alleys for looking too similar. He went to turn around and continue running until he reached the right one.

Kacchan was standing a few feet away from the alley entrance. Izuku stopped immediately, cursing quietly under his breath as Kacchan looked around. The blonde easily noticed him even in his dark clothes and the darkness of the alley. Izuku backed away, down the alley again and held his hands up in a placating gesture as if it'd work.

The blonde scowled and marched into the alley after him, trapping him in the dead end.

Chapter Text

"Kacchan, are you stalking me? We've run into each other too many times to be coincidental," Deku drawled, waving one of his hands dismissively. Katsuki frowned as he heard the rest of the 1-A students come up behind him, a few out of breath.

"I should be asking you that, Deku," he spat back, taking a step forward and Deku taking a step back. "You vanish for months, show up at USJ and then start appearing everywhere. Spying on us?"

"Oh please, I already did all that."

"'Course you did."

"Bakugou?" Kirishima interrupted them, breathing a little uneven from how fast all of them had run. "Small explanation?"

"Deku," Katsuki said, not even glancing back to acknowledge that the red head spoke. "I know my side of the story, mind explaining yours? Why don't you start with why the hell you were fighting with villains, were at the sports festival, and oh... you know, why the hell you're a villain in the first place!?"

"He's a villain!?" Uraraka exclaimed, looking between Katsuki and Deku frantically. "B-But he was at the Sports Festival?"

Deku snickered, raising his eyebrows in a condescending way. "Did you really think that villains can't watch the sports festival?" he asked. Uraraka blinked and a few others blanked out with the realization. "It's broadcast all over, too any one who wants. Of course we'd see. It'd be werider if we didn't."

"Thought so, you were there taking notes in that damn book, huh?" Katsuki sneered.

"Unlike you, they respects my notes," Deku said, frowning and stepping back again. "Even helped me get a new notebook to replace the one you destroyed."

"Don't change the topic," Katsuki said. "Why the hell are you a villain? I've already asked you, give me an answer."

X

Izuku hummed like he was thinking, tilting his head back a little and glancing at the fire escape behind him. Just in jumping distance if he used the dumpster against the side wall of the alley. He looked back at the 1-A students. All of them were watching him intently.

"Nope!" he said, popping the p.

He hopped up on the top of the dumpster and used it to leap at the fire escape, grabbing onto the lowest level that was well out of reach of the ground. He hefted himself onto the platform and stood up quickly. He turned and looked back down at the students. Most of them were watching with wide eyes. Katsuki brushed off his surprise instantly and set off some explosions on his hands.

"Sorry, Kacchan, but I'm not about to tell you my reasons just because you asked, this isn't a comic book," Izuku said casually, starting to skip up the stairs on the escape two at a time. "If you're really all that curious, ask your precious All Might. He should be able to tell you something. Pleasure seeing you as always, Kacchan, and a workout."

Izuku reached the top of the fire escape. Kacchan was shouting after him and he glanced down to see the blonde almost easily replicating his previous move. The green-haired boy hopped onto the railing of the top level and braced himself. He jumped again, this time towards the side and grabbed on the ridge of one of the roof tops belonging to the buildings to the sides. He lifted himself onto it and immediately started running. The clanging of the metal fire escape as Kacchan ran up followed him.

X

"Bakugou! Where are you going!?" Kirishima shouted after him.

"Where do you think!?" Katsuki snapped back, stumbling a little as he almost missed a step. "I'm gonna kill him!"

"He's a villain, let's just call some pros to handle him!" Iida said.

"Like hell!"

Bakugou jumped at the building roof and growled as his foot slipped on the wall. He caught himself and set off an explosion behind him. The rest of the students just stared up at him as he vanished onto the rooftop.

"...I'll go follow him to make sure he doesn't actually kill anyone," Uraraka said. "You guys go get teachers from the school!"

"Right!" Kirishima said. He turned around and ran out of the alley way. Kaminari hesitated a second before following and Iida was right behind him.

"I can get you up on the roof faster," Tsuyu offered. Uraraka smiled in relief that she wouldn't have to try and get up there herself and nodded. The black haired girl looked at the boy still standing with them. "Are you going, too?"

Todoroki nodded. Uraraka was thankful again that she wouldn't have to deal with an angry Bakugou on her own. Tsuyu shot her tongue out to attach to the rooftop and grabbed the other two before they launched up. Uraraka let out a surprised squeak at the speed and fell down when they landed. She quickly stood up and brushed off her pants.

"You can go after the others, Tsuyu, thank you," Uraraka said. The frog girl nodded before jumping back down.

An enormous explosion went off, followed by loud yelling. The two turned and looked over the scene. Bakugou was running across the flat, wide roof. Smaller explosions went off on his palms as he chased after the green-haired villain. Uraraka and Todoroki both started going after them.

X

Katsuki lunged at Izuku and set off a huge explosion at the others legs. Izuku jumped up and over him, running backwards.

"Honestly, Kacchan, try a little harder!" he teased. Katsuki turned around, shoulders rising and falling as he panted. Izuku was breathing heavily, too, but better at hiding it.

"Aha!" Uraraka shouted as she got within grabbing distance of the villain.

Izuku yelped as a hand pushed him forward and he felt his feet lift off the ground. He prepared to roll on the ground and back onto his feet, but he just kept floating up. Anti-gravity, right. He spun mid air, hovering into the air and somehow finding himself upside down and feet above the ground. He held onto his bag so it wouldn't fall and curled his legs in on himself as he blinked in thought.

The brown haired girl on the ground looked triumphant and grinned. Katsuki came up to them and shot himself towards Izuku and landed a solid punch to the others jaw. Izuku was sent off in that direction, spinning heels over head multiple times. He rubbed a hand over where he knew there'd be a bruise. He went to walk or move, only to awkwardly move around in the air.

"No fair!" he exclaimed, frowning. He looked over at the students, his spinning slowing as he stopped upside down again. "This is just cruel. Let me down."

"Serves you right!" Katsuki said, a small grin appearing on his face. Izuku pouted like a child and tried kicking his legs.

"You can just stay like that until the heroes get here," Uraraka declared, proud of herself even though she could feel the nausea.

"...Your quirk isn't going to hold up that long even if Ingenium-Junior gets to the school at his top speed," Izuku said, barely loud enough for them to hear. Uraraka stiffened, staring up at him in surprise.

"H-How do-"

"'Cause he's a damn creep who's been watching us all since the first day!" Katsuki snarled. Todoroki narrowed his eyes, remembering the USJ fight and what the green-haired villain had said about his own quirks. "And even if it doesn't, like hell you'd be able to get away now."

Izuku raised an eyebrow and swung his legs so he spun back right-side up. He reached in his bag and turned sideways. He pulled out one of the small guns he kept on him and shot. Katsuki's eyes widened and he pulled Uraraka out of the way as Todoroki jumped back the other way. The bullet bounced off the ground where the brown haired girl had been standing. Izuku went to fire again, only getting the useless click of an empty barrel.

He cursed in his mind, dropping the empty gun. He forgot that he had been practicing at the crack of dawn in between half-sleeps. That's why he was out besides the fact he needed sunlight—he had meant to go to the small black markets and get some more bullets after he drank his coffee.

Katsuki carefully moved forward, suspecting that Izuku had another weapon on him. The green-haired villain reached into the bag again and the three tensed up, waiting for something else deadly to be turned at them. Todoroki was preparing to freeze him, making sure he only used the right amount to avoid Katsuki and drawing attention to the roof top.

Izuku pulled out the new grappling hook he made and shot it over the edge of the roof, right up at a telephone pole. It traveled through the air cleanly and latched on even smoother. He smirked and hit the button, the wire dragging him through the air. His bag got shaken and he felt something fall out. He glanced back, seeing the notebook he had just started. Not worth keeping, really, and he'd just get a new one. Katsuki cursed loudly and tried to go after him, but Izuku was already over one of the alleys.

Uraraka pressed a hand to her mouth as the nausea shot up from the distance. Her quirk deactivated and Izuku fell down, the wire pulling taunt as he swung through the air. He laughed as the momentum carried him back up in the air and towards another roof top that was impossible to reach from the other. He pulled back the grappling hook and rolled onto the roof. He hopped back up onto his feet and glanced back.

Katsuki was staring at the gap, knowing he couldn't make it and growling. Todoroki was trying to calm Uraraka down as she fought back the urge to throw up. Izuku grinned smugly and started descending one of the fire escapes on the other building. Katsuki glanced back at the two behind him. They both looked back up at him, looking like they were trying to tell him not to go. He frowned and started climbing down the building wall in a rush.

Izuku started running again, but he could hear Katsuki's foot steps behind him, keeping up easily even with his extensive knowledge of the alleyways.

Back on the roof, Uraraka carefully stood up. Todoroki made them an easy way down with ice and they landed on the ground. She still felt a little sick, but they really couldn't let Katsuki hurt anyone, even if they were a villain. Todoroki led the way, barely going fast enough to catch glimpses of Katsuki as he turned corners.

X

The alleyways really were a maze. If Izuku hadn't spent weeks on weeks running through them and memorizing layouts while running from street villains who thought he was some hero spy, he knows he would be lost. He got lost many, many times before and had to call Kurogiri to come and get him.

However, the situation being what it was, no one could blame him if he almost got lost a few times. Katsuki was fast and when he was determined, he wasn't going to let up just because he was tired. Izuku tried to keep his breathing as regular as possible as he turned sudden corners and did loops. He really should do endurance training, especially if he and Katsuki kept running into each other so often.

An explosion went off behind him and he turned another sharp corner. Izuku almost stopped when he saw the brighter light of the open street, but kept going. Katsuki wasn't bold enough to cause a scene and if those other two were with him they wouldn't let him.

Izuku slowed down as he started weaving through the groups of people. There weren't as many as would be best to lose someone, but it was enough so he could take a small break at a slower pace. He glanced over his shoulder and felt his old nerves start up again. He seriously doubted he'd ever get rid of them. Katsuki was actually doing well at just going sliding through the crowd, although a few people did move out of the way at the nasty look on his face.

Another moment of panic and Izuku found himself entering another dead end. There was one fire escape, but it was too high to reach. A group of people stopped in front of the entrance, probably stopped Katsuki from knowing exactly where he went for a few seconds. He looked around frantically for a place to hide or something. I'm screwed.

Chapter Text

Katsuki was starting to gain a real hatred for people who just stood in the middle of everything. He growled and forcefully pushed through the small crowd blocking the alley. A few had the audacity to look insulted. He just gave them a death glare and it was enough to get them to move away. He marched into the alleyway, noticing that it was another dead end with no obvious escape routes.

It was really filthy and Katsuki kicked a few tattered cardboard boxes out of the way. He grumbled to himself as he paced, looking around to see if he missed anything. Todoroki appeared at the alley's entrance. He walked towards the blonde slowly, taking in the dirty space, and Uraraka came running after him, breathing heavily. She braced her hands on her knees and focused on catching her breath. Katsuki cursed and kicked a can so it slammed into the dumpster with a clang and bounced uselessly on the ground.

Todoroki glanced around again. "Bakugou, he probably got away, don't get too mad," he said.

"How the hell wouldn't I get mad!?" Katsuki snapped, setting off an explosion and making a few burn marks on the wall. "He was right here! There's no way that he escaped that easily. If I know anything, then he's probably hiding like the loser he is!"

"What is your problem with him?" Uraraka said, letting out a deep sigh. "Do you know him or something?"

"I did!" Katsuki said, angrily kicking boxes and garbage bags along the walls of the alley. He wasn't paying attention to what he was saying. "Next thing I know that freak is hanging with villains like they're best friends! What kind of logic applies there!?"

"I get that you're mad, but that's no reason to throw a tantrum," Uraraka muttered. Katsuki shot her a death glare, but just continued what he was doing. "Bakugou, he probably got away and is long gone by now. The pros will be here in a little while. Let's just... tell them what we know so they can find him."

"...I want to hear from that damn nerd himself," Katsuki grumbled, almost too quiet for even himself to hear. He kicked a piece of sheet metal that slammed into the dumpster again. "Exactly why he became a villain."

X

Izuku was never more grateful for his skinniness. It let him sit almost comfortably in the center of the metal dumpster, balanced on garbage bags, without touching the sides. Every time something slammed against the late metal box, though, he tensed up and almost hit the side the first two times. His mind wasn't blank, not even close, but instead to filled of one thing to think of anything else.

Oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no, oh no.

He could hear the slightly muffled conversation of the three hero students outside—something about Bakugou throwing tantrum being the only thing he really noted. His heart rate was probably far too fast, and he'd blame Kacchan for giving him a heart attack if it came to that.

With slow hands—probably over doing the carefulness—he reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. Unlocking it as fast as possible, he immediately turned off all things that would make noise, from keyboard clicks to notifications. Even if he wasn't planning on doing something that would use that certain noise, he turned it off. He was relieved he didn't have his other phones on him in case anyone outside of the league tried to contact him. He opened the text messages and clicked on Kurogiri's contact.

Deku: Help. Trapped in a dumpster, three hero students outside. Need a portal bad.

Another thing clanged against the dumpster, causing Izuku to clap a hand over his mouth. Kacchan cursed from out the alleyway and grumbling things that the green-haired boy couldn't make out. Luckily, Kurogiri actually responded to text messages unlike somebody else in the league.

Kurogiri: You ran into them again? Where are you? I need a location.

Deku: One of the back alleyways off a plaza in downtown. I don't know exactly! Just send someone to distract them so I know where I AM!

Kurogiri: I'm not sure where Himiko is, but I believe Dabi is in the area.

Izuku was immediately cringing at the idea of Dabi coming to his rescue. He hated that guy's attitude.

Deku: Fine... but I won't like it

Kurogiri: I'll contact him. He should be there in a few moments if he's where I think he is.

Izuku was probably just being obnoxiously petty by leaving Kurogiri on read without saying thank you. He'd probably do it later in person, but until then he'd be a brat about it. He really just disliked Kurogiri's attitude. His idolization of Stain just rubbed him the wrong way.

He tried focusing on the muffled conversation of the others outside the dumpster. Something about waiting for backup. It was a good distraction, but not good enough. Once his head got past the chanting of "oh no," it was clear again and was bringing up the reason he disliked Dabi besides his attitude.

They were too similar, or at least Dabi was similar to a younger him. The obsessions were just expressed differently for different sides of the spectrum.

X

Katsuki didn't pay attention to the amount of time passing while they waited. He stood in the middle of the trash filled alley, grumpily tapping his foot. Deku was probably long gone. Uraraka was leaning against one of the walls, having already sent a text message to Tsuyu who said that she and the others were on their way with the cops. Todoroki was sitting on the ground, leaning back on his hands. Katsuki really didn't want to wait. It was taking too long, even if he wasn't paying attention to how much time actually passed.

The sky was turning orange as it got closer to night. Katsuki scowled up at the sky like it offended him personally. They had been waiting there for a while. People passed by at the entrance to the alleyway. A few glanced at them, only to turn away and keep going, but most minded their own business. Some faltered a little and looked like they were going to ask, but Katsuki glared at them and that prompted them to scurry away.

Another person strolled by, a slow and leisurely pace. They stopped in front of the alley. Katsuki turned his head to scowl at the new comer, but stopped at the weird appearance.

A young man with spiky black hair stood at the mouth of the alley. Todoroki stood up carefully, his stomach getting a weird twisting sensation as the other looked down at him. Wrinkled, purple patches of skin broke up the new comer's regular skin, attached with surgical staples. He was wearing most black.

As he looked over the alleyway, he frowned. Uraraka stepped back cautiously, and Todoroki moved back towards Katsuki, too. The new comer sighed and walked into the alleyway like he belonged there. Katsuki growled.

"Who the hell are you?" Katsuki spat. He was ready to blast the freak's face off if he tried to attack them, but the other didn't move.

"Just here to pick someone up," he answered, calm and even.

Katsuki frowned suspiciously and opened his mouth to say something. The dumpster to their right clanged open. He jolted and whipped his head around to stare. Uraraka let out a squawk and held her hands up defensively. Even Todoroki was caught off guard and jumped back a little. Deku stood up from where he had been hiding in the dumpster and stretched out his arms. Katsuki shot a glare at Todoroki, trying to easily communicate the "told you so" he wanted to screech.

Deku jumped out of the dumpster and walked up to the new comer.

"Took you long enough!" Deku said casually. "You should rush to your boss' rescue, Dabi."

The newcomer—Dabi—just looked away. Katsuki scowled again and explosions sparked on his palms. Dabi and Deku both turned to stare at them. Todoroki held his hand up, moisture in the air turning into small ice particles.

"Two villains, huh?" Katsuki shouted. The plaza outside the alley was almost empty now, he could be loud. "Got a bunch of villain buddies, now, Deku!?"

"Bakugou, Todoroki," Uraraka whispered. "We should wait for Tsu and the others."

Both boys ignored her and continued to prepare an attack. Katsuki was trying to figure out who's head to bash in first. He didn't like the fact that the black haired one looked so relaxed, and he's wanted to punch Deku for a few weeks now—just to try and physically knock some sense into him.

"We should at least stall them," Todoroki reasoned. "Besides-"

"You should listen to the girl, you know," Dabi piped up. The three hero students stared at him. He shrugged his hands casually. "You're hero students, but you're not heroes. Might put a damper on little UA's reputation if a bunch of their precious students got involved in villains, right? What is it called when citizens attack other citizens? Assault? You can't legally fight us, even if we are villains, you do know that, right?"

That stopped them. Todoroki knew that he might be able to get out of it, what with his father and the connections. He'd rather die than do that, though. He knew exactly what the villain was talking about, and that he was completely right. Uraraka's mouth opened as if she could argue, but she just closed it again when she couldn't find any words. Even Katsuki knew the villain had a point, but Deku was still there. The green-haired boy he'd been after and searching for ever since his first disappearance was right there.

Dabi smirked smugly and Deku smiled a fraction.

"Why don't you get your provisional liscence and then we'll fight fair and square, little heroes?" Dabi drawled. Deku held his hands behind his back. The three hero students deflated a little bit more. "Thought so. Let's go, this was annoying."

Dabi turned on his heel and walked out of the alley and around the corner, not sparing a glance. Deku hesitated a bit. He told himself it was because the defeated look on Katsuki's face was satisfying, even as slight as it was.

"Later, Kacchan," he said simply. He turned and followed after Dabi. The other looked down at him suspiciously but kept quiet. At least Dabi could remember what he told him on that first day.

Back in the alley, Katsuki was eerily quiet. Todoroki glared down at his hands and Uraraka frantically hit buttons on her phone to call Tsuyu or any of the others and tell them. In his head Katsuki was using every single curse word he knew to call himself stupid.

Izuku had been right there and he still didn't do a damn thing.

Chapter Text

"What?"

"I apologize, Midoriya," Sensei said, voice serious and solid even through the video. "But I cannot allow you to participate in this operation. Your connection with Bakugou Katsuki is too evident, and we can't afford you getting side tracked, especially with the amount of pro-heroes that were be around during it."

"But-"

"Midoriya... I cannot allow it. I'm sorry, but you'll have to stay here."

Izuku stared at the flickering screen, blank expression on his face. The other villains around him were silent. Shigaraki was likely with holding comments and Dabi was looking away. Kurogiri looked down at the ground, avoiding eye contact. Himiko watched Izuku with concern, eyebrows drawn together and lips turned down in a pout. The newer villains who'd be joining in on the next operation all glanced between each other, awkward and unknowing of what to do as the leader shut down Izuku. Almost all of them had been subject to Izuku's quirk analyses, and knew just how smart he was. Seeing the so called "brain of the league" get shut down so simply was shocking.

"Dekkun...?" he vaguely heard Himiko mutter.

Izuku just nodded. His head was shutting down, closing in on itself as if it could protect him. He knew Sensei was right, but still. His feet felt heavy as he walked away. He went out the door that led to the alley with the other door. As he left, he heard Sensei continuing his instructions and pep talks to the group. His steps picked up as he rushed across the alley and flung open the door and ran up the stairs to his lab. He slammed open both doors and kicked them closed behind him so hard that they rattled in their frame both times.

Dropping his bag on the ground, he walked over to one of the counters, where he had a bunch of extra vials and holders. With a shout, he knocked everything off and onto the ground. The glass shattered on the floor, but he couldn't care. He hated feeling like this. It was different than his usual anger when he looked at the tattered posters on his wall. Different than his emptiness after he failed a test. It was a mix of the two and a lot worse. A twisting in his stomach, stinging behind his eyes, and hollowness in his chest. He couldn't think of a word, because he knew it wasn't sadness—that had a much more explainable feel—and that inexplicable emotion was blocking out his usual thought process.

All his work. His hard work and analyses and theories and inventions and contributions to the League. Every single part of it was essentially being disregarded by one man. The one that needed it. Izuku was the one who even planned the operation. The UA first years were going to a training camp in the mountains, being instructed by The Pussycats. Izuku had planned it down to the ideal quirks for certain squads. Everything was already aligning as planned. Dabi was gaining a sort of respect for him, and Himiko had eagerly awaited new orders on who to gather. A grand scheme of his making and he couldn't go!

He blamed Kacchan. If the explosive blonde hadn't recognized him, then it would be fine. He wouldn't have been spurred to interact with Kacchan, or to talk to him. Why did he taunt him!? Oh god it was all his fault, wasn't it!?

Izuku felt that stinging behind his eyes intensify and his throat went dry. He was about to cry. Seriously? He thought he was past such... human and childish things like crying because someone told him no. He sat down at one of the tools surrounding the center table of the room. He crossed his arms on the table and rested his forehead against the table top.

He can't believe he threw a tantrum. That was something a toddler-minded person like Shigaraki would do. His breathing was evening out again. It was just an emotional spike, he guessed. Something spur of the moment and ultimately meaningless. What wasn't, though? Clearly that same description applied to how much effort he put into the operation. Hell, the whole League as a whole!

Some time passed. Izuku can't be sure how long it was. His thoughts were swirling, a cycle that repeated with only minor changes to the content. He should have assumed something would go wrong. Everything aligned too perfectly, just like it did before, and then something went wrong, just like before yet again.

Still, the feeling that was pulsing through him was different than the one back then. He wasn't sure if it was better, worse, or just around the same. He only knew it was different, and that different sucked. He could deal with the depression he felt before, because he knew what to do. Different was unknown and he didn't know what to try and do to fix it.

He heard the screen that sat on the table flicker to life. He groggily lifted his head and looked up. Sensei appeared on the screen.

"Midoriya, please, you are making a big deal out of this," Sensei said. "I allowed you to join our group because you are brilliant with quirks. However, I cannot allow your connection with a student to cause this operation to fail. This attack is crucial to our plan, you know that very well. I also cannot risk you getting captured, and you may get hurt due to your quirkless status."

"That's never been a problem before!" Izuku snapped. He flinched at his own raised level of voice and slumped down further into his seat. "If that's your concern, give me a quirk."

"No," Sensei answered immediately. Izuku stared at him with a frown.

"Why not?" he grumbled. Now that he put thought to it, the fact he was still quirkless didn't make sense.

"Your lack of quirk is very important," Sensei answered vaguely. "And with the serums your mixing, if an accident were to occur, that quirk might be taken away again."

Izuku looked down at the bare table. Sensei was right, as always.

"But that is not my only concern," Sensei continued. "Even at the first operation you were a part of, you focused your attention on Bakugou Katsuki. You may not have realized it, but it's true. You've had too much direct contact with that boy. I cannot risk something going wrong because of that. Midoriya, you are an intelligent boy. You understand, correct?"

Izuku knew deep inside of him that the reason wasn't a complete one, but he nodded anyway. Sensei was right about these things most of the time, so it was better to trust him. He was the one who saved him after all.

"I'm glad to hear that, Midoriya," Sensei said. Izuku nodded numbly. "Your serums are prepared, correct? We cannot use such experimental inventions in the operation, but for future reference."

"...T-The tests were a success," Izuku answered. His throat was still dry and a little irritated from his screaming. He looked up at the organized case on the opposite side of the room. "We only held the subjects for 24 hours, but some of our other members are monitoring them, and their quirks have yet to return. It's almost been a week."

"Excellent, Midoriya," Sensei praised. Izuku felt a small part of him feel lighter at that. "Your genius is astounding. But you do understand why I do not give you a quirk considering the serums you're dealing with. As much as I know you could benefit from having a quirk, I do not want a spill to occur and that quirk to be lost."

"I never spill anything," Izuku muttered.

"Accidents can happen, Midoriya," Sensei shut him down immediately again. Izuku still just stared down at the table. Sensei sighed. "Please, lay low until the others return, alright?"

Izuku nodded again. Now the feeling was gone and replaced with an emptiness—that was also different from the usual. Once again, he couldn't decide whether the inexplicable emotion or hollowness was worse.

Sensei said something else that was just an elongated goodbye and the screen flickered off. Izuku slumped closer to the table, staring up at the case across the room. He could go to the operation regardless of instructions, and push anyone who tried to stop him out of his way. Carefully sliding off the stool, as to not step on any of the broken glass on the floor, he stepped over to the case and read over the all the labels again.

Laughter floated into the room from the open window. Izuku peered out, over the fire escape directly under it and down at the people on the ground. Students. More specifically, students bullying another and knocking him to the ground. He narrowed his eyes and watched as one of the bullies stomped on the weaker looking student's arm. The emptiness was twisting into an irrational rage. Izuku quickly opened one of the drawers of the case and took one of the vials out. A translucent pale green liquid. He grabbed a syringe and quickly sucked up enough of the liquid before capping the vial again and placing it back in the drawer.

The bullies were starting to show off with their quirks, mocking and teasing the other for their weak one. Izuku didn't care to catch what kind of quirk it was as he near silently crawled out onto the fire escape. His lab was on a low floor, so it made it easier to slide down the rusted metal ladder of the escape and land on the ground. The escape rattled when he slid, and his boots made a thud as he landed. It drew the attention of the trio of students that were showing off.

They turned around and the one in the middle started speaking. Izuku couldn't hear it as he walked forward, feet still heavy and off balance. His vision was blurred at the edges. The one in the middle had a quirk relating to fire, and smoke was rising. Like then.

Izuku lunged forward and grabbed the one with flaming hands. The other tried to struggle, but Izuku could hold him still. At least still enough for him to jam the needle into his neck and inject it. Smoke was still rising, but it was fading as the fires went out a few seconds later. The bully started struggling more and elbowed Izuku hard in the stomach. He coughed and backed off, syringe hanging limply on his fingers with none of the liquid left inside.

A maniacal grin broke out on his face as the bully frantically waved his hands, trying activate even some semblance of a quirk. The one who had been kicked was smart enough to get away while they could, and was long gone. The other two on either side of the one waving his hands were frozen in confusion, glancing between Izuku and their friend. Izuku's legs gave out, and he couldn't put an explanation to the numbness in his limbs. The one who he injected turned and glared hard at him.

"What the hell did you do, freak!?" he screamed. It seemed to echo in the alley. Izuku just laughed, uncontrollably and crazy sounding. The trio stared at him in horror. He stood up, slowly and clumsily—almost falling back over—as his burst of laughter started to trail off. He looked back up and grinned. The expression on the face of the one he injected was great, and made his stomach twist in a way he thought was happiness.

"Consider yourself quirkless. Fun feeling, isn't it?"

Chapter Text

Izuku felt smug when the League returned. He watched the exchange between Shigaraki and Sensei with a poorly hidden grin while the new comers all stayed around the corners of the room, almost in fear. Shigarki was getting scolded again, but this time Dabi was right there with him. Two big villains they managed to recruit were taken down by the students—students for crying out loud—and they hadn't even been able to get their hands on the student they meant. Izuku dragged his eyes over and looked at the tied up UA student.

They didn't even grab a student from the right class, never mind a strong one. It was some 1B nobody. Someone Izuku had barely bothered to make mention of in his notes too often, and considering how many notes there were, that was saying something. A weak quirk.

Sensei wrapped up the scolding, leaving a tense atmosphere in the bar. Izuku smirked as he pushed off the wall he had leaned on and pranced out the door leading to the lab. Shigaraki glared at him out of the corner of his eye, making a low growling noise. Izuku just grinned at him as he kicked the door open and skipped out.

Shigaraki had the guts to blame the failure on Izuku? He wasn't even there, and Shigaraki was probably going to use that as a reason for them to fail. Izuku would have some choice words for when the gray haired man went after him saying that.

Izuku bounced up the stairs and into the lab. He nudged the door closed behind him with his heel and walked around the table in the center to the balcony area opposite the door. Slumping his back against the glass door that lead out to the balcony, Izuku felt his smile widen. Child like giggles surfaced and he couldn't help but let it out. He didn't know why he was laughing in particular—after his tantrum a week ago, his emotions were all over the place—but it felt good to do it. He slid down the glass until he was sitting on the floor, arms wrapped around his stomach while he laughed. The giggles started to turn into maniacal cackling.

Once Izuku calmed himself down enough, he hopped back onto his feet and over to the shelves of serums. He pulled open a few of the plastic drawers, grabbing vials of different colored liquids. A bag was already set out beside the case, and Izuku hummed as he slid the serums into it, making sure none would open or crack and mix. He'd rather his bag not explode, thank you.

His laptop dinged from it's place on the table. He glanced over at it. A red warning sign lit up the screen, black and yellow lines surrounding the new window. The screen changed back to the security cameras he set up around the League's base and street. Police officers and heroes were creeping around, all talking and making signals to each other both in person and over what were probably radios. Izuku placed the bag and vials he hadn't put away yet down carefully and walked over.

Hitting a few buttons, Izuku set the screen to broadcast to the screens typically used for Sensei's talks through the bar.

"What is going on, Deku?" Kurogiri's voice came through the speakers, static and a little distorted.

"Heroes are surrounding the bar," Izuku said calmly. He had known something was going to happen two days before, but Shigaraki and the others had ignored him. He wouldn't rub that in, though, no matter how much he wanted to and if anyone asked, he was ignorant. "They're looking for the student. I don't know how they found us, but I suggest you all start clearing out and grabbing valuables."

"You knew didn't you!?" Shigaraki's voice accused.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, handy," Izuku said, keeping his voice carefully monotone. Faint curses could be heard from the speakers as he paused. "But blaming isn't going to fix anything, you know."

He turned off the audio transmission, but left the video up. Humming again, he spun around and went back to putting the vials in the bag. He guessed they had about ten minutes before any of the heroes agreed enough to put a plan into action. Considering the heroes had ended up at both locations the League was using, they had done their research. Shame they sent All Might to the one with the student. Izuku kind of wanted to see the face off between All for One and One for All.

Izuku finished packing all the important serums—ones that would help if he ran into any trouble and projects that he'd rather not be in the hands of the police. He had one out at the ready as he walked back over to his laptop. He transferred all the files to the flash-drive he had plugged into the machine and then deleted any remaining ones he didn't need. The warning stayed up, still broadcasting around the bar. He heard footsteps out side his room and assumed it was some of the recruits looking for a back way out.

The footsteps went quiet and Izuku frowned a little. That wasn't the sound of steps getting farther away, it was just stopping. The green-haired boy quickly hit the last few keys and took his flash-drive out, sliding it into his bag. He backed up towards the glass door, keeping his eyes on the main door.

A loud explosion went off, and the now half filled case of serums shook. Izuku tensed up and slammed the door open, stepped out backwards. He looked over his shoulder and cursed. The drop was too far for him to jump with out getting hurt and he didn't have time to grab his hook. He gripped the bar of the small balcony and turned back as the second door blasted off it's hinges and slammed into the table.

Kacchan walked into the room, glancing around before focusing on Izuku. The concentrated frown on his face turned into a scowl. Izuku sighed, his own joy fading. He had a feeling the students were going to try something, but going in before the heroes? He really underestimated their sanity.

The blond carefully jumped over the door, hands ready to blast anything that even looked like a trap.

"There are heroes up and down this street, you guys should just give up," Kacchan said, approaching far too quickly for Izuku's liking. The green-haired villain pulled the gun he had almost forgotten in the heat of the moment and held it pointed at his old friend. Why did he think of it that way? The blond froze where he was, eyes wide and staring intensely. Izuku hated that look, because he knew that it meant Kacchan was actually putting thought into things and that was dangerous—even if it was only a little bit. "Deku, stop being so damn stubborn!"

"Like you're one to talk," Izuku replied smugly, hopping up onto the railing of the balcony backwards, steadying himself on one of the poles that supported it on the corners. Kacchan's eyes followed him and the gun carefully.

Izuku glanced down at the drop. He might survive it, but probably not. That was cement down there. It was a little less of a fall then the time when the League first picked him up. He probably shouldn't be getting sentimental, especially when Kacchan was right there and he could see more UA students down the street, walking out of another building where the League had kept some of the people Izuku tested his serums on.

Kacchan moved and the old floor creaked. Izuku turned back to him quickly, firing a shot, the bullet barely missing the blond's face. Izuku grinned, but his stomach was twisting. It was the same feeling like when he got trapped in that dumpster, but more intense. His hand tightened around the serum in his hand. He wouldn't be able to jump consciously, but...

Unconscious would work.

Izuku quickly rolled up his sleeve and injected the needle into his shoulder, balancing on the thin railing with only his feet. Kacchan tensed up and went to move forward. Izuku fired another shot as he pressed down to inject the syringe. The dizziness was settling in immediately. He'd never been on the receiving end for any of his serums, and didn't know they were that powerful. It probably was effecting him more than it would normally since he hadn't eaten all day and it was late afternoon. He couldn't even register where the bullet hit as his legs started to go numb, the feeling spreading throughout his body as his vision started to go black.

Kacchan had a hand wrapped around his own arm, one eye wincing closed. Izuku tried to smirk, but it came out half delirious and lopsided as his eyes started to slide shut.

"Brings back memories, huh?" Izuku heard himself mutter. He didn't know why he was talking, but the serum was almost done taking over his system. The people they tested it on also started speaking their thoughts, like what ever filter they might have had just vanished. Kacchan was still staring at him, even though Izuku's vision was now too blurry to make much out, he could still feel the others stare as he got closer. The gun and serum fell from Izuku's hands. "... Didn't you tell me to do this, Ka~cchan?"

Izuku's feet slipped as his vision went dark. He felt wind passing by him as he fell, and his eyes opened once before it all went dark and numb. Kacchan's red eyes were staring at him, wide and... scared? Why was he scared? Izuku wasn't, but he'd tried this before. Someone said something and Izuku felt himself stop falling, but it was all dark before any pain registered. He floated in the darkness for a second, and wondered if he landed on top of the UA students who had been walking down the alley. He hoped he at least broke the serums and flash-drive in his bag.

At least he could catch up on his sleep, now.

Chapter Text

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Izuku gladly ate the food that Recovery Girl had gotten him. Actual food. He was probably a little too happy about that, but he'd enjoy it while he could. Recovery Girl chuckled while he tried to swallow it all whole. He hadn't tried to deny it when Recovery Girl said his body wouldn't be able to handle her quirk, but the fact that such basic food as the school lunch was like fine dining probably said a lot. There was also the fact he hadn't really eaten for almost two days now.

Once he barely finished chewing, he was chugging the drink that came with it. It was just juice but it wasn't an energy drink or coffee like what he'd been surviving on for however long. Recovery Girl was typing away on her computer and Izuku let out a loud sigh as he finished off the drink at once. He carefully placed the food and drink on the bedside table.

"You certainly were hungry, weren't you?" Recovery Girl laughed. Izuku shrugged as he stretched his arms out over his head, a few of his joints cracking, and yawned.

The room was peacefully silent, save for the murmur of people outside the door. Izuku rested back in the bed, keeping the surprisingly warm blanket over him. He felt... good. It was that kind of contentedness that was bordering happiness, but not quite there because something was going to happen and he knew it. Maybe not so soon would've been nicer. That's just not how it ended up, though, and Izuku's contentedness was turned into nerves in a matter of seconds.

It started with louder conversation outside the door, enough to almost make out the words. Recovery Girl seemed a little more on edge then, glancing at the door with a worried look. Then a knock on the door, loud and almost foreboding even in the well lit room. Izuku started worrying at that point. Usually, students would knock, wait a few seconds and then peer in. When they did, Izuku pretended he was asleep and hid under the blankets to avoid any confrontation. He doubted Shinsou spread any confirmation of the rumor that there was a villain in the school, but anyone else might.

Now, though, the door stayed closed as the conversation went quiet. Recovery Girl pushed her chair away from the desk and hopped down to the ground. She waddled over to the door and opened it so she could look through a thin opening, but not enough so that Izuku would see anything.

"I told you, he still needs time to recover," she said sternly to whoever was on the other side.

"We just want to speak with him and ask him a few questions," a man's voice sighed. Recovery Girl glanced back and frowned. "Please, the police are starting to get on our case, here. If we don't get something, then we'll all be in trouble and the police will take him away."

Recovery Girl huffed and stepped back, holding the door open. Into the room stepped two men and a... bear? Izuku frowned. He easily recognized the first—Aizawa Shouta—and he was fairly sure the bear-dog was the principal of UA, Nedzu. The third was drawing a blank for him which should have been a bad sign. What did he care anymore? He wasn't with League at that moment, and they didn't have any access to any of this without his own skills and laptop. He was in the UA school for heroes and his laptop had likely been taken by whoever captured him and was looking through his supplies, so the League had neither. The third man had on a baggy suit, dark blond hair stuck up crazily and sunken blue eyes looked around the room and over at Izuku.

Nedzu made himself comfortable in the chair beside the bed, hopping up on it with his usual smile. Izuku shifted back in his seat and his fingers tightened in the blanket. Aizawa pulled out one of the chairs and so did the third man. They both sat down, and Aizawa pulled out something to take notes on. The other looked awkward and uncomfortable. Some part of Izuku felt like he should know him, like someone had told him about the other. He couldn't place it though.

"How are you, Midoriya-kun?" Principal Nedzu asked. Izuku frowned and raised his eyebrow. "We're sorry to interrupt your recovery process, however the police are threatening to take you to prison, and as heroes it is our responsibility to protect all citizens."

"I'm fine," Izuku answered, simple and concise—like he knew to do to avoid giving too much information out unintentionally. "I don't look forward to getting taken by police or put in jail, so feel free to interrupt."

"I am Nedzu, Principal of UA," the principal introduced, raising one of his paw-hands. Izuku nodded. "This is Aizawa, or Eraserhead, and this is All Might."

Izuku choked on air. He coughed loudly as his eyes went wide with shock. The principal waited patiently for Izuku to calm down. Recovery Girl chuckled and Aizawa glanced over at All Might. The number-one hero himself slouched down even further in his chair, looking off to the side. Izuku caught his breath after a minute. He remembered now, but the event had been shoved into the far recesses of his mind. The sludge incident, when he still had that sliver of hope and All Might said he couldn't make it as a hero. Izuku promptly mentally put those memories that were trying to surface down into the dark corner they had stayed in for so long.

"We know it's probably not the easiest thing to take in," All Might said. "But when you were working for the League, their leader was All for One, correct?"

"I don't know what you're talking about," Izuku answered on autopilot.

"Don't lie to us, brat," Aizawa huffed, glaring at the green-haired boy. Izuku kept his face blank. "We have every bit of material you left at the League building, including all the notes on your laptop. We know everything you have on there."

"I deleted all of that," Izuku said flatly. "Did you really think I was-"

"Yes, but your trash bin was not emptied!" the principal piped up. Izuku froze and mentally screamed. Curse computers and their stupid inconvenient deletion systems. "Everything you deleted when you tried to run was still there and we were able to recover it!"

"So why don't you just tell us the truth," Aizawa continued from where he left off, propping his chin up in his hand. "If you tell us everything you can about the League and how they recruit, we might be able to make up a deal that'll keep you out of prison, okay?"

Izuku sighed. There was no use withholding information. He could always play ignorant if the League ever got to him again, and if they did and he died, he could easily play victim with the heroes as the villains.

"What kind of deal?" Izuku asked, looking down at his lap instead of at the pro-heroes.

"That's to be decided after you've told us what we need to know!" the principal said, voice still cheery and peppy. Izuku was a little put off by it.

"...Fine. Ask your questions."

"Why did a kid like you join the League?"

Izuku found himself laughing a little at the question. Those memories were stubbornly refusing his mental efforts to push them aside, and shoved themselves into the forefront of his mind.

"I'm surprised you don't know," he muttered. "It's partly All Might's fault, after all."

X

"I don't think you can make it as a hero."

"A real hero would have at least put some thought into it. You put yourself in danger, as well as the student already in danger, and made it more difficult for anyone to conduct a rescue because they had to worry about you, too. I understand that your body moved before your mind, but once your mind caught up you should have gotten away. You seem like a smart kid, so actually start thinking and use your brain."

Izuku wasn't sure which was worse. Knowing that All Might didn't think he'd make it as a hero because he was quirkless, or just weak and irrational. Izuku knew that most heroes that ended up rushing into situations like that became great heroes. Rushing in like that was the mark of a genuine hero.

Maybe if he had a quirk, any quirk, it would have turned out differently. He would have gotten his success story like the many retold on the internet. He would have gotten acknowledged by All Might. He would have somehow gotten into UA and somehow surpassed Kacchan and the other great hero students and somehow become the number-one hero and help everyone he could. Except he wasn't even close. He knew other students were training like crazy for the UA entrance exam.

Izuku, on the other hand, was in bed. He wasn't asleep—hadn't been for a while. A lot of midnight thinking kept him up, especially when it led to actually crying because he was such a failure. His mom was unsure of what to do, and tried to cheer him up as best she could. It didn't work. Izuku still watched the news and hero websites update without fail, and took notes. They weren't as in-depth as they might have been before, but they still were there. Old habits die hard, he guessed.

No one had come to see him, or wonder where he was when he missed all those days of school. It's not like he had other friends besides Kacchan and he barely counted. Nobody wanted to be friends with a quirkless freak like him. Hell, even he didn't want to.

There were moments when it was close. No matter how much assurance that he mattered and that he was valid his mother gave him, it gave very little comfort. A lingering look at a knife during meals would send his mother into a frenzy, insisting that they watch his favorite movies without a hero at the center—there weren't many but his mom made sure to find some.

Izuku knew she was trying, and he felt even worse that all the effort his mother was putting into it gave no results. He wanted to be left alone. He could get through this, he told himself. He would just think it through because that was logical. All logic went out the window when he heard through his mother that UA entrance exams were finished and Kacchan had apparently passed with flying colors. Izuku knew if he only had a quirk he'd be there. He'd be better that Kacchan. He had a better attitude and ideals for a number-one hero, not just being the best and never losing.

When his mother sent him out to place an order for something at a specialty shop, Izuku knew she hadn't put that much thought into it. Izuku did exactly what she asked, told the old man behind the counter exactly what they needed almost word for word copying his mom. After that, he found himself walking down the streets. He got lost in his thoughts pretty quickly. The quiet air in that part of town and the lack of people everywhere just helped it.

Izuku wandered into a dark alleyway that was lined on either side with abandoned buildings. His brain zoned out a lot during the moments leading to him to being on top of one of those very buildings. Only flashes of thoughts and fragments of images.

What he did know was that he was right on the edge of a tall building. Not the tallest, but high enough that he'd get severely injured or die if he fell. His mind also blurred any moments of hesitation or further thoughts before he was falling. It almost came as a surprise when he felt wind pass by him. He didn't regret it though, really, maybe what Kacchan said that seemed so long ago would be true. He'd get reborn as some amazing hero's son with an amazing quirk.

His brain was so filled with fantasies like that he didn't realize that he should have hit the ground a while ago. Izuku opened his eyes lazily. A dim fluorescent light shined overhead and he sat up slowly. He looked around the room that was just a small bar on one wall and a few tables around the place. Izuku was lying on one of those tables. He tensed up at the man standing behind the bar, entirely made up of purple-black smoke.

The smoke man looked at him with glowing yellow eyes and placed a glass of clear liquid on the bar. Izuku carefully slid off the table and walked over, sitting carefully on the bar stool. He just looked down at the glass suspiciously. Was this some weird warped version of purgatory?

"It's just water," the man behind the bar answered as he busied himself sorting through some of the bottles on the shelf. "We know this may be strange for you, but just drink and relax."

Izuku honestly couldn't care anymore. He was about to die anyway, why care? He picked up the glass and drank the water quickly. It was a good feeling as he realized his throat was almost completely dry.

It was quiet in the small room for a while. Izuku zoned out, wondering if this really was some warped version of that space between life and death. He instead tried to focus on the buzzing of faint radio static. A computer screen was on the corner of the bar and it flickered to life a few minutes later.

The image on the screen was dark and poorly lit, but Izuku could make out a silhouette of a human at least. The smoke man turned to face the screen.

"Sensei, I brought the boy you requested," he said. Izuku frowned and prepared to start running. It wouldn't get him far but it was a gut reaction.

"Thank you, Kurogiri," the man on the screen—Sensei—said. Kurogiri seemed to nod his head. Sensei turned his attention to Izuku. "You're Midoriya Izuku, correct?"

"Y-Yeah," Izuku muttered, throat still dry and scratchy. "What's going on?"

"I understand you're quirkless," Sensei began, keeping it blunt. Izuku flinched. "However, that's not as big an issue as you think it is. One of our operatives found a notebook that belonged to you, and your quirk analyses are incredibly detailed and surprisingly accurate. We'd like to offer you a place in this organization."

"Wha-"

"We'll provide you with supplies for any experiments you want to conduct, and you can be living proof that being quirkless doesn't mean worthless," Sensei continued. Izuku was frozen in shock. "Although, I will tell you that we are the League of Villains. We do not work for the heroes. But after getting hurt by those very protectors, don't you want some sort of revenge? All you'd have to do is provide strategies and quirk analyses like the ones you've done in those notebooks of yours."

"...J-Just analyses and strategies?" Izuku asked. Something in his gut told me he was making a mistake. But it changed into some sort of deep rooted need for proof. Proof that showing everyone that called him weak that he wasn't was going to help. Even if it didn't help anyone, there was the part of him that just wanted to rub it in the face of everyone who ever doubted the quirkless. "One condition."

"Name your terms," Sensei said after a moment of heavy silence in the bar.

"I don't have to kill anyone," Izuku stated. "And you're not allowed to make me no matter the situation."

Another moment of silence. Sensei let out a small laugh-like sigh.

"Very well, we'll work with that," Sensei agreed. "Welcome to the League of Villains, Midoriya. Do you have another name you'd like us to call you?"

Izuku looked down. Like he hadn't thought it over and over. Possible hero names for when his quirk developed—wild fantasies from when he was a child that continued until recently. Except now he wouldn't be a hero, but a villain. He didn't have any plans for that, but it'd have to do. Maybe the meaning behind it would change in the end, but until then it'd still mean "worthless" and he'd work with it.

"...Deku."

Chapter Text

Heroes had a lot more power than he thought. Maybe him being so young helped the deal they worked out with the police. Izuku didn't care. Getting sent to prison was a bad idea, considering his mom was supposed to visit him in a day. She had to delay it further, and when she spoke to Izuku on the phone, she apologized profusely for it. Izuku was fine with it. He's not sure he could deal with a face to face confrontation yet. His thoughts were still all over the place and that emotion rush wouldn't help.

Some way or another, the heroes managed to get him out of the typical prison sentence usually given to villains who worked like he did. Even if he was never in the field save for one time, the sentence was still pretty long.

The conditions that he had to work with was the real shock.

X

"You're to live within the newly made Class 1A dorms. You won't be allowed off the campus without some kind of chaperon, either a responsible student that we approve of or a teacher. In exchange for what we're doing for you, you do these," Aizawa explained the day after their first meeting. He waved one of Izuku's notebooks in the air before dropping it on the bed Izuku was still in. "All you'll be doing is giving advice on quirk usage and maybe a few other things related to what you did for the League."

Izuku stared blankly at his old notebook. It was one that had been stashed in his bag when he fell. He glanced back up at Aizawa. The man patiently waited for a few seconds before sighing and yawning.

"You have until Friday to decide, so two days," Aizawa said. "Think it over, weigh your options, whatever. You can roam around campus but all activity will be monitored, and you're only allowed in the hero departments and cafeteria. Hero students'll be following you around, too, so don't even think about trying anything."

As the pro-hero left the room, Izuku went back to staring at the notebook. It was a joke right? Nothing just happened like this, especially to him. It was too perfect, too planned. If he really wanted, he could probably escape and make a run for the League... What were they even doing now?

X

"Why do you care about a lowlife like him?" Shigaraki hissed. Sensei's shadowy figure seemed the slump with a sigh. "He's a worthless successor! YOU HAVE ME WHAT DO YOU NEED HIM FOR!?"

"Tomura!" Sensei snapped. The gray haired man visibly winced and stepped back. The other League members watched in shock. Sensei never raised his voice, and while Shigaraki was obedient, he never just backed down like that. "This is not up to you!"

Dabi's eyes widened a fraction as Shigaraki's shoulders hunched over and he curled in on himself. That was surprising. Dabi felt somewhat disappointed that Shigaraki was just a child on the inside, through and through. He hoped it had been some kind of front or just a part of his personality, not the entire thing.

Himiko fidgeted next to Dabi. Her hands played with the hem of her sleeves and she glanced around the room frantically. Kurogiri was eerily silent, just watching Shigaraki get yelled at. A few of the others from the attack on the mountain camp were there, too. They lurked on the edges of the room like Himiko and Dabi, and all were trying their best to ignore the situation. They all understood that if Shigaraki was like that, then he was a lot more temperamental and more likely to lash out without a second thought.

It didn't feel the same without Deku there, Himiko had figured that out the second they all got back and settled in their new establishment. Deku provided a balance to Shigaraki's tantrum and mood swings. He was calm where Shigaraki destroyed cups or chairs, and always pushed back whenever the gray-haired man tried to take advantage of a situation through fear. He was the first to attempt to be friendly with new recruits, and most had grown to like him on the simple fact he wasn't a "hardcore" villain. He didn't have a dark and brooding or dangerous look about him.

He acted like someone eager to make friends and wanting to help. A lot could easily tell that some part of him still wanted to be a hero, but they didn't question it. Deku had also made it clear that they could butt into each others business all they like, however, they were to respect his boundaries.

Overall, he just conducted himself in a more organized way that reflected on the members of the League. He was the brain and common sense, if you want to put it that way. His demeanor contrasted so sharply to Shigaraki's violence, it was almost a relief to have him walk in the room and disarm whatever situation was happening.

On the surface, Deku was just a high-school student. Your average person who just might have fallen on the wrong side of the law. During first interactions, almost all of the newer recruits had thought the same and treated him as such. They treated him like a kid who was far below them in levels of skill, someone they wouldn't glance at twice.

Deku was dangerous, though. They all respected him for a few reasons, but a part of it was definitely fear. Few had seen just what Deku made in the lab in action, others had heard him reciting results to Sensei during their occasional meetings, but most had just seen his notes when they planned strategies. Not all of them were about quirk properties and their weaknesses and strengths.

The parts that put them all on edge were about how to completely and utterly make a quirk useless, because they knew. They knew that somewhere, in one of those many composition notebooks, was something like that for their quirk and on how to make it null and void.

"We will be retrieving Deku from UA," Sensei announced after a minute of tense silence. Shigaraki stayed quiet. "He is a valuable asset to the League, and we rather not have what he does be used against us, not would we?-" mumbled agreements rose from the recruits "-Exactly. Shigaraki Tomura, you will have to accept that Deku does do very helpful work and is a possible successor. You both are good candidates, and you will wait for me to decide before you jump to conclusions. Am I understood?"

"Yes, Sensei," Shigaraki said, low and slurred.

"Very well," Sensei sighed. "Await further instructions. Without our key strategist here, we'll have to be very careful with planning."

The screen clicked off and heavy silence settled over the room. The tension was almost suffocating as everyone waited for Shigaraki to lash out. Surprisingly, he didn't get a chance.

"We... We will get Dekkun back, right, Kuro?" Himiko piped up. She frowned and her eyebrows drew together. The smoke man simply hummed non-commitally. "He's part of the League, we have to!"

"He has always wanted to be a hero," Dabi murmured. Himiko whipped her head around to look at him. The man just shrugged. "Maybe he's getting the chance."

Himiko let out a feral growl at him before marching out of the bar, door slamming behind him. Kurogiri turned to the other recruits and dismissed them all. One by one, they began to trickle out until it was only Shigaraki, Dabi, and Kurogiri in the bar.

Shigaraki let out a shaky sigh, straightening up. He cracked his neck and scratched at it, making low noises of poorly restrained frustration. Kurogiri then excused himself and teleported away. The gray-haired man glanced around the room to make sure it was really only him and Dabi. Once that was confirmed, he rolled his head to the side to look at the other.

"Do you really think that's the case?" he asked. Dabi went back to looking disinterested and shrugged again.

"I mean, Sensei said it himself," Dabi drawled, waving one of his hands almost dismissively, like it would get rid of doubt. "We wouldn't want the stuff Deku did being used against us. The heroes probably realized just how valuable that type of things could be."

Shigaraki hummed lowly. "If he does try to betray us, we should kill him," he said. Dabi was silent for a few seconds before nodding.

"Even Sensei would have to agree with that," Dabi sighed. "If he's valuable to us then he's valuable to them."

The gray-haired man started laughing. Cackling and giggling, Shigaraki moved his hands up to scratch at his face, itching at his jawline and cheeks. Dabi frowned but wrote it off as another one of Shigaraki's outbursts. He strolled out of the bar without a goodbye, just closing the door quietly behind him as Shigaraki's laughing increased. It got crazier and crazier until it all just stopped with a long sigh.

Shigaraki looked up at the ceiling, grinning maniacally.

"Who will know otherwise if he's already dead?"

Chapter Text

"Won't this be dangerous for the students?"

All Might looked up from his lap. Principal Nedzu, Aizawa, Recovery Girl, him, and a few other of the UA staff were all sitting at the meeting table. The tension could be felt. Aizawa was the one who posed the question, the first thing said after Principal Nedzu explained the situation with Izuku Midoriya and the proposed idea of what to do with him a few minutes ago.

"Possibly, but they have dealt with villains in the past," Principal Nedzu said. "And with him staying on the campus, we can make more direct efforts to keep him from being taken back from the villains. If he was only in prison, it would be much easier for them to rescue him. We also have a hostage if they try anything again."

"He's still a villain, no matter how young," Blood King said. "Him being here puts students in danger regardless! We weren't able to decipher everything on his laptop, so we can't even know the extent of what he's done for the league."

"Exactly," Aizawa agreed. "We can't trust him just because he's the same age as our students. They might have gone against villains before, even this one, but there's no way someone like him could survive being in the league without some kind of manipulation capability."

"Villain or not he's a kid," Recovery Girl snapped. The others instantly stopped whatever they were about to say at the sound of the usually quiet old woman raising her voice. "And like every other kid who's ever seen heroes in action, he still has some kind of hope to be one. I've spent enough time with that boy to know. His skills can also open a lot of improvement opportunities to the students! You've seen the notebooks. The things in there could help them become great heroes. He just needs a push in the right direction and he can help us!"

All Might stayed quiet as the others started debated heatedly with each other. He slouched down further into his chair. He stared down at his lap and frowned. How could they let something like this happen to a kid?

X

Katsuki was even more pissed than usual as Aizawa announced what he and the teachers had done with Deku. When class was dismissed for lunch, he marched away from the rest of the group to eat off in some far corner of the school until the bell rang.

What the hell were they thinking!? Villain is villain, and the only reason he was a villain is because he was a whiny brat!

"Oi, Bakugou," another voice cut in. Katsuki jolted as Kirishima, Uraraka, and Todoroki walked around the corner. Kirishima gave his a concerned look as the three of them sat at the table with him, Kirishima next to him and the other two across from him. Katsuki scowled. "That Deku guy was your friend, right?-" Katsuki just narrowed his eyes and looked out the window next to him. "-You... really don't like him, do you?"

Katsuki didn't answer. Kirishima didn't comment on it, or make any noise of exasperation, just pulling out his lunch and pushing a few things towards Katsuki. Todoroki and Uraraka placed their trays on the table and started eating quietly. The three of them stayed silent, letting Bakugou slump forward on the table, resting his face on his crossed arms.

Uraraka and Kirishima eventually started up a small conversation, about homework or some school related thing. Todoroki just poked at his food, taking small bites now and then. Katsuki did eat a few things, but he just wasn't hungry. Sure, his stomach felt hollow but it wasn't hungry-hollow. Just hollow.

They hadn't see Deku at all that day. Aizawa said that the villain—ex-villain, technically—would've been joining them around the school that day. The green-haired boy was no where to be seen so far. Katsuki was... He wasn't scared. Like hell he would be. He just couldn't think of what else to call it. Seeing Deku in a setting where neither of them were allowed to hit each other will be beyond awkward and tense. He didn't have an explanation for anything that Deku had done except for vague words.

"...just a damn nerd who killed people 'cause he didn't get what he wanted," Katsuki grumbled under his breath unintentionally. The other three went silent and turned to him. "He just couldn't take not being able to be a goddamn hero and went and did the opposite..."

"Pain is relative, Bakugou," Uraraka said after a moment of silence. Todoroki kept a blank face, staring down at the table. Kirishima glanced between the two of them, nervous of what was going to happen next. Katsuki glared up at her as she stood, picking up the trash at the table and balancing it on her tray to throw it all out. She stared down at Katsuki with a half-angry expression. "Just because it wouldn't hurt you that bad, doesn't mean it wouldn't hurt him."

X

Izuku avoided everyone from the hero course—teachers and students alike. They had put all the things they allowed him to keep in one of the empty dorms of 1-A's building in the middle of the night, when everyone was asleep. He stayed in there until half an hour before lunch, when all the students were in class but not out and around the campus for lunch. He didn't bother unpacking any of the boxes they shoved all his stuff into. He needed to, though, they probably mixed everything up so he'd have to reorganize it.

Lunch soon came around, signaled by the loud ringing of the bell. Izuku was out in one of the park-like areas on campus. He watched from the shadow of a tree as kids walked out, some carrying lunch trays. He pulled the UA jacket they had given him to help him blend in tighter around him. He had only the jacket and pants of the uniform, but hopefully just having a black shirt underneath would be enough to fit in.

Izuku walked out into the crowd, keeping his head down as he went into the building. No one noticed one other face in the crowd. He made his way towards the cafeteria, from what he remembered of the maps all those months ago. He walked at a pace only a little faster than normal, not wanting to seem out of the ordinary.

He mentally cursed as he realized he went the wrong way and turned to go back the other way. A hand landed on his shoulder and he jumped. He looked up, frowning instantly, before he relaxed. Not Kacchan—better to avoid that confrontation as long as possible. It was the purple-haired kid from the nurse's office,

"They actually let you stay around, huh, villain kid?" Shinsou said. Izuku glanced around at the others in the hall. They all walked around him, going out of their way to avoid getting near them.

"Everyone knows?" Izuku sighed.

"Nope," Shinsou said, looking over at the students walking past them, avoiding even looking at them. It was mostly if not all Gen Ed kids. "They're avoiding me, but that's normal-" he turned back to Izuku. "-Consequence of having a traditional villain quirk. Get lost? The cafeteria food is pretty good, come on."

Izuku blinked with a shocked face. Shinsou gestured with his head to the hall behind him. Izuku slowly nodded and the two of them started walking down the hall. So much for not standing out. People gawked at Izuku walking with him, some with even pitying looks. On the bright-side, the crowds usually parted for them.

Shinsou was silent, leading the way calmly as Izuku glanced at the others. He really wanted to know what Shinsou's quirk was, now. When they entered the cafeteria, there was still a line. They stepped behind the last person—who shot Shinsou a dirty look.

"They really hate you," Izuku snorted, smirking at the indignant noise the person made. They turned their nose up and pointedly looked away, talking with their friends in front of them. The friends glanced back at Shinsou and Izuku. They gave the same disgusted look to Shinsou, and a pitying one to Izuku. "They're looking at me like my pet just died."

"Probably think you're brainwashed," Shinsou shrugged. "Most people just see my quirk in action and assume I'll abuse it every second I get."

"Brainwashing? Seriously? That's awesome," Izuku breathed, childish grin appearing on his face. Shinsou raised an eyebrow at his expression, smirking exasperatedly. "What's the limitation?"

"Only works if they talk back," the purple-haired boy said as the line moved. More people fell in behind them. "Save the quirk talk for later, okay?"

Izuku nodded, already coming up with questions to ask later on. He wished he could stop that part of him that did it, but it was an automatic response. They were quiet as the line kept moving. Lunch-Rush paused a little at Izuku, before filling the tray along with Shinsou's.

Shinsou led them through the cafeteria, out into the hall and then outside. Izuku followed without a word. They say down in one of the courtyards, under one of the trees. There was no bench, so they just sat down on the ground. Izuku started eating immediately. Shinsou snorted at his enthusiasm and Izuku flicked his arm.

"So... how'd you know about me sticking around here?" Izuku asked as he finished off the main part of his lunch. He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and leaned back against the trunk of the tree. "Thought it was only hero kids."

"The pros are covering all their bases with this one," Shinsou sighed, slumping against the tree next to him. "Since I met you and 'figured out' you were a villain, they made sure that I would stay quiet about it. All I had to do was start a rumor that the villain got thrown in jail. It was a lot harder than you'd think since everyone refuses to talk to me."

"Wow," Izuku scoffed. "How do they know you and the hero students won't spill?"

"Expulsion."

"...Really? They're really taking this seriously."

"No kidding," Shinsou groaned. "Kinda annoying that I got dragged into it, but it's something to do and think about, right?-" he paused suddenly. "I just realized you never told me your name. We haven't done introductions, formally at least-" he turned to Izuku and held his hand out, small smile on his face showing he knew how stupid it was "-Hitoshi Shinsou, pleasure."

Izuku rolled his eyes, smiling in a similar way and shaking Shinsou's hand. "Izuku Midoriya," he said. "But everyone just calls me Deku. Lovely meeting you."

"Midoriya, then," Shinsou said, shifting and lacing his hands behind his head.

Izuku thought the name felt weird, but he decided it was good weird. He relaxed gratefully and kept eating. Shinsou silently slid his own tray, half finished over to him. Izuku muttered a thanks before finishing it off. The two of them just stayed by the tree as the lunch hour slowly ended.

Shinsou stood up and nudge Izuku with his foot to do the same. Izuku slowly dragged himself up, complaining. The other asked him where he was going, Izuku said he was just gonna head back to the 1-A dorms, then maybe try a day of school if they'd let him walk around with Shinsou instead of the hero students. Shinsou nodded silently and lead them back into the building to get rid of their trays.

They slid the trays into the return box and then went back in the direction of the main hall. They'd split up there so Izuku could go back to the dorms and Shinsou to his classes. Shinsou didn't try starting a conversation, and Izuku was glad for it. Anyone else would probably ask about the whole villain experience. It was good that Shinsou didn't have interest in any things like that.

Izuku visibly tensed when he saw a head of ash blond hair walk out of a room. He moved to the other side of Shinsou and use him as a sort-of human shield. He could still see as Kacchan and three other hero students walked out—Todoroki and the gravity girl, he knew, but the third he only remembered a little.

Contrast to seemingly entire Gen Ed, the hero students didn't even look at Shinsou. The purple-haired boy didn't ask questions or act any differently, just let Izuku use him to hide from the hero students as they passed. Izuku was a little curious, especially at seeing the one he couldn't remember talking to Kacchan with a grin. The gravity girl was laughing with whatever was being said, and Todoroki was clearly trying to hide a smile. Despite all that, Kacchan didn't look miserable or all that annoyed, just quietly listening to whatever they were saying.

Izuku turned his eyes back down to his feet as he walked. Shinsou glanced down at him once and kept his eyes forward. They reached the main hall and Shinsou wished him luck. Izuku did, too, and they went their own ways.

As Izuku went back to the dorms, he went straight to the room he was given, and curled up on the bed, wrapping himself in the blanket. Aizawa had said he'd be checking in on him that night. That would be the time to ask if he could be with the Gen Ed kids all day instead of the hero ones. Hopefully, it would be allowed. Izuku isn't sure he could handle being around a bunch of aspiring heroes for however long.

Chapter Text

"Since your quirk is heavily based on whether the other person knows it's specifics or not, maybe consider not just going right into controlling them the second they respond?"

"I don't get it."

"Like... If you get someone to respond, you don't have to immediately start bossing them around, right?"

"Dunno, but there's probably a limit."

"Exactly, so if you figure out the time limit, then you just dodge whatever their attacks are and start controlling them after they respond a few times. It'll seem like you could do it whenever you want, or at least hide the actual way you get control."

"When'd you think this up?"

"Last night. Not like I'm gonna sleep anyways, y'know."

"Mhm."

Hitoshi glanced up from where he was looking over Midoriya's shoulder at the notebook the green-haired boy had brought with him that morning. The Gen Ed kids at the tables around them were giving Midoriya pitying looks. They all were probably thinking that it was just bad luck for the "exchange student" to end up somehow sitting with him. Hitoshi making eye contact with them made them quickly look away, going back to their lunches. Midoriya poked him in the ribs to get his attention again. He looked back down and Midoriya tapped a chicken-scratch doodle on the page of his notebook. It was supposed to be a visual representation of Hitoshi's quirk. He didn't get the doodle, but he got what Midoriya was saying. He'd never really thought about other ways to use his quirk besides using it the second someone gave him the ability to.

A louder conversation was added to the chatter of the Support, Management, and Gen Ed kids eating. Hitoshi and Midoriya looked up as the hero course students walked in. Hitoshi watched blankly as Midoriya slumped down into the seat they were sitting it. It didn't hide him at all. Unlike the hall, Hitoshi couldn't block him from the sight of the others. As Midoriya tried to hide, placing his arm next to his head to avoid eye contact.

Hitoshi watched as the hero students walked in. They had come a little late as a result of their special hero training. He felt the corners of his mouth twitch down but suppressed it. The ash blond that Midoriya had told him about earlier that day—to explain exactly why he'd used Hitoshi as a human shield—was with the three he had been with yesterday along with another blond and black-haired boy. Hitoshi didn't know his name, he never asked and he doubted that what Midoriya called him was his real name. Hitoshi never tried hiding his staring or observation of anyone—he wondered if that was another reason people were so set on avoiding him—and that was still true now. He watched blatantly as the hero students walked in.

The ash blond noticed it somehow, even if he and Midoriya were sat off in a far corner, and looked over at him with a scowl. Hitoshi raised his eyebrow and the blond's eyes flickered over to Midoriya sitting next to him. The pissed expression immediately changed into shock and something else. The brown haired girl and white-red haired boy noticed his attention being torn away, too, and looked over at him and Midoriya with surprise written all over their faces.

Hitoshi smirked and gave a small wave, looking back down at Midoriya. The other now had the back of his head facing the students. Midoriya scowled at him and Hitoshi just grinned.

"You were saying..." he said, tapping the notebook.

"You're evil," Midoriya groaned. Hitoshi glanced up at the hero students as they got in line for lunch. The three that noticed them kept looking over, like they couldn't believe it.

"C'mon," Hitoshi urged, nudging him in the shoulder. Midoriya sighed and sat back up, peering over at the hero students for half a second before picking up his pen and going back to writing and sketching.

"They come over here, I'm punching you," Midoriya muttered.

"Deal."

"As I was saying, the time limit might not even be an issue if you're able to get them really mad," Midoriya continued, going back into his ideas. "Then they'd think it might have something to do with another thing they did in that time frame, and if they keep responding to whatever you're saying, then the time limit won't be an issue. That, and, the bump thing might make them think it's a physical thing if you manage to tap them before you do it."

"Just so you know, this is a bit creepy," Hitoshi said, gesturing to the notebook. He lifted a few pages near the start, flipping through them. "You have like the entire hero course in these things, right?"

"...Yeah," Midoriya said quietly, nodding. "It was... for the league, and I did it a lot before then, too."

"'M not complaining, Midoriya," Hitoshi said, twirling a a bit of food on the plastic fork and waving it in the air above his tray. "You started it 'cause you wanted to be a hero, right?"

"Doesn't everyone?" Midoriya snorted bitterly.

"You're not wrong. But you did it 'cause you didn't have a quirk to do it with," Hitoshi continued, smirking again. Midoriya had given him the short version of the story of him ending up as villain that morning, along with the past including the ash blond in the hero course. "You aimed high, can't blame you. We can't help what we look up to. You didn't have your own quirk to break apart like this, so you did it with everyone else's to show that if you had what they had, you could do better. That's what I get from your whole situation, at least."

"Okay now that's creepy," Midoriya said, grinning as he shoved Hitoshi's shoulder. The purple-haired boy frowned and tilted his head to the side as he bit off the food on the fork. "We sure that you don't have mind-reading with that brainwashing?"

"Ugh, sure hope not."

Midoriya and him chuckled. Hitoshi ate only a few more bites before sliding the rest of his food over to Midoriya who had already finished his own food in the first few minutes of lunch. Midoriya dug in right away, closing the notebook and shoving it into the beat-up messenger bag he'd been carrying around all day. Hitoshi started playing with his fingers, looking back out at the rest of the lunch room. A few people looked away when he glanced at them, but most were just minding their own business now.

Hitoshi balanced his chin in his palm and turned his eyes to where he noticed the hero students going. The blond and his little group of friends—now a pink-skinned girl with them—were sitting at a table not that far away. The white-red haired boy kept glancing up at them, and the blond went from unabashed staring to pointedly ignoring. The other five were just trying to ignore them as best as they could.

The blond had been looking straight at him when Hitoshi looked up. His face twisted up in a scowl, causing the others at the table to look over at Hitohsi and Midoriya to see what exactly made him so mad.

Midoriya frowned and glanced up as he finished his food. He gave Hitoshi a dirty look and the other just smirked and looked out the window. He got up and went the way opposite the table with with hero students to put their trays in the box. Once he was a good distance away, the blond stood up and marched over, hands jammed in his pockets. The others at his table made futile attempts to stop him, until the three he'd been with the day before stood up and followed after him. Hitoshi watched them out of the corner of his eye as they approached. He could have some fun with this.

The four of them stopped at the table at the same time. The blond was glaring harshly, the girl and spiky red haired boy looked nervous, while the last one just had a blank face. Hitoshi wiped the smirk off his face and frowned in fake concern.

"Can I help you?" he asked.

The blond opened his mouth to respond, but another voice cut in.

"Don't respond to him!" a Gen Ed kid said quickly from the table across the space the four hero-kids were standing in. The blond turned and glared harshly at them, causing them to jolt. "He... uh... He can control you if you respond to him."

"We were about to have an engaging conversation," Hitoshi sighed, grin reappearing on his face. The Gen Ed kid shut their mouth and glared down at him. Hitoshi snorted, running a hand through his hair. "That's no fun."

"I don't care!" the blond growled, whipping his head around to stare back down at Hitoshi. The Gen Ed kid "Why the hell are you hanging out with Deku? Why the hell isn't he with the hero course like a... like someone like him should be?"

"Would you want to be with hero course kids given his circumstances?" Hitoshi asked, nonchalantly leaning on the table and drumming his fingers on the side of his face. "And sorry, didn't know he was off limits or whatever."

"If you know what's going on with him, then shouldn't you want to stay away from him?" the white and red haired boy asked. He seemed to realize that they were in a public place, where any of the tables around them could and were listening.

Hitoshi snorted and stood up, swinging his bag over his shoulder.

"Yeah, probably," he shrugged. The blond looked even more pissed at that. "But from personal experience, I actually couldn't care less. So mind your own business, heroes."

"Who the he-" the blond started.

"Be quiet," Hitoshi snapped—quirk activating. The blond's face went blank and he froze where he was standing. The Gen Ed students behind them all stared at Hitoshi angrily. "Now slap yourself and snap out of it."

Hitoshi smirked as the blond smacked himself across the face, hard. His cheek was slightly reddened by the force of it. He looked confused and insulted for a second before staring at Hitoshi with unadulterated rage, snarling.

"In my defense, they did warn you," Hitoshi said, shrugging again as he walked away. "But seriously, mind your own business."

He could feel the eyes of hero students on his back. He hated using his quirk outside the necessary, but if it wasn't fun to use it at moments like that. He grinned as he heard the blond start grumbling and cursing under his breath. The other girl and spiky haired one were trying to calm the blond down.

Midoriya was standing at the end of the aisle of tables, face carefully blank. Hitoshi walked up next to him, looking over his shoulder. The blond was slowly calming down, the two still saying things to him. The red-and-white haired one was frowning with narrowed eyes, watching Midoriya and Hitoshi.

"You made him do that?" Midoriya asked quietly, just so Hitoshi could hear. "I thought you didn't like using your quirk unless necessary."

"I don't, and I hate myself for saying this," Hitoshi grumbled, slumping his shoulders. "But it was pretty much worth it."

"Oh it was," Midoriya agreed. They exchanged a smirk.

Hitoshi looked back at the hero students. The girl and red-and-white haired boy were walking back to the table. The blond was looking at them, the red haired one trying to urge him back to the table. He still looked mad, but the surface was cracking and showing another emotion. Midoriya didn't seem to notice it, as he snorted and turned to walk away. Hitoshi frowned.

That expression was concern of all things. He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly, just to make sure the blond could see, and followed after Midoriya as they headed out to their usual spot outside.

Chapter Text

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Izuku was surprised at all the newbies that greeted him when he, Himiko, and Kurogiri strutted into the new main room after a short private conversations. There were ones he spoke with briefly before the attack at the UA forest camp, but most he hadn't even seen. He shot a surprised look over at Himiko and the girl just smiled wider.

Most of them were talking with each other, forming little groups at different tables. Izuku frowned slightly as he and Himiko crossed the room to one of the empty tables near the back of the room—the one with the computer monitor on it. Eyes followed him, and he ignored them. Instead, he focused on undoing the straps on his arms. As useful as those were, he needed to make new ones because the ones he still had were way too bulky for what he usually did. He flopped down on one of the stools, Himiko sitting in the one next to him.

"They took pretty much everything," Himiko started. "They're so mean! How did you deal with them that long?"

"It was barely anything," Izuku said, leaning down to pull off the shock absorbers and throw them under the table. Kurogiri appeared next to them, sitting in the seat across from them. "But half of my things were in shorthand, so I doubt they could make sense of it... Still sucks, though. Now I have to start from scratch on lab materials and serums."

"You should have someone else get what you need for you," Kurogiri added. Izuku spun on the stool, leaning on the table. "The heroes and cops will be on guard for you, now. And students from other departments will probably be aware of you."

"I know one Gen Ed kid is for sure," Izuku sighed, shrugging the backpack off his shoulders and dropping it on the floor next to him. "He was interesting. Shame he's so dead set on being a hero. But I doubt the heroes will let anyone know if they can—we didn't exactly raise hell getting me out of there... As for supplies, I'll just make a list and we'll figure it out from there. Where's handy and hero killer fanboy?"

"Are you aware of the Eight Precepts of Death?" Kurogiri asked after a pause.

"Yakuzas, right?" Izuku said, tapping his chin with his fingers. He froze. "Oh please don't tell me we sent Shigaraki to handle that."

"No, however Sensei had been planning on at least reaching a peaceful negotiation with them," Kurogiri explained. Himiko nodded along. "Shigaraki and Dabi went out to simply deliver a short message, and they should be returning shortly."

"...You sure they're gonna try and kill me?" Izuku asked Himiko. The blonde nodded with a pout. Izuku gave her an incredulous look. "Do you actually think they'd get away with it?"

"Of course not!" Himiko said, leaning closer to him and slapping her hand against the table to punctuate it. "I wouldn't let them even if your guard was down. But it'll be really boring without you."

Izuku smiled and Himiko did, too. The blonde started to recount all the events that happened within the League while Izuku was in UA. Izuku hummed and nodded where appropriate as Himiko went on and on. He was listening, but also looking over all the new recruits. He should probably go around and introduce himself, like he used to, but he pushed it aside for another day. He'd deal with their already established bias against him later.

Himiko's rambling form of story telling was interrupted by the buzzing of the screen on the table as a signal came through. She shut up immediately. Izuku and her whipped their attention to the screen, as did most of the room. A few continued talking, but quieter to keep it to themselves. Izuku noticed Himiko glancing at the group and nudged her with her elbow. The blonde looked back to the screen quickly.

Slowly, the grainy image of Sensei's usual seat appeared. It focused after another few seconds and Izuku smiled.

"Deku, it's a pleasure to see you with us again," the man said. Some of the recruits listening seemed to tense up and stare at Izuku at that direct address. When Sensei called in the past, he usually spoke to Kurogiri first or gave a general greeting. "I hope we did not take too long."

"Just glad to be out, Sensei," Izuku replied, grinning innocently. Himiko seemed to perk up next to him, bouncing in her seat. "They confiscated a lot of my things, though. I was thinking I'd just make a shopping list of sorts to get what I need to start from scratch."

"I trust you can sort out your own things," Sensei nodded. "As for the rest of the League, we will begin approaching the Eight Precepts. Shigaraki and Dabi have already gone, as I understand, but they've yet to return?"

"They should be back any moment," Kurogiri cut in. Sensei hummed confirmation.

"Until they do, Deku I wish to speak with you in private. Kurogiri will show you where to go," Sensei said. Izuku nodded, standing up as the transmission ended.

Himiko waved at him as Izuku and Kurogiri walked out of the room, going out a back-side door. Izuku waved back and let the door close behind him with a quiet click. Kurogiri lead him silently down the halls and up some stairs. Izuku took the time to examine their new living conditions.

The last place was just as dirty, so no complaints there. Rubble strewn across the ground, although most of it was shoved into corners or where the walls met the floor. Dust and dirt everywhere, and thickly visible in the air when light shine through the room just right. It was all dark cement and concrete walls, cracks littering every surface. There wasn't silence until they went through another door, the conversation that had started up in the main room floating down the halls even if no words could be made out.

Izuku hummed happily and practically pranced down the halls as Kurogiri lead the way. He enjoy the semi-silence before Shigaraki and Dabi came after him with a death threat. At the base, he knew he'd never be able to take them—especially not both at once. He could stall and delay until either Himiko or Kurogiri came to his rescue, as he doubted any newbies would stand up for him against the two. No matter what he did to waste time, any situation he ran through his head ended with him a pile of ash. That wouldn't be fun, regardless of who's quirk did the damage.

Kurogiri suddenly stopped and turned to face Izuku. He looked down at the green-haired boy for a few seconds before letting at a quiet breath.

"It is a relief to have you back," Kurogiri muttered.

"Tired of babysitting them all?" Izuku snorted, smiling sympathetically.

He knew—anyone could put it together, really—Kurogiri was essentially the only voice of reason that anyone would listen to within the main five—consisting of himself, Kurogiri, Shigaraki, Himiko, and Dabi. Kurogiri only let out a huff that could be called a laugh and knocked on the door they were in front of.

A muffled voice came through the door and Kurogiri opened it slowly, gesturing Izuku in. Izuku hesitantly walked in. In there it was much darker than the early daylight was that filling the rest of the building. The windows were blacked out or blocked with something, and almost all the overhead lights were off. One light was on, only dimly, over a large desk with a computer monitor on it. Izuku watched over his shoulder as the door clicked shut before facing forward and walking towards the desk.

"I apologize for the suddenness, but it is urgent," the person in the chair behind the desk said. They were facing away from the door, and slowly turned the chair to face Izuku. The green-haired boy's eyes widened at the familiar scarred face and mask. Sensei looked up at him. "I have something very important to tell and offer you."

Izuku nodded numbly.

"Please, grab a chair."

Jolting back to attention, Izuku looked around, noticing a metal chair in front of the desk for the first time. He picked it up and placed it closer to Sensei and sat down, knee bouncing slightly as he tried to frantically figure out what exactly was happening.

"Now there's no reason to be nervous, Deku," Sensei said calmly. Izuku relaxed only marginally. "I simply called you here in person because it would be better for us all if the others didn't hear this... You are well aware of All Might's quirk One for All?-" another nod "-And I've told you of my own, correct?"

"Um... You mentioned it was the opposite but nothing else," Izuku said quietly. He was scared that talking would somehow make him disrespectful. He did owe this man a life—his to be more precise.

"Well, in a way it is the opposite," Sensei sighed. He shifted forward, resting his arms on the table and lacing his fingers together. "You see, I have the ability to take anyone's quirk if I so wish. I can also give it back to the person, or give it to another. I keep quite a few to myself. It's how the Noumus are made with multiple quirks-" by now Izuku was too surprised at the blatant honesty to do anything bu stare and listen "-One of the reasons Shigaraki has such a... passionate dislike of you is because he worries you'll become a better successor for this quirk than he is. Which you have."

Izuku's lips parted and he stared up at Sensei in awe. Usually, he couldn't get his head to shut up, not he couldn't even think of anything to say to the man in front of him—one who'd given him everything almost.

"I called you here to tell you that, as well as make you an offer," Sensei concluded. "Due to your quirkless status, it'll be hard to adjust, but I have faith that you will master it before too many people know I've passed my quirk on. Would you like to be the successor to All for One?"

"I—what?"

Chapter Text

Toga scrolled through the blog she was looking at, humming to herself and kicking her legs. Her and Dekkun were lying down on one of the beds the League set up as they planned where their new base would be. The mattresses were put of in a few of the rooms branching off the main one where all the tables were, and most of the newbies stuck around in them. They still avoided Dekkun and Toga. Kurogiri talked to them normally, and they all respected him as a leader. Shigaraki and Dabi were a sort of split—half were pretty social and nice with them while the others were dead scared of them.

Dekkun seemed fine with it though, and Toga couldn't care less if Dekkun didn't care either. Toga was glad he was back. Things were still dicey since the newbies had yet to see him in action, and he got called away by their literal top boss only yesterday. Toga had gone out and bought everything that Dekkun wrote on the list, using one of the League's credit cards. Now he had a new laptop—the old had to be trashed in case of tracking devices—along with some new tech to fix up and modify for his personal use, a new phone, two notebooks, a pistol, some chemicals, construction and copy paper, string, a few rolls of scotch and duct tape, colored markers, and two packs of pens. It was surprisingly hard to get the gun, but she found a way. There were also a few other odds and ends that Toga didn't fully understand but bought anyway since it was on the list and it wasn't like she was spending her own money.

Even with all that, Dekkun had yet to touch anything besides the laptop to set it up. Now, he was just using the webcam as a mirror. The rest of the things were in a bag next to the old mattress they set up on the floor. Toga didn't question it, though. Dekkun knew what he was doing regardless of what it seemed.

“Himiko?” Dekkun piped up. Toga looked up from her computer. The break in their silence drew attention from a few newbies sitting nearby. “Do you think I should cut my hair?”

“Why would you do that? It's so fluffy!” Toga said, smiling as she sat up on her knees and patted his head. The green curls just bounced back into place. The newbies who were listening started to tune out at that point.

“I look like broccoli,” Dekkun deadpanned. Toga giggled and shrugged.

“Best kind,” she said. “But what were you thinking?”

“Shave the sides?” Dekkun shrugged. “Just something different, you know? I don't think there's much point with me keeping it like this anymore. I'm bored of the look. Could you cut it for me?”

“Of course!” Toga cheered. She put both her hands in his hair and ruffled it. Dekkun just snorted and let her do it. “You gotta give me an idea first.”

“Just no cutting flesh,” Dekkun said. She pouted but nodded.

“Fine, fine.”

“Later then, I have stuff to set up.”

“Need help?”

“Sure.”

X X X X X

Izuku didn't mind redoing all his charts and taping papers to the walls to sort out his thoughts, it was more a matter of finding a place newbies wouldn't touch. With Himiko's help, he carried all the papers, markers, tape, string, pens, and notebooks he took with him out into the main room. Kurogiri was reading a book at the table they all sit at. Izuku and Himiko trotted over to him.

“Kurogiri, where can I set up my things?” Izuku asked.

Kurogiri looked up and then glanced around the room. Newbies were spread around the room, chatting with each other and just spending their time out in the open space. Kurogiri gestured to a corner of the room. There were no doors near it, and it was out of the way enough so no one would go by it unless it was on purpose. Izuku thanked him and Himiko and him walked over to it, setting down their things.

Izuku huffed and put his hands on his hips, looking up and down the wall. It was pretty clean, all things considering, but it wasn't like he'd be reaching up high enough where the cobwebs were. He grabbed his note books and papers and got to work.

It was a little chaotic, but Himiko willingly handed him papers when he needed, and read parts of his notebooks out loud. Working on a corner was a little more difficult than the wall at his old apartment, but was a little easier to see everything. Izuku told Himiko what to give him without looking, more focused on redoing his system. It would be different, a more organized mess now that he got to start from scratch again. All his UA student notes were together—the entirety of class 1-A along with Shinsou, who Himiko asked about but Izuku just waved her question off. Izuku was rambling a bit as he went through to process, mostly just what he was writing or mental notes. Himiko answered some of his rhetorical questions, and they both laughed at some of those.

By the time Izuku was half done, and turned to inspect what supplies he had left over, they had a small crowd of newbies watching. He jolted a little, not expecting them all to be there. They were staring at the wall with wide eyes and either scared or impressed expressions. One of them had his mouth hanging open and Izuku snorted.

“Close your mouth, you'll catch flies,” Izuku mentioned.

The guy snapped out of his little trance and shut his mouth instantly. He looked a little scared, and kept glancing to one portion of the wall. Izuku looked over where he was. It was the part with the complete breakdown of proheroes likely to be called on to deal with them or who had dealt with them.

Izuku just rolled his eyes and crouched down next to Himiko, who was sitting on the ground and spreading the papers out. The guy was actually freaked out by that? He had no idea.

“There's not much left, but I can go get some more!” Himiko offered. “We're getting you up and working like before, so it's no biggie.”

“Mm, no it's fine, this is good enough for the next two days,” Izuku said, shaking his head. He stood back up and stretched his arms over his head, yawning slightly. “I'm hungry.”

“Oh! There's a really good burger place around the corner,” Himiko chirped, bouncing up onto her feet. “I'll go get some.”

“Are you sure? We can send someone else,” Izuku shrugged, glancing at the newbies. Some had stepped up to the walls and were reading some of the things. A few looked vaguely insulted at the thought of being used as errand runners, but Izuku ignored them. He turned his attention to the ones getting a little too close to the wall. “Touch my stuff and I'll make your time here hell.”

That got them to step back, a little reluctantly. They didn't believe him, obviously, but after looking at the notes, they at least had the intelligence to have some caution. Himiko giggled at that and she and Izuku walked over to the table with Kurogiri. Shigaraki and Dabi were sitting there.

Tensions had been a little higher than normal between Izuku and Shigaraki. Izuku hadn't breathed a word about what happened with Sensei, and it didn't seem like Shigaraki knew, so he wasn't about to answer it without prompting. Dabi was indifferent to Izuku coming back. He had welcomed the younger back when he walked in after coming back from the Eight Precepts, but that was all. Speaking of the Eight Precepts... It did not seem that their meeting went well. Shigaraki threw a minor tantrum and a few newbies got scared. He and Dabi had to talk to Sensei, and Himiko, Kurogiri, and Izuku were allowed to listen. They lost one of their better men, one that Izuku had liked for following all his orders to a T. Shigaraki expressed his distaste for their leader, who apparently had claimed he only heard of the League in passing recently, wondering if they were really as dangerous as they said.

The meeting was resolved fairly quickly—as quickly as they could with Shigaraki ranting for the better half of it. Sensei told Izuku that he would be put in charge handling the negotiations with the Eight Precepts. Shigaraki wasn't happy with that, but Sensei assured him that he'd still be in charge of dealing with the newbies.

That was yesterday, and it seemed that despite the reassuring, Shigaraki's anger only festered and grew. Izuku could practically feel him about to start yelling or something. Kurogiri seemed ready to stop any of them from launching themselves at another.

“How was UA?” Dabi asked eventually, breaking the silence. Izuku looked over at him in faint surprise. He was the last person he expected to speak first. “Boring, I assume.”

“Painfully,” Izuku snorted. “Overrated, really. Not worth all the hype it gets.”

“And yet you let almost all your things get taken,” Shigaraki mumbled. Izuku felt his eye twitch. He wasn't about to take any of that from him.

“Got something to say, handy?” he snarled. He felt some newbies turn to face them. “'Cause I can't hear you over your jealousy. It's not a good look for you, not that you ever look good.”

“Jealousy!?” Shigaraki snapped. Izuku smirked. There it was. The gray-haired man slammed his hands on the table and stood up. He glared down at Izuku hard, but Izuku stayed unaffected. “Like I would be jealous of someone like you. Worthless and helpless if it weren't for your brain. A quirkless villain wannabe who happened to get lucky.”

“Watch it,” Izuku hissed.

“If you had a quirk, face it, you'd be trying to be a hero,” Shigaraki continued. Izuku grit his teeth and stood up slowly. “You're a brat with too much of an ego just 'cause you got some special attention. Now you're gonna fight me? You? If you weren't so desperate for approval, I'd laugh.”

“It's hilarious hearing that come from you,” Izuku laughed coldly. A few people stiffened at the sound of that and more were watching the exchange. “The literal child of the League. I have an ego? Have you seen yourself? Honestly, I wouldn't be so confident in myself if I had actual competition for praise. He pities you, and you're just a face for us. Why don't you grow up a bit and realize some of this? I'd hate to have to hold any of your hands through this.”

Shigaraki pushed himself over the table and Izuku brought his arm up hard, like he was going to punch Shigaraki, but it never connected. A rush went through Izuku's body. It shot through him from his hand up his arm, and through the rest of his body. A vaguely warm feeling was left in his forearm and hand. He shivered a little at the feeling. Shigaraki was sent flying back from a burst of air that came out of seemingly nowhere.

That was nice. Izuku smirked and looked down at his palm. It was only one use, but if it didn't get the heart racing. He felt like people who grew up with quirks underrated the feeling.

All eyes were on him. Kurogiri was standing, now, obviously about to teleport Shigaraki out of the way before Izuku stepped in for himself. Dabi was showing the most emotion on his face Izuku had ever seen. He gawked between Shigaraki and Izuku. Himiko's mouth was open in shock and she blinked over at where Shigaraki was knocked onto his back. Newbies were standing back, ready to duck out of the way of whatever fight happened. Some seemed to remember that Izuku was supposed to be quirkless, and watched the incident with vague fear.

Shigaraki sat up roughly and stared at Izuku with wide eyes. He looked a little horrified. Izuku cackled at that, and he stared at his arm. That felt really good. For the rush and the look on Shigaraki's face.

“You're quirkless!” Shigaraki shouted.

“Maybe,” Izuku laughed. He felt giddy. Shigaraki got to his feet, but didn't try to do anything. “Maybe not! But I'm just getting started, so why don't we sort something out--” He stepped back and grinned, arms crossed in front of him. Himiko was smiling like the best thing just happened and Kurogiri was sitting down again, watching the scene nervously “--You have no right to be saying that kind of stuff. I'm the brains here, so back off. Sensei would get mad if you hurt his successor.”

Shigaraki stiffened at that. The whole successor deal was kept to him, Kurogiri, and Izuku, so Himiko, Dabi, or any of the others staring at them had no idea of the true meaning of that sentence. Shigaraki stared at him blankly and Izuku laughed. It was rare seeing Shigaraki speechless, but the context made it that much better. A few seconds later and Shigaraki was up and storming out of the room. The crowd of newbies parted for him. Izuku rolled his eyes.

“C'mon Himiko, let's go eat,” he said. Himiko giggled and hopped up. “I haven't had a good burger in a month.”

“Deku, are you sure you want to go out?” Kurogiri asked. “The heroes could be looking.”

“Unless you guys were stupid enough to put us in a hero busty neighborhood, then we'll be fine,” Izuku said, waving his hand dismissively. He and Himiko started towards the door, and the crowd parted—but a lot less than when Shigaraki marched through. He'd sort that out eventually. “I need some new clothes, too, so we can go shopping.”

“Yay!” Himiko laughed. “It's going to be so great with you here again!”

“Good to be back.”

As Izuku and Himiko exited the room and started out to the street, Izuku looked down at his palms. Using a quirk felt great, and he wondered why no one talked about that. It was only one quirk right now, a basic air manipulator that was limited to blasts and large, crude movements.

Sensei had told him that if Izuku had all the quirks at once, he'd be going off with accidental quirk usage for months. They couldn't risk that kind of destruction, so it was one at a time. Izuku had to adjust to having a quirk, and quirk factor that mattered in the first place. After he got control over five quirks at once, the amount of quirks he received weekly would slowly increase until he had half the ones Sensei collected over his life. That was when he'd get the big one, All for One. Then it was up to him to take the remaining quirks from Sensei himself, and maybe give a few just to get the handle of it. Once All for One belonged to Izuku, Sensei would start aging normally, and wouldn't be able to last all that long with his health issues, especially with the heroes hunting them down.

After All for One was Izuku's, it was double time to get a handle of it before the heroes found them. He'd have to fight with either All Might or whoever his successor was. Izuku didn't know who it'd be. He hadn't noticed anyone, at least.

Izuku already mentally braced himself, and he would do exactly as he was already doing until he got put in charge. They were on a semi-tight schedule, since they didn't know when heroes would come knocking, but the process had to be slow in the beginning. Izuku didn't care though. He showed his own as a villain strategist, probably one step down from Sensei in terms of influence. With Sensei's approval, he'd be completely in charge and he'd run the whole show. No hero organization would be able to really stand a chance.

Unlike heroes, and unlike that 80%, he wasn't taking this quirk for granted, or any of the quirks to come. Izuku would show them all what you could do starting from below zero. He wasn't about to waste that chance.