Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

In one universe Izuku Midoriya meets All Might and becomes his successor. That is not this universe. In this universe Izuku gives up on being a hero early on. He never meets All Might and stays quirkless.

He doesn't have a vision for his future and so he chooses to go to the best school in the country...UA. Not as a hero, no simply as a Gen Ed student. And he does get in, which caused him to be in this mess at the moment, so perhaps he should have chosen a school that didn't have a genius as the Principal. 

Izuku sits in front of Principal Nezu, a cup of tea getting cold in front of him. He still wasn't quite sure why he was here, as he hadn't done anything wrong. Well besides running a quirk analysis ring behind the teachers back, but he hadn't meant to do that and there was no way the Principal had found out. The Principal does in fact know about this ring, and would love to get his paws on those notebooks but that's not why he brought Izuku here. 

" Principal Nezu, are you ever going to tell me why I'm here, or are you going to drink that entire pot of tea first?" 

" Well, this tea is quite delicious. You should try yours." 

" No thank you. It's chamomile, which makes you sleepy and more suggestible to suggestions. I'd prefer to be awake for my classes." 

" Ah, very astute of you. Not many look into the properties of tea anymore." Izuku stays silent. It's obvious that Principal Nezu is just trying to deflect. Nezu's eyes gleam. This child is quite interesting. 

" Well, I suppose we can start. It's about your grades." 

" My grades? I have good grades, I don't understand the problem." Izuku drawls. He's missing math for this, and he'd rather be at math if he's being honest.

" You are correct, your grades are quite good. But you see, they aren't good enough." 

" So you called me in here to tell me to do better?" Nezu's grin sharpens. 

" No. I came to ask why you are purposely sabotaging yourself." Izuku's eyes widen minisculely but Nezu still catches it. So he's correct. 

" I don't know what you mean." Izuku attempts to lie.

" Is that so? Well how is it that you have missed exactly enough questions to keep your grade average at an 84%? In fact it has not slipped once all year. I would have never noticed, I don't make it a habit of checking all of the students in my school's grades you know. But Ectoplasm, your dear maths teacher did notice. How you would explain a concept to a student perfectly, only to miss it on a test, even though  he got the other questions correct. And it has repeated itself all year." Izuku mentally curses Ectoplasm-sensei and pastes on a smile. 

" Well, mistakes happen. I suppose I don't check my work enough. I am only human after all." He laughs nervously. He hadn't been expecting this to come up today or ever. It's something he's done since he was a child. If he got perfect work he was accused of cheating and given a zero every time. It was easier to pretend to be dumb and be safe.

Nobody had ever cared enough to call him out on the behaviour so he never thought to become more sneaky about how he fucked his own score up. He thought even if someone had noticed, no one would care. 

" Well, that is true, but you have a pattern that can be tracked throughout all of your assignments. In fact I went to the trouble of looking through all of your previous work and marked the pattern down myself. I also went ahead and gave you a perfect score on all of those assignments. It's clear you are purposely sabotaging yourself. If you hadn't purposely given the wrong answer you wouldn't have missed a question all year." Izuku is really cursing his highschool choice now. 

" I'm sorry Principal Nezu. I didn't want to be accused of cheating. I'll do better next time." Izuku gives a stiff bow and attempts to leave assuming the conversation is over. 

"I'm glad you'll stop giving yourself handicaps, but I'm not sure why you think you'll be accused of cheating. We can get into that later I suppose. But I've heard great things about those notebooks of yours and I'm quite interested in looking through them. So if you wouldn't mind staying for a little longer?" Nezu phrases it as a question, but it's obviously not. So Izuku sits down and hands over his current notebook. Number 54. After giving up on heroics, he'd had a lot more time to put into analysing quirks. 

Nezu can feel his tail start to wag as he looks through the notebook. In front of him sits Midoriya Izuku's true genius. He hasn't seen analysis this well thought out and clever, in a very long time. More than that, most analysts have plenty of footage to watch to analyze, but if the entry on Eraserhead shows anything he doesn't need a video to be able to analyze someone. Nezu knows for a fact that Eraserhead had little to none video footage of him, or his quirk on the internet. But Midoriya has not only dissected it to a T, he has a psychological profile on him and facts not known to people other than his close friends. Like the fact that he's married to Present Mic. 

Nezu looks up and begins to analyze Midoriya closer. It's clear he does some sort of workout routine if the defined muscles on his arms have anything to say. His posture indicates that he has taken at least one form of martial arts. Even the way he watches his surroundings show he has excellent spatial awareness. Midoriya should have made it extremely far in the Sports Festival if Nezu's predictions were correct, and they were. But Nezu couldn't even remember seeing Midoriya in the sports festival at all. Almost like he hadn't tried at all. 

Izuku watches apprehensive as Nezu seems to go into a frenzy whipping through pages at an insane speed. Was he even reading them at this point? Eventually he snaps the notebook shut and begins to stare at Izuku again . Izuku sighs. Is the staring never going to stop? He really just wants to get back to class. 

" Can I go-" 

" Midoriya I would like to offer you a place in the hero course and the opportunity to mentor under me for the next two years at UA." Izuku goes bug eyed and nearly chokes on his own spit. 

" What?!" 

" I would like to offer you a-" 

" No, I heard you. But WHY!" Nezu is quick to share his observations. 

" Midoriya you are smarter than you like to let on. In fact, I wouldn't hesitate to state that you are a certifiable genius. But you sabotage yourself for no reason. More than that, it's clear that you have martial arts experience, if the bruises on your knuckles and your posture have anything to say. I would even go so far as to say you have gymnastic prowess as well. You are the perfect hero candidate, and I have no doubt had you tried in the Sports Festival you would have won. So I'm offering you the chance to join the hero course. As long as you actually start trying." Nezu adds the little joke at the end in the hopes it'd make Midoriya more comfortable. It does not work. 

" No."  Nezu blinks. He hadn't expected him to say no. 

" No? " Izuku scoffs and crosses his hands. 

" Yeah, no." 

" May I ask why? This is an extremely good opportunity. Perhaps you should just join a class once or twice, see how you like it." 

" I don't want to be a hero. I haven't for a long time. Not since I was ten. Why would I become a hero now? I'm happy right where I am." 

" Are you?" Nezu questions. 

" Yes. I am. Now, I'm missing valuable class time, and if you want me to stop fudging my scores then I should get to class. Have a good day Principal Nezu." Izuku once again bows shortly and grabs his notebook. Nezu's hand lands on his. Izuku glances at him. 

" This isn't over Midoriya-san. We need more heroes like you and I am determined to convince you to join our class." Izuku snorts. 

" Yeah okay. Good luck with that, I'm pretty stubborn I'm afraid." With that he takes his leave and Nezu smiles at the empty room. 

" So am I." Then he turns to the computer. He has the beginnings of how he would get Midoriya to change his mind. 

 Class 1-A is chattering excitedly to each other and Aizawa can't help but sigh. He really does have such a problem class this year. 

" Brats." He drawls from the door. The students snap to attention. At least their reaction times were getting better. He shuffles in with a stack of books. 

" Iida pass these out." Iida jumps up. 

" Of course Aizawa-sensei. Thank you for trusting me with such a task." Aizawa sometimes wants to beat the formalness out of that child. How is he so goddamn different from Tensei? He shakes his head. It doesn't matter. Hopefully by third year he'll have chilled out some, but he doesn't hold much hope for it currently.  When Iida has passed out all of the books he begins to speak. 

" Now, as you know finals are coming up, to be clear, this determines whether or not you progress to second year, so I suggest you take it seriously." He sends a glare to the more excitable bunch in his class who turn pale. 

" Finals are going to test everything you have learned this year. And to do that we do a villain vs. heroes assignment." Mina's hand shoots up. 

" Oh. Oh like the first assignment we did with All Might sensei right?" She squeals and Aizawa nods. 

" Yes, but on a much grander scale. You will have a month to prepare and then you will spend three days in a cityscape. There will be two teams. The heroes, and the villains. The only people who will be predetermined are the leaders of the villain teams. You will find those out in a few days once preparations start.  After that you can choose the side you wish to be on. Everyone will be scored individually on how well they do at what they choose to do. So if you choose to be a villain but save a civilian points will be docked. Or if as a hero you kill a villain, points will be docked for that person. And so forth, you'll find more about that in the books I just gave you." The class nods, faces serious. Good, they are paying attention. He continues. 

" You will each be given objectives to complete as a team, and that will be used to determine how your team wins. If your team wins, you will receive some...special benefits and the losers will receive double training and summer school. Consider that an incentive. And let me reiterate, this is to test everything you've learned this year. It will be hard. Make sure you read the rules and come to me with any questions you might have." With that Aiwaw gets in his sleeping bag and promptly falls asleep. 

Immediately the class begins to chatter. 

" Oh, wow kero. I wonder who are going to be the leaders. 

" Yeah I wonder what the prize is." 

" Me too!" 

" Hah, you shitty extras, obviously I'll be the leader of the hero team. And fucking mask over there will be the villain since he looks like one anyway. Or the bird freak." Shouji immediately scowls, though you can't tell with the mask. 

" All is not well in your soul. Darkness preys on it." Tokoyami whispers. Bakugo scowls. Fucking extras. 

" Well, this sounds really fun, but also really hard." Moans Mina. Denki shrugs and bumps shoulders with her. 

" Aww it's okay, you can sit back and let us handle it! Then you'll pass no matter what." Mina scowls. That is not what she meant. 

" I do wonder who would want to be a part of the villain team though. i mean we are training to be heroes!" Points out Ojiro. It's met with murmurs of agreement except a select few who are thinking they wouldn't mind being part of the villain team. 

" Well. I suppose if your friend is the leader, they might want to be a villain." 

" Yeah, but you can't just choose because of your friends." Points out Hagakure. Again nods go around. 

Nezu stares at the list in front of him. Originally, he had Bakugou as the leader of the villains. But now he would be the leader of the heroes and Midoriya would be the leader of the villains.

The reasoning was quite simple. Nezu wanted Midoriya to go all out on a hands-on assignment. And as a hero he wouldn't be taken seriously as someone not in the hero course. And he would just let the hero students do all the work.   But to lead the villains? Yes, it was brilliant. Nezu would give Midoriya an ultimatum and force him to do his best. And he had a sneaking suspicion that Midoriya would be more likely to accept his offer of the hero course after this. 

Yes. Midoriya was going to be the Crux. And Bakugo would be the Prime. And if Nezu's predictions were correct this might be the first time that the villains ever win the assignment.

Chapter Text

The class is quiet for once. Aizawa had just announced the Crux and Prime for the Class Wars. It was obvious that everyone was confused. Aizawa had been at first as well, when he’d seen it. But that had quickly changed. He had even tried to change it, but he had no choice in the matter. Now, he didn’t particularly want to anyway. 

“ Umm Aizawa-sensei? We don’t know a Midoriya Izuku. He’s not in the hero course is he? “ Aizawa scans his kids' faces, stopping briefly on Denki, who had been the one to speak. Most look confused. That he expected. What he didn’t expect was the couple of kids who looked like they had just seen a ghost. Specifically Shouji, Uraraka, Denki and surprisingly Bakugo.  

“ I know you don’t know him. Or at least most of you don’t know him. But he’s a prospect to be added to the hero course. This will be his test.” That starts a round of chaos that makes Aizawa regret his decision to ever become a teacher. 

“ SHUT UP!” He yells quirk flaring. The class falls silent again, until MIna  finally pipes up 

“ Isn’t that kinda unfair though? I mean this is supposed to test everything we’ve learned so far right? He hasn’t learned anything yet. He’ll be crushed.” Aizawa snorts. After seeing that kids analysis, if he could actually execute any of his plans, these kids would go down hard. 

“ That’s true, but it’s not supposed to be fair.Anyways, you have three days  to decide if you’re going to be on the hero or villain team.  Do you have any other questions?” He asks. Immediately all of their hands shoot up. Aizawa sighs. This is going to take for fucking ever. 

“ Aoyama.” 

“ Wii, Monsieur. I was just wondering if the other class will be participating.” 

“ Yes. They have three days to make their choice as well.” Mina groans and Aizawa glares at her.

“ Satou.” 

“ But that means we have to deal with Monoma.” He protests. Aizawa is surprised. Even Satou doesn’t like the 1-B boy? Interesting. 

“ You have to deal with people you don’t like all the time. Get used to it. Sero.” 

“ Is it really a 3 day test? Like no leaving the battlegrounds?” 

“ If you leave the grounds, you fail. Treat this like a real mission. Tsu. “ 

“ Do we actually have to listen to Bakugou?” 

“ HEY! I’m FUCKING AWESOME YO UDUMB ASS FROG!” Aizawa sighs. 

“ I said treat this like a real mission. If you were out there with Selkie, would you disobey?” Tsu shakes her head no. 

“ Tokoyami.” 

“ But what if he’s wrong? Or I’m sure you’ve noticed his tendency to want to do everything himself” 

“ You’ll have to make that decision if it happens. I already told you this will be a challenge. Step up to it.” Aizawa quickly answers the rest of the questions before the bell rings.

“ A reminder, once the three days are up, I’m no longer a part of this. You’ll have to figure these things out or ask the Principal directly.” With that he shuffles out. 

Now that Aizawa is gone they start to speak all at once. Iida tries to calm them down, but when he realizes it’s futile he slumps down into his seat with a groan. 

“ Who would actually be a villain though? Especially since  the Crux isn’t even a hero student yet. You can’t just put your grades in a stranger's hand!” Cries Mina. Some people begin to agree immediately but others stay quiet. 

Eventually a rainbow colored girl stands up. She blows a bubble, then pops the gum with a loud smack. The foreign exchange student from America smiles and says loudly, 

“ Well, I sure as hell am not going to be a lackey for Blasty over there. So I’m going to be a villain.” Adora laughs loudly as Bakugou tries to explode her face off. Key word, tries. It’s easy to dodge  the enraged blonde. Everyone begins to laugh. Bakugo would suck to work under. Why couldn’t Adora or even Todoroki be the Prime? Bakugou slumps into his seat angrily .

Fucking extras. He’d show them. It didn’t matter that he was going up against fucking Deku . He was a quirkless loser after all. Even if he did have those creepy ass stalker notebooks. Yeah...he takes a shaky breath. He’d be totally fine. 

Eventually they all split up into their normal friend groups talking excitedly. Adora and Aoyama stand in a corner, chattering excitedly. Uraraka is quickly approached  by Iida and Tsu. 

“ It’ s going to suck being Bakugou’s lackey for the next month kero.” 

“ I agree. He is not ready for a leader position, but I will do my duty to this class.” Uraraka looks away guiltily. 

“ Yeah..” 

“ Are you okay kero?” Tsu asks. Uraraka is acting weird. Uraraka smiles softly. 

“ Yeah, but I’m going on the villain team.” 

“ Why would you do that Uraraka? You’ll throw away your grades under someone who hasn’t even been in the hero course.” Uraraka laughs nervously and shrugs. 

“ Yeah, maybe. But I want to beat Bakugou. So I need to be on the villain team.” That wasn’t the real reason. I mean sure, she does want to beat him, but the reality of it was that there was no way she would go against Midoriya Izuku. 

The first time she’d met him, she’d left scared for her life. It had been a week before the Sport’s Festival and Ochako had desperately wanted to level up. So when she heard about a quirk analyst who would work with you if he found your quirk interesting, she had to take the chance. So she had sought the room she was told to go to, a small cramped closet in the second year's hall. 

She’d opened up the room to find an emerald green boy in there. He seemed so tired, and his eyes held more knowledge than seemed to be acceptable. It reminded her of the time she’d met Nezu briefly in the hall the other day. It was terrifying, and he hadn’t even talked yet. 

And when he did talk it simply cemented it in her brain. He was the most terrifying thing in this world. He had torn her quirk to pieces, then put it together in an entirely new light. He had told her that her quirk wasn’t simply zero gravity, but gravity manipulation. She could make things heavier too. It had shattered her whole world view. And then he’d had her fight him, and he had beaten her every. single. time.  Without the use of a quirk. 

So no, she wasn’t going up against the boy who made her look like an amuteur. Even Bakugou had had trouble with her quirk in the Sports Festival. 

Momo approaches Shouji with a smile. 

“ Hi Shouji.” 

“ Momo. What can I do for you?” Shouji nods at the girl who has rarely talked to him before. 

“ Oh. Well I was wondering why you looked so scared earlier. Do you know anything about Midoriya?” 

“ Yes.” 

“ Oh...so you’ll be a villain then?” 

“ Yes.” She smiles. 

“ Well I was thinking of being a villain. I need to prove myself and I’ll never do that if I let Bakugou take the lead, like I know he will. Can you introduce me to him?” Shouji sighs. 

“ I don’t know him.” 

“ But you just said…” 

“ I know of him. And I won’t go against him.” 

“ Why?” Shouji glances around and brings a mouth to her ear. 

“ Because, every day when I wait for my brother to get out of General Studies I see Midoriya  enter a closet where students will go and talk to him. And everytime they leave, they look like they’ve seen God. I’m not going against a God.” 

“ You do know he’s not actually…” 

“ Might as well be.” Momo nods slowly. 

“ Well thank you for telling me.” With that she takes her leave. 

Denki doesn’t know how to tell everyone that he was going to be a villain for this activity. He knew that Bakugou would be mad. And so would the rest of the Bakusquad who had declared themselves as heroes already. 

It’s not that Denki didn’t want to be a hero...it’s just that he was tired of being the laughing stock of the class. All they did was make fun of him. Even after he got so much better with his quirk because of Midoriya. 

And that was a problem that Denki sure as hell wasn’t going up against. He couldn’t help but feel that the heroes were greatly disadvantaged going up against Izuku. Not to mention they were underestimating him.  Yeah, Denki had only met the emerald eyed God by accident. He’d been late to lunch when he came across the prettiest boy he’d ever seen half asleep. Like any good hero student, he’d asked if the kid was okay, only for the boy to curl up on his lap and go on a 4 minute ramble about his quirk and it’s different uses. Like making himself untouchable, with his electricity. 

Denki had never thought to control his electricity, always focused on making the output bigger. But Midoriya had brought him around quickly to the idea of control. And to the idea of short range attacks. Big attacks were good to have, but if the villain couldn’t even get close without being shocked, it’d make him untouchable. 

Denki had basically fallen for the boy that day, but unfortunately never came across him again. Now was his chance to woo the boy. But as Denki turns his eyes to his squad, he knows it’s going to be a mess when he announces his intentions. Yeah...he’d have to plan carefully so that Bakugou didn’t kill him. Or Mina. 

Earlier in the Day...

 Halfway across the school, Midoriya has just been handed the slip of paper excusing him from classes for a month and 6 days, and also detailing him as the Crux for some shitty hero game. He stands up, an angry scream breaking out of his throat.  Once again it’s Ectoplasm’s class that Midoriya is about to miss. 

He snatches all of his stuff into his backpack and storms out of the room, ignoring his sensei’s pleas. It’s his fault he’s in this mess anyways. It takes approximately 3 minutes and 42 seconds for him to make it to Nezu’s office. And although Izuku would love to slam the door open. The rat doesn’t even give him that option, opening the door remotely, just a half second before his hand touches the door knob. 

“ Izuku. I’ve been expecting you.” Nezu nods serenely toward the cup of tea waiting for him on the table. Izuku almost screams again. He was starting to fucking hate. Chamomile tea. 

“ I bet you have you fucking rat.” He throws his stuff onto the flowery couch and slams the papers clenched in his hands on Nezu’s desk. 

“ I must ask that you don’t disrespect me like that. I have a perfectly fine name.” 

“ Well I’m not fucking calling you it rat.  Now do you care to explain why I am suddenly a leader in a villain exercise for the hero course? What couldn’t convince me to be a hero so make me a fake villain?” he sneers. Nezu laughs and takes another infuriating sip of tea. 

“ No nothing like that.” 

“ Well the only other option is that you fucking went against my wishes, illegally I might add, and put me in hero lessons.” 

“ Only one lesson.” 

“ Yeah a fucking huge one. I’m not doing it, principal Nezu.” Nezu motions to the couch. 

“Watch your language if you will.  Please, sit so we can have a civil conversation.” Izuku does as he’s asked with a huff. 

“ I’m not doing it. “ 

I disagree.” 

“ And how do you plan on making me do it?” Izuku smirks triumphantly. Even if he’s forced into the arena, he’ll just do his fucking worst. Nezu shares his own smile. 

‘“ Now, I’m sure you’re aware of the illegal quirk analysis ring you’ve been running. And so am I. I could have you arrested. More than that, I was checking my security system, and to my surprise, you’d hacked my cameras.” Izuku freezes. Fuck fuck fuck. 

“ You have no proof.” He croaks. 

“ I do. But say I don’t...did you know the police force has a lovely lie detecting quirk. I’m sure he  could solve this quite easily.” Izuku whimpers at that admission. He’s so going to jail. Or at the very least he’s going to be expelled. And there’s not many schools that take quirkless individuals. He’d have to go back to Aldera...and that’s the last thing he wants to do.

“ You’re blackmailing me?” izuku whispers, fingers clenching against his legs. Nezu nods and sips. 

“ I don’t enjoy that word, but yes, if you don’t do the exercise then you will be expelled and prosecuted. And we all know that being quirkless limits your options greatly already. But to add on police charges? You’ll never make it past high school.” Izuku tries to hold back tears, but Nezu still notices. His eyes soften but he doesn’t retract any of his previous statements. 

“ You’re just as bad as my other schools, you know that?” Izuku whispers, swiping at his eyes. Why did he think things would be different? 

“ I’m sorry you feel like that Midoriya. But it’s not all bad. Let me tell you my proposition. Then you can decide. Izuku takes a few minutes to calm down then nods. 

“ Fine.” Nezu smiles. 

“ All I ask is that you go into this exercise and do the best you can. Give it your all. Go plus ultra, for once.” 

“ And after it’s done, are you going to force me into a hero course?” Nezu shakes his head. 

“ No. Do this to the best of your ability, and at the end you can decide if you want to switch to a hero course. And I will let all of those pesky offenses go, and wipe the evidence. All you have to do is try.” Izuku sucks a breath in . If he just gives it his all he can go back to his normal life? It’s almost too perfect. 

“ Why’d you make me a villain if you’re trying to make be a hero?” He asks. Nezu actually laughs. 

“ I just think you’ll have more in common with the people who decide to become villains for this activity.” He thinks for a while. He really has no choice. So finally he nods. 

“Fine. It’s not like I have much of a choice anyways. But blackmailing me isn’t going to make me be a hero, Nezu.” 

“ I know. Now do you have any questions about the activity?” Izuku glances up, eyes determined. He promised to do his best, so his best they would get. 

“ I actually do.” 

“ I expected nothing less. Go ahead then.” A few hours later Izuku leaves the Principal's office, with his head swimming with ideas. He has a lot to do. But first he needs to gather allies. And he has the perfect people in mind.  

Chapter Text

The Big Three are seated at a table in the library, talking about their final exams, when a green bush walks up to them. Well not actually a bush. But he might as well be, with emerald eyes, and hair. It was kind of uncanny actually. He walks right up to their table and smacks a hand down. 

“ HEY!” Nejire squeaks and a burst of energy bursts from her fingers. 

“ Hey hey, it’s not nice to scare people. Why do you look so mad? Did you fail a test?” Mirio laughs. 

“ Hadou, I think he wants to talk to us.!” Izuku nods. 

“ Oh. Well why do you want to talk to us? I don’t think I’ve ever seen you before. Are you in the business class?” 

“ Nejire, stop asking so many questions.” Tamaki moans looking down at the table. 

“ Oh right. Sorry.”  Izuku sighs and pulls out a piece of paper. 

“ I’m the Crux this year for the first year end of exams.” 

“ Oh wow I remember those. I got a concussion and had to go to Recovery Girl. Why do you need our help though? 

“ Because I’m in General Studies. After checking the rules, anyone who’s not a first year student can't participate in the actual test, but they can help prepare for it . More than that neither team can step foot into the test ground. I need to install an entire spy network across Test Ground Gamma. I can’t do it without you, but I was hoping you would do it for extra credit. And some other stuff in there. ” 

“ Whoa you’re in General Studies? Is this your test to get into the hero course? That’s super cool, but it’s so unfair that they are making you the Crux. They never win.” As soon as Nejire says that, Izuku feels a shiver go down his back. That’s what Nezu meant. 

He didn’t want Izuku to just do his best. He wanted Izuku to win. Asshole. 

“ How do you know that we would get extra credit?” Questions Mirio. 

“ I asked Nezu.” 

“ NO WAY. I wish I had thought to check with Nezu. We’ll totally help you! What kind of senpai would we be if we didn’t!” 

“ Thank you. I’ll text you the instructions sometime in the next few hours, and get the supplies to you “ Izuku bows and thanks them before walking away. 

Now that he has a way into the grounds, his options have opened up greatly. Next was the support classes. He wanders the halls until he comes across a giant f painted onto a broken door. It looks like it’s gone through more than enough explosions to last it a lifetime. Poor door. 

More importantly, a manic pink haired girl is standing over a broken machine. If she’s willing to stay after hours, then more than likely she would be willing to do what he wanted. 

“ Hello?” He calls out. The pink mechanic whips around and when her eyes land on him, they light up with a manic gleam. 

“ GOD-KUN!! I’ve been wanting to talk to you forever, but you’re very good at hiding. Is that your quirk?” She yanks him in but Izuku is still stuck on the God-kun. What the heck did she mean by that? 

“ God-kun? “ He questions weakly as he’s manhandled onto a bench and wires stuck to him. 

“ Obviously. You’re the guy who does all of the crazy analysis in a broom closet right? And everyone who’s ever crossed your path is terrified of you. Whoa you’re quirkless? That’s so cool. I’ve always wanted a quirkless test subject. They’re the perfect blank slate!” 

“ Izuku flinches back. How the hell did she...the wires of course.Then the rest of her  words catch up. 

“ You don’t care?” 

“ Why should I God-Kun. You obviously don’t need one. With how smart you are, it would make you way too OP. Izuku shakes his head clear. It didn’t matter how she felt, even if this was new to him. 

“ It doesn’t matter. That’s not why I’m here. I was forced into being a part of the Hero Finals. I want you to join the villain team.. I checked with Nezu, and other classes can participate. You’ll even be excused from your exams, and given extra-credit.” 

“ What’s in it for me?” Mei smirks. Of course she’s going to say yes, but she wants something out of it as well. Izuku snorts and pulls his notes out .

“ You're the most  important piece in my plan actually. You would get to go wild. Custom costumes and gadgets to your heart's desire. A spy network and explosions to your heart's content.” Mei’s eyes light up. But before she agrees…

“ I want you as well?” Izuku turns pink. 

“ Sorry but I am very gay.” 

“ Not you God-kun. Your brain. I want to pick it for the rest of our lives. You’re gonna make beautiful babies with me God-Kun.” The blush only grows more intense. 

“ Fine. But don’t say stuff like that.” they shake hands and Mei leaps up excitedly. 

“ Go figure out the rest of your recruits, so I can get planning.” She shoves him out of the room but he stops in the doorway. 

“ I know supplies might be a problem. But if I can get one person to join my team we’ll be set.” With that he leaves Mei screaming in joy, to walk to the hero classes. Now he just needs to see what his team will look like. Probably pitiful, but there are a few people who he wants to recruit if they’d say yes, He decides to go 1-A first. He doubts people are actually there, since it’s the end of school, but it’s better to be safe than sorry. 

To his surprise when he opens the door, it’s too quite a few people. He quickly catalogs them in his head. This...was better than he had dared to hope. 

Denki Kaminari- Quirk: Electricity. Working on short range attacks. Really pretty. 

Uraraka Ochako- Quirk: Gravity manipulation- A badass

Kouda Kouji- Quirk Antivoice- He can talk to animals. 

Momo Yaoyorozu- Quirk: Creation. Also a badass and exactly who he needed

Shouji Mezo- Quirk: Dupli Arms- Great muscles

Adora Rowell- Quirk: Color- Fucking OP and so cool

Monoma Neito- Quirk: Copy- Also a fucking badass and very cute

Honenuki Juzo- Quirk: Softening- So useful

Setsuna Tokage- Quirk: Lizard- Also cool

Reiko Yanagi-Quirk: Poltergeist- Can lift shit. Very useful

Kuroiro Shihai-Quirk: Black- He can travel through shadows. So fucking cool

And finally Yui Kodai- Quirk: Size- She can shrink or enlarge something. SO cool. 

There were far more people than he expected, and he could slowly see his options opening up. 

“ You’re Midoriya right?” Momo asks. 

“ Yes.”  He nods and bows. Then he takes a deep breath. 

“ Look, I don’t want to be the Crux. And I’m sure some of you are very pissed that I am, so I’m going to be very open and clear here. Then you can decide if you want to join my team.” 

Monoma scoffs and glares at the 1A students. 

“ Anyone is better than 1A so you’re good in my books.” He smirks at Izuku, making him sputter. What was with these people. He shakes his head. 

“Anyways...what I was going to say is that I’m quirkless and I have no interest in being a hero or the Crux. That said, I’m only here becauseNezu is forcing me too or he’ll expel me. Normally I would just half-ass it, but  not only will people be relying on me, but I will be expelled for half-assing it. So I’m going to give it my all. More than that, I want to show them I’m not to be fucking messed with. So I’m going to tear this stupid test to shreds.” He nods confidently. 

To his surprise, no one walks out. Instead they shrug. Kurorio speaks first. 

“ I don’t really care. You’re better than Bakugou.” Izuku agrees with that. 

“ Yeah, I want to crush him!” Cheers Adora, Red sparks flying off of her. 

“ It doesn’t matter that you’re quirkless. You are so much stronger than they think. I think we can win, even if we are villains. Ochako says. That brings a wave of agreement to go through the students. Izuku whimpers. He expected maybe one other student to want to be on his team. This gave him infinite options. He takes a deep breath. 

“ You do realize that you’ll have to act like villains? That means things that go against your moral code.” Setsuna steps forward. 

“ Half of us are already seen as villainous. I want to win for once. And we’ve all heard the rumours about you. I’m not going against you.” Ok Izuku is sure something is seriously wrong with these kids. But...he could work with this. God he could work with this. And he had one more player to add to the team. But that would have to wait for tomorrow. 

“ Okay. Let’s sit.” They all pull up chairs to the table. He whips out a notebook. 

“ Now, we’re going to go over a list of your limits. That way I can plan around them. Raise your hand if it’s something you won’t do. I’ll mark you down and I won’t ask you to do it. I’ll also tell you my limits. 

“ Murder?” Every hand goes up good.

“ Faking a murder?” No hands

“ Theft?” No hands

“ Breaking and entering?” No hands

“ Severe scarring?” All the hands go up. 

“ Physical harm to the opposing team?” No hands

“ Throwing someone out of a window?” Setsuna pipes up . 

“ Depends on who they are. I’d throw someone I knew could survive it, but not someone who I knew wouldn’t.” Everyone agrees with that, so Izuku marks down that it depends on the circumstances. 

“ What about psychological warfare?” No hands. Good, Izuku would need to use that. 

“ Spying?” Monoma speaks up this time. 

“ I refuse to watch the restrooms. Again it’s unanimous. Yes but no where they might infringe on someone's privacy. 

“ What about explosions or fire?” No hands. 

“ Kidnapping?” No hands. Izuku smiled. 

“ Okay, what about sacrificing a teammate.” All the hands go up. 

“ Destruction of property?” No hands. Izuku nods. That would cover most of his bases. He snaps the notebook shut. 

“ Okay, I will start working on a plan tonight. Tomorrow since we are all excused from classes, you will meet the rest of your teammates, and we will go over the game plan. Until then, everyone make a group chat so we can keep in touch. And you guys?” Everyone looks up at him.

He grins, a wide unhinged smile. 

“ We’re going to destroy them.” The whole group erupts into cheers. When it finally quiets down he is quick to ask. 

“ Do you have any questions?” Several hands go up. He points at Momo. 

“ We have more teammates?” He nods. 

“ Yes, at least two more and several honorary. You’ll meet them all tomorrow.” She nods and steps back. Adora steps forward. 

“ Are we using our hero costumes?” Izuku shakes his head. 

“ No. We’re not heroes. Something that people have kept saying today has piqued my interest, so I think I’ve got an idea on what we’ll do though. “ She nods and steps back. 

Setsuna is next. 

“ Do we need to keep it quiet that we joined the villain team?” Izuku shakes his head again. 

“ No. Because it’s not kept quiet from the heroes. What does need to be kept quiet is our plans. So starting tomorrow we will not be speaking of our plans outside of specific rooms, and our  group chat.” She nods. One last person steps forward. 

“ Are we all going to have a part in this or are we just going to be extras?’ Mumbles Denki. Izuku’s eyes soften. 

“ Everyone is vital to our success. I can tell you that right now. And nobody is an extra, okay? You all have such powerful quirks and you’re ;going to be great heroes, much better than Bakuhoe.” Some wonder how Izuku knew they were talking about Bakugou. Most just smile at the reassurance. 

“ Well, you may not want to be a hero Midoriya but I think you will be an excellent leader.” Izuku nods his thanks. 

“ I have to go. But make sure to put me in the chat okay?” With that he takes his leave and the rest of the villains begin to mingle. That’s good. They're going to need to be nice to eachother for this to succeed.  He cracks his neck, already wanting a nap. 

 This is going to be a long night.

Chapter Text

Izuku’s eyes hurt like a bitch. He’d stayed up all night, working on a plan to not only win, but destroy this test. And now, he was walking toward his classmate Shinso Hitoshi, several binders in hand. 

“ Shinso.”  Shinso watches Midoriya apprehensively. 

“ Yes?” He studies the boy in front of him. He looks like shit.

“ Gee thanks.” Midoriya rolls his eyes as Shinso turns pink, realizing he said that out loud. 

“ Oops.” 

“ It doesn’t matter. You don’t look any better than I do. You want to get into the hero course right?” Shinso nods. It was obvious that he did. But he wouldn’t be able to this year, after getting knocked out in the second round. He was still bitter about it. 

“ Well, I can get you a spot.”  Shinso nearly chokes on his coffee. Did he really just say that? 

“ Yes I did.” Midoriya nods. 

“ How?” Outwardly Shinso looks like he couldn’t give a shit, but on the inside a spark of hope ignites. 

“ I’m the Crux in the hero finals. I can have anyone I want from the first years on my team if they agree. They’re trying to get me to switch. But I don't want to. If you join my team, you’ll have three days of undivided attention from the heroes. If you do good enough I bet they’ll want you to switch.” Shinso feels a curdle of jealousy and anger swirl in his belly. 

Why did they want Midoriya in the hero course, when he didn’t even have a fucking quirk? It wasn’t fair. Especially since he was just throwing away what Hitoshi himself wants more than anything in this world. But still he smiles, a small quiet thing, that speaks volumes. 

“ I’m not sure why you don’t want to be a hero, but I want that more than anything. So I’ll join.” Midoriya nods. 

“ Good. I’m on  the way to a meeting with the rest of our team, are you coming?” In answer Hitoshi falls into step with Midoriya. 

They quickly make it to the Support Labs, where everyone is gathered in groups. When Adora looks up and sees Midoriya she has the audacity to gasp. 

“ You look like shit God-kun.” Pipes up Mei, who doesn’t look like a bag of peaches either. 

“ Why does everyone keep saying that?” He scowls, dumping his binders on the counter. This starts a round of laughter among his teammates. 

“ It’s okay Midoriya, even though you look dead, I’d still take you on a date.” Izuku goes red, while Monoma smirks victoriously. Denki glares at the other blonde. Not willing to be outdone, he also speaks. 

“ Well, I think eyebags are quite hot on you Mido!” The blondes glare at each other. Midoriya attempts to regain his composure. He flips open the first binder, a pink tinge still on his cheeks. 

“ So I was thinking about what you were saying, about me being a God or whatever.  I want that to be us.” He mumbles showing some of his costume designs. 

“ We’re villains, and what is the one thing villains love most? Letting go and going all out. When the heroes see us, I want them to think they are seeing the Gods, who have come down from the heavens. I want to model us after the Greek Gods. We’ll have  three teams. The Frontal, Infiltration, and the Mixed Teams. All three will have Leaders, that will be my Council.”  Everyone crowds around the binder, oohing and ahhing at the costume designs. 

“ I LOVE THAT IDEA GOD-KUN!” Screeches Mei. She snatches the binder away from the other villains and begins to go through it. She quickly dissolves into mumbles.

“ The Frontal team are simply there to wreak havoc. They will be who the heroes see, and might have to fight. The infiltration will use the distractions to complete the tasks set to us. And the Mixed, will be the people who can and will do both.”  Everyone nods, sparks of determination in their eyes. 

“ So who is that?” Asks Reiko, pointing at the purple haired student. 

“ That’s Shinso Hitoshi. He’s the other one of our teammates. And the honorary ones should be here soon.” She nods, satisfied with that explanation. 

“ So, I’m going to take that binder back from Mei, real quick, and then I’m going to talk to you all individually about the personal roles you’ll have in the test. Mei is going to be working with the honorary members to set up our spy network. You prepared what I asked for, right Mei?” Izuku questions. She looks up. 

“ Yeah, I have explosion and flood proof cameras and a drone so I can direct them and map out the arena at the same time.” Izuku nods satisfied. He searches the room. 

“ Momo, can I talk to you first?” Momo nods, and they quickly go into the adjoining room and  pull up chairs. 

“ Momo, you are very important to the success of our team. I’m going to have a council of sorts. You, Mei, Monoma, and Denki will be on it. Is that acceptable?” Momo blushes at the responsibility she’s being given. 

“ Of course Midoriya. What will my role be?” Midoryia opens the binder he’d stolen when Mei wasn’t looking. It shows a black haired girl, with a wreath of green in her curls. She wears a floor length dress, built for  ease of movement. It’s slightly revealing as to grant access to her quirk. A belt is looped around  her waist, filled  with various items. 

“ You are Gaea. The Goddess of Earth and more importantly creation. You would be our supplier. With you, we have unlimited access to supplies. I want you to work closely with Mei, to not only create any of the weapons, and supplies we need, but we also have different teams. I would like you to be the leader of the Frontal Attack team.” Momo traces the drawing. The dress is a light green shimmery color, and Momo falls in love. 

“ This is beautiful but it’s not very practical is it?” Izuku laughs and pulls out a set of blueprints. 

“ You wouldn’t think so, but I actually have some blueprints for a shielding technology that hovers close to your skin, and  it’s invisible. It would give us creative liberties while also keeping you safe from most attacks, including things like Denki, if his electricity grows out of control.” 

“ This is amazing Midoriya. And I think when the other team sees us coming, I don’t think they’ll know  what to do. I will do my best to work together with Mei to create these masterpieces. And, I think I can help in one other way. It would take too long to make a vehicle. But I have more than enough money to buy some armoured vans. I think that would work well for our needs don't you think? And we can make modifications to them as we see fit.”  Izuku begins to sputter. 

“ Oh, no that’s not-” 

“ Nonsense. I’ll call a few dealerships right now. Who would you like me to send in?” 

“ Thank you. And send in Adora, will you?” 

“ Of course.” Izuku flips to Adora’s page. She is dressed in a flowing gown, just like the other girls, but hers is made of a shimmery fabric that cradles her close. On her head is a crown of sunlight. When Adora sees it she can’t help but coo. She really does look like a goddess. 

“ Whoa, who am I?” 

“ Iris, the goddess of rainbows.” 

“ Makes sense! Am I on the Frontal Attack team?” Izuku nods. 

“ Yes. With Momo. Your quirk is highly combative, and versatile. We’ll work on it as well, the next few weeks. But you’re a huge boon to the villains. I can’t believe you chose to be on the villain team to be honest.”  Adora shrugs. 

“ At first I did it because I can’t work under Bakugou. But now, I think we can totally kick ass!” Midoriya laughs. Bakugou is definitely not everyone’s cup of tea. 

“ Send in Denki, will you?” Adora nods and skips out. Denki enters with a loud shout and falls into Izuku’s lap. 

“ Hey hot-stuff.” Izuku goes pink and shoves Denki off. 

“ Hi Denki.” Embarrassed izuku shows off the design for Denki. Most of the girls and boys have similar designs. The girls are in long flowy off the shoulder dresses, that are changed to match their goddess. 

And the boys, all exist in leather armour, the color of their God, and a metal plated shoulder that sweeps off into a cloak. It looks super badass. Their are a few exceptions, but mostly they stay the same concept with minor changes. 

“ Whoa! I’m going to look like a badass. This is so cool, Mido.” 

“Mido?” 

“ Well, yeah, I can’t call my future boyfriend the same thing as everyone else.” Denki laughs as Izuku goes pink again. What is with this guy! Eventually he regains composure. 

“ Ok, that was mean. You’re Zeus, and you're co-leading the Mixed team with Monoma.” Denki pouts. 

“ What? But Monoma is my love rival!” Denki moans, leaning against Izuku again. Izuku squeaks and pushes back. 

“ Too bad. You’re co-leaders.” Denki’s eyes light up. 

“ Does that mean I’m in the Council?” With Izuku’s reluctant nod, he can’t help but whoop in happiness. 

Izuku eventually pushes out the blonde and calls for Uraraka. She skips in and takes a seat. 

“ I’m excited to see my design!” She squeals, leaning in. She’s one of the outliers. She is a mix between the boy and girl designs. She wears the armour from the boys, but instead of regular pants, she is in a half skirt, the back flowing out, and the front leather leggings, connected to boots with a series of buckles. Her whole costume is reminiscent of the galaxy, Dark blue, purples, pinks and black swirl on the fabric. 

She looks like a warrior princess from outer space. Which she kind of is.  She wears a simple circlet, a moon in the middle, and fingerless gloves reach her elbows. It’s dramatic, and elegant at the same time. 

“ Wow.” Uraraka whispers, tracing the design. She almost wishes this was her real costume. 

“ That’s for me?” Izuku nods. 

“ yup. You are Artemis, the Goddess of the Moon and the Hunt. You’re a part of the frontal assault team. You have the potential to be so fucking scary. And we are going to bring that out, in your villain persona.” Uraraka throws her arms around Izuku. 

“ Thank you! I won’t let you down!” 

Monoma is next. He’s Dolos the God of Trickery. 

“ You’re going to be a part of the Mixed team. You are such a powerhouse, but you can also be sneaky. You’re going to co-lead with Denki, okay? “ Monoma also pouts about that but ultimately agrees. He’s also going to help Mei and Momo with the preparations. 

It goes the same with the rest of the villains. He shows them their unique  costumes, and explains which team will be which. 

Setsuna is Thanatos, the God of Death and infiltration. 

Kurorio is Nyx, the God/Goddess of Night, and they are also on infiltration. 

 Shouji is Kratos, the embodiment of strength and on the Mixed team. 

Kouda is Melampus, not a god, but someone known for being able to talk to animals. 

Juzo is Pasithea, the embodiment of relaxation. Not exactly a god again but it worked.He went on the mixed team.  

Melinoe is the goddess of ghosts, and so she goes to Reiko who is also on the Mixed team. 

Yui Kodai is Dionysius. The God of indulgence. Not perfect but he felt it would fit well. 

And then Shinso is Hypnos, the God of Sleep. Izuku thought it was fitting. 

Finally, after hours of questions, and laying out their positions, he finally gets to Mei. Mei gets her own binder, filled with designs and requests. The Big Three have come and gone by now, so Izuku is handed a tablet connected to the cameras and a map of the arena. Izuku also calls in Momo and Monoma and Denki. 

“ Mei, you’re  Hephaestus, the God of fire, metalworking, blacksmithing, forging, and masonry. It felt fitting. You are the Leader of Infiltration. He pulls up her costume design. It’s the boy's design, a little looser, but the real beauty is the pair of metal wings behind her. 

“ I have a couple designs I think you can make in a month, And I want you in wings by the time the third day comes around.” Mei flips through the binder. 

“ I have lists of what needs to be made in the next month. My designs, swords, guns, metal armour, explosions and a couple of surprises.” Mei begins to vibrate with excitement. 

“ Momo is getting us cars which will help us with our mobility. My plan is to simply spend the first two days distracting the heroes, and getting the objectives together. The third day will be the finale, where everyone comes out in full force to completely cream the hero team. Not only will all of the hopefully consecutive losses help bring down the morale of the heroes, we will work on thinning their ranks.” 

“ We have spies, we have offense, and we have people who can help fill in the blanks. The last day will be spent on  the last major battle. We’ll have gathered everything we need by then. Some of the objectives, which are things like burning buildings down, the Frontal team can do as well.” 

“ What will we do for the month?” Izuku smiles. 

“ Train. Prepare. We’ll do gun and sword training. Driving training. Friendship exercises. We have to be able to trust each other. We’ll spar, and put the finishing touches on the costumes. I will talk to Nezu or Aizawa when we need permission to do things.” They quickly end the meeting. Izuku needs to go get a bunch of permissions so he’d be stopping by the teacher lounge. With that done, everyone finally splits off. 

Izuku makes his way to the teachers lounge and knocks. It’s Ectoplasm who opens it. Izuku looks away, unwilling to look his traitorous sensei in the eye.Ectoplasm sighs. 

“ Midoriya-” 

“ I need to talk to Snipe-Sensei, Aizawa-Sensei, Mic-Sensei, Midnight-Sensei, Powerloader please.” Izuku snaps. Ectoplasm sighs but opens the door. 

“ Come in, they’re all here.” Izuku does and his eyes zero in on his first target. Mic-Sensei. 

“ Mic-Sensei.” 

“ Hey Little Listener, what can I do for you?” Mic smiles at the sullen student. 

“ Will you teach a few of us how to drive?” He asks bowing. Mic nearly choked on his spit. 

“ I’m sorry, what? Aren't you a little young to be driving kiddo?” 

“ No.  We can get temporary licenses, but we need an instructor to give us twenty hours of practice. I was hoping you would do that.” Mic fumbles for words but eventually he nods. 

“ Of course kiddo! I can do it from 10am to 12pm for the next few weeks. How does that sound?” izuku nods his thanks and adds it to the schedule. 

Next he turns to the yellow caterpillar on the couch. 

“ Aizawa sensei, we need a gym to practice in, and a teacher to su[ervise. Will you please join us?” Aizawa blinks sleepily and waves a hand. 

“ Yeah whatever.” he mumbles before falling asleep. Izuku isn't sure he actually knows what he agreed to, but he’s not complaining. Mic rubs Aizawa’s back affectionately.

“  He’ll be able to do it after school hours, okay? He doesn’t have any paperwork for class because of the month-long break.” Izuku adds that to the itinerary. 

“ Midnight-sensei, will you do sword training?” Midnight squeals. Oh it’s been a while since she got to train anyone with swords. 

“ Of course, darlings. How does 1 to 3 sound?” Izuku nods. One last person. 

“ Powerloader-sensei, we need a lab, do you have any we can borrow?” Powerloader is quick to agree. With that done, Izuku finalizes the schedules and sends them out. The sword, gun, and car lessons are for the Mixed and Infiltration teams. Some of them are definitely using guns and katanas. Depending on who takes to different lessons like a duck to water, the schedules will change. 

And for the frontal attack teams, the lessons are optional but after school hours, they will do vigorous quirk training. Now he needs to call his Uncle. Kouda is going to need some animals. And Izuku’s uncle would be able to get them. And after throwing Izuku in foster care, his Uncle owed him a few favours. 

He starts to receive texts, approving of the schedule and some  asking to join specific classes. Two stand out to him though. 

Denki and Monoma had both messaged him asking what his God was. After all, everyone else had one right? Izuku sends a quick text back, creating a group chat for the three of them. 

Ares. The God of War.

Chapter Text

The third day came upon them quickly and the hero classes were back in session for about twenty minutes. Aizawa, wanting to get things over with quickly, gores the easy route. 

“ If you choose the hero team, go to the right side of the room. If you choose the left side, go to the left.” Everyone begins to move and shuffle until no one remains in the middle of the room. Aizawa is quick to write down the placements. 

“ These are final, no switching teams, so don’t even ask. Now, you have a month to prepare on your own. Refer to your leaders, for instructions. They should have a gameplan by now. You know where to find me if you need me.” Aizawa pauses by the door and glares at the kids. 

“ Don’t need me.” With that he leaves, and the hero and villain teams are staring at each other in shock. Most had assumed that everyone would be on the hero team. And sure, most are but nobody expected this many. It’s Bakugou, to no one's surprise that breaks first. 

“ DUNCE FACE WHAT THE HELL!” He screeches explosions popping from his hands. Denki smiles nervously. 

“ Well, I just think I’ll do better on the villain team?” The way Denki phrases it makes it seem like a question.

“ Bro, that’s no not manly to be a villain. Especially since Bakubro is the Hero Leader. He’s our friend.” Denki flinches back. Of course they're still friends, but he’s not their lapdog. He can make his own choices can’t he? 

“ Denki, I know Aizawa-san said it’s permanent, but maybe you can still change?” Asks Mina walking forward. It’s not Denki that replies this time. 

“ HEY! He doesn’t want to change. Denki is super cool. He can be a villain if he wants to be a villain. He has something to prove! And he can’t do that if he just follows his friends around.” Snaps Adora, stepping in front of the anxious boy. All three of them scowl. 

“ Look, Denks, it’ll be easier on you if you join the heroes, then you won’t have to worry about making the right choice, or going dumb, you know? We’re your friends.

“ Denki can make perfectly fine choices. He is very smart. And you should do well to remember that.” Momo also comes to stand in front of Denki. He feels his chest warm, at the way they’re protecting him. He loves his friends, he does, but sometimes how they assume he’s only good for a charger, or that he’s just stupid. Just because he has trouble in school, it doesn’t make him stupid. 

Eventually Bakugou scoffs, and breaks eye contact. 

“ Fine, we don’t need the idiot anyways. He made his choice. It would only be a detriment to have him on our team. “ He stalks away and the other two follow. Sero smiles nervously. 

“ Sorry about them. It’s totally cool that you're a villain. I’ll try to talk sense to them.” WIth that he follows the loud group of teens. Denki collapses against the wall. That was hard. He’s never been good at standing up to his friends. 

The Bakusquad are not the only ones who are angry though. Jiro approaches next, her mouth in a firm line. 

“ Momo. I thought you were going to join the hero team with me.” Momo sighs. 

“ I’m sorry Kyoka, but I never said that. You just assumed. I want to prove my strength as a hero, and I can’t do that if I just follow Bakugou like a lapdog.” 

“ Well, yeah I assumed, You’re my girlfriend. And what does that mean you think I’m a lapdog?” Jiro scowls. 

“ No, no of course not. That came out wrong. I guess what I meant is that I need to grow, and I don’t think I can do that with Bakugou. But that doesn’t mean you can’t. Please understand!” Momo pleads, reaching for Jiro’s hands. Jiro scoffs and walks away. 

“ I need to catch up with Bakugou.” The rest of the hero team follows as well. The villains all look uncomfortable, but this wasn’t going to sway their opinion. No matter how awkward dinner would be now. Eventually they all leave as well, heading to their room, they were gifted by Powerloader. 

For the villains, the month flies by. On the third day of training, Izuku walks in with seemingly a horde of animals behind him. 

“ Kouta!” He calls. Kouta, who was practicing breaking down a gun under Snipe-Sensei’s  watchful eyes, turns. His eyes basically light up. Behind Izuku, is a mixture of predator cats, and wolves. 

“ It’s not perfect, but these are all that my Uncle could get on short notice. I also have several birds outside ready to go. These are animals trained to work with heroes, for quirks like yours. I’m sure your second year teacher would have talked to you about them eventually, but I sped up the process. I want you to spend the next month getting used to them.” Kouda reaches forward and brings Izuku into a hug. 

“ Thank you.” He whispers in Izuku’s ear. In the corner, Aizawa is tense in his sleeping bag. God he wants to pet the cats. But more than that, he can’t help but wonder who Izuku’s uncle is, that he could get hero grade animals, and so many on such short notice. 

That’s not the only surprise though, every day after that, Izuku provides a gourmet meal for anyone who wants it, courtesy of his Uncle. When asked he  just shrugs his shoulders. 

“ My uncle owes me a lot of favors.” Under Izuku’s watchful eyes, the hero students begin to flourish. More than anyone could have expected. He hones their quirks, and discovers new uses for them. Aizawa actually chokes on a jelly packet one day, when he sees Uraraka, the girl who is only supposed to be able to lighten a person’s mass or gravity, make a pebble so heavy, it goes through the cement floor,and  deep into the earth's belly. 

And it’s not just quirks that grow. Confidence, comradery, and weapon skills grow as well. Adora and Setsuna take to blades like a fish to water. Midnight calls them prodigies, and they soon begin battling each other everyday. It’s beautiful to watch, blades clashing and sparks flying, literally and figuratively if you know what I mean.  Shoji becomes scary good with a gun, and he can use like three at once. Kurorio and Rekio also become proficient with guns.

Aizawa wants to rip his hair out when he notices that Denki has fallen in love with driving and now he and present Mic always cackle when they get in a car together. It’s fucking terrifying.  

Mei, could be a fucking sniper with how accurate her aim is. They hope it’s just because of her quirk, zoom. Other hidden talents come out as well. For instance, Monoma, the loudmouth from 1-B, is amazing at sleight of hand, and an excellent pickpocket.

 Kodai, for some reason not only knows morse code, but she knows how to pick almost any lock. And Aizawa doesn’t even want to ask how or why. He’ll leave that to Kan. Shinsou is able to imitate voices, without a mask with eerie accuracy. But it’s perfect if he uses the mask that Mei made for him, so he usually uses that. 

And Aizawa can see why Nezu wanted Izuku in the hero course now, more than ever. Because yes, the kid is a genius at analysis, but he also brings these kids together better than he or Kan could ever. 

Aizawa feels like he’s watching a family be born right before his eyes. They take care of eachother. Izuku helps Denki stop short circuiting. He soothes Monoma’s extravagant personality. They soothe eachothers aches at the end of the day, and when they notice Izuku overworking himself, they plot to get him to sleep or eat.  

It’s more than Aizawa has ever learned to expect from this. Caring and kindness usually doesn’t come until third year. Most hero students are so caught up in their own competitiveness and the competition of being a hero, they forget to encourage the growth in each other

Aizawa joins as well. Not the team, but he starts to have late night conversations with Izuku and the others. He learns more about his students than he did all year in that month. He learns of Nezu’s trickery and actually yells at his boss for it. Berating him for pushing Izuku instead of encouraging him. 

And Izuku revels in the feeling of actual friends. Of people who listen to his opinion and can’t help but be happy when he looks in the face of the two boys who won’t quit flirting with him. 

Nezu spends the month researching Izuku, and his schools. A boy that smart, should have been discovered long ago. What he finds infuriates him, and he knows that even if he can’t convince Izuku to join the hero course, he’ll be destroying a few schools anyways. 

But that would come later, so for now Nezu gathers evidence of the crimes of Midoriya’s old schools. A small way to say sorry for pushing Izuku, even if he didn’t truly regret it. Because although Izuku may hate him currently, he was flourishing in the hero course. 

Izuku also keeps up with the hero team, and their training regime. Which he’s not happy with. The heroes never even think of the possibility of spies, and take no precaution. So when they see a bird hovering over their head, they think nothing of it. 

Nor do they notice how the shadows under the trees will waver occasionally as eyes peek. Aizawa doesn’t feel bad for the hero team. the way things are going, they’re going to be destroyed. But, it would be the hero's fault. And maybe they needed to be knocked down a few pegs. 

What truly sets apart the hero and villain teams, is their attitude. Both are determined, but the villains treat it like a real situation, where they are really villains. They spend time learning new skills, reconnaissance, and gathering resources honing old skills. 

But the heroes treat it like an assignment. More than that, they act like the villains aren't going to be a threat. They goof off at the beginning and it shows. But more than that, Bakugou is not leader material. Not yet. He doesn’t plan for anything, or try to encourage growth. Instead he fights them all. Over and over again. And when they fail, he throws insults and degrades his teammates. 

In the opposite of the villains, tension is running high and so are tempers.They gripe and snap at each other, growing irritable as they are mocked and forced to do the same thing over and over. 

They don't grow, and if anything they regress back to how they were at the beginning of the year. Aizawa and Izuku can tell that the hero team is filled with hubris, and it will be their downfall. But to be honest they deserve it. 

So on the day of the test, Aizawa is woken up at three in the morning by the problem children. Izuku is confident as he states, 

“ We’re ready to go in.” Aizawa rubs his eyes as he stares at them. They are not costumed up yet, instead they are in dark clothing that melds into the night. It almost reminds Aizawa of himself. 

“ It’s not time yet problem children.” 

“ No, but the rules state that we are able to enter the grounds before the approved time. We are not able to start the objectives, but we can set up a base. So we’d like to go.” Momo says sweetly, a smile on her face. 

She’s grown so much more confident in the last month, it’s amazing to see. Defeated, Aizawa slips shoes on and follows the problem children outside. It’s a good thing he slept in his campus dorm last night, and not his actual apartment. Otherwise the problem children might have tried to find out where he lives. And he’s not so sure that they wouldn’t have found it. But Aizawa nearly chokes when he sees what’s outside. He’d seen the vans and jeeps the problem children had bought thanks to Momo. BUT WHEN DID THEY GET A TANK!

He shakes his head. It’s not against the rules but did they really need a freaking tank? And of course it’s Denki in the tank. He climbs in with Izuku and they’re off. Apparently they woke up the other teachers as well, because the viewing center is up and running. He supposes he will go there after then. 

The problem children stay in the vehicles as Aizawa unlocks the gate. 

“ I’m sure you already know this, but I need to go over the rules anyway.” He stands in front of the open gate, so they don’t drive off. 

“ You can win by completing the objectives, and then hiding out until sundown the third day. Or you can get rid of all the hero students and win that way. The heroes only need to stop you to win the game. If no one wins by the end of the third day, it will be up to the teachers to decide who wins. We’ll decide using several variables, like how well you stayed in the role, who got more people out, how many objectives you completed and how much damage the teams caused.” Aizawa clears his throat. 

“ Don’t actually kill anyone. That’s all I have. Good luck.” he steps aside and the villain team rolls through. They wave excitedly at Aizawa and he smiles softly. Then they turn around completely serious. They have work to do. 

Aizawa slowly goes to the viewing center. It’s where all of the first year teachers hole up for the three days and grade everything. All of the other students have the three days off. It’s like that for all the tests though. It’s why they spread the finals out. 

Most aren’t this long though, so this is the last one they will be doing. And Aizawa is excited. He expects great things from this time around. He’s excited to see who wins. 

When he enters the viewing room, he’s correct. The principal and the rest of the first year teachers are sprawled out on the various couches and chairs. Aizawa flops down next to Zashi. He looks up at the betting board. Most of the teachers  bet on the hero team. But the four who trained with the villains bet on them. Aizawa takes out his wallet. 

“ I want in.” Vlad laughs. 

“ Wow. you never bet.” Aizawa shrugs. 

“ I have a good feeling this time. 300,000 yen on a complete victory for the villains” Everyone quiets. That has never happened since this final begin. 

“ Aizawa-san are you sure-” 

“Yes.” 

“ Very well.”  With that Aizawa is on the board for the first time ever. 

Time for the Wars to begin.

Chapter Text

It  was nine A.M when the hero team was finally fully assembled. Aizawa technically couldn't be mad, because that was the arranged time, but he was still a little miffed. After all, he's been up since three watching shadows dart across the screen, because the gremlins cut all the light from the arena for hours. 

And by the time the sun rose, they were finished. And then it was just quiet. But someone had to always be watching, and somehow it fell to Aizawa. So sue him, if he wished the heroes had shown the same initiative and shown up a little earlier to cure him of his boredom. But no matter, now it was finally showtime. 

He clears his throat, and the chattering quickly dies down. Iida looks around, and noticing the absence of the villains begins to speak. 

“ Aizawa-sensei, the villains have not shown. Are they waiting in a different are-” 

“ No Iida. They showed up early and got a head start on you. So now I just need to brief you so the test can begin.” The combined classes feel a shiver go down their backs, when Aizawa mentions that the villains are already inside. What exactly could they have needed to do? Still they listened carefully to Aizawa. 

“ You only have one objective. Bring the villains in. You will be graded on technique and how much damage you bring to the table. Don’t forget that they are villains, so you might also have to deal with hostage and rescue situations. Do your best, and don’t actually kill anyone. If you do land a fake killing blow, or what we consider to be a killing blow, we will determine whether or not the lethal force was necessary. We are not naive enough to say that lethal force won’t ever happen, but as heroes try to avoid it.” Aizawa unlocks the gate. 

“ You have been given comms, and a tablet with a map of the place, and a marker for where your base is. There you will find food and the resources to survive.” Aizawa stretches. 

“ You’re welcome to go in now. And unless you are considered dead, or knocked out of commission, you will not leave. If you do, it will be considered an automatic failure.” Bakugo strides forward first, his face set in a determined snarl. When everyone has made it in, he turns to them. 

“ Okay you fucking extras, let’s get one thing straight. You don’t get in my fucking way. But first things first, we need to go to our fucking base, and get set u-” Bakugo is cut off by a large explosion. Walking down the street toward them is, Adora. Or at least they think it is. 

She wears a floor length flowy gown, with loose sleeves, and a crown of gold. Across her face is war paint, in every color of the rainbow. She looks ethereal, haloed by the fire from the explosions. Her whole outfit is tinted rainbow, matching her hair. And at her waist, looped on a thin gold chain is a katana. The hilt matches the rest of her outfit, but the metal is cold hard steel, and it glints in the harsh light. She stops about 50 meters away and begins to speak. 

“ I am Iris. The embodiment of the rainbow, and a messenger for the Gods. And I am here to bring a message.” Her voice echoes, in a way it shouldn’t and for a second her eyes seem to flash gold. It’s freaky, and more than one hero takes a step back. 

“ You have until sundown the second day to surrender. If not, we will destroy you. ” Iris smiles, her face content. With a roar, Bakugou explodes forward, his hand reaching for Adora’s face. The rest of the heroes stand still and watch the following battle. 

If you could call it a battle. Adora-or Iris, is quick to dodge him, and with one hit, from the hilt of her sword, Bakugou is down and unconscious. He collapses without a noise. Kirishima yelps in outrage and moves forward. Iida stops him. Iris had moved far too fast, almost as fast as him. But that wasn’t her quirk. 

Now that Iida was thinking about it, he wasn’t sure what her quirk was. Iris, as if she knew what Iida was thinking, begins to talk. 

“ My quirk is Color.” With a sweep of her hand, a burst of different colors begin to show over her head. It bathes her in colorful light, and several of the students blush. They’ve never seen her act like this, and it was a nice change. 

“ I was born with rainbow hair, and as I grew up I found that each color represented a different power I could harness. But I never used my whole power. Because I was told it wasn’t fair. That I basically had several quirks. And that I was too OP. My own mother told me to hide my powers. To downplay it.” Iris looks bitter now, her face cold and hard. Her hands clench, and suddenly all the color is fading. Pony gasps and falls back as color drains from everything slowly. 

In their wildest dreams, nobody had expected Adora to be this powerful. Then a smile graces Iris’s face again, and the color begins to return. She whirls around and kicks Froppy to the ground. The frog girl had been attempting to sneak behind her, using camouflage, but Aodra had seen right through it.Froppy is left struggling to breathe, a boot planted firmly on her chest, and a sword at her throat, as Adora continues to speak. 

“ But when I became a villain. I was told to let go. That I could be exactly what I wanted and that I would never have to hold back ever again.” She glares at the heroes, who have slowly taken a fighting stance. As much as this new Iris is freaking them out, they are still heroes. And what kind of heroes would they be if they couldn’t save their friends. 

“ I refuse to hold back any longer. So prove you are worth my power. That you deserve to defeat me. But...I have better things to do, and I’ve delivered my message.” She smiles at them all. 

“ A parting gift, before I go though.” She lifts a detonator and with one click, things go to hell. All around the heroes, buildings begin to crumble, as explosion after explosion goes off. Adora takes her leave, two heroes on the ground and the rest in a panic as not only the buildings begin to crumble, but Adora harnesses the Blue, to use the sewers to flood the streets. 

Luckily for the heroes, they immediately leap into action, Iida taking control of the situation. 

“ Sugar Rush, take Tsu and Bakugou and get them to medical immediately. Todoroki, start putting out the fires, and try to stabilize the buildings as much as you can. Sero, Bondo, and Awase you help as well. Everyone else, focus on rescue. Aizawa said that the villain’s might hold hostages, which more than likely means there is something that counts as human collateral in the buildings. GO!” Everyone begins to split off. 

It takes two hours to finish rescuing the ‘victims’ which are just mannequins. With shittily painted faces on them. After about thirty minutes Tsu is back, helping search for the victims. Bakugou is back after an hour and he is furious. 

“ WHY THE HELL DIDN”T YOU CAPTURE THE FUCKING VILLIAN!” Bakugou screams at all of them. Class 1-A doesn’t even stop, and Todoroki goes as far as to snap at Bakugou. 

“ Why are you yelling at us. We all know, rescuing civilians is more important than capturing the villains. It’s not even close to the end of day 1. You need to chill out, and start helping. Besides, we aren't the ones who got knocked unconscious in the first five minutes of the test.” Bakugou leaps forward with a scream. 

“ FUCK YOU ICY HOT!” Kirishima has to hold Bakugou back. 

“ Dude, seriously. We need to finish so we can continue to set up and look for the villains.” That temporarily soothes Bakugou. Eventually he walks away. 

“ Tape face, shitty hair, and pinky. Come on. We need to look for the villains.” Those three send apologetic looks to the others and hurry after him. 

“ Wait up Bakubro!” They search for the next hour, until Iida rings in saying they have successfully rescued the civilians, and are heading back to base. At that Bakugou finally stops looking and they also head back. They all convene in the main room of the base. It’s Kendo who speaks first. 

“ I had Tokoyami survey the damage to the area. One villain effectively destroyed over five blocks of the city. It is now unmanageable, and it would take months to clean up. I vote that we leave it be, until the city is not under siege.” The rest of the team murmur their agreements. Bakugou says nothing. 

“ Bakugou, you need to confirm this point of action.” Bakugou scoffs. 

“ Like I give a shit. I only care about catching the shitty villains.” The rest of the heroes sigh and wander off to begin cleaning their hero costumes. They are all filthy, covered in sewer water, and dust. It hasn’t even hit noon yet, and they are already exhausted. Most try to put the encounter out of their head, write it off as a fluke. But others, a feeling of apprehension settles in their bones. That had been one villain, and sure she had been seriously OP, but they had all frozen in fear. She had sent them into chaos with very little effort. And they can’t help but feel like they’ve been doomed since the start of this exercise. 

Adora bursts into the room, laughing like a maniac. 

“ Oh my gosh, please tell me you got that on camera. They looked like they were about to piss themselves!” She collapses against Setsuna, who is also dressed in her war gear, all black and leather and so badass. Izuku looks up from his notes. 

“ Of course we did. I have it recorded for you to watch anytime you like!” He spreads his notes out, but before he can start talking Mei bursts in. She drops to her knees in front of Adora. 

“ How did my babies work? Was anything too tight, too loose. Did anything break? Is the armour too heavy? Did the force field electrocute you?” Aodra laughs and shakes her head. 

“ Nope.” Mei pulls her wrist up. Locked onto each wrist and ankle is a thin bracelet, made up of the strongest metal on earth along with a necklace on the neck. Each member of the villain team is outfitted with one. Electrical currents are trapped in between the bands, and form a sort of force field that repels a certain amount of force. It was genius and Mei had only built it, Izuku had come with the blueprints. All of the armour was built with Tungsten, mixed with a bullet, fire, and everything proof fabric.

 Momo had been able to make the fabric lighter than anything Mei could have made. And the sword was Mei’s baby. It was razor sharp, but after a certain amount of force was applied, it automatically baby proofed itself. It allowed for shallow slices, but nothing life threatening. 

All of their shoes were reinforced, with steel toes, and little air holes that pushed out short bursts of air that allowed people to jump farther, move faster, give them the boost they might need. 

And so far it was holding up. Of course, lots of other babies needed to be tested, but everyone had the ones that Adora had. She sits back satisfied and Izuku takes it as his cue to talk. 

“ Now, we know that we have thirty  objectives to complete before the end of the three days. So we have a lot to do. This was just a first strike, to throw the heroes off guard. We don’t want them to catch on to the game. So we will strategically strike at them, and their base while the others gather and complete the objectives. Luckily we have already completed two.” He shuffles the papers in front of him. 

“ We destroyed a building, and we escaped the villains unscathed. That was two. So good job Adora, you performed perfectly.” Adora gives a silly bow from where she's sprawled in Setsuna’s lap. Everyone claps and cheers, until a blush appears on her cheeks and she throws a random pillow in reach. Then they dissolve into laughter, Izuku included. Denki and Monoma tackle their leader, who shrieks in surprise.

He tries to get up, but they just settle in more. Izuku eventually gives up, and finishes his report from the ground. Everyone struggles to keep a straight face, with Izuku talking so seriously, but they could barely tell who was who in the tangle of limbs. 

“ I’m going to pass out a list of the objectives. It does not leave this building, okay?” Denki and Monoma still won’t get off, so Momo takes it upon herself to pass out the papers. 

Objectives

1. Kill a hero
2. Kidnap a civilian
3. Graffiti a building
4. Rob the bank
5. Steal from a hero
6. Infiltrate the heroes base
7. Kidnap a hero
8. Burn down a building
9. Escape the heroes unscathed
10. Grab the Mona Lisa from the museum
11. Steal the formula for Recovery Girl’s gummies
12. Injure a hero
13. Climb the tallest building in the city and burn it down
14. Take out half of the hero team
15. Kill a civilian
16. Kidnap the security bot from the hotel
17. Break into jail
18. Break someones arm
19. Crash a car
20. Jaywalk
21. Poison the water supply
22. Burn down the heroes base
23. Gather the token from the Library
24. Kidnap a hero teacher-bonus points
25. Turn the pools water red
26. Break the animal out of the zoo
27. Sell drugs
28. Noise violation
29. Litter
30. Speed

“ Now some of these seem extreme, and others seem easy. But we’re going to do everything with a big bang. And some, we can relate to others. If we have Momo make something to put in the supply, that isn’t lethal, but will take them out of commission for a couple of hours, we can offer them the gummies that we steal. That’s three right there.” The villains cheer. They were going to destroy the freaking villains. 

“ Now, I figured that we could strike off some right now. I want to leave the kidnapped hero until tomorrow, so we can force the heroes to meet us. But feel free to land a killing blow on any hero you come across. Denki? Do you and Monoma want to lead the heroes on a chase? You can do the speeding, and noise violation at once. I’ll have people on standby in case you need help.” Denki cheers and finally gets up. 

“ YES I CAN TAKE MY TANK!” Monoma turns pale. Why did he have to go? 

“ While the heroes are distracted, we can do the museum and bank tasks. I want Gaea, Dionysus, Kratos and Melampus to do the bank task. Kodai can easily shrink the money and the walls. Pasithea goes with them as well.” The villains nod.

“ For the villain task I want Nyx, Thanatos, and Melinoe. The rest of you are on standby. I will also go with them. We leave within an hour.” Everyone splits off to get ready and Izuku stretches. It was time to get serious.

Chapter Text

Denki was having the time of his fucking life. Driving a tank is a lot different from driving a car. But driving a supercharged tank that has the ability to go over a hundred miles an hour? That  was especially hard. 

And Monoma was feeling the difference currently, his breakfast threatening to leave his body at any second. 

“ Denki, ugh slow down!” Monoma starts to dry heave. Denki takes a sharp turn and Monoma slams against the wall. 

“ Can’t really do that! I’m currently being pursued by most of the heroes! Including your beast classmate and Iida who are incredibly fast?! We’ll be captured if I go any slower. Monoma groans and drags himself out of his seat. He slowly opens the hatch and peers out. 

Denki is correct in the assessment that they are being pursued. Jurota is indeed pursuing them, and with his nose,Monoma knows they won’t escape anytime soon. So he would have to go. Monoma reaches for his rifle. 

“ Try to keep it steady so I don’t puke on the heroes while I take them out, okay?” He says. Denki nods an affirmative and Monoma also makes sure to brush the back of his neck, so he can use his quirk. 

Monoma pops up, fully revealing himself and his rifle. Iida falters for a second at the appearance of a gun, because who let fifteen year olds have guns? But Jurota keeps bounding at the tank, used to Monoma’s craziness after a year of dealing with him. 

“ MONOMAA!” He growls,dodging a trash can that Denki had smashed into. Currently, they are driving on a sidewalk. He looks past Iida and Jurota. Behind them, Bakugou and Todoroki are racing to catch up. Tsu is right behind them, and the rest of the heroes are trailing behind, not used to having to run so fast. Tokoyami flies above them, able to keep up,  but it’s harder for him to reach for the villains, when he’s trying to stay at the insane speed Denki has set. 

“ You dastardly villain, Turn yourself in immediately and let justice be served.” Iida yells, his hands chopping down. Monoma begins to cackle. 

“ Oh, you think I’m just going to turn myself in? Please!” I am Dolos the God of Trickery. And I will not be taken down by mere mortals.” He lifts his gun and electricity begins to crackle around him. 

“ And do you know who my partner is? Zeus the God of Lightning. So let’s see if you can handle this heat?” With that Monoma begins to spray the heroes following him in paint rounds. Obviously he wasn’t allowed real bullets, but they would have been dead, if they were. True to his predictions, Juroto’s and Iida’s ear pieces beep red. They are dead. Iida slumps to the ground in defeat. He has almost certainly failed, not even lasting a day into the assignment. 

Monoma continues to cackle, as Denki swerves onto a new street. He looks down at Denki. 

“ Two heroes are dead. We’ve lost most of the others, but Tokoyami is still following from above.” Denki grins. 

“ We gotta make the boss proud. So why don’t we take a few more heroes out? I need to get rid of this tank anyways.” Monoma nods. 

“ So slow down? Or drive into a building.” Of course they choose the more chaotic option and soon they have smashed into a building, and scramble out. 

“ Get to higher ground! I’ve called for backup. Hephaestus is coming to get us.” Monoma nods and they take off. Tokoyami enters quickly. Now that he’s not struggling to keep up, he can give them a run for their money. Bakugou’s voice crackles in his ears. 

“ We’re splitting up. This is too convenient. It’s most likely a diversion to cover up something bigger. Shitty hair is coming as backup. That should be fine, it’s just Copy Cat and Dunce face.” Tokoyami feels a tingle go down his back. It’s true that it’s just two villains but, it didn’t sit right with him. He feels like he’s missing something. 

He jumps when a paintball whizzes past his face, missing it by centimeters. 

“ Pay attention, or next time I won’t miss.” Calls out Dolos. Tokoyami scowls, but makes no move to go after them. Instead he waits for Kirishima, who after a couple minutes runs  in gasping for air.

“ Sorry bro. I came as soon as I could.” Tokoyami nods. 

“ Let us start this revelry in the dark.” He motions toward the stairs. 

“ Shall we head up?” They walk up slowly, guards up, waiting for something to come at them from the dark. Eyes follow them from the shadows. And when Kirishima moves up just a little, that’s when Monoma makes his move. He melts out from the darkness.

“ I  am Dolos, the God of Trickery. And you’ll never see me coming.” Monoma whispers, as he turns Nyx’s quirk off. Tokoyami whirls around, only to be hit with a million volts of lighting. Tokoyami feels his eyes go fuzzy. The last thing he thinks before he passes out, is that at the beginning of the month, there was no way he would have lost to Monoma. 

How has he leveled up so quickly? The leather clad boy waits for Tokoyami to fully pass out to shoot him in between the eyes. Kirishima is nowhere to be seen, not even noticing his teammate being taken out of commission. Monoma is now satisfied, and goes to join Denki, turning Nyx’s quirk back on. Hopefully he makes it before Kirishima finds Denki. After all, even though Denki is a badass, Kirishima is a bad team up for the blonde. But, Monoma has nothing to worry about. 

Kirishima did catch up to Denki, but instead of attacking, he’s talking to Denki.

“ Bro, just come in peacefully. I don’t want to hurt you. We know you aren’t going to win.” Kirishima inches forward and reaches for Denki, his hands hardened. Denki scowls at the assumption that he can’t beat Kirishima. 

“ Seriously? I’m not going to give up just because you don’t think I can survive. Fuck off.” Denki backs away, but doesn’t turn his quirk on. If there’s one thing he’s learned from Mido, it’s that he doesn’t need his quirk for everything. And this was one of those things. 

Monoma appears in time to see Kirishima lunge for Denki, and Denki uses the momentum of the hero to yeet him out of the window, screaming “ DEFENESTRATION!” Monoma cackles, as the window shatters under the hero's weight, and he goes plummeting six stories down. Even with hardened skin, Kirishima is knocked unconscious, and almost definitely has a concussion. 

Denki wipes his hand off on his pants and turns to look at Monoma, a proud gleam in his eyes. 

“ DID YOU SEE THAT! I THREW KIRISHIMA OUT OF A WINDOW!!!” He jumps up and down excited. Monoma gives Denki a high five.

“ They’ll definitely be proud of us. We took out three heroes, and after blasting pop music loud enough to wake the whole city, and the chase the heroes gave us, we finished two objectives.” Denki nods and they settle in to wait for Hephaestus. She flys in on copper wings, a few minutes, a manic grin on her face. 

“ The heroes are in a tizzy, so good job. And also I took the liberties to record that whole interaction, because Denki you just threw someone out of the window, and it was fucking great!” They all laugh, but Monoma pauses as he realizes there is no way for Mei to carry them all back to their base. 

“ Wait, how are you going to…” Mei holds up two small discs.

“ I’m going to attach these to you. One mimics Aretemis’s quirk, and cuts your gravity in half. The other is an extremely strong magnet that will keep you within five feet of me in the air. Before the boys can protest, Mei has attached the disks to the boys, and is taking off. Denki and Monoma are yanked forward, and they can’t help but scream in fright and cling to each other. 

They don’t even have anything to hang onto, relying on two quarter size disks to keep them alive. 

When they get home, they join the rest of the crew who are camped out in front of the camera viewing station, watching the other missions and the heroes.  Both are going extremely well. 

Gaea, Dionysus, Kratos, Melanpus, and Paithea have just arrived at the bank. They crawl out of the sewers, make their way across the street. Everything is quiet, but they all know since it’s not night yet, the bank will be filled with fake civilians. Momo pulls up a design of the bank. The camera is close enough, it catches what she’s saying. 

“ The vault is in the back of the bank, with about four walls in between. We don’t want to destabilize the building, as it would bring far too much attention to us. .So Dionysus, we’ll save your quirk for the money. Paithea, can you soften the walls enough to let us in the back of the vault? That way no one will see or notice us.” Paithea quickly agrees, and soon a human sized chunk of the wall is completely softened. 

“ Hurry through, you won’t be able to breathe in the softened cement. Paithea goes first, followed by Dionysus, Gea, and Kratos. Melampus waits outside, a tiger and leopard by his side, keeping guard in case a hero shows up. 

Luckily for them, it goes without a hitch. Dionysus quickly shrinks the money to fit in her pocket, and just for funsies, Momo booby traps the whole place. 

On the opposite side of town, Nyx, Thanatos, Melinos, and Ares have entered the museum. They just went through the front door, pretending to be civilians. Nyx breaks off to search from the shadows for the artifact they need. The museum is mostly empty of anything, so when Nyx comes across a naked mole rat figurine behind a bunch of locked doors, it’s easy to determine it as the artifact they need. 

Unfortunately, the heroes receive an alert about villains being in the museum, and Mina, Sero, and Bakugou show up. They have no idea that Nyx is there, but the other three villains are stuck facing off with the heroes. 

“ Nyx, take the artifact and get back to the base. We’ll be fine. But Hypnos and Artemis, get here just in case.” He whispers into the comms, keeping an eye on the heroes advancing. Bakugou is the first one to strike, leaping for Izuku with explosions in hand. It begins a game of keep away. 

Bakugou is excellent at combat, but he’s slower than Izuku, his explosions needing that split second to jump off. Izuku uses it to his advantage, and in those split seconds of Bakugou gearing up to use his explosions, he strikes. It throws Bakugou off, and it’s enough for Izuku to get a safe distance away. 

Thanatos has split apart, giving Mina a near impossible target to hit, and Thanatos will use a hand, an elbow, part of her leg to reach forward and smack Mina in the face, or torso. Mina is growing frustrated, her acid tosses growing less focused, and more of a broad sweep. Melinos, has taken control of the tape shot out of Sero’s arms, and quickly uses them to tie Sero up with his own quirk. 

Bakugou growls, as he sees his teammates taken down and held back so easily. He’s watching as Thanatos uses a hand to yank Mina to the floor when Izuku strikes his sword at Bakugou's neck. 

“ Be careful little heroes. I could kill your leader at a moment's notice.” Izuku taunts. Mina and Sero respectively freeze. 

“ Let go of him, villain!” Mina stomps her foot frustrated. Setsuna laughs and smacks her across the face. 

“ Aww, is the little hero upset?” Mina is indeed upset. It feels like they’ve had no control since this test started. Like the villains are just playing with them. Izuku takes pity on them. 

“ It’s no fun to have the game end so quickly. So I’ll give you an option. We continue on this way, and I kill the three of you. Or you choose one to die, and you can go help Kirishima.” Bakugou  growls. 

“ What do you mean help shitty hair?” He really wants to punch Midoriya in the fucking face, but he knows it will result in his death and failure of this test. So he stays still. 

“ Well, I’m sure you know that Jurota, and Iida are dead and out of the game. But what about Tokoyami and Kirishima? Tokoyami was taken out with no mercy, but Kirishima was just thrown out of a 6 story building. I’m sure you could save him. But right now, he’s just laying in the street. I bet I could get a villain to kill him before you got to him again.” Bakugou looks so frustrated. 

“ This isn’t over. I will kill you shitty villain.” Midoriya laughs. 

“ I’m sure you will. So who’s getting sacrificed hmm?” The heroes are quiet. Finally Sero speaks up. 

“ I’ll go.” And that’s that. The heroes are released, and Sero is shot in the forehead. Bakugou looks like he wants to attack again, but Mina pulls him away. 

“ We’ll have other chances, But we need to regroup. Get to Kirishima and get back to our base. We’ve lost four people today.” Bakugou knows she's right, so he leaves, no matter how bad he wants to destroy the shitty villains.  

Bakugou calls the rest of the heroes back, and Kirishima is put in the infirmary. The heroes gather in the main room once again. Pony speaks first. 

“ They’re just playing with us aren’t they?” Todoroki shakes his head. 

“ Yes. But that means they are overconfident, and we can take them by surprise. We just need to wait for the right time. Jiro shifts uncomfortably as Kendo speaks up. 

“ So we need to get our act together, or we’re going to lose. I mean we had to give away one of the heroes, just so Bakugou didn’t die.” Mina sighs. 

“ We need to start regular patrols.” And so they discuss as Bakugou sits and feels useless. Is he even a hero? Everyone else is taking charge because everything Bakugou has done has resulted in their defeat. God he got knocked unconscious first thing in the test.

He’s not sure what to do anymore. And he’s not so sure that they’ll win either. Midoriya is even worse than Bakugou remembers.

Chapter Text

Momo-Gaea

Adora- Iris

Denki- Zeus

Shinso- Hypnos

Uraraka-Artemis

Monoma-Dolos

Kurorio-Nyx

Setsuna-thanatos

Shouji- Kratos

Kouda- Melampus

Juzo-Pasithe

 Reiko - Melinoe

Kodai-Dionysius

Mei-Hephaestus  

  The villains, who had been up since nearly one in the morning, take the late afternoon off to catch up on sleep. If left the hero team on edge and bewildered at the lack of villain activity, after such a strong start. They searched the streets but didn’t come across one villain and that night they collapsed in their base ready to sleep. Not one, leaves someone to stay up as a guard. That will be one of their biggest mistakes. 

Because that night, after a warm meal, everyone begins to suit up except Mei. She was going to guard the base. Everyone else is tasked with one of the villain's objectives. They hope to get most done tonight and tomorrow, so they can have an all out battle at the end. Midoriya stands in front of a giant whiteboard that nobody knows how Izuku snuck in. 

A list of all of the remaining objectives are listed there. He points at the board. 

“ Now, some of these we could probably already mark off. But knowing Nezu, if it was done without the actual intent to complete the objective it won’t count. So we’re going to go ahead and redo some of them that are already technically completed. Now, we know from our cameras planted in the heroes base, they didn’t leave a guard up like idiots. If we want to finish our grand plan, we need to get almost all of these objectives done in the next 24 hours, so we can have our grand finale on the third day.” Izuku marks off the ones they’ve done for sure. 

“ Now, we have killed a hero, Sero, among others.  We’ve robbed the bank, and the museum, which resulted in the creepy mole rat statue named Mona Lisa. And we’ve done the speeding and noise violation objectives, we’ve also escaped the heroes unscathed. That leaves 24 more. Some I want to get done, before the heroes wake up. So we’re going to use our comms tonight to time our attacks. I’m going to split up the tasks we are doing tonight and the ones that aren’t going to trigger any alarms, like the jaywalking. Then we’ll do the ones that will, and then we’ll do some of the hero base ones, while they’re out chasing us. Got it?” The team nods. 

“ Iris, graffiti the highest building in this godforsaken town. Then stay there. Gaea, be a dear and jaywalk for me as well and litter. Once we’ve gotten the baby ones out of the way, we can start to work.” Gaea and Iris nod. 

“ Next, we are going to get the token from the library, break the animal out of the zoo, turn the pool's water red, crash a car, Steal the formula for Recovery girls' gummies, burn down the tallest building, and a regular building I also want to steal the night security boy for the hotel. That leaves twelve more. 

“ I want Zeus to crash the car. Dolos, borrow Nyx’s power to go to the pool. And dye it red. Melampus, you can steal the animal from the zoo. Iris, burn down both buildings since you’re already graffitiing it. I’ll get the token from the library and Melinoe, you’re going to get Recovery Girls recipe. Dionysus, you steal the hotel bot.” All of them nod. 

“ Finally, Nyx,and Shinso you’re going to be doing a bunch of the hero base tasks. I want you to infiltrate obviously, then steal Bakugou’s mask if you can. If you can't, anything is fine. And Momo made a mild poison, it’ll give them headaches and upset stomachs.  Put it in their water supply. That leaves only nine tasks for tomorrow.” 

“ And of course, if you come across heroes, feel free to take some out. It will make it easier to complete the half a hero  team tasks. For the people without a task, give the heroes hell.” With the orders given, they all quickly split up. It takes less than an hour for the stage one tasks to be completed. 

Tsu is woken up at exactly 12:06 A.M by an alert that the pool has been broken into. And after that, the alerts begin flooding in. 

“ You guys, wake up kero. The villains are active.” She looks through the alerts. One from the library, the zoo, the hospital downtown, and two buildings are on fire. And a reported kidnap from the hotel on 5th street.” When only a few people stir, Tsu doesn’t hesitate to whack them with her tongue. If she goes out by herself, she’ll die. 

“ Wake up kero. The villains have hit multiple spots.” The heroes finally stir awake. Bakugou is quick to take charge. 

“ It was a mistake to not set up a guard. We need to hurry. Todoroki, the fires are close to each other, go put them out. Horns, you go with him. 

“ Mushroom girl go to the pool and take frog fuck with you. I’m going to the hospital.  Blowhole, go to the hotel and take one of your shitty teammates with you. Mina you’re with me. That Beast guy is out isn’t he? Fuck. Ok Shiny Laserbeam, you and invisible bitch go to the zoo.   Everyone else spread out and search Someone go and check on the crashed car as well. . If they're this active, then there's definitely going to be more. We can catch them off guard. Hulk, you stay and guard the base.” 

“ Orders given, they rush out, half without their hero costumes on and an annoyed look on their face from the nicknames. 

And like every other time they’ve gone up against the heroes, they are absolutely unprepared. Instead of grand gestures, like they’re used to by now,  they switch it up and are quiet and sneaky. Tsu and Kinoko don’t see anyone at the pool, at least up until the point of contact. Someone melds out of the darkness. 

“ ‘It’s Kurorio! Turn on a light quickly! He travels through shadows. It’s no use. Before Tsu can even reach for a flashlight,  Dolos has both girls by the neck. 

“ Wrong one.” He shoves them into the pool and with a slight touch of electricity, borrowed from Denki the girls are seizing in the water. When their comms go red, he immediately stops and pulls them off. 

“ Monoma, how could you. That was so dangerous!” Cries Kinoko, shoving at her classmate. He turns with a smirk. 

“ We’re heroes, everything we do is dangerous.” He strolls away, leaving Tsu speechless and Kinoko in tears. What kind of monster was willing to electrocute someone in a pool?

Most find nothing at the sights they visit. Whoever burnt the buildings down is long gone and so is the hospital and hotel break ins. As the heroes search fruitlessly, some of the villains follow the heroes and annoy them. Nasy whispers float into some of their ears, but nobody is there. Other times they’ll trip over something that wasn’t there. 

No matter how much they try, they don’t find any villains, and so at the break of dawn, they stagger home dead tired. Something needed to change and quickly. They sit down, grab a cup  of water, and begin to argue. 

“ They’re just toying with us! We aren’t good enough. They could have killed all of us at any time, but they’re just playing with us. We should just give up.” Cries Kendo. Bakugou shakes his head. 

“ No fucking way. Heroes don’t lose.” Kendo scowls and gets up to leave. 

“ This is bullshit and you know it Bakugou. They prepared better. They’re just better.  Even with double their numbers, we are running around like headless chickens. You aren’t leading us. We have no teamwork, no plans. We just go out when we get an alert. We’re going to lose, and it’s your fault Bakugou.” She’s almost to the door when Todoroki speaks. 

“Where are Tsu, Sato and Kinoko?” She whirls around. 

“ They didn’t return?” At the negative given, they all rush to their computer system. And indeed an alert popped up hours ago that declared all three as dead. It even gives a description.Tsu and Kinoko died of electrocution in a pool, and Sato died from a gunshot wound. Kendo leaves abruptly. The others trickle out as well, attributing the twisted feeling in their guts, as shame to losing another three teammates and not even noticing. 

When the villains got back that night, after three hours of tormenting the heroes, they collapsed in bed, feeling high on victory. There was nothing better than a good night's work, and completing the tasks they were given by their leader. 

Mei wanders around tinkering with the gear still on the villain’s limbs. 

“ Just a few upgrades!” She murmurs. She’d gotten so much data, last night and now she just wanted to upgrade a few of them. 

Midoriya himself curls up against Monoma and Denki, letting one pet his hair, and the other soundly sleeping. Monoma leans down and whispers in Izuku’s ear. 

“ You know, you really are amazing. You’d be such a good hero, you could help so many. But even if you aren’t, you’ll still do so much good. It’s just in your blood.” Izuku blushes but doesn’t answer. 

This time felt different then Nezu. more sincere. Nezu made it feel like he had no choice. And after years of being abandoned, and being told that quirkless was equivalent to useless, to be told that he could live out his dream, but only because his analysis was extraordinary, Izuku will admit he had shied away from the idea heavily. 

But with Monoma and Denki, they saw him as useful whether or not he became a hero. And curse his stupid heart, but it was causing that old flame, to spark up again. 

The want, of being a hero, of seeing people smile at him and tell him he helped them. He was starting to remember what it meant to want such things. And he didn’t know how he felt about that. 

Mei glances at the deep  in thought boy. Most of the other villains are sleeping, so they can be ready for this afternoon. Izuku should be too, but he looks conflicted. And even though Mei wasn’t the best at humans, she thought she knew why. 

“ You know, not having a quirk makes you so special. Because it means you didn't even start at the starting line. You had to crawl your way to the starting line and then fight for every step past that. But look at what you’ve done. You’ve brought together a large group of people who adore you. Not for a quirk, or because you’re powerful. You now go to the most sought after hero school, and have caught the eyes of Nezu himself.” 

“ You’re special because you wanted to help us do our best. You helped us...And it means so much to these people. Because we all know how people treat people who have weak or unworthy quirks. To be shown that kindness, and with no judgement? So many people need that in their life.” 

“ I know you were told it would never happen. But, you hold something I think we all struggle with in this world and something that nobody can fake. Pure kindness. No strings attached. And I think the world would benefit with someone like you as a hero. So if you want my opinion, I think you should stop letting cruel people hold you back. If you want to be a hero, be a hero. You deserve that.”  When Mei glances over she’s startled at the tears filling Izuku’s eyes. She almost freaks out, until Izuku smiles, a truly breathtaking smile and wipes the tears away. 

“ Thanks Mei, I needed to hear that.” 

“ No problem. But if you do become a hero, you’re still going to be my support buddy, got it?” He laughs,

 “ Ok Mei.” He finally closes his eyes. He would need his sleep if he wanted to destroy the hero team.

Chapter Text

The teachers had freaked out when barely two minutes in, almost five blocks of the test grounds had gone up in flames. Currently Powerloader is in the corner mourning the amount of repairs in his future. But it got eerily quiet when Adora stepped out of the flames, looking like the definition of a goddess. 

Aizawa watches the screen calmly. The heroes had gone in, and before they could even get situated the villains had started their attack. In front of the heroes stand Adora, using the alias Iris. He wouldn’t admit it, but a small part of his heart was warmed at the way she’d grown in leaps and bounds in the last month. 

Adora had always been brash and loud, good for a laugh but much like Bakugou she used her loud demeanor to hide her insecurities. The truth of the fact is that Aodra had no confidence in herself or her quirk, and hid it behind being the loudest in the room. Or at least fighting Bakugou for that position. 

She didn’t use her full potential, even though she had probably the most powerful and versatile quirk, followed closely by Momo. The quirk tests had quickly proven that she wasn't using her full potential, barely any at all in fact. Normally Aizawa wouldn’t have hesitated to expel her, the hero world had no place for someone who wouldn’t give each mission their all, because it was the kind of thing that got you or a civilian killed.

But when Aizawa had been about to expel her, he’d noticed her eyes. They were sparking with determination, and even though she barely used her quirk, she physically put her all into every task. He could see how badly she wanted this. So he didn’t expel her, or any of them in fact because when it came down to it, he could see the potential hiding in all of their eyes. 

And now he could see the potential coming out, and it was breathtaking. No he hadn’t made a mistake in not expelling her. For the first time this year, Aodra stands tall, her smile real as she reveals her true power. He’s proud of her, not that he’ll admit it to her face. 

“ Where did she get katanas?” Questions Thirteen, who’s clenching the blanket on her lap. This was the most explosive start to the exam they’d ever had. The heroes who have trained them, only smiled. This was exactly what they expected after a month of watching their progress.  That doesn’t mean they aren't surprised when Bakugou goes down in one hit. 

Mic nearly chokes on his drink as he sees the leader of the hero team crumple to the ground.

“ That was brutal.” All Might whispers sympathetically. Nezu is in the corner cackling. God, if this is what he’s like after five minutes, what would he be like by the end?  Aizawa can’t help but be disappointed in the heroes. Adora barely did anything, and she still took out two of the heroes, and burned down several streets. 

And the heroes had frozen, except for a few. The only ones currently passing would have to be Tsu and Iida, for their quick thinking. Iida had proven himself a sharp leader, able to take control in chaos, and Tsu had at least attempted to attack Aodra unlike the rest. The others only stood there until ordered. And while it’s a good thing to be able to listen to orders, they also need to be able to think for themselves and make split decisions in tense situations. 

Aizawa’s pride in the villains only grows as the day goes on, and his disappointment in the heroes grows as well. Even after that explosive start, they didn’t take this seriously. It was genuinely pathetic and he thought that he had taught his class better than that. And it didn’t seem like his opinion would change anytime soon. Currently, all of the heroes are chasing two of the villains, who are blasting Taylor fucking Swift and making fools at them. 

“ They didn’t leave anyone at their base. That was a mistake.” Notes Snipe. 

“ They’re focusing on the obvious threat, but it’s also obvious that it’s a diversion, it’s allowing the other villains to get tasks done, without being disturbed. They’ve completed the museum and the bank tasks without the heroes even noticing.” Thirteen whispers, looking a little sick. It’s All Might who speaks what most of the others have been thinking. 

“ They are extremely efficient villains.” He points out, as Denki crashes the tank through a building after killing Iida and Jurota. God, he’d told Iida again and again not to prioritize speed over flexibility. If you focused only on being the fastest you could be, then you would get blindsided and be unable to dodge attacks. As Monoma had just done. 

Vlad King looked proud of Monoma.  He’d been pleasantly surprised at how Monoma had set aside his grudge and now he was performing at full potential. Ectoplasm leaves to fetch the dead heroes. They wouldn’t go over what the heroes did wrong until after the test ends. Until then, they would be stuck in  a waiting room where they could watch the test unfold. 

Aizawa glances at the cameras in the villains base. The people who weren’t off doing a task were doing various other tasks. Some were eating, others were gathered around a card game or in Mei’s case, she was tinkering with various pieces of machinery. It was domestic. He glances back at the camera in time to watch Bakugou realize the diversion. Maybe he wasn’t too helpless. The others are already on the way back. 

He sends one person as back up,which is good but it still makes Aizawa annoyed. He should have sent more, he needed to stop underestimating the villains.  The mistakes were getting ridiculous. Ectoplasm sends a clone to pick up Tokoyami, who is deemed dead after Monoma utterly decimates him with electricity. 

And then Nezu is back to cackling as Kirishima is sent plunging out of a window, six stories up.  The look of utter betrayal is a bit funny. The heroes get an alert and manage to make it to the museum before the villains escape, but they are still unsuccessful and another hero is dead. Ectoplasm is sent out once again. Four heroes in one fucking day. It was a record.. 

Aizawa watches once again as the villains spend the night causing chaos. The heroes are too late to respond, and the villains are quickly completing objectives. At this rate they might be done before the second day is over. Two more heroes die by Monoma’s hand, who is proving himself terrifying.And Sato is killed by gunshot.  And Izuku pulls the strings from the dark. He still goes out and completes the tasks as well, but his strengths lie in directing his teammates on how to win. 

After Tsu and Kinoko are electrocuted to death and  collected by Ectoplasm along with Sato, All Might speaks up. 

“ We should call off the test.” Aizawa glares at him. 

“ Why?” 

“ What do you mean why? The villains are winning. It will lower the morale of the heroes. This is getting ridiculous. Honestly I’m not sure why such villainous students are doing in the hero program.” Aizawa stands outraged. 

“ The fuck do you mean by that.” 

“ Calm down Sho.” Mic whispers, reaching for his hand only to have Aizawa throw it off. 

“ No, Zashi. I want to know what he means by that.” All Might clears his throat but doesn’t back away from the red eyed glare. 

“ It should be obvious. The heroes are supposed to win. How could a hero student become so dedicated to being evil. They don’t even look like they’re struggling. It’s not heroic, and this will only cause the hero team to doubt themselves.” Aizawa scoffs. 

“ That’s your argument? Do you realize that everything the villains are doing, a hero has had to do in the past? Both sides of this test are important. It shows where you’re at as a hero. No matter the outcome. If you weren’t so dense, you would realize that the heroes are learning that failure is inevitable, and that they shouldn’t be cocky or underestimate their opponents. They are learning valuable skills a hero should have. Ones they need to learn if they want to be half way decent heroes that don’t die or kill a civilian.” He points at the screen, to the villains who are now relaxing and celebrating the success of the night, as the heroes grow grim with the possibility of losing. 

“ And the villains? If they chose to be a villain, it was for a reason. And I’m not sure if you noticed, but they are learning teamwork, how to trust their teammates, and that sometimes to complete the objective they have to do unsavory things. One day those kids will have to kill and they need to be prepared for it. Don’t call them villainous for trying to do their best, for wanting to grow stronger. They are winning because they put the effort in.” By the end of his rant All Might is against a wall and Aizawa is breathing hard. 

He lets Zashi pull him down, keeping his glare on All Might. How fucking dense could he be. Nezu, who had watched the exchange gleefully, finally speaks. 

“ Aizawa is correct All Might. All of the students are learning valuable lessons. Do not discount them simply because you do not understand.” Aizawa turns back to the screen, still agitated as All Might quietly sits down. It’s going to be quiet the next few hours as the villains sleep. But Aizaw knew that it would go to hell once Izuku awoke. 

Out of everyone Aizawa is proud of, it has to be Izuku he’s most proud of. He’s the reason the villains are winning. While he won’t admit it, Izuku has a magnetic force that causes people to want to gravitate toward him. And he helped those people shine. That boy, he didn’t want to be a hero, but he was still kind and so fucking smart. Whoever had hurt that kid was going to answer to Aizawa.

Because, Izuku had the heart of a hero, no matter what Izuku himself said. He deserves the chance to grow up to his potential and Aizawa wanted to be the one to do it. He wanted to watch that kid, his kid walk across the stage, with a license in hand. 

Iida stares up at the screen that seems to be mocking him every second. He had failed. He had forgotten everything Aizawa sensei had taught him, and now he had been killed and forced to the sidelines. And it was painful to watch all of the heroes fail so badly. They had truly failed. He couldn’t even call himself a hero at this rate. None of them could. And looking at the other dead heroes, and not one villain, he could tell they thought the same thing. 

Izuku’s eyes fly open. The second day has started, and the heroes were going to regret not surrendering the day  before.

Chapter Text

The second day starts out normally. In fact it’s quiet, which sets the heroes on edge. After a breakfast of water and porridge the heroes are sent out in shifts to patrol. One person constantly sits at their database, so if any more alerts happen they will catch them. 

It seems that the heroes are finally learning. When it’s Bakugou’s turn to patrol at noon, finally something exciting happens. He looks everywhere but his mask is no were to be seen. 

“ Hey you fucking extra’s which one of you took my fucking ma-” He doubles over. It feels like something in his stomach is trying to erupt.  He collapses to his knees and begins to gag. He’s not the only one. Almost all of the others are on the ground, sitting in their own vomit. Bile rises in Bakugou’s throat and he’s quick to do the same. Kendo whimpers from where she’s curled up on her side. 

“ Did we all get food poisoning?” She moans before turning her head to finish releasing the contents of her stomach. 

“ Hello? Hello? This is Patrol Team C, somethings- hurkjdhh send uggh send help. We can’t sto-hrrk throwing up.” Bakugou twists around, that was Mina-uughhh.

A voice comes over the comms once again but this time it’s not a hero team.  It’s fucking DEKU. 

“ I see you’re having a little trouble with your breakfast? Well, it won’t do to have our little game over so fast...But, we needed you out of our way for just a little bit. And you guys were so intent on chasing us last night you didn’t even realize that we infiltrated your base last night.” Pops go off weakly in Bakugou’s hand, but it quickly stops when his stomach cramps once again. 

“ We poisoned your water supply. Nothing lethal, but if you don’t want to be declared dead in the next few hours from poison intake and dehydration, you’ll need the antidote. Which only we have. I’d be glad to make an exchange? The antidote for Kirishima. We didn’t finish him off last time, and we feel that it’s such a shame. You have about an hour to decide. Toodles.” The comms shut off. Kendo looks desperate. 

“ We...we have too. This could wipe out our entire team and make all of us fail the exam.” Bakugou snarls. There is no fucking way he’s agreeing to that. 

“ Fuck no. We’re heroes, we don’t bargain with villains.” 

“ So your stupidity will get us all killed and failed.” Todoroki lifts his face up. “ We have no choice.”  Bakugou lies face down, his chest heaving. He couldn’t.  That was his fucking best friend. 

It’s decided, though, when Kirishima’s voice comes over the comms. 

“ I’m on my way back. I have to do this. We are the heroes and heroes have to make sacrifices. If it means we still have a chance to win, then we have to. You can’t stop me Bakubro. Do you hear that you stupid villians, we’ll do it.” 

“ Excellent. We’ll be there within an hour. We have a few...errands to run first.” Deku fades off of the comms with a deadly cackle. Kendo quickly speaks. 

“ Let’s take a headcount. Here at the base,  we have myself, Bakugou, Todoroki, Pony, Aoyama, Hagakure, Jirou, Kamakiri, Shiozaki, Kosei, and Kojiro.On Mina’s patrol group we have Mina, Mineta, Awase, and Kaibara. On Kirishima’s we have Tetsutetsu Ojiro, Rin and Manga. Kirishima is on his way back and the villains are on their way here. We’re probably in the most danger and the heroes on patrol the safest. The villains have no way of knowing where they are.”  Todoroki nods. 

“ That’s true, we were about to switch patrols though, so most likely the patrol teams are semi-close. Should we be worried about them slaughtering us?” 

“ Of fucking course we should. They’re villains, and not once have they not acted like fucking villains this entire goddamn exercise. This is probably a ploy to kill us all.” Pony looks as thoughtful as someone who is curled up in pain can look. 

“ Well I think they have” Her and Jirou are the only others in the room, but Bakugou can hear moans of pain close by. It must scuk to be out of the loop. He’d talk to them, but he can’t even move.” 

“ The hell do you mean by that?!” Bakugou growls. 

“ Think about it. They could have ended this from the beginning. We have not been acting very heroically. We obviously need some serious growth to do. But the villains have been messing with us. Even with our leader unconscious at their feet they didn’t make the killing blow. Instead they’ve been doing villainous acts. I know that our goal is to capture the villains, so it makes sense for the villains to have a goal right?”  Kendo shakes her head slowly. 

“ Their goal is probably to act as villainously as possible. I can’t believe that our friends and classmates could possibly be this cruel otherwise. Most likely they’ve just been too nervous to kill Bakugou. He is rather scary and they don’t really want to be villains.” Pony hums in thought. 

“ Well, you’ve always been right before, you’re probably right now too.” The only sound for a while is the pained groans of the heroes and the crackling of the silent comms.

Bakugou is thrust from his pain induced haze when he hears the comms crackle on and Mina screaming in agony. NO NO. What the hell are they doing? It lasts for about a minute, with the other patrol members joining, when it suddenly goes dead. Before Bakugou can untense or bring himself to check the alerts, the comms come through and this time it’s Kirishima’s team. No Kirishima though, thank god.” 

He presses his sweat slicked skin to the ground hiding his face and lets a few tears fall. Nobody can see his fucking weakness. But god damn it, if they’re actually dead, that is 9 members gone in minutes.  And when he brings himself to look, it’s written there in red. Eight dead and Kirishima missing. If only he could get…” 

He growls and shoves at the ground. He can’t just lay here and take this. But as soon as he’s even a little above the ground, the nausea hits full force and forces him to the ground.

“ AAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH.” Bakugou howls in frustration. He has never felt so fucking useless, why can’t he jus-

“ Bakubro, calm down.” 

“ You’re here. Did you hear…” Kirishima slumps into a chair. He looks awful, how he walked here, even if it was a couple blocks is insane. 

‘ Yeah, I had my comms the whole time. We were close by, they have to be almost here.” He’s panting, and clutching at his stomach. Bakugou wants to reach out, but he stops himself. 

“ I’m sorry.” Kendo looks even iller than herself, and her eyes are haunted. Bakugou is sure they are all a little traumatized after that. His friends sounded like they were in anguish. Footsteps echo through the hall. 

“ Kaccchhhann.” It’s Deku, of course he came himself. Bakugou tries to get to his knees again, but he’s stopped with a boot to the back. 

“ Oh, look at the poor baby heroes. Did you hear your friends die? I turned the comms on just for that reason.” “ Bakugou takes a weak swipe at Deku. Fucking bastard. 

“ It’s okay, it hurt a lot more than it sounded.” Kendo’s breath catches. It felt like she was facing off with real villains, not just her classmates. Behind Midoriya are three of his teammates. All silent. One is obviously Shouji, who is quick to scoop up Kirishima. The other two have no identifying marks though. She hasn’t seen them, and if the purple and pink hair say anything, they have to be wigs. So for once, they’re hiding their abilities. 

“ Give us the damn antidote Deku, you useless villain.” 

“ Ah ah ah, you shouldn’t call the person holding your one hope to stay in the game names. Say please.  Maybe it will make me go easy on Kirishima.” Bakugou grits his teeth, and slowly says, 

“ Please.” 

“ Good boy.” He tosses a bag of...gummies? To Kendo. They quickly take their leave. Kendo throws a gummy to each of them and within fifteen minutes they feel their bodies going back to normal.

“ We need to see the damage, we don;t have time to  rest.” Everyone nods and they spread out.  Each of them have a handful of gummies to negate the effects for the other heroes spread around the base.

An hour later everyone is gathered back in the main chamber, a little green and queasy, but able to move around.  In the end not only did the villains kill off the patrols, but they killed Aoyama and Shiozaki. Bakugou wasn’t certain they could have saved Shiozaki anyway. With her plants, she needs more water than average. So she drank more of the poisoned water, which meant she would have puked way more. Either way, half of his team is gone and one is kidnapped. 

And for some reason, they;d also left a small cut on Jirou. 

“ So we have myself, Bakugou, Todoroki, Pony, Jirou, Hagakure, Kamakiri, Kosei  and Kojiro. That’s still enough to beat them!’ Kendo encourages, but most of them look away. 

“ No. We can’t. They’ve led us on since the beginning and we aren’t getting anywhere. Even after we started patrols and monitoring the control panel. And I’m not sure if you realized this, but they also kidnaped and killed a civilian bot! It’s late afternoon by now, Kirishima is gone, there’s only nine of us left, one day left, and no leads as to where they are. ADMIT IT. WE ARE FAILURES.” Hagakure sobs. 

Kendo flinches. It’s true they have utterly failed. 

“ They gave us that warning, we have until the end of today to surrender. I’m not sure what else they can do after humiliating us so much, but maybe we should…” Jirou whispers, looking at Bakugou. He flinches at the assumption they should just give themselves up?!

“ NO! We aren’t fucking quitting.” 

“ Well what should we do!” Cries Pony. Bakugou huffs. He hated acting like a leader. 

“ Why the hell are we training to be heroes?” The other heroes pause to think. When they land on their answer, they slowly speak up one by one. 

“ To help people, that’s it.” Kendo says calmly. 

“ Same honestly.” 

“ I want to be a good hero people can look up to.” 

“ I want to help people.” 

“ To defeat my Father.” 

“ To help.”

“ I want to help.” 

“ To help people.” Jirou whispers softly. Bakugou nods as if that’s what he expected. 

“ This is obviously just a test, but that also means we need to give it our all. What says giving it our all by giving up? We’re supposed  to learn something from this shit right?  I want to be the number one, and win! That means I can’t give up when it gets hard. And neither can you. The hell are you going to do when you want to  save someone but it gets hard? You just get back up.” He stands. 

“ Yeah we might lose, and I sure as hell don’t want to. But that doesn’t warrant not giving it all we’ve got. We treat that kidnapped civilian like a real civilian and get it back. And Kirishima hasn’t been announced dead yet! So who’s with me?” Surprisingly Bakugou’s words affect them and they all rise cheering. They can still win this!

Back at the Villian Base

Kirishima has been hogtied and left next to a robot and Ectoplasm???? Oh God, have they actually gone off the rails? 

“ Ecto-sensei? Why are you here? That’s not in the rules is it??????” Ectoplasm shrugs. 

“ I’m just a clone, and an objective. I’ll be leaving soon.” Objective….

“ You guys, we're almost done!” The pink haired girl who had been there when they picked up Kirishima laughs excitedly. She throws off her mask and Kirishima blanches. 

“ Wait, that's not a hero course student. Sensei they are cheating!” Ectoplasm sighs. 

“ No, they aren’t. Nowhere does it say you only need hero students. As long as they are in your grade, you can use them, They just exploited the loopholes. Ectoplasm stands up. 

“ Alright, you’ve completed the objectives and it’s time for me to go. But I would like to talk to Midoriya first if that’s okay, Mei.” 

The pink haired girl laughs in Ecto-Sensei’s face, which makes Kirishima wince. Why were they acting so villainous???

“ No way. If the objective is complete you can go, but Izu-kun doesn’t want to see you, you butthead!” Ecto-sensei sighs. 

“ Of course. We will have to talk eventually but I understand now might not be the best time to do it. I will go.” With that the clone dissipates. Kirishima is left with the other masked person as Mei heads out. 

In the other room, the villains are excitedly chattering. 

“ We’re almost done! We need to break someone’s arm, burn down the hero base, kill the civilian we kidnapped, and destroy the hero team!” Squeals Adora. Izuku nods happily. 

“ Yup, we’re basically taking a rest day. We are going to do a fake torture video on Kirishima, the arm and civilain and then the rest can be used for whatever. I was actually hoping...Setsuna?” 

“ Yeah?” 

“ You can regenerate limbs. Would you be willing to sacrifice an arm to the cause?” Setsuna is happy to oblige, and quickly they execute the rest of the tasks. Shinso brainwashes Kirishima to scream like he’s being killed, just like he did with the other hero patrols. With CGI and a couple tweaks the heroes would think they tortured them to death.   They weren't monsters, they obviously just did fake slits but made it seem like they were being tortured for the hero patrols. It went against their code to do that much damage for no reason. .

The civilian bot is dispatched, and with that they are done. They send off the video at dusk, and happily settle down. They of course also killed Kirishima, so now he’s gone. All in all it was much easier than their first day but with just as much chaos.  And tomorrow they will end it. 

Hero Base

The heroes had spent the rest of the day fruitlessly searching for signs of the villain base. What greeted them at their base, was just the cherry on top of an awful day. A video message from their rivals, the villain team. They open it. Kirishima is sitting behind a masked figure, bloody and bruised. 

“ Well, it’s been fun, and I thought I would leave you with a parting gift.” The heroes proceed to watch the ruthless torture of th nicest guy they’d met, who sounded like he was dying. Several of the heroes threw up. Bakugou just snorts. 

“ It’s CGI you guys, if they had really done it the test would be called off.” Bakugou tried to put on a strong front but he’ll admit he’s still a little bit worried it actually happened. And when at the end the villains asked for a final showdown in the park, Bakugou was happy to accept. No more games, or trickery, just a brawl. And those villains would finally see what the heroes could do. 

Teachers

Throughout the day All Might tried to get them to call off the test. 

“ The villains are being unnecessarily brutal and using cowardly tactics. It is unfair to the heroes. I believe we should immediately fail the villains.”  Most of the other heroes laughed it off. All Might was the number one hero, of course he didn’t understand. It’s Aizawa who once again voices those thoughts though. 

“ Honestly All Might, you’ve been number one for a very long time. All you deal with are those big flashy brawls. Of course you don’t get it. They’re being smart. They can’t just do a big brawl, they’d die immediately. They deserve as good of a chance as anyone. Not to mention, this is how heroics really are. Not big fancy brawls, but villains in the shadows that are hard to catch. Own up to being a fucking baby All Mgiht.” Yagi had been pissed off but shut up when Nezu joins the conversation. 

“ Not to mention they are actually being quite gentle. They use enough force it’s considered a killing blow, but they never actually hurt anyone. Yes, they gave the heroes a tummy ache. They also cured it. Please stop acting so rashly. Instead notice how they never break the boundaries they set. They are still heroes inside. You just don’t see it.”

At that All Might finally shuts up. And Aizawa watches his kids with pride. Tomorrow was the end, and he just knew the villains would be victorious. And even the heroes were slowly learning something.

Chapter Text

The villains are quiet this morning. They know that after this, things will change exponentially. Their old friends will be mad at them. And would their new friends even want to stay? More than that, what if after all of this work, they still lost? The heroes still had some heavy hitters, 

And what about Midoriya? The one who brought them together, and helped hone their talents and bring out the confidence in them? He doesn’t want to be a hero… would they even see him after this? 

The greenette in question glances over at the moping villains. He’s currently in front of a mirror, painting war paint on his face that mimics Bakugou’s hero mask. He sighs...they haven’t ever been this morose. He clears his throat to get his friends' attention. 

“ We have a while until we have to meet the heroes...and after all we did choose the meeting spot, why would we be on time?” It gets a chuckle from the quiet group. 

“ Can I speak to you all individually, like we did when we first met for real?” A murmur of agreement goes through the room. They all eventually get up and leave except for Adora. He pats the seat in fron of him and grabs the rainbow paints. She sits in front of him with a wobbly smile. 

“ Hey, teach.” He laughs and brings a paint brush up to her face. 

“ Don’t cry, okay?” She nods. 

“ So, I just wanted to talk to you about the progress you made. I know you guys call me Teach to tease me, but you guys are my friends. I’ve never had one of those before, and I know after today it’s going to be hard. We probably scared some of our teachers, although they didn't stop us so obviously not too much. The heroes will be bitter and we’re not going to be together everyday. But some things are going to stay the same.” Adora nods slowly. She’s still not convinced, but she doesn’t want to say so. So Izuku forges forward. 

“ We’re going to have movie nights, and still hang out. We will stick together, until the others see reason.” Adora starts to smile. 

“ And you? You’ll be in Gen Ed…” Izuku sighs. 

“ Maybe not…” Adora starts and when the words fully register she shrieks in joy and leaps forward. Luckily Izuku is done with her makeup. He accepts the hug and when the beaming girl pulls away he puts a finger to his lip. 

“ Don’t tell anyone, I want to talk to them myself.” She nods and bolts out. 

The following conversations flow in the same way. He breaks the news that he’s going to transfer, and reassures them that they can deal with the blowback. Everyone leaves with their faces painted in their signature colors. 

Shinso and Denki are the last ones, and the ones that Izuku’s been avoiding. Ever since Mei spoke to him the first night he can’t help the feeling of warmth that spreads through him at the thought of him.

But he understands that he’s going to have to man up sometime so he calls them in. He starts on Denki’s face first, carefully painting lightning that covers his face in a streak of gold and black. Izuku is talented enough that it almost looks like real electricity crackling across his face. 

“ I’m transferring. I’ll have conditions, but I’m transferring. Denki gasps. Is that why everyone had come out looking so excited. Monoma pretends to be calm about it, nodding sagely. 

“ No way IZUKU! AAAHHHH. I’m so excited, wtf!” Denki leaps at him and Monoma, as cool as he’s trying to act, immediately follows. Izuku breathes in their combined scent, morning rain and lemons. It shouldn’t work, but it does

“ I’m so proud of you, of all of you guys. You all have come so far in less than a month. And even if we don’t win we’ve made it farther than anyone has ever made it as villains.  And you guys are so strong. I.. I would have never decided to switch without you guys. I gave up on being a hero a long time ago. But you made me remember why  I used to want to be a hero. To help people. And that’s thanks to all of you so thank you.” 

Denki sniffles, and when he opens his mouth he immediately regrets it. 

“ Go on a date with me?” Monoma scoffs at the two bright red teens he’s laying on. 

“ No go out with me!” Monoma shoves at Denki when he sits up. Denki scowls and shoves back. Izuku laughs and pulls them both in close. 

“ I like both of you. So can I go on a date with both of you too?  Both of the boys pretend to grumble but immediately agree. With that decided, Izuku finishes Monoma’s war paint and then they exit the room. It breaks out in cheers at the sight of Izuku wedged in between the two blondes. Izuku looks at everyone fondly. 

They all finally wear their villain garb, leather armour and flowing dresses in every color. It looks a little out of place next to the machine guns and grenades they are carrying, but Izuku thinks everyone looks amazing, down to Aodra’s katanas and Mei’s phoenix wings. 

“ Are you ready to kick some hero butt?”  Another cheer goes up, as they all raise their weapons and voices to the roof. Tears in his eyes, he nods for the hatch. 

“ Let’s go then!” They travel in tunnels for a couple minutes until they come to the place that opens up in front of the heroes base. When they stand in daylight, Izuku nods at Mei. 

“ Care to do the honors?” Mei gladly does, as she sends three of the villains around the base with gasoline. All of the heroes are out for the fight about to happen, so they aren’t going to roast anyone alive. When the villains come back, Mei brings out her flamethrower, and with a manic giggle sets fire to the gasoline. The base takes no time at all to go up in flames and everyone's a little scared at how much fun Mei had at the arson she just committed. 

With their second to last task completed, the villains make their way to the aforementioned meeting place. The heroes are spread out defensively, watching every shadow with jumpy eyes. 

The last two days have worn down on them, and at this point they just want to capture the villians and sleep for the next 62 hours. Pony spots the villains first. 

“ You guyssss.” The heroes turn to where she’s pointing. Spread out in one line and walking in unison are the villains. They had mostly operated from the shadows the entire time so it’s the first time seeing them in their villain gear all together. 

And they look terrifying...but beautiful at the same time. Strapped down to their toes with knives, swords, and even machine guns. Armour, that is fitted to their body and the thin crowns that decorate their brow. They look ready for war. Several of the heroes step back at the sight of Adora. God, when had they gotten so terrifying. Even though they had definitely learned that the villains made good villains, ultimately they operated from the shadows. 

Stupidly they had decided that meant they would be easy to beat in a one in one fight. Now looking at the villain's confident and relaxed stances, it didn’t look like that would be the case. 

“ You’ve been fucking with us the enitre time Deku. But you’re going down! All of you are.” Bakugou doesn’t allow the villains to speak and he launches forward. Everyone else follows his lead, and soon they are in a clash for their lives. Pony goes against Aretemis, who dodges gracefully. She spins around and taps Pony against the horns. Immediately she begins to float up and Aretemis is quick to reach for a paint filled arrow. A few seconds later, Pony is declared dead, her chest spattered with midnight paint. 

Hagakure sneaks up on Zeus, not seeing the electricity coursing close to his skin and electrifies herself until Zeus takes mercy on her, and kills her. Her and Pony sit on the sideline, no longer a priority to the villains and unable to help their teammates. 

Hypnos traps Todoroki in his siren’s spell, and is quick to get him out as well. With every hero that dies, the heroes surprisingly fight harder. 

Monoma takes out Kendou, using Bakugou’s explosions to knock her unconscious. Bakugou froze for a second. When had Monoma even touched him. 

The heroes fight for their lives, but every attempt to kill a villain is thwarted by another villain, as they engage in a deadly dance. Each step is calculated, the villains overwhelming the exhausted heroes. And in the middle of the chaos stands Bakugou and Izuku in the deadliest dance ever. 

Every swing that Bakugou swings is filled with contempt and the intent to kill. 

“ You’re never going to win you shitty DEKU!” Izuku scowls and dodges another swing, ducking under the arm and bringing his knee into Bakugou’s stomach. The blonde dry heaves and nearly collapses to the ground but keeps going. He will always keep going until he can’t. 

But no matter what, Bakugou can’t get his hand on Deku. And as more of his teammates fall, more villains join the fight against him. Nyx leaps through Bakugou’s own shadow to attempt to strangle him. Adora sends licks of flames at his feet. 

Izuku keeps him busy and unable to retaliate. It’s Denki who eventually brings him down. Deku smiles at him, the one that always screamed that he was looking down on him, and arms wrapped around his torso tight. 

“ Sorry bro, but I want to win.” With that Denki unleashes a measured amount of electricity until Bakugou collapses, twitching on the ground. Ares leans down. 

“ Do you know how to win a war? You make allies, who are willing to help you. Youpushed everyone away, and when they were in trouble you threw them to the wolves. You didn’t lead a team, you led what you thought of as extras. But they aren’t and they could have won if they had decent leadership. It’s your fault. I know you know that but unlike all of the other times, I hope you can actually learn from this.” The end of the game is officially called and the villains collapse to the ground in tears. 

“ WE DID IT!” 

“ YES.” They collapse onto each other, tears of relief and body paint mixing together. In contrast, the heroes are quiet and nursing the many wounds they received trying to fight the absolute beasts the villains had turned into. The teachers show up with stretchers and the villains are escorted away. 

No, Kendo has to remind herself. Not the villains anymore. Her classmates. The burn of betrayal and the anger of losing churns in her gut, as it burns in all of the hero's guts. She wants to hate her classmates for doing that. For going so overboard. But in reality, the heroes just weren’t prepared. There was never a way they were going to win this. 

She’s escorted onto the stretcher by Ecto-sensei. 

“ They did a number on all of you, didn't they?” Kendo flinches, the explosions that had taken her out still echoing in her ears. 

“ Yeah...they did. We failed, didn't we sensei.” She whispers. He sighs. 

“ Not all of you. Some of you did okay, and while as a team you failed yes, this was also graded on individual scores as well. So some of you passed, I'm sure.” Kendo nods. At least she still might have passed. 

It’s officially over. The heroes and former villains are kept separate for the weekend. They are told of what will happen by the heroic teachers. 

“ We won’t go over everything wrong you all did currently. These last three days have been tough on everybody. Hound Dogs' door is always open. I highly suggest you use him, most everyone does after this exercise. We know that tensions are high right now, so for now you all will be separated.” 

“ Yes, on Monday we will meet to dissect the  test. Be ready to tell us what you did wrong and right then. Enjoy your days off. 

The hero team is relieved to not have to discuss their failure so soon, and many do take up the Hound Dog offer. It helps ease the sting. 

But still, when Monday comes, nobody is ready to discuss the consequences of this test. 

They all share a classroom that day, and when they slowly walk in, it’s only to blanche at the sight of the former Gen Ed students Shinso and Midoriya in the classroom in hero student uniforms, Midoriya with a deadly gleam in his eye. And when their teachers walk in with a sadistic look on their eyes, both teams gulp. 

This was going to be hell.

Chapter Text

Aizawa and Vlad King glare at the first year students. They shuffle uncomfortably under the stifling weight of disappointment. 

“ Before we get started with the dissection of everything the heroes and villains did wrong, let’s hear some self-reflection. Where do you think the team's could have improved?” Vlad King finally askes. Everyone relaxes and Mina’s hand shoots up. 

“ The villain’s were way too violent!” She glares at the blank faced hero students. 

“ Wrong. They acted as villains, and they stuck to their act. There was nothing wrong with that.” Mina pouts and slumps deeper into her desk.  Kouda slowly raises his hand. To the surprise of the hero team, he actually speaks. 

“ We would have failed without Midoriya. He was fundamental to us winning, and it’s not good to put all of your eggs in one basket.” Aizawa nods approvingly. 

“ Yes, Midoriya did an excellent job of spreading out your talents, but it didn't help your leadership skills much. While his plans were good, criticism can always help make a plan better. Don’t forget that you have your own opinions and are allowed to voice them.” Vlad King nods approvingly. 

“ That was the  major flaw with the villains. What about the heroes?” Aizawa nods to the shame faced hero team. Before any of them can speak Midoriya’s hand is raised. Aizawa motions for him to speak. 

“ They made...quite a few mistakes. But the reason they made those mistakes is because they underestimated the villains.” Izuku smiles at the heroes who visibly flinch at the judgement in his eyes. 

“ That’s correct. The heroes made plenty of mistakes, all of which we’ll talk about today, but what made those mistakes happen was underestimating your classmates.” Aizawa turns on the projector and pictures slide across. 

It shows picture after picture of the heroes goofing off. 

“ All of these were taken during your one month preparation. I won’t lie, I am severely disappointed in the heroes. The villains used every ounce of prep time, while you slacked off.” The hero team shuffles. Vlad King speaks next. 

“ I’m sure the heroes wish to hear about all the mistakes the villains made, but there are virtually none.” The heroes gasp. 

“ They utilised excellent teamwork, they prepared for every eventuality, most of which didn’t even come to pass. They used their resources and they did research on the heroes weaknesses. They wanted to win, and they proved that with every action. Each of them had something to prove.” Aizawa growls and another slide show pops up. This time it’s of the villains, all of them doing various tasks. 

Momo and Monoma creating raw resources, Mei  creating costume after costume, Denki learning to control his electricity, Kouda with his animals. More and more pass, in some the villains are even throwing up. 

“ They pushed themselves to the limits and then pushed past even more. They grew exponentially during this test. Which is why they are dismissed. But hero team, we are going to comb through each mistake. I believe all of you learned valuable lessons, you will never forget, but just in case we are going to go over those lessons.” The heroes cry in dismay as the villains gleefully get up chattering about going for ramen.

But none of them really protest, because it’s true. They  performed miserably. After the villain team is gone the hero teachers begin to speak again. 

“ Some of you made more mistakes than others. And this is going to be a while, so get ready to be here for a long time. We will also be going over ways to improve. This isn’t just a tongue lashing, don't worry.” 

“ Let’s start with this group of heroes. Jurota, Kinoko, Sato, Aoyama, Hagakure, Ojiro, Jirou, Mineta, Tetsutetsu, Awase, Kaibara, Shiozaki, Kosei, Manga, Kojiro and Rin. You barely did anything. Which is bullshit. Let me say this, all of you are incredibly talented young heroes, who are inventive and creative. And yet when faced with a leader and others you considered stronger, and who could deal with it, you were content to sit back.” 

“ All of you failed because you did nothing, you had no initiative. There’s not even much to criticize because you didn’t do anything. Jirou, Hagakure, you would have been perfect for reconnaissance. Next time use your talents, you’re here for a reason so don’t be fucking intimidated.” Tears in their eyes, the called out group of heroes nod in shame. 

“ Yes Vlad Sensei, Yes Aizawa Sensei.” 

“ Don’t forget that you bring strengths to the team. Jurota, you never look ahead. Don’t just chase after something with a one minded intensity. Maybe then you won’t be knocked out of commission by someone listening to Taylor Swift.” Vlad Sensei barks. 

“ Some of you did pass though. Tsu and Iida. Iida you took initiative when Bakugou was knocked unconscious, and Tsu you tried to attack when everyone else was frozen. But because you didn’t take any time to prepare, you still lost. And when Bakugou was up to take charge again you stopped with the initiative” Iida nd Tsu nod. 

“ All of you underestimated and underprepared. You didn’t set patrols until it was too late, your base was invaded and you didn’t even notice. You were all poisoned, you all could have been taken out in one day, by one person. The villains were effectively toying with you. “ Aizawa smirks at the queasy look at the mention of being poisoned. 

“ Kendo, good job at rallying people’s hopes. Kirishima, you sacrificed yourself for the good of the game but you underestimated Denki. Both of you scraped by. Todoroki you barely did anything but argue with Bakugou. And Bakugou…”  Bakugou glares at his desk. 

“ You performed the worst out of all of them. Brute strength is not everything. And you will need help in your life even if you do manage to become the #1 hero. You treated your teammates like trash, you continued to make mistake after mistake and used terrible leadership in general. Your whole team resented you.” 

“ But...you learned your lesson I think. Hopefully it will stick.” It goes on like that for hours, Aizawa and Vlad tearing into every single mistake they  made. Mina even starts crying in the middle of it and has to be excused for a while. 

“ Sero, out of all of the heroes you didn’t underestimate them, but you also didn’t take a leadership position. Don’t just sit back. It’s not heroic, you need to have initiative. Still you pass.” 

Eventually hours later, the hero teachers stop. And for once Aizawa graces them with a small smile. 

“ You have a lot of work to do, but this wasn’t a waste of time ,as much as you could have done better. You have learned valuable lessons, one of which is to not underestimate your opponent. It will get you killed. I can tell you’re willing to grow and improve, it’s why you’re still here.” 

“ I suggest you begin to take advantage of your resources, your teachers, your classmates, and even Midoriya. He has a way of bringing out the best in people, don’t let your anger and bitterness get in the way of that.” 

“ Yes Sensei!” They all chorus. With that they are dismissed. They disperse their hearts somehow lighter. Yes they sat through hours of being shown what they did wrong, but they have so much room to grow, and isn’t that exciting? 

And some are curious as to why the villains chose the villain side. Mina is one of those people, and so she immediately seeks out Denki who looks apprehensive. 

“ Denki!” 

“ Oh hey...Mina.” 

“ I’m sorry for how I treated you.” 

“ Oh. Well thank you for the apology!” Denki smiles, maybe he can still be friends with his old friends. 

“ But why did you feel the need to join the villain side? I mean I know you won but…” Denki sighs. Mina has some serious growing as a person before that can happen first though. 

“ Because Mina...none of you believed in me. All you expected of me was to be a charger. Izuku showed me that i am not dumb, or a sidekick, or soemthing to be laughed at.” With that he walks away, leaving a gobsmacked Mina. 

She hadn’t realized they had made him feel like that. Other interactions like that happen all over campus, but some go better than others. Some of the villains joined only because they didn’t want to go against Midoriya himself, but others wanted to prove themselves, wanted to show they are more than anyone thinks. 

And at the end of the night the former villain team joins up for a movie night, with a few new additions like Sero. Because they understand each other. 

And because they are going to stick together no matter what. After all they are the villain team. 

Midoriya and Nezu’s Meeting

“ So.” 

“ I have conditions.” 

“ Of course. I’m sure we can come to a prosperous relationship.” 

“ I want Shinsou with me.” 

“ Done.” 

“ I won’t be your personal student. And that is non-negotiable.” He adds on when Nezu seems ready to argue. 

“ Only if you do an internship with me.” Midoriya purses his lips. 

“ Fine. I also want the keys to the secret tunnels.” Nezu laughs at that. None of the students had realized he had secret tunnels before. 

“ Gladly.  Anything else?” 

“ I want to be roomed next to Monoma and Denki, and I want to be able to choose what class I want to go to any day. One day I might want to go to Aizawa’s and the other I might do Vlad’s.” 

“ That’s acceptable.” 

“ And I want out of Ectoplasm’s math class. I can do an online course.” 

“ If you must. Anything else?” Midoriya thinks for a while. 

“ No.” Nezu gladly shakes his hand. 

“ Well, it’s better than I thought I would get. But I do have a condition of my own.” Midoriya scowls. 

“ What?” 

“ You have to be adopted by Aizawa and Yamada.” Midoriya blanches and begins to sputter. Finally something legible leaves his mouth. 

“ I’m sorry what?” 

“ You heard me. You live in a foster home,it would be easier for you to have a permanent placement. But more importantly, you need a loving home. And someone you trust. Aizawa wasn’t going to bring up adopting you until he discerned that you felt the same way, but I find it a waste of time.” Midoriya, who had begun to relax when Nezu said it was just so he had a permanent placement once again freezes. 

“ No?” 

“Then our deal is null and void.” Midoriya scowls. 

“ Midoriya san ,I’m not doing this to be cruel, and Aizawa and Yamada aren’t trying to trick you. You deserve a happy home life.” 

“ UGH FINE!”

And that is how, Midoriya is adopted by our favorite grumpy cat loving caterpillar, and becomes a part of the hero course. It’s not perfect, but when Midoriya sees all of his friends happy faces, he’s reminded of how much he wants to help others.

And that is why he ultimately decides to be a hero. Because everyone was wrong. 

He can be a quirkless hero. And it was time he proved it to everyone else as well.