Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Kurogiri, do you have the coordinates?”

“I do.”

“Excellent. Then call the Doctor. It’s time we brought Sensei back.”

                                                                                                            ****

The day dawned bright and clear. And today was one of their rare days off from classes and training. So of course Ashido suggested they have a day out.

Then Aizawa burst their bubble with some very troubling news.

“All for One has disappeared from Tartarus.”

He felt all the blood drain from his face, even as his classmates buzzed in confusion. Hitoshi snapped his head up, his brow furrowing with concern.

“Isn’t that. . .”

He nodded silently, swallowing roughly. This was bad. This was really, really bad.

“Who’s All for One?” Sato asked. He swallowed again.

“He’s the guy who had Bakugo kidnapped at the summer camp. . .the one with multiple Quirks? He’s also. . .kinda. . .two hundred years old and can give and take Quirks at will?” He laughed weakly. “Yeah. . .he’s that guy.”

There was a beat of silence before Kaminari broke it.

“Well. . .shit.”

He laughed mirthlessly.

“Yeah. That sums it up nicely.”

“Considering this, excursions off campus have been restricted; you’ll only be allowed off campus if it’s absolutely necessary.” Then Aizawa’s expression softened. “I know you were all looking forward to a day out, but until we know that AFO won’t be a threat to you, security will be a lot tighter.”

He couldn’t help shuddering.

“Trust me, Sensei, I have no objection to that.”

                                                                                                            ****

“Hey, Midoriya-kun, can I borrow you for a second?”

He turned and raised an eyebrow.

“Sure, Mirio-senpai. What do you need?”

Mirio came up to him, looking. . .a little nervous, surprisingly. 

“Can we talk in one of the private gyms? It’s about—you-know-what.”

Oh.

He nodded and gestured for Mirio to follow him. 

As soon as they were in the relative privacy of the gym, he turned back to Mirio. 

“So, what’s up?”

 “Well. . .” Mirio rubbed the back of his neck, his cheeks turning pink. “I had a really weird dream last night; and I think it was because of One for All.”

“Hm. Can you describe this dream?” He pulled out his tablet and prepared to take notes. Mirio nodded and leaned against the wall.

“I was in a black void, but I could still see somehow. There was someone in front of me, but they were just an indistinct shadow shaped like a person. They told me that this wasn’t something they’d expected, but they’d make it work; and then they mentioned something about me using their Quirk. I think they called it Transcendance, and they said it was similar to mine. Then I woke up.”

“Huh.” He typed frantically at the tablet for a minute, then looked up. “That sounds like one of the vestiges.”

“The what now?”

“The vestiges. When I fought Hitoshi in the Sports Festival and fell under his Quirk, I saw glimpses of past One for All users; I call them vestiges since I think that they’re imprints of the users’ consciousness.” He grimaced. “All Might brushed it off when I told him about it, so that’s all I know about it, but it sounds like they’re making contact with you too.”

“Huh.” Mirio scratched his head. “Do you know what the Quirk bit was about?”

“Not for certain, but I’ll do some research and see what I can find.” He closed the tablet and returned it to his belt. Mirio sighed and grinned.

“Thanks, Midoriya-kun. Let me know what you figure out.”

“Of course.”

                                                                                                          ****

“Hellions, stay with your buddies and keep your tracking bracelets on at all times. Do you understand me? ” Aizawa glared at all of them with his Quirk flaring. They all nodded and Aizawa sighed. “Good. Other than that, try not to burn the mall down and get your shopping done quickly. We’re on a tight time limit.”

“Yes, Sensei!”

“Then let’s go.” The man turned around and gestured for them to follow onto the bus. He gripped Uraraka’s elbow as they boarded and took a seat near the back.

“Hey, Deku-kun? I had a question for you.”

“Shoot.”

Uraraka fiddled with her skirt, looking. . .embarrassed? When she spoke, her voice was barely audible.

“The name Deku. . .does it bother you when I call you that? I realized after everything with Bakugo that it wasn’t meant to be a good name, but I never really found the right time to bring it up.”

Ah. That’s what this was about. He gently patted her hand until she looked up at him.

“I’ll be honest, it’s not my favorite name in the world. . .but you really did give it a new meaning. And besides—” he let a hint of teeth creep into his smile. “If it does become my hero name, no one will ever be able to use it as an insult again, because it’ll be a hero’s name. So you can keep calling me Deku if you like.” He shrugged. “And honestly, it doesn’t sound like an insult when you guys say it. To you all, it’s just a nickname, not an insult, and that makes a lot of difference.”

“So you’re reclaiming it?” Uraraka smiled weakly and hugged him. “That’s really strong of you, Deku-kun.” Then she giggled. “I’m just glad I haven’t been insulting you for months without realizing it!”

“Well, I’m glad we could clear that up.”

They chatted about schoolwork and the newest prank ideas for All Might for the rest of the bus ride. He found it endlessly funny that All Might still hadn’t realized that Hagakure regularly poked around his workspace and moved things around, then moved them back after he’d worked himself into a frothing mess. 

How dense can a person be? We literally have an invisible person in our class, how has it not at least occurred to him that we have something to do with it?

Not that I’m complaining. . .it’s great entertainment.

Finally, they reached the mall and got off the bus. He swallowed down the automatic sense of unease that rose in his throat. He didn’t exactly have a good track record with malls.

(The trip to prepare for the training camp sprang readily to mind. He still had nights where he woke up in a cold sweat, grasping at his throat and expecting to feel long, dry fingers wrapped threateningly around it.)

Instead of dwelling on it, though, he turned to Uraraka. 

“Where to first?”

They ended up banding together with Hitoshi, Shoto, Aoyama, and Mineta to do their shopping. Safety in numbers, after all. He collected everyone’s lists and scanned them, then headed to one of the map boards.

“So, if we’re here right now, we can follow this path and mumblemumblemumble we’ll come out near here!” He tapped the food court. “Come to think of it, why don’t we text the class so we all meet at the food court once we’re done with our shopping?”

“Sounds fine by me, but you went into a mutter storm mid-plan,” Hitoshi said as he pulled out his phone to text the class group chat. He blushed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck.

“Ah, sorry. I thought we could take this path through the mall.” He traced the path on the map so his group could see. “It’ll hit all the stops we need to make and get us to the food court without taking hours.”

“Sounds good to me!” Uraraka chirped. Shoto nodded silently with a small smile, Mineta shot him a thumbs-up, and Aoyama gave him a sparkling wink.

“Aizawa-sensei agreed to the food court idea.”

“Great. Then let’s go.”

And off they went.

                                                                                                        ****

“I am never letting you inside a bookstore again,” Mineta griped good-naturedly as they all staggered towards the food court, weighted down by shopping bags. A good third of them were books he’d bought at the bookstore.

“I’m the one carrying them!”

“Izu, we practically had to drag you out, and I think if you’d stayed any longer, you would have emptied their stock. How many textbooks did you buy again?” Hitoshi teased. He grumbled under his breath as they all chuckled at him. Still. . .it was nice to be the subject of good-natured ribbing rather than verbal abuse.

“So, what should we get for lunch?” Uraraka asked as they finally reached the food court. Aoyama glanced around and finally pointed out a teriyaki stand. 

“How about that, mes amis? ”

“Sounds good to me. And hey, there are some tables right over there!”

They ambled over to the tables and set the bags down with sighs of relief, then Aoyama and Mineta headed off to look at the menu. They came back with photos of said menu and after five minutes, everyone had their order decided. They got a buzzer for their table and chatted about school while they waited for their food and the rest of their class to arrive.

Soon enough, the talk turned to All for One.

“How do you think he broke out?” Uraraka whispered, leaning in close so the people around them couldn’t hear. “I mean, if he’s such a high-profile villain, he must have been under really tight security, right?”

“Most definitely.” He sighed and messed with the buzzer on the table. “My guess is that Kurogiri used his portals.”

“A logical conclusion,” Shoto nodded. 

Before they could continue, the buzzer went off, making them all jump. Uraraka jumped to her feet and offered to grab the food, and he offered to go with her. That way, they could get all the food in one trip.

He grabbed his own order as well as Hitoshi’s and Shoto’s; while Uraraka grabbed hers and Aoyama’s and Mineta’s. They brought the food to the table, then went back for things like utensils and napkins. 

That was when it happened. Uraraka had her back turned as she counted out napkins, and he was picking up some sleeves of chopsticks when he felt a hand wrap around his elbow and yank him backwards.

“What the—?!” was all he managed to get out before his vision was overtaken by black and purple mist.

                                                                                                             ****

One trip without an Incident. One goddamned trip. That was all he asked for. But no, all of his hellspawn were the definition of ‘villain magnets’ and drew trouble wherever they went. Especially the green Problem Child. 

The irritation didn’t make him any less worried. At least the mall had already been evacuated.

Uraraka was practically in hysterics, barely able to breathe through her tears and stammering apologies. Aoyama and Mineta were doing their best to calm her down, and Shinso and Todoroki. . .

He was fairly certain that they would need to be tied down as soon as they were back at UA. The glint in their eyes promised vengeance and he did not want another Kamino situation. 

“Aizawa.”

He turned and sighed heavily in relief.

“Tsukauchi, good timing. These five were with Midoriya at the time of his kidnapping, can you get their statements?”

“Of course, but. . .what was Midoriya doing here? Last I heard, he was leaving the hero course, which is a shame, because he has a massive amount of potential, but—”

“Where did you hear that, exactly?” His voice came out sharper than he meant it to, if Tsukauchi’s expression was anything to go off of. 

“Toshinori told me last time we had lunch.”

He facepalmed hard enough to leave a mark.

Of course. Of fucking course.

“We clearly need to talk about this later, but I’ll give you the cliff notes: Midoriya no longer has ‘that’ Quirk, but he was tricked out of it, he didn’t give it up voluntarily. He is still in the hero course, and he’s doing fine.” Better than fine, honestly, but he could brag about his student once efforts were underway to find him. “Yagi lied.”

Tsukauchi blinked twice, then shook his head.

“Right. We’ll talk later, then. For now. . .” he moved towards Uraraka and knelt in front of her. “Uraraka-chan, you might remember me from earlier in the year, my name is Tsukauchi Naomasa. Can I ask you a few questions about what happened?”

Uraraka sniffed and nodded, and Tsukauchi turned on a voice recorder and stated his name and the date.

“Uraraka-chan, what were you all doing?”

“We—we’d just finished shopping, so, so we were getting f-food while we waited for every—everyone else. D-Deku-kun and I got, got everyone’s food and we, we went back f-for napkins and stuff. Then I, I heard him yelp and he was gone.” She started wailing again. “I-I only turned my back for, for, a minute! I-I’m so-sorry!”

“It’s not your fault, Uraraka-chan. Thank you for telling me.” Then the detective looked at Mineta and Aoyama. “Can you corroborate that? Oh, and please state your names.”

“Mineta Minoru. That sounds right. I heard Midoriya start talking and saw a flash of purple, then Uraraka screamed his name.”

“ Je m’appelle Aoyama Yuga. I saw Midoriya being pulled into a purple portal; most likely Monsieur Kurogiri’s work.”

“Thanks.” Tsukauchi turned to Shinso and Todoroki. “What about you two?”

“Todoroki Shoto. It was definitely one of Kurogiri’s portals,” Todoroki said icily, flames starting to flicker along his left side. “The shouting drew our attention. As soon as he realized what was happening, Hitoshi jumped up and nearly knocked over the table.”

“Yeah.” Shinso was tapping his fingers nonstop against his knees. “Oh, I’m Shinso Hitoshi.”

“Got it. Alright, we can do more in-depth statements later. I have what I need for now.” Tsukauchi turned off the recorder and got to his feet, turning back to him. “Go ahead and take them back to school, Aizawa. I’ll be by later to go over things with you and Nedzu, and maybe take more statements. Besides, we definitely need to talk about. . . that. ”

“Fair enough. See you soon, Tsukauchi.” Then he clapped his hands twice. “Come on, hellions, everyone else is on the bus already. Let’s get back to UA.”

                                                                                                             ****

He sputtered as he was pulled backwards, landing harshly on the cold ground. The hand around his elbow vanished, and he heard footsteps retreating behind him. When he glanced around, he didn’t recognize the surroundings, but it looked a bit like a warehouse.

Oh, brother. This is the League’s new hideout, isn’t it?

“Really, Crusty?” he muttered, sitting up and rubbing his elbow. He muttered some very. . . choice insults about the manic villain under his breath before speaking up louder. “What do you want, Shigaraki?”

“Hello, Midoriya Izuku. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

He froze, every muscle going stiff in alarm.

That wasn’t Shigaraki Tomura’s voice.

Chapter Text

“So, what do we know so far?” Nedzu folded his paws together and fixed everyone around the table with a stern look. He sighed and shuffled the papers in front of him, barely keeping his fingers from compulsively tapping the table. 

“Midoriya was abducted by Kurogiri—and presumably another member of the League—at the mall. The signal on his tracking bracelet is currently blocked, so we don’t have a location, but the Support Department and police IT specialists are working on it.”

“Alright. Aizawa, how are the rest of your students doing?”

He winced.

“. . .Not well. Nedzu, we’re going to need a plan or we’re going to be dealing with a lot of vigilante charges for 1-A.”

Nedzu nodded in understanding.

“Shinso-kun and Todoroki-kun are not pleased with the idea of sitting back while their friend is missing, are they?”

“‘Not pleased’ is an understatement.” He massaged his temples, then grabbed his phone with a sigh as it buzzed. He glanced at it, and groaned as loudly as he could.

(Class President): Aizawa-sensei, we might need some assistance. 

Accompanying the text was a picture of the common room in chaos. Uraraka was being held in place by Dark Shadow, while Asui was being held by Shoji. Todoroki was on the couch with Koda’s rabbit in his lap, and Shinso was taped to an armchair with tape covering his mouth.

Oh dear.

(TiredSensei): . . .Were they plotting something?

(Class President): We were not entirely sure, but they were all hunched over the table and we did not want to take any chances.

(TiredSensei): . . .We’re trying to come up with a plan now. Please try and keep them from going feral.

Then he remembered who he was talking to and added one more thing.

(TiredSensei): And don’t go feral yourself.

(Class President): I would never!

(TiredSensei): Really?

He put the phone away before burying his face in his hands and groaned once more.

“Well, the Hell Class is steadily going nuts. We should hurry.”

“We’re going to need more information before we do that, but we’ll do our best,” Tsukauchi promised. Then the detective glanced over. “Yagi, you look like you want to say something.”

“Oh, it’s—it’s nothing, I’m merely worried for Young Midoriya,” Yagi stammered. He stared at the blond idiot with narrowed eyes, but finally looked away. 

Hmm. . .I’ll need to keep an eye on him too.

“Go check on your students, Aizawa-kun,” Nedzu said calmly, though his eyes sparked with danger. He abruptly remembered that Midoriya was also Nedzu’s personal student, and the satanic rat hated when someone messed with what was his.

Well, the League is screwed. . . good.

He stepped out of the meeting-room after a perfunctory bow and started heading towards the dorms, only to run into Aoyama, who looked like he was about to burst into tears. He immediately paused.

“What’s wrong, Aoyama?”

Aoyama sniffed and rubbed at his eyes. It took a moment for the blond to speak, and when he did, it was in a hoarse, broken whisper, with none of his usual flair.

“A-Aizawa-sensei? I—I have something I need to tell you.”

                                                                                                      ****

“I’ve heard a lot about you, Midoriya.”

He scrambled to his feet, trying to keep from hyperventilating. The man sitting mere meters away exuded an aura of utter evil , and as much as he hated to admit it, it scared him. Especially since he knew well what the man was capable of.

The man tilted his head. He was unable to see the scar tissue he knew to be there in the warehouse’s dim lighting, but that did nothing to make the man less intimidating.

“You have no need to panic. I have no intention of harming you.”

“You’ll—you’ll have to forgive me if I don’t believe that, All for One,” he said, barely keeping the tremor in his voice from making an appearance. All for One chuckled lowly and the sound sent shivers down his spine.

“So you know who I am. I suppose All Might told you about me?”

He couldn’t help grimacing at the mention of All Might. Call him petty, but he was still bitter about how much the retired hero had kept from him.

I’m glad he doesn’t really have eyes anymore so he couldn’t see that expression. It would tell him way too much.

“He did,” he said, the latent annoyance acting as a counterpoint to the sheer fear he was dealing with as he stared down the 200-year-old supervillain. “Which makes me wonder why you say that you don’t intend to hurt me when you gave him the injury that forced him to retire.”

All for One chuckled again and clicked his fingers. A light flickered on, and finally he could see the villain clearly. The man was sitting in a hospital bed, tubes going into his nose and wrists. He looked utterly helpless—but looks could be deceiving, and he had no doubt that All for One could kill him with a flick of his finger.

“Kurogiri, fetch the boy a chair,” All for One instructed. Immediately, a swirl of purple appeared next to him and a chair was pushed out of the portal. He stared at it warily. “Do sit down, my boy.”

“Don’t call me that,” he said softly. He heard All for One sigh, then felt his muscles go numb. Robotically, his body walked to the chair and sat down. The feeling returned to his muscles and he went stiff.

“That’s better. Now, Midoriya, I hear that All Might recently did you a great disservice.” All for One said calmly. He clenched his fists in his lap, but didn’t look away.

Don’t show weakness.

“I don’t see how that’s your business.”

All for One let out a soft hum.

“Considering I created One for All in the first place, I would say it is indeed my business. Now, answer honestly. Did All Might get you to give up One for All, and how did he do it?”

The aura around All for One intensified, and he had to cover his mouth with one hand to keep himself from spilling the story. All for One chuckled.

“You’re stubborn, my boy.” The villain crooked a finger, and the chair he was sitting on shot forward, bringing him to the side of the bed. Then All for One placed a single finger on his temple.

Immediately, memories began to flash before his eyes. The moment in the hospital where All Might tricked him out of One for All, realizing that he was Quirkless again, and their argument after that one heroics class. Then All for One pulled his finger away with a hum. 

“My, my. You’d think he’d have better manners.”

“You’d think so. . .” he muttered, then clapped a hand over his mouth. All for One laughed. 

“You really have a delightful sense of humor when you’re not being confrontational,” the man mused. He tried to lean as far away from All for One as he could without moving the chair and drawing attention. “Now, let’s chat, shall we?”

Haven’t we been doing that already. . .?

He didn’t vocalize that thought. He didn’t feel like dying today.

“I’ve looked at your records, Midoriya,” All for One said conversationally, “And I must say, you’ve been robbed in many, many ways.”

He blinked. He hadn’t been expecting that. But then All for One continued and it started making sense.

“All Might completely glossed over your potential. It would have been such a blow to your doubters if you were to become great without a Quirk of your own, yet he took this opportunity from you. And then, the moment you stopped being what he wanted, he took back the power he gave you.” All for One shook his head solemnly. “And then I saw your records from school, and they showed just as much disregard. You’ve been pushed down and beaten for years, haven’t you? All because you were born without a Quirk.” Then the villain’s voice turned honeyed and coaxing. “Wouldn’t it be nice to prove them wrong? To show that you’re not useless as they say? And if you truly want a Quirk—” the man spread his hands wide, careful not to upset the tubes. “I have more than enough, I’m sure I have one that would appeal to you. Would you like that?"

. . .This was a sales pitch, wasn’t it?

“I don’t want to be a villain.”

All for One laughed. 

“Is it truly villainy, when we’re trying to rebuild a flawed society? You were shoved aside, rejected, outright told to kill yourself, all over a genetic anomaly. Children with more. . .how do I put this. . . unorthodox Quirks are called villains and treated as such. People like your friend Bakugo are placed on a pedestal from the age of birth and their egos fed until they can’t see past their ‘destiny’. You want to change that, don’t you?”

He did want to change it. He really did. But not at All for One’s side. 

“. . .You make a fair point.” He wasn’t going to outright lie about that part when it was something he was actively trying to improve. “But I’m not going to work for you. No matter what you offer me.”

“Would you rather stay on the side of a corrupt society that only cares for power?” All for One asked, sounding disappointed. 

He bit back his instinctive response of saying ‘what, like you?’ and chose a more diplomatic answer.

“Not every hero is corrupt. And I want to change things by being an example.”

All for One shook his head again. 

“So idealistic. . .you remind me of my younger brother. But it doesn't matter.” All for One waved a hand. “Kurogiri?”

“Yes, master?” Kurogiri materialized a few meters away, making him jump. All for One gestured to him.

“Take him to the main room and restrain him.” Then All for One turned back to him. “Perhaps you’ll change your mind sooner rather than later.”

“I won’t be changing my mind.”

All for One smiled, and it was the single most frightening thing he’d ever seen. Nedzu’s smile was nothing compared to this man’s smirk.

“We shall see about that.”

Chapter Text

Kurogiri unceremoniously dumped him into a large room with crates pushed against the walls. Before he could do more than sit up, someone yanked him to his feet and shoved him into another chair, tying his wrists and legs down.

He shook his head quickly to reorient himself and took a closer look at his surroundings. The room was chaotic to say the least; crates were shoved and piled high against the walls and bits of plywood beams or other junk was scattered around. In one corner of the room was a makeshift bar with a counter made out of crates and boxes, and there were also little ‘tables’ scattered across the room. There was a large TV and gaming setup in the opposite corner to the bar, and Shigaraki was sprawled on a couch in front of it, playing some sort of shooter game. Dabi was sitting at the bar drinking something, Toga, Twice, Magne, and Compress were playing Uno, and Spinner was sitting on a crate and sharpening his katana. They all looked up at him in unison—which was greatly disturbing—and Toga immediately squealed.

“Izu-kun~!” She jumped up, throwing her cards down and running over to him. She immediately sat on his lap and started tracing her knife in a line down his cheek. It was deeply uncomfortable. At least she wasn’t breaking the skin—yet. “I’m so glad you’re here~ You’re still so cute!”

Oh, brother.

“Hello, Toga,” he said dryly, sighing in exasperation and attempting to lean away from her knife. “Could you not do that, please? I would rather not be cut today.”

“Aww, you’re no fun~” Toga whined. Shigaraki groaned.

“Get off him, Toga.” 

When Toga was finally off of him, Shigaraki strolled over confidently. 

“So, are you on our side now?”

He blinked up at the young man in disbelief, then tugged at the binds on his wrists.

“If that was true, I wouldn’t be tied up, now would I?”

Everyone stared at him, then Dabi snorted.

“You’re mouthier than I remember.”

“Yeah, having your trust broken one too many times will do that to you. But I have better support now, and the Number One asshole has been repeatedly smacked with the consequences of his actions, so. . .”

Dabi snorted again.

“Are you talking about All Might or Endeavor?”

“Don’t you mean Endeawhore?”

Dabi started cackling so hard he fell off his crate.

“That’s brilliant, kid—wait—” Dabi sat up, his eyes going wide. “By any chance, did you read that one article on the Flaming Bastard that got published a few weeks ago?”

He smirked smugly. 

“Dabi, I wrote that article and I enjoyed doing so.”

Dabit stared at him, then got to his feet and came over to his chair, placing scarred hands on his shoulders.

“Kid, you're now my new hero. That was the most amazing thing I’ve read this year.”

“Thank you.”

“Wait, wait, aren’t you supposed to be a hero-in-training?” Spinner asked. He shrugged—or, as much as he could shrug while tied to a chair. 

“I took down a villain masquerading as a model citizen; I fail to see the problem.”

Dabi started cackling again. Magne let out a long, low whistle.

“What got the fire man on your bad side?”

He scowled.

“He hurt one of my best friends for years, abused his wife to the point of pushing her into a psychotic break, and set said friend back so much that it took me breaking every single one of my fingers as well as my arm to get him using the whole of his Quirk. Not to mention the fact that he’s a discriminatory jerk who clearly cares for nothing but power.”

“Fair enough.”

Dabi stopped laughing.

“Huh? What do you mean, he pushed his kid into not using his Quirk?”

He took a closer look at the burned man. Now that he thought about it, those eyes looked oddly familiar. . .

“Dabi, how old are you?”

Dabi gave him an odd look.

“Twenty-four. . .?”

He started muttering under his breath as he did the calculations, then his eyes went wide.

No way. . .but that would make a lot of sense. . .

He snapped his head up and looked at Dabi head-on.

Time to test that theory.

“Yeah. . .Shoto refused to use his fire for ages because he thought that part of his Quirk was Endeavor’s. I only managed to get through to him at the Sports Festival.” He shook his head. “I’m no fan of my dad—considering I haven’t seen him in years—but I’ve never met anyone that loathed their parent as much as Sho hates his. When I sent in a file of criminal evidence to the police and Endeavor got arrested, he tried to max out Flaming Garbage’s credit card to buy me something.” He chuckled despite himself. “He was so happy. . .so was the rest of his family, come to think of it.”

Dabi blinked at him, and he could see the exact moment where the man realized that he’d figured it out. Without a word, the man made a smart about-face and left the room. Moments later, a muffled scream echoed throughout the warehouse.

“What did you do to him? Teach me your secrets!” Twice said, tilting his head. He chuckled and shook his head.

“Don’t worry about it.”

Shigaraki’s growl distracted them all.

“You literally took down a hero, why won’t you join us?!”

“Because, Handjob ,” he said sweetly, leaning forward as much as the bindings would allow, “I don’t want to hurt people that don’t deserve it or condemn them for their mistakes when they have a chance to improve themselves. I also don’t give a flying fuck about being the most powerful person on the block or proving my doubters wrong—although it’s a nice bonus, not going to lie—because I would much rather be helping people who need it.”

There was a moment of utter silence, then Twice spoke up.

“Holy crap, do you have a death wish?!” Then the man let out a barking laugh and spoke again. “Hah! He totally schooled Shiggy! I love this kid!”

Shigaraki growled and held out a hand, but Kurogiri materialized next to him.

“Master said not to harm him, young Tomura.”

“Urgh, fine!” Shigaraki stalked away and as soon as he was out of earshot, the rest of the League burst into giggles. Toga returned to her previous spot on his lap, playing with his hair this time.

At least she’s not putting her knife on my face again. . .?

“You’re really funny, Izu-kun~”

“Dang, I see why Stain thought you were a true hero.” Spinner took a seat on a nearby crate and resumed sharpening his katana. He couldn’t help the grimace.

“Stain had a point about corrupt heroes, but all he was doing was creating martyrs.”

Spinner looked up.

“What makes you say that?”

“Well, think about it. The heroes Stain murdered never actually had their crimes, both actual and imagined, shared with the public. He just killed them because they weren’t like All Might—who is a jerk anyway, but I digress—and never explained why he thought they were corrupt. And since a lot of his victims were decently popular, or at least had a lot of media attention, people thought of them as martyrs, not criminals. All he was doing was making the problem worse.”

“Huh. Well, what would your solution be, little hero?”

“Actually find evidence of corruption, for one,” he deadpanned. “Then, do what I did with Endeavor: send that evidence to the police and search for actual moments where they showed their true colors, then point them out for the world to see. It will ruin their reputation, which makes the HPSC and legal system less likely to exonerate them despite the evidence.”

Spinner opened his mouth wordlessly, then finally found his voice again.

“. . .That would be more effective, wouldn’t it. . .?”

“You’ve got a real way with words, don’t you, sugar?” Magne said, grinning at him. He gave her a mock bow of the head. 

“I do try my best.” Then he barely managed to lean away from Toga’s knife. “I would greatly appreciate not being stabbed, Toga.”

The blonde girl pouted, twirling a strand of hair around one finger.

“But your blood smells so good~! Can’t I just have a little taste?”

He gave the girl a closer look. She looked. . . hungry. Genuinely hungry.

“Toga. . .do you starve without blood?”

“Yeah? So I stab people to get it. Also, it’s pretty!”

He tilted his head.

“You know there are specialty stores that stock blood-infused food at affordable prices, right? Plenty of people need it for their Quirks or just because they’ve got some kind of mutation that leaves them craving it. Some people just like the flavor.”

Toga stared at him.

“Those exist?! ”

“Yeah. There’s at least one in Musutafu, and I’m sure there are more. You should be able to look them up.”

Toga was utterly silent for a moment, then got up and pulled out her phone. Magne and Compress stared at him.

“Do you intend to turn every member of the League to the light side, Midoriya-kun?” Compress asked conversationally. He did his tied-to-a-chair shrug again.

“That wasn’t my original intention, but I’m not going to complain.”

Compress chuckled.

“Yet somehow you’ve managed it. I must say, you are a very intriguing individual, Midoriya.”

“Thanks so much. And why are you a criminal? You seem like you’d much prefer being a showman than a thief.” 

“Criminality is in the family.” Compress airily waved a hand as he spoke. “And I want to continue the legacy.”

“Again, though, it seems like being a professional magician or entertainer would be something you’d enjoy more than being a villain. Probably pays better, too.”

Compress hummed, but didn’t answer. Magne started laughing.

“I think you charmed another one, sugar.”

Hmm. . .well, might as well try for the whole group, am I right?

“Why did you become a villain, Big Sis Magne?”

“Well. . .” the big woman hummed and grabbed a drink from the bar before coming back. “I’ve been a petty criminal for years, and when Shiggy came knocking promising to take down the society that never accepted me, I decided to come along for the ride.”

Well. . .that’s honestly understandable. But still. . .

“Yeah, the League of Villains accepted me when no one else would! Heroes only save the good.” Twice chimed in. He tilted his head.

“Not all heroes are like that. I know at least two who advocate for vigilante and villain rehab programs, and just because you’re not ‘good’ by society’s standards doesn’t mean that you don’t deserve to be saved. Our society is corrupt, it’s true—but not everyone is rotten to the core, and one of the reasons I want to be a hero is to make it just a bit better.”

Silence filled the warehouse again as Magne and Twice went quiet, and he resigned himself to trying to subtly test his binds. Then Kurogiri appeared with a tray of food.

“For you.”

His wrists were freed and he cautiously took the tray. On the one hand, he did not want to eat anything the villains gave him because there was a too-high chance it was tampered with. On the other hand. . .he’d been taken around lunch time and it must have been at least a couple of hours later, so he was hungry.

He decided to eat slowly, and if there were any adverse effects, to hurl the tray at the nearest villain.

Luckily for him, there were no side effects except the quieting of his stomach.

Kurogiri waited silently for him to finish eating, then took the tray away without a word, restraining his wrists once more. As the teleporter returned to his post by the makeshift bar, Dabi returned and jerked his thumb towards the door.

“Everyone out; I want to talk with our prisoner for a moment. Alone.”

“Dabi—”

“Out. I’m not going to hurt him or anything, but we need to talk.”

Eventually, the other villains cleared out, even Kurogiri. As soon as they were alone, Dabi crossed the room and sat in front of him.

“What do you know about me?”

“Not much, but I have a guess.”

Dabi narrowed his eyes. 

“Indulge me.”

He sighed, but acquiesced.

“Your real name is Todoroki Toya, you’re Shoto’s long-lost elder brother, and the accident that ‘killed’ you didn’t do so, but left you severely scarred, so you ran away and started over, eventually going over to the League when you heard that they were taking down heroes in hope that you could get revenge on your father.”

Dabi blinked.

“Okay, how the hell? ”

“It didn’t click until earlier,” he said honestly. “But your interest in Shoto was one giveaway. Then I realized that your eyes look like his left one, and that he once mentioned his eldest brother had blue fire. That’s a pretty distinctive Quirk. Then more details jumped up, like the shape of your face. And your hatred of Endeawhore, of course.”

 Dabi—Toya—sighed heavily, shifting on the floor.

“You’re good. It happened basically as you said—although I thought the Flaming Bastard would treat Shoto better than he treated me since his Quirk was exactly what the old man was looking for.” The man laughed humorlessly. “Guess that was naïve of me.”

“Maybe.” He hesitated, then took the plunge. “I’m sure Shoto would love to see you again.”

Dabi looked up sharply. 

“You—really think so?”

“Mhm-hm. He has a picture of you in his room with the rest of your siblings, so I think he still cares. I’m positive that your sister, other brother, and mom would be thrilled.”

“Hmm.” Dabi suddenly stiffened, then jumped to his feet and stalked to the hallway. “Alright, you snoops, get the hell in here.”

Toga, Twice, Compress, Spinner, and Magne all shuffled in with embarrassed expressions. Dabi scowled at them all.

“Care to explain?”

“We were curious!” Toga said half-heartedly. Then she glanced over at him. “Hey, Izu-kun. . .did you really mean what you said to us all?”

“Yeah?” He tilted his head. “I have no reason to lie; that’s what I really feel.”

“Well then. . .” Toga took a deep breath and walked over to him. Then, she did something absolutely shocking and knelt down to free his legs.

Within minutes, he was free, and Toga pulled him to his feet before he could process. Then she backed away and fixed him with a surprisingly serious stare.

“Take me with you.”

Chapter Text

“Thank you, Aoyama.” Tsukauchi shut off his recorder and started putting things away. “You gave us a lot of great information.”

Aoyama sniffed pitifully. 

“Am—am I going to be expelled?”

“I don’t see why you would,” Nedzu said soothingly. “You clearly didn’t do any of this because of malicious intent, and you came clean to us. We will arrest the League and make sure they will never bother you again.”

“Nedzu’s right, Aoyama,” he said, gripping his student’s shoulder. “You were forced into this and it’s obvious that you’ve been punishing yourself for it. We’ll work out an appropriate punishment when we get Midoriya back, but you won’t be expelled or pushed out of the course when you didn’t have a choice in the matter.”

“ Merci, professeur. ” Aoyama wiped his eyes and gave him a fragile smile. “I—I am still very sorry for what I’ve done.”

“I know that.” He squeezed Aoyama’s shoulder. “Let’s head back to the dorms, kid. We won’t tell the others quite yet—we can wait until Midoriya gets back for that—but we do need to tell them that a strike force is heading out soon.” He rolled his eyes dramatically. “Mostly so none of them go vigilante.”

“That would be trés dommage .”

“It would. Shall we go?”

“Go on, Aizawa. Tsukauchi and I will handle the details about Aoyama-kun’s confession while you inform the rest of your students that we have an area to search.”

“Got it.” He stood up and bowed, then led his student back to the dorms.

Poor kid. . .I hope this won’t cause too much tension between him and the other hellspawn.

When they finally reached the dorms, he had to restrain a groan. Shinso was still bound to the chair, but was doing his very best to activate his Quirk with his eyes alone. The only reason the couch wasn’t in flames or frozen solid was because Todoroki didn’t want to kill Koda’s rabbit. Tokoyami was floating up on the ceiling as Dark Shadow kept her grip on Uraraka, and Shoji had been wrapped up in Asui’s tongue.

Whoo boy.

“Hellspawn, what is going on?” he asked dryly. Everyone’s eyes snapped to him and Aoyama, and Ida hurried over.

“Excellent timing, Sensei!” Then Tensei’s brother winced. “Ah—this has been happening on and off for the past couple of hours, we’ll get it back under control soon—”

“We have a search area.”

Everyone froze. Then Todoroki picked up the rabbit, set it on the floor, and got to his feet. As soon as he had some distance from said rabbit, he blitzed over, a look of desperation in his eyes.

“You know where he is?”

“No, I said we have an area to search. We don’t have an exact location yet.”

“Can we help search?”

There it was. He braced himself for the wave of disappointment.

“No.”

Sure enough, there was an immediate chorus of “why?!”s and “please, Sensei~”s, but he shook his head again.

“Nope. All for One is way too dangerous to send kids against. A small team of heroes will try to take him by surprise, snatch Midoriya, and get out.” Then he softened his voice because he got it , he really did. “I know you all want to help him, but this shouldn’t be your fight. Stay here and we’ll get him back before you know it.”

He stared down each member of his Hell Class, only pausing a moment when he met Shinso’s eyes. His personal student had forgone the ‘try-to-use-my-Quirk-without-talking’ approach and switched to ‘look-as-pitiful-as-possible-to-try-and-beg-for-my-freedom’. And it was painfully effective. The boy looked like a sad lost kitten in the rain and it took every ounce of his carefully-honed willpower to look away and not give in to the begging stare.

Where did he learn that?!

I’m going to need some help.

He averted his eyes and pulled out his phone.

(GrumpyCat): nem i need help

(Minx): omw

He put the phone away and walked over to Shinso, untaping his mouth. He fixed his student with a glare that he hoped had the appropriate amount of heat.

“No using your Quirk to get me to let you come along, Gremlin. You don’t even have a Provisional License yet.”

Shinso pouted—and really, somehow it made him look even more pitiful, how the hell did he do that?!—but nodded and tugged his wrists with a hopeful look. He stared suspiciously at Shinso, but finally bent and freed his wrists. The kid probably needed to get circulation back in his hands anyway.

“You called, Aizawa?”

Nemuri was a blessing. He turned to her and gestured for her to follow him out. As they started towards the door, he heard Ashido ask, “Hey, Aoyama, are you okay? Your eyes are red.”

He paused, ready to step in, but Aoyama answered right away, his voice barely trembling. 

“I’ll explain later, mademoiselle .”

“Alright, but we’re here for you!” 

He sighed in relief and left with Nemuri. As soon as they were far enough that Shoji and Jiro wouldn’t hear them, he stopped.

“When the strike team gets ready to go, knock 1-A out. I know them well enough to know that some of the more reckless ones will try and sneak out to help. Besides, if they sleep the raid away, it’ll stop them from worrying themselves to death.”

“Aww, you do care!” Nemuri cooed. He glared at her and she sobered up. “Sure, I can let off my Quirk, but it might not work great on all of them, so it’ll take a while. Do you want me on the strike team?”

“Yes please.”

She nodded sharply. 

“I’ll get started now then; like I said, it’ll take a while to knock them all out. Text me when we’re ready to move out.”

“Of course.”

                                                                                              ****

Hitoshi rubbed his sore wrists to get the feeling back and stretched. Being taped to a chair for almost four hours was not fun.

(He understood why, though. It wasn’t like his classmates were wrong in that the moment he had the opportunity, he would try and go rescue Izuku.)

“Did you really have to keep me restrained for four hours?” he muttered anyway. Shoto sighed and patted his shoulder.

“I would have let you out, but Koda used his rabbit against me.”

“Yes, I saw that.” He sighed and flopped onto the couch. “So what do we do while we wait for news?”

Uraraka had a devious glint in her eye that he liked immediately. 

“Well—”

“Uraraka, no!” Ida began chopping his arm frantically. “I wish to help Midoriya as much as you do, but we must abide by Aizawa-sensei’s wishes!”

He prepared to use his newest weapon: the kitten eyes. Izuku taught him the technique, and according to him, it was quite effective.

“But Ida—”

Before she could continue, Ojiro suddenly stumbled to the side, eyes drooping.

“Guys, does anyone else feel. . .really tired all of a sudden?” The tailed student staggered to one of the chairs and collapsed into it, eyelids fluttering shut. Within seconds, his breathing had evened out and he was dead asleep.

Huh?

Then he felt it too; a sudden rush of lethargy that made him grip his hair in an attempt to snap him back to alertness. When he peeled his eyelids back open—when had they closed?—a solid half of the class was out cold. The rest were showing signs of sleepiness as well, and it finally clicked.

“Shit, Midnight’s using her Quirk on us!” He fought back a yawn and furiously rubbed his eyes.

C’mon, insomnia, take action!

But apparently Midnight’s Quirk bypassed such petty obstacles as chronic insomnia, and he felt his eyelids droop again. Before he knew it, he’d drifted off into a surprisingly deep sleep.

                                                                                                             ****

“So, where do we look first?” Kamui Woods asked as they all idled on a rooftop. He huffed quietly into his capture weapon and scanned the street.

“We still don’t have a precise location from the tracking bracelet—the League has some very good signal blockers—but we know that their hideout is somewhere within five blocks from here.”

“And how do we know that?” Kamui asked suspiciously. He shot a glare at the man.

“Don’t worry about it, just know that the source is reliable.”

“Should we systematically search the streets?” Edgeshot asked, gazing down at the street. He nodded, then paused and squinted. Several people-shaped shadows had just slipped out of an alley and were heading down the street. He silently jumped down to get a closer look.

It only took him a moment to recognize them, and he sent his capture scarf out without hesitation.

Midoriya yelped, but then relaxed a moment later. The boy smiled sheepishly from his position in the capture scarf.

“Hi, Aizawa-sensei. . .”

“Midoriya, are you alright?” He pulled his kid student close before letting him out of his capture scarf. Then he took a fighting stance and glared at the startled League members with his Quirk flaring. “Did they hurt you?”

“No, no, they actually helped me escape!”

He blinked twice, his hair falling back to his shoulders.

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Yeah, I—um—accidentally convinced most of the League to go good?” Midoriya said, laughing nervously as he did so. He stared at his student in disbelief, then turned to the League members. 

“Is this true?!”

“Yep,” Dabi drawled, sticking his hands in his pockets. “The greenie here is surprisingly persuasive, and he’s terrifyingly smart. I would rather not be in a fight against him; I’m pretty sure he’d win easily.”

“Considering he’s being trained by Nedzu, that’s probably true,” he muttered, privately enjoying the way the League members’ faces went pale. “So are you all renouncing villainy?”

“That’s the current plan, yes,” Compress said calmly. “At least, we’re renouncing the League.”

Well, isn’t that interesting. . .

He stared at them for another few minutes, then nodded and put his eyedrops in. 

“Then let’s get you all back to UA—oh, before I forget, where’s your base?”

“It’s a warehouse, two streets over. But don’t be surprised if Potato Head, Crusty, and Kurogiri are already gone. They probably know we escaped by now.”

Great.

“Wonderful,” he huffed. Then he beckoned for the rest of the strike team to join him. “Give us the coordinates and we’ll check it out while you head towards UA. We’ll catch up once we’ve seen the warehouse.”

“Yes, sir.” Compress gestured grandly. “Lead the way, Midoriya-kun.”

He shook his head in disbelief as Midoriya led the ex-League members towards UA like some sort of Pied Piper, then turned to the rest of the strike team, one thought predominantly on his mind.

Thank gods that Midoriya wants to be a hero, not a villain.

                                                                                                    ****

Sure enough, All for One, Shigaraki, and Kurogiri were already gone by the time they found the correct warehouse. They poked around for a bit, but didn’t find anything aside from some empty syringes and a few glasses.

Damn. . .ah well, at least we got Midoriya and the majority of the League.

So back they went, picking up Midoriya and the ex-League members on the way. Dabi, Toga, Spinner, Twice, Magne, and Mr. Compress went with Kamui and Edgeshot to the police station for interrogation, and Midoriya came with him and Nemuri back to UA.

“Are the others alright?”

He shook his head fondly.

Problem Child. . .

“They’re all fine, although they were ready to take up arms and go on a rampage to find and rescue you,” he said dryly as he navigated traffic. Nemuri chuckled.

“Your teacher had me use my Quirk to knock them out before joining the rest of the team to keep them from sneaking after us.”

Midoriya was silent for a moment, then sighed.

“I. . .can understand the reasoning behind that.”

He snorted despite himself.

“I would think so, considering you’re guilty of the exact same thing.”

Midoriya squawked in offense, and he ignored the boy’s sputtered denials throughout the rest of the drive, hiding his smirk in his capture weapon.

Nedzu was at the gates when they returned, and the mammal visibly sagged in relief when Midoriya hopped out of the car, alive and well.

“Midoriya-kun, I’m glad to see you’re alright. Tsukauchi will take your statement tomorrow, but if you wouldn’t mind a short explanation. . .?”

“Not at all, Sensei.” Midoriya leaned against the gate, his casual posture completely contradicting the words that came out of his mouth. “All for One wanted to recruit me because he knew that All Might tricked me.”

He blinked twice at the bombshell, struggling to find his voice again. However, Nedzu did first.

“What did he offer you?”

“Oh, what you’d expect—the chance to prove my doubters wrong, the chance to get back at All Might, another Quirk—” Midoriya snorted. “Don’t worry, I wasn’t tempted.”

“You managed to turn most of the League, as I recall,” Nemuri sassed, although she’d gone pale at Midoriya’s statement just like the rest of them. Nedzu immediately brightened.

“Oh? How so?” 

Midoriya smiled a very familiar sharp smile. 

“Well, it wasn’t intentional, but I simply pointed out that they could get what they wanted without following Shigaraki, and it would put them in less danger.”

Nedzu started cackling.

“Ah, I’ve taught you well!”

That’s not terrifying at all.

“If you’re done revelling in your teaching abilities, I think we should get Midoriya back to the dorms. Midnight’s Quirk won’t last much longer, and they will go feral once they’re awake enough to do so.”

“A fair point. Go on, you two. Tsukauchi will be by tomorrow to take Midoriya’s statement and talk over our informant’s. . .situation.”

“Yes, sir.” He bowed and tugged Midoriya towards the dorms. He half expected Midoriya to ask about the informant, but the greenette was surprisingly quiet and seemed to be lost in thought.

Finally, they returned to the dorms, and he cautiously opened the door, bracing himself for an attack from a greatly perturbed student, but there was nothing. When he looked in, he immediately saw the reason: they were all still asleep. Behind him, Midoriya chuckled and moved into the building.

“Would you like some coffee, Aizawa-sensei?”

I will give this child a kitten, I swear. 

“Yes I would.” 

                                                                                                    ****

Hitoshi groaned slightly as his eyelids fluttered open, raising a hand to rub his temples. He didn’t often sleep that hard, so it took his brain longer than usual to wake up. He gazed around with bleary eyes, slowly registering that he was on the common room couch, a blanket covering his legs.

Huh. . .?

Then it all came rushing back and he shot straight up, swearing.

How long was I out?!

All around him, his classmates were also returning to the land of the awake, grumbling as they woke up. Finally, Ida got to his feet. 

“Well, Midnight-sensei’s Quirk certainly leaves you reeling,” the navy teen said, holding one hand to his head. Then Ida’s eyes darted to the back wall and went wide. “Midoriya!”

It took a moment for this to process, but the second it did, he whipped his head around so fast, he was distantly surprised he hadn’t strained it.

Sure enough, Izuku was just stepping out of the kitchen, holding a tray full of mugs. As soon as their eyes met, Izuku grinned tiredly at him and moved to one of the tables, setting down the tray.

“Hey, guys.”

Within a second, he’d launched himself off the couch and stumbled over to Izuku, tugging him into the tightest hug he was capable of. More bodies joined him in an attempt to hug Izuku. Finally, everyone backed off and he took a step back so he could actually see Izuku’s face.

“How long have you been back?” Shoto asked, visibly emotional for once. Izuku chuckled.

“About an hour. I was wondering when you all would wake up.”

He took a deep breath and ran a hand through his hair, ignoring the snarls. A weight fell off his shoulders, although a smoldering irritation remained.

“Glad to see you’re safe, Zu.” He hugged his friend again, then turned. “Now, where’s Aizawa-sensei? I’d like to have a word with him.”

“Or we could watch a movie and have hot chocolate?” Izuku gave him a sweet smile and he felt his protest melting. A smirk tugged at his lips despite himself.

“Okay, fine.”

Still switching his coffee for decaf later.

Based on the looks of relief mixed with frustration, he wouldn’t be alone in that prank.