Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“Tomura,” Kurogiri said as he stepped through the portal into the bar.

“What? What do you want?” Tomura rasped as he paused his game to look up at the bartender.

“I would like to inquire about the location of the Nomu that the doctor lent to you to play games with. He needs to run some experiments on it.”

Tomura grumbled in frustration. “The bastard beat me at Smash Bros, so I told it to go kill itself.”

“…What?”

Izuku knew he should have stayed home from school today. He woke up with a sore throat, which made his voice sound all raspy. But because the universe hated him, he had a test scheduled that very same day, and knew the teachers wouldn’t let him make it up if he missed it.

He thought he did alright on the test, but any joy from that was quickly stomped out when Katsuki and his cronies decided to give him a free ticket to the nurse’s office. How nice of them.

Izuku shook his head at the bad memories. That was all behind him. The school day was over now. Best he could do was hope tomorrow would be better, though he secretly doubted it.

As he walked down the street, wondering what his mom would make for dinner that night, his pace came to a sudden halt when he saw a figure lying in the middle of the road.

Now, Izuku wasn’t Quirkist or anything, but he could still recognize an odd-looking mutant Quirk when he saw one. And that man lying on the street fit the bill to a tee with his pitch-black skin, bird-like beak, muscles so bulgy you’d think he was on steroids, and an exposed brain. Yeah, this guy was odd, even by Quirk standards.

But Izuku didn’t focus on that. At that moment, he panicked at the sight of a man lying down flat on the road just as a car was speeding his way.

“Sir! Watch out!” He tried to warn him, but he didn’t move, and a car ran over him. Though, oddly enough, it didn’t seem to leave any noticeable mark on his body.

“Sir, are you-” A pickup truck zoomed right over the man, then a bus, then a motorcycle, then a steamroller, then a fireworks truck. But no matter what ran over him, the strange-looking man didn’t seem to flinch.

Despite that, Izuku still panicked at the sight of a man getting run over by all those vehicles. He ran over to him as fast as he could and started giving him CPR.

“You’ll be fine! I called an ambulance! Just stay with me!” Izuku yelled in his raspy voice. The voice was so raspy, in fact, that the Nomu registered it as Tomura’s. As such, he followed the last command he heard, which was ‘stay with me.’ A command the Nomu interpreted as ‘stay by my side.’

Izuku stumbled back in shock as the odd-looking man stood up and peered down at him. He felt like an ant under a microscope, but he still went to respond. “Are - are you okay?”

No words came out of the man’s mouth, so Izuku tried a different question. “Um, can you tell me your name?”

“NO! MOO!” The man replied. Though, it sounded less like words, and more like animalistic screams that just so happened to resemble human speech.

“Nomu? Okay. I’m Izuku Midoriya. Now, could you please get out of the street? Please?”

Nomu silently complied, and Izuku breathed a sigh of relief. “Thank god you’re okay. Listen, I know life might be tough sometimes, but no matter the situation, suicide is never the answer. You have your whole life ahead of you.” At least, he assumed he did. Izuku wasn’t exactly sure of the birdman’s age. “Uh, how old are you again?”

Nomu didn’t respond, instead letting an awkward silence fill the air as Izuku’s posture shrunk more with each passing second.

“Uh, hello?” He hesitantly tried again. “Can you tell me how old you are?”

Now that his question was phrased as a command, Nomu had no problem holding up one finger and thirteen toes, as that was how many days ago he was created.

“You’re fourteen? Well then yeah, you have your whole life ahead of you. So please, don’t make a mistake you can’t take back.” Izuku felt slightly intimidated by Nomu’s continued lack of a response, so he decided to change gears. “Is there anyone you can call? Anyone else you can rely on?”

“…”

“Any parents? Siblings? Friends? Neighbors? Significant others?”

“…”

“So it’s just you? You’re all alone?”

“...”

“Well, I guess there’s only one thing to do.”

“Izuku, did you bring another homeless person home?”

“Actually, Mom, he followed me.”

“Would you have brought him home if he didn’t follow you?”

“…”

“…”

“Okay, hypothetically…”

Inko just sighed as she opened the door the rest of the way, and Izuku and Nomu walked in. “Honestly, Izuku. I know you have a big heart and all, but homeless shelters exist for a reason.”

“I’m sorry, Mom. It’s just… He’s the same age as me and I found him in a really bad place. He doesn’t have anyone else to turn to.”

“Alright, he can stay for dinner and then sleep on the couch. But we are having a serious talk about this, young man.”

“Thank you, Mom.”

Izuku and Inko sat awkwardly at the dinner table as they both confusedly stared at Nomu, who hadn’t moved an inch since Izuku asked him to sit down.

“Ummm…” Izuku spoke up. “Nomu, you don’t have to worry about being rude. You can eat.”

Nomu complied as he lifted up his plate and took a big bite. He ate the plate, that is. Not the food.

“Is he always like this?” Inko whispered to Izuku.

“I think he’s just having an off day.”

“You can sleep here, Nomu.” Izuku gestured to the living room couch. “And if you have trouble sleeping, you can borrow this.”

Izuku held up an All Might plushie, and Nomu’s ‘Kill All Might on Sight’ protocol blared in his head. He snatched the plushie out of Izuku’s hand and tore into it like a dog with a chew toy.

Izuku slowly and cautiously backed up at the ravenous sight. “Ok, I get it. You’re more of an Endeavor guy.”

The Next Day…

“Alright, Nomu. I have to head to school. You have to go.”

Nomu interpreted this command as ‘I have to go to school, you have to come, too.’ So he marched behind the green-haired boy on his way to class.

Izuku wanted to shoo Nomu away, considering he wasn’t officially enrolled in Aldera, but he figured that since he didn’t bring up having any family or friends earlier, that made him his only lifeline. He couldn’t just abandon someone in their time of need like that. That’s not what heroes do!

So, against his better judgment, he begrudgingly let this guy follow him to school. He just hoped Nomu wasn’t secretly a delinquent or something. His school already had way too many of those.

Sure, a couple of security guards tried to stop Nomu at the school gate, but they physically couldn’t. He just marched along, completely ignoring their attempts to detain him.

It was clear as day that no one could stop Nomu. However, there was only one person who tried to stop the boy he was following.

“Deku! What the hell did you bring to school?!” Katsuki yelled as he shoved Izuku to the ground.

“In my defense, he followed me here, and no one was physically capable of stopping him.”

“Like I care! Just look at him!” Katsuki gestured to Nomu, who looked impassive as ever, “Look at those dead, soulless eyes. He’s planning something, and I’m gonna put him in his place.”

Izuku was quick to get between Katsuki and Nomu. “Hold on, you can’t just attack somebody unprovoked.”

“Fine!” In a rare act of compliance, he peered up towards the emotionless husk of a human being. “Hey Bird-Brain! I’m gonna attack you now!”

Izuku’s instincts took over, and he used himself as a human shield against Katsuki and yelled, “No! Please! Someone help!”

Nomu immediately responded to the command. He darted over to Katsuki with speed only comparable to All Might and grabbed him by the torso, holding him aloft.

“What the hell? Let go of me, you braindead freak!” Katsuki released several explosions in Nomu’s face, but they didn’t even flinch him. “Why the fuck isn’t this working?!”
It took five minutes of continuous explosions for Katsuki to run out of sweat and give up, finally giving Izuku the chance to speak. “Nomu, I think you’ve taught Kacchan his lesson. Could you please put him down?”

Something Izuku didn’t know was that when given a command, Nomu was programmed to choose the most violent option possible. As such, he interpreted ‘put him down’ in the same way you would put down a sick pet. His other hand grabbed Katsuki by the head and began to twist.

“No! Don’t snap his neck!” Izuku quickly corrected, “I meant you should drop him!”
Nomu went upstairs to the third floor and held Katsuki out the window.

“I meant you should pacify him!”

Nomu began smothering Katsuki’s face with a pillow.

“I meant you should let him go!”

Nomu pulled back his arm, prepared to throw Katsuki as hard as he could.

“Put him on the ground!”

Nomu prepared to slam Katsuki’s face into the ground.

“Don’t kill him! Do what a hero like All Might would do!”

Now, since he was built with the express purpose of fighting All Might, Nomu had every last one of the Number One Hero’s mannerisms and behaviors drilled into his head. As such, Nomu knew exactly what All Might would do when faced with a case of aggravated Quirk assault (based on the explosions from earlier), so he brought Katsuki to the police station.

“You can’t do this! You’re not a police officer!” Nomu did not care about Katsuki’s complaints, he simply shut the cell door and clenched the lock in order to jam it shut.

“Great job, Nomu!” Izuku patted his friend on the back as soon as he returned. “You should train at UA to be a hero someday!”

Master commands, Nomu obeys.

“Wait no!” Izuku grabbed his friend by the arm when he made it clear what he was about to do. “You can’t just go to UA like that and expect to be a hero. You have to pass the entrance exam first.”

Nomu continued walking toward the school until Izuku jerked his arm again. “No, don’t take it right now. The entrance exams aren’t for another eleven months. You have to wait.”

Nomu understood. He planted his feet on the ground and resigned himself to eleven straight months of waiting.

Izuku didn’t know that, however. When he heard the bell ring from inside the school, he grabbed his new friend by the arm and pulled him towards the doors, where Nomu made no attempts to resist. “Come on! We’re gonna be late for class! I don’t know how we’re gonna fit you into a desk, but we’ll figure it out.”

They never figured it out.

Chapter Text

Life went on for Izuku and his Nomu friend after the initial incident in the school courtyard. One night of sleeping on the Midoriyas’ couch quickly turned into two, then three, then a week, then two weeks, and then he was basically living there full-time. Inko didn’t even bother complaining since Nomu never seemed to eat, drink, or do much of anything until Izuku ordered him around, meaning he required less maintenance than your average house cat. It honestly kind of unnerved her.

Nomu still attended Aldera with Izuku every day. Even though the staff couldn’t fit the hulking monstrosity into a desk, they still gave him an all-too-small uniform and a spot in Izuku’s class. This was probably the best outcome for the green-haired boy, as having an eight-foot-tall wall of muscle standing next to him at all times meant his classmates would have to be out of their minds to pick on him. Even Katsuki steered clear of the pair after he was let out of jail on account of Nomu not being an actual cop, instead promising he’d ‘let UA’s entrance exam results show them who’s the real hero’.

Such a bold declaration was still on the pair’s mind as they walked out the gates of Aldera, with school having let out for the day. “I’m glad Kacchan’s still working hard for UA. Don’t you, Nomu?”

“…” Nomu did not respond, but that was par for the course at this point. The only words to come out of his mouth were screeches that only occasionally resembled speech, so Izuku assumed his friend was just selectively mute. This was fine by him, as Nomu never showed any aversion to letting Izuku do all the talking. Besides, it was nice to have someone who wasn’t weirded out by his mumbling.

“Ok, yeah, I know you’re not the biggest fan of him,” he continued based on how he imagined Nomu responding, “but at least he’s being a bit more constructive with his anger instead of taking it out on me.”

“…”

“Yeah, I know that’s a low bar to clear…” Izuku hung his head in shame. “But it’s a step in the right direction. Now c’mon, we don’t wanna miss our train.” As usual, he grabbed his friend by the arm and hurriedly pulled him along as they speedwalked toward the train station.

They were in such a hurry that they didn’t notice the green sludge leaking out a manhole cover as they stepped over it. But they did notice when the cover burst out of the ground, with them turning to see a large, green pile of sludge in the vague shape of a person as he emerged from the sewer.

“Sweet!” The Sludge Villain gave them a wide, toothy grin, focusing his sights on the pair. “A large-sized meat suit!”

“W-what?!” Izuku stumbled back in fear, though Nomu gave no discernible reaction. “M-meat suit?! Don’t tell me you’re gonna hollow out our bodies and wear our skins!”

“Not you!” With a wave of his goopy hand, the Sludge Villain batted Izuku away with minimal effort. Darting towards Nomu, he forced his toothy beak open before jamming his entire body down his gullet, something Nomu didn't seem to have any problem with.

The same could not be said for Izuku, however. “Nomu, no!” He cried out for his friend. Pulling himself off the ground, he grabbed onto whatever he could of the Sludge Villain to try and stop him from forcing himself onto his friend, but his mud-like body just slipped through his fingertips.

“Sorry, kid, but I gotta save my own hide. Just be glad I’m rearranging this guy’s organs and not…” The Sludge Villain came to a sudden halt, and Izuku blinked in confusion at the unexpected shift. “Hold on… this can’t be right.”

“What can’t be right?”

“Normally when I make someone into a meat suit I move around their organs and stuff, but this guy doesn’t have any organs. Like, none at all. Not even a stomach or a heart.”

“Wait, seriously? Let me see.” Izuku pushed the villain aside as he peered into Nomu’s open maw. Leaning in to get a better feel, he didn’t sense anything besides bones and muscle. “You’re right. That is so weird.”

“What is this guy's deal?”

“I don’t know. I mean, he has a brain, so he clearly has some organs. This is something to look into.” He pulled himself out of his friend’s mouth and started jotting this all down in his notebook.

“Well, while you’re doing that, I’m gonna hide in here.” The Sludge Villain made his intentions very clear as he stuffed the last chunks of himself into Nomu’s hollow body and shut his beak.

“Hey!” Izuku threw his notebook aside and tried to pry Nomu’s mouth open, only for his friend to coldly shove him aside. He couldn’t help but pause at this small gesture, staring at his friend like he was a complete stranger. “What the - Nomu, did you just-”

The words died in his mouth as another large figure suddenly burst from the manhole. Izuku immediately whipped around, his shock shifting into excitement when he saw just who emerged from the sewer. “All Might!”

“Yes! I AM HERE, on the hunt for a villain. Young man, have you seen a criminal made of green sludge lurking around here?”

“Yes, he’s right over-” Nomu suddenly slapped a hand over his mouth, giving the pro hero an uneasy smile.

“Nope! No villains here, All Might. Better look somewhere else,” said the Sludge Villain, taking control of Nomu’s body and vocal cords.

Izuku was just as angry as he was surprised (he didn’t expect Nomu to sound like a used car salesman of all things). With a grunt, he pulled his head away from Nomu’s hand to try and get a word in. “Don’t listen to him, All Might! He’s controlling my friend from the insi - mph!”

“Haha! What a joker! There’s no villain inside me. I’ve always been like this!”

“Oh yeah? Then what’s my name?”

“Uhhhh…” Nomu gave an uncharacteristically worried look as he looked at Izuku and tried to come up with something. “Freckles McGreenman?”

All Might looked just as unamused as Izuku. Without a word, he pulled out a feather and used it to tickle the nostrils on Nomu’s beak. “AH-CHOO!” The creature sneezed, covering the area in front of him with green sludge that thankfully wasn’t boogers.

“Aha! There you are!” Against his protests, All Might tightened his hand around the Sludge Villain’s slimy form and stuffed him into an empty soda bottle in a matter of seconds. “There we go! You were certainly a slippery one, weren’t you?”

“Nomu!” Izuku called out as he checked up on his friend. As much as he wanted to geek out over seeing All Might in person, this took priority. “Are you okay? I mean, I know the villain couldn’t have done too much damage to your insides considering… y’know, but I’m still gonna call an ambulance.”

“Excellent idea, young man!” All Might complimented, hoping neither of them would notice the wisps of smoke emanating off his muscle form. “I’d love to stay and make sure he’s alright, but unfortunately, duty calls!”

He bent down, preparing to leap into the air and hopefully land in a secluded area. But right as he was about to take off, Nomu blinked, regaining his bearings after having his body taken over. The moment All Might entered his sights, he let out an ear-piercing scream and lunged toward the Symbol of Peace.

“Nomu! What are you-” Izuku was cut off when Nomu grabbed onto All Might’s leg, and the two took off into the sky like a bullet. Squinting his eyes, Izuku could make out a pair of dots landing on the roof of a far-away building. “Aw geez…” he sighed, knowing he’d have to run all the way over there to catch up to them.

A reasonable person would assume All Might would be surprised by a braindead corpse in a middle school uniform grabbing onto his leg while he’s flying through the air at dizzying speeds. But sadly, the hero had become accustomed to eager fans climbing over him, especially the younger ones.

“Young man, what are you doing? This is very dangerous!” He scolded Nomu as he repositioned himself to land on a nearby rooftop like he had with a million other kids. The landing left a spider web of cracks under his feet as he landed, but neither he nor Nomu were any worse for wear.

“I advise you to be a bit more mindful of your surroundings next time.” All Might made his way to the door, just hoping to get the clingy fan out of his sights before his timer ran out. He swore under his breath when he realized the door was locked, failing to notice Nomu slowly closing in on him with a raised fist, ready to grab the hero by the skull and painfully squeeze it into a bloody pulp.

A sudden jolt of pain from his right side made All Might lurch forward. Blood spewed from his mouth as he shrunk down to his skinny form, and Nomu subsequently lowered his fist; he was programmed to kill All Might on sight, but nothing in his mental code said anything about Toshinori Yagi.

“Ah, so it seems as if you know now.” Yagi wore a grim look as he turned towards Nomu. He lifted up his loose-fitting shirt to show him a bulging, splintering injury on his right side. “Long story short, a horrible villain gave me this injury, and now I can only do hero work for around three hours a day. Can I trust you won’t tell anyone about this?”

“…”

Upon Nomu's lack of a response, Yagi awkwardly darted his eyes around, hoping he’d been paying attention and hadn’t spaced out or anything. “Um, hello? Did you get all that?”

“…”

“Hello? A simple yes or no would suffice.” He wasn’t really comfortable with leaving until he got some kind of confirmation. “Maybe just a head nod?”

“…”

“Is this your way of bargaining with me? It’s not going to work. No one will believe you.” Yagi squinted his eyes, choosing to stand his ground against the muscular beast. The two entered an impromptu staring contest, each trying to assert their will over the other.

At least, that’s what Yagi thought. In reality, Nomu might as well have been a statue, because despite having such a large brain, exactly zero thoughts were coursing through his head at the moment.

The one-sided standoff stretched in for a few more thence, agonizing minutes before Izuku opened the door to the roof, panting like he’d just run a marathon. “I’m… here,” he huffed, looking up at Nomu and a skinny guy he didn’t recognize. “Oh, um, excuse me sir, you haven’t happened to see All Might around here, have you?”

“Uh… you just missed him.” Yagi pointed in the direction All Might presumably went. His eyes remained trained on Nomu the whole time, praying he didn’t go back on his word (or lack thereof) and spill the beans. Thankfully he continued not to utter a single sound, even as Izuku walked up to him and led him to the door.

“Darn. I was hoping to ask him something. Oh well, if he’s in Mustafa, maybe I’ll run into him some other-”

A sudden explosion pulled him from his thoughts, and Izuku rushed to the edge of the roof, leaning over the guard rails as he surveyed the situation. “What the heck is going on down there?”

His question prompted Yagi to reach into his pocket. His face went white as he realized there was no Sludge Villain to be found. “Shit!” He muttered, darting down the stairs as fast as his frail body would allow.

“Huh, I wonder what’s up with him?” Izuku wondered out loud before turning to his friend. “Nomu, is it bad that I kinda wanna see what’s going on down there?”

“…”

“Yeah, you’re right. It’s perfectly normal.” Nomu stayed by his side as he jogged down the stairs at a brisk pace. “C’mon, let’s go.”

As Izuku rushed down the street to make it to the scuffle, he expected an average hero fight similar to the one he witnessed this morning; just a bunch of cool heroes with cool Quirks for him to analyze. Maybe he’d even see All Might again if he was lucky.

Instead, he was greeted with the sight of his former childhood friend being suffocated by the same villain from before, all while the heroes on the scene were either unable to act or simply chose not to.

“Oh god…” A sense of antsiness overwhelmed Izuku as he bit his fingernails, feeling like he was about to take off like a rocket at any moment. “This is horrible, Nomu! Why won’t anyone do something!?”

‘Nomu! Do something!’ His voice replayed in Nomu’s head. His mind cherry-picked those three specific words and interpreted them as a command.

He then proceeded to ‘do something’, as he was instructed; just before Izuku’s legs were about to move on their own, Nomu surged forward at speeds imperceivable to the human eye, closing the distance between him and the Sludge Villain in a fraction of a second. The villain only had a brief moment to process the inky-black fist above him before it slammed down onto his face. His body splattered all across the alleyway, covering every square inch in green slime, the viscous properties of which were thankfully enough to douse all the flames caused by Katsuki’s Quirk.

Speaking of Katsuki, he managed to avoid Nomu’s smash by a hair. Though he was well aware of what could’ve happened if he was standing just two inches to the right. “I think my life just flashed before my eyes… Damn, I was an asshole.”

With everything sorted out and Katsuki carted off to the hospital, Izuku and Nomu weren’t left with anything to do but make their way to the train station as they originally intended. They had long missed their initial ride home, and the next one wasn’t for a few more minutes, meaning they were content to take their time and soak in the pleasant sunset cast over the streets of Mustafa.

“You did good today, Nomu,” Izuku complimented his friend. “Don’t listen to those heroes who scolded you, they were probably just angry you splattered sludge all over them. But I mean, that did more to help than most of them, don’t you think?” He laughed at his own jab, his mood only slightly dimming when Nomu didn't laugh along. “But seriously, regardless of what anyone else says, I think you made for a pretty good hero today.”

“I couldn’t agree more!” A new voice called out. Izuku whipped around to see a familiar, skeletal face.

“Oh, it’s you, from the roof!”

“That’s right! My name’s Toshinori Yagi! I’m a representative of Might Tower.” He pulled out his card as proof, which caused Izuku’s eyes to sparkle with delight.

“Wow, a real Might Tower representative! And he liked what he saw, Nomu! Isn’t that great?”

“I’d say it is!” Yagi answered for him. “So much so that I’d like to make Young Nomu an offer.”

“An offer?! Nomu, whatever it is, you have to take it!” Izuku frantically shook his friend back and forth, who remained impassive as ever.

“Though I must preface that the offer is top secret.” Yagi’s face fell a bit. “That means I can only discuss it with Young Nomu. So if you could just…”

“Oh, of course.” Respecting his friend’s privacy, Izuku turned around and cupped his hands over his ears, ensuring he wouldn’t hear anything he wasn’t supposed to.

After giving him an uneasy look, Yagi focused his sights back on Nomu. “I was impressed with your performance back there. You sprang into action when no other hero would. Your body moved on its own didn’t it?”

“…”

Yagi deflated even more when Nomu once again refused to respond. He figured this would make communication difficult between the two of them. “Um, young man!” He yelled to Izuku, who turned around and uncupped his ears. “Is your friend hard of hearing?”

“No, he’s just selectively mute. And for whatever reason, he only listens to what I have to say.”

“I see…” Yagi contemplatively scratched his chin. It seemed as if his arm had been twisted here, not that he minded too much. Giving his successor someone else to rely on could only be a good thing in the long run. “In that case, for convenience’s sake, I will allow you in on the secret as well.”

“Awesome!” Izuku zipped up next to Nomu, beyond ecstatic to hear what the representative had to say.

“Well, it’s more like two secrets. First of all, I’m actually All Might.” He buffed up in his muscle form as proof, leaving Izuku in a state of shock that Yagi gave him no time to recover from before continuing. “Second of all, my Quirk is actually a sacred torch passed down from generation to generation, and I want you, Young Nomu, to be the ninth welder. What do you say, my boy?”

Thinking back to Izuku’s command to accept whatever offer Yagi gave him, he gave a thumbs-up in response.

The hero’s beaming smile stretched across his face. “No hesitation. That’s what I like to see! We’ll get started on your training first thing tomorrow morning.”

“Wait, uh, All Might,” Izuku raised his hand, still only partially recovered from the pair of bombshells that were just dropped on him. “I know this might be asking a lot, but do you think I can be a hero too? Even though I don’t have a Quirk?”

“Without a Quirk?” Yagi paused for a moment to think, resting a hand on his unnaturally pointy chin. “It might be possible, but if you want to make up the difference, you’ll need this.”

Izuku’s hopeful smile crashed and burned the moment his idol slapped a Colt Python Revolver in his hands.

“…What?”

Chapter Text

When the idea of being trained by All Might was brought up, the last thing Izuku expected was for his now-mentor to request him and Nomu to meet him at Takoba Municipal Beach Park. He understood the beach part - jogging on sand required more effort than concrete. What he didn’t understand was the countless piles of trash and scrap filling every corner of the beach.

“So you want us to clean this entire beach?” Izuku confirmed, peering up at the seemingly endless stacks of trash. The task seemed far from easy, but he knew most things in life weren't.

“That’s correct!” Yagi shot the pair an affirmative thumbs-up. “Hard work and manual labor will do wonders in preparing Young Nomu’s body to handle One for All!”

“You mean his muscles? I don’t think Nomu could get any more buff if he tried.” He had to step back to get the full view of his friend’s well-defined musculature, which threatened to tear through the exercise clothes Inko bought him for this specific occasion. “Here, Nomu, why don’t you show him your muscles?”

Nomu obliged, flexing so hard he ripped his outfit to shreds, giving Izuku and All Might a clear look of what lay underneath.

“Huh, no genitals either.” As the initial shock faded, Izuku pulled out his notebook to update Nomu’s sketch. “Every day I learn something new about your biology… or lack thereof.”

Yagi awkwardly cleared his throat, handing Nomu a pair of All Might-sized shorts. He was glad he came prepared for his successor's first training session. “Yes, well… it’s not all about the muscles. As it stands, I have no doubt Young Nomu could handle the power of One for All right now, but this is also a test of your heroic drive. Any hero can be strong, but a true hero can use that strength to do good for their community, hence the beach cleanup.”

“Ah, that makes sense,” Izuku nodded in Nomu’s place. “Well, you heard what he said, Nomu. Let’s go clean up that beach!”

Nomu perked up at his master’s command. His eyes scanned the beach for any signs of trash to be picked up, which he had very little trouble finding. As far as he was concerned, that trash was both his and his master’s enemy, and must be treated as such.

A wave of sand kicked up beneath his feet as he took off, hurling himself toward the nearest trash pile like a cannonball. The following impact shook the beach, knocking over several of the smaller piles like a minor earthquake.

“What is he doing?” Yagi asked, having nearly been knocked over himself.

“His thing,” Izuku answered with full assurance, looking toward the trash pile with a confident grin.

A few seconds later, a large, inky-black pair of arms emerged from either side of the pile and clapped together, paying no mind to the mountain of garbage in between. They then shifted position, doing the same from the top and bottom of the pile. Nomu’s hands continued crushing and compressing the trash from all sides until it had been thoroughly squished together. It now resembled a ten-foot-tall sphere, which he held over his head with ease.

“Amazing…” Yagi gaped, the feat reminding him of himself back during his prime. “I’m not sure if it’ll all fit in my truck, but it’s worth a shot.”

“Great job, Nomu! You can just throw it over there!” Izuku instructed, pointing to the pickup truck parked at the edge of the beach. Nomu rolled the ball of trash like he was trying to get a strike. But instead of stopping at the truck, the ball picked up the vehicle and continued rolling along its path.

“Oh boy…” Izuku paled as he watched the ball pick up more and more items as it traveled down the street, its size dramatically increasing the further it went.

“Don’t worry, I know someone who specializes in this.” Yagi whipped out his phone and dialed a number. “Hello? Is this The King of All Cosmos? I need you to call your son over here. Yes, it happened again.”

After that incident, Nomu was instructed not to clump up trash piles into giant spheres, instead being told to do cubes for their lack of rollability, which meant less destruction all around. From there, it took less than a day for Nomu to pick up every last piece of garbage from the beach, even the smaller bits that would normally go unseen.

“Young Nomu, you’ve once again gone above and beyond my expectations.” Yagi’s chest swelled with pride for his protege like he never thought possible. “You’ve earned the right to inherit my power and then some.”

“Go on, get your power.” Izuku nudged his friend toward the hero and pulled out a camera to commemorate the moment. “This is gonna be one for the history books.”

“No flash photography. Remember? Decades-old secret?”

“Oh right…” He laughed, sheepishly putting away the recording device.

“Anyways, remember, Young Nomu, you earned this power. What you’ve done to this beach is proof enough of that.” Yagi sucked in a breath and puffed up to his muscle form. He didn’t have to, but he figured a grandiose moment like this deserved it.

Nomu didn't seem to agree, lunging at All Might with a deadly screech the moment he entered his sights. All Might had the common sense to block his attack, but was caught off guard by just how much weight was behind the undead corpse’s strikes. No one’s been able to pierce his muscle form like that since…

He stopped himself before he could draw any unfair comparisons.

“Nomu! No!” Izuku ran up and pulled Nomu off his idol before he could sink his teeth into All Might’s neck. If it was anyone else, Nomu would’ve simply ignored them and carried out his prime directive. Izuku was a special exception, however.

“All Might, I’m so sorry. I didn’t think he’d jump out at you like that,” the boy apologized on his friend’s behalf.

“It’s quite alright, my boy.” Yagi puffed down as he regained his bearings. “I’d just like to know why he jumped out at me in the first place. Does he not appreciate my muscle form?”

“I’m not sure he does, and now that I think about it, he never did.” He thought back to the day he first brought Nomu to his house, how his friend viciously attacked anything that vaguely resembled All Might’s face. He had to put away all his merch to prevent it from getting ruined, and even then, that didn’t stop Nomu from leaping out at the TV whenever the hero appeared on the news. They’d lost so many good TVs over the last month that it wasn’t even funny.

“Well, if he prefers, I can do the Quirk transfer in my skinny form.”

“No, this has been a persistent issue for a while. I think it’s time I actually do something about it.” Like an upset parent, he took Nomu by the arm and dragged him across the beach. “I’ll call you when this issue is resolved.”

Izuku had a hard time reading Nomu as he sat in a chair in the middle of his room. His eyes were wide and unblinking like a coffee addict, and his toothy, shark-like grin was on full display. It was the exact same look Nomu held with him at all times, even during his failed suicide attempt, which made it extra hard for Izuku to decipher his friend’s true emotions.

“Nomu,” he began after a tense silence, “I know you’ve never been the biggest All Might fan, and I can respect your opinion on that.” But only barely. It was always a hard pill to swallow when it came to their friendship. “However, that doesn’t mean you’re allowed to shove your hatred down everyone's throats. Do you understand?”

“…”

“Of course you don’t.” Izuku hoped to instill some guilt into his friend with his disappointed tone, a cue he borrowed from his mother. “I’m going to explain things in the simplest possible terms: do not attack All Might. Do you understand? Nod if you understand.”

Nomu nodded, and Izuku allowed himself to smile, finally thinking they were making some progress. “Alright then. So if I held up this limited edition, one-of-a-kind All Might poster, you’re not gonna-”

Nomu let out a primal roar before poking a hole straight through the poster with his beak.

“Okay then…” Izuku deadpanned, his frustration rising. It was a good thing he had an extra copy of that one-of-a-kind poster. “Nomu, I didn’t wanna have to do this, but we can’t have you as All Might’s successor when you keep attacking him on sight.” Reaching into his desk, he pulled out a roll of duct tape and tied Nomu to his chair.

“Don’t try to escape. Trust me, that stuff hurts when you try to pull it off,” he advised while dragging a large TV into his room. He turned it on, and clips of All Might performing heroic acts rapidly flashed across the screen one after another. Any person watching it would hardly be able to take in the constant bombardment of All Might content, their mind soon becoming overloaded with thoughts of the hero until they could think of nothing else.

After several minutes of being subjected to this, Nomu’s eye began to twitch, which was the most emotion Izuku had ever seen come out of him. “I think it’s working,” he nodded. Slowly, he turned up the playback speed, clips playing faster and faster until they devolved into mindless flashes of red, white, blue, and yellow.

As Nomu was forced to watch seemingly endless clips of his sworn enemy, he found himself at an impasse regarding the orders he was given; his programming said to destroy All Might at any cost, but Izuku instructed him not to escape from his bindings. In order to satisfy everyone’s commands, he fired a ball of spit at the TV at such a high velocity that it managed to shatter the screen.

“What? Seriously?!” Izuku balked. At this point, he felt he shouldn’t be surprised by Nomu’s ridiculous feats, yet here he was. “Ok, I’m out of ideas. Seriously, who in the world convinced you to hate All Might so much?”

Somewhere, All for One sneezed.

“I guess it doesn’t matter.” With a sigh of defeat, Izuku threw himself onto his bed and buried his face in his pillow. “If you hate him that much, then I doubt there’s much I can do short of rewiring your brain.”

He let those words linger for a while, floating around his brain like a fish in a water tank. In time, those words collided with another statement floating around in Izuku’s brain tank, and an idea was born.

“Wait a minute!” He shot up from his bed and skipped towards Nomu, who still sat tied up in the chair. “Since your brain’s out in the open, what if we just rewired it?”

Nomu said nothing as usual, which Izuku took to mean he had no reservations. “Glad you’re on board. Now how do we do this…?” He climbed up his friend’s back to get a better look at his brain. A neuroscientist might’ve been able to make heads or tails of it, but all Izuku had was a useless Nobel Prize in Quirk Science for his online analysis of Funkman’s Quirk, which helped him rocket up hundreds of spots in the hero rankings in record time.

‘Dammit. Why do I have to be so useless?’ He mentally bemoaned before shoving the thoughts out of his mind. Just because he had no idea how a brain operated didn't mean he couldn’t wing it. “Let’s see here… I just need to get you to think of All Might in a positive light. How do I do that?”

He let his eyes drift across the room before they landed on his bookshelf. “Yeah, that‘ll work.” He grabbed an All Might comic book off the shelf and stuffed it between the folds of Nomu’s exposed brain. “Let me know if this hurts, okay?”

Nomu gave a thumbs-up in response, and Izuku figured he was in the clear. He shoved the papers deeper into his friend’s head, shoving as hard as he could until they were far enough in there that they would dramatically alter Nomu’s mental processes.

“Alright Nomu, how do you feel now that you have All Might on the mind? Heh heh, get it?”

Nomu didn't say anything. Instead, he casually stood up from his chair, the tape holding him down proving no match for him. Izuku remained still, watching with bated breath to see what his friend would do next. After a moment of silence, Nomu spread out his legs and placed his hands to his sides in a very All Might-like pose. “KREK KRE KREK!” (Translation: I AM HERE!)

Izuku loudly applauded the display of heroism. “There we go, Nomu! I knew I could unleash your inner All Might fan. Oh, just as a test…” he presented a framed picture of the number one hero, “what do you think of this?”

To his relief, Nomu didn’t tear the picture to shreds. Though the last thing he expected was for him to whip out a marker and sign All Might’s name on it.

“Wow, your handwriting’s improved.” The last time Izuku asked Nomu to write something, it came out as illegible chicken scratch. “But I don’t think All Might would appreciate you forging his signature like that, especially to such an accurate - Wait, what are you doing?”

His attention shifted to his closet, where Nomu carelessly tossed around his clothes, clearly searching for something specific. “Nomu, I don’t think those are gonna fit. Besides, Mom bought you your own clothes, remember?” His comment went ignored, something Izuku still wasn’t used to when it came to Nomu.

When the braindead creature finally emerged, he did so wearing a yellow hair band with metal spikes sticking out the top resembling All Might’s hair tufts. But more noticeable was the full-body All Might costume that seemed to fit him like a glove.

“Wow, they really weren’t kidding when they said ‘one size fits all’,” Izuku remarked. The costume didn’t even look close to tearing, unlike most things Nomu wore. “Gotta say, that’s a pretty good cosplay. You look like a spitting image of him.”

Nomu seemed to agree, as he turned around and darted out of the apartment, wanting to get out there and show off his cosplay to the world. With speed comparable to the hero he was cosplaying, he leaped off the ground and disappeared into the sky.

Izuku ran after him as fast as he could, his mood shifting from excitement to worry. “Wait, Nomu! Where are you going?!” He called out to the yellow blur, which soon became no more than a blip in the sky. “Come back! I’m chronically codependent!”

“Hey! My purse!” A woman called out as a man dressed in all black darted past her, snatching up her belongings along the way.

The thief chuckled to himself at the woman’s cry of helplessness. With his Quirk granting him an extra pair of legs, he figured there was no chance in hell that she’d be able to catch him. Heck, he’d wager most heroes wouldn’t be able to keep up.

At least that was what he thought until a muscular figure came out of nowhere, landing directly in front of him. The thief’s blood ran cold as he was faced with the chest of a hero costume anyone in Japan could recognize at a moment’s glance. “Oh shit, it’s All Might!”

“KREK KRE KREK!”

At that moment, the thief began to doubt his previous statement. His suspicions only increased tenfold when he peered up at the figure, squinting his eyes at his bird-like head and exposed brain.

“Okay, you’re definitely not All Might,” he concluded.

That didn’t stop Nomu from acting like he was. Twisting his beak into a wider smile than normal, the thief’s eyes shrunk to the size of pinpricks as he pulled back his fist and yelled, “KREK SMASH!”

“Okay, okay! I surrender!” The thief flinched back and squeezed his eyes shut. Even if this guy wasn’t the real All Might, he was still just as scared of him.

Nomu’s fist came to a screeching halt right before it made contact with the man’s face. Now choosing to resolve the conflict peacefully, he carefully removed the purse from the thief’s shoulder and tossed it back to its rightful owner.

“Oh, um, thanks?” The woman shrugged, just as confused as the thief.

“KREK!” Nomu gave a firm nod in return. With the thief still in his grasp, he bent his knees and once again leaped into the sky, soaring over dozens of buildings in search of the nearest police station.

“No, I don’t think you’re right here.”

“I think I am. Just look at him!”

“I’m looking, and I don’t like what I see.”

“That’s just because you’re not looking from the right angle.”

“Hey, what’s going on here?” Police Officer Takakura stepped into the room, interrupting his two coworkers’ conversation.

“Look at this guy!” Officer Suzuki motioned toward the man-made horror beyond his comprehension dressed in an All Might cosplay. “This guy came in here with a purse-snatcher and now Ito’s trying to tell me it’s All Might.”

“Yeah, I’m on Suzuki’s side here.” Takakura shot Ito a perplexed look. “You need to change your prescription because that looks nothing like the guy.”

“It’s not about looks, it’s about vibes,” Ito stressed. “I’ve seen a bunch of other cosplayers, and none of them give off the same vibes as him.”

“When you say ‘vibes’, are you referring to the rotting corpse smell?”

“No, that’s on me,” Takakura seemed ashamed to admit, “I forgot to put on deodorant today.”

Before they could continue their conversation further, the walkie-talkie on Ito’s belt crackled to life with the voice of another officer. “Attention all units, there’s a large-scale villain attack at Kiyashi Ward Shopping Mall! All heroes and officers in the area are requested to come and assist!”

At the call, Nomu immediately leaped into action. Quite literally in this case, as he jumped straight into the air, uncaring toward the Nomu-sized hole he left in the ceiling.

“See? What did I tell you?” Ito pointed up. “That’s an All Might-level jump right there. No other cosplayer can jump into the sky the same way he can.”

“Okay, I’m starting to believe you now,” Suzuki admitted.

Izuku paced back and forth in his room, his arms folded behind his back and his neck craned down to view the rug beneath his feet. In all his days of knowing him, Nomu had never gone off on his own for this long, and it was starting to freak Izuku out.

He tried calling his number, only to remember he never gave Nomu a phone. He would’ve come running after him, but he was more than aware of Nomu’s ludicrous speed; if he didn’t want to get found, then Izuku didn't stand a chance in hell of doing so.

The worst part was he had a direct hand in causing this. How was he supposed to know shoving an All Might comic book in his friend's brain would cause him to dress up as the hero and run off? He couldn’t help but wonder what Nomu was doing out there. Hopefully he wasn’t taking his cosplay too far. He still didn't have a hero license!

A sudden buzz from his phone pulled him from his thoughts for the time being. Slipping it out of his pocket, he felt an odd sense of dread upon reading the notification from the hero news app.

‘All Might Saves Civilians From Mall Attack.’

After some hesitation, he clicked the notification to open the article. He paid no mind to the big block of text, his eyes instead being drawn towards an attached link. Clicking it led him to a clip of the news report at the time of the event, where his worst suspicions were confirmed.

“I’m here right now on the scene, where the villains are being taken into custody thanks to the efforts of All Might,” the news reporter explained as she walked up to the hero in question. “All Might, was this attack any more difficult than your usual affair?”

“KREK!”

“I see.” The news reporter seemed satisfied with that response. “And what do you have to say to all your admirers watching you at the moment?” She pointed her microphone toward a group of fans, all cheering at Nomu like he was the same Symbol of Peace they’ve known for forty-plus years.

“KREK!”

That was when Izuku knew he’d seen enough - he shut off his phone and promptly began to panic. Don’t get him wrong, he was extremely proud of his friend for succeeding where many villains failed in gaslighting everyone into thinking he was the number one hero, but what would the real All Might think of this?

Identity theft and vigilantism were both serious crimes. If All Might heard the news, he might denounce Nomu as his successor and change his mind about giving him his Quirk. Then how could Nomu possibly become a hero?!

“A PHONE CALL IS HERE! A PHONE CALL IS HERE!” Izuku’s phone suddenly rang out. He was already incredibly nervous as to who it could be, but reading the caller ID only cemented his internal dread.

“Might as well get this over with,” he muttered, biting his lip as he put the phone to his ear. “Hi All Might. I’m guessing you saw the news report?”

“That I have, my boy!” Responded Yagi, sounding unusually chipper. “In fact, Young Nomu and I are having lunch in Might Tower right now.”

Izuku creaked an eye open, letting his shoulders fall ever-so-slightly. “Wait, what?”

“I know, right? After saving everyone at the mall, he walked into my agency and started screeching at people like he owned the place. Productivity has been at an all-time high!”

Izuku went silent for a moment, not sure how to respond. “Oh… so you’re not mad?”

“Of course not. Every great hero goes through a vigilante phase. Reminds me of the days I spent beating people over the head with a lead pipe.” Yagi let out a nostalgic sigh. “Anyways, I called you because I need help telling Young Nomu that while it’s okay to take inspiration from me, he should learn to be his own hero… Also I wanted to ask if you wanted to join us.”

“Oh yeah, sure.” Now that the stress of his friend disappointing his hero had faded, he was more than excited to be invited to Might Tower. If anything, he was a little jealous of Nomu for getting there before him.

“Okay, I’m here.” After being led into All Might’s personal office, he immediately walked over to Yagi and Nomu, who sat on opposite sides of the hero’s desk. Without explanation, he dug his hand into Nomu’s brain like a child trying to find the toy in a box of cereal.

“Young Midoriya, what are you doing?!” Yagi coughed up some blood on his sleeve in surprise.

“Helping Nomu become his own hero, like you said.” When Izuku’s hand felt a papery texture contrasting with the brain’s sponginess, he grabbed onto it and pulled as hard as he could. His hand emerged with a torn All Might comic book covered in a strange wet substance. “There, now he should be back to normal.”

“Normal as in, ‘destroys everything with my face on it’?” Yagi raised an eyebrow. Only then did Izuku realize his mistake, especially since All Might’s face covered nearly every square inch of his office.

“Oh shoot. Take cover!” He flinched back as Yagi ducked under his desk, waiting for his friend to go ballistic. But as seconds passed without so much as a peep from the genetic abomination, they soon realized something had changed.

“Huh, it looks like he got over his blind hatred,” Yagi blinked, still in shock. “I guess it’s true what they say; you really learn to appreciate someone after walking a mile in their shoes.”

“Does that mean you’re good to transfer your Quirk?” Izuku brightened up like a Christmas tree.

“I suppose so.” With a flex, Yagi buffed up into his muscle form and stood up to face Nomu, who thankfully didn't attack him this time. “Young Nomu, in order to inherit my Quirk, you must ingest some of my DNA, so EAT THIS!” He pulled out a piece of his hair and presented it to his successor, who - like he did with most things - just stared at it blankly.

“Come on, Nomu. Eat his hair,” Izuku encouraged like it was a completely reasonable request.

Nevertheless, Nomu obeyed, lunging at All Might to take a big bite of his scalp.

“NO, NOT THAT HAIR! THE ONE IN MY HAND!”

Later, in the Vestige Realm of One for All…

“Hey, Second, wake up.” Yoichi nudged Kudo, who had fallen asleep on his throne again. “We’re getting a new holder. The Quirk’s about to transfer.”

“Huh, already?” Kudo blinked himself awake.

“Yeah, Eighth found him yesterday. He was already plenty strong, so he didn’t have to do much training,” En told him, peering up at the black void above him.

Kudo already felt the need to roll his eyes. “Oh great, let’s hope he didn’t pick another brainless beefcake. One is more than enough.”

Naturally, such blatant disrespect triggered Nana’s parental instincts. “Hey! Eighth's successor technically has a brain!”

“Yes, but I still think he lacks free will,” Hikage interjected. “He’s always following the green-haired kid. I’m no therapist, but it feels like a codependent relationship.”

“Well, the transfer’s about to happen, so maybe we’ll figure out more then.” Banjo pushed a button on his throne, causing seat belts to pop out of all the Vestiges’ chairs and strap them down. The room started to shake, and everyone gripped the arms of their seats as an unknown force made it seem like they were traveling at high speeds like they were in a jet zooming through the sky.

“We’re about to hit the Quirk factor. Brace for impact!” Yoichi instructed. The turbulence intensified, and the Vestiges took a deep breath to prepare for what would no doubt be a bumpy landing. Only, instead of a crash like what they were used to, they were left shocked and confused when everything simply stopped.

“What’s going on?” Bruce asked worriedly.

“Don’t worry. I’ll go check.” Yoichi got up from his seat and opened the door to One for All, peering out into the endless void outside their endless void. “Yup, I see the problem.”

“What problem?” Banjo leaned out of his seat in anticipation.

“Ninth has a weird Quirk factor. It’s like several Quirks stitched together. Therefore, it’s incompatible with One for All.”

“I don’t understand.” Hikage shook his head.

Yoichi sighed as he struggled to phrase it in simpler terms. “It’s like trying to mix pure beef with whatever meat they use to make hotdogs, it’s just gonna create more slop.”

“I’m a vegetarian. I didn’t understand a word you said.”

“Enough with the meat metaphors,” Kudo angrily interrupted, “what does this mean for One for All? Does the Quirk just not get passed on?”

“No, Ninth still gets the stockpiled strength - One for All is still in his body. This just means the two Quirk factors can’t mix and his pre-existing Quirks won’t be strengthened.”

“I mean, from what we’ve seen, they’re already plenty strong,” En shrugged, not too torn up about it. “But I think we’re ignoring something here; how does Ninth already have multiple Quirks?”

“Well, that would only be possible if-” Yoichi suddenly cut himself off, his eyes widening with an unfortunate realization. “No… it can’t be…”

Kudo figured it out at the same time and stated the situation plainly. “He probably got those extra Quirks from All for One, meaning they’re likely in cahoots.”

“Can’t we just go back to Eighth?” Nana worriedly suggested.

“I’m trying, but we can’t transfer One for All to someone who doesn't want it. And Eighth seems perfectly fine with handing off his Quirk to the enemy!” Banjo repeatedly banged his head on the wall of the endless void.

“Is this it? This is how our legacy ends? A simple careless transfer?” With nothing else to do, Yoichi fell to his knees and yelled out into the void, “CURSE YOU BROTHEEEEEEEEEEER!”

From his secret base, All for One felt an odd sense of pride swell up in his chest, which was weird because he hadn’t even burnt down any orphanages today.

OMAKE: Izuku shoves other books into Nomu’s brain

xxx

Izuku: Dictionary!

Nomu: I must say, this new brain pattern of mine is simply marvelous! Absolutely astounding! Positively fantastic!

Izuku: I read dictionary, not thesaurus

xxx

Izuku: World map!

Nomu: United States, Canada, Mexico, Panama, Haiti, Jamaica Peru! Republic Dominican, Cuba, Caribbean, Greenland, El Salvador too!

Izuku: Greenland doesn’t exist anymore. That map’s way outdated

xxx

Izuku: Economics textbook!

(Nomu starts buying and selling stocks)

Izuku: All that knowledge and we’re still losing money. I guess it really is like gambling

xxx

Izuku: Cookbook!

(Nomu starts burning books on an open grill)

Izuku: I said cookbook, not cook books!

xxx

Izuku: My Hero Academia!

(Nomu dresses up like Izuku in his hero costume)

Izuku: Wait, I’m supposed to be the main character? But then what happens to you, Nomu?

Nomu: DEATH!

Chapter Text

Izuku took a deep breath as he took his first step past UA’s front gates, making sure not to trip on the protruding rock that caught his eye. “Alright, Nomu, this is it. We’re finally gonna take the UA entrance exam after all those months of training.”

Though if he was being honest, Nomu didn't end up doing much training. After inheriting One for All, they quickly found out he could use its full power without any drawbacks, just like All Might could. Most of the ten months of training went toward training Izuku with a gun and getting him certified, which would have been next to impossible if not for All Might’s influence.

But as Izuku patted the holster strapped around his waist, he felt a rare bout of confidence building within him. Statistically speaking, there weren’t many things that couldn’t be taken out by a gun, even if he was just using rubber bullets.

“We’re not gonna let anything stop us, right, Nomu?” He hyped up his friend, who took the statement as a command right as the two walked up to the check-in desk.

“Name and registration forms,” the Ectoplasm clone instructed them. But Nomu wouldn’t let anything stop them, not even registration formalities. Clutching the desk with both hands, he flipped it over as hard as he could, sending it flying into the air with no sign of coming back down.

Izuku blinked at Nomu before slowly craning his neck over to Ectoplasm, who looked far from amused. “Uh, he’s just excited.”

As with every hero school, the hero exam had both a written and practical portion. Though if you looked at any of the test takers’ faces, you’d be able to tell they just wanted to get the written part over with so they could move on to the fun part.

Izuku was no different, but that didn’t mean he completely neglected his preparation for the written portion. While the test was by no means easy for him, he at least felt like he understood the material, which was likely more than he could say about some of the other applicants.

He ended up finishing the test with about half an hour to spare. As he stood up from his seat to turn in his paper, his eyes caught a glimpse of Nomu’s test, which he had made absolutely no progress on.

A jolt of fear coursed through Izuku’s spine. It didn’t matter how good Nomu did on the practical; UA would never let him in if he didn’t score well on the written portion.

“Nomu, you have to fill in the circles,” he whispered through clenched teeth. Nomu picked up on the order almost immediately, grabbing his pencil and filling in his answers as fast as he could.

Izuku walked off, breathing a sigh of relief. He assumed Nomu was just one of those test takers who filled in all their answers at the end. He’d never heard of such a test-taking method, but it had to exist. Otherwise, Nomu would’ve just been filling in answers randomly, and Izuku knew his friend was smarter than that.

But in actuality, that was exactly what Nomu was doing. Despite the size of his brain, he was incapable of storing complex information such as math equations or reading comprehension. As such, he randomly selected one of the four bubbles for each row to fill in before moving on to the next.

This method of guesswork may seem like it would lead to failure, but thanks to pure dumb luck, Nomu managed to get all one hundred questions correct. Such an outcome only had a 0.0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000622% chance of occurring, yet Nomu somehow managed to defy all odds.

Izuku listened intently as Present Mic explained the practical portion of the exam. At first, he was a bit worried his rubber bullets wouldn’t be able to pierce through the robots, but when the hero mentioned specific weak points to look out for, he suddenly felt a lot more confident. He didn’t mean to brag, but his aim had improved significantly during the countless hours he spent at the shooting range.

During the explanation, his gaze shifted over to Nomu, who sat right next to him with wide, unblinking eyes, insinuating his lack of attention. “Nomu,” he mumbled, nudging him with his shoulder, “I know you don’t like taking orders from anyone but me, but you have to listen to the teachers, otherwise you might fail the exam. Got that?”

As usual, Nomu didn’t respond, yet he still took Izuku’s orders to heart. Internally, his mental programming rewired itself to accept orders from all UA teachers, something that proved especially handy when Present Mic wrapped up his explanation.

“Alright, now everyone get to your designated testing grounds!” Izuku and Nomu both stood up to go their separate ways. It sucked that they were assigned to different areas, but that was sadly par for the course for applicants of the same middle school.

“Good luck,” Izuku waved while walking off, slightly bothered when Nomu didn’t return the gesture. He hoped that didn’t mean his luck would be terrible.

After a short bus ride, Nomu stood face-to-face with a pair of large metal doors blocking off the testing grounds. He, along with many other applicants, waited patiently for Present Mic’s voice to announce the start of the test.

But that didn’t happen. Instead, the doors swung open all on their own, leaving the group frozen in a state of confusion, wondering if something had gone wrong.

“Well, what are you waiting for?” Present Mic’s voice blared across the speaker system. “There are no countdowns in real life! GO! RUN! NOW!”

With his new mental programming in place, Nomu had no qualms about obeying the teacher. He activated One for All, and black lightning flickered around his body as he readied himself into a sprinter’s start. Before anyone else could even register Present Mic’s words, Nomu took off like a bullet train, running straight through the testing ground at speeds imperceivable to the human eye.

He didn’t bother attacking any of the robots; he was only commanded to run, so that’s exactly what he did. Any robot that just so happened to be in his way got mowed down like a pedestrian in GTA.

The Zero-Pointer was no exception to this rule. Despite the robot’s attempts to escape its fate, it was far too bulky and sluggish to avoid Nomu’s approach. He rammed straight through it in the blink of an eye, not paying any mind when it burst into hundreds of metal chunks that rained down on all the other robots, battering them all to death in the process.

“Uh… are you guys seeing this?” Thirteen pointed at one of the many monitors in the announcer box, where all the UA teachers oversaw the practical exam.

“I believe I am!” Nezu chirped, joyful as ever. “It seems as if a rather eager student has destroyed every robot in their testing area, and now they’re moving onto other sites as well!”

Present Mic made the wise choice to stop Nomu’s rampage before it could interfere with anyone else’s test. “Examinee #948, AKA Nomu, please return to your designated testing area,” he requested through the loudspeakers. Thankfully, Nomu proved himself to be a very good listener.

“Wait, did you just call him a student?” Aizawa noted the principal's choice of words.

“Of course! I’d be crazy not to accept him after such a performance.” Plus, it didn’t take long to figure out that this was the successor Yagi was referring to. That ludicrous display of strength was a dead giveaway, and there was no way he’d turn down the next holder of One for All.

“Even when he didn’t earn any rescue points?” Inui pointed out.

“On the contrary! He just prevented a group of applicants from fighting a horde of robots, preventing countless potential injuries in the process. That sounds like rescue point material to me!”

“Sure, why not? Saves me some work,” Recovery Girl shrugged in agreement.

“And what of those other applicants?” Vlad brought up. “Seems unfair to fail them by virtue of being assigned the wrong testing area.”

“They’ll still get their chance. Maijima will set up another round of robots as soon as possible.”

“I will?”

“But as it stands,” Nezu pulled up the student’s file on his digital database, “I believe without a shadow of a doubt that Nomu is-”

“The top scorer of the entrance exam!” All Might’s voice boomed over the projector. “Which means you’ve earned a spot in UA’s hero course. Congratulations, Nomu, this is Your Hero Academia!”

“Congratulations, buddy!” Izuku pulled Nomu in for a hug, pushing aside how cold and corpse-like his body felt to touch. That was just part of his charm. “I hope this means we get put in the same class.”

“Did you both get in?” Inko slammed the door open to ask.

“Yup! I placed fifth, and Nomu placed first.”

“First? Wow…” she gaped, but Izuku wasn’t surprised. Spending so much time with Nomu meant he was more aware than anyone of what he was capable of, which was pretty much anything. “Well, to celebrate, how about you two pick what I make for dinner tonight?”

“Since Nomu scored higher, I think he should get to choose.” Izuku looked up at his friend, who had zero reaction to anything that had happened in the last five minutes. “Oh right. Selectively mute.”

“That’s not going to become a problem in his hero career, is it?” Inko worriedly asked.

Just then, the hologram turned itself back on, and All Might’s visage once again filled the room. “Oh, I almost forgot. As the top scorer of the exam, you’ll be giving a speech at the beginning of the Sports Festival. Good luck with that.”

Izuku tensed up in his seat, his eyes widening as his pupils shrank. “Well, shit.”

Bonus: How Izuku Placed 5th in the Entrance Exam

As soon as Izuku saw the girl trapped under rubble, moments away from being crushed by the Zero-Pointer’s treads, he dropped what he was doing and rushed over to help her. Sure, he’d be missing out on points, but points meant shit when there was a life on the line.

He grabbed the rubble with both hands and tried lifting it, only to earn a painful wince from the girl. Whatever he just did must’ve exacerbated her injuries. Obviously, he didn’t feel too good about that.

His eyes drifted over to the pair of tank treads, now much closer than before. Running out of both time and options, he whipped out his gun and pointed it up at the Zero-Pointer’s face. “Hey! Stop right there!” He yelled. To his surprise, the robot actually stopped moving, looking down at Izuku with its metal hands held high in the air.

“Woah, man. I don’t want any trouble here.” Despite its robotic voice, the Zero-Pointer somehow managed to sound scared.

“Neither do I. Just… back off! Okay?!” Izuku didn’t know how he was ordering around a fifteen-story-tall metal monstrosity. He supposed that was just the power of firearms. ‘Yeesh. No wonder Japan has such strict gun laws.’

“Okay, okay, I’m backing up.” A loud beeping sound could be heard as the robot’s treads began to roll in reverse.

“Wait! Before you do that,” he suddenly realized, “could you please lift the rubble off this girl’s body. And make sure to do it carefully.”

“Ugh, fine…” Izuku couldn’t help but grin as he watched the Zero-Pointer forcibly do his bidding. He didn’t realize how powerful owning a gun would make him feel. Absently, he wondered if Snipe felt the same way. He’d have to ask if he ever ran into him.

“I want that one.” Snipe pointed at a monitor that showed Izuku threatening the Zero-Pointer with a gun. “I want him in mah class, y’hear?”

“Snipe, you can’t do that. You’re a third-year teacher.” Midnight informed him.

“Shoot! Yer right…” He hummed to himself, taking a moment to think of another solution. “Aizawa, wanna trade classes?”

“Sure.”

“Wait, FER REAL?!” Everyone else was just as shocked as Snipe. Never in their lives did they think Aizawa would make such an impactful decision on a whim. “Ya ain’t yankin’ mah chain here, are ya?”

“Look, if I know Nezu, he’s going to put that Nomu kid in my class. I need at least two years of preparation before I’m ready to deal with him.”

“Well, if you’re both in agreement, then who am I to refuse?” Nezu cackled like a mad scientist, reveling in all the unexpected shake-ups that came with this year’s entrance exam. He could already tell this was going to be a fun year.

Chapter Text

Excitement bubbled up in Izuku’s gut with every step he took. He still found it hard to believe he wasn't dreaming. After all these years, he was finally walking down the halls of UA! So many amazing heroes once stood exactly where he stood, and now he was going to learn to be just like them. “Isn’t this exciting, Nomu? Aren’t you excited?”

“…” The creature remained impassive as ever, so Izuku grabbed his beak and moved it up and down while miming his voice.

“Yeah, Izuku, I’m super excited too. We’re gonna be heroes! YAAAAAAY!” He said in his best Nomu impression.

By now, the pair had already reached the doors of their assigned class, which were thankfully large enough to fit Nomu’s bulking frame. Izuku grabbed the handle and slid the door open, only to be caught off guard when they were approached mere milliseconds later.

“Excuse me, but that is improper uniform conduct!” A tall boy with blue hair chopped his arm at Nomu, specifically his torn-up shirt and jacket. “If you are to represent UA, then you cannot go around dressing so unethically!”

“Now, hold on.” Izuku got between his friend and the blue-haired teen. “It’s not Nomu’s fault his uniform looks like it was just put through a shredder.” He meant that sincerely, as a compliment. “This is the biggest size they had. It’s not his fault he’s been training so hard that the uniform can’t withstand his muscles.”

“Oh…” The boy dropped his tense look at the realization. “I suppose the blame falls on the clothing designers, then. I deeply apologize for jumping to such conclusions.” He bowed at a ninety-degree angle, startling Izuku. “At least you have an excuse for your lack of upkeep, unlike some.”

His steely gaze travelled over to Katsuki, specifically his unbuttoned top and lack of tie. “Oh, shove it, Four-Eyes.”

“Do not tell me to shove it! This is a prestigious school! If you refuse to follow UA’s dress code guidelines, then perhaps you-”

BANG!

The entire room went dead silent at the sound of gunfire. Their eyes all trailed to the source of the sound, where they were met with a cowboy-like figure, twirling a revolver and whistling a jaunty tune as he stepped up to the front desk. “Good, glad I got yer attention.”

“Are you a teacher or a cosplayer?” Asked a blond boy with a black strip of lightning running down his hair. His tone made it seem like his question was a hundred percent genuine and not a sarcastic remark.

“A bit o’ both, if I’m bein’ honest. I’m the Gunslinger Hero: Snipe, and I’ll be looking over you varmints from now on.”

Izuku lit up like the Fourth of July at the hero’s introduction, and he couldn’t stop himself from going full fanboy mode. “Wow! You’re really Snipe?! I’m a huge fan! I even studied your techniques when learning how to use firearms.”

He couldn’t read Snipe’s expression through the mask, but he assumed he was appreciative based on the way he tipped his hat at him. “Well, ain’t that a shocker? I can already tell teaching ya is gonna be more fun than a barrel o’ bullets.” He looked away from Izuku to address the rest of the class. “And that goes fer the rest o’ y’all. With any luck, we’ll be gettin’ along like peanut butter and horseradish sauce.”

“So… not very well?” Deadpanned a boy with a very bird-like head.

“Hey, don’t knock it ‘till ya try it. But that can wait ‘till later, right now we gotta mosey on down to the auditorium for orientation. After that, we got some other business to attend to.”

“Oh, I love business!” Exclaimed a rosy-cheeked girl Izuku recognized from the entrance exam. “That’s where you make the most money!”

One Orientation Later…

“Wow! That was a very informative orientation!” Izuku recapped out loud as he stood on the school’s athletic field with his gym uniform on, waiting for the teacher to get started with whatever he had planned. “I’m so glad we didn’t miss it!”

“Let’s make like a train and start chuggin’ along now.” Snipe stepped in front of his students with a training ball in hand. “Today, you’ll be doin’ some physical tests, with a twist. Nomu,” he pointed to the largest and most noticeable student, “ya got the top spot in the entrance exam. How far do ya think ya could throw this here ball normally?”

“…”

“Exactly. Not far at all, at least compared to if you were usin’ yer Quirk. That’s what I want ya to try.” He tossed the ball in Nomu’s hands, who understood the assignment.

He pulled back his arm, and everyone could’ve sworn the air pressure dropped as black lightning danced around his body, clueing them in that something big was about to happen.

Jiro cautiously plugged her ears with his own jacks, just to be safe.

With a loud CRACK, Nomu swung his arm forward and let go of the ball, throwing it so fast it shattered the sound barrier and knocked everyone to the ground. But the ball wasn’t the only thing to go flying…

“HOLY CRAP, YOUR ARM!” Mina shouted as she, along with the rest of the class, stared in horror at Nomu’s decapitated limb, which he swung so hard it popped right out of his socket.

“We have to get you to Recovery Girl!” Izuku exclaimed. Nomu took this as a command, making his way to the infirmary in a single leap, crashing through the ceiling in the process.

A shocked silence permeated the training field for a few seconds, only interrupted when a ringtone went off in Snipe’s pocket, who took out his phone to answer the unexpected call. “Uh, howdy?”

“Snipe, why did you send one of your students to the infirmary? There’s nothing wrong with him.” Izuku, plus several others, leaned close to listen in on the call, recognizing Recovery Girl’s tired and raspy tone.

“What in Clint Eastwood’s name are you talkin’ ‘bout? That boy was missin’ a goddamn arm!”

“Does your student normally have three arms? Because I’m counting two right now.”

“O’ course not! Dagnabbit, old coot, now’s not the time to be goin’ senile on me!” Recovery Girl reached through the phone and bonked Snipe on the head with her cane for his snide remark. “Ow! Fine! If the cowpoke’s as uninjured as you say he is, then bring ‘em back.”

Nomu also took that as a command, creating a second hole in the ceiling as he leaped out and landed next to Snipe, his arm completely intact like nothing happened.

“Huh, I guess he didn’t lose his arm,” Ochako hummed, having been successfully gaslighted along with the rest of the class.

“So how far did Nomu’s ball go?” Asked Izuku, trying to get back on track.

“Let’s take a gander…” Snipe looked down at his electronic measuring device, only for a round object to come flying out of nowhere and hit him on the back of the head. “OW! What in tarnation?!”

Shoji picked up the ball and looked it over, recognizing it as the same one Nomu just threw. “It seems he threw it around the Earth’s entire circumference.”

“Right. Does anyone reckon how much that-”

“24,901 miles or 40,075 kilometers!” Ochako answered, being the space nerd she was.

“Mon dieu, he threw it that far?” Aoyama worriedly rubbed the side of his head. “The grading curve is - how you say - fucked.”

“Now hold your horses.” Snipe calmed the students down before they could get too worried. “There ain’t no gradin’ curve here. This ain’t nothin’ but a test to see where y’all are at in terms of yer athleticism and Quirk control. But there is a prize for whoever scores the highest, so I better not see any o’ y’all slackin’ off like a pig in a mud jacuzzi.”

“Yes sir!” All the students (save Nomu) affirmed, eager to get started in hopes of winning the elusive prize. Given Snipe’s eccentric cowboy nature, they figured it could be anywhere from a can of beans to a fully furnished barn.

“Midoriya, yer the last one up!”

“Okay…” At Snipe’s command, Izuku ran up to the white circle and performed the standing long jump to the best of his abilities. His distance appeared on an electronic screen as Snipe called it out loud.

“10.67 feet! Not bad!”

While Izuku would agree with his teacher, he still wished he could do a bit better. He had to show the rest of his class he could keep up with them despite his lack of a Quirk, which was hard when he couldn’t use his gun to give himself an advantage in this particular test.

…Or could he?

Whipping out his revolver, he aimed and fired at the electronic screen, putting a circular hole where the decimal point once stood. Now, instead of ‘10.67 feet’, the screen read ‘1067 feet’.

Snipe gave an impressed whistle. “Well I’ll be! Now that’s what I call thinkin’ wit yet head!”

Iida was decidedly less impressed. “T-that can’t seriously count, can it?”

“Hey, if the screen rewards 1067 feet, then he jumped 1067 feet. If Midoriya was up first, that woulda applied to all yer scores as well, but goin’ last was clearly part of’ his strategy.”

Even as Iida and Katsuki gave him the side-eye, Izuku still felt proud of his out-of-the-box thinking and resourceful use of his bullets. Though he was a bit let down by the fact that he still failed to beat Nomu’s score of 1729 feet.

Even now, as he glanced over to his friend, people were still praising him for his incredible athletic feats.

…Or at least they were trying to.

“That was a sick jump, man!” Kirishima proudly slapped him on the back. “You’re like, seriously strong! How much do you bench?”

“…”

His smile faltered at Nomu’s refusal to respond. “Uh, hello? I was just trying to say you were really manly and stuff.”

“…”

“Okay, I guess you’re not in much of a talking mood. That’s fine.” Kirishima silently sulked as he walked off, and Izuku felt a pang of worry for his friend. He knew Nomu wasn’t the most social person out there (in fact, he was probably the least social person he knew), but he didn’t want his friend to become an outcast because of it. It was a well known fact that loneliness was a more effective killer than most diseases, that’s why Izuku felt like he’d been dying for the past ten years before meeting Nomu.

Before Kirishima left, Izuku ran up to him and Nomu to hopefully smooth things out. “Sorry about Nomu. He’s not trying to be rude or anything, he’s just selectively mute.”

The red-haired boy perked up at this. “Oh, really?”

“Yeah, he’s not much of a talker.”

This got the attention of Izuku’s rock-headed classmate. Koda, if he remembered correctly. “Does he know JSL?” He signed.

“He does. He just prefers other nonverbal ways of communicating.”

Both boys looked at him strangely. “Like what?” Asked Kirishima.

“Uh… he says ‘KREK’ sometimes?”

“What does that mean?” Koda fixed him with a confused stare.

“I’m… still trying to figure that out.” Izuku quickly realized he wasn’t doing the best job at selling Nomu as a potential friend, so he decided to change gears. “Look, Nomu’s less of a talker and more of a do-er. In fact, he’s down for just about anything!”

“Anything?” Kirishima’s eyes widened, attracting the attention of some of the other classmates.

“Anything. Think of him like one of those all-in-one products they used to advertise back in the 2080s. Here, let me show you what I mean…”

“Hi, I’m Izuku Midoriya!” He greeted the camera, suddenly finding himself on the set of an '80s infomercial. “Are you lonely? Isolated from your peers? Wishing you had just one good friend? Well, I’ve got the solution right here. Introducing: Nomu!”

Izuku pulled back a curtain to reveal the exposed brain creature, standing there like nothing was out of the ordinary. “Nomu is the ultimate friend! Gone are the days of pals and acquaintances who disagree with you and your political opinions. Everything you say to Nomu will be met with a concise and enthusiastic-”

“KREK!”

“And that’s not all! Nomu’s ready to engage in whatever hobby you have! Just listen to the words of our satisfied customers who tried out Nomu for themselves just five seconds ago.”

“He’s a super MANLY sparring partner!” -Eijiro Kirishima

“Terrific study partner!” -Tenya Iida

“His strawberry shortcake is to DIE for.” -Rikido Sato

“He’s quite good at analyzing the deeper themes and messages of some of my favorite stories.” -Momo Yaoyorozu

“I painted his nails pink!” -Mina Ashido

“I don’t like him.” -Katsuki Bakugo

“So what are you waiting for?! Go out and buy your own Nomu for the low, low price of…” Izuku trailed off, and the catchy music slowly faded away. “Wait, no, you can't buy Nomu, that would be slavery.”

The infomercial set fell over like a cardboard standee, and Izuku was left on the field with the rest of his classmates. “So… yeah. Nomu can be a really good friend if you let him.”

“Heck yeah!” Toru latched onto Nomu’s bulky arm. “I wanna paint his nails next.”

“I wanna see if he knows how to play bass.” Jiro placed the instrument in his other arm.

“I wanna see if he’s better than me at Mario Kart.” Kaminari shoved a Nintendo Switch in his mouth.

“Enough squabblin’ out o’ y’all!” Snipe cut through the chatter, thankfully not having to fire a blank this time. “It’s time to tally up the scores to see which one of y’all won the-”

“It’s Nomu,” everyone simultaneously concluded. Despite wearing a mask, Snipe’s defeated look still shone through.

“Dang… ya coulda at least let me build up some suspense.” He slumped his shoulders as the scores popped up on a hologram, with Nomu’s name at the top by a wide margin.

“What were you expecting? Didn't you see how he decimated the sit-ups?” Todoroki wasn’t joking either. Nomu’s sit-ups were so intense that they left a twenty-foot-wide crater in the ground, and they did that exercise indoors.

“I dunno. Just… git up here, Nomu. I bet you’re wonderin’ what yer prize is.”

“I know I am.” Sero’s eyes widened with anticipation as he watched Snipe reach for something behind his back, making sure to draw out every second for added suspense.

“And here ya are!” The class’s smiles all vanished when their teacher slapped a live chicken in Nomu’s hands.

“Uh, Snipe?” Izuku’s eyes slowly trailed up at him, confusion evident in his tone. “What’s he supposed to do with a chicken?”

“Whatever he wants!” He laughed, slapping his knee. The students had to wonder if this was all some big joke on his part. “He could wait for ‘em to lay eggs, or he could just turn ‘em into nuggets if he’s feeling’ hungry.”

Nomu took that last statement as a command. Rushing off with the chicken in his hand, he returned a few seconds later carrying a bucket of chicken nuggets, which he presented to his fellow classmates.

“For us?” Momo felt touched as she reached into the bucket and popped a nugget into her mouth, humming with delight as she did so. “These are surprisingly good by chicken nugget standards.”

That was a cue for the rest of the kids to dig in, giving similar reactions as they enjoyed the unexpected snack. They were so entranced by the chicken that they didn’t notice one of them standing off to the side, tears sorrowfully pricking at their eyes.

“That chicken had a family,” sniffled Koda.

The Next Day…

Izuku thought he was excited before, but that paled in comparison to how he felt now. Not only was today his first ever heroics exercise, not only was All Might teaching, but this was the first time he got to show off his hero costume to the world! (Or at least his classmates).

“What do you think, Nomu?” He asked his friend’s opinion, growing nervous at the following silence. “Okay, yeah, I know I took more than a few cues from Snipe, but it’s not like anyone will notice.” Sure, his costume might have included a cowboy hat, a pair of spurs, a cloak, and a lasso, but at least it didn’t include a gas mask!

“But enough about me. Your costume’s looking pretty good on you.” Nomu didn't seem interested in filling out a costume request, so Izuku had to come up with something for him. Knowing Nomu would tear through any shirt he was given, he settled on a white pair of pants with spiky knee pads and a pair of combat boots. It was simple, but it got the job done.

“Excellent costumes! You’re already looking like true heroes!” All Might complimented as soon as everyone was here and accounted for.

He then went on to explain the exercise: two assigned heroes and villains will enter a building. The villain team will try to hide a bomb and blah blah blah, you’ve already heard this before.

“And now for the teams!” He rooted around a pair of boxes before pulling out two black and two white balls. “The villain team will consist of Nomu and Ojiro, while the hero team will have Bakugo and Shoji.”

Katsuki turned his gaze to Nomu, his teeth baring a feral grin. Anybody else might’ve been threatened by such a gesture, but Nomu was Nomu, so he was physically unable to give a fuck.

“Villain team, you have five minutes to hide the bomb. I suggest you make the most of that time.”

Nomu heeded All Might’s words, grabbing his partner in one hand and the bomb in the other. “Wait, what are we do - AAAAAHHHH!” Ojiro was not prepared for Nomu to leap directly at the building, smashing through the fifth floor window before slamming down the fake bomb on the ground.

“Okay… That was… something.” Ojiro pulled himself off the ground, rubbing his head to fight off the dizziness. “But we can’t hide our bomb here. The other team saw us break through the window, they’ll know our exact location! Why don’t we move it a few floors down?”

He expected Nomu to respond, or at least acknowledge his idea, but perhaps he set his expectations too high. “Uh, hello? Are you listening?” Still no response. “We have to work as a team if we want to win. If you don’t like my plan, I’d rather you let me know instead of giving me the silent treatment.”

To his dismay, Ojiro would continue to receive the silent treatment. The simple fact of the matter was that he wasn’t on Nomu’s mental list of people to take orders from. After following All Might’s order to hide the bomb somewhere in the building, he was left in a neutral state, still as a statue until he was given another command.

A beep went off on Ojiro’s watch, indicating that the hero team was allowed to enter the building. “Shoot!” He panicked, worried about all the time he just wasted arguing with a brick wall. “Okay, they’re probably gonna try and sneak up from multiple angles. I’ll go see if they’re downstairs while you… just stay here.”

Nomu technically followed the instruction, though only coincidentally. True to Ojiro’s words, as soon as he descended the staircase, Katsuki came flying in through the broken window, scowling as he laid his eyes on the prize.

“Glad I got paired against you.” He opened and closed his palms, letting sweat build up on his fingertips. “Now I don’t have to hold back!”

“…”

Naturally, Katsuki perceived Nomu’s silence as an insult, becoming twice as enraged as before. “Don't act like you don’t know what this is about, Bird Brain! You beat me up in front of the whole school and threw me in jail! You treated me like a damn villain! Well I’m not a villain, I’m a goddamn hero!”

“…”

“Okay, fine, I’m a asshole normally, but not a villain. Now DIE already!” He lunged forward and delivered an explosion on Nomu’s gut, grinning as he didn’t even try to evade the attack.

The smoke cleared, and Katsuki’s satisfied look dropped like a safe off a ten-story building when he realized his blast didn’t even damage his opponent. “Of course… just like last time.” He clenched his fists in anger before taking a heavy breath.

“Well, that’s not the only trick I got up my sleeve!” He raised an arm, gesturing to the grenade-shaped brace that came with his hero costume. “My gauntlets aren’t just for show, you know. I made sure to pump them full of sweat before the exercise.” He pointed a hand at Nomu, his finger wrapped around the grenade’s pin. “Whatever explosion comes out of here is gonna be enough to break through whatever cheap-ass defense Quirk you got.”

“Young Bakugo! Stop! You’ll kill him!” All Might’s voice shouted over his earpiece.

“Also, you could just tag the bomb right now and win, ribbit,” Tsuyu felt the need to point out, but Katsuki obviously ignored her.

“HE WON’T DIE IF HE DODGES!” He declared, with Nomu squarely in his sights as he prepared to pull the trigger. But when his opponent still refused to move, that’s when he began to hesitate. “I said, he won’t die if he dodges!”

Nomu refused to even blink at him. Despite his refusal to move, his aura grew more tense by the second as Katsuki let it sink in just who he was up against. “You’re not gonna even try to dodge?! Are you calling my bluff? I’ll do it! I swear to god I’ll fucking do it!”

Nomu’s pupils seemed to dilate at his words, as if silently telling him, ‘Try me.’

“GAAAAAAAHHHH! DAMMIT!” Feeling something in his mind snap, Katsuki tore off his gauntlet and threw it on the ground. “You’re insane, you know that? Absolutely fucking insane!” With his shoulders still tense from the encounter, he stormed past Nomu and placed a hand on the bomb.

“HERO TEAM WINS!” All Might announced, though Katsuki didn’t feel much like a winner.

The Next Day…

“I’m sure after yesterday’s exercise, y’all learned enough ‘bout each other to elect a sheriff and a deputy fer this here class.”

Iida furrowed a brow at his teacher’s words. “Sheriff? Are you referring to a class representative?”

“Yeah, same difference. Tomato, tomater. Now, do we got any nominations here, or does everyone wanna vote fer themselves and see where that takes ya?”

“I nominate Nomu!” Shouted Kirishima, excitedly pumping his fist in the air. “It was insane how he stood his ground against Bakugo yesterday! Super manly!”

“I thought it was kind of reckless,” Tsuyu remarked.

“Yeah, but he’s a fun guy to have around,” Mina rebuked, admiring the nail art he painted for her a few days ago. “He’s got my vote.”

“But doesn’t he only ever listen to the teachers and Midoriya?” Ojiro pointed out, still a little butthurt about yesterday’s heroics class. At least he managed to beat Shoji in their duel.

“Then why don’t we just make Midoriya the vice representative?” Momo came to the obvious conclusion.

Izuku was decidedly less enthused by the idea. “Wait, hold on, I didn’t agree to that.”

“Democracy begs to differ,” Snipe countered, a smirk forming under his mask. “All on board with Nomu sheriff and Midoriya as deputy, raise yer hand.” More hands went up than not, cementing the decision. “Well, there ya have it! Congratulations, you two.”

Izuku groaned at the results, resting his head on his desk. In any case, he could at least be happy with Nomu’s success. Being the anxious introvert that he was, he’d never complain about his friend being the center of attention over him.

And with the insane stunt he pulled during the battle trials, it was clear no one would ever want to take their eyes off of Nomu for even a second. Especially Dark Shadow, who challenged Nomu to a staring contest sixteen hours ago.

“It’s still anyone’s game at this point!” The sentient Quirk declared.

Chapter Text

“Alrighty, cowpokes.” Snipe stepped up to the class, lazily twirling his revolver in his finger. “Today, we’re goin’ to the USJ to learn the ins and outs of-”

Nomu interpreted that as a command, picking up everyone in the room and transporting them to the USJ.

“Well, that’s efficient!” Iida smiled at the large, mindless creature. “I can see electing you as class rep was a wise choice!”

“Dag nabbit!” Snipe palmed his face mask when he realized where his student had sent them. “I meant the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, not Universal Studios Japan!”

“Awwww… can’t we stick around for just one ride?” Mina pleaded.

Unfortunately, her puppy-dog eyes were useless against Snipe’s heart of steel. “’Not a chance,” he bluntly refuted, letting Nomu pick them all up and deposit them at the actual USJ.

“Wow, you got here fast!” Thirteen gasped as twenty students and one teacher suddenly appeared in front of them. “I haven’t even finished preparing my speech.” They nervously shuffled the note cards in their hands.

“Ya can save the speech fer the end.” He slapped the cards out of their hands. “Right now, we got a buncha varmints eager to get started. Also, where in the Sam Hill is All Might? He said he’d meet us here.”

“He said he’s stuck on the toilet after eating a bad burrito.”

“Ah yeah, that tracks,” he nodded understandably, having found himself in the same situation more times than he could count.

“All Might’s not gonna be here?” Izuku overheard, already looking upset at the news.

“‘Fraid not, and dependin’ on what was in that burrito, we might not be seein’ him fer at least a fortnight.”

“A what?”

“But All Might’s presence was never necessary for the exercise,” Thirteen cut in, trying to lift 1-A’s spirits. “We’ll get along just fine without him.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” an unfamiliar voice echoed throughout the USJ.

Both teachers raised their guard, immediately switching into fighting positions. “Who’s there? Show yourself!” Yelled Thirteen, only for a purple portal to open up under their feet, sending them falling into the mouth of an active volcano.

“That’s one miniboss dealt with.” Another portal opened up near the fountain, and out stepped a man covered in disembodied hands. He looked up at the collection of students, grinning ear-to-ear. “So All Might decided to leave us waiting, huh? Might as well kill some time by killing some of his beloved stud-”

And then Snipe shot him.

“AAAAAAAHHHHH!” Tomura fell to his knees, clutching his bloodied shoulder. “What the fuck, dude?! I thought heroes weren’t supposed to be this brutal!”

And then he shot him again.

“AAAAHHHHH! My other shoulder!” He fell on his back, blood pooling up around his twitching body.

“Like I give a hoot.” Tomura could feel Snipe’s hate-filled glare as he reloaded his gun. “Not only are ya threatenin’ to hurt mah kiddos, but you’re trespassin’ on private property. I am well within my rights to make swiss cheese outta ya.”

“Uh, sir?” Iida awkwardly scooted up to him. “That law only applies to certain American States.”

“Yeah, listen to the nerd!” Tomura vehemently agreed, only to shut his mouth when Snipe once again cocked his gun at him.

“Shut yer mouth, outlaw. Imma give ya ‘till the count of three to surrender, or the next bullet’s goin’ where the sun don’t shine.”

Tomura took a moment to respond, glancing to the side before a cocky grin appeared on his face. “Do it. You won’t.”

Turns out, he did. But before the bullet could traumatize Tomura, another purple portal appeared between the two, sending the shot flying in the opposite direction. “GAAAAHHH! My kidney! I need that fer booze!”

“Ha! Doesn’t feel so good now, does it?” The villain loudly taunted. “Kurogiri, bring everyone else out.”

“Right away, Tomura.” A man made of purple mist appeared in front of the villain, who opened another, much larger portal from which dozens of dangerous-looking thugs emerged. One of which in particular caught Izuku’s eye.

“Hey, Nomu, that guy looks just like you.” He turned his friend's head toward the large, muscular, inky-black creature with no visible eyes and an exposed brain.

“Wait, what?” Tomura overheard the boy and looked over to him. He didn’t see it at first because of the hand obscuring his vision, but the moment he laid eyes on Nomu, all prior objectives were immediately forgotten. “Woah, woah, woah! Everyone pause!” The thugs all stopped at Tomura’s command, confusedly whispering to one another. “That’s my Nomu!”

“Huh?!” Izuku’s gaze rapidly switched between Tomura and Nomu. “You know him?”

“Know him? I’m his master! He’s supposed to obey me! Why is he hanging out with an NPC like you?!”

Izuku scoffed at the villain, offended. “Okay, first of all, he’s hanging with me because he’s my friend. Second of all, you don’t own him. He’s his own person!”

“Wha - Are you serious?! He’s not a person! He’s literally just a corpse!”

“Are we not all corpses?” Tokoyami posited, thoughtfully resting his chin on his fist. “We’re just shambling along, hardly aware of the fact we’re alive as we mindlessly fulfill the same tasks day after day.”

Tomura could swear he felt his head splitting apart from the sheer idiocy on display. “Not poetically! He’s literally a collection of dead bodies sewn together and programmed to do whatever I say.” To prove his point, he cleared his throat and prepared to give the creature a command. “Nomu, turn that green kid into paste!”

Nomu didn’t do anything. In fact, he hardly even acknowledged Tomura’s existence.

“Did you not hear me? I said kill that kid, now!” When Nomu still refused to listen, it became painfully clear that something was wrong. “Kurogiri, why isn’t he listening to me?!”

“If I were to hazard a guess, I’d say he doesn’t recognize your voice after not hearing from you for so long,” the sharply-dressed man explained.

“Well then bring him back to the doctor so he can get fixed.”

Izuku’s eyes widened, already knowing what Kurogiri was about to do. “Nomu, dodge it!” The beast took a big step to the right as a portal appeared under his feet.

Tomura didn't think this day could get any weirder, yet here he was. “Seriously?! Why is Nomu listening to you of all people?”

“That Nomu must have adjusted to the boy’s voice over time,” Kurogiri provided some much-needed exposition.

“Like I said, he’s my friend,” Izuku huffed, frustrated that Tomura still didn’t get it. “Now let me ask you a question; why does that guy look so similar to Nomu?”

“Ooh, maybe they’re brothers!” Kaminari cut in and immediately started making stuff up.

“Brothers with conflicting ideals,” Tokoyami added, his tone grave and somber. “Growing up, they were as close as brothers could be. But when the time came, one chose to forge on ahead as a hero, while the other sank deeper into villainy.”

“But neither wanted it to turn out this way,” Momo dramatically continued, like she was recounting a Greek tragedy. “They just wanted things to go back to how they were, but it was clear they were too far gone at this point.”

“When their next battle occurred, they knew only one would make it out alive,” Shoji forebodingly narrated.

Izuku gasped, tears in his eyes as he looked up at his friend. “Nomu, is this true? Did you really have such a terrible falling out with your brother?”

“No, he didn’t. You guys just made that up on the spot,” Tomura deadpanned, but everyone was too caught up in the drama to listen to him.

“And yet, despite Nomu’s hardships, despite all the pain he’s gone through, he still chooses to be a hero. That’s the kind of commendable behavior I expect from a class representative!” Iida tearfully applauded, convincing the rest of the class to do the same.

“Oh my god…” Tomura exhaustedly ran four fingers down his face. He was severely tempted to add a fifth.

“But we can’t let it end like this!” Ochako shouted. “Nomu, other Nomu, you two are brothers, you shouldn’t be forced to kill each other like this. Maybe it’s not too late to make up.”

“You’re right!” Izuku firmly nodded. “Nomu, you should go up there and give your brother the biggest hug you can.”

Nomu obliged, zipping up to the eyeless nomu and wrapping his arms around his torso. Izuku suddenly realized his mistake when he saw black lightning coming off of Nomu’s arms. Before he could tell him to stop, Nomu squeezed his brother so tightly that he exploded into a red mist that quickly dissipated across the USJ. Even with Super Regeneration, there was no chance of him coming back from that one.

Both Class 1-A and the villains were left speechless at the murder they were just forced to witness, though perhaps none were as shocked as Tomura. “Shit. He was my ace in the hole. How are we gonna kill All Might now?”

“Shall we cut our losses and return to the bar?” Kurogiri suggested.

“Yeah, now seems like a good time to rage quit.”

“Hey, what about us?” One of the hired thugs spoke up, frustrated that they didn’t get to do anything besides stand there and look pretty.

“Well, you guys were just fodder to weaken the boss, so why don’t you fulfill your role and buy some time for me to escape?”

Right as Tomura was about to step into another portal, a bullet suddenly struck Kurogiri’s metal brace, and the mist suddenly dissipated.

“SHIT!” Tomura leapt back before the closing portal could slice him in half. “Seriously?! I thought I took care of Snipe!”

“He’s not the only one with firearms, you know,” Izuku smirked, twirling his gun, just like Snipe taught him.

Tomura gulped, realizing he was backed into a corner. “Well, uh… my thugs still outnumber you and your class! You’re as good as dead!”

“Who said we were your thugs?” A large man with green skin and bull horns crossed his arms at Tomura, flanked by all his other hired goons.

“Yeah! Like we’d help someone who just threw us under the bus!” A woman with gorilla arms gleefully cracked her knuckles. “I say we show him what happens when the cannon fodder fires back!”

“Let’s tear him apart!” A woman with sharp, needle-like strands of hair sent several tendrils Tomura’s way, slicing off both his pinkies.

“Well, that takes care of that.” Ojiro sat down, watching along with the rest of his class as the group of thugs all beat their leader to a pulp.

“What should we do now?” Asked Todoroki.

“I guess we just wait until the heroes show up to arrest them.”

Right as he said that, the USJ’s main doors flew open, revealing all the UA teachers, including Thirteen, much to everyone’s surprise.

“Thirteen! I thought you fell into an active volcano!” Ochako exclaimed, relieved that her personal idol was alright.

“I did, but I just sucked up all the lava. It helps that my hero suit is heatproof.”

“But how did you get back so quickly? Isn’t the nearest active volcano miles away?” Iida pointed out, much to the Space Hero’s confusion.

”…No? There’s one right down the street, next to the Chick-fil-A.”

“Worry about that later. Right now, we have villains to arrest.” Nezu diverted everyone’s attention toward the group of thugs ganging up on the one actually dangerous villain, who was left powerless to fight back.

“Seems they’re doing most of our job for us,” Present Mic hummed in surprise.

Nezu grinned, looking content with the scene before him. “Don’t you just love it when things go your way?”

All for One grumbled to himself, drumming his fingers on the arm of his throne as he impatiently waited for his protege to return. He checked his watch, only to remember he couldn’t see, so he activated his time-checking Quirk instead. “Tomura and Kurogiri should’ve been back hours ago! Something must have happened to them.”

“You’re unfortunately right, my lord.” Garaki, ever the bearer of bad news, rushed in and turned on the TV, where a news report played.

“The prestigious hero school UA was recently attacked by the newly-formed League of Villains, who claimed to have engineered a multi-Quirked super soldier to take down the Symbol of Peace. Thankfully, said soldier was subdued by a student of Class 1-A, who just so happened to be his brother.”

The report showed a picture of the student in question, and the doctor subsequently gasped at the familiar face. “Lord… are you seeing this?”

“I have no eyes, doctor. I can’t watch TV,” All for One would’ve sent him a piercing glare if he could.

“Right… sorry. They’re showing images of our Nomu.”

“The one we gave to Tomura?”

“No, the one before that. The one Tomura reportedly told to go kill itself.”

All for One audibly gasped at the news. “My own Nomu turned against me to attend a hero school?“ He clenched his fists, his shock quickly shifting to anger. “This is the second-worst betrayal of my life, right behind when my brother ran away with that spiky-haired idiot.”

“Also, the UA student has been identified as the same individual who dressed up as All Might last year and gaslit everyone into thinking he was the Symbol of Peace,” the news reporter added.

“NEVERMIND! THIS IS WORSE!” All for One grabbed the TV and tore it in half with his bare hands. “Garaki, whip up a fresh batch of Nomu. It’s time to show that bird-beaked buffoon what the Symbol of Evil does to traitors.”

Chapter Text

“Welcome, everyone, to the UA Sports Festival!” The crowd cheered at Midnight’s introduction, as did the many students on the field, ready to prove themselves to the world as the next generation of heroes. “Before we begin, the entrance exam’s top scorer will deliver the athlete’s oath. Please welcome Nomu to the stage!”

And just like that, all of Izuku’s excitement fizzled out. To say he felt like an idiot right now would be an understatement. All Might had told him Nomu would be publicly speaking at the Sports Festival right after they were accepted into UA. He was supposed to help him with that, making sure he didn’t blow it on live TV, but Izuku just kinda… forgot.

He looked over to Nomu. While his face remained more stoic than a statue, Izuku figured he was internally losing his mind (which wasn’t hard when your brain’s exposed like that). “Well… go on up there. I know you can do it.” He tried to be encouraging as Nomu stepped up to the podium.

After a brief cheer, a hush fell over the crowd. Hundreds upon millions of viewers waited with bated breath to see what inspiring words Nomu was about to say. A second of silence passed, then two, then five, then ten, then the crowd started whispering among themselves, wondering if this was all part of the act.

From the announcer’s booth, an irritated look found itself on Aizawa’s face. “What is he doing out there?”

“Aw… the poor listener’s got stage fright,” Present Mic winced sympathetically for his student. “Maybe we should spare him the embarrassment and cut this speech short.”

“Like that’ll happen.” Aizawa rolled his eyes. “Nemuri probably thinks the silence is just Nomu’s way of building up suspense.”

“True. She’s always been artsy like that.”

From inside One for All, seven figures (and one collection of yellow wisps in the vague shape of a person) all lounged on their respective thrones. They collectively let out a huge groan, dying of second-hand embarrassment as they were forced to watch their latest mistake of a holder make the worst possible first impression as the next Symbol of Peace.

“Please stop this already…” Hikage buried his head in his hands, hoping to shield himself from the shame.

“We can’t, we’re just spirits,” Yoichi reminded them, just as sobered by the news as everyone else.

“Nearly a century-long legacy thrown down the drain.” Kudo took a swig of his Ghost Beer™, something he’d been doing since Nomu was declared All Might’s successor. “We’re witnessing the fall of Japan in real-time here.”

“I can’t watch this any longer!” Banjo shouted, way past his breaking point. He picked up the TV that displayed Nomu’s point of view and violently shook it around. “Come on, Nomu. You’re choking out there, man! It doesn’t have to be some long, elaborate speech. All you have to do is say-”

“PLUS ULTRA!”

The Vestiges froze at the unfamiliar voice that came from the TV. The stadium didn't seem too bothered, however. In fact, their cheers helped clue in the undead heroes on what was really going on.

“Did… Nomu just say that?” Asked En.

“And did I just make him say that?” Banjo added.

“Here, let me try.” Nana shoved him aside and focused on the screen, gathering all her willpower and directing it toward one simple action, receiving a ping in her head in response. “Guys, I think I just moved his arm!”

“You what?” Bruce leaned out of his seat. “How do you know? I didn’t see anything on the TV.”

“I know, but I felt something in my head, like some kind of mental link. You try.”

Bruce silently obliged, thinking hard about what he would do if he were in Nomu’s shoes (if he wore any). A second later, his eyes shot open in surprise. “It worked! I just had Nomu take a step forward.”

Yoichi curiously tapped a finger to his chin. “I think I know what’s going on here; we all know Ninth’s not much of a thinker, right?”

“He sure as hell usurped Fifth as the most braindead holder,” En snarked.

“Hey!”

“His inability to think means his willpower is next to none. And since we all overpower him in that department, there’s nothing stopping us from taking control of his body from in here.”

“So that means…” A rare hopeful look appeared in Kudo’s face.

Yoichi’s grin marched the rest of the Vestiges as the same plan popped into their heads. “We’re back in business, baby.”

Even as Izuku stood among the packed group of students, waiting for the first event to begin, he found his gaze drifting over to his friend. Ever since the speech, something about the way Nomu looked seemed a bit off. His eyes seemed a bit more focused than usual, like there was some level of sentience behind them. And while sentience was usually a good thing, It just didn’t sit right with Izuku.

“You… ready for this obstacle course?” He asked, already knowing he wouldn’t receive a response.

“Yes I am.”

He nearly fell over right then and there. “Nomu! You - you talk!”

“It appears that I do,” he said in a subdued, sagely voice that didn’t fit with his appearance at all.

This did little to quell Izuku’s rising suspicions, however. “How come you haven’t talked before?”

“I took a decade-long vow of silence that ended just about a minute ago.”

Okay, something was definitely up, and Izuku knew it was up to him to figure out what.

“Fourth, what are you doing?! You’re gonna blow our cover!” Nana scolded the past holder after he took hold of Nomu’s mouth to respond to Izuku, completely unprompted.

Hikage simply turned away from the screen, his face as unreadable as always. “We’re going to be piloting Ninth long-term, are we not? It’s important to establish connections where we can, and Ninth already has one in this boy.”

“Since when was that the plan?” Kudo huffed. “Now that we have control, I saw we pass One for All down to someone who isn’t a pawn of All for One.”

“Like the green kid!” Banjo helpfully suggested.

“Not my first choice, but whatever…”

Yoichi glared at the screen, counting the number of students clumped around Nomu. “We can’t tell him anything about One for All in the middle of a public sporting event. Too many eyes. Let’s just get through this and talk about transfers after.”

“Well, if we’re going to compete in the Sports Festival, we might as well show off, right? Show the people what One for All can do?” Nana stepped up to the front, a competitive aura radiating off her. “Hey Fifth, what say we hit singularity for this race?”

“You had me at singularity!” Banjo gleefully got up next to her, ready to let loose for the first time in over fifty years.

“Three, two, one, START!”

At Present Mic’s call, the students all rushed to make it out of the tunnel and begin the race. The comparatively smaller exit caused a massive traffic jam at the back, with everyone pushing and shoving each other to make it to the front.

“Nomu, you’re big. Maybe you can clear a path through…” Izuku paused when he realized his friend was no longer standing next to him, but rather floating above the crowd, several feet in the air. “Nomu! Since when did you learn to fly?!”

“Since right now!” He answered in a slightly more feminine tone. “Now let’s win this thing!”

“Wait!” Izuku jumped up, grabbing onto Nomu’s leg right as he took off. Before he knew it, the two were soaring over the rowdy crowd, making their way out of the tunnel and to the front of the pack in a matter of seconds.

While Izuku was glad they were winning, he was also extremely terrified of just how high up they were. “Um, do you think we can get a bit closer to the ground? I don’t want to die or anything, it would give UA bad press.”

“Wha?” Nomu turned his head, having not noticed the green-haired tagalong until now. “You’re still here? Get off!” He huffed, his voice now seeming much gruffer than usual.

“Wha…?” Izuku felt a sense of betrayal, tears pricking at his eyes.

“Oh, come on. Let him stay,” the feminine voice suddenly returned, contradicting Nomu’s prior statement.

“Are you kidding me? He’s a freeloader!”

“He’s Ninth’s friend. What harm is it to give him a hand?”

“Bah! Friends are just freeloaders too.”

“Hey, I thought I was your friend,” Nomu said in a third, muffled-sounding voice.

“Don’t play innocent, Sixth. You always ate my cookies whenever you stopped by my house.”

“Yeah, ‘cause they were just sitting there on the kitchen table.”

“‘Cuz I was EATING THEM!”

“Nomu, who are you talking to?!” Izuku finally interrupted, causing the creature to make a startled face that looked very unfitting for him.

“Uhhhh… you?”

“Okay, well, before you drop me off, you might want to do something about them.” He pointed ahead at the half-dozen Zero-Pointers, quickly growing larger in the distance as Nomu approached.

“My time to shine!” The gruff voice returned, sounding excited as a dozen black, wispy tendrils appeared from his outstretched hand.

“Nomu, what the heck is that?!” Izuku’s mind nearly burst at the sight of another new Quirk. “Could you have done this the whole time?”

“Of course not,” Nomu snickered, “this trick only works on robots.” The tendrils circled the robots, forming a series of knots around their necks. Once they were tied tight, Nomu yanked on the one tendril in his hand, and the robots’ heads popped off from the force.

“Yeah, score!” He triumphantly pumped his fist, and even Izuku had to admit how impressive that was.

Despite that, he still couldn’t deny how off this all felt - Nomu was flying for god’s sake! That wasn’t the type of development you could just brush off. “Nomu, are you alright? You haven’t been acting like yourself lately. The only other time you’ve been so lively was when…” His eyes snapped open in realization, and Nomu fought down a nervous gulp.

“Oh, would you look at that, we just won the race.” One for All coursed through his body as he speedran the obstacle course, depositing Izuku past the finish line before he could ask any more questions. “Hey, look, you got second in the obstacle course. Congrats!” He blurted out before bolting off to who knows where.

Little did he know, this only increased Izuku’s suspicion toward Nomu. ‘At least… he wants me to believe that’s Nomu, but I know better.’ He squinted his eyes at his friend’s retreating form. ‘There’s only one other time he’s acted like this, and it was when he got possessed by the Sludge Villain!’

“Why doesn't anybody wanna team up with us?” Said Banjo, feeling more than a little hurt.

“Why do you care? You don’t want freeloaders mooching off your success, right?” En scoffed, sending a pointed glare his predecessor's way.

“This is a team event. If no one picks us, we’ll get disqualified,” Yoichi calmly reminded, though internally, he wasn’t too happy about the state of things either.

“Then why isn’t anyone picking us?” Kudo had no problem showing his internal frustration. “We have ten million points, that’s like a free ticket to the third round.”

“And risk getting targeted by all the other teams? If I were there, I wouldn’t go for it,” Bruce chimed in, shaking his head.

“Hey Nomu, team up with me.” Izuku suddenly entered Nomu’s field of vision. He wore a wide, almost devious smile, indicating he was planning something. What exactly that was remained a mystery, which put the Vestiges slightly on edge.

“Should… we go for it?” Yoichi asked the group.

“I say no. He’s already suspicious of us,” Kudo erred on the side of caution.

Unfortunately, he would find himself alone in that sentiment. “Yeah, but we have to team with someone.” Nana took control of Nomu to shoot Izuku an affirmative thumbs-up.

“Can I join you guys?” A pink-haired girl wearing a pair of steampunk goggles excitedly zipped up to the group. “I can trick you guys out with so many killer babies!”

“Uh, sorry, I already have a strategy in mind, and it’s more of a two-man job.” Izuku tried to let her down easy, which seemed to work as she casually shrugged and left to find a different group to force herself upon.

“Alright ‘Nomu’, here’s the plan,” Izuku whispered once the inventor girl was gone, “since your stomach cavity is completely hollow, I’ll put on the headbands and climb down there. As long as you keep your mouth shut, no one will be able to steal our points. Unless, of course, you’re hiding something, or someone down there.”

Nomu didn’t seem to pick up on the implication, which worked in Izuku’s favor. “Sounds like an invasion of privacy, but okay!” He clenched a hand around Izuku’s torso and stuffed him into his maw, just like the boy had planned.

“Ah-ha! I got you now, Sl…” He felt around for the Sludge Villain, but didn’t find anything goopy, just the same black, skin-like substance that coated the outside of Nomu’s body. “Hold on, if he’s not here, then why is-”

“START!” He vaguely heard Midnight’s whip crack, followed by a stampede of footsteps headed towards them.

Well, if Izuku couldn’t get to the bottom of this, the least he could do was take advantage of his plan to make it to the third round. “Nomu, no matter what, don’t open that mouth!”

“Mm-hm!” He hummed, right as he felt the other students try to break through his defenses.

“The ten million points are in there!” Katsuki placed a hand on Nomu’s mouth and tried to blast a hole through his teeth. As usual, his explosions proved ineffective. “Dammit. Why do I even bother?”

“Move.” Todoroki’s horse shoved Katsuki’s aside, and he surrounded Nomu with ice, hoping to freeze Izuku out. But what he didn’t know was that Nomu’s insides were perfectly insulated, a feature added by the doctor in case he needed to transport certain goods in the monster’s stomach.

“This doesn’t seem to be working,” Iida fretted. “Perhaps you could take advantage of your fire in order to-” An icy glare from Todoroki shut him up quickly.

“Out of the way, glory hogs, time for the true stars of UA to shine!” Monoma and his group stepped forward. “Kuroiro, if you would…”

One of the horses separated from the group, attaching himself to Nomu and sinking into his pitch-black skin.

Monoma grew frustrated when Kuroiro emerged a few seconds later with no headbands to be seen. “What happened?”

“When I popped my head inside, Midoriya accidentally kicked me in the face. I think it gave me a black eye.” Of course, that was impossible to know for sure given Kuroiro’s inky-black completion.

“Alright, you had your fun, now it’s time for a real genius to show her stuff!” Mei reached behind her back and pulled out a large, pointy object. “This here’s the Drill-tastic 9000, capable of cutting through even the toughest of diamonds.”

She turned on the drill, which exploded the moment it touched Nomu’s skin. “Okay, so that’s something to keep in mind for the next rendition.” She pulled out a notepad and started jotting things down.

“Hey, Ashido, can’t you just melt a hole in Nomu’s skin?” Kaminari asked as they waited for their group’s turn.

Mina gave an offended look at that. “Think, dummy! I can’t just burn a hole through a person! It’s not like he has regeneration or anything!”

“Hey, you!” Shinso yelled, trying to provoke the ‘human’ barrier. “You’re really just gonna stand there the whole match? For a guy with such a big brain, you’re pretty stupid.”

Nomu didn’t respond verbally, instead sending a swarm of black tendrils toward the heckler. He didn’t attack Shinso, but he made damn sure he knew what would happen if he did. The threat seemed to work, and his group backed down while he mumbled out his grievances.

The other teams continued to wait on Nomu in the hope they’d be able to break him open like a piñata. Their attempts would prove fruitless several minutes later when the second round ended and team Midoriya was declared the unquestionable victor.

“Good job, Izuku,” Nomu complimented as he spat out his teammate (although no spit was actually involved). “We both made it to the tournament. I guess that means we’ll be competing with each other.”

“Yes, it does…” Izuku remained stoic, as his mind was busy trying to make sense of everything he learned so far. Nomu clearly wasn’t being controlled by the Sludge Villain, or any other Quirk. That could only mean another force was manipulating him, one that technically didn’t qualify as a Quirk, but was still famous for possessing others.

Ghosts.

With this in mind, Izuku’s brain put on a chef’s hat and began to cook up a plan. ‘Let’s see here… When someone gets possessed by a ghost, you perform a ritual. But in order to do that, I need to get up close and personal with Nomu, and the best way to do that is…’

He looked up at the tournament bracket displayed on the stadium’s giant screens; his match was up first, while Nomu’s was last, meaning they were on opposite sides of the tournament. It was clear he’d have to fight his way to the top if he wanted to face his friend in the finals, who he had no doubt would make it there on his own.

He reached into his holster and pulled out his referee-approved handgun, thankful he hadn’t wasted any ammo up until this point. He knew this task wouldn’t be an easy one, but if it was to save his friend, then he was willing to face that challenge head-on.

Round One: Izuku Midoriya vs. Neito Monoma

“I must say, it’s quite fortunate that I get paired against a 1-A brat like you. Now I can expose how much of a fraud you really are,” Monoma said smugly, with Izuku already growing sick of his attitude. “Now that your muscly friend isn’t around to help, you’re as good as useless!”

Izuku simply rolled his eyes at the 1-B student’s laugh. Clearly, Monoma hadn’t been paying attention to his training. If he had, he wouldn’t have acted so shocked when Izuku pointed his gun at him.

“That’s… that’s not actually real, is it?” It was almost humorous seeing his mask of bravado shatter in an instant.

“The bullets? No. UA only let me bring the rubber ones, but they still hurt a lot.” The gun clicked as Izuku turned the safety off. But weirdly, that didn’t seem to faze his opponent, whose haughty smile returned with a vengeance.

“Just rubber, you say? Well then, bring it! I won’t let a little pain stop me from proving 1-B as the superior class!”

Izuku did indeed ‘bring it’, to which Monoma found himself in a lot more than ‘a little pain’.

“Well, that went pretty well.” Izuku smiled at the sight of Monoma being carried out of the ring on a stretcher. “Now to completely zone out until it’s time for Nomu’s fight.” He was on a mission, after all. He couldn’t afford to get caught up in how his classmates were doing. He could analyze their fights later.

Round Eight: Nomu vs. Hitoshi Shinso

“Oh great, it’s that guy.” Banjo rolled his eyes at the sight of their opponent.

“The one who is very un-subtle about his Quirk,” Hikage clarified, thinking back to Shinso’s stack of very clearly brainwashed students.

“We ought to avoid talking to him if we don’t want to get brainwashed.” Bruce took hold of the controls, ready to dart forward and end the match as soon as the whip cracked.

“Wait, how exactly does that work?” En turned to him, puzzled. “We’re already controlling Nomu’s actions against his will (or lack thereof), isn’t that already brainwashing?”

Nana nodded in agreement. “That’s a good point. Everyone knows you can’t possess something twice.” When such an event occured, the force in control usually came down to a battle of willpower, and Shinso was outnumbered seven-to-one.

“Well then maybe we can engage in a bit of verbal sparring,” Yoichi smirked as he seized control of Nomu’s vocal cords.

“Hey Big Bird, anyone ever tell you that your gym uniform’s too small, or do you just like flashing your bare chest on live TV?” Shinso gestured to the blue and white scraps on Nomu’s arms that could barely constitute a jacket.

“Oh yeah? Anyone ever tell you that the recommended hours of sleep per night is eight?” He pointed at Shinso’s heavy eyebags.

Shinso remained calm as he brushed off the insult (a difficult task, mind you). There was no reason to get worked up when the fight was already over. “Turn around and walk out of the ring,” he commanded.

Unfortunately, like most non-Izuku orders Nomu was given, he refused to move from his spot. “Why don’t you come and make me?” He challenged, his toothy smile somehow growing wider.

“What the-” Shinso tried to take control again, but it was like some unseen force was repelling his Quirk’s influence. “How is this happening? No one’s ever-”

He blinked, and Nomu was suddenly in front of him. Shinso only had half a second to process before he was flicked out of the ring and sent tumbling on the grass.

Quarter Finals Round 1: Izuku Midoriya vs Tetsutetsu Tetsutetsu

“You best put away your gun, bro,” Tetsutetsu clashed a pair of metal fists together, “because we’re gonna settle this like men!”

Izuku gulped, looking down at the now-useless weapon in his hand. Out of all the students he had to be paired against, why did it have to be one of the few who were impervious to bullets?

Knowing his gun would be ineffective, he glanced around the ring, desperately searching for something else that could help him. Unfortunately, the immediate surrounding area was made intentionally barren to avoid outside influence.

Unfortunately, the designers failed to account for his gun’s range.

The match began, and Tetsutetsu immediately came barreling toward his opponent, his tightened fists making it pretty clear what his fight strategy was.

Izuku cocked his gun, but instead of aiming it ahead of him, he pointed it directly upward and fired a shot. The crowd gasped, some reeling back in fear, but Tetsutetsu didn’t falter for even a second. “Ha! What do you plan on hitting with that?”

“You’ll see…” Izuku looked up, then back down. Right as Tetsutetsu was about to reach him, a satellite dropped right out of the sky and crashed on top of him, both immobilizing and knocking him out.

Naturally, everyone went silent at this, though perhaps none were more shocked than the two teachers assigned to referee the fight. “Uhhhh… is that an illegal move?” Cementoss asked, genuinely curious.

“Let me see here…” Midnight pulled out an extremely large rule book, flipping to the section on satellite interference. “Well, the satellite was technically inside the ring, just really high up, and it only fell down thanks to Midoriya’s influence. But still, I think the principal should have the final say on this.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!” Came Nezu’s mad cackle from the loudspeakers.

“Then it’s settled, Midoriya wins.”

“How did the bullets even go that high?” Cementoss scratched the side of his flat, concrete head.

From the bleachers, Ochako discreetly scooched over to Tsuyu and whispered, “It was me.”

Tsuyu slowly craned her neck to the side, locking eyes with the other girl. “…What?”

“I did it.”

“Did what? The - the bullet? Why?”

“Shhhhhhh…” She held a finger over Tsuyu’s mouth.

Quarter Finals Round 4: Nomu vs. Shoto Todoroki

“So you see, your refusal to use your fire stems from not just your hatred of Endeavor, but your desire not to become him,” Nomu explained to Todoroki, whose head rested on his lap.

“I didn’t realize…” he responded, absently running a hand across his scar.

“But using his fire doesn’t automatically mean you’ll become him. It’s not about what power you have, but how you choose to use it. You can do great things with your fire, but you have to make that choice for yourself.”

Todoroki didn’t respond, instead focusing on his left hand. A small spark emanated from his pointer finger, creating a flame no larger than a birthday candle.

Nomu gave a soft, almost motherly smile. “See? I knew you could do it.”

Despite this tender moment, the crowd was far from pleased with how this match was progressing. “When are you gonna fight already?!” One particularly annoyed spectator shouted.

“THIS IS ABOUT MORE THAN JUST FIGHTING!” Nomu angrily snapped back.

“Okay, but seriously, Seventh, shouldn’t we be fighting this kid instead of… whatever this is?” Bruce impatiently pointed out.

“Shush, you! This kid hasn’t had a mother figure in his life in years. He needs someone to set him on the right path.”

“And that someone just so happens to be the hulking monstrosity possessed by seven and a half ghosts,” En said in a mocking tone.

“Hey, if it works, it works. And technically, this counts as a form of incapacitation, so we’ve already won. The only reason Midnight hasn’t called the match is because she’s invested in the drama.”

“Can’t say I blame her.” Yoichi stuffed another handful of Ghost Popcorn™ in his mouth.

Semi-Finals Round 1: Izuku Midoriya vs. Fumikage Tokoyami

“I wouldn’t bother with your forbidden technique, Midoriya,” Tokoyami advised. “The shadows are an infinite well of nothingness in which no bullet, silver or otherwise, can penetrate it.”

“Basically, rubber bullets don’t scratch me!” Dark Shadow translated.

Their warning didn’t deter Izuku, however, whose determined look remained firmly planted on his face. “Oh, I know.”

What Izuku also knew was how birds reacted to a gunshot. He fired a blank into the air, and Dark Shadow instinctively let out a loud caw before flying off, dragging Tokoyami with him.

“And it looks like Izuku Midoriya earned a spot in the finals!” Midnight announced, much to Izuku’s satisfaction.

“All according to plan,” he told himself, only to realize he had no idea what he was actually going to do once he faced Nomu in the finals. “Wait, how do I expel ghosts again?”

“He a cutie, isn’t he?” Pony eagerly nudged her friend as they watched the most recent fight wrap up.

“I’d have to agree,” Reiko calmly nodded. “Such a dark, brooding figure. Who knows what secrets he and his familiar hold beneath that bird-shaped exterior.”

Pony quickly turned to her, bearing an exasperated look. “No, I meant Izuku. Look!” She pointed down to the fighting ring, where combatants stepped back into the stadium.

“Ah yes, a fine choice indeed. Though it seems his artillery may have influenced your decision.”

“Fine! I like guns! You happy now?” She angrily threw her hands in the air, and Reiko let out a soft giggle.

“As happy as an occult enthusiast can be.” Which wasn’t much, considering her gothic aesthetic.

“Speaking of the occult…” Izuku cut in, surprising both girls. “Yanagi, was it? I know this is sudden, but I heard you know a lot about ghosts. You wouldn’t happen to know how to exorcise one, would you?”

The girl seemed to light up at his request. “Why, in fact I do. I’d be happy to teach you the procedure for such a ritual-”

“Ahem!” Pony non-subtly nudged her in the rib.

“Oh, yes. I will only assist you if you agree to accompany Pony to the shooting range.”

Izuku turned to Pony, who straightened her hair out, trying to appear as cute and appealing as possible. “Sure. That sounds fun,” he smiled at her.

“Fuck yeah!” Pony excitedly pumped her fist.

“Excellent,” Reiko pulled out her Ghost Exorcism Handbook, which she held at all times in case someone just so happened to be possessed. “Now, in order to forcefully eject a spirit from a person’s body, you must first douse them in holy water, then shove a wooden biblical cross into their chest. They should expel the ghosts from their mouth soon after.”

“Okay, that makes sense.” Izuku jotted all this down. “Do you have either of those things?”

“Thankfully, I do,” she handed him the items he needed, to which he gave an appreciative nod.

“Okay, thanks for helping me out!” He waved goodbye while excitedly skipping away.

At the same time, Ibara walked up to the pair of girls, seeming concerned about something. “Excuse me, but have either of you seen my holy water and cross?”

“Nope,” Reiko immediately denied.

Semi-Finals Round 2: Nomu vs. Tenya Iida

“Oh man, this guy looks fast for sure,” Banjo pointed out at the sight of Iida jogging in place, revving up his engines before the match began.

“Gee, no way I could’ve guessed that on my own.” En’s sassy attitude earned him a swift elbow to the gut.

“If he’s fast, we’ll just have to be faster.” Yoichi glanced at Kudo, who already had a bad feeling about this. “Second, perhaps this would be a good time to give him your Quirk.”

“Are you crazy? You of all people should know how dangerous Gearshift has become. Do I need to remind you about the cellular degeneration?”

“So what if it kills him? He’s already a dead man walking, might as well make him run too,” Banjo argued.

“Cells can still degenerate off a corpse, that’s how they turn into skeletons.”

“Not if they have regeneration~,” Nana said in a sing-songy tone, to which Kudo just blinked dumbly for a few seconds before the pieces clicked in his mind.

“Oh yeah, I forgot about that.” He stepped to the front of the group and immediately activated his Quirk on Nomu, turning it to the highest possible gear.

Iida stared down his opponent from the other side of the ring, dissecting him with his eyes to help prepare for their upcoming fight. ‘Nomu’s fast, almost incomprehensibly so. During the Quirk assessment, he beat me at the hundred-meter dash without breaking a sweat. If I want to defeat him, I need to go all out.’ Sure, it would leave him weakened in the final round, but he’d rather that be the case than never make it to the final round at all.

At the crack of Midnight’s whip, Iida charged up Recipro Burst as quickly as he could, only for Nomu to basically teleport in front of him less than a second later. Reeling back in shock, Iida bolted left to avoid getting knocked out of the ring, not making it more than a few steps before running face-first into Nomu’s chiseled pecs. He frantically turned right, but Nomu was waiting for him there too. No matter which direction he turned, Nomu was already right in front of him, bearing a sharp glint in his eyes that promised violence.

‘Impossible! How is he everywhere at once?!’ Iida rubbed his eyes to make sure he wasn’t seeing things, where he was then met with a crowd of identical-looking Nomus, surrounding him from all sides with their arms outstretched.

“Get T-posed, noob!” They all taunted at once, slowly closing in on their opponent.

Right as Iida was about to question his grip on reality, he suddenly noticed a vague blur surrounding all the Nomus, and everything began to make sense. “Of course! He’s circling me so fast that I’m perceiving his after images as if they were actually there!”

Of course, Iida was nowhere near that level of speed or precision; thus, he had no way to stop Nomu from grabbing him by the thrusters and tossing him out of the ring.

Final Round: Izuku Midoriya vs Nomu

The audience exploded into cheers as the two fighters made their way to opposite sides of the ring. “Here we are, folks, the final fight of the Sports Festival!” Present Mic announced. “On one side, we have the undisputed powerhouse of 1-A with more tricks up his sleeve than abs on his stomach. On the other side, we have a child with a gun!” Izuku couldn’t even be mad at that description. It was simply too accurate. “Who’s gonna take home the gold? Let’s find out.”

“Glad to see you made it this far, Izuku. I hope you put up a good fight.” Nomu gave his friend an encouraging smile, one which Izuku did not reciprocate.

“Save it,” he spat. “I know you’re not actually Nomu, and I won’t let you get away with possessing my friend.”

Nomu’s eyes widened as he stepped back in surprise. “Wait, how did you know we were… whatever. There’s a perfectly reasonable explanation for all this. If we could just talk for a moment…”

“FIGHT!” The time for talking was over, as Midnight began the match with another crack of her whip. Izuku immediately sprang into action, chucking his flask of holy water in Nomu’s direction. He knew the beast would easily be able to catch it, so he whipped out his gun and shot the flask before it could land in his hand.

“Uh… what?” Nomu dabbed a pair of fingers on his moistened skin, quickly recognizing the substance. “Holy water? Izuku, I’m not a demon.”

“That’s what you want me to think!”

“Ugh, whatever.” Nomu quickly closed the distance, grabbing Izuku by the scruff of his jacket. “Let’s just end this now so we can explain what’s going on.”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on!” Izuku pulled out his cross and slapped it on Nomu’s chest, who remained very unimpressed by the gesture.

“Really? What’s that supposed to - AAAAAHHHHHH!” Nomu fell to his knees, screaming as seven and a half wisps of varying colors flew out of his mouth. Like hyperactive hummingbirds, they aimlessly darted around before heading toward the first thing that caught their interest, that being one of the Jumbotrons on the edge of the stadium. After a brief flash of static, the vestiges appeared on the screen, looking just as confused as the audience witnessing all this.

“What happened? Where are we?” Asked En.

“I dunno! I was just going where you were going!” Said Banjo, not being of any assistance.

Yoichi simply hummed as he pressed his face to the screen. “Guys, I think we were expelled from Nomu’s body and accidentally possessed the Jumbotron.”

“WAIT WHAT?!” All the other Vestiges shouted simultaneously.

“Hold on, let me try something.” Nana cleared some space before levitating a few inches above the ground. “Okay, so we still have our Quirks. Good to know.”

“But what about the Quirk?” Hikage pointed down at the field, and all eyes were focused back on Nomu, wondering if he still had One for All.

“Uhhhh…” Izuku wasn’t sure what to do now. Sure, his friend was looking like his old, stoic self again, but apparently these ghosts were worried about Nomu’s Quirk for some reason. He figured the least he could do was put their minds at ease. “Nomu, try and activate your Quirk,” he requested, prompting One for All’s usual black lightning to emanate off his skin.

Unfortunately, this was not the outcome the Vestiges were hoping for. “You gotta be kidding me! He still has it?!” Kudo exasperated, banging on his side of the screen. But before he could break the glass, the Jumbotron suddenly turned off.

“Sorry about the interruption, folks,” Present Mic cut in, putting his TV remote away, “now let’s get back to the fight!”

“Actually, there won’t be any more fighting,” Midnight interrupted before Izuku could reload his gun. “That flask of holy water Midoriya threw counts as an outside weapon, meaning he’s disqualified, and Nomu wins.”

“Oh…” Truth be told, Izuku wasn’t too torn up about losing. He succeeded in his goal of freeing Nomu from his possession, and that was a good enough win in his book. “Congratulations, buddy!” He ran up to his friend and gave him a hug, the crowd collectively cooing at the gesture.

“…” Once again, Nomu didn’t react, just the way Izuku liked it.

Yagi stepped back to admire the results of his hard work, smiling ear to ear. It wasn’t easy getting this Jumbotron through the doors of Might Tower, nor was convincing UA to let him take it home, but it would all be worth it to see his master again (and the other Vestiges of One for All, but mostly his master).

He turned the TV on, and the image of the seven-and-a-half dead heroes filled the screen, each of them wearing dull, thousand-yard stares. “Nana! It’s so great to finally see - Wait, why do you all look so traumatized?”

“When the TV was turned off, we all caught a glimpse of the afterlife.” Nana’s mumbles would’ve gone unheard if it weren’t for the surround-sound speakers Yagi installed beforehand.

“Uh… how was that?”

“That’s the thing, there is no afterlife,” Yoichi slowly shook his head, “just an infinite swirling void of nothing.”

"But - but what about the holy water and the cross?"

"Mineral water and wood. That's all you need for an exorcism.”

“Oh…” Yagi didn't know how to respond to that. In fact, it would probably take a few days and a couple of therapy sessions just to process this information. “Would you like me to put on SpongeBob?”

“Yes please.”

Chapter Text

“Okay, but are you sure?” Yagi stressed for what seemed like the millionth time.

Nana gave an annoyed look, tired of repeating herself. “I know what I saw, Toshi. The only afterlife we get is an empty black void. If you need me to double-check, just turn off the TV again.”

“Wait, no, don’t do tha-” Yoichi’s concerns went ignored as Yagi pressed the power button on the remote, tapping it again a few seconds later.

When the Vestiges returned, they appeared substantially less traumatized than before. “Okay, upon closer inspection, the ‘black void of nothing’ might’ve just been the blank TV screen,” Nana clarified, more than a little embarrassed.

“Soooooo, does that mean there is an afterlife?” Yagi gave a hopeful shrug.

Hikage stepped up to respond. “Probably, but the exorcism still would’ve worked with any old mineral water. I know from experience.”

“Okay, it’s hooked up!” A Might Tower employee called from the other side of the Jumbotron, capturing Yagi’s attention.

“Good. Let’s see if it works.” As he walked over, the employee handed him the smartphone connected to the screen via a USB cable. “Do any of you sense anything? Like some kind of exit you can travel through?”

“Yeah, I think there’s something right here.” When Banjo pressed his body to the side of the screen, an invisible force sucked him out of the Jumbotron, and he appeared on the phone’s screen a few seconds later. “Huh, you wouldn’t believe it, but this place is a lot spacier than the TV.”

“Really? Because I could use the extra elbow room.” Bruce followed him into the phone, the rest of the Vestiges appearing soon after.

“Good. Now I can keep you guys with me wherever I go.” Yagi beamed at his phone, with Nana smiling back.

“Sounds good. Just make sure to hand me off to Todoroki during lunch. That boy seriously needs a mother figure after his old one poured boiling water on his face.”

“Wait, what?”

“Hey, I found his search history!” En waved while digging around the Google Chrome app.

“Wait! No! Don’t look in there!” Yagi desperately shook his phone up and down, flinging the Vestiges around his home screen like ragdolls.

“Uhhh, Yagi?” The man looked up from his phone at the sound of Izuku’s voice, turning to see him and Nomu entering the room. “You wanted to see us?”

“Ah, yes. On top of wanting to congratulate you two for your performance at the Sports Festival,” Izuku beamed at that, and he was sure Nomu was elated too, “the Vestiges wanted to have a word with you.”

Yagi held up his phone, which Izuku glowered at. “The Vestiges? You mean the ghosts who forcibly possessed Nomu?”

“Not like he put up much of a fight,” Kudo scoffed, only angering the boy further.

“Hey! Are you calling him dumb? I’ll have you know he scored full marks on UA’s written exam.” The fact that it was by pure chance went unsaid.

“Of course not. He can’t be dumb if he can’t even form a coherent thought.”

Before Izuku could go off on the ghost, Yoichi stepped in to diffuse the tension. “What Second is trying to say is that we got a good look at Nomu’s head, and there’s not much going on up there on account of him being a mindless servant to All for One, who’s still alive by the way.”

While Izuku appeared confused, Yagi hacked up blood all over his phone. “ALL FOR ONE?! I was sure I killed him when I literally punched his face off!”

“You did, but he somehow survived. We can sense it from in here.”

Izuku curiously raised his hand like he were in class. “Hold on, who’s this All for One guy? Is he a chicken? Is that why he can survive without a head?”

“Basically, he’s a villain who can steal Quirks and has been around since the collapse of society. In fact, he might have played a hand in that himself. Eighth should have told you all this on day one.” Bruce sent an unimpressed glare Yagi’s way.

“I thought he was dead! How was I supposed to know he had a chicken Quirk that let him survive without a head?”

“That’s my personal headcanon from now on,” Banjo chuckled.

“Worse yet, Eighth put One for All right into the villain’s hands by giving it to one of his puppets!” Kudo’s anger was clear on display. If he was able to throttle Yagi through the screen, he would have.

“Now hold on, just because Nomu worked for All for One in the past doesn’t mean he’s still a puppet,” Izuku stood up for his friend, who honestly couldn't care less. “If All for One supposedly had access to One for All this whole time, how come he hasn’t taken it yet?”

“How should we know? All for One just kinda does things with very little rhyme or reason,” En groaned, exhausted from just thinking about it. “One time, he stole all my blue jackets and cut off the factory’s supply of blue cloth, so I had to settle on red.”

“But we have a solution for all this,” Nana cut in, finally being the bearer of good news. “Izuku, Nomu listens to you for some reason. Just ask him to give One for All to you, and everything will be fine.”

“M-me?” He disbelievingly pointed to himself.

“We held a vote, and you were the best candidate,” Hikage explained. “Plus, you’re Quirkless.”

The boy furrowed his brow. “What does me being Quirkless have to do with it?”

“One for All is so powerful that it will overflow the holder’s Quirk factor if the holder already possesses a Quirk, which will cause rapid aging and eventual body degradation. Nomu’s regeneration can only offset the effects by so much.”

As horrifying as that sounded, the other Vestiges didn’t seem to agree based on the looks they gave the fourth user. “Fourth, I hate to tell you this, but that’s not true at all,” Yoichi sighed, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Hikage balked at the claim. “What? But then how did I-”

“Werner Syndrome. Look it up.”

“I… okay.” He walked over to Google Chrome and typed the condition into the search bar. “Oh, wow, that makes a lot more sense.”

“But still, Izuku has to take One for All,” Nana continued. “The holder must have a strong willpower to prevent it from being taken by All for One.”

“And you’re saying Nomu doesn’t have a strong willpower?” The boy scoffed incredulously.

“Not strong enough to avoid getting possessed by us,” En pointed out the obvious.

“That’s because there are seven of you. All for One’s just one person, right? It’s in the name. Besides, what if I just asked Nomu to have a strong willpower? He usually listens to whatever I say.”

Banjo groaned, repeatedly slamming his head against the screen. “That’s. Not. How. It. Works!”

“Sure it is! Nomu, don’t forget to have a strong willpower,” he commanded his friend, receiving a thumbs-up in response.

None of the Vestiges looked entirely convinced, however. “There’s no way in hell that’s actually gonna work,” said En, absently shaking his head.

Hikage suddenly poked his head out of the Google Chrome app, appearing distressed about something unrelated to his recent diagnosis. “I think they’re about to find out.”

Everyone tilted their heads at his foreboding statement. “What’s that supposed to-” Izuku cut himself off as he bent over, coughing violently. He felt a weird substance travel up his throat, like he was about to vomit.

“Young Midoriya! Are you okay?” Yagi ran over to help him, only for his attention to divert to Nomu when he started coughing as well. Odd, considering his lack of lungs or airways.

Before anyone could make sense of the situation, Izuku and Nomu threw up a gray, sludgy substance which swirled around their bodies before enveloping them completely. The sludge dissipated as soon as it arrived, taking the pair of friends with it.

Yagi and the Vestiges gaped at the sudden disappearances, their jaws on the floor. “Please don’t tell me that was All for One’s doing…” Yagi pleaded.

“Danger Sense doesn’t lie,” Hikage gave the unfortunate news.

“Okay, we’re officially screwed now.” Kudo all but threw in the towel as he lit a Ghost Cigarette in his mouth.

The moment the sludge overtook his vision, a wave of nausea hit Izuku like a freight train, forcing him to the ground as he hacked up the last few gray chunks. It was like he was put on a roller coaster made up entirely of loops.

When he finally felt like he wasn't about to puke, he opened his eyes to find himself in a grungy, dimly lit room very unlike Might Tower. “Wha? What’s going on? Where am I?” He thankfully managed to get a handle on his anxiety when he spotted a familiar face at his side. “Nomu, thank god you’re here too. Do you know why we’re here?”

“To pay.” At the unfamiliar voice, Izuku nervously turned to the front of the room, where he was met with a tall, masked man in a black suit, ominously sitting on a large throne.

An inexplicable pang of fear struck Izuku in the chest, his body forcing him to take a step back. “Are… are you All for One?”

“I am, and you’re the thorn in my side who turned my precious Nomu against me.”

Despite being horrified out of his wits, Izuku’s sense of indignation for his friend triumphed against everything else, allowing him to stand defiantly against the villain. “For the last time, he’s not your Nomu. He’s his own person, and I’m sick of everyone treating him like a tool!”

All for One rolled his non-existent eyes, letting the words flow in through one ear and out the other. “While you keep trying to delude yourself, how about I take back what’s rightfully mine? Other nomus, pin Nomu down.”

At the snap of his fingers, Izuku heard a series of animalistic growls from behind, followed by a chill down his spine. He whipped around, gulping at the horde of exposed brain creatures, too many for him to count. “Uhhhh… I’m guessing you guys are Nomu’s extended family? Sorry about what happened to his brother.”

The group of nomus seemed keen on capturing their defective family member, roaring as they piled on top of him like a game of rugby. The force of the impact was so great that it sent Izuku flying to the other side of the room, painfully landing right behind All for One’s throne. As his vision straightened out, he spotted a spare replica of the villain’s mask that had been stowed away, which he swiftly grabbed and stuffed under his arm.

“Consider yourself lucky, boy,” The villain laughed at Izuku as he strided over to Nomu, pulling his head out of the pile. “Once I take back my Quirk from your ‘friend’, you won’t live long enough to see me bring Japan to its knees.” He put his hand over Nomu’s face and activated his Quirk. “Now, where are you hiding, brother?”

“Not inside Nomu, that’s for sure.” Despite the soreness racking his body, Izuku managed a grin as he pulled himself up. “We got rid of all those spirits during the Sports Festival.”

All for One paused, removing his hand to shoot Izuku a look of disbelief. “Hold on, you what?”

“Yeah. Didn’t you watch the Sports Festival?”

“OF COURSE NOT!” He snapped, with Izuku jolting back in shock. “Why would I want to watch a defective Nomu clean house with a Quirk that should be rightfully mine?”

“Because it was entertaining? Here, I’ll show you.” Izuku pressed the buttons built into All for One’s throne, switching on a nearby monitor to play Sports Festival footage.

“I can’t watch TV. I have no eyes under here,” All for One deadpanned, waving a hand around his masked face.

“Oh, sorry.” He pressed another button, turning on the audio description.

“Izuku Midoriya casts an exorcism ritual on Nomu, causing him to expel seven and a half spirits from his mouth.”

“What?!” All for One gawked in the monitor’s direction. “You’re saying my brother is already gone? That all my hard work over the past century has been rendered pointless?” He clenched his fists, feeling a dozen of his most destructive Quirks bubbling beneath his skin.

“And that’s not even the weirdest part.” Izuku rewound the footage to Nomu and Iida’s fight.

“Nomu activates a speed Quirk, moving so fast that he appears to be in multiple places at once,” the audio description helpfully supplied.

Unfortunately, All for One knew there was only one Quirk capable of such speed. “You’re saying he used Kudo’s infernal Quirk too?!” He lashed out, blowing up the TV with at least a dozen laser Quirks. If he was mad before, words could not explain the amount of raw fury he felt at that very moment. If he didn’t have several stroke-preventing quirks at his disposal, he may have died on the spot from sheer rage.

Somewhat thankfully, however, that rage may have been enough to overpower whatever barriers One for All still held. “If I can’t have my brother, then I can at least take the stockpile!” He squeezed Nomu’s face as hard as he could, beginning the Quirk transfer process.

“No, Nomu! Don’t let him take it!” Izuku pleaded. All for One didn't think much of it until the transfer began to stall, the willpower of this one creature somehow managing to eclipse that of his own.

“What the…” All for One’s dread only grew when Nomu activated a hundred percent of One for All, throwing off the pile of nomus on top of him like it was nothing. “How could this be?! No creation of mine should be able to supersede my willpower unless I design it for that specific purpose!” Racking his mind for any possible explanation, he quickly found his gaze shifting over to Izuku. “It’s you, isn’t it? You ordered that nomu to resist me, thereby making his will your will.”

“Um… I’m not sure I follow the logic. Mind running that by me again? Preferably in a long and drawn-out manner?” Izuku tried and failed to divert attention away from him, as All for One seemed fully committed to his next action.

“Other nomus, tear him to pieces.”

Izuku fell into a panic at the sight of over a dozen monsters charging in his direction. With nowhere to run, he frantically scanned the area around him for something that could help. But the only thing not bolted to the ground was the spare helmet he held under his arm. Left with no other option, he fastened the helmet over his head and performed his best impression of the villain.

“STOP!” He ordered, quickly realizing the helmet had a built-in voice modulator that made him sound exactly like All for One. The horde of nomus seemed to notice this too, all of them freezing in place at the boy’s command.

“Oh you’ve got to be kidding me.” The real All for One palmed his helmet. “I told the doctor I didn’t need a spare, but he never listens.”

“Glad all you guys finally came to your senses,” Izuku said to the stationary army. “Now attack!” He pointed across the room, prompting them all to turn around and charge toward All for One.

“I’ve had enough of my nomus revolting against me. Turn around and attack the boy!” His order overrode Izuku’s, and the nomus immediately ran in the other direction.

“No! Don’t do that! Attack All for One!” Izuku repeated, and the nomus obeyed.

“I repeat, attack the boy!” They turned around again, and the cycle repeated.

“Attack All for One!”

“Attack the boy!”

“Attack All for One!”

“Attack the boy!”

“Attack All for One!”

“Attack the boy!”

“Attack the boy!” Izuku repeated, hoping to trip the villain up.

“Yes, I agree. Attack the boy!” All for One refused to fall for that old trick.

“No wait, stop!” The nomus froze just in time, milliseconds away from caving Izuku’s face in. “How about… you attack the tallest person in this room.”

All for One glowered from underneath his mask as the Nomus charged toward him. He could see what Izuku was trying to do, and he resolved to beat him at his own game. “Attack the shortest person in this room.”

They veered toward Izuku, who didn’t look worried in the slightest. “Attack the person with the most Quirks.”

“Attack the person with the fewest Quirks.”

“Attack the person with the highest body count.”

“Attack the person with the lowest body count.”

“Attack the person wearing the fanciest attire.”

“Attack the person with the lamest t-shirts.”

“Rude. Attack the person with the fewest eyes.”

“Attack the person with the most eyes.” The nomus stopped for a moment before turning on one of their own, this particular nomu possessing a Quick which gave him four eyes. “Wait, never mind. Attack the person with the messiest hair.”

“Attack the person who says the word ‘attack’ next.”

“Attack the person who has a… Wait a minute.” Right as All for One realized what he just said, the nomus tore into him like a pack of hungry wolves, tearing him limb from limb so fast that not even his regeneration Quirks could keep up. He tried speaking up to correct his mistake, but as his life-support helmet was shattered in a single punch, he found he could only speak in a series of suffocating gasps.

After only a few seconds, the horde of nomus backed off from All for One, showing off his lifeless, skeletal remains to Izuku, who was both impressed and disturbed.

“Wow, uh… Good job, I guess?” He sent them a shaky thumbs-up, unsure how to feel about all this. “But hey, since you’re all Nomu’s family, why don’t you come with me? I bet All Might can find you a better job than working for that guy.” The nomus didn’t respond, so as usual, Izuku interpreted that as a yes.

“Awesome. Just try not to confuse me for All for One again.” He removed the helmet, his voice changing back to normal. “This is what I really sound like,” he told them, accidentally ensuring they would now take orders from his regular voice.

“Sooooo… can anyone get us out of here?” Every nomu literally jumped to help, leaping through the roof of the secret base and creating a gaping hole for Izuku to exit from. A yellow nomu with wings was even kind enough to fly him out of there.

As soon as everyone was gone, the door to All for One’s throne room flew open, and in stepped a distressed Doctor Garaki. “Lord, are you okay? I heard a commotion from the other room. I know you said you didn’t need my assistance, but I-” The words died in his mouth as he gazed upon the pile of bones on the floor, dressed in a familiar black suit.

“LORD! What happened to you?” He ran over and scooped up the bones in his hands. “It’s okay, maybe I can still fix this. I brought you back when you were missing your head, didn’t I? I just need to fire up some old machinery.”

“I wouldn’t be so sure of that,” said a voice from above. Garaki peered up, his pupils shrinking at the group of police officers looking down at him from the hole in the ceiling. “Unauthorized underground lab? Yeah, you’re totally going to jail.”

“Shoot…”

“Yes, Star, bring as many fighter jets as you can.” Yagi spoke into the phone, marching back and forth in his office with a determined glint in his eyes. “My successor’s life is at stake here! I already called up the top ten heroes, but I know this mission will require some good old-fashioned American artillery.”

“Oh, is that Star & Stripe? Do you think you could get her to sign my notebook?” Izuku added.

“And don’t forget to bring a pen. Young Midoriya wants you to sign his-” He suddenly clamped his mouth shut, slowly craning his neck to face the doorway, where Izuku and Nomu stood. “Hang on, Star. I’ll call you back,” he whispered before hanging up. “Young Midoriya, Young Nomu, is that really you? Not another one of All for One’s tricks?”

“Nope, it’s the real us.” To prove their identities, Izuku reached into Nomu’s open maw and pulled out a small strand of blond hair. “See? It’s still in there, along with a bunch of other hairs from when he tried to bite into your scalp.”

“Okay…” Yagi was appropriately weirded out, as was usually the case with Nomu, meaning he had to be real. “But how did you escape? What happened with All for One?”

“Is he dead?” Yoichi’s spoke from Yagi’s phone, his tone gleefully hopeful. “I can’t sense his presence anymore, so either he’s dead, or the wi-fi here just sucks.”

“Yup. He’s definitely dead,” Izuku confirmed. “He was reduced to a skeleton. Pretty sure you can’t come back from that.”

“Did you remember to cremate the skeleton?” Nana urged. “If he can survive getting his face punched off, I don’t want to take any more chances.”

“Okay, that might be pushing it. How can a skeleton still be alive?”

“I’m a skeleton, and I’m still alive.” Yagi gestured to himself.

“How did you guys manage to kill him in the first place?” En cut in.

“Oh, it wasn’t us who did it. We had a little help.” Izuku stepped aside, allowing Nomu’s extended family to crowd into the office, much to the shock of the eight previous One for All holders.

“Oh god, there’s more of them!” Kudo yelled, receiving a whack on the head from Nana in response.

“Stop being so rude, Second. I think they deserve at least a little gratitude for taking down the Symbol of Evil.”

Banjo made his agreement clear. “Heck yeah! If I knew how quickly it would have solved everything, I’d have given One for All to a nomu decades ago!” He failed to notice the dirty glare En sent him from behind.

“Since they rebelled against All for One, don’t you think they deserve a second chance? Maybe they could become heroes just like Nomu,” Izuku requested, sending Yagi a pleading look, which he seemed very receptive toward.

“I was thinking the same thing. In fact, I already know just what to do with them.”

“And so, I would like to formally introduce UA’s newest students, who will be entering the hero course in the new Class 1-N.” Nezu gestured to the group of nomus dressed in UA uniforms, most of which were too small to fit around their bodies without getting torn apart, doubly so for the nomu with chainsaws for hands.

“Well, this is bound to make joint trainin’ a helluva lot more interesting,” Snipe whispered to Vlad King from the sidelines.

“And if they’re anything like their relative in 1-A, it’s sure to be a very one-sided affair.”

The other two hero classes (save for Izuku and Nomu) leveled the group with a series of perplexed stares. “Sooooo… you’ve allowed Nomu’s entire extended family to enroll?” Tenya felt the need to clarify.

“That’s correct! The class will also be taught by the newest members of our faculty.” Rather than introducing the teachers, the principal slid a yellow-cased phone on the desk, where seven and a half ghosts appeared on the screen.

Yoichi introduced them in a clear and concise manner, “Hi, we’re the ghosts who possessed Nomu during the Sports Festival, except now we’re inside a phone. Cool, right?”

The looks on the students’ faces made it clear they found it more confusing than anything. “I’m sorry, but it feels like we’re missing a lot of valuable information here,” Kendo spoke up. “Can somebody please tell us why this all happened?”

The Vestiges turned to look at each other, silently nodding before Yoichi gave his answer. “No.”

Several Years Later…

As with every year, the crowd was abuzz at the annual hero billboard announcement, everyone curious to find out who would place where. This ceremony was perhaps the most interesting one since the one following All Might’s retirement, as after years of holding a firm grasp on the top spot, Lemillion had unexpectedly fallen to second place.

Nearly the entire country had their faces glued to their screens, wondering who on earth could have dethroned the reigning champ. But in the back of their minds, they already had an idea of who it could be.

“Ladies and gentlemen, for the first time ever, we have not just one number-one hero, but multiple! Introducing Team Nomu!” The crowd burst into applause as a large group of creatures with exposed brains appeared on stage, with a shorter green-haired man leading them at the front.

“Reticle!” The announcer addressed Izuku by his hero name as she shoved a microphone in his face. “As the leader of Team Nomu, what do you have to say about your group’s monumental rise to success?”

The hero chuckled quietly. “While I might be the leader, I think all my teammates would agree that the real credit goes to the heart of the team.” He grabbed his long-time best friend by the face and pulled him down to the microphone’s level. “Come on, Nomu. Why don’t you say a few words?”

“KREK! KREK! KREK! KREK!”

The crowd cheered like they’d never cheered before, knowing a new age of heroics had officially begun.