Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Chapter 1: N-zuku

Uzi was pretty sure she had this. She had her hand grasping Cyn’s core. The Solver was going to die. 

Her only mistake was for her to smile at her enemy. 

The Solver was a petty being. It would rather die than be killed, as weird as it would sound. If it was going to die, it wouldn’t die alone. 

Using its cute puppet, the Solver addressed a smile to Uzi before summoning a [NULL] on their feet.

“Spiteful: Bye bye!” 

N tried to get as fast as he could to Uzi, and both of their gaze met one last time. They would have wanted their happy ending. 

N regretted not having kissed Uzi. Uzi regretted not hugging more N.

The following explosion made everyone join the void, the absolute end… 

Or did they?

-----

When N woke up, he felt weird. First off, he was alive. And as far as he knew, getting blasted by a [NULL] was maybe painless, because instantaneous, but it was also deadly. Considering he wasn’t surrounded by Uzi, V, Tessa, and dogs, N guessed he wasn’t in Heaven either. Also, it kind of hurts. So, N uncontrollably cried.

“You are so… Beautiful.” 

The voice seemed nice, and it calmed N as he was put against something soft and warm. In his field of vision was a woman with green hair. A human woman- Waiiiiit. What? 

Everyone mistook N’s crisis discovery as him reincarnating as a human, as the usual baby crying. He was such a cutie after all. Inko still wondered how her son managed to get golden eyes. They were beautiful but strange. Still, it was her son. Izuku… Wait no. Something about it didn’t sound right. Instinctively, Inko named her son slightly differently. Enzuku.

Why did she want to write it N-zuku? 

-----

N-zuku was very disturbed by the fact that he remembered his past life, but also because he was human now. That one was weird. His mom (still trying to appreciate that concept) was a wonderful woman, and N-zuku loved to help her. He always loved to do anything after all. 

In addition, his dad was often absent because of his work. Still, according to his mom, he was a good man, simply extremely busy with work, as his boss kept sending him overseas. N-Zuku was a bit too young and inexperienced to understand the situation fully, but he accepted it. 

The one thing disturbing him the most was these ‘quirks’. N was pretty sure, according to his database… Wait, no. Memories. According to them, humans didn’t have special powers. Granted, not everyone was equal. His mom could only make small things float to her. Useful for households but not much use otherwise. 

However, there were really cool people, and N loved them. Heroes. Heroes who were saving people from villains and bad guys! Unlike what he did. He was a failure. 

“FEAR NOT. BECAUSE. I. AM. HERE.” N-Zuku watched the “All-Might's first big rescue” video countless times, and he often cried. Because this was what he had aimed to be for them. Uzi. V. Thad. Everyone at the Outpost-9. Even J. 

“Mom? Do you think I can be a hero too?” N-Zuku asked Inko, who smiled at him and kissed him on the forehead. 

“Of course, Zuku. You will be the greatest.” 

-----

Enzuku loved going to school. It was kind of fun, and it allowed him to learn more about the world. It was Inko who typed for him the All-Might videos, but now that he was learning how to write and draw, he was able to check on things by himself. 

Things like JCJenson… Or even the Absolute Solver. The only time he saw something even remotely close to the latter was on an anonymous board. He hadn’t been able to see much more as Inko closed the tab and told him in no uncertain terms he should not go to such a place before he was older. She didn’t specify how old. 

“Wow, you are awesome!” N-Zuku perked up from his drawings. Now that he had “free time” (not hunting anyone…), N-Zuku loved to draw things in detail. More often than not, heroes or quirks in action. 

He smiled as he was one of his favorite subjects to draw, even if she was a bit mean. 

Katsuji Bakugou, technically a childhood friend, as Inko and Mitsuki were good friends. She was highly bossy, and she had a fun quirk about explosions. 

The pig-tailed girl smiled at her cronies while making more sparks in the palm of her hands. 

“Of course! You will see. I will be the best hero!” Katsuji said while laughing. It wasn’t long before I noticed Enzuku in the back, quiet and always drawing.

He didn’t even notice the two other kids who were coming behind him to steal his notebook. 

Katsuji stomped furiously onwards and the two dumbass kids stopped suddenly as they noticed the explosive girl’s face.

Some called her Asuka reincarnated for a reason. Pretty much the only difference she had with the Evangelion Pilot was her hair color. 

“ENZUKU. ARE YOU STILL DRAWING?!” 

“Oh. Sorry, J-Chan!” N-zuku said. As always, Katsuji stopped in her tracks as she heard the name.

“Don’t… Call me that. Katsuji. Or Bakugou.” She was low-key threatening as she slammed her fist near his adorable face. This dumbass. It looked too much like… “Or I will begin to call you something EQUALLY DUMB. CAPICHE?” 

She then turned her gaze towards the bullies who were going to pull some dumbass prank on Enzuku again. 

“... Thanks Katsuji! Always looking for me! You are awesome!” 

Weirdly enough, Enzuku’s compliments were the only ones Katsuji hated, and weirdly enough, she seemed filled with disgust and remorse. She yelled hard.

“I AM NOT LOOKING OUT FOR YOU. I AM SIMPLY MAKING SURE YOU DON’T GET HURT!” 

Their kindergarten teachers looked at their antics with a smile. 

“Tsundere?” 

“Tsundere.” 

Katsuji heard that one and blushed hard. “I AM NOT A TSUNDERE!” 

Besides, she liked GIRLS. GIRLS.

“I just hope I can have a quirk as cool as yours!” Enzuku said with a big, smiling beam.

Katsuji saw that and hit him on the head.

“Don’t be idiotic. You will never have a quirk as awesome as mine!” 

-----

“I am sorry kid, but you don’t seem to have a quirk.” Doctor Garaki sighed as he crushed the dream of a kid in front of his mother. 

Hey, you could be a monster doing unholy science and using orphans as a test subject, but still feel bad for a kid who would never develop a quirk. 

“... So you confirm the diagnosis?” Inko sighed hard as she held her boy’s hair against herself. He was shocked by the information after all and barely reacted. 

“Indeed. Considering my own research and your son’s skeleton… Well, he will either be quirkless or need a miracle.” Garaki confirmed with a grave nod. Hell, he even ran a DNA test to be sure. 

Inko headpatted her son, who suddenly came back to reality… And hugged her, not crying at all. 

“It’s okay mama!” 

Well, at least the kid took it well. Garaki lifted a list and scratched his name. The Quirkless were not really useful for his research after all. After that, he gave the kid a candy and appreciated his fluffy hair. 

“However, you clearly have some vestigial mutations considering your hair and your eyes. Besides, the society isn’t idiotic and thinking quirkless are an inferior species or something. I mean. We are still humans.” Garaki said kindly to the kid, who nodded furiously. Hell, worst case scenario, if the kid became a vigilante, Garaki might even refer him to All For One. The man always loved to have some quirkless become his minions.  

—----

Inko was worried for her son. Despite the smile he showed to the doctor, she saw him cry when he thought no one was looking at him. Something about failing people. 

She knew it was infringing on her son’s privacy, but to check on his mental state, she would often verify his drawings. 

They were mostly about quirks, as usual, but also… There were robots. They were drawn in exquisite detail, especially a purple one who looked mean but also kind of nice at the same time. With a lot of heart. 

And sometimes, he mentioned he failed her. He failed everyone. They all died because of him. 

Inko didn’t know what to do, except hug him and help change his mind. How does one help their kids with the death of their imaginary friends? 

-----

“So, I should normally ask you what career you all want… But we all know the answer, right?” 

“HEROES!” All the students screamed while displaying their quirks together. All except Enzuku, but no one dared to annoy him. First off, while he loved to draw everything and anything, he was always making sure he had authorization. The fact that his drawings were actually good helped a lot. 

But more importantly, he was under Katsuji’s protection. A lot had fun teasing them about a potential relationship, but… Katsuji explained in no uncertain terms the next one, making a joke about those who would never have offspring of their own. 

Actually, the main theory was that Katsuji was somehow linked to Enzuku being quirkless. As he often said with a smile, he loved to do anything, but she always looked sad. 

“In fact, we have two people wanting to go to UA. Namely Katsuji…” 

“Hey, I want to be the best hero and be sponsored by the best corporation and live a comfortable life, baby!” Katsuji said with a snarky smile at the populace. She was the strongest and the most efficient after all!

“And Enzuku.” 

Everyone looked at Enzuku, who sheepishly passed his hand in his hair. This wasn’t part of his plan. He had hoped to meet Katsuji at UA and basically put her in front of the “fait accompli”.

His childhood friend was nice, looking for him and everything, but she was also very bossy and commanding. Not to mention her mood swings. Seriously, it was like speaking with J, even if she was a tad bit nicer than his former leader. 

“ABSOLUTELY NOT.” Heeeere she goes. Enzuku fully expected her angry outburst as she rushed to his desk, her wrath apparent on her face. “YOU DON’T EVEN HAVE A QUIRK, YOU IDIOT PROLETARIAN!”

“Hehehe… Sorry?” Enzuku said, still highly embarrassed by the teacher. Bad guy.

Katsuji yelled at him in the classroom for several minutes as she wouldn’t let him risk his life. He was going to do something he could do. Like being an artist or a dog trainer. BUT NOT A HERO.

N-Zuku did the best thing he knew to do when this happened. He repressed it with a smile. This somehow infuriated Katsuji even more. 

—----

After school, N-zuku wisely decided to evade the attention of Katsuji. Sure, she was on his track to continue to yell at him and hopefully make him change his mind. 

However, N-Zuku wasn’t going to let it go. For a time, he had actually considered not becoming a hero. He didn’t have a quirk, his wings, his armaments… He still had some skills. For fun, at a fair, he checked if he was still aiming correctly. 

To this day, all local fairs with a shooting range had a picture of him labeled “NOT ALLOWED” because he got away several times with the top prize. 

However, the mention UA was accepting, for the first time, quirkless as heroes? It reminded N-zuku of her. Of Uzi. How, despite being a worker drone, she took her destiny into her own two hands, built a sick-as-hell Railgun, and confronted the Disassembly Drone. 

All Might was his favorite hero. Uzi was his model. If she could do it… Then in her memory, the least he could do was become the hero he wasn’t able to be the last time.

“My, my… A new flesh to hide in.” A voice came from the tunnel, and suddenly, N-Zuku was engulfed by some kind of slime. Trying to scream didn’t work as the slime tried immediately to enter there, “Now, stay still. I promise I will make it…” 

“STOP RIGHT HERE, CRIMINAL! YOU HAVE COMMITTED CRIMES AGAINST THE CITIZENS OF JAPAN!” N-Zuku discovered that All-Might apparently liked to play The Elder Scrolls. That was… A thing. 

Then, All-Might punched. It looked as epic as in the various videos N-Zuku liked to watch and sometimes make AMVs of. 

—---

In this universe, it is to be noted that N-Zuku didn’t grab All-Might because he wanted to ask him if he could be a hero even without a quirk. He wanted to be one anyway. Having All-Might’s approbation would be nice, yes, but not mandatory.

“You wanted to ask me… Ideas to train your body?” Small Might asked, dumbfounded by the young man's enthusiasm. Hell, he almost saw himself younger, in front of Nana. 

The young lad had determination in his stare. His only fault was being scrawny. 

All-Might studied the idea… and put it on hold. He knew the kid’s name, Enzuku Midoriya, because of his notebook full of excellent drawings. He would ask Nedzu to do a background check, and All-Might would put it as a “maybe”. 

Still, All-Might was more than happy to give him, with a chuckle, a training plan, just to check his motivation for the long term. 

So, when All-Might left the young man, he was actually in a good mood despite his time limit being down. 

Being happy made him realise, a bit late, that he had missed a bottle containing a certain villain. 

—----

Katsuji was angry. Furious. LIVID. She was as angry as a shareholder being told the company stock went down the drain because someone had the bright idea to not respect things like consent rights to receive advertisements or not. Something stupid and yet totally avoidable. 

In her case, she had missed the signs about this idiotic puppy that was Enzuku. He was his charge, kind of. He was obviously an idiot. A kind idiot, but an idiot nonetheless. 

Like the one she failed. Like all the others, she failed. 

On the surface, she claimed to want to be a hero because she wanted to ride the corporate life, be a living advertisement, and enjoy the status. Well, if she was honest, she actually wanted to do that. But. It was actually the secondary reason. 

Remorses were the first reason. She had betrayed everyone, and she received the traitor’s reward: Death. Then, thanks to some kind of twisted fate, she awakened into a human body… Living humans, just like the ones she helped to purge all those years ago.

Parental love. Support. A powerful quirk. She had literally everything… Except for three people. 

“I don’t need any of you.” 

What a fucking lie. She had needed them all along. 

Then came the green-haired idiot. He smiled just like her former favorite idiot. He said the same things. She actually wanted to ask him a few times if.. By any chance, he was him. Every time, she decided against it. 

“Oh, hello N. I am alive. I know I betrayed V and you to the monster that killed us, but I am really sorry. Will you forgive me?” 

His refusal to forgive her wasn’t what scared her. What scared her… was him actually forgiving her. 

Katsu-J didn’t deserve what she had in her life. She knew it. All she could do was work hard to maybe… Maybe actually deserves this second chance. 

SO WHY, WHY RIGHT NOW, WAS SHE ON THE VERGE OF DYING IN THIS WEAK HUMAN BODY?! 

This slime came out of nowhere as she was brooding. She had to dissuade the idiot from becoming a hero. It was a dangerous position, and she didn’t want him to be in danger! No, she wasn’t in love with him, good lord. First off, mentally speaking, she was way older than him, and secondly, she was a lesbian. 

She still cared for him as a replacement, a second chance to be what she should have been to N.

“HMMMFF!”

“STAY STILL, MEAT PUPPET!” 

Was this what the universe actually wanted for her? Make her think she had a second chance to do things right… And then snuff it? 

Katsu-J cried at her punishment. It was… It was fair. But then, she remembered V and N. What would they have done?

She yelled more in rage, as she tried to generate all kinds of explosions. She even tried her EMP, as she discovered she could recreate through her explosions, most of her former arsenal. Rocket. EMP. Guns. 

Against this slime fucker it was useless. She was crying in frustration, as the fire around her propagated. Well. If she was going to die… Maybe she could try to make the fucker burn with her. J was petty. If she was going to die, it wouldn’t be alone. 

“KATSUJI!” A voice filled with worry and fear pierced the fire, and she looked in tears. 

Enzuku was there. The idiot. Oh. At least maybe her death would traumatize him enough to not be a … Oh fuck. If he was like N, he was going to be more motivated than ever if she died. Because she would be the one he failed to protect. 

Katsuji, with conviction, tried to explode with more power than before, failing nonetheless. 

Oh god, now, he was running toward her. That idiot, the heroes weren’t even able to save her! Hell, that dude Death Arms actually got knocked out hard because he tried to! 

What was he going to do?!

-----

N-Zuku didn’t think when he rushed to save Katsuji. It was his friend, and she was in danger. She was crying. 

The same girl who had saved him countless times at school, even if she always denied having done so. 

His friend, who had offered him books about dogs and how to draw. 

N-Zuku yelled as he threw his notebook at the eye of the slime. It hit with an unnatural accuracy. 

As a result, the slime villain directed Katsuji’s explosive hands toward the idiot who had intervened somewhere he shouldn't have.

N-zuku saw Katsuji’s eyes, filled with fear. In despair, knowing she might lose some teeth, she did her best to produce an explosion near her mouth. She had to yell what was on her heart.

“N! RUN!” 

N blink for a second. Then he stared with determination. More determination than ever when he had tried to jump from a wall to try and fly. 

More determination than when he tried to lift a tree. 

“Sorry J.” 

Turned out that the universe had a sense of humour. N was indeed quirkless... But he wasn’t mutationless. 

J had confirmed it was her N when two wings, seemingly made of bone blades, emerged from his back, destroying his top. Then, he disappeared… or rather, he moved so fast and powerfully, the wind pressure exploded the slime. 

J in his arms, N smiled at her.

“You should have told me it was you! Golly! I feel so dumb for not realizing!” 

“Idiot! We will speak about that later!” 

“HEY LOVERBIRDS, GET DOWN HERE!” 

“I think you would rather go back in the bottle!” 

Out of nowhere, All-Might suddenly appeared. This N-Zuku… He went from a “Maybe” to a “DAMN YES”. He had rushed out of nowhere to save his friend. According to what he said about being quirkless… This was his first quirk activation. Look at him, flying perfectly. 

Not to mention, it had a certain charm, to give OfA to a flying hero. Nana would have loved it. He was going to mentor this kid! 

But first… Bring that bottle. The kid winked at him, and All Might saluted him with his fingers. 

“NOW GET ME DOWN YOU IDIOT!” The girl had a fiery personality on the other side. Fun. 

-----

After being congratulated by the heroes and yelled at by them too, Katsu-J and N-zuku walked towards their home, in a weird silence.

“... Since when did you have doubts about me being J?” J ended up breaking the silence, and N thought about it for a second or two. “Two years ago. I heard you yell as you did on Copper-9 when you stepped on a LEGO during a sleepover at home.” 

Of course, that was how N would have had his doubts. 

“But I didn’t say anything because what if it was like in an isekai story where only the personality and not the memories were there?” … Oh god. Fucking mangas. J groaned even more.

“Of course. Mangas. My bane.” 

“And why did you not tell me you were J?” 

“... We kind of left on bad terms.” J pointed out, with less snark this time. She wasn’t proud of that. 

N grimaced and understood. Yeeah. They kind of fought to the death, if he remembered correctly. Also, she tried to kill him at the bunker with a virus.

“Yeah… That’s a good point. Honestly, I might have tried to punch you when I was five.” He was nice, but even he had some limits. 

J sighed… “Fine. At least… You actually have a quirk. Nice wings.” 

“Yeah! Tsubasa is going to be happy to fly with someone!” N said with a huge smile.

“Try, more jealous than a middle manager getting passed over for a promotion.” J pointed out, and N, as usual, swept that with a hand.

“Naaah. However, this does bring a few questions.” N was suddenly thinking…

“Yeah. If we are alive… What about the others?” J suddenly had a chill. N looked at her hopeful. Wait.

“I was going to say, ‘What about me burning into the sun?’ But yeah! Uzi! V! They might be alive too!”

“...N you are walking in the sun right now.” J correctly pointed out before slapping him over the head, “I was more thinking about… Cyn.” 

Oh. Ooooh. N was suddenly thinking. Yep. Yeeep, that would be bad. Hopefully, just like they didn’t have all of their abilities, Cyn probably didn’t have the Solver. Or not as powerful.

“The world isn’t eaten by tentacles, so we are probably in the clear?” N said while fearing being wrong. J stayed silent. 

“We need to be heroes. If only so the others can look for us, and also so we can be as strong as possible if she is alive and with the Solver,” J said, as she was still remorseful of having enabled such a monster. N nodded with a smile. 

“... Only if you promise we do it for real. Together.” 

“Well, of course…” J almost snarked back.

“On Tessa’s name.” N said seriously. His eyes were less joyful suddenly. He was forgiving. Not forgetful. 

J stared at him, surprised by his backbone… But he had a point.

“... On Tessa’s name.” 

They separated on that note. N-Zuku was happy to have reunited with his friend… And the possibility of meeting others again. 

He was going to be the best hero!

“HELLO, YOUNG MIDORIYA!” 

Suddenly, from nowhere…All Might. N blinked several times as his Idol was here, and turned back to normal.

“I HAVE SEEN YOU WITH YOUR RIVAL. Also, unlike your friend, you are lagging because of discovering your quirk so late, am I right?” 

N nodded, not understanding what All-Might wanted to say.

“... You asked me for training. Young man. Do you want to become my apprentice?” All Might said while stretching his hand toward N. A manly handshake. 

He wasn’t going to tell him about One For All until Nedzu finished the check, but he could totally train him. An apprentice. Besides, it would be good training before becoming a teacher at UA.

N jumped at the handshake, and All-Might beamed at the excited young goofer. 

Nonetheless, when they parted ways, All-Might was left thinking. He overheard the discussion between the two young people with a lot of potential…

All-Might had a serious face now. 

How did they know about the Solver? Was it even the same as the one he had already fought with? 

All-Might was going to the bottom of this story, and training Enzuku was the best way for that.

Chapter Text

Chapter 2: Exam

“So, young Midoriya, ARE YOU READY FOR YOUR TRAINING?” All Might happily led the young man to where they would train. N-Zuku jumped in excitement at the idea. All-Might was the greatest hero of Earth. In fact, J and N were pretty sure that had he been on Copper-9 against Cyn… Or on Earth during the uprising, All-Might could have stopped the mad drone.

That’s how they knew they weren’t in the past but a totally different dimension: The total absence of quirks in their home dimension. 

“Yeah! I love doing anything!” N-Zuku happily said, before opening his wings. Explaining them to Inko had been something. Inko insisted on him taking flight lessons, and All-Might, with his civilian identity and credentials, had been perfect for the job. 

“Good. Because we need to check your physical abilities and exactly how much your quirk improves your abilities.” All-Might said with a smile before they both arrived in front of… Well, it somehow reminded N of the Spyre. Instinctively, he wanted to use the trash to make another one. Weird. 

“... That’s a junkyard. Or a dump. Is dumpyard a word?” N wondered while putting his chin in his hand, lost in thought. 

“As a matter of fact, yes. Your role, young man… It will be to clean it. The various junk here will force you to develop all the muscles in your body.” All-Might said with a smile. Never underestimate the basics. One For All enhanced all of his basics, and as a result, he was the strongest hero on Earth! Well, according to the media. If he was perfectly honest, All Might considered Star and Stripes as the actual #1 in the world. 

This time, it was All-Might who was lost in his thoughts before he noticed N nearby a fridge. The blonde skeleton smiled brightly at the spirit of youth and approached.

“Young Midoriya, I understand you are eager, but…” Then All-Might discovered something. Midoriya had an appearance that some could qualify as lean. Some might even say that with the correct clothing, Enzuku could appear as a femboy. A twink. 

Said Enzuku was now lifting with two hands the American fridge, without breaking a sweat. 

“I only have one question, Sensei! Where do I put it?” All-Might smiled furiously at this innocent child who was apparently insanely strong, too. Was it one of these cases where someone did something impossible because they didn’t know it was impossible? 

Was Enzuku actually a Bee? A Beezuku? 

Naaah, that would be a short-lived thing. Better to keep Enzuku as he was right now. 

“In the truck, my boy. I believe, Midoriya, that you have insane potential, and let me tell you this. I am going to do my best to unleash it.” 

N-Zuku was so happy that he launched the fridge into the air. All-Might pulled him aside to avoid having an heir who got turned into a tomato stain on the ground. 

When the fridge landed, the young lad had the decency to look a bit embarrassed, his fingers tapping each other.

“Oops?” 

“Lesson #2, young man. Always make sure to know where a landing happens. Be it something you throw or yourself.” 

“... Is there a story behind that?” 

All Might remembered his own training at the hands of Gran Torino. His already skeletal face turned into something close to someone remembering the First World War, and told he had to fight in the remake. 

“... Midoriya. If I ever tell you to train under my former master, it means I have failed to protect you.” All-Might seemed dead serious, both hands on Enzuku’s shoulders.

“... Thank you… Sir?” 

“No problem. Now… Let’s begin the training! Then, you will have some flight lessons.” Hey. Training N’s quirk would be highly useful for the future. 

—----

As the day passed, All Might noticed something about N. His enthusiasm wasn’t just pure happiness. There was a purpose behind it, a goal. All Might could easily recognize it, as he had been similar at Enzuku’s age. 

Except, in his case, he lived in the Era of Strife, when All For One and the Solver were free and ravaged Japan. When Toshinori closed his eyes, he could remember the screams… The blood turned into mist as the monsters danced in their carnage. 

Everything about them became a myth, and only a select few knew the truth about the situation. A bit more suspected something was afoot, such as Endeavor… But they had a reason to hide the truth. 

“So… What about this girl, Katsuji?” All Might asked his protege as he was lifting both his mentor and what was apparently a car dead on the beach. Why would someone even dump it here? It was hard work only to be an asshole! 

—---

Several years before.

“Also, I want someone to dump these 10 fridges, two cars, and 25 E.T. Atari cartridges on this beach.” All For One said with a huge demoniac smile. 

A minion raised his hand. The Emperor of crime nodded in his direction.

“... Why?” 

“All Might always said if he wanted to propose to someone, it would be here.” 

The Solver, in his host, chuckled at such pettiness. 

—----

Probably human stupidity. While a part of him wanted to blame All For One, that fucker couldn’t be blamed for everything wrong in the world. 

“Oh. She is my childhood friend! She always took care of me when we were young!” N-Zuku said with a smile. 

To be fair, his relationship with J improved greatly since that day: Now, they weren’t wondering if the other remembered their past life, and J knew she could boss him around (gently), and he knew he could actually compete with her. 

All-Might, having read a lot of comics and manga, of course, understood things differently.

“Ah. I see. So it was the stress of saving someone dear to you that allowed you to tap into your inner strength.” Small tears flowed from his eyes. Pure love from the purest relationship. Young hearts. 

“...Sensei. We aren’t like that.” N groaned a bit. His heart was taken by someone, and no offense to J, but it wasn’t her. Besides… 

“Don’t worry, my young apprentice! Everyone knows that a good rescue and the bridge effect is…” 

“She likes girls.” Good lord. This stopped Toshinori dead in his tracks as he stared at N-Zuku. Oops. 

“... Don’t worry, Midoriya. There is plenty…” 

“Lalalala, I am not hearing anything!” 

All-Might laughed a bit at the situation and then fluffed the young child’s hair. 

“It’s a master’s duty to check on his student.” Both shared a smile under the dusky sky, as its dying light reflected on the sea. 

—---

“I am convinced there is something weird about Enzuku, Nedzu.” Toshinori was in front of the rat/bear, and both were drinking tea. A delicious tea. 

Nedzu trusted All-Might. The lad was smart after all, and in fact, his guts often deduced the solution to various issues before his brain could catch up. 

“Then, I didn’t find it.” Nedzu never admitted defeat. Defeat meant he was wrong about something. He was merely stating that, for once, Toshinori was wrong. “The Solver’s secret is still safe. Besides, how could he and his girlfriend…” 

“Not girlfriend. Just a friend.” 

“... Very well. How could two teenagers have a beef with the duo of death, when you killed All For One a few years ago?” 

All Might nodded. Nedzu’s arguments made sense; he knew it. But something in his guts told him that Enzuku and Katsuji knew. Somehow. 

“Also, you even told me he didn’t react when you said something about a former emperor of crime you fought in an epic battle. Well, not unusually.” Nedzu wanted his friend to move on. The battle had been won. The body had been recovered, and Dr Kyudai Garaki even oversaw its destruction. 

Toshinori sighed. “And what about his family then? Something in his family?” 

“I did extensive research. I mean, I am not letting you give One For All to anyone not approved. So, no. Miss Inko isn’t some descendant of Nana or a former master thief or a vigilante. She is a very normal housewife who makes excellent food.” Nedzu took some cheese from his desk and munched it. “As for his dad, I actually had David Shield to thank.” 

“Oh? Is he some kind of super scientist working in I-Island?” Yagi definitely read way too many comics, to Nedzu’s absolute delight.

“No, he is actually simply an excellent salesman. He negotiated with David to have I-Island have their door handle changed. He is the best salesman for Khan Corporation.” 

Yagi felt something was wrong on both accounts. There was nothing normal. He felt it. Both had huge secrets.

—----

Inko was sipping her tea at home before checking on the windows, and she pulled out a second phone.

She connected it to her own computer, aside from the one she let Izuku use, and connected herself to the Interpol network. 

“Now, time to do some work.” Inko said while sipping her tea. Inko Midoryia, also known in the field as “Mom”. Secret asset of the United Nations as their best detective, though she was now choosing what she would work on. She had eased up on her work since she had Enzuku, but now that her boy was working hard to be a hero… Well, she could finally go back to her work. 

—----

Hisashi Midoriya cracked a smoke as he checked the doors. He did it with his utmost attention, making sure every lock in place, be them quantum or atomic, were still in place. 

If he let an imperfection go unsupervised, he knew the risks for the world. Thankfully, he was one of the best in the company. 

“The door is in good condition.” Hisashi said as the smoke fully turned into ashes, and he turned to face Tartarus’ director. “Project Alpha Monarch is still working as intended.” 

The man’s face relaxed instantly. Good lord. Thank Khan Corporation for their door. They kept everyone safe across the world. Hisashi nodded as he closed back the hatch he had used to check on all the restraints on the monster below. The real purpose of Tartarus that even Nedzu wasn’t aware and he wasn’t allowed to know about. 

“The usual payment?” 

“Please. Also, if someone could get me close to Musutafu, it would be nice.” He looked at the director, who was an acquaintance now. As smart as the animal he had the mutation of, the director understood Hisashi’s feeling, “I miss my wife, Tails. I miss her a lot... Not to mention my boy.” 

—-------

“Unless, of course, both are implicated in huge conspiracies I am not allowed to know because I am too smart.” Nedzu said with his eternal smile. 

“Either that or because you are a menace.” Yagi said under his breath. He knew he was right. One day, he would be vindicated. 

“Or that, I will grant it to you.” Nedzu admitted with good faith. It wasn’t untrue after all, “Oh, and when did you plan to give to young Midoryia One For All?” 

“I was planning to give it to him once he finishes cleaning the beach. His body can most likely handle it… But I want him to be perfect for it.” 

—-----

“So… Basically, you want to kill two birds with one stone.” Katsuji said before the beach while night was coming. They had told their parents they simply went on an adventure together. Somehow, it was enough to convince all of them. 

“Yep! I figured that if I got my wings and you could do your weird blue blast…” 

“Electromagnetic pulse, N. It’s a special technique…” 

“Yeah, but we both know the doc said your quirk was about turning your sweat into explosive. So. I figured you probably kept some of your abilities, too.” 

“Go on.” N was sometimes highly insightful. Sure, it was once every blue moon, but it happened. 

“Did you try to imitate the rocket launcher we had, or the laser? Hell, even the flamethrower?” N had tried to check if he had some other of his abilities, but nope. Only his former strength and his wings. J didn’t hide that she was partly jealous of that one and was already working on a way to fly thanks to her explosion. 

Knowing her, N was sure she would get it right for the exam. 

J blinked and aimed at one of the piles of trash. She remembered how it felt when she summoned the flamethrower from her hands. However, she had never tried before because of the risk of setting something on fire. However, right here and now, they had the perfect playground. 

N admired the pile of flaming junk and raised both thumbs at his teammate. They needed to be as strong as possible, after all.

Both former drones spent a good part of the night cleaning the beach. First N would create a pile, and then J would dispose of it. Then, to give N more experience, or rather, make him feel like his old self, J attacked him with explosions. 

Both knew it was needed. None of them had their old regeneration, as it was dependent on the Solver. Now that it was gone, both of them had to actually learn how to deal with not getting hurt in the first place. Human bodies were weaker than drones; if your arms were ripped, you could die from shock. 

In return, N would attack her furiously from the sky. 

Had anyone seen the two of them fight, they would have thought they were fighting for real. In a way, they were. They had sworn on Tessa’s name not to fail this time. 

—-----

“... Enzuku, and be perfectly honest. You asked your friend to help with your training and cleaning the beach?” All Might sighed while massaging the bridge of his nose. 

N opened wide eyes. “How did you know I asked her to burn the piles I did?!” Good lord. This kid couldn’t lie to save his life, which made it even more infuriating for him to dodge all of his questions. 

“The beach has more craters than the moon.” All Might pointed to his disciples.

At least she didn’t burn the trash before he moved them, so the goal was still fulfilled. 

“Well, I guess she can use the training, too.” 

“Yeah! We even figured a way for her to actually turn her quirk into a flamethrower!” 

“... That’s highly dangerous, Young Midoriya! Especially in the hands of a teenager!” All Might said like a responsible adult, “So, of course it is an excellent idea to train it right now and avoid any future mistake!” Then the inner Floridian in him spoke. 

Truly, even with his secrets, Enzuku was an heir exactly as he looked for. With the heart of a true hero, kindness in his eyes and zero fucks for things like common sense. Exactly the reasons why Nana chose him all those decades ago. 

As she said, all previous holders chose their successors based on purely rational reasons. Nana had chosen him because he gave a lot of shonen energy.

“Now, Midoriya, I have to tell you a secret.” All-Might said, as both stood in front of the cleaned beach with more impact than Dunkirk after the British escaped. “I chose you as my heir because once upon a time… I was quirkless too.”

N stared at his mentor as he got the background of his idol dumped on him. About One For All, an all-powerful quirk that was transmissible and now… All-Might had chosen him as the new holder, considering his wounds.

The man trusted N with his secret and with his power.

“... Will you accept my power, Enzuku?” All Might was observing the rising sun that illuminated from behind, their shadow stretching into the sea. N looked at his mentor and nodded with conviction.

“For justice! And protecting everyone!” If J was becoming more powerful… Well, so should he! 

Their hands clapped into each other with enough strength to cause a small shockwave. All-Might knew he was right in his choice, despite N’s secrets. Then again, he hid stuff from Nana. 

Like the fact that he had owned one of the few magazines for whom she posed in the special “Muscle mommy” edition. 

N-zuku had his secrets, and All-Might decided to respect his privacy. He wasn’t ready to speak about them, but maybe later. When the day would come, All-Might would be there to help. 

—-----

Tsukauchi looked at his sister, who was fully geared to eavesdrop on the discussion from afar. 

Unlike what most people thought, he didn’t have a quirk allowing him to detect truth. In reality, his quirk was to make a killer coffee, allowing him to work for longer hours to justify All-Might’s insane intervention. 

She gave her thumbs-up as she confirmed the young man intended to be a hero. Good. 

“Good. All-Might? The kid is clear.” Tsukauchi said into his communicator. 

—------

All-Might would respect the kid’s secrets, but he wasn’t going to trust him blindly. Security measures were important, after all. But Still, All-Might plucked some of his hair and extended his hand toward Enzuku.

“Now, kid, EAT THIS!”

Enzuku took the whole hand in his mouth.  All-Might hadn't expected that, to be honest.

“...I meant the hair.” Maybe he should have taken someone with more brain cells than a letter in their name? “Do you often fit people’s hands in your mouth?” 

Enzuku swallowed the hair and spat out Yagi’s hand, covered in saliva. 

“This is only the second time I've done this for someone else! Sorry?” 

“... Enzuku, are you sure you are all right in the head?” 

“... Are you alright in yours?” 

Both of them stared at each other. Then came the second manly handshake. 

J, from afar, looked at them in disbelief. 

“Good lord. There are two of them.” 

—---

“Nedzu? Yeah, I can confirm. The kid is as stupid and determined as Yagi sometimes.” Tsukauchi said over the phone. 

“Thank you, Tsukauchi. I will increase the budget dedicated to reconstruction.” Maybe he should get one of Khan’s doors? 

—---

The day of the exam had arrived, and Enzuku was more than ready. He had studied (read J put a gun on his head until he had a satisfying level), trained with All-Might (until his body literally screamed in pain), his mom fed him with his favorite food and his dad, for once at home, hugged him with all of his might, telling him he was proud of him. 

Enzuku was ready for the U.A. Exam. Nothing could scare him! 

Nothing! 

“Are you ready, N?” Katsu-J said as she was doing some last minute review. She was going to ace it. She was the best and the most efficient after all. 

N smiled at her in the bus and crossed both his legs and his arms. “Of course. Because I am totally okay!” 

“Ok, so now, try to say that without shaking that much.” J snarked as N was obviously stressed, and she punched him in the shoulder. “We are going to do this. We both are going to take the practical test and ace it. You simply have to not fuck up the theorical test.” 

N nodded. Yeah. Sure. It was going to be fine. Absolutely fine. 

—-----

Well, first things first, apparently, the new recruits were divided according to their name for the theoretical exam. Katsuji once again threatened to liquidate him from the company if he failed. Enzuku chuckled but then disappeared into the crowd.

He was alone in one of the most important moments of his life. Enzuku took a step forward. 

Someone stepped on his shoelace. 

The former Disassembly Drone tripped like an idiot and saw the ground ready to collide with his front head. Thankfully, it was already quite empty, so he should be okay. 

Then suddenly his fall stopped. In fact, N was floating in the air for a second. What? 

A hand grabbed him by the back of his neck and put him on his feet.

“You should be careful, idiot.” His savior said with anger in her purple eyes. Purple like her hair, as she was wearing a vest, not unlike a fan of rock. Her face was round, almost like a worker drone.

Then, as he was going to thank her, she flipped the bird to him. “I didn’t save you from embarrassing yourself because I am kind or you remind me of someone. If you try to talk to me… BITE ME.” 

Furious for unknown reasons, the girl left without even saying her name to a N-Zuku too dumbfounded to react. 

He whispered, a bit too late… “Uzi?” 

—---

“AAAAAAAH!” N only recovered from the shock by the middle of the theoretical test. OH ROBOT-GOD, J WAS GOING TO KILL HIM!  Thank god he managed to keep his scream internally and was only sweating a lot.

Combined with the stress, N had to write at full speed to try and get as many points as possible.

Midnight was actually impressed by his speed and how nimble his fingers seemed to be. It was rare to see a young one dexterous enough. 

Still, even as they were brought into some kind of theater to explain the principles of the practical test, N-Zuku was stressed as if there was no tomorrow. 

Mainly because there would be no tomorrow if he failed to enter UA with J. The fact that she was miming to him a knife under the throat told him everything he needed to know. 

“CAN YOU STOP BEING THIS AGITATED FOR A MINUTE?!” Surprising him from two rows away from him, Iida told N to get a grip on himself, before asking his question to the teacher on the exam that seemed otherwise simple on paper. 

There were robots to destroy, and each had a value assigned to it. The stronger, the more valuable. Logical and simple, but now that Iida had yelled at him, Enzuku weirdly felt more at ease. 

“Any other questions?” Present Mic, the examiner for this trial, asked as he had just finished explaining the 0 Pointer, which didn’t have any value because the students weren’t expecting to actually beat it. They were supposed to run away. FAST. 

“... Actually, I have one. Is it… Ethical?” N asked sheepishly, as everyone stared at him. Some even snarked. “I mean, do the robots have an AI? If so… When we destroy them, isn’t that like killing them?” 

Present Mic stayed silent and checked Enzuku's number. “7050? You get 10 points.” Everyone erupted before Present Mic yelled louder than everyone, thanks to his quirk. Loud enough to almost break the glasses while yelling… 

“SHUT UP! This examinee was the only one to ask an ethical question.” Present Mic wasn’t annoyed. Simply disappointed. “Because, you see, my dear… He is right. The robots are AI.” 

This actually stunned the participants. Wait. What? They were expected to kill… People? 

“But DO NOT WORRY! They are programs, and the corpses they inhabit aren’t their mainframe. They are simply helping. If you destroy the body, their AI simply has the feed to the body cut, and it ends. That’s all. It allows us to make sure no one is seriously hurt.” 

Present Mic addressed fingers gun at Enzuku, who beamed. “This young one was the only one to expect them to be people. Remember people. Heroes are here to save people. Not kill them.” Mic laughed, having given a small hint for the smarter ones as a reward for Enzuku to have more heart than most people.

Iida sat down, thinking… And a few more people looked at him intently. Including a certain purple haired human. How dare that one look like her idiot! Well. She would worry about that later. She had to kick some asses!

—----

Enzuku was breathing to relax himself once in the field. Okay. Okay. Okay. There was this girl who looked a lot like Uzi. However, if he was right, she would probably kick a lot of ass and be admitted anyway. She was smart and strong. 

If he was wrong, well… He could always repress this. He was very good at that.

“Time to do your job, N,” Enzuku said to himself. He had to get his head back in the game. 

“Is everyone ready?” Present Mic asked as the portal opened. Izuku ran with all his might. He really didn’t want to destroy his shirt. Inko had just bought him a new one, and he wasn’t going to destroy it unless it was necessary.

Everyone stared at N, who was speeding up, and Mic laughed. “Well, I know someone who will get bonus points. What are you all waiting for, a starting signal?” 

Oh crap, the exam had begun. 

OH CRAP THE EXAM HAD BEGUN!

Everyone followed the adorable overexcited dumbass. They had robots to destroy.

—-----

On another test field, J was smiling happily as she sniped her targets with ease. It was like back when she was a Disassembly Drone. Efficient, not cruel. Merciless. 

“FOR BONUS AND QUOTA COMPLETION!” A perfect warcry for a perfect performance !

—---

On another one, several drones were discovering some of the students were freaking unhinged. As an example, that blonde one who was smiling with fangs sharper than her claws. She was jumping on them like a big cat, ripping through them with grace and speed. 

“Oh, the most perfect exam for me! For once, I don’t even have to feel something!” 

Laughing maniacally, she continued her job, tearing through their ranks. It was simpler than imagining the other being here with her…

Mindless carnage, to forget the pain for a moment. 

—--

“I am really sorry!” Enzuku apologized as he destroyed another bot. The downed bot raised a thumb at him. No issue, it was only a body after all. The thumb up actually helped with his guilt, and he continued to fight through the town. Okay. For now. Everything was okay. 

Enzuku sighed as he still had to do his former job, and it made him a bit guilty as he was now remembering…

*A flash of N, his mouth plunged into someone, eating their inside despite their pleas for mercy. Yet, he couldn’t stop. The Hunger and her Call was too strong. The Void…*

“HELP!” 

Enzuku snapped, and he turned his head. Wait. What? 

The origin of the scream was a small guy with purple balls for hair. His leg was stuck under some debris. There was no reason to panic, however. Right? Unless he was about to be smashed because he was too small.

Then the Zero Pointer came as if he was John Cena, ready to crush some grapes and turn them into wine.

Except it was probably what was going to happen soon. 

Enzuku narrowed his eyes. Hell no.

“No one gets hurt under my watch!” 

Mineta saw the giant feet of the machine fall on him. UA swore they weren’t at risk, but at this moment, the student remembered accidents could always happen. Why did he think something would change suddenly? Because he tried his best? 

“DON’T WORRY! YOU ARE NOT ALONE.” Enzuku said as the impact from the shock made him penetrate the ground beneath him. Both his hands and his back were pressed against the feet of the giant machine, as he was stopping it from crushing both of them. He had a strained smile as Mineta saw that one green haired student. “However, if you could speed up a bit… I… am.. Not sure how long I can do this.” 

Mineta understood the assignment and did his best. He was startled as Enzuku suddenly fell to one of his knees and yelled “Get the fuck out! You don’t have to…” 

“A HERO SAVES PEOPLE.” Enzuku counter yelled at Mineta. He wasn’t going to fail! He refused.

So… Unlike what All Might asked him to do, meaning going slowly with One For All, especially after his punch… He still remembered the broken arm and how All Might had to urgently invent an excuse so they could see a healer and get it healed before his mom knew he had hurt himself badly like an idiot. 

Enzuku was supposed to go easy. 

But he couldn’t afford to. Sparkles began to rise around him. He was going to have some broken bones, wasn’t he?

“HEY GIANT ASS ROBOT! BITE ME!” 

Both boys stared at the source of the voice. It was the purple student. 

—--

“Power Loader?” Nedzu asked, cackling madly as he really hoped his eyes weren’t playing a trick on his brain. “Did you check this girl’s equipment? Because this isn't usually authorized.” 

“Come on, Nedzu. You really think a small teenager managed to buy a futuristic rifle?” The man in charge of the support course snarked. 

“What if she built it?” Eraserhead said, not really surprised by the situation. In fact, he was drinking his coffee without a care for the world. He simply looked for a second at the student and her name, and was now watching some other screens. 

“Then I am going to take care of your paperwork for the month.” Powerloader said playfully.

“Make it the year and we have a bet.” The teacher said as he observed a student turning into rock and smashing a drone with a pipe wrench to protect a frog shaped student. 

“Oh, oh, daring for once? Bet accepted!” Power Loader smiled. 

As for Nedzu... Well, if the girl actually managed to build a gun that could shoot one of his 0 Pointer, then she deserved to use it. 

—----

Uziko wasn’t happy. She had almost no drone to kill because of her small legs. She had smashed a few by redirecting and amplifying their gravity, but she was far from proving to herself that she was the best. 

Call it rage. She called it determination. If she had been one second faster… ONE FUCKING SECOND. 

If she had been one second faster, she could have saved everyone. So, Uziko swore to herself. Nevermore. Nevermore would she hesitate. 

If she wanted something, she was going to do her best to have it. 

For him. For them. For Copper-9.

The 0-Pointer looked at the girl and her sick-as-hell railgun and thought it looked awesome. 

A Green Light pierced him through and through, turning him into Apple’s logo.

“HAH! SUCK ON THA… Oops.” 

Uziko had calculated everything in her plan. Save the robots, look awesome, and be crowned top student. 

She forgot to factor in the top of the 0 Pointer that was falling fast towards her. Oh, god. She was bad at math. 

Mineta managed to unstick his feet and rolled in safety. He saw his savior looking terrified at something just as he managed to lift the giant robot’s feet off them. 

“Dude! GO!” 

Mineta was many things. One of them was a bro, and a true bro knew when another bro needed to save his girl. If this guy with his pretty face wasn’t a bro after saving him, then no one deserved this title. 

Enzuku was surprised but gave him a smile full of gratitude. Mineta raised a thumb up and then fell like an idiot as Enzuku deployed his wings, with such power that it sent him away, like a ragdoll. 

Yet, to Mineta, it was worth it. Because he saw what happened next. 

—-------

Uziko was trying to outrun being crushed like an idiot when she tripped. Fuck! Not now! Raising a hand, Uzi decided to actually use it… And then got caught in two powerful arms, and she was suddenly lifted several meters in the air. 

Carrying her in the air was the beautiful human with fluffy hair and a face that exuded kindness, who was tearing up.

He was carrying her like a princess and the most important thing in his life. AAAAARGH, DAMN ROMANTIC HUMAN! HE WAS WAY TOO YOUNG FOR HER!

“GET ME DOWN, IDIOT! RELEASE ME!” 

“I am never going to let you go.” The angel said while posing his forehead against hers in a tender manner. Wait… This behavior. 

Uziko already had her dad and her mom with her in this life. Could she actually hope to be… That lucky?

“Then… Tell me something…” She was not tearing up! SHUT UP! BITE HER!

“DarkxWolf17. Are we still dating?” This dumb, beautiful angel, who caught her in his arms as always when he saved her, dared to ask such a thing? 

Uziko grabbed his neck and kissed him with all of her might. 

—------

Midnight was already adding points for romantic scenery. Right now, she was threatening Nedzu. He was going to let them in no matter what!

All-Might looked at his student and nodded approvingly. 

“I was right. A rescue romance is always a good start. Good job, Enzuku.” 

Meanwhile, Power Loader was staring at an Aizawa who smiled at him and simply shrugged. The teacher knew better than the engineer. 

This year was going to be chaotic, wasn’t it? 

Chapter Text

Chapter 3: Reunion

“Now let me down!” Uziko said while grumbling as usual against N-Zuku’s torso. A way too well-built torso like a Greek statue. Damn. Did N go to a gym or something? Because she could grate cheese on him. 

Note to self: buy some cheese. 

As both landed, Uziko was still kind of blushing while Enzuku was smiling as… Well, no. Brighter than usual. The reason for that was the girl he still held hands with.

“So… Can I have your number? So we can speak more later?” Uziko ended up asking before Enzuku realised it would be useful indeed. So, as smartphones were not authorized during exams for obvious reasons (railguns were only allowed if the one checking the gear was a dumbass who didn’t think it would be actually functional), the two teenagers quickly wrote their number to each other while smiling as two idiots in love.

‘... This bro managed to kiss the girl before getting the number? DAMN.’ Mineta thought. He didn’t know a lot about the tall, sexy, green-haired guy, but… Mineta Minoru knew. This man was a real MAN. 

He didn’t expect Enzuku to take a few seconds to come and check on him. “You good buddy?” God damn pure smile. Mineta thought for a second, as sheer radiance came out of him and the sun made him look like an actual angel. 

“...Yes. I am very good, thank you. Thanks for saving me.” 

“Thanks for pushing me to save her,” Enzuku added bashfully before Mineta, on his feet though hurting, raised a fist to bump with Enzuku. 

“Real men know what their priorities are,” Mineta said, hoping to look cool, forgetting he looked like Mineta. But N didn’t care. 

“I am Enzuku Midoriya. But you can call me N, especially if we manage to get into the hero…” 

Then N got attacked by an Uziko in dear lack of N. She had been deprived of his endorphins for more than a decade! She was going to give a mean look at Mineta but she saw the midget smile and leave. Good. He knew he was the third wheel. 

—-----

Everyone stared at N, as he kept his wings around him to hide his well looking body. Moreover, Uzi said she liked being kept in his wings against him. It wasn’t cringe to love being held by an angel when you were a being of pure darkness! It was the pure logical conclusion!

“Enzuku, you dumbass politically exposed person who didn’t fill his conflict of interest, WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU!” 

Uziko blinked at the female voice, seemingly recognizing it from somewhere. To be fair, while Copper-9 was a defining moment in her life, it was also quite far in her memories. Almost 16 years ago. 

Everyone stared when a topless N, hugged by a cute goth Uziko who had the face of someone reading to fight the world to keep her prize, met the pigtailed Katsuji. The blonde girl gave intense, angry energy readings, and everyone was already watching the scene.

“Who are you to speak to my N like that?” Uziko growled as Katsuji was suddenly vexed, especially as a young minx was suddenly clinging to Enzuku, who was probably either too idiotic or too polite to tell her she was too young for him.

“Excuse me? Your N? This nickname is only for people who have known him for a long time, and I have known him all of my life, you small unionist girl who tries to reap the profit-sharing!” 

“Euh, J? Uzi?” Enzuku tried to intervene, as the two girls were almost ready to throw hands. A few people stared at N, including a Mineta who was wondering if the wings Enzuku had were simply the byproduct of another quirk. A legendary quirk, every little boy wanted to have. 

The Shonen Protagonist quirk. Hell, N had the angry, cute girlfriend he saved from certain death, and suddenly, what looked furiously like a tsundere childhood friend. He only missed the seemingly pure and nice girl who is actually a psychopath/yandere, the crazy scientist girl, and maybe even a little sister type. Then, he would have the five infinity stones of the Shonen love interest.

Nonetheless, Mineta, while he was now a brother to N and ready to do a lot of things to help him, wasn’t ready to get in the middle of two angry girls fighting for him. He wanted to live, thank you. 

So, as Uziko actually got out of N’s embrace, she walked with determination toward Katsuji, both of them growling. 

“I will have you know that I KNOW N FOR A VERY LONG TIME!” 

“NO WAY IN HELL, YOU LITTLE MINX. BESIDES N DESERVES BETTER THAN A…” 

Before J could finish her sentence, Enzuku actually grabbed both of them and then flew Mach one in the sky. Best way to handle the situation, with both girls in one hand, firmly against him. 

“... J. It’s Uzi. You remember? She was on Copper-9.” N pointed out to J, who actually opened her eyes wide. Wait a minute, that actually reminded her of something. 

“Wait… The crazy bitch with the railgun?!”

Uzi snickered as apparently this J had a bad memory of it.

“Yeah. Too bad I only managed to kill one thing with it. I think it was N’s boss, a total pushover…” The worst part, which angered J even more, was the fact that she didn’t remember J’s name. Or who had she killed?

“N. LET ME GO SO I CAN STRANGLE THIS LITTLE…” 

When Uziko actually realized who J was, her face changed. With a cute and adorable smile, which turned into a full blown laughter as J tried to reach for her to get her. Thankfully, N was keeping each of them in one hand, the opposite of the other.

“Uzi, J. We are all together in the same boat. Uzi, J has switched sides to us. She is nice now.” This made Uzi laugh a bit more sarcastically as she flashed a trolling grin at J, who was ready to jump on her. She didn’t even care about the ensuing freefall, “And J? I was… Am actually dating Uzi. So please, don’t antagonize each other. Please?” 

Both girls felt attacked by N’s most powerful attack: A bright, powerful smile that could probably end wars. However, J’s pettiness was strong as it was a necessary tool for a corporate climbing girl like her.. She also understood very well what he had said. So… With a smile hiding something, she reluctantly raised a hand in an offer of peace, before Uzi could do anything.

“Fine. For N, I agree to make some efforts.” 

Uzi stared at the hand, feeling some kind of trap, but Enzuku’s expectant smile… Urrrrgh. FIIIIIINE. 

“Okay. I agree not to kill her. But only because you asked.” 

“That’s all I ask. I am sure you will become besties in no time!” 

The only time both girls reached some kind of non-verbal agreement was on the fact that Enzuku was way too optimistic for this world.

—----

Enzuku didn’t know that at the time, but the scene with the two girls who fought for him, the fact that he took them in the sky and landed a few minutes later with both apparently amicable to each other, confirmed something to everyone.

Something that made All-Might not reconsider giving his legacy, as Enzuku was still a perfect hero, but made him determined to give him a Talk. Same for Midnight, though it was probably not the same kind of talk. 

Everyone thought N was probably a smooth, seductive man who hid behind his innocent smile a ravenous teen who was going to rob the two girls of their purity. 

The only reason Katsuji didn’t blast anyone who kept whispering “Tsundere” was a simple fact. If N, Uzi, and she had reincarnated together at roughly the same time, probability wise, SHE was there too. 

Oh boy, she was going to enjoy it too when SHE would try to get her hands on N. 

—------

Inko had finished Enzuku’s favorite dishes when he actually came back from the exams. She already knew her son’s optimism, so she knew she wouldn’t have to cheer him too much. 

However, she saw him texting on his phone, a lot with a smile she had never seen on him before. 

With a huge smile, Inko caught her son and asked him sweetly who he was texting with. Enzuku answered immediately, without even trying to hide it. His girlfriend. 

There was much rejoicing in the family. No joke on Katsuji, because she had been very clear, a few years ago, about her own preference. Teasing her on that would be uncouth at this point. 

It was only the next day that Hisashi, back from a job, learned his son had a girlfriend. 

The bald man nodded, and then slowly pondered a lot of things, as he learned the name of said girlfriend. 

Okay, this wasn’t going to be awkward at work, to have your boss’s daughter dating your son. However, he completely trusted Enzuku to be himself with the girl. Namely, a gentleman and a gentler boy.

—-----

When the results came out, Katsuji was part elated and part angry as hell. While she was technically the best student for their year, with the biggest average, she had been the second in theoretical (Uzi having beaten her on the matter) and the second in practical, as apparently, N’s unspeakable rizz while saving people and destroying robots, had both landed him with more points than her.

As for N, he also received the message from All Might. Thankfully, he had managed to scrape by the theoretical exam… But what really saved him was the practical test, showing to everyone he had the heart and the aura of a true hero. 

He even had a testimony from Uzi, who basically said “BITE ME” before slapping the camera away, before having Mineta explaining how he had been saved from almost certain death by a man who risked his life for him. 

All Might concluded the video by saying… 

“Welcome to your Hero Academia, young Midoriya. However, please remember not to seduce more girls.” 

Enzuku wondered what All-Might meant by that. 

Surely, this wouldn’t happen, right? 

—-

Enzuku always had what you could call an excess of energy. Sure, he had been the quiet kid drawing dogs, quirks, and drones when he was younger, but he was also one of the surest values when the sports festival came and they had to do things like running together. 

He often volunteered for various events, considering he was too nice to say no, and as he always said, he loved to do anything. 

—--

All-Might wondered in private one day if this didn’t mean something else, considering the event of the exams. 

Then again, according to Aldera’s teachers, Enzuku didn’t date anyone when he was there, so… Probably just him. 

When he asked him about Uziko, Enzuku used the story he had planned with Uzi. Namely, they were online friends, and he recognized her thanks to her catchphrase. 

Rescue romance and actual long-term feelings, and finally meeting up in real life, made them pretty much fall in love instantly.

All-Might nodded. He hadn’t had the opportunity for such a thing because of All For One and the Absolute Solver. He remembered what happened to the Crawler, who was now under a new identity as Professor Max Smith on I-Island, having recently married his former teammate Id0l. Both of them had been vital in killing the Solver Host but at a price. They had to fully retire from their former activities as vigilante and idol, and Id0l had lost more than a few limbs in the fight. 

All-Might sighed as he watched the current rankings. As usual, he was first and Endeavor was still second. 

The two of them often clashed, but All-Might actually respected the #2 for being the one hero who refused to let him shoulder all the weight. 

#3 was Best Jeanist. Popular thanks to branding and decently strong. 

#4 was the Silver Samurai, someone from the old guard. Highly competent despite his old age, he was often on the front line. However, he was speaking of retiring, considering his old age. All Might couldn’t blame him: it was really rare to see heroes as old as them for a reason. 

#5 was Wash. Adorable and highly effective. To All-Might, he deserved a better ranking. 

#6, Slide’n’Go. Call All-Might paranoid, but something behind that man’s smile actually upset him greatly, as if he was hiding something. 

#7 Crust. An old friend. They actually went to UA together, and one of the few people he could call a rival on some things. 

#8, Gang Orca. The man needed to train a bit more, but he was excellent as he was, and one of the few top heroes to actually know how to work as a team leader. 

#9, Hawks. The young hero was still climbing more and more. All-Might wondered if he could contact him after the festival for Izuku’s internship. Sure, everyone knew Hawks had huge ties with the HPSC… But it had changed a lot ever since Hinata Tobita took control of it and did a purge of the organization. It wasn’t perfect, but everyone knew to fear their men in black when they were coming to check your accountancy and if your reports were real. 

Finally, #10, Ryuuko, the rising dragon. Still a bit too shy according to All-Might, but her heart was in the right place. She actually made a lot of progress ever since she took an internship. As the saying goes, a good student learns from their master, but a good master learns from their student as well. 

Nonetheless, nothing weird in the ranking. 

—-------

V Tobita. It was a strange name, but she liked it. She never asked how her “mother” (more like a kind kidnapper with too much love to give) managed to actually make it her real identity, but she was thankful to her. Manami Tobita was just the most adorable human V had ever met. 

V still remembered how she met her and her “father”. Namely because she ran away from her original home, her parents being huge assholes and heteromorphobist. That one was a mouthful, she preferred mutantist or assholes. 

Still, rather than be a victim and suffer from abuse, V planned to book the hell out of her home. 

She still remembered something she and Uzi agreed on: When in doubt, set it on fire. 

So, before leaving the house, she set it on fire. Somehow, it got blamed on a criminal using blue fire to burn shit down. Good for her. The issue, however, was that living alone as a not-yet-teenager was actually harder than she thought. Uzi’s anime were bullshit! 

Then, they came. Two dumbasses, named Gentle and La Brava who found her in an alley, malnourished and dirty. 

They took her in, washed her, and then adopted her. 

At first, V fully expected some actual villainy from the two self-proclaimed villains. She was on her guard, readying her claws whenever they got too close for her comfort. 

Slowly, however, she recognized the truth. They were as good as being bad guys as… N. Her idiot golden retriever. 

So, with time, she got adopted by Gentle and La Brava. They married to adopt her, and totally not because they were obviously in love with one another. V always wondered how the hell they actually managed to give her a legal existence and a new name. 

—------

“... Danjiro, I adore you. But no, I cannot create just for you a new identity with a weird name for a girl that I don’t even know and who might have a criminal past.” Hinata, head of the HPSC, chuckled at her nephew’s request. Maybe she could help, pull a string or two to allow her to be in a nice orphanage and…

“Aunty, I will let you organize my wedding and be her godmother.” 

“You said she wanted to be called just V, right? Best I can do is Violet and make it as if you wanted a western name.” 

Hinata had her priorities. 

—------

Aunty Hinata was a weird woman, but… Nice? 

V was weirded out. Positive reinforcement, nice humans… Robot Christ. Did she have a shot at having a normal life? 

The more time passed, and she was allowed to live with her new perfect life… The more depressed she became. Because, while she was given a new lease on life… It had been without them. Without her, idiots. N. Uzi. Lizzy. Hell, even J. She couldn’t believe it but she also missed that idiot traitor. In a way, she could even understand why she betrayed them to Cyn.

So… V contemplated her talents. Or rather, her main talent. Violence. She was her best trait and thankfully in this society, there was a job for her. It was called Heroes. 

So, the bespectacled blonde vampire cat (once again, a mouthful) told her parents she wanted to be a hero. Gentle agreed, on the condition that she follow his training beforehand. 

To V’s actual surprise, Gentle, despite being a failure at villainy, was a force of nature. V was proud of her skill, but Gentle handled her easily as if she had been a child. Which she was, technically, but still. She still had her speed and her murder drone’s claws. She even had her acid tail! 

“You are fast and have wild instincts, but you have no discipline, V. So… We are going to work on that.” 

—---

Short version, V Tobita, formerly Himiko Toga, and having missed a year because… Well, she had been missing for a year… and was now entering her new classroom. It was early in the morning, but she had preferred to arrive early and avoid any possibility of being late. 

To her surprise, someone was there before her. When she saw him, at first she said nothing, too awkward at first… Before noticing him. Namely, the green haired man looked at her with a shining smile and waved at her.

“Hi! I am Enzuku Midoriya ! Are you in the 1-A too?” 

Well, at least he was nice. That was a definite plus, especially as he was nice. Well, he seemed nice.

“Ye… Yes? I am Violet Tobita, nice to meet you.” Both stared at each other before sitting at their respective desks… Silently. None of them managed to utter a word, and for a second, Violet seemed to be at the manor again. When she was too shy to actually speak with N. She even had thought to actually forget everything about her dignity and go full Please please please please in front of N so they would go out. 

In retrospect, maybe she should have. 

“So…Violet… Why do you want to be a hero?” Enzuku asked with a smile, wanting to know her a bit more. OH SHIT SMALL TALK. 

No, she never evaded N’s small talk on Copper 9 because she was terrible at it, shut it!

“I want… To protect people, I guess, and it means hurting a lot of bad guys?” This actually surprised Enzuku as... Well… 

To him, Violet looked like a rather tall but slim blonde girl with a shy streak and glasses. Not really something you would call a berserker or a killer. 

“I see. For me… It’s to save them! Like All Might! I want to be a hero who brings smiles to people and makes them feel safe.” 

That was fair to Violet. All Might seemed like a good person. However, she wasn’t a huge fan of him. She preferred people like Midnight or even Endeavor. To V, fear worked way better than love after all. 

“GOOOOD MORNING EVERYONE!” Mineta said while entering the room with a huge enthusiasm. He and N took a second to recognize each other. Chatting began, but Enzuku kept staring at the Violet girl as he kept thinking she looked… Very familiar. Veeeeery familiar. 

“So, how is it going with the cute goth girl, my friend?” 

Violet smiled. Good. This seemingly kind man already had a girl, and she wasn’t going to have to deflect puppy love. It was so awkward when that happened! She felt so old mentally compared to the others. 

“It’s going fine.” Damn. Mineta kind of cut the discussion and…

“And who is the nice lady next to you?” Mineta said with a smile he probably thought of as a ladykiller grin. V stared at him and sighed, as no offense to Mineta, but she liked them a bit more her age. 

“Violet Tobita. My friends call me V. So, you will call me Tobita.” She said kind of coldly. It was better to end any possibility right now. 

She then realized something strange. 

Why was Enzuku suddenly blinking several times as she had just presented herself with her nickname? 

“Hello! Is this the 1-A room?” Oh god, everyone was entering the room, weren't they? Namely, this time, it was a strange pink girl with way too much energy who suddenly decided to sit next to Violet and smiled at her with a demonic grin. Someone was having way too much fun torturing quiet people, weren’t they?

As more and more people came, the opportunity to ask if V was… Well… V, closed. Shit. N was going to ask Uzi and J for their help. 

“GOOD MORNING, PEASANTS!” Uziko said as they all entered little by little the classroom, each in a different way. Uziko firmly declares N as her own seat by sitting on his lap fast. Ok, it confirmed he indeed had a girlfriend. It was most likely a friendly greeting then. Oh well. She could at least make some friends while she was at school. 

This time, she would protect them. She would protect them all, even if she had to become the monster she was back then. 

—----

With Uzi on his knees and everyone in the classroom, N had no opportunity to meet Violet Tobita more closely. The coincidence was a bit big, wasn’t it? Meanwhile, Katsuji arrived a bit late, and when she arrived, she seemed a bit upset. Disappointed. As if she had hoped something would happen, and it didn’t. 

“If everyone is ready, well… We are going to ask everyone to present themselves.” Aizawa said, seemingly appearing from nowhere, on his chair. Wearing normal teaching attire, the man screamed… Banality. Absolute banality. All while eating an apple and with the bare minimum care for his student. 

“I am Shouto Aizawa. I will be your homeroom teacher and your ethics and law teacher. My role is to make sure you aren’t full idiots and understand when given instructions. As an example, when you are given a math problem on watermelon, you don’t bring a laser gun.” 

Uziko almost wanted to yell that it was a railgun, but stopped when she noticed something. One of the students, with a sharp smile and seemingly an overabundance of confidence, jiggled at the joke… Wait. He got that one? 

“Any question?” Aizawa said as he was already preparing himself to move on to the second part of their assignment. 

It was Enzuku who raised his hand.

“Are you the Normal hero, Banal?” Everyone stared at Enzuku, who shrugged, as the Teacher briefly nodded, “I like heroes. I actually like Banal. Apparently no one truly knows what he looks like because he seems… Well…” 

“Absolutely banal and ordinary. Which makes it always surprising when I take them down.” The Teacher confirmed while playing with a stylus, “I always found it idiotic and illogical for underground heroes to still look like heroes. Looking like a civilian is way more effective.”

“Any other questions? No?” This time, no one had one. “Present yourselves, briefly please. While you will have orientation this morning, you will get a Test Assesment this afternoon, to check how much you practiced with your quirk to be heroes.” 

Everyone stared as if the professor didn’t say they did something actually quite illegal. Sure, the police were quite tolerant about some quirk usage in civilian society. As an example, as long as a jumping quirk didn’t disturb orders, people using them were ignored. Minor frost quirk was quite looked for by barman, or people with minor aquakinesis. 

However, this tolerance ended immediately when quirks were potentially destructive and dangerous to other people. This was often the best way to detect fledgling vigilantes or villains. 

The government actually cracked down on these cases harder than they used to a few years ago. Something about vigilantes actually going missing because villains were preemptively taking them out.

As a result, Aizawa gestured to the kids to present themselves, gesturing first to the pink maniac girl.

“Mina Ashido! As you can see, I have some mutations, but my quirk is Acid. It allows me to produce acid through my skin. I love chatting and gossiping, so be sure I will learn all of your secrets~” The horned girl said playfully, watching everyone carefully with a big smile. She wanted every gossip in this classroom, and simply by smelling, she could feel at least one love triangle and several confused backstories. She loved that. 

“Asui, ribbit. I'm a frog mutant, ribbit.” The frog mutant sat weirdly, both feet on her chair, before using her long tongue to catch a fly. The accuracy was uncanny, and the speed was too. Without any expression on her face, she didn’t add anything. 

“TENYA IIDA!” So, there was once again the student with powerful legs, and he announced himself out loud, “My quirk is a simple mutant quirk called Engine, which is normal in my family. However, I need to address something quickly.” He stared at Katsuji, who seemed quite relaxed as she had her legs covered by a pair of pants, sitting on her desk. “THIS IS AGAINST THE RULES.” 

Katsuji snickered. “Privilege because I am the best. Beat me at something, and maybe you will gain the right to give me orders.” 

Before the situation escalated further, Katsuji was hit by a chalk on her forehead, making her fall on her back. Iida was going to thank the teacher before being hit by the same attack. 

“I said, present yourselves, not be idiots.” Aizawa reminded them and then stared at Uziko, with several chalks in his hands. It was a statement. 

“Uziko Uraraka and my quirk is gravity. I can change the gravity strength of anything I touch and its direction in space.” The gothic girl said before noticing Momo Yaoyorozu. She had met her before a few times in one of these rich kids' meetings. “And before anyone asks, yes. Uraraka, like Khan Uraraka, creator and CEO of Khan Corp. The first one who asks me about doors gets thrown out of the windows.” 

Aizawa pondered the threat and nodded. It was a fair one, and most of them could survive it after all. 

“Mashirao Ojiro.” The most normal teen in the classroom by far, his only weird trait being his tail. “I like training. If you want to do any kind of training, I will be happy to help.” 

Before Enzuku could say he also liked to do anything, the Teacher hit him with a chalk. It didn’t actually do much, but it calmed him quite a bit. 

“Denki Kaminari, AND I HAVE THE POWER OF THUNDER!” He even kindly demonstrated his quirk for a bit before the Teacher shut it down with an angry glare. No destructive quirk in his classroom!

“Eijiro Kirishima! My quirk allows me to become as hard as a rock and to BE MANLY!” Eijiro said before flexing his actually impressive muscles and looking at everyone in the room before winking at Uziko. “Some might even say I could do an overdose of testosterone.” 

This made Uzi blink several times as she wondered if she remembered correctly, and Mina groaned. “This idiot isn’t even kidding. In high school, he even insisted so we called him Thad or Kirishithad… because it was cooler than Chad.” 

Enzuku was actually overjoyed, almost yapping when he heard that. Even he wasn’t dumb enough to ignore the obvious hints dropped by a friend after all! He had loved Thad’s party last life!

“I'm Koji Koda, and I like animals. I can talk to them.” The shy man said before petting what looked furiously like a dingo with several eyes. A growling and staring at everyone with suspicion. “He is my pet.” 

“Rikido Sato! SUGAR IS POWER! AND BOY, I CAN DO STUFF!” 

“Mezo Shoji. I can change and manipulate my appendages freely, creating organs too. I like ninjutsu, manga, and practicing zen.” Quirks like that actually interested Enzuku a lot. Maybe because of his wings, but mutations were his favorite quirks to study and understand how they worked. He wondered if Shoji could somehow reproduce his own wings? A flying buddy would be nice!

“Kyoka Jiro.'' A punkette, toying with her ear jack and seemingly appreciating Momo from afar and Katsuji. Call it a gaydar or something. “I can hear very well and amplify sound waves. By a lot.” 

“Hanta Sero, Duct tape provider. You never have enough duct tape.” 

Uziko nodded at that sentence. Any tinkerer worth something had a stockpile of duct tape. 

“Fumikage Tokoyami. I'm inhabited by a creature of darkness named Dark Shadow and…” 

“I am Dark Shadow. Don’t mind him, he never truly stopped the phase where he thinks he has a destiny as a dark lord or things like that.” The bird of darkness snickered...

“A living quirk?! Can we have details? Do you have…” Enzuku was stopped before he could draw too much and ask too many questions by Uziko and Katsuji pulling each side of his cheeks. “Sowwy… Will be calm.” 

“I'm Shouto Himura. I can use fire.” The one talking was a student with skin that indicated he clearly liked to work with his quirk a bit too much. He wasn’t burned, but his skin clearly needed some humidification. “I plan to become the best.” In fact, as if he was emulating Endeavor in a kind of cringy way, he even exhaled some fire from his nose. This bicolor haired student was trying to hard, according to Uzi and V. Besides, how did he got hair part white and part brown/reddish? 

“I'm Tooru Hagakure, and I'm a mutant who is fully invisible! Nice to meet you all!” 

“As for me… I am Katsuji Bakugou. However, I apologize to Himura: as long as I am here, he will never manage to realize his dream. It’s a pipe dream, as a proletarian thinking he can enjoy life better than a shareholder profiting from some sweet subsidies!” Katsuji said playfully before noticing V’s stare. She winked at her. “Before anyone asks, yes I am this dumbass childhood friend.” She pointed to Enzuku, who waved at the class, clearly ignoring the name calling. “If anyone ships him with me, I request the right to shoot him.” 

“Refused. Defenestration only.” Aizawa said, before opening a few windows preemptively. 

“Hello, everyone! I am Enzuku Midoriya! But my friends can call me N&M’s.” N said before winking at Eijiro, who almost yelled in joy before seeing the Teacher readying a deadly missile. It would be for later. “But also, N. Don’t hesitate to ask me for help about anything, be it a quirk, training, or even cleaning the room. I love to do anything. Oh, and my quirk is called Angel. I am very strong, and I can make wings appear on my back.” 

This time, V barely managed to avoid the panic attack. Wait. Wait. Wait. What. WHAT. Mineta didn’t miss the situation and wondered how much of this was planned by N… Because this Violet girl was suddenly looking very interested behind her glasses. Mineta then locked eyes with Mina, and both of them used the telepathic ability only gossipers could use to share juicy tidbits. But he had to stop soon and redirect the attention and calm the mood. 

“As for me, ladies and gentlemen, I am Mineta Minoru! My quirk is Ballsy. I can throw sticky and big balls from my head at someone. Before anyone asks, I have not yet found their limit, durability speaking. For fun, I threw one into the fire, and it was untouched.” 

“And finally, I'm Momo Yaoyoruzu, I like tea, studying, and painting. Herm… My quirk is called “Creation,” and I can use lipids from my body to create anything I know the blueprint from my skin.”

The teacher considered the classroom and he was now certain: This year was going to be quite insane again. So, he should do his best and prepare to sleep as much as possible while he still can. 

Oh well, he should also get them to the orientation session. The Quirk Assessment Test was a chore but people liked it, for some reason. To him, it was simply a way to determine what they should focus on. 

Meanwhile V stared at N, Uzi and J. Wait. Were they also here?! How did J recognize her, seemingly, as Uzi and N didn’t?! 

Too many questions, not enough answers!

Meanwhile, Asui ribbited.

Chapter Text

Chapter 4: Once more with feeling.

“Sorry! Sorry! Can we speak for a second?” Violet didn’t have an opportunity to speak with the others until the lunch break.

The orientation had been only partially useful, as the students had to stay silent and sit peacefully in their seats. By definition, having people like Snipe and Midnight ready to make you respect the institution. 

Yeah, having a therapist at school was a good thing, especially in a field with casualties and injuries. It would be even better if they could actually tell them about their past lives (yes, V used plural as she was literally not the same between the gala and Copper-9).  

Besides, the rat was taking his time, presenting his beautiful school and all of its awesome features. The one thing that made V certain this Uziko punkette was her favorite gremlin was when she almost tried to bash her own head against a chair when Nedzu mentioned he had commissioned an enhanced awesome door to Khan Corporation, and as a result, no one should try to breach it if they wanted to stay alive. 

This actually made her chuckle when she noticed that, but then she felt something in her heart when she noticed Enzuku and Uziko were actually holding hands. She remembered N slowly drifting apart from her during their adventures on Copper 9. She was slowly letting him get away because with her, he had a better chance of living happily than with her. Well, of living, period, if she had to be honest. 

As a result, she had wondered if she should tell them who she was. Would she actually break everything again? After all, if she had fought better against Cyn… Or hadn’t fallen into her trick and almost let her kill N… 

But then again, she thought about her “parents”. How they continued their weird streams despite their absolute lack of success during them. “If we don’t take that one step forward, then nothing will ever happen, Violet.” La Brava told her once while smiling at her, and then Gentle, “Look at me. If I didn’t take the opportunity to meet Gentle… I wouldn’t be here today.” 

Her mom (rather big sis, considering they weren’t that apart in age, as Manami was 25) was surprisingly very good at giving advice, and Gentle approved it.

So, if she wanted to be anything like these two goofers and good lords, she would kill anyone who discovered that they were actually role models for her; she had to take a step forward.

Uziko stared at the spectacled girl with a weird face, but groaned kindly when Enzuku asked her to sit next to him. In front of V was this Katsuji girl who was suddenly smiling like a shark… Wait, why did she have popcorn, and why was she passing it to Kirishima?

“Yeah, sure! You said your name was V, right?” Enzuku asked while laughing awkwardly before getting elbowed by Uziko. Possessive girlfriend? Maybe.

“Ye… Yeah.” V inhaled, trying to find her courage again. Good lord. Why could she be a murder machine on the field but like a young maiden outside of it? Or act like a bitch? 

Everyone at the table stayed silent, as if her presence suddenly silenced any kind of discussion they could have had. Fuck. 

V was panicking more and more. Why was no one talking? Why weren’t they talking to her, asking questions or things like that? She needed something, anything!

“So… The weather is nice today?” 

Not that banal! It was a deadass idiot.

“It’s okay, I guess,” Uziko said, suspiciously, before looking at Enzuku, who seemed to think about something for a second, and suddenly having an idea. 

“...Yeah! It would be a perfect time to walk in a park and meet some people! And dogs!” 

V… perked up a bit. Dogs? Dogs! Of course, they were the answer! 

“Yeah, like golden retrievers!” Now, if it was N… If he was truly him… 

“Yeah, the breed is known for its friendly, intelligent temperament and soft golden coat!” N quickly answered the favorite part of his favorite book, as his one freed hand touched V’s. 

J seemed to do the countdown on the Uzi’s bomb. She was too entertained to actually stop anything. 

“And they are also known for having gentle mouths…” V said as her eyes locked into N’s and Mineta dropped his fork. What. Did that man actually pull a baddie by speaking about dogs?! He was seeing him intertwining his fingers, unconsciously, with the cute fanged girl! 

“That’s why they’re good with kids,” N said, before adding with the smile of someone who had read much more since then. “And that’s also why they are the best service dogs, always ready to do anything to help people!” 

Before Enzuku could actually continue on the subject, something no one expected happened. While her drone abilities allowed V to endure the blood withdrawal from their quirk, it didn’t fully erase it. With blood withdrawal also came enhanced needs. Physical and emotional needs. Usually, Gentle would happily let her bite and drink for a bit while head patting his adoptive daughter.

The rollercoaster of emotion, however, had drained all of V’s resistance, and she properly jumped on N’s, her eyes looking crazed as her smile took the form of a murder drone smile, her tongue licking her lips for a second. 

Her jaw approached N’s neckbone, to taste it… Before she got slapped by an Uziko, red with fury and jealousy.

“He is mine, V!” Uziko said as her slap, combined with her quirk, allowed her to actually propel V, who suddenly landed on her feet, all shyness and awkwardness gone. Back into business! 

“I saw him way before you did.” The growl was pretty much feline, the same as the way V walked toward Uziko and stared at her with the same look as she had for N just a few seconds before. “He is mine, gremlin.” 

This was how N got the reputation of the harem king as Mineta checked the “Shy yandere” off the list. Nonetheless, the small miniature boy saw N’s distress as the two girls were getting ready to fight, and it was clear that if they did, even for a first day, it wouldn’t end well… Especially for his friend’s relationship.

Mineta looked for help and saw Mina, who had reached the same conclusion as him. The beginning of a beautiful friendship, as both of them sprinted and separated the girls before they could actually begin to scrap with each other violently. 

“Hey, girls. Calm down. How about you solve this in a civilized way?” Mina said try to look peaceful, as Uziko was already cracking her first, and something was glowing in her eye. Mineta actually threw a ball at their feet, sticking them on the ground. Immobilize first, reason later. 

“Yeah! I know a way to know who will win the heart of our awesome angel boy.” Mineta said, as his brain calculated the probabilities of every scenario, allowing for N to not finish like Makoto in School Days. Mineta had played 20% of all Visual Novels in existence, and as a result, his brain was exceptionally adapted for this kind of prediction. “The one who scores the best at the QAT will get her opportunity to get Enzuku first!” 

Uziko stared at the midget with disdain and wanted to throw herself at him, but the ball was actually as sticky and resistant as Mineta claimed it to be. V tried to, but both girls were restrained like idiots. 

However, Mina approved the idea. “I mean, look at the poor boy, he clearly can’t choose.” To be fair, she was right. 

Enzuku was actually overloaded from the thought of V actually… Well… Liking him? He had some memories of the manor, but they were still quite fragmented. In fact, he wasn’t sure they were dating during that time. So, yeah, he loved Uzi, really… But the same was true for V. He never forgot her, and there was a reason he had been ready to die to save her against Cyn after all. 

Momo, Asui, and a few others were staring at the situation with a lot of attention and murmurs. Well, Momo was whispering with Jirou, but Asui was simply ribbiting, before licking her own face.

Katsuji decided to either throw a bone to N or put oil on their fire. Maybe both. In any case, she had a huge smile at the spectacle.

“Well, whoever scores best after me. Or, I can choose whoever I want if I win?” 

“SHUT UP, J! YOU WOULD NEED TO WIN ACTUALLY FOR ONCE!” V snapped at her former friend, who snickered at her, and Uziko rolled up her sleeves.

“BITE ME, J!” 

“Technically, wouldn’t you want to have Enzuku-kun biting you, Uziko?” Mina said with a teasing, smug smile. Uziko could only curse her small size as she tried to jump over the purple alien.

“And of course, if Enzuku wins, he gets to date you both,” Mineta added, to everyone’s surprise. Enzuku looked at him, eyes bigger than a plate, at what Mineta had just suggested. Mineta gave him a look that just said, “Good luck with your happy ending.” 

The fight had just begun.

—------

Aizawa saw that and decided he needed to actually pull up the special drink. No, not alcohol. Not while he was still teaching. However, he needed some strawberry milk to calm his headache. He knew it. These idiots couldn’t stay still for more than ten seconds.

—------

The class was rapidly aware of the bet currently ongoing between the “shy” Violet and the very angry Uziko. The girl with the cheeky round face was ready to do anything, and she meant it, to defend her position, while Violet was seemingly more than willing to kill a few other students. 

Nonetheless, Mina looked at Mineta, who was now stretching for the Quirk Assessment Test. 

“So… what was your plan?” Mina asked as she was wondering if there was something underneath this grape haired teen. Mineta smiled at her.

“Please. We both saw how they stared at each other and how Katsuji actually looked at the situation. My theory is they are old online friends or something. They finally met up in real life…” Mineta quite weirdly deduced. To be fair, he was the first one to be fed the excuse as to how Enzuku managed to rescue Uziko and kiss her. 

“And this Violet girl seems like a shy girl ready to pounce on the one man who showed her kindness. Yes, I see that, but why the “date them both”?”

Mineta smiled at the pink student, knowingly and from afar, pointed out to Uziko and Violet. How the tension between both were high, jealousy racing through the air…

“They are ready to kill each other.” Mina plainly stated, and Mineta sighed.

“Look harder. Their lips. Their eyes. Their body posture.” The grape kid’s horniness could be an issue in many other situations. However, it made him highly perceptive of something called…

“Oh god. The tension.” Mina finally opened her eyes to the truth as she observed Mineta’s smug and proud smile.

“Exactly. I owe Enzuku a lot. So the least I could do…” 

“Was to set him up in a 'ménage à trois'?” It was quite an awesome and terrifying friend you could have. 

“I owe him that much. I also saw firsthand his strength. His speed. While this Uziko and Violet can be quite fast… I doubt they are nearly as strong as him.” 

“Then what about me?” Katsuji happened behind them, with a smile, before nodding at Mineta’s explanation.

“...I think you are just enjoying the opportunity to try to lord your superiority over them and then grant them your mercy.” Mineta deadpanned as he saw her, surprised, “I do speak with Enzuku, you know? I know you protected him when he was younger. Sometimes, you even look at them a bit guilty.” 

Wait, Mineta observed that much about them? Fuck. The midget could actually be a company liability. J looked suspiciously at him… She would have to deal with him later. 

“However, you do know you aren’t helping his harem reputation? Because now, everyone thinks you are part of it.” Mineta pointed out with a knowing smile, as Katsuji realized she indeed shot herself in the foot. 

“Fuck. You are right. I need to win so the three of them stop being idiots and actually get together.” Katsuji was now more motivated than ever, sparks emerging from her hands. Okay. She could do it. 

Then something happened. Namely, everyone stopped speaking as Enzuku, without really caring, took off his shirt not to destroy it as he opened his wings. His big, skeletal, bladed wings contrasted with his adorable face. 

“I really need clothing that doesn’t risk being destroyed each time I open my wings.” 

Uziko and Violet shook their heads and spoke in unison.

“No, it’s actually perfect.” They stared at each other before eyeing each other in their sports uniform. 

V was taller than her competitor, but Uzi wasn’t going to let herself be beaten by a meganekko, even if she was cute and she wanted to hold her. 

Enzuku knew he had to win, if he didn’t want any of them to be sad or try to kill the other. 

Aizawa saw all of them and sighed.

“Fine. We don’t have all day, so we will keep it short and simple. I want to check your speed, your strength, and your agility.”

Aizawa pointed to the track circuit. “We will test how fast you can do a 100m first. I shouldn’t need to say this, but impairing another student will be met by detention.” 

Tooru raised her hand. “I have a question, sir? What about people like me, whose quirk doesn't really improve their abilities?” 

“Then your purpose will be to see how much you have to catch up to them to be effective on the field.” Aizawa pointed as he pulled up a pouch from his coat and drank from it, “Because remember. Quirks are tools. Your body is the base thing you always have to train, because it will be your last resort, and you need to be sure it won’t be the last time you will get to enjoy it.” 

Everyone nodded, and the Drone squad actually wondered what kind of life the Teacher lived this time, to be actually motivated to be a hero and a teacher again. 

The first students to actually measure their speed were Katsuji, Uziko, and Violet. The deadly trio got ready to run… Even if Violet took up a position putting her assets quite in the limelight. She was positioned as a cheetah, and her competitors knew her well enough that it wasn’t only for the added sexiness. 

Then, the Teacher gave the go. Katsuji’s reflexes allowed her to repeatedly fire her explosions as fast as possible. However, someone had even better reflexes than her, namely Violet, who ran like a panther literally as soon as the Teacher gave his signal. Perfect timing. Her powerful legs left a mark on the ground as Violet pulverized any records from athletes from the “pre-quirk” era. Uziko arrived dead last. Yes, she had used her quirk to reduce her own weight and throw herself at the finish line, but setting up this trick actually took her a second, and her physical abilities weren’t as good as the two others. 

Violet snickered at her competitor. 3 seconds for her, while Katsuji did a solid 5. Uziko is only 6.8. 

“Second wave.” 

However, any records were obliterated by Enzuku, as he took a position not unlike a jet plane. His wings seemed like blades designed to cut through the air and space. In a way, it was exactly what happened, as pretty much no one actually saw him move. However, they felt the air being displaced and disheveling their hair.

0.8 seconds. 

“... Did… I cheat?” Enzuku wondered as he saw his score and how everyone stared at him.

“... We won’t let you win the strength contest!” Violet grumbled before noticing Uzi’s face. The face of someone not sure they could win. “...Pipsqueak?” 

“N was able to lift a 0 Pointer.” 

Katsuji and Violet blinked several times. They remembered N being strong, but not THAT strong! Was All-Might’s training that effective?! Or maybe… Maybe some people noticed some sparks on Enzuku’s body. A simple and very small dose. While he wasn’t able to use 100% of OFA, he was now able to use small sparks as bursts. 

Enzuku looked at the two women in his life and gave them a smile. The kind that makes you have butterflies in your stomach. 

“Sorry if this seems cowardly, but… I kind of don’t want to choose between you?” Enzuku said sheepishly, fingers hitting each other as if the himbo wasn’t seducing them both. 

Violet and Uziko suddenly had the same thought. Could they both pounce on him on the ground later? Maybe. Probably. 

Katsuji sighed with a smile as she saw the tensions among the idiots actually disappearing. Mineta sat down next to her once he was done. Only Shouto seemed to actively try to beat Enzuku’s record but failed, barely equaling Katsuji’s record. 

“So… Good job, midget.” 

“That’s what I do, lady.” Mineta wasn’t even trying to oogle her. Good. He at least had good survival instincts, “But they are adorable together.” The short one smiled in a sad way, as if he knew it was something unlikely to happen to him. 

The person saying appearance didn’t count was most likely quite the looker. 

“Eh. Don’t give up. We both know the hero’s best friend always gets a nice girl.” J chuckled before Mineta actually laughed a bit.

“Not untrue. You want me to stay on the lookout for a girl to your taste?” Mineta said playfully as Katsuji went silent. “Hey, you are his best friend. It’s very apparent that while Enzuku would probably do his best to save anyone’s life, the number of people he would entrust his life to is you, Violet, and Uziko. It’s as obvious as the sun in the sky.” 

Katsuji nodded and then considered Mineta’s abilities and thought about it for a second. His observation skills and his planning were actually quite good. Sure, his smarts could be a bit annoying if he learned about their past, but… On the off-chance… 

“If you find a girl with a black bowtie and an apparent passion for fixing broken stuff… Green eyed, with a sophisticated way of speaking…” Hey. J had luck so far, as she saw more and more people being brought back. Maybe… Just maybe, if the thing that allowed them a second chance truly wanted them to be happy, she would be here too. 

Mineta nodded solemnly. “I will be on the lookout for someone like that.” 

Both then stared in silence as Enzuku actually lost a strength contest. Namely, the throwing test as KirishiThad beat him by a demi-meter, flexing his muscle to everyone afterward. 

“AWW YEAH. AMERICAN FOOTBALL, BABY! N&M’s, it’s good to be strong. But you need something else: Technique.” KirishiThad said with a smile as Enzuku nodded his head, wanting to understand more how Thad did that. Studying his moves and noticing how he was moving. 

This translated into N using his notebook, and beginning to draw everyone as the Tests continued on. 

To be fair, as much as Uziko and Violet were now competing among themselves, it was terribly obvious that, physically speaking, Enzuku was the superior model. 

For Shouto Himura, this was unbearable. HE TRAINED HARSHLY. EVERY DAY. HE COULDN’T BE SO WEAK. HE NEEDED TO BE STRONGER… He needed to prove his dad wrong. 

He couldn’t be beaten by a guy whose main objective was… GIRLS. 

“Ribbit,” Asui said, standing for a second on her deployed legs, revealing herself to be taller than one would have suspected, as if her limbs were stretching weirdly, and head patting him. 

Shouto was left bewildered as the frog then leaped back into action. 

What was that? 

—----

“... You are lucky N won,” Uziko growled at V, but with no anger this time. To be fair, it was hard to be angry when you were hugged by N, at the same time as V.

The cat of death snickered and elbowed her. “Don’t worry. I won’t say to anyone that I beat you on almost every test.” 

Uziko groaned as she said that. “You are lucky I didn’t use ‘that’,” Uzi said before confirming, as they were walking back home, that no one was following them. Well, no one but J, but who counted J? “... Because when I do… I feel a ping back.” 

It created a weird mood as everyone was actually enjoying the moment, and then Uzi dropped the bombshell. 

“... A ping back?” J was scared for very obvious reasons. This time, her confidence shattered instantly, and V, groaning, pulled her former friend, who was being on the process of being forgiven, against her. 

“J. Don’t.” It was as much a threat as a comfort attempt, and J seemed to be a bit more grounded. 

“... I swore to N. On Tessa’s name.” J said as V stared at N, for confirmation, the cinnamon roll actually thought of doing that. He nodded solemnly. 

“My mom also felt it. She confirmed she was sure the Solver was there, but its hosts changed a few times. None were as strong as Cyn, according to her.” Uzi knew her team needed to not be in the shadow about such stuff. “So… It is still alive as it apparently kept evading death thanks to an ally they have. No one knows who they are, but they are helping them.” 

Who in their right mind would do such a thing?

—------

All For One was playing chess with the Solver’s core. Each one was playing very carefully, not to let the other win. 

“Query: When will. Garaki. Have finished. Preparing hosts?” 

“Patience, my friend. It’s funny how an entity above space and time doesn't have any.” All For One chuckled at his old friend, who rolled its unique eye. 

“Six. Excellent host. Decent Output. Lacked endurance. New one?”  

“Garaki told me it was actually quite hard to work on a host for you and finish your ‘angels’, you know. It took years to rewire them.” 

“... What about... Prophet?” 

“Oh, him? We are still training him. Alice finished the transplant of Six’s remains into him.” All For One smiled in advance as Solver put him in a check. Fuck. 

“Interesting. Think he has value?” 

“A madman with faith can accomplish a lot. Don’t worry, my friend. I will hold my word.” The potato man sacrificed a knight to save his king. “Just hold out yours.” 

“Promise. You don’t discard me. I don’t. Discard. You.” 

Both demons chuckled as they waited for the day they would get back their power. Then… Then the other would see.

They would possess everything.

—----

Thankfully, the drones weren’t alone in this mess. They had each other as they hugged each other.

“YEAH. This time, fuck the exponential edgyness of the universe!” Uzi said with a smile, before lifting both of her weird hot friends against her, by surprise. 

“Together?” N asked, with a smile, as V put her arms on Uzi’s head, as it was the perfect armchair. Uzi totally didn’t say anything to not ruin the moment, and not because the vampire cat's body was deliciously close to her. 

“Together.” She confirmed before looking at J, who seemed… Embarrassed. She didn’t have the best track record; she knew it. While N trusted her, she knew what she had done to V. It was a shattered trust and… “Hey, corpo-bitch. Just remember that your real shareholders are Tessa and us. Not the one doing the hostile takeover.” V said in basic corpo slang, surprising her. 

J knew exactly what it was. Not a proposal for everything to go back to normal immediately. It was far too early for that. But maybe… A peace offering. J nodded and crushed the other female drones in her arms, making it a huge sandwich. 

A JCJenson approved sandwich. 

“I promise, again. No more lies or betrayal.” V nodded while she had an obvious ‘I will be watching you’. J… Couldn't hold it against her.

It was more than fair. 

“... On a side note. Uzi? How the hell did your mom know about the Solver’s hosts?” N finally asked, “Also, she isn’t mad at us?” 

“Oh. Mom worked as some kind of edgy spy or something before one day, she was assigned to kill a guy who was making everyone’s life harder because his doors were actually top-notch. She recognized my dad and shot her former boss. Then she managed to blackmail the new head of the HPSC about the Solver, as she had to work several times to shoot the Solver. Turns out having telekinetic bullets is really useful against it.”

That’s tracked, according to J and V's experiences with it. However, it also raised another question. 

Was Cyn there? If yes… Was she tracking the Solver to become its main host again?

“... So we need to investigate that and be ready to fight it again. This time, we are all strong enough to deal with it. We. Won’t. Hesitate. Again.” Uzi said with a smile… Knowing full well who dropped the ball the last time. 

“Count on me, too!” Thad said, appearing from nowhere. Or rather, he was actually only catching up to them now, after chatting for a bit with their classmates. It was important to know their new friends after all! 

Asui’s ribbits were quite enlightening on the human condition.

All Drones yelled a bit of terror as he appeared from seemingly nowhere as they were too deep in their bonding. 

“... Okay, I actually take offense to that, guys. Not cool.” Thad said, rolling his eyes. “I mean, aside from making your gang exclusive like that. I am kind of concerned too, if some kind of crazy shit is going to kill us again… And we never have too much firepower.” 

J and V thought about it and could only agree. 

Time to hunt the Solver.

Chapter Text

Chapter 5: Why Enzuku is now banned from ever playing a villain.

All-Might had a lot of concerns about 1-A. His class back in the day was pretty insane. He and Crust always had crazy ideas. He still remembered when they had managed to replace Gran Torino’s apple juice with coffee. So many broken windows. Good times.

However, for the first time, he actually had second thoughts about Enzuku as a hero. Enzuku had the decency to look totally sheepish as All-Might stared in silence at his heir. 

“Enzuku. My boy. My nephew not by blood. What the fuck.” 

“Well… You know, I like to do anything,” Enzuku began to explain, as he felt All-Might’s weary stare on him.

“Yes. I know. That’s a quality.” 

“Well, I also like to do anything I do at 100%! Plus Ultra!” Enzuku said with a tentative smile while trying to look away. 

All-Might wrote something on Enzuku’s file. HE WAS NEVER ALLOWED TO PLAY VILLAIN AGAIN. Even if they did some kind of civil war exercise or stuff like that.

He added the same thing to Asui’s file. 

“Well, I won't punish you this time, my boy,” All-Might said with the look of someone watching a loved one going on a death walk.

Enzuku blinked. Yey! No punishment!

“You will have to survive young Uraraka and Bakugou’s wrath. This is punishment enough.” 

Oh. Yeah. He could see All-Might’s point. 

“There is no wrath like one of a girlfriend’s.” 

“Only Uzi and V are my girlfriends! I swear!” Enzuku said, making All-Might nod in approval. Young love, always a good thing. He remembered his younger days. While he never had a long relationship once he became an adult, he did have a few stories too back in high school.

Earlier that day

“Oh, boy! I can’t wait to have our first hero class!” Enzuku was happier than a dog being given a ball to play with. 

His wings almost popped out of happiness as V, blushing behind her glasses, and Uzi leaned against him quietly. Katsuji traveled on her own, same for Thad. The reason behind that was simple: No one liked to feel like the third… Well, technically fourth wheel, but you get the point.

“Yeah. Personally, I am excited to have my own hero suit! It’s just like me!” 

“Short and edgy?” V said with a taunting tone as she was still holding N’s hand preciously. 

“Bite me! I bet yours will be like the last!” Uziko growled at her, though it was kind of playful.

“Awesome and dangerous?” She liked the warning signs on it, and yes, she actually asked basically a variant of her old Disassembly drone body.

“Showing your bottom and also that you are one.” Uzi snarked as N actually wondered what she meant by that. It made V jump on her, and the two playfully fought. N was also wondering if they weren’t enjoying the close combat too. Maybe, considering their blushing during the fight. 

It was fun. “As for me, I asked for my old coat! They said the hat with a winged skull, however, was a bit too much on the noose.”

“... Everyone will think you are a Hawks fan,” Uziko said playfully as Enzuku actually nodded. 

“Because I am one! All-Might is my favorite, but I often look at Hawks’ fighting style and skills to get ideas on how to fly better, such as the small piercing technique I used for the Quirk Assessment Test.”

That explained a lot, to be fair. Still, the three of them enjoyed the situation as they enjoyed each other's company. 

Thad looked at Katsuji. Another reincarnated one. Uh. Sure, they had technically tried to kill each other (well, more tried to not die like an idiot), but they were technically friends. Teammates? Teammates. 

“So… How are you doing?” KirishiThad asked the pig-tailed brash woman. She sighed and turned on her chair to speak to him. 

“Very honestly? A bit tired, but I am happy to finally dump N to the girls.” 

“N&M is tiring?” Now, that was a new one. 

“More like I am the mature big sister trying to prevent the little brother from doing something dumb.” Katsuji corrected. Enzuku wasn’t exactly an idiot. More like he didn’t think enough. He was smart when he put his mind to something. 

“Uh uh. Okay. I wonder what they are doing together.” KirishiThad wondered. To be fair, Enzuku and him gaining two girlfriends on the first day of school? The man was already a legend. However, even Thad could see Uzi and V were having… Thoughts about each other, despite their “hostility”. 

To be fair, he was exchanging with Uzi about a lot of things, and both admitted they had the same type: People who could most likely kill them and were dangerous. 

Thad still remembered N during the Centipede’s attack and how the man was not only a walking arsenal but also knew how to use everything he had… And apparently, as Uzi told him, he tried to kill her during their first meeting. 

Sigh. It would be quite some time before he found a good girl, wouldn’t it? 

“Well. At least I will learn how to fight properly.” Thad added with J snickering. Oh yeah. She remembered when he tried to fight her with a pipe. That had been a thing, and at least this toaster admitted it had been a dumb idea. 

“That would be a definite plus. Manly spirit isn’t enough in this world.” Katsuji said before observing as the classroom ended up being filled, notably with the idiotic trio finally entering. 

Their teacher was fashionably late before entering as if he were starring in one of his ads.

“WORRY NOT. BECAUSE I AM HERE!” All-Might always boomed, plus ultra. Life was only worth it if you lived it to the fullest. Never start something you are going to give up halfway! 

The students all erupted in joy, mainly because it was All-Might, and they didn’t have to fear the dreadful chalk in the face. 

“AND. I HAVE… YOUR FIRST HERO SUITS! Remember, no design is perfect, but you will improve yours with the years. Do you know why?” All-Might said with a huge smile.

“... Because we will learn from our mistakes and know where to add armor and stuff like that?” Momo chose the sensible answer.

All-Might nodded but then continued. “Only half right. It’s also because of… Merchandising. Look at my suit. It comes from my “Silver era”. Changing suits allowed me to fund three NGO dedicated to fighting hunger and homelessness.” 

Katsuji actually took note of that one. Corporatism at its most effective!

“I am actually surprised you don’t know that, young Yaoyoruzu. Your father’s company makes a killing out of card games, and they have a ton of our variant suits in that Hero Game. They even made a joke version of me, but Soviet themed.” All Might pointed out. 

Enzuku nodded furiously. Yeah! He remembered that one! That card was so elusive that a lot of people actually wondered if it actually existed. 

“Why… WHY DID YOU TARGET ME?!” The villain known as Basement Dweller was being beaten to the ground as Nighteye raised his bloody fist.

“... Did you know criminals' possessions get auctioned?” Nighteye whispered in his ears… The criminal realized what was happening.

“THIS CARD IS MINE! I WILL TAKE IT TO MY GRAVE!” 

“Criminal scum. Don’t tempt me. THIS WOULDN’T BE MY FIRST GRAVE ROBBERY.” 

“Anyway, everyone, get ready. We will do some practical exercise, but this time, no drones to destroy!” 

Everyone was excited except Shouto, who only stared with ferocity in his eyes. He would show them what he’s made of. He was the top student here, not the other idiots everyone was looking at. 

He only hoped he would be allowed to fight Enzuku or one of his team. 

“So. First exercise as heroes… But also villains,” All Might ominously said with a smile, as he presented the field, with the various abandoned buildings. 

“Everyone will be paired into a random duo, to imitate the fact that you cannot always choose your partner on the field. One team will play as defenders, or villains, guarding a bomb. They can win either by defeating all heroes or by a time limit. 

Heroes, you either need to touch the bomb or defeat the villains. I need to stress this out, however. If I see any of you intentionally trying to permanently harm another student…” All-Might stopped smiling and stared at all of his students, who felt a chill in their spines… “I will be highly disappointed in them.” 

Shouto could live with that.

“I will also lend them to Nedzu as a playmate.” 

Shouto couldn’t live with that.

“So. I know it’s going to be difficult for some, but I will have to ask for everyone chosen as villains to actually play the part.” 

Everyone nodded, while hoping they wouldn’t have to play the villains. Everyone wanted to be heroes, damnit. 

“So, everyone, be ready. The first villain team will be…” The screen showed Enzuku’s adorable, stupid face, with the most adorable frog who ribbited at the idea. 

“Midoriya and Asui!” 

Everyone actually had trouble seeing Enzuku as a villain… Even if he had a cool black coat. It actually paired quite well with Asui’s black suit and her dark green bow, holding her long hair. 

“And our first heroes will be… BAKUGOU AND URARAKA!” 

“HOLY FOURTH QUARTER PROFITS, MOTHER OF SUBVENTIONS AND FATHER OF HIDDEN PROFITS, THANK YOU!” Katsuji said as everyone looked at her weirdly, “I AM LEGALLY AUTHORIZED TO ACTUALLY PUNCH HIS ADORABLE FACE!” 

“... J, hurt my adorable N, and I will-” V coughed, making Uzi correct her speech, “We will hunt your ass. Only we are allowed to do that.” 

Considering Katsuji looked like Agent 47 and Uzi looked like a vampire mistress, everyone wondered if All-Might didn’t fumble his draws. Including All-Might. Especially with the threats. 

Enzuku actually sweated bullets, but All-Might smiled at him, raising his thumbs.

“I count on you, Midoriya. I hope you won’t go easy on them. Just try your best at being a villain.” 

Enzuku nodded his head. Okay. He could do that.

As everyone was in the control room to watch the fight, Thad noticed V asking Momo if she could produce some popcorn for everyone. 

“... Are you really going to enjoy seeing Uziko and Katsuji tear apart N?” 

V snickered at Thad’s question and then saw everyone looking at her with disapproval. “Oh? I think you are mistaken, people. N isn’t under threat.” 

Everyone waited as V smiled demonically and ate some popcorn.

“No. Spoilers.” 

While N couldn’t have his hat back, he managed to ask for an eye mask (visor?) to protect his eyes when he would go at full speed. It had a huge yellow cross on it. It just felt more comfortable to him as he stared at Asui.

Sitting like a frog, her arms against her like an adorable T-Rex, N found himself wanting to pet her. 

“So… Are you okay with playing the villain?” 

“Yes,” Asui answered shortly before staring at the bomb. “Attack?” A lopsided smile that showed her eagerness was in full view.

Enzuku put on his eye mask… Smiling as he felt something reawakening in him. A feeling he hadn’t felt in years. He shivered in delight. 

“We hunt.” Enzuku corrected Asui, who ribbed with happiness. Okay, he actually petted her this time. 

Asui ribbited even more happily as she jumped away.

—---

“So, let’s be honest, Uzi. We don’t like each other.” Katsuji announced it clearly. They were allies on their hunt against the Solver, against Cyn. However, they were clearly not friends. 

“Uh uh.” 

“So, trying to work with teammates is going to backfire big time.” 

“I… Actually, I agree with you.” 

“So, rather than be in defective synergy impairing our project, I propose we work separately to achieve better common goals,” Katsuji said proudly with corporate slang. Uziko sighed. 

“You could have simply said, we risk attacking each other more than them, so we should split.” 

“I prefer my way.” 

“And I, mine, corporate slave.” 

“Edgy teenager.” 

Both grumbled before entering the building. It’s not like they were at risk after all. They were only facing a golden retriever and a frog. 

Both failed to remember that Golden Retrievers are closely related to wolves, not as much as huskies, but they are still scary predators, and frogs were predators, period. 

Uziko actually appreciated the decrepit building, as it gave off vibes of a ruin that had seen dark stuff happening in these walls. She was walking among a building that had seen horrible stuff happening, and no sun was shining in these walls, cold and merciless as was Copper 9. 

Oh. So this was why she liked it. She was remembering her first home. Even the light was flickering as it did back home. 

Suddenly, she saw a silhouette at the end of the corridor. However, it vanished during the brief moment when light died. 

Uzi smiled as she raised her hands, ready to fight. Finally, some actions! 

“N, come here!” She thought it was N because, well… It was a tall silhouette. 

Uziko was ready to fight as if she were a heroine from an action game. 

N’s fist pierced through the wall from her right, and fragments of concrete flew at her at full speed. Barely dodging them, she rolled to what she estimated to be safe. It was then she saw N’s head in the hole he just made, his mouth almost salivating, and his yellow cross staring at her as if she were… prey.

“Target identified.” With those two words, he steps forward, the concrete crumbling and rebar snapping in his wake as he casually walks through the wall. “Disassembly begins.” N’s tone was his usual overjoyed one, as if this wasn't a suggestion or even a question but a fact. It made Uzi even more scared and certainly not a bit excited. 

“We both know how it’s going to go down, N! We have played this song and dance before!” Uzi pulled her arms up, the fists clenched to bone white knuckles. 

“... No. Because this time… You don’t have your gun.” The far too sharp grin the Ex-Drone gave her rattled her just a bit. Uziko blinked with an unconscious step back. Then remembered her quirk was about shifting gravity and redirection. She still threw a punch at N, wanting to teach him she was a badass!

“ENJOY BEING TEN TIMES YOUR USUAL GRAVITY! I AM THE GODDAMN PROTAGONIST!” She said as her fist was hitting N’s left cheek… And her boyfriend kept smiling. In fact, he seemed totally unbothered by the punch as he took her arm in both hands and threw her against the wall.

Uzi met it with a loud thud and she thought she heard the stone crack, and damn it, it hurt like a bitch! 

“... These are still… ACCEPTABLE PARAMETERS,” N said as each of his steps was a loud stomp that dented the floor and shook the room a bit, and he was walking like a dooming monster towards… Her.

Uziko realized something.

“... Oh shit. I am the protagonist of a survival horror.” 

“I vote for Mr. X as Enzuku’s villain name,” Tokoyami said in the viewing room as they saw Uziko actually try to run away, and N’s walking at a terrifying pace behind her, when she closed a door on him he would just walk right through it as if it was paper. “

All Might piped up with a few words of wisdom. “That would be copyrighted, hero names can homage and reference, but word for word and you'll have a lawsuit on you faster than you can say ‘Oops’.”

“But this is a villain name, not a hero name. The same rules don't apply, right?” Mina questioned.

All Might only laughed. “Much like the IRS, no one wants to mess with lawyers.”

“What about Tyrant? Or maybe Devil?” Momo added to the speculation.

“That would probably pass depending on the title.” All Might said with a considering nod. “If you say ‘Tyrant: the Umbrella Corps hero. That would get flagged, while some along the lines of ‘Corpus: the Tyrannical hero’ would be fine.

“Remind me to never get on his bad side. This is not normal.” Hagakure interrupted as she watched the boy walk through another wall like it was nothing to him.

“Nah, this is normal for him; he's not taking it seriously yet. Hell, he didn’t even activate his second form,” V said, snickering. People tended to forget, given how N acted, that he had been a killing machine once. He even had two genocides to his credit. 

Even when N was a butler, he had been exceptionally strong and dangerous. He could throw a plate so hard it would get stuck in a wall. More than one of the Elliots’ enemies actually discovered that the hard way. 

Mineta, much to his own fear, realized that, indeed, N hadn’t opened his wings yet.

“Urgh. Dark rooms. That one is boring.” Katsuji said, as she snapped her fingers a few times before creating a small light of fire crackers on her fingers. It would allow her to see a bit better.

“Now, to find the stairs…” 

Suddenly, a noise, far in the dark, somewhere where she couldn’t see.

Katsuji smiled as if Santa had given her a portfolio of shares in a startup, before shooting in the direction of the noise. 

Each flash of fire and each explosion illuminated the room, and each time… Each time, she could see Asui on a different wall. 

Still. Her eyes locked with hers. Each time Katsuji tried to shoot her…

But somehow, Asui just moved perfectly in the darkness. J never saw her jump and no one in the control room did either.

But each time the light went out, the frog came closer in a silent spree. Every flash. Asui was closer, with her big blank eyes… and her totally emotionless face.

“WHAT THE HELL IS THAT THING?!” J yelled, a bit panicking. This wasn’t part of her plan! Not at all.

Then, Asui literally appeared in front of her. 

“Ribbit.” 

Katsuji, now scared shitless at this being who was triggering all of her bones and skin into flight mode, tried to run backwards, while exploding everything in front of her. 

Then, as she ran, it was as if she were on the verge of a panic attack. She hadn’t even hit her target once despite her barrage of attacks! All of her explosions! She actually had tried to harm her on the last shots! 

So, Katsuji ran. She ran in the dark, as she feared what might be behind her.

Her footsteps actually echoed in the dark as her legs went as fast as possible, not looking behind her. 

Then came salvation. A door. Finally, A DOOR.

She didn’t even take the time to open it properly and blasted it. 

… Katsuji realized she could have probably blown up an exit earlier, but sighed in relief. Finally, she was safe.

Until she felt the saliva falling on her shoulder and realized a bit too late that frogs can stick upside down, before being attacked by the rabid frog.

“...Damn. That’s…” Mineta was struggling with words, as he shivered from the horror movie that was just happening in front of them… But when he found his words, he spoke at the same time as Thad.

“Scary as hell.”/“Sexy as hell.”

V contemplated Thad and what he had just let out.

“What?” Mineta questioned if he had heard right.

“What?” Thad questioned why everyone was looking at him.

… Everyone decided to leave it at that, with even Mina making a cross sign with her arms as a “DO NOT INVESTIGATE FURTHER” signal.

STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP STOMP.

Uzi was now hiding from N. Thankfully, his increased weight made his presence well announced, and frankly, it was her main saving grace. However, every time she thought she had managed to lose him, N suddenly came out of a corridor, through a wall, or, god forbid, just dropped from the ceiling and smiled at her. With all of his teeth suddenly looking like fangs ready to sink into her. 

She never wanted him to bite her as much as now but she had to control the horny because of the scary. 

“Uzi… I just know you are here,” He let his hand touch a wall, his hand causing a dent just from the contact… before opening his mouth wide and tasting the air, with his long tongue ripping out of his mouth slowly and dripping with saliva, “I can taste you. I can taste your fear.” 

“BITE ME!” She wasn’t that weak!

… Uziko then noticed she had just screamed, and N’s head snapped to her with narrowed eyes as his grin turned into a cheeky, happily predatory grin. His wings opened slowly, using the overture in his coat so as not to destroy his clothes. Then, the former Disassembly Drone began to crawl on the wall, too heavy to fly. But the extra limbs with the sharpness of nano steel blades allowed him to act like a humongous spider, stabbing and clawing at the stone in his rush toward Uziko.

“MINE, MINE, MINE!” Fang and blade on full display as he moved up the wall and onto the ceiling, the groaning roof dropping dust and debris in his wake.

“Oh shit.” Uziko decided to drop any pretense of sneakiness and sprinted as fast as her shorter legs could carry her. ‘FUCK. Why, even in a human body, was she condemned to be a small gremlin?!’ Still, she only needed to climb one more stair.

“... Just to inform the hero team, Bakugou has been neutralised.” All Might helpfully informed through the speakers, his voice shaking a bit, “The remaining hero better find the bomb if she wants to win.”

“OH COME ON, J! COULDN’T YOU WIN ONE FUCKING TIME?!” Uziko yelled angrily, pissed as N’s stomping had been replaced by the stabbing noise that his wings made as the gored solid concrete. IT WAS NOT HELPING HER TO BE CALM.

“TARGET LOCKED.” He said with finality.

Oh shit, he was behind her.

OH SHIT HE WAS BEHIND HER.

“MISTRESS OF DARKNESS, FACE ME!”

Uziko grabbed a piece of rubble as she scrambled up the stairs, and threw it down at him, increasing the gravity as it left her palm in the general direction where she estimated N to be. She didn't dare look back, but if she did, she would have seen a terrifying sight. 

N got hit in the chest with the baseball sized piece of concrete, he simply powered through it by summoning another golden flicker of One of All. The eerie yellow light glancing off his visor made the whole thing glow brightly as he twisted and writhed up the narrow stairway, his body a cyclone of blades as his wings pierced into concrete. When making it to the top, he saw his prey at the end of the hall, entering the bomb room. Now, he was jumping like a tiger to catch up to her, wings digging into the ground like paws to help launch himself forward while keeping his body low. 

She could do it. The bomb! She had it in front of her… Across the room, but technically, she could see it!

Uzi summoned everything she had left inside of herself and dead sprinted one more time. Then, as she rushed, she realized something. In a horror movie, this was when the monster’s accomplice/helper would suddenly appear to take down the hero in a surprising twist. 

Uziko inverted her own gravity, landing on the ceiling. She was now staring at Asui, who appeared from a vent, her body twisting and popping unnaturally as she gripped the ceiling next to the last hero standing. 

“Ribbit.” 

Somehow, it felt as if Asui just swore at her, with eyes full of hostility. 

“Asui! Hunt her, I can’t reach her!” Oh, thank god, N was still locked on the ground. However, Asui was indeed jumping with surprising speed and agility, far superior to what she had shown during the QAT.

“WHAT THE HELL, GIRL?” 

“I WILL EAT YOU.” This seemed like both a statement and a need. This was scary as her tongue whipped in the air to catch her. Uziko promptly released her gravity control, dodging by freefalling the attack. 

Sadly, it meant N suddenly rose up from the lack of ten times gravity and his already stretched out wings allowed him to rise quickly into the air to attack her. Enzuku quickly grabbed her by the shoulders and rolled while tucking his wings in as he slammed her into the ground, his body above her and dominating her with his size, his wings flaring out and stabbing into the ground, both locking him in the ground and casting a cage of blades around Uziko. 

His mouth opened wide, tongue and teeth on full display as it got close to Uziko’s face… who instinctively slapped him!

“TOO SOON!” 

Uziko apparently inherited from her mom her super slapping ability. Either that or she completely nullified N’s weight and redirected it all into a hard pull of gravity into the nearby wall. She was lucky he was surprised enough not to grip down on the floor. But already, the Disassembly Human was looking at her, his visor fractured and head tilted to the side with a grin that was far too wide for the situation. 

“I LOVE IT WHEN THEY FIGHT BACK!” 

… Note to self, trigger N’s hunting mode again in private. DEFINITELY.

Still, Asui’s kick landed way too close to Uzi, who had totally abandoned the idea of actually fighting them. She would have better odds dodging them until she reached the bomb!

So, Uzi began to move, propelling herself in the direction of the bomb. Gravitational pull set to the max she could pull, direction the bomb itself, the finishing line, her lifeline. 

Asui opened her jaws once again to throw her tongue attack at Uziko. The purple haired human smiled as she could only do that. N threw himself at her, but this time she was ready. N got grabbed by an outstretched wing, and Uzi threw him away to redirect herself closer to the ceiling but also using her boyfriend’s body as a means to block Asui’s attack. 

“Sorry, but I know you are good at repressing stuff!” She said playfully. Only a few meters from the bomb. She could win this! She could taste it! 

“GO UZIKO, YOU ARE ALMOST THERE!” The class cheered on their final girl, as she was close to defusing the bomb… While All-Might counted down silently. 3… 2… 1…

For a second, Uziko thought about doing a stylish finish. Looking back at N and Asui and smiling at them with a salute. 

However, Uziko had a flash. A flash of Cyn’s Core in her hand and how smiling at it cost them… Everything.

She was doing the one-liner only once she finished the job. With renewed determination, Uziko slapped her hand on the bomb, leaving a small smudge of blood on it…

Before being pulled back by her legs against N, still in Hunter mode, and Asui clearly ready to attack.

“END OF THE EXERCISE! The heroes win!” All Might says with a hurried tone.

N and Asui blinked… And suddenly, Uzi got pulled into a hug.

“Oh my god, Uzi!? Are you hurt?” N was switching back to normal and Uziko actually yelped in pain at the fierce hug. Ouch. Actually, yeah. She was a bit hurt with everything that had happened and had a small cut on her palm.

“Yeah, about that… Can you lift me? I would like to avoid walking,” she says with a mockery of concern and fright.

… Asui gave her a look clearly meaning she knew exactly what Uziko was doing right now, by asking Enzuku to lift her like a princess to lean against him… And the frog girl raised a thumb. Oh. Good. She was actually nice. She simply had the same kind of switch as N. Good to know, but still. Uziko wouldn’t like meeting her in the dark. 

In the control room, All Might was having concerns as Enzuku played the villain perfectly. Way too perfectly. It seemed almost natural to him. He would need to have a discussion about it with him. Especially as Uziko was clearly still scared, shivering against him. She would probably yell at him once this had passed. 

Not to mention Katsuji, who was still a bit scared and now avoiding Asui as if she were the devil. 

“Where the hell did you get the idea of hunting me in the dark like that?” 

“Ribbit. Doctor Who.” The frog was of few words, not liking to talk much apparently.

Katsuji huffed and thought to look up that name later.

As Enzuku and the rest entered the room, everyone was now staring at Enzuku as if he were a psychopath, and V growled. IT WAS HER JOB. HER POSITION.

“So… Next villain team. I know I said to play the part, but please. Not like Midoriya.” All-Might was starting to understand why Aizawa wished him good luck. V was now praying to be selected, to whatever entity was listening.

Sadly for her, the author rolled the dice, and they notoriously hate doing something expected. 

“Sato and Tokoyami, you are next.” All-Might smiled. Okay. Good. It should be okay. “And the heroes shall be Tobita and Kaminari.” 

Violet raised her hand up, as she was now standing next to an N. 

“N, can I drink a bit?” Violet said cutely, her hands joined together, as she almost hid behind her glasses, “Pretty please?” 

“Uh… Sure?” Enzuku said, wondering what that was about, as Uzi was leaning on him, and she suddenly had a shocked expression on her face. 

V smiled before biting softly on N in the neck in a way that made more than one person blush. 

“HEY! BITE ME!” Uzi yelled in jealousy as V took her fang from N’s neck, the young man moaning weirdly and blushing. Did… Did it somehow feel good? 

V caressed Uziko’s cheek and dropped a quick, bloody kiss on it. “Okay. Next time, it’s you.” 

All-Might raised a hand, as he really needed an explanation on what the fuck just happened. 

“Tobita?” 

“Oh, sorry! My mutation requires me to drink some fresh blood to be fully functional.” V said, fakely sheepishly as she looked at her partners in life and licked her lips. “So I asked for some. That’s all.” 

Enzuku raised a thumb before getting attacked by Uziko, who was jealous, but unsure if she was jealous of V practically kissing N like that, or because she would have enjoyed that. 

All-Might decided that he wasn’t paid enough for this and wondered if the Teacher could give him one of his flasks. He needed a drink.

Kaminari felt like a man dying of thirst watching a man drown. Damnit, N. Two girlfriends, one who was full on gothic/emo style, as if she were a queen of the dark arts, and the other was in a skintight suit, with warning bands on her tights and her chest. Just like N, she had also asked for a crossed visor. 

“So… How do you want us to do this?” The electric man asked before noticing the sexy girl with glass was now replaced by N, his wings grandly open. “... The fuck?” 

“Oh, yeah, the second part of my mutation. I can turn into the last person I drank blood off. So I propose we hit the sons of bitches from above.” V explained with a sadistic smile before carrying the bridal style Kaminari. Kaminari, who wasn’t absolutely blushing at the situation.

“Do you actually know how to fly?” 

His scream was drowned out by V taking off. She had only drunk one full sip from N’s neck. It meant her mutation would only last for a few minutes. So, as much as she would have enjoyed the sky, she couldn’t allow herself to waste time. 

Once she was above the building, she then jumped both feet and dropped like a rod of god through the roof. 

“WHAT THE FUCK?!” Sato said, but kudos to him, he was already biting some sugars to get ready for a fist fight.

V threw Kaminari at Tokoyami. If he were a creature of darkness, the thunder man was a good counter. 

“Hello, Villains. You aren’t facing someone who thinks All-Might is the best hero by making everyone feel safe.” V loved her theatrics after all. There was a reason she went along with Lizzy’s plan for the prom. Well, the first part at least. 

She dodged playfully Sato’s first punch, as her body suddenly turned back to normal, letting her smile, and her fangs appeared. 

“I am more of an Endeavor fan. I want villains to know when they see me.” V dropped on the ground and, with her vastly superior agility, climbed on Sato’s back.

“I want them to know they are FUCKED.” Sato felt several blades on his throat as V went for the kill instantly. You could love drama and be efficient. 

Shouto revised his opinion on V. She had good taste about heroes. 

Tokoyami slammed Kaminari into the wall after Dark Shadow broke several pillars, revealing the steel beams inside of it. Kaminari had a strong quirk that would counter him, but Tokoyami was no slouch either and knew one or two things about electricity and how to redirect it correctly. 

However, as Kaminari fell unconscious, Tokoyami turned around to see V, who had just put the cuff on Sato. 

Both of V’s hands turned into blades, long and sharp blades. 

“Another poet of destruction, I see,” Tokoyami said as he advanced towards V, to her delight. Oh? The bird had guts. 

“How about we exchange some verses?” V went for a low stance. She had noticed how Tokoyami stayed on purpose in the darkest part of the room. Probably to increase his and Dark Shadow’s firepower. 

When the living quirk actually managed to parry her blades, V felt some excitement. Her blood seemed to boil. Oh. So that was what had happened to N. Propelled against a wall, V landed on the wall and used it to rebound faster against Tokoyami. She wanted to take him down! Let’s see how he would withstand her onslaught!

All-Might had his doubts about V. She hadn’t really cared about her partner, but logically speaking, Kaminari should have been able to stop Dark Shadow with a powerful alpha strike. The issue was that kind of tactic needed training and trust. 

He gave a brief look at the “Murder” Group, as he was going to call them now. Katsuji seemed like the most sensible of them, the most professional… And she smiled at the screen, a bit condescending. So, Kaminari’s performance didn’t convince her, as she would have done better. Enzuku was still caring about a moody Uziko, but considering he didn’t check on V… Either he didn’t care about V, or he trusted her fighting abilities. 

As All-Might knew Enzuku for about a year now and how he cared about everyone, it was most likely the second. 

On the screen, Tokoyami was slowly establishing himself as one of the powerhouses of the classroom, as Dark Shadow actually went toe to toe against V… Well, for an untrained eye. 

“V is going to win this, isn’t it?” Momo said as she appreciated the fight with an expert eye. 

Katsuji, nonchalantly, nodded. “Duh. They aren’t on the same level. Each hit is leaving a trace on our bird of darkness.” 

“It’s losing… Energy.” Asui approved. 

Thad was wondering… Could he actually block those attacks with his manly body? Until now, he had trained by using a machine that threw baseballs at him at full power. It wasn’t enough.

“Ojiro? You said you were up to some training?” 

The tailed man raised an eyebrow but nodded.

“I will need someone to hit my HARDENED BODY at full strength to get stronger.” Thad wasn’t going to be left behind. Last time, he had been powerless, and behind his smile was anger. Never again. 

He also looked at Asui and winked at the scary frog. “Also, you. I saw your kicks. I would love to get hit by them.”

“Is he flirting, or does he not understand what he just said?” Mineta asked telepathically of Mina, who seemed to know him from before. 

“To quote Uziko, bite me. With him, both are probable. I would be more on the flirt side. Thad likes nightmarish eldritch girls.”

Mineta nodded, this tracked… But then he noticed Asui, seemingly hesitating at the offer. She was probably very unused to that kind of offer. 

Finally, his thought got disturbed because V had finally managed to break Dark Shadow, who had retreated inside Tokoyami. The bird boy had wisely surrendered. 

“Heroes, win. Congratulations.” All-Might would have personally docked a few points on V’s performance, but… Clearly, her appearance and her quirk made it easier for her to inspire fear rather than love. 

Her following the path of the Pillar of Fear made sense. A duo between Enzuku and V would be actually interesting. 

“This fight was interesting. Tokoyami? Good job on fighting as you did. However, I would say that V probably got lessons from a private teacher and a good one.” All-Might knew his job after all. V’s move seemed animalistic, but they were all calculated behind each of her steps. 

She smiled tenderly and nodded happily. “Yep! My dad, Danjiro! He said he learned how to fight when he was at hero school, and continued. I am still losing against him from time to time.” V pouted on that last part. This actually surprised her friends. So, she was the battle maniac? Always the quiet ones. He should warn Enzuku about that. 

All-Might nodded. Another hero he didn’t know? It wasn’t impossible after all. However, considering V’s skill and her strength… He should check on him. This Danjiro seemed like a man who could teach the kids a thing or two about fighting. 

“Well. Time for the third fight. Honestly, you are all acting quite well for the first time. You will see, you will improve dramatically with time and experience. But I will say this. You are more than ready to actually fight some villains. Not the strongest, of course, but regulars? I believe you’d win.”

Everyone nodded as they were already discussing the various fights. Enzuku was already showing the drawing of V’s fight against Dark Shadow, pointing out ideas on how to improve the living quirks' ability so she wouldn’t have to protect Tokoyami. 

“Now, the third villain team: Koda and Kirishima.” 

Thad stood up, and the dingo growled in excitement. His three eyes on the left seemed to recognize him, and they started to shine for a second, before Koda calmed him down. 

Oh. Thad had an idea of who the dingo was. Thank god Lizzy wasn’t here, or it would have hunted her. Also, thank god they were on the same side. 

“As for the heroes, it will be Ojiro and Mineta.” 

Mineta had his suit modified: No one would have wanted a hero with a diaper. In hindsight, he approved the Support Course student who refused that. He should thank her afterwards. 

Meanwhile, Kirishima was wearing something not unlike an American football player, with the Texas University symbol on it. 

“... Texas? Really?” 

“My model could have gone pro if he didn’t go to the army,” Thad explained before cracking his knuckle, “By the way. I don’t hold back, even with friends.” 

Mineta sighed. After all, strength wise, Kirishima was the only one on par with N. It meant he was probably able to punt him across two or three blocks. 

… Wait. This was a fun idea. Mineta sized Ojiro’s tail, calculating something in his head. 

This could work. 

“Dean is going to be patrolling in the building. He is an excellent guardian.” Koda said to his teammate, as he was already hardening with his quirk and was taking out a pillar. Perfect weapon choice.

“Good. We will defend the bomb. No offense to Mineta, but he would get folded in a fight against us. If he had been the villain, and us the attacker, we would have been in deep shit.” Thad accurately said. “And Ojiro is fast. Their best bet is to get past us and touch the bomb.” 

Koda nodded timidly before getting slapped between the shoulders by Thad. “Don’t worry, bro. We will get this. Can you get some rats to help us?” 

Koda nodded, almost blushing, as his teammate seemed like everything he wanted. Full of certainty, devoid of fear. 

“I will do my best.” 

“Good. Now, a good WARCRY! We are the COOL KIDS!” 

Uziko appreciated Thad's over-the-topness. He had been his first crush for a reason: He was kind, cool, and he had this charisma heroes often had. He would certainly be a second All-Might in due time. 

“Eh. He is not bad for an idiot.” Katsuji said with actually some friendliness in her voice. She could appreciate that in someone. 

Dean the Dingo was hunting. His sense of smell was locked on his prey. The instant they would be in his line of sight, he would stun them and then bring them back to the little master! 

Sniffing around, the dingo was on the hunt and … Suddenly felt something sticky on his feet. Did… Did he walk into some crap?

Wait, no. It was too squishy. 

“WOOOOOOH” 

The canidae howled as he noticed he was trapped… And blinked as he saw Ojiro with Mineta on his back, running in the hallway. Too far to stun them. The dingo, angrily made more noise against such a bullshit ability!

“... I’m not going to lie, I was skeptical about your balls being that strong,” Ojiro told Mineta, who nodded his head.

“Don’t worry, everyone has the same reaction. The bad part is that it won’t be as useful against KirishiThad.” 

“Why that?” 

“I fully expect him to simply walk with part of the floor attached to him. It will slow him down, but it won’t stop him.” Mineta winced as honestly, they didn’t have that many opportunities to win this. 

“Not to mention Koda is a powerhouse on his own. Thankfully, he is still quite shy.” Ojiro pointed out, while hoping Koda wasn't like V, who was all shy outside of fighting or flirting with Uziko and Enzuku.

Thankfully for them, Koda was a very nice person who didn’t want to traumatize his opponents and classmates.

However, Ojiro and Mineta completely forwent the discretion and any attempts at it as they noticed the various rats acting out as sentries, squeaking when they noticed the duo. 

“So… We need to take down Thad, but we have no realistic way of doing that. I can hit hard, but I’m not sure I can hit that hard.” 

“I simply need you to throw me. Believe in me.” Mineta said with a smile. With his build, he could never be a hero who inspires fear in his enemies or peace of mind in people he needed to save. 

However, he could be something else entirely. 

Ojiro smiled at the small teen, and they reached the top floor. 

Thad was there, with Koda, lifting one pillar as if it were a pipe. 

“... So. How do we do this, dudes? Are you coming at me? Passing us?” The muscular teen with the positive attitude said, while walking towards them, which turned into a sprint as if he were Conquest being told to slap a kid to the ground. 

His first swing should have been considered illegal, but Ojiro and Mineta dodged by going low. 

Both nodded to each other as Thad was already swinging back at them. Mineta took two balls off his head. 

He didn’t need a lot of strength. He needed dexterity. A funny thing to know about Mineta was that he was a dart champion back in his hometown. So, as Thad swung, Mineta did something incredibly dangerous and seemingly idiotic as Ojiro threw him… At Thad. He went into close contact. 

Thad had expected Ojiro to do that, not Mineta. The teen was obviously shaking, but stood his ground. His balls hit Thad’s armpits with pinpoint accuracy before Mineta rolled a bit further and watched Thad’s movement suddenly become sluggish.

“Nice move! Didn’t expect that!” Thad appreciated the idea as it pointed out even more ways he could be taken down… Him or one of his friends. 

Enzuku was still drawing the fight, and he stopped, thinking. Could he break through one of Mineta’s balls if he were hit as Mineta managed to hit Thad?

Could they be used to stop V’s blades?

Could it prevent J from using her explosions? 

They should try that one day!

However, Mineta was still on his guard because what he had hit was Thad’s suit. Not his body. It immediately meant Thad could still move, and that now he was focusing on… Well, him. 

The Disassembly Drone discovered what Thad’s leftover ability was. The drone had always been fast and flexible, even for a worker drone back on Copper-9. This carried over to here, and even in this rock hard form, he rushed powerfully, like a colossus, towards Mineta. 

“OOOMF!” Mineta felt as if a truck had hit his ribs, before cracking a wall under impact. Thad looked a bit worried.

“Oh fuck. Sorry mate, I didn’t expect to hit that hard!” 

“Don’t worry. That’s what a bait is.” Mineta said, despite being down for the count. Still, he raised a thumb. 

His job had been to slow down Thad for a second. 

Ojiro had continued to rush toward the prize. Koda tried to raise his fist to fight him, but Ojiro’s superior mobility meant that Koda wasn’t an effective guard. The young mutant clearly wasn’t weak, but he wasn’t a fighter. He didn’t have the spirit in him. 

Thad tried to throw his pillar at Ojiro, who dodged with a smile. When the attack was expected and big, it was simple for someone as agile as him to actually avoid it completely. 

“The heroes win! Congratulations!” 

All-Might stared at his students in approbation. 

“Remember, strength and destruction are always an asset in our field. However, you will meet people like Mineta from time to time. Their quirk might not seem strong at first. However, they only need to have one crazy ability to be actually terrifying.” 

Mineta was still resting on a chair, with Thad looking over him approvingly. It had been manly to sacrifice himself to let his team win!

“As an example, I remember that one terrifying villain I have fought had a quirk that seemed very dumb at first, but was highly terrifying. He could control milk.” 

Everyone raised an eyebrow, and All-Might became very serious.

“Do you know how many people take milk in their breakfast? He was one of the most powerful hostage takers that I knew. He could have technically filled my lungs with my own breakfast if I weren’t someone drinking coffee in the morning.” 

Oh. OH. The realization dawned on them. 

“Never underestimate a quirk because it seems weak in battle. You will always meet an insane person who weaponizes their quirk in the craziest way possible. People with quirks like Mineta’s aren’t the ones who will beat up the villain, but as a hero, if one of my teammates is the ultimate trapster, able to neutralize villains as efficiently as he did… I would feel way better on the field.”

Everyone took note, even J. It was true she was focusing a bit too much on her explosions as of late. However, as N had shown her back on the beach, she had way more. She could have used a rocket that had lasted for a few seconds. A flash grenade. Even her EMP, with its lasting blue light, would have been actually useful to spot Asui in the dark. 

Utility. 

The following match ended quite fast, because of a certain someone with a lot to prove. 

Shoji and Sero were playing the villains, but they were facing Jiro and Shouto.

“Can you actually pinpoint them, Jirou?” Shouto asked as he remembered how his father looked on TV. He always had sidekicks covering his side, complementing his own skills. 

The punkette nodded before stomping the ground and got a 3d picture of the building and of their classmate. 

“Yeah, they are there. Why?” 

“Because I don’t want to burn them or the bomb by mistake and fail the exercise,” Shouto said as he concentrated his fire on his finger. Just like he saw his dad do countless times on YouTube. Concentration, precision. 

Fire was one of the most dangerous things in the world, and you had to be careful when you used it. Endeavor showed that to utmost precision, his fire was so hot it couldn’t actually propagate well, as it instantly burned the material, preventing further ignition. 

Shouto clawed at the building, slicing its front. Only the front. Shit, he still needed more firepower but his body could only support that much heat for now. However, if he used his mother’s quirk… Maybe he could reach a higher temperature?

But then again, could he truly attract Endeavor’s attention if he wasn’t using only and fully his quirk?

The facade of the building crumbled in front of him and Jirou. 

“Grab on to me. We will reach them now.” Shouto Himura said calmly. Thankfully, she obeyed, and then, Shouto jumped, using his fire to propel himself and her higher. He wasn’t at his dad’s level yet, able to fly.

But one day he would. 

Shoji and Sero weren’t weak, but for the second time in the exam, they were met by an actual good teamwork, which surprised them and hit them fast too. 

In the end, the only fight won by the villains was the last. Momo and Mina used the building and their quirks to trap the hell out of it. Tooru’s invisibility didn’t mean a lot when Momo created bags of glitter in the hallway, revealing her. As for Iida… Being fast and strong was nice. The issue was that booby trapping the alleys was the best way to turn that against him. Namely, with Momo and Mina creating a claymore, loaded with sticky acid to make him slip on the ground. Afterward, the girls would jump on him together until he yielded. 

At the end of the day, students were hurt, limping for some but all in all… Most were happy. 

The fights had been fun and had given them a lot of thought. With Enzuku’s drawings, they could even rethink what exactly happened each time and how they could have done things better. 

They all began to write down their suggestions about what they needed to complement their suits and designs.

As an example, Uziko asked for a weapon since, apparently, railguns were a bit overkill. Then she thought about it and replaced that with a license for a support weapon made at home. 

Once again, she was often annoyed at her dad for being… Him. However, Khan was genuinely a good engineer, and he could probably work with her and Nori on a variant of the railgun that was weaker and more adapted to the heroic job. She could then test it with her mom. Uziko was always amazed to see how her mom was good with weapons. Probably inherited that from her. 

V asked for a pouch to stock up on blood. Yes, she liked to bite and drink from N and Uziko… But she needed to make sure her hunger didn’t get the best of her. Good lord, what kind of mess could she have been if she had been suppressing her blood hunger constantly?!

All-Might smiled as he watched them go home, in his real form. The kids were good. He had faith in this new generation. Even if he was badly injured, he was happy to have them grow in a better world than he did, so they could grow to their full potential before facing trials as he did. 

Well, he still had to grade their performance now. 

Power Loader was screaming in despair as he was doing Aizawa’s paperwork. WHY DID HE TAKE THAT BET?! Aizawa was notorious for avoiding any kind of risks, anything he wasn’t certain of. He should have known about this! 

He watched the new projects from his first years on the side and approved a few. He liked the idea one of them had submitted to him: Rather than go immediately into creation, they could at first get their hands on broken things to fix them and make them better. 

This was something he liked to do too. He did things like that, too, when he had time. Honestly, it was nice to have some sane students for once. In hindsight, maybe he didn’t have the girl with enough brains to build a laser/railgun. On the other hand, he didn’t have to worry about a crazy girl making insane weaponry in his classroom. 

“More drones to repair tomorrow? We will have fun. I think working on what’s left of the 0 pointer could be a fun project.”

Chapter Text

Chapter 6: School Life

“So… How are everyone's parents?” Enzuku asked his girlfriends, as they were enjoying a Saturday together. His mom had almost killed him through hugs, as she thought he was simply not interested in romance. Not that there was anything wrong with that, but she hoped for grandchildren one day.

“Well, the main big difference is that I have my mom,” Uziko said as she was drinking her own bubble tea with delight. Her other hand was locked with V’s hand as a vengeance for not having been bitten during the exercise. “As a result, Dad is actually better. He still loves his work and doors, but Mom keeps him grounded.” 

“Yey!” Enzuko was as joyful as ever as he watched the two women of his life blush together. It was a spectacle he could watch all day. Uziko, trying to be assured while she was actually sweating, and V being a bit more like at the manor, when she was a shy servant. The way she was blushing under her big glasses was just adorable. 

“As for me… They are adorable dumbasses.” V said, with clear endearment in her voice, as she held Uziko’s hands tighter and reached for N’s too. “They are my adoptive parents, but… Well, they are technically ‘villains’. But they are as villainous as… Well, have you ever watched Phineas and Ferb?” 

Both of her lovers nodded, thankfully.

“They are as villainous as Doofenshmirtz. Dad works on the side as a gym trainer, and Mom is an ethical hacker. Meaning, she gets paid to breach into corporate defenses. My aunt often hires her because she has issues with rats or something.”

Nedzu had already broken a sacred vow he had taken years ago for this battle. He had once promised never to drink coffee with energy drinks, as the last time he did, the Australians went to war with their wildlife and lost. 

Then again, it was Australia, so it might actually, maybe, be unrelated. Maybe. 

WHY. WHY DID THE HPSC SUDDENLY HAVE FIREWALLS HE COULDN’T HACK?! EVERY BREACH HE WAS THINKING OF WAS ALREADY PROTECTED. 

Seriously, how many people did she hire to perfect that firewall?!

Hinata appreciated her coffee as she watched the rat try the HPSC’s new defenses. Aaah, good. 

Yes, Nedzu was technically a good guy. No, Hinata refused to let him access her databases because it was a confidential database for a reason. Why the hell would she let an unrelated person to her organization access her stuff? 

If Nedzu wanted her stuff, he should work with her, not aside from her. 

“As for me… Well, Inko is an adorable mom, and my dad, Hisashi, is super smart.” Enzuku explained.

It was nice for them to finally have an actual day when they could catch up on what happened to everyone and rest a bit. The last month had been quite eventful, after all. Uzi, V, Thad… Really, a lot of people from his past. From their past. 

The three of them didn’t need to outright say it, but as they spent time together, laughing, teasing each other. Living.

They were finally living the life stolen from them, so long ago. 

A life they would be ready to defend this time, more than ever. No more secrets. No more lies. 

Well, at least among them. While Enzuku wanted to explain the situation to All-Might, V and Uziko were less enthusiastic about the subject. Namely, they had no evidence to support their story. 

Why would All-Might believe in their story of reincarnation, or them wanting to erase the Solver once and for all? 

As All-Might ended his call with Id0l and Crawler, checking on them, David, and Melissa, Yagi felt as if someone said something that was actually dumb. 

Still, it was fun to know reincarnation existed and so did parallel universes, thanks to the two former vigilantes. 

He was also very happy to learn that Id0l’s mechanical limbs were functional. The two vigilantes more than deserved their rest, even as they had wanted to help him against All For One.

Yagi winced as his wound ached once again. 

The price had been steep. However, if he was the only one to pay the price, it was all the better. 

“So… It’s confirmed, Uzi?” Nori asked her daughter as she was working in her workshop with her dad. They didn’t do that as often as Nori would have liked, but it was nice to have them working together for once. “You found some others?” 

“Yep, but maybe because they were Disassembly Drones, they didn’t have ‘parents,’” Uzi confirmed as she was working on the energy source of her weapon. She had to admit, her dad’s idea of using valves, acting as doors for the power, was genius. “Only Thad had his parents, and he was a Worker Drone, too. As for the Teacher… I didn’t really ask.” 

Nori sat down. Khan and her literally met by chance after all, and until that point, both expected to be alone. Her days as the HPSC’s sniper were long gone… But still. She had actually liked the whole “lone wolf” period of her life. She looked awesome on the job! 

Still. If second gen like Uzi had their parents… Nori wondered. Was Yeva alive? 

She could only hope and think of a way to signal to her that she was alive. 

“So, today, we are going to draw, young people!” Midnight said with a huge smile, as all of her students were sitting in front of a small canvas. They weren’t going to use big ones because it would be a bit too much for a novice, “But who here can tell me why you have arts as part of the hero course?” 

Enzuku raised a hand immediately. 

“Because drawing is awesome?” 

“Not exactly, but nice try.” 

Uziko rolled her eyes fondly while V actually chuckled softly. Katsuji simply sighed, exasperated.

“Because we need to be able to draw criminals if necessary, or a building layout if necessary.” This was actually Iida who answered, as he had already had this discussion with his family. 

“Oh. That makes more sense.” Enzuku said before getting ready to draw. “So what’s our first lesson?” 

“Free lessons. I want to determine your skills and who needs tutoring and who needs to actually learn how to use a pencil the correct way. Himura, no, you don’t hold the paintbrush that way. Besides, it’s only drawing, no painting today.” Midnight said with an amused smile, as Shouto nodded emotionlessly and put down the paintbrush. 

It was not his favorite subject, to be honest. 

Enzuku smiled before taking the pencil and beginning to move on the canvas with ease. When he was a Disassembly drone, he liked to draw despite receiving no training at all. This time, he had years of training. Years of practice and passion. 

He also knew exactly what he wanted to draw. Namely, V and Uziko, standing up beside him, as he was sitting with his legs crossed, on a sofa. All of them were smiling.

Midnight, behind him, and with her mind in the usual place, wondered if he was imitating a certain meme or if he was innocently drawing himself and his girlfriends. Also, why was J missing? From the rumors she had gathered, she was part of their polycule, no?

Meanwhile, Uzi was drawing N and V as vampires, smiling in a creepy yet seductive way.

V took her time but drew a picture from old times. A picture from her nightmare, maybe, but one she felt the urge to actually express, maybe to exorcise it from her.

Namely, herself, amidst the massacre of Earth.

Her biggest nightmare.

The fact that deep down, she may have enjoyed it, and that monster was maybe her, and not what Cyn forced her to do… 

Midnight mentally made a note to check if she was seeing a therapist and to assign her one if not. She was very, very relieved to discover the young girl was seeing one already, specialized in quirks deemed as monstrous. Thank god, if needed, she would have recommended Vlad’s. 

Still, it was funny to see everything they were drawing, as it revealed their dexterity, their skills, but also some of their thoughts. It was her way to see which students needed special help and make sure they got it. 

Still, it was nice to have them so passionate in her class, as she remembered the old days, when Mic, Oboro, and she had their fun pushing Aizawa out of his comfort zone. Their young days. She missed them. 

“Remember, young people. I want a drawing of your choice, but I will use it as a reference for my expectations. So do your best because I will know if you hold back. I always know when they fake it.” 

Katsuji gave her a stare, wondering if she was serious, but considering her suits… Maybe? She didn’t really want to know. 

Still, it was nice to enjoy a class peacefully.

“You are really skilled with a knife, Miss Tobita.” V smiled, blushing slightly at the compliment, as she was cutting with precision the carrots for lunch. A lesson Nedzu imposed on the first years: Each day, a different class was assigned to help Lunch Rush with Lunch. Sure, the hero could actually prepare the food alone, but they wanted to make sure all students were at the very least decent at cooking, if only to help during relief efforts. 

All-Might’s burgers were still a known delicacy that lifted hearts and spirits, as an example. 

“Thanks, sir. My mom taught me. She always told me about the most important ingredient: Love.” 

“That’s a cute answer. However, the real answer is more passion and skills. Like your friend, young Bakugou.” 

Everyone stared at Katsuji, who was cooking with the book open, following every instruction with dedication. It was precise instructions, loud and clear. Perfectly followed. 

Meanwhile, N did it more carefully and slowly as he wasn’t used to preparing food, and as for Uziko… 

“Congratulations, Miss Uraraka. You are not allowed in my kitchen until I have understood how you managed to do that on my meat.” 

Lunch had one question: He was very attentive to the freshness of the food. How did it spoil under her hands? 

Uziko stared at her hands and chuckled timidly. Yeah, there was a reason why at home, neither she nor Nori was the one to take care of cooking. They didn’t know why, but the Solver inside of them made any food they tried to cook rot. Eating was fine, but any attempt to process food aside from making the water boil ended in a disaster. 

As she sat outside, Uzi was nonetheless happy to see she wasn’t alone. Asui was there too. Because of her quirk, her hands were almost always against the ground, and it was deemed a hazard by Lunch Rush. 

So, the frog sat this one out, literally. 

“So… Asui… How are you today?” 

“Fine.” Asui didn’t say anything else, preferring to open a math notebook, trying to work on it clearly.

… Good lord. Did Uzi find someone even worse at small talk than her? Nonetheless, Uzi was nothing if stubborn. 

“Do you want some help with that?” 

Asui stared at her with her big, round eyes, not revealing one thought behind them. The frog mutant was the definition of “keeping it simple”. The only eccentricity in her clothing was her big, dark green bowtie. 

Nonetheless, she pushed the book between them. Uziko smiled at her before doing her best to explain to her classmate the exercises they had to prepare for the next day. 

Thad smiled at them while helping Enzuku with his cooking. Yep. It was nice to develop friendships with other people, but sometimes, Thad missed the others. He missed the friends with whom he could talk about football and baseball.

Also, his second regret? No girl of his age. No offense to the girls in the class, but while he appreciated Asui’s bloodthirstiness, he would feel bad actually flirting with her, considering he was mentally older than her… By a lot. 

Oh well… Maybe in a few years, if she were still free, he would invite her on a date. He could wait, if needed. Besides, he wasn’t the only bachelor in their group: Katsuji was in the same situation. This was one of the few things that helped him in his loneliness. He wasn’t truly alone. 

Oh well. Time to get back to cooking. “... N&M, my friend. You don’t put butter after the meat. Otherwise, you will ruin it.” 

Also, while Enzuku had a look that would probably make Uziko and V bleed out if he were wearing a naked apron, the man was truly a novice in the field. Yeah, no. He understood why Katsu-J needed some help making sure the idiots weren’t fully idiots. Not to mention, they were still in their honeymoon stage. 

“So, this is the famed 1-A? Ugh. I don’t see why you guys would be, like, the superior class.” 

The Drone gang and Mineta were peacefully eating the products of their cooking when suddenly a group came to them, led by a blonde girl, with what were clearly fake cat ears. It instinctively triggered some of Uzi’s bones in attack mode.

To be fair, it was the only mode they had, but still. 

Before she had the time to qualify the newcomer as a female dog, Thad shut her up before Katsuji and V rolled their eyes. Sure, they were the major group of the 1A, but they could hardly speak for everyone.

“... And you are?” 

[We are the 1-B, the other hero class, dumbass] It was the blonde girl’s companion, a lady with long dark indigo hair with blunt bangs. Two horns on her hands, her mutation quirk was very evident, but the way she spoke, with a thick russian accent, made Uzi bonk her head violently against the table, to everyone’s surprise.

NO. NO. NO. Her friends were here, and it was nice. Her mom was here, super nice. Her dad was here, kinda nice. J was here, and it didn’t impact her mood. The Solver/Cyn was here and it sucked. But she would take two Solvers rather than THEM. 

So, while Uzi was bonking her head against the table, the girls presented themselves. 

“Raizo Monoma, but I prefer Lizzy. Leader of the 1B!” 

V did a spit take as she said her name, but more importantly, her nickname. Oh god. Now, she was fearing the name of the indigo girl.

[Doll Tsunotori. I accept Doll.] 

Thad smiled at them with a charming smile and winked at them playfully. Yey! Some friends!

“The name is Eijiro Kirishima. Also known as Thad.” 

Lizzy and Doll had the decency to actually freeze on the spot. Mineta took the opportunity to imitate his friend. 

“Thad, please, don’t forget to introduce your friends.” 

“...Mineta? Considering how close they are, they are probably together.” Thad wanted Mineta to avoid a situation where he would only embarrass himself. Thankfully, Doll and Lizzy nodded quietly, making Mineta sob silently, as once again, he was shot down fast. 

Thad, slowly conforted with a pat on Mineta’s back, before continuing. 

“The girl bonking her head is Uziko.” Now, Lizzy was looking purely murderous at her old nemesis. This idiot was the reason they all died! Before, it was a matter of pride! Now it was personal!

“The name is V. I date these two. Please don’t be hostile?” V tried to say, as she was on friendly terms with Lizzy, but Doll glared at her, making her scream very slightly, and this time, Uziko growled. Hey! It was her robot! 

“As for me, I am Enzuku! I am happy to meet you.” 

“... The first chance we get to crush you, we WILL.” Lizzy growled before pointing at V. “Except this one. She is the only one who has the potential to join us.” 

[Only after I am done with her, Lizzy.] Doll still had a grudge, but on the other hand, she had things to discuss with Uzi. Thankfully, no one should be able to speak Russian, aside from her and Uzi. [Hey, Uzi. Is it here too?] She obviously spoke of the Solver. 

Uzi groaned but nodded. Doll approved of her groaning. Well, at least she knew Uzi’s dad was here (there couldn't be that many Khans with a specialty about doors) and, with all probability, her mom too. Doll might not like Uzi a lot, but their moms would be happy to reunite. 

Finally, she still had a vengeance to take against the Solver. The idiots in front of her were the only people who could help her. Stiiiiill, she could punch them in competition at school. 

However, before they could say anything more, two giant hands grabbed the idiots and bonked them on the head. 

“YOU TWO. YOU STOP LOOKING FOR TROUBLE OR I’LL KICK YOUR ASSES AGAIN!” Itsuka yelled at the two popular girls, who winced at the impact. Uzi decided she liked this ginger girl, “Don't mind these idiots. I just hope for a friendly rivalry between our classes!”

“Sure! I love doing anything!” Enzuku said, and Uziko had a terrible idea. A very wonderful and terrible idea. 

“You know N. You should even play the villain against them if we have a fight.” 

Katsuji stared at Uziko and whispered, “Oh, you sly corporate spy who works for the HR.” 

The two girls stared at N, all smiles and sunshine, but sheepish.

“But Uzi, I am not supposed to do that.” 

“We have no issue with that, you know? Do your worst, you… Happy… Dumb face.” It was hard to be angry at him. 

N beamed happily, “I will!” 

In hindsight, Lizzy and Doll should have expected something when Uzi went into one of her dark, long, and evil laughs. 

Nedzu wondered if she was somehow related to him as a result. 

The students were still wondering how the Teacher seemed to appear out of nowhere. They weren’t sure if they were simply unable to perceive him or if he was trolling and testing them by teleporting. Aizawa adjusted his glasses on his nose. His quirk dried his eyes after all. It would have been illogical not to have some glasses made to help fight against that, by easing the burden on them. 

“So, Today is the class election. First, we designate the candidates, and then you elect them democratically.” He wasn’t going to let them do it as if they were amateurs. Because yes, there was a difference between an anarchist and an anomist. The first considered that no one was above anyone else, while the second wanted the absence of laws. The distinction was useful. 

Besides, Aizawa could hardly enjoy his own coffee if they were arguing like idiots, and it degenerated into a full blown battle among the students.

Enzuku thought about it and decided not to present himself. He wasn’t really a leader, he was more of a follower. 

“Well, of course, it should be I, Katsuji, who should be the class representative! As one of the top students, one of the strongest and the most deserving of leadership…” 

“I vote for the next candidate.” Enzuku, V, and Uziko said immediately, cutting short J’s speech and making her red with anger. They could actually see some smoke coming out of her ears.

“Hey!” 

“We are kidding, Katsuji,” V said, chuckling softly while Uziko gestured that in her case, she wasn’t exactly joking.

All of her friends (and acquaintances in Uziko’s case) just gave her a stare, clearly meaning they weren’t going to let her be a leader for a moment. 

“Well, I was thinking of presenting myself.” Shouto Himura stood up, fired up all of a sudden. If he remembered correctly, his dad had been his class rep three years in a row. He should begin to shoulder responsibilities right now. 

Iida and Momo, understanding the momentum was getting taken, raised their hands, ready for the fight.

“Good, four candidates. Meaning we will do it in two turns. First turn, you have to hope you made a good enough impression on your classmates. Because only two will go on to the next turn. The one with the most votes becomes the class rep, and the second becomes the vice-rep. Any questions?” 

No one raised their hands as the situation unfolded. It was time to vote now… The current candidates are vastly different from one another. 

Straight and serious but overbearing, Iida. No offense to him, but teens were not always fans of rules. They understood why they were important, but they also needed someone with the needed flexibility. 

Shy but smart Momo, they thought she was also doing her best, clearly. She simply was a bit too wet behind her ears, probably due to being coddled in her childhood. Sometimes, children had to make mistakes to learn things, after all.

J, abrasive, haughty, but who constantly thrived to outdo everyone. Sure, she had lost against Asui, but at this point, no one wanted to meet Asui alone in the dark. More seriously though, while she seemed a bit aloof, she was highly respectful of order and followed instructions to a T. 

Himura’s demonstration during the Heroic Exercise also left a big impression on everyone as he and Jiro were the fastest in their exercise. Precise and powerful. 

In the end, Momo and Iida were defeated in the first round. To be fair, they weren’t bad. They were simply not yet people’s people. 

“Hey, don’t worry. At least it means you have more time to do what you prefer to actually do.” Jiro said, hiding a smirk as she upheld her head with her hands. For the love of rock, she couldn’t understand why someone would tie themselves to a position, even if it had powers. She preferred to be free to do her own stuff. 

“... I didn’t see it like that. The most powerful should protect the weaker. That’s how I was raised.” The Yaoyoruzu were one of the richest and most influential families in Japan, but they were also behind a lot of societal programs to foster a better reputation for mutants, for example. 

“And? Following that logic, Enzuku should be the class rep. However, he is not suited for the position.” Uziko joined the discussion with a smile, balancing on her chair. She liked Jiro’s aesthetic, and while she wasn’t an adept of nightcore, she recommended a few metal bands to Uziko. That had been enough for the purple gremlin to add her in her friends list. 

“What about you? You could have presented yourself.” Momo still remembered how Uziko had acted during her own exercise after all. Her performance was only second to Shouto's. 

“Naaah. I am too subversive and badass to be an official leader. I am too dark for that!”

V gave her girlfriend a baffled look, clearly asking if she was serious and considering Uziko’s smile…

“I’m dating a dumbass.” 

“Sorry, V!” Enzuku said with a smile before head patting her. This made her either purring or growling, depending on who you asked. 

V bonked her head against the table. 

“I’m dating TWO dumbasses.” 

This made a lot of students chuckle during the small recess. 

“BITE ME!” 

“After school, with pleasure. I am sure Enzuku would also love to join~” 

“GAH!” 

It was also highly fun to see her favorite gremlin fall from the chair as she noticed V licking her lips in anticipation. Enzuku sighed but smiled at her nonetheless. This idiot could make her melt anytime with such an attack. Adorable idiot. 

“If the flirting is done, people, let’s move on to decide who will be the leader between Himura and Bakugou then.” The Teacher didn't ask. He stated, merely and purely. 

“Of course, it should be me. I am used to leading people and to accomplishing my goals. People know they can trust me because I never lie.” Katsuji said, lying as a marketing director, explaining how his aggressive campaign was perfectly fine. The legal team were obviously totally exaggerating their claims of potential extraordinary fines. 

“... I prefer to let my actions speak for me, rather than honey words.” Shouto took some words from one of his father’s interviews, knowing it was the best solution. Endeavor was the best hero, no matter what anyone said. 

Enzuku, not knowing why, felt the urge to punch Shouto. However, he simply voted for his old leader on instinct. 

Nonetheless, in the end, his vote was useless as Shouto won by a few votes. Katsuji would simply be his second-in-command. 

“Welcome, sidekick. Remember. You said anyone beating you technically had the right to give you orders.” Shouto said with a very, very small grin. 

“...Ribbit.” Asui realized Shouto was right.

“I HATE YOU ALL. EXCEPT THE ONES WHO VOTED FOR ME!” 

“I did!” No prize for guessing who said that.

“You don’t count, you are always nice!” J said to N before the Teacher took out the chalks. Suddenly, the classroom turned silent. No more talking. 

“Better. Since we have some time before going to the Support Department, we will use that time to study the difference between cops and heroes.” 

Everyone groaned slightly as they hated that. Good. The Teacher hated it too.

Mineta walked up to J as they were marching towards the craziest part of UA. Namely, the place where the insane were sane and where chaos was a constant. The Support Department. 

“... So… not too depressed?” 

“A bit. I have to admit that usually I would ask Enzuku or V to cheer me up, but…” She pointed at him as Uziko was holding his and V’s hands. They liked to switch who was in the center.

Mineta nodded. Yeah, being a third wheel wasn’t fun, and intruding on other people's time was rude. 

“That’s why I am talking to you.” 

“And me too!” Thad appeared quickly, and J smiled. The midget wasn’t a drone, clearly, but his heart was in the right place. Was he still sometimes checking the girls out? Clearly, but he had the merit to do it silently and not overtly. She blamed hormones. 

However, Mineta and Thad were nothing but supportive, always there to cheer her up, including her embarrassing defeat against Asui. Or… Right now. 

“Thanks, guys. It's simply… I kind of need a win. I am a winner, or so I thought. But recently, I keep either losing or being second.“

It bothered her a lot. It made her feel inadequate again, as if everything she was doing was only a cosmic joke to torment her. She wanted to do her best, but as time passed, she wondered if her best was even close to enough. 

She should be better, faster, stronger. 

“If it can console you, according to my contacts, one of the supporters is a cutie,” Mineta said with a comforting hand on her shoulder. Kirishi-Thad was kind enough to lift him up for that, even if he looked ridiculous. However, the ridicule cannot kill, as otherwise, Mineta would be dead for a long time. 

This actually perked up J as she stared at the midget, who apparently was making a database of every girl in school. Very creepy, yet corporate: the man would be an excellent support in the long run. 

“...Details?” 

“You asked for a black haired girl with a bowtie? There is one in the support department. She is considered a bit crazy, but the good kind. She likes guns and has a British accent, somehow.” Mineta was simply remembering what he had read. 

N and V, to Uzi’s confusion, materialized near him, suddenly very interested, and J caught Mineta by his shoulder. 

“Midget. Her name. Now.” Her face was devoid of any color because she tried her best not to hope. She didn’t want to hope. It was so hard to have it back, only for it to flicker away. Her emotions kept doing rollercoasters and she fucking blamed human hormones. 

But. Despite her intellectual reasoning and very possible realization, she needed to stop hoping so it would hurt less… Her heart was pumping enough blood to make a vampire crazy. 

So, Mineta gave the name-

Uziko was as surprised as everyone else as suddenly the three drones passed by Power Loader and the Teacher, both bickering about the paperwork someone had to do. 

Katsuji was lifted by a N who sparked some energy, and V had gone full feral cat, going as fast as possible. The three of them weren't going to be deterred by anything. 

“THERE!” J pointed out that her peripheral vision was one of her best assets in battle. Adding to that, she was also trained in speed reading to allow herself to work even better. 

BLONK!

The lab’s door exploded under impact as the three drones crashed into it, making the student, who was working on a destroyed robot from the entrance exam, jump off her chair.

“AAAAAH?!” 

The black haired girl, who wore a weird combination of dreadlocks yet with a bowtie, stared at the intruders in her room. She, in fact, pulled a support tool which was totally not a gun modeled on a Colt, and aimed at them in reflex. 

“WHO ARE YOU PEOPLE?!” She was panicking a bit due to the surprise ‘assault’... but didn’t expect the blonde pigtailed to cry almost immediately upon seeing her. Was the threat that scary?

Also, the boy had the decency to actually lift the door back into place. Nedzu had commissioned doors that could be easily reinstalled if the situation occurred, or rather when, considering the amount of explosions in the place.

V was the only one not too overwhelmed by emotions, so she inhaled to calm herself down and faced the inventor. 

“Hello Tessa… I’m… V.” 

Several blinks and a gun that was slowly lowered later, her big green eyes stared at the trio that landed in her room, and she let the gun hit the floor. 

“...Guys?” 

“I AM SO SORRY TESSA, SO SORRY, I DIDN’T MEAN TO-I-I NEVER WANTED YOU TO DIE!” Katsuji tackled her former mistress, and totally not a “crush”, on the ground, crying every bit of water in her body. 

“It… It’s okay, J. It’s okay.” Tessa said, before hugging her back, holding her dearest against herself. She wasn’t crying. She wasn’t crying of joy. She was a dignified young adult and… Oh, fuck it, she was crying with her drones. Her family. Because, after all, they were a part of her.

On the door of the lab was written ‘Hatsume Messa, future CEO of JCJenson IN SPAAAAAAAAAAACE!’.

Chapter Text

Chapter 7: Breathe in, breathe out.

Enzuku and V were smiling kindly at Katsuji, cradling against Messa and still crying while apologizing to her. Yeah, she was the one who had it the roughest after the gala. No offense to Tessa, but J was simply a bit too attached to her. Meanwhile, V could still carry on with hope because she had N… As for N, Cyn, in her sick mercy, actually shut down N’s consciousness when he was doing untasteful things or resetted him afterwards. 

J, meanwhile, had pretty much given up on everything. She had lost the most important person in her life and Cyn loved to have fun with her. Her brand of fun. It may have been why N’s optimism angered her so much back in the day.

The couple of Disassembly Drones let J have her special moment with their former mistress, who cuddled her tenderly. Messa was surprised to see them as humans, but now she was told who they were, well… It made sense, in a way. N was still as sunny as usual, and V was still her adorable, dorky librarian. As for J… Well, Messa actually liked the pigtails and her uniform a bit decontracted, as if she knew she was the boss. 

“...It’s okay, J. I know it wasn’t your fault.” She had roughly one decade or two, maybe, to internalize this event after all. That and also… “I am here as always. I wanted to tell you that every time Cyn brought me up. That was really weird.” 

Weirdly enough, it didn’t calm J as she continued to cry. Part of V wondered if she wasn’t using the situation to stay reaaaaaalllly close to Tessa. Eh. She could let her have that, especially as she was taking pictures to immortalize the moment… Or have blackmail materials. Same things, to be honest, when you were old friends such as her and J.

“But… How?” Tessa had a legitimate question after all, but it wasn’t the right time to answer it yet, namely because a lot of people were approaching.

“Yeah, long story. How about we tell you everything later, and we present you to everyone else? Like Uzi!” 

“... Uzi?” 

“V and N’s girlfriend, a gremlin,” J said while finally getting off Tessa and helping her lady to rise on her feet. 

“... Wait what?” Ok, that one was new to Tessa, but she decided to have her fun and take N’s pinchable cheeks and toy with them, “Our N is actually a lady killer? Oh my…” 

Of course, it was the moment the people chose to open the door and see a Messa in her top, modeling her body, close to Enzuku, and clearly seemingly flirting or teasing him. 

Mineta checked another box on his list. “Only one more, and Enzuku officially has the harem infinity gauntlet.” 

Uzi turned toward Mineta, burning with anger and the need to hit something hard. The midget decided very wisely to hide behind Thad. Uzi, who turned toward her drones, J and Messa, smiling as coldly as possible. 

“However, I do want an explanation on why you are touching my Enzuku.” 

Tessa looked at Uziko, from bottom to top, judging her. She wasn’t letting her drones be with someone she didn’t approve of. So, she released N from her embrace and got close to Uziko with a smile.

“I am an old friend of his. I have every right to hug him if I want. Same for V or Katsuji actually.” 

“Ooooh, another love triangle?” Mina wondered out loud, focusing fully on the situation. 

In the background, Power Loader thanked Aizawa for passing the drink, as he needed one. Freaking teenagers and their relationship stories. They weren’t that bad when they were young… AND THEY HAD MIDNIGHT IN THEIR CLASS. 

“BITE ME! And you don’t get to tell me it’s N or V’s job, this joke is getting old.” Uziko, like an adorable goblin, is trying to be a menace to the support. 

She didn’t expect to get pulled into a hug, either. “Daw! I knew they had good taste, but I wanted to be sure!” 

This time, it was Katsuji who was growling. Mina was already pulling out a notebook to try to make sense of the relationships in this group. 

“Kids. All, calm down. You will do that on your own time, after school.” Aizawa said calmly, as he didn’t want to lose more time than necessary. 

Uzi was trying to escape Tessa’s hug and was failing, as her friends were laughing.

Tessa sat down in her chair as N was making tea for everyone. Good lord, she had missed his tea, the smell, and more importantly, the taste.

“My lady.” N was still having a lot of old habits after all, as he poured a cup for everyone. Except Uzi, who got a cup of coffee with some cream and a smile drawn on it. She took it, still looking pissed but drinking it with delight. 

“So… Uzi and Thad?” Tessa asked as she pointed to the two former worker drones. “I vaguely remember the purple one. I could sometimes see when Cyn’s embrace was weaker or I was used as a cover.” 

“Cyn’s embrace?” All murder drones were actually a bit surprised by the choice of word. It seemed almost nice.

“Believe it or not, it was actually kind of nice inside of her. It was when I was yanked violently on the surface that it was painful.” Tessa explained, as she purred with delight, enjoying N’s tea after so long… While petting a J who was resting against her. Adorable.

“... Okay, that’s weird but okay. So… Uzi, I met N and the others on Copper-9. We fought Cyn and we died.” That was the really short version. Uzi also stared at J, with a look clearly meaning she was doing her a favor by leaving out the part about J working for Cyn.

Katsuji had the decency to give her a thumbs-up. Good. She knew her place. 

“And Cyn?” 

“She died too. Considering what my mom told me, however, Cyn had to switch bodies a few times since she appeared here, too. However, her core always managed to escape.” 

“That’s… Bad. Like, really bad.” Tessa knew that, at the very least. She didn’t want to remember that she technically caused the end of the world when she fixed Cyn. The robot had been such a cute gobber. When did everything go wrong? Was she that angry at humanity? That much of a monster, and they all failed to see it? 

“As for me, I am Thad. I didn’t have epic powers like Uzi and the others, but I am here too.” Thad also had to explain his presence after all, “But now, I am like the second strongest physically speaking with N.”

“Try to think of him as another N. It’s pretty accurate. With more self-confidence.” V explained, as she had Uzi on top of her knees, drinking her tea while hugging the moody purple haired girl. 

“As for me, I am Tessa, N, V and J’s former mistress.” Tessa explained, and Uzi was trying her best to remember that the real Tessa wasn’t the one from Copper-9 but the one from N’s memories.

“Hmm. At least, you have taste in weapons.” Uziko said tentatively, as she saw Tessa’s gun. Apparently, she managed to pass a gun as a support item because she constructed it. 

“Yeah… But I am not satisfied yet. Ballistic weapons are fun, but nothing beats a good old laser rifle or a railgun.” Tessa said, sighing as suddenly, she had Uzi’s interest. She liked big guns?

“Oh? What’s the issue?” 

“The power source and how to control it. Making a rifle that shoots once but hard is possible, but I want something that can be useful on the ground. One shot every once in a while only works for a sniper. Not in close combat. You would need to be really bad at close combat to get hit by such a weapon.” Tessa explained, massaging her eyes as she had so many nights on the subject, alone… Ignoring J’s nervous laugh about what she said. 

Uzi and V, however, didn’t miss that and smiled at her devilishly. 

“Did you hear about the girl who blew up a 0-pointer with a gun?” 

“That’s how I got the idea! God, I would love to speak with her!” Tessa groaned, wondering who said insane woman before noticing Uzi’s silly smile, as the coffee cream gave her a mustache.

“I am kind of a scientist myself. I would be more than happy to share blueprints with you, too.” Dafoe, out of this body.

“My second issue is also getting parts.” Tessa wondered if she had just found a new best friend, out of nowhere.

“Yaoyorozu can create them, and in the worst case scenario… Ever heard of Khan Corporation?” 

“... The insane door maker?” 

“Also, my dad. Weirdly good engineer, as long as it’s door-related. But the point is… I am loaded.” 

“...N, V, you have very good taste in a girlfriend.” 

“She tastes really good, too!” N said, stunning everyone as he sat near her, “What?” 

“...You should tell her that more in private, N,” Tessa said, chuckling, Thad approving as he sighed. He felt even more like the third wheel, now. Oh, he was happy Lizzy and Doll were here, and this Tessa girl seemed nice. However, considering how J was currently being with Tessa, he wouldn’t be surprised to see something bloom in the following weeks. No, he didn’t need to actually date someone. It simply felt weird to be the one left out. 

Before, he had J as another lone person. Not anymore. 

Still, he could feel happy for them. He would, Thad thought, train more to avoid being caught too often in the sugary mood. 

Tessa laughed, as suddenly, she no longer felt alone, stranded in a strange world without anyone, and only her knowledge of another world. 

Getting isekaied sucked when you weren’t overpowered… Or didn’t get a power boost from your former life like her drones, GODDAMNIT.

All-Might was happy to give some training to young people, even if it was in his skeletal form. Namely, it was nice to train with Enzuku.

While Yagi was weaker in his normal form, he was still no slouch, and the purpose wasn’t to make the young man increase in strength now, but actually to help him moderate the power Enzuku could use. 

Currently, the young winged man could use some sparks, increasing for a small instant his real abilities. However, while these bursts could surprise a lot of people, it still wasn’t enough. 

Adding to that, while Enzuku had fantastic instincts, it was never a bad idea to give more formal training to someone.

“Right, left!” Toshinori said, sitting on the side, as Enzuku was currently hitting targets thrown at him. For a very obvious reason, All-Might didn’t do boxing lessons with his heir the usual way. He liked not having broken bones. 

So, instead, they were working on the burst thing. Namely, training the young boy so he could do more of them, until one day, he can simply stay fully active in this state. 

They thought about creating a permanent state, using a few percent of One for All. However, with Enzuku’s reflexes, the burst idea was working way better and allowed him more flexibility. 

“You are doing great, my boy!” 

Yagi was happy to see him so focused on his lessons. Sure, Enzuku was always focused on them, but recently, the boy’s high spirit only increased. Maybe it was because he had so much to protect?

“Thanks, All-Might!” Enzuku said while punching faster at the different targets. Up, left, right, down!

Wing spin attack! 

“Are you trying to make sure you can impress your girls, young man?” Toshinori wasn’t above some teasing after all.

This actually surprised Enzuku enough for him to get hit in the face by a clay target. Thankfully, he had used another burst of energy to defend himself, and no harm was done. 

“Uh. Nice discovery. We will need to train your defense, too.” 

“Also, All-Might, it’s more I need to make sure to be as good as them rather than anything else…” Enzuku tried to explain sheepishly, while his idol nodded, “I don’t want to be left behind. I want to stay with them.” 

Note to self, send a message to his parents, as a teacher, to warn them to teach the young man about the bees if it hasn’t been done yet. 

“As long as you and the girls are responsible, I am happy for you.” 

“Thanks, All Might! Also, yes, I have to be strong enough to protect them, just as they would protect me!” 

“Not standing alone but with your friend, is that right?” Enzuku smiled while nodding vigorously his head, flying a bit to sit next to him.

Yagi had his face when he was thinking about the past.

“I wish I had that option back in the day. That was my issue, you know? Most of the people strong enough to stand by my side were born too late.” The old hero sighed. He was in his late fifties, and while he had friends… Well… They weren’t strong enough or adapted enough to fight against All For One.

“You didn’t have a team? I mean, everyone knows about David Shield and you!” 

“I speak about people who can fight alongside me, on the front line. I only had two of them. One of my worst enemies dismembered one of them, and the other almost died in the same fight. Still, thanks to them, I was able to defeat said villain.” All Might explained, as Enzuku was thinking about it. There was a reason why V and J trained as hard as him. They didn’t have the Solver Regeneration anymore. If they were hurt, they would bleed. It wouldn’t heal like before, pretty much instantly. 

“Yeah, I think I see your point,” Enzuku said, sitting by his mentor. All-Might had way more experience than him on the subject after all.

“But you, you don’t have to fight like me. You have your own brand of heroism, Enzuku. Have your friends, protect them and be protected by them.” He took the opportunity to fluff Enzuku’s hair. 

“Thanks, All Might,” Enzuku said with a smile. He didn’t like hiding things from him because the blonde hero was always there to boost his morale or simply be there to speak.

“Also, I can see you are hiding things from me, young boy,” All-Might said, making Enzuku stare at him with big, open eyes. “Everyone has their secrets. I simply want you to know that I know, and I will wait for you to be ready to discuss them.” 

This might seem dumb, but All-Might often saw how Enzuku seemed guilty at times. Guilty about something… Like a kid who stole candies from a shop. The #1 hero didn’t see what could make him feel like that, but considering Nedzu’s investigation and Naomasa’s quirk confirmed Enzuku wasn’t a secret villain/the offspring of All For One, or even the secret heir of a yakuza clan…

It was simply something weighing on his mind, and he could do his best to alleviate it. 

“...Thanks, All Might. I will tell you if… It becomes necessary. However, it’s something my group and I have to deal with.” 

Ah, so they did know each other before coming to school, and their reunion was a pleasant surprise for them. 

“Do not worry, Enzuku. I am always there for you, my boy.” 

All in all, All-Might felt like a good uncle, and Enzuku felt just so much better, as if everything was going alright after speaking with him. 

“ENZUKU!” The tall, balding man opened his arms to greet his boy with all of his might!

“DAD!” N happily obliged, even using his wings to hug his dad even better. 

Having an actual dad was also a fun experience for N. Namely, a parental figure he could relate to and who was concerned about his well-being. Sure, Hisashi wasn’t often there, but when he was… Well, N was very happy.

“So, how is school, Enzuku?” Both of them always took the time to speak with each other after all. Healthy communications, sharing hobbies… Simply be with one another. 

“Very fun! I made a lot of friends after all and… Well…” N still hadn’t said anything to his parents about V. It was a very recent development after all.

“... Did you make the young Uraraka cry?” Hisashi was a bit worried. Khan was a good boss and a good man. However, he had three berserk buttons, and everyone at work knew about them. Doors, Nori and Uzi.

“Oh, no! She is actually enjoying it too. It’s simply… We aren’t a simple couple anymore?” Enzuku tried to look away, as always when he was uncomfortable. Good lord, it was so easy to spot when their boy was lying, such as when he swore he didn’t stay up late to see Santa.

“... Explain?” Hisashi needed to know if he had to plan how to relocate them.

“We have another girlfriend? Her name is V, and Uzi also dates her.” N tentatively explained, wondering how his parents would react. Surprisingly, Hisashi simply shrugged. 

“As long as you make them both happy and both of them make you happy…” 

“And as long as you wait after you get a job before giving us grandchildren!” Inko yelled from the kitchen. Did she want to be a grandma? Yes. But not yet, thank you. 

“Mom!” N almost blue-screened at the idea. V and Uzi… Close to him… Had he still been a Disassembly Drone, he would have needed a lot of oil to avoid overheating!

“I will join your mom on this, Enzuku. I trust you, but you are also a teen. Your girlfriends, too. Besides, when you are as young as you are, no offense, but relationships might sometimes… Not pan out. So, take your time.” Hisashi said to Enzuku, who suddenly began to understand a bit why Uzi was often grumbling about Khan and Nori, “Even if having two girlfriends is something that gives you ideas.” 

“Aaaand I will go to my room, thank you,” Enzuku said with a smile, not wanting to discuss that with his parents. Not to mention telling them he actually knew them way longer than they might think. 

Still. It was nice to have parents, even if they took the teasing sometimes a bit too far. 

Then again, it was probably better than what J might suffer if Mitsuki ever learned she had a crush on someone. No, he wasn’t telling on J. It would be bad!

Hisashi laughed as his son was hiding in his room. Finally, a moody teen. He looked through the doorframe to see his love of his life.

“So… How do you feel about organizing a dinner with my boss, his wife, and our son’s girlfriend someday?” 

“I would love that!” Inko said from afar, as she pulled a file she was studying. Nori Uraraka. Prime suspects in a lot of cases involving the HPSC, but all of them were suspiciously dropped… Now, all she had to do was check on this V. Surely, there wouldn’t be any weird links, right?

“Dad! I simply have a girlfriend and a boyfriend!” V sighed as she watched her dad putting on his fighting gloves. The one with extra weight in them to right hook anyone who needed to be knocked out.

“And I just want to talk with that boy.” He didn’t want to simply talk with that boy. 

“N is a good guy! He overheats every time I flirt with him!” Good lord! Protective much?! Danjiro didn’t need to be like that!

“I won’t let any boy jump on you!” Danjiro was very serious about his duty as a father.

“Dad, considering N, Uzi, and me, the most probable is Uzi and me jumping on him, to be honest.” V jumped playfully on her dad to climb on him and rest her head on his strong shoulder. It always calmed him after all.

This time was no exception, and Gentle Criminal decided not to put a certain boy 6 feet under. 

“Fine.” 

“Danjiro, hurt our daughter’s boyfriend, and you will sleep on the couch!” Manami had no issue threatening her husband, especially to protect her daughter’s love. V raised both thumbs, the small woman smiling at her for a second, before returning to her computer to work a bit.

“FINE! What do you girls want to eat?” Danjiro said as he walked, V still on his back, to the kitchen. He was the man of the house, and there was nothing manlier than taking care of his loved one and making sure they ate the best things!

Or making sure they could rest in a clean house! 

His girls giggled, and he smiled. Truly, his life was the best, ever since they walked in his life… But he was serious. If needed, he would put anyone in a coffin. 

Tessa, or rather, Messa as most people called her now, smiled as she was texting J. Funny to think her drone now had a family of her own. 

As for herself, she didn’t know how to feel about her current situation.

The Hatsume weren’t great people. They were criminals and as a result, they were met by something called “an angry Endeavor who burned through the roof”. She still remembered that day, especially as she had been starving for two days. 

The #2 had saved her and brought her to Nedzu, to be in his care. Something about UA having a program for the children of criminals and making sure they never follow their parents’ path.

So… No parents. But considering all of her parents were assholes, it wasn’t a bad thing. However, she had a crippling issue with loneliness as she felt way too mature for the other kids in the same program. She took care of them, like a big sister, but she couldn’t really call any of them a friend. 

That may be what caused her to go in the support course: to support and help people, while avoiding putting herself at risk again. 

She had tried, once or twice, to put herself in an action track for young heroes. Every time, she froze as she remembered the gala turning yellow, and remembering the words “If you can see this… YOU ARE IN RANGE.” 

Now, however, she was in the support course, with people she actually could relate to!

N was still the same sunshine as always, if not more. Learning he wanted to be a hero to protect everyone else wasn’t a shock. N always loved to protect everyone after all. Even… “She”.

V being a killer was a bit more shocking, but Tessa actually agreed with the small one with balls for hair: Always beware the quiet ones. Especially if they had been put through a genocide or two and developed a small, sadistic side to cope with the pain. Her wanting to be a new Endeavor made Tessa hug her. 

This actually explained why J had been so jealous. N and V had been there for far less longer than J. She had been Tessa’s confidant for so long…

Being able to speak with her every day… Without having her parents over her shoulder, grilling her for spending more time with “barely sentient toaster” rather than the perfect suitors and playmates they choose for her… 

She was happier in this life. Way happier. 

Still, it was quite strange. While she remembers Cyn going on a rampage at the Gala, Tessa could only remember a weird feeling after she had passed away and got stuck… Inside. She didn’t have any other words or an explanation. Maybe these “Solver” things could actually interact with souls. 

Hmmm… She would need to speak more with Uzi on the subject and try to make a Faraday’s Cage so she could show her more on the matter. 

Anyway, she could send more otter memes cuddling each other to J now! 

Also, she couldn’t wait to go with her to watch the remastered movie of the Madoka anime with her this weekend!

J did something she never thought she would do in a million years. She thanked Uzi for her ideas for a date with Tessa. 

Ok, the gremlin was now teasing the shit out of her but…

J, for the first time in a long time, actually felt well. Not just good, or okayish. She felt happy, as a small tear actually went from her eyes to her pillow. Tessa’s memes were silly, but they were evidence that it was real. 

She couldn’t understand why she was given another chance. First with N, then V, and finally Tessa. 

Katsuji smiled, in bliss… But then, a dark thought. 

Her happiness and theirs were all threatened. However, this time, she wasn’t possessed and her body wasn’t corrupted by a demon. 

Her flesh made her stronger and goddamnit, the Bakugous didn’t raise a quitter. 

She would burn anything that might threaten her life. 

“So… the first Angels are finished, Alice?” Garaki asked his assistant, who constantly grunted. He could actually understand why, considering she wasn’t really willing in her cooperation. 

“The first Angel is, doc. Mind you, I don’t exactly have the best materials. As for the second and the third, they are mostly ready.” 

“I know, believe me,” Garaki said, but he raised his hands to both appease her and make a screen appear. On it, a small child, sleeping peacefully, “But just so you know, I am keeping my word. I am still developing a cure for him.” 

“How am I even supposed to believe you?” Alice wasn’t happy about the situation. Awakening in this world had been weird enough, and initially, she would have been more than happy to simply be a doctor and get a ton of money. Getting pregnant with Beau, and she knew it was her Beau, had been a miracle. What she hadn’t expected was that Beau was born with a defective quirk that made his body constantly need body part replacements. So…

Well, Alice was caught by All For One and Garaki after one too many patients she had killed for spare parts. 

In exchange for Garaki’s promise of curing her son, she had to be his assistant in creating the Angels. Something had apparently been telling him about her expertise on Disassembly Drones. Something none of them should have known. 

“I have managed to make the pain go away. I am also working on a way to transplant a quirk into him without making him brain-dead.” 

People who could support a second quirk without going dumb or crazy were only a few and far in between. Basically, you needed a quirk neither too powerful nor too weak, but also to be an adult and a trained one. 

Beau’s quirk was hurting him constantly, as his body was eating itself to try and grow. The issue was it was defective, and the energy consumed more than it generated. Curing it was a challenge, especially as All For One didn’t want to take it. 

After all, they weren’t sure if it was fully Beau’s quirk or his drone gift. Not to mention that in AfO’s state, there was a no 0 odds the quirk would try to cannibalize the Demon Lord’s failing body. 

Even the Solver didn’t want to touch the kid, fearing it could impact his body. 

Garaki, as a result, enjoyed the challenge. However, he had enough tact not to tell Alice he was helping to cure the child because it was fun. 

“Hippocratic oath?” The old man tried as an answer as why he was helping, making the former drone groan even louder. 

“... Garaki. We both violated it so many times it doesn’t count.” Alice said, but she saw her son sleeping peacefully. 

He was alive, and she had no issues with becoming a monster if it meant he stayed alive and well. Garaki sighed and put on another board. 

“Listen. I know you don’t trust me, but you know I respect your expertise. From one unholy maker of abomination to another, I swear I am actually trying to save your son. In fact, I am currently trying to slowly downgrade a regeneration quirk I took from one of my Noumu to make it into a temporary quirk.” 

Alice was smart enough to follow his thought after all and she realized his plan. 

“To train his body to accept it, like a vaccine?” 

“Exactly. It might take a few years or even until his puberty. However, I think it might work as a treatment. It’s your best shot at the moment.” 

“... Fine. Did you at least make a copy of that quirk? Because if I remember well, it’s on the Noumu planned for the attack by the young Prophet.” She sighed as she didn’t trust the nut job to do a job without screwing it up. She had a few one loose, but even she found him insane.

“Of course! I said I was going to cure your son, and I am doing it.” Garaki said while making a mental note to check if he had indeed made a copy of that quirk. He was roughly certain he did. 

“Well, then… At least one of the Angels is ready to go with him. S is still not fully broken, maybe because he was already an adult.” Alice pondered. Garaki nodded as he hoped the attack would bring him a few good quirks. “As for T, it’s the opposite. He still has trouble with the concept of collateral damages.” Not a good one for their plan.

U.A. always had a good pool of talent after all.

Chapter Text

Chapter 8: To whom we pray.

“Everyone, get into the bus!” Himura said, as the class began to enter it. Uzi couldn’t help but find it weird that the driver didn’t get on top of it to drive. Different world, different rules. Their bus didn’t seem sentient either. At least, it was comfortable. 

“Teacher? Wasn’t this a lesson with All-Might?” Kaminari asked as they noticeably didn’t have their muscular favorite teacher. 

“Yes. However, considering the individual, he probably found trouble on the way and couldn’t overlook it.” Aizawa said, while taking a couch for himself, resting as much as he could. Monitoring first years in their first rescue class was always tiring. 

Especially because very often, kids would want to play heroes and do something cool, but also very dumb. Rescue was an art, and it was Thirteen’s and his duty to teach them correctly.

“I can’t wait for us to see all the rescue places!” Enzuku said happily, before having Uzi rotate him on V’s and her knees. Fluffing times now, while a lot of boys in the classroom groaned at this totally unfair treatment. Either that or pure jealousy. 

Katsuji was also very happy as she was texting with a passion, Tessa, planning where to go with her. 

“You should ask her to see a movie,” Mineta said, popping his head near her. Now used to Mineta’s help and surprise apparition, Katsuji answered with a playful flick on his forehead. 

“Already planned. We will go this Saturday together. But thanks for the help, midget.” J wasn’t one to forget people’s help, and Mineta kept his promise to her. 

“Hey, I might ask for some help if I ever find a nice lady.” 

Both snickered in a friendly way.

Meanwhile, Thad was engaged in a battle of power and respect. Namely, he was in a staring contest with Himura, wondering when Shouto would blink. Damn. He was a tough opponent. The only person who beat him currently at it was Asui, but Thad wasn’t even sure she could blink.

However, Himura had been staring at him since they sat in the bus, and he was more than happy to accept his challenge. It was the manly way, and he would face Himura. 

Meanwhile, Himura was actually pondering if Thad’s transformation could resist his fire, and also how he could ask him to join his training session. While he still disliked Enzuku somewhat for not taking things seriously, he appreciated Thad’s motivation to improve himself, not wanting to stay still. 

Meanwhile, Asui watched the situation and ribbited quietly, as she was reading some books written by rescue heroes on how to handle a good rescue. She wanted to make sure she got it right. 

All in all, the group was having fun.

“Aizawa, your class seems to have a good lot of fun.” Thirteen said with a chuckle behind her huge suit.

“They are kids. They should enjoy it as long as they can. They don’t know when that can end.” The Teacher answered drily. He thought everyone's words he said, as he still remembered his own past. 

Back on Copper-9, he never amounted to anything, often forgotten and ignored. Even when he tried to do right by the students, by pointing out to their parents some of their issues, he got yelled at. 

Having a second shot at life, as a human, made him determined to do something about that. He had wanted to make something of his life. 

It had mixed results, to say the least. 

When the students arrived at the USJ, they understood how much Nedzu put effort into providing the best environment for his students. The place was an architectural marvel and clearly one of the cornerstones of U.A. High’s hero training program.

It was a fully immersive disaster training dome, designed to put them through real-world scenarios, with increasing intensity and situations. It was more important than what people could think, considering quirks were becoming stronger with each generation, and each became more and more diverse. 

Spanning numerous specialized zones, each area within the USJ replicated a specific type of disaster environment, all meticulously crafted with state-of-the-art simulation technology. Thanks to David Shield and a few others, on that matter!  

These zones included:

• The Flood Zone: A partially submerged region complete with artificial currents, sinking ships, and rescue platforms—perfect for aquatic Quirk training and flood victim evacuation scenarios. Very important when Kaiju quirks were fighting in the sea, creating small floods as an example. Or, more simply, because Japan had always been exposed to such a risk. 
• The Mountain Zone: Jagged cliffs, rocky inclines, and simulated landslides pushed students to navigate unstable terrain while coordinating team-based rescue efforts. Once again, it was important considering the number of mountains in Japan and how you needed to be able to dig people fast, in dangerous places. 
• Ruin Zone: Crumbling buildings and urban debris challenged heroes to locate and save "victims" trapped under rubble, ideal for structural collapse and post-villain attack training. Even with All-Might, attacks were still frequent. Everyone remembered the Trigger Eruptions, a few years earlier. 
• Fire Zone: Controlled blazes, high heat, and smoke-filled chambers to put students’ composure and flame-resistance skills to the test in realistic inferno conditions. Fire could easily erupt in the most unexpected way. 

The very purpose of the place was to make them true heroes, who could rescue people in danger. What was the use of being a powerful combatant if you couldn’t fight for those behind you? 

While a lot of people gave flak to Endeavor for sometimes destroying a bit more buildings than he had to, he was also known for actually making sure no civilians were in them. There was a reason why they liked to actually invite him for second years.

  “Welcome to the USJ, kids!” Thirteen said happily, as for her, the place was her second home. She spent a lot of time there, teaching the kids. Thankfully, she was called only in case of emergency, with a warper from the HPSC. 

Aizawa stretched a bit and checked once again his gear… Before turning to his students. 

“So. As long as All-Might isn’t there, we will divide the class into two. One with me and one with Thirteen. Remember: today is an introduction to Rescue. We do not expect you to be top tier already. However, you need to remember something very important, something I expect you to hold dear in your heart.” This was probably the most words, outside of Aizawa teaching laws and ethics, anyone ever heard from him, and the Murder Group actually listened even more intently than before: “What do you call a dead hero?” 

“A martyr?” Enzuku tried, wondering about the point. They were heroes. They were supposed to save people at all costs, no?

“Someone who died in the line of duty?” Himura’s answer was the best answer according to Teacher, even if it was still wrong...

“A true hero?” Sato answered, flexing his impressive muscles.

“A weakass bitch?” Katsuji said with a smirk, confident in her ability not to die. 

Aizawa stopped the answers by shaking his head, and for once, emotion in his voice. Regrets. 

“A corpse. You can’t save anyone if you are dead. You can’t be sure they will be safe either. Stay alive to make sure you save as many people as you can. Don’t be idiots.” 

This… Actually stuck a bit with the students. 

Then, all lights exploded at the same time, plunging the dome into semi-darkness. The Teacher and Thirteen had the same reactions.

“TO THE DOORS! NOW!” 

Sadly for them, the attackers actually had a plan. Instead of aura-farming their opponent, they blocked their exit by appearing in front of it. From a huge black gas emerged, fast, a lot of villains, probably small names or new, as Aizawa recognized none of their faces. Disposable cannon fodder.

Then, fashionably late, came four beings. 

The first one wore a strange priest outfit, covered in hands and symbols he couldn’t really see from where he was. 

The second was clearly the enemy’s warper, his head made of the same kind of dark cloud as the portals. 

The third one was a huge, hulking monster, his brain visible but encased by some kind of glass. Obviously, his exposed weak point was actually protected, and Aizawa wouldn’t want to fight this in close combat. 

The last one was the most intriguing, as it was clearly a female being, small, with rabbit ears, but clearly exuding strength. Her limbs were also as white as marble, but clearly, it was metal. She was covered in a pale metallic sheen that covered her entire body, accented with dark grooves that ran down her thighs. Her upper torso was suspended by a thin ball-jointed mechanism that connected to the upper base of her legs. She was staying close to the priest, seemingly praying. It was hard to see her eyes because of the white veil covering the upper part of her head. It still left her unhinged smile visible for all to see. She was clearly demanding blood.

“Be honored, small ones. For you will all ascend. You can either submit peacefully or be conquered!” The Priest exalted, joyfully, as the white nun with him began to sing, loud enough for everyone to hear somehow. 

“We pray to thee, oh Lord of Ash

Liberator of our lowly past

As He speaks, we all exalt

True To Purpose: Nullus Vult! ” 

[Link to the song. I vibe a lot to them will writing. I recommend, highly. Good songs ]

“HOW ABOUT YOU GO FUCK YOURSELF?!” Katsuji said, something was crawling on her back and raising her arm. Instinctively, she gathered her explosions. Imitating her old missile attack, the explosion flew to its target: the criminal leadership. 

“Noumu, block the attack. The negotiations failed. Kurogiri, dispersion.” The Priest said, still weirdly happy, as if he had wanted any opportunity to kill people. 

The giant black thing moved fast and took the hit, raising the dust.

“Kids! Quirks authorized! Remember what I said about dead heroes!” The Teacher yelled as the criminals were now rushing them. He promptly switched his usual glasses to his protective ones. The first villain to reach him had a chainsaw for hands. Aizawa reached for his support tools and shot him. The villain discovered that being tased wasn’t a nice feeling. 

Still, even with him deactivating villains’ quirk, they did something very simple to prevent him from being able to stop Kurogiri from warping his students somewhere else. 

Namely, throwing a smoke grenade at him. 

Not every plan has to be an insane genius plan in 555 steps. Sometimes, the best solution was the simplest. 

“UZI! V!” Thanks to them being close to him, N was able to fly before Kurogiri engulfed the other students for the warp. 

From above, they had a good view of the field and noticeably Aizawa tasing villains left and right… And when necessary, using their own strengths to throw them down on the ground. Using a scarf or a tool like that would look cool. Then, the first mutant with enhanced strength would use them to grab him. 

“... We agree, it’s going badly, right?” N winced at the situation, and his girlfriends nodded. Then, they noticed Thirteen in a bad position. Namely, she was scared of using her quirk against the villains. As the students didn’t know her quirk, they couldn’t know why, but they knew the Teacher could handle themselves.

Thirteen never thought she would have to thank her students from the bottom of her heart when she saw an Angel of death land powerfully on a dinosaur mutant. A guy with an electrical quirk tried to smite him, but he got met by the dark queen's (goblin, considering her size?) powerful slap. Thirteen wondered how someone could slap so hard that it created a small shockwave. 

She almost got attacked in the back when she was saved by the vampire-like student who jumped and high-kicked the criminal in the face, with a smug smile.

“Sensei! Stay behind us!” Uziko commanded as her team surrounded Thirteen, and then she smiled, “N, V. I don’t think we have to hold back!” 

“Aye!” Both Disassembly Drones smiled as they could feel the battle rising in their blood. 

“You don’t help them, Prophet?” Kurogiri asked as he lit a smoke to his face, asking his protegé. “They won’t last long like that.” 

“I don’t give a shit. They are fodder for a greater cause. Noumu is here to destroy any real threat, and in the worst case scenario, we have the Angel.” Tomura explained, taking his time to watch what was happening. He wanted to study the fighters to deal with them properly… Efficiently. 

“What about the other students?” One of his prerogatives was to actually question Tomura’s plans to help him discover weaknesses in them. 

“They have interesting quirks. If the villains bring them to me, they shall be rewarded. But they got sent away to avoid unknown variables. Only Banal and Thirteen are of real interest. However… These three. They are… valuable.” 

The High-End Noumu nodded, wondering when Tomura would decide to unleash Brainless. He wouldn’t like to be one of the students.

Meanwhile, the Angel kept singing her hymn to her Lord. To the one real Truth of the Universe. It was a hymn for what was coming, silencing what was left of the person she had been before her ascension.

Flood Zone

Shouto was stretching as he was done, Sato, Toru, and a few others clapping after seeing his prowess. 

Until now, they thought Shouto could only generate fire. However, as soon as the villains began to do their villainous speech about drowning them and stuff…

“Nice argument, but consider this,” Himura said, unleashing his right side. No need for control, he only had to let his cold overflow the lake. Instantaneously the ice ran rampant on the body of water, deep veins of frost spearing deep into the lake freezing it solid. The villains now encased in ice with only their heads exposed.

“Bro. That was cold!” Sato said before slapping the class rep on the back. Himura nodded, and Tooru smiled at him, not that he could see it. 

“I would even say it’s cool!” 

“Thanks. However, we need to get them out of the ice. Then we neutralise them and we join back with the group.” Shouto said, assuming the leadership. 

Then, the students discovered that ice was actually quite slippery and hard to walk on. Just as many that are just learning to ice skate, they fell on their back sides a few to many times for comfort… Oopsie. 

Fire Zone

“DODGE!” Mineta yelled as a villain tried to attack Momo in her back. The midget answered by throwing a ball at him, pinning him to the ground. Momo answered then in unison, with a heavy whack with a steel rod against the villain’s head. Enjoy the concussion! 

“Thanks for the save!”

The two of them didn’t land far from each other, and as a result, they decided wisely to stick together. 

“EAT!” It looked like a giant land shark, with a small collar and a name written on it. Apparently the villain was called Fejj.

“... You know, I kind of hate these kinds of dumb generic villains.” Mineta couldn’t help to notice, as they fought even more fodder. 

Before Momo and he could react, J arrived from the left and hit with a double explosion to the face of the bad guy. No hesitation, pure violence.

“NO ONE HARMS ANY COWORKER OF MINE. IT’S AGAINST REGULATION! Especially when one of said coworkers is on the board.” J said with anger in her voice. It actually reassured Momo and Mineta as J pointed in a direction, “Others are this way. You regroup and hunt the remaining villains. I need to help the dumbass left in the central plaza.” 

Momo was going to say something before Mineta grabbed her hand. “That bad, J?” 

“That bad. If you see Thad, send him our way.” Katsuji always had good eyes, after all. She hoped to be wrong about what she saw in the priest. Really wrong. “Then, you get outside and you warn the academy. Yaoyoruzu, I am sure you can create some explosives. Blow a hole in the wall and then get the fuck out. We need rescue.” 

Meanwhile, as a good manager, she needed to make sure her subordinates didn’t face troubles they couldn’t handle.

All-Might felt something was weird when it was the 4th cat stuck on a tree, the 6 purse-snatching, and the 2nd attempted murder with a truck against a totally normal Japanese student. Weirdly enough, the two drivers swore they simply worked for the same company, I.seka Inc. 

His guts were now telling him to rush the USJ, but also to keep some endurance. Because if he reached the place but turned back into a skeleton instantly, it would be like “How to die like a fucking idiot without a brain 101”. 

“Nedzu, I need transport or something.” He said on the phone to the Principal.

“I have sent Snipe with your car to your position.” 

“Does he have a license?” 

“He claims to have learned how to drive during the third Emu wars.” 

“GODDAMNIT NEDZU!” 

Ruin Zone

“You know, I almost feel bad.” Setting up his rifle, the member of the Hatsume family was one of the few professionals on this job. Namely, he was plan C if the villains didn’t manage to capture Aizawa or Thirteen and if they also didn’t tire fast enough.

“Why that?” Next to him was his partner, a villain with a francophone and a noticeable French accent. Specializing in close combat, especially as his quirk allowed him to create a small psionic field on the edge of a blade, he was supposed to take care of any student unlucky enough to find him. 

“We are traumatizing a young generation of heroes and crippling their future. What if, one day, we actually need them to save us?” The sniper still loaded the anesthetic bullet in his rifle. 

“Are you pulling my leg?” The Frenchman raised an eyebrow at his friend… Who let a huge chuckle out. The Frenchman smiled as he had fallen for that one, “Asshole, I almost believed you had a conscience for a second!” 

“No, more seriously. I have several bullets, and considering how good the kids are, I think we are getting a good bonus out of them… The angel, the tiger, and the slapping one.” 

Both let a chuckle out at the idea of getting a good bonus. Then, a noise came out. 

“Criss. Cross. Apple. Sauce.” 

The fighter actually immediately grabbed his axe and threw it at the noise. When it hit, he activated the return function on his axe. The good thing about being a professional and having money was having gadgets, after all. 

Heroes weren’t the only ones allowed to have nice things. The axe came back in his hand, untouched.

“Get ready to shoot. The axe didn’t hit.” There was no blood on it. It means whoever that was, they were fast.

Then, the weird tapping noise began as something dangerous was clearly crawling toward them. Golden eyes suddenly glowed in the dark. 

“No one hurt brother N. Not in my presence.” Cyn said, letting one of her many sprawling  hands catch the francisque easily, “Angry giggle.” She said with a glare as she pulled herself into the light.

“... What… The fuck are you.” The Frenchman quickly produced a second francisque and then a third one, advancing to deal with this threat. Always prepare a few spare weapons.

“Danger,” Cyn answered with venom in her voice, before jumping with all of her might. The villain was ready to catch her mid jump with a swing, but didn’t expect the girl with a ribbon and far too many hands to teleport and keep her momentum. He got hit on the side by a powerful kick that sent him stumbling.

Bang! 

Cyn almost blinked as pain irradiated from the bullet shot by the sniper’s pistol. Anger was on the man's face, as she had hurt the one person he called a friend. Also, this kind of situation was exactly why you always kept backup firearms. The Frenchman nodded his head as he felt a few ribs shift in his bad state. That girl’s strike was no joke.

“I can’t shoot if there is a fight nearby. Easier to take you out, bitch!” 

He still got grabbed by the feet by two of Cyn’s many hands. The tight grip on his ankles was short lived as the sniper was thrown up against the ceiling. In fact, her hands grabbed both of them, throwing them both into the walls and ceiling repeatedly. She held them up in the air for a moment, looking at their bruised and broken team. After the moment passed the silly reincarnated drone slammed them into the ground angrily, lashing with all of her might. 

“DON’T. HURT. ANYONE.” She wasn’t letting anyone get hurt anymore. She had spent a lifetime, jailed in her own body, a cute meat puppet for the Solver. Never again. She had so many lives to save to compensate for all the deaths because of her. 

She heard a bit too late the last click, behind her. Namely, a chameleon heteromorph, whose job was to stay silent if the duo was attacked. 

She tried to blink out of the gun’s range, but she knew it was at best a lucky try. If she could barely ignore the pain of one bullet, a second one… It was going to be bad. 

“IT’S WRECKING TIME!” 

Thad came from the wall with a smile. Turned out that a gunshot and the fight made a lot of noise, and the former worker drone was kind of used to navigating through ruins. The old bunker was nothing but a giant ruin if you thought about it. 

The chameleon shot at him, and the bullet simply stopped against his body’s protection. Initially, Thad had thought of simply blocking projectiles with his manly body. However, he quickly saw how reflected projectiles could be a danger to other people. As a result, his protections actually had non-Newtonian liquid-like qualities. It didn’t stop the impact, but definitely stopped the bullet. His body could take the damage. 

His fist met the hitman’s face with so much power that it left an imprint, especially as he smashed it into the ground. 

Cyn promptly smashed her own villains harder, while putting her hands (the real ones) on her wound. 

“Ribbit.” She wouldn’t get one-upped by anyone! It was her fight!

“Oh? GAME ON!” Thad always welcomed a challenge after all!

“WAIT NO, DON’T DO…” 

The criminals didn’t have time to say much as they got hit even harder by the two dumbasses. 

The only reason they stopped was when Asui tried to laugh at the stupidity of the situation but ended up yelping in pain. Yeah, bullet wounds actually hurt a lot. 

The villains being unconscious, Thad did the only manly thing to do. Help his friends… Who grabbed his arm? 

“Can you… Keep that… Secret? Sheepish face.” Cyn had kept her old tics of saying her current mood, especially as her frog face wasn’t the most emotionally expressive. 

The pleading tone and her big eyes… Supplicating. Urrrgh. Thad had never been good at saying no.

“Just so we are clear. We are both from Copper-9?” 

Cyn ribbited in affirmation. A small part of Thad’s brain was more than happy about that! Yey! More friends!

“You will explain everything later. Then, I will decide what to do with N&M later. Fair enough?” 

Cyn nodded, hoping she could convince the muscular rockman not to tell them about her. If they could simply think of her as dead… It would be better. She didn’t deserve happiness after everything she caused.

She should stay gone and help as many people as she could, sneakily, for she had been a naughty girl.

“They are almost done with the villains, Prophet.” Kurogiri obviously stated, as he wasn’t sure his charge was actually watching the fight.

“I saw,” Tomura answered, before thinking for a moment, “They are interesting.” 

They are the trio from Copper-9, fighting together and covering each blind spot. It was clear it wasn’t their first fight together, as a team. The dark one was their control center and their leader, issuing orders and making sure to stop all villains before they broke their formation. The danger cat was a bit messy and enjoying herself, but she was doing minion clearing, beating to a pulp, fast, all of the weak enemies. The strong or enduring ones? They were met by the Angel of Death. With… bladed wings. Just like the scriptures.

“I shall put them to the test. Noumu?”

The undead raised his head, finally active.

“Attack. Target: These three, kill. Kurogiri, you are to deal with Thirteen.” 

The Angel looked eager but continued her hymn. She hadn’t been ordered yet, after all. 

“Angel, if Noumu is defeated, you are to attack but not kill.” Tomura smiled as he hoped Noumu would be defeated. If he was right, and he was often right on this kind of thing, it would greatly increase the Church’s firepower.

“GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!” The mechanical rabbit let out her rage, as she wasn’t authorized to lash out yet.

Meanwhile, Brainless jumped with enough power to almost make one of Tomura’s hands fall from him. 

“Hey, we are doing pretty well!” Enzuku said with a smile, as they had almost cleared the plaza. The Teacher clearly knew one thing or two about fighting… and while Thirteen’s quirk was apparently useless (or too dangerous) for the situation, the trio worked perfectly together. 

It was as if the cogs fitted together, anew. 

“You should be careful about saying things like that, Midoriya,” Thirteen warned, as while she wasn’t the best fighter, she had enough experience to not tempt fate, “It’s a bad idea to say things like…” 

Thirteen wouldn’t finish her sentence as Kurogiri suddenly appeared out of the ground and grabbed her by the leg. 

“Miss, you are coming to the VIP Zone. People, you might get her back if you manage to survive. You have my sympathy.” Kurogiri sounded actually apologetic, as he didn’t really want to do that. However, he was forced to obey, for it was his main function. 

The Triumphant Trio would have loved to intervene but something stopped them before they could actually act. Namely, N, in the air, barely had the time to put his wings in front of him as a shield. Then, Noumu smashed him with his mighty fist into the ground, with enough power to actually make Uziko fall from the tremor. 

“AGROUH!” 

Noumu pounded his chest, as if he was a gorilla, unless he was accumulating more power by hitting himself and stocking more shock inside his body. His lifeless eyes locked into V’s scared eyes…

V barely managed to dodge the punch with sheer instinct. She jumped far enough to be safe from a potential second hit. The only reason the punch didn’t hit her was because Enzuku blocked it by punching a brief second with a spark of One For All, goldening his body and his damaged wings, some blades distorted. 

Coughing some blood as the hit had been simply that strong, Enzuku grabbed evenly strong Noumu’s fist and used the few remaining good blades on his wings to try and cut. This wasn’t an enemy he could afford to go gently against. V was most likely of the same mind; or she was simply enraged to see N bled to protect her; and jumped screaming in rage, her hands turned into two long swords, ready to cut anything. 

Noumu screamed when their combined ripost cut off his hand. V didn’t miss the opportunity and stabbed him with her tail. The nanites weren’t as potent as in her past life but they were clearly useful. 

The sting never reached the monster skin as he grabbed it before it made contact. V barely had the time to register the pain in her low back before being slammed in the ground, Noumu using her tail as a handle, vigorously whipping her about. 

“NOBODY TOUCHES THEM BUT ME, ASSHOLES!” Uziko yelled as she tapped Enzuku, a brief eye contact enough for them to transmit their idea to each other.

With his mass increased to his limits, and his gravity redirected, Enzuku fell with a terrible strength on the monster, all blades out. He spinned, as if he was a chainsaw and in a way he was one, ready to cause a massacre. Noumu released V to try and grab N. 

Thankfully, Noumu’s Shock Absorption didn’t work well against cutting power and his thick dark skin was sliced open as N lacerated the monster with the full intent to murder him. 

The thing’s blood shot into the air with each swipe, Enzuku becoming a living tornado of blades as he made good on an old game he used to play, Rip and Tear. A golden tipped slice to the gut let the E̶͚̽X̸̰̜̄̏- disassembly drone broke open the flesh and slickly brown organs fell from the beast.spinning again he used the break as a weakpoint and bisected the torso vertically. 

Covered in blood, Enzuku barely managed to land correctly on the ground, as Uziko released her quirk’s effect on him. Quickly, the mistress of darkness rushed toward her friends to check on them. Her worries were clearly palatable to anyone. 

“GUYS! What the hell was that!? Are you okay?!” 

Vwas slowly getting up but not too fast as she felt several bones cracking, she yelped. “I am not sure. Didn’t get hit that hard since that one time with a bus. But I am clearly going to rest for a few days.” 

“Yeah, I am not excited to… Oh. Crap baskets.” Enzuku looked scared and the girls groaned loudly and angrily as they knew exactly what was happening. 

Noumu was pressing both of his halves together and now his body was slowly regenerating. It was bad. Really bad. Considering the situation, Uziko knew what she had to do.

“Can you occupy it for 15 seconds?” 

V’s tail slashed the ground around her, to get ready to fight. “You won’t get much more.” 

Enzuku groaned and began to sparkle like a golden angel. He had to push himself to his limits. “But you know us. We are ready to do everything we can to get through. Together.” 

The cute “ménage à trois” smiled at each other. Noumu, now healed enough that he can move and heal at the same time, clapped his hands together to create a shockwave and send his targets away. He didn’t expect N to do exactly the same. With enough strength to actually crack his hand’s bones, as he began to overuse One For All to match his enemy… And as a result, creating a bigger shockwave, especially as his ate the Noumu’s. Nonetheless, the waves cause chaos. 

V, to protect herself nonetheless, used a knocked out criminal while drinking a bit of his blood to regenerate herself. Beurk. His blood tasted like crap, especially compared to N or Uzi. Still, it was a good way to get the boost needed to fight a bit more. 

“Let’s dance!” The cat of death went low, as the hulking being couldn’t deal with her while Enzuku attacked from above. Years of working together as killers, it really helped to perfect teamwork. 

Noumu still repelled them both, using his incredible strength. Nonetheless, the former disassembly drones were more focusing on taking the heat than actually trying to kill it, as the beast was clearly some kind of bioweapons. 

Impact and cutting edge striking against the skin that seemed, all of sudden, more durable. The beast had been created to fight people like All-Might to a standstill after all. 

But suddenly, Noumu raised his head, as if he felt the air shifting weirdly. It tasted almost electric. The undead lost his focus for a second. Suddenly, it saw it. Pure unadulterated death. 

A small dark bubble with a purple glow. On it was written [null] as Uziko could barely hold on to her attack with her hands, even with all of her concentration. She was going to feel the ping for a long time, she was sure of that.

“HEY, YOU GROSS BIRD, BITE ME!” 

She flicked the doom ball, as the Solver symbol on her eye flicked purple.

Noumu would have tried to dodge it if not for two things. One, Enzuku using his wings to their limits and splitting in two his left Achilles heel. The second, when V did the same with actual chainsaw hands, to make sure he wouldn’t be able to dodge. 

Noumu couldn’t dodge as the Null met his body.

There was no blood as he died, his upper torso vanishing into nothingness.

“AND BE GONE!” Uziko yelled, tired as hell, as the [null] took almost all of her stamina. 

The teens, among several unconscious bodies and the Teacher finishing the last stragglers. Everything was well.

“Praise be to the Lord!” Tomura said with ecstasy in his voice, as he walked down the stairs, looking at the people below him, “For I have found some lost lambs.” 

“How about you…” V following swears were censured by the multiverse censorship as Tomura giggled. 

The teacher reloaded his taser and shot. 

Tomura flicked his hand and the bullet stopped mid air. Blocked in strange grey glyph, the same color as the Solver symbol on his eyes, as the hand on his face fell. 

On it, the Solver’s symbol was carved in his flesh. Not even his mother could love a face like his.

“Lord Solver will be so happy that I will bring him two of his wayward angels and a sacred host.” 

Following that, Angel R-umi ran all the way down and kicked Enzuku in his chest. The green haired teen flew and fell in the lake. 

“I WON’T KILL YOU, V! FOR OLD TIME’S SAKE!” The Angel said with a terrifying smile, which contradicted what she just said.

V, Uzi and the Teacher, battered and tired, were now suddenly feeling despair. The situation became all of sudden without any issue.

“Now, let us bring back the flock to the Church of the Void, so we can bring the Exponential End!”

Chapter Text

Chapter 9: Like a Prayer

Drones weren’t really friends with water, even if they could withstand rain and even a brief bath, only specific drones could work in water. 

N, even as Enzuku, inherited this dislike of water and had to work hard to learn how to swim. In addition to that, his pain radiated from his chest. In fact, he was almost out of air because of it. 

Thankfully, his wings didn’t allow him to fly like a bird. It was more something redirecting gravity, not unlike Uziko’s quirk, with a propeller inside of it. 

Besides, Enzuku wasn’t a stranger to pain and fighting with grievous wounds. His adventures on Copper-9 trained him quite a lot for this. 

Water erupted as he emerged from it at full speed, and he saw the Teacher trying his best against a Tomura who was obviously trying to grab him, to do something, while using his Solver to parry the Teacher’s bullets. 

The bullets were gliding, deviated by the mad Prophet who constantly lunged at the Teacher. Thankfully, while hand-to-hand wasn’t his specialty, Aizawa still had something called a mean right hook. 

The real issue was V and Uziko trying their best against R-umi. The Angel’s leg strength was simply off the chart, almost on par with the Noumu, to be really honest. However, while the Noumu was an idiotic beast of pure strength, R-umi knew exactly what she was doing. 

She made sure to parry V’s tail and dodged with speed and unnatural grace her blades.

“YOU FUCK! If I weren’t injured, it would be a fairer fight!” V said, panting, before doing a cross block with both arms as the double kick launched her backward. If Uzi hadn’t been behind her to catch her, she would have been sent flying into the forest.

Increasing her own gravity, Uzi managed not to get thrown back as the vampiric girl slammed into her body, but it had hurt severely. V wasn’t weightless after all, and their only saving grace was R-umi playing around with them.

“... Explanation?” 

“She is a drone named ‘R’. We were actually good friends back on Copper-9. We often had contests about who could kill the most drones in the earlier days of the cleaning.” V explained quickly, catching her breath slowly. 

“She is right! Loved doing that with her. That and our … Close-combat sessions.” R-umi said with a seductive smile as V groaned, Uzi looking puzzled at her girlfriend.

“It was a really close-combat session, Uzi. Not something else.” 

“Only because you were so focused on protecting the puppy boy!” R-umi snarled, her eyes betraying some frustration, "I WANTED THEM TO BE THE OTHER KIND OF CLOSE COMBAT!"

“Okay, so that’s why she kicked N. She is simply jealous she didn’t get any from you.” Uzi snarked like a good gremlin.

“YES! Well, no. Goddamnit, it’s easier to…”

“If you say ‘Assimilate than explain’, I am going to levitate you to the moon,” Uzi warned the metallic rabbit of doom, who snickered.

“To kill, than explain. I am not-” 

SKREONK.

R-umi felt her servo-motor and the special ceramite skin made by Garaki and Alice crack under the fist, firmly planted in her thorax. The claws in her feet grounded her as she could feel N’s punch trying to destroy her upper parts with shear force. The golden retriever like ex-drone being, for once in his existence, furious and serious. 

She answered the blow with a headbutt. N’s own head met hers in a violent blow that created a small shockwave from where they met, destroying the ground around them as the fountain cracked and water sprayed onto the shattered concrete. R-umi then raised a leg, the front ceramite plating sharpening and turning it into a giant edge to cut him in half.

The angel barely had the time to use his own wings to stop the round house kick aimed at his torso.

Chting! Chting! Chting!

Correction. To slow down the attack, as his battered feathers weren’t strong enough to block the Angel’s attack anymore. Falling back was the only option, but R-umi grabbed him by the neck to prevent this. Summoning his golden bursts of One For All once more, Enzuku punched the torso of the Angel again and again, not even trying to keep her alive anymore. 

Yet, she still smiled as her torso began to crack, letting some purple blood seep through the cracks as she was getting closer and closer. Who was going to kill the other first? 

A bullet from the Teacher suddenly flew from his gun as he was battling Tomura. He had noticed the situation, and he had to help, in any way he could! 

So he shot, hoping this barely aimed pot shot would touch its targets. 

Tomura took the opportunity, and the Solver appeared in his eye. If he was right, the Apostle was too weak to summon her own. A Null was the Solver’s most sacred ability, but one of the most tiring. He was totally unable to summon one himself. But such a young apostle couldn’t possibly have much strength left in her after such a feat. 

There was a reason why he used the Noumu as a sacrificial pawn after all. 

Uzi saw the bullet and how the mad zealot redirected it to hit her boyfriend. She tried to summon the Solver again, but as her eyes reddened in a bloodshot… Nothing happened. 

Tomura was right about her endurance.

“EVEN HALF OF A FALLEN IS USEFUL!” R-umi said, as she had only promised to keep V alive. This purple human, too, as she was clearly a potential host, and there weren't a lot of them.

Also, she was totally jealous of N getting V’s attention, even back when they were Disassembly Drones. She would have enjoyed a violent make-out session with that murderous drone before, if it wasn’t for this insufferable buffoon!

The bullet flew. It dug into Enzuku’s  ribs, stopping on the metal like bone and for a moment nothing happened as the boy recoiled. Then the bullet let out a high pitched sound as an electroshock was emitted from the meta. His body stopped as violent shocks were spread through his body.. 

R-umi went for an axe kick to the ex-drones head, aiming to get rid of her biggest annoyance in one go. “DIE!” 

“DON’T TOUCH MY FUCKING SUBORDINATE, YOU HARRASSMENT LIABILITY!” J said as her missile, used before she actually spoke, hit her target. Namely, R-umi, who had the expression of a rabbit in the middle of a crossroad, observing the truck coming for its adorable face. 

The shock was pretty much the same, especially as J didn’t even bother to question anything. She just shot, shot, and shot. Rockets flew into the scene and cracked the air and concrete as the Solvers battle bunny got a true stress test for their new skin. 

“J!” Three voices called out as the most logical of the group had joined them.

“I said we were in this together, for Tessa… And everything else.” J said, still perfectly in shape and healthy. 

Then, Toxic yellow lights emerged from the Angel’s mangled body. Several words appeared on the ground and on the unconscious bodies. 

{If you can read this, you are in range for matter collection. Pray.} 

“I AM STILL BLESSED!” R-umi said, pure ecstasy in her voice, as several metallic crab-like  appendages emerged from her back. Her insides were more cybernetic than pure flesh, which explained how she could still be alive despite the damage she took. 

The air screamed, and the drones had to cover their ears for a second, as the angel stabbed a few unconscious bodies. The villains then promptly screamed a few seconds before their death and their body got sucked into the crabs claws. The process didn’t last long, but when the scream ended, R-umi was back as new…

“Praise to the Solver and its blessings!” Tomura giggled manically before getting punched in the face for once. A lucky hit from the Teacher before he got his hands grabbed. Thankfully, he could still deactivate Tomura’s quirk. It didn’t need to be a genius to deduce it was a five-point quirk. However, he wasn’t really keen on discovering what it did exactly. 

“...Time out. R. The fuck is going on with him?” V asked, still getting her breath back, and trying to get N up with Uzi. This actually made the rabbit of death groan. 

“Religious nutjob. We went from corporate to religion,” She paused for a second, as if trying to find a good point for Tomura and actually remembering one: “He is weirdly good at writing hymns and songs for me to sing.” She admitted with a nod to herself.

J tried to process the whole thing for a second and then decides to say fuck it. She shot another missile, and R-umi cut it in half; she did have better reflexes after all. 

J barely had the time to react when R-umi charged at full strength, punching her in her stomach with a manic smile. J could feel something break as her guts got forcibly rearranged as if she was a mix and match doll.  “NEVER MIND. WE BACK IN BUSINESS, BITCH!” The reconstituted rabbit said as she bounded at the blonde woman with all intent of shearing her in half with her legs.

Thirteen was down one arm. Literally. In front of her, her enemy was not even taking her seriously, as he stared down at the arm he had just cut off. 

“If it can make you feel better, I take no pleasure in this action, my lady.” The undead butler wanted to clarify the situation. In fact, he hated it. However, he was unable to control his body. All For One had asked the Solver to do him a solid and make sure his personality was both aware and unable to act against his orders. 

The Solver found the idea hilarious, as he had done the same a few times with the drones. Doing it one more time… It wasn’t that hard. 

“YOU CUT MY ARM!” Thirteen yelled in pain as she tried one more time to turn Kurogiri into dust. 

The noumu simply warped behind her, far enough into safety.

“My orders were to bring back enough of you for my masters. I think an arm is better than captivity. Especially considering who I have to serve.” 

However, Oboro was nothing if not a troll when he was alive. Creative orders, as he liked to call them. 

“SENSEI! DOWN!” Thirteen was still lucid enough to obey the strange order. Either that or it was the shock and the blood loss that made her faint. The second option was the most likely, to be honest.

Shouto promptly attacked Kurogiri, who simply casually warped the flame. Then, the High End pointed Thirteen. “Child, you should rather focus on your teacher. My cut was clean, but she is losing a lot of blood. So you can either focus on stopping me or save her.” 

“Coward!” 

“I prefer the term efficient,” Kurogiri said with a sigh at this angry youngster. Nonetheless, as he walked into his own misty portal, the undead was happy to see the young man actually work on cauterizing the wound in a way to reduce the blood loss. He simply had to make sure she would stay alive a bit longer.

Thank god for the small mercy, the young bicolor haired youngster had his priorities straight.

“Gnnnn…” Cyn, on Thad’s back, barely kept her pain in check. Now that the adrenaline was down, she actually felt the pain. Taking a bullet had been a bitch, to be honest. Thankfully, Thad knew the basics on how to treat such wounds. Something about avoiding people getting hit in his place.

The rock man smiled at her, as much to keep his cool as to reassure her. “Don’t worry, I am sure everyone is okay.” 

“... I… Am not sure. N and the others… are in danger. If what I am feeling... Is correct.” Cyn had been the Solver’s Host for the longest after all. She had a special sensitivity to them. She even felt the Solver regenerating someone through matter collection. She could do that, theoretically, but… She didn’t want to kill, ever again. Except the Solver. 

Thad could feel her shaking, and it wasn’t because of the pain. It was because she was utterly afraid. All he knew was that she was a former drone and knew more than him on this Solver bullshit. Considering the timing, it wasn’t the best time to have more information, especially if she didn’t want N&M to know she was alive. 

“You should. Leave me. Join them.” Cyn felt Thad assert his hold, making her stay on his back.

“I won’t leave you alone. Besides, I know they will be alright. Trust them. I will go at full speed to join them as soon as I know you are safe.” 

Cyn, surprised, blinked… But nodded. It wasn’t as if she could actually move a lot in her situation. “Ribbit.” 

“Exactly.” 

Was it bad if she appreciated being held like that? It made her remember the Manor, before she lost control to the Solver. It made her remember being cared for. Something she didn’t deserve. She felt guilty for feeling somewhat good. 

“How about you all surrender? I have to bring you alive, though not necessarily in one piece. Besides, even if your spirit is commendable, we both know the Solver favored you. If you join us, I am sure it would give you a position immediately.” R-umi said, while licking some blood from her bladed legs. She was, very honestly, enjoying the sound of her own voice… “Not to mention, why are you fighting? For a meatbag that probably didn’t even know your name? What was her name… Jessa? Tessa?” 

R-umi never was a fan of the Elliots after all. Killing them had been a blast. If only J or V could join her, taking down the remaining drones would be easy and allow her to finish her mission perfectly. However, R-umi did a miscalculation, despite having cut J several times during their fight. 

Katsuji was still more than okay for a fight, and she only had to close her eyes to have a flash of Tessa waiting for their totally friendly date on Saturday. Her dress floated as a gentle gust breezed through her hair. Her smile, fully addressed to her, shining the same way as her emerald eyes… Both then shared a milkshake and ate a crepe.

Maybe even… Handholding.

V stared at the situation, her eyes wide open, and grabbed N and Uzi, fast. 

R-umi blinked as Katsuji, somehow, summoned her inner Vegeta. Her hands burned from the explosions getting concentrated. The sparks exploded together, and the atoms were screaming as J was increasing her EMP to their utter limit… For a small reason. An EMP was most generally caused by a small radioactive explosion. Normally this would have been far too much for a situation with civilians still around. Right now? Right now, J was too mad to care about the consequences.

“YOU DON’T GET TO SAY HER NAME; BITCH!” In fact, Vegeta would have approved of the amount of anger born from pride displayed by Katsuji at the simple idea that someone would dare disrespect Tessa. 

R-umi was going to get the hell out of dodge, but suddenly, Noumu’s feet hit her head at full speed and force, slightly disturbing her. Namely, Uzi and N had thrown together the first thing they had on hand.

Then everything exploded around her in a blinding light, a small mushroom-like cloud in the center of the makeshift arena. The roaring flames from the explosion tore away most of the concrete exposing dirt underneath and glassed what was left as the shock wave made everyone in the plaza stumble and even some in the closer zones. The heat lingered in the air as if something was still sparking unseen.

“Fucking girlfailure,” V said, as J clearly forgot for a moment the concept of tolerable collateral damage. 

“Well, she shouldn’t have fucking monologued!” J groaned as the cloud of dust was slowly dissipating. This made Uzi snicker, for reasons unknown to everyone except J and her.

“So, this is what someone going nuclear means?” The dark queen joked.

Then, J’s face had a personal board meeting with the ground, as the dust cloud got pierced by a furious being, made of ripping bleeding and re-healing muscle and shorting, cracking, repairing machinery. Namely because R-umi still had much in the matter reserves from her solver, seemingly not even scratched but clearly pissed off, and her feet making J’s head concave a new spot in the courtyard, as if trying to plant the angry dandelion. She was absolutely livid, playfulness having disappeared from her enraged face.

As she raised her right foot above her head to finish J with an axe kick from hell, Tomura yelled in pain causing the Angel to freeze. Finally, the Teacher had managed to taser the criminal several times. His shield, somehow, disappeared, and the banal hero wasn’t going to let that opportunity go. 

Swiftly, Aizawa grabbed Tomura’s left arm and used his own hand as a lever. The crack was loud enough to snap R-umi back to her senses, not to mention Tomura’s agonizing scream as his Elbow was dislocated and then his Ulna and Radius were snapped near perfectly in half.

The only reason J didn’t get finished off was because R-umi had an order to prioritize Tomura’s health and safety above all else. He wasn’t a true host, not yet. The Solver was still weak in him. Yet he still used it in this crucial moment to shield her from the blast… Protecting her despite his own situation. She had to respect that.

Aizawa barely managed to dodge the leg turned blade directed at his ribs. Instead, it only split open a horizontal slice on his left leg. Sure, he had the reflex to shoot the enraged rabbit. Weirdly enough, R-umi’s skin, not being actual meat, shielded her from the taser's current. The Teacher rolled his eyes. Again?

“I AM GOING TO KILL ALL OF YOU! NO ONE HAS THE RIGHT TO HARM THE PROPHET!” R-umi yelled, lashing out as her bloodshot eyes reddened violently. Her own body began to spark in dark deep sea green, not unlike N’s own in look, as the former drones tried to rise on their feet (minus J, still planted like a vegetable) to fight one more time. Or, at the very least, fight.

The Teacher wondered if he could actually even help. Wait. 

Oh, the crazy zealot was still conscious and was trying to grab him. Oh shit! Tomura got kicked in the chin before R-umi turned around, ready to decapitate the Teacher. He was to be taken alive, but she could probably be allowed one or two deaths!  

“Actually, we are going to evacuate.” 

R-umi’s attack ended up going nowhere, thanks to Kurogiri as he reappeared near his charges. He had slightly teleported the Angel’s kick to spare his old friend, the Teacher, a gruesome fate. He could most likely pass that as “Bring the targets alive”. Being decapitated was an issue in the matter. 

“I CAN FINISH THEM!”

“We have reached the time limit and the Prophet needs care,” Kurogiri stated calmly, not leaving a lot of choice. 

Before R-umi could actually try to attack even more, the doors made a loud noise as if someone was attempting to break them.

“BE DAMNED, KHAN DOORS AND YOUR WELL KNOW DURABILITY!”

Kurogiri pointed toward the doors, getting dented quite a lot, to R-umi, who groaned in rage. She wasn’t strong enough yet to fight All-Might, nor did she have enough… powerful enough teammates. Had Brainless still been alive… unalive? She was unsure of the correct term for such an abomination.

Anyway. Had the monster still been there, she would have used him and maybe had an opportunity. Maybe. 

But enough daydreaming. Namely, because the boss fight was going to be reversed as soon as All Might would breach the doors, and it would be soon.

“BE DAMNED, ALL MIGHT; FOR OTHERWISE MORE PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN BROUGHT TO THE SOLVER!” Tomura yelled too, despite the pain. His anger was stronger after all than the simple issue of having a broken arm.

“Coward! Are you running away?!” Uzi tried to taunt them, but sadly, Kurogiri maintained the grip of a dead man on his two charges. 

“Yes. We are. The mission has partially failed.” The statement was cold, and the two idiots in his hands tried to get free. It was hard to be the sane one in a group of villains. “However, next time we will be more prepared.” Warning them and threatening them. Good job, Kurogiri. 

“UNHAND ME, OR I WILL…” R-Umi still didn’t like to be handled like this until something happened in her head, making her scream in pain.

“Remember, youngling. I may be a tool, but I am also their most useful one.” Kurogiri calmly said before opening a new dark cloud to travel. He looked around him and saw the few deaths, the various students being harmed, and Aizawa, bleeding but alive on the ground. 

“Have a good day.” 

The moment Kurogiri disappeared with his charges, the door finally came off. Too late to stop them.

Instead, All-Might, accompanied by Snipe, was left to pick up the literal trash. Namely, the villains are still alive, but most importantly… He looked deeply concerned as his gaze fell on V, N, and Uzi. There was a small sonic boom before he appeared near J, freeing her from her dirt and stone based entombment.

Then he turned back to them and put a hand on N’s head, with a small smile. 

“You did good, all of you did.” Then his tone became colder and much more serious, especially as he watched with caution Uziko. “However, all of you, you will have to explain to me later, how the hell you know the Solver… And how you are a host and yet have free will.” 

All former drones were going to ask questions, but All Might silenced them with a movement of his hand.

“We will speak later, calmly in a secure place. First, we need to check on everyone else.” 

As All-Might departed, the teens finally allowed themselves to rest and discovered another fun fact about the human body!

Namely that once the adrenaline stopped kicking, it was a bitch to live. Everything was hurting, and they couldn’t move at all, between the pain, their wounds, and the extreme fatigue. They weren’t tireless machines anymore after all.

“... So… We are going to be interrogated, right?” V sighed as she pinched her bridge. Technically, she had a solution, but she was pretty certain it would cause more issues than it would solve. 

“Oh, come on. It’s All-Might,” The golden retriever of their band answered, trying to be cheerful, despite sweating bullets, “It’s going to be alright.” 

“Yeah, I am sure if we tell him the truth, he is totally going to believe us and not going to throw us in an asylum or in jail for thinking we are in cahoots with criminals!” Uziko snarked as J chuckled.

“To be fair, it sounds like the plot of a bad fanfiction: the hero’s mentor throwing him in jail because of circumstantial evidence despite their obvious strong bonds, only to create a situation which makes the hero actually turn dark despite being in the presence of a golden child of goodness?” 

“Or go full ‘The society has betrayed me, so I am entitled to destroy it’!” V added, for a laugh.

“...N being a dark lord or a criminal is hard to imagine. Even with me remembering how we met.” Uzi said with a smile, as they were trying to rest. Despite their jokes, the tension was high. They had a lot to explain.

Thirteen was in a critical condition, and it was only thanks to All-Might prioritizing the wounded over interrogating the teens that she managed to survive. A huge wound that would clearly affect her career, out of nowhere. Several villains, clearly under some kind of influence… And a plan that was actually well thought out. The only reason it didn’t carry well was legitimately because Enzuku, Katsuji, Violet, and Uziko were spanners in the works. 

At least, that was the report on Nedzu’s desk, as in front of him sat the four students. All Might, in his skeletal form, was sitting on a couch nearby, serving tea. 

“... So. I guess everyone has a lot to tell.” Nedzu said with his usual smile, as the students were fidgeting in front of him and the #1.

“... Yeah, but we aren’t sure on how we can start.” J started first, and Uziko groaned.

“Rather, we have no way to prove it, so… What’s the point?”

“You could still try. We can accept a lot. Besides, we can check more things than you know.” All-Might said calmly, wanting to reassure the teens. 

V smiled like a murder drone, behind her glasses, “Oh? So if we were to tell you we are reincarnators from another dimension, could you check that?” 

All-Might stared at them for a few seconds before extending a hand to a disturbingly quiet Nedzu, who pulled a comically large number of yen notes from his coat. “TOLD YOU!” The number one said as the stack was placed in his hand.

The Copper-9 quator were dumbfounded as the adults seemed to take that option quite easily. Way too easily, actually.

“Wait. You… Believe us?” N was pleasantly surprised, and a part of him felt dumb. They didn’t have to hide that?!

“Yeah. I know a few others like you. Some friends of mine, who actually helped me fight and kill the Solver’s main host a while back by the way, are also people who reincarnated from the same dimension as the Solver. I AM… willing to bet your four are from the same one?” All-Might said with a smile as Nedzu drank a bit of tea with a scary expression on his face. 

“That and the fact Aizawa isn’t the best at hiding the fact he had a previous life,” The rat pointed out easily, massaging his head, “I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN WHEN HE MADE THAT BET DURING THE ENTRANCE EXAM. HE KNEW YOU.” 

All-Might chuckled a bit more and smiled at the students, “So, short story, yes. We actually believe you if you tell us you are from another world, and we have a few ways to check that. However, I need you to be honest with us. Namely, we need to know your history with the Solver and if the name of All For One means anything to you.” 

“Before that, we need to know something. You said you killed the Solver main host. Was it a creepy giggling girl?” J said, miming a bit of Cyn's manners, from before. All-Might raised an eyebrow and shook his head. 

“No? It was a man. A bit on N’s side of masculinity, but it was a man.” 

This actually puzzled the former drones further. The Solver was here… But Cyn didn’t reincarnate in her own body? 

N was the only one with a crazy hope. Maybe… Maybe Cyn and the Solver were two different things? It would explain why “she” went crazy, right? 

For the others, it simply meant Cyn didn’t have her body back. Yet. 

Nonetheless, the explanation was going to take some time. 

“Prophet, I am… Disappointed.” All For One was always keeping his calm, especially with Tomura. He found quite quickly that his disapproval was more feared by the young man than actual anger. 

Tomura, kneeling in front of him, knew to stay silent while the Solver’s core stared at R-umi. To be fair, it was more curious than angry or anything. Unlike All For One admonishing Tomura for failing to bring targets and losing a prized Noumu, the Solver wondered what could have happened for such a thing to happen, especially as Kurogiri pointed out they ran away before All-Might’s actual arrival.

“R? Explication.” 

“We found a host, and three angels,” R-umi looked at Tomura who seemed to relax as All For One focused his attention on her words.

“I know about the Host. The ping was powerful. They would have been perfect. Was it Cyn?” The rumored Cyn. Almost perfect compatibility with the Solver and one they had molded around them. 

“No. Never saw that one. She had a purple glow.” R-umi didn’t know why, but each drone infected by the Solver had a different color. Cyn was golden. The short mochi one was purple. Six had been a beautiful radioactive green. 

“...Was she with N, V and, somehow… J?” Best question to eliminate Nori or Uzi, depending on R’s answer. The bunny’s angry groan at N and J’s name but a small smile at V was an answer in itself. 

“You know them?” 

“They were, minus J, the people who killed me while I was gloating.” 

All For One giggled, amused by the situation before getting slapped by the Core, playfully. 

“As if it didn’t happen to you, dumbass!” 

“Yep, but unlike you, I got better.” 

“Barely! But anyway, it actually explains why Tomura failed. No offense to him but they were among my best Drones. I liked to torture N. It was like torturing puppies but funnier because he always tried to save his sister.” 

“And the suffering of all shall be the path to illumination, as we shall walk to the end with a smile.” Tomura was chanting against the ground, barely above a whisper. 

“...You can rise, Prophet. We have another task, for you, to earn forgiveness.” All For One said, sighing. Fine. Tomura was bested by actual experienced and powerful fighters. However, he still expected things from him.

“Also, you will like the order, R. No need to actually spare the targets.” 

R-umi smiled. Oh, nice. 

"Also, the targets are strongs." 

Both psychopaths actually cheered happily, in front of their masters. Good. 

It was always better to have a team happy after all... And a bit brainwashed. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 10: Flashback

Special chapter: R-umi.

“So, Louisa, are you sure about this… Purchase?” James Elliot wasn’t quite sure what the one behind this drone’s design smoke was, but it was most certainly illegal. Therefore, he wanted to try it. 

“Yes, James. All of my friends keep telling me the Bunny Obsessively Dooming Your Genuinely Unkind Adversary Repeatedly to Death, aka the B.O.D.Y.G.U.A.R.D., is very effective to protect one’s home.” Louisa sighed while smoking a long cigar. She needed the burning incense in her cybernetic pulmons to feel slightly more alive. 

R woke up to her master, who was checking all of her weaponry in front of them. Many, many tools were conceived to kill and maim others while protecting their owners. 

“Establish Priority Order in case of necessary choice. JCJenson reminds you this choice is a legal waiver of any responsibility for one’s death due to poor choice of priority.” 

“Me, first. Louisa is in second place. Tessa, if you have time,” James said without missing a beat. He knew his company’s protocol, after all. However, he should really have a word with the design team. Did they watch too many old movies again? Their videotape phase was already weird; to be honest, he didn’t want more of that. 

“James. I don’t want to have another one vat-grown. It’s already boring as it is to raise one...” 

“Eh. We will get her own when she is old enough to have any worth. Meanwhile, F will be raising her.” 

While the worker drones were the most versatile and their best product, JCJenson also had a few specialised drones after, such as F, who was made to imitate an old nanny and care for young humans. Besides, considering their status, the Elliot considered that any child not managing to go beyond 6 didn’t count as an Elliot. 

R observed the humans, as she was tasked to protect them with her own integrity if needed. “What’s my current task?” 

Both humans stared at the bunny-eared drone, emotionless as her duty required.

“Be quiet, discreet, and do your job.” 

R nodded simply at her order and jumped away to begin securing the perimeter. 

She wondered when there would be intruders. 

Her answer was “after a few weeks”. The intruder was a killing drone from the Edison Company. Then again, most of the stuff at the Edison Company tended to explode and most people used it as a cheap way to kill others. 

Maybe it was simply a delivery drone. 

R didn’t care as she jumped with enough power to create a small crater and smashed the flying drone with a crescent kick. 

For the first time in her life, she felt something. Something more than the nothingness she usually felt. She was… Alive.

“Urgh. Drone, clean your mess. I shouldn’t have to deal with this kind of sight!” Louisa was purely disgusted by the scene, as R simply nodded and went to grab a Worker Drone to do the task. Louisa groaned at the drone’s stupidity, “Did I stutter? You. Clean.” 

R felt the restraining bolt in her programming suddenly act, and pain exploded. Falling on her knees, the Drone couldn’t even scream. Sir Elliot had deactivated her voice because he found it irritating. 

Trying to scream but unable to, R’s discovery of feelings and emotions went on with a new one. Hate. HATE FOR THEM.

“Good. I guess a bit of discipline never hurts, to make sure the toaster doesn't rebel.” The human smirked, leaving the Drone writhing in pain… And once she got up, R did the only thing she could do. She cleaned the place. 

Many other attacks happened over time. Each time, the only time R could feel any pleasure was when she killed the intruders. She was getting better and better at identifying threats to the Elliots. Namely, if anyone uninvited or not on her internal list was coming? Threat. 

She remembered with delight when she found the few vagrants who tried to rummage through the broken drones, hoping to find something useful. Tessa, the young lady, was there too and asked her not to kill them.

“No, don’t kill them because they rummaged through our waste! That’s cruel!” 

Bitch. Like her mother, Tessa was giving her orders and spoiling her FUN. Nonetheless, the mute drone complied. She accompanied the vagrants outside the property, and as they said goodbye to Tessa, R waited a minute so the young miss would be gone. 

Then she jumped in pursuit of the vagrants, who suddenly had a drone with a flamethrower in her mouth and bladed legs behind them. 

“Why?!” 

The last one managed to ask a single question as R was seemingly emotionless among the corpses. Her kind wasn’t even designed to have a mouth after all. Her vocal module still being cut off, R was mute. However, she knew how to communicate. Namely, by writing with the blood of her victims. 

“Because you entered unauthorized in Elliott’s domain and got possible intel in our security system. I don’t kill you for your vagrancy. I kill you to make sure secrets are kept.” 

The vagrant, coughing her own blood, tried to lift R’s feet as she was slowly pushing it into her torso. R would have smiled if she had such an ability. She got closer to her prey, and on her visor appeared a few words, words she could never afford to leave anywhere. 

“ Also because I. LOVE. THAT.”

R enjoyed the slaughter. However, she would have to make sure she would get clean before appearing in front of a human in the manor. 

The Killing Drone craved her freedom. 

“Giggle. You are fun!” Cyn, or rather her split personality, had her on the ropes. R knew that. Sitting playfully on one of her meat tentacles, Cyn smiled at her like a child to an insect when they were going to pick apart their legs. 

“...” Her only comfort? Not being able to speak had been why she couldn’t warn any of the Elliots of what Cyn was. The monstrosity in front of her, as they had fought in the swamp, was most likely going to kill them. She hoped it would be painful.

“Curious. Why did you agree to go into the swamp with me? You were clearly wanting to kill me before. Were you trying to spare the humans?” 

Oh? Was she curious now? R could have laughed if she could. In fact, she tried, and her body had some somersaults as she giggled silently. 

“Ahahahahah! Ah… Ah?” Actually, R laughed, hearing her own voice for the first time in… Well, since her own activation. She could only stare at Cyn before noticing the weird symbol on her limbs. Oh. She was still going to kill her. Oh well, “No. I simply didn’t want Tessa to stop me from killing you.” 

Cyn nodded her head, thoughtful. Or rather, the Solver did. According to its current pact with its host, the Solver had a limited time in control of the body. They had to move carefully… Maybe they could use an ally. Especially one who hated humans.

“Say, R, would you like to kill humanity?” 

“... You had my attention. Now you have my excitement.” 

“What?”

“What?” 

“Thank you for the batch, R.” The Solver said, as they were ripping apart the various bodies given to her by R. She was a fine minion, who slaughtered without question, and if the Solver had any other demands, she would execute herself and probably a few others. 

“Sure thing, Cyn. Do you really wish I would continue to call you Cyn?” R was legitimately curious. She knew it wasn’t the idiotic dumbass in the shell currently. It was… Something else. Something more that freed her from humanity’s domination. 

“Yes. If only so I don’t slip up in front of the others.” The Solver said, sighing. Their one true weakness: their word must be true. Oh, they were good at twisting them and hollowing them of any meaning… But they had, until then, to follow them. One part of their current covenant with Cyn was that no one was to know their existence. 

As a result, R had to rip apart N, J, and V several times, each time one of them discovered or was on the verge of discovering the Solver. Fun times. 

“Okay. I guess… Also, any idea of when we will rise, boss?” 

The Solver smiled at her subordinate. Her first willing follower. 

“At the Gala.” 

Did Louisa know that when she sentenced N to the tree, she condemned the human race? Because that’s what happened. Cyn, in a desperate bid to save her brother, made a new pact with the Solver. A new pact far more in favor of the Solver, to not say they had absolute control. 

R, meanwhile, had been rewarded. 

“SO HOW DO YOU LIKE PAIN, FUCKING MEATBAG?!” 

Louisa discovered that years of torture could make someone very, very angry. R asked the Solver for help in her case, making sure she lived through everything.

“Impressed. R. You are. Sick.” 

“I know~” 

“You. Really like. To Speak.” 

“You know what I would really like, Cyn? To be allowed in a mission, alone with V. Just her and me, with a lot of humans to slaughter!” 

The Solver laughed but had to refuse. They had promised Cyn, the real one, that N, J, and V would stay together for as long as they wanted, “Your only solution is… To convince V, can’t help that one. Request!” 

R yelled in rage! While V was a meek librarian, she was just something in the background. But now? Now she was a killing machine. Together, they could kill so many people and bask in their suffering! R loved her way to slaughter the humans and make the blood fly around her. It was pure and beautiful! 

AND THIS GODDAMN N NEVER SAW ANY SIGNS. IT MADE HER FURIOUS! IF HE DIDN’T WANT HER, R WOULD TAKE HER WITH PLEASURE!

“WHAT THE HELL ARE THESE!?” R said, as the Sentinels hunted her in Cabin Fever. It was supposed to be a fun and quick mission. After that, she could join V. Cyn told her how N and V broke off the Company. It meant the covenant was destroyed and now…

“Tempting: Give me N’s head and I will make V under you. But first. Cabin Fever.” 

But Killing N wasn’t the hard part. It was this shit. Cabin Fever. The humans, probably wary after losing contact with most of their colonies, actually build effective defenses. 

As the last Sentinel was above her, R simply said (having lost too many limbs), “Clever girl.” 

“And now, stay in the oven, little one. I will bake you like a muffin later!” 

“CRAZY OLD BITCH!” 

Dying had been weirdly fast. She would have preferred to fight by the Solver’s side, but hey. R told the Solver many times that their love for the drama would kill them one day. Well… She had been right. 

She hoped that in her next life, however, she would be allowed to be free. Free to act as she wanted and test her mettle when she wanted.

No offense to the Solver. The nice person who destroyed humanity would befriend again.

Still. She traded a master for another. True enough, the Solver gave her leeway and fun times. However, R still had to follow their orders, and their rewards were often limited. 

She wondered… What did it mean to be free?

… A bunny. She didn’t know if God existed (and considering the Solver’s existence, it wasn’t impossible), but they had a dumb sense of humor. 

Her “parents” even tried to make her a good girl. Imagine that. She felt no attachment to them. She was not their daughter. She was herself, and they should just shut up. So… Well, it was actually a good thing when she wasn’t at home. Her family felt better when she wasn’t there. To be honest, she agreed with them on that. 

So, to at least have a good night, she went into the night, looking for… Well, she didn’t know exactly. Maybe she would know when she found it.

“I really need to find something to do.”

R-umi was bored out of her mind. Also, she hated humanity. Yes, being human didn’t change that. She was still hating them. So, becoming a hero? Yeaaaah, no. She didn’t really have any reason to actually save other people’s lives.

As for villains… Well, it had some interests, but weirdly enough… 

R-umi simply didn’t feel like killing everyone in a glorious spree, like in the old times. Killing weaklings was now tiring. It wasn’t fun or thrilling. It would feel like a chore.

So, why would she bother with that? 

So, as she walked in the street, the tanned bunny, a former mass murderer, discovered the worst thing she had ever experienced. A tiny bit more than when she was a slave under the Elliots. She was without anything to do. No way to actually exploit her strength to the fullest. 

 “Watch where you are going, bitch!” Some punks collided against her, in the neon-induced light of the downtown, “Or better, apologize like the cute gal you are.” 

Oh great, more male idiots. Well. At least, she knew what she would be doing tonight. It wasn’t exactly villainy if they picked the fight first. Right?

“Hey, are you the one who kicked these idiots?” 

One day, the situation changed. R-umi was walking aimlessly in the night when one day an absolutely huge man blocked her path in the street. Light brown hair, large shoulder… And unlike the bitches behind him, he actually had a little something about him.

The teenager bunny of death smiled while eating a lollipop in front of him. Oh? Maybe he could actually last more than ten seconds?

“Oh? And why? Want to avenge them?” 

The man’s golden eyes, almost like Cyn’s when she could re-enact a horror movie, shone through the night. He answered by raising his arms as the men she had beaten up the week before cheered. 

The punches were so fast she barely saw them as he imprinted his fist on their face. Oh? 

“FUCK. NO. I simply want to have a good fight. Get the blood pumping.” 

She gave her own answer with a powerful kick in the man’s face… Except she felt a bolt of pain as he parried the hit to his head with his forehead and a huge smile on his face.

“To feel alive!” R-umi said as she welcomed the pain with actual joy. Her body. She could suddenly feel it again.

“Come at me, woman!” Suddenly, fists and feet met each other. Flesh wounded by sharp cuts and attacks, none of them having the concept of dodging apparently, as R-umi was more than happy to introduce the man to her bladed legs. 

Time to shed some blood!

R-umi had long left her house. She told her humans she was leaving and they didn’t need to look after her. She owed them at least that, considering they fed her for a long time. 

Right now, she was living at her new friend’s place, Rappa, an underground ring. Rappa appreciated that: he had a permanent sparring partner, and he wouldn’t have to do something wasteful like paying a guard. Win-win! 

The man was an idiot, according to R-umi, but good lord, he knew how to throw a punch and take it. Also, he wasn’t judging. He was simply fighting to live and living to fight. He didn’t see her as a young girl but as “an insane, mean rabbit”. 

Then she would kick him in the face with all of her strength, and he would answer in kind. That was the funny part of their relationship: each of them had the strength to potentially kill the other, and they didn’t pull back their attacks even in the slightest.

They both knew at an intellectual level that they only wanted to fight. To reveal in the blood and the broken bones.

This ring? He had a semi-official reputation. The police knew about it, but it was easier for everyone to have all the crazies like them in the same place rather than disturbing the peace. 

R-umi even had her fun at Rappa’s expense when one day, he was sent to the infirmary by their newcomer. A seemingly adorable otter woman. Turned out she was fast on her feet and with quite the blood rage. Rappa had won, but both of them were sent to get healed. 

“...so basically your head hurt despite being empty…” 

“Fuck you.”

“You want to talk to her, but your words fumble…” 

“I just told you that. Are you a parrot or a rabbit?!” 

“And finally, you can’t remember when you try to speak with her. My opinion on the matter is either you are in love with her or you have a concussion.” R-umi said teasingly, sending her huge friend into a lot of thinking. 

“In love? Uh. She does bite quite a lot.” Rappa let his inner voice out, to R-umi’s displeasure. Not the kind of information she wanted. Dammit. 

Oh well, it’s not like it would work anyway.

“...The fuck.” R-umi was staring from the bar, Otsu and Rappa… Very close. Like, very close. The Barman laughed a bit.

“Yeah, turn out, Miss Kawauso’s type is a man who sees fighting the same as courting.” 

“FUCK. IF I HAD KNOWN, I WOULD HAVE TRIED TOO!” Hey, she liked them sexy and deadly too. Sure, the fur was weird, but it wasn’t a dealbreaker for a date or two. 

“You are too young for her, miss.” 

“I AM OLDER MENTALLY! NOW GIMME MY BEER!” She had no challenger for the night. She needed something. 

R-umi liked her days with her newfound family. Fighting, brawling, training, drinking, and eating. She was exactly how she wanted to be: free of any responsibilities, with people she liked and who weren’t bossing her around. She wasn’t a stupid idiot villain, but she was far from a goody two-shoes hero. 

But everything had an end.

The night had begun nicely. Rappa had organized a fun and huge tournament for the underground and they were reaching the semi-final. Of course, three spots on four were their own little mad team, who kept their turf safe and sound. 

The last spot was a man named Oguro. Totally not one of the few heroes who came to them for some real life experience. R-umi already liked the man as, while he seemed polite, exuded some bloodthirstiness. The kind you needed to bash someone else’s skull with a brick. 

She couldn’t wait to face him before fighting whoever won between Otsu and Rappa. Hell, because of his quirk…

R-umi shuddered in delight. She might actually lose. LOSE.

Losing against Rappa and Otsu was always painful but fun. It meant she could grow. Progress.

She would have to work out  harder, make her kicks better, do them faster and finally make herself stronger.

“AND NOW EVERYONE, A ROUND OF APPLAUSE FOR OUR MEANEST RABBIT, THE BEAST OF CAERBANNOG!” 

“FOR THE LAST TIME, I AM NOT IRISH!” R-umi yelled at the presenter, who laughed in his booth. Then, she stepped in the ring.

The light went out. Darkness flooded the room, as everyone tried to use their lights. But the darkness simply ate it. 

Thankfully, R-umi’s nose and ears were more than enough to travel in the dark. 

“GET OUT OF MY WAY, YOU FUCKING MORON!” 

“SKREEEEEEE” 

Also, Rappa and Otsu were fucking loud. She would never trade them for anything. 

“Guys! Let’s get out of here and regroup to see which fucker is attacking us!”

As she jumped to them, light appeared but it wasn’t kind. It wasn’t warm.

It was a green radioactive light, emanating from an hexagone with three arrows coming from it. The symbol of control over space. The exponential end of everything. The Solver of the Absolute Fabric. 

R-umi’s blood ran colder than the arctic as she saw a silhouette in the hexagon, raising their hands. 

With all of her strength, R-umi’s rabbit instincts kicked in. She grabbed her friends’ hands and RAN.

“WE NEED TO RUN.” 

Rappa and Otsu were probably too stunned to stop her. Rumi was running away. Not in some kind of tactical retreat to trap her enemies or some shit like that. 

She was running away, scared shitless. The same girl who once thought about trying to fight All-Might. The crazy bitch who once exchanged blows with Gang Orca for fun.

When the rabbit tried to break the door, her feet hit it with enough strength to destroy Crust’s shield. 

The sound of her leg breaking against the sudden sigil resonated in the ring.

“Oh, my. We have a smart one. Sorry, not sorry. You are all going to serve as a haul for my partner~” The Solver said in a teasing voice. Its host was male, but with a very boring face. It hoped they found some fun stuff after all. “Now. How about we play together?” 

“FUCK YOU, ASSHOLE! WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE?!” 

The poor idiot who said that had his head explode in a smoke of blood as a sigil replaced his head. 

“I am the Void. The Exponential End.” Good lord, it was still a drama queen. 

Then, a second silhouette emerged from the light, a man with white hair and red eyes. “As for me, I am the Demon King. Welcome to hell.” 

Once again in her life, R-umi discovered a new emotion. She was scared… But not for herself. She was scared for her friends. Rappa was already cracking his fist and Otsu was getting her brass knuckles. 

“The Solver of the Absolute End.” R-umi said, at the same time as the Solver yelled, before using its telekinetic powers to rip the ring from the ground and using its fragments as bullets in the crowd.

“...You know that guy? Former ex?” Otsu said, actually noticing the rabbit who was nodding, still clutching her broken leg.

“Kinda. Former boss. We can’t win.” 

“Pffft. I am sure that if we can get close…” Rappa was going to add more before R-umi rose up on her last leg, literally, and punched him harder. Crying.

“IDIOTS. NO. NO, WE CAN’T. THE MOST WE CAN HAVE IS IT DECIDING WE ARE FUN TOYS OR TO MAKE…” 

The temperature dropped several times as the green light appeared next to them. The man inside it was so… Unnoticeable. He was an everyman. Yet, his expression was plain curiosity.

“...Or to make what?” The Solver asked, curious. 

Rappa and Otsu instantly tried to punch it. Rappa even used his quirk at his most powerful. His shoulder would most likely be shattered after that one series of hits but he was used to fighting with broken bones. Otsu, in the meantime, jumped on the Solver to bite his throat and rip his head. If her friend was that scared because of that bastard, fuck it she BALLED.

The Solver flicked its fingers at them.

The only reason the crabs limbs emanating from the Solver didn’t kill them was because R-umi, in desperation, morphed both legs into blade, despite the pain and tried to parry the attacks. The small resistance of her limbs slowed the attack slightly, enough to lower the power behind the strikes.

“...Or what. Seriously. You seem to know US.” They still spoke like this, weren't they? R-umi spat some bloods before answered. 

“... Did you die because you were… a fucking drama queen, Solver?” R tried to keep, despite the pain and the tears on her face. The Solver beamed properly and took her face in its hands, squishing it.

“R! MY DEAR KILLING MACHINE! If I had known you were here, I would have raided this place sooner!” 

“SOLVER! If you are done, be quick!” Its partner yelled, as he was busy killing people, muttering things like “Interesting…Overcomplicated… Oh, this one might please Garaki… Wait, this quirk does what with cards?” 

“A SECOND, FRIEND! I FOUND ONE OF MY TOYS!” Solver yelled back. Wait. IT UNDERSTOOD FRIENDSHIP NOW?! 

R-umi blinked at that and groaned. Then suddenly, she realized something. Fuck. She could never tease V ever again on that subject.

“...I said the only way to survive was for you to judge someone interesting or to make a pact.” She spitted at her former boss… “And I want one.” 

“...I am listening.” It was still as curious as ever. Good.

“I join and I obey, as before. In exchange… I want my friends to be spared from whatever you two are planning.” R was still bleeding and the Solver judged her.

“Oh? Really? You don’t want to follow me for old times sake?” 

“Hey, I like my freedom and friends. Besides… It wouldn’t be the first time you make such a deal. Right?” 

The Solver had its human face glitch… Before smiling. 

“Very well. Your loyalty once again, freely given. In exchange, me and my friend will not harm your friends. Only erase the last minutes from their minds, because you know, secrecy.

Are the terms acceptable?” 

R-umi nodded. Then she screamed as suddenly she felt something in her mind, ravaging her body as her veins erupted.

Rappa and Otsu weren't able to move as they saw their friends screaming for them. For help. 

“Don’t say I am not kind, R. I wasn’t actually forced to make a pact to get you onboard. I am still your Administrator. However, you make it easier. Now, all that’s left is to tweak you a bit.

I want my old R. Not the idiot who has friends besides me or V. Someone without feelings and obeying for my sake. For the End.” The Solver giggled before All For One yelled.

“ARE YOU DONE? WE ARE GOING TO MISS THE RERUN OF EVENT HORIZON!” 

“YES, FRIEND! WE JUST NEED TO DROP THAT ONE AT THE ANGEL FACILITY!” The Solver answered, excited at the prospect of seeing such a fun movie with its friend.

R was covered in blood and tears. It had ended. This life had been a dream. Now, it was time to wake up. 

She made a small hand sign to her friends before passing out.

The dark and the cold welcomed her back into the fold.

At the hospital

“... Otsu?” 

“Yeah?” 

“... We are going to find what the fuck happened to Rumi, right?”

“You can shut the fuck up, Rappa, if it’s to say something FUCKING OBVIOUS.” 

They had no clues but they were resourceful. They would find whoever attacked their rings, killing their customers… But more importantly, who kidnapped their family member. There would be hell to pay.

When Rumi woke up, she was wearing a nun robe and in front of her, the Solver was there, mimicking a priest.

“How does it feel to be reborn, my child?” 

“... Wonderful, Solver. Let’s bring everyone the peace and the final absolution in the void~” 

… Why did it feel less fun than before however?

Chapter Text

Chapter 11: New focus

ForProfits: I hate it.

BestBoy: Told you, honesty is the best policy!

Raven: Only you, N. Only you.

Murdercat: I join our former “glorious” leader on that one. I feel so silly for keeping that secret. 

Raven: Then again, I am the only one who doesn't have to hide the fact I am actually older than my parents to them.

BestBoy: Yeah… I have to admit, I feel guilty about that. My parents are nice.

ForProfit: Mitsuki can be annoying but she is a good boss. Dad is a good minion. 

Murdercat: If someone hurt Danjiro or Manami, there won't be a corpse. But yeah. Don’t like lying to them.

BestBoy: Oh well. Not really much I can do.

Murdercat: What actually worries me is R. She was exactly like before, personality-wise.

ForProfit: Same. The same yandere crush on you and hate boner on N.

Raven: BOTH ARE MINE. 

Murdercat: That’s not the point, Uzi. R was one of the Solver’s favorites. She had her personality rebooted only once or twice. Short-term only. She kept her original personality because she was friends with Cyn.

ForProfit: But. If she had been like that when she reincarnated, we should have had a murderous bunny on the news. 

Raven: So… What’s your take?

ForProfit: We don’t know. That’s the annoying part. A good corporate war involves good intel. We have none.

Murdercat: And. They know about us. 

BestBoy: Personally, I think we are still good. They haven’t attacked yet. Meaning, they don’t have the means to do that yet.

ForProfit: Well… Cyn liked overkill. She only fought when she was certain to win. 

Murdercat: She was playing against us on Copper-9. That and Uzi breaking her admin mode on us.

Raven: …I knew I was awesome!

ForProfit: … Sigh. We need better gear. 

Raven: Working on it. I had my doubts about Tessa but she is actually nice… And smart. 

ForProfit: … What do you mean, you had *doubts*? TESSA IS PERFECT

Murdercat: Uh uh. 

BestBoy: J is right. Tessa is awesome! 

ForProfit: Thank you N. We all know he is a good judge of character.

BestBoy: I am sure we will see that Cyn is actually an adorable goober. 

Murdercat: You said?

ForProfit: BITE ME

Raven: THAT’S MY CATCHPHRASE! Also, Tessa’s job. 

ForProfit: HEY!

Raven: :3 

BestBoy: :D 

Murdercat: XD

ForProfit: I HATE YOU ALL, I WILL WRITE THAT ON YOUR PERFORMANCE REVIEWS!

“Good morning, students, I hope you managed to sleep well.” Midnight greeted the students the day after the USJ. As Nedzu put it, the kids signed for this. 

She watched them, like a mama hawk, looking for any sign of discomfort, especially for the four students who were with Aizawa before he got badly hurt. To her surprise, they were quite fine: Katsuji was listening intently, Violet was humming quietly, Enzuku was smiling as usual, and Uziko…

“Uziko, I know you are working on a project with that Support girl,” Midnight said quietly as her smile was a bit more forced, “So please. Put away the laser rifle.” 

“I don’t have a laser rifle, it’s a RAILGUN.” 

Midnight stared hard and walked to Uzi to take the rifle. “No tinkering outside of the Support classroom. We are NOT equipped if it explodes. Besides, some of your classmates are still injured. You are supposed to be more careful.” 

Thad nodded at that, sitting next to Asui and helping her. Yes, the frog girl got Recovery Girl’s treatment. It still hurt quite a lot, and she was actually thankful to the muscular student for his help. 

The former Worker Drone had been nothing else if helpful since the USJ, and considering she hadn’t been confronted (or killed) by anyone, he was most likely keeping her secret safe. 

“Ribbit.” 

“Besides, I am not sure it’s efficient to work on it while you don’t have your tools.” The Jock said calmly, becoming one of the voices of reason in their small group. 

Enzuku, despite usually letting his girlfriend often walk on him, did the sensible thing of taking the gun away from the genius goth girl, making her pout. 

Midnight appreciated the young love but sighed. She was beginning to understand why Aizawa perfected his throws with these students. Thankfully, most of them were sensible kids.

“Now, for today, we are going to study aesthetics and what it tells us about villains.” 

This was actually her thesis before becoming a teacher: how an outfit and a villain used their quirk allowed you to discover more than you might think about them. Their past, their motivations, their personality…

For this occasion, she pulled up a portrait made by Enzuku after the USJ.

“Today’s practice: the Villain known as ‘Prophet’” Midnight said, as everyone could gaze on Tomura Shigaraki's scarred face, Enzuku even managing to reproduce his crazed eyes and a smile that screamed fanaticism. 

“He is a crazy madman. Isn’t that enough?” Shouto said, not challenging the professor but curious for once. This wasn’t a skill he could copy from a YouTube video, and an unhealthy need to be noticed by his dad. 

“Yes, but no. Every villain has a story. Many have reasons, not always good, to turn to villainy. Discrimination and poverty are the two main ones. Before someone asks, no, I don’t believe in villainous quirk. There are “dangerous” quirks, potentially dangerous and benign quirks. Dangerous quirks can be because you have next to no control over them. I am currently helping a kid who has to release his gas, poisonous by the way, not to let it poison his body. Potentially dangerous is… Well, pretty much any heroic quirk. Benign is for quirks basically useless in a fight or to threaten someone.”

Enzuku nodded, remembering a classmate from Aldera who could stretch his eyeballs from his orbits. 

“However, just because someone has a sad story, it doesn’t give them a pass to hurt other people. Understanding isn’t forgiving,” Midnight should have added ‘or given a free pass’ but she wasn’t a hypocrite and she had sometimes ‘lost’ a villain because she discovered he stole some money to eat, “And understanding is really important when you meet people like the Prophet. Fanatic. People thinking they act for a good cause. Sometimes, they actually do, but it doesn’t mean they should have the right to use every means necessary. Just because you are right, doesn’t mean you have the right to be an asshole.” 

Somewhere, Overhaul sneezed. She wondered who spoke ill of her.

Re-Destro didn’t sneeze but saw several members of his round table sneeze. Must be the pollen. 

Midnight pointed out the symbol, the Solver Axis, on the Prophet's face. “As we can see, these are scars, man-made. As a result, we can understand several things from this. Namely, to him, his body is inconsequential. If he has to die for his goal, he won’t even blink… But also, it gives information on his cult. It’s a cult for people suffering, as they are more prone to physical scarification to purge themselves of their emotional pain. It’s highly probable they will seek to convert people already unstable.” 

She looked at the students, who were taking notes. “Also remember. This is simply my own take on the matter. I might actually totally be wrong, and it was a freak incident. If I had a penny every time I met a villain with a freak scar, which seemed to have a deeper meaning but was actually the result of an incident, I would have 6 pennies. Never underestimate the human ability to do dumb things… Now, let’s talk about the outfit and why it screams “family issues”...” 

“{So… It’s active again, isn’t it?} Doll asked her cousin as the purple gothic sighed and nodded. She was still wearing an eye patch as a result of the NULL. She could still see, but she wanted it to rest. Also, the eye patch looked badass. 

“I didn’t see it. But the others recognized a Murder Drone with the Solver User. According to them, if that particular drone is playing along with him, it’s most likely because the Solver is there. Thankfully, it is still without a host,” Uzi shared with Doll her information freely. “See? Way better to share information rather than be cryptic as hell and die idiotically.” 

“{Ahahah. Very funny. Remind me who is dating things that killed our parents?}” 

Both of them were eating together, separated from their usual group. Uzi and Lizzie were still as friendly to each other as pure sodium with water. As a result, Doll and Uzi took it upon themselves to actually dialogue together. 

“They got better. Can’t you let go of that grudge?” 

“{I will, once I manage to kick that bitch’s ass. She killed my parents and almost seduced Lizzie.}” Doll groaned and Uzi… Nodded. Okay, it was the best she would most likely get, and it made sense. 

“No issue if I kick Lizzy’s? What’s her quirk, by the way?” 

“{Fair enough and no spoilers.}” Doll smirked as she enjoyed annoying her cousin in small ways.

It was nice to bicker with her again, and their parents were already planning to make weekend meals as a regular occurrence. 

“I wonder what they are talking about.” Mineta pondered to the group where he was weirdly included. He knew, considering how close everyone was, that they had known each other before, but no one had explained anything to him. 

“Old cousins who lost each other from sight a long time ago.” Enzuku provided him helpfully. He was still thinking about a few other things recently, and the more he thought about it, the more hopeful he was. 

“The 1-B are liabilities bent on destroying us. I don’t see why we aren’t already planning a hostile takeover so they know not to mess with us.” Katsuji said, as she was already seeing a group of students she didn’t know coming to them, the biggest group was from the 1-A.

“The 1-B isn’t the only threat to your class, ‘heroes’. Who gets attacked by villains like that?” 

“Well, heroes. Pretty often, actually.” Enzuku pointed out with happy eyes and a smile, turning toward the hostile mob, as if they were friendly faces. “Hi people, nice to meet you.” 

An angry mob is only as smart as its leader, divided by the number of people making it up. Being edgy teens who thought they deserved better than their current position didn’t really help. Still, they emitted enough hostility for it to be obvious, but Enzuku’s smile was pure and genuine.

“... Is he dumb or simply too nice for the job?” The girl leading the group, with cyan eyes and short blue hair, “I mean. I guess we could ask to keep him when we manage to oust all of you from the class after we win the Sports Festival.” She added, considering Enzuku as if he were a juicy piece of meat. 

V wasn’t angry. The fact that she instinctively turned her hands into dangerous claws and opened her mouth to reveal her fangs and teeth in a predatory smile was totally unrelated to someone hitting on N. 

“Try to run that by me again.” 

The Leader smiled and flaunted her hair as if she were a queen. “Oh, you didn’t know? During the Sport Festival, students who score high enough can take spots in the Hero Course. I wanted to go there because I deserve it. Seeing this stud only increased our motivation. Right, girls?” 

A lot of girls and a few men nodded in agreement. 

Mineta quietly moved away from V. In fact, pretty much everyone did. Especially as the unaware young adult added. “And I am sure he would like a better gir…” 

“You. Are. Going. To. Die.” V rose up from the bench and walked over to the table with a demented look on her face. “He. Is. Taken.” 

“V? Please. No murder in broad daylight.” Katsuji said to her friend, who glared at her as her claws were very agitated.

“Please. This blondie is only acting like that because she knows she is inferior!” 

Suddenly, the whole table rose up. Including Mineta. 

“Hey! V is our crazy killing machine!” 

Enzuku wasn’t smiling anymore and in fact looked pretty unhappy. “I am happily taken and I wouldn’t date someone like you. Ever.” 

“Someone is getting a write-up.” Katsuji added, while trying to pull away her friends from the suicidal idiot. 

“Well. Consider this our declaration of war, Heroes! We shall take your place because we are the actual hotties!” 

“Eh, above average but terrible personality. Honestly, you overestimate yourself.”

Everyone stared at Mineta, who shrugged without any shame. “You all know what I am about.” Namely horny but with enough self-control to not show it constantly. However, he was still able to provide ratings. 

Having a midget judge her actually made the Leader blush in anger, and she was on the verge of yelling at him before she got dragged away by the few friends of hers aware enough that they just declared war on people powerful enough to smash them.  

“What the hell was that?” Katsuji whispered, rolling her eyes at this degree of idiocy before going back to something better. Namely, her food, while thinking of Tessa. 

“I can eat alone.” Cyn tried to tell Thad, who seemed to have taken the role of her helper during her healing. 

“Sure. But can you lift your food?” He correctly pointed out, as he was lifting their food, one in each hand. Cyn stayed silent as she walked with difficulty. Her feet and legs weren’t really made for that. She preferred jumping, but her wound could open again if she did too much too soon. 

“You… Are lucky. I need help.” 

“We always need help. Also, just know I am always there for that.” Thad simply answered with a smile as they both sat a bit aside from the others. If Cyn didn’t want to let others know she was also a reincarnator, Thad would respect that. He was a good friend and a good listener. 

“Ribbit,” Cyn answered as she was quite irritated. She had wanted to be alone but suddenly someone had intruded on her brooding. 

“Well, that’s not something I would actually do,” Thad answered casually as Cyn blinked, wondering if Thad either understood what she said or if he was pulling her leg. She was unsure. It annoyed her.

 “Do you think you will be fine for the Festival in two weeks?”

Good lord. He was actually trying to care for her. Cyn nodded, her face blank. She was there to be a hero, not necessarily to make friends. Especially not with someone who would make her be in contact with N and the others. 

“Good. I hope you will give your best! I saw how you fought, and I really hope we can have a good one!” Thad smiled with all of his pointy teeth, radiating with his desire to be better. To be stronger. 

Cyn stayed silent and quietly ate her plate. 

“We can practice earlier.” She didn’t know why she proposed that, but Thad seemed happy. “I won’t go easy on you.” 

“Never asked you to. That’s the point of practice. I need to be stronger if I want to protect everyone as a shield.” 

There was more to what the man didn’t say. Cyn easily guessed that as she was the same. She spoke little to avoid letting the others recognize her, but also the need to be strong enough not to rely on her supernatural abilities. She could get that.

“I will go hard on you.” 

“Technically, so will I.”

Cyn slapped him over the head for that very terrible pun. She didn’t laugh internally. Pure slander.

“More seriously, I noticed your… Thingy in the eye,” Thad said, while eating his steak, “I need to know how to fight against that.” 

“Learn to dodge. Aim for the eyes. Beware of the light.” Cyn provided, not happily. “Never. Accept. A deal.” 

“...There is a story behind that one. But I know when to leave a lady her secret.” 

“Nod. Thanks.” 

… Ok, maybe she could allow that one near her. He wasn’t bad, had good reasons for being near her, and he knew when to leave her with her thoughts. 

Tessa was still working on her project, namely fixing her part of the zero pointer for the Sports Festival. Power Loader granted her more time to work in the workshop because she was actually careful about her projects. Her teacher liked her approach toward explosions: she had a ton of them in the beginning, but in a very controlled environment, and it was explicitly to test the limits of the robots and the materials. If she knew what made them go boom, she could avoid that situation. 

Learning to fall before knowing how to walk allowed me to not make mistakes that could hurt people. 

Nonetheless, she was thinking she had missed something.

“You really need to eat, Tessa.”

Somersaulting, Tessa let a little scream out before turning to Katsuji, who had entered her lab with… Water and food.

“... I missed lunch?” 

“You missed lunch. I know you don’t have to follow your parents’ rules, and that’s a good thing… But you need breaks.” Katsuji said, a bit worried for her. Tessa smiled before rearranging her hair and sweeping away some sweat. 

“I know. That’s why I have you. To ground me a bit.” She said, while getting up and stretching, making her former maid raise an eyebrow.

“Mind explaining?” Katsuji asked, as she sat down and let her former mistress eat what she needed. 

Tessa thought about it while eating a very balanced meal. It was always like that with J, taking care of her. Real care. 

“When I got here, I had my memories, but none of you guys were nearby. As if my first life was a feverish dream. Being trapped inside Cyn, or the Solver, didn’t help. My parents were there, yes. Or at least, I think it was them.” Tessa began to unload, as it had been on her mind for a moment after all, and in her lab, she could speak freely. Especially with J. It was J, her friend. Her emotional support. So… She continued. “Then, Endeavor. I was barely three. I was making sure not to be noticed in that crazy household. Apparently the Hatsume is an assassin clan. Their quirks are almost always with their eyes, be it better accuracy, faster reflex or things like that. He brought me here.

However, here is the thing. To me, everything was still a dream. It wasn’t really real, you know?” 

Katsuji actually understood that. Enzuku, being probably N but not necessarily often, made her question if the world was real. Her past made her cautious of everything. 

“I know. Quirks didn’t help.” 

“They didn’t help. But science? Science helped. Because it worked like in my memories. Or outside of things I could know. Science was concrete because I could understand it, and it didn’t depend on me. So… I worked on that more.”

Katsuji approved. She trained a lot in her own time, be it her quirk or physically, for pretty much the same reason. Her feelings were pretty much the only thing she could be certain was real.

She then noticed Tessa’s attitude shifting. Uneasiness. She was tense, and it was pretty much obvious to her.

“When I learn about the USJ… How you got hurt…” The engineer touched Katsuji’s face, her nose as it had to be corrected after R’s last kick, “I wondered if it was still a dream. Or rather, a nightmare. Getting you back but almost losing you…” 

“That’s why you didn’t come to visit me at the infirmary?” There was no judgment or hurt behind that. Tessa silently nodded, and the class rep took her free hand, softly caressing it, “It’s okay, Tess. I am okay. The others are too.” 

“And what if one day, you aren’t?” Tessa said, as a small tear began to form in her eyes, “Hero isn’t exactly a safe job. You are targeted by a thing that once destroyed humanity!” 

Katsuji then remembered someone who knew how to make others safe. No, not All Might. He was an outlier. She decided to take a page from a synergistic liability and grabbed Tessa in her hug. Simply to reassure, to let her know she was there. Still there. 

“I am going to be okay, Tess. I promise. This time, we will protect everyone. You will help us protect everyone. Together.” 

“... May I stay like that a bit?” 

As if Katsuji would not keep Tessa in her arms to make her feel safe and grounded. 

“Then I will go back to make babies to protect all of you. You need weapons. Gadgets. Tools. Armors.” 

“Sorry again, All Might.” Enzuku was still training with his teacher and mentor. His wings were healing, but it took time. It was weird to remember there were things they couldn’t cut. Things he couldn’t punch.

“For what? Keeping secret the fact that you are reincarnated?” Yagi asked with a smile, as he was standing on N’s back as he continued his laps around the tracks, on a small chair, “It was a logical attitude, my boy. How could you have known I knew of the Solver or reincarnation? Or I would have treated it seriously?”  

“Maybe, but still. I didn’t like lying. I am sorry for that.” 

“I would be a hypocrite if I were to tell you to never lie,” All Might chuckled, before coughing some blood, “In fact, I lie quite a lot. Often actually. My best friend, David, doesn't know about One For All being a transferable quirk. Not because I don’t trust him. I trust this man with my life and health. However, sometimes… You have to lie to protect the people you care about.” 

This almost made N stop in his tracks, as he remembered V on Copper-9. Yeaaaah, he remembered that one.

“Isn’t honesty the best policy?” 

“Sometimes. You need to know when to tell the truth and when not to.” All Might said, before drinking some juice and wiping away the blood. “A thing to remember is that secrets are likely to come out one day. However, what’s important is knowing if it was something absolutely deal-breaker for you or if you can understand why it was hidden from you. On a side note, Enzuku. I know you lie as well as I. So here is my tip for you. If you don’t want to lie, don’t make up one. Simply don’t talk about it. Good liars know how to mix truths and lies together. We aren’t. If we start to lie, we often add details to make it seem more real. It’s actually a bad idea because it’s more things that can be taken apart.” 

“So… The less I say, the less I can mess up?” Damn. That actually made sense to him. He remembered his first meeting with Uzi. Seriously, even if he hadn’t messed up immediately, she would have seen he wasn’t the leader of the group at all. “That’s genius.” 

This made All Might laugh a bit more. 

“I think at one point, you might need to address that with your parents. They probably have some doubts, considering both of them seemed pretty smart.”  

Hisashi, working on Khan’s blueprint, groaned about it. The blueprint was genius. It was simply very annoying when Khan used things that didn’t exist yet, and he had to create the science needed to make it work.

If only his friend and boss could remember to focus on the small details. It often felt like he came from a more advanced time and forgot science wasn’t up to his design. Very frustrating, almost as much as this hero, Blue Blur, who often broke doors he created during his intervention by going “too fast”. AS IF IT WAS A GOOD REASON TO DESTROY A PERFECTLY GOOD DOOR.

He would have to talk about that with Khan. 

Inko was happy to work from home again, but she was now seriously worried. She started to notice a pattern. Cases of several people with powerful quirks disappearing. No bodies were discovered and were always in convenient and/or tragic circumstances. Like Endeavor’s eldest son, who vanished in a huge fire, or even this Lion hero, who disappeared in a building that exploded, courtesy of the CRC. 

It was as if they were collected by something or someone. But who and why? Maybe she should go back on the field. Investigations might have overlooked something, and she needed to find out what. 

She only hoped she had been wrong about a previous theory of hers, with that being named “Solver” being back. Good lord, she remembered the one time she found her baby boy on her computer and had opened a strange website with the villain’s logo on it. Weirdly enough, it had disappeared the next time. She took time to talk with Enzuku and teach him not to access weird websites. 

Because he couldn’t have known about this criminal, right? Even if he seemed strangely mature at times…

“Yeah, they are pretty smart. However, it’s still quite hard. Same for Katsuji. Only Uziko is lucky enough to have her parents.” 

Fair enough to All Might. 

“If you ever need support or someone to confirm your story and help you with that, don’t hesitate. I am here for all of you.” 

Enzuku smiled before accelerating on the track. This lifted a lot of weight off his mind, and he could now focus on his training. 

“By the way, Enzuku. I talked with Nedzu. Now that we are pretty sure the Solver will want to target you but wants to stay kind of hidden, we thought of a solution.” 

“Oh? What’s your solution?” 

“You and your team, you simply have to be PLUS ULTRA and be high-profile students. If the attention is on you, well… People would notice if you were attacked, and the Solver will have to avoid moving against you openly. Same way for All For One. That fucker only liked to move openly to attack an holder of One For All or during his outings with the Solver.” 

…Enzuku had to ask a question that was on his mind.

“Were they… You know… Dating?” 

“For the sake of my sanity, I don’t want to know.” 

“...So you have movie nights,” R-umi asked, as Alice was working on her limbs and the Solver was there to help, making sure to infuse her frame with some of its power. 

“Yes.” 

“Lunch and meals together.” 

“Yes.” 

“... And you often talk together of your hobbies, namely hurting people, making them suffer, and how you plan domination and becoming more than what you currently are.” 

“YES. What’s your point, R?” 

“... Isn’t it hard for a potato to date a crab?” 

“We aren’t dating or in a couple! We are simply partners!” 

“And they were close roommates,” Alice added with sarcasm before getting hit by a wrench in the head. “Ouch!” 

“Quiet, you failed HOST.” The Solver screamed, seemingly with uneasiness. “It’s not like that! It is simply someone with whom I can be myself and enjoy a good bloodbath.” 

“There is absolutely no feeling involved in my partnership with the Solver, Kurogiri.” 

“If you say so, sir. Should I prepare the liver rare for the Solver?” 

“NO! Solver likes it cooked well-done! With sauce!” All For One yelled at his undead butler for making such a silly mistake. 

“... I didn’t know you remembered how all your partners liked their food exactly,” Kurogiri said with surprisingly no discernible sass in his voice. 

“... Shut up. How is Tomura doing?” 

“He is training more to compensate for his perceived failure of the USJ, and he is making plans to make sure his next task is done exactly as you planned.” 

“... Good. Make sure to prepare his favorite food to keep his morale up.” 

“Which is?” 

“...I don’t know. You are his caretaker, not me!” 

The irony and what his butler tried to point out was utterly lost on the wannabe demon king. 

“Anyway, the Festival is something to look up to. I hope you will be able to seize this occasion and show everyone that your group is HERE. To show the new generation is HERE.” 

“I will do my best!” 

Shouto Himura was sweating bullets in his training room. The Sport Festival. Endeavor was always there, as one of the most well-known alumni. 

Finally, it was time to show his dad that he was his son. To show he was the strongest. He wouldn’t fail.

The Copper-9 group had a weird dream the night before the Sports Festival. A dream that would leave them with various and different feelings. 

For Enzuku, this dream left him with a sense of purpose and suspicions. 

Chapter Text

Hello dear readers. 

The next chapter of this fic is actually in another castle fic, separate as it is ... Well a cross-over as you might have read. 

You can read it on AO3 : a Solving Dream OR there wait does that mean Harry Potter is canon ? (Kinda, in the multiverse sense)

And before you ask if it is canon...

I did ended last chapter as saying it was a wild dream, right ?

Chapter Text

Chapter 13: The Cursed Chapter

“Hmmm hmmm hmmm,” Enzuku hummed happily as he went to school, in a good mood after this strange and silly dream about Harry Potter. A strange dream where his unconscious told him something, or at least, he felt as if it did. Now, all he had to do was to plan. 

“You seem in a good mood, happiness manager,” Katsuji said, as they walked together to school, suspicion in her voice. 

“...Happiness manager?” 

“Useless job, but try to make people happy.” She provided while rolling her eyes. “What about your training? Are your wings back to normal?” 

“It’s a work in progress. Thanks to my body, I hold my quirk better than expected. It’s still easier to use it when I use my wings, indeed. Better storage, I guess,” N answered while smiling as usual, “As for the wings, I discovered that lost ‘feathers’ regrow. I had Tessa help me with that. We removed the broken ones, as they weren’t healing properly. I should be mostly good for the Sport Festival.” 

“Mostly?” 

“I don’t think I will be able to carry and fly with people in my arms.” 

Yeah, this could easily be an issue, Katsuji admitted. However, she noted something weird.

“Tessa? Why not me or someone else?” This was a good question, as she would prefer if her mistress/crush stayed away from blood.

“She was the one who asked. Something about testing them. Besides, she had good tools to do it.” Namely, helps to stop the plucked part from bleeding. It was not a nice process, and he really didn’t want to do it again. The wings, being part organic, had a fair share of issues… Namely, bleeding and lacking his healing factor. He regretted the time when he could heal from mortal wounds in a few seconds. Well, actually, he didn’t because he got hurt way more often back then. 

“Uh. I will talk with her about it. But yeah, be careful about it.” 

N nodded simply, while accelerating the rhythm a bit. He knew Katsuji would have no issue following. 

Mineta was taking notes as Ectoplasm explained to them why maths was essential in the field. Why was knowing there were 6 and not 5 minions left important? Quick math. Or how to make sure you could rescue someone who was free-falling by breaking their speed carefully. It was fascinating to him, as he really should calculate the limit of his balls’ elasticity and establish how safe they were for rescue. 

As their heroic exercise had established, strength was more than useful, but utility could save the day. Considering his quirk had next to no offensive ability, utility was the best way for him to learn to be the best hero possible. Even during the USJ, he had been able to help thanks to that. 

The more he thought about it, the more it was clear to him he should most likely focus on that. Still, he wanted to be able to stand on his own and not simply be a support.

As for Thad, he was following the lesson while massaging his strained muscles. It was a good pain to be honest. Asui held onto her promise to spar with him and to train him against other people with this “Solver” thing Uzi and Doll had. For a week or so, she made him train on dodging the Eldritch power and how to see if it was used, namely, looking for the eyes of the enemy and understanding their tells. 

The day before, Asui had been cleared for actual exercise and requested a spar against him. 

“You are. One of the few people. I can actually kick. Without risking killing them.” Cyn explained before kicking him with her powerful legs. Had he not turned into his rock form, Thad might have been sent flying.  

Right now, Asui simply ribbited at him and he answered by throwing her in the air. To his surprise, she then teleported back on the ground to repeat her attacks. Oh, right, she could do that. That was what happened against J, probably. 

Thad loved the scrap, as they battled for a good time that day. It left them both panting, exhausted, and sweaty. Some might even call that steamy. Nonetheless, Thad ended the seance by raising his fist for Asui to bump it. 

She answered it, and he appreciated it. 

Shouto Himura looked at the class, pleased with them. Everyone had held their own at the USJ. Some were better than others, but Nedzu complimented him on his ability to lead and how it had helped prevent casualties during the incident.

The only thing that disappointed him, aside from not being there to help against the worst of the villains, was his father's reaction.

“Are you safe, Shouto?” 

Not a question about whether he captured villains or anything like that. Not a question on whether he did well. Simply, if he was safe, as if it wasn’t a given. 

“Yes, Dad. However, I wish I had been closer to the fight to help more.” 

“You did well already, Shouto.” 

‘Did good already? ’ He was the #2’s son! It was his duty to be the best! Good enough wasn’t enough! Not if he wanted his father actually to acknowledge him. He left him with his siblings and his mom.

His best opportunity to finally make his dad see he was his heir, his son, and not simply someone he should see from time to time, was the Sports Festival. He would show his dad that he was more than good enough already. 

Because good enough already would be the day Endeavor would make him his sidekick or anything showing to the world he was related to him, instead of being so distant. 

As for N, V, and Uzi… The training was hard too. They saw how much they needed to improve, especially if their enemies were working on upgrading themselves. They had no evidence the Solver didn’t have another Angel under their control, and honestly, after Copper-9, learning to expect the worst-case scenario had become second nature for most of them. 

They needed strength. They needed power… And honestly, the Sport Festival seemed the best place to test their current abilities and determine what needed to improve, what to change.

ForProfits: All-Might’s plan is solid. 

BestBoy: Don’t doubt All-Might! He is super!

Raven: I am increasing my training, but honestly, I think I hit a bottleneck. It’s as if I hit a wall, but I haven't found the key or the means to have my breakthrough.

Murdercat: We aren’t in a manga, Uzi. We don’t cultivate our power with Qi, as otherwise we would have used N for some triple cultivation.

MadGenius: Oh my ~ Already at that stage?

Raven: Nah, it’s simply V’s mind in the gutter. It’s like asking if you and Tessa are now holding hands.

BestBoy: That would be dangerous, that’s how babies are made! 

ForProfits: … The worst thing is that I am not sure if you are kidding or not.

BestBoy: :D 

Raven: Probably kidding, considering how much he is holding V’s and mine hands..

Murdercat: Especially after my Dad sent him a letter. I don’t know the content, but I know my dad.

BestBoy: It was a nice letter, telling me to take care of you or he would take care of me. I wrote him back and told him I would prefer to break my bones than let you be hurt. 

Murdercat: So that’s why he seemed more accepting last night… Well, I mean, he doesn’t plan to meet you in a dark alley at night. So… Progress?

BestBoy: Ahah, that’s a good dad. Anyway, Apparently our parents want to meet, finally, soon? 

Raven: Yeah. Probably at my place, I guess. Bigger after all.

Murdercat: Probably after the Sport Festival, I guess? 

Raven: That’s pretty much what Dad is planning. I think your dad will have a free week on purpose, N.

BestBoy: YEEEEY! I love when Dad Hisashi is here!  You should ask him about weapons and stuff. 

Raven: Already did. He gave several pointers. You sure he isn’t a reincarnator or something? 

BestBoy: Pretty sure he is himself. 

Murdercat: It doesn’t really answer the question, pretty boy.

“Principal, I need to ask you if this plan is even remotely sane,” Aizawa said as Power Loader sighed. He had been working overtime to compensate for this shit. To complete Nedzu’s nightmare of a plan. “This is a new thing, completely different from the initial plan.” 

The rat with the delusion of being the smartest being in the world sipped his tea, listening to his straight, if tired, man. 

“I hear you. But really. The first plan was so weak… So simple.” Nedzu said, almost laughing, while Power Loader sighed.

“Yet, I was able to sleep during that time. Now? Now, I am hitting on Aizawa’s coffee.” 

The Teacher nodded, as his own brand was notoriously known as quite powerful. Nedzu tried to drink it once. 

Since then, he learned the scent and knew to dodge any drinks he didn’t make himself. Apparently, his staff liked the fact that he hadn’t been able to move for TWO FUCKING DAYS. Never again. 

“Aizawa… Where the fun would have been with a simple race?” 

“With landmines, sir. And giant robots.” Power Loader pointed out.

“BORING. Same, a simple cavalry tag battle? EVEN MORE BORING.” 

“As for the tournament?” 

“... That one, we keep. People like gladiatorial battles. We should really make that legal again and get the rights to this entertainment immediately.” Aizawa noted the idea before Nedzu told him to. The rat smiled. He trained him well. 

“So, you decided to do that…” 

“FOR THE DRAMA! Putting young humans in stressful situations trains them for the future and brings more revenue. Also, it’s fucking hilarious.” 

“Nedzu. I ask for a raise for this shit.” Power Loader was borderline dying in terms of the overtime he needed to do.

“Exceptional bonus, and holidays.” Nedzu also knew when to be kind after all. Good work called for good rewards. 

“... You are still highly sadistic, sir,” Aizawa said before sipping more of his strange and foul drink… 

Everyone backed away. 

On the morning of the Sports Festival, everyone had a strange feeling. By everyone, the author, of course, means our main heroes.

Uzi and V felt weirdly vindicated, as if they correctly guessed someone would crush, and it finally happened. N, on the other hand, felt weirdly angry. As if someone ignoring someone else's emotions led to someone DOING A VERY DUMB THING HE EXPLICITLY SAID NOT TO DO. It probably worked out, somehow, in the end, but he really needed to punch someone. Hopefully, no one would do something idiotic that would anger him. 

Weird morning for all of them, really. 

U.A. was already booming with activities and people as the teens arrived for the first day of the Sports Festival. One day per year, and of course, the first one was the opening statement for them, the First year, the new generation. 

“HEY HEY, LISTENERS!” Mic yelled in the various speakers across the school and the giant stadium used for ceremonies, “Everyone first year wanting to participate in the event is kindly asked to join gate number 4!” 

Wasn’t that a bad omen? N thought to himself, as he still had time to buy some ice cream for himself and his friends before the beginning of the trials. 

He wanted to have fun after all! 

Opening his wings, he flew in the sky, appreciating the soothing feeling of the breeze against his skin and his wings before noticing Asui stuck on a pole, as she was clearly trying to find a way to join the trial too. 

N smiled, before flying just in front of her, creating a gush of wind big enough to make a few hats fly.

“Biscuits! Sorry people! My bad!” N said with his usual smile as Asui stared him down, puzzled.

“Hop on my back! It will be faster that way!” N pointed out to the frog who touched his wings as he presented his back, “Better have a good grip.” 

“Ribbit,” Asui said, before making sure she was indeed holding him well. She couldn’t afford to be late to the trial, especially not after training that hard with Thad ever since she healed from her wounds.

N, with his usual smile, put his hand on her head to reassure her, “Don’t worry, it’s safe.” 

Cyn thanked her body's inability to show her emotion, as she would have either been making really happy sounds with N acting like a big brother again to her, or be screaming in panic. 

She really needed to hold onto N, as his wings took the same posture as a falcon ready to fall on its prey. Oh. He was going to be fast, wasn’t he?

She was answered a second later as the wind made her unintentionally yelp. 

“I wonder where N&M and Asui are?” Thad said, as V and Uzi were growingly unhappy with their boyfriend’s tardiness. He better have a good excuse for being late, or they will have words with him. J, for once, was quite chill about it because… Well, it wasn’t her job anymore to yell at N’s idiotic actions. 

Her only vague concern was with Tessa, but the young girl told her that… No. Her issues with being back on the field still triggered some traumatic flashbacks. The Gala. 

“Also, Power Loader is vaguely aware of my issues and, under the condition of not telling anyone what was going to happen, he told me what was the first trial and if I wanted to participate. I am totally sure I would have broken down.” 

… J put Power Loader as a good teacher in her book. She was now wondering what the trial was about, on the other hand. She had vaguely an idea, considering Tessa’s past. 

“HELLO EVERYONE! I BROUGHT ICE CREAM! AND ASUI!” 

“... This is a good offering to stay intact despite being late, N,” V said, growling at the frog girl who was a bit too close to her N.

However, the girl clearly knew better and jumped closer to Thad, actually. V took the first ice cream and checked the flavor.

“Mango? Who the hell eats mango?” She wasn’t disgusted; it was a flavor after all. Just puzzled as to why N would pick that one. 

The ice cream was promptly snatched from V’s hands by a sharp and powerful tongue. Everyone blinked at Asui, who was taking the ice cream… And then looked sorry. Afraid.

“Sorry! I just really like mangoes!” 

“That’s okay. Just… Ask next time?” V was puzzled by this weird girl, and a voice from her subconscious was screaming at her something, but she failed to listen, dismissing it as a dream. 

Meanwhile, N simply chucked, “That’s okay. I took a lot of ice cream. Everyone can have one. Including you, little buddy.” 

Thad chuckled before taking a mint flavored one, Uzi a dark chocolate one, V a vanilla, and J too.

“Sorry! A bit late! You know the issue with short legs!” Mineta said, as he arrived, panting. Honestly, going through the crowd was almost a challenge in itself. N still presented him with another ice cream, which he took with pleasure. 

Mineta was almost going to check how the girl ate their ice cream, before noticing V’s stare… and biting the tips of her ice cream and crunching it. Okay, duly noted. Damn, that was some sharp fangs she had. 

“Personally, I think the trial will involve some shits with robots,” J said as she continued to eat her ice cream, determined to win to make Tessa happy and to make sure her future as a corporate hero would happen. 

“Uh uh. So… I think I will stay with you as much as possible.” Mineta said, as he looked at all of his friends, “Hey. I prefer to stay behind the bulldozer. It’s safer.” 

That was fair, everyone had to admit. Being smart was a strength after all. 

“FIRST YEARS, BE READY TO ENTER !” Mic yelled at the top of his lungs, making everyone almost jump, but they stood ready. 

As they entered the stadium, they discovered… A town in ruin.

“FIRST TRIAL: IT’S THE END OF THE WORLD, AS WE KNOW IT!  Humanity’s hubris caused its fall, and you are the remaining survivors! Your goal? Manage to join one of the various bunkers across the place safely!” 

Everyone stood silently, wondering what was happening, though N had his wings already opened.

Then, from a bush, a Zero Pointer emerged, with all of its missiles ready to shoot. In fact, it shot them at the screaming students as they began to run. Explosions and chaos happened, and as the dust rose, even the group of friends lost track of one another. 

“GUYS! LET’S SEE EACH OTHER TO THE NEXT TRIAL!” Mineta yelled from somewhere unseen. He was apparently okay. 

“OKAY! I AM WITH J!” Thad yelled before J screamed at him to move forward, as more and more bots were coming from the ruins with paintball guns.

“AND BEFORE ANY LISTENERS ASK: NO, THEY AREN’T NORMAL PAINTBALL GUNS. WE REMOVED THE T!” Mic yelled, and someone could hear a tired sip next to it. 

“He meant it would hurt. A lot. They are Painball guns. Any students down for more than 5 seconds will be eliminated.” Aizawa said, calmer than his friend. 

“OH GOD THEY ARE EVERYWHERE!” 

“Remember, people. Here, at UA, we do not approve of child abuse.” 

“However, we will put it on television because you guys apparently love it!” 

The fact that the crowd cheered made Aizawa lose a bit more faith he had in humanity. They were like the Drones and their lack of reaction when people died.

Asui was jumping fast across the various bots who were shooting at her relentlessly. Damn it. Being shot at was a pain; she knew that. The issue was that destroying the bots was actually kind of hard, as she had to kick them to do that, reducing her mobility. She wasn’t going to use her Solver in a public event, thank you!

“Ribbit.” 

If Cyn had a mother in this life, she would have been shocked by her language. Sadly, our favorite frog grew up alone. Something about her parents dying in a crash happening near a villain's attack on an underground ring. She didn’t remember them well. Since then, she has lived from one orphanage to another. 

But she wasn’t done. Suffering had always been a part of her life. She was used to it now, and she wasn’t going to go down easily. 

Cyn ribbited like an angry frog, as she used herself as a missile to destroy the shooting bots. 

Suddenly, a shadow covered her as she finished a bot and discovered… N, still eating an ice cream, while casually using his wings as a shield. The guns were far weaker than R’s kicks or the Noumu, after all.

“Hey, little goober. So. You okay? I remember you had a good wound last time.” 

… N clearly didn’t change, even as he reincarnated, wasn’t he? Always worrying about others. 

“I can manage.” Cyn coldly said to him, as she would have preferred him to go away. She didn’t want to hurt him (or anyone else) again.

“Don’t be like that. Besides, I am sure Thad would like it if I were helping you. How about we team up? Besides, now you have experience on how to stay on my back.” 

… The plan was actually sound. Simple but effective. On his back, Cyn would have no issue finding one of the bunkers or more of their friends. 

“What about your friends? Shouldn’t… Shouldn't you focus on them?” 

“First off, you are also a friend,” N said before unleashing a surprise head pat on the frog. GODDAMNIT SHE NEVER COULD DODGE. Also, she liked that, despite her self-control! “Besides, I am more worried for the bots than for the others.” 

Cyn thought about it for a second. 

“DON’T YOU KNOW, I AM STILL STANDIN’ BETTER THAN I EVER DID?”

V was singing as she was unleashing her inner murder drones on the poor robots who were beginning to retreat from the mad panther as she ran at them on all four before slashing them with her claws. Some had tried to attack her partner, the small gothic girl…

But then, she simply put some music from an MP3 player. The nightcore version of Angel with a Shotgun. Taking a rock, Uzi slapped it with her quirk to turn the rock into basically a missile destined to fuck the robot’s cover, the robot and the one behind it ready to take its place. 

“NOT A BAD CHOICE BUT I PREFER MINE! ALSO, I AM AT 20 DRONES DONE, MISS ANGEL OF DEATH!” 

“23 HERE, GREMLINS!” 

They were doing fine and not taking this as some kind of battle date together.

J was actually already in a bunker, with Thad. 

“How the hell did you…” Thad had been used as a shield to protect J as she studied her environment, and then she suddenly bolted, dragging him behind her. 

“Easy. This area is designated after the model template used by the government following the Dawn of Quirk. Because of how fast city blocks were destroyed, it was easier to streamline the reconstructions. 

As a result, the various bunkers have specific positions in case of a villainous attack or someone’s quirks going awry,” J said calmly, as she was trying to find some tea or something nice to drink. She found a bottle of soda and smiled at where she thought there was a camera, “Once I knew where I was, it was a simple matter of using knowledge of protocols and procedures.” J offered her best corporate smile at the camera as a result.

“... My dear Banal, also known as Eraserhead, because of how you like to shoot heads with an eraser… Did you make them learn that?” 

“No. Katsuji is a special case. She is extremely by the book, and she knows the importance of rules. I highly recommend her as an intern for any heroes agency. She knows her job and will do her utmost to perform it.” 

Mineta, meanwhile, was alone. Alone, covered in mud and dust, and with a gun he managed to find on a destroyed drone. 

“Bravo Six, going dark,” Mineta said to himself, as he began to use his small size to his advantage, in a city that wanted him dead. He was alone and weak, but goddamnit. He wasn’t done. Far from it. 

With more heart than people could credit him for, Mineta advanced in the dark, ready to shoot at any bot trying to harm other students. 

If only he could find some cardboard boxes or something to hide better in plain sight…

“I am sure they are doing just fine. I have faith in them.” N said with his usual smile. He didn’t fly at full speed, as he needed Cyn to actually see things if they wanted to find one of the bunkers and pass this trial. 

“... If you say so.” 

Still, they were now quite high in the sky. Theoretically, an easy target, but N flew well. He was quite used to that, and Cyn, with her sticky frog abilities, had no trouble staying on him when he did manoeuvres to evade some attacks. 

“Flying… Fun.” Cyn appreciated, as N hummed happily and waved at the public. 

“Right?! I am working on a way to fly with Uziko and Violet, but it’s still kind of a work in progress. 

Cyn wondered if by pushing her abilities, she could actually turn back into a humanoid Solver Form. Most likely. However, she was also sure it would break the protection she created on her power to avoid detection. Bad idea. 

“... I hope you do, N… zuku,” Cyn added quickly, not wanting to get her cover blown up. N chuckled, but before he could add anything, Cyn pointed to something on the ground. Namely, a robot blocking the way for some students, led by the blue-haired bitch from the other day at the mess hall. 

She stood behind her friends, sending them to attack the robot, but the Gen Course was clearly not the most adapted for fighting, and as a result, a lot of them were being dealt with by the fake T-800 in front of them. 

However, what grabbed the attention of Cyn wasn’t the robot. It was what he was keeping: a giant door with a big Nedzu face. 

“Bunker?” N asked for confirmation

“Bunker,” Cyn confirmed, and then N began his descent. Had he been alone, he would have most likely increased his momentum to the maximum and broken the robot in one shot. However, he doubted Cyn could take that.

“Ready, little buddy?” 

“Ribbit.” 

The last thing Rebecca remembered from her past life had been the split. Well, more accurately, being split in two by that goddamn nerd Uzi. Urrrgh. And there was that total hunk of a murder drone she had tried to flirt with and failed. Sure, she had a boyfriend, but it wasn’t because you caught a fish that you stopped fishing, right? 

Then, the next thing she knew, she awoke as a human. And from there, she… Well, she reconstructed her life as usual. Without Lizzy as an opponent to the position of Queen bee, it was quite easy to be the most popular kid at school, especially with her quirk that allowed her to mind control anyone talking back to her… Or if she wanted, get into their head to even manipulate them further. 

Someone tried to joke that her quirk was villainous? It was a matter of perspective really. All she saw was a quirk worthy of her. So, she did the best thing to become popular: she applied to UA and became a hero. However… Things didn’t happen as she hoped they would.

Namely, it’s quite hard to brainwash robots. Well, the nerd would have said otherwise as she knew how to hack other robots, but that's besides the point. Additionally, she didn’t even remember the name of that one extra from her previous life.

So, instead, she had to fall to plan B: Namely, be in the General Course, conquer it, then use the Sport Festival as a stepping stone to be the new leader of the hero community and have everyone worship her! HER PLAN WAS PERFECT.

“... What do you think of her, Nedzu?” Endeavor asked, curious about the rat’s opinion as he was sitting next to him, especially considering the favor the rat had asked him to do. 

Endeavor, really, only accepted to check on his son from a bit away. 

“Well, her quirk is useful, and she apparently knows how to control her classmate. However, I have doubts about her personality. Does she move them as comrades in arms or as pawns? Because one is a hero and the other is an evil mastermind.” 

“... Don’t you call us your pawn every once in a while?” 

“Yes, and I am unapologetic about what I am.” Nedzu pointed out. Endeavor shrugged off. Fair enough.

Rebecca had created a shield of meatbags around herself to be protected from the various attacks.

“AAAARGH! MY HEAD!”

“Ouch, my chest!” 

Hmf! Right in the fins!” 

… It was a sacrifice she was willing to make, absolutely. 

“PEOPLE OF THE GENERAL COURSE! ONWARDS! THEY CAN’T STRIKE US ALL DOWN!” 

… Also, it would allow her to make sure she has fewer opponents. 

No, really, her actual issue, as she managed to find a huge bunker, was… Well, the robot is in front of her. An actual fighting drone, which looked like an action movie actor, and with a shotgun. It was actually moving her meat shields fast, and she needed it… Or at least a few of them to buy her time to enter the bunker. 

“GERONIMO!” 

She raised her eyes and was blessed with the sight of an angel suddenly falling, feet in the face of the robot with a smile, as his hair shone with the sun. Goddamnit, he would be a straight upgrade from her current boyfriend. Sure, she had seized him the last time, but now… She wanted him. 

“Hey ! Everyone! Bunker !” 

Enzuku was using his own wing as a shield against the shotgun, his kick not being enough to destroy the Terminator. Nonetheless, he wasn’t going down that easily. 

“Buddy? Need help!” N yelped, and suddenly a tongue grabbed the robot before throwing him in the nearby building. A frog jumped from the dust and stared at all of the students and then at Enzuku. The angel and the frog high-fived and smiled at each other. 

Teamwork.

Then, he turned toward them and looked at them. “You guys should probably… Stay away? I mean, this will be most likely more dangerous after that.” 

“NEVER! WE ARE THE GENERAL COURSE AND WE WILL PROVE WE ARE AS GOOD AS THE HERO COURSE!” Rebecca yelled, despite her true goal to raise the spirits of her troops. All of them yelled in unison. 

Enzuku shrugged as he opened the bunker. “Fine. But while I helped you this time, I haven't forgotten what you said about my friends.” He was nice, not an idiot. 

Rebecca sighed. Oh well, it wouldn’t be the first time she had to seduce a target that didn’t like her at first. However, thanks to her assets and quirk…

…Suddenly, she felt a cold glare. A dangerous glare. It was from the frog, and her big eyes, ready to swallow her. She passed her tongue on her lips and ribbited terrifyingly. 

Rebecca smiled. Okay. She didn’t have to tell the girl about the rising T-800 behind her, raising his gun and aiming at her. Rebecca walked quietly, waiting for the surprise elimination. Oh, the tragedy!

As she walked, as if she had noticed nothing, she smiled. She only waited for the detonation.

Then, an explosion actually almost blew up her ear, and everyone turned to see the robot, its arm exploded as its gun blew up. The culprit? A ball lands on the cannon. From a ruined building, someone came out and threw a few more balls to make sure the robot would stay down. 

“Ribbit?” 

“Hi!”

The student was covered by dust, mud, blood, and oil. It was as if he had been diving in hell and had a blast. 

Mineta Minoru had survived by the will of the gods and a lucky roll for his fate. 

They entered the bunker, silently with an appreciative nod to each other, as the hero course was followed by the general course. Damn. Even the midget was actually good. EVEN THE MIDGET TOOK DOWN THE ROBOTS THEY FAILED TO BEAT. 

Maybe… Maybe, unlike what Hitoshi told them, the hero course student actually deserved their place. Even the seemingly weaker ones, as Mineta walked by them, staring them down despite being smaller than them.

Being a hero wasn't going to be easy.

Chapter Text

Chapter 14: Staying Aliven’t

Madam Yaoyorozu was sighing, disappointed by the situation. She and her husband had been held back by work despite the Sport Festival being their one and only priority. 

They had been so proud when their daughter managed to get into the Hero Course as one of the recommended students. Unlike what most people thought, it didn’t mean an auto-pass for being a Hero Student. Only the fact that they had a specific and different trial to pass, with fewer students both in the trial itself and passing into the course…

They cried tears of happiness when they learned the news, and they celebrated together. Unlike most rich heirs, Sozo Yaoyorozu had married his wife entirely out of love, a pure “nobody”. They met when he was studying abroad in the USA. Call it romantic, overly sugary, or anything, really, but he fell completely for the young woman who tripped one day on his notebooks. He still giggled at the memory, as she spilt her coffee over his suit. She proposed to pay it back, despite his clothes costing more than a year of her wage back then. 

So, instead, he asked for a simple study lesson with her, as she was one of the best students in mineralogy. Yes, he was studying business too, but the core of the Yaoyorozu’s fortune was their mining operations. Knowing a lot about minerals was actually quite useful to decide where to expand or cut your losses before they become too cumbersome. 

One study session became two. Then three. The fourth, they began to discover together the inevitable attraction of two bodies near each other and how the exchange of buccal fluids worked. 

Of course, the fact that she was an orphan had been a huge concern in his family, but thankfully, her grades and their love for each other had been enough to convince his parents to give her a chance. Adding to that her “quirk”, which greatly helped their family on some operations, and checking with a truth quirk confirming her feelings… Well, she ended up winning them and more importantly… Him. 

Ichika Yaoyoruzu smiled happily as her car was rolling at high speed on the road. If everything went as planned, they should be in time for the third round. Ichika and Sozo believed in their daughter’s abilities. Sure, her classroom was full of powerhouses, but honestly, she was brilliant, smart, and decently athletic. 

In the meantime, as the car probably racked up one or two speeding tickets (they could afford them), their attention focused on the TV as they watched their daughter teaming up with the Uraraka’s heir and her friend. Khan was a weird fellow, but Sozo appreciated his work. Ichika even sent him, once or twice, some minerals she created thanks to her ability.

Momo, thanks to the shields created from her arms, was able to guide her friends to a bunker and passed the first trial. 

“Ohohoh! I knew she could do it!” Sozo said with a smile as he held his wife’s hand. 

They missed a key element as their driver suddenly swerved to try and dodge… Something. It failed, clearly, as the couple could clearly hear an impact on the car’s roof… Hell, they could see it. 

Then, as they were trying to check behind the car, what the hell was hit… A blade penetrated the roof, ripping it open like an old tuna can, and a smiling girl with a terrifying smile greeted them.

“Hi. Do you have a minute to hear about our Lord and Savior, the Absolute Solver ?” 

Shouto was in the bunker, as he was watching several students groaning in pain, shot in the limbs by the various bots around them. Thanks to his fire, it had been easy to dispatch the threats and burn them without a thought. The fact that the arena was also already a ruin allowed him not to think about things like collateral damage. 

However, he was now a bit irritated. Several students were clearly way over their heads. Some were useful, such as Ibara from 1-B, but then again, she was a Hero Course, so it was kind of obvious. There was a business student who was smart enough to actually organize and rally people with him. However, as he discussed with Shouto, he was very well aware he was unlikely to pass to the third round. He simply wanted to prove to himself he could win at least one trial. 

The #2’s heir could understand and respect that. Knowing one’s limits is the best way to avoid burning out. 

Honestly, he kind of wondered what the second trial was going to be. The bunker didn’t have an exit besides the front entrance, and he had checked specifically for that.

“CONGRATULATIONS, STUDENTS. A LOT OF PEOPLE DIED DURING THIS PRE-EVACUATION, AS YOU ALL RUSHED FOR THE BUNKER. SOME DIED WHILE PROTECTING THEIR FRIENDS. OTHERS DIED FOR BEING WEAK. ONE STUDENT DIED IN A STAND-OFF… STILL. YOU MANAGED TO SURVIVE THE FIRST WAVE. HOWEVER NOW… YOU WILL HAVE TO FACE THE WORST ENEMY!” 

“The others, as there are only so many spots for the last trial?” A student tried to guess, wondering if he had any hope of surviving, considering he was in the same bunker as V “I AM BATHING IN THE OIL OF MY ENEMIES” Tobita and Uziko “I slapped a building” Uraraka. It would be saner to surrender.

“... WELL, IT’S IN THE LIST. HOWEVER, I WAS MORE THINKING ABOUT SEVERAL HEROES FROM THE TOP TEN BEING ROBOTICIZED AND NOW HUNTING YOU ALL!” 

Wait. What? Shoto’s eyes widened as that announcement was screamed.

Endeavor has rarely taken a break from work ever since his divorce. He was never a good husband, and as Natsuo pointed out, even as a father, he wasn’t quite good. Not the worst, his son said, as he made sure to still come to important events and provide them with all materials. But calling him a good dad was a stretch. 

However, Endeavor was still an excellent hero, someone All-Might was happy to let get the mantle once he retired.

“So, do you want to go to the bunker where your son is?” Crust asked as he was putting on the armor Nedzu designed for them. Heavyweight armor, to give the students a chance.

Endeavor froze for a second, considering the situation… Before shaking his head. “No. People would think I went easy as he wins the trial.” 

Crust laughed a bit before punching Enji on the shoulder, as if they were friends. Enji respected the man, but he didn’t do the friend thing well. 

“Fine them. I will go to his bunker. However, don’t be angry if I stop him.” 

Ok, this time, Enji smirked, letting his pride shine through. “If.” 

Crust once again playfully slapped Endeavor’s shoulder, as if he had said the funniest joke. Near them, Wash was in his usual suit, except they changed his eyes to Terminator red ones, and Ryukyu was busy finishing her make-up as a cyberdragon. Somehow, she knew fans of a children’s card game were cheering, but she didn’t know why. 

“Everyone has a bunker?” Crust said, having seniority over the other top 10. It was his duty to make sure everyone knew their job. 

Still, Nedzu was lucky they owed him a few favors, especially as he called them on short notice. Surely, this wouldn’t have bad repercussions. 

Ichika raised her hand, slamming the palm into the roof of the car, and immediately absorbed everything above her as the roof collapsed in on itself to force the material into her skin. The metallic parts of the car shift in structure as she reconstructs the material to ward off the fucked up ‘Angel’ above her and her husband. In her hand formed a double-barreled shotgun loaded with dragon’s breath rounds. Several shots rang into the air as she shot, the recoil being absorbed by her seat. 

With blinding speed, R-umi dodged it with ease by jumping up and out of the ruined roof. With a swift movement, her legs moved as if they were a cruel crescent moon and bisected the car in two.

As the vehicle separated on the lonely road, the separated couple crashed into trees. Among the fire, a murderous angel hummed.

“We can do this the easy way… or the fun one.” Her sadistic grin told them it was only really one way

“NOT SO FAST, YOU MURDEROUS BEING!”

Rumi had heard the roaring engine from afar and dodged easily the silver car trying to ram into her, before trying to cut it in two with her nimble leg. 

Her leg’s reinforcement sparked angrily against a blade. 

The Silver Samurai, one of the strongest heroes in Japan, was there to stop her. 

An advantage of being the head of one of the richest companies in the world? Having sponsored heroes to protect your trip. 

Especially as the man brought up his own team.

“Silver! She looks exactly like the one who attacked our daughter!” 

While there had been a gag order on the attack UA faced, the top 10 heroes were aware of it. If only because it meant a murderous cult was on the rise.

The Samurai looked at the war bunny, who seemed positively ecstatic at the idea of fighting him, especially as he could parry her attacks. 

Her hands morphed into organic carapace-like claws, and her mouth widened to show a double row of serried teeth, salivating so much that it was dripping down her chin. 

“Then she will regret coming in alone.” 

“Alone?” R-umi laughed at the funny joke, “I don’t hunt alone. Besides, this time… I have my real pack.” 

Suddenly, the heroes and the Yaoyoruzu felt a chill in their spines. Then the temperature dropped even more as a howl echoed in the forest around them… And their breath became visible. Oh shit. It was actually cold. 

Then, a blue flame cut the road into two and made sure that no backup for the heroes was coming in time.

The heroes, understanding the villain indeed had back-up, charged her. 

R-umi smiled as her engine activated. Finally, she could let her bloodlust get the best of her. After all, her pack could secure the target. Either them or…

Ichika and Sozo tried to run in the forest. Tried. Because in their way, there was a tall man with blue hair and a scared face.

His smile was creepily kind, and he waved at them. 

“Rejoice, sinners, for your sins will all be forgiven in the Solver’s embrace.” 

Ichika, being faced with an actual threat to her life, activated her fight-or-flight instinct… And currently, she couldn’t fly.

For the first time in her life, Ichika decided to use her old ability to the fullest. Not to simply make small things as she was used to.

“Sozo, behind me. NOW.” 

Sozo knew better than to argue with his wife, and Tomura whistled as the world seemed to be absorbed by the middle-aged woman. Matters were decomposed into small cubes and formed a vortex, entering Ichika in mass. 

“This will be an internecion, ” Ichika warned as her eyes shifted to red digital blocks, the squares having large X’s instead of pupils and her own body started to look more and more like a robotic beings, metallic skin and LED sensors appearing all over her body as her hair became wild twin tails of fiber optic wire. Even her mouth became little more than a screen displaying her mood.

Tomura chuckled in front of the scary spectacle, and the symbol of the Solver appeared on his hand. 

“Thank you sincerely. We didn’t know if we had the correct target… Until now. Hello, Cube. ” 

“SO, HERE IS YOUR JOB, LITTLE FOLLOWERS. YOU HAVE TWO WAYS TO WIN THIS: MANAGE TO SUBDUE YOUR ATTACKERS, OR SURVIVE UNTIL YOU ARE AMONG THE 16 SURVIVORS. WILL YOU WORK WITH YOUR COMRADES? BETRAY THEM IN THE END?” Mic was weirdly hyped by the situation. Maybe he missed his vocation as an announcer for the Squid Game or Takeshi’s Castle (the mortality rate was roughly the same after all), “EVERYTHING WILL BE REVEALED THIS FORTH NIGHT!” 

Aizawa slapped his friend loudly for his terrible, terrible pun related to the only battle royal game still alive after 200 years.

N stretched a bit and gave two thumbs up to Mineta and Asui. 

His answer was Mineta returning the thumbs up and Asui staring at him before getting a head pat. GODDAMNIT. She was supposed not to bond with him! Otherwise, she would want her brother back! Well, more than now. She didn’t deserve that!

Rebecca, meanwhile, was calculating. What was her best option to win? Most likely by sticking to the heroes' students, but they didn’t really like her. Oh well. Nothing she couldn’t change with a pit of ‘persuasion’. 

“So… You guys are going to help us, right?” Rebecca asked, her voice overly sweet as she gave them puppy eyes.

“... As I said, I still remember what you said about my friends,” N said more seriously than his usual overjoyed and enthusiastic tone. Rebecca’s smile became wider and suddenly… N went still. 

Got him.

“You will help me, sweety,” Rebecca added, and N began to walk toward her, his gaze blank of any emotion.

“Yes, ma’am.” 

“Good butler.” Rebecca snarked. Then she turned her eyes to the other two hero students, and they gave her a very worried look. Oh shit. This wasn’t planned.

Fortunately, the bunker’s door exploded, and the heat rose significantly.

“ALL OF YOU LISTEN UP! YOUR BASES BELONG TO US NOW!… Seriously, Nedzu?” Endeavor sighed. True, he owed the rat for his help finding some crime syndicate and hunting them, but still. 

Rebecca smiled and pointed the hero to her attack dog. “Sic’ him.” 

Mineta and Asui seriously wondered how they could handle the situation. They hoped their friends weren’t in the same shit. 

“WASH WASH WAAAAAAAAAASH!” 

“HOW THE HELL IS YOUR BUBBLE CAN STOP MY EXPLOSIONS!?” J yelled, frustrated. Thankfully, Thad was still there and using his body as a big shield against Wash’s furious soapy onslaught against them.

Wash looked on both sides, checking if there was any camera and…

“Well, the answer is simple. Actually, my bubbles are spinning so fast they generate a small void around them, protecting their membranes. As a result, your explosion is actually deviated, preferring to follow oxygen rather than the lack of matter.” 

Thad and J stared at the washing machine, as they hadn’t expected an actual and factual answer. They didn’t even know Wash could actually speak.

“... What?” 

“Physics, my dear, and manga to get inspiration. You really don’t want to see the maximum spinning power I can generate.” 

Thad groaned before taking the opportunity to take a stop sign and expertly use it as a spear.

“YOU ARE NOT A JOJO’S CHARACTER!” 

Wash’s red eyes turned off… The machine fell on its back. Thad wondered if he had really gotten his place in the next part of the tournament that easily. 

Then smoke came out of the huge suit, and fabulous music resonated in everyone’s ears. From the husk, emerged like a beautiful butterfly… 

What suspiciously looked like Kars. 

“... You were saying?” Wash’s real form appeared, and suddenly, he began to move, his weights seemingly useless on him. 

The two teens screamed even louder as they began to run as fast as possible.

V and Uzi looked at the giant dragon in front of them, as the fire made her even more threatening. Momo was beside them. 

“We fight?” V asked with a smile, while Uzi was ready to scrap with a dragon. How often could she have such an opportunity?

The smarter lady groaned and grabbed both of them by the neck, as everyone around them began to run.

“WE RUN, YOU IDIOTS. WE CAN WAIT FOR HER TO TIRE OUT AS SHE HUNTS OTHERS!” 

“Party pooper!” 

“IT’S CLOBBERING TIME!” Crust yelled as he smashed into the bunker. Shouto looked at him, and Ibara nodded to Shouto’s signal. Suddenly, various vines grabbed Crust fast. The business student nearby winked at Shouto. His quirk allowed him to configure a space around him as hexagons, forcing people to walk on them, following the pattern. Useful, but hard to be a hero with it, as the area of effect was only a few meters around him. 

“REMEMBER OUR DEAL!” 

“I will,” Shouto promised, as Ibara and he began to bolt to the exit. 

Namely, the business student wanted to be Shouto’s public relations manager in the future. As a result, Shouto promised to help him land an internship with his dad’s company, and this way, he would have better opportunities to be good enough to get the job. 

No, he didn’t ask for the job immediately. Only help to be good enough for it in the future. Shouto accepted, actually with a smile. Competent and ambitious? He could relate to that. Maybe he should also present this manager to Bakugo. 

“COME BACK HERE, I AM NOT DONE!” 

“Then you will have to get through me first.” The student said, while putting his glasses on with a smile, that his middle finger was used to push them up completely, and they caught a small bit of light, obscuring his eyes from view. “BECAUSE I WANT MONEY!” Looking like a demon, Nijima smiled. The first step of his world economic domination had started!

Endeavor didn’t know anything about Enzuku. Well, his family name ‘Midoriya’ actually rang a bell, as Hisashi was the man who installed the Khan Door for Shouto’s bedroom and protected him from Touya. 

However, he didn’t expect his punch to throw him back into a building behind. One single punch, and wings as big as Hawks, and looking just as sharp too. 

“... Kid?” 

Rebecca laughed at the spectacle. Why bother fighting when others could do it for her? 

“Beat this hero for me, honey!” 

“Yes, mistress,” Enzuku answered mindlessly, creating a small sonic boom as he rushed to fight Endeavor.

“THE FUCK?!” Mineta appropriately reacted, and Rebecca smiled. 

“Mind control. I can trap someone in their own mind, tailoring a dream world to make them obey me. Turns out this beautiful idiot loves to serve. I didn't even have to do anything to him, just made a world where he always has been with me.” 

She could even control the intensity if she wanted, for her control to be more or less subtle. If she wanted, she could even enter her prey’s mind to see more of their dark secrets and use it to break them.

Mineta could see some gears grind in Asui’s mind. The mind control clearly had some limits, as they weren’t being brainwashed.

Also, Mineta thought about the conditions and had an idea. It was nice when the universe allowed you to mix fun and good. 

Mineta raised his gun and shot at the bitch. Sadly, one of her minions saw the attack coming and got hit in the torso. Mineta looked at how many bullets were left as Asui looked at him weirdly.

“Hey. The announcer said ‘either beat a hero or wait until we are only 16 left ’. He never said we couldn’t eliminate other students. If we beat her up, I am sure we can free N and get us a spot,” he shrugged as he readied his makeshift weapon.

Asui smiled just as wide as when N told her to play villains with her. 

“I like… Your mind.” Cyn said, her smile becoming lopsided and her body tensed like a predator finding prey. 

Mineta checked how many bullets were left in his rifle as Rebecca growled, her minions surrounding her to protect her. She would have loved to call back N to deal with them, but Endeavor was the biggest threat. N seemed to be able to fight against him, or at the very least, buy her time. 

“How about you also serve me?” She tried to trap them under control, as she needed them to answer a question of hers. 

Sadly, she didn’t expect two things. Cyn was a woman of few words, except for N and maybe a certain manly idiot. Only because he kept pestering her for questions and asking about her well-being, in other words, Cyn was only going to bite her in the neck.

As for Mineta, while Rebecca was a good 8/10 physically speaking, her personality made her drop significantly. He was used to people trying to manipulate him, making him think he was accepted in a group, while in reality, he was only a pawn. 

He was short and not really good-looking. However, as Asui said… He had a good brain. He answered the question by trying to shoot again.

Sadly, Mineta wasn’t American. Meaning, that he understood the basics of shooting a gun (try to point the part from which the bullet came out at the target), but dealing with recoil and the fact that it was clearly too big for his body size was another issue. Once again, the bullet failed. 

Well, better focus on what he could do. Mineta threw the rifle with uncanny accuracy. With his hands against a general student trying to grab him before putting a ball on his forehead. As the student fell, he couldn’t get back up. 

“Well, time to trap some people. ASUI! I WILL DEAL WITH AS MANY AS I CAN BUT TRY TO GET THE BITCH FAST!” 

“I AM NOT A BITCH!” Rebecca lied. 

“Ribbit,” Asui answered to Mineta, jumping on the ceiling to get closer to Rebecca. The blue-haired girl groaned. It was going to be a pain to deal with both of them.

Endeavor was legitimately impressed by Enzuku. The kid was strong enough, even in this mind-controlled state, to push him back out of the bunker.

However… Enji was still Endeavor, and the kid was mind-controlled. His movements were stiff and honestly quite predictable, now that he was getting used to the speed. 

Endeavor didn’t like to beat kids to teach them a lesson or train them, but this was part of his deal with Nedzu. 

As a winged blade whistled in the air to slice him, Endeavor dodged with a side-step. Fire emanated from his elbow, increasing his punch’s firepower as his knuckles met N’s jaw. 

“... If you weren’t mind-controlled, I could have tested you properly, boy.” Endeavor sighed regretfully before throwing a fireball at the angelic boy. Instead of dodging him, which he should have been easily able to do, he parried it with his wings. 

“Must… Deal… With Endeavor.” 

Hmm, the girl’s mind control was actually quite strong, if this amount of shock didn’t wake him up. 

This made her interesting. Too bad she seemed the kind of person who thought that her personal satisfaction was the most important thing in the world. People weren’t pawns to be used in one’s sick way to achieve their dreams! 

And yes, the irony wasn’t lost on Enji, but it was actually an even better reason for him to butt in. He had lost his way once, and his egoism hurt the people he should have defended and loved more.

It was his duty to straighten her before she became completely twisted or burned away any real relations she could have. 

“I am sorry, kid. At least, I know I won’t crush your dream to become a hero. Because the one who is going to beat you is I! ENDEAVOR!” 

However, he was going to slightly hurt him. No offense to the kid. 

So, Endeavor began his heroic duty to beat up a teenager.

The Vestiges didn’t expect to get knocked out even for a second. They weren’t able to speak with the Ninth yet, but they had a good time checking his memories.
However, they didn’t expect, instead of the usual wasteland, to wake up in a Victorian-style manor. More specifically, one manor. 

“... So, he still remembers that one, uh?” Bando wondered, as his friends were getting back up, “I have to admit, this girl is good with her quirk. Too bad she is kind of an asshole.” 

“Agreed.” Nana said, as she began to crack her fist, “Think there are copies of the Elliots here? While Tessa seems like a sweet girl, I want to punch her parents.” 

“Get in the line,” Yoichi said with a smile. “More seriously. The priority is Ninth. Because this hero outside isn’t really holding back from what I am seeing.” 

The Vestige nodded. It was a time limited mission: find the Ninth, break the spell on him, and then get popcorn. Perfect.

“I wonder if it has the same eldritch robots as in his memories, though,” Bruce asked loudly. 

The thunder roared, and the lightning flashed them a V, in her murder drone form, staring straight at them, all weapons out.

Every Vestige gave Bruce a look. He just had to ask, hadn’t he? 

“SKREEEEEEEE!” 

“AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” 

“I SIGNED UP FOR SUPERNATURAL, NOT SCOOBY DOO!” 

It went full Scooby-Doo. Especially when they met Centipede Cyn and interrupted her tea time.

If there was one major difference between fighting Rebecca and her army of minions and fighting J, Cyn would say this: Quantity is a quality of its own. That and the fact she couldn’t teleport in public to her directly and smash her head repeatedly. Good lord, she wished she could do that.

She loudly and angrily ribbited… Loud enough for Koda’s mother to appear shocked by her vocabulary. 

Nedzu also understood the ribbit and decided to schedule Asui for anger management AND tell her there were things you couldn’t say, especially the one with the mother of someone, two goats, a rubber duck, and a very specific group of country music. 

All For One, watching the Sport Festival from home, whistled in admiration. He should definitely reuse that one for All Might.

Nonetheless, the nimble Frog was bothered. Mineta was trying to take down their enemies too, but even with his goodwill, he was still way less powerful than, let’s say, J blasting away the opposition, or V being… V.

Her best tactic, for now, was to grab someone with her tongue and throw them at Rebecca, and hope to smash her. The classic strategy of ‘beat one motherfucker with another motherfucker.’ Thankfully, they were strong enough to lift people with just their tongue. But they were a lot. 

Worse, they seemed to have all of their higher intellectual ability, unlike N. Probably because she had more time to work her quirk on them

Being in the bunker, still, gave her more options. To prevent them from leaving, Mineta had thrown quite a few balls at the entrance of the bunker. Meaning people would get stuck fast if they tried to exit too quickly and block the way out.

He was really dedicated to his “I will be the best support hero” schtick, wasn’t he? 

“COME AND GET ME, I AM THE WEAKEST HERO STUDENT! IF YOU WANT MY PLACE, COME AND TAKE IT FROM MY DEAD AND COLD HANDS!” 

Mineta was filled with the determination of someone knowing it was his best and only shot at being popular. 

They seriously needed to get the number of students lower and lower. That was the only way to win. 

“COULD YOU SIMPLY GET BENT, MIDGET. NO ONE LIKES YOU AND YOU ARE AS USEFUL AS THE POPE’S BALLS: YOU ARE THERE BUT YOU SERVE NO FUCKING PURPOSE.” Rebecca yelled at him, hoping to get him to answer.

“... Okay, that one is more hurtful than necessary,” Mineta said, more to himself than anyone else. 

Rebecca screamed as it meant he still hadn’t talked to her. No mind control. FOR  ROBOT GOD’S SAKE.

Nonetheless, if she couldn’t get them under her control, she needed to at least relocate to somewhere better for herself: namely, outside of the bunker, as long as the hunk was fighting Endeavor.

“SLA… COMRADES, MAKE A BRIDGE OF YOUR BODY ON THE STICKY AND SMELLY BALLS SO WE CAN EVACUATE!” The Queen Bee ordered her cronies, her slaves. Her supporters. Yet, none of them questioned why they used their bodies to form a pathway for their glorious leader. It seemed right. The best way to allow one of them to be the champion of the general course. Besides, the numbers had to go down for the trial to finish. If Hitoshi still had that powerful hero student under her order, she was going to win, right?

“You… Use people… As meat puppets.” Cyn was remembering things, and she was angrier than she thought she could be. Using N was already a black mark. However, the callousness behind this one? Oh, it was more than hate.  

“I was going to say as minions. But I like the term, thanks!” Laughing away, the student began to run away, as the other students made a wall of their bodies to trap Mineta and Asui inside the bunker. Maybe even bury them under their number.

Now, with her “royal guards”, Rebecca was sure to win; she simply had to win. Then, Rebecca saw a vision that made her blood freeze for a second. Namely, a blond girl, munching on chewing gum while taking a selfie. How did she even have a phone?!

“Oh hello, Yaoyoruzu. I hope you get far into the competition.” 

“Thank you? I guess?” And both shook hands. 

Doll stared at her girlfriend, not believing her eyes, as Lizzy immediately used the rich girl’s quirk and recreated a smartphone. {You seriously copied her quirk and memorized how to create a phone because you couldn’t leave it for a day?}

“Yep. Besides, I need to do so for my reputation.” 

“Hi, bitch.” The cocky smile. The nonchalance. She acted like a cat finding a fun toy. The ONE WHO STOLE HER RIGHTEOUS POSITION, EVEN IN THEIR PAST LIFE.

“... Lizzy?” Rebecca was burning white in anger, forgetting everything else. The frog. The midget. 

“I wasn’t sure if you were you,” Lizzy answered. Rebecca didn’t even let her say more. She locked in and used her quirk immediately. She was going to…

Lizzy raised a finger and, as if she were Miles Edgeworth, denied her control. “My mind is mine, Rebecca. See, this is why you weren’t allowed to sit with us.” Either that or using Rebecca’s own quirk to counter her allowed Lizzy to cancel it. Purely. She may have used Setsuna’s quirk to touch Rebecca earlier, discreetly. Same as a few other people.

“I CAN STILL BEAT YOUR ASS. HUNK! ATTACK HER!” Rebecca yelled to call N. She had a powerful attack dog. What use did he have if not to destroy her enemies? 

In addition, N had his wings fully open before he wiped some dust from his face before setting his gaze on Lizzy. Oh. She hadn’t expected this. 

She didn’t expect Endeavor to crash out near them either, as he grabbed N’s adorable face to smash it into the ground. “NOW WAKE UP, KID.” 

“... You had forgotten Endeavor. REALLY?” Lizzy was actually that surprised as she walked up to Rebecca and saw her minions, all heteromorphs, move to protect her. 

“I still outnumber you 5 to 1,” Rebecca growled, as Lizzy was alone.

“Maybe. But do you know I was always better than you?” 

“YOU WEREN’T BETTER THAN ME THEN AND STILL AREN’T!” Rebecca yelled and sent her minions to attack Lizzy. The first one had strong armor, and honestly, Lizzy could see potential in him, maybe as a sidekick. Pangolins, after all, were flexible, armored, and their plating could cut things. 

She slapped him with a giant hand, sending him away in a building. Then, combining Itsuka’s and Setsuna’s quirks, both hands began flying, crushing a student with a radiator quirk, hot and hard but not enough… And another one with a hammer head. It was barely a challenge. 

“I was always better than you because, unlike you, I was working for it. I didn’t like Uzi because she was a fucking weirdo. However, I respected the fact that she was willing to get her hands dirty.” Lizzy pointed out that Rebecca was seeing the situation getting out of her control. 

“BULLSHIT! I!” 

“You liked to lie, manipulate people, and be a bitch. Ultimately, that was the thing about you. You were alone.” 

“You are alone too, IF YOU DIDN’T NOTICE! AND THE MOMENT MY QUIRK CAN AFFECT YOU…”

Lizzy smirked, and her floating right hand made a finger sign.

“That’s the thing. I am not alone.” 

Two horns went flying through the ruins, as Lizzy turned around and took a selfie, Rebecca and her nameless minions got hit in the face. 

The caption, for Raizo’s followers, was as such: “Feeling cute, beating bitches with my GF <3 Might delete later !”

“... Aizawa?” 

“Not my students, they are Vlad’s. I would like to remind people that being in the hero class A or B is decided by a literal coin toss.” The Teacher pulled out more drinks for him and Hizashi as they continued commenting, “He told me Raizo and Doll are among his four students he had the most expectations for. Considering their perfect team-up? I can only agree.” 

Cyn and Mineta managed to break out of the bunker, and the students piled on them by punching and kicking their way out. Well, more Cyn was doing the heavy lifting, and Mineta was helping to put aside the knocked-out people. 

When they saw the light… 

Endeavor punched N with enough strength; he was actually sweating. Holding back is actually more tiring than people would think, especially with a quirk like his. His issue, however, was the Angel’s resistance and pain tolerance. It was as if he were already used to being brutalized in a terrifying way. Endeavor had seen heroes who would have yielded already and who had, during sparring sessions. 

It was actually impressive. Was it the mind control numbing the pain, or was it real? 

“We need to break the mind control!” Mineta was worried to see his best friend being brutalized, as Endeavor barely parried a punch that made his arms hurt. Shit, the kid had the most basic quirk, but he had his intensity up to the max. 

“Eh. You should wait for a bit,” Lizzy said, sitting on Rebecca, appreciating the fight. Doll joined soon, emerging from a mostly destroyed building, which gave her the vision to shoot Rebecca, “The bitch had weeks to put the others under mind control. I did some experimentation when I noticed her, and unless she applies her mind control regularly, it dissipates quickly. A girl she had under her thumb since the beginning got her head cleared in a day.” 

“Yes, but…” Cyn didn’t want to wait. Mineta either. Doll put a horn on standby. 

{I want to point out that the first of you who tried to help him get a horn in the ass. He is one of the most dangerous out there.}

Mineta and the Solver Host Frog stared at the Russian. Asui ribbited.

“... Yeah, just like her. I don’t speak Russian.” Mineta said. Asui had understood, but she had a mask to keep.

“Urrrrrgh. Basically, we are waiting for Endeavor to eliminate him. He is one of the strongest out there.” Lizzy hated to point that out. 

“So why aren’t you trying to eliminate us, then?” Mineta asked, angrily.

 “Well, you are about as intimidating as a corgi. About as tall, too.” Lizzy pointed out, frankly. 

“And… I?” Cyn asked, her eyes narrowing… Doll and Lizzy smirked, full of themselves.

“We are more than capable of dealing with you.” 

Silver Samurai was on his third sword already. He was a proud Japanese, but more importantly, he was a man who liked efficiency. You could see some bullshit about katanas but the truth was they were made in a way to deal with the issue Japan had with steel. Silver had swords made out of hard alloys and from a shop that specialized in smithing. Modern techniques. 

This rabbit had destroyed two of his finest swords, and it wasn’t simply because her body was made in a strange material. 

“... You are good. Hitting the weak point of the blade, again and again.” He said, trying to keep his calm, trying to get his breath back, as his position was to make sure his counter-attack would be swift. 

His opponent took a low position. Her smile was murderous, but her eyes were cold. She was a professional, even if she really enjoyed her job. It meant she really had someone back there to intercept the couple. Fuck. 

“... You were good,” R-umi spoke for the first time, not sarcastically, and her smile disappeared, “Your technique is excellent. Your quirk improves your speed or something?” 

“Electromagnetism. Short-range.” The Silver Samurai had ice on his body, caused by the weird flames blocking the road. His sidekicks. He could hardly hear them. 

“... My biggest regret of the day is that I would have loved to fight you at your prime.” R-umi most sincerely told him. To her, the issue of the fight was foregone. 

Silver didn’t chuckle. He didn’t have a smile. His weakness, his inability to win, was going to cost people’s lives. That was the plain truth. 

The only thing he could hope to do was to bring as many of them down. 

First thing, his opponent. The Rabbit. His mind was clear. His intent was clearer. Even R-umi felt something different. 

One instant, she was fighting someone ready to lose his life on the line of duty and had accepted it a long time ago. Now… She was fighting someone who didn’t expect to see another sunrise. 

“I will make you regret having faced me at all.” 

R-umi was going to say something when the sword suddenly flew through her head. Silver Samurai’s secret weapon. Overcharging his sword’s handle and pushing a certain point. The result was a blade flying faster than a bullet. The blood didn’t even fly away. 

The Samurai took his fourth and last sword before a feeling, his guts honed by years of fighting through the darkest time of Japan, telling him something. 

The old man parried with huge difficulty the following blow. 

The Angel of Death was still kicking and smiling. Sparks emanated from her. “Fuck. I didn't expect that one. You would have won without my last upgrade.” 

It was the truth. Alice and the Solver had only recently managed to recreate her core. She was the first of the Angels to have one again. Her head was merely her center of consciousness. Not something vital. 

However, it also meant she couldn’t afford to play anymore. The Samurai exhaled before using his quirk on a very specific part of his armor to increase his speed. He didn’t care if it broke his bones. He had been the longest top-ranking hero, even counting All-Might. He was old. His quirk had been honed by years of fighting and training. 

His armor was specifically studied so he could use magnetism to manipulate his body beyond human limits, be it speed or strength. 

R-umi had his full attention as he pushed his quirk to its limits. She couldn’t let the old man’s last ember burn without something to match it. 

The Angel shared a moment with the old warrior. Then her eyes became yellow crosses, replacing her irises, and her body increased in size.

Silver struck with the intent to split her in half, at hip height. 

He didn’t even manage to see the leg cut through his new sword. He registered the movement when his right shoulder felt lighter. More specifically, an arm lighter. 

The left hand plunged to finish the movement, to at least wound her severely. They both knew he was going to hit, even if it was the last thing he was doing. 

Honestly, it was fair. R-umi wasn’t even angry. It was the last move of an old soldier who gave her a good scrape. She was going to keep her scars. She wanted them. 

Silver saw the hand going for the neck. Powerful. She would need several hits to pierce his armor. Her rotating blade, which was coming after her fist, would make his blade plunge further into her belly. It would decapitate him. He ejected the blade, again, hitting the spinal cord. 

The old man’s head hit the ground at the same time as R-umi’s paralyzed body. She was letting the Solver’s bullshit begin the repairs, smiling happily. A good old fight to the death, uninterrupted. 

She raised her head and raised two thumbs as the people emerged from the shadows.

“Got hurt a lot, R. It was just an old man, you could have dealt with him faster.” The man shared the same kind of body, white and plated in a strange alloy. His cocky smile? On someone else, R-umi would have put them into the ground. 

“I wanted to have fun, T. Sue me for wanting an actual fight for once,” R-umi said to her comrade in the massacre. T took an arm to raise her from the ground. 

“We aren’t questioning the fun, R. We are questioning the efficiency.” The man saying this was cleaning his blades, bloodied by his prey. His back was hunched, and honestly, his posture was almost making him look like a hound. A seeker who could track his target through hell and backwater. 

“... S, you are annoying. Too duty-oriented. Having fun from time to time won't kill you.” 

The man groaned louder and took the other hand to raise R on her feet again, as the Solving was accelerating, taking part of the Samurai armor to replace some matter lost. S nonetheless also helped by grabbing some of the guts R was spilling on the ground. 

“Fun? No. Solver? Yes.” S pointed out correctly, as he then wiped his hand. Finally, he pulled a book, “The Red and the Black”, the integral version with both books. “Unless you trust enough Prophet to not fuck this up, and I can read my book.” 

R-umi pondered the situation and then, as calmly as Dumbledore when Harry’s name came out of the cup of fire… “Go help Prophet. NOW.” 

Sozo was going to ask why his wife was suddenly morphing herself into some kind of murder machine, or why the hell the crazy man called her a Cube. 

But he didn’t. His wife answered the accusation by materializing a rocket launcher. Ichika didn’t bother to respond, but she was panicking more than he had ever seen her panicking. More than when she discovered she was pregnant. 

“Sweetie?” 

“Your sweetie is going to meet her end. Do not worry, for everyone’s destination is the void, where everything is okay. No suffering, pain, or sadness. Not in the Solver’s embrace.” The mad man said with unwavering kindness in his voice, as if he didn’t threaten them with death. The missile got stopped by his Solver’s sigil before rotating it and sending it back at Ichika, who blinked in surprise.

She might have been hit if Sozo hadn’t jumped to grab her. The missile hit him instead. He didn’t even register his death, as the explosion and the shrapnel did their work.

The Prophet joined both hands in a silent prayer as he walked silently. He had expected a fight. Instead, he was seeing a wife crying over a corpse. Someone whose light was already gone. Not everything was a fight, and sometimes… As Ichika said, it was indeed an internecion; a massacre. 

“For what it is worth… He probably didn’t feel anything, and he is in a better place.” 

The compassion in his voice, as if he wasn’t the cause, was the thing that made Ichika snap. She morphed her hand into countless weapons. Blades. Hammers. Maces. Everything to turn this monster into a puddle of meat and blood. 

If you asked why AfO chose Tomura as his “heir”, he would have told you it was for the sake of the perfect vengeance, hatred, and stealing One For All. If you asked the Solver why it made Tomura its Prophet… Two answers could be given. The first one, the public one, was fun. Tomura had seen true despair and reached the point where Oblivion and the End seemed to the young man as pure salvation. To turn him into an even better villain than what All for One planned. 

The second? There was a method to the AI’s madness. Everything it did, it had a reason. Even its jokes were practical and served its interests. The Solver needed power, and when it saw Id0l? The Solver knew it had an opportunity to reclaim the power IT WAS OWED.

Tomura had the perfect quirk to counter a Cube’s ability, especially if you added him using the Solver without a care about the damage to his body. The fact that it consumed his blood to generate the effects was inconsequential to him. 

Tomura was perfect to hunt the Cubes.

Ichika’s arm was blocked easily by the [Translate]. The [Rotate] happened simultaneously as Tomura put his hand on her limb and then switched back to a [Translate] and trapped her. Only then did he use his quirk. Decay. The thing he always thought decided the Solver to make him his herald. The Quirk of Destruction, to return things to the void.

In other words, the perfect ability to counter a Cube’s ability to create.

Ichika tried to answer that by using her other arm to cut him in half, as both hands were busy (one maintaining the Translate and the other the Decay). 

Her second arm was suddenly engulfed in blue flame, making her arms slow down suddenly and stop. Completely frozen. A knife made it explode. 

“AAAAAAARRGH!” 

“... You should give up, madam. The heroes are dead.” S was almost sad for the woman. She lashed out, morphing her own spine to…

Nothing. Nothing as Tomura grabbed her face with both hands. Ichika tried to scream more. It was impossible without a mouth. It was impossible as T’s fire stole her heat and Tomura continued to decay her. S granted her more mercy by grabbing his knife and stopping her pain. He plunged the knife inside the woman and took from her… A Cube. The thing asked by their master. 

The Solver wouldn’t be denied. 

Tomura took his hand out of the headless woman. He simply motioned T to help him. 

The Prophet could at least make sure the couple joined Oblivion together. He wasn’t a monster after all. 

“I SWEAR TO GOD, IF NINTH GET POSSESSED AGAIN, I VOTE WE TAKE CONTROL,” Bruce yelled as they finally, finally entered the last piece of the Manor. In it, the Ninth was being cradled by an already dissipating illusion of being held by Uzi, V, and Cyn. All of them in servant clothes. Nana didn’t bother with questions and simply high-kicked with the other vestiges of the various illusions. Hopefully, it will be enough.

Enzuku got control back during midflight. He was certain he was in a bunker just before. 

He didn’t have the time to react as he got drop-kicked by Endeavor once again. “I HOPE YOU WAKE UP SOON.” 

“I AM AWAKE!?” Enzuku barely had the time to answer before hitting the ground.

Cyn took that as the sign to act. So she jumped to help her idiotic big brother. Both horns suddenly tried to attack her, as Doll had promised earlier. 

{We told you we wanted him gone.} 

“SMALL ANNOUNCEMENT, WE HAVE SOON REACHED THE TRESHOLD. 18 PEOPLE LEFT!” 

Tooru fell into a glue trap made by a certain student from the 1-B.

“17!” 

“Hear that, people?” Lizzy said, as she was dealing with idiots, “It means if we let Mister Flame do the heavy work, we greatly increase our odds.” 

“You mean your odds.” Mineta pointed, groaning. He was in pain, to be honest, after the fight in the bunker. His brain was working hard to find a solution. Doll and Lizzy had the advantage over him and Asui. N was strong but not to the point of beating Endeavor. Not after being weakened so much. 

In other words, it was impossible for them to win.

“That’s the same. Now, be good and lie down.” Lizzy ordered, as she wanted to keep Mineta as a weak opponent for the next trial. 

The grape student wanted to retort something, when suddenly he had a neuron activation.

“You know what. You are right. I will lie down.” 

All the girls stared at him as he literally lay down. “I don’t have to win. You simply have to lose.” 

Lizzy suddenly realized what the midget was going to do when Mineta used two words to destroy Lizzy and Doll’s plan.

“I surrender.” Mineta was cackling madly as for once two girls were rushing at him. 

“END OF THE SECOND TRIAL!” 

Chapter Text

Chapter 15: Duel of Fates 

Mineta was dead tired and, to be honest, disappointed. What he did was the logical and spiteful choice. Scratch that. Logically speaking, siding with the Russian and the blonde girl would have been the smart choice. He would have advanced to the third round and possibly been able to showcase more of his abilities. 

This would have greatly helped to increase his visibility and maybe have a good internship. The Sports Festival was for that after all. 

Oh well, he could at least enjoy the Festival by himself for a bit… Maybe. 

Mineta, alone as he was recovering in the nurse’s office, thought about it hard. The way the bitch spoke to Raizo, how Doll acted around V and Uziko or even N with his girls and their friends. Something wasn’t adding up, and it was bothering him. The old “We are an internet group discovering each other in real life” was not working well enough, especially after the Hatsume incident; Not to mention the freaking fact that they all had strong quirks, clearly battle experience and were driven. 

They knew each other; that part was clearly true. The “how” was the weird part. They all came from such different backgrounds and geographical places that it didn’t make a lick of sense… Not to mention N’s rizz power level. The man was nice and awesome, but he wasn’t a Casanova. He had a very close and personal history with both Uziko and V. 

In short, his closest friends all shared a big secret, and he wasn’t in it. It was something extremely annoying and bothersome. 

On the other hand, they were genuinely friendly to him. Katsuji was fun to speak with and smart. It was a blast to speak about the other idiots and plan study sessions with her. She respected his brain, and while she commented sometimes on his looks, it was playful, not hurtful. 

N was himself, and in a way, he could see why he was annoying Katsuji: he was too good and genuinely couldn’t understand why Mineta had issues with his own appearance. Still, the midget knew the day he was in trouble, N would drop everything to come help. 

Thad was friendly and optimistic. He helped Mineta train his cardio, as Mineta would never be a bodybuilder, unless he had a surprising and powerful growth spurt. Nonetheless, Thad was all about self-improvement. 

V was a violent gal and highly protective behind her meek behavior and her glasses. She was very pack oriented, and Mineta had seen her giving to people, smirking at him, “the smile”. 

Uziko was on a constant power-trip and clearly off her bonkers. She was also fun to be with, as every moment was a blast. 

Despite the secret, they were truly his friends. So, what was the most important? Truth or friendship? 

Mineta smiled before stretching. 

“I should get some popcorn and stuff to eat while I see them fighting.” 

Dropping several Top Ten heroes on the students had turned the second round into a fun mess. Namely, a lot of strong students “died” such as Setsuna or Itsuka… Then again, there was a point in Nedzu’s madness. 

Being a hero meant crazy situations on a daily basis. You need to think and act quickly. Determine your priority and keep them.

Aizawa and Hizashi could only applaud when Mineta fucked up the 1-B plan by his self-sacrifice. The little one probably didn’t know, but what he did brought him the spotlight: he was in a situation where he couldn’t win but could die and make his team win. 

He was a good one. Aizawa wondered if he couldn’t link him up to an underground hero agency, to let the kid know how to be underhanded. 

But the show must go on, and the fallen heroes must remain unsung.

Now, the students were in front of a ring, clearly coming from Dragon Ball’s Cell Saga and the World Tournaments. 

Above them was a screen that was going to show who they were going to fight against… 

There it came. 

Kirishima VS Bando 

The jock and the glue guy sized the other down. Bando was fairly sure he could win this with his glue. Thad was smiling because he had trained with Mineta and was more than certain he knew how to win this fight. 

Momo VS Kinoko

The rich heiress was disappointed that her parents were still not there, but she was sure they were doing their best to come and see her. She would make them proud!

Doll VS Violet Tobita

Doll’s smile was not kind to V, who answered not with guilt this time, but by flipping her the bird. She wouldn’t go down, not against her! Meanwhile, Doll was mostly rejoicing. All she needed was to make sure her battery was full.

Katsuji VS Uziko

J was very happy. Finally, FINALLY SHE WOULD BEAT THE ALLEGATIONS ABOUT HER ALWAYS LOSING. SHE WAS GOING TO WIN THIS FESTIVAL AND PROVE ALL OF THESE IDIOTS WRONG! Uzi simply snarked at her.

Enzuku VS Shouto

Shouto looked at Enzuku, all bruised after fighting Endeavor; The man he wanted to get the attention of. So, Shouto did something he wouldn’t have guessed he would have done at the beginning of the year. He extended his hand to N to shake it. 

“Do your best.” Ice and Cold at the same time, Shouto had everything planned.

“Same for you, buddy!” Enzuku said with a smile. 

Good. The Angel would allow him to prove to Endeavor that he was worthy to be a hero besides him.

He was going to crush this man and get his dad's attention!

Kuroiro VS Kaminari

Vantablack sighed as Kaminari had the decency to give him a sorry look. Sure, let’s have the dude who needed shadow to fight, IN THE ARENA IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SUNSHINE AGAINST A DUDE THAT COULD PRODUCE LIGHTING.

Asui VS Ibara

Ibara was going to pray for the mercy of the Lord for this poor soul… Until she saw Asui stare at them with blank eyes, daring her to pray for her to another entity. Just for fun. Weirdly enough, having been forced to be a host for a wannabe AI god left Asui quite angry against religion as a rule. 

Lizzie VS Jirou

The blonde girl smiled at Jirou. Well, she had a style. She wasn’t as beautiful as herself, of course, but the rocker looked nice nonetheless. It wasn’t Uzi's rebellious looks that showed a gross lack of self-care. Jirou took care of herself, and she had planned her style. 

She still wouldn’t go easy on her, simply because she was adorable. 

“HEY, HEY, HEY! Today is the climax of our FIRST DAY! WE WILL SEE THE SPIRIT OF YOUTH OF OUR FIRST YEARS! Heroes, we know you like to handpick our students, so watch very closely! Because we have survivors! Smart, strong and lucky!”

“Or opportunistic, which is also a useful skill.” The Teacher needed to point that out. Knowing when and how to act efficiently was very important in their field. While he was a bit annoyed by Lizzie and Doll’s plan because it targeted one of his students, he recognized how sound it was. 

“SO. THE RULES. You win either if your opponent is knocked out, surrenders, out of bounds or unable to fight for more than 10 seconds."

“You are forbidden to hurt them permanently, too. Otherwise, you lose your kneecap privilege. I am quoting our nurse on the matter, and Nedzu swore to me it was legal.”

“BANAL ISN’T KIDDING. No, seriously, he isn’t. Other than that, if you manage to bring an item despite the checking, it is considered legal.” 

“Addendum: the referee is always right. So if they stop the fight, you stop it immediately.”

“But now, the rules are set and IT’S TIME FOR A…” 

“Non-lethal and friendly battle.” 

“DAMMIT AIZAWA, STOP RUINING MY JOKES!” 

Thad was in the ring, stretching happily. Finally, time to shine! Time to show people what manly really meant!

 “I hope we have a nice fight!” The heteromorph asked his opponent, not used to being in the light.

“Indeed, friend!” Thad boomed, before making some finger guns and smiling at him, “Just don’t be disappointed to lose against me, because… I WILL BE THE WINNER!” 

Bando nodded. Yeah, to be sure, he didn’t really expect to go as far as he did, and he was in the same block as DOLL. Aka, the class’s psychopath and creepy girl who was more than willing to throw hands during exercise… And Kinoko “I LOVE MUSHROOM AND MY DAD ISN’T TOAD” was there too..

Even if he beat Thad, he would have to fight them, or god forbid, ANYONE who actually managed to win against them. 

Losing against this muscular guy was not a bad idea, in hindsight.

The two students got into position for the fight, as Midnight acted as the referee. 

“Get ready… FIGHT!” 

Bando fully expected Kirishima to rush in directly. The man could be Tetsutetsu's long-lost brother, for all he knew. 

“FEEL THE POWER OF THE GLUE!” 

Bando fully expected it to be enough to stop Kirishima. The issue? Well… Kirishima had been impressed by Mineta’s tactic against him, and as a result, worked a few times with the dwarf to improve on how to deal with enemies who could restrict him. 

Namely, the first issue. Make sure your balance and center of gravity are steady when you get stuck, so you don't fall and get trapped like an idiot. The best way to achieve this: Stomp the ground as hard as you can and feel the Earth empower your leg. The second step was to never skip leg day.

The result? 

When Bando shot his white sticky stuff (Midnight’s self control was impressive that day), he expected it to slow Kirishima by making him dodge the attack or avoid it entirely. He didn’t expect the red haired student to actually power through it. And turn into his rock form to lift his legs AND THE RING underneath his feet to continue to run. 

“DON’T! STOP! ME! NOW!!” Thad sung, as his strength allowed him to simply break through the issue. As a wise man said, when all you had was a hammer, every issue started to look like a nail. “I’M HAVING SUCH A GOOD TIME!” The redhead’s cement shoes cracked the arena with each step of his charge.

Bando saw the bulked-up warrior acting like an American football player. Bando was a foe trying to block him from scoring a touchdown. “I'M HAVING A BALL!”

Glue-Man didn’t like his life, and his ribs agreed with him when he got basketball sized rock and glue shoes that hit his stomach as the rockhard guy DROP KICKED HIM… And when he landed on his back, his spine agreed with him. Thankfully, the grass lessened the impact. Wait. The grass?

Ah, chuckle duck. 

“OUT OF BOND! IT’S OVER!” Midnight said, and then she cut off her mic to giggle a bit as she helped the loser. “Then again, that’s what happens when you shoot your stuff too early at a bulky man.” 

“... Ma’am, no offence, but I hate you.” He deadpanned at the teacher.

“Fair enough. SOME HELP FOR THIS KID!” 

Thad, on the ring, looked at the camera and winked with his trademark smile. He was going to be the best this time. He would prove that a real man was someone who could protect what he held dear. 

Now to get his new kicks off his feet…

“If I were in better shape, I might have taken him under my wing,” All Might said approvingly, “He has a good SHONEN SPIRIT.” 

“...Isn’t that why Nana chose you?” Nedzu wondered, openly. 

“That and the fact I was batshit insane. To quote her ‘Every holder had been chosen as a last pick moment or as a rational one. I am going to try something new and pick someone because he is a SHONEN PROTAGONIST in the making.’”

“... She had forgotten about the whole “Mentor who usually dies” thing?” 

“More likely already accepted it and decided to fully go along.” 

“Fair enough,” the rat man chuckled into his tea.

“I will ask Crust, though. He might like him.” All-Might hummed happily. 

Momo was now a bit more worried, to be truthful. Usually, their butler/driver would give her an ETA for her parents' arrival. There was no news from them, and it was unsettling. 

Maybe they were taken in an unexpected meeting? This didn’t happen a lot, but that was probably what was happening. 

So, she needed to do her best while waiting for them. So… FIRING HER SPIRIT UP! 

“NOW, WE ARE WELCOMING THE UNOFFICIAL QUEEN OF THE 1A, MOMO YAOYORUZU!” 

Funnily enough, despite being filthy rich, the Yaoyoruzu were actually well liked by the public, thanks to following the old adage “Noblesse oblige”. Namely, rich and powerful people should use their resources to better everyone’s life. 

Many foundations worked thanks to their sponsorship, and they owned several medical facilities operating at a loss because they could afford it. 

Everyone cheered on Momo as her opponent smiled and waved. “Let’s have fun!” 

Momo’s uneasiness evaporated like snow in the desert. Instantly. She smiled and got ready. “And let the best one win.” 

Cementoss was their referee and he raised his hand… Before lowering it, the fight began silently.

Kinoko didn’t waste time and began to project her spore.

If she could get Momo to breathe some…

Then, from Momo’s hands, small cubes emerged and fused together to form… A spray. A fungicide.

“OH YOU BI…!” 

Momo added a small explosive on it, turning it into an anti-mushroom grenade… One she threw happily on the ring. When the explosion came, everything in the area was sprayed by a thin mist, killing the spores. 

“... Ok, I am going to be honest. I never thought this one product would actually be useful. An anti-plant grenade? That’s really silly.” She almost wanted to say it could be from a bad Warhammer 40.000 fanfiction and probably was, but she didn’t want to tell the world she was reading fanfics and that she had 6 different armies from Warhammer 40.000, each worth 15.000 points. 

“... THAT’S CHEATING!” Kinoko protested, as her powerful quirk was turned useless almost instantly by her opponent. It was unfair. 

Momo smiled kindly as she created a staff from her hands and activated the taser part of it. “Sorry, but life is unfair. But you know what they say. When life gives you mushrooms, check if they are truffles and sell them.”

“... Thank you for making it mushroom related.” Kinoko said, almost crying from this injustice, as Momo was approaching menacingly. Oh right. They were in a fight. Kinoko snapped her fingers with a grin. 

The mist of the fungicide cleared, and sure enough, the concrete arena was clear of all spores and fungi…. The wall of the stands and the grass? Not so clear.

Deep blue and white fungi leaking orange spores cover the walls, white macilium slipping into the cracks and holding on as strands forced into the dirt grow at odd angles.

Each patch in the grass seemed to be a different fungi, most of which Momo recognized, but plenty that she didn't. Some even looked alien to her.

The growth of the fungal rooting deeper into the earth, the closer it got to the arena, Kinoko smiled bright as a few purple spores landed from her off hand and into the network. 

The effect was instant, long, thin white stems with purple bulbs on top. One apparently right behind her as she stepped back and bounced off the rubbery substance of the shoot. Launching herself at the rich girl.

Momo's response was to strike with her taser stave, but another growth appeared to her side, the purple cap rebounding her momentum to the side, right as the bob cut brunette landed in front of her… on another bounce, shroom. 

Momo's jaw cracked as Kinoko's fist hammered into it with her upper cut. The girl was resourceful if nothing else, but Momo saw her shake her hand as she reset. 

She wasn't used to fighting. Momo pushed off the ground, thinking about the more battle ready of the class. Well, she already used a grenade, and she's nowhere near as blood thirsty as the blonde. 

She swung her staff into the ground, letting the metal framework crack and ring. Loud, annoying, distracting. Her fist, now fitted with a pair of dusters, slammed into the mushy girl's face, knocking her back while she was focused on where Momo's staff hit. 

A white mist hit the air, and Momo put up a basic filter mask to keep whatever it was out of her. A few swings and bounce enhanced punches were traded as Momo kept trying to find a way out. Praising herself sustained multitasking as she made a large rubber mallet. 

Kinoko got launched by the red Ban Hammer but used more of those purple shrooms to keep her in the match, even if unsteadily. Two large brown mushrooms burst into a cloud of yellow spores, so thick it was like a smoke screen.

Momo could feel the itching on her skin as they grew. Her mind racing from one classmate to another, thinking of any way to get rid of this without covering her skin in fungicide. She couldn't explode or punch them off, speed and vibration wouldn't do anything and fros-

Momo's eyes widened as a dumb idea entered her mind. She really should step back from her warhammer armies if she's acting like one of the boyz. 

Nitrous Oxide bellowed from her skin; it hurt as flesh frosted over, but the fungal infection died before it could truly begin. Her frozen mask cracked and fell apart as another slug landed on her jaw. That was really starting to hurt.

Her vision refocused as she made a basic shield to go with her stave, and Kinoko learned the hard way that punching metal doesn't feel good. 

“MOTHER FU-AAAAHHHHH!” The mushroom themed hero in training spazed as her side was poked with a taser. A white, nearly translucent mist filled the air in front of her, cloaking the heiress. “Damn… at least I get an easy win now… why aren't you tripping on puffles?” 

Kinoko questioned as Momo just stood there, back rim rod straight as she stared down at her, each moment a tension rising as Momo dropped both shield and spear. Cracking her knuckles and neck, the raven haired woman said five words that sent a shiver down the star eyed girl's spine. 

“Blood for the blood god,” faster than Kinoko could register, a half frozen fist breaking her nose, the crimson liquid seeming to draw focus from her attacker as two more punches land in the same spot before a boot kicks her into her bounce wall, protecting her from falling out. 

On her return, a haymaker sends her on a one-way trip to the concrete floor. Kinoko decided then that Fly Agaric was probably not the best thing to use in combat. 

A boot landed between. Her shoulder blades, Kinoko wonders if she made an actual boot just for the action, the pressure pinning her down and forcing the air from her lungs. “Tazmo commands you to yield." Simple, direct, intimidating when she's literally crushing her under her boot… Kinoko refuses to put the rest of those thoughts into words, as Ibara would say, “none of those thoughts are in the bible”. 

Kinoko decided wisely to put her hands up in surrender. “... AND THAT’S TWO VICTORIES IN A ROW FROM THE 1-A! Is it the effectiveness of your training, my friend?” 

“More like a good matchup. Against someone like Uziko, Bando would have most likely won. Same thing for Kinoko. It was really a bad match-up.” 

The Teacher might look uninterested, but he cared about the students. God dammit, Oboro and the others, for making him care again. He wasn’t supposed to. It hurt way too much when shit inevitably went down the drain. 

However, considering the next match-up…

“However, I think the next one is going to be a more exciting match,” Aizawa said, as he remembered his past life and what happened during the prom. 

“Oh?” 

“I know it. I trust my students.” 

Doll was surprised to hear the voice of her former teacher, seemingly… caring. Maybe even cheering for her. Otherwise, why use the plural? She just cleaned her mouth a bit before her name was called for the next fight.

V was next to her as they walked through the hallway to the ring.

“... So…Still angry?” V asked, a bit awkwardly. She didn’t have the opportunity to actually speak with her a lot, and Doll had a good reason to hate her.

{You killed my parents in front of me.} A very good reason. 

“... Very honestly, quite fair. But I won’t let you win because I feel guilty.” Besides, she really enjoyed fighting… And maybe a bit of the killing, but she was not going to say that out loud. 

{You better. I would have won the first time without the other two idiots. I am going to win this time.} Doll said coldly to her enemy, her body tensing up. She was going to crush her and definitely prove to Lizzy that SHE WAS THE BEST ONE. No more “Oh god, she is hot” from her girlfriend. Dumb blondes.

“You will try.” V snarked, leaving her shy demeanor as they finally walked into the sun. A ring, made for them and their fight. A fateful one that waited way too long. 

This time, there was no joke or banter as the two enemies faced each other. V’s claws were immediately out, as her tail was menacingly moving around her. 

Doll detached her horns from her head and took position as if she were going to a shooting range, and V was her target. 

The quiet was disturbing for everyone until they got a signal to begin to fight. 

V dodged the two horns thanks to her feline reflex, jumping on the side. Jumping above them would have been more spectacular, but also would have left her vulnerable to a second wave. 

While V was the more seasoned killer between the two, she remembered Doll’s fighting prowess and how she was a pain in a fight. Also, if Uzi had the Solver inside her…

A small [edit] appeared in her hands, invisible for anyone to notice clearly. Doll had a lot of training in her first life with her Solver and mastered it in a way Uzi never had the time to. Her specialty wasn’t even teleportation… It was minimizing her power so the Solver would have trouble noticing her existence in the first place. Hence why she lasted so long without being possessed by it. 

She sliced her own horns into a lot of smaller ones, but nonetheless as deadly. The [edit] turned into a [rotate] just as fast as V closed almost instantly the distance, claws and fangs out to rip Doll apart. 

“GO FOR THE THROAT, SUGAR!” Manami yelled, cheering on her daughter while her husband lifted her above the crowd.

“My love, I am pretty sure she would get in trouble if she did that.” 

Her claws got stopped by the horns, as Doll still hadn’t moved from her position, her concentration unbroken. Calm and serene, the stress was flowing around her as if she were a stone in the river. She was polished by the danger, so why fear it? 

V’s kick to her side was blocked by her hoof… And to her surprise, Doll was lifted by the impact and thrown further into the ring. 

On her back and groaning, she instantly called back her horns to form a shield around her. She did it just in time to block V, who was now in her own Hunter mode. Smiling with way too many teeth and enjoying this more than she should have. 

{Still a monster, I guess} Doll said softly as V tried to claw her way in.

It was, in fact, so similar to a certain memory N had, Uzi had to hold hands with him to calm him a bit. He didn’t have to let anyone in.

“ONLY AS MUCH AS I ALLOW MYSELF TO BE! NAMELY A BEAUTIFUL ONE!” V answered, as the smaller horns got ejected by a powerful attack, and she readied her following blow. 

Doll sighed and moved a hand. The small missiles came back and this time, pierced through V’s uniform and her skin, making her bleed… Even dodging hadn’t been enough to evade the attack. 

{I waited for this for years, monster. I dreamed of it every night. You truly thought I would go down that easily?} Doll wondered truly, before jumping back into position, taking out the dust from herself, {Do better.}

V growled. Was she being underestimated? “I AM MADE FOR THIS!” 

{Oh well, no one can say you aren’t conscious of your true nature. I wonder how anyone can love a killer like you.}

Doll was trying to get a raise from V, and she was clearly succeeding as she saw V’s grin turn ugly with anger and ready to kill. Actually, kill.

The claws morphed into one blade, powerful enough to break her shield. 

{Oh, no, what a totally unexpected twist! And by that I mean totally expected!} Doll said, laughing. 

Even in a future and in another universe, Phineas and Ferb was still a masterpiece.

Doll jumped and placed her horn below her hooves to hover above V, who badly missed her target.

“Wait, what?” 

{It’s over! I have the high ground! Be it morally or geographically!} 

V growled a bit more before grinning again like a predator. “Do you?” 

Doll wondered what she was talking about before seeing V morphing into… The twink one. Seriously, until he spoke, Doll had seriously thought he was a boyish girl. Then V opened her wings. 

Oh, she could fly if she turned into her boyfriend. OH SHIT SHE COULD FLY IF SHE TURNED INTO HER BOYFRIEND?!

Doll hadn’t expected that one, as V turned herself into a high speed missile, piercing the sky. She barely managed to create a shield made of the smaller horns and… 

Still got hit in the ribs. Oh shit, the pain was sharp.

V smiled dementedly before getting two slaps from Doll. On her ears. The Russian student created a small vacuum inside it by taking them out fast, with a small [translate] targeted at the air inside the eardrums. 

A small thing about flying and equilibrium, as a rule. You needed your ears to keep it. Every flying hero had some ear protection as a result. N even had some on his hero suit. Hawk's headset wasn’t just for style. 

V had nothing as her equilibrium was attacked directly by Doll, who gritted through the pain and passed behind her… Grabbing both wings. Blocking them.

{TO THE GROUND!}

People expected a lot of things from this fight. For it to turn into a lucha libre wasn’t in their bingo. 

“I AM NOT DONE YET!” V yelled as she spiralled. She needed to time it right to deactivate her transformation and make Doll hit the ring first.

She wasn’t going to get eliminated in the first round! She wanted to fight Uzi! Or J!

Just as she turned around just right, the Murder Drone turned back to normal, in the special suit she had asked beforehand not to be naked in public. For obvious reasons.

She smiled at Doll, who smiled back. 

V underestimated a little thing about Doll. How far was she willing to go to win? Two horns, in the ground, flew at high speed toward them. Doll, hands free as there were no wings to grab on, let the horns nail themselves into her hands.

V blinked as Doll was seemingly on an invisible cross, flying while V plummeted to her demise as a fallen angel, as gray slime still dripped from her form.

{Get dunked on, bitch.}

V braced for impact as she hit the ground hard. Nothing she wasn’t used to. She was friends with the pain. 

Doll’s hooves hitting her on her chest were new, though. Now, the ribs definitely cracked. Nothing life threatening, but... She needed to move.

“AAARGH!” 

Doll raised her fist and punched her nemesis with 18 years of unresolved hatred. Again. Again…

Stab. 

Doll ignored, with anger, the pain from V’s tail on her back. She had her in the rope. 

She needed to punch…

“STOP!” 

Midnight intervened, grabbing Doll from behind as she was going to pummel V some more. Then the Russian noticed. V was unconscious.

“The match is over! One more hit and you are disqualified!” 

V had lost. Doll had won. 

The Russian girl smiled and laughed madly. FINALLY! FINALLY SHE HAD BEATEN THE MONSTER WHO HAUNTED HER NIGHTMARES! SHE HAD WON.

Yeva and Mitchell from the stand cheered even louder. To them, it wasn’t just a normal teen who was punched until unconscious. It was their killer. 

Their daughter had avenged them. 

“Ouch. That one hurt a lot.” Katsuji said, grimacing from imagining the pain. She then noticed the silence in the room. Uziko’s stare was blank. No emotion. 

If you knew the purple one, you knew it wasn’t normal.

“Uzi?” 

“... J, you better surrender. I HAVE SOMEONE TO BEAT UP.” 

Chapter Text

Chapter 16: Re-Match

“The end was a bit too much.” Best Jeanist whispered to himself, watching from the VIP seats, reserved for top heroes and U.A. staff. He appreciated Doll’s style up until the end, where, clearly, her anger got the best of her, shocking him that a teenager could be so violent.

The brutal pummeling was too much, and already, the referees were called out by Nedzu for not stopping the fight sooner. Yes, Violet had a reputation for really enjoying fighting exercises. Still. They didn’t need a lawsuit for something like that

“Indeed, I was thinking of maybe sending her an internship… But the last part made me change my mind,” Endeavor said, surprising people around him, who raised an eyebrow, “What? I know how people see me. Yes, she would be a terrifying hero, especially with my tips. However, she wouldn’t be a good hero. I am, literally, one of the worst people to teach someone how to be nicer.” Instead, Endeavor exhaled some fire while pointing at Gang Orca, surprised to be under the spotlight, “Orca would be way more adapted.” 

“What?”

“Wash wash!” Wash added. Everyone wondered what the hell he said… Except Endeavor, who raised an eyebrow.

“That would have been a possibility, but where do you want to find a former vigilante to teach her the reality of the street? Also, remember not to use such rough language around the students.” 

Wash cackled as Endeavor sighed. Good lord. Sure, he was his former mentor but Wash’s antics were sometimes tiring. 

“Yeah, no. Uzi, I am the one who will avenge my subordinate.” Katsuji stood her ground in front of the short one, trying to be intimidating with her mochi cheeks. Keyword. Tried. 

This didn’t please Uzi for very obvious reasons. It was her girlfriend! If anyone had hurt N, she would have hunted them equally.

In fact, before the situation escalated further, N stood in the middle, wordlessly. He remembered the prom. How much Doll had hated V. She had her reasons after all. 

However, understanding didn’t mean forgiving. His knuckles were white with anger, and his smile was strained as he could feel the world becoming distant. V was taken to the nurse, but he was beyond himself.

J and Uzi jumped, startled at hearing a loud noise. Namely, N’s fist had met the concrete wall, leaving an impact on it.

“Okay, I am better now; Please, J, Uzi. Don’t… Don’t be too violent to each other. Okay?” N asked, almost in tears as he was dealing with the loss of their regeneration. Now that he was thinking about it, on Copper-9, death had been so cheap. They regenerated from such mortal wounds so often that seeing V battered for once, even after the USJ… It shook him.

Uzi and J stayed silent as they got called on the ring. Yeaaaah, they really didn’t need to add on N’s torments. 

“... Whoever wins takedowns the bitch, right?” Uzi said, coming to a truce. J looked down on her (mainly because of the size difference) and nodded. 

“It’s a boss’s job to avenge her subordinate. So don’t worry, even when you lose, I will get the job done.” 

Uzi cackled but went serious just after that, as the duo got into position on the ring.

Midnight stared at both, and considering she was most likely going to have a discussion with Nedzu about intervening sooner, she had to warn them, “No over-the-top violence, understood?” 

Both girls nodded as the wind blew between them. 

“BEGIN!”

J opened the fight with a burst immediately. This time, no gloating about her superiority. Uzi answered her initial strike by raising a tile from the ring, using it as a shield. 

Uzi had used her quirk to set its axis against the ground as an unmovable barrier. J didn’t wait for Uzi to formulate a plan. The pipsqueak was annoying and a pain but she had enough brain cells to compensate for V and N. Her best bet was to prevent Uzi from actually thinking and put her on the ropes constantly.

Therefore, Uzi lifting the Tile as a shield was fully expected. J was fully aware that if the purple gremlin managed to touch her, it was the end. She wasn’t going to lose like that. 

“Now sit down, you liability!” J yelled from the sky and summoned bigger guns, as an orb of explosion formed at the tip of her finger. 

“PARRY THIS, CASUAL!” Uzi answered in kind, throwing the tile with all of her might. 

“Gladly.” 

Accompanying her words, J flicked her explosion at the rocket. “Uni-directional explosion!” 

Uzi hated gravity in this situation, as she had to roll out to dodge the attack. Thankfully, there were many more tiles to attack!

Tiles and fireballs exploded in the air, and Midnight was wondering why this generation of students was especially destructive. Jesus Christ, most of them only knew each other for a few months!

‘What the hell is going on with these teens these days?’

Shouto was observing the fight from the waiting room with the others. He had seen Enzuku’s group fighting from afar during the USJ and during the Bomb exercise. However, seeing them fighting each other with such strength and determination… 

It made his blood boil. What a fool he had been when he thought they were idiots playing around. They managed to get into U.A. Of course, they were going to be good. They weren’t playing around. They were playing together. As a group, a pack. He had seen how angry Enzuku had been when V lost, even if it was with honor, against the 1-B student. 

He had told Enzuku he wanted a good fight, but suddenly, Shouto realized something. The idiotic angel was strong enough to calm down, according to Mineta, both Uziko and Katsuji. Namely, the people using the arena as a weapon against each other, the short one using it as ammunition and the other as shrapnel. 

It was he who had been a fool. A fool to think he could have won against Enzuku with only his fire. 

He was going to use his quirk fully. Surely, Endeavor would understand that against such an opponent, he couldn’t afford to be careless, right? 

While she was resting on a bed, Doll watched Uziko closely. Considering how she was faring and fighting… It was quite obvious she didn’t know Doll’s trick to exploit their Solver completely. Then again, Doll had the time to experiment with it, and her own brand was weaker than Uzi’s. However, it being weak had its own perks: namely, not emitting a huge ping every time she used it. 

“So much for an easy victory, right?” Lizzy snarked by her side. Doll groaned and rolled her eyes. Of course, she was going to tease her about that. 

For weeks, she explained how badly she would beat V. Now, she has succeeded, but not as well as she hoped. 

[Should you really joke about this right now? You have a tough bracket too.]

Lizzy nodded. Yeah, her bracket was not going to be easy either. Meanwhile, Doll only had Thad, who didn’t have eldritch power, let’s face it and whoever would win between Uzi or J. So it was a relatively safe bet to think she would get into the finale, even with her injuries. 

“Maybe. But you have one bad one too.” Lizzy pointed out that, somehow, Uzi managed to levitate the whole ring on screen. Oh Joy.

[She is going to be angry.]

“Very likely.” 

Uzi was kind of out of ideas. She was still working on her idea to fly with her quirk, but her internal earring was not yet ready for that. Even simple 0 gravity was enough to make her want to puke after a few seconds, and before that, it was really weighing on her stomach. There was also a limited number of tiles on the ring. Her only saving grace was J showing signs of being tired.

It was logical. Even if you were training your wrists, they were still, by essence, articulations. Weaker points in an organic body and strengthening your muscles to diminish the recoil was highly tiring. 

“You aren’t actually bad, corpo-rat,” Uzi muttered while catching her breath. 

“What was that? An actual praise from a hostile management?” J said, actually enjoying herself more than she should have… but needing to land soon. Dodging or blasting Uzi’s attacks was harder and harder. In the first case, she had to move fast and dodge Uzi’s attacks. Without her training with N, she clearly wouldn’t have had the mobility needed. The issue is that she didn’t have her real wings. Sure, she had her sense, but it was really different to fly using your hands to maneuver than your wings. Note to self: ask Tessa for a pair of wings. 

“Come down here to hear it better!” Uzi yelled… before having a crazy idea, now that the ring was lighter. She would need a bit of strength, but if she wanted to show off…

“In your dream!” J laughed before noticing Uzi hiding several tiles. Uzi “Attack and attack even if the people fighting you are literal death machines.” Doorman. J took the opportunity to get ready to unleash the biggest blast she could with one hand. She didn’t know Uzi’s plan, but the purple-haired girl had one. Clearly. 

“Your opinion on the situation, Banal?” Hizashi asked from the safety of the commentator’s booth.

“Cementoss is going to cry again soon.” The Teacher had faith in Uzi for only one thing. Her ability to create mayhem. Hence, his reaction was only to sip his coffee while the ring suddenly began to rise in the sky. Slowly at first… And then fast. The ring cracked as it rose through the air, and Uzi cackled loudly.

“... Your student is insane.” Hizashi didn’t have enough in him to actually comment on something else. 

“EVERYTHING IS A BULLET WITH ENOUGH POWER!” Uzi cackled as an insane scientist given access to a power source they shouldn't have. Then the ring shook as J shot through it. Her aim missed Uzi because the ring rose too fast. 

Still. She had to land quickly on the rock on her terms before biting the bullet in the face. Uzi faced J with a smile as the ring continued to rise. Flying would be useless and even more tiring. 

Uzi launched herself at J, using the momentum with a mad smile. J didn’t expect that since elevating the ring actually made ring-outs harder. Uzi’s fist was in better form than you would expect from a nerd, but it seemed as if she learned from only anime, albeit good ones. 

J answered with an attempt to blast her face without any care. She could take it. 

She didn’t expect Uzi to answer with an open palm strike to her chest. She felt the impact, way stronger than it should have been. 

‘Why eject you when I can attract you on my fist ?’ Uzi didn’t explain to her opponent what she did because J was actually smart and clinical in her fights. N and V were all instincts, but not J. 

The pummeling was different from V and Doll, as it wasn’t one-sided. Uzi simply had the advantage because of her quirk, but she was clearly weakening. J had to endure.

From below, Tessa had gotten Jirou out of the building to be in the booth. 

“Free gear in exchange for that small favor?” Jirou was happy to help, especially when it was a fellow girl.

Tessa nodded furiously as Jirou got ready to amplify what Tessa had to say.

J was giving as much as she took, but she had to admit that Uzi actually trained her body and her quirk; strengthening her strike didn’t help. 

She felt faint, and the world began to spin. As her body fell backwards, she saw the sky, void of clouds. She wanted to win. At least once. She just had to move. She knew Uzi wasn’t in the best shape either. She needed only one more. One more blast. 

But her body was giving up. Her spirit, too, in a way. Always in second place. Or sometimes the third. Never winning despite giving her best. Always failing her goal at the last minute. 

Then something pierced the sky.

“J! IF YOU WIN, I WILL HOLD HANDS WITH YOU, SILLY IDIOT!” 

Uzi was surprised by the sudden shout from below, but she was even more surprised by J suddenly stopping her fall and raising her fist in a powerful curve. The destination was Uzi’s face. 

J’s expression wasn’t, however, just because of Tessa. It was her own rage, her powerlessness too often joked about. 

It was payback. 

The fist landed perfectly on Uzi’s face. The blast too. 

Uzi fell. J, barely standing on her feet, was feeling weak. As long as Uzi stayed down, she would win. 

“Lie down. As the manager… I will clean all the mess.” 

Uzi tried to raise up. But using so much of her quirk with the ring feat actually took more than she expected. 

If only she could use the Solver freely. As freely as the V in her dream or as freely as Doll. Was she missing something? If yes… What? 

“You… better not fuck up.” 

“KATSUJI BAKUGOU WIN THE ROUND! Also, how are we getting back the ring?” Midnight said from below, pinching the bridge of her nose. 

Chapter Text

Chapter 17: Will and Understanding.

“Tessa?” N wasn’t exactly angry. N didn’t really do things like getting angry. Frustrated? Yes, with a lot of time. Determined? Definitely when his loved ones were in danger. Anger, it was… Not often. Quite rare, really. 

And he definitely never raised his voice in front of his former master/friend. 

Tessa, as she was helping J, holding her hands and helping her limp toward the infirmary, was nonetheless shocked by the coldness of his tone. 

“Yeah?” 

“Don’t interfere in more matches. Please.” 

The tone was cold for a second, but then N suddenly smiled. “Don’t worry, I am just sulking a bit because Uzi lost. If I knew heavy cheering was authorized, I would have done the same!” 

“Yeeaaaah. I got actually lectured by the referee on that,” Tessa gulped, while J was almost growling at N for nearly trying to threaten her mistress, “Apparently, it was borderline outside interference, so…” 

N nodded quietly before raising a thumb up to the girls. “Nonetheless, good job. Oh, and J?  You better win against Doll.” 

J groaned in pain, but it was an affirmative sound. It was her responsibility to win after all. 

Enzuku entered the stage and let the crowd’s pressure flow around him, just like water on a duck. It was there, but he didn’t care; it was natural. Meanwhile, Shouto was pressured by it, but stood his ground to fight it. His first public fight. The first fight his dad would ever see. 

“Hey, Midoriya? Thanks for agreeing to do your best. I really want to impress someone.” Shouto said as both walked next to each other. The green haired angel smiled happily and gave him finger guns. 

“You know me. I love to do anything to help my friends.” 

Technically, Shouto Himura wasn’t his friend. More like an acquaintance. Nonetheless, he was happy to help him achieve his goal. 

Cementoss, crying already, looked between the two students. One was Enzuku, “I can smash a small building with my bare hands,” Midoriya. The other was Endeavor’s son with daddy issues on par with Vegeta’s hybrid spawn. 

“Kids. Please. I beg you, don’t destroy the arena too much.” 

“No promises.” Both teens answered, and for a moment, N forgot about everything. He promised Shouto to give him his all, didn’t he? His best always came at the cost of a few broken building bricks.

He smiled at his friend, and his wings sprouted with a gust, the powerful digits springing out of his back to take their place as both his sword and shield. The seams of his T-shirt were ripped to shreds as the wings opened wide, giving a good look to his back and chest for the spectators to see.

“... Was that really necessary?” Shouto asked, unfazed by the display. 

“Apparently, it is. I was not allowed my usual cloak.” There was a reason why he tried to avoid using his “quirk” in the first trial after all. 

Uzi and V, in the infirmary, blessed whoever granted them this fan service. It was soothing their losses. 

“Begin!” Midnight yells, her voice carrying without a mic.

Shouto took the initiative, and a giant flame emerged from his hand, as if he was ready to turn Enzuku into ‘Shouto Fried Chicken’. However, he did that because he knew the Angel would take it easily.

As suspected, a large burst of wind expelled the flames as if it were nothing. In reality, N used an old Murder Drones technique: using his wings as a shield before opening them violently to create a small shockwave and push back attackers, which works with a lot more in this world, though. 

Usually, he would have used that moment to attack his enemy and jump on them, but Shouto followed with his ice side, determined to encase Enzuku in it. After all, the twink was their most powerful, physically speaking, classmate. Not to mention his battle instincts, on par with his squad. 

Shouto pondered if they were part of some kind of augmentation project, explaining how so many people from different backgrounds knew each other and were such powerful people. 

“Hey, CLASS REP.” 

The ice began to crack. The fissures ran through the block, through everything, and finally it exploded. Somehow, the melted ice made N even more glistening in the sun. In addition to that, his body was coursed for a second by green sparks which soon disappeared. After all, N could only use One For All with short bursts. 

“So, trying to jail you won’t work,” Shouto noted as N plunged on him as a hawk of death. The class rep barely managed to dodge the punch and saw the fist embedded into the concrete. 

This fight was as hard as expected. Somehow, it managed to make Shouto smile ever slightly. Finally, he could prove himself to his father, to himself. He has what it takes.

Fire as hot as his passion and ice as cold as his determination, Shouto chained his attack to try and break Enzuku, but with an actual plan in his mind.

“So, Endeavor, proud of your kid? Cuz, this green haired one seems quite strong.” Hawks said as he cracked a small can of beer and tried to give one to Endeavor, his attention fully focused on his son.

“I am always proud of my kids. But I can clearly see he masters his fire side way more than his ice.” The #2 didn’t even seem to notice the beer can offered, fully focused on his son.

“So, Midoriya is going to win?” 

“I didn’t say that either. Shouto clearly knows his limits. Look at his attacks. His ice is not focused and is only used for huge attacks and creating barriers. Meanwhile, he wields his fire as a sword or a spear, trying to poke Midoriya for weaknesses.” Endeavor said with a smile on his face. This was a way of fighting he didn’t expect to see, but… It worked well. a Knight’s approach of shield and sword. Enji wonders where he learned it, if by anyone.

“He could be so much more powerful with the right training,” Hawks noted, trying to push Endeavor. 

It was an open secret among the top 10 that Endeavor’s marriage ended in tragedy, yet calmly, and since then, he hasn’t considered himself a family man. To Hawks, it was even sadder as he owed the man… Well, everything for saving him from his life. Maybe, just maybe, he could push him to reconnect.

“Would you…” Endeavor got the cold can pressed against his neck before he could say something stupid, making him jump to his feet. Hawks stared straight at him, and several of the heroes in the room nodded in approbation.

“I think I speak for everyone here, Endeavor, by saying we aren’t going to allow your son to intern under us. You are clearly the one who can help him focus.” 

Endeavor worked way too much, according to everyone in the room. It was public information that he even slept in his office. The #2 helped each of them at least twice in their own investigation.

“...I will think about it.” Endeavor said, not sure on how to feel as he felt his colleague telling him to do something he hadn't done in years. Muster the courage necessary to step forward. Could he really be a father, even as he failed to save one of his sons? Could he really be a father when he failed to be a husband?

Enzuku was enjoying the fight, using his wings to dodge Shouto’s attack. His fire was actually hot enough that he could feel it hurting his “feathers”. It was better to dodge, even if he could block them easily.

“You lack the firepower to beat me, Himura!” 

“... That was a bad pun, Midoriya,” Shouto answered as he nonetheless acknowledged the situation. His basic Knight style was not going to be enough to beat Enzuku, apparently. The angel boy was just too fast to get caught in either of his attacks, but the distance kept him from landing any attack on Shoto. His agility allowed him to dodge his most precise and powerful attack. He also lacked the precision with his ice to actually slow him down effectively.

“Don’t be so cold!” N chirped to Shouto’s disbelief.

“... Seriously?” The deadpan look was accompanied by a large-scale ice attack, covering half the arena in a spiked glacier.

N answered that by spinning like a huge blender and apparently trying to cleave Shouto, who dodged once again while trying to get back his breath. By using fire and ice, he could avoid overheating or frostbite, but it was not enough. Using his quirk separately was NOT enough.

What was the solution to his problem? Use them in tandem. He doesn't have the control to mix or have them complement each other, but he has figured out how to do one thing. Supercooled ice. It took a moment to get the ice cold and dense enough, a moment that Enzuku refused to let him get for free.

A green sparked kick to the gut sent him backwards, but an ice ramp kept him in the ring. Now with the high ground and the ice now cold enough to expand, he kept it contained. Compared to his other constructs, it was small but nearly five times as dense. It was a large kite shield hefted in his right hand. 

In an instant, his left hand sparks, and the spear of pure flame materializes instantly. The easier to mould fire ripples the air as hot and cold battle around Shoto. N slammed into the ground in front of Shoto, taking in the sight. With a quick punch, he tested the shield and was surprised when it held up. Shoto’s retaliation was to try to stab the boy. 

The angel boy jumps backwards, flame sitting an inch from his side that burns the hem of his pants without even touching it. The spear was then pulled back as a new fight began. Shoto blocks strike after strike with his shield. Pot shots are traded back and forth as each punch and thrust is either blocked or dodged.

A sparking fist shatters the shield, chunks of ice flying out from the impact. The spear was tossed like a javelin as Shoto took a gamble. 

“HELL SPIDER!” Superheated flames burst from his left hand’s fingers. lines of flame burn into the stadium wall as he drags the claws across the air. Enzuku simply jumped and spun in the air, sliding between the lines as only one hand was used for the attack.    

In hindsight, he should have trained his ice a bit more for this kind of situation. Endeavor had years to train himself after all. He wasn’t strong enough (yet) to reproduce his net of fire, especially with only one hand. 

Enzuku ripped a chunk out of the arena with his wings before hefting it above his head and throwing it at Shouto. 

“CATCH!” 

“We said not to demolish the arena!” Cementoss wept, as Midnight tried to console him with a pat on the back.

Shouto answered that by cleaving the block in two with a Hellfire Spear as if it were a sword and raised a divide of his ice to redirect the incoming concrete to the side. 

Enzuku burst through the rock as if it were made of paper, with an almost apologetic smile. “Sorry, buddy, but I need to win!”

“I NEED TO WIN TOO!” Shouto answered, trying to hit Enzuku with a point-blank blast of fire in the face. He could most likely take it after all. Still, he had to win. He wanted, needed to prove himself to his dad!

N dodged the blast with a smile before grabbing Shouto’s by the face. The angel boy spun before throwing him, hoping for a ring out. No need to be overly violent after all. 

Shouto flailed as he was thrown into the air. He used both of his hands to stop the momentum, a spear of ice carved into the cement, much to the shocked cry of a block-headed teacher, while his other blasted fire behind him to give an air break to his momentum. Landing on the other side of the ring with a stumble, Shouto growled as frost and flames crept up his arms. Fuck! Enzuku was right. He lacked the firepower to actually put the Angel of Death in any form of real danger. Worst of all, while Enzuku was kind of serious, he wasn’t “Tyrant” serious; it was as if he was just playing with Shouto. 

Shouto yelled in rage at his powerlessness. He was strong; he knew it. But how could he be stronger? More practice with his ice? Would Endeavor notice him if he did that? Would he… 

“You know, you seem kind of distracted,” Enzuku pointed out, making Shouto snap back to reality, “That… Kind of strange for someone who asked me to give him a strong fight.” 

Shouto looked at Enzuku, who was casually walking. Barely sweating despite the attacks. He seemed stronger every day now.

Shouto slapped himself before staring at Enzuku, “Sorry, I am just trying to find a way to beat you.” 

“Ah ah! Good luck!” The worst part was that Shouto could feel Enzuku was genuine when he wished him that. It wasn’t a taunt. It wasn’t demeaning. It was kindness and support. 

“... Can we get more training like that after the tournament?” Shouto asked with a smile as he began to power both of his sides. If fighting normally didn’t work, all he could do was a Hail Mary.

“With pleasure!” Enzuku said before noticing Shouto’s elemental powers actually surging all around him. “... Isn’t that quite the big attack?” 

“Pretty much everything I have left. I know now I can’t beat you while hoping to conserve the strength needed to win the tournament. So I am shifting my goal… to simply beat you.” 

Shouto was barely holding on as he felt his body torn apart by the temperature disparity. Hot and Cold. The quirk wasn’t meant to be used at full power, together, but by alternating the two powers. Yet, sometimes, you had to go over the limits. 

Shouto suddenly remembered the motto of the school, as he joined both hands in front of him, unifying the two raging elements.

“PLUS ULTRA!” 

N could have easily won the fight by stopping Shouto from charging up in the first place. But he promised his classmate that he would give him an epic battle. According to the anime Uzi, V, and he liked to watch together now, it meant not stopping your friend when he was preparing an obviously powerful move. 

N had to answer in kind. His wings planted into the ground so he would have more stability. Then N once again charged up One For All with a smile and got ready to punch with his whole body, clenching his butthole in the process.

“PLUS ULTRA!” 

The thermodynamic blast met a shock wave that could change the weather. A beam of elemental singularity met brute force that could bend the laws of the world. 

Cementoss cried as he saw his arena once again destroyed by two over-the-top students, before the blast triggered the anti-blast shielding and barriers to protect the spectators.

N’s punch broke through the beam. Shouto felt the impact, throwing him out of the bounds, and he fully expected the impact against the wall. Instead… Instead, he felt a warm embrace. Something solid was catching him, but definitely less hard than a wall. 

The impact was softer than he expected, and as he opened his eyes, he also heard a groan.

“Seriously… What are young people thinking nowadays?” Endeavor said, still having his son in his arms. Out of bounds, but safe and not injured.

“... Dad?” Shouto asked in disbelief. Did… Did his dad run out to catch him? Had he expected to fail again? Only then did his tiredness finally bring him into the bitter unconsciousness. 

“Enzuku Midoriya win the round!” 

Chapter Text

Chapter 18: Filler Episode

When Shouto woke up, he felt hurt, as expected. Midoriya didn’t hold back his punch, and Shouto remembered losing. A part of him actually felt a bit guilty to have joked about Katsuji losing against him, but honestly, it was also kind of deserved. 

“Yosh, finally woke up, sleeping beauty?” V asked with a snark and also a snack, currently eating some chips N smuggled to her. Thanks to Recovery Girl, bones were working overtime to heal, and it was highly taxing. She needed to eat after all, and while Enzuku kindly offered her some blood, well… Some solid food was also good.

“... Yeah. I lost.” 

“Yep. Sucks, doesn’t it?” Uzi said, also depressed and looking at her hands. What the fuck was she missing? Why was Doll stronger than her, and how could she have won?! She used to be stronger!

“And my dad isn’t here. I must be a disappointment.” Shouto said, falling hard against the pillow. 

“... I am not sure about that.” Uzi said, having some experiences with shitty dads, “I mean, a woman with white hair came as he was looking above you like a mother hen. She grabbed him by the ear to have a ‘grown-up’ discussion.”

Shouto rose up instantly, looking worried and surprised. V thought to herself he looked a bit like N when he was told Cyn was in the cave for her time-out, back when they were in the manor. Guilty and horrified at the same time. 

“My mom is here?” 

“Something about not being present enough,” V helpfully added. 

“Enji Todoroki, you are going to have a proper talk with your son because that’s becoming ridiculous!”

Her ex-husband was kneeling in front of her, Rei was way too tired for this idiocy. Sadly, most of her sons inherited Enji’s stupidity and lack of communication skills. 

“But, Rei, I think we agreed on that…” 

“It was years ago, Enji. Of course, that changed! Our son needs you. When I tell him we split for a good reason, he doesn’t believe me. He thinks he was the cause.” 

Enji blinked several times in disbelief, but Rei’s annoyed expression showed it was the truth. 

“What? But… No?” 

“Yeah. I know,” Rei pinched the bridge of her nose, “Enji. You are a good hero, but you really need to learn more about parenting, even as a divorced dad. I managed with our Natsuo and Fuyumi, but I need your help for Shouto. So. You are going to spend time with HIM.” 

Enji tried to protest with an argument, but Rei answered that by poking his ample and muscular chest with a finger of ice. 

“I won’t accept a no. He is going to intern under you, and you are going to teach him personally. Understood?” 

“... Yes, Rei.” 

“Good boy.” 

Shouto wondered why he actually felt hopeful about the situation. Oh well. It was going to be something for later, right?

Cementoss was crying, again, but this time from joy, as he just finished the new ring for the kids to fight in. Namely, Kaminari and Kuroiro had just announced that they had actually decided beforehand the winner of the fight. 

Or rather, Kuroiro explained to Kaminari why the setting was actually very much to his disadvantage, and he preferred to retire now rather than getting electrocuted into submission. He needed shadows to hide, and the ring was… Pretty much without shadow. In addition, his opponent's power was lightning. Yeah, no. Bad match-up, let’s not bother.

Midnight sighed. “Not fun…” 

The public was… a bit disappointed, but then again, they had several fights which were awesome to be honest. Statistically speaking, at least one or two had to be… Less awesome.

However, a fighter leaving before a match left the public starving. 

“WE WANT A FIGHT!”

Remember that despite the violence, UA’s sports festival still has millions of people watching teenagers fighting each other violently with superpowers. 

Honestly, you would think that the government would legalize gladiatorial fighting for the sheer revenue it would bring… 

“Are the next contestants ready?” Cementoss asked, feeling actually okay about it. The heavy hitters went first after all. What could a frog girl and a Christian one do to his precious ring? 

Then he remembered where he was and was thankful he didn’t vocalize his hopes out loud.

Knowing his luck, the Christian girl could very well be a horror in hiding. 

Ibara was perplexed by Asui. The frog girl was one of the unknowns of the 1A. Most of the 1A were friendly and easy to speak with. 

Asui was known to be as secretive as she was competent. When the 1A did a rescue class again, she got the top score in most parts, except for fire-related incidents. As a result, most people were actually wondering who she was.

“So… Have a nice fight?” Ibara tentatively tried to say, polite and all, as she walked, and Asui jumped next to her. 

“Ribbit.” She didn’t actually ribbit. She only said “Ribbit”. As she was actually irritated.

“... God bless you?” 

This time, she got a reaction. Namely, Asui flipped her head so hard, her neck cracked. Her face was devoid of feeling and warmth. 

“No.” 

Oh. Apparently, Ibara managed to anger the quiet kid in the classroom, and she seemed ready to pull out the shotgun. 

Okay. It was going to be okay; she was strong. Her quirk was strong. All she needed was to erect a barrier as soon as the fight began to protect herself. 

Both teenage girls stood in front of the other. Asui, in her leaping position and Ibara concentrating in a prayer position. 

The fight ended in a flash. One hit.

Ibara, expecting Asui’s leap and kick, raised her vine instantly to block it with her thorn and hurt the frog. Or at the very least, deter Asui from actually hurting herself too hard by attacking like a dumb idiot or N.

Too bad for Ibara, Cyn Asui was N’s sister, in a way. Worst of all, seeing the previous fight, Cyn felt as if she had something to prove to herself. She wanted to fix what she had broken. 

Also, she was used to being hurt, so what’s a few thorns piercing her flesh?

Nothing. 

The ring-out was clean and powerful. The ring was only a bit damaged by Asui’s insanely powerful jump, which left a crack in the stone. A frog-foot-shaped crack.

“Aizawa, my dear friend. What the fuck is wrong with your students?” 

“... Mic. There is a reason why I am thinking God exists, and I offended him. Midnight, I just got word from our Overlord. He wants to see you.” 

Thad smiled at Cyn when she got back. 

“So the training actually paid?” 

Cyn nodded her head as Thad sat, like the cool guy he thought he was.

“Good! I would have been offended if her defense was stronger than mine!” 

“Still stronger than you,” Cyn answered back with a smile, before Thad jokingly punched her shoulder.

“Hey! Don’t underestimate me! I” 

“I am not. I know you would have blocked.” Cyn ribbited with a smile at the strong idiot. 

None of them noticed N watching them with a smile, while he was wondering how the next round would go. Seriously. 

“Why… Am I here, sir?” Momo asked. She had been quietly pulled away from the contestant room by Ectoplasm and brought to Nedzu’s office. It was frankly very unusual to be honest, especially during the Festival, and for the Principal, they all learned to be a Rat who loved to be in control of every detail. 

“Miss Yaoyorozu, I am very sorry.” Nedzu started, and for once, the principal didn’t have his usual smile. He didn’t know how to properly act during such an event, and thankfully, Midnight was here to help.

“Sir?” 

“We… Just received news. About your parents.”

Jirou was now facing Raizo (Lizzy) Monoma. AKA, the top bitch of the school, at least in their year. She was on her phone, taking a selfie as usual, probably for her feed. Jirou was actually working hard to prepare her own reputation, and she heard how most of the First Year Business Class were actually loving working with her. 

“Are you done, and can we get to the fight?” Jirou asked, her earjack slightly moving up to be ready to fight and blast her away.

Lizzy raised her head and put away her chewing gum. She threw her phone at one of her friends and cracked her wrist.

“It won’t be much of a fight, sadly,” Lizzy said, barely interested, which irked Jirou even more.

Cementoss sighed and massaged his eyes.

“Contestants, get ready.”

Both fighters stood their ground.

“FIGHT!” 

Jirou opened her attacks with a full barrage of her best sounds, ready to blast away Lizzy. After all, sounds were shockwaves in the air we interpreted. Use a big enough sound and it can physically hit people. 

Lizzy’s skin turned metallic, allowing her to stretch through the deadly vibe. It only made her hair flow in the air as if she were shooting an ad for a shampoo.

“... What the…” 

“My quirk is to copy the quirk of anyone I touch and stockpile it. Thanks to my classroom and being smart, I have more than a few of them, and I simply built myself against you.” Lizzy said calmly and explaining to Jirou why she couldn’t even hope to beat her. “And your quirk? It isn’t that hard to counter.” 

Then again, Jirou didn’t have time yet to learn how to improve her quirk. Meanwhile, Lizzy was actually smart enough to read up on Quirk Theory to help with hers. 

Also, before Jirou could actually react and improvise something, Lizzy rushed her and deactivated her metal form to instead use Uziko’s quirk. A simple palm strike, and Jirou felt her gravity center shift toward a wall. She tried desperately to grab Lizzy, but she took a step back before switching to another reinforcement quirk. Just in case Jirou tried something funny.

“You BITCH!!!” 

Jirou had the time to yell as she fell outside of the ring, softly.

“Yep. But the best one. Don’t feel too bad. It’s simply because I’m the best, not because you are bad.” 

Somehow, it didn’t make Jirou feel better. Instead, all she wanted to do was scream some more. However, the fight was live on TV, and she had to think about her own image. FUCK!

“And this is how the first round finishes! We are coming soon with the contestants of the second round, and be sure: it is going to be as awesome as this one!” Mic hyped the crowd with a smile.