Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

“I cannot simply say you can become a hero even without power.”

All Might’s words rang in Izuku's head long after he’d left the roof. He’d gone straight home, muttering a greeting to his mother as he walked like a dead man to his room and locked himself in.

“I cannot simply say you can become a hero even without power.”

I can’t become a hero without power , Izuku translated as he stood in the center of his room, staring at the texture of his ceiling. 

A moment ago, he’d gone on a rampage around his room, pulling down all the All Might merch. He couldn’t bring himself to throw it away, so he’d stacked it in piles outside his room, informing his mother that it all could be brought to donation. She’d looked extremely concerned, but one look at his puffy eyes and angry forehead made her just nod in acceptance and let him be.

His room was empty and bare now, almost completely devoid of color. But All Might-- the thought of All Might now made Izuku's hands shake with anger and disappointment. All Might was supposed to be a hero. It was practically his job to make people feel better about their problems, and instead All Might’s words had made Kacchan's suggestion to swan dive off a roof feel like an extremely viable option for Izuku. And then right afterwards, Izuku had jumped in to save Kacchan from that slime villain and the heroes had told him off . They told him that his actions were a dangerous and unnecessary risk, that they’d had the situation handled, but anyone who took one look at the scene would have known that that situation was far from handled. And then when they’d found out he was quirkless… 

The world is too dangerous for you.

Stop playing hero.

You’re weak.

Useless.

Deku.

Izuku shook his head, eyes welling up with tears, and jammed the heels of his hands into his eye sockets. I knew this was coming, he reminded himself. I knew I couldn’t be a hero. I knew that this was the only answer. So then why does it hurt so badly?

He felt his legs go weak underneath him and he crumpled to the ground, chest tightening as he sobbed into his fists.

I cannot simply say you can become a hero even without power.

“I don’t care what you can and can’t say,” Izuku sobbed into his hands. “I don’t care!” 

It took him a few minutes to calm down again, but when he’d succeeded he stood up, resolve strengthening once more. 

“I can be a hero,” he said firmly, clenching his fists by his side. That was a blow, but I can still do it. “I don’t care what anyone says, I’ll do it anyway.”

His words had an air of emptiness to them now, but he was determined.

Later that night, Izuku was sitting at his computer, looking into possible options for where he could go to become somebody other than a useless quirkless nobody. 

His first thought, of course, one that had crossed his mind many times in the past, was the possibility of getting a quirk from someone. Once in an online forum, he’d come across a rumor that there was a man who could take and give quirks as he pleased. The idea had obviously seemed wonderful to Izuku, who had then spent several nights breaking many laws to hack into some very high security information vaults. His hacking skills weren’t the best in the world, mostly because it was against the law, and as a hero it was going to be his job to preserve the law, but occasionally he’d have a little lapse into curiosity and unearth his hacking knowledge again in order to get some piece of information or other. The point of all this being that Izuku wasn’t the best hacker, and was, in fact, pretty rusty. It took him a while, but eventually he found confirmation that the man did , in fact, exist. However, having this information was pretty much pointless, because all the leads as to where the man might actually be were dead ends.

So that was out.

His second thought was just to train really hard by himself and hopefully pass the entrance exam by a combination of luck and… no, just luck. That idea fell through quickly.

After that, Izuku had started going through lists of pro heroes who had quirks that weren’t exactly… hero-like. People like the underground hero Eraserhead, whose quirk couldn’t be used for offense, and who had to rely on actual physical skill to get anything done. After a while, he realized that even if he could find a hero like that close enough to train him, the chances of him actually being able to convince that hero to train him were extremely low, next to zero. He was quirkless, after all, and none of the pro heroes he’d met seemed to believe that a quirkless boy could ever be a true hero.

All that led Izuku to where he was currently, researching the Hero Killer, Stain. He’d already dug in pretty deep, and was once again utilizing his rusty hacking skills to look into some security cameras near where Stain’s last sighting was. The Hero Killer was mobile enough to be able to train Izuku near his home, and he had some amazing technical expertise, even without use of his quirk. He also probably would be easier than a pro hero to convince, which was kind of disgusting the more Izuku thought about it. After a long night of searching, a night that could have been much shorter if he hadn’t forgotten a few hacking essentials, Izuku was able to create a list of a few viable options for where Stain could be hiding out. He filled a backpack with his hero research, waited for his mom to fall asleep and then snuck out, dropping quietly into the night.

By the fourth location on his list, Izuku was starting to give up hope. The night was nearing its end, he hadn’t found Stain, and he still had school tomorrow. He sighed and knocked on the door. If this wasn’t it, he’d have to start all over again tomorrow, and that was going to really, really suck.

To his immense surprise, the door opened a crack and one suspicious looking eye peered out. 

“Um, hello!” Izuku said bowing a little. “I’m looking for, uh--” he glanced nervously down the hallway, worried about being heard-- “someone…” he finished vaguely.

“They’re not here,” the person said, starting to close the door again. 

“Oh, it’s you!” he exclaimed, eyes brightening up as he recognized the villain’s -- or maybe vigilante’s, as he wasn’t sure exactly what he thought of Stain yet-- voice from some unprofessional footage he’d found online. “I was wondering if you could train me, please?”

The door froze and then opened even wider than it had been before, revealing Stain’s entire left side, a lot of which was covered in blood. 

Izuku took a step back, forcing himself to remember that he’d been expecting this. He’d need to put his morals aside for just a little bit while he got stronger and learned to fight.

“You want me to train you,” Stain said, in a tone of immense disbelief. 

He nodded weakly. “W-well, I was originally going to go to a pro hero,” he began explaining in a low mutter, “but then I realized that none of them probably had time, and I don’t really have any leverage or way to convince them that I’m worth training, especially since I don’t have a quirk, and so I was looking for other ways for me to learn and your name came up, and while I’m not really all that excited about your whole killing rampage, I still thought I’d--”

“Kid,” Stain interrupted. “Slow down, I have some questions.”

“Y-yes, sir.”

“Are you with the police?” he asked bluntly, hoping to put everything out in the open right away.

Izuku shook his head. “No, they’d have to be pretty desperate to send in a fifteen year old to catch a--”

“Here’s a free lesson for you,” the Hero Killer said, interrupting him again. “When someone you don’t know you can trust asks you a question, answer it in as few words as possible. When you ramble, you reveal too much information about yourself. Got it?”

Izuku nodded, already making a mental note to put in his notebook later.

“Now did you say you’re quirkless?”

“Yes, I--” Izuku cut himself off before he started to ramble.

Stain smirked a little at his attempts to keep his replies short. “And you found me all by yourself?”

Izuku nodded, lips pursed together.

“And why do you want training?”

“I want to be a hero,” he said with conviction. “But everyone told me I can’t because I don’t have a quirk.” He opened his mouth to say more, but then, remembering Stain’s lesson a moment ago, closed it again.

“Why do you want to be a hero?” Stain asked, folding his arms. Izuku could sense that one misstep here and it was all over.

Izuku's eyebrows furrowed together and he set his jaw in determination. “I want to be a hero who saves people with a smile. One who runs in and helps people no matter the danger they’re in. I want people to feel safe when they see me, and know everything will be fine, because I’m there.”

Stain flat out stared at him, and Izuku couldn’t tell if he was impressed or angry, so he stayed quiet, pursing his lips together.

“Why don’t you come in and we can finish this conversation?” Stain suggested, pulling the door open all the way.

“U-um.” Izuku hesitated, looking into the dark room behind Stain. It seemed like a really bad idea to just walk willingly into a villain’s lair. “Is this a test?” he asked nervously.

Stain chuckled. “No, but if it was, I’d be very impressed with you for hesitating.”

Izuku planted his feet in the hallway. “Then, I think I’d like to continue this conversation here, until we come to an agreement.”

Stain laughed, a sound almost like a low throaty cough. “Smart. My last question, then. If I help you, what’s in it for me?”

“Ah,” Izuku looked at his feet, checking to make sure he actually wanted to go through with this. After a moment, he nodded to himself, deciding this was going to have to work, and brought his backpack around to his front.

Stain watched curiously as he opened his yellow backpack and removed a stack of notebooks. 

“I take notes on all the pro-heroes I find interesting,” Izuku explained, holding up the top one to demonstrate. “These notebooks have their quirks, strengths, potential weaknesses, and potential improvements all listed, although I don’t know how you’d use that one.”

Stain plucked the notebook out of the kid’s hand, flipping through it with some interest. After a moment, he looked back up at him, impressed. “You did this all yourself?”

Izuku nodded, reaching out to take the notebook back. “I do have one condition, though,” he said, pulling it from Stain, who was clearly very reluctant to let it go.

“And what’s that?”

“You can have all my notes (photocopied, of course, not the originals) after, and only after, I’ve finished training with you,” Izuku said. “I don’t want a direct hand in any of your… ah… business,” he continued, throwing a glance down the hallway again, “and I would strongly prefer it if nobody died while I’m out training with you. If you get my drift.”

Stain nodded slowly, considering the kid’s condition. “Very well,” he said slowly. “And when do you intend to finish?”

“Ten months,” Izuku said immediately. “That’s the-- uh…” he cut himself off again as he remembered what Stain said about not revealing too much about himself. He’d been about to say that in ten months, the U.A. entrance exam would be taking place, and everything would be decided, but that was too much information right now. “That’s when I’m going to high school,” he finished vaguely. 

Stain smirked. “Deal,” he said, disappearing into his room. “I’d assume we have to work around your middle school classes too. Which one do you go to? Aldera?"

Izuku was almost surprised Stain guessed that on the first go. Maybe there was some cool vigilante thing he'd learn about scouting new territory or something! That could be really cool. He nodded absentmindedly.

"It's not rocket science, kid," Stain said, looking amused.

Ah, he'd been muttering again.

"It's a good practice to spend a few days going over every inch of a city before you start committing crimes there," Stain said, leaning against the doorframe. "Lowers your chances of getting caught. Aldera has some dumpsters in the back that are completely secluded from security cameras."

Izuku knew that, yeah. He knew that. That's where all the bullies went. Lower chances of someone catching them if they beat people up back there.

"Anyway," Stain said, pushing off the wall and disappearing into his temporary home again, "just wait outside today after school, and we’ll begin.” He slammed the door in Izuku's face. 

Izuku stood in shock in front of the closed door. He was going to train under Stain. This was either the worst or the best decision he’d ever made, it was hard to tell which. But, either way, he was going to train with the Hero Killer, who was arguably the best at hand to hand combat in Japan. He was just starting to turn away, shaking off his shock, when the door opened again and Stain poked his head out.

“Hey, kid,” he said. “What should I call you?”

“Uh… you can keep calling me ‘kid’ for now, I guess,” Izuku said, suddenly understanding what Stain had told him about not rambling. There was always a chance he’d tell the wrong information to the wrong people, and everything would go south.

Stain’s lips curled up in a smile. “Kid. You learn fast.” The door closed between them.

Izuku gave the door a resolute nod, and started down the hallway. Later today he’d have training, but for now, he had to get to school.

Chapter Text

Stain had been impressed, if not a little weirded out, by the kid that had knocked on his door at an ungodly hour of the morning. It took guts to go searching for a serial killer in the dark, it really did. And the kid had had that look in his eye… a look of determination coupled with desperation. He had copious amounts of sheer intelligence and practicality, and just one look in that crazy notebook was enough to show that he was observant and analytical. The only thing he was lacking was any semblance of physicality, but that could be fixed. All of that would serve him well as a hero, if he could get there.

But as sad as it was, the kid was right. No pro hero would ever train a quirkless nobody with an unattainable dream of being a hero. Stain really was his only option.

That’s really what caught his eye about the kid. He wasn’t trying to be a hero for the money, or the fame-- he could get that somewhere else, in a profession less biased towards quirks. He wanted to be a hero to be a hero , and he was willing to jump hoops and bounds to get there. He was willing to tear down the entire structure of hero society just to be someone who saved people with a smile. 

Stain could already tell where the kid’s ambition was going to lead him. The world would hate the kid for trying to be a quirkless hero, for trying to be special . It was inevitable. The kid would try to not let it get to him, he’d ignore it for as long as he could. But eventually he would reach a breaking point.

Stain knew because he’d been there. He’d once been a kid with an unattainable dream too, because he had a villain’s quirk , and how could he possibly be a hero if he needed to eat people’s blood to use his quirk? He’d struggled and fought against society, but it was hard being one against all, and he’d lost that battle. That’s when he’d started to realize what was wrong with society and hero culture. Surely, if someone wants to save people, they should be accepted into the hero community without question. But because of the flashy nature of the hero world, and the popularity problems, and the government sponsorship, Stain couldn’t ever have been a hero. He knew that now. So instead, he’d launched himself into trying to change the hero community, to make it embrace people who wanted to be heroes because they wanted to save people, like he once had.

He’d been in this kid’s position before. He’d seen the hating eyes and he’d fought against them. But even Stain had snapped, and inevitably this kid would too.

And when he did, well. Stain would rather have all that anger on his side.

Stain lurked outside the kid’s school, waiting for him to show his face. He was hiding in the shadows of buildings, on the fire escape, but it was hard escaping prying eyes and he couldn’t watch all corners of the school at once. He hoped the kid would have some common sense and stay away from the front entrance, but he honestly didn’t know how good the kid was at situational analysis.

It was taking too long. The kid was either dead in there or he was getting beaten up, and Stain didn’t like those options at all. He was starting to prepare plans to break in and extract him, when he heard light footsteps behind him.

He whipped his head around, drawing a knife. It was just the kid, curly green hair falling into his freckled face. He looked like he’d been close to tears for quite some time, and he was holding his shoulder oddly.

And now he was vaguely panicked, since Stain was pointing a knife at him.“Um… Stain-sensei?”

Surprised and impressed that the kid had gotten so close, and had had the foresight to go around the back way, Stain stared for a moment before dropping down to the ground, tucking the knife away. “Don’t add the honorific, it’s just Stain,” he said, looking the kid over again. Something was definitely wrong with his arm. 

Choosing to ignore that fact right now, Stain slipped down the alley, smirking when he heard the kid padding after him. He definitely had a lot to learn about stealth, but he was keeping up with Stain reasonably well, which was a good sign. 

When they were far enough away from the school that Stain was back in his comfort zone, Stain abruptly turned around and grabbed the kid’s shoulder.

The kid gave a sharp intake of breath, tearing up.

“That’s what I thought,” Stain said sharply. “What happened, who did it, and where do they live?”

“Um-m,” the kid looked somewhere between terrified and desperate. “I fell into the lockers at school and--”

“Don’t give me that crap,” Stain scolded, pointing at the shoulder of the kid’s uniform. It was hard to tell with the dark color of his uniform, but the fabric was a little rough there, like it had been scorched. “You were burned.”

The kid gave the ground a resigned frown. “They were just trying to tell me that I couldn’t be a hero.”

“Still haven’t answered the questions.”

He sighed, eyes flickering up to meet Stain’s. “W-well, that’s because I don’t want to,” he said.

Stain opened his mouth to demand an answer, when he caught the look in the kid’s eye. There was pain, sure, but behind that pain he had a determined protection brewing. The kid wasn’t going to tell Stain anything, because he was trying to save the people that hurt him. He was trying to protect his bullies.

If that wasn’t something a true hero would do, Stain didn’t know what was.

“Fine,” he said shortly, grabbing the front of the kid’s shirt. The kid looked terrified again, but Stain just pulled the shoulder of his uniform off and looked at the mark on his shoulder. It had a small second degree burn just above his collarbone, like someone had cupped their hand over his shoulder and let out a contained explosion. It wasn’t too bad, and even if Stain wasn’t trying to avoid hospitals, he still probably wouldn’t make the kid go to one. Still, it needed treatment, and Stain hadn’t found a new home to commandeer for the day.

Plus, the kid looked absolutely dead on his feet. Stain hadn’t thought about how little sleep the kid must have gotten the night before, but now that the evidence was sitting right in front of him, he had to admit that the kid was clearly tired.

“Are your parents home?” Stain asked finally, letting go of the kid’s uniform. The kid’s hand drifted up to hold his shoulder.

Looking confused, the kid shook his head. “My dad is… gone… and my mom’s at a business meeting.”

“You’re going to sneak me into your house,” Stain said decisively.

The kid took a step back, eyes narrowed. “I am not going to do that,” he said firmly.

If he hadn’t been annoyed with the kid for not accepting help when he clearly needed it, Stain might have been impressed. The kid was a fast learner, and he already understood Stain’s lesson that one shouldn’t just blindly trust people. “You are going to do that,” Stain said, “and I’m going to fix your shoulder.”

The kid didn’t move, still watching Stain suspiciously. “Could you just tell me how to do it myself?” he asked at last, relaxing a little. 

Sighing, Stain gave the kid step by step instructions on how to deal with his burns. The kid whipped out a notebook halfway through Stain’s spiel and took fast notes, pencil practically flying across the page. When Stain had finished, and dismissed him, the kid gave him a short little bow and scurried off, stuffing his notebook in his bag as he went.

Stain was half-tempted to tail the kid anyway, but he supposed there was a level of trust he was supposed to keep with the kid, and that meant he couldn’t stalk him, as much as he wanted to. Instead, he went on a hunt for a hero to kill. He did need to keep up appearances, after all.

The next day, Stain was waiting for the kid in a different alley and found himself surprised when the kid managed to sneak up on him again, this time making it even closer than the day before. Either Stain was losing his touch, or the kid was getting better. Either way, it was impressive.

Stain did another quick look over the kid and then nodded when he could see that the kid had managed to avoid getting bullied today. 

“Shoulder,” he said gruffly, holding out a hand to push the uniform out of the way. The kid pulled the uniform down off his shoulder, letting Stain look at his work.

It was neatly bandaged-- neatly enough that Stain could tell it wasn’t the kid’s first time. 

“I wasn’t going to bandage it but I was worried my uniform would irritate it,” the kid said, pulling his uniform back up over his arm. “I washed it out with cold water for a really long time, like you said, and then I kept it cool, so it’s not swelling very much.”

Stain made a noncommittal sound and then started down the alley, planning out a route.

“Um, Stain-sensei? I mean, Stain?” the kid asked hesitantly, not following him. Stain stopped and looked over his shoulder, frowning. The kid looked nervous and apologetic, like he had something to say and was worried Stain would be mad.

“I was just rem-remembering that you don’t like, um, working in the daytime much,” the kid said, shuffling his feet a little. “And then-- well, I was wondering if you, um, wanted to start meeting at night?” His body curved in on itself, like he was expecting to get hit.

Stain wasn’t going to hit him.

“You’re right, that’s very observant,” he said, nodding. The kid looked relieved, letting his shoulders relax a little. “How about tomorrow, instead of meeting here, you meet me at the skate park at 10:00. Then we can work on your balance and start learning how to jump from high things.”

The kid nodded a few times, clearly excited. “Okay!” he started after Stain, radiating with energy. “So what are we going to do today?”

Stain wasn’t really used to being around bubbly teenagers. Any teenagers he’d met were usually put up with society and ready to murder someone. This was… not that. It was kind of nice, actually. Just might take a while to get used to.

“You are going to follow me around and I’m going to lose you.”

The kid nodded, a determined look in his eye, and Stain slipped off, vanishing into the shadows. After taking a halting step in the direction Stain had just gone in, the kid gave the alleyway a despairing look. “How did you do that?” he asked the empty alleyway.

Stain had to keep himself from snorting out a laugh as he dropped down from the fire escape. “Let’s try again.”

Nodding again, the kid narrowed his eyes, focusing them on Stain. 

Stain jumped off, trying to lose his tail, but the kid learned quickly and wasn’t about to lose him again, not without a fight. He managed to keep up with Stain for a full minute before losing him again, and when Stain went back for him, he found the kid sitting in the middle of the alleyway, notebook in front of him, muttering as his pencil skimmed the page.

“Seems to be using the shadows to his advantage, harder in the daylight, I bet, but not impossible, keeps his body lower to the ground so it’s more out of eyeline. Uses height to his advantage, sometimes jumping and climbing the fire escapes and more than once used dumpsters to get up higher, although I do wonder how he does that without making noise…” he kept going, muttering out all of Stain’s tactics, and Stain watched, grinning.

Two hours later, the kid managed to follow Stain for fifteen minutes without losing him once, even climbing a fire escape with his wimpy noodle arms at one point.

Stain decided that was enough for the day when he realized the kid had been doing all of this with a backpack which was probably full of homework he had yet to do.

After thanking Stain a million times, which was an odd experience to say the least, the kid vanished, using Stain’s own stealth techniques to lose him.

He really did learn quickly.

Chapter Text

Izuku wasn’t sure how to feel about Stain. He’d been training with him for a few weeks now, and honestly, it wasn’t that bad. Of course, there were times when he questioned the man’s sanity, like his first parkour lesson. They had been at a skatepark, which is where they did most of their ‘here’s how you jump off a building and don’t die’ training, standing on the edge of a particularly high drop. Stain had said simply, “Today I’m going to teach you how to fall,” before suddenly grabbing the back of Izuku's shirt and shoving him off the ledge. Naturally, he hadn’t landed well, but Stain only said flatly, “That is not how you should take a fall,” before jumping off the edge himself and falling into a perfect roll, coming up completely unharmed.

So, yeah, the guy had some interesting training techniques.

Training at night was way better than the weird alleyway chasing thing they’d done that first day. The first time Izuku tried following Stain at night, it had been exponentially more difficult, and he still couldn’t follow him for longer than ten minutes, although, to be fair, Stain was currently struggling with tailing Izuku longer than twenty minutes, so there was some clear improvement there. The only problem with the late-night training was that it meant he was a little bit more sleep deprived, and that made him more vulnerable at school.

Luckily, Stain was actually really conscientious of Izuku's time and the state of his health, and he intentionally built rest days and first aid training into their action-filled schedule. At first, Izuku had assumed the rest days were so Stain could go off and… finish his business with heroes, but they happened too regularly to be entirely based on that, and anyway, Stain had finished his work in Musutafu a while ago, and was now branching out into other districts, searching for his next group of targets. Izuku was working hard to ignore the fact that Stain killed people in his free time. It was surprisingly easy to forget. Stain wasn’t actually that bad of a guy, once you looked past all the blood on his hands. He had some fascinating opinions on hero society, and more than once, Izuku's hands had itched for a pen while Stain was ranting, wanting to write down his crazy ideas.

Actually, the more time Izuku spent with him, the more he grew to realize how similar their opinions on heroes were. Izuku was a lot more hesitant to lay praise on All Might than Stain, but putting that aside, they both agreed that hero society was growing corrupt in general. They could spend hours listing the crimes of dirty heroes and thinking of increasingly crazy plots to take down the Hero Commission-- and they did. Both of them hated quirk discrimination with a passion, and if Stain wasn’t so set on killing heroes he didn’t like, Izuku honestly thought the two of them could be a fantastic vigilante team, tearing heroes  and villains down from their pedestals by bringing light to the things they were hiding. 

Becoming a vigilante was looking increasingly appealing to Izuku. He wasn’t a huge fan of fighting or punching things, but he felt like he could really make a difference with his computer. He’d unearthed his weak hacking skills and started building them up again. It quickly became apparent that he could find a lot of dirt on people when he really looked, which led to the realization that it wouldn’t be that difficult for him to destroy careers from behind a computer. From behind his laptop screen, he had the power to find and spread information, to save lives, to move masses.

In other words, he really, really liked hacking.

Unfortunately, hacking wasn’t everything. That’s why he was training with Stain.

Stain said that Izuku was naturally good with stealth and speed based operations, and that with his size, he’d probably be well-suited to ambush style fighting. That meant that he needed to know how to throw a punch, and he needed to be able to use weapons.

The punching thing actually didn’t take him that long to catch onto. After a few training sessions in which he’d spent the majority of the time feeling like nothing but a splat on the ground, he started to catch onto Stain’s movements and match them. Of course, Izuku still couldn’t hold a candle to Stain’s skill level, but he could hold his own for a few minutes before becoming the splat. Also, as a result of training with a villain, Izuku fought dirty. Really dirty. It actually made him feel bad a few times, but, as Stain said, if the only way you’re going to beat your opponent is by gouging out their eyes, then you should go for it . 

On second thought, maybe that wasn’t a great lesson. 

But either way, he learned quickly enough, and Stain seemed impressed.

Then, there was the matter of weapons.

“I prefer blades,” Stain told him, standing over a table with a large array of weapons spread across it. Izuku didn’t know what most of them even were, to be honest. 

They were in Stain’s current apartment-- he moved around every few days, hopping between buildings. He called it squatting , but Izuku thought that was a weird term to use to describe illegally living in someone’s house while they were gone. Maybe space stealing would be a good term. Or bed borrowing . The alliteration was nice. 

“The main reason I like them is because they're helpful to my quirk,” Stain continued, picking up a long sword thing and running his finger along the side of it. “There are lots of weapons you could use to immobilize people. Long range, close range, whatever you want. And I’m going to teach you the basics of how to use all of these. Then, whichever ones you like the best, we’ll focus on.”

Izuku nodded numbly. He didn’t really like the idea of cutting people, or shooting people, or hitting people with long sticks. That being said, he really did need to know how to fight, and having a large arsenal of weapons he knew how to use could really come in handy.

Stain decided to start them out with knives, since they were his personal favorite. And actually, Izuku found that he liked them. A lot. They were super easy to control, so he could pick how much damage he wanted to do. And he could throw them -- badly, at the moment, but still-- so he could use them for long range and short range attacks. They were useful, easy to hide, and Stain happened to be very, very experienced with them, making him a great teacher.

After a while of Izuku chucking knives at Stain and having them easily deflected, Stain made a grimace and told him to stop.

“It seems unintentional,” he said, “but you keep aiming at major arteries. How much do you know about anatomy?”

It quickly came to light that Izuku knew close to nothing about anatomy.

So, on top of all the other homework he had, Stain tasked him with learning about where exactly he could stick knives without worrying about blood loss.

The other advantage to training under Stain came to light a few days later, at school. Izuku had recently been doing an excellent job of using his newfound stealth techniques to avoid his bullies, but there had been a couple times where it had been a close call. This time, he completely didn’t notice their presence until Kacchan grabbed his shirt and slammed him into the wall, keeping a firm hold on his shoulder.

“Hey, shitty Deku!” he snarled, lips twisted up in a sneer. “You been avoiding me, damn nerd?”

Silently cursing himself for not paying more attention, Izuku instinctively grabbed Kacchan's wrist and twisted outward, using Kacchan's arm as a pivot point to smack him face first into the wall. He ducked under Kacchan's friends’ arms, intentionally stomping really hard on their toes as he passed, and used a couple of Stain’s tricks to disappear into the crowd of students leaving school. It was after school hours and Kacchan hated to admit he’d gotten beaten in a fight, so Izuku hoped he’d be safe from getting reported.

And he was really grateful to Stain.

Midoriya Inko would consider herself to be a pretty good mom.

She’d been disappointed when Izuku got his diagnosis as quirkless, but mostly she’d just been upset that because her baby was born different, he’d get treated differently. She knew all about quirkism because when he didn’t manifest a quirk at four, she started looking into quirklessness. And the statistics… the statistics were not good. 

Quirkless unemployment rates were in the ninety percent range.

Out of estimated hate crimes against quirkless people, only about ten percent were reported, and only one percent had legal follow-up.

One out of every third quirkless person committed suicide by the age of twenty. 

Zero percent of quirkless people in the past fifty years lived past the age of forty.

Inko didn’t like those statistics. So when her baby got the quirkless diagnosis, she had no choice but to apologize and bawl into his arms. Because she loved her baby. And she didn’t want to lose him because of something as stupid as bad genes.

They’d been fine for a couple years. 

Izuku came home with scratches and burns sometimes, but he just seemed so happy , and he always wrote them off as just accidents that had happened when he was playing.

Then one day he came home with a really bad second degree burn.

She’d taken him to the hospital, fussing over him the entire way, and then had stood in complete shock in the waiting room as her baby was ignored for six hours because he was quirkless and other people with ‘good quirks’ needed treatment first.

Inko hadn’t stayed in medical school for long before switching to journalism, but she’d gone long enough to know that a second degree burn as bad as Izuku’s needed higher priority than a man with a concussion and a water jet quirk. Especially when Egotistical Water Jet Man had been at the hospital for ten minutes, and Izuku had been there for six hours .

Six hours!

What really worried her, however, was that Izuku wouldn’t tell her what happened.

And it just kept getting worse.

She saw him trying to hide the injuries. She took out his trash and found old bandages. She saw how he hunched himself over, like he was in pain. She noticed the burns on his uniform when she did the laundry. She went through his search history once in a panic and found links to a lot of websites on how to self-treat minor injuries.

When she called the school, they claimed they had no idea what she was talking about, but would keep an eye out for signs of bullying.

They did not keep an eye out.

Izuku’s injuries got worse. One time, right after his eleventh birthday, he came home with a cracked rib. And he still refused to tell her the truth about what was going on because he wanted to be a hero and heroes didn’t rat out their friends.

Inko got him a therapist, but after the first session the therapist sent her an email explaining that he needed to focus on ‘higher priority’ customers, and would have to cancel their appointments for a while. Having heard all the euphemisms by now, Inko knew that meant Izuku had told the therapist he was quirkless, and the therapist had given up.

She asked if he wanted to switch schools, and he broke her heart when he said it wouldn’t matter if he did, because people would still hate him no matter where he was. 

So Inko had to sit and watch as the world beat her ray of sunshine down. She watched as he fought against the current of discrimination and stayed determined to save people. She watched as he struggled and adapted and grew. And because she was watching, she saw the day hope died in her baby’s eyes.

He came home one day without that sunshiny smile she didn’t know she’d gotten used to. She’d seen the news, but he didn’t seem to want to talk about what he’d done or how the heroes had treated him afterwards. He just vanished into his room. A few hours later, she found two boxes of All Might merch outside his door, with a post-it note declaring the boxes and their contents to be “For donation.”

She didn’t say anything about the boxes, even though she cried when she saw them. She just tucked the boxes into storage, hoping that this was just a phase, and it would pass.

It didn’t pass, but the next day Izuku came home from school absolutely exhausted and fell asleep immediately upon getting home. Well, immediately after standing in the bathroom with the tap running for thirty minutes.

The day after that, Izuku came home with a spring in his step and a new light in his eyes. 

And as the weeks passed, something changed in her baby.

He still claimed he didn’t want the All Might merch any more, so Inko decided to get rid of it. He started researching quirk laws, learning to program, going on runs in the morning, and practicing punches in the kitchen. He still wanted to be a hero, but there was a new determination behind it, as though he was doing it just to prove he could, instead of doing it so people could be comforted by his smile.

At first Inko was worried because in the mornings, he'd leave his room with ten new bruises on his face and he walked stiffly, like he’d overused his muscles. But then Izuku started gaining muscle mass and started padding soundlessly around the apartment, like he’d become a ninja overnight. And as he got stronger, those injuries started to disappear, along with the burns.

As the injuries disappeared, so did his smile.

Inko liked his smile. She wanted it back.

It didn’t come back.

Chapter Text

The weeks flew by with school by day and training by night. Izuku hadn’t come home visibly injured in a while, and it was worth all of it, just to see the relief that simple difference brought to his mother. She didn’t worry about him when he went to school anymore, and while they’d never openly discussed the bullying, he knew she could tell something was different. 

Meanwhile, with Stain, Izuku was making an impressive amount of progress. He was rapidly becoming a threat in hand-to-hand combat-- an even bigger threat when he had knives-- and while he had yet to beat Stain, he could keep up with him for several minutes before getting knocked down. Izuku was also now well-knowledged on first aid, anatomy, and law, all of which he figured he’d need as a hero.

Stain had introduced him to all kinds of new weapons, giving a short presentation for each. These presentations were usually biased towards Stain’s personal preferences, but that was easy to ignore. Izuku had already found his love for knives, throwing knives and katanas in particular, but there were so many more options. Beyond blades, he quickly found that he loved bows. Sadly, he had to agree with Stain about their impracticality and set that aside. His next favorite was, to his surprise and partial horror, guns. They were efficient, powerful, and exceptionally useful. On the other hand, it was incredibly easy to kill someone with a gun, and  Izuku was struggling with the idea of using one in a fight, even if it was just to immobilize his opponent. Then again, there were all sorts of types of gun, and he could probably design bullets meant to incapacitate rather than destroy. The only other road block with guns was that Stain despised them, arguing they were “too easy to abuse,” and wouldn’t, or couldn’t, help Izuku learn to use them. Plus, handguns were illegal in Japan, and Izuku was having trouble finding loopholes in that particular law. So, Izuku turned to his next top option, the bo staff.

The bo staff was elegant, swift, and blunt. It was a tool easy to incorporate into Izuku’s training in hand-to-hand and martial arts. He could easily knock someone out with it without worrying about them bleeding out. It wasn’t hard to carry around, especially with the modernized, collapsable version he was training with. And Stain didn’t mind teaching him how to use it.

But, around the same time Izuku started training with the bo staff, Stain started killing again.

The Hero Killer hadn’t attacked anyone since the week he started teaching Izuku, and the news tabloids had noticed. They weren’t making a huge deal about it, but there were some conspiracy theories spiraling around regarding Stain’s disappearance.

Izuku also noticed. Ever since the day he met Stain, he watched the news carefully, paying attention to anything related to his mentor. After weeks of nothing, he started to get hopeful that Stain was done, and that being a teacher had somehow miraculously been a good influence on him. Then, as Izuku started growing into a better fighter, Stain struck again, murdering the pro hero Skydancer in the next district over with no warning whatsoever. 

Staring at his computer in shock, Izuku had to wonder why this surprised him. He’d known Stain was a killer, but now that he’d actually begun to understand and, dare he say it, like the man, it was hard to mesh together the two mental images in his head.

One half of his brain was pointing at the carnage in the alley Skydancer’s body was found in and screaming at Izuku for not turning Stain in the moment he had a chance. That was the side of his brain which had, for all his life, been obsessed with good and evil, the shining gold line between right and wrong. It made him want to be a hero so he could protect the light from the darkness and make people look up at him in awe, feeling safe.

The other half of his brain pushed aside the image of Stain’s extracurriculars and pointed at the man Izuku had come to respect and empathize with. It insisted that there wasn’t a line between right and wrong, there was a cloud. A big grey cloud of ambiguity. This side of his brain wanted him to look at Stain and see a man who’d made mistakes, but still had potential to learn and grow into someone better. It wanted Izuku to be a hero so he would look at the world with compassion, and understand that nothing was black and white, that everyone , including the villains, needed saving. And some of the heroes needed condemning.

Izuku wasn’t sure which side to listen to.

He wanted to like Stain, he really did, but he couldn’t be friends with someone who murdered people in his free time. There wasn’t any moral ambiguity about killing people because he didn’t like their “motivations.” That was clearly, so clearly, wrong. But then there was the Stain who laughed at Izuku’s weak jokes, and didn't care that he was quirkless, and encouraged him to be better for no other reason than that Izuku wanted to be better.

So there had to be some sort of compromise.

As Izuku glumly pulled on a hoodie and grabbed his throwing knives, he considered. But there was nothing. There was no way for him to ignore murder for the sake of friendship. Unless…

He dropped to the ground outside his window, mind whirring. 

Letting Stain continue killing heroes was out of the question. Stain’s murder habit was wrong. But his ideals, while extreme and far-fetched, were in the right place. If Izuku could somehow convince Stain to give up the murdering portion of the job, and target actually immoral heroes, all this confusion would be cleared up. Izuku might not particularly like the idea of Stain beating heroes up, but it was a step in the right direction away from straight up killing them, so it would have to do.

The only problem he had now was how to convince the guy to quit it. Stain could be painfully stubborn sometimes.

It hit him as he left the bus station.

Martyrs.

He parkoured the rest of the way to Stain’s apartment, wincing as his brain helpfully recited all the trespassing laws he was breaking and what loopholes he could potentially use to get out of legal retaliation. Swinging in through the window, he found Stain on the computer, muttering angrily to himself as he read an article titled “The Hero Killer Strikes Again!”

Well, at least he was in a good mood for this conversation to work.

“Um,” Izuku said intelligently, announcing his presence.

Stain’s head snapped up and he glared, before returning to the article.

“You know, it would probably be easier to get people to like you if you didn’t kill heroes,” Izuku told him, crossing the room with his arms outstretched for the bo staff. He’d been separated from it for too long.

“I’m surprised you came back,” Stain said finally.

“I actually came back to take this staff from you, and argue with you,” he answered honestly.  He was intentionally trying to keep  his voice light, like doing that would somehow make it easier to have this conversation. “Ready for some constructive criticism?”

Stain made a noncommittal noise.

“You can’t kill people anymore,” Izuku said simply.

“Why not?” Stain asked, looking genuinely angry. “I’m trying to get a point across.”

“Yeah, I get that,” he said, nodding. “But you’re doing it wrong.”

“I’m not--”

“Shut up and let me explain.”

Stain slumped back into his chair, arms crossed like a pouting toddler. Izuku sighed, twirling his staff around his hand a few times while he collected his thoughts.

“Look,” he said. “What you’re doing right now looks like needless murder. You’re taking people that the majority of Japan looks up to and you’re killing them off.”

“I’m trying to show that they’re unworthy!” Stain protested.

“Well, you have to prove it before you kill them!” Izuku countered, scowling. “You can’t just kill heroes with an unfounded claim that they’re unworthy and expect everyone to get it. So I’m going to tell you what a better way to do it is. Ready?”

Stain just glared at him.

“First, you’ve got to start getting people to trust you. Right now, all people see is this crazy psychopath who hates every hero except All Might, who, by the way, also isn’t really that great of a hero. So you need to start digging up facts. Find things out. For example, Skydancer originally became a hero so she could hide a drug trading operation under her agency. You didn’t even know that, because you didn’t look. The rest of the world definitely didn’t know that, and they never will, because you killed her.

“Right now you’re just killing every hero who isn’t All Might. But if you find genuinely condemning information about heroes and then spread that information before you attack, you’ll find that a lot more people are going to start supporting you. It’ll change from ‘Stain’s a crazy guy who runs around randomly killing heroes and no one can stop him’ to ‘Stain’s helping expose immoral heroes and putting them out of commission.’ Which leads me to my next point,” Izuku said, pointing his staff at Stain and rubbing his forehead tiredly. Stain was still glaring at him, not moving, so he honestly couldn’t tell if any of this was getting through to him. “You have to stop killing them. All you're doing by killing them is making a long list of martyrs. You’re taking these awful people and you’re giving them the chance to live on in the history books as people who honorably died trying to defeat the Hero Killer. And if you find reasonable proof before they die, people are going to want to destroy those heroes themselves. Want to know what the one thing more satisfying than blood is?” he asked, eyes glinting dangerously. “Turning the entire world against someone and watching them burn.”

Izuku knew that was true because that’s what Kacchan did. He hurt Izuku himself, until he decided that wasn’t enough, and then he turned the entire school against him instead. It looked very satisfying. If Izuku wasn’t so weak and useless, he’d probably want to try it on his bullies.

“That’s what the media is for ,” Izuku continued vehemently. “The media was literally designed to find this stuff out and tear people apart for it. So if you give the media information, they’re going to go crazy.”

“But I want to personally watch the light leave their eyes,” Stain said flatly, still not moving. “I want to be the one to purge them from this world.”

“So beat them up,” Izuku said. He hated the words as they came out of his mouth, but knew this was the only way to get Stain to stop killing people. “Destroy their lives without killing them. Make it impossible for them to continue being a hero, without taking anything else from them.”

He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he decided whether or not he wanted to go through with this. But it was the only way, so he opened them again and looked Stain dead in the eye.

“Captain Celebrity,” he said, keeping his voice as steady as possible, “is arguably the worst hero in the world. He comes to Japan for the sole purpose of raping Japanese women. He’s also here right now. I can give you an exact location, actually. But I want you to do something for me. Instead of killing him, I want you to stab his back in just the right spot so he has full body paralysis, but doesn't die. You know the one I’m talking about.”

Stain nodded.

“You are going to hit him there, and then you are going to leave him where someone will find him. You are going to write a note about why exactly Captain Celebrity deserves that treatment, and you are going to leave it there. You are not going to kill him. I’ll give you all the relevant facts and statistics you need to write before you leave. Then you are going to call a media outlet. It doesn’t matter which one, but the bigger the better. You’re going to give them Captain Celebrity’s location. They’ll come, they will find your note, and I can assure you, Captain Celebrity will never be the same again.”

Izuku took a shaky breath and released it, well-aware he was almost done and then he could go home and have nightmares by himself. “Just this once, I’m going to tell you to do this, okay? Just this one time. If you hate it, I’ll get out of your life and you can go back to killing people in peace. Okay?”

Stain gave him a long, calculating look and then stood up.

“You’re trying to be a hero,” he said, “and you’re telling me to go beat up a hero?”

“A sexist, racist, dickhead of a hero,” Izuku spat before he could think about what he was saying. He slapped his hand over his mouth immediately afterward, shocked at his own words.

But Stain just laughed. “Yeah, okay. You’re more of a hero than any of them, kid.”

Izuku gave him a shaky nod, not really sure if that was a compliment. 

“So. Where is this guy?”

Chapter Text

On the bus the next morning, Izuku stared at his phone in shock as the media went crazy. 

For once, the fact that the Hero Killer had killed someone wasn’t the headline. It was all about Captain Celebrity, tearing him apart, analyzing his past, and, for some, blaming America for creating shitty heroes. Izuku could live without that last part, but he had to admit, seeing the worst hero ever getting what was coming to him was kind of satisfying. The guy was paralyzed from the neck down, he was facing serious legal repercussions from both Japan and America, and his wife had filed for a divorce already. He was definitely not loving life right now.

It took Izuku almost the whole bus ride to find the original story, the first one to have been run. He looked at the picture curiously to see that Stain had decided to leave his note using Captain Celebrity’s blood on the wall, which was typical of him. Izuku should have guessed that Stain would take his words and make them super dramatic. Again, though, the article was less about Stain’s involvement and more about how terrible Captain Celebrity was, and how he never should have become a hero in the first place.

It seemed that the whole world was questioning hero society and justice in general. They were asking the right questions, like what exactly makes a hero and is there a better way for us to determine the worth of a person .

Izuku felt a little twinge of pride as he kept reading. Then he realized what he was doing and he completely shut off his phone, feeling guilt sweep over him as the bus pulled into his school’s station.

He’d paralyzed someone.

He’d ruined someone’s life.

Indirectly, but still.

What on earth was he thinking?

Was Captain Celebrity a shitbag? Yes. Did that mean that he deserved the havoc Izuku had just wrecked on his life? 

…

Izuku honestly couldn’t bring himself to say no, as much as his brain was scolding him. He just… he couldn’t find it in himself to pity a guy who had done so much evil.

So did he regret it?

Not really.

But shouldn’t he? Shouldn’t he feel sorry for being the reason Captain Celebrity’s quality of life had just plummeted? The guy was paralyzed and absolutely no one wanted to help him at this point. He’d be lucky if he lived through the next year.

Sighing, Izuku stepped out of the bus station. Sometimes he wished there was someone he could talk to about this stuff. Someone that wasn’t Stain, who was probably crowing triumphantly on the rooftops right now as people finally started to get his point. Someone who wasn’t his mom, who didn’t have any idea what was going on.

Someone who wasn’t Kacchan, who’d just caught sight of Izuku outside of school and was making a beeline for him, face screwed up angrily.

I really need a normal friend , Izuku decided as he ducked under Kacchan's right swing and stepped lightly past him, heading for the school building. He entered the gates with another sigh, hearing Kacchan's angry footsteps stomping up behind him.

The air shifted behind him, sending a little tingle down his neck, and he ducked at the last second, hair ruffling slightly as Kacchan's fist passed just over his head.

“Hey, Kacchan!” he said brightly, turning around and baring his teeth in a false smile.

Kacchan had been making increasingly desperate attempts to punch Izuku lately, and had been failing miserably. It was clearly very frustrating for him, and he hadn’t seemed to have figured out yet that there were better ways to hurt people than hitting. 

“I have a question for you,” Izuku said lightly, easily deflecting Kacchan's next punch to the side with his wrist.

After training with Stain, this wasn’t hard at all. Kacchan always broadcasted his moves, making him exceptionally easy to predict. At least, easy to predict compared to a seasoned serial killer.

“Do you think it’s better to let bad people do bad things, or take it into your own hands by breaking some laws, tearing apart their bodies, and destroying their public image?”

Kacchan just growled, leaping forward with his hands outstretched to try to tackle Izuku to the ground. 

That was okay. Izuku didn’t need him to answer, because he already knew his answer. He would choose the second one, no questions asked. That was just the kind of person he was, someone who wouldn’t just stand by and watch a villain hiding in plain sight.

Izuku used to admire Kacchan for hating villains so much. He used to think it was the coolest thing, how Kacchan wanted to be a hero so he could beat up the bad guys. He used to think Kacchan had his life all figured out, and he was going to be the greatest hero ever. Now he wasn’t so sure. Someone who acted like Kacchan did around Izuku couldn’t possibly be a great hero. If Izuku saw a hero today, acting the way Kacchan did, he’d probably set Stain on them next. People didn’t deserve to be treated like dirt, even if they had weak quirks. Even if they were villains. Everyone deserved another chance.

Even Captain Celebrity.

Izuku side-stepped Kacchan's tackle attempt, allowing him to faceplant on the ground where a pair of red shoes had been a moment ago. Then, brushing his spotless uniform off, he continued to class.

Maybe that was what he should have given Captain Celebrity. A chance to restart. Stain probably wouldn’t have jumped on that idea, though, so maybe it would have been pointless to try.

Anyway, he had said he’d stop messing around with Stain’s work now. That meant he could start trying to fix things himself, in his own way. It was too late for Captain Celebrity, but he could figure out how to give other immoral heroes the chance to restart. He’d have to be delicate with it though. He’d have to have a plan.

“Hey worthless Deku, mutter much?”

He really needed a friend to shoot ideas at, because muttering about destroying people’s reputations in class wasn’t going to cut it.

School went by quickly, and homework even more quickly. Izuku was distracted all day, trying to figure out how to force heroes to rethink their lives and motivations. He kept finding himself continually hitting dead ends. It was really annoying. The only thing he could think of consistently was blackmail, but he didn’t want to blackmail heroes into changing their lives. He wanted them to find motivation themselves. He wanted to teach them what was wrong and inspire them to fix it, not force them to do stuff for unknown reasons. 

The problem was Izuku wasn’t powerful enough to do that. If he was someone like Nezu, maybe he could do it. But he wasn’t Nezu, he was just a quirkless highschooler, who got bullied and tried too hard on his homework. He was just some kid, with not-half-bad analysis skills. No one wanted him around and no one was going to listen to anything he had to say. Quirkless meant useless in this world, and he wasn’t ever going to get people to listen to him and take his thoughts seriously. He was all alone, and he would never be able to be a truly great hero.

Needless to say, he was in a bit of a bad mood when he got to Stain’s temporary apartment that night.

Stain was not in a bad mood.

In fact, Stain was, predictably, in a very good mood.

“I’m never doubting you again, kid,” he announced, taking a swig from an unlabeled bottle that Izuku thought was probably some form of alcohol. Stain didn’t look drunk, so Izuku wasn’t particularly worried, but it was definitely different, seeing him drinking. He’d sort of started picturing Stain as someone super uptight about staying sober, but maybe even idealistic serial killers splurged sometimes.

“I’m glad it worked out for you,” Izuku said flatly, expanding and collapsing his bo staff several times.

Stain seemed to notice Izuku was not having a good night. His expression softened, and he set his unlabeled bottle down on the table, leaning in. “What’s going on?”

Izuku made a frustrated noise in the back of his throat and violently started swinging his bo staff around, going through his practice strikes while ignoring the way the staff occasionally hit the ceiling. Stain was kind enough not to comment on his sloppy form, but he wasn’t nice enough to change the subject.

“Why do you even keep me around?” Izuku yelled finally, giving up with his unproductive attempts at deflecting the conversation and chucking his staff across the room. “What’s even the point? I’m just a stupid quirkless Deku kid, and I can’t help anyone with anything. This whole thing is just stupid! Why on earth did I think I could be a hero ? No one’s going to want me to be a hero, they’re all going to hate me for my entire life, and they’ll be right to, because I--”

“Okay, I’m gonna just stop you right there,” Stain interrupted, holding up a hand. “First of all, don’t throw the bo around like that, because it’s not meant to be used like that and, need I remind you, this isn’t actually my house. Second, yeah, everyone’s going to hate you, so what?”

Izuku stared at him. “What do you mean so what ?” he shrieked, flinging his hands up in the air in exasperation. “How am I supposed to be a hero if everyone hates me?”

Stain blinked at him a few times, frowning. “Remind me why you want to be a hero?”

Wilting a little, he answered, “So I can save people.”

“Okay. So what does that have to do with people liking you?” Stain shrugged, leaning back in his chair. “As far as I’m concerned, you don’t even have to be a legitimate hero to save people. Vigilantes save people. Also, people notoriously don’t like underground heroes, and they save people all the time. Being a flashy hero is overrated.”

“You don’t ever attack underground heroes,” Izuku realized suddenly.

“Yeah, because they’re not usually immoral asshats. They’re in this business because they legitimately want to help people. It’s admirable.”

“Okay, but… other heroes won’t like me either. A lot of hero work is about team-ups, and no one’s going to want to work with the quirkless loser.”

Stain looked unimpressed. “Why wouldn’t they like you?”

“Because I’m quirkless,” he answered, getting frustrated. It wasn’t that difficult to understand.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

Izuku wished he still had his staff in his hand so he could throw it at the wall or at Stain’s head. “That has everything to do with everything! People don’t like me when they know I’m quirkless, it’s just a fact of--”

“I like you,” Stain said simply.

Effectively cut off, Izuku stared at him. “W-what?”

“I like you. And I know you're quirkless, so…” He raised his eyebrows, clearly trying to prove a point.

“But…” Izuku couldn’t understand it. People who knew he was quirkless didn’t ever like him, except maybe his mom. They tolerated him, sure, but like him? Even the suggestion that Stain could possibly want him around was strange. “Why?” he asked, completely flabbergasted.

Stain shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal, like he wasn’t completely blowing Izuku’s mind right now. “You’re smart. You’re determined to do what you set out to do, and you have a good heart. Why wouldn’t I like you?”

“Because I’m quirkless!”

“My quirk requires me to drink someone’s blood for it to activate,” Stain said dryly. “That doesn’t seem to bother you.”

“But you have a quirk.”

“And you don’t. Big deal.”

Izuku’s eyes started to burn with coming tears. “It is a big deal,” he choked out. “All I’ve ever wanted is a quirk so people would want me around, and I could be actually useful.”

“And I’m telling you you can be useful without one.”

Izuku held Stain’s eyes until his tears spilled over and he had to wipe them away. Never, never in his entire life had someone told him he didn’t need a quirk to be helpful. He’d always tried to believe it himself, of course, trying to force it to be a reality through sheer force of will, but no one had ever told him it was actually possible. Or if they had, it was in a pitying sort of way, like they were only saying it to make him happy.

Everyone always looked at him with sad eyes when they figured out that this kid, glowing with intelligence and potential, didn’t have a quirk. It had always been that the moment people realized he didn’t have a quirk, they knew he would never amount to anything. His mother had done it the day he got his diagnosis, his bullies had done it the day after, his teachers had done it from the day he started school, that therapist he tried once had done it during their first session. All Might had done it on that rooftop. No one had ever believed in him before.

So why was it that the only person in the entire world who was looking at Izuku like he could actually accomplish something was a serial killer?

“Okay, we’re taking a break today, kid,” Stain said, standing up and stretching out his back. “You’re too worked up to do staff drills right now, and I don’t want to fight you while you’re all unstable and teenager-y. Want to go get ice cream or… I don’t know what you like to do for fun… TP your least favorite teacher’s house?”

Izuku didn’t respond, still staring at Stain in shock.

“Kid?” he asked, looking concerned.

Shaking himself out of his trance, Izuku said quietly, “Deku. You can call me Deku.” He crossed the room in search of his bo staff.

“Deku…?” Stain repeated, sounding bewildered. “Like… like Dekiru? You can do it?”

Staff in hand, Izuku turned around, meeting Stain’s confused eyes.“Like Dekunobou. Useless.”

An angry expression set in on Stain’s eyebrows. “Your parents named you after the word useless?”

“No, my bullies did,” Izuku said, absentmindedly spinning the staff over his elbow and catching it on the other side. “But I kind of like it.” He gave Stain the smallest of smiles. “It’s going to help me remember that I can still make a difference, even though everyone else thinks I’m useless. I want it to remind me of the stereotype I’m working to defeat.”

A smile started across Stain’s face too. “Okay, then, Deku. Really, though,” he continued, expression going serious. “Ice cream? What do teenagers do for fun?”

Izuku shook his head apologetically. “You’re asking the wrong person. I don’t have any friends.”

Stain gave him a stern look. “We’re going to have to fix that, then.”

Chapter Text

Izuku really wasn’t sure what was going on anymore.

One minute, he’d been crying to Stain about how much everyone hated him-- not for  the first time, of course-- and the next, Stain was pulling his hood over his eyes and doing his best to make Izuku look inconspicuous. When he was satisfied with Izuku’s appearance, and after Izuku had quickly grabbed his throwing knives and first aid kit just in case, Stain commenced to drag him down back alleys, muttering about some guy he really wanted him to meet. 

“Don’t comment on his scars-- he has a lot of them. Actually, just try not to give him any weird looks at all, just talk to him like you would anyone else. I wouldn’t recommend asking about his quirk, at least not until he brings it up. And whatever you do, do not bring up Endeavor,” Stain warned him, “unless it’s to piss on his name.”

Izuku nodded, not that Stain was paying any attention. 

Releasing his arm, Stain jumped for a fire escape, grabbing the bottom of it and swinging his legs up to land gracefully on the first platform. Izuku followed him up a second later, using a nearby dumpster to give him some height so he could scramble onto the platform. It was much less graceful than Stain’s method, but Izuku didn’t have the arm strength to do a muscle up, so he had to find a different way up. And anyway, it worked.

Stain climbed up two more levels and then pushed open a window, dropping inside. Frowning curiously, Izuku poked his head through the window.

It looked like a bar, which was a weird place to bring a teenager in the middle of the night. It wasn’t completely full of people, but the people that were there seemed to take up a lot of space with the amount of power and malice radiating off of them. Almost everyone was wearing hoods or masks, and they were all eyeing each other suspiciously, even while they were talking, like they were trying to size up everyone else in the room. Izuku got the idea that maybe this wasn’t a place where nice people came to hang out. Which meant he was about to walk straight into a hellhole.

Good thing he’d thought to bring his knives.

He slipped in the window after Stain, purposefully making his landing as soft as possible so no one noticed him. Some people did, but they seemed to be looking at him more for the purpose of analyzing the level of threat he posed than anything else.

Stain crossed confidently over to the bar, eyes darting around carefully. Izuku tailed along behind him, doing his best to go unseen. He wasn’t really sure it worked, but he was suddenly really grateful Stain was here with him, because no one was paying attention to the short kid in the hoodie. All eyes were on Stain. People seemed to recognize him, and were either watching him with trepidation or excitement.

“Something to drink, sugar?” the bartender asked as they approached, leaning against the counter and looking at Izuku with some interest.

“Uh-- I-I’m underage,” Izuku stuttered.

The bartender raised his eyebrows in disbelief and looked over at Stain. “Did he really just say that?”

Stain shrugged.

The bartender returned his gaze to Izuku, tipping his head to the side thoughtfully. “A bit uptight about laws, are we?”

Izuku suddenly felt like he was getting tested for his ability to make snippy comments, so he gathered himself together and shot back, “Some of them.”

“Only some?”

“It’s not a bad thing to be picky.”

“But if you break one law, why not break them all?”

“If you can get away with breaking one, why risk breaking another?”

The bartender laughed, tipping his head back and pushing away from the counter. “I like you,” he said, grinning. “Feel free to come back whenever you want.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “You don’t even have to get a drink.” Laughing again, he turned to Stain. “Something for you, then, Stendhal?”

“No. You make weird concoctions, and I’m not in the mood for an experiment.”

“Some people like them.”

“Mm.” Stain didn’t seem to believe that was possible, but he just changed the subject. “See Dabi today?”

He jerked his thumb to the back of the bar. “Back.”

“Thanks.”

Stain seized Izuku’s arm and started dragging him to the back. “Just reminding you one last time-- do not bring up Endeavor.”

Breathless, Izuku nodded. He felt like he’d been being dragged around all night, and he honestly had no idea what was happening. They were here to make friends? With a heavily scarred guy who hated Endeavor? But why?

They got to the back and Izuku instantly saw what Stain had meant about the scars because holy hell, the guy had a lot of them. Or, really, just one big one, a burn scar which spread from the lower half of his face down under his shirt and became visible again on his arms, making him look a little bit like a patchwork quilt. His skin was literally stapled together, and while Izuku was making a concerted effort not to stare, it was difficult when he wanted to ask why on earth he hadn’t gotten stitches instead. When Izuku managed to look away from the scars, he was met with piercing blue eyes, and a lot of tufty black hair, dyed from the looks of it.

“Dabi,” Stain said, slapping the scarred man across the back excitedly and pulling a chair up next to him. Dabi didn’t look at him, keeping his eyes fixed on Izuku’s, but Stain didn’t seem to notice. Come to think of it, Izuku hadn’t seen him this excited in a while, if ever. “It’s been a long time.”

“Two months,” Dabi said shortly, still not moving his gaze from Izuku’s eyes.

“A long time,” Stain agreed.

Izuku’s eyes were starting to water now, because he wasn’t blinking. Breaking eye contact with this guy, even for a second, suddenly seemed like the scariest thing in the world.

“Who’s your friend?” Dabi asked tonelessly, head tipping to the side slightly. A shiver went down Izuku’s spine.

“That’s Deku.”

Surprised, Izuku blinked. 

Smirking, Dabi looked away, like he’d just won something, but Izuku didn’t care. Stain had called him Deku! Deku as in… as in Deku! He hadn’t been expecting the name to sound so different in the mouth of someone he trusted, but now that Stain had called him Deku for the first time, he never wanted to go back to being “kid” again. 

“H-hi!” he squeaked, bowing a little bit. 

Dabi raised an eyebrow and looked at Stain again.

Stain just sighed. “Yeah, I know. We’re working on it.”

“Politeness is for prigs and heroes,” Dabi told Izuku, leaning back in his chair. “Drop the bow and the greeting and just claim your territory, or you’re going to get killed.”

“Who cares?” Izuku asked honestly. Because, seriously, who would care if he was killed? His mom, maybe, but he always felt more like a burden to her than anything else. She’d probably be relieved she didn’t have to deal with him being around anymore. Kacchan would care, but only because he’d have lost his favorite punching bag.

Stain sighed again, a lot more heavily this time. “Kid, how many times do I have to say this? I care. Don’t die on me.”

“I wouldn’t die on you,” Izuku protested, taking Dabi’s advice and grabbing a chair without asking. “I’d die in a nearby alley and you’d have to come find my cold, dead body.”

Dabi snorted as Stain gave Izuku an annoyed look. “Where did you find this kid?” Dabi snickered, leaning forward again and resting his elbows on the table.

“He found me,” Stain answered, matching Dabi’s smirk. 

“Impressive,” Dabi said, looking Izuku up and down again, eyebrows quirked up with interest.

“Um… not really?” Izuku said, feeling his shyness coming up again. “I just hacked into some security cameras near his recent kills and went through the backlogs and followed him through the cameras until I lost track of him. Then I went through nearby buildings and looked for places he might be staying. I narrowed it down to six, I think?”

Dabi and Stain were both looking at him strangely, and his shoulders started to hunch up as he curled in on himself in embarrassment. Were they mad that he’d traced Stain like that?

“That your quirk?” Dabi asked finally.

He shook his head, pursing his lips together. This was it. This was when all of Stain’s plans of Izuku getting ‘friends’ got chucked out the window. Everyone always left when they found out he was quirkless. So Dabi was going to ask what his quirk was, and he’d have to tell him the truth, and then Dabi would leave.

To his surprise, all Dabi said was, “Even more impressive.”  He took a long drink out of his glass, which was filled with something bright blue. Izuku didn’t think it looked very good, but it must have done something, because Dabi’s eyes were brighter when he set it down again. “Think you could do that with Endeavor?”

Izuku felt his body start to tense up, Stain’s warning screaming repeatedly in his head. “Um. I mean, Endeavor’s not really that hard to track? He kind of… goes everywhere with a big… um… boom.”

Dabi waved that away with one hand. “Yeah, but, do you think you could predict when he’d be the most vulnerable? Do you think you could go digging into his personal life? Could you find incriminating information on him?”

Carefully, ever so carefully, Izuku responded, “I think I could find a lot of incriminating information on him, but I’m not comfortable with sharing that information.”

To his relief, Dabi’s expression stayed the same, interested and slightly amused. He didn’t look disappointed or upset at Izuku’s unwillingness to share information on heroes.

“Even if I did,” Izuku continued, taking confidence in Dabi’s reaction, or lack thereof, “I don’t think it would do much. The public is on his side right now, and taking him out would shatter hero society… as… we… hold on.” He pressed his hands into the side of his head. Endeavor was really bad. Not like Captain Celebrity bad, to Izuku’s knowledge, but still, not a good hero. How much would it take to knock him out of the top? And how much chaos would that create?

If he could slowly start to turn the public’s eye against Endeavor-- if he could slowly manipulate society into looking at Endeavor and seeing a bad hero in a top spot, instead of a powerful quirk doing a hero’s job, then… then he could change the way the entire world viewed quirks! He could revolutionize hero society, he could make people want a change, he could use the chaos it created to--

Oh yeah. All that would come at a cost. 

There was a distinct possibility that all of that planning and manipulating would cause the dominoes to fall in the wrong direction, or cause half of them to fall but not the rest, pinning Japan in a sort of in-between state where no one knew who to trust anymore. That possibility was too big to ignore, and the results of the chaos made by destroying Endeavor would be severe.

And anyway, Endeavor needed a chance to change too, Izuku tried to remind himself forcefully. Everyone needed a chance to be better. Second chances. Important.

He shook his head and returned his gaze to Dabi, who was smirking at him again. “Sorry, that’s a no.”

“Ah, it’s fine,” Dabi said, placing both hands casually behind his head and leaning back in his chair again. “It was fun listening to you mutter to yourself, anyway.” Izuku blushed, but Dabi honestly didn’t seem to mind that he’d been thinking out loud. “Let me know if you find anything super interesting though, yeah? I’ll be here.”

Izuku nodded, pretty sure he would not be doing that. But he kind of liked Dabi, and he didn’t want to make him angry or disappointed, so he’d definitely consider it. And he could maybe do some digging into Endeavor for him, just in case.

“Friends,” Stain said, nodding. 

When Dabi rolled his eyes, Izuku choked out a laugh, hiding it behind one hand. Dabi’s eyes widened in surprise, and then he grinned, staples stretching oddly. 

“When did you get so sappy?” Dabi asked Stain, getting cocky as he took his disgusting-looking blue drink in his hand again and took another drink.

“The day I met you,” Stain answered without a second’s hesitation. He stood up. “Now give each other your phone numbers like good teenagers and then Deku, come outside and throw a knife at my face.”

Izuku nodded eagerly, searching around for something to write his phone number really quickly on so he could go throw knives. Instead, Dabi stood up, towering over the table as Izuku gawked. He hadn’t realized how tall Dabi was. He was probably only about ten centimeters taller than Izuku, but still! That was a lot of centimeters! Too many! 

“Nah, it’s fine. If you don’t mind, I’d like to watch you throw knives at each other.” He jabbed a finger at his blue drink. “I’m not sure exactly what’s in this, but it’s weird and I don’t like the idea of blacking out before I get home.”

“Does it taste good?” Izuku asked curiously.

Clearly making a concerted effort to not smile, Dabi shook his head. “Kid, people don’t drink because it tastes good, they drink because of how it makes them feel . And I don’t particularly like the feeling of being passed out in the street, so…” He raised his eyebrows like he’d just proved a point. 

Izuku hopped to his feet. He didn’t really get the appeal of drinking, but maybe that’s because he’d never tried it. And no, he wasn’t going to try it today. Following Stain back through the building, he glanced back at Dabi, who was tailing them at a relaxed pace, hands in his pocket. 

Izuku wasn’t sure that he’d consider Dabi a friend , but he was definitely an enigma. And Izuku liked puzzles. He especially liked solving them.

Maybe he would look into Endeavor after all.

Chapter Text

Dabi didn’t know what to think about this new “friend.”

Any protege of Stain he probably would have taken an immediate liking to, but this kid was so bright eyed and innocent. It was cute, in a sort of sad way, like he was a little flower all by himself on top of a dirty pile of trash. It made him stand out like a sore thumb in that bar though, so Dabi was glad Stain had the foresight to drag him out of there before people could start getting ideas on what they could do to such a naive little green rabbit.

But then there was another side to the kid that Dabi hadn’t immediately recognized at first glance, and probably would have missed if he hadn’t been paying attention. The way the kid switched between shy stuttering words and witty, truly intelligent remarks. The way the kid’s eyes shifted around the room, like he was taking in all available information and thinking of ways to counteract anything that could go wrong. How he stopped to think before he answered questions, clearly analyzing the question itself, possible answers, the correct answer, and then the answer that his audience would want to hear. How he held his body like he was expecting he was going to need to take a hit. All of that made Dabi think that he did not want to be on the wrong side of this kid in a fight.

And he didn’t even know his quirk. Or how old the kid was, although he looked like a twelve-year-old. But he didn’t need to know those things to know that the kid wasn’t someone he wanted against him.

That’s how dangerous the piece of broccoli was.

Deku, he’d said his name was. Funny name, Dabi thought, but then again, who was he to judge?

But the strangest thing about the kid, even after all of that, was his laugh. Dabi hadn’t realized how little Deku was laughing, or even smiling, until all the sudden he’d laughed at something Stain had said, and Dabi finally saw what he was missing. Because damn the kid had a nice laugh. It was just like sunshine. But he’d hidden it behind his hand and immediately after, he’d looked around, as though worried someone would be angry. Dabi knew that feeling. He’d felt it every day, when he was still living with the biggest zit on the ass of all humanity.

Luckily, Deku didn’t seem to be an Endeavor fan, so Dabi felt relatively sure he wasn’t going to need to punch him anytime soon.

Dabi followed him and Stain out of the bar, once again getting the feeling that the kid’s eyes were sweeping over everyone in the room, picking them apart. Stain led them a few alleys down, slipping through the shadows, and if Dabi hadn’t been tracking Deku, who was slightly less subtle, he probably would have gotten lost by now. They stopped, and Dabi leaned against the wall, trying to look casual as Deku pulled out a bunch of throwing knives, looking them over carefully.

“Did you really mean you want me to throw it at your face?” he asked Stain, sounding anxious. “Because I’m getting better and I really don’t want to hit you.” 

There was that innocent side again. Incredible, how he turned it on and off like a lightswitch. Amazing and terrifying at the same time. Seemed to be a theme with the kid.

“I’ll deflect it,” Stain said confidently. 

Deku didn’t look so sure about that. “Um. I don’t mean to tell you what to do, but… I don’t think you’re going to be able to--”

“Just throw a knife already!” Stain growled.

With a tiny squeak, Deku nodded and threw the knife. It took a slow trajectory, and Stain was easily able to knock it aside long before it had any chance of hitting him in the face. Dabi was unimpressed. The kid had seemed to think he could throw a knife Stain wouldn’t be able to deflect.

“Not like that!” Stain snapped. “Do it like you mean it!”

Oh, so he could but he was holding back.

He released a heavy sigh, pulling out another knife. “Fine.”

The knife flashed and Stain’s eyes widened. He managed to duck to the side at the last minute, but the knife still skimmed across his forehead, cutting a long, thin gash there. “Holy fuck!” he exclaimed, looking excited. “You’ve gotten way better, kid! You don’t get to throw them at me anymore.”

“I’m so sorry I hit you!” the kid said, looking worried. “You said you could--”

“I’m not mad,” Stain assured him as Deku produced a first aid kit out of nowhere and ran over to him, fingers already fumbling for gauze. “I’m impressed. You’ve improved a lot and it’s only been a couple months.”

“How are you against a fire quirk?” Dabi asked as Deku started trying to fix Stain’s forehead, mumbling apologies under his breath.

Deku flinched just the tiniest bit and Dabi lifted an eyebrow. Did the kid have previous trauma from a fire quirk user? Unsurprising, although it was hard to imagine that this sunflower had a Traumatic Backstory™. 

“It depends, I guess,” the kid answered, not looking away from the gauze he was pressing to Stain’s forehead. “I’m okay at deciphering weaknesses in opponents, but fire users are probably hard to beat because of the heat factor.”

“‘Okay’ my ass,” Stain grumbled, clearly annoyed with Deku for some reason. The kid ignored him.

“I don’t think I could beat Endeavor,” the kid said honestly. “If that’s why you were asking.”

“Nah, I think it would take a fucking miracle for anyone to beat that asshole in a fight.” Dabi lifted a hand, flicking blue fire out from his fingertips. “I was just trying to figure out the odds of me being able to beat you in a fight.”

The kid’s eyebrows twitched together as Dabi let the flame slip away. “Right now the odds are high,” he said, turning away to look at Stain’s forehead again. “But if I made an effort, by the end of the week you wouldn’t be able to beat me.”

Well that was a bold statement. Dabi was surprised. He hadn’t expected the kid to throw out a full-on challenge like that. “Why’s that?” he asked.

The kid didn’t answer, just pursed his lips together.

Stain answered for him. “Because despite what his painfully low self-esteem tells him, Deku is an amazing quirk analyst. He’ll find your weaknesses and poke them. He likes to deny it, but he’s already found all of mine, and he uses them. It’s crazy, actually.”

“I didn’t do that,” the green bean mumbled.

“Then tell me why you aimed for the back of my calf two days ago?”

The kid didn’t answer for a long time, and Dabi was half-convinced he wasn’t ever going to answer, when he finally said, “You were limping.”

“There. Proof.”

The kid sighed. Dabi snickered at his defeated expression. “Endeavor have any weaknesses?” he asked curiously. He honestly didn’t think Endeavor did have any weaknesses, but it would be interesting to see what the underripe banana could come up with. 

“Um, he’s reckless and too stubborn to stop fighting when he’s injured,” Deku said, lifting a shoulder. “He’s too prideful. All it would take is a few good insults and the guy would completely shut down.”

“So you’re saying if I walked up to the Garbage Fire and called him a dickhead, he’d suddenly be unable to beat me?” Dabi asked incredulously.

“No, I’m saying if you were in a fight with him and made an actually intelligent attack on his character, he would stop fighting. Especially anything relating to his kids.”

Dabi felt his expression sour. “His kids.”

“Sure. It doesn’t take a genius to know that there’s something going on at home that Endeavor doesn’t want everyone to know. All it takes to prove it is one look at his fourth kid, um… I can’t remember his name, but he has a really bad burn scar over his eye.”

“Shouto,” Dabi supplied before he could think.

“Right! Shou…” The kid gave him a curious look. “Wow, you really pay attention to Endeavor, don’t you?”

“Well, that’s enough of that,” Stain interrupted, saving Dabi’s ass. He’d bandaged his own forehead when Deku had been distracted. “I obviously am in no condition to fight right now, so you two can spar instead.” He settled down against the wall of the alley, crossing his arms and watching them carefully. “Have fun.”

“Quirks?” Dabi asked, pushing off the wall and casually standing in the middle of the alley, facing the kid.

“Knives?” the kid asked with a wary expression, settling into a deep, stable-looking stance.

“Neither. No advantages.”

The kid smirked and Dabi blinked in surprise. Why was it so weird whenever Broccoli Head smiled? “My kind of fight,” Deku said.

Before Dabi even had any hope of reacting, the kid was across the alley, one arm raised to slam into his neck. Staggering back a few feet as Deku’s forearm hit his chest, he reached for his quirk before remembering he wasn’t supposed to use that. As he tried to regain his footing, the kid dropped down, one leg sweeping out as he fell into a crouch. It hit Dabi in the back of the knees and he fell flat on his back. Deku was on top of him in an instant, pinning his arms down with his knees. Dabi gave him a dazed look. 

“What just happened?”

“I beat you!” Deku said cheerfully, scrambling to his feet and offering Dabi a hand up.

“I wasn’t trying,” Dabi protested, which was a half-truth. He hadn’t expected the little bean sprout to actually know how to fight, and he’d been caught off-guard by that goddamn smile. He wouldn’t be making that mistake again. “Let’s do it again.”

Deku shrugged, backing down the alley again. “Okay.”

They started again, Dabi making the first move this time. Deku was fast, and he was smart, and Stain was right about how good the kid was at finding weaknesses. A half a minute into the fight, he figured out that Dabi often left his midriff unprotected in favor of blocking his face, an old habit from training, and he brutally utilized that weakness until Dabi adjusted for it. 

It was a close call, but Dabi managed to win, barely, by playing really dirty and scooping some dirt up from the alley to throw in the kid’s face. The kid was caught off guard for probably the first time this entire fight, and he was distracted long enough for Dabi to tackle him to the ground and pin him there, face down.

Deku sighed into the street. “You fight dirty.”

“So do you,” Dabi observed.

“Friends,” Stain said, nodding.

Both Dabi and Deku threw him a glare.

“I should go home,” Deku said, wiggling around on his stomach to try to get out from under Dabi. Hopping casually to his feet, Dabi held out a hand and helped the kid up. “I don’t want to push my luck with my mom, and I’ve been out longer than usual.”

Dabi blinked in surprise. The kid had a home and a mom who would worry if he was gone. So much for the Traumatic Backstory™.

“You know where to find me,” Dabi said, bowing his way out of the alley dramatically.

The kid grinned, and for the first time, it actually reached his eyes. “Yeah, I’ll find you and beat your ass.”

Dabi raised his eyebrows. “Where’d you learn language like that?”

Deku just laughed, and smirking, Dabi turned around the corner. Screw Stain’s weird friendship plans, but the kid was actually someone Dabi could see himself wanting to hang out with more.

He wondered vaguely what Deku’s quirk was.

Chapter Text

The U.A. entrance exam was coming up fast, and all Katsuki could think about was stupid Deku and his stupid quirkless ass.

First, four months ago, the damn nerd had the audacity to get in a fight with Katsuki and actually fucking win . And then he did it again. And again. Deku had already broken his nose once, when he ran him into a wall, and he was starting to realize that somehow, the stupid fucker had learned to fight. 

That was… troubling.

For many reasons, of course, but the biggest one was that in order for him to be learning to fight, someone had to teach the weakling, and that meant someone had to find potential in him. And there wasn’t any potential to find there. Katsuki had checked. So what did this mystery teacher see in shitty Deku that no one else had seen? What had Katsuki missed?

Even worse, Deku had changed recently. He wasn’t the same as he was five months ago, that was for sure. Before, he’d followed Katsuki around, chattering like an annoying bird or like a fucking mewing cat. It was so annoying. But now, he ignored Katsuki, or avoided him at all costs. He didn’t even seem to be imagining they were friends anymore, and while Katsuki wanted to feel grateful, instead all he felt was this weird-ass sense of loss. Everything felt off.

And the other day Deku swore. In class. Straight up fucking swore. Since when does the nerd know how to string together the words “motherfucking fuckbucket”? And since when does he fucking say that in class? In front of the teacher? 

Whoever this trainer was, they were teaching Deku a lot of things. Like how to disappear in the hallways, whether or not they were full of people. Or how to throw a really good punch. Or how to have an exceptionally dirty mouth, as the case may be.

Deku was becoming actually competent, and Katsuki didn’t like it.

But it didn’t matter now. He had to push the shitty nerd out of his mind, because he needed to focus.

The U.A. entrance exam was coming up in five months. He didn’t have time to be distracted.

Dabi must have liked Izuku because he went out of his way to find them the next day, and the day after that, and so on. Izuku figured it was more because Dabi liked Stain than because he liked some random green kid who happened to throw knives. Nobody really ever liked Izuku, or seemed to anyway, and he could understand why. He wasn’t really anything special, and the one thing that made him unique wasn’t something to brag about. Then again, Dabi never asked him about his quirk. It was weird-- like he didn’t even care what it was. At school, the first thing people would ask when they met was about the other person’s quirk. It was the basis for all judgements, it was how people determined social hierarchy. So it was strange, to say the least, to be around people who didn’t seem to care. And because Dabi didn’t care, and Izuku didn’t either, they found other reasons to like each other.

Izuku liked Dabi because the guy was smart and had a painfully funny sense of humor. He never got upset when Izuku beat him at sparring, and he was flexible enough to shift fighting styles and throw Izuku off. He gave advice without prompting, rarely got angry or out of control, and was all around an easy person to be with. Also, as a rule, he never asked prying questions, and Izuku never felt pressured to share his life story, which was oddly relieving. 

Of course, Dabi wasn’t without flaws. Probably the most unstable person Izuku had ever met, he often seemingly randomly would fly into a sky-high mood or sink into a sulky rage state. Neither option was good, and both of them usually meant Dabi would not listen to reason, and could go on a killing spree without warning. Also, Dabi wasn’t great at discussions of morality or analysis or really anything Izuku wanted to philosophize about. Dabi tended to like ranting about Endeavor, discussing false heroes, ranting about Endeavor, listening to Izuku break apart his quirk for the tenth time, ranting about Endeavor, sharing villain community gossip--of which he had a lot, or, shockingly, ranting about Endeavor. Izuku also learned very quickly to not ask Dabi about his past, as it was the surest way to send Dabi into a homicidal rage spiral.

What Izuku didn’t understand was what Dabi could possibly see in him that made him seem likeable. Either Dabi was just as lonely and desperate for human contact as Izuku, or he just had very poor taste in people, because Izuku wasn’t worth having as a friend. Or, of course, Dabi was just crazy, which was looking increasingly possible. Izuku suspected that there was a lot more to him than met the eye, but since Dabi seemed to be respecting his privacy, he decided to return the favor and not look into his past, as tempting as it might be. He had risked a Google search, but nothing came up. After that, it had taken a great deal of self-control to not hack into police records for people with fire quirks or hospital records for people with burn scars, but he managed. He was still managing. Every night, he would stare at his computer for ages, internally debating the pros and cons of finding out Dabi’s history, and every night he would reluctantly tuck the computer away. So he settled on just believing that Dabi was crazy, and that was the only reason he seemed to like being around Izuku.

Then again, there was always the possibility that Dabi genuinely liked Izuku, but the thought of that was so strange. Izuku was annoying and weak, and he muttered all the time and he was a waste of space. It was-- the idea that he could be friends with someone, let alone someone he just met, was so foreign to Izuku it felt impossible. So he settled for assuming the only reason Dabi stayed around was for Stain. It was easier that way.

But Izuku liked Dabi, and he was learning quite a lot from him. Sometime after they began sparring, Dabi started teaching him other tools of the villain trade. Some of these were more relevant than others-- Izuku didn’t think he’d ever need to know how to shoplift to be a hero. But then again, after a few lessons in how to rob a store, Izuku got really good at catching other people robbing stores. He knew what to look for. But learning to shoplift itself wasn’t helpful, and was very illegal, so whenever they had that type of lesson he always found himself sneaking back into the store to purchase the items the legal way. 

Then there were the more relevant things, like how to get people to give information for free. Izuku liked learning that type of stuff because it was all about analysis and prediction, figuring out how his own actions would affect his audience. There was a certain subtlety to it that he appreciated, like he was changing people’s minds and they didn’t even know. He preferred not to think of it as manipulation, but that’s what it was, really. It required strategy, a lot of split-second decisions, and an in-depth analysis of the audience’s brain. And then all he had to do was change his attitude or language, and people would come falling down.

“It’s scary when you do that,” Dabi told Izuku once, when they’d split off from Stain so Dabi could use Izuku to get some information about an up-and-coming villain group he wanted to watch. Izuku had gotten the information from their broker easily enough, although it had taken a complete personality change. He’d had to pretend to be cold, aloof, and untouchable. It was one of his favorite masks, actually, and it was stunningly effective.

He gave Dabi a curious look, “What’s scary?”

“The way you look like a completely different person. And how easy it is for you to switch between personas like that.”

Izuku laughed, brushing that off. It wasn’t hard to do. Dabi was just being silly-- if he wanted to put on a different mask, he could do it too. It was just acting and adjusting to the environment.

Dabi stopped in the alley, catching Izuku’s arm. Insistent, he said, “No, Deku, I’m serious. It’s scary how easily you can get people to do what you want. Cool, but terrifying.”

Faltering a little, Izuku frowned. “I’m not-- I’m not making them do it, I’m just-- just--”

“It’s not a bad thing!” Dabi laughed. “It’s incredible! You’d make an amazing leader, kid. People would follow you wherever you went. You could be unstoppable.”

Izuku’s frown deepened as they started walking again. Unstoppable? But that would mean he had power, and he definitely didn’t. He didn’t even have a quirk-- he was just weak and useless as always. But maybe… maybe there was a certain power that came from being useless. Maybe being useless gave him some other type of power, the ability to move people-- he shook his head, jostling himself out of that thought process while he still could. He didn’t need false hope right now.

“Which hero school are you applying to?” Dabi asked, eyebrows raised. He’d been trying to get Izuku to answer that question for at least a month, springing the question at the oddest of times, but Izuku never answered. It was none of Dabi’s business, and anyway, people always made fun of him when they found out.

“What’s a hero school?” he asked, blinking innocently at him.

“Little shit,” Dabi grumbled.

Oh, yeah, and Dabi had the biggest vocabulary of swear words Izuku had ever borne witness to. They were creative too. He treated swearing like it was an artform. And now some of those curse words were creeping into Izuku’s speech too. His mother was not impressed. Neither, to everyone’s surprise, was Bakugou Katsuki.

It was around this time that Izuku started to get obsessed with underground heroics. Before, he'd always loved the flashy heroes, the ones that got the attention of the spotlight and were always smiling no matter the situation. But then he'd met All Might and realized most of that was fake. Being around Stain for so long meant that some of his ideology was rubbing off on Izuku, and he was honestly really starting to understand all of Stain's ranting about false heroes. He couldn't agree fully because saving people is still saving people whether or not it's for the glory, and killing heroes because they spend some time every day smiling for the cameras is stupid, and oftentimes spotlight heroes were symbols of hope for the population. But he could agree, in part, that if spotlight heroes spent less time worrying about how they were perceived and more time saving people, the world would be a safer place.

Underground heroes and vigilantes were great because they did just that. They saved people regardless of how it would make them look, and they worked hard to make sure everyone was safe, usually without any credit. Izuku loved the idea of saving someone and not having to have all the attention afterwards. He wanted to be able to save people without them knowing it was him doing it. Then again, he liked thinking about public image and smiling under pressure, but to be a hero, all he needed was to want to save people, which he did. So technically, as Stain continually reminded him, being a vigilante was a great back-up option if he couldn't get into U.A.

And so, life went on.

Stain yelled at Izuku a few times for “low self-esteem,” which Izuku promised he didn’t have. It’s not low self-esteem if he really was more worthless than everyone else! Then it’s just “harsh reality.” Surprisingly, Stain was not impressed with that logic. Izuku didn't think Stain had any room for finger pointing, anyway. The Hero Killer wasn’t exactly the perfect picture of emotional maturity. There were days when he’d rant about his ideology for hours until Izuku had to go home. There were days when he stopped to help people carry their groceries. There were days when he was a homicidal asshat. Both of them had good days and bad days, and Stain had no right to judge Izuku for something so inconsequential as “low self-esteem.” It was so stupid! Izuku was too worthless to waste people’s time with his “self-esteem issues.”

That was a big part of the reason Izuku wanted so badly to be a hero. He’d been useless his whole life. He’d had to sit there, helpless, while heroes fought villains in front of him. They were all so powerful , it was like they were unbeatable. It wasn’t that other professions weren’t useful, just that heroes were so clearly amazing that the other options seemed nonexistent. Soon enough, Izuku had become convinced the only way he could turn his Dekunoubou into a Dekiru would be to become a hero. He wasn’t so sure about that anymore. Dabi and Stain seemed to think he would be pretty useful as a vil…

Izuku never let himself finish that thought. He always managed to cut himself off before he completed the final word.

But he had to wonder…

Would he be more useful in a world where no one accepted him or in a world where everyone had to?

Chapter Text

Dabi decided he liked Deku. The kid was… the kid was… There was no way to describe him, actually. He was smart and fast and really painfully good at beating Dabi in fights. A while ago, he'd to start using his quirk in order to beat the kid. He was just… really good at hand-to-hand combat. Of course, that was expected, with Stain as his teacher. But now the little shit was starting to figure out how to beat Dabi even with his quirk, which was annoying. Especially since his strategy generally included a lot of insults and dirty shots.

Today, Dabi had decided he didn’t want to have his character attacked while getting kicked behind the knees, so he was sitting in the bar, playing on his phone and flicking his eyes around the room as he watched people come and go. He liked the bar because here he had access to information flow, and it was incredibly easy to find people with grudges against Endeavor. It was networking . Plus, he was well-known here, and people often liked to give him favors for favors. Which meant he could sit here and people would hire him to do their dirty work. 

Dabi’s phone rang and he sighed, lifting it to his ear as he saw the caller ID.

“Stain, I told you I’m not--”

“ Dabi! ” Deku’s panicked voice came across the line. He sounded very distraught. “ Dabi, I just-- oh my god, stop, Stain, you’re freaking me out. Stain! STOP DOING THAT!”

“Kid, what the fuck happened?” 

“ Um, okay, so Stain and I were sparring and I had my katana and then he tried to grab my arm but then I did something he taught me the other day but I didn’t realize that it was going to do that, stop looking at me like that Stain, I really didn’t! ”

“What did you do?” Dabi said, trying to keep his voice calm and steady, a polar opposite to Deku’s voice, which was an octave higher than usual.

“I CUT OPEN HIS ARM!” Deku screamed into the phone, so loud that Dabi had to move the phone away from his ear, and several of the people sitting around him looked over in curiosity. “ And blood is like… oozing out of it? And I can see the bone and he’s bleeding everywhere and I don’t know what to do! I’ve been trying to apply pressure and I found some gauze but Dabi please help, please, I don’t know what to do, he told me I couldn’t take him to the hospital but his arm is--”

“Kid, take a deep breath, just breathe for a second. You don’t need to go to the hospital.” Dabi stood up on his chair, looking the bar up and down as he searched for someone who came in almost every day to drown her miseries in alcohol. “There are a lot of people with healing quirks that don’t exactly follow all the rules.” He caught sight of her bright purple hair across the bar and dropped to the ground, carefully making his way around tables as he moved to her. “Send me your location, and I’ll bring the morally ambiguous doctor over. Good?”

Deku hiccuped. “ Okay. Okay. Okay. I’m going to-- I’m going to keep trying to stop the bleeding. I think I hit an artery or something. ”

“Good idea. I’m gonna hang up now, okay? Just hang in there until I get to you, okay?”

“Mmmhh,” Deku said, sounding like that was the only response he could manage at the moment.

Dabi hung up and sighed heavily, sliding into the booth across from the morally ambiguous doctor. He didn’t usually call her, unless he burned himself beyond repair, which happened more often than he’d like to admit. She almost never requested to be paid, and if she did, it was only in favors, so he didn’t mind doing transactions with her, not like he did with other people who wanted payment in cash. He wasn’t exactly fluid. 

Her name was Fujimoto Reiki, but she hated it when people called her by her last name, so everyone called her Reiki or just “the morally ambiguous doctor.” Her quirk was one of the most useful ones in the underground, and people tended to flock from all over to talk to her. Because of that, she was one of the most organized people Dabi had ever met. If someone met her even once, she’d remember every detail she’d learned about them, so that if they needed her again, she would be able to help without the typical required questions. Dabi owed her too much to count at this point, but she didn't usually take payment. She did everything for free. It was probably the only thing keeping her from getting kidnapped, honestly, but Dabi was sure she had other reasons for it. Either way, the entire underground was indebted to Fujimoto Reiki.

She gave him a bored look with her sharp grey eyes as he slid into a seat across the table from her. “What do you want?”

“I’m calling in a favor from Stain,” he said, resting his elbows on the table and leaning into them.

Reiki lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah?”

“Yep. His stupid kid just sliced open his arm. Thinks he hit an artery.”

“If he hit an artery, Stain would probably be dead by now,” Reiki said with apparent disinterest, although everyone who knew Reiki knew that she did genuinely care, under the mask of impartiality.

“Well then maybe he didn’t. But the kid’s freaking out, and apparently there’s a lot of blood.

“Got a location?”

“I’ll take you.”

She sighed, downing the rest of her drink in one go as she stood. “All right, I’m coming. You owe me, like, a lot, by the way.”

“As always.”

He slipped out the window, Reiki right behind him, and led her down the deserted streets, following the address on his phone.

A message came from Stain, AKA Deku.

bloodeater: There’s so much blood .

He sighed, opening his messaging app. 

cremationreallyburns: Don’t lick it.

bloodeater: WHY ON EARTH WOULD I LICK IT?

In all honesty, Izuku was freaking out. He didn’t mean to cut Stain’s arm. Stain usually dodged away from Izuku’s katana, and this time he’d just… he was too slow. Which was actually kind of scary. And yeah, maybe the actual severed artery part of it could have been avoided if Izuku hadn’t put so much pressure on the slice, but he wasn’t used to actually cutting someone, so how was he supposed to know how much force to use? And anyway, Stain was the one who refused to let them practice with dull weapons because “the weight distribution wasn’t right,” so this was arguably Stain’s fault too!

But mostly what happened was Izuku had panicked when Stain grabbed his wrist, phantom burning pain spreading up his arm. So he lashed out at Stain’s arm without thinking, which was inexcusable and he was already planning a very apologetic farewell speech for when Stain kicked him out. But right now, Stain was grinning at him like a maniac while Izuku pressed gauze into his wound in an attempt to stem the bleeding. “Your first severed artery!” he cooed, voice slurring. “Isn’t this exciting?”

“No!” Izuku screeched, seizing another piece of gauze and adding it to the blood-soaked pile of gauze he already had on Stain’s arm. “No, it’s not! This is really bad!”

“Why.”

“BECAUSE I CUT OPEN YOUR ARM?”

Izuku didn’t know why he was arguing with someone who was going into shock, but Stain was forcing the conversation.

The window opened and Dabi ducked in, hands tucked casually in his pockets as his eyes swept the room and landed on Stain. “Huh,” he said, eyeing the blood-stained gauze on Stain’s arm. “Nice one, kid.”

“Not you too,” Izuku groaned, pressing his fingers more aggressively against the wound.

“Well, this is new,” a new, unfamiliar voice said dryly. Without lifting the pressure on Stain’s arm, Izuku peered carefully around Dabi. A girl with a long bright purple ponytail was coming in from the window. She looked reasonably young, maybe around twenty-five, with a short and slender figure. Her grey eyes were focused on Stain, and she looked almost amused, a playful smile dancing around her thin lips. Underneath that, though, Izuku could see clear worry as she crossed the room to them. She was hiding it under a smile. It felt… familiar. Painfully similar to All Might. “Stendhal the Hero Killer, bleeding out.” She flashed a grin at Izuku as she knelt next to him in the puddle of blood next to Stain. “Color me impressed.”

“Hi, hi, hi,” he stuttered in his panic, “Are you a doctor?”

“Yes.” The doctor nudged Izuku aside so she could lift Stain’s arm and look it over. She gently pulled the gauze away, barely even blinking when blood started gushing out of it again. 

“Well, it’s going to be fine,” the doctor said, as she looked at the cut carefully, “because my quirk is a bitch.”

Stain turned his head away and threw up. The doctor didn’t even glance over at him, she was so focused on the arm.

“Don’t worry, Deku. You hit a vein, not an artery, so he probably hasn’t lost too much blood yet. This’ll be easy to fix.” She reached out two fingers toward him. “Ready?”

“For… what?” he asked, shifting a few more inches away so he was kneeling closer to Stain’s head.

“The healing, of course,” the doctor answered, rolling her eyes and reaching out two fingers. She lightly pressed them to Izuku’s left arm and held her other bloodstained hand out over Stain’s body. Her hands started to glow purple, like her hair, and she closed her eyes, focusing. Izuku watched with some horror as Stain’s skin started to slowly mesh itself together, like a zipper. A moment later, it was done, nothing left but a long scar.

“You know the deal, Stain.” the doctor said, purple fading from her hands as she dropped his arm. “No use of that arm for a full day, and I would recommend lots of rest for both of you for a couple days.” To Izuku, she added, “He lost a lot of blood, so he’s going to need a lot of rest. Make sure he gets it.” 

Izuku stared at Stain’s healed arm. “That is… the coolest quirk I have ever seen.”

“Oh, you like it?” She didn’t look all too excited, but she kindly explained her quirk to Izuku, who was eagerly bouncing up and down in place. “I call it ‘stitch’ and basically it stitches pieces of the body back together. It’s effective against cuts, bruises, punctures, detached limbs, severed arteries, set broken bones, you name it. And it allows me to do skin grafts with willing donors, which is the only reason Patchwork over there is still alive.” Dabi rolled his eyes, and the doctor smirked a little. “I also have some really sharp teeth, so if someone has a bad burn or something I can rip off that part of their skin and then stitch the healthy parts back together. Pretty neat.” She bared her spiky teeth at Izuku to demonstrate. 

“Wow! And why did you need me?”

“It uses other people’s life force. I can technically use mine too, but I don’t particularly like being exhausted, so it’s better if there’s someone else in the room.”

“Wow.” Izuku opened his mouth to keep firing questions and analyze the quirk further, but Dabi cleared his throat very loudly from behind him, and he caught himself before starting a mutter storm.

“Deku, this is Fujimoto Reiki,” Dabi said, apparently realizing they hadn’t been introduced yet, “but don’t call her Fujimoto or she’ll rip out your still beating heart and eat it.” Reiki didn’t look all that phased by Dabi’s description of her reaction to people calling her by her surname, so Izuku decided it was probably a good idea to just stick with calling her Reiki instead.

“People just call me the morally ambiguous doctor,” Reiki said, standing up and frowning at the blood staining the knees of her pants. “Well, Stendhal, it would appear you’ve met your match.”

Somewhere in the last minute, Stain had gained some semblance of sanity and was looking over his arm carefully. His words came out slurred, but at least they made logical sense now as he replied, “Yeah, we’re not going to be doing any more sparring with each other. Last week he put a deep cut in my leg, and the week before that he almost broke my thumb.”

“I’m sorry!” Izuku shrieked, moving to bury his face in his hands. A moment before they made contact with his face, he froze, staring at the blood all over them. He wasn’t sure he liked actually cutting people, now that he’d done it to Stain a few times. It was so messy. There were other ways to fight, right? Ways that didn’t require beating people up?

Well, with the way society was run, Izuku wasn’t so sure.

“Yeah don’t touch your face,” Reiki advised, smirking.

“Your mommy wouldn’t want to see you with bloody handprints all over your cheeks,” Dabi said in a mocking tone.

Izuku turned to him and solemnly flipped him off. Dabi choked on empty air as he started to laugh. Reiki crossed the room and slapped him on the back with a bloody hand as she crossed to the window. He spluttered indignantly.

“Wait--” Izuku started, watching her leaving. She paused halfway out the window and looked back at him. “Um, I… I, uh.”

What he wanted was another friend. Now that he had experience with having friends, he wanted as many as he could get, and he definitely wasn’t going to get any in school. It was so nice, having people that actually cared about his well-being. And Reiki was so amazing! She had such a cool quirk! Someone with a quirk like that must be really great to have as a friend…

He hesitated as she waited for him to finish.

"If your worried about the aftereffects of my quirk," she said, eyebrows twisting up with something bordering compassion or concern, "I can look up your medical records from the hospital and--"

"No--" he gasped, shaking his head. He didn't want her looking at his records, because if she saw his records she'd also see he was quirkless, and that wasn't exactly information he wanted floating around. "No, I-- I, um, I was... uh..."

“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Deku,” Dabi said, with a heavy sigh. “Repeat after me: ‘You seem nice and I would like to have your contact details.’”

Izuku blushed bright red as Stain laughed weakly behind him.

The words fell out of his mouth all in a rush. “Um, you seem nice and I would like to have your contact details so we can maybe stay in touch and maybe be friends but I totally get it if you don’t want to because I know you don’t know me and I’m annoying and--”

“For the last time ,” Stain growled, “you aren’t annoying.”

Izuku tipped his head to the side. “But I am?”

“No! No you are not!”

“I don’t think you’re annoying,” Reiki said pointedly, coming back inside from the window while fishing her phone out of her pocket. “And sure! We can stay in touch. I don’t really have any friends either, and Dabi needs healing like every other week--” Dabi flipped her off with both hands, “so I’ll stick around until he decides it’s time to care about personal safety. Have discord?”

“Mmmmh! Yes!”

“Alrighty then.”

They exchanged contact details and Reiki promised to come back the next day to check up on Stain. Then she left, explaining that Stain, unfortunately, wasn’t the only person to get hurt in the dark hours of night, and she had other people to help.

So now Izuku had another new friend, courtesy of training with Stain. And they were going to need to find a new way for him to continue that training, because he was now almost equal to Stain’s skill.

Izuku didn’t really like the solution his mentor came up with.

Chapter Text

Stain watched Deku carefully as the kid balanced on the rail of a fire escape, surveying the alley below them with a bewildered gaze. He was in a green hoodie and dark grey pants with his typical red shoes on his feet. A black medical mask hid his face, two katanas were slung over his back, several knives were in holsters around his thighs, arms, and hips, and he was carefully holding his bo next to him in one hand. After a moment, the kid’s eyes lifted and met Stain’s, puzzled expression overwhelming the rest of his features.

“What are we doing here?” he whispered.

“We’re going to be vigilantes tonight,” Stain announced, grinning as Deku’s face contorted in panic and stress.

“What?” he whisper-yelled, clearly freaking out. “Why?”

“Because, Deku, if you recall, two days ago you cut open a vein in my arm,” Stain responded dryly. The kid’s freckled cheeks flushed and he returned his gaze to the ground as Stain continued, “So we need some new people for you to gain battle experience with, and why not use real villains? Don’t worry, we’ll start slow. Now, as for what we’re doing here specifically…” he tipped his head to the side. “This is one of the worst areas of town, so crime rates are high. Heroes rarely patrol this area at night because they don’t see the point in it, since there aren’t any cameras. The only hero we’d maybe have to worry about running into would be Eraserhead, but I’ve memorized his patrol schedules and I’ll help you steer clear of him. Now, let’s find a mugging!” 

Deku released a heavy sigh and hopped from the fire escape to the roof of the next building over, landing perfectly. Stain stifled a laugh. The kid was such a fast learner. He definitely wasn’t an expert, and he certainly wasn’t at Stain’s level of skill yet, but he was learning much more quickly than Stain would expect from anyone. Being able to land a hit on Stain, and doing it multiple times, no less, was no feat to laugh at, and the speed at which Deku had progressed to that point was unbelievable. It suddenly crossed Stain’s mind that one day, probably soon, Deku would become better than Stain, and an invisible shudder ran through his body. He’d need to make sure to stay on the kid’s good side, then.

He jumped after the kid, landing easily into a run for the next roof. “Keep your ear out for trouble,” he called as he ran, Deku begrudgingly keeping up. “Eventually you’ll be able to hear what a crime-in-progress sounds like, but for now, just listen out for everything you think sounds suspicious.”

Deku rolled his eyes as he sprinted in preparation for another jump. “I’m not going to be a vigilante, Stain,” he muttered, quietly enough that Stain almost didn’t catch it.

“Okay,” he responded, not believing him for a second. It was hard to come back from the thrill of being a vigilante. Something had to be said for the feeling of saving people and running from the law at the same time, like a never ending, very stressful joy ride. It came with a certain kind of freedom that being a villain or a hero just didn’t have. The freedom to choose exactly what to do with the power one had, instead of following with whatever society wanted. The freedom to choose who to save and who to fight. 

Plus it was good exercise. 

There was the distant sound of a scream. Deku stumbled a little, head already turned in the direction of the sound. Stain slapped him on the back as he ran past. “No hesitations,” he barked, jumping down into the alley, “or people will die.”

“No hesitations,” he heard Deku repeat, sprinting alongside him from the top of the building. They ran like that for a while before Deku finally dropped down to join him in the streets. After a few more blocks, Stain glanced down an alley and froze, shooting his arm out to stop Deku from turning the corner.

“They're down there,” he murmured, keeping his voice as low as possible so the three people down the alley and the person they were probably raping or at least mugging wouldn’t hear him. Deku nodded, taking a moment to catch his breath and hold it before poking his head around the wall to look.

“Oh, fuck,” he breathed.

Stain flicked his shoulder. “Language.”

“Oh, shit,” Deku corrected.

Stain sighed. What had he been thinking when he’d decided to introduce the kid to Dabi? That was a terrible idea. “So what’s your plan?” he asked casually, leaning back against the wall.

“Run and get a hero,” Deku said immediately, looking around as though expecting one to just be standing there.

Flicking his shoulder again, Stain shook his head. “Remember what I said? No heroes patrol here at night except Eraserhead, and he’s not over here.”

Deku kneaded his forehead, scowling. “Okay, so…” he stuck his head around the corner again. “Um, quirks look to be uh… some sort of size quirk, hmm, it doesn’t look like he has much range so it’s not going to be very useful in a fight. A porcupine quirk, avoid the spikes… and that person doesn’t have any visible quirk effects so I’m not sure about them. Okay, I can do this.” He climbed up the wall next to them and Stain followed shortly after, tailing him as the kid ran lightly along the top edge of the building. Deku suddenly turned and dived head-first off the building, landing directly onto Size Quirk’s shoulders, and effectively flattening him to the ground. Immediately, he turned and slammed a fist into Porcupine’s solar plexus, and then whirled around to execute a perfect tornado kick into Unknown’s shoulder. In an instant, his bo was extended, held easily out to attack. Before he could do any real damage, both Unknown and Porcupine fled from the alley. Size Quirk was out cold.

Deku dropped his hands to his side, loosely holding his bo in one, and looking almost disappointed. “They ran away,” he said, sounding almost hurt as Stain started dropping down into the alley.

“That does happen a lot,” Stain admitted. “It means they think you’re too big a threat to fight.”

Looking a half-second away from falling into a full-on pout, Deku turned to look at the fourth person present, the victim. “Are you okay?” he asked, suddenly looking very concerned.

Stain grabbed the back of his shirt before the person could answer and dragged him, protesting, out of the alley. “We don’t ask that,” he explained shortly. “We don’t stick around to ask questions. We stop the crime and we leave.”

Deku twisted under his arm, forcing him to let go. “ You might not, but this is my vigilante academia, and I want to make sure people are okay.” He ran back into the alley. Sighing, Stain waited at the entrance of the alley while Deku helped the victim and encouraged her to call the police while he started “fixing up her injuries.”

Stain turned and pressed his forehead against the wall. Deku’s big heart was going to get him killed. Vigilantes don’t hang around the scene of a crime because when they do…

Police sirens in the distance.

Dammit.

“Kid, we’ve gotta go!” he yelled, sprinting down the alley. Deku finished tying off some gauze around the girl’s arm and jumped for the fire escape, following Stain without question for once. Maybe because he could hear the sirens too. They ran over the rooftops as quickly as they could, until Deku stopped abruptly, head turned toward a clattering noise to their right. 

“Crime?” he suggested, changing directions and heading for it.

It wasn’t a crime, Stain knew it wasn’t, because there was a difference between the noise of a cat knocking over a can in an alley and a person getting thrown into a dumpster. But this was Deku’s vigilante academia, so he followed him down to the alley where, sure enough, an innocuous cat was sitting, licking its paws over a bunch of fallen cans. Deku wilted as Stain laughed at him.

“Okay, okay! I’m not any good at this,” he said, glaring. “I get it.”

With an annoyed huff, he jumped for the roofs again and ran off.

After vigilante training with Stain, which was surprisingly fun but very illegal, Izuku briefly considered going home, before changing directions and going straight to the bar where he’d met Dabi. He’d been here a few times since then, but always with supervision, so this was his first time going in alone. But he wanted to talk to the morally ambiguous doctor, because he figured she’d have answers to his morally ambiguous questions. So, tired body protesting, he pulled himself through the window and slipped in.

He’d discovered there was an art to not being noticed in here, and he’d somehow gotten very good at it. Only a few people looked up as he padded through the room, and they all lost interest quickly. 

Spotting Reiki’s purple hair across the room, he slid into the chair across from her and set his elbows on the table. She raised an eyebrow.

“I have a question,” he said.

She blinked, eyebrow still raised. Izuku took that as a cue to continue.

“Hypothetically speaking, if there was a person in a position of power who, uh… helped a lot of people for their job but outside of their job was as morally corrupt as they get… Is it better to destroy their lives or leave them alone?”

Reiki’s eyebrow dropped and her nose wrinkled up a little. “Ugh, philosophy late at night, just what I always wanted.” She sighed. “Let’s go to the roof, ‘kay?”

She climbed out of her chair, giving a tired wave to the bartender as she passed on her way to the window. Once there, she climbed up the fire escape and jumped to the roof, Izuku following much more gracefully behind her.

“So you’re asking what I would do, between those two things?” Reiki asked once he’d gotten up, sounding almost puzzled as she crossed the roof, stopping just in front of the railing around the perimeter.

Izuku nodded, tailing her over there. “Yes.”

Reiki scoffed a little. “Oh, I would burn that bitch. Villains don’t deserve to hide behind reputation. If you’re going to be a villain, you gotta admit to it. It’s like… a code.”

Eyebrows twitching together a bit, Izuku repeated, “A code.”

“Well, not like, officially,” she amended, leaning against the railing and looking out over the city. “But like, it’s… in the villain community, villains like to know who other villains are. So people who pretend to be good-- no one likes someone like that. Especially if they’re selling out other villains. Look, it’s like…” She huffed a little, turning around and leaning backwards against the railing so she could look up at the sky. “It’s like, if you’re going to be a villain, you have to own it. Hiding just isn’t cool. Unless you're a spy hired by someone, then that’s different. But yeah, like if a big name CEO was secretly like, I don’t know, doing quirk trafficking or some shit, then yeah, that guy deserves to die.”

Izuku blinked. Death seemed harsh. 

“Figuratively,” she added, winking at him as she caught his discomfort.

He breathed out a relieved laugh. “Right. So do you…” He frowned, pressing his hands into the railing as he thought through his question. “Do you think of yourself as a villain?”

“Oh, sure,” she said dismissively. “I mean, I help villains succeed, which is pretty much the same thing, by society’s definition. But… I think it’s possible to be a villain and a hero at the same time. I mean, I’m still saving people and usually greatly improving their quality of life. It’s just that I’m helping the people society has chosen to hate. That’s what makes me a villain.”

Izuku tipped his head to the side, looking at her thoughtfully. “That doesn’t seem to bother you.”

The corners of her eyes crinkled up as she laughed in the most genuine way Izuku had yet to see. “Why would it?” she asked, grinning. “The word villain is just that, a word. It’s a label, and yeah, it applies to me. I’m fine that, with who I am-- I’ve sacrificed everything I have to save everyone I can. I think that’s something to be proud of, you know? Like, yeah, maybe it’s not what everyone wants from me, so what? I’m doing what makes me happy. And I don’t get to do that in real society, so it’s sort of like a big ‘fuck you’ to everyone who’s expected me to be someone I’m not.”

“Wait…” Something about that didn’t sit right with Izuku. He thought back through her words, trying to figure out what it was that bothered him. After a moment, it hit him. “You said… you said people want you to be doing something else? What else would they want you to be doing? Your quirk is perfect for this!”

Her smile dropped away and she sighed, eyes dropping to her shoes. “Yeah, my quirk is perfect. It’s a little too perfect, actually. My day job is, uh… I’m a hero healer.”

Izuku’s eyes widened. “Wow, that's so cool! Hero healers are some of the coolest heroes because they care for the people that care for everyone else! Your quirk is so perfect for being a hero healer, although I wonder if you have to have self defense lessons too because your quirk is…” he trailed off in his mutter storm because Reiki had a sad look in her eye as she watched him begin enthusing about her quirk. 

A silence fell between them, Izuku watching Reiki curiously and Reiki looking pensively at the building in front of her.

“Everyone always says it’s such a good quirk,” she said quietly. “But I didn’t go to medical school so I could help heroes. Actually, I’ve always wanted to be a lawyer. Social justice is just the most interesting subject, I think, and I want to make a difference in the world. I want there to be social change, and I want people to be able to be treated equally, no matter what they look like or what their quirks are. But… I went to medical school because from the time my quirk manifested on, everyone’s been looking at me. Everyone wants me to be a healer. When I would talk to people about my passions, they’d look at me weirdly because it didn’t match my quirk. They would say I was an awful person for ‘wasting such a good quirk.’ They’d tell me I was selfish for wanting to make a difference without using my healer quirk. So I went to medical school and I became a doctor. I’ve never had any control over my life, really. I never get to choose who I treat, or who I get to save. And I don’t want to heal heroes.” 

She gave Izuku a sharp look when he made a quizzical sound. How could anyone not want to heal heroes? A lot of them were so amazing! 

“Heroes can afford the best healers in the world,” she explained, voice hard and cold. “They have so much money, and they can throw it around wherever they want to. They don’t need my quirk, not when there are hundreds of healers available.” Her expression shifted into a full on glare, and she pushed off the railing, walking a few steps across the roof, hands clenched up. “There are people out there who don’t have access to healers.” She whipped around, a fire in her eye. “There are people out there  who can’t afford it. And who am I to heal people for millions of dollars, when it’s something as easy for me as just sitting still? I am here because I want to save people.” Her voice was firm and steady, and Izuku got the impression that she was determined about this, that she had conviction. “I’m here because I want to save people who can’t be saved. Heroes get saved every day and they’re such egotistical asshats that they don’t even realize it. They don’t see how lucky they are. There are people out there who don’t get to be saved, because no one looks twice at them. Do you know the assault rates on quirkless people, Deku? Do you know how many quirkless people die in the hospital because no one would treat them and they didn’t have jobs to pay for it anyway ?”

A shiver ran down Izuku’s spine. He did know. He knew so well.

“I don’t want people to die, Deku,” Reiki said firmly. “I want people to live and live and live until they're sick of it. Heroes aren’t the only people that matter.” She waved her arms around, demonstrating everything around them. “There is so much in this world besides heroes, and people don’t notice it because they’re so busy looking up that they forget to look around. Look around , Deku! Everyone deserves to be saved. So I’ll save them. No matter what my stupid handlers have to say about it.”

Evidently done with her speech, she returned back to the railing with an annoyed huff. They fell back into silence.

So that was why Reiki did what she did. She wanted to save the people that no one else would save, that no healer would even look at or touch. And she did it for as little as possible. From what Stain had told him, Izuku knew that Dabi had gone to Reiki countless times to get his burns fixed up. And Izuku also knew that Dabi absolutely would not have been able to afford that if he’d gone to a normal hospital. Reiki probably charged something, but it wouldn’t be an exorbitant amount, and Izuku got the distinct impression that if she found someone who couldn’t pay, she wouldn’t mind healing them anyway.

Reiki healed people who couldn’t get healing from others. People like Izuku, who no one wanted to help.

Somehow, there was something heroic in that. Even if it meant she ignored all laws and was, technically, a villain. But in Izuku’s mind, she was much more of a hero than a villain. She was, in all truth, a morally ambiguous doctor.

“Um,” he said eventually, breaking the silence. “I understand what you said, and I think… I think I agree.” He shook his head. “But I need to think about what this means for me. Um…” he cast a glance over at her, making a split second decision to let her in on what was quickly becoming the biggest secret of his underground existence. “My real name is Midoriya Izuku. Don’t tell anyone, um. But when you get a chance, you can... you should go find my medical records, uh, because, uh, there's stuff in there you should probably know that I don't really want to explain." More like, he didn't want to see her facial expression when she found out. "Okay?”

She nodded, a faint smile tracing her lips. “Midoriya Izuku. Sure thing, kid.”

He gave her a stiff nod and then climbed over the railing and started home. He did need to get some sleep, after all.

And he had a lot to think about.

Chapter Text

Izuku was sore .

Training with Stain naturally usually left his entire body exhausted, but this was different. He was really sore. Being a vigilante apparently took every muscle in his body and pushed them all past the breaking point because wow. His whole body complained every time he so much as twitched.

He was lucky it was a weekend.

As it was, Stain had been… well, Stain had been right about how much Izuku would love being a vigilante. There was a certain amount of… excitement that came with saving people who wouldn’t otherwise be saved. And also, as much as he hated to admit it, there was a certain thrill he got from going against what the heroes and the police wanted-- hell, from what the world wanted, since everyone had told Izuku he couldn’t do it. If they didn’t want him saving people, though, then they needed to step up their game. Because he’d insert himself into the areas they’d missed, and he’d save those people for them. He’d be like Reiki, saving people who no one else wanted to.

A distant knock hit the front door and Izuku sighed. Probably a door-to-door salesman or something. Who else would come over? Not Kacchan, that was for sure.

The sound of a female voice drifted down the hallway, but it was too quiet for Izuku to put any effort into figuring out who it was, and anyway, the chances of him knowing who it was were very slim. The door closed and he sighed, trying not to move as he frowned at his open U.A. application. He needed to input his quirk information and he was trying to figure out how to do it. How could he euphemize ‘I don’t have a quirk’?

A knock came at his door and he turned slightly, frowning. “Eh?” he called tiredly. Anything else would be too much of an effort.

His mother opened the door, looking a little confused by something, but also very pleased. “Honey, your friend’s here to see you.”

Izuku felt even more confused than his mom looked at this point. “Who?”

The door opened a little bit more and he caught sight of a flash of purple hair. He was out of his chair in an instant, immediately regretting the decision to stand as his body protested angrily.

“Reiki--” he gasped, falling back into the chair and clutching at his abs.

“Wow, Stendhal did a number on you,” she laughed, brushing past his mom and stepping over to him.

“Ste… oh.” Izuku winced. “Yeah.”

She put a hand over his stomach and let it glow purple. A moment later, Izuku felt much better.

“What did you do?” he asked, kneading his fingers over his shoulders, which had been very sore a moment ago. 

“Stitched your muscles back together,” she said with a shrug.

“I’ll leave you two alone…” Izuku’s mom said, backing out of the room with a small smile and gently shutting the door.

Reiki turned to Izuku with a very serious look. “Midoriya Izuku, age fourteen, diagnosed as quirkless at age four,” she recited. Eyes filled with compassion, she finished in a soft voice, “And yet still wants to be a hero.” 

He pursed his lips together in response.

“How would you like to be recommended to the U.A. hero course?” she suggested, sitting on his bed and facing him.

His jaw dropped.

“Seriously?”

She shrugged. “Sure. Or I can change your medical records to look like you have a weak quirk if you want. Your chances of getting a job will go up by at least thirty percent.”

“ Seriously ?”

“Yeah.” 

“U.A. recommendation exam…” he repeated, feeling light-headed suddenly. “You’d really do that?”

“Of course,” she said, with a grin. “Do you know how goddamn cool it would be to have a quirkless hero? I mean, come on! Think of all the stuff you could do! All the people you could save! The inspiration you would be to people who are used to getting beaten down because they have a weak quirk! You would be the best hero ever , no joke.”

Izuku wanted to cry. The words he’d wanted to hear his entire life, the words no one would ever tell him for fear of him getting hurt or killed, and now he was hearing them… from a villain. This world was twisted as fuck.

“You would recommend me… for the recommendation exam…” he repeated one more time, still trying to wrap his mind around the suggestion. Getting into U.A. through recommendations was hard, sure, but the odds of someone getting in through recommendations were much, much higher than those who took the general exam, especially for people who had non combative quirks. Izuku had the experience and skill to get a reasonably good score on the U.A. general exam, but his odds on actually getting into the school were still very low. If he got recommended to U.A., that entire story would change. He would be presented to a panel of judges and he would be able to show them exactly why he could be a hero. All that would be needed after that would be for them to not judge him because he was quirkless. But surely that wouldn’t be a problem, when they saw what he could do?

“Please recommend me,” he said, eyes wide with excitement. “You don’t need to do anything to my records, just… please, recommend me to the U.A. exam.”

She smiled. 

“Sure thing, kid.”

Tsukauchi frowned at the woman sitting across from him at his desk. There was a rather large stack of paperwork from last night, and she was one of many who had come into the station to help fill out that paperwork. It could either be a good sign or a bad sign. Either some new underground heroes were taking interest in the area, or they had a vigilante. The second option was the most likely, but not optimal, especially since Tsukauchi was still dealing with the aftermath of the recent Hero Killer activity nearby.

“Why don’t you tell me what happened?” he suggested, glancing over the report she’d helped fill out.

“Sure,” she said, looking anxious in her chair, with her hands clasped nervously in her lap. “I was cornered by three men last night. They, um, they attacked me in an alley and told me to give them money, but I didn’t have anything on me because I don’t usually carry money on me since when I have money with me, I use it. I told them I didn’t have anything, but they didn’t believe me. One of them cut my arm with a knife and I screamed. They stole my purse, but I didn’t have anything in it except my phone. When they realized it was empty, they said I’d have to pay them, um, in, um, other ways.” A faint blush started on her cheeks and her eyes dropped down to her hands. “They started, um…” She bit her lip, tears coming to her eyes.

“You don’t have to give all the details,” Tsukauchi said kindly. “I have that part on file. What happened next?”

She nodded, meeting his eyes again. “It was getting really bad, and, um, uncomfortable, when this kid dropped down from the roof and started fighting them. He knocked the first one out immediately, and then started fighting the second two right after, but they ran away before he could really do anything to them. I saw their faces though,” she added hastily, “so I worked with a sketch artist yesterday to help you find the two that ran.”

“That’s fine, keep going.”

“Okay, so then another man dropped down from the roof after the kid and told him that they ran because they thought he was a threat, which made the, um, the kid look a little more relaxed or something. He’d seemed, um, kind of disappointed before that. So then the kid asked me if I was okay, but the other man started dragging him away. They left, but then a few seconds later, the kid came back and told me to call the police. He asked if I was okay and I told him about the cut on my arm, so he asked if he could do first aid on it, and I told him that was fine, so he pressed some gauze on it. He didn’t really say anything else, just worked on my arm until we heard police sirens and the other man came back and told him they had to go. And then he just… disappeared. I think maybe he went to the roof? Sorry, I don’t know where he went.”

“Hmm.” Tsukauchi looked over the notes he had from last night. This was definitely a vigilante case, which was unfortunate. “Did you happen to see the kid’s face?”

“No, sorry. He was wearing a black medical mask and a green hoodie. It looked very, um, last minute. Like he hadn’t put much thought into what he was wearing. But he had a lot of weapons, um. Knives, I think maybe swords on his back? And a big, long stick.”

“Did you catch a name?”

She shook her head, looking very apologetic. “The other man just called him ‘kid.’ His voice sounded like he was around… Well, I’m not sure how old, but in his teens. Younger teens? It was kind of high pitched. But… capable.” She frowned deeply. “I’m sorry, I feel so unhelpful.”

“This is very helpful, actually. Thank you. Now, could you describe the other one?”

“The man?” she said, looking a little more excited. “I didn’t recognize him last night, but this morning I was watching the news and I saw him. Stain, the Hero Killer.”

Tsukauchi’s blood ran cold. This was very bad. One Stain was enough, but Stain with an apprentice, most likely a hero school dropout, was worse.

“O-okay,” he said, trying to keep it together. “Stain. And, last thing. Did you happen to see the kid’s quirk?”

She shook her head, looking sad. “Sorry, I didn’t see it. He didn’t really seem to be using one, but I don’t know.”

“Okay, thank you. Do you need an escort home?”

“No, thank you, I’ll manage.” She stood up with a smile. “I’m glad I could help. Please call me if you have any more questions.”

“Of course.” He showed her out the door and then closed it. With a weary sigh, he pressed his forehead into the wall next to the door. A vigilante training under Stain. From the sounds of it, a very talented, very young vigilante training under Stain. They’d have to catch him soon, or he’d grow very quickly into a tremendous problem, like Stain had.

Sighing again, he reopened the door and waved in the next person to get saved last night. 

Stain was changing his M.O. to paralyzing heroes and destroying their public image instead of just killing them. Toshinori was refusing to slow down his hero work and suffering because of it. Several gangs were beginning to rub up against each other in the worst way possible. And now Stain was taking on a student.

Could this year possibly get any worse?

Something was happening in the underworld and Tomura didn’t like it. 

He didn’t mind that something was happening, that was normal-- good even. The more power upheavals that took place now, the easier it would be for him and Sensei to make use of the instability. No, having things going on was good. But he didn’t know what was going on, and that was annoying.

To be fair, no one else knew what was going on either. Giran didn’t even know what was happening, even after he’d met with the one person in the underworld who usually had all the gossip. But it would appear that that person was the gossip in this case, because apparently he’d shown up with a kid who completely threw all of Giran’s attempts at information gathering into the trash and instead managed to draw information out of Giran, which was not how that was supposed to work. Giran was the Tomura's information broker for a reason, because he didn’t talk about things he wasn’t supposed to. He was good at it, at keeping his mouth shut. But something about this goddamn kid made him open that mouth and spill.

Tomura had been so angry about it, he almost murdered Giran on the spot. Only Kurogiri’s soothing words had held him off.

So this kid, this little ‘green’ kid was messing things up. And Tomura wouldn’t care normally, but this kid had dipped his fingers into the wrong people’s business now. Tomura was going to get to the bottom of this, and then he’d decide whether or not the kid would be useful to him and Sensei. If he was useful, he’d be recruited. 

If he wasn’t useful, Tomura would make sure he regretted messing with his broker.

By the time Izuku was back in school on Monday, he’d been recommended for the U.A. hero course. He hadn’t really expected Reiki to act so quickly, but she sent out the necessary emails and letters in no time at all. Nezu apparently moved equally quickly, because on Monday morning, the entirety of Aldera faculty had been informed that one of their students had been submitted for recommendations.

Not only that, but the student recommended was, not in fact, Bakugou Katsuki, but was instead one Midoriya Izuku.

Most of the faculty were either in denial or were currently worshipping Izuku, and he didn't know which was better. He didn’t really like either of them, to be honest. He’d much prefer being ignored by the teachers than this. The teachers in worship mode were just fake and slimy and Izuku didn’t want them near him because seriously ? Only now that U.A. thought he had potential, he was worth something?

The teachers in denial weren’t any better.

“One of you got recommended for the U.A. hero course last week,” one such teacher started class with, glaring around the room, “And it sure as hell wasn’t the Quirkless. Was it you, Katsuki-kun? Why are you hiding behind Deku?”

Kacchan scowled around the room, looking for whoever had dared surpass him and got in from recommendations. “I’m not gonna get in from recommendations, I’m gonna prove how good I am in the right way,” he growled, finally meeting eyes with Izuku, who wasn’t sure how to handle this situation. “And Deku definitely didn’t get a recommendation.”

Izuku resisted an eye roll, but it took a great deal of self-control.

“So which of you bastards was it?” Kacchan asked, returning to glaring at each student in turn. “Which of you decided to get someone to recommend you for U.A.?”

With an annoyed huff, Izuku raised his hand. “Excuse me, I did get recommended for U.A.’s hero course.” Kacchan whipped around in his chair, eyes blazing. But Izuku had fought real villains now, he’d gone toe to toe with some of the most dangerous people in the underworld, and Kacchan didn’t scare him any more. Izuku didn’t care about what he had to say now. “I got recommended by Fujimoto Reiki, who’s a hero healer I met the other night.”

“Don’t lie to me,” his teacher hissed, eyes narrowing. “You fooled the U.A. staff into thinking you got recommended, cheating to get up in the world, just like always.”

Izuku was starting to get a little angry at this point. Everyone at this school was so stupid , underestimating people who didn’t have flashy quirks. People without flashy quirks were going to be these people’s downfall someday, because they let their own stereotyping get in the way of their heads. “You seriously think a middle schooler could trick Nezu? I’m just a useless Deku, right?” he snapped. “How on earth would I do that?”

“Then you tricked this Fujimoto person into recommending you,” his teacher snapped back.

“Don’t call her that,” Izuku said, voice going dangerously low. He didn’t use this tone often, and if his teachers paid any attention to him, they would have known that this was the tone that made bullies back off and run. This was the tone that meant murder. It was making more and more appearances lately. 

“Don’t call her by her name?” Izuku’s teacher said, in an almost teasing voice.

Izuku stood up, slamming the palms of his hands into the top of his desk. His teacher had the decency to actually jump a little, looking marginally terrified. Some of the other students in his class were actually starting to edge out of their seats away from him. “Don’t pretend you understand everything about me,” he snarled. “You know nothing about Reiki, and you’re stupid if you think she’d be so gullible as to be fooled into recommending a someone to the U.A. hero course. Reiki recommended me because she saw something in me that no one else ever takes the effort to, and she had the compassion and the bravery to act on it. So don’t act like you understand her. And don’t call her Fujimoto.”

“You couldn’t possibly have gotten recommended to U.A.,” his teacher insisted.

“How would you know that?” Izuku retorted immediately. “How would you know what talents I might have, if you’ve never taken the time to look? Reiki looked for potential, and she found some. Is that so hard to believe? Maybe if you spent less time with your head up your ass, you’d actually see that I’m not as incapable as everyone seems to think I am.”

Maybe that was too far. Even Kacchan looked surprised, so that might have been pushing it.

He slid out from his desk and fell into a deep bow. “I apologize for my outburst,” he said, forcing his tone to lighten up a little. Several students relaxed. “It was out of line, and completely uncalled for. I was the student recommended for U.A., and I’m going to do my best to get in.” He allowed the threat to show in his tone as he finished, “I would suggest you support me, before you find yourself left behind.”

Chapter Text

Izuku felt a little like he was the latest exhibit in the zoo.

At school, the feeling was inevitable. Everywhere he went, he was followed by whispers. Most of them were not nice whispers. They were, in fact, quite cruel. People turned to each other in the halls and made bets on how long he’d manage to stay alive. They told him he was cheating, or said they didn’t believe he’d been recommended at all. Some people were nice enough, he supposed, and would congratulate him or wish him luck, but even they had a tone that expressed pity, not real encouragement. The teachers gave him sorrowful looks when he passed them, as though they were looking at someone on his deathbed. Some particularly brave bullies were putting spider lilies on his desk. He figured it was only a matter of time before they began telling him to kill himself now to avoid a humiliating death later. That was fine. He’d dealt with them saying stuff like that before, he could bear it again. Anyway, he only needed to hold on for a little while longer, and then he’d be free from this school.

No one, not a single person in the entire school, seemed to think he could actually be a hero. All of them were just waiting for the illusion to finally break, when he would finally see that he couldn’t do it. But he refused to see it. He didn’t want to see it, not when he could focus on hope instead. His hope to become someone who saved everyone. That was his focus, no matter what anyone else had to say about it.

He couldn’t pretend it didn’t hurt, though. The way whispers followed him wherever he went at school. The way people looked at him like he was fragile enough to break at any second. How people seemed to expect him to be unable to carry himself one more step, just because he didn’t have their kind of power. But, to be honest, he’d always felt alienated from everyone else. He didn’t see how this was any different. Anyway, half the time he believed them. Maybe he wasn’t cut out to be a hero.

But then, all that was different when he was out on the streets with Stain. People seemed to think he was capable of anything as soon as he put on his green hoodie and grabbed his knives. Whispers followed him there too, but they were a different kind of whisper. People spoke about him with a tone of admiration, of fear, of expectation. Everyone anticipated great things from him as a vigilante. And he’d only been on the streets for about two months. He hadn’t even tried going solo yet, and people still were talking about him. It was flattering, in a terrifying way. When he walked up to villains who were in the know, they would sometimes back down. Not always, not even often, but that was too much to hope for anyway. Most of the time people treated him like he was an interesting new challenge, at least until he kicked their asses, and then they tended to start respecting him. But sometimes he would meet people who took one look and then backed off, apologizing. Not because he was a threat now, but because no one wanted to anger someone who had so much potential, someone who had caught Stain’s eye. It made him wonder why people at school never thought he was capable of growth. 

At night, when he slipped down the alleys in his gear, keeping half an ear out for trouble as he headed home, he would consider the difference between school and his new extracurricular. At school, people hated him because they thought he couldn’t amount to anything. As a vigilante, people hated him because they were afraid of what he could turn into. He never showed any sign of a quirk on the streets. At first, he’d thought that would make people see him as less of a threat, but actually it made him into more of one. Because no one knew what his quirk was, everyone figured he was hiding it, but if he ever got into really big trouble, he could use it just as well as he could use his knives. It added an extra layer of mystery that made people wonder exactly how powerful this new kid was.

But Izuku didn't have a quirk. He was planning on keeping that secret for as long as possible, because things changed when he told people. But as time went on, and he got better and better as a vigilante, he began to wonder if not having a quirk to rely on meant that he had that much more room to grow than everyone else. And as he began to wonder that, he started hating the world of quirks that shut him out. Because he had just as much potential as everyone else. It just manifested itself in a different way. And everyone in this society was too blind to see that anyone, even a useless quirkless freak, could succeed. 

Then, there was home. His mom… wasn’t exactly sure how to feel about him getting recommended to U.A. She would alternate between bursting into tears about the possibility of her losing her ‘baby,’ and beaming at him with pride from across the room. And she absolutely loved Reiki. Almost every conversation Izuku had with his mother after Reiki came over was about her-- what she did for a living (hero healer), how Izuku had met her (at a friend’s house), why she hadn’t come over again (she had a busy schedule), why she was recommending him for the exam (he’d asked her to). He was finding it increasingly difficult to think of convincing enough half-truths to answer the harder questions.

And meanwhile, Stain had realized that Izuku’s exams were coming up, and therefore was pushing him even harder than before. At first, he had been extremely helpful, throwing out tips and occasionally stepping in to aid Izuku during fights. Now, he stood on the sidelines and watched as Izuku struggled, and then later lectured him on everything he could have done better. Izuku would be the first to admit it worked, but it was still difficult, and he was quickly losing much-needed sleep with the pressure of studying for the written exam added on.

Reiki was a godsend during all of this. While she didn’t come over often-- something about not wanting to make Izuku’s mom an “accomplice”-- she was almost always around the bars after training, and Izuku would slip in and go immediately to her, holding out his scratches and battered muscles and begging her to stitch them together. She would grab the bartender or the nearest customer and use her purple light to heal Izuku’s body before sending him off with wishes of good luck and occasionally tips on how to help his body get better faster. Because she healed his muscles immediately after he ripped them apart, he never had to deal with being sore, and he made rapid progress in his strength. As it stood now, two and a half months before the recommendation exam, he could beat Stain in hand-to-hand combat. It wasn’t easy, but he could do it. 

Stain had also decided to make Izuku clean Dagobah beach, which Izuku couldn’t for the life of him understand, but he wanted to be better, stronger, and if the best way for him to do that was clean a disgusting beach, then Izuku was going to clean that goddamn beach. He’d already decided there was no way he was going to finish cleaning the beach on time, especially if he was still setting aside time for studying, but the little progress he could make was good enough.

Tonight, though, he was out on their patrol route earlier than usual. He’d wanted to try a solo mission and Stain didn’t do anything earlier than ten, so he figured if he went out at nine, he’d have some time to practice by himself before finding the Hero Killer. And he did. Because right away, barely ten minutes after he’d left his house, he found some jerkwads holding up a convenience store. 

With an annoyed huff, he pulled out one of his katanas. Surely a sword would be enough to scare off a couple of dumbasses who thought the best time to rob a store was 9:10 PM. Did they have a bedtime or something? He kicked open the door to the store and scowled at them. “You people are the biggest idiots,” he said decisively.

They all glanced over and froze when they caught sight of him, the person behind the counter looking notably confused. 

“Out,” Izuku said to the robbers, gesturing at the door.

They shared a look between themselves and Izuku gripped his katana tighter. It was looking like he was going to have to use violence this time. But then one of them made a wild shake of her head at her friends, and the group nodded, backing away from the counter and putting their weapons down.

Izuku really loved having a reputation.

“Great, now you’re all just going to leave here and get a job, okay?”

“Can’t,” one of the group muttered, glaring at the floor. 

“And why not?” he asked, turning around to glare at them, annoyed.

“We’re all mutant types,” the girl explained.

Izuku really hated discrimination.

“Oh, yeah,” he said, nodding sympathetically. “That makes it difficult. There’s this website I found, though-- I’ll write the address down for you-- it lists a bunch of jobs for people who have weaker or mutant quirks.” He stepped forward, setting his katana on the counter as he grabbed a sheet of paper and scribbled down the website address. Turning around, he held out the paper. “The jobs are all low-paying but they’re a great starting point for people who don’t have much experience, or haven’t been able to find a job because of quirk discrimination.”

The one who had shaken her head earlier took the paper from him hesitantly, eyes flicking from the paper to his face a few times. “Thanks.”

“No problem.” He started shooing them out the door. “Now, go away! Stop holding up convenience stores! Get a life!”

They started shuffling out one at a time, muttering apologies and thank you's as they left. He just rolled his eyes and gestured them out. When they were all safely out of the building, he turned back to the shopkeeper and clapped his hands together, pleased. “Now! Are you--”

A huge explosion came from outside, shattering the glass windows and sending shards flying into the shop. Izuku managed to roll away from the majority of it, but he knew for a fact he had several pieces of glass stuck in his backside. Springing to his feet, he grabbed his katana and looked around for the source of danger.

Instead of the low-level criminal he’d been expecting, though, he came face to face with the cold blue eyes of Endeavor. 

Those eyes… where had he seen those before?

Chapter Text

As Izuku looked into the hate-filled eyes of Endeavour, he knew.

He was so, so fucked.

He stumbled backwards, tucking his katana away, because it wasn’t like a sword was going to be useful against a literal fireball . Praying silently that Endeavour would show restraint just this one time and try to not leave collateral damage, he darted down one of the aisles, keeping his head down and footsteps light as he tried to give himself some distance and cover.

Endeavour apparently hadn’t had a change of heart on his views on collateral damage, and a moment later, the front half of the store was in flames. Cursing silently, Izuku pulled up the front of his hoodie over his nose and mouth and started to work his way around the back of the store, trying to get back to the shopkeeper, who was probably suffering from second-degree burns at this point.

“Come out, little boy,” Endeavour snarled from the front.

Izuku resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Endeavour was so dramatic, honestly. What, did he think Izuku was going to hear him say that and then think, oh, he’s right, I should make sure the rage-filled homicidal hero knows exactly where I am ? Because there was no way in hell Izuku was doing that. 

He was now in a position where he was out of Endeavour’s line of sight, but could see the shopkeeper again, who was cowering under the counter looking like he regretted his decision to call the police. A large, completely open space lay between Izuku and the shopkeeper. As Izuku began a long internal debate on whether or not he should expose himself for the sake of some random civilian, Endeavour shot another flame ball into the shop, making up Izuku’s mind for him. He sprinted forward, diving under the counter and hoping beyond all hopes that Endeavour hadn’t seen him.

Luck was in his favour this time. 

He crawled over to the shopkeeper, pulling out a roll of gauze from one of his many pockets. The shopkeeper whimpered slightly as Izuku took his arm and drew it out, examining the long, angry burn that was visible there.

“Minor second degree,” he muttered, seizing a bottle of water from the fridge under the counter. “Seriously, Endeavour? Dickhead.” He started carefully drizzling the cool water over the shopkeeper’s arm, chewing on his lower lip in concentration. 

“Where are you hiding?” Endeavour shouted from all the way across the store. 

Izuku actually did roll his eyes that time.

“Idiot,” he muttered.

The shopkeeper nodded in agreement and then froze as though he hadn’t realized what he was doing.

“Pull your shirt over your nose and mouth,” Izuku instructed, pretending he hadn’t noticed. “You need protection from the smoke. Keep drizzling water on that, okay? I’m going to find a way out.”

Very carefully, he poked his head up over the counter, looking for Endeavour’s fiery head. He found it a moment later, in the back corner. Endeavour was setting things on fire right and left as he tried to flush Izuku out. He sighed. The property damages on this poor store were going to be so much more expensive than anything the store would have lost originally. Good thing Endeavour had deep pockets.

The storekeeper tugged on his sleeve, and he glanced over.

“There’s a back entrance,” the shopkeeper wheezed. 

“Endeavour’s in the back corner,” Izuku said distractedly, going back to watching Endeavour’s fiery crown.

“It’s behind the counter.”

Izuku’s head whipped around again. He honestly could have kissed the shopkeeper right now. “Lead the way.”

The man nodded and crawled out from under the counter, pulling open a small door in the wall, just big enough for a decently sized person to crawl through. He ducked through it, Izuku close behind, and they gently shut the door behind them.

“Why is that there?” Izuku asked curiously, letting the front of his hoodie fall. They were in a short tunnel now, with standing room. Izuku thought he could see another door up ahead, presumably to the outside.

“Almost every store nowadays has one of those,” the shopkeeper explained. “Villains come in a lot, so it’s nice to have a way to get out, especially when the heroes show up.”

“Why…” Izuku had been about to ask why it was important when the heroes showed up, but then he remembered what the interior of the store looked like right now. It was an absolute mess, and it had been fine-- safe, even-- before Endeavour showed up. “Oh.”

Pushing the door open to the outside, the storekeeper nodded. “Sometimes people say they wish heroes wouldn’t come, because the heroes themselves are more damaging than the villains.”

“Not all the time,” Izuku argued. A moment later, he wondered why he’d said it. Why was he defending heroes? Not all heroes were bad, sure, but who cared about the few that were good when there were still some who were dangerous and untrustworthy? People needed to hold them responsible.

“True,” the shopkeeper conceded, letting Izuku follow him out, and shutting the door behind him.

“Okay, can you call the EMT?” Izuku asked, back to formalities now that  the immediate danger had passed.

“I’m sure they’re already--”

“Call anyway,” Izuku said, reaching for the shopkeeper's arm again. He expertly twisted the gauze around it, keeping it tight, but loose enough that it wouldn’t rub at the skin or cut off circulation. “You’re going to want them to look at that. I would recommend using aloe after they treat it, it’ll calm down the--”

A huge explosion came from behind them, followed by an animalistic roar from Endeavour, and Izuku flinched. 

“I think I should…”

The shopkeeper nodded. “You should go.”

Izuku turned to leave, and then remembered the dumbasses he’d just sent out of the store. The explosion had come seconds after they left-- were they okay? Heart beating fast, Izuku ran for the front of the store, hugging the external brick wall as he went, in order to reduce visibility. As he came around the corner, he saw them. Two were moving, definitely injured, but alive, and they were crowding around the other one, whose body was still. 

“Shit.”

Abandoning all stealth, Izuku sprinted across the sidewalk, nudging the two aside as he knelt by the still one. It was the girl, the one who had recognized him and called it off. “Shit shit shit.” He reached for the side of her neck, maybe the only visible part of her that wasn’t covered in deep, deep burns. 

There wasn’t a pulse.

Feeling nauseous, Izuku fished out his phone from its very secret hiding place in one of his pockets. His fingers fumbled for her number, but finally he got it.

Reiki picked up on the first ring.

“‘Sup, Deku? You stab Stain again?”

“No, I’m sitting in front of a dead girl and I don’t know what to do. I’m with two heavily injured criminals outside a shop that Endeavour’s in--”

“I’m calling Dabi,” she interrupted, voice suddenly sharp. “Text me your location.”

“Ok.”

She hung up and he texted her the address of the store, before turning back to the dead woman in front of him. Without another moment’s hesitation, he started CPR. He would have started sooner, but he knew he needed back-up. “Count for me,” he said to the closest dumbass. He didn’t have the brain capacity for multitasking right now, not when his mind was frayed out in all directions, trying to make sense of everything that was happening.

The guy started counting for him, voice shaking.

“Other dumbass, I’m going to give you some instructions and I need you to follow them to the letter, do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“You’re going to take your friend here and you’re going to go half a mile west. You are going to find an alley and you’re going to wait there until I come to you. Do you understand?”

“Yes.”

“Go.”

Izuku took over counting and the two of them left, one of them limping and the other one looking extremely dizzy. He didn’t have time to watch them, as he switched to rescue breaths a moment later. He could still save her, she could still be saved. Just a few more compressions, a couple more breaths, a few more compressions, a couple more breaths, a few more--

Dabi was here.

Izuku knew immediately, because he came with a wave of blue flame and a lot of angry, incoherent yelling. “Deku, you idiot!” he shouted, finally comprehensible.

“Not an idiot,” Izuku panted. “This girl is super dead.”

“Why are you doing chest compressions, then?” Dabi asked, looking extremely angry. 

“I have to try to save her.”

“You have to get out of here. Come on, Reiki’s on her way. I’ve got damage control.”

“You’ll be blamed for the fire damage,” Izuku argued. “And this girl’s death. It’ll be the first thing on your criminal record.” Dabi had, miraculously, managed to keep his criminal record clean until this moment of time. It was something he bragged about constantly. Ironically, Endeavour had managed to keep his criminal record clean too. Izuku had to wonder how many cover-ups that man had paid for.

“And you’ll still be alive.”

Izuku paused in the argument to do two more rescue breaths, and when he resurfaced, Dabi had already launched himself into the inferno that was the small store. The last thing Izuku saw of Dabi before the man disappeared was his cold blue eyes.

Hold on.

Those eyes…

Oh, shit.

Izuku was on his feet in an instant, abandoning his fruitless attempts at CPR. Dabi had just launched himself into a fight with Endeavour, what was he thinking , he was going to get caught--

He started to run for the building, mind scrambling for a way to win, a way to beat the second-most powerful hero in all Japan. He was almost at the door when a fist caught his throat and he stumbled back, choking. 

“What are you doing?” Reiki hissed, getting up in his face. “Get the hell out of here!”

“The girl--” he gasped, waving back at her.

“Is extremely dead and has been for several minutes.”

“Dabi--”

“Knows what he’s doing, let’s go.” Reiki grabbed his arm and dragged him off. She was surprisingly strong, and Izuku was tired and his body ached and he had glass stuck in his butt and his eyes were burning. He weakly attempted to get away, but she was not having it. “Where are the other two?” she demanded.

“West,” Izuku said.

“We’re going to find them, and we’re going to save them. Being a hero, Deku, is all about priorities. Sometimes you can’t save everyone, and you have to choose. And when we choose, we choose the people we know we can help. We choose what we can do with our own skills. Humans are inherently selfish, Midoriya. In moments where we have to prioritize, we choose ourselves.”

Izuku blinked, swaying on his feet. He’d only caught half of that. “What?”

Reiki shook her head with a heavy sigh. “You’re hopeless.”

“Say it again, in a language I can understand,” Izuku said.

“We are going to go help the people I know we can help,” Reiki said very slowly, punctuating every word. “We can’t help a dead girl and we can’t fight Endeavour, but we can help some heavily burned dumbasses, so we’re going to.”

“Why didn’t you just say that?”

Reiki gave him a lofty look. “The beauty of philosophy--”

“Oh, shut up.”

Later that night, after Izuku had helped Reiki heal two dumbasses and talked them through their grief, after Izuku had endured a long lecture from Stain, after Izuku had gone home and snuck in through his window, after he had watched the news carefully for Dabi and found he'd managed to escape-- after all that, Izuku sat at his computer, flexing and clenching his fingers methodically over the keyboard. He’d refrained from doing this for so long that now that he had made up his mind to research Dabi, it felt like he was about to commit the biggest sin in history. Maybe it was just because Dabi was his friend now, and he didn’t want to violate the man’s privacy. But no matter what was holding him back, he knew he needed to do this. He needed to understand.

With a heavy release of breath, he began to type.

Endeavour fourth kid?

One thousand two hundred forty-eight results and a picture of a white-haired boy with Dabi’s eyes, proclaimed dead at fifteen.

Oh fuck.

Chapter Text

The incident with Endeavour was all Izuku could think about. It had happened months ago, and it was still echoing around in his head, screaming at him for attention. What kind of hero… did that, did any of that? The incident with the store was enough to rattle Izuku’s perceptions of all heroes, but adding Dabi on top of that… 

Dropping into his seat, Izuku started organizing the facts in his brain for the hundredth time. Endeavour attacked a store where there was no clear sign of hostile action--except for maybe, maybe Izuku’s katana, completely burned the place down and gave the storekeeper several, admittedly minor, burns. In the process of doing so, he killed a girl who was leaving the scene without actually committing a crime, and severely injured two other people. The store was ruined, thousands of dollars in collateral damage, several people’s lives were put in danger, and one of them was killed.

What kind of a hero treated criminals like that? What kind of a hero treated innocent bystanders like that?

What kind of hero did all that and got away with it?

Izuku had to wonder if Katsuki would turn out like that too.

All blame for the fire, damages, and death were put on Dabi, who now had a criminal record. He was trying to keep on the down-low for now, staying out of the public eye for a while until he could start sneaking around again. Meanwhile, Endeavour paid for the damages to the store, most likely in an attempt to keep the shopkeeper quiet and get a reputation boost at the same time. People loved Endeavour. The headlines said stuff like, “Fighting Fire with Fire: Why Endeavour Couldn’t Save Them” or “Endeavour Pays Damages for Local Business Caught in a Villain Atack.”

It pissed Izuku off.

The headlines should have said “Reckless Use of Quirk from Endeavour” or “Endeavour Kills a Girl” or “Why Endeavour Shouldn’t Be a Hero.” Instead, people were celebrating him. It made Izuku feel sick.

And then, Dabi… Dabi and everyone else in that poor family. Izuku promised himself that if he ever met the youngest kid, who supposedly had the perfect quirk, he’d personally kidnap him, just to get him out of that house. His mom wouldn’t mind, when he explained why.

Hero society… wasn’t what Izuku had imagined. 

He wasn’t sure whether or not he really wanted to be a part of it any more. Which sucked, because this afternoon, he was going to take the recommendation exam.

He suffered through home room and his morning classes, and then finally he was called to the front office to go to his showcase. Reiki picked him up, grinning broadly. As his sponsor, she was required to accompany him to the exam.

“Ready, fucker?” she asked as he signed himself out of the front office.

Ignoring the shocked looks from the front office staff at her language, Izuku nodded. “Ready.”

They left together.

U.A. was big.

Shouto found that he didn’t really care. It was just another place where he’d go through relentless training. The where didn’t matter. Neither did the why particularly, because he knew why. It was because he had a perfect quirk for heroics, and it was his job to use it so his father could live vicariously through Shouto’s success. The how did matter, though. He was tired of being burned when he refused to use his fire. Hopefully U.A. would be more welcoming to the idea that Shouto didn’t want to use his left side in combat.

He walked up the front steps to the building, a few paces behind his father so he didn’t get in the way. This was his job when they were in public-- become invisible. The public would be allowed to notice him when it was time, but for now, always behind and to the right, head down. Don’t make people want to look at you for too long, always point their attention back to Endeavour. After all, Endeavour was the hero right now and he needed a popularity boost.

The hallways of U.A. were long and tall. Shouto liked how much space there was. It didn’t feel claustrophobic. It made him feel much safer than the dark, low ceilings of his own home, where Endeavour could appear at any time, huge body taking up all available space.

They made their way toward the amphitheater where the written tests would be taken, Endeavour giving a long lecture about decorum and what Shouto should and shouldn’t do. Shouto tuned him out, face completely impassive. He didn’t need or want to listen to another lecture right now.

The door to the testing room was just as huge as every other door in the school, and when it opened as they walked up, Shouto blinked in surprise at the difference in size between Nezu and the door.

“You’re early,” Nezu chirped with a smile as he showed Endeavour and Shouto inside.

“Punctuality is an important trait in a hero,” Endeavour said coldly, casting a sidelong look at Shouto, as though expecting him to be taking notes.

“You never used to think that,” Nezu said thoughtfully.

“People change.”

Nezu’s sharp eyes glinted as he looked at Endeavour. “Don’t they,” he said, clearly searching Endeavour’s face for… something. He didn’t seem to have quite found what he was looking for, when he suddenly turned to the door and swung it open, smiling at the two people outside, a boy with vivid, curly green hair and a woman not much older, with a long purple ponytail and clear grey eyes. Most striking about them both, though, was the way they held themselves. There was a visible weight on their shoulders, and although they were smiling as though someone had just interrupted a joke, it didn’t reach their sad, thoughtful eyes.

And the moment the door opened, both of them looked straight at Endeavour and scowled.

The purple one put her hands on her hips. “What’s he--”

She was cut off as the boy, now frowning at Shouto, elbowed her expertly in the ribs. “Hi, I’m Midoriya Izuku,” he said. The sentence was clearly directed at Nezu, but his eyes didn’t move from Shouto.

“The quirkless one,” Nezu said warmly.

Quirkless?

Midoriya’s back tensed and he ripped his eyes off Shouto’s to meet Nezu’s instead. Shouto felt his body relax, now that the pressure of those green eyes was off him.

“Problem?” Midoriya snapped. It was the purple one’s turn to elbow him in the ribs. He blinked and the angriness slipped away, replaced by an open, friendly expression. Shouto was no longer sure which expression showed his real feelings, although the look in his green eyes seemed to suggest the former. 

Nezu was beaming almost maniacally, looking at Midoriya like he was an interesting problem to solve or project to finish.

“Quirkless?” Endeavour spat. Shouto glanced over to see his father glaring at Midoriya with venom.

“And more of a hero than you,” Midoriya responded in a sweet voice, smiling innocently. The purple girl hid a smirk behind her hand.

The tension in the room was so high at this point, Shouto was almost afraid the room was going to explode. Instead, smiling contentedly, Nezu trotted to the door and opened it to let in another student and sponsor. The tension scattered as the two walked in and Shouto felt himself relaxing again.

Midoriya Izuku and his purple friend had a quick, hushed conversation and then retreated to the corner of the room.

“He seems awful,” Reiki was saying, glaring at Endeavour’s son.

“No, he doesn’t,” Izuku disagreed. “He’s abused.”

“Que?”

“What?”

“Exactly.”

“... What?”

Reiki sighed. “What do you mean, he’s abused?”

Izuku gestured vaguely at his face. “Abused.”

As she looked back over at the boy, Reiki’s eyes lit up in understanding. “Oh.”

“Yeah.”

She laughed, leaning back against the wall as another prospective student came in. “It’s incredible, Deku. How you look at the most prickly of people and see someone who needs saving.” She grinned. “Do you think Endeavour needs saving?”

“Saving from himself, maybe,” Izuku muttered, shooting a dark look at him. “I’d guess he’s constantly going on spirals of self-loathing. He puts too much pressure on himself for absolutely no reason. You know what he needs? Therapy.”

“Don’t we all.”

Nezu trotted over, eyes glinting with interest. “So. You’re quirkless, yes?”

“Yes.”

“And a vigilante at such a young age, interesting.”

Izuku felt his heart speed up, but he managed to cover his panic by raising an eyebrow nonchalantly. Reiki was doing an excellent job of tilting her head to the side in confusion. “Hmm?”

“People are calling you Entropy.”

“I’ve never heard of that,” Izuku said. That was, at least, honest. He’d never heard anyone call him Entropy before. He had to wonder where that nickname came from. Probably Stain or Dabi. The two of them were crazy.

“How did you two meet?”

“Through a friend,” Reiki said with a rehearsed smile.

“A friend at a bar?”

Izuku looked at Reiki and Reiki looked at him back and they simultaneously came to the same conclusion. Nezu was too smart for them. All they could do now is refrain from saying anything incriminating that could be used against them.

“I’m underage,” Izuku said, tipping his head to the side and narrowing his focus on the conversation. One slip up and this would fall apart.

“I’m surprised you care about not breaking the law,” Nezu said, “with everything you’ve done.”

Izuku was actually quite proud of how little he did illegal things. Only occasionally, when he needed to hack into something or had to go to the bar. But technically he could do whatever he wanted as a vigilante as long as he didn’t use excessive violence or use his quirk, so the laws he did break were usually minor, maybe enough to get him a couple months in jail.

But Nezu wasn’t allowed to know about that.

“I’m surprised you think a prospective hero would be fine with breaking the rules.”

“So you think heroes shouldn’t ever break laws? Does that extend to Fujimoto-san?”

Reiki stiffened a little.

“Doctor-patient confidentiality,” Izuku said smoothly. “She’s legally required to help whoever she can.”

Nezu laughed, corners of his eyes crinkling up. “I like you, Midoriya-kun. I hope you pass.”

Letting himself relax a little, Izuku nodded. “Me too.”

Reiki nudged him in the shoulder. “Obviously.”

The Todorokis kept glaring at a green boy in the corner, so Inasa decided to go over and try to make friends, because any enemy of Endeavour was a friend of his. He bounded up, beaming, and bowed. “What’s up, I’m Yoarashi Inasa!”

The boy smiled toothily, causing the woman next to him to start cracking up laughing for some reason. Inasa didn’t mind. Both of them seemed very passionate. “Hi! I’m Midoriya Izuku. It’s so nice to meet you! Are you excited for the exam?”

“Yep! I’m not nervous at all, it’s going to go great, I’m sure of it!”

The boy nodded, still smiling widely. There was something off about his smile, but Inasa couldn’t place what it was, so he just put it down as sheer nervousness. He rattled off, “Pronouns, favorite color, quirk. Go!”

Midoriya nodded, responding, “He series, um. Red? And I’m actually quirkless.”

Inasa froze. “You’re… Wait, what?”

“I’m quirkless,” he repeated, smile becoming a little fixed.

“Oh man, I’m so sorry.”

“It’s not a bad thing,” the woman next to him snapped, glaring.

“Um… okay.” Inasa thought it was a very bad thing, but maybe this woman just didn’t understand what being quirkless meant. It meant being weaker than everyone else, being the person heroes saved, instead of… Wait. “But then what are you doing here?” Inasa asked him, confused.

“Taking the recommendation exam.”

Inasa’s eyes widened. That was a terrible idea! “But, like… man, you’re going to die.” And even if he didn’t die in the recommendation exam, there was no way he was going to get in, so why would it matter? Why take the test if he knew he was going to fail? Quirkless people couldn’t be heroes.

Neither of them took his statement well. Midoriya’s smile completely dropped, replaced by something a lot darker. “Am I?” he asked, voice dangerously low.

Nezu interrupted before Inasa could answer, clapping his paws together and standing on his desk. “We’re going to get started now!” Nezu announced, sharp eyes drifting over to Midoriya and Inasa. They lingered on Midoriya before moving on. “The exam is split into three parts: a written exam, a practical exam, and an interview. We’ll get started with the written exam now, so please find a seat. While you are all taking the written portion, I’ll be interviewing your sponsors. Present Mic will be officiating the practical portion, so when you’ve finished the written exam please find him in the hallway and wait for the others to be finished. Thank you for your time, we look forward to your applications. I myself am quite excited for this new group of--”

Present Mic burst into the room just in time, as Nezu seemed to be about to go on a long ramble. “WHO’S READY TO TAKE THE WRITTEN EXAM?” Present Mic screeched.

Inasa cheered. No one else did, but that was fine. Present Mic had enough enthusiasm and passion for all of them.

Present Mic pointed at him as Nezu climbed down from the desk and started leaving the room. “I like you!”

“Sponsors, follow me,” Nezu said, standing at the door. Inasa’s sponsor gave him a good luck pat on the shoulder and left the room. Midoriya’s sponsor gave him a long, serious look, to which he returned a sharp nod, before she left. When all of the sponsors were out, Nezu said, “Good luck!” and closed the door with an evil smile.

Inasa grinned, putting the quirkless kid out of his mind. He was ready.

As much as Reiki loved Deku, she didn’t know how she was going to talk him up to Nezu, the smartest being on the planet. Nezu had a sharp mind, and Reiki wasn’t nearly as good at lying as Deku was. 

Unfortunately, Nezu seemed to be extremely interested in Deku, so he asked her to come in first.

People sent her dirty looks as she passed them. Most of them probably didn’t recognize her-- her hero costume was a complicated mask, and no one ever recognized her when she wasn’t wearing it. No one recognized her when she was being herself. Except for villains and Deku, that is. And even if they did recognize her, now that everyone was aware of Midoriya’s quirk status, they were hostile to her for sponsoring a weakling. If they were thinking that, though, they were dead wrong, and Deku was about to prove it in the practical.

Reiki couldn’t wait to watch the practical.

She stepped into Nezu’s office, letting the door slide shut behind her.

“Tea?” Nezu asked, climbing up into his chair and sliding a full teacup across the desk toward Reiki.

“Thank you.”

“Let’s discuss Midoriya Izuku, shall we?”

She nodded, mouth going dry. This was even more stressful than she’d imagined it was going to be.

“Why do you think he’d be a good fit for U.A.? What makes him a hero?” Nezu asked.

Reiki’s shoulders slumped down in relief. She could answer that. “Deku has the kindest heart I’ve ever seen,” she said honestly. “He extends it to everyone he comes across. He has a lot of criticism on hero society, but he treats it as an issue that needs to be solved, rather than submitting to it or using it as an excuse to be violent. He’s observant and he genuinely cares about everyone, in a way I don’t even see many heroes caring.”

“And you see this when he’s a vigilante?”

The corner of Reiki’s lip twitched up and she forced it down. Nezu really was tricky. “I see it anytime I’m around him.”

“Do you think he can keep up with the curriculum?”

Reiki almost laughed. “He’s one of the smartest people I know and he’s a teenager. Of course he can. He’ll probably stay ahead, even.”

“Now, I know you probably want to avoid discussing this, but unfortunately we need to talk about his quirklessness.”

Reiki let a scowl cross her face. So much unintentional discrimination in this world. Who cared about his quirk? He wanted to be a hero. 

“Do you think he’ll be able to handle the extreme conditions heroes face every day?”

“Having a quirk makes no difference in handling stress,” Reiki said coldly.

“Can he hold himself against a quirked opponent?”

Reiki lifted her eyes and met the rat’s. “You’re the one convinced he’s a vigilante. What do you think?”

Chapter Text

The written exam was easy. It was so easy, Izuku started to get concerned he was answering questions wrong, and they were secretly all trick questions. Some of them were difficult, obviously, and he knew for a fact he hadn’t answered all of them correctly, but overall, the test wasn’t hard at all.

Izuku finished first, by a lot. He took his test to Present Mic and went to sit at his desk. After he sat for several minutes of intense boredom, the girl with the black ponytail got up and handed in her test. The Iida kid was next, and after that, people started filing their tests rapidly. When everyone had finished, Present Mic passed out numbers to pin to their chests and started shepherding them to the location of the practical exam.

As Present Mic explained the exam, Izuku fell into deep thought.

An obstacle course. An obstacle course race .

Izuku didn’t have a speed quirk, and knowing U.A., the obstacles would be difficult. So his only option was to cheat, or to stop everyone else from moving. He didn’t think Nezu would mind him cheating, as long as he didn’t technically break any rules. Nezu honestly would be delighted at his creative thinking. So he listened carefully as Present Mic began listing the rules, trying to figure out how to cheat the race. How could he get to the end faster than everyone else? What could he, a quirkless, weaponless kid, do to cheat on the practical? 

The obstacles would probably slow everyone else down, except for the few people that were too powerful and could just blow right past them. If Izuku could find a way around the obstacles, that would be best, but based on the map, the obstacles took up the entire space of the course. He chewed on his lip. Luckily, Present Mic was sending people to go in groups, so he had time to think. Keeping half-an-eye on the other examinees, he tried to focus on the issue at hand.

Maybe the best course of action was just to take the obstacles at a pace he could deal with, showing off his skills instead of trying to get around it. He wanted to finish first, but maybe he didn’t have to. Maybe he just needed to show what he could do… but what could he do, really? He was good at hand-to-hand combat and analysis and knowing what other people could do with their individual skills… 

He blinked. Groups. They were being put into groups. A grin spread across his face and he turned to find the billboard that said who he was being grouped with. 

Memorizing the names, he started searching through the small crowd of people who were taking the recommendation exam. He came across the girl with the ponytail and smiled.

“Hey, are you Yaoyorozu Momo?”

She blinked in surprise at being spoken to, but nodded. “Yes, that’s my name.”

“Hi, I’m Midoriya Izuku. We’re in the same group. I was wondering if you wanted to team up.”

“To team… up?”

He nodded. “Right. I was going to find everyone else too. I think we can pass the fastest out of everybody if we work together.”

The Iida kid came over, chopping his hands through the air violently. “That’s not how the test is supposed to work!” he scolded.

Izuku tipped his head to the side. Iida was in his group too, which was annoying because of how uptight the guy seemed to be. “There’s not a rule against it. It’s called teamwork, and I actually think it’s an admirable quality in a person.”

“I’m in your group too,” a girl with dark green hair said, poking her head into the conversation. She literally poked her head in, her body was standing a few feet away. Izuku grinned.

“You must be Tokage Setsuna.”

“That’s it.”

“Okay, can I know your quirks please? All three of you.”

“I’m not sure this is a good idea…” Yaoyorozu said, crossing her arms over her waist nervously. “It might be better if we show off our skills individually.”

The rest of Tokage’s body came over as she frowned. “I think being able to show that you can work in a group is a really important thing for a hero. Plus, I really want to win, and I think we’ll be able to do that better if we work together.”

Yaoyorozu considered that for just a moment before nodding. “Okay. My quirk is creation. Anything you can think of, I can create from my skin.”

Izuku’s eyes widened in excitement. “That is such a cool quirk! The applications of that… does it run on fat stores and lipids and stuff? How much stuff can you make before you get tired? How much--”

“Maybe we should focus on making a plan?” Tokage suggested kindly, interrupting him.

“Right, okay, what’s your quirk?”

“Lizard! I can break off pieces of my body! Up to around thirty right now, but I’m working on more!”

“That’s so cool! You…” he trailed off, clearing his throat before he started rambling. They didn’t have time for that. “And you’re an Iida, right?” he asked the Iida kid. “So, Engine?”

“My name is Iida Tenya! Quirk: Engine!”

Izuku nodded. “Right, that’s what I just said.”

“What’s your quirk?” Yaoyorozu asked him, flexing her fingers and glancing nervously at the board to check their names hadn’t been called.

“I’m quirkless,” Izuku answered immediately, purposefully following her gaze to the board so he didn’t have to see everyone’s shocked expressions.

“Quirkless?” Tokage repeated.

He dropped his gaze back down to his group. They were all staring at him with wide, scared eyes.

Shrugging, he answered. “Yes. Don’t underestimate me.”

“Midoriya-kun…” Yaoyorozu whispered, reaching out to touch his arm. “I’m so sorry.”

“I’m not on my deathbed,” he snapped, pulling away from her. “It’s fine! I’m going to get us all across that finish line with or without a quirk, so shut up about it!”

“But quirkless people can’t be heroes,” Iida said, looking confused. “How are you supposed to fight villains if you don’t have a quirk?”

Izuku wanted to bang his head against a wall. This really wasn’t that complicated. 

“I don’t want to be dragged down by someone quirkless…” Tokage said slowly, like she was thinking through the ramifications of his quirklessness on the rest of the group.

“Oh for fuck’s sake,” Izuku muttered under his breath. He pointed a finger at all three of them, hardening his expression. “Listen up. I’m getting you all across that finish line as fast as humanly possible. So ignore the fact I don’t have a quirk, because it’s irrelevant. Focus on this: I have a plan.”

The three of them shared a hesitating glance and then Tokage shook her head, backing up. “Sorry, I think I’ll be faster on my own.”

Iida gave her a sharp nod of agreement. “I too would like to try on my own.” They left, going in different directions, Tokage casting a worried look at Izuku as she walked away.

Izuku sent a desperate glance at Yaoyorozu who was studying her fingers carefully.

“You really have a plan?” she asked, gaze lifting from her fingers to meet his eyes.

“I mean, it’s not as good now as it was a second ago, but, yeah.”

Yaoyorozu looked at her feet and then nodded. “I don’t have any ideas,” she said, almost apologetically.

Izuku grinned. “That’s okay. I do.”

Izuku lined up with Yaoyorozu and the rest of the group, frowning at the obstacle course through narrowed eyes. It shouldn’t be too difficult, with Yaoyorozu with him, especially if what she said about being able to make anything was true. That meant they could pretty much just run over the obstacles without even thinking about it.

Present Mic gave them the go-ahead.

“Frictionless sled.”

“What?”

“Make a frictionless sled! I’ll push you because I think I’m probably a little faster.”

Shaking her head in confusion, Yaoyorozu touched her forehead in concentration.

While she started making the sled, Izuku explained. "We're going to get on the sled and slide over the obstacles in it. If you could pour oil or something out in front of us as we go, that would make us even faster."

She nodded and pulled a sled out of her shimmering stomach. "Ok, I can produce oil out of my fingers as we go."

Izuku did a fist pump. “Yes! This is going to be fun, get on it.”

Laughing now, she set the sled on the ground and held onto it while she got on. Immediately, it started to try to slide away and Izuku grabbed the end of it before it could. “Okay, ready?”

She nodded, grinning, holding a hand out over the front of the sled. Oil started dribbling out of her fingers, making a little puddle on the ground. 

Izuku started running with the sled, pushing on it and gathering speed as they approached the first big downhill, Yaoyorozu squirting oil out in front of them to make the sled go even faster. As it started to go faster than him, he climbed on the back, crouching down behind Yaoyorozu as the sled took off down the hill. They slid and flew right over a slew of obstacles, Izuku trying to steer the sled in a way that would keep up the pace. “Start trying to make wood planks! With lightweight motors attached to them!” he shouted over the rush of wind as they flew past the examinees in the back.

She nodded, cutting off the oil supply while she focused on making a new thing. They were going quickly enough that they didn't need it now anyway.

They were quickly approaching the big pool of water at the bottom of the hill. Grinning, Izuku braced himself for impact. The sled hit the water with a huge splash, skimming along the top of it for a good fifty feet, and leaving the other examinees in the dust, until slowing down and starting to sink. 

“Wood plank!”

Yaoyorozu nodded and a moment later a few big wooden planks, fitted with elegant black motors, bobbed to the surface of the water. They held onto them, floating in the middle of the big pool. “How do you turn on the motors?” Izuku asked after a fruitless attempt. 

“I’ll do it.” She reached over and flipped on his motors, sending him rushing forward. It wasn’t the fastest, so he started kicking to help, cursing the fact that the Iida kid, who was already pulling ahead again, hadn’t decided to join them. Izuku and Yaoyorozu were in third place by the time they reached the other end of the pool, Iida and Tokage in front of them. Iida was just ahead, just now hitting the rock wall they had to climb. Tokage, however, was nowhere to be found. Izuku had known she had a dangerous quirk in this game-- the ability to split herself apart made her much much faster, and gravity defiant. Her quirk was the reason he wanted her on his team in the first place-- to slow her down. But that didn’t matter now. They needed to catch up.

“Retractable grappling hook, about two hundred feet.”

A moment later, one was placed in his hand. Without a second’s hesitation, he pointed it up and fired at the top of the cliff. It caught and he retracted it, letting him fly up into the air. Yaoyorozu followed a moment later, and they soared past the people trying to climb the rock cliff, putting themselves in second again, just behind Tokage. “Springy shoes!” Izuku shouted at her as they were pulled up the cliff. “And a hang glider!”

Her eyes lit up in surprise and excitement and then she nodded.

He helped her over the top of the cliff, smirking at how much space there was now between the two of them and Iida, who was only about halfway up the cliff. As he was looking down, he felt a nudge on his arm and turned to be handed a pair of shoes with jets on the soles.

“I know you said springs, but I thought jets would be better,” she said.

“Jets are better. Will they work?”

“I think so?”

“I’ll take it.”

He pulled his on, hopping on one foot and then the other, and then started sprinting for the other edge of the cliff, behind which there was a huge gorge. Yaoyorozu matched his strides. “Hang glider!” he shouted. She drew it out of her arm, passing one end to Izuku as they ran. “We need some height!”

She nodded and activated their jet boots, sending them both flying into the sky for a moment. The hang glider caught their fall as the jet boots ran out of steam, and they glided over the gorge and the rest of the obstacle course. They passed Tokage, who was stuck in some mud below them. After gliding right over the last obstacles, they landed just behind the finish line.

Izuku glanced at their time. They were third fastest, right behind Todoroki and Yoarashi from the first group.

“That was awesome,” Yaoyorozu said, collapsing the hang glider in one smooth motion and tucking it under her arm. He opened his mouth to agree, and to thank her for agreeing to work with him, but then she said “But why did you lie about not having a quirk?”

He froze, mouth half open, and then frowned, eyebrows furrowing. “What?”

“I mean, a quirkless person wouldn’t be able to do that,” she said. “You were thinking so fast! I could barely keep up. You must have an intelligence quirk, or an analysis quirk, right?”

Izuku shook his head. “Nope. I’m quirkless.”

She frowned, and then shrugged. “If you say so.”

What’s that supposed to mean ?

“Midoriya Izuku, it’s time for your interview,” a sleepy voice said over the speaker.

With a little huff of displeasure, Izuku turned away from Yaoyorozu and started toward the building. Maybe Nezu would be a little more accepting of someone different than the normal mould. 

After all, Nezu didn’t really fit in either.

Chapter Text

“Midoriya Izuku,” Nezu hummed thoughtfully, looking over the green-haired boy’s file. The child was clearly talented, that much was obvious just from how much of a name “Entropy” had by this time. Nezu had only heard of Entropy because he’d been paying attention to the underworld-- he wasn’t even sure Tsukauchi knew about the vigilante by now. After he’d realized Entropy was young and a protege of Stain, he’d started going through records of rejected hero course students, looking for potential matches. Most vigilantes tended to come straight from hero school rejection letters, figuring they’d try their hand without support from the Hero Commission-- an exploit Nezu fully supported. Too many people depended on the Hero Commission as it was. It was healthy for people to break out of the mould.

Unfortunately, however, there weren’t any green eyed hero rejects that fit the picture Nezu was looking for. He realized this vigilante must be younger . Around this time, he’d also noticed how the vigilante never showed any sign of quirk use. Then he’d followed that trail for a while, looking for possible candidates. Just as he was starting to give up and decide that no one would ever discover the true identity of Entropy, Fujimoto Reiki sent him an email recommending a small, green-eyed, quirkless boy to U.A. 

Fujimoto Reiki was an interesting character. Nezu hadn’t ever paid attention to her before she sent in a recommendation letter for a quirkless child, but the moment she did, he was on her tail. Within an hour, he knew everything there was to know about the Hero “Stitch.” There was much to know. He had to drink a cup of tea before resuming his research spiral, attempting to process everything he had learned. She was a villain disguised as a hero-- or, perhaps more accurately, a hero disguised as one of Stain’s ‘fakes.’ He believed she had noble goals, and decided that as soon as his response to the application of this “Midoriya Izuku” was mailed out, he would be giving her financial backing to start a hospital for low-income or criminal people in need of treatment. 

But that brought him back to the matter at hand, Entropy. A quirkless boy from Musutafu. A Midoriya Izuku.

He’d kept his suspicions to himself until Midoriya stepped on campus, and it was immediately obvious that this was, indeed, Entropy. There was something in the way he moved, or the way he looked at other people, or the way he looked at his sponsor, even-- eyes full of understanding, like he knew much more about her than most. Perhaps he did.

So Nezu had decided to confront Midoriya and ask, in the most blunt way possible, if he was the vigilante Entropy. After a moment of clear disorientation, Midoriya’s entire persona shifted into something much more calculating than the faux-bubbly teenager who had walked in, as if he was on high alert. The transformation was truly incredible to watch. He’d denied Nezu’s accusations, of course, but had done so by skating around the truth, an impressive display of beating around the bush.

As Nezu watched his performance in the practical, he was even more impressed. The boy showed off his skill in the least flashy of ways, with a self-assurance that usually only comes after years of experience. Nezu had to wonder how much Entropy was doing completely under the radar. After all, even Nezu had only managed to find two ten-second clips of Entropy in action. That was all the footage there was. So how much was Midoriya Izuku doing unseen? He acted with the ease of a professional, and stayed hidden better than most high-ranked criminals did. 

His plan to get the other examinees to team up was also an excellent idea, even if the others hadn’t followed through with it. No one ever considered the idea that team-ups were a great way to work together to show skill. Everyone always viewed the obstacle course as a race-- which it was, of course-- but it was also an opportunity to show off. An opportunity people rarely took.

Midoriya took it. He used Yaoyorozu Momo to show his ability to strategize and think quickly under pressure. It paid off. Nezu was impressed. If Midoriya could just do well in the interview, he would be well on his way to becoming an official U.A. student.

There was a knock at the door and Nezu glanced up from Midoriya’s file in surprise. He’d been so immersed, he forgot to pay attention to the door. “Come in,” he announced, unlocking the door from his seat. It slid open a moment later to reveal Midoriya Izuku, this time sporting a passively determined look, as though he was both uncaring and determined at the same time. Determined to be uncaring, perhaps. Or determined in an impassive manner. 

Nezu grinned. A battle of wits. How intriguing.

“Nezu-san,” Midoriya said immediately, nodding at him.

“Am I a rat? A bear? A--”

“You’re a chimera,” he said, rolling his eyes at Nezu’s antics. “Next question.”

Nezu almost laughed. He settled for an amused expression instead. Almost as blunt as Todoroki Shouto, then, but in an intentional way. “Would you like a cup of tea?” Nezu suggested, pushing one across the table.

Midoriya looked at the teacup with a blank expression and then, without so much as touching it, returned his gaze to Nezu. They held each other's eyes, each of them seeming to dare the other to speak first.

Nezu interrupted the silence first, asking, “Are you the vigilante Entropy?” while attempting to look casual by pouring himself a cup of tea as well.

“Why do you ask questions you already know the answers to?” Midoriya shot back.

“Is that a yes?”

“On another earth, maybe.”

“Are you wearing one of your infamous masks now, Midoriya-kun?”

“My infamous…” Midoriya scowled. Somehow it looked more natural than the smile he’d had when he opened the door earlier that day. “I don’t have any masks.”

“Not even emotional ones?”

“Doesn’t everyone have emotional masks?”

“Ah, but not everyone wields them as well as you do.”

“If I was a vigilante, wouldn’t I be called Masks, then? Aren’t people supposed to name themselves after their strengths?”

“Entropy could be a strength,” Nezu mused, picking up his cup of tea.

“For a sadist,” Midoriya said, with a disgusted expression.

“So you don’t consider yourself a sadist.”

“No.” He paused, tipping his head to the side, and Nezu allowed him time to think. “But, to be fair,” he said just a moment later, “neither do many real sadists.”

“Humanity has such an interesting mental block on self-awareness,” Nezu said.

“It takes true wisdom to know oneself,” Midoriya replied without a beat.

Nezu couldn’t help himself now. He laughed. One corner of Midoriya’s mouth quirked up, as though he felt he’d won something. Perhaps he had. After all, Nezu had broken first. But the stakes weren’t as high for Nezu. “You have an exceptional mind!” Nezu informed Midoriya, pouring a fresh cup of tea for himself.

“Thank you,” Midoriya responded immediately, relaxing back into his chair and picking up his cup of tea, mask dropping at last. “I can assume you’re done questioning me about hypothetical extracurriculars, then?”

“Quite, for now.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Have you ever broken a law, Midoriya Izuku?”

“Hasn’t everyone?” he answered, taking a sip of his tea.

“I’m fairly certain that the youngest Iida hasn’t.”

“Only a matter of time.”

Chuckling to himself, Nezu flipped open Midoriya’s folder. It was time to discuss the more important question at hand-- vigilante or not, was Midoriya Izuku going to be accepted into U.A. high school?

Tenya watched the green haired kid leave Nezu’s office, a thoughtful expression on his face. He had that expression Tensei sometimes got when he was mentally going through all the questions he thought he might have missed on his final. 

Tenya hoped the green boy had had a good interview, but at the same time, he really hoped Nezu didn’t accept him. Hero work was too dangerous for quirkless people, everyone knew that. The boy (Tenya had forgotten his name) was crazy for even trying. Maybe he was here on a dare. Some other, less responsible teenagers did that sometimes.

He walked up to the kid, deciding to express his condolences on the boy’s probable failure. It wouldn’t matter if he came in fourth on the practical. He only did that because he used someone else’s skills to get ahead.

“I’m sorry for your inevitable loss,” Tenya said, bowing very low to the quirkless kid.

“What the fuck,” he heard the kid mutter. 

He straightened up, affronted. “Don’t use such language on a school campus!” he scolded.

“Don’t be quirkist on a school campus, hypocrite!” the quirkless boy retorted, looking equally angry, if not more so. “Stuff like that is both illegal and… wait…” Light dawned in the boy’s eyes and he turned to stare at the top of the wall next to them, right where it met the ceiling. “Tell me you saw that, Nezu-san! Tell me you saw him breaking a law! I told you it was only a matter of time!”

Reiki had an emergency hero situation she had to go to so she told Izuku he had to wait at the school while she went and cleared it up. Which was fine, except for that now Izuku was sitting at U.A., well after he should have left, and was probably breaking several rules, and maybe even some laws.

He hadn’t intended on crossing into illegality, but he’d seen a member of the school board walk into the building and he’d been curious on what they were going to be talking about -- more specifically, what they were going to be saying about him in particular, so he’d snuck into the school after them. Then he’d remembered that Nezu was a tricky little stalking sneak and so he probably had secret tunnels all over the school. Only two minutes after coming to this realization, Izuku found the secret tunnels. So now he was sitting in a well hidden air vent, right over the school board’s meeting space.

He was starting to regret coming up here for two reasons. One, he wasn’t sure how he was going to get back down. And two, he wasn’t particularly liking what he was hearing.

“The boy is quirkless ,” one man was saying, gesticulating wildly. “It would be a waste of a spot to let him in.”

“A waste?” Nezu repeated, sounding dangerously annoyed. Izuku wished he could see his expression.

“A waste! He would die the moment he set foot in the field. All I’m saying is, U.A. usually takes students who have potential for growth, and this… Midoriya Izuku doesn’t have any. Quirkless people can’t be heroes, it just can’t be done.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’ll die !” the man said, sounding as though he was having trouble believing Nezu was as smart as everyone always said he was. “He’s too weak--”

“Did you see his practical?”

“In which fooled Yaoyorozu Momo into thinking he was worth working with and then relied on her skills to get by? As far as I’m concerned, that’s cheating.”

Shaking his head, Izuku started to wiggle back out of the vent. He didn’t want to hear any more of this.

“It’s not cheating, it’s making use of his brain. Teamwork is an important skill to have in hero work, and Midoriya-kun showed he knows how to lead others and adapt.”

“It’s taking advantage of other people. Midoriya Izuku isn’t anything like a hero. If anything, he’s displaying the character traits of a villain.”

With those words ringing in his head, Izuku dropped out of earshot. Hopefully Reiki would be there to pick him up soon, because he didn't know how much more quirkism he could stand today. Maybe he didn’t want to be a hero, if these were the type of people he’d have to deal with all the time…

Chapter Text

Izuku wasn’t sure how his test had gone.

Well, that wasn’t true, actually. He told Reiki he wasn’t sure how his test had gone because he didn’t want her to get upset when he inevitably got rejected. But he knew.

His test had gone perfectly.

He’d gotten every question right on that godforsaken written test. He’d passed fourth in the practical, and Nezu was absolutely delighted with their interview. Midoriya Izuku had every right to go to U.A. as a hero student.

And Midoriya Izuku would not be getting into U.A.

He knew it. Everyone else who had been present at the exam assumed it. Reiki probably guessed it. No one would let a quirkless teenager go to the best hero school in Japan. Just based on the other examinees' reactions to his quirk status, he knew. There was no way to escape the discrimination in his dream line of work.

Izuku was one of the best examinees to have taken the test this year, and he still would not be accepted to U.A., because he was quirkless. 

Nezu, at least, seemed to want him at U.A. Nezu had clearly been extremely excited about the prospect of teaching Izuku at his school, at the idea of fostering the first quirkless hero. But convincing Nezu to not be a quirkist asshat and convincing the rest of the world to not be quirkist asshats were two very different things. He’d accomplished one. It was impossible to accomplish the other.

So Izuku started making back-up plans. He applied to an online school, the only one in all of Japan. It was admittedly a pretty good school. It had a lot to offer, especially in the computer science field. He also started brainstorming ways to make money in his free time, trying to figure out how to market “Entropy.” Or at the very least come up with a side job. He needed a way to get supplies for his vigilantism, because the time when he would no longer be able to rely on Stain was coming quickly. Another important item on his to-do list was finding who on earth had decided to call him “Entropy.” Seriously, who had come up with that name? He needed to find and murder them.

It was better than “Deku,” at least.

He actually kind of liked it, loath as he was to admit it. 

And since when had Nezu known he existed? 

Pulling up his search engine, he typed in, Nezu views on vigilantism.

0 search results. Typical.

Izuku sighed, leaning back in his chair and thinking. Nezu hadn’t immediately called the police on him, which Izuku chose to see as a good sign. But then again, even if Nezu had called the police, there was no real evidence that Izuku was a vigilante at all. The police couldn’t get a warrant to search his house or his person and they wouldn’t be able to tail him or watch his house. The best Nezu could do was tip-off the police on his suspicions and maybe get Izuku into the police station for an interrogation, but even that was questionably legal. Add all that to the fact that Izuku was both a quirkeless and a middle-schooler and chances were high that Nezu would get laughed at.

On the other hand, Izuku wasn’t sure that Nezu would stick to legal ways of stopping him. Izuku chose to think that Nezu had a nice enough view on vigilantes that he wasn’t going to try to intervene legally or illegally, at least not until Izuku did something actually morally wrong, like killing someone. But Izuku had no plans to kill anyone, nor did he think he could actually carry through with it if he had such plans, so he felt relatively safe on that front.

Who had come up with “Entropy” was the more pressing question. Reiki had expressed her lack of knowledge on the situation, so Izuku seized his phone and called Dabi.

“Are you aware of the time?” Dabi answered grouchily. Izuku glanced at his clock. It was well past noon.

“Mid afternoon?” he suggested.

“Too early,” Dabi growled.

“I don’t even want to know why you think this is early. I was wondering about something I heard today though… people are calling me Entropy?”

“Isn’t it great?” Dabi answered, tone immediately perking up. “Stain came up with it.”

“He did not,” Izuku said, affronted.

“He thought it made you sound cool.”

“It doesn’t! It makes me sound like a nerd, like someone who watches physics documentaries for fun or intentionally mixes dangerous chemicals to see what’ll happen.”

“Wouldn’t you do those things?”

Izuku scowled, leaning back in his chair. Dabi had a point. “Shut up.”

“So have you gotten your test results back?”

“You haven’t finished answering my Entropy questions! So Stain came up with it, how on earth did it spread?”

“Oh that would be me. I did that part.”

“I hate both of you,” Izuku declared.

“Yes, yes, were you accepted?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Do you think you passed? Are you going to get to go to high school?”

Izuku had kept the whereabouts of his entrance exams secret from everyone but Reiki. He didn’t want anyone else to know that he was applying to U.A., partially because he didn’t want to be laughed at, but also because letting a bunch of criminals know where to find him during the school year was never a good idea. 

“I’m going to get to go to high school,” Izuku informed Dabi. Even if it wasn’t U.A. He was going to get into the online school, at least, and Izuku didn’t want to go to U.A. anymore anyway.

He sat bolt upright in his chair as that last thought came through. He didn’t want to go to U.A.? Was that true? Did he really not want to?

“I have to go,” he mumbled into his phone before hanging up abruptly. 

He’d wanted to go to U.A. all his life-- where was this coming from? Surely he still wanted to go?

He thought back through the entire experience of taking the recommendation exam, of the pity on everyone’s faces when they found out he was quirkless, the worry in their tone when he told them he was taking the exam, the hate in their eyes when they thought he might actually succeed. He thought about that one guy in the board room, screaming about how he would be a waste of a spot-- and everyone else who had nodded in agreement. He thought about how people immediately assumed he was weak because he was quirkless, and hated him for not fitting in with the normal social standards.

Of course he didn’t want to go to U.A. Everyone at that exam had hated him. He’d been alone his entire life, he didn’t want a repeat of that experience in high school, especially now that he knew what friendship felt like. And he knew that if he went to U.A., if he learned to be a hero, the friends he had now would quickly become his enemies.

He jumped to his feet, pacing around his room as he thought through hypothetical situations.

Option one: He didn’t get into U.A. He went to online school instead. He failed to get a job because of discrimination, eventually either dying or falling to crime. He lived a miserable life, but he still had Stain and Dabi and Reiki on his side.

Option two: He got into U.A. He went to U.A., but everyone discriminated against him constantly because he was quirkless. He became a hero and everyone still discriminated against him constantly. He got a lot of death threats. He was killed in battle, proving the haters ‘right.’ He did all of this without friends or any form of support, except maybe Nezu.

Izuku didn’t like either of those options. He hated both of them, although he had to admit the first option was marginally more appealing than the second.

A third option floated into his mind and he clapped his hands against his cheeks, thinking it through carefully.

Option three: He didn’t get into U.A. He went to online school when he could, and spent the majority of his time doing what he’d been doing so far in his life-- saving the people the heroes ignored. He became a real vigilante, not a vigilante in training. He kept his friends. No one found out he was quirkless. He found a way to make money through “Entropy,” maybe by doing private investigation or being paid for side jobs. 

The doorbell rang and Izuku wandered out of his room, lost in thought.

What if Entropy became his school? What if he… what if he used his rejection from U.A. as a way to make him stronger, in unconventional ways? What if he became an established vigilante, instead of a hero? Isn’t that what he wanted? To save people? Who cared how he did it?

“It’s from U.A.,” his mom shrieked from the front. 

That jerked Izuku out of his thoughts. He sprinted to the door, holding his hands out for the letter. He had to know. He had to know if he got in.

She put it in his hands, trembling slightly. He ripped it open and read through it, feeling disappointment flood through his veins.

Dear Midoriya Izuku,

Congratulations on your acceptance to U.A. High School! After carefully reviewing your application, we have decided to make an extra recommendation student slot, just for you. You will be our fifth recommendation student, and you will have extra supplementary classes to help you learn how to deal with your quirklessness. 

Please send us your designs for a costume, as specific as you can make it. This can be changed later, but for now we need to know what support items you need and how you would like us to style your costume. 

Thank you again for your application, and congratulations on your acceptance!

We look forward to seeing you this semester.

Sincerely,

The U.A. School Board

“I got in,” he mumbled miserably.

‘Deal’ with my quirklessness, honestly .

“Congratulations, sweetie!” his mom said, faking a smile.

“What do I do now?” he asked her, a pained expression on his face as he skimmed his eyes over the letter again. He’d gotten into U.A. He was going to be stuck with all those condescending heroes-in-training for all of high school.

Oh fuck, what if Bakugou got in too? Then he’d be stuck with Bakugou and all the condescending heroes-in-training. It was like a nightmare coming to life.

“Well, are you going to accept it?” his mother asked, voice sounding a little hopeful.

Oh right! He was allowed to decide whether or not he was going to accept.

“Not sure yet,” he said lightly, folding up the letter again. Better not make rash decisions. Sleep on it, Izuku. See how you feel in the morning . “I’ll think about it.”

And think about it he did.

He thought about it for two days, avoiding going out at night, contemplating pros and cons of going to U.A.-- pros and cons of being a hero in general.

At the end of the first day, he got accepted into the online school.

At the end of the second day, he made a decision.

At four in the morning on the third day, he called Stain.

Chapter Text

Izuku sat down on one of the highest roofs in the city, dangling his legs over the edge and looking out over the city. He could see the faint pinpricks of dawn over the buildings, but it would be a while before the sun was fully up. He could sit here for a while. He could still be back in time for his mom to wake up. 

But did he want to?

“So, you wanted to meet?” Stain said, dropping onto the roof behind Izuku.

Twisting around to face him, Izuku nodded. He held out his stack of notebooks. “I promised you copies of these once I passed my entrance exams.”

Stain looked at the stack of notebooks, not making any move to take them. After a moment of serious contemplation, he reached out and pushed the notebooks into Izuku’s chest, shaking his head.

“I don’t want them.”

Furrowing his eyebrows in confusion, Izuku flipped open the top one, almost expecting something to be wrong with it, for Stain to have rejected it. “Why? That was part of the deal, I thought.”

“It was.”

“But… don’t I need to pay you for--”

“I got to train the world’s first quirkless hero,” Stain said, shaking his head again. “What other payment would I want?”

Izuku sighed and turned away. The first quirkless hero. Right. “I’m not gonna be a hero,” he said softly.

Stain’s voice was surprised as he responded,“You’re not?”

Releasing a short huff of air, Izuku covered his face with his hands, recollecting himself. He’d come to this conclusion, hadn’t he? Before he’d gotten his acceptance letter from U.A. He’d decided. Now was he going to actually carry through with it?

Stain was still watching him curiously. 

“The first time…” Izuku said softly, resting his chin on his hands and his elbows on his knees, “the first time someone told me I was useless, I was five years old and I was playing with my friends. Kacchan said it-- that I was useless. I thought he was joking, at the time, just making fun. And maybe he was, but it stuck. All his friends caught on to it, and they all said it too.” He frowned. “The fourth person I heard it from was a teacher.”

A sharp intake of breath came from Stain, but Izuku ignored it, keeping his eyes fixed on the sunrise.

“She said that because I was quirkless, I wouldn’t be able to do anything with my life. She said I should make sure that I find something useful to do in her classroom, because she didn’t want to drag extra weight.” His frown deepened. That day had been so painful. He’d never told anyone about it before. “I remember feeling confused, because she didn’t tell everyone else they needed to find something useful to do. Having their quirks was enough.

“That was the first time I realized I was alone.”

Biting his lip a little, he looked over the city, eyes skimming the buildings at the first stirrings of movement as people left their houses and got ready for early work shifts. 

“I never did find a way to be useful, but I got very good at not being extra weight. I was quiet in class, I didn’t complain about the bullying, I did well in school, but never too well because I didn’t want to seem too far ahead of the kids with powerful quirks. I did my best to blend in with the crowd, and with the exception of bullies, no one ever noticed me. So I didn’t have any friends, or people I knew had my back. I’ve never had anyone who cared about me before. It’s scary, when I think about it. The amount of times I… the amount of times everything could have gone wrong.”

He sighed again. 

“I’ve been alone my entire life,” he said honestly. “When people meet me, they see someone worthless and because of that they don’t want to be around me. They don’t want extra weight to carry either.”

“You’re not—“

Izuku shot him a pained look and Stain fell silent. 

“It’s hard to be alone when you’re surrounded by people,” Izuku said, curling one of his legs up and resting his chin on his knee. “Sometimes I used to wish something would just come and kill me. I never wanted to do it myself— it was too much work, and I didn’t want people to have to deal with cleaning it up. But life is so hard , Stain. Why is life so hard?” His voice cracked as he turned and looked at his mentor, who sighed and sat next to him on the roof without answering. But Izuku wanted an answer. Life wasn’t fair to anyone, and Izuku was more alone than most. 

“I wish sometimes that I didn’t have to make decisions for myself,” Izuku said, bitterness creeping into his tone. “I wish there was just a set path laid out for me, someone steering me through life so I didn’t have to think . So I didn’t have to feel anything. Because… it hurts.” He twisted his fingers together in his lap, shoulder stiffening as he braced himself for his next statement. It took him a while to work up the courage to say it, and they sat in silence for a long time before he managed to say flatly, “I got into U.A.” 

Stain shot upward, sitting with a perfectly straight, tense back. “You what ?”

“I got into U.A.,” Izuku repeated, “and I…” His eyes started to prick with tears and he tipped his head back, blinking them back. “I don’t want to go,” he finished, voice cracking. “I don’t want to go to a school where everyone hates me because of something I was born without.” The tears started to spill out and he let them slide down his cheeks, chin wobbling. Stain watched him silently, expression blank. “I don’t want to go there, Stain! I don’t-- I can’t-- I hate being alone.” His body started to curl in on itself and he made a weird whining noise in the back of his throat as he tried to stop crying. It didn’t work, and the tears just fell faster. “ Why did you ever let me feel like I matter, Stain, how could you do that to me ?” he asked, voice cracking and shaking with every word. Because it hurt, now that he understood what real friendship felt like. It hurt now that he could feel the difference between what he’d experienced his whole life and what he had now. Sometimes he wished he’d never met Stain, that he’d just stayed oblivious, because this was so much more painful. “I don’t want to go to U.A.,” he repeated again, pressing his hands into his temples. “I can’t go there, I just can’t.”

“What happened?” Stain said softly.

Izuku released a half sigh, using his hands to wipe his tears away, even as more were dribbling out.  “Nothing,” he said, voice breaking a little. Stain gave him an incredulous look. Clearly he didn’t think whatever happened was ‘nothing.’ But it was. It was nothing because it was normal, and Izuku honestly should have expected it. To everyone else, it was nothing. To Izuku it was everything, but he was so used to it by now it barely registered. If he hadn’t met Stain and learned what it felt like to truly be accepted, he probably wouldn’t have even been able to tell by now that the way he was being treated was wrong.

Trying to avoid Stain’s piercing eyes, Izuku continued trying to stop crying, holding his breath through the hiccups. The pressure of the silence was too much though, and he blurted out, “Is it really so hard to treat me like a normal human being? Is that really so difficult?”

“It’s not hard at all,” Stain said, voice still soft and steady. Izuku chanced another look over at him. His expression was unreadable, but there was definite anger behind those eyes. And also care. God, he hated the care. Why should Stain care about him, when he was so worthless and quirkless? And how could Stain make his life so much harder, with all his care? 

He huffed out an angry breath, rubbing his hands under his eyes and effectively stopping the tears. “I’m not going there,” he said firmly. “I’m not going to U.A. I’m not going to another school where I’ll be surrounded by people, but totally alone. I’ll be by myself and alone instead. It won’t hurt as much, and I can still save people. Like Reiki does.” He looked at Stain again, a decisive note in his tone. “Like you taught me to.”

Stain gave him a long, analyzing look and then nodded slowly. “You don’t need to be a hero to save people. You’re already more heroic than all of those fakes, and you don’t have a license.”

Izuku gave him a determined nod. “I’ll be a vigilante, and I’ll kick ass. And no one will ever need to know I’m quirkless.”

A flash of pain crossed Stain’s face, but it was gone in an instant, and Izuku thought he’d imagined it.

He stood up as the sun started to peek over the horizon. Rejecting U.A. would be easy, but everything else he had to do around that… that would be the real challenge.

And it would start with his mother.

Inko was surprised when instead of entering the kitchen from his room, as would be expected at this hour of the morning, Izuku walked in through the front door. She was even more surprised when she caught sight of his puffy red eyes, a clear indicator that he’d been crying. 

Before she got a chance to ask him what was wrong, he caught sight of her and released a heavy sigh. “I think… I think we need to talk about some stuff,” he said. He sounded tired. Much more tired than usual. 

She suddenly realized what this was about. He’d been stressed ever since the entrance exam, and somehow even more stressed since he got his acceptance letter. And, to be honest, she was equally anxious. She didn't want her quirkless baby going to such a big school for powerful people! It was dangerous! He’d get eaten alive! But she didn't say that. She just nodded knowingly and said, “U.A.” 

“U.A.,” he agreed, sitting down at the table.

Sensing that this wasn’t the type of conversation to have while cooking breakfast, she slid into the seat next to him. He gave her the half-smile he’d been using lately, the one that stayed in his mouth and died quickly before wrinkling the corners of his eyes. It disappeared even more quickly than usual this time and he sighed. “You don’t want me to go.”

Inko winced. Yes, she didn’t, but she also wanted her baby to be happy, and he couldn’t be happy if she was hovering over him like an overprotective butterfly. “I--”

“Please,” he interrupted, eyebrows twisting up as he gave her an imploring look, “let me finish.”

She pursed her lips together, twisting her fingers on the table.

“You don’t want me to go to U.A.,” he repeated, tilting his head back and looking at the ceiling, “and I don’t want to go either.”

If Inko had been standing, she would have fallen over. Instead, she went rigid in her chair, staring at him. What? Of course he wanted to go to U.A., he’d wanted to for his entire life. And he’d been getting so much stronger lately, preparing and preparing so that he could finally get into his dream school. And now he was talking about… about rejecting his acceptance? “W-what?”

“I don’t want to go to U.A. anymore.”

Amazed, she spluttered, “Why?”

He scowled and she flinched back, shocked to see such an angry expression on her baby’s face. “Because those heroes are going to constantly kick me to the side,” he spat. His voice went kinder as he explained, “At the entrance exam, they didn’t want me there. They wanted me to lose. They thought I was going to. And I don’t want to have to deal with that for the rest of my life. If I become a hero, people are constantly going to be trying to shut me out and protect me. I want to be able to act independently, to be strong even though I’m quirkless and have no one be able to judge me for something they don’t understand.”

He gave her a cautious look, like he wanted to say something else but wasn’t sure if he should. She wanted to say something encouraging, but she knew him well enough to know that that was a surefire way of shutting him down, so she just waited patiently for him to decide whether or not he could share. Luckily, he decided he could. Unluckily, the sentence he uttered was, “I’m going to tell you something, and it’s going to make you into a criminal.”

Inko was now very glad she was sitting down. “W-why?”

“Because I’ve been doing some very illegal stuff,” he said seriously, “and when I tell you about it you won’t want to go to the police, and that’s also illegal.”

Laughing nervously, Inko let her eyes flicker back and forth between Izuku’s. Surely he was joking. Her baby wouldn’t do anything illegal! He wanted to be a hero! But there was no laughter in Izuku’s eyes, and Inko felt her smile drop as she searched his eyes for the joke.

There wasn’t one to be found.

“Baby,” she whispered, horrified. “What did you do?”

Principal Nezu,

It is with great excitement that I have decided to inform you that I will not be attending U.A. I have decided, due to the exceptional amounts of discrimination and rudeness from fellow prospective students that I endured on campus during the recommendation exam, that going to your school would be unhealthy for me. I also have certain extracurricular activities that are going to be taking more and more of my time as I dedicate myself to following my interests without fear of being the victim of a hate-crime. I would prefer to not live my life in other people’s egotistical and close-minded shadows.

Thank you for your time, and for vouching for me during the board meeting (you should hide your secret tunnels better).

Sincerely,

Midoriya Izuku

Chapter Text

Izuku was bored.

It wasn’t the first time, since he’d rejected his acceptance to U.A., but still. He was so, so bored.

Online classes were easy. Too easy. Painfully easy. Izuku loved his classes, especially all the electives he’d piled up on quirk theory and analysis, but most of them weren’t too challenging, and Izuku was already moving really quickly through all the content. He’d probably be done with his first semester in a couple weeks. He could honestly probably finish all of high school by the end of this year, which would be fun, if pointless.

Sighing, he stretched out his fingers and flipped his laptop open. Maybe he could try to hack into something super well-protected for fun. Like… The Hero Public Safety Commission. Or maybe U.A., but Izuku didn’t think he was quite ready to go head to head with Nezu. Not yet, maybe not ever. Then again, Nezu seemed to really like Izuku and there was always a chance he would just be amused by Izuku’s attempts and leave him alone. Maybe Izuku needed to make some internet signature that made it obvious it was Entropy hacking in… ehh too much effort.

He started by just hacking into the city cameras, tiredly flipping through them. There wasn’t anything new. The streets were all quiet and--

Oh, hell no.

That was a villain. Definitely. Trying to rob a… what was that, a jewelry store? It didn’t matter, civilians were getting injured and that was a lot of property damage.

Izuku rifled through the cameras as quickly as he could, looking for a nearby hero. A moment later, he caught a glimpse of Eraserhead, hiding in an alley and looking for trouble. He grinned.

His first time partially revealing his real self as a vigilante, and it was into a U.A. teacher’s ear? How perfect. 

“Hi? Is this Eraserhead’s comm line?”

Shouta froze as the unfamiliar voice of someone way too young to be on the comms came into his ear. “Who the fuck are you and how did you get access to the hero comms?” he snapped, instinctually tilting his head to the left in an attempt to hear better.

“Oh good, it is you!” The kid sounded relieved and happy, in a way. “I was worried I got the wrong… Anyway! There’s a robbery two blocks to your right in an alleyway. The guy seems to have some sort of mutation quirk? I think it's sort of like a hydra, you know that myth? It’s all tentacles but then it’s like he keeps intentionally cutting them so he can grow more and… you’re… is there a reason you're not moving?”

Well, the reason was that a random kid had just appeared in his earpiece and he had no clue if anything he was saying was legit. He didn’t want to embarrass himself by running a couple blocks only to come up short, or worse get seriously pranked. On the other hand, if it was legit and he ignored it, that could be really bad, and have some serious repercussions psychologically and legally. Crossing his arms, Shouta said, “If this is a prank, I swear--”

“It’s not a prank! I promise it’s not, really, but you should hurry because he’s doing a lot of damage,” the kid said, with a worried tone now.

With an annoyed huff, Shouta turned to the right and ran two blocks. The kid in his ear was muttering rapidly about the so-called villain’s quirk, and possible tactics to use against it. If Shouta hadn’t been annoyed and almost completely sure he was doing all this running for nothing, he might have been impressed.

But then, two blocks later, he heard the sound of a robbery happening.

“Oh good you found it! I just saw a mugging on the other side of town so I’m going to leave your ear now and get someone else. Good luck!”

There was a click and the kid’s voice disappeared.

Well , Shouta thought as he launched himself into fighting the robbery, that was different .

The villain was low-level, cowering the moment Shouta took his quirk away, and sighing about the waste of time, Shouta sent him back to the police station. He spent the rest of his shift wandering around the alleys looking for trouble, directed by the kid who would occasionally drop into his earpiece to direct him to a crime scene.

It was the most productive Shouta had been in weeks.

After his shift was over, he made his way to the police station, rubbing his head tiredly and trying to figure out who on earth the kid in his earpiece was. Sighing, he entered the building and settled down to fill out paperwork.

Tsukauchi came in from his office, nudging a small child out.

“He was so cool !” the child enthused, turning to look at his mom. “Wasn’t he, mama?”

“Very cool, sweetie,” his mother agreed, nodding. “But remember, honey, he’s not a real hero.”

“He’s my hero.”

“All right, sweetie,” the mother glanced up at Tsukauchi. “Do you need anything else?”

He shook his head, waving them out the door with a warm, probably fake smile. “Thank you for your help in the investigation.”

As soon as they were gone, he turned and gave Shouta the most tired look Shouta had ever seen from the man, looking absolutely exhausted and annoyed.

“Having a nice night?” Shouta asked sarcastically, aggressively writing his name at the top of yet another page of his report. He hated this part of being a hero. Filling out forms was the worst, and yet arguably one of the most important, parts of his work.

“There’s someone out there who’s been taking out villains before we even know there are villains to be taken. It’s terrifying,” Tsukauchi explained, rubbing the spot between his eyebrows and plopping down into the seat across from Shouta. “He’s fast, he’s skilled, and no one knows anything about him except green .”

“Green?”

“That’s all anyone’s been able to see of him. He has a green costume, apparently. A green hoodie. And red shoes. And a lot of knives.”

Shouta gave him an unimpressed look. He was going to need more information than that. “So… what are we looking for, then? Any other features? Voice? Weaknesses?”

Tsukauchi, for maybe the first time since Shouta had met him, looked helpless. “I have no idea. He’s a protege of Stain.”

“You mean he’s inspired by Stain?” Shouta asked, tiredly writing his name down again .

“No, he’s being trained by Stain,” Tsukauchi corrected miserably.

Head snapping up, Shouta gave the detective a sharp look. “There’s a new vigilante out who no one knows anything about and he’s being trained by Stain ?”

Tsukauchi looked on the verge of slamming his head on the table in misery and defeat. Clearly this had been bothering him for quite some time.

Shouta sighed. “Do you have a name to go off of?”

Tsukauchi gave him a dark look. “People are calling the kid… Entropy.”

“The kid,” Shouta repeated, raising an eyebrow.

“Apparently he’s around the age of most new vigilantes-- probably a hero school reject.”

“So he’s a high schooler.”

“Most likely.”

Shouta thought back to the conversation he’d had over the comm line a few hours ago. “Do you happen to know if he’s any good at hacking?” he asked casually.

Tsukauchi shook his head. “Why?”

“Something happened earlier-- it’s in my report, but I can explain. Some kid hacked into my comms and led me to a crime-in-progress. I’d assume whoever it was had been hopping through the city cameras.”

“We’ll see if we can find a way to trace that,” Tsukauchi said doubtfully, “but don’t get your hopes up. For now, just keep your eye out for a vigilante in green.”

“Entropy,” Shouta said. Who on earth would choose that for their street name?

Stain insisted that Izuku couldn’t keep running around in a green hoodie and red hightops as his vigilante costume, especially if he was going to be official.

As such, Izuku had to make a new costume.

He went over to Dabi’s apartment one night-- a messy little hole in one of the least safe neighborhoods available-- and wriggled in through the window. Dabi glared at him from the couch. “Why couldn’t you do this at Stain’s apartment?”

“He’s moving again,” Izuku answered flatly, hopping over a pile of empty cans to get to the couch. “You know, this place would suck a lot less if you actually made the effort to clean it.”

Dabi rolled his eyes. “Too difficult.”

“I’d help.”

“No.”

Sighing in resignation, Izuku climbed onto the back of the couch and perched there, not trusting the actual cushions to be clean. Dabi and Reiki had been informed of his decision to not go to hero school. They both had been very pleased, Reiki explaining how she wished she’d been able to make that choice and Dabi just looking exceptionally smug, for some reason.

“Stain’s coming, right?” Dabi asked.

“And Reiki. I still think this is stupid.”

“It is,” Dabi agreed. “Costumes are for the weak.”

“But you have a--”

“Shut up.”

A knock fell on the door and Izuku rolled off the back of the couch, landing on his feet and making his way over. Shoving aside the chair Dabi had put in front of the door, he pulled it open. Reiki was standing there, nose wrinkled up. 

“I’m staging an intervention,” she said, eyeing the piles of trash. “Dabi, you have to clean this up.”

“Leave my house alone!”

“It’s not a house anymore! It’s a trash pile!” She peered angrily into the smoggy darkness. “And do you not own any lights?”

“It’s his bat cave,” Izuku said, holding the door open as Stain swung in. 

“Dabi,” Stain said in a warning tone, “if your apartment is still this dirty the next time I come over, I--”

“Fine! I’ll clean it!”

“Like, now,” Izuku said.

“I’m going!”

“Good.”

“Now, Midoriya,” Reiki said, climbing over the back of the couch and plopping down on top of Dabi, who pulled himself out from under her with a groan of annoyance. “Costume.”

“Why, though.”

Izuku had made the executive decision to tell Stain and Dabi his real identity, and explain that his mother was aware of his extracurriculars. She wasn’t exactly okay with it, but Izuku had made it clear that this was the only thing keeping him happy and that if she turned him into the police, he would be going to jail. Maybe. The loopholes could keep him out of jail, but just the trial would be enough to ruin his already-low chances of ever getting a real job.

Dabi had been over to Izuku’s house twice now. After the first time, his mom actually confessed that she liked Dabi, so Izuku decided it was okay for him to visit occasionally. It actually made his mom feel more comfortable with the idea that Izuku was a vigilante now, since he had people looking out for him-- although she had already told Izuku on multiple occasions that she didn’t agree with anything Stain did and if he came over, she would call the police, no questions asked. So Izuku had been avoiding bringing Stain to his house. Which meant that for meetings like these, they had to meet at Dabi’s apartment.

“Because no one is going to notice you if you wear a green hoodie all the time,” Stain said in answer to Izuku’s rhetorical question, crouching on the arm of the couch and passing Izuku some sheets of paper. 

“I don’t want to be noticed,” Izuku argued.

“How about this-- you can keep the hoodie but we’re making some adjustments to everything else,” Reiki suggested.

Dejected, Izuku looked around at everyone in the room. “I’m not getting out of this, am I?”

“No,” Dabi said, pulling a black trash bag out from under his sink and flicking it open.

“Fuck you.”

“Language!” Stain gasped, reaching out and swatting his arm.

“I just want the hoodie,” Izuku said, taking a pencil from Stain and drawing a hoodie on the top sheet of paper.

“Do black or grey pants with that. With lots of pockets,” Reiki said, leaning over his shoulder to watch. 

“And you’re going to need holsters for your knives,” Stain added, pointing at a couple places on Izuku’s sketch. “Chest, thighs, back, hips, forearms, shoes.”

“Shoes!” Reiki said, grinning. “Let’s keep the red hightops, I like them. But do steel toes so you can kick people. And we can put a compartment in the bottom of one of them for an emergency phone.”

“You’re going to want knee and elbow pads,” Stain said, giving up with directing Izuku’s hand and just grabbing the pencil from him. He expertly drew knee pads on the sketch and drew elbow pads on the side of the drawing, with an arrow pointing that they would go underneath the sleeves of the hoodie.

“Do red gloves,” Reiki said, stealing the pencil from Stain and drawing gloves with fingers on just the thumb, index, and middle finger. “That way you don’t get fingerprinted.”

“Why leave the pinky and ring finger exposed?” Stain asked, reaching across Izuku for the pencil.

“Traction,” Reiki explained, holding the pencil away from him. Izuku sighed as Stain reached more insistently, smashing Izuku in between him and Reiki.

“Keep the black mask,” Stain said, managing to snatch the pencil and attack the sketch with it. “We’ll have it be like a turtleneck so it protects your neck.”

“Smoke bombs,” Dabi suggested from across the room, scooping more trash into a new black bag.

“Oh yeah!” Reiki agreed, taking the pencil back from Stain, “And you’ll need somewhere for first aid supplies. We’ll give you a belt.”

“Fanny pack,” Dabi snickered.

“Absolutely not,” Reiki said, drawing a red belt on the sketch.

“How are we getting this costume made?” Izuku asked innocently.

“I have a contact,” Dabi said, pushing a trash bag out the front door.

“Of course you do,” Izuku grumbled.

“Armoured hoodie?” Stain said.

“Armoured,” Reiki agreed. “We don’t want you getting shot.”

Stain dived across Izuku again to try to get the pencil back and Izuku dropped his head onto the back of the couch with a heavy sigh as, once again, he got smashed between them. “I hate all of you.”

“Awww,” Reiki said, giving up the pencil so she could hug Izuku’s head, the only part of him she could reach with Stain in the way, “we hate you too.”

Nezu frowned at the letter in front of him.

Midoriya Izuku had rejected his acceptance to U.A. It was frustrating because Nezu had genuinely liked Midoriya, and had wanted to offer him one-on-one lessons. But the other members of the school board had insisted on being quirkist, so they’d sent him a probably offensive letter and now Midoriya wasn’t going to come to U.A.

It made Nezu nervous.

Being a vigilante was tricky business, a fine line to walk on. It only took one incident for a person to slip and fall from vigilantism to villainy, and Nezu sensed that Midoriya was already dangerously close to the edge. All he could hope for now was that nothing would push Midoriya to the breaking point.

Sensei was interested in the new vigilante and Tomura didn’t like it.

For one thing, Giran recognized the vigilante and confirmed that he was the one who had turned the fire quirk guy’s interview in the wrong direction. He said this vigilante was tricky, smart, and untraceable. 

Sensei thought the new vigilante would make a good ally.

Tomura thought the new vigilante was a nuisance.

Kurogiri said he could be both.

“Entropy” was the name spiraling around. Tomura had to look up the word the first time he heard it. Entropy. Gradual decline into chaos. It was a good name, Tomura thought, if a little pretentious. It was an adaptable name. The vigilante could use it to describe how he interacted with villains, or heroes, or even himself. If he ever did decide to join Tomura, it would mean the destruction of society. Tomura liked that idea. Society deserved to fall into chaos, and if this “Entropy” was the one to bring that destruction, then Tomura wanted him on his side.

But for now, with the uncertainty around the vigilante’s motives and actions, Tomura wanted to just sit and watch to see what he did next.

Sensei didn’t want to watch passively. He said Tomura should be trying to twist Entropy to his side now, while he could. He said Entropy wouldn’t be tameable forever, and the longer they waited the less likely it was Entropy would turn. But Tomura didn’t want to waste his time on someone who didn’t want to work with him. Why would he, when he could get a team of loyal people in the same amount of time?

So he decided to wait.

Wait until the new vigilante showed his intentions, showed some kind of sign that he could be swayed to villainy.

And then, pounce.

Chapter Text

Although he would never, ever admit this to Stain or Reiki, Izuku’s costume was super cool. Somewhere along the design process they’d decided to just do away with the sleeves of the hoodie and now his well-toned shoulders were just out all the time. It was honestly the coolest thing he’d ever owned. The moment he had gotten the costume--and had managed to convince Stain and Reiki he hated it-- he took it home and fanboyed all over it to his mother, who kindly pretended to be excited.

He didn’t ever want to take it off. He bribed Dabi into getting him an extra so that he could wear it as often as possible. He put it on display in his room. He had to restrain himself from sleeping in it. It was awesome.

Tonight was not the first time he was wearing it out, but it might as well be, because he was just as excited to put it on tonight as he was then. 

It hadn’t been long. He’d been in costume for about three days, long enough for him to realize he should have started wearing a legit costume the moment he started going solo. It gave him so much more protection than the old hoodie had. He probably could get hit by a car and still be fine, at this rate.

He was completely on his own on the streets now. Right after he rejected his U.A. acceptance, he’d told Stain he wanted to start working independently. It wasn’t because he was mad at Stain or anything, more that if he ever wanted to be respected as a vigilante, he’d have to stop looking like some kid Stain had to babysit. So he and Stain were getting a little more distant, still sort of seeing each other when they crossed paths, or for the costume design fiasco, but not nearly as much as they’d been seeing each other a couple weeks ago. He was getting a lot closer with Reiki than anyone else, since he kept getting hurt as a vigilante. When his mom realized that Reiki was healing Izuku’s injuries before he came home, she was so relieved she almost started crying. She said she was so glad Izuku had friends who would do that kind of thing for him. He neglected to tell her that Reiki did that for everyone.

He was also staying close with Dabi as an offshoot of being friends with Reiki, since Dabi was almost always at the bar when Izuku came in for Reiki’s help. Dabi clearly enjoyed making fun of Izuku after his most painful injuries, like two days ago, when he’d gotten a knife stuck in his hand. And meanwhile, Izuku was building up quite a pain tolerance. 

The pain tolerance… wasn’t really a good thing. Well, it was good in the sense that he could fight with a broken arm without even thinking about it, so his injuries didn’t distract him in fights. But it was bad because he sort of… naturally assumed that other people also had an incredible pain tolerance too. He was a pain tolerance snob. There had been a couple days already where he’d really, seriously injured someone and then had told them to suck it up when they cried about it. It made him feel bad when he thought about it afterwards, but what was he supposed to do? Go back and apologize?

Izuku would be the first to admit that he sometimes went a little overboard. Stain had trained him to go all out, so that was his default mode of fighting. The second time he went out alone, he almost cut someone’s arm off. But then he caught himself and pulled himself back. He was really glad his mom didn’t know exactly what he did in his patrols because if she did, that would be the end of it. All of it. She would pull him right out of vigilantism and burn his beautiful, beautiful costume. And he couldn’t give her any motivation to do that, because if she did that then he wouldn’t be able to save the dumbasses who managed to get themselves into fights. 

Like the people who he was watching right now. 

He’d wandered a lot closer to Eraserhead’s patrol route today, still staying out of view of it, but much closer than he was usually comfortable with. And it was probably a good thing he did, because directly below him was what looked like a fight between lovers. Or something.

“You’ve been cheating on me, I have proof,” one of them was yelling, brandishing her phone in the air in front of her.

“I haven’t--”

“Don’t lie to me! I brought you all the way out here to get a confession out of you before I--”

“You told me we were going on a date!”

Izuku yawned. Everything was fine until one of them tried to punch the other and then he was going to be all over it.

“Well, I lied, didn’t I?”

“See, this is why I’ve been looking into other options--”

Wow, a confession so early into the argument. How original.

“Oh, so you have been cheating on me!”

“Only because you’re such an intolerable bitch!”

Izuku leaned forward. It was going to get nasty, right now.

Sure enough, the person with the phone threw it away and glowing swords extended out of her hands. The other person, the cheater, gave a little gasp of surprise and started to back away, eyes wide. 

“I’m going to kill you, right now,” the person who now had swords instead of hands said, voice triumphant, almost.

Immediately, the cheater turned to run, sprinting down the street as fast as they could. Izuku couldn’t blame them, he probably would too. He burst into motion a second after Sword Hands started after the cheater. Dropping down into the street, he watched as the potential victim, tailed closely by Sword Hands, ran straight into Eraserhead’s territory.

Ah. A moral crossroads of sorts.

It only took a moment’s hesitation to decide he would risk getting caught if it meant stopping a literal murder . Eraserhead was usually a little less unforgiving to vigilantes than spotlight heroes, so he felt relatively safe. Exposed, certainly, but still safe enough. And just because he was running headfirst into Eraserhead’s patrol route didn’t necessarily mean he was going to run into the man. Right?

He made up his mind and ran after the two into the alley, keeping his footsteps light and quickly slipping from shadow to shadow, gaining on them. Sword Hands lunged just as he caught up and, yanking out his katana, he jumped right in between them.

He’d made a mistake.

He’d only moved to block one sword, the one he’d seen moving, but the other one was moving too. It slid up his forearm. Luckily, Reiki and Stain had known what they were doing when they made his costume, and the sword slipped on all the padding Izuku had from his wrist to his elbow. It barely nicked the spot just over his elbow joint, but before any real damage could be done, Izuku pushed his katana roughly into the sword he’d clashed with, and Sword Hands stumped back a few steps, reeling.

“Dude,” Izuku said, frowning at his arm, which was now dripping blood. “Not cool.”

Snarling, Sword Hands jumped forward again, fully focused on Izuku. Reflexes kicking in, Izuku rolled to the side, hopping to his feet to Sword Hand’s right and kicking up a foot, which Sword Hand’s momentum threw her right into. 

The victim, thankfully, had the common sense to keep running and not stop to witness the fight, so Izuku didn’t have to protect anyone now. He could go all out.

He ducked under Sword Hand’s next jab, pulling out several knives. As he ducked, he tried to hook his foot behind her knees, but she saw it coming and kicked him away. He rolled back to his feet and chucked a few knives in her general direction.

It was a testament to her incredible reflexes that she knocked aside three of the four knives in midair. The fourth one stuck in her shoulder and she hissed in pain. She was smart enough to leave it in, but now she was fighting with one arm and Izuku had two.

He was winning. He was fully capable of taking her out by himself , but just as he moved to kick her in the head, Eraserhead swung into the alley and kicked her into the wall.

Talk about going overboard.

Entropy was a lot shorter than Shouta would expect. He knew he was probably a second or third year high school dropout, in his teens, but the kid was short even for that.

After rather violently slamming who he assumed was a criminal into the brick wall of the alleyway, he turned to the kid. Only Entropy’s green eyes were visible, and they were flashing with annoyance. The kid popped out a hip. “Don’t you think that was a little much?” he asked, tone dripping in exasperation.

Ah, so it was Hacker Kid. Shouta would recognize that voice anywhere. “Says the kid who stabbed her in the shoulder,” he snapped, filing that information away for later. Hacker Kid and Entropy. Same person.

Deciding now was probably a good time to activate his quirk on the kid, he reached for it. Nothing happened. His quirk… would not activate. 

What the hell?

“I have an excuse,” the kid retorted, oblivious to Shouta’s growing panic. “She was trying to kill me.”

Heart rate speeding up, Shouta tried to activate his quirk on the kid again. It didn’t work. His quirk wasn’t working on this kid-- why? He’d never experienced this before, his quirk not activating at all . Is this what it felt like for people when he removed their quirks?

“Hey, pro tip-- your quirk would be a lot more effective if you had a hair tie,” Entropy said, slipping his sword over his shoulder into a sheath there. He looked like he’d had some costume upgrades. “It’s really obvious when you use it.”

Well it wasn’t obvious now because it wasn’t working. How was he doing that? Was it sight based? He shot out a length of his scarf and the kid dodged it easily, looking almost bored. His quirk still wasn’t working.

“You’re Entropy?” he asked, resisting the urge to strangle the kid. Attacking this condescending vigilante wouldn’t do anything, but it would be intensely satisfying.

The kid’s eyes narrowed. “Going to murder Dabi,” he muttered, turning and sprinting down the street. Shouta moved to run after him, but then the lady with the swords-instead-of-hands groaned and he turned toward her, instinctively reaching for his quirk. It worked without a problem, and the swords vanished into the woman’s arms. He glanced down the alley, but Entropy was gone.

As Shouta called the police department for pick up, he had to wonder-- who was that kid, and what on earth was his quirk?

“Quirk nullification?” Naomasa suggested. Aizawa had come back with quite the story, and now they were puzzling over Entropy in Naomasa’s office.

“But he didn’t look like he was trying to use a quirk at all,” Aizawa sighed, looking very tired. He’d apparently been trying to find Entropy again all night. Trying and failing.

“Just that good?”

“He’s literally a child-- he can’t possibly have had that level of training. I’d be surprised if he was anything over 16, and even that’s a stretch. He had these noodle arms, I’m telling you. Noodles.” He scowled at the table, adding in a low mutter, “Very muscular noodles.”

“Maybe he’s immune to all quirk effects,” Naomasa suggested. “Involuntary, maybe.”

“Then why on earth was he fighting the perp with a sword? If her swords weren’t going to work on him, why try to block them at all?”

“It’s tiring?”

“He was having no trouble keeping my quirk off.”

“And you’ve never felt anything like this before?”

“No.” Aizawa slumped forward and put his forehead on the desk. “It’s making me feel guilty about all the times I’ve erased people’s quirks before. It really, really sucks, missing a quirk.”

“Don’t feel guilty,” Naomasa said, reaching out to pat his back and then, on second thought, drawing his hand back. Eraserhead wasn’t a big fan of contact. “We’ll figure this out.”

They would figure it out. Eventually. Probably.

Hopefully.

“We need to have a talk,” Izuku said, sitting down at the table and looking up at Inko seriously. Suppressing a sigh, she sat down across from him. She was tired of these talks with Izuku. He somehow kept finding ways to keep surprising her. “I did some digging,” he said, when she was seated, “and I figured out the quirk of the detective in charge around here-- Tsukauchi, you heard of him?”

“No.” How on earth would she know the name of some obscure police officer? Sometimes the brains of her kid surprised her.

“Okay.” He looked a little confused, but he moved on, kindly. “Well, Detective Tsukauchi is the guy who pretty much runs the police department here. Captain Tsuragamae is technically in charge, but he’s mobile and isn’t around often enough to be an issue.”

Inko did not like the implications around Izuku addressing a police captain as an “issue,” but she chose to accept it. She was finding herself doing that a lot more with Izuku. It made her worried, but she’d realized recently that there really was nothing she could do to stop him but turn him into the police, and she didn't want him to go to jail. Jail changed people, and Izuku still had the dregs of hope in there somewhere. She didn’t want to drain those completely.

“So Tsukauchi’s quirk is called Lie Detector, so I’m going to tell you some things and you’re going to repeat them back to me, okay? I’ll explain all this in a second.”

“Okay.”

“When I go out at night, I’m leaving to save people.”

“When you go out at night, you save people.”

“What I do is totally legal.”

Inko kept her chin from trembling, but she couldn’t stop her voice from wobbling a little when she said, “What you do is totally legal.”

“Almost done, Mom, one more. It’s none of your business and you didn’t want to pry.”

“It’s none of my business and I didn’t want to pry into it,” she whispered.

He relaxed. “Great! So if Tsukauchi starts asking you questions, you say, ‘Izuku told me…’ and then choose one of those options. That’s in the event I get caught and you get interrogated.”

Surprised, once again, by the head her kid had on his shoulders, she nodded.

“Okay, thanks Mom! Love you.” He hopped to his feet and bounded out of the room.

A tear slid from Inko’s eye and she wiped it away. What was he doing to himself?

Chapter Text

Izuku hadn’t ever tried doing vigilantism in broad daylight before, but based on the scene he was looking at through the window of his mom’s car right now, he thought he might have to. It looked like a standoff between a villain with a simple rope quirk, and Kamui Woods and Mountain Lady. Surely, though, surely two major heroes would be able to stop that villain. Surely they were capable.

The villain was holding up traffic, and they were inching lazily by, trying to get to the mall. 

Mountain Lady got stuck trying to step in an alley with not enough lanes for her big feet. Izuku suppressed a sigh. It’s not like she didn’t have hands and fingers-- she could literally just reach into the alley. Or she could walk in and enlarge halfway…

Kamui Woods got pinned to the wall.

“Mom, we have to stop,” Izuku said, face practically smashed into the glass of the car window now. The villain was good, honestly. They had a level of skill beyond just the usual riff raff. Izuku wondered what they’d been caught doing. “They need help.”

“Izuku--”

“Mom, please…”

With a heavy sigh, she pulled the car over. “Do you have your costume,” she said, tone dripping with displeasure.

Izuku scoffed, opening the glove compartment of the car and pulling out his gloves. “Like I’d go anywhere without it.” His knives were in the middle console and his pants and hoodie were in the seat pockets. 

Mom gave him a look that clearly said they would be unpacking that later and then unlocked the car door. 

“Meet me by the mall, okay?”

“Okay.” He tugged his hoodie over his head and pulled up his mask.

“Do not get caught.”

“I won’t,” he said, strapping his knives to his chest and arms.

“Call me the minute you’re safe.

He grabbed his bo from underneath the back seats. “Yep.” 

“Love you, sweetie.”

“Mmhmm, bye!” he hopped out of the car, pulling his pants on as he tumbled out.

Yanking his hood up, he extended the staff and hopped over the car, weaving through the crowd. He didn’t have his katanas with him because he wasn’t quite good enough to hide swords from his mom in the car, but he felt pretty secure in what he did have with him. 

This was his first time going out in broad daylight, and while it was terrifying, he felt more than ready. He’d spent months preparing for daylight heroism. This was a piece of cake.

Of course, it would be easier if he was sure he wasn’t going to get attacked for illegal vigilantism, but he’d take what he could get.

It looked like the villain had a simple rope quirk where their fingers could shoot out ropes, which the user could manipulate at will. Izuku seriously doubted the person could feel through the ropes though, based on the way they were flailing around, which meant they could cut them off without feeling any pain. 

Rope would be bad when matched up with a fire quirk. Which meant Endeavour would be the best person to contact for this mess, but like hell was Izuku going to do that. He didn’t need to give Endeavour a PR boost, not when he could give himself one instead. Hopping over cars, he locked eyes on a nearby convenience store. 

He ran in, avoiding the police line. “Hey, got a lighter?” he asked calmly.

The storekeeper gave him one look and sprinted out of the shop.

“Oh, right, the mask,” he said, suddenly realizing why that would probably have been a terrifying experience. “Sorry!” he called after the poor person.

He started going through aisles and found a lighter.

Clicking it on, he ran out of the store and sprinted straight for the fight, ducking under the outstretched arms of police officers. He had to punch one of them in the face, but he was in a hurry. He ran straight into the fight, where it looked like Kamui Woods was about to get his arms ripped off, and held the lighter up to the ends of one of the ropes, which lay forgotten next to him. The villain was busy taunting Kamui Woods, and didn’t even notice Izuku lighting the rope on fire. They didn’t notice until three of their rope fingers were on fire. Looking vaguely panicked, they started trying to cut off the ends of the flaming ropes.

Taking their distraction as an opportunity, Izuku turned and scaled a nearby wall. The movement must have caught Kamui Woods' eye because he locked eyes with Izuku and opened his mouth to say something. Before he could, Izuku dropped down on the villain’s head and flattened them to the ground.

“Weak,” he said, when they didn’t get up again. “You can get out of that by yourself,” he said to Kamui Woods, scowling. “Tattletale.”

He turned and hopped for the wall, climbing up to the fire escape and using that to launch himself over the top of the building.

And there was Mountain Lady. She swiped at him and he flattened himself to the roof of the building, gasping as he felt her hand pass right over his back, so close it brushed his fluffy hair. He scrambled to his feet and ran for the edge of the building, jumping right off it. He managed to land on the next fire escape over and, praying silently, tried the window behind it. 

It eased open. It was a miracle, honestly.

“I am so sorry,” he muttered, crawling in through the window. It looked like a living room. Some people were talking somewhere in the apartment. He slipped quietly through the rooms until he got to the front door, which he eased open quietly and then ducked through, apologizing again silently. 

After a quick check for security cameras, he pulled off his hoodie and folded it neatly over several rows of knives. Carefully adding his mask to the stack, he tucked it all under his arm and started walking confidently through the apartment complex, pretending like he knew where he was going. He heard a bit of a commotion by the front entrance to the apartment complex, so he took the back, walking straight out.

A moment later, he was lost in a crowd. No one would find him.

He made his way carefully back to the mall and met with his very worried mother. “I’m fine,” he said when she hugged him, distraught. “Honestly. Totally unharmed.”

“Don’t do that again,” she scolded, letting him put his stuff in the car again. 

“No promises.”

A couple hours after the mall, he found several articles on a “new vigilante.” To his immense pleasure, no one called him Entropy in the articles, they just called him the “green vigilante.” It was only a matter of time before they discovered the name of course, but he would enjoy these few days of freedom while he could.

His phone lit up with an incoming call and he shut his laptop, picking it up. Dabi.

“Hi, hi,” he answered, standing up and closing the door to his room.

“Deku, hey. I got a call today-- do you have any way to contact U.A.?”

“U.A.? Why?”

“Someone’s planning an attack on the first years, and I don’t particularly want it to work.”

Oh, duh. For obvious, if unspoken, reasons, Dabi didn’t want the first years of U.A. to get attacked. Made sense.

“Okay, one sec.” He launched himself into his chair and spun it around flipping his laptop open. “What details do you have?”

“They just wanted me to meet them at ten o’clock tomorrow. They didn’t say this specifically, but I think they’re bringing a lot of people with them.”

“Location?” He started making a new email address, removing tracing as he clicked through.

“The old warehouse down the street from the bar.”

“Meeting off-campus? That’s weird. Who’s setting this up?”

“Remember that broker I brought you with me to talk to?”

“The guy who was obnoxiously smoking through a gap in his teeth?” He started drafting some code to make the email as protected as humanly possible, since this was going straight to Nezu.

“You got it. The group is called ‘The League of Villains.’”

“Dramatic,” Izuku said saltily, before adding, “Wonder if they have a warper. Anything else you have?”

“They’re planning to kill All Might.”

He froze, fingers hovering over the keyboard. “How would they do that?”

“Dunno. Magic.”

Izuku glanced over his hastily made code. “Okay. I’ll shoot Nezu an email. Thanks for the heads-up.”

“No problem. Thanks for caring.”

“Hey, Dabi?”

“Hmm?”

“Where did you say your location was?”

“The warehouse--”

“Oh, down the street from the bar. Okay, do me a favor and don’t give the cops a tip-off. I’ll handle it.”

“Sweet. Be careful.” 

“Yeah.”

He hung up, opening an email draft. It was now programmed to instantaneously be erased two minutes after Nezu opened it, which he hoped wasn’t enough time to break through the arguably weak defenses of the code he’d written. 

Nezu,

Some information has recently come to my attention that you might be interested in. Tomorrow, at 10:00, expect an attack on your school. It’s from a group called the League of Villains. They might have a person with a warp quirk on their side.

I don’t know numbers, I don’t know specific location, I don’t know motivation or skill levels. Their target is All Might.

Watch your first years closely.

Regards,

Entropy

Hoping that was vague enough to not give too much away about himself, but enough that Nezu could take some precautionary measures, Izuku hit send and watched his computer anxiously, as though it would tell him when Nezu answered. Nothing happened, predictably, and after a minute he closed his email and put his head on the desk.

Tomorrow, he decided, he was going to pose as a villain and go save some stupid teenagers.

What fun.

Chapter Text

Izuku didn’t tell his mom where he was going, for a number of reasons, but first and foremost because he honestly didn’t know if he was going to make it out of this. He was about to launch himself into a fray of villains with no idea what his back-up would look like or even how many villains were going to be there. The so-called League of Villains seemed to know what they were doing, keeping information from individual members to reduce the possibility of betrayal. If Dabi hadn’t been so close with Izuku, and Izuku hadn’t known how to contact Nezu, their plan would have been perfect.

He told his mom he had an assignment he needed to work on with a friend from school, hiding a wince when she congratulated him proudly on making friends. He walked with his backpack until he was out of view from the apartment windows and then ducked into an alley, pulling on his costume. Running to the bar, he stuck to the shadows and the sketchy streets, using height to his advantage because no one ever thinks to look up. He ran right past the bar, closed at this hour of the morning, headed straight for the warehouse, checking his mask, his knives, his shoes. 

Dropping down in front of the warehouse, he rolled his shoulders a little and walked in. 

There were two probably-villains in there, so Izuku hid in the shadows and waited, not wanting to be seen earlier than he needed to be. He was about two minutes early.

At exactly ten o’clock, a swirling purple mist appeared in the middle of the warehouse. The other two villains eagerly walked right through it and disappeared. Checking himself over one last time, Izuku followed them.

He stepped through the mist into a huge space, with a glass dome over the top. The USJ, he realized suddenly. He’d found out about this place during his research of the school. It was supposed to be a top-notch training facility. It was also probably the best place the League of Villains could have chosen to make their attack. They could use the environment against the students…  

Purposefully sticking close to the back of the group, he tried to get a sense of the situation. The students were all crowded together at the top of the USJ, near the entrance. He frowned when he saw that there were just students and two teachers, Eraserhead and what looked like Thirteen. Had Nezu not upped security at all? Or maybe he’d expected a frontal attack… Or maybe he thought they wouldn’t attack USJ, since it was an offshoot of the school, reasonably far from the main campus. Even Izuku hadn’t expected Shigaraki to attack somewhere so isolated, but he guessed it made sense.

All Might wasn’t there either, which meant he’d either used up all his time for the day, or he was somewhere else on campus, trying to defend something that didn’t need defending.

Izuku pulled out his phone and typed out a quick email to Nezu, with subject line U.S.J. and no content. It wouldn’t send, so he put his arm back through the portal and pressed send again. He waited for a moment, hand through the portal, looking curiously around.

There were probably over fifty villains standing down in the middle of the simulation joint, in a sort of courtyard. The leader of the whole group, a crusty looking blue haired dude, was saying something or other in a whimsical tone of voice that he clearly thought made him sound scarier than he was. All it did was make him sound really, really creepy, or like he was sleep deprived. Next to him was a big purple monster thing that Izuku didn’t want anywhere near him. Izuku suddenly wished he knew how to use guns.

The crowd of villains started walking forward, and Izuku pulled his hand out of the portal and looked at his phone. The email had made it through. Smirking to himself, he carefully crept quietly to get behind the warp portal, which was shrinking to something resembling a humanoid shape. 

Unless he was completely misreading the situation, there was a person hidden beneath all that mist, a body to attack.

“All Might… the Symbol of Peace…” Crusty Boy was saying. Izuku ignored him, focusing on the warper. Take out the warper, and a huge problem becomes significantly less of a problem.

Eraserhead dived down into the fray and Izuku winced. Eraserhead wasn’t good with drawn out fights. He could fight multiple people at once, but not so many, and not all at the same time like this, in the open. Izuku just needed a moment to figure out a strategy, though, and then he could play back-up.

He didn’t have a moment. Misty Person tensed up, like he was about to move, probably to attack the students and Thirteen. 

Not today.

Shaking out his hands, Izuku pulled out his katana and jumped right for Misty Person’s back. His feet connected with something solid and Misty Person stumbled forward a few feet. Wrapping his legs around their waist, Izuku grabbed their shoulder with one hand and jabbed the katana straight in, aiming for what he hoped wasn’t a crucial part of the body. The sword slid right in and he winced as blood came spurting out. 

“Oof, sorry about that,” he apologized as Misty Person groaned. “I can’t see through all the mist.” He yanked the katana out and flipped it in his hand, jabbing down with the handle. It went right through the warper’s head. Huh.

“Kurogiri!” Crusty Boy shrieked, focusing on the two of them, instead of his insane rambling. 

Wow, what an outfit , Izuku thought, noticing all the disgusting hands all over Crusty Boy’s body. 

Angry, the guy dived forward, hands outstretched for Izuku. Izuku got the feeling that he did not want those hands touching him, so he pushed lightly off Misty Person’s-- Kurogiri’s back and used it as a springboard to launch himself several feet away, landing lightly on his feet.

“You!” Crusty Boy growled suddenly, eyes narrowing under the hand over his face.

“Making a fashion statement?” Izuku asked. He bit his tongue. That was stupid, making an already enraged person even more angry.

“Entropy,” Crusty Boy said, ignoring the comment and taking another step forward.

Izuku drew back a few more steps. “Um… Yes? Hi?”

Eraserhead was suddenly between them, hair levitating as he focused on Shigaraki, panting. “What the hell are you doing?” he spat at Izuku. 

“‘Wow, thank you Entropy, I’m so glad you showed up and are playing back-up against all these villains,’” Izuku grumbled. “‘I don’t know what I would do without you. Your actions are appreciated.’” He jumped away, trying to distance himself from Crusty Boy and taking the opportunity to attack Misty Person again.

Whatever he did, he had to make sure Misty Person didn’t get to the other students. That was just asking for a disaster.

“Nomu!” Crusty Boy yelled, pointing at Izuku.

“That’s… not my name, but--” 

A powerful fist slammed into Izuku’s side, cutting him off. He felt a few ribs break, heard them crack, and he went flying across the courtyard. He landed in a heap, coughing. “Shit,” he spat, blood dripping out of his mouth. He must have bitten his tongue. 

Something heavy landed on top of his back and he struggled weakly to get out, gritting his teeth against the pain in his ribs.

This was not fun. 

Someone grabbed his arm and lifted it up. Intense pain shot up his shoulder and he screamed as he felt it pop out of its socket. Whatever was holding his arm expertly twisted and broke it in three places and Izuku screamed again, panting heavily. Blood started to drip out of his arm and he put his forehead on the ground, closing his eyes so he didn’t have to look at it.

Nezu had to be coming soon. Please let Nezu be coming.

Katsuki couldn’t believe this. He just couldn’t believe it. 

That was Deku . Down there. Fighting like a fucking pro. Katsuki had thought he’d recognized Deku’s voice earlier, when the vigilante said something snarky, but he’d dismissed it. But now he was screaming and Katsuki recognized that with immediate surety. 

Deku was down there, fighting for all of 1-A.

“We have to help them,” Katsuki muttered.

Shitty Hair gave him a worried look. “Don’t you think we should be trying to evacuate with Thirteen?” Most of the class was already at the door, and at least half of them had already left the building.

“You really think shitty Deku and one teacher can hold all those villains off?” Katsuki asked, watching Aizawa expertly dodge the blue haired guy's hands. 

“I just don’t think we could help…”

“Of course we could. We’re heroes too, right?”

Shitty Hair shook his head. “That’s not our battle, Bakugou-kun. Let’s leave this to the experts.”

“Bakugou-kun and Kirishima-kun!” Thirteen’s voice came sharply. “Please move to the exits!”

Scowling, Katsuki turned away from the courtyard and shuffled toward Thirteen. It was annoying. Useless, shitty Deku was getting all the fighting glory and Katsuki was getting shepherded around like a fucking toddler.

Thirteen showed Katsuki and Shitty Hair out the door and they walked out. Outside, Kaminari was talking quickly into his earpiece, probably informing the pro-heroes of the situation. He turned to them, a smile on his face. “That green guy tipped them off apparently-- they're almost here.”

Shouta had been in a lot of fights. It was part of the job, being a pro-hero. He had a lot of expertise on getting in fights, and more on getting out of them. Needless to say, he thought he could say reasonably that he had experienced most types of fighting.

He had never been in a fight like this. Completely outmatched, no communication with the outside, teamed up with a teenager who, admittedly, was extremely skilled, but was now screaming in pain.

This was not what he’d expected when he’d woken up this morning. Nezu had said they were expecting an attack on the school, but no one dreamed it would be at a location so far away from the main campus-- why on earth would the villains attack here? Because All Might was scheduled to be here now? How had they figured that out?

In hindsight, they should have seen it coming. 

But there wasn’t time for regrets now. Entropy’s arms were so mangled at this point they looked like actual noodles, and the big purple monster was holding his face to the concrete. He wasn’t screaming anymore, which was vaguely terrifying. Shouta would move over there, but he couldn’t, not with all these villains and the blue haired guy chasing him around.

He just had to wait it out, hope Thirteen and his kids were getting help. 

Entropy made a strange strangled gasping noise and Shouta glanced over to see the monster gripping the kid around the neck. But he couldn’t get over there, he wouldn’t be able to in time. There were too many villains around him. 

He heard a sickening squelching sound and chanced another glance. What he saw almost made him stumble. 

Entropy had somehow managed to twist around and stab the monster through the face. He was now wriggling a little to fish out another knife, using his less-broken arm. 

Shouta looked away for half a second to knock away three more people and when he turned back, there were three knives in the exposed brain of the monster and Entropy was working his way to his feet. 

“Dickhead,” he heard Entropy spit. 

“No!” The blue haired guy yelled, glaring at Entropy with venom. 

“Yes,” Entropy muttered, staggering away from the purple monster. 

He was suddenly surrounded by five villains, ones Shouta hadn’t gotten to yet, and he sighed miserably. “Really? All of you?” He nodded at one of them. “How’s your wife doing?” he asked that one, sounding absolutely exhausted. 

“She’ll be better after this paycheck,” came the response. 

Entropy gave them an annoyed look. “Yes she’ll be so glad to know that you attacked a high school to bring money home.”

Looking cowed, they looked at their feet.

“I’ll handle this,” said the guy with all the hands, brushing past people to get to Entropy. Shouta got distracted for a moment by a guy who looked reminiscent of an eggplant. When he looked back, Entropy was ducking and twisting around all of the guy’s attacks, looking almost as graceful as a dancer. 

Shouta wished that kid was in UA— he would be a wonder to train.

The guy with all the hands finally managed to get a hand on Entropy’s back and the kid gasped, ducking away again.

There was a hand shaped hole in the back of his hoodie, and some blood was dripping out of his back.

What the hell? So his quirk wasn’t quirk negation? Maybe it relied on eyesight? What the hell .

A villain took advantage of Shouta’s distraction and punched him hard across the jaw. Snapping out of it, he ducked under them and started fighting with renewed vigor, mind whirring. 

An analysis quirk maybe? Maybe he figured out a way to get around Shouta’s quirk. That would explain why it looked like he was anticipating everything thrown at him. 

Entropy was talking again, having a conversation with the blue haired guy while dancing around all his attacks. Purple mist suddenly obscured Shouta’s vision and he scowled. In his distraction, he’d stopped paying attention to the warper.

As he got warped who-knows-where, all he could think was how much he hoped Nezu was coming soon. That kid wouldn’t be able to hold out on his own.

Chapter Text

Izuku was in a lot of pain. His arms felt prickly, almost, like he was losing feeling in his fingers, and stinging pain was coursing through his upper arm. He was relatively sure his right arm was dislocated, which was extremely uncomfortable. His neck was sore from the Nomu Thing trying to choke him, his cheek was bleeding from when the Nomu Thing pressed his face into the concrete, several of his ribs were broken from when the Nomu Thing chucked him across the courtyard, and he was relatively sure one of his ribs had punctured his lung. Breathing was getting difficult.

Oh, and now Crusty Boy had slapped a painful handprint into his back.

He was not doing well.

He staggered a few steps and Crusty Boy caught his wrist, five fingers pressing down into his skin. In retaliation he smacked Crusty Boy across the face with his free arm, gritting his teeth as pain shot into his shoulder. 

Crusty Boy made another attempt to touch him and, in his rush to get out of the way, Izuku fell to the ground, gasping as he landed on broken ribs. 

Thankfully All Might chose this moment to make an appearance, slamming the doors to USJ open with so much force that Izuku could feel the blast and laughing maniacally.

 Crusty Boy scowled upward and then grinned. “Ah, finally!”

“I hope you’re aware,” Izuku coughed, “that your purple monster thing is dead.”

“Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri said, suddenly appearing next to them, clutching his shoulder, which was still dripping blood. “I believe we should depart.”

All Might started throwing away villains in the courtyard, grinning. Izuku didn’t understand why All Might smiled all the time any more. Why was he smiling when everything was wrong with the world? Why would he use his smile to make people think everything was okay when it wasn’t? What else was he hiding…?

Pouting like a little kid, Crusty Boy-- Shigaraki-- nodded and turned to go.

Izuku wondered vaguely where Eraserhead was.

“You,” Shigaraki said, pausing to scowl at Izuku. He glanced at Kurogiri. “Let’s…”

“Yes, Shigaraki Tomura,” Kurogiri answered. His purple mist expanded and surrounded Shigaraki and the purple monster, and then, to Izuku’s horror, a section of it spread towards him and wrapped around him. 

“No…” he groaned, trying to roll out of the way. His ribs protested and he flopped weakly onto his back again. 

The mist clouded his vision and he closed his eyes as he felt a sickening warping sensation, focusing on not throwing up. The sounds of USJ suddenly disappeared and Izuku groaned, opening his eyes again. “Fuck.” They were in what looked like a bar, with dim lighting and dark wood floors. At this point, Izuku was too tired to move, and he was losing blood faster than he would have liked to admit.

“Sensei,” Shigaraki snapped, taking off one of the hands on his arms and flinging it across the room. “Entropy just killed Nomu.”

“Impressive,” came an amused sounding voice. Izuku felt the hairs on the back of his neck prick up. That was not a nice voice.

“He ruined all our plans.”

“I see that.”

“Can I kill him?”

“Can you think of anything better to do with him?”

Shigaraki thought for a moment as Kurogiri disappeared again. By the time Kurogiri returned, arms full of bandages, Shigaraki seemed to have come up with another idea. “Turn him into a nomu,” he suggested.

Well that sounded awful. Izuku coughed and struggled to sit up, gasping when the world tilted a little. “If you don’t mind,” he said through gritted teeth, “I’d prefer you drop me off at the nearest hospital.”

Kurogiri crouched down next to Izuku and started to wrap a bandage around his torso. Izuku swatted at him, trying to get him to go away. He pulled back, holding the bandages pointedly over several spots on Izuku’s body that needed medical attention. 

“Hospital,” Izuku repeated.

“No,” the voice said from who-knows-where. “Can you think of nothing else to do with him?”

“I know what you want me to say and I don’t want to do that,” Shigaraki said, crossing his arms in a pout.

“Very well. Kurogiri, bring the boy to me.”

Before Izuku could so much as say a word of protest, he was enveloped in purple mist again and dropped rather unceremoniously in a room so dark it took his eyes almost thirty seconds to adjust. It was lit by a computer screen across the room, and filled with the sound of a heart monitor beeping.

Izuku didn’t like this at all. When he’d mentally run through scenarios of how USJ could end up going, he hadn’t considered this as an option. He didn’t have a plan for it, and he honestly didn’t know what was going on anymore. Kurogiri disappeared.

“Come here, boy,” came the eerie voice from somewhere by the heart monitor.

“No thank you,” Izuku said, climbing slowly to his feet and biting back several winces as pain coursed through his body. 

“I said, come here.”

“I heard you the first time,” Izuku said, starting to look for a way out. “I’m still not going to--”

He felt a strange sensation, like something was grabbing the back of his shirt, and he was yanked backwards across the room. He was stopped just before hitting a hospital bed, shirt holding him rather unceremoniously in place by the arms. 

“I said,” the voice cooed again, this time uncomfortably close, “come here.”

Izuku’s eyes trailed up the body and fell on the face of the speaker.

This time he almost did throw up. 

Shouta was tired. He’d been fighting for what felt like an hour, although it was probably more like ten minutes, and now he was in a pool of water, fighting off a bunch of water-quirked villains. He had eighteen-- now nineteen kids to protect and not enough energy to do it.

He really should have had another cup of coffee this morning. 

Erasing someone’s tentacle quirk, he started swimming for the surface, lungs screaming. Someone else grabbed his ankle and he glared at them, kicking them away when they faltered at their missing quirk. 

His head broke the surface of the water and he gasped for breath, shooting a strand of his scarf to the ship. It wrapped perfectly around the railing and he yanked himself out of the water, flying straight into the wall of the cabin. Coughing up water, he started climbing around the ship, looking for some way back to shore.

All Might appeared at the front with his signature booming laugh, and he felt himself relax slightly. As blundering as the man could be in class, he was a good hero, with an effective quirk. Entropy was going to be fine.

The boat Shouta was on started to sink and he climbed to the highest point he could, looking for something, anything solid to shoot his scarf to. He was still looking, cursing how barren the USJ rescue zones were, when something grabbed him by the collar of his neck and flew through the air holding him. He turned to erase the quirk of whoever it was and stopped short when he realized it was All Might.

He’d managed to deescalate the situation that quickly?

“He ran,” All Might explained, doing an extremely dramatic superhero landing that had Shouta fighting the urge to roll his eyes. He set Shouta down. “The one with the hands and the purple one disappeared, taking the big purple monster and the green kid with them.”

“They took Entropy?” Shouta asked sharply, feeling panic start to rise in his chest. Not the kid. They can’t have taken the kid.

“I didn’t get to them fast enough,” he said, sounding somewhere between angry and sad. But he was still smiling. It was annoying. Some things couldn’t be smiled through.

“They took Entropy,” Shouta repeated, angry. “You let them take Entropy.”

Smile finally dropping, All Might gave him a helpless look. “Even I can’t save everyone,” he said, defeated.

Fighting the urge to punch him, or scream at him, or do anything at all, Shouta turned away, pursing his lips together. There was a teenager somewhere out there in the hands of two villains who undoubtedly had a grudge on him now. He was half-dead and alone. Because Shouta hadn’t been strong enough, because All Might hadn’t been fast enough, because Nezu hadn’t been smart enough. Shouta hated this part of being a hero, that feeling he got when he wasn’t good enough. He had to do better.

All Might turned, smile plastered on again. “I will get rid of the rest of the villains! You, find the EMT and look after your students!” 

“Check all the rescue zones,” Shouta called after him as he bounded off. He started walking to the front, rolling out his shoulders and checking himself over for injuries. As far as fights went, he’d done pretty well during that one.

If only he hadn’t lost the kid.

Katsuki wasn’t sure what he was supposed to do now. The police were here, a lot of pro heroes were swarming everywhere, and everyone was talking about Deku, or, as they called him, “the green kid.” People were asking where he was, who he was, how they could follow up, because apparently the stupid nerd had gotten himself kidnapped. 

Katsuki knew a lot of the answers to their questions. But if he spoke out about it, if he told them about it, then they would ask him how he knew Deku. And if he told them that… 

Two students in Aizawa’s class had already been expelled. Katsuki really didn’t want to be the third.

Tsukauchi Naomasa was a man who had seen a lot in his time. He’d seen many villain fights, he’d seen many hostage situations, he’d seen too many kidnappings to count. That didn’t make this any easier. 

Aizawa had left the building a few minutes ago, looking absolutely dejected, with the news that Entropy had been taken, beaten and bloody, to wherever the villains had warped to. Naomasa had already requested a nation-wide manhunt, but this was a mess. Aizawa was barely keeping himself together, All Might was still fighting villains in USJ, and the students were panicking.

“What happened?” he asked Aizawa as soon as the man had a minute. Nezu walked over, eyes sharp and curious.

“Villains warped in. I’d assume Entropy figured out some way to get warped in with them, because he knocked out the warper, Kurogiri, from behind while I engaged some villains in the front. The guy with all the hands, Shigaraki Tomura, ordered this big purple monster thing to attack Entropy and I had my hands full…” Naomasa had never seen Aizawa look this distressed or guilty in his life. “The monster started hitting the kid, and I don’t know how he did it, but Entropy somehow managed to stick a knife in its brain. I would guess that killed it. Entropy started fighting Shigaraki, and then I got warped away. I don’t know what happened after that, I would ask All Might.”

He looked exhausted.

“Do you have anything more regarding his identity?”

Aizawa shook his head, looking more miserable. “No. But I don’t think his quirk is quirk negation anymore, because Shigaraki disintegrated a hole in his back.”

“Fuck.”

“Tsukauchi-san…” Aizawa said dejectedly. “I think we’re going to have to accept that this kid isn’t coming back.”

“Do you have something to say, Kirishima-kun?” Nezu said abruptly, sharp eyes looking at something behind Naomasa. He turned to look and saw a kid with bright red hair standing hesitantly a few feet away.

“Yes,” Kirishima said, glancing away and then back. “It’s just, everyone’s asking who the green kid is? Bakugou-kun knows him.”

Truth.

Naomasa's eyebrows shot up. “Why do you think that?”

“Because he said so. He called him ‘stupid Deku,’ like he was someone he knew really well.”

Deku. Naomasa had heard that name once before, and he’d thought the villain was misunderstanding the question, or had Entropy mistaken for someone else. But maybe Entropy had multiple names he went under, a million things people called him. But why ‘Deku’ of all things?

He glanced at Nezu who was looking curiously around in search of Bakugou. Aizawa frowned. “Why wouldn’t he say anything? Bakugou-kun’s always been stubborn, but he wants to be a hero, so why would he hide this?”

“He’s over there,” Nezu said, pointing a paw. “Why don’t we ask him?”

Aizawa raised a hand and beckoned Bakugou over.

The kid didn’t look particularly nice. He had a huge scowl on his face and he looked like there was nothing in the world he would hate doing more than coming over to talk to the three of them. “Tch, what?” he demanded as he came up.

“Got somewhere else to be?” Naomasa asked dryly.

Bakugou glared at him.

“So how do you know the green kid?” Aizawa asked.

The change that came over Bakugou’s expression would have been hilarious in any other circumstance. His skin turned ashen and then bright red and he looked somewhere between shocked and angry. And then in a second, all that was gone again, replaced by his scowl. “I don’t.”

Lie.

“You called him ‘Deku,’” Aizawa said.

“I thought he was someone else.”

Lie.

Aizawa glanced at Naomasa for confirmation and he shook his head. The kid was lying through his teeth. “You’re lying,” Aizawa said, turning back to Bakugou. “Do you know his name?”

Bakugou hesitated, wavering in place. Then, scowling harder, if that was even possible, he nodded. “We grew up together,” he said slowly. “His name is Midoriya Izuku.”

Truth.

Nezu grinned. “I knew it.”

Truth.

Naomasa rounded on him. “You knew ?”

“He got recommended to U.A. this semester. Anyone who’s ever been in the same room as the kid would probably recognize him. He’s exceptionally intelligent.”

“Wait a second,” Naomasa said, feeling slightly overwhelmed. “This semester? Are you suggesting that Entropy started being a vigilante as a middle schooler?”

“He did!” Nezu said,grinning with delight. 

“Why?” Naomasa asked, completely baffled. Most vigilantes started just after failing entrance exams. Almost all of them had some sort of hero training. So why would a middle schooler with no professional training at all decide to be a vigilante?

“I would assume it has something to do with his quirk status,” Nezu said lightly.

“What’s his quirk?” Aizawa asked.

Bakugou scoffed. “He doesn’t have one, stupid.”

Both Naomasa and Aizawa stared at him while Nezu nodded cheerfully.

“No…” Aizawa said.

Chapter Text

The man in front of Izuku didn’t have a face. Or he had one, but it looked like skin had melted over his forehead and eyes and hardened there, so the only thing remotely intact was his mouth, which was curled up cruelly, revealing a set of perfect teeth. 

“What is your name, boy?” the man said, words coming in a silky, vaguely menacing voice.

“Midoriya Izuku,” he murmured, still in total shock, heart beating faster than should be physically possible.

His shirt released and he took a half step back, not going any further. He couldn’t take his eyes off the man, now that he was looking at him.

“Midoriya Izuku…” the voice purred. “What is your quirk?”

“I’m quirkless,” Izuku said shortly, anger over discrimination overstepping his fear for a moment.

That seemed to amuse the villain, whose lip curled up even further at the news. “Of course you are,” he sighed. “How interesting.”

The man lifted a hand and Izuku stared in shock as it reached out toward him, only taking a step away as he realized the guy was trying to touch his hand. “My arms are broken.”

“I am aware. Hold still.”

His shirt tightened again and he struggled weakly against it, trying to get away . The man’s hand finished its journey through space and brushed against Izuku’s arm.

Izuku gasped in pain as he felt his bones snap back into place all at once, his skin regrow on his wrist and back, his bruises disappear. And then all the pain flooded away and he felt a strange sense of relief as his body continued on, perfectly healed. 

What the hell is this guy’s quirk?

“Um…”

“How would you feel about joining us?” the man said, hand withdrawing.

“Why on earth would I do that?”

“I assume you hate heroes?”

Izuku frowned, flexing his hands as he looked for an escape. “I don’t hate them.” Strongly disliked them now, maybe, but it wasn’t hate.

“You will, though. You’ll understand. And when you do, I ask that you come back. We have the resources to further your goals, and I believe you have a bit more… direction than Tomura. You would be useful to me.”

Izuku snapped his attention back to the man, eyebrows furrowing in confusion. This was not how he expected this conversation to go at all. He’d expected some torture, some mutilation, and some evil cackling, not this. Was he actually… “Are you letting me go?”

“Yes,” the man said simply. He flipped a switch to his right. “Kurogiri?” he said into a microphone.

Kurogiri appeared again in a cloud of purple mist and the man flipped the switch off again. 

“Take this young man back to wherever you got him from, will you?”

Kurogiri turned his glowing yellow eyes on Izuku. “Where did you come from?” he asked politely.

“U-um…” Izuku’s mind scrambled for somewhere to get Kurogiri to send him that wouldn’t implicate Dabi. “Just get me somewhere close to Aldera…” he said. That was far enough from home he would be safe, and very far away from Dabi.

Purple tendrils reached out and the pressure changed in the room. As his vision swam with purple, he felt a sickening warping sensation. The purple disappeared and he looked around. He was right in front of the gates of Aldera. The villain and the warper were nowhere to be found. It almost felt like all that was nothing but a terrible dream.

He screamed a little and started brushing himself off, trying to get clean of whatever just happened. He checked over his bones and his skin and his ribs. Perfectly fine. Maybe even better than they had been before. He screamed again, dragging his hands through his hair. He was lucky to still be in one piece. That was the last time he was going to go meddling in UA’s business, for sure. He wasn’t a fan of dying. 

Gasping for air again, he recollected himself and started home. If he was lucky, he could get there before his mom realized anything was wrong… 

Inko could handle a lot of shit in her life. She had handled a lot of shit already, and she knew he could take a lot more. But having an entire police squad show up at her house in the middle of the day was pushing it. 

The man who knocked on the door, who introduced himself as Tsukauchi Naomasa, took off his hat and she almost screamed because if he was doing that, that meant Izuku-- Izuku had died? Izuku had-- what, where was Izuku?

“Can I help you?” she asked, voice wobbling slightly.

“Are you Midoriya Inko?” 

She nodded, holding onto the door tightly. At this point, it was the only thing holding her up.

“We had a few questions.”

“S-sure.” 

“Can we come in?”

“Do you have a warrant?”

He smiled a little. “No, ma’am. We can continue this conversation here, if you prefer.”

She nodded. Izuku would probably tell her not to let them into the house. 

“Is your son home?”

She opened her mouth, hesitating as she searched for the right words. No, he wasn’t home, but he’d be back soon? Yes, he was asleep? The first one would be bad if Izuku decided to sneak in through the window, the second would be bad if he came up from the front… But maybe the second one would be better because she could pretend she hadn’t known he’d gone out? But if this was the human polygraph person Izuku was talking about… 

“Mom? What’s going on?” came Izuku’s voice from behind her, sounding exceptionally confused. 

Inko jumped a little, because he definitely hadn’t been in the house before this conversation.  Then it hit her that it was Izuku speaking, which meant he was alive and fine, and everything was fine. She could have cried. He wasn’t dead, first of all, and second, he was saving her from what would most likely be a painful conversation with the police.

Tsukauchi stared at him over her shoulder with wide eyes, looking like a fish out of water. “Oh, you…”

Izuku came to the door. He was wearing a black hoodie with the sleeves pushed up to his elbows, looking nothing like he did when he was in costume. And he was perfectly fine.

“Your arms aren’t broken,” Tsukauchi said, staring at him in shock.

Izuku frowned. “Should they be?”

“You… are you Entropy?”

He looked very confused now. Inko tried to match his expression. “Who?”

Someone in the hallway cackled and Izuku’s expression changed to one of anticipation, and in a way, excitement. “Is that Nezu-san?”

“I don’t know how you did this, Midoriya-kun,” came a highly amused voice from knee height. Inko looked down and saw a white animal, looking a bit like a tiny bear in a suit. “But I am very impressed. Are you sure you don’t want to come to UA?”

Izuku smiled at him like the two of them shared a secret. “Very sure, sir.”

“Are you a vigilante?” Tsukauchi asked, looking bewildered. 

Izuku looked him dead in the eye and smiled sweetly. “No.”

Nezu started cackling again. 

“Can we help you with something?” Inko asked again, deciding now was a good time to step in. Izuku sent her a grateful look.

“No--no, sorry,” Tsukauchi said, bowing a little. “I think we made a mistake. My apologies.”

“That’s fine, have a good day!”

“Of course, and you as well.”

Inko nodded and pulled back, closing the door with a smile. She immediately turned to Izuku, hands on her hips. “You broke your arms?” she growled.

He nodded. “Both of them, in multiple places. Also four ribs, I think, and one of those ribs punctured my lung.”

Inko shook her head. “We’re going to the hospital.”

He shook his head right back, holding his arms out so she could see them. They looked perfectly fine, not even bruised. “We don’t need to. Someone healed me. One of the villains.”

“Reiki-san?” she asked. Every day she reminded herself how grateful she was that Izuku had made friends with that girl.

He shook her head. “Someone else. I didn’t know him.”

“Then we’re still going to the hospital,” she said, adamant. “I don’t trust some random villain’s quirk.”

He gave in, nodding. “Okay.”

Sighing in relief, Inko stepped forward and wrapped him in a hug. “Let’s not do this again, okay? Please tell me where you're going.”

He nodded into her shoulder. “Okay. Sorry, yeah. I almost…” He didn’t finish the sentence, but Inko didn’t need him to. He almost died. And she wouldn’t have known about it.

“Just please tell me where you’re going,” she repeated. 

“Okay,” he whispered.

They stayed like that for maybe longer than Izuku felt comfortable with, but he seemed to understand that she needed to be close to him right now. Finally, she pulled away. “Hospital,” she said firmly. 

He nodded. “Hospital.”

“You let him go?” Tomura shrieked. It had been a while since he’d last raised his voice at Sensei, years, even, but this was a dire circumstance. It had taken a lot of effort to kidnap that annoying green kid. And now all that effort was wasted because Sensei had for some reason decided it would be a good idea to let the kid go. 

“I did,” Sensei said, and his voice was annoyingly smooth.

“Why would you do that? I worked hard to bring him here!”

“Tomura-kun,” Sensei said in that condescending tone of his. “Do you not trust me? Do you not think I know what I’m doing?”

“I trust you,” he said, scowling. That didn't make this any less annoying.

“I’m making the right decisions for us,” Sensei said. “That boy will be much more useful to our cause if he’s alive and out and about, I can promise you that.”

“But he’s annoying,” Tomura whined.

“He is,” Sensei agreed. “But remember he’s annoying to both us and the heroes. He’s helping us, even though he doesn’t realize it.”

Tomura could admit that was true, yes.

“And you can do whatever you want with him as soon as we get him to help us,” Sensei continued soothingly. “He’s essential to the plan. Patience is important at this time.”

“But when we’re done with him, then I can destroy him along with everything else?” Tomura asked.

Sensei smiled and Tomura felt himself relax a little. That smile meant everything was still going according to plan. It meant nothing was wrong. For him, it meant safety.

“Of course, Tomura-kun.”

Tomura felt a grin creep across his face.

Many students had come and gone from UA high school during Nezu’s time, but he had never met anyone who he wanted to train more than Midoriya Izuku. He was quirkless, yet the most determined person Nezu had ever met, with probably one of the sharpest minds of his generation, and an eye for quirks. He was smart, he knew how to fight, and he was, incredibly, mostly self-trained. He had confidence, he had skill, he had resources.

How had he done it? Aizawa had insisted he had broken both his arms and All Might insisted he had been kidnapped by the villains, and yet he came to the door of his house, completely intact and unkidnapped. His mother was clearly relieved to see him, so he most likely hadn’t been home all morning. He was so obviously Entropy it was ridiculous, and yet there was no way to prove it. 

“I feel stupid,” Tsukauchi said bitterly. He was driving back to UA, Nezu in the seat next to him. 

Nezu threw him a curious look. “Why?”

“Can’t believe I thought for a minute that someone quirkless could be one of the most wanted vigilantes in Japan.”

Nezu shook his head. Humans were so naturally judgmental. It was tiring, dealing with all their hatred. “I’m stepping out of this case,” he said. 

Tsukauchi slammed on the brakes. “Why?” he said, staring. 

“Because Midoriya Izuku is Entropy. The case has been solved. Now all that needs to happen is for you to catch him.” 

Tsukauchi looked concerned. “Nezu-san, I have great respect for your mind, but that little kid clearly isn’t Entropy. He’s quirkless, his arms are perfectly fine, and he was at home. It’s impossible for him to have cleaned up that quickly.”

Someone honked and Tsukauchi started driving again, waving a hand over his shoulder apologetically.

“And he said he wasn’t a vigilante. He wasn’t lying.”

That was easily explainable. Midoriya by all accounts wasn’t a vigilante. He was quirkless, and anyone who’d read the law would know that a vigilante as defined by the law was a person who used their quirk to engage in heroics without a license. Midoriya didn’t fit in that, because he didn’t use a quirk. Nezu didn’t want to explain all this, and he wanted to see where Midoriya would go next. It didn’t seem like Tsukauchi would listen if he did say anything anyway. 

He sighed. “I’m stepping out of the case. When you rediscover that he is, in fact, Entropy, then you can come back to me, and I’ll help you.”

Tsukauchi frowned. “And if we prove that he isn’t?”

Nezu smiled. “You won’t.”

Chapter Text

After some deliberation, Izuku decided to wait a day or so before going out as Entropy again.  He figured that wasn’t a good idea, especially since the police had somehow figured out Midoriya Izuku was a contender for being a vigilante. Izuku didn’t think Nezu had ratted him out, so they had to have figured it out some other way. Katsuki maybe? He didn’t know. But he didn’t think it was a good idea to show up with two working arms the day that Midoriya Izuku had been seen with two working arms. A little time was needed between those things, enough time that Entropy could feasibly have escaped and found a way to get himself healed. A few days for Entropy to recover before he got back in the game. 

He told his mother and she seemed relieved that he was stepping back from it all, even if it was just for a few days. As it was, he was relieved too. He had a lot to do, and trying to be Entropy while figuring it all out was going to be a bit too much for him. He needed to do research into that purple thing and he wanted to find out who the creepy man was and he had to find out more about this League of Villains. And in the meantime he wanted to see the first year Sports Festival. He was curious about the people he would have been classmates with if he hadn’t rejected his acceptance to UA. He wanted to know how competent they really were. And he wanted to see Todoroki Shouto again, to make sure he was still doing okay with… Endeavour.

But the Sports Festival wasn’t for a while, so he contented himself with research for now.

The League of Villains was headed by a shadowy figure, presumably the person Izuku had met. Izuku hadn’t been able to find anything on him, except rumors of someone who could take people’s quirks, which made sense in context. Izuku suspected he wouldn’t be able to find anything else on him unless he hacked into the police network, which he was trying not to do since Entropy was supposed to have two broken arms and a punctured lung right now.

The purple monster thing had no information on it at all. There was no record of anything like that in history, and no scientific journals of any kind on the subject. Izuku had no idea what that thing was. He assumed he’d killed it, by stabbing it in the brain, which was horrible. 

He was shocked by how little he cared. It didn’t feel like something human he killed, it didn’t even feel like an animal. It felt more like a robot. And it wasn’t like he’d had blood on him from it or anything. All the blood he’d had on him was his own. But… did that count as a first kill? That was kind of a gross thought… 

Moving on!

There was nothing else to be found on the League of Villains, beyond what Izuku already knew.

So all that was a waste of five hours.

Seething, he snapped his laptop shut and curled up in bed, about ready to go to sleep and die there.

His phone rang.

Sighing heavily, he reached over and patted around for it, curling his fingers around it when he finally found it. He squinted at the screen. Stain? Why, though?

He answered it. “What.”

“Your face is on the news,” Stain said casually.

“I am well aware,” Izuku said, grabbing his pillow and smashing it over his face.

“Did you see what they’re saying? Teenage vigilante kidnapped by the League of Villains.”

“Well, I’m perfectly unkidnapped.”

“I can hear that, yes.”

“Why are you bothering me?”

“I was worried about you.”

“Ugh, gross.”

“I’m thinking about going to Hosu.”

Izuku sat up, rubbing his forehead. Stain was going to move away? “Why?”

“Well you clearly don’t need me anymore,” he said drily. “And I think it’s time I started branching out again.”

“Mm…” Izuku didn’t really have anything to say to that. His views on Stain’s methods were already perfectly clear between them. “Why Hosu?”

“Stingdrop, Native, Ingenium, Talisman--”

“Ingenium?” Izuku asked, leaning his head against the wall. That wouldn’t be a hero he would add to the list.

“Big agency, nepotism…”

“Hmm. I’m not sure about that one.”

“I didn’t ask for your opinion.”

“Thanks.”

“Anyway, I thought I’d let you know,” he said lightly.

“Okay.”

“The League of Villains contacted me.”

Oh, shit. If Stain decided to team up with the League of Villains… “No. They kidnapped me and they have a really scary leader. Don’t get on their bad side, and definitely don’t get on their good side.”

“I’m going to see what they have to offer.”

“Don’t, Stain.”

“I’m going to.”

“Stain.”

“Bye, Deku.”

“Stain!”

“Talk to you later.”

Izuku sighed. “Bye. Be careful.”

“Sure.”

He hung up.

With a heavy groan, Izuku turned and buried his face in his pillow again. This was not a good couple days he was having here. This sucked. 

There was a knock on the front door and Izuku nearly screeched into his pillow because why was everyone bothering him at this godforsaken hour of the afternoon? All he wanted was peace.

He heard his mother answer the door and, grumbling to himself, he rolled over, pulling his pillow over his head so he didn’t have to listen to whatever was happening over there. He’d almost died several times this morning, and now all he wanted was to sleep, forget, and never leave his house again. The world was too horrible for him to look at right now. What would it take to get some real change around here? Some good?

There was a knock on his door and Izuku sighed, flinging his pillow at the foot of his bed. “What?” he said shortly.

“Que?” Reiki said and Izuku shot out of bed to answer the door. 

“You’re here!” he said, hugging her immediately.

She snorted, patting his head. She caught his bare wrist with one hand and Izuku knew she was doing a check for injuries. He didn’t have any, though-- even the hospital had said there was nothing wrong with him-- and she dropped his arm a second later. “Glad to see you’re alive. Think about calling next time, okay?”

He scowled. “I got caught up in some stuff.”

“Like…”

“Ugh.” He let her into his room, rubbing his forehead tiredly. “Do you know anything about the League of Villains?”

She  made a face. “Yeah, they’re all over the news.”

“I mean, beyond the fact that they kidnapped me.”

“I hadn’t heard of them until this morning…”

“Well I can’t find anything on them either,” he said, plopping down on his bed and tucking his legs up in front of him. “They have some scary villain as their head and then there’s Shigaraki, the puppet ruler, and that’s all I’ve got. I don’t like not knowing things.”

Reiki looked unsympathetic.

“What?” he asked at her judgmental look.

“Imagine what it feels like to not know things,” she said dryly and he saw what this was about now. “Imagine what it feels like to not know if this fifteen year old you recommended for the UA entrance exam--”

“I get it, I get it,” he said.

“Could you please call next time?” she asked, voice cracking a little. She cleared her throat. “I thought you’d died, Deku. Entropy was all over the news and he had been taken by this huge villain organization and I didn’t hear anything from you. When I knocked on the door I thought I was going to have to apologize for your death to your mother. Call me.”

Izuku frowned. “I was fine.”

“Deku, please.”

He waved her off. “I’m not going to do anything like that again anyway.”

“ Please .”

He sighed. “Okay.” And sue him but he’d never had anyone who cared about him enough to want to know if he was all right before. He’d never had someone to call, other than his mom. So he honestly hadn’t thought it was important to call Reiki. But he wouldn’t make that mistake again. Izuku knew he could trust Reiki. And that meant he could tell her about something else that was bugging him, something he wouldn’t tell his mother even if the world was ending.

“Reiki,” he whispered. “I think I killed something.”

Her eyes widened. “Oh no.”

“It was this big purple monster thing and I don’t know what it was but it had a brain that looked human, Reiki, and I stabbed it several times. What did I kill?”

“Why did you kill it?” she countered.

“Because it was killing me, and I couldn’t do anything to hurt it…”

“Then I think it’s fair.”

“I don’t care if it’s fair!” he whisper-shrieked. He really didn’t want his mom to know about this. “I don’t care if it’s fair, because I killed it and I don’t even know what it was! What if that was a person…”

“Midoriya…” Reiki stepped forward and put both hands on his shoulders so he had to look at her. “In a life or death situation like that, I know that you tend to make the right decisions. So if you’re adrenaline-addled brain thought it was a good idea to kill a big purple monster thing, then it was probably right. You’re smart enough for that.”

“But--”

There was another knock on the front door, a very aggressive knock and Izuku made a loud, mostly incoherent expression of his exasperation. He was sick of visitors and based on the quality of that knock, he knew exactly who this was. Gritting his teeth together, he stormed out of his room and pulled the front door open.

“Bakugou Katsuki,” he said, glaring. “Get out of my apartment building. Out.”

Katsuki stared at him like he was looking at a ghost. 

“I don’t know why you’re here, asshole, but you can leave now, bye.”

“Izuku!” Mom admonished. Her tone was somewhat drowned out by Reiki’s stifled snickering.

“Bye,” Izuku repeated.

“You’re alive?”

“Bye.” He shut the door.

“Deku you piece of shit!” came Kacchan’s muffled voice through the door. Izuku turned away, brushing off his hands. 

“Screw it,” he said, locking eyes with Reiki. “I’d do it again.”

She knew what he was talking about.

--

Several days passed without any word of Entropy and then somehow he showed up again. Naomasa couldn’t believe it. He appeared on the streets, stopped a drug battle single handedly, and then disappeared again. Naomasa wanted to believe he was holding his arms a little stiffly, but it was hard to tell. He couldn't see his torso under the swaths of green hoodie, so he couldn't find any bruising, and Entropy didn’t stay long enough to chat.

His method of dealing with the drug war was honestly impressive. He dropped out of nowhere into the middle of the war, gave each side a scolding and then walked away. Something about that was enough to make both sides stop fighting. They ran, so Naomasa hadn’t been able to detain as many as he would have liked, but the end of the battle was enough for him.

The real question was how was Entropy okay again? He would have had to escape the League of Villains single handedly, which was somehow impressive and terrifying at the same time. And then he’d healed his arms somehow… He’d taken a couple days of recovery time, so maybe that was his quirk? Maybe he had regenerative healing. That would explain a lot about him.

Nezu was still convinced he was Midoriya Izuku, but Naomasa couldn’t believe it. There was no way a quirkless person was Entropy, and he felt stupid for thinking that might be possible. A quirkless person couldn’t have escaped from the League of Villains and healed both his arms within an hour of the original fight. Not even Midoriya Izuku, a de facto UA student, would be talented enough for that.

So Naomasa was stuck again. He didn’t know who Entropy was, and he didn’t know where Stain had gone, and somehow villains were getting free medical assistance and Naomasa didn’t know who any of these people were. This was exhausting. 

It was only a matter of time before he caught Entropy, though. He knew that for certain.

Chapter Text

Izuku had been making a habit of watching the UA Sports Festival every year. He’d never managed to go in person before-- tickets could get crazy expensive-- but even though he couldn’t get into the actual event, he would watch it from home on the tv. This year, though, he wanted to be live and in person, especially after all the danger the first years had been put in in USJ. He wanted to see if they’d grown at all from that experience, even if they hadn’t really been in any mortal danger. He’d saved up for this. He was ready.

He stood outside the doors to the first year stadium, looking at the top of it, way high in the sky. His nose wrinkled up. It was an incredible stadium, and yet he kind of hated it. He’d wanted to go here, and the stupid quirkism of all the judges had been the only thing keeping him from it. He wasn’t mad about his decision, but he still wished there was a way for him to be accepted into society as he was.

With a little sigh, he started into the stadium.

His seat wasn’t fantastic but he’d at least made sure to get one that he would be able to see well in. He sat down and waited for the games to begin.

The Sports Festival as a concept, Izuku realized while he was sitting there, was actually really horrible. Flashing heroes’ quirks around before they were even out of high school, showing off their weaknesses. He supposed it was fine for the first years, who hadn’t learned anything yet, but continuing to do it through third year was just plain stupid. Third years already had more than adequate connections in the real world, thanks to the internship and work study programs implemented into UA’s curriculum. And if the third years were about to go into hero society, then they’d already obtained most of their style, which they'd keep for years and years. They'd already started forming habits. Watching the third year sports festival would be great preparation for villains to go against them in the field. 

Izuku was here for exactly that reason, although he wasn’t a villain-- or he didn’t think of himself as one. Someone else might. Tsukauchi probably did. But Izuku was here to glean as much information about these kids as he possibly could, partially because they’d were now potential targets for Shigaraki, like murder fodder, and partially because Katsuki and Endeavour’s kid were in their class and he wanted to see how they were both doing. Plus he was curious about what his classmates would have been like if he’d made it into UA. And on top of all that, he was tired of using his fists to solve problems. He wanted to start using his head again. He’d missed it, a little.

The Sports Festival began.

Katsuki gave a really bad opening speech that immediately made his entire class targets. Izuku would have laughed, if he wasn’t so worried about the rest of the class now. Katsuki making himself a target was one thing. Dragging everyone else down with him was more his style, but it was really annoying.

The first task was interesting enough to watch, and Izuku had almost half a notebook of quirk notes by the end of it. Katsuki lost the first game by a hair to Todoroki and was now pouting in the middle of the field. By pouting, Izuku meant he was screaming his head off. Izuku honestly hoped he got disqualified. That would be hilarious and might teach him a lesson. Some other people from the first task were good too-- the girl with the anti-gravity quirk was very talented, and Yaoyorozu from the entrance exam was good too. The last person who caught Izuku’s eye was someone from the support course who he’d never seen before. Hatsume Mei. He decided to keep an eye on her through the next task because if she’d really made all those inventions herself, well. Izuku was intrigued.

The second task was boring mostly because it just consisted of Katsuki getting carried around while screaming his head off at Todoroki, and failing multiple times to get the million pointer. Todoroki won. Katsuki’s team was eliminated, and Hatsume Mei went on to the next round.

Izuku was definitely very interested in her work now. Her inventions were efficient, seemed to work well, even if they were a little bulky, and showed an insane creative streak he hadn’t seen in anyone except, well, Nezu. She was like a human sized Nezu. She seemed to live for her craft, and radiated mad inventor vibes. Izuku got the feeling that she lived to create, and maybe, just maybe, she’d be willing to do that for someone morally grey right alongside the heroes.

There was a break between that task and the next, which Izuku waited out by using his phone to dig up everything he possibly could on the Hatsume family. There wasn’t much. They sat in obscurity, a middle class family. Izuku had no idea where their child had gotten her love for inventing from, but he was so very grateful to them for bringing such an incredible human being into the world.

The one-on-ones started. The purple-haired 1-C kid caught Izuku’s eye, and he watched him carefully, squinting to figure out his quirk. He guessed brainwash, which was really interesting. He wondered what the ramifications of having a quirk like that in society were. He guessed the world didn’t take too well to a quirk that could take over their minds. Izuku thought it was pretty freaking cool though.

Todoroki got pissed during his fight for some reason and blew up the arena with a wall of ice. Overkill. Izuku had to wonder what had him so on edge. 

The other fights were anticlimactic until Hatsume’s round against Iida which, again, was one of the most interesting things Izuku had ever seen at a UA Sports Festival. Izuku would honestly kill to meet her. She lost-- intentionally, though, and her marketing strategy must have worked because Izuku was already mentally trying to figure out how to get in contact with her.

He decided to use the next break between one-on-one fights as an opportunity to sneak underneath the stadium into the student-only area. 

It was painfully easy to get past the pro heroes acting as security, who honestly weren’t paying attention. They were busy discussing the matches and complaining about being unable to attend after the USJ attack. It probably helped too that Izuku was the size of UA students, and had the look of someone who had every right to be under the stadium. They didn’t look twice at him. He slipped right past them and started down into tunnels. He was curious-- he wanted to see some of Hatsume’s inventions in person, and he wouldn’t mind running into Todoroki Shouto either. The only people he really wanted to avoid were Katsuki and Iida, which so far he had managed quite easily.

He found Hatsume almost immediately. She was talking very excitedly to some poor management student who shot Izuku a relieved look when he interrupted. “Hatsume Mei?” 

Hatsume turned to fix her golden eyes on Izuku. The management student took her distraction as an opportunity to scurry away, disappearing around the corner.

“I haven’t seen you around before!” she said, voice rising in excitement. 

“I don’t go to UA,” he said casually, popping out a hip. “I just snuck in.”

“Impressive!” Hatsume said, nodding energetically. She took two steps forward and all the sudden she was right inside his personal space bubble, looking him up and down, like he was an interesting product to be examined. “What’s your quirk?”

For the first time in a long time, Izuku felt perfectly comfortable saying, “I’m quirkless.” Somehow he knew that would mean nothing but more excitement for Hatsume Mei.

He was right.

Her eyes widened into huge round orbs and she seized his shoulders. “Quirkless! That would mean-- that would mean as a hero you would have to rely only on support items! You would be solely independent on me!"

“That’s exactly what I was thinking,” he said, lips curling into a smile. He’d never been so excited to cause chaos in his life. Nezu was having more of an influence on his brain than he’d care to admit, and he’d only had a couple conversations with the rat.

“This is so interesting!” Hatsume shrieked, lifting one of his arms and running her hands along it, as if trying to figure out how strong he was. “You’re quirkless! And-- are you trying to be a hero?”

“Not really. I think a better word is vigilante, except legal.”

“Legal?”

“Well, it’s not illegal, because I’m quirkless,” he pointed out. “As long as I don’t use unnecessary violence, I’d be acting well within the limits of the law.”

Hatsume grinned, eyes flashing with mischievous energy. “That is even better. Now you don’t even have to be registered as a customer to my future agency. Tell me, do you want to try some of my babies?”

Izuku had been paying attention, he’d heard her refer to her inventions as babies. So he smiled coldly and answered, “Hatsume-san, I would love to try your babies.”

She beamed from ear to ear.

Izuku talked to her right through the next round of fights, paying close attention to everything she said. By the end of their long discussion, he’d essentially told her he would pay her cash money to create an upgraded bo, one that could do some serious damage. She’d said she’d be delighted to, and also told him she’d start working on other things he might be able to use. He asked for a dart gun, and she’d said yes immediately, not even pausing to consider if that was legal.

Izuku was pretty sure it was not legal, but he didn’t care at this point. The fight against Shigaraki would have ended in less than two seconds if he’d had a dart gun. For all the talk about how good quirks were in this world, people tended to forget that a close-range quirk would lose against a bullet ten times out of ten. So he needed to learn how to use guns. For efficiency reasons.

It took him a long time to extract himself from Hatsume’s clutches. He only managed it by giving her his e-mail and his phone number, which she took gladly. Izuku thought maybe Hatsume didn’t have many friends. She talked quickly, and the way she reacted to Izuku’s questions made him think that she hadn’t talked to many people who’d been able to keep up before. Izuku kept up and forwarded her ideas, adding onto them as they went. She seemed to appreciate having a second intelligent mind around just as much as Izuku did.

When he finally managed to get away from her, he started making his way up the stairs to get out of the tunnels of the stadium. Turning a corner, he almost ran straight into a burly chest with orange fire running across it… 

No. This could not be happening.

His eyes drifted upward and he had to suppress a wince as he met Endeavour’s scowling eyes.

“Quirkless,” Endeavour said like it was his name, and wow wasn’t that flattering that the one thing Endeavour had managed to remember about him was that he didn't have a quirk.

“Dickhead,” he responded immediately, too annoyed to think through all his words.

Endeavour didn’t seem to be used to being addressed like that, because the temperature of the room spiked. Izuku thought it was ironic that such a cold man could have such a hot quirk. “You’re not allowed down here.”

Izuku briefly ran through a mental list of tactics on how to deal with this situation, one of which involved punching Endeavour in the balls, and then eventually settled on playing into Endeavour’s stereotyping. If Endeavour wanted Izuku to be the weak, stupid quirkless kid, then fine. Izuku had spent the better half of his life so far pretending to be weak and stupid. He knew how everyone wanted him to act. 

Scrunching up his shoulders, he threw a pout at the ground. “I’m so sorry, I was looking for the bathroom and I took a couple wrong turns. No one stopped me coming in here, so I thought it was open for anyone…”

Endeavour bought it. Izuku’s temptation to hit him in the nuts only grew. “Stupid boy,” Endeavour said, shaking his head. “Get out of my sight.”

Resisting the urge to roll his eyes, Izuku bobbed his head up and down a few times. “Yes, sir. Sorry.”

Apparently Endeavour felt a primal urge to have the final word in every conversation, because as Izuku stepped past him, Endeavour said, “I knew you didn’t have what it took to be a hero. To think that someone quirkless could get almost as high a score as my masterpiece.”

It took Izuku a long second to figure out what Endeavour’s masterpiece was, but when he did, he whipped right around, eyes blazing. “Are you referring to your son?” he asked, voice colder than Endeavour’s soul. 

“My son. My creation. My masterpiece.”

Izuku had never been closer to starting a fight with a pro hero in his life. He was about ready to tackle Endeavour right here in the hallway. “Let me tell you something really fast,” Izuku said through gritted teeth. “Todoroki Shouto doesn’t belong to you. He isn’t you. He’s his own person. You don’t own him, and the only useful thing you’ll ever create in your life is motive for your own murder, so why don’t you shut the fuck up and let your son grow up without putting your exceptionally large nose in his business? You know, kids don’t do well with tons of pressure on their shoulders. It tends to make them break.”

Endeavour’s mouth opened and closed like a fish a few times, and Izuku could understand that, because his outer mood had just shifted from silly quirkless boy to murderer in a matter of seconds. And Dabi was going to hate him for adding this part on, but-- “Or don’t you remember what happened to Touya?”

Endeavour blanched, and Izuku turned around and continued walking, keeping his back as straight as possible until he was out of Endeavour’s line of sight. Then he collapsed against the wall, trying to regain his bearings a little. He’d just scolded a pro hero. He’d just scolded Endeavour, the Number Two Hero. 

It had been incredibly enjoyable. He kind of wanted to do that again.

Iida Tenya walked past Izuku, not even looking at him. His face was an ashen color and he was fully focused on the conversation he was having on his phone. “Mother, I ask you to please slow down!” he said, sounding extremely worried. “I don’t understand-- Is this something to do with Tensei-nii?”

Izuku froze. He'd forgotten about Stain… But, really? Already? And he'd chosen to do an Iida the night before the Sports Festival?

Oh no.

He got to his feet and slipped back out of the stadium tunnels. He sort of got the feeling that after the Endeavour fiasco, he wasn’t welcome at the Sports Festival anymore, so he walked home. He’d done what he wanted to accomplish. He’d spoken to Hatsume, had taken a full notebook’s worth of notes on the first years and also now potential support equipment for himself, and had yelled at Endeavour.

But Stain… What kind of timing was this? And Izuku still didn’t understand why Stain was targeting Ingenium anyway. It was almost like… it was almost like Stain was running out of corrupt heroes to kill, and so was just killing anyone he could reach. 

Izuku thought it might be around time to pay Stain a visit.

Chapter Text

Izuku’s week actually got pretty busy, so he didn’t have time to deal with Stain. Online school came crashing down on his shoulders hard . He’d started to lose track of time and school work with all the craziness in his life regarding Entropy and now he was paying for it. He spent the entire week getting ahead again, finishing all the assignments he had access to– even the ones that weren’t due for a long time, until he was so far ahead he could ignore school until December without issue. In between that, he continued researching the League of Villains, relatively unsuccessfully. He did figure out where their bases of operations were, just from the interior of the buildings he’d seen (one had the look of a warehouse, the other was clearly a run-down bar). From there it was simple– a search through bars led to one in Kamino, and that led to a search for sketchy warehouses in Kamino, which led to him finding the other location. So he knew where the League of Villains were now. He didn’t plan on doing anything with this information yet, but it was nice to have. He did briefly consider telling the police or Nezu, and then realized the police would probably mess everything up and make him lose the only information he had on the League of Villains. So he kept it to himself. For now. 

Hatsume Mei, like the angel she was, sent him a new and improved bo staff two days after their meeting. He sent her the money immediately upon its arrival and she sent him a messy email with lots of exclamation points to thank him.

He’d had some time to try it out and it was cool . It was retractable, like his old one, but it came with an electric charge that could do anything from release a little zap to completely knocking someone out. It took him a full two hours of practicing with it to figure out how to use it without accidentally shocking himself but he got the hang of it eventually. It was also fingerprint activated, so anyone who touched it who wasn’t him would send it hurtling back into retractable form, a nice addition. After playing around with it for a while longer he discovered one end of it also released some sort of gas, which judging by his lightheadedness after accidentally turning it on, probably knocked out whoever breathed in too much of it.

The other side had a little blade which could slide in and out.

He loved it. Hatsume was a genius.

The week ended quickly enough and Izuku felt sufficiently prepared to go on a little field trip.

Mom didn’t want him to go. She was still shaken after USJ, which was understandable, but as Izuku pointed out, he’d lived through that, so he could live through a short visit to Hosu. She was still hesitant, especially when he accidentally told her he would be visiting Stain. Mom wasn’t pleased at all with Izuku’s friendship with Stain, especially after what happened to Ingenium. Izuku pointed out he was going to visit Stain to try to prevent that from happening again– which was true. He’d already lined up arguments.

Luckily, mid-argument with Mom, Dabi called.

“Hey!” Izuku answered the phone cheerfully, waving apologetically at Mom.

“I saw you got kidnapped.”

“That was weeks ago, where have you been?”

“In a ditch.”

Izuku winced. “Really?” It wasn’t that unbelievable. Dabi didn’t exactly have a stable salary. He pretty much did freelance work, whatever odd jobs he could get his hands on. It often wasn’t reliable work, mostly because his face was so scarred that employers claimed they didn’t want him “scaring off customers.” Maybe they didn’t say that in so many words, but it was clear.

“I mean, kind of, but I met this girl.”

Izuku fought a smile. “Oh?”

“Huh? No! No, shut up! No, gross. She’s in high school. Or she was in high school. She’s high school age. She’s obsessed with murder.” He seemed to realize Izuku was teasing suddenly and said indignantly, “Also, you know I’m gay.”

“Yeah. Well, what about her?”

“Nothing, just met her. She drinks blood. Reminded me of Stain.”

“Stain, yeah. Oh!” Opportunity struck. “Hey, want to go on a field trip to Hosu?”

“Always.”

“Really?”

“No, why the hell would I want to do that?”

“Stain’s there.”

“... And?”

“You could bring your new friend…? Training opportunity, Dabi.”

Mom perked up at the idea of Dabi going with Izuku to visit Stain and Izuku grinned. This was perfect. Dabi technically didn’t even need to come all the way with him, as long as Mom thought he was. That was the important part. 

“Hmm. Interesting suggestion. Still sounds terrible. You haven’t met this demon yet. You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.”

“Hey Mom, would it be okay if I went to Hosu with Dabi ?” he said, even though Dabi hadn’t given an affirmative answer. Dabi could read between the lines. He could figure out what was happening.

“That would be fine,” Mom agreed.

“Cool. Meet you at the train station tomorrow, Dabi?”

“Sure. But– hey, are you on speaker phone?”

“No.”

“Okay well Endeavour’s going to be out of town this week so I want to take this opportunity to raid his house. So I’ll go as far as the first stop on the train with you and then I’m ditching you, sorry.”

“Nah, it’s all good. See you at the station tomorrow. I’ll text you.”

“Cool." A pause fell, tense like Dabi wanted to ask something else but wasn't sure if this was a good time.

"Do you need something else?”

“Yeah," he said softly. "I wanted to talk to you about the kidnapping. Who took you?”

“League of Villains.”

“Do you think they’re… Do you think they’re strong enough to do some real damage?”

“Why?”

“All I need is a little instability and I’ll be able to get to the places I need to be. So I was wondering if you thought they could get me there.”

Izuku wrinkled up his nose. “I mean. If you’re going to side with a villain team, the yakuza would probably be best. They’re all insane and I’m pretty sure their goals are long-term instability, based on the rumors I’ve found online. But if you want someone who’s going to achieve a lot of things in a short amount of time, then yeah. That’s the League of Villains.” As much as he hated to admit that Dabi would probably thrive in a team-up with Izuku's kidnappers, it was the truth.

“Hmm.”

Izuku remembered suddenly that his mom was standing there and said quickly, “Does your friend, um, have a preference for long-term or short-term?” If his mom thought Dabi was trying to team up with villains, she might stop liking him, and that would have bad consequences if it happened now. So he shifted the conversation slightly so it sounded like they were talking about a friend of Dabi's who was interested in villainy..

“Toga?”

Izuku sighed in exasperation. Talking in code was difficult.

Dabi got it a second after the sigh. “Oh– your mom’s still there. Um, yeah, I want short-term. Toga, by the way, just wants everyone to die except the people she’s in love with, which I think is anyone who bleeds.”

“She sounds lovely. I think the League of Villains are trying to tear apart society completely. They might even just want to end all life honestly. So if y– if your friend decides to go with them, she should take care to remember that she’ll have to move really quickly and then get out. Also I don’t advise going with them at all. I think they’re psychopaths. She might have to fake her death to get out, honestly, and I don’t even think that would work. Maybe getting arrested would? They don’t seem the forgiving type, and you’re - she's probably not good enough to go against all of them at once. The leader has something weird going on with his quirk.”

“Thanks for that vote of confidence.”

“Sorry.”

“Well, it’s all hypothetical for now anyway,” he said dismissively, although Izuku could tell that underneath that he was genuinely considering it.

“Right.”

“Okay, well, sorry to bother you mid-argument. I can go– oh, but why are you going to Hosu? What’s up with Stain?”

“The whole Ingenium thing.”

“Ah.”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

“Yeah. I’m going to try to get through to him more.”

“You know, I saw what you did to the purple monster thing at USJ on the news. I think… I think it might be hard for you to have this discussion from a moral high ground right now. That thing… It looked like a monster but there was something human in it.”

Izuku’s face twisted up in disgust. He hated that he’d done that, and he definitely wasn’t going to do it again if he could help it. He was still having nightmares sometimes. “I know.”

“Okay. Well I don’t know anything about persuasion or whatever so I’m not the person to ask anyway. Good luck, dude.”

“Thanks.”

“I’ll let you finish your conversation. Bye.”

“Bye. Have a good one.”

“Ha.”

Shaking his head, Izuku hung up. He grinned brightly at his Mom, who looked almost startled to have his full attention or something. “So I can go to Hosu?”

She nodded, tears coming to her eyes. “Sure, honey. Just be safe–” She wrapped him in a huge hug and he returned it warmly.

Hosu. He was going to talk some sense into Stain.

--

All for One didn’t get annoyed often, but he was annoyed now, because of a green child who was tripping over all his plans.

He hadn’t expected Shigaraki Tomura to actually do well at USJ, of course, but he also hadn’t expected a quirkless little boy to come in and kill a Nomu. All for One had been quite surprised, and if he hadn’t been so angry, he would have been impressed. Tomura, though, in a burst of intelligence likely prompted by Kurogiri, had brought the green boy back and All for One suddenly had full access to one of the most terrifying weapons in the world. People always made the best weapons. No one ever saw them coming until it was too late. They were expendable, free to take and free to throw away. What an interesting weapon Midoriya Izuku would be too. Quirkless. No one would expect him. His very presence would send waves through the hero community. His brain alone could topple entire civilizations. 

All for One was curious.

One touch was all it had taken. All for One momentarily had full access to the young man’s past. He’d watched him stab a Nomu, something that was supposed to be invincible, killing it instantly. Anger had flashed through him, and then curiosity took over, driving him to look farther.

Luckily, Midoriya Izuku had an ugly past, a past that would be easy to twist to All for One’s side. Most people were easy to move, once he knew what angle to take, with only a few outliers. All Might was one of them, and little Midoriya Izuku used to love All Might, didn’t he. Loved him right up until the man blundered through a conversation with the quirkless child and chopped all his dreams into little pieces. All for One sometimes wondered who really was the blind one between the two of them.

But that was beside the point.

The conversation with All Might set a great deal into motion. The seeds of hatred had already been planted by that interesting young man Bakugou Katsuki. All Might gave those seeds some sun, a bit of exposure to the real world. A little flower of hatred bloomed in Midoriya Izuku’s heart.

All for One wondered what would happen if he gave that little flower a drop of water. Would the flower grow thorns, maybe? 

It would have to be a delicate affair. Midoriya Izuku was one of the most intelligent children All for One had ever met. He would notice anything that seemed off, even if he was enraged. All for One needed to be careful, more careful than he’d been in a long time. He couldn’t afford any slip-ups.

He would wait for the right opportunity, and then he would strike.

Midoriya Izuku would fall right into his waiting arms, and his plans would be able to move forward as normal.

Chapter Text

A sentence from a long time ago was echoing around Katsuki’s head and he didn’t understand why he suddenly felt so guilty .

He guessed it was probably because he’d been worried, even if it was just for a few hours, that Deku had gotten himself kidnapped and killed. Katsuki never would have been able to forgive himself if that happened, which was ridiculous because he’d told the fucker he wanted him dead multiple times. He’d believed he wanted him dead. He did want him dead.

But not… Not like that?

“If you want a quirk so desperately, jump off a roof and hope for one in your next life!”

And not like that either.

It was more like he wanted Deku to never have existed in the first place.

He’d been having this dream lately. Every night, actually, since the USJ. It was kind of pissing him off the more he had it, especially since now it was starting to make it difficult for him to fall asleep.

In the dream, Deku was standing on the edge of a roof. Katsuki was behind a wall of glass and he couldn’t get past it and Deku couldn’t hear him, even though Katsuki slammed his fists into the wall and screamed at Deku not to jump, please don’t jump. 

Deku just looked over the edge of the roof, almost teetering in place as though daring the wind to just nudge him a little further, make his decision easy.

Katsuki hit the glass harder, sobbing now, until finally it cracked, long splinters fracturing the smooth surface. The pane crashed to the floor and he yelled, “Izuku!” 

Izuku turned, made eye contact with Katsuki, smiled that stupid relieving smile and Katsuki could breathe again.

But the turn put his balance off and his foot always slipped and Katsuki wasn’t fast enough to stop him from falling so instead he launched himself right off the roof with him. They fell together, Izuku always too far away from Katsuki to reach, and he was smiling contentedly, like this was exactly what he wanted. Katsuki was always crying.

Three times out of the many, many times he had this dream, Katsuki woke up when Izuku hit the ground. 

The other times, he watched Izuku hit the ground and felt perfectly ready to let death take him too when someone’s arms wrapped around his waist and he was swept perfectly to safety. This actually managed to make him feel worse. If Deku– Izuku, if Izuku died, Katsuki wanted to be taken right along with him.

The haunting words that always woke him up were in All Might’s voice. “It’s all right,” he boomed. “Maybe he’ll have a quirk in the next life.”

And then Katsuki woke up.

When the dream ended with Izuku’s fall, Katsuki woke up screaming. His mother was not pleased.

When the dream ended with All Might, Katsuki woke up silent, but the guilt and the terror kept him up for the rest of the night. It was starting to show– he had horrible bags under his eyes and the hag kept looking at him like he was going to topple over and die any second. His internship was starting tomorrow too, making this all around a terrible experience for him. He didn’t want to show up for the first day of internships exhausted because of some stupid dream.

All of this led up to where he was today, sitting in the kitchen while the hag and his dad sat at the table across from him.

“And so,” his dad finished calmly, “we’re putting you in therapy.”

“EH?” he screeched, already hating this. 

“You don’t have a choice, kiddo,” Mom said, crossing her arms.

Izuku used to hate being called kiddo.

God it was so fucking annoying how Izuku kept popping up in his head like that! Izuku didn’t belong in his head! Deku belonged in whatever shithole he was in right now.

“You haven’t been sleeping right since that USJ attack. We think it might be PTSD and we want you to see a therapist. Simple as that.”

“Fine, stupid hag,” Katsuki said, chair screeching as he stood up. He wanted the dreams to stop and he wanted shitty Deku out of his head and if the witch thought going to see some shrink would help, then he would go see the stupid shrink. He wasn’t so stubborn that he didn’t have common sense. “When’s the first appointment?”

The hag had the audacity to grin as she said, “Fifteen minutes.”

Katsuki almost exploded the kitchen table.

Musutafu wasn’t exactly a small city, but it didn’t have anything on the hustle and bustle of Hosu. Izuku spent the first twenty minutes of being here completely lost before he started to figure out how the roads worked. After that, he spent the rest of the afternoon walking all over the city, figuring out its ups and downs, essentially scouting where the best places for vigilantism would be.

Luckily, the busier the city, the darker the alleys. Izuku had discovered that a long time ago. The more people there were around, the easier it was to hide. 

By the time the sun set, he knew the city reasonably well. Not as well as Musutafu, of course not, but well enough that he felt he could probably have a fight with someone here without getting his ass kicked.

He scaled one of the buildings he’d found earlier and perched on the roof, looking out. After a while of sitting without seeing any movement at all, he settled down and pulled out his phone from inside his shoe. His mom had had a few conditions about his being here, one of which was that he called her every night.

“Izuku!” she answered the phone happily.

“Hey, Mom,” he said, grinning already. It was incredible how the sound of his mother’s voice could calm him down immediately.

“You’re okay?”

“I’m fine! Dabi went to go get some groceries really fast,” he lied easily, flopping backwards onto the roof and looking straight up at the sky. He wished he could see the stars. It had been a while. “Our hotel’s really nice.”

“It’s so loud!”

“It’s on a busy street.”

“Did he take the money I sent?”

“Not yet, sorry. I’m working on it though.”

“Okay. How’s Hosu?”

“Busy.”

She laughed. “Yes, I’d expect that. Have you met… him yet?”

“Not yet. I want to do that tomorrow night after I’ve gotten a better feel for the city. I have the feeling I’m going to need to chase him. A lot.”

“Be careful.”

“I will.”

They talked for a while longer, back and forth, discussing whatever came to mind. And then finally she hung up. He sighed, laying sprawled out on the ground for a long minute before he pulled himself together and got up. Finding a secluded corner of the roof, he curled into a tiny ball and fell asleep.

He could have actually gotten a hotel, but he didn’t want to be traceable, didn’t want Midoriya Izuku to be anywhere near Hosu when shit started going down. So Midoriya Izuku stayed back in Musutafu, and Entropy spent the night on the rooftops of Hosu.

True to his word, the next day he spent all day wandering the city again, doing a few test leaps over buildings, finding the busiest areas and the dirtiest neighborhoods. 

He was dead on his feet by the time he was done with that, so he decided to wait just one more day before looking for Stain. However, he was now thoroughly convinced he had gotten a complete sense of Hosu, and he thought not only could he escape an ass-kicking, he could actually go around and kick other people’s asses. Which was exactly what his goal was when he started touring the city.

The next day, he began his search for Stain. It only took him a couple hours and a lot of hacking from his phone to figure it out, although to Stain's credit, that was a pretty long time for Izuku. After he found Stain's hiding place, he spent the rest of the day trying to memorize the city from a birds-eye view.

As the sun started to set, he took off over the rooftops, feeling completely comfortable weaving through the city. He went straight to Stain’s hideout and perched across from its one and only entrance, waiting for Stain to make an appearance.

He did soon enough. He looked angry and tired, like he hadn't been sleeping well and he was about ready to go on a murderous rampage. Izuku couldn't have timed this better, actually. It had been a while since he'd felt this much malicious intent wafting off of Stain. He'd maybe never felt this much, actually. Stain looked like he wanted to tackle Endeavour, that's how mad he was.

“Hey,” Izuku said, waving.

“No,” Stain said, walking right past him.

Izuku made an injured noise, hopping to his feet and following him. “Nice to see you too.”

“If you’re here to try to stop me again, I’d like to remind you that our ‘no killing’ deal ended when you got accepted to UA.”

“But I thought–”

“What?” he snapped, and it took all of Izuku’s willpower not to recoil. “You thought that I’d stop killing just because I met your broccoli-shaped head?”

“Kind of!” Izuku said defensively. “I kind of thought you’d maybe care more about heroes after meeting me. I kind of thought you’d see there were better ways to teach them a lesson.”

Stain glared at him. “You’re naive, Deku.”

“You’re being a jerk,” Izuku bit back. He really was being more of a jerk than usual. Izuku wondered what set him off. Maybe something with the League of Villians…? “I thought you trusted me more than this.”

“And I thought you respected me enough to let me do what I need to. I haven’t killed anyone anyway. I just–”

“Stain, severe paralysis isn't really any bet–”

“You were the one who told me to do that!”

“I was trying to get you to stop killing people!”

“I’m itching to beat someone up right now, Midoriya. Stay out of it.” He slipped off into the shadows.

That actually kind of stung. He’d used Izuku’s real name, for one thing, and Stain and Izuku had been doing stuff together long enough that Izuku would have thought Stain would want his company, at least a little bit. Izuku stayed still while Stain disappeared, biting his lip, completely lost in thought.

His meeting with the League of Villains must have gone poorly. There wasn’t really another explanation for why Stain was so pissed. Izuku had been watching the news all morning, and there wasn’t anything there that would make Stain angry. That left Shigaraki.

He thought he heard a muttered, “Three birds, one stone, then,” from somewhere above him, but when he twisted to look, there was no one there.

Grimacing a little, he stretched out his legs and started off after Stain at a sprint. He was going to get that man to see logic if it was the last thing he did.

Tomura was delighted. He’d come to Hosu to kill Stain, wreak some havoc on the heroes, get some attention for the League and, then lucky him, Entropy showed up! Now he could “accidentally” kill Entropy while purposefully killing Stain. Sensei wouldn’t even know. 

It was genius! He would get the annoying green thing out of his way so he could actually think straight again. And in the meantime he would get revenge on the Hero Killer and he would bring everyone’s attention back to the League.

It really was killing three birds with one stone.

His meeting with Stain hadn’t gone well at all, for either of them. It had set Tomura into a bad mood. After throwing what Kurogiri claimed was a "temper tantrum," he'd spent the last few days watching Stain, reveling in the realization that the meeting had set Stain into a worse mood. Stain had managed to suppress his anger for a couple days, but every villain knew that suppressing anger only made a bigger explosion when it finally came out. Stain was close to exploding now. It would be very funny if he continued to take it out on Entropy.

Tomura had Kurogiri warp him to the top of a tall building in the city so he could watch the destruction unfold. When he felt he had the best viewpoint, he set three Nomus loose on the city. That would be more than enough. Enough to kill Stain, certainly. Killing Entropy was just a side quest. Even if he didn’t manage to kill Entropy, he had a name now. Midoriya. Stain was angry enough to reveal it. 

Tomura could do a lot with a name. He could commit several murders with a name. He could blackmail. Of course, Sensei already knew Entropy’s real name, but he hadn’t told Tomura. Apparently Tomura couldn’t be trusted with such information.

But he had the information now, and he would be using it however he wanted.

In the distance the first explosion bloomed. Tomura grinned.

And then he settled back to watch the city burn.

Chapter Text

Stain was fast, but Izuku had spent far too much time chasing him in dark alleys to lose him. He was actually catching up when something slammed into his side with such force he flew into a wall. Coughing, he staggered to his feet, already on full alert for what on earth had hit him. He didn’t have to look hard. It was standing right in front of him, big and purple, with an exposed brain and dead eyes. Izuku bit back a scream. Not again.

Abandoning his Stain chasing, he took to the shadows as the Nomu threw another punch, a strike which just barely missed him. Using every trick in the book to get away , he slipped down the alleys, already mapping out a route that would take him away from bystanders.

When he glanced back to check where the Nomu was, it wasn’t there at all. Somehow this made him even more stressed and he flattened himself to a wall, eyes wide as he waited for the Nomu to spring out and hit him again.

After a full two minutes, he let himself relax a little. He would have thought he’d imagined that entire interaction if he hadn’t had a blooming bruise in his side to prove it was real. But the Nomu was gone now and he could resume his search for Stain. 

An explosion rocked the city and he grimaced. The Nomu wasn’t entirely gone, then. It must have just found another target.

He took to the roofs, sprinting along them and keeping an eye out for both the Nomu and Stain. The explosions continued and he could tell a good portion of the city was on fire but he didn’t really want to go take on a Nomu single handedly again, so he decided to focus on what he knew he could handle– a homicidal vigilante with a grudge.

Finding Stain again wasn’t that hard because where Stain went, screams of heroes followed. He heard the scream and veered towards its source. Sure enough, Stain was down there, torturing what looked like Native from this distance. Izuku dropped down. 

“Stain.”

“Good god, Deku, what’s it going to take to lose you?” he spat, fully distracted from Native now as he turned around to glare at him.

“More than that,” Izuku said, rolling his eyes. 

“I am completely justified this time!” Stain insisted, waving a katana at Native. “He’s racist! He’s running a small terrorist organization!”

Izuku wrinkled up his nose, mostly because Stain had a point. “Okay, fair enough. But can you please try to stop injuring people who don’t deserve it?”

Stain crossed his arms. “They all deserve it.”

“No! No they do not!”

“Hero Killer!” a new voice called out from down the alley. Izuku and Stain both turned to look. Whoever was down there looked like an Ingenium copycat. Izuku got a sickening feeling in his gut because for some reason he felt that he knew him. Worse, his voice sounded like a kid– Oh, no. Iida. It had to be Iida.

“Oh, look,” Stain said dryly. “Another one.”

“I’m here to avenge my brother! He was a true hero, Ingenium! And now I’m here to kill you!”

This would have been funny if Stain wasn’t in such a bad mood. Any other day, Izuku would be able to get Stain to laugh that off, but not today. As it was, this was actually painful to watch. Iida had no clue what he was getting into.

“You know why I attacked your brother?” Stain asked, stepping towards Iida. Izuku took his distraction as an opportunity to help Native, paralyzed in the corner of the alley. Stain said some threatening bullshit, Iida responded by bursting into tears and screaming at him some more, and Izuku tried to stop the blood from pouring out of the hole in Native’s side. 

“Sorry,” he muttered.

“Help– kid–” Native panted.

Izuku pursed his lips together, glancing over at Iida. Stain pounced at exactly the same second, knife flashing out, and before Izuku could even react, he heard Iida scream.

He was on his feet in less than a second, already sprinting down the alley. Stain wrenched the sword out of Iida’s shoulder just as Izuku got to him and Iida screamed again, clutching at his arm. Izuku grabbed Stain’s shoulder and dragged him away, somewhat horrified by everything happening here. He put himself between Stain and Iida, trying to protect them both as much as he could. 

Stain licked the knife, grinning, and Iida went limp, crumpling to the ground. “Stain!” Izuku scolded, voice shaking almost imperceptibly. “No. He’s just a kid.” He shouldn’t have had to explain this. Stain was supposed to know better than this.

“He’s selfish and doesn’t deserve the name of hero,” Stain responded, reaching out an arm to sweep Izuku to the side. Izuku seized his arm and twisted it backwards. Stain released a scream and tried to grab Izuku’s head, but missed as Izuku ducked and released his arm, shoving Stain back.

“But he isn’t a hero, not yet,” Izuku insisted, returning back to his stance. “He’s still learning.”

The Hero Killer released a low growl at Izuku, menacingly approaching him. 

“Stain,” Izuku said in a dangerous voice. “I am dead serious right now. I would kill you before letting you lay a single finger on him.”

Stain paused, searching Izuku’s eyes to see how genuine his words were, before turning away. The odds were highly in favor of Izuku winning in an all out battle with Stain. Izuku had surpassed him in skill a long time ago. Killing Stain would be difficult for him, but not impossible, especially if he was filled with as much conviction as he was right now. Both of them knew this, and Stain had learned when to back off when it came to Izuku.

“Fine,” he spat. “But you can’t stop me from killing Native.”

Izuku’s eyes flashed. “Stain–”

“No, Entropy. I have my limits.”

Izuku and Stain held eye contact for a few long seconds, each of them testing how far the other would go in their resolve. Beaten this time, Izuku took a step back. “Let me get the kid out of here first.”

“Stop calling him ‘the kid,’” Stain said, clearly pleased with his triumph over Izuku in this argument. “You’re his age, aren’t you?”

Izuku pointed his index finger angrily at Stain’s face, warning him to shut up in front of Iida. Turning away fully, he pulled Iida’s uninjured arm over his shoulder, supporting his weight.

“No–” Iida protested, trying to drag his weight, trying to do anything to save Native now, even in his half-paralyzed state.

“There’s nothing you can do,” Izuku told him, half-carrying, half-dragging him out of the alley.

“But–”

“Listen to me. There is nothing you can do right now.”

Iida sagged in Izuku’s arms, admitting defeat. Native screamed behind them and Izuku sped up a little as Iida flinched. When they were a couple alleys over, and the screams were completely drowned out by the distance, Izuku set Iida down and started carefully looking over his wounds.

“It’s my fault,” Iida murmured.

Izuku didn’t even try to deny it. “Yes.”

Iida’s face crumpled and he began to sob, breaking down as the support from his adrenaline rush left him. “I should have tried to save him first,” he gasped between rushes of tears. “I’m selfish and I don’t deserve to be a–”

“I don’t want to hear it,” Izuku said coldly, pulling the costume away from Iida’s shoulder to look at the damage. “Shut up or I’m going to knock you out.” 

Hiccuping slightly, Iida pursed his lips closed, watching Izuku with wide eyes as he examined his arm. The cut was bad, but Izuku had seen worse with Stain. That blade of his… it was jagged, which meant the stab hurt more, especially when Stain pulled the blade back out. Also, it made the wound much harder to clean.

“Do you have a phone on you?” Izuku asked, pulling out his first aid kit. 

Iida made a straining sound, like he was trying to move, and then gave up. “Left pocket,” he said resignedly.

Izuku sighed. Stain’s paralysis quirk was so useful for killing people and so goddamn annoying in every other circumstance.

“Password,” Izuku demanded, fishing for the phone and pulling it out.

Iida choppily recited his password and Izuku turned on the phone’s flashlight, called emergency services, and put it on speakerphone. “You do the talking,” Izuku told him, starting to clean out the wound in Iida’s shoulder as the phone rang. “Send them to Stain’s location. Native needs more help than you do right now, and Stain will get scared off by numbers.”

When the responder answered, Iida explained the situation and their location, keeping his shocked eyes on Izuku, who was effectively ignoring him as he continued his work on Iida’s shoulder. When Iida was done with the call, he dropped his head back to rest on the side of the building, eyes closed tightly as Izuku started pressing gauze into both sides of his arm, frowning in concentration. 

“So you’re my age?” he asked out of the blue.

“None of your business,” Izuku answered shortly, trying to focus on applying pressure, and not on how easy it would be for Iida to recognize him.

“What’s your quirk?” Iida asked, wincing as Izuku continued his work. 

“Still none of your business,” Izuku said, hands pressing a little more harshly against the wound. He didn’t like it when people asked him about his quirk, didn’t like that they always assumed that everyone always had to have a quirk to back them up.

Iida didn’t seem to understand the closing tone in Izuku’s words, still trying to make a conversation. “I feel like I know you from somewhere…”

“Do you not understand the idea of shutting up ?” Izuku snapped, applying more gauze as the blood started soaking through the first layer. Of course the kid just had to recognize him from the entrance exams. What shitty luck.

His mouth snapped shut and he pursed his lips together, allowing Izuku to shift him away from the wall so he could press more gauze to the other side. His hand shifted slightly and he looked at it, almost in awe. “I can move…” he said wonderingly.

“That’s because Stain’s quirk has a time limit.” Izuku said, tone still short and annoyed. “Put pressure on the front of your shoulder,” he commanded, ripping the fabric of Iida’s costume further away from his back so he could see what was going on a little better. It was bleeding just as badly as the front, already soaked through several layers of gauze.

“But it hurts ,” Iida protested, grimacing as Izuku started pressing his hands into the wound again.

Izuku was having none of it. “Well, obviously it hurts,” he said, rolling his eyes. “You got stabbed. But you need to put pressure on it or you’ll bleed out.”

“But isn’t a doctor coming?” Iida asked, looking genuinely confused.

After staring at him in shock for a solid half a minute, Izuku sighed and returned his focus to looking over Iida’s other injuries. “Honestly, what do they even teach you at U.A.?” he muttered. “‘ Isn’t a doctor coming ,’ honestly.” Iida still looked confused, and now a little affronted, so Izuku explained, “You could bleed out before the EMT gets here or even just in the back of the ambulance. The sooner you stop bleeding, the sooner they can apply stitches safely.”

“But… couldn’t they just apply stitches… once they get here? Or you could do emergency stitches? And then I’d be fine?”

Izuku honestly couldn’t believe U.A. had such bad first aid training. “You can still bleed out with stitches!” he said, frustration getting the better of him. “It’s called internal bleeding and it makes you bruise, and it could also make you die so, yeah, we need to stop the bleeding. Now, shut up and apply pressure.”

Iida closed his mouth firmly and dutifully started applying pressure to the front of his shoulder. Izuku began looking him over again, searching for more damage. There appeared to be another cut in Iida’s shoulder, most likely from when he fell, but it didn’t look too pressing at the moment. Iida also clearly had a concussion, but there wasn’t much Izuku could do about that right now either. Surprisingly enough, that appeared to be the extent of his injuries.

“You’re lucky,” Izuku breathed, returning his attention to the wound in Iida’s shoulder. Lucky that Stain hadn’t had more time to inflict damage. Lucky that Stain loved to monologue. Lucky that Izuku knew when to not back down from a fight. Lucky that Izuku was even in Hosu in the first place .

Iida didn’t seem to need any elaboration on that statement. “I know,” he replied, eyes starting to well up.

Well, he was crying, and there was the distinct sound of ambulances in the distance now, so Izuku stood up to leave. He artfully moved Iida’s shoulder so he could press it against the wall, and then turned, searching for a way out of the alley. “Hey,” he said, glancing back at Iida. “Tell UA to give some first aid classes, yeah? It’s kind of an important skill to know.”

Iida opened his mouth to say something, but Izuku was gone before he could. He didn’t want to stick around and hear Iida thanking him or saying something sappy or asking why Izuku had helped him or lamenting that he probably wouldn’t be a student at U.A. anymore anyway. Still, he stayed on the roof over Iida until the EMT arrived and he was absolutely sure that Iida was safe, and then he hopped off, keeping his eyes peeled for Stain or the League of Villains.

He wanted to head back to the alleyway where Native was, but didn’t think that was safe, since it was probably swarming with police officers right now. So he picked a roof he thought was relatively visible to anyone looking and perched there, waiting.

No one came.

His phone rang.

“Izuku!” his mom shrieked breathlessly when he picked up. “Izuku are you safe?" And of course she was worried, of course she was paying attention to everything happening in Hosu right now. He should have thought to call her first, probably.

“Yeah, I’m safe. This is a sh… This is crazy.”

“Don’t go out,” she demanded, voice wobbling. “Don’t go out–Endeavour’s out there.”

Interesting that she was more worried about Endeavour than the giant purple monster things, but he supposed that was probably valid. He’d watch out for the flame hero, then. “Okay.”

“Come home, Izuku,” she pleaded.

“I’ll see what I can do,” he promised. It might be difficult with evacuation protocols, but surely a teenager could slip through. A teenager with swords might be a little more difficult to get by, but he’d figure it out. 

“Izuku, you have to leave now, okay? Don’t look at the news, don’t pay attention to what people are saying, just leave.”

Something was wrong. He could hear it in her voice, in the way she was phrasing things. “Mom, what’s going on?”

“Just come home!” she said.

He hesitated, looking out in the distance as a burst of fire shot up in one of the streets in the distance.

“Okay,” he said, turning away. His curiosity could wait. “I’m coming.”

Chapter Text

For the life of him, Stain couldn’t remember why exactly he’d thought coming to Hosu was a good idea. He distinctly remembered Deku being against the idea, and he had to wonder why exactly he hadn’t listened. Deku had a nose for danger like no other. If he didn’t like something, it was probably a good idea to hear him out.

Stain hadn’t wanted to hear him out. It had scared him, when Entropy was taken. He was pretty sure he’d never been so scared and worried in his life. He’d almost gone to Deku’s house in a panic, as though expecting him to just be sitting there like normal. Instead, he managed to restrain himself to just a phone call.

And Deku picked up.

Relief came crashing down on Stain’s shoulders and that was when he realized how screwed he was. He was dependent on Deku’s well-being for his happiness. And that entire concept was terrifying, almost as terrifying as the idea Deku was trapped somewhere with two broken arms. So Stain shut him out. He tried to do everything the kid wouldn’t approve of, and that was how he managed to get himself in this situation, standing over Native’s dead body while Shigaraki’s League wreaked havoc over the city, staring into Endeavour’s cold, dead eyes.

Stain couldn’t pretend like he hadn’t been waiting for an opportunity to take down Endeavour. But… not like this . He’d wanted it to be a well thought-out attack, not a surprise battle in a cramped alley with no back-up. He’d wanted Dabi to be with him. He wasn’t prepared.

Like hell was he going to let Endeavour know that, though.

He swung out both katanas and took a stance in the alley. He had to think this through. Honestly, he was starting to regret trying to alienate himself from Deku. The kid could get him out of this, probably with some difficulty, but he could. But Stain had pushed him away and he knew Deku wasn’t going to come back. That was probably a good thing, anyway. Deku could be a bit of a danger magnet.

Strategy. He had to think strategy.

Endeavour didn’t give him time. Roaring fire came rushing down the alley, and Stain flattened himself to the ground behind a dumpster, trying to remember how Deku beat Dabi all those times they’d sparred. What had he said? Heat goes up, right?

Endeavour was approaching now and Stain took the flameless opportunity to jump out with his katanas, slashing them through the air. One of them managed to slice across Endeavour’s chest, but it didn’t go as deep as he would have liked. The heat in the alley was getting uncomfortable. It was distracting.

Stain licked his blade, tasting the salty tang of Endeavour’s blood, and felt himself relax, just a little, as he heard Endeavour slump to the ground. He was going to get out of this, and then he was going to apologize to Deku. The kid had been right a hundred times over, and Stain wouldn’t be in this mess if he’d just gotten over his ego.

Suddenly, an explosion of orange fire burst through the alley and flames slammed into Stain’s skin.

Stain had heard the term “life flashing before his eyes” before, but that wasn’t really what happened. It was more of a long list of regrets. All the “should haves” came to him suddenly, and… Deku. He was leaving the kid…

And all he could think as he succumbed to the flames was not like this .

He didn’t exactly have a choice.

–

Some of the train lines out of the city were down so Izuku took the next best option, a train out of the city in the general direction of Musutafu, just slightly to the west. The station was crowded, full of panicking people who were trying to get out and away.

Luckily, no one questioned the amount of blood on Izuku’s hands, probably because a good quarter of the people here were at least partially beaten and bloody. The Nomus had wreaked havoc on the city as a whole. No one looked twice at a little curly-haired kid with blood up to his wrists, except to pity him. Bloody hands weren’t the most terrible thing they’d seen today.

He tried to get it off on the train, using a combination of wet wipes, hand sanitizer, and paper towels. He didn’t get a lot of it off, but enough that he felt more comfortable. True to his word, he didn’t check the news, even though he was dying to know what was going on. If his mom wanted him to wait until he got home, then he would wait. He trusted her judgment, even if he knew the only plausible reason she would have said that was to prevent him from going back. Something on the news would make him want to interfere again. While he was curious about what that was, he also now had yet another probably-cracked rib and he was battered and bruised all over. Going back right now was a bad idea. Plus he knew Mom was already pretty annoyed with his whole vigilante business and he didn’t want to push his luck.

He managed to switch trains after about an hour and he headed back to Musutafu. The more time that passed between Izuku leaving Hosu and coming home, the more stressed he got about his decision to leave. He’d left Stain alone out there, with no back up, and while Stain could generally handle himself, Hosu was a mess right now. There were Nomus around and Endeavour… Izuku had to know what his mom saw that scared her so much.

He still refrained from checking his phone, though, even after people started murmuring about the Hero Killer, because one, he wanted to respect his mother’s wishes, and two, he was afraid of what he might find if he looked.

After an eternity of fighting through crowds, switching trains, and sitting in tense stillness, Izuku made it home. He pushed the door open, trying to not get blood on anything.

“Back,” he called out wearily.

His mother appeared, face blotchy and wet. She hesitated in the entrance for an almost imperceptible second and then walked forward, wrapping Izuku in a relieved hug.

“It’s okay,” she said, which Izuku thought was a little strange. It shouldn’t have felt like she was reassuring him. It should have been the other way around. “Did you look at the news?” she asked, and her voice was soft, lined with concern.

He shook his head, mouth suddenly feeling dry. He shouldn't have left Hosu, he definitely shouldn't have left. “Mom,” he said slowly, dreading whatever answer she gave, “What’s going on?”

She pulled away, looking at her hands. “Izu…” she said. She hesitated and then said almost helplessly, “It was… It was on the news.”

“Is it Stain?” he asked, because what else could it be? What else? “Did he get arrested?” That would honestly be good for him. He needed a break from all the murder and craziness.

She shook her head, still not looking at him.

“Mom,” he pressed.

She finally met his eyes, and hers were brimming with tears. “I’m so sorry, Izuku…”

“No– no, no,” he said, taking a step back. “No. You don’t get to be sorry until you tell me what’s going on.”

She winced. “Endeavour came, it’s on the news, and Stain…” She shook her head and pulled Izuku into her arms again, ignoring his bloody hands, almost like she couldn’t bear to look at him while finishing. “He didn’t make it, honey,” she said into his shoulder.

Izuku shook his head. “No–”

“Honey, I’m sorry–”

“No. No.” He pulled away from her arms, ignoring the burning pressure building behind his eyes. Because Stain couldn’t have died. Stain didn’t die. He was too talented for that.

His mom was crying openly now. “I’m sorry, Izuku,” she gasped. “I’m sorry–”

A sob wracked through Izuku’s body and he buried his face in his stained hands as the tears spilled over.

–

Dabi saw it on the news.

He saw it on the news, and thirty seconds after, his phone was ringing. Reiki.

“Deku’s not picking up again!” she screamed when he answered it. “What if he– what if–”

She burst into tears on the other side of the line. Dabi put his phone on speaker so he could check his texts. “Hey, I’m sure he’s fine,” he said, even though he definitely wasn’t sure. “He… He probably just has a lot going on right now.”

Reiki made an incoherent sound in response. Dabi didn’t know how to deal with tears, so he sat quietly and waited for her to calm down.

“We should go– we should go to his house,” she said, after a minute.

“I…” Dabi glanced at Toga, who was currently crashing on his couch, a hint of a crazy smile playing around her lips. She’d be fine, probably. He’d leave a note. “Okay. But we have to wait until we’re completely sure he’s home because I–”

Reiki gasped suddenly, cutting him off, and then made a choking sound before crying, “He texted me, he texted me, he’s– he’s– he says he made it out. He’s home. He texted me.”

Dabi felt a huge weight get shoved off his chest. He… didn’t think he could lose both Stain and Deku in one day. “We should go over.”

“Yes,” she agreed, and he could hear the relief in her tone. It sounded like she’d just remembered how to breathe again. “I’ll meet you there. Fifteen.”

“Cool.”

Deku was probably a complete mess right now. Dabi wasn’t good at cleaning up messes, but he still wanted to go over and try to help. The kid had really looked up to Stain. This development was going to be a heavy blow for him.

He left Toga a note explaining that he’d gone out for a bit, suddenly glad she was asleep. Toga and Deku would be a bit of a chaotic combination, Dabi thought. He wasn’t quite ready to deal with them both at the same time yet.

He’d met her during a drug pass off. He was just the messenger, moving someone else’s drugs from hand to hand, and then suddenly Toga dropped down like a fucking crazed squirrel or something and started sucking blood right out of the client. Not long after that, Dabi and Toga were “best friends.” Apparently Dabi was too ugly for her to love, an arrangement that worked nicely, since it meant he got to keep all his blood inside his body. As soon as he figured out she was homeless, he had a roommate. It was as simple as that.

When he got to Deku’s house, Reiki was already outside, biting her nails and pacing like there was no tomorrow. She caught sight of him as he approached and stiffened, dropping her hands to her side. “I’m so worried,” she whispered.

She really must have been, too. Reiki didn't show her emotions like this unless she was really worked up about something. This whole thing must have really rattled her. 

Dabi knocked wordlessly. He was afraid if he said something, his voice would crack because that was his father , goddammit. His father was a fucking murderer and now he’d lost one of his friends, someone he’d genuinely admired. And it was the middle of the night and now he had to comfort a distraught teenager.

Midoriya opened the door, giving both Dabi and Reiki a miserable look before letting them in. “He’s in his room,” she said hoarsely. “He won’t let me in to see him, and he doesn't say anything at all.”

Reiki set her mouth in a determined line and started in.

Midoriya put a hand on Dabi’s shoulder as he passed. He managed not to flinch. It wasn’t hard– her touch was soft and warm, comforting. “Thank you,” she said, green eyes filled with tears, “for keeping him safe.”

Oh, right. He was supposed to have been in Hosu with Deku. “Not a problem,” he managed to get out, before he turned and fled after Reiki. 

She didn’t even knock. When he got up to her, she was kneeling by Deku’s door, two bobby pins in her hand.

It was honestly impressive how quickly she managed to pick the lock. The door swung open and Dabi got his first sight of Deku. He looked… flat. He was sitting in his bed, back perfectly straight, and his face was schooled into a completely blank, impartial expression. Dabi didn’t like it. It made him feel uneasy.

Deku lifted his head and looked at Reiki straight on. His jaw was clenched. “Hello,” he said expressionlessly, shifting his gaze to Dabi.

Dabi looked at his feet, a wave of guilt washing over him. He should have been there . He could have taken Toga with him to Hosu. He could have beat Endeavour’s ass again. He should have.

Someone started crying. Fully expecting it to be Reiki, Dabi looked up to glare, but it wasn’t Reiki. Deku. Deku was crying, huge tears dripping out of his eyes. “Sorry,” he gasped, wiping at them even as more came out. “Sorry, I’m sorry.”

Reiki took a couple cautious steps over and wrapped her arms around him. “No,” she murmured. “You don’t have anything to apologize for.”

He tilted his head up, like he was trying to blink tears back. “I–I know, I–” Shaking his head, he turned and practically fell into her arms, shuddering as he tucked his face from view.

Dabi was reminded suddenly of the first time he saw Deku smile. This had sort of the same feel to it, and he suddenly realized why . Because Deku never showed how he was really feeling. He covered it under so many layers of masks it quickly became impossible to know what was real anymore.

When the real shone through, though, that was when things like this happened. That’s what made looking at Midoriya Izuku feel so strange– because he never let himself be vulnerable.

Dabi had to wonder what would happen if he let himself be vulnerable more often. It would either make him much more powerful, or less. Maybe because he was so unreadable most of the time, the effect of these moments of emotionality was augmented. Or something. Dabi didn’t know.

What he did know was he was very glad he wasn’t on Deku’s bad side.

“Swear to god, I’m going to murder Endeavour,” Reiki growled. Dabi looked up, surprised by the hate in her tone. He agreed with her, more so even after the night's events, but Reiki was rarely openly angry. Her face was currently twisted up with rage.

“I’m in,” he said coolly, putting his hands in his pockets.

Deku emerged from Reiki’s shoulder, using a sleeve to rub his eyes. “It’ll take some time to do it properly,” he said thoughtfully. The only thing betraying how upset he was was a slight tremble in his voice, barely noticeable. “But yeah.” His eyebrows set themselves in an angry line. “I think it’s probably about time.”

Dabi wondered vaguely how long Deku had been thinking about doing this, but his thoughts were interrupted when Deku said absently, “I just need to figure out who to manipulate. So we can get it done.”

Reiki frowned at him.

“League of Villains?” Dabi suggested, since that’s who he’d been thinking of earlier.

Deku and Reiki made matching faces of disgust.

“Maybe,” Deku said. “Big maybe. Yakuza are an option too, and weirdly enough, so is UA. I’d love to get into the HPSC, but they’re a little too quirkist, even for me.”

Huh. Did Deku have a weak quirk or something? He didn’t really ever talk about it, and Dabi knew better to ask. He just assumed Deku had a quirk like Stain’s, which the HPSC would be happy to get their hands on. Thinking about Stain hurt. Dabi tried to focus on Deku, who was thinking hard.

“I’ll get back to you,” Deku said. “But, yeah. Endeavour’s done.”

And wasn't that music to Dabi’s ears.

Chapter Text

Izuku was starting to get sick of his own brain. He was tired of thinking, tired of being stuck with his own stupidly brilliant mind. It moved too fast and kept circling through the same thought pattern over and over, and he was sick of it all. What he would give to be anyone else right now…

He wasn’t a fan of this whole thing. He missed Stain even though they hadn’t been in touch very much lately. He couldn’t stop thinking that the last thing he’d said to Stain was probably really mean since he was so angry and that was such a horrible thought. He should have told Stain how grateful he was more often. It wouldn’t have been hard. 

And now he felt like he couldn’t really “grieve”– and what a word that was– because Midoriya Izuku wasn’t supposed to know Stain. Midoriya Izuku didn’t have anything to grieve.

Entropy did, though, and it showed. On his first day out as Entropy after the Hosu incident, he almost murdered someone. On accident, of course, but still. All that pent up rage inside him had to go somewhere and it had gone straight into the first criminal he made contact with.

Then, of course, he felt guilty. He anonymously donated a good half of his savings toward the criminal’s health bill– only half because he still thought the guy kind of deserved it. And then he banned himself from going out again as Entropy until he could calm down a little.

Not being able to go out really really sucked. He felt restless all the time and he was almost completely certain all the trapped energy inside him was the reason he was starting to get tired of being around himself. When he really looked at himself now, he didn’t particularly like what he saw. That was easier to ignore when he didn’t have the time to think about it.

Luckily, about four days after the start of his self-quarantine, right when he was starting to think he was going to explode if he had to spend one more second with himself, Hatsume Mei swooped to his rescue once again. She mailed him a gun.

It was the fanciest gun Izuku had ever seen– not that he’d seen many. It was small and black, and on the surface level, looked just like a regular handgun. It came with interchangeable add-ons and things to load into it– darts, some disc shaped projectiles that he guessed gave an electrical shock, several that made mini explosions, a few other weird ones he didn’t know anything about, and a very big box of rubber bullets. It also came with a sound suppressor.

Mei was a godsend, in other words.

Now, when Izuku started feeling lost in his head again, he set up a target in his room or in the hallway– when his mother was out– and learned to shoot, using the rubber bullets for practice. He wasn’t particularly good at first, but he caught on quickly. By now, a few weeks away from the end of the first semester, he was passable, at least. He’d be better if he could practice without fear of getting caught by the neighbors.

It took time, it took a lot of impromptu meetings with Reiki and Dabi, but Izuku was moving on. It kind of stung hanging out with Reiki and Dabi without Stain, but they were trying to let all that stay in the past. They were all collectively trying to keep their lives moving forward.

His mom was also being really supportive. She was there when he needed her, and was okay at giving him space when he asked for it, although she did tend to hover. He could tell she was worried, glad he hadn’t been going out as much recently as a vigilante, but sad to see him upset. He tried to make it up to her by spending time around her whenever he wasn’t too crushed to communicate.Through all this, Izuku was reminded of how much he loved Mom. She really, genuinely cared about him. It was nice having someone he could be hurt around. 

“Hey, honey?” she asked, poking her head into his room.

He looked up from his computer. He’d been a little obsessed with Endeavour recently. The guy really was a jerk. Once he could figure out how to do it, Izuku would enjoy taking him down. Unfortunately the League was looking like his only option for said takedown, and like hell was Izuku going to join them. Even though apparently Dabi did with his new friend Toga last week. Izuku wasn’t bitter.

“Want to go to the store with me? I only need a few things and you haven’t been outside in a while.”

That was true. He’d sort of been avoiding going outside. The sun felt too bright. But, she’d asked and he wanted to spend time with her, so he smiled and shut his laptop on Endeavour’s sneering face. “That sounds nice,” he said, getting up to go on a hunt for a clean sweatshirt.

She beamed. “Okay! I’ll meet you by the front.” She left, a little bounce in her step that wasn’t there before. Izuku really loved his mom.

He got ready, looking more put together than he had in days– weeks, maybe, he started off with Mom.

“How’s school going?” she asked as they walked down the sidewalk to the grocery store.

“It’s good,” he said, smiling tightly. “I’m almost done with all the coursework for second semester.” Another thing he’d been doing to try to distract himself was drowning himself in schoolwork. Because he was so far ahead, administration had allowed him to start an accelerated study program, where he did two semesters in the space of one. It was a nice pacing for him. “I really like my coding class,” he added.

She smiled fondly. “That makes sense. You’ve always loved that sort of thing. Problem solving.”

“It’s fun.” And recently he’d been using his newfound programming skills to hack into Endeavour’s security cameras or Eraserhead’s comms. “My quirk theory course is cool too.”

She laughed. “Another thing you’ve always loved.”

He nodded, letting a faint smile trace across his lips. Nowadays his mom was the only person who could get him to smile. She always looked almost relieved when she managed it. He didn’t smile much anymore. “How’s work?”

She hugged a little. “Oh, you know. Same old.” She dove into a story about one of her coworkers and Izuku listened closely. It was nice, feeling like he was a normal person again, after all. Maybe he didn’t really need to be a vigilante to be happy. Maybe he could put Entropy aside and just have this . It was a nice thought. He wanted to keep it.

–

The criminal Hawks was chasing was a little tricky to catch. She appeared to have a kind of solidity manipulation quirk, where she could either turn her entire body into liquid, or make it as hard and rigid as a rock. If it wasn’t so incredibly frustrating, Hawks would have found it cool. She’d make a heck of a hero. Unfortunately, she didn't seem to have taken that direction with her life, considering she decided to, nearly successfully, hold a bank hostage.

She’d failed, obviously, mostly because All Might had shown up. And now she was on the run from Hawks. Right now, she was in a weird sludge kind of form, which, try as he might, Hawks couldn’t pin down with his feathers. He was starting to think maybe he should have had All Might follow the criminal while he dealt with cleaning up the criminal’s mess. But it was too late for regrets now, and as long as he kept tailing her, All Might would be able to catch up and deal with her later. His PR would take a blow but whatever. He could deal with that.

She made her way down the street, a puddle of beige liquid weaving around people’s feet. She was headed towards a sort of residential area, which was strange, the more Hawks thought about it. If he was a villain, he’d probably stick to more crowded areas. It would be harder to keep track of her if there were more people around, even from a bird's eye view.

“Status report?” he asked All Might through his earpiece.

“The hostages have almost all been moved!” All Might boomed. When Hawks had left, the structural stability of the bank had been unsound. All Might was working on evacuation.

“All right. We’re headed toward the suburbs.”

The weird liquid took a sudden right and Hawks arched an eyebrow, following it. Strange, how it felt like he was being led somewhere. But why on earth would someone lead him to a residential area? There was nothing out here! Maybe a crime boss or two, but he could handle that.

She stopped in front of a grocery store.

Very confused now, Hawks landed in a nearby tree and watched. She started to reform a little, making a sort of goopy, very much naked figure. Her face went completely solid just so she could flash a tricky grin directly at him.

Something was very wrong. He wasn’t sure what, though.

“I’m on my way,” All Might said.

Hawks made a noncommittal sound, watching carefully for any sign of what on earth this criminal was doing.

A woman and a boy with matching green hair left the store. The boy seemed to realize something was up immediately. He looked right at Hawks with piercing eyes. Funny. Hawks had thought he’d hidden himself slightly better than that.

He threw an experimental feather at the partially solid villain. It went right through her. Typical.

All Might chose this moment to arrive, landing in the middle of the street with a gust of wind. The green-haired boy froze, staring at him with wide eyes.

The kid was out of the way, luckily. All Might started to throw a punch into the air, most likely to try to slam the criminal into the brick wall behind her. She grinned triumphantly, suddenly becoming completely solid, and stepped right in front of the green-haired woman.

Hawks realized what was happening in half a second. “All–”

The punch was faster than his tongue and his feathers. It slammed forward, sending a gust of wind at the solidified woman, an extra strong gust built to knock her out. Instead, it sent her straight backwards into the green haired woman, and threw the green haired woman headfirst into the brick wall.

–

Izuku saw what was going to happen the minute that goopy lady moved, and there was nothing he could do about it. It was awful, knowing what was going to happen and not being fast or strong enough to stop it. He would give both his arms to have a quirk like All Might’s.

All Might’s punch sent the now very solid lady flying into Mom, and that momentum was enough to send Mom flying into the brick wall behind them. A second after, the world seemed to freeze. Everyone was staring at Mom, now crumpled in a heap on the ground.

Izuku broke the stillness, rushing to his Mom’s side to help her back up. “Mom?” he asked worriedly, crouching down next to her on the ground. “That must have hurt… Hey, are you okay?”

She didn’t answer.

“Mom, hey!” He shook her shoulder a little. “Mom?”

His heart started crashing against his ribcage, screaming at him that this wasn’t right . She wasn’t moving, she wasn’t– oh god, she wasn’t breathing , she wasn’t–

“Mom–” he said, more urgently now, trying to tell her that she had to answer. She had to take another breath, she had to sit up and smile at him and say everything was okay because if she didn’t– 

She had to be okay. He’d been thrown into tons of brick walls and he was okay. Maybe he didn’t ever go headfirst into these walls, but she was okay. She was okay, she was okay. So why wasn’t she getting up? Why– why–

“Mom!” he shrieked frantically, rolling her over and practically smashing his ear into her chest to try to listen for a heartbeat. “Mom, you have to get up– you have to, you have to–” His eyes were burning and he couldn’t breathe –

His fingers grasped for her wrist, searching for something to find a pulse with. A small flurry of air was disrupted next to him and Hawks was there.

“Get away!” Izuku screamed, shoving Hawks back. “She’s fine, she’s fine–”

“Kid, I need to check for a pulse–”

“She’s fine !” Izuku sobbed, pressure building behind his nose and his eyes and in his throat. “She’s fine, she’s fine–”

Huge, strong arms grabbed Izuku from behind, dragging him away from Mom and he screamed, thrashing against All Might’s grip, while Hawks took his position on the ground, checking for a pulse with practiced ease. He didn’t want All Might touching him and he didn’t want Hawks anywhere near his mom and he wanted all these stupid heroes to get out of his business– out !

“Get away from her!” Izuku screamed, kicking his legs out as hard as he could. All Might was too strong for him, goddammit. He tried hooking a leg around to kick his knees in, but he couldn’t reach and he wasn’t strong enough to cause All Might nearly as much pain as the hero had caused him.

His eyes were blurry but even through them, he could see the woman who’d hit Mom pulling out an earpiece and smashing it between hardened hands. She sent him an immensely guilty look and he just screamed, in hurt, in anger, in empathy . He’d given people that look before. When he couldn’t save someone. Because it wasn’t her fault. All Might was the one who’d thrown that punch and the only reason that woman would have stepped between the punch and Mom would be to protect her, so it wasn’t her fault. It wasn’t her fault. And she had to go. Now. “ Go away! ” he screamed at the top of his lungs, both at her and at the heroes and at the passerby pausing to look at the scene.

She melted into a beige liquid and disappeared through the sewers.

“All Might,” Hawks said from Mom’s side, and his voice sounded constricted. “Call an ambulance. I’m going to start chest compressions.”

Izuku screamed again, sound catching against his raw throat. There was a crowd gathering and he couldn’t bear this. Not one more second of this hurt. This couldn’t be real. He was going to wake up. Any second now. But why did it feel so real, then?

Hawks started doing chest compressions on Mom and All Might shifted Izuku into only one of his gigantic arms so he could call emergency services with the other one. Izuku went limp, dangling by his arms. He felt helpless . Mom had to be okay. There wasn’t anything he could do… “Please…” he tried to say, voice coming out barely more than a squeal. If she wasn’t getting up on her own, then Hawks had to be the one to fix her. “Please.” The tears finally started out of his eyes, dripping wetly on All Might’s stupid arm. He was gasping for air, staring at Hawks as he counted to thirty, two, thirty, two, thirty… “Please, please, please please please please–”

“Trying, kiddo,” Hawks grunted between compressions and Izuku’s head dropped, until all he could see was the sidewalk and his mom’s body.

He really, really hated it when people called him kiddo.

The sound of sirens jerked his head up and he caught sight of an ambulance swinging around the corner. It screeched to a halt and EMT climbed out, rushing over to Mom. They surrounded her, nudging Hawks out of the way, and one of them took over chest compressions. Izuku watched them miserably, feeling more useless than he ever had in his entire life, trapped in All Might’s grasp. He waited for one of them to look up with a smile and say she was okay. She had to be okay.

Instead, the one doing chest compressions stopped and gave Izuku an apologetic look. “She’s gone.”

Izuku’s body went numb. All Might, evidently not deeming him much of a threat anymore, set him down on the ground. His legs crumpled underneath him immediately, and he sank down, shaking his head over and over and over. Time to wake up now. Right now. Please .

“I’m sorry, kiddo,” Hawks said softly, crouching down next to him. 

“Oh! You’re that quirkless kid, aren’t you?” All Might said, as though suddenly recognizing him.

Izuku snapped. 

He sprang to his feet and threw the hardest punch he possibly could, right into All Might’s left side. For two reasons– one, it was the highest he could reach, and second, that was All Might’s weak spot. All Might choked and took a full step back, hands cupping around his side.

Angry tears filling his eyes again, Izuku shrieked, “That’s all you have to say? Oh, I’m quirkless?” He punched him again on the other side, since All Might had left it open. “Yeah, I’m quirkless and my Mom is fucking dead ! And it’s your fault !” He threw another one, venting into All Might. He didn’t have anything else to scream at. 

All Might just stared in shock.

“You weren’t careful and this is your fault and you’re not even going to apologize ?” The anger coursing through him was the only thing keeping his voice from breaking. “How sick is that? Is it because I’m quirkless? Well screw that !” he screamed, slapping away All Might’s hands as he tried to reach out to him. “I’m done with you people– you’re all sick ! I hope you all burn in hell right after I send you there!”

He didn’t want to leave Mom, but all this– he was done, he was just done. Heroes weren’t worth all the effort he put into them.

Shaking with tears, he turned and he ran, sprinting until he’d lost all of the feathers Hawks had tailing him, running until he couldn’t breathe anymore, running until his legs just wouldn’t go any farther. He stumbled into an alley and slammed his fists into the wall again and again and again, relying on his bleeding knuckles to keep him from thinking . It didn’t distract him enough. He sank to the ground sobbing, letting his hurt and anger take him wherever it wanted to.

He was done, with all of them. Completely done.

Chapter Text

Toshinori had made a huge mistake. He knew it, everyone on the police force knew it, and Midoriya Izuku knew it.

He was taking it upon himself to go apologize. He probably should have earlier, but there had been a lot of factors to consider. And he’d been putting it off because it was clear young Midoriya didn’t want to talk to him– didn’t want to talk to anyone, but him especially. But he still wanted to apologize, get his name cleared, at least a little bit.

Tsukauchi was also encouraging him to go too, so he gathered himself together and went to the Midoriya house. It had only been half a day. He hoped this wasn’t too late– or too early– of an apology.

When he knocked on the door, it swung open, and dread settled in his stomach. “Hello?” he called, stepping in.

No one answered. He walked further into the house. It was eerily still. On the counter, there was a large paper file, and a letter addressed to “whoever comes in first.”

He opened the letter.

To the police, heroes, or whoever might come in here,

I, Midoriya Izuku, have decided to disappear. The disrespect and blundering of the hero community is too much for me to handle right now. Don’t expect to see me anytime soon.

The file contains my mother’s financial documents, as well as a list of our closest contacts. I trust you will put everything in order adequately. 

Hope you never see me again,

Midoriya Izuku.

The phrasing of the closing was odd. It could be taken in a couple ways, both of them ominous, but the way Toshinori saw it, it was phrased almost like a threat. It honestly made him anxious. He glanced over his shoulder, half expecting the kid to be standing there with a knife. He’d put up a hell of a fight earlier. 

When he’d confirmed the kid wasn’t waiting to murder him, Toshinori packed up the file and the letter and left to show Tsukauchi.

Midoriya Izuku was still too young to be on his own, and he was quirkless. Toshinori realized now he should have kept an eye on the kid, or should have tried to be a little more supportive. But it was too late for that, and he had nothing left to do but regret his actions and try to move on from them.

–

Deku had hastily packed all his essential belongings and left the house. He was still deciding what to do next. One thing he knew for certain– the only thing he knew for certain at the moment was that he didn’t want to be Midoriya Izuku anymore. He was tired of Midoriya Izuku. Being Midoriya Izuku hurt too much.

So now he was just Deku.

Deku, for the kid too useless to save his mother. And Deku, for the kid who wasn’t going to be useless anymore. He was going to force the world to change, even if it meant destroying it from the top down. 

His options were as follows:

1. Actually be on the run. This plan had flaws. It would be difficult to be both a vigilante and be on the run without a home base. He didn't know where he would get money or clothes and he was currently running without a support system.
2. Join the League of Villains. They had resources, they were a great hiding spot, and they had the drive and the capability to stand up against heroes. The only flaw here was that they would try to manipulate him to be like them, or to want complete world destruction, which he didn't. Plus he thought it would be difficult to outsmart their leader. And he really didn’t like them very much, so there was that.
3. Go back. This option was completely off the table.

The best decision was clear, but that didn’t mean Deku really liked it. He sighed, straightening his bag on his shoulders.

Hoping he wasn’t making the worst decision of his life, he started off toward Kamino.

–

Dabi was doing his best to not exist. Handjob over there was freaking out about something Stain-related, Misthead was doing his best to calm him down, unsuccessfully, and Toga was watching from the counter with an amused grin on her face. Everyone else was out. Dabi didn’t want to be involved in this mess, so he just held as still as possible and pretended to be incredibly bored. His hope was if he didn’t move, no one would notice he was there.

His phone lit up with a text and he checked it, frowning when he saw it was from Deku.

broccoli Hey btw I’m about to crash your kamino party

cremationreallyburns huh?

broccoli i’m coming to kamino

cremationreallyburns what do you mean you’re coming to kamino

broccoli wanna meet the league

cremationreallyburns don’t you hate the league

broccoli what can I say? I had a change of heart

cremationreallyburns wait i never told you the league was in kamino wtf

broccoli computers exist, dabi

cremationreallyburns … even I didn’t know where the league was how did you figure it out??

broccoli magic

cremationreallyburns …

broccoli be there in a few ;)

Dabi looked up just as Handjob completely destroyed a table in a fit of anger. He was really pissed. For some reason, Dabi thought Deku popping in right now was a bad idea.

cremationreallyburns this is a terrible time for you to show up

broccoli :)

cremationreallyburns your funeral

Apparently to Deku, “in a few” meant within thirty seconds, because just as Handjob was well on his way to destroying another table, a knock hit the door.

Sighing miserably to himself, Dabi went and opened it.

Deku gave him a cool look and Dabi froze. Something was wrong. He was in his Entropy costume but he wasn’t Entropy . He was… colder, or something. Maybe he was wearing more emotional masks than usual. Something had changed, definitely.

“Hey, fuckers,” he said casually, walking straight in.

In his peripheral vision, Dabi watched another table collapse under Handjob’s hand. “You,” he growled, sounding very angry.

“Hey,” Deku said again. 

This conversation was very alarming now that it was playing out right in front of him. Dabi leaned against the door and tried to act chill, even though his entire body was tense right now. Would he jump in front of Handjob to protect Deku? Maybe. 

Probably.

“How’d you find us?” Handjob asked, voice eerily calm.

Deku gave him a very unimpressed look. “You were the one who kidnapped me and took me here. It wasn’t hard to figure out.”

Handjob scowled.

“Why are you here?” Misthead asked when it became apparent Handjob wasn’t planning on saying anything else.

Deku shrugged. “I wanna join you.”

What.

Deku literally hated the League. Why the fuck would he want to join them? Had losing Stain really fucked him up this badly?

“What,” Handjob said, evidently just as confused by the idea as Dabi was.

“Welcome to the League!” Toga said, hopping down from her seat by the counter. “My name is Toga! Toga Himiko! My friends call me Himichan!”

That was a lie. Dabi was Toga’s only friend and he had not once in his life called her Himichan. But he wasn’t about to call her out on it.

“I’m Deku. Just Deku,” Deku said, giving her a smile. It didn’t look right. 

Toga considered that for a moment. “Decchan!” she dubbed him excitedly after a minute.

He shrugged. “Sure.”

Something was really wrong. He was acting too carelessly, like he’d lost his tether to the real world or something. Dabi didn’t know what to do about it, though, so he settled on shutting the door behind him.

“Hold on!” Handjob snapped, coming out of his stunned silence to glare at Deku again. “I still haven’t decided if you can join!”

“I think you’d probably much rather me join you than let me continue to fuck stuff up for you from the sidelines,” Deku pointed out.

Handjob’s face soured as he realized he had a point. “Sensei?” he screeched, looking at the screen on the wall. “Are you hearing this?”

“I am,” purred a voice that still sent shivers down Dabi’s spine every time he heard it.

Deku didn’t react at all, not even a twitch. He was clearly being careful, really careful, to keep up a particular appearance. Dabi needed to know what was going on. Why was he here, really?

“Remember what we discussed earlier?” the Sensei person said smoothly.

Something flashed over Deku’s face, something like suspicion or anger, but it was gone in half a second and Dabi wasn’t sure if it was real or not. 

“Fine,” Handjob snarled. “Fine! Fine, you can join.”

Deku gave him a smug look. “Thanks. I’ll just make myself at home, then.” He reached up and pulled off his hood and mask. 

If Dabi had any less control over his facial expressions, his mouth would have dropped right open. Instead, he settled on just a slight widening of his eyes. Deku had just revealed his identity in front of a group of complete strangers– and villains too. Whatever was going on, Dabi didn’t like it. At all.

Toga seemed to like it though. “We’re going to have so much fun !” she squealed, jumping forward and grabbing Deku’s arm, looking right up into his green eyes. “You are very cute, Decchan. I want to see you bloody!”

“You probably won’t have to wait long, Himichan,” he said, corners of his mouth quirked up almost teasingly.

Dabi’s eyes narrowed again. This was all wrong. 

“So,” Deku said, looking straight at Handjob. “I’m in? What are you planning?”

“None of your business,” Handjob growled, storming off and disappearing up the stairs.

Deku frowned at the stairs for a long second, looking like he was trying to figure something out. No answers seemed to come, though, so he turned back to Dabi. “Hey,” he said, grinning, and there was still something wrong about it. “What’s up?”

“What’s going on?” Dabi hissed, ignoring Misthead’s and Toga’s watching eyes for the moment. “You fucking hate the League. Why are you here?”

“Motivation comes from strange places,” Deku said, waving a hand in the air. “All Might inspired me to join forces with people who have resources.”

Dabi glared at him for a long time, and when it became apparent he wasn’t going to say anything else, he whipped out his phone and started checking the news. Something must have happened. Fear flashed across Deku’s face and he slapped a hand over Dabi’s phone, giving him a pleading look with his eyes. “Please don’t do that,” he whispered. There he was. Midoriya Izuku shone through for just a second before getting carefully covered up again. 

“Then tell me what’s going on,” Dabi insisted.

“We all have our secrets,” Deku said, fingers clenching around Dabi’s phone.

Dabi pursed his lips. “Fine. Fine, I won’t look. Just tell me you’re okay.”

“Peachy.” 

“Does your mom know you’re here?”

Deku physically flinched, hand drawing back. He was practically waving red flags and pulling all the fire alarms at this point. “No, she doesn’t,” he said, and his voice was cold. “Don’t push, Dabi. Does your mother know you’re here? Or Daddy dearest?”

And that. That was just cruel. Dabi took a step back, trying not to panic. Deku didn’t know anything about Endeavour or his mom. There was no way Deku had figured that out. “Sorry,” he said, voice equally hard. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“Yeah, you did.”

Something must have happened. Deku was never this… blunt? No, Deku was never this spiteful. He never acted like this. Something had to have happened to change that. Something with his mom? Oh… Oh no. Oh no. Screw what Deku told him. The second the kid was out of sight, Dabi would be checking all the news channels.

“This is so much fun!” Toga crooned, looking between them excitedly. “Are you guys going to fight?”

Deku laughed, coldness dropping away as he slipped on yet another mask, one which he seemed to have reserved only for Toga. “Not today, Himichan. Maybe some other time! Why don’t you tell me a little about yourself?”

Toga’s eyes lit up at the opportunity to talk with Deku and she dropped into a long ramble about blood and cute people. Dabi took another step back, trying to reorient himself.

This was a mess. Dabi didn’t like any of it.

All for One listened to the conversation in the bar with some interest. He was glad his plan to bring Midoriya to his side worked. Of course, he knew it would– it was timed perfectly down to the letter and Kawaguchi was a loyal pawn. She’d done her part well, listening closely to his instructions over her earpiece and following them perfectly. Midoriya’s mother was either dead or close enough to it to make her son very angry. And Kawaguchi had made it seem just like collateral damage, too. She might have slipped up a little because she had to intentionally step in front of Midoriya’s mother to complete the attack, but Midoriya seemed to think she’d done that to protect the woman, so All for One could forgive the mistake.

Midoriya Izuku had fallen right into All for One’s arms, just as he’d planned. He hadn't anticipated Midoriya to fall so quickly, but the boy was efficient in everything he did, so why not this? It made perfect sense. Another pawn, a very good pawn, had come into place.

“So, I did my part then,” Kawaguchi said demandingly from behind him. 

The grin playing around his lips fell away. Of course the stupid girl would expect something from him. He had made her a deal for her services, but he wasn’t planning on following through with it. Her quirk was too useful for that. The ability to change her level of solidity… It had so many practical uses. She wasn’t even using it to its full potential.

“You did,” he agreed coolly.

“I can go? You said I could go.”

“I did say that, yes.” He turned around, arms spread wide. “You are free to leave.”

That wasn’t true at all, of course. He barely gave her time to take a step back before he activated quirk number 76, Consciousness, and she slumped to the ground, dead to the world. She would make a good Nomu. Her quirk really was incredible, and she was young and strong. 

Ujiko would be pleased with this.

Chapter Text

Shigaraki was pouting still, but that was fine. Deku could work with that.

Toga was something else. Deku could immediately see why Dabi had picked her up. She acted like a crazy teenager with an insane amount of bloodlust, but there was something underneath that. Deku wanted to understand her better, even if that meant putting on a mask he’d never worn before– a I’m just as crazy as you mask. He kind of liked it, actually. It was freeing, in a way.

Kurogiri was weird. Deku wasn’t sure what was up with him yet. He was almost human, but there was something off about it that he couldn’t quite place. And he had a hell of a quirk. Deku had already mentally written at least two pages of notes on it, because it was cooler than fuck. He also apologized for that time he’d stabbed him in the arm.

Then there was Dabi, of course, who had gone against Deku’s wishes within the first twenty minutes and had looked up the news. Deku was pretty sure he’d never seen Dabi so close to tears than he had been at that moment. Now Dabi was alternating between glaring at a table and giving Deku a kicked puppy sort of look. All this was making Deku feel justified in going through Dabi’s past earlier.

The last few had just walked in in the last twenty minutes or so. Twice was strange, to say the least, but in a I had a traumatic incident sort of way. Everyone else was similar in the sense that the trauma had clearly happened continually. Twice looked like the type of person who just had one thing happen that made him snap.

Magne was chill. Deku liked her. She seemed like someone who just sort of ended up going down the wrong road, and kept on with it. Spinner was clearly discriminated against because of his mutant quirk and had something against heroes too. He kept talking about Stain, idolizing him in a way that would have made Deku’s chest hurt if he hadn’t shut all that out. Compress, another person like Magne who probably just ended up going down a villain road and never left it. Also cool, although he had a little bit of a sadistic streak.

Apparently there were more on the way. 

Deku could work with this. They weren’t super skilled, not trained to the extent he’d have liked them to be, but they were something, and that was all he asked for. They were certainly more than he had when he walked in. 

Shigaraki wasn’t going to cooperate though, which was annoying because his quirk was really freaking cool . There were a ton of applications to it that Shigaraki didn’t even seem to have considered, like chain decay or even finite decay that could slowly destroy things… But anyway, Shigaraki didn’t seem into sharing his thunder, and Deku was fine with that. It would probably be better to let Shigaraki think he was in the lead for a while anyway. At least until Deku could figure out what was going on with this “Sensei” person.

After a while, Shigaraki returned. Deku didn’t move from the seat he’d claimed at the bar, just watched his progress around the room out of the corner of his eye. He seemed so young . Like a petulant child, one thought driving him. Shigaraki came up to him, standing next to him like he didn’t want to lower himself onto a chair– ridiculous, because even with Shigaraki sitting, the height difference between the two of them was noticeable.

“If you betray us,” Shigaraki said in a low growl. “I will kill you.”

He disintegrated a shot glass for dramatic effect. 

His threat rolled right off Deku, who stared at him, unimpressed. He wouldn’t have come here at all if he didn’t know he could figure out how to beat everyone in this room. Shigaraki’s quirk most likely required five-point contact. Break a finger, and that would immediately become difficult. 

“Okay,” Deku said.

“Since you’re part of the group now, I guess I have to tell you what we’re planning,” he said, like he could think of nothing he wanted to do less.

“That would be nice.”

Shigaraki told him their plan was to attack UA’s training camp and kidnap Bakugou Katsuki. That was as far as he got before Deku burst out laughing. Surely this was a joke.

“You’re kidding,” he said, trying to hide his laugh behind a hand. “You have to be kidding.”

Shigaraki looked affronted. “Why are you laughing?”

“Attacking the training camp? Kidnapping Bakugou? Please . That’s so…” He couldn’t think of an adjective to describe how ludicrous the entire thing was, so he just started laughing again, shaking his head. 

Everyone present was watching them tensely, like they were expecting someone to explode.

Shigaraki slammed a palm into the bar, pinky raised delicately so he didn’t break anything. “Stop laughing! Why are you laughing?” he demanded.

“That’s honestly the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” Deku said, dropping the smile so Shigaraki could see how serious he was. “That’s all.”

“It’s not ridiculous!” Shigaraki screeched like a toddler.

“It is, though,” Deku answered, head tipping to the side. “First, the idea that Bakugou would ever turn villain is laughable. If you're going to choose someone, choose the Todoroki kid. And second, why would you make things so much harder for yourself? If you want to kidnap someone, just warp right into UA and kidnap them. It’s not like it’d be difficult.”

“But I want them to know it’s me kidnapping their students. I want them to realize they’re not so stable up on their stupid pedestals.”

“Then get caught on a security camera,” Deku said, bored. This was honestly child’s play, and Shigaraki was making a huge deal out of it. “Blow a kiss and get warped away. You’d make Nezu’s morning.”

Shigaraki looked about ready to strangle him. “I want to make them hurt–”

“And you think attacking a bunch of kids at a summer training camp is going to do that for you?” This was really annoying, actually. He didn’t have a goal , he was just destroying whatever he felt like for no reason other than to draw attention to himself– again, like a toddler. That was diminishing his effectiveness a lot, and irritating everyone who he came into contact with. Shigaraki wasn’t asking himself the right questions. “Who exactly do you want to hurt, and why? What does attacking UA do for you?”

He stared, mouth hanging open like he was trying to think of something to say. After a while, a scowl settled over his features. “You’re not the one in charge here, I am. We’re doing what I say. If you don’t like it, you can keep your snobby nose out of it.”

“You’re kicking me out of your plans?” Deku said, incredulous. He honestly didn’t want to attack the training camp, so he didn’t care that much, but it was stupid of Shigaraki to shut him out. “I mean, I could make them like two hundred percent better, so I’m not sure that’s a great call. But okay.”

“Just stay out of my way,” Shigaraki snapped, before getting up dramatically and storming out of the room again. 

“What a mature and intelligent man,” Deku muttered to himself, already exasperated with this entire ordeal. 

He must have been a little louder than he intended, because Dabi snorted from a few feet away. Throwing him a miserable look, Deku got to his feet. He leaned back on the counter and started looking over the room, picking people apart as he glanced at them. He needed to understand all of them if he wanted his plans to work.

What he wanted now was a complete power overthrow. He wanted to be in charge. Once he got there, he wasn't sure what he would do with the power, but he knew he needed it to get anywhere at all. Whatever his goals became over time, he wasn't going to be able to accomplish them by himself. So he needed to bring more people under his wing, so to speak. Things like this took time , though, so he’d have to start working now. He didn’t think anyone would actually start wanting to follow him until he did something that made them respect him, and short of instigating a successful mass-breakout of Tartarus, he couldn’t think of anything to get all of them on his side. Until that came to him, he needed to actually get to know them, and undermine Shigaraki at every available moment.

He chose to start with Toga. As someone his age, and also someone who seemed genuinely interested in talking to him, he figured she’d be the easiest to get through to. Once he had both Dabi and Toga on his side, it would be easier to start pulling other people over too.

Pushing off from the counter, he wandered over to her and sat down, grinning toothily. He needed to be careless, reckless, a little bloodthirsty and unstable, and mostly giggly. That was the mask he put on now. Someone who didn’t care about consequences. “Hi Himichan!”

Her eyes lit up. “Decchan! Did you come over here just to talk to me?”

“I did!”

Talking to Toga was easy. She rambled, and he listened. He was reminded of the first thing he’d ever learned from Stain– keep your mouth shut when you first meet people, or they might use everything against you. Clearly no one had taught Toga that. To be fair, she wasn’t talking about much besides how much she loved drinking people’s blood, but there was the occasional comment that gave away more than she probably intended.

She was fourteen, she lived by herself for several months before she met Dabi, her parents were most likely abusive, she was bullied all through elementary school, she’d never been to quirk therapy. She loved “cute” people, she survived on blood, she was very proud of her teeth. And above all else she wanted a world where she could do what she wanted without judgment.

Deku could work with this.

--

Therapy wasn’t what Katsuki had expected. He’d expected a lot of mumbo-jumbo healing stuff with weird smells and deep breathing exercises, and instead he got this strange lady who yelled at him within two seconds of him walking in the door. Apparently she didn’t allow shoes in her office.

Miyajima. That was her name, and she didn’t let him call her Pointy Chin, as much as he wanted to. She had a pointy chin. And big brown eyes, a stern mouth, and a ton of freckles. Her hair was white and she hadn’t told him her quirk yet. Annoying as fuck.

Where on earth the hag had found this lady, Katsuki didn’t know. What he did know was when he walked into her office, he felt shitty, and when he walked back out, he felt exhausted, but calmer. He’d been at least four times now, and honestly? He didn’t ever want to stop. It was crazy cool having someone who would just sit and listen to him, whatever he had to say, even if it was just to rant about the stupid extras at school, or to talk about how fucking hot it was getting outside. She sat and she listened and when he actually had a legitimate problem he wanted to talk about, she would help him through it.

Today he decided he was ready to talk about Deku.

He’d wanted to talk about him earlier, but for some reason he couldn’t get the words out, which was really fucking shitty and annoying. It made him feel weak. 

Miyajima told him it was okay to not be ready to talk about things yet. She said that was a perfectly normal thing to feel. To which he spat that he didn’t want to be normal, he wanted to be better than everyone else, and that meant talking about things he wasn’t ready to talk about yet. 

She told him that was stupid. Flat out.

Katsuki appreciated her honesty.

And then she asked him to tell her why he wanted to be better than everyone else, and by the end of the appointment, he felt more stable, somehow. He would never say this outloud, but he was really, really glad the hag had made him come here.

But that was all in the past. Today he was ready to open up and discuss Deku. He wanted him out of his head, and he figured that for that to happen, he probably needed to talk about him to someone who would listen to what he had to say with no judgment. Or maybe some judgment, but less than he’d get from his parents.

He was almost out the door to go to his appointment, when the hag walked up. Her footsteps were uneven. He paused, and looked up at her, confused. 

She was crying. He froze. There were literal tears coming out of her eyes. 

“Are you going out to therapy?” she asked, voice wobbling through a full octave.

“I was…” he said warily, switching his shoes to his other hand, just to have something to do with his hands. He didn’t know how to help people when they were upset like this. “What’s going on?”

Her chin trembled and she looked down at the floor. She was quieter than usual and it was fucking scary. “I just got a call. Auntie Inko…” She slapped a hand over her mouth as a sob ripped out. “Sorry!” she gasped. “God, I’m a fucking idiot–” Face contorted angrily, she swiped tears away. “Your aunt,” she said, voice forcibly stable. “was killed yesterday morning in a villain attack.”

Katsuki dropped his shoes. They fell to the floor with a loud thump.

Mom burst into tears, sobs wracking her body. “Sorry! Sorry sorry, I’m stupid–I’m so–” She gasped for air, turning away from him. “Sorry! I– should have–”

“Where’s Deku?” he asked, voice catching. 

“They can’t find him!” she screamed hysterically into her hands. Katsuki almost felt his heart stop in his chest. “He’s– She’s gone– and they can’t–”

Dad was here. “Hey, hey, hey,” he said soothingly, taking both of Mom’s hands. “I just got off the phone, okay? They’re looking. It’s going to be okay.”

Deku was missing and Auntie was dead and Mom was freaking out–

It was his fault.

Wasn’t it? It was. It was his fault.

Mom screamed painfully into Dad’s chest and Katsuki couldn’t deal with this. He turned and fled from the house.

His brain didn’t know where to take him so his feet carried him all the way to Pointy Chin’s stupid office. He walked right in, met her eyes, and burst into tears, turning around for the door again. He couldn't find the handle with his eyes squeezed shut against the oncoming flood, and Miyajima beat him to the door.

"Hey, hey, hey, what's going on?"

"Nothing," he insisted, scrubbing at his eyes furiously and trying to get past her to the exit. Crying was weak. He wasn't going to do that. No. Coming here was a mistake.

"Just-"

"I said it's nothing," he snarled, shoving her aside.

"Hey!" she snapped. The sheer tone of it was the only thing that stopped Katsuki from moving out the door, not the volume, although that was heightened too. This was Pointy Chin's I'm-not-putting-up-with-your-shit voice, and he'd learned a while ago it was best to listen to it. "Don't shove me. Sit down and tell me what's going on."

He couldn't tell her what was going on because that would mean he'd have to tell her about shitty Deku, and the hag, and Auntie, and he couldn't handle thinking about that right now, clearly, with the tears, and so he had to leave. If he told her about all of that, she'd realize it was all his fault. She'd realize what he'd done, that he'd fucked up and in the process he'd somehow managed to... if he'd just left the Midoriya's alone, maybe... If Deku wasn't a shitty villain, maybe- And that was his fault, and he didn't want Miyajima to think he was fucking weak so he had to go. Now. He had to- he couldn't-

He rocked in place, fighting the tears down again.

"Talk to me," she said.

He wanted to. That was the problem, he wanted to. He wanted someone to help him. Fuck therapy. Fuck all of this. It was all his fault and he couldn't carry it by himself anymore.

“It’s my fault–” he shouted, quirk going off as his emotions warred inside him. “It’s my fault-”

God he was weak. He couldn’t breathe, his chest was collapsing, he was crying, and he was fucking weak. He couldn’t see straight anymore.

Miyajima’s long hands suddenly appeared in the air in front of his eyes. “Focus on my hands, okay? Breathe with me.”

He did. He followed her hands until he could see the room in harsh detail again, even though the weight on his chest didn’t leave for a second. And then he told her everything, with a hoarse voice and watery eyes, standing in the middle her office. 

--

It was all over the news. Nezu couldn’t tear his eyes off it. There was even a poorly shot video of Midoriya punching All Might right in his weak spot before going on a long rant.

Midoriya’s mother was dead, and the boy had disappeared off the planet. 

The disappearing part was, frankly, the scariest part of the whole thing. That meant he didn’t want to be found or helped by any outside source. It solidified Nezu’s hypothesis that Midoriya’s mother was the only person keeping him from turning villain. Midoriya clearly now wanted to be left alone to make plans and pull himself back together. This simple fact didn’t stop Nezu from looking, of course. Midoriya was going to do a lot of damage if he wasn’t taken in soon. The problem was Nezu couldn’t find him anywhere. He’d hacked into a lot of cameras, he’d utilized all of UA’s resources, and he couldn’t locate the boy.

His stomach filled with something like dread. Thinking hard, he carefully folded his paws on his desk in front of him. He had to remain aware of the situation. Midoriya Izuku was a wild card if he’d ever met one. Wild cards were dangerous. They tended to destroy everything in their path, regardless of trivial things like “sides.” And it was impossible to control them.

Whatever happened next was completely out of Nezu’s control. 

And that was terrifying.

Chapter Text

Himiko liked Decchan. She thought she would, from the little Dabi had said about him, but now that she’d met him she was absolutely sure. He was very cute! She wouldn’t cut him, though, as tempting as it was. She didn’t need to. He was already just like her, so she barely even thought she needed his blood to be like him. She wanted to be cute like him, though. Maybe he’d let her have a little, if she asked. 

She couldn’t ask now, though. Shiggy had just walked in again and he was glaring at Deku with more hatred than Himiko thought he could possibly have in his body. Deku didn’t even seem to care. He glanced up from the conversation he was having with Dabi, looked Shiggy dead-on, and then turned to finish his conversation. 

Himiko would never say this out loud, but she thought Decchan was a lot cooler than Shiggy. He felt much more in control of himself and his actions, for one thing, and much better at listening. Himiko felt like she could tell Decchan anything and he would listen. If she said anything to Shiggy, he would barely care. 

Since Decchan wasn’t paying him any attention, Shiggy abandoned his glaring and addressed the room as a whole. “The training camp is up in the mountains. We have a plan ready. A few more people will be joining us, but until then, here is the plan we have so far.”

He kept talking for a very long time. After a while, Himiko gave up trying to understand his rambling and settled on watching Decchan, who was fully focused on him, green eyes sharp. He seemed to be following everything Shiggy said, breaking it apart and analyzing it from every angle. No one else was paying attention at all, Himiko determined after a brief glance around the room. Maybe Dabi was, but everyone else was zoning out. Even Kurogiri. 

Shiggy finally finished. Himiko perked up, meeting his eyes and smiling with as many teeth as she could, so he could see she’d been paying attention. 

“Great plan,” Twice said, nodding several times. Funny man! He hadn’t been paying attention either. 

“I think your plan sucks,” Decchan said pointedly. 

Shiggy’s red eyes flashed as he turned to Decchan and Himiko sat up a little straighter in her seat, running her tongue over her lips. This was going to be so much fun . “Do you?” Shiggy said harshly, glowering. It was funny because Shiggy was standing, towering over Decchan who was leaning casually back in a chair, but it was very clear that Shiggy was not in control of this conversation. 

“I mean, the base of it is okay but you’re going to get a ton of your team caught if you do it like that.”

“Why’s that?” Shiggy growled. 

“You’re underestimating the students,” Decchan said simply. “It’s like you’re expecting them to just roll over and die for you. They’re not idiots. Or not total idiots, anyway,” he added darkly. 

“Do you have a better idea?” Shiggy said with a snarl. 

“We could attack Tartarus instead,” Decchan said sarcastically. “That might be slightly less suicidal than this mission.” 

Himiko bit back a giggle. He was so funny!

“Fuck off,” Shiggy snapped. “I’m the one in charge here.”

Decchan tipped his head to the side. “Are you?” he asked. He held Shiggy’s gaze for a very long, tense moment, and then looked right at the TV screen. “Because I think he’s the one calling the shots.”

Shiggy punched the table Decchan was sitting at so hard Himiko heard the legs creak. Decchan didn't even flinch, just turned his head to look Shiggy in the eyes again. Himiko leaned forward in her seat, watching everything with wide eyes so she didn’t miss a thing. “You’re here conditionally Deku ,” Shiggy said, voice lined with hatred. “Don’t make me do something we’ll both regret.”

“I’m so scared,” Decchan answered, rolling his eyes.

It happened so fast, Himiko’s eyes barely caught it. Shiggy lunged forward, hands outstretched for Decchan’s throat. But Decchan was faster, grabbing a couple of his fingers and twisting out. Shiggy screamed in agony and Himiko licked her lips. This was very fun. She didn’t get to watch stuff like this often. 

The room seemed to freeze, Decchan holding Shiggy’s hands over the table. Several of Shiggy’s fingers were poised almost at their breaking point, looking sick and twisted in Decchan’s grip.

“You’re right,” Decchan said slowly. “I think you do regret that.”

And then he let go, brushing his hands off on his shirt. Shiggy drew his hands back, clutching them close to his chest and glaring angrily at Decchan.

“Please. Continue,” Decchan said dryly. “I’m sure we were very interested in what you were going to say next.”

“I’m in charge,” Shiggy said, but his voice had a small tremor in it that made Himiko wonder if he really was in charge. “And I say we’re attacking the training camp. So we are. Anyone who has anything to say about that can go straight to Sensei.”

He pointed at the TV screen. Decchan actually paused, eyes narrowed thoughtfully, which made Himiko pause too. Whoever the person was behind the screen, Decchan was scared of him. That meant he was someone worth being scared of, someone who probably should be in charge. He was scary enough to make Decchan back down.

Pursing his lips, Decchan settled into his chair again.

“And I’m taking you off the mission,” Shiggy told him triumphantly.

Decchan gave him a completely deadpan look that almost made Himiko giggle. “Oh no I’m crushed,” he said, in a voice that clearly showed he didn’t care and didn’t want to be on the mission anyway.

Shiggy looked a half-second away from screaming in frustration and Himiko grinned. She liked Decchan.

–

Naomasa felt lost for a number of reasons but mostly because it was becoming increasingly clear that Midoriya Izuku was Entropy.

He felt more than a little stupid.

Midoriya Izuku had disappeared just over a week ago and at the same time, Entropy went completely off the map. No one had seen him, no one had heard him, he hadn’t hacked into anyone’s comms, and he hadn’t played any pranks on Endeavour. They disappeared at the same time, and that couldn’t be a coincidence, as much as Naomasa wanted it to be.

He really, really wanted it to be, and he probably would have thrown that aside as a coincidence if it weren’t for the overwhelming evidence.

No one could figure out what Entropy’s quirk was because he didn’t have one. That would explain why Eraserhead couldn’t erase his quirk– he didn’t have one to erase.

Midoriya Izuku’s fighting style when he attacked All Might was too similar to Entropy’s to ignore. His punches were sharp, fast, and went right for the weak spots. Toshi even said Midoriya had seemed to know what he was doing beyond just simple self-defense training.

His mother was most likely targeted, based on the testimony from Toshi and Hawks. The villain had very intentionally stepped in front of her, probably with the intent to kill or incapacitate her and make it look like an accident. There would be no point in targeting a civilian woman, unless her son was a serious threat. Which he was. When coupled with Entropy’s disappearance, the targeting of Midoriya Inko became a lot scarier. Someone had gone after Entropy’s mom to get him out of the picture, and it had worked. Someone was terrifying enough to make Entropy back down.

Or worse, Midoriya had disappeared for the purpose of finding revenge. 

Naomasa hoped the kid was smart enough to realize that it wasn’t Toshi’s fault . The villain had intentionally stepped there. It wasn’t Toshi'’s fault that the villain had made a conscious decision to harm the kid’s mother.

However, as Entropy was out of the picture for now, Naomasa had to put him aside. There were bigger problems at hand. The League of Villains had been quiet for a long time now, a suspiciously long time. The silence meant they were planning something, probably something big. No one knew what it was, and no one knew where the League of Villains were, although Naomasa had a sneaking suspicion Entropy could figure it out if he really set his mind to it. 

Maybe he should have tried working with Entropy a little bit more. That might have been beneficial to everyone…

He kept getting distracted.

The League of Villains supposedly had a very powerful leader and Naomasa was starting to get nervous that it was All for One, which was very stressful. Toshi was clearly on edge. Naomasa didn’t think he’d passed on his quirk yet. If there was an all out battle with All for One again, Toshi would need to make sure he already had his successor, in case he…

But Midoriya had said he wasn’t a vigilante! How had he gotten around that question? Was he immune to the lie detector? Maybe he wasn’t really quirkless? Maybe he somehow changed his records– or maybe he just had an invisible quirk! That would explain it. Quirk nullification? They’d thrown that aside though. Maybe it was quirk nullification but only for mental quirks, so it didn’t work against tactile quirks like Shigaraki’s or All Might’s. That would explain a–

He really needed to focus.

Maybe he’d call Nezu, just to get all his Entropy theories out of his system so he could do real work again. It was just so frustrating. He’d had Midoriya Izuku right there and he’d just let him slip by. Nezu had even warned him, and he’d let his ego get in the way of listening to the smartest being he knew. 

Hopefully they’d be able to find him again soon. Tsukauchi wasn’t sure how safe the world would be if Entropy continued to be left to his own devices.

–

Reiki had seen the news, but Deku wasn’t answering his phone and Midoriya Izuku had gone missing. When she called Dabi instead, he said Deku had joined the League of Villains and was acting pretty much like a teenager who’d just had his support system cut off. Which made sense, considering…

She wanted to go see him, she wanted to march all the way down to wherever the League of Villains were and wrap him in the hugest hug of all time, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know where the League of Villains were and life had caught up with her finally. The HPSC had figured out something was off about her, probably hand-in-hand with Entropy’s and Midoriya’s disappearance, and were investigating. They thought they were being subtle, but Reiki wouldn’t have made it as long as she did if she didn’t know how to tell when someone suspected her of something. So as much as she wanted to go help Deku up again, she knew she had to stay above the law for a while. At least until the HPSC started looking elsewhere again, maybe even longer than that.

That wasn’t the only thing going on right now, though. 

Something big was happening in the underworld, something beyond whatever was going on with Entropy and the League. There were stirrings of a new “boss,” probably the head of the yakuza, if the rumors were true, and he was gaining power faster than anyone would like to admit. That on top of the threat from the League of Villains meant hero society was stretched as far as it would go. Heroes were frantically trying to stop all crime so they could set aside time for the big guns. All this meant that Reiki was really caught up in work. Heroes were calling her left and right to come fix them up so they could go out and throw their lives away all over again. 

She’d recently been called in to try to regrow someone’s stomach– which, of course, she couldn't do. It was worth a shot, though, and the weird skeletal man clearly felt a lot better after she was done. While she couldn’t exactly regrow organs, she could patch up internal damage, and she did. She wondered who that man was, and what exactly he’d been doing that made him lose his stomach , but it didn’t really matter, so she did what she could and sent him off better than she’d found him.

And then, Nezu.

He’d emailed her a few weeks ago to set up a meeting, and when she came in, he offered her the opportunity to create a hospital for low-income civilians. She almost screamed when he dropped the contract on the table, offering her a buttload of money to start the hospital. She left his office crying, arms full of signed papers and dirt on the HPSC. Afterwards, she went straight home and started planning. Her hospital would be opening in a preliminary form at the end of the summer, and should be fully fleshed out by the end of the year. As soon as she got it working adequately, she was resolved to quit her stupid hero career so she could finally do what she’d wanted to do for all her life– help people. Real people.

Unfortunately stuff like that took more time than she currently had available, which meant she was way busier than usual. And that meant she didn’t have time for Deku, even though she wanted to set aside everything she had so she could help him. He needed help right now, and her life was too crazy to allow her to give him anything.

She had to rely on Dabi for that instead. Hopefully that would be enough– Reiki knew better than anyone that Dabi wasn’t exactly the most stable either.

Chapter Text

The training camp attack was planned for tonight and there were far too many unhinged people in the room for Deku’s liking. Muscular was someone who Deku wouldn’t mind beating up and leaving in a dumpster for the police to find. Moonfish was someone who probably should have been in Tartarus years ago, and all in all, Deku hated all of Shigaraki’s new friends. He wasn’t comfortable with the students of UA being at the mercy of these people. Shigaraki, while he could be impulsive, wasn't really much of a danger to the students of 1-A, mostly because he had an inflated ego and tended to overestimate his own ability. These people he'd just brought in, though? They knew what they were doing, and they were sadistic enough to enjoy tearing a bunch of high schoolers apart. Which meant he needed to be on-site when the attack took place, so he could prevent too much damage from being done to the kids. Also, this was a great opportunity to continue to undermine Shigaraki's decisions. In that case, though, he was going to need a new costume- one that looked a little more heroic than what he’d been wearing. That way he could work against Shigaraki’s team without revealing himself. 

He pulled out his phone and started an email to Hatsume.

“Hey, Kurogiri?” he asked as he sent the email. “I have a favor to ask, if you don’t mind.”

Two yellow eyes fixed on him.

“While you’re there, would you mind opening a portal for me? In case I want to watch. It could be helpful to see how everyone reacts and stuff.” 

Kurogiri nodded. “That can be arranged. Where would you like the portal to be?”

“Right at the center of the camp,” he said decidedly, plans rotating around his head. “Not too close to Mustard or Dabi, preferably, but somewhere I’ll have access to the whole camp.” 

“Of course.”

“Thanks.” He’d need to get his computer and hack into Eraserhead’s comm line so he’d be ready during the attack– assuming Eraserhead would even be wearing his comm during the attack. Maybe calling him would be better? He needed to get a burner phone then, and call Eraserhead. They were already at the camp so it wasn’t like they’d be able to leave, but they needed to be a little more prepared. Deku could give them all his notes on the villains. He needed to swing by UA to see Hatsume, he needed to warn Nezu too, he needed to call an ambulance as soon as he got to the camp, and maybe also call some more heroes to come help? Who could come quickly? Hawks for sure. Endeavour could, but he’d burn the entire forest down in the meantime, so that wasn’t a good idea. Maybe Mountain Lady? Backdraft would be great to have handy but he wasn’t fast enough to get all the way to the mountains… All Might was fast enough but Deku couldn’t ask him for help, he just couldn’t have him around for this. Maybe calling heroes was a bad idea. They’d probably do more damage than good.

He started out of the bar, mind whirring. Hatsume first, maybe Nezu in the meantime. Get a burner phone on the way back, call Eraserhead.

“Where are you going?” Shigaraki asked shortly.

“Out,” he said, shooting him a glare. Shigaraki. Ugh.

“Where?”

“To get a burner phone,” Deku said shortly, already rethinking through all his plans. He couldn’t tip-off the heroes. They’d make a mess of everything and give his position away, like always . Eraserhead, though, could he trust Eraserhead? Could he trust Hawks?

Shigaraki gave him a long look, almost like he was attempting to be analytical. “Okay,” he said finally, turning away.

Deku continued out the door. Fine. No calling the heroes, except Eraserhead. He’d contact Eraserhead an hour before the attack just to give him a little heads up, get the students somewhere safe. And then he’d replace the other heroes he couldn’t call by himself. Get a new suit, kick some ass, change up his fighting style a little.

He traveled right to UA, emailing Hatsume again when he was a few minutes away. She responded right away to tell him she was almost done with the suit he’d requested, which was incredible, considering he’d only requested it about an hour ago. She didn’t ask him why he needed it or what he was doing. That was part of the reason he liked working with her so much. She didn’t ask unnecessary questions, she just helped him with what he needed, glad to be inventing.

She met him at the gate, holding a big black case.

“Thank you so much,” he said as he walked up, holding out his arms for it. “I’ll pay you back as soon as I get a minute.”

Hatsume hesitated before handing it over. “What’s going on?” she asked simply. Oh. She was worried. That was valid, Deku supposed. It was pretty clear something was off.

“I’m going to try my hand at being a vigilante,” he explained, which was partially true. “Just for today.”

She bit her lip and then nodded cautiously. “Be careful.”

“I will.”

He started away, working the case open as he walked. He wanted to look over the suit.

“Midoriya-kun?” Hatsume called after him. 

He paused, barely restraining a flinch at the sound of his name. Schooling his expression carefully, he looked back at her.

“I’m sorry,” she said softly, looking at her feet, “for what happened. With All Might.”

Right. It was all over the news. She’d probably seen everything, probably knew that Midoriya Izuku had vanished off the face of the earth, and yet was standing right here in front of her, asking for a costume. “It’s not your fault,” he said automatically, voice emotionless.

She nodded. “Anyway! Email me if you need anything else!” she said, back to her usual bright self, and thank goodness for that because Deku was really starting to hate people’s pity. “I made a few modifications to the design, but I think you’ll like them.”

He grinned. “Thanks. Really.”

“It’s no trouble!” She waved him off with a beaming smile.

When he was out of sight of UA, he flipped it open, grinning when he saw what she’d done. It was a dark forest green color, long sleeved, with black threading in darts up the sides and on his arms. He’d blend easily into the shadows of the woods. Long black gloves were folded on top of it. It came with a gas mask, since Shigaraki hadn’t decided to give him one. Hatsume had also included a black belt, which she’d filled with gadgets galore. Some smoke bombs, a lot more knives, what looked like grenades, flashbangs, etc. And then there were black boots at the very bottom of the case, filled with enough secret compartments for him to take anything he wanted with him. She’d gone above and beyond as usual.

He tucked the case under his arm and started toward the bar he and Dabi used to frequent. He probably wouldn’t be able to just walk into an electronics store and purchase a few burner phones, not with Midoriya Izuku’s face getting broadcasted everywhere. So he’d have to make full use of his other contacts.

He climbed in through the window, scanning the room for someone who could help him. He was well-aware that he’d actually never been in here without some sort of mask on, which was probably why he was drawing a ton of attention to himself right now. Newcomers in general didn’t usually get a lot of notice in here, but newcomers who were showing their full face did, and newcomers who looked like Midoriya Izuku apparently got a lot of it.

“I need a few burner phones,” he said, since everyone was looking at him and he didn’t feel like explaining himself. “Anyone want to barter?”

His eyes glanced at the booth Reiki usually frequented, but she wasn’t here. She hadn’t been in contact with him for a while. Probably busy.

A very big person who Deku vaguely recognized stood up and made his way over to him, stance indicating he had no intention to hand over a few burner phones in exchange for anything. The guy wanted a fight, and since Midoriya Izuku had no street cred here, he thought he’d found a good target. He was dead wrong, of course. Midoriya Izuku was about to beat the poor man up. Deku gently set the case down behind him, keeping his hands steady by his side, ready to jump into action at any second.

“I’m willing to trade,” he said coolly. “I have weapons. I have a lot of information. I am open to negotiating favors.”

The guy stopped in front of him, rolling up his sleeves, and Deku sighed. “I’m also perfectly willing to give you a bloody nose and a few broken ribs,” he said, dropping his voice to what he hoped was a dangerous pitch, "if that'll help convince you."

His words were having no effect on anyone in the room so he narrowed his eyes and started picking apart the guy in front of him, trying to figure him out before this situation escalated. He had an extremely wide stance, probably not well-trained. Super strength, from the way he was holding himself. That meant his bones and skin would be stronger than the average person’s. Deku would have to go for a choke hold.

The guy threw a punch, quick and deadly, and Deku dropped right under it, slipping his feet between the guy’s legs and sliding right under his wide stance. He popped back up on the other side. Before the guy had time to react, Deku climbed up his back and twisted his legs around his thick neck.

The man reached up to try to beat Deku off him. Deku grabbed both his wrists and held on for dear life as the guy tried to tear him off. He tightened his legs, completing the choke hold. Probably out of sheer desperation more than common sense, the guy ran straight at the closest wall, with the clear intention to dislodge Deku from his perch. 

Waiting until the last possible second, Deku untangled his legs and jumped backwards off the guy. He landed easily on the floor behind him as the man ran headfirst into the wall. When the guy turned around again, he was sporting a bloody nose and a scowl.

“As I was saying,” Deku said calmly. “I am willing to barter.”

With an angry roar, the guy ran at him again, both arms outstretched for a tackle. Deku sidestepped. The man ran straight into the bar. The wooden counter splintered under his weight.

“For the record,” Deku said as the bartender gave him an irritated look, “I didn’t start this.”

“I’ll trade you,” someone said from across the room. Deku turned to see a woman with long grey braids. “I have two burner phones. That enough?”

Deku nodded, picking up his case again and starting over to her. “That’s perfect. What can I give you in return?”

She snorted, nodding at the guy, who was still trapped in the wood of the bar. “Are you kidding? I’ll consider that spectacle half-payment. But if you don’t mind… Cash. A hundred bucks.”

“Fifty.”

She grinned, evidently enjoying the interaction with someone who actually knew how to negotiate. “Seventy-five, call it even.”

“No, but I’ll give you fifty plus a smoke bomb.”

She gave him a long, calculating look. “Two,” she countered.

He nodded, a smile twisting up his lips. “Done deal.”

Deku left the bar with two burner phones. He turned on one of them immediately, tucking the other one into the case. After carefully going through it and making sure nothing was off about it, he slipped it into his pocket and headed back to Kamino. 

On the train ride over, he made a call.

Eraserhead didn’t actually pick up, a nice change of pace. Deku liked it that way. It made it easier to give information without unnecessary questions.

“Hey Aizawa-san,” he said after the tone, deciding that maybe calling him by his hero name in a heavily populated train was a bad idea. “This is… um… that hacker kid you met a couple times. Sorry, I’m on a train and don’t want to, um… Anyway, I’m just calling to issue a warning. Your training camp isn’t the most secure, and the League knows a lot more than they let on, so you might want to be careful with that. Maybe contact some heroes to try to come up by tonight? I’m going to try to sneak in and help you out, but uh. No promises. Uh– oh, a-and, um. Watch Katsuki-chan. Um, that’s it. Bye.”

Never mind. Deku hated leaving voicemails.

He carefully opened the back of the phone and removed the battery so Eraserhead wouldn’t be able to track his phone.

Ochako wasn’t really excited for the Test of Courage or whatever they were calling this exercise. She actually kind of wished they were doing more training instead. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to have a little fun but… she’d seen real villains at the USJ, she’d been terrified for her life before, and so this? Felt kind of lame, actually.

But she didn’t want to be a downer so she beamed with her full face and took Tsu’s arm. 1-B had just disappeared into the woods and everyone else was waiting to start the exercise. “This is going to be fun, right?” she said.

Tsu gave a half shrug and Ochako knew she was thinking the exact same thing about this. “Right.” She pulled on Ochako’s sleeve. “Look at Aizawa-sensei.”

Ochako looked. He was on his phone, frowning at the screen so hard she thought it might explode. After tapping the screen a few times, he held it up to his ear, expression darkening as he listened. “Wonder what’s going on…” Ochako said worriedly. 

He put his phone down and walked over to the Pussycats, posture screaming unease and growing panic. They talked for a minute, Tsu and Ochako watching quietly, and then broke apart to face the students.

“Everyone!” Mandalay said, holding up her arms. “We’re sorry to cut this exercise short, but we just got a warning from an external source that our security might be breached. Please start inside in an orderly fashion! We heroes will go get the members of 1-B from the woods!”

Ochako sent Tsu a worried look. “What does that mean, security might be breached?”

Tsu frowned and shook her head. “I don’t know, ribbit. Let’s just go inside– maybe nothing will happen and it’s a false alarm.”

They started toward the main building, bringing up the rear behind one scowling Bakugou. Aizawa walked up to them and Ochako frowned at him nervously. He was more tense than usual. Whatever this was, it was a really big deal.

“Bakugou-kun, you’re with me,” he said. 

That clearly didn’t sit well with Bakugou. “Why?” he demanded, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

“Because I said so,” Aizawa said shortly. They were almost at the main building now, at least half of 1-A already inside. He glanced over his shoulder, dark eyes darting over the trees in the distance like he expected them to come to life. 

“Aizawa-sensei?” Ochako asked quietly. “How bad is this?”

He gave her a long unreadable look and then sighed heavily. “Just get inside, please, and hope it's a false alarm.”

Ochako went inside with a pit settled in her stomach. This was really bad then. Aizawa had used the word please .

Everyone went deep into the building, whispering worriedly to each other. Ochako stuck close to Tsu’s side, biting the inside of her cheek and wishing she was at home right now. Aizawa-sensei didn’t leave Bakugou’s side for a second and Ochako was worried . She was very worried. 

The sound of a distant explosion rattled through the building and Ochako froze, giving Aizawa a horrified look. He met her eyes and grabbed Bakugou by the back of his shirt, pushing him forward, almost right into Ochako. “Hurry inside please, and don’t look back.”

He disappeared down the hall. Eyes burning with coming tears, Ochako grabbed Bakugou by the elbow and hurried deeper into the building. Why was it always her class that got attacked?

Chapter Text

Deku waited for the last of the “Vanguard Action Squad” to disappear through Kurogiri’ portal and then hopped to his feet, holding his costume case close to his chest. Kurogiri’s yellow eyes appeared in a cloud of purple mist, and after surveying Deku thoughtfully, he opened a new portal for him and disappeared.

Immediately flipping open his case, Deku started pulling his costume on. The jumpsuit first, then the belt, then the tools, some holsters with more knives, and his gloves. He strapped his katanas over his back last and then yanked up his hood. Checking over the gas mask one last time, he grabbed his retractable staff and shoved the costume case under the counter where he could grab it later. Feeling at least semi-prepared, he darted through the portal and landed carefully on the forest floor on the other side. The portal snapped closed behind him.

He was well aware that he was playing with fire right now. One wrong step, and he was absolutely screwed. The League would not hesitate to kill him, teenager or not, if they caught him. Right now he was banking on his confidence in his own abilities– as long as any League member he came into contact with was incapacitated before they could spread the word of his presence, he wouldn’t have any trouble. So he had to be efficient, quiet , and fully aware of everything around him at all times.

He held completely still, listening to the sounds of the woods around him. It was quieter than he expected, which was probably a good sign. It meant Eraserhead had gotten his call and had probably tucked all the students safely away. He headed off toward where Mustard was supposed to be, since his gas was probably going to be the most damaging to anyone in the woods. Well, almost. Dabi’s fire was worse, but Deku was worried about being recognized if he went over there. Taking out Mustard was safer.

After a few minutes of jogging through the woods, he caught sight of the pinkish-purple fog in the distance. He checked over his mask again, slightly paranoid that it wouldn’t work, since he hadn’t gotten a chance to test it. Deciding he wouldn’t be able to tell if it worked unless he tried it, he started into the mist.

Hatsume was a living miracle. The masks worked fine– better than fine, actually, letting in clean, filtered air even as he walked through a pink cloud. The suit itself kept the gas from getting absorbed into his skin. He was fully protected from it.

Mustard’s quirk was long range and impressive when unleashed to this extent. Since it was a part of himself, he could feel the movements of every particle. He actually wasn’t using it to its full potential– he could technically shift the density of it, which would make him capable of carrying things with it– but Deku hadn’t told him that when he’d questioned him about it. Some things were better kept to himself.

The drawback of Mustard’s quirk was height . His purple-pink gas was denser than oxygen, so it naturally stayed near the ground. Telekinetically, Mustard could direct it upwards but he probably didn’t feel the need for that currently. Deku took to the trees, using their sprawling branches as his personal highway. 

Keeping his eyes peeled for students and teachers, Deku climbed from tree to tree. Hatsume’s costume was doing its job well, preventing the branches from scratching his arms and legs up too badly.

“Don’t breathe in the smoke,” he heard a female-presenting voice say from below him to the left. He paused, ears pricked. “I think it’s poisonous.”

The reply was muffled, but it sounded affirmative. 

Deku climbed a few trees over, peering into the fog. There were two figures visible and one huge thing, like a giant rock or something. He dropped down into the gas.

The huge thing turned out to be a hand, and it was attached to a girl with orange hair, who looked seconds away from passing out from the gas. “Climb up,” he hissed, reaching out to support her. “The air’s cleaner up there.”

She gave him a suspicious look, but it was either follow his instructions or be poisoned, so she grabbed the nearest branch and hauled herself up, huge hand following her. 

The other person was already unconscious on the ground, so Deku grabbed their arms and pulled them unceremoniously over his back before clambering up after the orange-haired girl. He climbed until he could see clearly again, and then deposited his cargo on a stable-looking branch. The orange-haired girl stopped on the branch above him.

“You were right,” she said, clearly relieved. She opened her hand and another girl toppled out, this one with black hair. “The air is clearer here.” The huge hand shrunk down to a normal size. What a weird quirk.

“Are you a villain?” the black-haired one said within seconds of regaining her bearings. 

“Maybe,” Deku said shortly, arching his neck to try to figure out where to go next. Mustard would be at the center of the fog, where it was the most dense. “Listen, your camp is under attack. I’m here to help, but I can’t babysit you three.”

“You don’t have to,” the orange-haired girl said. “We can take care of ourselves. How can we help?”

“Get somewhere safe,” he said, preparing to jump to the next tree over. He really didn’t have time to talk them through basic safety right now. Honestly, what was UA teaching them?

A gentle hand on his arm stopped him. The orange-haired girl. “We’re not going to let you stop that villain by yourself,” she said softly. “You either have to work with us or deal with us blundering along behind you.”

She obviously wasn’t going to leave him alone. Sighing in exasperation, he turned to face her, stabilizing himself with one hand on a branch above his head. “Fine. Mustard is at the center of this cloud. He can sense things through his gas, so our chances of sneaking up on him are pretty slim– although we can stay safe for a while if we stick to the trees. Once we get there… He sucks with hand-to-hand, so I can cover that part. The only issue is getting close enough to him to make it a short-range fight. You three don’t have gas masks and he has a gun.” Which is why it would be better if they stayed here . “Any questions?”

“My quirk is size,” the black-haired girl said. That rang a bell. He remembered her from the sports Festival. Kodai– that was her name. And the other one was… Kendo. “I could make a distraction?”

“I think Honenuki will be okay here,” Kendo said, giving her unconscious friend a miserable look. “It’d be easier if he was awake though…”

“Tough luck,” Deku said unsympathetically. “It would be easier if none of this was even happening. A lot of things would be easier.” He hopped into the next tree. “Get over it,” he finished flatly, and continued his course through the trees, this time with two tails.

They finally reached the densest part of the gas. Deku could just make out Mustard’s shape through the fog. He pointed at it and Kodai nodded, holding out something that looked like a miniature tree. 

Deku couldn’t stop the grin that spread across his face as she threw the tree right at Mustard. A gunshot rang through the woods the moment the tree hit the gas. The bullet didn’t actually hit anything of consequence, but Kodai jumped, barely managing to release the tree to its normal size.

Its trajectory cleared enough gas that Deku could see the tree slam into Mustard. He winced sympathetically, mostly because Mustard was fourteen and it was probably quite an experience having a tree fly at him out of nowhere. Deku dropped out of the tree, extending his staff. Mustard was staggering around now– it was practically a miracle he was still upright, to be honest. Deku stepped forward and hit him over the head with his staff. He slumped to the ground, purple-pink gas dissipating slowly.

“Okay, your quirk is awesome,” Deku said, turning around to grin at Kodai. 

She gave him a small smile back, almost shy.

“Let’s go back and get Honenuki,” Kendo said authoritatively. Deku wondered absently if she was class president. She’d make a good one. “I’m Kendo, by the way,” she told him as they started back– through the trees, so they weren’t affected by any residual gas. “And that’s Kodai.”

“Nice to meet you,” he said, even though he’d already known both their names. And like hell was he giving his name out right now– not even his vigilante name. He really didn’t want any of this getting back to the villains.

“I think you should tell us your name too,” Kendo said, voice laced with a threat. She obviously didn’t trust him and was making an attempt at information gathering. Deku had to admit to himself, it was impressive. She’d make a good hero.

“I think you should mind your own business,” he answered, jumping for the next tree.

She let the issue drop, glaring at him a little, and they continued through the trees on their way back to their friend Honenuki. Deku kept his eyes peeled for any other attackers, or students in need of help. But the woods were eerily quiet, and he kept moving forward.

–

A good sign of a hero, in Shiretoko Tomoko’s humble opinion, was the ability to jump into action the moment something started to go wrong. That was why she would consider herself, as Ragdoll, to be a good hero. That was why, when Aizawa told them their camp was going to be attacked, Tomoko didn’t wait around for confirmation of the news or further information. She started into the trees right away, quirk going haywire as she searched for the kittens in 1-B.

Sosaki was sending out telepathic messages to all the kits, telling them to return to camp immediately, and at least half of 1-B had followed her instructions immediately. Tomoko’s quirk helpfully informed her that the other half was in this pink fog. Most of them were unconscious, or on their way there. She didn’t want to walk into the gas, because it was probably poisonous, but she also didn’t want her kittens to be stuck in the woods longer than they needed to be. 

Getting as close as she could to the nearest one, she took a huge gulp of fresh air and ran into the smoke. It was Awase, passed out in the middle of a small clearing. Tomoko hooked her arms under his and lifted him up before staggering out of the gas. Her lungs were burning by the time she got back out. She dropped Awase a little more roughly than she would have liked, gasping for air.

The sound of a distant gunshot shattered the silence of the woods, and Tomoko’s stomach dropped with a sickening weight. Based on the sound of it, she guessed the students nearest to the gun were Kodai and Kendo. It was strange, though, because while Kendo was slightly weakened by the gas, neither of them were weakened to the extent the other 1-B students were.  Tomoko focused Search on them, curious. Her eyes widened as she realized the gas wasn’t affecting them because they were using height to their advantage. Very clever! As soon as they got out of this, Tomoko would commend them for their quick-thinking.

She scaled the nearest tree easily, pleased to find the air was completely clear up here, and started through the woods to fetch more kittens.

She lifted two more into the trees when she sensed Kodai and Kendo coming nearer to her, headed for Honenuki. She ran lightly along the branches to meet them, leaping from treetop to treetop.

They reached Honenuki at about the same time, and Tomoko noticed suddenly that the fog was clearing away below her. Clever kittens! Had they taken out the villain all by themselves? She dropped into their tree and perched on a nice sturdy branch to check them over. All three of them looked fine, a few scratches and cuts scattered across Kodai and Kendo, but the other one– Oh! Who was the other one?

“Are you kits all safe?” she asked lightly.

The one she didn’t recognize had three knives in his hands in less than a second, one of them poised to throw. A jumpy kitten, then. A jumpy kitten with knives… Oh. “You must be Entropy,” she said cheerfully, stalking further into the tree so she could see him better.

He put his knives down. “Ragdoll.”

“We appreciate the heads-up you gave us,” she said. “And I would assume you just took out the villain with these two?”

“There are more,” he said shortly, and he had such a young voice. He couldn’t be older than the students in 1-B, still a little kit. “I think around nine.”

Tomoko nodded, tucking that information away for later. “All right, you go–”

She almost yowled in pain as Sosaki’s voice came ripping through her head, frantically trying to communicate. “Ragdoll! I can’t find Kota! Find Kota!”

Heart thumping loudly in her ribcage, Tomoko started prioritizing. The kittens from 1-B still weren’t safe– there were at least fourteen still in the woods, and Tomoko was the only one who could find them all. She couldn’t contact Aizawa or any of her teammates because she didn’t have Sosaki’s quirk. That left Entropy as the only person she could ask to help, without putting any of her kits in further danger. She met his green eyes, reaching out with her mind. People’s faces flashed through her vision until it settled on Kota. Overlook. “Entropy, I need a favor,” she hissed urgently, grabbing his wrist. “Take Kodai, Kendo, and Honenuki back to camp and then head for the mountain.” She pulled him closer to her, whispering in his ear so the others wouldn’t hear this part. She didn’t want her students putting themselves in danger because they wanted to be heroic. “Kota. He’s five.” Entropy inhaled sharply. “On the overlook.”

“Shit,” he said, panic taking over his voice. “Shit!” he grabbed Honenuki roughly and threw him over his back before dropping to the ground and taking off.

“Entropy…?” Kendo said questioningly.

Tomoko shook her head. There would be time for questions later. “Go, kitten.”

Kendo and Kodai scrambled out of the tree and headed towards the main building, following as closely to Entropy as they could manage. The little green kit was fast , even with Honenuki’s weight on his shoulders. What a wonder. Even more interesting– when Tomoko scanned him for weaknesses, Search showed her a small joint in his pinky toe. Entropy was quirkless. Amazing, that he was still capable of all this even without one.

The ground looked safe now, all traces of the gas long gone, so Tomoko slipped out of the tree. She reached out with Search again, scanning for another 1-B student.

Search had a major drawback which not many people knew of. That was intentional, of course– no hero in their right mind would tell the public of their quirk’s biggest weaknesses. The flaw in Search was this: while Tomoko was searching, she lost awareness of what was directly around her. She couldn’t focus on both the near and the far at the same time. It was why Ragdoll worked best in a team– because when she had Sosaki, Tsuchikawa, and Chatora backing her up, she didn’t have to worry about staying focused on what was nearby. She could focus solely on things in the distance.

Right now, though, she didn’t have anybody backing her up. She was by herself in the woods, with her mind focused on Entropy, on Kota, on Sosaki, on Awase. 

Tomoko didn’t realize there was someone behind her until they grabbed her roughly from behind. She squirmed around, making full use of her elbows to do maximum damage from this angle. “Please stop moving, Miss,” the person holding her said in a gentle voice. She kicked him in retaliation. He grunted in pain.

“She’s cute!” another voice cooed excitedly. “Can I have some of her blood? Just a little bit…”

“Maybe,” the first person said, shifting his arms into a chokehold. Tomoko gagged at the pressure on her neck.

“Let’s take her back with us,” a new voice said. “Maybe the boss will want something with her.” 

No. Not happening. No. Tomoko struggled against the choke hold as hard as she could, but it just kept getting tighter the more she moved.

“And then I can have all her blood!” the second person said. “I bet she looks even better when her face is all bloody.”

Dark spots started across Tomoko’s vision and she lashed out weakly. Her hand hit something soft but it glanced off harmlessly and whatever she had just hit only laughed in a sing-song. “I like her!”

The last thing Tomoko felt before she passed out was something tracing gently along her jaw, cold and metallic. A knife.

And then she was gone.

Chapter Text

Shigaraki had crowed his “evil plans” loud enough for the whole world to hear, and Deku had paid attention to all of it.  He knew who was stationed closest to the overlook and he knew that unless some god had decided to shower miracles from the sky, Kota was in immeasurable amounts of danger right now.

He was running as fast as he could, trying to convince his body that he wasn’t carrying an extra hundred fifty or so pounds. His body wasn’t fooled. Every step was starting to feel wobbly. Both of his sides were stitching up, and he was exhausted. 

After what felt like an eternity of sprinting, he reached a clearing in front of a building that looked like the main camp. Kendo and Kodai caught up with him and he passed Honenuki off to Kodai, because Kendo was carrying two other people she must have picked up on the way. “You two okay?” he asked quickly, leaning down to knead out the knots starting in his calves.

“Sure,” Kendo said, starting toward the building. “Thanks for your help.”

Deku made a noncommittal sound and watched them carefully to make sure they got into the building okay. As soon as they disappeared inside, he turned to go again, ignoring his protesting muscles. He’d barely gone half a step before something white flashed in the corner of his eye. His left arm and waist were suddenly caught up in a length of cloth that looked suspiciously like Eraserhead’s capture weapon.

Sure enough, “Just where are you going?” Eraserhead’s deep, tired voice said from behind him. 

“To save a five-year-old,” Deku answered, free arm inching up to grab his katana, the only weapon he could access at the moment.

Eraserhead walked around to Deku’s front, giving him a nice, long glare. “How much danger are you putting yourself in being here?” 

Oof. A lot of danger, to be honest, but it wasn’t like he hadn’t made plenty of excuses and plans for it. He wasn’t going to get caught if he could help it. “Oh, you know. If my name gets thrown around I’ll probably be killed.” 

Eraserhead scowled at him and Deku started trying to work himself out of the capture tape again. He didn’t have time to stand around and talk to Eraserhead, as much as his legs just wanted to collapse and keep him right here. “You shouldn’t be playing hero, kid,” Eraserhead said seriously, apparently unconcerned with Deku’s attempts to free himself. Deku wasn’t getting anywhere.

“I’m technically playing vigilante,” Deku pointed out.

Eraserhead gave him an unimpressed look. “How old are you?” 

“Old enough.”

Dabi strolled out of the burning woods behind Eraserhead– no, not Dabi. A clone of Dabi, if  Shigaraki’s plans were being followed correctly. Deku grabbed his katana and flung it at the clone, aiming for his right shoulder. If it was a fake, that would be enough to get rid of it. If it was really Dabi, he’d live.

Eraserhead’s eyes widened in alarm as the sword went flying past his face. It landed with a sickening thud right where Deku had aimed it. Dabi dissolved into grey goop.

“You’re welcome,” Deku said saltily, using Eraserhead’s distraction as an invitation to free himself from the capture scarf. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have better things to do than discuss my age with you.”

Forcing his legs into motion again, he ran past Eraserhead, scooped up his sword, and sprinted off. 

He came to the foot of the mountain quickly enough and there he stopped, frowning up at the craggy rock wall above him. Taking a path up to the top would take the least amount of energy, but it could take him a while to figure out where the entrance was. The most efficient option timewise was scaling up the side of the cliff. He sighed, putting his loose katana away. His legs were really going to hate him tomorrow, and now his arms too, apparently. Carefully grabbing a few sturdy-looking holds, he started up the mountain.

Climbing a rock face was much different than parkouring through the city scape, he discovered quickly. It had it’s pros and cons– pros, there were clear things to hold onto on this particular mountain, places where it was easy to hold on. Cons, the only direction he could feasibly go was up , straight up. There was no jumping across alleys, and if his hand slipped, the drop was extremely far. 

He decided he just wasn’t going to look down. 

That method worked extremely well until he was almost at the top, maybe three feet away from it, and he heard a little kid scream, very loudly and in clear terror. His hand fumbled the next hold and he almost fell all the way down, biting in his own scream. Fuck.

It took him a second to regain his cool, and in that time he heard Muscular growl a response to Kota’s scream, which did nothing but make him even more stressed. 

He scrambled up the last couple feet, almost slipping again, but the kid was screaming and he couldn’t afford to waste any more time .

Vaguely, in the back of his mind, something reminded him that Muscular was up there, probably the most strong and ruthless out of everyone in the League. He knew, very distantly, that he stood absolutely no chance at beating Muscular in a fight.

And right now, he really didn’t care.

He pulled himself onto the plateau-ish area at the top of the cliff. Not giving himself even a second to breathe, he grabbed his katana and threw it again, this time aiming right for Muscular’s head. He had one shot. One.

And Muscular dodged it.

“What the fuck are you doing?” Deku demanded, working his way to his feet. He took a precious second to take in the scene. The kid was on the ground, surrounded by a pool of blood. He was laying in the puddle, and his little chest was very faintly rising up and down. Muscular was above him, hands disgustingly bloody, and he was grinning , good fucking god. 

“You have good aim,” Muscular said, smirking. “Have we met?”

They definitely had, and Deku had to mentally run through ways this conversation could go. If he pretended to be a hero student, he was going to get killed. If he pretended to be an actual hero, he was going to get killed. The only way Deku saw out of this was revealing himself, and that was asking to get caught. Kota was bleeding out on the ground, though, and he didn’t have time to think through this any more. He just had to hope he actually was good enough to end this quickly. 

“Yeah, we have,” he said, popping out a hip and crossing his arms. “It’s Deku.”

“You,” Muscular sneered. "I looked you up, Quirkless."

Oh fuck. He’d made a miscalculation. Muscular had an unending grudge against quirkless people, and Midoriya's face was all over the news. “Oh, please,” he said, mind scrambling again. Try to get out of this without a fight. If it came to that, he had twenty knives on his person. He needed to go for places Muscular couldn’t bulk up– wrists, ankles, knees, eyes, skull, ears, somewhere in there. “Like Shigaraki would actually let a quirkless person into the League. I have a quirk, I just don’t like to broadcast it.” He carefully took a few steps forward, nonchalantly placing himself between Muscular and Kota. 

Two knives, one straight to his good eye. Quick succession so he had no room for failure.

Kota was dying, goddammit, he didn’t have time . 

“Listen, my quirk is analysis and my quirky quirk thingy says we need the kid alive so please stop making him bleed out,” Deku said. Panic was taking over now and his mouth wasn’t matching up with his brain right.

Muscular laughed at him, straight up. “Funny boy,” he said, and there wasn’t enough time for this. “But I don’t take orders from weaklings.”

Anger pushed the panic from Deku’s mind and a rush of clarity came through. His hands were on his knives before he was even fully aware of what he was doing. One of them went soaring for Muscular’s head. The other waited in his hand for Muscular’s reaction. 

Muscular chose to duck, almost faster than the eye could see. While he was distracted, Deku threw the next knife. It flashed silver through the air and landed exactly where he’d aimed it. Muscular’s eye socket. 

He had another one in his hand before Muscular could even scream in pain– and scream he did, scrabbling at his face, blood dripping between his fingers. The soles of Deku’s feet pressed into the rock ground beneath him and he dove forward, sticking another knife in Muscular’s knee as he darted past. He pulled out one of his katanas. Muscular powered up and Deku didn’t wait for him to get to a dangerous size. Instead, he stabbed the katana into Muscular’s back, using that as a pivot point to launch himself up. 

This was going to hurt like hell, he already knew that, but he wrapped his legs around Muscular’s neck anyway, just like he had to that guy in the bar just this morning. His fingers fumbled along his belt and found a grenade. 

Every part of Deku’s body screamed as Muscular’s shoulders grew, trapping his legs in the gap between his neck and shoulder. He pulled the pin on the grenade and shoved it deep into the muscles beneath him. Time was counting down now. He reached back and yanked his katana out, Muscular roaring as blood spurted out with it. Panting with effort, he stabbed the katana straight down into the back of Muscular’s neck. Muscular screamed , and the muscles around Deku’s legs shifted. He plied them loose, diving off Muscular and covering his head with both hands.

The grenade went off just as he hit the ground. It was loud . Rubble flew everywhere, scratching Deku’s back, clattering over the mountain face, and something wet came with it, making a disgusting splattering sound.

And then, silence.

Deku didn’t look over. He would know if Muscular was still conscious. Or alive. The only thing Deku could hear right now, besides his own heartbeat, was Kota’s raspy breathing. That told him all he needed to know. 

Staggering a little on his legs, he stepped over blood and guts to get to Kota. 

He gave the kid the first real look he’d given him this entire time. His stomach lurched and he turned away, throat burning as he tried desperately not to throw up.

Because there was a leg, and there was a kid, and the two of them… were not attached.

–

Katsuki didn’t know why exactly he had not just Vlad King, but also Round Face and Mandalay watching over him like hawks, but he didn’t like it. He strongly suspected they either thought he was going to blow up, or they thought villains were targeting him for some reason. And he couldn’t understand why they would do that. Unless Deku was with them. If Deku for some reason joined up with some villains, then it would make sense that they were targeting him. 

Honestly, he would target himself too. 

Round Face was flustering over him like a mother hen, alternating between asking if he was okay and glaring at the rest of the room like they were going to all start attacking. 

 All of them were in the deepest part of the building, crowded together with all the lights off, which Katsuki thought was pretty stupid. Having the lights off would just make it more difficult for them to defend themselves if something did come in here. Everyone else in the room was in varying states of panic. The most put together person was Icyhot, who was completely stone faced in the corner of the room, clearly annoyed with the whole thing. Strangely enough, the person who was freaking out the most was Bird Head. He appeared to be attempting deep breathing exercises.

Kirishima detached himself from the crowd of students and came over to Katsuki, crouching down next to him. “This is kind of a mess,” he whispered, ignoring the suspicious looks Round Face was throwing him. 

Katsuki threw Round Face a scowl. He didn’t want her scaring Kirishima away. “This is completely stupid,” he hissed. “I feel trapped in here.”

“I dunno, man,” Kirishima said skeptically. “The teachers are just trying to keep us safe.”

Okay, and that was true but it didn’t make Katsuki feel any safer. He felt shitty, actually. This whole thing was a load of shit.

Ears gasped suddenly across the room and buried her face in her hands. “A gun just went off,” she said, and the room was quiet enough that every single person in the room heard her. The room went dead silent as everyone looked at her. It exploded with noise a second later as people started talking.

“A gun?” Round Face whispered, clawing at her cheeks. “Who on earth is attacking us?”

“How far away?” someone shouted.

“Can you hear anything else?”

Ears glared at them. “Not with all of you yelling! Fuck off!”

The room went quiet again, everyone watching her with bated breath. Mandalay and Vlad King were talking in hushed voices behind Katsuki. The only other person making noise was Bird Head, who was gasping for air. His shadow thingy was fluctuating in size rapidly, and Katsuki wouldn’t be able to be the Number One hero if he couldn’t identify a panic attack when he saw one. That’s what his shitty therapist told him anyway, when she listed the symptoms to him.

The silence in the room was almost oppressive now, as everyone waited for Ears to say something, anything. It felt almost like the entire room had stopped breathing.

“Fuck,” Ears breathed after ages of waiting, tears flooding her eyes. “Fuck– um, Sensei, Ragdoll just got taken?” Her voice broke as she called the last part out.

“Shit–” Mandalay said, entire face going ashen, visible even in the dim light.

The shadow thingy ripped from Bird Head’s body, slamming a huge hole in the ceiling and the wall. Several people screamed as it buffeted around, crashing into people and things willy nilly. At this rate, the entire building was going to collapse. 

Katsuki shoved Kirishima away and held out his hands, explosions popping out of his wrists. The shadow shied away from them, as he expected, and he stormed across the room to talk some sense into Bird Head.

At the last second, he remembered that stupid therapy appointment and he paused. Panic wasn’t going to go away through a bunch of screaming. He had to be nice. Ugh.