Chapter Text
“Is this a thing now?” Uraraka asked as she met Izuku, Katsuki and Todoroki at the front gates to UA.
“The hell are you talking about?” Katsuki asked with a raised eyebrow.
“You three arriving together, is this like the super powerful club or something?”
“Wait… I didn’t get an invite to that club? Am I not powerful enough?” Todoroki said, looking a little hurt as his gaze switched between Katsuki and Izuku.
Izuku snorted as Katsuki sighed, “For the love of… She’s fucking joking Icyhot!”
It was their first day back at UA post Hosu and post Izuku finding out who his father was and as per what had become the norm Todoroki had joined Izuku and Katsuki on their morning journey to the school with Uraraka agreeing ahead of time to meet them (despite her complaints about the early hour).
It was mainly so that they could get their stories straight about Hosu before the inevitable questions. The cover story was simple really, yes they had all been in Hosu, yes they had caught sight of Stain and alerted Brunin and Gran Torino but no they never actually fought Stain only watched from the side-lines though they had fought some Nomu, thus their injuries. It had taken some convincing for Katsuki to agree to a mere position as a bystander but considering how eager people were to snap away any chance Izuku had at being a hero he reluctantly agreed.
“So what do you reckon we’ll be doing for heroics today?” Uraraka asked as she fell into step with Todoroki.
“I’m hoping I’m able to use my fire, I didn’t get all that much practice with Gran Torino and…”
Izuku tuned out the conversation as he lagged behind the pair slightly, truth be told he had barely slept. Every time he closed his eyes and tried to sleep he was plagued by nightmares about his father. In some versions his father was a monstrous devil, dozens of horns sprouting from his head accompanied by red eyes and scaly skin. In others he was a simple man who greeted Izuku with a warm smile while sitting atop a pile of corpses. The worst was when Izuku’s father looked exactly like him, smiling while holding aloft the corpses of All Might and Katsuki.
That morning for the first time since he’d met All Might Izuku was unable to look at himself in the mirror and see his quirk. His skin itched and he could feel his quirks under it like insects crawling around. He’d nearly lost it over breakfast until his mother came down and gave him a smile as she used her quirk to pull some tea bags towards her. It was a small reminder that Izuku’s quirk was not an exact replica of his father’s, there was some comfort in that.
It did however raise the ugly head of the other issue Izuku had to deal with and that was telling his mother all of this. In the end Yagi had insisted that he would take on that responsibility when the time was right, he had pointed out that technically, no matter how personal, All For One’s existence was still a national secret.
All in all Izuku was glad that the burden wasn’t on his shoulders. He had no idea how you went about telling someone the person they’d had a one night stand with that had produced your only son was evil incarnate himself.
Izuku felt a nudge to his shoulder and glanced up at Katsuki, his first reaction was guilt. Katsuki too had been dealing with this revelation, All For One might not be his blood relative but he was still more or less destined to be Katsuki’s archenemy. It was crazy to think that just over a year ago Katsuki had been quirkless and now he had the attention of Japan’s premium supervillain. But when Izuku had voiced said guilt to Katsuki the night before, Katsuki had nearly beat the feelings out of him, claiming that he always figured his quirk would come with a catch.
“I’ll be ok,” Izuku assured him and he knew it was the truth, he could hardly collapse under this when he’d been so ferocious in getting Todoroki to work past what was very nearly the same issue.
Katsuki nodded, he could trust Izuku by this point and they’d reached the classroom anyway. Clearly the internships had been rough on everybody as even the usual early risers weren’t present as the four of them walked into an empty classroom.
“Looks like everyone is trying to get as much sleep as possible,” Uraraka said with a side glare at her three companions.
“Tch,” Katsuki said with an eye roll, “Weaklings.”
“To be fair I believe some of them didn’t actually finish their internships until last night,” Todoroki said as Izuku walked over to his desk and collapsed in his chair.
“True,” Uraraka said, “I heard-”
“EIJIRO KIRISHIMA REPORTING FOR DUTY!”
Even Katsuki jumped slightly as the door slammed open and Eijiro marched through. Izuku blinked as his friend stood by the teachers desk, chest puffed out and arms straight at his side. Eijiro had never looked untidy but something about him just seemed… neater. His uniform didn’t have a single wrinkle, his eyes looked sharp and clear and his hair, while still spiked, looked more professional than someone who had thrown a hand through it.
“Good Morning Kirishima,” Todoroki said, seemingly not caring about the dramatic way Eijiro had walked into the room.
Eijiro blinked, suddenly looking around the room, “Oh… Hey guys! What are you guys doing here?”
Katsuki frowned, “It’s Monday.”
Eijiro’s eyes widened as he pulled out his phone, “Huh… Wait! So internships are over?”
Katsuki and Izuku shared a concerned glance as Uraraka spoke, “Yes Kirishima… you didn’t know?”
“Ah, I’ve been doing long hours, I kinda lost track of days,” Eijiro admitted as he slouched suddenly with relief.
Katsuki smirked and punched him in the arm, “Fourth Kind finally making you use that potential huh?”
Eijiro winced and turned to Katsuki with an awkward smile, “Ah yeah actually my internship with Fourth Kind didn’t work out… so I ended up working with Aizawa Sensei instead.”
This time it was everyone else's turn to wince.
“Oof,” Uraraka said to the nods of everybody present.
“I could’ve made it worse.”
Izuku was sure Katsuki would never let Eijiro live down the shriek that escaped his lips as Aizawa materialised in the doorway. Apparently a week of interning had only increased Eijiro’s fear of the man
“You’re here early Sensei,” Todoroki said as Eijro managed to stop shaking.
“Internships tend to be hectic, especially your first year. I’m just here to make sure nobody blows up the classroom.” Aizawa said as he walked over to his desk and collapsed in his chair, “Now take your seats and try not to wake me.”
Katsuki mumbled in obligatory protest as everyone shuffled to their desks, as he sat down Eijiro turned to Izuku, “So how was your internship?”
As Eijiro and Izuku chatted the rest of the class slowly trickled in to the usual greetings, Yoarashi gave Izuku a loud shout in greeting while the rest of the class ignored him. The only change came from Iida who gave Izuku a polite nod, it wasn’t exactly like they were best friends but it was a lot better than before.
“Sup losers,” Kyouka greeted with a peace sign as she took her seat, “I’m glad to see you both survived.”
“Barley,” Eijiro mumbled.
“How was your internship?” Izuku asked and Kyouka lit up like a Christmas tree.
“So much better than I thought. I mean fair enough I didn’t get to do any patrols or anything but I finally feel like I know what I’m doing with my quirk. Plus I redesigned my whole costume!”
“Woah really?” Eijiro said with wide eyes, “What sort of stuff did you change about it?”
Kyouka smirked, “That’s a surprise for our heroics class.”
“Ugh,” Eijiro groaned and rested his head on the table, “Not you too, Izuku apparently has some new quirks but won’t tell me what they are!”
“I know,” Kyouka said with a smile which screamed danger in Izuku’s mind, “I heard you as I walked through the entrance.”
Izuku blinked, “You heard us… from there?”
Kyouka shrugged and looked a little sheepish, “So I’ve uh… kinda been holding back with my hearing case you know… privacy and shit. But Nighteye encouraged me to stop and expand my hearing.”
“Oooh you know that’s kinda like what Endeavor had me do,” Izuku explained, resisting the urge to grab his notebook and ask Kyouka a million questions, “He’s had me holding my quirk just below the level of activation and trying to take in the constant quirk energy around.”
Kyouka paused as her jacks pointed towards the corridor, “Does that mean?”
Izuku smirked and nodded, a moment later the door swung open.
“Surprise Bi-”
“Hi Mina!” Izuku and Kyouka called together.
Mina paused in the doorway before frowning walking over to her seat, grumbling about people with extra senses as Eijiro chuckled to himself.
“So essentially I’ve been trying to focus on hardening only parts of my body instead of the whole. Theoretically this means I can conserve energy and make the parts of my body I am hardening even harder.”
Izuku and Katsuki glanced at each other at Eijiro’s… phrasing though neither decided to comment considering the excitement in his voice. He was currently holding out his hand where he had activated his quirk on only the fingers, it had essentially given him long claw like appendages.
“You know your quirk energy is more focused in those areas too,” Izuku said as he gazed at Eijiro’s hands, Todoroki meanwhile seemed to want to take a more physical approach as he prodded the fingers.
“I suppose it’s like my wind,” Yoarashi said in thought, “The more powerful gusts I generate the less control I have. The more of your body you harden the more solid it actually is.”
“Don’t drift away from the rest of the class boys!”
Izuku looked up at All Might's call from where the teacher was discussing Ojiro’s and Tsu’s internships. They were currently waiting for the rest of the class outside of one of UA’s city complexes, this one was designed like a warehouse district with pipes and silos running throughout the area. All Might had kept the details of today’s lesson a secret as they waited for the rest of the class to finish changing.
“You guys have gotta see this!”
Izuku and the four boys glanced up as Uraraka’s shout reached them, her and Mina were running excitedly up to the group with Kyouka shuffling a little behind.
Izuku’s jaw dropped when he saw Kyouka, because when she’d said she’d redesigned her suit he hadn’t expected a complete overhaul. Gone was the semi casual leather replaced by what was virtually a set of body armour. She had a set of heavy duty black boots followed by padded legs that looked like plate armour coloured dark purple. She still had a loose black leather jacket and hood but the sleeves were now made of metallic gauntlets and gloves. Her jacket remained open but instead of a loose t-shirt underneath was a large breastplate with what looked like a power source in the middle that glowed dimly. Even her neck and jaw had some kind of body armour on, for what purpose Izuku had no idea.
“Woah,” Eijiro said with wide eyes, “You look like some kinda futuristic cyborg fighter!”
“It does look like very advanced technology,” Todoroki agreed as Kyouka blushed under the praise.
“Honestly Nighteye designed most of it, I only really had some minimal input and chose the colour scheme.”
Mina whistled as she looked over the suit, “This looks expensive, did Nighteye pay for it?”
Kyouka shook her head, “No, apparently some anonymous hero paid for it.”
Izuku glanced towards All Might who had apparently found something very interesting on the horizon. Sometimes Izuku wondered just how rich the man was with how often he simply wrote off millions of yen for his students.
“Ahem,” All Might said, clearing his throat and gaining the attention of the class, “Welcome back everyone! I’m sure you all had fruitful internships and are keen to put what you learned to the test! Well the good news is that’s what today’s plan is, I want you to utilise everything you learned in the past week to really go plus ultra! And to that we’ll be having the first free for all with the entire class.”
“Oh hell yeah!” Katsuki shouted as he slammed his fist into his palm, “Finally a chance to beat all you extra’s at once!”
All Might let out a deep chuckle despite the fact that half the class were looking at Katsuki in fear, “While I appreciate the enthusiasm Young Bakugou, you're not about to be thrown into an all out brawl. In fact I'll be taking a step back from this lesson as we have a guest teacher in!”
“May I ask who this teacher is Sensei?” Iida asked while raising his hand.
Before All Might could respond Izuku felt an all too familiar energy fast approaching, his eyes widened and he turned to Katsuki, grabbing him by the front of his hero costume, “IT’S THE OLD MAN!”
For the first time since they’d met him the rest of 1-A saw something on Katsuki’s face they’d never experienced. Fear.
“Every man for himself!” Katsuki cried and shoved Izuku out the way.
“I’ll protect who I can!” Todoroki declared as he grabbed an unwilling Uraraka and Eijiro, trying to form an ice wall around all three of them.
But none of them were fast enough and the rest of the class watched an orange and white blur slammed into all three, throwing them to the ground.
Gran Torino landed in the middle of the class with a huff, “A pathetic display from all three of you.”
The entire class looked at the tiny old man with something akin to confused awe, he looked harmless had they not just watched him take out three of the top students in class.
“Awww,” Mina coo’d ash she crouched down with a smile, Izuku tried to warn her but he was fairly sure his stomach had collapsed, “You don’t seem that-”
The next thing anybody knew Mina had joined Izuku, Katsuki and Todoroki on the ground, withering in pain as Torino glared at the class, “Next person who says aww in my vicinity gets two kicks!”
Now convinced of the man's prowess the rest of the class simply nodded as All Might sighed, “Please don’t beat up my students Torino.”
Torino huffed as his victims managed to get back on their feet, “Yeah yeah. Alright listen here you oversized babies. Names Gran Torino, I’ve been training heroes since before your parents were born. Also happened to train your damn teacher here and the two idiot brothers.”
There was a collective eye wandering among the class as they realised they were currently standing with All Might's very own teacher. Where they had all sceptical previously Gran now had the entire undivided attention of the class.
“Here’s the plan,” Torino continued and pointed his cane towards the makeshift warehouse district, “I’m gonna go hide in there. You’re all gonna try to find and tag me. First person to do so wins.”
Sero raised an uncertain hand, “Um… what do we get if we win?”
Torino shrugged and gestured to All Might, “Don’t look at me, he’s your teacher.”
All Might panicked under the sudden gazes of his entire class and rushed to come up with a half decent answer, “Ah well um… Free chocolate pudding from Lunch Rush for a month reserved beforehand everyday?”
The competitive spirit washed through the class like a drug, Lunch Rush’s chocolate pudding was a legend within the school. It normally ran out within the first five minutes of lunch period so being guaranteed a free portion everyday was the equivalent of winning the lottery in the social hierarchy of UA.
Torino noticed this and smirked, “Excellent! There are some rules to this. First, you have to touch me with your hand, no ranged quirks, that includes any ears, tape and whatever quirks you’ve got stored away in there.” Torino said and glared at Izuku.
“You can of course attack each other to prevent other people winning, however you’re not allowed to knock an opponent out permanently. At its core this is a race and not a brawl, am I clear?” Torino said and narrowed his eyes at Katsuki who just shrugged in response.
“I’ll be monitoring the entire situation so if you are hurt or need to leave the exercise for any other reason please seek out a camera and I’ll be there in no time.” All Might reassured, “Good luck everyone! You may begin when the buzzer sounds!”
In a blast of air All Might took off towards the control room while Torino disappeared into the arena. Izuku focused on keeping track of his quirk but eventually Torino moved out of his range and without knowing where their teacher was hiding pathfinder wouldn’t be of any use.
A soft curse from his right caused Izuku to snap his attention to Kyouka who’s jacks were pointed out as she frowned, “Damn he’s good.”
Noticing the attention on her Kyouka turned to face Izuku, the pair looked at each other for a moment before simultaneously narrowing their eyes. They both knew exactly what the other was thinking. Sure, the likes of Katsuki, Iida and Sero could move around the city with ease but the trick was they had to find Gran Torino first. And nobody in the class was better suited to that task than Izuku and Kyouka. Kyouka’s hearing had a far greater range than Izuku’s energy sense but she needed to filter out all other sounds to find Torino whereas Izuku would know his exact location the moment he was within range.
“Ooooh!” Mina said as she looked at the pair and swung her arms around them briefly, “I sense some personal competition!”
As the class got ready to move Katsuki smirked, “This is gonna be fun.”
“Yeah,” Izuku said.
“It is,” Kyouka smiled.
BEEP!
The moment the buzzer sounded chaos erupted within the area, Iida was the first to move and was already within the city before most of the class had even started running. Todoroki erupted forward in a burst of flame as he skidded along a layer of ice, his leg shining in the sunlight. Of course everybody expected Yoarashi to shoot up into the air in a gust of wind, what nobody (bar Izuku and Todoroki) had expected alongside that was for Katsuki to shoot up in the sky right next to him.
“Uh… since when can Bakugou fly?” Eijiro said with a slack jaw as he watched Katsuki streak across the sky.
“Didn’t you know?” Uraraka said with a smirk as people started to split off and run down separate alleys, “All the cool heroes can fly.”
Uraraka tapped herself on the chest and started to float up into the air and above the skyline as Eijiro scowled.
“That’s not even flying!” Eijiro complained before turning to Izuku, “Please tell me you can’t fly too?”
Izuku couldn’t help the grin that appeared on his face, “Nope!”
One moment Eijiro was staring at a suspicious smile from Izuku and the next there was a soft pop and Izuku disappeared. Ejiro’s jaw fell open and he snapped his head around only to find Izuku running along a pipe above them. Izuku waved down at him before disappearing again and reappearing a moment later further down the pipe.
“Please tell me you guys didn’t-” Eijiro turned to speak to his remaining friends to find them gone, in fact the entire class had vanished, leaving him alone as the founds of quirks going off faded into the depths of the city.
Eijiro frowned and took off running down a random alley while grumbling under his breath, “Stupid friends and their stupid supercool quirks…”
Katsuki circled the city a few times, getting a quick map built in his head of its rough layout. Realistically he knew there was no way he could track Torino, even with his good eyesight he knew the old man would probably be in some dark shadow somewhere. His best bet was to wait until there was an inevitable commotion when Torino was found and move in for the kill then.
“And here I thought I was the only one who learned to fly over the internship.”
Katsuki smirked as he turned in the air to face Yoarashi. The latter was a little unsteady but instead of one large tornado below him he had one under his feet and another two smaller ones coming out of either hand, helping stay up.
“Yeah well I least I don’t need air to hold me up!”
“That makes two of us!”
Both boys glanced to see Uraraka floating next to them, looking a little queasy but a hell of a lot better than before the internships.
“Tch, I’m guessing we all had the same idea?” Katsuki asked and got a pair of nods in response, “Then I guess I’ll have to do something about that,” he said with a dangerous tone.
Uraraka's face went from cocky to nervous though Yoarashi let out a booming laugh.
“I’ll admit your flight is impressive!” Yoarashi cried as the winds around them started to pick up, “But the sky is my domain!”
Katsuki was too busy laughing at the one liner to dodge the massive whirlwind which hit him in the face.
Todoroki blasted to his left and he made a sharp turn down another alley, there was a metallic blur just ahead of him he assumed to be Iida going in the opposite direction. He knew that he didn’t have the recon capabilities of a good chunk of his classmates so his best bet was speed. Luckily with the fire spewing out of his body Torino wouldn’t have any shadows to hide in as Todoroki moved.
As he skidded under a bridge he saw Izuku pop into existence just above it and give him a wave before teleporting elsewhere. Todoroki smiled, because for the first time in his life not only was he using his fire but he was having fun doing it. Sure it was still a lesson but he was with his friends and he was using his full quirk without even a thought of his father.
It was the greatest feeling in the world.
Mina hummed to herself as she watched Katsuki and Yoarashi battle it out in the sky while Uraraka tried to avoid them both. She was swinging her legs over the edge of the platform she had climbed up to, one of the highest in the city and right in the middle of all the chaos. There was a beeping sound from her hand and she looked down at the small tablet she was holding. It had two dots on it, one of which kept jumping from place to place.
“Huh, must be a new teleportation quirk he got or something,” She muttered to herself.
Mina knew she had no chance of winning this event fairly, she had next to no recon abilities and just fell short of the 5 fastest people in the class. So instead she had taken Rock Lock’s advice and manipulated the game.
The day before she finished her internship Truth Seeker had taken her though all the support gear she used to keep up with the physical based pro’s. She’d also allowed Mina to take a wealth of unused equipment and gear, Rock Lock didn’t use any and Truth Seeker was overflowing with all sorts of gadgets just sitting gathering dust. As a result Mina had added a chunky utility belt to her costume and backpack when she might need it.
One of the tools she’d nabbed was a simple tracking device, of which she’d managed to slip two trackers each on Izuku and Kyouka when they were having their little glaring contest. She figured they’d find the old man first and then she’d at least know where to look.
Mina smiled to herself, maybe she should hit up the support course more often.
Izuku panted as he teleported nearly halfway across the city from one rooftop to another. He was starting to realise just how much effort teleportation took to use consistently. Not to mention every time he did it took a second to get his bearings, especially with his quirk senses.
Landing on another pipe Izuku closed his eyes and felt the energy around him, he could feel Katsuki and Yorashi clashing above him, Iida and Todoroki speeding through the complex and the rest of his class moving about. What he couldn’t feel was Gran Torino.
It probably meant the man was sitting in one place, not using his quirk purposely to make it harder for Izuku to track.
Izuku cursed and teleported away again, if he didn’t find him soon someone else would.
Kyouka growled as Sero swung in front of her, missing her by a hair. She refocused her hearing and tried to map the area out. The loudest noises were coming from Yoarashi’s wind above her, she caught a soft curse word from Izuku and smiled, at least she wasn’t the only one struggling to locate Torino.
But that didn’t mean she wasn’t any closer to finding the man either, she tried to focus on the many sounds around her but it was quickly becoming overwhelming. It didn’t help that half her class had ridiculously loud quirks and other half were panting like a dehydrated dog.
Kyouka gasped for breath and stopped running, propping herself up against a wall. She rubbed her jacks and groaned, she wasn’t used to the sheer volume ripping itself through her mind currently. But she refused to back down.
Remembering her training Kyouka bit her lip and grabbed the hood of her outfit as she pulled it over her head. The hood might have looked like it was made of fabric but like the rest of the suit it had nanotech woven into it. As it went over her head the hood tightened and folded down, covering both her head and her eyes until only her mouth and nose could be seen.
Kyouka was thrown into darkness, the first time she tried this she’d nearly had a panic attack but after a week of doing it nearly every waking hour she took a slow breath to calm her heartbeat. And then she allowed her ears to truly open.
She nearly cried out at the sheer assault of sounds that penetrated into her mind, everything came through at once like an ice bucket had been poured over her head. The soft pop of Izuku’s teleportation became a boom in her ears, the thud of Sato’s strength enhanced feet hitting the ground became earthquakes and every soft curse word from her classmates felt like they were shouting directly in her ear.
“Come on Kyouka… focus…”
Slowly, as she shifted through the sounds in her mind she felt it happen, it was rough and far from perfect but in her mind she was able to map her surroundings. The sound of the wind blowing through pipes, the way the ground vibrated slightly with every foot that slammed down onto it and how her classmates breathing echoed throughout the complex.
Kyouka smiled.
“Grade C quirk my ass.”
Eijiro balanced awkwardly on a high beam above the ground, he figured he’d have a better chance getting as high up as he could. He had however failed to anticipate just how bad his balance was as he wobbled along the pipe. Sadly a strong gust of wind, presumably from Yoarashi, managed to push him over the top.
Hardening himself, Eijiro bounced on the concrete floor, groaning as his organs jiggled about inside body. He sighed as he picked himself up and dusted his clothes down. Aizawa's training had been amazing but compared to everyone else? He felt like he hadn’t had anywhere near the experience his friends all had. He looked up to find a way out and-
Eijiro blinked, there, perched on a pipe just within the shadows was Gran Torino, looking at him in amusement.
“Dumb luck tends to pay off huh?”
Eijiro was so shocked by the happy accident that he failed to react in time as Torino lashed out. He felt a boot to the face and was thrown to the ground as Torino took off running.
Eijiro managed to react quickly enough to get back on his feet and lash out a pipe with a hardened hand. He grabbed the resulting metal which ripped off and threw it as hard as he could at the fleeing hero.
Torino dodged the projectile with ease at zoomed past him up into the sky and past the skyline.
“Shit.” Eijiro muttered as the pipe soared up into the blue like a beacon.
A moment later the wind around him picked up as Katsuki and Yoarashi flew overhead, screaming towards Torino.
As Katsuki flew through the air he focused on Torino in the distance. It would have been an easy win if not for the wind picking up around him and he swore under his breath. As it turned out though float was a powerful quirk it didn’t really have anything to anchor too and wind all too easily threw him off course.
The wind in the area picked up and Katsuki’s balance was thrown off as he glanced behind him to see Yoarashi gaining on him, a huge whirlwind causing chaos in his wake. Katsuki’s flight was fast but he lacked precise control yet and knew if Yoarashi caught up to him here within the city he’d be at a disadvantage.
Katsuki stopped mid flight, turning to face Yoarashi who's eyes widened. Unlike Katsuki he was unable to stop without simply dropping from the sky. He tried to slow down but it was too late, as Yoarashi approached Katsuki pulled his fist back and punched him square in the face.
There was a crack in the air as Yoarashi’s head snapped back, his quirk shutting off instantly as he fell to the ground. Luckily they were low enough in the air now that Katsuki didn’t need to catch him, instead turning around and zooming back to try to catch Torino.
The cat was now out of the bag and Torino was no longer trying to hide, instead moving at full speed to avoid the blood (or pudding) thirsty students. But Katsuki’s flight was fast and soon he was rapidly approaching Torino.
Katsuki smirked and reached a hand out, ready to take the victory when there was soft pop next to him. A moment later he felt the body of Izuku slam into him and they started to tumble out of the sky.
Katsuki tried to regain some form of control but Izuku wrapped his legs around his chest and turned to face him. Before Katsuki could react he found himself repeatedly punched in the face over and over.
“Are you… copying… fucking Stain!?” Katsuki cried out between punches before headbutting Izuku.
Izuku cried out as several teeth flew out his mouth as well as a good amount of blood. But that didn’t stop Izuku turning back with red eyes as Katsuki swore. A second later heat vision exploded between them and Katsuki threw Izuku off.
The pair landed harshly on the ground and rolled across the concrete. As Izuku stood up he winced as a new set of teeth forced their way through his gums. He narrowed his eyes at Katsuki as they both got up off the ground to face each other.
Once again Izuku knew he was about to get into an intense fight. Katsuki’s quirk flared up as the energy in the air crackled and-
“Hey assholes!”
Izuku and Katsuki glanced down the alley in surprise to find Kyouka with her hood down and eyes covered.
“Kyouka?” Izuku asked, wondering just how the hell she could see anything.
Instead of responding verbally Kyouka chose to slam her hands together, palms facing out towards the brothers. At the same time the end of her jacks clicked into sockets on her forearms. The robotic parts of her gloves came to life and slotted together so that her palms created one large surface that looked exactly like-
“Aw shit.” Katsuki said.
A moment later and a colossal soundwave, akin to Present Mics quirk, shot out of Kyouka’s palms and slammed directly into Izuku and Katsuki.
As it turned out this was nothing like Present Mic’s quirk. Whereas their teacher's quirk acted as a sort of force that threw people back, Izuku and Katsuki weren’t pushed anywhere. Instead their bodies suffered an intense vibration. Izuku’ legs collapsed underneath him as his bones shook. Even his quirks played up, spiralling out of control in his body as he felt like he was thrown in a blender. Katsuki had it even worse, covering his sensitive ears as his eyes bulged out and he collapsed to the ground completely.
Kyouka cut the attack off as the boys withered on the ground, both coughing up blood. Izuku managed to recover first and went to get up from the floor.
Only for a metallic black boot to slam into his face, breaking his nose.
Kyouka winced as she kicked Izuku in the face, the soundwave attack from her suit was a little more powerful than she expected. Nighteye had warned her the technology was untested. But she knew if anybody could take it those two could.
She could hear Torino up ahead, zipping from pipe to pipe as she chased him down, though the distance between them was increasing. Kyouka went to launch another shockwave at him in hopes of bringing the teacher down when the sound of Todoroki’s ice caught her off guard. She skidded to halt just as a huge wall of ice cut her off from her path.
“Damnit Todoroki!”
Yagi watched several screens as Todoroki’s massive ice wall was brought down by a combined effort of Katsuki, Izuku and Kyouka before they continued their chase, seemingly ignoring each other for now. Up ahead Todoroki was very nearly up to Torino, the heated air staggering Torino’s use of his quirk. Todoroki was cut off however when several large pipes fell from the sky courtesy of Uraraka.
With Torino out in the open the battle was becoming intense and Yagi watched as the rest of class ran towards the chaos, Iida leading the charge.
The hiss of the doors behind him caused Yagi to buff up on instinct though he debuffed when he turned his head and saw who had walked in.
“Principal Nedzu?” He asked, not bothering to hide his surprise, “I didn’t expect to see you here today.”
Nedzu chuckled as he joined Yagi in observing the students, “I had some free time and I’ll admit to being curious. Gran Torino is before even my time at UA.”
“You wanted to see Jiro’s nanotech suit didn’t you?”
“...Yes. Nighteye refuses to send the schematics.”
Yagi chuckled, ever since the payment request had come through from Nighteye’s agency Nedzu had drooled at the mouth of a fully functioning nanotech suit.
“I think he’s protective of his interns,” Yagi hummed, the fact Yagi was paying for Nighteye’s intern’s new suit via UA as a middleman spoke volumes for how sour their relationship had become, “Though I’ll admit it’s impressive.”
They watched as Kyouka battled Todoroki, her soundwaves causing his ice to collapse and fire to dissipate before it could reach her. Three weeks ago the thought of a battle like this taking place and Kyouka holding her own would have been laughable.
“It really is an impressive suit,” Nedzu commented as they watched Kyouka closely, “Though we’ll have to make sure she doesn’t rely too heavily on support equipment.”
“Hmmm,” Yagi hummed as he watched various battles unfold, “Ashido also appears to be using more support equipment.”
Something in his voice caused Nedzu to raise an eyebrow at him, “You don’t approve?”
“Not at all,” Yagi clarified before pausing, “Tell me, what do you see?”
Nedzu frowned slightly at the question while he watched the screens, “It’s certainly violent, I doubt Torino would do well against the class in a one on one fight but this is practically what his quirk was made for. The entire class is putting up a good fight.”
“No they’re not,” Yagi said much to the shock of Nedzu, not used to an ounce of pessimism from the man, “There are roughly six of them who are hot on his tale, another 5 or so who are keeping chase but nowhere near the lead and the rest are lagging behind.”
Nedzu turned back to the screen to watch the class, Yagi was right it was clear to see the usual batch were dominating the game. The only other ones who were keeping up were those whose' quirks were suited to the event such as Sero or Asui.
“The disparity in class strength is becoming greater.” Nedzu commented to which Yagi nodded.
“Is this common?” He asked, he was after all still a rookie teacher.
Nedzu hummed and tapped his chin, “There often tends to be a scale, particularly in Class A where we put the more volatile quirks. Though I’ll confess looking back on the years it does seem to have steadily gotten greater.”
“Even ignoring Midoriya and Bakugou, the standard of power difference between the likes of Todoroki and Tokoyami compared to Ojiro and Hagakure is hard to ignore.”
Nedzu let out a chuckle, “It’s actually far worse than you realise.”
Yagi raised an eyebrow at him, “How so?”
“You’re probably too powerful to notice but there is a general unspoken rule among hero teachers across Japan. Due to how generational quirks operate it’s assumed that the students will always one day outclass the teachers. Just look at Togata, our top hero student in the school, bar perhaps yourself and Aizawa I’m confident he could take on most of the teachers here and win.”
Yagi hummed in thought as they watched the events unfold for a few minutes. For a moment it looked like Izuku was going to win only for Katsuki to slam into him from below and lift him into the air. What followed was a dramatic battle in the air as Izuku teleported around to keep himself from falling.
“Is there a point to all your thoughts Yagi?” Nedzu asked.
“Several,” Yagi replied with a sigh and turned to Nedzu, “First of all seeing Jiro has made me realise the lack of emphasis of support equipment in the curriculum. I’d like to perhaps add a few classes on it, perhaps we can even partner up with the support course and work together.”
“That’s certainly an interesting idea,” Nedzu said with a little excitement in his voice, “Normally we leave it up to the students to sort individually.”
“Normally they don’t need full mech suits just to keep up with their classmates,” Yagi pointed out as Jiro blasted Iida into a wall.
“Point,” Nedzu said, “I’ll discuss it with Powerloader… Though I suspect that isn’t all on your mind.”
“No…” Yagi said and paused before speaking, “If you were to take Bakugou and Midoroiya and stick them in my first year UA class? They’d wipe the floor with the entire class, much the same as I did back then.”
“Yet here they face tough competition?”
Yagi nodded, “My point is that the world has remained the way it is because, quite frankly, there were few who could stand up to me. I alone was able to push back any villain that rose up. The opposite was also true, let's be frank, there are plenty of heroes out there who don’t pack much more of a punch than a standard police officer or even professional athlete. In the last 30 years or so I could count on one hand the amount of villains who have actually had me on the ropes. In other words you didn’t need much more than the top ten heroes to keep the peace from true villains. The rest more or less sweep up the minor criminals or assist with natural disasters. Back in my day Midoriya and Bakugou would have been on their own level, much like how myself and Endeavor were in our school years. Now however…”
“I understand. Is that not a good thing though? That there are several up and coming heroes who will be able to stand on the same level as your successor and his brother? Will it not make the hero industry stronger as a whole?”
“That’s not it,” Yagi said and Nedzu turned to him in surprise, “If our students are becoming more powerful? If the standard of hero is destined to only become greater and so much more powerful… Whos’ to say the villains aren’t doing the same?”
“Screw you tape boy!” Mina cried as Sero took off ahead of her, leaving her wrapped up like a shitty present on valentines day.
It wasn’t that much of a problem, her acid burnt through the tape quickly and she was once again free. But even a few seconds cost her greatly and most of the class had already passed her in the chase for Torino.
Shrugging the tape off Mina slid across the ground with her acid, trying to catch up with the front runners. Up ahead she watched as Katsuki threw Kyouka into a wall, the brick cracking behind her. Mina winced as Torino looked back slightly with concern. He shot off however when he saw Kyouka recover and attack Katsuki straight back.
An idea popped into her head and she skidded to a halt. It was risky and stupid but it was exactly the sort of stunt that someone like Izuku would pull. She ran over to one of the large silo’s in the area and started to melt the base.
Torino dodged a blast of heat vision from Izuku before activating his quirk so that he dived to the right outside of Yoarashi’s range. He would never admit it but the class was actually pushing him. Everytime he avoided one attack somebody else used the opportunity to try and sneak in. And the longer the chase went on the less the class was inclined to fight each other.
As he narrowly avoided a line of tape from Sero there was a groaning from nearby silo. He looked over to see that the entire thing was starting to collapse, right on top of where half the class were focused. He watched as they all scrambled out of the way as the thing crashed to the ground, a cloud of dust rising into the air around it.
Torino scanned the area and there was a brief pause in the fighting as everyone got their barings. He didn’t know what had caused the collapse but it looked like-
“Owwwwww!”
Torino’s eyes widened as the dust cleared to reveal the Ashido girl collapsed on the floor, a sharp metal pipe through her shoulder. He quickly changed his trajectory and landed next to the girl. As he did, All Might appeared at the same time landing with a crack in the ground and running over.
“Young Ashido!”
“Are you-”
As Torino got right next to her Mina’s hand shot out and tapped him on the shoulder.
“Tag.”
Everybody paused, Torino looking at Mina's hand in shock as All Might's jaw hung open. A few of their classmates also ran up, including Izuku who paused at the sight in front of him.
“Ah, hey Izuku do you think I could borrow-”
“Ashido!” All Might snapped as his brain caught up on current events, “Please tell me you did not self harm to win the contest!?”
Mina grimaced under his tone, “Well I figured Izuku has regeneration so…”
As she spoke she felt her quirk vanish and a new one replace it, she shot a grateful, if sheepish, smile at Izuku as she pulled the bar out with a wince. Immediately the wound started to heal and she let out a relieved sigh, All Might however remained unimpressed.
“Ashido, while I encourage outside the box thinking this stunt is-”
“Brilliant!” Torino barked with a wide smile, “What a way to rig the game girl! I wish you were my student instead of all the other idiots I’ve trained!”
Mina smiled while All Might could only sigh.
Stain’s body dropped back to the ground next to Shigaraki who looked at it with mild disgust. As it fell the strings which had attached it to All For One’s hand disappeared into the air. The room was almost a makeshift film studio, it had a set, lighting and even a camera attached to a computer where Kurogiri was typing away.
Shigaraki huffed as he stood up from the makeshift throne he had been sitting on, “Are we done now?”
All For One sighed internally, Shigaraki had such a lack of interest in anything that could resemble tactics and underhanded thinking. As far as he was concerned the best plan was to go in guns blazing and kill anyone in their way. He failed to grasp the reality that in their current state they could not fight the heroes head on. Even then, even in his prime, All For One never devalued the worth of spies, corrupt officials and passive methods to rule from the shadows.
What made Shigaraki’s disdain for the event that had just taken place even worse was that it had been his idea in the first place. Yet the moment he’d realised how much actual work was involved he’d wanted to call the whole thing off. If Kurogiri hadn’t convinced him, All For One had been tempted to beat the boy into submission.
As it was, Shigaraki had ended up putting on a half decent performance, even though All For One had done most of the work. He wasn’t supposed to be getting involved in Shigaraki’s work, but circumstances called for other plans and besides, when was the last time he got to use Puppet Master?
“Will we be ready for tonight?” All For One asked Kurogiri who was tapping away.
Kurogiri nodded, “Yes, we’ve had to call in more than a few favours but we’re all ready for prime time.”
All For One smiled. This was going to be fun.
By their usual standards it was relatively calm in the Midoriya-Bakugou household that night. Mitsuki was busy prepping dinner in the kitchen while Masaru sat in the living room reading a newspaper and watching Izuku and Katsuki complete their homework. He had originally been helping Mitsuki in making dinner but one argument, a shattered vase and a quirk seared carpet later had meant another week of being grounded for the boys and the stern eye of Masaru watching them complete their homework.
He had at least allowed them to play the news in the background in case any hero fights came up.
“Ok I’m heading out,” Inko said as she popped her head into the room.
Izuku looked away from the complex equation in his notebook with a frown, “Out? Where are you going?”
Inko smiled at him, “Just out with some friends.”
“Are Mom and Dad going too?” Katsuki asked as he quickly glanced at Izuku’s notebook for an answer (not that he would admit it).
Inko shook her head with a slight blush, “Ah no, these are just some friends from work.”
“Work as in UA?” Izuku asked, his voice rising in excitement, “Could you maybe-”
“No Izuku dear, I can’t get you any autographs,” Inko insisted with a deadpanned expression, “Besides, these are um… the civilian staff members.”
“Oh…” Izuku said, trying to hide the disappointment in his voice.
Katsuki frowned as he looked at Inko’s shoulders, “Auntie are you wearing a dress? You never wear a dress.”
Inko’s face started to turn red, “Ah well you see.”
“Oi!” Mitsuki suddenly shouted as her head appeared next to Inko’s “You brats leave the poor woman alone. What are you? The Spanish Inquisition?”
Before anyone could argue the TV cut off, where once the news was playing it was now just static.
Masaru sighed as he grabbed the remote, “You two better not have damaged the signal in your little spat earlier.”
Katsuki went to argue when The TV flickered to life and Izuku froze.
“I don’t think this is just us.”
“So how’s school?”
“Challenging, more so than I expected!”
“Cool… Hung out with any classmates yet?”
“Ah no… but I must focus on my studies!”
“Right… have you got a crush?”
“Tensei!”
Ingenium laughed as Iida gave him a horrified look, “Aw come on Tenya, you’re allowed to act like a teenager once in awhile.”
Iida frowned, “Why aren’t you at your own home anyway?”
Ingenium smirked, “What? Can’t I come round and make fun of my little brother?”
“Tensei please I- What’s going on with the TV?”
“Is this a new brand of tea Mother?” Yaoyorozu asked the tall elegant woman sitting in the leather armchair next to her.
Said woman blinked and smirked, “Good eye Momo, yes, I heard about it from a friend in Thailand.”
“I hope it didn’t cost as much as the last one,” Yoayorozu’s father grumbled from where he was sipping his much preferred black coffee on the opposite sofa, a selection of snacks set on the coffee table between them.
“Oh relax dear,” His wife said with an eye roll, “Now Momo, how was going back to school today? It’s been awhile since you updated us on those friends of yours. What were the names? Midoriya and Bakugou?”
Yaoyorozu’s father blinked, “Wait. The top two from the sports festival? I didn’t realise you were friends with them Momo. You know we jointly own the patent for the technology used in MIdoriya’s hero uniform? Share it with the Bakugou Fashion Company. An incredible piece of tech I tell you, that quirk of his truly is something.
Yaoyorozu looked up in surprise, she hadn’t realised her father knew of Midoriya. And he approved of his quirk?
“Father I-”
“Ah damn, what's happened to the TV? Right as the sport news was about to start.”
“Didn’t I order you to leave about 10 minutes ago?”
Hawks looked up from where he was lounging on Kaina’s sofa, magazine in his hand as his legs kicked over the side, “Yeah? But I also stopped taking orders from you when I turned 18 and left the HPSC.”
Kaina turned from her mirror to frown at him, she was currently sitting at her makeup station in her living room after Hawks had turned up uninvited, “You’re in my house, ergo, my rules.”
Hawks scoffed as he threw the magazine back on the coffee table, “You know most big sisters would be super proud that their brother was being offered the key to the city.”
“It’s not a city,” Kaina said with a scoff, “It’s a town of less than 10,000 people you just happened to be flying over and got there quicker than the local hero. Also, I’m not your sister.”
“What else am I supposed to call the woman who broke me out of the HPSC training facility, raised me through my teens, got me through UA and let me intern with her until I was 18?” Hawks said, trying his best to replicate puppy dog eyes, though they really didn’t suit the bird.
“How about the person you owe a million favours to?” Kaina said as she started to apply a small amount of makeup, why she kept her makeup desk in her living room she would never know, at least Hawks would never dare go in her bedroom.
Actually scratch that why the hell had she given him a key in the first place?
“Which I continue to repay by doing more HPSC sanctioned missions than any other top ten hero.” Hawks drawled as he finally stood up, looking over Kaina with a raised eyebrow, “Why are you so dressed up?”
Kaina shrugged, “Nothing, just a work thing.”
Hawks narrowed his eyes at her, “No that’s not it. If it were work you’d just wear your hero outfit. This is something else, a date? Yeah but not just any date, you’re making too much of an effort. And only a light amount of makeup which means they’ve already seen you a lot so… HOLY SHIT YOU HAVE A BOYFRIEND!”
“I don’t have a boyfriend!” Kaina hissed as Hawks started to practically dance around the room.
“Ok fine a girlfriend then, who are they? Are they your age? Older? Younger? Tall? Short? Hero? Civilian? Do I need to beat them up? Do they-”
Hawks was silenced when he found himself on the other end of a gun barrel, he whimpered slightly as memories of his teenage years came flooding back.
Kaina growled at him, “Shut up you birdbrained- Hey what the fuck is wrong with my TV?”
“Annnnd done!” Mic sighed as he leaned back in his chair, exhausted, “Sho can you please tell Iida to keep his essays to under 5000 words?”
Aizawa cracked an eyebrow from where he was laying on the sofa in the teachers lounge, curled up listening to the TV, “No.”
Present Mic turned to him with a pout, “But doesn’t it bother you too?”
“Just do what I do and don’t set them essays.”
“It’s ENGLISH!”
Aizawa snorted as the door to the teachers lounge swung open. Midnight strolled in carrying a stack of papers, she smiled at Mic before catching sight of Aizawa.
“Eraserhead.”
“Midnight.”
Mic winced at the flat tones, ever since the argument about Midoriya’s entrance to the school Aizawa and Midnight had been frosty with each other. Mic had tried several times to mend the broken friendship but if anything he had only made things worse.
Mic was just deciding to try again when he frowned, “Uh, who’s messing with the TV?”
“You’re the Number One Hero Toshinori and the eighth wielder of One For All, you can do this goddammit,” Yagi muttered to himself as one pan started to boil over, the timer on the oven bleeped loudly and the microwave started to smoke.
“Ah shit!” Yagi cursed as he opened the microwave, quickly pulling out the soup he was attempting to defrost, his shirt hung open and his hair dripped fresh out the shower as he ran around his unused kitchen, cooking a solid meal for the first time in years.
Technically both Inko and Kaina had insisted takeout was fine, knowing that Yagi didn’t really use his kitchen, but even before they’d started dating Inko had prepared him dozens of delicious meals and as it turned out Kaina was quite the chef herself. So god damn he refused to be the only one in the relationship who couldn’t cook.
Though the current situation was making him doubt that.
It was still strange to think about. He had a girlfriend. He had two girlfriends. He hadn’t felt like this since that support girl winked at him once in second year. Although they had all agreed it was best to keep it on the down low for now, their jobs made it complicated as well as Izuku. Yagi and Kaina never wanted to feel like they were putting Inko in an awkward position with her son.
As he tried to mend the mess he had created Yagi noticed the background noise of his kitchen TV had vanished.
Across Japan people watched as their TVs turned to static for a few moments before a new image appeared. Said image was set to a dark background that could not be placed, it almost appeared to be some kind of ruin. In the middle of the video feed was what could only be described as a throne, except it appeared to be made of a collection of bones and ruined material. Most of the general public didn’t recognize the man sitting in it, covered in hands, but for a few heroes, teachers and students their spines ran cold with a chill.
However, everybody recognized the man standing next to the throne. His signature mask and scarf made it obvious to the world that they were looking at the man declared dead less than a week ago by the heroes.
“Good Evening Japan,” Shigaraki said, a slight gleeful nature to his crackled voice and excitement in his one visible eye, “I apologise for interrupting your evening but I have my own announcement to make. For those of you unaware my name is Shigaraki and I am the leader of The League of Villains. Allow me to answer some of the questions you may have, first of all, this is not a live feed, I’m afraid something terrible must have happened if I am putting this out to the world. Secondly, I’ve seen the propaganda the government and the HPSC has put out there about us, that we’re just a collection of psychopaths hellbent on killing children. I’d like to dispel those rumours right here and now. While it is true we attacked UA we were not there to kill students, we were there to prove a point.
“I’m sure many of you see UA as the prestigious school all wannabe heroes go to. Where learning is fun and children are nurtured to become the best of society. But you see we know it for what it truly is, a grooming facility for child soldiers. They are brainwashed into a basic understanding of right and wrong and used by the government to put those of us who do not fit into their society down. Just look at its alumni, Endeavor, Lady Nagant, Death Arms and many others who dare to call themselves heroes. We here in The League know that our society has become too corrupt, too ingrained in these so called heroes. The only way for us to overcome them now is to tear this society down! As my friend here agrees.”
Stain turned to the camera with eyes that seemed lifeless and as he spoke his voice sounded deep and broken, “I have made it my life's goal to weed out corrupt heroes and eliminate them. From Wonder Man, who used his fame to ingrain racial stereotypes and fund discrimination, to Deepwave who allowed those who bribed him to continue using his protected port for drug operations. All fakes who deserved the death I say kindly gave them. But as my quest continued and the more heroes I killed the more I came to realise I cannot do it alone. So I looked for fellow comrades who knew the truth and I ended up joining my friends here at The League of Villains as we united in our goals.”
“A strange name for a group who claim to fight the corrupt I know. But don’t you see my friends? The word villain is as powerful a weapon to them as their quirks are. To be called a villain is to be shunned from society, we do not question it, we accept that villains must be locked away never to be heard from again. Yet nobody questions who these villains are, just look at Izuku Midoriya, a fine hero student labelled a villain by a society who cannot accept him.”
At this Shigaraki looked towards Stain angrily, as if he was going off script. But Stain ignored him and continued.
“But nobody would dare call Endeavor a villain, a man who admits to the abuse of his family. And what of Death Arms, the media headlines for weeks have been about the ‘ex-hero’, not once calling him a villain. Do you see? Do you see what they have created? My friends, we must fight back! We must take down the fakes and rip their society to shreds so that we may rebuild it how it should be! Though I’m afraid I may not be around for this.”
Shigaraki turned back to the camera with a shake of his head, “We believe the heroes will soon order an assassination on Stain, to stop him before his truth becomes too widespread. He plans on heading to Hosu soon to take care of Ingenium, the hero who has allowed far too many fakes to be let loose into society. Should the heroes try to attack him we will of course intervene. But if we fail I imagine how you’ve heard that he was taken out by sidekicks and good low heroes yes? Believe me, I’ve seen Stain in action, this will be a lie.”
“If you are watching this then the rescue will have failed and I will have been killed,” Stain said, “My followers and friends, I’m sorry I could not be with you personally to see though the war that is coming. But please, allow The League to lead you in my stead! They know what must be done, their leaders have the means to save our society! I beg of you, join their ranks and they will lead you straight to the doorstep of the corrupt HPSC! Do not let my death be in vain!”
Shigaraki looked directly at the camera and though his face was covered you could practically feel the smirk, “We look forward to your applications to join.”
Chaos.
It was exactly what All For One had wanted. He sat back in his office alone, it had barely been an hour since the footage dropped yet every news channel on the planet was playing it back. People across Japan were questioning the HPSC as the likes of All Might and Nagant rushed to do damage control. Small riots had even broken out in those cities not fortunate enough to have a proud hero like All Might defending them.
UA was once again in the spotlight with people questioning the ethics of having people as young as 15 out on the streets acting as heroes. And of course Izuku’s name was being mentioned over and over. That had been one All For One hadn’t told Shigaraki about, but he needed to plant his son’s name in there somewhere. If he was over going to convert to boy he needed the rest of society to turn against him.
As news reporters shouted at each other, All For One smiled. He could admit that despite making the first move All Might had outplayed him by gaining the trust of his son and forcing Endeavor to admit his failings making any reveal by the villain side have far less of an impact. All Might had never played the game before, always choosing brawn over brains, All For One was excited to see what the man could bring to table as he chuckled.
“Your move, All Might.”