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Chapter Text

Katsuki knew there was something wrong with Deku. Everyone thought it was because he didn’t have a quirk but Katsuki knew better.

He had followed Deku out of the school and into the forest. Deku was holding on tight to the straps of his yellow backpack and staring at the ground, his curly green hair falling over his eyes.

Katsuki grabbed his arm and held on. “Why are you here?” he asked.

Deku turned so that Katsuki could see one green eye over his stupid green freckles.

When he didn’t answer Katsuki let his other hand pop with the explosions from his quirk.

Deku turned to face him and stared straight into his eyes.

“What is your–“ Deku spoke at the same time as him, saying the same thing. He stopped talking and glared.

“Stop that!” they both said.

Katsuki shoved Deku with both hands but he barely moved.

“You’re pre-dict-able, Bakugou,” Deku said.

Katsuki made more explosions and snarled at him.

“No–“

“Yes, you are,” Deku said at the same time. His face changed and he stopped looking like a crybaby, making Katsuki take a step back.

Deku stepped forward and leaned close. “You’re mean Kacchan,” he whispered, like a secret. “You keep hurting me. You’ll be a good hero, but you’re bad to me.”

Katsuki stared at him. Deku always said he was good no matter what he did.

Deku kept looking back, then he turned and walked away. Katsuki watched him go.

They were 5 years old and Katsuki knew that Deku wasn’t like how he was when they met.

There was something wrong with Deku, but it wasn’t the reason everyone said.

When everyone else got quirks Deku just got weird.

Izuku knew he had a quirk.

When he first saw the popup though, he didn’t know what it was.

“Quest: Convince the World you are Quirkless”

That was what he woke up to one morning when he was four. It was blue text on a white background that was kind of see-through.

He rubbed his eyes and it was gone. When he told his Mom the box popped up again with red text.

“Quest Failed: Convince the World you are Quirkless”

Then he was back in his bed again.

It took him days (a lot of the same one) to realise he had a quirk and it didn’t want him to tell anyone.

He repeated the same week so many times as he learned he couldn’t even hint at it. One time he told someone and had to go back to being four again after he turned six!

He called his quirk “Secret Quest.” Izuku only called it Quest when he was mad at having to do the whole day over and Secret the rest of the time.

(When he looked up smart quirks he couldn’t find out why his was so shy. Smart quirks happened but he didn’t know if others were like Secret, maybe they were hiding too?)

Secret had him do things that didn’t always make sense at the time. When he didn’t do what Secret said he got hurt, like when Kacchan accidentally used to quirk on him. (Sometimes, it didn’t seem like an accident.)

Secret always protected him though! It told him when to avoid his friend and even saved him from getting hit by a car once! (He won’t forget how it felt to be hit by the metal machine. “Quest Failed” blinked across his vision before he blacked out. Secret got him right away but he sat up in his bed, shaking with how scared he was. He didn't have any injuries. It was scary but he was safe. Secret made sure.)

After that he did what he was told and went on runs when Secret told him to. He learned about first aid and quirks and how to change his voice.

That was what led him to the quest he had gotten today.

“Quest: Save Hypnos”

He had learned over the years that Secret wasn’t able to share much about the quest, but as he repeated days he had found out that Secret would give him hints, like when he restarted the day from if he failed the quest.

So, he saw the quest (and he had “saved” a lot of people and animals at this point, so this one wasn’t new) and got up to start his day. He got dressed, packed his bag and went into the kitchen.

His mom had left him breakfast, he ate it as he scrolled through the news on his phone. Judging by the time he got it, this quest could be any time from when he was on his walk to school until the evening when he got home. There weren’t any hints in the news (he didn’t expect any but it had happened once) so he decided to try walking to school early and doing his day like normal.

He was ten now and his mother trusted him to take care of himself (would she if she knew all the things he had done before his days reset?).

With his quest at the front of his thoughts Izuku peered down alleys he walked by and watched everyone he came across closely (it was hard, there were a lot of them). Nothing obvious happened though so he got to class, disappointed.

Secret had helped him avoid both bullies and when his teachers were mean. That meant that they mostly ignored him and he was okay with that (it was better than teachers ignoring kids saying mean things to him and hurting him because he didn’t have a quirk).

He sat on his seat at the back of the class, near the door. Most of his classmates were taking notes while a few of the “strong” students like Bakugou passed notes. Bakugou always had good grades but if Izuku passed a note he would get detention right away (he may have tested it once).

Doing school work would be more interesting if it was like the projects Secret made him do. Sometimes he learned new things but it mostly was very boring (sitting through the same day of class more than once didn’t help, there were a few lectures he could have repeated word for word after resetting so many times).

He pretended to take notes so that the teacher would pretend he wasn’t there.

Once the day was over he gathered up his things and quickly snuck out of the classroom (none of his classmates liked him because he "didn't have a quirk” and that meant he didn’t want to be around them).

Escaping the boring cement building, he started on his way home. He didn’t rush since he didn’t want to miss anything while going this way the first time (one time he always ran home and missed the kitten drowning in an alley, he had to repeat the day so many times and he felt so guilty. If he had noticed her on his way to school the first time…).

Even though he did his best to pay attention he didn’t notice anything on his way home. He rushed inside and put his things away, then went back out. When he checked his phone he didn’t see any news alerts. The Hero Network tracker didn’t show any villain fights nearby either.

Frustrated, he left his apartment building and headed out on the street. Less than an hour later he got the notification.

“Quest Failed: Save Hypnos.”

His shoulders slumped at the red text filling his vision, then he was sitting up in bed once again.

Jumping up, he rushed over to his desk and pulled out his quest notebook. Turning to a new page, Izuku jotted down what he knew.

Quest: Save Hypnos
- Rescue quest
- Most likely for a person
- Must be completed before nightfall
- It's not during the school day or in the morning
- It's probably not far from his way home

He tapped his pen on the page after he wrote the last line. He has had to skip class a few times to do what Secret wanted but it isn’t usual. Sometimes he wonders if Secret just wanted to prove that breaking the rules to do the right thing is okay. It’s okay though, he didn’t mind doing it to help others.

It was on his fifth repeat of the day that he found a group of kids around his age running away from an alley right before he got the notification.

“Quest Failed”

The sixth repeat he made a beeline directly there after school.

It wasn’t in the bad part of town, just an alley between two businesses that he vaguely noted were a book store and one that sold teas.

He made it just in time to hear the sound of someone falling and laughter.

Peeking around the corner into the alley he saw the group surrounding someone on the pavement.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku ducked back around the corner. Then he concentrated and used a deep gruff voice to say, “What, exactly, are you doing?”

He heard all movement cease and a girl asked, “Who’s there?”

“Who’s there? I am giving you a chance to leave before the police arrive and you’re asking who is there?” He forced his voice to go deeper and snarled, “If I were you, I would run.”

Somehow, it worked, the other kids running away.

Izuku hurried into the alley and over to the person on the ground. The kid had purple hair that stuck up kind of like flames on his head. His lip was bleeding and his hands were scraped.

His wide eyes met Izuku’s as he crouched beside him. “It’s okay, I can help you,” he told him.

“No, I need to leave. The police–“

“Aren’t coming,” Izuku told him as he took the first aid kit out of his backpack.

“But…” the kid’s voice trailed off as Izuku pulled out a sanitizing wipe.

“I lied about the police,” he said as he held out his hand to take the other kid’s hand.

“You…” the boy didn’t seem to know what to say as he studied him with purple eyes. He looked very tired, Izuku noticed.

“Let me help?” he asked.

The boy held out one of his scraped hands and Izuku carefully started to clean it, wiping off the dirt that had gotten on his wounds.

As he worked, Secret spoke.

“Quest Complete: Save Hypnos.”

It cleared and then there was a new popup.

“Quest: Get Hypnos’s Phone Number”

Izuku held back a sigh.

“My name is Midoriya Izuku, what’s yours?”

“Shinso Hitoshi.”

Now he just needed his phone number.

“Where do you go to school, Shinso?” He pulled out the box of bandaids and started to cover the raw parts with the All Might themed ones.

“I go to Pembrooke,” Shinso told him.

Izuku nodded, carefully applying the last bandaid. “That’s not far from my school,” he finally answered, then held out his hand for Shinso’s other hand.

When it wasn’t given to him he looked up to meet those wary purple eyes.

“I don’t understand why you’re being so nice.”

Tilting his head, Izuku explained, “I want to be a hero. Real heroes help everyone.”

“Not even heroes would help me,” Shinso informed him with a scowl.

“Why not?”

“I have a villain’s quirk, everyone says so,” Shinso told him, looking scared and stubborn at the same time.

“That’s dumb,” Izuku answered.

“W-what…” Shinso’s voice was almost a question but the tone was off.

“That’s dumb. Knives aren’t villainous and quirks are like knives,” Izuku told him. “Can I have your other hand now?”

Shinso carefully offered his other hand to him. He was pleased to see that this hand had less scrapes on it. Izuku gently cleaned it, noticing Shinso wince slightly at the sting of it.

Once that hand was bandaged too, Shinso blurted out, “Want to spend time together?”

Izuku beamed at him. “Yes, what’s your number?”

Eraserhead wanted to know what he had done to deserve this.

This being a child offering him a cat while they were both on the roof in the middle of the night.

The messy haired boy slowly pulled his arms back towards his chest. “You don’t want her?”

He sounded so betrayed that Eraserhead felt compelled to say, “I’m sure she’s a wonderful cat…”

The kid’s shoulders slumped as he cuddled the small cat close. “She has a quirk that changes her fur. People only want certain quirks in their pets and hers makes people call her ugly sometimes.” He looked up at Eraserhead, obviously sad. “I thought you would like her.”

Sighing, Eraserhead went over to the kid and held out his hands. “Let me see her.”

The kid brightened, even in the dark it was easy to see just from his posture, and offered him the kitten.

Eraserhead took her and carefully looked her over. Her ears were whole and she squirmed in protest while he ran his hands over her body. In the poor lighting he could tell she was a jumble of different colours but the different textures were very weird. Her fur was curly, long, short, coarse and silky smooth depending on where he touched her. There were no open wounds, sores or scars. She didn’t even feel dirty or have matted fur.

“She seems like she’s in good health. We can–“

And that was when he realised the kid was gone.

…he had been thinking about getting a cat.

The next time he saw the kid it was after working too many cases in a row with very little sleep. One would think not teaching students for a few weeks would make his schedule more open–it didn’t.

He was exhausted and the kid was sitting on a plastic chair on the roof of a residential building. It held apartments and was well taken care of with a seating area for the residents. Eraserhead had come over because it was three in the morning and he wanted to make sure the small figure was alright.

What he wasn’t expecting was to be offered coffee.

“Here.” The sealed can was practically shoved in his face and he grabbed it instinctively. “I hope you like it.”

Eraserhead stared at the child and then glanced at the can. The label was familiar, it was a brand he drank.

“I thought you might need it!” the kid squeaked.

“Why are you up here?” he asked.

“To… to give you coffee?” It was too dark to see his expression but the kid sounded confused.

“Why?”

“Because you might need it,” the child repeated.

Eraserhead sighed. “Go to bed, it’s late.”

“Y-yes Eraserhead, sir!” the kid scrambled away.

He watched the child go into the stairwell for the building, his footsteps so quiet that the click of the door closing made more sound. After a moment he decided he deserved a short break before going into the police station to finish his reports. Then it would be time to head home.

He pulled the tab to open the can and listened to the sound of the seal breaking. Normally he’d be more cautious of food given to him by a stranger but it wasn’t opened and the kid had given him his cat, Kaly (short for kaleidoscope, like the colours of her fur).

It was only after he had drank half the drink that he realised he had never introduced himself.

How did the kid know his name?

Izuku had learned many things at Secret’s request. He knew how to fight (Secret had even got him to practise by making him save people in fights). He knew how to use parkour. He knew how to hold his breath for a very long time. He knew how to sneak into a room silently, even picking the lock to get in. He learned how to predict patrol routes of heroes to give them coffee late at night.

…

The point was, Secret got him to do many things.

Somehow he never thought it would tell him to do this.

“Quest: Get the Attention of All Might”

…All Might was still in Japan right now, right?

Secret had made him go to other parts of the country a few times (convincing his mother he was going on sleepovers was surprisingly easy), but it had never been more than a couple days for a trip.

Concerned about what his next few days would be like, Izuku grabbed his phone to look up sightings of All Might. He relaxed when the results showed that the man had been spotted in the area.

It looked like he had a hero to find.

Thirteen tries later and he decided to just go to school for the day. There was no way he’d meet the hero that way but sometimes having a normal day would make him feel more settled (he was repeating the same day this time and sometimes not sleeping between repeats got to him, he found taking a day for himself helped with that).

As he was sitting in class, pretending to dutifully take notes, Izuku wondered if the teachers never reported his absences because they preferred it when he wasn’t there.

He preferred it when he wasn’t in class too.

Bakuguo made it obvious that having Izuku in class wasn’t something he liked either. He dispassionately watched his notebook get blown up and then tossed out a window, the words his one time friend said not really registering.

Next time, he decided, he would take his rest day outside of school, it’s not like he learned much. Secret would make him study if he needed to pass a test.

Shrugging on his backpack, he went out to retrieve his notebook. It almost wasn’t worth it to fish it out of the pond but there was a slight chance he wouldn’t repeat the day and he didn’t really want to lose it (he had made that mistake before and regretted it, Secret didn’t value his notebooks with the hero notes as much as he did).

It really was a shame, he’d need to rewrite this one if he didn’t repeat the day again (he had written the same notes on repeat days to make sure he had it all down, after he had memorised what they would say sometimes he didn’t bother).

Sighing, Izuku decided to take the long way home and wandered away from the school. He wondered which of the many skills he picked up would be used to catch All Might’s attention.

As he was daydreaming about All Might saying he would make the perfect hero he heard a rough scraping sound which made him tense. He was currently in an underpass that didn’t have any people or even buildings under it. He was alone.

Pivoting around to face the potential threat, he was unprepared to be grabbed by green slime. Instinct took over and he clamped his mouth shut, holding his nose closed with one hand.

The villain was saying something about making Izuku a meat suit but he was too busy panicking to take it in.

Was Secret trying to save him from dying in slime with the breathing practice he had done?! He thought it was for something underwater!

Just as it started to get difficult to think an explosion sent him flying out of the slime. He did his best to roll off the momentum but he was uncoordinated and gasping.

Bracing himself on his hands and knees, he looked around to see what happened. The slime quirked person seemed to be smeared all over the cement ground and bridge supports. Izuku wondered if that was painful before the hero in front of him registered.

All Might?!?

The huge muscular form in red and blue with the iconic blonde hair (two tall points above each eyebrow) couldn't be anyone but All Might. Two bright blue eyes shone above the large smile aimed his way only completed the image.

…he guessed that meant he should have been going to school to find the hero after all.

He slowly got to his feet, grabbing his yellow backpack from where it had landed and wondering what he should say to the hero. Oh, he was talking, listening was important.

“–must be going! Goodbye!”

Panic raced down his spine at the thought of having to repeat getting immersed in slime so he leapt forward and grabbed onto the Hero.

He screamed as he clung to All Might’s leg and they soared through the air.

“What are you doing? Let go,” All Might told him.

Izuku clung harder as the leg he was attached to shook.

“If I let go I’ll die!” he told the hero shrilly. Nothing Secret had him learn would save him from a fall from this height.

All Might landed on the top of a building, his signature smile conspicuously absent.

“Young man, that was a very reckless thing to do,” All Might told him as Izuku nodded furiously, shaking from fright.

“I’m s–“

“Now, I really must go,” All Might turned to just that.

“Wait! It’s important that I talk to you!”

All Might crouched and Izuku panicked.

“Can someone quirkless become a hero?” he blurted out.

Not that he really was quirkless but he fought quirkless, like Eraserhead…

He was mumbling about that thought process (not mentioning Secret out loud was a habit at this point but there was a lot more to it) when a cloud of steam made him cut off.

As the cloud disappeared Izuku screeched in surprise at the skinny and sick looking man in front of him. He had blonde hair that drooped in his face, his shoulders were hunched and his blue eyes looked sunken. He had a grimace like he was in pain.

The man coughed up blood. “Oh my dear, what happened to All Might? Are you okay?!”

He rocked back and forth on his feet not sure if he should get closer or run away.

“I am All Might,” the man said.

“No,” Izuku said more in surprise than disbelief.

“Yes. It’s kind of like those people who… No it doesn’t matter. Look kid,” All Might stared at him with a piercing gaze that was somehow more creepy when he looked mostly dead. He lifted his shirt to reveal a massive scar that spanned across his ribcage and was a sore looking red.

Izuku sucked in a breath and crept forward as All Might kept talking. “This is from a villain. Without a quirk I would not have survived. Now I only have a few hours a day where I can use it. I don’t know how anyone without a quirk can do this job.”

He started frowning as All Might continued, “You need to be more realistic. You could be a cop or a firefighter. It’s not as glorified but they do important jobs.”

That’s when he realised that All Might was already walking away.

Izuku let him go and turned to stare out at the city.

He wondered if All Might remembered he had just been suffocated by a villain then possibly had his dreams crushed in a bigoted society before being left on a roof.

He wondered what protocol for rescuing a civilian who was drowning was and concluded that being on a high roof after almost dying probably didn’t meet those standards.

Other than the strength, All Might was kind of disappointing.

After waiting long enough for the man to have gone, Izuku made his way down the stairs and out of the building. He wasn’t sure what Secret wanted him to do with All Might but that probably wasn’t it.

Resigned to repeating the day again, Izuku wandered into the city.

Explosions caught his attention, and a crowd drew him over. It was probably a villain fight. Watching one instead of being a victim of it may help his mood. The explosions sounded familiar, which drew him even closer.

He caught sight of Heroes standing off to one side, police holding back the crowds as Backdraft put out fires that were eating at buildings. Fires that were being spread by a person he recognised.

Bakugou.

As soon as he registered the boy caught inside slime, Izuku was running.

He dug into his backpack and grabbed his Hawks themed pencil case. Thanking Secret for all the practice throwing, Izuku aimed and threw it at one of the villain’s eyes.

The villain shrieked as Izuku grabbed one of Bakuguo’s hands and pulled. The other teen gasped for breath while Izuku waved his backpack around with his free hand.

He almost hit Bakugou, who scowled at him.

A large tentacle raced towards his face.

Izuku braced himself but heard a loud yell of, “Detroit Smash!”

All Might’s voice and the boom of wind from his punch knocked Izuku off his feet.

Before he could smack into the ground (again) an arm caught him and placed him off to one side.

He idly noted the weather had changed during that punch and wondered if the villain made of slime was raining down on them… could he reform from that?

His distraction was interrupted by the Heroes congratulating Bakugou for being brave while scolding Izuku himself for being reckless.

Pasting a contrite look on his face, Izuku tuned them out and began plotting what to do when he repeated the day. Was there some way he could beat the slime guy before All Might got there…?

When the ‘heroes’ lost interest in him Izuku walked away.

It was too bad turning the slime villain into a popsicle wasn’t possible. He couldn’t carry that much dry ice.

Where do you find dry ice anyway?

“I AM HERE!”

Izuku chucked his phone at All Might’s face. The man sputtered and caught it, coughing up blood. Steam erupted off his form as Izuku froze in horror.

He just threw his phone at All Might.

Suddenly he was facing All Might’s smaller form as the man wiped blood off his face. “Those are some reflexes kid, though the phone won’t help much with a villain,” he held the phone out to Izuku who slowly got closer.

“Thank you,” he muttered, checking it over for damage.

“What’s your name, kid?” All Might asked.

“Midoriya Izuku,” he answered absently.

“Why did you rush in there to save that boy?” All Might asked.

“I couldn’t let him drown. My feet just… moved,” Izuku said, careful to avoid all the other times Secret encouraged him to act. Practice helped but everyone deserved to be saved.

“You know, one thing that all the greatest heroes in history had in common: When faced with a bad situation their feet just moved,” All Might informed him grandly. “Young Midoriya, you too can become a hero.”

He froze in shock. Not from All Might’s declaration.

“Quest Complete: Get the Attention of All Might”

This was followed by another popup he never thought he would see.

“Quest Complete: Convince the World you are Quirkless”

“Now, I must share with you a secret,” All Might said, the last word instantly making Izuku’s attention snap to him.

The tall man shuffled close. “You see, my quirk is unique, even in this society with so many diverse quirks. My quirk was given to me by my mentor, passed down to her from her mentor. I have chosen you to be my successor.”

Izuku stared at him.

“Will you accept my quirk Young Midoriya?”

At that moment, Secret spoke up.

“Quest: Acquire the Quirk One for All”

A smile broke across his face as giddy disbelief rushed through him. All Might’s quirk?!

Tears dripped down his face as he nodded frantically. “Yes!”

When he was first faced with the “American Dream Plan” that All Might presented to him for training he was reluctant but enthusiastic to try it. As he examined the beach for a good place to start, Secret made its opinion known.

“Quest: Convince All Might that his Training Plan is BAD”

Izuku decided that if he accomplished getting All Might’s quirk without saying anything that Secret might let him get away with not doing it.

After having gotten injured repeatedly, some of which Secret let him suffer to the point of getting through the first days of his hospital stay before making him repeat the months of training he’d already done again (his body didn’t retain muscle gained from past repeats, his injuries were gone but so was his muscle tone) Izuku wondered if All Might realised what he was asking when he gave him this plan.

He had been hit by falling garbage. He had cut open his hands. He had found illegally (well, more illegally) dumped garbage which quirks had been used on that had covered him with caustic chemicals. He had strained muscles badly moving things too heavy for him which had made him unable to move the next day.

He had researched what a good training plan actually looked like after breaking his wrist in numerous places before Secret had taken pity on him and sent him back to the first day. His first day on this beach, which was a health hazard hellscape, and was so unregulated that being injured while moving things to build strength was a guarantee.

He took a deep breath and planted his hands on his hips.

“Let’s get started!” All Might boomed, unaware that the boy who had been so excited less than a minute ago had been replaced with someone completely done.

“No,” Izuku said firmly, causing the hero to trip over his own feet and blood to dribble down his face.

“No? My boy–“

“Did you know if you try to lift something too heavy, you can pull muscles and even dislocate joints?” Izuku asked and he turned to face the Hero slowly.

All Might looked confused.

“Did you know if you work too hard you can overextend your body to the point where it completely shuts down and muscle accumulation can regress while recovering?”

“N-now–“

“Did you realise that since this,” he waved at the beach in front of them, “is an illegal dumping site, that it could contain hazards that could potentially put someone in the hospital if they were touched while not wearing the right equipment? Never mind the diseases from anything that might have blood or the diseases growing in poorly separated waste. What about the chemicals from all those appliances and vehicles? Those are corrosive and can damage my skin, let alone if they get in my blood!” Izuku threw his hands up, frustrated by how All Might stared at him.

The man coughed and then deflated like a steamy balloon.

“I-I guess we can do something else to train your body up,” he scratched the back of his neck. “Look, you need to be at peak strength to inherit my quirk, otherwise your limbs could blow right off.”

Izuku stared at him for a moment.

“My limbs could WHAT?!”

If he didn’t have Secret, he might have decided that having All Might’s quirk was not worth risking his limbs. With Secret and the knowledge he had no way out of getting the quirk he decided to confront All Might for the second time in the same repeat after the hero said he had a new exercise plan.

Once the plan was laid out before him, Izuku came to two crucial conclusions.

“I can’t use your quirk the same day I get it at the entrance exam. You also are assuming I haven’t already had my own training plan.”

Small Might (did All Might tell him his name when he wasn’t all buff?) sputtered and hastily wiped at his mouth with a white handkerchief (why white?).

“Young Midoriya, you have already been training to become a hero?” Small Might asked.

“Of course! I wanted to be one.” And Secret wouldn’t let me avoid training, he didn’t add out loud.

The skinny man was practically beaming. “It would still be best to give you my quirk as late as possible–“

“You want me to use a quirk that could blow up my limbs during an exam where there are other people who could also be caught in the crossfire?” he asked sweetly.

The man froze and scratched at his temple. “When you put it like that I can see how that might not be a good idea.”

Izuku just smiled and started talking about what they could adjust in the training plan.

Chapter Text

Six months later (and after choking down a hair) Izuku was in a special training gym designed for testing out quirks.

A normal person may have pushed for trained medical personnel to be present while using a quirk for the first time that could potentially take off his limbs.

Izuku was not a normal person.

When he woke up that morning it was to a new quest.

“Quest: One for All’s First Use. Please expand for Objectives.”

“Objectives?” Secret had never listed out objectives before.

When he said the word the popup expanded.

“Objectives:
- Reach the gym
- Use One for All without breaking any bones or gaining serious injuries
- Do not focus One for All in just one part of your body
- Use 1% or less of One for All
- Destroy 5 targets with One for All without destroying a wall”

Izuku had sat staring at the popup for so long that he barely had time to get ready before racing out the door to meet All Might (or Yagi Toshinori, he had seemed quite embarrassed that he hadn’t introduced himself).

As soon as he was on the train a notebook was out and he was furiously taking down notes.

All Might had said that the quirk he was given stored energy, energy which had been passed down from one person to another for generations. If it was just energy though, Secret wouldn’t have changed.

Secret could now give him objectives with his quests and they were hints on how to do it! He wouldn’t have to guess as much! Was Secret more powerful now? What else had changed?

He snapped the notebook closed and raced out of the car as soon as the train stopped, eagerness making him excited.

Yes, he would probably be blowing up his limbs today but he had Secret on his side.

The gym was a huge building with large glass windows on every floor. Each floor looked very tall but he was far more interested in getting inside than observing the outside. The lobby past the big sliding glass doors was a wide open space that was mostly white with some art work, a few cushioned chairs and a gleaming, metal front desk with a single person behind it.

He ran up to Yagi (Small Might), who was dressed in a baggy white button up shirt and blue pants. Izuku waited for the man to sign them in with the front desk person to get their passes for the gym room they wanted to use. He tried to hold back his excited mumbling and ended up bouncing on his toes instead.

Thankfully it didn’t take long before they were headed into the space that Yagi has reserved for their use. It was up a flight of stairs and down a grey hallway with a carpet that had a pattern in tones of blue.

Large honey coloured wood doors opened into a gleaming room with floor panelling the same colour as the doors. The walls were grey with places to easily attach equipment and the far wall was a floor to ceiling window. There was a door that Izuku assumed led to the spare equipment room.

If he didn’t have Secret he may have insisted that medical personnel be present while he practised with a quirk that could seriously injure him but he had something better.

As he stepped into the gym room, Secret proved how attentive it was.

“Object Completed: Reach the gym”

“This is so exciting! What else can Secret do with One for All? One for All doesn’t just act like a strength–“

“Young Midoriya? What is Secret?”

Izuku froze, not even breathing. He didn’t want to start over from four years old again! Knowing he would get One for All would help but ten years?!

“Young Midoriya?” All Might called, grabbing Izuku’s attention with a hand on his shoulder.

Izuku instinctively flinched and snapped his head around to stare up at Yagi with wide eyes.

“I’m still here,” he murmured.

Yagi moved to stand in front of him. “You are. Is everything alright?”

It took a moment but then Izuku realised he no longer had to lie about his quirk. The quest was complete.

“Secret is my quirk, Secret Quest,” Izuku replied slowly, part of him not really believing he said it.

Yagi’s brows scrunched together. “I thought you were quirkless?”

Izuku shook his head, “No one knows about Secret, that’s why I named it that.”

“That isn’t safe. We register quirks so that healthcare professionals can help take care of you,” Yagi answered.

There was a moment of silence where Izuku stared at Yagi, well aware he hadn’t registered One for All and what it could do anywhere.

Yagi looked embarrassed and dropped his hand from Izuku’s shoulder to scratch at his cheek while straightening up. “Yes, that was hypocritical of me.” He laughed nervously. “What can Secret do?”

Izuku’s fingers flexed as he thought about how to explain his quirk. He had thought about how to do it over the years but he had never actually done so. “Secret Quest is a quirk that assigns quests to its user that must be completed or the user is forced to repeat the timeframe from when the quest is assigned to when the quest was failed. When a repeat happens the user is reset to the state they were in before the repeat started,” he explained slowly.

“Your quirk lets you go back in time?” Yagi asked, sounding amazed.

Izuku shook his head. “It usually isn’t a long timeframe and it’s only when I need to change what I’ve done to get something right. Sometimes it’s because I got injured.” He unconsciously started rubbing the wrist he had broken.

Yagi looked disturbed. “So… when you were talking about what could happen on the beach..?”

“But Secret changed today,” Izuku said loudly, refusing to answer that. “It used to just give me a quest where what I was supposed to do was hinted at by what it was called,” he started to get excited. “Now I have objectives!” He dug his notebook and pen out of his bag. “The objectives are so much more information and Secret even tells me when I complete them! Now it won’t take me as long to get a quest right the first time.”

“How many times have you repeated a single quest?” Yagi still sounded disturbed.

Shrugging, Izuku answered, “I think it was forty-three times but I’m not sure. There’s no way to keep count when everything gets reset with you.” He was also too young to count them all when he first was learning about Secret but he didn’t think about that.

Not noticing the silence from his mentor Izuku continued, excited, “Secret has changed because of One for All. One for All doesn’t just store energy like you thought! Or maybe…”

Izuku paused and then started writing furiously.

“Maybe…?” Yagi sounded hesitant but Izuku barely noticed.

“There was a theory about how quirks are evolving to be stronger with each generation, how passing them on keeps giving them strength. What if passing from person to person made it evolve? If it isn’t energy it's storing, what if it’s something to do with the quirks it touches themselves?” Izuku was beaming with excitement.

Yagi coughed, drawing his attention. “That’s a fine theory, my boy, but we should focus on using One for All right now. Unless your quirk told you we shouldn’t?”

Reluctantly putting his notebook away, Izuku shook his head. “Secret probably wouldn’t do that. It wanted One for All.”

“It…did?”

Izuku squinted at his mentor, he had a strange look on his face. Deciding it wasn’t important, Izuku put his hands on his hips and took a deep breath. “So, how do I use it?”

Yagi puffed up to his buff form and grinned. “That’s easy! Just clench your butt cheeks and yell ‘Smash!’”

…He loved his mentor, he was a great Hero. He was an awful mentor.

Putting the heels of his hands over his eyes, he resisted the urge to tell the man why that wouldn’t help.

“Trial and error it is,” he said dully. Dropping his hands he turned to All Might. “Could you set up the targets?”

The hero nodded, still smiling, and darted off.

Turning his focus inward, Izuku tried to see if anything felt different with the new quirk. He was immediately confronted with a surge of power so strong that his hair stood on end.

The power blindsided him and he staggered then threw out an arm to brace himself. His arm erupted in pain and there was a loud boom as he was flung through the air.

Oh… that was One for All.

As he blacked out the pain cut out and a screen popped up.

“Objective Failed, Restart from Checkpoint?”

Checkpoint? He thought in confusion.

Two options lit up in front of his ‘vision,’ one was the view from his bed and the other was what he was seeing as he walked into the gym they were going to practise in.

He'd much rather not do the morning over.

The morning view faded and suddenly he was halfway through a step through the door.

The first time he had repeated halfway through a motion he had fallen on his face.

This time he stumbled slightly and said in awe, “One for All changed how Secret works.”

“Young Midoriya? What is Secret?” Yagi asked.

Izuku turned to look at Yagi and regretted speaking. Repeating the same conversation multiple times was such a hassle. Maybe he’d keep his mouth shut next time and not tell him about Secret until after he finished destroying his bones…

After eleven tries he could finally power up One for All without immediately hearing his bones creaking in protest. It seemed like the right percentage, but as soon as he moved One for All concentrated in whatever limb he moved and he was injured.

The last repeat he had decided to start from the morning, taking his time to write notes and he almost ended up missing his train. Entering the building they were using, he smiled at his mentor.

While the hero didn’t know about all the repeats he was always a cheerful face that encouraged him every time. Some might find it annoying, he just used it as motivation to keep working on his goal.

Secret asked a lot of him but it always proved to be worth it, even if it took time to find out why.

So he crossed the threshold of the gym, watched the popup of his objective being reached and then drew his attention inward.

He had read over his objectives this morning. The quest had always appeared with each repeat, even before One for All, as if to give him another hint of what to do. With the objectives there was more to read.

He had to use One for All in more than one limb at one percent power or lower and destroy five targets without destroying himself or the gym.

He grabbed at the very edge of One for All and spread it all over his body. Instinctively he knew he was using one percent. The temptation to use even more bit at him but he took a deep breath and pushed that away.

That’s when he opened his eyes and realised he was sparking green lightning.

“Woah,” he said and his concentration slipped, One for All fading away.

“Well done, Young Midoriya!”

He grinned at his mentor. “Thank you, Yagi!”

Six repeats later (mostly due to destruction of property and not his body) and he finally got the notification.

“Quest Complete: One for All’s First Use”

“Well done my boy! You really are a natural. I was sure we would need Recovery Girl after the first time you used One for All,” Yagi sounded impressed.

“About that…”

It was time to tell him about Secret…again.

“Quest: Register your Quirk!
Objectives:
- Choose a name and description that will suit any changes to Secret Quest and One for All
- Don’t be detailed, you don’t know where it’s been
- It must be registered before the UA exam
- Bonus: Celebrate your registration with Eraserhead
Deadline: 3 months 13 days remaining”

The deadline was definitely new, but the real incentive that Izuku had to finish it quickly was the idea of spending time with the ProHero. Excitement was almost enough to drown out his worry about the second part of the objectives.

Secret may seem like it was a bit sadistic, making him repeat days over and over, but he had come to learn that it always did things for a reason.

If it didn’t want his quirk registered in full, there was something bad that would happen if it was seen. While it was obvious why All Might had been hesitant to share the origins of his quirk (how many people would hunt him down to take it from him?), he still wasn’t sure why Secret had wanted him to keep it a secret. Was registering your quirk in the quirk database that dangerous?

Shaking his head, Izuku focused on what he had to do. He had to summarise abilities that he had no idea about that Secret implied he would get while also not explaining enough to be possibly kidnapped.

He stared at the blank page of his notebook, not sure what he should write. His pen just hovered above the page, waiting for his thoughts to come.

“Quest: Obtain Hawks’ Autograph.
Objectives:
- Obtain Hawks’ autograph
- Obtain Hawks’ phone number
- Bonus: Obtain Hawks’ social media contact information”

Izuku grabbed his notebook for signatures and was out the door within a minute.

A few weeks later Izuku was on yet another roof at night, this time with two slices of cake and a can of coffee that he knew Eraserhead preferred.

The Underground Hero landed with barely a sound and slowly made his way over. He wore his usual black outfit with the grey capture weapon that looked like a scarf. Eraserhead lowered his yellow goggles from his dark eyes as he looked at Izuku.

“What’s the occasion?” he asked in his usual gruff tone. He brushed a strand of his long dark hair back from his face.

“My quirk has finally been registered,” Izuku informed him happily.

Eraserhead stopped for a moment before continuing forward. “It wasn’t registered before.”

“I was diagnosed as quirkless at four,” Izuku told him as he picked up the slice for Eraserhead and the can of coffee.

A slight sound that was a vocalisation of some sort made him look up but nothing about Eraserhead’s body language explained it.

“What is it registered as?” the hero asked as he eased himself onto the edge of the second chair, then accepted the plate and coffee.

“Accumulation!” Izuku told him enthusiastically. “The description is just that it’s an accumulation quirk that takes time to store up energy that can manifest in ways the user can control, like extra strength and things like that.” He waved a hand and hesitated.

“It’s an enhancement quirk?” Eraserhead asked.

When Secret didn’t protest, Izuku slowly explained, “That’s what I put it down as but… I used to call it Secret.”

“Secret?”

“Short for Secret Quest. It gives me goals that I have to do, which help me and stop bad things from happening but,” Izuku poked his cake with a fork. “It evolved recently I guess. Maybe it was because I completed so many quests,” he lied quietly. “But now I can use my quirk to be strong and it’s kind of scary,” he admitted.

“What kind of bad things does it stop?” Eraserhead asked.

“It stopped me from being hit by a car,” he told the hero, “and I’ve saved people.”

Eraserhead took a bite of cake and Izuku followed his example. It wasn’t fancy cake or anything, but it was chocolate with chocolate frosting.

“Just because your quirk tells you to save someone doesn’t mean you have to,” Eraserhead told him.

Rather than contradict him, Izuku said, “I want to though.”

Eraserhead set down his plate and took out his phone. “What’s your number kid?”

He paused and then slowly gave the Hero his number. A few moments later he jumped as his phone buzzed with a notification.

“If you need help, it’s important to reach out. You have my number, don’t forget to use it,” the hero told him as he stood up.

And that was how he got another ProHero’s number.

“Objective Complete: Bonus: Celebrate your registration with Eraserhead”

One thing Secret seemed adamant about was being social. It would have made more sense if it made him be social with his classmates or even people from the same school. Since neither of these things were true he ended up getting an instant messaging platform called Controlled Chaos which was ironically aimed at people who played a lot of video games. Ironically because he used it more than any other social media platform and he rarely played video games.

Izuku found that if he made habits of doing things Secret told him to do, he didn’t get as many popups. Now that Secret could give him so many quests at once (his limit before was two and one was to never tell others about his quirk) it was far easier to do the things Secret would make him do anyway instead of trying to write all down. Repeating a day because he didn’t talk to Hitoshi like he was told to was not fun.

He was speaking to his friends when the lizard quirked person he had helped a while ago messaged him.

The name he had been given for the other was Spinner. The older teen had actually reached out to him first about his quirk on a discussion board they both were on. It was about the utilisation of quirks and Secret had encouraged him to continue speaking to him.

When Spinner asked him to join a group to help them with strategy for a game about people using quirks to survive after an apocalypse he had been reluctant but eventually gave in.

Immediately after joining he was surprised by Secret speaking up.

“Quest: Friendship Can be Magical
Objectives:
- Befriend user EndofHeroes
- Don’t let the user know you are a hero fan
- Bonus: Say something memorable when first speaking in the group
- Bonus: Befriend user before the entrance exam”

Maybe he could do the first bonus. Not talking about heroes he loved might be hard but he had done it before. Secret had guided him to some people who didn’t appreciate them.

Well, time to try making friends.

BushRabbit: I haven’t played more than two hours on a game in my life and I have no idea how knowing quirks will help you but I would be happy to help :D

Later, he would regret that what he had said was so long.

“Objective Complete: Bonus: Say something memorable when first speaking in the group”

Now, he was too busy reading all the replies to really think about it.

EndofHeroes: how can a noob help us with strats? I say we kick them

Spinner: he’s the one that helped me with the strats for beating the last boss! If I had talked him earlier I wouldn’t have had to waste all those coins respecing

BushRabbit: Oh, is that why you wanted to know how to beat a lightning quirk user with an “OP build?” It was fun to come up with combat strategies. I had thoughts on how else you could do it.

BushRabbit: Have you considered trying…

Three hours later he got a direct message from EndofHeroes, which surprised him.

EndofHeroes: u may be a noob at games but u know quirks. What do u think of heroes?

Izuku stared at the message for a moment, unsure how to answer with the objectives Secret had given him. He thought of Eraserhead, then he thought about All Might. His thoughts strayed to Endeavour and he fought back a frown.

Hesitantly, he started typing.

BushRabbit: The problem with Heroes is everyone expects them to be perfect. They’re supposed to save everyone.

He thought about all the people he’s helped over the years.

BushRabbit: They don’t save everyone.
BushRabbit: They can’t save everyone.
BushRabbit: There are also Heroes who don’t deserve the title. They hurt people and cause damages that aren’t needed. If a Hero kills someone for a robbery they’re often praised for it. If anyone else kills someone for stealing their property…

EndofHeroes: so u aren’t some hero worshipper
EndofHeroes: u can stay in the server

With that, the other user started talking in the group again. The rattle of keys made Izuku look down at his hands in surprise. They were shaking with nerves.

Deciding he needed a break, he got up from his laptop to get a snack.

“Quest: Train for the Exam!
Objectives:
- Practise not blowing up your limbs with One for All
- Invite Hypnos to training and have him attend
- Help Hypnos to not be reliant on his quirk
- Bonus: Invite other students to train with you
- Bonus: Have Hypnos attend training with you and at least one other student”

Izuku tapped a pen on his notebook as he thought about the quest he had been given. Training by himself was easy enough to do but he had never asked Hitoshi if he trained. The pen stopped moving.

…He had to be training, right?

Pulling out his phone, Izuku checked if he was online and then sent Hitoshi a message.

BushRabbit: Want to train with me for the entrance exams?

CatLover4: sure. When and where?

Izuku sent Yagi a text message about bringing a friend to training today and received a thumbs up emoji.

BushRabbit: Today at 1?

He sent Hitoshi the address.

There was a pause and Izuku assumed his friend was looking it up.

CatLover4: …I can meet you there. How did you get permission to go there? Isn’t it a gym for heroes?

Izuku paused as he realised that Hitoshi was right. It probably was strange that he was going to that gym specifically. Still, until he had more control of his quirk he needed to focus on One for All’s power. It would be nice to have someone around he could spar and lift weights with (without One for All).

BushRabbit: I’ll explain when we get there.

CatLover4: OK

Izuku grinned and went back to his notebook, this would be fun.

Izuku and Yagi waited by the sign-in desk for his friend. The both of them tended to arrive early so there were five more minutes before Hitoshi could even be considered on time.

As he had that thought, Hitoshi hesitantly walked in the door and looked around. Once he saw Izuku he visibly sagged in relief before making a beeline for his friend.

“Objective Complete: Invite Hypnos to training and have him attend”

“Yagi, this is Shinso Hitoshi. Hitoshi this is Yagi Toshinori,” Izuku introduced as Yagi finished signing them in now that the other boy was present.

Yagi handed the tablet back to the receptionist at the desk and then offered his hand to Hitoshi. “It’s good to meet you, Young Shinso.”

Hitoshi carefully took his hand and shook it once before quickly shoving his hand back in his hoodie pocket. “You too,” he murmured.

Hitoshi was wearing a light purple sweater and grey sweatpants with dark purple sneakers. He had a dark blue backpack slung over one shoulder.

“Come! I have reserved a gym for our use,” Yagi spun and ambled away, with Izuku dutifully following behind.

Hitoshi tugged on Izuku’s sleeve, drawing his attention. The way his eyes darted between Izuku and Yagi was obviously a question.

“I’ll explain when we’re in there.”

Hitoshi nodded.

Once they entered the gym Yagi shuffled off to get the targets and Izuku turned to his friend.

“Yagi has been mentoring me to help me become a hero,” Izuku explained.

“He’s a Hero then,” Hitoshi asked without asking. His friend tended to do that while they were in public or when they were near people he didn’t trust…which was most people honestly but Izuku couldn’t blame him.

Shaking his head, Izuku answered, “Yagi is All Might’s secretary.”

Hitoshi’s eyes widened in shock and Izuku laughed. “Yeah. He’s been helping me with my quirk! I thought we could practise sparring and using yours too.”

Hitoshi’s brows furrowed as he looked towards Yagi and back to Izuku.

“Yes?” Izuku asked.

“I don’t see how All Might’s secretary could help with a precognitive quirk,” Hitoshi ignored how Izuku sucked in a sharp breath. “All Might tends to just punch all his problems really hard.”

Izuku choked on a laugh and then squeaked out, “A precognitive quirk?”

There was a pause and then Hitoshi said, “You thought you were hiding it.”

“I–” Izuku ran a hand down his face and stopped himself from wondering why Secret had let Hitoshi come to that conclusion before redirecting his thoughts.

“Not… exactly,” Izuku told him, dropping his hand. “My quirk is called Secret Quest, though it’s registered as Accumulation so you can’t tell anyone. Secret made me keep it a secret for years, it gives me quests to do things, like how I met you.” He gestured to Hitoshi. “We think that since I did so many quests right I’ve stored up a bunch of energy. It can make me super strong or fast but it isn’t easy to control so Yagi has helped me with training! I think I may be able to use the energy for other things but the strength can be painful at times so I have to master this first.”

He looked up from the ground to gauge Hitoshi’s reaction but the boy was his usual stoic self so he ended up fidgeting in anxiety.

“I suppose that explains how you always ended up around me when I needed you,” Hitoshi finally answered and Izuku felt his shoulders sag with relief.

His friend eyed Yagi then carefully asked, “Why are you telling me about your quirk now if it’s a secret?”

“Oh! I think it knows that Yagi would help protect me if anyone tried to kidnap me because of my quirk so I can tell people now.” He ignored the choking sound Yagi made, the man did that a lot when he was talking. “Secret said that you don’t know where the quirk registry has been.”

Hitoshi’s wide eyes were locked on Izuku again. “What else does your quirk say?”

“It said you shouldn’t rely on your quirk for the entrance exam,” he shamelessly shared, anything if it meant he could help his friend. “So we have to train hard to get into the hero course at UA!”

Hitoshi nodded seriously. “I will do my best.”

An hour later Hitoshi was laid out flat on the ground, panting and sweating.

Izuku had gone back to practising while his friend rested.

“How,” his friend whined.

“I’ve been training for years, Hitoshi. I thought you were too,” he answered.

He wondered where Yagi had gone, the man had taken a phone call and then left in a hurry.

“I’m going to get stronger,” Hitoshi told him.

“Objective Complete: Help Hypnos to not be reliant on his quirk”

“Have you practised with your quirk?” Izuku asked.

Hitoshi sat up and shrugged. He then pulled his legs close to his chest to rest his arms on. “I don’t have anyone to practise on.”

“Well, we’re in a gym where it’s allowed,” Izuku gestured to one of the targets he had destroyed. “You can practise with me.”

Hitoshi’s face went eerily blank. “You don’t even know what my quirk is, you never asked.”

“Well, I know it has to do with controlling people but even without knowing the mechanism for how your quirk works that is just so useful for heroics! You could–“

The waving of Hitoshi's hand signalled that Hitoshi wanted him to stop his rambling so he could say something. Judging by his overwhelmed expression Hitoshi had needed to use the signal they had agreed on to get a moment to think.

“You know what my quirk can do.”

Izuku shrugged. “Secret calls you Hypnos so I guessed. It seems to like Hero names or making up nicknames for people who don’t have one that are related to their quirk. Sometimes it uses usernames if it's online though." He cupped his chin in one hand as he thought about it.

“I can take control of people who answer questions I ask with my quirk active,” Hitoshi told him.

Grinning, Izuku bounced on his toes. “That’s so cool!”

“Cool?”

“Yeah!” Izuku said enthusiastically.

“So you wouldn’t mind if I used it on you?”

“Of could I wouldn’t–“ his sentence cut off and he suddenly felt very removed from his body. It was like sitting in the back row of a movie theatre.

“Hop on one foot,” he heard Hitoshi say and he was vaguely aware that his body was doing that.

“Kid’s right, it really is an amazing quirk,” said a voice he didn’t recognise.

Whipping his inner attention around, he spotted a pale green glowing…shadow?

“Oh, you’re here now too?” the voice seemed to be coming from the green shape that started to resolve into a person. They were slim and had pale hair.

Suddenly they stood over him, causing him to try to flinch but instead of moving in his mind, his body fell over. The control Hitoshi had on him disappeared as he landed with a smack.

As Izuku tried to comprehend what was happening, Secret decided to contribute.

“Quest: Find Out More about the Previous Holders of One for All
Objectives:
- Learn about the seven users before All Might
- Speak to One for All without using Hitoshi’s quirk
- Gain an understanding of the quirks of the previous users of One for All
- Bonus: Tell Hypnos your quirk has a person in it and explain about your second quirk”

As he finished reading the quest objectives Hitoshi’s face came into his field of view, looking concerned.

“My quirk has a person in it,” Izuku told him seriously.

“Your quirk has what?” Hitoshi mumbled.

“Yeah, that’s how I feel.” Izuku stared at the ceiling.

“Did I hurt you?” Hitoshi asked.

“No, it has to do with One for All,” he answered with a sigh.

“You’ll need to explain that to me.”

Izuku sat up and told him, “Secret helped me convince All Might to give me his quirk, One for All. All Might had gotten his quirk from his mentor who had passed it down from hers.” Izuku fidgeted with his fingers. “It turns out that the quirk is actually a person or something and Secret wants me to learn about all of One for All’s past holders.”

“All Might gave you his quirk… without teaching you about it,” Hitoshi said.

Sighing, Izuku nodded. “He’s a great hero but a terrible mentor.”

“If you hadn’t been so nice to me all along I don’t think I would believe you,” he observed.

“That All Might is a bad mentor?”

Hitoshi snorted and looked around the empty gym before facing Izuku. “That you got a quirk from All Might that had been passed down. Why is he making Yagi teach you anyway?”

“W-well, you see–“

Hitoshi held up a hand, making him stop his rambling. “If you can’t tell me that’s okay. I can hardly ask for All Might’s secrets. Is that why you were destroying the targets?”

Izuku massaged his hand. “Yes, One for All is too strong for me to use all of its power at once. I’ve gotten better with it, I can use four percent of its energy before risking injury.”

Hitoshi stared at him with wide eyes. “What happens when you use more than that?” He sounded like he wasn’t sure he wanted the answer.

“My bones break,” Izuku answered, then he tapped his chin, ignoring his friend’s sputtering. “Well, I haven’t used five percent so I’m not sure but when I was using full power in one limb I’m not sure the bones were anything more than fragments.”

Hitoshi covered his face with both hands. “I don’t know how you can say it like that.” He dropped his hands. “This quirk is blowing up your limbs?!”

“Oh, when I first heard it would do that my reaction was about the same. Secret always gets what it wants though,” Izuku told him.

Scowling, Hitoshi asked, “Secret hurts you too?”

“No, no, no.” Izuku waved his hands nervously. “Secret has always protected me. It saves me from bullies and cars and teachers and even villains.”

There was a serious look on Hitoshi’s face as he assessed Izuku’s answer.

“It helped me meet you, my best friend,” he told Hitoshi.

The other boy softened and nodded.

“Bonus complete: Tell Hypnos your quirk has a person in it and explain your second quirk”

Shoji Mezo was one of the people Izuku had befriended that he spoke to online. It was a quest from Secret to stand up to people who were bullying the other boy.

When Izuku had explained to Hitoshi he wanted to have someone else join them for practising (One for All made quirk practise… difficult) it had taken a lot of persuasion to convince him it was a good idea.

Hitoshi had experienced a lot of bullying for his quirk and he was reluctant to trust anyone else. When Izuku let him know (with Shoji’s permission) how they met he finally agreed to try it.

Telling All Might that Secret had suggested it got an easy agreement from him. He did say he would only be Yagi for his friends though, which Izuku didn’t mind.

Shoji was tall with light grey hair and black eyes. He always wore a face mask to cover the lower half of his face and had six arms that had a webbing of skin between them. He was always nice to Izuku when he wanted to talk.

“Objective Complete: Bonus: Have Hypnos attend training with you and at least one other student”

Shoji didn’t say anything as they entered the gym but he did look around.

“So! I think we should practise together where we can. Is there anything you wanted to do with your quirk Shoji?”

One of Shoji’s arms sprouted a mouth and Hitoshi watched with interest. “I need to practise using all of my arms at once and switching which kind of appendage I am using while distracted. What do you need to practise Midoriya?”

Izuku fiddled with his fingers, “Well, I have to practise using my quirk without hurting myself but I can’t use it against people because I might hurt them too.” He brightened with a thought. “I can use it to move fast though! Maybe you two can try to catch me?”

“So we’ll be playing tag with you,” Hitoshi said.

Laughing, Izuku answered, “I guess so! My quirk reacts strangely to Hitoshi’s, so we were hoping that he could use it on you if you would be okay with that, Shoji.”

“What’s your quirk?” Shoji asked Hitoshi.

“Brainwashing. If you reply to my questions I can control you for a while,” Hitoshi answered. Izuku knew his friend was reluctant to say it, but you couldn’t tell by his expression or tone.

After a moment of thought, Shoji answered, “If I don’t get hurt and no one takes videos that’s fine.”

“We promise not to!”

They switched between different activities for the rest of their training. It was a fun experience and both of his friends agreed to try it again.

They decided to do more training together after that and Izuku was happy to take advantage of the gym space All Might had gotten for him. Yagi was always there to help them sign in but he rarely stayed for the full training sessions they did. His input did help them focus on areas for improvement though.

That’s what led them here, meeting in front of the gates of UA. The front gates were in a tall cement wall with glass set in heavy metal at the top. The dark blue arch had UA in the center with its doors retracted so that a crowd of students could trickle through. The UA main campus buildings were so tall that they could see the gleaming glass windows of the two front towers even so close to its walls with another building visible behind them.

“Ready for the entrance exam?” Izuku asked, staring up at the big building they had been instructed to go to.

“Sure,” Hitoshi said faintly as Shoji nodded.

“Quest: UA Entrance Exam, Expand your Friend Group
Objectives:
- Gain at least 2 phone numbers from the group you do the physical exam with
- Let Copycat copy your quirk
- Compliment Copycat
- Don’t gain a serious injury while on UA property
- Bonus: Gain at least 4 new phone numbers before leaving UA school grounds
- Bonus: Say hello to Eraserhead before leaving UA school grounds”

Izuku frowned as he read over the quest. He thought Secret would focus on him passing…

“That isn’t a happy face,” Hitoshi remarked.

Shaking his head, Izuku started towards the building. “Let’s focus on doing our best!”

Chapter Text

“Quest: UA Entrance Exam, Expand your Friend Group
Objectives:
- Gain at least 2 phone numbers from the group you do the physical exam with
- Let Copycat copy your quirk
- Compliment Copycat
- Don’t gain a serious injury while on UA property
- Bonus: Gain at least 4 new phone numbers before leaving UA school grounds
- Bonus: Say hello to Eraserhead before leaving UA school grounds”

The written portion of the exam was challenging in some areas but Izuku thought he did well.

He left the large room that was filled with desks for the exam to slip into the hallway after everyone else. He massaged his hand which was cramped from writing as he wandered the same path as the other people his age, the way to the cafeteria clearly marked with sheets of paper for the foreign students.

There was a break between writing and the physical portion where they could eat a meal that was actually provided by the school. The cafeteria was set up with a clear line to the counters. Izuku grabbed a tray and followed the other students to take portions of food and a bottle of water. He wondered if the meals were prepared by Lunch Rush.

The room was large with wooden tables and backed chairs sat next to them. High ceilings were supported by red pillars and a large serving area took up one wall. There were windows that showed the grounds and planters that were spaced between tables.

Once he had gotten his food he went to the edges of the cafeteria and sure enough he was able to find Hitoshi and Shoji.

Izuku rambled about a hero fight he had seen after school the other day and his two friends listened with an occasional comment. Part of him was still amazed that there were people who didn’t mind hearing him talk so much. He didn’t mind that they didn’t say much, and they didn’t mind that he felt the need to fill the silence.

Once the time had passed they shuffled with the rest of the students into an auditorium. It was large with plain white walls and a stage set up with a podium in front of a large screen. The floor was a dark grey with a grit to prevent sliding on it. The seats were dark brown and folded down when the bottom cushion was pressed on. Each had a pamphlet tapped to the back.

They didn’t assign seating so he was able to sit with his friends.

The papers they had been given when they had come in and registered each had the number of the room they had been given their exam in and a practice area name with a group number for the physical exam.

Shoji and Hitoshi shared the same gym and group number but Izuku didn’t. While they waited for the presentation to begin they read the pamphlets that had been on each of their chairs.

“It seems like–“

The lights above the audience suddenly turned off and Izuku snapped his jaw shut as Present Mic strutted onto the stage.

“Hey there listeners! I’m here to give you a rundown of the U.A. entrance exam for all you students interested in our heroics course. Yeah!”

He took a moment and then the screen lit up behind him with a map. “Each of you has been assigned to a practice area on our school grounds! Our campus is big so be sure to head to the right areas for your test.” Areas on the map were circled. “Once you have reached your area you will need to find your group. There are five participants for each group. If you are missing a member, inform one of the proctors for your area! The proctors will be pointed out to you by a teacher when you enter the gym you have been assigned to. Before joining your group make sure we know you are there by talking to the teacher when you enter!”

The screen switched to a group of five silhouettes. “After you listeners have found your partners you will be directed to a building where you will complete your challenge!” The silhouettes moved to a side view of a building that had robots moving around on three different floors. “Your goal today is to retrieve a case filled with important information without destroying it! You will be scored on your performance in a number of areas which are listed on those pamphlets that were on your seats.”

The screen changed to a blank page. “There are eight areas you will be graded on which I will now go over so pay close attention!” Eight numbered bullet points appeared behind him but there weren't any words beside each yet.

“Number one, get the information out of the building without harming it.” The point showed up as the first on the numbered list behind him. “Number two, don’t get yourself or someone else hurt. Number three, how well you work as a team. Four, how fast you’re in and out. Five, if you aren’t detected right away. Six, destroying or incapacitating the robots. Seven, you get points taken off for destroying the building itself but the items within it can be destroyed as long as it isn’t your information so be careful! And for your final set of points, you will be writing a summary after your mission to let us know what you did, where things went wrong or right and what you would do differently next time. This one can be done with your partners but you will each write your own!”

The list shrunk and moved to one side. “You will be given time to plan with your team before you have to start your mission. Use it wisely!” A ten minute timer appeared on the screen. “The mission itself will be timed as well.” A forty-five minute timer appeared. “And then you will be given time for your mission report!" This timer was for twenty minutes. “You can leave at any time after you finish your mission but if you don’t write anything at all you lose out on all those points!

“You may also ask for support equipment to aid you with your mission, depending on your request we may supply it for you!”

The lights above the audience grew to half light as Present Mic said, “And now we have time for a few questions before we get you to your exam sites!”

Immediately after he finished speaking a hand shot up.

“What have you got for us, listener?” Present Mic pointed at the raised hand.

The student stood up. He was tall with dark blue hair. “I find your point system very inefficient! It is unbefitting of a school with such high standards as UA not to tell us how we will be graded for each part.” His hand chopped up and down to emphasise his point. “Also,” he turned to the crowd, his glasses glinting in the light. “It is very rude to speak when someone is asking a question. The presentation has not been completed!”

The murmuring that had started up while he was speaking stuttered to a stop and Hitoshi snickered.

“Thank you for your observations, listener! Unfortunately our grading system will not be presented for this exam but we appreciate the feedback,” Present Mic replied cheerfully.

There were a few other questions but Izuku was too focused on his thoughts to pay close attention. It was difficult to hold in his muttering but he wasn’t about to be called out by anyone who agreed with the robotic boy.

Once they were dismissed there was an explosion of sound from talking and movement.

He reluctantly parted with his friends to find the group he had been assigned to. They were lucky to be working together. As he went he spotted Eraserhead lingering outside of the practise area he had been assigned to.

“Hi, Eraser!” Izuku said as he skipped up to the door.

The hero did a double take and then squinted at him. After a moment, recognition passed over his features and he sighed.

“Problem child,” he acknowledged, making Izuku snicker at the nickname, it was well deserved.

“Objective Complete: Bonus: Say hello to Eraserhead before leaving UA school grounds”

Eraserhead checked Izuku’s paper and then waved him into what turned out to be a mini cityscape. Impressed by all the different buildings, he didn’t watch where he was going as much as he should have and tripped.

His arms pinwheeled but he was losing the fight against gravity.

A hand hit his shoulder and suddenly he was no longer falling. He blinked at the ground as he was slowly guided to his feet.

“Sorry about that! It’s bad luck to fall before the exam!” He turned his head to see a pink cheeked girl with short brown hair touch her finger tips together. “Release.”

Gravity returned and Izuku stumbled slightly. “Was that your quirk? That was amazing! It has so many applications!”

The girl blushed and rubbed the back of her neck. “Thank you! I was wondering if you were a part of my group?” She shoved her registration paper at him and he checked.

“Oh! Yes, it looks like I am,” he smiled at her.

“Right! Let’s find the rest of our group!” Her face became very determined and she grabbed his arm to drag him over to other students.

He was too surprised to protest and let her take him from person to person.

It turned out the robotic student was one of the people in their group too.

“I am Iida Tenya! What are your names?”

“Uraraka Ochaku! And this is… actually, I don’t think I got your name,” Uraraka blushed and looked at Izuku.

“Midoriya Izuku,” he said softly, starting to feel intimidated.

“Good to meet you both! I know who our other group members are, follow me,” he said. Then turned abruptly to march towards two people who were standing together.

One was a girl who had light grey hair which fell over one of her eyes. Her elbows were tucked against her sides with her hands held limply. The boy next to her had short blond hair and blue eyes.

Their names were Yanagi Reiko and Monoma Neito.

Once they were grouped together their proctor, Ectoplasm, came over to check in with them.

After he had seen each of their papers, he collected them and said, “The timer we will be using for your exam is visible in a few different locations.” He pointed to where the red digital numbers were placed high along the ceiling of the gym. “There will also be clocks displaying the timer within your building which I will lead you to now.” He started walking and Izuku’s team quickly followed.

“To complete the mission you must successfully and safely exit the building with your assigned information. Not all of your teammates need to be out to win, but at least one must be outside of the premises with the information in hand,” he explained.

“Do not enter the building before the mission timer starts or you will be disqualified,” he told them sternly as he turned to face them.

All five of them nodded in understanding.

“You will be given material for writing your reports for your mission after you have successfully completed it or the timer has ended. I will be here to assist you should you need it, this includes any injuries that need medical intervention. You are being monitored so we will intervene if the exam becomes dangerous to you, but this will mean that your exam has ended so do not endanger yourself. This is an exam, not an emergency situation,” Ectoplasm informed them firmly.

After they agreed he pointed to the three storey building they were next to. “This is where your mission will take place. Feel free to look at the outside.” He pulled out what turned out to be blueprints. “This will give you an idea of what you are walking into.”

Monoma took the blueprints and started unfolding them.

“Any questions?”

Izuku was leaning into Monoma’s space to examine the blueprints.

“We will let you know if we need assistance!” Iida answered for them.

Ectoplasm said something about where he could be found but Izuku had already tuned him out. He was tracing a finger along the blueprints, muttering about room placement and tactical robot placement.

Everyone but Iida grouped around the blueprints to examine them but Iida refused to start planning before the timer started, staring at the timer above them.

Uraraka nudged into his side to get a closer look at the blueprints, breaking Izuku out of his thoughts. “What quirks do each of you have?” he asked.

“Mine is Zero Gravity, I can make anything I touch weightless. It works on myself too,” Uraraka added.

“Copy is my quirk, if I touch someone I can copy their quirk for a short time. I make an excellent Support Hero,” Monoma sounded less sure of himself as continued speaking.

“Mine’s Poltergeist. I control small objects with telepathy,” Yanagi said quietly.

“Mine is an enhancer that makes me faster and stronger, registered as Accumulation,” Izuku explained.

They stared at Iida who refused to look at them until Uraraka poked at him, though he had a mulish look on his face. “My quirk is called Engine. It gives me speed but may not be of much use in such an enclosed space,” Iida said while adjusting his glasses.

“There are three different levels to the building and five of us. I think we should split up,” Izuku said as he traced a finger along the levels.

“It’s UA so the stairwells in there have to be guarded,” Monoma didn’t exactly argue but it wasn’t an agreement either.

“We won’t use the stairwells,” Izuku replied. “Uraraka, you can make people and yourself float right?”

“Y-yes,” she scratched at her cheek, embarrassed. “But I tend to feel sick when I float myself.”

“That’s okay, you’ll have a partner with you for when you recover. Monoma can copy your quirk and take another level while one other sneaks in from the ground floor. That way we can search all the floors at once! But if we do that we won’t have any way to communicate which might be a problem and–“

“We can request communicators from our proctor,” Monoma suggested and then nodded.

“That’s a good idea! Maybe I should ask for anti nausea medication. For both of us!” Uraraka added.

“You should copy my quirk before you go,” Izuku suggested, holding his hand out to Monoma.

Secret thought it was a good idea and Izuku suspected Monoma would only get his original quirk. While he was wary of anyone else knowing about Secret, he trusted his quirk.

Monoma eyed him for a moment. “I can’t copy accumulation quirks.”

Izuku shrugged. “Then it won’t hurt to try it.”

Still wary, the boy touched his hand. Between one second and the next, Monoma’s body language and expression looked completely different.

Monoma grabbed his hand and pulled him close to hiss in his ear, “After we beat this stupid exam you will explain your quirk to me. This could amount to torture!”

Then he released Izuku who stumbled back in surprise.

“Uraraka! We have requests to make,” Monoma ordered and then spun to face Iida who had just opened his mouth with a determined glint in his eye. “No, I will not wait until the first timer starts. UA has high expectations for its future students to take every advantage of the resources they are given. Yes, I am taking this exam seriously and I expect you to respect my wishes as a teammate. How do you think you will be graded for arguing with me when we should be working together on a plan?” He Ignored how Iida’s mouth opened and closed and turned on Uraraka. “We have the first part of our mission to uphold. Let’s get those supplies!”

Uraraka went from bewildered to terrifyingly determined. She nodded seriously and then followed him away.

There was a moment of silence and then Yanagi asked, “Who will be going by themselves on the ground floor?”

Izuku thought about how Secret worked and then looked at Monoma’s retreating back. “I think Monoma has a plan that we should listen to. He seemed to know what he was talking about.”

Iida said, “He has the determination of a true Hero. Perhaps brainstorming when all of us are present would be best.” Then he paused. “May I examine the blueprints also?”

When Monoma returned it was with communicators, rope, shears to cut the rope and smoke bombs.

“We brought rope to help everyone get in!” Uraraka exclaimed as they approached.

“The shears are to cut it into harnesses. They don’t supply the harnesses themselves for the exam,” Monoma added. “Which seems like a safety hazard,” he muttered. His next comment was at a normal volume. “The smoke bombs are for cover to hide from robots while we sneak in.”

“Those are good ideas,” Izuku pitched in.

“The robots will probably be placed at the entrances to the building, the stairs and on the roof,” Monoma pointed to each section on the blueprints as he spoke. “They’ll have some patrolling the hallways and watching other easy to access places like the windows on the ground floor.”

“Those seem like logical conclusions,” Iida agreed, one hand chopping in emphasis.

“We should be quiet when infiltrating the building. The robots have to be able to hear us in order to simulate a real mission situation,” Monoma added, eyes darting to Iida who was definitely not the quietest group member. When he didn’t get any objections he paused and then continued, “I believe there is a group of robots protecting a room on the second floor.” He pointed to a central room with a door onto a hallway at the back of the building. It seemed like it may have been set up as a conference room.

“How have you come to that conclusion?” Iida asked.

Monoma paused and the buzzer sounded announcing the beginning of their timed planning period.

“I picked up a quirk from another examinee that allows me to tell where the robots are located,” Monoma supplied.

“Surely using a quirk before we enter the building is forbidden,” Iida exclaimed.

“Actually,” Izuku said hesitantly, drawing the attention to himself which made him want to cringe. He forced himself not to and continued, “We were only told not to enter the building. There are a lot of quirks that can be used to help with planning so restricting that wouldn’t be fair.”

“I agree! We should listen to Monoma,” Uraraka cut in.

“So, we should be careful when approaching this room,” Monoma tapped the central room once again, “to avoid detection. I honestly think the information is hidden there but we should search the other rooms first just in case.”

When he got agreement he continued on, “I believe I should lead since I can tell where the robots are.”

“I have more experience since I come from a family of heroes,” Iida suggested, his hand chopping once again.

“Monoma has made good plans so far, I think he should lead,” Izuku said carefully. Monoma was getting guidance from Secret, he would know what to do.

Monoma bumped shoulders with him as if saying thanks but Izuku suspected it was to renew his copy of Secret.

“He has done a good job so far!” Uraraka agreed.

“He has,” Yanagi added quietly.

“In that case I would like to make Uraraka my second in command so that she can lead whoever she takes with her to the second floor. I’ll go to the third floor. Izuku has the most useful quirk for facing robots by himself so he should go to the ground floor alone,” Monoma put in. “I’d like Yanagi to go with me to the third floor since it has the most rooms. We can both use your quirk to try and grab any objects in the rooms we come across to speed the search up. I have to renew it often so stay close. That leaves Iida with Uraraka. You can protect her if a robot spots you by charging them since you’re both close range. Uraraka can catch up to you to help.”

Uraraka nodded determinedly, Iida looked a bit disappointed and Yanagi didn’t have much of an expression at all as she listened.

“Now, let’s make harnesses so we can take our partners up!” Monoma said.

That led to them using most of the rest of their time tying Iida and Yanagi into harnesses so that Monoma and Uraraka could make sure that they could safely land. The extra length could be looped around them when not in use.

Once they were tied in properly they each took a communicator and a smoke bomb. Monoma helped Izuku make sure his communicator was on properly, likely another excuse to renew Secret.

It really was strange to see someone else acting on what his quirk wanted, but he trusted Secret to know what it was doing.

After going over the plan one more time the buzzer to start sounded.

Izuku peeked in the window he had chosen to enter while his teammates floated away.

Bracing his hands on the frame, he forced it open with a sharp push. Thankfully the glass didn’t break but he did hear the latch give way with a crack. He ducked down and listened to see if he had been detected.

“Midoriya, toss the smoke bomb in before going in and go to the right,” Monoma ordered. Monoma had the blueprints with him to help him give directions but Izuku believed that led down a hallway.

“Got it,” Izuku agreed.

He did as ordered and snuck through the smoke as quietly as possible, though he did almost bang his head off the wall. The smoke was thick!

“Uraraka, be sure to do the same with your window but go left,” Monoma added.

Uraraka agreed.

Izuku reached a doorway that he could finally see and was about to try to enter to search it when Monoma ordered him to continue until he reached the end of the hall and then turn left.

Crouching down to make his silhouette smaller, Izuku did as instructed.

“Uraraka, progress?” Monoma asked.

“We’re still searching the first room,” Uraraka said.

“It is best to be thorough!” Iida added.

“You should move on, the mission is timed and we know less time means more points,” Monoma told them.

“Yes, sir!” Uraraka replied while Iida sputtered and then reluctantly agreed also.

As Izuku got to the corner he had been told to turn, Monoma said, “Midoriya, there is a robot patrolling down the hallway you are approaching. It is currently headed away from you. Run and you can sneak up on it to destroy it.”

Deciding that replying out loud might get him caught, Izuku peeked around the corner to see his target. He heard Monoma giving more direction to Uraraka and Iida but was focused on the robot he spotted.

It was about eight feet tall, humanoid but on treads for movement. The arms looked like they were guns and the whole thing was a dull grey.

He did catch when Monoma said that their neck was the weak spot and then he was running as quietly as possible.

Izuku got close and then leapt. He grabbed the robot’s head and ripped it off. He quietly landed beside it with the head in one hand but as it started to topple over Izuku panicked. If it hit the ground it would be so loud!

He pulled it back towards himself. The robot changed directions and Izuku stumbled. It knocked him over and fell on top of him.

Izuku winced but at least his body had muffled the sound.

“Is everyone okay?” Uraraka asked hesitantly.

“Yes,” Monoma answered almost before she finished speaking.

“I’m okay, just fell,” Izuku said a bit breathlessly.

“When you get up, continue down the hall and open the last door on your right,” Monoma instructed.

Izuku eased the robot off of himself and onto the floor next to him. Getting up he winced a bit, then did as he had been told. He was surprised to see a stairwell since he hadn’t checked any rooms but decided to trust Monoma and Secret.

He quietly made his way up and heard that Uraraka and Iida had defeated their own robots.

“Midoriya, once you open that door,” Monoma said as he saw the door at the top of the stairs, “there will be a robot just outside that you need to incapacitate quickly.”

Izuku eased open the door slightly to see the robot that Monoma meant. He then used One for All for speed as he launched himself forward and hit the robot with a crunch of metal. Twisting in midair, he used his own body to catch the weight of the falling robot, easing it to the ground.

“The only room we haven’t checked on this floor is the central one which is really guarded,” Uraraka reported softly.

“Wait for Midoriya, Yanagi and myself to go and meet you there. We should take them on together and then we can split up again if the information isn’t there,” Monoma replied.

“There are two robots on either side of the door,” Monoma explained. “Yanagi will go with Uraraka and Iida to take on two while I meet up with Izuku to get the other two. We’ll get ammunition for it from the rooms close to them.”

Monoma soon joined him, touching his arm in greeting. Monoma was able to take a couple paperweights, a stapler and other office supplies to use as projectiles against the robots.

When both groups were ready they launched their attacks, then Izuku hurried forward with Iida to catch the falling robots.

Once everyone had converged on the door Monoma said, “There are robots inside as well. I don’t think we’re going to be able to sneak in. Iida, you should run in and grab our target from the robot holding it while Yanagi and I cover you. Uraraka, be ready to touch him as soon as he’s out and then use yourself as a pivot to throw him to Midoriya. Midoriya will catch him, grab his rope and then push him out the window so that Uraraka can release her quirk. That way he can be eased to the ground and we win the mission.”

Everyone nodded and Izuku moved down the hallway to the window. He unlatched and opened it, then said, “Ready.”

It was echoed by everyone and then the door was opened. Shots rang out, Iida ran in and an alarm sounded. Red lights shone while Monoma and Yanagi shot objects in after Iida, adding many crashes to the cacophony.

Iida raced out, Uraraka spun him and threw him at Izuku. Izuku grabbed Iida out of the air, stopping his momentum and then pushed him out the window. Iida gave him the rope attached to his harness and Uraraka cancelled her quirk. Izuku quickly lowered Iida to the ground below.

The alarm shut off and their proctor let them know they had succeeded in their mission through the speakers in the building. Uraraka cheered, making Izuku laugh.

The rest of his teammates slowly made their way outside of the building. Checking the timers Izuku could see they had another thirty minutes for the mission, which made his eyes widen in surprise.

Monoma bumped his shoulder against Izuku’s. “We were quite fast,” he remarked.

“Really?!” Uraraka shouted.

“What!” Iida yelled back, the sound so loud in his communicator that Izuku winced and took it out.

“We beat the exam in fifteen minutes!” Uraraka exclaimed.

Izuku let the half of the conversation he could still hear wash over him as they finally exited the building. Ectoplasm met them and gave them clipboards, lined paper, pencils and erasers.

Once they had their supplies they discussed the “mission” they had done and wrote their reports. Monoma, Yanagi, Uraraka and Iida described the parts of the mission that Izuku hadn’t been present for so that he could write about it and Izuku did the same for them. Uraraka giggled when Izuku described being flattened by a robot, making him blush.

Monoma brushed against him again as they were finishing up to renew Secret and then they were all ready to say their goodbyes.

“Before we go, could I…maybe… have your phone numbers? I had fun and it would be nice to keep talking,” Izuku mumbled.

Uraraka and Iida agreed while Monoma muttered about Izuku not getting out of talking to him more. Yanagi was already gone which was disappointing but it wouldn’t be the first time Izuku hadn’t completed a bonus objective for a quest.

Once they had exchanged numbers they all parted ways to the change rooms. The room was crowded with other people who had finished their exams since his team had taken so long to finish their reports that Iida had insisted they get down perfectly. He slipped away from the others to find a more secluded spot. He changed out of the clothes that had gotten sweaty and dirty from the exam before leaving quickly.

He did get texts confirming his number which he responded to as he left the other two boys behind.

Monoma immediately started asking when they could meet up and speak in person.

Izuku was kind of exasperated with how his quirk interfered with his social life so often. He sometimes felt grateful for it giving him friends but at times like these it felt overbearing.

Izuku asked if Monoma had time tomorrow.

…he wondered if Monoma considered them friends yet.

While he was standing by the gates, Hitoshi and Shoji found him.

“How did you do?” Izuku asked, grinning at his friends who shared a glance.

“We’ll see when we get the results,” Hitoshi said, his voice sour.

Shoji didn’t look much happier and Izuku held back a frown.

“Well, I may have found others for us to practise with,” Izuku suggested hesitantly.

Hitoshi frowned.

“Perhaps. Do you both still want to go to the cat café?” Shoji asked.

Noting the not subtle change of subject, Izuku was quick to agree. Hitoshi shrugged but followed them when they both headed in that direction instead of towards the trains.

Whatever happened Izuku was glad his friends still wanted to spend time together.

He was lucky to have them.

“Quest Complete: UA Entrance Exam, Expand your Friend Group”

Chapter Text

Izuku and Monoma had decided to meet up just after lunch the next day. He wasn’t sure how early Monoma normally got up and due to his friendship with Hitoshi he tended to assume people didn’t like getting up in the mornings.

Uraraka had added the four of them that had done the exam together to a group chat which currently was filled with her being worried about the exam, Iida aggressively trying to be reassuring and Monoma changing the subject. The different personalities in it amused him. He did participate in every conversation when he could of course. He liked everyone in the group.

Monoma had asked that they meet in a park that had walking trails that would be emptier this time of day. While graduating middle schoolers had a break for exams to get into high schools it was a regular work day for the rest of Japan.

He spotted the taller boy, who was wearing a white t-shirt and blue jeans. Izuku, wearing the same but his shirt said “pants,” happily raced up to him. “I’m glad we could meet up! What did you want to talk about?”

Monoma shook his head and stuffed his hands in his pockets. “Let’s walk on one of the paths for this conversation.” He eyed the woman on a bench not far from them eating a sandwich warily.

Shrugging at the strange behaviour, Izuku turned down a path and started walking. After it had been silent for a while Izuku tilted his head to look up at Monoma.

“You wanted to know about my quirk?”

Monoma stiffened then tilted his head to stare at Izuku. “Midoriya, you do not have an accumulation quirk.”

“I do,” Izuku cheerfully replied. “Otherwise you would have had super strength during the exam.”

Monoma froze, no longer walking.

Izuku spun to look back at him in concern.

“Your quirk kept making me do the same timeframe over and over again until I got it down perfectly and I wasn’t able to tell anyone but you about it. I have no idea how many times we did the entrance exam. Is that normal for you?” Monoma sounded slightly hysterical.

Izuku moved closer in concern but Monoma flinched back so he stopped moving too.

Taking a deep breath, Izuku explained. “Secret Quest is a quirk that makes its user repeat a time until a quest has been completed to its satisfaction but.” The pause drew Monoma’s eyes to Izuku’s. “It always does its best to help me succeed. It’s saved my life multiple times and made it so I could save others too.”

“Repeating the same time over and over is hell,” Monoma mumbled in protest.

Izuku twisted his hands together as he thought, his eyes trailing to the trees around them. “It isn’t always fun, but Secret never asks me to do anything that I can’t do. Sometimes it takes me more tries to get it right but I always accomplish the quest.” He met Monoma’s eyes again. “I wasn’t lying yesterday when I said you make a good leader. Would you have given us direction without Secret’s help?”

Monoma looked deep in thought for a moment, then he started walking again. Izuku followed beside him and left him to his thoughts. It really was a nice trail through the park. Maybe he would come back here for his runs sometime.

“Thank you,” Monoma said after a while. Izuku nodded and ignored the quiet, “And Secret too,” that Monoma muttered.

“How does the super strength and speed work with Secret?”

“I think it’s because of completing so many quests,” Izuku replied, trying to focus on something other than the lie.

“…why is your quirk registered as Accumulation if you call it Secret Quest?”

“Oh, Secret thought by registering it, the information would get in the wrong hands and I might get kidnapped,” Izuku answered and Monoma started sputtering. “I mean, I can basically do anything right the first time from what it looks like to anyone without Secret and it’s kind of like time travelling.” He tapped his chin. “It didn’t really say I would be kidnapped though.”

“Oh?” Monoma sounded strangely hopeful.

“It just implied someone who shouldn’t know about it would find out and there would be bad consequences. Murder probably was on the list too,” Izuku continued thoughtfully.

Monoma made a choking sound and Izuku looked at him in concern. “Are you alright?”

“You’re very casual about kidnapping and murder,” Monoma sounded strained.

“Well, Secret will make sure I’m okay but… do you need a drink?”

Monoma shook his head. “I’m fine. How do you know that?”

“I think I probably would have died a few times without it,” he answered.

Monoma covered his eyes. “Let’s talk about something else for a while,” he sounded tired.

“Okay…” there was an awkward pause. “Do you like cats?”

“I’m more of a dog person.”

They talked for a while before Monoma hesitantly asked if he could copy his quirk again. Izuku agreed and held out his hand.

Monoma hesitantly touched his hand and then paused. He snorted. “You’re a good friend Midoriya,” he told Izuku who felt his face go bright red.

Monoma casually stuck his hands in his pockets and asked, “Does Secret interfere with your social life often?”

Izuku groaned and then Monoma laughed.

Izuku sat on his bed and tried to turn his focus inward. Hitoshi wasn’t able to help him communicate with One for All so he needed to find a way to do it himself.

Yagi had been able to find some information about previous users of One for All but it hadn’t been as much as he would have liked. It did give him names and what their quirks were up to the fourth user but no further back than that.

Pushing the thoughts aside he concentrated on where he felt One for All and let his focus on the world around him fall away.

It felt like he opened his eyes within his mind and suddenly he was facing the pale green shadow. As he watched the shadow resolved into a person. They had long white hair partially tied up in a high ponytail, the rest framed their face though a dark red collar hid the lower half of it. Yellow goggles with black straps nestled in their hair. They were slim with broad shoulders. A white cape hung from a dark blue shirt that had red stripes similar to All Might’s along the shoulders. Yellow gloves covered their hands. Their waist had a wide black belt with pouches. Their pants were dark blue camouflage with many slits for pockets. Black combat boots finished their look.

Green eyes assessed him before they spoke. “Hello Midoriya Izuku. You may call me Yoichi, I decided to keep the name of the first user.”

“Hello,” Izuku said slowly. “So you were aware of all of the previous users?”

Yoichi nodded. “I can sense more of the world when my power is being used but I am aware of every user’s thoughts and feelings.” Yoichi shrugged. “I can block it out if I want to but I did not have much else to occupy myself with. Until your quirk of course.”

“Secret?”

Nodding, Yoichi told him, “Your quirk can tell a lot about the future.”

“Does it talk to you?”

“No, it borrows my power to communicate with you more and allows me to see the world outside much more clearly! It has also shown me pieces of the future,” Yoichi sounded dreamy about it.

“You like it when your power is used?” Izuku asked hesitantly.

“Yes! It’s like being alive. Before you and your quirk I wasn’t as aware as I am now. Now I’m so happy you have me as part of your quirks,” Yoichi answered enthusiastically.

Izuku smiled in relief.

“I did want to warn you though, you will get the quirks of the past users,” Yoichi told him.

Shock pulled him out of his relaxed state and he snapped back into awareness of his body.

How many quirks was he going to have?!

“Objective Complete: Speak to One for All without using Hitoshi’s quirk”

Izuku groaned and flopped back on his bed.

Secret had wanted him to keep in regular contact with EndofHeroes, so Izuku ended up speaking on their gaming server quite often. It led to quite a few private conversations like Izuku’s current one with the gamer.

EndofHeroes: so to defeat Hawks u’d use fire?

BushRabbit: Well, the feathers he uses must burn at some point? The other option would be covering them in something sticky, like tar.

EndofHeroes: Hawks, defeated by glue lol

Izuku snorted, it was funny to think of Hawks covered in child’s glue and unable to move.

BushRabbit: Just add glitter, you’ll be able to track him anywhere

EndofHeroes: lolololol

There was a pause in their conversation as Izuku answered a text from Hitoshi. It was a video of a cat rolling around on the floor.

EndofHeroes: y don’t u like heroes?

BushRabbit: I don’t mind some heroes…but not all of them are nice

EndofHeroes: not nice? That’s a pathetic way to describe anything

Izuku sighed, End could be so dramatic at times.

BushRabbit: I know some Heroes don’t deserve the name. They hurt people to attract attention and gain influence that they use to get money or for their egos. It seems like you’ve met the same or you wouldn’t be so against them.

EndofHeroes: I hate what they stand for, they pretend to represent the protection of everyone in our society
EndofHeroes: people use them as an excuse to not help others. They r all sheep and the only way to get them to act is to take down the heroes
EndofHeroes: prove that they can only count on themselves

Izuku pulled on his fingers as he stared at what End had said. Then he slowly typed out his reply.

BushRabbit: Having heroes can make people blind to what is going on around them. Because we raise Heroes on a pedestal people feel the need to push their ideals or what they think they should be.
BushRabbit: My friends have been hurt by people who think their quirks make them “villains.” Anyone who does anything bad is a villain, no one cares about why they did the bad things they did, even if it was just for survival

EndofHeroes: u want the end of heroes 2?

Izuku hesitated.

BushRabbit: The end of how Heroes are now.
BushRabbit: Some people only get a Hero Licence to use their quirk.
BushRabbit: If your quirk is helpful why can’t you use it to help people? Or just with your work outside of being a Hero?
BushRabbit: Not that people care if you use your quirk in public if it’s “heroic”

EndofHeroes: u have a villainous quirk?

Scowling, Izuku typed harder when replying.

BushRabbit: There’s no such thing.
BushRabbit: But no
BushRabbit: No one believed I had a quirk at all

There was a long pause before he got a reply.

EndofHeroes: everyone calls my quirk villainous

BushRabbit: Everyone is wrong. Calling a quirk villainous is like calling hair or a knife a villain. It doesn’t make it true. Our choices are good or bad. Not everyone has a choice so that doesn’t make them bad

EndofHeroes: I need 2 go. Have a good night

Izuku blinked at the abrupt end of the conversation.

BushRabbit: You have a good night too!

Leaning back in his chair, Izuku thought about that conversation. Normally End led the conversation about how bad Heroes were and Izuku listened. He wasn’t sure what a Hero had done to his friend but he didn’t mind listening If it made him feel better.

“Quest Complete: Friendship Can be Magical”

Izuku hummed and decided to talk to Spinner about his new character.

Shouto had debated about going to UA at all.

He knew it was what his father wanted him to do. Even after having been away from his father for years he couldn’t forget how Todoroki Enji had pushed him to his limits, uncaring of how Shouto wanted to stop training. When a series of events had led to his father losing custody of Shoto and his siblings he had been relieved.

Faced with the choice of going to a hero school or the many other choices, Shouto wasn’t sure what the best option was.

While he could have asked his foster parents or the siblings he lived with to help him decide, he chose Dabi.

Dabi had laughed.

After he had finished laughing Dabi had told Shouto to share his thoughts on all of the choices he had for a high school. In the end, he had decided to join UA in the hero course. It might have been what his father had wanted but he didn’t make the choice to satisfy his father.

He was like his brother that way.

With all the attention of being Endeavour’s son and the scandal that followed leaving his father’s custody he’d had a difficult time connecting with people his own age. He found one of the best ways of not gaining attention from his classmates was to arrive early and learn their habits.

That was what led him to entering UA campus early enough to only see two other people before he reached his assigned classroom.

The brown sliding door reached from the top of the high ceiling to the floor and was wide enough for three people to walk through side-by-side. A red 1 – A was attached the panel with a comparatively small frosted window. It was surprisingly easy to slide open. The room itself was the boring grey with blue trim he had come to expect, with grey desks and blue seats to match. A wooden podium stood in front of the blackboard which had the class seating plan taped beside it.

He was surprised that a tall, dark blue haired student was already in the room. The student marched over and chopped the air in front of him with his hand in a way that had Shouto tensing.

“It is good to see another student as dedicated to arriving in a timely manner! I am Iida Tenya. What is your name?”

Eying the hand still held out towards him and wondering if he was expected to shake it, he answered, “Shouto.”

Iida paused for a moment. “I suppose if that is the name you wish to be referred by I will address you as such. Congratulations on your seat in such a prestigious school!”

“Thanks, you too,” Shouto replied with a dull tone, not sure how he was expected to respond to that.

Apparently satisfied, his classmate wandered off while Shouto consulted the seating plan to see he was at the back of the classroom. Sliding into his seat, he hooked his backpack onto the back and pulled his phone from his pocket. He scrolled aimlessly through it while his classmates came in.

He pretended to pay more attention to his phone than the other students but once the blond with spiky hair and red eyes sat down that became difficult.

The boy had leaned back in his seat and tossed his feet on his desk. Shouto didn’t care about it, but Iida (who did not seem to grasp the concept of an inside voice) really did.

“While such behaviour may have been acceptable at your last educational institution, UA is prestigious school and you should treat it as such,” Iida had a ridge posture as he chopped the air for emphasis.

The blond sneered at him and crossed his arms over his chest. “I’m comfortable and I’m not moving.”

“You should have respect for the people who have made the desk and our seniors who have come before us. Having your feet on school property is highly disrespectful!”

He barely noticed others filing in as he wondered if he should try to intervene.

Before he could make a decision three students piled through the door. The smallest, dark green haired one was gesturing wildly while his purple haired companion watched with a tired expression. Behind them was a very tall student with six arms and spikey, light grey hair, a mask over the bottom half of his face.

Iida noticed them too and immediately marched towards them, chopping with his hand as he said, “You must be the friends Midoriya spoke of so highly. I am Iida Tenya.”

The two behind the green haired one, Midoriya, watched Iida with wide eyes but Midoriya beamed at him. “They are! This is Shinsou Hitoshi and Shoji Mezu.” He gestured to the purple haired student and the six armed one as he spoke.

Once introductions had been completed an excitable girl with short brown hair and pink circles bounced over. “I’m Uraraka Ochaco! It’s nice to meet you!”

More of his classmates converged on the group, voices overlapping as they spoke to each other and the ones he had heard the introductions to until it was an overflowing overlapping wave of sound.

Before he could grasp why they had all decided to converge, a loud voice cut over all the others.

“When class starts I expect you all to be in your seats, not dawdling around socialising.”

The whole class froze and turned towards where a man stood wrapped in a bright yellow sleeping bag. He sucked from a drink pouch and then sighed as he unzipped the sleeping bag. “Not the most responsive bunch are you? That’s not going to work. I expect you all in your seats before the warning bell tomorrow or there will be consequences.”

All of the other students scrambled to their seats. Their teacher had the start of a beard on his cheeks and looked exhausted. He had scruffy, long dark hair and dark brown eyes.

“My name is Aizawa Shouta and I am your homeroom teacher. Now,” he dropped a stack of dark blue uniforms on the front desk, “put these on and meet me at Beta training grounds in ten minutes. You have your maps of the school grounds. Your time starts now.” He turned and exited the room.

There was another second of silence before everyone burst into motion, grabbing a uniform and quickly leaving the room.

Shouto joined the boys in the change room and then was quickly on his way to the training grounds.

The grounds they had been told to go to had a large obstacle course set up in an arc with a cleared area in the centre where Aizawa stood watching them approach. He had his hands tucked in his pockets and his chin ducked under the edge of his much too long grey scarf.

He gestured the course around him. “Today you will be practising with each of the obstacles in this course to ensure that you are able to get your best numbers when you do your timed runs with it tomorrow. You will be doing a run with your quirk and a run without your quirk so be sure to practise both today so that you’re prepared tomorrow. If your run without a quirk is too poor I will consider expelling you from the hero course.”

“That’s not fair,” Uraraka said loudly enough for even the teacher to hear her.

Aizawa stared at her for a moment, “What wouldn’t be fair is allowing a student to continue in a course that leads to a life threatening career when they will not take it seriously and likely die. You want to slack off? Pick a job where that won’t get you killed.” His eyes scanned the other students. “My job is to make sure that you’re going to survive out in a world where there is no ‘fair.’ Where you will be aiming to right wrongs for others and try to make things ‘fair’ again. If you want a guarantee of life with fairness and without injury, there’s the exit.” He pointed towards the major school buildings and all the students were silent.

When no one left, Aizawa dropped his arm and tucked his hand back in his pocket, sighing.

“As I was saying, you will be practising with the obstacle course. For now you are not going to use quirks while doing it. If you break any part of the course while running it, with or without a quirk, there will be consequences so be careful with it. I will demonstrate how to run each section of the obstacle course but there will also be videos on the screens set up with previous students running the section they are set up by. I will also be giving you the rules both verbally and on the screens next to each section. Do your best.”

Aizawa went the first section, a more urban styled climbing wall that was at an angle and demonstrated a few ways to get over it. He then allowed them to try it themselves before moving to the next section that was a crawl space which was a few meters long and did the same thing. After each section was crossed he allowed them to practice however they wanted to. This resulted in students grouping together and taking turns.

Shinsou and Shoji had come into the area with Midoriya.

A blonde boy had quickly joined them after Aizawa had finished his first demonstration. “My name is Monoma Neito, I heard both of your names earlier,” he said with a slight bow. “Would you be willing to let me copy your quirks for our class exercises?”

Shinsou eyed him for a moment while Shoji summoned a mouth on one hand, which intrigued Shouto.

“You can use my quirk…if you think it’d be useful,” Shoji offered.

“Mine isn’t useful for these exercises,” Shinsou volunteered.

“It could be!” Midoriya offered.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow at him and Midoriya turned red but stammered out, “W-well, if you were to tell me to throw you over one of the obstacles it would probably just count as you using your quirk?” His voice grew less confident, and he looked down before seeing the intrigued look on Shinsou’s face.

“I can ask Aizawa if that counts,” Shinsou said and that made Midoriya perk up. Midoriya beamed at him.

“Now that it’s been established that your quirk is useful, may I copy it?” Monoma asked politely.

Shinsou eyed him. “It’s called Brainwashing, I can make people do what I tell them to after I ask them a question.”

Monoma nodded seriously but Midoriya cut in before he could say anything. “It should really be called hypnotism!”

Shinsou rolled his eyes. “You can copy it,” he told Monoma, who smiled slightly and bowed.

Iida and Uraraka popped up next to the group and they all tested the obstacles with Midoriya giving them advice.

“So manly!” a spiky red-haired boy exclaimed as he joined them.

Midoriya jumped and looked intimidated by his sharp toothed grin.

“M-manly?” Midoriya stuttered.

“Yeah! You helping out our classmates is very manly! My name is Kirishima Eijiro,” the redhead offered.

A tall dark-haired boy popped up on his other side, “I’m Yoarashi Inasa and I agree that your passion for helping our classmates is admirable!”

“Can you help us out too?” a pink girl (both her skin and curly hair were pink) with dark eyes asked. “I’m Ashido Mina! Your advice is so helpful!”

“We’ve met,” Midoriya said to Ashido while tapping his pointer fingers together nervously.

Ashido completely stopped moving for a moment and tapped her lip. “Oh! You’re the boy who pushed me out of the way of the falling debris!”

Kirishima turned to her. “When?”

“You know during that attack,” Ashido offered hesitantly.

Kirishima frowned and then turned to look at Midoriya. After a second he visibly became more cheerful. “I remember you! You gave me the encouragement to become a hero!”

“You—uh—you remember that?” his voice almost squeaked when he asked.

Shouto snorted in amusement as they started asking Midoriya questions, overlapping each other. Aizawa drew their attention to the next obstacle for his demonstration.

Once he was finished even more students descended on Midorya’s group. Tokoyami, a bird headed boy with dark feathers and a light-yellow beak, got a suggestion to use his quirk, his sentient shadow Dark Shadow, to pull him around each of the obstacles. Jiro was given the suggestion to use her earphone jacks, the cords that came from the lobes of her ears, to help her balance.

Shouto quickly lost track after that, but he did notice two exceptions to the group. The blond with spikey hair who had argued with Iida scoffed every time someone else asked for advice from Midoriya and the group quickly became a wall between the two.

The other Shouto couldn’t figure out the reason why. Aoyama, a blond boy with blue-purple eyes, had happily introduced himself and tried talking to Midoriya. At first Midoriya seemed shy of him, but it quickly became obvious that Aoyama made him uncomfortable. The rest of the group seemed to pick up on it and Aoyama was swiftly redirected every time he headed for Midoriya after that.

They all seemed to pick up when Midoriya was overwhelmed by their excitement but always included him too.

When Koji was struggling with one of the obstacles, Midoriya quietly broke away to go and speak with him. The group watched him, but they let the two shy boys interact on their own.

It was odd to watch. He’d never seen such an empathetic class. It made him…curious. After the next obstacle demonstration, he decided it would be worth the risk to speak to Midoriya. Cautiously, he approached the group and space was made for him among their number.

“How would you suggest I use my quirk?” he cut into the latest conversation they were having abruptly.

Seeming unperturbed by the interruption, Midoriya asked, “What’s your quirk?”

Shouto held out his hands, bringing flame up in one and a ball of ice in the other.

Midoriya smiled excitedly.

Approaching him was a choice he did not regret.

It was the middle of the night but Dabi had been unable to relax. His restlessness had led him to walking the streets of Musutafu until he had come to this walkway that overlooked a thoroughfare. Cars passed by frequently despite the hour as he watched them. He flicked his fingers idly as he gazed down, blue flames flickering in and out along his fingertips. It wasn’t cold but he had decided to wear his black leather jacket anyway, though he hadn’t bothered to brush his hair so the black locks kept falling in his face.

Being in the city where his youngest brother was going to school and his father wasn’t far from was not helping his peace of mind. The last thing he had expected from the youngest of their family was to choose to pursue becoming a hero. When Shouto had asked if he should apply for UA Dabi had been unable to stop laughing.

It was hypocritical of him to recommend anything else. A larger blue flame licked up his hand with the thought.

“Quirk usage in public? I could have you arrested for that,” a voice drawled from beside him and Dabi dropped his head down so that he was facing the guardrail his forearms were resting on.

“Really, Toga? You know I have a license,” he said in exasperation.

A giggle burst out and then the blonde girl pranced over to meet him. “What has you being all cranky and brooding this time of night, oh great ProHero Phoenix?”

This time he didn’t hold back his groan of annoyance as his tilted his head to shoot her a glare and he noticed her casual clothes. “Neither of us are wearing our hero getup and you know I prefer Dabi.”

Toga laughed and went to hug him. He held her off with a hand planted on her sternum. She fruitlessly tried to grab him with her shorter arms before pouting. “I wouldn’t even stab you this time!”

“This time,” he said sarcastically as he stared down at her.

She crossed her arms as if she was upset but her lips ticked with the smile she was holding back. “Well fine, be that way.” He dropped his arm as she continued, “You still haven’t told me why you’re out here, stick in the mud.”

“Contemplating my life choices,” he deadpanned.

“Ooohh, can I help? Was there a lot of blood involved?” she leaned into his personal space and he shoved her away by her head as she cackled.

“More like bloody nuisances like you,” he bit back, starting to actually get irritated.

She cocked her head to one side and started to edge closer, making Dabi turn his back towards her.

“Are you worried about little Rabbit?” she questioned and started to lean around him against the guardrail to try to see his face.

Dabi scoffed and turned further away from her. “Why would I be worried about the little brat? He always manages to get away with everything.”

There was a pause and then Toga managed to pop up directly in his face, making him flail back into the guardrail. “Aw, you are worried, look at that grumpy pouty face!”

He smacked her hand before she could poke him with a red nail. She giggled and leaned into his space more before he dodged away.

“I am not worried about him!” he denied, turning to walk away from her.

Toga skipped to his side. “You’re woooorried.”

He swore under his breath and then waved his hand. “Rabbit has never told us to stick to one group for so long when we haven’t gained any intelligence. The last time he did that he somehow ended up in the middle of a quirk filled fight and dragging an unconscious hero out of a building that was about to collapse.”

Toga hummed. “I don’t remember that one.”

“It was before your work studies,” he explained tiredly.

She whistled. “I didn’t think little Rabbit was involved in the big fights that long ago.”

Dabi rubbed his face with a hand and didn’t comment, though he did head back towards the place they had rented to stay.

“At least I managed to get into one of the labs of the Shie Hassaikai today. With all the blood samples he kept so well labelled all we need to do is sneak in and with Twice’s help I can take over the whole place! So much pretty, delicious blood all in one place,” Toga rambled dreamily.

“It’s what Overhaul needed it all for that worries me,” Dabi confessed, then he shook his head. “Whatever, we’ll deal with it.”

Chapter Text

It had been a pleasant surprise to see how many of his classmates that Izuku had known before they had met again as part of Class 1-A. Even more of a surprise was just how many recognised him.

When Secret had him doing quests to help others it was like afterwards his old classmates had forgotten what he had done. That was especially true for any adults he had assisted. There just seemed to be some inexplicable barrier to them understanding that it was him that had helped. All Might had been the first exception, then Eraserhead.

(Part of him whispered that there have been others, but he ignored it.)

With the excitement of actually enjoying classes and getting to know his classmates he almost didn’t notice how quiet Secret had been.

Almost.

He would have let himself believe it was because he had gotten good at predicting what it would want him to do in a day but that would be too close to lying to himself.

Secret was never predictable.

That was why he wasn’t surprised to wake up to a new quest on the second week of school.

“Quest: Rescue Unicorn Princess
Objectives:
- Warn Eraserhead that you will need help
- Let the Knights Errant know what day you will be in their current area
- Text Vampire Lady when you have arrived in the area
- Find Unicorn when she is free
- Rescue Unicorn with the help of others
- Bonus: Ensure that Overhaul is captured
- Bonus: Take down Overhaul’s organization”

He groaned softly and covered his eyes for a moment, then went back to examining the list of objectives.

He frowned at the list of things he needed to do. Would he really need Dabi’s hero group and Aizawa to rescue this Unicorn? Was Overhaul that powerful? Or would they have that many people with them?

Nervously fiddling with his phone while he waited for Eraserhead, he read back over the conversation that had led him to waiting in this café for his homeroom teacher.

Me: Remember when you told me to contact you if I needed help with a rescue quest?

Aizawa: What have you gotten into now problem child?

Me: I’m okay! Right now at least
Me: But I may need help really soon?

Aizawa: When is soon? Where are you?

Me: I’m at home! Don’t come now!
Me: I have to rescue someone and I think it’s in Musutafu. I need help though. When can you meet me there?

Aizawa: Can’t you leave it to professionals?

Me: If you don’t come with me, I’ll go without you

Aizawa: Fine. Meet me at Cozy Cat Café Thursday at 6. Make sure you eat before that.

The next day at school he had ended up curling his shoulders in every time Aizawa caught his eye.

It was one thing being bold when you probably wouldn’t see the person again or you could repeat the encounter infinitely. It was entirely different to challenge your teacher and then sit through a lecture with him the next day.

Even thinking about it made him hunch up a bit. Izuku grabbed the ceramic cup with the tea he had ordered and sipped at it, watching the door for Eraserhead.

The café was in the corner of a larger building. It had two cats that he could see, one laying on the ledge in front of the large window and another on top of a green cat tree in the corner. The walls were a pale green and the tables were a light wood which matched the flooring. Around each of the four tables were two or three brown, padded chairs. A glass case containing pastries sat next to the counter where a barista took orders. It was softly lit and definitely cozy like the name suggested. That hadn’t helped Izuku’s anxiety though.

He drummed his fingers against the tabletop nervously, hoping he was doing the right thing by not warning the Knights Errant that he was in the area until the ProHero arrived.

He didn’t really want to repeat Monday until today just because he got the timing wrong.

As he pushed around his cup of tea, he wondered why Dabi and his sidekicks decided to be in Musutafu. He had given them the rumours Secret told him to, and they seemed to go places he suggested. Maybe it had to do with that?

He tried to remember what he had told Dabi but that had been weeks ago. Izuku got so many quests and they had so many objectives these days it was hard to remember—

The ring of the bell above the door made his eyes snap to it, and he saw Aizawa amble through. He started to get up but Aizawa gestured for him to sit so he did, reluctantly.

Even dressed in his hero “costume” Eraserhead didn’t draw any attention as he got in line to order. Deciding this was a perfect opportunity Izuku swiftly took out his phone and sent a message to Toga’s hero phone number.

“Objective Complete: Text Vampire Lady when you have arrived in the area”

Sighing in relief, he slowly put his phone away while he waited for his teacher.

Eraserhead picked up his drink and headed to Izuku’s table. He stopped beside it and gestured towards the door.

“If you still insist on trying to rescue someone we should start right away,” he drawled.

Izuku scrambled out of his seat then realised he still had tea left. He spun, took his cup and drank what was left so fast he nearly choked. Coughing slightly, he shot Aizawa an apologetic look. Aizawa shook his head slightly but waited while Izuku picked up his bag and cup. After depositing his cup in the tray set out for that purpose on the counter by the door, they headed out together.

“So where are we headed problem child?”

Izuku shook his head. “That’s not how it works,” he told Aizawa quietly while scanning the street around them.

Aizawa turned to him, and he realized he should have explained before texting Toga. Holding back a groan Izuku gestured for Aizawa to follow him off the busy street and into one that held far less people. It was more an alley between buildings.

“My quirk doesn’t let me not complete the quests it gives me. When I ‘fail’ them I start back at the beginning of the ‘quest’ until it’s done. I don’t know where the person I’m supposed to rescue is, I don’t even know who it is, just that’s she’s a unicorn princess.” He nervously looked up at his teacher, who was watching him closely with a slight crease between his brows.

“You never explained that to me before,” he said calmly.

Izuku shrugged helplessly. “It didn’t matter before.”

Aizawa sighed and glanced around the alley, then gestured to a fire escape. “Let’s go and discuss what you do know about this quest of yours so we can decide what to do next.”

Sighing as he resigned himself to repeating this conversation too many times, Izuku climbed the fire escape to the roof with his teacher right behind him.

After a quick check to make sure no one else was up there with them, they focused on each other.

“My quirk told me that I need help with this quest. It told me to let you know I’d need you. I also have been talking to the Knights Errant about it,” he explained.

Aizawa raised his eyebrows which made Izuku pause. “You know the hero group well enough to be talking to them?”

Izuku sheepishly looked away and played with his fingers. “I’m kind of the reason they became a group?”

“How—? You know what, that’s a story for another time. So, the Knights Errant are around and ready to help us out,” Aizawa said.

Nodding, Izuku met his eyes. “They are in the area about information I had given them before,” He frowned. “Though they usually move around a lot more than they have the past month.” Shaking his head, he continued, “I just told Vampire Lady that we’re in the area for the rescue, like Secret told me to.”

“Secret is your quirk, correct?”

Izuku nodded. “I think the girl we’re rescuing is with Overhaul, because a bonus objective is to capture him. And taking down his organization too.” Izuku crossed one arm over his chest and rested his elbow in his hand, then started tapping his chin. “If Overhaul has anything to do with what I originally told the Knights Errant about in the area, then he’s probably part of the Shie Hassaikai.”

Aizawa sucked in a breath. “That is not a group you want to be messing around with kid. They’ve been causing serious problems.”

Izuku met his teacher’s dark eyes steadily. “I don’t have a choice. You can help me with it, or I can do it without your help.”

Aizawa’s shoulders slumped in resignation. “Fine, but I don’t approve of this. That doesn’t mean that you can use your quirk.” He raised a hand to prevent Izuku’s protests. “I mean the part you have registered as Accumulation.” He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m well aware you can’t help what happens with the rest.”

Izuku shrugged. It wasn’t like he’d never done without One for All. “Can we go and try to find her now?”

Aizawa nodded and then they both left the roof to explore the city. “If you were to guess, where would she be?”

Izuku hummed. “Well, I know where the Knights Errant are, or where they’re staying. We can start there.”

Hours passed with them wandering the streets of Musutafu, and then he got the message from Secret.

“Objective Failed: Find Unicorn when she is free”

Sighing, he chose the checkpoint where he had texted Toga, as ready as he could be to repeat everything to Aizawa.

Surprisingly, it was only three repeats later that they found her. The sun had set and the streets were cast in shadows where the streetlights couldn’t reach.

“Objective Complete: Find Unicorn when she is free”

Izuku spun to try and see her and that was when a little girl bounced off his legs. Instinctively crouching down to check on her, he instantly noticed the horn poking out from her very pale blue hair. Sucking in a breath, Izuku gently helped her get up, noticing she wasn’t wearing anything on her feet. Her arms and lower legs were wrapped in bandages. A far too thin dress hung loosely over her body and big red eyes met his. She couldn’t be more than six.

Her lower lip quivered as she softly said, “Please.”

“Can I pick you up?” Izuku asked her quietly.

She watched with wide eyes and flinched when Eraserhead stepped closer, backing up a step.

“There you are,” came a voice from the end of the alley Eri had barrelled out of. There was a slim man with messy dark coloured hair and a beaked mask that reminded Izuku of a plague doctor. He was slim and tall with a casual looking jacket over a button up shirt and slacks with white sneakers.

Izuku’s distraction meant the man was far closer than he expected when he spoke again, “Come on Eri, you worried me. We need to go home.”

The man’s white gloved covered hand reached out to the girl, Eri, and Izuku reacted instinctively, surging forward.

Eri gasped as the man, he must have been Overhaul, touched Izuku’s shoulder.

The man shook his head. “And I was going to spare you too.”

He felt Eraserhead’s capture weapon wrap around him, but it was too late. Pain burned through him and Secret intervened.

“Quest Failed”

Completely disoriented, he chose to appear back in the café instead of in the alley with Eri and his arms flailed outward in shock. One sent his phone flying and the other crashed into the table, making his cup clatter off and fall to the floor.

The sound of breaking ceramic had Aizawa bolting over to his table.

“Midoriya! What happened?” Aizawa demanded.

Izuku stared at him blankly for a moment, then looked around the room. So many people were staring. He looked down to see his hands were shaking.

“I think I just died,” he muttered numbly.

Aizawa crouched down in front of him and barked out an order over his shoulder. What felt like seconds later a paper cup was shoved in his hand. Looking up from the cup to meet Aizawa’s eyes, he took in his teacher’s steady expression.

“Put one of the ice cubes in your mouth and suck on it. It will help,” the words were stern but not unkind.

Aizawa made sure the cup smoothly made it to his mouth and he did as he was told.

The shock of cold on his tongue drew his focus and he soon had more attention on that than how he had been feeling. Grateful for the distraction, he let himself focus on the ice cube and shivered.

Aizawa rubbed his arms and that brought him back more to the present.

“With me now?” Aizawa asked softly and Izuku nodded. “Good. I’m going to ask for an explanation but let’s get out of here first. You feel like you can stand?”

After taking a deep breath and flexing his hands, Izuku nodded again.

“Let’s go then.” Aizawa rose to his feet and offered a hand to Izuku.

Taking it, Izuku got up and they made their way to the door. After they left Aizawa offered him his phone.

Izuku took it, embarrassed that he had ended up throwing it.

They headed out and up another fire escape, the walk and climb not really registering to Izuku until they had both stopped. Aizawa drew his attention by crouching in front of him and studying his face with searching eyes.

“You said you died?” Aizawa asked.

Izuku tangled his fingers together and pulled on them, then nodded. Aizawa’s eyes strayed to his fingers for only a second before meeting his eyes again.

“What happened?”

Drawing in a deep breath, Izuku explained, “We found the girl I need to rescue; her name is Eri. She’s… She’s a little kid. She wasn’t alone. There was a man, he—he had this mask.” One of his hands flew up to his face to draw the bird’s beak in the air. “He went to grab her, and I got in the—in the way. He touched me and—”

Aizawa’s hands on his shoulders drew Izuku back to the present and he snapped his eyes back to meet Aizawa’s gaze once more. He didn’t remember when his eyes had moved. His breaths were coming in gasps.

“You’re okay now. He’s not here,” Aizawa told him.

Closing his eyes, Izuku reached up to hold onto Aizawa’s wrists. He focused on breathing exercises that Secret had him learn, though he couldn’t remember when he had.

He didn’t know how long he did that before he was able to open his eyes again to see Aizawa still watching him calmly.

“It seems like we may need to reschedule the rescue mission. You’re in no condition to do it today,” Aizawa said calmly.

Izuku opened his mouth to argue but then he realized his hands were shaking and he swallowed. “You’re right,” he said quietly. He could wait until he failed the objective, but he didn’t really want to do that. Ideally, he’d go back further, like when he first got this quest.

“Load Checkpoint?”

Izuku sighed in relief as the world fell away and he was back to Monday morning again.

It was always a bit disorienting to suddenly be somewhere else. He pushed back his blankets and slowly went through his morning routine.

Eating and the journey to school was a bit of a blur. The next thing he was aware of, he was in his seat in class with Hitoshi hovering beside Shoji next to his desk.

“You don’t look so good,” Hitoshi stated, a wrinkle between his eyebrows showing his worry even more than his words.

Shoji was watching him closely as well, but Bakugou scoffed. “The nerd is off in his own little world half the time. You should get used to it.”

“No one asked you,” Hitoshi snapped.

Bakugou snarled and leapt to his feet, but Shoji pulled Hitoshi away. “We need to sit down; we can talk to Midoriya at lunch.”

Hitoshi rolled his eyes but let himself be led away.

Morning classes passed in a blur of material he already had heard the first time. He half-heartedly took notes, but it was difficult to get as excited as he had been when he had originally done Monday. Maybe Hitoshi would let him borrow his notes if he needed them.

When the lunch bell rang, he had his phone out of his pocket and was messaging Dabi about being in Musutafu on Thursday for a mission of his own. With how often Izuku knew things he shouldn’t the first time around (for Dabi) the man didn’t even question him about it.

Izuku barely noticed the objective notice as Hitoshi crowded close. “Come on, we can go somewhere to talk. You usually have food so we can go outside.”

Their other friends spoke but Izuku concentrated on gathering his things and then following Hitoshi outside, not bothering to follow along with anything else going on.

Once his foot met grass Izuku took a deep breath and actually looked around. It was one of those days where clouds floated around in the deep blue sky with no real threat of rain. A light breeze ruffled his hair, and he moved his bag around on his shoulder before following Hitoshi, who led them to a tree.

As he moved to sit down, he startled, realizing Shoji had followed them out. His wide-eyed stare made Shoji rock on his feet, obviously unsure.

Shoji formed a mouth on one hand and said, “I can leave if it makes you uncomfortable.”

Izuku shook his head hard. “No no, I just didn’t… realize you had followed us.” He felt a blush spread across his cheeks, but Shoji relaxed, making it worth it.

After they had settled down and taken out their food Hitoshi broke the silence. “Did something happen on Sunday? Last week you were more excited for classes than you were all day today.”

Izuku shook his head a bit, staring at his food.

“Can you explain Secret to Shoji?” he asked abruptly.

Hitoshi hesitated, and he could tell that Hitoshi stared at him a moment before he turned to see Shoji around Izuku. Shoji moved to be able to see him better as well.

Izuku added in a few details but let Hitoshi explain it to Shoji. Once he was done, they both watched him with obvious concern.

Shutting his eyes tightly, Izuku breathed out slowly. When he took another breath, he started to explain, “I was given a new quest this morning. I failed it on Thursday. Someone killed me.”

Both his friends flinched, and Hitoshi reached towards him before hesitating. “Secret saved you.”

Izuku nodded once.

“That had to have been hard,” Shoji said softly.

Izuku nodded again.

“You have to do the quest anyway,” Hitoshi said tonelessly.

“Yes.”

Hitoshi hit his thigh with one hand, making Izuku flinch and look at him. He looked slightly apologetic but mostly upset. “You shouldn’t need to!”

Sighing, Izuku closed his eyes. “I’m okay now.”

Both his friends were silent.

“I am,” he insisted, stabbing his bento with his chopsticks.

“You don’t have to be,” Shoji told him, his voice quiet.

Izuku shrugged. “I needed to rest before trying again.”

“How can we help?” Hitoshi asked, which surprised Izuku enough to make him look into Hitoshi’s purple eyes.

“Well, you can help me explain my quirk to Eraserhead?” it came out as more of a question than he intended but Hitoshi nodded.

“I’ll come too,” Shoji added.

Izuku felt himself relaxing at Shoji’s words, grateful for the support. He took his phone out and texted Aizawa, asking if they could meet with him for a while after school.

Maybe it would go better this time.

Explaining his quirk and his current quest to Aizawa had been easier with his friends’ help. Izuku felt more confident that Aizawa understood what was going on and that had led to his teacher putting his foot down when his friends tried to insist they could help rescue Eri.

He shivered as he remembered Aizawa’s stormy expression when he had said, “While I cannot stop Midoriya from doing this I will make sure neither of you are present. His quirk keeps him safe, neither of you have the same. What would happen if that man killed either of you and Midoriya’s quest was finished before he noticed? You have no way of being revived.”

That had ended the conversation and Izuku had been relieved. As much as he hated that he had died, at least he had survived anyway. His friends wouldn’t survive.

Aizawa had wanted to know who else knew about his quirk, and he told them about All Might and Monoma knowing as well. He later made sure Monoma was aware of who knew too.

Thankfully the rest of his week had gone similarly to the first time. He enjoyed the training they were doing in martial arts and learning how to enhance their quirks with the guidance of their teachers who had worked with so many other heroes. Their advice helped his peers choose what fighting techniques would enhance their quirks, along with gear and in one case animal companions.

Even if many of the conversations were repeated he was able to pay attention to different details this time and it was amazing to see his classmates flower with the attention.

That’s what led him to once again meeting Aizawa in the Cozy Cat Café. Izuku sipped his tea and absently watched the door. It really was a nice evening, which he supposed was a blessing when they could be out in the rain for hours instead.

Once Aizawa entered and nodded to him, Izuku finished his drink and then texted Toga.

This time when he loaded the checkpoint he didn’t have to finish his drink. Pleased with the small changes, he was ready to go when Aizawa had his drink.

Since they had discussed where Eri had been found, they both left the café in a comfortable silence. Izuku admittedly didn’t remember the exact time that he had come across Eri but even if he wasn’t able to get it right this time he would succeed and save her.

He wanted to see if they could find her when she was further away from Overhaul, so after they reached the alley (where he had died) they went in the direction she had come from. Izuku regularly checked the time so that if he had to go back to the checkpoint at the café he would know where they should be at what time.

As they came across an intersection he saw Overhaul run across traffic, followed by another person. The person was dressed all in white with a hood over his head and maybe a mask like Overhaul’s, they were too far away to tell.

As Izuku and Eraserhead sped up the one in white got hit by a car.

“Objective Failed: Find Unicorn when she is free”

They must have been too far away.

He was back at the café but this time he had a far better idea of where he needed to be and what time to get there.

This time they reached an alley that Eri had just run into.

“Objective Complete: Find Unicorn when she is free”

She was gasping for breath with tear tracks that glittered in the dim light. Izuku ran forward to meet her, causing her to stumble to a stop.

He scooped her up under her back and legs like he had seen recommended in videos he had watched about rescuing scared children. Eraserhead stopped beside them while Izuku clutched Eri to his chest. He looked up to see Overhaul and the person who had got hit by the car sprinting into the alley side by side. He was able to see that the person’s beaked mask covered their entire face. Their eyes were even covered in goggles. Overhaul slowed and the other person moved to walk just slightly behind him.

“Eri! There you are. We were so worried about you,” Overhaul said as he approached them.

Izuku slowly rose to his feet as Eraserhead stepped in front of him. Overhaul raised his eyebrows, clearly unimpressed.

Before Eraserhead could say anything Overhaul’s eyes rolled back into his head and he dropped like a rock.

Izuku watched in stunned incomprehension.

Movement made Izuku’s attention snap back to the person in white who was still standing. They were…patting their pockets?

The person sighed and then they started…dripping.

Their surface appearance dripped away to reveal Vampire Lady, who giggled and shot them a fanged grin. She was wearing a blood red trench coat over a black body suit. Her hands had black fingerless gloves. In an X across her body were black belts containing knives with one around her waist for other equipment. She wore shiny boots the same colour as her coat.

“Hi, little Rabbit! Thank you for saving the little princess. I’m just going to secure this guy and admire the blood from the blow to the head I gave him!”

She bounced happily and Izuku felt himself relaxing.

That’s when Secret decided to speak up.

“Quest Complete: Rescue Unicorn Princess
Bonus Objectives Complete:
- Ensure that Overhaul is captured
- Take down Overhaul’s organization”

But he hadn’t done the bonuses? They definitely hadn’t done anything to Overhaul’s organization.

9 hours earlier:
One hero and his three sidekicks were squeezed into a hotel room with a single bed. Dabi was in the single chair that was for a desk that was barely big enough to be called that. Twice was leaned against a wall while Mr. Compress and Vampire Lady sat on the bed.

They all wore their hero costumes.

Dabi, or Phoenix, had a black jacket that had a blue flame design along his shoulders. A black mask covered the lower part of his face. Black gloves without the palms or fingertips encased his hands. Black pants ended in black combat boots. Underneath it all was a cooling system that had a bulkier part on his back to help him with his quirk.

Twice wore a black body suit. It had a full headed mask that was grey on the top with white eyes. He had dark blue bracelets around his wrists and a black leather jacket with studs on the shoulders overtop of it that was zipped up.

Mr. Compress wore his top hat with the yellow feather. He had a black balaclava which was missing the section that would cover his lips and chin but covered the bridge of his nose. He had a tan trench coat with a double row of buttons open to show a dark orange button-up shirt with a black vest over it. Red gloves covered his hands.

“In six hours, Rabbit will be in the same area as the Shie Hassaikai, conducting a rescue,” Phoenix told his team.

“Oh oh! I want to go meet him, can I go meet him?” Vampire Lady waved an arm in the air as if they were in a classroom.

Ignoring her question, Phoenix continued, “Since he is moving we have decided to do the same, with Vampire Lady and Mr. Compress leading the takeover of the base for the Shie Hassaikai.”

Mr. Compress nodded while Vampire Lady threw herself back into her chair with a pout.

“Do we really need to wrap things up because Rabbit is coming around? He seems cute. He’s terrifying,” Twice cut in.

Phoenix rolled his eyes. “I once saw him run into a restaurant without warning, and then run back out with a cat and ten people using quirks to try to stop him. He made it three blocks while people were turned into chickens and buildings were losing pieces that were trying to impale him. He had a single scratch on one shoulder and five heroes stepped in to stop it. All in broad daylight. Don’t underestimate his ability to cause chaos and ruin someone’s day.”

There was a pause of silence while his sidekicks contemplated this.

“I wasn’t there for that one either!” Vampire Lady complained. “There was even blood!”

Rolling his eyes, Phoenix got back to the debrief, “Vampire Lady will be disguised as one of the members that sleeps at the compound in the afternoons. She will infiltrate the security center so that the cameras can be controlled. Once you have secured that, signal to Mr. Compress to join you. After he’s joined you, leave a copy of Mr. Compress there from a marble and go to the labs that Vampire Lady found the blood samples.

“In the lab you will release Twice from your marble and he will make copies of Vampire Lady to impersonate all of the members of the Shie Hassaikai that should be present in the compound. Mr. Compress will be locking all of those you capture into marbles. Make sure to place the combustibles throughout the compound during capture Vampire Lady,” he reminded and Vampire Lady waved in agreement.

“Seems simple enough. I don’t see why I have to be stuffed into a marble first!” Twice complained.

“Once we have secured the compound, and evacuated, I will make sure that none of their product makes it into the hands of those government officials that Rabbit doesn’t trust,” Phoenix grinned as he tapped the table.

“You just want an excuse to burn things. I’m okay with watching a bonfire,” Twice added.

45 minutes earlier:
The last thing Vampire Lady (though she was pretending to be Chronostasis right now) expected to see was a small child covered in rags race past the end of the hall she was going down.

“After her!” roared Overhaul from the direction she had come from.

Immediately deciding this was more important than capturing more blood donation options, Vampire Lady ran after the kid, who had managed to make it out of the exit.

At first she was the one closest to the light haired girl but Overhaul tore up his compound to catch up. The girl had touched a guard who disappeared before continuing her escape into the city.

With Overhaul beside her they tore through the city after her, but it wasn’t always easy to keep track of such a small person so they almost lost her a few times.

Finally they skidded into an alley where a teen was picking the girl up. Instantly recognising Rabbit, Vampire Lady let herself fall a step behind Overhaul. She pulled out a knife and turned it so she could knock him out with the handle. He didn’t expect the hit from behind so he crumpled to the ground.

She reached for her quirk suppressing cuffs and then realized that this boring form wouldn’t have them. She let it dissolve and giggled at the reactions on Rabbit and scruffy man’s faces.

Once she had Overhaul secured she put her hands on her hips and nodded.

“Want to go watch the bonfire?” she offered.

“Bonfire?” the scruffy man sounded alarmed for some reason.

Phoenix watched as Vampire Lady, Twice and Mr. Compress exited the compound.

“Everyone out?”

“Yes! We checked every room. Some people even needed to be stabbed before we could capture them!” Vampire Lady sounded as dreamy as ever when it came to blood.

“Excellent,” Phoenix turned to the compound and poured flames out. The blue fire raged over the building and started causing explosions. His support equipment whined as it did its best to keep up with the heat from his quirk. He moved further and lit another section of the compound on fire.

Vampire Lady was excitedly cheering him on while Twice and Mr. Compress chatted.

By the time other heroes showed up to try putting out the fire it was hard to see the buildings at all under all the smoke and flames.

“What are you doing? What if the fire spreads to the surrounding area!”

Phoenix didn’t bother looking at the hero to as he watched the fire. “That’s why the surrounding wall isn’t on fire. We made sure it was coated in an anti-inflammatory before doing this mission.”

The hero sputtered as Vampire Lady threw herself into his side. “You set such beautiful bonfires Phoenix.”

“It is big. Could have been bigger,” Twice argued as he came up on Phoenix’s other side.

“What about all the people inside! There’s no way anyone could survive that!”

“They’re right here,” Mr. Compress said. There was the sound of one of his marbles expanding and the hero shouted in surprise.

“How many of those do you have?!”

Phoenix snorted in amusement and then sighed. It was time to deal with the consequences of his actions—paperwork and talking to other people.

The next day had passed in an exhausted blur for Izuku. Eraserhead had needed to keep him around for a statement and little Eri hadn’t wanted to let him leave her. She was scared of adults and he didn’t blame her. The late night made it difficult to function at school the next day, though he had managed to explain what had happened to Hitoshi and Shoji.

When he got home he ended up collapsing onto his bed for a nap. He woke to the sound of message notifications and the feeling of his stomach growling for food.

He dragged himself out of bed and could smell food when he opened his door.

“Izuku! I’m sorry I didn’t wake you up but I wanted to let you rest after the long day you had yesterday,” his mother said from the table. She had the same green eyes and lighter green hair than his that was tied back in a ponytail.

She got up and gestured towards his seat at the table. “Sit! I’ll bring you your dinner!”

He slowly made his way there and slumped into his seat.

Soon his mother had set the chicken katsudon down in front of him, making him smile at his favourite dish.

“It hasn’t been waiting too long so it’s still warm! I’m almost finished eating though. Would you like to watch TV with me after you eat?”

Shaking his head, Izuku answered, “I have homework I should try to catch up on.”

“Oh, alright. We should spend time together on Sunday then. Is there anything you need to buy for your field trip next week? Those emergency contact slips made it sound dangerous!” his mother exclaimed.

Izuku smiled softly at his mother. “The school will provide us with the supplies we need. We’ve been testing out our hero gear and this is just another trial for it Mom. It’s just the Unforeseen Simulation Joint, where we’ll later be practicing rescues. Aizawa wants us to practice on different unstable terrain and, well, it is unstable.”

“He has been keeping you safe so far! I don’t know what I would have done if that villain Overhead had hurt you!” his mother said.

Holding back a laugh Izuku shook his head. “Overhaul is his name, Mom, but it won’t be anywhere near as dangerous as that. The USJ may be far from the main campus but it is on UA property. There won’t be any villains around.”

His mother sighed. “I know you’re training to be a hero but I’d be happier if you don’t fight any villains until you graduate.”

Izuku nodded along and stuffed food in his mouth. He was definitely innocent of fighting villains. Never happened before.

Once he had finished his meal he put his dishes in the sink as his mother went to clean them. He went to his room to work and realized he had messages from End.

EndofHeroes: did u see what those idiot heroes did lately? Link
EndofHeroes: a whole compound up in flames!
EndofHeroes: if villains did it everyone would be calling it a tragedy
EndofHeroes: but all anyone is saying is that Phoenix is so amazing

Izuku didn’t need to click the link, Hitoshi and Shoji had showed him some of the stories about the Knights Errant and their work last night.

BushRabbit: I don’t think Phoenix cares about what people think about him, but the building was empty since the Knights Errant cleared it before he turned it to ash.

EndofHeroes: how do u know that???

Izuku sent him a link that had that information and started working on his Math worksheet. He really did have homework to catch up on since he hadn’t gotten much done yesterday.

EndofHeroes: no 1 died then, but that’s still needless destruction of property!

Humming as he read the reply, Izuku took a moment to debate his reply and decided Dabi wouldn’t mind.

BushRabbit: Phoenix doesn’t trust the HPSC or other heroes. He was making sure no one could get whatever was in that place.

EndofHeroes: how would u kno that?

Rolling his eyes at the dramatics of his friend, Izuku answered.

BushRabbit: because he’s one of the few adults that actually bothers to listen to me when I talk to him.
BushRabbit: And before you complain
BushRabbit: I knew him before he became a hero
BushRabbit: He did it to get back at his father who’s a trashfire and he often does things to help others that no heroes bother to do
BushRabbit: There’s a reason you can’t find footage of their take over of the compound, arrests or anything else they did there. They’d been there over a month.

End went silent for a moment so Izuku went back to his homework. It took a while for End respond so Izuku finished off his questions before reading it.

EndofHeroes: whatever

That was probably him deciding Izuku was right but not wanting to admit it. Izuku shook his head, amused, then kept reading.

EndofHeroes: i have something else more important
EndofHeroes: my mentor is getting me to do a project, but i think he didn’t plan it well
EndofHeroes: i don’t want to fail because he didn’t think of everything, but he’s been doing this for a long time and maybe i’m wrong

Izuku frowned and pulled at his fingers, hesitating.

BushRabbit: maybe your mentor is right but maybe he isn’t.
BushRabbit: I admire my mentor, he’s amazing at his job
BushRabbit: but I can’t do things how he does and I ended up getting hurt by accident when I knew he was wrong instead of saying something.
BushRabbit: I still admire my mentor but that doesn’t mean I should get hurt either

EndofHeroes: my mentor is the best at what he does

BushRabbit: mine is too

EndofHeroes: i will think about ur advice

Izuku nodded to himself, happy with that answer. Standing up to your mentor was hard.

Chapter Text

Izuku fiddled with the glove of his hero costume as he watched the campus pass by them. He had been excited to go the USJ today. It was supposed to be a chance to really test their gear!

His was a darker green costume with white gloves up to his elbows, a red belt around his hips, black boots that reached his knees and guards on his knees themselves. There was a metal mouth guard that he could pull up to protect his face and protect him from gases.

And then he had woken up to a quest, killing his excitement.

“Quest: Free as a Bird
Objectives:
- Tell the Knights Errant about the rumours you have been hearing regarding the warehouse in Kamino, suggest arson
- Reach the USJ without telling anyone that your class will be in danger
- Alert Hawks to the danger your class is in before entering the USJ
- Touch Copycat when you enter the USJ
- Get EndofHeroes to recognize you
- Convince EndofHeroes his mentor is not good for him
- Touch the man made of mist
- Don’t get severely injured
- Bonus: Say the first thing you said in the server to EndofHeroes
- Bonus: Ensure none of your classmates are severely injured
- Bonus: Ensure none of your teachers are severely injured”

It had almost seemed like a normal quest until he had reached the bonuses.

The first thing he had done was message Dabi and make sure he knew how serious the situation was. He had been coming across rumours of people disappearing and glimpses of monsters in Kamino. All of them seemed to be around a particular warehouse. Until Secret had spoken up it had seemed like ghost stories with nothing solid to it.

His hand tightened into a fist and someone touched his shoulder.

Izuku jumped and turned to see Hitoshi watching him with concern.

He shook his head at the unspoken question. “You’ll know soon,” he said softly, barely loud enough to be heard over their classmates.

Hitoshi frowned but nodded.

The bus came to a stop and Izuku quickly pulled out his phone, opening his text messages. He quickly checked to make sure the coordinates for the USJ were correct and read the message he had typed out.

Me: The first-year hero students are in danger, come quickly.

Before he could hit send Uraraka grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the exit. “Come on, Midoriya! You’re the last one on the bus! We have to catch up.”

His fingers blindly pressed along the screen of his phone as he tried to hit send. When he reached the ground outside Secret finally spoke up.

“Objective Complete: Alert Hawks to the danger your class is in before entering the USJ”

He sighed in relief and checked the message.

Me: first-year hero students ddgfd in danger, come quickdersdgdkj

…at least the coordinates were still correct.

When he didn’t keep moving on his own Uraraka decided to keep pulling him along, her hand wrapped firmly around his arm.

The building was a huge dome with high cement walls and the ceiling looked like glass with thick metal supports. The entrance was a tall, wide set of double doors.

Uraraka pulled him along into the building, and a quick scan of the area showed a forest, a plaza and a broken city section with cliffs behind it all.

“Hey, Uraraka, we have him from here. Thirteen is at the front,” Hitoshi told her.

Uraraka almost squealed in excitement as she let go and hurried off to see the hero.

“What’s going on?” Shoji asked.

“I need to find Monoma,” Izuku replied, eyes already darting around the crowd of students in front of him.

“He was at the front of the bus so he’s probably—”

“At the front,” Izuku finished for Hitoshi, spotting Monoma.

Izuku squeezed his way through the group, vaguely aware of his friends following close behind him, before he finally touched Monoma’s shoulder.

Monoma went pale and turned to stare at him.

“Objective Complete: Touch Copycat when you enter the USJ”

They both looked to Aizawa who was standing beside Thirteen. The other hero was dressed in an outfit like an astronaut with a dark screen depicting a digital face where glass would be.

Thirteen clapped their hands together. “Alright students! Today you will be learning how to maneuver in different environments while in your hero costumes! This is the first step to becoming a rescue hero. Even if you aren’t a rescue—”

Thirteen was still speaking but Aizawa noticed their attention as the lights overhead flickered.

Locks clicked behind them and the lights all shut off, drawing the attention of his classmates.

Kaminari, who was beside him, winced and started adjusting his headset. “I’ve lost signals.” He pulled out his cellphone. “No bars,” he muttered.

“Everyone! Stay calm, we must exit in an orderly fashion,” Monoma commanded with Iida marching over to help him.

Izuku’s eyes were drawn to a dark mist that was forming in the center of the USJ, by the plaza section.

One for All flickered to life around him in a show of sparks.

He started running as a man covered in severed hands stepped out of the mist. He had light blue hair with a hand covering his face. There were hands around his arms and two around his neck. He was closely followed by a big grey person (creature?).

The second person had an exposed brain with eyes that hung out and a grin solely because their teeth and jaw bones were exposed. The skin on their body was a grey that reminded him of a corpse but in a shade that wasn’t normal. The only clothing they wore were tan shorts.

Izuku skidded to a stop as even more people came pouring out of the portal, but his focus wasn’t on the growing crowd.

The mist was there, but where was the man?

More and more people piled out of the mist as Izuku looked around for the one creating it.

Once people stopped appearing the mist condensed until it was person-shaped with a metal collar and bright yellow eyes.

Target acquired, One for All roared to life across his skin and he took off. Dodging the people who had come in, he almost touched the mist when it dissipated.

The man covered in hands sneered at him. “What do you want, you little brat? Think you can take on all of us?”

“No,” Izuku answered absently, “I don’t.”

He spotted the mist by his classmates and took off again. Before he reached them, groups of his classmates disappeared into portals that had opened below them.

He almost reached the one made of mist when a grey hand wrapped around his wrist, crushing it.

“Objective Failed”

He was back to looking at Monoma’s pale face.

This time he moved before the dark mist appeared. The man covered in hands was surprised when Izuku appeared in his face.

There was nothing against injuring the people coming through, Izuku thought, throwing a punch.

His hand was caught in a grey one, the person (creature?) made screech that rang in his ear and then he was being thrown. He crashed into trees and barely got up in time to roll out of the way of another punch that cratered the ground.

Shaking with adrenaline, Izuku ran. The creature followed.

He saw the punch aimed at his back soon enough to dodge but it still clipped his arm, causing him to fall.

A large hand encased his head.

“Objective Failed”

Gritting his teeth, Izuku let the people surge through the portal and into the USJ. The man made of mist came through, and his classmates ran for the door.

Izuku leapt above the others and landed in front of them as the mist formed to block them off.

As the man coalesced Izuku surged forward. A portal opened in front of him and suddenly he was falling. Flailing in the air, he wasn’t able to orient himself before he hit a cliff. Bouncing off of it, Izuku tried to find something to grab. His fingers and boots scrapped against stone but didn’t stop him until he hit a ledge. Wheezing in pain, he tried to get up when a loud crackling sound reached his ears.

Instinctively rolling out of the way, he scrambled to his feet to see a large group of people grinning at him. Another crackle drew his eyes to a man who whipped more electricity at him.

One for All lit up at his command and he leapt into the air.

“What, all you can do is run away little boy? Some hero you’ll turn out to be,” one woman taunted. She held a pipe in one hand and grinned at the green scaled man next to her.

Some of them laughed and another said, “Stand still long enough and maybe we’ll make it hurt less as we kill you.”

Anger surged through him as the group laughed and he jumped towards them this time.

He came down with a kick to the green scaled man and half expected the grey skinned creature to attack him for it. When that didn’t happen he dodged the swing of a pipe and grabbed the one that had tried to hit him, launching the woman into the electricity quirked one.

They both went over the edge of the platform and Izuku turned his back on them, trying to figure out where he was now.

“Bonus Objective: Ensure none of your classmates are severely injured Failed”

Grimacing, Izuku loaded his checkpoint, grateful Secret let him know that one was failed.

Pressing to his limits, Izuku used One for All to launch himself into the air before the mist started appearing.

As he flew through the air he watched the crowd beginning to form below with narrowed eyes.

He would not let his friends get hurt.

His landing was not quiet and the one covered in hands, along with some at the back of the crowd, spun to face him.

“What do you want, you little brat? Think you can take on all of us?”

“No,” Izuku answered again, his attention focused on the mist that had started to shrink. “I don’t want to.”

Izuku launched himself forward as the mist coalesced into a person.

His hand landed on the metal neck band and it rang. He latched onto it and swung his other hand up past it. His hand touched skin, then One for All sprang to life without warning.

“What—?”

The mist man shouted in pain and then slumped as though his strings had been cut.

Not expecting it, Izuku fell underneath the body.

“Objective Complete”

“What did you do to Kurogiri?!”

He was easily able to lift the man off of him but by then it was too late.

The man covered in hands grabbed his shoulder and it dissolved—

He tried loading that checkpoint again but he was already falling under Kurogiri and was unable to get away from being dissolved in time. He loaded the checkpoint from before.

Grimly determined, Izuku pushed himself in fast hops across the space between him and where the dark mist was just forming.

The man in hands spotted him and gave an order, “Nomu, stop the noob.”

Nomu, the grey skinned creature, tried to hit him and he dodged.

This one was not one of his targets. Nomu tried to grab him and Izuku used their momentum to throw Nomu across the building.

Kurogiri hadn’t formed yet, people were still coming through the portal. Nomu came barrelling towards him again and he dodged, causing Nomu to crash into many of the others who had come through the portal. People went flying and Nomu ignored all of them. One shocked Nomu and a punch from Nomu sent the person flying through the crowd, knocking them down like dominos.

Kurogiri formed and Nomu was charging Izuku again.

Izuku braced himself and One for All crackled brighter as he grabbed Nomu, pivoted and threw Nomu even harder.

Smashing sounded in that direction but Izuku paid no attention to it as he launched himself forward.

He anticipated the portal Kurogiri formed in his path and jumped up. He grabbed the metal around Kurogiri’s neck and slapped a hand above it.

Kurogiri yelled again and Izuku shoved him away as Nomu swatted him like a bug.

Air burst from Izuku’s lungs but he was expecting it this time and he managed to roll with the blow as he fell.

He heard the man covered in hands yell again but focused more on Nomu.

Nomu landed with a crash in front of him and lashed out with a fist again.

One for All allowed him to have enough speed to redirect the punch but the next one glanced along his shoulder.

He was spun from the force of it and was unable to prevent Nomu from grabbing him.

Glass overhead smashed as Nomu used his arm to smash him into the ground. Izuku gasped in pain as Nomu crushed his wrist with the flex of a hand.

He tried a few more times starting with where he had touched Kurogiri but each time Nomu injured him before he could complete any other objectives.

And then he was back at the front of the class with Monoma.

He leapt into the air with One for All, aiming past the portal. This time he rolled when he landed, making very little sound and not drawing attention.

Kurogiri formed and Izuku rushed forward. The scream was expected, so he tossed Kurogiri at the man covered in hands and leapt back towards his class.

That was a good enough checkpoint now to not repeat it again.

“How could such a noob player take out our warp gate!”

Dread filled Izuku as he looked behind him to see the man covered in severed hands. That… couldn’t be EndofHeroes… could it?

“I told him only one escape plan could ruin the whole quest! Nomu, bring me the brat who did this. We’ll make him fix it.”

Oh no…

Nomu punched Izuku out of the air. Izuku skidded across the ground and felt a bone break.

“Objective Failed: Load Checkpoint?”

Izuku stared blankly at the screen.

He had been giving End advice on how to defeat his own classmates for months.

Well, okay, it wasn’t how to beat his classmates specifically but—

“Choice Timed Out. Loading Last Checkpoint”

He’d never been mid-throw when loading a checkpoint before. Kurogiri crashed into EndofHeroes and both landed flat on the ground.

“How could such a noob player take out our warp gate!”

He watched as End shoved Kurogiri off of himself and staggered to his feet. Grey eyes met his and narrowed.

“You! What did you do to Kurogiri?” he demanded. Then he sprang forward to attack Izuku.

Izuku dodged out of the way of his hands, using moves he had learned in class to redirect their path so he wasn’t grabbed.

“End, how could you!” Izuku yelled back, his eyes tearing up. “I know you don’t like heroes but why would you attack my classmates!”

“It’s not about your classmates!” End growled back. “Why are you calling me End?”

“Because you’re EndofHeroes!” Izuku said back.

End smirked and that was when Izuku realized he was far too close, one hand wrapped around his forearm. “You’re right, I am the end of heroes.” He lowered his last finger so his whole hand wrapped around Izuku’s arm, and then seemed surprised when nothing happened.

“Eraserhead,” he snapped. “Nomu, get him!” Izuku broke End’s hold him and jumped away.

“Objective Bonus Failed: Ensure none of your teachers are severely injured”

Izuku heard the snap of bone and closed his eyes.

He needed to figure out what was going on before he loaded the checkpoint. He landed, spun, and launched himself in the air to see he classmates. Bakugou had hit Nomu, explosions flashing and launching him back away with Sero reeling him in to where Monoma was commanding their group. Thirteen was shouting at them to run as they fought off a group of villains.

Nomu staggered off Aizawa due to Bakugou’s explosions and Shouto froze Nomu in place. Iida flashed down to pull Aizawa away. As he watched the large group of villains tried to swarm Thirteen, but Yoarashi rushed forward and launched many of them away.

Relieved that Monoma had it all under control, Izuku turned back towards End only to dodge out of the way of hand headed for his face.

“Don’t think you can ignore me hero brat!”

“As if you would ever let me!”

“Don’t pretend to know me,” he hissed.

He spat out the phrase he had first said in the server with End, “I haven’t played more than two hours on a game in my life and I have no idea how knowing quirks will help you but I would be happy to help.” It was long and awkward but he had memorized it for just this moment.

End’s face twisted as he spoke and then he seemed to be consumed with rage. “What did you do to Bush?” he screamed.

Unprepared for that reaction, he didn’t dodge in time and End’s finger brushed against his costume, dissolving layers of cloth and a small layer of skin that instantly started oozing blood.

The sound of smashing glass drew his attention to a red blur crashing through the ceiling.

“Objective Failed: Get EndofHeroes to recognize you”

After throwing Kurogiri, Izuku lunged forward until he could meet furious grey eyes.

“Is this what you were asking for advice about End? An attack on a high school? You knew I was going to high school, you never asked which one.”

End’s face scrunched up in confusion as he shoved Kurogiri off of him. “Why should I care where some hero brat goes to school? What did you do to Kurogiri?”

Izuku scowled. “We’re friends EndofHeroes. You should’ve asked to make sure I was safe.” He repeated the same phrase he said in the server first while End stared at him.

“Is this the project you were asking your mentor about?” Izuku demanded.

End slowly got to his feet. “Bush?”

Izuku snorted, tapping a hand against his thigh impatiently. “Most people call me Rabbit but that works.”

“Objective Complete”

“You never told me you were in the hero course,” End started sounding accusing again.

Izuku shook his head. “Maybe I should have. Your mentor is alright with maiming teenagers, End?”

“You’re all baby heroes,” End sneered, getting into a fighting stance.

“That still makes us babies,” Izuku snapped back.

End lunged forward but his movements were more focused, not as angry as he had been when they last fought.

“All heroes are the same,” End snarled.

“That’s like saying quirks can be villainous,” Izuku shot back, redirecting a blow and pushing away from End.

End faltered for a moment and then launched himself after Izuku again. “No one would help me!” he yelled.

“I would! And I will now if you let me,” Izuku argued.

“I don’t need your help!”

“Then why are you attacking a bunch of students, End!”

“To kill All Might!”

Ignoring the pang of fear Izuku gestured around. “All Might isn’t even here!”

“Maybe if we injure enough people he will get here faster!”

“There’s no signal, how is he even supposed to know?”

That made End hesitate.

“I’ve told you about the Knights Errant, not all heroes are bad. Please, End.”

“I won’t abandon my mentor!”

“If he’s such a great mentor then where is he now? Getting you to do his dirty work instead of killing All Might himself?”

End snarled and attacked more furiously, “Because he trusts me!”

“Then why is this his plan and not yours?”

End screamed in fury and glass smashed above them.

Ignoring it, Izuku focused on End. “Please, End, let us help you.”

“I don’t need help from a hero,” he spat.

“I’m not a hero. I never needed to be a hero to help people before. I’m just your friend. Please, End.”

“He took me in when no one else would!”

“That doesn’t make him right!”

Tears had formed in End’s eyes. “I want to take apart hero society.”

“I do too,” Izuku replied. “Please, End.”

“Quest Completed”

The relief he felt was short lived as he started falling through the ground.

Phoenix stared at the unassuming warehouse through the drones and cameras that surrounded it. It was the usual corrugated metal painted boring light grey with a name on the front Phoenix could barely remember after reading it a third time.

Rabbit seemed very worried about this place so they had decided to take no chances. That was why only copies of Phoenix were in the shadows around it.

The copies of Phoenix checked in and then he told them to move in on the building.

As one they stepped closer to the building, away from cover, and started throwing flames at it.

The building caught and was quickly covered in fire.

Shrieking sounded from within and a deathly white body burst through the wall. The person was tall and misshapen but that didn’t stop them from turning and flattening a copy of Phoenix, which caused him to dissolve. Instantly two Phoenix copies turned on the person, setting them on fire. The person shrieked but Phoenix was surprised it could even make a sound with that much fire on it.

Suddenly, more white bodies burst from the walls, attacking the Phoenix copies.

“Twice—Twice send more copies,” Phoenix ordered.

Twice didn’t even argue.

“Vampire Lady, pull back. You’re too close for this kind of fight.”

“I was getting toasty,” Vampire Lady agreed.

“I see something. Someone with a teleportation quirk appeared on a nearby roof,” Mr. Compress cut in. “They had one of those white skinned people with them and they pointed it at the copy that was just flattened.”

“See if you can marble him. If not, get a tracker on him. Failing that, pictures,” Phoenix told him, watching as more copies were destroyed and holding back a wince.

“Of course,” Mr. Compress replied.

Sirens sounded off and an alert rang through his hero issue phone.

Holding back a sigh Phoenix spoke again, “Vampire Lady, you’re on dealing with the alerts and anyone else that shows up.”

“Oh, oh, does this mean I can be you? Your blood is tasty.”

“As long as you stab no one, yes.”

Vampire Lady whined but agreed.

What was supposed to be a fairly straightforward exercise with his students was turning into a nightmare.

First the blond idiot with more muscle than brain wasn’t able to show up.

Then Midoriya, the student he had been watching since homeroom due the sheer tension he radiated, launched himself over everyone and into what turned out to be an unknown threat.

A large group of uninvited people poured out of a portal into the USJ. The biggest threats likely being the two that came in first with an undisciplined crowd that yelled taunts at them following.

“Thirteen, take the students and get out. Class, do as Thirteen says and do not go out of your way to engage with anyone out of that portal,” Eraserhead ordered.

“Eraserhead, the doors are blocked, with hostiles just outside. We’re safer in here with both of our teachers,” Monoma called, and he would know since Midoriya would’ve had him copy his quirk.

Biting back a swear he cut off Thirteen’s argument for Monoma. “If he says it’s blocked, trust him. He knows what’s going on better than you,” he told Thirteen. “Stay safe,” Eraserhead ordered Monoma, meeting his eyes long enough to get a nod before running after Midoriya, who was no longer visible past the crowd.

Monoma then took over commanding the students as Eraserhead ran down to battle against the invaders.

Eraserhead dodged long ranged attacks, trying to see if he could get to Midoriya before he was killed.

He noticed the one that was producing the portals seemed to be taken down by Midoriya. The students behind him started engaging the invaders (as good as he was there were too many for him to occupy them all) with Thirteen also occupied. He tried to steadily make his way closer to Midoriya but it was difficult.

Midoriya seemed to be engaged with the person who had come out of the portal first and was uninjured.

Thirteen and the class seemed alright when he was able to catch glimpses.

It was when Hawks burst through the ceiling that things took a turn.

A grey person followed on the hero’s feathers, a blow blocked from them with two large feathers crossed like swords still almost knocked him from the air.

The other grey skinned person who had come into the USJ second shrieked and jumped up as well. All Might came crashing through the hole Hawks had made to slam into the threat.

His class reacted to that, Bakugou and Yoarashi flying out to meet the threat with Dark Shadow and others following to assist. Todoroki skated along below, fire coming in bursts to propel him along faster.

The chaos finally gave him the chance to break through the crowd to approach the one who had created the portals who was up now, but unsteady. He appeared to be muttering to himself. Eraserhead caught his own name, what sounded like his civilian name and then the portal maker rippled. He noticed that their attention was on Midoriya and the one covered in hands too late.

“Midoriya!” his capture weapon lashed out but his student was gone before he could reach him. Eraserhead turned to the portal maker only to find them gone too.

Panic and then rage bit at his control, but he leashed it and turned his attention back to the students he still had. Much as he hated it, Secret would have to keep Midoriya safe.

Please keep him safe.

Chapter Text

Izuku hadn’t expect the ground to suddenly be under him again after falling through it. Thankfully, all the practice catching his balance again with Secret kept him on his feet.

End had landed as steady as a cat.

They were in a fairly average looking sitting room, besides the lack of windows. It had a couch, chair, coffee table, TV stand and TV. The walls had some generic looking paintings that were more splashes of colour on the beige coloured walls than anything. It was all covered in a fine layer of dust, even the floor.

Another form crashed to the ground in the room with them.

Izuku spun to face the crash only to see Kurogiri struggling to get up from the floor. The dark mist that made his body was flickering away to show the normal human limbs, even a glimpse of a very sickly looking tanned face.

“Kurogiri, what’s wrong with you?” End sounded confused more than anything as Izuku hesitantly approached the man who was still attempting to get to his feet.

“I—I,” Kurogiri stuttered.

Up close he could see that Kurogiri was wearing a dark green vest with a white button up shirt and a green striped tie. His slacks were the same colour as his vest.

“Do you need help?” Izuku offered a hand down to him and Kurogiri hesitated.

Kurogiri took his hand and Izuku pulled him up, then helped to steady him over to the chair.

“So you did break our warp gate,” End said casually.

“He’s a person,” Izuku snapped back, shooting End a look.

End met his eyes and slowly removed the hand from his face. “I’ve lived with him for years. I don’t know what my mentor has done to him but he has no thoughts of his own. He repeats what he is told to say and does what he is told to do. We had two more of them with us, the grey skinned ones, they can’t even talk at all, like skin covered robots,” End said plainly.

Izuku scowled at him. “Are they a product of a quirk?”

End let out a single humourless laugh. “They talked about collecting bodies to make them.” His eyes met Izuku’s. “Human bodies.”

“I—remember,” Kurogiri cut in.

“What do you remember?” End asked, his focus more on removing more hands from his body and setting them on the table than Kurogiri’s slumped form.

“Shouta,” Kurogiri said.

“I’ve never heard that name before,” End seemed mildly interested but there were still hands to be removed.

Izuku found himself watching in fascinated disgust as he realised that they were actual hands, not props.

“We—we were together,” Kurogiri explained.

“Where was this?”

“S-school. Cl-class. Kids,” Kurogiri stuttered and End stilled.

“Bush, you may have actually broken him,” End sounded fascinated as he put the last hand down and turned to Kurogiri.

Izuku frowned at Kurogiri. “Do you mean my teacher?”

Kurogiri winced at the question like it caused him pain and he felt One for All flare, tugging him towards Kurogiri like it had when he had touched the man.

“Your teacher? Thirteen?” End asked as Izuku slowly reached out. “Or Eraserhead?”

“Eraser,” Kurogiri muttered and then Izuku was touching above the metal brace again.

One for All surged and Kurogiri went completely limp.

End sighed and Izuku looked up to see him crossing his arms. “You know, I have never seen him look like that?”

“Sitting down?” Izuku questioned, confused.

End paused and then continued, “That too. I mean relaxed. What is your quirk anyway? Some kind of muscle manipulation that you can use on others too?”

Izuku frowned and shook his head.

Tapping his fingers in irritation, End snapped out, “I’ve already done a lot to trust you. I should’ve unlocked your backstory with abandoning my mission.”

Izuku rubbed his face, leaving one hand on Kurogiri as One for All buzzed in his body. “Have you heard of Rabbit?”

Scoffing, End answered, “Of course I’ve heard of Rabbit. My mentor has been complaining about Rabbit for years.”

Izuku looked up at End. “Most people call me Rabbit.” End looked confused. “Phoenix actually started it.” His cheeks started to redden with embarrassment. “It was about how we met.” Which was an embarrassing story. “It kind of stuck, since he was sort of the first one to ask me to get social media.”

End had looked more and more incredulous as Izuku spoke.

“You’ve been Rabbit since you were a baby?”

Izuku flushed red and resisted the urge to cover his cheeks since one hand was still on Kurogiri. “I wasn’t a baby, I had a quirk.”

End’s eyes narrowed. “What even is your quirk? Everyone thinks Rabbit’s is some sort of spy or intelligence one.”

“What’s yours?” Izuku shot back.

End rolled his eyes and went to pluck a picture off the wall. He turned to face Izuku with it carefully held in his hands. “Mine is Decay. Anything I touch with all five fingers.” All his fingers wrapped around two sides of the frame and it started dissolving. It started falling but was only dust when it reached the ground.

“Yours?” End asked again.

“Promise you won’t tell anyone, especially your mentor,” Izuku insisted.

Rolling his eyes again End waved a hand through the air. “Yeah, I promise, whatever.”

Seeing the very clear aggravation in End’s body language Izuku held back an argument and a sigh as One for All hummed pleasantly and settled under his skin. He took that as a sign he could remove his hand.

When Secret didn’t speak up he decided to trust his friend. “For the longest time, I called my quirk Secret.”

He woke with a splitting headache. He-they?-They were sitting uncomfortably slouched over in a chair with two masculine voices in the same room. They tried to start listening in to figure out what was going on but that made pain lance through their head and they flinched hard enough to make the chair they were in move.

Curling down towards their legs, they covered their ears, wishing it would stop.

An undefined amount of time later they became aware of a steady hand on the back of their neck and a soothing voice though it was hard to make out the words.

“No, I don’t know what’s going on any more than you do, that’s not how my quirk works,” though there was an undertone of irritation, the voice was low and soothing (and also, very close).

“Well I wouldn’t know if you’d already done this before or not now would I?” The other voice was familiar in a way that stirred affection but it was in a loud tone filled with aggravation that shouldn’t bring forth an emotion like that.

The confusion made him shift around in seat, uncomfortable.

“Are you back with us?” the soft voice asked.

The hand on his neck started to leave but he grabbed the person’s wrist to keep it there. The touch was grounding he-They needed grounding.

“Oh, uh, I won’t go anywhere?” the hand must belong to the soft voice.

They hummed in agreement, forming words just beyond their abilities at the moment.

There was a moment of silence and then the aggravated voice spoke, “Are we just going to stand around waiting for something else to happen?”

“I’m a bit occupied but you’re welcome to do something else,” the soothing voice was almost pointedly cheerful.

There was a huff. “Kurogiri.” They tensed at the name. “Why did you bring us to this shitty safehouse?”

Something in them wanted to respond so they slowly uncurled, relieved when that didn’t cause more pain, and peered around. It was dusty in a way that made them wrinkle their nose but what startled them more was a dark mist at the edge of their vision.

The mist retreated as they looked for it and both of the other occupants of the room made a surprised sound. They turned to see a green haired teen and a light blue haired young man. It took a moment but they recognised—

“Shigaraki Tomura,” they said, affection in their tone which seemed to surprise him.

“That’s your name End?” the green haired one asked.

“Yes,” Shigaraki Tomura answered, his eyes narrowing as he scanned them head to toe. “I’ve never seen your face before, why did you pull the mist back?”

It took a second before they realised Shigaraki Tomura was speaking to them. “The mist is me,” it wasn’t really a question but it came out unsure as they looked at their hands.

“Are you okay?” the green haired one asked.

After a moment, they shrugged.

“Yeah, that’s still more expression than Kurogiri has ever shown. Are you sure you don’t manipulate minds Bush?”

Bush groaned as they thought about the name Kurogiri. It sounded familiar but wrong.

“I don’t manipulate minds! I can technically manipulate time,” Bush huffed. “It’s my quirk that actually does the manipulating anyway, not me.”

Was Kurogiri the right name for them though?

“That doesn’t make any sense. How can your quirk do anything on its own?”

“It’s a sentient quirk,” Bush drawled like it should be obvious.

“Loud Cloud,” they said abruptly, which made both boys stop speaking.

“What?” Shigaraki Tomura asked.

“I was called Loud Cloud,” they answered.

“I’ll look it up,” Bush volunteered, then seemed to remember that they still had one of his hands which Loud Cloud had no intention of releasing.

“I’ll do it,” Shigaraki Tomura said with a roll of his eyes.

There was a moment of near silence as Shigaraki Tomura grumbled and used his phone.

He hummed. “Loud Cloud is some dead hero student.”

Loud Cloud winced as the words caused another pain to flare in their head.

“End!”

Dead?

“What? It says here he was flattened under a building saving some brats.”

He actually remembered that, shuddering slightly at the crisp memory of fallen cement and the struggle for every dust filled breath.

“Are you alright?” Bush was crouched down to meet their eyes.

“What happened to Shouta?” they whispered.

“What was that?” Bush asked softly.

Their eyes unfocused, trying to remember more. “Aizawa Shouta, Eraserhead,” they said slowly. Their eyes focused again to see Bush staring at them.

“He’s, uh, he’s my teacher. He was—Well, he was there when you guys attacked.” Bush waved his free hand as Loud Cloud stiffened. “He’s a hero though, so he’s probably okay? Would the Nomu have attacked him when we left?” the last question was directed at Shigaraki Tomura, so they focused on him.

Shigaraki Tomura shrugged. “If he didn’t attack it.” He scratched at his neck which Loud Cloud had the urge to stop but resisted the impulse. “Or try to leave I guess. There were two Nomu. I had one outside to keep people from getting in or leaving.”

“I know you don’t like heroes but those are my classmates!”

“Well you didn’t tell me enough about your class so I didn’t know that,” Shigaraki Tomura argued.

“We were—were we—” Loud Cloud covered their face, but all they could remember was a huge smudge of colours and sounds that didn’t make much sense.

“Your mentor knows about this place?” Bush asked.

“If Kurogiri knew he would have to.”

“Then we need to figure out another place for you and Loud Cloud, to keep you away from your mentor and the HPSC,” Bush replied determinedly.

“How do you purpose we do that?” Shigaraki Tomura did not sound impressed.

“You’re hardly the only people I have helped with these things,” Bush sounded just as unimpressed.

Loud Cloud removed a hand from their face when Bush gently squeezed their neck so that they could see him.

“Do you want to stay with End? He’s going to want to help take down hero society. I know your portal quirk will be useful,” Bush told them.

“I want to stay with Shigaraki Tomura,” they answered and then paused. “Portals?”

“Your current quirk is called Warpgate. It’s kind of OP but Bush’s is broken so you’re in good company,” Shigaraki commented, already doing something on his phone. He acted disinterested but Loud Cloud could tell he was paying close attention.

They looked at their hands. “Warpgate.”

Bush squeezed gently again. “I need my hand back to contact my friends. Will you be alright?”

Loud Cloud shrugged and Bush removed his hand slowly. Thankfully there was no stabbing pain this time.

Phoenix hated paperwork. Paperwork where he killed people, even if they turned out to be multi-quirked zombies (maybe it was good some of the notes had survived this time?), was endless and annoying. He usually avoided killing people for many reasons (paperwork might have been fairly high on that list, Rabbit’s expression might have been at the top).

All this to say, when he got a text notification he could have ignored it like a dutiful hero, but he didn’t.

Rabbit: I may have a favour to ask

Oh, this was going to be good.

Me: aren’t you kidnapped right now?

While he waited for a response Phoenix wished these forms were digital so he could copy paste the information in them. Each death (second death?) caused needed a separate form filled out for it, but he had killed all of them the same way (with fire). He had also lost count in there while it was going on. It didn’t help that it was copies of him that had killed them but when Twice had realised that it was technically his quirk that had been the real cause of death he had almost cried at the stack of paperwork.

Guilted by his own sidekick into doing more paperwork…

His phone dinged with a message.

Rabbit: I guess I am kidnapped… my favour may or may not be related. How soon could you meet me somewhere?

Phoenix snorted at the message and eyed the stack of paperwork. This sounded like it may make it grow bigger but… procrastination it was!

Me: As soon as you give me a location. Its not often I get to rescue Rabbit

Rabbit: Rescue, right.🙄You know that subway platform that you suggested meeting at for the last person I sent your way?

Phoenix gave it some thought, then remembered the no longer used subway stop that was at the end of a line. It had been used by a lab that had gotten shut down years ago and was actually on the outskirts of Kamino Ward, closer to Musutafu.

Phoenix: I can be there in fifteen. Should I bring company?

Rabbit: You and Vampire. Don’t let Sir Nighteye touch either of you.

Humming, Phoenix responded with a thumbs up emoji and rolled to his feet. Not that he planned on letting the bossy Twilight hero touch him. The guy really hated him and his sidekicks. Probably because they didn’t follow the rules like he so obviously believed they should.

He had been an absolute pain about the Shie Hassaikai. Something about not enough intel to move blah blah. Rabbit’s intel was better than anything that stickler could find.

Throwing his pen down on the barrowed desk, Phoenix left his paperwork where it was and marched towards the exit.

Overall, the building screamed ‘boring office building.’ The walls and floor done in white and grey respectively. The ceiling was made of those tiles you could poke to raise (also in white with grey supports). Lighting was those terrible UV bulbs and doors painted dark grey with silver nobs. When there were windows they were fogged glass for privacy, which prevented even a view outside to break the monotony.

“All done bossman?” Vampire Lady yelled mockingly as Phoenix waved her comment away. He stuck his head in the break room his sidekicks were using and saw that all three of them seemed to be finished their paperwork and were enjoying cups of what might be coffee. They were seated around a boring grey table on boring grey plastic chairs

After noting all of them seemed alright, he focused on Vampire Lady. “We’ve got to collect a Rabbit,” he informed her, gaining a squeal of excitement. His eyes moved to Mr. Compress and Twice. “You both can stay here.”

Vampire Lady skipped to his side as he made his way towards the exit. “Careful not to let Sir Nighteye touch you, Rabbit’s orders,” he informed her.

“I’ll make sure to not even stab him,” she said with an enthusiastic nod as they continued down the hallway. She started humming obnoxiously loudly as they went.

As the double doors to outside came into view (also made of fogged glass), Sir Nighteye seemed to pop out of nowhere. The man dressed as uptight as he acted, in a grey suit the same colour as the floor and his shirt matching the walls. It was like the most boring indoor camouflage; the exceptions being the red tie and his green hair with the yellow stripes.

Phoenix dodged out of the way of hand Sir Nighteye had headed for his shoulder and took a step back.

“All of your paperwork completed already?” Sir Nighteye asked with a bland expression.

Phoenix resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “I have a possible lead on the missing student. That takes priority over paperwork,” the last word dripped with disgust and Sir Nighteye somehow managed to stand even straighter.

“Where? We can have someone sent out right away,” Sir Nighteye said.

“We are. I’m going with Vampire Lady.” Phoenix raised a hand as Sir Nighteye started to protest. “No. If it isn’t my team that is sent it may send the kidnappers into hiding. You know my track record and that of my team. We don’t fail and you,” he pointed a stiff finger at Nighteye, “are not going to compromise that.”

Nighteye went to knock his hand away but Phoenix once again avoided the touch. He always followed Rabbit’s advice.

“Fine,” the man seethed. “But if your actions cause any injuries or loss of life it will be on your head.”

Phoenix held back an eye roll. “Let us pass so we can save him.”

There was a hesitation and then Sir Nighteye stepped out of his way.

He was tempted to shoulder check him but no touching was allowed.

“Bye, Nighteye!” Vampire Lady called cheerfully with a big wave as he marched out of the office building.

Phoenix made his way to the nearest subway station, tuning out Vampire Lady’s chatter about the blood she had seen recently. Thankfully, it was still early afternoon so there were plenty of trains going. Vampire Lady’s conversation topic also granted them a wide space in what would have been a crowded car. Phoenix held back a smirk as her eyes gleamed with amusement and she went on to describe the texture and flavour of the last blood she had.

Ten minutes later and he was at the nearest active stop to the one Rabbit had told them to meet at. He waited for the train to depart before eyeing the people around them. Vampire Lady had quieted before they had stepped out so there wasn’t any attention on them from her words. She was good at judging when she should be quiet now, though she hadn’t always been.

It didn’t seem like anyone was paying attention to them, they weren’t exactly very popular heroes, even if they were in costume.

After checking he dropped down onto the tracks and headed down the dark tunnel with Vampire Lady on his heels. Once the light no longer reached them, he lit a small flame on one palm and wandered further.

Finally, he started hearing hushed voices.

Phoenix whistled a tune, causing them to go quiet. A whistle sounded back, confirming it was Rabbit and that he was safe.

Humming, Phoenix picked up his pace a bit.

Thankfully the station they had chosen had skylights so even without power it was easy to see while still inside. It was the typical grey cement with dark grey panelling at the bottom. Posters that had once been on the walls were on the floor with one or two stubbornly clinging by two bottom corners.

Up off the tracks were three figures that immediately drew the eye.

That was Rabbit in his green hero suit, a man in all black and one in… was that a suit vest with a metal neck brace?

“So are these your kidnappers, Rabbit?” Phoenix asked, eyeing the two with interest as he vaulted up onto the platform.

Vampire Lady followed him up and then bounced on her heels beside him in a rare show of restraint.

Rabbit flushed and tapped two fingers together. “Well, if I was marked as kidnapped then technically, yes.”

The one in all black rolled his eyes. “He caused his own kidnapping, if he hadn’t touched Loud Cloud,” he gestured at the guy in the vest, “then he wouldn’t have ended up on the safehouse.”

Rabbit sighed, obviously done with the conversation. “This is Loud Cloud and—” he cut himself off and looked at the guy in black. “What name do you want to be called?”

The man hummed. “I think I will go with Rust for now.”

“Right, Loud Cloud and Rust, meet Phoenix and Vampire Lady,” Rabbit turned to Phoenix. “They were under the control of the villain who made the Nomu, which attacked the USJ with the large group earlier,” Rabbit explained.

“Nice to meet more friends of little Rabbit!” Vampire Lady cooed, bounding forward but held back from getting into their space by a grab from Rabbit. She happily latched onto him instead.

“Nomu, the super zombies,” Phoenix agreed. “The warehouse you sent us to was full of them, and some doctor guy that we got pictures of.”

Rust started laughing. “Bush, you sure know how to fuck with plans. That’s where my mentor was staying. His doctor helps make the Nomu.”

“So, if we catch him, we stop super zombie production,” Phoenix suggested.

“Ohhhhh, would he have blood there? I always love trying new things!” Vampire Lady cut in.

“He probably does have blood, but it might not be fresh enough to eat,” Rust said, acting as if blood drinking seemed completely normal, which wasn’t something Phoenix had expected. Most people thought Vampire Lady was a bit… much.

Vampire Lady pouted as Rust continued, “Maybe you could stop Nomu production by stopping the doctor, but my mentor is resourceful.”

“Rabbit will make sure he goes down at some point,” Phoenix said, unbothered with going with the flow after years of interaction with Rabbit, who flushed a deep red.

“Uh, well, we were actually hoping you could help out with something else,” Rabbit spoke up.

“A place where these two won’t get arrested or reacquired by that evil mentor guy,” Phoenix guessed, eyeing the two.

“And I want in with taking down heroes,” Rust added, a stubborn look in his eyes that amused Phoenix.

“Where he ventures, I follow,” Loud Cloud added.

Phoenix grinned. “We’ll see if we can put you to work.”

Rust bristled at that but he ignored it to turn to Rabbit.

“Any suggestions?” he checked.

Rabbit looked thoughtful. “I think my teacher, Eraserhead, needs to meet Loud Cloud. They can open portals though, so as long as they don’t get caught doing it, the location doesn’t matter.”

Phoenix eyed Loud Cloud, impressed. “We’ll have to work on you getting hero licenses, like the rest of my sidekicks.”

That instantly brought a sneer to Rust’s face.

Phoenix rolled his eyes. “Think of it as abusing the system. You can get away with burning entire buildings with a license.”

“And stabbing people for blood samples!” Vampire Lady added happily, finally releasing Rabbit from her embrace to skip over to Rust. “Do you like blood too?”

Rust stared at her blankly. “Not as much as you.”

She squealed and clapped. “So you do like blood!”

“As important as the current conversation is,” Phoenix cut in sarcastically, “we need a plan.” He turned to Loud Cloud. “If I gave you a destination, could you make a portal there?”

“Yes,” the man sounded unsure but when Phoenix looked at Rabbit he nodded.

“So, here’s what we’ll do—"

Izuku watched his friends leave through a portal with a sigh and turned Vampire Lady. “Let’s get going then.”

She nodded happily and pulled out a flashlight. “Back to civilization!” she exclaimed, then jumped down onto the unused tracks.

“I wish I could’ve gone with them,” he said wistfully.

“Kidnapping victims must be returned before they get taken elsewhere otherwise we’re kidnappers too!” she replied cheerfully.

“Pretty sure that’s not how it works.”

She blew a raspberry at him.

Snorting, Izuku allowed the conversation to drop. Vampire Lady hummed the whole way back. Izuku thought he recognised some of the tunes but then she would quietly sing and it was all about blood so he wasn’t sure.

Soon enough they were walking into an office building that was a hive of activity. As soon as he entered people took notice and Sir Nighteye came striding over.

Dodging the hand Nighteye had aimed for his shoulder, with current quest objectives about not being touched by Sir Nighteye in mind, he took a step behind Vampire Lady.

“Where’s Phoenix?” Sir Nighteye asked Vampire Lady.

“Making sure the two of us weren’t followed by the ones who had taken this student,” she said in a serious voice that contrasted with how she was bouncing on her heels. “He wanted to make sure Midoriya was safely returned.”

Sir Nighteye took a step to the side to view Izuku again. “Are you injured?”

Izuku shook his head. “I think they picked me up by accident.”

Sir Nighteye nodded. “We’ll have to report your return,” he said, and reached out again but Vampire Lady was already pulling him away.

“I know which forms those are!” she almost sang.

Izuku let himself be pulled along, amused by her way of getting out of the conversation.

His mother and Aizawa were soon contacted by Mr. Compress, since he decided that the other two Knights Errant weren’t to be trusted with phone conversations. He settled into the break room (it was distinguished as such by an empty row of cabinets, a sink and a large table with six plastic chairs around it) and pulled up his social media while he waited for them to arrive.

He winced as he was bombarded by worried messages from his friends in his class and finally took the time to start replying.

He had finally managed to convince them he was alright when his mother arrived. Seeing her rush to the door he stood up which drew her attention.

There were tears in her eyes as soon as she saw him. “Izuku!” he was wrapped in a tight hug, then she pulled back to look him over. “You aren’t hurt! They told me you weren’t, but it was hard to believe with you missing for hours!”

“I’m alright mom!” Izuku told her, gently squeezing her forearms. He noticed the Knights Errant making a hasty retreat.

His mother pulled him close and hugged him harder, making him smile. “What did I say about fighting villains before you graduated young man!”

Izuku laughed a bit at that. “I’ll try harder mom,” he offered.

At those words Aizawa walked into the meeting room.

“It’s good to see you, Midoriya,” Aizawa said, causing his mother to draw away enough to see Aizawa as well.

“I appreciate all the effort you went through to find my son,” his mother told Aizawa.

“We have the Knights Errant to thank for that, I think. My efforts didn’t amount to much,” Aizawa admitted, his eyes scanning over Izuku. “It’s good to see you unharmed, Midoriya. We weren’t certain where to look for you.”

Izuku blushed slightly. “I’m glad to be back.” Seeing Aizawa he couldn’t help but think of Loud Cloud and hope they were somewhere safe.

“Explaining why you had to miss your playdate with Eri would have been difficult. She was looking forward to seeing you at our apartment this evening. We will reschedule of course, there’s been enough excitement for one day,” Aizawa told him.

“She’s doing alright?” Izuku asked, concerned.

Aizawa nodded. “She’s with her tutor right now. I checked in earlier, she isn’t aware of what happened. I will be going home to explain after I wrap things up here.”

His focus shifted to Izuku’s mother. “Classes for the day have been cancelled and won’t resume until Monday. I know this was quite the scare Mrs. Midoriya. We wanted to give the students and their families time to recover.”

Inko nodded seriously. “The extra time is appreciated. You and the school faculty did a good job protecting our children. Izuku will be back in classes on Monday.”

Aizawa nodded and then said his goodbyes.

Once he had left his mother stepped back and looked him up and down. “Your costume looks so much better in person!”

Izuku blushed. “Thanks Mom.”

Chapter Text

It had been months since Loud Cloud and Rust had left with Phoenix to a place where they could stay for a while.

Tenko—since he no longer wanted to be referred to as Shigaraki Tomura—had settled in surprisingly well with the Knights Errant. After they had settled with the new roles in life he and Loud Cloud both had applied for provisional licenses.

Phoenix had found it hilarious when Rust had failed the first time. Loud Cloud himself had found the memories they had of previous training useful, and the exam had been finished with ease.

Loud Cloud’s hero outfit was a leather bomber jacket over a white button up shirt. He had a light blue headband the same colour his hair used to be. He didn’t carry any weapons but he wore straight black pants with concealed pockets that contained many items.

Rust had chosen a trench coat with a dark rust pattern to it that embodied his hero name. It was over a slightly yellowed shirt and black and grey cargo pants. His neck and the lower part of his face was covered by layers of black scarf. Black combat boots rounded out his hero outfit.

While Loud Cloud had yet to meet Aizawa (or Yamada) in person, they had gotten into contact with them both and confirmed their identity. Even Kayama had spoken to them. While Loud Cloud wasn’t just Oboro anymore (they had vague memories from other people’s perspectives that Rabbit suspected were from those other quirks that had been used to make Warpgate within them), their old friends weren’t just the people that they remembered either. Time changed people, as did loss.

Even so, between their old friends, the Kinghts Errant and Rabbit the Doctor hadn’t stood a chance. He had tried to escape but with a well aimed knife, Vampire Lady had injured him so severely he had died in transit to a hospital.

All for One was still out there though, as were the threats that lay within the HPSC.

The Knights Errant currently sat around a meeting table in a room that was rented out just for this reason. Rabbit, though he should refer to him as his Hero name Valiant (the Questing Hero) while in costume, was idly spinning back and forth in a dark brown office chair as they waited for Twice and Phoenix to enter. The table they were seated at was made to look like dark wood with light grey legs.

Loud Cloud looked to where Vampire Lady and Rust were arguing with fond amusement. Vampire Lady was insisting that blood counted as an ice cream topping while Rust was arguing that it wasn’t.

Blood being a food topping or ingredient was a frequent argument of theirs when they were idle and in the same room.

Mr. Compress was playing with a marble and watching the argument like it was a tennis match from the other side of the table.

Loud Cloud idly scanned the beige walls that had landscapes hung on them with faux plants in the corners. The one floor to ceiling window was made of fogged glass but let in the gentle afternoon sunlight.

Phoenix and Twice soon joined them, with Phoenix carefully shutting the door behind him. Once they were both seated Rust turned on Phoenix.

“So when are we going to take down hero society? I was promised that when I took a job as your sidekick and I haven’t heard any plans,” Rust grumbled, looking ready to argue more.

Phoenix stared at him a moment. “You’ve had your license less than a week, of course you haven’t heard any plans.”

Rust bristled and planted his hands on the table, pinkies lifted. “I’ve been around far longer than I’ve had a license,” he hissed.

“Good thing that we’re here to discuss that anyway then,” Phoenix said drily, flipping open a folder. “Thanks to intel from Valiant, we know that the HPSC has been party to some… interesting training methods. Valiant has suggested that we take a look at one of the top heroes for more information.”

Phoenix slid folders around the table to each of them. Loud Cloud flipped his open to a view of Hawks on the first page.

“Hawks, a hero that came out of nowhere and rose too quickly to be normal. His ties the HPSC are blatant with the assignments he is given,” Phoenix said. “We plan on getting close to him to get him to help reveal the program he came from.”

“Some of the other heroes from it probably died or are imprisoned from what I heard,” Valiant offered, still spinning his chair, not touching his folder.

“We also included information on other heroes who seem to have ties with organizations like the Meta Liberation Army. It will be our checklist for the month to look through them and get them off the streets in one way or another,” Phoenix said.

“There’s a lot of people in here. How are we supposed to meet them all?” Twice grumbled.

“I’m going to help!” Valiant declared, bouncing in his seat.

“As a noncombatant,” Phoenix insisted, which seemed to amuse Valiant.

“You’re just scared of what my mom will say if I come back with a scratch again,” Valiant replied.

Phoenix looked haunted. “Inko is a terrifying lady,” he agreed.

“This doesn’t sound like the destruction of hero society.” Rust sounded aggravated, staring at the pages in disdain.

“The HPSC holds hero society together. We get enough dirt on them and the whole thing will crumble,” Valiant said consolingly.

“This is a pathetic plan,” Rust argued, slamming down the papers.

“The last page includes bases that we can probably destroy,” Valiant told him.

Rust picked the folder back up and turned to the last page.

Vampire Lady raised a hand, which contained a knife, and waved it around. “Does that mean we can stab people?”

As the table devolved into arguments about how the missions would go, Loud Cloud watched with a soft smile.

It wasn’t how they had pictured being a hero as a child, but it was very close to perfect anyway.