Chapter Text
Tim– Deku was having a fucking week.
Between Kacchan getting his ass kidnapped by the League of Villains and his classmates wanting to save him without so much as a plan or any research, he was ready to punch someone. Maybe Ra's if he could find the fucker.
Contrary to popular belief, Izuku Midoriya did have a quirk. Yes, he had One for All, but he also had one of the earliest quirks, way back when they were still just called metagenes.
"Damn, that was probably some 300 years ago now", he near silently muttered to himself.
Fortunately, Timothy Drake was not born immortal. He could die. Very easily.
However, he was born with a then-dormant metagene he called Rebirth. Every time he died, he was reborn into another body.
Every time he died, he remembered a little more of all of his previous lives.
He also still kept most scars he had, in the form of birthmarks. Needless to say, he had a lot of freckles. And he still didn't have his spleen back.
Every life so far, he had been misdiagnosed as quirkless. 16 times. 16. It didn't matter much to him, honestly.
What really ticked him off was the way it seemed to invite bullies to beat his ass into his next life. He'd died twice now from that shit.
The rest of the time, he was killed during his lifely hunt for one still-actually-immortal bastard, Ra's Al Ghul.
Izuku glanced at the building sceptically. This… actually reminded him of Gotham. When he was still swinging around as Red Robin. He thought about his too-many-greats-to-remember grandkids. They were doing well, last he checked. One was getting married to her girlfriend next month, another in charge of Wayne Enterprises, and another with his second kid on the way. All in all, surprisingly well for his family. They weren't even vigilantes!
Izuku was getting sidetracked.
He hadn't even noticed the pro-heroes go in! Fuck. Bruce would be disappointed.
One beat.
Two beat.
Three.
All hell broke loose. The wall Izuku, Iida, Yaoyorozu, Todoroki and Kirishima were hiding behind was looking a lot worse for wear, but thank fuck it was still standing.
He could see the hero team, mostly alive and well, with the exception of Best Jeanist. Tim watched for any signs of life. Shallow breathing. Not dead, but close.
As All for One was reassuring Shigaraki, Izuku stole a glance. Their eyes met. Familiarity slipped into both of their stances.
"Yaomomo, make me two wakizashi and a bo staff", he whispered.
"What"?
"Wakizashi and Bo staff. Quick".
Yaoyorozu hesitated for a moment.
"Please", he pleaded.
A few moments later, he had a sword in hand, and a pretty good quality staff. He straightened up.
"Mido-bro! Are you trying to get yourself killed”!? Kirishima whisper-shouted.
Tim ignored him in favour of his longest… would acquaintance be the right word? Maybe enemies is still correct. They do still end up killing each other most of the time, just… Tim has that fucking quirk and Ra's had the Pits.
"Detective", his old acquaintance smiled.
"Ra's", Tim greeted.
"I see you have returned".
"Indeed ". Tim's classmates glanced between him and All for One.
"You didn't like my gift, last time"? No. No he did not. 30 assassins in his studio apartment sucked ass.
"I made it to 27 that time", he growled.
"A new record for you, I suppose", the Demon's Head sneered. "How many times is it now"?
"Fifteen", Red Robin sneered in return. "I'm not so eager for it to be 16, Ra's. I can, I have, and I will destroy you. So can we please for the love of fucking god just get to the part where we try to cut off each other's heads you egotistical overdramatic ass."
He felt the eyes of his friends drilling into the back of his neck.
"Well then, Detective"- Ra's started.
"Classic. Your old sparring rules. I win, we– as in my classmates, the pro heroes, and I– get to leave, unharmed. You win, take my head and wait until we meet again".
"Those are perfectly acceptable terms".
When Tenya came with his classmates, he was hoping they would be in and out, minimal fighting, just getting Bakugou and leaving.
Not having Midoriya fight someone so clearly powerful that even the leader of the League of Villains listened to him.
This… Ra's person seemed like he had some very personal issues with Midoriya, and vice versa.
It sounded like some sort of video game to him, but *this* whole fighting thing is definitely not a video game. Unless Tenya are some particularly strange mushrooms, he would settle on this being real.
Which means, Midoriya just gambled his head away to a man who has Shigaraki seeking praise like a neglected dog.
Shouto was… concerned.
Midoriya is acting very idiotic right now, to say the least.
From what he can tell, Midoriya is not trained in sword fighting, he just hits his enemies as hard as he can with his quirk. And ends up breaking his arms as a result.
The heroes and Shigaraki were pushed away by some unseen force. Maybe it was the villain's quirk? The rubble was also shoved away, leaving a wide, almost arena-like circle in the centre.
Momo watched as the man and the boy took opposite sides of the makeshift arena.
Was Midoriya trying to buy them time to leave? Why was he acting so familiar with this villain? Was this his way of asking for help?
Midoriya looked far too comfortable fighting the man who radiated power. Momo felt like she wanted to bow down and beg for mercy whenever she looked at him too long. How the boy managed to actually glare, sass, and offer the man a deal was beyond her.
Eijirou felt like Midoriya had been murdered and replaced with a clone. Actually, in this day and age? That was likely.
This was not the manly teenager who muttered about heroes and got picked on by Bakugou.
But he was. He still talked the same way, just with a touch more certainty. He still glared the same way, just with less subtlety. He still had the incredible, stupidly selfless attitude.
Midoriya was very manly.
"Three", Ra's started in the League of Assassins dialect.
"Two", Tim continued, in the same tongue.
"One", they said together, rushing at each other with blades.
The swords clashed, the god awful sound of metal scraping against metal caused his classmates and a concerning number of the heroes to flinch.
"How's the last.. fuck how old is this body..? I wanna say 16 years..? Whatever. How's the last few years since my death treating you"? Tim grinned.
"Small talk, Detective? I expected better", Ra's frowned.
"Sadly, you're literally the only other person I somewhat can rely on existing for the rest of eternity. Might as well have a relationship that isn't you trying to kill me over and over again".
"Tt."
Dodge. Parry. Feint. Parry. Neither of the blades connected with anything other than the cool steel of the other.
"How's your latest pet project going"? Tim asked, nodding to Shigaraki.
"Did no one teach you to fight with your mouth closed"?
Tim frowned. He hooked his leg around Ra's', and swung the sword at the man's neck as he slipped.
"Young Midoriya! Step away from the villain"! All Might yelled.
The wakizashi stopped less than a centimetre away from the immortal’s neck. “All Might”, both of them acknowledged. Midoriya– someone he had long since accepted as probably his number one fan– sounded almost hateful. It was so… wrong. At least he knew what to expect with All for One.
“We will continue this”, Izuku frowned.
“Naturally–” the man was cut off with the sword going through his neck.
“As I was saying”, Midoriya gritted out. “We will continue this, after I talk with All Might”.
The villain warped away with the same disgusting black goo.
“Young Midoriya! We are going to talk after this”.
Had Deku mentioned he was having a fucking week?