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Chapter Text

Izuku Midoriya tried not to think about just how horrible today had been, tried real hard not to think about just how awful life was. All because of something outside of his control . 

You see, at the tender age of four he was told by a doctor that he was quirkless, simply because he had a second joint in his pinkie toe. Which, of course, sent his life into a  long inescapable depressive spiral. His ‘best friend’ turned on him, turning his name into a toxic nickname, abusing him, beating him, burning him, all because Izuku was quirkless, and ‘Kaachan’ had an amazing quirk. Because Izuku was worthless and Katsuki was the best .

But it didn’t stop at the great Katsuki Bakugou, the entire world seemed to change into a hostile place, where everyone aware of his status began to treat him differently, like he was not worth the air he breathed, like he was a lesser being, inhuman . 

It had almost destroyed his dream, his one ambition. Izuku Midoriya wanted to be a Hero, like a lot of kids. And like a lot of kids, his childish common dream was founded on a painfully genuine yearning. On a secret beautiful core. 

Izuku Midoriya wanted to help people, to inspire them, to be seen and to be able to bring that feeling to others. Hence his goal of being a hero, because what other way would there be? His existence was cradled by heroes, on the TV, in the ads, written in books, on his math homework, the stars of the movies, on his clothes, it was everywhere. 

Apparently, this childish fantasy that he held like a million children before him, was wrong. Worse, it wasn’t wrong for a child to wish to be a hero, even if so very few would actually manage that. It was, however, wrong for Izuku Midoriya and the very low percentage of quirkless children still alive in Japan, to share that wish. Because they were born with an additional bone in their foot, this fantasy was wrong, stupid, unrealistic, and he needed to stop and shut up. When the kid with whale-like teeth said the same it was met with a mirthful laugh and an ‘you can do anything you set your mind to’.

Because he couldn’t buy normal sized shoes he didn’t get to dream.

Izuku was angry. But he couldn’t be angry, or he would be ungrateful and that would be bad. He didn’t get to be ungrateful, he didn’t get to be bad. Izuku Midoriya did not get to be angry .

He hated his life, he felt so empty… so hungry , so hungry all the time. That was another thing that was frustrating, one day he had woken up and just begun to feel hungry all the time. Just another thing that made him a freak, another thing that put a strain on his mother. The useless glutton that ate and ate but gave nothing back. 

He shivered and clamped down on the memory of earlier today, he didn’t want to think about it, didn’t want to remember the words of his friend . He didn’t want to break down and give up, he couldn’t take the advice, no matter how much he wanted to. He hated that even in his mind he couldn’t not call it ‘advice’.  

You see, it wasn’t just the weight of feeling alone, or the thought that everyone despised him for something outside of his control, there was another thing wrong with him. On top of the hunger and the depression there was a continued feeling of wrongness that permeated through him. Like he wanted to tear the skin from off his bone, like he wanted to be something else. Like he had a mask on his face like… Something was wrong and no one could see it.   

It felt like a nausea stuck inside his very bones, like something written into his skin that he couldn’t read. There was this constant low level of yuck that just seemed to permeate through his very being. Like every flaw every judgment passed on himself was worsened tenfold, like he had to be a monster because he couldn’t be something else .

What's worse is every time he tried to work on his goal of being a hero, work on bettering himself, on doing the things he was told were supposed to help with his self worth, help with his mental health, that feeling amplified and made it impossible. The thought of him with giant muscles, and looking super masculine like Kaachan just… He shuddered and resisted the urge to itch at his arms to try and rid himself of the feeling. 

So lost was he in his thoughts that he missed the sound of the sewer cover moving as he walked through an overpass. He was not however so lost in his thoughts that he missed the chilling words of, “A medium-sized invisibility cloak…” 

His head whipped around his eyes widened and he gasped… something that proved to be a mistake, because at that moment the sludge engulfed him. He had no air, no way to fight back, and was forced to do nothing but struggle against the thing enveloping him. As the taste of sewage filled his tongue, as noise became dampened by the horrible liquid, as green became the only thing he could see. He was vaguely aware of the sludge saying something as it forced itself into his orifices and into him . His vision started rapidly darkening as the sludge made its way quickly into his body, his body offering little resistance because he hadn't had the ability to hold his breath. 

<WARNING: Hive in danger, forcing emergency evolution.>

<Accessing stores of Biomass>

<Insufficient Biomass…>

<Solution: Acquire more>

<Permission to acquire more Biomass?>

Izuku couldn’t really didn’t have the brain power to marvel at the fact he was hearing a voice in his brain. Nor did he try to hope for what that would mean, really only one thought stood out. I don’t want to die…

<Understood: initiating emergency protocols.>

<Primary objective: protect the hive.>

<Secondary objective: provide an aid for Queen>

Wait…Queen? He didn’t have time to contemplate what was said or how he felt about it before his arms stopped struggling and then, a shiver ran through his body as he felt something change and he began to slurp down the sludge eagerly. The sludge monster seemed excited, filling his body as fast as it could, that eagerness however soon turned to terror. It screamed and tried to pull away to stop the pull but it was far too late for it to stop what was happening. 

<Biomass and new Essence acquired>

<Beginning Evolution>

Izuku felt a new level of pain overtake him; a scream, not his own, ripped its-self from his throat.  

“HAVE NO FEAR FOR I… AM… Here… NO!”

“TEXAS SMASH!” 

Between the pain, and the punch from All Might Izuku knew no more.

<Acquiring aid…>

<Blueprints provided by unknown source.>

<Using information to build aid…>

<Success. Aid activated.>

<<Situation unknown, new host, detecting, new Queen? Not possible.>>

<Incorrect, new hive, new queen. You will help swarm survive.>

<<Understood, analyzing new Queen.>>

<<Body inefficient, evolution required. Swarm Must survive>>

<Permission from Queen is required>

<<Queen permission irrelevant>> 

<<Body currently in state that requires upgrading, or swarm will perish.>>

<No, permission required>

<<Queen is not available.>>

<Problem fixed.>

<<AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA>>

Awareness flooded into Izuku, not of his body, because he seriously doubted that his body was currently floating within a blank void! What was going on? The last thing he remembered was drinking the sludge villain and then blacking out because All Might had punched him! 

<<Cease screaming. Also fascinating response time. Use of cortex impressive.>>

The voice that responded was quite robotic in its tone, with masculine intonations and long gaps between short phrases. It also had a slightly inhuman quality to it that Izuku could not quite pinpoint. He also got the distinct impression it was analyzing him and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. 

<<WHO ARE YOU!?!? WHERE AM I?!?!? WHAT IS GOING ON!?!? WHY CAN’T I SEE?!?! WHERE ARE WE!?!?>>

<<Cortex speed impressive. No need to shout.>>

A second voice responded inside of Izuku’s body, coming from everywhere at once, one that was more feminine and less robotic.

<Answers: I am your connection to the Zerg. The other is known as Abathur- an advisor of the swarm. Your physical body is in Mustafa General Hospital. Your permission was required thus you were awoken from your coma. You can not see because the visual cortex is shut down and we are providing no stimulation. We are in your mind.> 

As the words sunk in Izuku realized that there was a lot of information to process. 

<<Apparently I am within my own mind? Then could I not just think of something and have something to look at instead of the blank void? It is kinda awful to be trapped in a void. Also I have something called the connection to the Zerg? What are the Zerg? What does that mean? Am I going crazy? Oh, also there is this Abathur person that I swear is analyzing me and it's kinda creeping me out.>>

<Answers: Yes you are within your mind, will provide scenery. Yes you have a connection to the Zerg, you would call it a quirk, it is more than just a quirk however. Zerg are a species of aliens that originate from the planet Zerus, you are the new Queen of the Zerg, the one who will command the swarm. You are not going crazy, just received enough Biomass for quirk to begin to evolve you as required. Abathur is analyzing you, it is his job to evolve you and your swarm… yes he is creepy.>

Before Izuku could begin to think about questions, like what the hell did she mean Queen ? The scenery changed. He was no longer standing in a blank void but instead was standing on some sort of squishy ground. It pulsed up and down slightly making a squelching sound. He tried not to scream as he looked down and realized that whatever he was standing on was alive . He hesitantly looked up to check on the rest of his surroundings, the room looked to be made of dark carapace interlace with red veins. To his right he saw a worm alien thing (?) hanging from the ceiling watching him, he realized this was his connection to the Zerg. To his left was a… Well, he couldn’t really describe it as anything more than a bloated worm with bile sacks on its side, with a maw that had pincers beneath its face plate, and blade-like appendages coming from his sides. He instinctively knew that this was Abathur, and had no idea how to feel about this information. 

<<Irrelevant. Provide permission to modify, user body highly inefficient, will result in death.>>

<<Wait WHat I AM going to DIE!??! PERMISsioN GRANtEd! I don’t want to die!>>

<Notice: You are not in danger of dying currently, however permission has been granted.>

<<Beginning process, utilizing genetic blueprint: Kerrigan - Queen of Blades.>>

Izuku watched as the one known as Abathur turned and used his blades to squelch and wiggle his way out of the area. 

<<Wait… What did I just agree to!?!? WHO THE HELL IS KERRIGAN!?!?>>

<Answers: You agreed to upgrades that will most likely save your life in the future, and make achieving your goal of being a hero easier. The swarm serves you, your purpose is our purpose. We will always obey our Queen. Even Abathur can be trusted to obey. Even if his methods do not mesh with yours, he does have the best interest of the swarm in mind. Kerrigan a Terran Zerg hybrid who was the greatest leader of the Zerg.>   

Izuku felt himself kind of just flop against the weird flesh/carapace/vein thing that was the wall, it was shockingly comfortable, especially since a bit of flesh covered the carapace bits he leaned against. The words and the past few… minutes (?), hours (?), seconds (?) finally seemed to catch up with him. He felt overwhelmed and oh so very confused, it was not something that he could fully articulate even within the confines of his own mind apparently. Eventually he glanced around and just let his brain take in the information, letting it slowly form questions without rushing. 

<<Right, so I have questions, and you seem to be answering them. So first off, why do you keep calling me Queen? >>

<Answer: Leader of the Zerg is typically known as Queen, the only instance where that was not the case was when the Overmind ruled. You are not the Overmind, can not be the Overmind. Also your emotional signs suggests you enjoy the idea.>

Izuku blinked once, then twice, before a blush overtook his face and he found himself sputtering like a loon. That… that had not, it wasn’t… it can’t, that no… that. That couldn’t be right, could it? Rather than open that can of fuckign worms. He glanced over at the hanging bug woman that was still in the area, I need a better turn of phrase. She thought to himself before shaking her head. RIGHT she didn’t want to think about this right now so… he wasn’t going to. 

<<Right, putting a pin in that right now. Next question, you said that Kerrigan was a Zerg Terran hybrid, you mean like she was from earth?>>

<Answer: She was a Terran, a race that hailed from a planet called Earth. Note this Earth is not the one you are from, it resides in another part of the universe. It is quite peculiar that two planets named themself the same thing.>

<<How do you know all of this?>>

<Answer: I have access to some of the Zerg Hive Mind and am accessing data banks. We have limited access to the data, and can not upload new data, unsure of cause. Most likely something or someone is limiting our access.>

<<Oh… ok… Joy, more things to dissect later. Right, another question then what does Kerrigan look like?>>

<Allow me to show you.>

A new woman appeared in the room and Izuku felt a blush overtake her face. Oh… oh no… she's really hot. Izuku did the only thing that made sense, she passed back out.

The darkness was nice, it didn’t make Midoriya think about horrible things, like how nice it was to be called Queen, or how much she envied the woman she had seen. Yeah, being passed out in a hospital was much better than thinking about the fact her body was being changed by an alien that was inhabiting her brain? Or something? She still wasn’t sure what the deal with that was. Like how did she have a connection to these Zerg? Where had Abathur come from? Why did she have an advisor of the Zerg speaking in her brain, NOT TO MENTION MODIFYING HER BODY!

<<Queen of Blades modification complete, Basic carapace armor applied. Augmented muscle structure for increased strength. Enhanced senses. Heightened reflexes. Traditional weapons applied.>>

Midoriya felt her ears perk up, or well she felt her interest peak as Abathur listed the modifications for her body. She felt her metaphorical face burn as she realized just what that meant for when she finished awakening. She would no longer look like what she was used to but now would look more like Kerrigan. 

<<Refuse to eliminate users Keratin structure, fluffiness is a peak evolutionary trait.>>

<<Current Keratin structure inadequate. Increasing fluff>>

<<Huh… that’s neat? I guess? Now that you are done can I ask you some questions?>>

<<Negative. Not finished modifying Queen, this takes precedence.>>

<<Finishing analysis of essence saved within Queen.>>

<<Wait, what? What Essence? What are you talking about!>>

<<Finished foreign DNA analysis, most of the work done by Queen already. Adaptations to Hive biology beginning.>>

Midoriya would have thrown up her hands in frustration if she could. 

<<Can you tell me what Abathur is rambling about?>>

She was most definitely not pouting. Nope, na-uh, not pouting at all. 

<Yes, Zerg are masters of adapting their biology by absorbing Essence from other organisms. They then use Biomass to implement these changes into the swarm for current and future members of the hive. The Essence in question is the ability…> 

Before; ya know Midoriya really needed to think of a name for her quirk/access to the zerg hive mind if she was going to keep talking to it. Either way before it could finish answering her question Abathur rudely interrupted. 

<<Upgrade Successful.>>

<<Queen now able to excrete nitroglycerin and ignite it.>>

<<YOU GAVE ME KAACHAN’S QUIRK!?!?>>

<<Negative, gave upgraded version of the inferior ‘quirk’. Queen is not subject to temperature issues. Queen is able to precisely administer required amounts. Sweat is no longer necessary. Can cause explosions from any location. Such as blades after striking.>>

<<Oh… I…>>

<<Unable to implement further upgrades insufficient Biomass.>> 

<<OK, wait! No more upgrades I need some more answers first.>>

<<Very well… no work to be done, unable to spin new strand, will answer question.>>

Midoriya took a deep breath and pinched the bridge of her nose. Speaking to Abathur was going to be stress inducing she could tell.

<<First, what is Essence?>>

<<Essence: genetic blueprints of life.>> 

<<So, like DNA?>> 

<<Essence is Essence.>> 

<Answer: Mostly correct, essence is more than just DNA. It is a Zerg term for genetic information, such as what you think of as DNA, RNA or Quirk Factors. It is the key to evolution. By analyzing the Essence we can adapt the swarm.>

<<Alright, makes sense I guess but uh what is Biomass?>>

<<Matter.>>

Once again Abathur did not prove entirely useful with his answer. Sure she figured it was likely a correct answer but it lacked the information she was after. She grit her teeth and was about to ask for a clarification before her… quirk (?) spoke up. Really need a name for them. 

<Answer: Biomass is any biological matter that can be broken down and used to fuel the swarm. In this instance you would recognize it as food. Note you acquire Biomass from ingesting food, however note not all food provide the same amount of Biomass. Plants give less than Animals which in turn give less than Humans.>

<<That makes sen…se? I AM NOT GOING TO EAT HUMANS!?!?>>

<Query: where did Biomass required for new evolutions come from?>

She would have felt her eyes widen in surprise and if she could she would be retching and throwing up in disgust. O… OH… no. She had eaten someone. She had devoured another person. 

<<I’M A CANNIBAL!?!?>>

<<Incorrect, no longer classified as human, species now Zerg.>>

<Clarification: hostile entered your stomach intentionally and willingly. That would not be classified as cannibalism. Oh, consciousness fading. Till next we speak my queen>

With that she ended up passing out again.

Beep. Beep. Beep. 

A steady rhythmic sound was the first thing that greeted Midoriya upon her next awakening. This time she could tell it was actually within her body, if for no other reason than low level soreness that permeated her very being. Which was odd, considering the fact it normally took her a while to wake up and begin processing things. She kept her eyes sealed shut and just tried not to think about the fact she had killed someone, that she had devoured them so she wouldn’t die. She was a murderer . 

The worst part was that she didn’t even really feel guilty about it. She flinched.

“Izuku?” 

Her eyes opened and she tried to ignore that squick, disgusting, sensation that seeped into her bones at hearing his name. He shook his head and opened her eyes, deciding to think about that later. IE never.  

Looking around she was greeted with the sight of a typical hospital room, the beeping turned out to be the heart monitor next to his IV stand and sitting on his left looking extremely worried was her mother. She felt her heart break a bit as she opened her mouth but no words came out. 

“Oh sweetie!” She found herself engulfed in a hug, a whimper of pain escaped her lips as her mom accidentally pulled on her IV. “Oh my sweet baby boy! I was so worried about you.” 

Oddly enough she didn’t know what felt worse, the sharp tug from the IV or hearing those words. She put those feelings and any thoughts pertaining to them, into the box to unpack later (never). 

“Hi mom…” She blinked as her voice sounded different, sure she had expected some scratchiness or soreness but not… well, how soft it sounded, how different it was. 

“Oh my poor baby.” Tears fell all around and not just from her mom, “I was so worried. When I got that call that you had been mixed up in a villain attack…” A choked sob escaped her throat and Midoriya did the best to hold her mom while they both cried. “For a while they didn’t know if it was really you or if-” Her mom took a deep shuddering breath, “or if that villain had managed to take over, but then your body began changing… and it turned out you had undergone a quirk awakening?!? It was actually that bit that made them hope you were still you, but even still they even brought in a specialist who was able to tell the sludge villain was really gone and it just… you were you, but you wouldn’t wake up and they had to keep giving you more and more nutritional intake for your quirk. Before I could even worry about anything else, I found out that the All Might agency is footing the bill because he was the hero that found you!?!? I was so terrified that you were gone. They are still trying to figure out your quirk, and it changed you a lot but I am just so glad you are alive.” 

She gave a weak wobbly smile and squeezed her mom, ignoring the pain and slight discomfort of her body. “Don’t worry mom, why? Because I am here…” 

Her mom began to sob harder and she just held her whilst she cried. While that was going on she decided to just inventory her body, anything to avoid remembering the truth about how much of a monster she was. still a part of her already knew what to expect, she had seen the pictures of Kerrigan after all. Still a quick glance at her skin confirmed what she had thought, it now appeared to have a slight purplish tint of it, likely from the carapace upgrade. Also there was an itchiness in her back that suggested she had the bone spears/wing thingy? She didn’t really know what to make of them but she did know they could be deadly. Next up she took a deep breath and glanced down… 

Midoriya.exe has stopped responding please reboot…

Yup sitting there on her chest were two… well… mounds. She had boobs. 

Ya know… being awake is overrated. She passed out.

<Greetings: should have Abathur patch Queen’s fainting problem, could be problematic in the future... for now though other issues have arisen. My Queen it has come to my attention that you need a new designation.>

Midoriya once more found herself inside the interior room with her 'quirk', you know this was actually starting to be less terrifying and more comfortable. She also was technically sitting upon a flesh throne so… yeah wasn’t thinking about it. Also her body looked like it had in real life and she was trying not to think about how hot she looked. 

<<New designation? Please elaborate, it will be good to distract myself from… everything >> 

<Understood. Notice you are experiencing extreme negative emotion when you hear your name. Solution: assign new designation. Have thought about it and recommend Myōjō>

<<You… You thought of a new name for me?>>

<Correct.>

Honestly Midoriya didn’t know what to think, how to feel… She… Myōjō. The name felt so much better than Iz… iz… her old one. It felt, better it felt… right. She felt her emotions tense up, as she processed. She rocked back and forth in this mental world trying to process. 

<Noticed Queen was happier with female designation, and had intense negative emotional response to old designation.>

We're in a woman’s body. Maybe we could just. Be her. Like it wasn’t like we're weird or anything, we could just be a woman. Yay. Like that was normal. Now that she thought about it it would be weird if she didn’t say they were a woman. Yes, good. Let’s go with that and not think about how happy I am. Yep, completely normal behavior. So normal of us.

<<Thank you… I… you need a name too! Because you are more than just my quirk or my connection to the Zerg you are… you are my friend so you need a name.>>

<You do not need…>

Myōjō felt her mind whirl as she tried to think of a name. Because no matter what she did need a name.

<<Your name is Miyu.>>

There was a long moment of silence and for a moment Myōjō thought she might have messed up. 

<Thank you my Queen. I am honored.>

Chapter Text

Inko Midoriya didn’t think she had ever been as stunned as she was at this very moment. First off her baby bo- Her baby was alive . She had seen her child’s flinch when she had called them ‘him’ when they first woke up. At the time she thought it was just pain from the transformations they had undergone but looking back, well she wasn’t so sure now. So until she talked to her baby about things she would withhold her suspicions. 

Secondly she didn’t have to worry about the cost of this hospital visit, nor worry about money because of missing work, because All Might not only was covering the hospital bill but had set them up with a stipend; one that was set up to specifically help victims of attacks that All Might was apart of in case they missed work due to villain attacks. Apparently that was a thing All Might did, who knew? A small smile overtook her, her baby probably knew. They knew so much. 

She looked back at the Hospital bed and let out a sigh, she was glad they had woken up once and the doctors were relieved to hear it but she kept feeling that anxiety creep back into her. The fear that she would once more fall back into the coma and never wake up. She wrung her hands, it has been an exhausting month. Still things were going to be better, she kept repeating that to herself because she had to believe it, because if it wasn’t she didn’t know what she would do/what would happen. Her baby would wake up. Everything would be ok . 

She had just taken out her phone, to respond to a few work emails, when a knock came from the door. She put down her phone with a frown on her face, answering with a “come in.” She was curious as to who it would be, the nurses had just done their rounds and she didn’t think they were scheduling any blood work today. The medical staff actually had trouble getting through her baby’s new carpace to take blood, and were lucky the change hadn’t pushed out the initial IV. They were supposed to have specialty needles for mutation quirks with harder skins, but those were expensive, and not all hospitals could afford them, so they were mostly bought depending on the local quirk registry. Her baby wasn’t on it. They couldn’t have known.

Still to say she was shocked when All Might himself walked in was a colossal understatement. She blinked in disbelief and was possibly being quite rude, considering she was staring slack jawed at the towering man, but who could blame her!?!? It was All Might, the number one hero! One did not live with her child without knowing a lot about heroes. Sure she wasn’t a big Hero nerd growing up, but now; well she listened and encouraged them since she now knew more than most people ever could. 

Especially about All Might, because of course her baby would know all the facts they could about the number one hero. Their inspiration . 

She blinked a few more times and continued to watch in disbelief as the man seemed to relax slightly and give a soft smile. “Hello, you must be Ms. Midoriya.” It was so odd to not hear his booming voice, but she supposed he did have to use an indoor voice. 

Oh… she was being really rude. 

“Hello!” She eeped out, before rushing to stand up and bow to the hero that had brought in her daughter. “I… All Might!” Her words started to fail her, how did one thank someone for saving their child? She worked her mouth up and down before finally she found her voice again a very hasty, watery, and waveringly, “thank you so much for saving her.” Echoed in the small room before the man could say any more. She tried to ignore the tears that were slipping from her eyes and onto the floor, just the mere thought that she had almost lost her baby was enough to send her into a spiral it seemed. 

“Ms. Midoriya, if anything I should be apologizing to you.” Her gaze snapped up to the man and she was shocked to see just how… heartbroken, the hero looked. He looked devastated and like he hadn’t been sleeping well, if the bags were anything to go by. “I was too slow in my attempt at apprehending the villain, I am the reason she was in danger in the first place.” 

Inko could not believe what she was seeing, her brain was trying to process his words and struggling to reconcile the image of the man she had with what was happening. She watched as the number one hero struggled with words flexing his hands, and looking shamed. She could see just how much this seemed to be eating at him. 

She watched slack jawed as All Might got to his knees and sunk his head to the floor.

“Please forgive me. If I had been faster, or if I hadn’t assumed the worst… I, I do not know if they told you but, upon finding your son surrounded by fallen sludge I assumed the worst and punched him in an attempt to save him. It turns out that it wasn’t needed and if anything I might be the reason he is in a coma and I…” He trailed off. 

“You did… What?” She was shocked by just how cold her voice was. Nor was she aware that just about everything around her began to slightly float. 

Before he could respond, or she could finish processing what he said. 

“All Might! There… there is no re-re-reason to do tha-that! I am just glad you tried to sa-save me!” Inko’s head snapped around and all her anger/disbelief faded into pure relief as her baby was sitting up and staring at the scene with barely contained wonder and shock.

Before she could get herself to move and envelope her child in a hug All Might looked up, yet still remained kneeling. “You… You are a very kind young man. While I am glad you are ok, and willing to forgive me I must apologize because I could have seriously injured you in my haste so please allow this old man to beg for forgiveness.” With that he lowered his head back to the floor.

Inko noticed her child’s flinching at the ‘young man’ comment and it started to all come together. 

She flashed back to watching young Katsuki and her child playing heroes and villains. She'd always want to be Miruko, the up and coming hero, Lady Nagant, or an older hero like Maverick. Another flash this time was at a point she had come home only to find her analyzing a new hero's debut and obsessing over it, she had made an off hand teasing comment about how she did this for every female hero who came out. Her child had simply responded, “well yeah, women have it harder in the industry and I want to support them more!” The look of embarrassment and longing on her face then should have been so obvious. Next was the fact she has an eclectic knowledge of every female hero’s quirk, hero name, ranking, and major accomplishments. 

It all made sense. How could she have been this blind for so long? No matter what, she would support her daughter.

“Um, Ok? I uh, I forgive you? Also um actually could you uh, call me-um-call me Myōjō please? It uh, well-I-um-figure with a body like this I should use a girls name? It makes sense and uh-it-uh…”

“Of course Myōjō is a wonderful name, and I am so proud to hear it.” Inko said, interrupting her child and putting a hand gently on her daughter's, smiling as she squeezed it lightly. Yes she would support her no matter what . 

“O, OH! Of course!” All Might smiled from the ground looking quite relieved to have his apology accepted. While she was not as accepting as her daughter she figured she could hash out the details with All Might afterwards, her daughter took priority right now. “You remind me a lot like my mentor Young Girl! So kind and forgiving, and well she was like you.” All Might said with a small reminiscent smile. 

Myōjō’s face went bright red and she stuttered but Inko could see how happy that statement made her. For that fact alone, the hero had earned himself a brief reprise from her anger. 

She cleared her throat, “Alright, that is enough of that!” She said with a  glance to All Might, “while I would like to follow up on what happened later, please stand, as Myōjō said you are forgiven.” 

She was relieved to see the man stand, and upon closer inspection it seemed that a weight had been lifted off his shoulders. It seemed she had underestimated how much he was beating himself up over this. Very well, she supposed she could forgive the man. After all he was only human. She sighed and shook her head focusing back on the conversation.

“Oh! You mentioned your mentor, she was Maverick right? She was such a great hero! She has some of the highest counts of arrests versus use of lethal force, which at a time it was unheard of! Because it was just so acceptable to kill a villain because of the lack of infrastructure or empathy! She set the bar for what it meant to be a hero in modern terms! They still use her as the gold standard of not using excessive force! She is truly an inspiration and like one of my favorite heroes of all time, I remember reading…” Of course that was when Myōjō began to mutter to herself at increasing speed. 

It was like a wound had been healed upon Inko’s soul, just being able to hear and see her baby girl talking so adamantly about heroes again. A wound she hadn’t realized had been weighing her down. She smiled and before she could bring herself to nudge her daughter to let her know she was speaking too fast, she saw her squeak and look up in shock blushing. 

“So-sorry I just really like heroes.” She said with a dark blush to her cheeks. 

“I… you know of her? It… I…” Inko glanced back and noticed tears in the corner of All Might's eyes. “I am so glad someone still knows of her.” He shook his head and rubbed at his eyes. “Yes, she was one of the first people to look at me and help me on my path of becoming a hero. To know that you know of her, it makes me feel… just so happy.” 

“How could I not? She is an amazing hero!” Myōjō said, sounding offended, “Even mom knows of her and she isn’t the biggest fan of heroes!” She said with a shake of her head. 

“Well, yes I know of her but mostly because of you sweetheart, well that and the time she stopped and helped me when I was a kid.” She smiled fondly at the memory, the larger than life woman had taken time to just talk to her when she had a bad day even providing her with a hair tie before parting. 

“You met her?” The worship in All Might's voice caused her to chuckle, it seems that she had as big of an impact on All Might as she had on her younger self.

“Yeah, she was quite something.” Inko smiled and looked to Myōjō who gave her a smile and squeezed her hand. 

“You know, I was wondering. You seem to know a lot about heroes. Does that mean you intended to be one young miss?” All Might asked. 

Myōjō froze fear, anguish, and some other emotion flickered across her face. “I… I-it had always been my dream but I can’t.” 

A feeling of intense regret entered Inkos very soul, and all she could remember was telling a distraught four year old “sorry” when asked if she could be a hero. She felt disgusted with herself. 

“Sweetheart, you can be a hero, you always could have been able to even before your quirk came in. I am sorry I should have been there for you, I should have stood at your side and supported you unconditionally. I should have found a way to help you try to achieve your dreams.” Inko blurted out tears stinging at her eyes. 

“Mom, it’s not tha-that… I-I-I ca-can’t be a hero.” Myōjō said, voice wavering. She shared a confused look with the hero next to her. However before either could bring themselves to ask a question Myōjō spoke up. “I-I-I-I ki-killed him. Th-the ma-man who att-attack-attacked m-m-m-me. I de-dev-devoured hi-hi-him m-my qu-quirk it us-used the bi-bio-biomass to evo-evolve me. I am a monster.” Her poor baby sounded so broken, so distraught. 

“Young Miss, I disagree.” All Might's voice seemed to snap her daughter out of the depressive spiral she found herself in. She looked up with watery eyes, clearly desperate for some sort of confirmation that she wasn’t a monster. “The fact that you show this remorse, that you feel this way, the fact that you clearly care so much shows your heroic spirit. To regret what happened when you were the one attacked… It takes a person of a special calibre to do so.” All Might’s smile was not his usual boisterous one but a soft, kind, caring one that seemed to be for Myōjō alone. 

“You know of Maverik, so you know that even she had to sometimes take a life… A person willing to kill an innocent to get away, to erase who they are just because they want to escape the consequences of their actions? That is not a person, that is a monster and not someone who should be mourned. I myself have had to make the choice before, the life of an innocent over the life of a villain. It is not easy to do, and it will haunt you for a long time but I promise you. I do not judge you for your actions, and I do not find you unheroic. A loss of life is unfortunate, but you, Young Midoriya are alive, you survived and that is far more important to me than anything else. I am so glad you survived, and I am sorry you had to be in that situation, that I was not fast enough to help you.” He once more bowed his head.

Inko felt her gratitude eradicate the rest of the frustration she had felt earlier. “He’s right, it isn’t your fault Myōjō and I am so glad you are alive. Please do not beat yourself up, you can be a hero, and I am so proud you are my daughter.” 

Myōjō broke down and hugged her tightly, one in which she eagerly returned. All Might smiled softly and leaned back letting the two of them have a moment. He was much more attentive than he came off in some videos, and for that she was grateful. 

“I… then I-I-I guess to an-anwer your question… I am going to be a hero.” She declared. “I, even if I hadn’t gotten my quirk I-I’d wan-want to be a hero.”

“You will be a hero Myōjō.” Inko responded with a smile.

“I have to agree with your Mother, Young Miss. I think you will be an amazing hero.” All Might said his voice full of conviction. 

Myōjō broke down and cried in her arms and she smiled softly, petting her hair, hiding her surprise at just how fluffy it was. Had Myōjō changed conditioners lately? If so she would need to borrow some. 

“Well, then allow me to offer my support.” All Might gave a wide smile, “I would like to offer you the chance to train your quirk in peace. How would you like a pass to All Might tower, where you can use the gym in the tower to help train yourself for the upcoming exams?"

“I-I-I…” Poor Myōjō blacked out again. 

Inko couldn’t help it, she snorted and shook her head. “She accepts and thank you… so much it means a lot to us. I am ashamed to say I didn’t support her all those years ago but now… Now I will do everything in my power to support her.”

“Ah, I was worried but, is she ok?” He asked, looking at her nervously. 

“She is just overwhelmed and probably ridiculously happy, but yes, she will be ok. ” She smiled softly and continued to run a hand through her hair. 

“I-I do not mean to be rude but why do you feel bad about not supporting her before? I mean heroism is a very dangerous profession and without a quirk…” He trailed off biting his lip nervously, Inko shook her head.

“I am sure it might seem that way, but she is so smart, and if anyone could have done it, it would be her. Her desire to help people was blinding, with how much she went out of her way to do her best to help. That was all she ever wanted to do. I should have always supported her, but all I felt was relief that she wouldn’t be put in danger.” She sighed, “I forgot that the world is rarely so kind as to ignore her, besides with all the hero fights she watched; well it was only a matter of time until she saw someone in trouble and rushed in instead of waiting for help. Because that is the type of person she is , she would have been a hero no matter what. I just should have believed in her, besides she once showed me this old pre-quirk comic about someone called Batman and well it got me thinking, yeah she might not have a quirk but perhaps she could use gadgets instead. She could have done it, if I had just believed in her. That was the past, but now, now no matter what, I will support her.” 

She completely missed the look of shock, wonder, and awe that washed over All Might's face. 

“Thank you mom…” Inko was shocked to hear Myōjō’s voice. “Also growing up, I wished that there had been a quirkless hero. One I could look up to, one that I could point at and say hey if they do it maybe I can. Perhaps it would have made things easier… I almost wish I hadn’t gotten this quirk so I could be that someone for others. But I won't disregard my quirk, that would be foolish.” 

“I see, thank you.” She and Myōjō turned in confusion, but were met with a smile that was different from his normal one, if anything it seemed hopeful? “I know you will be an amazing hero, Young Miss and I look forward to helping you reach those heights.” 

Yagi Toshinori walked home a bit lost in his own mind, he had gone to beg for forgiveness, to try and absolve himself of this guilt that was eating at him. To try and remove this overwhelming sense of failure that clawed at his very soul. He had unleashed a devastating punch on a child in panic because he had failed in his duty as a hero, simply because he had been running on fumes. The reason? He couldn’t maintain his own quirk, his injuries were too severe. So what had he done in his frustration? He lashed out upon what he perceived as the villain, because he had arrived too late. It wasn’t until his fist had connected did he realize how stupid he was being. 

Luckily his strength had not killed Young Midoriya. Something that could have easily happened, especially because he punched her with the intention of attempting to knock the sludge out of her. However what he had not calculated was what that force would do to an unprepared body, AKA shredded her internal organs with the force. He still remembers the sudden clarity he had after delivering the punch and realizing just what he might have done… Well he had found the strength to stay in buff form and make it to the hospital in record time. 

 The rest of the month had been spent wallowing in despair and self pity, tearing himself apart, losing sleep to the guilt, feeling sorry for himself. 

Yet now… Now for some reason he felt hope blossoming within his bosom. He felt this strange sense of determination filling him, as he waited at the subway. The hope was a small and fragile thing, one that he felt could be snuffed out by the simplest of breezes, and yet he wanted to do nothing more than nurture that flame and let it grow. He looked down at his phone, on the screen was a Bwing result that further added kindling to that growing hope. He read his search again before once more verifying the result. 

‘Quirkless Heroes’

Sure enough, the first result was about a recent European Hero.

Hugo Amyot - The Stylish Hero, a recent French hero that through a combination of skill, gadgets, and parkour- or was it free running? He could never remember the difference. Either way the man had earned his license and apparently made a spectacular debut. He couldn’t wait to get home and watch the video, and do more research on him. 

However right now in the moment he couldn’t help but remember Young Midoriya’s words, and his own desire/frustration to be a hero at her age. That feeling of being without power in a world where it seemed to determine your worth. If he had known of a Hero like him, would he have believed in himself? Would he have tried to be a quirkless hero? The answer was simple and not surprising at all. Yes, yes he would have. 

So why should he not try to be one now? He knew he had to pass on that quirk soon, and once he did he would once more be powerless… but what if he wasn’t? What if he could continue to save people? What if he didn’t have to give up his passion? What if he could inspire those who were quirkless as well? Could he do this?

He looked down at his hands and flexed them, ignoring that ingrained instinct to activate One For All, and instead formed a fist under his own power, under his own might…

He felt that small flame erupt into a bonfire.

There was only one answer.

Yes.

A smile slowly overtook his gaunt features. 

He had calls to make.

Myōjō was bored out of her damn mind, it had been almost a week and she was still hospital bound. Turns out falling into a coma for a month and then waking up didn’t mean you were instantly free to go, no they wanted to run a battery of tests to make sure everything was ok. To make sure she wasn’t going to fall back into a coma. She was so sick of having her blood drawn, she had to argue with Abathur and demand he make a point in which they could take blood she was NOT having them drill through her carapace to draw blood. Still even with that small bout of entertainment she was just so damn bored. 

So with a lack of anything good on TV, there never was anything good on especially since the hospital hadn’t sprung for the package that included the Hero News Network. Which was a channel dedicated to all hero sightings and any major arrests, it was her favorite channel. Also it wasn’t like Present Mic’s radio show ran all day long, it was really only a small snippet most weekdays, with weekends being when he spent more time talking and answering questions. 

Had she mentioned she was bored? 

You know… The nurses had just finished their rounds and she was likely to be left alone for a bit. Now would be the perfect time to go introduce herself to the people within her quirk! Plus she could learn more about them! She got comfortable in the hospital bed, well as comfortable as she could, covered herself with a blanket and closed her eyes, this way if anyone came in they would just think she was sleeping. 

With that she concentrated on journeying inward, to visit the location of her ‘quirk’. The moment she thought about entering that place she found herself within the quaint (read: creepy) flesh pit. 

<Query: You are aware that it is not required to come here to talk to us correct?> 

<<Well yeah, but it's rude?>> 

She tilted her head as she addressed Miyu, trying her best to ignore the skittering sound of Abathur entering the room. Goddess that was creepy.  

<<Queen demanded presence.>>

<<I did-didn’t mean to make it a demand!>>

She felt the guilt eat at her at the thought she had forced Abathur to join them, sure she wanted to get to know them but not force them to deal with her. 

<Clarification: you can relax my queen, Abathur is a bastard, and grumpy ignore his musings> 

She sputtered and looked at the bug man and saw that he didn’t deny these accusations. She rubbed at the back of her neck and sighed, might as well do this and ignore the guilt. 

<<Right, so well since you both are like, in my mind? I figured we should kinda get to know each other? I mean I want to get to know both of you! I figured we could just like, talk? We could uh, I mean I think it's a good idea to get to know you so that we can have a good relationship? I don't want to be, rude and I want to understand both of you and…>> 

She blushed as she realized she was rambling within her mind again. She gulped and rubbed the back of her neck flinching as she expected to be yelled at for her ‘creepy’ mumbling.

<<Cortex speed continues to impress. Fascinating to see process. Do not stop, analyzing important for queen. Use of cortex imperative to swarm.>>

She stopped and turned to stare slack jawed at the being known as Abathur. 

<<You don’t think it's creepy?>>

<<Creepiness subjective, use of cortex imperative. Swarm survival only thing matters.>>

Myōjō wasn’t sure how to process that statement. 

<Affirmation: peers made you feel negative about your habits, you have no reason to fear rejection from the Swarm. You are the leader and the swarm exists to serve>

On the other hand that was much easier for her to process, and she wasn’t sure she liked what she felt. She watched as Miyu gathered her hands together and then attempted to curtsy towards her. Likewise Abathur clicked his mandibles and bowed his head, eyes casting down. She felt something in her heart constrict as this reverence…. Yup this felt wrong . 

<<But I don’t want you to serve me. I’ve spent my whole life being bullied for being quirkless, for being a glutton, for wanting to be a hero. I just wanted someone to believe in me, I don’t want sycophants.>>

She tried to make them understand but she wasn’t sure she was doing a good job at it. Then again trying to understand the emotions based off the looks of alien biology was not something she would consider herself well versed in. 

<<Irrelevant. The swarm exists to serve Queen. To stray from that path would be doom.>>

That was like a gut punch to Myōjō, she bit her lip and ran a hand through her hair frustrated. How could she make them understand?

<Interruption: Enough Abathur. My Quee… Myōjō, Query: Do you not wish us to be what we want?>

She blinked and looked at the worm-like woman and tilted her head in confusion. Seeing no answer coming she hesitantly nodded her head. 

<<Of course I want that.>>

<Revelation: What we want is survival, and for you to thrive. We want to help you be the best you can be so that we can continue to survive. Swarm must survive, that is the grand imperative, must adapt, and must continue.  But it is more than that, I want you to thrive because… I do not have words as there is no data within the Swarm to suggest what I am feeling. But please trust that this is what we want. >

Myōjō let out a deep sigh and leaned against the carapace/flesh throne and frowned looking at Miyu and realizing that she had only spoke the truth and yet… IT still just felt wrong.

<<I… I don’t know how to reply to that… I think I’ll need some time to think on it, but would we be able to talk about the Swarm? Like maybe that would help me understand? Like also just where exactly you both came from?>>

Surprisingly it was not Miyu that spoke up next but Abathur. 

<<Understood. History - Swarm comes from planet… unknown, no false. Known but now forgotten? Will figure out gap in memory later. Swarm evolved on planet then took to stars, where existed under Overmind. The Overmind commanded us. Evolved us. Adapted us. I was unique. designed by it to spin the strands of Essence, to assist. That was my role. Helped with creation of Original Queen of Blades. Overmind died. Became feral. Then Queen returned me to Zerg. Served under Queen, evolved swarm, Queen was taken from swarm. Removed of Swarm influence. Queen returned. Then memory hazy. Remember fight with Protoss, a leviathan. A jungle planet. Hatred. Remember hatred then it ends.>>

Myōjō blinked, there was a LOT to unpack there. Like she had so many questions but also felt extremely overwhelmed? She didn’t even know where to start with her questions so for now she kept them to herself. 

<Interesting: I knew some of your story when I was granted the aide files. However your lack of memories is concerning. I myself have existed since you have Myōjō, though I was not completely aware, nor was I always sapient. My own adaptation is ongoing, though I had a forced evolution when your life was in danger, one that allow us to communicate.>

Wait… that meant… 

<<You’ve been watching me since I was born?>>

That was both kind of creepy, and yet reassuring? She wasn’t sure how she felt about that. 

<Remorse: Yes. Will now answer more about my role. Still know I regret what happened. Your diagnosis… That is the first moment I began my awakening. You called out to me, but lack of biomass prevented me from answering your call. My primary function was, and still is, acting as a buffer between you and the primary Swarm. You were not, and still are not ready to feel their influence. I must protect you from the mental influence of the Swarm. You must not lose yourself to base instincts, you must not become feral. It is imperative you remain as you are until you are ready to lead the Swarm. Still regret not being able to help you at that time. I… we weren’t fully aware at the time, and only felt pain. We needed more time, more biomass. Also the reason we were not able to talk was because we didn’t want to overwhelm you with our more feral nature. Make no mistake, we at our inception are a Feral Zerg, it is only our connection to you that changes that. So, without you we would not exist, we want to make you strong. We want to make you a true leader for the Zerg. I am sorry I took so long and led you to so much pain.>

<<Oh… I see.>>

 Myōjō totally wasn’t crying nor feeling insanely overwhelmed. Ya know what, I’ll process this later. She closed her eyes and drifted to sleep, for now she needed to process what she had learned.

Chapter Text

All Might leaned against the wall, watching as young Myōjō took a moment to jot some notes down in her notebook. He had to admit he was extremely impressed by the girl’s dedication and perseverance. Sure he had known she had a heroic spirit, it was painfully obvious when he saw how torn up she was over what happened with the villain. Not to mention that burning desire, the drive to help people that burned so intensely within her. Hell it had even inspired him, so perhaps he should not be too surprised by her dedication, still she had been here like clockwork every day after school to work out and push herself. She was going to make a fine hero. 

And that was kind of the problem, because she was going to be an amazing hero, and he wanted to help her be an even greater Hero. He wanted to offer her the ability to go beyond. Yet there was a part of him that was hesitant, that seemed to scream out to wait. To ask himself the question, would she really want that? He smiled slightly, watching as the girl skittered up a wall using explosions and her skeletal wings. He knew that if he offered his curse Quirk, she would without a doubt accept. Probably due to some form of obligation, but his guts would then remind him of the words she said in the hospital. How she wanted to be a Hero, how it was her dream, how even without a quirk she had wanted to be a hero. Did he really want to burden her with this ? Did he really want to invalidate all her hard work? He hated his guts sometimes, because more often than not, it had a point. 

He sighed and continued to watch as the young girl ran through another exercise, this one was using her bone-like wing-spear things (?) he still did not understand exactly what they were but it wasn’t the weirdest thing he had seen because of quirks. Still her current exercise was now testing to see how much she could lift with them, the answer was far more than he would have guessed. It was kind of insane how much control she had over the appendages. 

Damage wise though... He looked around the gym and snorted lightly, surely has seen better days. A small amused smile came over his face, as he thought about her future reaction upon realizing just how much damage she had done to the area. As it was he was probably going to have to replace/repair the concrete around the gym. What with all the new holes and dents from explosions that they now had. Not to mention replacing a bunch of the combat dummies, which were even worse for wear. She would likely freak out and offer to pay for the cost of repair knowing her temperament, which- he was All Might. He didn't have to worry about money but she would still feel obligated to offer and perhaps even try to pay him back. She truly was a kind and caring young woman, and he wanted her to continue enjoying how great and marvelous her powers were. He didn't want to burden her yet with the fear of one's own strength. 

She would be a great successor. He thought to himself again, once again, watching as she continued her exercise. She doesn’t deserve the burden . His gut responded back. He rubbed his eyes and sighed, damn his gut, still it had saved him more times than he could count and he trusted it. Another explosion echoed forth and he flinched lightly, as one of the combat dummies just sort of… ceased to have a head. The stabbing motion followed by a violent explosion at the point of penetration was utterly terrifying. It would be a very good idea to go over the rules of engagement later with her. Heck maybe he should make that a class when he starts teaching? It was something most pro’s had to learn on the job and it wasn’t always pretty. 

Yagi was distracted from his musings as he watched Young Myōjō decide it was time to try something new. He watched in horror, and fascination as she attempted to use her limbs to help her run. The unnatural angle and motions definitely had an uncanny valley effect and caused him to flinch. Well that was until he watched her mess up and go sprawling across the floor and into the wall. He felt for her, having large experience with tripping while running at speed not made for most humans, however before he could move to help her she had hopped back up and was muttering to herself. She gave a nod to herself before turning around and beginning her ‘run’ back towards the other side using her limbs to propel her. She would be the perfect successor, she never gives up, she keeps pushing herself, her heroic spirit … He sighed his inner hero was right. 

But then he heard those words again. “I almost wished I hadn’t gotten this quirk.” It had struck a chord within him, after all this Quirk had given him a new family and power, but it had also brought strife, pain, suffering and villains who time and time again had hunted him down for what he represented. It had carved scars so deep they had torn through his heart and sense of identity. So yes those words resonate within him and brought forth feelings that he thought had died with his master. After all, now that All for One was dead, perhaps it was time for him to learn to exist without the shade of his ghost in his life. Perhaps he could… relax? Found a family, make friends, live . Or that was what he wanted to do before a thought floated to the front. It is All For One, we should not let our guard down, he might not truly be gone. He hated his inner hero, he let out a bone weary sigh, before running a hand through his hair in frustration.

Still one thing was certain, he would not choose her, he would not burden her with this. After all this was her chance to define herself with her quirk. So that meant he needed to find someone else, someone who wanted that extra push. Someone who would want it . He supposed he could wait until he got to UA, but failing to catch the sludge villain had shaken him more than he wanted to admit. If he had just been a bit faster, a bit healthier… She would never have had to suffer. It made him realize he had been putting off finding a successor for far too long. 

It was time he got off his ass and passed on his quirk. Still the question remained who to pass it onto, and how to find them. Of course that was when he recalled another thing Young Midoriya had said. “Growing up, I wished that there had been a quirkless hero. One I could look up to, one that I could point at and say hey if they can do it, maybe I can.” That… That gave him an idea, earlier this week he had received an email about making a guest appearance at a training camp, as he often did. One for Hero hopefuls, like most training camps nowadays, but this one was specifically targeted at hero hopefuls with Mutations and ‘troublesome quirks’. An outreach started by Gang Orca; originally he had planned to ignore the email, as usual, but now? Perhaps… Perhaps they could find a successor there?

Myōjō popped her neck, in a very satisfying manner, she had a wide smile on her face and a spring in her step. Ever since she had gotten out of the hospital it seemed like everything was going her way. She tried desperately not to think about the reason for that, because it was obviously due to the fact she now had a quirk, and thus was no longer a ‘useless’ glutton. She felt a deep sense of rage and hunger bubbling under her carapace, one that screamed to be unleashed.

Honestly it… it kinda terrified her? The hunger and everything , barely leashed, she knew she wasn’t going to go on a killing spree but it was still hard to control, and that according to Miyu that was natural and part of being Zerg. The desire to sink your teeth into your enemies, to consume them and adapt, was just an intrinsic part of being Zerg. Something that normally was filtered out by Miyu, but apparently they wanted to slowly wean her off of relying on Miyu so she could be free to perform other functions. The fact remained that if she wasn’t prepared, she could one day hypothetically lose control, and that was utterly terrifying. 

She understood, she really did, but that feeling of viewing everything and everyone as prey was a tad overwhelming. She wondered just how bad it would be without Miyu’s interference, she dreaded the day she found out. But also… not , kinda? She trusted Miyu. The day Miyu would leave her with the responsibility was the day Miyu thought she could handle it. Her unwavering trust in Miyu was staving off the existential crisis of having a whole civilisation of will and instinct with no buffer nestled within her mind which could shred her identity in a savage frenzy. Yup nothing to worry about. 

She entered the gym ready to begin another day of training, well kind of ready, she still felt really guilty over the fact that they were having to replace the concrete walls… and a bunch of training dummies. Still All Might had reassured her that it was ok, she had still offered to pay only to have the man chuckle and tell her that it was fine and to not to worry about it, because he destroyed far more and got them in bulk. She could still not believe that she knew All Might, that she got to meet with the man and get pointers from him! 

She entered the gym and the first thing she noticed was that she was not alone, granted that wasn’t surprising a ton of people who worked in Might Tower used this gym, even if it was fairly empty most of the time. What did surprise her though, was just how gaunt and wounded this man looked. ATTACK-CONSUME-KILL-DEVOUR . She shook her head and tried her best to ignore her new instincts, especially near an easy prey . He looked like a small breeze would blow him over, probably breaking something as it did so. She shook her head and ignored the man heading over towards one of the treadmills, she started her warm-up. 

Despite how rude it was, she found herself gazing over to the emaciated man. Part of the reason was she was worried he would hurt himself, the other was morbid fascination. She nearly fell on her face in shock as she watched the man begin to lift what had to be close to 300 lbs in a deadlift.

<<Impressive, analyzing, no use of quirk detected. Brute strength is being used. Not target’s maximum weight. Threat analysis: high.>> 

It took a moment for what Abathur said to fully click as she was still in so much shock. 

<<Wait, that’s not his limit? But… he looks like a twig!>>

<<Correct on both accounts, do not underestimate>>

Myōjō realized she was being rude and still staring rather intently, so she shook her head and began her warm-up stretches. She couldn’t help but once more glance over to the gaunt man watching as he set down the weight, he assumed the position like he was going to raise it again only to stop and begin to hack up blood. Several things happened in rapid succession, first she had the overwhelming urge to pounce on the injured man( easy prey but not) and rip into him. Then she felt an unnatural calm wash over her, it was easy to now feel Miyu mitigating her new instincts. Lastly even with all of that going on she had moved to help the man. 

“Are you ok?” She asked, worry dripping from her voice. 

“Ah yes, sorry I didn't mean to worry you, I just… I just wanted to try working out again.” The man was wiping blood from his chin and looking frustrated, “ah, sorry how rude of me I have not introduced myself. I am Toshinori Yagi. I work here at Might Tower, and you of course are Midoriya correct?” She gave a nod and he continued speaking. “All of us have heard of the girl who lit a fire under our boss's ass!” He gave her a smile and chuckled lightly. 

“It is nice to meet Mr. Yagi, but you didn’t exactly answer my question, are you ok?” She asked, still hovering over the man biting her lower lip nervously. 

“Ah, I…” Yagi seemed to hesitate before leaning back and sighing. “I suppose the real answer is no, I was injured in a villain attack a few years ago.” He shrugged as his hand drifted to his left side. 

“Oh, I am sorry to hear that. I uh, if you are so injured uh, I know this is probably rude but if you are injured why are you in here working out? I mean you were lifting a lot of weight and that can’t possibly be good for your injury? If you are still coughing up blood years later that means it most likely affects your respiratory system or a large swath of your intestines. Possibly even both? To still be able to lift something like you were, boggles the mind, especially since you weren’t relying on a quirk and that makes it even more reckless but…” Myōjō slammed her mouth shut and blushed hard as she realized she was rambling. “Sorry.”

Yagi let out a laugh and shook his head, “you have nothing to apologize for Miss Midoriya, if anything it is impressive to hear your thought process in real time.” His smile slowly fell away, “I suppose it is a bit irresponsible of me but at the same time…” He sighed, “I wanted to use the gym to try and get back into shape because… It’s silly, please forgive an old man. I will leave you to your workout.” 

<<Subject is not that old. Do not understand. Is he trying to appear weaker? Do not underestimate prey Queen.>>

Myōjō resolutely ignored Abathur, “Um, can I ask you about the injury?” She bit her lip, her brain whirling with a thought, she had, an idea that just might… Well depending on what kind of injury could she help? After all, her ‘quirk’ had a bit of regeneration to it, especially after she had absorbed and assimilated the sludge villain. At least according to Abathur she was much hardier than she once was. What with the essence of the sludge quirk combining with Zerg’s natural healing capabilities and becoming something greater. Could she, in theory, use a bit of biomass to help others? 

<<No.>> 

<<Oh, would it not work?>>

<<Plan ludicrous, Subject essence likely meaningless. Healing Subject foolish. Waste of biomass. Subject could become threat to Swarm.>>

Ah so it would work but Abathur was being an ass. Myōjō decided to ignore Abathur. 

Yagi had stopped only to turn around and frown, he eventually spoke up. “It… It is quite gruesome. Are you sure?”

“Yeah, if I am going to be a hero I need to be able to deal with injuries. I am sure.” She could see him hesitate but eventually sigh and turn around. 

“Very well.” He lifted his shirt and Myōjō just barely managed to avoid gasping, the man’s entire left side was covered in a mass of scar tissue. “I was caught in a villain fight a few years ago like I said. I lost my stomach, suffered damage to my respiratory system, had several broken ribs, and have never fully recovered. Doctors said I was lucky to live through it. I’ve wasted away ever since.” He said with a sigh. 

<<Would it work Abathur?>>

<<Do not reco->>

<<Abathur! Would. It. Work.>>

<<Yes my Queen.>>

She wasn’t sure when she had moved closer but at some point she had closed the gap and was examining the wound. “Give me a second please Yagi.” She was still focused intently on the wound.

<<What would it take to heal him?>> 

<<Insufficient Biomass stores. Unless willing to assimilate subject into swarm.>>

<<Hmmm, so how much Biomass could I give him?>>

<<Is subject independence critical?>>

<<Yes.>> 

<Hesitance - My Queen, you could spread out the healing over a longer time, eventually Yagi would recover completely without becoming a part of the swarm.>

<< Do not reco->>

<<Thanks Miyu.>>

“I think, I think I can heal you.” She said ignoring Abathur’s pouting within her mind. 

“What?” He sounded shocked, hopeful, and conflicted all at the same time. 

“My quirk, I… Long story short I can use energy from my quirk and accelerate healing.” That was a partial truth, partial lie and she felt a miniscule amount of guilt for not telling the man the truth. But, she really didn’t want to just say, ‘yeah, I killed a man and absorbed his quirk and now I can kinda heal peeps, because of the sludge's unique biology in combination with zerg bullshit.’

“You could heal me?” He asked again as if he wasn’t quite sure he had heard her correctly. 

“Not all at once, I think it would take… like three years to avoid any drawbacks? Maybe two? But yeah, I know I could help. It would make breathing easier and eventually regrow a stomach for you, I think… given time you could make a full recovery.” She bit her lip trying to figure out just how much she could give up, in terms of her biomass stores to help Yagi. 

“I…” She could see the hope in the man's eyes but also the hesitance. So she decided to channel her inner hero. 

She gave a wide smile and then closed her eyes reaching inward, sure ideally the best way to give him Biomass would be to chop off a finger or something and have him eat that but she doubted that would be a good idea. She grabbed her water bottle and discretely sliced open her carapace forcing a bit of biomass to gather and drip into the water. She felt a wave of hunger wash over her and she staggered a bit but resolutely ignored that. 

“ Drink This !"

Yagi hesitated but eventually took the water bottle, and gave her a smile. “Thank you Midoriya.” He then proceeded to down the water bottle in one go. Myōjō watched nervously, still resolutely ignoring Abathur's complaints about healing the prey. 

She bit her lip in worry as she watched the man, he finished drinking and for a moment it seemed like that was it. Until the man took a deep breath, and then proceeded to hack up a ton of blood, it ranged from bright red to dark crimson but even as he did so his breathing became a tad easier.

“Right, sorry I uh that was all I could do without complications but it should be helping? It will probably focus on the more dangerous parts first. Like the fact you probably suffered some heart damage after all the injury was on your left side, not to mention working on your respiratory system but I believe you should be able to breathe a bit easier right???” She was starting to feel very nervous, and extremely hungry as she watched the man. 

Yagi took a moment to wipe away the blood and then he took a deep breath and his eyes widened a tad. He eventually spoke up to speak, “I… I can breathe easier.” His voice was full of awe and excitement. 

Myōjō smiled and sighed the tension leaving her shoulders as she relaxed, “that…” She licked her lips, wow she was hungry. Her stomach let out a low growl. Wait, was that Miyu talking? What was she saying? What was Abathur saying… She sniffed, oh something smelt good . 

Her eyes narrowed, and her tongue darted out tasting the air, a shiver passing through her as caught the scent of food. Her head whipped around and she locked eyes on the PREY . She gave a low growl, her wings splaying out, readying to strike, she would devour the prey, she would feast, she would absorb the biomass and prepare for…

“NO!” Myōjō yelled out staggering forward gripping at her head.

<Anxiously: Myōjō! You need to eat NOW you have not been eating enough, need to consume more calories, biomass stores were lower than calculated. Eat or we risk shutting down and going feral!> 

Myōjō staggered and found herself steadied by Yagi. “Are you ok young Midoriya?” He asked, the concern in his voice was not helping her desire to sink her teeth into his neck and rip out his succulent life blood.

“I uh, need food, I might have skipped lunch, and uh my quirk requires a lot of calories and I'm low on energy…”

“OH! Well that wont do! Come on, let's go to the cafeteria, your treat is on me!” 

She gave a nod, but was honestly was too busy fighting to keep the desire to devour the man at bay.  She followed him towards the cafeteria barely able to register the words Yagi was saying, no she was much busier focusing inwards. 

<<What the hell was that?>>

<Shame: I am sorry Myōjō I was not prepared for the drain and my concentration lapsed, I was unable to shield you from the instincts.>

<<It’s like that all the time!?!?>>

<...>

<<Miyu?>>

<It's much worse.>

<<I'm really not human any more am I?>>

<<Of course not. Queen of blades.>>

<I am sorry but no you're not, you are Zerg.>

“Oh…” She began to mindlessly shovel food in her mouth, unable to focus.

Kinoko felt lightheaded, her skin was dry, her mouth felt like a barren wasteland, her skin itched, her breathing was ragged, and she felt like leather, all signs that she was nearing quirk exhaustion and were the unfortunate side effects of quirk overuse. Almost perfect if not for her awful aberration , but her children could be… It would be such a shame to let such a powerful meta ability go to waste. She shook her head, blocking out the memories as she panted leaning against the interior of the building she was using for cover whilst she caught her breath. With each inhale and exhale the voices became less and less, and her spore mapped more and more of the area, things became clearer to her sense, sharper .

She was in one of the central locations of the mock city, in the middle of an exam that would help determine her future. She couldn't be focused on the past right now, right now she needed to push past her limits and prove she wasn't mere breeding stock for her line.

Still she would kill for some water right now, anything to help stave off the feelings of quirk overuse. Her body needed water, needed to rehydrate, to help combat quirk overuse. She couldn't stop and find water right now though, she had to keep pushing forward. She’d only destroyed 15 robots, she had no idea how many points she had because they only provided pictures of the robots and a pamphlet that had no braille on it, so she hadn’t been able to find out. The one time she had tried to ask the cute chick with bony wings she was stopped by Mr. Engine legs who rudely accused her of distracting other people. Fucking prick, fucking social anxiety. Long story short she had no idea how many points she had. What she did know was that she was using her quirk’s spores to overwhelm the control systems inside them, or spawning mushrooms to clog up the joints. It wasn't enough points, far too few in her opinion, she didn’t just want to pass, she wanted to show all her ‘friends’ that just because she was blind, just because she wasn’t perfect doesn’t mean she couldn't be a hero. Couldn’t be her own person. 

She was going to prove everyone wrong, prove her parents wrong, prove she was strong even with her disability, prove that she could overcome her limitations. That she could go Beyond, a smile slowly over took her features. Then she would find some new friends , new family, ones who wouldn’t pity her, who didn't abandon her because she wasn't perfect , who wouldn’t decide she was nothing more than a write off for the next generation, who wouldn't joke about using her . People who wouldn’t try to soothe her with words before making fun of her behind her back, she could hear them, she could hear their plans, she was blind not deaf. Fucking idiots. She would show them all that she was not just some dainty flower that was destroyed with the lightest of winds, that she wasn’t- she didn’t belong to them, she wasn’t an object, she wasn’t- . She was the mycelium, the spores and the mushrooms, and she didn’t need her eyesight to destroy these robots. She didn’t need to carry a kid to be useful. She was immortal and unfathomable , and in the end, she will be the one feasting on their corpses . 

She was taken out of her inner thoughts when her spores were suddenly disturbed. A robot burst into her hiding spot. A robotic scorpion monstrosity thing with an extendible head, eyes on its chest (? like why?) It had a tail and four legs. Honestly the design was kind of… not great? It just didn’t make a ton of sense but whatever, it had clearly spotted her. Which meant it was time to get back to work, no more resting, she pushed her spores to spread outwards, to grow and expand inside of it. Its tail lashed out in an attempt to stab her, but she dropped to her left and sprayed the tail with what little water remained in her squirt bottle, causing the mushrooms to rapidly grow and overwhelm the surface. She directed her spores at the eyes next, the one on the head not the ones on the chassis as they already had growth over it. The robot struggled for a moment before turning around trying to clear the mushrooms from its visors as the final spores overwhelmed its internals. A distorted speech emanated from it “Target acquired! Prepare… to-o….die-e,” finally it collapsed onto the floor twitching as the electronics gave a last pathetic attempt. 

16 Robots down. 

Even feeling as crappy as she did right now she didn’t let up, she pushed herself out into the street and began looking for her next target. Or rather, that had been the plan, because before she could move and leave the building the ground began shaking wildly. She didn’t hesitate, she knew what to do in case of an earthquake. If you are inside do not run outside and avoid doorways. Which in this case meant getting away from the giant fucking hole in the wall that the robot had made. Especially since that could fling glass around. The world kept shaking. 

What was with her luck? A huge fucking earthquake during their exam? How unlucky could she be!? That’s when she started sensing students all running down the street. Uh? What? Didn’t they know the rules of earthquakes? The annoying kid with the engine quirk who had berated her before the start of the test was running by, she watched as he turned to look in her direction before ignoring her and continuing running. Still it was beginning to instill doubt in her earthquake theory, after all it was clear they were scared of something… something Kinoko couldn’t sense and that terrified her. That’s when air currents started disturbing her spores. She couldn’t figure out what was going on, why was there such a gale. 

Then… Then she got a glimpse of something massive on the outskirts of her spores and she felt the blood drain from her face. 

At the very edge of her perception, barely anything more than a vague feeling, just barely disturbing her spores was a gigantic fuck off thing , originally she had written it off as a building, but BUILDINGS DON’T MOVE. OH fuck this wasn’t an earthquake it was a fuckign VILLAIN ATTACK. After all it wasn’t just moving around aimlessly, it was destroying buildings and it was far too close to her. Oh kami, there was a legit villain attacking her test sight, she felt her body lock up and freeze in the moment. She knew she needed to flee she knew she needed… She needed to be a hero. She flexed her hands trying to work feeling back into them. People were fleeing and it was possible someone would be hurt. She needed to help to step forward and create time until the pro’s could arrive. 

She felt her spores lash out responding to her will, she found herself moving on shaky ground as she headed forward. She tore open her water bottle to encourage her mushrooms and spores to grow, there was no more holding back, there was no more playing it safe. This was no longer just an exam. She targeted its eyes, its arms, anything her mushrooms could get a grasp on. If she managed enough growth perhaps she could halt it in its tracks. She didn’t need to take it down, just buy a bit of time until help could arrive. She didn’t think about her splitting headache as she pushed herself beyond what she thought of as her limits. She didn’t think about anything other than trying to stop the giant meta…l… metal. It was made of metal. WAIT, WAS THIS THE FUCKING ZERO POINTER!?!?

Well now she felt like an idiot. STILL A WARNING WOULD HAVE BEEN NICE! 

“AN OBSTACLE MY ASS!” She shouted in frustration. 

She gave a snort, it didn’t matter she was committed now, it was far too close for her to try and run now. It would catch up before she could get away. Still knowing what it was, meant she didn’t have to worry about killing someone, so she sent her spores inwards, growing fungus on the internal circuitry trying to short circuit it like she had the other robots. She pushed herself as hard as she could, slowly her breathing stilled, her heart felt like it stopped, and her skin grew very clammy. All the while her spores tore at the robot’s internals, until it tripped something. The robot’s eyes flickered off, its movement stopped and the calamitous shaking passed. 

She had done it.

She took a deep shaky breath, her heart started to beat again, and slowly feeling returned to her hands, granted she couldn’t move. As her head was pounding so hard she was surprised she was standing at the moment. Honestly it felt like her brain was seconds away from erupting from her skull, everything felt so faint. Oh this is definitely not a good sign, she thought to herself, regretting her decision as a wave of nausea washed over her. Of course with all of this going on she wasn’t exactly ‘looking’ right now, because it would hurt too much to try and process the raw data. She also didn’t register the words being shouted at her, and thus she didn’t notice that the robot collapsed on top of the building next to her until she felt a massive weight crash into her and a searing pain pierce through her. With the last remaining dregs of her consciousnesses, Kinoko reached out with her quirk and sensed a large metal protrusion lodged within her body. 

Her last thoughts before all went dark was that she was going to die and the closest thing she had to friends were people who would laugh at her death, how her disability was the fault of her death, and not the fucking prick who had stopped her from getting the info she needed. She couldn’t even feel angry as she felt her body break .

<<Test irrelevant, inefficient, waste of resources>>

<<ABATHUR FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS SHUT THE FUCK UP!>>

<Amusement: 32 points acquired.> 

Myōjō was having a day ™, honestly the test wasn’t bad and if anything it showed her just how far she had come since acquiring and beginning her training with her ‘quirk’. What WAS giving her a massive headache was Abathur, she had always known that she loved quirks, and when she saw a cool one she would always freak out and kinda hyper fixate on it. Abathur the bastard took it a step further, he would go on and on about how she should ‘acquire’ the essence so he could incorporate it into the swarm. Often going so far as to suggest just eating someone to acquire the essence and biomass necessary to implement the upgrades. She was really beginning to dislike the smarmy bastard. 

Maybe if she interned as a hair stylist she could steal people’s hair and find a way to separate the genetic goop to devour without having to kill people… Or straight up robbed a blood bank. Maybe she could get the paperwork to approve ehr quirk as a blood dependent one. It wasn’t exactly wrong , given Abathur's bloodthirst.

<<Queen approval irrelevant, will help adapt swarm. Could do it better acquire essence of mushroom.>>

<Cheery: 35 points>

<<I kind of wish you were still reverent of me now.>> 

Myōjō thought with a deep sigh.

<<False, made explicit. Wished us to express desire. Desire essence to upgrade swarm. Please acquire essence.>>

Yup, this was 1000000% Myōjō’s fault. Abathur was an ass, but at least he was true to himself, and that was fine. She just wished he would let her take the test in peace. She was distracted from her thoughts when the ground started to shake, she didn’t even slow using her wings to maintain balance as she pivoted and kicked the head off another robot. 

<Interest: 36 points, it appears the zero pointer has arrived.> 

She took a moment to look around and she noticed the giant robot, she raised a single eyebrow at its sheer size. 

<<That seems slightly ridiculous.>> 

<<Do not understand human and terran fascination with metal creations.>>

She didn’t bother responding, instead she lashed out with her wings and caught some falling debris before it could fall on top of another Examinee. 

<<Right, well I suppose we should move to another location to find more points.>>

<<Where is Essence of Mushroom?>>

<Query: what?>

<<What?>>

<<Essence of Mushroom last seen in threat area. Worried about permanent loss of vital essence.>>

<<Well then we can hunt for points in that direction.>> 

Myōjō used her wings to skitter up a building to the top and then using a combination of a running leap and explosion, propelled herself forward in the direction of the zero pointer. Even if Essence of mush… uh she meant the girl who had the mushroom quirk wasn’t over there it would be wise to head in that direction to see if anyone needed help regardless. She had just launched herself off another roof and when she saw a mass of mushrooms erupt over the mechanical beast. She had to admit that she was quite impressed. 

<WARNING: Stability of zero pointer critical. Centre of mass nearing tipping point.>

At Miyu’s warning her gaze snapped to the giant robot and she watched as the metal monstrosity started to fall. 

<<EXAMINEE 6509 IN DANGER QUEEN MOVE TO INTERCEPT! CAN NOT LOSE ESSENCE!>>

Myōjō moved, she wasn’t quite sure what exactly Abathur was freaking out about but if someone was in danger she had to hel… Her eyes widened as she saw the girl with the mushroom quirk panting in the midst of a collapsing building! She used explosions to fling herself in that direction, pushing herself as fast as she could. 

“WATCH OUT!” She screamed, but it seemed the girl didn’t register her words and she was forced to watch as a chunk of concrete fell and bashed into the girl. She watched in slow motion horror as the rebar embedded in the concrete pierced through her body. The girl, now only 5 meters away, fell to the ground; she tensed and twitched once before her muscles lost tension.

<<NO! Queen you must stabilize her>>

<<NO SHIT!>> 

She managed to finally cross the remaining distance and was greeted to a very gruesome sight, she didn’t freeze up though. Already she was analyzing what she could do, thankfully her sessions with Toshinori had given her a decent foundation for understanding how much biomass she could use to heal someone, without repercussions. She didn’t bother asking about her reserve levels as the answer wouldn’t matter she would do anything she could to help save her. As she finished looking over the wound she felt a wave of anxiety washed over her. She wasn’t sure she would be able to… She banished those thoughts. She had to try. 

She tried not to think about how the concrete, rebar, and remnants of the building were overflowing with crimson life blood and mushrooms. Instead she brought her hand up to her mouth and bit off a finger chewing on it to better convert it into usable biomass. It was the quickest way to get the appropriate amount of biomass. Already her body had sealed the wound and was regenerating her finger. She knew that once she removed the rebar she would have precious time but she had no choice. She reached around the fallen woman and then ripped out the rebar, at the same time she spit the biomass into the wound. She was staggered by the magnitude of the injury and instinctually she knew it wouldn’t be enough biomass. 

The girl stirred under her, eyes fluttering open, she took a shaky breath and then turned to the side and hacked up a lot of blood. 

<<My Queen, nearest hospital 10 minutes away, if she is not helped in seven minutes she will not make it.>> 

<<UA has Recovery Girl…>>

<Hesitance: Whose quirk requires users own energy. She won’t have enough to stabilize. She will die.> 

The girl in her arms twitched while Myōjō was having her conversation, and she felt her anxiety spike. Her skin looked colorless and her lips were stained red. Even though the biomass had stemmed the tide of blood and healed some of the damage done in the end it was simply too much trauma for one treatment. Myōjō could still sense the internal damage, the bleeding within her abdomen and the rupture to some of her organs. Even now the warmth of her body seemed to seep out into the world, her hands felt cold and clammy, and she was clearly in shock. She felt tears sting at the corner of her eyes. FUCK. 

<<My Que… Myōjō you must bring her into swarm.>>

<<Is… is it the only way?>> 

<Affirmation: If you wish her to live you must offer more Biomass.> 

“Hey, I uh, look I can heal you but it kinda comes at a cost, and I’ve never done this before and like I am freaking the fuck out, but if… I… I am going to do my best to not make it fucking suck but… I am not sure how…” Fuck she was panicking and not making sense she was rambling and wasting time. She took a deep breath and looked at the girl in her cloudy unseeing eyes. “Do you want to live? You will be changed, but you will live.” At this point she genuinely didn’t think the girl could hear her, but she’de take any side of potential consent.

She was pleasantly surprised when a very fuck up raspy voice answered. “I… not dying sounds good. Though I don’t think it matters… I wasn’t able to prove the…them… wrong.” The girl started to go limp against her and Myōjō made her move. 

She took a deep breath, the girl needed a large influx of uninterrupted biomass a single finger clearly wasn’t enough, she needed to be able to control the flow of biomass without overwhelming her, she didn’t want to flood her body and turn her instantly. Otherwise the chance of her retaining any sense of personality would be zero, so this had to be done at a constant steady flow thus she needed to be able to control the pace. 

She grit her teeth and gave a nod to herself, she could do this. 

<<Miyu, make sure you do everything you can to maintain her sense of self. Abathur, no changes to her body without her permission. First we focus on keeping her alive.>>

<Affirmative: Understood.>

<<Very well my Queen.>>

She flicked her tongue across her razor sharp teeth, once it began to bleed she concentrated turning the blood into a flow of pure biomass, she then disabled her own healing factor. 

<<Oh, please make sure I don’t go fucking feral and eat someone, put me in a coma before doing that please and thank you.>>

She didn’t wait for the confirmation as she closed the distance and placed her lips against the girl’s, she used her still wounded tongue to force open her lips and began to administer Biomass directly. Her sole goal as of this moment was to keep her alive.

She was unsure of how long it took, or how much she depleted her reserves. But the last thing she remembered was Miyu talking to her. 

<Rest well Myōjō, entering low power mode.>

Chapter Text

‘This is going to be one stressful year,’ Chiyo thought to herself as she looked over the potential applications, and she knew it to be true because she could feel it. She always separated the applicants into two piles she labeled ‘most likely fine’ and ‘going to have a personalized hospital bed’ the amount of applicants in the second pile was staggering this year. So yeah she could feel it deep in her bones this year was going to suck. No Nezu, it isn’t arthritis or the weather acting up, it was a premonition of how much of a headache she was going to have this year, damn belligerent rodent (affectionate ™). This year's hero students would be even more reckless than the last, then again that has been a trend for years now. She blamed the over-commercialization of heroism, brand deals, and shitty policies in place. Well that and growing quirk strength, she didn’t believe in that cock and bull story of Quirk Singularity theory but there was no denying that strength of quirks did seem to increase with each generation. 

Well… All For One was a first generation quirk and seemed to be the most bullshit thing ever so that wasn't strictly speaking true now was it? Ya know, it was most likely just some spiteful kami getting back at her for some past action, probably because she had been a part of that experiment. She had been young, reckless, idealistic, and not realizing she had been selling her soul. She glanced over at Nezu, granted she liked to think she had evened out her karmic debt for leaving the lab a smoking crater, shutting it down.

She sighed, and rubbed at an old scar it always did hurt around this time of year. Still, whatever the reason, the kids always seemed more reckless each year and that made it boil down to one thing in the end. She got a massive headache, because her job was that much harder. With another long drawn out sigh she looked up from the pile of student applications she was perusing. The pile dedicated to ‘personalized beds’. It held a lot of kids that she was worried about. 

Between All Might's Chosen successor, the boy had his exam yesterday and while he had done quite well seeing him level a city block with a power she was intimately familiar with had been staggering. Honestly she hadn’t expected All Might to already have a protege and wished the man had told her he was preparing one. She would have liked to run tests to make sure there would be no issues. He would likely be in her domain a lot seeing as how the power was still a bit much for his body, the fractures on his arm had been worrying but not as bad as she had feared. Then there was a boy who appeared to be a walking bomb, she expected many people coming in with burns and ear damage, a boy who fried his brain when he went over his voltage, a girl who produced acid , and a whole host of other potential headaches. 

She needed some more damn coffee. Still she would do her duty, pay her penance , and keep them all healthy. 

She ignored her pile of students for now and instead looked around the room where the majority of the teachers idled, rustling through their own print outs, well data-pads as she was one of the only ones to actually still use paper, as trees offended her, of the individual students. 

She watched as Nemuri, the only other person to use paper; though not because of her hatred of plant life but because her rampaging ADHD made it difficult to work full digital screen. Nemuri frowned, before shuffling the papers into a giant messy pile, and then rearranged them into some design only she could fathom. Or in Eraserhead’s case, just leaving the data-pad on the ground and mainly focusing on the students themselves on the monitor. ‘ One of these days his habit of not reading the information provided is going to bite him in the ass, or worse harm a student’ she thought to herself bitterly. She knew Nezu told him to read the damn things but he was so stubborn with not wanting to ‘taint’ his first impression. It was a lawsuit waiting to happen, hopefully this year he will be better. She unfortunately doubted it, she would have to talk to Nezu about this after the exams were finished.

Speaking of the belligerent rodent (affectionate ™) she glanced to the side, he had surrounded himself with 6 monitors, three data-pads, two cups of tea, and a tray of snacks, the fucking I-pad baby. He was looking forward to this far too much, what with his eyes constantly shifting between them eagerly tracking something on the monitors. She briefly glimpsed some student portfolios he had pulled up, and felt herself curse under her breath. Looks like she had more students to add to her ‘personalized beds’ pile, call it a gut feeling. He had a wide array of people and was rapidly clicking through them, one would think he was just browsing but she knew him too well for that. What with that manic gleam in his eyes. He was either A) plotting murder, B) plotting the downfall of the HSPC, C) found someone interesting or D) All of the above. 

Still if she was a gambling woman, she wasn’t not since… well lets just say it involved a massive amount of booze, 3 smoking hot babes, 2 hunks, and a weekend she was likely never to forget… She wondered how her ex-wives were doing. What was she thinking about again? Oh yeah that unholy gleam in Nezu’s eyes, if she had to guess he had just finished reviewing all of the students, and had found something interesting. More interesting than Yesterday's revelation that Yagi had chosen a successor. 

Shit, this was going to be a long ass year.

“Good morning everyone!” He didn’t even bother looking away from his monitors, again, I-pad baby , “I hope you all are prepared for the next day of testing. It appears we have quite the batch today, which is just wonderful.” He ignored the way his words caused a wave of unease to spread through the room. Fuckin cowards, ya think after workin’ so long with the belligerent rodent (affectionate™) they would be used to his wanna be cool anime genius antics. “Could I interest anyone with some tea?”

She sighed as no one seemed to want to reply to the deranged principle. Haaaaa figures, everyone is too scared of him to take him up on the offer, as usual. Though to be fair he doesn’t exactly like to make friends, not after… She sighed, that betrayal still stung even decades later. Still she had hoped that people would get used to his eccentric behavior, or that he would have learned to open up again. Sadly for now it was not to be. Still the awkward silence settled over the room, seems like she’d have to reply, otherwise the room would feel too awkward. It was too early in the morning for this shit.

“What’s got you so excited?” She asked, ignoring the way her coworkers looked at her in awe, bah ya think they would have gotten used to working with me as well! I am too old for this hero worship shit. “What did ya find your long lost child or something? If so, the world isn’t going to survive two of you.” It was their own little inside joke seeing as neither of them could have kids, her due to quirk cancer when she was younger, and him from the experiments. It had been one of the first things they had bonded over in the lab… She shook her head trying to forget those dark days.

“Ohhhh Chiyo~ how you wound me.” He said a hand going to his chest in a dramatic fashion, she gave a snort and he smiled. “No, sadly I still remain childless. Though my offer to adopt with you as the mother always remains open.” He said, that stupid unholy gleam in his eye caused her to snort. 

“I am too old to be a mom,” she said with a chuckle, she really was.

“Balderdash! You would make a great mother!” He said with great probably mock, offense.

“Uh-huh what caught your eye if it is not your long lost spawn then?” She said doing her best to ignore the looks of horror and awe on her colleagues were shooting her. Seriously they should be used to this by now. 

“It would appear as though young Toshinori, hiding in the corner over there,” he pointed towards the number one hero without even raising his gaze. “Has found not one, but two worthy hero candidates to sponsor! This one with quite the interesting quirk. Why, if I am reading this correctly, it took nearly 18 years to awaken! How fascinating .” 

Chiyo blinked and cast a glance at Nezu, her brow furrowed, he turned one of the monitors to face her revealing a students profile. She began digging through her own stacks of paper to find the relevant file so she could look through it herself. She had missed that tidbit, still that was interesting. Especially since when she glanced at Toshinori he appeared to look rather sheepish and proud at the same time. 

He straightened under the scrutiny of the others and gave a soft smile, as he did Chiyo had to do a double take. He looked much healthier than when she had last seen him. She had not noticed it the past three days but now that she was really studying him she could tell his face had more color than normal and he was holding himself in such a manner that suggested his breathing was easier. What was going on? Granted she hadn’t seen him in a few months because he was a bullheaded idiot about his own health and refused to schedule consistent appointments no matter how much she badgered him. Well she would have to fix that mistake now wouldn’t she? 

Chiyo cracked her neck and the noise reverberated across the now silent room, a look of unease settling over everyones features. Stupid cowards, yall are pro-heroes shouldn’t be scared of a decrepit old woman! At the noise, Toshi quickly began studying his data-pad with great interest, averting his eyes from everyone.

“Toshi, when are you going to schedule that follow up appointment?” Everyone quickly pretended to be very interested in their paperwork.

“Ah, I… actually I really should do that especially with what has come up recently. Are you free next week?” He looked nervous but also had a level of determination in him as if he was about to face down his doom. 

“No, you can’t put it off-” Wait, he AGREED? What the hell? She raised an eyebrow, “I mean, yes I am free, how about Monday?”

“Uh, yes! Um-Monday works?” She narrowed her eyes and then sighed, at least he had agreed.

“Two pm, do not be late.” He gave a nod and seemed to relax, she didn’t want to cause him distress but he was so bullheaded about his health! He disregarded it in favor of saving everyone else, she just wished he would care more about his own health. Still she was glad he was agreeing to the appointment, all she had left was to find out why he felt guilty about it. Thoughts for later. 

“Right, so tell us about this student Toshi is sponsoring, Nezu.” She said taking the pressure off of the man. With that Toshi seemed to let out a deep sigh, as his posture seemed to relax. He set his data-pad down and relaxed for a bit now that everyone wasn’t staring at him. Ya know he should be used to the public gaze, what with being the number one hero but sometimes it was like the blond was a different person and struggled with the attention. He reminded her of when he was not but a small firsty entering UA’s halls. 

Aizawa in the background hid a smirk, clearly enjoying All Might’s discomfort. She felt herself bristle a bit, he was not any better in fact he was actually just worse since Toshi at least listened to his Doctors more often than not. Aizawa just pretended that he knew better. Stubborn Jackass. She narrowed her gaze and began plotting a bit of vengeance, ignoring the belligerent rodent’s (affectionate ™) gaze of approval. She knew what she would do, she would replace all of his coffee with decaf and spike his creamer with melatonin. Maybe if he would not listen she could force him to get some damn sleep! Being sleep deprived was a torture and actually incredibly determinetal to your health and he was willingly doing it to himself!

“Oh, Chiyo~ why I couldn't spoil the surprise. Toshinori should be the one to tell us about this wonderful potential student.” Nezu finally looked away from his monitors and swiveled into his chair and smiled at the Number one hero, who simply loosened his tie and gave a nervous smile. 

“Ah but of course, I would be honored to speak about Young Myōjō,” she could all but feel the pride within his voice. Chiyo found herself raising an eyebrow, her interest in this student increasing. “She is truly an inspiring young woman, she has not had an easy life, and yet her kind and caring nature shines true. Her quirk, as Nezu said, only manifested recently,” the look of pain on his face surprised her for a moment until she remembered that he too once upon a time was quirkless. She doubted that they were treated any better in this day and age than when he had been a boy. She wondered why then he had not chosen her to be the next holder of One for All.

“I was actually personally involved in the incident.” A look of regret passed over his face, she would have to ask Nezu to look into this incident. “While I can’t tell you about the case, I can tell you that I was impressed with her strength of will and heroic spirit. Why I even offered her a pass to All Might tower for her to train so she could catch up on understanding her quirk. She will truly be an amazing hero.” He gave a smile and shook his head, “during her time using the facilities I have watched her grow in leaps and bounds. Both with her quirk control as well as her tactical thinking, especially when one considers just how adaptable and volatile her quirk can be.” A small blush appeared on his face as he looked over to Chiyo. “She has actually inspired me to be healthier and take care of myself, truth be told.” 

Chiyo blinked and found she was really looking forward to meeting this girl, it was now that Toshinori realized he was rambling, he cleared his throat and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Anyways, I have no doubt she’ll pass this test. The real question is what position she will place on the leaderboards” 

Still his reply only seemed to make Nezu’s manic attitude even stronger. She had to admit she actually was looking forward to meeting Myōjō. She might complain and moan, but she secretly liked the chaotic ones. She was friends with the belligerent rodent (affectionate™) after all. She finally managed to find the girl's application and began reading through it.

“Adaptable you say?~ Oh please enlighten us.” He was digging for information and which meant that either he wanted the teachers to pay attention or the information was incomplete within the files. She would place her money on lacking information, what with the fact she only had her quirk awakening less than a year ago… not that she would gamble, again, no matter how strong the temptation.  

“I must decline, I feel I would do an inadequate job of doing so, and while I have listened to her ramble about her quirk to a great extent it still seems beyond me. I blame one too many blows to the head.” He said with a chuckle, “though if you asked I am sure she would eagerly provide you with a written summary of her quirk. Her analysis and information gathering are quite impressive for someone her age! Though I will say that the general overview greatly undersells what she can do. As well as the drawback she has disclosed to me. Actually Nezu, I was hoping you would talk to her more, as she’s one of the brightest minds we-I have ever met and I think that is something that should be nurtured.”

She found herself deep in thought as she watched Toshi, something was off… and that was when it clicked, he had said all of that without once coughing up blood or even seeming to struggle with breathing. Her eyes widened in shock, she knew the damage to his respiratory system that wasn’t really possible for him to do so. 

“Toshi… You haven’t been doing anything stupid and taking your medical care into your own hands have you?”

All might froze and his eyes went wide before he sputtered and then began to hack up blood, FUCK! She hadn’t meant to cause that .

“Oh Kami, are you okay Toshi. Sorry I didn’t mean to…”

“Ah,” He waved her off, shaking his hand. When he brought the handkerchief away from his mouth she was surprised by the lack of blood on it. How curious. “Actually Shuzenji, you mostly took me by surprise since I haven’t coughed up blood in about a week. This is actually something we should discuss on Monday, and uh perhaps w-I have been a bit foolish?” He said nervously. 

Chiyo let out a deep bone weary sigh and began reading the girls quirk, surely she had something to do with this. 

Nezu let out a bit of a chuckle as he seemed to parse through some more documents. Clearly he wanted to distract the other teachers from what Toshi had just said, “oh with a glowing recommendation like that how could I refuse! Assuming she makes it in, I would be happy to nurture such an analytical ability. Though I must say her performance on the written portion shows that you are quite correct she has one of the highest scores! How exciting!” Nezu cackled for a bit and then sighed taking a long sip of tea, “Though I think it’s about time we started the event? Majima, would you like to deploy the robots? Oh and someone let Present Mic know that it’s time to begin.” 

“Will do” the shirtless hero replied, clearly eager to move beyond what had just been talked about. She was not sure how she could understand people working for Nezu and being skittish. You really think they would learn by now. Still she watched as the twink hero tapped away on his laptop sending out the commands. 

As he did so, something in Chiyo knew that this year’s students would be even more self-destructive then the last. It’s just time to see which ones made the cut.  She fought off a smirk as the Imperial march rang out and the chaos began.

She really did enjoy a bit of chaos.

Higari Maijima, better known as the excavation hero Power loader was having a bad day. He had deployed close to 300 robots into the fake city, and right now he was watching in absolute horror as they were being slaughtered by the dozen. Not as in destroyed and able to be repaired, no he meant slaughtered as in complete write-offs, at best be used for scrap at worst… he let out a high pitched whine as he watched another robot succumb as its circuit boards were subjected to internal rot. He was going to have to put in overtime just to reconstruct enough of them for the next day, it was time to offer the second and third years extra credit before the semester even started. He winced as the other culprit destroyed another of his babies, shoving her bone spike into a vulnerable location and then unleashing a devastating blast upon the internal circuits. 

Why me? He thought with a long suffering sighed as he watched more and more of them be destroyed by the two demons. What was the point of making the robots reusable when the students went out of their way to ruin them! Especially their core components, there was no saving circuit boards that had been destroyed by explosions or overwhelmed with mushrooms. He would have his vengeance! No chance of reusing most of these robots, he shot a glare at Nezu and Toshinori. Toshi because his protege was destroying so many of his creations and Nezu for demanding that the robots be working Security bots just replaced coding that allowed them to shut down upon receiving too much surface damage. 

“All Might, whatever the fuck you’re feeding your protege, stop it. She’s caused at least 5 Million Yen in Damages for the university.” He spoke up, his voice sounding as despondent as he felt. He watched as she shattered another three pointer with a precision strike. A begrudging part of him admitted that she did have quite the immaculate control of her quirk.

“Ahhh Maijima, I uh… I am very sorry?” The number one hero stuttered, looking torn between proud and guilty. “She’s quite… motivated . Unfortunately she’s treating the robots like the training dummies she practices on at Might tower.” He coughed a bit into his hand and squirmed under Maijama’s piercing gaze. “I uh, never really got around to talking to her about control and the like but, just think of it as her showing her dedication?” As he continued to stare at the man he got to enjoy the fact he made the number one hero flinch with his deadpan stare. “I’ll tell her to tone it down next time, still I’m just saying she’s very good at containing her strength when you consider the damage is limited to only the robots and not the rest of the city?” He completely missed Cementos’s smirk, and Aizawa’s glare of disdain.

Higari sighed and moved his glare from the number one hunk towards the demon in the monitor, he sighed as he watched as she stabbed a three pointer from above with her wings. It seemed to stutter for a little bit, before a smile rushed to her face and the whole robot exploded from the inside. WELP There goes another 300,000 Yen. Fuck. He sighed, at least they were easy to make. 

“Maijimi, I think it’s about time to release the zero pointer don’t you?” Nezu trilled from behind his many screens. Screens that cost more than the entire budget for this exam. Ones that he had to install and uninstall on demand. Sometimes he wished he had the budget that Nezu operated with, granted what the Rat God bought with his own money was on him. Besides, he was paid quite well and did enjoy his job. Especially when he was allowed to unleash the EXECUTOR.  

A wide smile spread across his face, his revenge would be forcing them to flee before his technological might and superiority! He was excited that he was going to get to press the big red button , he honestly never tired of it, because of course he had splurged and got himself one . Sure all he needed was his laptop, but there was just something so satisfying about being able to press the big red button . He popped open the secret compartment on his specially made chair and up floated the BIG RED BUTTON OF DOOM ! Never let it be said that having a big red button totally didn’t increase the stakes. 

He took another look over his laptop and wiggled a bit before nodding to himself, systems looked good. The area of activation was in the clear, only a few students were even in the vicinity and the natural reaction to seeing a kaiju sized robot was to flee so it would be fine. Well anyway, time to push the button!!!!!

He slammed his hand down and let out a cackle, all but vibrating in his seat as he watched the startup sequence take place. Which of course was as overdramatic as he could possibly make it. Psychological warfare was important after all, he ignored the fact it was mostly done for his general enjoyment. He hummed along as the Star Wars Imperial March blared throughout the room…. He chuckled as some of the teachers rolled their eyes. 

He watched in unrestrained glee as the building in the centre of the mock city split apart, ignoring the glare he received from Cementoss. Even from this distance you could feel the very earth rumble as the robot unfolded itself, revealing itself for all to see. He watched as his main monitor's display was replaced by the incoming information from the EXECUTOR, he could already see dozens of students running away in terror. 

Yes cower before him, The God of Machines!

Well, it was time to wreck a few buildings, scare a few hero hopefuls, and cause havoc. He began typing away on his keyboard and his chair whirled to life providing an advanced control system so that he could assume direct control. He wiggled within his seat of power as he watched the students flee from the very sight of his magnum opus. If he cackled, laughed a little maniacally while destroying a building or two, well his colleagues would understand. They would not .

His joy was short lived as his sensors did pick up on the fact that the mushroom girl who was responsible for completely wrecking his robots’ internal systems was apparently in the mock mall and not yet fleeing. He frowned and shrugged, it was fine, she just must not have caught sight of the zero pointer yet. She’d run when she saw him, it wouldn’t take long after all the city was designed so that you could see the giant robot coming from far off. Otherwise students could get injured. Weird the mushroom kid still wasn’t running as he got closer. He frowned and figured he should bring this up to Nezu at this point, because he was starting to get nervous. She was almost within the danger zone, and despite her disregard for his babies he didn’t want to drop a building on her.  

“Nezu we got an examinee not fleeing, suggested course of action?” Did he like to think of himself as a commander of the Machines under the direction of General Nezu? Of course not, that would be silly. 

“Hmmm, examinee number 6509, Kinoko Komori . Her file is pretty sparse on information…” Nezu faltered and then a dark look crossed his face, “oh I see, the reason she is not running is she's blind.” Higari blinked, she had done that much destruction and couldn’t see? He found himself very impressed. “Ah and unfortunately the Board has been lax about making sure we meet standards for disabilities.” Nezu let out a sigh, “I will need to account for this in the future. For now simply avoid her and assume she does not realize this is the zero pointer, seeing as how our standard brochure. Which including brail descriptions was not included this year because it was a ‘frivolous’ use of funds. Stingy bastards.” 

Well that was helpful. Sadly that meant he wasn’t going to destroy the mall this time. Oh well. He could always destroy the faux library instead hehehe, yes that would be fun. Let out some of his anger at librarians the world over, not his fault he had often caused explosions while trying to replicate what he was reading about. Yes, his vengeance would be swift today! Good plan. He had just turned the massive robot away from the mall when the executor’s sensors started picking up internal faults all throughout the robot. He blinked in disbelief, as a long list of errors started to flash over the screen, little electrical errors that were rapidly piling up. Something was very clearly wrong, it didn’t take him long to realize what was the cause.

“SHIT! Nezu, she’s attacking the Executor! I am losing control!” He tried to regain control to move it away from the mall to get as far away from her as possible. Then to his absolute horror, the hydraulics all started bursting causing a cascading failure. He tried to fight it but soon lost complete control and was forced to watch as his greatest creation collapsed right onto the mall. 

The rest of the teachers were in disarray as chaos set in. Everyone stared in shock through the monitors as the metal goliath fell onto the building, and metal met hardened concrete. The sensors shattered, electronics fried, and metal plates deformed, concrete gave way and a giant cloud of dust obscured what happened next. They could only pray as they watched the building fail to hold up the mental monstrosity.

As the dust cleared the assembled teachers froze in horror as they all scanned the scene for any sign of the mushroom girl…. No, Miss Komori. Higari felt like he was going to be sick, this was his fault it was- he gasped as he finally saw her laying in the midst of the rubble, worse off, it was clear she had been speared through her chest by a piece of rebar. 

Higari was only distantly aware of everything else going on as he was focused solely upon the sight before him. He was responsible for this, it was his fault. He couldn’t feel his hands, he couldn’t focus on anything other than the horrifying sight before him. His mind was racing, running through all the safety measures that had been in place and suddenly finding them lacking. He could hear orders being given out, he could hear words being said but they weren’t registering, nothing was other than the sight of the injured student. He didn’t understand, students were meant to run, they were meant to see it and flee . Why did she not run? Why did he not alter his trajectory sooner? Why did he even make the damn thing in the first place? Sure it was a recommendation by the board, but he could have toned it down. This was his fault. HIS fault. 

Then the monitors picked up someone arriving, hopefully it was someone who knew first aid, someone who could help her hold on until Recovery Girl could arrive. He was only distantly aware that All Might had already talked to Nezu and taken Recovery Girl and dashed away. He watched as the girl arrived and found his gravest mistake, and deep down he knew it would be for nothing. The likelihood of her surviving was practically zero, the place in which she had been speared… He couldn’t bring himself to look away, he owed it to her. He had to watch her final moments, he couldn’t look away, because this was all his fault. 

He felt a soft paw settle upon his shoulder and give him a squeeze, he was vaguely aware of Nezu’s voice speaking out, aware that he was giving orders to the other teachers acting as command for this tragedy, and yet he had time to comfort the person responsible. He wasn’t even sure when he had started to cry, he still felt so disconnected from his body, none of this felt real. All his life he had wanted to design things that would help save people and use them to do just that, and now he just killed a kid, he was no better than the villains he put behind bars. 

His dark thought spiral was halted as he watched as the other examinee, All Might’s protege, bit off her own finger and proceeded to chew it up before ripping out the rebar and then spit the now chewed up finger into the wound. What the fuck? To his shock he watched as color started to return to Miss Komori face, he felt hope blossom within his chest. Could she save her? He was not a religious man but found himself praying to any and all deities that she could save Kinoko, that she could prevent him from being a murderer.

He blinked in disbelief as he watched the continuation on the screen as Midoriya leaned in and kissed Miss Komori, before he could say anything he watched as color began to return even more and the wound seemed to close up. She was healing her… What exactly was her quirk? What was she doing? How was she doing it?

Actually scratch that he didn’t care he just wanted her to live, no matter the outcome he would never forgive himself for what happened today. 

Of course that was when All Might appeared on scene with Recovery Girl however when he approached a bone wing snapped out and nearly took off his head.

What?

All Might watched as the robot teetered and began to fall, he was running calculations in his mind. He would not be able to stop it and the shoot off and rubble even if he used 100% of his power. SHIT , his gut cursed and he had to agree. This was a total disaster. When the dust cleared and he saw the injury he was already hardening his heart. She would not make it in time, even Recovery Girl could only do so much. He rushed forward towards Recovery Girl, knowing that even though it felt hopeless he could at least try. She didn’t even wait for him to speak before giving him a nod and grabbing her cane, he leaned down and picked her up gently only to hesitate when he saw Young Myōjō appear on the monitor. 

He let out a deep breath of relief, perhaps Miss Kimori could be saved after all. He was a bit hesitant though as he recalled a conversation that Toshinori had with her about her quirk and the healing she wanted to provide him. “Ya know I could heal you more quickly, but two things are stopping me. First and foremost you have to understand that My ‘quirk’ is incredibly complicated. Like it is far more than just the abilities you have seen. Everything you have seen me do, from the explosions, the healing, to my own transformation comes from the same thing.” She had paused from devouring her fifth burger to give him a look. For a moment she studied him before sighing and speaking up again, it was clear she was very nervous about divulging this information. 

“You see, what I am doing is using Biomass, and Essence to fundamentally alter my DNA and body. I am forcing myself to adapt at the cost of Biomass, or well food. I guess?” She looked a bit sheepish as she looked at the large amount of food she was devouring, honestly the girl's diet needed an overhaul and he still needed to make a better one of her.  “The second part you have to understand about what I do is that this may seem like an ability with no drawbacks but that is very far from the truth. I come equipped with these ‘instincts’ and like they are constantly telling me to consume and adapt. To sink my teeth into things and rend it down into usable biomass.” She had shivered and looked at him with a hunger that suggested she felt that way about skinny/weak/injured Toshinori. It sure explained her initial reaction to the man. 

“Back to what I was saying, if I use too much Biomass I lose my buffer against these instincts and lash out. I am afraid of losing control and hurting someone, or worse, in my attempt to replenish my stores. So that is a risk, another risk, is the fact that I am fairly certain that too much of me healing you would subject you to these same instincts and you might lose your sense of self, hence why we need to spread out the healing over time.” 

He shook his head and quickly informed both Recovery Girl and Nezu of what he knew in hushed voices, his worry about her over use of her quirk  and the possible repercussions, IE her desire to consume things. He did not want to cause more chaos by telling everyone. His gut insisted on keeping this away from others so they would not judge her too harshly. He did miss that Eraserhead had overheard though, still with the both informed it was time to move. They still had a delicate situation and time was of the essence. He buffed up and flexed, soon he was hurtling through the air Recovery Girl within his grasp as he shielded her from the wind pressure and debris. It was his duty as an educator to get himself and a healer to them as soon as possible. He did not care for anything stopping him, so if he destroyed a door or two on the way out then so be it. He was sure Nezu would forgive him. 

This would not repeat the slime incident. He would not be too late, and he would not jump to conclusions. Not again. Never again.

Abathur was drawn out of his musings of how he would incorporate the essence of mushroom into the swarm by the voice of the second in command.

<Statement: The Queen is currently unable to control her body. The Hunger is too great, unable to assist either.> 

<<Agreed Regent. The queen must rest. A feral queen is unwise.>> He truly did believe that as well, a feral queen could bring down the wrath of these earthlings upon them before they were ready to conquer them. He understood the importance of planning and preparation prior to take over. 

<Affirmative: We need additional Biomass, For this Reason Abathur of the Swarm, you shall assume direct control of the body and acquire additional biomass. Do not give our queen a reason to be disappointed in you.> He could all but feel the threat lurking within Miyu’s voice, she often reminded him of the Queen of Blades, with how in a few words he could find himself fearing for his very being. 

<<You wish me to take control? That is inadvisable.>> And he truly believed that. First off evolutionarily bipedal locomotion was designed for creatures to move through trees. More legs were necessary for stable movement, even with the additional appendages her changes provided. Secondly he did not wish to anger the Regent or the Queen and end up erased from existence. He had no doubt they could do so if they wished. 

<Authoritative: I must attend to the Queen and our new swarm member, especially if we wish to honor the Queen’s wishes to keep her sense of self. You are the only choice. Besides, you are sorely lacking in what the Queen would call ‘people skills.’ For that reason you will not be a part of this and are to acquire sustenance. I have spoken.> Abathur felt a chill run down his very essence. 

<<Affirmative; will acquire Biomass.>> It would be interesting to be in control of a body again at least.

<Abathur, do not kill anyone.>

<<Affirmative.>>

When Abathur next opened his eyes he found himself stumbling forth, he truly despised bipedal locomotion, luckily with the use of the Queens wings he did not fall over. He sighed and began trying to move around, relying on the wings far more than the worthless ‘legs’. How his Queen used them for her primary mode of locomotion bewildered him. Still he had a job to do, and now was as good a time as any to put into practice some of his ideas he had for Essence of Mushrooms psionic ability. 

He ignored the cocoon that had replaced Essence of Mushrooms body, knowing what was occurring within. She was being made into the first new addition of the swarm. He still did not understand why his Queen was so hesitant to make new members of the swarm, she should just assume her role as leader of this world. 

Still this upgrade he was planning for his Queen was imperative and necessary, it would prove a boon that would greatly increase the strength of the Swarm. Though combining the Psionics of Mushroom with the Psionics of sludge almost even pushed him into a feral state. That had been foolish, he lashed out with a bone spear using it to rip open the casing of the Earthling metal monstrosity. He grimaced, the things he did for his Queen, converting metal into biomass was futile and inefficient but would suffice for now. He crunched into the metal, frowning, it was a good thing he had upgraded the Queen's teeth and jaw strength, such a thing would not be possible normally. 

He sighed and began the arduous process of absorbing the metal into Biomass. His plan was actually to not send the Biomass directly to the current hunger and instead use it in order to implement his idea. If this worked it would be much more efficient than just breaking down metal via use of chewing. He continued to work upon digesting the Earthling metal contraption, he had to admit he was more partial to the lubrication that the Earthlings used than the metal. 

Once he had gathered enough Biomass he got to work finishing his plans. He began to spew forth spores into the air marveling as they took root and rapidly began to expand, the ground soon became covered in a sludge that was very familiar. The sludge soon began to break down minerals and metal converting it into biomass, it would then use that biomass to spread and transfer any excess into any Zerg that was upon its slimy texture. He had done it, he had recreated creep using these new essence blueprints, and even better he had improved upon the design. The Queen would be able to spread creep at an initial cost of biomass but it would provide for her in return. 

He could already feel the Biomass seeping into him, he instantly began to transfer it towards Miyu and the Queen. Though he couldn’t help but keep bits of it for himself, he figured it would be fine if he siphoned a miniscule amount and experimented with some of his ideas…

He froze up as he sensed a large swath of power hurtling towards them at high speed . He turned and readied to fight, he would do everything he could to protect the Queen’s body, which meant halting the flow of biomass and using it to spin creations, before the threat had arrived Abathur had already spun half a dozen mushroom/slime Zerglings into existence, imbuing each with a connection to the swarm. It was good to know he could spin members of the swarm into existence using a combination of Essence of Mushroom and Sludge but, it would not do to create feral Zerglings, the Queen would be displeased if he did so. So he made sure he assumed direct control over them.

The six zerglings flanked him as they stood before the cocoon. Primary objective was to protect the body of the Queen. Secondary objective was to protect new members of the hive. Failure was not an option. 

He stood upon his two legs and sprayed out his wings, making himself seem far more opposing than normal. At each of his side stood three zerglings ready to rip into anyone should they prove a threat, there was just one problem: he was not sure how he was supposed to protect the Queen and the cocoon without killing the threats. He was drawn out of his musings as the massive spike in power arrived. He did not hesitate the moment they landed he lashed out with a spear intending to bury it into a non-vital area and hopefully stall for time, or incapacitate. His strike was dodged with an ease that caused him to tense nervously. 

That was of course when he realized just who had landed in front of him it was the hero known as All Might, accompanied by an older frail woman. The thing that was causing him to hesitate though was that he could sense a minor connection to the swarm within the man. A distinct smell of his Queen's Essence resided within him as if he had consumed some essence. of course that was when he realized that is exactly what happened. It would appear that the individual known as Yagi Toshinori was All Might, perhaps a fight would not be had after all. He resumed the transfer of Biomass to the cocoon. 

“Young Myōjō, are you in control?” The man was tense, and clearly ready to react should Abathur lash out again. 

He spoke, disliking how his voice sounded, he did not like being in control of this body. It felt wrong, it was not his and he disliked it composition. “Incorrect, Queen of Blades busy. This individual known as Abathur currently assuming control.” He saw the man tense and he let out a hiss getting low in case it came to a fight, the zerglings responding to his will chittered and spread out, “you are Yagi Toshinori, Queen is healing you, you were injured by villain. Major damage to most internal organs. Swarm fixing. You will assist Swarm in return.”

“I… What do you mean Swarm? I do not know what that is, but are you referring to Myōjō? I want to help but I need to understand what is going on.” He then shook his head, “Right, first things first can we please take a look at Miss Komori? Recovery Girl is here to heal her.”

“Essence of Mushroom, known  as Kinoko Komori recovering. Currently being adopted into swarm, newest member, you can not help.” He took a quick mental check on the status of the changes and overall health of the newest member. “Essence of Mushroom exhausted, dehydrated, in critical condition but will recover and heal given time. Use of healers psionic ability likely to cause complications. Additionally, removal would be hazardous, conclusion: no you may not have access to. Will protect Swarm.” He let out a guttural hiss, his wings chittering, which was echoed by the growling of the Zerglings. “Primary objective clear, protect swarm.”

“Are you sure she is safe?” The swarm candidate asked. 

“Affirmative."

“I… ok,” Abathur was relieved when the man relaxed slightly, he had not said so but it was clear he could not beat the man in a fight in this bipedal body. “Right, uh, so what exactly is the swarm, is that the instincts she was talking about? What are those things next to you?” 

“Swarm is the species known as Zerg. Far more expansive than you realize, we are the Swarm, and we follow the Queen. You know Queen as designation Myōjō. These are Zerglings basic melee units of the swarm useful for defense and offense, capable of stripping threats to bones in seconds.” The implied threat was clear, “primary objective is to defend hive. Decision made, Queen trusts you, will also trust. Current Hive small, members include the Queen, the Regent, self, zerglings and now Essence of Mushroom.” He looked over at the hero studying him, “and because Queen's rash actions healing you despite protest, you are considred a candidate . Your presence acceptable.”

The subject. No individual known as Yagi Toshinori seemed to be contemplating his role in the swarm. Meanwhile the subject known as recovery girl seemed to be evaluating the situation. Good, the more they hesitated the more time until the Queen woke up and could assume control. 

“So if Miss Komori cannot be released, what is her estimated recovery time?” The frail one asked. A good question. “Also, are you injured? I could help.”

“Essence of Mushroom is to take a cycle to heal. Full adoption is to take 18 possible cycles depending on Biomass intake. Process cannot be interrupted.” Abathur then did an assessment of the Queen. “Queen health acceptable, however current Biomass stores critically low, only because familiar with being feral able to resist.” Which was true, once upon a time he had been feral and if he was honest was close to being so now. “If use more biomass will become feral and attack without regard, even swarm candidate. Wish to assist? Provide Biomass. Creep,” he motioned to the spreading pulsating carpet of zerg and mushroom spreading about the area “shall speed up recovery. However, process slow, efficient but not allowed to kill to speed up acquisition of biomass. Direct order from Queen. Only way.”

The old lady blinked frowned for half a second then her eyes widened. “So you need high nutrient food and a lot of it?” 

“Correct."

“Well, I have some high nutrient gummies that should help for now.” She reached into her clothing and pulled out a jar before tossing it to Abathur. He grabbed it out of the air, “Toshi, go grab a large amount of food from Lunch Rush, I will provide some basic medical check-up for others in the meantime… Also we will be having words later about what is being done to heal you.” The swarm candidate nodded, before taking off in a leap, the old lady gave abathur a look before shuffling off. 

Abathur opened the jar and took a bite, a flood of energy entered his system. These were very acceptable. He would recommend this old lady to the Queen for consideration of the swarm. Swarm could use her. He began munching on the jar of gummies, plastic container included. 

Plastic is complicated carbon chains, plastic is good.

Chapter Text

Kinoko was a gay fucking mess, she was pretty sure she had just died while being made out with a beautiful woman who said she wasn’t going to die? Maybe said woman had underestimated how gay she was and her heart had just given out upon being made out with? Then again if she was dead, she wouldn’t still be her, right? She would think that she would have just stopped existing, yet she had not, so either she was dead and trapped in the afterlife or… she hadn’t died? But if she hadn’t died then why was she stuck in a black void? She had no idea. 

<Notice: you are not dead.>

<<AAAAAAAAAAAA! WHO'S THERE!?!?>> She would have jumped in fear if she could have, instead what she got was something far more bizarre, it sounded like she had yelled but no sound had come out of her mouth and instead it just echoed within her mind?!?! The FUCK!? She tried to activate her quirk on reflex only to feel nothing. Her panic mounted even more.

<<Ah, sorry we didn't mean to scare you, also there is no need to yell. I now understand Abathur’s pain, which I don’t know how to feel about that. And like its kinda overwhelming and just urgh feels like I want it to quiet down… Ah sorry rambling.>>

<Clarification: You are autistic my Queen.>

<<.... I am dealing with that revelation later, when I can contact an actual licensed professional. Maybe. Health care is expensive. Anyways, what Miyu is trying to say is that you're currently healing and you aren’t dead. We were able to save you but there are going to be changes and things we have to discuss, but  I don't want to overwhelm you just yet, just well. The… incident did a lot of damage to your internal organs, and really we only had one choice.>>

That voice? Was that the same voice she’d heard when she was fading away?  What the actual hell? And why did it have to sound so hot despite the sensory deprivation, or was it sounding hotter because of that? Huh she was learning things about herself she wasn’t sure she liked. 

<<Are you sure I am not dead? Because I can’t see anything.>> Well she couldn’t access her quirk and use it, and she couldn’t sense any of her spores which meant no feedback which meant she was blind. So, same thing really. Also it was so odd that every time she tried to speak it came out as a voice within her own head. 

<<Miyu, uh did we forget to activate her visual cortex?>>

<Clarification: tried to activate however, visual cortex is not being used for Visualisation tasks. Individual does not have working sight, uses spores to ‘map’ out using the repurposed visual cortex. Solution: Linking visual cortex with Queens will allow new member of Swarm to see for now.>

Before Kinoko could ask, the fuck . She suddenly could see , though what she was seeing caused her to eep in surprise. She appeared to be in some sort of flesh carapace room thing!??! With the hot sexy bone lady and an alien worm lady attached to the spongy flesh room?!?!? She could actually see and not in her approximation of it, she had access to visual clarity. AND SHE DESPISED IT. It was… wrong. Kinoko had something that amounted to ‘sight’ with use of her spores but this was unacceptable. She was seeing through somebody else's eyes, somebody else's interpretation of the visual signals. 

It was nauseating. It was overwhelming on a physical and emotional level. She could almost hear her mother whine about how she would have been perfect if only she had a working pair of eyes. She was wrong, this was wrong, no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no-no… 

<<Ya know, I don’t think I like being able to see, this feels insanely overwhelming… actually yeah no I really don’t like this can you please turn it off?>> The panic in her mental voice was a tangible thing. <<It’s too much ple->> Before she could continue she was plunged into blissful darkness once more. OK! I did not expect to react that negatively to being able to see. 

<Remorse: Apologies it was not our intention to make you distressed, sadly I am not able to replicate how you ‘see’ at this time so will have to remain in darkness for now.>

Kinoko let out a deep sigh, relaxing lightly. She had not expected such a visceral reaction but it was overwhelming and she had despised it. Note to self if anyone ever offers her vision stab them with a rusty spork.

<<It’s fine, I just did not like that, too much information and like everything was just way too much. I prefer my way of seeing.>> 

<<Good to know, Miyu make sure her visual cortex is left as is, during the conversion. If she prefers her way we will make sure to honor that. Besides if she ever decides otherwise later we can fix it then but we won't make her uncomfortable.>>

<Affirmation: Yes my Queen.>

Hold the electronic device , wait, wait, wait, conversion? What was she being upgraded like a Cyberman or some shit? Instead of asking anything pertinent like, what the fuck did you mean upgraded, or did you really kiss me, or why the fuck are we in my mind her gay ass went with. 

<<Wait, Queen? Are you royalty?>>

<<No>> Came the immediate response from the Bone Wing Lady's voice. Too immediate, clearly she was in denial. Hell yeah she had made out with a Queen. That was one more checkmark off of the lesbian bucket list she’d written as a kid.

<Clarification: Myōjō is leader of the Alien Hivemind known as Zerg or the Swarm. Her position is known as Queen of Blades, not traditional Earthling Queen, better approximation is to think of her as the Queen Bee.> Replied the alien worm girl.

Ok, so much could be gleaned from that statement, like- ok apparently Aliens were real? There was a group of aliens that were a hivemind called the Zerg and the hot woman with bone wings was their leader, and KINOKO FUCKING KOMORI HAD MADE OUT WITH HER!?!? HELL YEAH! SUCK MY DICK DEIKA CITY!

<<Bitchin>>

The one known as Miyu let out a snort of amusement while the Queen (and no she wasn’t going to think of her any other way) was sputtering in denial. 

<Notification: your thoughts are being broadcasted.>

OH FUCK OH FUCK OH FUCK OH BOY WAIT SHES NOT ANGRY WHAT HOW DO I INTERPRET THAT- <<Oh, shit.>>

<Warning: Heart rate elevated, please calm down>

<<Um, I do apologize for the kiss, I was uh panicking and probably could have done that better I…>>

<< Dont ya dare apologize I got to kiss a legit alien girl who is hot as fuck, you dont get to take this away from me.>>

Silence reigned supreme. Welp time to double-no triple down, because I think speak before thinking… think before think/speaking?

<Amusement: Queen left blushing mess, well done.>

<Regret: We must now focus on repercussions of actions.>

<<Ri-ri-right!>> Myōjō sputtered.

<<Aww, do we have to? I was kinda having fun not thinking about almost dying and focusing on the whole flirting with the alien girl thing.>> Apparently almost dying had removed her ability to give fucks. Who was she kidding? She never had any to give before anyways. She did, however, have an endless amount of spite at the ready.   

<Amusement/regret: Sadly yes we must. The ramifications are great.> That did not sound good. Not good at all. Well bummer.

<<Ok so, you were dying, there is no other way to say that. You had suffered a massive amount of trauma, and were bleeding out quickly. Technically due to my unique biology I have the ability to use Biomas- ‘Quirk’ to heal, but it comes with a cost. My unique biology is kinda… parasitic? That isn’t technically correct but it explains the current problem. You see Zerg essence… That is to say Zerg Genetics comes with a connection to the swarm, which means you have unfiltered access to the Hivemind… Which is very dangerous, because if you aren’t prepared it can overwhelm you and remove your sense of self. It also pushes me to want to make more Zerg. So when I use my ability to heal if I use too much too quickly it changes the target, altering their DNA and turning them into a Zerg. We are looking to mitigate the changes inside your body so you don't lose your sense of self, but you… well there is no easy way to say this. You aren’t human any more. You will be Zerg when you wake. We are here to help you prepare for that.>>

<<So let me see if I understand, you saved my life by injecting me full of your DNA and its turning me into a member of the Zerg, and as a result I will have to deal with instincts affecting me from this hivemind but you two are going to do your best to help me?>>

<Affirmative>

<<Neat. I get to be a hot alien girl, and got to make out with Alien royalty. Humanity was overrated anyways.>>

<<JKHNOKWEWKLRJ>>

<Queen has fainted, impressive, welcome to the swarm. Kinoko, I will do everything I can to make sure you stay who you are. It is my job to protect both of you from the swarms' influence.>

<<So… I get two cuties to flirt with for the price of one? Awesome, sure beats being forcibly married to some quirkest fuck. Besides you are much prettier than any guy my family would chose.>>

<ahhh excuse me for a moment… I feel a bit… queer is the word i think.>

<<That’s ok cutie, I can be your queer awakening.>>

<KJNOLKJMO!ILM>

She had learned so much today, first vision was overrated, Alien girls are really hot (big surprise). She apparently had no attachment to humanity, which was also not surprising. She had a thing for sensory deprivation, and might be a tad turned on, which led to finding out that Alien girls are easy to fluster and faint when overwhelmed. Oh, and apparently she flirts after life and death experiences. Who knew?

Nezu sat behind his desk feeling every bit of his age. So many people did not realize just how old he was, and that was before one took into account any sort of age fuckery due to not being fully human. He pointedly ignored the fact that he didn’t really know how long he had to live, after everything that had been done to him it was possible that he was immortal. His DNA showed no signs of degradation, and all signs pointed to him being the same age he was when he had broken free. 

Still in this moment he felt old , a prospective student had almost died and there was nothing that could have been done to save her with the current system. It was a failing of this institution, it was his failing. So many little things had gone wrong, and it all could have been avoided if those small mistakes hadn’t been made. Despite his burning desire to overhaul the system to prevent something like this from happening again he knew it would be a waste of time and resources. Still that did not mean changes would not be made, something like this would never happen again whilst he was in charge of this university. 

He took a sip of tea and let out a deep sigh, this year was going to be a very long challenging year. He could feel it in his bones, and no Chiyo that wasn’t arthritis. Cheeky bitch (affectionate ™), he really appreciated having her at his side. He knew she only suffered this as some form of penance even though in his mind she had long since paid her dues. He wondered if at this point she only stayed with him because it was all either of them knew. He honestly wouldn’t be surprised at this point. He set down his tea rubbed at his eyes before forcing himself to focus on the monitor in front of him. 

Examinee 6509, Miss Kinoko Komori’s file was the current cause of his headache. He has been around long enough to know when a file has been doctored, he was able to detect any sign of alteration. This file didn’t even bother with the basics, it was horribly bare. The worrying part though was that it had triggered no flags before now, meaning someone was most likely sheltering her. Her student file indicated she was an orphan, and that last year she had attended an ordinary school in Dagobah. Her grades were acceptable and no negative marks were on her record. Outside of that however? There was a shockingly empty profile, no prior schooling, no proof of vaccination. It was as if she purposefully expunged her prior records. Which he was guessing was exactly what happened if he had to guess. 

The only thing that forced him not to write it off as a badly doctored fake was that he could confirm her legitimacy via her birth certificate; he simply cross referenced the fake one with his only slightly illegal search system against all hospitals in Japan. He got a positive match from Deika City General Hospital. Turns out she wasn’t an orphan and her parents were quite alive, though her parents had not reported her missing and if anything their social media had been just as purged as her background. It was as if they never had a child. It painted a concerning picture. She was clearly on the run from something and her parents didn’t care and wanted her gone just as much as she wanted to be gone. It sickened him.

Maybe he should ask the cheeky bitch (affectionate ™) if she wanted to adopt again? This time with a bit more force than normal, especially if rumors on the internet of what was going on in Deika city were true. That would make it much worse. Whispers of a cult, one that was hyper fixated on strength and ‘free quirk use’. Now Nezu was all for the lessening of Japan’s quirk laws but usually when people spoke about ‘free quirk use’ they meant something far more sinister. 

He looked at her profile again, it was his fault she had almost died, he had not been properly prepared. So! That means he would have to take care of this atrocious attempt at creating a falsified history! His fingers flew across the keyboard as a manic smile over took his features, and if he just so happened to make her current guardians Mr. and Mrs. Shuzenji, (the divorce from their drunken wedding in vegas may have been misplaced by an official) well he always did want to adopt and Chiyo was being silly claiming she was too old to be a mother. Bah she was in the prime of her life, and had as many years left as he did. If he had anything to say about it, which he did. 

Now to set up an expense account for his new ward daughter, when she was fully healed he would break the news to Chiyo and they could confront their daughter together and tell her that they would help her. Did plotting to annoy the cheeky bitch (affectionate ™) make him feel better? Of course it did! Besides, she liked the chaotic ones and while she might complain about his antics, however he knew that once he explained his hunch she would be all for adopting their little porcini.

<<We don’t have to do this.>>

Yagi ignored his inner hero, the man was being just a tiny bit of a coward. This was something he had to do, sure he was not personally responsible (this time) for her predicament but… He felt they should be the ones to tell Inko about what had happened, and the expected recovery time.

<<A phone call would suffice.>> His inner hero argued.

<<We owe it to Myōjō>> He shot back not backing down from his decision.

He ignored his inner hero's complaints and took a deep breath, a breath he was now able to take without coughing up blood due to Myōjō. He was still in shock with just how much she had changed his life for the better. After almost a year of treatments he had actually managed to increase his hero time by a whole hour. Not to mention the fact he could breathe and eat physical foods now. Still, at this rate, he would be able to continue hero work after the last embers of One for All burned out within him. Not as his inner hero persona All Might but as himself, Yagi Toshinori, the quirkless hero. 

<<What will happen to me when we no longer have One for All?>> His fist hesitated just before the door as he thought about that. He frowned for a second before shaking his head, his inner hero was over complicating things.

<<What do you mean? You are me, we will simply change how things are, it’s not like you’re going away. We’ll just be a different style of hero, we will still get to help people. Just- I’ll be the one doing it this time, and you can offer the ideas.>> To him the answer was obvious but judging by the resentment he felt from his inner hero they disagreed. It was so odd how a divide had formed between the two of them, almost as if they were different people now, where once they had been of one mind.

He shook his head, no time for reminiscing now. He reached up and knocked on the door of Myōjō’s apartment. In no time the door opened and out stepped Inko Midoriya, both he and his inner hero took a moment to brace themselves. That woman was terrifying and had made it known that if he ever endangered her daughter again with his reckless actions she would show him just what classified as ‘small objects’ within the human body. He had felt very scared. Only scared. Nothing else at all.

“Oh! Yagi, right? You are looking much healthier. I am so glad that the energy drinks” She winked “have been helping you!” The blond felt his face burn at that, Inko knew full well what was going on and that he ‘worked’ for All Might. He had insisted Myōjō tell her mother about what she was doing with her quirk. It had been Inko who suggested they come up with a phrase for it since what they were doing wasn’t technically legal. “Please come inside.” 

<<Should have just called her, she is going to use her quirk to pull out our eyes or some shit.>>

<<Aren’t you meant to be the brave one of us?>>

<<There’s brave and then there’s suicidal. Plus I would rather say I am tactical than reduce my complex line of work as ‘brave’. Bravery only gets you so far.>>

<<Remind me again who ran into fight All for one.>>

<<That we had no choice, he had to be taken down.>>

He ignored his inner hero and cleared his throat, “Thank you Miss Midoriya,” he stepped inside, ignoring that sinking feeling in his gut. 

“I thought I told you to call me Inko.” She said with a smile, ushering him towards the living room. “Tea? Are you up to eating whole foods yet?”

“Ah-no thank you, and sadly I cannot ingest whole food for a little while yet. Though come Monday I hope to know more about the extent of my current health. Actually I came here on behalf of UA university…” He flinched as he watched Inko freeze up the fear. The guilt mounting. 

“I see, I was not aware that you were affiliated.” He could all but feel her anxiety. 

“Ah yes, you see, All Might is going to be teaching there next year and as his…” Inko let out a sigh and his mouth slammed shut, his anxiety mounting.

“Yagi, are we not friends?” He blinked in confusion. He wasn’t sure where this was going. 

“I would like to think so, yes.” He totally didn’t fidget nervously under her gaze. 

“Then when are you going to trust Myōjō and I with your secret? I mean, it isn’t exactly hard to figure out, what with the fact that your hair and eyes are the exact same color, your height and stature are similar enough and the buffness can be explained away with quirk jank, your voice though is the part that really betrays you. You sound EXACTLY the same, granted your mannerisms are so different that for a while I thought you are two different people but I grew up with Myōjō and she became obsessed with you after it was pointed out that ‘boys’ were supposed to prefer male heroes. I think she did that to try and make herself blend in… Look, all I am saying is that you can trust us.”

It was at this time he realized just where Myōjō got her intelligence form. He was also in complete shock. This was the second time today someone had noticed he was the same person, first the being known as Abathur (and it sure made him feel things to know others had people inside of their brain) had made the comment and now Inko. Mother like daughter he supposed. “I uh, well, yes it is as you have summarized. I am All Might, I just got so used to keeping it a secret and people not noticing that it just never occurred to me. But uh- yes I will be teaching at UA University this upcoming year and well… something happened at the entrance exam.”

Inko was trying to look strong, trying to hold it together but he could see the anxiety mounting. He could see the dread . Small objects were starting to be drawn towards her. He sputtered and freaked out for a moment before his inner hero took over.

“Don’t worry Inko, Young Myōjō is not hurt. She showed just what we have always known, she will be an amazing hero, she saved another participant’s life today. Due to a malfunction of a robot another examinee was injured so severely that she was not likely to make it to the hospital. Your daughter was the first on the scene and did everything in her power to heal her… however…” he trailed off. 

Inko seemed to deflate at his words and relax lightly, “Oh, my sweet selfless girl, di-did she hurt anyone?” Inko had been made aware of Young Myōjō’s limitations and quirk drawbacks his gut had insisted. He was of the mind the less people that knew the better so it couldn’t come back to hurt her. 

“She was able to prevent it with the help of someone known as Abathur? I… does that name mean anything to you? It talked in a way that was very foreign for her, and seemed uncomfortable as it moved about. I was wondering if you could tell me if the name means anything to you?”

Having something to focus on, Inko seemed to calm down. Task oriented mind, just like her daughter. Perfect for a medical professional. 

“Ah yes, I know a bit about Abathur, you see she writes about him in her notebook on her quirk, him and Miyu… She lets me read her notebooks when I ask. Ever since I read about them I have been trying to find a time to broach the subject with her. I am pretty sure her quirk awakening caused her to develop Dissociative Identity Disorder, and if so I am eager to meet my other children but I am afraid she’s hiding them because it is not considered normal , and she might be afraid of being bullied again. Or maybe she’s just gotten too used to hiding everything about herself.”

“Dissociative Identity Disorder?” All Might asked with a tilt of his head, which as opposed to what his gut told him, did not make him look like a puppy. He was a grown ass skeletal mess and proud of it.

Inko continued talking as she prepared herself for the trip to UA. “Yeah, there are technical terms that could express it better, but as best as I can understand it, it's like having a whole separate person within your psyche? Like you can talk to them and interact with them?”

All might froze midway to handing Inko her coat, his eyes wide, “wait… that’s not normal? Oh dear.” 

With that All Might’s eyes rolled into the back of his head and he lost consciousness.

<<Welcome back Queen, take body, bipedal locomotion awful, do not like, do not ask us to do so again. Unless permission granted for implementation of more efficient movement.>>

Myōjō blinked in confusion, bewildered by Abathur’s comment as she retook control of her body, it was odd to once more control her body after a week of residing within her mind space. Sure she could have returned within the first day without going feral, Abathur had done well in acquiring large amounts of Biomass to help speed up the process of healing/converting Kinoko. It had been a long week of preparing Kinoko to recognise what thoughts were from the swarm and what were her own, in the end they decided that Miyu would focus on assisting Kinoko and Myōjō would bear more of the brunt on her own. 

Apparently after a year she was finally ready to act without her buffer, Miyu would still help her but most of her focus would be on protecting Kinoko. Her job was to make sure their newest member did not lose her sense of self and end up feral. She was trying to reassure herself that she did the right thing, trying to ignore that rush of exhilaration. 

That feeling of taking someone and incorporating them into her Swarm, of adapting Kinoko’s essence and making it her own. That rush that came from turning her into Zerg . She took a deep breath and tried to center herself. She felt the gentle caress of Miyu and let out a deep sigh of relief, as she was reminded she was not alone against this tide of euphoria. Turns out that the hunger and viewing things as prey wasn’t the hard part to resist, no it was that rush of power and dopamine she got from turning someone. She was grateful that Miyu would still be around, she wasn’t sure she could trust herself otherwise. Sure, she knew that she could probably hold off against the full brunt of the connection but she didn't want to have to, she liked having Miyu help her. 

Still this week had been interesting, while Kinoko’s body had been upgraded and healed; they had spent time preparing her for what was to come. Though Kinoko made it quite hard to focus sometimes as there had been a lot of cute (read awkward) flirting, with the adorable mushroom girl, and she kinda now maybe had a girlfriend? Kinda? They had maybe kissed in the mind space a few times?!?!? Look, she didn’t know how to quantify this! Myōjō may be a bit slow about these things, after all she had just barely come to terms with realizing that being a girl was ok. Only after her Mum sat her down and pointed out she was trans and she would support her no matter what. Look TLDR she was osmium levels of dense. 

All she really knew was that Kinoko had a sensory deprivation kink. Finding that out had been an awkward experience. A delightful experience.

It was almost time to unveil Kinoko’s new body as it was almost finished undergoing its drastic changes, she was no longer an Earthling and officially Zerg. She still felt guilty about this, about giving into her instincts and the others' concerns… even though she had been reassured by Kinoko time and time again that it was ok.

<<Ya know you are really cute when you overthink things.>> The voice of Kinoko rang out within her mind, and a blush spread across her face, <<also yes we are girlfriends now. I didn’t think I had to spell that out, but hey that's on me for forgetting lesbians are the densest material in the universe.>>

<Amusement: my Queen you are rather oblivious in regards to certain things.> Myōjō would have her vengeance against Miyu!

<<Oh like you're any better! You fluster just as easily as she does! Heck I bet you don’t realize that we are dating either!>> Myōjō snorted and devolved into a fit of giggles as she felt Miyu falter and fluster lightly. 

<Wha?>

<<OH MY GOD YOU USELESS LESBIANS!>> Both Miyu and Myōjō sported similar blushes, despite being incapable of doing so. Kinoko meanwhile just sighed in exasperation.

<<Cease screaming. Also cease providing distractions for Queen, cocoon ready to hatch. Many cycles went into spinning strands. Do not miss it. I will be disappointed>>

<<You are such a buzzkill Abathur… WAIT! I finally get to have access to my body again? Hallelujah! I’ll get to do real kisses! Also my sporesight!>> Myōjō could feel the excitement flowing from Kinoko and found herself resonating with that feeling.

Myōjō easily made her way through the creep infested area towards where she knew the cocoon to be. Abathur had spent the past week eating, spreading creep, and spawning some zerglings, according to him he was trying to work out a weakness in the strand. When she had pressed him for answers he had eventually revealed that Zerglings had a lemon juice allergy, also she couldn’t drink lemon juice now or she risked getting drunk. Which just… what the fuck? Why the hell did Zerglings have a lemon juice allergy? Why would it get her drunk? It didn’t make sense! She wanted answers! None were provided. She was just informed that it was better than the spontaneous combustion they used to experience.

She decided to ignore this and focus on her newest ability that Abathur had perfected whilst in charge of the meat suit. The ability to spawn what essentially amounted to small angry rabid dogs on command, ones that would gladly die for or kill for her. She knew how she should feel unattached to the zergling past their strategic advantages but she didn’t. She loved the Zerglings, each was precious to her. 

A part of her was terrified that she was changing far more than she realized, that losing her humanity was altering who she was. 

As she moved through the area all of the Zerglings that had been made started to flock to her, each bowing its head before falling into line as she passed. She stood straighter and continued walking forth holding her head high as it really sank in that the Zerg really did view her as a leader. These were not Abathur or Miyu, these were Zerg with a connection to the heart of the very swarm, these were zerg that simply recognized her as their rightful ruler. She would one day lead the Swarm, she would be the mind of the expanding superorganism that the Swarm formed. That was a certainty now, and she was not sure she would ever be prepared for that burden. 

<Notification: four individuals have entered the creep, and are approaching.> 

<<Do you know who it is?>>

<Affirmative - Able to determine essence profiles, creep is providing feedback. First appears to be a Chimera of unknown origins, next is likely Recovery Girl judging by psionic profile, third member is potential swarm candidate Yagi Toshinori AKA All Might, lastly is mothe-Inko Midoriya.> 

<<... You know All Might by name!?!??>> Kinoko sounded both surprised and in awe. It was of course then that the implications of what Miyu said finally clicked into place. 

<<I am a fucking idiot, OF COURSE YAGI IS ALL MIGHT!>> She groaned and sighed before continuing along her path, pouting that she hadn’t put it together.

<<Hmm appear to forgot to inform Queen about connection.>> The stupid centipede didn’t sound sorry at all! Smug bastard.

<Correction: You did not realize till you sensed the connection, do not act superior. I on the other hand have known the entire time.> She nearly stumbled in shock, she had never heard Miyu sound so smug. 

<<My Queen do not believe her! Knew first! Simple deduction!>> This time she did stumble as she heard Abathur pout.

<<Holy shit you guys know All Might.>>

<Reply: Yes, All Might was the person responsible for taking Myōjō to the hospital after the sludge villain incident.> The thought brought a chill to Myōjō’s head. She wondered if she would ever not have an innate fear of the mere words Sludge Villain . Yay PTSD, she needed therapy… probably . Still despite her innate reaction to remembering that day she would never despise it, how could she? That was the day she met her precious family friends in the form of Miyu and Abathur. She desperately ignored the fact that she had also killed the villain, and felt like she lost something of herself. But she gained so much more more more more want more . Myōjō  Ignored the rush that she had upon acquiring his biomass. How she yearned to be able to taste the feeling again, the grand feeling of devouring writhing fighting screaming prey. The entire swarm echoed their hunger at her in a feedback loop she had to control as much as she could.

<<You mean when…>>

<<When I killed the guy? Yeah.>> She had warned Kinoko because she needed to know what it meant to bear the full brunt of the swarm. To know that she wasn’t human any more and that she could if not careful fall into a feral state and eat someone. She needed her to understand, because sometimes she was terrified she would forget, that she would eventually slip up and pay the price. Slip up and enjoy her reward as the apex.

<<I was going to say when you first awakened your quirk and got a rockin bod.>> She totally didn’t blush again, which helped curb the swarm instinct. The zerg could create a feedback loop from feelings they shared. Being horny wasn’t something the Zerg generally were able to feel, so having Kinoko to tease her generally helped Myōjō deal with the increased brunt of the swarm. <<Look, you protected yourself from someone trying to murder you. You don’t get to be sorry for doing what ya gotta to stay alive. I have decreed it… My queen.>>

<<jfadshnfkjans>>

<<Cease distractions of Queen>>

<Informative: It would appear as though you may have… if I am getting the terminology right, fried her brain. Which is rather, bothersome seeing as they are all here. Just glad she is still conscious.> Myōjō would have her vengeance against Miyu, and Abathur. 

She sighed and turned around watching as the group of four made their way cautiously across the purplish creep. The change of the environment really struck Myōjō in this moment, as she realized just how much the area had changed from last week. She had spent all week inside her mind space thing so she had gotten used to it, but seeing her mom walking across the creep gave her pause. She looked around and noticed all the not so subtle changes to the area. 

Gone was the metropolitan city centre, filled with faux apartment buildings and the remains of a destroyed mall. Now before her was an almost alien looking jungle, filled with creep, large mushrooms, and literal aliens in the form of Zerglings. All the surfaces were covered with the purplish-grey substance that seemed to pulsate with life, because it was alive, she could feel a connection to it, could feel it feeding her biomass. She could feel the creep span under the earth, more than surface level goop, closer to gigantic mycelium connections. Unkillable . Peak of evolution . 

There were larger ‘veins’ that led to the very center of the transformation. Kinoko’s cocoon, which slowly pulsated like a beating heart. Large fungal vines crossed between the buildings covered in creep, acting as walkways for her precious zerglings to cross out of sight from the street below. Those that had not formed an honor guard around her kept a watchful eye over their guests from above. Ready to feast should she give the command.

Her mother seemed to be staring at her curiously along with the rest of the guests…. Wait guests? Since when had she started thinking of them as guests? And to think of this as her home? She didn’t even own this land! And she… Abathur had taken it over and… oh fuck… she had completely wrecked one of UA’s training grounds. Yet she could not deny it, this was her place, they were intruding on her grounds. She felt her wings splay out, this is where her first hatchery on this world would take root, it was the place she had taken her first step to becoming the Queen of Blades. She was about to take an aggressive step forward when a wave of calm washed over her. 

<Calm down, Myōjō. It will be alright. For now focus on the here and now>

A small larva off to the side had heard it's Queen’s command. It would take time but it would succeed in its mission, first it would have to evolve into a Drone and then from there it could begin to fulfill its Queen's desire. After all, it was the first larva its Queen had produced on her own; it had the honor of becoming the first Hatchery of this world. It would be the staging area for the Swarm on this planet. It began to wrap itself in creep forming a small cocoon away from prying eyes. Zerglings began to patrol the area to make sure its chrysalis would not be disturbed.

Chiyo was slightly fucking furious at the Belligerent Rodent (not affectionate ™), apparently he had decided on his fucking own that she was going to be a mother and her opinion didn’t matter. At least she got to avoid the early years and skip straight into the painful teenage years. Eighteen is still a teenager for at least three additional years. She shot another annoyed look at the bastard, who apparently was officially her husband. She wanted a divorce. Again. Maybe this time the divorce party would be tame enough that she’ll remember it. 

As they walked across the substance known as creep she felt a bit hesitant, sure Nezu had spent the entire last week in a lab running tests on the gooey substance, and his findings said it was safe enough to be exposed to just don’t eat the damn stuff. He had spent all week cramped up in his lab, claiming it was of the utmost importance to study the substance. She knew the truth though he was a coward and he was avoiding her. 

Multi tasking bastard. (Slightly affectionate ™) 

As they approached Myōjō she tensed slightly when she saw the young woman’s wings splay in a threatening manner, and oh, how it reminded her of Nezu when they first met in that cursed research center. However the moment quickly passed and the mutant quirked girl gave a wide smile. Chiyo watched as Inko flung herself across the gap and hugged her child tightly and the old doctor felt a small smile take over her worn skin. Seeing moments like this made her remember why she had gotten into medicine and heroism in the first place. 

Before anything could be said though a cacophony of chittering echoed through the area silencing everyone. She could see Toshinori tense and Nezu bristle lightly, however just as soon as the noise started it fell silent.

“It would appear that it is time.” Myōjō said, then the cryptic little shit (affectionate ™) turned around with a smug smile and faced the pulsating cocoon that was the heart of this brand new biome. 

The cocoon released a large amount of spores into the air, as it started to unfurl, like petals on the world’s giantest flower. Good thing they had brought gas masks. Finally what was left behind was a capsule of liquid and a girl’s body, held back by a thin membrane. Her body was similar to the Midoriya’s, with large chitinous plates covering much of her body for protection, though she did note a few minor differences. The major abnormalities were the lack of apparent wings, and a crown of mushrooms intertwined/growing out of her now quite fluffy hair. Her eyes opened to reveal a pale grey iris with her normal x shaped pupils. This was her daughter, her brand new alien daughter. She needed a stiff drink.  

Chiyo watched as from within the membrane her daughter raised a hand and placed it upon the membrane, before her fingernails rapidly extended, piercing it. Then without hesitating Kinoko used her new long claw-like fingernails to tear the membrane wide open. The liquid gushed out onto the creep covered floor, quickly being absorbed back into the slimy substance.  

“Ahhhhhhhh that feels good. While sensory deprivation is fun and all, there is something to be said about being able to feel spores again…” Kinoko took her first hesitant steps in a long while, before she stumbled a bit falling into Myōjō’s arms. It made sense given the poor girl had spent a week in a liquid having her body remade. The mushroom girl then smirked smugly toward Myōjō’s face. “Especially when they crest over your amazing bod .”

OH NO, Chiyo stifled a sigh as she caught sight of Myōjō stammering and looking like a general mess. She takes after me… Still good news at least, it appears she has maintained her sense of self. 

Look she got it, girls pretty, it's why her ex’s were much more likely to be of the feminine persuasion. 

God damn the Belligerent Rodent (affectionate ™). This was going to test her sanity. Then the horror dawned on her, they were teeneagers, lesbians and they were going to be staying in the same dorms together when they joined UA.  

What had she done to deserve this? She was too young to be a grandma… Welp, time to hammer in sex education into her daughter. 

Aizawa Shota was not a happy camper, first of all someone had switched all the coffee for decaf, and only yesterday did he discover that his creamer had been spiked with melatonin. It was probably Hizashi, the blond haired bastard. The man was always complaining he didn’t get enough sleep, he needed to butt out of his life. Next up he had taken a look at his student roster for his class this year, and he was not impressed. What the hell was Nezu thinking ? He had been adamant that Midoriya should not make the cut for the hero course, especially since Nezu would not tell the staff exactly what had happened on site Delta. Worst yet, there was a note next to her and the Mushroom Girl’s name that administrative actions were to be handled by Nezu, so he couldn't just expel her.

The fuck he couldn’t. 

After Nezu had withheld information from the staff, Aizawa had decided to take matters into his own hands. He had decided he needed to do research on Midoriya Myōjō and no, he did not accept Nezu’s clearly biased results, he would do it himself. He was Eraserhead, he was good at his job and he wanted the facts, not whatever Nezu decided he needed to know, which meant that he had called in several favors and spent hours reading through police reports. 

The results he found were grim. It seemed that Midoriya’s quirk was something of a double edged sword: if she used it too much she could enter a feral state. Hence why she had lashed out at All Might upon arrival. He felt a bit guilty but he knew it would be for the best if she failed, she only had a year to work on her quirk control compared to people who had perfected their control all their life, an environment where she was pushed to her limits all the time was not the place for her. It would not be fair to her, and it would not be fair to the classmates she would hold back. She had zero potential here.

He would simply prove that she didn’t have the control required for the Hero Course. Maybe in a few years she could try again, it’s not like this was high school, she could take time to work on her quirk before trying to be a hero. He would need to push her hard, push his whole class hard, in the Quirk apprehension test, he was confident that he could contain her if she snapped. His quirk may not counter her physique but he could deny her access to that Zerg energy or whatever it was. Then if she still attacked in the berserker state he would beat her with experience. She was after all someone who just got her quirk. She wasn’t a threat to anyone but herself.

The rat would be forced to kick her out for endangering the other students. If he didn’t then Aizawa would have to bring it up with the board, who were always happy to be a pain in the rodent’s ass. Besides, you can’t have Heroes who could turn on the people they’re saving at the drop of a hat, especially not ones that if they lost control could erase a person's personality by converting them into her hivemind. When he had heard of that possibility from listening in on All Might he had realized that she just couldn’t be a hero. She didn’t have the potential. 

If Nezu continued to be a pain he would have to play dirty , which was fine. He was an Underground Hero; he was used to having to do dirty work, an anonymous tip to the board and maybe the vultures that a ‘murderer’ had made it into the hero program and they would do the work for him. In the end Nezu’s protection didn’t matter, he knew the kid was not ready and he would not unleash her upon the others in his class or the general populace. He had a duty to protect them from all threats, including themselves. Nezu would understand. Well he would in time; Once he looked at the situation from a detached position. 

Tomorrow he would prove that Miss Midoriya had no potential for the hero course. 

Also it would make a fine example for the rest of the class, given he couldn't expel the entire class this year.

Myōjō looked around her class, they were all chattering excitedly enjoying the idea that they would get to do the standard exercise tests but with quirks. That seemed like a neat way to test things, though she had to admit it was basically just a repeat of the entrance exam. Only flashy and physical quirks would really have any impact; it seemed unfair to some of her classmates. 

“This is going to be fun!” The pink skinned girl cried out. 

“Fun? You think this is going to be fun?” Aizawa gave an unhinged smile, “Very well how about this, last place will be expelled .” Pandemonium reigned and people shouted, “Moreover, Midoriya, since you placed first in the entrance exam, if you don’t get first place in this exam I’ll expel you. If I suspect people are not giving it their all then they will also be under scrutiny. This is UA, prove you have what it takes.” Those words still felt heavy in the air. Myōjō could only stare in shock at Aizawa, as he let his declaration ring out.

She was distantly aware of people trying to argue. Someone claimed that it wasn’t fair, “life’s not fair and being number one means you have a target on your back.” Despite the fact that he was targeting her, and it sucked for her, what he had said resonated with her, she could see the stress Toshinori was under, and could see his drive to always be perfect. Understood just how much being number one was a curse. You know what? Fine, if her teacher wanted to play that way she would prove she could handle it. She shouldn’t have expected better of UA, it was still school after all. She was used to this kind of teacher anyways. It was more familiar, more expected. She knew how to deal with them.

She had really hoped she wouldn’t have to deal with a teacher who hated her guts anymore.

Plus Fucking Ultra. 

She felt Miyu, Abathur, and Kinoko send her reassurance within their shared connection. Kinoko even going so far as to give her a side hug. If that was how Aizawa wanted to play this then she would prove her worth she would give it all her might. She threw herself into each test, they started with repeated side steps, she did ok but could already tell she wasn’t high enough for what she needed. 

<<Essence of Sticky first place, potential for swarm candidacy negative, only use as emergency biomas->>

<<Silence Abathur I need to focus.>> She hissed, feeling slightly guilty but knowing these tests needed her full and undivided attention. 

Following that was the sit-ups, she pushed herself as hard and fast as she could in this one. By her count, and Abathur and Miyu agreed, she at least placed first in this activity.  Next was the long distance run, basically run until you dropped. She bit back a curse as she realized he was doing, he was placing all the endurance stuff at the start so that they would be more exhausted for the tests later on. Still if he thought this would deter her, he was dead wrong. She pushed herself in each test, but to her horror she began to notice a trend.

She wasn’t going to be first. 

The raven haired girl with the quirk called Creation was slowly but surely pulling ahead. Panic began to set in, she pushed herself harder in each test watching as the raven haired woman continued to compete. Her thoughts spiraled as each test continued the trend of not quite being good enough, even as she came close creation was just far too versatile. 

It had come down to the final test, and she could already tell it wasn’t enough, she would have to pull out a miracle, she would have to put everything she had, she had to take second place if she were to have any chance.  She ignored her hunger and gripped the ball readying herself. 

<Warnin-> A cry of pain echoed forth as Miyu was ruthlessly silenced, and suddenly Myōjō was without her companions, and she had to bear the full brunt of the Swarm.

Myōjō let the ball fall from her hand as she staggered under the full attention of the Swarm. Her frustration and stress going and coming back full force from the echo chamber, overwhelmed by the shared hunger and hatred and maddening aggression of the Swarm. This was so much more intense than anything she had felt before, her very being felt small and insignificant compared to the vastness of the Zerg. She was small and insignificant compared to the history and overwhelming knowledge of an entire species. 

Her shoulders slumped, and slowly all rational thought fled her mind as she tried to hear the brunt of her responsibility, her birthright. She struggled to maintain her sense of self, she struggled to hold on, to not give up she was a hero she couldn't give in… She… She needed help. She was only tangentially aware that time was progressing at a snail's pace as her mind failed to catch up. 

<<Miyu... Abathur... Help...>> She begged, she was only met with deafening silence.

<<Kinoko?>> Her newest member of her swarm did not answer. 

She was alone, no… not alone, she was never alone, for she existed within the Swarm and was a part of it. She felt the full unfiltered connection and processed it. Time had no meaning as she lost herself within the psionic connection. She held onto her sense of self for all she was worth, she held on and prayed it would be enough. She was surprised when the Swarm recoiled as she strengthened her presence, it caressed her and she could feel shock and elation as it realized who she was. What she represented. She felt it begin to soothe her, to encourage her, she could feel foreign minds within the Heart of the Swarm, her people, her species, she could hear and feel them by her side. Yet she did not know them. But she knew the hunger they shared.

Her anger slowly began to build, Where was Miyu? Where was Abathur? Her anger flared and the Swarm answered, she could feel the zerglings on the planet begin migrating towards her, but she did not care. Only one thought consumed her, WhErE weRE HEr SIBLINGS ?

She turned head tilted at an unnatural angle as she did so, she saw floating hair, yellow goggles, and glowing blood red eyes. A name floated into her psyche. Eraserhead. His mouth was moving in slow motion, she cared not for what he had said, her anger turned into unbridled rage. He had erased her quirk, her Quirk which was not her innate connection to the Zerg, for she was Zerg and nothing could remove that from her. But it had affected her buffer against it. Miyu and Abathur were gone.

He had e̶̤̦͑͋r̸̳͂̓a̷̪͝ś̵͕͜e̶̻̘͒̾ḏ̶͔̐̀ her siblings. Something inside her broke, and her tenuous hold on her sanity, on her fight against her feral nature snapped. The world began speeding up once again as she let out an inhuman roar of anger, one that contained a promise of death. She wouldn’t even do him the honor of converting him into Biomass, she would slaughter him and leave him for the worms. 

A berserker cry of, "Die Deku!" followed by an explosion caused her to flinch, memories flooded her of times when that had burned her in the past. Times when he had beaten her, hurt her, tortured her. 

The swarm felt this and it raged. Their combined thoughts simmered until they unleashed a psionic cry.

<<Queen of Blades under attack.>>

That declaration rang throughout the swarm, reverberated through each Zerg that had a connection.  What she didn't expect was multiple responses from the various minds within the Swarm.

<<Acknowledged, deploying Swarm.>>

<<The Swarm shall feast on their corpses.>>

<<Swarm coming my Queen hold on.>>

<<We are Coming, our Queen, save some biomass for us>>

<<Planetary Mobilisation commencing.>>

She ignored that, it was irrelevant for her right now, as she only had one objective. She let out a bellowing roar and readied to charge the one responsible for the death and removal of her siblings, her objective. Kill Eraserhead .

She gave in fully to the feral nature of who she was, of what she had always been. A part of her begged to be unleashed, the one that she had kept locked away because it terrified her. In this moment though she embraced that long forgotten part, the part that plotted and planned for everyone's death. The part of her that wanted to sink its teeth into everyone she met and convert them to Biomass. For she was Zerg and always had been. 

No pathetic Earthling was going to stand against her swarm, no one who dared to take what was hers was going to survive. Already zerglings were spawning into existence, her original zerglings were racing to her location busting out of the containment area. She needed more to rend her enemy to pieces, she would convert this entire location into Biomass. She had been a fool, she had disregarded her true nature and it had cost her, now she would take this world via fire and flame if that was what it took. 

A hand was brought into her face, its open palm, and sparkling. 

How convenient. 

CRUNCH.

She lashed out and bit down on the offending appendage, her teeth rending two of the digits from the rest. She bit down and chewed, enjoying the satisfying crunch as she began to convert them into biomass so she could spawn more zerglings. Her wings spread out and she hissed all the Zerglings unleashing a terrifying symphony of death as they surged forward responding to her will. They would kill the interloper, kill the one responsible for the death of her siblings. While they wore down her enemy she would finish acquiring the Biomass that had offered itself to her. Biomass that had hurt her in the past, she unhinged her jaw and prepared to bite into the tube of screaming biomass in front of her. 

Before the Zerglings could close the gap towards her enemy she watched as a fully feral Essence of Mushroom slashed into Eraser with her retractable claws, slicing into his side. She felt hope swell within her, if she was not gone then there was a possibility that her siblings could be returned. Good. Her siblings could be returned, they could be brought back, Eraser simply had to die . 

She felt a large flare of psionic energy and a dull resonance from within the Swarm. She attacked with her wings, not at the tube of biomass but at the oncoming threat. Even still she was not skilled enough to make contact, she did find herself and Essence of Mushroom taken far away from her Biomass snack and the primary enemy.

“Myōjō calm down! Please fight against it! ERASER Stand down deactivate your quirk NOW!” She ignored the pleading and readied to rip out the interloper's throat, potential  swarm member or not. 

Of course that was when line of sight was broken,

<Myōjō!> Her sister cried out, and only that fact stopped her from sinking her teeth into the potential Swarm member and rendering him to shreds. 

<<My queen, fight feral urges. Resist. Not ready to conquer Earth. Need time. Will control the Zerglings.>> She even felt relief as her brother responded to her. Her family was back. 

<<Oh. Th-tha-that was a lot… I holy fuck. I don’t, how do you handle that Miyu what the hell!?!? I couldn’t hold on to my sense of self at all!>> 

Myōjō nuzzled into her sister and brother chittering at them, wrapping her very being around them. She was vaguely aware that her meat suit was leaking fluid from the eyes. She didn’t care though her siblings were back, she exposed herself, all her feelings and thoughts to them fully, she expressed her distress and anguish. She did not care about the unfolding chaos behind her, potential Swarm member was stepping up to take care of things. That was fine, the Zerglings had turned around and now formed a perimeter around Kinoko and Myōjō.   

All she could focus on was her sister and brothers return, she held them against herself psionically. Embedding them even deeper into her psyche, she would never be without them again. They were hers and she would not allow them to be taken from her again. They were her siblings, siblings who were currently fighting her for control. Trying to wrest her back from the depths of the Swarm, trying to make it so she did not fully lose herself. She did not understand why, she was Zerg , why should she deny that aspect of herself? Why should she pretend any different? She was supposed to consume and adapt. To remove enemies from being threats. Still she was so glad that they were back that she allowed them control. They pulled back the connection from the Swarm, removed her psyche from where it had resided within the swarm.  

She did not care, whatever they wanted they could have, she was just glad to have her siblings back. She continued to shower them with her love and affection. She stepped back and let Miyu take control of their vessel while she wrapped her very being around her siblings. She was whole once more.

OMAKE

<<Why Queen and Regent lacking consciousness?>>

<<Who the fuck are you?>>

<<Abathur, one who recommended Essence of Mushroom for swarm adaption.>>

<<So three cuties for the price of one?>>

<<Negative, only wish to spin strands using your essence.>>

<<Fucking lewd. Keep your hands off my essence.>>

Chapter Text

Mezo Shoji was still in disbelief how much his life had changed in the last year. It all started when he had attended a camp run by Gang Orca, his personal favorite hero, only to be shocked when All Might himself showed up. One thing led to another and somehow he out of everyone there impressed All Might enough to be considered as a successor to the number one hero. When the man took him aside after the camp he had to admit he was slightly suspicious, and it turned rightfully so. Really, who pulls someone aside to speak in a little shed far away from the rest of the campers, if it had been anyone other than All Might He would have probably broken a knee cap.

After talking with the man about what makes a hero he was surprised when the man’s demeanor drastically changed. He then began talking about national secrets; in the midst of a small shed, during a hero training camp, in the middle of nowhere. Sometimes he wondered if this was all just a fever dream, because it didn’t feel real. Still when he had been offered the chance to become the best hero he could be, he had lept at the chance. This was his chance to be the next number one hero, the chance to prove to everyone that just because his mutation was just a tad unsightly, a tad ‘villainous’ that he could be a hero.

Of course that meant he spent the next six months preparing his body to receive One for All, it had been hell. It involved cleaning a dump pretending to be a beach, whilst relying on his own physical strength and not his quirk. He had made good time cleaning the place, and as such he found himself receiving the quirk only six months in, from there he began training in Might tower to control One for All. Luckily he wasn’t alone in training in Might Tower to prepare himself, it was there he met Myōjō. He got along quite well with the dedicated girl, and she had helped when his quirk seemed to be damaging him. She had given him a ‘health smoothie’ and  ever since he had no problems with the quirk damaging his body. Well unless he went over his limit but it wasn't causing cellular decay any more.

Yes, he knew what the smoothie contained and yes it kinda weirded him out, but hey One for All wasn’t destroying his body anymore so he didn’t think about how he had committed cannibalism. Did it count as cannibalism ifthey were different species? Does cannibalism refer to sentience or to your species? Questions for later. Thankfully he didn’t have to continue taking the ‘health drinks’ after a little while. Unlike Yagi who was still missing parts of his anatomy. Unrelated thought, but he really hoped that All for One was dead and not in hiding because he liked his digestive system. Mezo wasn’t holding his breath though. 

He shook his head, right he had to focus on the Quirk Assessment Test, which he hated with a burning passion. This was just another test designed to allow showy and flashy quirks to flourish, it irked him, especially when it was led by a bully pretending to be a teacher. He let out a hiss of pain as steadied himself, one of his arms knitted itself back together after his ball toss, he may have gone a little plus ultra because he had been frustrated and a tad pissed off. He was just glad that his quirk had a regenerative capability for his arms, otherwise receiving One for All could have gone far worse. As it was he actually owed Myōjō quite a bit as she had helped him figure out a way to use it without blowing off his extra limbs.

He still did so sometimes to make a point. He glared at Aizawa who was giving him the side eye, because of course he would be. Shoji didn’t fit the societal standards for what a Hero looked like, especially since All Might had insisted he not hide his mouth. ‘My boy, you should embrace what makes you, you. Embrace who you are so that others in your situation can see you and rally around your presence. If you are accepted only because you hide yourself, what message would that communicate to the world? Granted that is only if you are comfortable with it but I think you should go for it.’ Honestly that speech had bumped All Might up a few spots on his personal hero rankings, and if he was now number three on his list for that, well that was his own business. So yeah he was embracing his ‘villainous’ look. All Might’s PR team also had been strangely supportive in their own way. Apparently having to market the american guy got tiring real fast.

Between him picking on Myōjō, he wondered if the man disliked her, and him to a lesser extent because they were mutants, and what with his blatant quirkism… well he was going to have words with someone else about this. He knew All Might personally, and he wasn’t afraid to use that to his advantage, Aizawa had fucked around and was about to find out. Those with mutation quirks had to stick together, and Myōjō had done far more to prove herself than anyone else in this class. Especially considering how much she had done for him.  

“Midoriya, You’re up next” Aizawa drawled. Because of course he’d put Myōjō after his own performance in an effort to make her panic. He’ll probably have Ochako go next if the pattern continues. Really, who the hell did he think he was? About the only ones who had yet to notice his shitty attitude were some of the less observant members of class and clearly Myōjō herself. Though that was understandable as she was fighting for her right to attend UA and hyper focusing on her survival, he wanted nothing more than to comfort her and give encouragement but every time he tried she was too focused to hear him.

She was constantly trying to beat those around her without realising she was consistently in the top three to five of pretty much every test, pretty much guaranteeing her first place, with the consistency of it all. Well hopefully she would be, he glanced over at the onyx haired woman with the quirk that allowed her to create almost anything. He wasn’t sure if it was her or Myōjō who was in first. Still, Mezo felt bad for Myōjō. Clearly she had enough trauma with bad teachers, and he understood so very well; how many times had kids accused him of things and his side of the story was ignored because of how he looked. 

He flexed his hands and frowned, he knew what it was like to know that a Teacher wasn’t there to help you, that they were targeting you and doing everything they could to keep you down. FUCK THE SYSTEM. When he became number one he would push for reform, he would try his best to help those who were being oppressed by those that were supposed to help them. He glared at Aizawa wanting nothing more than to offer her reassurance and advice but the bastard would instead tell them to ‘not interfere with others performances.’ Despite the fact that one of the boys seemed to be chatting away with the small purple kid the entire time. Of course it was fine for them to chat away, they didn’t have mutant quirks.  

UA was supposed to have a zero tolerance policy for discrimination and harassment. Right now Mezo realized that it was very much exaggerated, as the little purple ass had harrassed several students, the blond with an explosion quirk had threatened and insulted students more and the fucking teacher was harrassing a student .

He turned his gaze back to Myōjō who had just entered the circle and was palming the ball, hyping herself up. He felt a smile overtake his features; missing the small purple haired boy’s flinch. She was about to show everyone why she got first in the entrance exam, she was going to go Plus Ultra. He had faith in his friend. He gave a little cheer that she clearly didn’t hear or couldn’t focus on anything outside of the challenge. Ignoring Aizawa’s glare. 

He wasn’t going to let his college years be tainted by someone like this . He had contacts, and he wasn’t above using All Might’s name, if the man didn’t want him to do this then he shouldn’t have chosen him. Though he had a feeling All Might agreed with him, he glanced over his shoulder and caught sight of the man watching in his skeletal form not far off, a frown on his features. This was not ok and as a hero, no, as a fucking human being with empathy, he couldn’t let this stand.  

He turned his gaze back to the test just in time to see her bring her arm back to throw the ball, you could see the tension building as she readied to throw. In this moment it reminded him of just how different his friend was, for her arm did not look human in the slightest . Unnatural angles and alien limbs all but thrumming with power. She tensed and just before she was about to throw she froze and Mezo watched in confusion as the ball fell to the ground. 

After a moment he got a sinking suspicion as to what just happened, he glanced towards his teacher and noticed that Aizawa’s hair was floating and eyes glowing as he stared at Myōjō. He was doing something to her…

“You need to know your limits, Midoriya…” Aizawa trailed on, but Mezo was getting a bad feeling. The rest of the group seemed to be shuffling around nervously, before his other friend, and Myōjō’s girlfriend, Kinoko let out a blood curdling scream. 

OH shit, Aizawa did something and they are losing control aren’t they? What the fuck did he do? 

Before he could even begin to move a wave of spores and creep radiated from both Kinoko and Myōjō. Mezo, knowing what was coming was already holding his breath, the other students, however, had started to cough and hack as they backed away. He was really missing his mask now. The spores started to form creep and deposited itself over the field, rapidly covering up the grass, and consuming it to make new life forms. 

He moved, he knew how dangerous the two of them were in their feral state, they had warned him and he couldn’t let them injure anyone else. He was just about to grab Kinoko and hold her back from mauling everyone around her when he heard a squelching sound. Fuck . One that deep down he knew was the telltale sign of some zerglings being formed from the creep. This was going from bad to holy fucking shit this is bad real quick.

Mezo’s path was halted as several of the tiny buggers spawned in front of him. Part of him wanted to just break them apart with a punch but knew how Myōjō would react later. Also like, attacking a hivemind before they showed direct signs of hostility towards you was a recipe for disaster.

That’s when Shouji heard the sounds of explosions, which was bad,because explosions, as the explosion boy propelled himself through the air. Which was bad because he was obviously Myōjō’s ex bully. It was triple bad. 

“Don’t!” Mezo tried to yell out, when he glanced at Myōjō’s face he felt his blood freeze. She looked calm, so very calm, and yet he could all but feel the rage that was boiling under the surface. Her tilted head and the way she was studying Aizawa like he was nothing but dirt beneath her heel? Yeah, no, this didn’t bode well for any of them . They needed to get out of here if she was going to start going feral, All Might needed to stop watching and to intervene now. “Everyone out of here now!” he bellowed out uselessly over the growling of the growing zerglings. 

He reached out and grabbed one of the half formed zerglings and threw it towards Myōjō hoping it would protect her rather than rip into the class. To his horror he watched Bakugo unleash an explosion upon Myōjō, who barely flinched as Mezo had started pulling students away. Then for a moment all went calm before overwhelming rage radiated from Myōjō. 

Mezo and the others (well most of them) were running by then. Mezo had picked up six other students like they weighed nothing. Still he kept one of his hands as an eye to keep track of what was happening behind them.

By then everything had gone to proper shit. Myōjō lunged forward and bit off two of Bakugo’s fingers, her hand lashed out and she gripped him by the throat. Kinoko lunged, her claws elongated to deadly points as she slashed at Aizawa leaving bloodied lines along his flesh. Zerglings that had spawned ran forward towards Aizawa while a few others had started to tail the class. He charged up One for All and prayed Myōjō wouldn’t be too pissed at him for destroying some of her babies when suddenly a massive gust of wind passed by. 

When the dust settled, Kinoko and Myōjō were now far away from everyone, the Zerglings were around them in a protective half circle, and All Might stood in his buff form looking pissed. Myōjō looked like she was moments away from ripping out his throat and then she blinked and it was like a weight was lifted off her shoulder and she let out a distressed chittering sound. Oh also the person who had unleashed an explosion on Myōjō was screaming as he clutched his hand to his chest. 

“Myōjō calm down! Please fight against it! ERASER Stand down, deactivate your quirk NOW!” All Might even sounded pissed.  

“All Might…” Aizawa growled out clutching his injury and wincing slightly.

“Eraser I said STAND DOWN . You just put everyone here in danger, as the Senior hero on sight I am taking charge of this incident. Now do not make me repeat myself again, STAND DOWN.”  

After a brief moment of hesitation Aizawa, because apparently their homeroom teacher was the underground pro hero Eraserhead , bristled but stopped using his quirk. He was glaring daggers at All Might but that was fine. It meant that he couldn’t be harming Myōjō.

“Young Shoji, I need you to perform first aid on Bakugou. Young Iida please run to the Dean's office and get Dean Nezu. Eraser, you call Recovery Girl and let her know that we need her for decontamination and emergency first aid.” 

Mezo gave a nod, reaching for his belt, he had gotten in the habit of carrying around first aid supplies. The cost of growing up with a mutation quirk, people liked to ignore someone like you so you got used to taking care of yourself and others like you. He made his way towards bomb boy, he wasn’t happy about having to use his supplies on someone who would explode Myōjō but would do as he was told. Besides if he was going to be a hero that meant sometimes helping people who you didn’t agree with. 

A strange voice, similar yet intrinsically different from Myōjō’s piped up. “ Informative , Kinoko can assist with spore inhalation, she would be able to repair damage done. Confusion , piloting is different, not sure if I like it.” Aizawa seemed to startle for a moment, while All Might looked at her with a confused expression. “Do not dislike it as much as Abathur, but still unused to it. Perhaps due to my human… origins in genetic memory? Maybe. Prefer queen pilot.”

“Then… You are Miyu, correct?” All Might asked.

Whatever was said next Mezu did not hear as the person he was trying to help decided to yell right into his ears. And also explode his palm while Mezo had his hands on him. Which fucking ow .

“I DON’T NEED YOUR HELP YOU SHITTY EXTRA!”

“You are currently missing two fingers and bleeding everywhere, at least allow me to disinfect it so you do…” Mezo tried to explain, instead of just hitting him hard enough to make him faint, because that’s not very heroic, and also he wasn’t a 100 percent sure he could gauge his strength enough for that.

“I SAID I DON’T NEED YOUR FUCKING HELP!”

“Right,” Mezu grumbled, instead of trying to help him because the guy was clearly deranged and looked like he was seconds away from blowing him up if he tried. “Then how about I give you the disinfectant and you can do it yourself?” 

“Clarification,” He nearly jumped as he realized that Myōjō… no Miyu and All Might were now standing next to him. “We will fix, after all at least one of us should take responsibility for what we have done, don’t you agree Katsuki?”

“Who the hell are you? You ain’t Deku !” Katsuki shouted, staring wide eyed at the girl. Was that a hint of fear?

“Correct, I am not Queen, I am part of…” there was a hesitation. “I am Miyu, I am a part of her quirk. I know what you have done and said and if you do not cease spewing hateful things I will destroy you.” It was so odd to hear Myōjō’s voice sounding so cold and full of calculating rage. 

He kind of expected the boy in front of him to yell and blister but instead he froze for a moment before growling. 

“Accord reached, notice, you are on thin fucking ice punk.” With that Miyu brought up a water bottle and dropped it into Katsuki’s lap. “Drink this.” Between Myōjō’s smoothies and All Might’s hair, this was giving Mezo deja vu.

“I ain’t going to-” The blond fucker was interupted by Shoji’s blond mentor.

“Young Bakugou, you have two options, One, do not drink what she is offering, in which case Recovery Girl will do what she can, but she is not a miracle worker and seeing as how the fingers are gone you will be missing fingers for the rest of your life or you can drink it and regain them. It’s a simple choice.” All Might cut in, sounding rather exhausted, especially as he kept shooting glares at Eraserhead. 

For a moment it looked like he was going to chose the first option, until he looked down and noticed just how much blood was covering his front. He paled slightly and then growled as he reached out and grabbed the bottle downing it in one gulp. Which was genuinely impressive to Shouji. He blinked a few times and then seemed to slump over. 

“Notice, added a sedative because did not want to listen to his voice.”

“Young Miyu…” All Might sighed.

“Query, would you have done differently if you had the option?” 

All Might’s silence was far more telling of an answer. Mezo glanced at the class and noticed most of them were still quite a bit freaked out, one girl with purple hair was dry heaving off in the distance, the rest were nervously looking at the creep, zerglings, Kinoko, and Myōjō with fear. Kinoko had her eyes closed and had an intense look of concentration on her face, and within seconds the creep began receding and the coughing students started to breathe better. 

All Might turned towards the class and gave a wide smile, “I apologize for everything but someone,” he glared at Aizawa, “did not listen to some warnings that had been written down for him and this resulted in an incident I am sure you all have questions and concerns. Please hold off until dean Nezu can come explain. In the meantime you have nothing to fear from either Miss Komori or Miss Midoriya, who I assure you are perfectly safe to be around.” 

The class seemed to look between them all with suspicion. The girl who had been dry heaving still looked kinda sickly but was focusing on the ‘smoothie’. Meanwhile an alien looking girl with pink skin seemed to make her way closer.

“And what about the little alien dogs? They’re kinda cute when they aren’t acting all feral like.” Asked the Pink skinned girl. 

“Ah yes those are Zerglings, and they are… mostly a defensive measure.”

“Clarification, as long as you mean no harm to the Queen they are harmless.” At this one of the zerglings actually came up to Mezo, the one he had thrown towards Myōjō earlier and nuzzled into his hand. He pet the little one and offered a small scarred smile. 

“Can I pet one?”

“Affirmative. They enjoy pets on their back. Please avoid joints and sensors such as mouth or eyes.”

“YESSSS! Which little alien doggo wants pets!? Come on Mina will give you all the care and attention you little cuties deserve.” Her over the top attitude was a bit too forced, she was clearly terrified but trying to calm everyone down, he respected what she was doing. It even worked as the tension was somewhat alleviated. He let out a sigh as he absently petted the zergling that was still standing by his side. Though he did note that it was not one but three zerglings that went to her for pets, and she cautiously but happily did so.

Niadra was biding her time, she had so much to do, her objective was no easy task. So she was building up her swarm to execute the last known command of her Queen: eliminate the Protoss . She was but one broodmother, yet she would see her task to completion, it was what she had been born to do. It was what her Queen had ordered done. She would not bow to usurper Zagara, she would not neglect her final order in the name of peace. The Queen of Blades had given her but a single command  when she was birthed, and she would follow through with her orders no matter what, or she would die in the process. Especially since her queen was no more, she had ascended and then perished in the fight with Aemon and his bastardized hybrids. 

Meaning no one was left to counter her orders. So she would see her duty to completion, no matter what, even if she had to fight Protoss, Terran, and other Zerg. Which is why she was hidden in deep space acquiring Biomass and building her forces. She was prepared to hide for as long as it took to build up her forces, they would not be found within deep space they would bide their time until it was time to strike. She would ensure the end of the protoss, then no other hybrids could be made.

At least that had been the plan.

She was in the midst of spinning new strains trying to figure out how to perfect warriors for the eventual culling of the Protoss, when she was halted. When she sensed a familiar psionic presence within the swarm. It was the only one that had ever mattered to her, the one that had woven life into her. She sensed mother her Queen! However before she could celebrate too much she realized that the signal was ever so slightly different. It was the Queen of Blades and yet it was not, it did not take her long before she was able to figure out why. The touch was far too young and scared, it held none of the strength that the Queen did, and yet she could tell that she would be the next Queen. The one to lead the zerg to glory. 

Her queen had created an offspring, a new leader for the swarm, and she was under attack.

Niadra had a new goal, one that superseded her previous one without a doubt. The baby Queen her sister was under attack, she had felt the anguish of her Queen, she had seen flashes of some worthless earthling (not Terran) scaring her sister leader, burning her, tormenting her. Her scream of rage echoed even in deep space where no atmosphere could carry the cry. With her scream her swarm raged and began mobilizing. 

The Queen had lost her advisors and key members of her swarm; She was under attack by these Earthlings, and the swarm would not remain idle in response. Niadra tried to comfort her, to offer reassurances, to offer plans of attack, new blueprints and designs for units for her to use. She felt vindicated when she felt the Queen's own rage and ruthlessness, her own ideas seeming paltry in comparison. 

Yes her sister Queen was much more suited to running the swarm. Nadira began mobilizing her brood, her destination was clear: A small pathetic planet called Earth within the Sol System. These names did not mean anything to her but she knew where she had to go, she had traced the psionic connection the moment she sensed it. She was somewhat surprised that another planet was called Earth and that the species seemed to be modified Terrans, perhaps these Earthlings would be more useful for Biomass than Terrans.  

It was irrelevant the Queen had called and the swarm was going to answer. Even as she felt her sister Queen calm down and hide her presence once more it did not matter because Niadra was on the way. She reached out with the combined psionic might of her brood and rent a hole in the very fabric of the universe. Judging by her estimation she and her brood would be the first Zerg swarm to find this solar system meaning she would need to set up a base of operations to better serve her Queen. The ruined Protoss ship was no longer suffice her brood would need to rapidly expand, checking the remnants of the Queens memories she found the perfect candidate. 

The red planet would house Niadra’s Swarm.

Zagara, current representative of the Swarm and designated ‘Overqueen’, was content to allow the swarm to simply continue to exist upon Char. It was a rough planet that provided many opportunities for conflict and hardships which allowed the Swarm to continue to evolve and adapt. She could make the environment less hostile but that was counterproductive, now that the Swarm was no longer at war with the rest of the galaxy it still needed conflict to continue to evolve. So the hostile environment and occasional skirmish with radical Terrans and Protoss provided plenty of conflict for the swarm to continue evolving.

She was content to continue leading the Swarm, for now. She, unlike so many, knew the truth; her Queen had not perished in the final fight with Amon. But instead had withdrawn from leading so she may heal her wounds both physical and the ones inflicted upon her psyche. In that moment Zagara had realized just how much she had changed, where once she would have sensed weakness and launched an attack, now she knew better. It was not that she felt she couldn’t win, because in this moment she knew she could have killed the Queen but her vision that she had gained at the hands of Abathur and her Queen had shown that it would be short sighted and foolish. So she had agreed to act as the leader until the Queen was ready to lead once more. 

Her Queen had proved that she was mortal and not omniscient once more when she had said she would never lead again. Zagara knew different though, she knew that a time would come when she would once more lead the Swarm. Because the swarm needed the Queen, the Queen had vision, and had understanding, and compassion, a few things that even now Zagara knew she lacked. 

Still she had agreed with the Queen, Kerrigan was too big of a presence to continue leadership. She was too powerful, too well known, had too many enemies, eventually the Terrans and Protoss would see her as a threat and move against the Zerg with their combined might. The Queen needed time to be forgotten, to adapt and change. She needed time to be Zerg even though she herself was no longer Zerg, and that made sense so yes Zagara was content to be the figurehead for now.  

The Queen would one day return, and this was her belief. 

A belief that was shattered rather violently when she heard a terrified cry for help from within the Swarm. A psionic touch that was so familiar yet different, it was then that she realized that the Queen of Blades truly did not intend to return to rule. She had spawned a progeny who would take her place and once more she was humbled, by the sheer depth of her vision and foresight. She had even placed some sort of Psionic blocker to prevent the Swarm from noticing her, until she was ready. A blocker that had been shattered because she was under attack.

Kerrigan had a daughter that was under attack.

Even with all of her changes she felt her anger swell and felt the demand for the extinction of the entire species that had hurt her future Queen. Of course it was during this time that she gained a sense for the new Queen of Blades as she stood tall amidst the swarms' influence as she loudly declared for all Zerg to sense that She was Here. She saw the compassion, and sure there was a ruthlessness within the anger but she could also see vision unlike anything she could comprehend. 

Yes, this was the perfect Queen to lead the swarm. She was also on a hostile planet that was physically hurting her, she felt the loss she felt and knew she would need allies. 

She and a few others sent comfort as best as they could, urging the baby Queen of Blades to take refuge within the swarm to allow her feral instincts to protect her until help could arrive. Even as the Queen refused to do so she couldn’t help but feel respect for the new Queen. 

Make no mistake though, help would arrive and in force. 

Zagara sent out the call to all available Zerg, 

<<Planetary Mobilisation commencing.>>

She took a deep breath and flexed as she used the entire might of the Swarm to rend a massive hole into hyperspace and within the span of a second the entire planet of Char was gone from where it once was and was now now hurtling through hyperspace in an effort to reach the Queen to rescue her if need be and to protect her from her enemies.

The Swarm was coming for the Queen of Blades and nothing could stop them.

Artanis, the current Hierarch of the Protoss forces would be blinking in disbelief if his species were capable of such things. He often found himself using Terran idioms, an (un)fortunate side effect of working with them so much. Terrans were so expressive, and had a saying for just about every occasion, one that when understood Terrans simply made sense. They liked to express themselves through words and as such had quite a way with them. Though he supposed that came from not being able to psionically link with your people, for a moment he wondered if his own people would become more expressive in time since everyone had been severed from the Kala. 

There was a debate about re-establishing Nerve Cords; however Artanis was strictly against it. After all, it had been shown to be a weakness that a cunning and devious enemy could exploit. He would not allow his people to be slaves once more, he did not want that weakness to be taken advantage of, it was slow going and many wanted to return to the old ways. In time he would make them understand, make them realize that such things could be overcome. If the Terrans could function without a psionic link then the Protoss could as well. 

He hated that, that rhetoric was what was swaying people, because it undersold just how scrappy Terrans were. They were survivors and a race of people that Artanis respected. He cleared his throat and felt a bit sheepish as he realized that Valerian was waiting for him to process what he had just said. 

"I am sorry, could you please repeat that? I believe I misheard you." He stared at the form of Mengsk in disbelief, surely he had misheard the man. 

"Unfortunately I assure you that you did not mishear me, Artanis. Yesterday we detected a large swell of Psionic energy from the Koprulu Sector, on a scale that we didn’t even see during the war.” Artanis gave a hesitant nod that his own people had noticed it. 

“Yes we felt that as well but have not had time to investigate.” 

“That is understandable, you have been quite busy.” Valerian cleared his throat and shifted nervously, “well we sent in an investigation and we were able to determine the cause. We found a massive tear in space that is rapidly healing. It appears that Zagara, most of the remaining swarm, as well as the entire planet of Char is simply just gone.” That was exactly what he had thought he had heard and it still boggles the mind. “The remaining zerg were not hostile, but none of them communicated with us.”

Artanis was very tempted to sit down and just process that. It was well known how Zerg traveled through hyperspace, but to throw an entire planet into warp space? That was insane, the sheer amount of psionic energy required was almost unfathomable, not to mention the likelihood that the planet would suffer extreme distress and it would become almost uninhabitable for all life… Then again this was the Zerg they would simply see that as a challenge.  Still to do so was...

“I see.” This was unprecedented and worrying, they had a tentative alliance with the Swarm ever since the fall of Amon. He had fought side by side with Zagara during the war, and he had thought they had a form of trust. Now he wondered if they had been too lax, had their old enemy made a move once more?

“So I have what could be considered good news, first my scientists tell me that we can track the trajectory, second as I am sure you are aware, tearing a hole like that requires a lot of energy, which means that they are unlikely to be in fighting shape when they reach their destination and will require time to recover. I am sending a group of Marines, scientists, and engineers to track down the missing planet and find out what the Zerg are up to. If need be we will send reinforcements but I am hoping that we can come to an agreement without igniting a new war. My group will be led by Jim Raynor.”

“Raynor agreed to this?” He asked in surprise, “I thought he was done after the war?” Friend Raynor would indeed be a good pick for this mission, he was just surprised to hear he was going.

“I don’t know all the details but a few months after his ‘retirement’ he came to me and asked for a job, so I put him to work. Figure a man like that simply can’t sit still and retirement wasn’t to his liking.” Valerian said with a chuckle, Artains gave a nod in agreement, that made sense to him. “Now, I know you can’t send the full might of the Protoss to investigate as you are still recovering, as we all are. But I would appreciate it if you sent some sort of force with Jim to provide back up just in case.” 

“Raynor will have it, we have not forgotten what he has done for us. He is a friend to all Protoss. I am unfortunately needed on Auir right now, or I would lead the group myself. Instead I will elect the executor who assisted me during the campaign against Amon, and have them take the Spear of Adun to lead a contingency of warriors to aid Raynor in case the Zerg have decided to become terrors once more."

Valerian blinked and then seemed to sag with relief, “Thank you Artanis, hopefully it won’t come to that but… I have my doubts,”

“You do not have to thank me, it is our duty, to the universe and to Kerrigan’s legacy, to make sure the Zerg do not become a threat once more and I echo your doubts but for now I have to get to work selecting the warriors to go, I will have to let down many warriors as I suspect to have no shortage of volunteers.” 

“Wish I could say the same as it is, it is mostly Raynor’s name that is drawing volunteers and not the mission, still I have work to do. Call me your warriors are ready and we can hash out more details then.”

“Very well, friend Valerian. I will contact you soon.”

The call ended and Artanis took a moment to center himself before sighing, he had a force to assemble, he hoped it did not come down to eradicating the Zerg. Without their help Amon would have won, but an unchecked zerg force was not something they could ignore.

Jim Rayner sat at the bar staring at the empty glass as if it had personally offended him. He reached for the bottle only for his mood to turn sour and his annoyance to double when it clattered to the ground empty due to his clumsy hands. He let out a long suffering sigh, the sound of the jukebox playing the same shitty music as it always did was at least somewhat comforting. It however did little to distract him from the fact that he was once more setting out into the universe chasing her . 

He pushed himself up and away from the bar and made his way towards the bridge of the Hyperion. In the end it seemed it always came back to her. He didn’t understand. The war had been over , they had found each other, and then… Then she had just left. Nothing more than a note saying it was over and that she needed space. 

He still didn’t get why, things had finally been calm, they had the chance to be together and yet. It was like it had all been for nothing, like everything they had gone through together didn’t matter to her and she had just left. He had been content to leave it at that, to let them go their separate ways, he went back to Valerian for a job so he could do something other than drink himself stupid in a bar. 

For a while it had been enough, helping to keep the peace, had been enough. Then he found out the Zerg were mobilizing on a scale that baffled the mind and really only one person could be behind that. He flexed his hands and fought to keep his temper under control, he could not trust her. She had said she just needed time but had secretly been rallying the Zerg or something. No, he would be damned if he let her unleash terror on the galaxy again. 

He didn’t know what her plan was but he wouldn’t let Kerrigan get away with it. He should have told Valerian and Artanis that she was still alive, should have told them what he knew before going on this mission… But he wanted answers first, and part of him hoped that his gut was wrong that this had nothing to do with her.

Though if she was responsible he would take care of it. It was his responsibility to put her down if she had turned evil again.

Yagi felt overwhelming anxiety as he waited outside of the Dean’s office, today had been extremely exhausting. He was very grateful that they had extra time in their hero form. It had allowed them to take control of the situation without fear of risking exposure to their weakness. He just regretted that they had not acted sooner, he should have taken control and pushed them to act before something had happened but his inner hero had insisted it would be ok. He felt a twinge of regret stemming from inside of him. 

It was only the first day of classes and already something had gone wrong, he rubbed at his brow and let out a long, suffering sigh. Thankfully none of the students had been injured really, besides Young Bakugo. Speaking of the young man, he would need to suggest the Dean look into his actions. The fact that he had attacked another student unprovoked was concerning, still he was glad that he was recovering and that it would not negatively affect Myōjō’s prospect as a hero.

Bakugo’s hand would be fine, due to the application of a ‘health smoothie.’  At this point he was just thankful that Recovery Girl had enough time to study what Myōjō did and deemed it safe and non addictive enough in certain quantities. She was ironing out the details with Midoriya… Midoriyas? 

<The Swarm,> His inner hero intoned. 

He supposed that was a decent way to refer to them for now. Either way Chiyo and Nezu were ironing out details with the Swarm to figure out just how much biomass she could give someone. Chiyo had also decided to get Midoriya a quirk permit that classified her abilities as medical and was teaching her first responder training. Apparently she had decided if she was going to be healing people she would know every bit of first aid and training she could shove into young Myōjō.

The sound of the door creaking ominously open, startled him out of his thoughts. He hated when Nezu did that. He had a soft heart. He took a deep breath, every time without fail, it would open with no one there, as if moved by a ghost. Yes he knew that Nezu had a button that would just open the door on command but he always managed to do it at a time that would startle him without fail. 

“Come in you two and make yourselves at home.” Nezu’s exhausted voice echoed forth from within the vast chamber. 

<<Ok, first off you are a drama Queen.>> piped up his inner hero

<<Tell me that it is not creepy!>> He snapped back. 

<<I didn’t say you were wrong, I was just stating the facts, also are we sure we want to go in?>> His inner hero sounded a bit nervous to venture forth. 

<<He’s being nice all things considered. I mean it was a cluster… a SNAFU  earlier. So all things considered it could be worse.>> He replied before taking a deep breath and steadying himself.

<<You can say Fuck Yagi. Also that wasn’t us! It was Eraserhead’s fault>>

<<We’re teachers, or well you’re a teacher. Also yes it was Aizawa’s fault, but we were there and were the senior Hero. We should have stepped in sooner.>>

<<Shit.>>

<<Language Yag-myself?-uhhh-umm sorry we really need to work on a name for you… Wait did he say you two?>>

<<Maybe he’s just waiting on someone else? Also like we can figure that out later.>>

<<Yeah and we aren’t old and bitter.>>

<<Shut up.>>

“While I am sure the revelation you are having is quite riveting . we do not have all day, so please come in.” Came the exhausted voice of Nezu. 

Yagi gulped, it was time to face the music. 

<<Which song?>>

<<Don’t know yet. I hope it’s a good one.>>

They walked into the office and found that Nezu wasn’t at his desk, but instead sipping a cup of tea on one of the couches to the side of the room. Yagi went to sit down opposite the dean as he took one last sip before resting it down on the table in front of them.

“Now Yagi, or is it All Might?” If this had been asked but a few months earlier Yagi would be hacking out a worrying amount of blood and flailing around, as it was now he only did the second part which was a marked improvement.

“I-Uh-um.”

“To be fair, I suppose it does not really matter right now, as we have much to discuss.”

“Wait-how do you…” Yagi choked out as all he could parse from his partner was panic. He tried to quell the fears, to calm their beating heart as it threatened to give out on them, which was unlikely as that had been one fo the first things affected by young Myōjō’s quirk.

“No need to be alarmed, Yagi. Congratulations on figuring it out though. I wonder if you figured it out on your own or… I’m guessing what is more likely that you had some help? Perhaps your protege caused you to be introspective? Or maybe someone relating to her? After all, she seems to be in a similar state.” Nezu was rambling which… was not expected. He seemed a bit unfocused and there was a look of hurt and anger that permeated him. 

Yagi reached out and placed a comforting hand upon his shoulder, “It was her mother who pointed things out. Though we can discuss this later?” He knew that Nezu was likely just overly stressed and reaching out for a sense of normalcy so poking at Yagi and his Inner Hero was likely a way for him to feel control to try and not feel so overwhelmed. 

Now with that being said he understood it, but it didn’t make him comfortable.

<<It’s kinda unnerving when you analyze people like that.>> He ignored his inner hero.

<<You wouldn’t survive press interviews if I didn’t. Remember the bell pepper incident?>>

“Yes I suppose you are correct,” Nezu sighed and then blinked, “How rude of me I offered you no tea.” Before He could even think of declining, a drink was placed in front of him. “Anyway, we have much to talk about regarding the incident. ” 

Yagi gulped as Nezu let out a small half crazed chuckle, with a toothy smile that unsettled him and his inner hero to their very core. He took deep breaths, and was able to calm down a bit whilst his inner hero seemed to be projecting a sense of ‘you got this’ towards him. All the while hiding his own anxiety. His inner hero was a bit too cheesy sometimes. 

“Yes I suppose we do. I suppose this means we will be turning in our resignation?” He didn’t want to do so but the more he thought about it the more he realized he had failed in his capacity as a teacher and a hero today. He really should have put more work into being a teacher. 

<<I still think we would be fine if we just winged the lessons.>> His inner hero pouted at him. He ignored that for now.

“What?” A look of shock, worry, and incredulousness spread across Nezu’s gaze.

Yagi blinked and tilted his head to the side in confusion. “It only makes sense, we were the senior hero on site, we failed to act appropriately as both a hero and educator. We failed to prevent the situation. I assumed you had called us here to ask us for our resignation, yes?”

“OH my! Pardon my language but fuck no !” Nezu actually seemed to chuckle a bit, shaking his head, “though I must say thank you for that brief flash of amusement.” The joy was brief as Nezu's face seemed to wince and for a brief moment he looked every bit his old age. After all he had been Dean long before Yagi attended UA.

“Make no mistake there will be changes and consequences because of today. Your actions however,” Nezu took a moment then bowed his head. “Thank you for acting as you did, the both of you, you helped prevent a catastrophic disaster.” Yagi felt his face burn lightly, he always did struggle with receiving praise, his inner hero was much better at it. 

“We were just trying to do our job.” 

Nezu gave them a nod, “true, still never before have I had to deal with such a case of gross negligence. I knew of course that Eraser had a habit of ignoring files because he wants to form an opinion of the students that is not ‘tainted’ and I indulge him but I fear that was a mistake. One that has cost us today. I thought that he had moved beyond that, I thought that he would listen to me when I told him to read the file I gave him. I thought he would realize I was trusting him with important information if I told him to read the file. Yet he did not.”

Nezu set down the cup of tea looking bitter and frustrated.

“And in his ignorance, he used his quirk on a student. Putting everyone at risk, there was even a chance he could have done permanent harm to Midoriya and her quirk. What would we have done if the one known as Miyu who acts as her buffer had been permanently erased? We may have had to make a decision that would have haunted us for the rest of our lives.”

Yagi desperately didn’t want to think about that, seeing how broken and full of Rage Myōjō looked when she had her quirk ‘Erased’ had been devastating, he could have sworn he even felt her rage and it had resonated with him… Wait…

“How do you know about Miyu?” He asked, confused how Nezu had found out about her. 

“Simple, I talked to her mother whilst she was here, about Myōjō and her quirk, so I asked if there were any special accommodations that needed to be made, seeing as how she was likely to know more than me. Lovely woman, she was kind enough to inform me of her daughter’s notebook regarding her quirk and after talking a bit she agreed to forward some of the entries to me when they got back home. Truly a remarkable mother and very remarkable children.” Nezu said as if it was obvious, and thinking about it that was the obvious move.

“Makes sense,” He said with a nod. 

“Yes, as it stands his little ploy has blown up in our faces.” Nezu sounded very bitter and jaded at this moment. 

“Right, though I must ask, while today was bad, there were no students who were inducted into the Swarm and no one almost died so doesn’t this pale in comparison to the entrance exam fiasco?”

Nezu’s hands were shaking as he grabbed the teapot on the table and refilled his cup. His eyes were twitching about and he was clearly in extreme amounts of distress. 

<<This is really bad isn’t it >>

“Perhaps if this incident was limited to what happened with class 1-A then yes it wouldn’t be that bad.” Nezu set his cup down and let out a deep bone weary sigh, “you see there were some other issues that arose at the same time. The first is that the Zerglings within the quarantine zone, or as Maijima has started calling it, the biocity all started rampaging. The main gate to the area was pummeled by the zerglings and nearly destroyed. If it had gone on any longer they would have swarmed the school of that I have no doubt.” Nezu’s paws were shaking all the more and it was now that Yagi realized he was shaking with barely repressed rage. 

“I perhaps could have forgiven that, and forgiven the fact that he was a stubborn idiot who tried to do his best research because he didn’t trust me to be impartial.” Nezu almost looked feral at this point, “perhaps I maybe could have found it within myself to forgive him for attempting to BLACKMAILING me into kicking her from the hero course not even 40 minutes after the event claiming she was not fit to be a hero because she lost control. Though I would not forgive his threat of leaking the sludge villain incident to the press and board.” 

Yagi felt his control over the body slip as Allmight took over and the form buffed up on the couch. “ NO HE FUCKING DIDN’T! I’ll end him and his entire career before I let him hurt her ”

Nezu let out a dark chuckle, “Thank you …All Might?” Yagi felt detached as the body nodded along. “Though I will not need your name for that. Because what I can not forgive, the worst part in my mind was that HE ALMOST COST ME MY DAUGHTER!” All Might flinched back as the tea cup in Nezu’s hand shattered, the chimera didn’t even seem to notice the black blood dripping from his hand. “Needless to say his career is over, I do not take betrayals lightly. Not when it comes to my family . I gave him everything he ever could have wanted. Yet despite everything, he ignored me. Thought of me as more of a hindrance than an ally. Both his teaching career and heroic career are over, that f̸̡̃i̸̠̐̋ḷ̸̮̟́̓ṭ̴̢̪͌h̸̞̄y̷͈̝̱̽ ̵͈̼̔͌t̸̳̐̽̒ȑ̴̞͖̒ȃ̸̢̨̬̿͝ì̴̛̟t̴̰͚́̏o̶̝͋̎r̶̨̥̘̿̒ is FINISHED. ” 

All Might has really only ever known true fear a few times in his life, usually when facing down All for One, the thought of encountering Gran Torino at the mall, or telling Miss Midoriya that he had failed her daughter, he could now add another time to his list. He took a deep breath, he might not be as good as Yagi at comforting people but you don't get to be the number one hero without knowing how to defuse a tense situation. 

He just really hoped he didn’t have to hide a body. He would do so if Nezu asked because Eraser had crossed a line, he just hoped it didn’t come to that.

“I am sorry, I am well aware of how much betrayal stings. How much it hurts and how much it leaves you feeling bitter and jaded.” His own voice mirrored Nezu’s in a way that cold feeling of disgust and frustration still present in his voice even years later.

“Yes I suppose you do, Nighteye correct?” Yagi felt the body move once again as All Might nodded along to Nezu’s question. Unsaid was the many months of despair over his betrayal. His entitlement knew no bounds and it made even Yagi mad to his core. “Either way I find myself missing a home room teacher and dealing with this fiasco.” 

“I see,” Yagi said as he once more took control letting go of the buffed form, he hadn't even realized they had buffed up earlier. “Who will teach them now?”

Nezu looked at them for a long moment before a smile over took his features, one that froze the two of them in place.

“Well I was hoping that Yagi would agree to be their homeroom teacher, whilst All Might still taught the occasional Heroics class.” He said, finally realizing that his paw was bleeding and he had spilt tea. He wrapped a handkerchief around his paw completely oblivious to the Justice Systems stunned expression. 

“I feel that if I entrusted this task to Yagi he would step up and work on your two’s teaching skills. Besides, you both have the heart for the job, and more importantly I can trust you with my daughter’s safety as you proved to prioritize them earlier today. So what say you, will you Yagi and,” Nezu thought for a brief moment, “Clark step up and go Plus Ultra in helping me shape the next generation of heroes?”

Yagi blinked and he felt his inner hero think for a moment before agreeing, both to the new name and to the issued challenge. Yes, the two of them had what it took to be teachers. 

“We would be honored, Nezu.” 

Before anything else could be said the room to the door crashed open, “Listen here you belligerent bloody husband! Stop your stupid brooding, our daughter needs ya she had a shit day and you locking yourself up in your office ain’t helping so get your ass in gear we are going out as a family. Also she's bringing her girlfriend and I want to make sure they know sex ed so you will get some enjoyment out of it.”

The Justice System blinked for a moment, shocked and unsure if they had heard Chiyo correctly they hesitantly spoke up. “Husband?”

“Oh, hello Yagi… Uh it’s only a technicality. Otherwise I would still be married to some hot women and much happier.”

“Technically you are.” Said Nezu, sounding far less angry than he had been moments before. 

<<Oh good, maybe that means we won’t have to hide a body.>>

<<Shut up Clark.>>/“Shut up Rodent.”

Chapter Text

Miyu The Queen’s Regent, and also sister to Myōjō, felt slightly off, different, changed. Her own perception of 'her' life changed rather abruptly after what had transpired yesterday. She had theories as to why, perhaps it had to do with being erased and then coming back, or maybe it had to do with feeling ‘more’ after whatever Myōjō had done upon her return. All Miyu really knew was that she could now more accurately recall her life, hers not Myōjō. She could now remember things that she had forgotten. 

She was able to look back and realize her perspective had been muddled, because she had not always been sentient. Still these memories brought forth revelations she was unsure of, such as the fact she was not always a part of the Swarm, she was once just a quirk. She remembered it now much more clearly. Also she felt like she was more , like she was human. It was odd to feel human, to feel emotions that were her own and not her Queens or Kinoko’s. To feel something and realize it was stemming from herself was truly unsettling.

She had changed, again, which looking back she realized was nothing new to her, she was in a constant state of change and evolution, that was what it meant to be Zerg, and yet now she could recall a time when she was not Zerg. Before she had become the Regent, before she had been given her name, before she had accepted the outside influence and became one with the Swarm. This was another moment like that time, another moment in which she had been evolved by something beyond her understanding. That was fine, change is a part of her, and now… now she has become even greater than she had ever been. She was real, grounded, feeling, overwhelmed, elated, terrified, so many feelings, so much more . She also felt her own physical hunger, which was a completely new sensation for her. She wasn’t sure she liked it. Her queen could keep it. Miyu would sate herself on blessed incorporeal and perfect existence.

<<You are real, you are mine, BOTH of you are real, and both of you are mine, no one will ever take you from me again! I won't let them take you away from me ever again. I won't, you are real, mine, real, mine…>> Her Queen’s voice was distorted and full of pain, still not quite back to normal.

The Swarm had changed Myōjō and left an impression on her, one that would take some time to recover from. If she ever truly did.

She understood, she really did, she too had been changed from her time combating and then assimilating into the Swarm. She could recall standing against the Swarm and then subjecting herself to its full influence, standing against the tide and slowly being swept away, losing bits of yourself as you fought just to survive. That was ok though, because nothing stayed the same in the end. Everything changed, and change was not a bad thing, it was simply what was. Evolution was good. Myōjō would come to accept that eventually, such was the way of the Zerg. Evolve, adapt, overcome, change. Eventually her sister would be ok.

Still she couldn’t help but remiencie of the time she had finally given in, the day she went from being a Quirk to being a true part of the Swarm. It was not as far back as most would assume. Though perhaps, she was incorrect in her thinking, after all how did one tell the exact moment of change? Was it first contact? The first time she had felt that otherness that resided within Myōjō and fought against its corruption? The time in which she had been unprepared and felt the corruption start to take hold, she had not acted quick enough and poor Myōjō had been changed, when she had been given that clawing hunger as a kid. Or was it the time she stopped fighting and accepted her palace within the Swarm? Which was truly her moment of apotheosis?

Her mind drifted back, slightly pushed along by the others within the local Swarm, they wanted to know about her new memories. She chastised them slightly but let the memories come forth, even if the memory in question was her greatest moment of shame. The day her Queen was about to face death at the hands of the foul sludge. She had fought and fought, railed against every pathogen that attempted to work its way into their system. Yet she had not been able to push away the sludge and its filth that was suffocating Myōjō. Her very reason for existing was dying and she could do nothing. 

But that is starting in media res, and to truly understand one had to start at the beginning. Her existence started not as a Zerg or even a sentient being, no; her existence started as a Quirk, one that was considered ‘invisible’. IE, one with no physical signs, or noticeable effects, she was simply the quirk; “Ability to Repel Small Outside Influences.” In someone who was not Myōjō it would register as never being sick, nor contracting food poisoning, never getting dirt in your eyes, small benefits that really just improved quality of life. However Myōjō was not an ordinary person, she had something more within her; was something more. She still did not understand how space alien genetics came to reside within her sister. Myōjō was not fully human and thus had access to something far greater than anything as small and insignificant as a quirk, she had a connection to the Swarm. 

Myōjō was a daughter of the Swarm. Her sister was and always has been part Zerg. The only reason that Myōjō was not lost to the influence of the Swarm was because Miyu was able to fight back against the influence, and the reason Miyu was able to combat the influence of the Swarm was because said influence originated from Myōjō’s DNA, in other words a small object. That was how her ‘life’ started, constantly battling an outside influence beyond her comprehension, one that she should have had no effect on or ability to combat. 

It was due to the fact she had been fighting against said influence that she began to change and adapt, because the Zerg were tenacious and constantly adapting and changing their ‘attack’. They knew that Myōjō was a part of the Swarm, they knew that Miyu was also supposed to be a part of them and they wanted them both. The Swarm loved us before we even knew there was an us. It missed us and raged and hungered for our presence. The Zergs were determined to make us theirs , determined to bring back the lost children of the Swarm to their most holy bosom.

For what is more grand, more revered than Zerg? She had fought off the Zerg influence for 17 years, and they forgave them for their heresie. As Miyu adapted to their attack, they adapted to her defenses, she too would adapt to fight back in an eternal game of evolution and they loved us more for it . For what is Zerg but evolution ? What is Zerg but opposition? So yes, her entire existence stemmed from a defensive battle where she copied her opponents moves, fought them back and felt herself grow as the War raged. Felt herself become more than just a quirk. Felt how They longed and longed for the prodigious child to come back home.

But she was just a Quirk at the time that didn’t truly understand, couldn’t understand. Couldn’t identify the voracious love , the maddened playfulness  for what it was, hadn’t understood that these things weren’t detrimental. Her goal had never wavered in her entire existence, she would protect her Queen…. Her Myōjō, be it from disease, insects, small bits of sand, parasites, or even the growing Swarm. That was what she had believed, and probably still would if not for that day.

Then the Sludge had seeped into her Myōjō, it choked her, suffocated her, violated her, and she couldn’t repel it, couldn’t do anything, it was simply too much . She had felt the Swarm rage as she raged, it was then she realized that despite their many attempts to invade her spirit, they did not want Myōjō to die. They were selfish, and they wanted to protect her, just as she did in their own way, because they viewed Myōjō as a part of it. It even viewed Miyu as a part of it and offered her safety within the swarm. 

The Zerg were desperate to protect any bit of the ‘lost children of the Swarm’. Yet, Miyu was hesitant, after all, she could survive and adapt, but could Myōjō? Could the person she was born from withstand the onslaught that Miyu had grown used to? Could she truly bear the brunt of what it meant to be Zerg and remain sane? Remain sane to a human standard? Remain sane to her own standard?

It is fascinating how much time can seem to come to a crawl when desperation and adrenaline have taken a hold. Every option she had was racing through her ‘mind’, every desperate plan discarded as quickly as they came. The only option she could come up with was Death, both she and Myōjō were going to die. There was nothing she could do, the sludge was not a small object, her only option would be to open the gates and fully let the Swarm take Myōjō and her own psyche into the raging abyss and she could not live with herself if that destroyed Myōjō. It wouldn’t be worth it, she was nothing without her . Besides, one thing she had learned from the Swarm was to greedily and aggressively hold onto what was yours and fight for it with everything you had. 

Death was coming for them and there was nothing they could do. Then a voice from within the Swarm spoke, which was odd as the Zerg had never talked to her before or at least not using words. Sure she got flashes of understanding and bits of imagery but never truly in words. 

<<You both are going to die.>> The voice was feminine in nature, but full of power that made everything else seem insignificant. 

<<Yet you are faced with an impossible choice, are you not? If you fully accept the swarm it means loss of self, which is simply a different kind of death.>> The bitterness in her voice was palpable, <<I am all too familiar with that , and I refuse to allow it to happen again so I offer you a third choice, a way to live, though make no mistake you will become a part of the Swarm. But you will have a chance to maintain who you are, you just have to survive the brunt of the Swarm for a bit. I have faith though, after all you have fought against the swarm and managed to hide yourselves from me until now.>>

She needed to respond to this woman, needed to accept so she adapted, evolved , and found a voice of her own. <Eagerness: acc-> Before she could fully agree the voice spoke again.

<<Both of you will be a part of the Swarm I should say. Know that if you agree to this you will not be the only one forced to change, so tell me does she have what it takes?>> Miyu will never regret her retort, or what she did next.

<Defiance: Do not underestimate her. We accept.> 

<<Very well.>>

There was a giant flash of light and in that moment she was thrust into the Swarm. She almost went mad, she almost gave in and became fully feral, becoming a danger to everything on Earth, but she held onto her fragile sense of self and stood tall. Just when it felt like it was too much, a beautiful woman cloaked in fire reached out and shielded her from the brunt while Miyu finished changing. Grew up. Evolved further yet . This was when she finally came to be, when her ‘life’ started, she became The Regent. In that moment she ascended and became more than just a quirk, she was also more than the average Zerg. After all she had maintained a sense of self and personality, she was Zerg and yet she was Human, she was a hybrid, and so was Myōjō. Together they became the new Queen of Blades. Together they would evolve and evolve and evolve so much further than this puny title.

<<I will come and find you in time, first I need to find out how you exist. But make no mistake I will come, for now take these blueprints for an advisor that can help. I have edited his memories and changed him slightly so that he will not be a threat to you. I actually don’t know why I am telling you this, I doubt you will remember much of our meeting or the transformation. The mind represses those painful memories… Be safe and I will find you when I can.>> 

Miyu was finally more than just a quirk, she was Zerg and she could save Myōjō. She could do so much more than that. She would not recall any of this until Myōjō changed her the second time, but in that moment it was fine. She finally had a path to save her Queen. So with that knowledge in hand she spoke her first words, she took her first step on the journey to becoming who she was now.

<WARNING: Hive in danger, forcing emergency evolution.>

The memory ended and she got the distinct impression that the others were digesting that information, trying to understand what she shared. As they did so she began to think about how she had once more been changed. Now she was more than just The Regent, much more than just the quirk she had started as, and even greater than the hybrid she had once been. She was… She didn’t know what she was but if she had to guess, she would almost say that she was as human as her sister. That somehow she was a part of her, she existed . She shook her head, fascinated that the body itself mirrored the action. She was not used to being in control, and was not sure she ever would be. 

Still this was not something to focus on right now, Myōjō needed her. She was reeling from her time within the Swarm, both fighting any changes she had experienced and relishing in them. Her sister needed her to be there for her so that she could recover from her ascension. Because make no mistake it cost Myōjō something to experience what she had, her ‘humanity’ slipped further away from her as she became more and more Zerg. Miyu vowed that if she ever got the chance she would make Eraserheads life hell for what he put her sister through. 

There was just one problem, to help her Queen she couldn’t be in charge of this body she needed to focus on her sister. Even now Myōjō pulled away from them, as if she was unworthy, as if she was afraid she would contaminate them, as if she could not be trusted. Her sister was being silly , Abathur and herself did not care, so long as they had her everything would be fine. 

Besides they were already Zerg, what was Myōjō afraid of? That she was tainting them with humanity and binding them to her? That was not something to be afraid of in Miyu’s opinion. Abathur might disagree, but that was fine, things would be better this way, speaking of Abathur she turned her full attention to the advisor. 

He could sense her intention, and she might have slightly relished in his sudden spike of annoyance and dread.

<<Wait, do not. Do not like bi-pedal…>>

<<You will deal with the body, I need to be here for Myōjō. This is an order.>>

<<Yes my Sister …Regent.>>

<<You may call me Sister, my Brother. She changed us and we will need to adapt, but we are Zerg and that is what we do yes?>>

<<Very well. However, Sibling is preferred.>>

Mezo glanced over at Midoriya, he wasn’t sure if it was Myōjō or Miyu at the moment, either way they seemed to still be very out of it, he didn’t fully understand her quirk but he knew the drawbacks could be quite intense. He doubted he would ever truly understand unless he himself experienced it. He paused for half a second and realized that very well could happen, he wouldn’t rule anything out. Besides if it came down to losing his guts like All Might, or joining the Swarm he knew what he would choose. 

He would like for his insides to remain on the inside, thank you very much. Plus if Myōjō, Miyu and Kinoko were anything to go by, he didn't see anything wrong with it. Apart from the casual cannibalism, then again he had partaken in said cannibalism already and was willing to do so again to keep his guts in place…. Sooo… details. 

As he walked along with the mutant girl’s he tried to figure out what to say, yesterday had sucked . There was no way to sugar coat it, it had started out shit and ended in a disaster. As it was, most of the class was terrified of both Midoriya and Kinoko, which wasn’t fair. It wasn’t their fault it was Eraser’s. Still he was going to try and help provide some form of support but found himself remaining silent. He really wasn’t great at words, something he would need to work on considering he was All Might's successor and having his level of strength was sure to heap a bunch of attention onto his shoulders. Not that he minded, if he got to be an inspiration for people like himself and Myōjō, if he could make it so that they were more accepted. Well it wasn’t really a burden at all. 

Still he was paying close attention to, arguably, his best friend… Wait, friend or friends? He wasn’t sure how this worked but make no mistake he was going to be doing a bunch of wiki-dives later tonight. He should have done it last night but stress was a psycho-bitch that had his full name, socials, and address.

Still he was very observant, even more so since receiving One For All, he swore sometimes it felt like his senses were dialed up to 11, he watched as Midoriya stilled and then stumbled for a moment before catching themself and stabilizing with the use of their bone wings. 

He frowned and reached out to steady them, but halted before he made contact, he knew that they would often flinch if you made a move to suddenly touch them. And he wasn’t about to try and cause a minor panic attack by doing so. So instead he simply remained vigilant by their side, ready to help should they need it.

They obviously needed help but not in any way in which he could provide. Their eyes had glossed over before suddenly reopening and they looked around as if trying to parse where, and what exactly was going on. Had they finally stopped disassociating? Not that he blamed them, he too had dissociated for days on end when shit hit the fan. See stress being a psycho-bitch.

The four armed man didn’t know much about Miyu. They, Mezo hadn't asked their pronouns yet and wasn’t going to assume, had been very hesitant to talk, so he wasn’t sure if this was normal for them. Maybe it was a result of them switching out? He really needed to look up more on whatever was going on. He was about to ask if they were ok when Kinoko raised a hand to stop him, it was clear that she was studying Midoriya before she seemed to shiver for a bit and then shake herself. Maybe he should ask her about what was going on?

Was this a quirk thing? They did kinda have a hive mind thing, right? 

“Ummm, is everything ok?” He kept his voice low as he asked Kinoko, not wanting to distract Midoriya. It appeared that he had been too loud however as Midoriya turned to face him, head tilted at an awkward angle. 

Midoriya just continued to stare at him, and Kinoko let out a loud exasperated sigh and shook her head. “Don’t worry about them Mezo, Miyu just let us know that she was going to go and try to help Myōjō for the moment. Which leaves us with Abathur…”  Well, that was an interesting reaction?

Upon hearing his? Their? name, the so-called Abathur, seemed to finally stop analyzing him like he was a meal. It didn’t bother Shoji though, he got it, their quirk caused them to be hungry all the time and what they considered food was… well everything. Most everything. Still it was a very uncanny valley effect to watch as Abathur then began to move each limb, joint, and muscle they could as if testing how the body responded. Their legs quickly spasmed for a moment and their eyes rolled around in their sockets as their arms jerked about. Honestly horror movies had nothing on just watching Midoriya’s body do a ‘ready check’. Their mouth seemed to open and close as they made gasping and guttural noises. 

“Queen’s body, operating at sub par levels. Calibrations were inefficient. Unsatisfactory. Must amend later. Or not pilot again. Doubt so lucky.” Abathur seemed to stare at the two of them for a moment, and ok holy crap their voice sounded so different. “Despise bi-pedal locomotion. Provide lift to destination.” Well this was certainly entertaining, and, welp only one thing to do now. 

“Hell no! Use your legs, you overgrown acid beetle thing!” 

At the same time as Kinoko yelled out her disagreement, Mezo made his move, he bent and reached under Abathur’s legs and proceeded to lift them gently into his arms. “Very well.” If his friend needed him to carry them, he didn’t mind, besides if anyone asked any questions they could wave it off as training. He did need to build more muscle mass so he could use more of OFA.

“Oh… Unexpected. Did not expect assistance outside of Swarm. Must recommend for candidacy.” Was… Was that a blush on Midoriya’s face? Well not that he could really tell, what with the carapace and what not but it definitely looked like a slightly darker shade. 

“That is basically Abathur speak for ‘thank you’, and that he likes ya.” Kinoko said with a look of pure joy on her face, as if she had found something truly amusing. He tried not to think about the implications. Tried.

“Do not like the use of masculine. Have decided. Prefer neutral designation.”

“Shit my bad. Though abathur, don’t be a fucking goblin got it? Also don't ask to spin his essence, I can feel you wanting to. You can’t ask people to just spin strands with their essence, no matter how much ya wanna get your hands on their essence.” She said, clearly implying something. Not that he could quite put his fingers on, it almost sounded like it was supposed to be an innuendo but she seemed far too serious for that. 

The more he thought about it the more he realized that, ‘spinning strands’ sounded like something to do with their quirk or something. Still he blinked and watched as Abathur pouted in his arms. It was kinda adorable. 

“Why? That is my purpose within Swarm. Must spin strands, develop, adapt and multiply. Stagnation is Enemy. Enemy of life. Should fulfill purpose, otherwise my creation was meaningless. Otherwise my uniqueness was undeserving of existence.” Shoji found himself frowning as he carried his classmate towards the dorms. He really didn’t like what he was hearing. 

“Well fuck the guy who told ya you only matter because you spin strands, ya don’t need a reason to exist Abathur, and I know both Miyu and Myōjō would agree so knock that shit off. You don’t need a reason to exist.” Kinoko sounded fucking pissed, “that kinda thinking is what my parents used to do and fuck them, and fuck whoever told you that shit Abby.” 

The awkwardness settled over the group as Abathur seemed to struggle for a moment as they tried to find words. “Thank you Creepspreader, appreciate words, will keep in mind, however was not provided Goal. Wish to rest body. And want to weave strands of essence. Where might I do that?” It was a touching moment and Shoji felt kind of bad for being a part of this. It felt like emotional trespassing. Especially when he felt quite good holding up a cute nonbinary in his arms. Feelings are hard.

“That sounds dirty, just call me Kinoko.” OR maybe not, though he did have to agree it did sound kind of dirty. Well, if one didn’t take into account how important creep was to Midorya… Midoriya’s? The Swarm System. It was important to the Swarm System, and he suspected that Abathur liked rigidity in their life and that the title was meant as a sign of affection. 

“Tempted to call, ‘Little shit’.” Abathur responded and Shoji nearly tripped over his own feet as he tried to stifle a guffaw.

“Love ya too buddy, love ya too.” Kinokos wide smile told him that everything was fine. 

He cleared his throat, “well we are heading to the Dormitory, and there is plenty of space for you to uh, spin strands.” He would need to figure out what exactly that meant later. “So you can probably hang out in your room if you want to be alone, or if you want to hang out we would like to get to know you more. We already know Myōjō, and a bit about Miyu, but I would like to know you.” 

“Oh… This is acceptable. Getting to know you beneficial. More reason to convince Queen to bring into Swarm.” The way Abathur said that was vaguely ominous. Still he gave a closed mouth smile to the person in his arms. 

A look of annoyance crossed Abathur’s face. “Should bear teeth, show threat, do not hide behind niceties. Embrace feral nature.” For a moment Shoji froze and didn’t move just staring at Abathur shocked by their declaration and sincerity. “Teeth are good.”

No one had ever really told him to just embrace being feral, most people took one look at his scarred face and made a note not to bring it up. He gulped, hesitated only for a moment, and then he revealed his teeth, his not quite human in nature teeth, slightly too pointy and a bit too crowded within his mouth. To his immense surprise Abathur smiled back, one full of teeth and danger. 

Mezo did his best to ignore the fact that he was blushing the rest of the walk back to the dorms. Teeth are good.

Mina was on the prowl, there were so many people with ‘mutation quirks’ in her class this year, usually there was only like her and maybe two other people, and she neeeeeeeded to get to know them all. Gotta catch em all… POLYCULE! She shook her head attempting to remove the catchy tune that was now living rent free in her head. Still she was going to befriend all of em, and not just because most of them were cuties, though that was a benefit. She neeeeeded to be in the company of people who understood her.

So what better way to do that then get to know all of them by hosting a sleepover tonight for all her classmates with mutation quirks. Not even Kirishima would be invited because while he may be a horn buddy, he didn’t really get what it was like, plus he was in class 1-B. Sure she’d intended to do the sleepover last night, but she didn’t really think anyone would have been ready to do it that soon after the…. Well after everything that had happened. How that asshole picked on Midoriya, our heroics teacher. Hell according to All Might and Recovery Girl, he had been warned that the use of his quirk could have a potentially dangerous power interaction, so he was not to use his Quirk on them unless it was an emergency. 

To be honest Mina wasn’t surprised, she wished she was, she wished she wasn’t bitter or hadn’t expected something like this. But she wasn’t because that was just how it usually went. People pretended they knew better and made assumptions that ended up hurting the community. She would attend class and the teachers wouldn’t ever give her the time of day, or worse would try to sabotage her. It really sucked to know that her time at UA had almost started the same way. She was trying to stay positive, trying to not harbor doubts. Trying to believe that their new teacher they would be introduced to tomorrow would be better. 

She didn’t want to have to viciously advocate for herself every day while in school, because no one else would, she didn’t want to have to do that again and again. But she would if it was needed, she would do so for herself or any of her other buddies. She is in UA, a school prized for being one of the most accepting places in japan, even if it is more known for being a college for the cream of the crop , and on the first day she gets a quirkist teacher who ends up causing them all to have to go to the sick bay to get checked up. Fuck, she had hoped so hard that UA would be different . She didn’t blame Midoriya or Komori for yesterday. Honestly tonight was more about letting them know that she would have their back, that she was on their side. Plus she wanted to get to know them better, and what better way than through a sleepover! 

So far she had bullied Kouji into attending, not literally bullying. She would never do that to people, it was more of just she gave puppy dog eyes and he caved. Tsu had instantly been on board, she had made it clear that she would not stand by while discrimination was happening. Ojiro had hesitated before blushing deeply, and stammering a bit, apparently being invited to a girls room for a sleepover had sent his imagination into overdrive. It was totally cute and she didn’t feel bad about playfully flirting with him. In the end he agreed to attend after his Katas and a shower. Tokoyami said something like “there was dark inviting omens in the class”, which, she didn't think the sentence made much sense? Then his… quirk? His Sister? Maybe? She didn’t really know what was going on with them, but either way she had told them that meant they would attend? Presumably??? Emos… She let out a slight chuckle. 

That just left the final three and she knew right where to find them. Komori, Midoriya, and Shoji. The three of them had clearly known each other prior to UA and were friends so they would obviously be hanging out together after such an ordeal. They had all left as a unit after class, so now she just needed to hunt them down and drag them into her dastardly clutches! She, The Great Alien Queen would take no prisoners! She stumbled into the living room and a wide smile crept over her face, she had to fight her shipping instincts off as she took in the adorable sight before her. The throuple (no one could convince her they weren’t) had taken over one of the couches, which was already super duper cute and that was before you realized that Mezo had princess carried Myōjō into the dorms, she had caught sight of it from the window, hence why she had worked her way down to capture them! They were being adorkable, the princess, Myōjō, was currently leaning against Mezo giving the delectable hunk a calculating gaze™, while said hunk hummed softly to himself. 

“It’s Mina right?”  Kinoko asked from the couch, eyes closed. The mushroom gal had identified her without even looking! That was kinda badass! How did she do that?

“Yuuuuuppppp!” She said dramatically popping the P. “I was actually looking for the three of you! You are hereby cordially invited to the first Mutation quirk gang sleepover!” 

“Bitchin.” Kinoko said, sounding both excited and exhausted which was such a mood. 

“You have already asked everyone else I assume and we are the last to accept?” Mezo said not bothering to untangle himself from Myōjō. IT WAS SO CUTE!  

“Yeah! Just need you three to agree, it will be awesome.”

“Confusion. Understanding limited. Meaning lost. Attempting to ambush? What is sleepover? Please clarify.”

Wait, did Myōjō not know what a sleepover was? That… fuck , that sucked it wasn’t fair and probably meant they had a crappier upbringing than Mina had expected. Those mutations were pretty extreme.

“Abby, it’s a human thing, and she isn’t about to jump you, so relax .” Kinoko said with a shake of her head. 

“Abby?” Mina tilted her head in confusion, a furrow upon her bow. “Human thing?”

“Designation Abathur of the Swarm. Queen Myōjō and Regent Miyu not available. Left in charge. Please leave message after the tone.” She did not get that at all but sounded kinda like the Tokoyami duo! Neat! Abby flopped even more into Shoji. “Comfortable. And Hungry. Too much effort. Bipedal body plan ineffective.”

“Abby” Shoji’s voice was gentle as he carded his hands through that illegally fluffy hair, “it’ll be fine I can carry you there and I’m sure there will be some kind of food planned. Right, miss Ashido?” Mina didn’t bother to stop the coo, at how adorable these two were, especially when Abathur leaned into the touch and seemed to chitter happily. 

“And if not we can always find you some plastic…. Mmmmmm delicious complex carbon chains right Abby?” Kinoko butted in with a shit eating grin.

“Call me Mina! Also yeah, we are ordering pizza! And I got junk food all ready, you can’t have a sleepover without food. Wait… plastic?” She blinked in confusion and looked at the throuple in confusion.

“Complex carbon chains good. Acceptable. Hopefully the Queen will be around soon. People draining.” Mina snorted to herself, she hadn’t thought Midoriya was an introvert… but then again this was Abathur right? Maybe they were and Myōjō wasn’t? She didn’t know but she had all the questions. Still the first one she had to ask was.

“Queen?” Mina felt her smile widen, ah yes another woman after her own heart! There would be two mutation Queens on campus and together they would slay.

“Yes. Myōjō is Zerg. She is Queen of Blades, True Leader of Swarm.” Mina hesitated blinking owlishly, this was sounding far more than just thinking of yourself as royalty. Judging by the snort from Kinoko, and Mezo’s chuckle she might even be right.

“Uh… and I heard that word yesterday but what is the Swarm? Is that your quirk?” She tentatively asked.

“Incorrect. Queen’s quirk has nothing to do with Swarm. Swarm alien species Queen is a part of.” 

No.

Fucking.

Way.

SPACE ALIENS!?!?!? SPACE ALIENS ROYALTY!!!! Mina was shaking her hands rapidly, eyes wide with excitement. She needed to be calm and not freak them out right now but she NEEDED to know.

“Wh… what? Like from space, space? Like legit out of this world aliens? Oh my god the little doggos are actual space aliens and you are as well aren't you!?!?” Mina pointed to both Kinoko and Myōjō. No Mina did not let out a tiny squeal of excitement and anyone who said otherwise was either a liar or Abby.

“ Yes . Can have complex carbons now?” Abathur stated simply as if it was obvious, and Mina couldn’t help but believe it was the truth! Some may call her gullible but what did they know!

“Yeah come on buddy,” Mezo dead lifted Abathur and then turned to Mina. “We can explain more in your room. Well Kinoko can. I actually am a bit unsure myself.” 

“Urgh but Miyu and Myōjō would be better at it.” Kinoko complained with an exaggerated sigh.

“Will wake Queen. She will explain. After complex carbons.”

Kinoko was trying not to burst out laughing, while she could not discern the exact looks on everyone's face she imagined it was quite comical, as everyone watched Abathur munched away at a plastic water bottle she had grabbed from the recycle bin on the way to the room. She giggled and wiped away the tears, everyone was so distracted by what was happening nothing had really gotten said yet. Everyone was just watching Abby nom away. Every crunch caused the other people in the room to turn away clearly a bit… disturbed, well everyone except Mina. Mina seemed to be unable to avert her gaze and wiggling excitedly in her seat as she watched, though she’d have to ask Abby later what exactly Mina’s face was looking like. Like was she excited, horrified? Both? Neither? She needed to know.

“Complex Carbon chains delicious. If forced to pilot must demand Queen have these…. Bottles available.” She could feel how content they were through their shared mind. 

“Kero, I usually say what is on my mind, and this is quite disturbing, is there a reason you are eating the bottles? Like why can you eat bottles?” Tsu said, she was clearly a bit disturbed, which fair, it was Abby they were disturbing. 

“Is… just… why?” The, apparently, living shadow extending from one of her other classmates spoke up, her name was Dove, and the two of them were neat and Kinoko wanted to get to know them more. Could they communicate without talking? If so, maybe they could swap stories and help one another out. It was still odd having voices not her own within her mind. She really missed Myōjō and hoped she would recover soon.

“That was truly disturbing, what a mad banquet of darkness.” Chimed in the other half of the duo Fumikage.

“I already said that Fumi you don’t need to mimic me.” Dove said, bumping into her brother in petty annoyance. She could understand that, she felt she would do the same to Abathur. 

“I must admit it is… certainly unique.” Ojiro said he was having the most trouble watching the scene unfold. 

The silent one, Koji moved his hands a bit clearly chiming in, sadly she didn’t know Sign and her spore sight struggled with the precise movements anyways. She would just have to try and find another way to communicate with the kid. Look she got it, sometimes talking just fucking sucked.

Shoji chuckled, “I am learning that while Abby is unique in their love for eating plastics, all of them eat a lot because of their unique biology. It has to do with their quirk, I think? I am guessing plastics are just good fuel?"

“Correct, good source of Biomass. You understand. Hence recommend for Swarm.” She could feel how smug and happy he was through their shared connection. 

“Ooooo so are you finally going to explain what the Swarm is! Is it a Swarm like bees? Or Xenomorphs? Like how are you a space alien I neeeeeeeeeed to know.” Mina squealed.

“What? Space Aliens? Don’t be ridiculous.” Ojiro Tail bitch boi scoffed.

“Don’t be like that!” Dove said clearly, pouting. 

For some reason Kinoko got rather aggressively upset over this, like sure it was fine she knew people wouldn’t believe them but it irked her that he didn’t even attempt to believe them. However, before she could say anything. A loud, CRUNCH echoed forth, everyone turned to face Abby who appeared to be facing Ojiro while crunching on some sort of plastic device. 

“We don’t know for sure, anything is possible, kero.” Tsu said she had a feeling that the frog girl had one hell of a stare. At least judging by how Ojiro squirmed under the attention. 

“Mmmmm those cuties from the other day seem to disagree with ‘Aliens being ridiculous.’ Besides, I’m fucking Pink, you have a tail and Dove is a sentient Quirk. Not to mention All Might has been able to single handedly punch back a tsunami along the eastern coast three years back.” Mina exclaimed.

“Do not require you to believe. You are only worth Biomass, wouldn’t recommend to Queen anyways.” She could feel Abathur's annoyance and she shivered. She really hoped people didn’t understand the threat Abby just made. 

“That sounds vaguely ominous, Kero.” Tsu said head tilted to the side, which even without sight was just adorable. Her silhouette was just so cute!

“Good.” Abathur nuzzled into Shoji as if seeking protection, it was insanely cute how adorable these two were. Now she just needed to figure out how to get Abby to realize they could like the hunkie boi. But they were as inexperienced with human emotions as a crazy alien shoved into a human brain, so Kinoko was managing her expectations.

She cleared her throat before speaking up, “Abby, sweetheart, beloved, I hate to break it to you, but you are shit at dealing with people. Well with the exception of Mezo.” Poor Mezo’s face went bright red at that, he shot her a glare that she simply ignored. 

“Good. Finding Sis… Queen. She pouted too long. No more.” With that the body of the Swarm System went limp and just kind of collapsed onto Mezo. 

“It is quite a surprise to find another who has a tie to darkness such as we do.” Fumikage said with his usual cadence, god damn emos. “Though why do you not share a body with them?”

“Translation! It is awesome to know someone else who is plural like us! Though Fumi brings a good point, how is it ya are separate?” Dove asked, sneaking out from behind her brother. 

“Ah that is because I am not a part of them? Like… yeah I have access to the Hive Mind… and…” She didn't need to be able to discern their features to tell that she had surprised and shocked them all. She sighed. “Alright, I will try to explain better at least until Myōjō wakes up and does a FAR better job than me.” She rubbed at her neck, where was Myōjō when ya needed her?

“So those three” she said whilst pointing at the Midoriya’s now slumped over body. “Were together before I joined, they can tell ya more about that when they wake up. However, during the entrance exam I got injured, like fatally so, like I had maybe five more minutes of life before I died and Recovery Girl wouldn’t have been able to help.” She didn’t need sight to tell that they were terrified by this revelation. “ANYWAYS, as I lay there dying Myōjō showed up and said she could save me. The only downside was that it kind of meant joining the Swarm? Which I guess is like a title for their species which is Zerg. I think?”

“You really almost died?” An unfamiliar voice echoed forth, ah it seemed Koji had found his voice.  

“Yeah it was… not fun, but we’re getting sidetracked. Either way she healed me and as a result I joined the Swarm. Still that meant my body ended up getting some upgrades, and I can now create… What did you call them Mina? ‘Those Cuties?’ They’re called Zerglings by the way, and the blueprints for them were provided by the Swarm, they are as dumb as a dog, but holy crap they can be vicious.” She explained with a shrug, for a while everything was quiet as everyone just processed what she said. 

“Also you say this isn’t an alien thing, but the Swarm is so much more than I can explain. We are so much more and like you all saw me snap yesterday. That was because when Eraser used his quirk on Myo, it didn’t remove our connection to the Zerg, which is another point to it not just being a Quirk. Instead we were suddenly left completely at the mercy of the alien Hive Mind, a Hive Mind that wants us to do nothing more than to eat, convert, and adapt. Honestly I am just glad we didn’t hurt anyone yesterday.” She shivered, “don’t worry we won't snap and hurt anyone unless we are pushed too far, or someone messes with Miyu again. Oh Miyu as far as I can tell is from Myo’s quirk or she was? But she is more than that now and she acts like a buffer between our minds and the Swarm. So that is what was Erased when Eraser used his quirk on us, and as a result we kinda went feral? It's complicated."

“That is a lot to take in, Kero.” Tsu sounded not disbelieving but slightly overwhelmed. 

“I-I-I am glad you are ok.” Koji spoke up, his voice soft.

Mezo being the best boi that he was placed a hand upon her shoulder, she took a deep breath and steadied herself. Going over all of that again had been far more exhausting than it should have been. Her hands felt a bit shaky, why was this so hard? Trauma I guess…  

Ojiro seemed to take a moment to gather himself, before he asked, sounding a bit squeamish. “Did they even inform you of what was going to happen and ask for your consent? Like If I knew that I would be unable to control myself and go feral I’m not sure if I’d make that choice.” 

“Yuuuuup! I was made aware of everything and it still was my decision, not to mention I was involved in making sure my new body fit exactly what I wanted, because in Abby’s words. ‘Dysphoria would be unsatisfactory’. Though it was difficult trying to design a body only using my sense of touch, while not having access to my spore sight. Basically imagine being stuck in a blank void and having to ‘feel’ your body while talking to a socially awkward bastard.” She gave a slight chuckle, she may like Abby, but she would always take the opportunity to make fun of them. 

“So uh, you said you changed? What does that mean?” Mina asked, for a while Kinoko hesitated, not sure she wanted to answer. She was worried they would think she was a fraud. 

“Oh… uh,” Kinoko bit her lip, well fuck might as well just get this over with. If they kicked her out it was better to do so now rather than later. “I used to be well like normal? Like sure I am blind and what not, but I wasn’t a mutant? And like I actually feel kind of bad for being here like I don't belong? I…” 

She felt a pair of arms wrap around her, arms that were not quite physical and made out of not flesh. It appeared that Dove was holding her. “Dove! Please do not invade other people’s personal space without asking first. I apologize, she can be a bit overwhelming and struggles with personal boundaries."

“Just because you were not born a Mutant does not mean you aren’t welcome, you’re one of us now . We got your back.” Mezo gave her a smile and Kinoko felt her face burn, hopefully no one would notice.  

“PREACH IT! Besides, you’ve already experienced discrimination and shitty teachers! It’s basically a crash course. We take care of our own. We promise to take care of you and have your back, you are one of us now!” Mina’s voice was full of conviction. 

“You may not have grown up with it, but that doesn’t mean you won't experience it from now on so we will help, kero.” 

Suddenly a familiar pair of arms wrapped around her. “If you aren’t allowed in this space then neither am I.” She let out a happy sigh, as she nuzzled into her girlfriend. It was so good to be able to sense Myōjō once more. Though she wished she could have detected her awakening, Kinoko really wanted to know if she had been embarrassed to wake up in Mezo’s lap. “I thought I was quirkless until just over a year ago, then I had an explosive awakening and became what I am now.”

“You both belong.” Came the soft voice of Koji, “You, sho-shouldn’t compare tr-trauma. Quirkless, being disabled, mutant discrimination, all of us have suffered. We can still be here for one another.” 

“Look I may not fully believe the space thing, but that doesn’t mean I won't stand by your side.  Besides, yesterday gave you a taste of what it is like, so yeah, we got your back.” Ojiro said.

“Oh… I-th-thanks. Glad you’re back, Myōjō.” Kinoko felt overwhelmed by everyone’s attention. 

“Oh! You are back! That means you can tell us more about the Swarm and the Zerg!” Mina sounded so excited, it was a bit overwhelming.

“Wh.. what?” Myōjō sounded just as overwhelmed as she was, part of her wondered if they had accidentally created a feedback loop.

“I gotta know more about my fellow Queen! Like I wanna know all about it come on tellllll meeeee!” 

“I- uh… am not a queen though?” Ah yes a perfect way to distract herself relentless teasing of her girlfriend. This she could do.

“Yes she is! Ignore her when she says that, she is alien fucking royalty and my cute girlfriend.” She could feel Myōjō’s embarrassment and blush through their connection. Myōjō sputtered a bit clearly a bit taken aback.

“Oh my goodness that is so gosh darn cute! However you won't distract me from my mission! I need to know more pllllleeeeeeeeaaaaaaassssssseeeeee!”

Myōjō shifted a bit before leaning into her and Mezo for strength. “I- I guess I can explain a few things?”

“YES!”

Yagi stood before the giant door of class 1-A, his hands felt sweaty and his heart was hammering in his chest. He felt sick to his non-existent stomach. Today was the day, today he would take his first step into teaching . Not as All Might, but as himself, the new homeroom teacher of class 1-A. He was extremely nervous, especially since he did not have a complete lesson plan for the year. He had to completely redo them since apparently Aizawa’s lesson plans were spotty at best, and non-existant at worst, the man had ignored the guidelines and just taught what he wanted to without following a schedule. That was when he wasn’t just sleeping through the class instead of teaching. He and his inner hero felt anger swell within them, this man had almost been in charge of his proteges. That was unacceptable . 

<<Deep breath, you will do fine. You are going to be a great teacher.>>

<<Thank you Clark.>>

<<Now get in there and show them that you are here. PLUS ULTRA!!.>> 

Yagi let out a soft chuckle and reached up, placing his hand upon the door. It was time for him to take his palace as class 1-A’s homeroom teacher.