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A wild laugh echoed across the interrogation room and the heroes and detectives on the other side of the glass, watching into the room, were just staring on horrified.“He’s completely mad,” All Might was alarmed, “what happened to this kid? When I met him he was… was not this.”“You’ve met him before?” Tsukauchi glanced over to the man beside him with a frown, “when? Before all the interactions with the League?”“Yes,” the hero nodded, “it was an accidental meeting and I…”“What did you do, All Might?” Eraser Head turned to the man, a slowly growing more frustrated frown deepening across his face, “when you met the boy? He’s always seemed to have it out for you. What did you do?”The number one pro hero was silent for a few moments before he let out a troubled sigh and spoke, “I told him that he couldn’t be a hero. That he… he needed to be realistic. No quirkless child had heroism in their future.”“All Might, you crushed that child’s dreams!” Eraser Head was horrified.“Are you telling me that I was wrong? That I should’ve told him he could if he worked hard? Watched while he fought and struggled for air as he tried to become something that no quirkless person has ever been able to become?” All Might rattled on for a few moments, it was clear that he was filled with remorse and regret. He knew he could’ve handled it a little bit better, he did. But he didn’t. And that was the issue. But he was running out of time that day and he couldn’t risk the boy seeing him in his weakened state—well, in the end he did, and that was just the beginning to the troubles.“Well, whatever the case,” Tsukauchi stepped towards the glass, “we’ve caught him now. No matter how this all started for the boy, it doesn’t change the fact that in the end, he has not only been the cause of the deaths of numerous pro heroes, but he is a member of the League of Villains. There is a place in Tartarus waiting for him.”“Tartarus?” Eraser Head looked at him absolutely baffled, “he’s a child. Barely sixteen years old and you want to throw him into Tartarus?”“Look, Eraser, we don’t want to do that either but… he is a high-profile, high-risk villain,” the detective turned to face him, “if we didn’t believe that the League would come and extract him from a regular run of the mill prison at the moment we believe they’re finally giving up on the idea of the boy, then we would. But we know that he is important to them,” he stopped and turned again, looking back at the boy in their custody, “they would attack a normal prison to get him free again. But as they are right now? They wouldn’t dare to go near Tartarus. Not yet. It’s unfortunately the only option that we have at this point.”“That’s bullshit and you know it,” the underground hero glared at the back of the detectives head, “send him to UA. We can reform him there—”“It would never be allowed,” All Might glanced down to his fellow teacher and pro, “it is much too risky besides… look at the boy… there’s no bringing him back from… whatever has broken his mind.”They both turned their attention back to the boy on the other side of the glass. He was still laughing. He hadn’t stopped since they’d cuffed him and carted him off to the police station during the raid on the underground info exchange spot that the villains had long since established a while ago. It was… startling. Worrying. Definitely bone chilling.It was just something about it.Maybe it was the way he was continuously laughing. Or maybe it was the way his grin seemed to be wider than any kind of grin possibly should be. Or maybe it was because the eyes of the boy, despite the crazed glee in his grin, were dull and blank—lifeless. Soulless.“There has to be something we can do,” Eraser Head almost felt like he was narrowing towards the line of begging despite having no relation to the boy, no real need to feel this desperate, after all, it was this one single boy who almost gotten him killed in the USJ. With sharp eyes, and a quick analytical brain. Somehow, in the short time span he’d been fighting with the low-level villains that’d attacked that day, the boy had spotted each and every one of his weaknesses and it’d led to an incredibly painful beat down as a result.He didn’t know why he was so determined to try help the boy even while knowing that. Even while knowing everything else that he’d done to his class and the other pro heroes under his blood chilling gaze.He really, really didn’t. It was baffling. And yet, something deep down… deep, deep down, was screaming to him that he had to somehow help the boy, not have him thrown away into some dark cell under the watchful gazes of dozens of security personnel, live CCTV, and numerous quirks that could pose a risk to really anyone that was being threatened with them. Tartarus was not where the boy was meant to be. That was all he was certain about.“There isn’t,” Tsukauchi shook his head with a low sigh, “trust me, I wish there was but in the morning, Izuku Midoriya will be transported and transferred to Tartarus and that will be the last we see of him. Even Nezu can’t save him. Not this time.”Eraser Head let out a low annoyed tut at that and just turned his head away. He didn’t know why, but he felt like he’d failed the boy, and he didn’t even have any responsibility over him. Maybe his teacher side was getting far too involved in a hero’s matter.“Have we tried speaking to him?” All Might suddenly spoke up again, looking over at Tsukauchi, “properly?”“When he was first brought in,” the detective confirmed, “he just… laughed. It’s starting to get worrying. It’s rare… but you can laugh yourself to death. That’s the last thing we want for the boy. We may need to sedate him.”And now we’re threatening children with sedation? Eraser Head couldn’t even look back at the child now, we’ve failed this child.He sighed as he glanced down at his watch. The school day would be starting soon, he and All Might would need to leave soon if they were to make it to UA on time for their scheduled classes. He didn’t want to go. Not yet, at least. He wanted to try to figure something out. There had to be something. Something that didn’t end in Tartarus. Something…“Hold on!” Tsukauchi’s startled shout came, and they all snapped their gazes to where a man was now standing in front of a silent Izuku Midoriya in the interrogation room.“Shit!” Eraser Head turned and sprinted out of the side room to the door, “All Might! It’s locked!”The door wouldn’t move no matter how much he pushed on it and shook the handle.All Might was quick beside him, pulling his arm back and then throwing his shoulder into it, it slammed to the floor just to reveal a completely empty room.No strange man.No Izuku Midoriya.Just the table he was chained to and the empty cuffs laying on the metallic surface.“What..?” All Might just stared, wide eyed, “impossible… how…?”“He just touched him, and he disappeared,” Tsukauchi stopped next to Eraser Head, looking just as confused, “who was that man? Have either of you seen him before?”“Never,” Eraser Head shook his head as he just stared at the empty room, “what just happened?”“Must’ve been a quirk,” All Might turned, “we need to review the footage. Something happened here. And I want to know just what exactly it was.”─────────────────────It had been a long time coming. Izuku’s arrest.He knew it’d come eventually but he didn’t know that it was coming while he was just going around innocently, searching for new information, something interesting. Something fun.It came out of nowhere, All Might’s fist. Literally. It just, appeared through a wall and that was that. It was so short and absurd an arrest that Izuku found that he just could not stop laughing over it. Well, he could, but he also noticed that the more he laughed, the more uncomfortable his captors were becoming so even as he grew bored of his laughing, he continued, just for fun. Just to see their expressions.Though, the interrogation room didn’t allow him to see them, but regardless, he could imagine it. But also, his laughing helped him avoid having to deal with the Detective’s tricky lie detector quirk. Shigaraki still had a lot to do and Izuku thought he’d be damned and sent to hell before he was the one who gave the plan up. It didn’t matter anyway. He knew that Shigaraki would come for him eventually, he didn’t imagine it would take long. Whether he send someone to him while waiting to be transported out, attack the car on the road to wherever, or even in his final cell weeks or months later. He’d wait patiently. Because he knew. He knew that Shigaraki would rather die than lose a mind like his. It was a bit ego swelling to think such a thing, but it was the truth and that was all Izuku really cared about.He didn’t even know just how much time had passed, sitting alone in that interrogation room most certainly being watched from the other side of the one-way glass or the CCTV staring down at him from all corners of the space, but when the stranger appeared out of nowhere in front of him and offered him freedom with an unusual catch, he couldn’t just sit by and ignore it.“What is the catch exactly?” Izuku asked the stranger, banging coming from the other side of the apparently now locked door. He knocked his head to the side slightly and showed a disinterested look despite the growing interest in him.“You could end up anywhere,” the stranger told him, “the past, the future, ten minutes ago. Or… a completely different world. Reality. It’s a risk but… one I’m sure you’ll be interested in, hm?”“Well, I can’t deny that it does sound a little… more… entertaining than sitting around for however long but does the catch have a time limit?” the teenager asked, glancing the man over with narrowed eyes, “do I eventually get snapped back.”“If you go elsewhere, yes. If you just travel across the time of this world then no,” he answered, “regardless, time will move here while you are gone. You’ll have time to build up some strength, ideas—something a bit more than what you’ve been planning. Are you in? Or are you out?”The door denting slightly was what made Izuku lean forward and nod, “send me away. Send me somewhere fun though. I wouldn’t want it to be another boring situation such as this.”“I know exactly where to send you then,” the stranger grinned as he placed his hand on the teens head, “good luck. I look forward to seeing your spectacular return.”It was a blink. One single blink.Izuku shut his eyes in the interrogation room, then opened them in the middle of a cross walk in the centre of a familiar yet also slightly different appearing Musutafu City.He let out a low interested hum as he glanced around before pausing as his gaze stopped on a large screen.“They’ve gotten to that part of the sports festival now, huh?” a voice excitedly asked as they passed along behind the teenager who was just staring at the screen, an uncontrollably amused grin slowly creeping up on his face as he stared at it.“Yeah. But… should that kid really be fighting?” another person asked, “look at his fingers?”“It’s… kind of gross actually. Cool… but gross,” the first person responded.“My, my~” Izuku let out a small bitter laugh, “what am I doing up on that screen displaying some kind of super strength like that?”A honk came from his right and he glanced over to see cars waiting for him to move out of the way.He just rolled his eyes before glancing back up at the screen again and then moving to the street, stopping as he reached a newsstand and glancing over at the date on one of the newspapers.“This really may just be fun after all,” he muttered as he picked it up, “not only am I now apparently a student at UA but… this timeline is months in the past…”“You planning on buying that, kid?” the man who ran the stand glanced between the teen and the newspaper in his hands before flinching as he noticed the boy’s expression, “you know what, take it. It’s just one paper. I… don’t really need it.”Izuku just tilted his head slightly before pulling his façade back together, an innocent slightly childish smile on his face as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck, “oh man, sir, that sure is nice but I couldn’t possibly~ Here—" he shoved his hand in his pocket and forced the money for the paper into the man’s hands, “have a good day now.”“… yeah… you too…” the man just glanced Izuku over warily as he let out a low whistle, rolled up the newspaper and tucked it under his arm, turning and heading towards the nearest alley to duck out of sight.Right now, his face was all over all the public screens in the city and then some. There was no doubt that the stranger had sent him somewhere fun, but to think it was a reality where he was a hero—or well, one in training.“It’s almost funny,” Izuku hummed to himself as he stopped and glanced back, the sound of footsteps following after him creating a pit of curiosity in his stomach, “well, well~ if it isn’t my favourite info broker. Mind taking me to Tomura Shigaraki? I can pay you well enough. You just need to take me to his base of operations and get me inside… Okuto—no, Giran.”The man behind him let out a low tut as he flicked open a lighter and lit the cigarette barely hanging on his bottom lip as he glared at the teen, glancing him over before taking a deep inhale and then exhaling the smoke that had come with it.“Do you have a twin, by chance?” Giran asked, glancing him over, “a heroic one?”“You tell me. Isn’t that your job?” Izuku cocked his head to the side with a slightly challenging but cheeky grin on his face, “but no. I do not. It’s a funny story, actually, so… you going to take me or not?”Giran took in another breath before flicking his cigarette to the floor and stuffing his hands into his pockets, turning and walking, “come on then, kid. It’s your funeral.”
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Izuku had been warned that Shigaraki in this reality wasn’t exactly the biggest fan of the Izuku Midoriya of this reality but honestly, he didn’t think that it was going to be as bad as it was.It definitely was an eye opener to how their relationship could have been if things had just gone… well, not the way that they went.“Calm down, Tomura Shigaraki,” Kurogiri was definitely working overtime with this one, hands strewn all over the place as Izuku stood almost seemingly unaffected by Shigaraki’s enraged and hate filled outburst towards him. Even while his limbs were being pointed out in every which way through Kurogiri’s gates, Shigaraki continued to attempt his advancement on the teenager in front of him.“Yeah, yeah, calm down,” Izuku waved his hand at the older man dismissively, “you might actually burst a vein or something. Can’t you see? I’m not the one you don’t like, he’s on TV right now. Live TV,” he gestured to the TV that was currently doing some form of replay of the battle between the Izuku Midoriya of this reality and someone who appeared to quite possibly be Shoto Todoroki though, Izuku didn’t remember that kid having a fire quirk or a scar on his face like that, so he could’ve been mildly wrong about that. He’d know, he’d faced that class on numerous occasions.“Oh yeah?” Shigaraki looked wild with rage as he pushed forward, “and what makes you think that doesn’t mean I still want to destroy you, you little runt?!”“Runt?!” Izuku repeated in absolute bafflement, “I can’t believe you just called me a runt. You’ve called me many things in the past but runt? Eugh—get some creativeness in you, man.”He stepped to the side and glanced around the bar space, “so this is where you were holding up all this time. Cosy.”Izuku hadn’t actually been working with the League on terms of seeing them in person often enough that he needed to know where their base was or what it was. He just got a message from time to time with a meeting place, date, and time, and that was that really. The only time he’d actually seen this place somewhat was during the live feed broadcast of the kidnapping. He’d told them to take one of the UA students but to avoid Katsuki Bakugo and go for someone else—they ignored him of course, using his rabid behaviour in the UA Sports Festival as reason enough that he would actually entertain their wild offer, Izuku, however, knew that that wasn’t the case. Not in a hundred, or even a million, years. He’d told them. But they didn’t listen and instead they were attacked, and their Master was locked away after one hell of a battle with All Might that ultimately ended with the number one pro almost having to take an early retirement. Almost.It was just one of those days, really.“Giran,” Shigaraki’s gaze snapped to the info broker who was just giving him a weak shrug in response, clearly not all that bothered, “why would you bring this hero brat here?! Don’t you know he’s my biggest pet peeve. Always getting in my way—”“Well, that wasn’t me,” Izuku turned to face him, watching as a red eye shot to his peripheral to look at him now stood directly to his side, “that was this realities me. See, where I come from, you and I are good friends—well, as good as villains can be really. We work together. Started… uh—when did we start? Ah, that’s right. Just before the USJ. You brought me on for quirk analysis and I just kind of stayed after that.”Sure, they didn’t end up succeeding in their plan that day, but they did make the League of Villains a name to watch out for as well as kill a student and put some substantial damage across some of the pros working at UA High School. It was the perfect warning about their group, even if that wasn’t particularly the original aim.“What?” Shigaraki asked, his voice low, grainy and clearly still annoyed.“It’s ok, Kurogiri,” Izuku looked over to the villain behind the bar, “you can let him go. He’s interested. He won’t attempt to hurt me anymore.”Kurogiri didn’t seem to move for a moment. Well, no one did actually. The room was still save for the display on the TV showing off the next match during the Sports Festival.“Do it, Kurogiri,” the familiar voice of the Master came across the TV at the bottom end of the bar causing Kurogiri to shift slightly before he retracted his quirk and Shigaraki straightened himself out, turning towards the teen now, narrowed eyes glued to him.“Explain,” Shigaraki demanded.“Sure,” Izuku nodded as he tossed his wallet over to Giran, “your pay is in there. Don’t spend it all at once. I pick pocketed it off that annoying Detective. Turns out he’s got quite a bit of money despite his position in the police.”Giran glanced down at the wallet and thumbed it open to see that it did in fact belong to Tsukauchi, but it was a different looking Tsukauchi. Only by a little bit. But it was undeniably him. The info broker narrowed his eyes at it before pulling out one of the notes in the slot and letting out a breath. At least the currency was the same, though it did beg the question of just how much the detectives were being paid in this Izuku’s reality for him to be walking around with so much cash on him.“Well,” Giran turned to the door, “I’ll be seeing you then, Shigaraki.”He left after that, leaving the room in silence before Izuku made the first move, stepping towards the bar and dropping down on a stool. He leaned on it with his back pressed up against the structure behind him and his arms stretched across it as he just glanced over Shigaraki, studying him.“It’s weird,” Izuku spoke, “this reality is the same yet, so different. You’re different. In my reality, you have blonde hair.”He didn’t. But he did look different to the Shigaraki of this reality. Not by a lot but enough that if you put them side by side, you’d be able to tell that they were the same person yet so different. Kind of like distant relatives.Even the Izuku of this world looked slightly different to the Izuku that was in the bar. His gaze travelled to a dart board where a photo of the kid was. That Izuku had green hair and green eyes whereas this Izuku had black hair and red eyes.Peculiar…“Stop beating around the bush, brat,” Shigaraki’s gaze narrowed onto the teen and Izuku just put his hands up in mock surrender.“Sure~ sure~” he glanced away before looking back at him, “let’s start with introductions. I am Izuku Midoriya. You call me Deku, you die. I’m from another reality. One where I am not a bouncing, bubbling, green haired hero student. But rather, a villain. I’m a member of the League… in a roundabout kind of way.”“How roundabout?” the villain ahead of him asked, a clear hint of disbelief still in his tone and even his stance. He looked like he was fully prepared to lunge at the teen again.“Well, I never came here, if that’s what you’re asking,” Izuku answered as he glanced around the space again, it was small yet large enough that he didn’t disbelieve that the fools he worked with all existed comfortably in here between attacks, raids, plots, and whatever else they did without stepping on each other’s toes and getting in the way.“So how were you a member of the League exactly, then?” Shigaraki asked, his voice seemingly getting gravellier.“You should really do something about that voice of yours,” Izuku joked before leaning forward, “I’m your go-to info guy. Giran just brings in the low lives we work with. Since the beginning, I’ve been beside you telling you almost anything and everything you want because of this—” he tapped the side of his right eye and gave him a cheeky grin, “I don’t think I ever did get to thank the Master for that little gift he gave me back then. Though, I doubt it would’ve mattered. I was created for you and you alone. And now I’m here. You put things together because I don’t want to spell it out.”“You’re a tool,” Shigaraki concluded, “one Master created?”“Indeed,” the teen nodded, snapping his fingers into a point towards the villain in a way of playful confirmation, “I owed him. He saved my life, so I thought he deserved my life in return. Not like I had anyone else to give it to nor any other purpose for my existence anymore. The heroes made sure of that.”“The heroes…” the villain repeated before a laugh slipped out and he leaned back slightly into his now relaxed stance, “looks like there’s even a reality where the famous Midoriya is turned bad by the very people he looks up to. How ironic.”Izuku just shrugged at that and glanced over at the TV, ‘audio only’ staring back at him.The Master. He met him once in person and only once. That was when he was being given his quirk. But past that point, he never even spoke to the man. If the Master wanted to reach Izuku then he would do so through Shigaraki. His personal puppy, though Izuku would never call Shigaraki that. Not to his face anyway.“So. Why come to us?” Shigaraki asked, “what’s your goal?”“To have some fun,” Izuku looked back over at the man, “it’s always fun in the League. Eh… well, recently it hadn’t been. Just a whole lot of sitting around while you did whatever it was that you were doing. Gathering information and all that fun—not really—stuff. Anyway, I got caught. All Might came flying in and I got arrested,” he rubbed at his wrists slightly, the phantom pain of the cuffs starting to come back despite it not hurting since he’d gotten here though he did have to admit that it did hurt in the station, “then some dude came. Just appeared. Told me I could have a grand exit and an even more spectacular entrance when it’s time to come home. So I thought, might as well come here. You’re behind my schedule, maybe I can change somethings around for you.”“So you know the future then,” the man pulled the hand on his face off and glanced down at Izuku who just stared challengingly right back, his smile not wavering in the slightest.“Correction, I know my past. I don’t know how things differ here,” Izuku answered, “but I’m sure it’s not too different. Besides, I’m a hero here which means I have so much I can do to fuck up this Izuku Midoriya’s life. How different can it be, really? I’m curious,” he just let out a low hum as he brushed his hair back, gaze glancing over at the photo of himself yet also not himself again, “it’s been so long since I’ve been able to just blatantly work out in the light that it’s almost exciting.”In his world, due to his being recognised by Bakugo in the USJ, Izuku found himself very quickly pushed into the shadows and forced to keep out of sight but in this world, his face is the face of someone who couldn’t be any further from the shadows than he already was and Izuku really did feel excited to be able to experience that. He wondered just how crazy he could go before he was noticed. Though, he also didn’t want to get caught out as fast as he had in the past, so he was planning on some moderation, though not much.Honestly, he just wanted to see what this Izuku Midoriya was like. How different they were and just what the hell went so wrong—or he mused, right—that he ended up becoming a hero instead of a villain.Shigaraki glanced over Izuku before looking over at the TV at the end of the bar, “Master?”It was silent for a moment.“This is an interesting… situation,” came the voice on the other end of the TV, “and a good opportunity. What is your quirk?”“Originally. Nothing,” Izuku answered, “after that. You—well, the you from my reality gave me a quirk he stole off some annoying tech girl with pink hair. It’s called zoom, or something. It’s useful. Helps me spot things a lot faster than anyone else does. The name is pretty much what it does. It’s passive, yes, but I’m not really one for getting my hands dirty. Give me a computer and I’m happy.”“The go-to info guy,” Shigaraki repeated what Izuku had called himself earlier.“Exactly,” Izuku nodded, “the go-to info guy.”It was silent for a moment after that before Shigaraki moved to the counter and then pulled something out, sliding it over to Izuku, “the USJ. How did you do there?”“The USJ? That’s what you want to know about?” Izuku leaned back again, slightly dumbfounded as he glanced over an article seemingly reporting on the incident, “sure—ok. We got there, no All Might. Pity but, it is what it is. We took down Eraser Head, he was on life support for a while, but he bounced back annoyingly quick, down for a week and a half, that one. Thirteen was not so lucky, they’re still in a coma, even now. We also killed one of their kids. Small one. Looked and sounded like a walking toddler. Always whining and blubbering away.”He let out a small hum as Shigaraki narrowed in on him, “and All Might?”“Ah. Yes. All Might,” the teen smiled, “he was too late. He came just as we were wrapping things up. Two pro heroes down, one dead student. Many others injured. You could imagine the face he was pulling. It was almost funny. Almost. The hunt he put on us for the following week wasn’t so fun. Apparently killing a student of his really hits the wrong nerve in the guy. I think I moved base four times that week because of his little determined hunt. How similar are we?”“Not very,” Shigaraki answered, “Thirteen and Eraser Head were injured but not to that extent. All Might arrived and battled the Nomu—”“Nomu?” Izuku repeated, “what’s that?”“I take it you don’t have the bioengineered weapons,” the Master’s voice came over.“Bio… ha. No,” Izuku shook his head, “that sounds… crazy. Though, that would’ve made things so much easier for us if we did have something like that.”“How were you planning to beat All Might without the Nomu?” Shigaraki asked.“Some crazy stuff,” the teen answered with a small laugh, “it’s too complicated to explain. Though, I doubted that it would’ve actually worked. All Might may seem it, but he’s not dumb. He would’ve figured out a way around the plan eventually and then we would’ve left worse than we originally had.”“How did you leave?” the villain asked.“How did you?” Izuku shot back, glancing over the clear bullet hole scars in some of the visible skin of his hands and arms, “looks like you had an unfortunate run in with Snipe. Pesky hero, that one, but he wasn’t too difficult to get rid of.”Izuku recalled that death and just glanced off to the side. Snipe was certainly the easiest of the heroes he’d helped destroy the careers and lives of.“Anyway, continue,” Izuku looked over at Shigaraki, “the Nomu?”“Right… So, All Might fought the Nomu, sent it flying. We were then attacked by the heroes that came to help,” Shigaraki finished his short-winded run down of their attempt on the USJ.“So yours wasn’t as successful as ours then,” Izuku noted, “at least we killed a kid. You didn’t even do that much.”Shigaraki looked furious again but seemed to manage to keep his anger somewhat under control. The glare was still there though, and it made Izuku almost laugh at the sight of it. It wasn’t completely unusual to see. Nearing to the current time for Izuku, it was more unusual to see Shigaraki without a frown or a glare than it was to see him with one.“Not that I’m judging you,” he added on after letting Shigaraki stew a bit in that revelation, “now. The question is… what’re you planning now?”
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A few days later_
Midoriya had been feeling strange for the past couple of days.He didn’t know what it was. It was like an itch at the back of his mind. Some moments it felt like a warning. The next? It felt sorrowful. It was confusing and it only seemed to happen from time to time. Mostly when he was walking from the train station to the school to do his mandatory check-ups with Recovery Girl during the days off.“Hey, Deku,” Uraraka popped up in front of him, he stepped back slightly, startled by her sudden appearance, “oh—sorry. Are you ok? You seem…”“Distracted,” Asui finished for her as she joined them in the doorway of the classroom.“It’s—I’m fine,” Midoriya told them awkwardly, “I’ve just… I guess I must still be feeling a little off from the Sports Festival. Really, I’m fine.”“Are you sure?” Uraraka asked, looking a bit worried at the green haired teen who just smiled a nodded before a form looming over him from behind caused Uraraka to share a look with Asui before the two scurried off to their seats, the rest of the class already in theirs.There was only one person who had that effect.“Uh—morning, Mr Aizawa, sir,” Midoriya awkwardly turned to his teacher who just stayed quiet, a brow arched up while he waited for the kid to kick it into gear and get moving. He did soon after and the teen found himself in his seat while Aizawa found his place behind his podium.“I hope you all had a good rest,” Aizawa started as he placed his roll book down on the surface in front of him and let out a low sigh. It was a long night last night, something weird had been happening lately and he’d been working hard trying to figure out just what the hell was going on.The criminals were moving strangely, and he didn’t quite understand just what it was that was happening. No one did really. It was worrying.“You’ve got your bandages off, sir?” Asui was the first to point out the obvious about the man. It probably was a bit strange seeing him normal again after the period of time that he was in a forced mummy cosplay by the school’s nurse.“Yes, well, Recovery Girl went overboard,” Aizawa didn’t bother much with it before continuing on with the morning announcements. Soon enough they were moving on with the day and Midoriya was quick to move over to his teacher as they were readying to take their morning break.“Sir,” he called out to him in the hall causing the teacher to pause and glance back.“What is it, Midoriya?” he asked lowly, mildly bothered that the boy was stopping him from getting back to the teacher’s office to finish looking over some of the plans for the training camp that they were planning to hold for the first years after their exams that were quick approaching despite the lack of worry the teens seemed to be displaying. But first, the internships that he’d announced today. He’d given them to the end of the week to submit the agency they wanted to work with in the following week, but he also knew that many of the students would be submitting their choices today and he wanted to get ahead of the work if possible.He had a feeling he wouldn’t be sleeping again tonight because of the movements of the criminals around the city so he wanted nothing more than to get his schoolwork done in advance, so he didn’t have to worry about that as well while on patrol. After all, it would be illogical to be distracted in either job with the other one when his attention was required wholly on each during the appropriate times.“Uh—well… I was wondering if something…” the teen frowned, clearly not able to figure out just how he was supposed to phrase his weird feeling to the man, not really understanding what the feeling was himself, “uh—no. Sir, if you had a bad feeling, how would you act on it?”“I would investigate,” Aizawa answered before pausing and narrowing his gaze down onto his student, turning to face him completely now, “not that I would suggest that for you, Midoriya. You are still a student after all. What is the issue?”“I’m not really… sure,” Midoriya frowned, “I just—something. No. I don’t really know what it is, but I have a weird feeling.”“What kind of weird feeling?”“Well. It kind of feels like someone is watching me or following from quite the distance,” Midoriya answered, looking down at the floor as he spoke, feeling a bit awkward to be talking about this with Aizawa like this. Usually, if he had any problems he’d just go to All Might and hope he had some advice in some roundabout kind of way, however, for some reason, it felt like he really just needed to ask Aizawa. It was a bit overwhelming but just like All Might, Aizawa was also his teacher and therefore he knew he’d be able to speak with him about his worries even if he couldn’t quite figure out a way to form his thoughts in a way that made him feel more comfortable speaking to the pro.“Someone…” Aizawa trailed before frowning, “where exactly do you feel this? In the city? In your town? Neighbourhood?”“Uh, in the city. It’s when I get off the train to come here,” the teen answered, looking up at his teacher again, “but every time I stop and look around, I never see anything unusual. Nothing strange or out of place. It’s… a bit jarring.”Aizawa’s frown deepened, “just that route?”Midoriya nodded silently in confirmation.“I’ll look into it,” Aizawa assured his student, “don’t worry about it too much and just focus on selecting your internship and your studies.”“… yes, sir,” the teen nodded before his name was called and Iida skidded out of the room, flailing his arm around and going on about something to do with maths. Aizawa’s gaze snapped up to the teen, feeling a sense of relief that the teen seemed to be acting a bit more like himself at this particular moment since the last time he’d seen the teen was after the announcement about his older brother’s condition post-fight with the Hero Killer, Stain.“Run along,” Aizawa looked back down at Midoriya, “don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing. After all, you’re a UA student and the Sports Festival has just concluded a few days ago. I’m sure you may have some fans hiding within the public.”It was a bit of a forced explanation, but the pro hero felt it was the best for the teen. But he didn’t believe it one bit. It was all just so troubling. First the attack on the USJ, then the criminals in the area and a little past the city start moving around strangely, and now this? Something was off and Aizawa was determined to figure out just what exactly that it was.“And Midoriya,” Aizawa spoke up again, Midoriya stopping midway back to the classroom, turning to look back at his teacher, “if you see something strange, alert me right away. I will come to you without a question.”Midoriya stared on in silence for a moment before smiling and nodding, “yes, sir. Thank you,” with that, he disappeared back into the classroom and Aizawa turned to continue on towards the teacher’s office.It was all just so strange… It was… he was worried now. Just a little bit. It was quite likely that Midoriya’s case may have just been exactly the explanation he’d offered to the teen to calm his nerves a bit but then again… well, the teacher didn’t want it to be any other explanation, not really. He wanted it to be as simple as hidden fans who were just watching him out of curiosity rather than the worrying alternative of it being the work of villains or worse—the League of Villains.“Yo! Shota!” Present Mic was quick to greet the dark-haired man as he entered the room, “you’re late. Class run over?”“No,” Aizawa answered as he took his seat at his desk and looked at his computer troubled, thinking over the route that Midoriya would have to walk from the station to the school every day, twice a day. Then comparing it to the movements of the criminals in the area.He couldn’t think up any correlation but perhaps tonight it wouldn’t hurt to change his patrolling route.If nothing came out of it, he thought as he pulled up a map to glance over the area, then that’s that. But if something does… better safe than sorry.─────────────────────Izuku put his coffee cup down on the mat in front of him as he glanced out of the window of the second floor of a coffee shop he’d pretty much deemed the best vantage point for watching his alternate self go about his day once or twice a day. It didn’t hurt the coffee was good too. Cheap as well.Strange… he thought as he looked up at a rooftop across from him, Eraser Head?The pro hero was stood glancing across the street, slowly surveying across the space under his gaze.Izuku let out a low hum as his gaze moved from the hero to the Izuku Midoriya of this reality who was walking along on his way home, clearly muttering away to himself about… something mind gripping, clearly. His attention seemed fully focused on something and it wasn’t the path he was walking down.“What a fool,” Izuku muttered out as he lifted the coffee cup up to his lips again, watching as the kid tripped on something and almost face planted the back of some poor unsuspecting businessman ahead of him. As he observed, he couldn’t help but to wonder if that was what he looked like when he was focused on something, though Izuku wouldn’t be caught dead getting that unawares in public.His gaze moved back up to Eraser Head who was now looking down a different direction, clearly not spotting whatever it was that he was looking for. It was strange. Izuku had often observed the hero, never once had he seen him on patrol so soon after the school day had ended.No way…His gaze dropped back down to Midoriya who was now apologising to the man he’d almost sent toppling to the floor.Could he sense me watching him? Izuku almost laughed at that thought. Truthfully, he was doubting that this version of him would be able to. After all, Izuku was never so observant of his surroundings before… well… villainy so he was honestly doubting that the hero version of himself would be at all observant. If the other Midoriya really had sensed him out then it would make sense that Eraser Head was up there. He was probably searching for whatever it was that Midoriya was sensing. Though, neither of them would even think to be looking out for another Midoriya so Izuku wasn’t too worried.“Are you finished with that, sir?” the café’s barista approached him, a tray filled with dirty dishes in his hands, it was clear he was doing a clean-up round.“Yes,” Izuku finished the last of his coffee and then placed the cup down on the little plate it’d come with before passing it over to the man, “thank you.”“Of course,” the barista nodded before hurrying off to continue his round as Izuku stood, pulling on the jacket he’d stolen off some low life that had tried to intimidate him into giving over his money a couple of days ago. Honestly, Izuku wasn’t one for getting his hands dirty, he really hated it, but sometimes it just had to happen. What was it that Shigaraki used to tell him? Ah—right. If you don’t teach the dogs their places then eventually they’ll try to bite back at their master and as a member of the League… it’s not acceptable to find yourself being knocked down by the low lives that they ruled over.It was a somewhat good sentiment to live by and it seemed someone had circulated Izuku’s appearance in the world because the criminals had all but been lining up to have a go at him. It had been annoying. Every time he stepped out of the bar even for just a breath of fresh air, someone new was there, waiting.Izuku just rolled his eyes at the thought of the fools stumbling over themselves to try their luck against him. He wasn’t particularly strong, but he did know the faces of the criminals coming after him and just a few words were more or less enough to stop them from trying anything. He was hoping word would’ve spread by now that he knew all or something but nope.The feeling of the phone he’d been giving vibrating in his pocket drew his attention as he walked down the stairs. It was Shigaraki.It seemed he’d finally decided on his next steps, though, the message Izuku had received made him frown.Seems this realities Shigaraki and his realities Shigaraki weren’t all that different after all.Both of them wanted one person to join: Stain.“Well, this isn’t going to go well, is it?” Izuku sighed to himself as he exited the coffee shop and started to make his way back to the bar. He wondered if it was worth warning the man that Stain and he was just… not on the same wavelength? Though, he did that in his reality too and it basically earned him the villains equivalent of a grounding, although, Shigaraki did come back to him quick enough after their first meeting to try plot a way to do one final convincing if not to get rid of the Hero Killer as a final resort. To Izuku, it felt very much like a ‘I can’t have him then no one can’ kind of situation between the two of them but he didn’t really want to wedge himself in between that kind of nonsense and just kept quiet, going along with his partner in whatever, crime maybe, instead.Once he’d reached the bar, he was quick to take a seat at the end of it and let out a small yawn, “so. You want Stain? Do you want my honest opinion or no?”Shigaraki turned and glanced over Izuku, “how did it go in your reality?”“Not well,” Izuku answered as a glass of water was placed down beside him by Kurogiri, he gave the villain a nod and took a sip of it before focusing on Shigaraki again, “I warned him not to, but he basically told me to go fuck myself and told me to stay out of the way. It ended as well as it could’ve considering the two of you couldn’t be any different. You want chaos, the fall of the heroes. Stain wants to rebuild hero society with true heroes and only true heroes. Whatever that actually meant.”Izuku let out a low hum. He hadn’t really understood properly what Stain’s requirements for a ‘true’ hero was. Only offering up All Might as an example but Izuku didn’t see what was so great about the man. Not anymore at least. Maybe the Stain of this reality would be more willing to give a clearer explanation other than ‘All Might is a true hero’.“Well, anyway, if it didn’t work in my reality, I doubt it will in your own,” Izuku decided with a small shrug, “you know, just based off the reports on the guy here. They’re more or less the same. I guess you could still try if you’d like but… prepare yourself. He’s got quite the quirk under his belt. It’s… paralysing.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It went about just as Izuku had expected. The meeting with Stain.Not well. That was the only correct descriptor for it.It was almost a step-by-step replay of what had happened in his reality. Though, this time he also was under the effect of Stain’s quirk when last time he’d more or less managed to keep himself out of the way. He doubted that Stain had even known he was in the room with them at the time unlike this time where he was pretty much front and centre, just watching as Shigaraki made the same mistakes that he had in his reality. It was almost amusing to watch the plan they’d made to try avoiding this very situation just crumble and fall away so dramatically.Though it was also irking. He always hated it when Shigaraki strayed away from his plans. After all, he put so much time and energy into building up the perfect plot and there he goes moving off the script that Izuku had so preciously crafted for the man. Anyone would be annoyed with that.The only reason Izuku had stuck around to watch this disaster happen was because the Master had bestowed a hint of his wisdom. That very wisdom more or less being him just telling Izuku that he’s lived through this before then he should stick around to attempt to make it go the opposite way to how it did in his reality since Stain being one with the League would be quite useful and also… a name booster for the League in terms of the villainous world and the fear the name would strike in people.Clearly… that did not work though.“Seriously…” Izuku groaned as he didn’t even bother attempting to fight through Stain’s quirk, he knew it’d wear off soon enough anyway. He had one of the blood types that it was weaker to, so it’d loosen up on him soon enough. Though, it was annoying. He didn’t like the feeling of being stuck down like this.Didn’t like the feeling of being restricted.“Kurogiri, get rid of this guy,” Shigaraki ordered as he struggled to keep himself up, blades pushed in his limbs.Actually, Izuku thought, glancing over the space, I think this actually has ended up worse here than it did in my reality…He didn’t recall Shigaraki getting literally impaled on the Hero Killer’s weapons. So perhaps it was worse off here.“Sorry, I can’t move,” Kurogiri gave the response Izuku was fully ready to hear.“Did you forget?” Izuku asked, starting to feel a tingling in his fingers as he stared forward, “I’m pretty certain I explained the Hero Killer’s quirk to you, Shigaraki. This is your issue now.”Maybe he was a little more spiteful about Shigaraki breaking away from his plan than he thought.“This society has overgrown with fake heroes where the word hero has lost all of its true meaning,” Stain declared, not moving from his position sat on top of Shigaraki, keeping him pinned to place with his blades, “and so the villains that wave their power around idly should all be purged.”“Why don’t you take a step back, hm?” Izuku looked at him bored, “this is—”“It’s fine,” Shigaraki cut in as he grabbed one of the blades, it immediately crumbled and shattered away under his hold as his gaze narrowed onto the Hero Killer, “I’ll kill you—You sure do talk a lot. Conviction? What conviction, I don’t have anything useless like that. But if I did have to make one, I would agree that yes, it would be All Might.”Izuku raised a brow curiously. Shigaraki’s speech was different here. This wasn’t what he said in his reality.
Another change. Interesting.
“I feel like I really want to completely destroy and crush this society to the ground. Change it away from a world where the trash like that get worshipped to a new world,” Shigaraki declared before sweeping his hand forward, Stain had barely managed to back away from him, jumping to the other end of the room as Shigaraki slowly pulled himself up again, now freed from being pinned to the floor.“Damnit. And here my final injuries were just about to finish healing,” Shigaraki let out a low grumble as he just leaned back into his stance, his gaze sweeping forward towards the Hero Killer who seemed to have found a sense of tension now towards villain across from him, “we don’t have a healer in our party, you know? You gonna take responsibility for all’a this?”There he goes again, Izuku rolled his eyes, the game metaphor. Good to know that hasn’t changed between realities.“So that’s who you are then,” Stain suddenly cut in causing everyone to look at him confused.Izuku was a bit perplexed. The conversation wasn’t going the way it should’ve been. Well, should’ve been in terms of the way it did in his reality. None of this happened in his reality. No—correction, the quirk was used on the two villains here with him but this… all of this past that? Why did it go a different way?“What?” Shigaraki asked, his hand unconsciously going to his neck as he scratched at his skin in his irritation.“It seems that our goals fundamentally oppose each other,” Stain stated, “however, it does seem that we do agree on one thing: we want to destroy the present.”Hold on, Izuku stared, is this… actually working? After all, was it my involvement that turned the meeting upside down in my reality?“Stop messing around,” Shigaraki scoffed, “just go home. Die.”Ah. Yeah, no. It was Shigaraki, Izuku was quick to fix his earlier contemplation as he stood up again, now being able to move. He still felt numb but at least now he could reposition himself over at the bar rather than his position crumpled up between two stools after being knocked off the one he was sat on in the momentum of Stain’s attack towards him earlier in their meeting. He mentally noted that he needed to get some form of revenge for that later. It was uncalled for, he was only sitting there. He was more than annoyed.He wondered if he could get this plan back on track again but then again, they were all attacked by the guy and Shigaraki had told him to die twice now so…“I’m the kind of person you hate the most, hm?” Stain asked, “I was just testing your true motives. People only tend to show their true colours when they’re verging on the edge of death.”“Not that we were,” Izuku muttered as he leaned against the bar, glancing over with a mildly annoyed look. It was times like these that he wished his quirk wasn’t a passive quirk so he could kick this guy’s ass. He’d do it without one, but he wasn’t stupid. He knew he didn’t have the physical qualifications to be fighting a seasoned fighter such as Stain with or without a quirk—perhaps this is a sign that it’s probably time to start training, if not for self-defence then at least to be able to put up some sort of a fight one day. He imagined that perhaps All Might may not have gotten him so easily in his reality if he had thought about this earlier.“It’s different but there is a desire there. A warped sprout of conviction living inside of you,” Stain continued on, “in what way will this desire of yours bloom? It may not be too late now to wait until after I’ve seen that to dispose of you.”“You? You’re going to dispose of me?” Shigaraki seemed almost offended to hear the Hero Killer across from him declare such a thing, the tone made Izuku scoff out a small laugh as he turned to face them properly now.“I can move now,” Kurogiri announced.“Kurogiri. I don’t want someone this crazy as a member of our party,” Shigaraki told him, not removing his face from the man in front of him.“Tomura Shigaraki, he will be a great asset if he joins us,” Kurogiri attempted to argue.“You know,” Shigaraki glanced back to Izuku who just raised a brow, “your League was fine without him, yes?”“Yes,” Izuku confirmed, “but it’s clear. We are different. You may actually need him in your corner this time around although…”“Although?”“I have an idea,” Izuku stood and stretched now that the numbness was completely gone now, “we can elevate the schedule. I just need to find some people first.”“But the negotiations were successful,” Kurogiri quickly argued.“My business here is done,” Stain cut in, “now return me to Hosu. I still have work to do over there.”“I’m sure,” Izuku nodded before stepping past Shigaraki, “but as someone who knows some things. Watch out for some kind in a suit similar to Ingenium. He doesn’t seem it but… he can be quite the threat.”Tenya Iida, Izuku glanced to the side, he grows up to be quite the honourable threat after coming into contact with Stain in Hosu. In Izuku’s reality, Iida was alone in facing Stain but that one encounter changed the teens entire perspective on a lot of things, and that led to him quite quickly ‘improving’ himself as a hero. He was always an annoying one to meet.“I need not any warnings from you, boy,” Stain’s gaze narrowed down onto Izuku who just shrugged.The emphasis on ‘boy’ wasn’t lost on the teen but he decided it’d be easier not to bite back at him now. He didn’t really have the energy to argue with another Stain—he’d already done that once in the past and it wasn’t as fun as he thought it was going to be, if anything, it was just infuriating.“I thought I’d be nice for the first time in a while by giving you one. I don’t care whether you accept it or not. You can go die in a ditch somewhere for all I care but if you do what you’ve done in the past with this kid then you’re going to just make things more difficult for us and I’m not really down for that, ya dig?” Izuku finished off his response with a quote from Present Mic which quite clearly caused a bit of irritation through Stain. The teen wondered if Present Mic was yet another hero that Stain particularly had a great distaste for.“Just get rid of him, Kurogiri,” Shigaraki turned, “I’m bored of him now.”“Master?” Kurogiri looked towards the TV.It was silent for a moment while an answer was waited for before the voice came across with a stern ‘do it, Kurogiri’ which led to Kurogiri opening a gate for the Hero Killer and said man to quickly depart from the bar to the city again.It was silent before Izuku let out a low grumble as he took his seat at the bar again, “Kurogiri, get me some coffee. Black, strong. That quirk really kicked my ass.”Kurogiri didn’t move so Izuku just looked up at him curiously.“What is your plan?” the warp villain narrowed his gaze down onto the teen who leaned back onto the stool and smiled.“To elevate the schedule,” Izuku answered as he stood, “you know what, hold off on the coffee. I’ll be out for a few days. I need to find some people.”“Who?” Shigaraki asked, spinning around to him, “your plans haven’t worked so far so what exactly makes you think this one will as well.”“And who’s fault is it that my plan didn’t work, hm?” Izuku raised a challenging brow towards the older man, “you went off my perfectly crafted script. No—actually, you fully picked it up, tore it up, and then threw it in an unstable volcano. That was… terrible. A bad situation and I had literally given you the best opportunity to get the guy on your side but no. You just had to let your emotions run wild. You and my Shigaraki are the same in many ways.”He sighed as he stepped around Shigaraki and paused at the door, “I’ll be back in a couple days. The people I’m searching for are great allies to have. A bit unstable, yes, but… that makes them all the more better. Not to mention, they’re good friends—funny little people.”“I don’t like the sound of them,” Shigaraki glared.“You didn’t like the look of them either,” Izuku rolled his eyes, “nothing changes with you. Reality to reality. Anyway, a couple days. Don’t do anything crazy while I’m gone. Last thing we need is for you guys to get compromised while I’m out here trying to fix the mess you made when you had a perfectly good out. Excuse me. I’ll be in contact soon.”With that, he turned and left the bar.Izuku frowned as he walked through the streets, heading straight towards an abandoned district on the opposite edge of the city that he knew the first person he was searching for had recently been hiding out in—or well, around this time he was supposed to be. It may be different here but it’s worth a shot. If he’s wrong, he’d decided he’d just contact Giran, give him names and then leave the rest to him.“How utterly annoying,” he rolled his eyes as he pulled at his jacket and glared forward, “here I thought I’d be able to alter that outcome in this reality.”He was annoyed, yes, but he also felt that in the end it was fine. After all, Stain ended up joining the League a few months later any way so it’d circle around to that preferred outcome eventually. It will just take time so instead of sitting around and waiting, maybe it’s best to get the team bonding going early so Shigaraki learns to trust the brats that join the League in a nearer future.He took too long to learn to trust them in Izuku’s reality, he couldn’t risk it in this one. Especially not if Izuku was planning to push the events and progression forward a bit faster than it initially had.“The question is,” he hummed to himself as he walked, “how exactly should I go about this? Passively? Or aggressively?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Izuku stepped over a homeless guy as he stepped through the abandoned district and crossed over into a crumbling building.He found himself walking up a few floors before the smell of something mildly burnt caught his attention and he stopped, turning and walking through the open spaces until he eventually came across a man draped in black, sat on an empty window frame, the window long since been gone. There was charred wood all across the floor around the man as he just stared out over the abandoned scape.“Dabi?” Izuku spoke up, the man glanced over to him, his gaze narrowing down on the teen.Izuku couldn’t lie, he had mildly missed the fire obsessed maniac. He wasn’t particularly a great guy, but he was good enough and at one point or another, he had thought of him as a friend. It truly was a shame the way that he died.“Who’s asking, brat?” Dabi shot back.“Let’s say… a friend,” Izuku offered as he stopped his approach midway across the room.“Does this… friend… have a name?” the man across asked, his gaze not moving from the teen who just gave him a cheeky smile.“Of course he does, Touya.”Dabi was quick to his feet, crossing the room with rage in his eyes as he reached for Izuku who was otherwise calm and unbothered, even as the villain’s hands buried themselves into his jacket and dragged him up off the ground. Izuku glanced down at the floor, finding himself feeling slightly impressed that he could hold him up like that. Though, he was sure he was on the lighter side in terms of the average weight for his age considering his lifestyle.“Where the hell did you hear that name?!” Dabi roared as he glared up at Izuku who just smiled down at Dabi.“You told me it,” Izuku answered honestly, “well, in my reality, that is.”Dabi’s face contorted from his anger to a confused frown and then back to his anger again, “don’t lie to me, you little runt. Where the hell did you learn that name from?”“Again, you told me, Dabi,” the teen told him as he patted his hands, “come on. Let’s be civil. Let’s put all feet on the floor and keep hands to ourselves, hm? I’m not planning to run, nor do I have the physical capabilities to fight you.”Dabi just stared for a moment before placing Izuku back on the floor and slowly retracting his hands, “explain.”“It’s pretty simple, really,” Izuku’s smile widened slightly, “I am Izuku Midoriya. I’m from an alternate reality. A reality where villainy has won out over heroism. I’m a villain where I come from, and you and I were quite good friends. Well, correction, we tolerated each other more than we did others. I know everything about you and it’s all because you told me everything.”Izuku glanced off to the side. He wondered if his Dabi knew he was going to die because he’d told him his entire life story to the teen a week before he’d died, and to his own Father no less. It was unfortunate and Izuku had felt some sort of remorse when he’d heard about his death, but he didn’t act on it. How could he? It was Endeavour he was going up against—although, he may or may not have silently investigated the truth behind Dabi’s words and then he may or may not have leaked it into the media and therefore caused the unanimous downfall of the pro hero… there waws no proof that he did it so…Dabi’s eyes narrowed before he stepped back and glanced him over, “you look like the hero brat on the UA Sports Festival. What? Decided green wasn’t your colour?”Izuku’s brow raised in amusement as he listened to Dabi speak. He almost wanted to laugh at that speculation.“I just told you. I’m from an alternate reality,” he told the man who’s expression twitched slightly but didn’t move, “and green wasn’t ever much my colour anyway. I’m more of a red and black kind of guy—blue on the odd occasion. But never green.”Dabi let out a low hum as he glanced over the teen, “alright. I’ll bite. Tell me something only someone who has spoken to me with full trust will know.”“You were in a coma for three years,” Izuku answered, starting off strong, “your hair is white—oh, but it used to be red, it just changed as you grew up—your face is mostly regenerative tissue at this point, all of it from severe burning when you were a kid. Oh and, you are Endeavour’s eldest son, eldest child. The first of his disgusting play for power.”Dabi seemed to pause for a moment before he stepped back once more and crossed his arms, “seems you know more than I’d ever tell anyone. Not willingly at least.”“Well you told me willingly,” the teen shrugged, just glad that this was the same no matter the reality, “I’m not really in the position to be forcing information out of you. My quirk is passive, and I am physically weak. You’d only need to flick me to win a battle against me. I am no threat to you.”Dabi couldn’t exactly deny it. Just one look over the teen in front of him and he almost thought a strong gust of wind would be enough to blow the kid onto his ass. But it wasn’t even just that, it was the fact he seemed underweight, his eyes were sunken and barely held up by dark eyebags that rivalled even a raccoon or panda. Strangely though, despite these facts, his eyes were filled with such determined life that they almost seemed to belong in the wrong person and his hair was thick and very healthy so clearly the kid was doing something right in terms of his health.“So?” Izuku mirrored the other’s stance, crossing his arms and glancing over Dabi with narrowed eyes, “believe me now?”“It sounds far-fetched,” Dabi declared.“Of course it does but I was brought here by a quirk and that kind of thing can’t be refuted,” Izuku shot back, “after all, what a world we live in, hm?”Dabi stayed silent for a moment before relaxing slightly, “What do you want?”“I’m here to recruit you,” the teen told him, dropping his arms back to his side as he moved over to the window and looked out, “nice view from up here. I see why you like it. Good vantage point.”“Yeah…” Dabi turned and looked at the kid’s back, “recruit me for what?”“The League of Villains,” Izuku glanced over his shoulder to the man watching him. He watched his frown return then be quickly washed away by an uninterested expression.“I’m good,” he was quick to decide.“Really?” Izuku let out a fake sigh of disappointment, “and here I thought it was a good opportunity for you—”“How?”That quickly caught the guy’s attention. Izuku almost felt bad using Dabi’s past to reach out to him, but he didn’t want to waste any time, nor did he want to end up becoming enemy number one to the guy because that’d just make things more difficult for no reason.“Well,” Izuku started, turning and leaning against the window frame behind him, “for one. In my reality, you get revenge on Endeavour yourself while working with the League. You should’ve seen the man’s face. It was full of so much remorse you couldn’t stop laughing. Join here and it’ll be no different. Second, you can get out of this dreary place and have a secure roof over your head. People who become your friends. Family.”Dabi didn’t respond so Izuku thought over what else he could say before it came to him, “oh. And also, you’ll get to reunite with your brother. Your precious little brother. You know, the one you used to always tell me you regretted leaving behind—ah, wait, different you.”Dabi didn’t say anything in response, but it was clear by the shift in his expression that he knew exactly who Izuku was talking about. Though, on Izuku’s side of things, the reunion between the brother’s didn’t happen for another few months because originally it would’ve happened at the training camp but that was cancelled so it never happened. If it happens in this reality then their reunion would occur a lot sooner and put a fire under Dabi a lot quicker to make him want to escalate his revenge. Izuku used to find it entertaining watching Dabi practicing his lines in the mirror and the feed he’d seen later was well worth the teasing because Dabi’s final speech… it was impeccable. Or so Izuku thought anyway. Toga thought Dabi was showing off a little bit, but Izuku thought it was a good show of all the pain and regret that Dabi had building up in him.Maybe the earlier it starts, the less likely it is for Dabi to die this time?He wanted to attempt it anyway. And if not, he’d just warn the guy and offer him possibly a different way of going around the fight that didn’t literally end with Endeavour’s own flames burning Dabi down to nothing but ash in the middle of the street. Just thinking about it again was making Izuku a bit angry and almost tempted to leak his findings out into the media again, he was pretty certain it wouldn’t be too difficult to find all his proof again now that he knew exactly where to find it so in just a week’s time, he was sure he could destroy Endeavour here as well even before Dabi faced him. But no—he couldn’t, Dabi needed to face Endeavour. It was likely a very important developing point for him, but this time he had to actually survive it for the future.“So?” Izuku turned to him fully, a smile on his face as he stretched his hand out, offering it to the villain across from him, “are you in?”Dabi studied Izuku silently for a moment before taking the teens hand and nodding before giving it a firm shake, “you’ve got yourself a deal.”Weird phrasing considering this wasn’t much of a deal, Izuku thought to himself as he pulled his hand back, not allowing his smile to waver in even the slightest way as he just gave the villain a nod, “Great. Now. There are a few more people we need to find before we return to the base, so let’s get a move on. We don’t have all day.”Dabi nodded and turned before beginning to leave the room to the stairs. Izuku took once more sweeping glance across the area before turning and following after him.He was kind of excited for whatever was to come. This reality was already proving to be different to his, he was excited to see just how different it could get.─────────────────────It’d only been two days on the internship and Midoriya was already tired but now this too? Stain. Stain too?Just the thought of the battle that was occurring right now and the ache he was already feeling was giving him a good insight into what tomorrow was going to feel like while he was in between training sessions wasn’t making him feel all too great.“Iida! Are you ok?!” Midoriya glanced back to his armoured friend.“Yes, but I cannot move,” Iida replied, “it must be his quirk. Since he cut me… I’ve been paralysed.”“Hey…” Stain leaned forward as he narrowed his gaze on the teen that’d just attacked him as Midoriya was about to begin his usual short-winded analysis, “you look familiar… didn’t I just leave you yesterday?”Midoriya looked back at him with a confused look, “uh—no?” he paused to glance around the area, just checking that it was still just him, Iida, and Native in the alley. It was.Stain’s head knocked to the side slightly as he just squinted at Midoriya.He was confused.This kid… he was obviously not the kid he met the previous evening in the meeting with the League but at the same time… siblings? Twins maybe? Maybe even cousins?The kid didn’t actually introduce himself when he met with the League. He just sat in silence, watching closely, most of the time on the floor—his fault, of course but it was a fact—and then when he did speak up it wasn’t anything identifying. This kid in front of him was very green, green suit, green hair, green eyes. The other one couldn’t have been any opposite. Black hair, red eyes, mostly black clothes besides the red shirt under his well pressed waistcoat. Maybe the hero student was a double agent? If he was, not only was his makeup flawless but also his personality swap was impressive. Stain had seen many villains and heroes in the past but this kind of swap? No one had been able to get onto this level before.“No, never mind it,” Stain straightened up as he focused down on the students again, “it doesn’t matter now…”“Midoriya, please—” Iida caught the green haired teens attention again, begging that he didn’t get involved with the Hero Killer. He was filled with a sense of desperation to protect his friend but also a desperation to avenge his brother’s attack against him.Midoriya refused.He wouldn’t leave them alone.He was just as determined as Iida, he was determined to protect the two paralysed victims in the alley until help came.The battle was long and exhausting, even as Shoto Todoroki joined the battle but eventually the Hero Killer was the one on the losing side and soon enough, was in custody.The heroes were more worried about the students than Native who’d recovered to an extent. But Midoriya was more focused on the question that Stain had asked when he’d first joined the battle.
“Didn’t I just leave you yesterday?”
The question was so normal yet so baffling. To any normal person, this would seem like your everyday normal question—probably a friendly joke between friends—however, to Midoriya it was a strange question that seemed to raise the hairs on his arms and goosebumps roll down his back.He knew me, Midoriya thought as the pros around him continued to talk, he recognised me. He’d spoken with me before but… how? There’s… there’s no way, right? Just thinking about it was so distracting that he didn’t notice that the Hero Killer hadn’t been checked completely of all his blades hidden in his clothes, nor did he notice the Nomu that was flying straight for him, blood spraying out from a wound inflicted on it by Endeavour in a battle it was very obviously attempting to flee from. It all happened so fast that his train of thought was barely broken. One second he was being checked over as he deliberated over the Hero Killer’s seemingly innocent question to him, the next, talons were gripping the back of his hero costume and dragging him up into the air. He wasn’t in the position to break himself free so he could do nothing but hope someone would reach him before he was dragged too far out of reach. His gaze stopped on Gran Torino, fully prepared that his teacher was going to be the next thing he saw but no, instead it was Stain, once again free and charging for him.The Hero Killer had decided that they were two different people. This Izuku Midoriya in front of him was different to the kid he’d met in the League. He was worthy. He was like All Might. A true hero. The kid in the bar, he was far from it. A villain, a rat.Shigaraki had been too loud tonight. His move against the hero community shaking up Hosu more than necessary. Stain hated it. And he hated that this beast of his was trying to steal away the young hero in training, one of the few he recognised to have some semblance of truth behind his words and determination.He rescued Midoriya from the Nomu, ensuring to kill the beast as a message to the villains that’d messed up his peaceful evening, reminding himself that he’d have to go kill the foolish villains who wanted nothing more than a chaotic Japan—to protect the society that he, Stain, wanted to build.His thoughts slipped out as he loomed over Midoriya, frozen in intimidating fear along with the rest of those in the area, all dumbly and uselessly staring forward, frozen to the spot as Stain’s words echoed across the space loudly. He was almost crazed, but his words held some sense of power, they all knew that, or it wouldn’t have been affecting them as much as it clearly was.That night ended leaving Midoriya tense and filled with worry.And all he could think about was… who the hell did Stain meet that previous evening?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Izuku was just staring at the TV in the electronics store window in disbelief. It was reporting on the attack in Hosu.“That idiot,” he groaned as he ran his hand through his hair in frustration.“What’s the issue, mini man?” Dabi stopped next to him and looked at the TV as well, “huh. Looks like Hosu went to shit.”That nickname… seems it didn’t matter the reality. This guy was just always the same.“Yeah. That’s the problem,” Izuku sighed.He thought he’d made it clear for Shigaraki to not do anything stupid and yet clearly the guy couldn’t hold himself back. Izuku really was starting to grow a little annoyed with the level of maturity or lack thereof in the villain, but his Shigaraki was exactly the same and he couldn’t exactly refute the villain since they also attacked Hosu in his reality though it was a little more chaotic than what was happening in these reports.“Oh would you look at that,” Dabi caught Izuku’s attention and forced him to look at the TV the other was, “looks like the Hero Killer got his ass caught. Pity for him, huh?”A frown fell onto Izuku’s face.That… wasn’t right. There’s no way. Stain didn’t get caught in his reality. Not this early into the game. Just what the hell happened? What was different? Why was this different? Where was the new variable in the equation.“What?” Dabi noticed the frown on his shorter partner who just glanced to the side, clearly thinking about something, “did this not happen in your reality?”“Stain? No. Hosu, yes,” Izuku answered, “it’s… different. Troubling but also… I can’t help but be a little excited to see where this all leads.”A knife suddenly flying past Izuku’s head and lodging itself into the wall beside him caused him to pause before he felt himself being dragged back by Dabi.“Calm yourself, Dabi,” Izuku shook the man’s grip off of him, “don’t you worry. She’s the next one.”“She?” Dabi repeated as the two looked over to the alley across from them where a figure was slowly approaching out of. The wild look of Himiko Toga appeared as she formed into the light.“You’re really cute~” Toga spun a knife around between her fingers as she leaned forward and then used it to point at Izuku, “do you want to be my boyfriend~?”Izuku just smiled, “no but I would like to be your friend, Himiko Toga.”She sputtered for a moment before her grin widened, “you know me?”“Very well actually,” the teen confirmed as he glanced up and down the street, checking for cars before pulling the knife from it’s place in the wall and crossing the road, “would you like to have some fun?”He held the knife out to her, and she glanced between them before her gaze stopped on Izuku, “who are you?”“Izuku Midoriya,” Izuku introduced himself to her, she eyed Dabi, “don’t mind him. He’s also a friend.”Izuku nudged him in the side with his elbow and the other just let out a low ‘tsk’ before introducing himself as well, “Dabi.”The street was more or less empty save for the occasional passerby, so Izuku didn’t feel too worried about getting out of sight, “so, Toga? You want to have some fun?”“What kind of fun?” she looked interested.“Unrestricted fun,” Izuku answered, “you’ll be allowed to stab whoever you want, and you can even attempt it in the League—”“League?! As in League of Villains?” she threw herself forward, pushing down Izuku’s hand still holding the knife so she could close the space without stabbing herself on her own knife, “like the one Stainy was in? I wanna join! I wanna join! Oh you’ll let me right?!”Izuku stared in a moment of mild surprise as he leaned away from her before smiling. Maybe the Stain situation was useful after all. Though, Toga would’ve joined with or without the influence of the Hero Killer. What was it she said in his reality? She wanted to stab someone specific. Some girl in UA. Apparently it was ‘love at first sight’ or more realistically, love at first blood. The thought almost made Izuku chuckle before he caught himself and looked down at Toga with a smile.“Well, of course,” Izuku nodded, “that’s why I’m here anyway. To invite you to join the League of Villains.”“I’m so in!” she jumped back and let out an excited squeal before turning and Izuku offered the knife back out to the girl, she smiled as she took it and gave him almost a sparkling eyes kind of look, “can I stab you, Izuku?”“No,” Izuku smiled as he responded, it was a question he was used to hearing from the girl and he was quite pleased to hear that there wasn’t much difference between the two Himiko Togas even despite the reality switch, “though. That’s not to say that I won’t let you try.”He may not have been a particularly strong or athletic person, but there was one thing he was confident in himself, it was that he was certain he could avoid Toga’s blades no matter what. He’d learned the hard way that getting stabbed by the girl wasn’t worth the pain of not learning to dodge out of the way.She beamed at the thought before looking up at Dabi who was quick to put his hand up and shake his head, “don’t you even think about it, you psycho.”“Don’t be mean,” she pouted and Izuku glanced up at Dabi with a nod.“Seriously,” he almost sounded teasing as he mirrored Toga’s tone towards Dabi.Dabi grimaced, “alright. Whatever. What now?”“There’s one more person,” Izuku turned with a hum, “though, I don’t actually know where he is, so I think I’ll have to leave that one up to Giran.”Spinner never did tell Izuku where he was before joining the League. He had a feeling that he had sought Giran out rather than the other way around originally, but this time Izuku had a list of people that he wanted Giran to find. It was mostly just the original people that’d joined the League but there were a few others—he had a feeling that they wouldn’t join though. Not yet. The League’s name needed to be elevated a bit higher to reach out to some of the additional people. To do that, this training camp needed to go off perfectly. He couldn’t risk it not going off.The training camp in his reality being cancelled really hit the League hard in terms of their progression but at the same time, it forced them to figure out a way into UA to kidnap one of their students straight off the school grounds. The only reason Bakugo was so easy to capture, though, was because he was stunned into absolute shocked silence upon seeing Izuku with the villains. It made Izuku laugh. He guessed that the childhood friend and former bully of his didn’t expect to see him standing with villains. Bakugo was with them for almost a week, of course, they failed to turn him to villainy, as Izuku expected, but Bakugo had begged and shouted at Izuku multiple times for an explanation. At one point he’d even apologised for so long that Izuku was furious at the end of it and had to be forced to take a walk.He wanted to avoid that this time.“So where to then?” Dabi asked as Izuku turned around, pulling his phone out and adding Spinner’s name onto his list before firing the message off to Giran, getting a quick message back to confirm he was taking the job as the teen walked.“Back to the League,” Izuku answered as he pulled the three of them into an alley and sent Kurogiri the coordinates, a moment later, a gate was open beside him, “uh—warning. Shigaraki is a bit… he can be a lot. Be patient with him and don’t try egg him on or he will attack.”With that, he turned and passed through the gate.Dabi and Toga shared a look before following in after the teen, stepping out into the bar to see Izuku giving Shigaraki a displeased look as Shigaraki just rolled his eyes at the teen.“—… last I checked, you aren’t the boss of me,” Shigaraki stated.“No but I am the one who knows more or less how the future is going,” Izuku shot back.“Oh yeah? Did you know that your alternate self was going to take Stain down?” Shigaraki asked. Izuku paused for a moment and glanced over at the villain.“He did?” he almost sounded amused, “now that is unexpected.”He didn’t even consider that his alternate self could’ve been the reason why this realities events were being skewed into a different direction. His gaze travelled to the photo pinned to the dart board and an increasing sense of curiosity bloomed through him as he looked at it. He was slowly finding himself more and more interested in meeting the green haired teen who he doubted still had even any idea that he was walking around using his name while dealing with the criminals in the area.“Anyway,” Shigaraki eyed the pair just looking around the room, “who are these two?”“Two of the three people I wanted to bring in right away,” Izuku answered, “they’re useful. Strong. Unique. Perfect for the League in more ways than one.”Shigaraki narrowed his gaze on them. Dabi was leaning lazily into his stance while Toga was excitedly looking around, clearly wanting to move around and explore the bar space but not wanting to move just yet, not until everyone was somewhat happy with the situation.“I don’t like ‘em,” Shigaraki decided, “get rid of them.”“Tough,” Izuku huffed as he dropped down on a stool at the bar, “they’re staying regardless of whether you like them or not. And there will be more coming. I’ve got Giran on the hunt for them so prepare some cash for the guy. You’ll have to pay for his services.”Shigaraki glared at him out of the corner of his eye, his fingers twitching as he fought the temptation to just dust the little brat right here right now. Izuku was starting to get on the pale haired villain’s last nerve now and Izuku also knew that but at the same time Shigaraki was also dancing all over Izuku’s last nerve as well.“Introduce yourselves,” Izuku looked over to the pair who just nodded.─────────────────────
Just less than a week later_
Midoriya looked at Aizawa. They were now both sitting in the meeting room in the teacher’s office.Aizawa had noticed that Midoriya had been distracted since he’d returned from his internship. He’d been back a day and a half in school and at first, Aizawa had hoped that it was nothing more than a little bit of excess excitement from the internship week. It wasn’t something he was unaccustomed to seeing but no. It didn’t seem to dwindle but rather instead it seemed to increase a bit as the second day continued on. So, before it escalated, Aizawa had told Midoriya to come with him to the meeting room as lunch began for a short chat.Even now, as Aizawa watched Midoriya from his place across from him, the teen’s focus was quite literally anywhere but on his teacher.“So,” Aizawa decided to start, he still had a lot of work to do during the lunch period so he couldn’t risk sitting around here for too long with the boy, “you seem distracted, Midoriya, what’s on your mind?”Midoriya’s attention snapped up to Aizawa and the teacher just watched with a blank expression. He waited patiently as the teen seemed to clearly mull over what he wanted to say before giving a swift and firm nod to himself, returning his gaze to Aizawa’s seriously.“It’s confidential,” Midoriya started, Aizawa took in a breath as he was fully prepared to hear that he wasn’t going to be allowed to hear about whatever was on his student’s mind, plaguing his concentration and leaving the teacher to frustratingly mull over whatever the issue was quietly but it was quickly proved wrong as Midoriya continued after his pause, “so you’ll have to keep this quiet, sir.”He almost let out a sigh of relief as he realised that Midoriya was going to tell him.He was also glad to know that his student did trust him enough to break the rules set on him to discuss whatever it was that was worrying the boy. There was something in that revelation that made the pro feel a bit light-hearted.“Alright,” Aizawa nodded, Midoriya seemed relieved at his motion before the teen started.“I’m telling you this despite the confidentiality of the situation because I’m worried, sir,” Midoriya started, “we met Stain in Hosu. Iida, Todoroki and I. We fought him and defeated him but just after I’d met him, he asked me something… strange.”Aizawa’s gaze narrowed. He’d heard that it was Endeavour who’d defeated Stain but to think that was just a cover up for the truth that was three students in his class that’d done it. He felt impressed that the three of them had defeated a man that no one else had managed to but at the same time he couldn’t help the frown that formed on his face at the thought that three of his students had been in such a dangerous situation.He’d remember to scold the three of them later. But right now. He needed to focus on what Midoriya was saying.“Strange?” he repeated, “strange how?”“Well, he looked at me and the first thing he’d said was ‘didn’t I just leave you yesterday?’,” Midoriya told him, the question was still fresh in his mind like he’d have heard it moments before this conversation. He’d not been able to focus properly on much of anything since he was thinking about it. Then he was thinking about the feeling of his being watched or being followed. Could it have been a coincidence? He was doubting it, but he was also a bit worried that it was true.Aizawa’s frown deepened, “had you met him before?”It was a stupid question, but he felt he had to ask it.“No,” the teen shook his head, “I think I’d remember if I had.”Aizawa didn’t doubt that. The Hero Killer had a unique appearance, hard for one to forget or mix up with another person. He let out a troubled hum.The way the question was phrased made it seem as though the Hero Killer had already met Midoriya before and ‘yesterday’ was too specific. Too, too specific. Too worryingly specific.“Sir,” Midoriya looked at him seriously, “you don’t think… is there someone walking around pretending to be me?”It certainly sounded like a possibility to Aizawa but at the same time, he really doubted that there would be anyone out there dumb enough to pretend to be a hero student let alone one from UA of all places. So what else could it be? The man didn’t recall any siblings being mentioned on Midoriya’s information sheet so it couldn’t be that.“Leave it with me, Midoriya,” Aizawa told him, “I want you to focus on your studies and only your studies. You final exams are coming up, if you fail them you will miss out on opportunities over the summer. I promise that I will get to the bottom of this for you so for now, focus on your exams and if you notice anything strange around you and realise something else, tell me right away.”Midoriya looked almost like he wanted to argue but the slight shift of Aizawa’s head towards him was enough to make him snap his mouth shut and nod.“I promise that I will get to the bottom of this for you, Midoriya,” Aizawa leaned forward and placed a reassuring hand on the boy’s shoulder, “I will not let whatever this situation is interrupt your life, studies, or threaten your safety. Understand?”“Yes, sir,” Midoriya nodded.“Good,” Aizawa leaned back again and attempted a smile to the boy causing him to return it with a wobbly nervous smile back, “don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing, Midoriya.”Even though he’d said that, Aizawa couldn’t help but worry. It definitely felt more than nothing.He just… didn’t know why.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“She betrayed us!” Shigaraki bellowed out as he threw the glass in his hand over the bar, it shattered and sprayed across Kurogiri’s back as Izuku just watched the guy let out his frustrations.
“I told you that you shouldn’t trust the invisible brat,” Izuku leaned forward, “she had a heart that was far too easy to sway. You put your trust in the wrong person.”
“I want this fixing!” Shigaraki spun to the teen, “fix this, Deku, or—"
A knife was quickly found pointed towards him as Izuku gave him a warning look, “what did I say about that name?!”
The villain’s crimson gaze narrowed down onto the blade before he grabbed it and it crumbled to dust.
“Fix this,” he reiterated, “I want a student. You will get me one.”
“We have one already if you’d forgotten. The second?” Izuku threw the handle of the knife to the side before he dropped himself down on a sofa and leaned back, an unbothered look on his face, “and he’s a little more… persuasive.”
“No,” Shigaraki turned and pointed at the TV where a freeze frame of the Sports Festival was being projected, “I want him.”
“Listen, Shigaraki,” Izuku leaned forward slightly in his seat, “Katsuki Bakugo will never become a villain. Nothing short of brainwashing will win him over and you and I both know that we have no access to that.”
Shigaraki let out a low hiss before glaring forward, “you will do this, Izuku, or I may just have to rid myself of you as well.”
Izuku just rolled his eyes with a low scoff as he stood, “it’s your funeral, really. And don’t threaten me with that. You and I both know you’d rather die than lose a mind like mine.”
“Shut it and do your job,” Shigaraki snapped back, “up until now, all of your plans have gone off without issue beside All Might but even then it was a success. The training camp has been your first failure. Don’t fail again or trust me when I say the Master will not just sit idly by while you screw things up.”
“Stop threatening me, Shigaraki, or I may just believe you a risk to my life and switch sides,” the teen glared forward, “it wouldn’t be too difficult to do so since I can give them a peace offering and play the ‘being forced against my will, I am innocent’ card with great ease. Heroes are foolish like that.”
The villains glared at each other in silence for a while before Izuku turned to the door, “if you’re so determined to get Bakugo then fine but don’t say I didn’t warn you. I’ll leave you to recruitment. I need at least ten people to pull this off. I hear there’s some hot head in the alleys, find him. Get the knife girl. Just find me people who can actually do what I say and won’t question anything. I’m utterly sick and tired of having to carry my plans with useless low lives who can’t even walk when I tell them to. Fix that, bastard.”
He left the bar without even waiting for much of a response and rolled his eyes as he disappeared into the shadows of the nearby alley, heading straight for info central as he started to mentally prepare himself for the reuniting he was going to have with his childhood bully. Honestly, he couldn’t wait. But at the same time, he didn’t want to. It was stressing him out.
Izuku shot forward and let out a low breath.Dabi glanced over to the teen from the bar with a raised brow, “something wrong over there, mini man?”“Please, with the nickname? Stop it,” Izuku pushed himself up off the sofa and stretched, “I just… remembered something annoying.”“Oh?” the man looked at him curiously, but he was just waved off with a dismissive hand before a knock came from the door and Giran came waltzing in with a line of people.“Perfect timing,” Izuku clapped his hands together before pausing and glancing over the group, “Twice! I forgot all about you. Sorry, my man.”“No problem. What’re you talking about?!” Twice shot finger guns over at Izuku before crossing his arms and turning his nose up at the kid.Izuku was visibly amused but unbothered by the man as he glanced across them and found Spinner also amongst the group, Magne, Mr Compress were also there and then some of the extras he’d used as sacrifices to the heroes while breaking into the school.All of the important faces of the League were here now. Unimportant ones too but… Izuku glanced across them, and a wild smile seemed to creep up onto his face causing the lot of them looking at him to shiver slightly.The door to the back room opened and a low groan echoed from behind, they all looked over to see a displeased appearing Shigaraki.“What the hell?” he glared before his gaze stopped on the still grinning Izuku, “what the hell have you done? This isn’t your bar, you know?”Izuku just let out a low hum before turning and pointing across the group of people Giran had in tow, “I’ll take you lot. The rest of you can fuck off. Giran, Shigaraki has your pay—well, what’re you doing still standing around here? Shoo.”He brushed his hands towards the group before turning and looking over at Shigaraki, “we’ve got our fodder. Now it’s time to plan, build the cannon if you will.”“Plan?” Toga poked up from behind the sofa and Izuku raised a brow at her wondering just how long she’d been hiding back there and how she even managed to get back there without waking him as he slept.“Yeah,” Izuku nodded, “there’s a lot to do in so little time, Shigaraki, I need money.”“You need to die,” Shigaraki shot back.“Oh I like it! Scary!” Twice was quick to chime in, Dabi shot him a weird look but didn’t comment on it.“You said you had a plan,” Dabi brought the conversation right back to Izuku as he pulled out his phone and glanced over from his phone to him and grinned.“Not yet, but I have a pretty decent idea,” Izuku turned to look across the group, “and it’s certainly risky. I want to make sure that this actually happens this time because it will definitely be a hard hitter to the hero society.”“And what exactly would that be?” Shigaraki asked, glancing over at Izuku who just leaned back onto the bar and put one finger up, clearly planning to list before pausing and glancing over at the uninvited fools still just standing around.“What did I say?” he asked, “shoo.”They glanced over to Giran who was given his money (reluctantly) by Shigaraki and was now leaving the building before sighing and following after him. But not without shooting the teen that was so flippantly removing them from his sight like he was running the joint a firm glare and a warning that didn’t really have much of an effect on the teen who just gave them an amused raise of the brow.Once everyone was gone, Izuku put his attention forward, still holding his finger up happily.“First. In my reality, things went to shit because our spy went rogue—” Izuku started before being cut off.“Sorry. Your reality?” Mr Compress knocked his head to the side in confusion, “what kind of story are you spinning here?”“Right. I forgot,” Izuku sighed, “introductions are in order first. Alright. Hello, I’m Izuku Midoriya, I’m a villain who’s here from another reality. Yes, I know who each and every one of you are. If you want proof, I can go and spill some of your sticky secrets, but I wouldn’t recommend that considering we’re on a time crunch here and I want to make sure this round goes off without a hitch. Saves me the threats, saves you time. Sound good?”There was no response, so he just gave a short nod before continuing on.“As I was saying… I want to make sure that we don’t lose the coming opportunity. I can’t let that happen a second time,” Izuku spoke, “so, we need to give the spy a little warning. Slipping in isn’t too difficult, I’ve done it many times before,” he then put up a second finger as he moved onto the next point in his steadily forming plan, “second, there will be a training camp. I need to know where it’s going to be further in advance than the spy can give us so that I can plan accordingly. As I’ve said in the past, in my reality it was cancelled last minute because of the spy fucking up. I will not allow that to happen again, I’ll die and go to hell before that happens,” he raised up a third finger, “third and finally, I want to get some information for myself mostly. It’ll help me out when I get back to my reality.”Not really, but it was personal, but he couldn’t tell them that. They don’t know him very well, but Izuku knew each and every person (well, excluding the useless cannon fodder) in this room so well that he would probably think he knew them better than they knew themselves and because of that, he couldn’t let slip what his actual main goal was. They wouldn’t be very… forgiving for him to put personal problems ahead of them.Ahead of the League.Ahead of their final goals.“So what’s the plan then?” Toga asked, dropping down on the stool beside him and looking at him with nothing but avid curiosity, “you’re going to tell us, right~”“Of course,” Izuku nodded, “I’m going to slip myself into UA—”“How the hell do you plan to do that?” Dabi was quick to cut him off, clearly finding the whole idea absurd.“It’s an impossible task. Suicidal more like!” Twice added on.“No villain has managed to get onto school grounds before,” Spinner nodded, “well, except that attack earlier in the year but this sounds like you’re talking about going into their main building. The central of all heroics of the school.”Izuku just watched and waited silently for them to finish talking so he could continue without being interrupted again.“If you’d let me explain,” Izuku gave them a warning look before straightening his posture and glancing across the room, still waiting to see if anyone else was going to speak up, it was clear they weren’t, so he continued, “no one knows about me yet. Which means I’m a lucky unknown variable. In this reality, I’m a hero. I’m sure I can put on an act, go up to some hero working there and pull the ‘I am a lost student in an alternate reality, and I really need my precious teachers’ help getting back home’ card and knowing the way they work, they’ll likely believe me. If not they’ll still bring me in to speak with me in a secure environment that they are all very comfortable and have full control in.”He paused, wondering if anyone had something they wanted to say but they stayed silent, so he smiled as he continued, “once in, I’ll get the information I need. I already know the layout of UA in and out. I’ve raided that place far too many times at this point to not know that—”“Hold on, you’ve raided UA in your reality?” Dabi looked doubtful.“Yes,” the teen suddenly adopted an expression that made the rest of the group a bit nervous, it was definitely chilling, and he wasn’t letting up. Izuku cleared his throat as he covered his mouth with his hand, pulling his façade back together before too much of his true self slipped out. He’d hidden himself well enough so far and he wasn’t quite prepared to go crazy just yet, “in my reality, this world has already gone to shit. The League—well, we’re not really called that anymore, but some people still refer to us that way—are more or less in full control of the entirety of Asia. Musutafu is questionable, All Might keeps popping up but he’s weaker now, much, much weaker, I’m sure we won’t have to worry about him for too much longer.”No. Instead it was Lemillion that Izuku was worrying about. But that was all for a future him to worry about and not the current him. It was almost completely well known that the guy was All Might’s successor, All Might had declared it himself after all. It was in the heat of the moment, but he’d been stupid enough to say it and it circulated like wildfire.He’d never personally seen Lemillion before so he didn’t know what was so great about the guy but there were whispers, and it was enough to make the teen worry about the day he did have to face the successor. After all, it was clear he was strong. Maybe even stronger than All Might was. Though right here, right now, that wasn’t what mattered. He needed to focus on his current predicament. He doubted he had as long as he wanted in this alternate reality, so he wanted to do as much as possible before he got swept away back home again.“Which hero are you planning to approach?” Shigaraki asked slowly, bringing the teen out of his recollections of his reality and back to the current moment, “you have considered it, right?”“Of course,” Izuku confirmed with a nod, “I’d thought about many of the heroes working there but in the end, I’ve landed on Eraser Head. I know him the best after all. But also, I kind of want to see his expression when he realises his precious student is actually a villain in another reality. After all, I know that man is incredibly attached to that class of his. It’s actually kind of annoying.”Not to mention, the numerous times that Izuku had actually come across the man, he’d made it clear that he was more on the side of trying to help the teen away from villainy rather than just picking him up and locking him up to get him off the streets and out of the hands of people that could use him the most efficiently.“It’s risky,” Shigaraki stated.“But necessary,” Izuku sighed, “I can’t risk this training camp being cancelled again. It was because of that and your determination to kidnap a student that ended up with us losing everyone in this room besides myself, you, Kurogiri, Dabi, Toga, Twice, Magne, and Spinner. Everyone else were caught, locked up, and never seen again.”And I only got away because I stole a gun off one of the police and shot my way out, Izuku glanced away, if I hadn’t then I would’ve been done for a whole of a lot sooner.“What makes you think our spy will fuck up like they did in your reality?” Toga asked. It wasn’t anything doubting, it was clear that her question was literally just that, a question for curiosity and not to question Izuku’s plan and bring more doubt into the play.“Well, the little fucker apparently had a sudden sense of overwhelming morality when her classmates were planning what they’d do on nights and stuff,” the teen answered, “she was weak hearted and risked her life to warn the school all because she couldn’t stand the idea of her sweet little classmates being hurt like the one we took out in the USJ. Guess she couldn’t stomach death—”“You say ‘she’?” Shigaraki asked, narrowing his gaze onto Izuku.“Yeah. What was her name again? Ha… Haagg… I can’t remember, I do remember she was invisible though,” Izuku told them, “but uh—being invisible didn’t save her from the consequences of betraying us unfortunately for her. Why? Are our spies not the same?”“They’re not,” the Master’s voice came across the TV and Izuku turned to it, an unreadable expression on his face.“Who is your spy then?” he asked lowly.“What do you know about the kids in Class 1-A?” came the response.“More than I’d like or care to,” Izuku answered, “why?”“Seat number one,” was the answer he got to that.Seat one? He thought with a frown before his gaze widened and his face grew a wide smile.“Now how did you know about him?” Izuku asked before nodding, “I guess you guys only had one, hm?”“You had two?” Shigaraki looked at him with doubt.“Yes,” the teen confirmed, “invisible girl was our main. She failed. Resulted in death. Our seat number one… well, he was there just in case. An observer if you will, he helped us keep her in check. We were right, of course, he was caught a little while ago though, but we didn’t need him anymore anyway, so we weren’t too bothered about that,” he paused and let out a short laugh, “but you only have him.”“Sorry, I feel like I’m missing half of a conversation here,” Dabi leaned forward, “want to fill us in on seat number one?”Shigaraki went to answer but Izuku putting his hand up to silence him caused him to redirect a gaze to the teen who’s face had adopted a warning look.“Now why would we do that?” Izuku asked, “the more people who know, the more at risk he is. Just know the little spy will get a light warning—well, anyway, it doesn’t change that I’ll be going into the school anyway. I need to get this information and I can also put a bug into the schools servers at the same time just as I did in my reality. But I’m going to need Kurogiri.”He turned to the villain in question and studied him for a moment, “you’ll need to memorise a map. I’ll call you once I’ve got the information I want, you’ll warp me to their server room, and I’ll bug it. Then you’ll warp me back here. You just need coordinates, right? It’ll be easy enough.”Kurogiri looked to the TV for a moment but when no response came, he looked back to Izuku and nodded, “if you get me the coordinates… I can help you.”“Fantastic,” Izuku pushed off of the bar and put his hand out, “I need money. I need a laptop so someone better cough it up or this isn’t going to happen and I’m going to have to get risky.”He didn’t want to get riskier than he was but the fact that a wallet was dropped down onto his palm made him smile. They were the same here as they were in his reality. Sometimes they may doubt him, but it was clear, they trusted him probably more than they were willing to admit which meant… they’d help him with his goals no questions asked.Well, so long as they weren’t going to put the group in too much danger. Though right now, while everyone is still learning to trust each other and get along… he had a lot more freedom against his limitations so instead he just needed to think up excuses and prepare himself to successfully bypass their doubts and questions—not that it’s even been hard to do in the past. Izuku had learnt that he was quite the actor and just like heroes, sometimes villains can be very gullible to it.“I’ll be back,” Izuku turned to the door, “I’ll bring back a pizza or something on my way back as well so just relax. Bond. Get to know each other. I don’t care. Just don’t go mad, I mean it this time. We need this to work.”He left without waiting for much more of an answer and Dabi glanced over at Shigaraki.“Should we be trusting that guy?” he asked as Shigaraki looked away from the door to him, “I mean—he’s… odd. And he knows far too much. It’s like…”“He knows everything?” Toga suggested as the finish before smiling, “I think it’s endearing, he really understands me. I think I might be falling for him.”“You’re joking, right?” Dabi looked at her with doubt and she just let out a giggle as she spun a knife around between her fingers.“How fun it would be to watch him bleed~” was all she said in response before Dabi decided that he was going to focus his attention away from her and back to Shigaraki.“He’s not been wrong so far,” Shigaraki shrugged as he sat down at the bar again, “and if he is right, it seems he’ll be fixing a problem we may have ourselves in the future.”Shigaraki was reluctant though. He was starting to dislike the teen in question and at this point, he was just waiting for him to do something that he could use against him and finally get rid of him. For good.He decided he was probably going to be doing his alternative self a favour by getting rid of him here before he returned.“Anyway, hello!” Toga hopped over to the group of new villains, “you look fun~”“So do you. Stay away, stabby girl!” Twice pulled a pose and she smiled.“This is so fun. I knew Izuku was worth following here,” she grinned as she spun around, “let’s wait for him. He’s still got a lot of fun things to show us.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Izuku had been sitting around various spots in the bar, gaze glued to his laptop as he typed away, doing whatever the hell it was he was doing while the rest of the League just watched him in silence.It had been almost a full day since he’d gotten the laptop and since he started working. He hadn’t taken a single break, and it was reaching the fourteenth hour.“Uh—Izuku?” Toga leaned against the sofa he was currently occupying and glanced over at him, swinging a knife down at him which he dodged by leaning back into the sofa, “shouldn’t you take a break?”“No time,” Izuku replied as he pressed run on the programme and then let out an annoyed grumble when it ran for five seconds and then apparently an error showed up in it, “fuck. Again? I made this damn bug in my reality, why isn’t it working here? What the fuck is wrong with my code?”Izuku was currently going through the five stages of grief that each and every programmer or anyone who worked with code on a somewhat regular basis went through and he was not enjoying it in the slightest.“Damnit!” he slammed the top of the laptop down and dropped it down on the sofa next to him before looking at his phone, “I’m running out of time. This is taking too long. Oi, Shigaraki, do you know Powerloader yet?”“You mean the hero?” Shigaraki returned, that made Izuku groan.“Of course the bastard is a hero here,” he stood up and stretched before letting out a low hum and then pausing, “maybe I just need to reverse everything I know? It’s worth a shot, I suppose, but that would be ridiculous—”“What are you blabbering about?” Dabi asked.“Code,” Izuku answered as he sat down again and opened his laptop up, correcting and rewriting with a frown.It was another two hours later that he finally got a successful run on it and let out a happy cheer as he downloaded it onto a USB and presented it to the bar of villains.“Time to begin,” he smiled, “Kurogiri, you memorised that map and coordinates?”“… I have,” Kurogiri confirmed.“Brilliant,” he shot him a smile and pocketed the USB, “then I need to catch Eraser Head on his patrol before school. If I’m right then, Kurogiri, open a warp at location B. I’ll catch him around there.”Kurogiri glanced over to Shigaraki who just let out a low sigh and waved his hand to him. A moment later, a gate was open and Izuku stepped through it.He quickly found himself in the middle of an alleyway and glanced around with a small hum.“You’re a little off, Kurogiri, my guy,” Izuku muttered to himself before adjusting his jacket and starting to wander the area until he glanced up to see a figure perched on a roof.Found you, he smiled before pulling his phone out and flashing a light up at the hero in question—he didn’t feel like shouting. He was quick to drop down.“Oh thank god! It’s you Mr Aizawa, sir!” Izuku put his act on quickly, “I have been looking for someone I know for so long. I’m so glad I’ve finally found you, sir!”Aizawa squinted as he glanced over the teen before a look of realisation flashed across his face, “Midoriya?”“Yeah. It’s me,” Izuku nodded, “I know this is going to sound crazy but please be open minded when I say that this is all true. I’m Izuku Midoriya, I’m trapped in an alternate reality and I really, really need your help, sir.”─────────────────────Aizawa was baffled.Everything had been seeming strange for a while now but the sudden appearance of a second Izuku Midoriya was not on the list of things that he considered plausible, but it now made a lot of sense about the apparent double Midoriya situation.The kid seemed anxious and scared and it was probably why he accidentally let his heart lead over his mind in terms of how he dealt with the situation at hand. He knew, as he was leading this alternate Izuku through the school grounds towards the building, that it was illogical to do so without checking things first, but he believed that regardless, if there was anywhere safer than UA, then he would’ve thought to take the kid there straight away.“Ah. So you guys don’t have dorms here?” Izuku asked as he looked off to the side, stopping as he walked to glance around. Aizawa stopped and glanced back at him with a frown.“Dorms?” he repeated. Izuku looked back at him and nodded.“Yeah. You know, to protect us?” he answered as if it was the most obvious answer, “chaos.”“Must’ve been a lot for dorms to have been put into place,” Aizawa stated, a bit worried that the differences between the two realities may not be as different as it appeared. He had kept convincing himself that the two realities must be a lot more different than they seemed because this Midoriya’s appearance was different to his Midoriya’s. But he was glad to know that his problem child hadn’t moved away from the path of heroics considering just how comfortable the kid seemed to be with him. No villain would be that brash.“Did you… come into contact with Stain by chance?” Aizawa blurted his question out before he could really stop himself. He was just too curious not to ask and he needed to know. Izuku looked at him confused for a moment before letting out a small ‘ah’.“Oh. Yeah. It was super unfortunate. When I came here, I was kind of just stuck wandering around because everything looked so different, so I got lost pretty quickly,” Izuku started to build his web of lies unbeknownst to the hero watching him, “it was really awkward but eventually I bumped into a group of people. Amongst them was the Hero Killer. The guy tried to take my head for interrupting his apparently important meeting, but I’ve already met him in my reality, so I knew well enough how to avoid him and managed to get away unharmed. Thankfully.”Aizawa couldn’t help the feeling that swirled in him. It felt like doubt, but he didn’t want to doubt his student. He wanted to have faith in the boy, so he just nodded, and they continued on.Dorms, he thought to himself, not a bad idea considering the state of the city at the moment…“You said everything looked different to your reality?” Aizawa decided he wanted to get some more information out of the kid rather than walking in silence towards the school.“Oh yeah,” Izuku nodded, hurrying so he could walk next to the pro, “so totally different that it took me so long just to find Hosu station to get here. Like, I was seriously lost in those streets.”Well… that’s probably because I’m used to Hosu being wiped off the map, Izuku thought to himself, his smile not wavering from his face as he thought about that, “who knew streets could be so different, huh? People too. I almost passed by under you earlier. I was not expecting black hair and a messy appearance. In my reality you’re a blonde haired, blue eyed very tidy hero.”He wasn’t but Izuku wasn’t going to tell him that. He needed to make is appearance difference between this realities Midoriya and himself seem normal through the appearances of others, even if in the end they were lies.Aizawa grimaced at the description that he’d been given about himself and felt himself comparing that to Present Mic thinking only, oh god, Hizashi cannot find out about that.“Sounds disorientating,” Aizawa decided to reply, hopefully pull away from his apparent appearance.“Sure was,” Izuku nodded brightly, “I was starting to give up on the idea that I’d find anyone, so I really am glad to have seen you, sir. You always tell us that we can call you and you’d come straight to us no questions asked if we needed so I’m glad it was you I found.”Aizawa let out a low hum. That did sound like him, and he had told this reality’s Midoriya the same thing not too long ago.They fell into a silence again as they entered the building and Izuku glanced over the pro beside him with a narrowed gaze. It was weird. This was Aizawa. He was the only person he’d seen who looked more or less identical to his version of the person. The only difference here though was the lack of scars (though this one did have one small one near the eye) and the ridiculous eye patch that Izuku had often mocked the pro for wearing whenever they met. Other than those differences, everything else was identical. It was a bit jarring to the teen and he’d hope he’d bump into this reality’s Midoriya soon so he could just get away from this damn pro hero.He didn’t want to give the man enough time to even consider saying something that could send his mind spinning.It’s happened in the past and it had taken him far too long to pull himself back together again.It was time he couldn’t risk and—oh? Isn’t that Yuga Aoyama?Izuku looked at the blonde who was more focused on his phone than where he was walking, approaching them from the opposite side of the hall. Izuku had to fight off the grin that was trying to reveal itself and made it appear as though he was trying to step out of the way of the teen before at the last-minute swaying out into his path and knocking the blonde teen to the floor.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Oh sorry!” Izuku was quick to apologise to the blonde teen he’d bumped into, taking his hand and helping him to his feet again as he slipped a small, folded sheet of paper into his palm with a smile, “I didn’t see you—oh wait, it’s you Aoyama. I almost didn’t recognise you there. How weird, you look so different here.”He had to keep up with the backwards appearance schtick despite the fact that this Aoyama did look the same although he seemed to have a bit more life to him than the one he’d met in his reality.“It’s… ok, mon ami,” Aoyama replied cautiously, glancing down at their joined hands for a moment before forcing on a smile and glancing over him, “uh—Midoriya? Sorry but black and red just are not your colours.”Something about that made Izuku a bit bitter as his eyebrow twitched slightly, “oh yeah? Sucks that that’s the colour combination I built my entire image on then, isn’t it?”Aoyama looked confused.“I’m from an alternate reality,” Izuku answered his unspoken confusion, “are you working just as hard as you are in my reality?”An innocent question but the folded note in the blonde teen’s hands burned into his palm and the real meaning behind those words became apparent to him as he just stared forward, “uh—yes. Of course… can’t deny my sparkle, right?”Aizawa watched the pair closely, something was nagging at him. The conversation seemed so innocent and yet at the same time, something felt… wrong.“What is your seat again, Midoriya?” Aizawa narrowed his gaze onto the teen beside him, Aoyama used that as his opportunity to quickly hurry off. The pro had decided that if anything, the seats would be the same and so he was certain this may or may not have been the way to catch the kid out. Though, he could also be wrong, so he was hoping for a delay in his response or a stutter over his own words.Crap, Izuku thought as he forced on an innocent smile, deciding it was going to be easier to lie and make up a reason than to guess and hope for the best or just ignore the question completely, “well, of course it’s—"“Sir? Who is that?” Midoriya frowned as he stopped his walking down the hall, seemingly unnoticed by both teacher and apparent student stood in the centre of it, glancing down to see Aizawa standing still with an unknown civilian at his side. His jaw almost fell slack in shock as he glanced over the teen’s features. He looked remarkably like him, and it was almost unsettling.Saved by the me, Izuku praised the universe before he was quick to smile and jump forward, “oh! You must be the me of this reality. Awesome! Good to meet you, I saw you on TV when I first got here, I have to say, I almost forgot just how much our quirk broke bones—”He had watched and rewatched the Sports Festival multiple times after getting here. It was almost obsessive, but he just had to know everything he could just for a moment like now. A moment where he needed a mask to hide behind. That mask being Izuku Midoriya, the hero student from UA, of course.“R-right,” Midoriya was quick to cut in before Izuku could say anything further, though unknowing to Midoriya, Izuku knew nothing and was just throwing word to the wind based off what he’d seen during the Sports Festival broadcast. Midoriya looked back at his teacher questioningly, “is this really… you know?”“It would seem so,” Aizawa nodded as he stopped next to them, glancing over Izuku who’s smile didn’t seem to waver in the slightest for someone lost in another reality with no known way home, “it would seem that he is you but from another reality. I was taking him to the Principal. If anyone had a clue about what to do here, it’d be him.”“Makes sense,” Midoriya nodded before pausing as he noticed Izuku was staring at him. Studying him. Watching him closely. Intently. It felt… familiar, “uh—sorry, how long have you been here?”“What is it, Midoriya?” Aizawa asked, noticing his students sudden uncomfort in front of his apparent student from the alternate reality, “are you ok?”“Yeah it’s just—” Midoriya started before he was cut off with a familiar question.“Is it possible to become a hero even… fill in the blank,” Izuku’s smile seemed to twist slightly, and it sent goosebumps down Midoriya’s back as he held the gaze of his alternate self.“… we can,” Midoriya answered, not the answer he’d been given but the answer both of them as quirked hero students knew. Izuku let out a low hum.“So that wasn’t the same then…” he trailed off with a frown, not knowing that Midoriya was answering it as a current hero student and not the quirkless child who’d asked the question, his voice so low the two beside him needing to strain slightly to hear him.“Hey, kid, are you—” Aizawa reached for Izuku as he pulled his phone out and tapped on it a bit before pocketing it and smiling.“How’s Mum?” he suddenly asked, tilting his head to the side slightly as his gaze narrowed in on the green haired teen opposite him.“… she’s fine,” Midoriya answered unsure. He didn’t quite understand the question. He’d seen his mother just that morning, had something happened to her or something? It was enough to make worry settle in the pit of his stomach almost immediately.“Ah,” Izuku suddenly started to laugh wildly, stepping back as he did.“What the—hey,” Aizawa reached for his capture weapon, now feeling that something was definitely wrong before staring as the familiar mix of black and purple swirled in the space behind Izuku who was now grinning wildly at Midoriya.“It makes so much sense now!” he shouted madly, “it makes so much sense! She didn’t leave us behind here! Of course!”He seemed to compose himself for a moment as he stepped back, slowly disappearing into the void behind him as Aizawa’s weapon snapped out towards him.“Tell Mother hi for me,” was the last thing heard from Izuku before he disappeared from sight, the gate along with him. Aizawa’s capture weapon snapped back to him after passing the space and he glanced around before looking down at his student.“Call your mother,” he told him, “and follow me.”“Sir?” Midoriya looked at him startled, “just what… what just happened?”“It seems not only is there another Izuku Midoriya walking around the city, but he’s joined up with the League of Villains,” Aizawa stated as he started walking down the hall quickly, Midoriya hurrying after him as he messed around with his phone, “and apparently with your quirk no less… he’s dangerous and now the League has him.”This… this is not good, was all he could think as he heard Midoriya speaking to his mother in a mix of calmness and panic, it seemed, based off their conversation, that she was fine and there wasn’t anything suspicious around. That made Aizawa feel a bit better, but he did make a mental note to contact the heroes of that area to do a check-up and increase patrols around the Midoriya household as an extra precaution.He stared forward with a frustrated frown before glancing back at Midoriya who was still speaking on the phone, not really noticing the look his teacher was giving him. No wonder, he thought, no wonder the villains were moving strangely. Midoriya always had a talent for making people move, he has always been a good influence on people but what about… the inverse… it’s too worrying.“Sir?” Midoriya had pocketed his phone and hurried to the pro’s side, “where are we going?”“To speak with Nezu,” Aizawa answered, “we need to plan. We may be in more trouble than we’d think.”He didn’t want to admit it, but Aizawa knew that Midoriya being with the League of Villains was dangerous not just because of the apparent strong quirk the kid had but the absolutely incredible mind the boy possessed. If that mix of power and intelligence was given to the villains then there was no telling just what the hell they could do now. It was clear that the alternate Midoriya knew exactly how to get into the school, he was walking around as if he’d done it before, as if he was familiar with it. It made the pro worry for the state of the alternate world and made him glance over at his own student, suddenly finding himself feeling incredibly grateful that the boy had decided to be a hero here rather than a villain as such he’d apparently become in the alternate reality.It was all just so worry and for some reason, the pro found himself wondering just how and why he hadn’t caught it earlier. Anything was possible in this world now that people had quirks, the fact he didn’t even consider that a quirk could’ve been at play here was something he was scolding himself for and now… a great danger was looming over them, and he couldn’t help but frown as he mulled over all of the things the child could possibly tell the League.─────────────────────Izuku stepped out of the warp gate into the schools server room, he almost wanted to laugh as the gate stayed open, waiting for him to finish as he scanned the space and found the server he needed to plant his bug.The face Aizawa had pulled was so amusing to Izuku that if he hadn’t already been laughing over the absurd difference between himself and his alternate self, then he’d likely have laughed over that.Who knew crushing the hopes of pros in this kind of way could be so fun?I really am not hero material, he mused as he pushed the USB into the server and waited for the blue lights to turn completely red before flashing blue again, unbothered and unchanged. The bug was planted. He just hoped no one would notice the USB. He hadn’t had enough time to make it as secure as he had in his reality, but he’d honestly hoped that it wouldn’t matter and that he wouldn’t be sticking around here long enough that a single measly USB being found or not would be an issue or not.He turned and returned to the gate, stepping through and finding himself in the bar with a pleased smile.“Well?” Shigaraki glanced over at the smiling teen with a raised brow as Izuku just gave him a nonchalant shrug.“Successful,” Izuku declared, “the spy has his warning, I found out important information for my reality, messed with the Izuku Midoriya of this reality and crushed the hopes of the pro I’ve been hating the most lately. Oh and the bug has been successfully planted. A rolling success if you ask me.”Shigaraki let out a low ‘tsk’, annoyed that yet again he couldn’t say anything against the teen and that he’d have to wait even longer now to find something worth dusting him. He hated that the kid was seeming more useful than anyone else in the damn bar at this particular moment in time, though he couldn’t refuse all the newbies since there was nothing for them to do right now but it didn’t stop him from being annoyed.The ding from Izuku’s laptop was the sound that broke Shigaraki from his internal loathing as Izuku grabbed the laptop and moved it to the bar before tapping around and then letting out a low laugh.“My, my,” he almost started looking excited as he looked at the screen and glanced back at the newbies in the bar, “you lot are going to have a wail of a time with this one.”“What do you mean, Izuku?” Toga asked as she skipped forward, and he simply slid the laptop to the side so everyone could take a look at what appeared to be a map with a pin on it. It seemed to be in the middle of a forest and Izuku was impressed to see that they all seemed to catch on pretty quickly about just what exactly this meant.“Now,” Izuku turned to them, “shall we prepare for a secret training camp in the woods? After all, how are these children going to get any better without any real villains pushing their progress?”A wave of excited smiles came across the group as Izuku turned to his computer and watched as more information from the schools servers slowly flooded into his laptop.“And, Shigaraki,” Izuku turned to the pale man who looked over at him with narrowed eyes from the opposite end of the bar, “for the kid you want to kidnap. Let me suggest someone different.”The villain frowned, the ‘why?’ was so clear on his face that Izuku just smiled as he turned the laptop around with the profile of a different student, “Katsuki Bakugo isn’t going to listen to you. But this kid. Neito Monoma. He may just be a little swayable. Bakugo is a dead end. Let’s try someone new this time around.”Truth be told, Izuku didn’t want to deal with that whole Bakugo situation again and he’d been thinking about who would’ve been better to kidnap every day obsessively since Bakugo had proved pretty persistently that he wasn’t going to be swayed—though, Izuku didn’t need to experience it to already know that that was going to be the situation—and so his thoughts had more or less landed on two people. Hitoshi Shinso, a Class A brat with a brainwashing quirk activated by the interaction with his voice, a question, he believed. And Neito Monoma, a Class B kid with a quirk that let him copy another person’s quirk upon the physical contact. After a little research into the current classes, Izuku had discovered that the Shinso of this reality was not a hero student and therefore was a dead end and so that left Monoma.He already knew that Monoma’s personality was particularly foul after meeting him once and having the kid just laugh his ass off at him as he threw attacks at him—unprovoked, Izuku thought with annoyance—when he was simply going to the store, or what was left of it, to pick up some new bandages. He believed that Monoma could be swayed, it just required the right words and maybe a little bit of inset fear.Shigaraki looked visibly unhappy that he was being told not to aim for the kid he had been muttering about bringing over to their side since the Sports Festival and the muzzling situation, but the way Izuku was looking at him made him feel that if he refused then Izuku would simply refuse to help craft a flawless plan that he did plan to stick to this time, even despite hating the fact he was following this brat.“Whatever,” he glanced away. He’d just tell those attacking to grab Bakugo before they leave in secret, so the kid didn’t hear. He still strongly felt that he’d be able to win over the explosive hero student and he’d be damned if one stupid kid with a passive quirk and not a hint of strength in his body would be the one to stop him from his own goals.Izuku glanced back over at Shigaraki, their gazes caught each other.The teen couldn’t help but to frown.Something doesn’t feel right, he thought as he looked back to the rest of the group who were eager to ask him what the plan was going to be, something… isn’t right. This Shigaraki… he’s different to mine.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Midoriya had been feeling uncomfortable for a while now. But after the interaction with his apparently alternate self, he was feeling even more so. A constant feeling of restlessness was bubbling through him, and he didn’t even understand why—no, he did. But at the same time, he wondered just how much damage that his alternate self could do?Aizawa seemed worried. So did Nezu, All Might definitely looked worried.But Midoriya didn’t feel as much as they were. After all, he had looked over the teen during the brief time they were together, and he’d noticed something important about the teen: he had little to no built-up muscle mass past the amount his middle school self had before All Might’s training regime, if even that.It was something he couldn’t ignore. Aizawa seemed worried that the League had someone powerful on their side now and All Might seemed to be fretting over the possibility that they have One For All. But Midoriya wasn’t worried about that. How could he? How could All Might, he wondered as he looked at himself in the mirror, studying the muscles he’d been forced to build up or else the quirk he now possessed would’ve torn him apart before he could even think to take a step let alone even use it. The power was too much for such a body type that his alternate self had, there would’ve been no chance he’d still be alive right now if he had OFA with clearly none of the training that Midoriya had had.Besides, there was the added fact that Izuku hadn’t actually said anything that made it seem like he had the quirk at all. After all, what he said sounded like he’d just seen Midoriya on TV and then built up a way to talk about the quirk in a somewhat familiar capacity based off the limited facts he had. Midoriya was doubting that if he’d let the other teen continue talk about the quirk that he’d actually be able to say anything of substance since he probably knew nothing.“Izuku?” his Mum knocking on the door of the bathroom brought his attention from his reflection to the door, “breakfast is ready for when you’re ready.”“Right, I’ll be right out,” Midoriya called back out to her. A few moments later, the sound of the woman shuffling down the hall was heard and the teen pulled his shirt on.The previous night, Aizawa had come home with the teen, he, All Might, and Principal Nezu. They all came with him so they could sit down and explain the situation at hand with his Mum, after all, she was going to need to know why heroes or undercover police would be escorting her to and from work while also keeping a close eye on the building they lived in and the surrounding area. It seemed that they believed that the two Midoriyas were going to become a target for the alternate Izuku and so they weren’t going to risk anything.Midoriya was quite grateful that they were taking this seriously and that they’d go as far as to do all of this, but at the same time, he couldn’t help but wonder if perhaps this was going too far? After all, what could the other teen possibly do to them when it was clear that he could possibly be quirkless still.The green haired teen couldn’t refute the thought. After all, just because he was from an alternate reality, it didn’t mean that they weren’t still mirror versions of themselves. The differences between them likely being the gain of a quirk or not from All Might.At the same time, though, Izuku Midoriya was troubled. The more he thought about his villainous counterpart, the more he couldn’t help but wonder just what could’ve happened to him to make him want to turn to villainy.Midoriya knew himself well. He knew that he adored heroes, looked up to them, and that even without a quirk, he’d never even consider going against the heroes in order to hurt them. He just loved them as figures no matter what. He knew that as a quirkless child becoming a hero was near to impossible, but he also always still had so much hope and believed he’d figure something out. If not becoming a hero then at least becoming someone who could work closely with them—so he couldn’t help but to wonder… why? Why was the other Izuku Midoriya a villain? What happened? What was so different between the two of them that caused this change?The more he thought about it, the more he was desperate to find out and the more he was tempted to break away from his distant and silent escorts to go and seek the other teen out. But he didn’t.After all… he had the strangest feeling that that day wasn’t going to be the last day that he’d meet the other Izuku Midoriya…“Your exams start next week, right?” Midoriya heard as he entered the kitchen and glanced over to his Mum who was placing a cup of tea down onto the table and glancing back to her son as he entered the room, “are you ready?”“As I can be,” Midoriya answered as he sat with his Mum and stared down at his food, “some of us are doing study groups for last minute studying this week.”“Oh that sounds lovely,” his Mum was happy to hear that he was getting along with his classmates enough that he was doing study groups with them. She never really wanted to acknowledge it for fear of her son’s metal wellbeing, but she knew he’d struggled to make friends in middle school so to see such a vast difference in high school made her happy—though she was still sad that the boy he used to be would never experience this comfort the boy he is now felt but there was nothing much she could do about it now but to be happy for her son.“Aren’t you going to eat?” she suddenly asked when she noticed him staring at his food in thought, “you need to eat well if you’re going to be strong for your exams. Tell me if you want seconds, we’ve plenty left over.”“… Thanks, Mum.”─────────────────────
The other reality_
Shota Aizawa paced his kitchen anxiously.He was waiting for the kettle to finish boiling so he could have a cup of coffee but the lack of coffee in his system and the overwhelming silence in the space was not adding up to be the best kind of silence he needed.He was anxious. Stressed. Tense.It’d been a month since the villain Izuku Midoriya had disappeared right from under their noses in the police station and he was just stressing over it.“Uh—Sho… you’re making me dizzy,” Hizashi decided to speak up after watching his partner pace back and forth across the length of the kitchen. The kettle seemingly stuck in a loop of boiling the water and just never reaching the max temperature and stopping the boil to break the cycle.Shota glanced over to the blonde who was watching him with clear worry.“Sorry,” he stopped his pacing and instead started to intensely glare at the kettle, still seeming to refuse to stop boiling and give the poor exhausted hero his sweet—or rather bitter—relief of coffee. It’s all he wanted in this particular moment. A cup or black, steaming hot, perfectly made coffee.Eventually, the sound of Shota’s finger tapping against his arm started around the flat and Hizashi let out a sigh, putting down the reports he was reading and standing to go over to the dark-haired man tucked away in the kitchen and then stopping next to him. He gently pulled Shota’s arms free of their position crossed across his chest and held his hands firm in his own.“Are you still worrying over Midoriya?” he asked him. Shota’s gaze flickered to the side, and he let out a small sigh as he realised that he’d hit the nail too perfectly on the head, “it wasn’t your fault, Shota. You shouldn’t be worrying about this so much. He’ll show up eventually and we’ll catch him again—”“But what if more people have to die before we get to that point?” Shota was quick to cut in, clearly frustrated, “though… I don’t know, am I wrong to want to help the boy rather than lock him away as everyone else seems to want?”Hizashi looked at the man in surprise for a moment. He didn’t know about these thoughts.“Is this what you’ve been thinking about this entire time?” he asked quickly, Shota just nodded with a sigh, “I didn’t know—why do you want to help him? He’s a villain. He aided in the deaths of so many others and he even had his own hand on both of our lives at one point or another. He’s terrifying—”“Misunderstood,” Shota was quick to cut in to correct, Hizashi gave him a confused look, “he’s misunderstood.”Hizashi didn’t seem to know what to say to that as he just found himself staring, “uh… what makes you think that?”“I’ve read his files,” Shota pulled himself free from the blonde man and moved to the edge of the dining table, rummaged through a few piles of paper and then passed a folder over to the other, “he’s misunderstood. Lost. No one else seems to care though and it’s… I don’t know, frustrating? I just want to help him.”Hizashi glanced over the documents. The information was clear, but he still couldn’t just ignore the fact that even despite all of this, the kid had willingly done everything he’d done, and it’d resulted in not only the death of numerous pro heroes but also a student at this very school as well. Not to mention the absolute gut-wrenching panic that Hizashi had felt when he’d found his husband on life support for a full week and then stayed in hospital (against his will) for another half week after that. The voice hero also couldn’t ignore the fact that Thirteen had still yet to wake up from their coma. The USJ had happened early the previous school year. Thirteen still in a coma even now was worrying and the doctors were starting to believe the rescue hero wouldn’t be waking up any time soon or, if they were unfortunate enough, at all.“He’s a villain, Sho,” Hizashi placed the folder down onto the table beside him and offered his partner a weak smile, “I don’t think this is one you can reach out to.”Shota let out an irritated sigh as he pulled away from the blonde hero in front of him, “Bakugo has been asking about him, you know? He somehow caught wind that we’d arrested the kid, he’s been asking for a private meeting with him but how do I tell him ‘yeah, we caught him but no you can’t meet the kid because he disappeared right in front of our faces’?”Hizashi stayed quiet as Shota just ran his hands through his hair as the sound of the kettle finally popping sounded and he turned to it, pouring out the water into his mug and settling with it in his hands, finally a little bit more relaxed to have a cup of coffee in between his palms again.“I’m tired, Hizashi,” Shota suddenly said, his gaze staring down into the dark liquid before looking back up and meeting the blue of his partner, “but I can’t stop. Not yet. Not until I know that the kid is safe.”“You’re a good man, Shota,” the blonde man sighed, “I just hope you know what you’re doing.”“I have no idea what I’m doing here, that’s the issue,” Shota returned, “and no one is working with me to make some ideas and end games here. No solutions and it’s frustrating. What happened to the days where we worked to help children, not just push them to the side and lock them away?”“I think that all went away when the city was torn to shreds,” Hizashi weakly offered which didn’t earn the reaction he was hoping for but instead an exhaustedly annoyed expression in return, “sorry… uh—ok. Talk. Let me hear your ideas. I’ll try offer you some constructive criticism and help. I see you really want to help this kid so… I will help you out as much as I can. But for now, please take a seat, have your coffee and something to eat. You’ve been working all night.”Shota took in a deep breath and then let it go before nodding and reaching for the cupboard he kept his jelly pouches before finding his hand caught and glancing to Hizashi with a raised brow, “didn’t you tell me to eat?”“You know what? I’m cooking breakfast,” Hizashi answered quickly, “pancakes?”“Do you have to?” Shota asked slowly, not really feeling the sugary breakfast after pulling the third all nighter in a row, before just nodding when he got that look from Hizashi, warning him he still had to eat, “maybe something a bit more traditional?”“Sure,” his partner just smiled, “I can do that. Take a seat. Just relax and leave everything to me.”At that, the dark-haired hero took a seat and smiled as he watched the other move around, cooking. After a while, when he knew the attention was off himself, he couldn’t help but to stare at the file in front of him.Izuku Midoriya, he let out a low hum as he shut his eyes, where did you go?
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Something had been bugging Izuku. He wasn’t quite sure what it was but for some reason, Shigaraki was starting to make him feel uncomfortable, even a bit anxious. He’d never felt like this before with the man in the past in his reality. Honestly, he always felt that if anyone looked at the pair from an outsiders perspective then the two would look more like brothers who rarely got along with each other long enough to really do much rather than coworkers who disliked each other. They argued and got angry with each other, Shigaraki wasn’t ever shy to threaten Izuku, but never did Izuku feel like he did with this reality’s Shigaraki.There was just something…Over the past week, since Izuku had gotten back from UA, Shigaraki hadn’t seemed to try to hide even an ounce of his distaste towards the teen and it was growing clearer to Izuku that he’d somehow done something wrong in terms of their developing relationship—though what, he didn’t know since he was more or less treating the guy the same way he had and did with his Shigaraki—and the threats against Izuku were starting to sound less like empty ones to ones that were beginning to feel a bit… real.Personally, Izuku wasn’t really worried about ending up dead at the hands of Shigaraki, but he didn’t want it to be this Shigaraki and not his own Shigaraki. He’d rather be dragged to hell right here right now than let this fake Shigaraki kill him.“Shigaraki said they’ve gotten word from the spy that they’re doing the last of the exams today,” Magne told Izuku as she approached where he was tucked away in a corner, keeping himself in a position where he could watch the entire bar space. Everyone had noticed the kid pushing himself in the corner and seemingly keeping a close eye on them all but other than the brutish muscle head, Goto Imasuji or as he is insisting himself to be called: Muscular, no one else seemed to care. Muscular kept trying to pick a fight with Izuku, something about the teen thinking he was better than him. Of course, it was true that Izuku felt that way towards the muscle idiot, but he wasn’t going to say that and no one else was going to acknowledge it as they calmed the one-sided irritation.“That’s good,” Izuku nodded, an overwhelming bitter feeling in him as he glanced across the group of apparently lacking villains, “it’ll soon be time for you fools to prove yourselves.”The bar seemed to fall silent at Izuku’s words.He’d been slipping up in his façade lately. Something about the revelation made from this reality’s Midoriya and the meeting with Eraser Head was doing something to his head and he didn’t like it.Maybe I should’ve gone after another hero, he glanced off to the side before pulling his knees towards him as he glared at his phone. He was raking through the different files his bug was picking up. There was nothing new here. Nothing that differed between the two realities. Nothing of any interest or substance. The only reason he’d not given any of these documents over to the League despite their asking on numerous occasions was because there wasn’t really anything there they could use to damage them but also because Shigaraki being the way he was, was affecting him just as much as Midoriya and Eraser Head were.He was starting to feel a bit dizzy. Pulled back and forth, here and there. He kept thinking about his team. His League. His people.Everyone was so familiar and yet they weren’t even in the slightest.It was frustrating and he was starting to get confused with what had happened, what hadn’t happened, what he and everyone else knew or not.Even the news headlines were different.Battles that’d happened by this time of the year in his reality hadn’t happened in this reality and didn’t seem like they were even close to happening. Mt. Lady was even still an active hero here, but in his reality by this time she was forced into retirement after losing an arm and a leg in a battle that should have happened last week. It didn’t and it was all just giving Izuku a headache. One hell of a headache.“Kurogiri,” Izuku looked up to the villain behind the bar, everyone froze to listen.“Yes?”“Do you have something for headaches?” the teen asked, massaging the temple of his head as he asked, the warp villain glanced over to the teen and just watched before darkened eyes snapped up at him, “well?”There was something about Izuku’s tone of voice that created a feeling of unease across the group, and it was a driving force to getting Kurogiri to quickly move a box of ibuprofen onto the counter and glass of water next to it. It was left there almost as if it was an offering to the teen. Eventually, Izuku got up and moved over to the bar. He dropped himself onto a bar stool and downed a couple tablets and the contents of the glass before folding his arms together and resting them and his head down onto the bar counter.God did his head hurt a lot.─────────────────────“It’s rather troubling,” Nezu stated as he sat beside Aizawa, watching the first years final exam battles, “the boy must know us all quite well to have been able to adjust his personality to win you over so easily.”“I wouldn’t say it was easy,” Aizawa grumbled, “I was… apprehensive at best. But I couldn’t ignore him on the off chance that what he was saying was true and I’ve risked the safety of the students in the process.”“Thankfully, he was only in contact with two of the students and we’ve confirmed that he hasn’t done any damage so I think all is well for now,” the principal replied, “but we mustn’t be complacent. We must find him again, find a way to send him back to where he came from. If he does any damage here, it could be worse than it is supposed to be.”“Supposed to be?” the underground hero beside him repeated with a frown, “what do you mean ‘supposed to be’?”“Laws of time and space are things no humans should be messing with, dear Aizawa,” Nezu returned as he looked forward, “ah. It would appear that your match is coming up. Against young Todoroki and young Yaoyorozu, correct?”Aizawa glanced up and let out a sigh as he stood up and took a sweeping look across the space, “I’ll be back.”“Take your time,” Nezu smiled, “teach them well.”“Of course,” the pro muttered as he left the space and started off towards the arena, Nezu’s words echoing through his mind.Could one person displaced through realities really create that much damage? Was all he really wondered as he walked through the area. There was a form of some kind of doubt at that, but he also didn’t want to risk it. He didn’t want to risk his students’ lives for a second time this year.If he could help it, they wouldn’t ever be in such danger again but even he wasn’t dumb enough to think that was possible. It was a bit delusional considering the way the world was spinning.Didn’t stop him from hoping though.─────────────────────Izuku let out a low breath as he pushed himself to his feet again, startling the people around him.“What’re you doing?” Shigaraki was quick to ask, they couldn’t see Izuku’s face. It was tilted down, and his hair was brushing forward loosely. He almost seemed to lack most control over his body as he swayed slightly.“Out,” Izuku answered, his hand trailing across the bar top as he turned and pushed himself towards the door, “I’m going out. I need air.”I need air, he was only thinking that. He just needed air. He needed to breathe. Breathe… Breathe…“Like hell you are,” a hand shot out towards him, and he was quick to spin around and catch it, glaring forward as he met Dabi’s gaze. The other just glancing at his hand trapped firmly in the teen’s, “you’re pretty strong considering how you look, mini man.”“What did I say about that fucking name?” Izuku’s gaze was almost crazed, and it forced Dabi to paused for a moment.“What’s happening?” he asked, “you were fine a few moments ago.”“I’m fine,” Izuku snapped as he threw Dabi’s hand to the side and turned, “I’m going out. Fuck off. Leave me alone. I don’t need you assholes. I don’t need anyone. I’ve never needed anyone. I don’t even need Shigaraki. He lies. He keeps telling me I need him. I don’t need him. He’s a liar. I can exist alone. I’m fine. I don’t care if he succeeded. I don’t care if he rules Japan. Nor Asia. I don’t need him. I didn’t need him back then—I don’t need him now.”“That’s… I didn’t say that,” Dabi frowned slightly as Izuku took a breath and brushed his hair back firmly with his hands.The headache was killing.The ibuprofen had done nothing for the teen.It was getting worse.Everything was spinning and his head hurt.Something was pulling at his mind, tearing it side to side.“Just fuck off, you’re dead anyway! I don’t need you either!” Izuku glared at Dabi with a gaze that made him stagger back as Izuku’s gaze moved across the space, “most of you are. I’m being haunted by the failures of my past. Damnit—my head hurts. Fuck.”He turned and was quick to move to the door and he left.The pain was almost maddening.─────────────────────Aizawa paused outside of the arena he was about to go into his exam with his students upon the sound of his phone ringing and pulled it out of his pocket to his ear.“Yes?” he answered quick and simple.“You said you wanted us to notify you if we saw a black haired, red eyed kid around the building, right? Well, he’s just arrived. He doesn’t look too good. Should we grab him?” the voice on the other end came.“No. I’ll be right over. Don’t engage. He’s possibly incredibly dangerous,” Aizawa replied as he spun on his heels and flagged down Snipe close to him. All he had to do was gesture to the arena behind him for the hero to realise that Aizawa wanted him to take his place as the examiner for the two students before the underground hero started for the exit of the area.“Understood, sir.”“Good. I’ll be as fast as I can. Observe for now. Report back if anything changes.”“Understood.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Izuku stared up at the building he’d once called his home in the past. It looked exactly the same. Or, well, the same in his memory. Better than nothing really. In reality though, this building barely had a ground and first floor let alone the rest of it. Destroyed in a villain fight.He didn’t even know how he’d gotten there. One moment he was closing his eyes as he rested on the bar, an overbearing headache burning through his head, threatening to explode out and lash out, the next moment he found himself opening his eyes as he stepped off the train, walking down the familiar route he’d walked many times through his childhood to get home whenever he’d gone on a trip with his Mum that’d required taking the train.He was confused, but he didn’t fight it. He just let his body lead him to wherever it wanted to until eventually he found himself standing outside of the building built up of many different small and identical flats. Somewhere up there was likely the one person who changed everything for him. The one person who he’d loved with all his heart just for them to turn around and abandon him, leave him behind without even a second glance, or a word of remorse. Just one silent look and then the turning of their form.Izuku felt his jaw clench as his face scrunched up slightly at the memory before he shook it off and pushed himself forward—he’d come this far already, he thought he might as well just continue on, visit the woman who’d so cruelly left him behind—as he stuffed his hands into his pockets, moving up the stairs silently, almost feeling like it was muscle memory. He avoided the one step that was crumbling, he’d often forgotten about it and stumbled up the stairs when he accidentally stood on it, or worse, down them when he was in a hurry. He stepped over the bike that was always left outside the second flat on his floor by one of the kids that lived there. They were a nuisance, but no one complained. Their mother was a bit of a hard ass and she’d argue for hours if she wanted to, so it just wasn’t worth the pain.He stopped in front of that door of the flat he used to sometimes dread returning do, but, in the end, no matter what loved returning to. Even when he was beaten and bruised and wanted nothing more than to hide the clear signs of bullying from his mother. It was still a warm place, and she was so loving. So loving. So warm.Pulling a chain up from around his neck, he almost scoffed when he realised the key on the end of it actually worked in this reality as well and opened the door, pushing his way in and going to kick his shoes off before stopping.Might need to do a quick getaway, was all he thought as he stood in the entryway.“Izuku, honey? Is that you?” her voice was so foreign to his ears that he almost didn’t recognise it but deep down he knew he did because almost immediately he wanted to break out in sobs and run into her arms and hope that everything was a dream, but still, he stopped himself—he wouldn’t fool himself into hoping for useless things, “I wasn’t expecting you home so early, I’ll get started on dinner to celebrate the end of your exams. Come on in and take a… se…at… you’re not—”Inko Midoriya stared at the alternate reality Izuku Midoriya now standing in the doorway into the kitchen she was standing in.“No,” Izuku confirmed for her, “but let’s be nice. You’re not mine either. You look… different. Let’s have a chat, hm?”Inko pursed her lips for a moment before nodding slowly, “I… have tea. Would you like some?”“Green?” Izuku asked.“Of course,” the woman smiled slightly before gesturing to the dining table as an invitation for him to enter before turning to make the tea.Izuku just stayed put for a moment, watching, before moving deeper into the room and taking a seat in the seat he used to always sit in. Eventually, Inko placed a tray with everything down on the table and took the seat across from him. The one she used to always sit in.She was different. He didn’t like it. She wasn’t his Inko Midoriya. No. That woman was already long gone from his sights anyway, so it didn’t matter if this one was the real one or not.She awkwardly placed the mug in front of Izuku before taking her own and just staring down at the liquid in silence while Izuku silently studied her.“Do you know about me?” Izuku suddenly broke the silence, his gaze not moving off the woman, not missing the flinch she had when he spoke and the small tremble in her hands as she looked up at him again and gave him a shaky nod.She was scared of him.His own Mother.The woman he loved more than anything in the world… she was scared… and it was him who she was scared of.“You’re Izuku,” she stated, “though… I didn’t need to be told about you for me to know that. You look remarkably like your Father.”Something about that made the teen across from her feel remarkably bitter as he glared off the side, “and your Izuku looks like you. Is that where it started? The differences. The changes.”“I’m not sure… I understand?” Inko frowned slightly as the teen clenched his jaw, holding back the rage he felt towards this woman. It wasn’t fair to explode on her when it wasn’t her who left him behind. No. It was her alternate self. Not her.“Can I ask,” she suddenly spoke again when she realised that the boy across from her wasn’t saying anything, “what happened to you? Why are you… you… y-you…”“A villain?” Izuku finished for her, the words coming all too naturally to him, something that made the woman clearly displeased and quite visibly upset, “well… it’s not as long a story I wish it was but it’s a pretty long one that I’m not sure we’ll have enough time for it.”He glanced over to the window before looking back at her, her expression made him sigh. Clearly, he was still weak to the woman, “well. I guess I can make it short. It started with All Might—the day of the sludge villain. It attacked me, All Might saved me. I asked him if I could become a hero, but he told me that no. No I couldn’t because I was quirkless. Powerless. I needed to be realistic. My dreams were crushed but I didn’t let it put me down too much and just decided to go home. On the way, I came across Kacc—Katsuki being attacked by the very same villain that had attacked me. But no one was helping him, and it was right there that I realised something about myself—”The woman gave him a worried look as a smile crept up on his face as the feeling of that day came across him again.The joy.The feeling that it was just all so entertaining. Amusing.“Katsuki Bakugo had bullied me for too long. All because of something I couldn’t control. It wasn’t fair. No. It was far from it, and it was right there, when I was watching the guy suffocate as the villain tried to take him over that I realised that I wasn’t made to be a hero because watching that… well, it filled me with so much glee that I almost couldn’t tear my gaze away from it, hoping nothing more than to see the bastard die,” Izuku’s smile had settled on his face and despite it’s clearly maddened look, Inko couldn’t help but to watch him with a heartbroken expression.He was broken.“Well, anyway, it wasn’t that moment that made me go over,” Izuku leaned back, his smile gone as he rolled his eyes, “that was just the beginning. No. The true moment that threw me into the darkness was when the heroes failed me.”“Failed… you?” she looked mildly horrified at the idea and he just nodded, a knowing look on his face.Once upon a time, he’d never imagine that the heroes he oh-so admired could fail him. But they did and he never forgave them for it. After all, the first thing he did was cause the deaths and destroyed careers of each and every hero who was supposed to be on site that day, and the ones who were late to arrive to help—well, they were off a little worse than the rest of them.“That day. All Might was revealed to be in the city and everyone who wanted to meet him flocked to where he was. Heroes and civilians alike,” Izuku told her, “and that day, our neighbourhood became a major villain crime scene. Apparently there were two particularly dangerous guys hiding out somewhere around here—in that site, abandoned because no one could be bothered to fund the repairs of the residential area after a villain attack—they must’ve gotten angry at each other because the pair turned the entire neighbourhood into a raging inferno. They were left for almost twenty minutes to absolutely destroy the area while they fought each other before the first pro appeared on scene, out of breath and clearly not prepared for a battle.”Izuku scoffed at the memory.“This building was one of the first knocked down in the fight before the two villains and then the heroes addition ensured that the entirety of the upper floors were completely destroyed,” he continued on with a sigh, “you weren’t inside. Thankfully. No. But you did see me, then you ran right on back in and went down with the building. I was knocked out somewhere along the way and woke up in the hospital to find that you had died in that building. A child in your arms. You chose to leave your own son behind for some random kid that didn’t even live in the building. You didn’t even know the brat.”“Izuku…” Inko trailed off, not really able to find the words she wanted to say to the boy.It was clear he needed comforting. He needed some words but she just… she just couldn’t find the ones that he’d need to help him. She couldn’t back when he’d found out he was quirkless, and she couldn’t here when it was clear that he desperately needed comforting.“You were my world,” Izuku glanced away, “and the heroes… they failed to protect that. Anyway, after you died, I was placed into protective custody for a while as they attempted to get a-hold of Dad, but he didn’t answer, didn’t even seem to acknowledge any form of contact to him and soon enough I was forgotten and abandoned by even the people looking after me. So I realised that I could just disappear, and no one would care nor wonder where I went so that’s exactly what I did and somewhere along the way, I was found by people who thought I was an easy target.”The teen paused for a moment as he recalled the day with a frown on his face, the pain and aching he’d had as a result of the interaction, “they beat me within an inch of my life all for the last of the money I’d stolen from my carers and then left me in the street to die. I was rescued by the Master and brought into the League.”He stood and moved to the window before pausing as he noticed a form lingering a few buildings away, hiding in the shadows of the alleyway, his gaze narrowed down onto them, using his stolen quirk to get a closer look.Looked like a hero was lingering around here, clearly they were waiting for him, “It was there that I decided that it was time to make the heroes disappear just as I had. Knock them down just as low as I had fallen and then knock them down further. The League just so happened to be the best place to do that and so that’s exactly what we did.”The woman didn’t say anything, so he glanced back over at her. She looked heartbroken and the expression, oh how much elation it gave him to see it. He could almost imagine it on his own mother’s face as he glanced back down to a small side table beside him with a photo of the other Izuku Midoriya standing in front of UA in his uniform all happy and excited. He picked it up and just glared down at it.Could that have been him?If he’d not been abandoned… could that have been him as well?… No. He’d be foolish to think that considering the absolute joy he felt seeing Katsuki Bakugo being wheeled away to be put into intensive care for a week or so. Someone would’ve figured out his true nature in that school and he’d have been abandoned all over again.“Something is bugging me though,” Izuku suddenly said as he turned and slammed the photo down on the table in front of the woman, the headache slowly coming back again as she looked down at it before looking back up at him visibly confused, “where did it come from?”“W… where did what come from?” Inko asked, startled and slightly worried about her real-world son who seemed to be at the centre of this Izuku’s gaze at this moment.“His quirk,” Izuku leaned forward, a look of warning on his face, “I was quirkless. So, so was he. Where did it come from?”“He manifested it a little while ago,” the woman answered, clearly unsure if she should be saying this but she also strongly felt that he didn’t necessarily have to ask her since she had a feeling he knew how to get information with ease if he wanted to.“That’s a lie,” the teen’s gaze hardened into a glare as he attempted to ignore the rising pain in his head, the growing frustration in his heart, and the frustration towards the woman in front of him, “I didn’t. So there’s no chance—”The phone ringing cut him off and the pair just glanced over to it. Izuku slowly looked back to Inko. It was clear that she wanted to answer it, she was probably worried that it might’ve been someone calling to say this Izuku had done something to her Izuku before coming to her, or perhaps calling to tell her that she’d be safe soon, that someone was coming to remove the villain from her premises, and she didn’t need to be scared.Whatever it was, Inko didn’t move to answer the call but instead turned and looked at Izuku.“I’m sorry,” she looked at him with teary eyes, “I’m sorry, Izuku.”He suddenly felt a flow of rage at her apology and thew his hand out, the headache now burning through his head again, swiping the cup still full with the green tea having his not touching it once since it was placed in front of him, to the floor as he did before he slammed his hands on the table.“And that’s another thing!” he shouted, not even flinching as his headache flared at his own shout, “why would you say that back then?! Why would you just sob over me?! And tell me you’re sorry?! I was a child who’d just found out I was never going to have a quirk! And you just cried and said you were sorry! I needed you! I needed you to tell me it’d be all ok! To support me and tell me that there was another way I could go! That I just had to think about becoming a hero in a different way but no! You cried and told me you were sorry! Well, I don’t accept it! I would never accept such a weak apology!”The woman flinched away from him as the phone rang out again.It didn’t take a genius to see that Izuku was slowly falling apart right in front of the woman and that she was not only seeing that but watching on in fear. Even despite the fear though, there was clear motherly worry hidden in it. Even despite who it was.Izuku could see it too and he hated it.He didn’t want to see her look at him like that. He was sick of people looking at him like that.He wanted it to just end.He wanted it to stop.He wanted it to just go away.He wanted—“Izuku Midoriya,” Aizawa spoke up from the doorway as he stepped into the room slowly and cautiously, Izuku’s gaze snapped up at the man and he just stared back, “there’s no need to cry.”Cry? Izuku scoffed, just who was crying, it wasn’t—his gaze stopped on his reflection in the glass of the photo frame on the table. It was him.He was crying?Him?!Izuku Midoriya? The Izuku Midoriya. The all feared villain. He was the one crying?!He wiped his eyes and glared forward before he noticed something flash from behind and glanced to the window to see Dabi standing on the opposite roof. He was just staring back at him with a blank expression.Ah.He’d been caught.By both teams. The heroes and the villains.Izuku let out a low tut, the frown on his face less there for anger but now there more for pain.He had to choose now.His head was splitting in pain, but he had to choose now.Which group was going to let him be? It definitely wasn’t going to be the villains. He’d promised them too much. That he’d plan so much, big moves. Stuff to help them progress with their final goal. Things they’d need in the future but no. He’d come here. To Inko Midoriya’s house. He’d come to his childhood home in a fit of pain and a moment of weakness.He’d in one way or another betrayed them to be extreme.“And you,” Izuku’s gaze snapped down at the man slowly crossing the room towards him, clearly noticing his unstable emotions as well and not wanting to move too suddenly and startle the kid, “I’m so sick of you. Always trying to do the good thing. Always trying to help. I don’t want your help! I never wanted your help! You should’ve just stayed down after I gave up all your weaknesses in the USJ. You should’ve just died! Why didn’t you die?! I’m sick of you getting in my way, Eraser Head!”He swung his arm back and his fist broke through the window. A clear signal.He decided he’d rather go back to the villains than have to deal with these damn heroes.He was sick of them. He was over it.He was over everything, and he was definitely over holding back.“Dabi!” his voice echoed through the room as he stepped towards the window, “you better catch me, you flaming bastard!”Dabi on the other roof just raised a brow before pulling his phone out and sending a confirmation message back to Kurogiri as the black-haired teen went flying out of the window, falling down the outside of the building unbothered as Aizawa hurried to the edge, his capture weapon shooting after him, a startled look on his face. Clearly, he wasn’t expecting the teen to literally throw himself out of a window in a multi-storey building as such.A gate opened up below Izuku and he threw his hands forward, flipping off Aizawa with a crazed laugh, “later, Eraser! I’ll see your ugly face never!”He disappeared and the gate dissolved, leaving the weapon to snap back up through the space as Aizawa’s gaze snapped to Dabi who was already passing through another one. Both villains quickly gone from their sight.“Damn—” Aizawa hissed out before turning to the sobbing woman behind him, “M—”“He’s so lost,” Inko cried out to the man in front of him, “you have to save him. You have to save my baby boy.”“He’s not your son,” Aizawa gave her a baffled look.“He is,” she reached for him, “it doesn’t matter if it’s this world or the next, Izuku is and always will be my son. He’s just so lost, so hurt. You didn’t hear him, he was… he’s a broken child. He feels that he’s been abandoned by the world. He needs someone to show him that he hasn’t been. Please, save my boy.”Aizawa flinched as she placed her hand over his heart and looked up at him with a heartbroken expression.“He’s your student, Eraser Head,” she advocated, “please. Please save Izuku.”Aizawa almost wanted to groan. Just what exactly could he say to that..?
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Aizawa was unsettled.He was frustrated and no matter what he did, he couldn’t help but to worry.Inko Midoriya had hit something in him with the words she’d spoken to him.The Izuku Midoriya of this reality was his student. He couldn’t refute that. The kid was one of his top problem students, he’d even maybe be so inclined to say he may have even been one of his favourite students, though as a teacher he refused to allow any kind of thought like that settle in his mind since he had to be unbiased as a teacher of twenty. Each student needed to be cared for equally so even if he did consider Midoriya as such, he wouldn’t allow it to control his decisions or the way he taught. It would be irresponsible to do so.But, the Izuku Midoriya from the other reality was not his student. And yet, he was. When he saw the boy, he couldn’t deny that he was definitely Izuku Midoriya. There were differences, of course, but if either Midoriya dyed their hair and changed their eye colour, they’d look identical minus the physical differences between their statures. He couldn’t deny that when Izuku had come to him as a student of his that’d been hit by a quirk unluckily and thrown into an alternate reality he felt some sort of worry over the boy and was quick to start planning ways to get around this issue, to send the boy back home to his reality and his real teacher. But he was also considering how to care for the boy. He couldn’t have pushed him onto Inko, it didn’t matter if she was his mother across both realities, he just couldn’t be so irresponsible to do that and so he was fully prepared to take the boy in himself for the duration of his time in this reality.But then the boy started acting strangely.And then the doubts started to sit in.He wondered if the differences between the two Midoriyas wasn’t solely limited to their appearances but rather… their personalities and even perhaps… their positions in society.At first he scolded himself for even thinking such a thing. The kid was his student and as such he needed to trust and believe in the kid, but he’d also learned after so many years working as an underground hero that he needed to follow his instincts that were screaming that the kid was trouble and perhaps not telling the whole truth if any at all.Then he revealed he was not in fact the kid he thought he was.Aizawa hadn’t admitted it until that moment when he was facing the distraught Inko Midoriya that his blood had ran cold upon the sudden revelation that his student wasn’t who he thought he was. And he also couldn’t deny that, although yes he had seen Midoriya cry many times in the past, seeing the kid cry in the way he was in that flat… it was unsettling.The other Izuku Midoriya’s tears were nothing more than rage filled, sorrowful, and so, so tired. There was just so much devastation in the boy. He was lost, that’s what Inko had said and honestly? Aizawa couldn’t help but to agree. It was clear that the kid was misguided and vulnerable. It was probably the whole reason one of his prized students had turned bad.But there was also something else bothering him.Aizawa had reached the Midoriya residence in record timing considering the distance it was from the school and yet, he’d managed to enter the building undetected, something he didn’t expect from any form of Izuku Midoriya to be possible, and yet, he was able to stand in the hallway and listen to the tail end of the conversation between the villain from another reality and the worried mother of the current one. He sounded so sad. So sad and angry that for some reason Aizawa was almost furious at his alternate self for not getting a hold of this before it could spiral like it had. Though, he was quick to stop those thoughts because how would he have known? He didn’t work in the area that the Midoriyas lived in, nor did he even know they existed until Izuku Midoriya became his student. If he was right in his final conclusion on the matter then his alternate self will have never known the alternate Midoriya existed, not until—by the sounds of it—he made it impossible to ignore his existence any longer.He let out a low exhausted sigh as he just massaged his head, the thoughts going around in circles as he just found himself growing more frustrated before a cup was placed in front of him. He was almost grateful that the coffee gods had shone a moment of reprieve down on him until he noticed that it wasn’t coffee but instead some kind of tea.“Uh—Hizashi,” Aizawa glanced up at the blonde who was settling into the seat across from him, “it’s not that I don’t appreciate it but… where’s my coffee? What’s with… the tea?”“You’re stressed,” Yamada returned, shutting his eyes as he let out an almost ‘zen’ sigh, clearly a completely opposite feeling was over the blonde while his partner was mulling over his stress inducing thoughts, “coffee will just make it worse. Don’t worry. It’s nothing too strong a flavour. It’ll just help you relax a little bit so you can gather your thoughts properly and put them together in a way you can better work through them,” he opened his eyes again and smiled at the dark-haired man across from him, “trust, yeah?”Aizawa couldn’t exactly speak against that, so he just took a small breath and then let it go again before sipping on the tea. It wasn’t strong flavoured just as Yamada had said, but it also wasn’t working as fast as he’d hoped it would.“You met the other Midoriya today, didn’t you?” the voice hero suddenly asked, deciding he’d help his partner think through things a bit through a conversation as he noticed the frown on his face even after drinking the tea—it wasn’t working fast enough, was all he concluded as he watched the dark-haired man for a moment, “how was he? Hurt?”“Hurting,” Aizawa placed the cup down and looked at the other seriously, “he was hurting. He was hurting so much, Hizashi, I—” he took a moment to compose himself again before continuing, “I need to speak with him. In a calmer environment. We need to try reach for this boy before he falls apart completely.”“That bad?” Yamada’s frown formed quickly as he listened, “do you think the League will help him?”“I doubt it,” he shook his head, “I think, if anything, they may just make it worse. The other Midoriya is in a bad place, and it seems to be getting worse.”He paused for a moment as he recalled something the Principal had said.“What?” the blonde looked at his partner in confusion at the sudden silence, “what is it?”“It’s just… something the rat said,” Aizawa muttered, “Laws of time and space are things no humans should be messing with.”“What has that sci-fi jargon got to do with this?”“I think… Midoriya’s mental state had been holding together in his reality for the time being well enough, but because he’s come here…” Aizawa trailed as his frown deepened, “I think this may just be one of those pesky consequences of a seemingly harmless quirk in play rearing its ugly head.”“What? You think he’s breaking down because he’s been here?” Yamada asked.“For too long. Been here for too long,” Aizawa corrected seamlessly, “where’s my phone? I need to call Nezu. I think we need to discuss his theories and thoughts and then contact Tsukauchi, get him to put out an APB on the kid and have everyone and anyone on alert for him before the League can doing any worse—”“Slow down a moment,” Yamada reached forward and took his partner’s hand, forcing him to stop and look back at him from his sweeping search of the area for his phone, “what about the training camp? That’ll begin soon. Are you not planning to go with your class to try find this kid?”“If that’s what I have to do then that’s what I’ll have to do,” Aizawa sighed as he watched the other’s face contort slightly, “you didn’t hear or see him, Hizashi. He was crying. He didn’t even know he was crying. He was shouting and he even threw himself out of a window to get away from me. It was hard to watch. He’s just a kid. He needs our help.”Yamada took in a breath for a moment before gathering together his energy and confidence and nodding, “alright. Let’s get everything together. Our aim is to find the other young Midoriya and bring him back safely, have a nice chat, and then let you go on your trip to the woods with your pesky kiddos. Let’s work hard, hm?”“Right,” Aizawa smiled as he watched the other glance around and then let out a small ‘ah’ before reaching over to the counter and then turning back, passing him his phone.“But don’t forget, your class need you too,” Yamada whispered.“I know,” Aizawa whispered back.I don’t think they’d let me forget about them even if I wanted to, the underground pro thought to himself as he started to dial the Principal’s number, let’s focus on this for now. The training camp comes later, for now: this.
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“He’s gone mad,” Dabi stared at Izuku tied down to one of the chairs. The space had been all but destroyed as the teen had lashed out at everything around them. They didn’t particularly want to hurt him, especially considering he was leading the planning for their plot that was going to be taking place in less than a week at this point, so it’d been pretty difficult to get the kid still enough to knock him out and die him down.“He had a break down. He’s gone crazy!” Twice chimed in.“Send him to me,” a voice came from the TV causing them all to spin around and look over at it. Shigaraki glanced from the teen towards the TV with a frown, unmoving from his spot at the bar.“You sure?” Shigaraki asked.“Yes,” the voice answered, “I have a quirk that may just be able to help him. It seems being displaced into another reality is giving his mind some clouded confusion. There was bound to be an affect eventually. It just seems to be happening now.”“You were expecting this?” the red eyed villain eyed the TV with a frown.“I was. Send him over. Don’t waste time, Tomura.”It went silent after that until Shigaraki let out a low groan and glanced over at Kurogiri, “go on, Kurogiri. Get rid of the brat.”“Yes,” Kurogiri nodded as he turned towards Izuku and opened the gate before taking him through and away from the League.“Place him down over there,” All For One spoke upon the arrival of the two villains in his space, “come back in ten minutes. He’ll be ready to work again, and he’ll be a little bit more stable at that time.”Kurogiri did as he was told then disappeared again without much of a word or even a worried casting glance to the teen being left with the masked man hidden in the shadows of the space.─────────────────────“You said something when we were talking about humans and time and space,” Aizawa started once everyone was seated in the Principal’s office, “do you mind elaborating on this a bit further?”Nezu let out a small, amused hum at that question as he glanced across the particularly strange combination of teachers and heroes in his office, plus one police officer. Aizawa was sat with Yamada to his side, All Might was beside Yamada with Detective Tsukauchi on the other side and Gran Torino beside him.“First before that,” Gran Torino leaned forward, “why am I here? What is happening? I’ve not been caught up with the situation.”“Ah. Of course,” Nezu glanced over at the yellow cladded old man across from him, “this is pertaining to Izuku Midoriya. Or, to be more specific, his alternate self who has unfortunately found himself trapped in our reality for the time being.”The man frowned in confusion, “an alternate Midoriya? Is that possible?”“It’s certainly not impossible,” the Principal stated simply, “and he’s made himself known to us. We cannot ignore this now no matter how much we’d like to.”“I suppose a quirk to send someone to an alternate reality can’t be totally implausible considering the world we live in,” Gran Torino hummed in thought, “we’ve so many unusual and interesting quirks these days that I’m not too surprised actually.”“Well, I’m glad we’ve covered that,” Aizawa sighed, “can we get back on topic?”“Right. Of course,” Nezu nodded, “you were asking about my statement the other day, correct? The answer to that is simple. Humans don’t have the ability to control time or alternate spaces for a reason. One wrong decision and a set timeline can go, how do you humans like to say it? Ah. That’s right. Crazy.”The Principal just got a weird look from his staff and guests at his phrasing.“So, what? You’re saying that this one kid could, I don’t know, destroy our world or something?” Tsukauchi asked.“I wouldn’t go as far as to say that, no,” the Principal shook his head, “but he can do some substantial damage. The longer we let him run around here, doing whatever he likes, the worse things may get. Aizawa, did the boy say anything to you to suggest the state of his reality?”The man in question let out a low hum, “I don’t believe so. Though he mentioned dorms and chaos and that everything was so different he had gotten lost. Though, if I’m right then the last bit was a lie.”“Did Midoriya’s mother mention anything to you about their conversation?” Tsukauchi glanced over to the pro, “I heard he was speaking with her for quite some time. I’ve yet to read the report from her interview with the Chief.”“It seems that she in his reality is dead,” Aizawa frowned as he recalled the interview himself, he’d sat in with her as, hopefully, a comforting presence, “that he believes that he was abandoned and I’ll be honest, based off the information, it could be quite possibly the case at hand. But of course, we can’t jump to that conclusion since we have no one from that reality other than Midoriya to dig any deeper.”They were silent for a moment at that before Aizawa continued, “it also, by the way he was speaking, seems as though he maybe is from a reality that’s a little bit further ahead in terms of the year time.”“Which would make Nezu’s worry even more of a thing to look out for,” Yamada glanced over at his partner who just nodded.“If that is true then we must be vigilant,” Nezu stated, “it takes no genius to realise that it’s quite likely that the other Midoriya will want this world to fall the way his own has and if it hasn’t then in the way they didn’t manage to make it,” he tapped his desk for a moment before stopping and glancing over to Yamada, “Mic, will you do another sweep of the school please? I just want to make sure that the school is definitely safe and secure. Last thing we need is a repeat of the USJ incident.”“Can do,” Yamada nodded, “but what do we do if Midoriy—the other Midoriya appears again? In school, at the Midoriya residence, wherever. Do we view him as a villain or a troubled teen?”He glanced over to Aizawa. He knew which one Aizawa preferred but unfortunately… it was Tsukauchi he needed to hear the answer from since he was the voice of the law in this room at that particular moment. It was clear Aizawa knew that as well, his silence was a strong enough sign of that.“Well… considering the circumstances,” Tsukauchi paused for a moment, “he hasn’t done anything… harmful just yet so until he does, a troubled teen. One we need to find and separate from the League as soon as possible.”He stood as he pulled his phone out of his pocket and glanced across the group, “I’ll get into contact with the Chief. Ask him to put out an BOLO on a missing child and have it circulated. Do we know anything else about him? Does he have… a quirk?”“That’s to be determined but considering he is Midoriya, it’s quite likely that he has the same quirk as him—” Aizawa spoke but the ever silent All Might was quick to shut the idea down.“No,” he cut in.“No?” Yamada looked over at the other blonde confused.“It’s complicated,” was all All Might said in response.He was only thinking about the fact that never, never in his wildest dreams would he give One For All over to that version of Midoriya. He couldn’t risk it.Tsukauchi and Nezu both shared knowing looks with Gran Torino while Aizawa and Yamada shared a confused frown.“How complicated could it be?” Aizawa asked.“Let’s leave it,” Nezu smiled, “it doesn’t matter and I’m sure that Midoriya had numerous occasions where he could use his quirk to damage or harm and thankfully he didn’t, so I’d be more inclined to say it’s likely he doesn’t have the same quirk as Midoriya.”Suspicion set slightly in Aizawa as his gaze narrowed onto the Principal.“Anyway,” All Might cleared his throat, “you should focus on the training camp for now, Aizawa. The rest of us will focus on the other young Midoriya.”Aizawa went to argue but the feeling of a small tap on the side of his knee from Yamada stopped him.“Don’t worry too much. I’ll prioritise this as my hero work,” Yamada told him before looking across the group, “of course, I can’t do it alone though.”“Don’t worry about that,” Nezu folded his paws together, a chilling smile that seemed almost amused on his face as he met Yamada’s gaze, “I’ll reach out to a few heroes who owe me a few favours. I’m sure they won’t think to say no upon my request.”“… I’m sure,” the blonde awkwardly nodded.“There’s more to this,” Aizawa’s narrowed gaze moved across the others in the room, “just what aren’t you lot telling us?”“There’s nothing,” Gran Torino huffed as he crossed his arms, “just focus on your job.”“You—”“Best let sleeping lions lie, hm?” Nezu cut Aizawa off before he could say anything, “anyway, we’ve discussed the most pressing matters. The question is now, where do we find a reality jumping quirk?”“I can contact my friends in the quirk registry office,” Tsukauchi said as he glanced down at them, “I knew a few who are high up enough that they’ll be able to authorise access to it and search for one.”“And if there’s not? What then?” Yamada asked, “surely we can’t keep the kid here. It sounds like the longer he’s here, the more unstable he becomes. I really doubt a friendly bit of therapy and good people are going to help the kid this time.”“I will think about that myself,” Nezu leaned back into his seat with a satisfied nod, “for now, let’s focus on what we can do and not we may have to do. Now is that all? I have another engagement I need to get to if you don’t mind. If you have any more questions then do get in contact, I’ll entertain your questions and give you some answers as best I can.”Aizawa was visibly displeased with the lack of answers he was getting to the obvious extra information that was being hidden from he and Yamada by the other four in the room, but he didn’t argue. He was too tired to argue and arguing with the Principal was always an exhausting chore.“Right…” he grumbled as he stood up, Yamada standing as well, “I’ll be in contact.”“I’m sure you will,” Nezu was irritatingly smiling at Aizawa as the other man just frowned and mulled over his growing frustration, “we all have work to do, hm? Do remember to focus.”“Of course,” the underground hero said through gritted teeth before turning to the door, “excuse me. I still have some paperwork to finish for Monday.”He left the room, Yamada following after him, “are you ok?”“I’m annoyed,” Aizawa returned, “they’re hiding something.”“Seems so,” the blonde nodded as he glanced back before looking over at the dark-haired man beside him, “do you think it matters though? Whatever it is may not really have much of an affect on the other Midoriya.”“What about our Midoriya?” Aizawa stopped and turned to him, “we should be worrying about him as well. He is my student and if those four are putting him in danger while keeping silly secrets, I won’t stand by and let it happen. I will not risk the USJ happening again, and that boy has been in and out of the infirmary enough as it is. He hides it, but I know the kid’s hands hurt, especially after the Sports Festival. I won’t let their secrets make it worse.”He turned and continued down the hall again.“Glad to see your focus on, what do you call him? Your Problem Child? Glad to see it’s not wavering,” Yamada hurried after him with a small laugh.“If I don’t focus on him then it’ll be left to All Might, the fool,” Aizawa rolled his eyes.─────────────────────All For One glanced over Izuku.He’d been listening to the boy rattle off plans and ideas, things that were supposed to happen but didn’t, things that will happen, but he wants to make sure doesn’t through the TV. He didn’t look anything like he’d expected.He was just a boy.All Might’s successor from another reality, except… he didn’t have One For All. He checked before using a quirk to heal him. Stitch his mind back together. Glue up the cracks.He was a bit foolish to think he’d be able to get One For All this way, he knew that. But he wanted to check over anyway, just on the off chance that the kid had been hiding the truth this whole time. He hadn’t.“Master..?” Izuku’s low groan caught the man’s attention, and he looked back towards him.“Welcome back to the world, Izuku,” he greeted the teen as he slowly sat up, “how is your head?”“Not hurting,” Izuku answered before pausing, “and a bit more put… together. What did you do?”“I fixed you,” All For One declared before pausing, “well. Mostly. Careful though, your mind is the most fragile part of any human. One little thing and… it’s all gone. Crumbling down like a jenga tower. I can probably stitch your mind together again once more but… any more past that and just as with any quirk, there will start to be some repercussions.”“I don’t even know how my mind fell apart like that anyway,” the teen squinted into the shadows, trying to make out the form of the man who’d apparently pulled him back together again, “I was fine.”“Alternate realities tend to have affects. I knew someone back in my past who had the ability to jump from reality to reality, he kept slipping out of my grasp just as I was about to steal his quirk, but I met him often enough to know just how tricky it can be on the mind,” the man spoke slowly and calmly, clearly unbothered in the slightest, “he probably doesn’t even remember which reality he is from anymore. But, anyway—your mind was warped by the shift in realities. The mix isn’t good on a healthy mind let alone yours.”“Are you calling my mind unhealthy?” Izuku asked, brow raised in amusement.“Well, it’s certainly not in the best condition, Izuku,” All For One returned, “anyway, you need to keep yourself focused. Calm. Don’t let yourself get distracted by any meaningless things such as false mothers and lacking heroes.”Izuku glanced off to the side as Kurogiri’s warp appeared beside him.“Return to the bar for now,” the man told Izuku who was already taking to his feet again and moving towards the warp, “I look forward to all of the changes you will bring. Do not disappoint.”“Don’t you worry about that,” Izuku glanced over his shoulder as he paused in front of the warp, “I feel perfectly fine now, and I just spotted an unnecessary hole in my plot. I’ll be fixing that right away.”“Glad to hear. Good luck, Izuku Midoriya,” All For One said as he stepped through the gate again, it disappearing behind him.“Is it really smart to put trust in that unstable child?” a voice spoke out.“Don’t you worry, Doctor. I think he’ll be a good learning point for our dear Tomura,” All For One replied, “he just… needs to learn to be a bit more patient with those he works with. I know he’s itching to kill him. But I believe that time will tell, and it will eventually tell a story that I will be quite pleased with.”“If you say so…”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
The bar was silent when Izuku stepped back into it. He just stood with Kurogiri formed behind him, staring across the group who seemed to be waiting for something.Anything.A few moments of tense silence threatened the room before a bright smile came onto Izuku’s face—brighter than even when he’d first arrived. He seemed… freer, lighter in some way. It was unsettling.“Sorry about all the chaos there, guys,” his façade fell perfectly on his face before he glanced around the bar, “… and the thrown furniture. I lost my head for a moment but never mind that, I need you guys to find me a secure and isolated location like a warehouse or something.”The rest of the villains in the bar all shared unsure looks, all clearly confused in the sudden switch up. Literally ten minutes ago, the kid was screaming, yelling, throwing things around, tearing the bar apart, shouting a whole bunch of stuff that meant nothing to any of them—stuff only the them of his reality would understand—and now… he was standing here. Smiling.It was… disconcerting.“Why’s that exactly?” Shigaraki asked, his glare fixed to his face as he looked at the still smiling Izuku.“Well, it’s obvious isn’t it?” Izuku shrugged, “it was also a mistake you did in my reality too. You brought the kid you kidnapped here. To the bar. Home turf. When we were found out, not only was the bar destroyed by that oaf, All Might, during the rescue attempt but also, you fools were thrown out onto the streets and forced to live and hide out in some horrific warehouse.”The secondary location they’d spent the last of the week with Bakugo was just some random spot they’d warped out to in a risky escape which meant they didn’t feel that they were too pressed over losing it when they were discovered for the second time—that time being the one that Bakugo was successfully rescued from.Then there was their actual next HQ. The damp and dreary warehouse.“Us? What about you?” Dabi asked.“Obviously I have my own place,” the teen scoffed, “do I look like the kind of idiot who would live with you fools, work with you fools, and have no place to live elsewhere? As if I’d be living in that dusty ass warehouse with you dumbasses,” he rolled his eyes as the rest of the villains felt a sense of irritation at the way he was talking about them even if it wasn’t actually this group of people he was technically talking about, “you know how many times I had Toga calling me about the flooding area and the cold, and the lack of food, and the hard floor. I swear, if I had a list, I would recite every single point to you. So, this time, let’s save this place from being punched in by an overbearing blonde idiot?”It was silent for a moment before a sigh was heard.“I guess you’ve actually got a point there,” Shigaraki hummed, although he looked incredibly annoyed to agree with him, “alright. Spinner, Dabi. You two go.”“What? Why us?” Spinner asked.“Yeah. And why do I have to go with McSpikey over there?” Dabi jabbed his thumb over towards Spinner, “I’d much rather stick around here and continue to listen to Izuku say some absolutely insane things.”“Insane?” Izuku cocked his head to the side with an amused smile.“Can you blame me? You say some whack things sometimes, you know? Especially while all… you know,” Dabi spun his finger around in a patterned circle, the sign of crazy.Izuku just rolled his eyes, but the smile didn’t fall, it felt a bit more genuine though, he’d seen his Dabi do that towards him numerous times and he found it amusing to see it again—no. Focus. Thinking about that stuff makes your mind all crazy, stop it.“I’ll go. No I won’t, leave me alone!” Twice threw his hand up before pulling it back and frantically shaking his head.“Spinner. Toga,” Shigaraki shifted his gaze to the two, “you’ll go. No more arguments. Dabi, you’re going to keep an eye on the brat, don’t you let him out of your sight. Izuku, you’re going to give up that bug to us so we can share it with the Master, I won’t hear another one of your useless excuses.”“Great. Relegated to babysitter,” Dabi groaned.“Child,” Izuku rolled his eyes at him before they stopped on Shigaraki, “I wasn’t lying when I said there’s nothing on there. They must have all the important stuff on a separate server to the one I know about and bugged. The stuff on the one I pulled up other than the training camp is just profiles and stuff. We already know and can access the stuff there but sure. If it makes you feel better.”He glanced around and spotted the laptop before placing it onto the bar and sliding it over to the villain at the other end, “there aren’t any passwords. Free access. Go wild—oh but don’t go dusting it, I actually could use that for our plan, it’s good to be able to get into contact with some people underground.”Well, if I remember the password you need to get into that part of the dark web, he thought as he glanced off to the side before pausing and then looking back to Shigaraki, “by the way, has Master mentioned a gift to you yet?”“Gift?” the pale haired villain gave him a confused look.“Alright so I guess that’s fine. Master, you listening over there?” Izuku looked over to the TV, everyone else did as well.“I am,” came the response.“Can you get Moonfish this late in the game?” he asked, “this time in my reality, he was in here threatening the safety of our members but he’s not here right now so…?”“Moonfish? Sounds familiar… where have I heard that name before?” Magne asked.“Because he’s a death row inmate,” Muscular almost seemed to grimace at the thought of the guy, an unusual look on the overly confident man, “what do you want with him?”“His quirk is quite useful,” Izuku answered simply, biting back the want to explain the quirk and ramble for a while—he knew Shigaraki hated it and he wasn’t in the mood to dodge hands today, “see, in my reality. We broke him out and he decimated our UA’s weakest defences before they kicked it to high gear and the guy got stuck, but he didn’t get stuck without taking out a few useless heroes. Of course, we’re aiming to do this in the forest and not the school but that doesn’t mean he can’t take out a few useless hero students, right?”Silence followed for a moment before, “I can get him,” came and Izuku let out a happy laugh.“Fantastic,” he grinned before gesturing to the laptop, “now, I actually need that back. Gotta get some birds eye view shots of the location, more info. The boring research. Then I’ll start explaining everyone’s role in this plan. We have only a few days, day one is the beginning of next week. Let’s work hard, right?”It was silent for a moment before Toga threw herself forward, “right, Izuku! Let’s have fun~”─────────────────────“Huh? Where’s Shigaraki?” Izuku asked as he slipped back into the bar, using his back to keep the door open.“Shiggy went on a walk,” Toga replied as Izuku ducked out of the way of her knife.“On a walk?” the teen frowned, “what do you mean? Where’d he go?”“Don’t know, don’t care,” Dabi shrugged, “hey, so just to be clear. You want me to burn up the forest?”“Yeah,” Izuku pushed his way into the building again and sat at the bar beside him, he was looking down at the map that had been printed off, “burn up the edge then not only can help not get to them, but they can’t get out to get help. Shouldn’t be too hard, it’s been dry by the looks of it for a while now so the brush should catch light really easy. Once you’re done with that, you move up the mountain to join the rest of the group to grab Monoma and then get out,” he leaned back and glanced across the group who were quite obviously listening to him despite pretending to be doing other things, “of course, you guys can go wild. Destroy some things. Break some bones. If you can, kill a kid or two. Simple stuff really. Just make sure you get Monoma back to the warehouse.”“Did you find the person you were looking for? Mind control quirk?” Spinner asked, approaching them, “you know, just in case Monoma doesn’t join us like you expect?”“I can’t find her,” Izuku sighed, “she must’ve lied to me when she was telling me her whereabouts when we sat and spoke in my reality. Or, this reality could be different. She may not even be a villain here, though she’s not a hero either since I can’t find her anywhere.”“Who is it, Izuku?” Toga asked.“Nori Hideko?” the dark-haired teen answered, she let out a low hum before shrugging and shaking her head.“Never heard of her,” she told him.“Didn’t think so,” Izuku nodded before the door was slammed open and they all looked over to see Shigaraki standing there, he looked a bit more relaxed than he did earlier that morning, but he also still looked furious, “where did you go?”“The mall,” Shigaraki answered, dropping down on the stool next to him, “I met your counterpart.”“Eugh—you dust him?” Izuku asked, glancing over to him.“No… I was noticed too soon,” the other grumbled, “but I scared him.”“Better than nothing, I guess,” the teen shrugged before turning to him, “do you know what you’re going to say to Monoma yet? I can still write you a script if you’d like—”“I got it, brat,” Shigaraki snapped before looking to Kurogiri, “a drink. Now,” a glass of water was placed in front of him, “no—”“You’re preparing for a big raid, Tomura Shigaraki, alcohol is prohibited,” Kurogiri stated calmly, clearly unaware that he was getting one hell of a glare from the other man.“Tch—damnit,” he grumbled out, “can we push this thing?”“Of course not,” Izuku rolled his eyes as he looked back at the map, “we have to let them feel relaxed, calm, as if nothing can reach them in their safe haven in the mountains. After all, who’d think to attack land owned by heroes such as the Wild, Wild Pussycats. It’s when they get complacent that we attack, besides, I think there’s a hero there with a quirk that could be pretty useful to us if we can get our hands on the hero holding it.”“Oh?” Dabi leaned forward curiously, “which one is that?”“Search,” the teen answered, “what was the ridiculous name of the woman again? Ah, yes, Pixiebob. Add her to the list of people we want to grab. Pixiebob, Monoma, and me? Well, not me, but Izuku Midoriya—why do we want Izuku Midoriya? The Master never really explained that one.”“None of your business,” Shigaraki pushed himself away from the bar and moved to the backroom, disappearing into it without even a second glance.“He just wants to kill the brat,” Dabi stated, “wait—is that weird, you know, for you? Since you two are technically the same person?”“I’m not too bothered,” Izuku shrugged, “if I could, I’d do it myself but the other me has a quirk that is so much stronger than mine.”“Oh yeah—what is your quirk exactly?” the other asked.“It’s zoom,” Izuku answered, “it’s a pretty self-explanatory quirk, honestly.”“Hold on, doesn’t a kid at UA have that?” Dabi asked.“Oh yeah, I think I know who you’re talking about,” Spinner chimed in, “she was in the Sports Festival. Support student, right? She turned one of the hero students into a walking billboard.”“It was funny,” Toga grinned.“How do you have the same quirk as her?” Dabi asked, glancing over to Izuku again.“Guess she was unlucky,” Izuku shrugged, “truthfully, I was quirkless until I joined up with the League. The Master gave me the quirk and I’ve had it since.”“How long exactly?” he asked.“Uh—around now? In my reality it’ll have been more or less a year,” the teen answered, “it’s useful. I’m more a plotter than I am a fighter so being able to zoom in and see everything I need to with ease is super helpful. I don’t need to get in the way and because I’ve trained it, I can see pretty far off so as long as I don’t have any obstacles, I could probably even watch you guys in the forest to an extent from civilisation.”“Is that possible?” Toga looked at him with starry eyes, “You’re so cool, Izuku.”“No. It sounds more like a threat to make sure we actually do our jobs properly,” Dabi visibly grimaced as he leaned away from Izuku who didn’t say anything for or against that proclamation.“Well, anyway,” Izuku turned to look at the entirety of the bar as he felt a small ache growing in the back of his head, “I’m going to take a nap, so you fools make sure you know what you’re doing and don’t wake me up or I’ll be so damn annoyed, leave you here with Shigaraki to babysit while everyone else is having fun in the forest.”No one seemed to say anything further and Izuku just let out a happy hum before taking to one of the sofas and curling up on it.“Toga, don’t even think about it,” he suddenly said causing the girl to freeze as she was mid-motion, reaching for a knife.“Damnit—he really is so cool,” she grumbled as she stopped and instead dropped down on the stool he had been sat in and grinned at Dabi, “this is exciting right? We’re getting closer to being able to do something fun.”“I guess,” Dabi shrugged as he glanced around, “wait—where did that other kid go? The one who has the gas quirk?”“Mustard went out,” Muscular stated, crossing his arms, “something about a tank or a mask or… something..? I don’t know. Wasn’t listening.”“Oh, was that his name?” Dabi rolled his eyes, “how cliché.”“Alright, Dabi,” Spinner crossed his arms as he glanced over at him, “at least his name makes sense. Where does that even come from? Dabi?”“Well, I actually thought about my name. Cremation,” Dabi looked pleased with himself, “a state of which I want all of my enemies to be in. Cremated.”“You’re just as bad as hand man back there,” he pointed towards the door keeping them shut off from the other villain as he rolled his eyes.“Die,” Dabi threw his hand forward, slamming it against the other’s face and sending him stumbling back.“Why you—”“If you’re going to fight, do it outside,” Izuku suddenly spoke up, still facing the back of the sofa, “I know how messy you two can get.”The two villains paused and looked over to see him facing away still and then glanced back to each other before letting out small huffs and turning away, not wanting to go outside and therefore deciding their little spat wasn’t worth the effort.“Ha! He told you! Losers!” Twice pointed at them both, laughing.“Oh, don’t you test me,” Dabi glared at the man.“Toga, save me! Down, you rabid dog, down,” Twice threw himself behind the blonde girl who just glanced over her shoulder towards him amused before looking back at Dabi and pointing a knife at him.“Don’t you go after Twice, he’s too cute to threaten,” Toga told him.“Cute my ass,” Dabi rolled his eyes before looking over at Kurogiri, “can… I convince you to pour me a drink?”“Coffee? Tea? Hot chocolate? Water? I think there’s some apple juice in the back fridge,” Kurogiri replied causing Dabi to sigh before he suddenly had the weight of Toga slamming him down into the bar as she threw her hand forward.“Oh! Oh! I want apple juice!” she exclaimed loudly.“Of course,” Kurogiri nodded before turning and going to get it.“Get off me, Toga, damnit,” Dabi shoved her back and she just let out a small laugh as she landed on the floor as if it was nothing.Izuku, having listened to all of this couldn’t help but to just smile as he shut his eyes and hoped that sleep would never come to him, for the first time in a long time just feeling so happy he could experience all of this again. After all, he’d come to think of these people as his family in his reality and one by one, each were either arrested or killed in battles throughout the year and each time it’d hit the teen hard, and he just wanted to enjoy listening to them have fun together before everything fell to shit again.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“Oi, brat,” Shigaraki threw a phone over to Izuku as he turned to him upon being called by the very quickly getting old nickname.“What’s this?” Izuku asked as he glanced down at it to find a message waiting for him ‘we are doing a test of courage in the forest. Everyone will be split up’ before smiling, “alright. Time to have some fun.”“What?” Toga jumped up, “is it time to go~?”Izuku looked over to Shigaraki who was looking at Kurogiri, “time to go, Kurogiri. Open the warps.”Multiple gates were opened, and the villains all stepped to the one they were to go to.“Hope you guys are ready,” Izuku said as he stood with Shigaraki at one gate while the rest of them were dotted around the different ones. Toga and Mustard were together, Muscular was alone, Dabi and Twice were together, Spinner and Magne were together, Mr Compress was alone—Izuku had hoped Moonfish and the Nomu would be here, but Kurogiri was going to warp them in separately, “we’re going to be at the top of a mountain watching from the sky so keep your earpieces on, I’ll be in touch when I spot anything. Remember, other than information we won’t be able to help you if you get stuck. You get knocked out or arrested and that’s your issue. I’m not picking up faulty fireworks, right?”“Fireworks?” Dabi repeated.“Flashy and short lived,” Izuku explained without even a single waver in his sickly-sweet smile that was starting to irritate the other villains with the combination of his friendly sounding words that were still undoubtingly threats and insults.“Don’t worry, Izuku! We all remember,” Toga grinned before hopping through her gate, dragging the other teenage boy along with her. The rest of them all nodded before following after.“Master?” Shigaraki looked over to the TV.“Don’t you worry, the Nomu and Moonfish are both ready to be transported to the location from here by Kurogiri once you have been moved to your final location,” came the response.“Good,” Izuku nodded, “then that’s that. Now we just have to hope that they can pull this off correctly. Monoma is apparently in the supplemental classes, so he’ll be in an isolated area with at least one other hero, two if they’re unlucky. But I’m sure Dabi and Twice with the Nomu by their side can easily get the teachers away so Mr Compress can snag the kid and get out.”“If this plan fails, you’re dead,” Shigaraki glanced over to Izuku before stepping through the gate himself.Izuku just rolled his eyes before shrugging and stepping through after the other villain, the gates all shutting after. The two stood in silence at the top of a mountain, staring down at the otherwise peaceful forest below them. Kurogiri formed behind them.“Shall I go get the remaining two?” Kurogiri asked.“Actually,” Izuku started up the drone that he’d basically coerced Giran into handing over for free—along with his trusty just in case of an emergency gun—when putting together the final list of supplies for the rest of the League together, and flew it over the area, it’s camera spotting Twice and Dabi pretty quickly as they started to descend the mountain a little bit more to start burning up a nice circle perimeter to prevent anyone getting in or out, “hold off for a few. They need some time to burn up the area. Ah—actually, still bring in Moonfish, leave the Nomu for now.”“Understood,” Kurogiri nodded before disappearing as Izuku flew the drone elsewhere.“Found her,” he suddenly stated, Shigaraki glanced over to him as he turned on his earpiece, “Toga, Ragdoll is to your right, straight ahead.”“Gotchya, Izuku~!” came her eager reply. A few moments later, just as Ragdoll had noticed the drone, a knife shot out of the treeline and hit the distracted hero.Having seen that the teen could handle the hero now she’d been knocked down, he moved the drone off elsewhere.“So far so good,” Izuku let out a small hum as he and Shigaraki watched as the circle of blue flames finally finished forming from their high point.“How long do you think this’ll take?” Shigaraki asked as he moved to scratch at his neck just to have Izuku swat his hands away from his neck.“Don’t scratch, it makes it worse,” he scolded before focusing forward again, “and hopefully not too long,” he opened up the pocket watch that Mr Compress had gifted to him as a ‘friendly gesture from one showman to another’ and glanced over the time before he snapped the watch shut and put it back into his pocket, looking back over to Shigaraki, “the longer that this battle goes on, the less control we have over the battlefield. It’s their home turf, once they’ve gotten over their initial shock… well, it won’t be as easy.”─────────────────────Dabi was quick to set the perimeter ablaze, a wide ring of brilliant blue flames quickly crawling up the mountain.“He was right,” Dabi muttered as he watched his work burn, “it really was dry down here. Lucky me.”“You done, Dabi? We’re on a time crunch! Yeah and it’s hot, hot, hell! Ouch—” Twice flinched away from a rogue spark and Dabi just gave him an amused glance over before nodding.“Yeah. I’m ready. Let’s go. We’ve got some brats to kidnap,” he told his masked partner as they started up the mountain, “hold on, let me report in,” he turned on his earpiece, “Izuku, the perimeter is set. You got a certain location yet?”“Good work, we can see it up here,” Izuku’s voice came back, “and yeah. Just walk straight up from your position. Shouldn’t take too long. They’re not too much further up from where you are.”“Got it,” Dabi nodded before looking over to Twice and gesturing to him, “come on. We’ve got a mountain to hike.”“Fun! Boo!”It took longer than Dabi had expected it to, and it settled in him once again that he hated hiking. The outdoors. The bugs. The trees. Everything. He’d take the city over the forests any day.“Is that it? No way, as if,” Twice pointed at a building before moving to wave his hand dismissively at it.“Looks like it,” Dabi nodded before looking over at Twice, “alright, ready to do this?”“Of course. No way, it’s scary!”“Just get it done,” he rolled his eyes before glancing to the side, “I’ll start torching the place,” he paused as he glanced around, “yo, brain boss, where is that Nomu?”“It’ll be joining you soon,” came Izuku’s short reply, “Moonfish has only just been put into position. The Nomu will join soon.”He sighed before shrugging it off and started to throw flames around while Twice created a clone of Dabi and sent it off into the building they were surrounding.“Well, I’m done,” Dabi stopped next to Twice, “yours?”“Working on it. Stop nagging!” Twice shot back before the doors shot open and the Dabi clone came skidding out of the building, Aizawa following right after.“Oh that’s not good,” Dabi paused as Twice’s clone melted and Aizawa gaze stopped on them, “what did he say we do with this guy again?”“Walk away! Don’t! Run!” Twice was already turning to run off but Dabi grabbed his arm and turned him back.“Make another clone,” he told him, “we’ll tag team him. Flag down Compress. Get him over here.”Twice glanced over to Dabi before shrugging, “ok. Your funeral,” and created a clone of the fire wielding villain again before spinning on his heels and hurrying away.“Who are you people?” Aizawa asked as he pulled at his capture weapon, his hair floating up as the two Dabis stepped forward.“Izuku said hair up means his quirk is active,” Dabi muttered as he glanced to his fake self, “careful now.”The two shot forward as Aizawa’s gaze narrowed onto them, he leapt over the clone and threw his capture weapon out, the real Dabi ducking out of the way of it and throwing his burning arm forward, wisps of blue swirling towards the pro who’s gaze snapped over to him. Immediately the flames were doused and Aizawa knocked his head to the side to dodge the incoming hand before throwing his own up and snapping the capture weapon around his arm.The clone spun around and threw a wave of blue forward, the real Dabi barely leaning back on time to dodge them as Aizawa spun to duck leaving himself open to Dabi’s kick that was sent straight to his chest and sent him skidding back away from him.“Damn, he was right. That thing really gets a good grip on you,” Dabi shook his wrist out, now free from the capture weapon.“He?” Aizawa narrowed his gaze again before pausing, deciding to take a guess on just who this ‘he’ was, “you… do you know where Izuku Midoriya is? The alternate one.”“He sent us,” Dabi’s clone circled around and stopped next to the real one, “right?”“Right,” the real Dabi nodded as he saw Compress slip into the building, Aizawa seemed to notice his gaze and went to turn but Dabi was quick to pull his attention back again, “ah-ah! Over here. I’m your target. Izuku keeps talking you up, let me see just what all the fuss is about.”─────────────────────Compress’ job was simple. Get in, snag Neito Monoma and any extras he can pick up, then get out. Simple. Easy. So straight forward.But when he was called to the building after it being confirmed by Dabi and Twice, he was not expecting to see a pro hero still inside. And of all people, Vlad King was not who he was expecting.“Whoa now! A twist in the script!” Compress stared on in a not totally pleased shock, “pleasure to meet you, students and teacher of UA. I am here to extend an invitation to one of you lucky few children to visit the grand League of Villains, what do you say?”“I say, you are a fool if you think I’m letting you take any of my students, villain!” Vlad King roared as he rushed forward. He threw his arms out and swung them forward, going to crush the masked magician in them but just as he’d wrapped them around him, the villain suddenly just disappeared and reappeared on one of the tables.“Sorry, sir, but I am here for one person and one person only,” Compress spun around dramatically and threw his hand out towards Monoma who was just staring on in confusion, “yes! You! The lucky winner. Come, it’s a great honour.”“Me? No way!” Monoma backed up as Kirishima threw himself in front of him, his quirk active as he grinned forward.“You really think we’re going to just let you take one of our friends?!” he exclaimed, “not a chance!”“Who’s friend? Not yours!” Monoma shot back.“Do you want us to let this masked guy take you? Stop complaining,” Ashido shot at him.“All of you,” Vlad King turned to them, “get out of here, now!”“But what about you?!” Kaminari exclaimed, “and Sero and Sato are still—"“Never mind it. Out. Now!” the pro shouted as he pushed his hands forward, bullets of blood shot out of his gauntlets and flew straight for Compress who just ducked out of the way, the blood bursting through the wall behind him as the villain just let out a low sigh, looking up at the hole created behind him.That would’ve torn a limb off if it’d hit me, he glanced to the side as he realised that, Izuku was right. This one is dangerous. Maybe I should just compress him and get out.“I’m truly disappointed that you’re so unwilling,” Compress shook his head, “but I have my job. I won’t fail to bring you back. A true showman never disappoints his audience. Nor his sponsor. And my colleagues want you, so you I will bring to them. Come willingly or… we can go the hard way.”“Guess you’ll just have to go the hard way because we are not letting you take Monoma,” Kaminari declared, “he’s an annoying rat but we won’t allow it!”“Right!” Ashido exclaimed, “what he said!”“Now aren’t you a couple of brave characters?” Compress smiled under his mask before jumping out of the way as Vlad King’s fist came swinging towards him, “now, now, why don’t you take a nap?”He spun back around and threw his hand up towards the larger man. Vlad King swept himself out of hands reach and then threw his fist towards the villain.“Bad move,” Compress stated as his hand was pressed up against the arm of the hero attacking him.“What?” Vlad King stared before suddenly in his place was a small, perfectly rounded, blue marble.“Sir!” Monoma shouted, rushing forward before being thrown back by Kirishima.“Stay back, he’s after you,” Kirishima shouted as Compress picked up the marble and flicked it up.“But he’s got my teacher!” the blonde shouted.“And we’ll get him back, but you have to stay out of the wa—” the red head started before being cut off as Compress suddenly appeared beside them, hands on both of the teen’s shoulders.“My, my, clearly we haven’t been taught not to let our guards down, have we?” Compress chimed gleefully as both teens dropped down into the palms of his hands in the form of marbles.“Now, Kaminari!” Ashido shouted as her hand was thrown forward, acid steaming across it as a line of golden electricity danced across the ground towards the villain who just ducked out of the way, his hand pressed down on his hat as he sprinted down the hall and out of the building again.“Consider that a conclusion, my dear heroes,” he spun on his heels just as Aizawa threw himself away from Dabi, his capture weapon and shirt burning blue.“You got him?” Dabi glanced over to Compress as the magician stopped next to him, the clone melting away.“I got a few,” Compress revealed the three marbles in his palm to the villain beside him.“Three? Bit overzealous, don’t you think?” Dabi asked, Compress just shrugged.“I was told to grab as many as I can alongside our aim. That’s what I did,” the masked man told him before glancing over to Aizawa, “are you done with this guy?”“Yeah, he’s pretty burnt out,” Dabi nodded before Kaminari and Ashido came sprinting out of the building.“What did I tell you—” Aizawa started to scold them before Ashido pointed over to Compress.“That guy has Monoma, Kirishima, and Mr Vlad King!” she shouted.“And that’s the cue to our exit,” Compress spun his hand in his hand in a dramatic flourish as he bowed before returning it to his head and looking over at Dabi, “time to reconvene with our comrades.”“Sure, we’re done here anyway,” Dabi nodded as the two turned to start walking away.“No. No we are not—” Aizawa glared forward, stopping Dabi with his capture weapon.“This? Again?” Dabi glared at it as he pulled against it, “let me go.”“Let my students and my insufferable coworker go,” Aizawa shot back as he threw himself forward, a knife cutting across the space forced Aizawa to stop.“Izuku and Shiggy are waiting,” Toga hopped out of the treeline and smiled, “let’s go~ I wanna stab Izuku, I met his real-world self, and he was so cute. I wonder if that one will be my boyfriend?”“You and boyfriends,” Dabi rolled his eyes before looking back at Aizawa, “watch out. She bites,” he turned to Compress, “go on ahead of us. We’ll join you soon.”“Don’t get arrested, you know that Izuku wouldn’t be happy with that. You’re one of his favourites,” Compress nodded before hurrying away.“Wait—” Aizawa tried to go after him, but another knife went flying forward.“He’s not so cute,” Toga sighed as she stopped next to Dabi, “I want to see Izuku.”“We will. Let’s just deal with these fools first,” Dabi’s hands flared up before disappearing, “not again. I swear to god. Give me my quirk back you infuriating hero!”─────────────────────
A few moments before_
Izuku looked over to Kurogiri.“Send the Nomu,” he told him, “they need help with their out.”“Of course,” Kurogiri nodded before disappearing again.“Why didn’t you send it earlier?” Shigaraki glanced over to Izuku who just let out a small, amused laugh.“Revenge,” he replied.“For what exactly?”“None of your business. Anyway, they’re taking too long,” Izuku looked up from the drones feed and glanced across the area, “and Muscular isn’t in his zone. I can’t find the fucker.”“He’s gone rogue?” Shigaraki asked, shooting the teen an annoyed look, “I thought you said he was useful. That’s why you picked him for the team.”“He was useful… in my reality. He literally beat three people half to death and then it took literally the whole force of All Might to crush him,” Izuku argued, “there’s no All Might here. So. He should be pretty much invincible but where the hell has he gone? That’s annoying. If this goes shit side up because of this one guy—”“You’ll have a friend to die with,” Shigaraki finished for him. Izuku just waved him off.“As if you’d ever—oh? You’re back,” Izuku spoke before pausing when Kurogiri reformed between them, “the Nomu in place?”“Yes. And Dabi and Toga are retreating from the supplementary class building,” Kurogiri reported.“And Compress?”“He was not there,” the warp villain answered.“Weird,” Izuku hummed as he looked down at the drone footage, “I haven’t seen him in a while. Wonder where he’s disappeared off to as well.”“For the eyes in the sky, you’re not doing the eyes in the sky thing very well,” Shigaraki grumbled.“You think it’s so easy? Why don’t you take over, huh?” Izuku snapped. Shigaraki glanced over to him and just rolled his eyes as the teen glanced back down to the feed, “this is taking too long. Maybe I should go over there—”“And do what?” the other asked, “a rat could defeat you in a fight.”“Are you picking one with me right now?” Izuku spun around to him.Shigaraki was about to move to attack him but Kurogiri forming between them stopped him.“We should not fight amongst each other,” Kurogiri declared.“Fine,” Shigaraki scoffed, “take me to the warehouse. I’m bored here.”“And you?” Kurogiri turned to Izuku.“Leave me,” the teen waved the drones controller as a gesture, “come back for me when you get the message that everyone is ready in position to leave.”“Understood,” the warp villain nodded before he and Shigaraki disappeared from sight in a wave of purple as Izuku looked down again.“This is a lot of fun~” he hummed, “really a crime we missed out on this ourselves in my reality. Truly.”
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Dabi staggered back and let out a low breath before looking over to Toga who was shaking off an electric shock.“We can’t deal with these guys, Dabi,” Toga looked over to him, “I can’t even get any blood. No fun.”“This is pissing me off,” Dabi glared before a fist came flying towards him. He ducked, threw his hands up and grabbed the owner of the fist, throwing him over his shoulder before slamming the heel of his foot onto Kaminari’s throat as he pulled on his arm, “You really gotta work on your hand to hand, kid.”“Dabi!” Toga shouted before a fist was buried into his face and sending him staggering back.“Fuck!” he hissed out as he leaned up against a tree and glanced around.Ashido was slumped up against the building, Kaminari pressed to the floor, both unconscious. Sero and Sato who’d not been in the main room when they’d attacked had also come out when they heard Kaminari shouting for Ashido, both of them were knocked out and thrown across the area. Sato didn’t have enough sugar to keep his enhancement for long enough and was knocked down by Toga after she threw him in the way of Aizawa and Dabi who got his quirk back just long enough to burn Sero so much he was forced down before Aizawa erased his quirk again.“Kurogiri! Where is that damn Nomu!” Dabi shouted out in frustration before suddenly, the very creature that Dabi was waiting for came sprinting out of the treeline towards him and he rolled his eyes before pointing over at Aizawa, “keep him busy. Come back when we call for you.”The Nomu didn’t show any response towards the villain but did as it was told, immediately throwing itself forward towards Aizawa and engaging with him as Toga and Dabi spun around and started to finally leave.“No—!” Aizawa tried to jump over the Nomu, but it grabbed his capture weapon and dragged him down again.“Don’t have too much fun,” Dabi turned and smiled before looking at Toga, “Compress has our target so let’s go straight to the meet up point.”“Ok~”“No! Wait—damnit! Get… fuck!” Aizawa’s shouts were lost on the retreating villains.“You look a bit beaten up there, Dabi,” Toga eyed him, clearly amused.“I’m sending my medical bills to Izuku,” Dabi huffed.“What medical bills? Do we have access to a hospital?” Toga looked baffled, “didn’t think medical coverage came with the League.”Dabi just glanced over at her before letting out a low sigh and shaking his head, it was a damn joke.─────────────────────
A little before Toga joined Dabi battling—or “battling”—Aizawa_
Muscular let out a low grumble and scoff as he walked through the forest where he’d been dropped. He was grumbling to himself about his displeasure at being ordered around by a teenager who wasn’t even of the reality they were in. ‘Crazy brat’ was thrown to the wind a few times before a form on the edge of a cliff caught his attention and he felt a grin grow across his face.“Who needs to follow that brats orders when I can go have some fun of my own, hm?” he turned and made his way up the cliff side towards the young boy sitting alone.It was the young nephew of one of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, Kota.It didn’t take the villain long to have reached the top of the cliff and soon enough, Kota was backing away from him, pure terror across his face as the words of his guardian flooded his head through her quirk. Her worry was palpable, and it seemed to set a larger wave of fear over the boy as he stared Muscular down.“I was told to crush the students,” Muscular started, “but I don’t like the guy bossing me around so,” he pulled his earpiece out and crushed it in the palm of his hands before tipping it to the side, small pieces of plastic tumbling to the floor, “I say fuck him, right, kid?”He stopped in front of the kid, staring him down in interest, “you’re not on our list though. But the hats kind of cool, shall we trade? I hate my mask, it’s lame, boring, has no style. It was because I’m a newbie that I got this piece of crap—they said they couldn’t get the shipment of good stuff in time but personally, I think it’s because of that black haired brat. He doesn’t seem interested in keeping me around so why should I listen to him?” he paused as he pulled his mask off, “so how about it, kid? We trading or what?”Kota spun on his heels and started to run away from him desperately as the mask was flung to the side.“Well, I suppose he did say we could go crazy. If we killed someone then that’d be good too,” Muscular continued in his low drawl as he activated his quirk and launched forward, pushing himself towards the wall beside them and bouncing off the side, cutting the young boy off from going any further, “you know, I think you and I should have a bit-a fun up here, kiddo. You ready?!”His arm folded over with muscles, tensing up and building a wall of strength over him as the boy just continued to stare on in fear.There wasn’t much he could do. He knew his quirk wasn’t strong enough to fight an adult let alone one who was literally boosting his physical strength as he was, but the worst part was… he recognised the man ahead of him as he reached forward, aiming for the boy in front of him, his crazed smile burning into his mind as he stared forward.The faces of his parents were the only thing Kota saw as he faced the man that killed them.Papa… Mama… he called for them as the fist craned closer, squeezing his eyes shut as he waited for the impact but the impact that came was a staticky feeling as the green haired Izuku Midoriya shot forward and tackled him out of the way, the villain’s fist burying into the stone where Kota had once stood as green sparks rolled around the pair.“What’re you doing here?!” Kota asked Midoriya as he let out a low strained cough, pushing himself upright almost the second he landed again, not wanting to be caught off guard as Muscular stared at the teenager in front of him, a clear look of absolute interest in his face. Even he could see the resemblance between this teenager and his ‘boss’.“Ah~” Muscular leaned forward, “you I recognise. It’s kind of hard to when the brat has your same face. Some features are different though, makes me wonder if my alternate self has different hair and eye colour too. A real mind teaser that thought, isn’t it? Anyway, ignoring that, you’re on my list so I need you to come with me. I’m sure the brat would be quite excited to see you too.”Midoriya stared forward defiantly, glancing back to Kota for a moment before glaring forward again, green sparks beginning to run up and down his body again, “hey, Kota? Promise that everything will be ok. I will save you no matter what, ok?”Muscular almost laughed.“What?” he bellowed out, clearly amused, “you really think that you? You tiny little man, can save this brat? Ha! Don’t you make me laugh… though, I suppose that does sound like what a wannabe hero would say. You people really do like to go on… and on… and on about justice—it’s the one thing I prefer in the alternate version of you. This kids absolutely mental and he’s bossy to boot but at least he doesn’t pretend to be a hero.”He paused for a moment, gaze narrowing over the teen and sobbing child in front of him for a moment before it stopped on Midoriya, he took a step forward, “you’re Midoriya, right? Just gotta make sure I’m getting my lanes right. Though, it doesn’t matter anyway. The boss wants us to grab those on our list, a few extra flies, and also to take some initiative and kill a few of you brats off in the process,” he pulled at his cloak and tossed it to the side, his muscle enhanced arm now fully in view as he threw himself forward, “come on, kid! Let’s have some fun first!”Midoriya had barely enough time to throw his arm up in a weak block, being pressed straight into the wall beside him at the impact.“Whoopsie,” Muscular grinned as he heard Midoriya’s pained grunt, “you know, maybe you can help me out a little bit first—you know where some guy called Monoma would be? I still have a job to do after all! Even if I’m not the one who’s been sent directly after him, if I can grab him myself I think that’ll put me a little higher on the hierarchy, don’t you?!”He threw himself forward again, this time Midoriya was expecting it and managed to dodge out of the way just as the villain’s fist shot past him and crashed into the wall he’d been pressed against just moments before.He’s after Monoma? Midoriya stared in confusion, why?“I’ll take your silence as a sign that you have no idea,” Muscular turned to look to the teen, his grin unwavering, “am I right or am I right? That’s fine by me, that means that I—” he launched for Midoriya, still mid-air, and threw himself forward, kick arching back and then slamming into the teen’s abdomen, throwing him into the wall again, “—can have some fun! Time to play, little hero, don’t even think about running away!”
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Midoriya landed with a pained grunt, a wound on his forehead opening and causing the blood to begin to stream down his face as he pushed himself up to his feet again. The crazed laugh and taunting of Muscular was all that he heard as he wiped the blood away from his face and then threw himself forward.His fist, enveloped in the glow of the green sparks swung back and pushed forward colliding with the villain’s blocking arm. He was hoping more than anything that he’d be able to do a hit and run while the villain was stunned from his hit, the main objective on his mind being get Kota out and back to safety.“What?” Muscular was almost amused as it was revealed that there was little to no effect on him, “is that all you’ve got? You’re a quick little bugger, I’ll give you that, but you… are not strong enough. It’s actually a bit pathetic—” he swung his arm out and sent the shorter teen tumbling back and away from him, skidding across the stone in a painful rush, “my quirk increases my speed and my strength so much that my muscles can’t even be contained in my skin—I know I’m bragging but it’s all too obvious, listen here, kid, because I ain’t saying it again: you. Are. Just. An. Inferior version of me!”The muscles grew out past his arm and across his back and chest before he threw himself forward, hand swinging down towards Midoriya again but missing as the teen pushed himself up, flying up into the air in a wave of green sparks and a small, pained hiss. The ground shattered and debris sprayed out, slamming into Midoriya as he attempted to evade them.Muscular was quick to throw himself into the air, a low rumble of a laugh coming out of him as he reared his fist back again and then slammed it into Midoriya’s side, sending him plummeting to the floor again, “I can’t believe it—! You really think you’re a hero, don’t you, kid?! It’s almost hilarious that it seems your villainous counterpart lives up to his role in society a whole of a lot better than you!”Midoriya couldn’t even find it in him to move, stuck in his lying position as Muscular landed ahead of him, continuing his long taunting spiel, not really caring much for the young teen’s condition and slowly growing a little more excited by the moment as he started to gain the idea that of all the people in the League, he could be the one to bring back the ultimate prize: Izuku Midoriya.“You’re no hero,” Muscular threw his hand up, “you’re just a fraud! And I’ll make sure you die that way—!”A rock no larger than the size of even half his palm hitting the back of his head was what made him stop.“You remember Waterhose?” Kota, with tears in his eyes, confronted the villain, hoping that he’d be able to give some form of distraction or time for Midoriya to build his strength again and get up, get off the ground, get up and fight back again. His confidence was anything but real as he forced himself to stand straight and focus forward on the villain ahead of him, “my Mum, my Dad… did you torment them as well before you killed them?!”Muscular stared for a moment in stunned silence before an interested grin crept across his face and he turned to him, “oh? Seriously? Those two losers were your parents? I pity you, kid. But hey, I guess that this means that this is fate, the world wanted us to reunite—did you know, it’s because of those Waterhose heroes that I have an artificial eye right now? Bet you didn’t.”“This is all your fault,” Kota glared forward, looking about as intimidating as a shaking puppy, “there is nothing in this world that’s right anymore and it’s all because of people like you!”“Little kids… always so quick to push the blame onto other people,” Muscular rolled his eyes with a nonchalant tone, “don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I killed them because of my eye. They died because I simply wanted to kill. It’s just that easy. They tried to stop me so in turn they died too. It was simply just the brilliant result of us all just trying our best,” he stepped forward, looming over Kota with a wicked grin and a crazed eye, suddenly becoming so much more imposing to the young boy than he had been previously, “the real crime here is promising to do something that you cannot do. That’s why Mummy and Daddy died, kiddo!”He spun around, a grin on his face as Midoriya threw himself forward, “nice try on the sneak attack, kid, but it just ain’t good enough!”“You ruined his life! And you won’t take the blame?!” Midoriya shouted, the sparks around him seemingly becoming wilder as his hand locked between a section of muscle, “I’ve got you now. It doesn’t matter how fast you are!”“Oh yeah?! But what’s your next move?! You going to punch me with that weak ass quirk of yours again?!” Muscular roared as he swung his fist forward to meet the teen using his own body to grapple onto him.“It’s not a matter of it I can do it or not! It’s a heroes job to turn his promises into a reality!” Midoriya shouted as his quirk flared up a level, fingers of sharp red crawling up and across his body as the green of the electricity snapped out wildly around him. His shirt tore away as the pressure built up.Muscular frowned as he pulled away, suddenly feeling a shift in the air around them.This isn’t good, there’s something… he stared, there’s something different about this kid now—When the punch landed, the explosion that followed was wild, the ground tearing away and debris being thrown dramatically out in all different directions as a gust of air burst out and rushed past anything and everything, Kota included.The young boy staggered into the gust, being knocked off balance and tumbling over the edge of the cliff only to have been caught by Midoriya and dragged back over the side.“Come on, Kota, let’s get back to camp. It’ll be safer there,” Midoriya turned as Kota just stared at him in silence with wide eyes, questioning why the teen would help him like this, his attention mostly on the broken arm. Midoriya was confident that finally, it was over. That a hundred percent of everything he had in him was enough to finally knock the villain down and the fact that he wasn’t making any moves was backing up that sentiment.Take that, evil me, looks like your move was a fail after all, Izuku huffed out a slow tense breath as he glared out over the forests treeline, blue flames burning wildly in an almost perfectly strategic circle around the area, the smoke dancing up into the sky in a slightly taunting sense of whispering victory to the battles happening all across the forest at that moment at time unbeknownst to the teen.It was the sound of crashing and the appearance of what could only be described as a literal ball of muscle that forced Midoriya to turn again, staring wide eyed as Muscular stepped out from the space he’d landed in, the muscles folding back on themselves and revealing the man more or less unharmed.How? Midoriya stared, horrified, that punch was at 100% there’s no way he got up from that—“Ha! You were too obvious but hey, even I have to admit that it wasn’t too bad a punch, Midoriya,” Muscular turned to him, his muscles out of sight as he straightened up and focused his attention on the children in front of him again.“Stay away!” Midoriya ordered as Muscular began his slow and steady approach.“Nah,” Muscular refused, stretching out his shoulder as he moved, “I think attacking sounds a whole of a lot more fun.”A few moments of silence passed as Muscular approached and Midoriya decided to desperately try to buy himself some time, get the man talking, make him more focused on possibly bragging than anything else, “tell me! Why are you here?! What does the League want?!”“It doesn’t matter to me,” Muscular answered, “I’m just glad that brat is finally out of my sight, and I’ve been let off my leash. So long as I get to use my quirk however I want for as long as I want then I couldn’t care less,” he pushed his hand into his pocket, pulling an eye out, “remember what I said earlier? We were just having fun, playing around, just messing around. But now I’m serious! Break time is over, kids, I’m coming at you for real now because I can see now that you are a whole of a lot stronger than I thought you were. I’m going to give you my full attention! Class is in session, time to learn how to take a beat down!”He pushed the eye into his socket as Midoriya crouched, dragging Kota onto his back as Muscular’s muscles burst out again, immediately covering the entirety of his visible body and then threw himself forward. His fist slammed down into the ground just as Midoriya threw himself and the young boy on his back up into the air, barely managing to dodge as the broken apart ground was sent flying out in all different directions, the entire cliff side shattering and breaking away.The villain didn’t give Midoriya even a second to think and moments later, the teen was barely managing to push himself to the side as the man’s fist collided with the space in the wall that he’d only seconds before been occupying.“Damnit—” Muscular pulled at his hand, wedged into the wall as the two younger body crashed to the floor, “I got too excited, got too far ahead of myself.”Midoriya’s brain was running on overdrive. He was running possible scenarios through his head, trying to find the best possible solution, trying to figure out just what he should do. He took into consideration he condition of his body, tired and overworked from the earlier days training and injured from the earlier moments in this battle. Not to mention, he had to protect Kota. He couldn’t just turn and run away, he was going to be slow by himself because of his body’s condition but with Kota too? He’d be much slower.He had to stop Muscular here and now.The longer the battle stretched, the less likely that the success was in Midoriya’s pocket, he knew that better than even the villain across from him who’d more or less come up with the same thoughts himself.I have to stand, Midoriya forced himself up as Kota shuffled back a few paces, the fear on his face couldn’t have been any more clear than it was, for Kota!“Ok, Kota, listen to me,” Midoriya didn’t turn, his gaze glued to the villain still fighting to free his fist from the wall as he spoke, “I’m going to fight this guy, I need you to stay back and out of the way and then when an opening is made… you have to run. Run straight to camp.”“You’re going to fight him again?!” Kota stared incredulously at the teen’s back, half exposed by the torn shirt, “but… but you can’t! Let’s go—together! Let’s go now! Come on! We can! Your punch didn’t hurt him earlier! You can’t win this fight!”“It’s going to be fine,” Midoriya told him as his quirk charged up again, sparks of green rushing up and down his form as the now free Muscular let out a loud anticipation filled laugh before the both of them launched themselves forward again.Midoriya’s power filled fist met with the constant cushioning of Muscular’s muscles, a blast of air flowing past them in the collision.“Come on now~ that was weaker than the last one! Don’t be so disappointing!” Muscular laughed out loudly as he and Midoriya continued to battle against each other, tears streaming from the teen’s eyes as he bit through the pain of the shattering of his already shattered bones yet again.“Go! I won’t let him get past me! It is all ok!” Midoriya shouted back to the young boy, “everything will be ok! Just run! Run, Kota! Go!”“What~?! Still looking after the little rugrat?! Oh man! Aren’t you just the height of responsibility, little hero?!” Muscular grinned down at the teen as he forced more pressure down onto him, clearly incredibly entertained by the prospect. This just earned a frustrated and pained yell from Midoriya who was forced to the ground, the muscles overpowering his somehow weaker form as Muscular continued to yell out to him.The pressure so intense that the sparks were quelled from the teen, and the villain found himself leaning over a more than injured teenager who was barely clinging to his consciousness through the biting pain and of broken bones and jagged stones stabbing into him from the crushed ground around him, wrapping around him like the one kind of blanket that you’d never ask for.Muscular didn’t even get the chance to think what his next move would be as he was suddenly doused in an admittedly small and pathetic wave of water.“The hell?” his gaze snapped up to see Kota, now standing once again with the return of his overqualified sense of false confidence, hands out and water dripping off of his fingers.“Let him go!” Kota bellowed, his shout barely reaching past the area let alone having much of an affect on the villain and yet still he shouted with everything he could, hoping that somewhere deep down, he sounded a lot more intimidating and demanding than he felt that he was.“Hold on, kiddo, wait your turn. I’ll get to you soon enough,” Muscular grinned as he focused onto him properly, “just wait a little longer, I’ll come kill you once I—what the—damnit—”In his moment of distraction, Midoriya pulled together as much of the last of his energy as he could, finding a new sense of fight in him at Kota’s shout. At knowing that there was someone waiting for him. That someone was relying on him and wishing for nothing but his success in this fight.
That someone was supporting him.
“I will not let you hurt Kota!” Midoriya shouted out as Muscular struggled against the sudden strength that seemed to be doubling, tripling, and quadrupling by the second. Pushing him up and forcing him back as the teen rose from the ground in which he’d been pinned to merely seconds beforehand.It was all over with one last punch.If what you called such a pressure filled attack a punch.It was a weapon on its own, sending the villain slamming into the wall, his consciousness stolen away from him the moment the fist collided with his face and not even feeling the pain of being buried into the wall.Kota just sobbed. Begging for a reason, trying to find why this guy, this stranger, this teenager, a foolish hero in training, Izuku Midoriya, why he was so determined to save him.“Come on…” Midoriya just smiled as he slowly turned, “lets… get out of here.”─────────────────────Izuku paused for a moment, glancing up from the drone footage to a cliff side not too far from the one he was sitting on, his legs hanging precariously over the edge as he just watched from the skies the events occurring around him.The ledge was now nothing more than a smoking disaster zone.“Hm~? Whatever burst through there really had some force, huh?” he chuckled to himself, “probably Muscular, that fool. Of course he went off the plan. I hope he at least killed someone for destroying my plan.”He still was not a huge fan of people ignoring his well formulated plans and his orders.But… he supposed it wouldn’t be too bad if someone died at the end of it at least.That was the least they owed him anyway.“Now… where is little heroic me..?”
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Midoriya barely managed to keep himself on his feet again after defeating Muscular. He couldn’t help but to stare over the forest, squinting as he glanced around at the burning ring of blue flames around the immediate area and a rising cloud of coloured fog he suspected to be some kind of drug, gas, or something to knock someone out in—he couldn’t tell if that one was done by a villain or by Yaoyorozu with a weapon, regardless, it looked bad.“I… underestimated his power. He was too strong, if all of the attacks are just as strong as him then… we all could die here,” his gaze was glued to the ring of fire that’d burned through a good portion of the forest, not to mention that they’re after Monoma—me too, but it felt like Monoma was the first thought. The focus, the priority. I need to somehow warn them. Possibly get Miss Mandalay to announce it, warn everyone…“Are you… ok, Midoriya?” Kota cautiously asked him as he noticed his slightly distant look.Midoriya turned to him a smile on his face before he winced and flinched at the movement, “I may have been injured but don’t worry, Kota, I have not been defeated. So, come on, let’s get you to safety.”Kota glanced to the villain, unconscious, beside them, “what about him?”“We’ll leave him here for now. With my arms as they are, I can’t do much more than that,” the teen beside him answered, “he’ll be down for a while. We’ll just have to notify the pros of his location once we have the time to. But right now, you’re my priority. We need to make sure you’re safe, ok?”Izuku paused as he looked across the flames again before glancing down at Kota, still looking a bit reluctant and anxious, again, “but we need your help too. Your water quirk can put those flames out and create a path for more help to reach us. We need you—”Kota stared before slowly nodding again, tears in his eyes as Midoriya crouched and turned to him, “for now, come on. Onto my back. We need to get you to camp.”─────────────────────The two started down the mountain, their path was more or less quiet. The sounds of shouts and clear fights were echoing around them, but they soon enough met with a slightly exhausted Shota Aizawa who was attempting to follow after the villains that’d split away from him—their target, unbeknownst to Midoriya, already in their possession and then some. Midoriya explained what he’d learnt as best he could and left Kota with him before turning to continue on to find the Wild, Wild Pussycats, not letting Aizawa get much more of a word in beside his message.He found the heroes in a clearing, all but one of their members, Ragdoll, present and battling two villains—Magne and Spinner.He was quick to shatter Spinner’s weapon and knock him out of the way in order to tell Mandalay that Kota was safe with Aizawa, and that the underground pro hero had a message that he wanted her to spread to the students alongside the information that Midoriya had learnt.“They’re here to kidnap Monoma from Class B,” Midoriya told Mandalay who was fussing over his injured arms, deciding to ignore the addition of his apparent position on the list.“Monoma?” she leaned back and raised a brow, “why?”“I’m not sure,” the teen answered, “I just know that they’re here to take him and any extra people that they can get their hands on. And also, Mr Aizawa wants you to tell the students of Class A and Class B that they have permission to use their quirks to engage with the villains!”Mandalay watched him for a moment as a frown formed on her face and she slowly turned to Tiger and Pixie-Bob, “I’ll relay this to the rest of the group. Midoriya, you really should sit down and wai—”“No. I’ve got to go find my classmates and guide them back here. They’re all bound to be scattered across the forest. Some of them may not even know how to get back,” Midoriya told her as he stood and started to inch off towards the forests, “don’t worry. I’ll be back and I’ll make sure to bring Monoma and the other guys with him back safely too.”“Wait—!” she shouted after him, but he was already spinning on his heels and sprinting off into the forest again, “damn—kids! Alright, Tiger, you—”“Busy, Mandalay!” Tiger shouted back at her as Spinner shot up at him, blades spinning out towards him, “down, lizard—”“I’m not a lizard!” Spinner shouted as he lunged forward before pushing himself back as the ground grew up between them, his gaze snapping over to Pixie-Bob who’s hands were planted on the floor as she stared over at them, “tch—”─────────────────────Izuku flinched, throwing his hand to his head as a voice suddenly exploded through it, “everyone in Class A and Class B, in the name of the pro hero, Eraser Head, you have permission to engage in combat! I repeat! Use your training! Fight these villains!”“What in the hell?!” Izuku dropped the controller to the drone as he painfully hissed out a pained breath, “why the hell can I hear that damn hero in my head—unless. Perhaps her quirk couldn’t differentiate between the two of us? This is actually useful.”He smiled as he pressed the mic on his earpiece, “watch out. The little heroes have permission to use their quirks to fight you now. The battle has gone on far too long. It’s time we start wrapping things up—”“Listen! We’ve discovered the villains’ target. It’s Neito Monoma!” the hero’s voice piped up again and Izuku let out a low groan as he glanced around, noticing that the controller had gone over the side of the ledge he was sitting on in his earlier moment of pain, the only explainable reason for said pain must’ve been because he wasn’t supposed to be in this reality, quirk backlash that no one knew about, “Monoma! Stay with your teachers in the building! Do not engage in combat! Stick to your group!”“Get that fucking hero out of my head,” he glared forward as he pushed himself to his feet and started towards the trail down to the forest, “guess I’m entering the forest now too,” he pressed his mic again with a sigh, “and I’ve lost my eyes in the sky. Entering the forest. Kurogiri, pick me up with the rest of them at rendezvous point B.”There was a chime of responses back and Izuku just shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked. He had no intention of actually engaging with anyone in the forest, but if he had to then he would.─────────────────────Only a little while later, Midoriya, still sprinting through the forest, stumbled across an injured Mezou Shoji and an out-of-control Dark Shadow with Tokoyami failing to resist against his quirk’s rampage.“You’re in pretty bad shape, Midoriya,” Shoji commented, “you should be laid up in bed recovering right now.”“You don’t look too great yourself, Shoji,” he returned as his gaze caught a bleeding limb on the multi-limbed teen from his position wrapped up in uninjured limbs after having being caught by the other after Dark Shadow’s unprovoked and unwilling attack against him mere moments before.“Yes,” Shoji sighed, “we were ambushed by the villains. I covered us from the attack but it triggered Tokoyami’s quirk and now he’s struggling to hold it back again.”“No,” Midoriya’s gaze moved to the darkened treeline beside them, “don’t tell me—”“Yeah. If we want to get through this forest, then we are going to have to face Dark Shadow first,” Shoji confirmed with a grim nod as said creature began to shift past him, a large dark mass crawling through the forest, dragging down trees as it passed and red eye burning with an indomitable rage slowly moved around them, “keep it down—we don’t want to alert him to our position.”“Right,” the green haired teen nodded, keeping his voice low, “but how did this happen?”“After Mandalay told us what was happening, that we shouldn’t engage, we were both on high alert but even so,” Shoji sighed as he explained, “one of the villains still managed to get the drop on us. We were separated so I hid in the bushes and tried to give Tokoyami some cover even though I’d lost one of my limbs but it’s ok—it looks worse than it is. It was just a duplicate, I can grow another. But—Tokoyami couldn’t stand to see me injured like that and as such… his quirk raged out of control and took over.”“And the darker that it is… the less control that Tokoyami has over Dark Shadow,” Midoriya stared forward as Dark Shadow let out a loud roar, “I didn’t imagine that his quirk had the capability of exploding like this.”“It was probably fuelled by his righteous fury and regret,” Shoji speculated, “he’s trying to hold it back, but they’ve only made it wilder.”He stepped back, intending to put a bit more distance between them and the raging threat as he spoke but the sound of a dry twig below his boot cracking drew attention to them. Barely, he managed to dodge out of the way of the shadow’s claw as it reached out for him, Tokoyami straining from within the shadowy cloak that was trying nothing more than to engulf him in its affect.“Forget about me!” Tokoyami urged through grit teeth, “just go! Find our other classmates! Help them instead! Leave me—!” he turned his attention back to his quirk with desperation, “please! Stop this, calm down, Dark Shadow!”“His quirk has a weakness to light,” Shoji continued with Midoriya as he managed to duck them out of sight again even despite trying to keep close enough that he could still see Tokoyami within the mouth of his quirk, “if we could just get him to a fire… or even back to camp, then we could attempt to contain it,” he glanced back to the teen on his back, “Midoriya, I know that these are strange circumstances but I just cannot leave my friend behind, certainly not while he’s suffering and struggling for the sake of the safety of those around him.”He paused a moment before focusing forward again, “you forced your body to continue forward despite it’s condition because you want to help Monoma, right? It’s admirable, even despite his… attitude towards us,” he paused before nodding to himself, his gaze hardening into that of something of determination, “I’ll help you. I’ll distract Dark Shadow for you so that you can get past them and run.”“Wait—the fires and the camp are both pretty far away,” Midoriya pointed out, “you’ll be in danger if he s—”A shadowy claw slammed through the space they were in a moment ago as Shoji managed to throw them out of the path of the attack just in time, whisps of shadow passing by them at an impossible speed.“I know that,” Shoji managed out as he skidded to the side and threw himself around a tree, “but to save people, you still have to take risks! That is what makes heroes, heroes. It’s also what you’re doing right now. But the question is, Midoriya, will you stay here to help me save Tokoyami? Or will you continue forward to help protect Monoma? You have to make a choice. We don’t have a wide enough window time span to do both right now. So, which will it be?”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Izuku let out a low sigh as he walked through the forest. He was genuinely annoyed that he’d dropped the controller. The drone looked expensive, probably a newer model too. He enjoyed the art of trying out the new technology that he could get his hands on, something about it being shiny and new just made him excited to take it for a spin but… now he’d lost it.Wasn’t his fault, to be totally fair, it was the hero’s fault. Her voice was in his head, distracting him. Wasn’t his fault. He was going to die on the hill of that opinion too.It was only when he stepped out into a small path from the treeline that he finally paused since leaving his perch as he heard a gasp.“Mido…ri…ya…” he turned to see a smaller teen that he was certain he recognised before the realisation dawned on him, “you’re not… Midoriya.”“That’s where you’re wrong. I am Midoriya but not your Midoriya,” Izuku turned to him, gun raised, “didn’t I already kill you once?”The gun fired before Mineta, who didn’t even know why he’d re-entered the forest along with the rest of his classmates in the first place when he was safe in the camp, could even register that it was real.Something in the air seemed to shift, crack slightly. But Izuku just shrugged it off and with a low upbeat whistle, the dark-haired teen continued on down the path, tucking the gun back into its spot and then folding his hands behind his back as he walked.“Quite a nice night,” he commented as he glanced up, “so many pretty stars—shame the city blocks them out, they’re worth more than even a million humans.”─────────────────────Midoriya and Shoji froze and glanced off to the side.“Was that… a gun shot?” the green haired teen asked before Shoji threw himself back as the darkened claw of Dark Shadow threw himself out towards them again.“I’m sure whoever is over there can deal with that,” Shoji told him as he backed up again, ducking out of the way and cautiously looking around, “have you made your decision?”“I have,” Midoriya nodded, “I do want to get to Monoma… but—” he focused forward, eyes barely managing to spot the struggling Tokoyami within the cloak of Dark Shadow, “Tokoyami is our friend. I cannot turn my back on him while he is suffering.”Shoji nodded, a look of determination on his face as he straightened up, “ok. Then… let’s work together.”“Right,” the teen on his back nodded, adjusting his position so he could see better over his friend’s shoulder, “if I’m right then… it’s quite possible that Kacchan and Todoroki are still in the forest, if we can just find one or both of them then we’ll be able to get them to use their quirks to help force Dark Shadow back again.”“That’s a good idea,” Shoji nodded, “they were ahead of us so you’re right, it’s possible that they are still here, although, the chaos may have pushed them off the main path.”“Even so, for now, we just need to lead Dark Shadow down that path,” Midoriya replied as he looked around, “it’s our only option for now unless you want to attempt to lead him to the flames but they’re…”“Too far away,” the multi armed teen nodded before taking a sharp inhale and nodding, “ok. Hold on then, Midoriya, I’ll try to keep you as steady as I can, but Dark Shadow is unpredictable right now.”“Don’t worry about me, Shoji,” Midoriya shot back. Shoji just nodded before Midoriya glanced back, the other teen already dragging them down the path, “hey! Over here!” he shouted back towards Dark Shadow before watching as it started to charge straight for them, “run, Shoji!”Shoji didn’t need much more after that. He sprinted forward, dodging left and right, ducking low as shadowed claws slashed across the space, cutting over them. The ground was torn up and the trees tossed from one space to another as Dark Shadow hurried straight after the two—technically one and one piggybacking—teens who kept gazes towards Dark Shadow as best as they could as they continued forward.“How much further ahead were they?!” Midoriya called down to Shoji who narrowly dodged the outstretch of the shadowed claw sweeping past him.“Not too far,” Shoji replied as he grabbed a tree and used his grasp to throw himself further forward quicker.“Wait—!” Midoriya squinted ahead of them and then nodded that direction, “look! Shoji! I see ice! It’s Todoroki! They’re fighting over there!”Shoji had also noticed the ice and nodded, “yes, I see it too. Hold on, Midoriya, sharp turn—” he stopped and turned harshly and abruptly on his heels, throwing himself in that direction, Midoriya’s head jerking with the turn slightly before he managed to pull himself forward again as they rushed straight towards the pillar of ice that was growing across the treeline.They seemed to be fighting a villain and for a moment, Midoriya, having not been able to see the villain they were fighting, was a little worried that it was his villainous self. There was still room for the possibility, and he was extremely worried about that case. Though at the same time, he suspected that he was a quirkless teen and at that point, just how much harm could he—the gun shot.Oh, now Midoriya was worried.If his villainous self had a gun… he had a feeling that he’d be terrifying and a threat to be wary of.“Hurry, Shoji,” Midoriya urged, “we need to get to them quickly!”“Right,” Shoji nodded as he pushed himself forward as fast as he could.“There! Look!” the green haired teen nodded ahead of them as they noticed the pair not too far ahead of them. Todoroki seemed to have one of the Class B kids strung over his back, unconscious.“Bakugo! Todoroki!” Shoji shouted frantically, “one of you! Give us some light! Quickly!”It was as they got closer that the two new additions to the group noticed that the villain the pair were facing was a strange looking man. He was in all black, head to toe, only the mouth visible out of the wrapping, it seemed to fold over like a straitjacket and from the mouth seemed to shoot jagged blades that held the man up, suspended in the air. Moonfish.The moment Shoji and Midoriya got close enough to them, Shoji suddenly found himself having to throw himself over a wall of ice as one of the jagged blades shot for them, crashing through the ice not too far behind them just as Dark Shadow came barrelling into the area, also hot on their trail.A moment later, a shadowy claw rose up and slammed Moonfish down into the floor, revealing a bit of a more disturbing sight to the two new incoming students as they turned to see the image.“Kacchan!” Midoriya shouted out to the blonde-haired teen ahead of him as they continued their approach to them, “now!”“We need some light now!” Shoji reiterated frantically, “he’s out of control!”Another claw sweeping down beside them forced Shoji to throw himself and Midoriya to the side, out of the way and slightly off their decided course forward.The other two teens watched them closely for a moment before Todoroki placed the Class B student down on the floor and prepared himself to throw up a wall of fire, “he’s attacking them wildly. If I throw up some of my fire then—”“Not so fast, icy hot,” Bakugo spoke up, stopping him as blades shot through Dark Shadow, the villain and the quirk related creature both seemingly arguing amongst each other over who was going to do what as Bakugo stepped forward, an overly confident grin on his face, “let him deal with that guy.”Just as he’d said that, Moonfish was wrapped up tightly in the shadows of Dark Shadow’s form, a crushing hold that forced the jagged blades to snap and bend away from their natural line. Within moments, Dark Shadow had the villain in its hold, had shattered his blades from his body, and then sent him flying with impressive force across the area, only stopping after Moonfish dropped to the floor and Bakugo and Todoroki both threw themselves forward.The crackle of a large explosion blasted forward as the heat of flames mixed in with it, aimed straight at Dark Shadow and only relenting when Tokoyami was on the floor, exhausted from the experience and a much smaller version of Dark Shadow frantically hovered over his figure.“And once again,” Bakugo rolled his eyes as the two stopped their quirks again, glancing back to the teen in question on the floor, “I’m a terrible match for you, bird boy.”“Thanks,” Tokoyami managed out, “you’ve saved me. I am grateful.”Bakugo didn’t respond as Todoroki’s gaze stopped on the villain they’d encountered, impressed that despite their own struggle against Moonfish, Tokoyami had managed to take him down in less than a couple of minutes.“My friend, are you ok?” Shoji asked slowly as he approached him, clearly tired from the running and dodging.“Shoji… I am sorry. To you as well, Midoriya,” Tokoyami slowly stated, unmoving from the ground as he just stared at his hands, clearly in dismay over his unwilling actions mere moments before, “I was consumed by my anger… I let my quirk take over… the influence of the darkness with my fury, it—it took over and I just… I ended up hurting Shoji—!”He was ashamed.It wasn’t his fault, not really, and yet, still. He was ashamed. Furious with himself but Shoji just let out a small sigh.“We’ll deal with that later,” he told him, “its what you would’ve said had our roles been reversed.”Tokoyami’s gaze snapped up in shock just to find soft eyes staring at him from Shoji and a weak but sincere smile coming from Midoriya who then chose to quickly move the conversation forward. It was in a mix of wanting to help Monoma, but also wanting to give Tokoyami something else to focus on before he got too frustrated again.There was no use getting frustrated right now. Maybe later, but not right now.“Ok. So, I don’t know if you heard Mandalay, but I found out that the villains are after Monoma, we—” Midoriya started before being cut off.“You’re going to suggest that we go and help that rat bastard, aren’t you?!” Bakugo cut him off, “why would we do that? He’s not even in our class. And he’s rude. All the time.”“Rich coming from the guy who’s been screaming ‘die’ in my face since we were five years old,” Midoriya glanced to the side, Bakugo just staring dumbfounded before scoffing.“Why’re they after Monoma?” Tokoyami asked, cutting in, “Are they trying to kill him? Why are they after him?”“That… I’m not sure about,” Midoriya answered, “but I think we should head straight to the remedial building. Or camp. Camp will be the safest place to be but…”“Monoma is in the remedial class,” Todoroki finished, “Aizawa and Vlad King are there too.”“Along with a good handful of our classmates,” Shoji reminded.“Sounds like he’s good, let’s just get our asses out of the forest and be done with this,” Bakugo said loudly, stuffing his hands into his pockets as he kicked at the ground below him.“Even if we wanted to go to camp, we’d have to cut straight across the forest anyway, the Wild, Wild Pussycats were fighting in the clearing ahead of us, so we need to backtrack to keep out of their way,” Midoriya explained, “the remedial classroom is just a little bit further up the trail from here. We go up, grab Monoma, our classmates and teachers, cut across to camp. In and out.”“In the process, we may still come across the villains throughout the forest,” Tokoyami pointed out.“Shoji can use his search ability, keep an eye or ear out,” Midoriya started, “then, we can use Todoroki’s ice as a first block and hard-hitting attack, after that, if Tokoyami is comfortable, we can use Dark Shadow to finish any off now that we’ve gotten it under control again.”“Ha?! You ignoring me, nerd?” Bakugo glared.“Your explosions will just draw more attention, not to mention it could set more fires around here,” Midoriya argued back, “the area is too dry from lack of rain to be using fire or explosions. One wrong area and the whole space goes up in flames. We need to avoid that,” everyone nodded in agreement, even Bakugo who looked more than dissatisfied with more or less being forced to be benched, “with a team like this… there’s no way it can go wrong. We just have to stick together and—”“And?” Shoji glanced back to him curiously, but Midoriya stopped himself and shook his head.“It’s nothing,” he replied, “we can do this,” they all nodded to him, “let’s go.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Earlier in the night, just before Toga joins Dabi_
Toga walked through the forest, knife spinning around in her hand as she moved. She’d just successfully attacked and sent Ragdoll away to the Master and now was onto Task Number 2 that Izuku had given her:
Gather as much student blood as possible.
The more she could get, the better. It would give them more opportunities in the future for infiltration, or so he had told her. She didn’t care regardless, she never did ever need a reason to get someone’s blood before and now she had the perfect reason to go a bit… knife crazy.She really was loving Izuku’s plan so far.“Did you hear that, Ochako?” a voice suddenly caught her attention, and a small grin slowly stretched across her face as she stopped her walk and turned towards the source.“Yeah. Miss Mandalay sounded serious,” a second spoke up.“Two?” Toga stepped towards them before sprinting and throwing her knife forward, “must be my lucky day!”The knife shot forward, snapping towards the two students. They barely managed to glance over towards it before the blade sliced through Uraraka’s arm.Immediately, she and Asui threw themselves back further, Uraraka’s hand moving to her wound as it bled.“Is your arm ok, Ochako?” Asui asked her as she glanced over at her friend with worry once they were sure they’d given themselves enough breathing room that the villain across from them was close enough to engage with if necessary, but also far enough away that she couldn’t do too much damage unless she wanted to risk closing the gap between them herself.“Yes,” Uraraka nodded, her gaze not leaving Toga’s form for even a second as she spoke, “I’m fine. It’s just a scratch.”“Aw~ that sucks,” Toga looked at the knife with a disappointed sigh, “it was too shallow. Didn’t get enough blood.”“What kind of person just slashes people out of nowhere?!” Asui asked, in disbelief, “just who do you think you are to be acting like that?”“I’m Toga, of course!” Toga beamed through her mask, pointing the knife towards them again as she moved her focus from the small amount of blood to the two girls across from her, “hey~ you two are super cute. I know who you are, Uraraka and Asui, right~?”Uraraka drew back slightly as she stared forward in mirroring disbelief as her friend beside her, “hold on—how does she know our names?”“The sports festival maybe?” Asui offered as she slumped slightly into her frame and glanced to her friend before looking forward again, “we know nothing about her… we’re at a disadvantage here. We need to stay on guard—”“There isn’t enough blood—” Toga huffed as she reached back to pull out a piece of her equipment, “normally, I’d just suck it directly from the cut to make it flow a little easier—no shame in the assist sometimes, you know?—but unfortunately, there’s just not enough time…” a moment later, knife in one hand and cylinder in the other, a needle was revealed from the cannister and she leaned slightly, clearly getting ready to launch herself into an attack again, “but don’t you worry, girls. Once I get this machine going, it’ll suck it all out for you. Super handy, huh? So I’ll just get my fill and then move along, just like I was never here. It’ll be just like having blood drawn from the doctors, just a little pinch and we’re done! Quick and easy, just like a click. So, c’mon, who’s first?!”She rushed forward, gaze glued to Uraraka as she moved.In that split moment, Uraraka threw herself back and Asui reacted by wrapping her tongue around her waist and throwing her further back quicker, also realising that Toga’s attention was focused on the brunette.“Ochako! You’ve got to get back to camp! We’ve only got permission to protect ourselves, not to counter-attack!” Asui urged as she threw her back, “I’m certain that that’s what Mr Aizawa meant in his message!”“Tsu! Come on!” Uraraka threw her hand forward, “grab my hand!”“I’ll be right—” the green haired girl started before barely managing to turn to avoid the blonde villain lunging for her, her knife skimming the edge of her tongue in the motion, causing her to let out a pained garble as she threw herself back, quickly forcing distance between her and Toga.Toga stopped and let out a small, entertained hum as she glanced up at Uraraka and then back to Asui, “Tsu~ what a cute nickname!” she pulled her mask down, her grin clear on her face, “I think I’ll call you that too. How cute!”“No you won’t! Only my friends get to call me Tsu!” Asui shot back before leaping to the side, the needle section of Toga’s equipment immediately shooting after her and pinning her straight to the tree behind her, immediately hindering her escape. Toga let out an excited shout, finally managing to keep her in one place.“Yay!” she cheered, “then that means that I’m your friend too, Tsu! Izuku said I’d be able to make a lot of new friends here!” she lunged forward, knife aiming straight for the frog-like girl across from her as Uraraka landed and started her sprint back towards her classmate and the villain pinning her to the tree.Did she just say Izuku? Uraraka couldn’t help but frown as she ran hoping that she’d either misheard what the blonde had said or that it was a different Izuku, “I’m coming, Tsu!”It was when she was closer that Uraraka threw herself forward, “get away from her!” but didn’t get close enough as the knife immediately was swung back towards the brunette, her hair being sliced in place of her shoulder as she managed to dodge the hit aiming towards her, pivoting towards the side. She reached forward, hand grasping around the outstretched wrist and pulling slightly as her other hand reached around and grabbed the back of Toga’s neck before pulling the villain forward and forcing her straight down to the floor, using a foot to slide one of Toga’s feet out from under her as she moved to give her an easier push to the ground.Thanks, Gunhead! was all she thought as she kept Toga pinned and looked straight up to Asui, “Tsu! Can you use your tongue to restrain her hands or is it too hurt?”“It’ll be fine in a bit,” Asui answered slowly before their attention was drawn back to Toga who let out a small, excited hum.“Ochako…” she trailed, “you’re delightful as well. You have the same smell as me—you’ve got a crush on someone, right~? Me too~ and I bet you want to be just like that special person of yours too, huh?” her smile just grew as she watched Uraraka’s expression harden and warp tensely, “I can tell~ we’re just two lovesick girls—first you start modelling yourself after the person you like but that isn’t enough so then you find that you actually just want to become that person instead and once you reach that point… well, there’s just no going back!”Uraraka looked as if she was fighting from recoiling from the teen below her as Toga’s expression just intensified.“That’s love, right?” Toga asked, “who’s charmed your heart, huh? I’m personally fond of people who have been slashed up and smell of fresh blood! That’s why I always end up cutting them~” she noticed the twist in Uraraka’s face, the slight shake in her hands, the disbelieving distant look in her gaze and her grin widened before she, managing to free a hand while distracting the brunette on her back, stabbed her needle into the hero student’s leg, “isn’t this fun~ just two girls talking about their crushes~ it’s so much fun!”Uraraka let out a pained hiss as the blood began to be sucked from her leg through the needle and straight into her machine on her back.“Ochako!” Asui shouted before freezing as she heard footsteps and then glancing to the side to see Shoji, Midoriya, Bakugo, Todoroki, Tokoyami, and the still unconscious member of class B, Kosei Tsuburaba, stepping out of the tree line, “quickly, guys! Help her!”Though, their presence was enough to force Toga to throw Uraraka off of her and throw herself back, quickly distancing herself.“Stop!” Uraraka shouted after Toga as she began to run, she stopped and turned back with a bored and disinterested look on her face.“No—there’s too many people now,” Toga told her, “and I don’t feel like being killed tonight. Toodles~”She was about to turn to leave again before she caught sight of an incredibly battered and beaten Izuku Midoriya. But not her Izuku Midoriya, no, no, this was a different one. The green haired on. The one from this reality.“Cute~” she whispered before throwing herself into the forest, “I’ve gotta find Dabi and tell him all about Izuku!”“No! Stop her!” Uraraka threw herself to her feet again as she planned to hurry after Toga, but Asui stopped her.“No, Ochako—it’s too dangerous,” she told her quickly, “we don’t know what kind of quirk that she has. She’s too much of an unknown. It could end up worse for us.”Uraraka took in a sharp breath before sighing, “damnit.”“Who was that girl just now?” Todoroki was quick to ask them once the group of boys reached the two girls.“She was one of the villains,” Asui answered, “she was crazy!”“Uraraka, you’re hurt,” Midoriya quickly pointed out.“It’s not too bad,” the brunette replied, “I can still walk just fine, and my arm doesn’t hurt too much but, Deku, look at yourself! You’re the one that looks terrible… what happened?”“We should leave questions for later, we can’t stand here and keep talking,” Shoji cut in before Midoriya could even think to start explaining, “let’s keep moving.”Midoriya nodded, “I’m glad you’re not injured too bad. We’re heading towards the remedial building to help Monoma and get him to camp. You should join our group, we could use your help. Both of you.”“But isn’t Mr Aizawa up there?” Asui asked, “he’ll be fine, right?”“And yet, unfortunately, it wasn’t written in the script that Eraser Head was the victor of the evening,” a voice suddenly spoke up, they all froze, not recognising the voice and then snapping their gazes up to the trees as Bakugo let out a loud shout when he noticed the orange cladded, mask wearing villain casually leaning up against the side of the tree, eyeing the group below curiously.Clearly, he was considering one last capture of the evening. A fourth marble.
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
Mr Compress hurried through the forest.He was pleased that he’d managed to grab not one, but two students plus a hero. He had no doubt, that should the need arrive, he could use the hero as a little distraction tactic to get away, so long as he kept hold of the two students. He was certain that both Izuku and Shigaraki would be pleased to find that he’d gotten them, so he didn’t much mind the loss of the hero if it came down to it.If anything, he relished in the feeling of this success and as such, when he heard a gaggle of students talking amongst each other, he couldn’t help but to tuck himself away into the treeline, watching them. Based on the injuries that two of the students were presenting, he believed that Himiko Toga had been here not too long ago and quite possibly also Muscular—but at the same time, he was basing that off the injuries on one of the boys… hold on—“Oh~ hoh~” he let out an interested hum as he realised that the injured boy looked exactly like the basically unofficial leader but official strategist of the group, Izuku Midoriya, save for his black hair and red eyes, both switched out for a gentle forest green, “so that is our dutiful other worlder’s double? Let’s see just how this will play out.”He zoned in to catch the tail end of their conversation and decided to chime in, “and yet, unfortunately, it wasn’t written in the script that Eraser Head was the victor of the evening.”The students all froze upon hearing his voice, the pleased hum not failing to escape him at the effect that he had over the teens. Though it didn’t last long as the blonde of the group let out a loud bellowing shout, pointing him out amongst the tree’s branches and leaves.That’s Katsuki Bakugo. Izuku says to leave him out of this, he thought to himself as he eyed the blonde, he doesn’t seem like he’d add much personality to the group regardless anyway, so I’m not too bothered about that decision. Now… who else… who else… zero gravity girl? No, she looks rather plain—the frog girl? Spinner may have an issue with that one… the half and half kid? We already have one flaming idiot in the League, I doubt we need a second even with the addition of ice… so that leaves… Mezou Shoji, Fumikage Tokoyami and… of course, Izuku Midoriya. The real one.“Say,” he leaned forward slightly and pointed at Shoji who flinched at the attention slightly, “tell me, on a scale from one to ten, where would you place your personality? One being as bland as an expired by five years cracker and ten being as flavourful as my personal favourite person in the world?” he noticed the blank stare and pointed at himself with a gleeful laugh, “me!”Shoji didn’t answer which just finalised his position on the rankings and just as he was about to tell him ‘oops, you’re out, bucko’, a loud explosion rung out before a hand reached forward and grabbed at him. He barely had even a moment to back up, falling off of the branch out of the grabbing reach of Bakugo who’d decided he was done with stranding around and despite the dry forest around him, decided to show Compress just what exactly it was that he was known for amongst the hero students. His wild and mildly unpredictable explosions.“Whoa now—!” Compress exclaimed as he threw himself around the back of a tree and ducked out of sight, “jumping straight to the fight scene is unbecoming of a hero, one must wait and let the scene play with patience. As the hero, you must collect as much information that you can and build your stance and strategies—it is the only reasonable approach to the situation.”“Shut up! No one cares about what you have to say, villain!” Bakugo roared back without even a moment to let anyone else interject.“My, my. That doesn’t sound very heroic,” Compress teased as he spun around the side of the tree and threw himself forward.I’ll just grab the shadow one and get out, he decided as he ducked under Uraraka’s hands, very familiar with her quirk from a mix of the Sports Festival and Izuku’s very detailed analysis of hers and the rest of the class’s quirks, then ducked as a tongue snapped out towards him, that’s annoying too.Swinging around, he threw his knee into Asui’s side, sending her tumbling back into Uraraka.Another explosion followed quickly after and the sudden force of something slamming into his side sent him rolling to the floor. When he pushed himself up he glared forward, the group of students slowly closing in on him.“This… isn’t going to work,” he muttered before throwing himself to his feet again, “it would seem that I am both outclassed and outmatched and as such,” he pulled out the one smoke bomb that Izuku had insisted he take just in case of an emergency and raised it up disguised in his dramatic bow, “I believe that it is quite time for me to take my leave—we have what we came for anyway. Now, as much as I’d love to say it was a pleasure—it wasn’t—goodbye, dear students, may your evening be pleasant.”“Have what they…” Midoriya trailed before staring as realisation dawned over his features, “they have Monoma already! Get—”His shout didn’t get to go any further as Compress threw the smoke bomb down, it exploded upon the contact with the ground and the villain threw himself to the trees again, barely managing to avoid the wall of ice that raced forward down the area of the trail that he’d been standing in moments before.My, my, these heroes don’t feel all that heroic to me, he hummed out a chuckle to himself as he continued forward, heading straight for the rendezvous point, anyway, no use hanging around here. We have what we want, we don’t need anything more. The other Izuku Midoriya was more of a suggestion in my opinion so if we don’t come back with him, it’s not the end of the world. We can just collect him next—A heavy force slammed into his back, and he found himself being thrown forward. Letting out a startled shout, he waited for the floor to come back to him and soon enough found himself skidding across the ground and straight to the feet of the waiting Dabi amongst the rest of the League that’d managed to return to the clearing in the forest.Dabi, Toga, Magne, Spinner, Twice, and now also Compress.“Ow—” he muttered out lowly as he slowly pushed himself up.“You left long before we did, how did we get back here before you?” Dabi cast the other villain with a raised brow and the magician just let out an awkward laugh.“I got a bit too confident in myself,” he replied before turning and pointing towards the trees, “but more importantly… we have company.”“Great,” Dabi rolled his eyes and glanced forward just as the students all came skidding out into the area. He let out a small hum as he glanced across the group of students, “looks like you fucked up, Compress.”“I simply wanted to make our mini strategist happy,” Compress replied as his gaze moved across the students as well, eyeing the group curiously as he noticed that Uraraka, Asui, the unconscious Tsuburaba, and Tokoyami were no longer with the group—considering Tsubaraba’s current conscious state, he quickly concluded that the girls, also injured themselves, had left to take him to safety and, unless the bird like teen was hiding out somewhere around them, then he went with them as well as likely extra protection. How sweet—but this now only left heavy hitters.He, personally, didn’t particularly mind. After all, if anyone was fighting tonight, it was not going to be him. First gate to pop up, he’d be going straight into it without even a moment of hesitation. He’d leave the dirty work to the rest of his cohort of villains. That was the plan anyway… but somehow in mere moments of the hero students joining them in the opening, the villains were stuck into a battle, struggling against those that were fighting.The only two that weren’t were Midoriya and Shoji. Midoriya for painfully obvious reasons and Shoji because he was observing, listening, waiting, while also acting as, as Dabi was imagining it, Midoriya’s personal pony.“Fucking finally!” Dabi shouted as warp gates sprouted out across the area.“As much as I’d love to keep playing,” Toga used Bakugo’s chest, bouncing off it with two feet planted firmly against it, and throwing herself back, “I’ve got so much to talk about with Izuku that I just can’t hang around here!”Twice skipped into her path and caught her before slinging her over his shoulder and pulling one eye down as he stuck his tongue out tauntingly, the two of them tumbling back through the warp.“See you another day~ I never want to see you ever again! Die!” Twice exclaimed before the warp gate almost immediately closed up the minute they passed through it.“Back off, little man!” Magne was next as she swung her magnet forward, pushing Todoroki away from the group he was currently attempting to ice to the ground with continuous waves, easily dodged by Spinner who’d decided that tonight was going to be the night that he pretended his katana were ice picks rather than swords. The moment Todoroki was bouncing across the floor at the push, both Magne and Spinner turned and gave Dabi and Compress a nod before waving to the students and slipping through their own gates, theirs shutting just as Toga’s had.“They’re getting away, damnit!” Bakugo hissed out as he and Todoroki slowly pushed themselves up again, “I thought you were supposed to be powerful, half ‘n’ half. You suck! Get off the floor and ice those fuckers!”“If only you’d stop setting things on fire, then maybe I’d be able to do my job—!” Todoroki shot back as he threw a hand forward, a wave of ice aimed straight for Compress and Dabi who shared a look. Compress was dumbfounded while Dabi rolled his eyes and simply pushed his hand forward, a wall of blue melting the ice away with biting fingers of violent flames.“The UA students don’t seem as impressive as Izuku made them out to seem,” Compress chuckled to himself.“They never are,” Dabi huffed before glancing to him, “you still have them?”“All three,” Compress presented three pearly blue marbles to the villain beside him, “the blonde, the red head, and the overzealous hero.”Red head..? Midoriya stared, Kirishima!“Toss the hero, we—” the other villain began to speak but a hand shooting past his vision caused him to stop as both he and Compress started to throw themselves back. His gaze snapped to the side to see Shoji—when did he—no. It doesn’t matter. He’s getting too confident in himself.He threw his hand forward as Shoji began to retreat, flames swirling dangerously forward and shooting straight for the towering statured teen and by association the green haired teen wearing an expression something fierce and determined when facing the two villains ahead of him. The sight made Dabi grin as he watched them retreat backwards, flames biting at the larger teen’s clothes causing the ensuing awkward flame pat down dance to start as Shoji attempted to brush the flames away. Only managing to successfully do so with a little aid from Todoroki who froze over that section of his shirt.“I got them,” Shoji announced proudly after that.Dabi raised a brow and glanced over to Compress who just looked over at the teens. Dabi was certain that the villain beside him probably had a disinterested look on his face if his lazy and relaxed posture had anything to do with it.He does not, in fact, have them, was what Dabi concluded with a twisting smile. The smile continued to grow as the pair of villains listened to Shoji explain and show off the three marbles in his hand, the rest of the students showing their growing sense of unknowing false victory over the villains as Shoji continued on. He just couldn’t help it.How naïve these foolish boys were.Before he or Compress could speak up, ruin their fun, destroy their victorious shouts and taunts towards the villains, stomp all over the hope they had and spit it back out with teasing of their own, the sound of footsteps crossing across dry twigs and the ground below them echoed through the area causing everyone to freeze and fall silent. The two groups were forced to glance over to the source just to watch as a mirror image version of Izuku Midoriya save for a few obvious differences—black hair, red eyes, exhausted look that could rival even Aizawa’s, thin underweight frame—stepped out of the treeline.Izuku’s gaze flickered across the two groups before stopping on what was left of his ragtag group of villains, the two men being amongst the group that he knew for certain to be the only ones left standing, the fodder clearly having already lost.He rolled his eyes at that.Useless bastards, was all he thought out before he decided he’d actually speak, break the tension, cut into the silence.“You…” Izuku started with a small hum, “are still here? You’re behind schedule.”“It’s not our fault,” Dabi huffed, “those guys were difficult to work with.”He pointed over at the students lingering to Izuku’s right. He glanced over to them and let out a sigh as he met Midoriya’s gaze.“Ugh—it’s you,” Izuku visibly grimaced before his gaze trailed across the rest of the group, Mezou Shoji… his gaze was wide in disbelief and his form stiff in tenseness. Shoto Todoroki was no different but, his surprise was well hidden, though there were still signs—a tightly clenched jaw, hands locked together into tight, white knuckling fists, and gaze focused almost singularly on Izuku—and then there was of course the actual real Izuku Midoriya of this reality. But he didn’t look all that surprised to see him, just disappointed and slightly desperate, for what exactly? Izuku had no idea, nor did he plan to find out. And finally…Katsuki Bakugo.He was baffled. His expression completely blanked out before a foolish look fell across it. He didn’t look much like the Katsuki Bakugo of Izuku’s reality, no, instead he looked rough and like he probably beat up little kids for fun. He probably swore a lot and told people to die just because he could, or so Izuku was assuming. So, so different to the Katsuki of his reality who was soft and weak. Emotionally compromised every time that he was mentioned, pleading and begging for Izuku to return home, to come back with him and become heroes together—such a foolish dream, a dream long since forgotten and left to rot in the flames of the fires that Izuku himself had started in his childhood friend’s home earlier in the previous year when the League of Villains’ name was undoubtedly one backed by undisputed fear and some kind of twisted respect.So… so… different.It was almost funny.He’d laugh if he didn’t find it so absurd. He wondered, just for a moment, if his Katsuki Bakugo would’ve grown into this if he hadn’t “died”, if he hadn’t “gone missing”. If he hadn’t left.No point dwelling on the ‘what if’s now, he decided before turning back to his villains, “just move it. We don’t have all day. We have a schedule to keep. One I am rather keen to keep this time. Ah—wait. You do have him, right?”“That’s where you’re wrong!” Midoriya suddenly spoke. Izuku paused a moment and turned to his counterpart with a raised brow.“Did I give you permission to speak to me?” he asked, “or did Daddy not teach you to only speak when spoken to?”Midoriya’s brows dipped into a frown slightly before he focused forward again with a determined look, “we have Monoma, Kirishima, and the hero you kidnapped! You’ve lost, Izuku!”Izuku paused a moment before he heard a scoff like laugh come from Dabi which caused him to look to the older villain. It only took that for Izuku to realise just what exactly that meant and so Izuku’s gaze swept back towards Midoriya, smile slowly growing. It was placating, like a customer service smile. Empty and unforgiving as it stopped on the teens to his side.“And what makes you think that?” he asked.Midoriya stared, the words echoed through his head over and over, round and round. Bouncing off one side of his mind to the other before his face dropped and he looked down to the marbles in Shoji’s hands.“Shoji… you—”“Haven’t got them? You’d be correct,” Compress laughed as he raised his mask just enough to reveal his mouth and that, on his now outstretched tongue, sat three marbles. So perfectly blue, round, and glistening almost tauntingly in the moonlight, “they always fall for that little trick of mine. I am quite sorry, but I am a man of habit and… I love to teach a lesson: when something shiny is being waved around at you, it means that something is happening elsewhere and you’re focusing on the wrong thing, on the thing the magician wants you to focus on. And the moment you do—” he pulled them off of his tongue and threw one forward at the knowing nod of Izuku, the three villains stepped towards the final open warp gate in the area, “—you’ve lost.”With the simple click of his fingers, as the group of teens rushed forwards to stop them, the marble suddenly exploded out and Vlad King’s body was thrown into them, slamming into their group and pinning them down as the three villains disappeared through the gate.Izuku smiled at Midoriya and gave him a small taunting wave, “my, my, remind me who lost?”“No!” Midoriya shouted back, desperation clear on his face as the warp shut and the two teens were lost to the villains, nothing but the destruction in the forest, the injured students, and abandoned “canon fodder” of villains left behind to indicate that they’d even been there that evening in the first place.─────────────────────Izuku took in a deep breath for a moment once he’d stepped out of the warp and glanced across the group of villains left over with a small, and admittedly smug, smile, “and now we’re down to the League I know and love.”“You love us, Izuku?” Toga was quick to jump on that.“How cute. I hate you,” Twice hopped over to the teen who just pointed at chairs brought over ready for their guest, and now guests.“Compress, release our guests. Tie them up, Twice,” Izuku ordered, “It’s time we have the discussion part of this evening. So, Shigaraki, it’s your turn. I sincerely hope that you’ve got something.”“I’m working on it!” Shigaraki hissed as the group split up and moved around the warehouse into various ‘threatening’ (as they thought) positions around the space.Izuku just gave him a disbelieving look before sighing and just deciding he was done with that and took a seat beside Dabi as he just watched on as Neito Monoma was tied to one chair and Eijiro Kirishima to another, the red head almost immediately being knocked out the moment he was free just for the time being while Shigaraki had his one on one time with the blonde hero in the making ahead of him first…
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
It had been over an hour.Over an hour since the initial attack on the training camp and as such just under an hour since Neito Monoma and Eijiro Kirishima had both joined—unwillingly, but who was going to make any comments about that, they were kind enough to bring them uninjured so they thought that the two students should take that as a win—and in that time there had only been a handful of successes.Or so Izuku thought.The first was, of course, capturing and stealing Neito Monoma.The second was picking up a second student just in case.And the third was managing to do all of that while also escaping with everyone that Izuku had intended to have return to the League even if they were ultimately missing the Nomu that Dabi had left to battle and distract Shota Aizawa, and also the other Izuku Midoriya, someone of whom Shigaraki wanted dragged here kicking and screaming if they had to—Izuku personally didn’t mind missing that one out.Other than that, he didn’t think there was much else notable of the evening, especially this part of the evening.For at least ten minutes, Monoma had gotten time to adjust to the fact he’d been kidnapped while Shigaraki continued to mull over what he was going to say and then after those following twenty minutes the hand covered villain finally seemed to decide to speak. And Izuku was personally very keen to find out what he wanted to say.It was lacklustre at best. Horrifically elementary school at worst.He believed that even that annoying brat who used to be his end of the hall neighbour when he used to live in his flat building with his Mother long before any of this crap in his life had occurred could’ve given a better speech than the absolute dog shit that Shigaraki was spouting.And, of course, just as Izuku was expecting, all the villain got in return was a scoff and being spat in the face, literally. The kid had attitude, Izuku quite liked that if he was going to be honest. The Neito Monoma he’d seen in his reality was nothing but rabid and unintelligent by the time he’d seen him so this… this was interesting to see.But just as all things had to come to an end, so did his patience for Shigaraki’s horrific attempts at winning the blonde over while also being considerate of the red head still knocked out in the seat beside him. He wanted to get Monoma over to their side before Kirishima woke up and could put in his own opinions. He really did hate the whole “don’t listen to them!” and “you’re better than them!” and “no! You’re a hero!” thing that people insisted that they do whenever anyone remotely slightly ‘bad’ or more inclined towards villainy attempted to bring someone over to the other side of the morality line.“He’s not taking it,” Izuku glanced over to Shigaraki, deciding that it was time to stop and time for him to have a go at this hero’s alignment change, “you failed. Again. Seriously, you actually suck at this. You should’ve just let me write you a script.”“And you think you’re any better?” Shigaraki sneered, Izuku moved to Toga and leaned forward, stealing a knife from her with the gentle pull, before turning and approaching Monoma, he slammed his foot against the back of his seat and forced them both to the floor before leaning and grinning, the knife swinging between his fingers before finding it’s place resting against Monoma’s throat.“Hey there, rat face,” Izuku greeted the blonde staring up at him, slightly delirious from the sudden jolt and impact of him being slammed down onto the floor and not being able to save himself from cracking his head off the concrete below him, “oof—that looks like it hurts. Sorry. But hey, I gotta get your attention somehow, right?”“M-Midoriya?” Monoma squinted as he managed to catch his senses again, “what the—”“No. That’s not me,” Izuku sighed, “well. It is me. But I’m not the one you’re thinking of. I’m… your worst nightmare from another reality. Actually, I know quite a bit about you thanks to that,” the teen leaned back slightly as he sat on the legs of the chair, his feet resting on Monoma’s shoulders as he swung the blade around in thought, “like… how you have quite the inferiority complex. How you have basically two personalities, a nice one for anyone and everyone, then the conceited asshole for the Class 1-A kids. That one’s always amusing to see. Ah, also, you see everything as a competition between your two classes but it’s pitiful to see because Class 1-B could not be any further from Class 1-A’s radar. They barely know you all exist.”Monoma’s gaze narrowed, “nonsense.”“Really?” the dark-haired teen looked down at him amused, “interesting considering it’s so true. In my reality, you disappear for a while. When Class 1-A was asked when they last saw you, do you know what their answers were?”The blonde just stared in silence.“Who is Neito Monoma?” Izuku seemed to quote, his words low and smooth, clearly amused as he watched Monoma’s gaze widen slightly, “anyway—turned out you were ambushed by a bunch of villains on your way back to school after visiting your parents for the weekend in the refugee centre. When the heroes found you… my, my. You were like a completely different person. I think someone described you as… a rabid dog.”“Who are you calling a rabid dog, huh?!” Monoma seemed to manage to pull himself together and glared up at Izuku who just let out a short laugh.“That’s what you were focused on?” he smiled down at Monoma who just froze, seemingly trapped under the red gaze that was looking at him, “I was always curious what those villains did to the you of my reality. They must’ve gone wild on you if this is what you’re like before them.”He leaned forward and narrowed his gaze onto him, “hey, you should join us. It’ll be fun. You’d get to go crazy. Finally get some payback against the formidable Class 1-A, hm? Prove that your quirk is meant for great things, that you’re not just a… side character in their show.”One moment Izuku and Monoma were just staring at each other, the next Izuku was reeling backwards, cupping his nose as it bled upon Monoma headbutting him with a dirty and determined glare on his face.“Go fuck yourself, Deku!” Monoma shouted at him, “I’ll never become a villain! Not now! Not ever!”Izuku froze.It was silent.The League cautiously shared looks as Izuku just seemed to stay with his head knocked back, gaze glued to the ceiling, hand over his nose as blood rolled down his cheeks and dripped off his jaw.Kurogiri had shared the introduction that Izuku had given him and Shigaraki the first day they’d met to the new members when they’d asked about him one of the few hours that he wasn’t in the building.
“I am Izuku Midoriya. You call me Deku, you die.”
As such, they were cautious about the nickname that his heroic counterpart had, on the surface, seemed to have taken on at his entire hero identity. But after the break Izuku had, none of them wanted to even test the surface of the ocean that was that threat that he’d laid out.“Uh—Izuku?” Toga was the one who had decided to approach him, she didn’t even get halfway across the space before Izuku had looked down again, his gaze snapping down onto Monoma as he glared. The next thing anyone knew, the knife was embedded in Monoma’s shoulder, and he was letting out a pained cry as Izuku just glared at him with a crazed look in his eyes.“You—” Izuku paused, taking a long and deep breath, “no one calls me Deku. Don’t make that mistake fucking twice or that knife will be found a good few centimetres lower in your chest instead. Or maybe I’ll gauge out an eye and put it in a jar as a keepsake for you to remember me by. Remind you to never call me Deku.”“It’s your damn name,” Monoma glared back, teeth clenching as he bit through the pain bursting through his shoulder in sharp waves—but he’s had worse before, he’s had worse than this single knife, he’s fine. He’ll be fine. He was sure that he could withstand the pain—or so he kept thinking over and over to himself as he stared forward challengingly.“It’s a derogatory insult,” the black-haired teen shot back before sighing and grabbing the back of the chair, a foot on the seat as he dragged him back upright again and dusted off his shoulders, pulling the knife out again causing the blonde to hiss but keep his pain as mellow as he could, “sorry about that. I lost my cool for a moment there. That was rude of me. If my Shigaraki could see me now… gosh, he’d have me taking a walk. But we’re good, right Monoma? Good friends, always believed that you and I had the potential to be good friends.”“Fuck off, Midoriya,” Monoma glared at him.Izuku studied him for a moment in silence before sighing, “Neito—I can call you Neito, right? I’m going to call you Neito—don’t you find it, y’know, exhausting? Tiring. Boring? Just pretending all of the time that each and every class, every grade, every interview and article circling the media like some kind of… god has descended and taken its place within the ranks of class 1-A, that you are ok with being consistently overshadowed? That you aren’t worth even half of what Class A, and the rest of your classmates are?”He leaned back into his stance with a smile as he spoke, “I mean, personally, I know pretty well that the truth is, you have such immense potential and there’s so much more capability and talent in you than there is in even half of Class 1-A. They’re about just as talented as my left toe whereas you…” he paused for a moment before glancing at Monoma again, “you! Neito Monoma, my good friend, you are so much more. I know quite well that all UA has been doing is hindering the absolute progress you could be making right now. Dragging you down, chaining you to the bottom of the lake of potential with a cinderblock and tight chain and always just, ignoring you because you’re not in Class A, because you and your quirk don’t fit into their rather stubbornly square mould of what a hero stereotypically should be. It’s bullshit, if you ask me. If all a hero is, is flashy quirks and immense strength that is only ever used to brutalise those around them then we shouldn’t have heroes at all.”“Hear, hear,” Dabi chimed from the back with a small chuckle.Izuku rolled his eyes, clearly he was thinking about a specific Number One—or wait, he’s still Number Two right now—pro hero, Endeavour.“But hey,” Izuku focused on the blonde again, “just pause a moment and think about it in this way. It doesn’t matter which way you go about things, or how you look at them… while you’re at UA you will always be surrounded by a bunch of heavy handed hypocrites who can only think to preach all about the false individuality and blended strength of their students yet also not giving equal attention or respect to those that are fighting as hard as they can to improve and become better and stronger heroes than those that stood on that mantle before them,” he watched as Monoma’s brow furrowed slightly, only slightly, not enough to change his defiant expression, but enough that he felt that his words were finding a slight foothold in the teens mind, “it doesn’t matter what you do, Neito. Because no matter what, at the end of the day, they’re always going to dismiss you and call you just a simple, run of the mill ‘second-rate copycat’. They’ll never be able to help you fully reach your potential. The true hero you could be. The true absolute power that you could he. You could be unstoppable, a force to be reckoned with.”“But,” he paused for a moment as he wiped the drying blood from his face, not really liking the sensation of it fighting against his facial movements as he spoke, especially as fresh blood attempted its way down the dried trail too.Toga offered him a tissue and he gladly took it, wiping away as much of the blood as he realistically could before focusing back on Monoma again as he did, “but, how I see it, Neito, our little mismatched band of fools may just be, although you may not see it right now, but they may just be the very best place for you. I can see it all. Your power. The future you could become, the undeniable brilliance of your quirk, the determination you have to succeed and become an even greater pillar in our society. An undeniable one, a respected one,” he smiled as he tossed the tissue to the side and stretched slightly, “up until now, you’ve been regarded as but a side character in your own story. People have made you feel less than you are and caused even you to somehow become blind to your own quirk. It’s not just mimicry of others’ quirks. But it’s the adaptation of those quirk, it’s evolution of all quirks. And in the right hands… well.”He paused as a wide smile spread onto his lips, “it could be unstoppable, and I truly believe that.”Monoma stared on silently before glancing around as the rest of the villains slowly closed in on the two of them.“Listen here, Neito,” Izuku threw his arms out dramatically as he spun on his heels and grinned at him, “we here in the League, we aren’t bound to any society’s foolish rules, and we certainly do not stand by their biased rankings. Or their misguided respect for the powerful and their disdainful derision and mockery for those that are weaker than them.”He smiled slightly as he continued, undisturbed by anyone, all listening with growing grins, “we, here, all embrace the outcasts, all of the people that have been unfairly misunderstood, the ones that continue to fight and refuse to force themselves into that square mould of a world that doesn’t deserve their uniqueness or their own individual strength—just like you,” he gestured to the villains in the space, “join us and we won’t limit you. Join us and we’ll help you break free of your quirks limits and fight alongside you to surpass those who thought you were nothing but a pathetic fool and help you carve your name into the memories of everyone who refused to learn or acknowledge it. You won’t be a simple, boring, run of the mill hero in the crowd, another face in a sea of the same, but instead a legend that stands out amongst everyone proudly. An unforgettable face with an unforgettable power.”Monoma simply glanced away from him, and he sighed as he moved forward, kneeling down in front of him, hands on his knees as he looked up at him, “c’mon, Neito, you’ve seen the fragility of hero society. How it only favours those who are privileged and popular. It’s corrupted and twisted. Unfair to those who weren’t born ahead of the crowd.”“But with your abilities, my mind, and the people around us, we can build a whole new world—a new society where power isn’t just some number on a sheet of paper or a standard that people are forced to meet but instead the unique strength and resolve that the people rising up have,” he paused as Monoma glanced back down to him which caused the villain to give him a soft smile he only ever used when he wanted to try emotional manipulation, not that the blonde knew that, “so? What do you say, Neito?”He glanced back to the group of villains behind him with a small nod, “will you continue to fight alongside the system that haven’t even observed even a drop of the ocean of potential that you have hidden deep within you, or will you join me—join us, and finally rise up? Become the best person you can possibly become? You’re the star of this show, what do you say? Are you with the corrupted heroes… or us, the people fighting for change? For a better world?"─────────────────────
Three days later_
─────────────────────“Excuse me,” All Might approached a civilian in the Kamino Ward and pointed over to the building the bar was in, “can I ask if there is anyone inhabiting that building?”“That one? No—oh, hold on, I’ve seen some people coming and going from there,” the civilian answered, “stopped a kid once, he said they’re rebuilding the bar to open up a new hotspot. Haven’t seen them around lately though. Been quiet. There’s been no lights on either. Don’t think there’s anyone up there now. I’m a locksmith if you want me to get you in quietly.”“That would be greatly appreciated, citizen,” the hero gave him a thumbs up and so All Might, the locksmith, and his entourage of police and other heroes approached the building. They waited for the locksmith to finish messing with the locks after knocking for a while—and realising there was no one there—and then finally, the lock clicked, and the door swung open to reveal that there was, in fact, a bar in there.It was empty.There was a light layer of dust, but some places lacked even that, it was that clear people had been here recently, but they’d not returned.“Search the building for anything,” Tsukauchi was quick to order the police who did just that, but they didn’t turn up anything. Not even a single piece of paper or a piece of shattered glass. There was nothing there.“Not here,” All Might frowned, “they’ve cleaned the place up of all traces well.”“This must’ve been their HQ,” Edgeshot said as he glanced around, “they must’ve moved it because they knew this place would be too obvious to bring a hostage back to. I’m afraid we won’t be finding Monoma or Kirishima in this area. We need to expand our search.”“Seems so,” All Might nodded with a sigh, “alright, let’s reconvene at UA. We must figure this out soon. There are students’ lives on the line.”“Sir,” came a wave of responses before they all turned and left.All Might was baffled and more than worried.They were so certain that this was going to be the space, the final destination, the villains’ hideout. Clearly, one day, it had been such a place but today? No. It was no longer such a spot but rather the graveyard of a former time when it had once been used to be a place for drinking, dancing, and live music.All Might was the last one in the room when the TV at the end of the space suddenly came to life, his gaze snapped over to it when a voice came through.“Izuku is quite thorough, isn’t he?” All For One’s voice caused All Might to almost turn robotically towards the TV with wide eyes, “before they left for the forest, he had the entire bar space cleared out from top to bottom. Said it was silly to move locations and leave proof that they were there. Something about never knowing just who was going to get their hands on their belongings. He refused to leave even a scrap piece of paper behind or a glass. Kurogiri was quite pleased with that himself. He rather likes his glasses, a good hobby to keep his hands busy.”“You—” All Might glared at the TV, “no. How..?”“Am I not dead?” All For One finished for the pro, “well, long story. Tic toc, All Might, tic toc. Your students seem to be holding up pretty well against the League but the longer they’re there, the less likely they are to be able to hold up as strong as they are, Izuku has quite the smooth tongue, he’s very convincing. So tic toc, time isn’t on your side this time.”The TV went black right after and All Might spun to leave, to find his old mentor, but said man was already in the doorway.“Gran—”“I know, Toshinori, I know,” Gran Torino nodded before turning, “come on. We have two students to locate and an old foe to take down once again.”“Sir,” All Might nodded, following after him, “let us waste no time.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“You were right, Izuku,” Dabi spoke up as he entered the warehouse that they’d turned into their temporary base for the period that they were hosting their guests, “there are heroes and police put up all over Kamino. They’re watching the bar like they’re expecting you to just skip right on out of there with flowers and bows in your hair and the will to willingly give yourself over to them.”Izuku sputtered on his water at the particularly strange description, “sorry?”“Zuku’s always right!” Toga hopped forward, the new nickname she’d decided she’d start calling the dark-haired teen buzzing something nostalgic in Izuku’s mind as he heard it.“Well,” Izuku cleared his throat as he focused on the trench coat wearing villain across from him, “I expected it. There’s one thing about heroes that I find both frustrating and extremely useful, they’re always so predictable. If you have an idea what you’re doing then you can pretty much assume that the first response you’d consider doing in order to respond to your idea is likely what they’ll do. If not something similar.”“So, what? You assumed they were going to camp out around the bar then?” Dabi asked slowly as he moved and took a seat on the crate across from Izuku—they’d moved them around the other day after Toga complained about how far apart everyone was from each other—and glanced over the teen.“Well, it’s more that I assumed that they would use CCTV to spot, of everyone here, me, the one person who leaves that building the most. Then they’d follow me around, even figure out where I pop out of camera dead zones and eventually land on the bar,” Izuku started after a long hum, “then they’d raid it, discover we weren’t there nor had been for the entire length of time that they’ve been searching for their precious students. Then, after realising that they’d totally missed us, they’ll realise they have no more leads and camp out, hope that we might think it’s safe to return and make that absolutely foolish mistake.”“So, they’re looking in the wrong place?” Toga asked excitedly.“Yes,” he nodded, “but, at the same time, Shota Aizawa is part of the search. That I am certain of.”“Which means..?” Dabi trailed.“They’re still looking elsewhere as well,” Izuku answered.“So that’s why you’ve got us in these ridiculous disguises?” Compress asked as he joined them having just re-entered the building and throwing his disguise to the side and then threw himself over the edge of a slightly taller than waist high box, propping his head up on the heel of his hand with his elbow propped on the top of the crate, “honestly, they’re not nice in the slightest. You have no sense of style, Izuku.”Izuku gave him a slightly apologetic look, though not caring in the slightest, “sorry about that. Honestly, all I’ve done is make you guys dress the way you do in my reality plus wigs and coloured contacts. But yes. That is why you’re wearing those. Can’t have you guys wandering around outside and getting caught or recognised and followed back here.”“You’re telling me that I dress like that?” Compress visibly shuddered at the thought and Izuku almost laughed as he rolled his eyes, “someone needs to give my other self some fashion advice because who walks around in clothes like that? Eugh—”“Anyway, did you manage to get what I wanted from Giran?” Izuku asked him, red eyes focusing seriously on the magician who froze slightly under the gaze before relaxing out again and nodding, pulling at his pocket and then pulling a USB stick out and passing it over to the teen.“Go crazy,” he told him, “Giran said everything you wanted access to should be there. But… why are you trying to get access to the quirk registry list?”“I am looking for someone,” Izuku answered before pausing, “well, actually, I’m looking for a quirk but that doesn’t matter right now. If I’m right, our guests should be awake now. We should get them some breakfast ready.”“You’re too nice to them, Zuku,” Toga pouted, “why are we feeding them? They’re so rude to you all the time.”“Sometimes kindness is a killer,” Izuku smiled before glancing around, “anyone know if Team A is coming back soon?”“Considering that team has Shigaraki, Spinner, and Twice all on it… probably not,” Dabi shook his head, “why did you send those three out together again?”“I’m too tired to deal with Shigaraki and I also wanted to punish him for giving such a god-awful speech to Neito,” Izuku’s smile twisted slightly before it fell again, “anyway, breakfast. Come on. Can’t be leaving our guests hungry, now, can we?”─────────────────────Kirishima paced the length of the small room that he and Monoma were locked up in. Whatever it was made from, he couldn’t break through, he hated that, and he was feeling restless. It’d been… at least four evenings since they were kidnapped. He’d personally only been awake when it was dark which, at first, was pretty disorientating but they were “kind” enough to tell him how long he’d been asleep and as such with them while giving him food. But today he was awake in the day.“Can you stop that already?” Monoma glared up at him, having been watching him pace back and forth and back and forth and… back… and… forth… since he’d woken up. The red head clearly having been awake a lot longer than him.He sighed as he just adjusted his head on his knees so he could glare up at the other teen properly.“I need to get out of here. We need to get out of here,” Kirishima shot back, “why don’t you get up and help me? If we both work together—”“It’s useless,” Monoma huffed, “my quirk only holds for five minutes a quirk. Unless you think the two of us can seriously fight through all of those villains plus that insane strategist of theirs in five minutes then don’t bother.”Plus, I’m tired, he glanced to the side, of all the things I’ve been through these past few days, sharing a room with this beast of a snorer has been the most challenging. I am so tempted to take the fake Midoriya’s proposal just so I can sleep in a room that doesn’t have this fool in it.He rolled his eyes at the thought before looking back at Kirishima who had now sighed and slumped to the floor.“Yeah… so that sucks,” Kirishima muttered, “you have such a manly quirk and yet it’s so short? What a pain.”“You’re telling me,” Monoma also muttered, “I’m the one that lives with it. I hate it when I have a quirk and time runs out. It’s the worst.”“Just imagine what it’ll be like in ten years. Super long time, dozens of quirks at one go,” Kirishima grinned at him weakly, “you’ll be so cool.”The blonde stared for a moment before scoffing out a laugh, “you suck at lightening the mood.”The other teen paused for a moment before letting out a small chuckle, “yeah. Maybe you’re right—”The sound of the door having a key pushed into it caused both to shut up and throw themselves to their feet, moving to the other side of the room as the door swung open. During the second night they were in the villains… custody… Kirishima had attempted to ram his way out of the opening door but learned pretty quickly that red flames are hot, yes, but blue flames? They were an inferno that he didn’t personally want to experience again and as such the two teens moved away from the door when it opened, stayed silent, and just waited.“Breakfast!” it was Izuku on the other side, a bright smile on his face as he gestured for the two inside the room to follow him out of their small space and into the open space that they’d often been dragged in and out of through the previous days and evenings.The two hero students were quick to realise that there was less than half of the League in the room at that moment in time and shared a silent look, suddenly both getting a thought that maybe, just maybe, five minutes would, in fact, be enough.But then Dabi turned around and they both let out defeated sighs.They did not want to tango with him again.“Breakfast my ass,” Dabi poked at whatever mush was on his plate as he eyed Toga beside him, “who taught you how to cook? A mole?”“Oi! Don’t eat it if you don’t want to, wannabe patchwork quilt,” Toga shot back with a small glare before she looked to Kirishima and Monoma expectantly, the both of them eyeing the plates in front of them as well.Seriously… Monoma stared, who taught her how to cook? If I wasn’t at risk of getting stabbed again, I’d tell her it looks like absolute dog shit.“Well?” Toga asked.Kirishima and Monoma both let out sighs as they shared a look and took a small breath to ready themselves before taking a bite—to their surprise, it actually tasted… ok?“It’s… good?” Kirishima offered, looking confused at his own words.Visually, the food looked like a horror film on a paper plate, but taste wise? Well, it wasn’t too bad. At that Compress visibly looked relieved and everyone but Toga quickly deduced that he’d done something to Toga’s murder concoction of the morning.At that, everyone began eating in silence until Kirishima decided he was uncomfortable in the silence and spoke up, “so… when are you going to let us go?”Izuku gave him an amused look before focusing on Compress, “any news?”“Spinner reported in that Shigaraki is nearing blowing a gasket,” the partially masked man answered, “Twice is really doing a number on our leader.”A laugh slipped out of the teen at that, and he nodded before standing and stretching now that he’d finished eating his breakfast, “good to hear. Now—”“Why are you a villain?” Monoma spoke up, eyeing Izuku with the very same hostile confusion he’d been eyeing him with every time they’d been face to face, “you’re a hero. I hate to admit it but you’re like, the staple outline for what a hero should be. What happened to you?”Kirishima glanced over to the blonde before looking forward with a nod, “yeah! I mean—you’re the sunshine of our class, super strong too, I mean… sometimes watching you is pretty gnarly because you break bones like it’s your average Tuesday activity—well, not so much after internships but you know—uh… but you’re super manly, heroic to the bone. The difference between the you of our reality and the you of the other reality can’t be that much… right?”“Nun ya business,” Izuku shot back before he glanced to the other villains, “I’m going to look at the stuff. I’ll be back later.”The villains nodded and they watched as Izuku pulled a USB out of his pocket and disappeared up into the warehouses second floor before they turned their gazes to the hero students who immediately shrunk back slightly under their gazes.“What do you want with us?” Kirishima asked, almost pleadingly, “just let us go—”“Honestly? We didn’t really want you,” Toga skipped forward, “just blondie over there. You just got hauled along for the ride. Sleep tight now—”“What?” Monoma frowned before his vision began to spin and move in and out of focus as he widened his gaze and attempted to regain his focus properly, “what did you…—”Both he and Kirishima dropped to the floor and Dabi eyed the teen suspiciously, “you didn’t drug all of our food, right?”“Nope. Just theirs,” she grinned, “they make too much noise when they’re in their room. Izuku needs quiet to be able to focus.”“If you say so,” Dabi trailed before looking over at Compress, “c’mon, help me drag these two back to the other room.”“Sure,” Compress nodded as they both moved to the knocked-out teens and begun the process of dragging them to the other side of the room where a room that was probably the space the guy who overlooked whatever factory used to be tucked away inside this warehouse used to work. Though, once they’d found this place, Izuku had ordered for windows to be nailed shut, boarded up, and cemented over so that they couldn’t escape even if they did notice the windows, but the room was dark and as such, the two hadn’t noticed them, or so it seemed.“When do you think we can go home? This place isn’t cute at all,” Toga huffed out as she watched the two men come back towards her after making sure to lock the door behind them, “and I miss sleeping on soft stuff.”“You say that like you haven’t been using Magne like your personal bed,” Dabi rolled his eyes.“Big sis Mags doesn’t mind,” she shot back, “I just want to go back to the bar.”“Well, considering it’s being swarmed by the flies… it’s going to be a while,” Compress speculated, “besides, Izuku said he’s looking for a secondary location we can move to while we wait for the bar to stop being so… closely moderated.”“I hope he finds it soon,” she hummed, “maybe this time we can have enough space for beds too? Oh! Oh! And bedrooms for everyone! And—and! And a fridge for all of my blood! So I don’t have to drink it warm anymore—eugh. Kurogiri is mean to not let me use the fridge.”“The first time you did, blood spilled everywhere,” Dabi reminded her.“So? Not my fault someone didn’t check before throwing the butter back inside,” she pouted before crossing her arms, “I’m bored now—"─────────────────────Izuku let out a small hum as he sat on the basically falling apart sofa in the upper floor of the warehouse. It was probably the owners office in another time but now it was just a small box room with a rotten desk, chair, and bookshelves, a rusted-out cabinet that looked like one flick could send it falling apart at the seams, and a sofa that was clearly pulled in off of the street by probably a homeless person at some point in time but long since been abandoned.He’d almost obsessively checked it over for any bugs or animal nests before deciding that it was ok to keep. Not to sleep on, but possibly sit on if only for a short amount of time considering the way the centre kind of dipped down awkwardly.Pulling the laptop out from where it’d been tucked away beside the sofa, he stuck the USB in and loaded up the files on it. He found himself staring at an over three-hundred-page document and let out a sigh.“This is going to take a while,” he muttered to himself as he glanced over the names and names and names that continued down the pages and straight onto the following ones, Giran did this on purpose. I really hate that guy.─────────────────────It was only when he heard annoyed shouting coming from downstairs that Izuku decided to give up, currently on page 215 out of 328. It wasn’t organised in the slightest. Not even alphabetised. Giran did that on purpose, he was sure of that. There was no way he didn’t do this on purpose.Anyway, moving downstairs, he found that not only had the last of the League returned but Kirishima was currently pinned to the floor, his body hardened over with his quirk and the door to the side room broken through.His gaze moved across the group, a small hitch of panic rising as he realised he couldn’t see Monoma until blonde caught his attention in his peripheral. Izuku rushed forward, grabbing one of Spinner’s katanas and launching it forward. A shout followed soon after and he let out a small sigh.“Go get him,” he ordered no one in particular but Spinner took that as an order aimed towards himself considering it was his weapon used to seemingly pin Monoma to the wall he was attempting to escape past. It didn’t take long before both hero students were tied to chairs again, cuffed and restrained a bit more than necessary but in that moment, it felt incredibly necessary.“So,” Izuku pulled a chair forward as well and took a seat, crossing his arms, laptop pressed down against his thighs flat shut as he stared forward at them, “was the attempt worth it?”“You fuckers! Just let us go!” Monoma shouted.“We’ll never become villains!” Kirishima also shouted. It was the first time that he had in the previous days, he’d more or less kept himself pretty calm—a bit overconfident in himself but calm nonetheless—so this was surprising to see.Personally, in his own reality, Izuku had seen Kirishima get angry numerous times. But never on this level, this level didn’t even match up. This version of Eijiro Kirishima was basically a kitten in comparison to the lion that is the Eijiro Kirishima of his reality.Cute.Izuku sighed and leaned his head back to look over to Shigaraki lingering behind him, “the Master found anything? Save me from a three-hundred-page hell?”“He has,” Shigaraki replied, staring forward, “he’s waiting for you. Kurogiri, send the brat away.”“Understood,” Kurogiri bowed his head just slightly and opened up before Izuku glanced forward to the hero students and back to the villains.“Get someone to stitch up Monoma again,” he told them, “last thing we need is his bleeding out.”“We got it. Just get out of here,” Shigaraki glared forward, Izuku just let out a small doubting hum for a moment before getting up and passing through the warp gate back into that familiar building again.“Good afternoon,” Izuku greeted the man in the shadows as he stepped around a table and crossed over to him, “I hear you’ve found me someone that can help… convince Monoma?”“Less convince him and instead, turn him,” came All For One’s response, “but it isn’t in the way that you’d think.”“So, we’re not talking about mind control or brain washing here?” Izuku asked cautiously, leaning against the side of a table once he was close enough that he could show he was interacting but not too close that he looked like he was overstepping or acting too overconfident himself.“Mind control, yes,” All For One answered before a familiar moustached doctor approached him with a silver tray in his hands and a line of four vials laid out across it.“What’s… that?” Izuku asked.“Your mind control,” All For One answered, “listen closely, I’ll explain how to use it.”─────────────────────Izuku stepped back out into the warehouse to find that Monoma was still being stitched up, though with the state of his shoulder, it appeared he was fighting against the person trying to fix his wound for him.Idiot, he rolled his eyes before stopping next to Shigaraki and Dabi, both of them glancing down to him.“Well?” Shigaraki asked, impatient.“You’ll see,” Izuku just smiled, “things are about to get a bit… entertaining around here.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
About twenty minutes earlier
─────────────────────“They drugged us,” Kirishima repeated for quite possibly the fourth… maybe tenth time since he and Monoma had woken up on the floor, back in their tiny room that blocked out any thoughts of tracking time or days naturally with their own ability.“Will you shut up?” Monoma asked with a grimace, “you’re giving me a headache.”“Yeah, sure, whatever,” he grumbled sitting down opposite to the blonde class B kid, their feet pressed up sole to sole as they just sat in silence.It hung around them for a while before Kirishima let out a low sigh.“What?” Monoma asked, “is it so hard for you to be quiet for five minutes?”“Five minutes could’ve already passed,” the red head shot back, “not that we’d know in here.”Monoma just rolled his eyes before Kirishima sighed again, “what? What?! What do you want?!”A toothy grin seemed to come into sight as Kirishima leaned forward, “let’s try break out.”For a moment, the blonde just had to sit in silence and stare in absolute dumbfounded-ness, “break out? Don’t you remember our previous attempts?”“Sure,” Kirishima nodded with a thoughtful nod, “but if we don’t try then how are we going to expect to get out of here ever? If anything, we need to try get a signal out or something? How are we going to be rescued if there’s nowhere for them to look?”Monoma just scoffed, “I don’t need recusing, I can get myself out of here.”“Right…” the class A teen trailed, “then… don’t mind if I ask, why’re you still here?”“None of your damn business, Class A Loser.”“C’mon, man, I thought we were past the insults,” Kirishima sighed, and Monoma just crossed his arms.“Never.”It was silent again for an almost insufferable amount of time before this time Monoma sighed, “what’s your plan?”Kirishima perked up at that and grinned again through the darkness, “simple. You copy my quirk, we count down the time so that just before you run out of time, you can help me break the door down. Then, once we’re out, I’ll rush whoever comes at us first. You grab the first quirk you can, preferably Dabi’s quirk, then we run like hell. Sound good?”“Sounds like a plan only a Class 1-A fool like you could come up with,” Monoma replied.“So is that a yes or a no?”“It’s a yes,” the blonde cut in quickly, “not like I’ve been able to come up with anything better, really have I?”“Suppose not,” Kirishima smiled slightly, “er—are you good with counting? I think I’ll lose track of the time…”“It’s going to be an up in the air guess,” Monoma answered as he stood up, “it’s hard to keep track of seconds accurately so let’s give it a thirty second break mark just in case. That’s plenty time for us to break the door down if we’re not on the mark, right?”Kirishima let out a low hum as he glanced towards where he knew the door was, “should be. It’s a pretty thick door and alone it’d take too long but together? I think thirty is a good enough amount of time for breathing room.”“Alright. Good—”Next thing Kirishima knew, he had a hand pressed on his forehead shoving his head back lightly and low mumbles of counts started.This is going to be a long four minutes and thirty seconds, was all he thought to himself as he listened to Monoma’s low mutters.─────────────── Four (Agonising) Minutes and Twenty-Five Seconds Later ───────────────Monoma and Kirishima stood next to each other, both of them activated the hardening quick and as Monoma continued his dull counting, Kirishima gave a slightly louder ‘on three! One… two…’And then:
“Three!”
The both of them threw themselves forward, slamming into the door once, and then twice. The door slammed to the floor and the League members in the building were already on their feet.The hardening quirk was still active on Monoma’s skin and so he and Kirishima threw themselves forward.Both noticed that there were more people in the space than they thought would be there, but they were out now, the door was on the floor, and they were out. There was no way this plan would work a second time, so they had to attempt it now no matter what—it was now or never, and they both knew it, so they continued forward.Toga was the first to reach them and used a nearby crate to propel herself up into the air so that as she came down over Monoma, her blade had the extra momentum to cut straight down but, even as Monoma continued to count lowly, the blade hit hardened flesh and shattered into smaller fragments.“Boo! Not fair!” she complained quickly, and Monoma smirked.“Not so tough now, are you?” he started to rush for her as Kirishima had a sword swung down at him by Spinner and a hand shot through a newly opened gate towards the side of his face that he barely managed to duck out of the way of as he dodged the blade that was swinging uncomfortably close to his chest.For a moment, he glanced over to Monoma just as a wave of blue shot forward and cut in between them.“Run, Monoma!” he shouted over the roar of the flames and the panicked shouts of the League attempting their best to keep them down.He dodged yet another blade and shoulder barged Spinner out of the way, catching him off balance and giving him the space to sprint forward.Glancing around, he spotted Monoma not far ahead and in the grasp of Dabi.One moment he was in his hold, the next, the ringing sound of a hard slap echoed around the area, and then another wave of blue erupted up, forcing Dabi to let the blonde go.“Compress—!” Dabi shouted.“Already one step ahead of you, my fiery friend!” Compress swung down from above throwing two marbles in two different directions. One burst over the flames, dousing them in water before they got too wild, the other aimed straight for Monoma.Quickly, Kirishima glanced around and then grabbed the closest crate to him before stepping one firm foot forward, spinning on the ball of it and then launching the crate forward. He imagined that the crate was the baseball from the Quirk Apprehension Test and the marble was the four hundred something metres that he was determined that he’d blast through and surpass in his next test.He’d destroy it if it was the last thing he did—He didn’t even get to see if he’d managed to shatter the marble because the next minute, he found himself being dragged to the side by some invisible force and then slammed down onto the floor where Twice immediately threw himself over his back and pinned him down, quirk still active and attempting to break free even despite the weight of the man on his back and the invisible force slamming him down to the ground.A magnet stopped next to his head, and he heard a low, “stay down, hon.”And so, instead he gritted his teeth and managed to angle his head. Monoma—A blade suddenly went flying across the space and before he could even think to blink, the blonde hero student was pinned to the wall he was so close to finally freeing himself of by the metal of the blade that’d been thrown.And in that moment, as Kirishima looked to the direction it’d come from and found the alternate Izuku Midoriya standing there looking seemingly less than bothered by the situation, he deflated under the pressure and stopped fighting.He finally realised that for as long as Izuku was around… they weren’t getting out of this damn warehouse.─────────────────────“Where’s he going?” Kirishima asked as he watched Izuku step through gate and disappear while he and Monoma were getting their wounds tended to—not that he understood why they were tending to them as they were, but he wasn’t going to complain, not yet anyway. He could complain all he liked once—or rather if—he got back to UA but right now he was just going to accept his defeat of the day.“Nun-ya-business,” Dabi answered as he pressed a damp cloth against his own burnt skin, his gaze turned to Monoma and he laid him with a glare, “you use my own quirk against me again and trust me when I tell you that I will not let you walk out of this damn warehouse alive… or with any limbs… you’ll just be a pile of pathetic ash on the floor that I’ll stomp all over with my gross ass street worn boo—”“Alright, we get it,” Compress cut in cheerfully, “no need to threaten the kid anymore than he already has been.”“Sometimes a little over-threatening is what a person needs to finally just sit down and behave themselves,” he glared, “or maybe even a punch or two. I was taught growing up that when someone steps out of line, sometimes you’ve just gotta punch them right back into their place.”It was silent for a moment before he heard a scoff as Shigaraki passed him, “dark freak.”“Freak—ha, rich coming from the guy who wears literally hands as a fashion statement,” Dabi rolled his eyes before wincing as he dabbed a particularly sensitive space on his face.“Ow—watch it,” Monoma hissed as Compress pulled at the stitch he was currently threading together.“One must not complain about the consequences of ones own actions,” Compress told him as he continued on, unphased by the pained outburst, “it was both brave and foolish of you to make such an attempt at an escape. But the magician in me loved the theatrics of it! One student sacrifices his escape in order to give the other a better chance! Oh, be still my beating heart!”“What?” Spinner gave him a confused look, “what’s being a magician got to do with ‘theatrics’?”“Oh quite a lot, my scaly friend,” Compress answered as he turned and reached for the scissors.“Isn’t it just like, I don’t know, pull a rabbit out of a hat and guess some cards correctly?” he asked, looking doubtful.“Of course not,” the masked magician looked positively scandalised that he’d say such a thing to his face covered or not, “a magicians art is in their theatrics and story telling around their craft. Doug Henning, an illusionist I quite look up to myself, once said that, ‘the art of a magician is to create wonder. If we live with a sense of wonder, our lives become filled with joy’, and so without a little bit of theatre to mix in with our fun little magic tricks where is the wonder?”Spinner just pulled at face and Monoma stared at him blankly, “that sounds dumb. Magic isn’t real.”“And yet Dabi can throw fire and Twice can duplicate himself, Toga can take on the appearance of another person, our fearless leader can turn things to dust, and our good friend Kurogiri can open gates to anywhere he’s been,” Compress raise a brow as he listed a few of the things the members could do, “once, long ago, we considered things like this as an impossibility. What’s to say magic isn’t also possible? Perhaps you must simply believe—” he reached his hand towards Monoma’s head and then pulled it back to reveal a coin, “—in the things you cannot understand to exist.”“Alright and where the hell were you hiding that?” the teen stared, unamused, “that can’t have been comfortable keeping it in your glove.”“Now, now, my new friend—it was behind your ear, of course,” the masked man declared gleefully.Monoma stared in silence for a moment before glancing around, “can someone else finish up my stitches? I don’t want to be near this whacko a second longer.”“Whacko?! Why I never—”“Move,” Dabi shoved Compress out of the way and sat on his crate before eyeing the job Compress had done on Monoma’s new wound, “not bad for a crazy magician.”“Not you too, Dabi,” Compress sighed as Dabi finished tying the line off and then cut it down before forcing Monoma to turn and starting to stich up the exit end of the wound.“Izuku has one hell of a shot,” Dabi commented after a few moments of silence had fallen, “it’s no surprise that he managed to kill one of those brats—”“Kill?!” Kirishima exclaimed, “who did Midoriya kill?!”The villains eyed him and Monoma (who had turned slightly to see the villains’ expressions).Dabi glanced over to Shigaraki who cracked a grin and moved over to them, “the small one. The annoying one. What was his name..? Grape Man or something?”“Mineta?” Kirishima stared horrified, “and it’s Grape Juice—not Grape Man.”“That not really the point here, Kirishima,” Monoma muttered as he glanced over to Shigaraki cautiously, “is that ra—is Mineta really dead?”“Oh yeah,” Dabi leaned forward and grinned, “he’s been dead for just under a week now, kid. Was all over the news and everything—we’ve probably got a paper lying around here somewhere with it as the headline.”“No—why—” Kirishima stared forward, looking a bit lost, “Midoriya wouldn’t kill anyone!”“What makes you think that?” Toga asked curiously.“Well… it’s—it’s Midoriya! It doesn’t matter if he’s from a different reality or world or time or whatever it is!” the red headed teen exclaimed quickly, “he’s—he wouldn’t! It’s not who he is—!”“Well, unfortunately for you,” Dabi grinned as he leaned back slightly before forcing Monoma to sit properly again so he could continue stitching up his back, “your Midoriya and our Izuku are two completely different people. One of them was meant to be a hero, the other, not so lucky.”“You’re wrong!” Kirishima argued, “Midoriya doesn’t have such a strong quirk to use it for evi—”“Who said he had a strong quirk?” Shigaraki almost laughed, “the only thing useful about our brat is that he has a good brain in that head of his. His quirk is useless.”“What?” Monoma gave him an incredulous look, “as if—have you seen the way that he fights? He’s a beast.”“Not ours,” Shigaraki scoffed.“Zuku’s good at some things,” Toga cut in, “but it’s more mental stuff.”“… we shouldn’t be talking about this,” Kurogiri spoke up, “lest our new heroic friends do manage to escape and take some valuable information away with them.”The villains all shared a look before quickly falling silent again just as Kurogiri opened up a gate again and out walked the subject of conversation, Izuku Midoriya, himself.Well, the villainous one, anyway.“How was the Master?” Toga asked, immediately bouncing over to his side excitedly.“Well, I’m sure,” Izuku stated before glancing over the two hero students, they’d not really spoken about that kind of stuff so he just had to politely assume, “now… what to do with you two…”“I vote we knock them out—no kill them!” Twice exclaimed.“Knock them out isn’t a bad idea,” Izuku hummed thoughtfully before looking over at Compress, “once they’ve finished being treated, store them away in your marbles. We no longer have a room to lock them up in so this is the best we can do.”“Yes, sir,” Compress mock saluted and only five minutes later, the pair were out of sight and in the pearly blue marbles between Compress’ fingers.“Remind me, can they hear in there?” Izuku asked as he glanced them over.“Nope,” the magician confirmed.“Good,” the dark-haired teen nodded before taking a sat and glancing around, “I think that it’s nearing the time we say goodbye to our little heroes.”For a moment it was silent before everyone suddenly burst out with questions that all moulded together in an impossible mesh of incomprehensible sound. He sat and listened to it for a moment before glaring, it shut them up effectively quickly, well, all besides Shigaraki who approached him with an annoyed glare of his own, “you want to let them go?! After everything we did to get them?!”“Yes,” was all Izuku replied with, an innocent smile on his face as Shigaraki reached for him. Izuku put his hand up quickly to stop him and in between his fingers, one of the vials were visible.The pale haired man frowned as he looked at it, “what’s that?”“A gift,” Izuku smiled, “we need to test the dosage first, I say it’ll probably take a week at most but once we’ve got the perfect dosage, we can drug our little hero and send them on their way.”“What’s it do?” Toga asked curiously, eyeing the vial with something that resembled want, likely she wanted to give it a try herself.“Mind control of some kind, or so I’ve been told,” he answered as he glanced at the vial in between his fingers, “the Master said they’d not quite figured out the specific dosages, but he doesn’t expect Monoma to require much—”“Just Monoma?” Spinner asked, Izuku nodded.“I don’t care about Eijiro Kirishima. Who I care about is the underdog of Class 1-B,” Izuku declared, “the doctor expects that the longer the kid is under the influence, the more likely that he’ll be malleable.”“Malleable?” Dabi looked at him with a frown, “in… what way?”“In the way that we can… push in some little doubts, little pieces of misinformation that may or may not sway him over naturally,” he answered, “but… at the same time, he thinks it may not do that but while under the influence, he’ll do everything the first person he see’s orders him to. All we have to do is readminister the correct dosage back to him once it’s nearing its end.”“How exactly do you plan to do that?” Shigaraki asked.“It’s easy to sneak into UA,” Izuku answered a bit smugly, “I’ve been doing it for months. The layout of this UA isn’t at all different to the layout of my UA. So, I know how to get in. All I have to do is sneak in and out in the cover of darkness and after the first time, I’ll have the coordinates of Monoma’s dorm, and we can just warp in and out after that.”“Hold on—dorms?” Compress looked curious, “I thought that was a rumour.”“So far it is, but I assure you that once they get their precious students back, the dorms will be in full swing,” the teen answered as if prophesising the future, “that’s how it happened in my reality anyway. We had Bakugo for a couple weeks and the minute he was back with the heroic idiots… dorms. Not a single student left that building without a teacher escort after that. Well, after Monoma’s whole disappearance and then reappearance as… well, rabid.”“And you’re certain?” Dabi asked, “that you can slip in and out?”“Do you doubt me, Dabi?” Izuku asked, “have I ever given you a reason to doubt me?”“I suppose not besides that one time you went rogue and visited the Midoriya house—” he muttered, stopping himself before he said anything that could trigger whatever it was that sent Izuku into his chaotic fit the first time. Izuku just raised a brow and waited for him to finish his sentence if he was brave enough to, “but it’s a bit risky, no?”Not brave at all, Izuku decided before smiling, “no risk, no reward.”It was silent for a moment after that before Shigaraki sighed, “fine. But what about the other one?”“Kirishima? He can be himself. He doesn’t know anything and by the time they get back to school, we’ll be long gone from this warehouse, so they won’t be able to ambush us,” Izuku told him, “first the dosage checking. Then, we “accidentally” leave the purposefully poorly repaired door loose and have a long meeting upstairs in the middle of the night to allow them to escape. And from there… Monoma is our little fully loyal to only us spy to cause all the chaos with.”
----- CHAPTER BREAK -----
“So how’re we going to do this, brat?” Shigaraki asked as Izuku scribbled down some calculations, picked up a pipette and pulled some liquid out of one of the vials.“Painfully,” Izuku answered as he turned to the soup that he’d had simmering much to Kurogiri’s worry and deposited the liquid in the pipette into the pot and then put a second in before turning as the warp villain took over stirring the contents of the pot again, “alright. We’re going to leave Kirishima in the marble until it’s time for the pair to do their glorious escape. We’ll bring Monoma out and disguise our… experimentation as just feeding him. If he asks where Kirishima is, we tell him they’re eating separately because they can’t be trusted and then we observe him. If there’s no change, back into the marble and we try again tomorrow. In the meantime, Spinner and Magne, can you guys ‘fix’ the lock up room to a somewhat convincing state?”Spinner and Magne both smiled and nodded.“You know it,” Spinner stood and looked to Magne, “you still have those tools from the bar?”“I do,” Magne nodded as the pair headed back towards the small room they’d been using to lock their pair up in until recently.“How long until we get to see the experiment?” Toga asked excitedly as she looked at the soup.“Give it a few minutes to fully mix in,” the black-haired teen glanced to the pot as well, “no one eat that. Last thing we need are zombie villains walking around here too.”“Zombie?” Dabi repeated.“Mindless fools,” Izuku clarified as he stood up and stretched, “two minutes and we can start the first test.”And so for the next two or so minutes, the group did their own thing until Kurogiri brought the consistency of the soup to Izuku’s attention and suddenly everyone was at alert.“Alright,” Izuku nodded to Kurogiri who spooned some of the liquid into a bowl and then he looked to Compress, “if you will?”“Of course, my scheming young friend,” Compress dramatically bowed before flicking a marble forward and within a few seconds, a blonde teen stood a bit deliriously in the centre of the group.“What—wher—where is Kirishima?” Monoma quickly asked as he spotted the absence of the red head.“So predictable,” Izuku rolled his eyes.“You two are eating separately,” Toga took the bowl from Kurogiri and grabbed a spoon before shoving it into Monoma’s hands with a wide smile, “enjoy~”“I want to see Kirishima,” the blonde hero student shouted.“And why’s that exactly?” Izuku asked as he took a seat and let out a low yawn, “it’s not like he is of any importance here.”“I don’t trust that you’ve not hurt him,” Monoma returned as a seat was dragged up behind him and he felt hands pressing down on his shoulders, forcing him to sit.“How about you just take a seat and eat your dinner,” Dabi told him without even a hint of warmth in his tone, “unless you want to starve?”Monoma stared at him for a moment before looking down at his bowl and then to Izuku who was scribbling away on the sheet of paper, though keeping the contents of it out of sight as he did. He glanced up, feeling the other teen’s gaze on him and sighed, “we don’t trust you’re not going to attempt yet another… escape. Keeping you separate just so happens to be the best course of action for the time being considering…” he looked over to the room where Spinner and Magne were both in the midst of “repairs” and Monoma glanced back as well before looking back towards Izuku who was eyeing him keenly, “anyway. Eat up. If it goes cold you’re not getting anything else.”With that he looked down and returned to scribbling away on his sheet of paper.Monoma watched him silently for a moment before looking to his soup and then beginning to eat. As he did, he glanced around for any signs that Kirishima had been fighting, or even hurt, in the area but he saw nothing more than what he’d last seen while out of the marble and came to the conclusion that either Kirishima hadn’t been let out yet or the other hero student hadn’t attempted a solo escape.He didn’t know if it would’ve been because Kirishima didn’t want to try his hand at fighting everyone alone or if he didn’t want to leave him behind but either way, Monoma respected him just a little more. And god did that settle something uncomfortable in his gut.It was only five minutes later that he finished his soup and sat patiently waiting to be returned to the marble, but no one seemed to be bothering to move. The entire time, Monoma’s gaze stayed on Izuku who didn’t seem at all bothered to look up at him.Eventually, Izuku did look up, “I want you to fight Dabi.”“What?” Monoma looked visibly terrified at the thought.“Yes. Without your quirk,” the dark-haired teen nodded.“No way!” the hero student refused, “he’ll kill me!”Izuku studied him silently for a moment before letting out a low hum and nodding to Compress. Mere moments later, Monoma was once again gone and in his place sat a pale marble that Compress was quick to pocket.“Ok,” Izuku stood and stretched, “test two. Tomorrow.”“You’re not actually going to get him to fight me, are you?” Dabi asked.“’Course not,” the teen grinned, “you’d turn him into a pile of ash before any of us could stop you. No chance am I letting you burn my toy.”“Your toy?” Shigaraki repeated, “is that what this is all about? Having fun?”Izuku turned to him, glancing him over for a moment before his face was pulled into a painfully convincing innocent smile, “wasn’t it always?”───────────────────── Four Days Later ─────────────────────“Bao buns today,” Izuku smiled at Monoma as they sat across from each other at a table that Dabi had stolen a couple days ago, sick of using crates or just nothing at all as a support, both with their dinners in front of them.Monoma was a little unsettled.Izuku had never sat like this with him before so understandably, he was suspicious, “… I’m still not becoming a villain.”“So sudden?” Izuku’s little innocent act was well put on as he laughed slightly, “I’m simply sitting here. I didn’t even mention it. Can I not eat with you? We are schoolmates you know? Can’t I eat with a fellow student—”“You’re not a UA student though,” Monoma muttered.“A fact I’m quite aware of,” the other teen muttered out through gritted teeth, “but I am no different from the other Izuku Midoriya, therefore, you can be comfortable around me.”Monoma eyed him doubtingly as his gaze moved to his food and instead he just started to eat silently as Izuku watched him carefully. He attempted to ignore him but eventually, he stopped eating, the staring starting to bug him.“Sorry—do you want something?” Monoma asked.“Not yet, no,” Izuku answered as he began to eat his own food, “I quite like bao buns. A former friend of mine, his Mother used to make them. Not often but enough that I grew to enjoy the taste of them. My relationship soured considerably with that former friend of mine and I’ve not tasted her cooking in a long time sometime—”“Did you really kill Minoru Mineta?” Monoma butted in, the question slipping out uncontrollably before he could think to stop himself. Izuku paused and looked back to the blonde.“In which reality?” he asked, a small smile on his face.“… both?”It was silent for a moment and Izuku glanced over the teen across from him. He didn’t need to use his quirk to see the nervous sweat that’d formed on the side of his face, or how his eyes looked at him but weren’t truly looking at him—it seemed the hero student was using the tactic of looking at something behind the person in front of him to simulate eye contact—or that he was nervously pulling at his food. Izuku wondered for a moment why he’d ask his question if he was so scared of the answer.“Yes,” was all Izuku said as he took another bite of his dinner, his gaze moved back to Monoma and he couldn’t help the laugh that was attempting to fall out, “you don’t look as though you believe me. Toga—”“Yes, Zuku,” Toga skipped over to him from her place lying down across the length of three crates covered in blankets.“Do you have that newspaper from back after the training camp?” he asked.“Of course! Our amazing Zuku was the headlining page,” she beamed, “although, they didn’t name you which is a shame.”“Can you please bring it here?” he asked her, she just nodded and hurried off leaving the two teens to just stare at each other in silence until she returned, and he took the paper, thanking her. She left almost right after and he placed it down on the table, turning it to him and pushing it across towards him.
HERO STUDENT TRAINING CAMP IN MOUNTAIN ATTACKED BY LEAGUE OF VILLAINS
One Student Dead, One Hero and Two Students Missing, Many Injured
Monoma stared at the heading, shaky hands picking the paper up before he looked at Izuku in horror, “you say you are not different from the other Midoriya but… he would never kill anyone—!”The space fell silent, and everyone turned to watch the pair as Izuku just leaned back into his seat and looked away disinterestedly, “wouldn’t he? Not even if it meant saving the world?”“Killing Mineta wouldn’t save the world—”“Perhaps not but it saved my sanity,” Izuku shrugged, “see, it was quite jarring to me to see someone I’d already long since killed standing and walking around in front of me all pathetically. He didn’t even attempt to fight. Just shivered and trembled, whimpered and whined. A waste of space if you ask me, perhaps now the hero course will pick someone more suitable for the role.”“You aren’t God,” Monoma glared, “you can’t decide who lives and dies just because of their personality.”“Can’t I?” Izuku let out an amused hum, “eat your dinner before you make me angry.”He nodded to the plate and then stood, passing the last of his dinner back over to Kurogiri. The villain was suddenly no longer hungry and just wanted to see if the results of the past four days of experimenting would finally show themselves. Usually, Izuku wasn’t one to get impatient, but he was starting to get impatient, and he didn’t like how that felt.“Who is the hero that is missing?” Monoma asked.“I forget the name,” Izuku didn’t turn as he faked his forgetfulness, “one of those foolish cats. The plain one with the tracking quirk.”“Ragdoll,” the blonde teen muttered to himself before looking back up to Izuku’s back, “is she alive? Where is she?”“Well…” Izuku grinned as he looked back over at his unknowing human test subject, “I wouldn’t call what her current condition is as ‘alive’. Not anymore anyway.”“What does that mean?”“Let’s just say, here at the League of Villains, we like to recycle useless things,” Izuku told him before looking at Dabi, “call me down when you… you know.”Dabi nodded and they watched as the dark-haired teen disappeared up the stairs to the office above them.“What does that mean?” Monoma’s gaze moved to the nearest League member, Shigaraki, “recycled?”“Don’t you worry,” Shigaraki grumbled out, a tone of boredom present as he shoved Twice out of the way to take a seat, “you’ll reunite with her one day. Eat your dinner so we can get rid of you, brat.”Everyone turned away from him, effectively making it clear that no one was going to interact with him anymore and he just looked back at the paper, staring at a photo of what appeared to be a blood splatter across the ground and slowly began to eat his dinner.We need to get out of here, was all he could think as his gaze snapped from window to wall, to ceiling to floor, to the doors and even back to the room he had been locked away in for days, but how—─────────────────────Ten minutes after he’d finished eating, Monoma suddenly felt off.It was a weird kind of off.Like that fuzzy feeling old box TVs had over the screen but instead of a TV screen it was his mind. The fuzzy feeling came with the inability to keep focus, his gaze barely managing to stay in one spot for long enough to register what was in front of him before he was forced to glance elsewhere quickly. There was a strangely suffocating fog rolling through his brain as his vision began to shift uncontrollably in and out of focus, seemingly jumping from his perfect vision to what he imagined people who wore the strongest form of glasses had to suffer with seeing on the average day without them.He went to speak, wanting to try get some help because he knew something was wrong and that these people needed—or wanted—him so they wouldn’t let him die but as he opened his mouth he found that he couldn’t verbalise anything that came to mind, the words almost immediately muddling and getting messed up and caught on his tied tongue.He couldn’t speak.He couldn’t think.He couldn’t see.His hearing was barely there.And suddenly, his entire being became panicked as he realised that he was trapped in some kind of… suffocating haze.His heart quickened and his breath caught in the back of his throat and suddenly he couldn’t breathe as his panic sent a raging wave of heat through his body and a startling feeling of desperation that clung to every single section of his being seemed to materialise in him.That is, until Izuku’s face appeared in his line of sight and somehow in that split moment, everything narrowed in and somehow it all fell away.There was only one thing and one thing alone in his attention.Izuku Midoriya.“f—…ona…monom…ar me… he…” Izuku spoke but the words didn’t quite reach Monoma in his space so far away from his own body until the dark-haired teen had clicked in front of his face often enough that it somehow dragged him closer, “can you hear me? Nod if you can.”Once again Monoma was thrown further away from Izuku but somehow this time it was as though he was thrown from his own body and somehow started to see everything as if he was spectating from elsewhere.
What the hell?!
“I said nod if you can hear me,” Izuku repeated.
Of course I’m not going to nod, I’m not in my—hold on, no! No! Why’re you nodding! Stop nodding! What is going on?!
Monoma watched in dread filled horror as his own body nodded.“Stand up,” Izuku ordered, and Monoma watched in absolute overpowering fear as his body did as it was told, “raise your right arm.”Once again Monoma’s body responded.
Stop it! That’s not me! You’re not me! Stop it! Stop it, stop it, stop it, stop it!
─────────────────────“Looks like it’s a success,” Izuku looked to the rest of the group as he eyed Monoma in front of him.“Kind of creepy,” Dabi commented as he looked into the hero student’s eyes, “there’s nothing there at all. Is he even alive?”“Creepy! Creepy! Kill it! Get it away from me!” Twice shouted as he came around to look as well before throwing himself dramatically away.“Of course he’s still alive,” Izuku nodded as he circled the blonde teen, “now we just need to see how long it lasts and then… we’re ready.”“How will you know when the control is wearing off?” Spinner asked as he eyed the hero student.“I’m not sure,” Izuku admitted, “but I’m sure there’ll be signs. For now let’s just keep giving him orders and see how he responds and time how long he’s under the control while taking constant orders.”“And then?” Shigaraki asked.“Then we put him under again and let the plan fold out on its own,” the teen smiled, “Monoma, I want… you to spar with Toga. Try to avoid her knives as best you can—and, Toga—”“Yes, Zuku,” Toga hopped forward excitedly.“Don’t cut him up too much. We still need him,” Izuku told her as he took a seat.“Yes, Zuku!”───────────────────── Just Under 22 Hours Later ─────────────────────“Uh—! Izuku!” Magne shouted towards the teen currently playing a seemingly intense looking round of chess against Kurogiri, someone Izuku had never expected to be good at playing such a game considering just what Kurogiri was.“What is it?” Izuku asked, not looking away from the board as he picked up his bishop and moved it one square.“Check mate,” Kurogiri moved his castle forward and Izuku just gawked.“Again?!” Spinner stared in shock, “who knew Kurogiri was so good at chess?”“Oi, move it, short stack, I want to have a go at this,” Dabi lightly hit Izuku’s arm a few times as he stared down at the board too, “this shit can’t be real.”“Well, it seems I’m needed elsewhere so, have at it,” Izuku nodded to him as he stood and then looked over to where Magne was standing in the centre of the room with a frozen Monoma who’d slightly started to foam at the mouth, “what is it?”“His… eyes and mouth,” Magne looked over to the teen who hurried over upon hearing that and glanced at the blonde hero student.“They’re green?” Izuku stared at Monoma’s eyes in surprise, totally ignoring the foaming as he imagined something like that would probably set in at some point and he didn’t believe it to be too much of an issue, “I guess this is the sign. A strange sign but the sign, nonetheless. Ok. Green eyes equals control being lost.”“Foaming too. He looks like a rabid dog,” Toga popped up cheerfully before eyeing the teen’s eyes as Izuku glanced her over and to the hero student again, something about that hitting some form of recollection in his memory, “aren’t they naturally blue though?” she asked as she leaned on Izuku, “shouldn’t it be the other way around?”They described him to be a rabid dog when he was found, Izuku thought, recalling his Monoma, how unlucky, it seems that this isn’t the first time that a Neito Monoma has come across this drug. I expect that prolonged exposure likely turned him into the animal he became so… I’ll have to bring this up to the Master, see if he can perfect the drug so we can avoid that outcome.“It may just be temporary,” Izuku hypothesised before looking at Magne, “how long was that in total?”“Twenty-one hours and fifty-four minutes,” she answered, looking down at a semi-broken watch in her hand.“Incredible,” he hummed before nodding, “alright. I think we’ve got the dosage and the control ready.”“How are you going to get him to consume the controller again? Surely he’s figured out that it’s in his food—” she asked him.“He can’t know,” he answered as he pulled a vial out of his pocket and Compress approached to give him a syringe.“Why do you say that?” Compress asked as Izuku took the syringe and filled it to the amount he needed. The magician cleaned out the blonde teen’s mouth and checked it over before stepping away again.Izuku smiled as he pressed the needle to the hero student’s arm after finding a vein, “why because he isn’t present while under control of the drug. He is quite literally just a shell of himself. Which is why I’ve been thinking about my wording for quite some time for how I’m going to order him around while ensuring he behaves as he would normally,” he pushed the liquid from the syringe and then pulled it from Monoma’s arm again, giving it back over to Compress, “toss that.”“Yes, sir,” the magician nodded before glancing Monoma over and then turning to do as he was told.“Right,” Izuku stared at Monoma with a smile, “listen closely because I won’t repeat this twice. This is your job, I want you to fulfil this no matter what anyone, but I say to you, do you understand?”Monoma nodded and he smiled, “alright. You are to act as you usually do. You’re to be your arrogant and loud mouthed yet slightly insecure self. You are not to talk about anything that has happened in this warehouse with anyone, if they send you to a therapist, you are to keep your mouth shut and waste their time…”─────────────────────When Kirishima woke up, he was shocked to find himself back in a very familiar room. He couldn’t see it, but he didn’t need to. He was more than a little familiar with it now that he’d lived in it and searched it for any and all form of escape for days.“Monoma?” he whispered.“What do you want?” he heard back, and he let out a low sigh of relief.“We’re back in the room—”“No shit, Sherlock. How did you deduce that one?” Monoma scoffed as Kirishima moved to where the door was, intending to press his ear against it to see if he could hear anything but instead found it shifting loosely under his weight.They didn’t repair it properly! he almost grinned.“Hey! Monoma! The door is still loose,” he quickly exclaimed, ignoring the other’s sarcastic comment as he pushed on it slightly and it squeaked just a tiny bit, but it was enough to force him to freeze, that push had given him a small crack between the door and frame to peer out of, “Monoma! There’s no one downstairs.”“That’s impossible,” Monoma muttered, “there’s always someone out there.”“There’s not,” Kirishima turned, now being able to see the blonde a bit better that there was a slither of light coming in, “aw, dude, you look rough.”“You don’t look particularly great yourself, Class A idiot,” the teen shot back as he shuffled forward, “there really no one out there?”“No one, take a look yourself,” the red head told him, shifting back slightly to let the other take his place. Monoma leaned forward and squinted as he looked through the crack. His breath hitched slightly, and he looked at Kirishima with something like excited hope.“Do you think that we—”“Could escape?” Kirishima finished as he looked through the crack again, “possibly.”“It feels too easy,” Monoma told him, “let’s wait a bit. Listen and watch. We’ve gotta be smart about this, alright?”“You’re right,” he nodded quickly before grinning at the blonde beside him, “it’s a good thing you’re here with me or I would’ve just thrown myself out without even considering that it could be a trap.”Monoma just stared at him before glancing away, “you’re such an idiot.”Kirishima just laughed slightly and so began their close watching and listening.It was only around twenty minutes later that the pair began to slowly work at the door until it was open enough that they could slip out.The minute the pair were out, they took to hiding behind crates and glanced around before Monoma pointed up at the upper office, “looks like they’re all upstairs.”“A meeting?” Kirishima asked.“Probably,” the blonde nodded, “c’mon, while none of them are paying attention. We’ve got to get out of here. We’ve got to find a hero, alert them that they’re here.”“Right,” Kirishima nodded, looking determined as he stared up at the office.They were about to start moving when the door to outside suddenly opened and Kirishima quickly grabbed the back of Monoma’s collar, dragging him back down as Izuku entered the building again. It sounded like he was muttering to himself as he scribbled away at a sheet of paper, not even glancing across the room as he headed straight to the stairs and up to the office above, as he opened the door, the two hero students heard him announce, “alright, I think I’ve found us a new base location—”The door shut before they could hear more and Kirishima glanced to Monoma, “we should try listen in—”“Are you mad?” Monoma hissed, “we do that, and we’ll get caught.”“But they’ve found a new base,” Kirishima returned, “what if the heroes don’t get to them fast enough after we find someone?”“Then that’s their issue. If we get caught again, they’ll never let us out of those damn marbles again, if they even let us live at all,” Monoma grabbed his arm and dragged him towards the door. Kirishima pulled back and Monoma let out a small huff as he turned to him, “listen—they’ve killed Mineta. They’ve kidnapped and done lord only knows what to Ragdoll, a hero, and they’ve already caught us trying to escape before. Do you really think they’ll be so nice to us if we get caught again?”Kirishima looked conflicted for a moment, glancing up at the office and then down to Monoma and then the door again a few times before he slowly nodded, “ok. You’re right.”“Damn right I am,” Monoma hissed as he turned and rushed across to the door, cautiously glancing up to the office before pulling the door open and waving to Kirishima to get him to come, “come on! Let’s get out of here!”Kirishima did one last glance up at the office before letting out a low grumble and sprinting over to the door, grabbing Monoma the minute he passed the threshold and dragging him into a sprint through the dark shrouded industrial district on the edge of Musutafu City.As they ran, they both took note of the route they were taking as best as they could, hoping to be of as much help as they could when it came to reporting the group once they found a hero.It was barely a few minutes later that they were both thrown to the floor as it seemed that the entire city shook violently.“Quake!” Kirishima exclaimed as he threw his hand out towards Monoma who just looked at him confused, “copy my quirk! If rubble falls on us then we’re done for out here! There’s a reason it’s abandoned!”Monoma just stared blankly for a while, shaking with the ground as Kirishima just urged his hand. Something seemed to be swirling in those eyes of his, but the red head didn’t quite notice it as he attempted to steady himself, only looking back to the blonde when he felt his hand slam against his own and looked to find that he’d not only copied his quirk but also activated it, something the other student copied.They continued their attempt through the alleys before stopping and deciding to just wait. A few moments later, the quake stopped and they shared a look and a silent nod before taking off into a sprint again, hurrying down the empty streets desperately.But, around an hour later when they finally tracked down a hero, both of them realised that the darkness very easily mixed up their sense of direction and so they were only able to vaguely say, “they’re in a warehouse on the edge of the city!” before they were ushered straight to the hospital where their teachers, Nezu included, their parents, and the police all met them to speak with them once their check-ups were finished.─────────────────────“They’re gone,” Dabi announced as he glanced from the window looking out the warehouse below them and over to Izuku, “what now?”“Now we leave,” Izuku answered, “this place is going to be swarming in no time with heroes.”“But we don’t have anywhere to go,” Toga pointed out.“Yeah! The heroes are still staking out the bar! Burn them all and take back our home!” Twice declared.“That sounds like fun,” Dabi nodded to Twice before focusing on the dark-haired teen who glanced around them amused.“What? Did you think I was lying about finding a new place for a base?” he asked them, “I’m not always acting, you know. Kurogiri, if you wouldn’t mind?”He passed him a piece of paper with coordinates written down on them and Kurogiri read them over before opening up a gate.“Quickly now,” Izuku glanced out over the warehouse, “or we’re going to have some company soon that we don’t want to tango with right now.”The League didn’t need anything more said and one by one they all passed through the gate until Shigaraki and Izuku were the last one’s left save for Kurogiri himself.“What is it?” Izuku asked the man.“… maybe you are useful,” Shigaraki stated, “but that doesn’t mean I don’t hate you and I will kill you if you give me the chance so watch yourself, brat.”“You’re all bark and no bite, Shiggy,” Izuku patted the man’s shoulder as he passed him towards the gate, “I’m not scared of you. Not in my reality, certainly not in this one. Although… if I were to choose, I’d rather my Shigaraki kill me and not some fake Shigaraki.”He didn’t wait for a response as he just stepped through the gate and the hand wearing villain glared after his back.“Brat—”Just before Shigaraki stepped through the gate, a sudden jolt shook through the earth, rocking the buildings and shaking everything around, sending him off balance. Kurogiri closed the gate and fought to catch his balance, “Tomura Shigaraki! It’s an earthquake!”“What the hell—” Shigaraki grit out as he attempted to stop from stumbling.The shaking didn’t last for more than a few minutes, but it was enough to force the villain to look out over the city in the distance in confusion, “there was no warning…”“Perhaps it was the awakening of a quirk,” Kurogiri suggested.“Somehow… I don’t think so,” Shigaraki muttered before turning, “open the gate. Let’s get out of here.”───────────────────── Meanwhile, in the Alternate Reality ─────────────────────“You ok down there, Sho?” Hizashi eyed his husband as he put the plate he’d just barely managed to save from shattering on the floor back on the table.“Where the hell did that quake come from,” Shota grumbled as he sat up and placed the mug he’d thrown himself to catch down safely on the table, “did an emergency alert even go out for that?”Hizashi pulled his phone out and glanced across the screen, “no.”“Odd…”