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The building is falling, he hears Shota scream his name as he pushes the kids out the door. There's creaking support beams, his clouds can only hold up so much, they’re just clouds after all.
“Take the kids and go!” He yells, running towards the door. They’re giving out and he gives Shota a small, scared smile. I don’t want to die, he thinks as the walls fall.
He locks eyes with Hizashi for just a moment, and he…
Wakes up.
He sits up in bed, memories receding already, as he pushes them back down. He didn’t die that day. A mist man saved him and he made some bad decisions. He forces himself to breathe. He’s not dead. He’s in his room, in his tiny New York apartment, Shota is alive the last time he checked with his Japanese contacts, Hizashi is growing in popularity like he always knew he would, he’s so good.
They’re living and thriving. Nemuri is as lewd as ever though it’s more of an act now, Tensei— His phone rings. He grabs at it, in desperate need of a distraction. It’s the Boss, his adopted nephew.
“Cloud I need you back in Japan ASAP, I can send Kurogiri to your location if necessary. I have some plans, and it’s urgent . Multiple issues, actually. When’s the earliest you can fly out here?”
“What happened, Izuku?”
“A lot, Cloud, a lot. This has been in the works for a couple months, Dabi’s getting antsy, I meant to get you out here sooner but UA and some other stuff happened, and we need a hero on our side. Burning day is close if we don’t act, and we need pro hero backup when it comes.”
He pulls his computer to him, digging through the ticket sites. He has a go bag in his closet, too. “I’m getting the earliest flight out there, hold on. Can you brief me on what’s happened?”
“That’s… complicated. Really complicated. Short version: I killed a couple people, got my arm almost destroyed, implemented a couple new policies on the island, made an enemy of Tensei’s brother and probably had dealings with a serial killer. Not to mention Chisaki is causing issues again— I know what he’s thinking and he’ll never get what he wants, but I need to suck up to him. And I officially met Eraserhead. When’re you getting here?”
“Midnight tomorrow, your time. I’m gonna need a more detailed briefing when I get there, kay?”
“See you then, Cloud.”
--
Izuku hangs up the phone— he can’t afford a burner, it’s just a 50 dollar flip phone he stole from a thrift store and uses for everything— it’s almost certainly older than quirks and an absolute nightmare to use, but it gets the job done. Oboro was hard to get in contact with— time differences and general desire to not pick up a phone at any hour of the day, so it’s a shock he reached him first try.
The sports festival is in less than a week, he needs Oboro to give him a nomination so he doesn’t have to deal with pros and so he can get his plans started. His planning boards are getting filled with things, he might need more soon. He raided the sticky notes in the UA staffroom— Kayama-sensei was driven insane for a week, she needs to label her paper piles— and he’s almost out. Mei’s gone through another shipment of materials and is requesting more and he has to turn it down, she has UA for expensive materials, he’s still working on getting buildings fixed and built from the last close call with Burning Day.
The smell of cigarette smoke reaches his nose from the hallway outside.
“DABI THAT BETTER NOT BE WHAT I THINK IT IS!”
He hears a crash and smiles, before going back to his planning boards.
--
Yagi Toshinori knows several things for sure about himself.
- He’s missing several organs.
- He’s the number one hero.
- He’s fluent in English.
- He’s not a great teacher.
- He’d like to consider himself a good judge of character.
In regards to that last bit, he has a very bad feeling about Young Midoriya. The crown went missing hours after it was returned to the evidence locker. It wasn’t even actually stolen, rather it was just gone. Young Midoriya says he’s quirkless, but some of the things he can do are almost certainly quirk based. For one, he has too many knives to just be carried on him, he’s a bit too fast, a bit too flexible. He’s seen people get punched through buildings and stand up— hell, he’s done the punching— but the quirkless were more fragile than those people.
Young Midoriya’s words were odd, his accent was odder, and his reactions were the icing on the cake. He’s heard of ‘The Boss’ and the thought that a UA student was involved with that supervillain sent a shiver down his spine. Midoriya truly believed that ‘The Boss’ was a good person, when, factually, he was a supervillain! He killed people who broke his rules and had an entire island of criminals under his thumb! Midoriya spoke like he knew him personally. If he’s that high ranking in the gang, he is dangerous.
Toshinori only really has one option, so he swallows his pride and his fear and calls Gran Torino. It went about as well as expected. He got a verbal ass-kicking, Gran called him an idiot, and he barely managed to explain what he was thinking. Gran barely agreed.
--
A sports festival, what he thinks was a date, a conversation with Todoroki and a very strongly worded letter to Aizawa later, he’s sitting in class, the seat behind him mercifully empty. Eraserhead’s I’m-about-to-terrorize-the-students smile crosses his face as he stands at the front of the classroom.
“We have hero informatics today, and a special one at that. You’re picking your hero names, you’re also getting a new classmate, and the results for the internship nominations are in.” The door opens and Shinso appears in it. He waves and Shinso waves back, making his way through the classroom without making eye contact with anyone as the class, unsurprisingly, riots, while Aizawa turns on the projector.
Unsurprisingly, Fumi got the most, and Izuku got a grand total of… wait. Why does he have more than one? Shinso was firmly in the middle and Momo was in third, Todoroki in second. It’s fairly evenly spread, though. Shinso wasn’t on there at all despite getting second, and as Aizawa explains, he mentions that Shinso doesn’t have a choice, he is supposed to use this week to catch up on the training the hero course got.
“Before you get to work under pros and see how they function, you need names. They’re only tentative but you should pick something appropriate—”
“OR ELSE YOU’LL KNOW TRUE PAIN!” both Mic-sensei and Kayama-sensei push into the room.
“We’re here to help you decide! Because Eraser here tried to name a cat Window and cannot be trusted with names!”
“You have fifteen minutes to come up with ideas!”
Several ideas flooded into his head, most of them too closely related to the rumors about the Boss, when he remembers a couple whispers he’s heard. He smiles as he realizes how much this’ll mess with the Conspiracy Crew.
Aoyama goes up first. “I CANNOT STOP TWINKING!”
“No. You’ll regret that as an adult. And you’ll be unpopular.”
“I think it’s cute, Mic! And accurate!”
“ Absolutely not.” The class is a bit dejected after that, but Ashido goes bouncing up with ‘Alien Queen.’
“Isn’t that a bit… villainous?”
“Mid, just because that movie scared the crap out of you doesn’t mean it’s not a good hero name. I say she can keep it!”
“But it’s scary!”
“To you. Eraser, tiebreaker?”
“Mgrph. Fine.”
Ashido does a fist pump.
Tsu chooses Froppy, with a short story about how she’s had it since elementary school, which Midnight and Mic agree on, then Red Riot.
“Be careful with legacy names, but it’s a great name! Really fits you!”
Kaminari complains about not being able to think of anything and just gets a joke about his quirk drawback, even though he misinterpreted it as a classical literature reference. Izuku can see his face fall thirty seconds after Jiro makes the joke, he really didn’t get that she was making fun of him. He feels bad for the kid.
Earphone Jack, Tentacole, and Cellophane were rejected, Glucose, Nobody, and Chargebolt were accepted, and Momo was having trouble coming up with hers and it was almost her turn, so Izuku launches his idea at her.
“Supernova, the adaptable hero.”
“Like how new elements are made in the cores of exploding stars? Smart!”
Todoroki has a placeholder name, he’s trying, though he missed the opportunity to have his name be Janus. Fumi chooses another mythology name, making for two in the class, and Momo gives Jiro an idea, Amplitude.
Koda choses Animalium.
One of Iida’s friends has a cutesy name, combining her name with an ending. Iida takes his brother’s hero name. Bakugo has all his ideas shot down before one of his squad says Blast zone, Ground Zero or Radius. He goes with Blast Zone. Ojiro goes with Tailspin. Now it’s his turn.
“Fae, the Iron Crown hero.”
“You sure, listener? It’s a bit… intimidating.”
“I’m sure.”
“Well I like it!”
Shoji settles on Tako, and finally, Sero just screams and bangs his head on the table, scribbling something down in a last-ditch attempt. Resin is accepted, and Mic-sensei finally agrees on Prince Charming for Aoyama after having to explain that he absolutely will not accept anything pertaining to glitter.
Shinso is allowed to pass due to the fact he’s barely part of the hero course
Their internship packets are passed out— internship paper in his case. Those with no offers get a list of 40 agencies partnering with the school. Gran Torino, Sir Nighteye, a couple martial arts agencies and there. Overcast. He never takes interns and doesn’t have an agency due to the fact he’s legally dead (in Japan at least), and he’s never over here, at least not publicly. He circles it and leans over to where Fumi is staring at a thick stack of papers. “Ooh, don’t go to Hawks, he doesn’t really want to be a hero, you won’t learn anything. As a general rule, don’t work with top tenners unless you do research on them first, he likely nominated you because Bird. Go with one of the Undergrounds, these are organized by rank, they’ll be in the very back.”
The bell rings for lunch, though Fumi is still a bit stunned by all the people who want him to intern with them, but as Izuku turns in his form and grabs his hand and the stack of papers he snaps out of it.
Most of the Cryptid Crew, as Izuku’s dubbed Fumi’s friend group, didn’t get any offers, so most of lunch is trying to convince Dark Shadow to not try and convince Fumi to intern with Hawks, who is well known for not treating his interns very well or even teaching them anything.
The cafeteria was unnecessarily hot— you’d think that a school with a seemingly endless budget for building fake cities equipped with sewers, running water and electricity could afford air conditioning in the shared spaces— and Izuku is glad that he didn’t wear any part of his heavily damaged uniform today as everyone seems a bit affected by the heat.
Fumi eventually did decide on an underground hero named Heartstrings— Thoroughly unknown, very low Burning Day chance with her. She has a demon that can possess people, though it’s a completely separate entity with its own opinions. Dark shadow is a manifestation of the suppressed parts of Tokoyami, his deepest feelings and emotions, though he has some measure of sentience beyond that, giving him roughly the intelligence of a five year old, but with how rare and vilified sentient quirks are, she’ll have the most to offer him in the way of technique.
--
Toshinori, reviewing the forms for the students’ internships, reaches Midoriya’s, the one he was actually interested in. Rather than either of the martial arts agencies, Sir Nighteye or Gran Torino— who was a pain to convince to nominate some random kid with knives on the basis that Toshinori had a hunch he was involved in something illegal— where he could easily be kept track of, he chose an american hero visiting Japan.
Toshinori has never heard of Overcast before in his life, and given that he’s willing to nominate the kid who acted like a villain for most of the Sports Festival, he doesn’t want to. He makes his way into the hallway to call Sasaki.
He picks up on the fifth ring, and Toshi isn’t even greeted with a ‘hello’, just a sharp “What do you want, Yagi?”
“The boy didn’t choose your agency or Gran Torino. He only got five offers and he chose some american hero.”
“I really don’t see why you feel the need to meddle in his life so much. He’s quirkless and using every advantage he gets, there’s nothing villainous about that.”
“It’s more than just that! I’ve seen the way he acts around his rivals and around his friends and teachers and it’s completely different. I saw him in the entrance exam and that’s a whole other thing! And the USJ!”
“Yagi, need I remind you of this thing called codeswitching? You said he’s from Mustafu and went to Rengoku junior high, yes? Have you tried checking with his Junior High or students from it?”
“No…” He can hear Sasaki’s sigh through the phone.
“Call me back when you have more evidence than a veritable polygraph test and a hunch. Goodbye.” The call ends.
He calls Gran next, which he was dreading. Even though he isn’t there, he can still deliver a verbal kick to his damaged ribs.
“The boy didn’t take your offer.”
“ Good. He’s a good fighter, I couldn’t teach him much, and I saw the sports festival, there is nothing illegal about his methods, he’s less destructive than half the pros in the field and almost all of his classmates.”
“He stabbed Young Iida!”
“He deserved it. And your hunches have never been correct.”
“What about—”
“Wrong.”
“In—”
“Disastrously incorrect.”
“About Sa—”
“Incorrect.”
“At least Naomasa agrees with me on this one!”
“That’s not a high bar, he idolizes you for some godforsaken reason. Goodbye, Toshinori.”
--
Toshinori does, in fact, take Sasaki’s advice and look into Midoriya’s junior high. Emailing the principal and requesting a meeting, he calls Naomasa and informs him of the plan to meet the principal at a park.
“Hello, Principal Gesuyaro. It’s nice to meet you.”
“Nice to meet you too, I’m glad the little villain is finally being investigated.”
“What makes you say he’s a villain?”
“Little twerp always had knives on him, one of the students with a danger quirk had almost a hundred on him, he attacked the other, rule abiding students. Quirkless brats like him only have two paths, dead or a villain, and he didn’t want to die.”
“What set him apart, other than his quirklessness?”
“He came from the Island, you know the one—” The man points towards Dagobah— “And he was usually filthy. Often didn’t have a uniform, and for the first day of each year he’d pretend he wasn’t from there. That whole island is full of villains, they bring no good for law abiding citizens like you and I. I saw him outside of school once, and when I checked my pockets, everything in them was gone. He sometimes wouldn’t show up for days on end and we all breathed a little easier. One time he disappeared for a week and came back with scars on his face. He was rude to teachers, too.”
Are we talking about the same Midoriya?
Tsukauchi takes over the questioning. “Did you ever see this crown? And this is a police investigation, so I urge you to come forward with any information you have,” He’s barely held up the picture when Principal Gesuyaro flinches backwards, standing up and backing away.
“No, sorry, can’t say that I have, gotta go!” He disappeared faster than Hagakure.
“He was lying on the last part.”
--
The morning the hero students were supposed to leave for their internships, Izuku was doing his best to dodge the gaze of All Might, who’d been trying to pull him aside since the Sports Festival. He was basically just turning around and going back to the Island, but they need to think he’s going somewhere else. So he’s standing there, talking with Fumi and Koda, and All Might actually approaches him this time.
“Young Midoriya, I really must talk to you!”
“Do it here.”
“What?” All Might is taken aback.
“If you really need to talk to me, you can do it here, in front of two of the people I trust most to keep secrets.”
“It’s top secret!”
“Don’t talk to a fifteen year old about it, then. I have to go, my train is here.” He disappears— though he actually just gets a boost from Dark Shadow onto the rafters. Running along them like bridge cables is easy, and far safer. He starts his walk back to the island once he manages to drop down and get lost in the crowd.
Dabi’d come get him to avoid bridgewatching, given that it’s a low risk day, but he’s still temporarily demoted and cannot skip it. So as he crosses the bridge, he sees Dabi crouched on one of the wires, glaring at him. They’re still contemplating banishing him, though that may have to wait until The League does something more public.
He has a meeting with Cloud, then he has to turn around, get ready, and warp to Kai’s location. The week has been planned completely, and they’re heading to Hosu later in the week because he needs to talk to Stain about Ingenium and why exactly he was corrupt, because while he’s not dead, he’ll be out of commission for a bit. It was a warning but he can’t figure out what for.
Oboro drops off a cloud when he steps off the bridge and Izuku has to dodge a bo staff in the same second.
“Are You actually going to teach me anything about being a hero? Or do you just plan on hitting me a lot?”
“Mostly just hit you. We might patrol later, not sure.” He, in fact, does attempt to hit Izuku again, and Izuku can’t dodge this time. Most of their “meeting” was Oboro kicking his ass— while he’s very good at fighting untrained teenagers, villains, Dabi, and almost every islander, a 30 year old pro with real martial arts training and field experience is different. They have everything else planned out and they just fall into the familiar dance of voiceless battle, both too out of breath from many, many attacks to really do any of their normal banter.
Izuku looks at the clock tower on the Sanctuary as he’s thrown past it by a particularly strong hit from the bo staff and realizes he needs to start getting ready if he’s going to be ready by the time Overhaul sends over his men— and it’s always men.
“Oboro I need to get ready. You are a pro hero, and cannot come.”
“I can hold my own!”
“You need to be a surprise for The Confrontation if my plan is going to work. Go get ready for patrol or whatever heroes do.”
“Hey! You’re my intern!
“I’m not Midoriya Izuku anymore. I’m The Boss.”
--
Kai sits at the head of his table, the heads of other major gangs there alongside. They’re anxious to start but he has them wait. The door bangs open and the Iron Crown steps through calmly, in contrast to how violently he shoved the door open. His usual bodyguard— the burned man with blue eyes, Dabi— notably absent. In his place is his transport and a woman , slightly taller than the Iron Crown himself, dressed all in purple.
“Who invited the kid?” Someone whispers as the Iron Crown glances around the room.
“Chisaki. You didn’t tell me there would be others.” He slams his hand down on the table.
“I didn’t think you’d’ve come if you had known, my Little Princeling. Take a seat over there, next to Meishu. And now we can, officially, begin the meeting, now that the Iron Crown is present.” The boy remains standing, making direct eye contact. He is the only one at the table not wearing a mask, his crown the only identification he needs.
“Why’d you call me here, I am not a gang leader or the head of a mafia.”
“But you’re a criminal, and a mastermind at that! This is a meeting of the greatest heads in the underworld, it wouldn’t be complete without you!”
“Who’s the Iron Crown? Is he his son? Why did he send a child?”
“I am not a part of your underworld. You’ve been trying to get to the Island since the day you came to power. And if it was truly a meeting of the greatest heads in the underworld, I would see a faceless potato of a man here today.”
Someone gasps. “You do not dare show such disrespect to Overhaul!” Mimic objects.
“If he lays a finger on me he’ll have the Island on his head and he knows that. You, small man, should know this by now. Now, Overhaul , start your meeting.” He stalks to his seat— difficult in 15cm platforms— and sits down, not making eye contact.
The whispers that had been rising stop and Kai starts to explain how he sees quirks, then his quirk-erasing bullets. He hears muttering and pauses to look at the Iron Crown.
“Oh no, go ahead! Absolutely fascinating stuff, you were about to get to how they work?”
“Yes, I was. I found this quirk—”
“Pardon my interruption, but don’t you detest quirks and believe they’re the disease and you made these bullets to cure them? They’re weirdly dependent on a quirk,for something made to destroy them. But don’t mind me, go ahead.”
Kai sputters. “Well yes, but sacrifices have to be made for the greater good!” He launches into another explanation and finishes, letting the other leaders discuss it amongst themselves.
Instead, he hears them discussing the kid. Which is fine. Totally fine .
--
Izuku cannot outwardly roll his eyes at Chisaki and the irony that he hates quirks and yet depends on them, but he’s internally laughing nonetheless. When they’re given time to discuss, the only discussion is about him. Why he’s there, who he is, why he wasn’t disintegrated on the spot for disrespecting Overhaul. Those who know of the island are staring at him in shock and he’s been pretending not to notice for the past hour as Chisaki monologues.
The person he’s sitting next to turns to him and straight up asks him why he’s here.
“Ask Overhaul. I don’t want to be here. He trades in drugs, I trade in favors, and I do not want to do anything for him or be indebted to him.”
“No, why are you important?”
“I think you can answer your own question by looking at my crown, Meishu-san. I’m a king.”
--
The rest of the meeting goes fairly well. Izuku’s lip curls every time Chisaki calls him ‘his Little Princeling’, and he is anxious to get back to the island, but otherwise it’s fine, until the end, Where Chisaki asks who wants to join him in the selling of his drugs, and Izuku gets up to leave, pulling on his suit jacket.
“Where are you going, my Little Princeling? There’s still a business proposition!” Izuku glares.
“Chisaki, I think you should know by now that I trade in favors , and I do not distribute drugs. I do not see the point in you inviting me here. Now I have an island to tend to, to keep the peace. Goodbye.”
He steps out of the room and on the walk out of the facility, Kurogiri warps himself and Suimin-san away, saying that he needs to cool off and has to walk now.
Goddamn Kurogiri and his usually being right.
Halfway to the island, Mei, unusually clean, and more than a bit panicked crashes into him.
“Mei, what’s wrong?” He catches her.
“People! Following me.” That doesn’t sound like Mei. Mei isn’t afraid of people. He shakes off the feeling of wrong and grabs her wrist, pulling her into the nearest building and shoving her and himself flat against the wall behind the door. Sure enough, four tall men come rushing past, arguing and talking about a girl.
“She went this way!” They walk right past.
Mei stares at him. “Thanks. I bit off more than I could chew going after them.” She was a lot calmer than usual, smelled like flowery shampoo and disinfectant, and was wearing a crop top and a skirt. Even in the winter, Mei wore the same black tank top no matter how many times someone forced her to take a shower. This isn’t Mei.
He shoves her against the wall again, a knife at her throat. “You aren’t Mei, who are you.”
She giggles. “Ooh, you’re cute! You’ll be even cuter when your blood is covering the walls!” She drops the Mei disguise, revealing a girl with blonde space buns and yellow eyes that reflect light like a cat. She has a knife and izuku barely dodges being stabbed in the gut by jumping back.
A knife fight. Great. Won’t be much of one, she’s untrained, but a knife fight nonetheless. He manages to grab her wrist and twist her arms behind her back with a knife to her throat in less than a minute of fighting. He shoves her to the ground, pinning her there with a knee in her back. He grimaces as she giggles, he hates dealing with masochists.
“Who are you and where is Mei!”
“Toga Himiko at your service! I have no idea where your Mei is, I found her passed out on the trash beach and took my chance a couple months ago. I’d like to meet her for real, she’s just my type!”
“... Ew. I’m going to assume you have a Bloodlust transformation quirk. Oh wait. You’re the dead bodies showing up around town. Give me a reason I shouldn’t kill you right now.”
Izuku can see her cheeks puff up slightly as she smiles.
“It’s not heroic?”
“Listen here, Toga . I’m pissed right now, I had to deal with idiots for two hours, and I don’t give a fuck about heroism. So why shouldn’t I kill you?”
“It’d be a crime to kill someone so cute!” Izuku takes a deep breath.
“Like I said! Do I give a fuck about getting arrested? No. Tell me why you were impersonating my friend if you won’t tell me why I shouldn’t kill you. And If I’m feeling merciful, I’ll let you come with me.”
“... Your friend Mei doesn’t look like she’s the heiress of the Hatsume fortune. Hardly recognized her beneath the grime! But her closet was certainly impressive! As for why I impersonated her, well, I needed a place to stay and she’s never home1”
“How’d you fool her pa—Actually wait nevermind I know how. Let me guess, your parents wouldn’t give you any blood and your quirk drove you to desperation. You went on the run after you lost control and you’ve been on the run since.”
“Wow you’re really smart! My turn! You’re some kind of underworld boss and you’re a hero student and you live on the Island or were raised there! You’re really young to be a mafia boss or anything.”
“I think I like you. If I release you, will you run?”
“Yes, duh.” Izuku yanks her to her feet, wrapping her in the capture weapon he stole from UA, and drags her behind him, pulling out his phone to call Kurogiri.
“Kurogiri, can you come pick me up, I’m on the corner of 34th and Orchid. Something came up.” The portal opens and he pushes Toga through, before stepping through himself.
--
Himiko stumbles through the portal into what looks like a throne room, in the sanctuary of an old church. The pews were covered in blankets and pillows, and even though, logically, it was the meeting place for criminals, the atmosphere of peace never left. She didn’t dare speak lest it disturb the ghosts settled around the place like fog.
Something about it was awe-inspiring, even with the stained glass partially shattered, sprinkling the ground. It wasn’t quite dark yet, not really, but it felt like it should be midnight. The time was wrong here. Everything about this place felt fundamentally wrong, but also like home. The boy, and he really wasn’t much more than a boy, in a spiked iron crown, holding himself with the air of someone much more powerful, was talking to a man in a suit, a man made of mist.
Himiko explains herself in a whirlwind of a conversation, being screened by multiple people and having her abilities tested. She learns the name of the boy who saved her, Midoriya Izuku, though she isn’t to call him that in public— It’s no secret, it’s just impolite. And they’re scared of spies from somewhere. Hatsume zooms past the open doors and Midoriya calls her in— She’s prettier awake, proportions perfect, strong arms flexing as she picks the hoverboard up off the ground. They lock eyes and Himiko knows she understands not being understood in a way she hasn’t seen since she saw the masked man stab the fake .
The church, stained with tragedy and attacks and blood, once holy, still feels like midnight, though it’s barely dusk. The church will always feel like midnight, as the fading light stains the floor red, rainbows bouncing off the crystal tree, but it feels safe . Safer than the back of the library, safer than the Hatsume’s house, safer than her own family’s house— are they her family, though? They didn’t even file a report when she left.
As the others rush about, she makes conversation with the grease-stained heiress. There’s blood on her face, Himiko can see it, can smell it, and she wants to get closer, take that blood, consume it, become the woman in front of her. She loves her. She wants to be the people she loves, they think her love is wrong, out there. Her love isn’t wrong. Here they wouldn’t think that, that she’s a villain because kissing isn’t close enough for her. She wants to sit here forever, learn how she acts and what she likes and become her.
Her inventions are her world. Hatsume—Mei— blows past social norms like she does, talks too loudly, gets so excited she forgets to breathe and doesn’t falter when she explains her quirk or why she’s here!
“I think we’re going to be good friends!” It hurts to say, just a little bit, but she always falls in love too fast.
--
Izuku was pulled out of the meeting to go on patrol, but they’d basically figured it out by then. He and Oboro stopped some petty crime, argued with the police for fifteen minutes, and then Izuku had to get back for his rounds of the island. The police never really forgot their run-ins with him, and they were convinced he was a vigilante for several hours. The weight of the circlet he’s using in place of his normal crown— the Boss cannot be connected back to Midoriya Izuku, but he is the iron crown hero (in training)— is off, and the pins are digging into his scalp, and he really just wants to sleep. He gets hisTsūshinmō-sany Oboro (again, though he’s getting better), rinse and repeat. He’s minding his own business when Tsūshinmō-san’s voice rings in his head.
“Boss, I just got word that something big is going down in Hosu tonight. You’re going to want to be there, and bring your best firepower while you’re at it!”
“Thank you, Tsūshinmō-san.” He cuts the connection and kicks a sleeping Oboro in the ribs, “Get ready, something big is going down in Hosu. Kurogiri, please open a portal to Hosu.” Kurogiri nods, opening it as Oboro jumps to his feet, grabbing his Bo staff and stepping through, Izuku following. Tsūshinmō-san fills him in on what their Hosu negotiator was saying, an A-class attack, with Nomu, meaning League and AFO involvement. Running through a mental list of classmates in Hosu, he realizes that Fumikage’s internship is in Hosu, Endeavor’d be there because of the Hero Killer— he’s been there for almost a month— meaning Todoroki’ll be there too, and that Iida was interning with Manual. Other than that, he can’t tell who’d be there, Heroes like travelling. Momo was interning with Fatgum, but he doesn’t leave Esuha much. If Shigaraki is doing what he thinks he’s doing, he would appreciate the extra firepower Momo could give, but he’ll make do. They’re warped onto a roof overlooking a fight with some Nomu.
“Overcast, you need to do a scan of the city, you’re faster at it than I am, and you’re more discreet. I’ll help the pros, the Nomu have exposed brains and nobody realizes this, if you stab the right place you can take them down. Get any trapped civilians out of there.”
“Who put you in charge? I’m the pro hero here.” his voice fades out as Izuku sees movement and a Nomu swoops down.
“DUCK!”
“Huh?” Oboro ducks even as he says it, and the Nomu misses him. Izuku jumps, latching onto the Nomu’s wing and pulling himself over onto its back, stradling it, fingers in its brain.It’s over the street and flying fast when he shoved his fingers even deeper and shoved the brain out of the cavity, hearing it splatter to the ground below. The Nomu goes down, it has less than half a brain. Izuku lets go, sending out the capture weapon to catch on a lamp post, swinging around from the inertia and landing back on a roof.
“You see why I’m in charge now?” His capture weapon has bloody handprints on it now, clothes too dark to tell, but also splattered with blood. He can feel the poorly weighted ciclet— He said to make it heavier and a bit heavier at the front but they thought it’d be tacky so they made it a small wire thing— slipping off his head, and he knows his eyes are a bit crazed. His white gloves are red.
“Yup. Gonna go see what the situation is!” He zooms off and Izuku drops down to the street, where Manual and his sidekicks are putting out fires and evacuating civilians.
“HEY! Hey you! Guy who took down that thing! Are you a new underground hero?”
“Something like that. I have to keep going,” he says, rushing off.
“If you see my intern, tell him to get back here!”
Did he… He did. He may hate me but he’s not dying on my watch! He runs off faster, because Iida cannot take on Stain. The man has killed twenty pro heroes, and while he will not kill a kid, Iida’s career will end before it begins. His engines will be cut out of his legs, rendering him quirkless and unable to walk, and it won’t be pretty. Skidding into an alleyway, he sees Iida and another pro, one he absolutely detests , lying prone in an alley as stain monologues.
“Stendhal. Didn’t think you’d attack a child.”
“Boss, didn’t think you’d come here. You’re covered in blood, is it yours or someone else's?” Thank God Iida cannot see me.
“It's not mine. Don’t try it.” He’s holding his phone behind his back as he sends out his location to everyone. He then reaches up, grabs the circlet and throws it, it’s ugly as sin anyway. He sends one more text, a do not freak out one to the person he set to sound the alarm if his crown goes missing without prior warning— after the USJ he’s not taking any chances— and summons his real crown. It lands on his head with a soft thunk. “Are you up for a rematch?”
Stain smiles, too many teeth, eyes too wide. “Let’s dance.”
He flies at him, Katana swinging, and Izuku deflects the blade with one of his wristbands. Stain still licks the Nomu’s blood, full of cerebral fluid and brain matter.
“I told you you wouldn’t want to do that, brains don’t taste great.” There’s more metal on metal clanging as the two clash. They fight the same way, blades and gymnastics. But Stain starts to win, almost getting a hit in on him, and he finally burries a knife that Izuku was too slow to dodge in his shoulder and Izuku freezes.
“You, I’ll keep alive, The pro and the boy? Not so much. Revenge isn’t a thing a true hero should focus on—!” A dark claw shoots out and clamps over his mouth, and Izuku does his best to convey a smile to his boyfriend, who gives him a thumbs up. Dark Shadow is strong , in a lightless alleyway in the middle of the night. He looms, but Stain is far faster than him. He twists out of his grip and pulls a knife from his back, throwing it. Izuku watches its trajectory, sees it bury itself just left of it’s target, in Native’s shoulder. Unfortunate.
Dark shadow slashes at Stain, and stain barely dodges. Izuku counts the seconds until he can move. “Tsukoyomi! Don’t let him drink your blood. He’ll freeze you in place!”
Iida stirs slightly. “How do you know my classmate’s names, villain?”
Izuku takes a deep breath, drops the commanding tone and turns off leader brain for a second. “Remember me, Ingenium? I’d think I know my own boyfriend’s hero name.” Izuku tries to curl his hands into a fist, his fingers barely twitch, but the limit’s drawing close.
Dark shadow is getting bigger and Fumikage is trying to reel in his fear, he can see it. Stain’s getting closer, and as Fumikage’s fear rises, so too does the bulk of Dark shadow, swiping at Stain, trying to bite him. Stain keeps dodging, throwing knives through Dark Shadow so Tokoyami has to dodge, dancing around them. Dark Shadow is slow when he’s this big. If he could get a good hit in, he’d be down for the count, but he can’t. Izuku can’t beat him, he’s not fast enough or strong enough. Fumi can’t beat him either, he’s untrained and unprepared. And Izuku knows he’s panicking from the chaos exuding from Dark Shadow, from his eyes.
Testing his hands again, he can move. A knife burrows itself in Stain’s shoulder before he can think about it— this is life or death, it’s not a meeting where he has the advantage. It’s a head to head battle. Though Stain needs to stick around a bit, for most of Izuku’s plans, but he doesn’t know that. He only knows fake heroes and anger. He’s going to have a domino effect pretty soon, and Izuku is going to orchestrate it. But right now? It’s fight or die.
Fumi can’t keep his emotions, and therefore Dark Shadow, under control for much longer, though. So Izuku darts forward, into Iida’s line of sight for the first time the entire fight, and grabs Stain. He’s too light and stain can shake him off, but it doesn’t need to be for long, just long enough for— He forgot to account for Iida, who’s getting up. Stain topples as he’s kicked full force in the back of the head, and while he falls, so does Izuku.
Oboro skids into the alley as they tie him up, grabbing Izuku and hugging him. Izuku wiggles out of his grip— he’s covered in blood. Manual, some of the other pros on his team, Heartstings and Endeavor are quick to follow. Tokoyami is getting lectured as Izuku pulls the knife out of his shoulder, tossing it behind him towards the hero killer. Oboro is lecturing him on getting stabbed, and Native offers to help heal him but Izuku just glares. Heartstrings is telling Fumikage off for running away without telling her why, and Izuku laughs as Todoroki appears out of nowhere to put ice on one of Iida’s wounds to hold the blood in, making direct eye contact with his father as he does so.
One of the Pros on Manual’s team goes down.
“This society is full of fakes . Full of corrupt heroes, wearing the name and tarnishing it. Heroes who kill civilians, who abuse their families, who cause more damage than they fix! They cover it up in the news but it happens every day! The strong rise to the top, those with great powers are praised and we are stomped on, beaten down and belittled for a thing we cannot control! Those with strong quirks are forced to be things they don’t want to be, those with mutant type quirks insulted and joked about and pushed down for being weak!
“Heroes prioritize catching villains over helping people! How dare you wear that title! How dare you call yourselves heroes when you don’t come to the places that need you most! You made saving lives a popularity contest, a show! You overlook those truly in danger—” his aura practically glows as he rambles, the pros frozen in place. Izuku hits send on a drafted message and the Hero killer disappears.
He’s preaching to the choir on that one , he thinks as he smiles to himself, discarding his crown near a dumpster for the cops to find. The king of a beaten down island, the abused son of a hero, a kid with a villain’s quirk. We know that. The police arrive and they’re taken to the hospital. It’s decided by the cops to never speak of this incident again. Izuku is questioned while he’s not high off pain meds, with a parent present this time. His mom managed to get off work to come, and he buries his face in her shoulder as she pretends to think he’s shaken. He’d been texting her the whole thing, she knows the full story— also, it’s not every day your boyfriend drops a serial killer on your couch for the second time in a week— and Izuku’s just glad he can hug her, too, their schedules are so conflicting he barely sees her.
Fumikage is called out for questioning as Izuku gets back in, so he’s sitting in a room with his mom and his enemy, waiting to introduce her to his boyfriend. Iida is looking back and forth like he can’t believe she’s related to him.
“Is this your friend, Izuku?”
“Something like that. We don’t get along.” Izuku continues staring at the door like it’ll bring his boyfriend back. He and Fumikage were both being discharged that day, and he really wants to introduce his mom to his boyfriend and vice versa, so when Iida is finally called out, Izuku hops up and drags Fumi back to his bed.
“Mom, this is Fumikage, my best friend and boyfriend. Fumikage, this is my mom.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Midoriya-san, though I wish it could be in the aftermath of less dire circumstances. But tragedy brings light, and your sun certainly can light up even the darkest recesses of my soul.” Tokoyami’s deep voice makes it sound more romantic and Izuku almost combusts on the spot.
“Izuku, you didn’t tell me he was so polite!”
“I could’ve sworn I did.”