Chapter Text
Izuku slowly became aware of his surroundings. He was sitting on something soft and plush; he could smell a mix of something vaguely salty and sweet. He opened his eyes with a slow blink. When had he even fallen asleep? The last thing he remembered was sitting in the common room of the dorms playing, and failing to teach Todoroki, Uno.
He glanced next to him and saw that both Iida and Uraraka were sitting on his right, looking equally confused and dazed. On his left was Todoroki, and on his left was Kacchan. Slowly but surely, he counted his entire class sitting in the same red velvet chairs as he was. Shinsou was there too, looking just as lost as everybody else, together with Toogata Mirio and little Eri.
A cough from behind him caused Izuku to look up and saw that some of his teachers were there too. All Might, Aizawa-sensei, Yamada-sensei, Kayama-sensei, and strangely enough, Principal Nedzu. Who all seemed more preoccupied glaring at the other side of the room.
Izuku turned his gaze further to the right and froze when his eyes landed on the crazy look Shigaraki Tomura was sending his way. He sat together with the rest of the known League of Villains, Dabi, Spinner, Twice, Toga Himiko, Mr. Compress, Kuroguri, and most chillingly All for One.
It took all but three seconds for the entire theatre to descend into chaos.
Everybody was screaming and talking over each other.
Shigaraki threw himself at the hero students with a feral roar, only to bang his forehead against some kind of invisible barrier. Kuroguri, always the loyal servant, tried to portal his way to the other side but reappeared in the same spot where he left. All for One was strangely silent during all of this and didn’t move from his seat, even as his face twisted into a frown. Toga was stabbing the barrier with all her might, and Dabi tried to torch it with his flames.
The heroes all looked pensive. Aizawa-sensei tried to Erase the villain’s Quirks, but nothing happened. Midnight and Present Mic were standing ready to fight if the villains ever broke through.
Next to him, Kacchan let off a series of small explosions, or at least he tried to. Izuku could see them going off, but there was no sound accompanying the little explosions. Confused, Kacchan slammed his hand against the chair in front of him, but nothing happened. The chair wasn’t even scorched. “HAH?”
Todoroki did the same and created a small flame in his hand and stuck his other hand through. “It isn’t hot,” he said tonelessly. “it’s like it doesn’t exist.”
Izuku stood up hastily and let One for All glitter over his body, but nothing was happening next to his little light show, no thrum of power, nothing.
Suddenly, all the theatre lights went dark, and Izuku found himself sitting back in his chair.
White letters over a black screen appeared.
RULES AND REGULATIONS:
The screen flickered for a moment.
- Quirks don’t work here. They will appear only for cosmetic reasons.
- Watch the screen. If more than three people aren’t paying attention, the video will pause. The sooner you watch, the sooner you’ll get out of here.
- The barrier is unbreakable. Don’t waste your time trying.
- The Theatre is sentient, ask it anything you want, but it may deny your request.
- The generator will decide what you see.
- Have fun.
This managed to silence everyone for a blessed second before erupting again in a truly terrifying amount of noise.
Izuku tried to make sense of what the hell was happening and looked up to his teachers for guidance. Aizawa said something to Present Mic, who shrugged and nodded.
“ YEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! ”
That shut everybody up again.
“Wow, okay, that worked. Cool.” Yamada-sensei said.
“Whose fault is this?” All Might asked the villains’ side. “Is this your doing All for One?”
“I shouldn’t have expected anything different from you, Yagi. You always were quick to accuse me of everything.” All for One rumbled darkly. “Alas, this is not something of my doing.”
“It does seem that we’re in quite the situation here.” Nedzu agreed as he stood on Aizawa’s shoulder. “As we are also not the cause of this. I think the best course of action would be to do what the rules suggest. The sooner we watch whatever they want us to watch, the sooner we can go home.”
Shigaraki looked like he was about to protest, but All for One gave him a head pat and a quiet shake of his head. “Let us proceed.”
The entire class was restless and fidgety because of the villains' presence and the dark aura that hung around All for One. Eri, Toogata, and Shinsou had all come closer in the meantime. Eri clinging to Toogata, and Shinsou focusing on Aizawa as he sat down in the chair in front of Izuku.
“Why is it always you guys?” the purple-haired boy asked tiredly.
Kacchan responded with, “Fuck if I knew, but I’m getting sick of it.”
The lights that had steadily become brighter turned down again, and a spinning wheel appeared on the screen.
It spun and spun and spun until the words became legible enough.
LABBRAT
“That’s interesting,” Izuku murmured to himself as he desperately tried not to look at Nedzu.
Everyone worth their salt knew that Nedzu had been an experiment. Nobody knew how he’d gotten out of whatever testing facility he’d been part of, and nobody dared to insult one of the smartest beings in Japan accidentally. Izuku was curious; he had to admit, but what had been done to Nedzu was probably horrible, and nothing he should be reminded of to sate some teenager's curiosity.
[The shot opens with a younger Shigaraki Tomura sitting on a couch playing video games. His pinky fingers delicately lifted so he wouldn’t disintegrate the controller. He’s mid-game when he pauses it and heaves a sigh, clearly no longer interested. He gets up and walks through the base's narrow halls until he reaches a stainless steel door. He sticks his head in.]
“Hey brat, you done for the day yet? I need a player 2 to clear the next level.” Shigaraki says as he observes the other occupants of the room.
“Almost done, Tomu-nii, I’m finishing up right now.” a younger and paler Midoriya Izuku answers, sitting at a desk scribbling in a notebook.
“Holy shit,” Kaminari said as he turned his head to look at Izuku. “That is so weird.”
“Is this true, Midoriya?” Sero asked incredulously. “Are you...are you secretly part of the League?”
Izuku spluttered. “No! Of course not. I never even knew of the League until they attacked at USJ, I swear!”
“I doubt my input would change anything.” All for One commented from the other side of the barrier. “But this has never happened. I think what we see currently is an alternate universe of sorts.”
“As if I ever needed a player 2.” Shigaraki grumbled from his seat.
“Use your brains, you fuck munches,” Kacchan yelled from Izuku’s left. “I’ve known Deku my entire life. I would’ve fucking noticed if he was part of some shitty as villain club.”
“Ahh, you’re right, Bakugou. Sorry for assuming, Midoriya.” Sero said sheepishly as he shot Izuku an apologetic look.
“It’s fine, Sero-kun. I would’ve jumped to conclusions too if I didn’t know any better.” Izuku placated as he smiled uneasily and diverted his attention back to the screen.
“What did Sensei have you do this time?” Shigaraki asks as he comes closer and sits on the other side of the table.
“Oh, nothing new,” Midoriya says as he keeps writing. “He gave me a new Quirk to analyze. It’s really cool, too; it lets me create dust from any part of my body. See?” the boy sticks out his arm, and a barrage of ash-like dust falls onto the table.
Shigaraki raises an eyebrow. “How is this a cool Quirk?”
Midoriya rolls his eyes as if it’s obvious. “You need to think more creatively, Tomura-nii. In a fight, you could easily blind your opponents or cause them to lose track of you. This could be really good for stealth missions when you want to keep people off your trail. Or you could use it to put out things like fires, and-”
“Imma stop your right there, labbrat. Only you could get this excited because of a dust Quirk,” he says fondly while ruffling the younger’s hair. “Did you write down what you needed?”
Midoriya nods and brushes off the dust. “Yup, let’s go clear your level.”
[As he stands, it’s clear that Midoriya looks different. A lab coat hides his shoulders and back, but they look thicker than they should be. It becomes clear why when he removes his lab coat, and two pastel green wings can be seen. He stretches them, showing off the impressive wingspan before he folds them back up, and they settle against his back. He walks out of the door with Shigaraki]
Izuku’s brain was going a mile a minute. It was clear to him that All for One was using him as some sort of test subject. His counterpart's ability to hold more than one Quirk was probably because he was originally Quirkless.
“You look so pretty with those wings, Deku-kun.” Toga said, playing with a knife. “I wonder how pretty they would look covered in blood.”
Uraraka visibly bristled beside him, while the rest of the class just looked vaguely horrified.
“No visible degradation of mental capacities.” All for One said softly. “How fascinating .”
“Don’t you dare, All for One.” All Might said as he eyed his successor protectively. “When we’re done with whatever this is, you’ll be back in Tartarus. I’ll make sure of it.”
“And with what power, Yagi?” All for One taunted.
“At least we can conclude that this is indeed some alternate reality.” Nedzu cut in before All Might could say anything. “Why don’t we see where this takes us, hmm?”
All Might reluctantly sat back down and focused on the film.
[The shot goes dark before refocusing on an older man. He seems somewhere in his mid 30’s with curly dark hair and a familiar face.]
“Dad?” Izuku said, surprised. What was his dad doing in a villain lair?
“That’s your dad?” Todoroki asked him with narrowed eyes.
“Please, Todoroki-kun, don’t tell me you still think All Might is my dad.” Izuku hid his head in his hands.
“Maybe.” the other boy said blankly.
[Midoriya Hisashi looks at his son with a pained expression.]
“He’s not going to get over this, is he?” he asks Kuroguri tiredly.
“It doesn’t seem like it.” the bartender says as they both watch Midoriya gush over some new hero on the scene.
“He’s got a hero streak a mile wide; we only managed to convince him to test the Quirks because he thinks we’re working for the Hero Commission.” Midoriya, the elder, leans against a wall and blows out a bit of smoke.
“Don’t forget that he was young when Sensei first caught his eye. Younger children are always easier to convince.”
“Oh, so that’s how they got Midoriya to agree.” Kirishima nodded as he looked at the other Midoriya on screen. “I thought it was weird that Midobro was aiding the villains without any resistance.” he elaborated when Ashido looked at him funny.
“Good observation, Kirishima,” Aizawa commented.
[The scene changes to All for One sitting in an office chair, hooked up to too many tubes and wires. Midoriya Izuku is sitting opposite him with both their hands clasped together in Midoriya’s lap. Midoriya is glowing slightly.]
“All done, Sensei.” Midoriya beams as he releases their clasped hands.
“You’ve gotten better at using that Quirk, I can tell. I think a treatment or two will do the trick just fine.” All for One praises the boy. “I know you’ve already tested two Quirks this week, but I have the feeling this is one you’ll enjoy keeping.”
Midoriya practically vibrates in his seat from excitement. “What is it, Sensei?”
[All for One places a hand on Midoriya’s head. Midoriya looks like he’s in pain for about 30 seconds before it fades away into a smile.]
“It’s called Overclock. It allows you to accelerate to extreme speeds. You can do anything faster. Run faster, punch faster, think faster. Be careful with this, though, young one. it could do irreparable damage.”
Midoriya looks wide-eyed at the description and bursts into a blinding grin. “Thank you, Sensei.”
“Anything for you, my boy.”
All Might looked ready to hurl, while Izuku was just deeply disturbed.
“Overclock. That sounds familiar. Wasn’t there a Pro with a name like that?” Yamada asked as he turned to look at Aizawa.
“There was a hero named O’Clock, but he fell off the radar about 6 years...ago.” Aizawa winced at the implication. He’d concluded that the man must have lost his Quirk in a similar run-in with All for One.
“Oh,” Izuku piped up. “that's around the same time Knuckleduster showed up.”
Aizawa frowned. “Why do you know about Knuckleduster, Problem Child?”
Izuku blushed furiously and twisted his hands together. “Well, rumors were going around that he was Quirkless, and I really respected him for that.”
“You sure know a lot about heroes and vigilantes, huh, Midoriya-chan,” Asui said with a knowing smile.
Aizawa hummed.
[A slightly older Midoriya wanders around the compound. It looks like he’s a man on a mission. He walks past several doors until he comes to a stop in front of a heavy-duty double steel door. He grimaces but pushes the door open nonetheless. He stops short. The room is filled with Nomu. Mismatched, ugly creatures with exposed brains. He hurls. He skitters backward, back colliding with the steel door painfully.]
“Oh gods, what are these?” he says shakily.
[He focuses on one particular Nomu, the one with the red bat wings. It looks familiar, somehow.]
“Dr. Tsubasa’s grandson had bat wings, didn’t he?” he mutters to himself. “No wonder the doctor requested a wing Quirk for me.” he laughs, bitter and hysterical.
[Quickly, he makes his way out and shuts the doors behind him.]
“I need to get out of here—no way the Hero Commission would let something like this happen. Gods, I’ve been so stupid. Tomura hates heroes.”
[Midoriya comes to a screeching halt.]
“Villains. I’ve been living with villains the entire time. My Quirks, oh no, my Quirks were probably stolen from somebody. No no no no no.” he panics. “I need to go. I need to go right now. I need to tell somebody. I need to tell the heroes.”
[The shot changes, and Shigaraki and Midoriya Hisashi are looking at a screen together. It shows a map with a tracker labeled “Midoriya Izuku,” and it’s clearly going towards the building that is marked as “UA.”]
“Do you want me to go get him back?” Hisashi seemingly asks thin air.
All for One replies via the screen. “Don’t worry. This will be a good learning experience for him. This is why I implanted the tracker in the first place. I knew he was going to get himself in trouble somehow. Him seeing the Nomu’s has always been a hazard.”
“What if he doesn’t come back willingly?” Hisashi asks nervously.
“No need to worry. He’ll see the flaws in the hero system soon enough.” All for One pauses for a moment. “And otherwise, we still have you for blackmail.”
Hisashi visibly gulps. “Of course, All for One.”
[Midoriya Izuku is sitting in the principal's office. He looks decidedly uncomfortable, with his wings folded too high on his back. Principal Nedzu sits on the other side of the table, nursing a cup of tea.]
“I’m not trying to be rude or insensitive, Nedzu-sensei, but you were experimented on, right?” Midoriya stammers. “Because I think I was a lab rat, too.”
The screen went black for a moment, and the lights went back on before INTERMISSION appeared on the screen.