Chapter Text
“And we’re here at the annual Hero Gala, where the rankings are going to officially come out in half an hour. Green Lightning, there you are! You look a little spooked; worried the Traffic Light Trio won’t top the charts again this year?”
The camera shifted to fully face the hero who was looking around with narrowed eyes, but he straightened to his full height (still small, even at age 24) and smiled at the camera.
“Oh, no, just keeping watch! Sometime in the next half hour, someone is going to make a move.”
The camera turned back to the news reporter, a young one who blinked, and there was an excited yell that caused the camera to flash back to where Yellow Shock was trying to tackle Green Lightning and instead getting pinned to the ground in a flash of green.
“Aw, man,” the blond man pouted, “I wanted to win for once! Come on, Zuku, you can’t let the League win every time!”
“I don’t intend to let anyone win this year,” he said dryly, “but you’ve never been sneaky enough to win either.”
“Um…?”
Yellow Shock looked up at the news reporter and grinned. “Oh hey! You must be new! Don’t worry, we’re just engaging in the local tradition, that’s all!”
“Local… tradition?”
Green Lightning sighed and let up his teammate. “Yeah. It’s a really stupid tradition that carried over from our school days. What’s the score, Denki?”
Yellow Shock brushed himself off and tilted his head in thought. “Groupies have the most, League has the longest, and heroes are in a solid third place in all categories, but we’re getting there.”
“Please don’t, there’s a reason I don’t like coming to these.”
The reporter blinked. “Score?”
Red Riot came up out of nowhere, grinning. “Capture the Flag! Who’s going to win, red? Blue? Yellow? Who knows, but not green!”
“I dunno,” Green Lightning raised an eyebrow, carefully removing the arm Red Riot had thrown over his shoulder, “I’m liking my odds this year. Danger Sense is definitely prepared. If I can make the next… Twenty five minutes, I’ve won for the first time.”
He turned back to the camera with a smile. “But since you’ve got us all here, do you have any pressing questions?”
The reporter straightened up. “Yes! The Intersection is the highest ranking agency in the past four years, with only two years since your graduation before making it big. What are your secrets to success?”
Red Riot grinned, shark teeth on full display. “That’s easy! Teamwork makes the dream work, you know? But we also look for those kids in hero schools that look like they need a little bit of a boost, you know? A hero team was just what we needed, and if we can put other potential heroes on that path, it makes the whole world better! I mean, what’s better than having a built-in support system?”
Yellow Shock nodded. “I used to be told I was pretty dumb, right? But now, people definitely don’t see me as the brains of this operation, but they listen to my tactics! Dr. Mido rubbed off on me!”
“Ah, yes, this year you officially got your doctorate, isn’t that right?”
Green Lightning sighed heavily. “Pinky will not stop making fun of me for it, but I do think it’s already helped. Knowing the law means I can help people more, and get them out of bad situations before they get turned into villains just for being desperate. But yes, I got my doctorate and now all my friends will never let Dr. Mido, a remnant from my school days, go.”
Yellow Shock nudged his partner with a laugh. “Come on, it’s not as bad as Tooru calling you Mr. Hero all the time.”
“We’re all heroes and have been for years! I do not know why she insists on calling me that! And Mei still calls me Hero Course. We graduated six years ago!”
Red Riot perked up. “Oh, gotta go, I see my babe.”
Yellow Shock snickered. “Tell him he looks dynamite , it’ll work this time. Speaking of, incoming… ”
Yellow Shock ducked out of the way as Phantom Thief and Equilibrium came up and both grabbed a hand of Green Lightning. He smiled, but it was strained.
“Give me another twenty minutes and I’ll come find you guys, ok?”
Phantom Thief pouted, but everyone could see he was fighting off a grin. “Aww, but darling, how are we going to capture you if you run away?”
“Yeah, see, that’s the point. You can “capture” me all you want in… nineteen minutes.” Green Lightning gave one last smile to the camera before disappearing in a shower of green.
Equilibrium sighed. “I told you that wouldn’t work.”
“Well, neither would a frontal assault, we tried the last two years running.”
Equilibrium shrugged. “He knows us too well.”
Phantom Thief sighed and ran a gloved hand through his blonde hair, the top fluffing up a bit more to contrast the sharp undercut.
“Well, I need to go visit with the rest of the underground. See you later?”
“Of course.”
Equilibrium turned back to the camera, face impassive as always. “Sorry about that.”
The reporter recovered. “E-equilibrium! Um, we were wondering what your thoughts on the hero roster would be this year! You and Ground Zero are often fighting for the number two spot, is that correct?”
He shrugged. “It comes down to many different factors, but yes. I don’t particularly mind either way, but he seems to get angry when I beat him, so try not to be near him when the announcement goes out, just in case.”
They nodded with wide eyes.
“Oh, um, you’re currently dating both Phantom Thief and Green Lightning, is that right?”
“No.”
“N-no?!”
“Phantom and I are both dating Green Lightning, but not each other. Sorry for the confusion. Ah, but with luck, we won’t be dating him much longer. I refuse to let him beat me this time…”
“Ah, aha, um, yes, thank you! Fifteen minutes till the ceremony, what are your predictions?”
“Well, for one, I suspect the League and the Groupies will get here soon enough.”
“The-”
An explosion rang out and everyone started screaming, but Equilibrium just sighed.
“Dabi,” he yelled, “you were almost late!”
The blue fire user cackled, doubling over in laughter. “Hear that, Crusty? We were almost late to pick up your brother!”
“I’M NOT HIS BROTHER!”
Shigaraki Tomura sighed. “Izuku, come on, dad misses you.”
“DAD CAN FUCK OFF, I’M GOING TO WIN THIS YEAR!”
“Awww, but Izu-kun~!”
The camera whipped around to find that one of the guest’s was melting into a blonde woman with space buns and a knife.
“We wanna capture the flag this year!”
Green Lightning folded his arms. “No, I’m winning this time. None of you can catch me anyway.”
Shigaraki Tomura tapped his chin. “I dunno, Izu, last year begs to differ.”
“LAST YEAR, I WAS TASED BEFORE HAND!”
Yellow Shock snickered. “Sorry man, but the hero team got a point, it was worth it.”
Ground Zero burst onto the scene. “WILL ALL OF YOU SHUT THE FUCK UP? GOD, THE SAME SHIT EVERY YEAR! DEKU! DON’T GET YOUR ASS CAPTURED BY THE FUCKING VILLAINS AGAIN!”
“NOT PLANNING ON IT - HAWKS, I SEE THOSE FEATHERS, BACK OFF!”
Hawks grinned and saluted with a feather, notably missing most of his wings.
Genesis stepped forward, pink sparkles coming from her stomach before a gun that looked like a rocket launcher came from her to rest on her shoulder.
“Izuku,” she placated, “this can be over much faster if you just stop resisting.”
Green Lightning grinned lopsidedly. “Yeah, right, you like the chase. Hitoshi, now!”
An unknown purple haired person yawned. “Huh? Sorry, can’t hear you over my fiance begging me for victory.”
“IS EVERYONE A TRAITOR TODAY?!”
Uravity giggled and shrugged from beside Ingenium II. “Yeah, pretty much. Come on, Blasty, we need more victories!”
“Shut up, Cheeks, we had this in the bag since an hour ago.”
Green Lightning looked at his former class, utterly betrayed. “Kacchan, were you telling me to not get captured so that you could capture me?”
Ground Zero grinned and cracked his knuckles.
“Unbelievable,” Green Lightning muttered, “you’re all the worst. Too bad for you, I can greatly limit who can get me.”
He shot into the sky, wreathed in green, and several people groaned, but most did not.
“You tried that two years ago,” the vigilante Spinner called out, “and it didn’t work then either!”
“YEAH, BECAUSE I GOT DRUGGED BY MIDNIGHT BEFORE THAT!”
Shigaraki cupped his hands around his mouth. “Even if we don’t get you now there’s always the rest of the year! You can’t fly forever, little brother!”
“YEAH I ACTUALLY CAN. I JUST WANT ONE VICTORY, ONE!”
The reporter swallowed nervously, looking between the three diametrically opposed groups that were all focused on the face of the number one hero team and agency, not even looking at each other. Green Lightning just flew higher, and anyone who attempted to fly up to get him (Uravity, Ground Zero, Hawks, Tsukuyomi, etc) was mercilessly shot down by black whips of energy.
Uravity took the launcher gun from Genesis and took to the sky once more, firing and launched what looked to be a super fast net, but it was dodged and slashed to pieces despite coming up from Green Lightning’s back.
“Well,” the villain Mr. Compress stepped forward, “might I propose a temporary truce? In ten minutes, our flag will have secured a victory, and I’m sure that no one wants that. Uravity, I believe I can be of assistance?”
She grinned viciously and touched down beside him. Soon, all the flying heroes and villains were marbled (willingly!) and Uravity was sending them floating up, little glints of blue sparkles in the sunlight.
“I HAVE EYES, BASTARDS!”
In a flash, Green Lightning was gone from the air, and everything was quiet.
Genesis hummed. “I believe we will need a new plan. Shock, can you check the app?”
Yellow Shock pulled out his phone and sighed. “He’s moving too fast to get an accurate read. It’s almost like he’s teleporting or something.”
The mist villain, Kurogiri raised a misty hand. “If I may see that?”
After a moment of examination and careful, intrigued waiting from all three sides, a misty portal opened and Green Lightning slammed into the ground like a vibrant meteor. He whipped his head up and snarled at them before taking off again.
Shigaraki shook his head. “I don’t know why he bothers.”
Another portal appeared, but this time, no hero came out of it.
They all paused.
Shock whipped his phone back and pressed it to his ear. “Mei? Can we get a y value instead of just x and z?”
His phone dinged and he passed it back to Kurogiri.
Genesis checked her watch. “Five minutes!”
Another black and purple portal opened and Green Lightning shot through it, aiming a fist directly for Kurogiri. In the split second that they had to see this, another portal appeared, but one of the black tendrils of energy flashed forward and stabbed through the villain, knocking him out completely to slump to the ground in a heap, and the hero was off again.
The coordinators for the Hero Gala were cleaning up the area, resetting the tables, and testing that the microphone was still working.
They seemed completely unperturbed.
“Hey,” the cameraman whispered, “you think this is why they sent us to cover the pre-gala?”
The reporter looked back, aghast. “What?! No way, they would have told us if this was a regular thing.”
“I dunno, it sounds like this happens annually.”
“I know Green Lightning is sometimes called the Hostage Hero, but to think they would try something in an event full of heroes!”
“Actually,” they both jumped rather violently as the purple haired man from earlier came up, hands in the pockets of his jumpsuit, “this is the only time the heroes get a shot at actual kidnapping, since mostly we’re just on rescue duty. Still counts for our points, but we get the satisfaction of swiping the poor flag out from under the other team’s noses. They get all year, we get very few events. Plus, the flag doesn’t exactly like getting captured and sometimes doesn't wait for us to get him out, which really puts a damper on our score. This is payback.”
The reporter blinked. “We…? Are you a hero?”
“Underground, so I won’t be giving you any details, but yeah. If he can last for just two more minutes for the ceremony to start, he might actually win this year. It’s never happened before but, well, he is the hero who never stops.”
There was nervous, anxious silence as the heroes, villains, and vigilantes tried to find Green Lightning, before finally the hero Commission representative cleared their throat.
“We start in a minute, please make your way to your seats.”
Even the League and the… Groupies found tables to sit at, with the rest of the Stoplight Trio dragging Genesis, Uravity, Ingenium II, and Ground Zero over to their own table.
The reporter glanced nervously into the camera and the representative cleared their throat once more.
“Thank you all for coming to this year’s annual Hero Gala. This has been a very productive year so to start things off, We would like to… ahem, is Green Lightning in the venue? I do believe time has run out.”
In a flash, he was there, grinning widely, and everyone else in the room sighed.
“Ha ha,” he gasped, “I can’t believe it, I-”
He stopped, stock still, and his eyes flashed.
“Well you see,” Hatsume Mei of Hatsume Mei industries twirled a remote on her finger and stood up from behind the podium, “I’m afraid you didn’t, Hero Course. Hypnos, you can release the goon. Pinky, initiate capture routine beta.”
Pinky giggled, bounding over from her table. “No problem, Meimei!” She wrapped Green Lightning in a hug and he still couldn’t move, eyes wide in anger and shock.
“Wait a second,” Yellow Shock stood up, pushing his chair back, “it already started! Even if you capture him now, it’s too late! Also, babe, what the fuck? Why didn’t you tell me?”
The purple haired man shrugged with a sly grin and snapped his fingers. The representative at the podium jolted back to awareness and blinked rapidly before growing confused. He checked his own watch.
“Why am I standing at the podium, we don’t start for another two minutes!”
Everyone tensed and Hatsume cakcled, doubling over. “You see,” she grinned, “it was easy to trick you all into letting your guards down. Even you, Hero Course. I knew Danger Sense would be hard to get around, but luckily your newest round of trackers comes with a built in paralytic feature, freezing you up completely. Based around Stain’s quirk, actually! Super fun, means you can’t resist!”
Genesis sighed fondly. “Well, at least that’s another point for the hero team-”
“Oh no,” Pinky giggled, “I don’t think it is! No points for Team Blue,” she gestured to the League, “none for Team Red,” the Groupies, “none for Team Yellow,” she smiled smugly at her former classmate, “and definitely none for Team Green! Consider this the formal debut of Team Pink!”
Hypnosraised a hand. “And purple, but for simplicity it’s just Team Pink.”
Uravity shot to her feet with a grin. “Oh my gosh, can I join?!”
Hatsume hummed. “Well, you certainly are pink enough… Very well, you pass muster! Welcome to the team, Gravity Girl!”
Green Lightning shuddered and spun himself out of Pinky’s grasp. “Mina, what the hell?! And Mei, paralytics?!”
Hatsume frowned. “That’s odd, I could have sworn I accounted for your healing factor… Operator! What’s the time!”
“Five seconds.”
Green Lightning rolled his eyes as everyone shot to their feet and tried to tackle him, but he was gone in the next instant.
There was a brief pause of silence before Hatsume cursed. “Dammit, I could have sworn we had him… oh well, there’s always next year!”
Green Lightning landed on the stage. “One point,” he said with a vicious smile, “for Team Green. Suck it.”
The representative cleared his throat. “Ah, yes, now, the Gala…”
Ground Zero snorted. “Come on, you should know we’re only here for capture the flag. You win this time Deku, but you did also just declare open season on yourself. Babe, let’s go get goulash, from that place you like.”
Red Riot snickered and nudged the man. “You mean the place you like. But sure! Bye, Zuks, see you soon!”
Green Lightning snorted. “Don’t count on it, Ei. Sho, Nei, lunch?”
Phantom Thief and Equilibrium swept up beside him.
“Of course,” Phantom Thief purred, “we have to celebrate your first and
last
victory.”
Green Lightning rolled his eyes with a grin.
The reporter looked into the camera, expression lost as heroes and villains trickled out, complaining about this year’s game.
“Um,” they squeaked, “I… wow.”
The camera person sighed. “They are called the Colorful Crazies, but I didn’t think it was that… literal.”
Hypnos came up beside them again with a snort, trailing after his apparent fiance of Yellow Shock.
“What can I say,” he spread his hands, “it’s the Traffic Light Trio.”