11

As class rep, Izuku was given the task of herding his classmates to the bus and ensuring that everyone (with one notable exception) was present and accounted for before they left campus. It was time for their first field trip of sorts: they were doing rescue training at a special facility off-campus, and it went without saying that the class was absolutely pumped. From getting the chance to shine in their preferred domain to finally getting the opportunity to perform in their field of choice, everyone was hyped for one reason or another.

Well, almost everyone.

"Mr. Aizawa, where's Bakugo?" Mina questioned before they boarded the bus.

"Bakugo won't be participating in heroics lessons until after the Sports Festival as part of his punishment for his stunt earlier this week," he plainly responded. "Any other questions?"

When no one responded, he climbed into his sleeping bag and hopped onto the bus, signaling for his class to follow his lead. They boarded and set off for their first rescue training. Izuku found himself sitting between Asui and Kirishima as his class made casual conversation amongst each other. He spent that time silently listening to them interact while still sorting some things out in his mind. He felt his phone vibrate, and he saw that he received a text from Yui. She had sent him a picture of herself in her hero costume, as it was the first time she got to wear it since school was cancelled early the day prior.

"Are you going for Ultraman, Super Sentai, or Pokémon trainer?"

He waited a few moments for a response. It was longer than she'd usually take to type up a message, so he figured she was really considering the question.

"A little of all three, I suppose. Ultraman more than anything. Thank you for noticing :)"

"Midoriya," Asui called out to him.

Swiftly putting his phone away, he turned to acknowledge the frog girl beside him. "Hm?"

"I usually say what's on my mind, so I'm sorry in advance if I offend you," she began.

"No worries, Asui, I appreciate bluntness," he assured. And he did. Yui was incredibly straightforward with him most of the time, even if it meant incidentally roasting his choice of venue for clearing his head.

"Call me Tsu," she insisted.

"Oh, alright," Izuku stumbled. "You can call me Izuku, then. It wouldn't really be fair for you to have to call me by my surname all the time."

She happily croaked at that, and that warmed Izuku's heart. Unbeknownst to him, Mina was shooting a knowing smirk to Ochako, who was pointedly looking out of the window.

"And he wonders why we voted for him," Kaminari joked, causing those around them to laugh along with him and Izuku's eye to twitch at the reminder.

"Anyway," Tsu continued after composing herself, "your quirk is bullshit."

And the easy, lighthearted laughter became choked, shocked guffaws.

"Asui! You cannot just insult someone's quirk like that!" Iida quickly reprimanded.

"She's not wrong," Izuku responded with a shrug. "My quirk is so ridiculous that my mom and I researched what would cause something so seemingly convoluted to manifest in someone, especially so late."

"That's right, you were a late bloomer," Sato spoke up from beside Tsu. "I saw that interview last night from one of those reporters outside of the school building."

"Same!" Mina excitedly joined in. "We got to peel back the curtain into the life of our class rep. You already have a cool origin story!"

"What did that research turn up?" Tsu asked him.

"Nothing conclusive; we inevitably just chalked it up to quirk science being really weird and my quirk being a massive expression of all of the quirk factors in my family tree," Izuku answered. "Something that did pop up more than once, though, was Quirk Singularity Theory.

"What's that?" Kirishima asked from beside him, his attention completely held by Izuku in that moment. A quick look around showed that just about everyone else was in the same boat.

"In short, it's this theory developed by a guy named Dr. Kyudai Garaki," Izuku began, missing the near-imperceptible flinch from Aoyama sitting across from him, "according to which, as generations pass, quirks become stronger, more complex, and much more difficult to control. He theorized that, eventually, quirks across the globe would become way too overpowered for us to manage because we wouldn't evolve quickly enough to deal with them. He was called a crackpot at the time, and the theory is still seen as crackpot nowadays, but it's an interesting idea to think about."

The class was left in silence at the information. Despite the doomsday nature of the theory, it wasn't entirely unfounded, especially in that day and age. There were many plain destructive quirks out there that their wielders just had trouble controlling.

"Maybe that's why my younger sister has trouble controlling the mucus she secretes," Tsu mused with a finger on her chin. "Mine only stings a little bit, but hers can really do damage if she isn't careful."

"Come to think of it, my little cousin can turn his skin into diamond, but it's hard for him to move when he does," Kirishima pondered. "Even so, my quirk isn't nearly as flashy as his or even yours, MidoriBro."

"Don't sell yourself short," Izuku countered. "So, you're not a walking, talking rainbow-"

"One who is almost as sparkly as moi," Aoyama cut in with… well, Izuku figured it was an attempt at a compliment, but he couldn't be sure.

"A sparkly, walking, talking rainbow," Izuku amended. "Your quirk allows you to make your skin about as hard as steel, right?"

"More or less," Kirishima answered.

"Then you're already a walking, talking juggernaut in combat and in rescue. Just keep getting harder, and you'll be fine," Izuku casually encouraged.

There was a brief silence after that, and then there was a snicker. That snicker snowballed into scattered laughs, and those laughs snowballed even further into the class erupting into laughter, with the exception of Izuku who maintained his blank expression.

Aizawa sighed at the front of the bus. He wasn't entirely convinced that his student didn't know exactly what he was doing and wasn't using his lack of a social life growing up as plausible deniability. Why couldn't he have a normal class for once?

"You wanted to see me, sir?" Toshinori asked when he stepped into Nezu's office. He was surprised to find Verdant already inside.

"Indeed, have a seat," the chimera chirped.

Toshinori did as instructed and surveyed the scene. Nezu was staring at him with a smile that something within him told him was nefarious. Verdant, on the other hand, was unreadable. He couldn't gauge exactly what that blank yet penetrating stare was about, but it didn't make him feel any less uncomfortable.

"What's this about?" the blonde hesitantly asked his boss.

"It has come to my attention that you wish to take my protégé from me," Nezu answered while maintaining his smile.

"I don't understand," Toshinori said in confusion.

"You've been stalking my son," he heard Verdant finally speak up, to which he coughed up a considerable amount of blood.

"N-no, it's not what you think, Mrs. Midoriya!" he hurriedly tried to placate her and kill her suspicions. "I wasn't stalking him, he just…"

"You believe he's the perfect candidate to be your successor," Nezu finished for him. At his alarmed expression, Nezu continued without missing a beat. "Verdant is one of my most trusted comrades, and since this directly involves her son, she was going to be privy to it eventually."

Toshinori had to concede that point. The staff was already aware of his condition and time limit, so he didn't have to hide the fact that he was All Might, but they were not aware of the nature of his quirk and the history/obligations that came with it. He supposed that if he was scoping out Verdant's son, she indeed had the right to know.

He sighed, and then he spoke. "Well, the truth about my quirk as that it is inheritable. My quirk is called One For All, and it has the ability to be passed down from user to user if the current wielder wishes it so. As you can probably already tell, my time as the Symbol of Peace is slowly coming to an end thanks to the injury I sustained, so I've been in search of a successor to pass the quirk onto and train to take up the mantle when I'm no longer around."

His eyes filled with intensity and conviction. "I truly believe that your son is the next wielder of One For All and will take up the mantle as the next Symbol of Peace."

Verdant and Nezu were silent. He didn't know if they were considering everything he had said or if they secretly had a telepathic link and were communicating with each other outside of his notice.

"Does he?" Verdant asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I don't know what you mean," Toshinori replied. "I haven't approached him about it yet, if that's what you're asking."

She stifled a chuckle, and the blonde man grew even more confused. "I can't make decisions for him, especially not one like this, but I think he's already made the decision for himself."

Now, Toshinori was totally perplexed. Nezu took pity on him and pushed a tablet across his desk toward him, and he picked it up and played the video that was waiting for him.

What he watched was Young Midoriya having a pseudo-interview with a woman with light blue skin and lilac hair. The boy talked about his time believing he was quirkless and spending much of that in an indoctrination zone, he talked about how it affected his outlook on heroics and what it drove him to accomplish, and finally, he talked about how he didn't want to be a successor of sorts to All Might in favor of being a beacon for those who fell through the cracks of society that not even All Might was able to reach.

"Oh…" was all the current Symbol of Peace could say in response.

"'Oh', indeed," Nezu cackled in glee. "You will not be poaching my protégé today."

"I suppose not," he responded with a downcast sigh.

"Even if you can't have him, at least this just narrows it down for your other candidates," Verdant tried to console a warm smile. "You do have other candidates, right?"

"Erm, well…" Toshinori choked.

"Good grief, Yagi," Verdant groaned.

"I do have a few other 1st-year students in mind, as well as the 3rd-year that Mirai has been campaigning for, but I was certain that Young Midoriya was the one."

"Well, please select one soon," Nezu spoke up. "You should be at the USJ right now, but you used up too much of your time limit this morning."

"Speaking of," Verdant began, turning to Nezu, "Are you certain that it's a good idea to send them to the USJ after the incident yesterday?"

"I have not been able to determine if the intruder took anything before they escaped. If Izuku's warning was to be believed, then they had an accomplice with a warping ability. They more than likely went directly to a room without cameras and left just as quickly," Nezu surmised. "However, the USJ's distress signal is instantaneous and now has remote viewing thanks to Izuku's suggestion. We will know immediately if something is amiss, and we will be able to determine the situation long before we arrive."

She nodded, even though the blonde could tell very easily that she wasn't entirely sold. It appeared that their business in the office had concluded, so Yagi took the opportunity to confirm or deny the suspicions he had.

"Excuse me, Mrs. Midoriya-"

"Call me Inko. I killed my husband."

Toshinori was at a loss for words. There was absolutely nothing at his disposal to respond to that statement, which the woman had said so casually and matter-of-factly. He looked to Nezu, and the animal of indeterminable origin only maintained his trademark smile. He was obviously aware of it happening.

"Do I… do I even want to know why?" he finally spoke.

"He was threatening Izuku's life," she answered just as calmly. "He was also probably a terrorist."

Toshinori was still unable to formulate a response to that new bit of information, but he swore he heard a faint shout of, "THAT'S MY GIRL!" in the back of his mind.

"A-anyway," Toshinori coughed out with a glob of blood in a desperate attempt to move on, "What's your maiden name, if I may ask?"

She hummed, as if considering the question. "That depends. Technically, it's Akatani, as that was the name of my adoptive family. My birth surname is Shimura, but I haven't gone by that since I was four. Why do you ask?"

Toshinori fought back a gasp. He needed to know for sure. "…Was your mother's name, perhaps, Nana Shimura?"

"Yes, if I'm not mistaken," she answered with a critical eye. "You're most certainly not my father if that's where this is headed."

The amount of blood that Toshinori hacked up after that comment was probably a new record for him. He didn't get the chance to respond, however, as the door bust open, and a frantic Tenya Iida threw himself inside.

"The USJ is under attack by villains!" he shouted.

Earlier on, Class 1-A arrived at the USJ. Getting off the bus and heading inside, they were transfixed by the sheer size of the building. Many of them likened it to a massive amusement park with several radically different areas, each one being massive in their own rights.

"Welcome to my own personal playground, the Unforeseen Simulation Joint!" called a voice from behind the class, causing them to turn around and inspect the new arrival wearing a spacesuit-inspired costume.

"Oh my god, it's Thirteen!" Ochako shouted, practically floating in utter glee.

Izuku smiled at his friend's antics that reminded him of how he would've reacted to seeing All Might in the flesh years prior. Speaking of All Might, he was supposed to be there with them, but he was nowhere to be seen. Izuku watched Thirteen quietly speak with an irritated-looking Aizawa, and she put up 3 fingers. He didn't know what that meant, but he had an inkling that it had to do with All Might's absence. Maybe All Might would get there in 3 hours? He was Japan's Number One, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility for him to have been preoccupied with something. However, if that were the case, Aizawa would have been aware of it beforehand, so it must have been a last-minute development. That was odd, but it would explain why neither Aizawa or any of the class was informed-

Izuku caught the encroaching hand of Ochako beside him, much to her annoyance.

"Even when you're not paying attention, you're still paying attention? How does that even work?" Ochako huffed in a whisper.

"Train with my mom for a few days and you'll understand," Izuku chuckled. "What did I miss?"

"She's talking about how dangerous our quirks can be when used to attack, so we're gonna be using them to save lives today," she answered.

"Hey, what's that over by the fountain?" Kirishima pointed out.

Everyone turned to see what he was talking about, and a purple blob manifested from nothing in mid air. The blob expanded, and Izuku's blood went cold.

"Shit…" he lowly muttered, and only Ochako heard him.

"What's that?" she asked him, worry edging into her tone.

"The intruder from yesterday," he answered while his body became tense. "I saw him while I was on the roof during lunch."

"Are those villains part of the exercise, Mr. Aizawa?" Kirishima asked.

"No, this isn't part of the class. Those villains are real," he gravely answered.

Everyone's faces fell in dismay, and panic and worry began to overtake the students.

"Kaminari, can you radio to anyone on campus for help?" Aizawa asked.

"I've been trying, but I can't reach anyone," he answered.

"They must have someone jamming the area with a quirk," Todoroki mused.

'So that must mean the distress signal hasn't alerted Nezu, and all of our phones are on the bus. Fucking great.' Izuku thought to himself with a scowl. His eyes were planted on the purple warp gate where tons of villains were spilling out behind a man with hands all over his body. Next to him was a hulking creature with black, scarred skin, an exposed brain, and a beak-like mouth full of jagged teeth. The sight of the humanoid made him shiver, as it was clearly the poster child for human experimentation.

The man covered in hands, however, unsettled him even more. Izuku recognized that pale hair, and, for a brief moment, the two met each other's gazes once again.

"Thirteen, protect the students," Aizawa said before putting on his goggles.

"You're not seriously going to go down there on your own, are you?" Izuku asked him in concern.

"Your mother would," Aizawa answered simply.

Izuku wasn't expecting that answer, but he wouldn't be deterred so easily. "With all due respect, sir, I've seen my mother do some truly ridiculous shit in training. You are not her."

"And, as good as you are, neither are you, so stay put," Aizawa responded with finality. "Besides, even if I'm not as good as Verdant, I do know a thing or two."

With that, he leaped down the stairs and toward the central plaza to meet the thugs head-on. Izuku was remiss to not do anything at first, but that feeling evaporated when he watched his teacher mow through the thugs with frightening competence. He supposed that it shouldn't have surprised him, as the man's quirk only put villains at a level playing field with him, so he had to be superior to his opponent in hand-to-hand combat by necessity. The scant videos of Eraserhead online that he had seen only confirmed that.

He had other things to worry about, though. The purple warp gate villain had left the intruder and the beaked abomination in the central plaza where they merely stood and surveyed the scene. Meanwhile, said warp villain appeared at the entrance before them.

"Good afternoon," the voice began in smooth baritone, "we are the League of Villains. We are here to kill All Might, but it appears that our information was incorrect since All Might is not present."

'They're here to kill All Might? I don't know whether to be relieved or on edge that he isn't here,' Izuku thought.

"Stay behind me!" Thirteen shouted before preparing to activate her quirk, but Kirishima leaped forward regardless to attack the misty marauder. It proved to be pointless, as the villain simply moved away from the attack and proceeded with his job of scattering the students. Izuku found himself falling through a portal and plummeting to a body of water. He braced for impact and slammed through the surface of the the water, and he reoriented himself in time to see a shark villain swimming toward him with malicious intent.

The shock of seeing him caused Izuku to heat up, and the water around him quickly took on a red glow. Before he realized what he did, the villain stopped his advanced and backpedaled from him, and Izuku felt a tongue wrap around his waist and yank him out of the water. He looked up to see Tsu carrying him with her face in a pained grimace. Once he was deposited onto the deck of a ship, she quickly receded her tongue and croaked in pain, and Izuku only looked at her and back at the steaming patch of water he was just in to put two and two together.

Before he could say something, she hopped back into the water and swam below the surface. Izuku didn't understand why she returned to clear danger until she resurfaced and violently dropped Mineta onto the deck of the ship.

"Tsu, your tongue!" he fretted.

"It's okay, Izuku," she tried to assure. "The pain isn't debilitating, and it'll heal eventually."

"No, it's not okay. My quirk scalded you when you rescued me; let me help," Izuku maintained with his hand emitting a pink glow. The hand then erupted into pink flames that caught the attention of both Tsu and Mineta.

"What the heck is that?!" the diminutive boy asked while on a break from freaking out.

"It's part of my quirk; pink heals damage. Show me your tongue," he instructed, and she obliged, allowing him to apply the soft, pink fire onto her burns.

The two watched in silent amazement as the rosy fire did away with the damage in short order, and Tsu moved her tongue around after he finished with a growing feeling of joy. The look of total reverence in Mineta's eyes returned, and Izuku realized that he probably shouldn't keep putting off finding out exactly what that was, but it would have to wait.

"Now that that's taken care of, we have to deal with them," he said while pointing a thumb at the villains in the water.

Meanwhile, the villains in the water were watching the scene with trepidation.

"I don't like this," the shark-man said. "That kid looks like his quirk heals people, but he damn near boiled the water we were in just now. It would've cooked me alive if I attacked him."

"We have no idea what they can do," another villain added.

"You say that kid can heal, huh?" a third villain asked. "Healing quirks are super rare, and we could always use a healer, or even pimp him out to others. I think we should take him alive and kill the other two."

"Okay, what the hell is your fascination with kidnapping children?" the second villain asked. "This is the fourth child you've wanted to take this week."

"Are you saying we shouldn't make off with the super rare healer kid who just might have more than one quirk?" he retorted.

"It's the principle of the matter," the second villain shot back. "You have made wanting to take kids a habit regardless of how valuable they might be to you."

"Will you two shitfucks please shut the hell up and focus on the goddamn job for once?!" the shark villain cut in, before he looked up at the ship and saw that the three teens had vanished. "What the serious fuck, where did they fucking go?!"

"What do you mean? Weren't you watching them?" the second villain pressed.

"I can't focus when you, Tweedle Dipshit, and you," he pointed at the third villain, "Tweedle Dumbass, are arguing about the fucking color of the sky on a daily basis!"

The other two were begrudgingly silent, knowing that their partner wasn't exactly wrong.

"…I'm taking the kid," the third villain spoke up.

"This is pointless," a fourth villain finally growled before using his quirk to form a giant hand out of water, and he violently attacked the ship, splitting it in half so that it would sink.

Back on said ship, the three had just finished explaining their quirks to each other and were trying to develop a game plan before the ship was attacked and split down the middle. Or, more accurately, Izuku and Tsu were formulating a plan of action while Mineta freaked out over the situation. The attack on the ship only furthered his spiral, and he was in a full-on doomsday panic.

"We're going to die, we're going to die, we're going to die! I can't believe I won't ever get to touch Yaoyorozu's boobs! It's no use, we can't fight them and they're going to kill All Might after killing us and I'll never actually be cool and-"

He was smacked out of his spiral by a literal smack from Izuku.

"Calm down, Mineta!" Izuku commanded before looking the shorter boy in the eye. "We're training to be heroes. This is what heroes do. They're faced with impossible odds, and they find ways to pull through. They meet danger head-on, and they punch danger in the throat not only to protect themselves, but to ensure the safety of everyone around them. I helped you in the entrance exam, and then we helped each other. Do not make me regret that."

His gaze became a picture of steely determination. "Instead, let's get out there and show those asshats that they don't get to fuck with Minoru fucking Mineta, Tsuyu fucking Asui, and Izuku fucking Midoriya without paying for it out of their own assholes!"

Mineta was wide eyed for the bulk of Izuku's pep talk, but his own gaze steeled with the same determination that Izuku was imparting onto the both of them. "What do you need me to do?"

Izuku smirked. "Same strat we pulled against the robots on my signal. Tsu," he addressed her, "get ready to haul ass out of here with us when I give the word."

"Ribbit!"

Izuku nodded and kneeled down, and Mineta hopped onto his. Izuku went up in green flames that bathed the both of the boys.

'So, as long as I'm not touching water, my quirk still functions just fine.'

'How the hell am I not burning?'

Izuku leaped into the air, all the while pooling the green fire into his right hand. He was specifically sending it to his middle finger and thumb.

'This is going to be very unpleasant,' he internally whined before snapping his finger forward with all of the added force that his green fire allowed. The resulting sonic boom and accompanying cry of "FUCK!" sent an extremely powerful gust of wind at the villains surrounding the sinking ship. The wind pierced through the surface of the water and created a whirlpool that sucked the villains within its clutches, unable to escape.

"Let it rip!" he shouted to his momentary partner, and Mineta did not hesitate to throw scores of sticky balls at them. The onslaught of balls circled the whirlpool along with the villains and practically glued them together, trapping them in the water. Izuku shifted Mineta off his back and held onto him with his left arm before looking back at their third comrade on the ship.

"TSU!" he shouted, and the affirmative croak he received was followed by her tongue wrapping around his waist, and the three left the shipwreck in style.

The impromptu team landed near the water's edge, and they surveyed the scene for the first time since being warped away. What they saw wasn't pretty. There were low level thugs and villains strewn about in various states of consciousness, and in the center of it all was a beaten and bloody Aizawa under the gargantuan fist of the nightmarish science experiment. The three held back gasps to avoid detection, but they knew from the maniacal cackling of the apparent ringleader that the situation was bad. Izuku quietly healed his beyond broken middle finger in case they needed to jump in for an immediate rescue of their teacher.

At that moment, the warp villain appeared beside the ringleader. "Tomura Shigaraki," the misty man acknowledged.

"Kurogiri, did you kill Thirteen and the brats?" the man asked in his voice that was in dire need of a lotion smoothie.

"Thirteen is out of commission, but I must regretfully inform you that one of the students escaped," he responded in his deep monotone.

"No, no, no!" the man whined. "That's game over! All Might isn't even here and the brat is just gonna bring help. This whole trip has been a bust."

Tomura turned a wicked eye to the three teens at the water's edge. His eyes lit up when he saw the special hero brat that caught his attention. "Well, maybe it wasn't a total bust. Killing a couple of his precious students when he wasn't here to protect them will hit him where it really hurts!"

He lunged for the three students much faster than he had any right to be with his hand outstretched to turn an unlucky teenager to dust. He was heading right for Izuku as he had already proven himself to be a threat, and killing the student who publicly sought to help the downtrodden and the forgotten would make the League of Villains infamous.

Whether or not that infamy would be the right kind was irrelevant to Tomura. It would hurt All Might on a significant level, so he would do it.

Izuku, on the other hand, had no plans of being reduced to dust that day, and yellow embers sparked in his hair to signify his preparation to dodge. However, he did not account for a pair of strong feet knocking him out of the path of the villain, causing the villain to slightly change course and go after the culprit, Tsu.

Tomura reached her and palmed her face with the intention of dusting her for saving his prey from him, and Izuku's heart sank to the pits of his stomach. Fortunately for the teens, nothing happened, and Tomura was left momentarily perplexed and staring into the steely determination in the eyes of the resolute frog girl.

Then, it hit him.

"You're so cool, Era-"

Literally.

Izuku, bright as the sun, slammed a fist into the face of Tomura faster than the Nomu could react, knocking the hand covering his face onto the ground and sending Tomura sprawling next to it. The Nomu was on him in less than a second and backhanded the boy away from its master. Tsu and Mineta scrambled to Izuku's side to ensure he was okay.

"No… no no no no no, Father! There you are, Father! You're still here," Tomura rambled in hysterics. Upon placing the hand back onto his face, he growled in absolute hatred. "Nomu, kill him!"

The Nomu zoomed toward the trio with a raised fist primed to turn Izuku and company into paste. Izuku only had a split-second to hook the two by their arms and practically flash away as quickly as he could. Depositing the two onto the ground, he flashed away again, knowing that clearing the 15 meters he pushed himself to cover would be nothing to the Nomu. He was proven right when the Nomu was on him again, and he wasn't fast enough to avoid the punch that came right for his ribs. He both heard and felt the snaps as the blow sent him careening into the nearest wall.

The impact momentarily took him away from the searing pain he was feeling and the almost glowing, yellow eyes that were watching him carefully from the shadows, but when his wits returned, he watched in horror as Tsu and Mineta attempted to hamper the Nomu's advance toward him. Mineta's balls were ineffective in slowing it down, and it caught Tsu out of the air before she could make it to him. The violent snapping of her arm and her pained wails rang like a death nell in his ears and shocked him into motion. He practically flew toward them like a golden missile and kicked the Nomu in the beak as hard as he could, slightly knocking it off kilter, and he immediately whipped off his cape and bounded the Nomu's legs together with it if only to keep it stationary for even just a moment. Yanking Tsu from its grasp, he bounded away from the threat and carefully dropped her off next to a frantic Mineta.

Before he could say a word, the Nomu grabbed him by the back of the head with some of the shreds of his cape around its ankles. Izuku was quite sick of its shit by that point, and he could feel the frightening spark of blackness return to him. That monster had hurt his teacher and his friends right in front of him as they tried to protect him, and he was not going to let anyone else get hurt as long as he was still breathing.

Turning a snarl back toward the Nomu, a bright inferno of green flames ignited onto his right arm and only his right arm. He would have noticed the wisps of black fire intermingling with the green at spots, but he was completely focused on stopping the rampaging beast. Twisting his body around in its grasp, he launched a right hook at the Nomu's exposed brain with the most force he could drag from within and then some, and it connected, blasting the Nomu away from him and his two friends upon impact.

Tomura and Kurogiri were left wide-eyed at the display. The Nomu was designed to be an unstoppable killing machine that could match All Might in its prime, and it would most certainly be able to take down the currently weakened All Might, let alone some pissant hero brat. But, the kid had just landed a blow hard enough to literally blow the creature away.

"Kurogiri, is that kid using fucking hacks?" Tomura asked a bit indignantly.

"I do not know, Tomura Shigaraki," Kurogiri replied.

"What did I tell you about saying the whole name? It's weird. Just call me Tomura."

"My mistake, Tomura Shigaraki."

"…You're doing this on purpose, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Tomura Shigaraki."

"If you weren't our ride home, I'd fucking dust you right here."

Tomura could've sworn he heard the misty man snicker. He didn't even know that he could snicker.

Meanwhile, Izuku was on his knees in the worst pain of his life. He was in too much pain to notice the glowing, yellow eyes slowly inch closer to his position. His arm was a color that he wasn't sure he had ever seen before in any capacity. The sickly fusion of purple and red skin cascading over the torn muscles and damn-near shattered bones almost made him ugly cry. He gathered the energy he had left into his left hand, and pink flames ignited in his palm to heal his arm and mend his ribs.

But something stopped him. It wasn't the Nomu, it wasn't the incredulous rants of Tomura, and it wasn't his own pain. It wasn't even the malevolent figure creeping up on him. It was the soft croak that escape Tsu's throat where she lay next to Mineta. Izuku stared at them; he stared at her arm that was snapped in two different places, flopping uselessly beside her. He stared down at his own useless arm and then back at her.

Slowly, he dragged himself to the pair. Mineta couldn't even bring himself to speak at the sight of Izuku's mangled arm, and he sat in horrified silence as the green head made his way to them and hovered over Tsu. He extended his good arm, and pink flame bloomed around it before it shot out of his hand and enveloped Tsu. The girl croaked in surprise, and she almost instantly felt the pain vanish and her arm practically reset itself. She turned a wide-eyed stare to Izuku, and he only gave a reassuring half-smile before the pink flame died down and he nearly collapsed to the floor.

Mineta rushed to his side to check on him, but a gleeful cackle caught their attention.

"Oh yes, what a display! You'll make a fine meat suit with a powerful quirk like that!" came the call of a dark green mass of sludge that quickly knocked Mineta away and enveloped Izuku. The alarmed teen just didn't have the energy to put up a fight as the Sludge Villain forced its way into his mouth and down his throat. Sheer panic flooded him when he felt the disgusting, viscous liquid squeeze into his windpipe, and Izuku reflexively activated his quirk. His panic triggered the red flames to blast both around him and within him, and Mineta was only barely saved by Tsu yanking him away from the heat at the last moment and jumping away.

The Sludge Villain was inundated with temperatures that he could have never even fathomed, and he ejected himself from the crimson teen with horrific wails of pain. He was both evaporating at an exponential rate and burning a sticky, repugnant mark into the ground. The terror in his yellow eyes was even off-putting to Tomura and Kurogiri, but they did not lift a finger to help. The Sludge Villain was left to his fate, soon overcome by the crimson inferno and succumbing to a fiery death in the central plaza of the USJ.

The area that had just been serenaded by the pleading howls of pain of the Sludge Villain was now dead silent. No one said a word; not Tomura, neither Tsu nor Mineta, not Aizawa, and not the few students who had made their way to the bottom of the stairs. Izuku was stock still, staring in horror at the steaming black gunk that used to be the Sludge Villain.

"Holy shit…" Tomura broke the silence. "That was fucking metal! I didn't think the hero brats had it in them to kill!"

Izuku heard none of it as the enormity of what had just happened finally caught up to him: he had just practically vaporized someone.

He had killed someone.

With his quirk, he literally killed someone.

He started to shake, and his breaths became shallow. The footsteps of Tomura started to echo loudly in his head; too loudly, much too loudly. His ears were ringing, and he was hyperventilating.

"Brat, you really are something," Tomura continued before looking down at the teen. Izuku did not look up, and he did not hear him. "I think I'm gonna let you live to be the 'savior of the darkness' or whatever the hell it was you spouted. You're an entertaining Player 2. Better than All Might, that's for sure."

Izuku was far too wrapped up in a violent panic attack to even comprehend what was going on around him, but he was eventually given a break when his exhaustion caught up with him and his brain completely shut down, and he fell right into unconsciousness at Tomura's feet.

"Brat's all tuckered out," Tomura observed. "Oh well, let's start killing the rest-"

He was interrupted once again when an invisible fist slammed into his gut, practically folding him over an invisible arm that unceremoniously dumped him onto his back. He didn't even get the chance to heave before an invisible foot stomped on his crotch, and he unleashed a shriek that made even the Nomu wince. Speaking of the Nomu, it was scrambling to determine what threat to protect its master from, as it couldn't see one.

Toru heaved the unconscious form of Izuku over her shoulder and bolted away while Kirishima collected the shaken Tsu and Mineta.

At that moment, the doors blew open, and all attention flocked to the two new arrivals.

"Have no fear," a voice bellowed with an undertone of simmering rage. The students all immediately felt their spirits lift into the stratosphere, while the remaining thugs and villains started to shit themselves.

"For I am here," All Might finished without his trademark smile, and that was frightening enough. The older villains, however, felt a double-dose of terror. The few who had encountered the woman beside him were frozen in place at the all-too-familiar glare in her green eyes that was accompanied by an aura of unadulterated malice.

That malice shot through the roof when her eyes landed on the form of her son, and a few of the thugs were strongly considering surrender.

"All Might…" Tomura breathed out. "You're finally here, now we can kill you!"

"Ochako," Verdant sternly addressed without taking her eyes from the scene below. "Report."

Ochako had been so completely floored by the sheer presence of All Might and Verdant that she almost jumped out of her skin when addressed. "Uh, Thirteen was badly injured. W-we did the best we could to mitigate the d-damage, though."

"And Eraserhead?"

"He's down there, but the big, black monster hurt him really badly. It hurt Izuku and Tsu, too," she about choked out.

If Verdant's fury could grow any further, it would've been visible around her. "All Might, take the big one. It looks like it was made with you in mind. I'll handle the rest."

"Are you sure?"

"I wasn't asking."

And, like a bullet, Verdant shot down the stairs and into a group of sweating thugs, launching into a flurry of brutal punches, knees, and elbows. She kicked one in the face and pivoted with her other foot to intercept a man with a pipe coming from behind, taking the pipe from him and breaking his arm in one swift motion. A strike with the pipe to his knee disabled him before she met her next attacker's blade with the pipe. Another came from behind again to overwhelm her, but she ducked the attack and watched him unwitting hit the other in the face with a fist covered in bone plating. She took that opportunity to sweep both of their legs and bash them both into unconsciousness with the pipe.

She popped back to her feet in time to see two new threats rushing at her from opposite sides with blunt weapons in hand, so she snatched them out of their respective grasps with her quirk, and she simultaneously launched them at the opposing thugs' heads with two satisfying thunks following.

Ochako, watching all of this from the top of the stairs, was positively blown away. She figured that Izuku's mom was strong (she had to be if she trained him into what he was), but what she was seeing was on another level. It wasn't necessarily without comparison, but she was mowing through the numbers of remaining villains with such ease and ferocity without having a big, bombastic quirk that it inspired a well of hope in her that she could be something similar.

'That woman offered to train me…' she remembered with eyes the size of dinner plates. "YOU GO, MRS. MIDORIYA!"

"Wait, Midoriya?" Mina asked beside her. "As in our class rep, Midoriya?"

Ochako nodded. "That's his mom. She works at UA."

"THAT'S MIDORIYA'S MOM?!" came the simultaneous shouts of Mina, Sero, Shoji, and Sato as they watched Verdant yoink a villain's hard hat with her quirk and proceed to smack him across the face with it.

Eventually, Verdant cleaved through the thugs that attempted to stand their ground until she was beside Aizawa and face to face with Tomura.

"You alive, kid?" she asked the bloodied homeroom teacher.

"Yeah, I'm good," he responded with a cough, appreciating the attempt at dry levity given the situation.

"Good," she replied. "This the guy who dusted the gate with a touch?"

"Yeah, that's him," Aizawa answered. "Keep him in my line of sight."

"Roger," she said, already understanding the plan.

Tomura, meanwhile, was confused and a little annoyed at the new arrival that was threatening to ruin his viewing of Nomu killing All Might. "Who the hell are you?"

"It won't matter in a few minutes," Verdant coldly responded and cracked her knuckles.

Tomura didn't even get the chance to sneer out a reply before she decked him in the face, knocking off the hand covering it a second time, and drove a powerful knee into his abdomen. He forewent catching his breath in favor of grabbing onto her to turn her to dust, but nothing happened. His eyes went wide again.

"GODDAMN IT, ERASER-"

He was cut off again when Verdant grabbed his arm and jerked his elbow in the opposite direction. He didn't get the chance to scream for Nomu to help before she slammed him onto his back and unloaded all of her fury onto his face one haymaker at a time. The Nomu couldn't help even if it wanted to, as it was preoccupied with getting pounded into the 5th dimension by All Might. Kurogiri tried to intervene, but an unexpected glacier slammed into him, and he was tackled by his metal collar by a returning Kirishima.

Tomura was hanging onto consciousness by a thread when Verdant stepped away from him, and two things happened: All Might blasted the Nomu through the ceiling of the USJ, and Eraserhead momentarily took his eyes off of him to see what All Might had just done. Tomura poured all of his energy into a single move to get back at the miserable fucking bitch that broke his arm, nose, and what he suspected was his orbital bone. He launched at her from the ground, intent on turning her to dust with his one good hand, but a glacier slammed into him from his right side and knocked him away.

Verdant and Aizawa looked over to where the ice originated from, and they saw Todoroki looking at Verdant with an unreadable expression. Then, he turned away, muttering "We're even," lowly enough that Verdant and Aizawa almost didn't catch it.

An angry, childish shriek brought their attention back to the pale man.

"No fair, no fucking fair!" Tomura whined in his tantrum. "All Might hasn't gotten weaker at all, and this bitch comes out of fucking nowhere! You're not even supposed to be here! Who wrote you into this shitty campaign?!"

Verdant quirked an amused eyebrow at the scene. Somewhere along the line, however, Kurogiri managed to get free, and he manifested as a portal below Tomura so that the two could make their escape. A second later, the door burst open once again.

"I have returned with reinforcements!" Iida shouted; then, he took in the scene, and his excitement fell flat.

"Are we late?" Nezu sheepishly asked.

"Just barely," Ochako answered. "The two ringleaders escaped, but All Might, Verdant, and Mr. Aizawa handled most of the villains. People are still scattered around the building, though, and Thirteen needs medical attention now!"

The principal and teachers launched into action, and Ochako turned back to the stairs to see Verdant frantically rushing up the stairs with her son in her arms, and the state of her friend broke her heart.

Today was certainly not a good day.