The Storm

Izuku watched as the rest of his class got situated on the bus, led by a sulking Iida.

He'd happily delegated the responsibility of herding everyone aboard to the blue-haired boy upon seeing his enthusiasm regarding the situation, only to laugh quietly to himself when Iida realized that the layout of the bus wouldn't allow it. Part of him also wondered why Iida had thought it would work in the first place; this was the same bus that had ferried people around during the entrance exam after all.

Speaking of, Izuku was curled up in the back of the bus, just as he had been that day. He was resting his head on his arms, folded over the back of one of the seats in front of him, which was currently occupied by Uraraka. The one directly across the aisle held Tsuyu and Tokoyami.

As the bus took off, he shut his eyes, listening to the chatter in front of him and the hum of the vehicle below him as they headed towards whatever training Aizawa and Yagi had planned for them at an off-campus site. He still didn't know the extent of Yueii's facilities, so he had absolutely no idea what was waiting for them. The thought excited him, and he hoped that the exercise, whatever it was, would go smoothly.

Part of him couldn't shake the feeling that it wouldn't though.

The feeling of wrongness that had made itself known the day before hadn't disappeared yet. In fact, if anything it had only gotten worse; a sort of sinking feeling that made it feel like whatever was coming, was coming fast. He wished he could tell when it was coming, or that he at least he knew what was coming. If he knew what or when he was going to be fighting, it would likely eliminate most, if not all, of his nervousness regarding the situation. But he didn't know, so all he could do is sit and wait.

"Hey Etsumi." He heard Tsuyu say from the seat to his side, interrupting his thoughts.

He opened an eye to look over at her. "Yes, Tsuyu?"

"I tend to be a fairly blunt person." She said. "More often than not, I say what's on my mind."

"And what's on your mind right now? I assume there's something, otherwise you wouldn't have said that in the first place."

"Your quirk is sort of weird, isn't it?"

He opened his other eye and turned to look at her fully. And by now, Tokoyami and Uraraka were focused on them as well.

"I don't have any legs and I can fly, Tsuyu. You'll have to be more specific."

"Well that's just it. You have both a snake tail and wings." She said. "That's an odd combination to have, don't you think?"

"Yeah!" A new voice called out. Looking over, Izuku saw it was Kaminari. "And the insane strength too! How does that fit in with the rest of it?"

At this point, Izuku realized that the majority of the bus was now focused on the conversation. He sighed. He'd anticipated that this conversation would come up at some point; it was a rather odd combination of attributes after all. But luckily, he had the advantage of being leagues more knowledgeable about quirks than the rest of them combined. It was his job to know how this stuff worked. He'd long since thought of an explanation.

"Maybe." He said. "It might be odd, looking at all of it as my quirk. But you also have to take hereditary mutations into account."

"Heredi- what?" Kaminari asked. "What's that?"

"Hereditary mutations." Izuku repeated. "Mutations passed down to children as 'leftovers' from their parents' quirks."

Seeing several blank expressions staring back at him, Izuku continued, accepting the fact that he was apparently now teaching an impromptu lesson on quirk theory.

"Take mine and Tsuyu's green hair for example, or Iida's blue hair." He said, gesturing at each of them in turn. "Neither of those are natural hair colors. At some point, an ancestor would've had a quirk that resulted in the changed hair color, and then passed it along, until eventually it became a dominant trait. It's the same with Ashido's horns, Kirishima's sharp teeth, Kouda's rocky appearance, and Tokoyami's avian head. None of those have anything to do with their quirks, meaning that it's a residual mutation passed down from someone."

He saw a few of them nod in understanding as he spoke. The example with hair colors was the most widespread and easily identified evidence of hereditary mutations, and was actually what first sparked the theory.

"That's how it is for me." He continued. "Granted, I'm probably a bit more of an extreme case, but all the same. Technically speaking, my actual, freshly developed quirk is my strength. The tail is a leftover from my father, which my sister got as well, though she inherited it as her true quirk, and the wings come from some great-grandparent on my mother's side. I just got lucky in that they both manifested so strongly in me. Because of that, I consider all of it together to be my quirk."

He turned back to Tsuyu, quirking an eyebrow. "Make sense?"

Her gaze was pointed slightly downward, tongue poking out of the corner of her mouth as she seemed to consider his explanation.

"I suppose so." She said, looking back up at him. "I never knew that 'hereditary mutations' were even a thing. But I guess it does make sense. Especially what you said about our hair color."

"To be fair, it's a relatively recent study. And a fairly obscure one at that." He said. "It only started about ten years ago, and only began breaking ground about seven years ago. It's all about studying how quirks change, combine, and mutate as they get passed down through generations."

"You seem to know quite a bit about quirks, Etsumi." Momo chimed in from her seat, towards the middle of the bus. "Is it a hobby of yours to learn about them?"

"Something like that." Izuku responded, a corner of his mouth upturning a bit at the massive understatement. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Uraraka mirror the expression. He considered telling them just how many degrees he had in subjects surrounding quirks, just to see their reactions, but decided against it for the time being. For now, they had no reason to believe that it was anything more than a hobby. He was fine leaving it like that.

"Are my corvid features really a result of these mutations?" Tokoyami said, mostly to himself, from his spot next to Tsuyu, running a hand across the glossy black feathers. "I've always believed they were a part of my quirk. That it was because of Dark Shadow."

"That might still be the case." Izuku said, drawing the boy from his thoughts. "I'll admit, I don't know enough about your quirk to say for sure whether your mutation is because of your quirk or an ancestor's. But if I'm correct, and I usually am when it comes to this sort of thing, you had an ancestor with a bird mutation quirk two or three generations ago. And Dark Shadow more than likely takes directly after your appearance, not the other way around."

At the mention of its name, the shadowy quirk in question appeared over Tokoyami's shoulder, its glowing eyes boring into Izuku's. It was much smaller than the last time he saw it, but it held the same inky black appearance.

After a moment of staring, it – floated? Stretched? – moved closer towards Izuku, eyes trained on him as if it were inspecting him. Curious, he held a hand out towards it, palm up, like he would with an animal.

As he watched it begin to inspect his hand instead, he found himself wondering about the quirk's intelligence. Obviously it held at least some degree by virtue of being sentient alone, but how much further did it go? It was smart enough to be able to act on its own accord – at least if Tokoyami's confused expression at the quirk's actions were anything to go by – and he was fairly certain he'd heard it speak before, or at the very least, he���d heard Tokoyami speak to it.

Apparently satisfied with whatever it saw, Dark Shadow grabbed his hand in both of its own. He dimly noticed that most everyone else had finally turned back to their own conversations, now it was only Tsuyu, Tokoyami, and Uraraka that were left watching this interaction.

After a moment of simply holding his hand, the quirk surprised him by flipping it over in its grip and placing it on their shadowy head.

Dark Shadow didn't stop there though, and Izuku's train of thought came to a screeching halt as the quirk began to move his hand back and forth over its head in a facsimile of…

Petting. It was petting itself using Izuku's hand.

As he watched, he heard Uraraka snickering in her seat and at the same time he heard something that sounded suspiciously like a squawk of indignation from Tokoyami. The boy tried, and failed, to call Dark Shadow back as discreetly as he could.

"Interesting." Izuku murmured once his thoughts caught back up, and not just because of the quirk's actions.

He hadn't noticed before, in the heat of the moment during his fight with Tokoyami, but Dark Shadow felt… odd.

The shadow was cold to the touch, and seemed to have no texture whatsoever, almost feeling like liquid on his hand, yet staying completely solid. More than that though, is that the air around the shadow was cold as well. It was almost as if it was drawing in the warmth from its surroundings. He could feel it in his hand; the longer he touched Dark Shadow, the colder his hand got. It was similar to how it had been in his fight with Todoroki, the heat slowly being sapped from his body as the fight wore on. But this time it was a much slower process, and instead of leaving him with a bone-deep chill, it was more akin to something soothing; relaxing rather than painful.

He finally moved his hand, running his fingers across the shadow's head, much to its delight it seemed. It pressed itself into his hand in response, looking quite pleased at the attention.

However, that seemed to be Tokoyami's limit, as the boy resorted to physically dragging Dark Shadow back to him with a muttered 'infernal beast!' He could hear the shadow snickering at Tokoyami's apparent embarrassment.

"Very interesting." Izuku murmured again, watching them for a moment, before returning his arm to its place on the back of Uraraka's seat and resting his head on it once more. He would chalk up Dark Shadow's odd behavior to it being a sentient quirk. They truly were fascinating, and so little was known about them.

Maybe sometime after whatever activity they were headed to, he could question the two of them.

---

Soon enough, the bus was coming to a stop next to a massive domed building. There was a lone figure waiting for them as they exited, their puffy white suit making them instantly recognizable, and not just to Izuku.

"It's Thirteen!" Uraraka whispered excitably from her spot next to him. "She specializes in rescue work! Especially when natural disasters are involved!"

He remembered Rei telling him how much Uraraka seemed to admire Thirteen. Their quirks were similar in theme, and Uraraka's costume held similarities – however small – to the hero's. And Uraraka's goal was to become a rescue hero. Being able to meet Thirteen in person was likely a sort of dream come true for her.

Izuku hummed in agreement as the class stopped in front of the hero, and Aizawa moved to stand next to her. He watched the two of them speak for a few moments – or at least, he watched Aizawa speak, Thirteen's costume meant that he couldn't see much beyond her eyes and arms emoting. – It wasn't until he saw her hold up three fingers that he realized what they were discussing.

He had to resist the temptation to sigh out loud. Of course Yagi would use up his time limit before had a chance to teach. The buffoon suffered from tunnel vision when his hero work came into play; nothing would be able to pull him away, not even his job as a teacher. Though, admittedly, that was one of the things that made him such a great hero; that single-minded focus.

"Welcome everyone!" Thirteen called out once she and Aizawa had finished speaking. "To the Unforeseen Simulation Joint! A facility built for the sole purpose of preparing upcoming heroes at Yueii to handle disasters!"

His classmates were visibly excited at the introduction. The sight of the facility combined with the announcement of a new type of hands-on training getting them riled up.

"However, before we begin the training we have planned, there is something important I must discuss with you."

The students' excitement at the hero's greeting dulled somewhat as the atmosphere grew a bit more serious.

"I know that, since arriving at Yueii, Aizawa and All Might have been helping you cultivate a greater understanding of your quirks and what they can do. Part of why I'm here is to reinforce that. My own quirk, 'Black Hole,' is a powerful one that has enabled me to be as effective as I am as a rescue hero. But as useful as it is, it is equally deadly. It could be used to kill without much more than a thought. All it would take is a simple lapse in concentration and the victims I work to save would be reduced to atoms."

The mood plummeted even further at her words.

"In many ways, most of your quirks are just the same." She continued. "They could easily hurt, maim, or kill others without much thought."

"But! That is part of the reason you have come here today! To be able to train your quirks to ensure you have the control necessary to utilize them to save others! You should never forget the power that you wield and the risks it poses, but at the same time, that should not stop you from using them to their limits to be the best heroes you can be!"

The students cheered, their excitement restored as she turned to lead them towards the building. As they followed her, Izuku considered what she had said.

Thirteen was right, most of his classmates had quirks that could injure, or even kill, if used senselessly. Kaminari could electrocute people, Todoroki could freeze or burn them – though he'd still yet to see any actual flame from the boy – Uraraka could send them floating too high if she wasn't careful, Ashido had her acid, and Bakugou could produce literal explosions.

Humans were fragile. Unless they had quirks that could physically enhance their bodies, it didn't take much to break them. That was a big reason behind the mass of public quirk usage laws that bogged society down, and why there had been so much hatred and discrimination against the early quirked individuals. Before the laws, it was all too common for people to accidentally go too far and injure someone else to the point of disability or even death.

Then of course, there was Izuku.

While most everyone trained their quirk to some capacity, and needed to be aware of the risks they posed to themselves and to others, they only ever needed to be aware of one single quirk.

Izuku had over a hundred burning away within himself.

Granted, not all of the quirks he had were directly geared towards fighting – his healing quirk, 'Spectrum,' and 'Appraisal' being prime examples of that – but a good number of them were well equipped to do so. He constantly needed to be completely aware of what those quirks could do anytime he used them, and not just when he went out as Oni.

And it wasn't just about the enhanced strength. There were risks that came with that of course, but it went much further.

His claws for example – either of them, metal or scaled – presented a whole set of dangers on their own. One wrong move and he could slice or tear too deep to be nonlethal. With his strength behind them, it wouldn't take much effort at all to completely sever limbs. There was a reason he didn't actually use his claw quirk for anything beyond protecting his hands or, on occasion, tearing through walls or doors that got in his way.

He had an electricity quirk that could electrocute people if he wasn't careful. There was a voice quirk – similar to Present Mic's but much narrower in its uses – that could rupture eardrums. And as he'd demonstrated during the second training exercise, 'Air Cannon' could very easily knock entire buildings over, and that wasn't even with all of his strength quirks backing it up.

Even his snake tail presented its own risks. With it, he weighed over three thousand pounds, one careless move, and he could end up accidentally crushing someone beneath it.

He shook his head. That wasn't something he needed to worry about right now; there was a reason he was so thorough with the quirks he took, and that was part of it.

Instead, he trained his eyes on the massive doors that led into the dome, wondering what might lie on the other side as they began to slide open automatically at their approach.

There was a collective gasp from the class as the inside was revealed, and even Izuku felt his mouth drop open at the sight.

The place was massive, even by Yueii's standards.

He'd obviously suspected that it would be huge, given the size of the dome, but it seemed that Yueii was certainly keeping up with its theme of going above and beyond with everything.

The inside had been dug out, practically doubling the useable space inside. The main building of Yueii likely could've easily fit in the space more than once. It was big enough to house more than one mock city, similar in size to the ones that made up the main training sites.

"Fires, landslides, floods, storms, collapsed buildings, and mountainous accidents. This place is equipped to simulate any number of disasters and rescue scenarios for the purpose of training." Thirteen explained, pointing out each of the zones in turn.

"We'll be having you split up into groups of five." Aizawa jumped in. "Half of you will be with me, half will be with Thirteen. We'll take you around to each of the zones, where five of you will act as victims, and the other five will act as the heroes saving them."

"Now, for the first-" The rest of what he was saying was cut off, or rather, Izuku stopped paying attention as something in the air shifted.

---

Shouta halted his explanation as he felt something in the air; a feeling of malice somewhere behind him. At the same time, Etsumi caught his attention. The boy's entire demeanor changed all at once in a way that had him on edge immediately.

Just about every time Shouta had looked at him in the week since school had begun, Etsumi had always displayed a calm – if not laid-back – exterior. His eyes more often than not gave away the focus that lay hidden beneath, and to someone like Aizawa, it was clear that Etsumi was aware of everything going on around him at all times, but despite that, he always came off as relaxed, even when he was fighting. He always gave off an air of complete and utter confidence, something that Shouta had realized was entirely warranted.

Right now though, in the space of a second – quicker than that even – Shouta watched that shift. It was subtle, but at the same time so very obvious to anyone who knew what they were looking at.

His back straightened, muscles tensing as his fists clenched, and his eyes hardened, training on something behind Shouta. He went deathly still, the entirety of his being becoming laser-focused on whatever he was looking at. The air around him became loaded with a certain tension; not quite nervousness or anxiety, but rather more like a snake that was ready to strike. Which, given Etsumi's appearance, seemed like an apt description.

He was ready for a fight. That was becoming painfully clear, and Shouta was beginning to realize he'd been mistaken in an earlier analysis of his students.

Shouta had gone back and watched the camera footage for both of the training exercises All Might had put the class through. He wanted to get a good idea of where his students' skills lay so he could figure out what he needed to teach. It wasn't just about fighting – though that was an important part of it. The one-on-one fights had given him a good idea, but it didn't account for their quirks, or the myriad of other ways the exercises were different -, but also about their confidence, strategizing, and performance under pressure.

And in those exercises, the student who stuck out most to him wasn't Etsumi, but Bakugou. Sure, Etsumi had put on a good show, what with his ability to tank through Todoroki's onslaught and his completely mopping the floor with his opponents in the second exercise – not to mention the fact that he displayed obvious fighting experience and was completely calm throughout it all –, but Shouta had overall been more impressed with Bakugou. The sheer level of control over his quirk combined with the way he seemed to practically radiate pure skill made it clear that he had more potential than most of his past students combined.

His initial analysis of Bakugou was that he was a fighter through-and-through. Maybe a bit too reliant on his quirk, but the power, skill, and measured ferocity he displayed more than made up for that; the reliance could be solved through training. It was to the point that Shouta was almost – almost – willing to say that Bakugou was one of the better fighters he'd seen; the boy could probably put up a decent fight against a number of pro heroes that Shouta was familiar with. The only thing that stopped him was the fact that it was only the second week yet; it wouldn't do to overestimate any of his students, no matter how promising they looked.

But now, looking at the changes in Etsumi that set even him on edge, Shouta was realizing how wrong he was. Etsumi wasn't even moving, but the atmosphere around him was so intense that Shouta could tell that the distance between him and Bakugou was astronomical. He had every bit of skill and intensity that the other boy had, he simply hadn't had a reason to display it.

It was that realization, more than anything else that made something squirm in Shouta's gut. Etsumi hadn't displayed anything like this in either of the exercises, yet now he was faced with something that had brought it on like an automatic response.

It sent a shock of absolute wrongness racing down Shouta's spine as he turned to identify the source of the shift in the air and the change in Etsumi.

Down at the bottom of the stairs in front of them, next to the fountain, a mass of what looked to be purple smoke had appeared and was expanding outward to form a solid wall. His stomach sank as he watched a figure step through the smoke, and he realized immediately what was happening; he could just about feel the pure malice radiating from the individual, despite the distance.

Not even a moment later, more people began to walk through the smoke, one after another. None of them gave off the same feeling as the first one – the leader, he would guess – but all the same, they were still obviously enemies.

In seconds, the courtyard was full of villains, all of them staring up at them with open hostility.

"Hey…" Shouta heard one of his students – Kirishima, maybe – say from behind him. "Are we getting started already? Is this part of the training?"

"Stay back!" He called over his shoulder. "Those are villains! And this is no longer training. This is real life."

Then, to Shouta's surprise, the smoke began to shrink and condense until it was in a roughly humanoid shape next to the leader and the hulking beast that dwarfed everyone else there.

"The schedule we grabbed said that All Might was meant to be here teaching the class. But it looks as though all we have is Thirteen and Eraserhead." The smoky individual said, making Shouta's stomach drop even further. Right away he knew that the break in that had set the alarms off the day before had been these people in front of him. Beneath that, was the realization that these villains knew who he was, and most likely what his quirk was. It was not a comforting thought in the slightest.

He wondered briefly why the alarms hadn't gone off. Even if they'd materialized right in the center, Nezu had installed so many sensors into every square foot of Yueii that they shouldn't even be able to stand there without them going off. He pushed that thought from his mind though; whatever the reason, it was clear that they weren't working, which meant that it was useless to dwell on it right now.

The leader reached up to scratch at his neck, and Shouta realized that they were covered in severed hands. Something told him that they weren't fake.

"We went through all the trouble to get here, and All Might doesn't even have the courtesy to show up." They said, gaze dropping away from the top of the stairs. "How rude."

He started muttering to himself, too quiet for Shouta to make out as he scratched at his neck. After a few moments though, the leader's eyes suddenly snapped back up to them.

"Hey, do you think he'll show up if we kill a few of his students?"

That was all Shouta needed to hear. Reaching for his goggles, he settled them into place over his eyes. Grabbing his capture weapon and feeling it begin to lift and writhe around him like an angry snake, he settled into a crouch, ready to launch himself down the stairs.

"Thirteen." He called. "Get the students out of here. Get to the bus and call for help. I'll slow them down."

Slow them down, not stop them.

Shouta was by no means an optimist. He held no delusions that he would walk away from this fight. The number alone was something that he would struggle with, and he really didn't care for the look of the three that sat right in the center of it all. But that didn't matter. He would delay them as long as he needed to make sure his students made it out safely, and he'd take down as many as he could in the meantime.

He launched forwards, ready to activate his quirk and get things started, when something caught his capture weapon, stopping him dead in his tracks.

Looking back, he watched as Etsumi set him back down at the top of the stairs.

"What do you think you're doing, Etsumi?" He asked, narrowing his eyes at the student. "Go with your classmates and get to safety."

Etsumi didn't respond. He was staring down at the hoard of villains, that same hard look in his eyes as they flickered around.

"Sixty-seven villains in the main courtyard." He finally said. "Plus the three that look to be the leaders. It'll be a disadvantageous fight, but I know that won't stop you. Most have relatively minor quirks, nothing major to watch out for, and all of them are known criminals that have recently escaped from prison. The main three are the exception. They all feel more dangerous and I don't recognize any of them."

Etsumi released his grip on his capture weapon, instead setting a hand on Shouta's shoulder. It pressed down like a weight, hinting at the immense strength that sat beneath the surface. Etsumi finally turned to meet Shouta's eyes, and he got the impression – not for the first time – that there was more to Etsumi than met the eye. "Watch out for the one that came through first." He said, voice dropping lower. "Watch out for his hands, specifically. Don't let him touch you with all five fingers. I get the impression that's how his quirk works."

Shouta stared at him for a moment, before nodding. He turned back towards the villains, shrugging off the hand.

"Get out of here, Etsumi."

And with that, he launched himself forwards once more.

---

Izuku was, in a word, irritated. For so many reasons.

He'd noticed the exact moment that the purple smoke appeared, opening what he would assume to be a portal of some sort, judging by how the villains had walked out of it. He'd felt the malice and bloodlust in the air before the first one even stepped through; he'd have to be an idiot not to. A moment later, the lights flickered and he heard his earpiece cut to static; some sort of localized EMP quirk most likely, or something similar.

He started analyzing them the instant they arrived, scanning through all of them with 'Appraisal,' which brought him to the second source of his irritation; the first being the fact that some villain had the gall to organize an attack against All Might that put students in the crossfire.

All of these villains, every single one of them – with the exception of the main three – were ones that he'd encountered as Oni and subsequently punished. Which meant that whoever had organized this, whether it be the one covered in hands, the smoky one, or some other figure behind the scenes, had purposely raided the prisons of Musutafu and broken out criminals that he'd worked to put there.

He sneered. It was borderline offensive.

And now Izuku watched as Eraserhead practically flew down the stairs, already canceling the quirks of the stupid villains that tried to hit him with ranged quirks.

He'd stopped Eraser in time to give him as much help as he could, which unfortunately had been limited to the numbers he would be facing and that he should avoid the disintegration quirk. It irritated him that he hadn't been able to give any more, like the quirks of the other two main villains; the smoky one and the beast that towered over everyone else present.

Izuku had tried to use 'Appraisal' on them but found that, for whatever reason, he couldn't. There were a few reasons he could think of that might explain that – if the smoky one was intangible, without a real body, then that might counter it, and the other one did look just about braindead –, but it was the first time he'd ever encountered something like that. It was frustrating.

It wasn't as if he couldn't still work out their quirks either; the smoky one obviously could warp or teleport himself and others, and had at least some level of intangibility on top of that, and the beast was likely some sort of tank with an enhancement quirk. It just irked him that they escaped his attempt to find out more.

Then there was the fact that he'd had to see the hardened resolve in Eraser's eyes. The man was flinging himself into battle with every expectation that he would die, and his last thought before doing so were to ensure the safety of his students.

He didn't doubt Eraserhead's skill. In fact, he was probably one of the few people that had an intimate understanding of it. But even he knew that the hero stood no chance in this situation. He'd seen the hero fight outnumbered before – hell, he'd fought alongside him in most of those fights – but this was different, and both of them knew that.

It irritated him that he couldn't even dive in alongside Eraser to handle the villains. At least not without either disobeying and distracting the man or without revealing his identity as Oni. He was stuck watching as his favorite hero prepared himself for death.

He tore his eyes away from the fight at the center. Scanning across the zones he had a clear view of using the magnification offered by 'Spectrum'; he could see a few villains scattered across them.

"Etsumi!" He heard Uraraka's voice from beside him. "Let's go! We have to get out of here!"

The fear in her voice was apparent. It added another source of irritation to the growing list; these villains had no right to put that fear there.

He ignored her in favor of analyzing the situation further. If he couldn't join the fight, the least he could do is learn as much as he possibly could.

"I can see villains in the disaster zones." He said, mostly to himself, but loud enough that the others could hear if they were listening. They might need to know as well. "There don't seem to be many, but most probably aren't visible right this moment. I count about twenty in the landslide zone, which is the most open out of all of them. If that number is consistent across the other zones, that gives us about a hundred and ninety villains in total, give or take. Since they have a member that is clearly capable of moving large groups at once to multiple locations simultaneously, I'd guess that their intent is, or was, to separate us while the main group in the center dealt with All Might and the other teachers."

"Which means we need to g-" Uraraka was cut off as a new voice was introduced.

"Well then, you seem to have deduced our plan rather easily. You must be quite clever to make such deductions."

Looking back towards the rest of his class and the doors, he saw the smoky one floating in the air in front of them. As high strung as his mind was at the moment, geared for a fight he might yet participate in, he noticed right away the odd way they seemed to have positioned themselves. They were slightly off from directly in front of the door, and from directly in front of his class. They weren't well positioned to stop them from advancing, by blocking the doors or by fighting them. Actually, if he were to guess, he'd say that they'd practically planted themselves right in front of Thirteen.

They were either exceptionally confident in their abilities, extremely un-skilled, resulting in their odd positioning – which he doubted given how accurate they'd been in transporting the villains –, or they had done so for a very specific reason.

He turned himself to face them fully, starting to move closer in the same motion.

"Yes well, maybe you all are just morons." He finally said in response. "Maybe whoever you have behind the scenes that put this little plan together should be ashamed of themselves for making it so a mere student could take it apart."

"Enough!" Thirteen shouted. "I won't let you harm the students!"

She raised her arm as she spoke, and Izuku noticed the way the smokey villain's glowing eyes seemed to flash in response, all but confirming his theory.

He launched forwards, appearing next to Thirteen in a flash. Just as she was opening the caps at the end of her fingers to unleash her quirk, Izuku closed a hand over hers, closing them again. He forced the limb back down to her side.

"Etsumi? What are you-"

"They wanted you to do that." He explained, cutting her off. "Their quirk is some form of portal or warping. It's possible that he intended to turn your quirk back on you."

He had no idea if that was possible with her quirk, but the villain had obviously wanted her to attack them, so better safe than sorry.

"The fight has only just begun." He continued, leaning closer and dropping his voice a bit lower. "Your quirk is a trump card of sorts, best to not lose you just yet to the one villain who may be able to counter you."

"Tch! Troublesome brat!" The villain growled, losing all traces of the politeness they'd displayed a moment before. "Clearly you must be dealt with first!"

Izuku tensed, baring his teeth as he prepared to counter whatever they would throw at him.

At the same time however, he saw Kirishima and Bakugou leap in to attack. An explosion rang out, and he saw Krisihima's skin harden in an instant, but they both simply passed straight through the smoke.

He was about to curse their stupidity for attacking someone who might as well be intangible, when he caught the glint of metal hidden just within the smoke and heard, barely audible, 'My my, that was close.'

"I'm afraid such simple attacks won't work on someone like m-"

His words cut off as Izuku appeared in front of them. With all the strength he could muster with the quirks he had active, he swept a hand through the smoke, pulling on 'Air Cannon' partway through the movement to blow away as much of it as he could. As he did, he saw the metal he'd caught a glimpse of a moment ago. With his other arm, already wound back, he threw a punch that smacked into the metal, launching it off to the side and taking the smoke with it.

"Let's go!" He shouted over his shoulder, already moving towards the door. He noticed that this time, they weren't opening automatically. Whatever had messed with the lights, sensors, and his earpiece had likely messed something up in the door as well. That didn't slow him down though as he nearly crashed into them, driving his hands between them and pulling them open.

Just before he was about to pass through them however, he felt the air shift behind them, and felt tangible anger wash over him.

"Insolence!" The warp villain shouted. "You won't escape!"

As he felt the smoke start to surge towards them, he turned and grabbed Iida, who he'd noticed running behind him, by the collar of his armor. Just as the other students start to fall away, and he felt himself start to fall as well, he wrenched Iida forwards, throwing him through the door.

"Go Iida! Run back to Yueii!" He shouted as the smoke washed over him and his vision went dark.

---

When his vision returned to him an instant later, he took in several things at once.

First: It was dark. Not quite as dark as the inky blackness of the smoky villain when they'd washed over him, but certainly not as bright as it had been before.

Second: He was wet. From the looks of things, he'd been sent to the Downpour Zone. It was pouring down rain, which was probably the reason it was so dark. He blinked, pulling on 'Spectrum' to switch to night vision, which brightened things considerably.

Third: He was falling. Apparently, the villain was a petty piece of shit and had warped him to the top of the dome in the Downpour Zone, evidently not noticing that he had wings.

Izuku flared them, slowing his descent as he fell through the air towards the miniature city below. As he fell, he considered the situation.

An unknown number of his classmates, possibly including Thirteen, had been warped away from the front door to who-knows-where. There were about two hundred villains scattered throughout the place with the goal of killing All Might and as many of the students as they could. Eraserhead was stuck fighting the largest group, which included the three heavy hitters. And to top it all off, no one at Yueii actually knew what was happening.

Hopefully he'd thrown Iida far enough to avoid the villain.

He would assume that everyone that got caught had been sent to somewhere else within the building. That would make it easier to keep track of them and ensure that the plan went uninterrupted. Glancing around him, he didn't see anyone else falling through the air. Either he was alone in here, or was the only one that had been dropped from the ceiling.

So, he was in the middle of the disaster zone, potentially alone, and with an unknown number of villains scattered about that wanted to kill him.

He touched down on the ground and a moment later, a smile broke out on his face.

Oh, this was perfect.

Obviously not so much the part about his classmates being scattered through the building, but the fact that he was.

Had the smoky villain not caught him and sent him here, he would've escaped and been forced to wait until other heroes arrived. But now?

His smile widened.

Now he'd been thrown back into the fight. Now he had the chance to join in and help put a stop to it himself, and would be completely justified the entire time.

Now he could begin to punish these fucking villains.

Looking around, he turned in the direction he remembered seeing the door that would lead him out of the downpour zone, and started moving towards it. He started pulling on quirks as he moved; he wanted to be prepared for whatever he ran into.

There were most likely villains in here with him somewhere, but unless he ran into him on his way out, they would have to wait for the heroes to come deal with them. He had a more important task at hand.

He didn't even make it halfway there when he heard a commotion. Stopping, and tilting his head in the direction he thought it came from, he listened.

Sure enough, there it was. There was fighting somewhere off to his side, just barely audible over the rain. Turning in that direction, he took off down the street.

If there was fighting, then it most likely involved a student, which was a problem. There were very few that he would feel alright with letting them fight alone. Two to be exact; Todoroki and Bakugou. One could end the fight before it even began, and the other would make easily identifiable sounds, meaning that it wasn't either of them.

After a minute of moving, he turned into what looked to be a small courtyard, and caught sight of the commotion.

The first thing he noticed was the writhing shadowy form of Dark Shadow, which he followed back to see Tokoyami, who had his back to Izuku. The quirk was doing its best to fight back the group of villains that had backed Tokoyami up against a fountain, to the point where he'd moved into the water. He counted seven in total.

Izuku frowned as he took in the situation. Something wasn't right. He recognized each of the villains in front of him, there was no reason that Dark Shadow shouldn't be tossing them aside like the garbage they were. But it was almost like the quirk was holding itself back, or was overly focused on protecting Tokoyami rather than fighting.

He saw a bright flash as fire burst from the hands of one of the villains. It was extinguished by the rain a moment later, but the damage had already been done. Dark Shadow screeched in response, and he saw the quirk shrink a bit, though it started to grow again almost immediately.

Ah. That was part of it at least. When he'd first used 'Appraisal' on Tokoyami, part of the description mentioned that Dark Shadow grew stronger in the dark and weaker in the light. It would seem that the brief flashes of fire were at least enough to help keep it at bay.

Looking a bit closer, he could just about make out a pained expression on the boy's face, even despite the fact that he was facing almost completely in the opposite direction. What's more, is that he could see the way that Tokoyami was holding a hand to his thigh, and seemed to be favoring that leg.

He felt his anger flare, the irritation that had been building up since the villains' arrival rushing back to the forefront, and he picked up the pace. The nerve, the absolute fucking insolence of these villains. When he'd encountered them as Oni, they'd been lucky in that he'd only incapacitated them. He very easily could've made it so that they would never walk again, or he could've stolen their quirks. But no, he'd been exceedingly nice by letting them keep full mobility and full function of their quirks. And yet this is what they do with that kindness? They take the first opportunity they can get to escape prison and use it to attack students?

It was infuriating.

Izuku reached the fountain, and raised himself up so he sat above it. Most of the villains were sitting just outside of Dark Shadow's reach, taunting the quirk, laughing and jeering at it, the others were inching closer, only to jump back as it swiped at them, screeching in frustration. None of them had noticed him yet; it must be darker than he realized.

He let his bloodlust surge, and watched them all freeze in place, Dark shadow included. As one, they all looked up at him, the fear evident in their expressions as they felt his overwhelming presence. He bared his teeth, sharpened by a quirk, and saw the exact moment that the villains realized that they had fucked up.

Surging forwards, he appeared in front of Dark Shadow and had a villain's head gripped in each hand before anyone could realize what was happening. He looked out over the remaining villains, enjoying the struggles of the ones in his hands.

He didn't even bother taking note of any of their quirks, too focused on punishing the garbage.

"What's wrong?" He asked, voice deathly quiet, just barely audible over the rain. "You all were so very confident just moments ago. It seemed like you had no problem attacking a student that you outnumbered seven-to-one."

Moving closer, he squeezed a bit tighter, savoring the screams as his grip became painful. A few moments later, they both went limp as they finally succumbed, and he dropped their unconscious bodies to the road below.

"Don't go and lose your nerve on my account."

He enjoyed the way they all backed away in fear.

Oh, how he would absolutely love to make them scream. He would hurt them and make them burn until they regretted every decision of their pitiful existences that had led to this moment. He would leave them broken in ways that would probably get him in trouble with law enforcement when they arrived, self-defense or no. The only reason he wouldn't, that he would show them some sliver of mercy, is because Tokoyami was watching him. The boy didn't need to see something like that; not when the situation was already bad enough.

Besides, there were bigger threats to deal with.

A blur of motion and the two closest villains were flying off to opposite ends of the courtyard. As he moved closer, the next two made the mistake of not getting away quick enough. His hand wrapped around the backs of their heads and brought them crashing together, knocking them out instantly. The final one shook in fear as he approached.

Right as he reached them, they thrust out a hand, already glowing in preparation for the fire that would burst out of it.

Izuku's hand darted out, grabbing theirs by the wrist and yanking it off to the side, just in time for the fire to explode into empty space. He heard hissing as the sudden heat evaporated the rain it came into contact with.

Staring down at the villain, he watched the fear in their eyes skyrocket as their mind caught up with what had probably been an involuntary response to their fear. They started to struggle in his grip, foregoing their quirk entirely.

Without any notice, he twisted his hand sharply to the side, snapping the villain's arm like a twig.

Just as they let out a scream, he brought his head down to impact theirs, headbutting them. Their scream cut of as more of a strangled, choking yelp as they went sprawling.

With the immediate threat dealt with, he took a few deep breaths, attempting to get his anger under control.

A few moments later, once he felt he had calmed down enough, he looked down at the unconscious villains scattered around. He took special note of their names and faces, vowing that if he ever encountered them again and had to put a stop to their criminal activities, he would not be nearly so kind. They had gotten lucky this time in that there was a witness to rein him in. Next time, they would realize that Oni would be far less merciful.

'Fucking idiots.' He sneered internally.

With his temper now back under control, he turned to look at Tokoyami. He and Dark Shadow were still frozen in place, staring at Izuku with wide eyes.

"Are you two alright?" He asked, moving in their direction.

Tokoyami stayed where he was, and now that Izuku had a proper view, he could see that Tokoyami's leg was definitely hurt; his hand was still pressed to it, and Izuku could still clearly see the pain in his expression. Dark Shadow, however, screeched at him and placed itself directly between Izuku and Tokoyami. It was still on edge, either from Tokoyami being hurt or from Izuku's display and very tangible anger, or both.

"Easy, Dark Shadow." He said, raising his hands placatingly. "The threat is gone. You're safe."

The quirk didn't listen. Instead, it let out another screech and charged him. He heard Tokoyami shout at it in an attempt to rein it in.

He met it head on, grappling with it as he had the last time they fought. It was much larger than it had been then, stronger, likely on account of its rage and the darkness around them, but Izuku had more quirks active than he did then. And despite the increase in power, Izuku could feel something off about Dark Shadow, the same thing he'd noticed before he stepped in, only now he knew for sure what it was; Tokoyami was holding it back.

As he held Dark Shadow at bay, Izuku wracked his mind for a way to calm the quirk down. He could subdue it if he needed to – it wouldn't exactly take much effort – but wanted to avoid that if it were possible; they still had to deal with an unknown number of villains. It would be better if he didn't leave Tokoyami defenseless.

Actually, Dark Shadow's behavior made him think back to when he'd encountered the little girl, Iona, and her sentient quirk. The invisible beast, Kemono, had acted in a very similar manner, lashing out in order to protect its user. He hoped that Dark Shadow was simply lashing out in the same way because of the injury that Tokoyami had suffered, and not because it perceived Izuku as the threat.

Feeling Dark Shadow about to pull away from him, he grabbed it by the wrists, trapping it in place. He had an idea of what might calm it down, but it relied on both it not seeing him as the threat, and it trusting him to some degree.

He released one of its wrists and the hand attached to it immediately wrapped around his neck, doing its best to crush his throat based on the feeling. Pulling it closer by the other wrist, he placed his free hand on Dark Shadow's head.

"You can stop now, Dark Shadow. Tokoyami is fine. I'm here to protect him." He said. "I won't let him get hurt anymore."

To Izuku's surprise, his words seemed to have an effect. Dark Shadow faltered ever so slightly for just a moment, glowing eyes widening as they stared at him. That moment was all that was needed though, as Tokoyami took the opportunity to wrest control back from the quirk. Before Dark Shadow could do much in response, they were being pulled back into Tokoyami.

Izuku sighed, reaching a hand up to massage at his neck. There wasn't any real damage, but it would definitely be sore later.

"Fuck me. I didn't think that was actually going to work."

He started moving towards Tokoyami, who was still in the fountain, leaning up against the centerpiece. As he did, a smirk grew on his face.

"I'm glad it did though. It would've been unfortunate if I'd had to subdue it before we could get out of here."

Reaching the fountain, he held a hand out to Tokoyami.

"Are you okay?" He asked. "What happened?"

Tokoyami took a shuddering breath, clearly shaken up by some part or another of what had just happened, before swallowing and taking the proffered hand. Izuku helped him out of the water, before settling him down on the edge of the fountain.

"I am now, thank you." He said. Then, "When that villain attacked us, they dropped me right on top of that group right there." He nodded at the fallen villains. "One of them attacked before I had a chance to do anything and Dark Shadow panicked. They backed me into the fountain, and then you showed up right after."

Izuku nodded along with the explanation, and made a silent promise to bury the warping villain if he got the opportunity.

"Let me see your leg." He said, gesturing down at the injury that Tokoyami was pressing his hand onto.

The other boy grimaced, but relented after a moment, removing his hand and then pulling back his cloak a second later, revealing the wound.

Right away, Izuku knew that it wasn't serious. A cut ran from the middle of his thigh down to just above his knee, curving ever so slightly to the outside of his leg. It was long, but didn't look too deep. However it was bleeding rather profusely, which needed to stop.

"It's not that bad." He said. "Nothing too serious. You should be able to function just fine, it'll just hurt like a bitch. I'll need to stop the bleeding though. Mind if I borrow part of your cloak?"

"Do what you must."

Izuku hummed to himself as he grabbed the cloak and tore a strip off of it. Once he had it in hand, he set to work wrapping the injury up. He obviously wasn't a doctor, but he knew enough to keep Tokoyami alive and functional until they could get to safety. He couldn't just be a vigilante without knowing at least basic first aid. He'd be a pretty poor excuse for one if he didn't know how to take care of the people he saved or, on occasion, the criminals he hurt a bit more than intended.

"So why were you holding Dark Shadow back?" He asked as he worked on the injury.

"What?"

"I could feel it." Izuku explained. "When it attacked me, it felt like I wasn't the only one he was struggling against. So, why were you holding it back when it could have very easily mopped the floor with those useless idiots?"

Tokoyami hesitated, and for a moment, they sat in silence as Izuku worked. It took a few seconds for him to muster up whatever he needed to in order to answer. Izuku let him. He wasn't about to press the issue when it was evidently serious enough for Tokoyami to put his own wellbeing at risk.

"I didn't want to lose control." Tokoyami finally said, quietly.

Izuku stayed silent, raising an eyebrow as a prompt to continue.

"It's already bad enough with how dark it is in here." He said, gesturing vaguely around them. "Dark Shadow grows in strength the darker it is. And with how they were already on-edge from the villains showing up, me getting hurt was the last straw."

He winced as Izuku tied off the makeshift bandage.

"I didn't want to let them run rampant, because if I had, they wouldn't have stopped until the villains were dead."

Izuku nodded in understanding. He hadn't realized before how much independence Dark Shadow had, or how easily it could wrestle control away from Tokoyami. That was something that would definitely need to be worked on in the future.

At the same time though, something needed to be done for the short-term. There was no room for mercy with these villains.

"As much as I understand the sentiment, Tokoyami, and as noble as it is," he said, "you need to realize that these villains will not spare you the same amount of thought or consideration. Right now, this is a fight for our survival, which means you need to be ready to defend yourself to the extent of your abilities."

"I'm not saying you need to want to kill them." He quickly reassured the other boy, cutting off his objections. "Or that you'll even have to kill them in the first place. I'm just saying you need to be prepared to face the possibility that doing so might be the only thing to ensure your own survival."

Tokoyami didn't respond, and Izuku didn't say anything else. He didn't want to push the matter too far; killing someone, even in self-defense, wasn't an easy line for anyone to cross. It certainly hadn't been for him. But then, it had been a long, long time since he had.

"You know." He said, attempting to change the subject. "In my experience, sentient quirks, more than anything else, want to keep their user safe. They will do anything and everything in their power in order to do so. This might be why you struggle to keep Dark Shadow under control in crucial moments like this. You want to try to reign them in in order to maintain control, thereby losing control in the same motion."

"What you should focus on in the future," he continued, "is trying to improve your relationship with them, and deepen both of your understandings about what the other wants. If Dark Shadow knows that you aren't going to try to suppress them in moments like this, then they might be less likely to take control from you in order to protect you in whatever way they see fit. And in turn, if you are able to work with them and not against them, then you would have more say, and more control in how they defend you."

Tokoyami furrowed his brow, looking off to the side as he considered Izuku's words.

"I-. I suppose that makes sense?" He said. "It is true that I was thinking more about making sure they didn't lose control than I was about how much they wanted to protect me."

"And there you go." Izuku said, smirk growing a bit. "Just by realizing that, you're already taking a step in the right direction."

Tokoyami was silent for another few moments, and Izuku decided it was time to get back on track.

"Right. We should probably get back out to the main building." He said. "I would very much like to make sure Eraserhead doesn't get himself killed."

Tokoyami nodded, drawn out of his thoughts about his quirk. "Does Yueii not know what's happening here?"

Izuku shook his head. "No, I don't think they do. One of the villains, or maybe something one of them did, affected the intruder alarms that are spread through the building, and the same thing is blocking communications out of here, meaning we currently have no way to contact anyone for h-"

He froze, mouth hanging open. Holy shit he was an idiot, how could he have possibly forgotten?

"Contact anyone for what?" Tokoyami questioned. "What's wrong?"

Izuku held a hand out to silence him. "Give me a second, I just thought of something."

Honestly, how the hell could he have forgotten about 'Dinner Bell?'

Pulling on the quirk, he sent through a series of quick chimes, just to make sure he had Rei's attention. He was pretty sure she'd been planning on getting some sleep during the day today so she could start adjusting back to a night schedule, so he needed to make sure she was awake. It was unfortunate that he was having to interrupt her rest, but he felt as though she'd be fine with it in the end, given the circumstances.

After a moment, he sent through one of the most recognizable messages in Morse code there was. The universal signal for a call for help: S.O.S. He repeated it a few times, before sending through the actual message.

[USJ under attack. Villains.]

Short and to the point, he repeated it twice. He trusted her to figure out the best course of option from there. He knew she was smart enough to either contact Tsukauchi or Yueii itself. Now he just needed to do his best to clean things up in the meantime.

Seeing Tokoyami's confused expression, he thought up a lie on the spot.

"Kaminari's quirk is electricity based." He said. "There's a chance he could use it to send a message of some sort to Yueii to get us some help."

Honestly, he very much doubted that Kaminari's quirk could be used in such a way, or if it could, that the boy was even adept enough to do so, but it was enough for Tokoyami.

"In the meantime, I tried to throw Iida out of the building before we got swallowed up. Assuming he got away, he should be making his way to Yueii to get us some help."

Tokoyami was about to say something, but Izuku held up a hand to stop him. He'd noticed something out of the corner of his eye.

"Looks like we have some more guests."

Turning to the side, he could make out the shapes of a new group of villains making their way into the courtyard. This time, there were ten of them.

"Can you stand?" He asked, not taking his eyes off of the new arrivals.

"I can." Came the reply. "But I wouldn't expect any sort of impressive agility from me anytime soon."

"That shouldn't be a problem." Izuku said, moving in front of the other boy. "Tell me, Tokoyami. Before today, have you ever been in a fight? And not a sparring or training match. But one where your life is on the line, where your opponent is fighting with the intention of taking your life."

"No, I have not."

Izuku nodded. "Well, I have, so do please stay behind me and let me do most of the fighting. Limit yourself to ranged attacks with Dark Shadow. Or take my advice from a few days ago and cover yourself with them. Protect yourself from any that might make it past me."

"I will. Good luck."

He smiled. Oh, he enjoyed fighting with Tokoyami with him already. The other boy didn't argue with him, and immediately trusted Izuku to take the brunt of the fight. He moved forwards a bit, creating some distance between the two of them.

He brought his gauntlet-clad hands together, cracking his knuckles as he scanned over the villains, only to focus on two in particular.

Wait just a second. He recognized those quirks.

Well, he recognized their faces and names too, along with every other villain he's seen thus far, but that was less important.

Specifically, he recognized them both from the night he acquired 'Spectrum.'

Leading the group was an animal mutation quirk. The same one that had led the group he'd fought that night.

The other, a bit further back, was the weapon-mastery quirk. And in his hands, Izuku could make out the shape of-

"Oh my God. You've got to be joking." Izuku said mostly to himself, smiling at the approaching villains.

"You brought an honest-to-god Kusarigama with you? Seriously?"

He eyed the sickle and weighted chain in the villain's hands. Of course they just so happened to be carrying Izuku's absolute favorite weapon from all of Japanese history.

If it had been a question before, it certainly wasn't now. He was taking that quirk for himself. If for no other reason than because he wanted to play with the present this idiot had been kind enough to bring him.

He pulled his gauntlets off, dropping them to the ground as he waited for them to get closer.

A few moments later, the group stopped just a short distance away. They eyed him warily, eyes darting between him, Tokoyami, and their fallen comrades.

"Wonderful weather we're having, isn't it?" Izuku asked, gesturing around him.

"What did you do to Takeshi and the others!?" Animal mutation shouted at him.

Izuku raised an eyebrow at her. "Sorry? I don't think I know who that is. Though, if he's one of those idiots over there," he gestured over his shoulder, "I put him down because he was annoying me."

He put a hand to his chin, painting a thoughtful expression on his face. "You know, my temper was really stretched thin at the time, and I find it oh so difficult to limit my strength when I get to that point. So I really can't say for sure whether any of them are still alive right now."

He shrugged. "Oh well, they were all useless two-bit criminals anyway, so it's not like it really matters. And besides, most of them cried like such cowards until the very end, so were their lives really worth anything anyway?"

The lies rolled off his tongue easily. He knew that most of them were acquainted in some way or another from before they were put in jail. He was hoping that his words would upset them. Opponents that were angry or upset tended to make mistakes, and on top of that, he really wanted to make them suffer as much as he could, even if he couldn't go too far physically.

Judging by the expressions on the villains in front of him, he'd succeeded in a big way.

"Bastard!" Animal Mutation screamed, her expression one of true anger.

Surprisingly, none of them tried to charge at him. He would've expected at least one of them to lose themselves and make that mistake, but it would seem that they were at least slightly more skilled than he gave them credit for.

"Shigaraki said we could have fun with you brats." She continued. "Said we could do whatever we wanted, so long as we kept you busy while that monster of his killed All Might. But I think we'll just skip straight to killing both of y-"

Her words cut off with a strangled choke as Izuku's hand wrapped around her throat, cutting off her air supply. He lifted her up off the ground, holding her out in his left hand.

"Honestly, what is it with villains monologuing before they even know what they're up against?" He questioned, ignoring the shocked cries of the others as they caught up with what he'd done. "And being so stupid as to give away your plan like that? It's no wonder you all are barely even second-rate criminals."

It was too bad that her quirk was a mutation-type, otherwise he would've taken it right then. Unfortunately, the disappearance of the quite noticeable animal ears, claws, and tail she possessed couldn't be easily explained.

He smirked as he saw the weapon-mastery quirk swinging the weighted chain. Time to get things started, then.

The chain, much longer than any traditional Kusarigama, flew towards him, wrapping around the arm that was holding Animal Mutation. He laughed when he felt them try to yank his arm towards them, only for Izuku to stay rooted firmly in place.

"Oh. Thank you for that." He said. "It saves me the trouble of having to come all the way to you to pry it from your hands."

Grabbing the chain with his free hand, he instead yanked them forwards. They were not nearly as steady as Izuku was, and they'd made the mistake of keeping part of the chain wrapped around their own arm for easier carrying. Instead of just taking the weapon, he ended up with the villain as well, flying through the air at him.

Catching them around the throat, just as he had with Animal Mutation – who had since passed out –, he was quick to take their quirk. He made sure to lessen the pain somewhat, so as to not freak Tokoyami out, but left just enough for them to cry out as much as they could with a hand around their neck.

Dropping the unconscious body of Animal Mutation, he extricated the rest of the kusarigama from the other, tossing them aside once he had.

With his hands free, he situated the weapon in his grip, the sickle and several lengths of chain in one hand, with the weighted end in the other.

He pulled on the new quirk, and immediately felt a change run through his body.

At once, his grip on the weapon adjusted minutely. Whereas moments before the weapon had felt clunky and out of place in his hands – which was understandable given that he'd very rarely ever actually held a weapon before, let alone one such as this - it now felt as though he'd been holding it all his life.

Letting the weighted end drop a bit, he started swinging it around experimentally. When he felt how naturally the movements came to him, he let out a small laugh, before gradually putting more and more strength into it. Within moments, the metal weight was a blur, kicking up wind and displacing the raindrops as it swung around him, and his smirk widened.

"Oh. I'm going to have so much fun with this."

Before anyone could react, the chain was shooting out towards one of the villains who, for whatever reason, had decided to wait and watch the display. It wrapped around their upper body, trapping their arms to their torso.

"I appreciate you waiting around so politely." He said. "But I think it's about time to get this over with, don't you?"

A swift pull, and they were flying towards him just as the original user of the quirk had been. He moved slightly out of the way, extending an arm to clothesline them as they reached him.

As the others finally started to get their heads out of their asses, he dropped the weapon from his grip, leaving it wrapped around the one he'd just dropped. He flexed his hands as they started to charge him.

He eyed the four closest to him. Strength, metallic fists, jet legs – not dissimilar to Iida, or that old hero, Gran Torino –, and touch-based electricity.

The electricity was the biggest threat, considering that he was soaked to the bone from the constant rain. It sparked across their body, already reacting to the water around them.

Izuku charged them, a bit slower than his previous movements, so he could savor the fight.

Metal Fist reached him first, throwing a wild punch. He slipped past the extended limb, grabbing them by the wrist and throat, and threw them at Electricity. He smiled at the discharge of electricity into the air. It reminded him of the one-or-two times he'd seen Kaminari's quirk in action. When it cleared up, both were lying there, smoking and not moving.

Jet Leg reaching him next, jumping up into a spinning kick aimed at Izuku's head. He caught the offending limb in his hand, lifting them up to dangle them above the ground by their ankle.

"Goodness! You all are such a lively bunch, aren't you?" He asked, already swinging them around over his head as Strength drew closer. "Good! That makes it all the more fun for me!"

Izuku threw Jet Leg at Strength, and just as he did, they activated their quirk, sending them spinning uncontrollably as they sailed through the air.

Jet Leg's foot met with Strength's head at an impressive speed. The impact between the two dropped them both to the ground, unconscious.

"Now, look. You all really need to try your best not to take each other out. It takes away from my enjoyment if I don't get to fight some of you."

He moved closer to Strength, and was just bending over to take their quirk when something caught his eye.

One of the three remaining villains was growing rather rapidly. Literally growing. It made sense. He knew that their quirk was a transformation-based gigantification. Based on what he'd seen in the past, they should grow to just under twice their normal size-.

Izuku's eye's widened as they hit that point, yet continued to grow.

By the time they stopped, they were about eighteen feet tall, easily.

The sight excited him immensely. Gigantification less than twice normal size was nothing special. It was more common than most people realized, and wasn't much better than most strength enhancers. But this…

This was closer to three times normal size, maybe even more. It wasn't too big of a difference, and certainly wasn't to the level of people like Mt. Lady, but it was impressive all the same. Even something as minor as that could yield significant boosts to strength and overall abilities.

He wanted it.

'You've made a mistake, showing me what your quirk can do.' He thought, smile still in place. 'Because now it's mine.'

He spared a glance at the other two, taking note of their quirks. A blade and a jump-enhancer. Nothing to worry about.

"Tokoyami!" He called over his shoulder. "I'll let you handle these two." He gestured at the normal-sized villains. "I want that one."

"Knife quirk. Enhanced jumping." He called out, pointing at them in turn. He wasn't just going to leave Tokoyami to fight them without giving him the advantage.

Without another word, he launched himself through the air, latching onto the giant and wrapping his tail around their torso before they could react.

They staggered backwards, toppling into a building behind them as they struggled against him. He enjoyed their struggles as they attempted to pry his tail off of them.

"Shh. It's alright." He said. "It'll be over soon enough."

Before they could respond, he brought both of his hands up, smacking them into the villain's ears. They cried out in pain, this time losing their balance as they stumbled in a blind panic. Their head bounced as they landed. It didn't knock them unconscious, but they were clearly dazed. He ignored the slight discomfort of having them land on his tail.

Placing his hands on the sides of their head, he pulled on their quirk, once again limiting the pain as he did. They shrunk back down to their normal size as he pulled the quirk into himself. He was quick to get off of them as he did, so he didn't crush them beneath his tail.

Looking back over at where he'd left Tokoyami, he was just in time to see the boy swat the jump-enhancer quirk out of the air. The knife quirk was already on the ground.

He was immensely pleased to see that Tokoyami's upper body was wreathed in the shadowy form of Dark Shadow. The quirk's head acted like a helmet, leaving only the boy's eyes exposed, and its arms wrapped around, and acted as extensions of, the boy's own arms.

There were few situations that were better for improvement and growth than real fights.

It wasn't perfect, and he could think of a few ways to improve upon it, but it was an immense step in the right direction. That, and Tokoyami was actively working with Dark Shadow in the stressful situation, and was getting experience fighting real opponents. He couldn't wait to see what the boy could do with a little bit of proper training.

"Very good." He said, moving closer. "That's the way to do it."

Tokoyami looked down to inspect himself. Izuku could see where the undersides of his arms were exposed; another thing to address later.

"I must say. I didn't realize how versatile this would be." He said, before looking back up at Izuku. "Thank you for giving me that advice."

"No problem. Let's just be glad you were able to use it to protect yourself."

As he approached where he started from, he went around to a few of the villains, checking for a pulse in each of them. A few of them, Metal Arms and Strength specifically, were taken out indirectly, through admittedly risky means. He wanted to make sure he hadn't accidently killed them.

Satisfied that he hadn't, that they were all still alive to be carted back off to prison once this mess was cleaned up, he leaned over to pick up the discarded Kusarigama. He intended to keep it until it was taken from him.

He moved a bit closer to Tokoyami, stopping to pick his gauntlets up off the ground and slide them back onto his hands.

"Let's go." He said. "Now that-that's been taken care of, we should really get back out into the main building."

"Agreed." Tokoyami replied, still keeping Dark Shadow wrapped around him.

"This way." Izuku said, before turning towards where he'd been headed before coming across Tokoyami.

A few short minutes later, they reached the doors that led out of the Downpour Zone. They hadn't encountered anymore villains on the way. Either they'd all been dealt with already, or they were simply spread out elsewhere. Whatever the case, the way forward was clear.

Moving closer to the doors, he thrust his hands between them and started pulling them apart. Somehow, they were a bit sturdier than the main doors, but he pried them apart all the same. With them open, he moved through, Tokoyami following just behind.

Once he was out of the rain, back outside, Izuku took the chance to inspect the courtyard to assess the situation.

The area had been thrown into chaos.

Bodies of the invading villains lay strewn across the entire space, either moaning in pain or unconscious. Only a stark few actually remained standing. Eraserhead had clearly made his presence known.

Glancing up to his left, towards the stairs that led from the main door, he didn't see anything that might suggest that any of his classmates or Thirteen were still there. He could only hope that some of them had been lucky enough to escape the warping villain.

He glanced over to his right to continue taking everything in – he had yet to see Eraser or any of the main three villains – only to freeze at what he saw, his breath catching in his throat.

The massive beast, one of the three main villains, was squatting over the broken and bloodied form of Eraserhead. It had the man's head in one hand, and one of his arms, clearly bent the wrong way, in the other.

He could tell that the man was, somehow, still conscious and very much alive. He could see Eraser's intact arm clawing at the ground ever so slightly, and the grimace on his face as he glared at someone further to Izuku's right, his eyes barely held open.

Izuku followed Eraser's eyes towards whatever he was glaring at. Only to see the leader �� Tomura Shigaraki according to 'Appraisal' – standing at the edge of the flood zone, reaching his hands – hands that could disintegrate whatever they touched with all five fingers – down towards the two students that sat in the water, frozen in fear.

Two students that just so happened to be Uraraka and Tsuyu.

He saw the fear in their eyes as they stared up at Shigaraki. He saw the edges of the crazed smile that sat under the hand on Shigaraki's face. He saw the villain's hands mere inches away from their targets.

Izuku's vision went red.