Chapter 5 Incident Zero by Ya Boy Guzma

"Morning, folks, Makoto Kobayashi here with your morning news.

At a ceremony marking a year since the death of the Pro Hero Slugger in Musutafu, at the hands of the dangerous villain and Hero Killer Stain, the Number One Hero Endeavor surprised us all with a speech in which he promised a radical shake up to the hero community of Japan.

Stain's identity remains unknown to date, and the dangerous criminal has since claimed the lives of four other Pro Heroes. Unverified reports also link him to a mysterious fire which burned down a Musutafu orphanage and killed a number of staff members on the very same day as Slugger's murder-"

"Tch, that's not his style."

Izuku looked up from the drawing he was scribbling in his notebook at Tenko, who appeared to be irritated at the radio news. "Huh? What do you mean?"

Tenko kicked a foot as if irritated, and it reminded Izuku of the Mirko press conferences he had seen, where the Rabbit Hero tapped her foot whenever she got fired up about a question. "He's a Hero Killer, isn't he? Going after a bunch of orphans isn't something he'd do."

Izuku shushed him. "I'm trying to hear the rest of this, Tenko-"

Tenko kept quiet as the rest of the news carried on. He'd seen what Izuku could get like about Heroes, after all. "Since the first appearance of Stain, a number of prominent vigilantes and copycat villains have risen up within our society, and Heroes are dealing with increased pressure and an almost daily uptake in civil unrest and villain attacks. Questions have come over the fitness of Japan's Pro Heroes to cope with this societal disturbance, and how prepared they are for the next super villains to emerge.

Endeavor had this to say. 'The world has changed since All Might died, but that doesn't give people a right to take the law into their own hands. Nor does it mean that villains should be empowered to act as they please without recourse. It is clear that our system is running to catch up, and the time to act is now. I will soon be bringing news to you all on how the Pro Heroes of this country will be better funded to take back control of society from those who revel in chaos.'

'To the vigilantes, I say your day will come, and you would do well to quit before we really come for you. And to the villains... Just watch me.'

There you have it, folks. Endeavor with a fierce warning, and I can't help but fear for what comes next. For Heroes, and for our society."

"Um... here's Toji with the weather."

Izuku turned off the radio as the ever-so-chipper weatherman began to chatter away about a depressingly rainy day, and closed the notebook. The news was never good these days, and it was why he threw himself into his training so wholeheartedly.

You're getting rather good too.

Ever since he and Tenko had discovered his new Quirk, Tenko had insisted that he found a way to train. Izuku didn't want to cause any trouble, and he knew full well that Quirk usage in public was illegal, and he felt really unsure that sneaking into an abandoned warehouse was wrong. Tenko, however, had warmed his heart the moment that he revealed he had read all of Izuku's hero analysis notebooks cover to cover, and with a few comments about Izuku 'badly lacking in XP' and 'needing to upgrade your skill tree branches', within a few months Tenko had made a plan.

It turns out that Tenko's plan had been everything he'd ever wanted and more.

"Let's face it," Tenko had said, as he dragged Izuku along by the hood of his All Might hoodie, "all these kids who think they're so special have years more training on you. They may have given you crap, but you can show them how quick you can level up, how OP you can be, how unbreakable your combos are. You can be a Hero, just like in your books, Izuku."

His reasoning struck a chord with the mild-mannered boy, and for the first time in his life he had found someone who believed in his dream fully. He had thrown himself into training his Quirk the moment after he stopped crying, and after an embarrassed Tenko pried Izuku's arms off of him from the longest thank-you hug ever. The Quirk testing in the back garden had been one thing, but Tenko had outdone himself with their new secret base.

The abandoned warehouse in Musutafu was slightly off the beaten path, about halfway between the school and Izuku's home. Once it had been a store for Hero merchandise, and indeed Hero figurines and body pillows and old toys could still be found in boxes; Izuku had screamed when he found a limited-edition Edgeshot figure buried in a corner. Now, it was the idea playground for two teenage boys who had all kinds of ideas and a whole lot of catching up to do training wise. There were high roofs, piles of rubble, wide open spaces and all kinds of shop dummies to make into villains. Their imaginations were the limit, and they ran wild.

Izuku had slowly grown more used to channeling the air blasts he could produce from his fledgling Quirk over time, after nearly a year and a half visiting the warehouse. Tenko had helped him improvise beyond the immediate blasts he could summon, and Izuku found that he could channel the air in different ways: a concentrated beam here, a wide rippling arc in an area of effect attack there, a delayed reaction blast over there. In turn, Izuku noticed that Tenko was starting to come out of his shell with his own Quirk, using it more around Izuku and practising destroying rubble, taking on larger pieces of concrete, cutting off his Quirk to eat only the glass out of a window and leave the frame intact. They grew with each other.

The only arguments the two boys had were about names - Izuku had insisted on calling his Quirk 'Air Force', as an All Might tribute, much to Tenko's chagrin when he proudly tried to call it 'Air Cannon', and Tenko was reluctant to budge from the slightly creepy name of 'Decay' he had given his own Quirk. Tenko also tried instantly naming moves which Izuku came up with, using obscure references from old shows and games and movies which Izuku had never watched; 'Atmospheric Rift' and 'Liable Tempest' were just two of the bizarre names which barely even fitted the moves Izuku had created, and Izuku had no clue where they'd come from.

Emerald Cyclone worked, though. Fits with the hair.

Inko had screamed blue hell at both of them the first time that they came back home, caked in dirt and with a scratch below Tenko's left eye from a piece of glass which had shattered under an Izuku air blast, but she had slowly learned to let things go a little bit. It helped break the ice when she got a visit from a Musutafu police officer who kindly dropped by and told Inko she should be proud of her conscientious young man. Apparently he had marched Tenko straight to the police station when they arrived at the abandoned warehouse, and had put himself in front of two police officers politely requesting permission to use the space to train.

Only Izuku would think to do that, or worry about not doing it, but as it turned out the police hadn't cared one bit what they were doing. With a flea in his ear from his mother to carry a mobile phone with him at all times, and not to stay out after dusk in a creepy old warehouse, Inko gave the two boys the space to bond and grow and train themselves.

They had each other's backs, after all. They would be fine.

Izuku looked up as he stashed the notebook away in his backpack, and met his friend's gaze, a chunk of plaster the size of Izuku's head turned to dust in his friend's palms. "Sorry, Tenko. I just wanted to hear what they had to say about Endeavor. He is Number One, after all."

"He's no All Might," Tenko replied, taking a deep breath and crouching to the floor as he slowly slipped on one of his fingerless gloves. He was happier to show his Quirk around Izuku these days, but Izuku noticed that he never overdid it. "I think my Quirk is destructive, but have you seen what he does?"

Izuku sighed, zipping up the backpack. They had these debates all too often these days, rising in frequency since Tenko began to use his Quirk more. "Endeavor isn't perfect but he works hard. He's taken down nearly as many villains as All Might ever did now-"

"All Might never burned civilians alive to do it," Tenko muttered, blue locks falling over his gaunt face and throwing a shadow over his eyes. "It's not right..."

"H-Hey, Tenko..." Izuku paused, then reached out and put his hand on his friend's shoulder, to try to comfort him. He'd never seen him in such a mood before. "You alright?"

"It just makes me sick. Heroes are supposed to be the good guys, but Endeavor acts like a final boss the whole time he's out in public." Tenko's eyes narrowed. "He's not the only one. Did you see that rookie make her debut a couple of weeks ago? The huge chick with the massive a-"

"Mount Lady?" Izuku said, biting back the urge to shoot a withering look in Tenko's direction at the disrespectful comments coming out of his mouth. "I'm sure that building collapse wasn't her fault-"

"You see?" Tenko interrupted, gesturing with a gloved hand. "Government sponsored instruments of violence, everywhere you look, and we just excuse it like we're brainless NPCs. We let them beat the crap out of people and destroy our stuff just because they're Heroes, because they're Pros, because we just want them to fix our problems. Bakugo would fit right in."

Izuku flinched a little at the mention of his former friend's name. Auntie Mitsuki was a time-bomb at the best of times, but when his mother phoned up full of anger like she had never seen before, Katsuki had been broadsided by his mother's rage completely. The school had apologised finally when both Inko and Mitsuki demanded that something should be done, and the meeting that followed, with Izuku sat beside a seething and twitching Katsuki, was an experience he'd rather not repeat anytime soon. He had ended up in a new class, and Bakugo had counselling as well as a mark on his pristine record; since that day, despite all the visits from Bakugo's parents to his mother, he hadn't seen Katsuki at all.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

He clenched a fist. "He will make it. He's strong, and determined, and he won't stop until he becomes Number One. I'm sure of it."

"If he becomes a hero, we're all getting farmed," Tenko said ruefully, shaking his head and grabbing his new backpack with a gloved hand. "Come on, enough Quirk practice for one day. Your mom's getting takeout tonight and I could eat a house."

Izuku chuckled at his friend, who seemed to have a little more of his snark back. "Fine, fine. Let's go."

As the two walked side by side, comfortable that they had their best friend beside them, Tenko clicked his teeth. "Y'know, teacher made us watch that video in class yesterday, the one that got uploaded the other week. The Stain one."

"Huh?!"

"Yeah, the manifesto one. You seen it?"

Izuku looked shocked. The rise of Stain was something which had punctuated the changes in Japanese society after All Might's death, a nasty bloody comma in the paragraph on Hero culture. Slugger was one of the first Heroes to be attacked and killed, and his emergence had led to a video going viral; a bystander had captured a monologue from Stain in which he tore apart Heroes who worked for profit, who held openly Quirkist views, who trampled on those less fortunate to get to the top.

Japanese society, in the wake of devastation, took those views and ran with them. Discontent towards heroes soared, copycat villains tried to surface, and a spike in vigilantism had already occurred. The Hero Public Safety Commission announced a bounty on Stain and tried to designate vigilantes as villains, but public opinion hadn't immediately followed. Stain's words still rang true for many.

"Why would they do that?" he asked Tenko.

"Eh, they wanted us to start debating and stuff. Talking about what he says about Heroes, who is good and who is bad, who gets to decide." Tenko kicked a bottle that had been dropped outside the warehouse entrance as they both walked out. "I caught a lot of heat from my class."

"You? W-Why..." Izuku put the dots together. "You agreed with him?!"

Tenko shrugged. "A little. Don't you?"

Izuku froze on the spot. "M-M-Me?"

"Hah... You don't have to worry about me judging you for your answer." Tenko stuffed his hands into his hoodie pockets, and continued walking, as Izuku jumped to keep up. "Best friend, remember? I'm not gonna run away if you say you agree with something he said."

"I..." Izuku hung his head. "I... wish for a better world. Kinda the same as he does."

"A world like we had with All Might?" Tenko asked. "I think we all want that-"

"No, not like that." Izuku looked up now as he walked, and he felt resolve in what he was saying. "All Might was amazing but he... he was so much on his own. We lost him and the whole world fell apart. We can't go back to that."

Tenko's eyes widened a little, as the pair of them stepped around a couple arguing in the street. "Heh, I never thought you'd say that, fanboy."

"I'm n-not a fa-"

"I've seen your room, ya big nerd, don't even try and argue!" Tenko scratched the back of his head, chuckling. "Just surprised me you'd say it, that's all. I thought you'd miss him just as much as us."

"I do." Izuku blinked for a second and in his mind's eye saw red for blood, and the fallen body of his idol on that fateful day, but he shook his head quickly. "We can't rely on one person being like him though. We need a world of people like him."

"Mmm?"

"... Stain hates villains. I can't call him a true villain because he wants to stop criminals too, but what he does to people he deems unworthy..." Izuku shook his head. "If the Heroes we have aren't good enough, if they're greedy and selfish and prejudiced, then we need a new generation without those flaws. We can fix hero society by teaching proper Heroes, but... Stain doesn't achieve anything by killing people except hurting families, and dividing people more."

"The ends don't justify the means?" Tenko's back straightened a little. "I get that. I just think that society is glitched at the moment and needs more than a reboot. Some bits need deleting."

"You don't mean-"

"Nah, murdering Pros just isn't the way." Tenko looked distant for a second, but shook his head. "But if they don't change because of people like him, then I'm not so sure I'd wanna become a Hero. I'd rather take my chances joining The Crawler and the other vigilantes out there, and save people my way."

"Y-You'd break the law to do that?!"

"If I can help people, no question." Tenko met Izuku with an appraising look. "You couldn't?"

"I... I-I just don't think I could. The law is the law, right?"

Tenko sighed, deadpanning. "You're just too honest, aren't you Izuku?"

"I'm sorry..." Izuku's eyes widened in panic as he took in their surroundings properly for the first time since leaving the warehouse. "Wait, Tenko-"

His friend paused. "Aw, crap."

They were so used to the run-down world by now that walking past derelict buildings and empty shop units was their norm. Criminals and villains were becoming much more common now, people who just took what they wanted, and neighbourhoods suffered as the Police struggled. What had once been proud and clean and idyllic was sliding relentlessly towards squalor with every passing day.

Normally he and Tenko would keep to the main road which would walk straight on home. Clearly when the two of them had stepped around the arguing couple into a neck of an alleyway, they had walked down the alley and carried on that way, straying far from the safe beaten track that they'd promised Inko they would keep to. Now they'd ended up in the wrong part of town, and yep, sure as anything, here came the vultures sensing the mistake. The parasites who had crawled out from under rocks into the world after Incident Zero, and were starting to get more and more eager to do as they pleased...

The Yakuza.

Foul creatures. Should have died off a long time ago.

Izuku had no clue how they had survived the Quirk proliferation, or how they had operated through history despite being relegated to cannon fodder by the emergence of powerful supervillain groups. Now though, local groups were cropping up everywhere, and a few bigger names were rising to prominence; the Ishikawa-Kai, the Shie Hassaikai, groups who relished Incident Zero for removing the threat of All Might from their world.

It wasn't uncommon in poorer neighbourhoods or rougher cities, streets where the Police were reluctant to go, to find Yakuza going door to door to collect their 'rent', protection money from those most afraid of them. Extortion, by any other name, would be just as sweet. And Izuku and Tenko had just the luck to come across a couple of them following their wrong turn.

A hulk of a man with the head of a great-white-shark and wearing what looked like a Kevlar vest smiled down at him with row after row of jagged fangs. "Hey there, little kids. You lost?"

Tensing up, eyeing the surrounding area, Izuku did his best to keep his expression neutral. "No." His face was stoic, but his voice could have been better. Why was he so damn squeaky?

Behind him, a tall and muscly woman with black spiky hair shaved at the side slid off of the dumpster on which she was sad, picking at her fingernails. "No? But you're walking right through our turf. That just can't be right, because you haven't payed the toll for using our alley." Her arms flexed, and the blue tattoos on her biceps flashed iridescent for a second.

"Not paying the fees when they're due?" A lanky blonde man emerged from behind Shark-Head, and in Izuku's head he knew the guy was the ringleader of the little posse from the way he was holding himself, from the smart dress which signalled him out as a potential lieutenant. That was bad news on a Quirk power front, if a brute like the shark guy would answer to him. Big wide eyes looked Izuku up and down, and the guy ran a bony hand through his manky hair. "Now that would be a crime, wouldn't it?"

Izuku felt sweat on his forehead, sliding down his face. "Isn't this Yakuza territory?"

Shark-Head snorted, and the final member of the trio, the skinny blonde, cackled as if possessed. "Who the hell do you think we are, kid?"

"Dumb question," the tattooed woman said, shaking her head in exasperation. "Kids these days got no sense."

Now Izuku gulped. "Right, sorry. Don't school kids get a free pass?" He chuckled, smiling nervously.

The shark's grin became even more sadistic. "Hey Setsuno, the boy thinks he can negotiate. Ain't that cute?"

The leader, now identified as Setsuno, sneered. "We don't like people who wanna weasel out of paying. That's double the money from you and your freaky friend, kid."

Izuku's eyes darted about the area. No sign of the police, no sign of any heroes... he was alone here. "I don't have any money..."

"That's cool." said the tattooed one, "we'll just take your stuff then. Betcha those text and notebooks will come in real handy for next year's students."

Setsuno's hand reached out with those long fingers, and in an instant Izuku's backpack was ripped from his shoulder and was hanging by the strap in his hand. The brief wonder Izuku felt at the Quirk, and the instant ability to steal what was in front of him, was replaced by the sheer upset that the Yakuza had his stuff in front of him. The backpack was old, and the pencils in it easily replaced, but Setsuno had his Hero Analysis notebooks, numbers 11 and 12. They were his pride and joy. "H-Hey! My notebooks-!"

The tattooed woman stepped in front of her leader and cracked her knuckles threateningly. "You wanna go, you little runt? You can run now and leave that bag behind, or you can stay here and I'll beat you 'til your mother doesn't recognise your face. What's it gonna be?"

As Izuku, tensed, his brain screaming at his body not to flee and to hold his ground to get his notebooks back, all of them heard someone clapping. Very slow, ominous clapping. All of them, Izuku included, turned and saw Tenko clapping very sarcastically, looking incredibly unimpressed with what he was seeing.

"So, this is the Yakuza way, huh? Hiding in alleys and trying to take lunch money off kids by outnumbering them?" His look of displeasure remained, even as he started taking off his gloves. "Bullies are pathetic."

"Hahaha!" The shark's laugh was rich and deep with bass. "So the creep does talk. He's bold."

"T-Ten..." Izuku's eyes widened as Tenko took off his other glove. "We can't... Our Quirks-"

"They used their Quirks and took your books, Zu..." Neither boy used their full name around the Yakuza thugs (they knew better than that), but Izuku was stunned as his friend stood and stared down the two hulking lackeys of the smartly-dressed Setsuno. "We're not letting that happen."

"But still-"

"We're in an alley, facing a mini-boss, and the Heroes and Police aren't gonna get here in time. If you don't wanna use your Quirk, we lose your inventory and we get party-wiped. If we take them on, then we get your stuff back and teach this goons a lesson." Tenko clenched a fist and nodded to Izuku. "I've got your back. You wanna do this?"

"We'd be like vigilantes-"

"Nah, vigilantes don't have a death wish." Setsuno stared at the two boys, and giggled. "As if you think you have a chance."

"You're writing me off already?" Tenko rotated a shoulder with a crack, as if limbering up for a punch. "Your first mistake."

The blood flowing in Izuku's veins went cold at the sound of the tattooed woman's barked laugh, as she pulled a metal crowbar from the back of her pants and pointed it at Tenko. "Precious. What's a toothpick like you gonna do to us?"

Tenko just smiled darkly. "Just watch me."

The shark laughed even louder than his friend, as he too produced a crowbar from somewhere. "What? Gonna kill me?"

"If I did, they'd never find the body."

Making as soft a motion as he could, Izuku tried to get Tenko to calm down. "Can we all just take a step back and-"

"No." Said the tattooed one, turning around to face the bluenette, the tattoos on her arms now emitting piercing blue light. "He thinks he's a man." She snorted, and Tenko smirked. "Let's see if he's really all that."

It was completely instinctual, but as she rushed forward with a scream and raised the crowbar over her head to hit Tenko, Izuku threw his arms forward and felt the crackle of red and black lightning spring up in an instant. In any other circumstance, the movement would have been too telegraphed and it would not have worked, but surprise was on his side; the Yakuza was met with a blast of solid air to the rib cage and dropped the crowbar as she was launched backwards, slamming into the dumpster on which she had been sat. There wasn't even a cry as her head smacked into the side of the metal box, and she slumped unconscious at the feet of Setsuno.

Izuku was torn for a second as to how to respond, and the only reason he was able to make his next move without being overwhelmed by Setsuno was because the Yakuza ringleader seemed completely stunned that his comrade had been overwhelmed in an instant. As Shark-Head charged at Tenko past Izuku, he made up his mind and dived for the crowbar on the floor, snatching it up and brandishing it in front of him like a sword at Setsuno. "Hah!"

Unfortunately, Izuku had forgotten his opponent's Quirk in the heat of the moment, and with a wiggle of his fingers the crowbar flew from Izuku's grasp into the hands of Setsuno. "You little shit, did you think you'd be able to use that against me?"

"Give it back!" Izuku shouted, arm sparking up.

"This is what you get for hurting Isamu!" Setsuno's arm drew back with the crowbar like a javelin, and Izuku twisted to see his target. Tenko had batted the shark-man away with a kick and the guy was clawing at his vest, the crowbar he had been holding disintegrating in his hands, but Tenko had left himself wide open.

He was going to hurt Tenko!

Stop him. Hurt him.

"RAAGH!"

With a cry, both of Izuku's arms pulsed with red and black lightening, and a shockwave went off across the whole alleyway. While Tenko was used to shockwaves from Izuku's Quirk practice and simply cartwheeled out of the way, Setsuno and Shark-Head were launched backwards, and the crowbar clattered out of Setsuno's hands onto the floor of the alley, landing between Izuku and the Yakuza.

Setsuno snarled, as Izuku snatched up the crowbar again. "You annoying bastards!" He reached out...

And the crowbar stayed put.

"What the..." The Yakuza flayed out his hands again, but the metal rod stayed immovable in Izuku's hands. Eyes widening in complete horror, he flailed and tried to do the same to the backpack which Shark-Head had picked up, and then swivelled to flick his hand at the unconscious Isamu, but nothing came to him. "Noooo..."

"Urgh..." Shark-Head had pulled himself upright, before looking down and realised the vest he had been wearing had been completely destroyed by Tenko. "Jeez, what are you two?"

Tenko raised both hands and flexed his fingers like the writhing legs of a dying spider, and slowly reached for the mammoth of a man, as the Mutant-type went pale and backed off. "We'll have our stuff now, please."

Izuku, nose dripping blood and swaying slightly from the blast, grabbed his bag from the floor and moved back from Shark-Head. "Thank you. Mine."

"My... My Quirk..."

Shark-Head looked down at his leader, hunched on the floor. "Setsuno, you okay dude?"

"My... My..." Setsuno's head whipped up to stare at Izuku with eyes bulging, and a look of pure anguish on his face. "What did you do..."

The Yakuza tipped his head back and wailed, the broken cry of a man suffering a mental break, a man who had just been tipped over the edge. "NooooOOO-"

Shark-Head panicked, slinging an arm underneath his broken leader and lifting him over his shoulder as he still wailed. "Fuck this!" The shark spun on his heels and ran for the hills with Setsuno secured on his shoulder, leaving his unconscious comrade Isamu behind against the dumpster. Clearly there was no loyalty among thieves.

Tenko chuckled darkly to himself as the big thug's footsteps were punctuated by the wails of his stricken boss, putting his gloves back on. "Pathetic..." When he looked at Izuku, his bravado shifted aside and was immediately replaced with wide eyes. He knelt by his side in a flash, inspecting the bleeding nose closely. "You alright?"

"Y-Yeah..." Izuku forced a smile, shouldering his backpack. "Just pushed myself too hard with that shockwave, that's all."

"Heh, you did good though." Tenko grabbed under his arm, pulling him up. "Come on. Let's get you home."

"T-Thanks." Izuku took a handkerchief which Tenko offered him, to cover his bleeding nose. He paused, and looked his older friend up and down with concern. "For a second... I thought you were gonna hurt those guys."

The bluenette shrugged. "Eh, no one woulda missed 'em if they'd been dusted." Then he ruffled Izuku's hair. "But you were there, so, I couldn't do that."

"Tenko..." Izuku wasn't in the mood for him joking about that.

"Nah, I would have stopped. I only touched the guy's shirt to scare him into backing off." Tenko looked at him seriously. "Just wanted to do something to back you up, that's all."

Izuku smiled, satisfied now. "Thanks, Tenko. Thanks for standing up for me."

Tenko grinned now, pounding his own fist with a chest, and Izuku was reminded of Mirko and All Might at their cockiest. "What're friends for?"

(***)

It wasn't too much farther to retrace their steps back to safety, and then get to the Midoriya home in the old neighborhood, and Izuku shook his head at what had happened in such a short time. The roads were cracked with faded paint, trees swayed in the wind with broken branches and no leaves, hedges remained overgrown and wild with no care from their owners. The house had chipped paint and more battered cars out the front, and the doors and windows looked like they had bigger locks and catches. More than a few of them had 'for sale' signs out front.

Frowning at the one sitting by his own mailbox, Izuku trudged up to the front door. He barely got inside and his mother, waiting to hug him and welcome him and Tenko home, deflated almost immediately. "Izu!" She ran up to him, inspecting his face. "What happened?"

Both boys sighed and droned out the same word. "Idiots happened."

Without another word, Inko pulled them both into a tight embrace. "I'm glad you both made it back..."

Tenko squirmed out of her hug in embarrassment and grabbed Izuku's bag, slouching into a chair in the living room. "Did we miss that press conference for Endeavor? About the changes to the Hero system?"

"No, he's on later now. Apparently he got caught up dealing with a bus hijacking in Hosu." Inko smiled brightly at the two boys. "Enough time for you to clean up, Izu, and for us to eat before it. You wouldn't wanna miss an announcement about Heroes now, would you, my little fanboy?"

Izuku groaned at his mother's affectionate teasing, as Tenko snickered, digging through Izuku's backpack to find the new game he had bought before training. "Mom..."

"I'm sorry, Izu, I couldn't resist." She let go of the hug and squeezed his shoulder. "Now go sort yourself out. We can eat once you're in better shape."

Izuku took that as his cue to slink off to the bathroom to mop up his face, as his mother followed Tenko into the living room. Running cold water off into the sink to splash his face with, he noticed that a stray piece of debris or something must have struck his face following the shockwave. There was a little nick, about the size of a fingernail, on his left cheek, which looked like a little upwards pen-stroke on his face. Not exactly the most impressive battle wound, but it would definitely leave a scar.

"Need help, sweetie?" Inko asked, shouting up the stairs already. Ever the worrier.

Izuku shook his head. "It's nothing I haven't dealt with already!" He shook the water off of his hands where he had been rubbing his face, pulled the plug to release the water stained with murky red and brown streaks from the blood he had washed off his face, and reached out for a towel only to find they didn't have any. "Uh, mom?"

She had appeared at the door, holding the phone she was going to use to call for take-out in one hand and a fresh white towel in the other. "Way ahead of you, Izu. Sorry I forgot to put one out earlier."

"Thanks mom." He turned to walk towards her in the doorway and lifted his arm...

Soft.

"Huh?" Izuku looked down, and his eyes widened at the sight of his left hand, clutching the towel his mother had been holding. He hadn't been anywhere near enough to grab hold of it and take it from her, and yet here he was, feeling fresh cotton between his fingertips. "What the..."

"Izuku?" His mother took a step back uncertainly. "What did you just do?"

He ignored her question, as a heavy and horrible realisation suddenly hit him, and he turned with his right arm lifted, outstretched towards the pot in which he and his mother left their toothbrushes overnight. Just like he had seen her do when she pulled it towards her, he flexed his fingers, and nothing budged. "Surely not..."

It wasn't like her Quirk. It hadn't manifested like her where he could pull things from around the house to him. This was different, and he suddenly got an idea why. He turned to his mother, right hand outstretched, and felt the sudden weight as his mother's mobile phone landed in his palm, ripped from her grasp across the room.

She gasped. "What... is this your Quirk?"

No. No it wasn't his Quirk. With a horrible sinking feeling in his stomach, as he put the dots together, the image of a wailing blonde Yakuza thug filled his head, as he realised he had just taken those items from his mother's possession.

He had used the Yakuza's Quirk. No... Setsuno had screamed that he couldn't do it anymore. He hadn't been able to take the crowbar back off of Izuku after the shockwave.

He had taken the Yakuza's Quirk.

"Oh no..."

Oh, yes indeed.