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Chapter 32: Chapter #31 | Shard of Menac

Notes:

Sorry for the delay here everyone! My editor just started their masters degree in criminal analysis and it's kicking their ass. But fortunately they found time to proof between assignments!

Minor trigger warnings guys! This chapter gets a little graphic. As per always specific warnings are in the end notes. Just hit that wonderful button below this to jump straight to them!

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

The moment that Midoriya hit the ground, both Aizawa and Kayama were pushing out of their seats. Aizawa got to him first and, as such, was the first to notice the blood that had been spewed across the floor of the lounge. He was also the first to see it begin leaking down his face from his eyes and mouth, the first to see it drip onto the floor in a growing pool underneath him.

Kayama gasped when she saw the boy dripping blood like a corpse from a bad horror film. "What the fuck happened?!"

"If I had to guess, Midoriya had some kind of injury from yesterday that went undiagnosed and was then aggravated during his conversation with All Might here. Damn it, I knew this was a bad idea." Aizawa tried to shift the boy, but not only was Midoriya entirely rigid, to his horror, but he also found he could barely even shift Midoriya's weight.

Tsk. "All Might, we're going to have to have yo-" Aizawa turned and found the target of his eternal ire both deathly pale and staring at Midoriya in abject horror. All Might was a veteran hero, one that had seen countless hardships since he debuted at twenty-two. Twenty-seven years of hero work and the only time I've seen that look on his face is when. Oh god. "What the hell have you done now, All Might?"

The question snapped the large man out of his stupor long enough to stutter out a response that was possibly the worst lie he'd ever heard. "I- I didn't do anything, Aizawa." Yagi sweated profusely as he verbally backpedaled away from the conversation. He glanced nervously to where Kayama was checking on Midoriya. "It's as you said, he must still be injured!"

"Nemi, go get Shuzenji. We'll keep an eye on him."

"Got it." Kayama bolted from the room like a bat out of hell while Aizawa spun on All Might again.

"One more time, All Might. What the hell have you done now."

"I have the same question, Yagi. I do believe I told you to behave." Both professors jerked their heads toward the ceiling where Nedzu was crawling out of a tile. At the expression on both of their faces, he just shrugged. "I was watching from my office and it was faster. Now answer the question. What happened?"

Yagi cleared his throat, stuttering out a few non-starters before simply swallowing. "I uh, I passed my quirk onto him?"

"You WHAT." Yagi flinched back at the sheer incredulous fury in his fellow professor's tone. Aizawa cleared the distance between them in two angry steps before getting into his face. "Are you telling me that you gave your quirk to someone that has rejected it multiple times? That you gave it to someone who we have classed as a highly dangerous unknown variable?! Are you fu-"

"Shota." The single seething word had Aizawa's jaw clicking shut. Both men looked over to the chimera. Instead of finding hot anger like Aizawa's, they found the chimera glaring at the two of them with frigid ice figuratively clinging to his ruffled fur.

Nedzu very carefully picked the teapot up off the table before sniffing it and crinkling his nose. "I see. I see. A genetic vector, certainly that does explain a few things. Tell me, Yagi. Are you aware of just how badly you've screwed up here?"

"Clearly Midoriya is reacting badly to the quirk, but that doesn-"

"Oh, Midoriya's reaction to the quirk is the least of my concerns." Yagi felt his skin prickle as he stiffened under the president's glacial gaze, while Aizawa stiffened at the admittance. "Nothing about that boy is normal, as I'm certain you're both well aware. He'll make it out of this somehow or another. No, my concern here is that you have just introduced yet another variable into an already volatile situation."

"With all due respect, sir, my quirk is a gift that neither you nor Aizawa gets an-" The teapot slammed into the wall as Nedzu's temper flashed from ice to fire.

"Months! Months of god damned work getting Midoriya to trust me. Just so I can get him on OUR side before he can become a problem for us, and for WHAT?! You to come in and fuck up so royally that it'll take months more just to repair the damage you've done. All you had to do was nothing." Nedzu hissed the words. "What. What, is so hard about doing nothing."

Yagi's eyes widened as he witnessed Nedzu's temper spike, canines on full display, fur standing on end, and ears laid back flat against his head as his tail twitched from side to side. Aizawa's eyes widened, as well, for very different reasons. "I've been working with him for months. Why didn't I know anything about this?"

"Because you aren't ready for this side of things, Aizawa. You care too much for your students to do this. As it is, you haven't reported even half of what you know now after working with Midoriya, I'm sure." Nedzu's eyes snapped to the doorway before he hissed under his breath and collected himself again. "Enough of this. We'll speak on this later when we don't have company."

Nedzu stepped towards Midoriya just in time for the door to slam open and the school nurse to come rushing in alongside both Kayama and… Nedzu's brows winged up. "Miss Hatsume, I must admit, I wasn't expecting you to come along with Shuzenji."

"I was alerted the moment his vitals spiked. What on earth is going on, Nedzu?" Shuzenji wasted no time in crossing the room to her patient and beginning her examination. Mere moments after the exam began, though, Midoriya's muscles suddenly convulsed before he began to suck in air like a fish out of water.

"Shuzenji, what's going on?" Both Aizawa and Kayama stepped forward, concerned, when Hatsume stiffly pulled them both back suddenly. A question rested on both their lips when they watched the old nurse stumble back and the president's fur fluff up again. It was then that they heard the snarl.

…

"... That motherfucker dosed me."

The seven individuals across from Midoriya froze. They'd all followed the kid's muttering well enough that they were able to guess at who it was and what it was the kid had been dosed with.

"I take it that means you all are the previous users of One for All?" Midoriya glared the individuals down from beyond the sights of his rifle. A tall, slender man stepped forward next, his hands raised in a universal symbol of placation. The one they had called Shigaraki, Midoriya realized.

"We are, if you wouldn't mind answering a questi-"

"No. You're killing me. Get out of my body."

"Get out of your body? So he-" Shigaraki was cut off, but the tension and fury radiating off him spoke of what he thought of One for All being forced on anyone.

"Just go, Shigaraki. I'll explain things, and it would seem that Toshi's gone and messed up. This is my problem." Shigaraki clenched his jaw before glancing back at the other members, one already injured.

Midoriya watched as his lips peeled back in a silent snarl. He could at least empathize with the man. No one wanted to make the decision to leave someone behind, even if Midoriya would be sending her along quickly after them.

Midoriya continued to watch the individuals as they made their way down the corridor before they turned and dipped into a side path. The change was immediate for Midoriya. Where his body had felt like it had an anchor on top of his chest before, it was practically as light as a feather now. His body still felt like it had been run through a meat grinder, but it no longer felt like Dabi was attempting to cremate him at the same time.

Slowly, he breathed in before lowering the rifle to point at the ground. "As I was saying, I recognize you. Shimura Nana, born 2245, became a hero at seventeen before fighting for the next fourteen years to save lives during the Urban Wars in Japan, while even lending aid to the Reunited States during theirs. Officially, you died 2280, weeding out the last of the malcontents at the behest of the government. I suppose we both know better, though."

Shimura's face hardened as Midoriya recited her information, bringing memories with it to the surface, before softening with a sigh. "I take it that Toshi told you about me?"

"I would sooner gouge out my own eardrums than listen to anything that man has to say."

Shimura stiffened at the malice in Midoriya's tone.

"What exactly has he done to earn such hatred from someone as young as you? Surely that's a tad extreme."

"I wish it was." It became evident after several moments that Midoriya wasn't going to continue nor explain, so, sighing again, Shimura decided to get into her explanation.

"Considering what's happened, I suppose I should explain. One for All is unable to bind correctly to you. Sorry, but we've never had this problem before. Don't worry, though, we'll go back to Toshi. " Midoriya simply stayed quiet.

"Look kid, did Toshi ask if you wanted the quirk? Did something happen that forced him to give it to you without telling you? You didn't seem very pleased to get it."

Finally, she elicited a response from the boy, though it wasn't one she was hoping for. It was a snarl and anger. "Did he ask? Oh, he asked. And then asked some more. Then when I wouldn't accept it, he stuck me in a situation to try to make me take it and crippled a girl in the process. Now, your damn successor seems to have decided to cram it down my throat instead."

Shimura's eyes widened in horror. "He crammed his hair down your throat?!" Midoriya just stared at her, deadpan, before sweating slightly.

"No. Why would he… hair. DNA? It's a biological trigger? Son of a bitch, are you telling me that I let him dose me with something biological?" Midoriya's mind ran through a series of possibilities. When? How? He wanted to gag once he realized it was the tea. He wanted to gag harder when his brain supplied the list of bodily fluids that could have been in it. "Gods I hope that was bloo-"

Again, Midoriya choked as he was forced to one knee. What the hell?! Aren't they gone, why is this happening now? Midoriya looked up to find Shimura in a similar state. Her screams echoed down the halls as she clawed at her skin. Midoriya had one thought as he blacked out. This can't be good.

…

Midoriya's eyes snapped open, and the first thing he noticed was his body screaming at him for oxygen. The second thing he noticed as his body greedily sucked in air was the cool linoleum on his face. That feels so good. The third thing he noticed was the people talking around him. The scents of the room hit him, blood, panic, fear, tea. Tea. All Might.

Midoriya couldn't help the fury that rose up in him or the growl that ripped its way out of his throat. Nor, at that moment, did he particularly care. When he pushed up from his lying position, he found himself covered in the blood that had been pooling underneath him, but once again, he didn't care. The only thing on his mind at that second was finding the one who had done this. Where is he?

Slowly, Midoriya looked across the room. Shuzenji, Mei, Aizawa, Kayama, Nedzu. Ah. Midoriya's lips curled slowly into a wide, psychotic grin, blood dripping off of his too sharp canines while the slitted pools of viridian fire pinned All Might in place. Enemy. Danger. Threat. "Found you." Midoriya's tone was practically singsong before the boy on the ground blurred in front of all their eyes.

Nedzu sucked in a breath as he felt wind against his fur, and all of them stumbled when the building shook. Distantly, Nedzu heard the klaxons signaling an attack. Something he'd have to deal with. Every instinct in his animal body told him to run. Screamed at him to escape, because currently, a very large, very dangerous predator was on the hunt. Slowly, as he turned, he found a scene straight out of a child's nightmare.

All Might, buffed up, was being held against a sizable crater in their lounge wall. Blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and fear rested in his eyes. His hands clawed at Midoriya's left arm, holding him against that wall by his throat while his right dug into All Might's left side. All Might dug at Midoriya's left hand. To everyone's dismay, Midoriya didn't let go, even when the skin began to peel off. Instead, his smile morphed into manic glee.

"You feel that, All Might? The struggle to breathe? Your lungs crying out for air? The panic? Twenty percent of the air we breathe goes to our brains."

Aizawa's capture weapon whipped out and wrapped around the boy, only for it to do nothing. No matter how much Aizawa pulled and twisted, the boy didn't budge, his expression only becoming more feral as All Might began to coil in his grasp, desperately trying to get air.

"Young Midoriya. Please. I don't want to. To Hurt you."

"Hurt me, All Might?" Midoriya laughed and gripped a little harder, restricting a little more air from the large man's lungs. "Don't worry about that, All Might! It's too late for that. Now I'm going to make you suffer for it. I don't care if your existence is preventing crime anymore. If it's preventing us from slipping into the Urbans again."

"Midoriya, enough of this!" Nedzu called out to him, grabbing at his shirt to pull him back only to realize how damn heavy Midoriya was. Mei's voice was calm, scarily so in this situation.

"Izuku, I don't know what he's done, but we both agreed he isn't worth it. Release him please."

"Oh, he's worth it now. So worth it. But it won't be quick, no no no. That would be too good for a fuck up like you. Fire and brimstone are what you've brought down on yourself, Yagi Toshinori. I will take everything from you, and then I'll tear your flesh from its bon-"

The explosion of noise caught almost everyone off guard. Midoriya flew across the lounge before skipping off the desks and slamming into one of the walls and slumping against it, head lolling. All of the heads in the room turned to Hatsume as All Might gasped and choked on air sucked in too quickly.

With a smile, Hatsume stood twirling a long collapsible baton that was arcing electricity to the ground beneath it. Shuzenji rushed to Toshinori, doing her best to examine his injuries, before tutting and kissing him on the forehead. The man promptly deflated, clutching at his side as he stared at Midoriya's unconscious form. Something Shuzenji wasted no time grumbling about. "I swear to god, I'm going to beat both of these boys after they explain to me what the hell is going on."

Nervously, Nedzu eyed the baton. "Miss Hatsume, I must ask. What exactly is that. Baton?"

"Hmm?" Hatsume looked away from the unconscious Midoriya to the president before smiling. "Oh, this? This is my beating stick." Everyone still conscious sweatdropped at the easy way the inventor responded. "I'm just glad I upped the voltage recently. Speaking of, I doubt that'll keep Izu down long. I'd get him out of here before he wakes up. Doubt that'll work a second time."

…

By the time that Nedzu had returned to the lounge, Midoriya was gone. He had only left for a few minutes to rescind the alert and verify that Yagi had gotten back to the infirmary before returning for the boy. Damn idiot. How the hell is Midoriya even moving after that?

It only took a quick search of the security feed to find that Midoriya had gone towards Snipes' class with Hatsume in tow. After a quick jog through the ceiling tubes, he arrived at the class to find… Where is the class?

Nedzu dropped out of his perch and looked around quickly, finding Snipe, mask off and face down on his desk. On his right, his revolver loaded and on his desk, and to his left, a half empty bottle of whiskey. Before Nedzu could even speak, the hero groaned.

"What the fresh 'ell did that moron do now?"

"Where is Midoriya? Your class?"

"Ah' sent them out when I saw the look on that boy's face. He came in, Hatsume trailin' behind, with a look that all but promised murder. Thank the almighty ah' did too because then they both disappear into the simulation to take part in what ah' can only describe to you as a goddamn mess. What the 'ell did All Might do now?"

"How do you know All Might did anything?" In response, Snipe merely picked his head up off his desk, grabbed the bottle of whiskey and a chug out of it, and walked over to the display that showed the simulation before turning it on.

"Oh. Oh, dear." On-screen, Midoriya was beating a man to death with what appeared to be his friend's arm. Around them, bodies littered the cityscape. Some were clean kills with their necks snapped, others not so much. Bodies smeared up walls, others hanging from street lamps by their own organs. A few, by the looks of it, had their throats torn out. But most concerning was that each and every one of them had All Might's face. Silently, Nedzu reached out, taking the bottle from Snipe before taking a drink himself.

…

Midoriya growled as he put his fist through another of the fake All Mights' skulls before snarling and sitting down. For a long moment, he just stared at the fake blood covering him and mixing with the real. If he were honest, he was just as angry with himself as he was with All Might. He'd let his guard down and hadn't been paying attention. What the hell does it say about me that this kind of scene is normal? What kind of fucked up monster am I now that this is cathartic? How the hell am I supposed to save people when I'm like this?

Mei had long since taken a seat against one of the buildings to listen as he explained what had happened. As he had gone on, her hands had twitched on the long rifle she'd brought into the simulation.

"I take it back. I should have let you kill him. We can still do it. Let's go out there and kill him."

"Oh, I wish I could. Trust me, I do, but you were right on that. I can't kill him. He needs to pay for trying to drag me into his damn feud. The public needs to be disillusioned. Everything he stands for needs to be torn down with him alive to watch."

"Or we could just kill him."

"No, Mei. As much as I want to at the moment, this is going to need to be delicate. Not the brute force method my instincts are," Kill him. Maim him. Rip him to pieces. Enemy. Threat. End him. "requesting. No matter how momentarily satisfying that would be, like it or not, our number one hero is like Endeavour. A flaming piece of garbage, but unfortunately one that's protecting people. I may hate All Might, but my goal is to protect people. Right now, much like his rival, he's doing more good than bad."

"That doesn't make what he's done any less wrong, Izuku. He needs to pay for what he's done."

"He will. But until I can protect everyone, he's an unfortunate necessity in keeping the peace."

"I'm not making him anything but babies that self-destruct."

Midoriya couldn't help but laugh, a tension that he'd been carrying for the last hour leaching away a little. "And I'm going to make his life a living hell from now on. Never change, Mei. Never change." A little calmer now, Midoriya looked around, appreciating the amount of carnage in the simulated city. "Besides, for now, we can do this num-"

Midoriya's eyes zeroed in on one very pale, very horrified, and very familiar-looking woman, standing now in front of the pile of bodies that Midoriya was sitting on. The woman was the same one he'd been talking to before collapsing a second time. "Mei, please tell me you can see her."

Midoriya pointed at Shimura Nana, who had snapped her head around to look at Midoriya. Hatsume looked from the empty road and its simulated corpses back to Midoriya, concerned. "See who, Izuku?"

"Well, Fuck."

Notes: