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Midoriya Izuku stood up, bruised and battered from the battle still raging around him.
Between Shigaraki taking All for One’s power, amassing what was practically an army of villains powerful enough they didn’t fit on any chart, and that they had infiltrated UA to sabotage the Support Gear of anyone with an offensive quirk, the chance of the heroes winning seemed farther and farther away as the villains kept attacking.
Bakugo’s arms had broken from a cascade of failures in his gauntlets, rendering him useless on the battlefield. Likewise, Iida’s orange juice supply was contaminated with all sorts of nasty viruses which left him worse off than his explosive classmate.
Close to the entrance to the locked down school, Dabi had cornered Todoroki between letting the school burn along with everyone inside or freezing to death in an attempt to stop the patchwork villain.
Uraraka, Yaoyorozu, and Asui were all fighting Toga to a stalemate. Toga was ruthless, and the three of them had cuts and bruises all over their bodies. Momo, in particular, nursed a broken arm that Recovery Girl couldn’t fix until she got back from whatever emergency she was called out to fix.
Twice, who could only be told by Izuku as the real one from a series of white stripes along his chest, and his clone army were in a draw of their own from Kaminari (who, Izuku was pleased to learn, found out how to create a railgun with his hands and a few magnets, as well as progressed quite nicely as a human taser with his martial arts practice) and Tokoyami (who, with the same martial arts practice, ascended his threat level to be par with Todoroki).
Spinner was unconscious, one of the first victims of a three one one Izuku had been fighting against the lizard, Shigaraki, and Mr. Compress.
The rest of his classmates were out of the school for work studies, and probably wouldn’t hear of the attack until it was over. And his teachers… well.
They were doing their best to evacuate everyone within a few miles, as All for One had caused many casualties the day he was arrested. They were also busy fighting the rest of the lower-tiered villains off.
Which meant that Izuku was alone against Shigaraki, as Mr. Compress provided support here and there.
He took stock of his injuries, wiping blood away from his forehead and around the sides of his mouth. His lip was split, his bones aching from using One for All as much as he had been. His costume had been ripped to shreds from the cutting quirks, his skin burned and numb from all manner of fire manipulation and electric charge quirks.
His helm and left cheek were missing. Dusted from Shigaraki’s first quirk. And it wasn’t a natural one, Izuku knew. He been curious as to Shigaraki’s shoes at their first meeting, confused as to his quirk drawback being the dusting of his skin after their encounter at the mall. After All for One and the Kamino Incident, he had found out that Shigaraki was given a quirk by All for One to manipulate him.
All of these thoughts ran through his head as he shakily stood.
A frontal assault won’t cut it, and I still need to free Todoroki from Dabi…
Izuku’s headset, saved from the dusting by using separate mechanics entirely (thank Hatsume for that), blared out with Aizawa’s words.
“Kid! We’re almost done! Just hang on, dodge for a little longer!”
Izuku narrowed his eyes in frustration.
“WE DON’T HAVE A FEW MORE MINUTES! WE’RE GETTING OUR ASSES KICKED, AND HAVE NO BACKUP READY AND ON THE WAY” Izuku swore. Izuku neer swore.
He could feel Aizawa’s shock over the headset.
“You know what? I’m gonna fight ‘em all.”
“Izuku, stand down!”
“Aizawa? Right now, a seven nation army couldn’t hold me back.
“PLEA-” Aizawa started before Izuku crushed his headset.
One for All, every ounce of power it had, flared around him.
Unlike when he’d first activated it in the Entrance Exam, or even when he activates too much nowadays, it didn’t feel the same. Usually if he goes over his limit, it feels oppressive. Like being in the arms of a hurricane.
Now he was in the eye of it, watching the destruction of the very cement around him.
He didn’t dare take a step forwards, didn’t dare make the first move. As Shigaraki and Mr. Compress had shown earlier, they’re gonna rip it off.
And with the heroes taking their time, right behind his back.
As Shigaraki opened his stance, palms flat and away from his body in his own fighting style, he could only think of the abuse they likely shared from society.
“Your pain does not alleviate your guilt in the pain you’ve inflicted on others. And I’m talking to myself at night because I can’t forget.” Izuku mumbled to himself.
“What’s that, brat? Speak up if you want the adults to hear you.” Shigaraki taunted.
“Oh nothing you need to worry about.” Izuku said mostly to himself. It went back and forth through his mind behind a cigarette.
At least when his prior addiction caught up to him, and when he could spare a moment from his classmates and teachers. Luckily for him, cigarettes were altered with the introduction of quirks, removing many of the health risks. Unluckily, they did this while amplifying their addictive properties.
That didn’t excuse Shigaraki, nor his desire to watch society as a whole crumble. In fact, even though Izuku could understand it, he was pissed. His aura screamed in anger, for the first time since he was 4 (there was a reason Kacchan had befriended Izuku. They had clicked before his diagnosis, before he’d been ousted by society).
And the message coming from his eyes? Said “Leave them alone”.
The storm of green lightning around Izuku grew in size, dwarfing the front of the school. Later, Izuku would find out that Dabi and Toga were battered in his mini-hurricane. Later, he would find out that his friends felt a calming presence, rather than a hateful bane.
The only place that was free from Izuku’s anger was a circle around himself and his assailants.
“I tried understanding you. I tried empathizing with you, tried bringing you back from this ledge you’ve made yourself just to jump from.”
“Don’t wanna hear about it. Heroes in your system are more like politicians. Every single one’s got a story to tell.” Shigaraki tensed the power in him, flexing it and fighting the intense wind and electricity flying from and around Izuku. “Everyone knows about it, from the Queen of England to the Hounds of Hell that you’ve made us out to be.” Shigaraki took a step forward, ready to pounce. “Your story is weak. And if I catch it coming back my way? I’ll serve it to you.”
Izuku didn’t even have to use OfA to block the strikes that Shigaraki aimed at him. Each time, using a different quirk with different tells and different weaknesses to exploit. He jumped as the air around him frizzled his hair worse that it usually was, ducked and wove as the air around Shigaraki heated up, and caught his fist head on when his arm stretched a little farther than humanly possible.
“And that ain’t what you want to hear, you idiot. But that’s what I’ll do.”
The fight didn’t last too long, shockingly to his classmates with a front row seat. Izuku jumped, kneeing Shigaraki in the jaw and knocking him out. Mr. Compress tried to run, but Izuku had already jumped into the air and aimed a kick at the villain’s chest.
Izuku was tired. Not physically, never physically. But he was still tired. Tired of their surprise, tired of people assuming they knew him when he didn’t allow them to.
Tired of feeling like he HAD to do things because of some deal he’d made, rather than do what he WANTED to do.
The teachers, lead by Aizawa-sensei and Yamada-sensei, turned up as the joy and determination drained from his eyes, replaced by a bone deep exhaustion.
And the feeling coming from his bones said “find a home”.
Huh… simple, yet impossible, he mused as Aizawa-sensei brought him into the nurses office to do basic first aid.
It was the next month, and repairs were finally done on the school. Izuku had been lauded and bashed equally for his actions, and initial lack of action. Thankfully, for taking down five separate S++ ranked villains at once, the HPSC had to give him a full hero license.
The public would’ve rioted otherwise.
That’s not to say he didn’t still have to go to school, he needed to finish UA or he couldn’t further his education. Rather, it just meant that he had much, much more time in his day as he was cleared for patrols rather than spending the time in Practical Heroics.
Which led Izuku to the staff room, arguing with Aizawa.
“Look, your actions a month ago were reckless and there were half a dozen ways you could’ve died before Shigaraki got near you. I don’t think you’re ready for daily field ops if that’s the kind of behavior you exhibit, Midoriya.”
Izuku’s eye twitched. “Okay, Aizawa… Y’know what? If I hadn’t done what I did? If I hadn’t accessed one hundred percent of my power? Todoroki would be dead.” Aizawa continued staring. “Todoroki would have frozen to death. Momo was running on fumes already, and any more activity from her risked starvation, Uraraka was growing queasier as the fight wore on and would have found herself on the wrong end of a knife, Asui wasn’t much better than either of them, and we had no reinforcements ready.”
Izuku glared, sparks in his eyes. Rather than the wind around him before, it seemed to the teachers that his eyes contained a storm that sucked all the heat from the air.
“So, to rehash. My classmates would have been dead. I definitely wouldn’t have survived the four on one, especially not while the rest of the class was either dead, or dealing with the after-effects of Gigantomachia. And even then? If I hadn’t done what I did I probably WOULD have broken myself, except through the anger I’ve been holding in every damn day you hobo-looking dumbass!” The teachers all startled at Izuku’s cussing.
“If you don’t let me out of this school, right bloody now, I’m going to resign, go to a different highschool with teachers that actually teach. I don’t need the Heroics program anymore, and I’m sure that any school out there would appreciate teaching Hiro Herechic.” The teachers widened their eyes at this.
“You aren’t seriously saying that you’re the person behind the screen for the most intelligent quirk-analyst in japan.” Vlad King said faintly, disbelief lining his voice. “You don’t even have an intelligence quirk. No intelligence quirk, the posts are years old…”
“If I was that smart at, what I thought was old then because we all know about One for All now,-” the teachers widened their eyes at the implications of that, “- imagine what, exactly, I’ve been holding back in every spar, every fight for our lives.” Izuku had a feral grin on his face, promising pain to the teachers. Each and every single one of them looked at him in a mixture of disbelief and shock.
“If you don’t have the humility, I’ve got offers all over japan to be a sidekick, or even head of my own division. Let me go, or I’m going to Osaka. Far from this opera forevermore. You know I’d work the job, make the sweat drip from every pore. And I’ll be damned if I don’t get Aizawa, Recovery Girl, and Nezu fired for your ABSOLUTE BULLSHIT!”
Izuku panted, angry and tired, but mostly satisfied at the teachers being cowed by the absolute fury coming from what they’d assumed for two years to be a near-pacifist. Only bringing out his anger and determination at villains.
All Might nodded from the corner, Izuku noted. He, of all people, knew how Izuku boiled in anger. Saw his determination, his fury, even if it was still for heroism.
All Might had seen Izuku drag fridges across a beach and up a flight of stairs while he was still a toothpick.
“Well, in that case. Izuku, my boy, you have my permission to leave campus for patrols.” Toshinori said proudly.
“Seconded. And wonderful work on finding out exactly how my quirk works, Izuku!” is Nezu says over the speakers.
Izuku was a hero of his own now, though it felt hard to believe. He had a lot of names under his belt, especially after Endeavor credited him with the takedown of Stain.
The man was still a prick, but he was doing better.
He was known to be the downfall of Chisaki Kai, Shigaraki and the League of Villains, Stain, and countless other villains. The public awarded him and thanked him when he announced that he would give those with mutations and villainous quirks a chance in his agency. The minorities were amazed at how he gave them access to higher education, be it for accountants in the back rooms to heroes in the spotlight.
Which is why when Shigaraki passed on All for One, he was anxious.
Which is why when the person Shigaraki had passed the quirk onto targeted Izuku, he was exasperated and irritated.
Which is why when the person showed up in his lobby, smile raving mad and bloodthirsty, he screamed for everyone to evacuate to their bunkers.
Which is why he didn’t notice the sword until it impaled him.
Izuku chuckled, an old, Pre-quirk song coming to his head.
“And I’m bleeding, and I’m bleeding, and I’m bleeding, right before the Lord…” He mumbled, trying to fight through the pain so his staff could live. Offensive heroes, be it Limelight, Twilight, or Underground, stood behind the villain currently impaling Izuku.
Their bodies were in fighting poses, yet they didn’t see the real danger of the maniac.
Izuku kicked and punched, though it felt like moving through lead. “All the words-” punch “are gonna bleed from-” kick, punch “me, and I-” one final punch and he ran out of energy. The other heroes would have to save the day this time. “Will bleed no more.” Izuku practically whispered.
And promptly passed out.
It was lucky, Izuku thought as he sat in his hospital bed, that Eri had been on his staff. That she alternated days between the Doll Agency and UA, using her power to heal as a support hero.
It was luckier that the heroes he had on staff were able to disable All for One, especially without giving the madman their quirks by accident.
But as he sat on the hospital bed, his bones screamed the same way they had when he’d beaten Shigaraki. He felt needed somewhere else. Even if he learned from Aizawa’s mistakes, it was hard to fault the man for wanting out after all his experiences.
And the feeling coming from his bones said “Go back home”.