High above the earth, beyond the clouds and the atmosphere, a behemoth of a starship hung in space. From the planets surface the ship would be nothing but a vast expanse of blinking lights - easily mistakable for a passing satellite.

But the master of the Chimerian Hammer was no fool. Vilgax sat menacingly in his command chair, wreathed in medical tubing and cybernetics designed to speed his healing and allow him to take to the field once more. The Chimerian Hammer drifted along gently in its orbit around the moon, using only the bare minimum power necessary to keep the ship hidden in the celestial bodies dark side.

Drones zipped back and forth on the ship's bridge, affecting any repairs possible with the few materials on hand. Vilgax paid them no mind, gritting his teeth in frustration as his most recent attempt on the Omnitrix was put down by Two. Human. Children. His massive right hand scrabbled across the metal of his control panel in a show of impotent rage. Vilgax would never allow himself to damage his precious warship in a silly fit of pique. No, instead he crooked a single clawed finger at the nearest drone and - the moment it came within reach, his arm shot up towards it.

His muscular arm leisurely began to slowly crumble the metal skull of the drone, which did not attempt to fight back or defend itself. It was the only release the immobile Vilgax could find for his rage having already scraped off the superficial plating nearest his arm. Any more would damage the actual machinery of his precious ship. Vilgax found this intolerable and so chose to destroy one of his many, many, minions instead.

"PSYPHON!" He bellowed without bothering to see if one of his few living minions was present.

"Have that creature you have been working on ready to drop on the planet. I tire of subtlety."

Vilgax was not often known for his patience or his mercy, but he was not stupid. He would not punish someone for something that was not their fault. As much as Psyphon had distracted himself studying what he had identified as one of the Earth's apex predators - he was not to blame for the drones failure. Still, Vilgax's sheer outrage at said failures must have shown through in his tone.

Or the still twitching husk of the robot servitor still dangling from his outstretched arm.

Psyphon immediately blanched, in so far as that was possible for an already pale grey skinned being, and he began nodding vigorously.

"Y-Yes Lord Vilgax! Would you like me to route the controls to your console?"

Vilgax had to take a moment to stymie the oncoming sigh of disappointment he felt at Psyphons fear. Oh yes, he was the conqueror of over ten worlds. He was a true warrior among warriors. But he had never betrayed those genuinely loyal to him. Still. Direct control of the battle...

Psyphon couldn't tell if it was a smile or a scowl. His master's squid-like visage made reading his expressions somewhat... Difficult.

But finally, Vilgax spoke, hissing the words in a half growl; "Yessss."

...

Izuku was kind of embarrassed. He was presently on a train heading towards Shibuya. That, in and of itself, was not embarrassing. Izuku was a shy boy by nature, but he was still a Japanese citizen - so there was no way the simple act of riding a bullet train would be a trial for him. What did disturb him though, were the stares. When Gran Torino had told Izuku that today, they would be going to Shibuya so he could fight regular villains he had been bewildered - and not a little bit distressed.

But Gran Torino had listened to all of Izuku's worries, his distress and then kindly pointed out that he was an idiot.

'I know you haven't had the best experience with fighting villains, but come on kid, do you think every mook is as strong as that Nomu guy?'

Izuku had merely stared mouth agape at his elderly mentor. Not at the rebuttal, but at how obvious that fact should have been. Intellectually, he knew that if every villain were on the same level as Nomu, then the country would have fallen into an apocalyptic wasteland by now. But until now, he had merely been laboring under the belief that every villain he fought would be the type of undefeatable warrior that could give even All Might trouble.

The Hero 'Deku 10' had spent the last few days handling crime all across Gran Torino's home city. But a 'Villain' and a 'Criminal' were different. Petty criminals rarely had powerful quirks. Or training. Or even really the drive to hurt anybody. But a Villain. A real villain was the counterpart to the licensed hero. They usually had extremely dangerous quirks, devious goals, and worst of all a plan. Even an utterly mundane Villain could be a terror when they knew what they were doing.

"Um 'scuse me, but you're that guy from the sports festival right?"

Izuku blinked a couple of times and looked around for a moment before his eyes settled on the little boy that had escaped his mother to stand in front of his seat on the sparsely crowded bullet train. He had short cut black hair and a pair of blue shorts that were nearly covered by a positively oversized baseball jersey for some sports team that Izuku had never heard of.

Not that Izuku knew anything about sports. There were some sports themed Hero's maybe. Probably.

'Right. Costumes on the train.' Izuku inwardly groaned, having been suddenly reminded of why he was so out of sorts on this train ride. Gran Torino had insisted that they make the trip in costume instead of changing at their destination. He would have put his head in his hands just to hide his face, but it would be rude to ignore the child who'd spoken to him.

"Yep!" He put on his most genial smile and nervously answered. He'd even managed not to stutter this time - which was an improvement for Izuku.

The boy, whose mother was approaching them at a speed that Izuku recognized as the prelude to an ass whooping, broke out into a big toothy grin when Izuku spoke, completely ignoring his mothers calls for him to return.

Then he started singing, and Present Mic's face flashed through Izuku's mind - mostly because he was pretty sure he could successfully get away with ki-

"He's slimy freaky fast and strong! He's every shape and size! He's-" The kid paused to look expectantly at Izuku, and he belatedly realized no one knew his Hero name yet.

"Deku... Ten?" Izuku said, and it was all he could do not to let his expression show how utterly embarrassing it was to have a child sing you an ad-hoc theme song of yourself on the train. He thought he'd managed to keep his expression under control for a moment, but knew he had failed when Gran Torino began physically shaking while trying to restrain his laughter.

The kid frowned for a second, seeming to mull the name over for a second before disappointedly saying; "I don't think it rhymes well."

Izuku was about to reply when all hell broke loose.

There was a horrendous screeching noise, and the wall of the train opposite to Izuku exploded open, sending small shards of glass skittering across the floor. Without thinking, Izuku immediately grabbed the child in front of him spinning around to put himself between the boy and the hole in the still moving train. It was clear from the screech of the rails beneath them that the conductor had already begun to slow the train down - but the whistling of the wind as it passed the gaping hole did not instill in Izuku great confidence.

More to the point, standing in the middle of the hole, already moving towards him as though it was on a mission, was something that Izuku still saw in his nightmares. It was a little different than in his memory. But the similarities far outweighed those differences. It was tall, Inhumanly so, having to hunch over and almost double itself in half to fit inside the confines of the train. Long gangly arms laced with corded muscle stretched from the creature's sides, its pure white skin stretched across it in a sick imitation of an ordinary man's movements. And its brain, which was wreathed by four, painfully staring eyes - was completely exposed.

"Nomu..." Izuku whispered, his voice hoarse and his body froze as the primal fear of death gripped it.

Gran Torino barely glanced at Izuku before moving, trusting his student implicitly - he took a deep breath, and the rocketed out of his seat in a should tackle that would have killed an ordinary man his age. Both he and the Villain that had broken into the train blurred through the city skyline faster than Izuku had ever seen the old Hero movie disappearing into the depths of the city with a barely audible thump.

Several moments later the train finally came to a complete stop, and Izuku was treated to his first unimpeded view of the City of Hosu.

And it was burning.

People on the train were running back and forth now, the child he'd been shielding was quickly snatched up by his mother as someone in a uniform began to ask Izuku if he was alright while gently trying to tug him away from the gaping hole in the train's frame. His mind quickly started to pick up speed as the gravity of the situation continued to dawn on him. Explosions rattled in the distance, adding to the red glow of the city. He started to hear people yelling all around him. All of the noise began to fade away as Izuku examined what he knew.

A Nomu was in the city. A being capable of fighting even All Might, diminished though he was.

Something else - almost definitely something related to Nomu's enigmatic master, was happening in the city.

Finally, perhaps most importantly to Izuku - Hosu was the city Iida was interning in.

It was also the city his brother worked in. Or he used to.

Izuku's classmates had been less than forthcoming about Iida's situation when it had finally come to his attention that his high strung friend was somewhat out of sorts. In Mineta's words, something that, for once the entire class agreed with; "Bro, You're just gonna get yourself worked up for nothing. Don't sweat it."

Unfortunately for them, Izuku spent a relatively significant portion of his time as Grey Matter browsing the internet, and more specifically, the news. He hadn't said anything about it, but it hadn't been hard to find out that Iida's brother - the Hero Ingenium - had been incapacitated by a man known mostly as 'The Hero Killer - Stain' When he had dug a little deeper, ( Re:illegally hacked the hospital's files) he had found that 'incapacitated' was a vast understatement of Ingeniums condition.

Iida's choice of Hosu city as his location to intern wasn't that much of a surprise once he had the full picture, but the immediate consequences were that if the city was under attack, his classmate was probably as close to the danger as was possible. And if that danger was another Nomu - then Izuku had to get moving and fast.

The minute he'd decided to move, the Omnitrix flashed, and small blue scales erupted over his normal skin, His body thinned to become more aerodynamic, and a tail shot out of his spine behind him. Izuku immediately felt faster. Or rather, like everything around him was suddenly moving slower. The perfect black spheres of some material unknown to Izuku felt cold on the bottoms of his now two-toed feet.

"XLR8!"

He said in a shrill screech that was barely understandable to the other passengers. And then he was gone, sprinting out the hole in the train, across the outside of the train to a place where the tracks were held up by a pillar, and then down into the city.

Izuku moved through the streets of Hosu with serene grace. As much as he knew he was running at high speed, it didn't feel like it was placing a burden on his body. In fact, Izuku was sure that there was more to his speed than pure muscular power. It almost felt as though time itself was dilating around him.

This dilation was something he used to significant effect as he traversed Hosu. XLR8 zipped into burning buildings and other dangerous situations with casual ease. Many of the people he pulled from these situations had no idea what had happened or who had saved them, as Izuku had no time to wait for them. Often the only sign that he had passed was an arrow scraped into the ground indicating which way to go to avoid more danger.

And there was certainly a lot of danger. Izuku had no idea where he was going, having never been to Hosu before and having only the vague sound of explosions in the distance to navigate by. As he ran through the city, stopping each time he felt he could help, slowly a picture began to form of what had happened. Across the city, there were three clear paths of destruction originating from one point and then separating to wreak havoc across a wide area. Had Izuku followed one of these arcs of destruction it's likely he would have arrived at his destination nearly instantly - but it would also mean that he would have to ignore all the innocents affected by the struggle.

Clicking his tongue in frustration at how long everything felt like it took him, Izuku continued to charge through the rubble of the city.

High in the sky, the unique energy signature of the Omnitrix was seen activating - and from behind the moon, a small dropship launched, punching through the atmosphere as though a comet on fire.

...

When Izuku finally found the frontline of the battle he stopped moving for the first time since he had transformed. Hero's of every shape and size, colour and creed struggled around him. Nearly every hero in the city was present, launching attack after attack at two fast-moving targets. And in truth, they were barely holding on, because both enemies were Nomu's.

One was slightly greater than normal size, bearing an olive green skin tone and two pterodactyl-like wings instead of human arms. This one swooped from on high, using ludicrous speed and strength to harass and ambush less mobile Hero's as they tried to deal with its compatriot.

The other was more in line with what Izuku had come to consider the 'first' Nomu. It was huge and had skin as black as the night sky. Thick muscle rippled across its body as it moved, leaping and striking at the nearby Hero's with wanton abandon.

Izuku stared at the melee in sheer terror at this confirmation of his suspicions. If Nomu was an experiment then having maybe one other on hand was likely. This many? This many of the monsters hinted at something much more sinister.

"What are these Monsters made of!?"

"They got The Fly!"

"WHERES IIDA?!"

Izuku's attention immediately snapped to the last speaker. Manual, the Normal Hero, was an odd case for Izuku. Despite being reasonably powerful, with a very versatile quirk, the media and even Manual's agency billed him as being exceptionally average. Manual's head was whipping left and right as he skirted the edges of the battle, apparently distressed by something. Smoke had stained his simple blue and white tights.

That was all it took for Izuku understand the situation. There wasn't anything Izuku could think of that would drag the straight-laced Iida away from such an obvious crisis.

With a newfound jolt of fear, XLR8 tore up the road that Manual had been running down, no longer attempting to restrict his speed as he searched every alley and alcove along the way. The concrete cracked, and any undamaged windows began to shatter at his passing, each successive failure spurring him to move faster and faster.

Finally, Izuku turned a corner and them. Them being the operative word because there were three people in the alley. On the ground to one side of the narrow space was a Hero Izuku didn't recognize dressed in Native American attire. Slightly further down the alley - was Iida. He was wearing his costume and was firmly pressed into the ground by a man Izuku didn't recognize - but knew by reputation regardless. The Hero Killer, stood menacingly over Iida, his clothes a mish-mash of tactical gear and belts that were covered in sheathes for a variety of slashing and stabbing implements. His upper face was covered by a tightly wrapped set of bandages that did nothing to hide what appeared to be the man's lack of a nose. He had a tattered red scarf that seemed to flow about him as if it were alive.

But most notably, was the chipped katana hanging over Iida's prone form like a guillotine.

XLR8 slammed into the villain with a shoulder tackle tailored to send him as far down the Alley as he could. With alarming speed, Stain seemed to shift his body in the air to land safely at the end of the alley. The man immediately moved to a defensive stance, placing his katana in front of him menacingly.

"Iida!Canyoumove?Canyougogethelp?" Izuku turned his head slightly to look at Iida, now behind him before he spoke, having to force himself to calm down and say the words slowly enough that a human could understand them.

Iida stared dumbfounded up at his saviour before recognizing the black and green symbol on XLR8's chest and scowling.

"I can't move...!" he growled into the ground beneath him, not even able to take his face entirely off the ground.

"Isthathisquirk?Thenewssaidsomethingabout-" Izuku began but was cut off as Iida continued speaking.

"Don't... Interfere! This has nothing to do with you!"

Izuku's face fell as he looked at Iida dumbfounded. Stain gazed on with amusement at the pair as they argued, clear disdain on his face as he looked down at Iida.

"A Friend shows up and says 'I'm here to save you' and thats all you have to say huh?" Stain said, his eyes flickering towards the other Hero on the ground behind Izuku, and then back to XLR8 a hint of approval in his tone as he continued.

"You prioritized saving them over fighting me, and you said some good stuff when you arrived."

He flicked his sword to the side and prepared for an attack. His gaze intently focused on Izuku now.

"Your worth leaving alive. But its my duty to kill these other two. So if we're forced to fight, the weaker of us will be culled."

"I concur." A new voice seemed to echo around them, confusing both Izuku and Stain as they squared off against one another. The sheer sound of it was terrifying in a way he couldn't ever explain or replicate. For the first time as XLR8 he felt his pulse quicken.

"Who-!" Stain was cut off as the alley wall nearest him exploded outwards sending brick and mortar flying across the area. A tremendous form flew through the new hole so fast that even to Izuku and his enhanced speed it was a surprise.

Stain had even less chance to react, as tree trunk thick arms covered in deep read metal plating slammed into him, pushing him through the wall on the opposite side of the alley from the first hole and causing him to disappear from sight.

Then the rest of the creature came through the hole. It was a Nomu. Not a Nomu, but the Nomu. Where before the creature clearly fought and moved with the thoughtless abandon of an enraged animal, now it sauntered into the alleyway as though a king surveying his lands. Metal armor of some material Izuku couldn't begin to recognize surrounded most of Nomu's body, and an array of guns and weapons fit for an army jutted out from the his shoulders, giving the monster a more bulky appearance than Izuku remembered.

"Now, I believe you have something that belongs to me." a voice sounded out from somewhere on Nomu's body as though it was being played over a loud speaker.

"Give. Me. The. Omnitrix."

Izuku did something he hadn't done since first receiving the Omnitrix. Something he had promised himself he would never do again. He reached down to grab Iida, and then ran away, grabbing the other wounded Hero on his way out of the alley.