The USJ happens, but I try and fail to make it different. Oh-and I should also say, there are some kinda-vague-but-also-easy-to-understand manga spoilers in here. You'll know them if you see them, but maybe... just try not to pay attention if you don't want to be spoiled.

Also- Woops I vanished again. Where did I go~

Before the wall of shadowy mist expanded to cover his vision in black, Izuku had just enough time to process that Aizawa had leapt into the hoard of villains-not recommended considering his typical fight style, but Izuku knew Aizawa, he would be fine, for now at least- and analyze the villain. Portal quirk, which meant he was trying to transport the students. There were villains huddled in the center, but he was willing to bet there were more than that, so a plan to spread the students out to weaken and overwhelm them?

As the shadowy mass rolled over him in the turmourtoulous mass of writhing smoke, Izuku went incorporeal for the split second the man's quirk washed over him. It was cold, even through his dulled senses, but less than a second later he stumbled back into the light and sprinted to the door. Some of his other classmates had avoided transportation-he could see them through his peripheral vision-but he had no time to help them. The misty villain had realized that Izuku wasn't caught, and he turned, golden eyes flared-in surprise?- but Izuku didn't slow. He couldn't afford to.

Sliding through the thick stone that surrounded the massive steel door, Izuku winced as his incorporeal body brushed through a corner of the metal alloy (iron was no good for him whatsoever). If his classmates noticed him phasing, that was something to deal with later-Izuku squinted as a glare of sunlight burned at his eyes. The villain wouldn't follow him outside, that was for sure. They must have interfered with the technology inside of the USJ, but the second unauthorized personnel left the glass dome, the alarms would blare their presence.

Still-what was he supposed to do now? Nana was nowhere near, having decided to stick to All Might that day-which meant that Izuku was effectively useless in this situation. His flying ability couldn't go any faster than his sprint, but they were miles away from the school itself. If he had been able to accept One For All Maybe things would have been different, he could have practised with and sprinted to the school and safed people and been a hero but instead he had died and he was useless-but he couldn't think like that; he had to run through the options. He could try to get Iida out, but the misty villain wouldn't be lax enough to allow a second student to slip through. He couldn't hotwire the bus with how high his nerves were-he could feel his internal energy sparking, tingling at his fingers ready to go haywire. With how strong the energy was, he would probably be able to cancel out all electronics nearby. Any attempts to use the radio on it would just be static, and he doubted anyone would be listening in to it either way.

Izuku spun around wildly, searching for something, anything , he could use to get the heros here more quickly. He knew Sansa would show up eventually, but even the police had procedures they had to go through before talking with the heros at UA.

His eyes caught on a bright flash of silver, and a small smile slipped onto his face as he took a few quick steps back toward the door. If the alarms would register hostile actions, what better way than completely destroying the control board that allowed people into the USJ? Bracing a hand against the control panel-the burn against his palm could be ignored-it instantly began smoking. With a push of force against it that sparked behind his brow, the glass touchpad cracked and smoked, beeping out a breach-warning in a mechanical voice. He doubted that was something Nedzu would ignore, but all Izuku could do was pray that they took action quickly enough.

For now, it enabled him to run back into the USJ and help his classmates out. He dashed inside-this time skirting farther away from the metal door-just in time to see a mist portal open right behind Thirteen.

In the next second he was tackling the hero after phasing through another one of the portals. The shock of being pushed to the ground caused Thirteen to cancel their quirk, but Izuku was already rolling to his feet to face the main body of the misty villain in a fighting stance. Iida had sprinted past him in the brief chaos, which reassured Izuku that the teachers would definitely get the message, even if shorting out the panel had failed-all that mattered now was how quickly they would respond. The lack of a chill at his back let him know that the villain had closed the portal as the suit-clad man chuckled darkly.

"What Golden Eggs… as expected of UA." He directed it to the few of them that were left, but the eerie flickers of gold were focused on Izuku. "How curious…" the man muttered to himself, before shaking his head lightly. "But now is not the time. Forgive our audacity and failure to introduce ourselves. We are the League of Villains, and we have come here-to UA, this bastion of heroes- to end the life of your symbol of peace." Izuku shuddered, teeth clenching in his jaw at the waves of darkness and shadows-familiar to the hallucination of purgatory he had just recently faced-as the villain's intent washed over them. "It is a shame that All Might is not here, but my duty remains unchanged." His attention returned to Izuku, and despite the spike of warning that flashed hotly through his shoulder, he was transported into the center plaza before he could blink, the villain emerging out of the portal behind him.

Izuku skidded away, ducking into the bushes before his feet could touch the ground, and he felt more than heard the growl of the misty villain as Izuku disappeared from sight. (Being dead had its advantages at times.) The villain, realizing that Izuku had escaped, warped back over to the upper area, and Izuku could only hope his classmates would be able to deal with him effectively this time.

Skirting around the outskirts of the fighting, Izuku watched as Eraserhead took on the villains, making sure he needed no help. He was as impressive as always, moving acrobatically through the swarm of villains, swinging with both his fists and capture scarf as he took down villain after villain. The worry did not leave Izuku though; even if Aizawa had more than one ability, it was undeniable that he wasn't suited for one-on-many battles-and that meant he would struggle to maintain awareness of everyone on the battlefield. But that meant that others would be able to watch him and gain the advantage of knowledge.

"Twenty five seconds…" Izuku snapped his attention over towards the counter. A villain with shaggy blue hair and a hand covering his face continued counting down, and Izuku felt a dark shiver of fear wash over him at the man-nothing to do with his appearance, though it had warning signs of its own, such as the maniacal smile, but at the crowd of ghost surrounding him. All of them had flickers of hatred and shadow emanating off them-signs of painful death, as Izuku had learned, just a step down from being a poltergeist-and missing limbs or cracked, bleeding areas where the skin had appeared to flake off. He knew these spirits. They were the ones at UA-this was the same man that broke in. What type of quirk did the villain have? It was clearly powerful, and his surveying of the rapidly decreasing group of minions indicated a leadership position. "Twenty three seconds…"

Aizawa seemed to have realized it too as he took out one of the few minor villains left and turned toward the hand-guy. "So, you're the boss, huh?" He asked even as he lunged to capture the man. The villain continued counting down, scratching at his neck as he absently dodged Aizawa's attacks. Izuku was a second away from joining the fight when a loud crash caused his gaze to flicker over toward the shipwreck zone-a huge wave had been sent into the air by one of the villains, and as the rebound caused the water to collapse inward, two students (Asui and and Mineta, Izuku would guess) took the opportunity to jump away from the boat as Mineta threw the balls from his into the water. They were sticky right? That was actually a great idea, but Izuku did notice that not enough had been thrown to contain all the villains, but he also doubted that the few remaining would leave the water, so they weren't a threat.

In the second it took Izuku to return his attention to the fight, the villain had gotten in close quarters to Aizawa, and held one of the man's elbows in a tight grip. "Zero," he counted, grinning widely as Aizawa's sleeve unraveled and his skin began to crack, revealing blood and muscle. "Your time kept decreasing… I could tell by looking at your hair. Don't overdo it now, Eraserhead. You're just a NPC."

Disintegration , Izuku realized in horror as Aizawa threw his other fist forward and slammed the villain away from him. They disengaged and Aizawa swiftly dispatched the rest of the minor villains despite the pain he must be feeling as the lead villain continued speaking.

"You're quirk… it's not good in a long battle, huh? You specialize in sneak attacks, Eraser." Izuku itched to join in, but he knew the severity of the death-flag he had felt this morning. He could not afford to give away the surprise he had going for him until it was life-or-death. "Yet you jumped right in to make the kids feel safe?" He threw his covered head back and laughed as a too-wide grin travelled across his face. "So cool. So cool. " He muttered. "But-" The grin was back, wider still, stretching the man's face to the point that it appeared as though it might break. "I'm not the final boss." He spares the slightless glance to the creature at his side and speaks a single word of command. "Noumu."

A hulking mass of black skin stretched over muscles appeared behind Aizawa-sensei before the flare of warning had even registered to Izuku. Jagged teeth like rough-hewn stone beared themselves as a hand rose and crashed down on Aizawa slamming him into the ground, a howling cry of victory, a horrible sound of stone grating on glass and metal creaking from stress, echoing across the Unforeseen Stimulation Joint.

An unheard cry of fear shrieked out from Izuku as he automatically rose his telepathic output as strong as it can go and tore the creature-Noumu?-off his teacher. The beast was sent away a few feet, skidding across the ground and crashing to a halt against the fountain base, cracking ground and stone in the process, but it didn't spare a second to climb to its feet, though it remained still and the commanding villain stands as though frozen. Aizawa struggled to push himself up, and Izuku scrambled over, forced to drop his invisibility to be able to help his teacher. Aizawa turned bloodshot eyes toward him in panic when Izuku grabbed onto his arm to help hoist him back to his feet, and his eyes went wide in alarm as he wrestled out of Izuku's grip and shoved him away. "Midoriya, you can't be here." He spoke urgently, eyes flicking over to where Asui crouched at the water's edge, Mineta having already run to where Izuku's other classmates milled, watching and moving about in apprehension as Thirteen attempted to huddle the ones not actively engaged with the misty villain out of the building. "Take Asui and go join Thirteen. It's too dangerous here."

Izuku knew he was out of his depth. He knew that! Despite the many times he had fought villains, ended muggings in alleyways, stopped petty thieves and even genuine robbers-he had never fought with a villain that had an army of ghosts trailing behind it. His head throbbed in pounded in the mock-racing of a heart, but the emptiness in his chest was heavy, sitting with nausea as the fear rose. Despite the pounding and the speed of his pseudo-heart, Izuku shook his head. "I-I can't leave you Aizawa-sensei."

"Midoriya!" He scolded sharply, but Izuku ignored him and turned his attention back to the villains. He knew Aizawa-sensei could feel his trembling-but Izuku was going to be a hero and he couldn't let fear hold him back. He would be brave. If he hadn't been a coward, too afraid to face life, so many things would be different. Izuku was done being a coward.

"What the hell?" The disintegrating villain muttered. "A cheat code?" he scratched at his neck absentmindedly. "Noumu. Get the hero."

Once again, Izuku just barely had time to notice the zip of danger before Aizawa had been snatched out of his grip and smashed into the ground a few feet out of his telepathic reach. A shriek tore itself out of his throat as the ground splintered beneath Aizawa's body for the second time, and then man gritted his teeth against a scream of pain. Izuku started before him, but stumbled to a halt as a flash of warning hit. The noumu wrenched Aizawa's arm back, and Izuku heard it snap. The noumu broke it as easily as a twig. Panic crashed over Izuku, sending whitenoise into his head. He wrenched his head around to face the other villain, who smirked at the attention.

"I wouldn't move if I were you" He looked back at the monster. "Meet the anti-symbol of peace. The bioengineered Noumu." A red eye stared at him, clear, maniac glee lighting it up. "Your cheat codes won't work on him again."

Aizawa pried his head up, voice cracking as blood dripped down his forehead. "M..dor..ya, run!"

The villain shook his head mockingly, raising a hand just slightly. The pavement cracked in a circle as Aizawa's face was slammed into it. "None of that now." he tutted.

"Shigaraki Tomura." the mist villain appeared, a whirling vortex of black and violet. Shigaraki did not move his gaze from Izuku, leaving him itching and tingling.

"Kurogiri, is Thirteen dead?"

"Unfortunately not. He would have been incapicated, but due to that boy," he moved his gaze to Izuku, "they are fine, and a student escaped."

Shigaraki's shoulders dropped and he finally turned his attention away from Izuku. Izuku took a conscious breath as he was finally freed from the prison of crazed red eyes. "Is that so?" He picked at his jaw. "Huh." His hands rose up and began scratching with a fury, leaving his neck raw and seeping blood as bits of dry skin flaked off. The frantic motions sent his body jostling and distorted his voice as he spoke darkly to the other villain. "Kurogiri, I'd turn you to dust if you weren't my escape ticket."

Okay , Izuku noted, as he gauged whether or not he could reach Aizawa in one lunge or not, that puts Shigaraki as the leader, or at least he thinks he is .

"We won't win against a dozen of pros…" Shigaraki cast a disdainful look at the incapitated bodies Aizawa-sensei had left behind. "At least not with these filthy NPCs. It's game over, man. It's game over for now . We're leaving."

Izuku heard Asui's slight breath of release, but his own hitched. There was no way they would go through all this effort and leave that easily on a grit his teeth as he stared at them. They wanted to kill All Might. It wasn't a small scale operation or plan, there was no way they could give up that easily. And even if they did leave-they still had the noumu, and there was nothing to stop them from using the monster. They'd said it was bioengineered, right? So that meant the villains had resources and power and-

Izuku flinched as he looked at it, the startling wrongness coming off in unsettling waves that caused his corporation to flicker. Several ghosts were tied to it in a way he'd never seen, faint and writhing in a mindless pain, souls without consciousness, with the exception of one who simply was still and almost braindead in the mass. He didn't want to think about what it meant to have so many people belonging to one body. Kurogiri had a similar sort of wrongness about him, but it was just the one spirit that was prominent, though he too was mostly transparent.

Izuku tore his attention away from the monstrous amalgamation of souls. Game over, he had said. What were they thinking? What did they want? What were they going to do? Izuku felt fuzzy, panic sending his form wavering and teeth creaking as he clenched them, running through every possibility he could as quickly as he could. Why would they leave just like that?

"But before that," spoke Shigaraki in his raspy voice like the scuttling of insects over decaying leaves. "Let's leave a few dead kids to wound the symbol of peace. Oh. Of course. They had no real intention to leave in the first place.

The villain lunged toward Asui, but Izuku was closer, and just as fast as Shigaraki was. Rough, dry hands closed around his face.

No pain came.

"You really won't give up, will you, Eraserhead ?" Shigaraki sneered and turned his attention to the hero. Aizawa had pried his head up once again, crimson covering his face and dripping from his nose, staining his bared teeth. Izuku cashed in the few seconds of the distraction-not very professional of the villain-to pull Asui a safe distance away from the villains and shove her toward the stairs.

"What about you, kero?" she whispered urgently.

Izuku swallowed, glancing at the monstrous creature with the swarm of agonized spirits whistling in a storm around it. "I'll be fine. They can't kill me." He responded with a strained laugh that was lost on her. "Please be safe, Asui-san."

"Call me Tsu. You saved my life, kero." she croaked,sending him a final deadpan glance soaked with clear worry before hopping away.

Izuku turned back around just in time to Aizawa slammed back into the pavement, a loud crack ringing out as his bones failed under pressure.

A ringing silence fell over Izuku as his teacher remained completely still, not even twitching or the slightest sound coming from the man. Instead, a hazy form shifted within the cloud of rubble, clothed in black and flickering through the dust.

NononononoNO NO-

A hysterical cry wrenched itself out of Izuku's throat and through aching jaws as he threw himself forward and tore the noumu off his teacher with a force he didn't think he was capable of. The strain on his quirk set his head reeling, a ringing headache settling just behind his eyes.

Ignoring Shigaraki's cry of outrage as his monster was sent flying, skidding through the fountain and laying still on the other side, temporarily out of commission as its exposed brain knit itself back together, Izuku skidded to his knees next to Aizawa's prone body

Izuku's form flickered violently as he knelt at his teacher's side. Shadows with no source quivered eagerly as his body became smaller and dripping in liquid crimson for less than a millisecond. Izuku did not notice, all his attention focused on Aizawa's transparent outline that stood next to his body that was still embedded in crumbling pavement.

Yikes. Poor Aizawa, amiright? I mean, what kind of cruel person would slam him into the ground extra times? Not me, certainly... I was gonna go further, but this just felt like the right place to end. Cuz, cliffhangers you know? How else will I trap you guys into coming back?