Betad by Greed720 and HardwinPotter

U.A.'s grounds were littered with concrete trucks and construction materials as Cementoss laid the foundations for the new dorms springing up on campus. 2-A's new homeroom teacher, Present Mic, told them all about the new dorm system to keep them safe from villains, as attacks had multiplied in the months following the Hosu incident. While that had stirred up a lot of conversation, most of the class was more interested in discussing internships. Well, one internship in particular.

"Dude, I heard you saved Endeavor from one of those Nomu! So manly!"

"Mon ami, you shine so brightly. I'll have to shine harder."

"Are your legs okay? I heard from Mina-chan they got crushed."

As his classmates' questions washed over him, Izuku answered them without a visible emotion. Underneath the Quirk-induced calm, however, images of that night still haunted him. Years of seeing disasters he could have prevented with a single phone call had schooled him into accepting that his Quirk wouldn't let him save everyone, but having a taste of saving a handful of people made the lives lost far more bitter.

The class was well-trained enough that, the moment the door opened, everyone turned forward and fell silent. Their first class of the second year was about to start, but Izuku didn't bother opening his book.

"Midoriya, Principal Nezu needs to meet with you right away," Cementoss said. "You're not in any trouble, but you better hurry."

Principal Nezu had a fresh cup of tea waiting when Izuku arrived. He sat and took a polite sip. "Ah, Midoriya-kun, thank you for coming. First, keep this between the two of us, but the Hero Commission and myself are both aware that you fought off Stain. You're technically not in any trouble, since you didn't use a Quirk and Endeavor took responsibility, but it needs to stay a secret, understand?"

Izuku nodded.

"Good! Also, in light of your performance against Stain, the Hero Commission has decided to let you take your provisional license exam early. Normally, the exam would take place alongside a large group of other students with recommendations from heroes they had interned under. Since you're taking yours early, the exam will be a bit different. I'm not supposed to tell you what you'll be up against, but since I see no harm in it, I will tell you that you will be fighting against Hawks."

He didn't need Nezu to tell him that, but of course, Nezu knew that as well. If the commission noticed that Izuku wasn't surprised by the exam, Nezu wanted a good excuse.

"I made sure your new suit will be ready by then. If you have any requests for equipment upgrades, I can have them expedited. Anything you need, I'll make it happen."

"I will be fine."

"Good to hear. If you change your mind, let me know."

At the dismissal, Izuku finished his tea and returned to class. A large gap in his foresight waited for him at the end of the day, one that he felt flickers of excitement for even beneath the emotion-dampening effects of his Quirk. With the first day come and gone, he went up to the roof, where he knew he would find Mina, only because his Quirk blacked out when he made it up there.

"Izu-kun, I was just about to text you! So, uh, how was that thing with Nezu?"

"That? Oh, um, well, I'm going to take the provisional license exam on Thursday."

"No way, really? Lucky! Don't those usually happen at the end of the year though?"

"They're having mine early, for some reason. And I'm fighting Hawks."

"Hawks? Isn't he number four? That's amazing! I guess they don't want you embarrassing some poor hero by kicking his ass."

"Yeah, he's going to be tough," Izuku muttered. Panic struck him as he realized what he had just slipped. "Y-yeah, since he's a top hero, with almost two-hundred arrests last year, and he has impeccable control over his feathers, not to mention how sharp they are, they can cut right through my wires, and…"

Mina tapped him on the forehead with her finger. "You're muttering again."

"Oh, sorry."

"Hey, don't worry about it! It's a little cute, actually."

They both chuckled a little at that, but right after, Mina's smile vanished, and Izuku felt his stomach plummet.

"Izu-kun, there's actually something I needed to tell you."

"Uh, sure? Go ahead."

Mina looked away and took a deep breath, as if steeling herself for what would come next. "I gave this a lot of thought over the summer, but I don't think we'd work out."

Izuku's mind came to a screeching halt, thoughts piled one on top of the other like train cars after the engine barreled full-speed into the station.

His shock must have shown on his face, as Mina hurriedly said, "It's not anything wrong with you, it's just, well, I don't really want to be in a relationship right now. When I asked you out, I just wanted to have a bit of fun, hang out a bit, maybe do some things, you know. You seemed like the kind of guy that could really cut loose, so I was really surprised when you were so… shy."

His whole chest felt too tight, as though his ribs were trying to grind his heart and lungs into a sausage casing. He still didn't know what was happening. All he knew was that something was terribly, terribly wrong.

"What are you saying?" he asked breathlessly.

"I, well, we can still be friends, Izu-kun. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I need a break from relationships. I'm no good with complicated stuff. It's not you, it's me, and all that."

"I - I don't understand, is it something I did, or-"

"No, it's not that, it's just that I- well, I don't want to make it sound like this was an absolute dealbreaker, but you always act… nervous around me. You're not like that with anyone else, as far as I can tell, and I don't know why. If you just… loosened up more, acted like you usually do in class…"

He couldn't breathe. He needed to run, to hide, to huddle on the floor until the world stopped spinning around him. Holding back sobs, Izuku turned and ran.

Izuku didn't know where he was running to. Empty hallways blurred past him as he blinked back tears. The whole school felt as though it was turning itself up-side down. His legs shook, and he fell to his hand and knees, heaving panicked breaths as his vision closed in around him. Bile crept up his throat. The taste of it burned his tongue. He held a hand up to his throat and forced himself to breathe through his nose.

Out of the fuzzy, spiraling images came the sign for the men's restroom. Refuge. Safety. Somewhere to hide until the world made sense again. His hands fumbled for the door. For a panic-inducing moment, the door didn't open, and Izuku wondered if he had gone insane.

Izuku pushed harder. The door flew open, and he fell to the tiled floor. The plastic pressed against his arm and face sucked the warmth out of him. Shivering and shaking, Izuku wriggled his way through the door. It closed behind him with a solid thump that made Izuku flinch. He glanced around the room, cowering at the thought of someone coming after him, but he was alone.

After a shaky attempt to get back on his feet, Izuku gave up. He settled for crawling into a corner under the sink. Grit and hairs clung to his sweaty palms. A cold metal pipe bent Izuku's head between his knees. His heart galloped in his chest as a deathly chill crept through his limbs. Every frantic breath he took felt too shallow. He huddled atop a stark, frigid mountain, under fathomless depths of crushing ocean water, adrift in space among comets and stardust.

A drop of condensation from the pipe brought Izuku back to his senses. He gazed around the bathroom with unfocused eyes. A hysterical chuckle bubbled out of him. After Hosu, he had gotten hope that he would actually amount to something. He had worked alongside real heroes, saved over fifty people, and he even stopped that Nomu from capturing Endeavor. Right when he had started thinking of himself as strong, his Quirk came back to show him exactly how pathetic he was.

No, that wasn't right. It wasn't his Quirk's fault. He had ignored it, thought he would be perfectly fine stepping away from the path his Quirk laid before him. It had shown him exactly what he needed to do if he ever wanted someone to actually care about him, and he hadn't been willing to do it.

How did he ever think anyone would actually like him for who he was, Quirkless, pathetic Deku, the spineless coward who knew everything and did nothing about it? She probably only put up with him for so long because she pitied him, but of course he was so pathetic that even that had to come to an end at some point.

And now, here he was, falling to pieces on a bathroom floor. Heart racing, chest heaving, it felt as though he was on the verge of asphyxiation. Maybe he was. He had known the taste of death ever since he was five, and this had a similar flavor. His future was gone, shattered the instant Mina gave him that pitying look. Only an empty void remained.

How bad would it be, to quietly slip away and leave this soul-crushing sensation behind? Would it even matter to anyone? Mom could finally stop worrying about him and work less, Mina was done with him, and he'd just be a burden to anyone trying to make him a hero. Who would miss him, when he wouldn't even miss himself?

No. Not like this. Maybe his life didn't matter, but Izuku wanted his death to mean something. He could trade his life for someone else's, that much he knew he could do. He had to keep breathing. Stand up. Move. Save someone.

A vision crept into his brain. Hands clenched on the sink, legs firm beneath him, empty eyes watching him from the mirror. Spurned on by this glimpse of a future, Izuku rolled out from under the sink. A shaking hand gripped the edge of the sink. His fingernails bent against the stainless steel. A clumsy foot planted itself beneath him, then the other. Every muscle protested as he pulled himself up, inch by inch. He pitched forward and caught his forehead on the faucet.

Gritting his teeth, Izuku raised himself high enough to look himself in the mirror. His hair was a tangled mop, and his cheeks were smeared with a river of tears. The vision's reflection had no tears. He cranked the faucet and dunked his face beneath the frigid flow. Paper towels ripped from the dispenser dried him off. Shaking fingers matted down his unruly curls until he looked presentable.

Izuku was standing, but the pain in his chest lingered. He forced himself to take deep breaths and counted each second. A hand pressed against his heart, as though to squeeze it into compliance. As time passed, Izuku wondered if his meddling with his fate had truly made him Quirkless. His heart-rate picked up, and Izuku quickly bit back the pessimistic thoughts. He told himself that, even without his Quirk, he would still find a way to save someone, or at least die trying.

When his breathing grew steadier, a wave of numbness rushed over him. Images of the next few days swept through his mind, drowning out the fear and anxiety that had nearly swallowed him up. Izuku would have wept with relief, had he the emotional capacity for tears. He let the faucet run again, washed his hands, and walked out the door.

From the way Izuku's eyes widened, Mina knew she had said something wrong when she told him to act like he did in class. She tried to reword it, but in the time it took to trip over her own tongue, Izuku stammered something about having to get home and bolted.

"Agh, crap, I think he took it too hard."

Tsuyu's words came back to her, reminding her it was only fair for her to tell him what she thought. Might help him out with his next date, after all. First place in the Sports Festival, and working for Endeavor to boot, he'd have no trouble hooking up with whoever he wanted.

Those thoughts didn't comfort her like she had hoped they would. She waited, hoping to catch a glimpse of him coming out of the building and see that he was fine. By the time she gave up and went home, he still hadn't come out.

The first few weeks of school were always the roughest for Ryo. Add the League of Villains tearing through Hosu and the subsequent rise in crime to the usual stress of summer internships, and you had a recipe for droves of mentally scarred students in need of counseling.

Today had been a day to sniff out troubled students, remind them that they were always welcome in his office, and prepare the paperwork for their eventual visit. Already, he had five files set up and a stack of patient visit reports waiting for a date and details. Bakugo's file was growing thick enough to take up its own cabinet.

When Ryo opened his office door, ready to head home for the day, a sharp, bitter scent filled his nose. The scent screamed of terror. As Ryo sprinted towards the rising gradient of olfactory signals, he pieced together more details of the scent. It was sharp and distinctive, not the muddled mess of mass hysteria. Other scent markers were lacking, so it wasn't a Quirk he could detect. That narrowed the list, but not enough to guess what was happening, or to who.

A strong whiff of ammonia nearly threw him off the trail, but he pushed through it and picked it up near the stairs. Ryo's nose took him to the entrance of a men's restroom. Whoever it was had prioritized hiding. He had to approach this carefully. First, he knocked, firmly, but not loud enough to startle anyone inside. No response. He pushed, only for the door to open on its own.

Midoriya looked up at him, eyes impassive, face freshly dried. The fear-scent hung around him like a cloak, but it was fading. Whatever had happened, Ryo hadn't arrived in time.

"Are you alright?" Ryo asked.

"I'm fine. I forgot something in class, and I had to use the restroom."

They were a floor up from 2-A, but Ryo wasn't insensitive enough to call him out on it. If Midoriya wasn't willing to confide in him what had happened, then there was little he could do.

"Well, if you need anything, you're always welcome in my office."

Izuku nodded and walked past him. Ryo checked inside the restroom, sniffing it up and down for any clues. He could see streaks on the floor where Izuku had crawled from the door to the corner under the sink. Aside from that hint, Ryo found nothing.

Ryo's first impulse was to head back to his office and write up a quick report. The longer he thought about what he had just seen, the more worried he became. Through every meeting he had with Midoriya, not once did he perceive even the slightest change in emotional state. For him to suddenly have a full-blown panic attack, in addition to his Quirk's ability to predict the future, meant something was, or will be, terribly, terribly wrong.

Mind made up, Ryo turned his steps towards Nezu's office. As he came closer, a new scent reached his nose, one that made him forget about everything else. He smelled blood.

The skin Himiko wore was itchy. Unruly green hair kept falling into her eyes, the stench of the cleaning products she had slathered herself with tickled her nose, and the body felt too springy for her liking. The scars were neat, and she had taken a few minutes to admire them, but the sooner she got this job done, the better. She hated killing animals, their blood smelled wrong and tasted worse, but for Shigi, she'd make an exception.

Himiko had waited until classes let out. She watched for Midoriya, but in the throngs of students flooding out the front entrance, she never got a glimpse of him. Once everyone was out, she slipped onto the street from an alleyway and walked right up to the entrance . The gates paid her no heed. Her biometrics, now a perfect match of the student she had copied, were the only keycard she needed to slip in undetected. With the map of U.A.'s campus memorized, she walked through the halls, doing her best to imitate Midoriya's posture. Cameras were everywhere, and Nezu had a reputation for keeping an eye on everything.

Nezu also had a reputation for being overly fond of tea, which is why Himiko first went to the cafeteria. She found some teabags, filled a styrofoam cup with tap water, and microwaved them together until steam rose.

As she went to Nezu's office, she crossed paths with the one teacher she had hoped not to find. Past experience with a certain canine chief of police told her that her Quirk could not fool a sensitive nose, and the shadow man had assured her that Hound Dog's nose was even sharper. The ammonia from the cleaning products should cover up her smell, but she didn't know her target well enough to answer any questions. Under one sleeve, she palmed a knife, ready to slit his throat at the slightest sign of hostility.

Hound Dog seemed distracted by something else and had passed her entirely. With a pouting frown that didn't belong on Midoriya's face, Himiko put away her knife and kept walking.

Nezu called her in at the first knock. She walked in and set the cup in front of him.

"I left my bag in my classroom," Himiko said in Midoriya's voice, "And I thought I might as well bring some tea over while I was here."

"Very thoughtful of you Midoriya-kun." Nezu took a sip, gagged, and promptly set the cup down. "Is there anything you need?"

Himiko caressed the tantalizing weight of the knife as it slid down to her fingers. "Yes, actually."

She lunged. The knife plunged deep into the rodent's chest. After a swift yank, blood gushed out, as sour as vinegar to Himiko's nose. Nezu reached feebly for his phone. Himiko knocked it to the ground. A dead dial tone rang through the room as Nezu closed his eyes and shuddered.

Grinning ear to ear, Himiko picked up Nezu by the scruff of his neck and shook his dead weight. "Mmm… I wonder what you would taste like if the shadow guy cooked you?"

Movement caught her eye. On one of Nezu's monitors, camera feeds showed Hound Dog sprinting down a hallway. Himiko looked around the blood-spattered room and knew she had seconds to make a decision. Killing Hound Dog was her favorite idea, but the shadow man Kuro-whatever said she had to leave without getting spotted if she could, which normally wouldn't matter to her, but Shigi nodded with him, so she had to do it. She was supposed to take Nezu, but if she left him there, Hound Dog would waste time checking him instead of running after her.

Well, they never said she needed to take all of him.

With a swift cut at the joint, Himiko severed a leg. Leaving the rest of the body behind, Himiko sprinted out the door, in the opposite direction of the approaching footsteps, and stole her way out of the empty campus.

Himiko chuckled, tucked her new good luck charm in a pocket, and left her costume behind in an alley.

It felt good to be back in her own skin. It would feel even better to wear Shigi's once he let her.

It had taken Nezu thirty-two seconds to verify the presence of the intruder. Seeing Midoriya come in through the front door despite not having left the third-floor bathroom had been a bit of a surprise, and after he cross-referenced the intruder's posture and gait with his memories of Midoriya, Nezu knew he was up against a transformation Quirk thorough enough to fool the biometric scanners he had invested millions of yen in installing after last year's debacle. Nezu sighed, knowing he had to go back to the drawing board for his school's security.

He could only watch as Inui and the intruder approached each other. Nezu had a finger on the fire alarm switch, torn by the prospect of alerting his employee and potentially leaving him fatally distracted, but before he could complete his risk/benefit analysis, they passed each other without incident.

Computations spun around Nezu's head, compiling all the information he had on the intruder. Inui had been distracted, perhaps a diversion was made so the intruder could slip by unnoticed? The Quirk might be vulnerable to olfactory tracking.

The intruder didn't kill, stealth mission, specific target, after hours, had to be a faculty member, most likely himself. When the intruder left the cafeteria, with a mug of tea in hand, Nezu verified that hypothesis.

With seconds left before his confrontation with the intruder, Nezu knew that Detnerat had made its move. The intruder was either a disposable asset, or more likely, given the strength of this Quirk, a third party. The attack was meant both to stop Nezu from interfering with their shady dealings and to discredit both U.A and Midoriya. That this was happening right before Midoriya's provisional exam couldn't be a coincidence either.

Nezu knew he had two options. He could either subdue the assassin and extract as much information from them as possible. A pawn was hardly worth taking in the grand scheme of a game, and there was no positional advantage to gain from interrogating someone outside their organization. In fact, the failure would likely prompt a less subtle attack next time, and Nezu was in no mood to trade pieces.

The other option was to gambit himself. He'd be down in material, but any chess player worth their salt knew that, in a game where you had limited moves, positioning was everything. Assuming he was gone, Detnerat would lower its guard, and Nezu could position himself to capitalize on a blunder. Decision made, Nezu leaned back in his chair and waited.

The assassin entered his office. The first thing Nezu noticed was the smell of ammonia, overpowering the tea in their hands. They had worried about Inui after all.

Nezu smiled as the assassin handed him a mug of tea. He took a sip, for appearance's sake, and swore vengeance against everyone involved for having the bad grace to serve him such terrible tea before killing him.

The strike was precise, between the third and fourth rib, dead center where a human heart would be. He twisted himself just enough that the blade passed by his lungs and just missed his spine.

When the knife pulled away, Nezu let the blood gurgle out his mouth and made a good show of reaching for the telephone. He kept himself limp as his killer shook him by the scruff of the neck. Even when his leg was taken off, Nezu kept perfectly still.

Moments after the assassin escaped with their prize, the door burst open. Hound Dog gently cradled him in his arms as he sprinted towards Recovery Girl's office. Nezu felt pride at how calmly the guidance counselor explained the situation to the nurse.

Shuzenji gave him a gentle prod with her cane. "Hey, Nezu, how long do you plan to lie there?"

He cracked his eyes just a touch, savoring Inui's bewildered expression. When he opened them all the way, Inui practically jumped out of his skin.

"They microwaved the tea," Nezu said bitterly.

Shuzenji snorted. "You got stabbed in the chest and lost a foot, and you're angry over a cup of tea? Typical."

Inui peered closely at the stab wound in his chest. "How… you didn't have a pulse!"

"I'm part possum on my mother's side," Nezu said with a grin. It was true, after a fashion. The scientists that had used him as a guinea pig for their Quirk factor research had been quite inventive with how they had stitched together his genome. All the better for him to survive their experiments, and all the better to kill them once he had the intelligence to break free.

Making people question their sanity was a favorite pastime of Nezu's, and Inui's expressive face showcased his bafflement beautifully. Shuzenji interrupted his fun with a gentle cough.

"Judging by the theatrics, I'm guessing you're going undercover again?"

"It's been a while since I got to have fun. Aizawa-san can handle things while I'm gone."

"I'll make this a patch job then. Anything you need done before I put you under?"

"Yes, actually. Have Snipe take his vacation. Tell him there's a package for him at Site Three."

"What about the intruder?" Inui asked. "Should we go after them?"

"Let them slip away with their prize. Tracking them later won't be a challenge. Now, do me a favor and get me a proper cup of tea. Losing a bit of blood has made me quite thirsty."

A/N: I did not have a good day yesterday. My computer got an update, and every time that happens, it takes a couple days for it to get back up to speed. So, as I was about to post this chapter yesterday, Microsoft decided it didn't want to open, and I thought 'I'll just do it after work'

Oh, how naïve yesterday's me was.

The shift started off well enough, quiet as expected, but I had some busy work to do. Then I got a phone call, one I dread on Sundays. One of the third-shift guys called in. At this point, I knew I was screwed. Every time that happens on a Sunday, without fail, the other one either shows up hours late or no-shows, which means I get stuck at work for ANOTHER FOUR HOURS. It's really rare, but yesterday decided it really did not want this chapter posted, because I had to stay 'til three in the morning. Fun.

Anyways, here it is. On to the reviews!

To Chikota, I feel that 10k is a bit optimistic considering that not a single story in the fandom has gotten there yet, but I won't complain if this story gets there!

To ShadowPillow, I made chicken curry and meatloaf with mashed potatoes the day before. Turned out awesome!

To Heracielo, I'm quite fond of bad governments in fictitious stories. Makes them feel more realistic.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have sleep to catch up on. Cheers!