The episode started with Iida remembering the time he first told his friends about his brother and how much he wanted to be like him. Then the last few second of the last episode played. Iida began to wonder just what kind of hero he was, laying there being protected by his friends and putting his vengeance over saving Native. In that moment, Iida finally realized how narrow minded and selfish he'd been acting.

The frustration that had been building every time Iida had scolded his friends for interfering began to bleed out of the room. It seemed like the message was finally getting through their classmate's hard head.

There was a flashback to a younger Tenya talking to Tensei. Tensei asked if he wanted to be a hero, and Tenya emphatically, but stiffly, said yes. Tensei joked about his brother being a robot.

People around the room chuckled and giggled. After so many upsetting and bittersweet memories of the Iida brothers over the last few episodes, it was very endearing to see such a teasing interaction between them.

Iida himself smiled softly at the comment, vowing to go hug his brother when they got back and make sure he knew how much he valued their time together.

Tenya asked why Tensei continued being a hero. Tensei explained that it was partly because he had been expected to become one, since so many other family members were too. But it was also because he thought people who did things like lead lost children to the service counter were the coolest. Tenya asked why he didn't work at a service counter then, which annoyed Tensei.

That got people laughing, and Iida couldn't help an embarrassed laugh of his own. Thankfully he'd gotten better at understanding comparisons and metaphors over the years, a little at least.

Tensei patted Tenya's head and commented on how literally he takes things. He said that Tenya was smarter and more athletic than Tensei was at his age, which means that if Tenya admires him then Tensei just might be an amazing hero!

There was some cooing and 'aww'ing from around the room.

"Your brother has a really great smile." Uraraka complimented.

Iida remembered Stain calling him and his brother fakes. Iida decided that Stain was right, he couldn't hold a candle to his friends! But that didn't stop him from forcing his hand to move...

While that was happening, the still frozen Midoriya tried to help Todoroki by calling out where Stain was coming from. Stain was pushed back at first, but then started closing in again. He called out that Todoroki's focus on his own quirk was making him careless. He got in close, and the camera went slow motion as Stain's blade was shown to be mere inches from severing Todoroki's arm.

People gasped in surprise and fear. Todoroki paled for a moment, then grit his teeth and pulled his arm in close, bracing himself for whatever pain was about to come. Momo quickly looked around and found a spare towel and offered it to him. He nodded, and she held it taut so he could bite it.

In that same moment, Iida was finally able to push himself up. He told himself that if he didn't do something now, he'd never be on par with his friends or brother! That's what gave him the strength to use his recipro burst right off the bat. One kick knocked the blade away from Todoroki, and a second sent Stain himself flying away.

All the teachers let out a relieved breath as the students cheered.

"Alright!"

"Go Iida!"

"Awesome!"

"Just in time!"

"Add a third tally for the big damn hero moments of this fight!" Ashido said.

"After how I allowed myself to act in this timeline I hardly deserve such praise." Iida protested.

"Maybe not before, but I think you changed your thinking around enough to earn it. I mean, you just saved Todoroki from losing an arm!" Izuku said.

"That's true." Todoroki agreed. He'd already taken the towel out, glad that he didn't need something to bite on in the end. "If you're going to take responsibility for your other self seeking out Stain, then you should take responsibility for this too."

"You wouldn't have been in that position if it weren't for me." Iida tried to argue.

"I made the choice to go there. So it's just as much my fault."

Iida opened his mouth to argue again, but shut it when he saw the flat look Todoroki was giving him. "Well, if you insist, I'll try to see it your way."

"I do insist." Todoroki said. For reasons he couldn't quite understand, that made Iida and Midoriya smile.

Upon seeing that Iida was free, Todoroki commented that Stain's quirk wasn't as great as he thought.

"It seems like Stain's quirk is similar to Mr. Aizawa's in that way. It works best for ambushes and one on one battles, rather than groups or prolonged fights." Midoriya mused.

"I like to think I've diversified myself more than him, considering the trouble he's having here." Aizawa said. Mic put on a teasing grin.

"Well, now I wanna put Stain in a room with those villains you beat up at the USJ and see if he does as well as you did!"

Iida apologized to Midoriya and Todoroki, saying they shouldn't have gotten dragged into his mess. That's why he couldn't let them be hurt anymore! Stain said he shouldn't bother trying to look reformed now.

"See, that's part of Stain's problem! There are some heroes out there that don't fit the title but he's too cynical to be able to tell the difference!" Uraraka complained.

"It would be unrealistic to expect someone to always be able to tell when others are being sincere, but that is why one person should also not be allowed to be judge, jury, and executioner as Stain is attempting to be." Nedzu said.

Stain declared that people don't change that quickly and Iida would always be a selfish fake!

"Well he won't get the time to change if you kill him as a teenager!" Jirou growled.

Todoroki called Stain an 'anachronistic fundamentalist' and told Iida not to listen to a murderer's logic.

"Woah Todoroki, let me get out a dictionary before you start going off with the vocabulary terms." Kaminari joked. "Seriously though, what does that mean?"

"He called Stain's ideas overly strict and old fashioned." Ojiro explained.

"Gotcha."

"As for the rest of it, that's just good general advice. Don't listen to murderers." Sero nodded in mock solemnity.

"Especially when the one they're trying to murder is you." Mineta agreed.

Iida said that Stain was right this time, he had no right to call himself a hero, but that didn't mean he was giving up! He wouldn't allow the name Ingenium to go down like that! Stain came at them again, but Todoroki's fire held him back. Native spoke up then, saying that Stain was after himself and Iida so it would be better for Midoriya and Todoroki to run.

Shoji shook his head. "If he really thinks any of those three are going to leave him or anyone else behind then he hasn't been paying attention."

"Yeah, he's gotta get with the program. Todoroki already said the pros were on their way!" Sato said.

Koda wrung his hands nervously, hoping that was true and that whichever pros he was talking about would hurry up already.

Todoroki pointed out that Stain wouldn't give them a chance to run even if they tried. Plus, something changed just now, they'd clearly done something to fluster the hero killer.

"And that's on top of how much they've already managed to hold him back. That's pretty amazing, kero."

Todoroki analyzed what he knew about Stain's quirk while Stain tried to get in close again, and came to the conclusion that it wasn't very powerful on it's own. Given its limitations, it must be hard for him to deal with multiple opponents. Plus, now that he had a time limit, he was getting desperate.

"Todoroki? Would you be up for looking over my hero journals with me when I get back? Or even the one I have here?" Izuku suddenly asked. Todoroki looked at him in surprise, but nodded.

"Um, sure. If you want to."

"It's just, you had a really great break down of Stain's quirk all while fending him off, which is really impressive so I thought maybe you might think of something I hadn't for some entries."

"Well, I'm used to doing that in the moment, but I can give it a try."

Izuku smiled at him. Todoroki felt a little warmer than before for some reason, which was weird since he couldn't use his quirk in here.

Todoroki thought about how Stain had 'crazy tenacity'.

"Emphasis on the 'crazy' part." Hagakure muttered.

Iida tried to use his quirk, but found his engines weren't working after his big move earlier. A thought occurred to him, and he asked Todoroki to try using his quirk to cool his engines enough for them to work again. Stain took the moment of distraction to throw another blade at Todoroki, and Iida blocked it with his own arm, then got one in the other arm a moment later.

Iida shrieked as the blades sunk in. He'd been doing a pretty good job of ignoring the painful throbbing of the wounds his other self had already acquired, but the suddenness of these ones sent him over the edge.

"Iida I'm really beginning to worry about the number of times you've been stabbed." Uraraka said, hovering over him worriedly. He declined the towel she had offered him.

"Really great idea about Todoroki's quirk though! We gotta test that when we get back!"

Uraraka gave Deku a look of exasperation as Recovery Girl once again made her way over. After she gave Iida a look, he bashfully took the towel and thanked Uraraka before biting into it.

Todoroki wanted to help Iida, but Iida just told him to work on his engines. Meanwhile, Izuku realized he could move again, and started to power up his quirk. Todoroki iced Iida's engine and threw fire at Stain at the same time. Iida used his teeth to pull out the knife, and declared he'd throw away his arm in order to fight.

The students let out noises of despair and protest at the sight of the knife being pulled out. Kirishima declared the move manly, but looked a bit queasy as he said it.

"Don't you start taking after Midoriya! I've had too many from your class visiting me already!" Recovery Girl would normally have smacked her cane against the shin of someone who said something so reckless, but based on the noise Iida was making he was already suffering enough. If he was still overly reckless in the future she could revisit the issue then.

"You didn't have to do that." Todoroki said quietly.

"Better my arm than your face or chest." Iida replied.

Iida called out 'Recipro extend!' and used his quirk to launch himself straight up into the air at Stain. At the same time, Midoriya got full cowl going and also launched himself at Stain. Todoroki grinned when he saw that both would reach Stain at the same time. Stain was taken off guard by the fast, simultaneous attacks and received a super-powered punch to the face as well as a recipro kick to his back.

People gaped at the perfectly timed attack for a moment, then broke out into cheers.

"Holy- That was even manlier than the knife thing!" Kirishima's eyes sparkled as he said it, as though he were overwhelmed by the majesty of the attack.

"Somehow I feel like them not even planning that makes it all the more impressive." Momo said.

"It is pretty impressive that that ended up being timed so exactly." Jirou agreed. "You all worked really well together actually. If your teamwork is already that good then maybe you guys should start an agency together after you graduate."

"Oh! That could work! Most fresh graduates spend some time as sidekicks first but if a number of us work together we might be able to start our own after graduating, or close to it. Especially if we start planning early!" Izuku gushed.

"I am unsure if I would be willing to leave my families agency, but I'll keep it in mind as an option." Iida promised.

"I'd be willing to give it a try." Todoroki said.

"That assumes that Mr. Aizawa isn't going to expel you for any of this." Koda pointed out.

"I won't expel anyone for something you haven't technically done, that would be ridiculous." Aizawa crossed his arms. "However, if any of you purposefully seek out villains on your own after seeing this then I won't hesitate to throw you out. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir!" came the unanimous reply.

The scene suddenly changed to another part of the city 'minutes earlier' where Endeavor and Gran Torino were still fighting the Nomu that attacked the train.

"Aw come on! I wanna see what happened with Stain!" Hagakure complained.

"Well, we probably will soon! Plus, I was worried about Gran Torino, and everyone else too! So I'm glad we're finding out what happened now." Izuku said. Yagi nodded in agreement. As tough as Gran Torino was, the man was still human and things could happen. He wanted to make sure his old mentor would be alright here.

"Well I want to know this stuff too eventually, but can't it be after we find out what happened with you guys and Stain?"

Endeavor threw a fire attack at the Nomu, which caused it to back off a bit but not go down. Endeavor commented that no one had stayed conscious after he used that level of heat before, then the Nomu was suddenly throwing the fire back at them.

"So it somehow absorbed the attack and then threw at least part of it back at them." Momo observed.

"I wonder if that mitigated any of the damage Endeavor hoped to inflict, and how powerful that thrown back attack was." Izuku muttered. Momo shook her head.

"It's hard to tell like this. Either way, someone has definitely been using these things to experiment with quirks."

Yagi scowled. It had to be All for One, it was the only thing that made sense. He'd thought he'd been free of his nemesis, and here he was putting his successor, mentor, other students, and countless civilians in danger. 'Dammit, why couldn't you have stayed dead?'

Edeavor noticed that, despite the absorb and release move, his own attack had still damaged the Nomu, so he declared the quirk being used weak. Torino quickly warned Endeavor that this thing would have more than one quirk. Endeavor said 'so that's how it is' and prepared to fend off the now charging Nomu.

"Huh, he took that a lot more calmly than I thought he would. I mean, if someone told me that in the middle of a fight, I'd have freaked out!" Mineta said.

"Endeavor may be a bastard, but he's got the skills of a hero. There's a reason he's managed to stay right behind All Might despite how different their personalities are." Mic said. Aizawa nodded along.

"One of the best skills you can cultivate for hero work is adaptability. Someone that remains rigid is more likely to break when more and more is thrown at them, but someone who is flexible can role with punches and find a way to come out on top in the end."

Gran checked to make sure the civilians had left, then prepared to get back into the fight. Endeavor prepared to attack as the Nomu leaped at him, but Gran blasted up and bashed it into the ground before Endeavor could do so. Gran complained about breaking the street due to being rusty and Endeavor begrudgingly complimented his skill.

"I find myself reminded why this elder inspires such terrified reverence in All Might, even to this day." Tokoyami said.

Koda nodded rapidly in agreement.

Gran said they should quickly deal with turning in the Nomu so they could go help with the main fight. The screen changed to show Endeavor remembering when he'd last seen his son. Todoroki was running after his father, but stopped when his phone buzzed. After seeing what it said, Todoroki started to run toward the address. Endeavor shouted for him to come back, but Todoroki kept going. He told Endeavor the address he was going to, and told him to come back with help once things were resolved. He didn't doubt his father would finish things quickly.

"If nothing else, my old man does know how to get his work down quickly and efficiently." Todoroki said, agreeing with his other self's assessment.

"That is what I hear. Though given what we saw in the alley I kind of wish he'd come after you right away." Momo said.

"So do I. He should have at least sent a sidekick to keep an eye on you." Aizawa muttered. He found himself wondering how Endeavor had ended up taking this long to either go after his son or send someone after him. Even if he didn't care about his son in the way a father should, he should have cared enough to make sure his 'masterpiece' didn't run off and get killed.

As Todoroki ran, he thought about how his friend may be in danger. Back in the present, he said that his sidekicks would handle turning in the Nomu and told Gran Torino to go to the address Todoroki mentioned. Endeavor said he alone would be enough back up for the main fight.

"If there are enough sidekicks around that he trusts them to handle turning in the Nomu you'd think at least one of them could have been spared to go after Todoroki." Aizawa griped. Mic gave the screen a look of disbelief.

"He's not even going after his son himself?"

"It is the more efficient way of dividing resources at the moment, given the information he has." Nedzu said.

"Well, yeah, I guess, but he should be the one to make sure his son is okay! Even if it's just for looks."

Todoroki himself shrugged. "I figured he'd end up sending someone so that he could get in on the action. I'm just glad he's following through with sending someone now." 'I hope it will be soon enough to be of some use.'

Izuku was more focused on what Todoroki had said at the end. 'So he really does consider me a friend now?' The idea made him something warm and light blossom in his chest.

Back at the Stain fight, the boys and Stain were just starting to fall after that double attack. Midoriya felt a sudden pain in his limbs, and he hoped he hadn't broken them again.

Izuku grunted at the pain, but immediately brushed it off with a smile. "It doesn't hurt as bad as the times I've broken bones! So I'm sure it's fine!"

"Either that or you just broke them in one place rather than half a dozen." Recovery Girl said. "Still, after fighting that whole time, just one break would still be an improvement."

Stain suddenly recovered enough from his shock to grab his sword and swing it at Iida, it barely missed. Iida declared he would defeat Stain the right way, with himself the hero and Stain the villain. Iida gave him another super-powered kick, which was followed immediately by Todoroki's fire. Todoroki then made a slide of ice to lessen the impact damage for his friends, though they ended up hitting their heads on the ice wall behind Todoroki anyway. They moved to get up right away, but paused when they saw that Stain was laying limp and unmoving on one of the ice pillars.

The class stared wide eyed at the unmoving hero killer, stunned that something finally seemed to be keeping the man down.

"You might want to put that ice wall a little further back in the future Todoroki." Uraraka joked lightly, seeing both Deku and Iida wince as their other selves hit the wall head first.

"Noted. Sorry about that." Todoroki said.

"No problem! It all happened really fast so it's understandable." Izuku said.

"Besides, we are the ones who didn't account for how we would keep ourselves unharmed while landing." Iida agreed.

"So, not to bring down the mood, but is Stain dead?" Sero asked, slow and wary.

"Naw, he's just knocked out finally, right?" Kaminari didn't feel as sure as he sounded, those had been some big hits after all.

"I certainly hope they weren't fatal!" Iida's stomach dropped at the thought. Despite the revenge rampage his other self had went on, he didn't want the knowledge that he may have gone so far as to kill the first time he truly fought a villain. Izuku himself looked even greener than usual at the idea.

"With how well he recovered before, I feel like it would take more than that to truly kill him." Todoroki said. "He should probably get to hospital though."

Izuku himself noted that he was hopefully knocked out. He and Todoroki started talk of restraining and disarming him while Iida looked on in shock.

Iida let out a long breath. He dearly hoped this entire fiasco could now be over. He'd never forget what he'd seen his other self do, he couldn't afford to, but he also wanted to put this behind him as soon as possible. He felt Midoriya bump shoulders with him, and he looked up. Todoroki gave him a nod, and Uraraka smiled at him. "See? You came out alright in the end."

He nodded back and managed a small smile for them.

Back at the main Nomu fight, the local pros were still struggling. They tried to attack all at once, but had to stop when the Nomu used its strength to make a shock wave. It used the limited visibility to sneak up on one of the pros, but before it could attack her it was punched across the square by Endeavor.

"Never thought I'd be relieved to see Endeavor." Ojiro said with a sigh. While he may have been mostly worried about his classmates, he didn't want the Nomu to hurt anyone else either.

"I guess he has to have some redeeming qualities." Hagakure grumbled. That didn't mean she had to like it though. Being angry at someone was always more complicated when they went and did useful things or showed off some decent qualities.

Endeavor and the Nomu went head to head. Endeavor noticed that the Nomu was regenerating after being hurt, so he created a concentrated and continuous blast of fire around its head. The fire went from red to blue by the time Endeavor stopped and the Nomu dropped to the ground. Endeavor smugly announced that carbonized cells can't regenerate.

"Okay Todoroki, your dad is still a jerk, but I can't deny that that was an amazing move." Kirishima said.

"It was, that's likely part of the reason I chose to intern with him in this timeline."

"There really is a big power difference between the top ten and other heroes, huh?" Shoji said, amazed at how quickly Endeavor had taken down the Nomu.

"It's true that Endeavor is powerful, but in this case it might be more that his quirk was well suited to the task than him just being more powerful. I'm pretty sure the other heroes didn't have quirks that could stop the regeneration process after all. Plus, I wouldn't take for granted that it will stop the regenerating. If these things were created through experiments then it might have a built in back up to contend with that." Izuku was near to muttering by the end of that.

"If it didn't before then the next ones they make will probably have something like that built in." Recovery Girl said. Nedzu perked up in interest.

"Now there's an idea. Perhaps the reason this 'Sensei' is letting Shigaraki use the Nomus for such a frivolous reason is because he wants them to be field tested, so any weakness can be identified and eliminated when they make the next ones."

The silence that followed his words showed that nobody in the room liked the sound of that.

A moment later, the winged Nomu flew off with someone in its claws. Endeavor immediately took charge of the situation, directing the heroes with quirks that weren't effective against the Nomu to go to the address Todoroki had run off to. Then he went after the Nomu himself.

Aizawa started to relax a little for the first time in quite a while. It was good to know that Gran Torino wasn't the only hero being sent to assist his students. Even if Stain was incapacitated for now, he would feel a lot better if they had some back up. Stain had been shown to recover from blows surprisingly quickly after all.

Endeavor did some very impressive things with his quirk in his pursuit of the Nomu, including running up a wall and throwing his fire like he was Zues throwing a lightning bolt. He managed to make the Nomu drop the person it had picked up and caught him before he fell to the ground. He shouted that the Nomu wouldn't get away as it flew off.

The students gaped at the display of skill and power that the Number 2 pro had just put on.

"Okay, if he can do all that I can get why you'd still decide to internship with him. I can't even use fire and now I wanna learn how to do that stuff!" Sato said.

"That wall running thing was so cool! I bet I could do that with my acid if I practiced enough!" Ashido declared excited.

"You might need some specialized boots, but that is definitely a possibility!" Izuku agreed.

"I could have kept up with that Nomu." Bakugo said.

"But pray tell, could you do it while there was a civilian to attend to?" Aoyama asked. Bakugo huffed.

"Well obviously I'd catch the dude and put him down on the ground before doing that."

"You'd have to make sure someone was there to take care of him too."

"Some of the other heroes are following, they can take care of that."

The scene switched back to the alley, where Stain's weapons were laid out on the ground and the boys were making sure Native had recovered from his paralysis. Native was shown lifting Midoriya onto his back so that he wouldn't have to stand on his hurt legs, while Shouta and Iida made sure Stain was secure.

"Phew, looks like that whole mess is finally over." Mic smiled in relief.

"Thank goodness." Yagi said.

"Don't jinx it you two." Aizawa gave his fellow teachers a look, but he was starting to feel better about the whole thing too. A bunch of pros should be arriving soon, plus the one pro already there was back on his feet. He wished all that happened sooner, but he'd take what he could get at this point.

"I still can't believe the three of you took down Stain." Mineta said, in clear awe.

"It should be remembered that our victory came at a price." Iida interjected. "I can still feel the pain of those blades, and Midoriya has possibly broken his limbs again and may be experiencing quirk exhaustion."

"I told you, it doesn't feel that bad." Izuku was more worried about how dark Iida went before and during that fight. He'd found his way back in the end though, so no reason to pick on it now.

Iida volunteered to pull Stain along, but Todoroki rejected it. Iida's arms were injured after all. While they moved, Native apologized for being no help during the fight. Izuku tiredly argued that it wouldn't have mattered due to how strong Stain was. Todoroki agreed, saying that with the three of them fighting and Stain messing up at times that it was still a close thing. Iida was quiet as Todoroki talked. When they reached the street, they saw Gran Torino standing on the opposite sidewalk.

"Young Midoriya, you may want to brace yourself."

Remembering how Gran preferred to train, and the fact that Izuku had disobeyed Gran's instructions in order to be here, Midoriya didn't hesitate to follow his mentor's advice shoved his towel between his teeth.

Gran demanded to know what Midoriya was doing there, then blasted into the air. When he came back down he planted his boot right in Midoriya's face.

"HMPH!" The noise Izuku made held as much indignity as it did pain.

"Oh, that wasn't as bad as I feared. If young Midoriya is still on Native's back then he must not have hit you that hard."

Izuku introduced Gran Toriono, then asked why he was there. Gran explained he'd been instructed to come here, then said he was just glad Izuku was okay. Izuku apologized, and Gran thought to himself that Izuku was reminding him of Toshinori again.

Yagi laughed. "It looks like he's taken a shine to you already, my boy! You really can charm anyone."

Midoriya stammered a bit at the praise. Uraraka and Iida shared a look, both clearly concerned about Gran Torino's teaching methods if this is what counted as 'not that hard' and 'being charmed'.

The group heard voices nearby and soon found themselves talking with the other heroes Endeavor had sent their way. One of the heroes noticed how injured the kids were and said they needed to call an ambulance.

Aizawa let out a long sigh. "Finally." At long last back up had arrived and medical treatment could soon be obtained.

The students started to relax more too. Now, even if Stain got free, there would be a bunch of pros to help wrestle him back.

The heroes realized that the Hero Killer was there too, and got on calling the police as well. As one of the heroes talked to Midoriya and Todoroki about their injuries, Iida was shown gritting his teeth. He strode up the his friends, despite another hero's concern, and bowed as much as he could while apologizing to them for allowing himself to be so consumed with anger. Midoriya apologized too, for not seeing how torn up Iida truly was. Todoroki softly told him to pull himself together and act like the class rep.

"I know this hasn't happened, and I'm hoping it never will. But I still must thank you myself. You not only saved my life, you saved me from becoming something I would hate." Iida was misty eyed when he turned to Midoriya and Todoroki. "Thank you, my friends."

"You don't have to thank us, this is what heroes do remember?" Midoriya smiled warmly at him. "I'm just glad we got there in time."

"We still haven't done anything yet. But...when we do get back, I'm glad I'll have friends to defend." Todoroki admitted.

"Okay, that settles it." Uraraka got up from the couch and marched over to Todoroki. He looked at her in confusion as she grabbed his wrist and pulled him up. He let her direct him until he stood in front of Iida and Midoriya. Then she let go and walked behind the couch to push on the the other boys' backs. "Have a group hug so we can officially call this settled."

"What?"

"Uraraka that's-"

"If it helps, then I don't mind." Todoroki interrupted the other two.

"Are you sure?" Izuku asked. Todoroki nodded.

"I...I could use a quick hug." Iida admitted.

The three embraced quickly. Iida's grip was tight as he tried to soak up all the comfort he could in those few seconds. Todoroki's embrace was hesitant, as though he was worried he might not be doing it right. Midoriya's was the shortest, so his teary smile wasn't revealed until the three dispersed.

Izuku's voice explained that the fight with Stain had only lasted about 10 minutes, though it had felt much longer. His narration was interrupted by the sudden appearance of the flying Nomu. Gran saw it and yelled for everyone to get down, but it wasn't enough. The Nomu dived down and snatched Izuku off the ground. .

"Shit!"

"No!"

"Deku!" Uraraka screamed in fear. Todoroki froze on the way back to his seat, and stared at the screen in wide-eyed horror. Iida had immediately clamped a hand onto Midoriya's shoulder, as though that would keep his friend from being torn away from the group. Izuku hunched in on himself, feeling the pressure of the Nomu's grip like a vice around his chest. Yagi sat forward so fast he nearly fell out of his seat, and gripped the back of sofa in front of him for balance. His knuckles were white, and the couch was now in danger of it's seams being ripped, but Yagi noticed none of that as he stared at the screen.

Those on the ground were buffeted by the wind from the Nomu's wings. The blonde woman of the group called out how it was bleeding, some of its blood now on her cheek. Gran angrily thought that if the Nomu got too high then he wouldn't be able to reach him.

"Somebody do something!" Koda wailed, louder than the class had ever heard him say anything.

"If he's getting too high then you gotta start going NOW, you old geezer!" Bakugo yelled.

Aizawa's hand had gone to his scarf on instinct, as though he could use it to pull his student back down. 'Save him! He's hurt and exhausted and your heroes, so somebody save him!'

Before any of the pros could react, Stain was suddenly pulling a hidden knife out. He cut his bonds and then licked the blood off the face of the pro hero. The Nomu stalled mid-flight and started falling. Stain leaped on top of it, driving a knife into its brain and bracing Izuku as they all crashed into the ground.

Those watching could only stare. First Midoriya getting snatched up by a Nomu, then Stain getting free after it seemed like he was unconscious and tied up, and then only using that freedom to take down the Nomu and save Midoriya? The entire sequence of events felt like it came out of nowhere for those watching.

Stain started talking about how all the fakes needed to be purged, and how all he did was for the purpose of creating a more just society. Evenyone at the scene seemed to be frozen in place. Shigaraki was shown to be watching the scene through binoculars, and was awfully upset that the Nomu had just been killed. He demanded to know why 'the kid' was there and why things didn't go his way.

"That's what you get for throwing Nomus at people just because you're mad." Hagakure said. It lacked the bite and indignation she typically put into it. The strange, oppressive atmosphere that was present on screen seemed to have spread through the room too.

"Are you okay Deku?" Uraraka managed to ask.

"I'm okay, I'm fine." He could breathe easier now that he wasn't in the Nomu's grip, but he was so tired. He felt like he could sleep for a whole day. 'He didn't know I was there? Did the Nomu really grab me by coincidence? Or did they have prior orders for what to do upon seeing me?'

Iida's grip on his shoulder tightened. Todoroki got out of his trance enough to move, but instead of continuing to his usual seat he moved back to sit on the floor in front of Izuku and Uraraka.

The pros were stunned that Stain had saved Midoriya. One argued that Stain now had a hostage, and one angrily said that Stain didn't hesitate to kill someone.

"To be fair, if we're classifying the Nomu's as people, then Endeavor also didn't hesitate to kill someone. Even if someone has a regeneration quirk, I doubt that having one's head cooked was something anyone expected him to recover from." Tokoyami spoke more quietly than normal, the weird feeling still permeating the room.

The pros got ready to fight, then Endeavor arrived. Stain took one look back and zeroed in on the Flame Hero. Endeavor grinned at the chance to fight the hero killer but Gran Torino called out for him to wait. Izuku was still right next to the man after all.

Todoroki sat stiffly on the ground, and watched the screen like a hawk. If his father was so blind to wanting to fight Stain that he hurt Midoriya...

Stain's covering fell off his face and he lurched toward Endeavor. The strange weight in the air increased tenfold, so much so that the light seemed to change color and everyone became rooted to where they stood. Stain's eye's glowed as he declared that he must take back what it meant to be a hero. His presence was so intense that even Endeavor stepped back as the man dared the heroes to come at him. Stain declared that only All Might would be allowed to kill him! Then a knife dropped to the ground, and the strange heaviness suddenly vanished. Stain had passed out while standing up. Still, the only thing anyone could do for a while was stare.

Those in the room weren't fairing much better. People's eyes were wide and confused, and those that had arm rests were gripping them like they needed something to steady themselves.

"What the heck was that?" Tsuyu managed to ask as the air slowly became lighter.

"I have no idea." Recovery Girl said, her voice shook slightly in testament to how rattled she was.

"I take back what I said about Endeavor. Whatever Stain just did, that's what I wanna learn how to do." Sato let out a shaky laugh.

"Gotta admit, something that could freeze the villains in place would save on property damage. Might make the popularity contests hard with it affecting everyone at once though." Shoji said.

"Unfortunately I believe that affect may have been unlocked by his fanatical views, and is therefore not something a hero should strive to replicate." Nedzu said.

Izuku's narration explained that Stain stopped moving because a rib had pierced his lung. Despite all his injuries, Stain had been the only one to stand and fight against his opponent in that moment.

The episode ended there.

At this point, everyone was able to breathe normally again, and was gratefully taking in lungfuls of air.

"I think we need another break again." Yagi said. Nedzu nodded.

"Yes, quite. Everyone take a few moments to recover yourselves."

"So, like am I still allowed to hate Stain for disabling Tensei and killing heroes that may not have deserved it while also being grateful he saved Midoriya?" Hagakure asked.

"That seems like a reasonable take." Momo replied.

"Oh good, because I'm super glad the Nomu didn't get away with stealing Midoriya, but I still hate Stain for all the hurt he caused. It's a weird feeling."

"It would indeed be much simpler of people could be all good or all bad. But time and time again we find that living souls are much more complicated and conflicting than that." Tokoyami said.

"I wonder if Stain ever thought about becoming a hero himself." Ojiro mused. "With that level of determination and skill, he could have done a lot of good."

"As an underground hero, perhaps. Stain does not seem the type to play along with the razzle and dazzle and that the media would insist upon." Aoyama pointed out.

"Yeah, you're right. Plus he'd probably end up calling out other heroes for things. Which wouldn't be a bad thing itself, but if his standards were as strict as we just saw then it would probably just cause fighting among the heroes."

"Do you think it's possible the Nomu was targeting me when it grabbed me?" Izuku asked All Might. "I mean, Shigaraki seemed surprised I was there, but I was thinking that if he had my picture he could have taught them to recognize me."

"Hmmm, I suppose that depends on how intelligent they've managed to make them so far. The one at the USJ followed direct orders, but it also seemed to automatically move to protect Shigaraki. So it is a definite possibility. I'll talk to the other teachers about it, so we can try to come up with a counter for it."

"Okay, I'll try to think of some things too...Oh! Maybe if I wore my hood more often, or even carry small masks with me that could make me look different on the spot."

"An excellent idea, my boy!"

Bakugo was staring off into space again. For once, he wasn't thinking about what All Might had said to him a few minutes ago.

Something about that flying Nomu. The longer he looked at it, the more something nagged at the back of his mind. Those wings...they looked familiar. They reminded him of that kid that used to hang around with him when he was little. What was his name again? He honestly couldn't remember right now.

The thought needled at his mind for another minute before he put it on the back burner. It was probably just a coincidence. After all, he may not remember the kid's name, but he did remember his wings were red, not tan. Even if the Nomu were created through human experimentation, those wings could have come from someone else, or more than one person.

Still, the fact that he couldn't remember what happened to that kid bothered him more than he cared to admit.

A.N.

I know some lines between Midoriya and Todoroki sounded a bit shippy, and you could choose to interpret this as the beginnings of a crush, but I wrote it thinking about how Todoroki might be surprised by how good it can feel to make a friend happy. Since he's not used to having any friends at all and he's so distant with his siblings still, and Midoriya being similar since he's still pretty new to having real friends