Application of Force

Chapter 1: The Road To Hell

The room they were in didn't officially exist. None of the interior maps listed it. It wasn't on any of the directories. Only the faculty members and a handful of key personnel from other agencies knew about it, and even then few ever entered it.

It was an isolated, uncomfortable space. There was no air conditioner. There were no vents or windows. The lights and other machines operated on an independent battery system. Those who could see through walls would find themselves stymied between lead and other specialized materials, and a Faraday cage shielded it from external interference. The only entrance was a long hallway with a full-body scanner to detect any wires or recording equipment.

In one of the most secure buildings in the country, it was a private room. Information that could not be exchanged elsewhere, secrets that could not spread, and words that could end lives if spoken, those were the things discussed here.

And in the wake of the USJ incident, a tribunal was being held.

Aizawa, so covered in bandages it would have been comical had he not been near death, sat next to All Might. The Number One Hero looked like he had seen better days. To their side sat Tsuragamae Kenji, the dog-headed chief of police, and beside him sat detective Tsukauchi who couldn't stop looking at All Might every few seconds. Sitting next to the police were Musutafa's chief prosecutor, Yoshiichirou Iijima, who sat with preternatural stillness, and the assistant prosecutor Tsutome Abe. Finally, to their side and opposite the teachers sat a haggard-looking Mera Yokumiru and a staid-looking woman Ochi Satsuki, both members of the Hero Public Safety Commission.

Nezu sat alone, chairing the meeting. "Let us proceed."

The manila folders that sat in front of the attendees were open. The front page was a list of names and the physical injuries they had suffered. They varied widely, ranging from burns to broken bones to physical trauma. The pages that followed went into detail about the nature of the injuries, including pictures and testimony about how they were received.

Many of them, more than any other source, were caused by Bakugo Katsuki. A few cases of severe frostbite were linked to Todoroki Shouto. One particularly bad stab wound had been inflicted by Jirou Kyoka. Kaminari Denki was responsible for several cases of nerve damage and electrical burns.

Nezu droned out each case tonelessly, leading the others as he turned page after page. Images of the injuries, and occasionally clips, were projected to the widescreen at the front of the room. It was a preamble, and they all knew it. The students had been retroactively given full rights to protect themselves; any injuries inflicted had already been ruled as the responsibility of the villains, who had forced the issue by trapping and attacking them.

Eventually, though, they finished. The last of the injuries were reviewed. Nezu flipped the pages back, closed the folder, and moved it out of the way.

A thin black folder lay underneath.

The motion was mimicked by the others in the room. All Might let out a heavy breath and Aizawa sagged, just a bit.

Nezu opened the black folder, and they reached the true purpose of the meeting.

"Jirou Kyoka?" She nodded, and the man in the tan trench coat offered her a smile. "My name is Detective Tsukauchi, I'm here to discuss your recollection of what happened at the USJ."

Jirou took a deep breath and let it out. A debrief. Aizawa had warned her this as coming. It had been almost the first thing out of his mouth on their first day back in class. He tried to dress it up as an educational opportunity, saying they might as well get used to it since it was something they'd have to do frequently when they became Pros.

Jirou couldn't help but feel uncomfortable. "What do you want to know?" She really didn't want to think about it—had in fact been actively trying to avoid thinking about it for the past few days. It didn't always work.

"You were teleported to the Mountain Zone with Kaminari Denki and Yaoyorozu Momo, correct?" She nodded. "And what happened after you arrived there?"

She swallowed. "We were surrounded by villains before we even got up. Yaoyorozu made a staff and we had to hold them off."

"And how did you do that?" He asked, continuing to scribble in his notepad.

"Yaoyorozu made a sword for me. We fought. Kaminari..." She cleared her throat. "I kicked him into a villain so he could use his Quirk."

"You kicked him into a villain?" Tsukauchi arched an eyebrow, and Jirou felt her cheeks burning.

"He said he couldn't use his Quirk at range without hitting us too, so I kicked him into some big guy who kept swinging at him."

"Did he seem angry about that?"

Jirou frowned but shook her head. "Nah, that was actually when he started getting confident. He realized he was far enough away that he could use his Quirk without hitting us, so he shocked the guy."

The detective nodded, scribbling down some more. "And then what happened?"

"A few of the other villains tried to jump Kaminari, but we kept them from landing a hit and they got shocked as well. Then Yaoyorozu and I stopped a guy who leaped at us from the cliff above. Once we stopped that guy, Yaoyorozu made an insulated blanket to cover us so Kaminari could let loose. He knocked them all out."

The detective glanced up. "My understanding is that he was held hostage when the teachers arrived."

Jirou felt like cotton balls were being stuffed into her mouth. She didn't want to dwell on that. She didn't want to think about it. It still felt far too close.

"One of them hid underground. Kaminari was suffering backlash from his Quirk. We didn't notice him until the villain grabbed him." She still kicked herself for that. She should have heard him. She probably had heard him, but there was just so much going on that she hadn't thought.

"Kaminari didn't try to shock him?"

Jirou shook her head. "I don't think he could. His backlash affects his brain." She forced a smile. "He turns into an idiot." It wasn't funny anymore, though. It was scary.

"And then what happened?"

Jirou looked at the table. "I tried to distract the villain holding Kaminari hostage, but he saw through it and threatened to kill him. Then the ones he'd shocked started getting back up." She stopped speaking, her throat constricting. She grabbed the cup of water and chugged it. The detective waited patiently with a supportive smile on his face.

"Take your time. It's okay if you need a moment," he offered, and she took him up on it. Her thoughts began the same downward spiral that they'd been falling into ever since they had been rescued.

This was what bothered her, more than her failure to hear the villain coming. It wasn't that she had tried to act smooth and got caught; it was that it nearly came down to saving Kaminari or saving herself and Yaoyorozu, and she had no clue what she would have done. What would she have done if Snipe and the other heroes hadn't arrived? With villains getting up and Kaminari still held hostage, what would she have done?

In the days that followed the attack, she hadn't been able to answer that question and it had been keeping her up at night. The scene kept replaying in her head on loop, except in her nightmares the bullet never came; Kaminari couldn't break free, and more and more villains were getting up to kill them.

With great effort, she took a shaky breath and pushed those thoughts aside. "That's when the Heroes arrived and Snipe shot the villain who'd taken Kaminari hostage. I grabbed Kaminari, and we kept him safe until Ectoplasm arrived and captured the rest of the villains."

The detective scribbled some final notes, closed the little notepad, and offered her another smile. "That should cover it. Thank you very much for your time. I understand that Hound Dog is nearby if you want or need to talk to him."

Compared to the manilla folder, the list that they opened up to was blessedly short. A scant ten names were listed there compared to the dozens upon dozens that had been listed before. Nezu cleared his throat and flipped to the second page. "Onigawara Ren, age thirty-seven. Cause of death: cardiac arrest due to electrical shock." He paused for a moment before continuing and read out the incident report in the same toneless fashion as he had before. Regardless, the room felt heavier as the circumstances of the man's death were laid out.

"Was it captured on video?" Yoshiichirou finally asked, and Nezu nodded. A click and the scope of his student's desperate circumstances were laid out. Three students, children, were hemmed in by almost thirty adult villains. The angle and distance laid out their peril in a clear fashion: surrounded on all sides, having to fight their way to a sheer cliff just so there was one fewer angle to be attacked from.

Then Jirou kicked Kaminari into the largest figure and shocked him. The man stiffened from the shock, and Kaminari... just didn't stop. There was an uncomfortable silence as the scene dragged on. Another villain attacked but wound up falling victim to the Kaminari's electricity after Jirou destroyed the stone he'd intended to attack with. Then a third got caught up when Yaoyorozu netted him, and he fell on the second villain. Throughout the whole thing, Kaminari kept pushing out voltage.

The moment Kaminari ceased his onslaught, the large masked villain collapsed bonelessly to the ground. He would never rise again. Nezu stopped the video.

Yoshiichirou was again the first to speak. "How long was that?"

"Twenty-seven seconds," Aizawa said from underneath his bandages. He'd kept count.

"Twenty-seven?" Tsutome asked in a hiss. Near him, Mera rubbed his forehead.

Nezu nodded. "Eraserhead is correct."

A standard stun gun only discharges for five seconds," Tsukauchi murmured.

"He was struck in the face by a second villain," Aizawa countered.

"Yes, but after how long?" Ochi asked.

Mera glanced at their companion and then returned his gaze to Aizawa. "Do you know if he could have stopped and then restarted using his Quirk?"

"Possibly." Aizawa acknowledged, "Kaminari's Quirk has a drawback in that it sometimes short circuits his mind, leaving him in a fugue state. We'll be working with him to increase his tolerance."

Mera sighed heavily. "He'll need to. He won't last otherwise."

Tsutome frowned. "It still seems excessive to me." He looked at the police. "What did he say during the interview?"

Detective Tsukauchi shook his head. "He has no clear recollection of the events. He used a more powerful attack shortly after this to disable most of the villains. It caused his memory to short-circuit."

Tsutome adjusted his glasses, "Well, what was the last thing he remembered?"

"The last thing he remembered was two of his classmates throwing themselves at the Warp villain and then being surrounded by black smoke." The detective glanced at the prosecutor, "That was approximately four minutes before he used his quirk."

Ochi's already sour look curdled further. "That will leave him with the option of using that excuse any time he uses excessive force."

Nezu looked over at her. "While he may have used his Quirk for a longer time than would be advisable, the coroner noted that Onigawara had a heart issue. None of the other villains that were struck by Kaminari's attacks succumbed to them." The principal turned to the chief of police. "Do you think his use of force was excessive?"

Tsuragamae's expression was as difficult to read as Nezu's, his animal head and human mannerisms conflicting as often as they aligned with preconceptions. He tapped on the table for a moment. "I believe it was. Twenty-seven seconds was far too long." All Might looked ill but said nothing. Aizawa's eyes bored into the man as if his quirk could kill rather than erase quirks. The police chief didn't seem the least phased. "But given the extenuating circumstances, his inexperience, the limitation of his Quirk, the way they came under attack, the lack of an escape route, and Onigawara's medical issues, I would not call it criminal."

Nezu gave a quick nod and he turned to the prosecutors, "And what does the prosecutor's office think?"

Assistant prosecutor Tsutome grimaced but turned to his superior deferentially. The aging chief prosecutor was silent for several seconds, before giving a single, sharp nod, "I am inclined to agree with the assessment of the chief of police. Further, I do not believe I would be able to successfully prosecute him."

Breath that had been held was let out. Aizawa gave a fractional nod. "I'll work with him to ensure that it doesn't happen again."

"Please do," Ochi said, "a hero losing cognitive function in the field is a tragedy waiting to happen." She cleared her throat, "And on the other side of that equation, we need to prevent him from using these short-circuits as a crutch to avoid explaining any… unfortunate events in the future."

"Then we have consensus?" Nezu asked, looking around the room. One by one, the members of the panel nodded in agreement. Tsutome held out a bit longer, looking to the other attendees as if to see any hesitance before he sighed and agreed.

Ojiro shifted in his seat, his tail gently swaying back and forth behind him. "So, how can I help?"

The detective smiled. "I just want to verify some information. You were teleported to the fire zone alone, correct?"

Ojiro nodded. "Yeah."

"Can you tell me what happened after you arrived?"

He frowned a little, scratching the side of his head. "I was dropped in the middle of a group of villains. Initially, I wanted to stand my ground, but more of them were coming so I had to run." He grimaced with distaste at the memory. It wasn't exactly what he considered heroic behavior.

At least the detective seemed unfazed by the admission. "The villains pursued you?"

Ojiro nodded. "Yeah. They chased me through the streets. They kept cutting me off, there were just so many of them. I launched myself into the second floor of an office building with my tail to get some breathing room. They surrounded the building, and a bunch of them followed me inside to capture me, while the ones outside blocked the streets so I couldn't get away. I was lucky they didn't plan that out very well. I spotted a group smaller than the rest, and took off that way to escape."

If the detective wanted to correct him about the word 'capture', he didn't say anything. It still felt surreal that people had wanted to kill him even though he wasn't even a Pro yet. "I guess the fire and smoke inside the building made it easy to hide?"

Ojiro grimaced. "Sort of. It was hard to breathe in there, but the smoke did make it easier to sneak around."

The detective nodded sagely. "And once you escaped from that building?"

"I knew I needed to keep them from surrounding me, so I kept running. If I saw one or two alone, I'd try to knock them out if I could, and then I'd start running again."

The detective nodded. "Did that happen often?"

He shrugged. "A few times. I'm not sure if they worked together before, they were all broken up trying to find me, but there were a bunch of little groups."

"I see. And then what happened?"

Another shrug. "It was mostly what I said. I tried to thin them out, but I could never knock out enough of them to make a clean getaway." He glanced down and scratched at his hair again. "I wanted to find my classmates, but I wasn't about to lead a group of villains right to them."

"I'd say you made the right decision there," the detective offered, and Ojiro forced himself to smile a bit.

"So you stayed on the move until the Heroes arrived? Were you ever able to double back?"

He furrowed his brow. "I... think so? Maybe? I was more focused on the villains that were chasing me. Why?"

The detective held up a hand, "Just trying to establish that they weren't allowing you to escape. There are already rules about self-defense. I needed to establish that you weren't going after villains when you had the opportunity to escape." He smiled, "I'd say you did a fine job. I'm glad you made it out okay."

He let out a sigh of relief, feeling that the interview had come to an end. "Thank you, sir."

"Nenbutsu Sakura, age twenty-three. Cause of death: asphyxiation due to smoke inhalation."

Before any questions could be asked, Nezu pressed play and a video clip of a burning street appeared on-screen. Seconds later, a pair of villains ran into view—a tall man, and the young woman whose only known picture had smiled up at them from inside the folder. The pair paused to assess their surroundings, and then Ojiro was on top of them.

Ojiro launched himself into the man with a flying kick, sending the villain sprawling before he whirled around and slammed his tail into the woman. She was flung bodily through a broken window with smoke pouring out. Ojiro looked around quickly, chest heaving as he took a second to rest, before he tensed and rushed off again with a larger group of villains on his heels.

Tsukauchi grimaced as the video continued to play. The man with Nenbutsu had landed heavily, but eventually staggered to his feet and limped after the mob and out of view. Maybe he knew her, maybe he didn't, but he didn't search for her, and the street was left deserted after he disappeared.

Tsutome glanced at Nezu. "And she died from that?" He sounded almost incredulous. Tsukauchi couldn't blame him. It certainly didn't look like a blow that would wind up killing someone.

Nezu nodded. "The building she was knocked into was specifically designed to train heroes on how to move through a shop filled with smoke."

Ochi winced, and Mera stepped in. "Even then, it seems surprising that a blow like that would have prevented her from escaping the building."

"He struck her in her solar plexus," All Might announced. "That sort of attack would knock the wind out of her. It's usually useful for subduing someone temporarily."

Aizawa glanced at his colleague but then nodded. "In any other circumstance, it would have put her out of the fight without seriously injuring her."

"Her actions inside the building do follow a normal human reaction of someone struggling to regain their breath," Nezu said and he dipped his head. The rest of the people attending the meeting, including Aizawa, looked at him. "We cannot judge our students if we cannot see them through the smoke. If you want to verify what her last moments were like, I can play the video."

Ochi blanched, and Yoshiichirou grimaced. All Might's lips compressed into a flat line. Tsuragamae spoke for all of them. "I don't think that will be necessary, Principal Nezu. This case was clearly not intentional." He shook his head. "Only a fool chooses to fight in a burning building. Your student didn't have any choice in the matter."

None of them disagreed with his assessment.

The young man crossed his arms over his chest. "So what do you want to know?" His contempt for the interview was nearly palpable.

Tsukauchi maintained a professional mask. It was unusual for him to talk with someone who was technically a victim but was acting as if they were one of the accused. "I'm here to talk with you about what happened after you were teleported to the Ruin area."

"Figures," Bakugo sneered. "Me and Shitty Hair got dumped in a room with a group of villains—"

"I'm sorry," the detective interrupted abruptly, perking an eyebrow. "Shitty Hair?"

Bakugo huffed. "The red-headed loser who got dumped with me. His real name is Kirishima."

Tsukauchi offered a tight smile. "I would appreciate it if you would use his real name during this interview please."

"Tch." Bakugo rolled his eyes. "Fine. Me and Kirishima got dumped into a room of villains. I guess that warpy bastard thought it would give those losers an advantage."

"Did it?"

"Hell no!" Bakugo barked. "I kicked their asses. They were nothing."

Tsukauchi leaned back a bit. "I see. Did Kirishima assist?"

"I think he got a few of them before I got to 'em."

"I guess you weren't really paying attention?"

"I always pay attention," the young man growled out. "One of those bastards thought he could sneak up on me just by using his shitty camouflage Quirk. I caught the little rat and knocked him the hell out."

Tsukauchi nodded. "What did you do after you defeated the villains in the room you started in?"

"I kept kicking the asses of the villains waiting to get into the room. I kept going until we finished with them."

"Did you have a plan? Or was there a constant stream?"

"My plan was to attack." Bakugo sneered contemptuously. "I didn't exactly need a strategy, they kept coming at me and I kept knocking them down."

"So you kept fighting until you got out of the building?"

"We ran out of chumps before then. Then Shitty Hair..." He stopped and his lip curled. "Kirishima started talking about finding the other extras. I wanted to track down that warpy bastard. He eventually followed me."

"About how far had you gone by the time you ran through the villains?"

"Two floors." He frowned, his eyes suddenly calculating. "Why?"

"I'm just trying to establish a timeline of events." The young man didn't look like he believed him but said nothing. "Where did you go after you left the building?"

"Kakuji Aiko, age thirty-one. Cause of death: Exsanguination due to a punctured aorta." Nezu looked around. "This video is closer than the others and is more graphic in nature. I thought I should warn you."

Mera rubbed at his eyes and let out a sigh, somehow looking even more haggard than before. "Put it on."

The video played. The moment the students were dropped into the room, they were under attack. They were lucky to have been dropped on their feet, but they were completely surrounded.

Immediately Bakugo went on the attack, blasting every villain who came close to him with enough force to send them flying into the walls. Plaster caved in with every blow, and villains dropped like rag dolls after each vicious assault. Ochi inhaled audibly while Aizawa counted the number of villains subdued, preemptively ready to counter any argument she or the prosecutors planned on making.

Then it happened. Kirishima struck a man in the jaw and he staggered backward, tripped, and then fell onto a shard of stone almost shaped like a spike. It bit right through his back, and he opened his mouth in a wordless scream. The man scrambled for a moment, managing to prop himself up before Kirishima punched another villain. The second criminal was sent flying, and very quickly landed hard—right on top of the struggling figure of the wounded man.

Kakuji was driven right back onto the spike.

The fight continued, Bakugo blasting his way out of the room, Kirishima in hot pursuit. The video was abruptly terminated.

"There were fifteen villains in that room and more in the next. If Ojiro's was deemed an accident, then Kirishima's should be as well."

"Agreed," All Might stated.

Yoshiichirou nodded. "It's clear that the boy didn't intend to do that."

"I agree, but that other one, what sort of savage is he? He was blasting those villains with enough force to crack the walls." Tsutome turned to the principal. "Did he kill anyone?"

"No," Nezu replied evenly.

"That was Bakugo Katsuki, wasn't it?" Ochi, still looking annoyed. "He inflicted twice as many serious injuries as the rest of his classmates combined. He needs to learn restraint if he's going to become a hero. The last thing we need is... someone so overzealous to make a mistake in the field."

"They were completely surrounded by villains," Aizawa cut in irritably. "Villains who were trying to kill them."

"I understand that," Tsutome pressed. "But what was he even launching them into? How much force was he using? It's another miracle that none of them were crippled for life."

"He was very hostile during my interview..." Tsukauchi admitted. "You should watch him for anger management problems."

Aizawa turned his gaze to the detective. "He has been my student for less than a week. I assure you I'll work on getting him to control himself."

All Might kept his mouth shut. He'd already been on the receiving end of a long conversation about allowing the young man to go all out during his first class.

"Are there any further arguments about what happened to Kakuji?" the principal asked, and quietly let out a breath when the answer turned out to be no.

"Asui Tsuyu?" She nodded, and the detective sat down across from her. She suppressed a "kero," as he pulled out a notepad and introduced himself.

"My name is Detective Tsukauchi, I'm here to discuss what happened after you were teleported to the water zone in the USJ," he said.

She blinked and kept her eyes on him. "What do you want to know?" she croaked.

"Well, start from when you were first teleported. What happened?"

"I was dumped in the lake. I was surprised, but it worked out for me. I had to get to the surface, kero, but then I saw one of my classmates, Mineta, flailing about in the water. I grabbed him, and then I saw someone trying to kill Midoriya."

Tsukauchi grimaced. "How were they doing that?"

"The villain had some sort of fish Quirk. He was swimming fast, his jaws opened up and he had teeth like a shark. I wasn't sure if he'd have been able to bite through Midoriya's side, but I wasn't about to just let him. So I stopped him. Kero."

The detective looked up from his notepad. "Stopped him how?"

"I kicked him in his face."

Tsukauchi blinked. "While underwater?"

She nodded. "Then I grabbed Midoriya with my tongue and springboarded off the villain to get us to the surface."

Tsukauchi continued scribbling. "And then what happened?"

She paused for the first time and seemed to think about her answer. "We found a boat in the water and I put them on board."

A lie? He frowned, "Are you sure? Did anything else happen?" She shook her head, and the air of untruth clung to her.

"I see... what happened after that?"

"I crawled up the ship and we talked about what to do. We figured out the villains didn't know our quirks, so they held back. That gave Midoriya time to come up with a plan. He shot the water with his Quirk to give us a chance to escape. I leaped after him with Mineta, and caught Midoriya with my tongue. Then Mineta started throwing his sticky balls to tie the villains up."

"Was that part of the plan?"

Asui shook her head. "No. He started yelling and throwing them at the water. The villains got launched out of the water when it shot back up, but we were long gone." She paused. "Sir, may I ask you a question?"

The detective frowned, seemingly caught off guard. "Of course. I'll try to answer if I can."

The young heroine in training nodded. "How many of them drowned, kero?" Tsukauchi opened his mouth and then closed it. She kept her eyes on him. "That's why you're really here, isn't it?"

The detective cleared his throat and regained his composure. "What makes you think anyone drowned?"

"I have a water Quirk and I'm training to be a Rescue Hero. When I looked back, the villains were all caught up in a single, huge pile by Mineta's sticky balls. No matter how they rolled some of them would have been stuck underwater."

Tsukauchi was silent for a moment before he closed his mouth with a click. Tsuyu understood.

"Shiogama Aito, age: twenty-seven; Shiogama Ryu, age: thirty, Shachito Sota, age: forty-three; Wokou Niko, age: thirty-one, Kagetaka Yui, age: twenty-five; Kandiru Shun, age: forty. Causes of death: Drowning. Kamaganji Kenichi, age: fifty. Cause of death: immediate untreated crush syndrome death."

All Might refused to look away as the video played.

He failed his students. He knew that, but he had failed Midoriya and Mineta worst of all. He couldn't fault either of them for their actions. Midoriya needed to keep the villains from blocking their escape. Mineta had kept them from pursuing once the waters had calmed. It was likely that neither attack by itself would have been fatal, but the combination of the two had left six people trapped underwater. And the final unlucky soul had been crushed by the yacht that Midoriya had blown out of the water.

It was more people than had ever died by his hands.

They were children. Children! His students! His responsibility! And what had he done? He wasted an entire morning chasing villains that other heroes could have caught and left them defenseless!

And because he had failed they had blood on their hands.

How would they react when they found out? How would any of the students feel? Would they be able to forgive themselves?

Would they be able to forgive him for failing them so thoroughly?

Around him, the discussion wandered and meandered but he couldn't keep track of it. Eventually, he saw that Aizawa was glaring at him so he did his best to focus. "I'm sorry, I was lost in thought, what were you saying?"

Nezu looked at him in the same way he did when giving a lecture, "While it is a tragedy that this happened, the necessity of escape and preventing pursuit made their actions justifiable. Further, the unlikelihood that the incident occurring again would preclude any corrective action."

All Might nodded, "I concur." The words spilled out of his mouth with none of his usual enthusiasm. It wasn't enough. Justifying it wasn't enough. There would be no court, they would face no judgment in the eyes of the law. However, they would be punished in other ways.

A cloud would linger over his students. There was a stigma around heroes who took lives. Heroes were supposed to be better than that. Internships would be fewer and farther between if any were made available. Opportunities would be rarer. Most brands held back from associating with heroes who had taken lives. And then there were villains. Heroes who killed people often had a target painted on their backs. Some were targeted for vengeance alone, others found villains coming after them to build a reputation.

But honestly, just knowing might be enough by itself. His students were children, not professionals, not field experienced. They were raw students and hadn't even gone on internships yet. He had seen the optimism, hope, and enthusiasm on their faces during their first class. How would they feel, when they found out that they had blood on their hands? Would they second guess themselves? Would they find themselves unable to continue? How would Midoriya feel, when he found out that a man had been crushed, or that several people had drowned?

He couldn't. He couldn't allow it. He had already failed his students once, he couldn't do it again.

All Might looked at the rest of the people in the tribunal, prepping to wrap up. "There's something else we have to discuss."

It seemed to catch the majority of participants off guard. Some half-standing awkwardly descended back into their chairs. Nezu looked at him, "And that is?"

All Might swallowed the hard knot at the back of his throat, "Now that the students have been cleared of wrongdoing, I want these proceedings and it's results placed under seal."

Yoshiichirou inclined his head fractionally, "To what end?"

"I do not want these deaths being attributed to the students."

There was a pause as glances were exchanged. Some hesitated, some blinked in confusion. Tsuragamae leaned back in his seat, "I can understand your desire to shelter your students," he said carefully, "but the deaths will be reported as justified."

All Might shook his head, "They are still children. This experience has been traumatic enough, they don't need the stigma of having ended a life."

"But they did-" Tsutome said.

"They died because they were trying to murder children," Aizawa growled, cutting the man off. He stared the prosecutor down, "or are you denying that?"

Mera grimaced, resting his chin in the palm of his hand. "We've managed to keep the deaths quiet for now, but that isn't sustainable. If we wait, people will talk and we won't be able to control how the information is released."

All Might nodded slowly, "We can still classify the coroner reports. Without that, the evidence is sparse." He took a breath, "If it comes out, I will claim responsibility."

There was a moment of silence as the assemblage stared at him in shock and horror, ended when Aizawa snorted derisively, "No one is going to buy that All Might." He leaned back in his seat, "Least of all the students who saw you arrive late."

All Might stiffened, but Aizawa ignored him, "He has the correct solution, but the wrong scapegoat. The solution is obvious. Blame me." He glared at them from between his bandages, "I fought at least forty villains alone before All Might even arrived. Without a quirk or support gear capable of securing that number of villains while fighting off others I had to resort to extreme measures to ensure that I wasn't overwhelmed."

"It would be less disastrous than All Might claiming responsibility," Mera said blandly, and Ochi, still pale from the Number One Hero's offer, nodded quickly. "But are you sure? There will surely be calls for your resignation if the public believes you killed ten people, desperate situation or not."

Nezu glanced at Aizawa and smiled, "I will speak to the parents of the students to explain why he is being kept on. Firing a teacher so determined to protect his students would go against the very nature of our institution."

Tsuragamae and Yoshiichirou looked at each other, unspoken words passing between them before the police commissioner turned to the heroes and gave a single nod to Aizawa. It was agreed. Aizawa sighed, sinking down in his seat, but he didn't miss the way Tsutome frowned.

Author's notes: I start too many series, this one... well, this one should prove interesting. The original idea was based on the ball of people tied up in the water. I remembered an older Simpson's episode where a bunch of people are dropped overboard in a net and Homer becomes uncomfortable when they start grabbing his leg until they stop. And all those people, trapped underwater, if you look at them in earlier scenes, some of them had oxygen tanks. If those slipped out while, say, being thrown about by Midoriya's attacks, they might not have had the time or ability to put them back in their mouths before Mineta tied them up. As for Kaminari? I watched the episodes again to refresh my memory and it seemed like he was shocking the guy Jiro kicked him into for a long time. Enough time to stop two other attackers who got knocked into his ongoing attack. So I went back and counted down the seconds of how long Kaminari shocked that villain (Episode 11, starting between 7:07 and 7:08 and finally ending at 7:35). Oh, and he is not one of the villains shown to be standing back up later on in that scene. The other two deaths were invented purely for this story.

Originally, this was going to be a one shot. It was going to end on a vote to simply hide everything, including disposing of the bodies, ending in a vote in favor without confirming who voted for it and who abstained. The more I thought about it though, the less I believed it would work out. Even putting aside Asui's guess, there would have been too many people involved to hide that many deaths. Lying about how and who killed them is significantly easier.

Also, I now have a section in Darklogic's Discord Server: /25BTet3 join up and you can see what's coming up, the ideas I'm tossing around, and chat if you're interested.