Hagakure whimpered in fear.
Mikumo watched in horror as the pale man brushed his hand on his coat, the dust drifting to the floor, still looking supremely bored.
"The folder."
Hagakure shakily held it out, the pale man gripping it with one finger lifted away.
"Good girl." The pale man slipped the folder into his coat.
Hagakure spoke. "Y-Yes, Mr. Shigaraki."
"Oh, and by the way, good job on picking the room to meet, managed to avoid running into any of the ants on my way."
Staring at the pale man, Hagakure clearly wasn't sure what to say.
The pale man shrugged. "Kurogiri is always saying I should be more supportive of my allies or whatever. Anyways, NPC, run along and do your next task."
Hagakure nodded, her posture and expression showing she was uncomfortable.
The pale man sighed. "What are you waiting for? A quest reward? Go."
With that, Hagakure fled, heading in the opposite direction to the workshop.
The pale man scratched his neck again, almost drawing blood.
Mikumo resisted the urge to jump in and attack the pale man, instead he waited until the classroom was empty, once the pale man had left with the folder.
Slipping inside the window, Mikumo collapsed onto all fours, his breathing fast and shallow.
That man was threatening Hagakure, and her parents, using her to get whatever was in that folder.
Mikumo's fists tightened, he couldn't even go to the teachers, the pale man had made it clear he would kill Hagakure and her parents if things didn't go his way.
Mikumo couldn't put them at risk.
"You wanted to be a hero, didn't you?" Mikumo cried out, yelling at himself. "Save her, save them all, even without a quirk."
Mikumo slammed his fists down on the floor, resolute.
I'll be Shatterproof!
Izuku struggled through the crowd, as it crushed him from every side.
Keeping his eyes focused on Bakugo, Izuku pushed his way towards the blond boy inch by inch. If he could just reach Bakugo, he could use Slingshot to get them both above the crowd.
Izuku felt a sudden tug, as one of his gloves was pulled from his hand.
No, no, this couldn't be happening!
The first three quirks came quickly, filling up his quirkspace to the maximum.
Then, Izuku got his answer on what happened to his quirkspace once he passed his quirk limit.
Izuku's eleventh quirk burnt like fire in his veins, green sparks flickering around his body. Three more quirks came, sending the pain to the stratosphere.
His knees gave way, Izuku dropped to the floor, the stampede swallowing him, he felt a foot crush his hand, a sickening crunch telling him what had happened.
Nearby, Bakugo pushed a student out the way, he couldn't use his quirk in a situation like this, even he knew the collateral damage would be too high.
Yet Bakugo forced himself onwards, towards Izuku's fallen form.
Red flashed through Bakugo's view.
"Oi, Metapod!"
Kirishima, currently using his quirk to stand his ground, Kaminari next to him, looked to Bakugo.
"Bakugo?!"
"Deku-"
"What?!" Kirishima couldn't hear him over the shouts of the crowd.
Bakugo gritted his teeth, pointing to Izuku. "Midoriya's getting tramped, use you shitty quirk."
Kirishima nodded, pushing another student out the way. "On it."
Pushing sideways through the crowd, Kirishima made his way to Izuku, before hardening his back, dropping down and using his body as a shield.
Bakugo growled.
Hang on, you damn nerd!
"Ow!"
"Stop shoving, you dolt!"
"Don't call me that! Fight me!"
"I literally can't."
"Stop pushing you two, I'm gonna fall!"
Tenya found himself slammed against the window, next to Yaoyorozu, in another hallway leading away from the lunch room.
Seeing her opportunity, Yaoyorozu grabbed the window frame, pulling herself onto the windowsill, out of the crush.
"Iida, look." Yaoyorozu pointed out the window.
Tenya followed Yaoyorozu's finger, watching as reporters flooded the grounds, hounding anyone they found.
"We want All Might!"
"Just one quote, we'll leave then."
Shota sighed, resisting the urge to gag that particular reporter, the same one who'd insulted him earlier, with his scarf. "No, if we give you one quote you'll just ask for another."
"No we won't!"
Hizashi leaned across to Shota, whispering into his ear. "These reporters are technically trespassing, you could even say they were villains, you know."
Shota shook his head. "Then they'd just write a load of garbage to get back at us. Let's just wait for the police, unless they get violent."
Hizashi smiled. "Always the voice of reason, aren't cha?"
"With you around, definitely."
"You wound me."
"Good."
"It's just reporters! Please, everyone calm down!"
Yaoyorozu sighed, her voice was lost to the roar of the crowd.
She needed someone with the voice of a foghorn.
"Iida, it has to be you."
Tenya turned his head to look at Yaoyorozu. "Me?"
Yaoyorozu nodded. "Absolutely."
Tenya nodded, feeling the weight of the great responsibility the Vice Class Representative had placed on his shoulders.
What would my brother do? What would Midoriya do?
"Iida!"
Uraraka was struggling to push her way through to him.
"Uraraka, I have a plan!"
"Huh?"
Tenya edged his way through the crowd, reaching out to Uraraka.
"Uraraka, please make me float!"
Uraraka's eyes widened, realising what Tenya planned to do.
"Right!"
Tenya and Uraraka surged forwards, towards each other, their fingertips just brushing.
"There!"
Tenya floated into the air, above the panicking masses.
I need somewhere I can easily be seen.
The sign!
Using his engines, Tenya pushed himself at the emergency exit sign, flipping wildy before painfully slamming into the wall.
"EVERYONE, EVERYTHING IS FINE!"
Chopping the air with his arm, Tenya saw he had the crowd's attention.
"This is just the press! This is U.A., we are supposed to be the representatives of this great institution, act like it! There's nothing to panic about!"
A wave of murmurs passed through the crowd, back into the lunch hall, slowly calming the masses.
Tenya pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose. "Also, could someone please help me down!"
"You rock, Emergency Exit Iida!"
"Thank you, Ashido, but I would really appreciate a ladder!"
Izuku opened his eyes, finding himself standing in his quirkspace, One For All glowing with green and blue light, while threatening red lightning surged all around him.
"Young Izuku."
Turning, Izuku saw a woman, wearing a dark navy, almost black, bodysuit and a red cape. Her hair reminded him of his mother's, it was like seeing someone you could only half-remember.
"W-Who are you? What are you?"
The woman smiled, filling Izuku with the same warmth that All Might's did.
"I am a vestige, the consciousness of a previous holder of One For All, contained within the quirk itself. For now, you can call me Seven."
"Seven, that's not your real name, is it?"
"No, it isn't." Seven paused. "But circumstances require it. They also require another thing. Do not tell Toshi about this."
"Toshi?"
"It's short for Toshinori. You call him All Might." Seven beamed. "He was my student."
Izuku was taken aback. "You're All Might's mentor?! Why wouldn't you want him to know about this?"
Seven sighed. "A day is coming, where a powerful villain will attack Toshi, and his mind. If he knows of us vestiges, then so will that evil man."
"What about me, won't he take it from me then?"
"He will not harm you, not seriously. After all, you are his greatest creation."
"A-All For One?"
Seven nodded.
"He's still alive?"
"Barely, he's just existing. All he wants to do is hurt Toshi." Seven looked at Izuku. "He wants to kill the man who nearly defeated him. None of us before Toshi managed to come as close as he did."
"So All For One hates him for that, he reminded him of his mortality." Izuku paled, feeling the weight of One For All growing heavier. "And I'm guessing I can't tell All Might he's alive either?"
"Yes, I'm sorry to burden you with this." Seven pulled Izuku into a surprisingly strong hug. "All I wanted was to see you smile."
Izuku sniffed, wiping away tears. "No, I'll beat him, I'll save All Might!"
Seven broke away. "I know you will, but first, you need to fix this mess."
Izuku looked to Quirksmith, watching as red lightning shot from it. "W-What's happening?"
Seven placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "I went through this too, as did all holders who possessed a quirk of their own."
"Are you aware of what a Quirk Awakening is? It's when a person's feelings and desires reach a point where their quirk suddenly adapts or evolves to aid them."
Izuku nodded.
"For a holder of One For All this puts strain on the quirk, forcing it to increase in power at an abnormally fast rate. Normally, most people only ever undergo one or two awakenings."
Seven looked to Quirksmith.
"However, when your quirk exceeds the number of quirks it can hold, it has the same effect as an awakening."
"So, the more quirks I copy, the faster One For All increases with power."
Seven nodded. "You must be cautious, if you continue to tax your quirk like this, One For All will become too much for your body to handle."
Izuku shuddered as he remembered All Might's explanation of what would happen if he'd given him One For All before his body was ready for its power.
"What do I do? How do I stop it?"
Seven looked at Izuku. "That is your journey alone, we will speak again soon."
With that, Seven vanished.
Izuku cried out as the pain he'd been feeling before he lost consciousness returned.
Dropping to his knees, Izuku squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the pain as it reached a fever pitch.
Izuku opened his eyes.
"Whatcha doing down there, Izuchan?"
Four year old Katsuki Bakugo hung upside down from the monkey bars by his knees.
Izuku wiped the tears from his eyes. "I-I fell, Kacchan."
Katsuki dropped to the ground, holding his hand out to Izuku. "You shouldn't cry so much, you can't when we're both heroes."
Allowing himself to be pulled up, Izuku hung his head. "My quirk hasn't shown up yet like yours has."
Katsuki lit sparks in his palms, little more than a light show. "So which one of your parents do ya thing you'll get. Your dad's would be pretty cool, you could roast every villain in your path."
Izuku shook his head. "No, I want my mom's quirk, that way I can rescue everyone, like All Might."
Katsuki pounded a fist into his opposite palm. "Yeah, and I'll beat up the villains while you do that, we'll be an unstoppable hero team."
Izuku nodded vigorously. "Y-Yeah, what's your name going to be?"
"Ground Zero!"
"So cool!"
Katsuki grinned at the praise. "What about you, Izuchan?"
Izuku paused, thinking hard, he didn't want to say anything Katsuki was dumb, like Mighty Boy, or All Might Jr.
"I've got it! I'll be Detroit!"
Katsuki laughed. "You're such an All Might fanboy!"
"So are you!" Izuku shot back.
"I'm a fan, you're a nerd!"
"Nerd?" questioned Izuku, tilting his head.
"Yeah, it means someone who knows loads about something." Katsuki explained.
"Then I'm happy to be an All Might nerd!" Izuku beamed. "We're gonna be great heroes!"
"Course we are, Ground Zero and Detroit, we'll be unstoppable!"
Still inside his quirkspace, Izuku dropped to his knees, crying away.
He'd forgotten that day, the day before his mom had taken him to that doctor.
The day before Izuku Midoriya was declared quirkless.
Useless.
Worth less than everyone else around him.
His and Bakugo's friendship hadn't suffered at first. The blond boy had just declared that Izuku would be his sidekick, that he could use his quirk analysis to help him fight the villains.
Those words were the first time Izuku felt like being quirkless wasn't the end of his dream.
But those days came to an end, slowly at first. Bakugo grew distant, but not cruel at least.
The final straw wasn't until Izuku's seventh birthday party. They had been playing Catch the Villain, but Bakugo had taken it too far. His equally emotionally explosive mom had taken him aside and said something to him, no doubt reprimanding him.
After that, Bakugo had gone out of his way to avoid Izuku, he stopped coming over and when Izuku tried going over to his house, the blond boy did his best to ignore him.
It didn't help that after that Bakugo stopped defending him from his classmates. He just sat and watched as they told him he couldn't be a hero.
As they told him he was weak.
Useless.
Deku.
It hurt, but even then things hadn't reached their eventual low. That started in their first year of middle school, when Tsubasa had gone missing.
The winged boy had been the closest thing to an actual friend that Bakugo had had, the only one who could calm him down.
Tsubasa had been one of the crueler ones after Izuku's diagnosis as quirkless, in fact, he had been the one to tell the entire class, his grandfather being the doctor who saw Izuku. But he didn't resent him, how could he?
Around the same time Tsubasa's father suddenly left, marks began appearing on the winged boy's arms, followed by his usual vest swapping for long-sleeved t-shirts.
Everyone had noticed, nobody had said anything.
Not the other kids and not the teachers.
After all, Tsubasa's mother had been the head of the school board at the time, and his grandfather, the one who had told Izuku he was quirkless, was a well respected doctor, pioneering quirk research.
Once Tsubasa vanished, no-one was around to hold Bakugo back, no-one that Bakugo would listen too.
The final straw was in Izuku's second year, Bakugo had gone after a sand villain on the way home from school one day, in the hopes of getting a recommendation for U.A. from it. Izuku had followed, deducing the true nature of the villain's quirk, before the pro hero, Air Jet, had swooped in to save the day.
Something Izuku had done that day had made Bakugo angry and his anger had landed directly on Izuku. It started with Bakugo telling him to give up on his dream of being a hero, telling him he was worthless without a quirk, just like the rest of his classmates had done for almost a decade.
Then the fights had started, at first the green-haired boy had tried to defend himself.
And every time Izuku was the only one who got punished.
Bakugo just walked away scot-free.
The boy with the perfect quirk.
The boy with the free pass.
Izuku felt the anger bubble up again, remembering Bakugo's non-apology.
The pain only got worse.
That's what's fueling it! My anger!
Izuku slammed his fists down on the non-existent floor of his quirkspace.
"What If I want to be angry? I want to hate Bakugo! He made my life miserable for years, and he thinks he can just apologise for the battle trial and everything will be okay?!"
Tears dropped from Izuku's face.
"Why? Why did no-one stop him?" Izuku sobbed. "Was I just a good test dummy to see the growth of his quirk?"
Izuku saw them all, the teachers who punished Izuku when he spoke up, the guidance counselor that claimed he had made it all up for attention.
Izuku wanted to hate Bakugo, with all his heart.
Truly and completely.
But he couldn't.
As soon as it had come, Izuku's anger faded.
He couldn't hate Bakugo, as much as he tried.
How else was Bakugo going to turn out when the people whose job it was to show him how he was supposed to act, behaved like that.
Encouraging children to bully another, just because they didn't have a quirk.
Clenching his fists, Izuku reached a resolution.
Katsuki Bakugo, I forgive you.
From now on, I'll judge you by your present, not your past.
The pain receded, the red lightning dying out.
Izuku stumbled to his feet, reaching out to touch One For All.
"It's stronger. One For All: 105%."
Much more, and it will be too much for my body to handle.
Izuku collapsed.
"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."
Izuku groaned, feeling a hand repeatedly slap his cheek.
"Wake up. Wake up. Wake up."
Izuku caught Bakugo's wrist, stopping him.
"Finally, you fucking nerd."
Before Izuku could realise what was going on he felt himself being pulled up.
"Ka-Kacchan?"
Bakugo grunted. "Who else, nerd?"
Opening his eyes, Izuku saw he was stumbling along towards Recovery Girl's office, Bakugo supporting him.
"W-Why? You hate me?" Izuku's throat felt like it was on fire, his voice croaky.
"I believe you." Bakugo paused. "If this is what your shitty quirk does to you, I can see why you fucking hid it."
Izuku gave a weak smile. "Thank you, Kacchan, no, I mean Katsuki, I mean if you want me to call you that-"
"Call me whatever you want, nerd."
Bakugo was apologising, in his own weird way, not the forced attempt from earlier.
This time, he meant it.
Together, the two boys hobbled down the corridor, Bakugo yelling everytime Izuku nearly tripped him up.
"I-I'm sorry, K-Katsuki!"
"Are you trying to cripple me?!"
"No?"
"When did you get so fucking heavy?"
Izuku squeaked.
Kirishima watched the two go, grinning.
I guess Bakugo isn't all that bad after all.
Izuku listened carefully as Katsuki explained what had happened, the green haired boy mentally translating his profanity-laden diatribe into normal, human speech.
Kacchan, I'm sorry I gave up on you.
Mikumo stepped back into the workshop, his feet moving on autopilot towards his station.
Hagakure's clothes were gone.
Dropping into his seat, Mikumo stared at the costume design he had created for the invisible girl. A pop-up in the bottom corner of the screen announced that the invisibility substance had been extracted successfully.
"What do I do?" Mikumo dropped his head into his hands.
Mikumo, you can be a hero.
Midoriya's words rang in his ears.
Could he?
Mikumo certainly didn't feel like a hero.
"No, I can't think like that. I have to be strong!" Mikumo's fist slammed down on his bench, the sound echoing through the empty workshop.
Finding his resolve, Mikumo closed the notification, returning to the costume design.
Editing metal weave, Mikumo added a second layer underneath, made from a titanium-steel alloy, as opposed to the outer layer's aluminium-steel alloy.
While it would be heavier than the outer layer, the titanium-steel alloy would be more durable, capable of stopping even bullets.
"But it won't be anywhere near as flexible." Mikumo stared at the screen. "Unless…"
Expanding the design, Mikumo altered the titanium-steel layer to be a series of interlocking pieces, capable of sliding over each other.
"There, it will be a bit more restrictive than just one layer, but far more protective."
Adding the invisibility solution to the design simulation, coating each strand of the aluminium-steel and titanium-steel layers with it, Mikumo saw he had some left spare.
Enough for a weapon.
It couldn't be anything large, but it would least give Hagakure some offensive capability.
Pulling up the gauntlet design that he had used for the entrance exam, Mikumo removed the arm section and grapple, leaving only the hand and wrist armor.
Enlarging the size of the wrist armor, Mikumo shifted the miniaturised power source, normally stored in the arm, inside the wrist. Next he added eight small repulsors, altered to emit UV light, in a ring around the wrist cuff, angled back away from the hand.
"That will enhance Hagakure's punches." Mikumo turned his attention to the palm, adding a larger UV repulsor, this time as a weapon.
Double checking the design, Mikumo stared at it.
Mikumo clenched his fists. "I will save you."
Hitting a button, a machine of the back wall sprang into life, coating a strand of titanium-steel alloy in the invisibility solution.
Hagakure watched as Mikumo busied himself creating the costume, his long, curly hair tied back, out of his eyes.
I'm sorry, Mikumo, but you can't save me. I'm already too far gone.
Izuku laid in the bed as Recovery Girl explained his injuries to All Might, in his true form.
She had been less than pleased to see Izuku when he'd turned up with Bakugo, before sending the unharmed boy away.
At least when he told her what had happened she hadn't complained about Izuku having to see her again, well, not too much.
"I've healed the cracked rib and his broken fingers." Recovery Girl paused, looking at All Might. "But he'll have to recover overnight from the strain the quirk overload put on his body, so no quirk usage for at least twelve hours."
Izuku sighed.
Recovery Girl rounded on the teen, tapping his knee with her cane. "You hear? Twelve hours, twenty four if you can manage it."
Izuku nodded, not bothering to speak.
He couldn't tell them the truth anyway.
It made Izuku feel even worse that on his first day as Class President he'd ended up useless while Iida and Yaoyorozu had been forced to pick up his slack.
If only his glove hadn't come off.
But at least it made Izuku's decision easier.
Izuku would quit as Class President and make Yaoyorozu as his replacement, with Iida as the VP. The engine boy had already shown he could do the job.
"Whatever pessimistic thoughts you're having, stop it."
Izuku looked up at Recovery Girl.
"What?"
Recovery Girl sighed. "What happened today wasn't your fault."
Izuku started. "Of course it was, I should-"
All Might interrupted him. "Could you have seen that it was only the press?"
Izuku looked down. "No, I was on the wrong side of the building."
All Might placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder. "It's tough, but as a hero you can't be everywhere at once, no matter as much as you want to be."
Izuku wiped the tears from his eyes. "I just felt so useless."
"I know. But this a burden of a hero, knowing you could have helped, if only you'd been in the right place. It never gets any easier, but we all feel it."
"T-Thanks." Izuku gave All Might a weak smile. "I think."
All Might smiled, before ruffling Izuku's hair. "You're very welcome."
Izuku leaned into the gesture, reminding All Might of a cat.
A big, very green cat.
All Might moved his hand back to Izuku's shoulder. "I want to apologise for last night."
"You were right." Izuku hesitated, wondering if he should tell All Might that All For One was still alive, before remembering Seven's words. "All For One is my father."
All Might was taken aback at Izuku's acceptance of the notion, after his vehement denial the night before.
"And I'm not the only son he had." Izuku looked to All Might. "Mikumo Akatani, he's a quirkless Support student, he never knew his parents, and he looks just like me. It isn't hard to figure it out."
All Might nodded. "I see."
He remembered the boy from the entrance exam, he'd almost managed to make it into the Hero course with his inventions, falling short by only a few points.
Toshinori had noticed the resemblance then but brushed it off a cousin or another relative. But after Izuku's natural quirk had been discovered, All Might had realised then the likely connection between the dark-haired boy and his greatest foe.
No doubt All For One had discarded him for being quirkless, instead focusing his efforts on Izuku, not that he would tell the green-haired boy that, it would only make him feel guilty.
Breaking himself from his thoughts, All Might looked to Izuku. "So, what quirks did you copy? Anything interesting?"
Izuku's eyes shined at the thought of discussing quirks with his idol.
The green-haired boy nodded, realising that Recovery Girl had left at some point.
"I copied eight quirks, Origami, Seed Breath, Variable Mist, Weld, Speed, Wave Motion, Rockfist and then Hardening from Kirishima when he protected me. I've haven't had a chance to test any of them since, you know."
"Recovery Girl would beat you up with that cane of hers."
"Pretty much."
"So what do they do?" All Might"s interest was piqued.
"Er, well you already know about Hardening, you've seen Kirishima use it. Speed is a passive boost to my running speed and reactions, it's not a very large boost though."
"Seed Breath will allow me to fire seeds from my mouth that grow vines where they hit. Variable Mist means I can emit mist made from various compounds from my mouth, but I need to know the chemical formula for it to work."
All Might tapped his chin with his finger. "That Speed quirk, though minor, will be helpful, while the seed and mist ones will be great for capturing villains."
Izuku nodded. "Right! Wave Motion allows for the conversion of vitality into energy that can be discharged as blast waves from the hands, kinda like Bakugo's quirk. Origami sounds really weird, it allows the holder to turn their hands into origami, but I'm not really sure how that works."
"Neither am I." All Might chuckled at the teen's confusion. "The last two?"
"Weld's really interesting, it can merge both inorganic and organic materials on an atomic level, so long as I'm touching them both. The only quirk I can't use is Rockfist, since it's Mutant Class."
All Might continued to think over the quirks Izuku had explained to him.
Izuku spoke. "The first three filled up the remaining quirkspace inside Quirksmith."
All Might didn't flinch, his eyes focused directly on Izuku.
"But the next five made something weird happen, I'll show you."
All Might frowned. "Show me?"
Izuku placed a hand on All Might's arm.
All Might blinked, finding himself in what could only be Izuku's quirkspace, in his muscle form.
Looking around, the No.1 Hero took in the sight of a black void filled with quirks of many colours.
"Tokusei once told me that I was the only person he'd met with a black void as their quirkspace." All Might continued to examine his protégé's quirkspace.
Izuku nodded. "Mine was a white void until you gave me One For All, that must be why."
All Might nodded. "It must. So, what did you want to show me?"
Izuku pointed. "This."
Stepping closer to the center, Izuku indicated a large, green quirk.
"That's One For All, but that isn't the interesting part, this is."
Izuku pointed to a red quirk next to One For All, within it were ten individual quirks. Four more quirks resided outside the red quirk, each connected back to it by a strand of white light.
"The red quirk is Quirksmith, before the quirk I copied today they were contained within it, that's how I determined what my limit was."
"Ten."
"Yeah, but the first three quirks filled it up, when the other five quirks joined them, Quirksmith was overstretched, that put the strain on my body."
"Until Quirksmith cracked, like an egg, and five quirks leaked out into the outer quirkspace where One For All and Quirksmith are."
"Five? One. Two. Three. Four." All Might paused. "Where's the fifth?"
"The quirks that leaked out were the five oldest quirks I have, Slingshot, since it's merged from Zero Gravity and Attraction, as well as Heal, a denatured version of Attraction, Quirkspace and Explosion."
All Might nodded along, only vaguely understanding what his successor was staying.
"Denatured?"
"Oh, that's what happens when I try to alter a quirk too much, it just kind of falls apart into junk data. The denatured Attraction just dispersed and joined the rest of the junk data in the void when it leaked out."
All Might looked pensive. "So you can alter One For All?"
Izuku shook his head. "No, I can't alter compound quirks like One For All or Slingshot, I might be able to denature them…"
All Might's eyes widened in alarm.
Izuku panicked. "B-But I'm d-definitely not going to try that, of course!"
"Thank goodness." All Might released a sigh of relief.
Izuku smiled, before it suddenly faded. "There's something else I need to tell you."
"Go ahead."
"One For All has gotten stronger, when Quirksmith was overtaxed, it strained that quirk-"
"And made it stronger."
Izuku looked to All Might, before they both returned to the physical world.
All Might took stock of his surroundings, before speaking. "My master told me that quirk strain would make One For All's stockpile grow rapidly, but I never paid it much mind since I was-"
He stopped, realising what he'd been about to say.
Izuku tilted his head in confusion.
All Might made a decision. "I never paid it much mind since I wasn't born with a quirk."
"You were quirkless?!"
"Shhh!"
Izuku's cheeks flushed. "S-Sorry."
"It's fine. Yes, before my master passed One For All onto me, I was quirkless."
"Is that why One For All doesn't hurt you when you use it? Because you didn't have a quirk?"
All Might shook his head. "No, but One For All was much weaker then, since I was the first truly quirkless holder of the power, I relied on it fully, while my predecessors used their own quirks as well."
"Since I received it, One For All's strength has roughly doubled."
"Woah." Izuku looked at his hero, admiration shining in his eyes.
All Might coughed nervously. "Well, I have used it an awful lot, but considering your training both before and after receiving One For All, your body could withstand 115% percent without your limbs, well-"
"Exploding off my body?" Izuku offered.
All Might nodded, before placing a hand on Izuku's shoulder, seeing the teen stifle a yawn.
"For now, let's not worry about One For All and all that. Just get some rest, you've been excused from your afternoon classes."
Izuku nodded sleepily, making Iida the new class rep could wait till the next morning.
"We'll work on your new quirks tomorrow after school, how's that sound?"
"Great, I look f-forward to it…"
Izuku was asleep, the strain from his quirk sending him out like a light.
All Might smiled, true and genuine. "This kid."
"This certainly wasn't natural."
Nedzu regarded the crumbled remains of the U.A. Barrier.
"Aizawa, Yamada, did you see the moment the reporters entered?"
Aizawa shook his head while Yamada crossed his arm in the shape of an X.
"We were on our way to the staff room when we heard the alarms." Aizawa shifted his scarf.
"Yeah, the reporters were already in by the time we made it here." Yamada added.
Nedzu nodded. "I see, considering the fact all the cameras facing this spot failed at that same time, we can assume this was planned."
Scratching his furry cheek, Nedzu stepped forward.
"But why they did it is the real question."
Aizawa and Yamada looked to Nedzu.
"The person who instigated this, were they giving us a warning, or did they slip in, with the confusion as their cover."
Nedzu looked up.
The metal U.A. sign on the gate had half crumbled away.
"Or perhaps, both."
"Calm down, Tomura."
Tomura Shigaraki sighed, stopping his pacing and looked to the speaker, behind the bar. The man was tall, his head and hands made of purple mist, dressed in a shirt and waistcoat.
"Sensei should have responded by now, Kurogiri."
Kurogiri placed the glass he was wiping down on the bar.
"Tomura, you gave him the intel on the U.A. staff schedule and Hagakure's files on her fellow students only an hour ago." Kurogiri gave the pale man a piercing look. "Master will analyse it and assign additional resources for tomorrow's operation when and as he sees fit."
Tomura wasn't satisfied, he itched to scratch his neck, but he knew Kurogiri would just get upset about it.
A screen on the wall flickered into life, showing a man in black, metal mask, covered in pipes.
"Tomura."
A raspy voice came from the speaker.
"Sensei." Tomura took a seat.
"I have read the intel, the Hagakure girl did a good job, not only did she hack the U.A. database, but apparently she copied the work of a fellow student, someone with a hobby for quirk analysis."
Tomura rested an elbow on the bar. "But you're not going to tell me what quirks the brats have, are you?"
Kurogiri shot Tomura a look, the pale man rolled his eyes.
"Originally, no, I wasn't." The raspy man paused. "But the circumstances have changed, this class is strong, stronger than I've seen in a long time."
Tomura's interest was piqued.
"As such, I will grant you additional intel and resources. You will be allotted three of the good doctor's Nomu, two Alpha-series, and the Omega-series I have already given you."
Tomura smirked. "The Anti-Symbol of Peace."
"Yes. You will also have access to Project Geminati." The raspy man coughed, the others waiting while he recovered. "Type-2, Type-3 and Type-11 are at your command."
"What about the brats?" Tomura questioned.
Images of three teenage boys appeared on the lower half of the raspy man's screen.
"These three students pose the majority of the danger in the class. Shoto Todoroki, quirk - Half-Hot Half-Cold, the son of the Number 2 Hero, Endeavor, he'll be well trained. Katsuki Bakugo, quirk - Explosion, he scored the highest in the entrance exam anyone has since All Might took it, with only villain points."
"And the last one?" Kurogiri inquired.
"Izuku Midoriya, quirk - Quirksmith."
Tomura frowned. "Quirksmith?"
The raspy man replied. "When he physically touches someone he permanently copies their quirk, so long as he hasn't already copied it. He can also manipulate and alter the quirks he copies."
Kurogiri and Tomura stayed silent.
"Outside of All Might, this boy is the most dangerous target you will face tomorrow." The raspy man smiled. "Tomura, I want you to recruit him to our side, bring him home."
Tomura spoke. "And if I can't?"
"Kill him."