Okay, all. Chapter two!

Got to admit, this is a hard story to write. The level of quality of the first chapter... WHOOO! I still get blown away every time I read it. A large part of why this took so long was that I was trying to keep to that same level.

Not sure if I managed it, but this is good, and it is done. Enjoy!

Shoto Izawa was having a very stressful year, far more than any other to date. Why couldn't he get another class of useless people, like he did last year, so he could kick them all out? That would have been MUCH easier! Instead, he got one raging pervert and two closet perverts, eleven people with mental issues (a narcissist, three mildly traumatized people obsessed with becoming strong enough, a person with barely controlled violence and anger management issues and his two sadistic bootlickers who wouldn't even be here without Bakugo's insistence, two cowards, one social, the other regular [the narcissist again], an emo, one person with on-record issues with stress and obsession to the point of nervous breakdown, and the Problem Child with no quirk, who he literally had NO idea where to even start on), five girl-next-doors, and a mixed bag of POTENTIALLY trainable people with next-to-nothing really interesting about them.

Oh, sure, they all had HEAPS of potential, if they every got that far. Other than that, this class was shaping up to be like his first, last, secret, only, and eternal girlfriend Ms. Joke: HIGH-MAINTENANCE. Actually, the only issues he had with Ms. Joke, was her jokes, and the fact that she was fixated on losing the 'Ms.' part of her name, but that was more than enough to send them on ANOTHER 'break'. But he digressed.

Actually, no he didn't! He NEEDED a FUCKING BREAK from these DAMNED KIDS! The worst part was, most of their problems were ACTUAL PROBLEMS, not teenage bitching dressed up as issues. The perverts and the narcissist had MASSIVE self-worth issues; the emo literally both needed the dark for his power, yet couldn't control it in the dark; the three traumatized ones were a horrible home-life, a massive family legacy putting pressure on him to succeed, and a crippling failure during a villain attack that made them ashamed, respectively; the Mental Patient had actually been seeing a MAJOR ISSUE driving her best friend to the point of complete metal breakage, but no-one had believed her or been willing to help; the cowards were a bullying issue and a concern that they weren't good enough (a bit bitchy, but understandable in the modern high-stress, high stakes society); and the GNDs and the mixed bag all had potential, though it was going to take some work to draw it out. All in all, trouble, but it should be worth it. No, it was the remaining four that were trouble.

This year's recommended students actually ended up being all-male this year, which was odd, but not horrible. One of the others (Stress Girl) would have been the female rec, but she wanted to prove herself, so they ended up with two guys instead after the rec testing. The real problem there, was that one of the two (Anger Issues) insisted that his "side-kicks" get in on his recommendation as well. Given that the rec came from All Might, the school had assumed that this was what he wanted, only to find out, AFTER they sent the acceptance letters, that he wanted no such thing. Add to that the fact that the boot-lickers were cruel, vicious, and loved to egg Bakugo on in his beating of others, this trio promised to be trouble. Unfortunately, they had what it took to make it so far, so he couldn't kick them out until they crossed a line, which they WOULD do. Izawa just hoped it wasn't something that would cause permanent issues.

This trio, however, paled in comparison to the problem child. Self-worth issues, mental issues, aggression issues, MASSIVE childhood trauma, home-life issues from a dead-beat dad and a vegetable mother, trauma from losing many loved ones to villains, an international criminal record, a national criminal record, mild kleptomania (he tended to return the stuff, but he still had trouble keeping his hands to himself), MASSIVE martyr complex, possible berserker rage, some suicidal issues, EDD (Emotional Disassociation Disorder: he forces himself not to feel in order to avoid crippling anxiety and anger; but, in so doing, cuts himself off from healthy fear and positive emotions like happiness or guilt), and a handful of other personal issues makes this kid crazier than almost every pro alive and a majority of Super Villains. On top of that, he is the single-most effective support-gear designer and producer alive, the head of Dragas corp., which is just BARELY legal, and has ties, large ties, to the underworld. To top it all off, he lives under a bridge (which one cycles randomly, due to bursts of paranoia) as rarely as he leaves his office/forge, and one of the people in the class is his ONLY childhood friend (who he believes he drove insane), and the sadistic trio are his worst childhood bullies. Just for fun, he is also able to annihilate, single-handedly, at least seventy-five percent of the people in the world, no issue, and this is WITHOUT A QUIRK!

So, yeah, he needed a break already. Not to mention his rhythm kept getting thrown off. Kick-out day, Deku convinced him to NOT kick him out if he didn't do his best; battle trial, Deku's opponents instantly get sent to the infirmary instead of being a good object lesson to the others; in class, MASSIVE row over class leadership started by Katsuki and his bookends; later in the week, break-in; and now today, actual enemies invade the USJ. Actually, that was THREE breaks in the schedule. 1.) No All-Might, 2.) Villain invasion, and 3.) Problem Child. He would say more on that subject, but again, where to FUCKING BEGIN! Acknowledging friends amongst the invaders; bargaining with enemies; sending enemies to join with hostages; talking to enemies and naming connections with enemies of enemies; attempting to negotiate; permitting withdrawal of enemy forces; SUPPLYING SOLDIERS FOR THE FUCKING BREAK-IN; letting his guard down; getting involved in a macho competition with one enemy, ESPECIALLY while multiple hostiles were still on the field; excessive application of force to an enemy; and, finally, permitting, without contest, active and healthy hostiles to leave while PLAYING TUG-OF-WAR with a TELEPORTER over the DOWNED BODY OF AN ENEMY!

Honestly, Eraserhead wanted to kick him out, and probably send him to jail. The problems were, he was essential to the hero side, to the point the hero side COULD NOT let him be turned into an enemy, AT ANY COST, and he performed perfectly. Seriously, that last one was the worst. If he was a screw-up, they could boot him, but he pulled it off perfectly, and his reasoning was spot on, regardless of the fact he broke multiple guidelines, rules, and FUCKING LAWS!

He needed a break. And a drink. Or three.

All Might sat in his office, listlessly looking out the window. Here he was, the Symbol of Peace, working at U.A. to bring hope to another generation; but, how could he? He had no hope to bring!

He hadn't always been like this, of course. Once, he had been burning with zeal and life, desperate to bring about an age of peace! Yet, now, he knew. It was FUTILE!

Life was NOT better! Crime was sixty percent lower in Japan than its nearest competitor (England), yet people still went out of their way to do horrible things! His master had dedicated her LIFE to saving people, yet she got murdered and her son turned into an abusive man that died in a freak villain attack. And Gran Torino? A man that had dedicated himself to helping others? He was wasting away, a mere shadow of his old self.

Even the students couldn't bring hope to him. Each promising face, he knew, would soon be another corpse, another funeral he would have to attend, and that was if he was lucky. If he wasn't they would… turn. That was always bad. The worst, really. To see the eyes of those you had trained, the ones you had put so much time and effort into, turned on you in anger, jealousy, hate. Or worse, greed, lust, or envy. Always a burden, never a gift. Each child he taught was another chance for things to go bad, each one a potential future disappointment or grief. And those that weren't either of the previous? They were the ones with NO potential. The worthless ones. A fat lot of comfort that was.

He sighed into his had again. Why did he think this was a good idea, again? To find a successor? Sure, yeah, find another teen to set up to fight the unkillable, immortal, super-powerful cripple. That sounded like a good idea… NOT! What was he supposed to do, say 'Here kid, this will make you likely to die against someone even I couldn't beat, let's start teaching you how to toss a person in a wheelchair into a volcano."? That would go over well! He was just so… wrung out. Chance after chance missed, hope after hope destroyed, only one true student, and he was no longer willing to talk over the successorship issue. What was he supposed to do? What COULD he do?

All his work, and all of it would disappear with him. Worse, when he left, every hero that relied on him would be exposed, unable to continue due to the Symbol of Peace being gone. It had started already. With the decrease in performance he had been suffering in later years, crime was slowly and steadily creeping its way back up. In the end, though, the thing he felt the worst about was how much of a failure he felt.

His teacher was dead, his foe was not; his only apprentice not only no longer was willing to talk with him, but was pessimistic and fatalistic; he didn't have a successor, nor was he any closer to finding one, quirkless people were still treated like trash (that had actually gotten WORSE), crime wasn't gone, and his existence as 'the Symbol of Peace' had encouraged laziness, corruption, and complacency amongst his coworkers! Even now, there were more squabbles about which female hero had the best ass than there were good plans on how to improve the next generation! Not to mention, with all the power and abilities running around, not to mention the boost the sciences had gotten as a side-effect of quirks, many problems like pollution and littering weren't even close to being solved despite YEARS of talk about them! It was MADDENING!

His fist hit the desk, breaking it and scattering papers. Why couldn't he do anything right?! All this time, all this effort, and not a single thing to show for it! True, he had saved some lives. But what hero hadn't?! He had set out to change the world, damn it! WHAT WAS HE MISSING?! WHAT HADN'T HE TRIED?! HE HAD SPENT YEARS TRYING TO FIX THIS, AND HE WAS NO CLOSER TO GETTING ANYWHERE! HOW WAS HE SUPPOSED TO FACE GRAN TORINO, DAVID SHIELDS, HELL, EVEN MELISSA…

At that thought, he calmed down. Melissa. His goddaughter. That, that was one of the greatest regrets he ever had. How was he supposed to act around her? She was quirkless. That was the first thing on everyone's mind when they thought of her. Not, she is brilliant; not she is beautiful, not she is the daughter of David Shields even. Quirkless. That was all she would ever be in the eyes of the world. He tried SO HARD to make her life better. The entire I-Island project was designed to give her a home, and she would be kicked out as soon as her father was gone. After all, no-one without a quirk was aloud on the Island. It would be a weakness, and exploitable loophole in their perfection. All Might sighed. Another place at which he failed.

Oh, the island was quite advanced; impressive even. But the level of bigotry shown there, and the recent tsunami of politics and shady dealing were only half of the problem. Melissa still didn't have a home, a safe place. She was still exposed, still alone.

All Might smiled. Long ago, he had wanted children of his own, a dream ended by the severity of the damage he took from All for One, but Melissa had been his hope. And he failed her. He could save her mother, he couldn't get her her father's attention, and he hadn't made a safe home for her for when he and her father were gone. What could he do?

He sighed again. and then again a few minutes later. Truly, he had failed. With a huff, he started picking up the papers he had scattered earlier, glancing through them as he did. Disciplinary action for young Bakugo, four for his two 'friends', pervert report on Mineta Minoru, Class 1-B report on a kid being an arrogant ass, AND he had a copying quirk, better keep an eye on that one… Report about a metal-head and a stone boy having a manliness competition… sexual tension, maybe. Who was he to judge! Heh, a quirkless boy in the school, how drole. What class was he in. Class…

Class 1-A? Really?

No, that couldn't be!

Confused, All Might got up and, with that particular file in hand, made his way towards the principal's office, reading as he walked.

Age sixteen, time in African mines and England underworld… honorable mention from Brittan? After the crimes he committed? Sure, they were all stunt robbery, but still, he stole from the Queen… MULTIPLE TIMES! You didn't mess with the royal family… not since the 2090's. All Might shivered. Scary scepter.

First place in the entrance exam? Easily handling the zero-pointer? No this had to be a prank! All Might froze as he read the next line. The boy had gotten a higher score than his? That was… IMPOSSIBLE! At least, for anyone who wasn't already a trained pro!

All Might shuffled the papers into order and started walking seriously. Something was going on here, and he wanted to know what! Thankfully, he knew just the… animal. Person? Animal/person? He knew just who to go too.

Sadly, he would never make it.

'Alert! Alert! Intruders in the USJ! Villains have infiltrated U.A.! All available staff, report to the staging area. I repeat, all available staff, report to the staging area!

He froze, then took off in a burst of speed. He might have no hope, but he WOULD do what was in front of him!

Less than twenty minutes after he got the signal, he was in the USJ, a fast speed, especially for him after his daily limit was up. He burst through the doors, ready to defend his people, only to find… nothing bad. No enemies, barely any unknowns, and what seemed to be a humorous moment as a boy was holding up what appeared to be a giant black-skinned bird-man with its brain exposed, proclaiming he would "keep him and hug him and call him Mister Squishy." A mere beat later, the rest of the pros that taught showed up, and announced their presence, but All might was frozen. The kid was… broken. Hurt. Each breath he exhaled was full of pain, his eyes hiding the weight of the world worse than Atlas, each step he took worse than Sisyphus, and he longed for acceptance worse than Tantalus… yet All Might could see it. HIS EYES STILL HAD HOPE! How could one so hurt…

Was he wrong?

Was their hope?

He stood their frozen, staring at the Quirkless, and didn't move. Not when the police arrived, not when everyone left, not when night fell. What could this mean? Was there hope? And how could one so… hurt, so ruined, have hope.

Suddenly, his fists clenched, and his eyes started to glow. Gradually, and aura flared around him, and the surroundings started to quake. The concrete he was standing on shattered like mild ice, and the ceiling, some three HUNDRED feet away, started to crumble, letting the moonlight in. Every hero in Musutafu started to shiver under the pressure, and villains just started to run or cower. Even the citizens, less attuned to such things, started to feel the air grow heavy, and, under a certain bridge, one pair of green eyes glowed as they snapped in the direction the force was emanating from. All this was unimportant to the hero as he grew to a size large than any other under the force of one thought. WHAT had happened, WHO had happened to that poor boy? And how much longer would they live while All Might himself hunted them?

In an office near the exact middle (but not EXACTLY in the middle) of UA, the staff's most paranoid member contemplated the day's events. True, things were not QUITE to Plan, but there was hope for the future, now more than ever!

He smiled to himself. The Plan. An idea of a group of scientists to greedy and moronic to truly even comprehend it. Once, years ago, he had been a mere pawn, an experiment for them. Now, however, their dreams were overtopped by his own, their plans supplanted by his Plan. Truly, revenge was sweet; and what greater revenge was their than stealing your enemy's precious treasure, then one-upping it so badly no-one every even noticed the original.

He sighed as he poured himself a drink (a rare pleasure, saved only for special bad days, good days, or nostalgic days. It didn't pay to let your guard down, after all.) and thought of his own naïve past. Once, he had intended nothing but death and chaos wherever he could go, using his unique powers, enhanced physique, and VASTLY underestimated intelligence to crush, slaughter and destroy. Those had been dark days, days where his mind so closely resembled that of his captors. Then he had heard them talking, talking about their own Plan. Honestly, their own master work was so shoddy it didn't deserve the capital letter, but still, that was their view, their vision. A world where anyone could use their quirks freely, and the strong ruled. A moron's utopia, to be sure, but give a man power, and you will soon see what and who he truly is; and that is exactly what the era of quirks had done; the disastrous results spoke for themselves. Leave aside the violence and death; the bigotry alone was enough to make one want to scrap the world and start over! He had scoffed at the idea of it being a better world. A world for thugs and cowards, maybe. That was when he began his own plan.

Less than a year later, he got a shock. His heightened (and ever-growing) senses let him eavesdrop on a meeting happening half a building away. The top echelon of the organization that was 'building' him and his… kind were discussing their current status and goals, and he had been thrilled at the chance to learn how his plan surpassed the people he was going to destroy. What he heard, however, revealed to him that, not only was his idea NOT better, it was the EXACT SAME! Worse, it was actually SMALLER, as his plan was for this 'company' only, and theirs was for the whole world! Shocked, this had knocked him into deep introspection. What did he want? What was the right Answer?

Finally, six months later it occurred to him. There was no Answer! Or, to be more accurate, no ONE answer. He needed to pursue that at which he excelled. He was a strategist! Ergo, he would strategize. But no mere strategy; no, that would not do! He would be the best! He would reach the highest heights! And it would start with the downfall of his enemies!

Yes, in the end he destroyed them. They had needed to be destroyed, after all. Some even died at his hand. Some he wanted to kill. What made this different from his initial plan? Why did he do this? Easy. They were a detriment and a flaw. Anything your enemy wants, unless it is bad for him, don't give him! And so, he hadn't. No more life, no more resources, and no more pawn. Those that died were the ones with the quirks to make the experiments possible, and the rest were left alive for the police. Well, most of the rest. Suicide and backstabbing was a thing. Still, he was free, and a 'hero'.

The strategist chuckled again. Hero. Villain. What… childish titles. Oh, the position was real, as was the code, but these were… minor things. A hero was the one who saved the day. Not from what, or who; no asking of how or why. Very few people even cared when or where! No, he just… did. Day saved? Hero!

As for villains? Even worse! Malleable. Heroes COULD kill, villains could not. Heroes could use strategy and cunning, and be thought of as intelligent. Villains who did, however, were manipulative or cheating. There was MUCH a hero could do that would count as 'acceptable force' (look at Endeavor!), but if a 'villain' broke so much as a tree branch, it was excessive violence! Honestly, the system was FAR to skewed towards the popular. And don't even start on the effects of 'cuteness' or 'hotness'!

He shuddered. Fucking fangirls.

Still, it was the position of hero that got him the angle he needed. Champion after champion raised, foe after foe defeated. And to this date, he was still seen as 'just a principal'. How many perfectly selected, meticulously groomed candidates had he produced? And how many died by accident or carelessness? Less than 2%? Must be luck!

But recently, about four or five years ago, he had come to realize that, while his Plan was far too large for the average person, or even the higher-grade strategists that were out there, it was getting to be too small for him. Not to say that he intended to scrap or reverse his current plan, oh no! It just… needed expanding.

Up until now, he had been focused on the functionality and survival of his charges, and the building up of Japan. That, he had down pat. Now, however? It was time for a paradigm shift. The world needed to learn that things were not the way it thought they were, and what better place to start, then a quirkless pro hero?

A wave of intent flashed across the office and beyond, momentarily causing his hair to stand on end before he forced himself to relax, then smile. That was the feeling of the next piece falling into place. All Might needed to wait at the top, for Deku to come and knock him off. The Symbol of Peace was the top of his previous plans, a being unconquerable from beginning to end. Now he needed a Symbol of Hope, the Eye of the Storm, a being unable to win, but who does anyway.

He smirked to himself. A mere word in the ear of a man, who knew a guy, who knew a guy, who talked to All Might once a week when he went to get coffee. That had been all it took to turn All Might from glorious to depressed, from hopeful to despairing. Just what the doctor ordered. After all, to have hope, you need something to hope for. Peace was the old wish, now the new one is purpose. All Might had no purpose once Peace had been obtained, and he needed to KNOW it, and that was that! After that? This year or next was when he was supposed to have hope given to him in the form of a successor, then an exceptional class. Deku showing up was pure luck, but there was a young man who couldn't leave his class in its current shape, and his proxy in class 1-B (crazy as she was) would drive her class forward, and that was all there was to it. Hope had come! Or, at least, he smirked to himself, it will in the next three to ten years. For the rest of the world, anyway.

As for the reason he felt things were inproving? What were the three main hero archetypes? Hot, powerful woman, the Saintes or Succubus; powerful, brash man, the Maverick or Hollerer; and the strong, quite knight, the Tower Shield or Gentle Giant. The first… eh. Kinda fanservice, really. Oh, the women deserved respect, but the archetype lacked… something. A real substance, perhaps. The third? No-one is pure. No giant is purely gentle. Never. The second?

Three days earlier:

The young girl sat across from him, fidgeting. HE smirked to himself as he analyzed her. She wasn't unsure, she knew what she was going to say. Her nervousness was because she thought you were going to react badly. Mental health issues related to her believing Izuku Mydoriya was killed by a bully in gradeschool. Bully was abrasive, but had a great quirk. Bully was in the class with her. Katsuki Bakugo, All Might's potential successor and problem child extrodinare. Girl had a spine, but had too many issues to bring it out. This meeting was her bringing it out. Anger lines on face, she meant someone harm. Bakugo. She wanted to hurt…

No, not hurt.

The principle smirked. Now wasn't THAT interesting.

"What can I help you with, Miss Yaoyorozu? I trust your classes have not caused you any… relapses? Or are you planning on… trying a different course?"

Her anger flared. The hero course was a sensitive subject. Protective parents, yes, but she wasn't the rebellious sort, so that wasn't it. Bakugo related? No, Mydoriya related. Oh, how sweet! She was trying to keep a childhood promise to the friend she thought was dead, but that was in the same class as her! This was both cavity-inducing sweetness and drama gold! He couldn't wait for the reveal! Would Mydoriya return her feelings? Had he found someone else abroad? And what would happen to the villainous Bakugo, the wedge driving them apart? Would one of them snap and… remove him? God, this is why he loved this school! It was a lot of work, to be sure, but with his fast cognition and the state-of-the-art surveillance system, this place was better than any tv show on the air! Actually, the rat padded his own pocket by making rom-coms, soaps, and other 'low-brow' tv shows based of real-life people. And most of them were so easily embarrassed, they would NEVER own up to it! The rest, as a general rule, were too odd to care.

Anyway, back to the show!

The young girl collected herself. "I… am NOT going to change courses. Therein lies the problem. If I, and a certain other classmate of mine, stay in the same class… I might kill him."

Teaching moment! Frowny face, I choose you!

Precise angling of the eyebrows and corners of the mouth for maximum seriousness, but with no judgement; Careful focus on the target, but not staring enough to be creepy; strict posture. All things needed to keep her attention on his seriousness. "Miss Yaoyorozu, I know that some of your classmates can be… difficult, and that you are used to a less stressful environment, but that does NOT give you the right to judge others unfairly. After all, any classmate of yours is hardly the only one with issues, am I right? You should be more open to them improving under our care, no matter what Mr. Mineta, or any other student, does."

The Girl flinched as if zapped, then blinked as her anger drained away in confusion. Good, rational is better. You will learn this on your own, with time. "Mr… no, Minoru is a bit scummy, but he means no real harm… yet. I will be keeping an eye on him, just to be safe, but my concern is in another area altogether. If you have read my transcript, you should know I have a history with one of the people in my class, correct?"

Ah, the poor lamb that she could lead him and take authority in the conversation. What a dear! Flip card!

"Indeed, more than one. Could you be more specific?"

Miss Yaoyorozu flinched again. "More than one? Who?"

The principal chuckled, shaking his head. "Your personal life is none of my concern. If you don't recall them… well, it WAS a matter of circumstance, mostly, as I have heard it. Never mind. Who are YOU talking about?"

The girl frowned. "In my grade school years, I had the misfortune of sharing a class with… Katsuki Bakugo. As you know, at the end of my junior high schooling, I had a nervous breakdown. That was because of… what… that… boy… did to…" she stuttered to a stop, almost crying, then picked back up, "someone I was… someone I knew. The results were that my… acquaintance vanished, and I broke down trying to find him. I still don't know what happened. I am not sure I will be able to keep my calm while being forced to… interact with that… person. He cost…" she bit her lip, almost crying again, and Nezu pushed a box of Kleenex to her, which she missed. Finally, he cleared his throat.

"Miss Yaoyorozu, I understand your struggle, but I cannot do anything about it at this time." He held up his hand to stall her protests. "To start with, there is no proof. Rest assured, I and the staff will keep an eye on you Bakugo while he his here, but he got in on a recommendation from All Might himself! Now, All Might is NOT perfect, but he is a pretty good judge of character." He wasn't. Too trusting by half. "As such, and given the fact that it has been four years, and his record is clean, I recommend you give him a chance. I am not saying that you need to forgive him, or even be cordial to him, but you must recognize that you BOTH have changed since then. So, how about this: you be… passive toward this boy, the staff will keep an eye on him, and, for as long as you stay in 1-A alongside him, I will investigate your missing friend.

She had accepted, of course. With the promise of him, the smartest 'man' alive, looking for the 'missing' Izuku Midoriya was too much of a draw. And it, was needed of course.

Nezu smiled to himself. Yes, it was needed to see to it the loud-mouthed maverick would go the way it was meant to go… not at all. After all, while someone charging ahead was a good thing as long as it was needed, and the ability to bend the rules was needed sometimes, neither of those things belonged in an architype.

Under an overpass, a greenette shrugged to himself as the wave of bloodlust cut out, turning back to getting Mr. Squishy snuggled in. He had seen something in the being's eyes when he first saw it, the same feeling he had had all those years ago. Someone was in there, and they were about to break. To become… less. As someone who had been there… he couldn't leave him behind. Yes, knock him unconscious; his controller had been right there, after all. But leave him behind, to go through that soul-crushing process? Nah. That was one of the few reasons he had chosen to become a hero: to make sure that didn't happen to anyone on his watch. Death was better.

He sighed as he patted his new pal. "That should do it, Squish, old boy. Tomorrow we'll see about some necessities for you, then trying to teach you normal stuff. Let's see what happens. Eh?"

The beast grunted, then leaned back to rest. Yes, Izuku decided, Nomu Squishy would be his first save of his hero career.

But he wouldn't be the last.

He swore on his mother.