Eshua City wasn't too far of a commute for Deku. Aside from his quick detour to the Heights Alliance to grab his hero uniform, it took little time to reach the outskirts of the city. Of course, as a hero, he didn't make a beeline straight there.

He stopped at several villages and neighborhoods and lent a hand if he saw villain activity on his way over or if someone needed some help with something else. He helped two young teenagers get to the roofs of their houses to fix something, snatched a getaway car full of two-bit criminals, and managed to help lift an 'I' beam for a construction crew. Of course, he would always keep it quick and not stick around for any pictures or answer any questions.

As he moved toward the city, he noticed some significant changes.

Several buildings along the way were boarded up and fenced off from the public. Graphiti depicting the symbol of the Paranormal Liberation Front and the League of Villains would line their walls. He spotted one building with several open windows, and through them, you could see the faint glow of a trashcan fire.

Deku recognized some of these buildings. They used to be hero agencies before they shut down due to their heroes retiring. With society turning its back on a majority of heroes, the pros had no choice but to disappear from the public so they could weather the storm. Tomura Shigaraki and Dabi successfully brought a hurricane into their lives, and the Eye was nowhere in sight.

The Symbol of Peace sighed as he passed over an abandoned building and reached his destination: the shopping plaza in the middle of Eshua City. The young Symbol of Peace touched down in the plaza where there weren't that many people around. Stepping into the public eye, the world saw Deku for the first time.

And like he had hoped, he caught no one's attention.

Deku checked his phone and found a message he had received during his flight over. It was an address to where Tsukauchi and other law enforcement were waiting. Turning on a heel, Deku made his way over to the site.

Luckily for him, the site wasn't too far away. The crowds of people that would normally populate the plaza were thin enough for him to navigate without any issues. However, some people pointed and gawked at him as he walked, making him feel a little self-conscious.

Of course, these looks were not of awe. One of the civilians walked up to him and stopped him in his tracks. "We don't need you here, hero!" The man yelled in his face.

"You probably caused this so you can look good saving us!" A woman yelled behind the young hero.

"You're all liars!"

"Get lost, zero!"

"Why don't you just retire and save us all the pain!"

As the outcries from the people continued, Deku sighed and continued his journey. "This is only the past...my past. Everything changes in two years..." he thinks to himself.

Deku powered through the chaos and reached the office building. Most of the structure remained intact, except for the front door. The double-glass doors that revealed the lobby was smashed by the box truck. Police officers surrounded the scene, keeping reporters and civilians away from the wreckage. As he got closer, the Symbol of Peace spotted a very familiar large, orange blob.

Deku leaped into the air and used Float to make it to the police barricade. He flashed his Hero ID to the officer, and he motioned the young hero to continue through, earning some protests from the civilians.

He touched down behind Fat Gum and pocketed his ID. He tapped the BMI Hero and cleared his throat. "Fat Gum! It's been forever!"

The large hero turned with a confused look on his face. He looked down at Deku, who was flashing his bright smile. "Uhhh...sorry, but have we met?" He wondered.

Deku smirked at the BMI Hero. "The Shie Hassaikai Raid, remember? I was the little green guy up at the front," he said.

Fat Gum scrunched his brows together, trying to remember the raid. Deku's smirk stayed as he watched the hero's right hand wiggling around, showing that he was piecing it all together.

Finally, the lightbulb in his head switched on. "DEKU! Oh my God, I completely forgot about you!"

"It's the hair, isn't it?" Deku brushed his hair back in emphasis.

"Well, you aren't that flashy compared to your friends. But still, HEYYYY!"

The grin that Deku wore grew bigger. "But...you're older. How?"

"Time travel. I'm that Deku from 12 years in the future," he explained. "Don't ask how I got here, though, because I got no clue."

Fat Gum's eyes widened. He turned to Tsukauchi, who nodded to the large hero. "That's...that's amazing, actually. 12 years, huh? You really changed, huh?"

"I still can't out-eat you, though," he said.

"Wha-?"

Deku shook his head. "Sorry, I'm mixing you and the future Fat Gum. My bad..."

Fat Gum snapped out of it. "Anyway, Detective Tsukauchi called me in to help out since you nabbed some guys that I've been tracking for a while," Deku explained. "Thanks for that, by the way."

Fat Gum shrugged. "Right place and the right time, right?" He asked.

Deku nodded. "Detective?"

Tsukauchi nodded. "Well...it's all here, really. The truck hasn't moved an inch; the criminals all bailed from the cabin and ran straight into Fat Gum. Once the police were called, they were taken into custody," he broke down the situation.

"Any motive?" Deku asked the both of them.

"Nada. They clammed up as soon as their asses hit the pavement," Fat Gum said. "Their phones were already smashed when they crashed."

"Papers?"

"A manifest coming in from a warehouse outside city limits," the detective said.

"And get this: the destination was Might Tower," Fat Gum said.

Deku's eyes widened. "Might Tower? But that's...they were heading in the wrong direction!"

Fat Gum and Detective Tsukauchi nodded. "All Might was already made aware of the situation. The Tower was locked down as soon as we sent word in," the detective said.

"And it could've been a diversion. We're looking into possible deliveries heading toward the Tower," Fat Gum said.

Deku eyed the truck. "So strange."

"That they targetted the Tower?"

"That they decided to ram their truck here. The area isn't exactly where the Discorder Organization would operate. There are too many hero agencies here," Deku said.

"There were," Fat Gum corrected him.

Deku stopped for a moment. He facepalmed so hard; he thought for a moment that he activated One for All.

Thankfully, his head was still on his shoulders.

"Right! I completely forgot! Dabi's video helped shame many heroes into retirement!" Deku exclaimed.

"You...forgot?" Fat Gum wondered.

"Times changed. In 3 years, everything Dabi and Shigaraki tried to do will be reversed when the next generation of heroes hit the streets," Deku explained. "But now the area is ripe for the picking. Little hero traffic plus high-strung anti-hero society equals the perfect cover for any illegal activities on his part."

Tsukauchi and Fat Gum exchanged looks. "Well...at least it won't be forever," the BMI Hero said.

"But what about now? Why crash a truck into an office building and bail? It couldn't have been a bomb, right?"

Deku turned to the truck. "They wouldn't risk crashing the truck if they had one in here. The building looks to be pretty strong, so it would've been bad for them to blow themselves up like that accidentally." Deku knocked on the truck. "They're villains, not insane."

"So what's in there?" Tsukauchi wondered.

Deku shrugged. "Let's find out."

Moving to the back of the truck, Deku grabbed the handle at the bottom. A few police officers rounded behind him with their guns drawn, ready for anything. With Fat Gum and Detective Tsukauchi ready, the young Symbol of Peace broke the lock and lifted the door.

Once open, they all moved in. There were boxes stacked on top of each other with a sea of foam peanuts on the floor. Flashlights illuminated the rest of the cabin.

With the door open, Deku was the first to step inside and grabbed one of the boxes. The box immediately drew his attention to it once he picked it up. "It's empty..."

One of the officers followed him inside the truck. He kicked one of the boxes, and his eyes widened. "This one too..."

One by one, more officers entered the truck and inspected the boxes. Most of them were filled to the brim with foam peanuts, while a few others had other boxes packed inside them. Most of them were labeled with the same crude writing one would find when someone was moving. "This doesn't make any sense," Tsukauchi said as he shoved some boxes aside. "Why would they fill a truck with these things?"

Deku, however, pushed through the sea of cardboard. He could grab a box or two, shake it close to his ear, and toss it to the ground once he was satisfied with it. "This is...familiar, I think," he mused.

"This has happened before?" Fat Gum asked.

Deku nodded. "The Chaos King's first assault on society, I think. I was still pretty young when he started," he said.

As the young Symbol of Peace continued to inspect the cabin, he kicked one box away and felt something new. The box had a little weight to it, unlike the others. He picked it up, opened it, and reached inside.

Inside was an old-fashioned chess clock. He turned it around and inspected the features. The clock was analog with gold and steel trimming around the face. The body was of rosewood with gold buttons on top. There were steel designs all over, including a steel Chaos Star in-between the two faces. Neither of them was ticking; however, a button was pressed on top of it.

Acting on a hunch, Deku pressed the other button, starting the clock all over again. "It's my move..."

Deku looked around the cabin once more before turning his gaze toward the officers. "Everyone quiet for a minute," he said.

With silence in the truck, Deku activated his Enhanced Hearing. He shortened his range while focusing on the heartbeats of everyone inside the truck. He counted 6, excluding himself.

There were only 5 officers inside the truck with him.

Deku turned to where he heard the 6th heartbeat. It was the far wall where there was a clear area, free from any boxes.

The young Symbol of Peace felt his heart drop as he turned to the police officers. "GET OUT!"

Their response was immediate as they jumped out. As they did, Deku turned to find that a grotesque monster filled the space at the back of the cabin. A winged Nomu had appeared with dark, leathery skin and piercing yellow eyes. Its two claws were sharpened to a fatal point. The beast was slim, except for the protruding gut at the base of its stomach.

As soon as it appeared, the beast burst through the truck, knocking Deku to the ground. Most of the police and the civilians nearby ran to cover while the remaining officers drew their guns and fired.

The Nomu flew close to the ground and toward a small group of people. It closed its mouth and growled, baring its teeth to the fleeing civilians. Deku noticed right away what it was doing when he saw its fangs started to glow orange. "NO!"

He leaped into action and fired his Black Whip. It wrapped around the Nomu's head, and with a mighty pull, Deku yanked the beast away. He let go of the Whip and charged forward, raising his knee into the side of its head and smashing it into the ground face-first.

However, his victory was short-lived when the ground beneath their feet exploded, sending debris and cops into the air. More Nomu, emerging from the ground like zombies from the classic Pre-Quirk monster movies, started to terrorize the surface. Unlike the Nomu they all were familiar with, these creatures were more stream-like and monstrous.

With their focus now shifting to the emerging Nomu, the police and the two heroes leaped into action. Several officers focused on one Nomu when Fat Gum ran interference whenever one of the monsters decided to focus on the civilians.

When the Nomu started to slip through his defenses, Deku jumped into the fray to help. The police officer and civilians watched as Deku vanished in the blink of an eye and reappeared to deliver a strike against the monsters. In one flash, one of the civilians could only watch with a hanging jaw as the Symbol of Peace jammed his elbow into the gut of a winged Nomu, stopping it from trying to take people away.

As Deku ran interference, Fat Gum smiled as he absorbed a strike from a Nomu. "Damn...he's good!" He complimented.

Tsukauchi stole a glance at the Symbol of Peace and nodded. "Reminds me of All Might back in the good ole days," he said as he fired his gun at the brain of one of the Nomu.

As the monster blocked the bullets, Deku noticed that the Nomu were starting to attack in groups. The first Nomu with the protruding stomach flew toward a group of people with two other Nomu flying with it. A serpent-type Nomu charged at the officers trying to reach the civilians first.

In a flash, Deku disappeared, grabbed the serpent Nomu by its tail, and swung it at the flying monsters, knocking two of them away with a single strike. He threw away the serpent Nomu and watched as the last Nomu's jaw glow and it spit out a massive fireball.

Deku's eyes widened. In the blink of an eye, he grabbed the civilians that were in its direct path and shielded them with his back. The fireball exploded on his back, spreading small flames around him. Thankfully, the fleeing civilians weren't in the splash radius.

The flying Nomu flew over the Symbol of Peace and tried to fly away. With bullets flying above their heads, the fleeing civilians were quick to find cover. Fat Gum saw Deku's back on fire and rushed to help. He stopped when he saw Deku get back up without an issue.

Deku reached up and unbuckled his cape from his suit. With the cape on the ground, the Symbol of Peace proceeded to stomp out the flames. "Are you all okay?" He asked the civilians he saved.

One of them nodded. "Y-You saved us..."

Deku nodded. "You sound surprised," he said.

The civilian didn't answer. Deku looked down and sighed as he watched his cape burn. "This thing is supposed to be stronger than napalm," he said.

"N-n-napalm?"

Deku nodded. "Get to cover, now!"

As the civilians ran, Deku turned to the fleeing Nomu. He ran forward, giving chase to the monster. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY!" He declared.

He jumped onto the roof of a parked car and jumped into the air with great force. He trusted his arm out and fired his Black Whip at the creature. The tendrils of black energy latched onto its wings. With its flapping ceased, Deku used Float to hold himself and the monster in place.

Fat Gum, the police, and the civilians nearby watched as Deku pulled with great force. The Nomu screeched in pain as its wings were torn from its back, bringing the beast back down to the earth. Its wings fell as Deku's Black Whip released them.

The Nomu slammed into the ground face-first with its wings falling around it. The police were quick to surround the beast with their guns drawn. Fat Gum could only stare at the dismembered wings that fell. He looked back up at Deku as he was falling back to the ground. Once he was on the street, the BMI Hero approached the Symbol of Peace. "W-W-What was that?!"

Deku shrugged. "It's not the worst thing these things received," he said.

"No, not that!" Fat Gum exclaimed. "Y-You were floating in mid-air...and those whips!"

Deku raised a finger to his lips. "I'll explain later, but there are still a few Nomu that slipped away. I'll find them and meet you at the station," he said.

Fat Gum was about to argue, but an explosion down the road stopped him. Civilians were running away from the source while some were wearing support gear and running toward the chaos. Deku sighed and pressed on the armor supporting his jaw. His respirator appeared over his mouth, and he turned away. "Everything will be okay. I won't let them get hurt," he said.

With his promise, he disappeared in a blur, leaving a stunned Fat Gum at the scene. He sighed, and he turned to the fallen Nomu. "Right then...let's clean this up!"


The remaining Nomu didn't stand a chance when Deku arrived.

There were 10 Nomu that slipped away from the initial group: 4 bulky Nomu, 2 napalm-bellied Nomu, a serpent-Nomu, and 3 High-End Nomu. These Nomu were leading the pack through the city, causing as much chaos as they could. The napalm-bellied Nomu spat their firey loads at the fleeing civilians while the bulkier monsters tossed cars and trucks around like they were nothing. The serpent-Nomu weaved through the chaos with his claws ready.

The few civilians that charged into the fray with support items were quickly outgunned. The serpent-Nomu swung its poisonous claws at them if they got too close. The napalm-bellied creatures spat fire in their path, splitting them up and weakening their combined power.

Their assault crumbled as soon as Deku arrived. He slammed on the tail of the serpent-Nomu and reached forward with a clawed hand in a flash. With his gauntlets sharpened to a point, Deku plunged his fingers into the beast's brain, causing the creature to shut down instantly.

The other Nomu noticed immediately; however, Deku disappeared before they could get an eye on him. One of the High-Ends scanned the surrounding area before being body-slammed by the Symbol of Peace. The Nomu slammed into another High-End, and the two crashed into the side of a building.

The civilians-at-arms stopped their charge and watched as Deku made short work of them. The Symbol of Peace leaped into the air and jammed his fist into the stomach of one of the napalm-bellied Nomu. The creature screeched as its mouth began to glow bright orange.

Deku grabbed the monster's face and slammed its jaw shut. The monster tried to spit out the napalm in its stomach, but the gel inside had nowhere to go but back down to its stomach. As its stomach erupted into a fiery blaze, Deku jammed his elbow to the side of its head and threw it at the ground with great force. The Nomu erupted as soon as it hit the ground.

As Deku landed on the ground, the 4 bulky Nomu tried charging at the hero. The Symbol of Peace backed away and grabbed a street sign. He tore it from the ground and slammed the sign part off of the metal bar. He grabbed the jagged end of it and smoothed it out, creating a makeshift spear.

The bulky Nomu did not falter, giving Deku exactly what he needed. As the monsters leaped at him, Deku used his makeshift spear to smack them to the side. He pushed through their line and grabbed the burning Nomu on the ground. He turned in mid-air and threw the burning monster at the charging bulky Nomu.

The bulky Nomu caught the burning one, and as it was about to throw it to the side, Deku poured more of One for throughout his body. He readied his spear and threw it with the power of a pre-Quirk javelin champion.

The spear pierced through the napalm-Nomu's stomach and pierced through the bulky Nomu and its comrades behind it. The spear carried enough flaming gel to pierce through all four monsters before being embedded into the head of a High-End. The High-End collapsed as its brain was engulfed in flames.

The four bulky Nomu all looked at the burning wounds they received before they collapsed. They couldn't regenerate as enough of the napalm-Nomu's gel coated their wounds and burned them from the inside.

Deku turned to the remaining Nomu: 2 High-Ends and the remaining napalm-bellied Nomu. "That's 7...right?"

One of the High-Ends approached him. The Nomu was slim but very powerful, with a skull head and protruding brain. Its claws were glowing green and sharpened to lethal points. "Who are you?" It asked in a raspy, male voice.

Deku smiled. "I'm the guy who slays monsters," he said. He charged at them with clenched fists.

One of the High-Ends barely registered Deku's speed before its face was smashed in by a powerful fist. The Symbol of Peace didn't slow down as he leaped into the air and grabbed the napalm-bellied Nomu by its leg, and slammed into the ground like a ragdoll. With a lovely imprint of the monster embedded into the street, Deku threw the dazed monster at the remaining High-End.

The monster barely caught the napalm-bellied Nomu before Deku came and kicked it square in the chest, sending the two flying through the air. The High-End scrambled to its feet, growled at the hero, and charged with its claws ready.

Deku smiled as he dodged swipe after swipe; with Danger Sense guiding him, the Nomu could not touch him. The High-End growled in frustration as it continued to miss each swipe, causing its attacks to become more erratic with each swipe. "Stand still, you fake hero!" The Nomu boomed.

Deku didn't stop. "Society doesn't need you! The world doesn't need heroes anymore! You're obsolete!" It continued.

"That's where you're wrong, beast!"

Deku grabbed both of the Nomu's arms and held them apart. His grip clamped on its arms, threatening to break the bones within. "So long as there is one person in the world in need of a hero-"

Deku head-butted the beast, sending it staggering backward. "I WILL NOT ABANDON THEM!"

With a powerful rising uppercut, Deku lifted the beast off the ground. He leaped into the air with it and delivered a powerful axe kick on the brain. The impact sent a shockwave throughout the monster's body, shutting it down as it slumped on the ground.

Deku stood over the lifeless Nomu. He retracted his respirator and sighed. "That's too many Nomu for a coincidence. He better not be doing what I think he's doing..." He muttered.

Using his speed, Deku vanished and extinguished the fires however he could. He buried the clumps of burning napalm and the burning Nomu into the ground. He retrieved the remaining beasts and ran toward the local police station. Along the way, he made sure every single Nomu was down for good.

A process he was glad no one saw.


When he arrived at the police station, Deku dropped off the bodies of the monsters. There were a few heroes at the station, including Fat Gum. When they saw Deku drop them off, the future Symbol of Peace was bombarded with questions. Before he could answer them, the police commissioner pulled him aside and directed him to an empty interrogation room.

The questions were long and were difficult to answer. It took several hours for the police to get what they needed from Deku, and when they did, the young hero was free to go. The heroes, including Fat Gum, didn't wait around for an explanation from Deku.

However, before he left, Deku asked that a specialist crew extinguish the fires from the napalm-bellied Nomu. He led the team to the buried monsters and eventually put out the fires. Unfortunately for him, his cape received too much chemical damage to be saved.

With his cape in tatters, Deku left the city in a flash, heading back to U.A.