Disclaimer: I do not own My Hero Academia. Or do I? MWAHAHAHA!
The Mastermobile pulled up to Gentle Criminal's house. Inside the van, the League of Supervillains sat there in a daze. Gentle Criminal looked frazzled, La Brava still clinging to him with a deathgrip. Golden Grin sat slumped in his chair, barely responsive. Mr. Compress' jacket was tattered, his mask askew and hat rumpled. Inkblot was missing a rabbit ear and she stared straight ahead as she took a pull from her ink flask like it was full of whiskey.
Mastermind's cloak had been torn, his visor had been cracked and he parked the car with the precise, methodical motions of a person who was about to explode from the emotions contained within.
Stitch and Bushijima ran up to the car. Taking one look at their condition, Stitch swore. "What happened? The feeds for the robots cut out, and when they came back-"
Mastermind walked out of the car. "We're fine! We're fine. Just… a lot happened, and I really want to sit down-"
He fell forwards, Inkblot's arm stretching to catch him. The feline Villainess walked slightly shakily to the hideout. "I think we need to just… relax."
Gentle and Mr. Compress stood there blankly, before Gentle jumped slightly. "Tea! Yes, I think I - we should - yes, a nice pot of tea, that's what I need."
Golden Grin staggered off, clutching his stomach. "Oh, man…" he managed to pull his mask off before he vomited.
Stitch looked over each of his colleagues as they staggered indoors. "Right." He leaned over Mastermind, tapping his helmet in the required places to safely remove it. "Did he get hit in the head?"
Inkblot shook her head. "No, I think… I think that the adrenaline's finally worn off." She swayed slightly. "And I'm going to join him. I've been fighting a bunch of Villains for what feels like hours, and we narrowly got away from U.A's aerial defences…"
She flopped bonelessly onto Gentle's couch, joining Mastermind. Gentle Criminal slumped, waiting for the kettle to boil while the other group members sat down for a rest. Stitch and Takeshi glanced between each other, before Stitch went to get the tea ready. Takeshi carefully dragged the other members to a more comfortable position.
He'd joined the League of Supervillains partially out of gratitude - the sheer relief that came from simply using his Quirk in a relatively safe way that wouldn't hurt people. And a little bit came from seeing them expose corruption and casual prejudice and wanting to help with that. Seeing the camera feeds go dark had caused his heart to leap into his mouth - and he hated the feeling of not being able to do anything but watch and hope things would go well.
Next time, he'd be able to help them.
—
Nezu glanced around the room, paws steepled. The rest of U.A's faculty stared right back at him with expressions varying between concerned, determined and focused. The police had finished their enquiries and the students had been sent home from U.A. early.
Later, U.A. would have an official press conference, but he had wanted to talk with his faculty first. The other Heroes in the room watched intently as Nezu spoke. "So. Yesterday the USJ was attacked by a group calling itself the League of Villains for the express purpose of killing All Might."
Eraserhead nodded tersely. "A group that caught the attention of a far more well known group - the League of Supervillains. Apparently due to the name being too similar to theirs."
In spite of the seriousness of the attack, a couple of heroes snorted. Nezu himself grinned slightly. "Yes, it is amusing. What is less amusing is that Mastermind has proven himself to be far more dangerous than his initial C-level threat ranking. I'm specifically talking about his powered armour and Quirk erasing technology."
"Who would have thought he could replicate a Quirk like Erasure…" Present Mic muttered.
Eraserhead sighed, arm still bound up. "That's part of the problem - people have tried to replicate erasure quirks technologically before-"
"-but not so efficiently! I-Island's attempt was much larger and could only erase one person's Quirk." Nezu grinned like a madman. "Mastermind's discovery could shake the world and rewrite the book on Quirk analysis! And he's using it to rob banks!"
Eraserhead slumped in his chair. "At least it's that idiot using my Quirk. If Shigaraki had access-"
"Ah, and that brings me to the biggest threat we had to deal with - Shigaraki."
All Might nodded grimly. "While Mastermind could shake the world with his invention, Shigaraki is ultimately the Villain who broke into the USJ and came with a bioengineered weapon for the specific purpose of killing me. Not just that, he was willing to kill our students."
Tsukauchi nodded. "We're searching the Quirk registry for people with similar Quirks, but we haven't found anything on him or the Warp Gate user Kurogiri."
"So we know nothin' about this Shigaraki, an' nothin' 'bout Mastermind," Snipe concluded.
Nezu hummed. "There were some things we learned about them - you saw it, didn't you All Might?"
The Number One gave a short nod. "I did. Shigaraki planned this attack meticulously, yet started babbling about some other ideology. He talked about it in game terms, bragged about this Noumu - and threw a tantrum when things didn't go his way."
He shuffled the papers in front of him. "And Mastermind? Well, while I'd heard that he was a fan of mine," a tidbit that still embarrassed him, "I hadn't seen it until he declared himself my 'archnemesis.'" Shaking his head, All Might continued. "For Mastermind, the whole 'goofy Villain act' is just that, an act. Like he's playing a game."
Snipe sighed. "So they're both manchildren."
"In many ways they're like our students!" Nedzu chuckled. "They both have room to grow. If they only had the right mentor, then they could be a great force for society as a whole."
—
After the USJ…
The energy in Class 1-A's homeroom was relaxed, but it seemed like there was a weight hanging over everybody. Even though they had talked to Hound Dog about the events of the USJ, the event had stuck with them. Melissa glanced over to Shinsou. "Are you doing alright, Shinsou?"
He shrugged. "Well, we faced our first Villains two days ago and had to team up with other Villains to survive, but apart from that? Peachy."
Melissa didn't have a proper response to that. "It's… hard to imagine that it happened like that. Just-"
Iida hastily waved at the rest of the class. "Everybody! Be seated!"
"You're the only one standing up, man," Kaminari pointed out. Iida hastily zoomed over to his desk as the door opened. Aizawa strode in, arm still in a sling but otherwise unhurt.
He slouched over to the desk. "Morning."
"We're glad to see that you're alright!"
Aizawa waved the statement off. "Recovery Girl felt that it would be better if I had some time off and recovered from the broken arm naturally. Enough about me, though. The fight isn't over yet."
The class tensed at those words. Was there going to be some other unique U.A event?
Aizawa looked out at them with a tired expression on his face. "The U.A. Sports Festival is coming up."
—
Double looked at Majima-sensei with a surprised expression. After they'd been sent home, he'd managed to get in contact with himself, and they'd talked at length about the USJ. Hearing about Shigaraki and whatever had happened to the Quirk scanner had been nerve wracking, especially since he hadn't been there. "Wait, the Sports Festival is still on?"
Mei grinned while Mayumi simply groaned. The rest of the class wore similar expressions. Their teacher gave a simple nod. "Apparently it's to show that we aren't intimidated by either the League of Villains or the League of Supervillains… and isn't that going to be confusing?"
That… could be an advantage. As he thought about it, Mei grinned manically at their teacher. "Sensei, what kind of babies did he have?"
Majima scratched the back of his head. "Some crazy stuff, but that's about all I'll tell you, because you'll start blowing up the lab and we just rebuilt it."
He shook his head. "But back to the Sports Festival! If you're seriously participating, then I advise you to get to work on any invention you want to use. Anything you make has to be approved by myself and the rest of the Support Heroes, meaning nothing that will explode if it isn't intended to."
Mei sighed theatrically, pouting while Mayumi simply looked relieved. Double raised his hand. "But after the attack by the fiendish Mastermind, how can you be sure that the event will be safe?"
"There's going to be five times as many police than there were last year. If you're looking to get your name and inventions known to the outside world, then this is one of the greatest opportunities you have to field test them."
He swept his gaze over the class, some of whom looked more determined. "While the School Festival is the greatest chance to attract investors and Support companies, their representatives will be watching the Sports Festival in the stands. This is a great opportunity for you all, so make sure you seize it."
Mei's grin turned positively demonic. "Oh, so many people looking at my babies…" she muttered. Double couldn't help but smile as well. It was going to be a great opportunity-!
His brain supplied him with memories about the typical focus. There was usually some kind of event that relied on fighting… and people would be watching closely. Sure, he'd never aid much attention to the first year students, but this year, after a Villain attack? A strength enhancer Hero would have had to drag him away from the television.
Meaning that they might see that he was rather better at hand to hand combat than most Support students should be. It took all his self control not to whimper.
As schoolwork started, he saw Mei grin at him. "So… wanna check out 1-A? They're going to need the best babies when they're Pros! And we get to scout out the group that survived being attacked by the League of Villains!"
Double couldn't help but nod. It would be an opportunity to see Kacchan and Melissa! He had had no idea that his friends were in the same class! Maybe she was the blonde Kacchan was talking about.
—
"Whoa! What's going on?!"
Katsuki sighed as Round Cheeks and Glasses freaked out at the crowd outside. Like the ass-munches hadn't been obvious from the start. "Isn't it obvious, idiots? They're scoping us out."
He glared at the crowd outside. "Cause we survived a Villain attack and they want to see what we're made of. You seen us, so just fuck off."
Glasses spluttered something about manners and being polite. Katsuki ignored him.
Above the hubbub, somebody spoke. "You guys are on some crazy shit, huh?"
Katsuki glared around to find the speaker. Where-?
"Down here! Jeez, like it's hard."
He glared down at the speaker, a fucking toddler with purple balls for hair. The guy seemed to tremble slightly on meeting his furious glare, causing Katsuki to double down on it. "Huh? You want to make something of it?!"
Surprisingly, Toddler didn't back down. Instead he glared right back at Bakugo. "Yeah, actually! A lot of us General Studies guys didn't make it through the Hero exam, but we could change that depending on the Sports Festival!"
His dark purple eyes matched Katsuki's. "S-so, consider this a declaration! I'm gonna make it into the Hero Course to help people and maybe see some girls in-"
He cut himself off by dropping to the ground and doing a pushup. Weirdo. Another weirdo with sharp teeth and grey hair suddenly popped up from the crowd. "Hey?! I'm from 1-B-" Katsuki could not give less of a shit about this guy, "-And I gotta say, I wanted to find out more about the guys who fought Villains, but so far this jerk doesn't impress me! You wanna make fools of the Hero course of something?!"
Katsuki simply stared at him and the bunch of students behind him. "Fuck off, the lot of you. Save it for the Sports Festival where I can grind you into the dirt."
"Come on man!" Shitty Hair cried out as Katsuki started to leave. "You gave us a mob of haters and now you're just gonna leave?"
"Like I give a shit." He had wanted to say this with a huge grin on his face, but faced with the potential to lose… "I'm aiming for the top. Why should I care what they think?"
The rest of the Extras looked at each other. The American had a contemplative look on her face, while the rest of the class debated. While they talked about their feelings or whatever, Katsuki left, heading for his next class.
If there was one thing the USJ had shown him, it was that he wasn't at the level to challenge assholes like Mastermind. If he did well enough in the Festival, he might get a shot at hunting Mastermind down. Or maybe the Extras looking for him would get Mastermind first.
Yeah, right. Like anybody else could deal with that giggling chucklefuck.
—
The Mastermind Taskforce stared at the updated threat assessment. Mount Lady was the first to speak. "After all that, he's only B-Rank?"
Tsukauchi nodded. 'The police and the HPSC judged that Mastermind's new tricks were not dangerous enough to raise to A-rank. Partially because Mastermind has perpetually demonstrated a reluctance to inflict lethal attacks."
He flipped the page. "Based on Eraserhead's testimony, Mastermind's strength enhancing armour is designed for possible altercations with Heroes in the Top Ten, given the apparent override. Given that level of response, the HPSC reasons that it is still a sensible idea for other Heroes to engage."
The Taskforce nodded. Learning that Mastermind had powered armour on top of everything else had been an interesting experience - on the one hand, it meant that they were more respected due to how potent it was. On the other hand, it was embarrassing to think that their close confrontations could have been dealt with even quicker due to how potent it was.
Death Arms simply grimaced. "And they're sure that this 'Eraseray' is a recent development?"
"Nezu believes that Mastermind has needed to develop the technology over a long period of time."
Kamui Woods looked over the report, tapping a certain key point. "Not to mention the fake-out regarding Inkblot."
As one, they sighed. Seeing the fake ear had been an embarrassing point for the investigators. "She had us fooled for nearly a year," Mount Lady groused.
"We wouldn't have caught it if the students near her fight hadn't seen it get torn off by another Villain." Tsukauchi checked over. "It means that Inkblot is most likely this lady with a Cartoon Quirk - we dug through the registry for similar Quirks and it's the one that matches it most closely."
The profile was handed over, the other Villains checking it out. "Sidney Sumi," Death Arms sighed. "Mother's American, and she used to work as an actress before blowing up the studio. After that, there's some mentions of her showing up in underground fight clubs and the like-"
He was cut off by the door being slammed open, practically coming off its hinges. Standing in the doorway with a manic grin on her face stood-
"M-Mirko?!" Mount Lady spluttered.
The Rabbit Hero grinned at them. "Heya! Heard you guys were on the case of that Mastermind guy and his League!"
The bloodthirsty grin on her face widened. "Honestly, I wasn't gonna think about him since he ran away from all those fights! But hearing that he's got something to fight us in the Top Ten… that sounds like a challenge!"
Kamui Woods shuddered slightly. 'I never thought I would feel bad for Mastermind and the other Villains."
—
The League of Supervillains had recovered, mostly. Given an entire day where they weren't being chased by Heroes or other Villains and several pots of tea, they were as relaxed as they could be. Then the Mastercomputer beeped. Blinking, Izuku looked at the alert on screen. "What-"
His face paled. He looked at his companions. "Uh… Mirko's in Musutafu! Right now!"
The rest of the League stared at him. Gentle Criminal and Mr. Compress collectively choked on their tea. Bushijima looked at the rest of the group, confused. "Uh… and that's bad, why?"
Izuku slumped, the screen displaying several videos where Mirko's toned form had been caught in selfies and videos. "W-well… she was a hero that would have fought us if we were in the same area as her. Because she enjoys fighting. I-I built that alert for a reason - to make sure that our heists are Mirko-less."
From where she lay on the couch, Inkblot simply groaned. "Yep. No fixed area like most Heroes have. She just runs around fighting people. We've stayed relatively harmless, so most of the big names aren't interested-"
"-Except now we're going to get a lot more attention, since we displayed the Erase-ray and his armour," Mr. Compress finished. "Still! We showed that copycat group what for!"
Izuku hummed. "Hopefully they won't resurface. And I'm worried about what other people are thinking about our tech.
Gentle Criminal nodded. "We've had to reveal our best inventions to a supergenius. It's hard to think of who else could be dangerous to us."
—
Hawks glanced around the warehouse and whistled. "That's… a lot of guys."
The hulking Villain in front of him laughed, face sparking with electricity. Around him, the gang of Villains leered at the young Hero. "You betcha! Taking out the Number Three's gonna make the boss proud!"
Flexing his wings, Hawks focused on the thug in front of him. He'd been tracking them for a while - they were part of a drug syndicate, helping to smuggle Trigger from China into Japan. "It'll be pretty tough. You guys have been giving the police the slip every time. Got something up your sleeve?"
Sneering, the electrical Villain picked up a piece of pipe. "As if we're gonna tell you! Now you're gonna have to deal with Taserface!"
Fit the intel he'd gotten, at least. Hired muscle that kept the police and Heroes away from the actual head honcho. "Intimidating name you got there."
A couple of the gang members sighed, having dealt with the guy for a long time. Taserface' face started glowing brighter. "You bet! I'm gonna rip those wings off and deep fry 'em!"
Hawks' face set in a grim, determined look. He raised his wings-!
'The unenlightened masses, They cannot make the judgement call-'
The Villains froze when they heard the music. Hawks sighed, pulling his phone out. "Okay, hold on. Do you mind if I take this?"
Not waiting for a response, he answered the call. "Good evening! You, uh, kind of caught me in the middle of something. This urgent?"
"Hawks. There has been a recent development concerning the League of Supervillains."
Hawks frowned. He silently mouthed 'hold on, it's the boss,' to the gang, raising a finger as he turned around. They blinked, then with an angry roar charged him.
About ten seconds later he was the only person standing upright. He strolled forwards to the main headquarters, stepping over the groaning Taserface. "So, what happened that's made you reassess them? I told you that I didn't think they were a threat."
"The Unforeseen Simulation Joint was attacked by a group calling itself the 'League of Villains,' lead by a young man with a decaying Quirk called Shigaraki. The League of Supervillains decided to attack this other gang for using their name. In the process, Mastermind has demonstrated that his armour can increase his physical strength-"
Hawks idly checked that the actual boss was still unconscious. "That doesn't sound so threatening."
"-And has long range Quirk erasing technology. Not just that, but we can confirm that Bubaigawara is part of their ranks."
That got Hawks to freeze, his smile slipping from his face. "That… is pretty bad."
The resident of the HPSC sighed. "Officially, we're regarding the group as B-rank. Unofficially, they're A-rank, potentially S. For now, though, our focus is on finding Shigaraki's League of Villains."
Hawks quickly packed up the modem, already preparing to dial the police. "Interesting priority. Why them?"
"Nezu believes that All for One is his benefactor."
If the previous statement had wiped his smile off his face, this one caused his feathers to fall to the floor. "Didn't we have a confirmed kill on that monster?"
"The body was never recovered. Unfortunately, he did have allies that would support him no matter what. Considering that this 'Noumu' Villain has multiple Quirks-"
"-It means that he's most likely involved," Hawks finished grimly. "Guess I'll be heading back quickly, huh?"
"Finish what you're doing, Hawks. Then I'll see you in my office."
"Got it, Madame President Ishigaki."
Hawks hung up, glancing around him. A lot of groaning, half conscious thugs lay around in various positions, cursing their misfortune. As he started working on them, a part of him thought about what the suddenly high interest League of Supervillains would do next…
—
After Mirko had been spotted on social media, the League had sat around, not sure what to do. Golden Grin was the one to pose the question at the back of their minds. "So… what's the next job?"
"Oh, it'll be quieter than what happened at the USJ!" Mastermind posed. "I already planned a heist in Hosu! We've got a corrupt insurance company-"
"-which isn't hard," Inkblot muttered.
"-which is a job people will appreciate and, most importantly, is far away from Musutafu, which means we probably won't have to deal with Mirko!" Izuku cheerfully finished.
La Brava nodded. "And since the U.A. sports festival is still going ahead, people won't be paying as much attention!"
As the League of Villains looked at their leader, Izuku just grinned. "Just leave the planning to La Brava and myself! We're going to get back to what's important!"
AN: Sorry for the delay! I wanted to write this earlier, but I got caught up in this thing called life. This idea went through reordering, checking… I tried to write something different, but it didn't work. So we've got the Sports Festival coming up! What's changed? What's staying the same? I've got no idea, we'll just have to wait and see.
Also changed Sumi's family ame to Sidney. Because reasons.
Next time… we're going to start a new saga!
