Author's Note: Another week, and another chapter down! Hey everyone, it's good to update again. My last semester of college is coming to an end, and I am kinda terrified because now I'll have to do real adult stuff like get an apartment and a real job. Regardless, like the name of the chapter, I am still moving on and forward. That being said, Graduation is in a few weeks, and I will either be posting next week or the week after (the day after graduation) and taking a hiatus for a bit because of graduation and adjusting. But I WILL be back, I promise!

Also, if you want to get into a place with other lovers of MHA, and specifically IzuJirou stuff, come on and join this Discord server that I'm on: /eFtmT8cTbY We're only kind of crazy, and not at all a cult... except, we also kind of are. Anyway, yeah, join that! I hope you enjoy this chapter! It's cross-posted on Ao3 as well. Leave a review if you want to. I welcome the feedback! See you next week.

"So what now?" Inko asked the next morning.

"Well, we're going to be keeping an eye on Eraserhead. We're also going to be watching the League of Villains carefully. They may not be the most dangerous threat right now, but they're enough to have the pros worried." Izuku explained.

"Didn't they say something about the next raid being a few weeks away?" Kyouka asked.

"Oh yeah, you did mention something like that." Mei said.

"Let's look into that as well." Izuku said.

"And what will you be doing in the meantime?" Inko asked.

"I mean, more training never hurt anyone." Izuku shrugged. "We still haven't seen Himiko use her quirk, so I think working on that would be good for us."

"I can do that now if you want to." Himiko suggested, plopping onto the couch.

"If you do that, make sure you have your costume on first." Kyouka said. "We don't need to see you naked."

"Right, right!" Himiko jumped up and grabbed her costume. She ran back to her room, and about a minute later, came out in her costume. "Who first?"

"Turn into Izuku!" Mei said.

"Alright! Here I go!" Himiko said before a gray goo started to swell over her body. A few seconds later, it dissipated, and another copy of Izuku stood in the place she used to be.

As soon as the transformation finished, Himiko — now Izuku — opened their eyes and immediately fell to the ground, crying out in pain, clutching her head.

"What's wrong?" Fumikage asked.

"Izuku…" Himiko said in Izuku's voice — a strange experience for everyone there. "What are all of these numbers? It hurts to see everything."

"Wait, Himiko. You can see the numbers? That's part of my quirk." Izuku explained.

"That's impossible! I can't use the quirks of the people I turn into." Himiko Izuku said.

"Didn't you say that you changed the probability that her quirk evolved?" Kyouka asked.

"This is incredible!" Mei said. "You can use the quirk factor of the people whose blood you drink. That's…" Mei dashed to her computer. Izuku and Himiko Izuku followed after her. Himiko released the transformation, the gray goo sloughing off of her and dissipating soon after.

"What's up, Meimei?" Himiko asked.

"Hold on. One second." Mei said, typing away. After definitely more than one second, she finished and spun her chair around. "Okay! Follow my thoughts, because there's a lot of them."

"R-Right." Izuku said.

"So theoretically, if Himiko can use the quirk factor of the people that she turns into via drinking her blood, then that means that the quirk factor lies in multiple places. Mine is in my eyes, Kyouka's are literally her earlobes, Hitoshi and Izuku, yours are mental. So that's where our quirk factors stay normally; however, Himiko drinking the blood shows that there's quirk factors stored in the blood as well." Mei said as she drew out a crude diagram. "Now you may be wondering, 'Mei, if quirk factors are stored in the blood, then why didn't someone like Stain get people's quirks when he drank their blood?'"

Himiko leaned in close to Izuku and Kyouka and whispered. "I wasn't thinking that at all."

"And to that I say, excellent question!" Mei continued.

"Yeah, that's fair. She does this sometimes. You just have to let her go." Izuku whispered back.

"Like you're one to talk with all of your mumbling." Kyouka teased.

"I thought you said it was cute!" Izuku accused.

"That changes nothing of what I just said." Kyouka defended.

"Are you done?" Mei asked.

"Ye-" Izuku started.

"Alright, so the answer to that question is that Himiko must have some kind of special cell or protein or… well, something that gives her the ability to absorb and use the quirk factor of other people." Mei explained.

"So I'm special…?" Himiko asked with her head cocked to the side.

"Yes, Himiko. You're very special. So special, in fact, that I was able to come up with a hypothesis." Mei continued.

"And what might that be?" Izuku raised his eyebrow at her.

"If I can isolate the protein or other special cell from Himiko that allows her to use the quirks of others, then as long as we have the blood of people, we can replicate their quirks! Erasure! Somnambulist! Luck! Zoom! Brainwashing! Even Dark Shadow!" Mei stated enthusiastically. Everyone's jaw dropped at this news.

"And any enemy that we come across as well…" Izuku said quietly.

"Exactly! Imagine the possibilities! Shots of quirk factors to give to quirkless people! Multiple quirks in a single person! Items based off of the quirks of people we fight that we can use ourselves! Ah, the possibilities for babies!" Mei continued her enthusiasm.

"That's… that's a lot if it's possible." Kyouka said.

"And all I'd need from Himiko is about an ounce of her blood." Mei said. "Unless I can't find it and use up the ounce that I have, but that's unlikely."

"That'll require another needle, won't it?" Himiko asked.

"Yeah, it will. But it's not much, definitely not as much as last time, and we'll all still be here for you. Including Momma Inko." Mei smiled. Everyone could hear Inko making an excited noise behind them, probably because of being called Momma Inko again, but they ignored it for now.

"Alright. I'll… I'll do it." Himiko nodded.

"Alright. This one is going to hurt a whole lot less. Let me just get this syringe, and soon, we'll have your blood out soon." Mei said, moving around and getting the needed materials. "Just one little prick here," Mei started as she poked Himiko's arm before continuing, "and there we go! Easy right?"

Himiko blinked her eyes in surprise. She had such terrible needle anxiety, and yet, she barely noticed a thing. And there it was, right in Mei's hand: a syringe with some of her blood in it. "Y-Yeah… it was easy." She offered a weak smile.

"Good. Now, that should be the last time that we use any needles on you. So that's some good news." Mei said with a smile.

Himiko shakily stood up and walked over to the couch. Plopping down, she sighed.

"Alright, with that done, let's cover some of the next steps for us." Izuku said. "We need to keep tabs on the League of Villains, we need to keep tabs on Aizawa, we haven't gotten much from Shouto Todoroki yet, have we?"

"Nothing yet. I can send something to him later if you'd like?" Mei asked.

"That won't be necessary. You already have a lot on your plate with determining the compound for dissecting quirks and working a lot on things related to your babies. I can take care of the young hero in training." Izuku said. He looked at Kyouka. "Has he been coming back to the music shop still?"

"Yeah, every Sunday at the same time." Kyouka said.

"Alright. I'll be sure to pay him a visit afterwards in a few days." Izuku said.

"Is there anything else that you want from us right now, boss?" Hitoshi asked.

"Later today, anyone who isn't Mei will be coming with me to Musutafu. We'll be spending some time over these next few days training in a place that I've taken Fumikage to before." Izuku explained.

"The trash heap?" Fumikage asked.

"The very same. Grab your training clothes. We won't be in costume today." Izuku said. "We're gonna work on a few new techniques for each of us. Each of you need to identify something you can improve on, and we'll be working on moving forward."

"Yes sir."

A few hours later, and everyone was in the middle of training in the massive junk field that was Dagobah Beach.

Kyouka decided to practice with her wall of sound technique, dubbing it "Null Wave Wall". She realized that she could do it against any two close-by walls or even the ground in a pinch. It pretty much stops all slow moving projectiles, and it drastically slows down the faster projectiles. With two very close walls, even bullets are stopped. The ground is less effective, but when there aren't walls nearby, it's good enough.

Hitoshi and Himiko focused on hand to hand combat between the two of them. While Himiko could move around quietly in a fight, if she ever got spotted, she needed to be sure that she could defend herself. The same for Hitoshi. He still remembered the one guy with the Prison Break quirk during their raid against Blackout. He needed to be able to work outside of his own quirk and defend himself separately.

Fumikage had the thought that while Dark Shadow was good at mid to long range, his short range capabilities were lacking. He came up with the idea of layering Dark Shadow over his own body to strengthen his attacks. He named this technique "Black Abyss".

Izuku was aiding each of them throughout their training time, but he also took some time to work on his own training. It had been a while since he really went through his motions for the martial arts he trained in. He had been the leader of this vigilante group so much recently. He hadn't had much time to go back to what made him… well, him.

And so over the course of a few days, he refined his technique once again. He took time to think through his moves and execute them with the precision that he had lost in the tempest of these past few months. The best thing for him when he was working on his own was to be on the other side of the entire trash heap from his team.

It was here that Izuku found himself being shaken awake.

"Here's where you are. Dummy." Kyouka said as she sat him up.

Izuku wiped the sand from his face as he yawned. "What happened?"

"We've been looking for you for about an hour now." Kyouka said. She sat down next to him and wrapped her arms and jacks around him.

"I must have fallen asleep while thinking through my moves."

"You think through your moves while sitting with your eyes closed?" Kyouka raised an eyebrow.

"I do sometimes. Don't judge me." Izuku defended.

"Never even crossed my mind." Kyouka smiled and sunk into Izuku a bit more. "This is nice, don't you think?"

"Yeah, it is. It's nice to just be here." Izuku said as he looked out over the water. "I didn't even realize how long it's been. The sun's already setting behind us."

"It's pretty though, isn't it?"

"Oh yeah." Izuku really took in the scene before him. The myriad colors that painted the sky filled him with a sense of wistful nostalgia that he hadn't felt in a long time. How long had it been since he could really relax like this? Even when he went out on dates, there was still some semblance of his vigilante activity. He was always on edge and making sure nobody suspected them of anything. But here? He felt at peace.

"Izu? Is something wrong?" Kyouka asked.

"Why?"

"Your heart rate changed. What are you thinking about?"

"I guess just how peaceful this moment is compared to how things have been recently." Izuku said.

"It's weird, isn't it?" Kyouka said.

"Yeah… it's weird to think how different things could have been if we didn't walk down this path."

A few seconds of silence passed before Kyouka spoke. "Do you regret it?"

"Not at all. While this peacefulness is nice, I think I'd get tired of it eventually." Izuku said.

"Haha, yeah. I can see that."

"I think regardless of how things went, I've always been destined to do something more than just sit and enjoy peace." Izuku said.

"Getting a little philosophical? I didn't take you for that type."

"It's not that, Kyo. I know I'd never be content with just sitting in peace. Like I've always been meant to fight for the peace. Like regardless of if I was put into the hero program at UA or not, there have been these invisible strings pulling me towards the future." Izuku explained.

Kyouka laughed. "So now you're on some kind of 'threads of fate' kick? Every day I learn more about you, it seems."

"I'm serious, Kyo! I feel like there's… something that pulls me forward…"

"Well-" Kyouka started, but she was interrupted by a yell a bit further into the trash heap.

"Hey, Kyouka! Did you find him?" Himiko's voice called out.

"Not yet!" Kyouka gave Izuku a coy smile. "I'll keep looking in this area, though!" She then looked at Izuku who was giving her a small smirk. "What? I want to spend some more time with you here!"

"Alright, alright. But we should head back soon. You did say that you guys have been looking for me for about an hour now."

"Fiiiiine! But let me have at least a little bit more." Kyouka snuggled into his arm.

"I give, I give." Izuku chuckled as the force pushed them over onto the sand. After a few more minutes of them laying together on the beach, Kyouka stood up and dusted herself off.

"I found him!" She yelled.

"Finally!" Hitoshi yelled back over the mass of trash heaps.

"He fell asleep while meditating or some shit!" Kyouka yelled once again.

"What a dipshit!" Hitoshi returned.

"Shut the hell up!" Izuku yelled.

Laughter could be heard throughout the area.

Every night after training, they'd stay at Inko's house. Strewn out over the couch, sleeping in beds, and even on the kitchen floor in a sleeping bag. Everyone rested as well as they could before the training started the next day.

And so when the week ended, Inko bade everyone farewell, saying that she would see them a bit later, probably in a week or so. And the group returned back to their warehouse, welcoming the better sleeping arrangements and familiar setting.

Izuku felt strange. His mom's home – his old home – didn't… didn't feel like home anymore. This warehouse was his home. He made this home with his family, and this is where he's been spending his time. It was strange how things had changed over the course of a few months.

Of course, things were about to change even more for them. Izuku's 'strings of fate' pulled them along further, ever present, and unstopping.


Shouto had just finished another lesson with Miyata and was walking towards the train station when he saw something that caught his attention in his periphery. He turned to look down the alleyway to see two glowing red dots on a black void.

"Snake Eyes." Shouto said.

"Yes, Shouto Todoroki, the one and only. Come. We have something to discuss." Snake Eyes turned around and walked further into the alley. Shouto followed him. "Do you know why I sought out an audience with you today?" Snake Eyes asked as he kept walking.

"I do not."

"It's because we had a deal, Shouto Todoroki. And you have yet to uphold any part of your end of the bargain."

"I'm sorry. UA hasn't done much recently. It's just been training." Shouto said.

"And what about your promise for information on Endeavor? Is that limited by UA as well?" Snake Eyes stopped walking.

"I… I guess not." Shouto replied. Snake Eyes did have a point, he had to admit.

"I expect some information about him by the end of the day. As for your summer training camp, there are a few things we would like to ask of you. We would like to know when you get there, when you leave for home again, and if anything major happens. Is that easy enough for you?" Snake Eyes asked.

"Yes, I should be able to do that." He replied.

"Good, then we have a deal. I do expect your end of this transaction to be upheld. I don't like being swindled. And if you swindle us too many times, well… Overwatch is a mad genius. She can cause quite the number of problems in your life. Do we have an understanding?"

"Y-Yes." Shouto faltered for the briefest second before he was able to solidify his voice.

"Good. Have a good rest of your day. Endeavor. Information. Tonight. You don't want to find out what happens if you fail us." Snake Eyes said as he pulled out a gun-like object with three prongs coming out of the barrel. Snake Eyes shot a grappling hook into the sky so that it would catch onto one of the buildings. "Goodbye for now, Shouto Todoroki." Snake Eyes rose into the sky via the grappling hook, and as he got to the roof of the building, he pulled himself up onto the roof and disappeared.

Shouto immediately took his phone out and began typing as he walked towards the train station. If Shouto was going to ever be a part of this group, then he needed to step up his game with the information that he was giving them. His dossier for Endeavor was being assembled as he rode and walked home. He knew exactly what information to provide his new… allies? Regardless of their exact relationship, Shouto had a great number of details that he could give them. Whatever they did with it, however, was up to them. Shouto just hoped that there were things that he could expose to the public. Things that his father had done over the course of his life that had scarred and almost irreparably damaged most of the members of his family.

As he got home, he smiled as he hit the send button. The document itself was several pages long, and included most of the information that he could include at this point. There were things that he knew he couldn't include now just due to the fact that the information is only known in the family and not available to public knowledge if they did some digging. It did require a lot of digging, all things considered, but Shouto knew enough of what information he could send out that it was still easy for him to document it all.

Training

Shouto Todoroki:

Here is all of the information that I can get to you about Endeavor right now. More will come in the future, but it will require more time.

Overwatch:

There's a lot of stuff in here. This is some good information. We'll make sure it's used effectively.

Snake Eyes:

You've done well, Shouto Todoroki. You've earned a bit more respect. Keep this up, and we might just be able to trust you. Anything else you wish to tell us?

Shouto Todoroki:

I look forward to working with you more in the future. The other things you have asked of me will be done.

Snake Eyes:

Good. Enjoy the rest of your night, and enjoy the summer training camp.