Ties that Bind

by Mirrond

All Might left his home that evening hoping to find a successor. Instead he found his old lover (that he thought died years ago), discovered that he has a son, offered him his quirk... and adopted a few additional children. After all, the best answer to All for One being a stepfather to your son is becoming a stepfather to his children, right? [Dadmight or Dad for One? Yes.]

26. Chapter 25: Boss Music

PokeKing Charizard - Final exams, then summer camp, yeah.

AngelFallenDemon - They would probably freak out. But Stain's too sneaky and not interested in theatrics enough to pop up in front of them like Compress did.

The Archivist of Nyx - I won't be describing the Shovel Talk, I want to live. And that would probably be super awkward on both sides.

Detrametal - The Unexpected is the common factor of my fics, what else can I say ;v

(***)

FOR A LONG LIST OF REASONS I'M SWITCHING TO PUBLISHING STUFF ONCE A WEEK, SORRY, THE WRITING OF TTB TEMPORARILY STAGNATED AND I NEED BACKLOG PLUS WHEN I FINISH THE STORY THERE'LL BE VERY FEW NEW FAVS AND FOLLOWS ON FF AND THAT KINDA SUCKS, I NEED SOME MORE TIME TO AMASS THAT IF POSSIBLE! YOU MIGHT STILL GET ONE MORE CHAPTER IN TWO DAYS BECAUSE I WANT TO SEE YOUR REACTION TO SOMETHING. I'M SORRY FOR THE INCONVENIENCES CAUSED.

(***)

"Hosu has been a victory for the Paranormal Liberation Front." The faceless silhouette of a man on the screen spoke with a zeal and enthusiasm one would expect from a politician. "The loss of Eclipse will be a blow to our further operations, especially as Endeavor remains operational. However, his reputation took another major hit, and Strike Team Hierophant managed to fulfill the second objective."

Great. Overhaul wishes he could just deconstruct that man into a blood splatter. It's hard to find ideologies less-compatible than those of Overhaul and Re-Destro. He was probably happy that Eclipse was out of the picture.

Too bad Overhaul needed his money to maintain his own ambitions. It was a marriage of necessity, not of love. They both knew it. There was a reason why Re-Destro kept his face - and true name - hidden.

"Give us a few more victories like that…" Purity decides to be snarky about it. "And we will lose the war without losing a single battle. There is a limit to how many supervillains we can muster, and you should know it. If we kept losing supervillains without eliminating at least as many high ranked heroes, then…"

"It's all about All Might." Another voice. This time it's Garaki. "If we eliminate him, there'll be chaos in the country for the PLF to exploit. Especially with Endeavor weakened this much."

"How utterly peculiar/irritating." The robotic voice cut in. "One could think/suspect that you see/perceive us as expendable. Is the PLF about him/All for One or us?"

Ouch. Mechanist, for all his asocial tendencies, hit the nerve rather perfectly. Overhaul sighed internally while Garaki began his standard screeching routine.

Making all major supervillains of the country work together was like trying to herd cats. It worked only to a point, and it all depended on what the cats wanted to do right now. For now they mostly agreed to it, but… the operative word was 'mostly'.

Overhaul decided to not voice his complaints. With Eclipse out of the picture, the list of his potential allies within the High Council of the Paranormal Liberation Front was rather limited. Liberator was an unpredictable and crazy wildcard, while Mechanist was…

Kai Chisaki admired his self-achieved quirklessness, but it didn't change the fact that the Mechanist was utterly insane. When Chisaki thinks that about someone, it means a lot. Then again, none of the people in the Council were fully sure if the Mechanist even counted as a human being at this point.

Beast and Dictator seemed to have a tactical alliance with Re-Destro, although Overhaul believed that there were no positive feelings involved. Purity was in a metaphorical bed with Garaki, together with Glassmaker.

Technically, with Eclipse gone, it was 3vs3vs3. Practically, the amount of resources that Garaki and Re-Destro brought to the table was downright ridiculous. Overhaul felt like a poor cousin of a wealthy family.

Even with the Quirkless Liberation Front now working for him, he was far from getting there. Very far.

There were many more supervillains working with the PLF. Geten, Gigantomachia, Nine, to mention some. It's just that they really didn't make the cut for the High Council. This was for those who had something to add when planning a strategy was involved.

"So, are we planning to make another attempt on All Might's life?" Glassmaker decided to be the voice of reason in the talk. It was a rather common thing during the Council' sessions. "Because, sorry, I'm not getting anywhere close to him. You're not paying me enough to commit suicide for you."

Cowardice. Overhaul feels that he has the right to think so after actually facing All Might. Although Glassmaker's quirk is a really bad match-up with the Number One Hero, so it's probably understandable.

"Yes." Garaki.

"No/Refusal." Mechanist.

Oh great, here we go again.

Or so Overhaul thinks. Re-Destro decides to move in to salvage the situation before it escalates again.

"For now, attacking the UA would be… unwise." He says calmly. "Nedzu has strengthened its defenses massively. Worst of all, the spy that the PLF managed to obtain within the school seems to be… shaking in their resolve to cause the downfall of the heroes as a system. This isn't the moment to risk a large-scale deployment, as we might end up discovering that we walked into the trap."

"Can't you just blackmail them or something?" Purity seems to be absolutely dedicated to the idea of getting her sons back, enough to make her fully support the Attack UA Again plan. That in Overhaul's mind was an idiocy.

"I would… if I could." Re-Destro admits. "They contacted us, not the other way around. And to this day we're not sure who they are." Overhaul wonders who 'us' are. The Meta-Liberation Army? The PLF as a whole? Garaki inherited many interesting connections from the Big Boss. It could even be something that Glassmaker, Liberator or Dictator brought to the table with them. "We suspect that they were present on-site during the USJ attack, and seeing our handiwork up close has made them… reconsider their allegiances."

Huh. That was interesting. It was one of the students? Why didn't they stay out of the USJ if they knew that the attack was incoming? How odd. Then again, it was just a suspicion. Not a confirmed thing.

"So did they defect back to heroes?" Glassmaker asks.

"For now, they seem to be conflicted about their allegiances." Re-Destro replies. "We aren't pushing, because that might have been the proverbial straw to break the camel's back. Time will tell. But for now, we should focus on something else."

They have a lot of things to do. The spoils of the Hosu battle were bountiful. Especially Glassmaker and Liberator were going to profit from them. So many low-ranked gangs and villain crews that their new intel could sway to their side…

Future looked optimistic.

(***)

"Midoriya, I have a question for you." Iida eventually decided to catch his class president alone right after the classes ended.

A bit against himself. He is rather conflicted about it.

"Oh… what is it?" Midoriya replied. It wasn't hard to notice that he was somewhat out of it ever since the confession day. Understandable. Young love and so on. Izuku managed to maintain his bearings when class president duties were involved, and for as long as that situation remained unchanged, Iida wouldn't say a single word of protest or complaint.

Especially after his brother got his legs back.

But this issue did bring him here, however bad he felt about it.

"It's about my brother." Tenya says and he can see something tensing up on his friend's face. It was Midoriya, after all. He probably expected that talk to happen.

"I can't explain why Stain was involved in the healing of your brother." Izuku replies quickly. He doesn't seem hurt by the unspoken accusation. He guessed the subject of the talk correctly. "All I can say is that All Might knows what happened. And that he thinks that it's alright, and not a problem to anyone involved. Or the law."

How to answer that? How to react to the fact that his class president might have some form of contact with the Hero Killer? Sure, Stain only 'killed' the heroic careers of the people in question, but some of them did survive various degrees of permanent injuries. Fighting was an ugly thing. You could never be sure that someone wouldn't get hurt a bit more than you intended.

But… the Symbol of Peace apparently knew the truth as well. Who else was there for Tenya Iida to trust if not All Might?

If anything, the fact that authorities apparently tried to use his brother's injuries to ruin the nascent reputation of the Hero Killer as an unstoppable predator preying on heroes committing crimes in secret was way more worrying.

There was also the question when they still didn't know who attacked him. Surely, this couldn't be the HPSC work, right?

"I see." Tenya takes a deep breath. "I'll trust you, Midoriya." Thus far, his class president gave him no reason to doubt his word. He had secrets, yes. Most of his classmates had secrets. It might have been something dumb (like some well-hidden tattoo that turned out less aesthethic than they thought) or something serious (like whatever the reason was for Todoroki Shoto's lack of social skills).

Midoriya simply had more of them than normal.

"T…thank you!" Izuku seems surprised by his words of support.

(***)

The despair came to class 1-A when it turned out that only a week is left until the end-of-term tests. And that their participation in the summer camp depends on their performance during said tests.

"I haven't studied at all!" Kaminari yelled in abject horror when Izuku finished reminding the class of this. "So many things happened recently that I just…" Probably at least half of them were about his conspiracy theory channel, but no one was cruel enough to point it to their despairing classmate.

Mina didn't say a lot, and looked cheerful, but everyone could see the emptiness and existential horror behind that smile. Kaminari Denki wasn't the only person facing this issue. Those two were at the bottom of the class.

Mineta snickered at them. They began to shout at him over the abject betrayal of him being in the top ten students in class.

"Uhm, I think that it would be a good idea for the top students to help tutor those who are at the bottom of the class." Midoriya was still occupying his central position in the class, even if he was visibly fidgeting at the attention. "I mean, we are all trying to become heroes together, it's not a competition and helping others is a part of being heroes, so…"

"Midoriya, my dude!" Denki looked at him as if he just met his god. "I'm in!" Mina nods fervently behind him.

"Wait, what's the top ranking exactly?" Jirou asks, her finger playing with one of her earlobes. The midterm exams were a bit behind them now. And some of them took the occasion to promptly forget the exact placement.

"Yaoyorozu-san took the first place, but with only a single point ahead of Midoriya." Tenya joined the talk, with some rather odd hand gestures to boot. "I took third place. Yoarashi and Bakugou took fourth place ex aequo."

"So how do we split?" Mina quickly asks. That's what interests her the most right now.

"Well, the Rehab Course can't leave the school, so…" Izuku says, looking at Bakugou with an unspoken plea in his eyes. Bakugou sighs painfully.

"I'll help them, fiiiine." He looks like agreeing to that was a torture. Hitoshi, Himiko and, surprisingly enough, Tenko raise their hands at once, looking like death row inmates who were just offered a pardon.

"Alright, that leaves us with Inasa, Tenya, Yaomomo and, errr, me." Izuku continues, looking slightly reinvigorated by Bakugou's agreement to help. "Uhm, unless someone from the list can't help us, I mean, I'll understand if you are busy or…" He is about to start muttering, but Tenya interrupts him.

"That would have to be done at home, and currently, mine is a bit… unavailable." He says loudly. "Hero Killer apparently sneaked in with someone in tow, and … that's enough for my parents to be seriously reworking the security. So I'm afraid that I'll have to pass."

"Well, that's understandable." Izuku replies. "Inasa?"

"I AM IN!" Yoarashi bellows back. "SURE I WANT TO BEAT IIDA THIS TIME, BUT TEACHING OTHERS MEANS REVIEWING THE MATERIAL AGAIN! SO IT'S BOTH HEROIC AND PRACTICAL!"

"Great!" Izuku beams at him. "Would you mind helping Kirishima, Sero and Ashido? Errr, unless you three don't want to, I just… think that your personalities will work well together and…" He is trailing off again. Someone's having one of those days.

"It's alright, dude!" Kirishima smiles at him and gives him a thumbs-up gesture. "If you think it's a good idea, I'm in."

Kirishima looks happy with the line-up as well. Probably due to Mina being there. Mina, in the meantime, looks too mortified with her plight to try to change anything.

"Okay, then the rest…" Izuku regains his bearings and tries to continue doing his presidential duties, but Yaoyorozu raises a hand and interrupts him.

"I have a proposition." And it's an interesting one.

(***)

Monoma pops up next to the Izukusquad table during the lunch break. Announcing his presence by 'accidentally' elbowing Izuku's head. Or, trying to. Izuku avoids the hit, and looks up at Neito as if nothing has happened.

"What's going on?" Izuku asks. Monoma clicks his tongue with only a bit of irritation at his voice.

"I have news." He finally says. "About the practical exams. Kendou heard that it's going to be fighting the robots. Like during the entrance exam. Apparently that's how things worked during the past years."

Uraraka finds herself blinking at that. Why was he telling them that? Wasn't he more… confrontative? Or at least competitive? This sounded like something that he could use to get an advantage over the 1-A.

"Oh." Izuku seems to be digesting the news.

"That's pretty logical, right?" Tenya asks from his seat. Todoroki nods next to him. "It's a good way of testing how much we improved during this semester."

"Logical ruse." Izuku finally decides (did he even notice what Tenya said?). Monoma agrees with him with a nod. "Even if that was what they originally planned, I'm pretty sure they would ramp it up after the villain attack and the spotlight we got during the school festival."

The remaining people at the table (Hitoshi, Himiko, Ochaco, Tsuyu, Tenya, Inasa and Shoto) exchange worried glances. Or, well, most of them. Shoto seems vaguely surprised and only mimicking the movements of others.

"Sounds like something that Nedzu would do, yes." Monoma admits. "Besides, I don't trust 'information leaks' like that, not when the arch-rat is around. Precisely the reason why I decided to lower myself enough to come here. Any idea what the actual practical exam is? You have a friend in the support course, did they hear about something? If the school is preparing something special, I'm almost sure they included the support course to kill two birds with one stone."

Izuku makes the Face. Uraraka finds it hard to describe, but if it was a cartoon, he would probably have a suddenly lit-up lightbulb floating above his head.

"Mei mentioned something about the high-density weights she was making for someone." He quickly replies. "I think we'll be fighting the teachers… and those weights will be the handicap."

"Wait, what?" Hitoshi interjects. He isn't the only one with a similar reaction.

"Ah, that makes perfect sense." Monoma nods, completely ignoring Shinsou. "I'll make preparations. Nedzu will probably tailor the fights to teach us something, we should be able to figure out the arrangements for our classes if we think about it strongly enough. And prepare some countermeasures. You tell Nakahara. Let's see which class will triumph."

"Sure." Izuku replies and Monoma walks away.

Uraraka is still horrified by the prospect of fighting the teachers when Tenya decides to speak.

"Uhm, I believe that not being able to prepare for fights like that is a part of the exam." He says. "Facing the unexpected and so on. Are you sure that this is a good idea?"

"It's Nedzu whom we are talking about." Izuku replies with a shrug. "He'll probably give us extra credit for that." He is probably right about it, if the gossip they all heard about the principal is anything to go by.

Uraraka is left to wonder what exactly is happening during those mythical special lessons with Nedzu. She isn't the only one by that table to do that.

(***)

Yaoyorozu's idea for the tutoring session was simple. Why share the students between the two tutors? With Inasa and Bakugou taking a lot of the potential students out of the picture, they could as well go through the material all-together.

They agreed to make one study session at Yaoyorozu's house… and one at Midoriya. With doors open to whoever wanted to show up, regardless of their grades.

Discovering how large Yaoyorozu's house was (and just how incredibly wealthy she was) was a shocking revelation to Uraraka. But she knew well enough that the second half of the tutoring lessons was going to be way worse.

Because she has a boyfriend now (not like they did anything boy/girlffriendish ever since the confession day, they really have no idea how to proceed with that but it's alright), and she is about to meet his family.

Not like she didn't meet them before, but… well, it was BEFORE.

She didn't even tell her parents yet because she has no idea how to even START that subject! It was horrible. And Momo's idea only made it worse. Enough to make Uraraka confront her about something.

(***)

Izuku Midoriya Support/Fanclub

GravityGirl: I have… only one question.

GravityGirl: Was this all simply because you wanted to see his house?

CreativeSpirit: … maybe.

GravityGirl: …

CreativeSpirit: But I think that I'm not the only one who was interested in that.

LeadSinger: Yes.

MadScientist: WHY AM I EXCLUDED THOUGH

WarpedPerception: AND ME TOO

CreativeSpirit: Mei, you aren't from the Hero Course.

MadScientist: That's discrimination!

WarpedPerception: Why am I ignored?!

CreativeSpirit: And also because, Mei, you would probably freak out his parents with your shenanigans.

CreativeSpirit: And I'm not sneaking Eto out of school.

WarpedPerception: Ehhh, fair.

MadScientist: Shenanigans?! I just want to know where the father of my babies lives.

CreativeSpirit: … this is precisely my point, Mei.

MadScientist: MOMO, PLEASE

CreativeSpirit: MEI, NO

MadScientist: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

CreativeSpirit: Learn to provide the context when meeting someone for the first time, then we'll talk.

MadScientist: I haven't been betrayed like that ever since I asked Shinsou to force a 1h power nap on me and he instead hypnotized me into sleeping for a full eight hours and taking a shower.

Mindhack: You should have seen the thank you card, the large chocolate bar and a box of coffee that Power Loader gave me for this.

Mindhack: I regret nothing.

CreativeSpirit: …

CreativeSpirit: Will you do it again if I ask you to?

MadScientist: NO

(***)

"Uhm, mom?" Izuku says, and Inko immediately realizes that the time has come. She and her husband had a bet on how long it would take, and it seemed that she was going to win. "It's… about the study session."

"Yes, Izuku?" She stops working on the food (her house is her pride, she isn't letting any guests in without making sure that there is enough food, snacks and drinks for them!) "What about it?"

"Well, uuuhmm…" He is suddenly fidgeting uncontrollably. Yes. It's certainly that talk. "Do you remember Och… Uraraka?"

WELL, FINALLY! She could scarcely believe it when Toshinori told her that her son actually got himself a girlfriend! Oh, she was looking so much towards having grandchildren… sure, a few years too early for that (she didn't look towards it enough to think that complicating her son's life was worth it), but…

"Yes, what about her?" Oh, she was such a sweet and kind girl. A bit of a ditz, but… well, it's not like Inko didn't have a part like that to her. And the way she reacted to Mr. Compress… well, Atsuhiro deep inside really liked heroes. Just, good ones. Having one as his fan… it really made him happy.

"She… I mean, we… I mean, I… uhm…" He is looking down. He is looking a lot like Asa now. She kind of got used to the fact that he can only motivate himself to stand fast when it's about helping others, but… well, she is acutely aware that it isn't healthy. But he is slowly getting there.

"Izuku, baby, calm down." She decides to intervene. "Take a deep breath."

He does so. He seems to have regained his bearings. At least, to a degree. But enough to continue.

"Uhm, she… she confessed to me, and… I think that I like her, I just thought that there was no way that she would like me, so I did nothing about it, but when she confessed then I said that I like her too, and.." Aaand he is finally saying the words. "I th… uhm… she is my girlfriend now and…"

"Oh, Izuku…" She is really happy for him. Last year or something? For Izuku it was like a dream come true. He got himself a father (and it was his idol), a quirk (perhaps multiple), he got admitted to the UA Heroics Course, had friends, and… now this.

And that's without counting the fact that if what her husband told her was true (she would bet everything on that), even Bakugou Katsuki had some change of heart recently. So many good things. So many good things that she was afraid would never come for him.

"And… uhm…" He looks onto his feet, trying his best not to look at her. "... mochi is her favourite food, and… I thought… if you could prepare some of it for her, and… if I could help with that, it… it would be pretty nice and…"

If her other children are going to be this blindingly pure and adorable when it comes to their love life, her heart might not survive that. In the meantime, she starts furiously crying and hugs her son tightly.

(***)

In the end, the tutoring group is composed of Uraraka, Hakagure, Jirou, Asui, Todoroki and Tokoyami.

Jirou, Todoroki and Asui are all in the single digit group. Asui doesn't even bother to hide the fact that she is doing this to meet Izuku's sisters, while Jirou does hide the fact that she is there to see All Might's home. And his family.

Todoroki is there because Izuku suggested that it's a good idea for him to socialize a bit. Shoto Todoroki is making small steps towards knowing how to interact with people without extreme awkwardness (or without someone, like Izuku, instructing him in detail on what to do).

At least when it isn't about fighting. Or training. Or declaring a rivalry with someone. Or… well, that concludes the list.

Uraraka and Tokoyami were at 13 and 14 place during the midterms exam, meaning that they actually have things to work on. Hakagure in the meantime was in sixteenth place, and frankly, she feels that her life is in danger. Probably correctly so.

Momo is there as well, but as a teacher. If she has anything to say about the size of the house, she keeps it to herself. But everyone can see her eyes on everything. And that's even before she enters it.

Naturally, Inko is at home. So are her remaining children. And, surprisingly enough, her husband (although he was, of course, in his civilian persona). At least her unofficial 'brothers and sisters' aren't there, Atsuhiro becoming suddenly unmasked by a hero trainee was dangerous enough. They don't want the kids to recognize Stain, for example.

They made the mistake of underestimating the instincts of the future top heroes once. They won't make it twice.

They all come home together from the school. Uraraka is left to wonder what sort of shocking twists their 'study session' will have.

(***)

The heroes heard boss music because of PLF. PLF heard boss music because of Izuku Midoriya. First years heard boss music because of exams. The teachers heard boss music because of the chaos gremlins preparing to get themselves unleashed. There is no escape, there is only boss music.

Few more supervillain OCs. Cure to Evil's Great Crime Purge of All Might after All Might's fall was significantly more successful. Liberator, Glassmaker and Mechanist were all apprehended by him and are in Tartarus right now. Here, they are still around. Dictator was thrown into Tartarus by Crust in canon, here he is still kicking while being slightly more of an information broker alongside of his usual mindcontrol gimmicks.

Also, I swear, Izuocha in this story is more fluffy and adorable and precious than what Tenko and Suto have in CtE. Unbelievable.