Disclaimer: Of course I don't own My Hero Academia, its characters, or the franchise.
Story: As a result of their repeated run-ins with Villains in real life and the expected future encounters, Class 1-A is assigned a revised physical portion of their semi-finals -a simulation game of Heroes vs. Villains. Supposedly a way to give them experience and preparation in a safe, moderated environment, and also a way to just let go and de-stress...Nedzu really just supposes it'll be the perfect way to have Midoriya Izuku unleash entertaining hell. Plus, he would really like for her to utilize that brain of hers to break down everyone without restraint, give them reality and all their weaknesses. The best part is this could finally be the therapy she desperately needed and finally get her well-deserved vengeance! (He, after all, had managed to rain down hell on the humans that scarred him, so why couldn't she?)
Spoilers: Yeah, definitely, post-Endeavor-Agency arc.
Warnings: Age disparity, violence, cursing, maybe sexual situations, criminal matters…
Pairings: Enji/Izuku, Mirai/Izuku, Tsunagu/Izuku, David/Izuku, Keigo/Izuku
Blurred, Faded Lines
Chapter Five: Nice Was Her Pastime
A pin drop could be heard in the room. They watched in shock as the Hero team scrambled around in a panic, rushing to put on their costumes and choose to either evacuate or stop the damage above them. Eventually, they evacuated quickly and those watching in the room were just unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Best Jeanist had dropped his yogurt on the ground and All Might had coughed up an alarming amount of blood that Nighteye actually ignored in favor of gaping at the screen.
"What the hell?!" Enji's jaw dropped. Izuku's sweet, smiling face was front and center on the screen, but there was something twisted about it. "The fuck's going on?"
"W-wait, you made Cinnamon Roll Midoriya Izuku the Villain leader?" Hawks stared at the disgruntled UA staff. Only Nedzu looked pleased, gleeful even. "I'd get leader for the Heroes, but Izuku-chan's no Villain."
Enji agreed. Having her work under him, he knew she was just too sweet and caring. Her determination to help him and Shoto, his family…Hell, her being there for his asshole self, caring so much about him and helping him…
"This is bullshit," he said bluntly. "I have her for work studies and I know for a fact she's practically a saint."
Eraserhead snorted while even Yagi's lips twitched. "Well, I wouldn't want to go that far," Eraserhead said dryly. "There's a reason I call her 'Problem Child.'"
Yagi sighed and shrugged. "Even though I adore Midoriya-shoujo, I can admit she can be a bit manic."
"Let's ask the other person who's had her for work studies," Midnight grinned. "Nighteye, you've had her first and for longer. Well?"
Sir Nighteye pushed his glasses up, his usual stern face softening and even growing warm. "She's capable of being a chaotic energizer bunny," he said in exasperation, but it was fond exasperation. "Yes, she's sweet and of course she can be very, very kind. But we have chaos jokes, she periodically trolls me, and lately she's become such a tease and spouting out innuendos!"
He was stared at, especially as his stern voice got more emotional and louder.
"Hm, that might have been my fault," Midnight interjected after a moment. "She asked about that stuff and we talked. She's probably been using you as a practice dummy."
Nighteye glared at her. "Yes, I see. Thank you for that," he said sarcastically. He pushed his glasses up again, even though Enji was oddly burning up in jealousy. "That said, Endeavor is correct, as is Hawks. I do not see how Izu —Midoriya is fit to be the Villain leader."
Nedzu shrugged. "Then maybe you don't know her as well as you think."
That made Nighteye bristle, but Enji felt the same, feeling like he was being included in that (along with the others).
"In the Entrance Exam, the written test was done in a record of ten minutes and a score of 110% by her. The essay portion I grade pushed that to 150%. Without the physical test, she would have been at least guaranteed a spot in UA in any other course. I haven't tested her on her IQ, but I suspect it is at least slightly higher than mine," Nedzu's voice was rising in excitement and the animal principal was practically vibrating in his seat. "We play Go, every day if we can. Shogi every first of the month and go to a tea ceremony on the last day of every month."
"You two interact?" Eraserhead asked horrified.
"Of course we do! Did you think after that Entrance Exam, I wouldn't approach her? Why…Of course I would!" Nedzu chuckled. "Silly humans. We're friends!"
"Oh my God, those two are friends?! We're all doomed!" Present Mic exclaimed dramatically.
Mirai didn't know what he was more wary of —the very fact that Nedzu and Izuku were talking, much less friends —that was actually kind of terrifying —or the things he'd found out about his former employee. He knew she was smart but he'd never actually thought more on it. It was just a natural part of her, accepted and simply utilized as needed. Hearing about it as data though…
It also brought up and reminded him of his discussion about her intelligence earlier, with the other Pro-Heroes.
"The fact you two interact is horrifying all in itself, but that you two apparently spend specific time with each other…" Eraserhead covered his face with his hands.
Toshinori blanched. "You two really spend that much time with each other?"
"Why not? We are friends. Isn't it normal to set aside time to spend with friends?"
Yes, perhaps…but considering just who were friends and the kind of activities those two like doing together…
Nedzu took a sip of his tea in content, mindless of the others. "She's also my new supplier of really delicious tea, usually very exotic! This one's quite nice, quite nice indeed —it's from Kenya I'm told!"
Mirai blinked. What? How was Izuku capable of that? Then those tea containers from before —
"How long have you two been this close?" Present Mic asked in trepidation.
"Since the beginning of the school year," Nedzu answered cheerily. "We got along immediately!"
"Am I the only one who 'eard 'im call Midoriya-kun 'Empress'?" Snipe threw his hands up and shivered.
"It's very suiting," Nedzu hummed pleased. "Kougou-chan is indeed our sweet, lovable cinnamon roll. However, mayhaps you don't know this side of her, at least as much, but my dear Empress could conquer the world, if she should want to. Hence why, despite how all of you are so skeptical of, she can indeed be quite the Villain, if she put her mind to it."
Maybe…maybe Mirai could believe it. It didn't make it any less terrifying.
"Besides, Izuku-kougou has buried and repressed so much. I was able to torment my tormentors. Why can't she?" Nedzu laughed. "I just thought it proper to give her this opportunity! To allow her this moment and give her the permission she has never given herself to right certain wrongs done to her. And, well, she'll be helping her fellows, even if it's a little more harsher than any of us are used to from her…maybe even a tad cruel. But she's not here to teach us our mistakes and weaknesses as a Hero; she's here to do so as a Villain."
And Mirai knew just how good at just at least breaking down a person and a Quirk Izuku was, and this was just as her sweet self. Imagining her capable of doing that as a Villain…the thought made him shiver.
"In any case, I'm her 'Nezumichan.' It's my duty to help my friend out!"
Nezumichan? Dear God…Anyone else, Nedzu would destroy. But that Izuku was not only allowed to call him that, but Nedzu enjoyed it from her…It spoke volumes.
"I'll say it again, we're all doomed," Present Mic muttered.
In the background, the backdrop of the city zoomed around on the screen, loud music blasting from all the speakers planted throughout the makeshift world.
"Spare the sympathy; everyone wants to be my enemy!"
Mirai did not think that this was going to be entertaining or fun for anyone there but Nedzu.
Ochako didn't think this was going good so far. In fact, she was kind of still in shock. Izuku's still stuck image on the screens around the city, after they'd all evacuated the hotel, was making her want to get off the island immediately.
That was not her friend on those screens.
"Did she ever say anything or leave out any hints that she was on the Villain team, much less the leader?" Tenya asked her quietly.
Ochako gave a weak laugh. "Not that I picked up on…But geez! She's making one really terrifying one already, and that was just her debut."
Tenya gave a rueful smile. "I admit, I am…rather taken aback that our friend could be so…"
"Easily villainous? Terrifyingly intelligent?" Because the way she caught them all unaware this whole time, the way she'd managed to just have this planned out so that Izuku's Villain debut was this magnanimous was way too smart for any of them to have contemplated, despite it being a known fact that their friend was smart.
She just wasn't thought of as smart in the way that would and could take down people like this.
"Izuku-chan is terrifying me," Ochako whispered, admitting it to him.
Tenya shuddered himself. "After this is over…we will make sure she's okay and bring her back to where she needs to be, if we need to. She's a Hero. She always has been and she always will be."
Ochako didn't doubt that.
But in the meantime, she didn't know what to make of this Villain masquerading around with her friend's face.
Denki was pretty sure that his entire mind had been blown. Was that really Midoriya? That was crazy! Sweet, kind and the cutest girl he knew just straight up blew up the hotel they were staying in. Why would they even choose her as Villain leader?
"This is really, really crazy," he shakily muttered. "We barely got started on this simulation!"
"Do you think the teachers are watching right now?" Hanta asked him quietly and Denki shrugged, eying a furious Bakugo yelling at their group to "get their shit together faster!"
"I don't know," Denki told him. "I think they'd be pretty shocked too. This came out of left field, you know? None of us had any idea Midoriya could be capable of something like this —nobody even had a clue she was on the Villain team!"
"Especially as its leader," Mashiro joined in on their talk, grimacing. "I still can't believe it."
"I don't think any of us really expected the test to start this way," Denki helplessly shrugged. "I'm not sure any of us expected it to be so crazy and scary. It's like we're up against a real Villain!"
"I think that's the point," Mashiro frowned. "Midoriya is taking her role seriously. We must too."
"I'm still trying to get over the fact that Midoriya did all this," Hanta gestured to the hotel and around them at the shocked and despondent group. "Especially since it's, you know, Midoriya."
Denki agreed because holy crap —Class 1-A's resident sweetheart pretty much fooled them for all this time and managed not to let anyone in on the fact she was the leader of the Villains.
"Alright, Extras!" Bakugo yelled at them. "Get your asses together here and listen up! We're going to find those bastards! There's no way in hell I'm going to let Deku get away!"
The three boys exchanged looks, but they too headed over and went to try to plan some sort of counter.
"This whole thing escalated real fast," Hizashi said. "Like real fast —it went from 0 to 100, just like that."
"I don't blame the Hero team for feeling out of sorts and practically scrambling to get their bearings right now," Nemuri said and Shota sort of agreed.
"However, if this was a real Villain attack, their response time is lacking," Shota pointed out. "This way, they'll be marked off and we'll have to tell and teach them that they have to overcome shock quickly and refocused on their tasks, one of which is to hurry and plan a counter attack and/or a pursuit of their quarry."
"That is correct," Nighteye interjected. "Their present positions are lacking; they're meandering around, trying to figure out the next step, when the 'Villains' have probably made their escape and are long gone, or if they were never there, what evidence the Heroes could've found may already be gone to them."
"At least in this environment, they can safely learn that," Hawks mused aloud. "Maybe this whole thing isn't so bad."
"Maybe," Endeavor muttered, still not so sure and continuing to intently stare at the Villain screen, where Izuku's face was still sweetly and yet somehow sinisterly smiling.
Was that contradiction even possible?
"Ah, Villain screen is back on and we're finally getting something," Ectoplasm indicated. "Looks like they're in their base?"
Shota observed the screen, frowning. Where were they?
Mirai saw the Villain's base of operations and felt uneasy. It was clearly based off the Shie Hassaikai's base and he wondered if it had been Izuku's influence? But how was that, when Izuku had nothing to do with and hadn't been part of the island planning, which had apparently been already long in the making before anyone had known about this simulation?
At the moment though, the main research area was where they were all gathered. There were stations all set up around and Mirai looked at them closely, trying to figure out what they were for.
"Wait a second, why is Hatsume-kun there?" Power Loader asked, taken aback as he saw one of his students there and chattering with the other Villain students.
"Monoma-kun and Tokage-kun too," Vlad King was surprised. "This is 1-A's semi-final, not my class. What's going on?"
Nedzu tutted, drawing attention to him. "I would think you all would know the instructions! The only hard rule about that was that the UA staff was unavailable for help or to be recruited. Izuku-kougou caught that and asked who was 'game for recruitment'. I see that she took it to mean that anyone in the school, that wasn't staff, was recruitable —hence, Monoma-kun, Tokage-kun, and Hatsume-kun's presence."
"She asked you about the rules?" Eraserhead asked, more taken aback than Power Loader had been.
"I didn't specify to anyone to whom they could ask questions to," Nedzu gleefully pointed out. "If she went to me instead of you to ask questions, then she was more than in her rights to do so.
Eraserhead just grunted, looking disgruntled at being so out of the loop. Mirai pitied the man and understood. He wasn't even part of this 'game' and he felt so thrown.
"That leaves…including Midoriya-kun, 13 on the Villain side over Bakugo-kun's 11," Midnight counted the numbers. "Huh, that's irony for you. The Villains actually have the numbers over the Heroes in this game, if only because Midoriya-kun recruited outside of the class."
"Actually, to be fair, even with that, it would've been expected that the Hero team would've had the numbers, since most of them would've balked at being a 'Villain'. Midoriya-kun must've had one hell of a recruitment speech and all, to get a lot of the class on her side," Ectoplasm mused aloud.
"And a shit ton of charisma," Present Mic grinned. "Which, undoubtedly, she definitely does."
They continued to watch them get set up, all while the Heroes finally were rounded up and cobbled together a game plan (most of them paired up to do a quick search of the nearby area and whoever left was grouped up to check on the hotel and retrieve what they could and travel to their 'Hero agency' afterwards). Mirai was impressed with the Villain setup, especially the massive technology hub that that Hatsume made herself at home at.
"How in the world do they have all this all set up and ready to go?" Midnight shook her head in disbelief. "This had to all been prepared beforehand!"
Mirai looked at the group, seeing everyone also looked disbelieving and curious. Consequently, Hatsume also asked about that.
"This is amazing, Lucifer," Hatsume eagerly checked out her new tech station. "How'd you get all this done?"
They could hear the rest of the Villain students echo a similar line of questioning and wondered if Izuku would answer about it. The girl in question smiled slightly and idly tapped her fingers against the computer screens.
"I have an insider," Izuku hummed in content, gazing around her base in satisfaction. "He made this possible for me."
There was a strangled noise near him and Mirai immediately turned to look, seeing Toshinori paling rapidly.
"Nedzu, who created this island? You said we were near I-Island —does that have anything to do with this island's creation? Is that why Melissa is here?" Toshinori's voice was faint.
Nedzu laughed and it sounded a tinged manic. "Why, didn't I inform you all? I commissioned I-Island for the creation of this game's island! David Shield is the main designer! Of course —knowing now that's his daughter —he'd send her over. He must be so very curious!"
Toshinori reached out and steadied himself against the bunk bed. He ran a hand down his face and huffed out in exasperation.
"He and Izuku are also very much intimately acquainted with each other already. You told her who the island designer was, didn't you? Oh my God! She rigged this entire thing behind all our backs! That entire place is already her playground!"
Mirai felt like ice cold water had been dumped over him and all he could do was stare in shock at his old friend and then at the screen, the self-satisfied look and that strange, unassailable smile on Izuku making it hard to breathe.
In the background, even with clear surprise, Nedzu laughed in delight.
Started 8/12/22 (the original Izuku reveal scenes with Heroes); 9/6/22 — Completed 9/11/22
A/n: And the surprises and chaos keep coming :) Oooh, I'm so excited and can't wait to keep pouring in the insanity! Enjoy the ride to hell, people. It's going to be very chaotic and messy (in the best way)~
Quick Points:
1. The Pros are having heart attacks and be shocked over and over again. Because it's fun and I enjoy tormenting them.
2. Nedzu knows what's up (mostly). Also, best friend privileges (that he will viciously utilize against everyone). And yes, Aizawa –again, they interact~
3. Also, again. Izuku is smart :D
4. Poor Hero bbys. They're already so traumatized.
5. Bombs away, everyone. Literal and figurative XD