The Archivist of Nyx - In all honesty, the point of divergence is WAY before canon, even before the TTB started (although it took almost until the times of 'canon'/TTB start for the history to finally diverge thoroughly. It's not even mentioned thus far. Your 'who' guesses are 2/3 correct :P Although I'm yet to elaborate.
(***)
With access to Ragdoll's quirk, Midoriya could finally start looking for his remaining classmates. Three of them were connected and required some further preparations to be approached, so he decided to leave them for the latter. He needed some meticulous preparations, some reconnaissance and good planning to approach the issue.
But there was one former classmate left. One that wasn't connected with anyone else. One that hid so well that Midoriya actually suspected that they kicked the bucket when no one was looking.
It wasn't until Ragdoll confirmed that she still had a lock on her that Midoriya discovered that Tsuyu Asui was still alive. Her quirk located the frog girl in some very bad district of Kyoto, one of those that police and heroes rarely visited.
What was left was approaching her. Without anyone dying.
Two days of remote observation of the area to make sure that they at least theoretically knew the surroundings. An escape plan with at least three alternatives. Ragdoll using her quirk to monitor Asui practically permanently. Midoriya sending Quicksilver and Singularity to gather some street gossip.
Caution was the word of the day.
When the time came, Cloud warped Midoriya and Tokoyami into one of the rooms in the flat where Asui lived. After Ragdoll made sure that the frog girl was in a different room. She would probably react badly if a black cloud randomly exploded in front of her.
The room they landed in was the bedroom. It was messy, but also rather empty. Impersonal. Probably a temporary hideout. Something that you were ready to abandon if need arises. She probably wasn't here for long, maybe a few weeks.
Why didn't she just… leave the country? He thinks that he knows the reason, but he isn't sure of it. Perhaps he'll find out soon.
Fumikage becomes one with the shadows. Midoriya lands himself on the small chair, making sure that there is a small table between him and the room where Tsuyu is in. But not before making sure that most of her combat gear was in the room with him. And putting a bag with their plan B on the floor right next to him.
Despite Blackwing being in the room, fighting fully prepared Tsuyu Asui on her own territory is… not something that Midoriya would enjoy.
Even fighting the completely surprised and naked Tsuyu Asui that emerged from her bathroom after the shower to discover two enemies in her bedroom almost ended up very badly.
Midoriya managed to notice her movement in time, but it was a close call. The fact that he covered his face with his right arm before the throwing knife found its target bordered on a miracle. He kicked the table over and dove behind it, only to see Asui leap past him, darting towards the window.
She was planning to barge through it, using the towel in her hands to shield herself from the worst of the damage. Risky. Might have worked if Tokoyami's shadow hand didn't grab her by the ankle and slam her into the floor.
Three seconds later she was pinned down to the ground by some additional shadow hands.
"I must say…" Midoriya says while standing from behind the table and massaging his arm. The nanocomposite weave in his hoodie stopped the blade from cutting through, but the impact was still there. Ouch. "... that I don't like the way it looks.."
It's Dark Shadow's head this time, emerging from the pool of black right next to Asui. Black, twisting, with a pair of large yellow eyes. Seeing Tokoyami's facial expressions on Dark Shadow's head was… disturbing.
"Right." He seems to have noticed the same thing. Him, pinning down a naked woman with his numerous, tentacle-like limbs. The woman in question stopped struggling for a moment, just to bend her head enough to look at him. Midoriya wasn't the only person who found their double-speak to be worrying. "Should we let her go? It's making us vaguely uncomfortable."
"Not yet, not yet." Midoriya shakes his head. "I don't want to get stabbed. Again. Asui, we've just come to have a nice, friendly talk with you. Are you willing to behave?"
The ribbit he gets in response is… well, it's not hard to realize that she just told him to fuck off. Somehow had a real attitude. That certainly wasn't the friendly frog girl he knew back then.
"Well then, we're going to have to do it the hard way." Midoriya announces. He puts the chair on the floor right next to Asui. Then he pulls out their plan B from a bag - namely, a rope. Asui - still naked - gives him a death stare from the floor.
"You're only making it worse, Midoriya." Tokoyami announces.
Two minutes later Tsuyu Asui was properly disarmed. Turned out that she had an armband with a handful of small throwing knives and a leg band above her knee with a nasty combat knife attached to it.
They caught her when she was leaving her bathroom after a shower. She still had some knives on her. It was the level of paranoia that even Midoriya found impressive.
The recent years weren't very generous to her. He could see scars, including one especially large on her abdomen. Some nasty burns on her left waist. A handful of what looked like claw marks on her back. She was still extremely well-trained; he could see the muscles under her skin showing up each time she tried to wrestle Tokoyami (and Midoriya) off her.
She failed, and was now only disarmed but also bound to the chair with a rope. Midoriya considered throwing a hoodie over her (less to protect her modesty and more to make the situation less awkward), but it was probably a recipe for disaster.
She would use it as a cover to undo her bindings, and then someone would die. Most likely Tsuyu Asui, and that was woefully counterproductive to their stated goal of recruiting her. And what if she managed to kill him, instead?
One positive side of being a supervillain for years was that he no longer reacted to nudity like he used to. Even the female one. He was pretty certain that him from his time on the UA would have fainted at the spot.
"Look, Tsuyu… or do you prefer Tsu?" He asks. He is now sitting in front of her, doing his best to focus on her face. Blackwing is behind her, focusing on her hands instead. Tsuyu doesn't answer. "Tsuyu, I'm only here to talk. Yes, I do have an offer for you, but I'm not going to kill you if you refuse. Could you at least do me a favor of cooperating vocally?"
"Fine, ribbit." She finally speaks. "Call me Tsu." Really? Talk about unexpected things to say to him after throwing a knife at his face.
"Now that brings back memories." Midoriya says. "I really freaked out the last time you told me that, didn't I?" If he remembers it correctly, it was on the bus. En route to the USJ. The last few minutes of unquestionable happiness and hope in Midoriya's life.
"Yes." She agrees. "What do you want?" Not one for a small talk, huh. She was always pretty blunt. Never wasting time beating around the bush.
"You see, I'm organizing a class reunion." Izuku says. The look on her face is… well, he had issues reading her back then, and he had issues reading her now. "And an armed rebellion against the government."
Her head tilts a bid. The stare grows slightly more focused. If his intel on her was correct, it wasn't enough to recruit her. But it was certainly enough to interest her.
"All for One and Re-Destro tried." She says. "Entropy and Overhaul tried. Miruko and Knuckleduster tried. Aizawa-sensei and Ms. Joke tried. Why do you think you're going to succeed where they didn't, ribbit?"
"Someone's asking some very good questions, Midoriya." Tokoyami decides to be a smartass. Izuku stares daggers at him over Asui's head. "What? We're in regardless of your plan, we're just curious."
He sighs. Not really a good moment to talk about it, but it might actually work in his favor.
"Well, I have some very good intelligence sources, a handful of skillful people that have nothing to lose and we all know that there is nothing more dangerous than those… and a plan." He announces. Naturally, it doesn't seem to have worked. "Not to mention a lot of experience in trying to overthrow the Japanese government. I was actually the co-leader of the Paranormal Liberation Front together with Entropy and Overhaul."
"Oh." Tokoyami lets out. "Well, that explains it." They look surprisingly cool with that. No doubt. Perhaps because he is Judgment's brother? Does he even know who she truly is? Who was her father?
"... I'm supposed to believe that?" Tsuyu looks at him. "Ribbit." Somehow she managed to make it sound almost passive aggressive this time. Wow. Someone worked on her communication skills.
"You don't have to, Tsu." He replies. "You'll find out the truth for yourself if you agree to work with us."
She doesn't look persuaded at all. Looks like he'll have to be a bit… more pushy.
"I'm gathering the old gang back together." He continues. "And, you see, when I looked through the list of potential recruits to the League of Villains I found a certain friendly froggy. That just happened to be a former classmate and a friend of mine. And, coincidentally, a highest ranking member of the Inhuman Supremacy Party to have avoided capture or death during the Paranormal Liberation War. So, we decided to drop by for a work interview."
Silence. Eventually, Asui speaks.
"How did you find me?" She says. A very good question to ask. Especially for someone who thought that they hid from the world perfectly. "And how did you get in?"
Ah. So she DID boobytrap the entrances. Of course she did. Midoriya suspected it, but they failed to confirm it before moving. Truly, a sign of being in a hurry. They had a timetable to follow, after all.
"Ragdoll's quirk is still out there. And it's still locked onto you." He says. "The rest was just a matter of using a warp quirk to get inside without triggering your traps. Does that satisfy your curiosity?"
He can practically see the gears turning in her head. Access to Ragdoll's quirk? Unless All for One survived Deika and was using Midoriya as an intermediary, it meant that Midoriya Izuku truly used to be very high in PLF's ranks. Enough to know its capital S Secrets.
Not to mention the fact that if he wasn't lying, it meant that she couldn't hide from him. Of course, the option that he was lying was on the table.
The worst part? If he wasn't lying and he just shared some vital intel with her… was he really planning to let her go if she said no? Despite that risk, she decides to go for it.
"Not interested." She announces. "One war is enough for me, ribbit."
He isn't going to kill her. He knows that she hates the government just as much as he does. She isn't going to sell him to the HPSC. But he also isn't going to let her go. Because he came prepared. He had arguments and a leverage to use on her.
"Are you sure about that, Tsu?" He asks. She nods. Huh, fearless as ever. "Even if I promise to fulfill your greatest desire?"
"Unless you can bring my family back to life, I don't think that we can have a deal." Tsuyu replies.
Yeah. Her villain origin story was… painful. Traumatic. Midoriya can think of only a few to match it. Even his own is at best comparable. And then, two years later, hers got even worse.
Midoriya was no stranger to doing something horrible only to regret it afterwards. Once the realization came that you shouldn't have done it… and that now you're going to have to live with the consequences for the rest of your life.
"No, that is… beyond my abilities." Midoriya admits. "And I can't offer you revenge, since you already took it. Rather… spectacularly, if I may say so."
He can see Tsuyu clenching her teeth. Yeah, it was a … painful thing. The moment when what was left of Tsuyu Asui he knew in the past finally broke.
"If that makes it any better, I vehemently opposed the idea of sending your unit to the Marukane Ward." He says. Her eyes narrow a bit, and the stare grows more intensive. "Though, to be honest, I did it because I thought that sending you to the district when your family was lynched in anti-mutant pogrom was cruel to you, and enough of a reason to not sent you there. Even if you knew the area." He sighs. "I think that even Hana didn't expect that you would torch the entire district to the ground."
The infamous war criminal says nothing for a few long seconds. Midoriya lets her do that. But eventually, the lull comes to an end.
"Get to the point." She says. Her words feel forced.
"Well, I had some of my underlings ask around the district for gossip." He says. "Unusual occurrences and the likes. Does the name 'Hopper' ring any bells?"
It does. She is hard to read, but this time the surprise broke through the facade for a split second. He is observant enough to notice.
"I…"
"A local vigilante, active for a few weeks now." Midoriya continues, ignoring her rather meek attempts at lying. "People know only that she's a girl and that she can jump far. Some even came as far as to gossip that Kazuho Haneyama showed in the area, can you believe that? As if the New Vigilante Alliance would send someone so important to this dump. "
"Get to the point." Tsuyu decides not to fight him. And instead cut down his theatrics in length. Very logical move.
"I managed to obtain a CCTV recording of one of your interventions, Tsu." He says. "You subdued the villain quite expertly, the difference in skills was too great, but… you know, after seeing you jump between him and the victim, I have to say that it looked almost as if you hoped that he was going to blast you away in their place."
She doesn't say anything. But Midoriya is almost certain that he is on the right track. He sees no other reason for a former war criminal to be playing a vigilante in the middle of nowhere.
"So here is my theory, Tsu." He says while leaning towards her a bit. "You didn't come to this district to hide from the authorities. You came here because you're looking for death. But you want to die as the Rainy Season Hero: Froppy. Not as Chameleon, the Butcher of the Marukane Ward. You want to die… but you want to die saving someone. Am I right?"
Once again, there is silence. Tsuyu is clearly weighing options in her mind. Eventually, she settles on honesty.
"Yes, ribbit." Despite the honesty, the stare he gets is… intimidating, to say the least. "And how are you supposed to be helpful in that?"
He pulls out a photo from his pocket and shows it to Tsuyu. It's him and Eri, during her last birthday. He is wearing his standard attire (the stupid T-Shirt and trousers). She is wearing an All Might-themed shirt and a pair of sunglasses.
They fit quite well with the smug smile on her face. She just beat him up in a card game. That's a fair reason to be smug.
"That's Eri. My adoptive daughter." He says. Tsuyu's eyes move from the picture back to him. He isn't sure if he can even try guessing what she was thinking. "Few days ago the HPSC located one of the safehouses I was using to house a group of children on the run from the government. They took sixteen kids, ages eight to sixteen, for the Paragon Program. To be trained into perfectly obedient puppets for the government. Eri's in that group."
He has no idea how to interpret it. She doesn't make any visible moves. Nothing shows up on her face. But something… something changed. Something in her… crumpled? Burned? He has no idea how to name it. It's more of a vague feeling either way.
"If you stay here, Froppy, you're going to die saving a person or two." He continues. "That's… valiant. Heroic. But Tsu, I can make your death mean so much more. You can die saving at least sixteen people. You can die making sure that the government responsible for so many bad things can hurt no one more. You can die so that hundreds of kids won't be turned into Paragons, so that thousands of kids won't be living in squalor simply because they were born with wrong quirks or not quirks at all."
He leans forward, their eyes meeting.
"Wouldn't you say…" He adds, staring at her unblinking eyes with an intensity that matches hers. "... that it would be a very heroic end for you, Tsu?"
Silence. As expected. Tsuyu doesn't seem to be one for rushing her answers. She'll instead carefully think everything over in her head before opening her mouth. Midoriya is ready to give her all the time she needs.
Eventually, it gets him somewhere.
"And how many people…" Tsuyu asks. "... are going to get killed in the process? Ribbit"
An extraordinarily good question. But what should be the answer? The Tsuyu he remembered valued honesty. But the Tsuyu he remembered wasn't a war criminal responsible for torching an entire district to the ground. How many people died in it? Five thousand? Six thousand?
And she wasn't even nineteen years old when that happened. Way to start your adulthood. Way to crown your fast raise in the ISP ranks, an organization that cared little about age and only valued your skills… and readiness to spill blood.
How many people did she have to kill to get a commanding position in the ISP? Probably at least a few. Desire for revenge is a powerful motivator. Makes you do things that you otherwise wouldn't even consider. Midoriya knows that from an autopsy.
"A lot." He replies. There is no point in lying either way, she is smart enough to realize what was going to happen. "We're going to set the cities aflame, paint the streets with blood of the heroes and turn their agencies to rubble. The Second Paranormal Liberation War is going to make the first one look like a bunch of kids playing with firecrackers, Tsu. By the time we're done with them, the heroes will fear me more than they ever feared Entropy. Of course…"
He pauses for a second. Enough to make her refocus her attention on him. Because he was losing her. Losing her not in terms of attention but in terms of potential recruitment chances.
"... I'm not going to make civilians into targets." He takes a step back. "I'm not going to cry over them if they are caught in a crossfire, just so we're clear. And hundreds, no, thousands will. It's going to be a war after all, and for as much as I'd prefer to avoid it, casualties are unavoidable. But what Entropy and her lackeys were doing during the last months of the war was disgusting."
"... and yet, you kept working with them." Tsuyu retorts. Huh. Looks like someone actually believed him now. Or was merely playing along.
"Unfortunately, if there was a single thing that Entropy truly excelled in… something that wasn't committing war crimes or partaking in drug-fuelled orgies… it was avoiding assassination attempts." He replies. Her face perks up a bit. "The world should be happy that the Haiboro Woods happened so soon after Overhaul's demise. Without the two of us to outvote her, Entropy would have burned the country to the ground."
Tsuyu was… smart. Not the 'so brilliant that's unfair' like Momo Yaoyorozu or Midoriya Izuku. Not a natural born mastermind. But she had an above average intelligence, honed through years of hard work. And a lot of experience in villainy. A lot of experience in covering her tracks and thinking outside the box. So, naturally, she connected the dots.
"It was you." She says, her eyes narrowing slightly. It's almost funny to see, as they are still way bigger than those of normal humans. "You sold her out to the heroes. You made the Haiboro Woods happen."
Tokoyami's head perks up, their eyes on Midoriya. Who promptly realizes that Tsuyu Asui just made a big mistake. Now he can't let her go, so if she doesn't agree to get recruited… Well, this seems to be still on the table, thankfully. He would hate to have to go that way.
Tokoyami will stay quiet, if only for Aiko. But Tsuyu… this is something that no one can know about. That no one can even suspect.
"I wanted to win, Tsu." He replies calmly. "I wanted to make the heroes, the HPSC and our society pay for what they did to me. But I also wanted to replace them with something else, something which wasn't as… inherently abusive and dysfunctional. I seeked destruction, but it was a mean to a more constructive end. Entropy, in the meantime…"
He sighs, scratching the side of his head. Even after all those years, talking about that particular thing left a foul taste in his mouth.
"She only wanted to destroy. She only wanted to see the world burn." He continues. "With Overhaul dead, we had only one weapon left. Last one chance for victory. Something that me and Chisaki tried our utmost to keep buried. Because if Entropy used it, we'd have inherited a wasteland, not a country. If there would be anyone left to inherit anything, that is."
Tsuyu is looking at him, and once again, he has no idea what's going on in the frog girl's mind. Time for a leap of faith.
"So the answer is yes, Tsu." Midoriya says. "I sold Entropy to the heroes. I made sure that almost the entire League of Villains died in a valiant last stand in the Haiboro Woods. Because letting it continue to exist would only bring more deaths. Not a change for the better. And while I long ago stopped caring about the blood on my hands, that doesn't mean that I want to drown in it."
"You betrayed us." Tsuyu speaks. Her voice is so emotionlessly calm that it's almost unnatural. Even on her face.
"I'd argue that she betrayed us first, Tsu." Midoriya replies. "All I did was spare the country further suffering. One that would be entirely, entirely pointless. If you want to accuse me of betraying what the PLF was supposed to be… then it happened later, when I decided that I'm done with trying to change the country. When I decided to do something else. That is…" He tilts his head a bit, giving her a faint smile. "... if you are willing to accuse me of the horrible crime of trying to keep some kids safe. Of trying to give them the happiness that should have been their birthright. Can you do that, Tsu? Can you do that and still be able to look at your reflection in the mirror without hating what you see?"
"... I already hate what I see in the mirror." She replies after a few seconds of silence, before looking down. Then she sighs. "Fine. I'm in. Ribbit."
Now it's Midoriya's turn to be surprised.
"Really?" He asks, leaning back in his chair. "All that 'you betrayed us' talk and suddenly you're all 'I'm in'?"
"What other options do I have left?" She asks back. "Whether I die in a nearest alleyway or die attacking some HPSC facility, the results are the same. I get what I wanted. But I have two demands."
Of course she had some. He would suspect a trap if she had none, especially after their talk. It's probably going to be some version of 'don't make me kill X or Y', most likely children.
"State them." He says.
"You're going to give me a good death, ribbit." Tsuyu replies. "I'm not getting caught. I'm not getting sold to the heroes. I'm not surviving by accident." Oh. Well, that works as well, he thinks.
"Yes, but I'm going to have a counter-demand." He replies. She gives him a questioning stare. "No death seeking without my approval. I don't care that you have a bad day, you aren't throwing yourself like a human shield in front of a hero. I'm going to give you the death you seek when the right time comes. When your death won't endanger the cause." After a few seconds of thinking, Tsuyu nods. "Alright. Your second demand?"
"More like a promise, ribbit." She says. "If I decide that you lied to me about your goals… I'm going to kill you. If I decide that you're going too far… I'm going to kill you." Her eyes narrow for a heartbeat. "If I look at you and see Entropy… I'm going to kill you."
It occurs to Midoriya all of a sudden, that out of two classmates that are with him in the room, Tsuyu Asui changed the most. Which, considering the fact that Fumikage Tokoyami wasn't even human anymore, was telling.
Then again, she was probably the nicest and friendliest person in his old class. And even today, she was probably the nicest person of those that remained from it. Maybe aside from Uraraka, but that was a… special case.
He certainly wouldn't feel bad if he had to kill the others. Except for Tokoyami. Maybe.
"Your conditions are acceptable, Tsu." He announces. "Tokoyami, free her."
Blackwing morphs their arm into Dark Shadow's claw and cuts through the ropes behind the chair. Part of Midoriya is relieved that Tsuyu doesn't immediately attempt to kill him.
While she is taking off the remnants of the bindings, Midoriya stands up from his chair, comes closer and extends his hand.
"Welcome to the new League of Villains, Tsu." He says. She looks up at him from the chair, her look hard to summarize without writing an entire paragraph of text. "I'm looking forward to working with you."
She says nothing. But she does give him a handshake. Only then does she open her mouth.
"I'd like to wear something now." She states. "Or is that supposed to be my new villain outfit?" Was this… a joke? A pervy one, even? Wow.
"Tempting, but we're not staying here while you rummage through what's probably a minefield of traps." Midoriya replies. "We're warping out. I'll have my warper open up a warpgate to this room in thirty minutes. Pack up whatever you want to take with you by then."
Four former All Might's students in the League of Villains. Three more left to be recruited - although those were going in a package, so to speak.
(***)
In another installment, you get to meet the crime boss, the serial killer and a mass murderer/hero killer (kind of). Who is who? That's a good question.