"I already said, I don't think I can convince Endeavor and Hawks that a rescue mission is a good idea-"

"Who said anything about those geezers?" Ryukyu wrinkled her nose. "You have people you trust. Ask them."

Nejire swallowed. That…was true. But…

"Even if I were to go get Midoriya-kun. I don't know what he needs. He didn't have a plan on how to get the bomb out of the assassin when he left. I still don't have a solution to that-"

Ryukyu leaned in close and narrowed her eyes. "I think you do. Stop making excuses, space cadet."

Nejire bit her lip. "The solution…" I can't ask that of the girl. "It's really stupid and reckless and might not even work. The person in question isn't even a hero."

The dragon woman leaned back, appearing almost smug. "But you're considering it. You're considering a crazy plan that involves endangering a non-hero, all for helping Midoriya."

Izuku did as Nagant suggested and snapped an electrical cord to cause a scene.

After a minute of chaos, two guards came down and slammed him onto the floor.

"What the hell do you think you're doing? You just cost us hours of progress!" One of them spat in his face while the other punched his stomach. Izuku absorbed the blow and stared at his assaulters with muted defiance.

To his shock, the other workers did not ignore the scene.

"Hey!"

"Hey, leave him alone!"

"That's too far!"

Izuku felt a twinge of hope, his eyes darting to those shouting from the other workstations. None of them had enough resistance to walk over, but they were…defending him.

Mitsuri as well. "There's no need for that," she hissed. "It was clearly an accident. His hand slipped while using the pliers."

One of the guards snapped back, "there are no accidents. The Quirk is supposed to keep all of you following procedure exactly. You can't make mistakes-"

"Have you considered that some of us are so exhausted that we slip up anyway? The Quirk can't cover everything. You remember the old man," Kubo chimed in testily.

Team 6…Izuku couldn't believe it. They were all staring daggers at the guards now.

Something on the floor had shifted, and the armed men sensed it. Their eyes flitted nervously around to the nearly two hundred workers that surrounded them…and then they released Izuku.

"Fine." They backed off, going to their radios. "Fine. Did you call in for the maintenance guy…okay, we'll go take a look." Talking to someone on the other end. "EVERYONE BETTER STAY PUT UNTIL WE GET THE FLOOR BACK RUNNING!"

All the workers exchanged glances and shifted in place. The power had gone out on the floor. This was unprecedented.

As the guards went back up the stairs, Nagant slickly rejoined them. "What's happening?" she asked at a whisper. Only Izuku noticed that her pockets looked heavier than before.

What did you do? he thought, with narrowed eyes. He hoped she'd made good use of his distraction.

"They're sending maintenance people to restore the power." Tomiyasu had a light stirring in his eyes. "Just like we theorized."

There was nothing for it but to stand there and wait.

The guards on the balcony were more alert than usual, to the point of actually holding up their guns.

All the workers grew antsy. Work, said the voice, but they could not do so.

The shark man growled impatiently and took a step away from the table and toward the stairs. "Maybe we should go help them restore the power so we can get back to-"

"DON'T MOVE!" a guard shouted, and all the guns pointed toward him at once.

The shark man froze. Everyone else froze. Izuku and Kaina exchanged a meaningful stare.

"Eep. Okay. I'm…" He backed off, hands in the air. "Sorry. I guess we, uh, won't be doing that."

People on different teams, especially those that had met while building the helmets, were now giving one another looks from different tables. All feeling the same feeling.

Izuku's heart was racing. For the first time, there was a hint of solidarity in this room.

Just half an hour later, the power came back on. They returned to work.

Day's end. All the workers were back in their bunks, eating dinner. It was quieter than usual. Teams were talking in whispers. Eyes moved anywhere and everywhere.

Team 6 in particular, all sitting on their beds and chewing, waiting for someone to start the conversation. It was only a matter of time.

Nagant opened her mouth to begin, and then-

"Just before the power came back on," said Kubo, "I thought I had this idea that it was sunny outside."

Kaina scrunched her face and looked straight up, as Kubo slept above her. "What's that got to do with anything?"

"My Quirk is a sixth sense that allows me to predict the weather with absolute accuracy." Kubo set his tray down. "It was like…the first day after a cold starts to get better, when you can smell a little bit again. A hint of my power."

Tomiyasu waved his hand around his water cup, then slumped in disappointment. "Nothing. The chance is gone."

"Your Quirk lets you manipulate water?" Izuku blurted.

"...Yeah."

"Mine lets me create a sprocket from my fist." Mitsuri held up her hands. "I didn't think to check if I could, though…"

"While we were waiting, I re-read the building instructions to occupy myself, but I couldn't manage the enhanced reading speed I used to have…" Faulkner muttered.

"You've always been more complacent than me," Kubo accused.

"Hold on. Are we seriously talking about this?" Tomiyasu laughed in disbelief. "Just because you thought it might have been sunny out?"

"We all felt it." Izuku hugged his legs. "Because we were unable to keep working, we felt the need to do something - anything - to get back to it. That's why the shark guy was able to step away. His desire to fix the power and get back to work was that strong."

"But the guards didn't want us to do that." Suddenly, Kubo looked paranoid, glancing up at the ceiling. "Say, you don't think they-"

"No." Kaina shook her head. "They don't listen to what we say. There are no cameras or microphones in here. Why would they need them?"

"They wanted to keep us there, but we wanted to go elsewhere. Because the problem could only be fixed elsewhere. At the control panel. That's where the shark guy's feet would have taken him. In our heads, work suddenly meant getting the power back on…but they have maintenance people to do that." Tomiyasu sighed and leaned back, a hand on his forehead.

"One less than before," muttered Kaina. Only Izuku heard.

"That doesn't explain why this clown could suddenly feel his Quirk again." Mitsuri pointed at Kubo.

"The guards were threatening us. They were keeping us in place. Your brain was suggesting that we might have to fight to reach the control panel. That's why." Izuku's mind turned. Maybe, just maybe…

"But that doesn't make sense. I've never used my Quirk to fight." Kubo seemed baffled.

Izuku shrugged.

Mitsuri was staring suspiciously at him, and Kaina, too. "What are your Quirks?" she asked. "You guys never said."

Lady Nagant deadpanned. "I can make a gun out of my arm and bullets out of my hair."

"Oh," Faulkner squeaked.

"And you?" Mitsuri demanded of Izuku, eyes narrowed.

Izuku probed for the vestiges. With this increased hope, perhaps…

Nothing.

"I was born without one," he told her, not technically lying, and rolled over to face the wall.

He could feel Kaina's concerned eyes on him, while Team 6 shifted uncomfortably.

"...What about the gas?" Faulkner pointed out. "If they really want to, the guards can use that to knock us out in an instant, if we even show the slightest sign of resistance."

"I haven't figured it out yet," said Kaina, tapping her chin. "None of them are ever far from a switch, and I have no way of knowing how the gas moves…"

"Yet? Implying that you've been figuring out other things?" Mitsuri seemed upset. "Don't think I haven't seen you slipping away. You're gonna get us all killed before long."

Nagant tilted her head with mocking, blank eyes. "I'm sorry, I don't recall you being the boss of me."

"Whatever you were on the outside, Tsutsumi, in here we're all in the same shit, so…"

"No. The rest of you are not necessary. You think you get to be in on this because you've only now decided you want to try resisting? I don't need you." Kaina waved her off dismissively. "Go back to working like the good little dogs you are."

The rest of the team bristled angrily, preparing to retort…and then Izuku rolled back over.

"You guys don't have to listen to her," he muttered, catching all their attention. "She was a government dog herself. For years. A sniper who worked for the Safety Commission."

Kubo's eyes widened. "I thought I recognized you! You were a hero on TV when I was in high school!"

Kaina flushed red. "That's…"

"We're not gonna do this without them," Izuku said directly to her, sitting up straight. "Just admit it."

"Is it we again?" she shot back. "You were the one all gung-ho about rushing to escape by yourself. What do this lot add? You just heard all their Quirks. What good will a-"

"There's a panel in the bathroom wall," Tomiyasu interrupted bluntly. "Behind it is one of the gas pipes. It flows through an entire network to be released from nozzles at different points on the walls."

"In…the bathroom?" Kaina looked stunned. "You know this how?"

"I saw when they installed it. It was the discovery that led to our first fight." He scooted forward to look her dead in the eye. "I saw the gas take someone out. A boy called Yamada. He didn't have an impressive Quirk either, he could only extend his eyeballs, but he still fought-"

Izuku froze. "What did you say?"

"I'm saying that the ability to fight is not connected to what Tsutsumi think it's-"

"Yamada. A boy who extended his eyeballs. He was the one that died?"

"Err…yes." Tomiyasu swallowed. "What's it to you?"

Izuku fell against the upright rod of the bunk structure, wide-eyed. "I knew him in middle school."

"Wait…" Kubo pointed. "YOU'RE the Quirkless kid he was telling us about?"

"Um. I mean, probably, there weren't any others at our-"

"But he said your Quirk came in." Kubo frowned. "Were you lying to us earlier? He said you were at the UA sports festival."

All eyes were on Izuku, most questioning, while Kaina's seemed to be amused.

"I…" Izuku bit his lip and grimaced. "Look. My situation is…complicated. I have a strong and…diverse, power, but I can't guarantee anything. I cannot be relied on in that regard. I'm sorry."

"But you were a hero student," said Mitsuri.

"...Yes," he admitted.

"You don't look like one."

"Yeah. I've heard that before." He laid down and turned over.

The lights went out. The conversation was finished.

Minutes ticked by in the dark. Izuku waited for Kaina to approach his bed. She did not. He wasn't sure how to feel.

His heart ached for the outside world. He couldn't know what was happening, but whatever it was…all his friends and family were counting on him. I can still avenge them. Even if it was too late for anything else.

He missed Kaina after all. Part of him wished she'd come over. Maybe I should go over there? But no, he'd told her yesterday that it was their last time, ever. She seemed to be honoring that.

I'm touch-starved. That was plain enough. It had begun with Iruka and overlapped all the way to this. But his heart didn't want it from Lady Nagant or anyone else…Camie's face flashed through his mind for a moment, and he felt a pang of…something, but it was strained, weakened by their fundamental differences…

I want it from someone I haven't had it from. He knew that now, but the thought of really admitting to that feeling, of truly settling into it, filled him with such potent regret on how he had handled things with this person that he forced it away.

She might be dead by now. All that was left to him was to escape.

Izuku couldn't believe that Yamada had been here. Had died here. He'd already been sitting so much in his past with Aldera here - the two environments being fairly hellish and him Quirkless in their midst - that it seemed almost spooky. I'm not the same guy I was back then. Or was he?

Had the incursion of One for All into his life gotten rid of that old Izuku, or had it simply conveniently hidden him away to fester, only to re-emerge when times were darkest?

He sank his face into the pillow. I have done everything all wrong.

Aldera. Yamada. The way those middle school kids who tortured him acted. The teachers that enabled them. The civilian workers here and their attitudes. The guards. It was all connected.

Mustard likely came from a place just as bad. Aldera would have radicalized anyone. He was left behind. I was not.

Izuku fell into a troubled slumber.

That night, Naru Hojo paid his factory a visit.

"...forty-five have passed the destruction tests, so we think-"

"That should be enough." Hojo interrupted the Company Town's head of operations. "Not all the strike force will have an extra helmet, but if they are as durable as you say…"

"We ought to test them for their intended purpose while you're here," the head of operations suggested.

Hojo nodded. "Can do. Quickly." He was a man trying to hide his anxiousness under a desire for businesslike efficiency. "All For One's puppet was badly wounded in battle, and their setback gives us another week at most. The helmets we can make do with. The cannon numbers are what I'm more worried about. I want all the workers on that and that alone. Get us over the finish line." He scanned some data on the open computer in the office. "What's with these efficiency drops?"

The night-shift guards swayed on their feet. "That most recent bad one was, uhh…a power outage. An accident. A cord was snapped by one of the workers due to fatigue."

He looked toward the head of operations. Neither of them wanted to bring up the dead maintenance worker they had found, or what that could possibly mean. The boss's rage…

Hojo looked skeptical. "You saw this happen?"

"Well, guys on the floor shift that I trust sure did-"

"An accident due to fatigue." The boss closed his eyes and sniffed the air. As the caster of the command area, he was invulnerable to his own commands, but he could weakly sense the state of those trapped. "I find that hard to believe. The workers are asleep now, yes? I want you to wake the rest of the men up and reinforce all the floor's electrical equipment, double-time. Make it accident-proof." He put perilous emphasis on the last word. "Tomorrow, they will be done with helmets. I want every single one of them working fully on the cannons at maximum efficiency. Keep. Them. In. Line. Understand?"

"Boss, what will you be doing-"

"What I've been doing. Coordinating transportation of our assets." With Marlo dead, everything had to be taken to UA on wheels.

The head of operations laughed nervously. "I understand we have a lot to do in little time, but if you suspect the workers, would you not like to check them yourself?"

Hojo was already walking toward the door. "My Quirk checks them. I expect you all to handle the tiny amount of extra effort it takes to keep them in line. Or is even that too much for you?"

"...No, boss, but…"

"Good. You two, with me. Let's test these helmets." Hojo gestured to the guards, who followed him quickly and eagerly.

The head of operations swallowed. He had been left alone in the room with the kid.

The kid crouched in the corner of the room with a gas mask covering his face. "I can sense it everywhere," he whispered. "Even the synthetics I didn't emit myself. The poison. Moving through the walls. Rushing, seeking a space to fill, to burst forth." The boy leaned his head back and tittered. "Soon. We're so, so close."

The head of operations stared at him. "You, uh…don't you have somewhere to be?"

"Oh, I just wanted to see the old place again. Haven't been back here since I loaned you all my power." Mustard stood up, remaining in the shadows, the computer light reflecting off the blank, glassy lenses of his mask. "But yes. After tonight I'll head to the battleground. You guys can't get into UA until I get in first."

The workers went in the next day to a changed floor.

First of all, the helmet workstation was gone. Second of all, insulation wrapping and protective casing had been put over everything in the room that used power.

"As if that could stop us," muttered Kubo as Team 6 moved to their positions. The guards were watching them all like hawks today. "The tools they give us can break through all this easily-"

"But it would take more effort, fool," Kaina whispered. "Effort we may not be able to summon, and even if we do, there will be no mistaking our actions for rebellion. Giving the guards every excuse to shoot, or deploy the gas."

The gas. They had no solution yet. Izuku did not know of a weakness. When Mustard used it in the training forest, everyone was knocked out immediately save for those with masks. He wondered if that was why the helmets had been taken away.

They must have found a way to develop it artificially, which means it's made with a known compound that isn't unique to Mustard's body.

Meanwhile, Kaina was stealthily checking under the table for something. As they worked, Izuku leaned over and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Good, they didn't find them. I stole some maintenance tools while sneaking out yesterday." She nodded at one of the below-table racks, which had some unique items Izuku hadn't seen before. "One of those can take the panel off the bathroom wall. There's also about two feet of hose with valves on both ends."

"What are you suggesting?" Izuku spoke out of the corner of his mouth, keeping his hands busy, and his eyes on the guards above them.

"The gas needs to be gotten rid of somehow before we can do anything. But even if you or I managed enough resistance to try it, it's a task we have no instructions for."

Mitsuri was paying attention to them. "You're talking about getting into the pipes. I could probably cause some damage if I wanted-"

"TEAM 6! STOP WHISPERING!" One of the guards shouted, as a warning.

Mitsuri flinched, and returned to work, shaking. Kaina and Izuku put their eyes down. The other teams were watching them again. With anger, or with a desire to help? Hard to know.

It was another hour or so before Izuku felt comfortable enough to stealthily slip some of Kaina's stolen tools into his jumpsuit pockets.

"You're gonna do it?" Kaina asked, realizing.

"I'm gonna try. I have…a notion." With no guarantee it will work.

Tomiyasu nodded at the communal water bottle in the table's center, which all the teams had. "Drink a bunch of it."

"Huh?"

"Drink more. So you can get to the bathroom."

"But then you guys won't have as much…"

"Just do it, Midoriya," Kubo growled, twisting a screw into place. "If you have a plan, then do it."

Izuku did not understand what he'd done to earn their trust whatsoever. But he began to drink too much of the water all the same, wastefully, filling his bladder.

Just within the next half an hour, his body called for him to pee, overwhelming the Quirk-command.

Team 6 signaled the guards. Upon seeing that it was Izuku requesting a break, the guards seemed to suspiciously hesitate for a moment.

"You want him to piss all over the floor?" a voice called loudly. It was the female reporter he'd met at the helmet table, on a different team. Challenging the guards on my behalf.

"Fine." They granted the request.

Heart pounding, Izuku went into the bathroom, tools heavy in his pockets. There wasn't much time.

Hidden and private, the toilet and wall panel in front of him, he took a deep breath.

"I know you can hear me," he whispered to the vestiges.

No response. The wall in his mind remained thick and austere.

"You can't say anything back, I know. But the last time I was brainwashed, by Shinso at the sports festival, you guys took control of my body for a second. I need you to do it again."

He felt a twinge of something. A negative feeling. Not his own. They're still in there after all.

"I know you feel guilty. I feel guilty, too. We haven't worked well together. You don't feel as if you've earned the right to take control again. Well, I'm giving you my consent. Take my body and use these tools to dispose of the gas. There's some way to do it. My mind isn't strong enough to think of it. Hell, the only reason I can talk to you guys at all right now is because I have to pee." He laughed a little.

"Guys…please…I'm counting on you…"

Izuku blacked out.

Together, using his body as a puppet, the vestiges pried the panel off the wall. They took stock of the yellow pipe inside. Used the tools and the length of hose to connect to one of the pipe's valves, and then connected the hose to another pipe. They avoided the "white" water pipe used for drinking water, and the "grey" water pipe used for shower water, instead choosing to connect the other end of the hose to the "black" pipe. The sewage.

"The gas will keep flowing into the system. Since that pipe is just toilet water and waste on its way out, it shouldn't come into contact with anyone in the facility. No one will suspect a thing," said Shinomori.

"How long will it take?" Yoichi asked.

"Who knows how much gas they've put in. At least until tomorrow morning, I'd guess."

"Surely the gas and the waste coming into contact isn't good," commented Banjo. "What if it bursts or something?"

"Shitstorm," En quipped, to a chorus of groans.

"Whatever happens, the chaos can only benefit our side," said Nana. "Any problems with the facility impede their ability to work. Which makes it easier for them to fight."

She reached her heart out to Izuku. "Go on, Nine. Into your future."

When Izuku came to, he was standing there in the same position.

The wall panel was secured on. The tools were back in his pockets…though they had been shifted around.

He quickly used the bathroom, wondering how much time that had taken. Did they do it? There was no way to see what had happened behind that panel.

I have to trust them. Trust that they'd figured something out.

Even if they were all of them weak, together they could carve a foothold. That was what it meant to be part of One for All.

"Hey, you've been quiet this whole time!" Kubo tapped on Izuku's shoulder as Team 6 returned to their bunks for the night. "Did you do it or not?"

Izuku sat down with his dinner and waited. The other five all got into bed and watched him. The other teams filed in and settled, chattering among themselves. The guards left the room and locked the door, leaving the workers alone.

"Yes," Izuku finally said. "It's done. The gas won't be a problem."

"What did you do?" Mitsuri asked.

"I'm, umm…not sure."

She was incredulous. "Then how can you be sure that the gas won't be a…"

"Trust me." Izuku knew he was asking a lot of them. "Please?"

"What's this about the gas?"

All of Team 6 turned about in surprise. A group of workers from other teams was standing in the aisle, staring them down. A few of the biggest men were among them, the harassers who had tried to win over Kaina before, as well as the shark man.

Impatiently, Izuku explained, "Without the gas, the guards have no way to neutralize all of us at once."

"All of us…" one of the men balked. "You think we're gonna go along with this crazy plan of yours?"

"You came over here to listen to it for a reason," put in Kaina. "You gonna snitch?"

"We ought to," another person snarled. "They'll praise us. They may even let us out early."

"You're never going to be let out at all!" insisted Kubo. "Maybe it won't be cannons forever, but if these guys get away with their plan, you think they'll stop? They'll want to conquer more, and they have a useful workforce in us."

"What difference does it make?" said a woman from another team, a frightened-looking one. More and more people were gathering now. "In here, we're all equal, we're kept safe, we're fed…you'd rather be out there in that hell we used to call Japan?"

"Oh, so you're comfortable here. Cool. I'll be sure to step on your corpse on my way out," Kaina snarled, clearly having no tolerance for weakness.

That comment inflamed some competing, rising voices, until one man roared "QUIET!" He pointed at Izuku. "Why should we take you at your word about the gas, anyway?"

"You don't have to." Izuku shrugged. "But tomorrow we're going to break something. Maybe even a lot of things. We're going to make it impossible for you to work again." He looked hopefully toward Kubo, Tomiyasu, and Faulkner, who all nodded.

"They reinforced the equipment. You can't cause any more accidents."

"There's a way," said Mitsuri, to Izuku's surprise. She was looking down at her feet, but her voice was steady. "I know a way to use the tools during the work process to…cause a problem. I'd need help to make it bad enough to cut the power again, but…"

"Don't you remember how you all felt when we couldn't work?!" Kubo demanded from high up on his bunk, addressing the clump of people now listening in. He pointed at the shark man. "You almost left your station!"

"Yeah, I was trying to get to that panel so we could start working again-"

"From that panel we can control the entire facility," Nagant declared. "If we create another scenario on the floor where our brains all want us to reach it…"

"The guards will never let us!"

"The gas…"

"I could almost feel my Quirk again." It was the blonde, former reporter. She was looking at her own palm and flexing it, and captured everyone's attention. "When we were stuck there with nothing to do. It nearly came back to me."

"Mine did too!" someone else piped up. "I…didn't want to say anything, but…"

"This is bullshit," a large man scoffed. "Even if the gas is off, which we have no reason but this kid's word to believe that it is…" he tilted his head toward Izuku. "They can still shoot us!"

"They will try the gas first. We're not disposable to them, you know. If we start resisting, they'd rather knock us all out than kill us. So they'll try the gas first. And it won't work. You'll see." Izuku matched his death stare.

"Stupid. You're gonna die, stupid kid." He shook his head, repeating some muttered curses under his breath, and stepped around to return to his bunk. "C'mon, you lot."

Many did follow him, while others looked doubtful, still others defiant. The shark man's face was hard to read.

"We should report you to the guards!" a mousy-looking man said.

"You should," Faulkner agreed, "but you're not going to, are you?"

The man, and a few others that had lingered, all stared at Team 6's identically set faces. Sheepishly, they all eventually backed off.

Izuku leaned back into his bunk and finished his dinner. Mitsuri was explaining to the others how she could potentially break some equipment. He barely listened. He was more concerned with the tide. The tide of feelings that now possessed his comrades in this room. If a fight does start…

It would be unlike any other fight he'd been in before. It would be like something out of two or three hundred years ago, unless their Quirks magically came back, too.

After lights out, Izuku was still sitting on the bed's edge, his feet planted on the floor, thinking.

Kaina walked across the aisle and sat down next to him.

"Are you here to talk?" he whispered, fiddling with his hands in the dark.

"If that's all you want from me," she replied.

"I want…I want you to…to be safe."

"Still?"

"Yeah. I'm sorry I couldn't think of a way to do it."

"That's alright, Izuku Midoriya." Lady Nagant rubbed her own belly. He wondered if she could still sense her connection to All For One. "I have already lived too long."

"But…the future you want to see…"

She shrugged. "Can't make a judgment on that until we see the outside world again. Escape first."

"I…suppose you're right."

"That boy who died. Was he a friend of yours?"

Izuku shook his head. "A bully, actually. They sort of all were."

"...Ah. You…haven't ever seemed like the type who got bullied in school. To me." Kaina twirled her hair in her finger. "When we first started our fights, I was…taken aback at how different you were from what the files and recon on you all told me to expect."

"I don't know why that would be the case." Izuku sniffed. "Well, maybe I do." His voice got softer. "I got a lucky break and I took it. I was always so focused on what that could mean for others…what I, as a potential hero, could do for others…that I forgot to consider what it did for me. I forgot where I came from. Not everyone gets to have lucky breaks."

"What kind of hero do you want to be?"

Izuku froze. It was a question he'd heard a thousand times. It was THE question at UA. He'd always had the same answer.

But hearing it from Lady Nagant, in this environment…it was like the framework had entirely changed.

"I wanted to be like All Might," he murmured, "but now I'm not sure that's a very complete idea."

I am not here, the statue had read.

"I had to leave UA to understand. To see the country drained of everything. UA is a bubble. All the hero schools are." He thought of Mustard and Seiai and the difference between the uppity students and the civilian refugees.

"But now those bubbles are being shared," Kaina pointed out. "The schools are the civilian shelters."

"Yeah…because they're the only places that ever had enough money and resources to handle it. Not everyone wants to be stuck in a shelter. People want their country back, and they want it to be good. There's too many Alderas everywhere, and too many Company Towns."

Izuku knew she wouldn't really understand what he was saying. That was fine.

Kaina made a strange noise. It was almost like a suppressed sob.

"Part of me still believed that you were all talk," she whispered. He could hear the smile in her voice. "But it sounds like you have a good future in mind after all." She leaned in and kissed his cheek, then stood up to return to her own bunk.

The time had come.

"UP YOU GET, MAGGOTS! BIG DAY TODAY!" the guards harassed them into line, noisy, abrasive, usual.

Team 6 felt pressure on their backs as they joined together. Looks were tossed back and forth between the workers. There was something in the air. The guards didn't sense it.

Mitsuri had gone pale as ash, her mouth tight. Tomiyasu rocked on his heels. Faulkner was taking shallow breaths.

Izuku wasn't nervous at all. He had never been afraid to fight. But…failure? What did failure mean?

"How do you look so calm?" Kubo hissed at Nagant as the workers were led toward the work building.

"Because in my heart I believe I'm already dead," she replied plainly.

Izuku wondered how serious she meant that. You will see the future too. Whatever it takes.

He looked to his left, toward the barrier and the exit gate that led to the outside world. It was a moist, foggy morning. Hardly anything could be seen beyond the closest buildings, wavering, like seeing something through water. What's out there? Is it still real and alive? He could almost dare to taste it.

They went into the floor and got to work.

Twenty minutes in.

"Faulkner, rotate," said Kubo. In a normal tone, but with a different face.

Sweat glistened on Faulkner's cheek.

The cannons. How many do they have by now? It was hard to know, as he screwed in more bolts to help build another. Enough to conduct an assault on UA and then fortify the place for further defense from inside. In a better timeline, he would have been able to destroy them as well. But escaping alone would be hard enough.

"TEAM 8, DOWN 7! TEAM 9, DOWN 3!"

"What the hell's this?" another guard demanded. "Are you maggots slacking off down there?!"

Similar interactions had happened before, and usually the workers shouted some excuses back, but today, many of them only shot dead looks up. Others shot looks of dangerous venom.

The silence was uncomfortable. Everyone's doing poorly. The shift in the atmosphere was now so palpable that the guards had noticed. Izuku saw one of them tighten his grip on his firearm.

"Alright, ready to lift?" Kaina asked Tomiyasu. She appeared totally cool. Together the two of them picked up a part and set it onto the foundation.

"Soon," Mitsuri whispered.

The five others did not stop working, but they all darted their eyes at her. Soon meant soon. The standoffish mechanic, who'd been so stubborn about everything up to this point, was now mustering a sliver of resistance. She was going to break the equipment.

"When I plug this in…" She gestured to one of the overhanging cords, now-reinforced. "I need someone else to remove the paneling on this piece."

"How are we supposed to do that? That's taking it apart. The pure opposite of…" Kubo winced, as if the Quirk was shouting at him particularly loudly in his mind.

"I know. That's why I can't," Mitsuri squeaked. "If you remove it, I can cut some wires that…" She swallowed. "The issue would travel back up the cord…into the system…"

"We need a distraction as well," whispered Kaina. Her eyes subtly flicked up to the balcony. The guards were deathly alert.

Kubo ground his teeth. "If we…if we can make some sort of accident to knock it off…"

Got it. Izuku slid the piece toward the edge of the table, feigning that he had to do some kind of work to it. "Faulkner, can you come take a look at this?" he asked loudly. His voice, a recognized one, caught the attention of some of the nearby tables.

Faulkner knew what he was doing. "But, they're already mad at you," he whispered.

"Exactly. I'm a known troublemaker. If one of you does it, they'll know something's up. It's gotta be me."

Faulkner swallowed and walked over.

Mitsuri grimaced and plugged in the cord.

"WHAT did you just say to me?!" Izuku shouted, and shoved Faulkner against the piece violently.

The man's body struck the panel and knocked it off.

Faulkner played his part. "I said what I said, you little twerp!" he growled back, grabbing Izuku by the shirt. "If you have a problem with that, then…"

"Whoa!" another worker shouted. Chatter erupted.

"HEY, YOU TWO! KNOCK IT OFF!" The guards trained their weapons on them.

Izuku's heart raced. Faulkner let his expression slip and tried to squirm away, but Izuku yanked him back. "Come on, then!" he declared.

"Y-you wanna go?"

"DO YOU?"

"Swing…swing first, then!"

"DID YOU HEAR ME? I SAID, KNOCK IT OFF, RIGHT NOW-"

It was all happening at once. Kubo and Tomiyasu were grabbing tools. Some other workers were shouting at them to stop. A few of the guns clicked dangerously. Nagant slipped away. The raised voices escalated to a volume…

Mitsuri found her resistance and snipped the wires.

Sparks flew at a dozen tables. Screams escaped mouths and were snuffed out. The lights flickered and went dim. The humming sound of a bunch of different pieces of equipment completely died.

The guards swore.

"WHAT WAS IT THIS TIME?"

"CALL MAINTENANCE-"

"It's bad this time," Mitsuri announced, pointing up at the mess of cords in the ceiling, where a bunch of sparks were erupting. "If you don't get this fixed faster than before, we're gonna be in real trouble of losing everything."

One of the gunmen snarled at her. "Why, you-"

"I can only tell you what I'm seeing!"

"Hey, if she's right, what are we supposed to do?" another worker demanded.

"We're stuck here again?"

"YES!" a guard roared at them. "You're STUCK. Don't any of you move a muscle!"

Izuku spotted Kaina beneath the stairs. Near one of the scaffolding supports holding up the balcony. With the power down, she was barely visible in the darkness. Just her eyes.

"The Quirk doesn't like that," a worker said in a frail tone. "It wants me to move."

The shark man stepped away from his workstation again. "What's the harm in us going to help, just to speed things up-"

One of the guards fired a warning shot at his feet. "WHAT DID WE TELL YOU?!"

Half the workers ducked behind their tables or jumped back several feet, frightened.

Izuku stepped forward. "Didn't you idiots hear? We're not making any progress until you get that fixed."

"WE'RE…CALLING…MAINTENANCE."

"They're not responding!" another guard cried out, his radio to his ear. "The usual guy is…"

Work, urged Naru Hojo's voice.

"Just let us work, man! I feel like I'm gonna throw up if I don't!" Another person tore themselves away from the workstation. The Quirk now pulling them toward the stairs. Toward the hypothetical control panel.

"Things will get bad if you don't let us!" Izuku warned. "Your maintenance sucks to let this happen! Let us try it!"

Another person broke away. Then another. Another. A dozen. They all began raising their voices in agreement with Izuku, shouting up desperately for the guards to let them help restore the power, while the guards warned them more and more loudly to return to their stations…

"THEY'RE IN OUR WAY!" Izuku screamed, riding the tide of feeling, trying to anchor it. He seized the attention of at least dozens of the others, pouncing on the moment fiercely. "IF THEY WON'T LET US GO HELP, THEN THEY'RE AN OBSTACLE TO OUR EFFICIENCY…AND WE GO THROUGH THEM!"

A roar went up, and several people made it to the bottom of the steps…

"THE GAS!" one of the guards screamed. "ACTIVATE THE GAAAAAASSSSS…"

Another frantically moved toward the switch on the wall. The system meant to work even without the power.

Izuku shut his eyes and put his hope in the vestiges. All the workers gasped, and some of them backed off, screaming and wincing and awaiting the blast of toxins…

The guard flicked the switch and opened the nozzle on the ceiling.

A horrible empty groaning sound, and then…

…Nothing.

Dumbly, slowly, all the workers opened their eyes. They were awake. Everyone who'd heard Izuku's proclamation last night, that the gas would indeed not be working, looked to him now…in surprise, and in expectation. What next, then? asked their eyes.

The guards froze in disbelief.

"ATTACK!" Izuku screamed, and the battle began.

The workers of the Company Town surged forward with a chorus of yells. The guards opened fire.

People dived and slid for cover as bullets sliced the air mercilessly. Red blood sprayed out the back of grey jumpsuits. Tomiyasu grabbed a wrench off a table and threw it skyward. It bounced off the railing near a guard, but others took up the idea, and soon all types of metal projectiles were arcing across the room, a barrage born of pure desperation.

Kaina Tsutsumi climbed the supports under the balcony, unseen beneath the guards' feet.

Many of the bravest workers had pushed forward to get to the supports as well, and were climbing in the front, hand-over-hand, body-over-body, tackling each other and helping each other higher and higher. Some of the guards angled their guns straight down to fire into the mess. One man who'd gotten some height fell from a shot wound and landed on the floor hard enough to die. Screams and shouts and pings and pows. Bullets crisscrossed flying screws.

Mitsuri nailed a guard straight in the face with a drill. He staggered. Faulkner darted from behind a table and risked the staircase directly. "NO!" Kubo warned.

Two guards lined up their shots at once and riddled Faulkner's body with bullets. Izuku's heart cried out alongside Mitsuri's voice. As the foreign man's body fell back, one of his murderers moved closer to the stairs to cover the gap. Izuku picked up a ball bearing and zipped it like a fastball into the side of the man's head. Another gunman noticed the flight path and swiveled to shoot Izuku. He ducked to dodge, feeling naked without Danger Sense, a sense of adrenaline like he'd almost never felt driving through him.

Kaina was hanging from the underside of the balcony now, trying to swing herself up behind the guards. Others were heading for the stairs. The last few were charging out from behind the tables, throwing everything they could carry as they went. The guards sprayed with wild abandon. Another death. Then another.

The shark man and several of the other largest workers were now charging up the stairs at full speed, so violently the whole room shuddered. The shark man died. Another died. But the body buildup provided a shield for the others…

…Lady Nagant gained the balcony.

The guard closest to her turned, distracted by seeing the movement in the corner of his eye. "Hey, what's…"

She kicked him in the shins and ducked his wild melee swing of his machine gun, then punched him in the throat smartly. He crumbled, and she grabbed the gun and whirled about with it in one fluid motion, shooting the legs of the next guard over before he could fire, and sending him to the floor. Then she shot his face, and aimed downward and shot the first man in the face as well.

The last guard was across the way near the stairs, and aimed for her. Nagant slid sideways and made herself skinny, the two of them exchanging fire. She grazed his shoulder, and then the workers made it to the top of the stairs and tackled him from behind, pummeling him with fists before taking his weapon and finishing him.

"Come on!"

"They're all dead!"

"CLIMB!"

The crowd of survivors pushed its way to the top level. A ragged cheer went up. Nagant waved at them to shush with her hand. "Take all the guns!" she ordered. "Quickly!"

An alarm was sounding in the hallway just outside the door. Izuku could hear more guards coming. The workers were scrambling for the firearms, their brief unity fraying now at the completion of the first task.

Work, Naru reminded them, causing everyone to sway, their heads foggy.

"Work is forward!" Izuku reminded, pointing at the exit.

Nagant shouted more orders. "You three, hold here! Wait for our signal, we'll-"

Izuku ran into the hallway. The guards were coming around the corner. The panel's in the other direction. "Mad dash for it!" he called to Nagant. "C'mon!"

The guards raised their guns toward Izuku, but the workers shot them as they burst from the door into the hall, catching them by surprise from the side. Mitsuri was using one of the guns left-handed. "Cover the corners!"

Izuku and Nagant took off through the white-lit halls, the Quirk pulling them toward the controls, enhancing their speed. Guards appeared around every corner. Izuku was unarmed and had to slide up short every time, as Nagant fired back. The gunplay was short and decisive. Guards crumbled to the floor, dead. The workers stretched out through the lengths of the hallway as they got caught behind cover, exchanging fire. The shots echoed through the halls.

Eventually, it was just the two of them left, as more guards came from behind and Kubo stopped at a junction, waving them on with one hand, weapon in the other. "KEEP GOING!" he shouted.

They finally reached a door, the alarm blaring in their ears. Izuku kicked it open and Nagant held up her weapon. "Hands in the air!" she shouted.

A man was standing in front of an elaborate computer table, typing frantically and barking orders into a microphone. When he saw them entering, he froze in terror and obeyed.

"To the wall!" Nagant jerked her weapon, guiding him. "HURRY UP!"

The man, who Izuku took to be the head of operations at the facility, whimpered as he did so. "How are you here?" he gasped. "You're not supposed to be able to…"

Izuku and Nagant went around to the other side of the table. She kept the gun trained on the head of ops and nodded to the computer. "Figure it out," she told Izuku.

Work, the voice reminded. Izuku winced. They were here at the control panel, but he didn't know how to restore the power. That was just our excuse for getting here anyway. It was what the Quirk wanted, but not what they wanted.

And there was no way of getting rid of the barrier.

"What am I figuring out?" he asked her, desperately. "What are we doing?!"

More gunshots outside. There was no way of knowing if the workers or the guards were winning. They were all fighting to reach this room, but no one else had shown up yet.

"You can't let the momentum die!" Nagant urged. "Fuel it for an escape! There must be a way!"

Woooooork.

Izuku found a switch to turn off the alarm. The silence that fell over the facility must have been enough to confuse the combatants, because a few seconds after, the gunfire also halted.

The wave of quiet was almost unbearable. He could hear the blood rushing through his head.

"Izuku." Nagant using his first name gave him goosebumps. "Remember what you told me."

He stared at the microphone the guy had been using. There was an option to make an announcement over the facility's entire speaker system. Something that everyone could hear.

I've always been better with actions than words.

What kind of hero do you want to be?

You don't look like a hero.

"I still don't know what I'm doing," he whispered. "I don't know how to lead."

"Yes you do," she told him. "You've been doing it this whole time."

Izuku took a deep breath. All Might always led by example. What good has my example been? I've just been a scary, ragged vigilante.

You don't look like a hero.

It was true. He didn't.

But he could sound like one.

Izuku turned on the PA system.

"My name is Izuku Midoriya. I'm a worker here at the Company Town."

All around the facility, the battling guards and factory workers, the confused cooks and cleaners, the hiding maintenance people…they all stopped what they were doing, and looked up, and listened.

"But before that, I was a hero student at UA. I came here to save you, and I failed."

Many of them raised their eyebrows, listening more intently.

"And even before that…" Izuku grimaced. He had been keeping this a secret for so long, and for what? "...I was a Quirkless middle school kid. I was born without powers, and the system did its best to leave me behind. My classmates bullied me, and my teachers didn't help me with anything." Get to the point already. "One day I did something stupidly reckless and caught the attention of a great hero. He…he had the power to give me his Quirk and train me as his successor. So he did."

Nagant suppressed a gasp. She had clearly not expected him to speak on that part.

"With his power, I took my chance and never looked back. I got into UA and my life became wonderful. I saw myself on the path to being a great hero, the kind I always dreamed of being…and then we failed to stop the enemy, and the nation collapsed. Leading you all to this place."

In the halls and rooms of the Company Town, people looked down in despair.

"I…have been so frustrated this whole time, with how complacent you all are," Izuku admitted. "And for that, I deeply apologize. I forgot what it was like to be in your shoes. In a situation like this. Powerless, abandoned by society. The thing is…when I was in middle school, without a Quirk, and facing all that adversity…I was complacent, too. I never fought back. I wanted to be a hero but never trained my body or did anything to earn it. I just…dreamed like a fool, and hoped a miracle would fall into my lap. And then it actually did, and I…went on and pretended like nothing before in my life even mattered." His voice shook. "All Might made us all want to be heroes, didn't he? He was the best of us. He was so above us. He turned us into dreamers who wait for things to fall into our laps. Wait for miracles. Wait for rescue. Do nothing for yourself. And why not? He was that reliable."

Izuku kept staring at Nagant, knowing he was pushing into her ideology. Her eyes were glistening.

"...But he's gone. Japan…is gone. And you guys are left with me. I wanted to be like All Might so bad. I wanted to be above you. But that's not me. That was never me. I have always been one of you. I never fought very hard when I was Quirkless before, but now…?" He was unable to hide the trembling emotion in his tone. "Now it looks like I'm gonna have to!"

The fire of determination began to bloom in the hearts of the workers, as they hung onto every word he said.

"And I know that I'm not speaking to pro heroes. I know I'm speaking to salarymen, journalists, cooks, cleaners, nurses, plumbers, mechanics, engineers. The people who really made Japan into the beautiful place we used to know. So, I ask you humbly…if you want to get that beautiful place back…then GET UP!" He yelled, his breath catching in his throat. "This voice is telling us to work. We've worked for it for too long. Seize that word and interpret it however you wish! Work for yourself! Work to escape and live again! For heroes, work means to fight for the side of good, so today I ask you…TO ALL BE HEROES!"

The cheer that erupted in the Company Town shook the foundations of the earth. Banished of exhaustion, of reluctance, of all their fear, the workers rose together.

The cleaners threw down their laundry. The maintenance people emerged from their hiding places. The cooks left the kitchens. The factory workers charged from behind their corners, facing the guards in the halls.

They ran and took bullets and fired back and tackled and fought. A long, continuous battle cry, almost like a drone, was rising and rising. More and more smaller groups found each other, defeating each guard they came across, coalescing. The chant solidified.

Nagant shot the head of operations in the back of the head, and grabbed Izuku's hand, pulling him away from the control panel and back into the hall.

They ran for half a minute, turning a corner, and finding the wave of people. Merging with them, joining them as they raced for the building exit. No one took extra notice of them. No one had any idea that the green-haired boy was the one they'd just been listening to. And it did not matter.

Izuku craned his neck, searching for Kubo and Tomiyasu and Mitsuri and not seeing them nearby, but at least a hundred survivors were now together.

The first people to arrive at the doors burst them open. The makeshift army swelled out into the factory yard. The sun had burned the fog away. It was bright, hot, early summer daylight….

…Standing before the barrier was a line of guards, a firing squad with weapons raised up at the crowd.

The battle cry broke off into separate screams as the charge scattered, fire being exchanged. Izuku kept his feet moving forward, despite bullets whizzing past him from both sides. He wasn't sure what was going to happen, but as of right now, he could move toward the barrier, and he couldn't afford to turn back, no matter how many armed men stood in his way…

Something cracked in the sky.

Most everyone stopped fighting and craned their necks upward at Naru Hojo's Quirk barrier.

The shimmering surface of it was parting like a knife through spiderweb. The barrier was coming down.

Izuku saw a flash of color in the air, just beyond the gate. Something struck in his heart. How…?

Bolts of bright lightning-power were slamming into the shield, forcing it apart and down, collapsing it in a spectacular clash of energy. Those bolts were all webbing out from the same place just beyond the Company Town, twenty feet above the road.

Then the barrier lowered enough so that vision of the outside was clear, and Izuku found himself staring at the people who were responsible for this.

"DEKU!" screamed Eri, balancing atop Nejire's shoulder as the blue-haired heroine kept them both floating in the air. Her horn was erupting with power, rewinding Hojo's barrier to nothing. "WE CAME…"

"...TO SAVE YOU!" Nejire finished.

Izuku fell to his knees, slack-jawed. The relief that flooded him was so potent that he was unable to stop the tears from flowing.

The line of guards had turned to face the newcomers, and Tamaki Amajiki leapt the now nearly-broken barrier at ground level, galloping on hooves into the fray, firing and swinging and punching all sorts of attacks into the enemy's midst. "SORRY WE'RE LATE!" he called out.

Mirko joined him, planting a diving kick to the head of one guard. "Been itchin' for a fight like this!"

The workers began to charge forward again, and a few of the guards got the idea to turn around and shoot the easy targets…and sharp feathers arrowed into their guns, stealing them clean out of their hands.

Hawks descended from directly above, his wings flapping. "Took some convincing, I'm ashamed to admit it, but I'm glad I came."

The workers looked up at him in complete shock, making him laugh. "Looks like we missed some civilians! Alright, who wants a ride out of this dump?"

"Hawks…Suneater…Mirko…everyone…" Izuku breathed.

His comrades were racing for freedom all around him, a wave of happy adrenaline seizing them as Naru's voice grew fainter and fainter, the barrier melting away, their oppressive order banished at last.

The guards' Quirks were returning as well, and they were the first to capitalize, beginning to use their powers to fight back Mirko and Amajiki…but then the workers reached them, and practically trampled them from behind. "WE'LL HELP!" Kubo's voice called out to the heroes. "FREEDOM! FOR FREEDOM!"

Mirko and Amajiki looked shocked at receiving the assistance, as Hawks laughed uncontrollably. "YES!" he urged them on. "Fight with us, why not?"

Izuku fought to stand, nearly being trampled by his own allies as they rushed for liberation. Laughter bubbled up from within him, too, escaping his lips.

He turned and saw Kaina nearby, also standing still in the flow of running people. Her face was lifted, as if bathing in the sun.

"YOU!" Eri's young voice called out. "You're the one…"

Suddenly, a concentrated blast of rewind power cracked down and touched Kaina on the chest. Izuku looked back and forth, realizing. From Nejire's shoulder, Eri was focusing, using her Quirk directly at Lady Nagant. Nejire was guiding her. Of course…

Kaina gasped, and threw her head back, her body articulating as it was wreathed with lightning. Izuku blinked. Some kind of astral outline of energy grew out from the woman. A great looming shadow fighting against the rewind, swiping desperately for her, before crying out and disintegrating, gone forever. All For One was ejected, and Eri pulled her power back.

"It's over!" Izuku shouted ecstatically, over all the other noise. Kaina had returned to standing up straight, running her hands over her own body, wide-eyed. "It's over, Tsutsumi-san, you're free! You can leave with us! COME ON!"

He waved at her to come join him, to rush for the exit.

Kaina Tsutsumi looked up and met his eyes. Hers were crying, crying through a sad smile.

Izuku faltered, blinking. "What's…what's wrong?"

Another person pushed past him, knocking his shoulder and blocking his view of the woman for a moment. Then two more. More were going past her, as well, filling the space between them. His last glimpse of her, he saw her shifting back, retreating. Her expression seemed to say something like, see you around.

Izuku got knocked back over by the eager escapees. When he stood himself back up, the spot where Kaina Tsutsumi had been was empty. She was nowhere to be seen.

And he could only take a deep breath. He should have known she would do that.

As the last of the enemy was defeated, Nejire and Eri descended down to Izuku, the sounds of cheering and whooping and the surge of people rushing to safety all around them.

"You…you're alive…you came for me…" He could hardly believe it.

Nejire's face blossomed with that same perfect, happy smile that he'd first seen when she'd visited his classroom a million years ago. "Of course I did, Midoriya-kun" She tilted her head cutely and closed her eyes, the sun glowing behind her, the breeze sending ripples through her wavy hair. "I love you!"

It was like a second layer of cloud being burned off his soul. How could I have been so blind? It had always been her. Of course she'd come to save him. She'd done it time and time again. It was as natural as flowers blooming in the spring.

He said aloud the words that he'd only just finally admitted to himself, beholding her total perfection before him. "I love you too, Hado-senpai."

They turned and faced the outside world, the one that it seemed was still clinging to life after all. The arriving heroes and escaping workers alike cheered and surged into the street, putting the Company Town to their backs, chanting, "FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!"