Sands of Time

Katsuki surveyed the home in front of him, his eyes drifting from one building to another before eventually settling on their target. "What a bunch of freaks… Hiding their insane organization in a nice neighborhood like this. Makes me wonder whether they chose the spot because it was inconspicuous, or because they planned to use everyone here as a human shield."

"It's debatable," Tsukauchi said, "They may have not 'picked' this place at all, it's entirely possible that it just turned out this way simply because it's where one of their members lives."

"I personally don't see the difference. Just letting those freaks gather here is as bad as making the decision to move them here yourself." He turned his head, "Has the Hero Support Corps already evacuated the nearby homes and sealed off the road?"

"We have. Luckily, there weren't too many people still around since it's the middle of the work day. Unfortunately we've most probably lost our element of surprise."

He tightened his fist, "That's fine. I don't care if these suckers know that we're coming. The result is going to be the same no matter what."

"It does matter if they know we're coming," Kyoka argued, "They'll just destroy whatever they have, to keep us from getting our hands on it."

"Don't be dense," he sneered, "If they destroy it before we even enter the property, then it means our job is already half done without having lifted a finger. If anything, they'll defend what they have to the last man to make sure we pay in blood. Now come on, before they do something desperate cause some real destruction." Katsuki, Kyoka and Koji left their positions and closed in on the suburban home, making sure to stagger their spacing as they went. Rather than immediately go over they took cover behind a car that was parked outside. "Alright, now get your information and figure out just how many we're dealing with."

Kyoka stuck her earphone jacks into the ground and Koji spoke to the bugs, the two taking their time to recon the building. Katsuki grit his teeth as he waited. Waiting… it was something that he hated doing the most. But he knew that he had to make sacrifices to get things done.

Two minutes passed. Kyoka was the one who spoke first. "It looks like we've got nine people inside the house. One in the entryway, four in the common room, two in the dining room, two in the kitchen and one in the spare bedroom."

"Nine, huh.. Less than I expected…" he muttered to himself.

Then Koji spoke, "She's right, there's nine of them. But they're equipped weirdly."

"A little more information than that would be great."

"I, uh… Well, none of the nine people in the home are wearing any kind of support gear or body armor. They're wearing black robes. And they don't seem to have any guns either. The only thing they have are pitchforks."

He raised an eyebrow, "Black robes and pitchforks?"

"I told you that they were weird, didn't I?"

"...Whatever. We're moving in. You two split up and attack from the side, I'm going to attack from the front. Move in as soon as I move in."

"Got it," they responded in sync. Then, the three of them ran out of cover. As Katsuki charged over towards the door he pulled out three shaped charges prefilled with sweat, and as soon as he reached the door he placed them on the knob and the two general areas where the hinges would be. Then, after taking a step back, he set off the charges.

"This is the government, if you're smart you'll surrender!" The charges blasted straight through the hinges, the lock on the door and the reinforced security bar they'd likely placed on the door handle. Katsuki then let out a blast from his hands, using only enough force to launch it forward and send it crashing into the man who was standing in the entryway.

"Gah!" The door cracked against the man's skull, knocking him out cold before Katsuki had even set a foot inside the home.

"Well, you got your warning!" He ran in through the entryway.

"Kill the intruder!" But the moment he stepped into view of the living room, he ducked back into cover.

Four gunshots rang out from the room, buckshot blasting through the corner of the wall he ducked behind. "What the hell?! He said they didn't have any guns!" Hearing the sound of footsteps rushing towards him, he was about to charge back out of cover and face them head on when a sound wave blasted through the windows of the living room and sent the four men careening to the ground.

"Sorry, it looks like they had guns built into the pitchforks!"

He grit his teeth, "A little late for that!" He charged his way through the living through, kicking two of the robed freaks in the teeth as he passed before grabbing the last two and dragging them up. "Eat this!" The moment he stepped into the dining room he blasted the two goons that he was holding, sending them flying towards the two that had their pitchforks raised. In the mere moments that they had to try and avoid the attack he blitzed his way in, taking the first by surprise and bashing his head with one of his gauntlets. He then opened fire on the second with his quirk, peppering him with smaller explosions that forced him to drop the pitchfork. Kyoka charged in, knocking the man to the ground.

"Sound Suppression!" Kyoka let out a high pitched noise using her quirk in the direction of the kitchen, shattering every piece of glass and forcing the two hostiles there to reach for their ears.

Bugs then swarmed them from nearly every corner of the house, sinking their jaws into them and causing them to break out into a panic. Koji charged in, quietly grabbing the two and knocking their heads together.

"That's eight of nine," Katsuki said, looking around for the spare bedroom. Then, as soon as he found it… "Alright, tell me exactly where this last guy is." Kyoka stuck her earphone jacks into the ground, then she pointed at one of the walls. Katsuki formed his left hand into a cup and stuck it in front of his right hand. "Suck on this!" He let out a blast, punching straight through the wall and hitting the man who was standing with his pitchfork aimed towards the bedroom door.

There was a clatter as the man slammed into the opposite wall before dropping to the ground. "Yeah, you got him."

"Alright, tie these suckers up." Katsuki put his hand to his ear, tapping the comm. "Tsukauchi, all nine suspects are down and unconscious. Your men are free to move in and perform arrests."

"Copy that, we'll move in now." There was a thunder of footsteps as over a dozen officers from the Hero Support Corps, including Tsuakuchi, rushed into the home.

He rubbed the back of his head, "I swear, the freaks were hunting for get weirder and weirder by the day. Hopefully we actually find something this time." He turned his head towards Tsukauchi. The man was standing over one of the unconscious suspects, a very strange, almost puzzled, look on his face. "What, is something wrong?"

Tsukauchi shook his head, as if to wake himself up. "This has to be a joke… right?""

"What? The freaks in the robes? Ah, who knows. Maybe their leaders thought it would be funny if they dressed up in their-"

"No, you don't understand. The robes that these guys are wearing… They're from the Creature Rejection Clan."

He raised an eyebrow, confused. "They're from what?"

"You probably don't remember it, but the Creature Rejection Clan was a Villain group from before the war happened. Or, well, they were older than that, but they were all arrested months before the war happened. Spartan was the one that arrested them. I remember them because they were connected to a number of cold cases that were solved that day.

"Then so what? They're probably just imitators who remember them from back then."

"Maybe, but I find it out that they-" As Tsukauchi crouched down and yanked the mask of of the man beneath him, he stopped dead in his tracks.

"What is it?"

"Bring the rest of the suspects here, and pull off all of their masks!" The officers gathered the eight other men and brought them into the common room. One after another their masks were taken off, as Tsukauchi's face seemed to become more and more horrified and confused. "This… This can't be right!"

"Tsukauchi, what the hell is-?"

He took a step back, "That's impossible. All of these men… They didn't take inspiration from the Creature Rejection Clan. This IS the Creature Rejection Clan!"

Izuku twisted the keys and shut off the car's engine.

"The beach !" Almost immediately, Ukamiho unbuckled himself and ran out the door.

"Ah, wait!" Ochako quickly did the same, running out the door and chasing after their son.

His mother let out a small laugh, "It's nice to see that he's so enthusiastic about spending some time outside. I remember that if you weren't at school, you would always want to play Hero with me or watch those online videos about All Might.

He rubbed the back of his head, an embarrassed smile on his face. "I guess I was a little bit of a handful back then."

The two of them stood up and left the car, "Even so, it was nice. There are certainly worse ways for children to act when they're young."

"What's this?" A voice asked, "Looks like I've caught a little rugrat on the run."

"Jump!"

"Oh, you want to jump? Well, better hold on then!" Izuku looked over. Rumi hopped into the air with Ukamiho in her hands, bouncing up and down. Alongside them were her own kids, two sons and one daughter. For a while he watched them go back and forth, before Rumi landed back on the ground and handed Ukamiho back to Ochako.

He grinned, "It seems like the kids weren't the only ones who needed some time outside."

"Yeah, well… It's hard to take the spring out of a rabbit's step. Especially one with habits as old as mine." She leaned to the side, stretching her legs. "I do try to get out more often, but with three of my own to take care of I don't think I'd have the energy even if I had the chance. All that jumping and flying everywhere at home… it tires me out faster than Hero work used to."

"At least you just have to do one," Ochako said with a tired sigh, Rumi snickered.

"Hey, it's a lot more work than you think." She turned back towards her car and opened the trunk, pulling out a few bags. "Wish the big guy could have come though."

"Did you ask Mr. Aurdel?"

"Yeah." She shut the trunk, "When he told me that he set up this trip for you, and that he said it would be a good chance for us to get out of the house as well, I was practically begging him to come along with us. From the look on his face I could tell that he desperately wanted to come too, but he said that he was up to his ears in work and I could believe it." She shook her head, "Other than the few chances he has to spend with us, he's either making decisions, on his way to or in the middle of meetings or managing the specifics of projects that the government is working on. Saying that he's burning the candle on both ends would be putting it lightly."

"Well, I guess that there are really some things that never change.

"Yeah." There was a moment of awkward silence between them. "But, hey! All he's got left is one more year to work, then he'll be able to step down. And after that we'll have all the time in the world."

"I almost completely forgot about that," Izuku said, nervously. Then, they began to walk towards the beach as a group. His eyes ran across its length, taking in the sights in front of him. The shore they walked upon stood as rows upon rows of sandy white dunes, ones that would peter off into a soft plane as it approached the water. And the water… It was a deep crystal blue, the kind that you would only see in the cleanest of waters. "You know. Even with all of the work that we put in, and all of the work that I know others put in, it's still a little hard for me to believe that a beach as nice as this exists."

"It's a little surprising to me too. After all, the way this beach looks now is cleaner than the way it used to be before all the crap that went down happened. But Aurdel had a way of summing up his reason for putting so much effort into beautifying the environment. 'Surroundings are indicative of the people who live in them, so only way to find people you'd live alongside is to make a place you'd want to live in.'" She turned her head, "Slightly paraphrasing of course, but I think you get the sentiment. Though he also mentioned that this beach in particular reminded him of a place he knew, so he made sure that it was spotless."

"Really? Did he ever mention what that place was?"

"No, I try not to pry too deep. Personal privacy and all that. But I think sooner or later he'll open up, and I'll get to hear whatever story he has about it." Eventually their group stopped on the sand, picking a spot that was near to the water but not close enough that their things would get soaked during the high tide.

Izuku turned his head towards the horizon past the water, memories of the past racing through his head. "Let's bring back this beautiful ocean view! This is your first step on your path to becoming a Hero!"

All Might's words echoed in his ears, and even after so long he could still remember it like it was yesterday. He spent those ten months putting himself through the worst hell he'd ever known up to that point, straining himself over and over as he hurried to turn himself into a viable vessel for One For All before the day of the entrance exams. If it was for any other goal, he might have given up. But with it being his only chance at becoming a Hero he forced himself through it all. And when he finally cleared that beach, and stood atop the last mountain of trash on the day of the entrance exams… The feeling of bliss he felt was like no other.

He shook his head, the sights fading back into his mind. They were from a simpler time.

The group set their things down, first laying down a pair of blankets on the sand before dropping their bags. His mother then sat down on one of the blankets. "You know… I think I'm going to sit down for a moment before I go into the water."

"Is something wrong?"

"No, I'm just feeling a little more tired than usual," she cupped a hand over her eyes and looked towards the water, "Probably just because of the sun. It's been a long time since I've gotten this much exposure."

He furrowed his brow, "Are you sure? If you want, I could-"

"Don't worry about me Izuku," she waved her hand, "This is supposed to be your vacation after all, I don't want you to waste your time just because I'm feeling a little tired."

"If you say so."

"Let's go, let's go!"

"Don't rush so much, the beach isn't going anywhere!" On the other hand, Rumi was having a little trouble trying to keep her kids under control. Almost as soon as she set down her things, her kids, two boys and one girl, kicked off their sandals and started running over towards the ocean. "Good grief, they act like they've never been outside before."

"Me too!"

"Ah, Ukahimo!" And so with all of the kids rushing in the direction of the water, Izuku and the rest didn't have any choice except to follow them in.

"Weeheehee!" Rumi's kids managed to reach the ocean first, diving in essentially headfirst and kicking up a variable tsunami in their wake. Izuku had to raise his hands and cover his face to narrowly avoid getting splashed. Rumi wasn't so lucky.

"Pwah!" She shook her head, wiping her eyes and spitting out sea water. "What did I tell you three about jumping in the water like that? And Kurimaji, stop trying to splash your sister!"
Ochako wrapped her arms around herself, "You know, I think it'd be nicer if the warmer was a little warmer."

"The water won't get any warmer until the summer, but by the time that happens the weather will get worse and plenty more people will want to come to the beach. Right now's the best time to come in."

"Mom, dad. Look at me!" They both turned their heads towards Ukamiho, their son lying on his stomach in the water paddling and kicking with his hands and feet. A lot of water sprayed up, and he didn't get very far, but they could tell that he was trying his hardest.

"You're doing great, but you need to keep your legs under the water. Otherwise you're not going to get very far. Look, like this." Izuku waded forward through the water before diving in, beginning to swim and demonstrate the technique.

"Like… This?" Ukamiho tried again, this time lowering his legs too far down and still being unable to move forward. "It's not work-" A wave splashed over his head. "Puwah! I go eater in my eyes!" Izuku quickly swam over and stood back, picking him up before another wave splashed him directly in the face.

"You've got to be careful, otherwise you're going to get pushed underwater." He wiped the water from his eyes,

"Daaad, I can't swim."

Izuku let out a sort of exasperated laugh, knowing how these conversations typically went. "Why don't we just practice? I'll hold you up in the water, and you just focus on kicking with your legs underwater. Okay?"

"Okay!"

First Strike

About two hours went by while they were on the beach. Izuku and the others all initially spent that time together in the water. However as the time went on Rumi and her kids briefly went back onto the sand to take a break and have lunch, though they ultimately stayed there as her kids wanted to build sand castles more than they did want to go back in the water. Izuku's family meanwhile ended up doing the same, though they went back into the water and even had his mother follow them in. "It's actually been quite some time since I've been in the ocean…" His mother said, cautiously. Then she stepped one foot in. "Oh, the water's nice and cold." He could see her shiver a little.

"Grandma, do you like cold water?"

"Yes, I do. It's nice to swim in warm water, but having the chance to swim in warm water is especially good for you. Doubly so when you get to be my age. Besides, it's so hot out."

Ochako turned her head, "It's not that hot out."

"Really? Well, then I suppose that I just spent too much time lying down in the sun." She waded forward, "You know, this reminds me of the times that I went to the beach when Izuku was little. Even there he always wanted to play as a Hero. I remember one time specifically he wanted to keep recreating some rescue that All Might did, so he kept having me fall in the water and pulling me out."

He scratched his cheek, "In hindsight, it's all more than a little embarrassing..."

"Izuku kept wanting to recreate the scene over and over so much, it got to the point that the lifeguard on watch came over to tell us to stop. We explained it to the man of course, but he told us that the pretending to drown was too disruptive and presented a risk in case someone was actually drowning."

"I wonder just how much more stuff Izuku did like that because of his obsession with All Might," Ochako said, poking him.

"I'm not so sure that I'll give up those stories willingly," Izuku said, laughing nervously.

"Oh, I'm sure that over time you'll get to hear all sorts of more stories. And if you don't hear them from him, I'll always be more than willing to share. After all, it's…" His mother suddenly stopped. "It's…"

"Mom? Is everything alright?" He turned to look at her, and her face looked a little strange. Part of it looked like it was drooping down, with one half uneven with- "Mom!" Then, she went limp and collapsed into the water. Izuku quickly pushed through the water and lifted her up, getting no response. "Ochako, grab our stuff and take Ukamiho back to the car! And as Rumi to call for an ambulance!"

"Right!"

Ochako grabbed their son by the arm, "Come on Ukamiho, let's go."

"Mom, what's wrong with grandma?"

At the same time, Izuku carried his mother out of the water and onto the sandy shore. Once there he laid her down on the blanket. Checking her pulse, he found… "Mom, don't die!" Fixing her positioning on the ground, he then began performing chest compressions to administer CPR. "One twenty beats per minute… Come on!" He made sure to press carefully as he pressed down on her chest, not wanting to accidentally press too hard and make her condition, what he could best tell to be a stroke, much worse. But why was this happening? Why to his mother? And why now?

As he sat there, performing the chest compressions over and over, there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the waves. They were the reason that they'd chosen to come here, thinking that it would provide a much more peaceful venue for a vacation than any over they could think of. But now those same sounds were haunting him. They echoed over and over, filling his ears with distracting noise as he tried to listen for the faint, erratic sound of his mothers breathing.

He wanted to squeeze his eyes shut, to try and block out his surroundings by any means necessary. But he couldn't afford to. Doing so risked messing up on the chest compressions. And with how much he had already suffered and lost in the past, losing his mother wasn't something he was willing to have happen.

A minute by as he knelt there on the ground, then a second. And then a third.

Ochako walked over. "Izuku."

"Did she call the emergency services? Is there an ambulance on its way?"

"She did. The operator said that an ambulance should be here in around ten minutes."

Ten minutes… Whatever it takes. "Okay, good. Ochako, you can-"

"There's something else, I got a call on my phone just now."

"A call?"

"Yeah. It was from Daitaian, about the raid that was going on today."

"Tell them that we can't come into the office, we're busy with an emergency."

He could hear her shake her head, "He wasn't telling us to come in right now, but he said that we need to cut our vacation short. The raid they did… It failed."

"Failed?!" He briefly turned his head away in shock, then quickly corrected his mistake and focused back on the chest compressions. "I… Ochako, I need to focus on this."

"Right, sorry."

As she walked back towards the car where Ukahimo and the others were, a droning sensation filled Izuku's ears. First his mother, now the raid.

Were… Were they both his fault?

"…They didn't take inspiration from the Creature Rejection Clan. This IS the Creature Rejection Clan!"

"Wha…" Katsuki shook his head, baffled. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

"All of these men… They're the same people who were part of the Creature Rejection Clan when they got taken down."

"So? Big whoop. It just means that they managed to survive and stay in hiding up until now."

"No, that's… That's not it!" Tsukauchi looked thoroughly dumbfounded, and Katsuki could tell that it was hard for him to find the words. "Because their group was connected to a number of solved cold cases, I read the case file back in the day. These men look exactly like they did when their photos were taken for the files. And, more than that… This man," Tsukauchi pointed to one of the suspects, "And this man," he pointed to another. "They shouldn't be here. They're both dead,"

"D… Dead?" Realizing how off the situation was now, Katsuki's nerve broke a little. "But how does that make sense? If they're dead, then they're dead. These can't be the same guys."

"I don't know."

Kyoka walked over, "It could easily be that you're just misremembering whatever was in that case file. After all, it's been over a decade since you did. Maybe these aren't the same guys…? I don't know." She shook her head, "That's the only way I can make sense of it at least. I don't see how an entire group of guys, some of whom were confirmed dead, could have all survived the end of the world, and then stayed in hiding for eleven years. "

Katsuki looked towards Tsukauchi, his eyes narrowed. "Is there any way for you to confirm their identities?"

He nodded, "The case file about the Creature Rejection Clan was one of the few records that managed to survive the collapse. Spar- Er, Aurdel had it backed up in those computers he had in his dorm room. After everything was said and done we had it all retrieved and stored." Tsukauchi turned his head to one of the officers. "Mabajika, run to the command van and contact headquarters. Get them to open up the file and send the photos of all the suspects involved to my tablet. We need to figure out whether or not these are the same guys. Because if they are, like I think they are… Then it means we've got some new problem on our hands." The officer quickly sprinted out the door.

"And what exactly would that problem be? I still don't get the whole big picture about these being the same guys."

Tsukauchi paced around, "Well, if these are the same guys, then I can only come up with two explanations. First, these guys got some kind of cosmetic surgery to look exactly like the suspects from the CRC case. So much so that they look exactly like them on the day they were all brought in."

"But that doesn't make any sense," Kyoka said, "Even back then the CRC was a group of nobodies that most people didn't really think about, and even the few that did didn't actually like them. I have to imagine that by now there are even fewer people who would go so far to get surgery to look exactly like they did."

Katsuki folded his arms, "What's the second theory?"

"During the last events of the war, the book was closed on all of the living members of the League of Villains. Toga was killed after her neck was incidentally snapped by a kick from Izuku, Dabi was disintegrated as a result of his quirk during his fight with Shoto, Spinner was killed while fighting against Mirko, Mustard committed suicide after being backed into a corner by Deku and Twice was found dead and missing his quirk, having previously been stolen by All For One, after the fact. When All For One and the second body he possessed were killed, that meant that the Twice quirk was gone for good. But…"

"But?"

"One of Garaki's specialties was duplicating quirks. With how much materiél from the League wasn't destroyed, it's possible that a duplicate of the Twice quirk existed along with the mechanism to transfer or use it."

"See, that's not possible though. Because if these guys were clones…" Bakugo swung his leg and kicked one of the suspects hard, the man letting out a loud pained groan as the steel boot connected. "Well, I don't know what to tell you except that he isn't turning into mud."

"Then maybe the quirk was modified, and the damage resistance had since gone up to the point that we can't test them without risking damage that would kill a normal person."

"That's a lot of 'if's, ones that I'm not exactly inclined to believe."

"Then I don't know," Tsukauchi said, frustrated. "It just doesn't make sense to-"

"Everyone!" Koji ran into the room, "I spoke to the bugs to try and figure out where the helmet we're looking for is."

"And?"

"They don't know, but they did tell me something. The house has a basement."

"A basement? The blueprints didn't say anything about a basement."

"Yeah, what the hell?" Kyoka looked stunned, "When I was using my quirk, I couldn't pick up on any kind of basement."

Katsuki raised an eyebrow, "Maybe you're losing your touch?"

"Oh screw off."

Tsukauchi stepped forward, "Is there an entrance?"

"One of the teams is opening it up now. They should-"

There was a sudden calling from underneath them, "Hey, we found it!"

The four of them quickly ran out of the main, Koji leading them towards the entrance to the basement. Rushing through they found a trio of officers who had opened the entrance and made their way inside. They had their flashlights fixed on the helmet, sitting atop a pedestal towards the edge of the room.

"Well, look what we-" One of the three officers walked towards the helmet, grabbing it. "Hey, don't touch that thing! We don't know what the hell they-!" But his caution would fall on deaf ears. Almost milliseconds after the officer grabbed the mask and pulled it off the pedestal, a massive explosion enveloped the space in front of them.

The three officers who were standing near the epicenter were completely incinerated. Meanwhile, himself and the others who had just rushed in were thrown backwards after the hard stone and concrete walls.

Katsuki turned his head from side to side, trying to get a feel for the situation. But it was no use. He couldn't see or hear after the explosion. The only things that he could sense were the dust and debris filled air entering his lungs, as well as the collapsed floor that now rested on top of him.

But just as he was about to stop turning his head it came across some form of resistance. At that moment he felt the most sharp pain he'd ever experienced travel from his right eye and into his skull.

Then, he was out.

Mustard looked down at her phone, a subtle smile stretched across her face as she stared at the short message at the bottom of the screen.

"Package delivered."

Those two words… They were enough to tell her everything. Her men had done as she'd told, allowing themselves to be captured by the task force and allowing their 'identities' to be briefly revealed. Then, in just the amount of time as she'd predicted, the task force had discovered the basement and found the helmet. Of course it wasn't the real helmet, she still had it tucked away safely at home. No, what they'd briefly found was a fake that she'd had recreated. But it's not like they would ever find out the truth now. With the amount of explosives that were stuffed inside it, and inside the pedestal, anything that might have identified it as a fake was practically atomized. On top of that, given the usual methods that the task force had for gathering suspects after they were captured she didn't expect them to have anything left for them to identify. DNA or otherwise. And that was exactly the way she wanted it.

Mustard tucked the phone back into her pocket, then stepped over to the counter to grab her tea. At least one of the officers who'd made it out of the destroyed house would tell the rest who'd they'd found, and what had happened. Then from there the story of Villains from the old age being revived would spread like wildfire, and it would have to be addressed. An issue like that is something that Spartan could absolutely not resist intervening in. And the closer she was able to get to him, the more he could make him suffer.

"Dr. Mineta?"

She turned her head, "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, but you weren't responding on your pager. The medical director on the first floor would like to assist the other doctor in Room 121, they just brought in a woman from the first floor."

"Of course, I'll be there in just a moment." She took a sip from her cup of tea, savoring the flavor for every second that it lasted. Yes, this was the test of the revenge she would bring upon him.