Izuku in Black

by DarkenRaichu

Quirkless can't be Heroes. But All Might isn't going to end the sentence there. He knows there is something Quirkless people excel at, something that will save people. Izuku, on the other hand, really didn't expect to find out Aliens are real, get recruited by a mysterious agency, and get partnered up with another young agent. But if this can save people, he will do it.

26. Dance and Train

Finally, man. What a month July was, completely sent my writing off the rails, and then August was a lot of catching up. At least I'm back.

(XX)

Izuku looked up at the school building. Mustafa was larger than Aldera, as one would expect from a private school. The tall building surrounded by a large garden and with a tall clock at the front looked quite impressive, compared to the blocky appearance of his first middle school, though it couldn't really compare with the large campus of Ondereno.

"I'll keep guard outside." Hado said, "You make sure to never go too far. Ashido, please don't try to sneak away from Midoriya."

Izuku nodded, checking the uniform while Ashido pouted saying she would never. It was a copy of the one used in the school, though he had made sure to get it customized like he had his other clothes. It would come in handy if push came to shove. Still, he didn't expect that to happen. As far as the school was concerned, Izuku was an Ondereno student part of an exchange program to let private schools compare the level of students among Japanese private institutes. He wasn't sure if that was a real thing or if the HASC had made it up entirely for missions like these, but it certainly worked.

He waved at Hado and followed Ashido inside he school building.

"Good morning Ashido!" A girl with long blue hair said.

"Morning Kimiko!" She returned.

"Morning Ashido, thanks for the dancing tips!" A boy around their age with short brown hair said.

"Always ready to help Shimano!" She said with a wave.

"Hi Ashido, good to see you!" Another student said.

"Hi!"

"Hello Ashido!"

"Good morning!"

"Thanks for the help with Hoshi!"

It was a continuous rain of waves, high fives and thanks that left Izuku almost dizzy. He had never been the most popular kid in school, of course, but he figured a transfer student would have caught some attention. And yet, walking next to Ashido made him virtually invisible. Everyone only had eyes for her. "I'm impressed." He admitted, "You are really popular."

Ashido chuckled, "I've always been a people person, both by upbringing and by nature. Plus, I like helping people. Their face when they are happy is my greatest reward- Why that face?"

Izuku had closed his eyes, looking away, "Just… you shine so bright…" He said, tear on the edge of his eyes.

Ashido snorted, "You are great Mido." Alright, let's introduce you to the class." She stepped forward, and pushed him in the room. "Hello everyone!" She shouted, catching the attention of everyone in the class, "This is Midoriya, my friend! He is going to stay in our school for a bit! Say hi!"

The people did as told or waved. It seemed Ashido's popularity in the class made her word law to an extent.

"Good morning cl- Ah, I see Mina beat me to it." The teacher, a young man in his thirties with short black hair and brown eyes said walking in, while Mina rushed to her seat, "Well class, as I'm sure Mina has told you, this is Izuku Midoriya, your new classmate for… I believe it will be a month, right Midoriya?"

Izuku nodded, "Yes, sir."

"Excellent. Now, why don't you introduce yourself?"

"Ah, sure." He turned around and bowed, "Hello everyone. My name is Izuku Midoriya. I'm a student at the Ondereno Private Institute, but for the next month I will be here on an exchange."

"Hello/Hi/Nice to meet you!" The class said, various greetings that echoed the one earlier. Then a hand stood up.

"What's your Quirk Midoriya?" A guy with red eyes asked, "Is it something cool?"

"Ah, actually," Izuku coughed in his fist, "I'm Quirkless." While he could have passed the Orgue as his Quirk if needed, he and Nejire had both agreed that revealing he was Quirkless was the better choice, since it would make him seem less threatening to any potential enemy.

"Seriously?!" Another student asked, "I thought Quirkless people were gone in our generation!"

"Hey, that's not nice!" Mina shouted.

"Uh? N-No!" The guy waved his hand, "I just meant I thought there weren't more being born! I didn't mean anything bad by it!"

The teacher looked at him for a moment, before sighing. "Harada, we discussed before that saying the first thing that comes to mind isn't a good idea. Quirkless people are rare in your generation, but that doesn't mean you can just act like you saw a rare animal at a zoo." He turned to Izuku, "Sorry for that."

"N-No, I'm not offended! I mean, Quirkless people are rare in our generation." Izuku said, echoing the teacher's words. "Still, it's nice to meet you all. Hope we can have a nice month together!"

The class nodded, and the teacher pointed at a desk to the right, between two other students.

"Alright, let's move to other announcements. First of all, we are entering the period of the High Schools entrance exams, so I hope you all compiled your documentation properly. If you plan to move internally to Mustafa High School, the exam is next week, make sure to study. Next, Professor Orimi is sick, so we will have a substitute for…" He droned on with some more of these, mostly stuff Izuku didn't care about. "Finally, Mina, remember that in two weeks you have the UA Entrance Exam. I hope you are ready."

"Ready to go sir!" Mina said, "I've got good grades in the mock exams and my Quirk is trained, so it should be a clear pass!"

The class cheered. Izuku couldn't help but compare it to the reaction they had to Kacchan's and his decision to take the exams. Even for the former, no one had really cheered. They had talked about how strong his Quirk was, but at the end of the day no one was rooting for him, just treating his passing as a fact.

The day of the exam, Izuku and Nejire would only accompany her to the gate, rather than going in, both because if Ashido couldn't be safe in UA she couldn't be anywhere, and because the UA principal and the HASC had a bit of turbulent past, according to Nejire. Very turbulent. He cooperated with them sometimes, but it was better to not push it unnecessarily. They would just watch the exit gate and the entrance one and let UA take care of the school's safety.

But for now, he was just going to enjoy his time in class.

-x-

"Wow Midoriya, you are really athletic." One of the girls from his class said. Izuku frowned.

"You think?"

"Midoriya, you kept up with Mina. No one does that!" Another boy with red and green hair said, "She is the best athlete in our year!"

"Oh." Izuku looked around. It was true that him and Mina had been quite ahead of the rest, he just hadn't noticed due to him being used to the speed. "I guess my jogging paid off."

"Yeah, I'd say so." The teacher said. A woman with long grey hair, kept in a short bun, and wearing glasses over her training outfit, looked at them, smiling, "Good job everyone."

"Thanks professor Zono!" Everyone said in unison.

"Ah, no, don't act like that. I know this is our first day together but there is no need to be so formal." She said, waving her hand. A few people chuckled, and Izuku leaned back, stretching his back. Mustafa Middle School really was a different environment from Aldera. He didn't have much experience with the school side of Ondereno, since he basically studied on his own and only attended class for the exams, but he had to wonder if maybe he ought to go to class more often. Just because Aldera's kids weren't nice, it didn't mean it was the same for every school. Most of the Mustafa students were either ignoring him or being nice, and both reactions were more than fine.

-x-

"So, how are things going?" Hado asked, looking at Yuyu's face on the phone. The girl glared at her, and Izuku and Komori held back a laugh.

"She is so annoying! Walk three steps behind me, commoner! Make sure to heat the coffee properly, commoner! You are supposed to be guarding me, not reading, commoner! Uuuuugh!"

"Well, the last one is true." Komori pointed out.

"But it's not like I don't!" Yuyu said, "I need to read to keep up the cover that I'm just a normal girl that comes to the library to study!"

Hado laughed, "Well, it seems you got the short hand of the stick. Komori already knew her assigned target and Mina is fantastic." She said.

"Yeah, and fantastic means she doesn't like her. 'Minshida is never serious about her heritage. Wanting to become a Hero on Earth? Foolish! We are going to retake our Kingdom, and all this supposed 'training' will be worthless to a provincial governor. Her mother is making a great mistake, harrumph'!"

Izuku frowned at that. Ashido put a lot of effort in her future. The idea her aunt didn't acknowledge this… It didn't sit right with him.

"We shouldn't tell her, right?" Hado asked, probably having similar thoughts.

"I think she knows." Komori said, "Her mom always said that a lot of their relatives see them as a bit of weirdos for wanting to fully integrate in the normal life on Earth. Everyone else is focused solely on going back as fast as possible."

Izuku shook his head, "But Ashido wants to go too."

Komori nodded, "Yes, but they don't see it as the same thing. Even her mom says Ashido's desire to go back is more curiosity than the longing everyone else feels. She said before that she doesn't know if Ashido would even be happy on her home planet."

Izuku made to speak up at that, but what could he say? He didn't know what Ashido really thought.

-x-

Time, it turned out, flew by when you were having… fun, he supposed it could be called. The days went by with Izuku and Mina going to class. People had noticed them spending almost all time together, but either they chalked it off to Mina's friendliness or assumed her and Izuku had something else going on, if he had to judge from the looks some of the other boys were sending him.

"Pffft, they think that?" Ashido asked one day when he pointed it out, snorting at the idea. They were eating alone on the roof of the school. Ashido seemed to like the place, so she came up every few days While some boys sometimes tried to sneak on the roof to spend time with her, it seemed they had stopped now that Midoriya was doing the same, and Ashido's female friends always hang out in the cafeteria, where she would also be at the same time. Midoriya in those cases had to go sit down at the closest table with other classmates, and they were quick to notice and tease him for it.

All in all, he preferred the roof too.

"Wow." Izuku said, exaggerating a gasp, "I'm hurt."

"Awww, my big strong bodyguard got hit in the feelings, poor big strong bodyguard…" She said, patting him playfully in the back. "But sorry, this princess here is not planning to get married any time soon."

"I don't think you need to get married to date someone."

"Well I do!" She said, "I'm a noble, Mido. I can't do casual dating. Anyone I date has to be chosen with marriage in mind. Especially since I'm a woman."

Izuku really hadn't thought of that, but it made sense. "Why especially?"

"Artaxian society is matriarchal. Female children inherit before male children, most of our rulers were Queens rather than Kings… all the jazz. As a female of noble birth," She said, before standing with her back upright and clearly imitating someone that had given her the same lecture, "It is my duty to examine carefully any candidate for my affection, making sure he proves a valuable asset for the future of our magnificent Kingdom. It would be unbecoming of me to choose any less." She sighed, "And so, no dating without marriage planned."

"Oh. I'm sorry."

"Well, it's pretty romantic, but it's also a bit stressful. Still… with most of the larger family gone, once we Artaxian reconquer the planet, we will have to replace our nobility, so it's inevitable for me to have to choose a good candidate for either ruling or the military life."

Izuku nodded, biting into the katsudon he had taken from his bento. It wasn't as good as his mom's, but still good. "What would you like in a boyfriend?"

"Ooooh, someone is making advances?" Mina asked.

"N-No! Just asking!"

"Good. I don't steal from friends."

"… But I don't have a girlfriend, what do you mean?"

Ashido passed a hand over her face, "Boys…" She muttered, "Alright, alright, as much as I want to ship I feel that situation would make someone unhappy, so I'm going to let it develop. Anyway," She chuckled, "I want my future partner to be a good dancer."

Izuku waited, but Mina didn't add anything, so he raised an eyebrow, "That's it?"

"What?! No, it's really important. We Artaxians believe that dancing is the purest expression of one's soul. Look." She stood up, taking a few steps back so she stood in the center of the roof, "Now, imagine this is an Artaxian city. We build our houses out of a material called Floatstone – or well, it's called Shandarie, but it translates to Floatstone – a special material that can be used to build solid constructions on top of mud and water. In the center of each village, town and city plaza, there is a large floatstone platform. Now, I'm standing on that platform." She took a few steps, and then spoke up, "Minshida Arasishanda, Marasha am Shazair da, kashai." She bowed, "I just said 'Minshida Arasishanda, Princess of the Crown, dances'. This is a very important moment, it means I intend to show everyone my very soul. I'll express my feelings and let them judge me for it. It's the ultimate expression of pride in oneself, showing you don't believe there is anything in your life you have to hide."

Izuku nodded, wondering what it would look like. He had seen some people dance, but he had never thought it could be interesting.

Then Ashido closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and danced. Her body swung to her left, pivoting on one foot to turn the swing into a pirouette. Her back arched as she raised one leg into the air before bringing it to rest on the other leg's knee with a slow, calculated motion that looked as elegant as ever. Still with her eyes closed, Ashido pirouetted three times before reaching a stop, extending her right leg behind her while the right kneeled, her arms opening wide as she seemed to embrace the sun, the sky and the world around her, before closing them back on her body, and Izuku understood. He understood the motion, the expression of awe at the world and the love for that world. It was in her face, in her pose, in her very being. Ashido loved the world, she loved her life, and that dance was a true expression of it.

As she continued, she trailed the leg behind her back on the floor, making a circle on the ground while raising from her kneeled position, still with the arms around her body, and Izuku felt the desire to protect the world she loved, the circle from the leg symbolizing that shield she wished to be for what she held dear. She skipped and suddenly she was pirouetting in the air, having jumped in the middle of the pirouette, and suddenly she threw her arms wide, once again embracing everything in the cosmos and letting it embrace her back. There was a longing for somewhere out there too, an expression on her face and a position in her boy that said somewhere out there she had a place to see, to feel, to love. Any doubt Izuku might have had about her desire to go back, any doubt anyone might have had, was shattered by that single movement, by that undeniable love.

As she landed, she made to move again, raising her foot as if to step forward, and then suddenly stumbled and stopped. Izuku blinked when he noticed she wasn't moving at all. It felt… incomplete. Like someone had been talking to him, telling the most beautiful of stories, only to abruptly stop. He felt… sad. He paused, touching his face, and realized he actually had cried.

Ashido gulped. "S-Sorry." She said, and Izuku noticed her eyes were a bit watery too, "I… I think I'm done." She shook her head. "So, what did you think? I guess it's not that grea-"

"It's fantastic." Izuku said, "I… I have never seen a dance like that. You really love the world, right? Even I understood that. Love and will to protect it, love for the cosmos and longing for a distant home."

Ashido blushed, "Ahah, yeah…" She coughed in her fist, "Well, it's still nothing special. I'm supposed to take several minutes, but right now I can't get that far."

"Is that why you…"

"Yeah… I guess… I guess I still don't feel complete. I'm too young, and my dance is too young. But it feels… weird. It's like I can speak with my soul, and then, when I'm close to revealing everything, it just shuts up." Ashido sat down next to him, leaning against the protective net around the roof with the back of her head, "I guess I just need more life experience to understand myself more. One day I will find the next step in my dance. The answer to the question 'Who am I?'"

"And until then?" Izuku asked.

"Well…" She said with a smile, placing her hand curled into a fist near him, "Until then I'm counting on you to make sure I'm safe while I protect the world."

Izuku smiled back, and the two bumped their fists together.

-x-

"So, why do you want to be a Hero Mina?" Hado asked as the three of them walked on the streets of Musutafu, headed toward UA.

"Well, I want to save people and protect the world of course." She said with a smile, "Even if eventually we have to go back home, I still will need the training. It would be useful for the military, at least."

"I see." Hado nodded, "So, next question… What is that get up, Midoriya?!" She asked, pointing her finger at her friend.

"Oh my god, someone asked! What is going on?!"

Izuku coughed in his fist, "Whatever do you mean?"

"What we- You have purple eyes, electric blue hair, your freckles are gone and your face is different!"

"… And you waited until now to ask?" Izuku asked back.

"Explain!"

"Right." He chuckled, "Well, officially today Izuku Midoriya is back at the Ondereno Institute for some sort of exam he has to take for the half-way point of his exchange. So, we don't want Izuku Midoriya to be seen in Musutafu, right? I used Chiarittan tech to change my face and eye color."

"And the hair?"

"… I colored it. Did I do a bad job?"

"Actually, it's a really good one." Mina said, eyeing it critically, "You did a darn good job. But are you sure you used temporary die?"

"Yeah. It's why I have a hat, in case it rains."

Mina hummed, "Very well."

"You are getting really comfortable with alien tech, aren't you Izuku?" Hado asked, "All your weapons, Charittan Tech, the suit…"

"Yep." Izuku smiled, "I learned from the best." He said, and Hado chuckled.

"Oh man, Charittan Tech works on you?! I'm so jealous. That stuff would hurt me so badly if I tried it!" Mina interjected.

"Hado is the same. It seems Charittans didn't want their stuff to work for most people, it only works for Earthlings and for them."

"Yeah, it acts on the DNA. I guess Earthlings are close enough to Aliens to mate with them, so why wouldn't they also be close enough to use their technology."

"I mean, is it that rare for two Alien species to be compatible? Shouldn't they be compatible between each other if they are also compatible with us?" Izuku asked.

"You'd think so, but I guess something about Earthling DNA is unique and makes Half Aliens possible. It's like your species is capable of reproducing with most humanoid Aliens without issue. Most other Alien species are maybe compatible with one or two others in a reproductive sense."

Izuku hummed. How interesting. Maybe that was why Earth was so sought after by Alien species escaping their homeworld. He already knew the possibility to form a family on Earth was a major motivator for Aliens coming to Earth, but he had never imagined it would be exclusive of them.

Was that tied to the HASC wanting a Earthling in their rank so badly they'd let a fourteen year old with no training join? He frowned, but he just didn't have enough information. Though, he figured it was time he started actively looking into it. At first, he had accepted it because it meant he could save others, but now he really wanted to know why the interest in Earthlings specifically.

"Alright, here we are!" Mina said, pointing at the building. Izuku looked up at UA. For as long as he could remember, Izuku had wanted to study here. And yet, now that it would never happen, he was… content. He liked Ondereno and liked the HASC. He would never be a Hero, but that was fine. He had his own way to save people.

"Alright, we are going to wait outside. Midoriya will be at the front gate, while I will keep an eye on the back gate. If everything goes well, we will just meet back up here." Hado said. Mina nodded, then took a deep breath.

"Wish me good luck guys." She said.

"Good luck!" Nejire and Izuku said as one. Mina chuckled, and stepped through the gate.

Not ten steps later, a guy with blonde hair stumbled into her, pushing her aside. Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose as the familiar blonde started shouting at the girl, only for the Princess to shout back. "Goddammit Kacchan."

"Someone you know?"

Izuku sighed, "Yeah."

"Should we be worried?"

"Nah, Kacchan barks a lot but usually doesn't bite. Also, Mina can deal with him." Izuku watched as Mina seemed to have out-shouted Kacchan, to the point his old classmate was just scoffing and walking away, letting the girl shake her head and continue on her path. "See?"

"Man, you and Mina have gotten really close." Hado said.

"Yeah, she is pretty awesome. We have a lot of fun together." Izuku said, before noticing Hado's frown, "Something wrong?"

"No. No everything is fine." Hado said quickly, "I will go to the back gate."

Izuku watched her go, tilting his head slightly. Uh, what was up with that? He shrugged. Maybe Hado was just bored. This mission was turning out to just be about spending days with Ashido and Hado, and while that was fun it wasn't exactly what Izuku was looking for in a mission.

Looking around, he spotted a bench nearby and sat down, looking toward the front gate. Students from various schools were streaming through the front gate. At one point he recognized the guy with a crow head from way back in his first case, and that made him smile. If it wasn't for him, at this point he might have died for gas poisoning, and yet here he was, trying to be a Hero.

'I really am making a difference, uh?' He thought, 'Hard to imagine a year ago I wouldn't have known what to do with my life if I wasn't among them.' He kept watching, only to frown after a minute as he spotted Uraraka and Nana Kitamura among the crowd entering the building. They were wearing school uniforms and chatting to each other, and of course they didn't recognize him. 'Must be a mission.' He decided. One hard rule the HASC had was that they didn't interfere with HPSC business, which included Hero schools, unless it was absolutely necessary. And UA in particular was largely off-limits to the Agents.

He considered walking up to them, say hi and ask what they were doing there, but that would have both interfered with their mission and probably spooked them, since he had a different appearance. He figured he could ask Nejire if she knew something afterwards. Otherwise, he would probably meet Uraraka at the exam in two months.

He leaned back on his bench, and just sat, waiting. It was probably gonna be a pretty boring day, anyway.

-x-

It took a few hours for the exam to finish. The sun reached noon as the distant sound of a battle – metallic strain, explosions and a cacophony of unidentifiable sounds, likely the result of Quirks being fired all over the place as a result of the Entrance Exam – came and went, along with, for some reason, screams. What was UA doing to those teens? This sounded worse than his practical exam, and they had fought to the 'death' last time!

Izuku sighed, not for the first time that day. What could he have done realistically at that exam? If the sound were in any way indicative of what was happening, they were fighting a full on war in there. His pre-HASC self would have just stood still, if that was the case.

"Ugh, I really need to stop fussing about it. For someone over it, I sure like to think about my Hero what-if a lot." The past was in the past, and while Heroism was definitely always gonna be something he wished to take on, he had already found one he was more suited for.

He closed his glove-covered hands and looked around, tapping on the glasses to activate their scanner function. Mei had done a great job with her 'new baby'. She had increased the range, reduced the 'noise' it picked up, and he could now choose the information discreetly with just a small gesture of his hand or a whisper. 'Maybe I could suggest to Director Mera that we could do a lot more with them. If he busy them from Hatsume's dad, he might even have to give up on her ban from the workshops!' He opened his phone and wrote the idea down: if he could get Hatsume unbanned, she would be so happy!

Right now, though, he let his glasses pick up what they could see. Mostly nothing notable, but as he turned toward some of the passerbies, he frowned.

A group of two men. One tall, long thin neck under a wide, non-human looking head. Short beard and brown hair. The glasses gave him the name of a species of Alien known as Exgarians. Next to him was a shorter, bulkier man with black hair cut really short. He'd have thought he was just a Quirked Earthling, but the glasses seemed to pick him up as a likely Half-Alien.

Per se, this wouldn't have been a concern, but it was the third time the same people passed by, going back and forth in the same direction. Izuku wasn't sure he would have noticed without his glasses, but it wasn't hard when an Exgarian and a Half-Alien kept showing up together on the glasses' scanner.

He glanced at them. They were jogging this time. The time before they were carrying groceries, and the time before that just apparently killing time walking around and chatting. 'Are they just nearby residents? Am I being paranoid?'

He grimaced. He might have been just profiling, but he made sure to memorize what they looked like as they jogged by. They didn't even glance at him, and why would they? He wasn't the sole student waiting around for a friend that was taking the exam. Granted, most of the others looked much more like 'bad boys', some even smoking, but still provided a believable cover. Just another student that had skipped school without reason to check on his friend.

As they went by, he pulled out his phone. "Hado." He said, "Seen anything fun?"

"Nothing much. She is taking forever."

Izuku nodded. So they weren't checking the back gate? He supposed it made sense, since there was no reason for most students to go that way. The UA front gate was the more scenic one and opened in the direction of the station, while the other was pointed towards the nearby residential area, so only a handful of Musutafu students that took the exam would use it.

"I think I just saw someone."

"Really? I can't recognize anyone." She said, suddenly surprised.

"Eh, it's two guys that look familiar, that's all. I might be wrong. I didn't really notice much about them, they were just passing by." He said.

"Well, I guess there is no reason to risk it. We should meet up with Ashido at the back gate. The train is a lot later."

"Alright. See you later." He pushed down the phone. So Hado hadn't seen anyone suspicious. He typed the words Exgardian and Half one under another in a message, and sent it to her. Him and Hado had kept the conversation as vague as possible, but he needed to make sure she knew what to look for.

He looked at the direction the joggers had disappeared to. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this.

-x-

"I'm so tired…" Ashido said with a yawn, "Hopefully this is just a misunderstanding."

Izuku hummed distractedly while looking at the crowd of the station. It was crowded, of course, but that worked to their advantage. If someone was following them, then the best choice was to buy the tickets and get on the first train for Chiba.

Izuku had spotted the suspicious pair once more, and it wasn't near the school. They were walking a dog, and coincidentally going in their same direction. Hado had noticed and loudly led the trio in the closest restaurant, only for them to sneak out of the back. They hadn't seen them since, but the two bodyguards doubted that such a basic trick had fooled them. More likely, they were waiting for a less crowded place.

"Seen them anywhere?" Izuku asked Hado as she came back with the tickets. Izuku nodded, trying to feel calm. Perhaps it was just a coincidence, but he wasn't going to let that put Ashido at risk.

They entered the bullet train for Chiba quickly and sat down at their seats. Ashido yawned again. She had told them that she couldn't say what the test was like since UA had all applicants file a 5-years NDA, but she had mentioned lots of combat. Of course that would be tiring.

"What if they are on the train?" She still asked, as the train started to move, quickly gaining speed until they were zooming past Musutafu.

"If they are, we confront them." Hado said, "We will ask what they are planning. As one is an Alien, at least he would know about the HASC. Not that I'd expect the other to not know, if they are following you. Most likely they will back off, alien residents aren't willing to butt heads directly with us. I would like to arrest them, but that would make them turn to fight or flight, and a train is not the right place to fight anyway, not with the risk of a misfire causing a massacre. I also sent a message to Komori and Haya telling them and their partners to keep their eyes open. Hopefully, they can extract them to a safe location."

"You think it's the Morlana?"

"It's the most logical thing." Hado admitted, "If it's not them, it's probably someone paid by them. That option seems more likely, actually. It would explain why the Morlana aren't trying to reach Earth. They must be using someone from Earth to achieve their goal."

Ashido whimpered, and Izuku couldn't help but feel bad. This was supposed to be a good day for his friend. He tapped her shoulder. "Hey. We will protect you if something happens."

Ashido nodded, but she clearly looked worried. Izuku couldn't imagine what was going through her head. She had to escape to another part of the universe to be safe, and the Morlana were somehow still hunting them. He close his fist. It was too unfair.

The train kept going, leaving behind Musutafu and rushing through Shizuoka Prefecture toward Tokyo. Izuku made a sweep of the passengers in the wagons behind him, but when he reached the last he had to come back empty-handed. Hado nodded, then she stepped out, heading for the front of the train. Her return, a few minutes later, gave the same result.

"Think we gave them the slip?" Izuku asked.

"Possible." Hado said, but she sounded unconvinced, her eyes trailing toward the windows, "However I- Watch out!" She shouted.

Izuku didn't even try to argue the order as he grabbed Ashido and pushed her to the ground. A second later, a large blue figure slammed in the train's side, the following burst of air enough to send nearby objects including the remains of their seat flying. Mina glanced at them and then spoke.

"Stop!" She shouted, and her voice was like a needle in their brain. Mina, who Izuku was holding, froze still, and the Half-Alien grunted, his arm blocked mid-swing. Hado coughed, stepping back before the Half-Alien, Izuku's glasses reminded him, resumed his swing and punched straight through a seat. Izuku in response pulled out his goo gun and fired… except that the goo slammed against an orb that seemed made of chunks and pieces of another seat.

Izuku stared in disbelief as the train kept going. Wait, why was it still going? There was a massive hole on the side and civilians on board! "What did you do?!" Izuku shouted at the bulky man, who just grinned.

"Nothing much." Another voice said, the man stepping forward from the front of the train. "Just covering our tracks."

Izuku's mind raced. Men hired by the Morlana. Willing to harm civilians. A train that couldn't be stopped without getting past them. The blue guy clearly had jumped in from the top of the train, Nejire noticing as he dove with a swing inward. They… They… "You are here to harm Ashido, right? Make it pass as an accident. Either you are here to kill her and make it look like she died in the crash, or you are here to take her and plan to make the HASC think she just died in a Villain Attack." He said out loud.

Ashido gasped.

"Shit, you are smart kid." The Villain at the front said, his blueish companion grunting. Then, the big man with blue skin rushed forward, dodging the fire of the goo gun to grab Izuku at the waist with one of his large hands. "Bye bye." He said, and tossed Izuku out of the train through the hole he had made in the walls.

"Izuku!" Hado shouted as she rushed to grab him, but a large sphere made from a seat landed between them, blocking her path just long enough that she missed his arm.

Izuku felt the air hit him at full force as he was tossed out of the bullet train.

(XX)

Well, surely this means Izuku in Black is over and now we will follow Nejire in Black as she gets vengeance for the death of Izuku.

Jokes aside, I'll let you guys figure out who those two are, for now. I'm sure some people will recognize them. Hope you are ready for next chapter, and hope this was fun. I figured focusing a lot on Ashido was very important given what's coming.

See you soon, I hope!