Izuku was drowning. Thick, foul-tasting sludge poured down his throat and into his lungs against his will, and he frantically thrashed about to rid himself of the viscous concoction stealing his life away from him. Suddenly, completely beyond his control, he rapidly heated up and glowed a bright crimson, and he belched red flames that expelled the invasive sludge. Pained, horrified wails were all that filled his ears, and he couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight of a very humanoid man made of sludge trying desperately to rid himself of the flames to no avail.

When the haunting, yellow eyes of the creature met his own, he shot up from his bed dripping in sweat with his heart pounding. When he calmed down, he deeply sighed in a sour mixture of frustration and resignation. He had been having that same nightmare every other night since the USJ. No matter how much he kept his brain busy to avoid thinking about it during the day, he couldn't escape the thoughts at night.

When he sat back on his bed, the dull aches in his body flared up again. Izuku would readily admit that he had taken a very big risk in his match with Todoroki. He had done exactly what Recovery Girl had explicitly instructed him not to do, and he had been paying for it for approximately 48 hours. He couldn't tell you how many of those hours that he was conscious, but for the moments that he actually was, he felt nothing but untold pain.

His body felt like it had been put through a meat grinder, marinated in lemon juice, seasoned with broken glass, and finally taped back together with the juice and glass shards still present. It was still only slightly less unpleasant than the earful he got from Recovery Girl when the grown elephant's quantity of painkillers finally wore off.

The bronze medal he didn't remember receiving hung on his wall, and he was initially disappointed about the fact that he didn't at least make it to the finals after declaring that he wasn't going to lose at all. However, after his mother filled him in on what happened, he felt a bit better about the outcome, if not a little worried about how Bakugo took a de facto 1st place medal.

Since he was under house arrest courtesy of his mother, he had a lot of time to himself while he slowly healed his many injuries in increments. A lot of that time was spent on the internet perusing through articles that were written about the festival, as he expected that a titanic semifinal clash resulting in a double-knockout that gave the only remaining competitor the win by default would certainly be newsworthy. He was right, and just about every bit of coverage on the results of the festival explored that in great detail.

What he wasn't expecting, however, was to see his name appear in so many related, tangentially related, and even unrelated headlines.

Symbol of Peace Endorses a New Symbol?

UA Sports Festival Standout Izuku Midoriya Makes Explosive Debut

Izuku Midoriya: Beacon in the Darkness

"What the…"

What the hell was that about All Might endorsing him??

Reading through a few of the articles made things somewhat more clear, as apparently All Might had said that he would be a fine symbol when he awarded him his medal, but it was still absurdly surreal for him. The other headlines he saw didn't help matters, either.

Izuku Midoriya: Icon for Late-Bloomers Everywhere

Quirkless Doesn't Mean Useless, and Late-Bloomer Doesn't Mean Defective

Late-Bloomer Battles Son of No. 2 Hero to a Draw

He didn't really think that last one was fair to Todoroki. Still, he wasn't prepared for the level of coverage he was getting. He supposed that he should've expected it given everything Principal Nezu had told him beforehand, and making a solid first impression was his ultimate goal, but planning for something and the reality of that thing were two very different experiences.

Of course, it wasn't all positive. There were a few articles that likened him to fool's gold and called the genuineness of his earlier interview into question. Some called him and the whole festival a UA publicity stunt. A few of the more opinionated pundits and talking heads even said that it was "cute" that the late-bloomer played with the regular kids, but his 2nd round exit was him falling back down to Earth. That one honestly stung him a little bit.

It didn't sting as badly as some anonymous people on social media complaining about the "half-null" stealing the spotlight from the actual winner of the sports festival because he really couldn't dispute that.

However, there was one article in particular that grabbed his attention. It was from an independent group called "Small Voices," and they, as their name suggested, spoke out and advocated for the quirkless, abused, and otherwise persecuted groups who felt as though their voices went unheard. This even included heteromorphic mutants and those with unstable quirks that sometimes made them a danger to themselves and others, which many late-bloomers often ended up having.

The article was titled, "Why Izuku Midoriya's Sports Festival Performance is Important," and he was genuinely surprised and touched at the way the author broke down and complimented him so thoroughly. It detailed the encouraging nature of his student pledge, the way he protected others in the obstacle race, and even the aftermath of his match with Ochako. The article also brought up the interview and his desire to help those who had slipped through the cracks, and it commented that while he may not have known the entirety of the quirkless struggle, he still knew enough of it as a late-bloomer to want to actively do something about it and reach out to those that were still traversing those treacherous waters. The author noted that it was a fantastic omen for the future that he had the power to make the change he sought, and they concluded that the nation was "waiting for the Beacon in the Darkness to shine a light for those that All Might's society had all but abandoned."

Beacon in the Darkness. That wasn't the only time he saw that phrase used to describe him that day. He didn't quite know how he felt about it, but he didn't dislike the sentiment.

Moving away from the news surrounding himself and the sports festival, he stumbled upon another headline that got his attention:

Another Pro Hero Falls to the Hero Killer

Curious, he read the article, and his blood ran cold when he learned the name of the pro that was attacked.

"Ingenium… Iida's brother…" he breathed out. That was not good. Iida must have been a wreck, especially considering the attack apparently happened during the sports festival itself. Fortunately, he was only critically wounded rather than fatally wounded, but the outlook still great for him. He sighed, and he considered texting Iida to check up on him, but he decided against it. Iida hadn't told him himself, so he figured that the boy wouldn't really appreciate him finding out through the news and potentially forcing a subject that he didn't really want to discuss. He resolved to let his friend know in person that he was there to support him if ever needed.

Later that evening, Izuku was heading into the living room while Inko was preparing to make dinner for the both of them, but she ran into a snag.

"Damn it, we're out of miso paste," she lamented.

"I can run to the store and get some," Izuku offered.

"You're still under house arrest, mister," Inko reminded with a frown.

"It would be over by tomorrow morning, anyway," he argued. "Besides, it's not like I'll find any trouble and re-hospitalize myself on a quick market run. I'll be in and out, back in a flash."

Inko narrowed her eyes at him, but she soon sighed and relented. "Fine. Despite my better judgement that you've jinxed yourself, go on out. Even though I know you can take care of yourself, please call or text if you do run into trouble. I know how stupidly stringent quirk use laws can be without a provisional license."

"Will do," he assured before heading out. "I'll be right back."

Izuku set off from his apartment and down the street to the nearest store. He had his earbuds in and his hands in his pockets, and to the world, he looked like any regular teenager meandering down the street without really paying attention to his surroundings. The truth, though, was that Izuku was very aware of his surroundings. He was so aware, in fact, that he knew that about halfway to the store, he was being followed.

Izuku did not let on the fact that he knew he had a tail, and he proceeded on like normal to the store. Once inside, he got the miso paste and a few cups of instant ramen, and he left back in the direction he came. He didn't head home, though, as he made a few extra turns onto emptier side streets to see if his tail would follow him.

Sure enough, they did. Izuku casually strolled into an alleyway off of one of those emptier residential streets, and he stopped in the center and waited for the arrival of his tail. He would not have to wait long before a shuffle brought his attention to a figure slinking past a few trash bags to the right of him, and he was face to face with a pair of golden, slitted eyes.

"It IS you! I knew it!" the new arrival cheered when she saw Izuku up close. Upon closer examination, the girl was around his age with a beige cardigan over a traditional school girl outfit, and her eyes were slightly tilted with a face and mouth that somewhat resembled that of a cat. Her blonde hair was put up in two messy buns, and she sported a fanged grin with a blush that completed the unsettling image.

He was already on edge when he felt he was being followed, but the knife in her hand told him all he needed to know. He definitely jinxed himself again.

"You know me?" he hesitantly ventured.

"Mhm!" she excitedly confirmed. "I saw you on TV in the sports festival! You were so bloody, and it was so beautiful!"

"…Right," Izuku responded with the only thing that would come to mind. "Why are you following me?"

"Because you looked so good covered in blood, and you should look like that all the time!" she happily answered, and then her smile dropped for a moment. "And I remember you from that interview that was everywhere. You said you wanted to help those that slipped through the cracks…"

And, like a light switch, the momentary lucidity was gone, and the unsettling, almost euphoric smile returned. However, it wasn't just euphoric, it was hungry as well.

"And that makes me want to cut you up and share my love with you!" she declared with a swing of her knife that he ducked and backed away from. "I want to cut you and drink your blood so that I can be you and love you forever!"

Izuku did not get a word out before another knife materialized in her free hand, and she lunged for him with frightening speed. Just barely dodging by the skin of his teeth, he tossed aside the bag of groceries and dodged the knife she threw at him before igniting in a bright, yellow flame.

"Pretty…" she commented before Izuku dashed behind her and attempted to knock her out with a strike to the back of her neck, but he was flabbergasted when his hand hit nothing and he was swept to the floor. Toga stood over him with her knife poised to penetrate him, and his yellow flame flickered to orange and projected into a small wall in front of him right as she brought the knife down. When she hit nothing but a solid wall of flat, orange fire, her confusion allowed Izuku to take advantage and kick the wall into her to create separation.

With that separation, Izuku now had a few moments to think. The girl had proven to be fast; scarily fast. In fact, she was somehow faster than he was with his yellow flames? Or did she just have faster reflexes? That still wouldn't make sense unless her brain could process information faster than he could move, which he supposed was possible but not very likely. Was it some sort of precognition? In any other situation, she would have been so cool to analyze!

"Why are you staring at me like that?" she asked, now seemingly more lucid than she just had been.

Now Izuku was perplexed, and she seemed to be as well. She appeared to have competing fits of lucidity and murderous euphoria, though one clearly overpowered the other because her blush had just deepened once more and the smile returned.

"Just a little bit of your blood, it'll make you look so much prettier!" she insisted before lunging at him again.

This time, he was ready, and he dropped to the ground to dodge her attack before yanking her out of the air and flipping her onto her back, disarming her in the process. He wasn't done yet, though; he had a plan. While she was struggling, Izuku bit as hard as he could onto the tip of his thumb and drew blood, smeared his other palm with the blood, and placed it over her mouth. The effect was instantaneous, and she stopped struggling and started licking his palm.

He had an inkling from some of the things she said that she was very fond of blood, specifically drinking it for whatever reason. Maybe it was quirk-related, and he was taking a massive risk, but the flashes of lucidity she showed where she momentarily seemed like a regular person reminded him of someone going through a really odd, really extreme bout of dissociation, or maybe withdrawals? Maybe both? It was a stretch, and she was obviously mentally unwell to begin with, but he had a gut feeling that there was more to this than a mugger trying to kill him for shits and giggles.

As for the blood, he certainly wasn't going to cut his thumb with one of her knives because Lord knew where the hell they had been, and he wasn't going to risk sticking an open wound into her mouth, either. If she drank strange blood on the regular, he wasn't going to risk catching any bloodborne pathogens from her.

After a minute of seemingly content licking from the girl, the ridiculous level of awkwardness of the situation started to catch up with him. He truly did not want to stay in that position, but he really shouldn't just let her go, either. He could call the police, but that realistically wouldn't solve whatever was going on with her, as she'd never get the help she needed by being put into the system.

With a sigh, he looked around the alley and saw a stray piece of rope laying beside them, and he did the one thing he wanted to avoid entirely.

He called his mother.

"Okay, let me get this straight," Inko began as she was rubbing her temples in the alley beside her son and his… captive? She really didn't know what to call the tied up girl now that she wasn't attacking her son. "You noticed about halfway to the store that you were being followed."

Izuku nodded.

"You kept up the façade that you were unaware and then got what you needed from the store. Then, rather than leading whoever was following you back home, you gave her the runaround until you confronted her in this alley."

Izuku nodded.

"She recognized you from the sports festival and wanted to 'cut you up and drink your blood to spread her love,' but she also said she recognized you from your interview, and she was much more lucid when she said that."

Izuku nodded.

"You think that she either has a split-personality or is trying to fight off severe withdrawals from a need to consume blood that she has been denied for one reason or another. Potentially some combination of the two."

Both Izukus nodded.

Wait, both?

"Why the hell is there two of you?" she sighed, supremely done with the situation.

"Oh, that's my quirk!" the tied up Izuku chirped. "I can transform into anyone whose blood I drink!"

Inko's head snapped to the original Izuku, and the piercing glare she gave him made him shrink. "You let her drink your blood." It was a statement rather than a question.

Izuku hesitantly nodded.

Inko let loose a long-suffering sigh and pinched the bridge of her nose. "You do understand the potential ramifications of letting someone who could literally impersonate you drink your blood AFTER they had tried to attack you, right?"

"Mom, hear me out," Izuku began, and his mother reluctantly let him speak. "She is significantly calmer now that she's had even a small quantity of blood. It leads me to believe that she doesn't get to drink blood very often, or she at least wasn't able to for a very long time if she's going to these lengths to do so. Maybe months or even years; maybe she was actively discouraged from indulging because of the stigma that many quirks like hers tend to have."

Izuku did not miss the flinch from his doppelgänger, and he frowned. "Not only that, but the way she addressed me in those brief moments where she wasn't fiending for her next fix… she knew exactly who I was, and it felt like a cry for help."

"I don't think I have to describe to you the sheer magnitude of the leap you're taking here, Izuku," Inko stressed.

"I know," Izuku responded. "But what kind of hero would I be if I ignored a blatant case of someone never getting the help or support they clearly needed? What kind of hero would I be if I just handed her over to the police and washed my hands of it?"

Izuku went quiet for a moment, then he looked back at his mother. "What if the Sludge Villain could have been helped?"

"Izuku..." his mother began in concern.

The girl in question, having shed the Izuku disguise into a pile of sludge, silently watched the back-and-forth. She didn't know what to say or if she should say anything at all. She knew who Izuku was and why he had garnered a small level of notoriety. On some level, she knew exactly why she had chosen to target him that night beyond her violent urges. But…

Was she truly ready for that?

The discussion between mother and son was interrupted by a loud crash from the street. The two turned away from the captive girl to investigate, and they were nearly run over by a pickup truck whizzing past them followed by several police cars.

"No one can stop Team Reservoir Dogs!" the four men in the truck shouted together with a cash register still attached to an entire store counter sitting in the bed of the truck.

"Are you gonna…?" Izuku trailed off while looking towards his mother.

"I never officially came out of retirement," Inko began as the truck crashed again, this time as a result of a solid mass slamming down onto the hood. That mass revealed itself to be the grinning visage of Mirko, and the police used the opportunity to swarm the criminals. "And they look like they've got things covered over there."

Izuku nodded, oddly feeling a chill run up his spine at the sight of the Rabbit Hero, and he turned back into the alley to check on his "charge," but she was not where he had left her. The only thing left in the alley was the discarded rope that she had apparently escaped from.

"Shit!" he cursed and ran into the alley to see if she were potentially hiding somewhere until they left, but she was nowhere to be found. She had legitimately given them the slip in that brief moment where their attention was elsewhere.

"She's gone??" Inko asked in mild panic.

"And she took the damn miso paste!" Izuku shouted.

The next day was their official return to school. The morning was wet and gloomy, and Izuku really hoped that it wasn't an omen for the rest of the day, but that would be tested when he bumped into Iida at the lockers where the boy was putting away his raincoat and rain boots.

"Good morning, Midoriya!" Iida cheerily greeted, much to Izuku's confusion.

"Morning, Iida," he replied. "Hey, um…"

"If it's about my brother, don't be concerned," he calmly interrupted, sending a pleasant smile to his friend. "I'm sorry if I made you worry with the lack of contact. Everything will be fine."

Izuku watched the boy walk away in silence. Iida sounded normal despite the circumstances, but there was something in his eyes that gave Izuku pause. He couldn't quite identify it, and it was entirely possible that he had just imagined it, but it still put him on edge. He'd be sure to keep a close eye out for his friend.

Class 1-A was filled with chatter about the aftermath of the sports festival when Izuku arrived, and he quietly slinked his way to his seat amidst the conversations. He spotted Bakugo looking rather dejectedly at the wall, and he met eyes with Todoroki, who sent him a respectful nod that Izuku returned with a small smile. Soon enough, Aizawa entered and the class quickly found their seats, and all were surprised to see that he was out of his bandages.

"Ribbit, Mr. Aizawa, you don't have bandages anymore," Tsu observed. "That's good news."

"The old lady went a little overboard in her treatment," he sighed. "Anyway, we have a big class today on hero informatics."

The class was initially on edge at the announcement, as hero informatics was a vague descriptor that could entail a lot of boring or overcomplicated matters.

"It's time to pick your hero identities," Aizawa finished.

And, just like that, the tension vanished and the class was excited again.

"This is related to the pro hero draft picks that I mentioned in our last class together. Normally, you all wouldn't have to worry about the draft yet, as that usually only concerns Second and Third-Years, but your class is different. By extending internship offers to First-Years like yourselves, pros are essentially investing in your potential much earlier on."

"Is that because we've already encountered villains in our short tenure here?" Izuku asked.

"Pretty much," Aizawa confirmed. "You all already have more practical experience than anyone else in your position, and that inherently makes you more valuable. Any offers you receive can still be rescinded, though, assuming their interest in you dies down before graduation."

"So, what you're saying is that we'll still have to prove ourselves after we've been recruited," Toru surmised.

"Exactly," Aizawa nodded. "Now, here are the totals for those of you who got offers from pros."

He pressed a button on a remote, and a screen cut on to display the students who got offers and how many they received. Unsurprisingly, Todoroki, Izuku, and Bakugo were the top three with thousands of offers each, and then there was a massive drop-off for the rest of them.

"Usually, the numbers are more spread out, but there's a pretty big gap this time around," Aizawa stated.

"Holy hell," Mina gawked, and several others around her nodded their agreement.

"Todoroki and Midoriya got the most, even ahead of Bakugo?" Jiro asked.

"Yeah, it's the opposite of how they technically placed in the festival," Kirishima commented.

"There was no winner," Bakugo grumbled. "Doesn't matter, anyway."

Yaoyorozu sighed at her number of offers, and she turned to Todoroki beside her. "It's amazing that you received so many. You must be proud."

"Those offers are probably just because of my father," he sullenly replied.

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Izuku turned and offered the boy. "We did blow up the ring."

Todoroki considered that for a few seconds before he shrugged in acquiescence.

"The amount of offers you received is amazing as well, Midoriya," Yaoyorozu said with a smile. "You both have over 4000."

"Eh, I read more than a few articles written about me yesterday, so it doesn't really surprise me," he shrugged.

"Right, bask in your fame, Mr. Celebrity," Mineta grumbled.

"Please stop," Izuku replied, now totally deflated.

"Despite these results," Aizawa continued, wrangling the attention of the class once more, "You'll all be interning with pros, got it? Even those of you who didn't get any offers will be interning with someone. Like I mentioned before, you've already had experience with combat against actual villains, but it'll still be helpful to see pros at work out in the wild."

"And for that, we'll need hero names," Sato excitedly spoke, and their teacher nodded.

"Your hero names will most likely be temporary, but take them seriously, otherwise-"

"You'll have hell to pay later!" Midnight cheerily declared as she strutted into the room, garnering the attention of most of the boys in the room. "What you pick today could be your code name for life, so be careful, otherwise you might end up with something utterly indecent."

"Yeah, she has a point," Aizawa confirmed while climbing into his sleeping bag. "Codenames are important. They help reinforce your image and show people exactly what kind of hero you are and what you represent."

'What kind of hero I want to be/What I represent, huh?' were the simultaneous thoughts of Todoroki and Izuku, respectively.

"Names aren't really my forte," Aizawa says before slumping against the wall in his sleeping bag, "so Midnight will have final approval over them."

Izuku grabbed the white board that was handed to him, and he brainstormed several ideas. The first to be discarded was Small Might, of course, and somewhere in the building, he could just feel his mother snickering at him.

"Now students, who among you is ready to share?" Midnight asked, and Aoyama was the first to take the plunge.

"Hold your breath," he began, and the class leaned forward in anticipation. "I am the Shining Hero: I Cannot Stop Twinkling! Mon ami, you cannot deny my sparkle."

…What?

"It'll be better this way," Midnight said as she adjusted what he wrote on the board and handed it back to him. "Take out the 'I' and shorten the 'Cannot' to 'Can't.'"

What the fuck?

"Okie dokie, lemme give it a go!" Mina bounced up to the podium. "My codename is Alien Queen!"

"Hold on, like that horrifying monster with the acidic blood?? I don't think so," Midnight quickly denied, much to Mina's dismay.

"What about Venus?" Izuku spoke up, and both Mina and Midnight (as well as the rest of the class) turned to him.

"Venus?" Mina asked in confusion.

"Well, it rains sulfuric acid there, and it fits with your whole alien motif," he sheepishly explained. "Just figured I'd throw something out there."

'It also probably won't get you sued.'

"It's fantastic!" Midnight declared.

"Venus, I love it!" Mina beamed. "Great job, Midori."

"Erm, no prob," Izuku said with a shaky thumbs up, not at all expecting her to adopt the nickname Toru had given him, as well.

Tsu decided to step up to the plate next. "I've had this one picked out since grade school. Rainy Season Hero: Froppy."

Everyone loved that one, and it emboldened the rest of the class to go up and present their own. Kirishima chose the Sturdy Hero: Red Riot as a way to pay homage to his idol, the Chivalrous Hero: Crimson Riot. Izuku liked that one, and he liked Earphone Jack, Tentacole, and Cellophane, as well. Tailman and Invisible Girl were a little on the nose, but he wouldn't begrudge them for it. Sugarman and Chargebolt were nice, and he really enjoyed Creati and Tsukuyomi, as well.

Then, Todoroki stepped up, and his board only read, "Shoto."

"Just your name?" Midnight questioned.

"Not just my name," Todoroki answered with a glance to Izuku, "but, in essence, yes."

Izuku knew exactly what he was going for with his name, and he couldn't help the grin that sprouted on him. When Todoroki was walking back to his seat, Izuku raised his fist to the heterochromatic teen.

"Excellent choice," he said while he held his fist out to him.

Todoroki, however, did not move, and he only stared at the offered fist in confusion. Izuku looked bemusedly at him for a moment before he realized what was happening.

"Oh, uh, it's a fist bump," he explained to the confused teen. "We, um, bump fists."

"In solidarity?" Todoroki pondered.

"…Sure, I guess that applies here, too," Izuku answered, and Todoroki slowly met Izuku's fist with his own. After a horrifyingly awkward few seconds, Todoroki nodded in new understanding before returning to his seat.

Izuku, fortunately or unfortunately, did not notice that the entire class had stopped to watch the interaction with barely contained laughter. Ochako had quickly stepped up to prevent herself from bursting at the adorable scene with her hero name of Uravity. Mineta excitedly followed with Grape Juice, and Koda silently followed with Anima.

And then Bakugo stepped up to the podium with King Explosion Murder.

"I'm gonna say that one's a little too violent," Midnight denied.

"Huh?? What do you mean?!" he shouted in protest.

"Why don't you go with Explosion Boy?" Kirishima heckled.

"Shut it, Shitty Hair!" he retorted.

Izuku looked back down to his whiteboard at the name he chose and tuned out the death threats Bakugo sent his classmate. He still wasn't entirely sure that it was a great name on its own, but he knew exactly what he wanted to represent, and he could finally say that he knew exactly what kind of hero he wanted to be.

Seeing that he was the only one left aside from Bakugo and Iida, he decided to step up.

"Most of you have probably seen that interview by now, and maybe some of you saw all the articles that were written about me these last few days," Izuku began, somewhat losing his nerve the more he spoke. He took a deep breath and shook off the trepidation before continuing. "Well, a few different articles coined a nickname for me, and it was a pretty good representation of the hero I want to become, so I went with it."

With steely resolve taking over his face, he flipped his board around to show the class. "I'm the Kaleidoscope Hero: Beacon. I want to be a beacon that shines a light for anyone lost in the darkness that needs a helping hand out of it."

"I love it!" Midnight cheered. "It's so fitting!"

She wasn't the only one, as his classmates joined in the revelry, complimenting his codename and assuaging his worries about it. The smile he got from Ochako and nods he received from Todoroki and even Tokoyami warmed his heart.

Meanwhile, Iida stared intently at the board in front of him as he thought back to the last conversation he had with his brother in the hospital.

"Tenya," Tensei roughly began in his hospital bed with his brother by his side, "I wasn't sure if I wanted to say anything yesterday, but hiding it from you won't miraculously help me walk again, so I might as well come out and say it."

"Wait, walk?" Iida frantically questioned. "What do you mean??"

"Right, walk; I won't be doing that for a while. Probably ever. I can't feel my legs; they're practically useless."

Iida choked back a sob, and he tried desperately to compose himself. "As tactless as ever, elder brother," he bitterly attempted to inject some levity to the situation.

Tensei softly smiled. "If I can't poke fun at my own situation, how could I ever convince anyone else not to worry?"

"Of course, we're worried!" Iida tried to reason, and the sobs began to escape him.

"Tenya…" he began. "The hero, Ingenium, is finished, at least for me."

"No, no, don't talk like that!" Iida pleaded. "You still have so many people to help and inspire, brother! This can't be true!"

"Not me. You."

"What?"

"I know that you look up to me more than maybe anything else in this world. If I can't inspire anyone in my career, I at least know with absolute certainty that I inspired you, intentionally or not. That's why even if I go down, Ingenium doesn't have to go down with me. I want Ingenium to live on through you, little brother. I want you to go out and save and inspire people just like you believe that I do. Be the hero you were born to be, Tenya."

'I… I can't, Tensei. Not until the man who did this to you is dead. Until then, I'm still just…'

"You're using your real name, too?" Midnight asked the sullen boy at the podium, and he only silently nodded.

Izuku looked on with concern. His friend was not okay, and he was suffering in silence. Izuku looked across the room to Ochako, and he could see the concern on her face, too. They shared a glance and nodded, coming to a decision.

"LORD EXPLOSION MURDER!" Bakugo shouted from the podium.

"No," Midnight deadpanned, and Bakugo returned to his seat once more in a huff.

"Now that just about everyone has decided on hero names," Aizawa spoke up from his sleeping bag, "we can return to talking about your upcoming internships. They'll last for one week. As for who you'll be working with, those of you who are on the board will choose from among your offers. Everyone else will have a different list. About 40 different agencies across the country have agreed to take on interns from your class. Each agency focuses on a different area of expertise, so keep that in mind when making your decision."

Once the bell had rung, the class was left to make their decisions and hand them in before the weekend. A few in the room already had an idea about where they wanted to go, while others were still mulling it over. Izuku was perusing through the long list of heroes that made him offers, and he was surprised to see that he had actually gotten an offer from Endeavor's agency, though he supposed that he should've seen it coming after the strange encounter they had during the sports festival.

Endeavor wasn't the only surprising name, as he got offers from several heroes in the Top 10, Best Jeanist and Hawks chief among them. What really surprised him was the offer he received from Sir Nighteye. All Might's former sidekick extended him an offer; maybe it had to do with All Might declaring him to be a future symbol? There might have been some unintentional implications with that, but he'd just set the record straight again in that regard if needed.

Eventually, he narrowed his selection down to a few names. He begrudgingly accepted that Endeavor could teach him quite a bit about wielding his fire offensively, especially from range, but the problem was that he was Endeavor. Hawks could likely do a lot for him in regards to pure speed, but Hawks was literally flight-oriented, and Izuku couldn't fly, no matter how much his classmates tried to make "Rainbow Comet" a thing. Sir Nighteye was much more informatics and investigation-based than the others, and he was certain that the man would be a wealth of knowledge in the realm of investigative heroics, but his agency was so small that it perplexed Izuku that the man even sent him an offer to begin with.

Then, there was Ms. Joke. He wasn't expecting one from her since she taught at a rival hero school, but he was certainly interested. She was proficient in close combat even without the aid of her quirk, but she had also cultivated an approachable image with her goofy and cheerful personality. More than anything, becoming someone that people on the fringes of society would feel comfortable reaching out to and accepting help from was paramount to him.

He heard Ochako talking to others about her choice of the Wild, Wild Pussycats, and he looked over to Iida quickly and quietly writing his selection down. He looked back to his own sheet and made his selection, as well. When the school day concluded, Izuku and Ochako went to invite Iida to walk to the train station with them, but he had already left.

In the teacher's lounge, Aizawa was sifting through the internship forms he had already gotten back. He quirked an eyebrow when he saw his totally-not-favorite student's form.

"Joke, huh?" he mused. "That's surprising. I expected someone a little more… explosive. She should be good for him, though."

Continuing on, his brow furrowed when he saw Iida's form.

"He only selected one? He must have gotten better offers than this one." He zeroed in on the location, and things started to fall into place for him. "A hero agency in Hosu… Damnit, Iida, don't tell me you're planning on doing something stupid."

The next day, Izuku meandered through the halls of UA toward his weekly session with Hound Dog. It had only been a few weeks since the incident, and even though the dreams hadn't gotten any better, he felt like the sessions were definitely helping him come to grips with things in the waking world.

When he reached Hound Dog's office, he sat down in a chair just outside of the door and signed in for his appointment. A few minutes later, the door opened, and none other than Bakugo stepped outside of the office. The two were very surprised to see each other; Bakugo couldn't ascertain why Izuku would need to see Hound Dog, and Izuku never pegged Bakugo as someone who would ever consider talking to a professional about, well, anything.

"Bakugo?" Izuku questioned. "You're seeing Hound Dog?"

The blonde grunted in the affirmative. "Part of my… requirements. From after the battle trials."

Izuku immediately understood and nodded. "Oh, gotcha."

"…It helps," Bakugo muttered, and Izuku was definitely not expecting that. "The hell are you doing here?"

Izuku looked at him strangely for a moment before he realized that the blonde wouldn't have known about what happened unless he was there to witness it. "There was a villain at the USJ."

"Yeah, I know, there were plenty of fuckin' villains there," Bakugo responded.

"Not all of them survived," was Izuku's short reply, and nothing more was said.

Bakugo watched the boy step past him into Hound Dog's office with wide eyes. He didn't really know what to say or what to think about that.

"Bakugo," a familiar voice snapped him out of his thoughts, and the blonde turned to see his homeroom teacher approaching him. "Have you decided on who you're interning with?"

"Not yet," he muttered. "Why?"

"Someone at UA personally requested to have you intern with them over the week," he answered, and Bakugo was intrigued. "Think of it as your last obligation before returning to heroics classes."

Aizawa handed him a sheet of paper. Bakugo read the name that was on it, and he paled. "I don't have a choice, do I?"

"I thought that was obvious," Aizawa answered. "You don't have to travel anywhere, just come to school at the regular time next week. Don't worry about finding her, she'll find you."

Bakugo sighed in resignation as his teacher turned and left, and only then did he notice that the purple kid from the sports festival was silently trailing behind him. The two briefly locked eyes before he scuttled on behind Aizawa.

'Hmph, guess he's building that spaceship, or whatever.'

After his session with Hound Dog, Izuku had one more stop to make before he left for the weekend to prepare for his internship. When he neared the Development Studio, he barely made it to the door before an explosion blew it off its hinges, and he narrowly dodged being pancaked by the new projectile. He wasn't able to dodge the body that crashed into him afterward, though. When he opened his eyes, he saw soot covered pink dreadlocks under a familiar pair of goggles, and recognition instantly hit him. When the girl saw who she landed on, the same recognition hit her.

"Oh, Mr. 10 Million Points!" the girl remarked with a grin. "You here to see more of my babies?"

"Honestly? Yes," Izuku answered. "I also sent in my costume for adjustments and upgrades, and I'm here to pick it up before internships begin."

"Oh, 2 in 1, then!" she exclaimed. "I personally worked on your costume when Power Loader brought it in. It was the least I could do for the attention you brought to my babies."

"Well, I'm glad to have been able to help," Izuku replied with a laugh as the two got up from the floor.

"Damnit, Hatsume, that's the 4th explosion this wee-" Power Loader began before he saw who she was with, and his blood ran cold. "Oh no, please don't tell me you're here with anymore schematics that will make me take up drinking any more than that little gremlin does already."

"Not this time," Izuku assured. "I'm here for my costume."

"Oh, Hatsume's little pet project, then," Power Loader nodded, still a bit pale. "Not really sure which is worse, in all honesty. She wanted free reign to do as she pleased with your requests, but I knew that she'd probably get you killed if I allowed that, so I kept an eye on what she added and modified."

"Genius requires uninhibited creativity!" Mei shouted in protest.

"My blood pressure requires you be monitored to avoid a 5th explosion!" Power Loader shot back.

"Anyway," she began, shaking off Power Loader's response, "I saw that you requested added support for your arms and legs to reduce some of the damage your quirk does to you when you're going full throttle. While I'm not certain about the specifics of your quirk, if I had to hazard a guess, the different colors allow you different supercharged physical abilities?"

At Izuku's nod, she grinned and pressed on. "Excellent, so I installed bracers in your arms and legs to reduce the strain when you're going Hulk Mode or Speedster Mode. The bracers in your arms come attached to brand spanking new gauntlets in lieu of your old gloves. The gauntlets also have shock absorbers to keep your hands extra safe in a tough fight."

Izuku marveled at the modifications. The gauntlets themselves were rather sleek to and fit around his hand perfectly, and they had an iridescent finish that suited his identity. His boots, while not metallic, had a heat-resistant, iridescent vinyl finish and kneepads attached, likely as a fixture of the bracers included.

"This is amazing!" Izuku complimented, to which Mei's grin grew even more.

"I also noticed that you tend to tire yourself out when you're in Speedster Mode, and, while I don't know exactly what's going on with your quirk when that's happening, I initially opted to include a portable ventilator attached to a respirator I made for you," she started to explain before Power Loader interrupted her.

"Then, it dawned on her that including even a small oxygen tank with your costume would be the quickest way to blow you up whenever you ignited your quirk," he supplied with a smirk.

"Trial and error is an essential phase of the engineering design process!" she defended, and the Support Course instructor held up his hands in mock surrender with a chuckle. "Anyway, I ditched the ventilator but kept the respirator in case you ever enter toxic environments. It came at the cost of your cape, but you weren't really interested in holding onto that, anyway. We'll have to find another way to mitigate the exhaustion you face in Speedster Mode."

"It just now dawned on me that you referred to my green and yellow flames as 'Hulk Mode' and 'Speedster Mode,' and I'm frankly disappointed in myself for not naming them something that cool sooner," Izuku commented.

"Then it appears we make a great team," Mei responded with a smile.

"I'll be coming to you exclusively for any modifications to my costume or support equipment from now on, so I'd definitely agree," Izuku nonchalantly replied.

The utter glee on Mei's face made Power Loader look towards the locked cabinet near his desk, but he wouldn't break out the alcohol just yet. He would remain strong.

"Oh," Mei began once again, "I'm in the process of developing an internal cooling system for your costume in the event that you go Crimson Fury again and flash boil a glacier, but it's slow going, unfortunately. You gave me such a wealth of things to work on, though!"

"And you have created a masterpiece of support technology with this suit," Izuku replied in earnest.

When Power Loader saw the interplay between the two, he almost forgot about the fact that the teens in front of him were a step above dangerous criminals as far as support technology was concerned. He did not forget the green head's idea for nail clippers, and he never would. However, looking at them in that moment, he only saw two brilliant minds brainstorming and bouncing ideas off of one another, as well as a support prodigy taking special care to keep her charge as safe and prepared as possible.

He wondered if this was what All Might and David Shield were like back in their day, the only difference being if All Might was a genius in his own right.

"Everyone has their costumes, right?" Aizawa checked one final time before he would see his students off at the train station. "Remember, you don't have permission to wear them out in public yet. And make sure you mind your manners with the other heroes you're interning with. First impressions are crucial in this line of work. Now, get to it."

"Yes, sir!" the class responded before excitedly heading their separate ways. Iida silently walked away towards a train that would take him to Tokyo, but he was accosted by Izuku and Ochako before he could make it too far.

"Hey, if you ever need to talk or anything at all, please, just let us know," Izuku stressed to his friend, and Ochako vigorously nodded beside him. "Friends are there for each other, right?"

Iida turned to them and offered them a strained smile. "Yes, and thank you both," was all he said before walking away.

Izuku still couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was that he saw in Iida's gaze, but he could confirm that it was there and it wasn't pleasant. He was starting to worry that his friend would do something stupid.

He really hoped that wouldn't be the case.

I had fun writing this one. Dialogue and character interactions are more of my comfort zone. Thanks for reading.