Chapter Two:

Addressing the assembled League of Villains in his living room, Tomura said, "As you know, we've had some difficulties establishing our reputation."

Izuku waved his hand in the air. "I can help! What if we create a social media presence?"

"You've helped enough." Tomura glared.

Spinner patted Tomura on the shoulder. "I know the misunderstanding about Stain must be difficult. I'm sure you did all you could to prevent his arrest."

"Uhhh." Tomura changed the subject. "I especially can't stand being called the guardian angels of Class 1-A. I don't even know those noobs! We're going to lay to rest all claims of us saving hero students for once and for all by attacking their training camp."

"I see." Izuku stroked his chin. "Are villains attacking the training camp, so we need to save the students?"

"Yeah, villains are attacking. Us." Tomura looked around. "I need someone to get the kid out of here and watch over him so we can properly plan."

"Not it," Compress and Toga said together.

"Not it," Magne and Spinner said a few seconds late. Dabi dozed in an arm chair.

"Not it," Twice said, only to say, "It. Dammit!"

Tomura said, "Twice and Dabi, you're on babysitting duty."

"Why me?" Dabi protested, his eyes snapping open.

"Because you spoke too late, and if I leave only one of you watching him, you'll probably end up saving children from a burning orphanage." Tomura pushed the three of them out of the door. "Here's my sensei's credit card. Do whatever you want, I'd just better not see you in the news for good deeds."

Staring at his hands, Twice said, "Ever since then, I've never known if I'm the original or a clone."

Izuku patted his shoulder. "How terrible. The more I learn about it, the more I realize quirk counseling in this country is a mess. Any halfway competent counselor should have been able to tell you that you're the original, because if you died, all the clones would disappear. Also doesn't the scar on your face prove it?"

Twice gazed up with watery eyes. "Huh. I can't entirely believe it right away…but I'm starting to feel better." He paused. "I didn't disagree with myself!"

"I'm happy for you." Izuku hugged Twice, then turned on Dabi. "Your turn."

Dabi backed away. "No, no, I'm not interested, you weird broccoli Pollyanna."

Izuku advanced. "Despite your ability, you harbor a secret fear of fire. I suspect this is connected to your burns. There are several layers of burns, leading me to believe not all of them are self-inflicted. Did someone with a fire quirk ever burn you?"

"I said no! I don't want to be psychoanalyzed! You're a menace—whenever you touch villainy, you turn it into heroism!" Dabi ran.

Izuku chased after him, shouting, "Your flames are your own!"

The training camp mission was limited to the League's inner circle. Tomura didn't want to take the chance of a mentally unstable villain causing destruction that Izuku would feel compelled to stop. Too much had gone wrong lately. They were just going to get in, kidnap the winner of the Sports Festival, and get out. This stunning crime would surely shock Japan and rid them of the vigilante rumors. If they could turn the kid into a villain, even better. It would be good practice corrupting children. Tomura needed a level one quest before he could build up his experience for the much more difficult task of turning Izuku into a proper villain.

"Are we sure we want to bring along your little brother?" Compress whispered as they donned equipment for the attack. "He has a history of causing problems during missions."

Tomura insisted, "I know Izuku can be a ruthless villain. Just look at how he crushed us all in Monopoly yesterday!" Also, Tomura had promised All for One to turn his son into a villain. He'd also kinda sorta made it sound like he'd already succeeded. And he'd misplaced the credit card he'd gotten as payment, so he couldn't give it back. He really, really needed Izuku to be listed as one of the villains involved in their big attack. "Besides, it's better to have him where we can keep an eye on him."

"Good point." Compress nodded.

Five minutes after they arrived in the forest, a massive giant with spiky brown hair and a radio around his neck ran down the mountain bellowing, "LITTLE LORD! I SMELL A LITTLE LORD!"

Somehow, Tomura just knew this was Izuku's fault.

While his seniors fought the giant villain, Izuku worked on helping the hero students evacuate. He'd been strictly ordered by his big brother not to join in the fighting this time. Therefore, Izuku thought he'd be most useful in a support role.

Although for some reason, all the hero students turned bright red around him. Perhaps there was a flu bug going around the training camp? Also, the students kept handing him their phone numbers. (Including Class 1-B. Some blond loudmouth had shouted about how Class 1-A didn't get to hog the hot vigilante.) Izuku assumed they wanted to be able to contact him for help in case of another attack, but then wouldn't it make more sense to ask for his phone number instead? Also why did so many of the notes have hearts in the margins?

When Izuku returned to the fight, the League was in ruins. Magne had somehow ended up buried face-first in the ground. Spinner sprawled above in the tree branches, moaning semi-consciously. Half a dozen Twices lay in a circle around the roaring giant like fallen dolls. Dabi had collapsed on the ground flaming, with Toga dumping her water bottle over him. The giant held up Tomura in his fist, squeezing, as he bellowed, "YOU WILL NOT KEEP ME FROM THE LITTLE LORD."

"Put my brother down," Izuku snarled, reaching for his homemade flamethrower.

The giant immediately dropped Tomura. He bowed his forehead to the ground. "I LIVE TO SERVE YOU, LITTLE LORD."

"I knew this was your fault, little brother," Tomura muttered, his eyes crossed.

The giant insisted on following the League home, and that traitor Kurogiri let him. (Apparently the two of them knew each other.) While Izuku was arranging quarters for his new pet, Tomura wrapped bandages around his waist in the bathroom. Ugh, he had so many bruises.

Compress knocked on the door. "While you were getting your asses kicked by the giant, I snuck away and captured Bakugo."

"Excellent work, Mr. Compress." Tomura was too pleased to be annoyed about being abandoned or the completely untrue implication that he'd been losing the fight with the giant. They'd succeeded in their objective. This kidnapping would finally turn him into a villain known across Japan!

Izuku poked his head into the room. "Hey, I saw that Mr. Compress accidentally brought along the spiky-haired student that he rescued from the giant, so I returned him to U.A."

"Dammit, Izuku!" Tomura screamed.

With his arms crossed, Katsuki said, "The weirdo with all the hands across his face rescued me. Not the short green one. Definitely not him. The green-haired vigilante did not rescue me."

Aizawa twirled his pen. "You've said that three times."

Katsuki kicked the table and growled, "Because I'm extremely certain." That was his story, and he was sticking to it. He would never live down the humiliation of being rescued by freaking Deku. Furthermore, that fool Monoma had already snidely implied that Katsuki hadn't been kidnapped but rather had followed everyone's crush home in an attempt to confess his love first. It had taken all of Class 1-A to wrench Katsuki's hands off Monoma's throat. Katsuki could not imagine what Monoma would say if he knew Deku had saved him. (Or rather, unfortunately, he could imagine it.) Even if it meant lying to all of Japan, Katsuki had to save his dignity.

Aizawa asked, "Who kidnapped you? The giant was busy fighting the vigilantes."

"How would I know?" Katsuki sneered. "Maybe it was aliens."

"Aliens?"

"Obviously only aliens would be strong enough to kidnap me."

Aizawa sighed. "I suppose this will be another credit to the League of Vigilantes. The HPSC won't be happy about their incredible popularity."

In the hallway, U.A. students could be heard arguing about who had gotten rescued first by the handsome vigilante leader at the training camp.

Dropping his game controller, Tomura picked up the phone on the first ring. Normally he wasn't so eager to answer All for One's calls that he let his character die, but he had damage control to do. "Sensei, about your visit—"

"I can't make it," All for One replied.

"Oh. Thank go—uh, I mean, Izuku will be sorry to have missed you." Tomura tried to sound casual. "And I'm very disappointed I can't show you that kidnapped hero student I bragged about. Who is totally joining our side. Yup, I'm great at corrupting hero brats into villains. Two for two."

All for One's voice shook as he talked over his student's babblings. "My wife recognized our son on the news, despite his mask. She realized Izuku is not in America, and I lied to her. She's not happy. I'm going to have to turn myself in to the police."

"What?!" Tomura dropped his phone. Picking it up, he asked, "Sensei, is this your idea of a joke?"

All for One chuckled in a way completely devoid of humor. "Tomura, if you'd ever met my lovely wife, then you would know Tartarus is barely secure enough to be safe from her. I can always escape from jail later, after you and Izuku are established and well on the way to taking over Japan."

Tomura decided being left totally on his own still wasn't as bad as admitting all his failures to his teacher. "I'll send you care packages in jail. If I remember."

Magne knocked on Toga's door. "Hey, Midoriya is giving everyone tips on how to use our quirks. You should come! He's great. It turns out I can do a lot more with Magnetism if I think creatively about using it on different body parts."

Toga sighed. "Thanks, sis, but I've been through a lot of quirk counselors. None of them were any good."

"Come on, give it a try." Magne dragged Toga out of her room. "Midoriya, I brought your next subject." Then she left, closing the door behind her.

On the couch, Izuku looked up from his notebook. "Oh, Toga! I've been already thinking about your quirk."

Toga rubbed her arms. "Thinking that it's gross?"

"Hmm? No, it's a neat and very versatile ability." Izuku leapt up and grabbed her hands. "Based on my analysis, I think you might be able to copy other people's quirks if you duplicate their quirk factor. Oh! And there's a lot of ways your power could be used to help people. For example, you can become a blood donor for anyone. Have you ever considered working at a blood donation clinic? You said you like blood, and you'd get to take it from people consensually all day long."

"Ooo, that does sound fun." Toga's eyes lit up. She listened to him talk. Even if the date hadn't gone so well, maybe they could become good friends?

Tomura looked at Gigantomachia, sitting on his haunches. Then he looked at Izuku, holding a little girl with white hair and red eyes. "Little brother, what do you have there?"

"I rescued her," Izuku said proudly. "Her name is Eri."

"Hi!" Eri waved.

Tomura pinched the bridge of his nose. "We are villains. We do not rescue people. We've talked about this before."

Izuku wrinkled his nose. "I saved Eri, and I'm a villain, therefore villains do rescue people."

Eri nodded. "I agree."

"You shut up, brat." Tomura glared. She only gazed back as if she'd seen scarier stares. He sighed. "How did this happen?"

Izuku said, "I took Gigantomachia out for a walk—"

"LITTLE LORD TREATS ME MUCH BETTER THAN LORD," Gigantomachia interjected. "HE IS THE NEW RECIPIENT OF ALL MY LOYALTY."

"—and we ran into Eri being chased by a scary man in a toucan mask, so Gigantomachia stepped on him." Izuku beamed. "This attracted some negative attention from the man's comrades. I burned their building down."

"I squashed people," Gigantomachia said proudly.

Tomura perked up. "Ah, so you destroyed a building and killed innocent people? Excellent work."

Eri coughed. "I'm not sure about innocent…"

Tomura had a bad feeling. He checked the latest news on his phone. All the headlines were screaming about the League of Vigilantes defeating the yakuza. "Dammit, little brother."

Sir Nighteye hadn't dialed his former boss in years, but this situation was urgent. His delicate operation to take down Overhaul had been ruined, and the villains responsible had Gigantomachia on their side. He'd been suspicious as soon as All for One had turned himself over to the police. The ancient villain must have a subtle plan, starting with creating fake vigilantes to discredit heroes.

When All Might answered, his tone was warm. "Mirai, I'm glad you called, I wanted to tell you the news personally."

Nighteye asked, "Is this about the villains who destroyed the yakuza? Did you notice they had Gigantomachia with them?"

"Yes, actually. I'm deeply impressed with the presumed leader of the League of Vigilantes. That green-haired kid is only a teenager, but he's already done so much good. I'd like to make him One for All's Ninth successor. Mirai? Mirai, are you still there?"

No response came from the phone. Nighteye had fainted dead away.

The League of Villains/Vigilantes gathered around the coffee table, playing Candy Land. Eri giggled and clapped her hands. "I win!"

"Good game." Izuku ruffled her hair. The rest of the League chimed in as well with congratulations. They'd all grown very fond of the adorable little girl. Some of them had even considered throwing the game to her, but they hadn't needed to.

Twice's phone rang. He ducked into the hallway to take the call, then burst into the room a moment later. "Some weirdo remnant of the Metahuman Liberation Army called. Re-Destro took Giran hostage and is threatening to cut off a finger if we aren't there within an hour! What should we do?"

Magne slapped her hands over Eri's ears before Twice could finish speaking the grisly threat.

"Give me the phone." Izuku took it and said, "We'll be there. Touch Giran, and we'll stomp you flatter than we did the yakuza." He hung up.

Twice looked around. "We have to move fast. We have to save Giran."

Izuku said, "Actually, I thought we should call the heroes."

"What?" Tomura yelped.

"Hear me out." Izuku steepled his fingers. "I know you don't love it, big brother, but right now we have credibility with the heroes. If we tell them that we've found an MLA cell, then they'll at least investigate. We can't fight an entire city alone. But All Might can. We can use the distraction to sneak in and save Giran." He glanced out the window at the giant lurking outside. (Eri had moved his pieces for him when he'd played.) "Well, as much as Gigantomachia can sneak. If all goes according to plan, they'll be too distracted to pay attention to even a giant."

Tomura considered. He had to admit that sounded like a solid plan. It would be difficult to enter direct combat without Giran being used as a hostage. Also, he liked the part where they got All Might to do their dirty work and let the heroes and their enemies kill each other. "Any method to clear the game counts as our win. I'll let you talk to the heroes since I couldn't manage it without profanity."

"I'm already on it." Izuku pulled out his phone.

The next day, the media was full of praises toward the League of Villains for exposing a city full of evil quirk supremacist terrorists, then helping the authorities defeat and arrest them. Tomura wasn't exactly happy about it. But Giran had been retrieved intact. Re-Destro had been getting creepy about calling Tomura the ideal being before All Might had dragged him off to prison. Tomura was in the rare position of actually feeling a little grateful toward All Might. That MLA weirdo had given him the willies. Also Re-Destro had the never to insult Izuku for being quirkless, so screw him. Tomura didn't let anyone push his little brother around.

Dabi stormed into the League headquarters, his coat covered in ashes. "Hand Job, this heroic reputation of ours has gone too far."

Tomura paused his game. "The media has been talking crazy shit about us for ages. What's the new update?"

Flopping down on the sofa, Dabi moaned, "I finally revealed Endeavor's crimes on live television, and the reporters praised me for exposing hero corruption! I didn't even get to finish my dance because people mobbed me asking for my autograph. Also, they thought my attempt to murder Endeavor was a prank!"

"You set yourself on fire again, didn't you?"

Dabi ignored the question. "People love us so much, they're lobbying for vigilantism to be legalized. Our evil reputation is in tatters. If I can't even be considered a villain after trying to murder the number two hero on live television, then what will be enough?"

Tomura scratched at his neck. Although he didn't like admitting it, Dabi had a point. Heroism was like glitter, impossible to get off. At this rate, no one would ever call them anything except the League of Vigilantes. It felt like a boss fight where every time the boss' hit points got low, he healed himself. They couldn't win. "We've gotta pull the plug on this game."

Dabi nodded.

"We need to do something so brazenly villainous that no one will ever mistake us for heroes again."

Dabi nodded harder. "Like what? Even trying to kill a hero didn't work for me."

"Nah, we've gotta be even eviler." Tomura's brow wrinkled as he considered the issue. "Like, burn down a hospital or an orphanage or something."

"I know a place that's both an orphanage and a hospital." Dabi sat up straighter. "They saved my life after I nearly burned to death as a child."

"You'd be returning kindness with cruelty." Tomura snapped his fingers. "A great villain origin story. Perfect. If this doesn't work, then I'm giving up on villainy and becoming a vigilante."

The first bad sign was when Izuku eagerly agreed to join the mission to burn down the orphanage. In retrospect, Tomura wished he'd asked more questions about that. But at the time, it had seemed like a stroke of luck not to have to argue with his little brother's overly active conscience.

They successfully torched the building. Izuku rescued some children, which seemed to keep him distracted. On his way out, Tomura noticed that Izuku had pocketed a flash drive full of information, but did not think much about it. Eri roasted marshmallows over the flames. Then they headed back home to drink and party.

The next morning, Tomura woke up to newspapers proclaiming how the noble League of Vigilantes had successfully exposed and destroyed the wicked operations of Doctor Garaki. The villainous doctor had been running an orphanage to manipulate innocent children into weapons, even killing them to create undead monsters. All Might himself had personally thanked the League.

Tomura stormed into the dining room, greeted by the hung-over stares of the League. Tossing the newspaper on the table, he said, "Screw it, we're vigilantes now."

Izuku got his memories back with no fanfare. The quirk wore off when he woke up the morning after having turned over Garaki's files to the police. Suddenly, Izuku remembered a screaming match with his father, a flash of light, and waking up in a strange place. He remembered his entire life. And he remembered what he'd done while amnesiac.

For a solid five minutes, he screamed into his pillow. Then he called home. "Mom? Yeah, it's me. I'm so sorry for worrying you. Dad erased my memories, he's a villain—oh, you already saw him get arrested on the news. Good. No, I don't think Tartarus will let you smuggle in a knife for a conjugal visit even if you plan to stab him. Please don't risk it. I'm on my way home. What? WHO is at our house? Why would All Might be at our house? Does he want to arrest me? Or did he find out about Dad? Wait, what? All Might…wants me to become his successor?!"

OMAKE TIME!

Omake: Izuku's Villain Redemption Plan

Izuku: …Dabi, after having witnessed your interpretive dance, I realized some people can't be helped.

Dabi: Exactly as planned!

#

Omake: Protective Big Brothers

Izuku: Uh, I know you said not to create a League discord, but I did it anyway. I thought it would be a helpful source of intelligence.

Tomura: What did you do this time, get proclaimed a hero for saving discord from a virus?

Izuku: Actually I have nearly fifty messages from different people asking me out on a date…

Tomura: Give me your phone, I have some insects to handle.

Izuku: Big brother, when you get that look in your eyes, I know you're going to decay my phone.

#

Omake: Cassandra Truth

Shouto: I saw my brother Touya at the training camp. I think he came to save me from the giant.

Denki: That sounds like a patented Todoroki conspiracy theory. Also the green vigilante totally saved my life, I'm leaping on the crush train.

#

Omake: Canon Nighteye Breathes a Sigh of Relief

Nighteye: Nothing could be worse than All Might picking a random boy he found stuck inside a slime villain as his successor.

All Might: I've decided to give One for All to this amazing vigilante leader.

Nighteye: …One pick could possibly be even worse.

#

Omake: RIP the MLA

Re-Destro: Become our leader!

Tomura: I'll think about it.

Re-Destro: First, you must get rid of the quirkless nobody.

Tomura: NO ONE TALKS ABOUT MY LITTLE BROTHER THAT WAY! DIE!

#

Omake: All Smite's Return

All Might: I need to recruit my future successor, but he runs away from heroes. I know! I'll dress up as All Smite and join the League!

David: Not that Halloween costume again. Everyone will know it's you. I'll help you track down the boy's civilian identity, just please stop.

#

Omake: Test Passed

Gigantomachia: The little lord manipulated the entire League into becoming vigilantes?

Izuku: Are you angry?

Gigantomachia: I haven't seen such manipulation skills since the master! You are a worthy successor!

#

Omake: Savaged

Dabi: It's your fault that I couldn't kill Endeavor!

Izuku: Oh, I thought that you couldn't kill Endeavor because he's weak to overheating, aka fire.

Dabi: …Even being the boss' little brother won't save you now.

#

Omake: Phew

Inko: I have a plan to kill my husband that might rip open Tartarus and trigger the collapse of society. But every good chef knows you can't make omelets without breaking some eggs. In this case, my husband's brains will get scrambled.

Izuku: Mom, I rescued this little girl named Eri who needs a good home.

Inko: Awwwww! I guess my ex can live a bit longer while I focus on raising and loving this adorable child.

#

Omake: Resolution

Izuku: I'm too happy about becoming All Might's successor to be angry about the amnesia. But if the League was full of villains, why did you help me save so many people? Were you rebelling against All for One? I see, you secretly turned against him after realizing he'd been brainwashing and manipulating you.

Tomura: That's less embarrassing than the truth, so let's go with your story.