Chapter 7: Party in the USJ

"I'm still worried," Momo said, looking down. "Wouldn't there be economic repercussions to doing this?"

"Progress requires sacrifice!" Mei replied happily. "Do you think that when Tesla invented the light bulb, he cared about putting the lamp oil companies out of business? No, he was too busy getting financially screwed over by Edison! And the sperm whales were certainly happy that they weren't getting hunted to extinction for their head goo anymore!"

"I feel like we've gone off topic," Ochako said, tilting her head in amusement.

"The point is, no one is manufacturing carbon nanotubes and graphene in the quantities we need," Mei said. "And that means that experimenting with it is frowned upon. Which, in turn, limits our ability to find applications that can use them effectively. So, that keeps people from manufacturing them, which leads to it still being expensive. If Momo here can produce enough that I can make some decent babies out of them, demand will increase, leading to increased manufacturing, leading to cheaper prices and more use!"

"There's… a lot more to it than that, but you do have a point. It's not like a single person having access to hard-to-produce materials will flood a market…" Momo acquiesced. "And it will help test the new costume."

Both Momo and Izuku had come to the support department to try on their new Hero costumes before that day's Heroics class. Ochako was tagging along. It had been four days since the break-in, five since their first Heroics class, and the costume upgrades were already in place.

Izuku wondered if it was U.A. or the Yaoyorozu name that inspired such a turnaround.

Momo's new costume incorporated all of his suggestions. Her leotard had been replaced by a red armored jumpsuit that had her hair incorporated throughout to key it into her genetic code. Silver lines accented her suit, which were adhesive panels that, should the suit's integration ever fail, would easily be removed to allow her creations to emerge. The belt that held her bookshelf was now a utility belt containing a lot of high-fat nonperishable foods for her to eat in an emergency. Her book itself had been replaced. Her left wrist held a computer with thousands of chemical formulae and blueprints. Her face was covered in a visor that could display this information directly at a verbal command, but the wrist computer would serve if the visor were destroyed.

She decided to test the costume's compatibility with her Quirk by creating what Mei asked for. In the end, she has a large ball of what looked like yarn and several sheets of thin, clear material.

Mei squealed in delight as she looked at the haul, hugging Momo in thanks.

Izuku managed to hide his chuckle behind his new respirator. As Eraserhead suggested, it was noise-cancelling to prevent all but the most sensitive of ears from detecting his mutterings.

Izuku's new costume borrowed heavily from the one his mother made, the same forest green color, with black and white accents. The material was durable and had a great deal of protection for his vitals. He had compression sleeves for his arms and legs, which had gel padding and strike points on the knees and elbows. Much like his gloves, they would absorb impacts if he were to use more of his strength, and would function similarly to brass knuckles if used in battle. His boots were similar, and reinforced with lightweight metal soles and toe coverings.

He was, frankly, embarrassed when, during a practice session during their next Heroics class, Itsuka had torn down his fighting style. He was well aware that he was new to actually fighting back, but his blush turned luminescent when Itsuka asked him if he forgot he had legs. Since then, he'd been looking into incorporating kicks into his style, asking Iida for advice there, and learned about the elbow and knee strikes of Muay Thai. At this point, he almost didn't suck!

"No negative thoughts!" Nana chastised him for that brief bit of self-deprecation.

He turned off the noise-cancelling from his mask, "This is incredible, Mei-chan! Everything seems in perfect order!"

"Well, yeah, given how often Power Loader made me test them, it better be," Mei huffed. "Still wish I could have given you some of my flying babies to test but since your report says you'll be flying soon enough, I guess I need to find a different guinea pig. Do you think there's any babies I could make that fits the bonding thing?"

Mei had taken the bonding Quirk better than he'd expected. Actually, she barely acknowledged it. Her full response was, "Oh, that's why I remembered your name! And why when I was working I'd sometimes think 'He'd like it if I did this' ! That's neat!" and then she started discussing whether or not a suit of armor could work for him.

Izuku scratched the back of his head, "Feel free to try something. I don't believe there's anything that can help, but I'm sure you'll be able to think of something…"

Mei beamed as she dove back to her workbench, and then whipped around to the fourth person there, "Oh! I almost forgot! Ochako, here!" She pulled out a box, slammed it on a table, and opened it.

"What's this?" Ochako said warily.

"These babies will replace your old boots! Dunno who decided to make you battle in heels, cause, seriously, no. These are inspired by astronauts and satellites, they've got gyroscopes in there to make sure you can orient yourself when gravity isn't affecting you! And there's little air jets so that you can move more easily while floating!" Mei said, showing off the boots and the various improvements she'd made.

Ochako was wide-eyed, "How… you… Wha?"

"Guess it's part of the bond! I was working on things yesterday and went, 'Oh yeah, that Ochako girl mentioned that she needed new boots' and I suddenly got a bright idea for a new baby! Seriously, Izuku, I love this bond thing! Can you get some more people in on this?" Mei rambled happily.

"I can't control when it happens," Izuku said, taking off the mask. "And I think there's a limit. My Quirk is weird, and some of it is unknown."

"Works for me," Mei said flippantly as she returned to work.

After Izuku and Momo changed, Ochako looked at Mei, then at the two of them, and asked, "Wait, she did that much in just three days… Mei, when was the last time you slept? Or ate?"

"Oh, I made a baby to do that for me," Mei replied.

"That's not how anything works!" Momo said, exasperated.

The three of them became a well oiled machine. Izuku and Ochako went over to the cafeteria to get a meal for Mei and Momo. By the time they returned, Momo had created a cot, pillow, and blankets, all scented with lavender. She began eating ravenously (but still gracefully) when they handed her the chopsticks. It took some cajoling, but they managed to convince Mei to eat, then stay in the bed for five minutes before returning to work. She was asleep in thirty seconds.

"Izu-chan?" Tsuyu said as the bus drove the class to their destination.

"Yes, A-Tsu-chan?" Izuku still felt self-conscious at calling her that. It probably helped that he'd been calling two other girls by nicknames lately. Tsuyu also adopted their nickname for him, which she had given the more familiar honorific.

"Ribbit, you're learning. Good," Tsu said bluntly. "You know I tend to be blunt, ribbit, and you don't have to answer if this is too personal, but it's been bugging me."

"Go ahead," Izuku said, steeling himself for whatever it might be.

"Is All Might your father?"

There was dead silence. Everyone was staring, waiting for a response. Even Eraserhead and Hound Dog (who was here for safety reasons following the break-in) were staring. Luckily, the bus was self-driving.

Izuku, having lived through enough ridiculous situations since gaining One for All and having ghosts in his head, took this in stride. Rather than stammer incoherently as he might have, he thought, I guess this is my life now , and said, "I wish he was. My parents are divorced. My biological father works in America and hasn't been back in Japan in years."

Tsuyu tilted her head. Her expressions were very hard to read, which Izuku supposed was why she tended to speak so bluntly, "Ribbit, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories. It's just that when you're in class together, it seems like he treats you like family…"

"Yeah, Mido," Denki chimed in. "Maybe he's not your father, but he totally acts like a dad."

"He did inform you and you alone that he was joining the staff at U.A.," Tenya said, finally coming out of the funk he was in after Izuku and Momo declined to use his prepared seating arrangement, which proved to be futile when the bus turned out to have open seating.

Izuku sighed, feeling a bit betrayed, particularly by Ochako, who was smirking, "Well, since apparently, neither of us are any good at subtlety… Remember when I told you All Might saved me about a year ago and told me I wasn't actually Quirkless?" The class nodded. "Well, I omitted that for the ten months between then and the entrance exam, All Might was training me so that I could access my Quirk."

Everyone seemed in shock, with the exceptions of the teachers and Ochako.

"Mido-bro, you were so lucky!" Eijiro cried out.

"Wait, why would All Might drop everything to train some random kid he saved?" Toru asked. "I mean, yeah, it was some phenomenal luck, but he saves three people every time he has breakfast. Why did he choose you?"

Izuku gave a weak smile, "Because I reminded him of himself when he was that age."

Another silence.

"Wait, are you implying that All Might also grew up Quirkless and it didn't come in until he was fifteen?!" Mina screeched.

"He didn't imply it," Momo said, subdued. "He stated it outright."

"Yeah. He also had a mentor who helped him learn about his Quirk," Izuku said. "He said he'd have been a hypocrite if he didn't give me the same opportunities he was given. So… yeah. That's how All Might and I are connected. He's trying not to show favoritism..."

"He's not doing very well," Eraserhead muttered.

"And I'm sorry if it feels like he's ignoring any of you because of that," Izuku apologized.

"I'm not gonna lie, it does seem a little unfair, ribbit," Tsuyu put her finger to her chin in thought. "But from what I can gather and Uraraka-chan's told us, life's been unfair to you for a while, so I guess it all evens out."

"A balancing of karma," Fumikage began.

"But, will the scales tip the other way?" Reiko finished.

Luckily, the bus stopped about then and they piled out. They had no idea how prophetic Reiko's comment would be.

Well, this is the worst field trip I've ever been on, Izuku thought as he plummeted into the water.

In the middle of Thirteen's speech, as she was cautioning 1-A about how easily their powers could kill, Izuku collapsed to the ground as Danger Sense pinged through his brain in a stabbing motion. He had the wherewithal to press the panic button Nezu gave him, he was helped up by Hound Dog when that black mist portal opened up in the middle of the plaza.

Once they were there, the alarms were shut down, likely by the warper. Aizawa, Hound Dog, and All Might charged into the fray of villains. Once his muzzle was off, Hound Dog proved a brutal opponent on the battlefield, and despite Izuku's fears that Aizawa's quirk wouldn't work in a scenario like this, he was mopping the floor with the villains.

Though, those weren't the main problem. The main problem was the four nearly-human creatures with exposed brains. The largest was oily-black, with scars and bulging muscles and a birdlike beak. Another was similarly black and muscular, but smaller, with no eyes and a more human mouth. A third was pale yellow, with talons and batlike wings. The last was a sickly pale green, with elongated arms and four eyes coming out of its exposed brain.

The apparent ringleader, who under his costume of severed hands was clearly the young man Izuku had spotted leaving U.A., had called them "Nomu". And All Might was currently trying to fight all of them.

Thirteen was tasked with protecting the students, when the warper, a man made of black mist appeared. Eijiro and Tetsutetsu had tried attacking him, but the two were quickly warped elsewhere. The villain then turned the portals on the rest of the students, scattering them to the four winds.

Hence why Izuku had appeared several meters above the Flood Zone.

Funnily enough, the adrenaline spike once the villains hit made Danger Sense so much more manageable. Once the larger threat was revealed, the smaller, more immediate threats weren't nearly as incapacitating. He turned towards a new source of danger, a man with a shark mutation, and prepared One for All…

"All right, full fledged emergency. We need every tool in the arsenal. Everyone, try and see if you can give Izuku your Quirks," Yoichi ordered.

"Blackwhip's not working," Daigoro reported.

"Nor is Smokescreen," En replied.

"I'm not giving him my fucking Quirk," Izuku could now recognize this as Two.

"Me neither… and we couldn't if we wanted to," Three grumbled.

Nana, however, happily shouted, "Float's coming through! It should take a minute or less!"

"We'll see if he has that time," Yoichi said grimly.

At which point, a familiar face in a green wetsuit dropped in and expertly kicked the villain in the head, grabbed Izuku with her tongue, and swam both of them towards the boat in the middle of the lake.

Along the way, a vine snaked forward. Izuku grabbed it and helped pull Ibara along. Three of the four green-headed members of 1-A got to safety on the boat.

"Thanks, Tsu-chan," Izuku said, looking out at the villains in the water. None of them made a move towards them yet.

"No problem, ribbit," Tsu looked out as well.

"Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me," Ibara began to softly pray.

"So, Class Rep, what's the plan?" Tsu said, knowing Izuku had one.

"There's no way they'd attack if they didn't think victory was possible… sent Tsu-chan here, means they don't know our Quirks. Also makes sense that they're not attacking…" Izuku muttered a bit more, before charging up Full Cowl.

"I have an idea," he said.

The plan went off without a hitch. Izuku leapt into the air and flicked his middle finger as hard as he could. It didn't break, but it was rather painful. The force of the concussive blast caused the lake to shift, forming a whirlpool in the center. As the villains were sucked into the vortex, Tsuyu jumped overhead carrying Ibara. Ibara's vines snaked out and bound the villains together. Soon enough, the three of them were swimming towards the exit.

Once the villains were dealt with, the three students began to swim back. Izuku tried to use Danger Sense, and found that no further threats were coming from the water. "Are either of you two hurt in any way? Are your Quirks exhausted?"

"I'm fine, ribbit," Tsuyu said, seemingly completely calm.

"I am well physically. My vines are still plentiful and shall return with the light of the sun," Ibara replied. "I worry about our classmates, though."

"Should we double back around, ribbit? Try to find them and let them escape?" Tsuyu asked.

"We need to secure an escape route," Izuku replied. Danger Sense had a looming threat all around him, but he was feeling more powerful threats from the severed-hands guy, the mist, and the four creatures with exposed brains. "Possibly by removing some of the threats our teachers are facing."

"Ribbit, you can't seriously think you can take on what's giving All Might trouble, can you?" Tsuyu deadpanned.

"The sin of pride goeth before a fall," Ibara responded.

"No, but clearing some of the mooks so that Eraserhead and Hound Dog can help with the more serious threats would be helpful. We'll need to be quiet, though. I'm activating my mask…" and, with that, he pressed a button and the sounds of his breathing, let alone any speech, were muted.

"I have a bad feeling about this," Yoichi said.

"That's a reference to something old, isn't it?" Daigoro commented. "Not important. Is Float ready?"

"Any second now," Nana answered.

The three of them reached the plaza, and what they found was disheartening. The beaked creature was facing All Might, the eyeless one was facing Eraserhead, and the four-eyed one was facing Hound Dog. All three of them seemed to be fighting a losing battle, not helped by the winged beast diving down to harry one of them and darting upwards to evade a swing.

All Might let out a groan as his opponent's arm, which was shattered in a way similar to Izuku's during the entrance exam, knit itself back together. "I thought you said that his Quirk was Shock Absorption!"

"I did, didn't I?" The hand villain said gleefully. "But I never said that was Nomu's only Quirk! He also has Super Regeneration!"

"No," En whispered in disbelief.

"It can't be," Hikage said.

"His face was a pancake and his side was torn open when Eight got him," Daigoro spat out.

"I wasn't expecting much, but you heroes really are something else," the villain said. "Eraserhead and Hound Dog, you managed to mop up the trash mobs I released on you. Quite impressive. Especially Eraserhead. I thought that it'd take you out, what with your Quirk being more suitable for stealth and one-on-one battles. But here you were, taking that wave like a champ. I almost felt like Sensei was looking down on me for giving me four of these Nomus to play with you, but now, I almost wonder if that was enough…"

There was a sickening crunch as the eyeless creature - eyeless Nomu - broke Eraserhead's arm.

"Ah well, too bad for you. That Nomu you're facing is close to the upper-tier. Not the same level as the Anti-Symbol of Peace, but cut from the same mold…"

At that, the black mist villain appeared and addressed his ally, "Tomura Shigaraki."

It was a good thing that Izuku's mask was on because he screamed out "WHAT?!" Thankfully, Mei's baby was as superb as she'd advertised. No sound escaped.

"Shit, that confirms it," Yoichi said.

"He's not actually…" Nana began.

"Neither of us had kids. Even if we weren't both asexual, he never would've risked the creation of another Quirk he couldn't control," Yoichi said in a clipped tone. "We'll talk about it later, focus on the now."

"Damn it, Kurogiri," Tomura growled as Izuku returned his attention to the villains' conversation. "If you weren't our ride out of here, I'd dust you right now…" he was scratching the skin on his neck until it was red and raw. "If a boss rush of pros show up, there's a good chance for a TPK. We're going back to the title screen. Let's go home…"

He's like a child throwing a temper tantrum , Izuku surmised.

"And it's oddly familiar…" Nana whispered.

"But first…" Tomura began. He turned towards the lake, "Even if he walks out of here, let's wound the Symbol of Peace's pride…"

Danger Sense flared to its full extent as Tomura ran up to them, quicker than expected, and held his hand towards Tsuyu.

"GET AWAY FROM HER!" Izuku cried out, lightning flying as he raised a fist, ready to clock the villain in the jaw. As he did so, the winged Nomu moved in front of the villain to intercept the punch.

Unfortunately, this Nomu did not have Shock Absorption among its Quirks, so the creature was knocked away by the force of Izuku's punch. The wind pressure from the attack sent Tomura backwards onto his butt.

"You! You're the one that kept me from hundred-percenting that stealth mission!" Tomura cried out. "Wing, kill him!"

The winged Nomu hissed and righted itself, diving straight for Izuku, its talons ready to eviscerate him. Izuku responded by launching himself upwards, glowing.

"St. Louis Smash!" Izuku jumped up and launched an axe kick right at the winged Nomu's brain. As it fell to the ground, Izuku realized something important.

He wasn't falling.

"Float's active!" Nana cheered.

"Shit, they have flying units too?! Is this a fucking ROM hack?" Tomura called out.

The winged Nomu continued to follow its master's orders, as Izuku pumped as much power into Full Cowl as he could, when it started to hurt. He'd pushed it to about eight percent, and he could feel the impact his strikes made.

Unbidden, he remembered one of his earliest notebooks, about a childhood friend who tagged along with Katsuki. One of the first Quirks he analyzed. Tsubasa, his doctor's grandson, had batlike wings similar to this creature. There was an easy way to cripple him, though it was gruesome...

"Trust me, Izuku, if these things still can think, you'd be putting it out of its misery," Yoichi said grimly. Deciding to trust his honorary grandfather, even if they needed to have a serious conversation when they were done, Izuku flew towards it, weaving around, and aiming his metal soles at the creatures' wings.

The patagium, the thin skin that formed the wings of bats and pterosaurs, was fragile, and if it tore, flight would be inhibited, if not outright stopped. The kick tore through the skin and at once the creature began to lose altitude, more so when Izuku repeated the move with the other wing. Once in freefall, Izuku flew up and dove at the falling creature.

"GRAND CANYON SMASH!" Izuku gripped the winged Nomu's neck and flew it straight towards the ground. Once the creature's head hit the ground, he then flew horizontally, digging a trench with its body until it collided with a massive boulder.

Apparently, this Nomu didn't have Super Regeneration, because while breathing, it lay still and did not get up. Izuku's arms ached, but it was manageable, as he stared at Tomura.

"Shit, this one's a mid-boss. Kurogiri, plan B for All Might!" Tomura said

"A feeble attempt," came a new voice from behind as Kurogiri's neck brace was encased in a violet glow and Reiko emerged, yanking the villain away from the fray.

"You brat! I'll reduce you to atoms!" Tomura cried out.

"I think not," said Fumikage, and Dark Shadow exploded outwards, grasping Kurogiri in her claws, beginning to squeeze.

"Grrr… Eyeless! Get the green brat!" Danger Sense had barely registered the Nomu, which moved away from Hound Dog, who was guarding Eraserhead's prone form, when he felt something grab him around the waist.

Pulling him away before he could find himself in more peril, Tsuyu retracted her tongue and pulled Izuku towards her, and the entrance.

Thump-thump-thump-CLICK.

"Oh, is this what you were talking about, Nana?" Daigoro asked.

"UNPACK THE FROG'S BOND LATER!" Nana shouted in return.

An arrow shot into the eyeless Nomu's brain, and Izuku realized its source was Momo, having shot it from a crossbow, and that the arrow was attached to a very long wire.

"I suggest you stand clear of that," she tossed the other end of the wire to Denki, who grinned and began to generate a charge.

The wire became engulfed in electricity, which transferred right into the equally conductive arrow, and the Nomu began to twitch and spasm.

"He called them bio-engineered creatures," Momo said. "And this one has regenerated from blows that would be fatal to anything else." As she said that, the beast fell, smoke emerging from it, and it did not rise.

Izuku could only stare in awe.

"Shit," Tomura began to scratch himself further. "How can this get any worse?" He stretched out his hand and reached for All Might as he started to run, "I have to-"

BANG!

A bullet tore through Tomura's right hand, aimed so perfectly as to remove the pointer finger entirely. Several others found their mark in Tomura's body. He cried out in pain as he shouted, "KUROGIRI!"

The mist man dissolved in a black portal, escaping the grasps of both Reiko and Dark Shadow. Another swallowed up Tomura. Another, smaller one, took the severed finger.

From behind the students, the rest of the U.A. faculty joined the fray.

Izuku was still on alert. He watched, nervous, until All Might was able to disable his Nomu with a strike directly to the brain. Following that, Cementoss engulfed both it and the palest Nomu in concrete, while Vlad King helped Hound Dog and Eraserhead back towards the entrance. Midnight released a cloud of her Quirk, and the Nomus' struggling ceased.

Danger Sense finally, finally calmed down, to the point where Izuku felt he could breathe easily.

In the end, everyone in Class 1-A was safe.

Tenya and Toru both managed to leave the facility to get help. Luckily, Izuku's panic button had alerted the staff just before signals were blocked by Kurogiri. They encountered the faculty already en route.

Momo, Denki, Setsuna, and Kyoka managed to avoid the portals and remained near the entrance. Kurogiri had crippled Thirteen, using his portals to turn her own Quirk against her. Setsuna managed to grab his metal brace, keeping the villain from finishing the hero off, with Kyoka using sonic attacks to keep him at bay. Momo managed to blast a hole for Tenya and Toru to escape, then began crafting supplies to keep Thirteen's suit together.

Eijiro and Tetsutetsu had been sent to the Conflagration Zone. The two of them were bashing the small fry around without any problems. They almost seemed disappointed when Power Loader showed up to save them.

Before they escaped and made their way to the plaza, Fumikage and Reiko had been sent to the Ruins Zone. Dark Shadow thrived in the poorly lit areas of the crumbling buildings, and between the two students and the sentient Quirk, they managed to turn the zone into a house of horrors. The villains there ended up begging the heroes to save them .

Koji and Kinoko had been sent to the Downpour Zone. This proved to be another example of poor planning on the villains' part. The humidity caused by the rainfall made for the perfect conditions to grow fungi, and the wind helped the spores carry. Numerous villains were taken out in stretchers with mushrooms growing out of them. The few that managed to evade that fate learned that, apparently, there was a thriving rat colony to be found throughout U.A.'s grounds, and that once Koji sounded the alarm, they came out en masse to defend their friend.

Mina, Pony, and Itsuka were sent to the Mountain Zone. Mina and Pony used their Quirks to a phenomenal level, Mina gripping one of Pony's horns, and Pony zipping her around the air, letting her rain acid down on the hapless villains. Anyone who managed to avoid that or get too close was quickly taken down by Itsuka's fists.

Yui and Ochako had been sent to the Landslide Zone. Here, it turned out that their Quirks synergized extremely well. Both of them began touching every rock they could find, from pebbles to boulders, as they ran out of the way of villains and up one of the mountains. Once they'd reached the summit (and the limits of their Quirks), Ochako released her Quirk while Yui activated hers. The attack was perhaps the most devastating that any person there, save perhaps All Might, had done that day.

No student was seriously injured. Izuku was the most injured, having strained One for All to eight percent and causing bone fractures as he fought the winged Nomu in midair. Denki had overcharged himself, but it was nothing he wasn't used to. Mina had pushed her acid too much and was suffering minor burns. Nothing a quick kiss from Recovery Girl couldn't solve.

Eraserhead had been injured the worst out of the teachers, with a broken arm and leg. Thirteen wasn't too far behind, though she would pull through thanks to Recovery Girl's efforts. Hound Dog didn't have any overt injuries, but was definitely going to need healing.

When Izuku was taken for questioning, All Might was present in his shriveled form, alongside a nondescript looking officer. Izuku was quickly introduced to Detective Tsukauchi, who All Might had cleared as being one of five people who had known about One for All prior to Izuku receiving it. The briefing went well.

At the end, All Might had said, "Young Midoriya, I must thank you, removing the winged Nomu from the fight helped us immensely. However, the most useful action you have done today is press your panic button when Danger Sense flared. The timely arrival of my colleagues saved us all.

"However, you've broken the promise you made to Nezu. You should not have approached the plaza. Once you, young Asui, and young Shiozaki had apprehended the villains attacking you, you should have made your way to the exit, or to hide. I cannot guarantee that you would have been safe, but you should have avoided our main fight."

All Might placed a hand on Izuku's shoulder, "You are strong and brave, and one day you will be a fantastic Hero. But you are not a hero yet. This is, to a significant extent, my own fault. You have a bright future ahead and people who love you. You cannot cut that short."

Unable to form words, Izuku nodded as he left to join his class. Immediately, a green blur rushed to him and the next thing he knew, Tsuyu was holding onto him, letting out croaking sobs.

"I was so scared you were going to die, ribbit," She choked out. "You saved my life from that creep and all of a sudden you were in a dogfight with that thing that our teachers were struggling against and I was so scared you were going to die for me."

From another side, Ochako barreled into him and held him, "You reckless idiot!" she began crying as well.

Momo stood there, eyes rimmed red, looking like she was trying to stay dignified and poised, before, after what seemed to be a bond-based info-dump, she joined the hug. She shook her head. "You didn't have to do that. You were brave, but you came closer to death than any of us. Perhaps, as Class Representative, you thought you needed to protect us, but we want you to keep serving your position."

The group hug was soon joined by others. Mina, Pony, Toru, Yui, and Setsuna joined in immediately. Denki, Eijiro, and Tetsutetsu followed quickly. Itsuka's enormous hands swallowed everyone up in the hug. Kyoka tentatively joined from the outside, but she wrapped her jacks around everyone. Ibara stayed back, apparently not wishing to embrace anyone herself, but her vines grew out and wrapped around the group.

Tenya didn't join the hug, but did bow in apology for leaving, which everyone told him was unnecessary due to his escape to warn the faculty was the best use of his speed. Reiko and Fumikage were on the side near the wall. They said nothing, but they were surreptitiously holding hands. Koji and Kinoko also didn't join in physical contact, but they did stay close to the group and each other. A flock of crows that Koji had befriended seemed to be trying to cheer the two of them up.

Izuku was shocked. He wasn't used to this. He hadn't been hugged by anyone his own age before, and the feelings of fear and loss and thankfulness overflowed. He began to cry, "Thank you, everyone. I… I wasn't thinking of myself. I was thinking that I had to save everyone. But I promise I'll make sure I save myself, too. I swear that no matter what happens, I'll come back to all of you."

Each member of Class 1-A was escorted home by the police. For those who lived alone, like Ochako, Nezu had spared no expense in informing their families and bringing them there as swiftly as possible. When he texted Ochako, Izuku learned that her parents were at her apartment before she was.

School would be canceled the next day. Momo had invited the entirety of Class 1-A to her house to relax in the aftermath.

Izuku's mom was, of course, by his side, wanting to know every detail. He told her, leaving nothing out. She had cried enough to drown several men and fainted at least twice, but she was so happy that he and all of his friends were safe from the villains.

They turned in early that night, but despite the physically taxing nature of the ordeal, Izuku's mind was racing. He tried to sleep, but it would not come.

And so, Izuku was left, in his head, talking to his new family. I think I need answers.

"You do," Yoichi said solemnly. "I was hoping to tell you this under better circumstances. We truly thought he was dead. But we have to talk about my brother."

Your brother? Izuku asked.

"My older brother. The world's first true supervillain. The man who could take and give Quirks on a whim. The one who stole a Quirk that halted the aging process. The man we all fought. The man who killed each of us, and gave Toshinori his wound.

"Mugen Shigaraki. The villain who named himself after his Quirk: All for One."