"Thank you for your purchase, have a great day!"

The glasses wearing and gentle looking man nodded with a grateful smile as he left the toy shop, two large bags in his hands. Thank goodness for payday; he'd been wanting these for weeks!

As he turned to leave

"I'm sorry about that!" The sole teenager smiled sheepishly. "One each! No more than a 1,000 yen is preferred!"

"Oh no worries." The man smiled, deluighted at so many young children being interested in all the toys and games instead of being glued to their phones "They all yours?"

"Adopted, yeah." The teen said the composed himself. "Aw, jeez! My manners! Yuu Akiyama"

"Edward Ngyma."

The two shook hands, Yuu feeling something in his own. He looked down and his eyes widened at the roll of cash Edward had given him.

"I don't need…!" Yuu started, looking angry before Edward cut him off.

"I was an orphan."

Yuu's anger died: He could tell Edward was telling the truth.

"…Which one?"

"One out in the country. We raised ourselves…if we could."

"Huh. Yours up and left?"

"Yeah, got some money from…somewhere.." Edward downplayed the details. "and never looked back. But you? You're doing great. And with that project and all these bancho and Sukeban? Some cash on hand never hurts."

Yuu pocketed the money and opened the door for Edward.

"Thanks, Mr. Nygma. You better be careful about going out…I don't think riddles will work on most of these guys."

The man's eyes widened before he smiled, impressed by this as he made his way back to his apartment. As he closed the door, Yuu saw his little siblings had all found cheap toys and games, all in his budget.

SANCUTARY

"Hey there, Eddy!"

The man placed his bags down to see two very beautiful women in his cruddy, packed apartment. Despite being littered with notes, an older computer, some dripping water from the roof and his pet rats crawling through the maze he'd made for them, they seemed content.

And they stood out so much their presence illuminated the room better than the cruddy lightbulbs he used,

"There we go. That ought to make a Jigsaw fan's dream come true." Said the short haired ravenette as she finished off taping a contraption together, She then sauntered on over and picked up the bags, spying what was inside. "No way! You found a Goosebumps copy radio?!"

ECHO! HER QUIRK: GRAVEL GROWL: SHE CAN CONTROL THE VOLUME OF HER VOICE!

Her colleage, a long haired blonde, followed in suit and took out one of Edward's purchases.

"Oh my gosh! I haven't seen a Rubix Puzzle box in years!" She beamed. "How did you afford this?"

QUERY! HER QUIRK: QUESTION QUEST; WHEN SHE ASKS SOMEONE A QUESTION, THEY HAVE TO ANSWER TRUTHFULLY!

"The kind old man has no clue how valuable some of his stuff is. And we shall keep it that way." Was all Riddler said as he poured himself and each of the girls a cup of coffee. "So, the plan is still wait and see how things go. With the Districts Projects just starting we'd be lucky to make headlines unless we hit the right prick."

Query pouted at this before whipping her hair and walking away to try her game. Edward reached into a bag and pulled out a key puzzle he began to work with, before he spied Echo had placed her radio down.

"Well, lucky for you, boss? I think I found just the right prick." Echo smirked as she pulled out some papers.

Edward quickly read through what his lovely assistant had found. His eyes widened. An enraged look overtook his face before turning into a smirk.

"Ladies? I do believe it's time for your public appearances."

Echo and Querry beamed at that, the blonde quickly revealing two domino masks and green costumes covered in question marks. Echo accepted the mask and then handed Edward a green, gimp like mask with a question mark on it.

"Let's go see a doctor about delinquents, androids and clones." The Riddler motioned his assistants, opening the door for them.

"Who knows? Maybe we'll scrap with the Sanctuary kids." Echo smirked, punching her fist into her glove.

SANCTUARY

Tsuyu and Sakura Hinako were sharing some pudding while going to pick up Satsuki and Tsuki. The two little girls were sharing popsicles as their big sisters talked.

"I mean, I'm kind of glad for this, gero." Tsuyu admitted. "We didn't really do much during REVOCS…I just wish Satslki and Sumidere didn't go to schools so close to a few of these guys."

Hinako nodded in understanding, her mind torn between paying attention to her fellow big sister, watching Tsuki and worrying about Akira. He'd been prepping for this for a year, yeah, and she knew how strong he and the other Santctuary kids were…But they were all still recovering from the REVOCS war and so far, no one had seen hide of hair of Takeshi Kongoh since…..

"Oh! Rai!" Tsuki waved over.

There indeed, was little Rai Kongoh, walking into the parlor with someone Tsuyu and Hinako did not suspect:

She was a tall and strong looking young woman around their age, with orange hair done into a ponytail that resembled a Scorpion's tale. She wore a leather jacket and battle skirt but no shirt, her breasts bound together by exercise tape.

"Hi Tsuki! Sumi!" Rai said. "Ice cream before going home?"

The girls nodded, staring at the lady who came with him.

"Me and mommy, too." Rai beamed as the woman massaged her eyes and knelt down to the little boy's level.

"Rai, we've been over this." The woman cooed. "Call me Auntie. Auntie Haruka."

She then spotted Hinako and Tsuyu and gave Rai some cash.

"Go and get my usual and whatever you want, kiddo. But get it in a bowl and to go."

Rai did as his aunt ordered, catching up with his friends as he did so.

"His mom was my big sister." Haruka explained as she sat down. "Aiko Tsukishima. Original leader and founder of the Red Scorpion gang. I was just some bratty kid with a mild paralysis quirk she decided was worth making her apprentice and successor."

She then eyed Hinako

"So, you're the lucky gal who won Takeshi's kid bro, huh?" she mused, seemingly not impressed, but then she shot a look at Tsuki and then back at Hinako, who was now glaring at her. "Nice."

Rai then came back with his and Haruka's order, making the older teen girl rise.

"You all need a lift anywhere? My girls are outside and willing. Be the safest option with all the craziness going on."

Hinako and Tsuyu accepted, gathering their sisters and following Haruka outside

"And Tsuyu? Tell Hana she and I need a rematch! Vlad King cut it short!"

SANCTUARY

It turned out Haruka, AKA Sasori Banchou, had been right.

As well prepared as UA had been, it seems that there were some Bancho who had seen the merit of proving their strength against UA students. Most had been forced into fighting Pros or ran away when they saw the UA convoys dropping students back home.

This boy, who called himself 'Tekkou Banchou' had been smarter than that.

He'd attacked Uraraka construction while Ochacko was checking up on her healing father, demanding the company follow him in his goal of 'beautifying Japanese architecture.'

"Get away from my uncles and aunts!" Ochacko, who'd managed to sneak out, roared as she jumped onto Tekkou and used her legs around his neck to send him flying.

However, he used his blow torches to correct his form and then charged at the gravity girl, only to fall flat on his feet.

Surprised, Ochako saw Awase of Class 1B had used his welding Quirk to bring Tekkou's shoes into one.

"My aunt is here." He explained.

"Oh yeah! She mentions you!" Ochacko beamed, and as she did so, Awase felt gulit for EVER wanting to be rivals with such a kind hearted girl…

"UUURGH!"

Tekkou then used his blow torches to free his feet, ignoring the burns and pain as leapt backwards towards the 1B boy before his initial foe made him float upwards.

"Double team?"

"Double team."

SANCTUARY

Ibara Shiozaki found herself in a simualr predicament when she arrived home.

"Good day, miss UA student. I am so dreadfully sorry, but I must ask that you duel me in order to keep this Church here, and rather not reduced to mulch for farming and flowers."

The being before here was a tall and muscular humanoid in a student jacket. What stood out most was their head: A gigantic flower with three eyes in the middle and no visible mouth.

They were Hanazaka Banchou; born with a 'Satan Seed' Quirk and apparently an environmentalist par none.

Shiozaki sighed and gave a brief prayer as her hair flew upwards to meet her foe, only for the seeds they had scattered to explode with the force of a landmine.

"I do believe you'll, like so many you ignore, may need more than blind faith, my dear." Hanazaka mused.

SANCTUARY

And throughout all of this, someone plotted even more chaos, as was in his nature.

"Alright, boy-o! You know what to do! And if you mess up, don't bother coming back or home." Joker smiled as his own little protégé in the District project clambered away.

"Pity I'll miss the fireworks. But when making a masterpiece, one can't be distracted!"

He then looked over to see his 'guest', Mrs. Uraraka, being subjected to treatment out of 'A Clockwork Orange.' She was beginning to smirk and sweat at last.

SANCTUARAY

Izuku, now bleeding from grazes and with holes in his wings, was regretting coming here by himself.

He'd found the location of the tournament easily: An abandoned construction complex in the middle of the woods that the Meta Liberation Army had used to hold out against Pros.

It was what had happened afterwards that made him regret doing this: Sure, he'd taken down Ragyo, but he'd had help doing that! He really should've seen this coming:

BANG!

'This' being a perfectly done shot to his shoulder and wing that sent him crashing to the forest floor below.

"Well, well! The Firestarter himself!" Said his attacker; an older teen dressed in a cowboy hat with twin Magnum 47. "Anga Darutani, AKA Shageki Bancho, at your service."

Izuku struggled to his feet before another bullet hit him good wing.

"That's good boys! I'll take it from here!" Anga called out, izuku hearing the shuffling of rifles. "See here, I think I got the simplest and easiest way to win this project: Just give everyone a gun! Kill up criminals, eliminate the need for heroes and cops and everyone control their own life."

"…Seeing a few flaws in that." Izuku mused before he dodged a bullet and took in a deep breath

BANG!

Another bullet hit Izuku, this time in the liver.

"Yeah, I hear ya." Anga said as he blew smoke out of his gun and took out what looked like a dart. "Which is why I'm doing you a favor proving my point with this? A little birdy in the Yakuza made this; says it'll destroy your Quirk….Or Quirks. Not sure if this is the permanent one or temp, but when the world finds out you're powerless?"

His gun now loaded, Anga leveld it at Izuku's temple.

"Any last words, dragon boy?"

Izuku nodded…and smiled?

Two shots repelled the guns out of Anga's hands.

"Honestly, I came here expecting someone like us: A true weapon aficionado with a respect to armed combat." Kohta mused, annoyance and anger clear. "Instead, we got an action movie junkie who's just using the Project as an excuse to shoot everyone up and tell others to do the same."

"I'd give him credit for having a sniping squad back him up," Mukuro said as she emerged from the bushes, having knocked out Anga's thugs. "If he wasn't shooting at our own Izuku, a god damn national hero, regardless of what the HPSC says."

"Punks like you give us gun-wielders a bad name." Kohat said as he punched Anga out cold. "…Wow. Real Glass canon."

Mukuro nodded before she helped Izuku to his feet.

"You okay, scaly?"

"…I'll be better in a second." Izuku motioned, clapping his hands together and then slamming them onto himself. He let out a jolt of pain as the bullets left his body and his wounds healed up, then gasped for air. "Okay…Okay, I'm good now. Thanks, Muku-chan. Kohta-chan."

The two gunslingers smiled and messed with their classmate's hair.

"Come on, let's get back to the dorms." Kohta beamed. "Mamako says she's making us a special lunch!"

The trio salivated in delight, not seeing Anga back on his feet.

"I AM NOT BLOWING AWAY MY SHOT!"

BANG!

"KOHTA!"

Izuku pushed his classmate out of harm;s way, taking the bullet and falling to the ground, grimacing in pain.

Mukuro's world went silent and dark; memories of war coming back….

Next thing she knew, Kohat was trying to hold her back from dealing what would've been the killing blow to Anga, given how bloody his face was.

"Muku. Muku-baby? Look at me." Kohta said, cupping her face. "He's out. Izuku is alive. I'm okay. Let go."

Mukuro let out a deep breath and nuzzled her nose with Kohta's briefly before they turned to…

Their jaws dropped. They stumbled

"G-guys?" izuku asked before he caught a glance in a nearhy puddle. He knelt down and saw…

No scales. No horns. No wings. No fangs.

Izuku…was HUMAN again!

To be continued…

HOWS THAT FOR AN UPDATE AFTER SO LONG?!

So, so, so sorry about that. This chapter was just not coming out a way that I liked.

While sticking primarily to 'The Batman', I've decided to include some bits of the Riddler from Fanscript's version of Batman Forever (the Robin Willaims, RIP, one) and added in his two comic bodyguards.

Next time, we'll have a brief look at how society now treats the 'humanized' Izuku., get some tactic lessons from Lady Nagant and check in on a few more Hero vs Bancho battles before beginning the tournament..Mostly so that Knightmarelord and myself can remfamilarize our plan for it.

Stay safe until then!