Hagakure Toru wants to be a hero.
From the second she saw them on TV, she knew, intimately, she wanted to be seen.
Which, is stupid, y'know? She's invisible. Being seen— it's not really an option for her.
But.
But.
"I'm ready to go," Toru says, looking around at the others, standing outside the hospital in the dark.
Her friend is in danger. Toru couldn't help her, two days ago. But she isn't giving up on her now that she's able. Even if that poisonous gas has done a number on her, she doesn't need to be strong to use her abilities. Just quiet.
She's probably stupid, doing this. What could they possibly do, first year students who'd already been beaten? They're outclassed. The two top students in their year were stolen.
Ken was stolen.
Ken would do it for her. Even if she lies she would do it for Toru. That's enough for her to get on that bullet train and hope desperately they don't die or something doing stupid stuff like always.
—
Bakugo Katsuki watches Yukimura Kenzo wake up drowsily, just like he had to watch those villains inject some sort of drug into her neck.
"Fuck," Yukimura hisses, looking around slowly.
"Oh, finally awake? Enjoy the beauty sleep?" Shigaraki Tomura rasps. "We had to take special precautions for you, Yukimura."
"Best sleep I've had in weeks, thanks," Yukimura grumbles, and Katsuki grits his teeth. "So many restraints, just for me?"
"We can't take risks with your quirk, you min-maxed above my own characters," Shigaraki says.
What the fuck.
Katsuki turns his head slightly, looking at Yukimura.
She makes eye contact, pupils still blown wide by whatever knocked her out, her body restrained from movement.
She smiles at him. For a second, Katsuki wants to punch it off her face. Katsuki wants to blow up this entire bar and blow up the ashes.
What the fuck.
"You're about to fail this recruitment dialogue tree too," Yukimura says, words slurring a bit with fatigue, eyes back on Shigaraki. "Did you have a plan , besides grabbing Bakugo?"
Why are they talking like this is some shitty game?
Katsuki flexes his hands, sweating into the metal box these fuckers shoved them in.
Shigaraki bristles.
"Go throw yourselves into traffic," Katsuki says through gritted teeth. "We're never joining you freaks."
"A hero in today's modern system only cares about money and glory," Shigaraki says. "And since society buys into those idiotic rules, anyone deemed a loser is shoved aside."
"So we want to pose some questions. What is a hero?" Shigaraki must be grinning under that stupid fucking hand on his face. "What is justice? Is this society truly fair? Soon, everyone will be asking."
"That's when we'll know we've won. And you like winning, don't you?"
Katsuki growls, and if he had a laser eye quirk his glare would've melted everyone in here by now.
"Dabi, let them out."
What?
"You know they'll just fight," Staple face says, turning to his leader with an annoyed look.
"Especially with all that metal in your skin," Yukimura grumbles beside Katsuki, and in the corner of his eye he can see the blank look is back on her face. He thinks she makes that when she's imagining bending metal, now. Or mutilating villains.
"It's fine, we're recruiting them, so we should treat them like equals," Shigaraki waves him off with a grand hand gesture. "Besides, they're both smart enough to know they can't take us all, right?"
"After all, UA students are so clever ." The condensation in his voice is palatable.
Staple face makes two tone start doing it, Twice or some shit, and from the way the room is angled towards Yukimura in particular he knows they didn't anticipate needing to handle a metal user or plan for it.
Bastards.
Shitty hands is still talking, something about different backgrounds but common goals, Katsuki feels sick.
Never. He will never be like any of these fuckers.
The second his hands are free shitty hands is walking up to him, Katsuki gives him a fucking explosion to the face.
The plastic they were using to hold Yukimura bursts away from her body, drowsiness replaced by alert blankness.
Yeah. They were stupid grabbing top students at UA!
—
Yagi Toshinori didn't think he would enjoy teaching as much as he did.
He didn't think he would be so attached to his students, either. Their safety was always a priority, but now?
He keeps playing it back in his mind. Young Bakugo's pridefulness, Young Yukimura's personal closeness to villainy. He doesn't think they would be swayed, but neither would ever go down without a fight.
And god . If All for One is involved?
He smashes through the wall of the building.
Only to find all the villains inside seemingly— magnetically —stuck against one wall, Yukimura's hand fisted in Bakugo's shirt and the both of them frozen in a running position.
" Huh ?" Bakugo hisses.
"Thank fuck ," Yukimura says at the same time. "I've got the portal guy trapped in his tin can collar, but Cremator is gonna set us aflame Sensei—"
"Do not worry, I am here!"
They thought it would be easy.
They secured the villains, even monologued, the same song and dance he's done a thousand times over his career.
Nomu, and then—
Bakugo coughs out the strange, metallic substance first, a hand coming to his mouth, eyes wide and—
Yukimura, hand still on Bakugo choking out the same thing, usually narrowed eyes now wide on Toshinori's hissing " Sensei ".
He makes a grabbing motion for them both.
All he gets is liquid.
—
Toru thinks, maybe, this is a terrible idea as she tears off her clothes and wishes desperately she could share her quirk with her classmates.
They're not moving, but Toru knows how to be quiet. And she's not dying for whatever the hell just probably- probably killed best jeanist.
A hacking noise and the sound of liquid falling echoes.
"What-?!"
Bakugo?!
More liquid and coughing.
"Get back Bakugo!"
Ken!
Toru scales the wall behind them silently, eyes on—
A single man, and there, Ken with her arms out in front of Bakugo with her villain face on.
"I'm sorry for the uncomfortable experience, young ones."
More appear in the weird liquid, the League!
Toru thinks, maybe now is the time for her to find a religion and start praying.
They aren't equipped for this, oh god, Iida was right.
The man is saying something to the man she recognizes as Shigaraki, something about as many starts as he wants and all of this being for him.
All Might comes flying in and—
Toru drops from her perch on the wall seconds before the man and All Might send out some sort of backlash of energy.
"There's too many of them!" Izuku says, all of them crouched.
"Whatever is going on we need to get our classmates out of there!" Toru retorts, hands cradling her head while the earth crumbles.
"No! We aren't strong enough! We need to get All Might backup!" Tenya hisses over the noise and falling dust.
"What backup is gonna handle what Best Jeanist couldn't?" Kirishima says back, eyes wide.
They shut up when the noise falls, and All Might and All for One(?) start talking.
Toru scales the wall again, slower this time, hands shaking.
Only the men are standing, everyone else is sprawled around handling the aftershocks of them just punching and holding eachother back.
Toru spots her classmates with ease.
Ken is trying to nudge Bakugo up, eyes on the two monologuing, and—
All Might goes flying!
All for one is listing off quirks like, like he used more than one.
"All Might!" Bakugo shouts.
"Don't worry, it will take more than that to kill him," All for One says in some mockery of kindness. "Get off the battlefield, Tomura, and take the children with you."
Everyone stands, Bakugo helping Ken up with one hand and the both of them squaring their stances.
"Go now, Shigaraki, claim your prizes."
"This is gonna be fun," Bakugo says roughly.
"Running is the priority, Bakugo," Ken hisses.
"Don't be a fucking spoil sport, Raccoon Eyes."
And then they're off, Ken sending all those with metal near them flying with a slash of her hand and metal debris flying up to circle around her. Bakugo's eyes dart around, clearly looking for an escape opening as he blasts away Shigaraki, who disintegrated the metal hands on him to get away from Ken's power.
"I have a plan!" Izuku hisses.
—
"Ken!"
Ken's eyes widen at the sight of Toru, holding her shoulder in pain and still panting from the other group's daring escape.
"Toru—!" Ken hisses, both hands landing on Toru's fabric covered shoulders. "What the hell are you doing here? You weren't supposed to—"
Toru hugs her.
"Not supposed to save my best friend? Shut up," Toru says, words muffled by her face being in Ken's shoulder. "Holy crap that was scary!"
The big TV above them is live broadcasting All Might's fight.
Ken hugs her back, tense, and when Toru looks up she sees her eyes are on the screen.
"Katsuki."
Bakugo's head snaps over to her.
"Why the hell are you using my—?!"
"Whatever happens in this fight, it's not our fault, do you understand?"
Bakugo stills, eyes wide.
On screen, a huge cyclone hits All Might, revealing—
Oh no.
"Why's he shrunk?" Someone whispers in the crowd around them.
Toru looks up at Ken's face.
Ah. Liar.
All Might freezes, screams, even, something that All for One said. People are whispering, then louder. Cheering for him. Other Heroes start appearing on the scene.
All for One bulks up grotesquely he and All Might fly towards eachother—
Everyone else in the crowd has their eyes glued to the fight, including their friends, but.
Ken looks down at Toru, something strained in her gaze.
" Shit. "
She sighs with the word, eyes shutting tightly, barely a whisper, really.
"Toru, please pretend you don't see this."
Seconds later, All for One slams into the grounds
"What is this??" The reporter on screen hisses.
He lifts again, then slams down. Again and again.
And as All Might lands a final blow on the villain, Toru's eyes are just on Ken's face.
The ground shakes even here with the power of All Might's mighty punch.
Ken looks old.
Bone deep weariness in her face.
Then, as quickly as it came, it wipes away, back to the lying face.
People are cheering, chanting All Might's name.
"Let's get to the authorities, Bakugo, the problem has clearly been handled."
—
Alright, so Yukimura Kaito is a shitty dad.
The… therapist he's being forced to see said he needs to admit to his mistakes and shit.
Something that vaguely resembles concern curls in his stomach at the news that his daughter has been kidnapped. The kid pisses him the fuck off, but she's his. Shitty Villain Leagues don't get to take what's his. Ever.
It's overpowered by satisfaction, though.
Another taste of the futility in her efforts to be heroic to spite him. She's got the same power level as him, fine, but she's still a girl and she's at the mercy of a couple crazed lunatics. Really, it should be like coming home for her!
Maybe they'll traumatize her enough to go Vigilante. He'll take anything over a fucking pro hero in the family. His father and grandfather are spinning in their fucking graves.
Bad enough she's a girl with a patriarchal inheritance quirk.
Well, not really bad. More he wishes she manifested it at four like a normal fucking kid so he didn't make her hate him. Now it's an inconvenience.
He stares up at the ceiling of his cell dull eyed.
Well, it could be worse.
He can't really see how, right now, but it could be.
Ugh.
Suddenly, a purple vortex appears beside him, a hand shoots out and grabs his neck, and—
" You're being recruited ," A voice rasps by his ear. " Or you're getting turned to dust. "
He nods, placid smile replacing his bewilderment.
Well, shit. Guess there is a god! Or, maybe a devil.
" Good. now tell us about your quirk."