AN: Thanks for reading and leaving reviews everyone!
As the other heroes spread out and secured the other zones, All Might continued to wrestle with the Nomu Woman. Given final orders, the creature thoughtlessly continued its attack on All Might, fleshy tentacles assaulting the hero relentlessly.
However, without the threat of Kurogiri tearing him in half, the hero was able to easily handle the creature.
It took several minutes, but soon enough the Nomu stopped moving, simply laying on the ground while All Might stood triumphantly over it. Once the hero was satisfied that the creature was docile, he turned his attention to the rest of the USJ.
It had been three minutes since the heroes had arrived. That was all the time it took for them to completely retake control of the building. All of the villains in the facility had either surrendered or been defeated, and now it was simply a matter of rounding them up for the police that should be arriving soon.
At least, rounding up the villains who hadn't escaped.
All Might returned his attention to an empty space in the plaza. A space that had, minutes before, been occupied by Homura Shigaraki.
Nana's granddaughter.
How had he missed so much? First the fact that Nana - the woman he looked up to, had not one, but two children.
And their children - Nana's grandchildren were doomed to face each other on opposite sides of the conflict orchestrated by All For One.
He failed all of them.
All Might knew what kind of man All For One was. As soon as he got back from America, he should have checked to see if she had any living relatives. If he had known-
This isn't your fault. A voice spoke in his head. All Might swore it sounded like Nana - or perhaps it was Inko's voice? You are not the same Toshi that failed Izuku and Ochako - that failed Tenko and Hana. You've been doing your best to make things right. And your work isn't done yet.
Pulled out of his thoughts, All Might blinked as he turned toward Izuku. He saw the boy working with grim purpose as he wrapped Tenko's hands with capture tape, carefully binding his cousin's fingers so he couldn't use Decay.
"You're right Nana," All Might said to no one in particular. "I may have failed you in the past. But perhaps… perhaps it is not too late to help Tomura - no - to help Tenko and Hana."
"This isn't fair," Tomura complained as he tried to flex his fingers. "How did you know how to neutralize my quirk! Did you buy a strategy guide?"
"My girl- best friend has a five point contact quirk," Izuku said, dodging the real answer as he finished binding Tomura's hands together.
"Not fair," Tomura grumbled as Izuku pulled him up to a standing position. "We had everything planned out. We even brought extras to handle the secret mid-bosses and you still won!"
"Aren't there games where you lose in the tutorial?" Izuku asked curiously.
"Of course," Tomura said. "But then you wake up to find out it was all a dream - or that you've been rescued and the real game is about to begin."
Izuku shuddered at the delight in Tomura's voice. "Well none of that is going to happen here. This is reality, and you're going to jail."
Tomura let out a frustrated sigh. "This isn't how it was supposed to happen!"
"How do you think we feel?" Izuku shot an annoyed glance at the villain. "We came here to learn how to be heroes! To learn how to save people! And you turned it into a battlefield!"
"Heroes? Saving people?" Tomura laughed. "Then where were you fifteen years ago?"
Izuku found his anger quashed at his cousin's words. "Fifteen years ago?"
"Yes." Tomura sneered at Izuku. "You may act all noble, but when it really mattered, it wasn't a hero who saved us. It was a villain."
"What are you talking about?" Izuku asked, dumbfounded.
"Of course you wouldn't get it," Tomura sighed. "That's why we decided to strike today. To prove that nobody is safe - that it's all a lie. Perpetuated by All Might and those who support him."
"That's- that's not true!" Izuku insisted.
"Midoriya," Aizawa cut him off. "I know what you're trying to do. But right now's not the time." His glare told Izuku all he needed to know.
There will be time later.
Izuku sighed. "Yes sensei."
"Good. Your classmates are being led outside where there are paramedics waiting. Take your sister and Todoroki and meet up with the rest of 1-A." He turned his attention to the other nearby students. "And get yourselves checked out."
"But I wasn't harmed," Shoto stated.
"Doesn't matter." Aizawa shot an icy glare at his student. "Nezu's orders. If any of you suffered so much as a scratch, he wants to know about it."
Shoto closed his eyes and bowed his head slightly. "Very well." Opening them, he turned toward Izuku. "Shall we go?"
"Yeah," Izuku said softly before turning to his sister. "Himi?" Giving her a questioning glance, he offered her one of his hands, which she readily took. "Are you hurt?" Izuku asked softly.
Himiko shook her head, but the pressure he felt as she squeezed his hand told him all he needed to know. "Todoroki almost got Tsu hurt," she grumbled as she shot their classmate a sideways glance.
Izuku sighed and squeezed her hand. "I'll try working on him. But what about you?"
"I'm…" Himiko paused. "Not looking forward to sleeping tonight."
"Want to invite Song over?" Izuku asked.
"If I can convince her." Himiko's face lit up at the mention of her girlfriend.
"I'm pretty sure we won't have school tomorrow…" Izuku explained.
"Thanks, Izu." Himiko smiled at her brother before her eyes began to probe him. "And what about you?"
"M-me?" Izuku blinked in surprise. "I'm okay!"
"Are you really?" Himiko's eyes narrowed.
"Yeah," Izuku lied as he pulled his gaze away from Himiko's face. "I just need to- Ochako!"
Himiko and Shoto's heads both twisted around at the sound of Izuku's voice, and they saw their classmate walking into the central plaza. Ochako's helmet was in her hands, her suit stained with a lot of blood. Ryukyu walked alongside her, holding someone.
Hearing Izuku, her head snapped up, and their gazes met. Even from the distance, she seemed to understand his question and shook her head before tilting it. Izuku's gaze followed her direction and that's when he recognized who the hero was holding.
"Kach- Bakugo's hurt!" Izuku said before pulling his hand free and rushing toward the trio. He heard Shoto and Himiko following him, but his attention was focused on their classmate.
"Stay back," Ryukyu ordered the approaching students. "He's stable, but in rough shape. We need to get him to the medics as quickly as possible."
"R-right," Izuku said, letting the hero pass before he fell in line next to Ochako. "What happened?"
"Nomu," Ochako replied, grim-faced. "We had it under control, but then he came out of nowhere and attacked the damned thing!"
"Oh no…" Izuku looked at Katsuki's pale face and felt a pang of guilt in his chest.
"Izuku," Ochako said softly. "This isn't your fault."
"Why would this be Midoriya's fault?" Shoto asked as he looked between the pair.
"Izu and Bakugo have a history," Himiko said darkly as she looked at Katsuki. Normally the scent of blood on Ochako would get her excited. But knowing whose it was only made it smell sour to her. Himiko opened her mouth to continue, but Ochako cut her off.
"Was anyone else hurt?" Ochako asked desperately.
"We don't know," Izuku said. "We were heading outside to find out ourselves."
"Let's get going then," Ochako urged them.
The four turned to follow Ryukyu when they heard another voice from behind them.
"Guys!" Eijiro called out from behind them. "Wait up! Shizu's hurt!"
They froze before three of them quickly spun around and saw Eijiro rushing toward them. Behind him was a clone of the hero Ectoplasm, holding a very familiar figure in his arms.
"What happened?" Shoto asked before the others recovered.
"She- she was so manly!" Ejiro stopped in front of them. "She tried to reach out to one of the villains only for- they had a grenade!"
"What?"
"Seriously?"
"Her quirk wasn't up, was it?" Izuku asked as he pieced together what happened.
"I thought she made it in time!" Ejiro said. "She looked a little worse for wear but nothing serious until she just collapsed!"
"Her quirk is strong, but it might not be enough to fully stop that much force," Izuku admitted.
"That's two classmates…" Ochako said sadly.
Izuku held his girlfriend's hand tightly, trying to silently reassure her. "Hopefully everyone else is okay?"
"Yeah." Ochako forced a smile to her face. "Let's go make sure!"
Bobbing their heads in agreement, the group of students followed the heroes out of the USJ, each silently hoping that they weren't in for any more rude surprises.
When the group made it outside, they were relieved to see that the rest of their classmates had already assembled. Even better, they discovered the rest of their classmates were standing. Many looked exhausted, and there were more than a few bandages to go around, but they were okay.
"I guess we got the worst news out of the way already," Ochako murmured as they approached their classmates.
"Yeah." Izuku nodded before turning to the other three. "Okay, let's go get-"
"Aika!" Kyoka shouted as she came running. She took one look at her unconscious friend in the hero's arms before she turned and darted over to her friends. "What happened to her?!"
Ochako quietly gestured to Eijiro, and he repeated the story to the purple-haired girl.
"I'm sorry Jiro, if I was only faster-" Eijiro started.
"No." Kyoka shook her head and gave the redhead a wobbly smile. "That sounds just like something she'd do. It's not your fault the villains stooped that low." She balled her fists as dark shadows filled her eyes. "If I get my hands on that woman…"
"I'll be right there with you," Eijiro promised. "We'll bring them to justice, for Shizu's sake!"
"Yeah," Kyoka said, unable to work up the same enthusiasm. "For Shizu…"
"You know how stubborn she is. There's no way she's going to stop at her debut," Ochako said as she tried to cheer her friend up.
"You're right. On that note…" Kyoka suddenly spun around and looked at Izuku and Ochako. "Excuse me, I need to borrow our class reps for a minute."
"Y-you three get checked out by the medics, we'll catch up," Izuku said nervously to Shoto, Himiko, and Eijrio.
"There's no way I'm missing this," Himiko replied.
"Now I am curious," Shoto admitted as he stared hard at Izuku.
"No way frosty." Kyoka turned to glare at Shoto, her ear jacks already raised menacingly. "This is friends only business."
"They've got a history," Eijiro placed a hand on Shoto's arm. "Let 'em go."
"Hmph, fine." Shoto turned away from the group. "I believe I owe Asui an apology anyway."
Izuku felt relief wash over him as he saw the other two students back off; he looked at Kyoka and swallowed nervously. "Lead the way."
A few minutes later, Jiro had pulled her friends to the side of the USJ, still within sight of the heroes but far enough away that they could have a conversation. After using her quirk to check and make sure they were alone, she spun and faced Izuku and Ochako.
"Ok, what the hell happened?"
"We're not sure," Izuku admitted as he looked at Ochako. "The plan was for Aizawa and All Might to disable Kurogiri while we evacuated, and then the heroes would have swept through the USJ."
"Kurogiri?"
"The villain who was creating those black warp portals," Ochako explained. "He did the same thing in the past - trying to scatter our class, I mean."
"Clearly that didn't work, and now Aika's- Aika's-" Kyoka felt the tears coming. "I trusted you!"
"We're sorry," Ochako apologized.
"This was supposed to be it. We were supposed to end the League here, and stop the nightmare-" Izuku said, his voice heavily laced with guilt. "Instead two people got injured… and Homura escaped with Kurogiri…"
Himiko looked at the three and felt her insides twisting. This was so unlike them! After everything they've faced, this is what caused them to crumble? She wasn't having any of it.
"Will you three cut it out!" Himiko yelled, causing the three to jump.
"Himi-" Izuku's head whipped up to look at his sister.
"Where's the Izu that was willing to face me down that stormy night?" Himiko asked before she turned to the girls. "Where's the Chako who's ready to take on the whole world to help someone? Where's the Kyoka who's tired of keeping the rest of us in line?"
"I don't think you get to ask that," Kyoka grumbled as she rubbed her eyes.
"You're right," Himiko agreed. "I should be causing you to roll your eyes and threatening to stab me."
"Himi's right," Ochako said with a wet chuckle. Forcing a smile to her face, she looked at her friend. "Ectoplasm said Aika's stable. I'm sure she'll pull through. And you heard what Kirishima said."
"Yeah… She doesn't always succeed, but she tries. That's gotta count for something," Kyoka said fondly. She turned to her friends and gave them a shaky smile. "I'm sorry I snapped. It's been a stressful day."
"For all of us," Ochako agreed as she gave her boyfriend a worried glance. "We've been on edge all week waiting for this attack to happen. Nezu insisted we keep the operation secret because he's worried that the League might have a spy in class… and after today I think he might be onto something."
"Someone in our class is working for the league?!" Himiko asked in horror.
Ochako winced as she looked at the other girl. "We don't know if they are doing it willingly or not. But the villains we saw today… and the Nomu…"
"It was more than we were expecting," Izuku finally spoke. "A lot more."
"It was like someone saw our performance at the Battle Trials, huh?" Kyoka asked.
"That's what we get for showing off," Himiko grumbled. "What about that Tomura guy that we captured?"
"He was the primary leader of the league in my timeline…" Izuku answered softly, "...and my cousin. We thought he was going to be the leader here. But…"
"But he wasn't alone," Ochako said. "Homura was with him. She was the leader of the league in my timeline."
"She was the one who got away," Himiko said. "I don't get it. How could both be here?"
"We don't know," Ochako said. "We knew things were jumbled together from our two timelines but- this was the first time we've dealt with a situation like this."
"I think I know why," Izuku said as he turned to Himiko. "Remember what Homura said? Tomura was her brother."
Ochako gasped as her head whipped around. "Homura's- she's Nana's granddaughter?!"
"Yeah," Izuku said quietly. "Which means she's also my cousin."
Ochako wrapped her boyfriend in a hug. "Izu I'm- if I had known-"
"I know Ocha." Izuku hugged back. "It's not your fault. I just wish I found out another way…"
"For those of us who don't have all the context, what does that mean?" Kyoka asked.
The couple separated and turned towards their friend. "There's an ancient evil hiding in Japan - the ancient rival to One For All," Ochako said. "He was the real objective of today - we were supposed to capture his successor and cut off his access to a teleportation quirk. That way we could force him out of hiding. Then we could have stopped - everything that happened to our class in the future."
"But somehow in this timeline he had two successors," Izuku continued. "Which means that whatever event happened that caused him to choose one or the other was different, and he found both of them instead."
"Well," Kyoka sighed, "since Aika isn't here to ask the dumb question, I guess I'll do it. Do you think it has to do with whatever happened to send both of you back?"
"Probably," Izuku admitted. "We'll need to talk to Second. After we… tell Nana." Izuku swallowed as his resolve evaporated again.
"Don't worry Izu." Ochako held his hand tightly. "I'll be right there with you tonight."
"I know," Izuku said warmly as he struggled to muster up resolve. "Thank you."
Turning her attention back to Kyoka, Ochako continued. "Second's quirk is the one that sent us back. I don't know if he'll have any idea what happened, but it's better than nothing." She let out a loud sigh. "In the meantime, I think we need to get back to our classmates."
As one, the four of them saw the rest of their classmates still being treated by the medics. Kyoka then turned back to her friends. "I want to see how Aika's doing. I just- wish I could do more for her. She may be a handful, but she deserves better than this."
"No need to apologize." Izuku offered her a reassuring smile. "We'll let you know what we find out?"
"Thanks." Kyoka gave them a crooked smile before she took off.
Ochako pulled away from Izuku and gave him a warm look. "Ready to do our duties as Class Reps?"
"I think so," Izuku said. "Hopefully when we're done we can talk to All Might and see what he learned."
"I'm sure you'll be the first to know," Ochako giggled. "Come on, let's go."
The four walked back to their classmates before finally getting checked out. After Izuku and Ochako were patched up, the two separated and checked on their classmates.
The sixteen who were standing upright, at least.
As Ochako moved from classmate to classmate, her eyes kept drifting over to her boyfriend. She was worried about him - the knowledge about Homura was hitting him a lot harder than he was letting on. Once they were finally free, she was going to have to kidnap him to talk about it.
It took far longer to deal with the police and visiting heroes than he would have liked, but eventually Nezu was finally free. Gathering together a select group of heroes and teachers, he entered the USJ.
"This is my fault," Shota said as soon as they were alone inside the building. "If I didn't hesitate when I did…" He clenched his fists. "Or if I told those kids - either of them - who Kurogiri really was."
"That is not your fault," Nezu pointed out. "As for that information, we unfortunately cannot plan for a contingency such as time travel with certainty."
"You're going to try though, aren't you," Thirteen said, more a statement than a question.
"Indeed," Nezu replied. "It will be an interesting challenge! But that is a topic for another day. For now we need to focus on the events of the day. Sir Nighteye?"
Mirai stepped forward and folded his hands behind his back. "After talking with the police and reviewing the statements of the students, we have arrested 82 villains today, on top of capturing the three Nomu. As per the information we have received from those children, the Nomu are being moved in secret to a medical facility to undergo further examination. In addition, we have captured Tomura Shigaraki, whom we have identified as Tenko Shimura."
The hero let out a sigh before he continued. "That is the good news. However, the operation was not a total success. We have failed to capture the villain known as Kurogiri, who has been positively identified as Oboro Shirakumo. In addition, we haven't captured the previously unexpected villain Homura Shigaraki or Hana Shimura. From the student's reports about twenty villains also managed to escape, many of which seemed to have a personal connection with Homura."
"They weren't all hired thugs," Ryukyu said. "This means this League of Villains is already forming."
"That is my assessment as well," Nezu agreed. "And it also confirms my suspicion that one of the students in 1-A may be feeding information to All For One. Why else would they send such overwhelming force to the USJ compared to the previous incidents?"
"I'll start watching the kids," Shota said with a resigned sigh. "Hopefully they'll slip up and we can catch them."
"I have a few ideas we can discuss later, as well," Nezu replied.
"With Kurogiri still loose, that means we are no closer to finding All For One," Toshinori said, a hint of frustration bleeding into his voice.
"Indeed," Nezu said. "And with this major ripple we can no longer trust any of the information those two have provided us."
"We're essentially flying blind," Mirai said.
"Ironic for you to say that," Ryukyu said. "Although we still have a few advantages left, don't we?" She turned toward Toshinori.
"Indeed we do," Toshinori agreed. "We have young Tenko. If we can somehow reach him, perhaps there is still a chance we can stop All For One before he causes too much trouble."
"I certainly hope so," Nezu agreed before looking up to Japan's number one hero. "Do you think you can do it?"
Toshinori flashed his signature smile as he looked down at the principal. "Yes. For my successors' sake, I will succeed."
AN: Broken glass and shattered wood littered the floor as Kurogiri watched impassively.
"Why?" Homura howled as she picked up the last barstool, her quirk rapidly aging the wood, causing it to wither and crack before she threw it at the wall, the chair shattering into countless splinters. "Our plan was perfect! We had extra minions! And-"
Her eyes flared as she remembered the green-haired boy. Wreathed in green energy, he stole her brother away from her. And just when she was about to turn the tide, Endeavor's son had to show up!
"I'll kill them all. Nothing will stand in my way! Not until-"
She heard a telltale sound as the monitor next to the bar lit up. "You are right to be angry, Homura. But remember to control it."
"Easy for you to say," Homura spat back at the voice of her Sensei.
"And yet, you are the one with the brilliant mind. I know it will be hard, but if you act out of emotion, then you will be wasting your greatest asset."
Closing her eyes, Homura counted to ten as she felt her breathing steady. "You're right, Sensei."
"Don't worry. We'll have a chance to rescue your brother. And when we do-""I'll get my chance to strike back at the heroes.""Precisely. Hone your anger, turn it into a searing blade. Learn to wield it wisely, and you will be unstoppable."
The screen went dark, once again leaving Homura alone with nothing but her thoughts and Kurogiri. As she turned toward the specter-slash-nanny, she saw that he had prepared a drink for her, as well as summoned another barstool from somewhere. Slumping down in the seat, she grasped the drink.
"Don't worry Tomura, big sis is coming for you."