Another chapter so soon after the last one? What is this madness? Answer: this is the madness of Inspiration! After that last scene in the last chapter, I just couldn't stop, so you all get this.

Responses to reviews:

Gamelover41592: Thanks! I'm glad you're enjoying this.

LEGOBRICK13: I quite enjoyed your tinfoil-hat analysis, and I hope this chapters fuels that. Will this build into one of those confrontation scenes if given time to mature? Maybe. We'll have to wait to see.

Monkey D. Conan: This chapter should clear up some things, but I imagine it will give you more questions, too. Still, with the battle between the Assassins and Templars, Izuku will meet Momo's parents at some point. You'll see.

Souloman: Perhaps All Might seemed slow to respond, but it's hard to establish pacing with dialogue and sudden action. That's where shows and movie have it easier than written word. The goons were VERY roughly inspired by characters from One Piece. It might not have needed that much juice, but I figured I could put in at least a little humor to balance what would come next. Also, I hope you enjoy all the little bread crumbs that I've put in this chapter about how not everything is as it seems, and yet some things are.

SPeCTeR-ll7: You can't have Assassins' Creed without a Piece of Eden or two, but you'll have to wait to see when it finally shows up. As for Nezu... well, that will get resolved later. Not this chapter, but some time.

ZonZus: You're absolutely right about the Templars, but it's not like the Assassins have everything figured out either. Still, diving into both of their philosophies is so interesting that I couldn't help but do a little playing with it myself.

Now that those have been addressed, on to the chapter!

Chapter 8

A Not-So-Relaxing Weekend

"Hello, Recruits," Master Aizawa said to the three figures standing before him, the three in robes trimmed in green, blue, and red respectively. Behind him stood another two Assassins, those being Master Kamihara —the pro hero Edgeshot— and Master Kosho, a smaller man with a long chin and green hair dressed in a simple dark-yellow robe. Aizawa's arm had recovered from its break with the help of Recovery Girl, the primary medic of UA, though he still had his eyepatch on. "You have been selected to witness a raid on a Templar base. We do not expect you to fight nor to take a life, but we expect you to overcome these orders if things go south and it comes to that. Are there any questions?"

"Master?" the recruit with the blue-trimmed robes asked, Tsuyu recognizing the voice and the color as those of Saiko Intelli. "I was under the impression that Recruit Midoriya would be here as well. Has something befallen him?"

"I'm afraid so," Aizawa answered. "There was an attack on my class at UA during a training exercise and Recruit Midoriya was injured in the fighting. He is currently in recovery in the hospital and, as such, will not be available for this mission."

"I see. I hope he recovers quickly."

"We expect him to make a full recovery. In addition, an Assassin has been assigned to guard him, so he will remain safe from the villains that got away."

"Very good, Master. Thank you." Saiko bowed.

"If there are no other questions, we will take a portal and meet Master Akaguro at the location. He will have more information for us there."

With that briefing finished, Aizawa led the group to the portal room. There was an extra opening, each of the usual portals a few inches smaller, and it was this new one that the six stepped through. It put them out in an alley, the smell of the sea on the wind. Aizawa turned to the recruits as Kamihara and Kosho began to scale the wall.

"The first part of this is a test to ensure you have not been neglecting your Assassin training for your hero studies. Follow Masters Kamihara and Kosho to the checkpoint without being seen."

"Sir," the recruits bowed. Tsuyu glanced to either side, assuring herself that there was no one spying on them from either end of the alley before she jumped. Her powerful legs, a result of her Frog Quirk, carried her halfway up the wall where she hooked her fingers onto a windowsill. The other recruits redoubled their efforts, not wanting to be left behind, but Tsuyu trusted that they would make it in their own time.

Scaling the building was almost child's play, but her Quirk did give her a major advantage. It was why her family had been recruited into the Brotherhood several generations ago and their mutations had only gotten stronger since. She shook the thoughts off as she rolled over the ledge of the roof, Master Kosho clicking a button on a timer.

"Three stories in 26.7 seconds," he commented. "Excellent time, Recruit. Kamihara is at the end of this row of buildings. Head toward the ocean." Tsuyu nodded, taking off at a sprint. The next building was another story higher, but Tsuyu didn't need to climb with her Quirk. She simply jumped to the next story, landing on the ledge and pushing off. The end of the building fell off to a street, the frog-girl's eyes picking out a pair of telephone lines that ran between the building and the one on the other side, a design that had been normalized by undercover Assassins many years ago. The hero student barely slowed down as she transferred onto it, the wires holding her weight easily even if the side-pointed run was a little awkward. She glanced back, seeing Saiko was ahead of the other recruit by maybe ten feet.

The next two buildings were of similar height, offering no challenge to the hero student, but the next was smaller. She dove, landing on the lower roof with a roll before coming up and continuing without pause. The next section was a construction site, thankfully with its crew gone for the night. Mentally plotting a course, Tsuyu jumped to a crane and ran along its length before hopping along the framework that had been erected.

She landed on top of an apartment complex, Masters Kamihara and Akaguro waiting there. There former clicked a button on his own timer.

"Two minutes, 54 seconds. Very respectable, Recruit."

"Ri… Thank you, Sir," she said, cutting off her instinctive verbal tick. Though it could act as a reassuring feature in the line of hero work, such could give her away during her duties as an Assassin.

"I heard about the attack," Akaguro said, his ragged robes swaying in the ocean breeze. "I hope you and the other green brat are doing ok."

"He is in the hospital, but he should be better by next week, ri…" Tsuyu responded with a cough. "Otherwise, he would have been here."

"I know. It's a shame he couldn't be here, but it's good he'll recover. He's a bright one, and he's got the guts to be a true hero to the public."

"I'm sure he'd be happy to hear that, Master Akaguro."

The other recruits arrived seconds after her words, Master Kamihara clicking his button again.

"Five minutes, 44 seconds. You two can stand to focus on your free-running a bit more."

"Yessir," Saiko and the other recruit panted. They evened their breathing quickly, Aizawa and Kosho arriving without a single heavy breath. Akaguro's stance shifted, every other Assassin and trainee shifting to a more serious mindset.

"Welcome to Nagoya, one of the biggest ports of Japan, and home to the Crossline Shipping Company, a Templar shipping agency that serves as their main importer and exporter for the Japanese branch. We received a report that they had a special shipment coming in tonight. Though we were unable to get the details, we did manage to get one thing that put us on edge with this report. One part of the shipment was labeled as 'live subject.' This suggests whoever or whatever is being shipped didn't want to be. Assuming it's a person, we will rescue them. Either way, we'll burn down the warehouse to cover our tracks when we're done. We hope we will not have to order you recruits to take out any targets, but if we say so, we expect you to act in that capacity. Understood?"

"Yessir."

"Good." He turned, pointing at a plain-looking warehouse on the dock. It was three stories tall and a mix of concrete and wood, almost dilapidated, but Tsuyu suspected that was simply a front and that it was more structurally-sound than it appeared. A ship was just pulling into the port, its sails baring a hidden Mark of Cain. "Make your way to the roof of that building. Be careful of the armed guards."

And he disappeared over the ledge, vanishing into the shadows with ne'er a whisper. Tsuyu made her way to the corner of the roof, perching like a gargoyle as she studied the scene. Masters Kamihara, Aizawa, and Kosho were already gone and the red recruit was moving to follow Akaguro's path. Saiko balanced on the other side, performing her own scan as she popped a thermos from her belt and sipped on it.

Tsuyu identified three means of entry: a loose piece of the fence, a lighthouse within jumping distance of a nearby office, and a break in the barrier filled by a car entrance with a dropdown bar. Considering the second was only available because of her family's bloodline, Tsuyu chose that route, passing Saiko as she hopped down, while the frog-girl jumped to the office. The lighthouse proved to be rough, with enough weathering that she could climb down without any trouble.

There was one problem, the lighthouse being a longer distance from the warehouse. Now that she was on the ground beyond the fence that divided the docks from the civilian population, she was more easily able to pick out the gun-carrying guards that roamed the area. As she watched, however, one guard's eyes widened, the man posted by a big, metal shipping container bringing his hands to his lips as he coughed a small plume of smoke. He turned as if to wretch only for Master Kosho to drag him into the darkness around the corner.

That served to open Tsuyu's path, the girl diving behind a row of boxes and sneaking her way closer to the warehouse. A guard on patrol passed on the other side of the boxes, causing the recruit to pause. She held her breath, flexing her arms to activate her hidden blades should they be needed, but he only yawned and turned back the other way. She sprinted while his back was turned, Tsuyu ducking into the shadow of the metal container. The body of the other guard laid against the wall, the man appearing to be asleep if not for the puncture through his neck.

Tsuyu ignored the morbid scene, passing the corpse by as she checked for watchful eyes before jumping the moonlit distance to the next set of shadows. With no eyes on her, the Frog-girl climbed the warehouse, an eye constantly on her surroundings.

She was the last to arrive at the destination, having taking the most roundabout path, but none of the Master Assassins faulted her for it. Having multiple people on the same route only increased the chance of detection. The group of seven gathered by the roof's edge facing the water, a crew unloading the ship and carrying its cargo into the building.

They waited, studying the shipments as they passed, but that was not the only note of interest. Two members of the group stood out from the rest, the individuals dressed in the colorful clothing of pro heroes.

Heroes that were on guard detail for a Templar shipment.

"I recognize those two," Master Akaguro commented, his eyes on the pro heroes below. "The one on the left is Rage Cage. His power allows him to make fences out of the ground. The other is Stormer. She has a Quirk that allows her to create and manipulate thunderclouds."

"They are both in the top 100," the recruit with the red trimming added, his voice quiet. "Rage Cage is ranked 87th and Stormer is ranked 65th. They also recently announced their engagement."

"A contact also recently confirmed Rage Cage as a Templar," Kosho put in. Saiko sipped her tea, pointing at the next box to come down the ramp.

"That's the live subject," she said. "There are air holes in the top and the deckhand on the left is struggling with his side. It must be heavier on that side, suggesting there's some sort of equipment, probably to keep the subject sedated throughout the trip."

"Good eye, Recruit," Aizawa nodded, holding out an earpiece. "Asui, follow that package."

"Yes, Master," Tsuyu bowed, taking the device and backing away from the edge. She crawled to the side of the building, checking for openings. She was met with only windows, but that was no real issue, the girl activating her hidden blade and jamming it into the bottom where it latched. She jiggled the blade, forcing the lock open before using the stickiness of her tongue to drag the window open.

The inside of the building was dark, only a few dim lights being used to light the floor. The main area of the warehouse was open, the second and third floors more like balconies that looked out over the center. Tsuyu didn't spend any time on the floor, opting instead to hop into the rafters and climb over the center. She crouched on a beam as the package of interest passed through the doors, the deckhand on the left audibly wheezing.

"Get it together," the other man said, directing the box to a different route than the others.

"This thing's damn heavy," the first guy hissed.

"No it ain't. B'sides, we're almos' there." They dropped the box at a marked spot, the one guy panting for breath. His companion pulled a crowbar from the wall, jamming it under the lid. He pushed, nails coming loose until the top popped off.

Inside was a human, dressed casually in a shirt decorated with the American flag and a pair of khaki shorts. The figure appeared to be female, tall with long, brown hair and a muscular frame. Her skin was tanned or naturally darker —Tsuyu couldn't tell in this lighting— and there was a tube connecting her arm to an IV and heart monitor that was beeping slowly.

"Any clue why the bossman had some random American brought here?"

"Man, I don't know. Like you, I'm just paid to move the cargo, not ask questions. Bossman wants an American girl, he gets an American girl. That's it."

"Fair 'nuff." The man who had pulled the top off replaced it, pounding the nails in with the crowbar. "Let's go help the others. We get a bonus of we finish by 11."

"Recruit Asui to Master Aizawa," Tsuyu muttered into the earpiece, a touch of static sounding.

"Report."

"The package is an American female, sedated but alive."

"Roger that. Extract the subject when we begin the operation. Recruit Yuifum will come assist you. Wait for our signal."

"Roger that, Master." Tsuyu waited, keeping her eyes on the personnel inside the warehouse. There were guards on the second-level balcony, four in total, and another six on the ground floor. Yuifum swung through the open window, the recruit in red all but following her route into the rafters where he settled across from her. He dwarfed Tsuyu in height, a lock of curly, red hair hanging down in his face. He blew on it, but that did not get it to move. They waited in silence.

"MINATA!" a voice cried, laced with rage and pain. The earth shook as parts of it were redirected outside. "I'LL RIP YOU APART, YOU BASTARD!"

"Master Akaguro takes another one," Yuifum muttered, his soft voice at odds with his massive height. The guards jumped at the emotional wailing, each quickly making their way to the door.

"Assassins!" a deckhand yelled, speeding up the guards' pace. Two stayed behind, each taking up a position on the ground floor where they could see each other and keep eyes on the most important merchandise. Gunfire erupted outside, another two guards planting themselves at the entrance. One of them gasped as a sharpened fiber stabbed him through the head, the man's lifeless body sinking to the floor. The guard that had been standing next to him in the doorway stared, horrified.

"We need to take care of those two," Yuifum whispered, gesturing toward the guards that had remained inside the building.

"Simultaneous takedown," Tsuyu suggested. "Rib… I'll take that one, you get the other."

Yuifum nodded, the recruits separating. The man at the door coughed, his tongue literally smoking. He hacked, unable to do anything as Master Aizawa appeared, stabbed him in the chest, and disappeared again before the remaining guards could fire at him. Tsuyu positioned herself over her shaking guard, looking over to see Yuifum had climbed a little higher but was still ready. She counted down on her fingers.

The guard's head bounced off the floor, his ribs cracking as Tsuyu landed on top of him. Yuifum landed a second later, his target not a blood splatter despite the recruit's greater mass.

"Targets neutralized," the redhead muttered. Tsuyu ran to the box that contained the trafficking victim, indicating it to her fellow recruit. He nodded, picking up the guard he'd just knocked unconscious and carrying him over. While he did that, Tsuyu jammed her hidden blade into the box and leveraged it, pulling the already-loosened nails from their holes.

Upon closer inspection, the woman was tall, almost as tall as Yuifum, with slanted, almond-shaped eyes. She appeared to be in her early twenties, her skin an olive tone with no heteromorphic traits that would identify her. The only defining mark was a stitched scar across her right cheek that ran to her ear. Tsuyu reached down, gently pulling the IV out of her arm and lifting the woman out of the box. Yuifum replaced her with the guard, plugging the IV into him instead.

"We're setting fire to the building," he explained. "This way, they'll initially think she died in the fire. If they try to cover it up, they might just write her off. I've got a Quirk that can get her to you on the third floor, so hand her to me."

"Good plan." Passing the woman to Yuifum, Tsuyu replaced the lid before using her tongue to pull herself up to the third floor quickly. Placing herself on the edge by the railing, she nodded to her fellow recruit. He nodded back, lightly bouncing the woman in his arms before throwing her upward. She slowed right in front of Tsuyu, the frog-girl easily catching her as her momentum stopped at the apex. Yuifum jumped, the floor cracking below him, and he grabbed the railing.

"What is your Quirk?" Tsuyu asked as the two shared the responsibility of carrying the woman toward the skylight, the easiest means of getting her outside without the Templars noticing, if any were still alive.

"I call it Slugger," the redhead answered. "It lets me absorb, store, and release kinetic energy."

"Ri… That's a very powerful Quirk."

"It got me into Ketsubutsu, but it's very helpful for arial takedowns, too. I can obtain a lot of energy from them, which is why they're my preferred attack."

The sounds of battle died outside, but Tsuyu still waited for a moment before punching the skylight, glass raining down as it shattered. She cleared an area by the edge before leaping onto the roof where Yuifum handed the unconscious woman to her. He climbed out behind her, Tsuyu walking over to the Master Assassins and the third recruit where they stood on the edge of the roof as if they'd never left.

The view of the dock was a gruesome scene. Bodies littered the ground in pools of blood. Possibly the worst were the bodies of Rage Cage and Stormer, the former clutching the hand of the latter. One of the Assassins had killed Stormer with a surprise attack, the woman on her stomach with a hole in the back. Rage Cage had fought but ultimately fallen, having crawled to his fiancée's side in his last moments.

"Aizawa," Master Akaguro grunted. "Take the kids and the woman and get out of here. Kamihara, Kosho, and I will clean up here."

"Are you sure, Akaguro?"

"Yeah," he breathed. "They'll need someone to blame, so I'll leave my calling card. It'll take attention off the Brotherhood."

"Very well. If you're sure. Recruits, follow me."

Yuifum offered to carry the woman, his Quirk allowing him to jump from the roof harmlessly and then use that force to jump the next building. Tsuyu stayed for a moment, watching as the Master Assassins send silent prayers for the dead before they set to work. She didn't stay for the clean-up, following her teacher and the other students. The start of the fiery glow was already building by the time they reached the construction site. A single tear fell from her eye at the death, but a glance at the woman they rescued codified her resolve.

Everything might be subjective, but she helped save this woman from the Templars, and that was a fact.

Izuku woke slowly, the regular beeping of a machine tracking his heartbeat. His left arm thrummed with pain, the appendage refusing to move. His eyes, still a little blurry, recognized the color of bandages wrapping around it from shoulder to wrist, acting as a compression wrap to keep air away from his raw muscle. His fingers twitched —that was all they could do— but that meant his nerves had a chance of recovery. On the bright side, his right arm still moved as normal, that arm coming up to rub his face as he groaned.

His room was dark, the bed having plastic, off-white guardrails to keep him from going anywhere. The rest of the room was also an off-white, sections of it shrouded in shadow. He recognized the layout as that of a hospital. Moonlight eked through blinders covering a large window, showing that it was nighttime. The last thing he remembered was the attack on the USJ, so he must have been out for several hours.

He tried to move, to sit up to take in his surroundings more properly as he'd been trained to do, but his whole body ached and a wave of tiredness washed over him.

"They didn't expect you to wake up until tomorrow," a voice said, Izuku's head whipping around to see a figure sitting in a chair in the corner. Their face was blocked by a vase of flowers —a mixture of lavender, sage, and chrysanthemum— but the voice was feminine. She stood, silently stepping away from the shadowed corner.

She was maybe his height or a little shorter and wearing an Assassin's robes, but it took Izuku a moment to recognize them as such. The robes were designed to almost imitate a school unform with a long, blue skirt ending at the Assassin's knees. The upper part of the robes were blue on either side, like a sort of hoodie with the front unzipped, and the inside was white with an image of a red ascot like from a sailor uniform. The peaked hood was meant to fit with the hoodie look, being a dark blue. It was up, shrouding the Assassin's face, though Izuku could pick out a few strands of blond hair. A single belt went around her waist, the faux-hoodie hanging down over it.

"You've really pissed off the Templars, you know that?" she giggled, an almost sing-song quality to her words.

"Er… sorry?"

"I thought it was weird when Master Akaguro asked me to guard a hospital, but one nurse already tried to poison you and another guy tried to get through the window. Don't you worry your pretty little head though, Recruit. I took care of them."

"Thanks." Izuku relaxed despite a part of him worrying about the fact that there had been two attempts on his life since he passed out. "I don't think I've seen you around the den before. Have we met?"

"I wasn't trained at the den," the female Assassin said, leaning against the bedframe. "Master Akaguro found me in the field and I was trained there for the most part. I'm something of a prodigy, apparently."

"So, what's your name?"

"Ah ah ah," she chastised, wagging a finger at the injured student. "I don't do that sort of thing. Makes things more difficult in the long run. Besides, you haven't finished your training, though I imagine Mentor and Master Aizawa are in discussions to raise your rank for that feat of yours, even if you're a bit of a security risk."

"Wait, shit!" Izuku realized, trying to sit up again. "Master Aizawa had a mission for me tonight. I have to get to the den."

"No, you don't," the Assassin said, pushing down on Izuku's good shoulder. "You've been given a pass because of your injury. The mission's already in progress by now anyway."

"Dammit," he sighed, slumping into the pillows. "I feel like such a burden. I can't even go on my first mission."

"No, you can't, but I'm here to do more than just guard you. I'm also here to debrief you and hear if you uncovered anything during the attack. The Brotherhood needs to get the unfiltered story before you talk to the fuzz about it."

"Well, to start off, I have reason to believe the attack was ordered by the Templars…" Izuku gave her a breakdown of the incident, going from the appearance of the villains to his showdown with Tomura Shigaraki.

"The Templar Cross?" the unnamed woman questioned. "You're certain you saw the Mark of Cain on the man?"

"I'm certain," Izuku nodded. "Also, he wasn't the one who ordered the attack. At least, I don't think so. I made fun of his ideals as a taunt and he asked if I was disparaging his sensei. I think he was just a chess piece."

"Yeah, using others is typical Templar MO." She put a finger to her lips, thinking. "Did you get any other names?"

Izuku shook his head. "Only Tomura Shigaraki and Kurogiri. I think they called their monster Nomu, but All Might defeated it and I'm guessing they arrested all the other thugs."

"You're right about that, and none of them had any idea about our greater battle. The authorities are studying the monster, and we're keeping an eye on it so it doesn't 'go missing' if you know what I mean. We can't have that thing falling into the hands of the Templars again."

"Is there a plan for the League of Villains?"

"They attacked UA. This attack put them on several shitlists, so we don't need to act immediately. We'll let the heroes work it out unless we get a golden opportunity. Until then, you're on rest and relaxation while you recover. Orders from Mentor himself. Now rest up. I'll protect you."

"Thanks." Izuku smiled before a yawn cut him off. He laid back on the pillows, his heavy eyes starting to close. He got a flash of a fanged grin before sleep took him.

Momo couldn't find anything concrete, witch only reassured her that something was amiss.

She'd spent the majority of her weekend scouring the internet for anything relating to a wrist-mounted blade with a hook on the end, but every search took her to a website for some pre-Quirk game company that had not survived the Dawn of Quirks. The only other site that suggested there was anything like Midoriya's bracer were obscure internet threats that tried to claim there was a worldwide conglomerate of killers in a war with a shadow organization trying to bring about the New World Order. That the threads were mostly based out of America and that half of such posts seemed politically charged in some way certainly removed any credibility they may have had otherwise.

All the same, Momo was certain Aizawa-sensei had some connection to Izuku Midoriya, one they were keeping a secret. And yet, every search for the two of them gave no clues at all. Aizawa was the underground pro hero Eraserhead who stayed out of the limelight and Midoriya was a late-bloomer who grew up away from Eraserhead's district. At best, the only connection were their Quirks being eye-based, but there were hundreds of people in Tokyo alone with eye-based Quirks.

Whatever the secret was, if she was going to uncover it, she'd have to do it in person.

The young heiress was broken out of her thoughts by a knock on the door, the voice of one of the Yaoyorozu family's many maids filtering through.

"Miss Momo, dinner is ready. Your parents request your presence."

"Thank you, Hina."

She sighed, shutting down the computer and making her way to the door. The Yaoyorozu mansion was average when it came to such buildings, rivaling UA in many ways. In that sense, it took Momo a good ten minutes before she finally reached her family's dining room. It was a large affair, a rectangular table ten feet long set with four placemats. Her father, mother, and younger brother were already seated.

Kanri Yaoyorozu was a powerfully-built man whose greater height allowed him to physically look down on nearly every person he met. To many, he was intimidating due to his wide shoulders, dark eyes, and his neatly-trimmed beard. He had black hair, though the sides of his beard were starting to gray, and he tended to wear suits of white or gray with red accents including red ties, handkerchiefs, and an embroidered cross on the breast pocket. A walking stick topped with a ruby leaned against the table at his side. His eyes were furrowed as he stewed in his thoughts.

His wife Okame Yaoyorozu was almost a copy of her daughter, though it would be more accurate to say the inverse. The only thing that differentiated Okame from her daughter were faint lines of age and a single streak of white hair. She almost always dressed in sundresses or other such flowy clothing and her nails were manicured into points. She tended to favor red lipstick and nail polish, things Momo had mostly forsaken since choosing to become a pro hero.

Her younger brother Kyoryoku was still a child of eight but he'd been raised to emulate their father, constantly wearing perfectly-tailored suits and with his own walking stick with a small emerald. He was trying to copy their father's expression. Momo considered the look adorable.

"Father, mother, Kyo," Momo greeted them, sitting at her placement. Her mother gave her a smile and Kyoryoku started to say something when her father grunted in acknowledgement. Her brother cut off his smile, grunting in a similar fashion.

"Momo, how are you?" Okame asked, the family ignoring the servants that placed Momo's platters of food before her. "You had a stressful Friday and we wanted to give you your space before we brought it up."

"I am uninjured, as you know," Momo began, allowing her lobster bisque to cool.

"Can you tell us what happened?"

"My class was preparing to partake in rescue training at an off-site area built by the hero Thirteen when a portal opened, allowing villains into the building. They declared their intention to kill All Might and the portal villain quickly separated us. I was dropped into the landslide zone, a section of the building's facilities, alongside two of my classmates: Ochako Uraraka and Rikido Sato. We utilized the boulders present to subdue the villains that were there waiting for us and made our way down the artificial mountain.

"When we managed to reach the base, we discovered our teachers All Might and Eraserhead were battling the bulk of the enemy's forces. A classmate had managed to get word to the school that we were under attack, so it appeared that the villains were frantic to complete their goal, but All Might was simply too strong for them to defeat so easily, and this disgruntled the villains' leader. He decided he wished to kill one or several students before retreating and charged at my group.

"We were lucky that another group had just escaped their trap and he was intercepted by another classmate named Izuku Midoriya. That interception revealed that the villain had a sort of destruction Quirk, so he likely saved my life depending on who the villain was aiming for with his charge. Those that had been with Midoriya went to assist our teachers while he faced the leader. My group assisted Midoriya in holding him off until the villains retreated, but Midoriya was gravely injured. Luckily, he is expected to fully recover."

"Big Sis is so cool!" Kyoryoku said, and Momo almost saw stars in his eyes.

"That sounds terrifying," Okame gasped, a hand hiding her lips. "I'm thankful you were not hurt!"

"I hope you conducted yourself in a manner befitting the Yaoyorozu name," Kanri commented. "But like your mother, I too am thankful you were unscathed. Who knows what horrible machinations the perpetrators of this act had? There are many who would target us for our family's power, so you must take this as a lesson."

"Please elaborate, father," Momo responded. Kanri considered his words over a spoonful of bisque.

"There are… organizations… in the world who are not fond of our kind. We have raised you to understand that those of us with money, power, and influence are to hold ourselves to a much higher standard than those who do not. We must use our influence to shepherd those who cannot afford or do not seek out similar tutelage. The masses look to families like ours for how they should act, but there are some out there who think our guidance is detrimental to the world. They may wish to silence or remove us by any means necessary, even outside the law if need be."

"You mean by killing?" Momo asked. "Accidents? Murder? Assassination?" Kanri nodded at his daughter's words.

"Yes. Such people have strayed from the path of the righteous, believing that ends justify means. Do not misunderstand; some means are justified for the greater good when avoiding them could bring worse results. Take the trolley problem, for instance. Five people are strapped to a train track behind a fork, four on one side and one on another. A bystander stands by a lever. If they do nothing, a coming train will run over the four. If they pull the lever, the train diverts and kills the one."

"That is…" Momo trailed off, considering the problem. "Can't the train be stopped?"

"This is a question from before the Dawn of Quirks, so the assumed answer there is no. While the train should be stopped if it can be, what if it was full of passengers who would be gravely injured in doing so? Of if it can't be? Society is the train, the populous are the captives, and we are the bystander. We need to educate ourselves so we can make the best choice for the people in whatever circumstance. If the one is a doctor and the four are criminals, or if the one is an innocent but the four are a mix of convicts and heroes, what then? There are those who will be angry at whatever we choose, but there are those who will celebrate as well. Those who are angry believe the uneducated masses know what is best for them, but they mislead themselves. The blind leading the blind. Their ignorant actions sow discord and strife in the world because… How best to explain this? Do you know what happens when someone cuts the head off a snake?"

"It… dies?" Momo tried slowly. Her appetite drained away, but she forced herself to eat anyway.

"The body writhes in pain," her mother said, her spoon hitting her plate with a hard clack. "It continues to live for some time, its nerves warring for control and begging for leadership until it ceases to function. Society is like the snake, and people like us are at the head, directing the body in what is best for the whole. Does the hand know what is best for the foot? Do the lungs know what is best for the liver? Should the appendix remain when it bares no function? If the head is cut off, the body fights with itself until there is nothing left or it is eaten by another beast. If you want an example of this, look to China's history. Every time they revolted and killed their leaders, it split into different, lesser, warring pieces until a new head reunited them, ending their constant bloodshed. Japan is the same, having been locked in the Warring States Era until Nobunaga unified the nation under one flag, bringing peace with his conquest."

"I think I understand," Momo said slowly, mulling over her parents' words. "But… would it not make more sense to educate the people so they can make their own choices?"

"And who would fund such a thing?" Kanri demanded. "There is not enough money in the world to explain society's function to the people who do not care and there will always be those who would rather scrape by mooching on the scraps of others. Those who regulated themselves to the equivalence of parasites. No, it is better to lead by example. Humans are pack animals, and pack animals crave leadership. They do not want to make their own choices for fear of failure. That is why this burden falls to those who are willing to carry it, those who are bred for leadership and greatness. You are one of those people, Momo Yaoyorozu. You as well, Kyoryoku. And one day you will both lead the people in peace."

Momo had no words as the weight of such an expectation came down on her shoulders. She had always known she was the heiress of the Yaoyorozu Group, that the company would become hers one day if she so wished, but only now did she realize that the burden was larger than she thought it to be. Even if she abdicated such a title to her brother, she would still be a Yaoyorozu and a pro hero, a symbol to the people of what leadership should be.

The remainder of dinner was quiet, the silence only broken when Kyoryoku decided to tell a story of something that happened during his daily tutoring with Madam Zora, the same woman that had practically raised Momo through lessons of manners, etiquette, and the expectations of the elite. Momo offered to tuck her brother into bed once they had finished their dessert, taking him by the hand and exiting the room. Kanri and Okame watched them go and allowed the servants to pour them each a glass of red wine, clear the dishes, and exit, leaving the couple totally alone.

"I think it is about time we tell her," the husband began, swirling his Cabernet Sauvignon. "We need her brains in the organization."

"It's still too soon," his wife argued. "She is only in her first year of high school. She is not ready."

"You and I knew for our whole lives," Kanri pointed out, "and the Assassins are growing bolder. They burned down one of our ports Friday night, stealing and destroying very valuable cargo. And they attacked her class. Momo must know what knives are aimed at her back."

"You think the Assassins were behind the attack on UA?"

"Who else could it be? We Templars would never attack a group containing the heiress of one of our most prominent companies. That Shigaraki must have been an Assassin who planned on killing our Momo while targeting All Might as a cover. They would relish the chaos the loss of the Symbol of Peace would bring, anyway. It would be the perfect time to take out all the high-publicity Templars they know of, including us." Okame considered his argument, cradling her glass of wine with pursed lips and tense hands.

"Perhaps you are right," she said after a minute, "but we cannot ignore her classmates that were also put in danger. There was that one she mentioned, the one she said saved her life. What of that boy? Momo speaks fondly of him, no matter how apathetic she tried to sound."

"We'll need to meet him at some point," Kanri decided. "If he is a good fit, we may make a Templar out of him. If we cannot, however, then we will need to… redirect him away from our girl. We cannot have a free thinker have such sway with her undermine her instruction."

"Yes, darling," Okame agreed with a smile. "We need to be sure the Father of Understanding guides her, and nothing else."

End of chapter 8

What do the Templars want with an American woman? Who is the Bossman? Who is the Assassin that's guarding Izuku and can she be trusted? What does the future have in store for the Yaoyorozu family?

Yes, I know that Momo is an only child in Canon, but that's not the case here, not when the family lives in a world where they know a shadow could hide a trained killer for each of them. As the old royal phrase goes: an heir and a spare, just in case.

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-SwordOfTheGods