I received Persona 5 Royal for Christmas and it has swallowed all my post-New Year's time, so this is coming out a little later than I had anticipated. Anyway, let's keep building to their first Finals, but first:

Gamelover41592: I hope things get harder, cause we've got some serious stuff coming up.

Ghostboy138: Trust me, I've considered it. I have plans. So many evil plans.

LEGOBRICK13: Bakugo's eyes are red, I just saw them wrong and didn't have the energy to go check. Yeah, I've read enough fanfic stories to know how shite the whole "one pillar" idea was. No pillar will last forever, we just get to see a story where that pillar still hasn't found what they think will be his successor.

Monkey D. Conan: Honestly, we'll see the major changes start coming into play come Summer, though smaller ripples are starting to come into play (mostly in the reactions and personalities of the affected characters). I have plans for Bakugo, MAJOR plans, but those are a LONG way off. I also have plans for All Might, which are not quite so far off, but don't expect them soon.

Ricardo Valencia: I'll admit that there will be pairs for their finals, but I'm going to truly generate them randomly. If Izuku is paired with Bakugo, Momo, Tsuyu, or Aoyama (unlikely as any of them are), it will have been the whims of chance.

Wizardwolf 1020: I tend to skip over thinks like training montages since they don't really work well in prose, but some AC games were actual games in the AC universe, so I suppose WOODKID can be canon, too. Izuku's kill is exactly why he calls Bakugo on his BS, and that's the first major shift from Canon!Izuku's base personality. I don't yet know how the Flaming Sidekickers will meet their ends (I mean, they're Templars, so at least two more will have to go at some point in this story), so that's not a hard "no" to your suggestion. And yeah, Izuku should train his Eagle Vision more, but that's not the sort of thing that moves the story along. However, his lack of focus on it in the wake of other problems will rear its head this chapter.

I might have mentioned it before, but I picture the golden change similar to when magic is used in the BBC TV show Merlin. Sort of there is you know about it, but with Quirks I would think it's small enough that most people brush it off. I'll admit it's a pit of a handwave, but you know someone out there has the brilliant Quirk to *tada* change their eye color. The gear is just a stopgap until Izuku matures to the point of getting tracking like we see in Revelations and Unity, though.

Now then, to the story!

Chapter 28:

Crucial Information

Izuku swallowed as he stared up at the mansion, he and Tsuyu standing in the shadows of an alley as they scoped out the location. Finals were not to come until the end of the month, two weeks away, but even a small frame of time was worrisome for their fellow classmates to have regular sessions inside a Templar's home. They had discussed the situation with Aizawa who, in turn, brought the situation to the Mentor. They had all agreed that leaving the sessions to themselves posed several small risks that, when added together, were too uncomfortable to ignore. As such, Izuku and Tsuyu had been given leave from their training on the six total days when the study sessions would occur in order to supervise and run interference if need be.

"That's the biggest house I've ever seen, ribbit," Tsuyu commented. "I'm not looking forward to when we have to infiltrate it."

"I mean, aren't we doing that now?" Izuku questioned, hoping to ignore her true meaning.

"We were invited this time."

"But we're walking in with ulterior motives." Izuku worried at his lip, the lack of weight on his forearms just another notch on the list of things he didn't like about this situation. Ever since the internships, his hidden blades had become an attachment, a simultaneous comfort and curse, a reminder of both is purpose and its cost. Not having them now made him feel naked, defenseless, and his long-sleeved t-shirt that read DRESS PANTS felt distinctly out of place. "Can we go over our strategy one more time, Tsu?"

"Opposite ends of the table, ribbit," the frog-girl listed. "Do not accept any offers of food or drink and keep an eye on those who do. Offer help to the students around us while listening to any philosophical conversation that comes up, ribbit. You will cover Quirk and Hero law and I will help with the sciences. Did I miss anything?"

"I don't think so," Izuku muttered. He leaned against the wall and crossed his arms, him and Tsu waiting for some of the classmates to arrive so they could walk in as part of a group. He sighed, turning away from the large residence to look at his fellow Assassin Initiate. "Are we looking too deep into this?"

Tsuyu's facial expression didn't really change, but Izuku could sense that she frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean all this," the verdet said, gesturing to them in the shadows. "We had to get permission from Mentor to go to a study group with our classmates. I know we suspect Momo" —Tsuyu gave him a sideways look— "Er, Yaoyorozu of being a Templar. I know we know her parents are and I know she was the one to suggest the study group, but have we considered the possibility that she just wants to help as the Class Representative?"

"That's what they all claim to do, Izuku," she said. "Quote unquote helping is all the self-righteous ones claim to want to do, ribbit. The Templars —the ones who think they're altruistic, anyway, and not the ones who are honest with themselves— really believe the only path to peace is by forcing everyone to bow. They think they are the solution to all the war and violence throughout humanity's past. They think that only their rule will stop all the bloodshed that has befallen the earth since humans took over, ribbit. But they're only deluding themselves." Tsuyu shook her head with a sigh. "Izuku, they think they're in the right and that the ends justify the means. They think that only by their hand can humanity learn to get along, ribbit."

"But can we?" Izuku asked. "Is it possible for humanity to ever get along?"

"You're edging into dangerous thought, Izuku," Tsuyu warned.

"I just…" Izuku pinched the bridge of his nose, grimacing. "Have we fought for so long that we think absolutely everything that any even suspected Templar does is evil?"

"We can't claim to be the good guys, ribbit." Tsuyu studied her fellow green-haired student, Izuku shrinking in on himself slightly. She shook her head and shifted, stepping across the alleyway to lean against the wall beside him. "I don't think we can afford to take chances, Izuku, ribbit." She paused. "Do you remember at the start of the year when, in Art History, Master Kayama —sorry, Midnight-sensei— started off with terminology and definitions?"

"Of course," Izuku replied. "Why?"

"She defined 'heroes' and 'villains' in old, colloquial terms, and how Post-Quirk connotations and usage are different from protagonists, antagonists, anti-heroes, and anti-villains, ribbit. Nowadays, Heroes and Villains are basically jobs. Of course, a Hero has to earn that title or they're a vigilante, which makes them a Villain in the eyes of the law, but the Pre-Quirk Era saw things differently, ribbit. They saw things the way we do. Characters from the old comics like Spider-Man, Superman, and Ogon Man, they wouldn't be Heroes today. It's like citizen's arrest, when someone could detain another even if they weren't police if they could prove the other person was committing a crime. That'd be vigilantism now. Our Order, ribbit, we're vigilantes in both definitions. We take justice into our own hands. We give it our understanding and apply it to those whom the law will not catch. Unlike vigilantes, we know that Templars own the government and the courts and that the law will never fall on them, ribbit."

"So, what?" Izuku questioned. "Does that mean we have to live our whole lives assuming that every act of a possible Templar is an attempt to spread their influence and dominate the world? That every step they take is planned and every breath they breathe is rhetoric?"

"Either we're wrong or we're ready," Tsuyu shrugged. "We can't take chances with these people, ribbit. The European Brotherhoods took a chance with Adolf Hitler, the Italian Brotherhood took a chance with Benito Mussolini, and we failed to assassinate Hirohito Showa. Look at what happened there and what happened to Japan. Maybe our actions have prevented countless atrocities, but we can't know what would have been, ribbit, only what we failed to stop. Just because we think Yaoyorozu is a good person does not mean she is or that she will be her whole life, ribbit; especially with the Templars' influence." Tsuyu closed her eyes and sighed. "I'm sorry, Izuku, but the world isn't fair. We're evil to them and vice versa, but that's not true. Nothing is true. We aren't Hero and Villain, but protagonist and antagonist. Neither good. Neither evil. We just are, ribbit, fighting for what we think is right."

"I'm sorry," the male student uttered with a shake of his head. "I know you grew up in the life, Tsu, but I just can't wrap my head around it quite yet. I grew up thinking the world was just Heroes and Villains and civilians. You know, that there were those who were inclined to violence and those who stopped it. Everything is blurred now and I just… I can't see Yaoyorozu as a bad guy, even if she is a Templar. She… She's a friend, Tsu."

"She's a future target, ribbit," Tsuyu grunted. "The way of the Templars is addictive. Once one gets a taste of power and freedom without consequence, ribbit, it's like a drug to which the only cure is our blade. I'm sorry, Izuku, but the world isn't sunshine, rainbows, and happy endings. It's a constant battle for power over the masses and we keep the common folk from getting involved. When we fail, the Templars fight each other and the people suffer. That is why we fight, ribbit, and if we have to kill those who call us friends for the sake of the innocent, then that's what we'll do."

"I just wish it didn't have to be that way."

"We can wish all we want, ribbit, but that doesn't change the world. All we can do is the dirty work that needs to be done."

The pair stood in silence for a minute, both reflecting on the words of the other. Izuku knew not every innocent was a good person —he'd learned that lesson far too young— but Momo was a fellow Hero student. He'd worked alongside her in so many instances and knew her to be an honest and hard-working girl. His hands curled into fists.

Assassins killed and Heroes saved, so why did the ones slated to be killed have to be the ones he wanted to save? Why couldn't he do both?

"There," Tsu whispered, her hand on his shoulder breaking Izuku from his dreary thoughts. Her other hand pointed down the street, the sound of talking reaching them. Four of their classmates moved toward them, the pink-skinned Mina heckling Kaminari and Jiro over something while Kirishima laughed beside her. "Come on."

Tsuyu jumped, latching onto a windowsill several levels above them. Izuku rolled his eyes as her show of power and took a running start at the building, using his own climbing skills to try to catch up with her. He looked up, trying to find his next handhold, only to blush fiercely. Tsuyu was dressed in her UA uniform because they had not gone home —he'd worn his t-shirt underneath just in case, but they'd needed to hurry to get permission from Mentor— so neither of them had seemed to consider that Tsuyu was still wearing her skirt when they began their climb.

As if sensing his embarrassment, Tsuyu looked down.

"Izuku?" she croaked. "Why'd you stop, ribbit? We need to hurry up and get behind them."

"Right, sorry." The boy kept his eyes firmly on the wall as he moved, Tsuyu offering her hand to help pull him onto the rooftop. Focusing on the task at hand and not the color seafoam, he followed Tsuyu back over two buildings before the pair slid down the gutter's waterspout and moved to the street, rounding the turn as casually as they could.

"So, Izuku," Tsuyu began, "Are you a pervert, ribbit?"

"Tsu!" Izuku yelped, his face turning a fierce red. "That was an accident!"

"Oh?" She cocked her head. "What are you talking about?"

"N-Nothing!"

"What's all the yelling about?" Mina questioned ahead of them. "Oh, Tsu! Midori! Come join us!" The group of four waited as Izuku and Tsuyu hurried forward, Kaminari and Jiro seeming to relax as Mina's attention was diverted. The girl practically licked her lips as the green-haired students joined their midst. "I didn't know you two were so close as to walk together."

"W-We both live that way," Izuku stuttered, using a thumb to point the way he and Tsuyu had come. "We ran into each other on the way over and figured we might as well walk together since we were going to the same place."

"So, what was the yelling about?" Mina pushed. "Something about an accident?"

"I, uh, tripped," Izuku lied. "Tsu was heckling me about it." Jiro gave Izuku a look but didn't say anything while Mina leaned forward, a hand on her chin.

"Hmm?" she grinned. "That's all there is to it? Midori, you player."

"W-What?"

"Oh, you know, Midori. You know."

"I-I really don't."

The group arrived at the manor's gate, a group consisting of Ochako, Iida, Pony, Shinso, and a number of other 1-A and 1-B students approaching from the other side. They waved, merging, as those from humbler upbringings goggled at the size of the Yaoyorozu residence.

"This place is huge!" Toru commented in a sleeveless shirt, her bracelets showing the waving of her arms. "I knew Yaomomo had cash, but that's some serious cash!"

"Damn, son!" Tokage cursed. "Ibara never mentioned her cousins were packin'!"

"I would not say such wealth is a blessing," Tokoyami commented. "The things that glitter attract the worst of the dark. I am sure both Yaoyorozu and Ibara are aware of this."

"What do you mean?" Ochako asked.

"Well, Momo Yaoyorozu is the eldest daughter of the Yaoyorozu Group, a conglomerate company that has existed since shortly after the Dawn of Quirks," the bird-headed boy began. "Though not as watched, the Yaoyorozu family is still on the level of celebrities. They rose to such prominence when the last head, Kan Yaoyorozu, went on television for a series of political ads and promotions that earned Natsubaru the position of Prime Minister some thirty-odd years past. Until the end of Natsubaru's tenure, there were rumors and skepticism about a number of deals given to the Yaoyorozu Group from the Diet until both heads retired a decade later.

"Ultimately, nearly fifteen years ago, both Kan Yaoyorozu and his wife were stabbed to death in their home. Some believe political assassination, others robbery gone wrong, but it remains an unsolved case. Since then, the Yaoyorozu family has been wary of how they appear in the media's eye. Considering the harassment many individuals of such fame receive from the public for this coverage, that would explain why our classmate seemed almost naïve when we all first met and why none of us had seen her in the media's limelight before."

"Man," Mina sighed. "I thought being rich would be all sunshine and rainbows and stuff. I guess even the folks with money have their own problems, huh?"

"We're talking about a guy who lost his life," Kaminari muttered. "I think that's a little more than a simple 'rich person problem', you know."

"We mustn't get caught up in dissecting socio-economic differences amongst ourselves!" Iida insisted, his hand chopping the air. "All of us will be partaking in the same exams come finals and we are here to study, so we must focus our energy properly!"

"Then let's go in!" Setsuna cheered, detaching her hand and pressing the button on the post beside the gate. A speaker next to it crackled to life.

"Everyone, you're here!" Momo's voice said through the speaker. "Please, come in! I have everything prepared in the second foyer!"

'The second foyer?' Ochako mouthed to the others. The gates clicked and swung inward of their own accord, ne'er a squeak from the well-oiled hinges.

"My family doesn't even have a first foyer," Sero chuckled. "Makes you wonder why Yaoyorozu wants to go into a dangerous profession like Hero work."

"Well," Tsu muttered. "Into the belly of the beast, ribbit."

A group looked over the schematics and information Nekoi had managed to find about the Shie Hassaikai, everything spread across the circular table between them. It held everything they knew: photos, bios, Quirk theories, maps, and most importantly what they were up to. Around the table sat Keeper, Nekoi, Akaguro, Himiko, Aizawa, and Ganma Asui. The six Assassins frowned at each other as their eyes came to rest on the one picture that unnerved them the most in the center of the information web.

The image was shaky, depicting a pale, white-haired girl with a small horn on the side of her forehead and tears in her eyes. The picture showed her with her face down, following the one known as Kai Chisaki after her escape attempt from the week prior. It has been the first —and only— sighting of the child in the Shie Hassaikai's custody since their information network had caught wind of rumors of her existence months ago. Then, they had been concerned but not certain; now they knew for a fact.

Beside her picture was a page of nothing but question marks. Name, age, Quirk, the Brotherhood had managed to get nothing on who she was or where she came from. No child fitting her description had gone missing in the past ten years, nor was there any record of such a child being born. For all intents and purposes, the picture they had was the only proof of this child to the outside world.

"This," Keeper muttered, "is fucked up."

"In case you haven't noticed, Keeper, we deal in nothing but fucked up," Akaguro grunted. "We don't live in a kind world."

"This is another level than our usual fare," Ganma croaked, the vocal sac under his chin expanding slightly. "Nekoi, they are using this kid to, what? Do we have any idea?"

"Nothing good, considering she tried to run away," Nekoi said. "The spy we got into the Shie Hassaikai reported rumors of tests to erase Quirks. We can only presume that is her purpose."

"Erase…?" Himiko parroted. "Like, permanently?"

"That's the thought," the cat-eared woman replied. "In his last report before we lost contact, our spy got us this." She pulled another two photos out of her robe and dropped them on the table. The clothing in the photos was the regular outfit of Kai Chisaki —they could see as much from the other photos they had— but this was a frontal shot of the man's body. Around his neck hung a symbol, the Mark of Cain, but the second photo was a side shot. In it, the back of the necklace was visible, another symbol engraved on the back of the Mark. "We lost our guy after this. Does anything look familiar?"

Aizawa's eyes narrowed as he leaned down, studying the picture. He reached into his own robes and pulled out the necklace Izuku had found in Tomino Zi's safe during his first mission so long ago, dropping it on the table beside the photos.

"What is that?" Nekoi asked.

"Initiate Midoriya found it during a mission," Aizawa explained. "Toga and Akaguro were there to see its acquisition after the assassination of a Trigger dealer."

"The broken cross?" Himiko blinked. "Were you all able to find anything on it? I didn't find squat in my raids. Is it used by, like, some cabal of Trigger dealers?"

"I don't think so, Himi," Akaguro said. "They might mess with it and boost it, but the Shie Hassaikai only deal in Trigger to fund their experiments. It's not the focus of their business, just their moneymaker."

"But what is it?" Ganma questioned, picking up the necklace to study it. "This is unlike the Christian symbolism the Templars usually use."

"A splinter cell, maybe?" Keeper suggested, pointing to the broken half of the cross. "Trying to keep the mission but break away from the whole?"

"I doubt it," Aizawa said. "The Templars can't stand deserters, especially if they come back as competition. Look, Chisaki has this carved into the back of his Mark. Perhaps, rather than a splinter cell, it's a sleeper group."

"But whose side are they on?" Himiko asked. "They aren't ours, are they?"

"Better not be," Ganma muttered, dropping the symbol on the table.

"It shouldn't matter," Nekoi growled. "They have their basis in Templar ideology and are abusing a little girl. We can find out who they work for when their blood stains our blades and we have freed that girl from their hands. Am I clear?"

"If we rush into this, we'll tip our hand," Akaguro said, leaning on the table. "I know you want to do this quick, Nekoi, but we need to be sure we're ready without other thoughts or problems weighing us down. Otherwise, we will all die for nothing." He stomped, his new foot of wood thumping against the floor. "Plus, you said they caught our spy. We need time for them to cool off and drop their guard again."

"Two weeks," Aizawa said, raising his head to look them all in the eyes. "All of the students will be finished with their finals by then. I'm not saying we bring them inside, obviously —this mission is far too dangerous for anything less than Veterans— but we can have them on the outside incase our extraction goes sideways or for cleanup. This will be a large-scale operation and we need to put a lot of ducks in line to pull this off without everything going wrong."

"I mostly agree with Aizawa," Ganma grunted. "That said, we still need to prepare for the worst. We should go in assuming they have countermeasures in place for us. Wire-cutting, impersonation, chemicals, explosives, we need to be ready to use everything in our arsenal. However, not knowing this symbol puts a bad feeling in my gut. I think we need to send word to the other Brotherhoods and see if they have anything to say about it."

"I'd think we would have had word if this symbol posed a serious threat to us before," Himiko muttered. "We can't be the first ones to find this, can we?"

"If it's something from outside of Japan, then perhaps finding it on Templars is not necessarily something related to their cause, but to their mindset," Keeper thought aloud, picking up the necklace. He held it before him, turning it over in his fingers. "What if we haven't found anything because we're looking in the wrong place?"

"I mean, we haven't found anything about it yet," Himiko agreed. "Where do you think we should look, then?"

"I don't know, but I think our scope now is too narrow. We assumed this was some Templar symbol, but it's not anything we have record of. Otherwise, we'd already know. It could be, I don't know, some new wacko religion or something."

"A new religion?" Akaguro questioned, raising a hairless eyebrow. "Really? These are Templars."

"I think our best answers would come from the source, but I can see that you all are more cautious about this," Nekoi said. She turned her eyes to Aizawa. "The students should not be a direct part of this, though. They're too young."

"This is a prime learning opportunity for them," Aizawa argued. "They can see how much research goes into a major raid unlike any they've been on before."

"Then they can see it afterward," Nekoi growled. "I'll wait the two weeks because your Quirk is so valuable, Aizawa, but Mentor put me in charge of this operation and if you want to put the kittens in danger, then I will take you off this group. I don't care if you are set to be our next leader."

"I'm trying to look at this from a long-term payout," he said. "We need to prepare our recruits for the future so that they, in turn, can survive and train others. We must return to our former strength. Do you not agree, Keeper?"

"I'm sure he does," Akaguro said. "Any reason to drag around his new student."

"Nascha was in the right place at the right time to give us numbers to help bail out your student," Keeper rebuffed. "That said, she's not ready for active combat yet, and details about a possible kidnap victim would strike too close for her."

"That makes two."

"I'm with Kittycat," Himiko put in, earning a glare from Nekoi but getting them back on track. "I like Midoriya, Asui, and the others I've met just fine, but they aren't ready to see anything like this."

"I disagree, but I still do not want the tadpoles involved," Ganma croaked. "Were we to take my eldest or any of the others raised in this life with us, I have no doubt they would follow orders without fail, but I feel this mission requires a level of experience they do not yet have. It's too risky and a little girl's life hangs in the balance. Should we fail, the tadpoles would blame themselves. They would never recover."

"Failure is not an option," Nekoi muttered.

"But it's always a possibility," Akaguro rebuffed with a frown. The cat-woman turned her glare on him. "Look, this symbol might have some surprises we aren't ready to deal with until we know what it means. If it turns out to be nothing, I'll let you kick my ass across the training room in front of everybody, but do you really want to take the chance that it means nothing? What if that girl dies because you were too hasty again?"

Nekoi froze, her cat-like eyes narrowing. "That was a low blow, Akaguro."

"Nothing is beneath us for the sake of life and free will, Nekoi. Compared to murder, my words are nothing."

"…Fine," Nekoi spat. "We move out in two weeks, as soon as Aizawa's free, whether you have info on that symbol or not. We know that little girl's getting tortured and experimented on and I won't leave her there now that we know she's real. Am I clear?"

"Sure are," Akaguro grinned. "Come on, Himi. I'm still getting use to this new foot and need a sparring partner."

"Right behind you, Master!" Himiko grinned, the two exiting through the door. Keeper turned, meeting Aizawa and Ganma's eyes. They caught on to his silent plea, taking their own leave without a word.

Nekoi slumped as they left, leaving her and Keeper alone. He pulled over a couple chairs, allowing her to sit down and lean back. She stared at the ceiling.

"I really am too hasty, aren't I?" she asked.

"It's not all bad," Keeper said. "If you were any slower, we wouldn't've gotten Midoriya into the Brotherhood."

"Yeah, but…" She sighed, raising an arm to cover her eyes. "Why does Akaguro have to be such an ass. He knows—"

"We all know, Sara," Keeper muttered, setting a calming hand on her shoulder. "Akaguro shouldn't've brought it up to get his point across. This isn't like then. Like I told you before—"

"We weren't entirely sure the kid was real, then," Nekoi interrupted. "Now, she's tried to escape. We need to get her out." She sighed. "I have to get her out."

"For whom?" Keeper questioned. "For her? For you? Or for him?"

Nekoi didn't respond.

"I still don't get why Transformation and Mutation Quirks are regulated differently," Kirishima complained, one hand in his hair while the other held his pencil. His eyes were closed, his mouth in that pained grimace that indicated the start of a headache, and it seemed the anti-headache candles Momo had burning weren't doing much to help. They simply gave the air the light taste of lavender and chamomile. "It just doesn't seem fair, man. Why can't Transformation Quirks be used in jobs like construction without a license when Mutations can?"

"It's about the activation," Izuku explained from across the table. "Mutation-style Quirks are always active because they're a permanent change on the body. Tsu, for instance, can't just stop having a long tongue or being able to jump long distances. Because her base form is her Quirk, it fundamentally can't be regulated. Transformation-style Quirks, however, essentially have on/off switches, and therefore have to be activated. As a result, they fall into the purview of the Quirk laws of '62 which states…" Izuku pointed to a spot on the page before the redhead, Kirishima sighing as he leaned forward to read it aloud.

"'Any ability consciously activated cannot be utilized by the user without prior licensing or acknowledgement by the affected parties in any instance where others beyond their person will be affected, immediately or afterward.' But that's legalese, man. I don't get that."

"I means that anyone with an activation power —meaning Emitter and Transformations— can't use their powers to affect people or the environment without permission. That includes things like construction but exclude testing. Apparently, some of the first buildings made by people with Quirks were not structurally sound because of unknown time limits, causing them to collapse after certain points such as the users' deaths. Mutation-style Quirks are both unconscious and don't change the laws of physics, so buildings that they made are still structurally sound in the conventional sense."

"I still don't get it."

"Hmm... How about this? You can use your Quirk: Hardening at any time because it only affects you, but you can't punch someone else or a wall, because then it's not just you. Legally, using your power to put up a wall with it is the same. How's that?"

"I guess that makes sense, kinda," Kaminari grumbled, translating Izuku's explanation into his own shorthand in his notes. Tetsutetsu, Mina, Shinso, Awase, and Hiryu Rin all nodded along.

"How do you remember all this stuff?" Awase questioned.

"Well, when I thought I was Quirkless, I was always hoping to develop something," Izuku chuckled, rubbing the back of his head. "I studied all the laws so I'd be ready for any sort of power. It just turned out that what I could do was so minor, I thought everybody saw the world the same way I did. Because I wasn't aware of it, my Quirk was always half-on, I guess."

"What is your Quirk classification?" Shinso asked, thankful for a way to get out of the legal jargon they'd come to the verdet for help studying, at least for a few minutes. Shinso especially needed it since he missed the first parts of the semester and this was his intellectual boot camp to follow Aizawa's physical one, but that didn't mean he would turn down a short breather.

"Legally, it's classified as an 'Internal Emitter'," Izuku answered, "an activation power that changes my perception and senses but not my body. Colloquially, however, doctors call powers like mine Minor Paramecia."

"Setsuna's gonna love that," Tetsu commented.

"Yeah, I thought she'd like the reference. They call it that since my Quirk doesn't really fit into any other class, so it's outside the norm. It has an on/off switch, but is as harmless to others as being able to, i don't know, smell colors, or something. I can use it freely without affecting anyone or anything else, so it doesn't fall into the normal Emitter laws."

"Dude, you've got your own loophole!" Kirishima commented.

"Yeah, at the cost of having to work my body to the edge just to keep up with you all," Izuku chuckled.

"Yeah, I guess that's a bit of a downside," the red-haired boy agreed. "Still, the fact that you are keeping up is so manly!"

"So manly!" Tetsu echoed. "It's like your Quirk blurs the line between Mutation and Emitter, so are there Quirks that blur the line between Emitter and Transformation?"

"I can explain this," Rin offered in his accented Japanese, the Chinese native using his Quirk: Scales as an example. "My Quirk changes my body, and I can then control the scales freely. When disnonnected, they are no longer part of me..."

Izuku breathed a sigh of relief and looked around the room. Tsuyu was on the other side, pointing to diagrams he couldn't see for the sake of Ochako, Aoyama, and Sero. Momo sat in the middle of the table closer to him, listing mathematical principles for swirly-eyed 1-B students, trying to translate Iida's overly-detailed explanation and apparently only doing so halfway, while on her other side was Pony doing English lessons for those whom the so-called 'worldwide language of business' was more akin to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics.

"So, therefore, when reaching the centermost point of the parabola," Izuku could hear Momo saying, "that is where you'll find the maximum height, assuming the natural laws of physics apply and there are no obstructions like wind resistance, sudden upward gusts, Quirk effects, and other such ununiform phenomena."

"That is exactly what I meant when I informed you of the result of reaching the pinnacle altitude of any desired flight," Iida said.

"Why does the English 'A' have so many sounds‽" Sato complained, his head in his hands.

"At least we have only one alphabet," Pony shrugged, repeating herself in English. "My brother Jonathan try to learn Hebrew once. It is read backward with no vowels. Very confusing. Took him three years to do it, even with Mama Sam's help."

"Man, I feel sorry for those guys," Mina commented as Setsuna leaned back in her chair. Her fingers each detached and started floating around her head, bending and straightening to mirror the wing movements of birds in flight.

"Can we take a break?" Sero whined, his head thunking against the table. "We've been at this for two hours already and I can't feel my brain."

"Do you usually feel your brain?" Shoji questioned.

"Perhaps it is time for a short break," Momo said, accepting a cup of tea from a servant. Several others accepted the tea, though both Izuku and Tsuyu turned it down. Izuku activated his Eagle Vision for a moment, but there didn't seem to be anything in the tea, even if those offering it shown red. Not that he expected poison or anything, but it made him feel better.

"This flavor…" Pony blinked. "Gold Tips Imperial?"

"Indeed," Momo nodded, clapping. "It was recommended to my mother a recently and has become a family favorite. When we can find it, anyway. It can be difficult to get since it's imported. I'm surprised you recognize it, Pony."

"My grandfather loves it," the blonde explained. She reached forward to the tray the servants had set on the table, grabbing several sugar cubes that she dropped in her cup. One stayed out, the American throwing that one directly into her mouth. "He drinks his straight. No milk or sugar, probably because he grow up in New York. Northerners have no sweet tooth."

"I just watched you put five cubes of sugar in that small cup," Kaminari commented. "How much sugar do you need to satisfy your sweet tooth?"

"Hm? I do not get the question. Tea is supposed to be sweet." She ate another sugar cube raw.

"Americans are weird."

"Hey," Kirishima began. "We've spent all this time talking about our academics, but does anyone know anything about our practicals?"

"I have made a number of in inquiries," Iida said, accepting his own cup of tea. "My older brother said his practical finals differed each term, but that he could not confirm if the exams remained standard for each grade."

"So, what did he do?" Sero asked.

"His six finals included, in order: robots, obstacle courses, rescue simulations, cooperation, infiltration, and finally battle against teachers."

"So all we have to worry about is robots?" Kirishima questioned. "Thank god. I was worried it'd be something terrible."

"Speak for yourself!" Toru said, waving her arms. "You might be able to take out a zero-pointer by yourself, but that'd be insanely hard for me!"

"I'm afraid it seems they change," Izuku commented. "Or, if they don't, then Iida's knowledge is outdated."

"How so?" the speedy legacy asked.

"My senpai, the one I interned with, is a third-year and she told me her practical finals in her first year were about first aid and rescue. That's pretty different than robots."

"Hm…" Momo hummed. "Iida, your brother graduated how long ago?"

"Around 12 years ago," the boy answered.

"That'd make him, like, twice your age!" Mina gasped.

"Well, yes," Iida blinked. "He recently turned 30. Is that important?"

"I believe the teachers change the tests each year," Momo decided, "either to challenge the students or to reflect the needs of the time. Likely both. Or, perhaps, it depends on the examiners' strengths. None of the current teachers would have been teaching at UA a decade ago, save Principal Nezu who took up his position sixteen years ago."

"Then we probably won't be fighting robots," Kaminari commented.

"What makes you say that?" Jiro questioned.

"Well, if the tests play to our teachers' strengths, then fighting robots isn't there. Neither Aizawa-sensei nor Kan-sensei can affect robots with their Quirks."

"He's right," Shinso nodded. "Aizawa-sensei can erase Quirks while Kan-sensei can control blood. Robots have neither."

"The Hell?" Jiro blinked, punching Kaminari in the arm. "I thought you were bad at paying attention. Have you been lying to us?"

Izuku and Tsuyu allowed the conversation to devolve, content to leave the others arguing about logistics rather than philosophy. Perhaps, like Izuku had said, they had prepared for nothing.

Unfortunately for Izuku, he'd been so focused on the tea and the servants, he wasn't as thorough as he should have been. Had he been as skeptical as Tsuyu, his Eagle Vision would have revealed the cameras hidden in the mantle.

"What do you think?" Kanri asked, his eyes on a monitor depicting a mustached man running across a battlefield, flintlocks in hand. "Is there anyone who appears useful?"

"They each have their own strengths," his wife commented, her own screens depicting the students studying in their home. Her fingers danced over a keyboard, adding little notes about whichever students caught her eye. There was a smile on her face, the woman leaning back in her chair as the kids decided to take a break. "Midoriya is just as clever as we'd hoped and doesn't seem particularly close to the frog hussy. That's good. How's your end?"

"Simmons-Garcia is coming along nicely," the man replied. "He is halfway through Charles Lee's genetic memories." Kanri looked over. "You are still elated at the news we received," he observed.

"Of course, Darling!" Okame smiled, spinning her chair to see her husband. Two plants had grown from her head, the first the small, white flowers of birdsfoot trefoil and the second several yellow chrysanthemums. "To think Grand Master Aaron finally dealt with that traitor. We no longer need to worry about reclaiming that girl alive."

"Yes, I am thankful for the reprieve," Kanri commented. "It has certainly opened our time for more constructive practices." He turned his eye to their willing captive. "We will need it once Simmons-Garcia completes his Animus training."

They were both in their underground lair, Simon Atsa Simmons-Garcia's unconscious body hooked into the Animus in the center of the room. Hina, their head maid, quietly brewed tea in the corner, ready at the beck and call of her employers. She hummed to herself quietly, silver hair softly glowing under her traditional maid headdress. She finished her task, lifting the tray and carrying its two cups to the couple. They accepted without preamble, Okame sighing happily as the warm tea settled in her core.

"Things are going well," she commented. "The selfish wild card is dead, Momo is getting along with her classmates, and Grand Master Aaron even gifted us his family's tea blend for our troubles."

"I prefer the whiskey myself, but Gold Tips is growing on me."

A soft knock came from the door, breaking their calm moment. Both Templars turned from their tea to the door as Hito, their head butler, stepped into the space.

"Pardon the interruption, Master," he said, stepping into the room, a manilla envelope under his arm. "A file arrived for you from America. It is labeled for your eyes only."

"Bring it here."

Hito nodded, moving silently to hand over the envelope. He bowed slightly and took his leave.

"It is from the Grand Master," Kanri said, setting his tea to the side so he could open the message. The envelope contained a collection of pages, a glance from Kanri enough to recognize the information as a genetics sheet. His brows furrowed, his eyes moving over the words. He jumped to his feet.

"Kanri?" Okame questioned. "What is it?"

"We have another chance," the man whispered, turning his face toward his wife. "The memories aren't lost. That line isn't dead."

"That…" She blinked. "Wait, that line?"

"Yes. More than that, her descendant is part of Momo's class."

"But…" Okame blinked. "Wait, no. Don't tell me—!"

Kanri didn't say anything for a moment, only turning the page around so she could see its front. There was a picture of a small, green-haired child, the younger form of one on her screen.

"It appears the universe is laughing at us," the man sighed. "Not only does this data show Izuku Midoriya to be Quirkless, but his DNA marks him the last living relative of the Funsitsu family. He is the only one able to unlock the genetic memories to show us what caused the Dawn of Quirks. He's the only one that can show us what made it so no one else can relive them."

A pained grimace flashed across Okame's face, the flowers on her head wilting to be replaced by lilies and yellow carnations. She blinked. "Wait, the data calls him Quirkless? Then his power…?"

"Most likely the Eagle Vision of old; the same one Simmons-Garcia awakened with the memories of Shay Patrick Cormac. To be using it with such skill, however, suggests outside training."

"Them," the woman spat. "Damn it, but it explains so much."

"Not all hope is lost, my dear Okame."

"What are our orders?"

"We've been given a second chance and we can't let it slip through our fingers this time. Grand Master Aaron is giving us two years to get Midoriya and unlock the memory data before he decides to implement more drastic measures."

"Two years…" Okame echoed, turning her attention to the screen where the students had gone back to their studying. "My sweet Momo, it appears your first long-term mission is upon us. May the Father of Understanding guide you to victory."

End of Chapter 28

Well, it looks like both Izuku and Tsu were right, just not in the ways they'd hoped. Momo isn't a Templar mastermind, but it looks like Chekov is waiting in the Yaoyorozu house. What do the teachers have in store for their coming practical exams? What memories haunt Nekoi's past? Why is Akaguro such an asshole? What methods might Momo use to achieve this coming mission of hers and what might get in her way? What is so special about the Funsitsu family? Find the answers to (probably) only one of these questions in the next chapter!

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-SwordOfTheGods