As night fell on the world, the few members of the Paranormal Liberation Front managed to land just outside the city limits safely. Besides feeling shaken up at the sudden arrival of a hero, they were all also feeling dread. The mission had gone horribly wrong in just a moment. Not only had they been tagged by a student (Toga was careless), but their primary target had given chase to them and nearly had them...
And they would've gotten away had that hero arrived.
As Spinner held the joystick that piloted the helicopter, Mr. Compress sighed as he kicked away some of the scrap metal. "Well gents...that just happened..." He said.
Toga sighed as she stared into her empty hands. "I...I had it...I had everything about Izuku..."
Spinner was pacing in front of her. "W-We can't go back empty-handed. Shigaraki will definitely kill us this time!" He panicked.
"He wouldn't..."
Mr. Compress coughed. "Um...Toga, perhaps we should-"
"If that crazy hero hadn't jumped in out of nowhere and punched the drive out of my hands, we wouldn't be here right now! We wouldn't be down a hard drive, a helicopter, and two of our followers are currently either caught by heroes or dead!" She bellowed out.
Spinner eyed the helicopter. "It would've been better if we had a Teleport Quirk with us..."
"Or perhaps a critical member of the operation with a focused mind! Toga, you got distracted by that Midoriya kid again, didn't you?!"
She looked up at them. "I still got the job done, didn't I? Besides, you were no help!"
"Bullshit! I kept those wannabe heroes at bay while you fucked around, waving at the kid!"
"Oh, don't get high and mighty with me!" Toga bellowed, rising to her feet. "You admire him just as much! You let him go during the Summer Camp raid last year simply because Stain made a mistake!"
"HE DIDN'T MAKE A MISTAKE!" Spinner defended his idol. "Stain himself declared Izuku Midoriya and All Might as true heroes! They are the very people he respected above all else! To kill him then would've condemned the world to zero progress!"
Toga raised a brow. "Damn, you love him more than me..."
Spinner's face burned bright. "N-NO, I DON'T!"
"Oh, you dooooo..." She smiled.
Spinner growled. "Still, your bumbling cost us everything! I knew we should've left you back at the base!"
"Is that so?! Can you shapeshift into another person and work your way through an encrypted security system? No? Then shut the hell up," she muttered while continuing to stare at her hands.
"You didn't decrypt the system, stupid. You plugged in a flash drive that Malware made and pressed the 'Go' button," the lizard said.
"It is in the movies," Toga quipped.
At that, Mr. Compress intervened. "Ladies, Gentlemen...I don't mean to sound brash, but I'll do it anyway: but there is a good chance that some hero is going to find us and take us to prison, so I'd suggest we slip out of here as soon as possible," he said, urgently.
Toga sighed deeply as she picked herself up and brushed the gravel off of her skirt. As the trio grouped, Mr. Compress touched them both on the head and activated his Quirk. With two little blue balls in his hand, the villain pocketed them and removed his villain garb to don a set of civilian clothes. The clothes were modeled after a beggar's rags, so he could slip in and out of the city without anyone being the wiser.
Now dressed, the villain passed by the helicopter and gave it one last look. The vessel was in shambles with broken glass and an assortment of metal all over the place. His eyes gravitated to the nose of the chopper, and they widened. Embedded on the nose was an impression of a fist, and it looked like it was deep in there.
On a whim, the villain brought his own fist and pressed it into the impression. Seeing that the impression was bigger only revealed that it was horrible and lucky that they survived. "Shit...did All Might hit us or something?" He asked himself.
He shook his head. No time for questions as they had to report on the mission soon. The villain scanned his surroundings and fled from the scene of the crash. He ran out of the lot and hid just as a few police vehicles drove by as well as a bouncing hero. With their attention on the aircraft, Mr. Compress slipped into the closest alleyway and disappeared with a smile on his face.
At the dorms, most of 2-A was in the main lobby. Kaminari's Switch was set up on the TV, much to the opposition of Iida and Yaoyorozu. While some of their classmates took turns racing with Mario Kart, others were either engrossed in their own conversations or reading. In the case of Sato, Yaoyorozu, and Midoriya, they were in the kitchens preparing for dinner.
In the span of a few months, Midoriya's time as Vice President was spent being Yaoyorozu's companion in many things. Class meetings with the teachers ensured that they were the first to receive new information while also supervising the grocery schedules and chores list. As for cooking...well, that happened on a whim when the Everything Hero grew curious about the happenings behind cooking. Midoriya and Sato were glad to ease her along.
At the expense of a pasta dish or two...
As Sato put the side dishes in the oven while the stove was lit with bright blue flames, Midoriya sighed as he leaned against the counter. "New recipe, eh?" He asked the baking hero.
"Oh yeah. I grabbed it from my cousin, who was visiting America in the Spring. They really like their carbs," he said. "Should be good fuel for your Quirk, eh Yaoyorozu?"
"Oh yes. And with some modifications to my new technique, I should be able to have plenty of spare lipids for the future," she beamed. She turned to her VP and did a bow. "Thank you again for helping me out with it. Although I assume that you benefitted from those tests as well?" She asked with a smile on her face.
Midoriya chuckled. "Well, it's mostly to help you out. I'll admit that using your Quirk like that was a small thought when I first saw it in action. But you've come so far in such a short amount of time," he said. "I-It still looks heavy, though."
"Indeed, but I hope to implement some lighter metal panels while also cutting down on the more unnecessary bits," she said. "But, don't you have another training session tomorrow?"
"Yeah, Kirishima and I are going to be working on his Unbreakable. My punches against his form should be interesting," he said. "Uraraka and Ashido are already going to be joining us if you want to stop by."
Yaoyorozu smiled as she briefly looked up. Uraraka, recently outed at Midoriya's girlfriend, was sneaking up on the inheritor with a mischievous look on her face. She continued the conversation without alerting him. "You and Sato haven't done anything yet, have you?"
"Nah, there's no time, really," he said after glancing over and seeing the gravity hero getting closer. "I'd love to, though, since we can see which of us has more force to our punches."
"Well, that's easy, especially with your very prominent muscles and taller physique. You have more mass to your advantage, and I'm sure you've been working out a lot more than I have," Midoriya said. "Plus, you're pretty fast with your punches, which definitely adds to your strength factor."
At that moment, Uraraka leaped outward and grabbed onto Midoriya by his shoulders. She had just canceled her weight and used the counter to propel herself onto her boyfriend's back. "GOTCHA!"
"WHAAA!" Midoriya screamed as he leaped forward with Uraraka still on his back.
Sato and Yaoyorozu burst into laughter as the inheritor quickly realized who was on his back. Once he reached behind him and found her legs inching closer to him, a wicked smile crept onto his face. He grabbed her legs and gripped them tight against his body, and turned on a heel with Full Cowling activated. Before Uraraka could realize what happened, she was already blasted off toward the door and on the back of her boyfriend.
Slipping through the door, Midoriya leaped down the steps and sped off toward the other buildings. With the gravity hero still clinging onto his back, he poured as much of One for All as he could into his legs and took her for a ride.
Some of his classmates rushed to the door once they saw him leave to watch the spectacle unfold. They watched and laughed as Midoriya had turned a complete 180 and sped in front of the dorm. Everybody heard Uraraka as she screamed out, "IZUUUUUUUUUKUUUUUUU!"
Mina snickered as she jabbed at Jiro's side. "Oh boy, she used his first name." She was grinning madly.
Jiro smiled. "He's gonna get it later."
"Be sure to put your headphones on just in case he makes it up to her," Mina teased.
The punk rock hero groaned as she facepalmed. Unfortunately, Iida had heard her comment and realized what she meant. "TH-THAT'S UNACCEPTABLE! THAT'S VULGAR!"
Mina turned to him with a wide smile. "That's nature, speedy."
After a minute, Midoriya and Uraraka reappeared at the base of the steps of the building. Uraraka's hair was so far back that Gran Torino's airblasts could've caught her by mistake. She looked irritated as she pouted and shot daggers at the inheritor. The hero in question had no regrets as he smiled at her as wide as he could.
As Uraraka began to pound on Midoriya's shoulder in retaliation, Deku appeared from behind the bushes in front of the building with a small plastic bag in his hand. Instead of wearing his hero outfit, he wore a pair of U.A. sweatpants and a black tank-top underneath a hooded sweater. He peered over just in time to see the majority of the class standing outside and watching as his younger self received a punishment.
He smiled and laughed, earning his younger self's attention. Uraraka stopped her assault on the successor and turned to see Deku standing there behind them. "Ya know, I was wondering why I saw you breeze past me earlier, and now I know the reason," he said with a smile on his face. "I almost lost my to-go box had I not braced myself beforehand."
Some of the students all approached the couple. "Whoa, man, looking good," Kirishima noted.
"Yeah, and out of costume too? What gives?" Sato wondered.
Deku smiled. "Well, since my uniform is similar to my Costume Gamma, I figured it wouldn't have been a good idea to be walking around in that one," he said. "12 years later, and the design still sticks."
Midoriya understood his reasoning since he was the first to see the suit. Besides the gauntlets and boots, relatively little changed between his suit and his future self's. "A-And the cape?" He wondered out loud.
"Well..." Deku said. "Mirio insisted that I wear one. He said it gives off the aura of a hero. I couldn't say no since Eri thought so too." He said this with a smile, causing Midoriya to smile as well. "Anyway, I'm getting a bit hungry, so why not we all go inside and eat, eh?"
A collection of 'Yeah's and 'I'm starving' met Deku as they all walked inside. Once everyone was crowding the dining area, the Symbol of Peace was about to take the elevator to his room when he noticed that the television was still on. At some point, the Switch was turned off, and the signal source was changed so they could watch the evening news.
The promo art said 'VILLAIN ALERT' and faded as the two anchors read their reports. "Good evening. Today we're starting with some breaking news coming out of Musutafu, where a villain attack is currently underway," one anchor said.
"That's right. This incident was first called in about 15 minutes ago as police arrived on the scene. A villain is currently holding several people hostage and is keeping some local heroes from making any attempts to rescue them," the other said. "We'll have a live feed broadcasting in just a moment."
Deku, who had not made any advance toward the elevator, dropped his bag of take-out. He clenched his fists as he inched closer to the television.
And then, in a moment, the feed had appeared. It showed an intersection where a few heroes were creating a perimeter around a very familiar villain. The heroes kept civilians at bay as the Sludge Villain, the first villain that he had ever encountered, kept several vehicles elevated off the ground and dangling them in front of the first responders.
The footage grabbed the attention of several of the students, including Midoriya and Bakugo. As they approached the television, Deku crossed his arms as he made a decision. "Hey, Izuku?" he called out.
The inheritor looked at his older self. "I'm going to be a moment. It looks like I have work to do," he said as he turned away from the T.V. and approached the front door. "Don't wait up, guys."
Mina looked at the television and back at the elder hero. "W-Wait a minute! Are you sure you can go out there? What if someone recognizes you?"
Deku turned to the acid user and smiled. "It'll be fine. Besides, those people need help, and none of them are fast and agile enough to get them out of there without him noticing. Once the hostages are out of the way, there is nothing that can keep that villain safe," he said.
He smiled at them. "If I am going to be passing on some of what I know, then this is the first lesson: profile the repeated offenders. It'll make the ensuing fight a lot easier once you know what they'll be doing before they actually do it." He gestured to the villain on the T.V. "Take him for example. He uses his Quirk to grab hostages because he knows that he'll break easily against a good hero. His form is entirely unstable, so as soon as he loses his hostages, he'll become desperate and attack. I'll use that to my advantage."
The students all turned to each other before Deku smiled and disappeared. With the front door swinging wide open before closing, they all abandoned the table and crowded around the T.V.
On the scene, the Sludge Villain continued to taunt the heroes that had arrived on the scene. None of them had the abilities capable of handling the villain as well as safely rescue the hostages. Instead, all they could do was keep the remaining civilians safe by being out of its reach.
The villain bellowed out in laughter as he swung a sedan around, terrifying the mother and two children inside. "C'mon, heroes! Come and get them! Don't be shy!" He taunted.
Death Arms and Backdraft were on opposite ends of the situation. Both were keeping civilians from getting too close. "Aww c'mon, what's the matter? Waiting for All Might to come in and save the day, are we? Well, tough shit! He's never coming to save the day again, you hear me?!"
Those words caused the two heroes to flinch. Their hearts broke because they knew the truth. They only managed to win last time because of him, and he wasn't going to come with his retirement.
The Sludge Villain once again let out a monstrous laugh. "FOOLS! This is what happens when we depend on one hero to do the job! WITHOUT HIM, YOU'RE ALL STUCK!"
Death Arms grimaced at his words. He was about to respond when he felt somebody try to push past him. As he yelled for them to stay back, he suddenly felt a strong gust of wind blow past him.
The Sludge Villain didn't feel a thing as Deku arrived on the scene. With incredible speed, he leaped from a light fixture to one of the cars, tore through the vehicle, and emerged with a hostage in his arms.
He repeated the action a few more times before he managed to grab every single hostage from their ensnared vehicles. He flew over Backdraft and landed in a small clearing, and dropped all the civilians off. Without anyone noticing, he leaped toward the light fixture and sat down over the Sludge Villain.
It was at that point when the villain noticed that his cars were significantly lighter. "What the-?"
"Ya know, holding these people up like this isn't what I'd call a healthy call for attention," Deku called out.
Backdraft, Death Arms, and every single civilian in attendance all looked over to where Deku was. He waved at the people with only an innocent smile on his face. "Some of these people have lives to get back to, and as someone who's had to work all day and commute home, I certainly wouldn't want to find myself suspended high in the air by a D-rate villain," he taunted.
The villain growled. "Who the hell are you?"
Deku shrugged. "I'm the new kid on the block. Of course, I know who you are, you Flubber rip-off," he taunted.
The students back at the dorms all felt their jaws drop. Someone was live-streaming the confrontation, so they had audio from the ground as well as the helicopter feed. "Damn...that's gotta hurt," Hagakure commented.
Sato nodded. Bakugo was watching the helicopter feed and smiled. "Oh, this outta be good."
The Sludge Villain growled as he narrowed his eyes at the pro hero. "What's up, buddy? It's been a while since I've been this close to you. A great many years, I'd reckon," Deku said. "And...free? What, was there a crack in your cell or something?"
The villain raised one of the cars. "Shut up, hero!" It swung the car at the hero.
Seeing the attack coming a mile away, Deku disappeared before the car could crush the fixture. He reappeared a little further away and far from any civilians. "Man, you must suck at Whack-a-Mole. Remind me not to ask you for help getting the stuffed unicorn at the fair," he continued to taunt him.
The villain sneered as it raised another car. "SHUT UP!" It slammed the car down, missing him again.
Deku continued to appear and disappear around the villain, taunting him with a bunch of 'I'm right here!'s. As he continued to move, he noticed that the Sludge Villain's form became unstable as it couldn't hold together against his constant reappearances. The force of his movements was creating gusts of wind strong enough to break some of his body apart.
Deku finally stopped while braced against the wall of a building. "Man, you suck! I can't believe I almost died because of you. They don't make villains like they used to..."
The Sludge Villain's eyes flared. "DAMN YOU, HEROES!" He roared as he fired his remaining two vehicles at the hero.
Deku smiled as he sped through the two projectiles and rushed the villain head-on. With his fist poised for an uppercut, he got within inches of the villain before he struck back.
Nobody saw it coming until it had arrived. Deku's arm moved in an uppercut, and contact was made right underneath the villain's jaw. The slam and crack from the impact were felt throughout the city as the Sludge Villain lost consciousness. He rose in the air before slamming down on the ground with a fist impression under his jaw.
Everybody watched, including the heroes and the students at 2-A. Bakugo was the most surprised as he rubbed his eyes in disbelief before staring at the screen once more. The Sludge Villain, the guy who surprised him and held him captive almost two years prior, was down in a single hit, much like how All Might defeated him before. He looked at Midoriya, who was watching with Uraraka right beside him, and then back at the screen.
"Sh...Sh...Shit..." He muttered.
"Bakugo, LANGUAGE!" Iida blurted out.
"EAT MY ASS, GLASSES!"
Back at the scene, Deku had shaken the hand that he punched with as he looked upon his work. Everyone was still too stunned to react as the pro hero then eyed the hostages that he had just rescued. He approached them, passing through a few civilians as he walked until he made it to the group.
One of them, upon seeing Deku, gasped. "Y-You...You saved us. Oh my God...oh my God, I thought we were going to die," he breathed.
Another one of them, a mother of her two young girls, looked on him with watery eyes. "Th-Thank you, hero!" She ran and hugged Deku, accompanied by her two children.
Deku smiled as he patted the mother's head. After a moment, they all broke the hug, and the pro hero stepped back. "I hope you all get home safe. I don't think there should be any other villain attacks but stay vigilant, alright?"
The civilians all nodded. As Deku checked around him, he saw a few people fishing for their cell phones. He needed to get out of there quickly before his identity was blown and his younger self's future changed. Checking that his hood was still up, he waved at the civilians before using his Quirk to disappear further into the city.
As the people left behind tried to grasp the situation, Deku made several detours before making his way back to U.A. He passed by some civilians that were already talking about his rescue and defeat of the villain.
When he returned to the dorms, he was greeted by the entirety of Class 2-A. They all turned to him and simply stared with wide eyes and hanging jaws. Deku chuckled nervously as he rubbed the back of his head. "So much for getting started without me. C'mon, let's eat then," he said.
Kirishima gestured to the T.V. "D-Dude! You just...with one punch! You took him down with no hesitation!" He exclaimed.
"That was awesome!" Mina bellowed.
"THAT WAS AGAINST THE RULES! ANONYMOUSLY DEFEATING A VILLAIN IS ON PAR WITH VIGILANTISM!" Iida barked.
"Hey, he saved those people in a blink of an eye," Kaminari stated.
"Yes, I'm sure that they are grateful, but now the public will be wanting to know who you are!"
"It was reckless to charge in there. What if he saw you coming?" Yaoyorozu stated.
As Deku scanned the crowd, his eyes set on Midoriya and Uraraka standing by the screen, watching the playback. The gravity girl was pointing at the screen while his younger self seemed to be pondering the actions.
Deku smiled at their interaction. "U-Uh guys...hang on a second!"
"Dude, you gotta share some of that, man!" Kirishima asked.
Bakugo scoffed. "He doesn't have to explain anything! He's the Number One hero in the future!" He stated.
"Well yeah, but still. That'd be awesome!"
The pro hero chuckled. "Well...as much as I would love to explain a few things..."
His stomach growled at that moment, startling some of the group crowding him. "I haven't eaten since...let's see, the raid started at around 9:30ish, but I was tied to that chair for about 3 hours, and before that, I barely had gotten a bite to eat at home before racing to the office, and since it's been another 6 hours since I arrived here..."
As he mumbled, Kirishima jabbed Midoriya in the elbow. "Looks like you keep the mumbling after all this time, eh?" He teased.
Midoriya laughed. Deku then snapped out of his muttering. "Right! I'm starving. Haven't eaten basically all day!" He declared.
He raced over to where he was standing before and grabbed his food. "How about we have a nice dinner and just enjoy the end of the week? Heroism isn't a 24/7 profession, and you all need time for yourselves sometimes," he argued, though he didn't wait for anyone to agree with him before he found a seat at the table, popped open his katsudon plate.
He said his graces and began to eat, confusing the rest of the class at his actions. Out of everyone, Yaoyorozu snapped out of it. "Yes! It's time for dinner! C'mon, let's eat before the food gets cold!"
Everyone snapped out of their confusion, and eventually, all joined Deku for dinner. Once everyone was served, the stress from the past week melted away. Everyone began talking about their weekend plans, their excitement for their first Class 2 final exam coming up, and their first exam with Deku.
As everyone ate, Deku scanned the table. Everyone was laughing, eating; some were doing both at the same time too. But he didn't care about the visual of barely chewed food. He smiled as he began to answer a few questions from his past classmates.
A smile that hid a broken heart. In less than 2 years...everything changes. They're lucky.
He started tapping on the table as he ate. 1...2...3...