You can tell a lot about a hero in how they react to a seemingly insurmountable villain.
Those in it just from the money or the fame stand at the sidelines waiting for 'someone with a more suited quirk'. Real heroes rise to meet the threat head on.
They run towards the danger.
Momo watched as Izuku surged into motion, crossing the distance to the main doors so quickly that she was certain he must have used a quirk.
Well, magic, but they seemed to be pretty similar.
Momo went after him, joined as did by Tenra and Kocha, she'd introduced herself to them earlier in the day, quickly surmising that they were not dreaming like her.
They came to a halt by the fountain, the southern section of Elvar laid out before them. And in the distance were fifteen towering Nomu, each one resembling the Shock Nomu, bearing down on the first wall.
"Is Hisame out there?" Izuku questioned the white-haired Shoto.
A massive gout of flame struck the leading Nomu in the face, fired from the top of the wall.
Izuku's question had been answered.
It wasn't hard to guess that Hisame was Shoto's, or rather Sansho's, fire half.
Momo had heard gossip about Sansho's magic and its capabilities.
Very graphic gossip.
It was all rather disturbing since Shoto was the closest thing she had to a brother.
Momo felt Ingen push past her, the spindly man gasping for breath as he joined Tenra and Izuku.
"Oh, heavens." Ingen gasped. "Nomu Colossi, so close to the city."
"Grandfather, we must do something, stop these giant Nomu before they can reach the city's outer wall." Tenra implored.
Ingen nodded his head vigorously. "Of course, of course. Captain Barker!"
A green-haired man, dressed in the uniform of the Restarian Military, rushed to Ingen's side.
"Yes, Lord Ingen."
"Activate all defenses, evacuate the southern quadrant of the outer ring inwards and hold half the northern, eastern and western garrisons in reserve in case of a further Nomu attack from a different front." Ingen ordered. "Your squadron is to lead the counter-attack on these Nomu, try and keep the fight outside of the city. Am I understood?"
"Understood, sir!" Barker saluted before racing off, shouting orders into an enchanted communication device on his wrist.
"Tenra, Prince Izure." Ingen continued. "Neither of you possess the full power of Yoichi, but if you fight together, you can face any threat."
Momo saw the look of shock on Izuku's face, barely able to comprehend what was happening. In the books, Ingen had vanished into his chambers during the attack on Elvar, leaving the defenders in disarray.
Not for the first time since these dreams began Momo wondered how much these alternates were affected by their characters from the books and how much by the real life friends and family they looked and spoke like.
Iida's grandfather, the first Ingenium, was a sweet and jovial older man, with a commanding presence when he wanted it.
The same presence she saw in Lord Ingen now.
Izuku looked at her, flashing her a smile. And then he was gone, Tenra at his side as they ran towards the danger, Kocha and Hisame a few steps after them.
Momo wouldn't stand at the sidelines, that wasn't what heroes did.
It wasn't what her mother had done.
Momo lurched forwards, before feeling a grip on her arm, holding her in place.
"Momoka."
Momo froze. That voice.
A voice she hadn't even realised she still knew.
"Mother."
Momo turned her head to see her mother, alive and whole. She looked just like the day she'd gone to work and never come back.
"I've been looking all over for you." Yoko Yaoyorozu spoke, her voice calm and reassuring. "We need to get to safety, let the soldiers fight the monsters."
Momo wanted nothing more, just a few more moments with her mother, even if it was just a dream. She'd been looking for her every night she'd had these dreams. Hoping, wishing.
"I can't." Momo replied. "Heroes run towards danger, not away from it."
With one last look, Momo pulled free of her mother's grip, turning and running, tears in her eyes.
Brushing her fingers against her gown Momo used her quirk, her magic, from this dream world. In a flash of pink and blue light it was transmuted into simple but sturdy plate armor.
I'm sorry, this world, these people, they may just be a dream, but I can't abandon them.
Momo's high heels were replaced by thick soled boots, a hair pin becoming a sword.
I'll fight for this world, even though it isn't my own!
Six year-old Momo Yaoyorozu sat in her mother's lap, tears streaming down her face.
"What's wrong, Momo?" Yoko brushed the tears away with her thumb.
"A-At school today." Momo hugged her mother. "One of the boys said that because you're a pro hero you're going to die!"
A fresh wave of sobs wracked Momo.
Yoko pulled her daughter in tighter. "What a horrible thing for them to say, don't you pay it any mind."
"But, but what if you do?" Momo sobbed. "Why can't you just let the other heroes fight the villains, you're my mommy, I can't lose you."
"I can't do that, Momo." Yoko looked down at her daughter. "Do you know why?"
Momo shook her head.
Yoko smiled. "Because heroes run towards danger, not away from it."
Yoko Yaoyorozu watched her daughter race down Imperial Hill, towards the danger.
"I couldn't be more proud of the amazing young woman you've become."
A smile stretched across her lips.
"And the even more amazing hero you are."
"Oh god, this is vomit inducing."
In an instant Yoko spun around, activating her quirk as she did, burning lipids to enhance her durability and strength.
Utsuro Botai snorted, barely even glancing at Yoko's fist. It was reared back, ready to strike, while the other hand had her by the collar.
"You go near my daughter and I will kill you." Yoko hissed.
"And how do you suppose you'll do that?" Utsuro taunted. "You're dead, all that's left of you is this vestige, an echo in the machine that is All For One, how you managed to escape to here I don't know."
"You're a shit mother, you wouldn't know." Yoko spat. "I'd do anything to see my daughter."
"So you're the reason she managed to get in here." Utsuro mused. "You rode All For One's link into the mainframe from the last time he jacked in, didn't you, then pulled your little princess into here somehow."
That comment earned Utsuro a punch to the face, her nose and cheekbones caving under Yoko's strength.
Utsuro laughed, turning back, her face already whole and bloodless. "You know I can't be hurt in this place, I've got admin privileges, but you just wanted to punch me, didn't you?"
"What do you think?" Yoko sneered. "You had me killed, with HPSC's personal assassin, what's her name? Lady Nagant, wasn't it?"
"Former assassin." Utsuro answered. "Bitch grew a conscience, shot the previous director in the face, very messy."
Yoko didn't reply, her eyes burning into Utsuro.
"You should have known that it would have happened." Utsuro taunted. "Investigating the connection between the HPSC and All For One, you dug too deep."
Utsuro smirked, her eyes alight with malice.
"The hero who knew too much." Utsuro laughed. "You're not the first and you definitely won't be the last, maybe your lovely daughter will be next."
Yoko hit Utsuro again, far harder this time.
The violet-haired woman was flung back, hitting the side of the fountain, her back snapping into from the force.
Utsuro howled in laughter as she slowly raised herself up, her body healing almost instantly.
"I told you that you couldn't hurt me." Utsuro hissed. "And yet you didn't listen, you never listened!"
Utsuro raised her hand, in a claw shape, aimed at Yoko.
She was choking, Yoko's eyes bulged as she felt her windpipe collapse in on itself, blood filling her lungs.
And then it stopped.
Utsuro frowned, looking down at her hand. "I didn't stop that."
Yoko gasped for breath as her throat healed in an instant, one second destroyed, the next, whole.
"All For One." Yoko growled, looking up from her prone position.
The white-haired man smiled down at her, projecting the jovial and polite image he liked to show the world. But Yoko saw the burning hatred for heroes in his red eyes.
"Grandpa, did you have to steal my fun?" Utsuro whined, looking remarkably petulant.
"Not now, Utsuro." All For One spoke, slowly approaching Yoko. "So, you slipped the bonds of your quirk, it's fascinating, I'd theorised that vestiges may be able to take form in this simulation, but to see it."
Yoko was suddenly lifted into the air, her body held in place a foot off the ground.
"Is a whole other thing." All For One continued. "Why? How? What gave you the ability to take form in here, to stay when I left?"
Yoko didn't answer, glaring at the Merchant of Quirks.
"Were you going to warn your daughter of my plans?" All For One queried. "What plan had you concocted?"
Yoko smirked. "You don't get it, do you? Neither of you, you're not capable of understanding."
All For One flared with a sudden anger, tightening his fist.
Trying her best to ignore the pain, Yoko answered. "I didn't have a plan, no master strategy, I just wanted to see my daughter, one last time."
All For One snarled. "The power of love, how trite."
"You wouldn't understand." Yoko grunted through the pain. "You love nothing and no-one. You are nothing."
Blinding pain filled Yoko as she felt her body, or rather the representation of it in the simulation, be ripped apart.
And then she was gone.
"You destroyed her." Utsuro breathed.
All For One sighed. "Unfortunately not, that's the problem with vestiges, as long as the quirks remain, they remain. But I will be more vigilant from now on."
Glancing at the giant Nomu laying waste to the farms outside the city, All For One turned to leave.
"Come along, Utsuro."
With five percent of One For All charged into his legs, Izuku leapt from rooftop to rooftop, a featherweight spell stopping him from crashing straight through them as he did.
Below him Tenra sprinted through the streets, a time-slowing spell allowing him to keep up with Izuku.
With a final leap, Izuku landed on the parapets of the first wall, looking up at the massive Nomu as they towered above him.
A beam of orange energy shot from somewhere behind him, striking a Nomu in the shoulder. For a moment nothing happened, then it exploded, sending clay and dirt high into the evening sky.
The Nomu's now severed arm fell towards the ground, but before it had even landed the Nomu had regrown it, swiping wildly.
Turning his head, Izuku saw the source of the explosion, just outside of his copy range.
Katte, stood on top of a building with a third eye emblazoned on his forehead.
"Aim for the head and neck!" Izuku shouted. "That and encasing it in ice are the only surefire ways of destroying them!"
Katte gave no outward signs of hearing him, but the next beam of energy struck the Nomu in the neck.
Another shower of clay rained down, followed by a red dragon suddenly surging past him.
It was Eii, even with the curse of the armlet broken, the transformation magic was clearly still operational, now just in his control.
Eii grasped the Nomu's head with his claws, tearing what little of its neck remained as he lifted it high into the sky.
Soaring upwards, Eii released the head, letting it plummet back towards the ground. Twin beams of energy and plasma struck the head, fired by Katte and Yuryo respectively, only just managing to overpower the Nomu's repairing magic.
The first, now headless, Nomu dropped to its knees as it crumbled to clay and sods of earth.
Izuku frowned as he stared into the mass of falling soil.
Is that-
"There's someone in there!" Han'i shouted, swinging past Izuku on silvery webs.
Dropping low into the cloud of dirt, Han'i grabbed the figure with one arm, using his other to swing out of the way of another Nomu's fist.
With a grunt, Han'i landed next to Izuku, carefully depositing him down on the wall.
Han'i collapsed against the parapet, coughing up dust. Izuku focused on the civilian, turning him over to find he recognised him.
Tenma Nakaoji.
Better known as the Pro Hero: His Purple Majesty.
But that wasn't the surprising part, after all every face he'd seen so far was someone from the real world. No, the surprising part was that His Purple Majesty was wearing a very dirty and damaged version of his hero costume, with the left sleeve entirely gone.
He looked exactly as he had the last time he'd been seen, during a rescue operation four years ago, tearing off his left sleeve to bandage a civilian's wound. Izuku remembered watching the news coverage at the time, it had been ruled that rubble must have shifted, trapping and killing him.
His body had ever been found.
How the hell is it here? This is a dream, isn't it?
Suddenly, underneath his hands, His Purple Majesty seemed to glitch, ruined hero costume replaced by ragged noble's clothing.
Izuku looked to Han'i.
"Did you see that?"
Han'i waved his hand in front of his mouth, still coughing slightly.
"Right." Izuku realised, using a fire spell and ice spell in tandem to create water.
Cupping his hands, Han'i filled them with water and drank, swishing it around and spitting it over the parapets.
"Thanks, damn." Han'i wheezed. "That sucks, for future reference. Is that guy okay?"
Izuku nodded. "Strong pulse, no visible injuries, just exhausted I think."
"Good." Han'i sighed, getting his breath back. "What was that question you asked me?"
"It doesn't matter." Izuku answered. "You need to take the civilian back into the city, could you tell me how strong your webs are?"
"Ah, you're a Proficiency mage, that's why you're using all those wildly different spells, neat."
Han'i activated a battery of self-mutation charms, enhancing his speed, strength, agility, granting him a danger sensing ability and his web-slinging, briefly talking Izuku through them.
So, pretty much Spider-Man.
Izuku reached out the proficiency, Spider-Body, using his newfound knowledge to examine it again, this time with a greater understanding.
"I met a magical pig that could copy proficiencies a few years ago." Han'i offered. "Copied mine it did, and intelligence one, locals started calling it Spider-Ham."
A beat passed, where neither of them spoke.
"I'll just take this guy to safety then." Han'i offered awkwardly.
Izuku hesitated, before nodding. "Once you have, find and work with Kocha, she can slow down the civilians as they fall. Then, find Momo, tall, dark hair, unusual ponytail, ask her to make you a gas mask."
Han'i frowned as he hauled His Purple Majesty onto his shoulder. "What's a gas mask?"
"She'll know." Izuku assured him. "Go, now."
With that, Han'i was gone, swinging back towards the city center as Izuku turned his focus back to the Nomu.
No more have been defeated since the first, these ones seem to hold a semblance of sentience, no doubt a result of containing a human battery? Control mainframe?
Izuku wasn't quite sure, but he could think about it later.
The Nomu had adapted, using their arms to block Katte and Yuryo's attacks and swinging wildly anytime Eii came close.
A grappling line buried itself into the parapet next to Izuku, the line going taut. More followed, before six figures landed on the wall, close to him.
Izuku recognised them all immediately, the first was Barker, the captain Ingen had given orders to. The rest he recognised from their resemblance to their real-world counterparts.
A dark-haired, tail-less Ojiro. Sato with a shaved head. Hagakure, visible, with tied-back blonde hair. Shoji, his mask nowhere to be seen, his arms entirely normal to a baseline human.
The last was Mount Lady, her hair brown and cut into a bob. Each of them was wearing an armoured version of Mount Lady's hero costume.
Barker and the alternate Mount Lady's armour had the off-white sections changed to black, the orange accents now gold and the purple sections were navy and dark red respectively.
The alternate versions of Izuku's classmates also wore similar outfits, with the golden accents instead silver. Again, the main colour of the suit was different for each of them.
Ojiro's was red, Hagakure's a light blue, Sato's the same yellow as his hero costume and Shoji's was green, his accents the only exception, remaining gold, with a matching diamond pattern on his chest.
Barker struck a defensive pose. "Let's go, Kyojinger!"
And then, before Izuku's eyes, they began to grow in size, getting faster and faster until they reached up to the shoulders of the Nomu.
Izuku felt a wave of magic charge through his body, as six copies of the same proficiency, Enlargement, stacked into the final active slot of Quirksmith.
Without much thought, Izuku pushed Voice Manipulation magic out of Quirksmith and into the void, feeling it deactivate as he did. It was powerful magic, but as Izuku was now, lacking the required vocal ability, he was poorly suited to wield it in a high-stakes fight.
Turning his attention back to the battle, Izuku watched as the six soldiers stood in silence for a moment. Bursting into motion, they charged in, splitting into two teams of three, each taking a Nomu.
Izuku tilted his head. "They're like a Super Sentai of Ultramen? That's kinda awesome."
Momo touched down, holding out a gas mask, another already in place over her own face.
"Are you okay?" Izuku asked as he took the offered item, his eyes on her shaking hand.
"My mother." Momo spoke softly. "She's alive in here, in this dream."
"I'm sorry." Izuku replied, his voice barely above a whisper.
"Don't be, it's not your fault."
Izuku felt tears welling in his eyes. "It is, you being in here, it's probably the result of a quirk I've copied, either at the USJ or while All For One was experimenting on me. I'm sorry."
"My mother died a hero." Momo stated, turning to show her own tear-filled eyes. "Just a few more seconds with her, it was a gift. Thank you, Izuku."
"Momo." Izuku wiped his eyes. "There's so much I need to tell you, so much I've wanted to tell you."
"I've been told I'm a very good listener." Momo answered with a small smile. "Although, that was by my father so he's probably a little biased."
Izuku choked out a laugh. "How is everyone?"
"They're coping, they'll be better once you wake up and come back." Momo answered. "We chose hero names, Bakugo went with Kacchan Hero: Dynamight, the teasing has been relentless."
Izuku felt an odd combination of emotions, delight at Katsuki for using Kacchan in his hero name, happiness to see he was letting his guard down with 1-A.
Sorrow, that he wasn't there to experience this with them. And regret, at missing this time he'd never get back.
Izuku had been erased. The class without him.
Is this my punishment for flying too close to the sun?
It hurt.
"Oi, fluff-brain, ponytail! Stop having a heart-to-heart and fucking fight these bastards already!"
Izuku and Momo both blushed and turned, catching sight of Katte balanced in a chimney top, firing repeated concussion attacks at the nearest Nomu.
Embarrassed by his lack of attention, Izuku internally cringed, but gave Katte a nod. "Sorry "
"You will be if these fucks crush us all to death." Katte snapped back, firing another attack and blowing up Nomu's fist before it could hit Ojiro's alternate.
Izuku felt a fiery warmth enter his quirkspace.
Concussive Beams. It was Katte's proficiency, it felt so similar to Explosion, but somehow completely different at the same time.
Raising his hand, Izuku cast a spell each from Concussive Beams, Thunder Touch and Fire Manipulation at the same time.
Twin beams of green and red energy fired from Izuku's palm, striking the Nomu attacking Alt-Ojiro in the shoulder.
A massive explosion ripped through the Nomu, the detonation from the twin beam concussive spell amplified by the thunder and fire spells cast in parallel.
The smoke cleared to reveal the Nomu was now missing its entire head and shoulders, its body already crumbling to dust.
Izuku caught a glimpse of Han'i diving into the dust cloud, a gas mask in place, swinging back out again with the another hero, one half of the hero duo Water Hose, firmly in his grasp.
Another Nomu suddenly loomed down behind Alt-Ojiro. Izuku cried out, raising his hand to fire another concussive beam.
Before he could, a loud bang echoed and a cannonball buried itself deep in the Nomu's forehead. The Nomu reached up to dig the projectile out, but it was too late, the cannonball spewed expanding foam, exploding its head from the inside out.
Han'i swung by, the first rescued hero already over one shoulder, grabbing the second, newly freed from this Nomu, and adding him to his other shoulder.
Izuku looked over to see a smoking cannon in front of Momo, a section of the ground off to the side scooped out like ice-cream.
Another almost familiar proficiency appearing in Izuku's void, joining Hokyo's Voice Manipulation.
Transmutation.
"Mikumo's foam." Izuku murmured.
Momo nodded. "Traded the chemical formula for making him a batch of nanobots, made some for myself as well. By the way, where did you get those designs?"
Izuku felt his face heating up, firing another beam from his palm. "Just an old forum."
"They have a government seal on them." Momo countered, unloading her next shot.
"Fine, but you can't tell anyone." Izuku admitted. "I got them from David Shield, via All Might, he requisitioned them from the I-Island vault. It's legal, just a bit frowned upon by I-Island management."
The sudden displacement of air grabbed their attention, Izuku and Momo watched as Alt-Ojiro turned, his gigantic form peering down at them.
"Thanks for the assistance, Prince Izure, Lady Momoka." Alt-Ojiro nodded curtly, reminding Izuku of the teen's quiet but steadfast real-world self.
"Mashira, a little help here!"
They all turned to look, Sato's alternate was pinned by two Nomu, the other members of his squad fighting Nomu a distance away.
One of the Nomu raised its arm, the clay reforming into a sharpened point, before bringing it down at Alt-Sato.
Izuku jumped off the wall.
Mid-fall, Izuku activated all six copies of Enlargement and cast a spell on himself. By the time his feet hit the ground he was half the size of a Nomu, by the time he was halfway there he was taller than it.
Desperately charging One For All into his arm, Izuku slammed a fist into the Nomu's pointed arm just as it began to dig into Alt-Sato's flesh.
The Nomu instantly turned to dust, every particle blown away in a massive gust of wind, just leaving the civilian, red material fluttering behind him as he fell.
Izuku cried out in pain.
He'd forgotten to limit One For All.
Fighting through the pain, Izuku reached out with his unbroken hand. Placing it under the falling man, Izuku cast an anti-gravity spell to slow the man to halt safety, floating harmlessly a few feet about his palm.
Izuku raised his hand up to get a better look at the man.
Crimson Riot.
Dressed in his hero costume and not looking a day older than his retirement.
And then he opened his eyes.
"All For One." The former Pro Hero gasped. "He's-"
He slumped unconscious, his hero costume giving way to tattered chainmail.
Panic ripped through Izuku, Crimson Riot knew about All For One, he was warning about him.
All these Nomu, were transformed Pro Heroes, trapped in clay.
Does that mean, in the real world, the Nomu are missing Pro Heroes?
But that didn't make sense, Water Hose were dead, their bodies had been found and buried. Izuku's empty grave wasn't far from theirs.
Why can't theirs be empty too?
Izuku felt sick to his stomach, Nomu weren't just transformed humans, but corpses, that must be why their higher-brain functions weren't active.
Just puppets on a string.
Before he could think about it too long, Izuku watched as Han'i collected Crimson Riot, swinging back towards the city.
"Thanks." Alt-Sato grunted, holding the shallow wound in his shoulder. "Your majesty."
"Just call me, Izure." Izuku offered. "That stuff, is still weird to me."
This was his own dream, making himself a crown prince felt like self-aggrandising.
"Sure thing, Izure." Alt-Sato shrugged, before hissing in pain. "Call me Rikimu."
"Here, let me." Izuku moved his unbroken arm, placing the hand over the wound.
"Purgo. Sano. Humero."
The bleeding stopped, the injury scabbing over and shrinking to half the size.
"That's just a patch up, you'll need to have it seen to later." Izuku advised.
"Thanks." Rikimu experimentally tested Izuku's healing spell, rolling his shoulder. "Nurse? Battlemedic?"
"Schoolteacher."
The word slipped from Izuku's lips before he could stop it. He wasn't a teacher, not really. Izure was, he wasn't.
But he remembered it, the training, his first class, the tears, a fair few of them his, when they moved on at the end of the year.
The line between Izuku and Izure was starting to get incredibly thin.
"Stay safe, man." Rikimu encouraged, punching him lightly on the shoulder.
Izuku hissed in pain.
"Er, sorry about that, I absolutely forgot about that." Rikimu apologised. "You should go and get that checked out."
With that, Rikimu charged back into the fray, rejoining the rest of his squad.
Izuku wasn't going to abandon this fight.
"Purgo. Sano. Brachium."
The bone slid back into place, the breaks healing, but the bruising remained, Izuku could tell it was still very fragile.
"Tempus. Adcelero. Brachium."
The bruising faded, the healing of the bone accelerated until Izuku felt it was usable again.
An inhuman screech reached Izuku's ears, he looked up to see a Nomu charging him.
Deflecting a clawed slash with his good arm, Izuku pushed the Nomu's arm wide and sent the creature off balance.
Casting one of Kocha's spell, Izuku increased the gravity on the Nomu. The effect was instantaneous, the Nomu overbalanced and landed flat on its back.
Drawing his now massive sword, Izuku raised it high and drove it into the Nomu's head.
It collapsed into dust, the freed Pro Hero falling a few feet into the grass harmlessly.
"On it!" Han'i yelled as he swooped past Izuku's ear. "Urgh, you really need to clean your ears out more, looking like a necromancer's lair in there."
Izuku paid his comment no mind, turning his attention back to the battlefield.
Momo was peppering the Nomu with cannonfire, Katte and Yuryo blasting any Nomu that tried to go after her from afar. Beyond them, Tenra, Kocha and Sansho, in his split form, were working together to fight two Nomu simultaneously.
The Kyojinger Squad had switched focus, holding the bulk of the Nomu back as the others cut down the closer one.
A Nomu slipped past them, charging towards a gap in the defenses, straight for the city.
With a cry, Izuku put himself in the path of the Nomu, its frantic eyes boring into him.
"This is going to hurt."
Izuku took a house-sized fist to his injured arm, breaking the still fragile bone again. He stumbled back, concentration lapsing, his hold on Enlargement failed, returning him to his regular size and Hinode flying from his grasp.
The Nomu roared, bringing its foot down on Izuku.
"Tessera Kick!"
A bolt of light streaked across the sky, an intertwining vortex of cyan and purple, slamming into one of the Nomu, taking its head clean off as it stumbled back, its foot never reaching Izuku.
The light faded, revealing a figure in purple and cyan armor, the colours split down the middle. They angled downwards, carving a path through the dirt cloud, reappearing with another missing hero, Absolver, over their shoulder.
"Clear the landing zone!"
Clutching his broken arm, Izuku dived out of the way as the armoured figure landed, sending dust in every direction. They placed Absolver down, his ragged hero costume instantly shifting to damaged plate armor.
The armored figure stood up straight, finally allowing Izuku a better look at them.
"You're not from this world." Izuku breathed, his eyes examining the high-tech armor.
The figure shrugged. "I'm just passing through."
A woman's voice, her accent was unfamiliar to Izuku, unlike any he'd ever heard before.
"Who are you?" Izuku found himself asking.
The armoured woman shrugged. "Just a ghost in the machine."
"Ghost in the machine?" Izuku repeated. "That means, this is a simulation?"
"They were right about you, you are quick." The woman replied. "A word of advice, kid. Go for the one with the purple beak, it's the leader."
With that, she was gone, like she had never been there at all.
Izuku wheeled around, his eyes falling on the Nomu at the back of the pack, the one with the purple beak.
Charging forwards, Izuku reactivated his Enlargement spells, his form growing to match and then surpass the Nomu once again.
Passing the rest of the Nomu, held back by the Kyojingers, Izuku charged five percent of One For All in his legs and Kocha's magic to lighten his body, dodging their swiping claws.
Rearing his uninjured arm back, Izuku charged ten percent of One For All into it and with a yell grabbed the purple-beaked Nomu by the face.
Lifting upwards, he took it clean off its feet, before slamming it down headfirst into the ground.
It turned to dust, the captured person inside gently falling the last few meters, almost looking like they were floating.
A white cape fluttered.
They must be another missing hero.
Izuku released Enlargement, his body returning to normal as he touched down next to the hero.
Unlike the rest of them, bar Crimson Riot briefly, this one was conscious, slowly pushing herself to her feet.
The white cape fell back to hang from her shoulders, revealing a dark navy bodysuit, yellow boots and gloves with a red waist cape.
The hero smiled, the radiance of it filling Izuku with a sense of warmth and security.
"It's okay now." The hero tightened her fist, looking back at Izuku over her shoulder. "I am here."
Izuku froze in his tracks. "Seventh?"
"Hello again, Izuku." Seventh smiled. "I'm sorry for the secrecy before, from now on you can call me Nana Shimura."
"The One For All user before All Might." Izuku spoke in awe. "The Pro Hero: Zeppelin."
Nana laughed. "That am I, but there's something else you can call me."
"What is it?"
Nana grinned.
"Grandmother."
Izuku felt like he'd been punched in the broken arm by a Nomu again. "W-What? How?"
Nana smirked. "I'm not sure right now it is the time for the talk on the birds and the bees."
"T-That's not what I-I was talking about!" Izuku denied, his face flushing bright red.
"I'll explain it when this battle is over, I promise." Nana assured, before holding out her hand. "And I hope you don't mind, but I need to borrow this."
Hinode flew from where it had landed, the handle slapping into Nana's outstretched palm. Turning, she held out her other hand and a few seconds later Yuyake joined its opposite.
Izuku heard Tenra give a shocked cry.
A blinding white light made Izuku turn his head away, looking back to see the two blades had merged. A massive buster sword, made from two equal sections of emerald and sapphire, split diagonally, rested on Nana's shoulder.
"I didn't expect this to feel quite so nostalgic." Nana spoke, power surging through her, body cracking with purple static.
Crouching down, gathering her power, Nana rocketed into the sky, flying directly at the first Nomu.
In an instant it was decapitated, its body turned to dust, the captive inside caught by Nana as she flew by, deposited a few seconds later to a still enlarged Captain Barker.
Nana soared across the darkening sky, her feet never touching the ground, carving a path of dust and rescued captives as six of the remaining Nomu fell. One after the other until only the last remained.
"Blackthorn!" Nana roared as she bared down on the final Nomu. "I know you're watching through this thing's eyes."
Nana buried her sword in the Nomu's throat.
"I'm coming for you." Nana declared, latched onto the handle of her blade. "That I promise."
With a final heave, the Nomu was defeated, its captive, the other half of the hero duo Water Hose, handed over the now normal sized Kyojinger Squad.
Izuku, using Tenra's magic, dashed over to join Nana as she landed on the city wall.
"Phew, I forgot how tiring that can be, no, that was worse." Nana sighed, clearly unsteady. "Toshi really pushed One For All forwards a bit, didn't he?"
With that Nana promptly collapsed, her sword splitting back into Hinode and Yuyake as it hit the ground.
Izuku caught Nana before she could fall all the way, gently setting her down.
Footsteps pounded, Izuku found himself joined by Momo, Tenra and Captain Barker.
Barker's eyebrows shot up into his hairline. "Queen Namie, I thought it a trick of the light, but she is alive!"
Izuku stared down at the hero who had just claimed to be his grandmother, while holding his injured arm.
"Yeah, she is."