At the entrance, Izuku took a deep breath, fortifying himself for his first step into the field of heroics. Mirko gave him a smirk and said, "Nervous, sparky?"

"A bit, yeah."

Mirko scoffed. "You fought the Hero Killer and a bunch of Nomu mano a mano, but a powerpoint presentation makes you nervous?"

In lieu of replying, Izuku opened the door. A few familiar faces greeted him, from his classmates Tokoyami, Kirishima, and Ochako, to bigger heroes like Ryukyu and Fatgum. Most heroes were harder to recognize, either hailing from underground heroics or smaller local agencies. Kirishima and Dark Shadow gave him eager waves, and Tokoyami subtly inched aside to make room at the seat next to him.

Mirko scoffed as she sized up the rest of the heroes seated in the massive meeting room. "What a mess. I swear, half this team's thrown together with whatever the HPSC could scrape off the bottom of the barrel."

One of the heroes, overhearing her, turned and glared at her. "You're welcome to leave, if you're not going to take this seriously."

Mirko made a show of mulling it over. "Nah. Someone's gotta show you how it's done."

"I sincerely hope not." Hawks strolled in, wings fanned wide, with a bucket of chicken tucked under one arm. "I'd hate to see any other heroes following your… less than personable example."

"Better that than all of them bending over and taking it like a good little government stooge."

Sensing the hostility in the room mounting and wanting nothing to do with it, Izuku said, "You're here because the HPSC asked you to. Doesn't that also make you a government stooge?"

Hawks nearly choked on a piece of chicken. Mirko feigned a blow to the heart and said, "Betrayed by my own intern? No wonder why I've never taken on any brats before."

A heavy slap of papers hitting the podium up front drew every set of eyes towards Sir Nighteye. The precognitive hero gave Mirko and Hawks an exhausted glower and said, "Seeing that we are already past the meeting's starting time, I would appreciate it if you would all be seated and silent. Hold all questions until the end."

As Sir Nighteye went over the known layout of the Shie Hassaikai base, their operations, and their personnel, Izuku took careful notes, memorizing every detail. He felt jumpy and tense, excited and nervous for his first real mission as a hero. Each of them had a role, from Ryukyu covering the exit, to Hawks intercepting any runners and Mirko acting as a human wrecking ball. Izuku felt his own stomach twist when it was revealed he would be spearheading the operation, charging forward until he found Overhaul and took him out.

"The intangibility their Quirks provide make Viridian and Lemillion both ideal for confronting Overhaul, as his Quirk requires physical contact. Anyone else who runs into him should report his location and retreat."

"Are you seriously leaving the most important job to a couple of kids? They aren't even out of high school yet!"

Nighteye raised an eyebrow at the hero. "I would invite you to challenge Overhaul yourself, but I have enough paperwork on my desk as is. Does anyone else have any objections?"

Ryukyu shifted in her seat. Then she cleared her throat and said, "I recognize your point, but I think it foolhardy to send those two in alone. Shouldn't they at least have backup from Mirko or Hawks?"

"Mirko is a close-quarters specialist. Overhaul is a terrible matchup for her." Mirko bristled, though she held herself back from objecting. "And Hawks would have trouble maneuvering underground." When that didn't make Ryukyu stand down, Nighteye added, "I am already making concessions by adding Lemillion as backup. The HPSC had requested that Midoriya, hero name Viridian, confront Overhaul by himself."

That comment drew a whole host of angry mutters from the assembled heroes. Tokoyami gave him a silent, wondering look, and Izuku felt vaguely uneasy at the attention.

"With all that out of the way, the operation begins tomorrow. Any patrol routes you have will be reassigned or dropped, and any other engagements you've had will need to be canceled. I think you all understand the reason behind the sudden haste."

A few heroes grumbled, but none objected. The heroes each fielded questions of their own, about their matchups with villains, the publicity they could expect, and how involved the police force would be. Mirko had left halfway through the Q&A session, and Izuku felt torn between following after his assigned hero and staying for the rest of the meeting.

As he mulled over what to do, he sensed a flicker of movement behind him. He tensed, but the shadow simply slipped a note onto Izuku's seat. Opening it inside his notebook, he found it simply read, 'want to chat for a bit afterwards?'

He had never talked much with Tokoyami, but he was one of the few who stood against removing him from 1-A. Meeting his eyes, Izuku nodded and folded the note shut.

With the last of the questions answered, Sir Nighteye dismissed them all. As Izuku was leaving, the hero called out, "Viridian. Might I have a moment of your time?"

Tokoyami gave Izuku a quick nod and slipped out. Izuku sighed and said, "Yes sir."

Izuku paused at the entrance to Sir Nighteye's office. His fervor for All Might had faded beneath the sunlight of another world, but he could still appreciate the sheer value, rarity, and condition of the merchandise on display. The office felt like a temple, with posters for stained glass windows, figurines of all sizes in place of statues, and an All Might tablecloth laid over the desk like a decorative altar.

Sir Nighteye, observing Izuku all the while, gave him an approving nod. "It gladdens me to see such respect for All Might's legacy in his successor."

Izuku caught a faint whiff of bitterness in his words. "It's a bit soon to call me the number one hero, isn't it?"

"Did All Might tell you to keep it a secret from me?"

Izuku realized a few things in that moment. One, the HPSC had told him about their theory. Two, that he hadn't talked to All Might about it. And three, Sir Nighteye had strong feelings about it.

"He had not informed me who it was safe to discuss it with," Izuku said. It was technically the truth, but it still stung with the guilt of a lie.

Sir Nighteye turned to face the largest poster in his collection, the one that loomed over his desk. "I was his intern throughout my education at U.A. Then I was his sidekick until I formed my own agency. I was one of the few people he trusted with his secret, one of the few that fought alongside him to rid the world of All for One. I thought that he valued my opinions, that he respected me as a fellow hero. Yet, when it came time to make a hard decision, when his own life was on the line, he refused to listen to me. You being here, with his Quirk, after I swore to help him find and train his successor, is the greatest slap in the face he could have ever given me." He turned back around and cleaned off his glasses. "However, you are not to blame for his actions, and I refuse to hold them against you. Just know that I am at your service, should you ever need it."

Guilt slammed into Izuku like a sledgehammer, and for a brief moment, Izuku felt an overwhelming urge to tell Sir Nighteye the truth. However, he didn't know how close the hero was to the HPSC. He couldn't risk them digging into the real reason behind his powers, stumble into another world, and draw the eye of the Marines.

"I appreciate it," Izuku said instead, "And I'm sorry you went through that."

"There's no use in dwelling on the past. Let us discuss the future." He pulled back the sleeve of his coat, exposing his hand before Izuku's eyes. "I have a precognitive Quirk."

"That works off of tactile contact, though how it works and how far it can see aren't public knowledge. I have guesses, but they're only that."

"You're well informed. Specifically, I see events spool out like a film reel, for as far forward as I care to look. Going farther into the future makes it difficult to parse through individual frames, but I can manage about a decade before it gives me a migraine."

Questions leapt to the tip of Izuku's tongue, but the somber tone of the room kept him from asking them. Instead, he asked, "Do you want to see mine?"

"If you would. It would put my mind at ease if I knew no harm would come to you from spearheading the operation."

"And if it did, you would change your actions and have me fight someplace else," Izuku reasoned. "And would therefore change what you see until you see a desirable outcome."

Sir Nighteye frowned. "If only it were that simple. Still, one can only hope."

Izuku held out his hand. Nighteye brushed his palm with his fingertips, and behind his eyes, Izuku could see a golden flicker, like an ancient projector whirring away in his skull. Seconds ticked by, minutes stretched out, and still, Sir Nighteye did not move. Izuku was wondering if he should tap the hero or try to find help when Nighteye stumbled back into reality with a shuddering gasp.

"Sir Nighteye! Are you alright?"

The hero gasped for breath. He wiped beads of sweat off his brow with a handkerchief and clutched his throat to keep himself from vomiting.

"Was is something I did?" Izuku asked, on the verge of panic. "Was it my Quirk? Did I somehow shock you by accident?"

Sir Nighteye's gaze flicked up to him, and the hero tensed before he forced himself to relax.

I… am not sure. Regardless, there's no permanent harm done and you had done nothing wrong. I will simply be more careful in the future."

"Do you need anything? Should I call anyone?"

"No, there's no need for that." Nighteye looked around in a daze. When he saw the mug sitting on his desk, he drained the whole thing in one gulp. Catching his breath, he asked, "Tell me, Midoriya. What do you want most in the world?"

Caught off guard, Izuku threw a grin on his face and said, "To be the number one hero. I made a promise to my friends."

"I see." Sir Nighteye straightened and adjusted his shirt. "You may leave. I have a few calls I need to make."

Feeling disturbed, Izuku gently closed the door behind him. Walking outside, he hadn't expected Tokoyami to still be lingering at the agency, yet his classmate was waiting in the shadow of the building.

"Sorry about that," Izuku said. "He wanted to make sure I was comfortable leading the raid."

"Right." Tokoyami shuffled awkwardly. "So, uh, how is your internship going?"

From behind him, Dark Shadow slapped its own face. Izuku chuckled and said, "Mirko's been great. I feel like I've been getting stronger, and I'm learning a lot as well."

Tokoyami spent a second imagining an even stronger Izuku and shuddered. "I'm glad for you. My own internship… doesn't feel the same."

"You have Hawks, right?"

"I do. And we've been going out on patrols almost every day."

"That's good. You're getting experience."

"I wish I was. What happens instead is, Hawks flies off and mops up every criminal in the area, while I help the sidekicks load them into police cars. I can't even come close to keeping up with him. If my internship has taught me anything, it's that I have a long way to go before calling myself a hero."

"Well, if mobility is your problem, you could always look into support gear. I bet Mei would have something cooked up for you before you could blink."

Tokoyami scratched at his feathers. "I suppose, but I wouldn't want to rely on a piece of equipment. I want to be able to fly like Hawks does." With a pointed glance, he added, "Like you do."

"I'm not sure how much I can help with that," Izuku said nervously. "My Quirk isn't exactly something you can copy."

"It isn't. But it isn't the only way you can fly around, is it? There's what you do with your lightning to fly, but most of the time, it looks more like you're hopping through the air. You also mentioned in class that some of what you could do didn't have to do with your Quirk."

Izuku sighed. "You're right. Hopping on air is something, in theory, that I could teach you. I tried teaching Kirishima. Recovery Girl threatened to skin me alive if I ever tried it again."

"Then you can't help me."

"Not with that, no." Izuku speculatively studied Dark Shadow. "But what about your Quirk? Can they fly?"

Dark Shadow brightened at being addressed. "You betcha! Though, I gotta stick close to Fumi-chan."

Tokoyami bristled at the endearing name, and Dark Shadow made a face back at him. Before the two could start fighting, Izuku asked, "Can you carry Tokoyami?"

Dark Shadow grinned and scooped him up. "Sure can! Though, he's a lot heavier than I am, and I have to push off the ground."

"Then is there a way for you to flap your wings and hold Tokoyami at the same time?"

Teen and Quirk exchanged glances. "I suppose, but… no, it's worth a try. You have my thanks, Midoriya."

"Anytime. See you at the raid tomorrow."

"And what a mad banquet of darkness it will be. Safe travels."

After a nearly sleepless night tossing and turning, strategizing and scribbling in his notebooks, Izuku gave himself a small jolt to wake himself up, presented himself at the Nighteye agency, and followed the assembled heroes and police to the Shie Hassaikai hideout.

The raid had been something of a letdown.

It started impressively enough, with a hulking, energy-stealing brute fist-fighting a dragon. The energy stealing proved no obstacle for someone who could outspeed the drain, and a single Second Gear uppercut to the jaw knocked his lights out.

Inside the labyrinth, the walls immediately moved to shuffle them around, but Izuku felt the hostile presence lurking in a corner and zapped it. A short, squat man tumbled out of the crumbling concrete and passed out at a policeman's feet.

The Yakuza had evidently expected them to have trouble with the moving tunnels, as the hero raid caught them with their metaphorical pants down. Villains hauling boxes into getaway vans scrambled to confront the forces united against them and swiftly went down. Izuku ignored the chaff, brushing past bullets and Quirk effects to pursue the man running off with a scarred little girl.

Overhaul turned, hand whipping out, smirking as his fingertips approached Izuku's chest. "Be cleansed from this world, filth."

Overhaul's fingers passed through his chest. The Yakuza boss had a single second to process his dilemma before Izuku broke the arm holding the girl, gently nudged her aside, and fried Overhaul with every volt he could muster. Smoke curled from his singed hair and clothes as Overhaul collapsed to the floor.

Eri gazed up at him in wonder. "You didn't disappear when he touched you."

"Nope! That's because I'm made of lightning. Want to touch?"

Eri reached out, then anxiously pulled her hand back. "I shouldn't. People vanish when I touch them too."

"Overhaul couldn't do it, right? It'll be fine."

Hesitantly, Eri reached out, and her fingertips grazed Izuku's shirt. Izuku waited patiently until Eri sank her fingers in. She swished her fingers around and marveled at the sparks dancing around. "It tickles."

"It sure does. Hey, do you want a piggyback ride?"

And that's how Sir Nighteye and the other heroes, finally catching up after apprehending every Yakuza member, found Izuku carrying Eri on his shoulders, telling stories about pirates and marine admirals, and absently kicking a thug reaching for his ankle.

"Did you know there would be a girl down here?" Izuku asked Sir Nighteye.

The sudden chill in his voice made all the heroes shudder. Sir Nighteye covered for his lapse in composure by adjusting his glasses. "I had, though given I had foreseen everything turning out well in the end, I felt it was better not to mention it, as it might change the outcome."

"Or that was the outcome you saw because you told me she was here," Izuku shot back. "I don't know why she's here, but she has scars on her arms, and they don't look like an accident. If I had known she was here, I wouldn't have waited for the raid to start."

Sir Nighteye fell on the receiving end of a few glares from Mirko and Ryukyu, among other heroes and cops. Bowing his head, Sir Nighteye said, "I recognize that leaving her in the Yakuza's hands any longer than strictly necessary was in poor taste, but I could not compromise the mission. That said, if anything like this ever comes up again, I will mention it."

"Good." Looking up at Eri, he asked, "Are you hungry?"

Eri stuck a hand in her mouth, torn about answering. Izuku gave her a gentle pat and said, "They're not going to hurt you. It's okay to ask for food."

"Oh. Then yes please."

"What's your favorite thing to eat in the whole world?"

"I don't know."

"Well, let's go find out!"

Before anyone could stop him, Izuku Soru'd out of the Yakuza hideout. As sparks flickered in Izuku's wake, Sir Nighteye frowned after him.

Mirko slugged him on the shoulder. "Kind of a dick move, four eyes. You should have said something."

Rubbing the shoulder, Mirai said, "I had to be sure. And, to be honest, part of me was hoping what I saw was wrong."

At that, Hawks tensed, though Mirko was facing the wrong direction to notice. As the heroes and police wrapped up the crime scene, Hawks slipped Nighteye a slip of paper with a phone number.

Mirai watched from a bird's-eye view as an earthquake wreaked havoc across New York City. Heroes scrambled to evacuate civilians out of collapsing skyscrapers and triage the wounded, and people scrambled to rescue food and belongings before their homes fell apart.

He wouldn't have even recognized the city if it weren't for the Statue of Liberty, standing defiant even as the oceans heaved and roiled around it. The salt water made its oxidized surface gleam like polished aquamarine, and its torch held aloft caught glimmering sun rays and sparkled.

Even as the earth trembled and the seas thrashed against the city's shores, a greater disaster loomed over the horizon. A massive stormfront stretched across the entire horizon, rimming the city in a chilly shadow. Flickers of green lightning danced from cloud to cloud, casting the ocean in an emerald glow that made it look like a vat of frothing acid.

The wind howled, and the sun dimmed as the clouds rushed in unnaturally fast, like a pillow smothering the life out of the city. Street lights flickered on, and the people redoubled their panicked efforts to run from the end of the world.

Once the veil drew over the city and snuffed out every last speck of the sky, the clouds parted. A towering being, vaguely resembling a man, as if a titan had clumsily sculpted lightning into its shape and couldn't quite keep its form distinct. One foot crashed down into the harbor, swamping Lady Liberty in an impromptu tsunami.

"Need… power!" the giant bellowed.

Street lights shattered and windows blew out as the entire electrical grid of the city flowed into the giant.

"More… more! Need more!"

The electrical grid had no power left to give, but that didn't deter the giant. Lady Liberty, for one resplendent moment, shone in its original copper color, standing defiantly against the giant as America's protector, with a tablet for a shield and torch held aloft to strike down the invader. Then the copper disintegrated, rendered into plasma as the giant stripped the electrons off of every atom. The sea hissed and bubbled, the buildings peeled apart like old wallpaper, and even the ground drifted away like dust.

The people had stopped running away. They stood in throngs, watching their end unfold, with belongings held limply in their arms and children clutched tightly to their chests. Heroes milled about them, checking for any wounded and lost, but even they grew still before the giant.

Having drained the city dry, the giant turned its glowing eyes towards the people. One arm reached out, as if offering a helping hand. Lightning leapt from its fingertips. It struck a family, and they disappeared in a flash. Snuffed out. Gone.

The people barely had time to register what had happened when the giant spread its fingers wide. Lightning raced out, vanishing each person it touched, until all that remained of New York was a flat, desolate plain.

Chicago. Houston. Los Angeles. The giant swept across the country, draining the power and landscape dry and zapping every person it could find. Its form grew larger with every person it consumed, and by the time it scoured the west coast barren, its form stretched across entire states.

The U.S. made its final stand at Hawaii. The naval base there had jets on standby, ready to take off at a moment's notice. Ships floated in formation outside the harbor, pitching and leaning with the massive waves churning the ocean. At its heart, stood a thin, frail Star and Stripe, with her hero costume hanging limply off her shrunken form. Even as the earth cracked and trembled, she stood tall, bearing the weight of the world on her shoulders.

In a flash, the jets and boats disappeared. The entire military compound blew away in the wind, and every soldier there disappeared, save one. Cathleen looked up, fists clenched, face pale, struggling to hold the whole world together.

"Did I find everyone?" the giant asked.

"You did. I'm the last one left."

"Good." The giant, not even humanoid at this point, but a massive, incoherent blob engulfing the sky, touched the island, as if kneeling before her. "Are you ready?"

Cathleen hesitated. "There's nothing left to protect, is there? Then I release my hold on the world."

Her shoulders relaxed. A ripple spread through the planet. Cracks split the continents, and the oceans boiled.

"That just leaves Japan, doesn't it?"

The giant nodded. "I don't think I'm strong enough. I still need more power."

"Then I have one last thing to try before I go."

Cathleen Bates' last words were lost in the cacophony of the world's demise, but its effects were not. The formless ball of lightning quivered. It glowed like a verdant sun, condensing into a mythical figure, with antlers stretching like forks of lightning, scales like sparks hammered into plate, and hooves that clapped against the ground with the sound of thunder.

The massive kirin planted its hooves, anchoring a single slice of Hawaii in place as the rest of the world crumpled in on itself. The horned giant knelt, touching its horn to Star and Stripe, and she vanished in a burst of green lightning.

As the scene faded away, Sir Nighteye saw the kirin turn towards him. Its eyes widened in surprise, and a bolt of lightning shot towards him-

Mirai bolted out of bed. Gasping for air and sweating profusely, Mirai stumbled on shaking legs for the bathroom. After dousing his face in the sink, his eyes darted across the room. He still didn't understand what he saw or how it could come to be, but that was Izuku's future, and that was Izuku's power destroying the world.

Who could he tell? Would All Might listen to him, when he failed to heed his warnings five years ago? Would Nezu listen, when he was clearly hiding something about the boy? Who else had the resources to halt a world-ending disaster?

Sir Nighteye dialed the phone number Hawks gave him.

A/N: welcome to the hip new game show, Should I Trust X Person with My Secrets? The only game show where all the contestants make all the wrong choices. Oh, and the world's also going to end.

I've been house hunting, and it's going about as well as you might expect in this economy. Put in four bids, all four got rejected because someone decided to forego the inspection, which… why? You're staking your life savings on this piece of property and aren't even going to check if the foundation will hold? Ah well, here's hoping fifth time's the charm. And if it's not, I'll just stick to my apartment and try again next year.

Gamelover41592: "reads the Mei part: 0-0 oh *beep*"

Bardothren: oh bleep indeed

DARKPHANTOM13: "So, is Izuku going to tell anyone that Stain not only has Haki, but also manage to create an offshoot of Conqueror's Haki? I feel like that would be really important for at least some people to know."

Bardothren: I bet it would, but I'm not sure how far Izuku would get in his explanation about another world and manifesting willpower to punch god until the HPSC decides he needs a rubber straightjacket.

Kalbario: "My only hope is that you don't cheapen gear 4th and 5th. I honestly can't see any opponent being worth going 5th. Overhaul honestly looks to be only high 3rd maybe low 4th level while AFO and Shigaraki mid to high 4th."

Bardothren: Overhaul got robbed. He was barely even worth first gear.

ProjectIceman: "No freaking way they learned of the time machine just like that lol smh"

Bardothren: AfO kinda already knew, as he was old as dirt and recognized a prominent part of ancient mass media that had since fallen out of the zeitgeist. Aoyama probing for information is simply confirmation… and a reminder that OfA knows about the time machine.

GoldQuartz: "I don't know why people think he has One For All, maybe just to justify his strength instead of the Quirk Singularity theory"

Bardothren: the HPSC's working on the theory that Izuku had a dormant or invisible Quirk that One for All activated, like Nana's float turning into full-on flight.