Every hero has a legacy.

Notes: Art!
Limedoodle
Blackwinged_Angel
Avroux Memes!
X X X X X X

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

"No. Absolutely not." Izuku put his foot down. "You can't bring explosive materials into a hospital Mei-chan!"

"But I want to start testing as soon as possible!" Mei pouted. "It's nothing too dangerous, just a teeny, tiny micro…"

"It's a hospital, Mei-chan." Izuku interrupted. "Everything is dangerous."

"I'm sure they'd let Bakugo in if he came to visit." Mei grumbled. "And he's the definition of explosive."

"He's also a person, Mei-chan." Izuku sighed. "So still no."

"But I already brought it!" Mei whined. "I can't just leave it outside!"

"Make Ocha take it back to the school." Hitoshi suggested. "I think Sero had detention today, so he should still be at school. She can use him as an anchor point, then take whatever you need back to the lab."

Ochako nodded, "Yeah! It'll be good practice."

Mei glared at them before giving in and shoving her bag into Ochako's hands, "Fine! But be quick about it!"

Ochako grinned and Izuku reached for his notebook. He'd really only seen that weird light around her a few times now, since most of the time she was disappearing too fast for him to get a good look, but it seemed to appear whenever she was searching for an anchor, which made Izuku completely nerd out with questions. How did she tell anchors apart? Could she train her quirk to figure out how far away they were or even where? If she used two anchors, could she theoretically jump to a point between them?

There was a beep from the tracking earrings and Hitoshi whistled as Ochako popped out of existence, "I keep thinking that'll get less impressive, but so far, no luck. It was really freaky the first time, though. Now it's just cool."

Izuku frowned, "It's weird that it came on so suddenly. I would have expected her quirk to get stronger gradually, which means there would have been signs and then she could have trained herself to jump, rather than jumping and having to train herself to not."

"Well, she has been pushing her quirk a lot." Mei said. "Would that affect it at all?"

"There is a trend of hero students' quirks changing while they train." Izuku acknowledged. "But those normally happen during the second year when training gets more intense in preparation for licensing exams, not when they've barely started training."

"I think Izuku might be onto something." Hitoshi butt in. "Eraser's been acting super weird about her quirk too, like there's some sort of secret about it or something. But then again, he's also been pretty frustrated with All Might and that seems to be normal, so it might be nothing. I'm kinda still learning how to read him and Mic. What with internships and everything, me and my adults haven't really just had time to hang out at home, you know?"

Mei leaned into his personal space and looked him in the eye, "But it's better, right? They weren't lying about protecting you and making sure you had a better place to live than that stupid foster home, right?"

Hitoshi nodded, "They actually encourage me to talk at home, which is nice, but I never know how to respond when they ask me how quirk training is going. I've never had any adults be genuinely interested before. I fthey asked, they were just testing the waters to make sure I wasn't going to murder them in their sleep or soething."

"Who are you going to murder?" Ochako had popped into the middle of the conversation. "I hope they deserve it."

"They would have." Hitoshi assured her. "But don't worry about it too much. You ready to introduce robo-boy to his new kidnappers."

"Hitoshi!" Izuku squawked. "You can't just call us kidnappers in everyday conversation!"

"Why not?" Hitoshi said innocently. "Mei-chan calls things her babies all the time."

"I'm pretty sure that makes it worse." Ochako giggled. "If you're not careful, people are going to think you two steal people's babies or something."

"I would never steal another person's baby!" Mei said indignantly. "It's much more fun to make them myself!"

The rest of them laughed as Izuku groaned loudly, "Can we just go now? We don't want to keep Iida waiting."

"Yeah! Let's go!" Ochako led the way. "And can we just appreciate that we just talked about Iida and I didn't immediately disappear?!"

"Good work, Gravity Girl!" Mei clapped her on the back. "A little more control and I'll be able to make you such awesome babies!"

Izuku grabbed his notebook again, "What are you doing differently? If we can figure it out…"

Ochako shook her head, "It won't really work that well for everything. Right now, I'm just reminding the stupid quirk that Iida is right there, so I don't need to go to him. That's about it, but I'm not usually close enough for that trick to work."

"Still pretty good practice." Hitoshi shrugged as they arrived at Iida's room. "So...should we just knock?"

Mei was already barging through the door before he could even finish his question.


Mineta may have known exactly how he'd gotten here, but that didn't mean he had to like it. Seriously, how had All for One stayed in power this long if he thought it was a good idea to send a first year hero student against a serial killer? What kind of stupid plan was that?

He wasn't actually going to fight the serial killer. Unlike Shigaraki's beloved Sensei, Mineta wasn't an idiot. If he faced Stain head on, he was gonna end up like Iida or probably even worse, so no thank you. That didn't mean he was giving up, though. There was more than one way to skin a cat.

He looked around the alleyway one more time, making sure all of his traps were in place before taking out his burner phone. He'd stolen Mt. Lady's login information for the hero network during his internship, not that b1ga$$Lady was a very secure password to begin with, but it gave him access to a lot of the investigation files he wouldn't have been able to access as a student and allowed him to make some connections that made him doubt the competency of the Hero Commission.

The police had already picked up on the pattern of four heroes per city. He'd moved on after Hosu and only had one attack so far, so Mineta wasn't too concerned about missing him, especially because of the pattern the police had missed. With the exception of Ingenium, who seemed to have simply stumbled into him, there was usually a call on the hero network a few minutes before the hero was attacked, which meant that Stain was either looking for crimes and chasing them to the heroes or, more likely, listening to police and hero scanners to find and trap his targets. All Mineta needed to turn that tactic against him was a little bit of bait.

He dialed the police and took a few shallow breaths so that it sounded like he was hyperventilating by the time the operator responded, "Please! Please, you gotta help me!"

"Kid, take a deep breath with me, ok? What's going on?"

"I...I don't know!" Mineta choked out. "I was just walking home from school, and i have to pass through his alley…"

"Is it a villain?"

"I…" Mineta looked around the empty alley. "I think so, yeah."

"Just one?"

"I think so?" Mineta answered. "I don't think the guy on the ground is a villain."

"Are you safe?"

"I think so…" Mineta had to pinch himself to keep himself from laughing, "Oh no, he's coming this way!"

"We're sending the nearest hero to your location, stay hidden and stay on the line…"

Mineta rolled his eyes and slammed the phone on the ground, stomping on it for good measure. According to the hero network, the nearest hero was some D-lister by the name of Slugger who had a reputation for leaving the difficult fights to other heroes while he warmed the bench, which should be a tempting enough target to bait his real target.

He used some of his balls to scale the wall and watch the chaos from the roof. All that was left to do was wait for a bite.


Tenya stared at the sheets and tried to ignore Tensei's disappointed glare from the corner. He had just about as much success with that as he had with ignoring his parents' tears the past few days, which was to say practically none. Why had he let his anger get the best of him like that? Why hadn't he talked to someone or thought through how it would affect his parents to have not one, but both of their sons lose all chances of being a hero within two weeks of each other? Why had he been so prideful as to think he could actually take on Stain?

Tensei sighed, "How are you feeling?"

"Strange." Tenya responded. "My arm hurts."

Tensei frowned, "I thought Recovery Girl was able to repair the damage in that one. Maybe there's something wrong. We can call the doctors…"

"Not that one." Tenya cut him off. "I think they called it phantom pain."

"Oh." Tensei said softly. "I'm sorry."

"It is not your fault that my stupidity got me injured." Tenya said firmly.

"I should have been there for you." Tensei looked like he was going to start crying again. "I shouldn't have put so much pressure on you to be the next Ingenium and now…"

Tenya didn't have any response to that. Ingenium was gone. There were no more Iida sons to carry on the name. Generations of heroes, cut short by a monster with a katana. What a legacy.

Tensei opened his mouth to say something, but was interrupted by the door bursting open. A girl with pink hair that he vaguely recognized from the sports festival rushed in, "So! You're the boy that lost the arm! Let me see!"

Another student with green hair ran after her in a panic, "Mei-chan! You can't just say things like that!"

"Why not, Izu-kun?" Mei asked. "If I'm going to be making him a new arm, then I need to see the situation!"

"It's a sensitive topic, Mei-chan!" Izu-kun said. "We don't even know if he still wants to be a hero, much less if he's willing to…"

"Who are you?" Tenya's brain was still catching up as he spluttered. "And your companion is quite right, it is quite rude to burst in here like that."

To his surprise, Uraraka rushed into the room as well, "I am so sorry, Iida. I know Mei and Izuku can be a bit much the first time you meet them, but I…"

Tenya's brain finished buffering and his eyes widened, "Wait, why do you want to know if I still want to be a hero?"

"So we can help you, silly!" Mei had pulled a tape measure from nowhere and Tenya flinched as she started measuring his shoulder. "Are you allergic to any metals? How well do you respond to radioactive materials?"

Shinso walked in and for some reason, in contrast to Uraraka's arrival, his arrival made complete sense. These two must be the support students, Midoriya and Hatsume, that helped him win the sports festival, then. It still didn't make any of this make any more sense, but at least someone was here who knew how to navigate the chaos.

"They want to make you their new project, just like Ocha and I have been." Shinso said. "I'd recommend just rolling with it...uh, no offense, wheelchair guy."

"None taken." Tensei said calmly. "But what would this project entail exactly?"

"Cyborg hero!" Mei shot him a manic grin. "Half man! Half groundbreaking Hatsume tech!"

Midoriya sighed, "What she means is that she wants to make him a new arm. A lot of heroes have managed to continue their careers after losing a limb, Ectoplasm being the prime example, but it'll be difficult, and I'm sure there's a lot of different issues, so don't feel obligated to…"

"I can still be a hero?" Tenya asked softly. "But I…"

"Well, you're still going to get into trouble for the vigilantism, obviously." Shinso said. "But you're still a student, so enough community service and a probation period should be enough to put you back on track, if you can manage to get Nedzu on your side."

"Do you want lasers in your fingers?" Mei asked, then nodded quickly. "I'm giving you lasers in your fingers."

From the corner, Tensei cleared his throat, "Hatsume, was it? What do you know about modifying wheelchairs?"

Mei grinned and Midoriya started scribbling something down in his notebook. Tenya felt vaguely terrified, but also oddly hopeful for the first time since the sports festival. What had he just signed up for?

Stain vs. Mineta

Notes: Art!
Chicax
Tess
The biggest fangirl Memes!
X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Mineta easily blended into the shadows as he watched Slugger hesitantly scope out the alley. He hung back for a long moment before he realized no one was there and he relaxed, stomping into the alley in frustration. He walked around for about thirty seconds before he huffed and activated his comm, "Yeah, It's a bust. Prank call probably. No, there's no one. Yeah, I'll be back soon. Might go get lunch on the way, or something though."

He cut the call and muttered under his breath, "Stupid kids. Wasting my time. Could've been…"

He trailed off and Mineta grinned as he followed Slugger's gaze and caught a glimpse of Stain's scarf before he disappeared into the shadows again. It looked like his prey had taken the bait after all! Good, it would have been annoying to have to go through all this work again.

"W-who's there?" Slugger put on a brave face. "I'm warning you, I'm a pro hero, so you don't want to mess with me! Come out where I can see you!"

A can clattered behind him and Mineta rolled his eyes as Slugger turned toward the sound. Really? Falling for the oldest trick in the book? Society really had too high of expectations if this was what they called a hero.

The moment Slugger turned his back, Stain made his move. He struck hard and fast like a viper, stabbing Slugger's arm and licking the blade before the hero even had a chance to return the blow, "Another false hero for me to cull. How lucky."

Luck had absolutely nothing to do with it, but Mineta wasn't about to criticize what a serial killer said to his victims before they died. He just needed to wait until Slugger was out of the way, then he could make his move. Just a little longer…

Unless, of course, Stain started monologuing, "It's cowards like you who are corrupting the word hero. You use your abilities for your own selfish gain rather than dedicating them to saving others. It's a tragedy that you were even able to get your license in the first place."

It was a good thing that Slugger's agency thought he was out to lunch, because Stain sure was taking his sweet time getting rid of this guy. After another minute or so of rambling about the evils of hero society and fake heroes in particular, Stain finally, finally, got around to actually doing his job and raised his Katana.

"You're a fake and don't deserve to live." Stain declared seriously. "I will stain myself, but at least the world will be clean of your filth."

Mineta tried not to flinch as the blade came down. It wasn't the first time he had watched someone die, and he was sure it was far from the last, so why should he let something like that phase him? He had chosen to work with the villains and this world was a dangerous game. Slugger just wasn't playing on the same level as the rest of them were.

Stain stood and started to wipe off his knife on what was left of the hero's costume and Mineta took that as his cue. He pulled the rope beside him, dropping a net that had dozens of his balls stuck to it down onto where Stain was standing. Stain couldn't fight heroes the way he did if he didn't have good reflexes, but he also wasn't prepared to fight Mineta's quirk, he didn't even know what it was. So while he mostly managed to dodge in time, one of the balls caught on the loose fabric of his pant leg and he would have cut it off if Mineta hadn't immediately dropped two more nets on him. Better safe than sorry.

Once he was sure that Stain was mostly immobilized and his knives were just as stuck as he was, Mineta used the balls he'd scattered around the alley to bounce down so that he was standing behind Stain, just outside of his field of vision, and pulled out his phone, "Kurogiri? Tell Sensei that I finished his little assignment."


Shouto stared at his dinner as his father went on yet another tirade, which had been happening more and more frequently since internships ended. It had only been a week, but Shouto already had all of the go-to phrases memorized. He resisted the urge to mouth along as Endeavor repeated himself for the third time.

"...completely unprofessional." Endeavor huffed. "Honestly, Shouto! How do you expect to be taken seriously as the number one hero when their first introduction to you isn't a rescue or a villain takedown, but a cat meme?! Really?! You're not going to be a gentle hero, Shouto, that's not how you get to number one. You need to be ruthless and willing to do whatever it takes. Who cares about a stupid cat?"

"The internet, obviously." Shouto drawled. "There are three pages of results when you search for the memes."

Endeavor glared at him, the room becoming almost unbearably hot as his moustache flared, "That is exactly the problem Shouto. You don't want to become known for the wrong reasons. And even if you were gaining notoriety for something actually worthwhile, you don't even have a hero name for people to know you by!"

"I do have a hero name." Shouto pointed out. "It's Shouto."

"Your name is not a hero name." Endeavor growled. "The number one hero doesn't just let everyone call him by his first name and he doesn't stop on the street to pet stray cats. I raised you better than this, Shouto. If you keep this up, people are going to see you as weak."

"Most people are weak, Father." Shouto said innocently.

"You're not most people."

Shouto shrugged and took another bite, "It makes me seem relatable."

"You don't need to be relatable, Shouto." Endeavor looked like he was about to explode. "You need to be the best."

Shouto met his father's eyes, "Are you only saying that because you never accomplished either one?"

"Shouto!" Fuyumi hissed. "Stop! Please! Are you trying to get kicked out again?"

"Maybe." Shouto challenged. "It's better than staying here."

Endeavor glared at him for too long and Shouto was prepared for an explosion, but instead, his father went dead silent and left the room. He felt himself go cold. He'd messed up big time, hadn't he?

Fuyumi had tears in her eyes, "Why, Shouto? You know he doesn't like it when you talk back to him."

"Well maybe I don't like just sitting there and taking either." Shouto snapped. "I'm just...it's hard to keep it all inside, Fuyumi. It jumps out."

She looked at him sadly as Endeavor came back into the room, slamming a duffle bag down on the table, "You really think the streets are better than my house? Fine. There's a hundred dollars and some extra clothes. Let's see how long it is until you come crawling back."

"Dad, please." Fuyumi begged. "You don't want to do this! Shouto, just apologize!"

But Shouto had already grabbed the duffel and started walking toward the door, "See you later, Fuyumi. Have a nice life, Endeavor."

"Why you little…"

Shouto slammed the door behind him before he could hear whatever insult Endeavor had come up with and took a deep breath as he started to walk away down the dark street. At least he'd already been adopted by a cat mom. Hopefully Epurr would let him stay with her for a few nights.


Mineta had never really seen All for One before. Sure, he'd heard the rumors and Shigaraki talked about him all the time, plus he was even intimidating over the phone, but somehow his presence managed to be overwhelmingly intimidating from the moment that he stepped out of the portal and into the alley. He turned his head, taking in the scene despite the lack of eyes to do it with, and tilted his head as he turned to face Stain, "You gagged him."

"I wanted to make sure he didn't alert any passerby." Mineta explained. "But it's just one of my balls over his mouth, so I can take it off if you want to talk to him."

"That won't be necessary." All for One replied smoothly. "Good work, Trapper."

Mineta found himself smiling at the praise, especially since All for One was notoriously hard to please. Anyway, he deserved to be a little proud of himself! He'd captured the hero killer! Sure, he hadn't really fought him, but that still counted for something!

All for One knelt down slowly, careful not to touch anything sticky as he reached through the net and put his palm over where Stain's nose should have been, "Yes, this quirk will be quite useful in the right hands. Unfortunately, Stain, you have proven that those right hands aren't yours."

Stain glared at All for One as his quirk was taken, but Mineta wasn't sure he really understood who he'd just spoken to, because there wasn't any dread or devastation in his expression like he'd expected. Who knew, maybe Stain's conviction was just so strong, he thought he'd be able to continue to carry out his mission without a quirk. The poor guy was delusional.

"What are you going to do with him?" Mineta asked as All for One straightened up. "Do you have something in mind?"

All for One didn't bother turning around as he gave Mineta his orders, "The hero killer has outlived his usefulness. I'm sure I don't need to tell you what might happen if it's linked back to you, do I?"

Mineta swallowed, "Of course not, Sensei. Don't worry, I'll take care of it."

"Good." A portal appeared in front of him and All for One walked through it. "I don't take well to disappointment."

The portal closed and Mineta turned to see Stain glaring at him, daring him to actually do it and Mineta's expression hardened. He was so sick of everyone telling him what he could and couldn't do. If it wasn't that he was too short, it was that his quirk was too silly, or that he was too much of a coward, or that he wasn't good at head to head fights, or that he shouldn't because that wasn't what good little boys did. He was done listening to what society thought as possible.

He was going to prove them all wrong in whatever way he could and that way was right in front of him. Mineta reached past the net and unbuckled one of the knives on Stain's thigh, "So, what do you think, Stain? Do you think I have what it takes to be a true hero?"

Stain's glare didn't falter when Mineta stabbed him the first time. Or the second. Or the third. It wasn't until he had finished bleeding out that Stain's expression finally went blank and Mineta drew in a shaky breath, wiping his hands down on his jacket before digging his backpack out from behind the dumpster and taking out a spray bottle. It was actually Mina's quirk that had given him the idea, and then some of the research he'd done into some of the older support course students had helped him actually accomplish it. His balls didn't really unstick, but Mina's acid could dissolve them until they were unrecognizable as his quirk.

As he sprayed each ball, the chemicals made them turn green and dissolve, expanding and bubbling until they almost resembled clumps of moss rather than purple balls. By the time he was done, the scene would have looked almost like a scene from a forest if it weren't for the bodies tangled in the nets. Mineta lifted his head and made sure his bloody jacket was stuffed inside his bag alongside the spray bottle before walking out of the alley like nothing had happened. It was time to go home and go to bed.

He still had school tomorrow, after all.


Epurr had jumped in his lap and immediately started kneading at his thighs and purring the moment he plopped down in the alley. Storming out had felt good at the moment, but now he was wondering if he'd been an idiot. Actually, scratch that, obviously he'd been an idiot, but the question was how big of an idiot had he been? He shouldn't have pissed off his old man like that, especially since Endeavor had phrased this entire ordeal as a challenge. Going back home now would just be letting his father win, and Shouto was too stubborn to let that happen.

He scratched Epurr between the ears and leaned his head back against the brick wall, perking up slightly when he heard someone walk into the alley.

"I'm surprised Endeavor would let his masterpiece sleep on the streets." Shigaraki rasped as he sat down beside him. "It's good to officially meet you, Shouto Todoroki."

Have some fluff and bonding!

Notes: Sorry this chapter is a day late, I wanted to finish Deku? instead. Art!
CardinalCat
Claire;P
happyhungrydarkdragon
JoshonBoard Memes!
X X X X X X X X X X X X

(See the end of the chapter for more notes.)

Chapter Text

Shouto froze, literally, sending out enough ice to glue Shigaraki to the street as Epurr yoweled and hopped off his lap. Shigaraki was unphased by Shouto's attack. He just rolled his eyes and disintegrated the ice like it was no big deal, but didn't make any move to turn Shouto into dust, which was surprising. He leaned his head back against the wall, "Careful. Do that too often you'll piss off the cat."

"I think she's more concerned about me staying alive." Shouto responded dryly. "You're a villain."

Shigaraki scoffed, "Newb. It's the middle of the night. I'm afk right now, so honestly, I'm not sure much of anything."

Shouto hesitantly warmed himself up a bit, melting some of the remaining ice, "What do you mean?"

Shigaraki shrugged, "You don't do boss fights on loading pages."

"Oh…" Shouto said helplessly. "Ok."

Shigaraki shot him a look out of the corner of his eye, "What? Have you never gamed before?"

"My father literally just kicked me out, do you really think he allowed me to play video games." Shouto deadpanned. "I was too busy training to be his Masterpiece. "

"Your dad sounds like a dick." Shigaraki said. "But hey, at least the cat likes you."

Shouto smiled and extended a hand toward Epurr sighing when she hissed at him and turned away, "If she ever forgives me for suddenly freezing her like that. I'm sorry, Epurr! I panicked."

Epurr just flicked her tail and Shouto huffed, "Well, there goes another mother figure. I need to stop losing those."

Shigaraki frowned, "Your mom's not in the picture?"

"Mental hospital." Shouto explained. He probably shouldn't be telling a villain all this, but Shigaraki was letting him stay in his murder alley and didn't seem like he was in the mood to kill him at the moment, so he didn't want to be impolite. Besides, he'd said he wasn't a villain right now, whatever that meant. "What about yours?"

"No idea." Shigaraki scratched lightly at his neck. "Don't really remember much from before Sensei saved me."

"Oh yes." Shouto drawled. "The trauma."

Shigaraki snorted, "Like you're one to talk, scar boy. How'd you get it anyway?"

Shouto raised one eyebrow, "Did you miss the part where I said my mother is in a mental hospital?"

"She…?" Shigaraki whistled. "Whoa. I would've thought it was your old man."

"I blame him for it." Shouto found himself relaxing more and more in spite of himself. "In every memory I have of my mother, she's crying. She called my left side unbearable right before she poured boiling water on my face. All because I looked like him."

Shigaraki obviously wasn't quite sure how to respond to that, so they sat in relative silence for a while, only speaking to try to get Epurr to come back and sit on Shouto's lap. Eventually they managed it, but only because Shouto practically made his body into a furnace as an apology. It felt good to use his left side after so long, especially for things like this. His father hated the cat, so of course the cat got to benefit from the fire he'd stolen from the bastard. Served him right for being father of the year.

"I'm getting you some games." Shigaraki said suddenly.

Shouto blinked, "Why?"

Shigaraki grinned, "Just trust me, ok? You'll like them."


Izuku was only half listening to the chaos happening behind him as he brainstormed a list of ideas, but Mei was on a roll, so right now he was just letting her do her thing and keeping an eye out to make sure she didn't accidently blow up the entire school, especially since they were technically there after hours. Half the school was probably fine, Ingenium would be able to smooth things over with Powerloader. Hopefully.

"I...I do not think I am comfortable with a retractable knife."

Tenya, as Mei insisted on calling him since saying Iida for both brothers was bound to get confusing, looked politely overwhelmed as he tried to talk Mei out of adding yet another weapon. Izuku sighed, "Mei-chan, Tenya's still recovering and we also have the vigilantism charges to worry about. Why don't you set it as a personal challenge not to add any weapons."

Mei pouted, "But that's no fun?"

"Oh really?" Izuku gave a mischievous grin. "So you don't want to see how complete of a first aid kid you can fit in? Or figure out how to make a grappling hook that doesn't put too much strain on the arm or his body? Or experiment with different holographic projection systems so he can always have a map with the villain's location or…"

"Fine, fine, I get the idea!" Mei said, turning to a new page in her notebook. "Focus on support and rescue, not combat."

"I'm completely fine with weapons." Tensei interjected. "Just for the record."

Mei's eyes glinted with excitement, "Then I'll just give you twice as many!"

"Have you considered whether you'll be fighting as a team?" Izuku asked. "I know that your sidekicks are already taking charge of running the Iida-ten Agency, but you're basically going to have to learn to fight all over again, so you're not going to be heading up the agency for a while."

Tensei sighed, "I know. I already told the team that I want them to just move on. I don't want them waiting on me indefinitely while I recover... if I recover."

"Well, you're not going to get your legs back." Mei sai bluntly. "But we're gonna make this wheelchair baby the next best thing! Might be best to stick to urban heroics, though. We're gonna give you all the bells and whistles, but assuming that most surfaces are paved will streamline the design process and help me make a better baby for you."

"The best thing to do, at least from a marketing standpoint, is actually for the two of you to enter the field together and work as a duo." Izuku said. "Two brothers, injured by the same villain, who worked together to overcome insurmountable odds and be heroes? It's a classic underdog narrative, people will love it."

"Ooh! We could market them as the Cyborg Brothers!" Mei bounced up and down, grabbing Izuku's arm. "Cy-bros? What sounds better?"

"We can talk to the marketing department once they've trained a bit more with their new support items." Izuku interrupted. "For right now, we need to focus on changing their fighting style to accommodate for their disabilities and to coordinate well as a hero duo. Assuming you're ok with that plan?"

"I trust that you are the experts." Tenya said seriously.

Tensei shrugged, "I'm down. I've always wanted to fight crime with my little bro!"

He reached up and tugged Tenya down to his level so he could ruffle his hair and Tenya looked vaguely consternated, but accepting of his brother's affection. If these two could pull this off, they could open doors to hundreds of disabled kids that thought they couldn't be heroes. If a pair of brothers missing arms and legs could be heroes, maybe even a quirkless…

Izuku shook his head and turned to his list, tapping his pencil on a few of the ideas he'd put stars next to, "Tenya, you experience a lot of friction when you use your quirk, right?"

Tenya nodded, "Yes. It's unavoidable, however. I can run faster than the average person, but…"

"But you have to take a lot of steps, which slows you down." Izuku finished. "Have you considered rollerblades? It would match well with Tensei's wheelchair and would reduce the friction. You'd have to practice, of course…"

"But wouldn't that be rather difficult?" Tenya interrupted. "What if I run into stairs or...well, I'm sure fighting on wheels is very different than what I'm used to."

"You're still young, Tenya." Tensei encouraged. "Give it a try. I mean, I'm gonna have to learn wheelie fighting too! We can do it together."

Tenya took a deep breath and nodded decisively, "I will attempt to incorporate it into my fighting style then, but do not put them in my hero costume quite yet."

"Of course not." Izuku grinned. "Um, Tensei? Do you happen to know the pro-hero Artiste?"

Tensei frowned, "we've crossed paths, but we don't really work together that frequently, no. Why?"

Izuku grabbed his phone and started texting Nedzu, "She uses roller skates in her fighting. I want to see if she'd be willing to train you."


Hitoshi couldn't sleep, which wasn't that unusual. What was unusual was that he'd been given the permission to roam the house when that happened and no one was going to think he was up to no good. It was surreal.

He hesitated another moment before leaving his room and heading toward the kitchen. Aizawa was still up too, apparently, just grading papers, and he barely glanced up when he heard Hitoshi come in, "Are you going to make tea?"

Hitoshi nodded on instinct, then remembered he was actually allowed to talk here, "Yeah. I was."

Aizawa hummed, "Make me one too."

"Sure." Hitoshi grabbed the kettle. "Will Mic want one too?"

Aizawa glanced up at the clock, "No, he's not going to be home for at least another hour and that's if nothing weird happens at the station between then and now. He can make his own if he wants when he gets home."

It still threw Hitoshi for a loop every time one of his adults answered his questions without hesitating. Usually it was Aizawa, but even Mic didn't think twice about ansswering him. He'd be lying if he said it didn't feel amazing. It was almost as good as being around Mei and Izuku, so that was saying something.

When he finished the tea, he set a cup down in front of Aizawa and sat down in one of the chairs. Should he go back to his room? Was Aizawa going to get annoyed with him for interrupting his work?

Almost as if he realized Hitoshi's indecision, Aizawa started talking to him, most of his attention still on grading, "How has Uraraka been doing? Has she been adjusting well to her new quirk?"

"Uh, yeah." Hitoshi thought that was a weird way of putting it, but it was a pretty accurate way of describing her new mutation. "The earrings the kidnappers made her are working pretty well and I can stop her most of the time, but she's actually stopped herself a couple times now, and her accuracy's getting better, so that's promising."

"Good." Aizawa nodded. "We'll be starting combat exercises again soon, and I don't want her to be at a disadvantage."

"Don't worry, she can handle herself." Hitoshi said. "Do you, uh, mind if I watch tv?"

Aizawa nodded absently, "Just make sure the show isn't stupid."