Chapter 10 - U.S.J. Aftermath

The trenchcoated Detective Tsukauchi Naomasa watched as more villains were escorted off the premises. One or two dozen were still unaccounted for, but the Pro-Heroes and the police worked to hunt them down. A few might still escape, but the vast majority were already apprehended.

He watched the various groups move about, Pro-Heroes supervising and ensuring the Villains no longer acted up. A few tried but were quickly brought under control. It helped that every Pro-Hero present was a veteran and very good at their jobs. The only one that might have intimidated them enough to remain settled was already being transported back to the school, hiding All Might's weaker form from the Villains, students, and teachers that weren't in the loop already. They had given the excuse that he was helping to hunt down the missing villains.

He glanced again at the Medical personnel as they ensured everyone was properly treated for their wounds before being transferred to their current holding facility. They had already inspected and cleared all the students and teachers involved in the attack, which had relieved teachers and police alike.

Naomasa looked at one particular part of the medical area as Sakura was overseeing the treatment of the leader of this attack. The man had been going in and out of consciousness due to the blood loss, with medical personnel setting up blood bags to get it under control. He knew she could have given him one of her pills to help that along but had felt no desire to see him make a quick recovery. Or reattach his severed body parts. And he couldn't find himself disagreeing with that decision.

Her attack on the leader had been brutal by most standards. Causing a few Pro-Heroes or police to take notice and almost question her about it. But after some quick interviews with some of the students and teachers, he found she had reacted appropriately. They were in a life-or-death battle against overwhelming odds. She had acted like she had because they had tried and might have succeeded in killing All Might with that sneak attack.

He had interacted with Sakura several times in the last year, learning more about her home and upbringing. His colleagues would have paled at some of the methods her world would have used in such a situation. One such method was capture, torture for however long it took, and then execution. If the captured target held any notable secret of genetics, they might be kept alive for breeding or dissected for harvesting blood, organs, or their D.N.A. He had a healthy respect for Sakura and how much she restrained herself, even here.

He watched as the man was finally given the green light to be sent to their holding facility for processing while they tried to figure out what to do. He was joining the other leaders of this raid. The three were going to be heavily watched and separate from the rest of the villains being transported. He sighed as the villain was rolled out, and Sakura moved closer to her classmates, talking to a few of them before glancing back his way with a small smile.

He returned it before looking where a few officers were grilling Parker. They had been astonished when almost all officers on their force received an emergency phone call from the boy. It had caused panic, both for the situation and its details. When it was corroborated with the school, multiple units were deployed to deal with it. Especially when they learned the scale of the attack. Backup from other districts was called for and arrived promptly.

The boy was currently filling them in, giving them details about the information he had gathered. It was a staggering amount in such a little amount of time. Many on the force were questioning how he could do it, but Principal Nezu had provided the details, such as him being a super genius and the ward of the Nobel Prize-winning Dr. David Shield. The boy had explained he had created several contingency programs for many potential occurrences. When grilled about what other types of contingencies he had, he began listing them with such breadth and detail that they had asked him to stop after one or two.

While it disturbed many, they also saw how effective it had been in helping them handle the situation. The boy had done over half of the research and investigations they would need to do, making a few of the detectives joke about kidnapping him for use by the police force. The fact the kid had joked right back about taking half their paychecks for himself set everyone else off for a gut-wrenching laugh. But there was still something else off about the boy, something that made his detective nose itch.

The final wonder of today's attack had gone through a few detective's round of questions, but when he learned it was the one Sansa had been helping over the last year, he made sure the detectives weren't too hard on her. Some tried to chew her out for stepping in when she had, but Sansa had ordered them to stop when he arrived on the scene. He had been dealing with logistical issues for the villains but should be finished shortly. In fact, he was making his way over to the girl now.

Considering the girl's impressive capabilities, if he didn't already know who it was, he would have thought she was the one All Might had given his quirk. The fact her listed quirk only was the transformation would have also been another indicator for him. But All Might's phone call the other day had made him talk to Sansa in more detail about the girl, learning some facts about Ki and what she could do.

"Ah, Detective Tsukauchi. How is the situation proceeding?" His introspection was interrupted by the school principal walking up to him. He turned to the small man, giving him a bow of the head in greeting while ensuring his hat didn't fall off.

"It's going well, I would say. I think it is safe to return your students to the school here shortly. We'll try to get their statements after school or later this week, depending on your evaluations, for when they are ready to talk about it," Naomasa responded.

"Excellent. Again, I want to thank you and the rest of the police force for their assistance," Nezu replied.

"Our pleasure. While the data packet provided by Parker helped point us in the right direction on getting everything rounded up, we'll still want to go over the school and areas of interest with a fine-toothed comb."

"We'll do what we can to assist you, Detective Tsukauchi. You certainly have jurisdiction, and there are still too many unanswered questions. Hopefully, we can get additional answers after you thoroughly interrogate the Villains."

"I'll share anything pertinent to the safety of the school with you as soon as we have it."

"Thank you, Detective."

Naomasa looked up when he saw one of his officers flagging him, giving him the okay signal regarding the students.

"We have the go-ahead for your kids," Naomasa said. "But I want to ask a few more questions of Haruno-san before you leave since she had the most direct contact with their leaders."

"Certainly. I'll give you a few minutes before I have the class escorted to the buses and back to school."

"Thank you."

Naomasa looked for Sakura, finding her near where he had seen her last, but off to the side and alone, calmly looking in his direction.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"How are you doing, Ranma?"

"Gah!" Ranma exclaimed after seeing the face of horror before her. She had gone rigid and did a light jump. It took her a few seconds to recover as she closed her eyes and calmed her nerves, slowly breathing in and out as she regained control. And avoided opening her eyes, at least for now. "Sorry, Sansa."

The cat-headed Sansa chuckled lightly, letting Ranma know he wasn't offended. "You are fine, Ranma. I see you have improved since I last saw you. Excellent!"

Sansa looked to the sides, seeing a few concerned gazes from other officers, teachers, and a few students. He waved down the officers, making sure they knew nothing was wrong. He then turned back to the girl and gave another smile. He wasn't bothered by the twitching of her brow or the rush of adrenaline her body was surely filled with, especially after she tried peeking a few times.

"So I see your first week of school has been memorable. Though, we had not suggested an army of Villains as the likely incident to occur. We all lost our bets on that one."

Ranma rolled her closed eyes as he reminded her of the open betting between her guardians and the few others that knew of her history. "I swear, you guys are doing that just to mess with me."

"Yes, yes we are," Sansa said with a smile and a chuckle.

Her body language shifted, her arms dragging her shoulders downward and her eyes rolling again. "Of course you are. Why did I ever tell you guys about Nabiki's penchant for betting?"

"Oh, you don't get to complain. All of the bets go toward getting you gifts. The winner just gets to decide how it's spent on you," Sasha said. "Besides, if no one won, then it's free money for you!"

"Oh, right!" Ranma said with a smile. It broke a little when she tried peeking again, constantly trying to test herself and get used to his appearance.

"Beyond greeting you, I wanted to ask your reasoning for jumping into the fray?" Sansa asked as his notebook and pen were ready. "Especially since your teacher was prepared to do that."

Ranma sighed; she had already been asked that question multiple times. The officers involved had been outraged at the idea that a teenager should ever do such a thing. She was just glad it was a friend asking her now. "I learned about Sensei's quirk from Izuku. He finally figured out who our Sensei was and talked about him way too much, some of it stuck. A quirk that can turn off most other quirks is really useful. But if he's in the middle of that pile, he wouldn't be as effective at it as he would be from the sides. Especially with that warper being around and who knew what else."

"Yes, I suspected as much and can agree with your reasoning. Was there anything else?" Sansa asked as he wrote it down.

"Parker had said he communicated with the outside. The villains didn't know that. That means they would waste time so long as they didn't know, and the more time I wasted for them, the better. I wanted to get them mad and off balance, then take down enough of them to make it easier to manage. Both sets of reactions would hopefully buy us the time. I hadn't anticipated that one villain to be as fast as he was. And I'm glad I was there instead of Sensei."

"Yes, based on the initial reports, that could have been quite bad. I agree with your assessment of the situation," Sansa said before giving his version of a knowing smirk. "We knew your decision to not list your Ki abilities as a quirk was mostly for not wanting to confuse people about what you can do with your Martial Arts, but you knew a situation like this was a nice side benefit. Being able to escape legal trouble since it wasn't a quirk you used to defend yourself."

"Okay, yes, that too," Ranma said as she looked away, blushing at having been caught.

"Not that most people will believe that, of course. I'll contact the Pussycats to inform them if you need the backup to confirm that your Ki is not a quirk. We'll have your back regarding this."

"Thanks," Ranma said as she sighed before smiling.

"You did good, Ranma. You might get some flak from some of your senseis or some other department heads, but you did evaluate the situation. You are one of the major reasons why this attack failed as well as it did. Your other classmates also did a fantastic job. Any pique your interest?"

"Maybe a few…"

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Hello, Sakura," Naomasa said as he took off his hat and smiled at the girl.

Sakura smiled in return. She had gained a deep respect for the Detective. He was, in many ways, this world's counterpart of Ibiki despite the differences in how they approached things. Where Ibiki could intimidate without even trying, Naomasa purposely put on a smile. Both were extremely intelligent, very observant, and good comrades to have on your side. She had told him about Ibiki once, making the man laugh.

"First off, Sakura, good job out there. If you hadn't been prepared for it, All Might could have been injured, maybe even killed. We don't know exactly how the villain's quirk works yet, other than contact with his hands can disintegrate things, but it likely would have been bad."

"He was the one that destroyed the school's barriers yesterday," Sakura informed him. "Based on what Shuzenji-sama could inform me and what I could observe myself, the material broke down or decayed. His obsession with hands gave me a hint, but when I talked to Saotome after their arrival and realized what she planned to do, I suggested trying to get him to show his quirk. I'm glad I did."

Naomasa narrowed his eyes as he reviewed what he remembered about the destroyed gate. They hadn't completed the analysis yet, but it had disintegrated, turning into dust, like she said. If he was so eager to get close to All Might with that, it likely worked on humans.

"If he is the same one, then you saved his life, depending on how much contact was needed," he said with a heavy sigh before a smile returned as he looked at her. "I will be sure it is in the report if they try to hold your actions against you. The police or the school. But I suspect the school already knows."

Naomasa paused as part of what she had said registered, and he raised his eyebrow. "How did you know it was him, though? You've talked about Chakra sensors but didn't say you were one."

"Saotome. He can sense people like our chakra sensors could, both their emotions and their positions. After the alarms went off yesterday, I remembered him displaying something like that in the Battle Trials the day before. I found him and asked what he was sensing. He said he felt a surge of anger and killing intent but that it also left the premises. I asked him– her," Sakura saw Naomasa smile at that, "if it was the same person from yesterday. It made sense; you scout the area, gain intel, then plan an attack. She confirmed it. So I knew they were willing to kill from the start. It was why the two of us were trying to treat it so seriously when they arrived. They weren't playing around."

Naomasa gave her a serious nod, letting her know her message was received. "Interesting. Saotome is another odd case. I will have to ask Sansa about her and find out more details. It seemed it was handled well enough back then, so I didn't push it. But it has been another long, ongoing case. And other questions have come up in regards to it as well."

Sakura looked toward her class, seeing them beginning to move out. "Looks like I need to go. Thank you, Detective."

"Stay safe out there, Sakura," Naomasa called out to her and waved.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku sat with the others on the bus as they returned. Today had turned sideways in a flash. He wasn't sure what to think and knew he wasn't the only one. Quick glances at the rest of his class showed various stages of dealing with what had happened.

A few were a bit rattled by being attacked by villains. Others were excited to be in a fight like that or how well some of their classmates had performed. Then a few didn't appear to care or were upset that they couldn't do more.

Izuku didn't know how he felt about it. He was relieved that the ordeal had been resolved without injury to his class or teachers. He was excited to see some of his classmates' strengths and feats. But he was also fearful because they were targeting All Might.

The three stars of the class had shined yet again and were grilled by several classmates. Saotome, Haruno, and Parker were something else. What surprised Izuku was how casual they were after the fight. As if it was an everyday thing for them and not a terrifying ordeal like it would be for most people.

One thing it did for him was solidify his resolve to learn what he could from Ranma. He wanted to be the best hero he could be, worthy of the sacrifice that All Might made by giving him his quirk. Giving him his chance. He would do everything he could to make him proud.

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

"Come in," Nezu said after the door had been knocked on as he stared out his window at the setting sun.

He waited as his guest entered, knowing what this conversation would be about. He just hoped he would accept the explanation he had. "Have a seat, Aizawa."

Nezu turned back around, getting the tea out and pouring them both a cup. Once they had relaxed, he decided to get to the heart of the matter. "You're here about the students. Ask your questions."

Shota waited a moment as he formed his question, finally getting a chance to possibly get some answers. "Those three are not ordinary students. What are they?"

Nezu sighed before he truthfully answered. "I don't know." Nezu saw the glare he received for that. "I have suspicions, but nothing I can confirm without asking them directly. And for now, I do not want to do that. But I can say that they are not normal."

"Let's start with Saotome," Shota said as he put his tea down. "She deliberately asked me about not using a quirk. After I gave the confirmation, she proceeded to attack them. I also asked you multiple times to fix her quirk registry. If her physical capabilities are not the byproduct of a quirk, then what is happening?"

"No, the only thing that may be a quirk is their shapeshifting."

Shota's glare intensified, catching the specific wording he had used. "'May be' a quirk?"

"Do you know about the incident Saotome was involved with a year ago?" Nezu asked.

"No. Per your suggestion, I refrained from researching them to not contaminate my opinion about them."

"Thank you for that. Are you at least familiar with the attack on Iyashi no Sato?"

"That was the attack where the Hero Team Water Hose almost lost their lives to the A-class villain Muscular, was it not?" Shota responded after thinking about it for a moment.

"Correct. It was a miracle no one had died, and the hero team survived. The public knows that Endeavor was the one to bring him in. What people do not know is that it was not Endeavor or any other known hero that beat Muscular."

Shota quickly connected the dots, "Saotome?"

"Yes. From what I could discern from the records, Saotome saved their lives and defeated Muscular with just a few blows. Endeavor requested the Wild Wild Pussycats' assistance regarding Saotome because they were an unknown."

"Why them?"

"The Water Hose team are the cousins of Mandalay and were nearby. They also had more experience dealing with children than Endeavor," Nezu said, receiving a rare snort from Shota, one laced with a tiny bit of amusement. "Eventually, they decided to act as official Guardians for Saotome. But one of the first things they did was to get Saotome tested for quirks."

Shota frowned, knowing there had to be something unusual to make it worth mentioning. "What did they find?"

"No quirk. In fact, Saotome was tested twice. They were tested as brother and sister, not as a single person. Both tests were negative for a quirk factor."

Shota sat there, blinking. That made no sense to him. "How… how could a shapeshifting ability not be a quirk? Or their other abilities?"

"The first part, I have no idea. They were later tested again, and the shapeshifting was dismissively labeled a quirk. Their physical strengths, however, do have an explanation outside of it."

"And that is?" Shota asked, now very puzzled about what was going on. He had expected many things, but this was not one of them.

Nezu got up and grabbed a few books before tossing them in front of Shota. The man looked down and became confused as he recognized several manga titles as remakes of old classics. No… these were copies of the original stories, not remakes. He flipped a few open, looking at the publication dates; they were from before or slightly after the appearance of quirks. Others were mythological history books for Japanese and Chinese culture. "What… are these?"

"For hundreds and even thousands of years, there have been myths of Martial Artists of such strength and skill that they would seem like the quirks of today. But all the records try to tout that it was acquired only through training. It was not something you got from birth, but something everyone had the potential for so long as they worked to grow it," Nezu said. He paused for a moment as he let Shota continue shuffling the books. "The Japanese called it Ki, while the Chinese called it Chi. Other cultures had similar mythologies regarding it. About the only thing they could agree on was that practitioners could perform superhuman feats of strength, speed, durability, or perform other miraculous achievements."

"You're saying they achieved this through training alone?"

"Is it so surprising?" Nezu asked, looking the man in the eye. "You, yourself, can perform feats of physical skill beyond what most civilians can achieve. Other heroes have done the same thing. Feats that their quirks should not directly impact. Additionally, some circles of pro-heroes also say that Ki or Chi is real. What I find most interesting is that there has been a tremendous amount of chatter in those circles since last year. From my subtle investigations, that chatter has led to Saotome."

Shota thought about it but was at a loss for words for now. "Can I take these with me?"

"Certainly. I got those copies specifically for that purpose."

"What about Haruno?"

"Haruno is more difficult to identify, but as you know, she is associated with Recovery Girl. In fact, her son and daughter-in-law are her guardians."

Shota frowned at that. He knew Chiyo would not be part of something nefarious or endanger their students.

"What I could find, however, is that she was involved in her own incident. Stopped a villain that had cut up several dozen civilians on his way to escape capture. Sakura intervened and then proceeded to heal the injured, saving at least three people's lives that day from wounds that only Recovery Girl might have saved them from. The villain's jaw has had eight surgeries but will never recover properly."

Shota couldn't really feel sympathy for him.

Nezu finished sipping from his tea before he dropped his next bombshell. "In addition, the Detective for her case was none other than Tsukauchi."

That got Shota's attention rather quickly. While they didn't regularly work together, the man had a reputation and was very good at his job. He also investigated this current situation and talked to Sakura alone.

She was the one Shota was most concerned with. She quickly took command and ordered the students around like an experienced veteran, making even their troublesome students go along.

He didn't notice it at first, but she had babysat him. She had pulled him out of danger while he hunted for the warper and occasionally helped nullify some quirks. She remained near the villain's primary targets: All Might and himself.

When she acted, she was brutally efficient with no hesitancy in her actions. When they arrived at where Sakura had captured the warper and the leader, they found out she had attached what was essentially an explosive to the warper's neck and refused to remove it.

She had also just finished healing the leader's 'self-inflicted wound' from a dagger to the throat and then healed the amputated wrist without the original hand. She would not release him or the explosive tag before proper restraints arrived for both of them.

Chiyo and Naomasa had both been involved and knew the extent of the incident and what Sakura had done. Neither of them seemed concerned about the girl. Two people he would never suspect of allowing a dangerous person near their students had both signed off on the girl.

Shota sighed before rubbing his temples. The last of them was the one he was least concerned with… before he found out how he had contacted his fellow teachers and the police. "And Parker?"

"He also had an altercation, saving a hundred lives from an apartment building that would have collapsed and killed them all if he had not been there. The building had been hit by a stray blast of superheated plasma that melted the support beams. Parker arrived quickly on the scene, cooled the blast zone, and systematically and efficiently evacuated the building. Only two people died in that building collapse, both occurring at the initial blast."

"Impressive," Shota replied dryly. He was being entirely sincere; evacuating a building like that was not an easy task. He certainly could not do it. Some other Pro-Heroes with the right quirks, like All Might, Best Jeanist, or others, could have done something similar. But few could do it alone.

"More than you know," Nezu said as he took a bite of a cracker, nibbling on it briefly before swallowing and looking at the expectant teacher.

"You already know that Parker is strong, fast, and agile. You also got the hint that he has some form of prescience since you said he reacted before they had even started to warp in. You know that his webbing is an incredible bit of chemistry work and that his suit is more advanced than it looks. His suit had proper shielding from an E.M.P. pulse, could communicate over a large distance without using the local communication services, has an advanced mini-drone built into the chest, and an advanced lens system, all remarkable achievements in engineering."

Shota narrowed his eyes, knowing the man was setting up another explosive bit of trivia. "Yes."

"For the incident he was involved with, what is on the official record is that Edgeshot had contacted Parker to assist. Edgeshot had dealt with the villain who had shot the stray blast but could not get away in time to help with the apartment building. Parker was never actually named in the report and was supposedly there testing an advanced super-suit for David Shield."

There was something there that Nezu was hinting at. He noticed Nezu was calmly letting him work it out. Further evidence that there was something hidden in his words. It took him some time to figure out the sequence, but he started asking the first question to confirm. "Dr. Shield didn't know of Parker before the event, did he?"

"No, he did not," Nezu said before taking another bite.

"If Dr. Shield wasn't already involved, why would Edgeshot contact him specifically? His suit and other parts are impressive, but that alone wouldn't lead to Dr. Shield being contacted directly and acting to cover up the situation."

"Correct. Well done, Shota-san." Nezu smiled, glad the man was still so good at inductive reasoning. "As for why, it took a while, but I finally found some video evidence of the end of that event. Someone attempted to purge the video from the internet, and what concerns me greatly is that I don't know who instituted the purge."

Shota narrowed his eyes, realizing something in that video had seriously spooked some powerful people. "What was on it?"

"It showed Young Parker escaping with the last resident as the building collapsed. His suit is the same one he wears right now. But it is what happened as he was falling with the young girl in his arms that was alarming. From the rubble of the building, what looked like four golden, metal spider legs shot out of it and intercepted Parker, flowing into his suit like a liquid, and quickly reformed the legs behind him. It finished halting his fall, and they melted back into his suit. Forming a different suit than what he currently wears."

That… was odd. Shota knew it had a heavy significance, but he didn't understand. "Why is that so important?"

"I am not surprised you don't recognize it. Few people would just from viewing it, as quirks and support gear offer a wide range of similar effects. But considering the reaction of everyone involved, there was only one conclusion I could come to regarding it. Nanotechnology."

Shota had heard of Nanotechnology but didn't know why it was so special.

"Hmmm, I see you aren't familiar with the Grey Goo theory, or else your reaction would have been more severe," Nezu said as he poured more tea. "Nanites are a massive game changer in terms of technology. Enough of one that it would quickly become the most sought-after technology in the world. Technology that some would be willing to start wars over who controlled it."

That raised his eyebrows. Many considered wars a thing of the past, something that happened before quirks appeared. They had enough trouble without starting a new war.

"And that is also not factoring in the other bit of technology that video hinted at." Nezu chuckled at how quickly his head snapped to look him in the eyes. He suspected he might have gotten whiplash from that if he hadn't already been looking in his direction. "You have already seen the technology in action today. It was one of your concerns regarding Parker, was it not?"

Shota figured it out quickly. "The phone calls. The data packets. Parker didn't appear to do much, so how could he contact all of us like that? While his explanation of a protocol he had set up in case of an emergency like this was believable… it didn't smell right to me."

"Indeed. Which is why I told you to leave your electronic equipment in your office before you approached me."

"What is it?"

"A.I."

Shota blinked, thrown for a loop. The school was rather famous for its robots and the A.I. that guided them, feeling almost alive to many. But from what he had learned, while their A.I. was advanced and mimicked human-like behaviors to a large degree, they were still simply robots.

"I do not know how advanced it is, but the A.I. is likely semi-sentient. They are far more advanced and intelligent than our school's robots. Much like Nanotechnology, it is another technology that many countries would start a war over who controls it."

Shota had been greatly concerned about Ranma and Sakura, their strength, skills, and experience made them incredibly dangerous. Parker, he had been the least concerned with. That had flipped on its head now. Parker might be involved in the start of another World War if Shota understood Nezu correctly.

Shota reacted the only way he could on receiving so much distressing information. He leaned forward and rubbed his brows with both hands, not bothering to look at the Principal.

Nezu let him pull himself together, not minding the silence while sipping his tea as the clock ticked onward.

"How much did you know before you spoke to Senjiro and me?" Shota finally asked.

"Very little. What I did find was the most disturbing thing about this entire situation," Nezu said.

Shota stilled at that. He was really beginning to hate how much he had done that in this conversation.

"With Parker, it was difficult to find the incident he was involved in, but it was after looking at the incidents that I noticed an important detail."

"And that was?"

"All three of their incidents occurred on the same day and time."

Shota blinked. That was possibly distressing, but something was missing. "There's more I don't know about, isn't there?"

"Yes. Haruno's was the easiest to verify, as hers was the least impacted by trying to hide the truth. Some people reported her appearing out of a portal or materializing in the air above Hosu. We don't know exactly what it was, but a flash of light occurred, and she was suddenly there. Parker also had a similar appearance but was vastly overshadowed by the apartment. Saotome had no direct observers but woke up in the forest after falling some distance from the air."

"Someone warped them?"

"Yes."

Shota was not enjoying the conclusion he was coming to. "Are you telling me that whoever warped them knew those incidents would occur? Are… are we dealing with someone who knows the future?"

"Not only may we be dealing with someone who knows the future, but someone that could warp them from their places of origin."

"From?" Shota asked before he thought of how strange and different all three of them were. They had also not acted like they knew each other. Ranma and Sakura had started to interact, but it looked to him more like Pros acknowledging another Pro's skills and being interested. Peter had yet to really interact with the two of them.

Their abilities, skills, technology, and quirks made it seem oddly different. But the key to that line of thought was Saotome. Specifically that they had been tested and found to not have a quirk. Sakura's quirk was also highly unusual, but if Saotome didn't have a quirk and was pulled here, then the possibility of Sakura and Peter also not having a quirk…

"Are you suggesting they aren't from our world?" Shota demanded an answer.

Nezu nodded before giving a verbal response. "Or at least our time. I don't know for certain."

"If whoever or whatever warped them here brought them all simultaneously, why send them to different locations?" Shota asked, trying to fit more of the pieces together.

"Several factors must have gone into it. First and foremost, they helped save lives. Lives few others could have saved in those situations. This tells us that whoever is guiding these actions is trying to help. Or at least appear to help us."

Shota could only nod at that, agreeing with the point and glad Nezu wasn't ignoring the possibility of an attempt to fool them.

"The second was that they also were able to find people to help them get settled in and adapt to our world and possibly help them as people in ways that they needed to grow," Nezu said.

"The third factor," Nezu noted, "May have been an easy way to encourage all of them to join U.A. this year."

Shota reviewed who he knew to be their guardians, quickly recognizing they would likely help guide them toward it. They all had connections in one way or another to the school.

"Fourth, and possibly one of the most important, is that their situations allowed them to begin to truly change our world."

"Change our world?" Shota asked, his eyebrow rose.

"Yes. Saotome is the most obvious to start. The idea alone is enough to challenge the world's perception. The idea that those without quirks or extremely weak quirks could become strong enough to resemble All Might in battle?" Nezu said.

Shota blinked as he realized the implications. It meant their societies' focus on quirks, and the power of those quirks could be challenged. Considering how… unhealthy it had gotten, that might be a good thing. As things stood, your worth to society was dictated by luck at birth.

"Sakura's contributions, on the surface, don't seem nearly as important," Nezu said. "We don't know enough of her background or her abilities, but I suspect her contribution is how we, as a society, work together."

"What do you mean?" Shota asked, confused and needing help understanding the significance.

"Beyond her interaction with Recovery Girl and Detective Tsukauchi, there is one other group she has had regular contact with within the last year. Iida Tensei and his Hero Agency."

Shota was at a loss before he recognized the name and then thought of the news he had heard of their recent rise in fame in the past year. They had gone from an Agency run by someone with a rank of seventy-seven, which was respectable, but with far too many sidekicks to justify it. They had been effective, to a degree, but many felt they ate up too much area for a single agency. They felt other agencies, smaller ones, would serve the area better.

But in the last year, that had changed. The team members were becoming very effective, not just because of how strong the sidekicks were suddenly becoming, but by how well they worked together. Their logistical capabilities and information sharing had always been strong for a hero agency of their size. But that combined with their rapid individual improvements and how well they meshed together had quickly turned into a shockingly effective agency. The crime rates had plummeted, and arrest ratios had skyrocketed. Their jurisdiction quickly became one of the nation's top places to live. As a result of that, as well as his improved skill, Iida Tensei had shot up to the mid-thirties after remaining at his previous rank for many years.

The man had always tried to advocate working together with others more, but many agencies dismissed that idea. Shota had agreed with it because it helped the people, not your pocketbook. It was partly why he had been an underground hero; he didn't care about fame or money. And then Sakura arrived, with Tensei's little brother Tenya following her around. It suddenly made sense why the boy was at her side so much. He watched his brother's agency turn into a growing powerhouse due to Sakura's influence.

Shota sighed but smiled internally at the idea. It was one he could definitely agree with. "And Parker, I assume, due to his technology?"

"Yes. But I suspect it won't be limited to things like support items. Dr. Shield has stepped down from his position on I-Island and is instead running a new company that is catching people's attention. One of the pieces of technology they developed was shown by Parker in the Development Studio yesterday, instantly winning everyone over with it."

Shota nodded at that. Considering the boy's intelligence and the supposed technology he already had, it didn't surprise him.

"But during my discussions with Dr. Shield, he was dropping hints of having his daughter, Melissa, attend U.A. soon," Nezu said, taking another sip of tea.

Shota frowned at that. I-Island had one of the best schools in the world for science and technology, especially for support gear. Why would they consider–

"You wouldn't bring this up if she was just looking to join Parker here at U.A.," Shota noted. "Our general and economics courses wouldn't be sufficient either. So she's looking to join the Hero Course? What is her quirk?"

"She's quirkless," Nezu replied easily.

Narrowing his eyes, the other discussions allowed him to not dismiss her out of hand. "They are developing technology to allow her to fight on a Pro-Hero level. But not just low level, but medium to high end?"

"Correct. I don't know how it would be achieved, but I see the groundwork Dr. Shield is laying for that possibility," Nezu said before he adopted his smirk. "I know when I am being buttered up."

Shota snorted at that. The idea of anyone getting one past the man before him seemed impossible. And yet people continued to try. "Okay, I can see how those might change our world somehow. But why?"

Nezu looked at his tea, seemingly reluctant to answer at first. "When I noticed the patterns, I questioned it as well. So I tried to think of what it might fix, and I realized that our Hero society is… flawed. We struggled for a century after the arrival of quirks, always on a tipping point, trying to find a way to balance and keep the peace we all sought. It wasn't until All Might arrived that it began to tip in a direction where peace was possible."

"He was unbreakable," Nezu nearly whispered, "He couldn't be swayed by money or power. He broke apart the organizations and groups that kept us in fear. We finally found a way to be safe. We called him our Symbol of Peace."

Shota jerked up as he made the connection to today's attack. But he waited, letting Nezu finish his explanation.

"As a result of society scrambling to find peace for so long when it finally presented itself… we clung to it so tightly that the mere concept of changing anything became poisonous. We had to hold onto this image of the world, but it is flawed," Nezu said, looking up into Shota's eyes. He noticed they looked rather haunted. "There are different elements of society we are pushing down as we try to repress the chance of villains appearing. We stigmatize anyone that does something wrong as just a villain, something that can be locked up and the key forgotten. We only allow those we feel have a 'strong' quirk to help protect us. We have closed our eyes and stopped ourselves from growing, terrified of losing what peace we've found on the back of one man and a mountain of sacrifices. Those on the fringe, those in-between, are beginning to move though and it is slowly causing our society to fray."

"And those that want a return to those dark times, they see that fraying of society, don't they?"

"Yes. Just look at many of the villains in today's attack. Their histories. Some would naturally lean towards villainy in the first place, but others felt compelled because that was the only way society would treat them."

"And they targeted the Symbol of Peace as the best way to fracture it," Shota reasoned.

"Yes."

"They failed today… but that won't be the end of it, will it?"

"No," Nezu said, looking at his tea in sorrow.

Shota was nearly operating on information overload, but he could still note an important detail about the circumstances. Specifically, why his class. Why did Nezu put all three of them in his class? There was something big he hadn't been told about, that Nezu wouldn't reveal. But he was allowed to figure it out himself. If he understood the Principal well enough, he had all the pieces now.

"You put them all in my class. You didn't know about the coming attack. There was something else in my class that you wanted to protect or influence," Shota said, watching as the tiny man said nothing. "They are after All Might, the 'Symbol of Peace.' We know about All Might's injuries and his reduced capabilities. Someone else might know, but that wouldn't be reason enough to alter the class like that."

Shota paused, thinking it through further after getting confirmation from the silent Principal. "One of my students. You put them there to protect that student. Possibly to do more, but primarily to protect them."

Shota reviewed his list of students, their quirks, capabilities, backgrounds, and history. A few, like Todoroki, came up easily but were quickly dismissed. He was a known quantity in many ways. Then his mind traced to another student, one he thought would be more troublesome than they were. "Midoriya."

Izuku had been noted as quirkless before school started, but it was updated. His quirk gave him tremendous strength, something his body couldn't handle, and he didn't know how to control it. He was being put into his class because of that concern since it was believed Shota would more easily be able to prevent him from hurting himself. He had also been in an incident a year ago, one that had involved All Might…

"There was a fourth incident, wasn't there. That was what disturbed you so much," Shota said.

Nezu chuckled in good humor. "Yes."

"When were their incidents?"

"March 30th, 2146."

"Midoriya's incident was on April 6th. One week after their incidents."

"Well done, my boy," Nezu whispered.

Shota leaned back against the couch he was on as he processed things further. It connected too many dots; it made far too much sense now. He didn't know exactly the relationship between his student and Toshinori, but it was important enough that he wasn't being told what it was. But Nezu had led him to it anyway, knowing he would figure it out.

It made his stomach churn at what it represented. He wasn't sure which was more disturbing to him for now, the thought of someone out there playing them as a fiddle because they knew the future and was setting them up for who knew what, or the idea of what the absence of their assistance would cause.

He hadn't grown up in those turbulent times, but he knew enough that it was not something he would want the world to regress to. But what would their presence cause? Was it any better? Or was it far worse?

Peeking at Nezu showed a similar state of mind of being unsure which avenue was safer for the world. Shota could only sum it up in one way possible. "Shit."

Nezu snorted and laughed as they both took some time to settle down.

"What are you trying to do about it?" Shota inquired, knowing the man would not just leave things to rely on some future-seeing entity.

"I will be hunting to find who or what did this."

Shota nodded at that, glad to have him on that task. "What do you recommend for me?"

"For now, do what you do best," Nezu said as he looked him in the eyes. "Teach. Help them. Do not be afraid of the suggestions the three try to implement. Encourage it, even. I believe the students are here to protect and teach us things. Spread their knowledge to others or anyone else that may be drawn to it. Give them more room on the leash. And be prepared to let that leash go."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Tomura sat in the back of the heavily armed police transport, blood bags still hooked up to stabilize him from his earlier blood loss. Kurogiri and the Nomu were also with him, all heavily bound with no means of escape. Their mouths were gagged, so they couldn't even give orders to the Nomu to free them.

He had always felt a heavy hatred most of his life, ever since…who cares. But the hatred he felt now was more akin to a volcano than the fire pit he had previously had. It had been made far worse by being defeated by children. All Might had barely been involved in the fight, and they had gotten around Eraser Head's quirk several times. But they were stopped, again, by kids.

He had touched him! He had felt All Might and was a hair's breadth from ending the hated Symbol of Peace. Instead, he had lost his hand and been taken out by a girl. He had been made a fool by her.

It angered him, but when he had directed his hatred at the girl… that was when he received a shock he never expected. She had reacted as if she had seen it before and that his hatred amounted to nothing. He had believed she was like all the other weak or wannabe heroes, that her words were just that, words. So when he pressed against the blade to get closer to her, he was shocked to feel it bite into him.

And then she decided to show mercy like an idiot. She saved his life after Kirogiri surrendered. He remembered the panic he had started to go through as it became harder to see and hear. He had been left in a daze, barely recovering on their slow trip to prison.

But his hatred's growth was directed not just at the ones that had thwarted him and made him out to be a fool but at himself. In those moments, he felt a fear he had not felt since childhood. He had feared dying and that it all amounted to nothing. He had been at her mercy. She had made him feel weak!

And a part of him, so deep inside, somewhere he thought didn't or even couldn't exist anymore, had felt thankful for it. He knew he had to snuff it out, to utterly destroy the girl. To eradicate all of them! But the worst part, even though he wanted to deny it and bury it under a pile of corpses, was that he was afraid of facing her again. And the little, pitiful and pathetic voice wanted him to stop.

Tomoru looked at his stump, having been healed by the girl after fixing his throat. She had prevented further blood loss by healing the flesh. He sat there staring at it as they traveled.

He wondered how long it would take for his– there it was. Tomura smirked as he felt something force its way out of his mouth and past the mouth guard, spilling out as a black goo. It happened to Kurogiri and Nomu as well. Soon, they were covered in the goo and reappeared elsewhere, crashing into the ground.

"I see you failed, Tomura."

Tomura gagged a few times, more from his mind thinking the stuff was still in his throat than anything physically being there. He was on his hands and knees, still too weak from blood loss to look at his Master. He noticed they were in a dark warehouse of some sort, there was dirt on the ground and a few lights lighting up the place.

"Do not feel bad. There is a reason All Might is considered this world's Symbol of Peace. One of them is his incredible resilience and tenacity," the man that was his Master said. The man stood there in a dark business suit as he looked down at him. His upper body was not visible with the little light that they had.

"Failure can turn into success, so long as you learn what went wrong," the man said as he straightened and buttoned his sleeves and cuffs. "Do you know what went wrong?"

Reminded of his failure, Tomura stayed there a few moments as he gathered his strength to finally answer. "The interfering brats."

"Ah, yes. Sometimes the young can perform better than expected. They can become a wrench in a well-designed machine or plan, causing everything to fail." His Master then put his hands into his pants pockets as he relaxed further.

"No, Master," Kurogiri said after finally recovering enough. "They stopped the plan outright."

That caught his Master's attention, stepping to his side and further into the light. They could now see the bottom of his giant black iron mask. "What do you mean?"

Kurogiri proceeded to give a quick summary of the day's events. It only took a few minutes, but their Master remained silent as he listened. After he explained why they surrendered, he waited for their Master's decision. They didn't have to wait long as he spoke in a calm voice and a degree of interest he hadn't heard in some time.

"Tell me more."

-o-0-o-O-o-0-o-

Izuku sat down at his desk the next morning, worn out from a sleepless night but eager for the school day to begin and things to return to normal.

After returning to their classroom, they had been excused from their afternoon Japanese lessons and had instead been questioned and consoled by several teachers. They wanted to ensure everyone was physically, mentally, and emotionally okay. After that was dealt with, each of them had been interviewed by policemen and went over their own accounts of what had happened.

He had gone home and hugged his mother, calming her down after explaining what had transpired. He had yet to have an opportunity to talk to All Might, but he would when he got the chance.

The rest of their class looked fine, though Ranma, Sakura, and Peter were all receiving glances as they waited.

Finally, the bell started going off, indicating class would begin as soon as it ended. Their Sensei started getting out of his sleeping bag again. They had already adjusted to his eccentricities.

"It is good to see all of you returned. I was worried some of you would react badly to yesterday's events. But you are all made of sterner stuff it seems. Well done," Shota said with a grin, his red eyes on display. It looked a little creepy.

"I wish circumstances had been different, that none of you would have had to fight yesterday, but you did. Some of you, against my orders and wishes," Aizawa said as he glared at Ranma. The boy just smiled back, though, after a moment, he rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. Aizawa's face relaxed soon after, picking up where he had left off. "While I wasn't happy about it, it was the right call in the end."

This got a dramatic reaction from most of the class. Some began to converse, but Aizawa interrupted them. "Quiet. I'm not done."

After they calmed down again, he continued. "My hesitancy in allowing any of you to fight might have gotten some of you seriously injured or killed yesterday. For that, I apologize," Aizawa said as he bowed to the class for a full second before returning to standing up straight. The class remained silent in their shock.

"Parker, excellent job on communicating with the outside. Without reinforcements arriving as quickly as they had, it could have been much worse. That resolved our biggest initial hurdle; we just needed to stall for a time. Excellent job keeping the class safe from Nomu and the warper. The data you collected and shared with the school and the police allowed them to round up almost all of the villains. A few are still being hunted, but we have their trails. Well done."

Peter smiled at the praise, happy to keep his classmates and what friends he had made with them so far safe. He had worried he would have been chewed out by David or Melissa last night for using Karen like that, but they had received the same data packs and video logs; they knew just how dangerous that situation was turning out to be. They would have to be careful, step lightly for the next few weeks or months, but they agreed it had been necessary.

"Kirishima, Bakugo, Todoroki, good job keeping on your toes. You helped suppress the warper from splitting us up, which likely could have led to injuries or deaths among your classmates. You also helped handle the bulk of the villains when they tried to swarm us. Well done."

Eijiro looked bashful, even as he got a few shoulder taps from nearby classmates. Shoto just nodded while Bakugo smirked widely at it.

"The rest of you kept your heads together and protected yourselves and your classmates. You followed Sakura's orders quickly, which allowed us to hold them off until All Might arrived," Aizawa said as he looked around at them. He was proud of how they had responded yesterday, not acting irrationally as many teens tended to do.

"Ururaka and Hagakure, I realize you may have felt like you didn't do much to contribute, but your job was important, and you were the best ones for the job at the time. The fact you didn't have to was a good thing," Aizawa was glad to see Ochako looking happier at the praise. He thought Toru had reacted similarly, but her quirk did make her reactions difficult to read.

"Saotome, you did disobey orders with your actions, even if it was the right call. Please follow my orders in the future while I will keep in mind your capabilities."

"Sure thing, Sensei!" Ranma called out. Izuku heard him mumble something about chances and pigs, causing those closest to him to give him some odd looks.

"Beyond that, excellent job on handling Nomu. Physically, he was the most dangerous of the ones we faced yesterday, but you kept him under control, even taking care that collateral damage didn't injure the downed villains. Well done."

As most of the class expected, Aizawa then turned to the last of them. "Haruno, your evaluation of the situation was appropriate. You handled the class well, helping to make sure everyone knew what to do to keep us all safe. And lastly, your guarding of All Might and myself saved All Might's life or at least prevented debilitating injuries."

That caused an uproar across the room, with students standing up as they tried to process what he had just claimed. "Quiet!" Aizawa shouted, his quirk flaring momentarily as his hair floated above his head, getting their attention quickly. "Sit down!"

It took them a few seconds, but eventually, they did. "Yes, she did save him. Most of you saw what their leader did to the baseball bat earlier. He disintegrated it by touching it. If he was able to do that, it most likely would work on a human. How much contact or for how long is not known at this time, but it would have been bad. Her reaction prevented the contact from working. Her additional actions, while brutal, resulted in the capture of both the warper and the leader, ending the fight."

"It wasn't my first choice, Sensei. After repeated lethal attempts, the multiple times they threatened to injure or kill us and All Might, and then they tried to use a lethal sneak attack; I knew it needed to end as quickly as possible," Sakura explained.

"Agreed. For all of that, Haruno, well done."

Sakura smiled back, giving a nod. She had been worried he would react badly to her actions yesterday, and he had to an extent, but it seemed he was as level-headed and professional as she thought he was. Chiyo and Naomasa's praise of the man went a long way toward strengthening that opinion.

Aizawa looked at the class again, glad to have that all dealt with. "Now, onto other news. You all will need to prepare for the next fight."

"Next fight?" Katsuki asked, a grin forming on his face.

"Don't tell me…" Izuku said.

"The U.A's Sports Festival is fast approaching."