Magical Miracle Midoriya

by TealeafCustom

Midoriya Izuku is fourteen when fate grants him ultimate power in the form of a Magical Girl. With the ability to swap between two bodies Izuku must learn what it truly means to be a hero, especially when mysterious monsters start attacking Japan. It's up to Izuku to save the day... or die trying.

16. All's Right With The World

[Chapter 16]

---

TW: Blood and violence, mentions of past sexual assault. Changed this fic's rating to M.

---

"Come on, say ahhh~ Ahhh~"

The nurse prodded at the boy's cheek gently, but there was no response. He remained catatonic, still oblivious to the outside world and her attempts to rouse him from his shock-coma.

His name was Matsuda Kenji, one of the many victims of the Magical Girl Massacre. He had no living family left, now confined to a hospital bed where he lay still and unmoving with an empty gaze. Sometimes his pupils moved, but those moments were few and far between.

Staring ever forward with glassy eyes, the young boy continued to wear a blank expression on his face. To all outside observers it seemed that he was a lost cause, but the doctors and nurses weren't giving up. The fMRI scans they took showed that there were fluctuating spikes of brain activity, indicating that he was still in there. They just couldn't figure out how to get him back to normal.

If only they knew, that he was the only thing holding back the walking calamity known as Magical Girl Mustard.

"What's the matter, not hungry today?" the nurse asked worriedly even as gruel dribbled down Matsuda's chin. "Just one more mouthful, gobble it up, just for me…"

"How'd you like to gobble her up, eh, Kenji-kun?" Toga snickered, a cruel smirk on her face while she continued to taunt her host. "How'd you like to sink your teeth into her and let the juice run down your neck? You'd love it, wouldn't you?"

Kenji said nothing, continuing to clutch his head in his hands in the mindscape. Toga's giggling continued to echo in his ears, the vestige floating around him like a majestic koi fish. One of her signature hair buns was undone, her long, golden locks billowing outward as if she was underwater.

"You could have her, Kenji. Any way you liked." Toga whispered, running her tongue along his cheek from behind. "Any… way… you… liked."

"No…" Kenji groaned. Toga's hands gripped his shoulders, the girl pressing herself into his back and giggling all the while.

"You only have to say the word." Toga cooed. "Let me out, Kenji. Just for a little while. She's got an amazing chest, don't you think so? And look at those long, lovely legs. Come on, let me show you how good a girl can feel…"

"Shut up!" Kenji yelled, squeezing his eyes shut. "I won't let you out! I won't!"

"Hehehe~" Toga's canines glinted, her smile playful and innocent. "Is that so?"

"Uh… I mean… I can't let you out." Kenji corrected himself quickly, dread coiling in his heart. "We're both trapped in here, and I can't control my physical body anymore. That's what I meant to say… I can't."

It was a weak lie and they both knew it. Toga's unblinking golden eyes bore a hole into him and Kenji held his metaphorical breath, only for any hope of deceiving her to die an ugly death when her smile only grew wider.

"To be honest, Kenji, I never thought you could…"

Half of her face flickered, and for a moment there was the visage of a bone-white skull decorated with coiling red muscle tissue.

"...Not until a second ago." Toga chuckled darkly like the temptress she was. "Only a matter of time. I know you best, after all."

"No… I'm not like you." the boy stammered. "I'm nothing like you!"

"Don't be so certain. You are me, and I am you." Toga said. "Together, we are Mustard. You are nothing without me, boy…"

She spun about to face him, a satisfied smirk on her face.

"And I am nothing without you. So why not be one with me again?" Toga continued, voice full of sultry want. "Make us whole once more, to shape the world as we see fit."

"So you can play god?" Kenji sniffed, eyes defiant. "Go fuck yourself, Toga."

"I would if I could!" Toga laughed, giggling madly like a schoolgirl. "Playing god? That's where you're mistaken, Kenji."

She glanced down at him with those mesmerizing golden eyes, something dark pulsing behind her gaze.

"There is no 'play'."

[x]

Inko fumed, gritting her teeth while the doctor drew another sample of her blood. There wasn't much she could do, not when those armed guards were constantly around the doctor while he worked.

So far they'd done a few standard health tests and an x-ray, and Inko silently raged against her kidnapper while trying to formulate an escape plan. If what Doctor Garaki said about Miracle was true, that she was actually her son's alter ego… she would be coming for her. Inko knew it in her heart. She had to buy more time.

"Why Miracle?" Inko began, causing the doctor to glance up at her. "Why this obsession with Magical Girls?"

"Mrs. Midoriya, please." Doctor Garaki scoffed. "Do not play the stupid cow. Now that we've established that Miracle and Midoriya Izuku are one and the same, you and I are linked by the red thread of fate. You could even say that we created Miracle together. She is almost my daughter."

His gaze lowered to her belly, the woman taking a step back in revulsion.

"It's such a shame that I can't be her. Beautiful, perfect, her… But a baby that duplicates her powers perfectly, without a personality of its own… ooh~ A perfect body, just for me." Garaki licked his lips at the thought. "Sweet little Miracle. Soon, she shall be my sister."

This man. How dare he! Inko's knuckles whitened and she found herself looking for a weapon. The masked guards were the only thing stopping her from attacking the old man - there was no doubt that they could gun her down before she could even lay a single finger on him. Patience, Inko told herself. Wait for the right opportunity.

She glared at the guards angrily, shocked when she noticed one of them was actually a woman from the shape of her figure.

"You… You people are monsters." Inko spat. "Have you no shame? You're a woman too. How can you let him do this?"

"The real monsters are out there, walking in the streets as if they belonged." the tall henchwoman stepped forward, looking Inko in the eye through her mask. "In exchange for our services, Dr. Garaki here has graciously offered to help us create a Magical Girl of our own to rid us of the mutant scourge that plagues Japan. I'm truly sorry ma'am, but we must secure the existence of our people and a future for true humans. The life of one woman is a small price to pay."

Inko's scowl deepened. Now she knew why she found those skull masks they wore so familiar. The guards were part of the Creature Rejection Clan, a Quirkist supremacist group that targeted heteromorphs. No good scumbags who discriminated against their fellow citizens just because of the way they looked…

And the doctor was going to give them their own Magical Girl. A perfect messiah. She knew what Miracle and Mustard could do. A Magical Girl in the hands of these Quirkist bastards would mean total heteromorph death.

Inko knew she couldn't allow that to happen, but that came later. First she still had to plan her escape from this wretched place. In the hallways and corridors that they passed earlier there were armed guards roaming around everywhere, meaning that sneaking out was near-impossible for her. The only option was to hope for Miracle, for Izuku to come save her. Her child would come for her, she was sure of it.

A small, two-legged creature then sauntered into the room happily, rubbing against the doctor's leg and begging for attention. Cooing, the old man bent down and picked it up, settling down the creature on the couch next to Inko.

"There you are, Mocha-chan." Garaki smiled down at the strange creature in his lap, producing a biscuit from his lab coat. "A biscuit, do you want a biscuit?"

The grayish-beige thing let out a delighted bark and bit down, enjoying the treat immensely. Inko studied it with equal parts horror and curiosity. It behaved like a dog, barked like one… but it wasn't one. The being was wearing a pair of children's sneakers, the top part of its skull exposed to show a pinkish brain underneath. What really unnerved her was the pair of 'ears' atop its head, for they weren't ears at all. They were human noses…

"There you go. You will be a fat little Nomu, Mocha!" Garaki laughed heartily as his pet gulped down another biscuit. "Ha ha!"

"Dr. Garaki…" Inko gulped. "What are you?"

"I?" Garaki looked up with a small smile, still patting the small Nomu on his lap. "I am a scientist, first and foremost. Nowadays, I am just an old man who wants to live."

"No." Inko shook her head. "Where are you from?"

The old doctor seemed to contemplate her question, a thoughtful look crossing his face before he spoke again.

"Okinawa."

A strange, nostalgic expression flickered in his eyes.

"I was born in Naha, only a few years before the Advent of the Exceptional. Before the rise of Quirks." Garaki answered wistfully. "But you do not wish to hear this."

"Yes I do." Inko said. Anything to distract him.

"Hmm." the old man hummed, an unreadable expression on his face. "Okinawa fell in 2XXX. How well do you know Japanese history?"

Inko struggled to reply, but Garaki simply raised his hand in understanding.

"Ah well. There is little to know. Just dust and blood." he continued. "Okinawa fell during the Dark Age, and the Prime Minister sent in the JSDF to keep the peace. Later when the troops are withdrawn, there are bad times. My father knew people in Kagoshima, and said he would take us there. I am, what? Four, five, maybe six years old as this is happening."

Inko did the math in her head. Over a hundred years ago… Did this man have some way to expand his lifespan? A longevity Quirk, perhaps? Though she despised this man with every fiber of her being, the historian in her marveled at what was likely a firsthand account of someone who was alive during the Dark Age.

"In Kagoshima, we were poor. There was a widespread famine and my father died of starvation to save our family. My mother did not even have the money for a respectable funeral." Garaki grunted. "I still remember what I said to her back then; 'I'll take care of you, mama'. This, from me, at nine years old."

He motioned for one of the guards, and a bottle was brought over to them. Red wine, chilled to perfection. Inko blinked when she was offered a glass, accepting it hesitantly.

"I kept my promise. My I.Q, you see, was almost 190." Garaki sipped at his wine, swirling it in his glass. "I knew that there was little honest money to be made in Kagoshima. There was a local gangster with a powerful Quirk, who proclaimed himself a villain. Called himself Aquarius, after the zodiac sign."

The old doctor looked nostalgic, smiling to himself.

"Because I was a small, ugly child who posed no threat, he adopted me. I was his mascot. His good luck piece. His joke. Sometimes, he let me make suggestions. My suggestions served Aquarius very well. By age thirteen, I ran much of his business for him."

His smile slowly faded, replaced by a small frown.

"Then one night, drunk, he tried to interfere with me. Sexually. I resisted. I was beaten." Garaki said. "He called me an eunuch, and my mother a whore. Poor Aquarius, he didn't know."

A satisfied smirk slowly grew on the man's face.

"He was an uneducated man, with no head for numbers. He didn't understand how unnecessary he had become in the gang. I earned far more money than he did. I owned his men, they worked for me." Garaki laughed. "I had him taken from his bed one night, and a group of thugs held him down. He watched as I violated his woman in front of him, in his own bedroom."

Inko felt sick to her stomach but pushed on.

"Then I beat him to death with a baseball bat." Garaki said casually. "I was fourteen. By the time I was eighteen, I had enough money, resources, and connections to ensure my mother's comfort during this life, and a little more besides. I pursued my passion in science, and headed to Tokyo in pursuit of it. I began to study science seriously, genetics in particular. Published a few papers, completed a few research projects. Then I traveled abroad, seeking knowledge. As my reputation expanded, I met many significant people. Some good friends… some terrible enemies."

Let him waste his breath and time. Inko told herself, trying to stretch out the doctor's monologue as long as possible. Izuku had to be out there looking for her. He had to be.

"One of those enemies was the Korean S-Class Metahuman at the time, the Jinsoyun." Garaki said. "Strong, beautiful, a goddess made flesh."

That got Inko's attention. This villain… he met the woman who reunited Korea? B-but she was a renowned hero!

"So much has been said about her. My impression of her was a woman who believed very strongly in her own ideals, but with a dangerous weakness for optimism. Foiled many of my plans, as I recall. Strangely enough I admired her, my dear, sweet enemy, even with that childish naivety of hers. Hahaha, little Miracle reminds me of her. Yes, in another life I would have made her mine. Oh, what could have been if we were not on opposite sides of the war."

Bastard. Inko thought to herself, holding back a curse. Just when she thought this guy couldn't get any worse, he just revealed that he used to work with North Korea.

"During the Reunification War I was given a position in the North's science team, researching genetics amongst other things." Garaki continued. "Partway through, I realized that the North could not win the war and I defected to the South. I was made very welcome - before my defection, I had worked on a then-experimental military grade Quirk-booster drug. You know it now as 'Trigger'. Once the war was over, I headed back to Japan, and was given a position within HPSC Research and Development."

Garaki's shoulders slumped as he prepared to say his next words.

"In 2XXX, my mother died." Garaki shook his head, voice full of sorrow. "I had killed my first man almost before I had grown a man's hair, and yet… This was the first time I had understood mortality. The philosopher Martin Heidegger once said that true humanity comes with not bowing to the outside world. I decided then that I should never bow down to my own mortality."

He looked Inko in the eye and it took all it had in her not to look away.

"Never die." Garaki whispered. "Two years later, I was given the means by which this might be accomplished. It was a night in March, and I was roused from my bed with news of a poison gas scare down in Cape Toi, near Mt. Ogi. At first I did not see why I should be involved in such a trivial matter, but the HPSC insisted that I be driven down to see for myself."

The old doctor began to rummage around in his lap coat, pulling out an old photograph and looking at it fondly.

"The poison gas was a fabrication, of course. That was just to explain the necessary evacuation of the area." Garaki smiled, leaning forward to hand Inko the photograph. "It was a bitterly cold night, I recall it perfectly."

Inko took it gingerly in her hand, gasping when she saw what it captured.

The photograph depicted a group of scientists and soldiers with their backs to the camera, with a younger Garaki front and center. They were staring up at a massive, glowing pink object that had crashed in a rice field; eerie, luminescent blue smoke trailing from its surface and into the night. Glowing cracks lined the sky above the object, already sealing themselves by the time the men had arrived. The organic curves and exposed bone upon its outer shell made Inko's heart leap up into her throat, and she realized that it had eyes. Tentacles the size of a small car trailed from its main mass, those torn and broken leaking bright blue blood into the earth below.

It was a living thing, an otherworldly creature from beyond the stars.

"March 15th, 2XXX." Garaki recalled. "When the sky fell."

A fallen angel.

[x]

"This can't be real. You-You're saying that this is…" Inko stammered.

"An alien?" Garaki laughed. "Not in the traditional sense, no. Not one of those 'Angels' Miracle-chan has been fighting, either. What you see here is no mere beast. We quickly determined that it was some form of organic craft—a living starship. The science team quickly took to calling it 'The Nautiloid'."

Garaki took the photo back, brushing it gently before putting it back into his pocket. Gulping down another sip of red wine, he continued his story.

"It was dead, melted in places. A giant icarus that had brushed the sun." Garaki said. "Its surface carapace was impossibly seamless and there was the smell of blood and ozone… It was magnificent. I assembled a team and we suited up, preparing to go where no man has before. We had to use ropes to get inside…"

He mimed climbing a rope, eyes twinkling with excitement.

"There were no ramps, no ladders. The ship's owner had not needed them. We entered the ship, but like tuna fish swimming through the wreckage of an atomic submarine, we did not comprehend it." Garaki marveled. "We could not. It was from somewhere else, a little piece of heaven. The organic ship's insides glowed with a strange light, and the walls were made of soft flesh. Not wet like you'd expect, but velvet-smooth and dry."

Garaki waggled his finger and a nearby guard poured him another glass of wine.

"As I looked at the organic, alien technology around me, I understood its implications for humanity. It was so desirable, so dangerous. My team and I continued to explore the ship, the corridors lit up by sourceless light of an indefinable color. The gravity was false, and we could walk up the walls as easily as one might walk forward. After thirty seconds inside the craft, one of the junior officers reproduced symptoms of a violent epilepsy."

Red wine swirled within his glass, but Inko's was left forgotten.

"For my part, I was sick. I managed it with as much dignity as I could muster. But there was the sensation of fouling something sacred, nonetheless." Garaki continued. "We found a massive arrangement of polyhedrons that were perhaps our visitor's library, or armory, or larder. We found a machine that had intestines. We found circuitry that seemed to be made out of water. And finally, we found The Visitor, in the pilot's cockpit. Still interfaced to her craft, but dead in her chair. Blood everywhere. Her body was mangled to the point where one could barely even recognize that she was human."

"Human?" Inko croaked, a lump building in her throat.

"Yes, human. Not at all what we expected; not a little green man, nor a gray alien with eyes too big for his head." Garaki nodded. "Imagine our surprise when we found that the pilot of that strange, organic craft… was a Magical Girl. Still wearing a pink and white dress, like something out of a cartoon. No older than fourteen, by our estimation. One of the men cried when he saw her. She had no possessions save for a diary that detailed her travels, and a flag bearing a diamond symbol. Strangest of all, her diary was written in Japanese. Imagine what we could have learned from her!"

Inko's heart thundered in her chest. This was the first Magical Girl that the government got their hands on. All the subsequent ones had to be reverse-engineered from what they found that night, magic springing from the corpse of a god.

"The disassembled craft became property of the HPSC, as did its late pilot. The dead Magical Girl obsessed me, refusing to conform to any biological theory I could imagine. Her bone and muscle density, her neural network, her beauty. Half of her was superhuman in every sense of the word, almost too perfect to be true. The other was painfully ordinary." Garaki pantomimed excitedly as he spoke. "She had two of everything. Two heads, intersecting with each other. Two brains, crushed together into an amorphous gray mass—we later determined that this was the cause of death—and yet, she was one creature. Her cell structure was consistent throughout."

Garaki cupped his chin, deep in thought.

"Or rather, it wasn't. You see, one of the bodies was a cellular replica of the other…"

"A clone." Inko realized, saying the words aloud.

"Yes, yes!" Garaki snapped his fingers, pleased. "In addition, the secondary body was tremendously evolved and adaptable. Do you see?"

Inko gulped, imagining it in her head. That poor girl, with her two bodies mashed together like that…

"Somewhere out there lies an extradimensional human civilization much more advanced than ours. The civilization this girl came from, they were minds with more than one body." Garaki said. "But, one night over Cape Toi, something had gone wrong. We later discovered that the organic starship had a… brain aneurysm, of sorts. The resulting accident affected the pilot, and caused both bodies to occupy the same space at once. I imagine it was very much like hell…"

The woman resisted a sudden urge to vomit.

"...But for me, a heaven-sent opportunity; a gift of fire from an alien prometheus. The HPSC was so much more interested in the higher dimension her ship traveled through, something she called 'Quirkspace' in her diary entries. The birthplace of Quirks and where their true forms reside, which the public know as 'Angels' when they cross over to our plane of reality. It is the crossroad of all realities… meaning that there are other realities out there. Other worlds."

"Angels are Quirks?" Inko blinked, caught off guard by the sudden revelation.

"Yes! Energy-based lifeforms, so very different from the carbon-based life we have on Earth. From the data we retrieved, we also concluded that our strange visitor was some sort of scout. In her diary, she addressed herself as a 'Kämpfer', even having a rare few details of the worlds she inspected. German and Japanese. I still wonder what sort of world she came from!" Garaki nodded excitedly with the air of a true scientist. "Remarkable, isn't it? However, I was more focused on the concept of minds with more than one body. I sought to replicate the process myself using the visitor's genome, got funding from the HPSC's weapon division… and thus Weapon M was born."

Garaki launched into another monologue, proud of his work.

"We learned much from the visitor and her craft. From our test subjects' living cells, we created perfectly evolved superhuman clones. We placed those bodies in Quirkspace, copying the visitor's method to the letter. The power to switch between two bodies at the utterance of a word… to change into a perfect version of oneself at any moment… We had the perfect spy and supersoldier within our grasp. If not for the limitations of the visitor's original Quirk requiring its wielder to be a teenage female, Japan could have the world by its throat. The Quirk was… picky, in a sense. More like a computer program than a living thing, but that only made it easier to adjust to its needed parameters." Garaki smiled. "In that lab we crafted monsters, and if the HPSC President at the time suspected as much, his suspicions went unvoiced. He averted his eyes and allowed his conscience to look the other way. He wanted power, you see, to protect his country. I gave him supermen. An amusing concept, yes? But power and control are always inversely proportional."

Garaki gulped down his wine in a fervor of frenzied knowledge, a lecturer gone mad.

"We had to find a way to control the monsters we made. I decided to enslave their minds with dreams. With stolen alien knowledge, we crafted devices that would shape their dreams and nightmares." Garaki told her. "We created a fantasy of being destined magical warriors for those girls, and they believed every word of it. Evidently, they believed it a little too much, and we had to rid ourselves of them. Such a shame, really."

"What happened?" Inko asked, then demanded. Fury rose in her voice. "What did you do to those girls?"

"We terminated them. They were loose cannons, and a loose cannon will eventually point in your direction." Garaki shrugged, nonchalant. "A weapon that we cannot control is no weapon at all, but a liability. They were trying to find a way back into Quirkspace, and they very nearly did until we got rid of them. My dream machine… might have contributed to their little mental breakdowns."

Monster. Inko grit her teeth. Justice will be coming for you.

"So all this suffering… Was it just a way for you to find a path to immortality?"

"I won't deny it. There were times when I questioned myself… but then I met a great man." Garaki's eyes glazed over. "A man who wanted it all. He inspired me, with his ambition, his will. He was a god on earth, and gods don't have to choose. They take. My dearest master, All For One… and his troublesome brother, One For All."

Garaki brought a hand to his mouth, biting down on a fingernail.

"If not for that meddlesome Quirk and its wielders… and All Might as its latest host..." the man hissed, frustration laced through his words. "But that doesn't matter now that I have you."

Inko's thoughts raced. One For All… All Might?

"That's enough reminiscing for now." Garaki announced, straightening his coat. "Have a good night, Mrs Midoriya. It'll be a long day tomorrow."

[x]

Inko couldn't sleep that night, not a wink. All she could think about was Garaki's story and those poor Magical Girls.

She'd tried her best, but couldn't figure out a way to escape. From what she'd gathered, she was on an island somewhere off the coast of Japan, the sound of waves nearby indicating that they were near to the shore. Her room had a window that allowed her to study the guards' patrol routes, but there were simply too many of them. To make things worse, it was barred with a steel grate that was far too sturdy to break. The only other exit was the door, where two guards stood by at all times.

Inko was about to rise from her chair for another bout of pacing when a gloved hand clasped around her mouth and stopped her from screaming. Trembling, she looked back only to find a white-haired teenage girl, a submachine gun in her grip. She was wearing a plate carrier of all things, the tactical webbing looking completely out of place in contrast to her dress-like outfit.

"Mrs. Midoriya Inko?" the girl asked.

Inko nodded quickly.

"Mrs. Midoriya, please do not be alarmed." She continued with a nod. "I am a friend. Your son will be arriving shortly."

Night turned to day outside the lab compound, the sky lighting up when an emerald star flared like a second sun. There were the shouts of men and the blaring of sirens, guards rushing to their posts and sounding the alarm.

Midoriya Izuku hit the compound like a meteor, tearing through the building in a massive explosion of roiling green lightning.

[x]

Magical Girl Miracle had arrived, and she wasn't happy.

Men cried out in pain as her lightning sparked through them, rendering them unconscious upon contact. The walls twisted and exploded wherever the strange energy touched, Miracle's lightning… her Quirk Flux warping inorganic matter at the molecular level. Garaki observed it all through his security cameras, enthralled by her power and beauty.

"It is as you said, sir." One of his hired CRC men grunted. "She is here."

Garaki made no move to respond, taking in Miracle's form. An angel…

"Sir?"

"Mmm? Oh, forgive me. I had forgotten just how magnificent…" Garaki trailed off. "No matter. Bring Mocha to me. We may not have much time."

[x]

Breaching through a wall, Izuku spied her target only moments later in the basement of the lab, staring down at her enemy with a pair of heterochromatic tiger-eyes. Saiko had done her job wonderfully and managed to narrow down the lab's location, and now they were finally here. After Toga had learned of Izuku's predicament she'd flown into a rage, the two of them united in their fury.

Before them was Doctor Garaki Kyudai, in the flesh. He was a short, pudgy little man, smaller and older than she thought. Wrinkles lined his brow, his smooth bald head devoid of hair. With that bushy mustache there was an almost grandfatherly air around him, but nothing could mask the sly, arrogant malice that shone behind his goggles.

The old man was sitting on a rocking chair and on his lap was a miniature Nomu, the creature staring at her with a strange intensity. Beside him stood an armed guard in a skull mask and a black coat, his revolver aimed squarely at Izuku's forehead.

"So you've finally come back to me, Weapon M." Garaki smiled. "Come to daddy."

"Garaki." Miracle snarled in two voices, more Toga than Izuku. "You think you can threaten my mother? I've come to kill you."

"No. Hahahaha!" Garaki laughed, seeming unperturbed by the threat. "Quite the reverse, in fact."

Izuku strode up to the old man, lightning charging up in one hand. She was only a second away from hurling the bolt into his chest when Garaki chuckled and spoke a single word.

"Abraxas." the old man said aloud.

A brilliant flash of light combined with a thunderous bang flared throughout the room, and the next thing Izuku knew he was himself again. For a moment the boy couldn't believe what just happened, dumbstruck by the involuntary transformation.

No.

"Henshin." Izuku said, horrified when nothing happened. "H-henshin!"

Nothing. He was still himself, still weak, powerless, useless Deku. Toga wasn't there anymore, having fallen silent and locked away within his mind. Dread crawled up his spine, his heart falling into the bottomless pit that was his stomach.

NO!

"What have you done to me?" Izuku whispered, pure terror in his voice.

"Ha ha ha." Garaki chuckled, picking up his pet Nomu and rubbing its exposed brain lovingly. "Isn't it obvious? I've used a posthypnotic keyword of my own to override your trigger mechanism. A failsafe that I thought to include with my new generation Weapon M. The effects only last for an hour…"

"Intelli-san!" Izuku howled, panicking. He had to have knocked out enough guards to ensure their escape by now. "SAIKO, TAKE HER AND RUN!"

"But he doesn't have an hour, does he Mocha-chan?" Garaki smirked, putting the little Nomu down.

Izuku whirled around only to find the mini-Nomu staring directly at him, tongue out and panting in anticipation.

"Listen carefully, Mocha-chan." Garaki said, adjusting a knob on his goggles and darkening the lenses. His masked bodyguard immediately turned his gaze away. "Steppenwolf."

Izuku couldn't look away in time. The resulting flashbang-esque explosion left him blinded and deafened for a moment, stunning the boy. When he blinked the stars out of his eyes, a nightmarish creature stood in the space where the little Nomu once was.

It was a muscular, quadrupedal creature the size of a grown man with mottled gray and beige skin, its drooling mouth filled with rows of uneven, dagger-like teeth. An exposed brain seemed to pulse unnaturally, shifting in its skull. Rocky, quilled spines jutted from its back, running all along its body until they met a pair of hateful, crimson eyes. The creature let out a deep, rumbling snarl as it focused its gaze on Izuku, snapping its jaws hungrily.

"Hehehe~ Do you like her, Midoriya-kun? My precious Mocha-chan." Garaki boasted.

Izuku backed away, trembling.

"Midoriya-kun? I heard you call out—"

To his dismay the door beside him clicked open and Saiko strode through, weapon at the ready. To make things worse Inko was right behind her, the pair freezing at the sight of the monstrous transformed Nomu.

Neither party even got a word out before Saiko opened fire, the silenced submachine gun in her hands rattling when she emptied the entire magazine into the Nomu. It had no effect, the bullets simply crumpling against its hide.

Spotting Izuku, Saiko grimaced. His very presence was all she needed to know that something had gone terribly wrong. She soon dropped her weapon and her last remaining magazine when the Nomu growled at her, the henchman behind it also leveling his revolver at her for good measure.

"Izuku!" Inko cried out, clearly more worried for her son than her own safety. "Oh my god, Izuku, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, mom." Izuku said weakly, not daring to break eye contact with the Dog-Nomu at first lest it pounce and kill them all.

"For now." Garaki supplied helpfully.

"Where's Miracle?" Saiko demanded, giving Izuku a worried look. "Where is she?"

"Garaki… used a word to forcibly trigger the change." Izuku muttered, fear in his eyes. "Effects last an hour… Oh God, that creature…"

"Come on now, surely the dog isn't that much of a surprise?" Garaki huffed. "We always experiment on animals first, don't we? It was simple to create an enhanced body for Mocha-chan, even if she has mixed canine and human DNA. Who's a good girl, Mocha? You are, you are!"

The Nomu in question, Mocha, let out a happy bark before refocusing on Izuku and Saiko. They were trapped, and Saiko didn't have anything with enough firepower that could take down something like that…

"Incidentally, good evening, Ms. Intelli. I've heard much about you through the grapevine, it's a pleasure to meet you. Always nice to see young talent." Garaki said cheerfully. "I am genuinely sorry that our meeting must be so brief. I'm sure we would have found much to talk about."

"I'm sure we would." Saiko smiled thinly. "Could I at least get a handshake from a famous scientist?"

She strode forward, and Garaki allowed her to despite his bodyguard's objections. When she was within a meter of him she pointed the toe of her shoe outward mid-stride, covertly tapping her heel against the floor. A silver projectile leapt from her shoe and headed right for Garaki's throat…

Only for a jet black hand to intercept the hidden blade. From the rafters another Nomu descended, eyes glowing yellow under its black skin hood. It bared its teeth and laughed at her futile assassination attempt, snapping the blade between its fingers. With two Nomus on the field, they were well and truly screwed.

"Good try, Ms. Intelli." Garaki admitted. "But that's quite enough from you. Mrs. Midoriya, if you'd step away from them now, please."

"No!" Inko wailed, terror clouding her expression. "Oh god, Izuku! Please, not my son! I'll do anything!"

"M-mom, I… I'm sorry." Izuku said softly, ashamed.

"Please, just let them go!" Inko sobbed, tears rolling down her cheek. "They're just kids!"

"Mrs. Midoriya. You and I both know that you are in no position to bargain." Doctor Garaki sighed. "Come on, let's get this over with."

"No, oh god, no… No!" Inko was crying, legs shaking as she neared her son and Saiko. She wrapped them up in a big hug, almost as if the act would protect them from what was about to happen.

Saiko blinked, but quickly steadied herself.

"I… I think it would be best if you do as he suggests, Mrs Midoriya."

"No… No, I can't, I can't…" Inko heaved, hugging the two teenagers tightly. "Please, God, don't take him away from me…"

"Mom." Izuku trembled, beginning to cry himself. There was no other way. Inko's safety was above all. Desperate tears filled his eyes and rolled down his cheeks and he knew he'd lost. "You've got to go. Mom, I love you…"

"I love you too, Izuku. I love you so much…" Inko blubbered, hiccuping.

She tiptoed and kissed his forehead, showing him the love of a mother one last time. She did the same for Saiko as well and the girl stiffened. Garaki rolled his eyes at the display and had his henchman usher Inko out of the room, the poor woman bawling her eyes out and sniffling all the while. Izuku could do nothing but watch as she left, his memories of her since his childhood replaying within his mind.

All those times of them playing hero together, with him rescuing her.

I'm sorry, mom. I'm sorry I couldn't save you…

Despair lanced through Izuku's heart. It couldn't be. It couldn't end like this.

"Now then." Garaki clapped his hands together, satisfied. "The two of you will be given a three minute head start. After that, Mocha will be coming after you."

Mocha licked her lips, hungry eyes locked onto Izuku.

"Dr. Garaki, there's no point to this." Saiko tried, trying to talk her way out.

"There is every point." Garaki puffed out his chest. "For years I've labored, tried everything to create a perfect, beautiful new body for myself. Now, I've finally found a way. With Mrs. Midoriya's genome, and her body… I can create a new Miracle, a new body, just for me! My life can finally begin anew!"

Izuku's pupils shrank with horror. This man, he wanted to… Saiko came to the same conclusion immediately, eyes narrowed in contempt.

"Since the Magical Girl Quirk only works on a female host, you'll be living as a woman." Saiko sneered, buying time. "Can you handle that, old man?"

"Even better! Suppose my new body doesn't have fertility issues since it's not a vat-grown clone… I might even be able to have babies!" Garaki said gleefully. "Oooh, how wonderful. Wait for me, my master. I'm so close to perfection…"

"You're even more messed up than I thought." Saiko scoffed, her words cutting. "How pathetic, the great Doctor Garaki, genius of his time, the man behind the infamous Quirk Singularity theory, reduced to this. A madman who wants to—"

Saiko didn't get to finish her sentence when Garaki simply pulled out a pistol and shot her in the head. Izuku screamed as the thunderous gunshot rang out, Saiko collapsing into his arms like a puppet with cut strings.

"SAIKO!" Izuku cried, cradling her head in his arms. Her eyes were glassy, staring up at the ceiling blankly. "Oh no… Oh no, no, no! You… you didn't have to…"

"On the contrary. I'd nearly forgotten what she could do." Garaki smiled. "I've read her HPSC file. Did you know, she once talked a man into suicide within nine minutes? Such is the power of her intelligence Quirk. Now I suggest you run, young Midoriya. Mocha-chan is getting hungry."

"Urrrggh." Saiko moaned in pain. She was still alive!

Izuku hauled her into a bridal carry and ran out of the lab, still checking on her wounds all the while. He didn't know how far he ran, the deep jungle foliage all around him casting the surroundings in deep shadows. The darkness stretched all around him, plunging them into a hopeless abyss. Once Izuku reached a clearing he stopped, checking on his friend.

Saiko was in bad shape, but still trying to speak to him. He cradled her head and sobbed, knowing that she was on the verge of death. There was no exit wound, meaning the bullet was still in her. A low-caliber round, but still a fatal wound. Bleeding in the brain, with no hope of medical attention. A death sentence. There was nothing he could do for her…

"Flask…" Saiko gasped, tapping her chest with a trembling finger.

Izuku got the message and rummaged through her tactical webbing, finding a small metal flask in one of the pouches. The strong smell of tea escaped when he popped the cap, bringing it to her lips. One last drink was the least he could do for her.

The moment she swallowed the concoction light seemed to return to Saiko's eyes, the girl sitting up of her own accord.

"Intelli-san!" Izuku sniffed, not daring to hug her for fear of hurting her even further. "Saiko!"

"H-heh. Funny, I don't remember giving you permission to use my first name…" Saiko slurred.

"I-I'm so sorry! It's all my fault!"

"No. No, it's not." Saiko said, head lolling from side to side. "Listen carefully, Izuku. I don't have much time left. Right now my Quirk is… making up for the bits of my brain that were destroyed… I'm at my limit. Take this…"

She reached into her right boot and pulled out a tiny derringer pistol, with only two rounds. Fumbling for a while, she handed it to Izuku, alongside a small knife she produced from the hem of her skirt.

"No…" Izuku sobbed, lip trembling. "Saiko, I'm sorry…"

"It's… okay." Saiko whispered, clasping Izuku's hands together, making him hold both weapons. "Listen, Izuku. I knew you were a good person from the moment I… met you. I think… I think I would have liked to be your friend… In another life."

"You are my friend!" Izuku wailed, hiccuping. "You already are!"

"You're a good person, Izuku…" Saiko slurred, blood dribbling down her face. "And inside you there is a god. Someone better than both of us… and you must… protect her. Go. This is where we part ways. I will do what I can here."

"Saiko… Saiko…"

He could do nothing but say her name over and over again, futile as it was. Why? Why did it have to happen this way? Saiko had finally earned her freedom, and yet… Why was the world so unfair? He refused to leave her, not like this.

"Allow me to be selfish, just this once." Saiko whispered.

The silver-haired girl cupped his face, staring deep into his eyes. Then she brought her lips to his and kissed him, the boy stiffening in shock as he experienced his first. Her lips were so soft, and their tongues even touched for a moment. They parted after a few seconds and Izuku didn't know what to think or feel. A gentle hand stroked his cheek, urging him to go. Her last wish.

"Goodbye, Izuku." Saiko smiled. She was beautiful in the pale moonlight, even with the streak of crimson running down her face.

"Goodbye…" Izuku sobbed uncontrollably, standing. "Goodbye, Saiko…"

He turned and ran deeper into the jungle, just as she wanted him to. Tears trailed in his wake, and he dared not look back… for he knew he would not be able to keep running if he did.

[x]

Saiko watched him leave, her mind an absolute mess.

She was barely clinging on now, her sanity slipping by the second. Any moment now, her Quirk would run out and she would be reduced to a drooling vegetable. Then that accursed Nomu would eat her alive. A rather pathetic end, she concluded.

No. This was not how she would go. If she was going to die, it was going to be in a blaze of glory. Something she could picture Mei doing.

Mei.

Saiko had regrets, too many to count. She hoped Mei would be okay without her. What about Eri? Had Nighteye found a new family for her yet? So many questions, so little time. And Midoriya Izuku… well… he was on his own now. He was annoyingly cute, really. From the first time they met, Saiko found it hard to deny that a tiny part of her had a crush on him. Not the beautiful, unstoppable Miracle, but plain, innocent Midoriya Izuku. She guessed nerds were her type after all.

In another life, perhaps she could have loved him.

Oh, to love and to be loved! All the things she missed out in her youth, in her line of work. It was all up to Mei now, all her failsafes and contingency plans keyed to the only person Saiko could ever trust.

Saiko stumbled to her feet, rising shakily. Her heartbeat pounded in her chest, loud as ritual drums. Droplets of blood marked her path, and she began creating a trail that led as far away from Izuku as possible. If the Nomu truly was based on a dog, there was no doubt that it would have a keen sense of smell.

She staggered through the underbrush, leaning against trees. Her vision began to run, colors streaming down like wet paint. She was dying, brain damage blurring her mind with audio-visual hallucinations. Was this what her mother saw, in her drug-addled state? Around her, the sounds of wildlife were silenced as if a great blanket had fallen over the jungle. Birds stopped their songs, and even bugs refrained from chirping. Saiko felt goosebumps on her skin, knowing a predator was here.

The girl huffed, her breathing hard and uneven. Her Quirk struggled to keep her mind intact, the bleeding in her brain only increasing by the second. Soon she'd be dead, but she still had one last trick up her sleeve. Izuku… if Izuku could hide himself, get away from the monster pursuing them for an hour, he would be able to turn back into Miracle. There was a slim chance that he'd be able to do it, but it was close to zero.

Still, it wasn't zero. Despite all odds, Saiko chose to believe in him, and Miracle.

"Haaah… hahhh." Saiko laughed to herself, entering a state of delirium. "Look at me. Possibility versus probability. Illogical."

There was the snapping of branches behind her and the Dog Nomu erupted from the treeline, spittle flying from its wide, open maw full of teeth. Its eyes blazed with cruel intelligence and hunger, the beast circling around its wounded prey like a tiger.

"Illogical." Saiko repeated, drawing her push knife.

She was unbalanced, unsteady. Blood pounded in her head, and she could hear her own heartbeat. Her mind was crumbling neuron by neuron, her Quirk burning through energy just to keep her alive. Saiko saw her death before her, with a clarity that was both terrible and final.

The Nomu leapt then, its breath slamming into her face. A hot and rancid wall. Saiko swung her knife and aimed for its eyes, but there was a movement too fast to see, a pain too swift to experience…

"Oh." Saiko said.

Her right arm was missing, the sleeve torn and bloody. The creature pounced again, crashing down on her with a hundred kilos of muscle and bone. She heard her own ribcage shatter in a series of wet snaps, the monster's claws digging into her chestplate. There was no pain, not even when its jaws clamped around her neck. Time seemed to slow down for her.

So this was what it was like to die, Saiko realized. As cliche as it might have been, her life began to flash before her eyes. Her earliest memory of her mother, then being sold to the HPSC. Meeting Mei, her first friend in the White Room. The brutal training regimens and the augmentations they and the other Praetorian candidates were subject to. Her first kill. Her discovery of an affinity for knives. On and on and on… until they met Eri. Until Saiko's grand scheme to rebel against the HPSC and set her fellow Praetorians free. Finally, meeting Miracle… and Midoriya Izuku.

What a mess it all was, a comedy and a tragedy. But now it was time for the curtain to fall.

Saiko's last thoughts were of her friends, her family, and strangely enough, the woman who hugged her. Inko's hug was full of warmth and love, something she wished she got to experience more. Someone once told her that to be loved is to be changed, and perhaps that was why she was doing this. Just because of a mother's love. In another life, then.

The girl smiled even as she felt her life slipping away, knowing she was going to go out with a bang. Saiko gasped her last breath when the Nomu crushed her throat, teeth puncturing her soft, delicate flesh. Its claws drove into her chest like daggers, even piercing the armor plate she wore as if it was made of styrofoam.

I'm sorry, Mei. I'm sorry, Eri.

Her jaw clicked when she bit down on a certain tooth, activating the miniature fusion bomb hidden in her molar. A last resort, meant to destroy everything within a five-meter radius in a near-soundless explosion should she get captured. Perhaps it could even kill the Dog Nomu? Maybe cripple it and give Izuku enough time to change back? A girl could dream.

I'm sorry, Mama.

A brilliant flash of light filled Intelli Saiko's vision, and she knew no more.

[x]

Izuku didn't know how far he ran, sobbing as he did. The jungle was an endless green hell, lit only by the light of the moon above.

Soon he reached a clearing, having to stop to catch his breath. His lungs burned, legs almost giving out beneath him. It wasn't supposed to happen this way.

Mom.

The visage of his poor mother wailing as she was escorted away filled his mind. No, he had to… he had to save her…

Saiko.

He remembered the sensation of Saiko's lips against his and the way she smiled afterwards. A quiet acceptance of her own death. She'd stayed behind, just to distract the Dog Nomu with whatever little time she had left.

The boy bit back another sob. Make it count, he told himself.

"Toga…" Izuku begged, pleading at empty air. "Himiko, are you there? I… I need you…"

No response. He was all alone in the dark, with no one left to save him. Trying his magic keyword a few more times resulted in nothing either. Miracle was locked away inside him, a butterfly within a chrysalis. Without her, he was nothing—

No. He was Midoriya Izuku. He wouldn't give up just yet. Not now.

Not ever.

Grabbing a nearby branch, he began sharpening its tip with the knife Saiko had given him, creating a makeshift spear. There was no way he could hide from that thing, not when it had his scent. He managed to make only two when the Nomu finally found him.

Izuku and the beast glared at each other in the grassy clearing. It was hurt, the right side of its face missing an eye, a mangled, bloody mess of torn flesh and tendons. The front forepaw was reduced to a stump, charred bone sticking out of the fleshy mass. The result of Saiko's last stand.

Still, it wasn't enough. The monster ignored its pain, not at all bothered by the grievous wounds. Thick, black blood dripped from its injuries but still it advanced, hellbent on tearing Izuku to pieces.

It stared.

It lowered its head.

It spat.

Bright red blood, human blood, gushed from its mouth. Something mangled and golden was in the middle of the crimson puddle, and Izuku grit his teeth when he realized what it was.

Saiko's golden monocle.

White-hot rage coursed through Izuku. The Dog Nomu dripped bloody slobber, crunching its mouthful of razors together. It crouched, powerful muscles coiling together beneath the steaming leather sheets of its flanks. But however powerful it might be, it was still an animal.

That was how Izuku managed to predict its first move.

The beast leapt and Izuku hurled his makeshift spear while dodging left. He aimed for its singular, furious eye but his throw went wide, the creature whirling about only to face Izuku's raised gun. Again, he went for the eye, a deafening pair of gunshots ringing out into the night. Unused to handling a firearm, he missed his first shot…

But the second struck straight and true, if only by pure luck. The creature howled in pain at the loss of its remaining eye, shaking its head wildly. Izuku didn't waste any time, bringing up his second spear and charging straight at the monster. He put everything he had into the attack, aimed at the monster's ruined right eye socket and hoping to reach its brain.

It was not to be when the Nomu's jaws snapped up and clamped around the spear, a single swipe of its head enough to overpower Izuku and hurl him into a nearby tree. The boy gasped when his back impacted the bark, all the wind knocked out of him. It picked up his fallen pistol and chewed, mangling the metal and rendering it unusable. Not that Izuku had any bullets left.

He soon realized it didn't need eyes to sense where he was, instantly zeroing in on his position. The monster snarled when Izuku dodged, but he wasn't nearly fast enough. Powerful claws dug into his shoulder and the boy yelped as he was thrown off-balance, crashing to the ground in a tangled pile of limbs. It was upon him now, planting one forepaw on his chest triumphantly.

No, Izuku thought. Not like this.

He met its ruined visage, black blood splattering across his cheeks as he stared up in desperation. The creature was toying with him, wanting to take its time in killing him. Its mouth reeked of blood, a dead girl on its breath…

Not like this!

[x]

Back at the lab, Doctor Garaki was whistling a cheerful little tone. Glancing at his watch, he motioned for a nearby guard to come forward.

"Sir?" the masked guard asked.

"Dispatch a party to find whatever remains of Midoriya and Intelli." Garaki said calmly. "They left around forty minutes ago, so Mocha-chan will be finished with them by now. I want to see the bodies."

"Is it safe to send out our men?" the guard cocked his head to the side. "The Dog is not back yet, sir."

"Ah, well. You know how she is. She likes to play…" Garaki fished a cigarette from his pocket, lighting it up and taking a deep breath. "But she is a clever little dog. She knows she only has an hour, and will not sport for too long. She'll be back soon."

A long stream of smoke left the old man's lips, and he looked to the moon in satisfaction.

"Send out the men, and tell them not to worry if they encounter Mocha." Garaki chuckled. "She'll have eaten."

[x]

Midoriya Izuku faced his death head on, refusing to look away.

It came in the form of a mangled face of flesh and a maw full of teeth, its stinking, putrid breath overpowering his sense of smell. Izuku knew he was finished, that he wasn't strong enough to fight something like this. He brought his knife hand up and stabbed the Dog Nomu in its side, only for the blade to bounce off its reinforced skin uselessly. A flick of the creature's tail sent the weapon skittering away into the dark. Reality trickled to a crawl as the monster opened its jaws wide, preparing to finish him off.

It looked as if he was doomed. He knew the creature wouldn't allow enough time to pass for him to transform into Miracle. Despair was beginning to cloud Izuku's thoughts, shrouding out his rays of hope.

The situation was just as hopeless as the battle with Mustard. Unlike her, there was no chance that the creature could say its own keyword by accident. It couldn't speak.

Izuku's eyes widened at the realization.

It couldn't speak. So how does it change back? How does it change back into its other body if it can't say its own keyword?

Seconds stretched like minutes, Izuku's mind clinging to a single thread of hope in the dark abyss of his rapidly approaching death.

The Dog can't say its own keyword. Garaki had to say it. What was it, what was the word? What did he say?

Yellow, uneven teeth inched closer to Izuku's face, poised to rip through his throat.

Something from mythology. Fenrir? Beowulf? No…

"Steppenwolf." Izuku said.

The resulting explosion of light nearly blinded Izuku, but he closed his eyes just in time. His shirt wasn't so lucky, the outer layer flash-burnt and leaving him smoking. It felt as though he was experiencing a massive sunburn on his face and chest, and Izuku scrambled to rise.

No more did the Dog Nomu threaten him. In its place sat the little two-legged Nomu, groggy and confused. It was still getting up when Izuku picked up a nearby rock—

"RAAAH!"

—and he smashed the creature's brains out. It squealed and wailed pitifully, but Izuku didn't let up even as jet black blood splashed all over him. The engineered creature was clearly more resilient than he originally thought - even with its brain matter splattered all over the ground it still moaned and twitched. Izuku ended it when he found Saiko's knife and stabbed the little monster over and over again, until it finally stopped moving. He liked to think that it was Saiko's revenge, as petty as it was.

An awful, iron-like smell hung in the air, and after the adrenaline rush passed Izuku threw up on the spot.

Wiping his mouth with a torn sleeve, he sheathed Saiko's knife and leaned against a tree. The boy sobbed quietly, and he waited. Mourning his friend as he did.

Now, all he had to do was wait.

[x]

A trio of men in CRC outfits strode through the jungle, flashlights and pistols at the ready.

"Guys, here! I found something!" one of them yelled.

Indeed he did. There were human remains scattered in a clearing, torn meat spread out in a wide area. Scorch marks indicated where an explosion had taken place, and the three men frowned.

"Fuck. Nothing left but hamburger. The dog's been at it, but it looks like its victim blew up."

"Which one? The Doctor will want to know." another man queried.

"I… I don't know. The head's missing…" The first man soon spotted something. "Wait, look at this!"

There was a lock of long, platinum blonde hair on the ground, parts of it sticky and red.

"The girl, then. What a waste of good pussy." The second man clicked his tongue, annoyed. "No doubt Miracle's original form lies dead nearby."

"Yes, I suppose so." the third member of the group shook his head sadly. "I-It seems like such a pity that she had to die. Miracle, I mean. When she attacked the lab, I saw her. She was so beautiful…"

"Hah! You in love, buddy?" the leader chuckled. "Didn't know you were into underage girls."

"No, it's not that." the man he was speaking to continued, eyes dazed. "She was a vision. Those perfect human features, not a trace of disgusting mutant in her. When I was a youth, our leaders spoke of a new kind of human. Homo Novus. I saw her then, in my mind. A perfect, human goddess to burn away the mutant scourge. I saw her again tonight. Our messiah."

His head drooped, crestfallen.

"We waited for our savior to come ever since the CRC was born… and now, we have killed her."

The trio of men continued to walk. Deeper into the jungle they went, finding traces of the Dog Nomu's rampage.

"There's something here!" one of them called.

Gathering together, they inspected what they'd found. Warped, bloody metal, stinking of drool.

"It looks like it used to be a gun." a man grunted. "That dog, what a beast!"

"Wait, over there! Look!"

They jogged over, jaws dropping collectively. There, lying dead and broken on the ground was Mocha, in her little two-legged form instead of her transformed state.

"Fuck. The doc won't be happy."

"Yeah, he loves the damn thing…"

"Idiots!" the third man yelled, causing them to jolt. "If the Dog is dead, then where is the boy?! Doctor Garaki said he would only be defenseless for an hour, and then—"

Light filled the area and the forest lit up, a rumble of thunder following the flash of lightning. All three men remembered their training and leapt to the ground, an almost instinctive behavior that was a response to thrown explosives.

But this was no mere hand grenade, far from it.

"Oh no. Oh no."

"What's happening?! I can't see!" One man yelled, blinking the stars out of his eyes. "What the hell is this?"

"It means my time is up, gentlemen." a girl's soft voice silenced them all, her tone one of boiling fury.

Miracle rose into the air before them, her glitter chasing away the surrounding shadows in a corona of green.

"Yours too." the Magical Girl said.

[x]

Izuku stared down at the terrified men before her, the trio too shocked to speak. Her hands found their way around two of their throats a microsecond later, stopping them from saying even a single word. The third man stared up at her dumbly, awaiting his imminent death.

"Toga." Izuku said to herself.

"I am here." Toga's voice was a whisper, their minds melded. She could feel her rage, every word oozing with wrath. "We are one."

Midoriya Izuku and Toga Himiko were now one being, joined in mind and body. There was no more need for words, the dyad experiencing the same thoughts, the same emotions. The men gasped for air, dying in her grip. Izuku knew that she had no choice now. Suppose they all knew the counterword that could turn her back into her male form. That knowledge alone meant that she had to kill them. Never had she taken a human life before, and Izuku hesitated…

Then she remembered what Garaki wanted to do to her mother. These men, all of them were complicit in his plans. She remembered what the doctor did to her, to her Quirk.

She made it fast and painless. A simple squeeze and the men's necks snapped, dead before they even hit the ground. A chill ran through her at the taking of a life, at the act of committing murder. There was no grand revelation nor painful regret. Just a cold understanding of what she'd done, alongside a quiet resolve to protect the people she loved by any means necessary. Izuku let the bodies drop with a heavy thud, knowing that deep down the way they twitched and shuddered would be a memory that would haunt her for the rest of her life. Her first kills.

One last guard stood before her, eyes wide with fear… and awe. Despite the fact that she was certain he knew her counterword, she knew he wouldn't use it. He wanted to say something, and she allowed him to despite the risk.

"Decades." the man began, his gaze filled with religious fervor. He took off his skull mask, meeting her face to face. "For decades we waited for you and your kind, my goddess. The perfect humans that would replace us. You, who would rid the world of the mutant scourge."

He clasped his hands together in prayer, his expression one of wonder.

"Homo Novus. You have come at last." he whispered.

"Yes." Izuku and Toga said together softly, placing her small, delicate index finger on his chest. "And now, you may go."

She simply pushed her hand forward, her finger piercing his chest and stopping his heart. There was a small gasp as the man fell, staring up at the starry night sky until Izuku ran her gloved hand over his face and closed his eyes.

Standing, Miracle turned her gaze in the direction of the lab. Her mother was there, alongside Doctor Garaki. Inko was somewhere in the basement, so all Izuku had to do was avoid collapsing the lab.

Garaki, Izuku and Toga thought together, their minds in a perfect sync. You, who ruined my life, who murdered me, cloned me, who abducted my mother.

Glitter flared around Izuku in a miniature whirlwind of glowing particles, the Magical Girl slowly rising into the air.

Oh, Garaki. Miracle thought, vengeance on her mind. Garaki, Garaki, Garaki. I'm coming for you, old man.

Twin pupils of gold and green flared, bright with vengeance and fury.

I'm coming.

She began to move. She sped through the jungle, fast and hard through that fragile place, though the paper world that men lived in. The home of her enemy had bright lights, and she saw them through the brittle trees. Wood splintered before her, solid rock crumbling at her approach. She was unstoppable, and the men guarding the lab soon learned that when she moved through them. She felt their bodies break at her approach, cutting through men like carving a cake. Their lives flickered out in an instant, dead before they could even catch a glimpse of her.

Now that the guards were taken care of, Izuku hurtled upwards. Red droplets crawled down her arms, across her face, swept away by the slipstream. The stars and trees flipped about as she reversed her orientation into a dive, hurtling at the ground as a bunker buster.

She pierced the underground complex as easily as a knife through wet paper. Garaki was still getting to his feet when she suddenly burst out of the ground, the Magical Girl's face frozen in a rictus of rage. The old man's eyes were wide with horror, falling backwards when he stumbled away from her. Behind him was Inko who was strapped to a hospital bed, already working on loosening her restraints the moment she realized what was happening.

Garaki opened his mouth, about to speak as if by reflex.

"Abrax—"

Izuku's hand blurred and struck as fast as a rattlesnake, fingers that could twist steel wrapping around his throat, crushing his trachea and vocal cords. There was a wet squelch and the man choked and gasped with pain, now unable to speak. Izuku brought him close, snarling, canines bared. She wasn't just going to kill him yet. She was going to make him suffer—

Her hubris was what caused her next mistake. A great, winged beast crashed into her, a quartet of muscular arms locking her into a crushing bear hug. Caught off guard, she let go of Garaki instead of ripping his throat out, the black monster dragging her into the night sky. Green lightning flared and she exploded out of the creature's embrace in a shower of splintering bone and black blood, racing towards Garaki.

It grabbed her again, this time hurling her back and intending to continue their duel. She watched the arms she tore off grow back, flesh and bone creeping forward, the monster pulling biomass out of thin air.

"You're… strong, aren't you." the Hooded Nomu rumbled in a deep, undulating voice. "Y-you're a strong one, like m-me."

The way its arms grew back. That speed… a regeneration Quirk. This one was different from the others too, smart enough to talk.

"Out of my way." Miracle demanded, eyes cold. "Or I'll kill you."

"L-let me… try out my power… M-my new strength on you!"

A pair of organic jets erupted to life upon the monster's back when it roared. It raced forward but Miracle leapt aside to dodge its charge, fingers knifing and slicing forward into a chop to clothesline it with its own speed. She followed through and lopped off its head in one swing, but even then the creature grew a new body in seconds. Izuku clashed with it again, exchanging punches with the beast. Six arms sprouted from its sides, and the melee intensified threefold.

Below them Garaki choked and coughed, trying to speak but to no avail. Rummaging through the rubble, it seemed as if he was searching for something.

Inko picked that exact moment to strike.

A nearby scalpel whistled through the air and into the woman's hand, Inko bringing the weapon down on Garaki. The small blade aimed at his throat instead embedded itself into his open palm when the man brought his hands up, making choking, pained noises. A backhanded slap sent Inko tumbling away, but the woman got up with a wordless scream and murder in her eyes.

Her hands swept about in a wide arc and a variety of sharp implements soon hovered alongside her. Scissors, a screwdriver, a trio of nails, two fountain pens, and a piece of broken door. She sent them all towards the old man like a shotgun blast, causing him to stumble while she closed in with a boxcutter in her hands.

There were no words when she tackled him, just the angry, incoherent screaming of a mother trying to protect her child. The blade came down but Garaki blocked it, his arms peppered with small wounds from Inko's makeshift weapons. She could see the man's badly bruised, ruined neck throbbing, but somehow he was still conscious. Perhaps he'd augmented his body somehow, to be tougher, harder to kill.

He finally managed to push her off him with a powerful punch, crawling towards what looked like a remote. Inko was on him again within seconds, but it was too late as Garaki slammed his fist down on a big red button.

Another contingency plan.

[x]

In the lowest floor of the lab machinery began to awaken, computers flickering to life. The light from their screens illuminated nine tanks full of green liquid, the figures within twitching as an electrical pulse was sent through their bodies. Their clothing flowed with every movement, the frilled dresses almost seeming to glow in the dark.

The beings jolted, nine pairs of eyes opening at the same time.

[x]

Izuku let out an enraged scream as she finished off the Hooded Nomu, bringing her heel down atop the monster's brain and splattering it all over the grass.

The twitching mass of meat and cerebral tissue finally stilled, now truly dead with the loss of its brain. She only managed to neutralize the Nomu's insane healing factor by tearing the organ out and stomping on it over and over again, and even when she was attacking it was still alive and trying to grow a new body. Slow, deep breaths escaped between her teeth while she stood atop its corpse, now with nothing standing between her and the mad doctor.

She was soon proven wrong when nine bolts of white lightning struck the earth around her.

The beings rode the lightning upward until they were hovering above her in a circle. Izuku looked up and froze at what she saw, hands trembling in both rage and horror.

"No…" the girl whispered.

Long, billowing white hair flowed in the night wind, nine sets of empty eyes staring down at her. They were all girls in white Magical Girl dresses, their skin pale as milk. Even without the signature messy-bun hairstyle, it was easy to recognize Toga's face.

Clones. Another unspeakable act of defiance against nature. The nine clones of Toga Himiko that now hovered around Izuku were completely white save for their vibrant, crimson lips, some error in the cloning process having caused them to have a form of albinism. Their oddly matte eyes stared down at Izuku in unison, all of them landing around him and taking combat stances. Garaki had reduced them to weapons, to be nothing more than killing machines. His Toga Series.

Mass Production Togas.

"Wait." Izuku said, holding a hand out in desperation. "Please, wait! I don't want to fight you!"

All nine of them continued advancing, now smiling and baring their teeth and canines. Their lips, why were their lips so red?

"Please!" Izuku begged, crying now. "W-we're… we're sisters!"

Two of them charged into a sprint, and everything went to hell. Izuku backed off and dodged a powerful right hook, only for another incoming cross to cut across her face. Taking to the skies, she aimed to reason with the clones but they swarmed her like ants, colliding into her until they were a white, writhing ball of tangled limbs that crashed into the earth.

It was like they were holding down an active volcano when Izuku erupted, glitter flaring around her. The clones responded in kind with their own glitter, white particles swirling around their bodies like an ethereal shawl. She could see it in their eyes; they weren't human. Not anymore. The beings that stood before her wore human shapes, but she knew in her heart that they were more Quirk than human. The doctor had taken their minds, warping them into monsters with Toga's face.

Izuku activated her True Sight, gasping at what she saw. The clones lacked the signature glow of a Quirk hovering alongside them - the glow came from their bodies instead. Empty white eyes blazed with bloodlust when they leapt, focused only on killing her. Izuku bit back a cry of despair and pushed for the offensive, now getting into a brutal brawl with her cloned sisters.

Toga, his Toga, told him the painful truth. It's us or them.

There was no denying it. The clones lived only to destroy, and there was no reasoning with them. They bit, clawed, punched and kicked, each blow filled with all the strength of a dead godling. One picked up a massive boulder and smashed it down on Izuku's pretty little head, intent on splattering her brains. Another raked her hands across Izuku's neck and tried to slice it open, only to receive a slap that sent her sprawling. If not for the fact that they were all weaker than Izuku, she would have been torn limb from limb on the spot.

"Stop." Izuku sobbed even as she fought. "Please, stop."

They didn't. Or perhaps, they couldn't. Toga's clones surged forward, a tidal wave of pale white flesh that nearly swallowed her whole. Where Izuku flew, they flew too. They were as strong as Toga when he first met her on that bridge, and Izuku shuddered when she imagined them loose in Japan. All that power, all that rage… She had to stop them, or everyone else would die. Maybe these ones didn't even have counterwords to stop them, and even if they did Garaki couldn't speak. The only choice left was to fight.

A hand closed around her face and began to squeeze. Izuku broke her attacker's wrist with an audible snap, only to let out a pained yelp when her long hair was yanked backwards. Another clone was pulling her by the ponytail, spinning her about like a top and smashing the Magical Girl into the ground. The taste of iron filled her mouth, blood staining her teeth red. Her ears rang painfully, head spinning from the impact.

Gasping, Izuku looked up only to see three of the Toga clones with their hands outstretched, combining their crackling white Quirk flux and shaping it into a spear. A lightning bolt with her name on it.

She dodged the projectile by mere inches, but the explosion behind her sent her flying anyway. Miracle became a whirlwind of spinning lace and petticoats when she worked with the momentum, her kick crashing into them with the force of a speeding train. Trees were uprooted from their battle and Izuku picked one up, using it as a battering ram as she smashed it down on another Toga clone. It splintered into countless wooden shards when her opponent broke free, spitting blood and screaming.

It didn't stop there. Even if they weren't nearly as strong as her, Izuku knew that she'd be screwed if she let them tire her out. The clones were relentless, having no regard for their own lives as they slammed themselves into Miracle with suicidal charges, ramming her mid-air. Izuku fought back, wincing whenever she felt something break beneath her hands. This time it was two ribs, and the cloned Magical Girl before her didn't even scream or grimace in pain, still pressing forward like an unstoppable juggernaut. Izuku twisted her opponent's arm and broke it, circling around and catching the other girl around the neck. From that position, she could snap the clone's neck. It'd be simple. Quick. And yet…

She couldn't do it. Izuku let out a cry of frustration when she couldn't follow through, instead kicking her copy forward and crashing her into another clone. One clone's high kick crashed against Izuku's guard, and she could feel the other girl's femur shatter from the force alone. Green lightning surged from Izuku's fingertips and she struck all nine of them. They responded with lightning of their own, the alabaster thunderbolts crashing against Izuku's emerald torrent. The resulting sound was something that could be heard leagues away, half a song and half a scream. Sister against sister, blood against blood.

At this rate, Garaki would get away. But even so… even so…

A mistake in her spacing caused Izuku to underestimate her opponent's range. Four of them tackled her and brought her down into the dirt, their fists and kicks hammering into her guard like a hail of machine gun fire. Izuku screamed in pain when one girl stamped down on her belly, driving the heel in deep. Curling one hand into a fist, she slammed the ground and ruptured the earth around them, giving her a chance to escape.

No such luck. Another Toga crashed into her from above in a double knee drop onto her back that split the earth, flipping her over and straddling the Magical Girl. This one brought her gloved hands to Izuku's face, driving her thumbs into her eyes and screaming like a madwoman. She was squeezing with enough strength to flatten a tank, trying to crush Izuku's head like an overripe fruit.

"AAAAAAHHHHFUCK!"

Izuku howled and Quirk flux exploded from her back and took the shape of her ocular wings, wrapping around her attacker's arms and wrenching them apart. The clone's arms broke, and instead of retreating she slammed her head against Izuku's in a vicious headbutt. Izuku responded in kind the second time she tried that, catching the girl in the face with her forehead and breaking her nose.

She surged free, blinking the stars out of her thankfully undamaged eyes while her wings flared out behind her. Over a dozen pupils from her wings surveyed the scene before them and glared at the clones, alien whispers tickling the back of Izuku's mind.

"I know you're listening." Izuku gasped. "Whoever you are. I can't kill them… I just can't! What should I do?!"

Many of the Toga clones were injured by now, sporting bruises atop their pale skin and some with limbs bent at awkward angles. Those that couldn't walk anymore flew, charging at Izuku in a mad frenzy. They were willing to break themselves in every way possible as long as it hurt her and the irony was that it was working, just not in the way they intended. Izuku was losing the will to fight with each passing moment, unable to kill what was essentially herself, that was Toga Himiko.

"I can't do it!" Izuku wailed. "Please, don't make me do this…"

Her wings swept outward and grabbed a duo of clones, smashing them against the ground while Izuku had her grip around the ankle of a third girl, swinging her entire body against a rock. The impact should have shattered the cloned Toga's skull and spilled her brains across the ground, but superhuman resilience allowed her to get up as if nothing happened. Another clone had her fist hurtle forward while wreathed in white lightning, only for Izuku's own fist to meet it and smash every bone in her sister's hand.

The Mass Production Togas kept hurling their broken, bleeding bodies at her, willing to kill themselves just to hurt her. Izuku's heart broke, a conglomeration of voices whispering into her mind.

All things must prove their right to exist.

Survival of the fittest. Eat or be eaten. Kill or be killed.

"No!" Izuku yelled. "I can save them! If I can just—"

Are you ready to commit a cardinal sin?

It happened then, almost faster than she could register. One of the clones knifed her fingers and aimed to plunge them into Izuku's back, and she dodged at the last second. The attack instead hit another clone in the chest, pale fingers piercing her heart. There was a soft gasp of disbelief, followed by an odd flickering when the girl's Glitter forcefield collapsed.

No.

The wounded clone fell, glitter fading. Dying. Izuku tried to go after her, her sister, but that only gave the rest to swarm her again. White lightning crashed against green when they focused their collective power, aiming to overwhelm her. Knuckles ground into her ribs and broke something inside, the white-hot pain a serrated dagger that made her scream. Another blow that could have pulverized a man's liver took her in the side, knocking the wind out of her. A third impact struck the back of her head and caused her to stagger, disoriented. The clones weren't holding back, doing their best to kill her.

But Izuku was Miracle the indomitable. Miracle the unstoppable.

And now, she was Miracle the kinslayer.

It happened before she knew it. The next thing Izuku knew she was rushing through the lightning and fists, fingers knifing. She felt her hand hit something and tear through it in the next instant with a wet, fleshy crunch when she swung it in a downward cleave, blood splattering across her eyes and turning her vision red. Izuku didn't know whether it was her, Toga, or maybe even Transform anymore. The way they fought, maybe it was all three of them.

In all the times Izuku was Miracle she was always the one in control, with both hands on the wheel. Now it was as if she, Toga, and Transform were wrenching the controls back and forth, all in the same direction but with varying degrees of violence. She dismissed her wings, attempting to conserve power.

It's us or them.

That much was true. These clones… they were nothing more than advanced Nomus, built to destroy. If she let them go free, they would go on to kill countless civilians. They would kill Inko. Izuku darted forward, striking three opponents simultaneously at breakneck speed. Her knuckles broke the cheekbone and orbital of one clone and sent her flying, the backspin elbow that followed impacting another girl's temple with a deafening crack. She worked with the momentum, sweeping the legs of one opponent before backing off.

Creating some distance, she tried to not leave her back exposed. With all her enemies within her line of sight, the world slowed once more. Izuku's analytical mind combined with Toga's combat progress led them to go after the clones one by one, aiming to reduce their numbers.

One grabbed Miracle's face and she severed the offending arm with a downward chop. The next blow she aimed at the waist, bisecting her opponent when her hand cleaved through flesh and bone.

I'm sorry. I'm so sorry.

Miracle screamed, her voice full of despair. She grappled with another clone, the movement of their feet throwing up clumps of dirt, trees uprooted from their strength. Slipping under a punch, she had her opponent in a headlock and didn't hesitate a second time, powerful arms pulling in opposite directions and snapping the cloned Toga's neck. The smell of blood lingered when she exhaled, sweat and tears running down her face.

There's nothing I hate more than myself.

She didn't know whether it was her or Toga who thought that. A new opponent crashed down from above, the impact throwing up sheets of rock and plumes of soil. The dead tree trunk she wielded came in like a baseball bat, splintering against the Magical Girl and sending her flying. Izuku corrected herself and met the incoming high kick with one of her own, snapping the clone's leg while the toe of her high heels caved in the clone's chest. Using the falling body as a stepping stone, she launched herself off it and into another clone. Miracle was superior. Stronger, physically outclassing the duplicate in every way.

The Toga clone bit down on Izuku's fingers, drawing blood. Izuku responded by twisting her hand, grabbing the roof of the clone's mouth—

"Grrraah!"

—and tearing her head off in one clean movement.

Three more left. Izuku was breathing heavily, trying to catch her breath before the low whine reached her ears. She whirled around just in time to catch a thunderbolt headed right for her, only to realize too late that it was a distraction for the bigger lightning spear coming in from a different angle. One wing manifested atop her back and tried to shield her…

It pierced right through and hit her in the right eye.

The following scream of pain was heard for miles around, Miracle's voice high and thin as her wing fizzled into nothingness. A trio of Toga clones tackled her to the ground, their Quirk Flux shaped into daggers in their hands. Their movements were a blur of white limbs, stabbing her over and over again in a vicious assault while the Magical Girl screamed and writhed with agony. Mud and blood filled Izuku's mouth when they forced her face into the dirt, driving the lightning shivs deep into her sides and chest.

Somehow Izuku worked through the pain, managing to hurl her attackers away. They crashed through a boulder and scattered shards of rock everywhere, giving Izuku a moment to breathe and check her wounds. But when she did, she realized there weren't any stab wounds… the flux knives hadn't damaged her body, but something else. Her mind? Her soul? Quirk Flux didn't physically harm organic material, she realized. Just like the first time she used her lightning on those heroes, only managing to render them unconscious. Her mind barely even processed the thoughts through the pain, struggling to keep herself standing.

Whimpering, Izuku reached up to her face and found the lightning spear lodged in her eye, letting out an agonized cry as she pulled it out. The pain made her throw up again but she felt relief when her vision returned, blinking the undamaged orb to make sure it was still there.

Two Toga clones lunged at her in the very next moment, one erupting from beneath the ground while the other dropped down from the sky. Caught by surprise, Izuku felt her world turn upside down when one of them suplexed her into the ground, the other landing a bite on her neck and drawing blood. She took flight and dragged them with her, forcing both her attacker's faces along the broken ground until they met a rock wall where she pinned them. A gloved hand drew back and Izuku shoved a grasping hand through one clone's body, breaching through and piercing the chest of the girl behind her. The first girl's Glitter forcefield flickered and collapsed as she died. Izuku had both clones impaled on her arm now, feeling her opponent's beating heart atop her palm. Howling, she closed her fist… and crushed the second Toga clone's heart. Looked her in the face and watched her spit blood, watched the light fade from her eyes while her forcefield faded. Watched herself die.

Panting, Izuku turned to the last Toga clone, only to find her standing in a clearing in the midst of all the destruction. She was surrounded by patches of blood and the broken bodies of her sisters, matching Izuku's gaze evenly. Thinking of how to hurt her.

"Stop." Izuku wheezed. "Please."

The clone took a step forward. Izuku stepped up to meet it, to meet her. She was too exhausted to throw any more lightning now, taking in deep, panting breaths while her vision blurred. All in all, there was a very real chance that this last clone would be able to kill her.

Both of them were badly damaged, the clone having one arm dangling limp by her side while Izuku was bloodied all over. Even now her dress was starting to clean and mend itself, the tattered cloth bridging threads and sealing open tears. The Toga clone looked her up and down, then smiled a cruel, crooked smile. It finally figured out how to best hurt Miracle, the invulnerable Magical Girl.

She went for the heart.

Izuku's eyes widened with horror as the other girl reached up at her throat with her good hand, gloved fingers curling into claws.

"N-no. Don't—!"

The Toga clone maintained eye contact with Izuku and grinned when she ripped her own throat out, relishing in the way Izuku wailed and sobbed. Tears streamed down the poor Magical Girl's face as a warm body hit the ground, Izuku crying and wailing at what she'd done. A sin that stained her soul.

But now was not the time for tears. Still crying, she took to the skies and raced back to the lab, hellbent on destroying Garaki for his crimes. This was all his fault. All his fault!

The old man would die for this. That much was certain.

She found him struggling with Inko, a boxcutter in the woman's hands as she tried to drive it through his neck. Izuku stiffened when he slapped Inko and threw her off him with a pained grunt, only to pale when he saw the Magical Girl hovering above.

Miracle was on him in an instant, her hands around his ugly purple throat. Her earlier choking had damaged his vocal cords and kept him from speaking, but Izuku didn't take any chances. Glitter flared when she rocketed upwards, taking him higher and higher, above the clouds and into the upper atmosphere. The old man flailed and squirmed in her grip, but it was too late for him. Far too late.

Miracle brought him into space, just above the Earth where the air was barely breathable. Ice crystals crept across Garaki's thick goggle lenses, the frost already beginning to stiffen up his body. Yet, he was still alive, just as Izuku intended. She wasn't going to let him die that easily, no. Garaki would die in terror, and Izuku wanted him to feel what Toga felt when she was on that goddamn operating table. She let him look at where they were, wanting to see how big the Earth was. The scale she operated on, and how small and insignificant he had always been.

The old man reached at her with shaking hands, begging and pleading whilst heat drained from his body. Izuku pushed down any semblance of guilt, and for the first time… she let Toga take over.

It was a strange experience, letting the other girl take control. Much like being a backseat driver, Izuku relinquished full control to Toga, allowing her to finally take vengeance against her murderer. She felt a pulse of gratefulness sent her way before Toga's thoughts turned to dark, jet-black rage again, and when she spoke her voice was ice and raw, bloody gravel.

"My name…" Miracle began, every word dripping with hate. "IS TOGA HIMIKO!"

Garaki clawed at his throat, eyes bulging. Fear clouded his gaze and he could hear her, Toga's fury somehow audible in space.

Miracle raised the old man's trembling body high above her head, ready to finally kill him and end the madness he started. He made Miracle… and now he was about to meet his maker.

"AND I WILL HAVE…" Miracle screamed, gold and green lightning leaping off her skin. "MY REVENGE!"

She threw Garaki, hurling the old doctor at the Earth itself.

Following, she watched him burn as he began atmospheric re-entry. Garaki was aflame and screaming soundlessly, burning away bit by bit as gravity and friction did its job. Miracle did not look away, watching her creator die. A nursery rhyme Toga's mother once sang to her echoed in her head.

Star light, star bright. First star that I see tonight.

Garaki was flailing, but his limbs had crumbled away now. He was still alive due to augmentations to his own body, Izuku guessed. Extending his own agony.

I wish I may, I wish I might…

Then, he finally stilled. Burned to cinders and crumbling away mid-air, the old doctor's body turned to nothing more than burnt flesh and scorched bones.

Have the wish I wish tonight.

By the time the meteor that was once Doctor Garaki Kyudai landed, there was nothing left of him save for a scorched chunk of pelvic bone that landed on an island. Miracle watched for a moment before bringing her heel down, stomping on it and sending shattered bone all over the ground. An ignoble end, for an ignoble man.

Good riddance, Izuku and Toga thought as one. Izuku felt herself slipping in when Toga relinquished most of her control, allowing them to share the body again.

"It's over." Izuku breathed, letting her shoulders drop. "It's finally over."

"No." Toga spat. "It's not. I… I remember. I remember what they did to me."

Miracle grabbed her head and winced, Toga's blood memories flooding through her mind. Three people were standing over her on that operating table. She remembered herself whimpering in fear, at what was about to happen. Garaki was grinning, while the thin man beside him looked away with guilt. But what Toga remembered that truly terrified her was the man with no face.

The third man's face was an ugly, gnarled mass of scar tissue that replaced his eyes and nose, a breathing tube protruding from his throat. He had a wide smile on his face as he placed his hand on Toga's face, his hand with a gaping, black hole in his palm… and Toga remembered herself screaming as thousands of hands pulled and twisted at her Quirk and her soul.

Miracle fell to her knees, fingers carving deep grooves into the dirt.

"I remember!" She gasped, Toga's voice slipping through. "Garaki. Giran. All For One. They did this to me!"

The Magical Girl staggered to her feet, with Toga making one last declaration before she retreated into Izuku's mind out of exhaustion.

"Garaki, Giran, All For One." Toga snarled. "All must die."

She fell silent at that, leaving Izuku alone with her thoughts once more. The Magical Girl simply flew back to the island where Inko was, hoping she was alright.

[x]

Izuku soon found her mother in the destroyed courtyard, sitting down on a chunk of large rubble. By the look on the older woman's face, she must have been quite the sight. Izuku was bruised and bloodied, red up to her elbows. She landed right in front of the older woman, taking a hesitant step forward.

"Izuku?" Inko began, eyes wide. "I-Is that you?"

All of a sudden Izuku felt as if she was the worst person in the world, shame and regret flooding through her. She'd lied to her mother. Killed for her. Now it was time to face the music.

"Izuku—"

"Don't." Izuku sniffed and looked at her feet, too ashamed to face Inko. "Don't look…"

She didn't know what to say, the words just tumbling out of her mouth in a messy torrent. How was she supposed to explain all of this?

"I know… I know I lied to you. And I'm sorry." Izuku stammered, fists tightening around her skirt. "B-but there was good reason to! At first, I was just so happy to have a Quirk, but then the Angels started appearing and Mustard and I were the only ones who could fight them well, and then heroes and villains hated us, then the government got involved and, and—"

Her lip trembled, and all that happened came rushing back to her. The heroes attacking, Mustard's breakdown, the razing of Musutafu, the bunker, Garaki, Inko's kidnapping, the Toga clones…

Saiko.

Izuku began to cry, tears streaming down her cheeks. It was all too much to handle.

"I'm sorry… I… I didn't mean to lie to you." Izuku sobbed. "For all of this to happen. I was just trying to help. I just wanted—"

She hiccuped, Inko still watching her silently. It always went wrong for her, right at the age of four when she was first declared Quirkless. Ever since that fateful day her life had been going downwards, losing all her friends, Bakugo's bullying isolating her, having no respect from her peers, nor anyone at all. Becoming Miracle was the only positive thing that happened to her in years.

"I never meant for anyone to get hurt. And now… now I've killed people." Izuku admitted with a sob, wrenching her hands close to her chest. When I'm Mikumo and Miracle, I'm somebody. Without them, I'm no one, just a Quirkless nobody! I just wanted to be useful but I was never good enough, just not good enough and now… now…"

Her eyes were filled with tears when she finally looked up at Inko.

"I'm not good at all." she sniffled. "It's all my fault. I'm just a freak who doesn't even know who I am—"

The words died in her throat when Inko rushed in and hugged her.

"No, you're not." Inko whispered, looking into her eyes before holding her trembling body tight. "No matter what happens, you'll always be my Izuku. I will always love you, no matter who you choose to be."

Those were the words that broke the barrier between them. Izuku hugged her back, crying into her shoulder. Mother and child held each other tight, just happy that the other was okay.

"Mom…" Izuku continued to sniffle, lip trembling. "I'm so sorry."

"Don't be." A hand came up to rub the back of her head, with Inko comforting her the way she did in Izuku's youth. "You have nothing to apologize for."

But I do, Izuku wanted to say. In the end, she held her tongue and escorted Inko to the island's beach, intending to destroy the lab and all that remained of Garaki's research. Then there were the bodies of Saiko and the Toga clones… Izuku found herself clenching her fists. Unlike Garaki, those clones deserved a proper burial, even if they had been enemies. As for Saiko, she deserved a place among the stars. The moon again, she decided.

Biting back tears, Izuku ventured deep into what remained of the lab to see what could be salvaged. Destroying any console she found, she went from room to room in search of any loose ends.

She eventually found one, but not in the way she expected. What Izuku saw caused her heart to skip a beat, halting her where she stood.

There, in a room full where wires and tubes were strewn across the floor stood a tank full of green liquid. A little girl no older than six years old floated within, curled up in a fetal position.

A surviving Toga clone…

Izuku gulped, making her way forward. Maybe this was the Magical Girl Garaki had promised the CRC. A child with the powers of a Magical Girl would be an absolute disaster. What would happen if she were to grow up? Izuku trembled, running her hand across the smooth glass. This clone seemed different from the others, much younger and dormant. Reading a nearby whiteboard where the old doctor had scribbled his notes, she found out exactly how different the clones were compared to her.

For one, the clones she'd fought earlier only had one body; no alternate bodies in Quirkspace. They were superhuman from the start, something Garaki had been experimenting with in hopes of streamlining the Magical Girl process. Something in them had broken as a result of his tampering, reducing the clones to feral beasts. The lone, child variant she found was also Garaki's next step in hopefully stabilizing the process to turn the Toga Series into usable troopers, which explained her absence on the battlefield.

Circling around the tank, Izuku was still wondering what to do when she felt the pull in her head. This clone… yes, like the others. More Quirk than human. But if there was a chance of helping her, Izuku was willing to risk it. She placed her palm along the glass and closed her eyes, extending her will. A small tendril of Quirk Flux creeped past the glass, sparking atop the little girl's skin. Sparks of white lightning began to flicker throughout the tank, the clone beginning to stir.

A loud beeping from a nearby console caught Izuku's attention, the words flashing bright in the dimly-lit room.

[Unseal the hushed casket: Yes/No?]

Her hands shook when she tapped the command on the keyboard, a sharp hiss splitting the air soon after. The tank drained itself of liquid and split open, dumping its contents onto the ground unceremoniously. Izuku rushed forward to catch the little girl before she hit the ground, but she didn't need to.

White glitter swirled around the little girl's body and caused her Magical Girl dress to flutter, the child clone now hovering into the air to get a good look at Izuku. She too was an albino, both her skin and hair pale as snow. Unlike her older sisters her lips were of a normal, pale pink, but what stood out were her eyes. Garaki's genetic modifications made the whites of her eyes jet-black pools of inky darkness that drank in all light, allowing her golden-yellow pupils to stand out more.

She floated towards her with a low hiss, and Izuku was half-expecting her to lash out like her siblings had done earlier. Izuku hoped, prayed, that things would be different.

Please. Izuku thought. Please don't make me kill a child.

Thankfully, it didn't seem that things were going that way. The clone sniffed Izuku's hand when she held it out, making a small, mewling noise of satisfaction when she realized they were kin.

"Y-yes." Izuku said slowly, voice shaking. "That's right! We're… sisters."

The word tasted like ash in her mouth. How could she even say that when she'd killed this girl's real sisters only minutes ago? Still, she had to help her. If the heroes, villains, or even the government got ahold of her… Izuku shuddered at the thought.

She held hands with the little girl, leading her out of the room before razing it to the ground with her lightning. Now there would be no more clones, making the albino child the last of her kind. Surprisingly enough the girl began following Izuku like a lost puppy, perhaps having imprinted on her in some way. Izuku supposed that Garaki's modifications did work in the end, glad that she activated her before the doctor did.

Inko was startled upon seeing the child floating alongside Izuku with their hands linked, quickly getting to her feet.

"Izuku." she began, blinking. "Is that?"

"A survivor." Izuku confirmed. "Her name is…"

The little girl looked up at Izuku with her wide, black-and-gold eyes.

"...Kimiko." Izuku finished with a small, weak smile. "Her name is Kimiko."

The newly-named Kimiko tilted her head before floating forward to get a good look at Inko, glancing up and down to study the older woman from head to toe. A tiny humming noise left her lips before she gave Inko a curious poke, receiving a pat on the head in return.

"It's nice to meet you, Kimiko-chan." Inko said. "Izuku, shall we?"

"Yes, mom." Izuku turned her gaze towards the Japanese mainland, holding her mother and new sister close. "Let's go home."

[x]

It'd been only a day after the assault on the lab when the message came in for Hatsume Mei.

At the moment she held her head in her hands, having lost all motivation to tinker. The message played on repeat, the last remnants of Saiko's voice echoing through her smartphone's speakers.

"Hello, Mei. This is a prerecorded message. If you're hearing this, it means I'm dead." the recording stated, Saiko's voice calm and even. "Whatever the cause, please don't blame yourself. If my heart stops, a series of prerecorded messages will be sent to you, detailing all my plans and the location of my caches. All I have, I bequeath to you…"

Funny. Mei always thought that she'd be the one to go first, ever since the incident that lost her an arm and an eye. Saiko was always so careful, the complete opposite of her own reckless demeanor. So why was it that she was dead, while Mei still lived? Mei's cybernetic hand shook when she slammed it down onto the table, metal nails digging into the dented steel.

Saiko was gone. Her first and best friend. Mei couldn't remember the last time she cried but now the hot, useless tears were streaming from her one good eye, blurring her vision. In the end, Saiko had achieved her goal of freeing all remaining Praetorians from the HPSC's control, but the cost was getting involved with Magical Girl Miracle. She never did tell anyone what she was doing, always keeping her secrets close to her chest. Now she was gone, just like that. It wasn't fair.

"...I just want you to know, Mei. You will always be my dearest friend. No matter how my life turns out, I'm glad to have met you."

Mei shook, her body wracked with silent sobs. It should have been her. Saiko still had so much to live for, so many plans and schemes that she had in mind. All Mei had in contrast was a desire to build, to create. Saiko had been one of the few people to appreciate each one of her crazy inventions, so unlike the higher ups who only found value in babies that could destroy. Her first friend in the White Room, and someone she truly respected.

Whatever the cause, please don't blame yourself.

The pink-haired girl clenched her jaw, grinding her teeth together. The last she saw of her, Saiko had been investigating Miracle, getting involved with her affairs. Mei had warned her about that, knowing that girl was bad news. If only she'd pushed harder, Saiko would still be here. That Magical Girl… it was all her fault!

"Mahou Shoujo…" Mei snarled, a promise of vengeance in her voice. "Mahou Shoujo Miracle."

[x]

[Meanwhile…]

[Lunar Surface, Dark Side Of The Moon]

Three Magical Girls studied the twelve graves on the moon's surface, one of them kneeling down to inspect the grave markers made of small pebbles arranged to form tiny pyramids.

Above them hovered a massive, organic starship, its tentacles sweeping across the moondust lazily. None of them were supposed to be here in this remote sector, but the ship's sensors had caught an unusual reading and the team decided to investigate. What they found was the remains of a lost Magical Girl, a lone scout that had vanished quite some time ago.

"IFF tag confirmed." one girl spoke up, looking to their leader in pink. "She was never even supposed to be here, on ED-90210."

"A fluke, then." Another piped up, this one clad in a blue dress.

"There's something else." The yellow Magical Girl bit her lip. "According to the scans, we're reading a total of thirteen IFF tags. Eleven belong to the bodies buried here, two more planetside. The planet's Firmament is also badly damaged. At this rate…"

"No. It should have already happened." Her blue-haired comrade told her. "This world should have been overrun by Quirk Thoughtforms long ago. Yet here it still stands. Something is pushing them back."

"A rogue Magical Girl. Two of them? Hmm, there may be more." Their leader huffed, retrieving a brooch from her fluffy pink dress and pushing down on a few buttons. "FLEETCOM will throw a damn fit… Back to the ship, girls."

"A Kämpfer is dead, milady." one girl protested.

"So she is." The Pink Magical Girl gave her a dismissive nod. "But the higher-ups have ordered us to pull back. Come. We are leaving this sector."

Bright cyan eyes lit up with interest. "They're sending a fleet?"

"No. They're sending an Imperator."

"Hah! What do you think they'll do?"

"Terminate the rogues?" her comrade suggested. "Oh dear."

"There's no need to. This world is already entering its Sunset Era." The Pink Magical Girl huffed, putting her hands on her hips. "Poor things. They're already dead, and they don't even know it…"

All three Magical Girls took to the air, taking one last look at the beautiful blue world that would soon meet its end.

"Poor, doomed things."

---

[Chapter 16 End]

[Arc 2 End]

---

Thank you for reading!

We've officially reached the end of the Weapon M arc! For those who have read all the way here, I thank you from the bottom of my heart!

R.I.P Saiko. She was a fun character to write.

I also made the child clone of Toga, Kimiko, to be 6 years old so she can be friends with Eri. I hope to have an illustration of her in the next chapter!

The next arc, Arc 3, will be the final arc of this story and feature the ending. Izuku will have to make a difficult choice.

Hope you liked it!