I had to rewrite this chapter like three times, never happy with it. Ended up using bits of all the different rewrites and got this. Hope you enjoy.

Chapter 43 -

(All Might)

"So, you finally chose an apprentice."

He nodded at his old friend. "The time of All Might is coming to a close. As soon as young Midoriya has a license, I'll be sponsoring him publicly." Letting go of his muscle form, he sat down with a cough. "I've been running pretty low lately, luckily, there haven't been any horribly bad situations that I've had to respond to."

"UA getting attacked at school isn't considered bad?"

He smiled. "The only injury was young Sato, who is still on his way to becoming a great hero. The last I heard, he was on the fast track for getting his license this year. As for the fight itself, the students managed to defend themselves mostly. I just showed up at the end and cleaned up. Nowadays, I don't think any regular villain can threaten the class."

"And your successor?"

He let out a laugh and finished with a cough. "If anyone can threaten that young man, we'd need to call on every hero we have to take down that villain."

David sat down in a chair across from him. "You have a lot of trust in him don't you?"

He nodded with an easy smile. "The boy is on the track to not only be the #1 hero, but a pillar of society."

"So what's his quirk? What's he like?"

"His body has a pool that he calls Mana, it allows him to do miraculous things that most people would call magic." Wiping a bit of blood from his mouth, he smiled. "The kid is hard-headed, brave to a fault, and shows a conviction with no equal, even beyond mine." With a bit of a frown he added. "He also has nasty habit of lying, but never in malice."

David sighed and rubbed his hands down his face. "Do you really think he'll be able to take up your mantle?"

"I do. He's already doing so amongst the heroes he's met. He's teaching his class to go beyond their boundaries and pushes everyone he meets to go further." He let out a hearty laugh. "If he doesn't end up becoming the new symbol, I'll eat my shoe."

Letting out a tired laugh, David sighed. "I need to tell you something, Toshi."

(Izuku)

"And this is my lab!" Opening the door, she froze and screeched happily. "Momo!" She went flying into the lab into the arms of his friend.

"Melissa! I've been looking everywhere for you!"

The two girls hugged and giggled happily. "I have so many experiments I want you to take a look at!"

"We have all week, let's just catch up for now."

Letting each other go, Melissa gestured to the both of them. "I'm sure you know these two?"

"Izuku? What are you doing here?"

Smiling, he entered the room with Mei. "All Might invited Mei and I to come along with him. I kind of forgot he asked me and didn't tell anyone I was coming. Where's Ochaco and the rest of the girls?"

She smiled and thumbed backward to a bomb proof door. "They're testing some of my equipment."

Melissa perked up. "Really? Which ones?"

With Mei joining in, the three of them disappeared into a side room and left him alone. Shrugging to himself, he entered what he assumed was a testing chamber and found the gaggle of young women using all manner of equipment on themselves. The first to notice him was Hagakure, who bounced up and down, seemingly pointing. "It's Izuku!"

Ochaco turned and smiled, using a gauntlet, she sent out a cord to him and started pulling herself to him. He smiled as he caught her. "Hey, babe. How goes it?"

Snuggling into his arms, she giggled. "Momo gave us a bunch of equipment to play around with." She held up the gauntlet. "This has the capabilities of my normal gauntlet and a grappling hook!"

As the others filtered over, they showed off their own equipment. Jiro's was a portable amp that could at least double her output, maybe more. Hagakure had some sort of mouthpiece that acted as a video/voice recorder, it was controlled with her tongue. Ashido and Tobu were playing around with guns that shot out several different marbles with various liquids. "So what are you doing here Izuku?" Asked Jiro.

Setting Ochaco back onto the ground, he smiled. "All Might was invited by Melissa's dad and he brought Mei and I along. Isn't Kendo supposed to be with you?"

Ashido nodded. "She was supposed to, but was asked to be a representative for Gang Orca's group. I think she's hanging out with some of the members and doing a tour with some of the other heroes around the world."

'Lame.' Misaki blew a raspberry.

"What's your plan for the week?", asked Hagakure.

"I was actually hoping to make a weapon while I was here."

"A weapon? Can't you just make whatever you want with your quirk?"

"The weapon I want to make isn't easily made. Even for me, it will take a few hours."

The other three walked in at that moment."Oh! Did you want to use my lab? While you do that, I can take everyone on a tour of the pre-event." Offered Melissa.

He smiled. "I'd love to, but I have to keep an eye on her." He stuck his thumb at Mei.

Said woman glared at him. "I don't need a babysitter!"

"Not my choice Mei."

Melissa laughed lightly. "I'll take responsibility for her, Momo is already under my umbrella, so one more won't do much."

"You sure?"

She nodded. "No prob! Everyone ready?"

The group nodded. Giving him a kiss, Ochaco followed the group out and left him alone. Hearing the front door close, he stretched his neck. "You ready?"

Misaki shimmered into view. "Let's do this!"

Going into the side room that the three disappeared into originally, he found all manner of equipment at his disposal. Opening a portal, he pulled out the first of the two massive plates and set it onto the worktable. It was already scribed in runes, so he didn't need to do anything but fold it for now. "Let's get started."

(All Might)

Letting out a deep sigh, he pulled out his phone as he looked at his guilty friend.

"I'm sorry All Might." Dave was close to tears right now.

It hurt, but he ignored his friend. Ring. Ring.

"Sir?"

"Izuku, we have a problem."

"Villain?"

"Got it in one. Unfortunately we don't quite know where they are exactly, but" Tink. Ding. Tink. "What was that?"

"Working on something. I can still hear you."

"We don't know where they are right now, so we'll let their plan go through, I need that item you told me about."

"I'll have a pixie deliver it. I'm going to finish up my project and join you. I'll be finished by dinner."

"Very well, I'll keep you posted with anything new we learn."

"Got it sir." Ding. "I'll see you soon." Click.

He sighed and slipped the phone into his pocket.

Dave looked at him, but couldn't keep eye contact. "What's the plan?"

"Keep going along with the plan, Izuku and I will put a stop to the plan the instant anything happens."

Nodding, the scientist asked. "What item is he talking about?"

"Young Midoriya created a wafer that will momentarily restore my body to what it was in my youth. Unfortunately, he's not able to completely restore me, but it will be enough." A few minutes later, both of them watched as a shadow started growing in the middle of the room. David began freaking out, but he settled him. "This is Midoriya's quirk, we'll be fine."

Finally coalescing, the shadow formed into a miniature pale human girl with black wings. She was wearing a small satchel and upon seeing him, she reached in and pulled out a small flat box. It screeched something at him in its own language and pushed the box toward him. With a small smile, he grabbed the box and thanked it. With a nod, it faded back into shadows and disappeared.

Opening the small box, he was greeted by a small note and a retainer. Opening the note, he read it aloud. "Twirling your tongue in a circle around the mouthpiece will drop the wafer. The wafer will restore your body for 10 minutes. Unfortunately, I have no guarantee that it will work a second time, so only keep it for emergencies." He sighed. "Let's hope Izuku can deal with this, I'd rather not waste an ace."

(Ochaco)

"We'll see you later tonight guys!"

Momo started apologizing. "I'm sorry I can't get more of us to go."

The girls waved away the concern. "It's okay, we get to spend all day tomorrow with everyone, the only thing we miss is dinner." Said Ashido.

Hatsume was tapping her foot. "Can we start? We're burning daylight and I don't want to have to deal with the crowds tomorrow."

Tobu smiled. "Get going, we'll be fine for tonight."

Hagakure grabbed onto the girl. "Yeah! We ordered pizza and have a bunch of horror movies ready!"

"Wait." Ashido looked scared and took a step away from the pair of girls. "Can I go with you, please?" Toru and Tobu grabbed an arm each and pulled the girl into the room, throwing stuff in the way so she couldn't escape.

Letting out a small nervous laugh, she turned to the group. "Ready?"

Melissa and Momo led the way and brought them to the fairgrounds. "So, thanks to Momo, I know what your two's quirks are, but what's yours Mei?"

"Zoom, I can zoom in on things."

Melissa smiled. "That's cool! Have you ever looked at the night sky?"

She shrugged. "I've lived in the city my whole life, the light pollution makes it nearly impossible to see anything."

"Well that sucks, I love stars."

Ochaco smiled. "Pretty sure if you asked, Izuku would take you to the moon."

At Melissa's shocked expression, Jiro groaned. "She means literally, not that way."

Boom!

The five of them looked over and saw an explosion tear through the top of a man made mountain. "Was that…?" Boom! She sighed. "It is."

Momo seemed to remember something as she clapped her hands. "I forgot! Bakugo and Kirishima are here!"

"Really? How did they get invited?" Asked Jiro.

"Bakugo and Todoroki were invited for tying in first place at the sports festival. Todoroki was already coming because of his dad, and I'm pretty sure Bakugo is only here because of Kirishima. Iida is here also, his family was invited, he's here with his brother."

"That's Mr. Murder, Endevour's boy, Shirtless wonder, and your co-vice-president, correct?" Asked Melissa.

Jiro grinned at Momo. "Not trying to muscle in on Ashido's turf, are ya?"

Momo rolled her eyes, as Jiro and her laughed lightly. "How else would you describe him?"

"All good girl, I can see it though. He always seems to lose his shirt in a fight."

"Better than Izuku." Ochaco laughed.

The girls of UA laughed together, leaving a very confused Melissa next to them. "I don't get it."

Mei explained. "The girls here have gotten front row seats to the Midoriya show, whenever he uses his quirk too much, his clothes go up in flames." She looked at Ochaco, who had a small amount of pink in her cheeks. "I hear he's pretty loaded, care to share?"

"Uh-um-uh." She felt heat creep up her neck. "I guess?" That set off Jiro and Momo.

Mei shook her head and pulled the two behind them as they went off to a few exhibits.

(Melissa)

"So why did you ladies become heroes?", she asked. She already knew Momo's motivation. Turning to Mei, she asked. "What made you want to be an inventor?"

The first to answer was a nervous Uraraka. "At first I was mainly in it for the money. My parents deserve an easy life and this was the best way for me to give it to them."

"Oh? What changed?"

Giving off a nervous laugh, she started scratching the back of her head. "Izuku happened. He tends to bring out the best in everyone around him. Now I just want to be a hero to make a change in the world."

Jiro chuckled and elbowed the girl. "It helps that her boy toy is loaded and can buy out most people." The girl didn't even deny it and just lightly laughed.

"Izuku is rich?"

Mei and Momo nodded, but it was Mei who explained. "He has the loyalty of an entire bank behind him. Fairly sure, if he wanted, he could just take it over."

Ochaco nodded. "He's complained a few times to u-me about some of the higher ups, so he might in the future." She shrugged. "Not even I can predict what he plans on doing."

She hummed in though for a second and turned to Jiro. "So why did you join the hero course?"

The girl shrugged. "I don't really know. Helping people is amazing, but bringing someone out of the pits of their hearts is an amazing feeling too."

"Any boyfriends?"

The question caused the girl to go completely red, earning a giggle from her friends. She just smiled as she tried to let the girl go without an answer. "Just a bit of teasing, you don't have to answer."

Momo scoffed. "Don't baby her, we've been trying to get her to confess for weeks now!"

Jiro mumbled, playing with her jacks. "He likes someone else though."

"How do you know that?" She asked.

"After they almost died, they've been spending a bunch of time together."

Uraraka snorted. "That doesn't mean anything. Kendo and Izuku spend a lot of time together and don't like eachother like that. It also doesn't mean he doesn't like both of you, she just took her chance, if she likes him."

Jiro glared at her friend. "Yeah? What about Komori? I hear she's getting sweet on Izuku, have anything to say about that?"

Everyone looked at the girl who glared back. "Izuku is a trustworthy person who would never hurt us. If he started having feelings for her, he'd let me know. Don't try to bring my relationship into your boy problems."

Jiro sighed. "Sorry, you're right."

'Us?' Ignoring Ochaco's use of the word, she smiled at Jiro. "How about you invite him to dinner tonight? I bet I can find a fellow students with an extra ticket."

Momo clapped. "That's an amazing idea! We just have to find him!"

Mei groaned. "I want to look around! Just send him a text to meet us somewhere so we don't have to look."

Jiro grumbled but pulled out her phone and sent a text message. As they continued on, she started giving them the rundown of all the different buildings, and the different inventions on display. To the surprise of Momo, they got to see several of their inventions on display. One of which was the sky cannon they built. Unfortunately, due to regulations, it was only allowed to be used on I-Island sadly. The committee deemed the device a hazard to the global weather system.

It was in the middle of her explaining the inner mechanics of one of her dad's inventions to Mei, that Jiro's phone chimed. Quickly pulling it out, the girl smiled and cheered a little cheer. "He said to meet him at the cafe that's just off Main Street whenever I get a chance." She looked at her. "You know where that is?"

Melissa nodded with a smile. "I do. After the tour was over, I was going to take everyone to get a treat."

Momo sighed. "We should probably go now so he has some warning about the dinner."

Mei let out an annoyed groan. "Fine, but after that, no more distractions!"

(Izuku)

"And there goes the shirt."

The image of Misaki snorted. "You're sitting in the middle of a furnace."

"I mostly blame Aki."

"She does like your abs."

He smirked and finished the last of the sixth rune scheme. Standing back up, he walked over to the tungsten anvil he put down in the middle of the room and started hammering away at it.

"How much longer do you think?"

Still hammering away, he answered. "Six more for this, we split it, and insert the other ingot. That'll need eight."

She sighed and leaned back against the red hot furnace wall. "What do you think is going on with All Might?"

That was a good question, unfortunately he didn't have an answer. "No idea, the most I could do is send a pixie to follow him around and report back if something happens."

"Want me to make a scheme?"

"Go for it, I'll draw and power it once I get this done." Giving him a nod, she let the image drop and go to work inside his mind.

Focusing back on his task, he concentrated on the meter sized square of metal. It was fully bent in half now, he just needed to join the piece. Setting down the hammer, he grabbed the red metal and activated his inner flame, concentrating on his hands. Like a deadly putty, he kneaded the block into one and set it back onto the anvil, letting it cool for a bit. Nodding to himself, he condensed his inner sun and walked out of the furnace.

Melissa's workshop was leagues better than his own and on par with UA's. The main difference was the massive oven she had. Big enough for even the biggest projects, it made the perfect work area for him. Steaming in the open air, he pulled out a small thin sheet of steel and waited for Misaki to finish up.

Not very much time went by before he was interrupted by the chime of his phone. Quickly soaking his fingers in the water barrel, he pulled them out and answered it. "Hello?"

"Hey babe, I need a favor or Jiro does."

"Okay, shoot."

"Jiro invited Kaminari to go with us to dinner tonight and he only has his work outfit. He needs a suit tonight, can you help?"

"Sure, you have the card right?"

"Yeah."

"Take him to one of the tailor shops and tell him that price doesn't matter, we need it tonight. Have Jiro pick the color and style, knowing him, he'd look ridiculous."

She snorted. "Thanks babe! Will do! Bye bye!"

"See you tonight." Click.

'Good timing, I finished.'

"Hit me."

Copying the rune scheme on the steel sheet, he poured some mana in and activated the runes. Coalescing into a ball, the mana pulsed and took the form of a small stone pixie. As hard as granite, the little thing couldn't fly, but it could travel through any rock or metal with ease. Preprogrammed with its mission, it jumped off the table and dived into the ground. "Let's get back to work. I'll tell All Might that it's following him."

Shooting off a quick message, he hopped back into the furnace and started drawing the next scheme.

(Mei)

"Why would you need a device that rocks a whole building?" She knew where the idea came from, almost any engineer worth their salt knew where that idea came from.

Melissa sighed. "Russ will tell you it's super important, but everyone knows he made it for fun. Teach got mad at him, but Russ got off with a warning and it's set to be destroyed after the fair."

Thinking about it for a second, she hummed. "A better idea would be to create a swarm of thousands of tiny flying robots that rock back-n-forth in sync. Same idea, but if you make them small enough, no one will see them coming."

Sighing again, the engineer in her new friend started talking shop. "If they're small enough to be overlooked, like a fly, then you need to be careful about animals and wind."

Momo nodded her head. "You also need to figure out how to get them in sync, and powerful enough to-"

Jiro came running over and hid her face. "I need to go."

Ochaco, who was lost in their conversation, looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "What happened?"

"I told Kaminari about the deal for the suit and he agreed. The issue came with his boss." A faint yelling could be heard coming from the kitchen. "He asked his boss for a break so he could go get a suit and with how busy they are going to be, he said no."

Kaminari came marching out of the kitchen and didn't bother to stop and talk with them. Not missing a beat, the group prepared to leave as Ochaco paid for the meal. When it was squared away, they took off after Kaminari with Jiro leading the way.

It wasn't hard to find her love interest, the guy was letting off sparks of electricity that surged the street lamps to life in broad daylight. Seeing his attitude, Momo, with her ridiculous quirk, created a pair of rubber sandals and some rubber gloves for Jiro. Handing them over, she said. "He's all yours."

Said girl glared at her friend but took the offered items and put them on. Very carefully she approached the boy and started talking to him. He turned on her with a muted glare, which was dropped when he saw it was her. As they talked, she asked Momo. "I haven't ever seen him mad before, have you?"

She shook her head. "He never lets anything get to him, he's normally mellow and easy going, I wonder what happened."

(Bakugo)

"What else is there to do around here?"

Kirishima shrugged. "We could ask the guide if there are more games around here."

As they walked down the street, Kirishima checked his phone and looked over at him. "Did you forget your phone in the room?"

"Yeah, why?"

Holding up his phone, he showed the text he got. Reading it, his eyes narrowed. "Ask what's happening and where to meet."

Izuku: Are you with Bakugo? I've been trying to get a hold of him. I need to meet with you and him.

"On it." As he text, they began heading back to their hotel room. "Do you think the island is going to get attacked?"

"We can only hope, we haven't had a good fight since USJ."

Kirishima gave him a nervous chuckle. "Didn't you nearly die a few weeks ago?"

"Not a fight, let's get ready."

Kirishima nodded and followed him back to the hotel room where they finally got a reply. Following the directions given, they arrived at one of the many skyscrapers that dotted I-Island's skyline. As they walked into what was apparently a university building, Kirishima looked up and squinted his eyes at the setting sun reflecting off the glass building. "You think we'll ever get to work at a building like this?"

He grunted.

"Wanna be partners? We can get a building together."

He grunted again.

"Sounds good."

Walking in, the two of them walked up to the security station, showed their credentials to the man and got handed two temp passes and some directions to the lab where Izuku was. Taking the elevator up and down several hallways, they were knocking on a door which was opened by Iida.

The vice-rep nodded at the both of them. "Bakugo, Kirishima." Opening the door for them, he led them to a side room where the heat took a sharp upturn to unbearable.

"Hey guys, one second." Called Izuku from a corner where a mass amount of steam was coming from. "Iida, do you mind giving them the quick rundown to save time?"

Their tallest classmate nodded. "A group of mercenaries for hire has infiltrated the island and are planning on stealing some illegal tech from the scientists. As some sort of 'test'," he gave air quotes, "Izuku is being given full control of the situation as this mission has been deemed non-critical. As far as we know, most, if not all of their threats will be empty. They might as well be actors."

Izuku chimed in, still steaming. "That doesn't mean that you have to spare them if your or someone else's life is in danger." He looked at the three of them. "Our main objective is to neutralize the threat, keep civies safe and come out alive. The three of you are going to be front and center in the conflict." He nodded to Iida. "Iida's brother is aware of the threat and will be aiding the three of you. All Might will be there, but we can't rely on him. We have no idea what their ultimate plan is and they know he is here, they could have already planted a bomb in the city and will set it off if All Might moves."

Iida continued. "My brother and the few sidekicks with him have spread themselves throughout the building that houses their goal. If we run into any trouble, we are to meet with them and gain their aid. If that is impossible, we are on our own."

"Are we going to dinner tonight, or are we ambushing who we can?" He asked.

Izuku answered. "I suggest you and Kirishima ambush and keep an escape route for our classmates. Iida will be contacting them shortly to make them aware of the situation."

"So they don't know?" Asked Kirishima. "Who's all supposed to go to the dinner?"

Iida started listing off several of their classmates. "Momo, Hatsume from Support, Uraraka, Jiro, Kaminari, and the student who owns this workshop. Also, they do not know yet. The instant they make it on site, I will be informing them and preparing them for the upcoming battle."A knock at the main door of the workshop broke up their meeting, causing Iida to leave and answer.

Looking at Izuku, he asked. "What are you going to be doing?"

His childhood friend smiled at him and held up a block of metal. "I'm going to finish this, keep an eye on the whole situation and deal with any threats that aren't immediate. If they planted a bomb, it's up to me to deal with." Iida came back as Izuku finished, followed by another of their classmates, Todoroki. "Todoroki! Glad you could make it!" Starting from the top, they filled Todoroki in.

(Melissa)

She smiled as Mei and Momo dissected one of the inventions and the others played around with the capture guns. It was a weird feeling, these kids, heroes in training, having gone through so much already and not anywhere near being done or close to being pros.

She didn't know if it was sad or impressive really. She did know that she would do whatever it took to make sure they had the best of the best. As they played, she had already written down several different ideas for several of them. She'd have to poke her dad's mind on several of them, and possibly Mei's, but she was fairly sure she could help them.

Her sixth sense of avoiding being on the receiving end of an explosion allowed her to just barely dodge one of the goo balls flying at her. She looked over at the offending party and raised an eyebrow at what she saw. Kaminari was hiding his gun behind his back, while Jiro copied him. Uraraka was shaking her head and glared at the pair.

"Go on, admit it." Said the pink cheeked girl.

Kaminari broke first with a sigh and pulled the gun out from behind him. The poor thing was smoking and looked like it had been struck by lightning. "I accidentally shocked it and caused it to explode, sorry."

Uraraka turned on her dark haired friend with a raised eyebrow. The girl had the decency to look a bit sorry as she spoke. "I shot him on the back of his neck when he wasn't looking." Uraraka nodded, satisfied with their apology.

She snorted in amusement at the situation. "It's okay you two, the guns are easy to repair. I'd have been more mad about getting that gunk in my hair." She pointed to a small box that had been set up in the gymnasium. "Go ahead and toss the broken one in there. Once you do that, we'll go and pick up some flowers for tonight."

Kaminari made a face, but nodded. He no doubt didn't want to spend his day flower shopping, but if three of the girls were going with a date, even if one was forced, they would get flowers. As he walked toward the box, the two others rushed to put their guns away and started dragging Momo and Mei away from their tinkering.

By the time they were reconvened, she had called ahead to a flower shop and confirmed that they were still open. Making their way down the street, she received a call.

"Hello?"

"Mrs. Shield?"

"Speaking."

"This is the front desk of the R&D building. One of your guests, Mr. Midoriya, has been having a high amount of people coming in and out of the building, we thought we'd let you know. Is there something you'd like us to do?"

'What in the world?' She shook her head. "No, that's fine, I'll talk to him."

"Very well, have a nice day Ma'am." Click.

Momo gave her a curious look. "Everything okay?"

She nodded. "All good! I just need to make a call real quick." Pointing to the flower shop, she gestured for them to go on. "Go on ahead, I'll be a minute."

Momo raised an eyebrow but nodded, leading the others to the shop.

Dialing her workshop phone, she waited and waited until it was finally answered by a very stern voice. "Melissa Shield's workshop, Iida Tenya speaking."

"Hi Tenya, this is Melissa, care to explain to me why my workshop is being used as a staging office?"

The question seemed to throw him off. "Uhhhh, one second." After a bit of muffled moving, the high pitched sound of metal hitting metal started coming through. "Izuku! Shield is on the phone!"

She couldn't hear what was said, but the phone was put on speaker and Izuku's voice was coming through. "Hey Melissa! Sorry about the visitors, we have a problem I'm trying to deal with."

"What's the problem?"

"Uhh, I'd prefer if All Might or your dad told you."

A confused feeling flashed across her face. "I'll give uncle Might a ring, at least tell me what's going on."

Sighing, Izuku stopped hammering. "A group of mercenaries are planning on threatening the city so they can steal an invention. I have several different heroes already in the know and several more prepared for something to happen. As for my classmates, only four of them know. If you could send the girls and Kaminari to their hotel rooms so they can prepare, I'll have someone bring their costumes. As for you and Mei, I've been given orders to keep you out of and away from the fighting. I'm already being trusted a ton with this operation, so I'd appreciate it if you spoke to All Might or your father before putting me in a position that would get me in trouble."

As he finished, she blinked and started having a small panic. "How-."

"I have no idea. All Might called me and told me that there was trouble. The rest of it was when he came by and explained what he knew. If he knew something, he wasn't telling me. "

Taking a deep breath, she calmed her heart. "Okay, I'll send them to their hotel rooms. Is there anything else I can help with?"

"Ask your dad and All Might first, I don't want to ask something and then get yelled at."

"I'll give them a call." Hanging up, she sat down on the ledge of a store and dialed her father first.

Ring. Ring. Ring. "You have reac-." Click.

Her dad always answered, always. Dialing Uncle Might, it rang once before being picked up, like he knew she was going to call.

"Melissa! I assume you're calling for a reason?"

She narrowed her eyes at his tone, but shook it off. "I got a call from building security about a bunch of heroes going in and out of my workshop. I called Izuku and he told me something's going to happen. I need to know what's going on."

Uncle Might sighed. "A situation has happened, and due to several different circumstances, I've left young Midoriya in charge of the operation with guidance from one of our alumni."

"That doesn't answer my question, Uncle. What is happening? Why didn't my dad answer? Why are we still holding the dinner if there is trouble?"

He sighed, clearly not knowing what exactly to say. "How about you head over to your workshop and I'll meet you there? Bring young Hatsume with you."

"Fine, I'll be there as soon as I send the others back to their hotel rooms."

"Very well, see you soon." Click.

Standing back up, she stuffed her phone into her pocket and jogged down the street to the flower shop. Coming to the front door, she saw Kaminari sitting in a small seat at the entrance. Being the first she saw, she spoke to him first. "Get to your hotel room and wait for further instructions. Something is happening and you're set to help, Izuku will get your costume for you." She looked at the girls fawning over flowers. "I'll let them know, get going."

The young boy who was bored at first, looked at her when she began to speak and his face went from bored to shocked to determined. Nodding his ascent, he dashed out of the flower shop, the small bell dinging behind him. Jiro, who watched the exchange from afar, looked at her with confusion as Melissa made her way over. "I need all of you to get to your hotel rooms, you'll get further instructions once you're there."

Before Momo could ask, she cut off any questions. "I can't say anymore, just that this comes as an order from Izuku and Uncle Might."

The three heroes in training nodded immediately and started making their way out as a group, no questions asked. The only one to stay behind was Mei who gave her a raised eyebrow. "What about me?"

She shrugged. "Uncle Might said to bring you along with me for a meeting. I'm assuming it's because he's in charge of you."

With a groan, she nodded. "Fine, it's not like I can get into my hotel room anyway, I didn't get a keycard."

After a fairly decent jog, they arrived at her building and were greeted by a tall man with scraggly hair and a scarf. "Shield, Hatsume, with me."

Not bothering to see if they followed, he turned and started stalking his way into the building. Hatsume started following the man without question and explained when she saw her not moving. "His name is Aizawa, he's a teacher at UA. If he's here, then you're either in trouble or something is seriously wrong."

Nodding in understanding, she jogged to catch up and entered the waiting elevator with the man. When it closed, she listened to the exchange Aizawa had with Hatsume. "You are not allowed to go off on your own, you will stick with Midoriya the entire time and you will hide when needed, understood?"

The girl snorted. "What exactly do you expect me to do? Go all hero and start blasting things with my babies? I'm not some kid with a hero complex ya know."

The teacher shrugged. "Just thought I'd remind you, the principal wants this to go off without a hitch."

"What's Nezu's stake in this?"

Sighing, he explained. "This is the first operation of Izuku's, if it goes off without a problem, then we can push for early hero licenses for his class and B. With what we know is on the horizon, we need all the help we can get."

"What's happening with the support course then? Are we allowed to get our licenses early?"

Aizawa nodded. A savage grin went across the mad inventor's face, but was cut short by the teacher. "That's only if everything goes off without issue."

She sighed and nodded. "Fine, I'll stick to Midoriya like glue."

Aizawa nodded and looked at her. "As for you Mrs. Shield, I suggest doing the same as Hatsume. You are a non-combatant and have no way of defending yourself. If you are in danger, either Midoriya or one of the many heroes present will help you, just stay close."

She nodded. "Yes sir."

With that, they fell into a silence as the elevator went up. When it finally got to her floor, the doors opened to a silent hallway with no one present. If she didn't know for a fact that something was happening, it would have felt like one of her late days.

Walking down the hallway, they came to her workshop, where they were immediately let in by the owner of the stern voice. "Mr. Aizawa, Hatsume, Shield. All Might and Mr. Shield are in the conference room. Hatsume, Midoriya is in the fabrication room."

With a sigh, Hatsume trotted off toward the side room as she went to the small conference room. She never used the room, like ever. She mainly used it for storage nowadays, at one point in her freshman year it was clean, she thought.

Giving a light knock, she opened the door and was greeted by All Might and her dad. All Might looked stoic and had a hardened face as she came in. He looked like he really didn't want to be here. Her dad looked even more put off and looked like he'd rather die than see her.

Closing the door behind her, she eyed the two of them. "What's going on?"

Uncle Might nudged her father, who seemingly went catatonic, and sighed when he didn't respond. "I have several things to tell you Melissa, not all of them easy." He held up one of his giant hands with one finger up. "First, I am losing my quirk." Her eyes widened in surprise and when she went to speak, he held up a hand. "No, there is nothing to be done about it. The only thing we can do is wait for the inevitable."

He put up a second finger. "Two, with me losing my quirk, I'm losing my ability to keep up this appearance."

"App-?"

With a cough and explosion of steam, her burly uncle was replaced by a skeletal man spewing blood from his mouth. "Cough. Sorry you have to see me like this, but it's hard keeping that form nowadays." She blinked, not knowing what to do or say. With a soft smile, he continued. "Three, you know Izuku is my protege, and that means I'm sponsoring him to take my place. Four, your dad, my friend, tried to save me and made a very bad deal."

Her dad looked ashamed and stared at his feet. "Five, I'd appreciate it if you stayed out of the fighting."

"Not happening." Her mind was already made up. "I want to help any way I can."

Uncle Might sighed. "Very well, I'd like you to stay with young Midoriya until he's ready to move. His mission is to locate and deactivate any bomb that may be on the island."

"Yes, sir." She nodded.

"Good. David?" All Might looked at his friend, her father.

She could see tears in his eyes as he looked up. "Sorry Melissa, I tried to do good."

Her heart lurched. "It's okay dad, just make up for it." With that, she exited the cramped room and entered her workshop and wished she was wearing a tanktop. Mei looked right at home like the heat didn't even bother her as she talked to Izuku through the furnace. Why in the world would he be in there?

"Come on! I want to see! You never show me your runes when you're working on them."

Muffled, she could hear the reply. "That's because even if I don't let you, you steal it when I'm not looking."

Mei grunted. "It's your own fault for asking for my help." A reply never came.

After five minutes, the furnace opened on its own and she was beginning to die of heat. Even Mei had to take a step away, the heat making her a bit more pink than normal. Out of the furnace walked the bronze skinned, shirtless boy who was ripped beyond what was normal for someone his age. In his hand, he held a billet of metal that was pulsing and glowing with multicolored energy. "Fine, put on some gloves and you can look, you have five minutes while I recharge."

Excited, Mei turned to her. Curious, she showed her where the heat gloves were and put on a pair herself. Walking over to him, Mei took the billet and started hot potatoing it as she walked over to one of the heat proof tables. Standing next to her, they both looked over the runes. Having made a few weapons herself, she could easily tell he was making some form of damascus, but this metal wasn't normal. You couldn't bend hero metal like normal steel, it shattered because of the graphene. Once it was formed, it stayed that way forever, so he must be heating it to an absurd degree.

That didn't seem to interest Mei though, as she watched, the girl pulled out a small notepad and started drawing the symbols she saw. Speaking of them, they were fascinating. Each glowed with a multicolored light and pulsed like it was breathing. On one corner, she could see the pulsing folded in on itself hundreds of times.

"The symbols each have a special property." Mei used a metal tong to point at one they could clearly see. "This is an amplification rune. He uses them to double the effect of any rune that's attached to it."

"What about the one next to it?" It looked completely different from the amplifier.

Mei hummed and spoke loud enough for Izuku to hear. "I'm guessing strength?"

"Yeah."

After having it confirmed, Mei explained. "A strength rune is capable of double the force of what it's attached to. With how many are on here, you'd think he's trying to break a building in a single swing."

She eyed Mei, who shrugged, unconcerned. "Izuku is kind of the guy who goes a step further than intended. That would normally be fine, if it wasn't for his steps being people's leaps."

"Not my fault, people half ass stuff." Replied Izuku.

Mei snorted. "How much longer have you got?"

"One more fold on this one and then I have to fold the other. After that, I fold them ten times together, and I'll be done soon after. I already made the handle before coming here."

"Why did you need to be here to make the head?"

He walked over and picked up the billet. "I technically didn't but my warehouse can only take so much before needing to be recharged." He looked at her with an easy smile. "Your furnace doesn't need to be recharged, it is cramped though."

"Can we watch?" Asked Mei.

Izuku shrugged. "If Melissa wants to, with her permission, I can make part of the box transparent."

Mei looked at her with puppy dog eyes. "Please?"

"S-sure?" She didn't mean to say it as a question, but she had no idea what Mei wanted to see.

Smiling, Izuku took the billet to the furnace, closed himself in and after a few seconds, the furnace went translucent. Inside, they saw Izuku give them a small wave and place the billet on the anvil he placed inside. "So his quirk is heat related?"

"Nope, you'd think that, but he's using his quirk to give him heat power. According to him, his best uses of his quirk are fire based, he thinks it's because of his dad. He could breathe fire."

Rubbing his hands together, they watched as he started glowing yellow and the heat coming off the furnace increase exponentially. "I think I'm going to just stay in here and shape the whole thing in one go." Said Izuku.

"Go for it, we're kind of just waiting."

He was good looking, she could see why Ochaco liked him. His muscles were taut, chiseled and with every blow of the hammer they vibrated with strength. She had no idea how long she watched, but Mei laughed next to her. "Going a tad red there. Don't feel bad for staring, everyone does it."

She blinked and backed away from the window. "What do you mean?"

"Izuku is a caring boyfriend with the body of a god. If any girl didn't fall for him, they don't swing that way. The rumors at school say Uraraka has to fend girls off with a stick. There's also a rumor he's starting a harem, the newest addition seems to be the mushroom girl, Komori, but it's unconfirmed."

"Does that include you?"

She snorted. "If Izuku wants to have me, I'm all for it, but I don't have the time or want to dedicate to dating. My babies and our company are my main priority."

"Company?"

"Izuku bought me a building and a bunch of equipment. As soon as I graduate, I'm moving in and becoming the next big support gear company. I already have the entirety of Class 1-A as clients. I'm working on expanding out from that, but that's not exactly my cup of tea. What do you plan on doing when you graduate?"

"I was planning on joining the R&D department here on I-Island."

Mei nodded and looked into the window, with a smile, she thumbed toward it. "Wanna see him get hotter?"

Rolling her eyes at the pun, she looked in and watched as Izuku went white. In his hands, she could see the chunk of metal start heating up to match. Using his bare hands, he kneed the metal together and formed a perfect rectangular billet. Like some sort of forge god, they watched as he produced an exact copy, heat and runes included. "What was that?"

Mei shrugged. "He told me he spent three months fighting in some sort of hellscape, I imagine he learned a thing or two there, he doesn't tell me everything."

Satisfied with the copy, he pulled out a second sheet of metal and started working on the third billet.

(Izuku)

'HP is at 60%. I say we have about two hours before we need to get out.'

'Sounds good.' He said as he continued hammering away.

The last piece of metal was a black variant of the other two. Luckily, he didn't need to copy it like he did with the other. Using his new ability, gained from Transference, took a huge toll on his Stamina and Mana. Drawing a rune scheme on the third sheet of Starmetal that he found on the fifth floor, he concentrated on making sure he got this perfect. It would almost certainly be impossible for him to get more sheets. He got lucky finding the three.

[Sheet of Starmetal

Formed from the condensed body of a dead star, this sheet is denser and heavier than average steel. Capable of taking an extreme amount of damage from even a god, Starmetal is used in both armor and weapons, by the *(&*! #&! People.

*Using this metal requires an immense amount of strength to mold and the heat of a star to temper it.*]

He'd have to teleport in the middle of empty space, throw the finished axehead into a portal to the sun and wait for a few minutes for it to finish up. Maybe the runes on it was a bit overkill, but when you knew you had to battle a god to the death for your cute multicolored haired sexual deviant of a girlfrined, nothing was overkill.

'Hey, do you think we can make stars in it? I watched a video on how to do it.' Misaki appeared in his vision bouncing on her feet.

"How long would that take?"

She shrugged. "The video didn't exactly give me a time span, I just know how to do it."

"Fine, but there's a chance we won't finish if it's super complicated."

"The guy in the video had to use a power hammer to shape it. I think we can get around that fairly easily."

He hummed and finished up the rune scheme. "I don't mind trying."

Ping.

[Skill level up! Engraving has reached Level 55!]

Misaki let out a cheer, which caused him to smile. The skill had become a pain to level after hitting 45. He worked on it everyday he got and it wasn't until they started working on this that the skill progression started skyrocketing. That was their 8th level up.

Using the smithing hammer that was made with two small strips of the Starmetal, he folded it in two and started drawing more runes. He still had a way to go.

(Uraraka)

When they got back to the hotel, it was to a frightened Ashido who was hiding in the closet and the other three girls watching a scary movie with a couple of eldritch horrors. She wanted to laugh, but couldn't, something was going wrong on the island.

When the door opened, all the girls turned to them, including the monsters. Momo immediately took charge. "All of you get ready to move out, something has come up and we're all being called in for action. Izuku is going to send us our costumes. And before you ask, no I have no idea what's going on. Ashido, get out of the closet."

"Tell Tobu to get rid of them first!"

Said girl rolled her eyes. "Stop being a baby." The monsters shifted into mist and disappeared.

As they prepared as much as they could, a knock came to their door. Being their leader, Momo walked over, checked the peephole and opened the door with a smile. "Hi, Iida."

"Hello ladies, I was sent to deliver a message and your costumes." Seeing that he wasn't carrying anything, Momo asked about that second part. "You have to listen to the message first, may I?"

At her consent, he walked in and placed a small disk onto the table. Pushing the button, a holographic screen appeared above the button. On the screen was an unhappy Aizawa, more so than normal. "Tonight at 2000 hours, a mercenary group is going to attempt a theft on I-Island. With permission from All Might and Principal Nezu, the available students of Class 1-A are aiding the available heroes on the island. Your commanding officer is Izuku. All commands from him are final. How you hold yourself, respond to commands, and act as heroes will be looked at with a magnifying glass." His annoyed voice was replaced with one of seriousness. "If any of you break the rules of engagement set by your commanding officer or a fellow hero, you will be punished. This is not a game, this is not a training scenario. This is a full blown crisis and you will treat it as such."

Even not being here, all of the girls nodded.

"Now that I've said my piece, I'll turn you over to Izuku."

The image shifted to a picture the school had of Izuku. His voice was slightly muffled as he spoke, but they could understand him. "Momo, I'm placing you in charge of Team Echo. Your main objective is the defense of the object in question. You will be located in the vault and prepare to deal with the intruders, if they get that far. Before they get there, teams Alpha and Charlie will be fighting the head on. If you are engaged upon, you are to delay. If they can deal with Alpha, then they're stronger than we were led to believe. Alpha consists of Bakugo, Kirishima, Todoroki, and Iida. Charlie is led by Ingenium's sidekick. Don't put yourselves in harm's way if you can help it. If you need me and I'm not already there, activate your bracelet and I'll be there as fast as I can be. If you agree to this, Iida will inform me and I'll have your bags dropped off." The message stopped.

Iida looked at them with his back straight and hands behind his back. "What do you say ladies?"

Each of them agreed.

"Very well." Pulling out his phone, he texted Izuku and after a few minutes, a portal opened. Piling in the middle of their hotel room, their bags were deposited in a neat pile. After telling them to get changed, Iida informed them that Izuku would be depositing them in the vault.

As soon as the door closed a mad scramble happened. The first to be finished was Toru, who stripped nude without even putting her normal gloves on. "Don't you get cold?" She asked.

Toru giggled. "Your boyfriend helped me with that. Prism." Before she could ask, the girl produced an amulet that shimmered into view. "He taught me the command word to make it invisible or not. It gives me my own personal heater, that only I can feel. Prism." With the command word, the amulet disappeared.

She frowned. "My necklace doesn't do anything like that."

"That's enough, finish getting ready. We have a long night in front of us." Said Momo.

Letting out a breath through her nose, they finished getting ready and let Iida in. Walking in front of them, he texted Izuku again and another portal opened. "This will take you directly to the Vault. There you will meet a member of Team Beta. She's a hero from Gang Orca's group. The big man himself isn't here, but three of his teams are here and helping."

With their mission set, they all walked through the portal. Being the last through alongside Momo, she heard her ask Iida to lock up the room. Getting a nod, she walked through and followed her into the Vault.

On the other side, they were in a massive circular room with hundreds of lockboxes lining the wall. Momo walked over to a lady with bright green hair, and exchanged a few words. When they finished, Momo walked over to them as the hero blinked away. "Team Beta is set up eight floors below us. They're the final team before the mercenaries get to the vault. They had a scientist, who helped design the security system, to hide us on all scanners. We'll be hidden before we attack, so we got surprise on our side." She clapped. "Spread out ladies! Find a place to hide and get comfortable, we have no idea when the attack will take place."

"We have three heroes and five guards stationed in the control room." A masked man whispered into his mic.

"Can you deal with them without causing a ruckus?"

"I believe so, Snap says he can do it."

"Then get it done and radio back. Check their bodies for any radios or communication equipment, get Mocker on them."

"Yes, sir." When the radio went silent, the man signaled to his men. Holding one finger up to his lips, he swung his arm inward and ran his thumb across his throat. He got six nods back and they proceeded onto their ambush.

The man knew there weren't supposed to be heroes down here, something must've changed. An important dignitary perhaps? Deeming it unimportant, they entered under the cover of shadows that had become thicker thanks to Whiskey. Getting into position, they readied their weapons, selected their targets and fired.

With their weapons coming to life, the heroes dropped like sacks of bricks. In their moment of confusion, the guards panicked, which was their last mistake. Still loaded, they brought the guards down and secured the area. He looked at Mocker. "Search the heroes, look for any communication equipment. If you find any, absorb the person's voice and get on that radio. Whiskey, Popeye, get on the controls. I'll call the boss." His team nodded.

Fanning out, if they had jobs, they went and did them. If they didn't, they secured the main door and access tunnel. Standing behind Whiskey and Popeye, he called his boss over the radio. "Sir?"

"Is it done?"

"The three heroes are dead alongside the five guards." He looked behind him and saw Mocker holding a radio. "One of the heroes had a radio. Mocker is taking their voice now. We're ready to start on the controls whenever you're ready."

"Good. Begin." The radio went dead.

He signaled to the two on the controls. "Get'er done."

A Few Hours Later

(All Might)

He was proud.

Not only did Izuku form a good, decent plan, he was using every resource he could. With Aizawa over his shoulder, he doubted anything could go horribly wrong. As he sat here in his suit, Izuku was scouring the city for bombs with his army of shadow pixies.

A soft chime was coming out of his phone, informing him that it was time. Taking a breath, he activated his muscle form and exited his hotel room. Not bothering to walk the whole way, he jumped his way over there and landed in front of a small contingent of paparazzi that was scouting the event. Upon seeing him, they started making a fuss. He gave them a small wave, but didn't bother answering questions like normal. Walking in, he saw a nervous looking Dave waiting for him.

Together, they walked into the dinner and began mingling. He saw several sidekicks of Ingenium dressed in formals, hiding amongst the civilians and scientists. Exchanging greetings with the heroes who approached, he shook each of their hands as if nothing was wrong.

Fifteen minutes later, the dinner began with a spokesman taking the stage. "Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to I-Expo's opening night reception. We at I-Island hope you enjoy yourselves." The man looked at him and smiled. "Now I wonder if we could get All Might, the #1 hero up here. He's here visiting from Japan, wouldn't you like to hear a few words from him? Maybe a round of applause will help." As the crowd started clapping, he couldn't help the jitters and gave them all a nervous smile.

Dave walked up to him with a small nervous smile.

"You could have warned me?" He chuckled nervously.

"I didn't know, I didn't even know you were coming." That was true.

Giving the crowd a smile, he downed his drink and walked up to the stage. The man exited the stage with a bow to him. Still nervously smiling, he addressed the crowd. "Thank you for inviting me, its a pleasure to be here. Unfortunately, formal speeches aren't my-" The screen behind him went red, catching everyone's attention.

Before he could act, there were gunshots coming from outside the hall, and all of the side doors exploded inward. The first person through was a hero, with a bomb vest thrown atop of them.

That was when the speakers came to life, alerting people to a, possibly false, bomb threat.

A man with a metal mask walked in and addressed the crowd, his hand on the hero's neck. "Welcome ladies and gentlemen. In case you haven't caught on, the security system is under our control."

(Bakugo)

Over the radio, he heard the shouts. "Team Foxtrot is down, I repeat Foxtrot is down."

Kirishima was stunned. "If they took control of the security system."

Iida finished. "Then they took out Gamma, one of Orca's squad." Icy-hot's flames sparked.

The true hero among them spoke in a calm collected voice. "Every person here knew what they were getting into when they joined. So did you all, steel your hearts, calm your nerves and prepare to fight. We have the advantage on them."

Stilling his nerves, he slinked into the shadows and rested a hand on the trail of sweat he had set up. They wouldn't fail, he wouldn't fail, not again.

Chapter Done!

So I figured this was a good place to stop, before we got into the meat of the issue. Yes, I have turned the villains of this story into a true force. They are willing to kill to get their goal.